school diploma. >> award winning film makers create create unique perspectives. >> everybody's different here... >> just gotta tell ya, it was just a very magical moment... >> al jazzera america presents... on al jazeera america ♪ tensions boil over in bangkok as clashes between protesters and police leave four dead and violence erupted as they tried to break up protest camps in the capitol and back to the bargaining table with iran, the up hill battle to reach a permanent agreement to reach the nuclear capabilities. the great lakes on ice, why the frozen waterways are creating big headaches for the shipping

industry and a country known for dangerous working condition animators are looking to change that perception. ♪ good morning and welcome to al jazeera america, i'm stephanie sy, four people have been killed and dozens injured in bangkok thailand has police mount an offensive against antigovernment protesters. police detained about 100 demonstrators while trying to clear protest camps around government offices that have been occupied for weeks and as al jazeera veronica reports it shows how volatile it is between the prime minister and opposition calling for her to resign. >> it was before noon in this historical area of old bangkok when the violence broke out.

what had happened was that riot police were trying to clear the area of demonstrators who occupied this intersection for several weeks now. they brought in bulldozers that were trying to clear the area as cheers rang out from the protesters and suddenly an explosion was heard and we since discovered that was an m-79 grenade and they took in incoming fire as well and it went on sporadically for about an hour. since then we found about at least 50 people were injured. several people killed, died of their injuries including a policeman who was shot in the head. our understanding is that the police force is extremely angry about this situation. they withdraw, pulled away, about 500 meters to a kilometer

down the road this way and that is why the situation has quieted down and the protesters have reclaimed this area. in fact, they have overturned several vehicles including police vehicles as a form of new barricades. this could be a turning point for the police because it is a significant loss of face for them. behind the scenes it said that there are negotiations going on between the government accused of corruption by the protesters and indeed the government agency that fights against corruption has now called for the prime minister, yingluck shinawatra yingluck shinawatra to face charges linked to rice price pledging scheme that she put in place as part of her campaign plank when she was first put into power, voted into power

back in 2010. >> reporter: veronica is reporting from bangkok. if found guilty on charges prime minist minister she could be removed from office. and picking up in ukraine and they clashed with police near the parliament building in kiev and these are live pictures of the capitol and protesters through stones at the police who responded with stun grenades to break up the crowds and they are calling on the president to withdraw the riot police and russia promised to give ukraine a cash infusion and offering to buy $2 billion worth of bonds and russia said they would give them $15 million but withheld the money after the prime minister resigned. days after venezuela expelled three american diplomates they are pushing back and calling the accusations baseless and saying

it's for the venezuela people future to decide and engage the parties in meaningful dialog. on sunday the president nicholas expelled three u.s. embassy officials saying they used visas for protesters and returned to the streets of caracus and talked about inflation. they are pushing for the release of a detained soldier, he was captured in afghanistan back in 2009. it's believed he is now being held in pakistan by the hakani network and according to the washington post the obama administration is willing to do a prisoner swap and release five members of the afghan taliban in qatar in exchange for him and wants to secure his release before forces leave afghanistan later this year. a new round of talks over iran's nuclear program are take place

in vienna and said it would redice it for sanctions and iran and u.s. and five other countries are looking for a permanent deal and we report there is a lot of the line for iran. >> reporter: the vienna talks are all about places like this and what is going on in them. iran's nuclear facilities. the u.s. and the alleys say the nuclear program is dangerous and iran says it's peaceful and vienna and both sides will find common ground to secure a lasting deal and to build on a temporary one struck in november. the u.n. says so far iran kept its part of the bargain and suspended elements of the nuclear program. in return the u.s. and western powers agreed to a limited roll back of some economic sanctions. >> translator: what is the future of this deal? i think iran will narrow things down adhering to the agreement and all sanctions were imposed

based on the issue and if it's peaceful the west cannot continue sanctions, however if the west urn party uses the talks to introduce other issues i think the talks may reach a deadlock. >> reporter: the talks will last for months and serious challenges particularly those posed by the israelis and saudis who want to end the program and not just limited as suggested by the six powers involved in negotiations known as the p 5 plus 1. >> translator: some are interested in continuation of regular tension and don't like that iran and the p 5 plus 1 reached an acknowledgment. they seek tension and i can name the lobbyist part of this and especially netanyahu himself and saudi arabia are interested in talks and failure is unacceptable for iran and what

is happening are teching talks between iran and iaua and that is the atomic energy agency and it's part of a two-track approach and focus on what iran may or may not have done in the past. iran has made seven commitments to the iaea to clear up any outstanding issues by may and they hope it can boost confidence building in vienna. >> reporter: what is the mood heading in today's talks? >> good morning, stephanie, the talks started about 45 minutes ago here in vienna and they know those around the table this is going to be a difficult process and came up with that deal in november. but that was only an interim deal, a deal to last from 20th

of january through until the 20th of july, six months only, while they put in place this longer term deal, when you do an interim deal you fudge things and compromise a bit, you put in language that both sides can accept. when you do a long-term deal you need more precise language and much harder i think to come up with a long-term deal but they are starting work on that today. >> here are some sentiments leading into the talks and iran leader says the talks won't lead anywhere, president obama gave them 50% chance of success. how much weight does that kinds of talk have on the talks in vienna? >> i think it shows the tensions that are there because you have these countries around the table. you have the so called p 5 plus 1, the five permanent members of the u.n. security council and among them the u.s. and germany sitting there around the table. but you also have lots of people who have a say in this who are

not around the table. you have, for example, the israelis who have some pressure on the western nations. you have voices in congress on capitol hill who don't want to deal with the iranians or the other side and iranian side the negotiation team here have to be aware there are hard liners in tehran who do not support the whole process. >> reporter: they have time to workout a deal, the negotiations expected to take months and what is the best case scenario for iran and the negotiating partners? >> well, i think the best case scenario would be to come up with a deal like was decided in november and there is a deal to ex tends it for a further six months so it's quite possible stephanie i could be standing here in a year's time and they are still working on the final deal. >> reporter: and these are talks happening in vienna and

thank you so much. a military hearing for the man accused of leading attack on the uss-cole has been suspended because the suspect may want to fire his leader and he is described by the u.s. is a top member of al-qaeda and in prison at guantanamo bay for 7 years and on monday his civilian attorney asked an army judge for two days to work with him before reporting back to the court and he agreed and he is facing the death penalty if convicted in the bombing of the uss-cole and happened and 17 sailors died in the attack. this week is the 5th anniversary of president obama massive stimulus bill, the roughly $800 billion package was intended to put millions of americans back to work. and danielle lee said americans are wondering if it worked. >> reporter: president obama one month in office signing

recovery act into law. >> the beginning of what we need to do to create jobs for americans scrambling in the wake of layoffs. >> reporter: the white house celebrating success getting mayors to talk in a video. >> it gave us hope and put people back to work. >> reporter: it says the stimulus created 1.6 million jobs a year for four years and avoided a second great depression. much of america still calls the economy and unemployment their top concern. >> there are so many obstacles and things to go through to just survive everyday. >> i think people expected a bit of an upturn and it has been quite the opposite. >> reporter: republicans are attacking the act and passed over objection and john bayer says promises with big spending with little results and republicans say five years since the act wages are down and prices are up. and admitting it's no wonder

that americans lack confidence in the economy. now since it was signed in 2009 the stimulus bill has provided tax cuts to 160 million american workers, directly prevented 5.3 million slipping below the poverty line and improved nearly 42000 miles of roads. elementary school in west virginia was forced to close on monday after reports of a chemical odor, teachers at grandville -- grand view elementary school said they could smell licorice smell and complained of headaches and are worried about the spill in the elk river and left 300,000 people without access to clean water and they assured people that the water is now safe. more winter storms mean more delays for travelers nationwide and a combination of heavy snow and stiff winds on monday

created white out conditions to cleveland and 1200 flights were cancelled and 3,000 more delayed and 2000 of those happened at chicago's two major airports and the storm is on the move and let's bring in nicole mitchell to find out where it's headed now. >> that was not one of the worst winter storms of the season causing problems and it's a quick mover and there is a pattern where the jet stream is going pretty much west to east instead of carving southward or northward. when it carves then we have the slower-moving systems and right now it's a conveyer belt and the systems are moving quickly and despite this it dumped 6" at the core of this but the wind caused some problems. this is moving in the northeast right now and seeing places in new york city as this moves through, a lot of the southern tier of this will get lesser amounts of snow. due watch for the wind, that is

problem in the midwest and not until we get into places like maine we could have the core of some of the snow reaching over 6" and you can see that here. this is system number one and we have storms almost every two days it seems like because of the conveyer belt effect i was talking about and this clears out and we have a little break for the northeast and the next one starts to move in. what is the deal on the next one? it comes through the midwest and not a lot of moisture and passing through but when it gets over there more rain for the coastline on wednesday and i did say looking more like rain versus snow for the next around and not today because temperatures will go backup and warm thursday and friday and more on that in a couple minutes and back to you. >> reporter: thank you, san francisco has a brand new, $6 billion bay bridge, why one expert is raising questions about its safety. >> i want to be able to die with

some dignity and with some compassion surrounding me. >> reporter: terminally ill patients demanding to choose when their suffering and why the right to die movement may be gaining ground. >> we had to lay off the workforce. >> reporter: they are battling to get businesses moving. i'm john henry smith and there is a deal of a lifetime for a very special young man and we will show you how his hoop dream came through. this is philadelphia, the center city area where it's now 27 degrees. ♪ ♪

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.

you're looking at the san francisco bay bridge, the new bridge opened up last fall after more than two decades of construction and spans more than 3 1/2 miles connecting oakland to san francisco and welcome

back to al jazeera i'm stephanie sy. after years of controversy delays and ballooning price tag new questions are being raised about the bay bridge's safety and melissa chan takes a look at the problem up close. >> when you build big structures like this bridges get water in them, on them, this thing was never designed to be watertight. >> reporter: andrew gordon is taking us for an inpeck shun inspection of the bridge and we were here when it opened and it was celebratory and now we are looking for leaps. >> we know water is getting in from the barrier rail. >> reporter: seeping from the deck to the steel frame below but says this is not a flaw in the design or construction, he says it's par for the course. an issue easily handled with continuing care. >> you don't build a bridge like this and dust off our hands bay area and walk away. there is daily, hourly maintenance on a structure like

this. >> reporter: we enter the belly of the bridge to find where the water drips in. >> coming through this and if you see it here. >> reporter: construction and safety questions have dodged this project from the start but in this case gordon shows us that from his points of view these leaks are actually draining as they should, right out to sea. >> ultimately it will make its way here and drain out to the bay below. >> the bay area authority told us the bridge needed rain to be tested and the bridge is performing exactly as planned. but in engineering professor at uc burkely disagrees and he has studied the bridge project for the past 15 years. >> if you have humid air next to sea the steel rust and you get that and then the bridge collapses. >> reporter: he will not drive across the bridge and teachingly

an entire course this semester on problems of design and construction of the bay bridge. transportation officials say the design for the span may be innovative it's not dangerous. >> the most important thing to get across to the public is the bridge is safe and issues we encountered do not pose safety risk to the bridge or drivers. announcer: leaks are one issue it has to handle and the bay stratel has two fault lines and this was built to survive multiple earthquakes, a tall order from the start and it could shake confidence but the bridge will perform as plans when the big quake hits, i'm in san francisco. >> reporter: the make over of the bridge has been a long time coming for commuters and it opened 24 years after a part of it collapsed in an earthquake and the cost was $6.4 billion and four times the original estimate back in 1997. let's look at what temperatures

