and and and uh swing ♪ i welcome to al jazeera america, these are the stories we are follows for you. esyria's government accused of demolishes thousands of home on eofficials say most of the dead where children. plus, atlanta trying to rebound with residents demanding answers from state and local officials. ♪ epeace talks in.

there is a new report out now that may make all of that impossible. the report accuses the government of destroying thousands of homes on purpose. those homes belonging to resident who support the opposition. dominic king has our story. >> this is taboo, in the suburbs of damascus. it has been fought over by the government and the rebels repeatedly in the last few years. like much of syria, it present as picture of bombed out buildings and rubble june roads. but now evidence, suggests that the destruction of property here is not an accident of war. human rights watch has compiled a report that claims that the government has been demolishes thousands of houses here, in other parts of damascus, and in

the city of ham ma. the report using these satellite images to show how extensive the damage is. this is the district of mshad in hama seen in sent 2012, and this is the same place one month later. this is part of the capitol close to the military airport seen in february of last year, move forward to july and the con travis is clear. human rights watch says it has spoke ton the owner whose confirmed the demolitions. the group alleged that the government has targets buildings in which airs which support the opposition. the government says they are merely part of a proved urban planning. >> i this is mass destruction in civilian neighborhoods. what the report points out, and in my own research, is that this

urban planning if you like is strategically down in areas where may had quite so strong presence. the authors of the report say there is no evidence of such demolitions taking place in areas that generally support the government. over 6.5 million people have been displaced inside syria. and that almost 2.5 million refugees have left the country since the war began. reports say a plan submitted by the government was rejected by opposition leaders. the government normally refers to rebel fighters as terrorist. nick is live in geneva now with more and anything both sides agree on? >> pretty much no.

you just said what the two sides have been talking about, which is what the two sides have been talking about for a week now, the government says let's talk about terrorism, let's talk about ending the fighting before we talk about anything else. the fighting will not end, and by the way, this fighting is not terrorism, there are some terrorists in there, but they were invited by the syrian government and asaad himself, his brutality, and so the two sides continue to talk fast each other, i speak to u.s. officials and i say look, is this even worth it, is it useful if the two sides don't agree on anything, they say three years of war, 130,000 people are dead, of course, it is worth it. this is better thank we have had for the last three years. they need to stay at the same table in order to alleviate that suffering. there are so many images of that suffering from inside syria, dell. we just saw this morning the refugee camp, this is a place where over 80 people have died of starvation.

they have been besieged by what the opposition says no food, no water, no medicine for nearly a year. the u.n. this morning delivered about 900 food parcels you can see how desperate people were lining up for a long time to try to get any food at all, but the needs are so acute. even 900 pieces of food will not satisfy even a tiny part of what that camp and what those people need. >> nick for us, thank you very much. but there are at least onemore sal of good news. that toddler found buries alive during an air strike, who can forget these images. 14-month-old, big dug out of a collapsed home, reports were that she had been buried there alive for at least three minutes. it happened last week. take a look at the images today. today the baby girl appears to be unscathed. she is living with relatives.

as many as nine people are dead, that is about 130 miles southwest of louisville, the fire breaking out at 2:00 a.m., 11 people living inside this house, including nine children, police say they found only two survivors one adult, and one child. they were airlifted to a hospital in tennessee they were searching for -- it is going to be warmer today. but officials in atlanta are being criticized the r the response to that winter storm that hit the city on tuesday. untreated roads iced oh and became impossible. drivers spend the night inside of those very school children. spending the night which classrooms and couldn't get them home. robert gray is in atlanta, and robert, the situation there is warmer but is anyone smiling? >> the situation is warmer and you can can see i'm on, i 75 right

now, the national guard is out here, as hundreds of vehicles line the sides of the road. perhaps you can see in this one little pocket we are in, i counted over 100 just a little bit earlier. so folks are trying to get their vehicles they are trying to get into them, and get their life back in order. you can see the interstate here, i 75, vehicles are moving as most of the ice is gone. there is some ice on the side of the road still. and life is starting to get back to normal here, dell, but the main question is what happened? why all the cars stranded? why were schools open on tuesday, and the situation is still very fluid as many people want questions from the governor, and from the mayor. >> and robert, at least they left the vehicles in place, there were big concerns that a lot of the vehicles would be towed if they could get to them, and people would come back to where they left their car only to find knock.

