paycheck... >> now in a continuing series, join ali velshi as we follow families, just like yours, as they try to get by... >> we're all struggling financially... >> america's middle class: rebuilding the dream only on al jazeera america! ♪ the u.s. getting involved in ukraine's crisis and john kerry meeting with opposition leaders today and the u.s. is considering economic sanctions. >> we cried all we can cry and suffered what we can suffer and don't know how much more to take. >> reporter: a mother and 8 children killed in a house fire, how the cold weather may have contributed to the tragedy. >> i'm not one to ask for handouts. it's actual very humbling to

come here. >> reporter: the new face of hunger, why a growing number of young people need help. and inmates learning to be entrepreneurs, the transformative program that puts them on a new path. ♪ welcome to al jazeera america, i'm stephanie sy, the growing unrest in ukraine is getting the attention of u.s. leader, secretary of state john kerry is expected to meet with key opposition leaders this weekend and next week assistant secretary of state victoria nuland travels to kiev to meet with both sides and come a day after reports of potential u.s. sanctions against ukraine. russia has stalled on a promise $15 billion bail outto ukraine and also new allegations of human rights violations being levelled against the ukrainian

government, a new report says police attacked dozens of journalists and medical workers during antigovernment protests and our jennifer glasse has been covering the protest from kiev and good morning and how serious are the allegations in this human rights watch report? >> well, stephanie, quite serious and say basically it under mines the obligations of human rights by targeting journalists and medical workers doing their job to the site of the clashes that happened a week and a half ago. it was chaos at the clashes and a lot going on and protesters throwing rocks and fireworks as missiles with the police throwing blash -- flash bombs and a group was off to the side away from the clash sites and not in the line of fire between the two groups and human rights documented 13 cases of journalists being targeted

deliberately while they said there are 60 of them and i spoke to some who said they had been directly targeted and a foreign journalist said he had got to the site and maybe there five minutes off to the side taking photographs and he was shot in the center of his helmet by a rubber bullet and serious allegations and human rights is calling on the ukrainian government to investigate them. this report came out a few hours after a missing activist was found. and he is an activist who has been in the thorn of the side of ukraine authorities and carrying out convoys for the past few weeks directly targeting official's homes and really angered the government here and he disappeared without a trace about nine days ago and he was found yesterday when he went to a house and knocked on the door and he was dumped out of a car and tortured and krus fieed and beaten several days and badly beat up and covered with blood

when he was found. >> these are serious allegations and meanwhile ukraine crisis is looming larger on the u.s. radar and how big of a deal are the upcoming meetings? >> well, i think it's a very big deal if the secretary of state will meet with opposition and could be worse here and likely to enrage russia. this is in many ways a divide between ukraine's wanting to turn towards the west, towards europe and russia wanting to keep it in fear, that is how this all started, nine weeks ago and really is the big factor here and many people in western ukraine who feel that ukraine should be part of the european union and that was part of the statement that the state department issued yesterday when it said victoria the assist and secretary of state would come here and discuss the ukraine european future on the agenda and russia is not going to like that and already suspended their $15 billion aid program until

they see what the new government looks like so it really makes things just more uncertain here stephanie. >> reporter: jennifer glasse reporting on developments in ukraine and jennifer thank you. [gunfire] tensions are growing in thailand ahead of sunday's controversial elections and antigovernment demonstrators say they will keep up protests in bangkok, police say they will have at least 10,000 security personnel on stand by during voting. the political unrest has killed ten people and left hundreds more wounded. today marks the end of the first round of peace talks between the syrian government and opposition leaders. at this hour we are expecting an update on the geneva two talks from the u.n. leader rouhini and there are no talks to resume and we have been covering this in geneva and will the mediator have signs of progress to

report? >> well, the only sign of progress stephanie he will have is what you just said, the fact the two sides will come back here, probably in about ten days on february 10th to continue these talks. they very supposed to talk about political transition and barely even skirted that topic and were supposed to try and create local cease fires and humanitarian corridors inside of syria and failed to do that, so the only thing they say that can actually do and did was not walk away from the table. that may not seem like much, but you talk to u.s. officials and talk to u.n. officials about that, they say, look, these two sides have been at it for three years and this has been a horribly brutal violent war and you have to be patient and peace cannot be made in one week but that is very cold comfort for the people inside of syria living in cities where the violence is increasing and the humanitarian problems and crisis are continuing. >> the syrian crescent accused of favoring areas that support

the assad government wants to deliver aid in a more neutral way including opposition-held areas. can we expect anything new in the way of humanitarian development? >> that's a good sign but sadly, no. there really is no breakthrough whatsoever on the humanitarian side. we are seeing cities like homs with no food and medicine and no breakthrough at these talks. while we see no break new there is more violence and videos posted to youtube by antigovernment activists and seems to show according to the government and antigovernment activists there is increased shelling of the government into towns and neighborhoods and areas where there is fighting between rebels and the government or even controlled by the rebels. what we see is something called barrel bombs and barrelled filled of explosives and fuel that are rolled out of the back of helicopters and u.n. officials i speak to in syria

call these weapons that do not kill people and the topics go back and forth to the death toll in syria is increasing. >> reporter: nick is reporting to us from geneva and thank you nick. federal prosecutors will seek the death penalty against the accused boston marathon bomber, 20-year-old dzhokhar tsarnaev faces charges and half carry the death penalty or life in prison and attorney general holder asked the justice government to pursue the death penalty and holder said the nature of the conduct at issue and result in harm compel this decision. the blast last april killed three people and wounded more than 260. he has plead not guilty and no trial date has been set. amanda knox convicted of murder again. an italian court reinstated the guilty verdict for her, her

former boyfriend has turned himself in to a police station in italy. both were convicted in 2009 of killing knox college roommate but the verdicts were overturned in 2011. italy supreme court ordered a third trial and knox did not attend the trial because she was afraid of being imprisoned and her boyfriend's lawyer said he voluntary turned himself in and there is no warrant so he will be released soon and after the verdict she says the evidence does not justify guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. and they say they expect her to go back to italy to serve her time. >> somebody found guilty and this is for anybody, if somebody is guilty of a murder and extradition law exists between the two countries i can't see

why they wouldn't. i imagine it was a difficult process if the country such as the u.s. didn't choose to go along with laws they themselves up hold and extraditing criminals from other countries. >> reporter: knox attorney will appeal the latest verdict. it is a new day for new york city when it comes to bridging the racial divide and at least that is how the mayor blasio views the resent reform to the city's controversial stop and frisk police practice and erica joins us now and good morning and seems the mayor is keeping his campaign promise. >> that is true, stephanie, and mayor deblasio will make a change to the policy and thursday he announced he is turning the page on one of the most devicive policy. with a show of hands young black residents of brooklyn, new york

displayed the harsh reality of a controversial police practice they say has unfairly targeted them for years. >> scary experience, you know, i was not sure, i think it must have been doing a routine check up and not sure what was going to happen next. >> reporter: under mayor bloomberg and kellie stop and frisk was used by police to cut down on crime and former leaders insist the policy did that but opponents say it was nothing more than sanctioned racial profiling and in august a federal court agreed ruling the practice unconstitutional based on the numbers more than 90% of those stopped and frisked were people of color and under bloomberg the city appealed the decision but bill deblasio has a much different take. >> it is a policy that treated particularly our young people of color like their rights did not matter as much in our society. >> reporter: after all he camp paged on a promise to stop and frisk and using his own son to drive home the point in campaign

ads. on thursday he upheld his promise with an announcement, the city is dropping the appeal. >> i think this represents an extraordinary step forward and i think there is a lot of unity here about the fact that this really puts us on a pathway to reform. >> reporter: the new police commissioner agrees reforming the police practice may reform the racial divide created over the years. >> and i need to as police commissioner say to the offices this is how you police constitutionally and respectfully and police compassionately. >> reporter: he is content with the change in tide and one of the plaintiffs in the stop and frisk lawsuit against the city. >> it's continued to be acknowledge we are going in the right direction and the city is no longer fighting in the courts. >> reporter: so to be clear this does not put an end to stop and frisk and some critics agree it's an appropriate tool when used correctly which is way the mayor deblasio has changes to keep the policy in play and

first he says it will be a joint and ongoing reform process with direct dialog between the police and community and to eninsurance police officers are complying with changes a federal court will monitor the department for the next three years and a select group of officers will start wearing tiny video cameras that will be rolling when they are on patrol. stephanie. >> erica thank you. a federal judge has upheld connecticut's restrictions on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, the district court judge says the measure enacted last april does not violate the rights of connecticut residents, in his 47 page ruling the judge also acknowledged the second amendment rights of gun owners who sued to black it but said the law was created in the interest of public safety and crime control and it was passed following the shootings after the elementary school and killed 26 and most of them children. a house fire killed a mother and

8 of her children and happened in kentucky and jonathan martin reports that investigators are calling it a tragic accident. >> reporter: ricky saw smoke from a mile away and quickly realized his nephew's home was on fire and the family of 11 was in danger. >> we just fell apart. >> reporter: ricky says he ran to help but couldn't get close to the home. the fire quickly ripped through the wood-frame home in western kentucky coal country and killed 35-year-old lower rain niki watson and 8 of her children ranging in age from 4-15. >> we cried all we can cry, suffered all we can suffer and don't know how much more we can take, all the little kids, they were like typical kids and loving kids. played in the yard. every time you go by they were playing in the yard. >> reporter: the father and the 11-year-old daughter were the only family members who escaped and got out just as help arrived. >> first responders, one of them lives right down the street

realized that mom, dad and they have nine children so they knew they were looking for nienl additional people in the house. >> reporter: the fire started accidentally ta electric heater in a front bedroom and overnight the temperatures dropped to single digits. >> but in my heart i could not deal with this. this is just a bad situation and i hate to see things like this. >> reporter: now this small close community must heal from an unspeakable tragedy. >> like any other family, best people, never had a bad thing to say about nothing. and didn't have any money to speak of much. but they had each other, you know. and that's all that counts really. >> reporter: that was jonathan martin reporting. consumer product commission say electric heaters start 1200 fire as year and tips for using space heaters safely. never leave a heater on

unattended or while you are sleeping and keep heater three feet away from any flammable material and never run the heater's cord under rugs or carpeting. atlanta is slowly getting back to normal after a winter storm caused all kinds of problems, ice and snow strand thousands of drivers and forced many children to spend the night in their schools, as thomas reports some officials are now taking responsibility. >> reporter: 48 hours after a rare winter storm paralyzed atlanta, this was the scene across the city's highways and roads. lines of cars still parked on the sides of streets, abandoned by their owners. many of them were forced to walk home in the freezing cold or take shelter in stores, in restaurants. >> it was scary. i got in a little bit of a panic mode about six hours into it and finally i was like i'm just going to walk. >> i spend nine hours on the road from downtown. and at 10:00 i abandoned my car. >> reporter: on thursday many

returned to pick up their vehicles, aided by the kindness of strangers and the national guard who helped push, refuel and drive hundreds of people back to their cars. >> there is still a lot of vehicles out there. i know a lot of them have already been recovered. the tow trucks have been working pretty much through the night while the roads have been clear. >> reporter: on a day when so many were trying to get back to normal a reversal by others. >> i'm the governor, the buck stops with me, i accept the responsibility for it. >> reporter: 24 hours earlier the governor of georgia said he was misled by the forecast. >> anybody with an iphone knew the weather app would tell you it was going to snow. >> reporter: on thursday he took responsibility for the response. >> i think we did not respond fast enough. we did not respond in the magnitude at an earlier enough time to be able to avoid some of these consequences. >> reporter: as for atlanta's mayor he has not wavered from his assessment on what went

wrong. >> i think it would have made a major difference if we had released our school and parents first. if private business had been left second and then if government had left last. >> reporter: today the region will see warmer weather perhaps relieving some of the southern discomfort brought on by less than 3" of snow that brought the city of atlanta to its knees. >> when it's going to be wet and cold, get the salt trucks on the road, around the clock, it's not that hard. >> reporter: thomas with al jazeera. >> reporter: meanwhile the west is getting some moisture but it's not enough to effect the drought. metrologist nicole mitchell is here to explain why, good morning, nicole. >> with a drought going on for records and record dry year last year and hardly any rain this year and what should be the rainy season and you know you will have problems that a couple of raindrops cannot fix. this is a broad picture and talking about the south and you can still see the boundary bringing rain to florida but

improved conditions today and more on that in a couple minutes. as we move to the west coast we had enough moisture coming in that a few places and parts of california for example and central california, a lot of these places getting a .10 or .2 and more to tahoe and snow in parts of the sierra pack that need it this winter. this is moving interior and it's going to dry out more today, that is what we were left at. in the meantime just from last week to this week the new drought monitor coming out and areas of expansion and we now have exceptional drought in 6% of california, that is the driest in 15 years so this should be the rainy season. the little bit we have got is not bringing a lot of relief because we have been so dry and we need relief and we have hazards and got some needed snow for parts of the sierra and even a little bit of an and atlanta

