conversation continues on our website, argu argues.com/considerthis. find us on twitter at ajconsider this. we will see you next time. hei zhou-castro good evening, everyone. welcome to al jazeera america. i'm john seigenthaler in new york. >> line of fire - deadly clashes in ukraine between protesters and police. they approach a breaking point. we go there live. >> mean season - first the blizzard and bone-chilling temperatures as the second polar vortex blankets much of the country. >> robot army - is this the soldier of the future. a closer look at how the military is considering

replacing soldiers with cyborgs. >> repairing the redeemer - the highwire work to fix the statue of jesus damaged by a bolt of lightning. >> the world is watching what is happening in ukraine, watching and wondering, if this it the moment that the squirmishes will turn into a larger battle. the protesters want to strengthen ties with the european union. there are religious, political and geographical divisions. now a tipping point. nadim baba. >> violence turned deadly. riot police fired towards protesters on wednesday. they were unable to hold their crowned as reinforcements

arrived on the demonstrators side. >> translation: i carried a guy and myself from the front line. he was shot in the heart and died. >> as the man's bodied was brought out of a makeshift hospital and driven away. some said it would make them more determined. >> translation: even with the killing they won't stop the protest. more will come. >> translation: i'm scared of the future, but i'm more cared of the future under this government. >> on wednesday viktor yanukovych held talks with opposition leaders, aimed at ending the crisis. there was no conclusive outcome. >> for four nights this part of kiev has been a battle ground. it's hard to say when the violence will end. so far the fighting happened in

one small area. protesters are angrier than ever. they promise to stay put. >> in this video a ukrainian protestor at the center of the fighting speaks of the struggle. >> what is wrong in ukraine. why do we want a revolution. why do we - what is wrong with ukraine. the government is again - is against people. look. who are they? is there a criminal. they want violence or something like that. these are ukrainian people. and what the government is doing, those criminals - the police officers are ukrainians too. here is ukrainian. the government makes them, you know quarrel and fight. >> joining us to talk about this is james jatras. the deputy director of the

american institute in ukraine. he is in washington tonight. welcome. >> thank you. >> has this protest reached a tipping point? >> it looks like it may have. but clearly things have gotten much, much worse in the last few days. one senses that we are nearing a ceshenedo. what form that will take we don't know. it could be an extremely violent one. >> is the government in control? >> i don't know if they are or not. it's unclear who is in control of the protesters. we know some of the top protest leaders were howled off the stage by the protesters themselves a couple of days ago, for not being sufficiently militant. there are some radical groups out there one called a rate sector that no one seems to be in control of, which is talking about a civil war-type situation.

>> one who was booed off the stage was a former fighter, a leader of the opposition. what happened. >> well, in a limited circumstance he was trying to calm things down. apparently that did not sit well with the crowd, he delivered an ultimatum to the government to call snap elections or the crowd will go on the attack as he said. >> what does that mean? >> i don't think anyone knows. i'm not sure he knows. you heard the principle of leadership that says you look for a parade and then you run to the front of it. i think he fears events are moving out of control and to look like he has some semblance of authority, he has to sound more militant. >> all we can see in the pictures, there has been a change at least in the last couple of days here, and it's

more violent. three people killed today in the - three protesters killed today, and tonight we see the live pictures. there's a line from the police. what do you expect. what do you expect in the next few days. >> several things can happen. i suppose it's possible that president viktor yanukovych could agree to the demonstrates of elections. that means relinquishing his authority as the elected president of ukraine. it's possible the authorities will move to clear the square. i can't imagine that would be a very pretty process. or if the time runs out on the ultimatum, protesters could launch an attack and try to seize power in the public buildings. that can't go well either.

