>> this is al jazeera america. live from new york city. i'm jonathan betz with a look at today's top stories. the syrian government is being blamed as talks to end the bloodshed break down. in a close vote, tennessee workers reject the auto union workers union. and street fights and protests in venezuela. demonstrators, police fire water cannons on crowds. after a series of accidents, the u.s. and canada look at the safety of oil trains.

>> the second round of syrian peace talks official ended in -- officially ended in are failure today. the mediator is blaming the syrian government. our james bays has the latest from geneva. >> after chairing a second round of talks that have achieved nothing, mediator lakhdar brahimi wanted to address the syrian people. >> i'm very, very sorry and i apologize to the syrian people, that hopes which were very, very high, tha that something will hn here. i think the little that has been achieved in homs gave them even more hope. >> reporter: dr. brahimi explained there had been arguments over the agenda for the talks. he made a compromise proposal

and he made it clear which side had objected. >> unfortunately, the government has refused, which raises the suspicion of the opposition. that, in fact, the government doesn't want to discuss at all. >> reporter: within minutes both sides came to brief the media. even though everybody heard dr. brahimi say it was the syrian government that didn't accept the items. >> why do you not accept the order for discussions he has proposed? >> the other side gave his own interpretation of the agenda. by saying there's no need we finalize the first item. there's no item to fully finalize the first item. we will give it one day. one day for discussion. and then we will move to the other item which is the interim government. >> why don't you accept his proposal? he's the chairman.

why don't you accept his chairmanship? >> hold your horses. hold your horses. we said we cannot move from item one, to item two to item three or item four without fully considering this item and come to a conclusion. >> to intensify its attacks. >> our heart is in pain. our delegations is quite in pain. as we speak here searching for a political solution, the regime has chosen to bombard towns and cities killing civilians. >> reporter: the peace talks started with an international meeting of world leaders. since then, there have been two sessions, 14 days of talks. also since then, according to one monitoring group, 5500 syrian have died. james bays al jazeera at the united nations. >> failure of these negotiations comes with a great price.

the syrian people, the cease fire, ends tomorrow. mariana hon has the story. >> this could be anywhere. a local football match in a dusty playground but this is a shelter in homs. a syrian city desperately clinging to a fragile cease fire. until a few days ago, these people lived in the old city, under siege. >> translator: since these new incidents started we use the fireplace to cook. we never went out of the house. we never knew what was going on out there. us women were not able to go out. >> translator: i lost my husband two years ago. i've heard no news from him. we were together and he went out and then, from that moment, i have not heard from him at all. >> reporter: the u.n. brokered

humanitarian cease fire allowed those to leave. trying to get out including hundreds of young men. there are real concerns for their safety. >> translator: yesterday, 70 young men left the camp to go back to their home land. and they can live wherever they wish. according to the instructions of mr. president, and by his sponsorship and according to the government's plan we are working on settling things for all the young men who are here with us and in particular those who have not been involved in the bloodshed. >> reporter: if they manage to leave they too will become displaced. many have made it into neighboring lebanon. there the residents are setting up new likes of as refugees. from homs, a city more than 2,000 years old, to a new home, this one, a tent city. mariana nahon, al jazeera.

>> a volcano eript erupted on -- erupted in a indonesian island. step vasson sends us this report. >> i'm here in east java, these are the worst affected. basically this is the third time the residents here have felt an eruption from mount valut. it sounded like a bomb exploded. stones like these fell on their roof, fell everywhere, and a thick layer is basically on every roof. what's happened, a lot of these houses have collapsed and they haven't seen that happening before during any of the previous eruptions. as you know, these people are old farmers, very much depending on their craps. this volcanic ash is everywhere,

not a very healthy substance. what it does to the crops you can see right here. the banana trees, all the other trees are completely destroyed. so these farmers will have to start planting their crops all over again. people here are in the danger zone. some of these are here trying to feed animals, taking care of their houses, their belongings, of course it is still not safe. the mountain now is not seriously erupting anymore, it has this big bang last thursday. but after that, it started to calm down but authorities haven't given the clear green light yet. >> step vasson. the protester from ukraine.