we will see across the nation today and metrologist nicole mitchell is back. >> good morning and we have milder temperatures in the northern tier of the country and new york at 27, minneapolis at 18. the trends over the next couple days is the milder temperatures. in fact, i have a lot of questions like kinds of that will it get warm enough and i don't have to shovel sort of thing and chicago is 39 and do some melting and be warn enough you can chip off some ice at the areas. over the next couple of days in the northeast it gets warmer and you see the yellow over the next couple of days going north and by the time we get in the day on wednesday more 40s and 50s up the coastline and that is why the next round of moisture is more likely to be rain and back to you. >> reporter: thank you, we have new video to show you from a driver's point of view from a bus crash last month, the driver was drowsy and closed his eyes

before that, crashing into a power station and charged with negligent driving and no one on the bus was seriously hurt. the search for a new president at penn state is over. >> without further comment i'd like to invite dr. eric barron, penn states 18 president congress escalation. >> he beat 400 candidates for the position and will have a base salary of $800,000 a year with a $1 million bonus if he completes his 5-year contract and he is presently the president of florida state but has been in the earth and science department and plenty to do right away and facing budget and trustee issues along with scars from the football abuse scandal. the united states is adding to the metal count in the winter games and john henry smith is here with another busy morning in sochi. >> good morning, this is a high stakes day at the olympics with 7 metal events to be decided and

high-profile debuts with her first appearance in the women's and the men's half pipe getting started this morning and russia has to stave off ice hockey elimination and they have not won this 20 years and this went from monday to tuesday and it was worth the wait and edged out russia to take the gold metal and coming in was america eric duvald. she has won't slovenia and finished first in the giant slolom and beat australia and germany with a two run time of 2:36.87. and american shifferon finished

fifth and slovania was the lowest ranked team and one win from a metal beating australia 4-0 today and this is the only nhl player and scored despite a stomach ailment that threatened his ability and they take top seated sweden on tuesday. they have done something they have not done in 62 years, win a metal and they steer the usa won to a third place finish and giving the united states a metal for the two-men event for the first time since 1952 and the second olympic metal and four years ago he led the americans to a big win in the four-man which was the first gold in bobsledding since 1948. switching gears safe to say the bully has a love/hate relationship with twitter and before the report on john than

martin's claims they fired canon shots at martin like the truth will bury you and your entire camp and when the report went public and made him look worse than he did he tweeted please stop the hate before shutting his account down and monday he rerevived his account saying i apologize for acting like a big baby the last few days and this has been so much on me and my family i just want to play football and i would like to sent jonathan my apologies as well. until something tells me different you are still my brother. no hard feelings. now a story about the power of sports to inspire rather than injure. the philadelphia 76ers signed a senior with down syndrome to a two-game contract and he gained

attention for the chance to score with the varsity team and scored four points in the final two games of the season and the general manager introduced his newest player to the press on monday. >> do you play defense? >> play defense, yes. >> reporter: i know you can shoot but you can play defense too? >> yeah. >> i say we give him a three-day contract. >> i hired 3-3 and he plays 4 and i don't think i have done that since i was 8 so that is pretty impressive and that is inspirational and great to see. >> reporter: he got accustom jersey and a lochner the team locker room during the game on tuesday and he will stand with the team during the national anthem and hopefully that story gets your day started feeling good about humanity. >> he has a pretty good job and john henry smith thank you. france is talking about the past and what lawmakers are doing to

address families who had their children stolen from them. a jump in the number of babies born through envitro verticalzati verticalzation -- fertilization and more babies than ever before. an unlikely country could be the future of animation and the storm is coming through from yesterday and this is union square where the flakes are falling. ♪

al jazeera america. we open up your world. >> here on america tonight, an opportunity for all of america to be heard. >> our shows explore the issues

that shape our lives. >> new questions are raised about the american intervention. >> from unexpected viewpoints to live changing innovations, dollars and cents to powerful storytelling. >> we are at a tipping point in america's history! >> al jazeera america. there's more to it. welcome back to al jazeera america and i'm stephanie sy and these are the top stories at the hour, thailand turned violent and four are dead and more than one hundred arrested and

happened when police tried to clear protest camps surrounding offices in bangkok and rallying and calling for the resignation of the prime minister. talks over the iran nuclear program are taking place this morning in vienna and want to build on progress reached in november and they agreed to suspends part of the nuclear capabilities in exchange for some easing of sanctions and the talks are off to a rocky start after he said he was pessimistic a deal could be reached. five years ago president obama signed a $800 billion economic stimulus bill and they say it created 1.6 million a year and helped divert a second great depression and they say the stimulusd what not done much except lower wages and increase consumer prices. one is dead and dozens injured following a riot at a detention

center and as al jazeera andrew thomas reports the riot highlights australia's controversial off shore detention policy. >> reporter: the pressure had been growing for days and this is from sunday after they rioted after being told their applications to be considered as refugees were not being assessed. on monday the rioting got worse. >> there was serious injuries and there was one critical injury and there was one person who was deceased. >> reporter: exactly how and where the injuries happened is not clear. >> the asylum seekers in the center are claiming they were attacked by locals and local p and g police. >> reporter: australia's government the security company that runs the camp deny it and say it happened after detainees broke out and the riot brings back in the spot spotlight the

deal with refugees. >> we investigated in november and found human rights failings in the center and put recommendations to the australian government but people need to be processed on the australian mainland and keeping with the australian human rights obligations. >> that is not going to happen says the government and their policies are tough and turning those away at sea and if they arrive they go to other countries for detention and may be controversial but after the latest riots the policies are not going to change. the government won an election last year on a promise to stop the boats, whatever it took. and they may disagree on details the main opposition labor party broadly supports the regime and

they decided they want them to maintain this, some of the wo d world's worst that is tough. >> reporter: the u.n. refugee agency say the off shore detention is worse for asylum seekers and inhuman treatment. hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled aleppo after strikes from the government in recent weeks and the urn says this is the largest group to leave syria since the war began there three years ago and many are going to camps in neighboring countries and increase on attacks on aleppo since the syrian government and opposition failed to come to agreement during meetings last week in geneva. france is admitting to a conversed government scheme that started in the 60s and lasted for decades and allowed children to be stolen from an island

territory to boost the population in rural areas of france and al jazeera simon mc-greger wood is following the story and joins us this morning from paris and good morning, can you tell us exactly what was going on in this controversial program? >> well, it was an idea, as you alluded to, to repopulate parts of rural france in the center of the country which during the early 60s was under populated and the politician driving this at the time noticed that the island next to madagascar on the southeast corner of africa for many years french dependent territory was going through somewhat of an economic crisis and was itself over populated so too many people in one place and not in another and in a high handed way over 1600 children from 1963 all the way to 1982

would you believe were removed, forcibly from their families and often under the impression of a lie they were going to go to paris and be educated and they would succeed and enjoy a better life. they ended up in parts of rural france where people had never seen people like them and some of them suffered terribly as a result. >> reporter: who were these children simon and what happened to them once they were transferred to france? >> well, they were children often from poor families. some ranging from only a few years old to some in their late teens. and all, as i say, were separated from their families and brought to france and ended up living in isolated rural communities or spent several years in adoption centers being moved from pillar to post if you like. many of them suffered racial

abuse from the communities in which they were forcibly resettled. some of them as we understand now at the benefit of history spent many years in psychiatric institutions and several of them took their own lives. and most of them as we understand about 60% of the total continue to live their lives where they were, in france and a few went back and it's being brought to the wider french's public's attention. >> france admitting to the scheme, al jazeera's simon mc-greger wood for us in paris and thank you. it has been more than 35 years since the first test tube baby was born in the country and a new report for society of reproductive technology say more babies were born in the u.s. in 2012 using envitro fertilization than ever before and the program director for new york fertility

center joins us this morning and thanks for being with us. this report reveals babies born through ivf account 1.5% of all births, more than 165,000 ivf attempts and 62000 births and 2000 more babies conceived through ivf in 2012 than the year before and many factors you would attribute this to but what is the main one? >> a perfect storm of three and we are getting better and efficient at making babies. two, the population is and having babies at an older age and more difficult and assisted reproduction helps a lot of these patients. and, three, it's more accessible because there is more insurance coverage. so those are the three main reasons why it's becoming more mainstream. >> reporter: number two is the fact that older women turn to

ivf and i will talk about the risks and multiple births that are associated with ivf and want to look at video of two embryos and explain what we are looking at. >> reporter: two embryos that are in the lab and it's time lapse and you see over a period of time the development. in the old days of ivf we used to transfer them the third day after the egg retrieval when they were not developed and selecting the embryo because it's known that most are not good abnormal and don't make pregnancies and in the past we put back too many and sometimes we get too many or get nothing or a miscarriage. the videos we just saw showed them developing and you cannot really tell them apart easily but we have ways to test the

chromosomes and determine which are normal or not and put back one healthy embryo and have better rates and fewer multiples and better outcomes. >> the risks for older women are lower because of multiple birth us because of advances in technology and does that mean we are seeing fewer multiples? >> yes, you put back one of those instead of three undiagnosed embryos where you are not sure what is good or not and make single are pregnancies which is much safer. >> reporter: the number of women who are freezing the eggs and whether that plays into this stage of ivf and the embryo stage and choosing which to implant. >> the egg freezing statistics are not included in these numbers but more and more women are freezing eggs at a younger age when they make healthy embryos and use them later and delay the child bearing and that is another means by which women

are able to be successful. >> reporter: does freezing their eggs impact the success of ivf? i know the report doesn't cover that but women wonder that. >> we can get the same pregnancy rates with a frozen egg as a fresh ivf cycle and we are getting there. >> reporter: you talked about insurance coverage and is it more affordable and accessible to families and why is that? >> more people can access it and it's very expensive technology and has not kept pace with inflation and the cost has not gone up much but it's cost prohibitive for many patients but once there is insurance coverage many patients have access and better at selecting embryos and that is the perfect storm of more babies from ivf for those who need it. >> thanks so much for coming in this morning. >> thank you. >> reporter: assisted suicide is now legal in five states and more states could follow as baby

boomers age. and al jazeera's john than betz looks at dying with dignity. >> reporter: when is it time to go and how? >> i want to be able to die with some dignity and with some compassion, surrounding me. >> reporter: modern medicine is helping and since assisted suicide four more states followed and new mexico and the judge said six patients should be helped to die. >> the next morning the police came and declared a suicide. reporter: and connecticut are considering it. >> it's not for most people but i have seen through the death and dying that it's a bill that will help select few people. >> reporter: they call dying on one own term a basic right and reserved for the sickest of patients who understand what they are doing. >> you have the right to change

your mind. >> my mind is not changing. >> what will this medication do? >> it will kill me and make me happy. >> reporter: how to die have been used to help the cause showing every step of the journey from mixing the lethal medicine at home to the family's last moments with a loved one. >> it was easy folks, it was easy. >> reporter: in oregon 750 people died with doctor's help in the last 15 years. present holes show 70% of americans support ending a patient's life painlessly if they cannot be cured. >> they have years to live and throw away the lives and the way they are structured they are recipe for abuse. >> reporter: it's about dignity for people facing the question of when to end the fight, jonathan betz al jazeera new york. >> reporter: last week belgium was the first country to pass

legislation allowing assisted sue tied for terminally ill children. pope francis and vatican cardinals will tackle sensitive issues facing the church and they will example the merit of the core teachings, a survey of this show catholics in europe and the u.s. no longer support teachers that include the strike stance on premarital sex, birth control and homosexuality and merge and the treatment of divorce and remarried members and bishops say it may derail the over all mission. same sex marriage is heating up in indiana and the senate approved an amendment to the constitution to ban gay marriage and it was approved last month and both chambers must approve it if they want it to go before voters in 2016. bangladesh has been in the spotlight over industrial accidents and the treatment of low-wage workers but while sweat shops remain a reality a new industrial has a foot hold in

the country and rob reynolds reports on the rise of the cartoon industry in daka. >> it would look the same in shanghai or silicon valley but the skilled animators are hard at work in bangladesh, a part of a success story with a country in the news recently for dangerous working condition in the garment industry and their company produced episodes of nina, a popular south asian cartoon series sponsored by unicef and a young girl of importance of health and human rights and he has big plans for the company. >> i hope we can be the cartoon network of bangladesh in the next ten years. >> reporter: the animation industry is still small with fewer than 1200 workers, but it's growing quickly.

