is gone, only when the last strap of water is gone, will people realize that we can't eat money. ask. this is al jazerra america live from new york city, i am tony harris with a look at today's top stories. one of the worst scandals in army history national guard soldiers scamming hundreds of thousands of dollars by recruiting new members. and that's not the only developing scandal today. new reports that navy sailors cheated on training tests. and a video showing brutal attacks on games in russia just three days before the winner olympics begin. ♪ ♪

boy, the army is under fire today for what one senator callings one of the worst scandals in army history. national guard soldiers are accused of scamming a program that paid them to help enlist new recruits during the height of the iraq war. a senate panel says thousands of soldiers took $29 million in illegal payments. lawmakers say five soldiers received nearly $1 million in bogus dollars. more than 3,000 soldiers may have received other questionable payments. john terret is in washington for us, john, if you would tell us more about this senate hearing today. >> reporter: there was a lot of anger today at this senate hearing on tap come hill. you have the national guard recruiting assistance program which got underway at 2000 knife. right at the heart and the height of the iraq war in afghanistan as well. and now the figures are alarming. i have more on the top of the ones that you have just given.

for example, we know that 1200 people send elicit payments. 200 officers are involved. two, two star general generals u believe. there were 106,000 individual payments made over the eight-year life of this scheme. $29 million paid out in total wrongly, as you said and, if you add the whole scheme together the bit that was legal with the bit that was illegal. you get $500 million they recruited around 150,000 people for the wars in iraq and afghanistan. well, now bring in claire the senator from missouri, she's spitting tacks over this, hopping mad about it and called together today the financial and oversight committee and they really grilled a panel of people that they know about. she said as far as she was concerned it's discouraging and the whole scheme is probably against federal law. take a look. >> the army has determined in its investigation that the entire program was illegal from

the beginning. the payments did not fall in a permissible category of bonus payments authorized by law. >> reporter: now, the army was hitting back today under oath they said they were very, very employer as the about what had been going on, but that you have to go back to the iraq war, 2005, very difficult to recruit people to the army. much less so than navy and the air force, with the army, of course, you actually have to go in on the ground in to places like fallujah, very real risk of losing your life or getting serious injured. and colonel michael jones a retired member of the national guard was a director in the guard. he said, look, although they are upset that there was this fraud going on, which is now being revealed, actually at the end of the day, doing this was going to ensure that there were fresh recruits and weren't sending our teams in to iraq and afghanistan under staffed. take a look. >> it was what can we avoid to do to avoid a draft. because that was beginning because of all that was

happening, and all of the other traditional methods that had worked, ma'am, honestly for 20 years. >> weren't working. >> they weren't. >> reporter: i think that's the thing, really, the idea of actually trying to find ways of getting more people to serve the united states military is generally considered here on capitol hill to be a good thing. it's just the execution of this particular scheme that people are objecting to now, tone. >> i john, obviously, we are talking about tax payer money here, but where did it all come from? >> reporter: well, there was a bonus scheme, a legitimate scheme in place, the problem is they bust right through it. that's the issue. it got completely out of hands, is there was no oversight by the very senior management, that's basically what has been going on, recruiters couldn't benefit from the scheme because it's their job to recruit so they noticed pretty quickly that actually family members and existing service personnel and retired service personnel could benefit from the scheme to the tune of 2,000 to $7,500 per recruit. and they basically, the allegations, is got their friends and family to recommend people to serve in the guard

even though they were likely to serve in the guard anyway. we have one example for you here, a man whose case was cited he paid to get ahold of the names and addresses and social security numbers of a whole load of recent recruits to the guard, then sold those back to the guard as recruits that he was recommending and according to today's panel, today's panel heard he made around $2,500 for that fraudulent move, tone. >> i all right, john, terret for us on capita capitol hill. we appreciate it. also new today, the navy says it is investigating allegations of cheating on tests by senior enlisted sailors training on nuclear reactors. the air force is investigating a cheating scandal as well. and that involves one-fifth of the nuclear force. and the navy is investigating allegations in malaysian contractor bribed officials with cash, trips and prostitutes. yes, prostitutes in exchange for shipping information. two navel commanders have been arrested in connection with that

probe. let's bring in former u.s. assistant second of defense and retired navy captain lawrence. good to see you again. >> nice to see you. >> pleasure. in the wake of these scandals, top brass, i have seen this in a couple of newspapers today have been pushing for more military ethics training. is that the right move? >> well, i think the ethics training is there already. what you have here is a combination of things, as pointed out, it was almost impossible to recruit people back in 2005. in addition to, you know, this scandal, the navy -- army and the marines gave 100,000 moral waivers including people with felonies that they took in. because when we set up the all volunteer force, and i had a rolrole in that, we kept draft g layings if you got in long, unpopular wars you could do it. nobody had the courage to do it, even people who supported the war, so that led to this. now, these other scandals are a