>> 20-year-old ulia has come to join the revolution. and the pro -- at the protesters main campaign center, all new recruits are vetted. ulia's ukrainian but lives in london with her parents. an unlikely new member of the opposition women's brigade. >> when i saw how they burned the buses and how the police are attacking them, after that i just got all my stuff and went to the airport. >> you've said yourself it was a dangerous situation here. what are you prepared to do? >> everything like, i'm ready to fight for my life, in the betterment of my country, even to death. >> ulia is among several hundred women eager to play a more active role in ongoing protests

and that means being ready to fight. but before being allowed to police the barricades ulia and others receive training. they are trained in a whole series of different tactics, how to avoid arrest, what to do in a riot situation. if there are any more clashes, these young women are determined not to play a back seat role. none of us are afraid to be hurt. they just want to protect the freedom and their lives. but perhaps the bigger danger is that all of this will end in nothing. >> reporter: these young women are undergoing a radical l many transformation. neave barker, al jazeera, kiev.

the tennessee workers have said no to union. 712 voted against joining the united auto workers, 626 voted for it. al jazeera's erica ferrari has more. >> it's a sting to auto workers in general. after secret voting, tennessee's auto workers say no to union representation. >> my heart is pounding with exceeding joy. we are thankful that it turned out the way it did. >> volkswagen has invested $1 billion in the tennessee plant. the company was lured there by more than $577 million in state and local incentives. some viewed unionizing as a setback that would only benefit the uaw. >> the problem is the uaw has a need for our money. they don't care about these guys. they really don't.

>> reporter: the campaign was seen as organized labor's best chance to expand into foreign-owned plants in the south. that very idea brought more reaction from outside interests than from the plant workers themselves. conservative groups rented billboards in tennessee and blamed the uaw for detroit's financial troubles. while governor bill haslam spoke out, volkswagen remained neutral throughout. even allowing the united auto workers into the plant during the process. >> between the two institutions, volkswagen and the uaw, i know of not one incident of any congregation or animosity -- aggression or animosity coming out of this process. >> while outraged with politicians and outside interest groups towards forming a union,

we are proud of these workers. erica ferrari k blgz a, al jazea america. >> bob thank you for joining us today. >> thanks for having me. >> how big a defeat was it for the uaw? >> it was a pretty big setback. as your report noted, this was viewed as perhaps the uaw's best chance ever have to organize a foreign-owned auto plant in the south. they had a company, volkswagen that was officially neutral, was actually very accommodating. had agreed to let uaw organizers on the property. did not do what other companies in this situation had done, like bringing antiunion organizers cajole workers why they should join the union. it's unionized everywhere else in the world, almost everywhere else in the world and it has an

arrangement where management and the unions have a work council at the vast majority of its plants where they help offer advice of how plants should be run. they were very sort of eeg are fetting something like that set up in -- eager getting something like that set up in tennessee. a better atmosphere, a plan by nissan or hyundai -- >> explain that to me. i know that vw was relatively union friendly. rk where the company might actively encourage workers to not sign up with the union, which is something vw the not do

here. you know, this was set to relatively fertile ground. they can try again apparently in about a year at the vw plant which they may well do. it's been a number of years since they had an election like this in a southern auto plant and those had not gone their way either. and meanwhile the uaw's total membership was declining. it was about 1.5 members in 1979 and now to about 400,000. >> the 1.5 million members in 1979 now dropped to close to 400,000 in recent years, the new hires make about $15 an hour, wisconsin, michigan had passed laws limiting union power. so are we seeing the beginning of the end of the uaw? >> i don't know if it's the beginning of the end. union itself has expressed concern about that. uaw president bob king who by