>> not a lot of great options. james jatras, great to have you on the program. >> thank you. >> a short time ago a mexican national was executed in texas. 46-year-old edgar tamayo was convicted of killing a police officers 26 years ago. his lawyers argued he did not receive help from mexico. he was denied a state of execution. heidi zhou-castro is live in texas with more. what can you tell us? >> edgar tamayo was pronounced dead at 9.32, following the supreme court's decision to deny 11th request for a stay that was asked for by edgar tamayo's ternies. they were backed in asking for

edgar tamayo's execution to be postponed. and at the heart of it was that an international treaty was violated signed in 1963, agreeing to allow foreign nationals in the country to be told of their right to contact the consulate. that's a right guaranteed for americans abroad as well. well, edgar tamayo's lawyers argue that that didn't happen in his case, after his 1994 arrest for the murder of a houston police officer. now the state department has warned texas that going through with this execution would impact the united states forum relations and endanger the consular rights of u.s. citizens detained abroad. >> heidi zhou-castro in texas. thank you. >> now to the extreme weather and for 80 million americans, this long winter seems to be

getting worse. the east coast is digging up from the latest blizzard. if it's not the snow, it's the arctic air. i asked kevin corriveau a while ago how cold it was, and you said -- >> i said it was 18. >> you said it would be colder tomorrow. >> my apologies. we are dealing with temperatures 15 degrees lower than average. all coming in behind the frontal system. we had the snow. we are dealing with the cold care. tomorrow morning we'll see a low of 6. this is not including the windchill that will take us to the minus single and double digits. boston, portland. tomorrow's high temperatures for new york. it will stay like that, as i said. for friday, lows of nine. even saturday and sunday - a bit of snow coming into the picture. still below average for the high

temperatures. this is not the only problem. to the south, the same arctic air mass. look at the freeze warnings. florida, alabama, georgia, texas. these are the temperatures we are expecting. tomorrow's low. 21. friday will be lower. 12 degrees in atlanta. this is unprecedented for the southern part of the united states. if you want to make this worse, on the western part of the united states we have information about the drought situation. this is almost the opposite scenario. we are looking at the worst drought for california, that was reported in the last 160 years. thank you kevin corriveau. there are reports that the federal bureau of investigation has been questioning staffers in hoboken mayor's office, related to allegations by allegations by dawn zimmer saying chris christie's office threatened to

cut off hurricane sandy relief fund unless hoboken backed a certain project. the fbi said: >> federal agents have asked witnesses to keep documents and emails related to the allegations. >> now, to switzerland, where world leaders wrapped up the opening day of the syria peace conference. the first time in three years that both sides of the civil war met, and the atmosphere was anything but diplomatic. nick schifrin reports. >> all syrian people at the moment want the tourists to stop. >> in a conference that is supposed to talk peace, the two sides are yelling at each other. >> if you are syria... >> the man is a pro-syrian government journalist, the woman a member of the opposition. this may be a moment on a conference sideline. the conference hall, the diplomats are just as divided.

the u.s. wants to create a transitional government. there is no way, no way possible in the imagination that the man who has led the brult response to his own people could regain the legitimacy to govern. >> in response the syrian foreign minister's assad had no intention of stepping down. >> translation: no one, mr kerry, in the world has the right to give legitimacy or to withdraw legitimacy from a president, a government, a constitution or a law or anything in syria, but syrians. >> the opposition says the syrians are brutalized. the government is accused of torturing protesters and targetting population centres. >> the opposition in the u.s. calls them introns gent and point to this moment when the foreign minister overran his charge >> i must finish my speech.

>> no, no, no, i have to give the same time to other groups. >> you live in new york. i live in syria, i have the right to give the syrian version here in this forum. >> yes, of course, you do. >> this is my right. >> the u.s. is desperate to convince syria to start listening and stop the violence. kerry is trying to do that by isolating assad. >> today people can more clearly understand how alone assad is in standing up for himself. not for syria. and the resolution to this crisis cannot be about one man's insistence, or one family's insistence about clipping to power. >> bashar al-assad's supporters, along with russia and iran.

they chanted "loyalty to the government." the opposition held a demonstration with a mob funeral. the hope in montreaux is for the two sides to come closer together. so far they are as far apart as ever. >> israel says it stopped an al qaeda attack on the u.s. embassy in positive. three men have been arrested in connection with the pop. al qaeda and op ratives based in the strip. the u.s. has not been able to verify israel's claims. joining me now is robert o'brien, a former delegate to the u.n. general assembly and mitt romney's policy advisor. welcome. >> good to be with you. >> let me start for a moment and talk about diplomatic actions with regard to - i want to go back to syria and talk a little

about that. has president obama made missteps when it came to syria? >> well, it put secretary kerry in a situation. secretary kerry is working hart. he got to montreaux with little credibility. if goes back to the early days of the uprising where the u.s. provided little if no support to the secular opposition. it goes back to the red line where the president set a red line on using chemical weapons, assad crossed the red line, gassed his people and there were zero consequences. it goes on, dealing with iran and russia. secretary of state john kerry has little credibility to use in his negotiations and has been put in a difficult position by the barack obama administration. >> how do you think a republican administration would have handled this differently?