relying on a talented workforce and a wage advantage that has made bangladesh a powerhouse in the garment industry. >> the structure of payment and salary is much more competitive, i mean cheaper than what you see in the united states or in china. >> reporter: while most animation companies here make their money doing outsourced work or ads for local tv there is a small team of bangladesh animators who set their sights even higher. in a work studio and the dim light of computer monitors the animators at a bangladesh cartoon start up are aiming for a worldwide audience. >> our dream is to make a fantastic film that is appealing to the global audience, at the same time we tell the story and culture in a global scene. >> reporter: their work is a colorful blend of light and dark

imagery and working on a feature film about a boy who can communicate with his autistic sibling by entering into the mysterious world of her dreams. >> reality is definitely in bangladesh but in dream we also want to bring local folk art and culture. >> reporter: and the animated movie may or may not be showing some day in a cinema near you. but bangladesh's animation industry is on the rise. and that means better jobs for talented bangladesh workers. rob reynolds, al jazeera, daca. >> reporter: bangladesh industry is getting more fans as well, the second cartoon festival is expected to take place later this year. looking at business news this morning annual street is back to work today after the long holiday weekend and hoping it the maintain after closing out the best of the year last friday and futures are flat and s&p

wiped out the lost and 10 points below the record high and nasdaq is the best level since 2000. overseas japan central bank giving fuel for a huge rally and new measures to support the economy and pushing the tokyo up 3% and in europe it's lower. coca-cola headlines the earnings calendar and want to see if they are generating as much cash as last year and $8 billion and returned most to shareholders through higher dividends and coke is not alone and corporations have more than $1 trillion in their pockets and rewarding shareholders with dividend heights. >> strengthening the household balance sheets and recovering from the great recession and restored finances and able to spend more money and more domestic demand and the u.s. economy has been getting strong i technologically and more competitive on the global stage.

>> reporter: coke has raised it for 50 straight years and european makers are clawing out and the european car makers association says car sales rose 5% with britain and germany leading the way. an astroid flies by the earth and how fast it was going and how close it came to us. >> travelling with the u.s. coast guardian we look at the environmental i'll pacts of the extreme temperatures on the great lakes region. >> reporter: this is a live look and extreme winter we are clearing out of one storm and already watching a troublemaker and i have the forecast. >> this is a look at downtown detroit where it's 23 degrees this tuesday morning. ♪

♪ welcome back to al jazeera america, just ahead the great lakes frozen solid, how the icy waters are impacting the shipping industry. but first let's get a look at where the snow and rain may fall across the country and metrologist nicole mitchell is back. >> we had a conveyer belt this week and we had a system in the northeast bringing snow and more on that in a few minutes from now but i already want to look across to the west coast where we are getting inundated with the moisture in the northwest and all this week the southwest escapes the moisture and we could use in the region but this system brought heavy areas of rain and snow and everything from flood concerns for some rivers filling up to avalanche

and as it moves along and wednesday and coming across the rockys and tapping into gulf moisture and by thursday chicago is calling this slop fest potential because the warm temperatures melt the snow on rain on top of it it could be a muddy message severe weather possible, back to you. >> near record cold in the midwest is causing big problems for the shipping industry and huge chunks of ice are making it difficult to navigate lakes and rivers in the region and there is impact from a frozen lake michigan. >> a busy season for the coast guard custer in biscayne bay. and for tom and his crew their mission normally involved search and rescue. >> typically we are up north in the straits of mackinaw and northern lake michigan and huron. >> reporter: but they are breaking through ice formations across the great lakes to keep

commercial traffic flowing. the satellite image from the national atmosphere administration shows how encompassing it is this year and 80% is frozen. u.s. cutters are expanding the ice breaking operation to keep up with demands from the winter extreme temperatures. and he says the cutter of biscayne bay is south to deal with sheets of ice that are 2-3 feet thick. >> that is not typical. usually the local tugs can handle chicago through the winter and do not need an actual ice breaker to help. >> reporter: and terry says these conditions require more tug boats and extra time to breakthrough the ice and means higher prices that shipping companies simply don't want to pay. >> reduction in business itself it dropped the sales from 35-50% and in turn we had to lay off three quarters of our workforce

just to keep a skeleton crew on to run one tug here and one tug there so it's really impacted us. >> reporter: the great lakes environmental research lab in ann arbrr and it was 32% and the last time it was frozen like this was 20 years ago. >> and the ice started early and we had the arctic vortex in the end of december and early january. and the ice just kept building. >> reporter: george says the silver lining in all of the ice is that it reduces evaporation which could maintain lake levels and curtail lake effect snow and a boom for the commercial fishing industry and the ice protects white fish and spawning betz from winter storm but should it continue scientists say the ice covers will increase and as the shipping season begins this spring it could mean a busier few months of ice breaking to come, al jazeera,

chicago. >> reporter: there is much more ice this year than in the past five years but it's not as bad as the records set in 1979 when almost 95 percent of the great lakes were frozen. a billionaire is putting his money where his mouth is when it comes to climate change and tom founded one of the most successful hedge funds and spending $50 million of his own of the ads leading to the, election and he wants to enact climate change measures and wants people to match his $50 million. an astroid went by earth last night in what they are calling a close call if you consider two million miles away close and the astroid was traveling 27,000 miles an hour when i zipped past at 9:00 p.m. eastern and posed no home to earth and 8 times

away as the moon and we have a check on what is making headlines this morning. >> missed it by that much, protesters and in bangkok and four dead and dozens injured and calling for the prime minister to step down and talks in vienna over the iran program and the u.s. wants them to agree it will not convert nuclear fuel into atomic weapons and prisoner swap could be in the works and the white house offering to swap prisoners with the taliban and he was captured in afghanistan in 2009 and may be in pakistan. murder, torture, slavery and mass starvations is what the north korean government is accused of doing to the people and this is issued by the u.n. and a pakistan mother talks about her family's difficult reality as the government and taliban hold talks to end years of fighting. and i'm metrologist nickel

mitchell say they will deal with rain or snow every day this week and i will have the national forecast. >> and al jazeera continues in 2 minutes with dale walters and libby casey and thanks for watching and have a great morning. >> al jazeera america is a straight-forward news channel. >> its the most exciting thing to happen to american journalism in decades. >> we believe in digging deep. >> its unbiased, fact-based, in-depth journalism. >> you give them the facts, dispense with the fluff and get straight to the point. >> i'm on the ground every day finding stories that matter to you. >> in new orleans... >> seattle bureau... >> washington... >> detroit... >> chicago... >> nashville... >> los angeles... >> san francisco... >> al jazeera america, take a new look at news.

>> getting back to the bargaining table with iran, the uphill battle for an agreement to curb its nuclear capabilities. >> tensions boil over in bangkok as clashes between protestors and police leave four dead. violence erupted as the authorities try to break up protest camps in the thai capital. >> bonds usually within 90 seconds where detroit police may

not responsibility. >> a police force charged with watching over students now looking to help the residents of motown. >> tapping into the natural instincts of man's best friend. the training industry raising eyebrows by unleashing the beasts in dogs. >> good morning. welcome back to aljazeera america. i'm del walters. >> the latest round of talks over iran's nuclear program are officially underway in vienna. iran agreed to freeze nuclear activities in exchange for reduced economic sanctions. >> starting today, negotiators from iran, the u.s. and other countries looking for a permanent deal. there's a lot on the line. >> the vienna talks are all

about places like this and what's going on in them, iran's nuclear facilities, the u.s. and its allies say iran's nuclear program is dangerous. iran said its peaceful. in vienna both sides will try to find common ground for a lasting deal to built on the temporary one struck in november. the u.n. said iran kept its darden and suspended elements of the nuclear program. western powers greed to a rollback of some economic sanctions. >> what is the future of this deal? i think iran will narrow things down adhering to the agreement. iran further proves its activities are peaceful, the west cannot continue the sanctions. if the western party insists on other issues, i think talks may reach a deadlock. >> the talks are expected to last for months and there are serious challenges, particularly

those posed by the israelis and saudis who want a tougher deal and want to end iran's nuclear program, not just limit it as suggested by the six powers involved in negotiations known as the p5 plus one. >> some are interested in continuation of regional tension and don't like that iran and the p5 plus one reached an agreement. they seek tension. i can name israel and netanyahu, also saudi arabia. >> for iran, failure is unacceptable. what's happening at the same time as these high level talks are technical ones between eye are not and the iaea, the u.n.'s atomic energy agency, all part of a two track approach and these technical talks focus on what iran may or may not have done in the past.

>> iran has made 17 commitments to clear outstanding issues by may. both sides hope this boosts confidence building in vienna and the prospects of a lasting political peace. aljazeera, tehran. >> james bays is in vienna. what is the latest coming out of today's negotiations? >> good morning, del. they had an opening session that lasted 45 minutes. there are a whole series of different meetings taking place, because remember, there's quite a lot of countries involved, p5 plus one, the u.s. and germany representing the international community and iran, various meeting now taking place. the only briefing we've had so far was from a spokesman from the e.u., the lead negotiator for the international community. he told us really all they were doing at the moment is setting out the framework for these

talks, the agenda for these talks. he said it would be an intensive and very process. >> iran's supreme leader saying these talks aren't going to lead anywhere. how much weight does anybody in vienna have in think that go these talks are going to succeed. >> well, i think you put a finger on one of the dynamics of this process. yes, you've got all of these people around the table, six countries and iran, but you've got lots of people who aren't around the table who have influence and sway over the process. remember what the israelis are saying about all of this, that has a bearing on the administration's thinking on this. remember, what's being said on capitol hill and then on the iranian side, there are hardliners in tehran who need to be satisfied, some hardliners in various senior positions don't really like this process at all. >> james, they have time to work

out a deal, negotiations expected to take months. what will be the best case scenario for iran and it's negotiating partners. >> i think they would like to conclude a deal. they both say they'd like to conclude a deal as soon as possible with but obviously it is going to be a long process. when you do an interim deal like in november, that's quite easy, you can have language that photos the issue. when you do a permanent deal, you need to tie up all the loose ends. this interim deal lasts for six months. under the interim deal, they can have another for another six months. probably in about a year's time, the negotiations will get really serious, del. >> james bays in vienna, thank you very much this morning. >> violence erupting in ukraine after a few weeks of relative calm. thousands are anti-government protestors clashed with police near the parliament building in key every. protestors threw stones at police who responded with stun