the way no relation at all, just to make clear, good name though but not related to me, he said a few years ago, that if the uaw could not organize at what he calls the transnational plants in the u.s. he questioned what the future of the uaw might be. interesting you mentioned the lower pay that some of the newer employees get at uaw plants, where they are organized. that apparently worked against them in tennessee because some volkswagen workers in tennessee were already making what some newer uaw workers make at other plants. and apparently that led some workers to question what the benefit of being in the union would be. >> that's why they said no, it looks like. bob king thanks for your time today. >> thanks for having me. today jurors entered their fourth day of deliberation of mike dunn. dunn fired four rounds of shots

into jordan's suv. invoking the stand your ground law. the way women's sexuality is portrayed in the media. ♪

what is this place? where are we? this is where we bring together the fastest internet and the best in entertainment. we call it the x1 entertainment operating system. it looks like the future! we must have encountered a temporal vortex. further analytics are necessary. beam us up. ♪ that's my phone. hey. [ female announcer ] the x1 entertainment operating system, only from xfinity. tv and internet together like never before.

>> rivers are still rising and now i.t. has -- it last started raining again. weeks of record setting rain. it's been england's wettest january ever and in some places water won't crest until monday. in the meantime, more rain is forecast there. many remain without power in the southeast, about a quarter of a million homes and businesses in georgia have been without power. authorities are warning people in rural areas that it could take two weeks before their power is two weeks.

gelila. it's bad. >> i feel bad especially for the elderly people and the small children who are going to be without power yet again tonight. hasn't done so across the northeast, this area of low pressure is tracking its way across the mid atlantic. this is the system that brought eligibility of snow across the northwest, these clipper systems, pushing across the midwest, going to bring blizzard like conditions across portions of even new england, eastern massachusetts, just out of, 18 to 20 inches of fresh snow. she chilly in cleveland, only reaching 17, pittsburgh, little

bit warmer. they had to contend with warmer temperatures out there. temperatures will drop below freezing in pittsburgh, watch out for black ice i-80, and sir queues and also albany. see this area of intensification ililluminated by the dark, dark blue, 18 inches of snow i-95 in maine. very duff night, blowing, drift -- very tough night, we may see a few more light showers across portions of the mid atlantic and the outer banks and carolina later today. meanwhile across the plains, another system, down towards des moines, aye wa -- iowa, much ned rainfall out there. be careful along i-84 and also

i-5. back to you jonathan. >> thanks jelelah. afghanistan, country is healing from decades of wars. now the united states is looking to withdraw from their own war. in the edge of harat in western afghanistan, captured soviet weaponry, dedicated to the horrors of war. the walls are filled with millions of afghanistans, who rose up against the muja hadin. >> what people feared most was aerial bombardment from the soviets. killing of women, children and the elderly. that ingenuitie united us. >> guard the entrance to a

dramatic diarama. if history is written by the victors, then the story may appear too straightforward. the muja hadin marches home victorious. but it is one of the easily gathered histories in the country. >> this was to remind future generations graphically of the horrors of war. >> the museum was founded by a former muja hadin warrior. history is about to repeat itself. >> translator: when the soviets were defeated the world abandoned us. they didn't help reconstruct this country. they didn't even want to functional government to be

established. we sacrificed ourselves for the world and the war against terrorism. after years of war and afghans suffering, they are going to abandon us again. >> the u.n. campaign stoption thi --stops this year. bernard smith, al jazeera, harat, afghanistan. >> and joining me to discuss the lessons, al jazeera's international affairs contributors and a professor of history at the university of michigan. 25 years after the soviets pulled out, what are some of the lessons the americans can take when they begin to withdraw from afghanistan? >> the soviets, did leech behind najib but he had no support in

the country and the soviets didn't stay with him. so just pulling out and leaving nothing behind very bad idea. >> so how critical is it for the u.s. to reach a security deal with the afghan government? >> well, whether u.s. troops stay in the country or not, i think, is still an open questi question, and maybe not the really consequently one. >> really? >> the important thing is, it is a government, it is an elected government, there are some irregularities in the government but there is an army. it simply does not have a budget that would allow it to maintain 200,000 men under arms between the police and the military. so i think continued financial support to the government is absolutely key. >> so do you feel more