nothing. >> yes, exactly, it is sort of an ideal situation nor those that probably when they are in the thick of this, as the snow was coming down, and the ice was occurring that probably many of the people that got out of these vehicles and started to walk up these bridges to safety and shelter were thinking oh, where is my vehicle going to be. where am i going to find it, well, they are here, many of the cars are out of gas, but national guard, and state patrol are actually escourting people to their cars today. from various standpoints other people are coming over here and trying to get gas into them to get their cars out of the situation, dell. >> robert gray in atlanta, robert, thank you very much. president obama continues his nationwide tour selling some of the ideas he pitched in his state of the union address. the president kicking off his two day tour yesterday. he is at this hour in milwaukee, that is air force one. today he is expected to deliver remarks on jobs and skill training at a general electrics plant. he will end up later in

nashville this afternoon, there the focus will shift to education. and kiev the president is calling out six. because of a respiratory illness, some believe the illness has more to do with the new amnesty bill. the skeptics are lining pup l up that's right. many people believe he is playing for time. conveniently before he took sick leave, he did not sign the two laws that were supposed to be concessions to the opposition. one was to reveal draconian laws that his government passed just two weeks ago that went into effect last week, that limited freedom of speech that criminalized freedom of expression, and freedom of assembly here. they still remain illegal, because the president has not signed that law and that amnesty law.

also not sign bid the president, no uh the justice minister spoke to foreign ambassadors today and says it is just technicalities but when that draconian law was passed limiting basically basic human rights many here say the president signed it within 24 hours. is fact that he is not acting as president -- will not happen, everything sort of remains in limbo, and it certainly erodes the trust that they were trying to build this week between the opposition and the government. what about the protestors how are they responding? >> they are not happy. when this bill went through, it gave them 15 days to vacate government buildings that they haddock pied. not only here, but around the country, many protestors said they are not going to do that, they are allowed to chemothis camp behind us

in independent square. but they say that being out on the streets is their strength and until they see real change from the president, real results delivered from the far limit, they are not going to move anywhere and the fact that the president called out sick is on definite sick leave, i think makes them even more reluctant to move. >> jennifer, thank you very much. authoritieauthorities in ry they have now identified two suicide bombers and the two people that helped them last month. back to backbonings there killed 34 people last month. the bombing at the railway station on december 29th was follow add day later by a blast on a tally bus. both events raising questions about the winter games set to start just neck week. al jazeera is in moscow. >> well, the news of the arrests is certainly a bit of good news for russian authorities and

good news for the russian olympic officials. don't forget the deteriorating condition has dominated the lead up to these games. not of sports but of security, now the russians are saying the anti-terrorist committee are saying they have identified the two men that carries out the bombings. and they have also identified and arrests two accomplishes. two brothers who they say were involved in transporting the bombers from tagastan. and possibly even more good news is they may have found the location of the safe house where it's presumed these bombers were operating from. it's thought they had accommodation in the city where they were armed up, and their logistic support was provided for. so very good news. on a day that seen the first of the 2000 olympic

athletes from more than 90 countries arriving. medical marijuana, is turning farmland in california into a battleground. and people just can't wait for the super bowl, but overs lining up to see the commercials.

al jazeera america. we open up your world. >> here on america tonight, an opportunity for all of america to be heard. >> our shows explore the issues that shape our lives. >> new questions are raised about the american intervention. >> from unexpected viewpoints to live changing innovations, dollars and cents to powerful

storytelling. >> we are at a tipping point in america's history! >> al jazeera america. there's more to it. sales of legal marijuana in colorado are booming, but california where medical marijuana has been legal for use, it is experiencing a different boom. you can zip see the remanence of an old row, the phone right there. >> mike sill are on the hunt for green. >> they are growing it. prevalently, basically right out in the open. >> marijuana plants hidden among fresno county's vast farmland, oen this day the sheriffs

