>> we are trailing the states in our region >> can governor brownback win again? >> i think you spend your money better than the government spends it.. >> america votes 2014 battle for kansas only on al jazeera america >> this is al jazeera america, i'm randall pinkston in new york with a look at the top stories much the family of ebola victim amber vuk tim comes to her defense. -- victim comes to her defense. kurdish forces hang on to kobane. >> to make sense of voter laws as the midterm elections fast

approach new developments in the fight against ebola. the family of the second dallas nurse infected by the disease is defending amber vincent's decision. she called the c.d.c. and spoke to dallas health officials and told them about her exposure to liberia patient thomas eric duncan. the family's statement says officials assured her: . >> in georgia, the government is assembling a group of experts to serve on a newly created response team. in galveston texas, a cruise ship carrying a dallas lab

technician who handled a specimen from thomas eric duncan is back in port. that lab technician is not infected. two countries would not let the ship dock during the 7-day cruise. >> i'm glad they are on top of it. it was a great result that it was negative. i'm happy that they were on to of it. >> in spain, medical test results show health worker teresa romero, the first to catch ebola outside of the africa no longer has the virus. a second test is being done to verify those results ebola was the primary topic of the world health summit. the primary message is more funds have been provided to countries, which are besieged by ebola. >> back to texas, where thomas eric duncan, patient zero, died

in a tall as hospital. his family is expected to be allowed to leave the apartment. you get more on that from melissa chan. >> in a couple of hours, the duncan family, four members, will be all clear after the 21 day monitoring period. they have been under quarantine, have showed no symptoms of ebola. they are not the only ones in the all clear. 34 additional people will be in the all clear sunday, into monday morning. that's an additional to 14 people on saturday. all told, we have 48 people all clear, and dallas will see more and more people getting off the monitoring list. nurse nita pham, a nurse that contracted ebola from thomas eric duncan. she left texas presbyterian thursday, so the last of the people will be the health care workers who took care of her on that thursday. they'll have to start counting

from thursday onwards. hopefully in the two or three weeks dallas hopes that it will be ebola free. melissa chan in dallas. a major milestone, the world health organisation will declare it free of the ebola virus, after eight deaths in nigeria this woman became a nurse because she wanted to help people. the last person she tried to save had ebola. she bim infected. she was 30 years old and pregnant with a first child. her husband can't accept that she's dead. >> why did she leave me. it wasn't in my plans. i had so many things i wanted to achieve. so many things we wanted to do together. and i feel lost, left alone. >> the man who infected her came

to nigeria on a commercial flight from liberia in july. he collapsed at an airport in laos, and collapsed at a hospital where she worked. it was the first ebola case. government officials say eight people died from ebola. most health workers. majors were put in place by the government to contain the virus. such as screening at border posts and airports. >> it's a process everyone has to go through. this machine takes body temperature. the machine will beep. they are asked questions like which countries did they travel to recently. >> the world health organisation says a country can dictate free of ebola, after six weeks without new cases. twice as long as a maximum incubation period with the disease. there was relief and excitement in nigeria. some of the health workers helped to trace patients, they

did thousands of follow up visits. it's good news. officials are warning them to be cautious, even though the present announced the country is ebola free. >> it's not over until it's over. it has to be over in guinea, australia, anywhere, before we can be relaxed. he does not... >> this certificate issued by the government says dennis is ebola free. it's an achievement that he is not yet ready to sell grate. he says it won't bring back his wife. >> in hong kong, pro-democracy protesters confronted riot police. second day in a row demonstrators and police clashed. it's now a little after 11 on monday. it has been four weeks and protests don't seem to have been waning. external forces are helping to

promote the unrest. >> there's obviously participation by people, organizations from outside long kong, in politics in hong kong over a long time. this is not the only time when they do it. and this is not an exception either. >> you are saying there are external forces involved in the movement. >> there are external forces, yes. from which countries. >> different countries in different parts of the world. i shan't go into details, this is not entirely a domestic movement. >> chief executive leung says china is not willing to scrap plans to vet candidate. it's a moved that sparked the demonstrations. >> u.s. air dropped medical and other supplies to the kurds.