result of a combination of other things. i think the military has been put on such a pedestal and held on such high regard, that they are not as careful as they used to be in terms of the things that they do, well, we are better than everyone else, so we can kind of push the envelope here or there. >> yeah. and the idea of these practices, right, i am wondering back in 2005, and i think a lot of us can think back to those days and how difficult the iraq war was and how difficult it was to maintain force levels, but employing these tactics to get more people enlisted, did it, in your mind, diminish the ability, the skill level of the military? >> no. i don't -- as far as i can see, it didn't diminish the skill levels. the moral waivers did, which is a whole other thing. i mean, people like bradley manning should never have been taken in to the -- in to the

service. but what this did is i have no doubt that a lot of people knew it was going on, but they figure, look, we gotta meet our quotas, so let's not worry about it, we are at war. >> so people knew it was going on, and turned the other way? didn't provide oversight, didn't stop it? even though it might have been -- that's still a question, it might have been an illegal program from the very beginning, it was -- it felt it was necessary, those in charge felt it was necessary and so they looked the other way? >> that's he san shall i right. they probably heard about it, but they bet it go on because they met their quotas, they are at war, that's what they are focused on. >> so lawrence, what should be done now? maybe this is provocative, maybe it isn't. is this a commander-in-chief moment? is is there something here for the obama administration to do, step in? or can the military clean it up on its own? >> the president has spoken about it when this stuff about the navy came out. and there were some other incidents of army commanders

cheating on their spouses and going back to the petraeus scandal. i think somebody has to pay a price. >> really? >> in other words, you gotta get a high-ranking person. we have had the army and the navy secretaries are there going on six years, time for them to go. they haven't gotten to the bottom of this. it's been the president who has found out about these things. >> so is there a point in time when -- when the enlisted military personnel, and maybe those along the command chain, respond listening to the top people then it's time just a new voice in the mix? >> i think that's part of it. but you gotta send a signal. >> yeah. >> that, in fact, this will not be tolerated. way back when when i was in government, you had the tail hook scandal, secretary of the navy resigned. why don't one of these people step and say, well, even if i am not responsible, you know, here is my restless i think nation, i should have been able to stop in. >> lawrence, appreciate your time. lawrence k.o. rb former u.s.

assistant secretary of defense and retired navy captain. thanks no your time. >> thanks. the senate passed a massive farm bill today. it cuts food stamps and extends farm subsidies while expanding the federal farm insurance program. some of the biggest recipients of those farm subsidies include tyson's food, pilgrims pride and rice land foods. president obama is expected to sign it in to law. the pentagon is feeling the impact of leaks by former national security agency contractor edward snowden. the head of a defense intelligence agency told the house committee today the pentagon will have to make costly changes to programs and personnel. michael flynn says there will be changes of all branches of military because investigators have to assume that all the information that snowden ever accessed is compromised. tension says between the u.s. and afghanistan are certainly mounting. a new report claims afghan president hamid karzai is trying

to broker a peace deal with the taliban that cuts the u.s. out of the process. mike viqueira is in washington for us. mike, how is the white house responding? >> reporter: you know, at the white house, cal toll hill, all of washington and the pentagon in there as well. there has been a lot of frustration and it's been going on for quite sometimes with hamid karzai. today i was speaking with john mccain up on the hill earlier throwing around terms like paranoid as was lindsay graham in describing karzai. and here is the essential issue, the united states wanted karzai to sign this bilateral security agreement that outlines the posture of american forces said to be about 10,000 after this year. when the american combat role is over. karzai has refused to sign. says he wants to wait until the spring until a new president comes in. american officials are very upset about it. and now we learn via the new york times, and the karzai spokesman today did not deny this, that there have been secret talks with the taliban cutting out american forces and

envisioning a future without americans there on the ground, obviously a lot of people are upset. obviously a lot of people are looking to the president, the recent precedent in iraq with no american forces there and chaos reigning in fallujah and ramadi and other places as well. republicans were upset today they accused the white house of floating a plan, even when there is an agreement to have owl u.s. troops out in 2017, three years time. if karzai looks at that you could hardly blame him. i talked about that with mccain after he came out i've closed-door senate briefing on afghanistan and this is what he had to say. >> president could i soar is paranoid and irrational. like most people there is a basis for that. when he reads that the united states is planning on having everybody out by 2017. then he makes accommodations. is up as trying to negotiate with the taliban. that is completely understandable. >> reporter: there is no