deputy find cannabis belined a black tarp. >> this one guy's little crop inside that black tarped area, will probably make more money than the whole orchard. >> prop 215 legalized medical marijuana here nearly two decades ago, allowing patients to grow up to 99 plants with the doctors recommendation. but sheriffs deputy say some are now twisting that law. transforming california central centrally into what federal officials say is the largest supplier of domestic marijuana. >> one bag of this, how much does this go for? >> well, here in california it will go anywhere from 800 to $1,000. all of this that was scheduled or set up to be mailed outside of the state, where they can get three to 4,000 a pound. >> the number of large marijuana fields has tripled in the last year. >> it's not like the marijuana of 20 years ago, or even of ten years

ago. the thc content and the way they have developed these plants is much much higher. farmers say the green rush has turned fields into battlefields. this farmer too afraid to show his face, put up cameras after police say a teenager was shot to death, trying to steal pot plants. now it is like we are in our own little compound. >> marijuana related crimes have killed nine people in fresno county since 2012, the violence prompted the board of supervisors to banged dispenries last year, and last month they banned growing marijuana all together. >> put your ground up cannabis inside here. and then you just inhale. >> he used it to control his am ma, and say the move punishes patients. >> in ordinance is not

the solution to fix that, because they are already illegal, what they have is an enforcement problem. >> that debate continues as authorities struggle to control the trade. nearly 600 marijuana fields were counted last year, less than a third were eradicates. am al jazeera, fresno, california. >> on wall street today, stocks on the rebound, following news that consumer spending is up. that's lifting the markets. the dow up 93 points that inagainst has been down for the last five sessions. the government saying the economy grew 3.2% over the last three months oif year, the increase followed the strongest consumer spending in three years which is an encouraging sign. for all of 2013, the economy grew at a tepid 1.9%. weekly applications rose last week, applications increased by 19,000 which was higher than expected. economists say tin crease

may be due to temporary holiday workers entering the job market all over again. and a programming note. you can see america's middle class rebuilding the dream. 4:00 p.m. pacific time. well, a lot of you will be watching the super bowl, and a lot of you will be watching the game just for the commercials. cipher bowl advertising has gotten so big that even the super bowl ads have ads. that's an emthem twerking and one of the many bold commercials you will see during super bowl xlviii. companies are now paying around $48 million. it has increased more than 70% since 2004. it is a volkswagen marketing executive, at 60 seconds the ad and twice as long as most.

>> i don't look at it as one single opportunity, let's scal cue late what the return is. we know they live on forever. >> the top 5 recall time biggest super bowl advertisers are anheuser-busch, hyundai, pepsi coe, chrysler and coca-cola. in the last decade, they have help push ad spending to more than $2 billion. companies are not just paying to reach customers they are also trying to inspire stockholders and intimidate competitors by playing a role in the biggest party in the country. i'm in new york city time square, and it's been transformed into super bowl boulevard. >> the adoze get strange, like this one, featuring david beckham runningaround nearly naked. these adds are like political campaigns for companies. that often start before the game via social media. >> it has been this escalating war, of entertainment and production values.

and there's less and less of the original intention of advertise canning is actually to sell some product. >> actual political organizations are taking cues from fortune 500 companies and jumping on the super bowl bandwagon. elected officials will be acing ads on local markets on game night, public records show that michigan governor is spending $400,000 on a one minute ad and the conservative action committee has been raising money to air commercials thanking ted cruz for attacking obama care. >> there are candidate whose are running in the local breaks. they are also running before and right after the super bowl. >> political ads are likely to pop up and swing states like colorado, florida, iowa, nevada, new hampshire, ohio, and virginia. >> they will be politicsed into spectacles like laurence fishburn banging on a t.v. or a bunch of bodybuilders running through the streets for go daddy. and of course there's

that twerking m & m. al jazeera. new york. >> a changing culture in afghanistan will tell you why a theater in cabo could represent the last picture show. and a restaurant in chicago trying to make sure that hearts are warm and stomachs are full in this cold weather. program

