welcome to al jazeera america. these are the stories we are following for you. snowed in. major winter storm slamming the east coast, 14 people now said to be dead. jurors in florida continue to weigh the fate of mecham dun, how the community is reacting to this racially charged case. plus, a prison release, further spraining relations between the u.s. and afghanistan.

nasty weather week continues. and more is on the way, this evening. that storm paralyzing the skies. more than 6,000 flights have been canceled today, many as far away as california. seven some are rolling. amtrak has limited service on most of its lines. but delays are likely, and tickets are in steep demand. some city say their supplies are running low, and that has made for a messsy commute for millions up and down the coast. the snow in washington, d.c. is so bad, washington actually shut down and that's where we find john right in the thick of things. >> yes, maryland -- you know weather, you spent many years here. maryland misses you greatly, right along -- and d.c. -- just wandering around the

business district, it is funny, because there are about 200 members of the national guard on duty, helping other people whose duty is to clear the snow. you can walk around beautifully, but there's nobody in the downtown district at all. have a log at this beautiful building behind me. do take a look at this, because you won't see this without scaffolding on that dome, because they have to do something to repair it. so that is a beautiful shot we are giving you there. not much going on inside, though, some say there's more going on today than there is normally, because in fact the federal government is completely shut down. all the key events of the day, the press conference was canceled. janet yellen the new chair of the federal reserve, was due to testify that was with closed, and we don't know when the federal government is going to

reopen. in the meantime, the snow emergency being lifted right now, it was put on at 6:30 last night, they are lifting at this minute. and the great iremy is that the snow is starting again. and that's something for people watching this further north, the snow is coming in bans. ten when uh yo think it is over, just when you think it is okay do go outside, it is not. >> and john, in the nation's capitol also a travel hub, how is that effecting things. >> when union station is here. really not much -- i don't think anyone is running south of here. >> they have the northeast corridor. north of the city like baltimore and philly -. >> a very limited service, long island railroad, metro north, and the boston public transport system, they are all running restricts as the storm hungers down. but the big deal, and it was the same last night, even more so today.

the flights the airline are completely wrecked. 6,000 flights have been canceled today alone. which is going to have a terrible effect for those wanting to come into this part of the world. two eastern portion of the united states, right away through the weekend, because it is going to take them a while to get the planes in the right places so the delays will knock on. although the national airport here in d.c., the ragan national airport is closed we just heard the runways of dulles are open again so that is good. of course, mrs. a serious side to this, 14 people have died as a result of this storm blowing through in various parts of the states that have been effected. >> john, up that. joining us live from washington, d.c. other parts of the south reeling from the storm as well. georgia learning lessons from the past, robert gray is in atlanta, and have they learned from that from two weeks ago.

>> yeah, dell, good afternoon, absolutely they have. you can see the roads are clear. the ice is melting, it is headed down these big hills. and i think people -- especially the government officials have completely lened from the debacle two weeks ago people stayed home, they didn't go out, the issue is this. with temps that-around freezing when these systems come in, you have that, and then you have snow, sleet, and ice. combines together, and then you put the hills and the big trees and you have a recipe for disaster, where wreaks isn't get anywhere. snowplows can't get out, to put sand and sleet on the streets. at least for the short term, it looks like everybody has learned their lesson. definitely, i don't think this will ever happen again if we have a system like this. ifky swing the camera around, you can see some

of the casualties of the past couple of days. ins an old home. he was going to gut it, and unfortunately the wind, ice, snow, literally as you can see knocks the entire back of the house into a collapse mode. unfortunately, workers trying to pick up the mess, seeing if they can salvage this old piece of historic atlanta. i talked to georgia power, they are over 200,000 people in metro atlanta, that are still out of power. over 300,000 in the state. augusta georgia hit hard, they tell me that power may not be totally restored.

