thank you very much. >> thank you, great to be on. >> the show may be over, but the conversation continues on the website aljazeera.com/considerthis. you can follow us on twitter, google+. see you next time. >> good evening everyone, welcome to al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler in new york. crimes against humanity. the united nations report on north korea. allegations of atrocities and brutality against people and the effort to hold kim jong-un accountable. after the verdict, the mistrial of the michael dunn murder trial, what it means, to the criminal justice system. i'll talk to reverend jesse jackson.

ski season in the west, the tom on california. and true nature of attack dogs. our series tonight continues with surprising new evident from science and technology correspondent jake ward. >> and we begin tonight with a syria peace talks. they've hit a roadblock breaking down over the weekend. and today the blame game continues. the u.s. accusing syrian president bashar al-assad, and the diplomatic wrestling continues, so is the suffering. richelle carey is here with that. richelle,. >> it all comes down to people. syrian, millions are refugees,

crossing borders. pictures shows us the human struggle playing out in the desert. these are the images we see from syria of the shelling, the suffering. they only tell part of the story. these people tell the other. a steady stream of refugees free the war torn country, by the hundreds of thousands. they walk across the desert. pictures of these show wave after wave, children like marwan, a seven-year-old facing an uncertain future. marwan is just one of the hundreds of thousands of syrian children living in refugee camps in jordan and neighboring companies. it is stories like these that inspired australian ambassador luke arnold to get involved.

>> forget the politics and the fighting, kids need help and we go in and help them. i was jumping for the chance to do that, something i could actually make a difference in. >> arnold visited a refugee camp in jordan last month, a experience that changed his life he said. >> things they can talk about just everyday life is something i've never been confronted about before. and also if you talk to them about what they want to be when they grow up, so many of them say they want to be doctors is so profound, so important to have that medical help in areas they've been through. >> among those in the desert, helping the refugee, pakistani molala, believing that girls like her should have educations. what she saw brought her to

tears. >> there are 2.5 million registered refugees and 500,000 alone are in jordan john. >> richelle, thank you very much. not knew for the nuclear armed regime but here is news. accusing the nation of crimes against humanity, at the highest level of state, with estimates that up to 120,000 political prisoners are being held in detention camps. along with the accusations a warning to its young leader and diplomatic editor james bays has that story. >> a north korean leader ji han park weeps, public hearings were held in four cities on three continue nendz. many others asked for their identities to be withheld. there have been investigations into the are atrocities in north korea but nothing like this.

getting a picture of what goes on in the secretive state where people cope with extreme deprivation and starvation is very difficult. the international commission on inquiry, fients there i finds ts torture, rape, all part of a planned system of political control. north korea's leader kim jong-un recently executed his uncle once the second most powerful man in the country and a number of other relatives. kim, just age 31, took over from his late father just over two years ago. but the chairman of the commission of inquiry has written a letter to him, in it he says his commission will recommend the u.n. refer the situation in the democratic people's republic of korea, that's the country's official name to the international criminal court to render all those including possibly

yourself who may be responsible for crimes against humanity. >> no one will be able to say in the future, if only we'd known about north korea. as they said after the second world war. if only we'd known. well now everyone will know and it will be available in our report. and it is a wake-up signal to the world and hopefully to the leaders in north korea. >> the commission of inquiry may want to see senior figures in north korea face international justice, but it does not have the power to make that happen. this hard-hitting report will be presented to the u.n. human rights council in about a month's time and they will then pass it to the u.n. general assembly. but neither of those bodies have the power to refer those to the international criminal court. only the security council can do that and that's where north korea's long term ally china has a veto. a criminal case seems a distant prospect but the weight of the

u.n. perhaps brings it a little closer. james bays, al jazeera at the time united nations in geneva of. >> here to talk about that report and what it means is jim whrach. walsh, welcome. >> good to see you john. >> what do you think about this report? >> i have two contradictory ideas about this. this is a big deal, right? crimes against humanity. stories flow over us every day. a trial in florida. winter weather, whatever. this is crimes against humanity. right? this is a big deal. we should pause and sort of try to absorb the gravity of what that means. but, or and, so what do you do about it? and i think a lot of us would rush to want to do stuff to try to change that situation. and it wouldn't work. and it might make things worse than they are now.