see that is that (a), it's a great outlet for the guys and

welcome back to al jazeera america. here are your headlines today, the syrian government and opposition still a topic one of the geneva two talks. the regime says it submit add plan to -- to talk about rebel fighters the opposition has rejected that plan. those talk goss into the final day. parliament approving a law that granted amnesty to protestors if they clear out of government buildings they are occupied but it isn't

sure until the president signed off. eight of the victims are said to be children, at this point we don't know their names or whether they all belong to the same family. in afghanistan, it could very well be the last picture show. a movie house once the place of magic and memories is about to be shuttered again, this time it is frog that killed the picture show. jane ferguson has more from cabo. >> time almost stands still here. at the park cinema, the staff still show old hollywood movies using antique tools of the trade. the cinema long outdates its worker whose remember well it's lay day. but technology and a rapidly changing society has killed the buzz around watching films on the big screen. >> it wasn't just -- decades of war destroyed a culture of communal socializing. it pushed people back into their homes, and into a mind set that

still remains. >> generations of afghans use to come here to watch movies. the theater itself has hardly changed in over 50 years but the current generation are asking to come here to watch films and they end up playing to an empty house. >> he remembers with pride how up market the place once was. >> it was very deluxe, and limited. people will come with their families here, it was hardly a free seat, everything was perfect, carpet, curtains they were lining up on the stairs. it was full of men and women. >> using the influx of cash since 2001, the park cinema stays locked in its past. few investors wanted to throw their money into now so unpopular. the cinema remains open simply because the

government covers the most basic costs. even they are sentimental about the place, now a crumbling tribute to a culture lost. jane ferguson, al jazeera, kabul afghanistan. it play not look like it but the weather pattern actually changing here. getting another area of snow that is coming down from canada, not a lot of snow, but enough to prompt a winter storm warning around minneapolis, winter weather advisory here there the purple and just some light snow here. now here it is now, pushed all the way south through the dakotas snow continuing to come down here through minnesota and pushing into iowa that will continue to work its way east, there's snow also in colorado. temperatures once the snow clears out, dropping quickly, as shot of some bitter cold air down below zero in fargo, bismark, is at 5. 15 in rapid city denver is at 37 degrees.

here in chicago, some light snow, thursday, friday, there's the temperature cropping down into the teen's. friday, saturday, 25, and then rah look at a big arctic blast here on sunday, down to seven, but that does not work its way all the way to the east coast, looks like it lifts to the north just a little bit. the pattern change first seeing signs of this, and needed rain and snow, coming down in the mountains there as the storm moves its way south along the coast, they have been going well north, so finally seeing this change here. low pressure off the coast, brings in the moisture. now, this is the outlook for sunday, this pattern changing because storms now tracking up over the great lakes not to the south, this will bring up some warm air across the southeast, where the temperatures need to get above freezing around atlanta and many states there, and also bring that warm up as far as philadelphia and new york, temperatures on sunday climbing into the 40's and 50's, as the storm moves up over the great lakes. there is some moisture with that, you can see here it is just rain that

rain snow line to the north, but sunday, super bowl sunday, looks like it could be a few rain showers coming in through the state of pennsylvania through new york. light rain developing throughout sunday afternoon, and evening and then clearing out by monday. behind we'll see the temperatures dropping just a little bit. so we go 29 to 40 on friday, there's that warm up saturday, and sunday. up to 46, rain in new york on sunday, and a passing shower and then dropping down to 35 degrees on monday. so super bowl sunday not talking about cold air, just some rain. >> one chicago eatery tries to take the bite pout of the builder cold, it is offering soup for the price of today's temperatures and when it is well below zero, customers get their money back. the promotion is going on -- they are run by a nonprofit that is focused on the elderly, that promotion runs flu the end of february. we want to thank you for watching al jazeera america, i'll dell walters in new york, inside story is next, and a remind tear you can get updates throughout the

day, just by going to aljazeera.com, and remember ali velshi has a special report on america's middle class, rebuilding the dream, starts tonight at 7:00 p.m. eastern time on real moneyny with ali velshi. ♪ two states have made the recreational use of marijuana legal and legalized the production for recreational use but the authorities back in washington still consider both a crime. the careful walk through the new legal landscape is the "inside story." ♪