they will likely anger the turk your government. they view them as an extension of the p.k.k., who has waged a 30 year insurgency in turkey and designated a terror group by the u.s. and n.a.t.o. kobane favors the kurdish defenders, they held off an i.s.i.l. attempt to cut off supply lines. u.s. air strikes appear to be helping the kurds. fighting has been taking place since mid september. kurdish leaders say they need more help. bernard smith is near the border with more. saturday and sunday is one of heavy nights of fighting. trying to defend their down. there was intense fights, street to street, building to building. there remains something of a stalemate. a couple of days ago the kurds managed to regain positions that have been left unopposed by i.s.i.l. fighters after u.s. air

strikes destroyed i.s.i.l. bases. nevertheless, i.s.i.l. controls 30% of kobane to the south and the east. no indication either that turkey will get any further involved in this, apart from providing humanitarian assistance in terms of housing, refugees, u.s. president obama, and turkish president recep tayyip erdogan talking on the phone on sunday. they said they will continue to cooperate on matters regarding the fight against i.s.i.l. but no assurances, no guarantees yet from turkey that it will allow the u.s. and coalition partners to use turkey's bases as a base to launch military assaults, air assaults on i.s.i.l. positions in syria and iraq. >> in baghdad the city is on edge after another suicide bombing. the attack happened in a shia mosque west of baghdad. 21 are dead, 30 injured. the blast coming as the

governments tried to reassure iraqis that the capital city is safe. imran khan reports. >> in marketplaces and neighbourhoods like these, 31 suicide bombers have struck in the last 31 days. that statistic has caused a worry. a short walk from his home to his shop is dangerous. we are lying in fear. every day i open my shop, i think about it. we shut the shop by midday. after that it's too risky to open. >> this man is angry at the government. >> enough conferences. there are meetings. i hope the government would change things, but nothing has changed for us. for us iraqis, it's a cycle of violence and death. there's no hope. in order to calm fears, the ministry of defense is on the pr

offensive. it issued the video insisting that bag dad is safe and is ready to face a challenge. shia militias will about important for the defense of baghdad. they held rallies like this to show how ready they are to fight. they make sunnis nervous. they are afraid they could be a return to the bloodshed that nearly drove iraq to civil war a few years ago. >> with car bombs on a daily basis, sectarian tension is a real issue, and dealing with it is the only way that you'll be able to build a lasting peace this the country. sectarianism is a reason for the rise of i.s.i.l., and dealing with that is crucial. however, there's a more pressing concern. i.s.i.l. fighters are on three sides of the city. >> they showed no signs of slowing down. the capital has been in their sights, and with each village in town they take, they get closer,

making people here more nervous. coming up on al jazeera - ibm set to make a maiming yore announcement. plus bad news for hundreds of thousands of passengers. wall street saw a series of ups and downs. is it time to hit the panic button over the economy's recovering. >> and an internet crackdown in iran. details on a new ban and how tech savvy phone users are getting around it.

there's word tonight dozens of suspected nazi war criminals and ss guards collected millions in u.s. social security benefits long after they had been forced out of the united states, according to an associated press investigation. the payments reportedly flowed through a loop hoel allowing a

justice department to get access to funds if they agreed to leave the u.s. or flee before deportation. a senator caroline maloney plans to close the loophole with legislation. >> lufthansa chose to cancel flights on monday and tuesday. the pilots' union will strike. on top of train strikes. pilots are striking over retirement benefits. ibm officials will make a major business announcement. the company is expected to release its third quarter earnings later in the day. business analysts say they expect ibm to dump its chip division which has declining revenue a volatile wall street triggers concerns about the economy, and this past week is no exception.

patricia sabga has more. >> on wednesday the dow jones experienced a nauseating 6,000 point sway, paring losses closing down 173 on the day. [ bell tolls ] >>. >> by friday the do you bounce the backing ending down 1%. why the volatility. if there's one thing investors can't deal with, it's uncertainty, and there's plenty over the economy. ebola, i.s.i.l., ukraine, growth in europe, japan and china. there's no shortage of concerns. amidst the storm clouds the united states economy is a bright spot. the u.s. unemployment rate has fallen below 6%, and has created an average of 226 new jobs. gas and food prices are falling, which should free up money with consumer spending, the engine of

u.s. growth. >> many americans are waiting for the economy to show them the money. one reason is that average ho hourly wages are barely keeping up with inflation. >> many ordinary americans are struggling to make end meet, a situation reflected in a gallop poll in economic confidence after falling to negative 39. consumer confidence crawled back to negative 10. not as bad, but negative. tape as a whole, living -- taken as a whole, living standards are stagnant. a handful at the top are getting richer. a fact cited by janet yellen. the increase and extent of inequality concerned her. it's time to question whether the growing gap between rich and pour is compatible no longer hurricane.