agreement as of yet. today the commander of all international forces in afghanistan, the american general joseph dunford was here at the west wing meeting with top brass, defense secretary, secretary of defense, president, vice president, all the way down to try to find a way out of this to look in to the future and see what the options are. meanwhile, at the briefing i had a chance to ask jay carney about the accusations that john mccain made. here is what he had to say. >> i don't doubt that some senators envision a world in which u.s. troops remain in afghanistan for decades. some senators envisioned a world in which u.s. troops remained in iraq for decades. that's not the president's decision. >> reporter: after giving that deadline at the end of last year for karzai to sign the agreement. they are not giving a deadline anymore, they say that he has to sign it within weeks, not the months that karzai has asked for. >> mike viqueira is at the white house for us. journalists around the world are showing support for our al gentleman rear a colleagues

detained in egypt. dozens marches to the embassy. taping their mouths shut as you can see here and held up signs in support of correspondent peter and the other al jazerra journalists arrested in egypt. this afternoon al jazerra white house correspondent asked the white house how it was handling the media crack down. >> we have expressed these concerns directly to the government of egypt in answer to your question and we have strongly urged the government to drop these charges and release those journalists and academics who have been detained. >> they were detained in late december. they are accused of spreading lies harmful for state security and joining a terrorist group. two other journalists from al jazerra, have been held for several months now. al jazerra said the allegations against them are unfounded. a any winter storm is making its way across the country right now. warnings are in effect from kansas to maine, we are talking

about heavy, blowing, drifting snow moving in to topeka, kansas, and, well, it's made driving as you can imagine pretty treacherous, temperatures expected to plunge as the snow eases off tonight. in areas could get as much as 10-inches before the storm passes. kevin is following the path of this storm and has the latest on it for us. kevin. >> meteorologist: tony, this winter has been unbelievable. in my opinion it's been an awesome winter. but take a look at 12224 hours ago on the satellite. nothing is there. look how the storm develops just in the last day. so, of course, we are really worried and concerned about what's happening right now from actually illinois over towards the ohio area. that is where we are expected to see probably, as tony said, up to 10-inches, maybe 12-inches for some people. evening icing here in parts of kentucky, of course that is not a good thing. what will be happening, is of course, the storm is making it's way towards the east.

a lot of. ♪ in new york has melted making the streets easier to get around. but as you can see it's now coming across parts of new york state, tomorrow is going to be a very tricky day. and the reason i say that is we are going to bring in the word freezing rain and that will be somewhere very close to the i-95 for corridor and when the temperatures come down, 33 right now, tomorrow morning it will be more like about 28 in the morning. it's going to be that mix and if you have to travel, be extremely careful, but we are looking anywhere from boston all wait down towards washington on 95 to the, -- to be extremely dangerous. >> we need to put this winter we hinds us. as we get closer to the winter olympics in sochi, russia, a violent reminder of the threat gays in at that country face every day. look at this. the warning from human rights group is next. experts say the entire world with hcould be dealing with a he

jump in cancer rates in just a few years time. stun gran neighborhoods to disperse

♪ ♪ a new warning about specific threats no sochi. the director of the national counter terrorism center says the u.s. and russia are tracking these and potential attacks are outside the game venues. america's ambassador to russia says he will step down once the games are over. he oversaw what was supposed to be a reset in relations with the russians. but as phil reports now his time in moscow has been stormy. >> the decision by u.s. ambassador do step down from his post in moscow after a little over two years comes at the end of a tenure as ambassador which saw a lot of controversy. he began his post speaking with opposition leaders when they were taking to the streets in those protests against vladimir putin's reelection in 2012. he has repeatedly been critical of the administration of vladimir putin saying that he was cracking down on freedom of

speech. on certain aspects of building a civil democratic society. but he has also met with members of the business community, meeting with leaders in the civic arena, trying to build a bridge between the united states and russia, when relations between the two countries were at a low point. it is expected that michael will now thre return to academia from whence he came the next ambassador will have a large hill to crime in trying to reestablish good tides. >> that was phil reporting. just three days now until the support of the sochi olympics. and a new video is showing disturbing violence against gays. roxana saberi is here and is following the story for us. roxana. >> tony the videos are very hard to watch. they have been put together by human rights watch sewing gays in russia being beaten and abused. they were posted by a vigilante