>> well, certainly the president of the united states, whether he's a republican or democrat. when he sets a red line, he establishes that that can't be crossed. that occurred. certainly the support for democracy, the rule of law, freedom, being a consistent voice from washington as opposed to effort to deal with dick tatterial regime in places like iran and syria. president obama sent ambassador ford back to syria at a time we knew assad was a murderer or dictator. republicans would not have done that. these are the messages that go out, and unfortunately, they deplete our credibility hen it comes to a situation like this in geneva. >> what do you think about iran? should they have been part of these negotiations? >> you know, it's an interesting question, and the u.s. seems to be on both sides of it.

on one hand it seems the for un policy goal is to reach an agreement with iran. we saw the administration retreat from the u.n.'s requirement that iran stop enriching uranium and agreed to let them continue to enrich uranium. iran is heavily involved in syria, the administration, under pressure from the syrian opposition, was not in favour of iran coming to the negotiations in geneva. it's a muddled picture. >> i want to go back to israel and the announcement they uncovered an al qaeda plot to bomb the u.s. embassy in positive. this was uncovered in december. are you surprised about the timing of the announcement here. >> i am not surprised by the timing. al qaeda is on the rise.

certainly al qaeda affiliated elements were involved in overrunning the consulate in benghazi, and the attack on the c.i.a. an-e. al qaeda is on the march in iraq and has taken fallujah, the black flag flies there, there's a resurgence. to find out about an attack in positive is not surprising. they are active. they are not dead, they are alive. as far as reaching the negotiations during the syrian negotiations, i'm not sure how that affects the negotiations or if there's a calculus there. >> thank you for the insight. good to talk to you then. >> great to be with you. >> targeted - the retail giant announces lay offs and cuts health benefits to part-time

workers. >> rise of the machine, the military plans for robot worors. cl davos in the

>> target is making news. it's not about stolen credit

card numbers, but conditions for employers. >> the nation's second-largest retailer is the latest u.s. corporation dropping health insurance for part-time employees. in an online statement target cited the launch of health insurance marketplaces under obamacare saying: >> the part-time employees will find they are eligible for medicade and they'll be eligible for the health insurance exchange where they can get subsidies and health as long as their income is not very high. >> target says less than 10% of its roughly 360,000 workforce participate in its part-time

health insurance plan. the company will give workers who lose a one-off payment of $500, and help no signing up to obamacare. walmart, petco, dared ner. upc and others have started to dial back health benefits in the wake of obamacare. >> it will help the bottom line in that it will lower the costs, as it is doing with target. enabling smaller companies to be more competitive with the larger competitors, because they will receive subsidies for offering insurance, and will take companies out of the health insurance business to some extent. >> starting next year, large companies employing 50 or more workers must offer health insurance or face fines in the thousands of dollars. some cut back workers' hours to

stop ensuring them. target said in a statement that it would not limit workers' hours, and employees working more than 32 hours a week an eligible for the company health plan. target and employees may save money, but the tax payer will pick up the tab. >> this is indicative of a broader practice in the retail sector where employers are looking for taxpayers to subsidise low wages. >> today marks the 45th anniversary of the roe v wade, the landmark case that lead the supreme court striking down anti-abortion laws and the annual march for life, a rally against abortion. thousands showed up to march, despite the cold. libby casey has more. >> the least we can is brave the cold for those that don't have the chance to be here. >> 19-year-old megan french is a

group march organizers like to see, young, motivated and active online. >> we'll put it on social media. there are so many young people here, standing up for life. >> marchers had the same format for four decades. science, catholic-led prayers and a focus on roe v wade. this year organizers wanted to soften speeches, promote adoption and build momentum. >> most of the abortion fight happened at the state level. 22 states passed laws restricting access to abortions. >> abortion were banned after 20 weeks. g.o.p. leaders need to convince votest it is on important image. a bill will be voted on next