tropical storm ana is on the move near hawaii. downgraded. in the larger islands a tropical storm warping is starting in the north. rebecca is here now with the weather and the latest on trap call storm ana. >> i don't think it's done. getting a lot of rain out of the storm. the other thing is the track of the storm has been moving slowly westward, moving into cooler waters, and we have a bit of weakening. the storm will take slowly as we get through the day tomorrow. first a forth west turp, and a northward turn, and this is what is interesting. the pacific ocean, you think you go towards the poll and get colder water, it will move into warmer water. ocean temperatures in the pacific are well above average.

they've been cooling slowly, gradually to change the weather pattern, but they are warm enough to get the storm back to a category 1 hurricane watching a storm. all that goes somewhere. from the pacific and heads to the united states again. you can bet we are going to keep our eye on this storm. honolulu had 4 inches of rain, and 5 and a third inches of rain in titotal. you get the high rain falls, where you see the water running down fast, causing flooding and mudslides. we'll watch that for the next couple of days. >> here is the path of the storm. it will take that northward turn. of course, in the pacific ocean, once we step into the alaska's

islands, that's when our storms curve around, heading to the north-west, or to british columbia. with a storm track diving down. look at the satellite. little popcorn clouds, cold air cumulus. there's a lot of cold air coming in behind the storms. we'll be hit with rains, for the coast, the west coast and northern california will cabinet some of the rain. you need it. however, as we get into next weekend, you may get a little snow into the high mountains. you know, we'll keep our fingers crossed. it will be nice to see a snow pack come out of the moisture coming through the pacific. colorado is happy to see it. they had a foot of natural snow, and they were able to, with grass and bare spots get the ski spots open for early skiing. otherwise it's a big chill in the north-east. at least it will be a dry big

chill. >> in other news the finding between pro-russian forces and ukranian government troops has not stopped despite a ceasefire. in the city of donetsk, today was a day for a flag raising ceremony. hundreds, including the prime minister said this was the beginning of their liberation of their land. many said it marks the republics first national holiday. swedish military forces searching for something off the coast of the stockholm archipelago. the research started friday. officials say they are investigating information from a credible source of foreign under-water activity. observers say it resembles anti-sub marine operations conducted by sweden during the cold war. >> a massive rebuilding effort is under way in gaza after a 50-day war that left them in

shambles the the israeli government lifted a ban allowing construction material to enter the strip. many restrictions remain in place. >> reporter: this is the beginning of what many hope is the rebuilding of the gaza strip. 15 trucks carrying cement, 10 voting with steel, and 50 holding gravel, and the first shipment entering gaza since the end of a 50 day bombardment. israel left controls after an oversight agreement. the plan restricts what instruction materials can enter, which company supplies can be transferred to, and a promise that u.n. teams will supervise all construction projects. >> this man manages a warehouse for construction. he tells me that his company has

been given approvals to sell the cement. it will not be easy. >> that's a special committee checking the cement. it's not like in the past. >> this man's home was damaged during the 50 day assault on gaza, he lies in one of the worst hit neighbourhoods. he tells me he is one of the lucky ones. part of his house is standing, which is why he says construction materials should be given to people like him. >> translation: because our house is standing, we were told it's a priority to be fixed. the cement is here, we haven't been told anything. israeli officials are concerned construction materials could find its way into the hands of resistance factions. with the heat so vast and increased pressure after