-- avalanche risk and another system for the weekend and the superbowl forecast not looking too bad looking to sunday on the other side of the country and back to you. >> nicole thank you, the new face of hunger in america. >> there are more people who are working getting food stamps and more people who are of prime earning years, in their 20s and 30s on food stamps. >> reporter: why young workers are asking the government for help and republican lawmakers have a plan for reform and what it requires them to do to gain legal status. >> reporter: i'm mark more atlanta live at met life stadium as the broncos and seahawks continue preparations for superbowl 48 and a live report is on the way.

♪ the senate will vote today on a farm bill two years in the making and a 100 billion a year bill the president promised to

sign cuts food stamps by $800 million a year and heidi reports that could have a big impact on millions of american whose rely on food stamps to put meals on the table. >> a full fridge is a luxury for 23-year-old kaitlyn swane, a single mother who left college last semester and living with her parents while she looks for a job. >> i'm really good with computers but since i don't have any experience in that field from before it's hard to find a job doing that because they want someone with experience. >> reporter: for the first time swane is applying for food stamps, the support mental nutrition assistance program and covers 1-7 americans and historically it has been children and elderly who made up the bulk of enrollees but that changed after the 2007 recession and now majority of recipients are working age adults ages 18-60. >> more people working who are getting food stamps and more people who are of prime earning

years n, in their 20s and 30s on food stamp. >> the loss of manufacturing jobs pushed people into lower-wage work. analysis by the university of kentucky found the 2012 median income of american households is down to 1999 levels. >> you no longer are paid as much relatively as you might have been 20 years ago. >> reporter: people with chej training are using food stamps and had a third of households up from 8% in 1980, 46-year-old sonya has a degree in art and using food stamps since she lost her job waiting tables six months ago. >> i'm not one to ask for handouts. it's actually very humbling to come here. >> reporter: and she says she is waiting to hear back from a job interview now. and looking forward to buying groceries with her own money and standing on her own two feet

again. heidi with al jazeera, dallas. >> reporter: right now 47 million people across the country receive help from the supplemental nutrition assistance program and 800 million a year in cuts would add up to 1% of the program's annual spending. let's take a look at what temperatures we will see across the nation today and metrologist nicole mitchell is back. >> good morning, we start with the south because we had melting yesterday and with temperatures atlanta and birmingham and around the 25 degree mark and below freezing and for a long enough period of time that if there was any moisture left on the road that can refreeze, so watch out for slick spots again today. we also cooled off in the midwest again, cool might be an under statement as the front went through so more negatives minus 9 in minneapolis but in the south warm enough today to get the melting going once again for any residual snow and ice. back to you. >> thank you. we are two days away from superbowl xlviii and fans are

ready and the denver broncos and sea attel see -- seattle see hawks and mark is getting ready for another busy day. >> broncos and seahawks continue for the preps for superbowl xlviii and they arrived last sunday and with media out of the way it's time for business. both teams practiced yesterday and will show you what it looked like for the teams and we will start with the broncos and denver did something differently yesterday and moved their practice indoors at the new york jets training facility in new jersey because head coach john fox wanted his team to be inside because of the synthetic turf was getting hard and wanted his guys to have a softer surface to practice on. so the broncos moved indoors yesterday and pay ten manning looking for his second superbowl

ring and know that they want to win the game for themselves and number 18 as well. >> i'm always talking about sort of i feel like i could probably describe the perfect quarterback and take a piece of everyone and dan's release and troy aikman drawback and brett favre scrambling ability and his two-minute poise and naturally my speed in there. i want guys to play for their families and play for those people but if somebody wants to win a game for you, boy, that is extremely flattering and i would like to win it, you know, for the broncos, for pat and for it to be his #th superbowl is an accomplishment in itself and he deserves another championship so i would like to help the

broncos, i get another championship and but you have other people that you would like to win it for as well. >> reporter: as foresee -- seattle they are healthy and practiced in the new york giants facility in the shadow of met life stadium and opened a few doors to let cold air in during the 90-minute workout and as they finish up the game plan they were asked about the other signal caller in superbowl xlviii. >> yeah, you know obviously peyton manning and attention to level of detail allowed me to focus much more and you hear that about him all the time and i want to be me and just prepare the right way and do the things i need to do to prepare and he may prepare differently than i do and i don't know how he prepares but i have to go through the checklist and make

sure i'm ready to go and calms my nerves and come game time i'll ready and excited and prepared and seeing things and visualizing and i'm big into that and part of the game that gets me ready. >> reporter: all right, that is the word from both teams. now let's talk about nfl roger gadel and later he will have the state of the nfl news conference and will touch on several subjects and one is player safety, the league announced during preand regular season practice and games this season there was a 23% decrease over the past two seizes in number of concussions caused by helmet to helmet contact and also a subject that will be discussed expanding the playoffs to 12-14 teams and could lead to wild card on monday and wednesday and more games to be played overseas and three overseas in the up coming season and back to you and live again during the 7:00 hour. >> looking forward to it and thank you.

mending fences with germany and nsa scandal created friction between the countries and secretary of state john kerry is trying to patch things up. >> translator: little by little i'm trying to forget the nightmares and everything that i went through. >> reporter: giving new life to young women who had their childhood stolen by being forced to work in the sex trade. >> i had enough. i knew that i needed to make changes. >> reporter: an unique program that gives inmates the skills to be entrepreneurs. ♪

welcome back to al jazeera america, i'm stephanie sy and these are our top stories at this hour, the united nations human rights office calling for restraint from the protesters in

ukraine and says reports of deaths, kidnapping and torture should be independently investigated and secretary of state john kerry is in germany to talk to opposition leaders about the crisis. the first round of talks at ending syria's civil war produced little progress and negotiations in geneva are ending today but expected to resume at a later date. amanda knox attorney plans to appeal her latest murder conviction, for the second time an it ran court convicted her of killing her roommate and the family says they believe they are still on a journey to the truth and believe knox should go back to italy if the convection stands. pentagon says navy vice admiral michael rogers is president obama choice to be the next director of the national security agency and rogers would replace keith alexander who served as nsa director for more than 8 years and rogers is a

cryptologist and can talk about the programs during is that true confer rayss. in december a presidential advisory panel recommended that president obama split the jobs of nsa director and head of the u.s. cyber command but the president rejected that proposition. u.s. secretary of state john kerry arrived in berlin this morning and one of the things on his agenda is talks with the german foreign minister in an attempt to rebuild trust, cock miezed by the nsa spying revelations and including the tapping of the german chancellor's cell phone and industrial espionage and we are live in berlin this morning and thanks for being with us and i want to talk about what chancellor merkel said and spoke about the program on wednesday in the state of the union and says in the end it is not about defense against terrorism but about for instance gaining

advantages over alleys and negotiations at g-20 summit or u.n. meetings and our answer can only be, no, that cannot be right. how damaging to the relationship are edward snowden's latest revelations the nsa also spied on german companies like semen's? >> well, that remains to be seen really. edward snowden said that in the weekend but the reaction in germany was muted and when revelations come out there has been a huge outrage here but the comments that snowden made were relatively ambiguous and in that sense there has not been a huge reaction here. i mean industrial espionage is something that germans are aware of and years and years they have come up in talks for instance with china and so on and it's a touchy subject but that has not really been the real clincher in the whole nsa scandal and that is the political level, the

spying on allies and that is what struck to the heart in this debate. >> reporter: there was this original proposal of. >> it continues. >> reporter: some sort of no spy agreement between the u.s. and germany, that doesn't seem like it's going to happen. is there an alternative to that that might ease the tensions between these two important allies? >> well, it seems that at the moment it's really down to a question of good will now. when the revelations came out that angela merkel's cell phone had potentially been monitored by u.s. spies caused outrage and also pointly around the time of an election so ms. merkel made a push to say we will fix this and have a no spy deal with the u.s., this is something we are going to negotiate and because we are so close this is definitely going to happen. however in resent months the hope is out of the negotiations. this morning thomas the interior

minister gave an interview and said, you know, i'm really narrowly optimistic about getting anything about this. i mean, there was some concessions when a bomber announced through nsa earlier in the month said we will not spy on ally leaders and the germans can hold up to voters and say it's fine and everything will be okay and that is slim. now merkel as we saw in the quote, unquote state of the union address earlier this week appealing to good will and saying there is a lot the u.s. can do and a lot that many countries can do, but really we shouldn't be doing this and we should think about human rights and be thinking about privacy and that is what it has come down to now and she is explicitly said they don't have a any lever on the u.s. and should hold talks on eu, u.s. trade

agreement but merkel said i think that is a bad idea and we will just appeal to good will. >> reporter: that agreement will be talked about as well, that is on the agenda. does it make a difference that secretary kerry that is going to be speaking with merkel eventually and with the german foreign minister given he grew up in berlin and a better understanding of how seriously the spying charges are in that country? >> that is definitely true and i think john kerry does have a sympathetic and makes a sympathetic impression in germany and people hark back to his up bringing here and the fact he is not a bomber, is another good thing. it's really can be said that the understanding has been diminished by the scandal and this is a president who men so much to the german people. when he came here in 2008 before he was elected he had this message of hope that people in germany really embraced and thought he was such a great guy.