grenade to say break up the crowds. ukraine is calling to stop the violence. >> russia has promised to give ukraine a much needed cash in fugue, offering to buy $2 billion worth of bonds. russia agreed to give $15 billion but withheld the money after the countries prime minister resigned. >> four people have been killed and dozens injured as thai security forces mount an offensive against anti-government protestors in the capitol of bangkok. police detained 100 protestors. the clashes show how volatile the relationship is between the prime minister and the opposition that's calling for her to resign. >> it was just before noon in this historical area of old bangkok when the violence broke

out. what had happened was that riot police were trying to clear the area of demonstrators who have occupied this intersection for several weeks now. they brought in bulldozers that were trying to clear the area asker. >>s range out from the protestors. suddenly an explosion was heard. that was an m79 grenade. police began to fire out in the direction of the explosion and they took incoming fire, as well. the gunfight went on sporadically for about an hour. since then, we have found that at least 50 people were injured, several people killed, died of their injuries, including a policeman who was shot in the head. our understanding is that the police force is extremely angry about the situation. they with drew, pulled away about 500 meters to a kilometer

down the road this way and that's why the situation has quieted down. the protestors have reclaimed this area. in fact, they've overturned several vehicles, including police vehicles as a form of new barricades. this could be a turning point for the police, because it's a significant loss of face for them. behind the scenes, it's said that there are negotiations going on, between the government accused of corruption by the protestors and indeed, the government agency that fights against corruption has now called for the prime minister to appear before it to face charges linked to rice price pledging scheme that she put in place as part of her campaign plank when she was first put into power,

voted into power back in 2010. >> reporting from bangkok. if the prime minister is found guilty of the charges, she could be removed from office. >> an armed group is claiming responsibility for an attack on egypt's border with israel. the bombing targeted a bus filled with south screen tourists. four were killed. the group claimed responsibility for several bombings in the past, including an attempt to kill egypt's interior minister in cairo last year. >> the white house is ramping up efforts to secure the release of a detained soldier, captured in afghanistan back in 2009. it's believed he is now held in pakistan. according to the washington post, the obama administration is ready to do a prisoner swap with the taliban, releasing five members of the afghan taliban in

exchange. the white house wants to secure his release before most u.s. forces leave afghanistan later this year. >> peace talks between the pakistani government and taliban are on hold for now, pakistan's army just announcing a senior officer was killed in a shootout with the taliban. at aljazeera reports, the setback and talks comes at a high cost for families caught in the middle. >> these children can afford only one meal a day and sometimes even that becomes a luxury. their mother cleans houses so she can afford to feed them. >> i have no one else to earn for my family. it's very difficult for me to look after my children. at times, we have no food. i know they have a miserable life, but what else can i do? >> she lives in town, a remote district. most of this area lacks basic facilities like clean water and electricity, and there are no real help or educational institutions here.

she lost one of her sons in a suicide attack five years ago. her other boy was disabled in the incident and her husband had a heart attack after seeing the scattered remains of the son. he cannot work anymore. >> my two sons went to the market. my elder son was killed in the attack and adnan is disabled. i have no money for his treatment. i borrowed money from my relatives, but i wasn't able to afford the expensive treatment. >> thousands are between security forces and the taliban. she doesn't have much faith in the government. >> going to get groceries is a risk for us. i'm afraid to send out my children. no one has helped us, no one. the government has done nothing for us. the least they can do is provide treatment for my son. >> so far, the government hasn't been successful in negotiating a deal with the same people it's been at war with for many years.

despite her losses, she wants peace not revenge. >> i wish for these peace talks to succeed. no woman will lose her sons, no woman will have to become a widow. i need peace for my children. they should be able to play and have some happy moments. >> while they struggle to bring negotiationers to the table, she and thousands of others like her are not asking for much. >> i wish my children can get an education like other children, but we have no money to eat. >> aljazeera, islamabad. >> critics of those talks between pakistan's government and taliban say the fighters have broken several agreements in the past and used them as a way to strengthen their organization. >> another winter storm slammed the midwest.

the quick moving system hit chicago, dumping up to three inches of snow an hour. that was enough to aggravate drivers as snowplows moved quickly to clear slick roads. in michigan, white out conditions were blamed for a 40 car pileup on an interstate near kalamazoo. >> if you live in the northeast and you thought it was over, it ain't. nicole mitchell is here with more. >> it's not close to being over, although after this system, the next couple are a little bit more likely to be rain, so i guess you can hang your hat on that. as we get out the door this morning, that's the system that moved through the midwest now moving into the northeast. there's still a core of higher winds. western portions of new york and pennsylvania, we do have visibility down to about a half mile, because even though the snow isn't particularly heavy and it's pretty quick-moving so the core of the worst of this could be maybe six inches or more once we get into portions of new england, a lot of places two to four inches, so not the

big accumulations we've seen with other systems, but these wind gusts, cleveland right now at about 31 miles per hour, that's blowing what snow is out there. this will move out quickly. we need to set the stage for the next one. this moves out. there's a disturbance in the midwest right now, not with a lot of moisture in it. by the time it gets to the coastline picking up more of the moisture. this comes through wednesday with chances for rain, still not a lot of moisture with that one, but that's already tomorrow. we don't get much of a break between the next two systems. we are monitoring something on the west coast that pulls by the time we get into thursday for the midwest. this one will bring rain all the way down to the south. a lot of warm air associated, so snow will melt, rain on top of that will make for some sloppy conditions and enough of a dynamic temperature change we could see spring type severe weather. >> a pennsylvania woman accused of killing a man with her husband is boast that go she's a

serial killer who's murdered dozens of people, but not everyone is ready to believe miranda barber's claims. they doubt her confession, saying she may be making the clips for an insanity defense. investigators have not corroborated her claims, including statements that she was involved in a say tannic cult. >> a pharmacy won't provide a made for order drug for his execution. his lawyers are filing a suit argue that go delivering the drugs across state lines vitals federal laws. the pharmacy has decided not to provide the drug because they're concerned about how effective it might be. >> a man accused of stealing a 16th century violin will face trial. he pleaded not guilty in a milwaukee courtroom monday. police say he stole a rare violin from a member of the city's orchestra last month.

it was found a week later, worth $5 million. a second suspect also faces charges. he actually used a stun gun to attack the violinist. >> and he played that before the city orchestra. the guy that had it was leasing it. >> here are headlines making news around the world. >> you can buy marijuana legally in colorado, you just can't advertise it. the denver post saying a judge there rejecting a plea for the company to put ads in magazines. >> the key is who you're advertising to. they have to prove that no more than 30% have the readership is under 21. >> my favorite part is the magazine seek to go advertise, "high times" approximately go figure. >> a new transportation hub at the atlanta airport would go over three years, cost over $213 million. >> when you fly into orlando, you get on the little tram and

go to disney world and get on another tram. i think it's going to be nice down there. >> latin america finally has an apple store, opening over the last weekend in rio de janeiro. just check out the costs, though, $1,100 for an iphone, the same one in the united states for $649. people standing in line on that one. >> only 50 country have apple stores. >> we'll talk the new u.n. report about korea. >> one of the most dangerous cities in america, how a police force from a university now fighting crimes on the streets of detroit. >> $62.1 trillion, it's our big number of the day. why that's good news for your investment portfolio.

>> today's big number is our

biggest yet, 62.1 drillun dollars, the total value of global stocks. >> the index advanced for a ninth straight day helping to restore the losses from the beginning of this year. the global equity value fell to 59 trillion on february 9, but growing confidence in the u.s. economy and a rally in emerging markets helped to erase losses. >> makes our stock portfolio seem oh so tiny. welcome back to aljazeera america. detroit is getting a helping hand from a rather unlikely source for its crime problems. >> first let's look at temperatures across the nation today from nicole mitchell. >> good morning. i didn't detect a lot of enthusiasm when i talked about storm after storm coming. we have teams this morning in the midwest, which is warm up from some of the recent chilly temperatures. by today, more of these

temperatures will be into the 40s, so that will melt off the snow. for a lot of eastern seaboards, some 50's, washington, d.c. but more 40's and 50's. the weather pattern will be active, but at least we are getting warmer air out of all of it and the next couple of systems down the road will be more rain than snow as we get into the forecast, so a little warmer air even if we have to deal with the rain. >> north carolina officials say the toxic waste in the dan river not an immediate threat to public health. a few weeks ago, duke energy spilled 40,000 tons of sludge into the river when a pipeline erupted. environmentalists want the spill cleaned up and are calling for more oversight. they are testing water quality where water is received from that river. >> an elementary school in west virginia was closed after reports of a chemical odor. the teachers in north charleston said they could smell a licorice

like substance and self students complained of headaches. many residents still worry about the water after a chemical spill in the elk river last month. that spill left 300,000 people without access to clean water. officials have repeatedly assured people that the water is now safe. >> it is a city where vacant homes where crimes run rampant, detroit being ranked as one of the most dangerous city. one area has help from university cops. >> at wane state university, over 800 high-definition cameras are always rolling. someone is always watching. >> it's a crime haven, anything you wanted was out there, completely different now. >> anthony holt is wane state's chief of police. he says the sophisticated surveillance system which has been in place for a couple years

has reported break ins and assaults and stopped a few of them. officer melissa monitors the activity. she says the cameras are welcome in this crime weary community, and helps solve crimes. >> anytime we have something happen, one of the first things that we're doing is checking the cameras to see if we have any sort of lead. >> in a city that tops the f.b.i.'s most dangerous list, the chief says the area in and around campus is setting a new trend. he says crime has dropped 45% since 2008. >> so you would say it is one of the safest places. >> i think there's no doubt about it. >> the wane state police department's primary beat is campus security, but in a bankrupt city where essential services are strained, work often takes officers outside the 4.8-mile radius they cover. >> one week nearly 50 off campus

arrests were made, half by wane state police officers who were sworn in as detroit police officers. >> they will respond usually within 90 seconds whereas detroit police may not respond at all or may not be able to. >> rachel lutz owns several businesses in the area. >> my shops are not technically located on the campus, but i know i can call wane state university police. they understand that safety doesn't stop at a boredder. >> that's because like detroit police, wane state police officers have city wide jurisdiction. >> they're always on patrol. they answer really quickly if you call them even for something minor. >> we want to send a message out that we're going to come get you no matter where you are. >> aljazeera, detroit. >> just to put things in perspective as to how busy these cops really are, in one week in january, 46 arrests were made in that district, 36 made by the

campus police alone, none of them was university related. >> check on business news, wall street back to work today after a long holiday weekend, hoping the stock market can maintain it's momentum after closing out its best week of the year last friday. dow futures are now up 20 points. the dow has gained 3% for the month so far. the s&p has wiped out nearly all of its loss for the year and stands just 10 points below its record high. the nasdaq stands at its best level since 2000. overseas, japan's central bank fueling a big rally, announcing new measures to support the economy, pushing it up 3%. in europe, stocks are mixed. >> coca-cola headlining today's earnings calendars. coke returned money to shareholders through higher dividends. coke is not alone. it's estimated corporations are

holding more than a trillion dollars, many now start to go reward shareholders with massive dividend hikes. >> it's very difficult to grow profits in an economy where the economy only gross 2% but they've managed it, simply by doing more with fewer employees. that has dramatically boosted productivity, productivity, bottom lines and they're sharing that with their stockholders. >> european car makers association saying car sales rose more than 5% in january with britain, spain and germany leading the way. >> federal regulators are announcing possible changes in t.v. commercials for prescription drugs, saying the list have potential side effects are so long in those ads that consumers tune them out. that can be the most dangerous side effect of all.