week banning the government paying for abortions. >> i make you this promise, the people's house will stand for life. >> peter tomasello has been coming from 20 years. >> i'm pro life. not democratic or republican. whoever represents that gets my vote. >> the question is whether less committed voters will care. 30% of americans want roe v wade overturned. the recent governors race in virginia tied abortion to women's issues and the democrats won. both are convinced they have the winning argument. they are hoping to mobilise a new generation of activists. >> president obama called sexual assault in america an offense to humanity. he gave a speech to the council

on women and girls and said young people need to release sexual assault is unacceptable. the president is forming a task force focussing on sexual assault on college campuses. a white house report found one in five female students are victims of school attacks. but one in right report it. >> ali velshi is at the world economic summit in switzerland. he caught up with rwanda's president. he had been praised for the way he rebuilt the country's financial barks -- but he is facing criticism. he's limited to two terms. in this interview ali velshi arrived if he would try to run for a third? >> the question is why ask that question. why not leave this matter to the people of rwanda who, first of

all, put the constitution in place. who elect me as their leader. why is this answering this question. >> we ask this question of everyone, all over the world and in america. >> it doesn't make it correct. you can ask. >> you are not saying that you are done after two terms. >> i'm not saying i'm not beholden to these questions or those who ask it. i'm saying i know my place, i know my people. my people know me. we do what we do. >> if they wanted you to run for a third term, you would do so. >> if we hand over, we benefit from those affected, from the wrong that happens to us. >> ali velshi will report from the world economic forum in davos. coming up, a movie sheeter killing, stand your ground

defense and a winners anguish. >> i don't care. >> plus, our series on being eight. what it means for a homeless child. nicole oulson

environment protection agency

>> welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm john seigenthaler in new york. here are the top stories - escalating violence in ukraine. at least three have died during clashes with police. it's the first time demonstrations led to death. the ukraine president met with opposition leaders and they say they are ready to go on the defensive if demands are not met. >> a diplomatic face-off in switzerland. a u.n. mediator will meet with both sides trying to get them to direct talks on friday. >> israel stopped a planned

attack on a u.s. embassy in positive. the u.s. raily intelligence official say they arrested three palestinians with links to al qaeda. the state department says it has not been able to verify the claims yet. >> now to a story generating anger and attention. the shooting death of a man texting at a movie theatre. some say it could be a stand your ground case. we'll get to that. this report from juan carlos molina first. >> it's so hard and so unbearable. >> nicole oulson speaking out for the first time about her husband's death. chad oulson was shot and killed at a florida movie theatre after an argument over text messaging. >> in the blink of an eye my world is shattered in a million pieces and i'm left trying to pick them up and put them together. >> the suspect, curtis reeves allegedly became angry that chad oulson would not stop texting. curtis reeves said he opened

fire after chad oulson threw an object at him. curtis reeves said he feared for his life, raising the stand your ground law, permitting the use of deadly force if the defendant is threatened. it made headlines under the trayvon martin case. 22 states have laws not requiring people to retreat. nine of them includes language saying one may stand his or her ground. >> in regards to the chad oulson shooting the sheriff said stand your ground does not apply in that case. if curtis reeves and his attorney pursues it, it will be up for a judge to decide. >> let's bring in attorney areva martin to talk about this case. good to see you. throw popcorn at someone and they say they feel threatened

for their life. does that mean that stand your ground is in effect. ? >> this gives us an opportunity to have this discussion all over again. we were talking about this ad nauseum with the zimmerman trial and now again. what is it like when someone says they fear that they are going to sustain some bodily harm or death. that is what curtis reeves is expected to say. he was in fear that his life was threatened by an altercation over text messaging. the standard is reasonable fear. not just someone's subjective opinion. the court will look at all of the surrounding evidence, all of the situations that were occurring before the shooting took place, and decide whether it was reasonable. >> did reeves have any obligation to talk away? >> you know, that is the tricky thing about the stand your ground law. no, you don't have an obligation to retreat or to move - in this

case move to another seat, go out into the lobby. call a manager. if you, again, believe that you are in, you are going to receive bodily harm, threat, death, you can stand your ground without retreating. >> let me stop you there. all i heard was popcorn, he threw popcorn. how would he think that he was - that he was being threatened with bodily harm or death? >> that is the million dollar question. if you listen closely to what the defendant's attorney is saying he said is foreign object. he never used the word popcorn. we have later found out that it was popcorn. it will be a heavy, heavy burden to establish that this police officer, over 200 pounds, 6 feet tall, a trained officer felt threatened by popcorn. >> are there any constitutional questions with regards to the