group that calls itself occupi occupied. it lawyers game men setting up a date when they show up they are belittled, intimidated and ultimately beat up. the group shows video of the whole thing and posts all the videos online. again, these are not easy to watch. but we wanted to show you how terrible some of them are. it's in russian but you can read the subtitles. >> there are no hard numbers but human rights watch these attacks have increased since russia passed a law banning what it called propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations among minors. rusrussian on visuals deny discrimination takes place in their country but earlier i spoke it a russian activist who says crimes against them go unpunished. >> the message it sends to russian society is that violence against lgbt people is normal

and it's tolerated and accepted by the government. >> and, tony, you might be surprised to know that eight states here in the u.s. have ruled similar to russias ban on game propaganda. they are called no promo homo laws and vary but basically apply only in schools and prohibit teachers from talking about homosexuality in a positive light and in a few cases talking about it at all. >> i am looking at the map behind, you have mississippi, alabama, louisiana, south carolina, texas, oklahoma, arizona and utah. >> arizona and utah, yes. >> that is really disturbing video. >> it's very disturbing and difficult to watch i think for everybody who has seen it. >> i didn't see the video there is one moment when we see the guy carrying the guy over his shoulder and running and about to body slam the guy. i am not asking whether or not that happened. obviously there was more on the video that we didn't show. >> yes. there is a lot more on the video. it's a few minutes long. and there are a lot more

disturbing images. >> roxanne, appreciate it. thank you. today is world cancer day and to market researchers have released a sobering new report on one of america's biggest killers, it is a problem that is expected to surge around the world. jonathan betz is here with more on that. jonathan. >> other than heart disease, nothing kills more americans than cancer. a new report by the world health organization calls it an approaching human disaster. it predicts cancer cases will surge 57% worldwide in the coming years. from 14 million now to close to 22 million people by the year 2030. cancer will likely kill one out of every eight men. for well, slightly better, but still one out of every dozen women will die from the disease. now, the deadliest form of cancer is lung cancer. that's true across the world and here in the u.s. nearly 10% of people who die of lung cancer are americans. that's followed by liver, stomach, breast cancer actually ranks lower globally, but here

in the u.s. it's the third biggest cancer killer. now, the world health organization says the focus needs to be on prevention, it recommends that governments crack down not only on smoking g and pollution but also alcohol and even sugary drinks, simple things like exercising and eating better it says could cut cancer deaths by a third. the who worries the disease especially be felt in developing country, 70% of the deaths will be there. yet it's also still a huge concern here in the u.s. where a third of all american women will likely develop cancer and half of all american men will face the disease sometime in their life, tony. >> yeah. thank you. controversy brewing around the affordable care act today. in a new report, the congressional budget office says the affordable care act may result in fewer workers in the u.s. economy. real money's ali velshi is digging in to this for us.

it's pretty contentious, i have been trying to get an explanation on this, what the cbo is saying on this report all day and you are here to help me out. >> i will help you a little bit. you are right, tony it's a little bit tough to understand. so i am actually going to spend a good amount of time on this on real money, but let me give you a primer on it. the congressional budget office, this is nonpartisan now projects that 2 million fewer workers will be in the labor force by 2017, with obama care, than would have been there if the law had never passed. that's contentious, let me tell you what they are explaining. they are saying the number will rise to two and a half million fewer workers by 2024. the congressional budget office still projects the number of jobs in the economy irrespective of this will grow in the coming decade but that the growth will be less than it would have been without obama care. so the thing to remember here is when you are reading the newspapers and hearing people on tv saying things like, obama care is going to cost jobs, going to lose jobs, we are not

losing jobs, we are growing less, but they are saying it's because of obama care. >> okay. so what then is the logic behind the projected job loss? is that a fair question? >> yeah. the cbo projects that the number of jobs in the economy will actually increase. but what they are saying is that because of the growth is going to be less than it would have been without obama care. and the reason why is that there will be fewer workers, because obama care, is not going to result in people keeping jobs just for the sake of health care. >> i see. >> some people who were working just for their health care, may choose to do something else. more workers will obtain health coverage through the new law and, as a result of that, may choose not to. some of them might also cut the number of hours they work or forego work altogether. some people may want to keep their income low, to qualify for the subsidies that allow them to get medicaid. so, look, the white house is saying that they don't really

agree with this at all. but it's an interesting thing that's been put forward because it's the first one put forward by a group that's not partisan about this. >> are you going to do a bigger deeper dive on this on your program tonight at 7:00, correct? >> yes a deeper dive and i will tell you for all of you people that have stocks in microsoft i will tell you about the new boss over. >> terrific. i need to understand this better so i will watch the program tonight. 7:00 eastern on al jazerra america. from west virginia to washington a few of the hundreds of thousands of people affected by a toxic chemical spill have taken their case to capitol hill for response from lawmakers coming up next. also, the other side of the protest in the ukraine, we'll hear from people on the government side. that's next. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ welcome back, everyone, to al jazerra america.