>> the list sometimes seem to go on. >> other risks include increased cholesterol, weight gain, seizures. >> of course it's all in the interest of full disclosure. the f.d.a. requires drug companies to carry wornings of side effects in television ads, now the d.f.a. is looking to fine tune lists that regulators say are too long and confuse viewers. the agency is starting a study to measure consumers comprehension, changing the list to more serious ones. lesser ones could be covered by adding a line about potential additional risks. the hope is to improve the

overall understanding of the drugs. >> the f.d.a. study will take place over the internet and 1500 people will watch multiple versions of a t.v. ad to measure just how much they understand the side effects. the agency plan to say adopt changes this year. >> united nations panel calling for north korea's leader to be held accountable for crimes against humanity. >> venezuela's president telling three u.s. diplomats to leave his country. how the u.s. is respond to go that order and what venezuela has to gain by expelling them. >> training dogs to keep you safe. the growing industry bringing out their inner animal. >> the names merrill and charlie will go down in u.s. olympic history.

al jazeera america. we understand that every news story begins and ends with people. >> the efforts are focused on rescuing stranded residents. >> we pursue that story beyond the headline, pass the spokesperson, to the streets. >> thousands of riot police deployed across the capital. >> we put all of our global resources behind every story. >> it is a scene of utter devastation. >> and follow it no matter where it leads - all the way to you. al jazeera america, take a new look at news.

>> you're looking at a live shot of union square here in new york city as another winter storm makes its way into the area after hitting the midwest. >> ahead in our half hour, a u.n. panel wants to hold north korean leader accountable for crimes including executions, rape and mass starvations. >> more clashes in venezuela, the u.s. now finds itself caught in the middle of a political crisis. >> a way to tap into the more aggressive side of dogs. one man says he can do so for good. >> a panel is accusing north korea responsible for crimes comparable to the nazis.

the report highlights torture, force the starvation and executions. the panel's chair said the international community cannot stay silent. >> 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 report says those most responsible for the alleged abuses should be referred to an international criminal court. the director for international advocacy at international u.s.a. joins us from washington, d.c. this morning. thank you for being with us. this isn't the first time that we've heard stories or seen evidence of torture and starvation from north korea. why is this report so significant? >> amnesty international has been reporting for the last 20 years about the abuses in north korea. why this particular report is significant is that this is the

first time aunited nations panel, an official united nations panel have investigated, heard witnesses, and came up with their own findings that crimes against humanity have taken place in north korea, because of torture, execution, mass starvation and other gross human rights abuses. >> amnesty international published satellite images showing two prison camps. you shared those with the u.n. what can be learned from these images? >> we don't have access, not only amnesty international, other human rights organizations, including united nations does not have direct access to north korea. we were able to get satellite images and independent experts analyzed it and came up with the conclusion that so many thousands of people have been i am prisoned in these prison

camps and they accepted it and partly put their final report on those figures. >> what's so striking about this are the personal stories, and there are hundreds of people who share their personal stories. is that changing the conversation right now? >> obviously any story, any abuse that happens around the world, you put the fears to it, individual people tell their stories, that has an enormous impact around the world as well as the people producing these reports. the individual reports and testimony by the family members and victims themselves have made a significant impact in this report. >> what happens next? the u.n. warmed that kim jong-un

could be charged. could that happen? >> the chances are that could happen. of course the only concern we have is certain countries may bring political consideration to block this particular investigation going forward. >> let's name those countries, china, do you think russia would get involved? >> those are the speculations, yes, these are the two council members. there are five members. we are concerned about china and russia, for their own political considerations may try to block this from going forward to the international criminal court. that's why we are alleging every country in the world, not to mix human rights with political consideration. we hope china and russia and other countries take this seriously, that there are human beings in north korea who have gone through this enormous suffering and pain and massive

abuses, and someone should be held accountable and show china and russia as people caring about human beings throughout the world. >> thank you so much. >> that in in a is taking a tough stance against gambling prostitution and drugs. underred program, police arrested a thousand people for prostitution this month alone. china outlawed prostitution after the communist revolution back in 1949, gambling also band except state sanctioned lotteries. >> the u.s. is denying allegations by venezuela's government that it is trying to overthrow his government. u.s. diplomats were given 48 hours to leave the country after

coming to their defense. >> protestors returned to crack cuss monday with more demonstrations planned today. opposition leader said he will march with the leaders in the coming days. he has been in hiding with government officials since they issued a warrant for his arrest. rachel levine has more. >> >> the anti-government protest continue in the venezuelan capitol, this time marching and venting their frustration at state television. in this video distributed by the opposition, not independently verified, what appears to be armed men, forced their way in. this congresswoman who was there at the time describes the scene. >> the men forced us to go down on our knees, they said they were looking for the national

coordinator. they knocked down the door. they were armed and they left. >> this alleged attack on the opposition comes just a day before they've called for a massive rally here in caracas where they expect to have thousands of their supporters take to the streets again. >> the government turned up diplomatic pressure by expelling three u.s. diplomats. the president accuses them of aiding groups that are trying to overthrow his government. >> they will be forced to leave the sovereign and independent homeland of venezuela in the next 48 hours because of actively participating in the organization and promotion of these groups which attempted to generate violence in the country. >> the u.s. rejected the allegation, saying the country's political future is for the venezuelan people to decide.

for many, the growing political tension is doing little to ease the financial crisis gripping the country. venezuela now has the highest rate of inflation in the world, and for people like andrea, it's getting harder and harder to support her family. >> we can't find chicken, meat, milk, butter, oil, sugar, or coffee. you can't find any basic products. >> with the opposition refusing to give up and the government increasing pressure, there's no clear sign when, how or even if this political crisis might end soon. aljazeera, caracas, venezuela. >> a professor and director of the institute of latin american studies at barnard college joins us this morning. good morning. this is the third time american diplomats have been expelled. the allegation is baseless and

false according to this statement: >> what does venezuela have to gain in expelling these diplomats? >> they are trying to use something they have used before, which is anti american sentiment, blaming the united states for just about anything, any problem that it has. the problem with this strategy is that it's less useful than in the past. anti americanism has been declining in latin america since the clinton administration, because imperial behavior has declined. it is giving diminishing return. >> what do they hope to gain with their protests? >> the demonstrators are wanting more political freedom that is going to be difficult. the trend has been in venezuela

to have less political freedom. it used to be freedom of the press, since the 1980's, has been known free. it is the less free country in terms of freedom in the press in the hemisphere after cuba, so that doesn't seem that is going to change another thing they are complaining about is high crime rates. >> some of of the things they want you don't think are possible for the government to achieve. >> not in the short or even medium run. >> i was fascinated by one statistic. we're talking about these three demonstrators dying, but people die frequently in venezuela. >> one person every 20 minutes. this is a country that has one of the highest homicide rates in the world. this is something new, has

quadrupled in the last 12 years. in the last dozen years, probably 200,000 people have died in violent crime. that's the equivalent of iraq. >> do they not have a legitimate protest saying they want something to be done about the violence, even though that may seem to be impossible? >> well, the crime rate, it's going to be very difficult to change. i mean, it can change, but slowly. inflation is another thing that they are complaining about. venezuela has the highest inflation rate in the world now, over 50% inflation rate. there is a scarcity of basic goods, including toilet paper. i mean, partly the government is to blame for the accumulation of bad economic policy. i mean one of the good things they have done is actually made venezuela a less political country. the distribution of wealth is better than it used to be, but

the economy is very badly run. >> thank you for being with us this morning. >> an 84-year-old nun and two others who broke into a plant were convicted of sabotaging federal property. they've also been ordered to pay a $53,000 fine. today, they'll find out how long they'll spend in prison. the goop painted message that is read the proof of justice is peace. they offered a guard a bible, candles and white roses. the president said it exposed problems with security at the facility. >> the issue of same-sex marriage is heating up in the state of indiana. the senate approved an amendment to the constitution that would ban same-sex marriage, the house approved the bill last month. both chambers must approve the measure if they want the proposal to go before voters in

2016. >> the search for a new president at penn state is over. >> without further comment, i'd like to have it dr. eric baron to the podium. congratulations. >> the university said he beat out nearly 400 candidates for the position. he'll earn $800,000 a year with a $1 million bonus if he completes his five year contract. he is the current president of florida state. he spent two decades in the science department. >> a new study said football

helmets -- >> american athletes, a bit of history being made at the olympic ice. something that hasn't been done in 60 years. we have all the news from sochi this morning. >> for american athletes, monday in sochi, we saw a first in a long time and a chance for redemption. here's a look back. >> reigning world champion figure skaters are on top of the world. the first americans to win an ice dancing gold medal with a spectacular nearly flawless performance. it was a long time coming, but 17 years of hard work paid off. >> we felt we had that opportunity to be the complete team and go out there and be able to just prove to the world that beyond a doubt that we were

the best. >> davis and white edged out their arch rival defending olympic champs and long time training partners of canada. thick morning fog above sochi forced the cancellation of several events due to poor visibility. it didn't affect the two man bobsled. the u.s. has med and would sliding into third for the bronze. ironically, it was holcomb who steered in vancouver to end a 62 year american drought between gold medals in the four man bobsled. in the women's hockey semifinals, the u.s. trounced sweden 6-1 with a near record 70 shots on goal, setting up an emotional rematch in the gold medal game against three time defending olympic champion canada. u.s. women's hockey has medalled in every olympics since introduced 16 years ago and that streak is not going to be

broken. >> there are medal events to be decided today in sochi. you've also got -- seven medal events, by the way. you've got jones making her debut in the women's bobsled and men's freestyle skiing halfpipe gets started this morning as well. russia is playing norway on men's ice hockey. shouldn't be hard to beat norway. they haven't won an olympic match in 20 years. >> those are the teams you watch out for. >> 20 years. >> doesn't matter, always beware the underdog. >> absolutely. >> when we come back, teaching dogs to be both friend and foe. how one trainer is able to activate aggression in man's best friend, but he says he can do so in a safe manner. >> jim. >> i fallon the new host of the tonight show. what he has to say about taking the reigns.

>> good morning, welcome back to aljazeera america. in a moment, we'll look at aggressive dog training raising eyebrows. >> first let's look at where the snow and rain are falling today. nicole mitchell is here. >> we're already looking well back to the west coast, because we've had a very active pattern here and this one is eventually going to make it to the midwest as we get into thursday for the east coast on friday and it's part of a train of systems we'll have moving through. in the meantime, we've had heavy rainfall along the coastline, heavy snowfall in the mountains, avalanche concerns to flood concerns in the rivers that have been rising recently. the area needs the moisture, but it's been a lot all at once. the east coast system starts to clear out a little later already

today, but a disturbance in the midwest could bring more rain tomorrow. we'll talk about more of that in a few minutes. back to you guys. >> chicago is going to great lengths to stop some big fish from investing in the great lakes. the city is considering blocking the canal system to stop the spread of asian carp heading into lake michigan. these three-foot long fish have created problems for the eco system, displacing anywaysive species of fish. it was introduced more than 30 years ago in the south to control algae build up from sewage plants but soon made their way up the mississippi river. >> the tonight show underway with jimmy fallon becoming the sixth host of the show taking over from jay leno. he is bringing the show back to new york and its original home in studio 6b where he hopes to have a long and funny run. >> i'm jimmy fallon and i'll be your host for now.