so i think there are two questions. one is, is this bad? yes. the second is, what do you do about it? and these are very different questions. >> it makes plenty of sense jim. what does north korea do about it if anything? >> you know right now they're going to be defensive, right? already they have come out with the propaganda saying this is made up and the facts are concocted. and frankly, john, north korea does not put a lot of stock in international organizations like the u.n. they are more tradition in the sense that they focus more on sovereign governments. what does china think? what does washington think? what does seoul think? so they are going to try to push this off. but i think for the rest of us, you know, again it should give us pause, you know, if we think historically about when these sorts of things have happened, and weren't taken seriously, then this is an opportunity to

take this seriously. >> giving it pause and i'm sure the people of the united states and the government will. but what can the u.s. do? >> you know that's the question. this is the thing. and while i'm sympathetic to chairman who was the chair of this group, you know to call for sanctions the evidence is overwhelming i think in the social sciences when you look at the evidence if you have evil doers who are pressing their domestic population and then you try to punish them what do they do? they put the screws on. the human rights situation gets worse. and so on the one hand, when you call people out, you don't want to talk to evil. you don't want to negotiate with evil or give them any respect or whatever. totally understandable. but the reality is, in the real world that we live in, if you try squeeze them, they get worse. and that the only path out of here whether it's china in the 1960s or burma is, you've got to give them a path, you've got

to talk to them, you give them a path where they become a different country later on. i'm sorry go ahead. >> given what you just said, does that mean that kenneth bae is in more difficult situation tonight than he was before yesterday? >> great question. you know great question. i would say, under other circumstances, yes. but no, no. because of what i said before. you know, this is -- they're going to look at this as a u.s.-north korea situation. they're not going to -- the u.n. report matters. but it's not going to matter as much in a bilateral u.s.-north korean situation. if you go back to january, february, they had the provocation, the nuclear, the missile. then in the spring they wanted to talk to the u.s. secretly according to my sources about letting kenneth bae go.

then that fell apart. there's a decent chance that he might be released. you know, you don't know. but they don't want a dead american on their hands. that's why they released the last guy they held. so i still think there's hope here and i think this u.n. report while important will not impact the bae trajectory. >> we hope so. jim thanks very much. >> thank you john. >> east coast this part of the country has already been impacted by storm after storm. now kevin corriveau is here to tell us about that. where it's going to hit. >> we will have severe weather, i'll get to that. chicago has cleared up. detroit, philadelphia as well as cleveland is going to move through fairly quickly. of course it's going to be the eastern seaboard. snow through new jersey, snow flakes here in new york, one to

three inches of snow is expected during the commute time. that's not going to be very nice for a lot of people coming in off long island or into connecticut. boston is going to see it a little bit later on in the day. the temperatures are going to be rising in new york from 39° tomorrow up to 45. that means we're going to change into rain in the forecast but it is later in the week on friday this right here we have some severe weather making its way towards the east. right here along the band could be the first indication of spring. heavy winds as well as tornadoes could be a possibility. >> kevin thanks very much. now bitter cold and snow in the east and the record breaking drought in the west it's the worst in california's history. it's not just the farmers who are suffering, it's affecting things like ski resorts that depend on the snow and the water. akiko fujita is at big bear lake in california. >> this resort has fared better

than other resorts, partly because they have all that water to pull from, to make snow. 85% of the snow on the slopes man made but they say they also need natural snow and they are not getting that this year. they have only gotten a foot of snow over the last few months. they typically get 100 inches in a year. and the other concern: warm temperatures. operators say they have got all the machines to make the snow. they just can't keep it. >> we're down 17% over last year and there's a lot of areas in california that are down 30, 40, 50 even 60%. so relatively speaking with our snow-making we've been able to weather this pretty well. >> and the situation isn't any better across the region. look what we found 50 miles northeast of los angeles in mt. baldy. no snow whatsoever. we talked to skiers who went there for the weekend to get a few runs in, they ended up biking or hiking because there

was just no moisture on the ground. that's had a huge effect on the businesses. business down 50% from last year. >> i've been skiing all my life and i love the snow. i used to spend 100 days a year skiing on the snow, this year i haven't even skied one day yet. even at my own resort i haven't skied one day yet. >> there is good news. temperatures expected to drop over the next few days. operators say they may not get any snow, they may be able to make snow and make sure they keep.pit. >> that's akiko fujita. coming up the michael dunn verdict, what it may say for justice and race. the reverend jesse jackson joins me. the right to die, a compelling point of view from both sides that you'll want to hear.