5.4 billion was raised to rescrilent the enclave, the israeli government agreed to ease the blockade for now. >> israeli-palestinian negotiators would resume indirect talks on issues like the establishment of a seaport and the release of prisoners this month. for those whose homes were damaged and destroyed, their main priority is to reconstruct the homes, that will happen quickly. many here are conhave beened it will be -- are convinced it will be. >> a week of fighting killed 75 people in the earn libyan city. a rogue general has been launching assaults and air raids. yesterday the u.s. and four other european countries called for an end to the fighting, expressing frustration that calls for a ceasefire, are not being honoured. tomorrow is the deadline for the

government of iran to administer to a court-ordered censorship. it contradicts promises that the government made to relax restrictions in cyber space. >> reporter: as of monday people that use smartphones in iran may be forbidden from using some operations. that's because an iranian court rules that people are using some groups to spread immoral material. it ordered the government to ban the apps and set monday as the deadline. and some ordered the courts to go further. >> translation: we are a country that faces a cultural attack. some sights represent a security and ethical challenge. >> reporter: the president hassan rouhani's government promised to ease restraints on the internet.

the internet and messaging apps are what the concerted clerics do not like. unpredictability. i hope yoi tweets were challenged, calling on the president to lift an existing ban so iranians can express themselves online. critics of the government accused of it enhancing internet fit aring and restricting cyber spouse. the government repeated aims to provide fast, low cost and lessen soared incidents for the people. >> in around 18 months we'll double the internet quality. some sites are banned. other sites are not. there is a need to pay the way for not banning any site because we are part of the world. >> reporter: with iranians basing more restrictions on how to commune, many are basing it

on the curves. >> i need to download these programs. >> translation: we have heard so many promises, but the internet is still slow and bad and expense i. >> the hassan rouhani government came into power with people hoping it would lift of the ban on social media sites. now that government faces a court order to limit how people communicate, and no government has dared to ignore powerful judiciary after the black in our "the week ahead", states across the country are trying to implement new voting laws as courts continue to rule on the legislation.

welcome back to al jazeera america, here is a look at the top stories the family of the second nurse infected by ebola defend amber vincent's decision to fly from dallas to cleveland.

she spoke to c.d.c., and they said: kurdish fighters pushed back an assault by i.s.i.l. forces along the turkey syria border. u.s.-led air strikes are helping the forces hold on to the town of kobane. fighting on the ground is ragingment kurdish leaders need more help. it was the second day in a row of clashes between hong kong and pro-democracy demonstrators. and the chief executive said external courses are pushing the process. it's sunday night and time for a look at "the week ahead". we focus on midterm elections and voter restrictions in place in some states.

civil rights groups have been trying to get voter i.d. laws overturned saying they disinfranchise minority groups. the supreme court denied one such request. we begin this report from ray suarez. >> reporter: as midterm elections loom, rulings on stricter voter i.d. laws have been volleying back and forth. in texas, a u.s. district judge ruled last week the new voter i.d. law is unconstitutional, and a form of poll tax intended to discriminate, writing: >> this week that decision was put on hold by the u.s. court of appeals for the sixth circuit, saying there's not enough time

to retrain election workers. this law will be in effect in texas on election day, reducing the number of eligible i.d.s at the polls. drivers licences and concealed gun permits are okay. student i.d.s, even from state schools, are not. republicans supporting the law say it's critical for stopping voter fraud. that case opponents say, is unfounded. >> it is always the same argument. voter fraud that they are unable to produce, but the fear of voter fraud. wisconsin is going through a similar battle over its voter i.d. law. last winter they passed rules on eligible i.d.s. opponents say the law will impact minorities and low income voters. the u.s. attorney-general eric holder spoke out on the issue in june. >> by restricting access and decreasing voter participation, laws such as those in wisconsin

would shrink, rather than expand access to the franchise, this is inconsistent not only with history, but ideals as a nation, one founded on principles that all citizens are entitled to equal opportunity, representation and rites. >> the supreme court ordered a block on wisconsin's law, citing a lack of time to trade poll workers. >> with a short period before the election, it could occur. >> reporter: 300,000 wisconsinites don't have voter i.d.s, more than 600,000 registered voters will be impacted. those hurt will be disproportionately be people of colour. >> there was a time when voter turn out was not a partisan issue, how and why that changed is part of a bigger story,