i am tony harris, here a look at your top stories. hundreds of national guard soldiers are under investigation for scamming nearly $30 million in bonuses for sign up recruits during the iraq war. the mon came from a program that paid soldiers to reofficer recruits. it was canceled when audits turned up evidence of proud. tensions between the skp*us afghanistan are mount being. a new report claims african president hamid karzai is trying to broker a peace deal with the taliban cutting the u.s. out of the process. more winter weather is o coming. drivers in on toe peek, a kansas dealt with the low visibility from blowing, drifting snow, winter storm warnings issued from the midwest to the north east. last month's toxic chemical skill in west virginia is getting a closer look in washington today. 30,000 residents lost their tap without we are chemicals spilled in to one of the state's largest rivers. some couldn't use the tap without fore days. others for well over a week. today a senate committee

questions state and local officials about the accident. robert bray is in charleston, west virginia where it all started. fill us in on the late every here, robert. >> reporter: sure. good evening, tony. i can tell you we are standing here in the river and the smell, the licorice smell that has been described of the chemical that leaked in in to the elk river we have had that come downwind here this evening. you can see why people are still some not drinking the water, not bathing in the water. there are many lawmakers that are trying to pass regulation so that chemical spill like this never happens again. and there are also many people here in west virginia that are saying, you know, living here is just not worth it anymore. ask the locals, and many will tell you, the place they call home west virginia, is better known as the chemical valley. >> the risk of having this, the chemicals are concentrated

because the chemical industry is concentrated here. >> reporter: since 2008. investigators from the chemical safety board have investigated three deaths at area facilities. the most recent in 2010 at dupont. there a worker died with a ruptured host sprayed him with a deadly gas. after each incidents the chemical safety board recommended the state career at an oversight board for chemical facilities. the suggestion fell on deaf ears. >> unfortunately we hear from the state that they were not able to respond to our recommendation and they were not -- it wasn't possible for them to do it. that's the last word that we got. >> reporter: a spokesperson for the west virginia department of health and human resources says the last word on the issue came june 30th 2011, at the time that agency and the department of environmental protection grid tagreed to jointly approach the legislature for to provide funding for a study of successfully in addition tiffs from around the country, yet no legislation was ever introduced.

>> it's really challenging considering that i am the first person that introduce it had to the state in 2009, even before the chemical safety board. so to be here again at this particular moment saying the exact same thing, is really challenging. >> reporter: maya represent a group of people concerned about chem is safety founded in 1984 following a disaster in india. there a chemical was released killing thousands. the same chemical was made and stored at a plant in institute, west virginia. she hopes public outrage over the freedom industry's chemical spill that contaminated the drinking without fore 300,000 people will drink tougher regulations. >> one of the senators was talking about his pregnant wife and how she avoiding the water and impacting him a personal level. one of the reasons the issue get swept you understand the rug is because people in decision-making power aren't deal with the ramifications of that irrelevant decisions firsthand. >> reporter: two bills have been

introduced requiring stricter oversight of chemical facilities in the state. too late for this incident but maybe preventing a future one, robert, ray, charleston, west virginia. tony, people want did he sayings i have and dramatic action here in the coming weeks and months. they want their lawmakers to get together and formulate high-powered regulation that will stop environmental spills like occurred on january 9th. the overall sentiment here in charleston and the counties around the capitol is they are fed up with the situation. they are tired of the coal industry affecting their day-to-day lives and they want answer and they want their kids to be safe in the future and they want clean water. tony. >> well, robert, was there anything -- there was a hearing about all of this on capitol hill today. was there anything of note that came out of that hearing?

>> reporter: yep. a lot of things of note. i can tell you that senator rockefeller of west virginia noted that freedom industries, the company that is blamed for this chemical spill, he said that they must be accountable for the appalling damage. he says he's going to work really hard to make sure that the justice system takes care of them. also, the secretary of state here, she came out and said that she wanted 10-year study based upon the long-term effects of the chemical. because as we know, the centers for disease control prevention in atlanta has very little data and information on the chemical that went in to the elk river. in fact being the only testing that's been done to date is on lab rats. we don't know what the long-term effects will be on people, if any for that matter. as the flushing of their pipes continue here, and the smell of licorice is prominent here this evening, tony. >> that's crazy, that's crazy. robber ray for us in charleston, west virginia robert, appreciate