>> everybody's different here... >> just gotta tell ya, it was just a very magical moment... >> al jazzera america presents... on al jazeera america

>> i'm ali velshi, the news has become this thing where you talk to experts about people, and al jazeera has really tried to talk to people, about their stories. we are not meant to be your first choice for entertainment. we are ment to be your first choice for the news. >> tonight, the fallout continues over the racially charged michael dunn verdict. he was found guilty on second degree attempted murder charges for shooting a black teenager who was playing loud music. but the jury couldn't reach a decision on whether it was murder. we'll talk to the reverend jesse

jackson in just a moment but first david shuster. >> on the first degree murder charge, it wasn't the result that anyone wanted. >> as to count 1 i will declare that mistried. >> that means the jury could not agree whether dunn should be convicted or acquitted for the murder of jordan davis. instead, the jury found him guilty for attempted murder one for each of the three teenagers who were with davis. jordan's mother was perplexed. >> we will continue to stand and continue to wait for justice for jordan. >> and the prosecutor said that although dunn will spend the rest of his life in prison for the counts he was convicted on, the state will retry him for the other charge. this man parked in the gas station in jacksonville florida,

loud music fled from his car. the dunn fired into the house. he told his fiancee that they had been playing thug music and the teenager had threatened him with a gun. >> i thought it was a gun, he said you are dead. >> it turns out none of the teenagers were armed. over the weekend there were marches and demonstrations as residents struggled to make sense of the verdict. invoked florida's controversial stand your ground law, has no need to retreat if that citizen reasonably suspects they will be killed or hurt. the jury in the dunn case has not spoken yet about their four

days of deliberations or whether the reference to stand your ground in the instructions influenced them. but it is clear they could not agree if dunn had a premeditated intent to kill. the threshold for convicting hip of murder in the -- him of murder in the first degree. that will come up in the retrial. until then, confusion still rein reigns. davis would have turned 19 over the weekend. reverend jackson, welcome. >> yes, sir. >> you have been outspoken about the trayvon martin case and others like it. what was your reaction to this one? >> well, i was disappointed at the conclusion. i though thought with mr. davisl weeks ago, mr. dunn shot at

these boys ten times. and he killed one. and the one he killed somehow did not reach the standard of being manslaughter. he killed him. i hope the department of justice will not rest in this case. >> what do you think is wrong? if you think the criminal justice system failed jordan davis, then what do you think needs to change? >> well, i'm not -- the company -- you have the same county you have the trayvon martin occasion, you have a woman shot, she could not use the law, the case of the kid davis being killed, all in the same prosecutorial district. it seems that there's something in this district that is not healthy, not fair. >> do you think the jury that racism had something to do with the way the jury deliberated in this case?

>> well, there is a constant issue here about the jury of peers. what confounds me john is that someone shoots ten times. trying to hit people in the truck. and misses three but kills one. the one he killed obviously, he attempted to kill him he succeed at his attempt. and yet, not charged with it. and this pattern you know florida is developing quite a reputation. you nullify votes in 2000, trayvon martin, it's the examiner it's davis, i think that it's not enough for this district attorney to retry, i think department of justice must intervene immediately. >> you talk about a jury of his peers, the jury is made up of four white men four white women, one hispanic american -- no black men. >> that's not a jury of his

peers and that's the pattern. not only must we are poa test, when the florida legislature reconvenes march 3, there must be a mass demonstration, last action, also mass registration, to get your jurors reregistration pool boycott, get more people involved than just this district. >> this is a man who probably will spend the rest of his life in prison. what didn't happen, and why is this -- is this verdict in your opinion, i'm not putting words in your mouth but is it an insult to you? >> it is insulting and what's stunning again is he shot four times trying to kill who was in the car. he didn't only attempt to kill them, he killed one. was not charged with killing him. so i can't give you a good answer john because i'm really confounded. and i'm struggling against

feeling becoming cynical but i believe in our justice system but it must work. it did not work in this case. that's why a retrial to me is important. it really is. >> do you think americans in this country don't believe the justice system works for them? >> of course it doesn't. two and a half million are in prison, half of them are african american, stop and frisk, we arrested more, given more time for the same amount of crime. you got across the south you got jails which are blacks, two companies making a billion a year off of prison calls, you have got the privatized prisons run by sheriffs. this is the most corrupt prison system in the whole world, john. >> reverend jackson, it's good to have you on the program again. thanks for taking the time to talk with us. >> yes, sir. >> calls for increased gun control return to the nation's