having to do with deeper partisanship, and the reaction to changing demographics in america. with election days fast approaching, a presidential race up next, and new court cases sure to come, this is a debate that will not be over soon now, in addition to wisconsin, texas, the u.s. supreme court recently weighed in on voting laws in two other states. the justices ruled north carolina can enforce two voting provisions, eliminating same-day registrations and not counting ballots cast in the wrong presinct. those rules will be in force. in ohio, the supreme court will allow the state to cut back voting hours. in arkansas, it was the state supreme court that struck down a voter i.d. law. in arizona and kansas they are

requiring voters to show proof of the citizenship. they are suing the federal government hoping to make that requirement the law in all 50 states. voters in the states that use federal form will not be able to photo only for congress. federal appeals is looking at that case. earlier i spoke to liz kennedy from a public policy think tank, a professor of constitutional law at new york university. i started by asking him about yesterday's supreme court ruling on texas voter laws. >> well, the supreme court had to act in very close quarters. they had to move quickly. the laws are coming through very fast, the states are changing their practices quickly, the federal courts at all levels are getting involved, and the most dramatic was in texas, where they issued an opinion at five in the morning with three liberal justices saying it was an outrage, and conservative

justices saying we can let this proceed for this cycle and look at it with more time. this is a very difficult constitutional issue, and terribly freighted partisan issue putting the courts in the worst scenario. the one fact we can't scraep is i.d. laws only come into effect with states that have control of the legislature and the government. this is a partisan divide right now. >> neither one of you, i suppose, represents the forces who think that the laws are a good idea. however, if i could put to you the idea of being one of the states, and you trying to convince the court and the public that we need the frauds, to prevent fraud. what is the philosophical

framework that underpins their rationale. >> i would have to say substantively it is an empty quiver. what they are seeking to do is to use essentially the fear of voter fraud, since there's found to be no fact substantiating claims of in-person voter personification fraud, which is the only kind of voter fraud that voter identification laws prevent. >> they argue that they are trying to make sure it doesn't happen, and say listen, if you need an identification to get a social security benefit, to drive a car, why not have to show some proof that you are who you say you are when you exercise the most precious right to vote. >> they argue that. let's remember that the texas trial court, after a 9-day trial found that the state, whilst using the fig leaf fear of voter fraud, passed an intentionally

racially discriminatory law that will have - they said they passed it because of these particular restrictions, because of, not in spite of. the discriminatory disproportional impact that it would have on latino voters, be approximately 300% or 200% less likely to have the specific forms of voter identification as caucasian voters. what we see is politicians manipulating the rules to choose voters that they'll stand accountable to, instead of to the diverse population that ought to be voting in the elections. >> when the state of texas looked at justice given berg's concept, referencing the estimate of 600,000 people that might not be able to vopt. they said it was -- able to vote. they said it was impossible to know. >> the key fact you need to

remember is in 2008 president obama won handily. and won handily with 60% of the population voting. >> 2010 republicans clean the slate, and 42% of the population votes. >> you are talking about turn out. >> you are talking about turn out. everywhere understands we have a polarized population and political parties. turn out is the game. the democrats tried to enhance the ability to turn out, and the republicans locked into a strategy of trying to suppress turn out. >> we have some information that we want to share - 31 states with laws requiring voters to show a form of identification. the majority of these orders were passed in the last four years, seven states including kansas and north carolina and texas have requirements all approved by

republican controlled legislators, asking the accountability office to analyse the effect of voter i.d. laws, and the office found voter turn out increased in the state that it imposed stricter laws, the study focussing on cancers where the turn out dropped 1%, 2%. >> the partisan impetus behind this, what it doesn't establish is that it's had much effect. in reality, every academic study tried to peace what the effect has been, as found that it's very little. voter i.d. laws don't have a lot of impact. >> they don't have a huge i am not of impact because a smaller percentage than the whole votes or participates, as a general manager it's not to defend the laws, but as a germ matter the people don't have a form of government issued i.d., tends to be folks less engaged with the

political process. they tend not to vote at a high level. it's an historic problem. how do you mobilize some of them to vote. what about some of the restrictions, early registration. any metric that can tell us whether they have an impact. >> absolutely. you see early voting in providing the flexibility increasing turnout numbers, particularly among low income and people of colour. you saw in north carolina they adopted the same day for people to register and vote in one set. they adopted it in 2006. there was an 8% increase in participation. north carolina should be proud about it. they passed one of the biggest voter suppression bills, made it harder to account for provisional ballot. ended their programme.