encouraged looking at the afghan government today, when you compare it to what the soviets left behind 25 years ago? >> oh, absolutely. the afghan government today has a lot of problems, capacity problems, bureaucratic problems but it is a government. and it does function to some extent. whereas, the soviet experiment in afghanistan was a disaster. there was a communist party in achgz. it was -- afghanistan. it was mainly from the ethnic tajik party in the north. they left behind a fragmented country that then fell into various forms of civil war and taliban rule. and so it was a disaster. >> as you mentioned the taliban eventually took over after the soviets left. how concerned are you that the

taliban will once take over once the u.s. will firmly pull out? >> i think the likelihood of a solid taliban takeover of the country will be low. as i said, there's a big well armed army, basically if the west, if 92nd and the united states couldn't -- if 92n nato d the united states couldn't hold on you wonder whether it's possible at all. >> all right. thank you. the amanda knox case has actually inspired a new york artist. who worries about the impact on women across the planet. a warning, this story does have

strong language. sienna, the young america american -- >> compulsive liar. >> american whore. >> always hunting men. >> oddly libidinous. >> i was doing a lot of research at the time on women in history who had had faced character assassination. called something demonic, witch-like. >> rita has collected more than 150 negative words about knox since her arrest, enough to fit this female scroll. then fit it onto a female body letter by letter. >> when one is called a number of negative terms it has to harm them in a negative way.

who knows what jezebel means? what suck yo succubus means? >> a mainstream, how often she used sex, her use of sex toys, her use of marijuana, that has bearing on whether or not she murdered her roommate? those two don't feed into each other but the narrative that's being created is that they do. >> you wrote something in the book that surprised me. you said, what if i had not gone on a campaign for casual sex? >> it was irresponsible. >> it is a narrative that rhine wants to see changed. >> i think part of that is media being responsible in the way they discuss these stories and being careful not to csh contrie to a narrative.

>> her murder trial is not over. they were convicted in 2009, then acquitted in 2011, then last year italy's highest court found them guilty again. they are expected to appeal. but the verdict reached in the court of public opinion still stands. kaylyn ford, al jazeera, new york. still more. we're live in caracas. and nigeria's banks, setting up face scans for its customers in an attempt to tighten security.

>> welcome back to al jazeera america. here's a look at your top stories this half hour. u.n. mediator apologized for the failure of the syrian peace talks today. he blamed the syrian government. a volcano eruption in

indonesia. wet weather in england. demonstrators attacked government buildings while police used tear gas and water cannons to break up crowds. al jazeera's rachel levin is there now. what you are seeing today ray chel? >> today president nicholas maduro called for a pro-peace rally here in caracas. there are thousands of people who did turn out. even though this was supposed to be a rally for peace, he did have some pretty harsh words for the opposition, particularly the leader of the opposition, leopoldo wawdo wawrdo juarez.

we're talking about 1500 and 2,000 protesters. venezuela continues to be a polarized country and tensions are very high this week. >> rachel, what has sparked these massive protests? >> well, what happened was, earlier this week, in separate cities throughout the country, mainly students took to the streets. they were very upset about the rising crime here throughout the country, caracas actually has one of the highest homicide rates in all of latin america and another major problem is inflation. venezuela has crippling inflation right now. just to give you an idea, when i was here in october on the black market you could exchange a dollar for about 50 venezuelan

boulevardos. , but now it's twice that much. every day they need more to buy the same products, so people are quite frustrated and they are aiming the frustration at the government. >> rachel has the president come up with any kind of policies or programs to fight that raising inflation? >> they have com come up where certain policies and they are trying to control the currency here. they spend a lot of money on social programs. these social programs are what have made this government so popular. there hasn't been a sign that they will cut back on any of that any time soon. people are racing to see what the economic policies will be and how the government plans to attack this issue. but so far the results convenient been very satisfactory for about half the

population. we want to point out that president maduro is still very popular in this country. the country is divided, half is for the government and half want to see him go. >> thank you live in caracas venezuela. crimes against humanity. a human rights group is expected to release a damning report on monday. the very same time the u.n. will release its own investigation. torture forced starvation and a widespread kidnapping campaign. it doesn't blairm specific people but it -- blame specific people but it suggests the findings be referred to the hague. >> the three person panel spent nearly a year investigating north korea's practices.