capitol this monday as they do every monday. now tackling gun control and lisa stark introducing us to them. >> it is all too familiar and yet shockingly horrifying. newscasters again reporting another mass shooting this time at a colorado movie theater. >> at least 15 people are dead. 50 others are injured. >> we decided it was time to do something. >> insenseed by the gun violence these women dusted off their protest shoes. >> we had been on the streets for the vietnam war, civil rights, women's rights and we decided we needed to do something. >> nearly every monday since the aurora, colorado shootings, the women and a few men come out to support more restrictive gun registration. >> what brings you out here

monday after monday after monday. >> i have two grandchildren. i want them to go to school without worrying about them being shot, i want my children to go to a movie or to the mall without worrying about being shot. >> on this bitterly cold monday morning on the mall, only a few passers by noticed. >> are you not worried about this? why not? >> the statistics i've seen is more likely to hurt someone i care about instead of someone who might hurt me. >> accidental deaths by four and suicides by three to five times compared to homes without a gun. then there are the high profile shootings. since they began their protest six were gunned down in a sikh temple in wisconsin, six adults and 20 children killed at sandy hook elementary. and just a few miles away, 12 killed at the navy yard.

president obama spoke about gun control change, but nothing was done. the nra did not return our calls for comment. >> it has been 80 mondays since the aurora colorado shooting that prompted this protest. >> do you think this will make a difference? >> makes a difference to me. >> it is time to put away the signs but not their resolve. they'll be back the next monday and the monday after that. lisa stark al jazeera washington. >> coming up next the right to die. the movements to help the terminally ill the right to end their lives. they have their say. also tonight. >> i'm ash-har quireshi.

>> welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler in new york. we have a lot to cover this half hour. the big chill. the massive ice breaking operation underway in the great lakes to help important cargo get to its destination. protests continue in venezuela and three american diplomats are accused in helping to fuel it. >> what's better for a dog, being at peace or being a weapon. >> we'll continue the jake ward series, teaching dogs to attack. first richelle is here with the top stories. richelle. >> thank you john. a u.n. delegation has found that north korea crimes against

humanity, kim jong-un might be responsible for the crimes. this four-year-old, falling behind is just one of the millions of syrian refugees especially children who brave a desert crossing to get to safety. according to the u.n. refugee agency there are 2.4 million registered syrian refugees. rainfall in chaff causing problems for industries and businesses like ski resorts. they depend on snow and water to help attract visitors but this year prarts of the area is -- parts of the area is completely dry. >> completely unusual, when you expect to see the snow there and it's not. richelle thank you. you bet. >> the aid in dying industry,

assisted suicides are now legal in five states and as baby boomers age, more could follow. jonathan betz reports. >> it is a debate that's agonized so many. when is it time to go and high how? >> i want to be able to die with some dignity and compassion surrounding me. >> modern medicine and new laws have helped the movement gain ground. most recent, new mexico last month where a judge declared sick patients should be allowed help to die. >> the next morning the police came and declared it a suicide. >> while other states like connecticut are considering it. >> it's not for most people but i've definitely seen through death and dying that it's a bill that will help a select few people. >> activists call dying on one's own terms a basic right, reserved for the sickest of

patients who fully understand what they're facing. >> you have a right to change your mind. >> i'm not changing my mind. >> what will this medication do? >> kill me and make me help. >> showing each step of the journey, mixing the lethal medicine at home to the loved ones last moment. >> it was easy folks. easy. >> in oregon, 70 patients have died with help of their loved ones. ending a patient's life painlessly if they can't be cured. andemand is only expected to increase. >> two the way the laws are structured the recipe for abuse. >> supporters say it's more about dignity for people facing the question of when to end the fight. jonathan betz, al jazeera new york. >> our next guest robert midden

suffers for a severe heart condition and semples fo searchy to end his life. you are 50 years old, why are you looking for a way to die? >> well, my death is imminent. if i do not get the major operation to replace the replacement aortic heart valve that i have right now, a bovine aortic heart valve, that is my choice, i'm not going through the operation again, my death is imminent probably in less than six months. >> why don't you want to go through the operation? >> because it's a very, very brutal procedure. once you have it done one time you probably will never want to have it done again. they totally rip you in half, compress your lungs down, take your heart out of your chest