and he was so popular. when all of this happened a lot of people are like, hey, this is not the bush era any more and how can this be happening when we have this president who seems to embody all these american values that we hold dear and germany has aspired too since the second column war and they have been close and the u.s. guided germany in ways and provided security and military presence here. this has been redefined and some say there is a generational split and anger over nsa is because of a young generation now doesn't remember the times of cold war when russia was a threat across the iron curtain. so there are -- there is a reset going on in germany at the moment. >> reporter: really important historical context you are giving us there and harriet with "the wall street journal" and thanks for joining us this morning. arrest warrants issued for 12 people who they say either

currently worked for al jazeera or done so in the past, however, the al jazeera network has not received an official notice from the egypt's legal authorities, it has already been more than a month since the egyptians detained three al jazeera english journalists, peter greste and mohamed fahmy since december 29 and spreading lies and links to the muslim brotherhood and declared a terrorist organization on the 25th and the cases have been referred to the criminal court by the prosecutor general and however the al jazeera network has not been notified of any formal charges. two more journalists from our sister channel have also been detained without charge for more than six months and al jazeera rejects allegations against all of them and continues to demand the unconditional release of its journalists. the number of airforce officers under investigation for allegations of cheating has ballooned to 92. that is nearly three times the

initial 34 implicated and they talked about cheating on an exam last year and others knew about the cheating but failed to report it to superiors and all have been suspended during the investigation. the border between the u.s. and mexico is a place where people especially girls are sold into the sex trade. there are a growing number of resources to help the victims of human trafficking and jennifer london takes us inside a shelter in tijuana. >> each morning 19-year-old karen looks in the mirror next to her bed. >> translator: i say to myself i'm strong and i will not allow somebody to put me down. >> reporter: finding the courage to face herself each day hasn't been easy and karen who asks that we not use her last name is a survivor of sex trafficking. karen was raped as many as 25 times a day by different men, sold into prosecution by her

boyfriend. >> translator: he took me to mexico city where there are girls standing on the sidewalks and i had to start prostituting myself. >> reporter: after six months of being raped and beaten karen escaped. today she lives in this safe house in tee want -- tijuana mexico. >> translator: i'm trying to forget. >> reporter: so are the 7 other girl whose live here under age and some abused since the age of two. after they have been rescued by mexican or even u.s. authorities the girls are placed in the care of alma tucker a san diego residents who crosses the border everyday to run the safe house with other volunteers. >> one of the missions here in the house is to provide them with the basic needs. we have a school right here in the facility.

but also some volunteers the like zumba classes and self-defense and learning english. >> reporter: sex trafficking is a crime under reported and happens out in the open and here in the red light district in tijuana is where supply meets demand here on the streets, women and girls are bought and sold into prosecution everyday. exact numbers are hard to come by but it's estimated there are tens of thousands of trafficking victims in the country, yet the safe house is one of to such places in all of mexico. >> a lot of people see what we do and don't want to hear about it and don't want to believe it because it's hard to hear it when one girl is abused 25 time as day and everything taken away from them, their childhood and peace and their dreams. when they are here we focus on the person and see how we can

bring up those dreams again. >> reporter: since being rescued 19-year-old karen is remembering her dreams and what it feels like to laugh and to believe in something again, her future. jennifer london, al jazeera, tijuana, mexico. >> reporter: according to the project an estimated 100,000 children are involved in sex trafficking in the u.s. each year. house republicans are offering up a new blueprint on immigration reform and a path but not citizenship for the countries 11 million undocumented immigrants and earning citizenship and guiding a new republican eccback to legislation on the subject. speaker john boehner is ready for the party to move forward in an important election year. >> i think republicans have to do more to talk about the better solutions that we think we have

that will help the american people grow their wages, have opportunities at a better job and clearly have a better shot at the american dream. >> reporter: the proposal also calls for rigorous criminal background checks and requires immigrants to learn english and pay substantial fines and back taxes. convicted killers and drug dealers may seem not likely for a silicon start up but a california couple has developed an unique program that transforms recovering criminals into budding entrepreneurs. >> in an industry full of hoodie wearing tekkies and he is no start-up cl'ech'e and 40-year-old father of three and newcomer on twitter and never held a smartphone until last year. what did you think when you first got your first smartphone? >> you know what, i just wanted to dial a number, right.

my name is horashio. >> reporter: this was ray a year ago an inmate at sand quintin prison serving 8 1/2 years for man slaughter. >> turning point was actually at the moment i committed my offense. i had enough. i knew that i needed to make some changes. >> so who questions do you have? >> the transformation began with capitalists and beverly, founders of the six month prison program aimed at turning criminals into tech entrepreneurs. there is no internet here, just word processors and pencil and paper and learning and this is called the last mile. >> we want the guyings to get out and a chance to get back and work in a paid internships and get an idea how start-ups work. >> reporter: california has 130,000 inmates according to the department of corrections and 65% commit another crime after release. these statistics convains vinced

the couple to start the program three years ago. >> we are not giving people the tools they need to be successful in the society once they are released. >> reporter: students learn to blog and tweet and mc hammer and a muscina turned financier and they pitch to people. >> i am the founder and ceo of funky onion. >> reporter: he pitched a program to fight obesity in low-income communities and landed him an internship in san francisco. >> i'm not going to lie, we were all like could be a little bit scary, we don't know and having met ray, this is a no-brainer. >> reporter: one of five graduates working full time. do you eventually want to start your own company? >> absolutely. and chris, beverly plan to

go further and a goal that begins with each inmate taking another step in that last mile and i'm with al jazeera, san francisco. >> reporter: to get in the program inmates need to apply and be recommended by peers and reviewed by administrators. taking a look at business news now microsoft's 7 month long search for a new later may be over and bloomberg reports that microsoft board is close to naming nadalla as the software giant's next ceo and he is the vice president of microsoft enterprise and cloud business and replace and he may replace bill gates with john thompson and yahoo e-mail system was hit by a hacking attack, the company said user names and passwords of some of its e-mail users have been stolen and used to access the counts. it did not disclose how many accounts have been hacked and yahoo said it's resetting

passwords on accounts effected by the attack and it's the largest second e-mail service with 273 million accounts world why. on wall street and stock features and this is where we stand. in asia the nika falling below 15,000 and it was the worst performing index in january with losses of more than 8%. markets in hong kong and shanghai closed for the chinese holiday. european stocks are on track for the first monthly loss since august and google is higher and sales jumped 17 to nearly $17 billion in the last few months of 2013 and earnings weaker than expected because of the amount advertisers are willing to pay for ads and fell 11% from the previous year and google's days

in the 1,000 stock club are coming to an end and the company is splitting stock 2 for 1 on april 2nd and it will create a class c stock which will have no voting power. toyota is halting the line up with heated seats and they say the fabric on the seats failed to meet fire safety standards and they have to fix 36,000 unsold vehicles including the popular camry, avalon and carolla and siena and no reason to recall the ones on the road because there with have been no incidents but the feds will have the final say on that, alley velshi will report on the middle class next week on "real money," you can see america's middle class right here monday on al jazeera america, a major change in men's healthcare and now can get treated at the

gynecologist's office. ♪ and from celebrations to superstitions how the year of the horse is getting underway in china. and we have snow in the central plains that is causing a morning mess, i'll have your national forecast. ♪

>> every sunday night aljazeera america presents

♪ jazeera america presents welcome back to al jazeera america, let's get a look at where the snow and rain may fall across the country today and metrologist nicole mitchell is back. >> reporter: we have an active pattern from the frontal boundary that went through the south is in portions of florida and another system that moved through the midwest and boundary through this region of the country, this is with areas of snow and you see this nebraska and running through parts of illinois and kind of a corridor in here where we could get, you can see this, maybe up to 6" of snow, a lot is light but could

be icy out here as well so take caution as you head out. >> men could be treated by gynecologists and the board repealed restrictions on doctors only treating women. the medical specialty has been for women only for decades but it was heavily criticized last fall for banning the treatment of men. the change will also allow men to participate in research studies. chinese new year celebrations are in full swing and this year is the year of the horse and craig reports from beijing on the predictions and superstitions surrounding the holiday. >> across the country chinese families spring clean and sweeping out ill fortune to make way for good luck. in shanghai workers and students traveling home witnessed something new with a hint of tradition, a flash mob chinese style. >> translator: i really want to go home after watching this. i feel particularly warm after working hard in shanghai for the

whole year and really want to be with my family now. >> in southwest china province they fill parks and lakes 450,000 glass bottles went in the design of this peacock and 2014 is all about saying good-bye to the snake and hello to the horse, the spirit of the horse has long been a part of chinese people. >> translator: for most chee needs people's perspective the horse is very good word and often used with good meanings and symbolizes health and prosperity. >> reporter: superstitions are strong and one is on holiday and one industry is thriving and fortune tellers are in big demand. >> translator: everyone wants to know the fortune for the next year to decide what to do and many people come to me now to predict their life. >> reporter: non-chinese among us the traditionings of this time of year can be rather

confusing, so i have a quick guide to get you through and first it's not called the chinese new year and called the spring festival or lunar new year and doesn't run one day but 15 days, secondly on the first day of festival there is no showering, no washing, no cleaning or laundering of any kind and thirdly, as a foreigner be generous. so what does 2014 hold in store for china? according to our fortune teller there will be a severe drought and water plugs will get worst and friction with southeast countries will increase and on the bright side the strength will increase significantly this year, however, if you are not superstitious there are other ways the year of the horse may bring you good fortune and craig with al jazeera, beijing. >> reporter: it's tradition

that those whose year it is will have an unlucky year and chinese superstition said horses beware and include 2002, 1990, 1978, 1966, 1954, 1942, 1930 and 1918 and we are joined with stories we are following the next year and happy lunar. >> and i was writing those down and kerry expected to meet with leaders this weekend in germany and next week assist and secretary of state will go to meet with the government and opposition. peace talks wrapping newspaper geneva and there has not been much progress on ending that country's bloody civil war and house republicans releasing immigration plan and offer undocumented people a pathway to status but not citizenship. next hour, a study giving hope to children suffering from dangerous peanut allergies and

they tell us about a therapy that is reducing the risk of a potentially deadly reaction. >> reporter: i'm metrologist nicole mitchell and drought in the west coast is spreading despite the rain and how is it shaping up for the weekend's big game and will have the forecast. >> and we are back with you in just a minute.

>> the struggling midddle class >> we just can't get ahead... >> working longer hours, for less pay. >> people are struggling everywhere. >> school loans... morgages... inflation... taking it's toll... >> we live paycheck to paycheck... >> now in a continuing series, join ali velshi as we follow families, just like yours, as they try to get by... >> we're all struggling financially... >> america's middle class: rebuilding the dream

only on al jazeera america! >> al jazeera america is a straight-forward news channel. >> its the most exciting thing to happen to american journalism in decades. >> we believe in digging deep. >> its unbiased, fact-based, in-depth journalism. >> you give them the facts, dispense with the fluff and get straight to the point. >> i'm on the ground every day finding stories that matter to you. >> in new orleans... >> seattle bureau... >> washington... >> detroit... >> chicago... >> nashville... >> los angeles... >> san francisco... >> al jazeera america, take a new look at news. >> syria war peace efforts, were there break through's? >> foreign intervention, the president of ukraine accuses the opposition of escalating the crisis. >> new medical advances for kids with peanut allergies.