it. thank you. ian, california draft tick measures to deal with a draught that gets worse by the day. but as jennifer london reports from marina del ray there may be some hopes for easing the state's water whoas. >> reporter: when the state's governor did he charge declarede drought emergency, he says it's skier justice and unprecedented. while the state doesn't have enough rain water it has plenty of this, sea water and harnessing the ocean to help solve some of california's water woes, it's closer than you think. in carlsbad, california, hope for a fresh watery future lies in the construction of the largest desal nation plant in the western hemisphere, when it's completed in 2016, the plant will provide 300,000 san diego peter says it's time to dip our straw in to the pacific ocean. >> there is a discorrect between

sly and demands. desalination has become completely affordable. >> reporter: desalination a plant was built in the late 1980s and early 1990s when the state experienced another time of severe drought but the wrath weather changes and the rain started pouring before the plant was finished and they mothballed it. but given the current situation in the state of california, there is talk about there is talk about using that plant but it needs so much retrofitting it could take two years. the last of libya's chemical weapons stockpiled under muammar qaddafi is have been destroyed. the mission was complete aid few days ago with the help of u.s. ca marriecanadian and german ex. it started in 2004 when they were turned over to inspectors. in paris a trial 20 years in the making. rwanda's former intelligence

chief, his name is pascal. is in court suspected in that country's genocide. he is charged with crimes against humanity. more than 800,000 people were killed in the 1994 massacre. france is accused of helping those involved in the genocide to flee. the man, actually the main leader of the opposition in ukraine, klischko met with president victor today and demanded he step down while anti-government protest nurse kiev want to move ties away from russia and get closer to the e.u., that's not a common goal for everyone. in the city, for example, of odessa, many feel russia and ukraine have an unbreakable bonds. david has our report. >> reporter: an ugly confrontation flares in the city of odessa. supporters of closer ties with europe nearly come to blows with activists determined to stay with russia. the in the end, the anger turns in to a snowball fight. but the tensions here are

running high. outside the city hall, a mirror image of the tents erected in kiev's independent square. but these once are manned by so called battle groups determined to prevent any occupation of public buildings here by anti-government forces. the governor's headquarters have been barricaded. a small force of police guard the main entrance with their riot tools ready at hand. no volunteers a require every day to help them. -- new volunteers. they can sum up to one thousandn minutes in needed. >> i am a russia in 1998 i came to rue crane but still a citizen of russia. i live in ukraine and i can tell that the life here is good and my feeling is that ukraine and russia are two brothers, that's why came here to support those who are protesting against western medaling here. >> reporter: the russian orthodox faith has been rooted

here for runs of years, the monk in this monetar monastery are ad with what they see happening in kiev. >> these people may be used by these extremists, by these armed terrorists, by this nothing move, so i want to tell them that your opinion is not the opinion of all ukrainian people. >> reporter: the city's port is now locked in a sheet of ice that has turned the black sea white. it's here on the famous owe did dez a steps that the anti-government forces are mounting their nightly vigil. famous because the epic battleship was shot here. scenes that have be speared generations of filmmakers. but there was noggin spiraling about the number of protesters mustered on the night we visited the rally. it seems the cappuccino makers

here are not doing as much business as their colleagues in kiev. the seeds of previous test here are falling on frozen ground. david, al jazerra, odessa. a group of women and children have been rescued after an fbi investigation in to human trafficking. david shuster joins us now with that and other stories from across the country, david. >> tony a remarkable announce think today from the fbi. today in newark, new jersey the they announced that they rescued 16 juveniles forced in to prostitution around the super bowl. officials say the children raged in age from 13 to 17 found in new jersey, connecticut, pennsylvania. some were high school students reported miss boogie their parents. they arrested more than 45 pimps and freed a total of nearly 50 women. and norfolk, virginia there were argument today in federal court over that state's ban on game marriage. the law denying same-sex benefits was approved by voters eight years ago.

but virginia newly elected democratic attorney general has endorsed efforts to try to strike down the law. state laws were left intact last year in a case that the united states supreme court that ended the denial of federal benefits. more than a dozen federal lawsuits continue on the legality of state bans. a ruling on the virginia law is expected this spring. and pontiac, michigan today a man convict odd terrorism charges for shooting at cars on interstate 96 in southeast michigan was sentenced to 10 years in prison. in october of 2012, over the course of several days and in four different counties, that man, allegedly fired at a total of 23 cars. after his arrest, he told investigators he believed the cars were part of a government conspiracy against him. the judge today said h that he s sympathetic to his delusions from a mental illness but said it's something that he should have sought help with before engaging in the shooting spree. the judge also noted that nobody was hurt, telling him today,