[ laughter ] >> you would have told me as a kid that i was going to graduate high school and go on to be "saturday night live" and eventually be the host of the tonight show, i would say i graduated high school? that's so not me, so not like me. >> a parade of celebrities welcomed him, mike tyson and lady gaga. will smith was the first so to sit had been his new couch and the band u.2 performed on the top of rockefeller center. >> the dog city teaches pets to be nice and behave but there's a new movement where dogs are taught to bark and bite on command. we have more in the special series desaferring dogs. >> most dog owners want this from their pet. >> hello, sweety. >> but certain dog owners want this. training your dog is typically

about socialization, keeps it from nipping at strangers but a threing industry will train massive intimidating dogs to do exactly the opposite. it's methods are pretty controversial and it's entirely unregulated and raises the question what is more natural to a dog, peace or aggression. being a pelt or being a weapon. >> if you're not utilizing your dog to its fullest capacity, you're doing the dog harm. you're doing the dog injustice. dogs want to work. >> mike trains so-called protection dogs. he allowed us to watch him train several mastiffs for his client, a professional athlete. >> we teach a positive-negative. positive, good boy, you did your job, lots of love. negative, you get correction through leash and color, because you you didn't perform. you didn't do what we asked you to do.

>> the dogs that mike trains are not family pets. they don't play fetch. five patrol this particular property and they're intended not only as a deterrent, they will bark, but they will always bite when the time comes. >> his training teaches the difference between friend and foe. >> you can have a party and have your dog out and it's very calm. if somebody were to have too much to drink and said that you owed him money and everything, that dog is going to back him down. not attack, but back him down. >> but gene donaldson who teaches courses for aspiring dog trainers across the country said it's impossible to guarantee canine behavior. >> we are very much in the probability business in behavior, just as a physician

cannot guarantee an outcome neither can a dog trainer. for anyone to offer a guarantee of behavior, it's basically irresponsible practice. >> mike believes aggression can be activated and harmless. >> this is a personal protection dog. the difference is we're teaching the dog to use its own instincts, but in a constructive way, basically. >> donaldson said there's no reliable way to teach a dog when it is or isn't ok to bite. >> we've got to buy out of this myth that we can have a dog that is absolutely perfectly trustworthy that then turns on a dime and becomes this machine in the circumstance that we want him to. that's just not possible. >> there is no governing authority that oversees dog training. anyone can claim to be a professional and there's little research behind the idea that dogs can reliably tell human friend from foe.

aljazeera, houston. >> obedience training dates back to the years of ancient rome. modern tech training was popularized in the u.s. as recently as the 1950's. at the end of our second hour, we have a look at what we're following. >> clashes in bangkok leaving four dead, dozens injured, the anti-government demonstrations are calling for the prime minister to step down. >> talks over iran's nuclear program. the u.n. wants iran to agree not to convert fuel into weapons. >> a prisoner swap could be in the works, the white house offering to swap prisoners with the taliban. >> as negotiations over iran's nuclear program get underway, we'll talk to a former presidential iranian candidate about the hurdles that remain as they work to reach a permanent deal. >> an active weather pattern

means parts of the country will be dealing with rain or snow every other day this week. i'll have that national forecast. >> we are back with you in two minutes. al jazeera america gives you the total news experience anytime, anywhere. more on every screen. digital, mobile, social. visit aljazeera.com. follow @ajam on twitter. and like aljazeera america on facebook for more stories, more access, more conversations. so you don't just stay on top of the news, go deeper and get more perspectives on every issue. al jazeera america.

>> a new round of chaos in ukraine, what russia is doing to ease tensions in its own back yard. >> talks aimed at ending the nuclear standoff with iran. what to expect from the negotiations. >> side effects are runny nose, dizziness. >> talk to your doctor before taking other medications. >> they can lower your cholesterol and cause a heart attack. the new push to shorten the side

effects on prescription drug commercials. >> the bottom of one woman was completely uncovered and it's a very provocative pose that she's in. >> the mom on a mission. the craft one woman got an r rated tee shirt pulled from the windows of a popular mall. >> welcome back to aljazeera america. >> a new round of talks over iran's nuclear prom now underway in vienna, in november agreeing to reduce activities for reduced sanctions. now looking for a more permanent deal. what's happening on this first day of talks?

>> they've had the morning session here which is concluded. the deputy foreign minister of iran said the morning section went very well. it was constructive. that sounds like good news, but i think it's worth me reminding you that this is going to be a very long, drown out process. we know the negotiations are going to be very difficult. there's that deal that was done at the end of last year in november, a six month interim deal, but for a long term deal, there are so many items that have to be sorted out, loose ends that have to be sorted out, that this will take a lot of time. this session in vienna right now is probably the first of many. >> iran's supreme leader saying talks won't lead anywhere, the president giving them a 50% chance of suction. how much weight does that kind of talk have in vienna? >> i think it shows you the dine mikes of all of this, which is you have these people around the

table, and the international community is represented here, the p5 plus one, the five permanent members of the u.n. security council and germany, the u.s. among those five permanent members and iran on the other side, but there are lots of other parties that have a key say and have sway over the process that aren't here in vienna. you have the israeli's who have a view, lots of people on capitol hill very concerned about what's going on here in the gorks here and they will have sway over the administration. on the other side, you've the iranians who are negotiating here, the president's team on the ground here in vienna, but there are hard-liners back in tehran, as well, some of whom don't want this pros to go anywhere. >> the clock is ticking. do they have enough time to work out a deal? these negotiations could take months. what is the best case dozen narrow for iran and its

partners? >> the best case scenario is they manage to negotiate something during the time line of this interim deal, negotiated in november, starting on the 20 of january. it will run out in the summer. there are many observers who believe it will be hard to get a permanent deal that in time and in that interim deal there is a clause saying they can extend the interim deal for another six months. >> james bays joining us from vienna, thank you very much. >> new violence erupting in ukraine as protestors say the government is stall on reform. you're looking at a live picture of kiev. recent violence breaks a few weeks of relative calm in the country. thousands of protestors crashed with police near the parliament building. protestors threw stones and set fires and police responded with stun grenades and tear gas. the demonstrators are pressuring parliament to curb the president's powers by changing the constitution. the government delay add

discussion of possible changes to the constitution earlier this morning. >> people have been killed and injured in thigh land with an offensive against anti-government protestors. police detained 100 new demonstrators while trying to clear protest camps around government offices that have been occupied now for weeks. the clashes show how volatile the relationship is between the prime minister and the opposition calling for her to resign. >> it was just before noon in this historical area of old bangkok when the violence broke out. what had happened was that riot police were trying to clear the area of demonstrators who have occupied this intersection for self weeks now. they brought in bulldozers that were trying to clear the area as jeers range out from the protestors. suddenly an explosion was heard.

we've since discovered that was an m79 grenade. police began to fly out in the direction of the explosion and took incoming fire, as well. the gunfights went on sporadically for about an hour. since then, we have found that at least 50 people were injured, several people killed, died of their injuries including a policeman who was shot in the head. our understanding is that the police force is extremely angry about this situation. they with drew, pulled away, about 500-meters to a kilometer down the road this way and that's why the situation has quieted down. the protestors have reclaimed this area. in fact, they've overturned several vehicles, including police vehicles as a form of new barricades. this could be a turning point for the police, because it's a significant loss of face for

them. behind the scenes, it's said that there are negotiations going on between the government accused of corruption by the protestors and indeed the government agency that fights against corruption has now called for the prime minister to appear before it to face charges linked to a rice price pledging scheme that she put in place as part of her campaign plank when she was first put into power, voted into power back in 2010. >> reporting from bangkok. if she is found guilty of the charges, the prime minister could be removed from office. >> a string of explosions in baghdad and another iraqi city have killed 49 people, exploding in mainly shia neighborhoods.

attacks were carried out using parked cars filled with explosives. >> at least 10 people are dead, most of them college students after a roof collapsed in south korea. more than 500 students were attend ago ceremony when the roof gave way late monday night. more than a dozen students are still missing and may be trapped under the rubble. recent heavy snow and ice have slowed rescue operations. the cause of the collapse remains under investigation. >> as we have been reporting, hundreds of thousands of syrians are escape to go neighboring countries searching for safety, many going to the border with lebanon. it's not just civilians making that trek. >> he hopes has he to stay here for only a short time. he has come from syria across the mountainous border to lebanon after his home was bombed in an air strike. he says this is no longer a

revolution. >> the regime is taking money from countries and so is the opposition and we the people are getting shipped. look at the children. if they want to fight, go kill yourself, but leave us be. >> this refugee camp is in a no man's land, a small camp outside the town and comes before the first army check point. people keep arriving unchecked. we're told there are many mother closer to the border with syria, and so after planning, we leave him behind and head that in direction. these are old smuggling routes and nobody in charge here. it is roughly 30 from terse to the first village inside syria. the refugees we try to speak to are hostile. on two occasions, we're threatened with weapons if we don't leave. we see fighters, men with guns who say they are fighting in the

mountains, which is where the syrian army launch would its attack on the last rebel strong hold along this border. they won't be filmed, but there is a lot of activity here and there are also smugglers. we have to stop filming early on because it is dangerous. after a while. we head back. we've just come back from this no man's land between lebanon and syria. at some point we found ourselves in technically what was syrian land. it's uneasy. we came across fighters, also across people loyal to the syrian regime. this is an area that the syrian government often targets with air strikes. >> fighters do come and go for a chance to rest and reply, but it's mostly families making their way into lebanon. as this war rages through their towns and village, they are left withments choice. many have come here with nothing, but the memory of their home and their country that they long to return to.

aljazeera, on the lebanon-syria border. >> the syrian government and opposition failing to come to an agreement during meetings last week in geneva. >> two members of the russian punk group pussy riot have been arrested in russia. members of the band tweeted tuesday that the two were detained near sochi. they say they were planning on staging a protest outside the olympic venue. the women spent nearly two years in prison on charges of hooliganism for an anti-government protest. >> more winter storms mean more delays for air travelers nationwide. this is live looking at the brooklyn bridge where it is snowing in new york city. a combination of heavy snow and active winds monday creating whiteout conditions from chicago to cleveland and now in the northeast. nearly 1200 flights were canceled and 3,000 more delayed, 2,000 of those at chicago's two major airports. >> yet another round of snow is moving across the northeast as

we speak. our meteorologists tracking the storm. >> it seems we can't get a break this winter between the different snow storms and cold air. we are going to reduce the cold air, but not the number of storms this week. we have the one hitting the east coast now. it's hard to pick out, but there's disturbance in the midwest today. it's hard to pick out because there's not a lot of moisture associated with it. that could bring rain to the east coast tomorrow and another area we're monitoring on the west coast. it's kind of a conveyer belt of storms. the one causing most problems now, you can see with the conveyor belt system they move through quickly. by this afternoon we could see clearing. there has been winds associated with it. two problems, new england, six inches or more, a lot of places, two to four inks, so not a significant snow compared to what we've had, but wind has been reducing visibilities, some

down to a half mile. this system by this afternoon and new england this evening starts to clear out. behind this, look at already wednesday, that little disturbance i was talking about could bring rain, that would be light rain, but something that we're going to have to watch as we get into the day tomorrow, as it gets closer to the coastline, taps moisture. we could have mostly rain. farther closer to canada, that could be a little snow, but the temperatures will be warm enough that most of that is rain. in the meantime, we watch the system come across the rockies tap gulf moisture. by thursday, the west coast system starts to cause problems. a lot of the areas in the midwest are going to see lots of snow that's built you be, record snow in some cases over the course of the winter. this has enough warm air that it will melt the snow, dump new rain on top of it, and chicago is calling this a potential for a slop fest. that's their word, not mine, but