cavity, disconnect your heart from your body, take your heart almost in half cut out the valve then stitch in the new cow valve and put it all back together and try to put it all together and make you the same again. you're never the same again. >> assisted suicide is illegal in colorado so could you go to oregon in order to have this done or not? >> no. because i would have to become like a long time resident. it would take more time than i have become a resident there and i'd have to be working with two doctors for a period of time. so people out of those states cannot just show up to oregon, new mexico, or the other three states, and just do this. >> what are you going to do? >> well, i'm hoping that i'm going to get sodium pentobarbotol or nebutol, that's what they give you in the right to life places when you're ready

to take it. >> thank you for joining us. i want to bring in a person who is opposed to assisted suicide, disability rights group not dead yet. welcome to you sir. >> thank you john. >> so when you hear what robert has to say what's your reaction to it? >> my reaction is that robert desperately needs supports. when he called the talk show in december, he said that he only had money enough to get through the end of the month. and that if he couldn't get money by the end of december he would have to kill himself. so you see in robert's case that he needs supports in terms of finances. he needs help in terms of home making. he's very ill. i hope he's able to reach out to the atlantis community, independent living center lots of people who like robert who

have been through chronic illness who choose to live and i hope we can perform a great support team. >> i understand what you're saying about his particular case but there are plenty of people who are in his same situation or more the did you than he is. why shouldn't they be able to make up their own mind whether or not they continue their life if they are in extreme pain and they are facing death? >> well, you bring up the phrase extreme pain and i object to the intro piece saying that 70% of americans supported assisted suicide if there was a need to in someone's life painlessly if they were in pain. if you look at the oregon report what is reported that is not about pain but about the social features of people's reactions to having a disability that comes along with perhaps a terminal illness. >> meaning what? >> what we say is that everyone deserves the same level of

suicide prevention services as young teenagers. and people asked robert about his finances, but unfortunately, they didn't ask about his life situation. and what kind of support that he could use to continue living independently in his house with the assistance that he needs so that -- >> it sounds as if you don't believe that robert can make up his own mind. >> robert can definitely make up his own mind. but the state should not be getting involved in nuanced decisions of when it's worthwhile to stay alive or not. people with disabilities such as myself, we constantly face a barrage of messages that our lives are really not valuable, and that we should be better off dead. many of the reasons cited in the oregon reports are about issues that i face every day. such as depending on other people for my care. for not controlling my bodily fluids. i think that has nothing to do with my dignity.

and if one group of people thinks that dignity involves killing themselves rather than allowing other people to care for them, then i think that the state should not be following them in doing that. >> couldn't there be a law written in which there are both sides of this case are protected? i mean the people that you describe like yourself that are concerned that this law play be abused and the people who sincerely and truly, whether or not you believe it or not, want to do this and need help? >> there is no way to fashion a law without such onerous safeguards that there's no way for it to proceed. proponents will not allow even for a mandatory psychological evaluation. they will not allow for a witness from the state to be on hand. the drugs are given too people -- to people, they're sent home. it's a bunch of poison.

we have people who may feel like a burden. we have opportunities for abuse. one out of ten elders are abused in every year and then what about the people who are depressed? people with a lived experience of psychiatric labels and are we just going to hand them a drug to kill themselves before asking them, is there a way that we could help them stay alive? >> robert i want you to respond to what john said about what you said and about this issue. >> it's hard to respond quickly because it's such a serious matter. but for another to make the decision, it's pretty odd. he's trying to make up his mind for me and that doesn't work. this is my choice. this is an individual's right. it is a right to choose and not only that. it goes to our basic core of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. it involves all three of those and this is more than just a

state rights issue. this is a national issue. this affects each and every citizen of the united states so we need to make this a national issue, where we all, once this becomes our time, that we have the choice to make and we can make it and not have the states interfere, religious groups interfere and groups like john kelly's group interfere, this is our own decision to make i think. and i don't need assistance with it, other than it would be nice to get a prescription but other than that i don't need assistance. i don't need hospice or things like that. i could be given assistance to prolong my life for financially, but other than that i'm going to go, there's no stopping it. >> there's one thing for sure this is a very, very important issue and we would like to continue and invite both of you back. john and robert thanks for being here and we'll get back on this