so please people, take caution, i can say people have been locked up for is past 48 hours. there are joggers across the street right now, in fact, you can swing the cam can rah and see, this is atlanta getting back to normal right here. they are coming out, her tying. >> and robert, they have to be legging their wounds today as well. >> oh, absolutely. very similar to here, they got caught in a system that came down very fast. officials to their credit did put out the word, it just seems like maybe people didn't think that something like that could occur. like what happened in atlanta a couple of weeks ago. and now the folks here calling this at lan actor ca, sort of a running

joke here. funny, i don't know. i guess it is up to the person. in fact looking as these bands. that is where you get the intense snowfall. these big storms move up the coast, and this area here, actually starting to see showers pop up. where it is cold enough, these are snow squalls that can develop, as this colder air moves in and brings the snow to the east. these bands setting up here going to new york and new england, two to three inches an hour. so they pivot around the storm that's where you get these snow. as, you can see these following around the

storms and you stay over the same area. here is the lull we are talking about. but the snow comes back, it will continue to track up to the northeast, these bans come back around through, and the temperatures drop, so it could have warmed up, but it will drop and the rain or sleet can change back to snow. herele cos the snow coming to washington, d.c., 8:00 tonight, and then through philadelphia, in new york by 2:00 in the morning it can wake up to an additional three to six-inches of snow. the united states says they are dangerous, afghan president says it is no concern of the u.s. the u.s. says some of those being released kill

coalition troops afghanistan claims there wasn't enough evidence to hold them. hundreds of prisoners have been there, but they have since been freed since the u.s. handed it over. only 70 prisoners now remain. united united nations mediator reaffirming the united states and russia and their commitment to the syrian place talks. all sides are agree on one thing, and that is getting more humanitarian aid into that region. they are struggling with a massive influx, reports.

she doesn't know where three of her sons are, let's show you where -- this is quite new, this family has just arrived. if you can just see it's a basic basic tent. they have been given this handout by aid agencies, mattresses it is winter, and it gets incredibly cold, but certainly people have left homes and now they are reliant on handouts in tents. it is incredible difficult situation, more and more people are crossing especially as

the government has launch add campaign, and agencies are telling us. a u.s. ship that will help destroy the kem caweapons is in spain right now. docking in spain to refuel, the organization for the pro biggs says the ship will collect about 560 metric tons of chemicals before taking them to international waters. secretary of state is in seoul meeting with president and foreign minister today. because of them, today secretary kerry has said issues have not been linked to those exercises. in florida injuries continue to deliver the kate of a white manned that shot an unarmed white teenager. michael dun is claiming

self-defense. his trial yesterday, his attorney said dun has the right to meet force with force. natasha talks to some of the peers of jordan davis about the case. less than a prime away, we visits the downtown campus, a florida state college at jacksonville, it is an international campus, with 19,000 students, most are jordan davis' peers. after what i have been watching from the different broadcasts is that -- is that he did nit cold blood.

>> i don't feel like i have to, but it is just something that is in my nature to watch out for myself. >> it makes people more accountable for my actions, i don't know what the next person is thinking or what the next person's intentions are. >> this is shining a light on the stand your ground laws and many people feel that they are unjust. how do you feel about the stand your ground law? >> while i agree with with the stand your ground law, i agree with it in the fact that i believe you should be able to defend yourself if someone is about to harm you. >> other students say the law should be changed to make sure people who kim and claim self-defense are held accountability. these young women say the

shadow of stand your ground continues to loom large. i can go outside and shoot someone randomly, and not even think about going to jail. but as one student points out, the media attention has generated a national conversation. a conversation they hope continues long after the verdict in the dunn case. natasha al jazeera, jacksonville florida. >> facebook announcing it is changing its gender option on user pages that says it is doing so to accommodate with those that don't identify with being a man or a woman. they will now have 50 different terms to pick when picking a gender. this is seen a a step forward for transgender communities. two of the nation's largest cable providers coming together, david chuter up next to explain what it all means.

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.

trading volume is lighter than usual. the winter weather keeping them at home last month. retail sales fell .4 of a%. britain's finance minister and lose the british pound. georgia ozborne saying they can't be divided. he adds it will cost scotland and commerce and finance, scottish accuse him of scare tactics. and the force is boosting netflix shares hire, p pas toward record territory. netflix signing an exclusive deal for the

rights of the final season of star wars the clone wars. the 13 episode series will be available sometime next month. david chuteser here with the details. >> . >> including anybody. time warner cable is more than 12 million subscribers and is valuing at more than $37 billion. it is not in the content business, it was spun off five years ago. so the new company would