thank god you were a lousy shot. in atlanta, georgian unfortunate dispute between the sons and daughter of the late martin luther king, jr. has now spilled in to state court. the son is martin luther king, jr. the third and dexter king control his estate and have now filed a lawsuit against their own sister, bernice king overcontrol of their father's nobel peace prize and travelingg bible. it says that bernice has the peace prize and traveling bible in violation of a property agreement. mrs. king who is the ceo of the king center has not publicly responded. you know, tony, the story that i am amazed by, that one in southeast, michigan they were terrorize ed by this guy firing shots and it turns out that he was having delusions and whatnot. i mean, it is a miracle that nobody was injured in that. >> absolutely. thankfully. all right, david, appreciate it. david shuster with us, thank you. the debate over evolution

and creationism is front of and center in kentucky tonight. two men about to battle it out. jonathan martin is live for us in kentucky. who were tonight's combatants? >> reporter: one of the people i am sure you have heard of bill y even the science guy will be did debate odd the evolution side of things and facing off with ken hamm founder of the creationism museum in kentucky. this debate gets started in 15 minutes, neither man expects to change the other's position on stage tonight but they know that they'll have a platform and be able to present their side and from there they want people to be able to decide what they believe. teaching science for more than 10 years, vanderbilt university astronomy professor has seen his students regularly question theories. he says they often challenge the theory that humans and other living things have evolved overtime. >> students come to me and say, you know, i heard that such and

such measurement of something that had previously been made turned out to be wrong. >> reporter: that question is going to be raised when a debate about evolution and career, crem take center stage. bill nye will face-off against ken hamm owner the creation museum. in september 2012, nye posted a video blog argue, that teaching creationism, the belief that humans have always existed in their present form was harmful for children. >> if you want to deny evolution and live in your -- in your world that is completely inning consistent with everything we observe in the universe, that's fine, but don't make your kids do it, because we need them. >> reporter: that video racked up nearly 6 million views. ken hamm fired back and challenged nig nye to a public debate. >> bill nye has an agenda to teach children not to believe in god. to teach them they are a result of evolutionary processes that

they came from slime over millions of years, in fact, bill nye doesn't really understand science. >> reporter: evolution is overwhelmingly accepted in scientific circles, that same level of certainty does not exist in the american public. a few research center poll conducted in december showed 60% of americans believe in evolution. and 30% support creationism. the poll found white he van gel cal cobb serve at thises most likely believe that. the debate is createism itself. i 70,000-foot facility. exhibits include a garden of eden room where live reptiles wander amid sculpted dinosaurs and statutes of adam and eve. the professor says he takes the challenges in stride and the debate in perspective. >> i think most often when students raise these questions or challenges, it's not just to be obstinate, but it's because they want to understand

ultimately what human beings have always wanted to understand which is the truth. >> reporter: the events is already sold out. 900 people are expected for a attend think but no matter what is perceived as the wish the debate will no doubt go on. here is how the debate goes, each man gets 30 minutes and then five minutes each for rebuttal. and then 45 minutes for the audience to ask questions. again, as i mentioned, they believe that they have a pretty big platform here tonight, it's snowing as you can see. but people are still showing up. it's sold out tonight in addition to what they believe is about 10,000 churches and different groups watching online via the live stream, tone. >> i bill nye getting criticism for participating in this debate tonight? >> right. and tony, a lot of criticism is coming from believe who believe the way he does, they support him just don't think he should have even agreed to this. a lot of people feeling that by

him even debating that he's giving a platform, giving attention to it the idea of creationism. and you have people that believe that bill nye isn't the guy to represent this side because he's technically not a scientist. we know him as the science guy but he's actually a mechanical engineer so they believe he's not the best person to take on this debate. >> jonathan, appreciate it. no the snow? kentucky. that system moving toward the east coast soon. coming up, on al jazerra american, a very unlikely team. a year ago they couldn't even skate now they are trying to become champions in a new support and in a new country. and the sochi games are just three days away, but is russia ready? i'll have that story for you coming up. ♪ ♪

>> fault lines hard hitting...