for very muddy conditions as you get all that have coming together and enough dynamics with that system that we could see strong storms, severe spring storms go through the country thursday and then this hits the east coast on friday. that's the system that we're monitoring out west, a lot going on as we get into this week and then with all that have going on, we'll actually also have some nice temperature warm ups. i'll have more on the temperatures coming up in just a little bit. at least there's one good side of all of this active weather, which is the warmer air. >> the danger of the warmth is slop fest for everybody as the snow melts. >> we already had the slush fest in new york. the f.d.a. announcing possible change -- everybody is going to be talking about this, changes in t.v. commercials that advertise prescription drugs. >> erika joins us this morning. consumer confusion seems to be playing a big role in this, because you hear so many different -- >> exactly. you know these commercials, you

see these happy people doing so well on whatever drug is being advertised, then about halfway through, you hear the announcer in the ad start listing several possible side effects ranging from headaches to death. critics say the list are so long in those ads consumers get confused, tune them out entirely which is dangerous. government regulators apparently agree. >> common sides effects. >> the list sometimes seem to go on. >> other risks include increased cholesterol, weight gain. >> and on. >> seizures, trouble swallowing or impaired judgment or motor skills. >> of course it's all in the interest of full disclosure. the f.d.a. requires drug companies to carry warnings of side effect in television ads, now the f.d.a. is looking to fine tune those list that is regulators say are often too long and confuse viewers, start ago study to measure consumer

comprehension when they are presented with fewer side effects, limiting the list to the most serious once. >> they may all increase the chance of heart attack or stroke. >> nausea, dry mouth. >> could be covered by simply adding a line about potential risks. the hope is to improve overall understanding of the drugs that claim to help them. >> the f.d.a. study will take place over the internet. 1500 people will watch multiple versions of a t.v. commercial to measure their understanding of the side effects. more than likely new changes will be adopted this year. >> this idea of advertising prescription drugs has been hotly debated for years. >> serious critics don't want these ads at all. across the world, only two countries legally allow drug ads like this on television, the

united and new zealand. here in the united states, $3 billion industry. >> it's my favorite, suicidal thoughts and death. that's the drug you want to take. you got a headache, but you might kill yourself. >> it's scary stuff. >> a bridge over san francisco bay, why one expert doesn't want to drive over it. >> with millennials getting a bad rap or do they lack the skills they need to succeed. why they're having trouble finding jobs. >> there is a new scientific study on birds based from average joes around the world. what you might have in your house causing the local population to plummet. >> a live image of kiev, protestors clash, police near the parliament building. you can see the unrest in the streets.

>> welcome back oh aljazeera america. >> a brand new $6 billion bridge that's already raising safety concerns. >> first let's find out about your forecast around the country with nicole mitchell. >> a lot of active weather this week, but one of the good sides is a temperatures on the rise. this morning parts of the midwest starting in the 20's, which compared to a lot of the winter, that is pretty mild. temperatures 40 degrees, maybe a little higher today.

now, up and down the east coast, we've seen new york at 39 today, but into tomorrow, with that surge of warm air, easily into the 40's, this will melt off a lot of snow as will the rain that we'll have a couple chance at this week. you will see a lot of snow disappearing for a few parts of the country. back to you. >> the new san francisco bay bridge opened up last fall after more than two decades of construction. it spans more than 3.5 miles, connecting oakland to san francisco. after years of controversy, delays and a ballooning price tag, new questions are now raised about the bay bridge's safety. melissa chan got an up-close look at the issue. >> when you build big structures like this, bridges get water on them, in them, you know, this thing was never designed to be water tight. >> andrew gordon is take us for an inspection of the eastern span of the bay bridge. we were at this spot after the bridge's opening.

a celebratory story then, now we're looking for leaks. >> we know that water is getting in from the barrier rail. >> water is seeping from the deck into the steel frame below, but gordon said this isn't a flaw in the design or construction. he says it's par for the course, an issue easily handled with continuing care. >> you don't build a bridge like this and say here you go, bay area and walk away. there is daily hourly maintenance on a structure like this. >> we enter the belly of the bridge to find where the water drips in. >> you see it here. >> construction and safety questions have dogged this project from the start, but in this case, gordon shows us that from his pint of view, these leaks are actually draining as they should, right out to sea. >> ultimately, it will make it's way here and drain to the bay below. >> they have told us that the bridge needed rain to be tested

and the bridge is performing exactly as planned. >> an engineering professor disagrees. he has studied the bridge project for the past 15 years. >> if you have humid air next to steel, the steel rusts and you get corrosion and corrosion, was, the bridge collapses. >> he's so concerned, he won't even drive across the bridge and is teaching an entire course this semester on problems in the design and construction of the bay bridge. transportation officials say while the design may be innovative, it's not dangerous. >> the most important thing to get across is that the bridge is safe. these issues we've encountered do not pose safety risk to the bridge or drivers. >> leaks are only one issue the bridge has to handle. it straddles two fault lines and this show piece was designed to

survive multiple earthquakes, a tall record from the start. this could shake commuter confidence that this bridge will perform as planned. >> it has been a long time coming for commuters, it opened in september, 24 years after part collapsed in an earthquake. the cost is $6.4 billion. that price tag is four times the original estimate back in 1997. >> taking a look at business news, a megadeal in the pharmaceutical industry. forest labs is being bought, shareholders will see a 25% premium. specially branded drug makers has been bought up to boost profits and sales. >> coca-cola is feeling the pinch of currency issues around the globe. it says sales sank 4% in the fourth quarter and 2% for the

year overall. the company blames global economic challenges for declines in revenue and earnings in 2013. coke expects currency problems in other countries to take a big bite out of its business this year, as well. >> wall street is back to work after the long holiday weekend, investors hoping the stock market can continue the momentum, the dow up 22 points at this hour. it has risen 3% this month. the s&p wiping out nearly all losses for the year, standing just 10 points below its record high. the nasdaq is at the 10,000. tokyo's nikkei up more than 3%. in europe, stocks are mixed. >> credit card company capitol one has a new policy that many customers probably don't know about yet. it set a contract update to card holders stating the company can

visit you at your home or office. the contract says capitol one can contact you in any manner it chooses, including emails, phone calls and personal visits. >> back yard bird numbers in the u.s. are going down. two thirds of the most common birds disappearing over the past 50 years. the main culprit is a long time nemeses. >> on a cold winter's day, washington, d.c. may look like its teeming with birds, but according to the audubon society, species across the u.s., the med low lark, and sparrow have declined by at least 70% in numbers over the past ewe decades. birth experts attribute loss to say deforestation and climbs change and urban sprawl. the biggest human related cause is both pedestrian and predator,

the cat. >> while birds have got be scarcer, the cot population of the united states has more than tripled over the last 40 years. here at the washington animal rescue league kitty city, it's full house. >> the streets of the u.s. capitol host several hundred roaming cat calendar niece, only some wild. many are pets who's owners let them out to seek prey where they can find it. >> we have a conversation if we are letting them out, that they are supervising them. >> some only consider a program called trap, neuter or rehome. >> there's always cats available. you know, you're always going to find adoptable cats in any shelter. we can adopt many, many more. we just have to have the space. >> birth conservationists say traps and neutering will never solve overpopulation. >> some studies have shown that it increases the total number of

cats in an area. we take the position that t.n.r. should not be prescribed as an effective management tool and other tools need to be put in place. >> the top preferred doing, euthanasia. according to the american humane society, three quarters of the cats that enter animal shelters are killed, a drastic approach, yet still not enough to protect the birds. tom ackermann, aljazeera, washington. >> the journal of nature said domestic cats kill up to 3.7 billion birds a year. >> five years since president obama signed the economic stimulus package, the white house said it saved america from another great depression, but not everyone agrees. >> many of washington's companies with success have a skinny cow handling strategy. >> how google is causing a communications breakdown in the pacific northwest. >> she took offense to a tee

shirt at the mall. what she did next has parents from coast-to-coast saying way to go. >> an early celebration makes for a fantastic olympic finish.

>> good morning, this week marks the fifth affairs of president obama's massive stimulus bill, the roughly $800 billion package was intended to put millions back to work. since it was signed in 2009, the stimulus bill has provided tax cuts to 160 million american workers. it directly prevented 5.3 million people from slipping below the poverty line and improved nearly 42,000 miles of roads, but republicans quickly went on the attack, saying the bill created far pure than the

3.3 million jobs the white house boasts. house speaker john boehner said five years and hundreds of dollars later, millions of families are still asking where are the jobs. >> joining us from washington with more on the stimulus legacy is danielle lee. good morning. the court of public opinion differs on just how good the stimulus bill was. weigh in for us. >> libby, it is true, it kind of depends who you're talking to when you ask them whether or not the economy is where it needs to be, where it should be and much improved. in a new poll, one in four americans called jobs and the economy the country's number one problem, up from january. more people are questioning whether this stimulus plan did its job. >> flashback five years to president obama just one month in office, signing the recovery act into law. >> the beginning of what we need to do to create jobs for

americans scrambling in the wake of layoffs. >> today, the white house is celebrating success, rounding up mayors to speak in an official video. >> it stopped the hemorrhaging, gave us hope, it put people back to work. >> this white house report said it created 1.6 million jobs a year for four years, and avoids a second great depression, but much of america still calls the economy and unemployment their top concern. >> there are so many obstacles and thins to go through to just survive every day. >> i think people expected a bit of an upturn and it's been quite the opposite. >> republicans are attacking the act which was passed despite objections. house speaker john boehner is calling it a classic case of big promises and big spend, little result. republicans say five years since the act, wages are down and prices up, admitting its no wonder americans lack confidence

in the economy. >> later today, president obama will be speck about the economy from a maryland grocery store distribution center. libby. >> danielle lee, reporting from washington, thanks so much. >> two california highway patrol officers who died when their car flipped over may have swerved to avoid someone on the road responding to a multi-vehicle crash near kingsburg. a driver fell asleep at the weiland wound up in the wrong lane. flags in the state of flying at half staff in honor of the fallen officers. >> an elementary school in west virginia was closed after a chemical odor. the teachers could smell a licorice like substance and several students complained of headaches. many are still worried about the water after a chemical spill in the elk river last month. that spill left 300,000 people without access to clean water. officials have repeatedly assured people that the water is

now safe. >> the issue of same sex marriage is heating up in indiana the state senate approving an amendment to the constitution that would ban gay marriage. the house approved that bill last month. both claimers must approve the measure again if they want it to go before the voters in 2016. >> just a few flicks, goggle being and other websites will translate to any language. the technology is fast and free, but as people are finding out, the translations are not always perfect. some government agencies are criticized for using these tools. >> as these professional translators will tell you, translating from one language to another is not as simple as cut, paste and click. >> to illustrate the point, spanish illustrator takes us to the washington state website using the free going eight translate tool and translates a spanish text into english. >> many of washington's company

with success have skinny cow handle strategy. >> the software changed leading pros to skinny cow handling. >> very funny to japanese native speakers. >> japanese translator found all sorts of english words that the translation software could not convert into japanese. >> i would have to ask the person who created this japanese sentence what do you mean. >> washington state does provide professional translation for some written materials, it is one of a number of states that includes a button for translation software on men of its websites. >> this is about more than convenience, it's also the law. back in 2000, the federal government mandate that had agencies must provide meaningful language translations. the word meaningful is up to interpretation it. >> would be very challenging for the state of washington as least for the department of enterprise services to make sure that every