law. >> i don't think it will end up in the u.s. supreme court. what i happy happens is legislators look at the law. it grows out the castle doctrine. if someone comes into your hem, you don't have to retreat. 22 states say that can happen if you are in a public place. some believe it is giving a licence to kill. they pull out a gun, they shoot someone and scream self-defence. in a lot of cases theretwo people - the person doing the shooting and the person that dies. there are eyewitnesss. we have the defendant's wife and the deceased person's wife right there. the wife was shot. she was shot herself. it will be interesting to see how it plays out. we'll have eyewitness testimony. >> what happens next in this case? >> the defendant, the shooter, if he is going to ask the judge

to decide if there's enough evidence to have the case dismissed. that can happen with stand your ground laws. you can file a motion and say, "i was defending myself", if the judge believes there's enough evidence she can dismiss it. there may be a plea barring april. if that doesn't happen, the case is going to trial. >> areva martin in los angeles. thank you very much. good to see you. >> thank you. always a pleasure. >> west virginia health officials say the water is safe to drink despite a second chemical. the company responsible, freedom industries notified the state, saying they thought they had stopped mixing it, buts realised it was leaking into the tanks. west virginia environment protection agency says it's likely the substance was filtered out and poses no harm.

>> maya lives near the spill and says the water poses a threat and tells us her story. >> i'm miya born and raised here, known as the chemical valley. this incident impacts my drinking water. >> the day of the incident i heard of a chemical spill. as far as details, it wasn't really policed. we were told everything was okay. then we heard that, you know, more chemicals from dumped into the river. the next thing i heard was it had contaminated the drinking water supply, and everyone was told not to drink the water, just to use it to flush with. we were given the okay. when they lifted the ban they said it was all okay. when people drank the water, they had reactions. the smell was strong. people i know got sick from the flushing. i don't know anybody right now

who was consuming the water. no one is drinking it intentionally. if you are afraid of the water. many people i know are afraid to shower in it. using bottled water to clooep myself. i haven't been able to wash clothes. i don't want to wash my clothes in it. the government is starting to take away water distributions. we need clean drinking water. nobody is drinking water. i feel like we have been told it's safe, but not safe for pregnant women. until it's safe for pregnant woman, i don't think it's safe. what's the immediate response. lower income people are cooking and bathing in it because there's no other choice. >> mia says change is needed. the ban has been lifted but residents are still in need of water. >> for most kids there's no place like home. for a growing number of kids in

minnesota home is a shelter. children under the age of 17 are at risk for homelessness in the state. in our series being 8 diane eastabrook tells us how a child is adapting to life in a shelter. >> before the sun rises on a snowy minneapolis morning. jakayla starts her day. >> the bus comes. >> she is not like most kids. she lives at a homeless shelter in minnesota, sharing a 30-foot room with single mum, brother and two sisters. jakayla copes with tight quarters and little privacy. >> you are in my way. >> you are in my way. >> jakayla's mother gets about $700 a month whilst enrolled in a job training program. she lost her job as a cook in a nursing home forcing the family to move from the rental home.

now mag gnat om eters and warning signs are part of the 8-year-old's new surroundings. still she finds comfort and friends. >> i get to meet new people, and i get to go to activities and just play games. >> jakayla's resiliency comes as no surprise to her mother. >> she has been like that, she adopts well. it's her personality. >> good morning, how are you? >> good. >> on the bus heading to school jakayla's guard comes down as she talks about having a real home again. >> it can be small, big, an apartment. i don't care, i just want it to live in. >> at school the third grader focuses on her assignments. >> there's a pop quiz in maths on this day. >> i think i had this right, (b).