impression used to help straight the horrors they described. >> translator: the most painful was when they handcuffed my hands to the back. my hands were placed 60 centimeters above the ground and i couldn't sit or stand. i was left alone for three or four days. that was the most painful torture. >> according to an elite summary of the report, details not just abuses inside prison camps but throughout the country. murders, rape, political repression, in short crimes against humanity. the u.n. is not confirming the contents of this leak, however if they are an accurate representation of the report, in itself it wouldn't be anything particularly new. these allegations run back many years. however it does represent the most concerted effort yet to investigate north korea's human rights record and to hold it to account. according to the leak the report

recommends further investigation to investigate the north korean government. hopefully to refer to the international criminal court looks far fetched, north korea's ally holding veto power at the u.n. suggesting the forensic nature of the endeavor would force some accountability. >> they are on notice and are in due process have responsibility to respond in detail. it is an act of the whole world community but a reaction which will be appropriately daild to all the evidence that -- detailed to all the evidence we are gathered. >> north korea has already reacted to the leak. high level talks between north and south korea, with a full report out on monday those families and government officials in seoul will be watching to see whether its

milkpublication will have any effect, harry forsett, al jazeera, seoul. they fled their war torn country, leaving family members behind. now, six decades later, north koreans are trying to reunite with their loved ones. >> if i meet them again, i will feel like i am reborn. >> stay tuned for the two koreas, 8:00 eastern, 5:00 pacific, here on al jazeera america. after two serious train accidents, oil production soars in both countries, concern grows over explosive materials moving through towns. daniel lack has more. >> reporter: never has so much oil gushed out of north america.

from the bakken shale to crude being extracted, there is a problem. getting the oil to market can be dangerous. this fire ball over castleton north dakota last year was from derailed oil tankers. and at lac megantic, alberta, those living beside the rail lines, more transparency about what's being carried. >> that was a small town. if a similar incident were to happen in toronto, one doesn't even want to imagine the kinds of human casualties would result. >> canada's government says it's tightening regulations and will continue to do so as it receives

inquiries into lac megantic and others. involving first responders and communities in dealing with disasters. >> it is an integrated transportation commodities, these cars cross the borders, there has to be a solution that will work in both the u.s. and canada. >> under intense pressure, not least from an oil industry that must move its product, governments in washington and ottawa say they will move this year to make rail lines even safer. cross-border appliance like keystone xl remain stalled in the approval process. to some, the events of the past year call into question our entire dependence on oil and the need to move to greener safer sources of energy. we need stronger sources of oil,

we need to do that for climate change operations but risks we have seen that are inevitable when you are moving a hazardous product. >> busy rail lines move through many large communities and cities, getting the safety right is going to be essential. daniel lack, al jazeera toronto. >> and joining me now from austin, texas, to discuss the risk of transporting oil is robert bryce. thanks for being with us. >> thank you for being here today. >> the way to move oil by rail or pipeline does the industry have a preference? >> i think for the industry it depends, i guess would be the first answer. moving by pipeline is far cheaper, it's also no question far safer. but what we've seen now with the development of the willison

basin and the bakken shale in north dakota, and this surge of moving oil by tanker car, producers are also seeing that moving by rail gives them more optionality. they can move their product to highest bidder, move to different refineries, whereas a pipeline gives them a fairly restricted method of moving oil, rail car is much more flexible. >> how can you say moving oil by pipeline is much safer, especially when so many are concerned about the keystone pipeline for instance? >> the facts are the facts. we have the biggest pipeline network here in the united states. we have more than a million miles of natural gas pipeline. probably about the same in terms of oil pipeline. but what we've seen just in your preliminary -- the intro segment into this segment right here, the accident in quebec, these other recent rail accidents, are clear examples of the fact that unfortunately, moving oil by