>> we will see the conditions only get worse. this is just the thin edge of the wedge. >> a dire warning of the reef's future with nearby development. >> good morning, welcome to aljazeera america. i'm stephanie sy. >> i'm del walters. today marked the end of peace talks of the first round for syria. negotiators plan to meet again, but no firm date has been set. >> later this hour, we expect an update on the status of the talks from united nations mediator. the end to this first round of talks comes amid a background of on going violence including

government air straiks on opposition controlled areas. we are covering the talks. nick, good morning. what do we expect to hear this morning? >> we expect to hear not much in terms of concrete announcements other than that the second round of talks probably february 10 in about 10 or so days. that just goes to show how difficult these talks have been. there are no concrete developments, no actual announcement coming from these talks at all. they were supposed to talk about political transition. they skirted that issue. they were supposed to create humanitarian corridors into towns and areas that haven't had food, water or medicine up to a year. they failed to do that. so, really, they are being challenged as to why they haven't accomplished anything. u.n. and u.s. officials tell me just be patient, you cannot make peace in a week after three years of brutal war.

that is sold comfort inside syria where towns are still being shelled and suffering the worst humanitarian crisis since world war ii. >> areas that support the assad government now say they want to deliver the aid. can we expect anything else in the way of humanitarian development? >> that announcement is a good sign, but no, there have been no developments. we have to folious on that fact. so many in syria haven't had food, water and medicine in over a year. they were supposed to create some kind of alleviation for that suffering and they have not done so at all. as that suffering continues, we're seeing more violence in syria, activists, pro coalition activists posted videos of what they say are government attacks on towns.

these aren't missiles dropped from planes, these are barrel bombs. they are indiscriminate, blowing out buildings, entire blocks and kill lots of people in their wake. as we're discussing the back and forth here, the death toll and misery in syria is rising. >> outside of the talks, thursday the u.s. government said that syria has only turned over 4% of its chemical weapons stockpile. the u.s. said it will not rule out military action but would refer to handle it through diplomacy. >> this is actually a big deal. u.s. officials have in private been grumbling about what they call assad's delaying tactics but now have gone public for the first time. it shows the white house is losing patience. the white house is worried about june 30, the deadline by which

all syrian chemical weapons need to be destroyed. what the white house is worried about is if you get toward that date, get to june 30 and those chemical weapons haven't been destroyed, there will be a lot of pressure on president obama to consider an air strike, to consider another military strike. president obama has made it very clear he has no intention to do that. the white house is trying to get ahead of that deadline, far ahead in order to avoid any challenge or any pressure that they'll feel toward june 30 on that deadline. >> we all remember the red line that president obama described. nick shiffrin reporting to us from geneva, thank you. >> tensions are growing ahead of thigh land's sunday election. authorities may have to close the polling stations if violence erupts during the elections. police will have at least 10,000 security personnel on stand by

during the voting. the political unrest that killed hundreds and left more wounded. >> ukraine receiving a major show of support from the u.s. secretary of state kerry expected to meet with key leaders in germany this weekend. government leaders will also be there, but no word whether they will meet with kerry. jennifer glass is in kiev. the ukrainian crisis now on the u.s. radar. how big of a deal are these upcoming meetings? >> well, del, you're joining me in independence square as the protestors are getting a little exuberant. we'll be fighting with them for sound. the international support, i've been hearing from opposition protestors for weeks now saying look, we don't want moral support, we want real support. we want to see real backing.

i've been stopped on the subway here, on the streets when people hear me speaking english, so the opposition will welcome this. this is likely to make russia unhappy. president vladimir putin warned catherine ashton not to come here on the square behind me when she comes this week. she has said it's not good for foreigners to get involved in this cries. this has been a tug of war between the east and west. it's how it all started. president viktor yanukovych was supposed to sign a deal with the european union, instead signed a deal with russia. disbursement of the funds are not happening today, vladimir putin said he made that deal with the previous prime minister who resigned this week and he's waiting to see what the new

government will do, protecting russia's financial interests. as foreign pours get involved, i think it might make things a little more complicated here. president viktor yanukovych is now on sick leave. >> how serious are allegations of human rights violations? >> this is a report by human rights watch that document that police forces targeted journalists and medics in the clashes just a few hundred yards from here. they say that it does not follow human rightsvasions. they would like ukraine to carry out investigations. there haven't been investigations, human rights says. it's very troubling. >> thank you very much. >> the justice democratic plan

to say seek the death penalty against the man accused in the boston marathon bombing. 20-year-old dzhokar tsarnaev faces 30 federal charges, more than half carry the death penalty or life in prison. thursday, attorney general holder authorized federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty, saying the nature of the conduct at issue and the resultant harm compel this decision. he has pleaded not guilty and no trial date is set. >> michael rogers has been tapped to become the next director of the national security agency. rogers is a cryptologist with a background in code breaking. president's advisory panel suggested splitting the job, but the president has yet to sign

off on that proposition. >> the number of air force officers under investigation for allegations of cheating has now grown to 92. that is nearly three times the initial 34 who were implicated in the scandal. forty are expected of cheating on an exam last year. two knew about the cheating but failed to report it to superiors. all have been suspended during that investigation. >> house republicans are offering up a new blueprint on immigration reform, calling for a path to legal status, but not citizenship for many of the countries 11 million undocumented immigrants. it includes proposals on border security, employment verification and a plan for so-called dreamers or young citizens to earn citizenship. it is to guide new republican backed legislation on the subject. speaker boehner is ready for the republican to say move forward. >> they have a talk about the better solutions that we think

we have that will help the american people grow their wages, have opportunities at a better job and clearly have a better shot at the american dream. >> the proposal also calls for rig rouse criminal background checks and requires immigrants to learn english and pay substantial fines and back taxes. >> the senate is extending its hand to help homeowners in flood-prone areas, approval new legislation delaying sharp increase to say flood insurance rates for up to four years. the increases were supposed to be faced in next year under new maps. some say it only hurts a flood insurance program that's already underwater. >> atlanta slowly getting back to normal after a winter storm stranding thousands of drivers, forcing children to spend the night at their schools. some officials are saying the buck stop witness them. >> 48 hours after a rare winter

storm paralyzed atlanta, this was of the scene across the city's highways and roads. lines of cars still parked on the sides of streets, abandoned by owners. many were forced to walk home in the freezing cold or take slepter in stores and restaurants. >> it was scary. i got into a little bit of a panic mode about six hours into it and finally, i was like i'm just going to walk. >> i spent nine hours on the road from downtown, and at 10:00, i abandoned my car. >> on thursday, many returned to pick up their vehicles, aided by the kindness of strangers and the national guard who helped push, refuel and drive hundreds of people to their cars. >> there are still a lot of vehicles there. a lot of them have been recovered. tow trucks have been working through the night. >> on a day when so many were trying to get back to normal, a reversal by others. >> i'm the governor, the buck stops with me.

i accept the responsibility for it. >> 24 hours earlier, the governor of georgia said he was misled by the forecast. >> anybody with an iphone knew that it was going to, so... >> on thursday, he took responsibility for the response. >> i think we did not respond fast enough. we did not respond in the magnitude at an earlier enough time to be able to avoid some of these consequences. >> as for atlanta's mayor, he hasn't wavered from his assessment on what went wrong. >> i think it would have made a major difference if we released our school and parents first, if private business had been left second and government left last. >> today, the region will see warmer weather, perhaps relieving some of the southern discomfort brought on by less of three inches of snow that brought the city of atlanta to its knees. >> when it's going to be wet and

cold, get the salt trucks on the road. it's not that hard. >> georgia state police ordered remaining vehicles to be towed from atlanta interstates. many towing companies aren't going to charge the drivers going to retrieve their cars. >> they have the opposite problem in the western united states, seeing some rain and snow, but the drought, not much of a dent. >> let's turn to nicole mitchell. they need rain badly out there, any type of precipitation. >> we do and we've gotten just a little bit. but ongoing drought has been worsening for years and lots of places in california the worst on record in terms of rainfall. a 10th to .2 hasn't made a dent in this. as we look at the big picture, we had a system coming onshore. that's the rain we were just talking about. this drought monitor versus last weeks is continuing to expand. california now, this exceptional

core of drought, just super dry conditions now up to 6% of the state, you can see the entire state is in some level of drought category. we have 17 different smaller communities that they say between two and four months from now could go dry for drinking water. it is not helping the soil conditions too much. this condition is starting to move more onshore, so that's going to taper off, that little bit of moisture we've been getting. this should be the rainy season, but not a lot rest that we'll see for the day today. there's another system for the weekend. looks like that will be dry. we'll keep an eye on that and wish for more in the forecast. i want to mention this is the sunday forecast. sunday afternoon, low pressure. ahead of that front, it looks like southerly air, so some mild temperatures and also, we'll see for the rest of the day, it looks like the rain will be more in the morning, so some good news for those of you watching the superbowl.

>> amanda knox has been convicted of murder once again. an italian court reinstating the guilty verdict for her and her former boyfriend on thursday. both were convicted of killing knox's college roommate, but those verdicts were overturned two years later, a third trial was ordered. knox didn't attend because she was afraid of being imprisoned. her former boyfriend that turned himself into a police station in italy, but will be released shortly. >> lawyers for an executed man are arguing missouri killed the man before the appeals process finished. their final appeal to the supreme court was made less than 30 minutes before their client was pronounced dead. the court denied the request 30 minutes after he was already dead. his attorneys were in court over the lethal drug being used, claiming the inmate could suffer during the execution. this is the third time missouri executed someone while their case was in court.

>> here are headlines around the world. the buffalo news has a very tragic story about six babies who died this month while sleeping with their parents. duties are warned not to sleep with infants, as well as placing too many blankets on the babies. >> they should sleep with them in the room but not the bed. k through 12 teachers in mississippi says mississippi teachers got a c grade last year, up drama d plus last year. >> teachers are always happy to do a little bit better. >> the lowest in the grades was montana, with an f. >> india reporting that mumbai getting its first monroe rail. they will be able to use a system that goes five miles through the city. the trains will be air conditioned. they look kind of smart. they will have stations with

elevators and escalators. >> this will do a little to reduce the congestion in mumbai. >> hopefully the escalators work for a while because in washington they always stop. >> new york city is bringing changes to the stop and frisk tactic. >> helping sufferers from peanut allergies find relief. helping those who fear the peanut. >> 1,250,000,000, it is our big number of the day and it's the big appetite people are expected to have for one snack during the superbowl.

>> what is a big number without talking about the superbowl, 1,250,000,000, that is exactly how many chicken wings down to the wing are expected to be consumed during the game, the

nothing chicken council counting, saying it matches the record set in 2012. >> take caution of the waist line while watching the game. it is estimated the average fan eats at least 1200-calories during the superbowl. i have a feeling they're not just eatings wings. nachos, guacamole. >> more toilets flushed at half time during the superbowl than any other time. >> welcome back. >> new york city's mayor keeping his campaign promise to makes changes to the city's controversial stop and frisk policy. >> meteorologist nicole mitchell is back. >> i was making the three layer mint brownies yesterday. using the oven helps to keep things up in these cold temperatures. in the south, 24 birmingham, 25 in atlanta. this is enough to refreeze wet

spots on the roadways. as temperatures raise into today, and especially do tomorrow, not too bad already in memphis. the high temperatures, a lot in the 1950's. in the midwest, we have single digits. into the day tomorrow, we start rebounding those temperatures more into the 20's. even 60's for the south tomorrow, so that gets rid of the cold air. >> we are live right now in geneva, switzerland. it has been a rocky road. we are waiting to hear what he has to say and where the talks will go now, if anywhere, as they have been very contentious hearings. >> also today, a federal judge upholding restrictions on assault weapons, a district court seeing measures enacted last april do not vital the

rights of connecticut residents. he said the connecticut law was enacted for public safety and crime control. >> new york city has a new mayor throwing out old police tactics. he will not appeal a court's decision that declared stop and frisk discriminatory. he said the policy was nothing more than state sanctioned racial profiling. >> it's been a policy that treated our young people, particularly our young people of color, like their rights didn't matter as much in our society. >> in addition to dropping the appeal, deblasio said federal reforms will be overseen in the police department. >> mattel reporting profits rose 21% to $369 million in the key holiday shopping season, still missing analyst estimates as

consumers bought less. google shares are higher, sales jumping to nearly $17 billion in the last three months of 2013, but the earnings were weaker than expected, because the amount that advertisers were willing to pay for ads fell 11%. the company is splitting its stock two for one on april second, creating a new c. class stock which will have no voting power. >> do you futures are down 120 points. in asia, nikkei falling below the 15,000 mark, with losses of more than 8%. european stocks are on track for

their first monthly loss since august. >> yahoo's email was hit by a hacker attack, pass words have been stolen and used to access accounts. it does not disclose how many accounts have been hacked. yahoo is resetting passwords on affected accounts. it is the world's second largest email service with 273 million accounts worldwide. >> in a program note, ali velshi will have a special report on the middle class next week on his program "real money" p.m. you can see america's middle class, rebuilding the dream starting monday night right here on aljazeera. it is time for the man who helped the country navigate the 2008 financial crisis to retire. we look back at the defining moments of federal reserve chairman ben bernanke. >> you will be an outstanding chairman of the federal reserve. >> when tapped to lead the fed, the economy was in a real estate