and i think that sam's point is right, unfortunately, there has been a question since essentially the 2000 elections of politicizing the understanding that it's the old, doesn't matter who votes, but who counselled it. >> at this point it matters who is telling us they can vote. to bring it back to the action in texas, it's shameful. this is the first time we have seen the supreme court allow a racially discriminatory lou put in place for elections. they haven't changed the merits holding. it will be in place, and we know it has an impact. essentially with a tie in wisconsin, and north carolina as well. on the marnal jips, if you make it -- margins, if you make is harder for provisional ballots to count or harder for some to vote, you are impacting americans freedom to vote, something that we should not

stand for, because these things come innar the supreme court shelby decision. >> i was going to ask you about that. texas, ohio, states whether the supreme court intervened in support of voter laws. they knocked down the voter i.d. requirement in wisconsin. how do you explain that. >> all of these are early procedure matters. i disagree with liz. the district court found it was discriminatory. that has a long history that will unfold in the courts. what is going on is we see a sea change in the attitude towards voting. between 2000 and 2008 we liberalized the process of voting. we were traumatized by bush versus gore and made the system work better. in 2008, between 30,000 and 45% of americans voted not on election day, they voted early, beginning early in 2008 with a huge turn out for obama, this

was politicized, and now you have the restrictions on early voting. a lot of people work, they have child care difficulties, the ability to go to a state center, voting without justification because they need to. >> weekend voting. >> i'll remind you that we shouldn't be so confident that this is a problem of texas and other states as we like to say here on this side of the hudson river. >> new york state, it's as bad a state on voting practices as anywhere in the country. in new york state there's no non-excuse for voting, no federal - no state controlled voting sites that are open prior to election day. this is a problem of the uneven distribution. i think that the solution is partially this - and you got it in your opening bit. the solution is the congress has

the power over all federal elections, and congress can legislate rational systems. if arizona and kansas want a crazy system where people can rationally use the federal election day and register for that, and they want to ratchet up restrictions on citizens for state elections, so be it. people will get fed up with it. it's expensive and silly. this is a time when the politicization of it requires a national consensus and solution. congress can say do you know what the requirements are, it's a passport or driver's licence. >> you mentioned the shelby decision, and we should have devoted more fume to a crucial decision. the voting rights act was neutered when the supreme court decided to eliminate section 5-3 clearance, and it means that

states had a history of of discrimination, had to prove to the government that the changes in the voting procedures were constitutional. that proifls has been eliminated. >> it was right. it was eliminated a year and a half ago, june 2013. the texas voter i.d. law had been not pre-cleared. the federal government said no, this law will have discriminatory impacts on racial minority voters. we will not allow the law to go forward. the texas government reinstated it after the shelby decision, and they were considering a smaller package of voter restrictions. once the law came down, they looked at all of the programs and many we did not have time to go into and restricted people to cast the ballots. that's not the way we should move forward in a democracy.

>> it is of interest to note that most of this happened since 2008, when president obama was elected. you can make of that connection what you will. >> studies have shown in addition to sam's point where republicans are in charge of the government, the laws adopted when afghan american turn -- african-american turn out was large. >> that's mixed. a driver for the implementation is kansas, they have a small minority kansas. it is true that texas and north carolina, parts of north carolina were covered under section 5 of the voting rights act which you reference. the same laws are going into effect in wisconsin, and ohio. >> they'll affect everyone. >> it's a partisan issue. in 2008 the obama campaign showed it could noblize people who hadn't been mobilized before, and that scared the bejesus out of the republicans,

until they catch up in the technological frame. thank you both for joining us and sharing your insights as we look forward to the mid term election and what the new rules mean for the outcome. before we go, let's look at other events coming up in "the week ahead". tuesday - united nations hosts a reception in new york on continuing challenges in addressing violence against women. on thursday, al jazeera holds a 10th annual documentary international film festival and parents and teachers march in san diego against plans to scrap subsidised education. ahead - after a month of rumours and suggestions about his status, pictures of north korea's leaders surfaced for the second time in a week. despite economic sanctions, some north koreans are not feeling the effect.

we'll have a look at what a life of luxury looks like inside north korea. coming up.