rail is somewhat more dangerous. >> so is the answer more regulation on the railroads and on the trains? or is the answer approving things like the keystone pipeline? >> well, clearly we're going to need more pipeline capacity and that's going to be built. clearly we're going to need safer operations from the railroads and also from the oil companies. but a key point here jonathan is that even if we build more appliance it's not going to be the end of oil by rail. in western canada we already have something on the order of 900,000 barrels of new rail terminal capacity that is being built in north dakota by the end of this year. in north dakota alone will have 1.1 million barrels of rail terminal -- 1.1 million barrels per day of rail terminal capacity. so keystone xl remember is only 830,000 barrels per day capacity. even with keystone and these other methods we'll see more oil run by rail.

>> thank you for joining us. >> thanks a lot jonathan. fraud is a problem, the banks have decided to implement a biometric i.d. system for every bank customer in that country. ahmedi dris. has the story. >> over the last months, millions of customers will queue up to have their fingerprints scanned. an answer to bank fraud that has given the country a bad name. >> your data is available to everybody. that with whom you conduct transactions, where you go to atm, go to borrow money because on that database it is enough of a deterrent that will change behavior and change attitudes.

>> but the challenges are enormous. rolling out the scheme across the country will take months and cost money to banks. or some, facing challenges of their own. banks in nigeria lose millions each year to fraud and money laundering. but this new system will help reduce these losses while also protecting people's money. some banks are able to secure deposits better, but for many individuals these controls came too laid. yahir mohamed lost 50,000 to a business partner. >> the text message, immediately, i saw it. within an hour, i created this account, right? thinking he will give me because he is normal something. >> one year after the money has not been paid. now he's taken the case to the financial crimes commission. like some of the nigerians she's

skeptical that the biometric information will cure nigeria's banking woes. but now, these transactions are the preferred way of doing banking and with it, many of the issues plaguing the financial banking systems. mohamed idris, al jazeera. peter greste, mohamed fahmy and baher mohamed have been detained for two months. chinese new year, lisa bernard has more on that. >> in san francisco' san franci,

goodye tthe ar othe snake. >> i got to tell you, these are awesome flowers. >> dave thomas and his team are making the floats that will welcome the year of the horse. his company will build 21 floats this year. sponsors pay anywhere from $30,000 to $100,000 to get one of thomas's floats in the famous san francisco new year parade. >> how long did it take to get from here to here? >> this is usually ten days work. i draw a fleet that will elicit that emotion. >> this dates back to the 1860s and is now the largest

asian cultural event in north america. as the artists prepare for the year of the horse so do those who interpret the chinese astrological signs. lillian yang is an astrological consultant. she says the elements fire and wood are significant this year. >> whenever fire shows up, it's going to pick up the stock market. traditional red envelopes are for sale, they'll be stuffed with money and passed along. inge expects a robust world economy during the year of the horse. she believes 2014 is a time to take chances. >> people who have projects going on, this is the time to put this into action. you have the energy of the horse, the fire for the confidence to support you. >> 1ie believes in the symbolism. she clutches her traditional signs ready for the new year.

>> this is for gun gung gung het choy. >> year of innovation and also conflict. she says the overriding theme for 2014 is optimism. lisa bernard, al jazeera, america. the hockey in sochi. on

online @ajamstream. >> now we're back with jessica, go team u.s.a, quite a day, quite a night for hockey team. >> the fact that you've gotten into hockey is pretty exciting. we're not even in medal rounds

but it is must-see tv. they were fighting for goal, it looked like when the u.s. and russia faced off. the preliminary match not only lived up to the hype, but the game doesn't even necessarily count. the u.s. beat the russian team, 2-1, unlike the nhl, international rules permit the shooter take multiple rounds. the st. louis blues star, netted four, including the game winner. >> that's something you dream about, going in shootouts and imagining as a kid. it feels great right now. but like i said we're focusing on tomorrow now. to get the win tonight was big but doesn't mean much without the win tomorrow. it's exciting, fun, but we still got a job to do.