bubble fueled by risky mortgage lending but when the sub prime market starting to implode, he failed to stop theistickic crisis it would trigger. >> the impact on the broader economy and financial markets of the problem in the sub prime market seems likely to be contained. >> the bad home loans caught up with wall street, bringing lehman brothers to its niece, sending shock waves through the global financial system. investors fled stocks and money markets. with confidence plummeting around the globe, bernanke, an authority on the great depression harnessed the full power of the federal reserve to arrest the freefall, slashing short term interest rates to historic lows, shoring up troubled financial institutions through multi-billion dollars bailout the. in december, 2008, with the economy contracting at an alarming rate, bernanke launched

the most and you had days experiment in federal reserve history, a bond buying spree called quantitative easing, buying treasuries and mortgage backed securities from banks using newly created money. by the middle of 2009, the nation was crawling out of recession. in december, he was named time magazine's person of the year. >> more than $3 trillion worth of bond buying later, the economy is slowly but steadily growing, the housing market recovering and the fed winding down its unprecedented stimulus. q.e. has had unintended consequences. keeping interest rates low, record rallies in stocks have been fueled, worsening the divide between the nation's have and have notes. >> by is it estimates, the top 1% of americans captured 95% of income gain in the first two years of the recovery. >> it's a policy that really seems to be disproportionately

benefiting wall street and not really having a lot of knock on benefit to main street. >> it's now left to janet yellen to deal with the legacy of q.e., as he hands over the keys to the most powerful financial institution on the planet, few dispute the place ben bernanke earned in history. >> he prevented the great recession from turning into a second great depression. that's got to go down as the biggest thing. >> aljazeera, new york. >> the u.s. public is divided in its opinion of bernanke. a recent poll found 40% of americans approve of the way he handled his job, 35% disapprove. it's not as good as alan greenspan, retiring with a 65% approval in 2006. >> there has been a new break through for those suffering peanut allergies. >> we're going to talk about

improving the quality of life for those affected. >> one hollywood star let and a controversial superbowl ad, pressure on scarlett johansson. >> great barrier reefs, risks to the national treasure. >> speaking of national treasures, quarterback peyton manning looking for a second superbowl ring sunday, going up against one of the nfl's young guns. we will preview the matchup.

real reporting that brings you the world. >> this is a pretty dangerous trip. >> security in beirut is tight. >> more reporters. >> they don't have the resources to take the fight to al shabaab. >> more bureaus, more stories. >> this is where the typhoon came ashore. giving you a real global perspective like no other can. >> al jazeera, nairobi. >> on the turkey-syria border. >> venezuela. >> beijing. >> kabul. >> hong kong. >> ukraine. >> the artic. real reporting from around the world. this is what we do. al jazeera america. >> good morning, welcome to aljazeera america.

>> act stress scarlett johansson is in the middle of a conflict over endorsement of a particular product. >> a breakthrough for peanut allergy sufferers. a new study involving their health risk. >> it is one of the world's international wonders, the great barrier reef. some argue a plant dump at the reef may affect the environment. first we go live to nick shiffrin in geneva now. the u.n. leader has been speaking. nick, what can you tell us? >> he is ending these talks today, and said that they have a huge task ahead of them. they want to "save the country." he's ended the talks but both side's committed to a second

round. he admitted that progress was slow but said that the two sides engaged in an acceptable manner. perhaps the most obvious quotation from this press conference is this is a modest beginning, but a beginning from which to build. he's trying to say at least two sides didn't walk away, two sides can use these last eight days of talks and build on that and perhaps slowly in the future get to things like local ceasefires, local humanitarian corridors. what he did at the end of the press conference is say both sides are actually seeing some things on the same page. he went through six or seven things both sides agreed with, being committed to the geneva one communique where both sides set out a political transition, saying the conflict has to end and that the suffering of the syrian people is unacceptable and immense. what he's trying to do is bring the two sides together. he has struggled through that this week but hopes to do that in 10 days right back here.

>> nick, thank you very much. >>. more than 150 million people expected to watch sunday's big game between the broncos and seahawks and they'll also be looking at those superbowl ads, but there is one rejected that featured act stress scarlett johansson. >> like most actors, my real job is saving the world. >> it may look like any number of advertisements, it has a little pop and fizz, glamour, but also a whole lot of controversy. soon after this ad for soda stream hit the airwaves, johansson ended her eight year ambassador ship with oxfam. soda stream is here in an israeli settlement in the west

bank and come under heavy criticism from pro palestinian activists, saying products made only serve to support the occupation. in a statement, oxfam said while it respected johansson's independence, oxfam believes that businesses, such as soda stream that operate in settlements further the on going poverty and denial of rights of the palestinian communities that we work to support. oxfam is a posed to all trade from israeli settlements which are illegal under international law. soda stream's c.e.o. daniel burbbaum said the israeli and palestinian employees represent the possibility for peace in the region. >> this factory is a dream for activists and politicians on both sides of this dilemma, because this factory is the model for peace. soda stream is showing every day what peace will look like and proving every day that there can

be and will be peace among our peoples. >> palestinian officials don't see it that way. >> this factory is located on annexed and occupied palestinian lands. this is a settlement, in violation of international law and legitimacy. this factory is set up on land stolen by force. if they want to set up bridges for peace? why don't they establish this factory in israeli and then employ palestinian workers? johansson joins celebrities whose paid appearances and deals have stirred controversy. from jennifer lopes controversial concert to beyonce giving a private performance for member of muammar goo daphne's entour acknowledge, many have crossed the line.

george clooney said his ads are part of a larger strategy to finance humanitarian work, saying: >> johansson's feud with oxfam highlights a modern day dilemma, when celebrity enforcement deals and activism clashes. >> a firm that specializes in brand development joins us. you are advising scarlett johansson. what does she do? >> i think about it in terms of winners and losers. i think we have two losers and one winner. soda stream wins, many more people paying attention to this company and their products, the

superbowl flap, this flap, they're winning. oxfam wins. many more people are paying attention to what they're all about. scarlett loses. it appears to most people that spend any time that she compromised values and walked away from a long time partner for money. that's something that long term's going to hurt her brand, her stature. >> do you think that motor people believe, though, that hollywood star lets and actors pay that much attention to the mission behind the money their contracts bring or do you think this is a new awareness that they must be advised about. >> it's a mix and depends on the alignment between that star and brands. most people would find it hard to believe that angelina jolie and brad pitt are going to walk away from the causes they support for some commercial enterprise. i think the same thing applies to elton john, and to bono. this is going to be damaging to

miss johansson. >> soda stream announcing plans to bring johansson to israeli this year. should she go? >> if she does -- >> you think it's going to hurt her at the box office. that's going to be the bottom line for an actress. >> you know what, in this word, with the pace of news cycles, it's hard to say whether it's going to hurt her in the box office, del. >> johansson not the first celebrity to receiver her ties with oxfam. kristin davis did the same thing. should stars avoid the region altogether? >> that's a great question. i think what they need to do is think very carefully about the mix of social causes that they get involved in and commercial enterprises that they start to support and they need to have a very clear strategy to keep those separate. >> is this a problem where we only know of the stars for what they do on screen. i remember george clooney screening a very controversial

movie about sudan. most americans never saw the film. they don't realize he is trying to raise money for what he does in south sudan. is this a problem where the stars say this is part of what i do, but this is also part of what i do? >> yes, and it's not easy, but i think you're right. >> what are other stars going forward. what should they do? if you're advising them, how do they deal with the world? >> is this a commercial enterprise and i'm endorsing a product for what they are going to pay me or is this a social cause i want to get involved in to affect change. they need to keep those things separate or they wind up in a mess where most people are going to think scarlett went after the

bucks. >> thank you for being here with us. >> president obama is putting his state of the union promise to take more executive action to the test. in an interview, he said that he secured commitments from some of the countries biggest businesses to boost the hiring of unemployed workers. the white house is expected to announce friday that companies like wal-mart, apple and ford along with 300 other companies are onboard with his plan. as many as 4 million americans are considered long term unemployed, having been out of work for six months or more. >> some low level drug criminals may be able to get presidential clemency. the justice department is asking a defense lawyer to suggest inmates who may be eligible. candidates for clemency must be non-violent with a clean prison record, should not present a threat to public safety and must be serving an excessive sentence. it is part of an effort to overhaul the criminal justice system. the federal prison population has increased by 800% over the past 30 years. >> russia's fondness for alcohol

taking a heavy toll on men. vodka largely to blame for the country's low life expectancy, a quarter of the men dying before their mid 50's. men who drink three bottles of so his da a week double their chance of dying. >> more men could soon find their way to the gynecologist. the restrictions have been loosened on only treating women. they have been gender specific for decades. the change will now allow doctors to treat men for certain conditions, as well as participating in research. >> peanut allergy is the most common cause of death from any food allergy and dangerous for children. 80% of study participants fed small amounts of peanut flour in

a lab were able to eat a handful of peanuts six months after therapy. >> joins us is pediatric consultant from cambridge england this morning, dr. clark, thank you for being with us. how does the therapy work? >> peanut allergy is a huge problem, affects 10 million people across the globe. we've been able to train children to adopt to eating peanuts on a regular basis. this has worked in about 80%. the way it works is we start by giving children really tiny amounts of peanuts and building up over time. they eat a little bit every day and overtime are able to eat several peanuts. they take this to keep their protection going. >> how i go were the outcomes you observed in this study? we were amazed by the results.

it seems to work in 80% to 90% of children. we also measured the quality of life of the affected families, and this improved dramatically over the course of the trial. >> is this a therapy that's available to parents now that are concerned about their children that have peanut allergies? is it something that's fully experimental that can only be done in a lab? >> well, this is a real game-changer for the way we think about treating food allergies. we are work to go getting licenses so this can be offered. in cambridge in the u.k., we are going to start treating particular patients within the next 12 months. >> i assume it's not something parents should try at home on their own. >> absolutely. i would advocate that no one does this at home or a non-specialist center. it is something with significant risk and requires a high degree

of clinical oversight. >> peanut allergies are something that have increased. according to the centers for decease control and prevention, increased by 50% between 2007 and 2011, the most common allergy among children, many times, it's potentially deadly. why are we seeing so many peanut allergies? >> it's the commonest cause of fatal food reactions. it's to do with the general increase in allergy, exploding in the last 20 years. we know about a third of the population of developed countries having asthma and hayfever. on the back of that, as a global nation, we're eating more peanut butter. it's very prevalent in our diets, it's something to do with the exposure of in factuals early to peanuts that's causing

this problem. >> thanks so much for joining us. >> the superbowl is coming this weekend and the boot leggers have been busy. federal investigators working with the nfl say they have confiscated more than $20 million worth of phony stuff. superbowl tickets and merchandise, the nationwide sweep resulting in 50 counterfeiting arrests. the knockoffs includes fake jerseys, sweatshirts, caps, tee shirts and other superbowl stuff. one of the biggest story lines coming out of superbowl xlviii, can peyton manning do it, can he win less than two years after coming back from a serious neck injury. we are live at met life stadium with more on number 18. >> good morning, dell. i hope you're doing well. there are many story lines surrounding superbowl xlviii and a lot of focus centers on the quarterback for each team. their matchup could be described at new school versus old school.