piece of our electronic information is available and updated every time that we change a web page. >> his office mansion the website and makes sure translations are correct about 80% of the time. his office is looking for better ways to provide the service but said hiring translators could be cost prohibitive. >> we are obligated to keep the costs down as much as we can and still provide the service. >> like many immigrants, he believes human translators are worth the investment. he almost gave up starting a business when he moved to the states from mexico 11 years ago. he believes proper translations offer immigrants the ability to integrate faster. >> they're going to be able to pay taxes, find better jobs, provide food for their kids, education. >> language advocates are

meeting with state leaders to find cost effective way to say provide real meaning in all languages. >> google translate works in 80 languages, but while the company it is the site makes intelligent guesses, it admits the translations can stills be a bit off. i have had that happen, del. >> in sochi, there is a drama playing out in hockey. my favorite team, norway. >> your favorite team since we made a bet about the game coming up. the old soviet union used to dominate olympic men's hockey but only med and would twice in 23 years. russia has to beat norway to save off ice hockey elimination. norway hasn't won an olympic match in 20 years. del still thinks they're going to win. a scoreless first period, in the second, the rugs have broken through courtesy of a goal,

russia leads 1-0. slovenia came in as the lowest ranged team in the field and now are one win away for competing with a medal. the l.a. kings kopitar scored in this one despite a stomach ailment that threatened his availability. they next take on sweden on wednesday. >> in speed skating, the finish of the women's 3,000-meter race was titler than rush hour traffic, but from the pack emerged south korean who takes the gold medal. a chinese skater finished second, but she was disqualified. >> exciting finish in the men's 15-kilometer by

>> before the release of the report on jonathan martin's bullying claims, incognito used twitter to fire cannon shots like the truth is going to bury you and your entire camp. what the report went public, he tweeted please, stop the hate before hutting his account down. monday, he revived his twitter act and sent the following tweets: he also tweeted: >> now a story about the power

of sports to inspire, rather than injury. the philadelphia 76ers have signed a high school senior with downs syndrome to a ceremony yell two day contract. the basketball team manager gained national attention last weekend for making the most of his chance to actually play with the varsity team by scoring 14 points, including four three-pointers during the team's final two games of the season. he introduced his newest player to the press on monday. >> do you play defense? >> i play defense, yes. >> i know you can shoot, but you can play defense, too? >> yes. >> i say we give him a three day contract. [ laughter ] >> i heard three threes. last time four. i don't think i've done that since i was eight, so that's pretty impressive. that's definitely inspirational. >> there's more. kevin practiced and ate dinner with the sixers monday and got a custom jersey and a locker in

the team locker room. during the sixers game tuesday, kevin will stand with the team during the national anthem. great story toned our look at sports this hour. >> thanks for sharing that. i can't get over that biathlon last minute finished. it ain't over until it's over. how brutal that would have been. >> a mom so shocked by a provocative tee shirt on display at a local mall, she bought each and every one of them. the manager of the story agreed the pictures of the nearly naked women were offensive, but said she had to wait for corporate before she could make any decisions on the shirts. >> i just had the thought come to me that i can't leave it. i can't let it stay in the window for three or four more days while someone makes a decision. i told her it didn't matter the cost, that i just wanted every single one, including the displays to be out of the store.

>> she spent close to $600 to buy the shirts. she was upset the shirts were on display for all of the children to see. >> she's getting a lot of high fives for that. >> as a parent, i kind of like that. >> some don't have the skills to succeed in today's economy. >> i'm a millennial and i'm sorry. >> i'm sorry. >> we suck and we know it. >> are they really a loft generation? why they may be getting a bad rap. >> some say those foreign trade agreements are making it tough to find jobs. what the white house needs to learn before entering into another one.

>> these are live images from union square in new york city where the snow is falling. the problem is new snow is fogg on old snow and that old snow is

hard and tough to shovel. welcome back to aljazeera america. millennials refers to the generation born between the 1980's and late 90's. >> some are having trouble landing jobs. we'll explore some of the reasons why. >> here's nicole mitchell with your forecast. >> i had someone tell me that i was lucky that they didn't shoot the messenger for all of this. we have another system moving through, a little disturbance behind that that could bring more rain tomorrow to the east coast. a system in the west is going to cause big problems for almost everyone by the end of the week. the snow is coming through, a lot of that snow is fairly light until we get to new england. there's enough wind with this to cause us some problems and this system in the midwest, big problems or big problems for the midwest by the middle of the week. back to you guys.

>> thank you very much. there are lots of theories about why the millennials are having a tough time finding full time work. they don't have the best image for work ethic or skills brought to the table. is it true or are they just getting a bad rap? we decided to find out. >> i'm a millennial and i'm sorry. >> we suck and we know it. >> as this satirical video shows, millennials have an image problem. >> we're narcissistic, lays and immature. >> businesses seem to echo the sentiment. in a recent survey by lently university, 35% of business leaders gave recent college graduates a c or lower on job preparedness. it's not just hard skills. 63% of business leaders gave recent grads lower on integrity, and professionalism.

>> there's the mismatch between opportunities and skills and abilities of students to be able to meet those opportunities. >> it seems odd at a team when college graduates out of work underemployed, that businesses claim there aren't enough skilled graduates to choose from. if you ask labor economists what's going on, they draw a very different picture of mill len yells and the challenges they face. >> this economist analyzed government data for evidence of a skill short only. her conclusion, it's not the skills lacking, it's jobs. >> it's not because there's something wrong with them as a generation, it's because they have the misfortune to be born at a time that dumps them into a very weak labor market. >> when measured against prerecession levels, unemployed workers dramatically outnumber job openings in all sectors of the economy. >> what we would see if it was called by a skill shortage is

some meaningful size facing tight job markets right now and you are not seeing that. >> only the legal profession has seen an increase in hours worked since the recession, another indicator, wages. a shortage of skilled workers would bid up salaries in industries where skilled workers are scarce. here again, the data indicates there is no shortage. why the mismatch between the data and perception? >> it is actually an easier idea to take that workers don't have skills for the jobs that are available than the idea that there are millions of unemployed workers that aren't going to find work no what ther what they do, because the jobs aren't there. >> if they're like the mill len yells at can opener studio, at least they can find humor in a tough situation. >> i got this trove fee for existing in soccer.

>> here to sort off fact from fiction is jen, the deputy director of the non-profit groupun invincibles. she joins us from washington, d.c. i am the parent of two, but i ask you what struck you most about the findings of this survey? >> it's interesting. probably every generation going back in time has said the same thing about the younger generation, they're not at prepared as we were, they're not as skilled. in fact, mill len yells have interesting and unique skills they bring to the table. they are tech savvy, so grew up in front of the computer, know how to engage on line that's helpful in today's business world. they are very entrepreneurial. many young people have started a business or want to at some point.

they actually are bringing some interesting and unique skills to the table. i think there's a lot more going on here. >> 49% of higher education officials giving colleges and universities a grade c.o. lower on getting the college graduates ready for their first jobs. 49%? >> and certainly colleges can do better at connecting, you know, connecting school to work. i think that young people will say they would like to graduate with some more practical skills. that's sort of expected for a first time worker. what we're really seeing is a couple of trends, one is that the great recession hit young people very, very hard. we're still seeing unemployment levels that are twice the national average for this generation. the jobs just aren't there because of the great recession and it's taken a long time for this generation to recover. the second is that we're seeing a longer term trend around the need for education, so someone who graduates today from high school with just a high school

degree, a young man will earn 75 cents on the dollar to what his father earned with a high school degree in 1980. wages and salaries are dropping for folks who have less education, and they're increasing slightly for folks with a college education, but not as much. we're seeing an increasing need for education over the long run, as well, and those trends combined with the great recession are leaving young people with a different outlook. >> some say you may criticize us, but we program your v.c.r.'s. she said to fix the numbers on your watch, set your new watch and update your facebook status to log you on to the internet and everything. it is true at a millennials do come with a unique set of qualify cases. >> it will be interesting to see over the course of this decade or the next is a generation who has graduated and struggled to find jobs and really, of course,

for those with a college education find jobs more quickly, but everyone has struggled to find jobs in the great recession. it will be interesting to see what kind of entrepreneurial ideas come out of this generation for folks who have learned not to rely on the traditional job market. i'm excited to see those trends over the next decade. >> did i tell you, we walked through two feet of snow just to get to class, too. >> thanks so much. >> as young americans are searching for working with the u.s. government is working on a pair of new international trade agreements. critics say long standing trade agreements like nafta have hurt mar americans than they've actually helped. >> jerry says he's a victim of free trade. back in 2007, he was working at this spark plug plant in the midwestern state of ohio when the company announced it was moving most production to

mexico. >> they were taking my whole life away. i worked there for 32 years, did the undirable jobs all the way, finally got to the job that i really enjoyed, working with the engineers, doing something different every day, and then they're going to take it away and move to it mexico? >> he was forced to retire early. now he has a part time job trying to scrape together enough money to put his two daughters through university. the company's move was a direct result of 1994 north american free trade agreement. it lowered barriers for u.s. cross and gave some access to cheaper labor, but it also cost ohio thousands of jobs. still, the u.s. is now looking to negotiate two more massive trade deals. >> we need to work together to protect our workers, protect our environment and open new markets to new goods stamped made in the u.s.a. >> one agreement, the transatlantic trade and in v partnership would affect u.s. trade with the european unions.

the other is the transpacific partnership, involves countries in the asia pacific region. critics argue the details have been kept from the public and congress, suspicious of the obama administration's attempts to get lawmakers to approve the deals quickly. u.s. congresswoman marcy capture is working to stop the new agreements, saying the u.s. needs to learn from the trade agreements already in place. >> the workers in mexico not able to afford a car, and the workers here losing their jobs. who wins that in deal? >> they can't sit down and negotiate a budget, and we go on a government shutdown that costs us billions of dollars and they're sitting here negotiate ago trade deal? come on.

>> he's not against new trade deals, just wants them to be fair and wishes u.s. politicians would learn from the past when negotiating trade deals for the future. >> a south carolina woman spend the night in jail because of an overdo video rental. >> she had an outstanding arrest warrant for failing to return a v.h.s. copy of the jennifer lopez movie monster in law, which she rented back in 2005. >> she said she wasn't notified about the warrant, charged with failure to return a rented video cassette. she says she is going to fight the charges. >> that's it for this edition of aljazeera america. day plus so much more. >> we begin with the government shutdown. >> answers to the questions no

>> welcome back to al jazeera. i'm del walters and here are the stories we are following, protests in thailand is turning violent. it happened when the police fried to clear the protest

camps. chl protestor have been rallying since november. talks over iran's programs are happening. then iran agreed to suspend part of the nuclear capabilities in easing of the sanctions. violence in ukraine, these are images coming to you live, thousands are clashing with the police near the government building. they are calling for the president to with draw the riot police. members of the russian punk rock group busse riot have been released from jail. the women spent nearly two years in prison because of &ty government protests. >> fooi years ago signed the

stimulus bill into law and that created 1.6 million jobs and helpeded to avert a great depression and the republicans deny the claims. consider this is next. >> north korea is ripped by the u.n. and compared to the nazi's and we discuss if anything will change. erupting in protest. prounion efforts. hello, welcome to consider this. here is more on what's ahead. >> u.n.ep