not effect those networks. but when it comes to cable sub drivers they would have more than 33 million consumers. consumers and limit their options. when it comes to keeping consumers happy. >> you have one company that's pretty thoroughly disliked by many of its customers merging with another country is hard to imagine how this will put a smile on the customers faces. >> mergers urinally don't help things on that cap. still, antist are not entirely certain what the specific impact of monthly bills may be. the new larger company would have more power to

keep content providers like espn from. >> thatting higher fees on the other hand, the comcast time warner can unilaterally raise fees and leave customers with nowhere else to go. all of these are questions that are going to be raised by federal regulators. >> mincing new words with regards to either company. >> it is a big challenge, most poem don't like having to deal it suggests as they try to bring together their various systems and what no, so people out there. and a lot of people are not very optimistic. still to come. gay marriage verses religious freedom. l a proposed law hold up in court. we will talk about wit an expert on constitutional law. >>

welcome back to am al jazeera america. here will your headlines. in the carolinas all the way to canada, people along the east coast are digging out after that major snowfall. more nan a foot of snow already on the ground in some states and more is expected this evening. a florida jury, deliberating the fate of michael dunn, he is accused of shooting an unarm ad teenager, and killing him. he is claiming self-defense claiming he feared for his life. now picking 50 different terms. that don't identify themselves as a man or a woman. laws approving same-sex marriage passing in many parts of the country, but several now trying to circumstance cent those laws passing prevention on religious beliefs. lawmakers passing a bill, which can make it harder to find a place to wed if you are gay. it allows groups to

refuse service on grounds of religion. and paul is a constitutional attorney, he works for english and kline, good afternoon. >> it's really big of them. and in the other, the rights to civil rights under the fifth amendment of the constitution, and clearly it is a battle bigger than just state rights. it is a battle under the constitution. that will be the difficulty, and the street will have to determine that. what we are talking about here. >> on the base of race, color, creed. trance gender, gay, lesbian. and that's really a problem. that's a problem with with the federal government, will have to step in and finally make the ruling and that will be through the supreme court.

>> some say this argument goes all the way back to the framer oz if constitution. >> no question that it does. and people that are married and gay. that is where the heart of it is. so you are dealing with a battle of boeheim myths here. >> is is the supreme court -- sit going to have to go into the pages of the baseball too, a lot of ministers are pointing to the bible, and they are saying this is their authority by which they have concern. >> the supreme court will avoided that like the plague. >> can it though. >> it can, and it should. it's not a matter of the religion itself. it is the basic concept of religious freedom. in this situation, all their truly held beliefs

who want to use the catering hall who want yo use the florist, and the bakery, it is going to be an enormously difficult decision. what if they want to use the chapel? >> the court will never interfere with that. it will not term the injuryish religion, it will not tell the muslim religion, that they cannot discriminate, different words, based on that. those core beliefs have change over a very long period of time. >> did we get a game as to what the court may do on the issue of contraceptives? >> we don't know what the ultimate outcome is going to be. the stay is in place, but they haven't ruled in full. obviously a lobby situation, is a private company that does not want to provide these sorts of contraceptives to its employees. on a religious front, there's a much better chance the court will

uphold that. i don't think you can question is that based on the fact of who they are you said i had to get the law firm right. >> indeed. >> we want to go back to the day's top stories. that being the mess out there. >> yeah, the mess out there, and the storm continues to push off to the northeast. that led to that low here now these bans will come back around, maybe even thunderstorms and this will be the storms that are p booing up where it is snow squalls as it moves back through.

it's ended here, and heavier amounts up from new england, but still coming down tomorrow morning. it will continue to push off the coast, and then clear out at least for 24 hours saturday can dump more snow across the mid atlantic. these temperatures will be dropping but the cold air comes back. and that changes any mix, back to snow and theming drops the temperatures more. here is the cold air coming in. with some light snow drop below zero, it will push east behind this storm as it moves out.

thank you for watching al jazeera america. 101 east is next, and remember take it easy out there, lit be a mess. china's one child policy has quoted controversy, from accusations of the state confiscating children, to forced abortions. today it is being blamed for a declining fertility rate and a major gender imbalance, with more than 30 million men, to women by 2020. i'm steve chow on this edition of 101 east, we ask if the days of china's one child polices is coming to an end.