seattle's russell wilson representing the way the quarterback position is heading in the nfl while the veteran pocket passer peyton manning not quite ready to pass the torch just yet. we have more. >> superbowl forth eight features the nfl's best offense taking on the league's best defense. that's just the way peyton manning likes it. the 2000 furan-2014 season for the quarterback almost looks like a revenge tour, seven touchdowns in a blowout win over the defending superbowl champ ravens, the team that knocked denver out last season. he hasn't taken his foot off the gas. >> i'm down the home stretch of my career, but i'm still in it. it's not over yet, and so, it's still playing out, and this has been the second chapter of my career, and it's an exciting chapter, and i'm certainly excited to be back in the superbowl on behalf of the

denver broncos. >> the defense has a big challenge but poses many of their own, trying to prepare for a quarterback who likely leads the league in a film room and is one of the few q.b.s that is essentially his own offensive coordinator. he is famous for the audible because of his ability to read the defense quickly at the line of scrimmage and keep them guessing. making him more dangerous, sea hawk's quarterback richard sherman notorious for running his mouth called mannings throws ducks. >> i believe it to be true, as well. [ laughter ] he's a smart player, and i think that's a real reach, what he's saying there. i do throw ducks. i've thrown a lot of yards and touchdowns ducks, so i am actually quite proud of it. >> will this be manning's swan song? only if doctors tell him so. the 37-year-old is playing his

best football ever and doing so by spreading the wealth and making the guys around him better. in two seasons with manning under center, broncos receivers and tight ends are having the best numbers of their careers. for wes welker who com peeled against number 18 as a colt, he said his former nemeses has rejuvenated him. >> fate does a great job of getting us in the right place and making sure we're on top of what we need to do and giving us the signals and calls and whether they're fake calls or real calls or whatever, he just does a great job of keeping the defense on edge, and making sure that we're on top of our assignments. >> despite manning's record-breaking season, critics will judge his legacy like the denver post did the morning of the broncos divisional game. those that get paid to compete against him do not. manning is voted most respected by his peers in the league and

now two years removed from potentially career ending neck surgery, the guy who won come back player of the year could also win the m.v.p. in 2014. >> i'd like to win it for the broncos, you know for pat, him to be in his eighth superbowl is an accomplishment in itself. he deserves another championship, so i'd like to help the broncos get another championship. >> jessica taft, aljazeera. >> both peyton manning and russell wilson hope to make met life stadium their own personal play ground on sunday. there's a lot of pressure on each quarterback to make their respective offense hum. we're live outside met life stadium. let's go back to del and stephanie in the studio. >> i always go for the underdog. who's the underdog? >> i think probably seattle. i like peyton manning, because

he's a little older. >> i'm more looking forward to the food and commercials, to be honest. >> i'm looking forth toed food. >> a battle over australia's great barrier reef. >> a dump near the site could endanger one of the world's most fragile eco systems. >> times square, people are getting ready for the spirits of the superbowl and photographers are a little hyper right now. maybe all those chicken wings they're going to consume.

>> every sunday night al jazeera

>> good morning, welcome back to aljazeera america. i'm del walters. >> i'm stephanie sy. we're going to see why environmentalists in australia are angry about the decision to dump sediment on the great barrier reef. >> let's find out where it's going to rain and snow. >> as we get across the country,

we're seeing one of the areas we're really watching, a band of snow going through the midwest, but with all of this, anywhere from nebraska moving into illinois and indiana, watch for that snow. it will spread through the great lakes tomorrow and some areas on the cusp could be freezing precipitation. watch that's roads, illinois, indiana, a couple of places in the core can have heavier, moderate snow in places like iowa. also still dealing with rain just centered over central florida. back to you guys. >> environmentalists are upset over a proposal to dump sand and mud on australia's great barrier reef as part of a major coal port development nearby. the decision could endanger the fragile eco system. >> already beyond nations agency is considering whether to describe the great barrier reef

as endangered, now another like this threat to the reef has been approved. mud and sand will be dumped at sea within the marine park. the coal industry wants the port deepened so bigger ships can expert more material, saying 30 years of dredging elsewhere has had no negative impact on the reef, but environmentalist disagree. they point to glad stone where fish were killed. runoff from land, as well. the watch dogs are supposed to protect the reef, 47 environmental rules. >> it's important to note the

area consists of sand and silt and does not contain coral reefs or sea grass beds. >> environmentalists say materials dumped at sea travels and blocks off light killing life. >> we will see the condition of the reef get worse, and this is just the thin edge of the wedge. this 5 million tons of dumping is only the first of a number of proposals to expand ports and allow more dredging and dumping. >> the more industrial projects that are allowed, in other words, the more fish suffer. the great barrier reef marine park authority is supposed to be a watchdog looking after the interests of the reef. and it is government agency and the government has made it clear its priorities are economic. this decision environmentalists say puts the coal industry above

the countries greatest natural resource. >> the great barrier reef is home to a list of he dangered species and listed as a world heritage site in 1981. del has a look at what we're following at the end of our second hour. >> secretary of state kerry expected to meet with ukrainian opposition leaders. next he will travel to kiev to meet with both sides, the government and opposition. >> syrian peace talks wrapping up today in geneva. >> house republicans releasing an immigration reform plan offering a pathway to legal status, but not citizenship. >> one couple offering a unique program giving inmates the key to say opportunity. >> a new player in the increasingly competitive battle between streaming music services, after dominating the head phone business.

we look whether it has what it needs to take out the competition. >> del is back with you in two minutes. happy lunar new year. >> the struggling midddle class >> we just can't get ahead... >> working longer hours, for less pay. >> people are struggling everywhere. >> school loans... morgages... inflation... taking it's toll... >> we live paycheck to paycheck... >> now in a continuing series, join ali velshi as we follow families, just like yours, as they try to get by... >> we're all struggling financially... >> america's middle class: rebuilding the dream only on al jazeera america! real reporting that brings you the world. giving you a real global perspective like no other can. real reporting from around the world. this is what we do.

al jazeera america.

>> an anti-government protester in ukraine fount beaten and flooied after missing for eight days. >> amanda knox guilty of murder again. some of calling for the u.s. to send her back to italy to face the consequences. >> we've cried all we can cry,

suffered all we can suffer. >> a mother and eight children, the family just trying to stay warm in single digit temperatures. >> a police officer disciplined for aggressive behavior, caught dragging a woman across a parking lot and into the station house. >> welcome back to aljazeera america. i'm del walters. the growing unrest in awe crane now getting the attention of u.s. leader, secretary of state kerry set to meet with the ukrainian opposition leaders in germany today, that meeting coming as the unite reports of n rights videos surfacing. this video is very graphic. jennifer glass joins us now from

key every. these are very serious allegations. >> they are, del. this video to many people actually a relief that he was found alive. he was missing for eight days. he disappeared one night. he is an activist that has been in the thorn of the side of the authorities here, his demonstrations targeting senior officials' homes. when he disappeared, no word of him. his cell phone went off line and opposition supporters were very concerned about him. he has been found, but 30 people are missing. they're very concerned about them. this comes at human rights watch issues a support accusing ukrainian police of targeting journalists and medics just doing their jobs, who are not legitimate targets, not in the line of fire.

they cite 13 instances but say there are dozens more. there's a very sinister feel. last night here in kiev, another 20 or so cars were set alight. nobody knows exactly who did it, but generally they are car that is come from the west in opposition supported areas, opposition folks here say they believe it's a campaign of intimidation to try and sew fear to keep anyone from coming here to support the opposition. we have had numerous reports and human rights watch reports of police brutality, and abductions, so a very big concern. human rights watch is calling on the ukrainian government to investigate, but there have been no meaningful investigations so far. >> have we heard anything from president viktor yanukovych who called in sick yesterday? >> no, we've heard nothing. secretary of state john kerry

said he thinks viktor yanukovych hasn't offered the opposition enough. just before he went sick yesterday, i should a statement saying he believes his government's done all it can to end the crisis. we are not expecting to hear more. he is on indefinite sick leave, so an impasse as we wait and watch to see whether those international meetings with the opposition yield anything, and how the government reacts. they can't be happy to have international meddling. we've had officials here this week, president yanukovych has gotten calls from vice president biden. >> thank you very much. >> to geneva now where talks about the storyian war just wrapped up. we heard from the u.n. mediator about the talks. this is what he had to say.

>> over the past eight days here in geneva, the sides engaged each other through me. it was a very difficult start, but the sides have become used to sitting in the same room, they have presented positions and listened to one another. >> so what else did he have to say about the first round of talks and the possibility of future negotiations? >> he said that is the success from overtwo, the fact that the two sides actually sat in the same room, addressed each other, and the fact that they share about 10 points between them. he said these talks are extremely important. he used the words "save the country" but acknowledged how difficult these are, calling it a very difficult struggle. he said progress was very slow. he did announce that there are a second round of talks in about 10 days on february 10 right

back here. he said this is going to take a long time. total sides have been fighting for three years, it's brutal fighting on the ground. he said the two sides engage in an acceptable manner and said it was a modest beginning from which to build. that is the message from the u.n. here, not much accomplished perhaps in the first week other than the fact that the dialogue is happening and started after three years of war. >> nick, on the humanitarian side, the counterpart of the red cross, accused of favoring areas that support the assad regime says it wants to deliver aid in a neutral way, include in the opposition held areas. can we expect new humanitarian developments? >> >> that is a sign of progress right there, that statement you just read, but on the ground, no, these two sides have not been able to agree on a single step to alleviate the horrible suffering of the people. we have been talking about homes, the old city where there are about a thousand families

who haven't had food or water for over a year. these two sides were not able to get to an agreement. we are seeing new violence, new videos out today, anti-government activists saying show government air strikes outside of damascus and the anti-government forces saying these are barrel bombs full of explosives and fuel rolled out of helicopters. the u.n. said they indiscriminately kill women and children. we are seeing destruction and death. the government points out there is more fighting between al-qaeda linked groups fighting the government. as we're talking here, as two sides are trying to find some kind of compromise, the violence and death toll increases. today it is acknowledged that nothing is happening quickly enough for those suffering and said we have to be patient, there is no other choice, no

military solution, we have to find a solution at the negotiating table. >> a reminder that coming up in a half hour, nick is going to introduce us to father francis, a dedicated priest who didn't leave the hard hit city of homs even though 71,000 christians who lived there fled. >> amanda knox has been found guilty again. her former boyfriend turning himself in to italian police, as well. both were convicted in 2009 of killing knox's college roommate, those verdicts were overturned two years later in 2011, the supreme court ordering yet a third trial. knox didn't attended the latest trial because she was afraid of being imprisoned. her boyfriend voluntarily turned himself in, police argue that they found himself at a hotel. knox released this statement saying: they expect knox to be

sent back to italy to serve time. >> if someday's found guilty and convicted of a murder, and if an extradition law exists between those two countries, i don't see why they wouldn't. i imagine it would set a difficult precedent if a country such as the u.s. didn't choose to go along with law that is they themselves uphold when extraditing criminals from our countries. >> knox's attorneys plan to appeal this latest verdict. >> as we just mentioned, john kerry, the u.s. secretary of state is in germany meeting with ukrainian opposition leaders. trying to mend releases with angela merkel, the first time the u.s. has been there since it came to light that the u.s. tapped her phone. >> to iran, the efforts of the

p5 plus one and syria. we have an unprecedented number of global challenges facing us and our cooperation is more important now than it really ever has been. by the way, the chancellor suggested to me that i just talk in english, because most of you speak it, so we're not waiting for the translation, in case some of you were anticipating that. the work that we are doing together on syria could not be more important right now. this is destabilizing the entire region. the world is witnessing human catastrophe unfolding in front of our eyes every single day. we now know that the assad regime is not moving as rapidly

as it promised to move the chemical weapons out of syria. we have serious issues to talk about in terms of compliance with the agreement that the united nations security council has ratified and it is now a global legal international obligation. i would remind bashar al assad that the agreement that we reached in new york with the security council makes it clear that if there are issues of non-compliance, they will be referred to the security council for chapter seven compliance purposes. our hope is that syria will move rapidly to live up to its obligations. likewise, we are at a crossroads with respect to the relationship with iran.