supporters of kata lopian gined took to the -- catalonian independence took to the streets of spain. they were angry. demonstrators wand regional -- want region alt elections. the regional president called for a non-binding vote next month. protesters want to use the results as a de facto referendum for their autonomy. the referendum is unconstitutional. france is implementing a first-ever smoking ban for some outdoor areas, an effort to decrease the number of deaths. paris will implement the ban at three public playgrounds. smoking is the leading cause of death, claiming 73,000 lies a

year. indoor smoking was banned in france six years ago. >> there are pictures of north korea leader kim jong un. the photos rap on state meet -- ran on state media showing him meeting athletes from the asian games, it did not specify a date, but the games ended two weeks ago. kim appeared in pictures after not being seep in weeks -- seen in weeks, earlier this week. >> dispute trade sanctions in north korea, many are live the life of luxury. teresa bo has a look at the reclues ination. >> reporter: a new water park in pyongyang. for people here, the symbol of posterity. new pools and slides. 12 different types of saunas, for the government, places like this are an act of defiance. >> for places like this, they

cannot be traded. some of the comments are imported, most of the things we did it ourselves. some - this is a place. as you can see. the place - it's normal families and citizens enjoying the ride. import of luxury goods in spite of sanctions in of the last year. most in pyongyang. it's not difficult to see imported wines and cars. at the equestrian center, more and more people are coming to learn how to write. forces are banned. they are considered a luxury good, the horses. the government is finding all sorts of ways to bring them into the country. >> the definition of luxury item varies from one country to another, in this case it's clear. u.n. sanctions imposed last year are aimed at hurting the

leadership class. and not the vast majority who do not have easy access to the capital's installations. this is the first time this man brought hits children to the center for a ride. he works in a government ministry in pyongyang. >> with all the newly built facilities in the parks we feel that we are having a happy life. and a more civilized and cultured life, thanks to the care and love of our great macial. many of the instructions have been learning for a while. >> the united states and nations don't want them to bring courses here. while workers may not be able to speak about politics. it's clear that his place of work itself is a political statement, and that the leadership of this government

will continue to press on with the defiance of u.s. sanctions. >> there are many sanctions. there is a thing that the party and our leader decide - we do. >> reporter: nobody here has any doubt about that. since coming to office, almost three years ago, kim jong un has seep the capital -- seep the capital -- seen the capital get new buildings. whether transportation extends further remains to be seen. >> this event can be described as one in a million, it was a close encounter between a comet and the planet mars. >> there is a very small object, and that is comet approaching planet mars. >> reporter: a live internet feed from an italian observatory tracking the final approach of

the comment citing spring. it came from the far reaches of the solar system, travelling for more than a million years to the sun. along the way it developed a tail. moving at a speed of 56 k/hr, it swung by mars, missing the planet by 132,000km. close enough to shower it with gas and dust from the tail. the interaction with the martian atmosphere was recorded by no fewer than five spacecraft. three orbiters, and two n.a.s.a. rovers on the surface. >> space missions are sophisticated. there's a lot of spectrometers and instruments. it is unprecedented. it's an enormous advantage to cover comments so close. >> they need to understand the role of external forces.

billions of years ago it was different to the carbon dioxide. >> we know in the past there was a rich atmosphere, even liquid water on the surface. all that is gone. the atmosphere is verified. this is the purpose of this mission, and having the comment as an additional input will be a bonus. >> scientists say the dust and gas may awes auroras in the martian atmospheres, saying the craft were uniquely positioned to record these, and the motion of the comet. information that will help them be better prepared for the next close comet encounter thanks for joining us. i'm randall pinkston in new york. stay tuned. a new documentary al jazeera presents midterms starts now.

>> america votes 2014 go behind the scenes in the all important swing states >> this could switch from republican hands to democratic hands >> with the senate and congress up for grabs... >> it's gonna be close >> these candidates will stop at nothing to get elected. >> iowa has never sent a woman to congress... >> i wanna squeal! >> i approved this message >> i need your help >> midterms, the series begins only on al jazeera america

. >> got a lot of people running. >> this is why i'm in congress. >> i grew up cast rating hogs on an iowan farm. >> i need your help. >> we can not lose this seat. >> it's the number nationally. >> america needs a dragds slayer. -- dragon slayer.