>> everybody did a good job. we're going to enjoy this win tonight but it's on to another one tomorrow and got to shift our focus to tomorrow. >> and a serious accident today at the sochi game for russian cross skier maria comiserova, first woman to win a medal in ski cross in 2012. this was a heartbreaker for peru's first ever olympian, demonstrated what the olympic games were all about. al jazeera's mark moran caught up with the skier. >> i was just initializing the final line on how important this was going to mean for all the followers and people who were watching the olympics, for

peruvian citizens and the united states, it was a bik accomplishment if i was able to cross the finish line. that was my main driver. >> now the winner from switzerland came from the finish line to meet you and congratulate you. you don't normally see that even in the olympics. what did he say and what was that moment like? >> i didn't see it coming across the finish line. i was just laughter and seeing someone coming and it was taril, he said well done, really good job and i couldn't believe it, he waited for me for that long time. >> what did it mean to you personally that he was there? like i said you rarely see something like that. >> the first thing that came to my mind is like, wow, what i've just done, of skiing with broken ribs and stuff like that, is so tough. and so high-goal oriented, that a champion can pull it off.

and i think this was kind of a champion coming to the champion to congratulate. >> do you think that you define what's often called the olympic spirit given the injuries and still toughing it out to finish this lengthy race? >> 100%, absolutely. >> what is the significance of this as far as peru is concerned and how you feel a part of that and responsible for what has happened and what you think will happen from this? >> over the last 12 hours it got at least 800 messages, e-mails that from peru, from peruvians, i will answer back to them it will take a long time and i got about 5,000 "likes" in my facebook page. i think in the short term set up the training for kids in peru so we can have maybe in the future a delegation that is made in peru.

>> again just a great story about how the olympics kind of bring out the best sometimes in people, too. >> also confused about the hockey team's playing. aren't we also in the nhl season right now? >> that's what you're going to see, when they are playing actually in the winter games hockey season stops. >> officially stops? >> officiaofficially stops whene olympic games are going. you can hear what they're saying from sochi whether players want to play and of course whether teams want to have that terrific-reward with their players playing in the olympic games. very interesting. >> thanks jessica. a look at the country's top stories when we come back. with the most interesting people of our time. hip hop pioneer russell simmons talks with soledad o'brien >> i make mistakes everyday, i don't try to count them... >> about his music.... >> the artist should say what's

on people's minds. >> his cause... dominion over the animals does not mean abuse... >> and his future... >> i wanna make movies and tv shows that reflect the new america. >> russell simmons up close and personal... talk to al jazeera only on al jazeera

>> we have to move out of here right now >> i think we have a problem... >> we have to get out of here... >> they're telling that they they don't wanna show what's really going on... >> mr. drumfield, i'd like to speak to you for a minute... >> this is where columbia's war continues... >> ...still occupied... >> police have arrived... you see the blast scars from a bomb that went off... >> this is al jazeera america, live from new york. i'm jonathan betz with today's headlines. an update on the michael dunn trial. in florida.

the jury has reached a verdict in four out of five counts. after two argued over volume of music in the teen's car. charged with a count of murder and three counts of attempted murder. the judge last directed the jury to go back and deliberate. third round of syrian peace talks are expected. the united states will provide a billion dollars of loan guarantees to jordan, to help with with syrian refugees. president obama and king abdalla also discussed the need for transitional government in syria. demonstrators in venezuela's capital last night. police used water cannons to break up the crowds. three were killed during an antigovernment march. four people are dead after

volcano erupted in indonesia. seven airports were closed to prevent ash from being sucked into engines. inside story is up next. day, benghazi, the city the size of charlotte,. >> two years ago, fault lines traveled to libya, as forces fought to overthrow moammar gadhafi, in the unrest that was sweeping the arab world. now, benghazi is a by-word for political scandal, after the murder of an american ambassador in 2012. >> i cannot imagine sending folks out to benghazi, after