germany has played a critical role in the p5 plus one to help bring us to this moment. we all want a peaceful resolution, and it is not hard for a country that wants to pursue a peaceful nuclear program to prove to the world that what they are doing is indeed peaceful. we welcome the opportunity in the next day to say be able to complete what was begun in geneva, and we have high hopes for that. finally, let me just say that the u.s. german alliance is really the vital engine of the transatlantic partnership. we want this to be a year of renewal of the strength that have relationship, as the chancellor said occasionally, there is an issue here or there,

there are bumps in the road, but we have a combined vision, and understanding of the set of values that bring us together and have for decades now. we are partners above and beyond bumps in the road. we will find our way to be able to move forward, resolving any kinds of differences in an appropriate way that respects our relationship, but also understanding that we have a lot of work to do together in 2014. we will have the u.s., e.u. and nato summits this year and i know that president obama and i look forward with the american people to welcoming the chancellor to washington for a visit. finally, both of hour countries will benefit enormously from the

t tip, the transatlantic trade investment partnership which we need to try to bring to completion because that will be an economic engine for both of our countries, as well as for all of europe. everybody knows too well, particularly germany, which has carried some of the burden, that the challenge of some of the countries in the e.u. still needs to be brought to a place where they are stronger economically, where there is more growth, more jobs, and where all of us can benefit. >> the u.s. secretary of state john kerry in berlin right now, the first meeting between secretary kerry and german chancellor angela americaical after nsa surfaced, the secretary calling it a bump in the road that will not damage u.s.-german relations. talking about the ukraine and situation in syria, saying that

the u.s. is disappointed in the way bashar al assad is moving forward and the peace talks in geneva not going as well as anybody wanted. >> elsewhere, the cold weather apparently playing a role that in devastating house fire that killed a mother and eight children. it happened in kentucky. jonathan martin reports investigators say it is a tragic accident. >> rickey keith saw smoke and quickly realized his nephew's home was on fire and the family of 11 was in danger. >> we just fell apart, you know. >> rickey ran to help, but couldn't get close to the home. the fire quickly ripped through the wood frame home in western kentucky's coal country, killing lorraine nicky watson and eight of her children from four to 15. >> we've about cried all we can cry and suffered all we can suffer. we don't know how much more we can take. all them little kids, they was like typical kids, loving kids, you know, played in the yard,

every time you go by, they was playing in the yard. >> the father, chad watson and chad's 11-year-old daughter that the only family members who escaped. they got out just as help arrived. >> the first responders, one of them just lives right down the street, realized that mom, dad, and they have nine children, so they knew they were looking for nine additional people in the house. >> investigators say the fire started accidentally in an electric heater in a front bedroom. temperatures dropped to single digits overnight. >> in my heart, i cannot deal with this. this is just a bad situation, and i hate to see things like this. >> now, this small, close community must pull together to heal from an unpeaable tragedy. >> like any other family, best people, never had a bad thing to say about nothing, they didn't have any money to speak of much, but you know, they had each other, you know. that's all that counts, really.

>> that's jonathan martin reporting. the consumer product safety commission said electric space heaters cause about 1200 fires each year. they say never leave a heater on while unattended or while you're sleeping, keep it three feet away from flammable materials and never run the cord under rugs or carpet. for more, let's go to nicole mitchell to find out whether hard-hit areas are going to get rain. >> we'll definitely see a little bit of relief in the southwest and the west coast, but it's not enough to make much of a dent. talking about the space heater story, we are running again today in the midwest about 10-20 degrees below average. it's a concern with all the cold air and snow across that region. the west coast, we have had a system move in, but really, a lot of places just getting trace amounts of rain and this should be the rainy season. the drought monitor from last week to this week continues to

expand, more places in exceptional drought and some the worst in 15 years for pores of california. now, this system is moving interior, so what we had is going to be winding down through the course of the day. there's another system we're going to mon for for over the weekend, but doesn't look like a ton of moisture. let's break it down, there will be a system moving through the midwest. we have snow today and tomorrow. watch for that and icy conditions. by sunday, looks like the low pressure will be into canada with a front in the east coast. ahead of that, you get a warm flow. for kickoff time, superbowl, probably in the low 40's. the best chance for moisture with that is pretty sparse, and earlier in the day, so hopefully, we're out of that by the time we get to the football game itself. back to you, del. >> a lot of people smiling at that. thank you very much. >> bad behavior by police

officer caught on camera. the cop is now being punished for literally dragging a woman into his police station. >> some concerns the superbowl is drawing more than football fans to new jersey this week. a sex ring is busted up just miles from the stadium.

>> health officials in michigan investigating a potential tuberculosis outbreak in detroit. an employee worked at four hospitals before being treated. he came in contact with 560 dental patients between august and december. anyone who may have been exposed is urged to get tested. it is a bacterial infection spread through the air from person to person. >> a police officer in tampa, florida caught on tape behaving badly, it happened back in october when a woman was taken into custody for trespassing and drug charges. when she resisted arrested, the officer grabbed herb by the handcuffs and dragged her into the place station. that officer has been

disciplined. now the department requires two officers when handling any suspects. >> police officers across the country have been keeping an eye across new york city in its reform to the stop and terrific policy. >> the new mayor pledged to make a change to this controversial policy and thursday began by announcing he is turning the page on one of the most divisive problems in the city. >> how many of you have been stopped and frisked by the police? >> with a show of hands, young black residents displayed the harsh reality of a controversial police practice they say unfairly targeted them for years. >> it was a scary experience. i wasn't sure. i think they must have been doing a routine check up. i wasn't sure what was going to happen next, but i'm happy it's going to stop. >> stop and frisk was used by police to cut down crime, both former police chiefs insisted it

was just that. others say it was racial profiling and in august, a federal court ruled the practice unconstitutional. based on the numbers, more than 90% stopped and frisked were people of color. under bloomberg, the city appealed the decision, the new mayor has a much different take. >> it's been a policy that treated our young people, particularly our young people of color like their rights didn't matter as much in our society. >> he campaigned on a promise to reform stop and frisk, even using his own son to drive home the point in campaign ads. >> he is the only one who will stop the stop and terrific area. >> a huge step. >> nick who has a lawsuit is content with the tide. >> we are happy no the city is no longer fighting in the courts. >> philadelphia, chicago

chicago, and oakland, california all use some version of the policing practice and civil liberties advocates in those cities have spoken out against it. in new orleans, a pilot program is starting to use stop and frisk style aids where they can handcuff and fingerprint suspects on the spot. here in new york, the nypd will be monitored for three years core compliance. they will start wearing tiny cameras that roll what they're on patrol. it will be interesting to see what other cities take from the new policy. >> authorities cracking down on prostitution and drug trafficking before the superbowl. there were arrests of a ring marketing a high end clientele coming to the city for large events just like the superbowl.

>> we want to send a message to anyone considering patronizing such services. better get yourself in front of the t.v., watch the game, have a couple of beers, stay out of trouble. this is not in any way, shape or form really a laughing matter. we have a playing of human trafficking in new york. >> investigators also say they have seen an increase in prostitution promotions leading up to the superbowl. >> in business news, there is breaking news, wal-mart warning its profit for the quarter will be lower than expected. its namesake stores could be down, blaming cuts in food starches and bat winter weather. shares of mattel are reporting a rise during the key holiday season, but say that is short of estimates. sales dropping 7% as consumers bought less of barbie and

finisher price products. >> inflation in europe making rather nervous investors. the dow futures tumbling. european stocks are sinking, looking at their first monthly loss since august. >> in asia, the nikkei fouling below the 15,000 measure, the worst performing index in january. market in hong kong and shanghai closed for the chinese new year. >> microsoft's search for a new c.e.o. may be over, the board close to naming nadela as the new c.e.o. he would replace steve bomber. bloomberg saying that microsoft's board is thinking about replacing bill gates at chairman. he would be replaced by microsoft director thomson.

al on real money, you can see america's middle class rebuilding the dream right here on aljazeera america. >> a shepherd without a flock. a christian priest in the syrian city of homs standing his ground in the war-torn region, even though thousands of christian have fled. >> a deal for goldman sachs not sitting well with some people. why the move is causing protests in denmark and nearly dismantling the government. >> we have come a long way since the phonograph. a look at the future in the world of streaming. >> the braining coats and seahawks going through final paces prior to superbowl forth eight. live in a moment, right here at met life stadium.

>> welcome back. these are our top stories at this hour. atlanta slowly recovering, getting back to normal from the snowstorm that nearly paralyzed the city, residents picking up their cars abandoned on the highways. thursday the government and officials admitted mistakes were made. >> the united nations human rights office calling for restraint in recrane, saying reports of death, kidnapping and forrure should be independently investigated, a couple of moments ago, president viktor yanukovych sideline that into law. >> >> while syrian government and opposition leaders have been

meeting in geneva, a humanitarian crisis is unfolding in homs. a priest is now calling for help. >> for centuries, the church has been a sanctuary. for 50 years, the father has been its conscience. he came from the netherlands to lead a christian community built on tolerance and compassion. >> we send soup to our leaders stuck at home or injured people who can't leave homes. >> the church site, a mosque 1,000 years old. today when the bell tolls faintly, there is no one to hear it. this is the old city of homs. there used to be 70,000 christians here. today, only 66 are left.

more than 60 churches have been destroyed. in fact, nearly all of homs old city has been destroyed. an anti-government activist posted this documentary on you tube. government war planes targeted these streets because they were controlled by rebels. the two sides fought brutally. the opposition says the government cordoned the city off, choking its residents. this woman said she's had no medicine, no flour, no electricity since 2012. francis had the chance to leave. he refused. this week, he released a plea via you tube. >> it's impossible for us to continue like this. we need a lot of help. >> after it posted, we spoke to francis by skype. >> what are the conditions for

the people still living in the old city? on a cell phone, his assistant filmed his horrific answer. >> people are running down the streets, screaming "i am hungry." >> francis is the only westerner left in homs. he showed us his dwindling food fly, olives for breakfast and dinner, a little tea, an empty jar once filled with wheat. he's a proud man, clinging to what little dignity he has left. >> i wish these people whose lives are at risk don't die as a result of all this want. i wish they create a bridge to transport everything we need. >> in geneva, they've spoken about that bridge, but so far, nothing's been built. nick shiffrin, aljazeera, geneva. >> u.n. representatives in

geneva say there are 12 trucks filled with humanitarian aid outside the city. the government is stopping them from going in. the government said it's not yet safe. >> denmarks coalition government nearly collapsing thursday, the outrage when goldman sachs bought a 19% state in denmark's state owned energy country. members of the coalition walked out. the political editor for the danish daily newspaper is in copenhagen, denmark. i want to bring our audience up to date to what happened. goldman sachs pays $1.5 billion buying a 19% stake in the energy company. a poll by the danish broadcaster find 68% of citizens are against the sale to goldman sachs.