discussion. >> it will need to be soon if you get back to me. >> i'll do it thank you. it's a routine flight that turned terrifying. >> it is please don't work, relax and keep your hands on your head. >> looking at amateur video taken from inside a hijacked airplane. an ethiopian co-pilot, redirected the flight from rome to geneva, he has are since asked for asylum. nicholas maduro asked three diplomats to leave in venezuela after they came to an opposition leader's defense. demonstrations were held

right here in times square this evening, chanting in support and against venezuela's president nicholas maduro, rachel 1 levin has more from venezuela's venezs capitol. >> time is up for most of these venezuelans. refusing to back down they say they will continue defying a government there unauthorized protests. >> translator: we are tired of crime censorship and peel getting killed every -- and people getting killed every day. >> even though they stand together, some questions have united who they are. >> we have to be strong, we don't need to stop into the boxing ring and fight against each other. >> challenge to the government

and policy they are also a challenge for the opposition movement and they could determine who may lead it. the widespread antigovernment protests this week thrusted leopoldo lopez into the spotlight. the former mayor helped organize the student protests on wednesday which turned deadly. hours after police raided his home on sunday looking to arrest him he sent out a video to his supporters telling them to keep up the fight. >> we are on the right side of history. justice and truth. stay strong and don't lose faith. >> his growing popularity is a challenge to opposition leader enrique capriles. on sunday the former presidential candidate called on the protestors to show restraint and call for calm. >> translator: we're losing our focus. we fought hard to get this far and to try to have change in venezuela.

but we're taking a step backwards. >> with the two leaders having different views the opposition movement could now be taking two paths. >> there's a division between the moderates and radicals. some believe the only way to fight against the government is to build a majority and win elections. while others believe that the government is undemocratic and the only way to bring about change is to take to the streets. >> reporter: back at the 18th -- eafnt government protest, protesters agree on one thing, that they want to see a change in government. but with elections five years away, the majority of venezuelans still supporting the president, they're unclear how they will make that happen. rachel levin, al jazeera, caracas. huge chunks of ice are clogging lakes and rivers

slowing commercial traffic and causing the coast guard headaches. more from ash-har quraishi. >> their mission normally involves search and rescue. >> typically we're up north in the straits of macinaw, and northern lake heu huron. >> this satellite image from the noaa shows how encompassing the ice is this year. u.s. coast guard cutters like this have been forced to keep up their operations to keep up with the demand from the cold temperatures. shifted south to deal with the massive sheets of ice that

have become two to three feet thick. >> that's not typical. usually the local tugs can handle chicago throughout the winter, they don't need an ice breaker to come and help. >> but these conditions require more tug boats to break through the ice. that means higher prices that some shipping companies simply don't want to pay. >> the reduction in business itself dropped our sales anywhere from 35 to 50% and in turn we had to lay off three quarters of our workforce just keep a skeleton crew on to run one tug here and one tug there. so it's really impacted us. >> at the great lakes environmental research lab in ann arbor, michigan, the ice is about 30%. the last time the ice froze over this hard was 20 years ago. >> we had the arctic vortex in

december and early january and the ice kept building. >> the silver lining in all this ice is it reduces evaporation. it could be a commercial boon for fishing industry. it protects the spawning beds from winter storms. but should the frigid temperatures continue the ice thickness will only increase and as the shipping business begins this spring it could mean a busy few months for the ice breakers. ash-har quraishi. al jazeera. >> training dogs to attack.

>> the weekend's gp very messy across the great lakes. you can see the storm, you can see the ice, you can see the rain down towards the south. it is going to be moving east,

causing a lot of problems tomorrow, 1 to 3 inches across the new york metro area about 8:00 a.m. big problem there. then making its way up towards boston. northwest, more flooding more snow. that's going to be a problem, avalanches and landslides across that region. really no break as we get towards wednesday. i want to bring your attention right here towards the middle of the country. talking about parts of missouri that is going to be our next storm system that we are going to be watching. watch what happens as we go from wednesday to thursday. it really begins to develop along the mississippi river and as the system makes its way to the east we are going to see some severe weather with this so friday could be bringing some lightning and thunderstorms to many places such as boston here all the way down the eastern seaboard but you can see the week for boston doesn't look so great. we're going to be seeing rain, snow, maybe on thursday a little bit better. that's a look at your national