>> jakayla's situation is not all that unusual in miles per hour. of the 35,000 children attending the city's public schools, roughly one in 10 is homeless. jakayla is a good student. and popular with classplates at nelly stone johnson elementary store and laughs with her friends. still, she doesn't want them to know about her life outside school. >> i feel embarrassed - not embarrassed, i just don't want nobody to know that i live in a shelter. >> jakayla's mother said the shelter brought stability to the family and hopes to have a job by summer and move out. for jakayla it means leaving behind the daily activities and the friends she found here. >> i'll miss the people i met here, a lot. >> it could mean moving into a house and maybe sharing a bed room with one person, instead of

four. >> it was the post-game interview that had everyone talking for days and days. the n.f.l. player who gave the interview spoke for himself. michael eaves is here with more on that. >> as you said, monday it will keep going, here we are wednesday, still talking about it. richard sherwin's live interview lasted 20 seconds but sparked nation-wide debate from class and sportsmanship to education and race. it was the underlying racial aspect that troubled sherwin the post. >> the only reason it bothers me is it seems it's the accepted way of saying the "n" word and then thug and that's fine. that takes me aback, and it's disappointing because they know - what is the definition of a thug, really. can a guy on a football field talking to people - maybe i'm talking loudly, talking like i'm not supposed to.

there's a hockey game where they didn't play hockey, they threw the puck aside and started fighting. i saw that and thought, "man, i'm the thug", what's going on here. >> former n.f.l. player john moffat was a team-mate of richard sherwin. when i asked why he walked away and whether n.f.l. players should be permitted to use medical marijuana, he told me host of the reaction was an overreaction. >> i think it's surprising that people would take it so seriously considering it was just a passionate moment in sports. a heat of the moment incident. >> you walked away from the game earlier than your body maybe thought, a lot of people thought you could have played longer. why did you walk away from the n.f.l. >> there are a lot of reason. i don't think you necessarily walk away from a life-time career for one reason. a big thing was physical health, i lost passion for the game.

i got tired of playing it. i was playing for a pay check. my third season, my last season. that was something i didn't want to do. i didn't want to do something just for the money, something as dangerous. >> when you play the game of football you assaulted some type of inherent risk. as a college player, high school and to the n.f.l., do you think you were fully equipment with the knowledge available to you as it relates to long-lasting effects of injuries. >> no, no, absolutely not, and honestly, i become more aware. i saw the united states of football. what i saw shocked me even more of a degree. no, i was not aware. i think people have known about

it longer than they lead on to. >> do you think in seattle and other states where marijuana is legal that the n.f.l. players should be able to use it for medicinal purposes? >> in is where they need to get ahead of the curve. medical marijuana can be safe. unlike concussions, it's getting ahead of the ball. if they find out that they are giving guys prescription drugs and it's affecting their health and hurting them when you had a state a legalized marijuana, that is not like prescription drugs and doesn't have long-term effects. and you have an opportunity and you denied them that, how does that look. there's no question that there's a legitimate danger to prescription drugs. but there's no mary jane industries or incorporated that is lobbying for marijuana. there's a lot of pfizer and

prescription drug companies where it's big, big business. i question the validity of looking at the balance. >> john moffat walked away from the broncos, he would be in the super bowl and said he would do it again, he's content with his decision. >> interesting. still, i mean, we are still talking about the game and the comment. it's remarkable. do you think he settled it today? >> i hope he did. because the people who may be made opinions about him without knowing him saw him, the real person. he's not the thug i thought he was. let's move on. >> he's probably going to be interviewed a great deal before the super bowl. >> he'll be the center of the interviews. >> the international olympic committee is helping to spot cheating at the winter games , partnering with a nevada gaming control board to watch for game fixing and ordinary fraud. betting on the olympics is illegal in nevada, and the state

regulators monitor illegal and offshore betting. coming up, command and control - the reality of robot troops in the army. lightening strikes. a strat -- statue loses a finger, but help is on the way.

>> this is what we were looking at, snow pushing across the north-east. some of the totals - look at

what we saw, the final totals. 18.3 inches. that was the bulls eye of the storm. central park. you had 11.5. some parts of the upper westside saw 10 inches, traffic snarled across new york. for boston, we'll deal with the cold air. there are other cities. new york and into philadelphia. we expect to see a high on thursday, staying like that. more snow showers in the forecast. also down here towards the south, we are looking at extremely cold air. freeze warnings are in effect for much of the south. temperatures are below freezing. lacking at atlanta. highs of 35 degrees, going down. overnight lows on friday down to 35. it the be cold, but we are seeing a rebound by the time we get to the weekend. 47 degrees. temperatures there are looking to be 50 degrees. across the united states. snow is in the forecast across