today vladimir putin boasted about russia's effort at hosting the olympics. but reporters in sochi are chronicling a major backlog in construction projects just three days before the opening ceremony. this is pretty crazy. maria is following the story for us on social media. maria. >> tony, hundreds of journalists are covering the sochi games, many arrived over the last 48 hours. and they are sending out images and tweets of what they are seeing, primarily in their hotels, shawn walker for the guardian sent this out earlier today, he writes, sochi hotel, not quite finished. and has no record of my reservation. i'll go to the bar while they try to sort it out. oh, and then you see this empty fridge coal cola fridge that's a little bit broken up here and down here. and alan springer from yahoo sports writes sochi tell ho tel. for wifi, heat, working lock or front door or shower curtain,

but i have been told i have one of the nicer rooms? and stacy from the chicago tribune writes my hotel has no water if restores the hotel says don't use on your face because it contains something very dangerous later show wrote this. water restored. on the bright side i know now what dangerous face water looks like it's this liquid that's yellowish in these glasses. >> you know what the issue here is. you know, reporters the public generally speaking just don't care about reporters. probably enjoying the fact that reporters are having to rough it and not getting cushy accommodations in russia. >> right the ioc says last minute inconveniences mostly affect report ers. athletes and their families won't be affects. in fact, one journalist was able to get a sneak peek, pavel, a russian journalist got a sneak peek at the rooms that some of the athletes will be using, take a look at this. so some hockey players will be

staying in a room like this. it's, you know, it's simple. >> straightforward. >> right. the space over here. just a couple of chairs over here. a little rack to put your suitcase on. and that this one -- >> what is that? oh, that's art. >> tigers. but, yeah, you know what, tony, the best one is this one. greg from yahoo sports write people have asked me what surprised me the most here in sochi. it's this says please do not plush toilet paper down the toilet it's common some some places but surprised the reporters. >> they are having to rough t folks are playing saying good. thank you. for many immigrants leaching their home country as you know is incredibly challenging but a somali community in sweden of all places, is getting some help through ice hockey and as paul reese reports it could lead them alall the way to the winter olympics. >> a big derby match in a sports

followed by millions in its heartlands across scandinavian and russia. known in sweden as bandy, this is iraqi on a rink with a ball instead of a puck. it will be demonstrated at the sochi winter games and could become an olympic events in time for 2018. here they are playing for bragging rights in the northern swede i can province. being i derby match there is plenty at stake here for both fans and players, but this time of ice hockey could have great importance on the question of immigration here in sweden they are using it as a blueprint to see how sports can they have refugees really become part of society. introducing the national team of somalia. the squad was formed in june from refugees, from a town in the forests a couple of hours north of stockholm. just seven months later they were competing in the world championships in siberia. it could lead to somalia going

to the winter olympics for the first time. but the main aim is to reduce tension caused by the arrival of around 3,000 somalis in this town of 50,000 people. >> we will have an opportunity of just sharing what -- sharing with the swedish people what they have and what they are proud of because, playing on ice is not a part of somali culture and it creates a kind of platform where we can meet and then we have something to discuss together. >> if we did something very strange that everybody seems impossible. we do it together, make it possible. swedish and somali together. then we come closer to each other and that's bandy. >> reporter: somalia have not yet won a game but as none of them could skate a year ago they are just proud to have troubled opposing defenses.

>> it feels good that we score goals, actually two goals, it feels awesome. now we are in the game. >> reporter: greater victories await as these young men continue to show how immigrants can adapt to and enrich life in their new homes. paul rhys. al jazerra, sweden. >> amazing. skating and competing in a year, i couldn't do it in 10. we'll give you an update on the day's top stories straight ahead after the break and then it is "real money" with ali velshi coming up at the top of the hour on al jazerra america.

this is al jazerra america live from new york city i am tony harris with a look at today's top stories. more than 800 soldiers are facing criminal investigation for scamming nearly $30 million in bonuses for signing up recruits during the height of

the iraq war. the army national guard started the recruiting assistance program in 2005, essentially paying soldiers for referring recruits. they canceled the program in 2012 when audits turned up evidence of potential fraud. the may have is a investigating alleged cheating on tests by sailors, training on navel nuclear reactors. the tests cover reactors that power submarines and aircraft carriers, approximately a dozen senior enlisted sailors are believed to be involved in this. the senate today passed a massive farm bill legislation the bill cuts the food stamp program and extends farm subsidies while expanding the federal farm insurance program president obama section peck today psych it in texpected to . wet snow in kansas before arriving on the east coast overnight. winter storm warnings are in effect from the midwest to new england. many kids have seen their schools canceled for tomorrow and already for tomorrow thousands of flights have been

canceled as well. a new report claims the afghan president has been in secret talks with the taliban trying to negotiate a peace deal that doesn't involve the u.s. the white house is urging karzai to sign the agreement, so far he has refused. >> a new report seems to brand obamacare as a job killer, but hold on, it's not that simple. and once struggling states with a surplus of extra cash. how they got and, and thousand they spend it. and the new boss of microsoft, the challenge of leading the company in a post-pc world. i'm ali velshi, and this is "real money."