weather. your news is after this. on al jazeera america and join the conversation online @ajamstream. >> just a few hours ago an asteroid 900 feet wide traveling 27,000 miles per hour came close to planet earth. close is a scientific term, the

gigantic rock was 2 million miles away. it posed no harm to earth, and unlike one that exploded over russia and injuring more than 1500 people. can you train your dog to be sweet and loving and at the same time, aggressive? one trainer says you can. it's a controversial style of training that's raising a lot of eyebrows. jake ward has more in our seri series, disieferg dogs. >> most want this from their -- defivinfive sieferring decipherg dogs. >> nipping at strangers but a thriving industry exists that will train massive intimidating dogs to do exactly the opposite. its methods are pretty controversial and it's entirely

unregulated and it really raises the question, what is more natural to a dog? peace or aggression? being a pet or being a weapon? >> basically if you are not utilizing you'r your dog to the fullist capacity, you're doing it injustice. dogs want to work. >> he lets us train several mastiffs, for his client a professional athlete. >> what we teach is a culler method. it is a positive negative. positive, boy you did your job. you know lots of love. negative, you get correction through leash and collar. because you didn't perform. you didn't do what we asked you to do. >> the dog that mike trains are not family pets. they don't play fetch. there are five of them that patrol this particular property and they're intended not only as a deterrent. they will certainly bark but they will also bite whether the

time comes. >> blitz blitz blitz. right. >> mike says he teaches the dog the difference between friend and foe. >> you can have a party have your dog out in that place and it's not going to go ballistic. it's not a problem. if somebody had too much to drink and said you owed him money, that bag is not going to -- that dog is not going to attack, but back him down. >> it's impossible to guarantee any kind of kay 99 behavior, says this trainer -- canine behavior. >> for anybody to offer a guarantee of behavior is basically irresponsible practice. >> mike believes that congregation can be safely activated and harnessed.

>> this is a personal protection dog. we are teaching dog to use its own instinct but in a constructive way basically. >> but donaldson says there's no reliable way to teach a dog when it is or isn't okay to bite. >> we've got to buy out of this myth that we can have a dog that is absolutely perfectly trustworthy but then turns on a dime and bks this machine in the -- becomes a machine in this circumstance that we want them to. that's just not possible. >> there is no governing authority that oversees dog training. anybody can claim to be a professional. and there is no research that can tell friend from foe. jake ward, al jazeera. >> western part of the country the rough weather has unexpected victims. seals.

jefer glasse has thajennifer gl. >> seals as well as everyone else in britain are waiting for the weather to get better. >> it's not safe for us to let them back out. >> the local seal sanction wear is packed. because of months of waves, more seal pups have come in. even though they are built for tough seas, this year is too much. river levels may yet rise again. a few inches can make a big difference. back on cornwall's bay, there is a slight hitch with a seal called crater. so far, so good, the seals knows its -- the seal knows its his

new home. the seal is known for its deep wounds. he's probably well enough to survive in the wild. >> get as close as the water, usually the instinct kicks in and they know where they're meant to be. sometimes it takes a little bit longer, the boys need little more nudging than the gicials g. >> crater will stay calm, soon more like him will be headed for freedom. jennifer glasse. al jazeera, cornwall, england. >> transgender lawmaker, champion of lgbt rights in italy. headlines are next.

al jazeera america. >> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm richelle carey, here are tonight's top stories. north korea's secret government may be committing crimes against humanity. a u.n. council found things like

slavery, torture and forced murder, in just hours, negotiations over iran's nuclear program began. iran agreed to freeze its activity, in exchange for sanctions lifted. looking for a permanent deal. the u.s. denies allegations by venezuela's president that it is trying to overthrow its government. on sunday, nicholas maduro ordered three diplomats to leave after they came to an opposition leader's defense. the drought in california is seriously impacting businesses, like ski resorts, california is in a state of emergency. attracting snow, visitors have been losing a lot of money. those are the headlines, i'm

richelle carey, "america tonight" is up next. thanks for your time. >> on the other side of the san francisco's glittering bay, are the people the wrong color for environmental protection? and remembering to heal. also tonight, fighting for air. >> the power of the people, because the power of the people don't stop. >> on the other side of