the great lakes. by the time we get to the weekend that snow is moving to the

>> here is an interesting story, there may not be a benefit to switch to diet soda to cut calories. researches at john hopkins university showed overweight or obese persons consume the same amount. calories come from food. healthy weight people who drink diet soda do consume fewer calories. >> it's one of the world's famous statues, 82-year-old christ the redeemer. recent storms damaged it. brazil is wasting no time repairing it. >> he's christ the redeemer, a famous statue, a symbol of brazil and rio de janeiro, the city looking down from his

mountain top perch. look closely. crews are busy working on the statue's massive hand, emergency repairs after it became a conduit for millions of volts of electricity. a finger on the right hand was damaged when it was struck by lightening. this is a photo of the moment it happened, shot by a local photographer who caught it op his camera. many tourists weren't sure what to make of it all. >> brazil's relationship with the icon is emotion a when it was vaned illised it was called a crime. it's not the first time he suffered a direct hit and needed repairs. put part of a finger, it's a first. it engineers put in lightening rods so when the next strike

happens, damage will be limited. >> we'll increase the receptors that crown on the statues head. we will increase that and the receptors will expand across as far as the middle finger because the cloud comes from the ocean and the finger sustains the most damage. >> arch diocese of rio that manages the statue says children have nothing to worry about. >> we'll guarantee a good repair job. we'll allow access to tourists and protect the statue. >> there's no telling how long the repair work will last. 30 workers have been assigned to the job. officials say they spare no effort or post. after all it's christ the redeemer and the famous symbol of this country. >> to one story from rio, and this story on robot soldiers, that's what the american

military is considering as a way to deal with a smaller budget and sweeping boot cuts. science and technology correspondent jake ward has that story. >> the military is putting an incredible amount of money into robotic systems. companies like boston dynamics are during support robots for the military that can carry supplies. the smallest self sufficient unit is a brigade combat team. remarks from a general suggest it could replace 1,000 of those soldiers with robotic systems. most robots are designed for support, like i say. following soldiers through hostile territory, carrying ammunition and other supplies. this robot called pet man is for testing clothing. consider that robots in the shape of a human being balancing in this way don't require we dining the army's equipment. the next step is weaponized

robots. every branch of the military is looking at this. we saw life fire exercises. they were mobile armed prototypes. last year an autonomous war plane took off on its own and came back. it's worth noting that the technologies will end up in the civilian world. car technology replaced military drivers and google own several company, including boston dynamics. >> jake, how close are we to a killer robot. >> you've seen the movie. it ends badly. it's creepy stuff. technologically we are there. they can make what they need. the unchartered territory - there are no laws that govern this. no one knows what it will involve. we are clipping -- clinging to

the notion of a human in the loop. a human being will be there about when the machine will kill or not. we will see machines that take the decision. we have seen a few. u.s. rail has the iron dome, which does that, reacts too fast for a human to do so. >> jake ward, thank you. >> now to our photo finish, the picture of the day, and at first clans it looks like a work of art for apple computers. the apple part is right. it's a glass pain from a new york store. shattered in the snow storm, a snow blower ploughed into it. the headlines are next.

>> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm john seigenthaler in new york. here are the top stories. >> a dangerous tipping point in ukraine. protests turn deadly for the first time since they began.

three demonstrators killed while battling police, the opposition says they are ready to go on the offensive if demands are not met. a rough talk to syrian peacekeepers. secretary of state john kerry said assad is clinging to power, but the syrian delegates say he's staying. israel said it prevented an al qaeda attack on the u.s. embassy and three other targets. three palestine men have been arrested. they were recruited by an al qaeda operative. the u.s. has not been able to independently verify this claim. >> the nation's second-largest retailer announced it's dropping health insurance, doing it because part-timers are eligible for benefits flow the affordable care act. targets joins a number of other major corporations who are dropping the coverage.

>> snow to arctic air, severe weather crippling roads and grounding planes across the country. it appears to be getting colder. those are the headlines. "america tonight" is up next. remember - you can always get the latest news on aljazeera.com. see you back here tomorrow night. ♪ ♪ on a.m. the senior frank that sent kids to jail? >> an administrator grabs me from behind and h he's like i sn you throw the boughter balloon. >> our in-depth look at american education, is zero toll r*epbz reptolerancemaking schools safek students to a dead end. >> the most severe consequence is having a criminal record. >> america tonight investigates the school to prison pipeline. also tonight a.m. continuing