why would such a deal prompt such a government crisis in denmark? >> it was the perfect storm that hit the danish government. it was supposed to be just basic transition but ended up being a huge crisis for the government. in denmark as in many other western countries, there's a sentiment that the banks got away with the financial crisis too easy. i can't think of any other company that best symbolizes the financial crisis that goldman sachs, at least how it was perceived in denmark. it was like the arch villain coming to denmark, buying a share of a newly jewel in danish people's eyes. when it became public that this was actually the deal, there was an out cry that took the danish government completely by

surprise. >> was it the fact that it was goldman sachs or would any u.s. bank have been subject to such scrutiny? >> i think especially the fact that it was goldman sachs, because it's one of the few investment banks of wall street that are actually very well known outside the united states and especially in denmark. there's been a serious documentary, both danish and foreign shown in danish television throughout this year where goldman sachs has been named several times, so it was a perfect storm for the government when it was made public that it was goldman sachs that's going to be the new stock owner. >> when we say people are upset, that is an understatement. 200,000 people signing an on line petition against the deal and we're also learning that goldman sachs is not going to be

paying taxes to the government in denmark. how do they feel about that? >> well, i think the reason why this sort of spun out of control was that i it was a series of revelations that took the danish public by surprise, not only was it a stock sale to goldman sachs, they also set up a company in the cayman islands so they could get away with not paying danish taxes and made a very lucrative bonus prom for the executives in the energy company, so that series of revelations made the outcry even worse, and that ultimately was too much for the junior partner of the government to withhold. the outcry from there constituency especially was so hot that they had to leave the government yesterday. >> take us back 24 hours so that

the audience understands that we are not exaggerating when we say the coalition government almost collapsed. >> definitely. and it was like the last 48 hours has been i think some of the most outrageous that i witnessed in my career as a political journalist, because we actually didn't know for almost 24 hours was the government going to stand or not. the junior partner of the coalition, the socialist people's party held a meeting throughout the night, the night between wednesday and thursday, and when we woke up thursday morning, we had no idea will there be a government come this noon, and that's the really big surprise of this, because it turned out that the leadership of this minority party had effectively lost control of the party. >> joining us concerning what

was almost the collapse of the government there because of goldman sachs. >> ben better thanee credited with navigating the country through the financial meltdown, today is his last day on the job. we look back at some of his defining moments. >> you will be an outstanding chairman of the federal reserve. >> when ben bernanke was tapped to lead the fed, the economy was in the midst of a mortgage bubble. bernanke failed to spot the crisis. >> the impact on the broader economy and financial markets of the problems in the sub prime market seems likely to be contained. >> the bad home loans caught one wall street, bringing titan let me man brothers to its knees, sending shack waves through the financial system. with confidence plummeting

around the globe, bernanke, an authority on the great depression harnessed the pull power of the federal reserve to arrest the freefall. arrest the freefall, slashing short term interest rates to historic lows, shoring up troubled financial institutions through multi-billion dollars bailouts. in december, 2008, with the economy contracting at an alarming rate, bernanke launched the most audacious experiment in federal reserve history, a bond buying spree called quantitative easing, buying treasuries and mortgage backed securities from banks using newly created money. by the middle of 2009, the nation was crawling out of recession. in december, he was named time magazine's person of the year. more than $3 trillion worth of bond buying later, the economy is slowly but steadily growing, the housing market recovering and the fed winding down its

unprecedented stimulus. q.e. has had unintended consequences. keeping interest rates low, record rallies in stocks have been fueled, worsening the divide between the nation's have and have notes. >> by estimates, the top 1% of americans captured 95% of income gain in the first two years of the recovery. >> it's a policy that really seems to be disproportionately benefiting wall street and not really having a lot of knock on benefit to main street. >> it's now left to janet yellen to deal with the legacy of q.e., as he hands over the keys to the most powerful financial institution on the planet, few dispute the place ben bernanke earned in history. >> he prevented the great recession from turning into a second great depression. that's got to go down as the biggest thing. >> aljazeera, new york. >> the u.s. public is divided in its opinion of bernanke.

a recent poll found 40% of americans approve of the way he handled his job, 35% disapprove. it's not as good as alan greenspan, retiring with a 65% approval in 2006. >> just two days to go before the superbowl. met life stadium, this morning, mark, you've got to be happy. >> the countdown continues, our analyst is here in the shadow of met life stadium. superbowl xlviii. a couple thoughts, the seahawks are healthy, pete carrol has said that. there's been a change in mood between their offensive and defensive units. >> rightfully so. when you look at the team, their identity is defense. they've got a lot of swagger led by richard sherman.

at practice, they're a lot more foot loose and fancy free, joking around, it's a fun atmosphere on the defensive side of the ball. on the offensive side, you've got russell wilson, second year quarterback who knows he's going to have to put points on the board to win. offensively, a lot more serious practice, more of a leader, demanding more from his players, night and day with regard to the attitude when practicing. >> as we all know having covered superbowls, both teams many media obligations. it seems the broncos have been thrown a little more off their game with all those obligations. describe that for us. >> yeah, i mean professional athletes are creatures of habit and none more so man peyton manning. not so great to be a part of an a.f.c. team versus the n.f.c. team. they are practicing at the jets facility, about a 20-30 minute ride. when they're done with practice,

their practice video is plead downloaded into their ipads to watch that video on their ride back to jersey city where they're staying. the seattle seahawks, they're practicing, i mean it's a stone throw from where we're at now. the hotel is five minutes away, so a lot easier preparation for the team. >> you think the broncos have come around to dealing with that now? >> i don't think so. i think this has been a very difficult week for peyton manning. he's a guy who's just, he's got such a great routine and again, a big creature of habit, it's going to be interesting how he's been able to deal with it this week and prepare for superbowl sunday. >> thank you so much. final official practice for both teams today and then the clock continues sunday. >> seahawks or broncos, take your pick. >> who, me? >> yep. >> i'll take the broncos by a

little. >> ok, we'll do it. thanks a lot. when we come back, from records to eight tracks to cassettes, to c.d.'s, now streaming on line and soon right straight into your headphones. the new way you could be buying music. >> at the moment, i committed my offense, i had enough. i knew that i needed to make some changes. >> from behind bars to behind a desk. we'll tell you about a prison program turning hardened criminals into the tech workers of tomorrow. >> yes, believe it or not, there is a big game sunday. this is times square that has been turned into the superbowl times square. you're looking at the toboggan run that is very popular.

>> every sunday night aljazeera america presents

>> welcome back to aljazeera america. straight ahead, we'll tell you about a new way you could be streaming music. first, that drought out west is getting worse. here's nicole mitchell. >> we've had that last system that came into the area, but with all that have going on, this has started to dissipate. a lot of places got one or .2 and drying out again now. the drought conditions continue even though this should be the wet and rainy time of year. the midwest, we probably feel like we've gotten a little too much snow. central plains get thank this morning. the core of this, places like illinois, indiana, we could actually get a little freezing precipitation extending through the great lakes today and tomorrow. watch for ice wry roads as we get in this direction and you can see the core could get four to six inches. heading toward the south, the

front went through, the skies have cleared. most of the south will warmly nicely today other than the rain in florida. watch out, what was freezing on the roads is still slick this morning. >> you have seen trendy headphones on celebrities, athletes and your own kids, but now the company wants to drive the music that streams into those headphones, too. it's getting into the streaming music game, competing with pandora, spottify, google and the other big names. good morning, bill the duo behind beats include dr. day and the chairman of geffen, a&m records. how beamed is the move? >> it's an interesting move, because nobody knows where all this is going to go. dre has had two or three

successful careers, so you can't count him out. one of the things they're doing is when you see the rise of streaming services, these are extra music industry people, these aren't industry people. they're going around saying look, the music industry needs to take back control of music and don't let these internet entrepreneurs skim that huge off the top. >> how mainstream is music streaming? >> that's the big question. nobody understands where the music industry is going to go. it's still a very small part of revenues in the industry, but they have nowhere else to go. digital music buying is gone, the c.d. vaporized. >> we've got a graphic up right now showing 70% of people now stream on pandora, 43% on you tube. that leaves about 4% for other, not much room for growth. >> there's an enormous audience out there, potential audience

itch which 50 or 60 million people are paying $10 a month to listen to whatever they want. that's the so-called as he left yell juke box we've dreamed about for years. >> is there a shift away from digital downloading? >> i think definitely we've seen the growth slowing, and the fact that it's slowly hit the tipping point i think is telling this year. remember our population is growing every year, so if you're not growing, you're lose in ground. there's all sorts of different metrics, per captain at a buying of music is about one quarter what it was 15 years ago. that is a big deal. kids who were 15 are now 30, they have families, a normal

income. their entire life they've never bought music. the issue is did the music industry really mess up in not getting into the streaming business, because now we have an entire generation who literally have never paid for music and are accustomed to getting it when they want for free on you tube or pandora. >> what about the artists? i understand they are only making a fraction of the money they used to make. >> oh, boy, it's a tough world out there and there's some really rough economic rules at work here. there's just about 25% as much money in the record business as 15 years ago. first, remember all the big stars, lady gagas radio head, they take 50 or 60% of it. remember top 40? you had 40 artists who were sharing all this money. now there's a top 10,000, so all those second tier artists are not sharing it with 500 or 1,000 cohorts, they're sharing it with

10,000. you have a much smaller piece of the pie divided between more people. that is not going to change. >> are you saying then that apple and itunes could soon go the way of the eight track? >> no. i tune has gone into that streaming service themselves. we've seen this massive industry that developed over the past 10 years in decline. digital sales are never going to come back, period. >> bill, thank you very much. no more room for my eight tracks. >> convicted killers and drug dealers may seem to be unlikely candidates for a silicone valley start up, but a california couple has now developed a program that transforms criminals into budding entrepreneurs. >> in an industry full of hoody wearing techies, a newcomer on

twitter, never even held a smart phone until last year. >> what did you think when you first got your first smart phone? >> you know what, i just wanted to dial the number, right? my name is horatio harts. >> he was serving time for manslaughter. >> the turning point was actually at the moment i committed my offense. i had enough. i knew that i needed to make some changes. >> what are the questions you guys have? >> his transformation began with venture capitalists, founders of the six month prison program aimed at turning criminals into tech entrepreneurs. there is just word producessers and passion for learning. they called this the last mile. >> we wanted to make sure when they get out, they have a chance to simulate back.

they work at paid intern ships to get an idea of how it works. >> 130,000 inmates, 65% commit another crime after release. these statistics equipsed the couple to start the program three years ago. >> we're not giving people the tools that they need to be successful in society once released. >> students here learn to blog and tweet through books. they write up business plans with guidance from insiders, mike m.c. hammer. it all culminates when they present they're pitches to investors. >> fitness monkey is for the recovery minded individual. >> i am the founder and c.e.o. of monkey onion. >> he has a program to fight obesity. >> we were all like, you know, it could be a little bit scary, we don't know.

having met ray, it's a no brainer. >> he's one of five graduates working full time. >> do you want to eventually start your own company? >> absolutely approximate it expanded to los angeles. chris and beverly plan to take it further. >> our goal is zero recidivism. >> each inmate taking another step in that last mile. aljazeera, san francisco. >> to get into the program, inmates need to apply, be recommended by pierce and have to be reviewed by the administration. that's going to do it for this hour of aljazeera america. i'm del walters in new york. always, more news straight ahead in two minutes. you can check us out 24 hours a day by going to aljazeera.com.

>> the struggling midddle class >> we just can't get ahead... >> working longer hours, for less pay. >> people are struggling everywhere. >> school loans... morgages... inflation... taking it's toll... >> we live paycheck to paycheck... >> now in a continuing series, join ali velshi as we follow families, just like yours, as they try to get by... >> we're all struggling financially... >> america's middle class: rebuilding the dream only on al jazeera america!

of their wealth. >> medical marijuana - growing discontent. >> a look at an underground artist getting recognise >> i'm antonio mora, welcome to "consider this," here is more. >> i don't think there's any movement or support for the notion that we'll round up and deport 12 million people. >> how we deal with it is important. borders. >> i'm declaring a drought california. >> don't shower longer than you need to, don't flush more than you have to.