7:00p.m. eastern, 4:00p.m. pacific. i'm ali velshi, thank you for joining us. >> calling it the next phase, president obama says america is ready to go on the offensive against isil, this as he travels to asia trying to hammer out a massive trade agreement. >> iraq armed forces retake a town from isil. we are live in baghdad with the story. >> a wall of flames, new images from the heart of a deadly wildfire that took the lives of 19 members of that elite granite

mountain hotshots crew. >> a bone-chilling blast, you're looking live in minneapolis where the snow is already falling. most of the lower 48 bracing for battle with ice eye arctic air. >> good morning, welcome to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. >> i'm stephanie sy. we begin in nigeria, a school bombing killed 47 people and injured nearly 80 others. it happened in the northeastern part of the country. reports say a suicide bomber walked into the school and set off the bomb during a school assembly. much of that region has been fighting off the boko haram extremist group. at this point, there's no confirmation that group has been involved but would not be the first time that group targeted a school. >> president obama is expected to meet with the chinese president and push for a massive trade deal with a dozen countries. >> hanging over his head, last weekend's republican election sweep which weakened both the

president and his party. the president indicated the u.s. is entering its next face in the battle with isil. the penalty says he wants to send another 1500 troops to the country. mike viqueira is in washington for us this morning. does the timing of this high profile trip to china help or hurt the president. >> good morning to you. this is the apec summit, happens every year, it was long planned and certainly the president wanted to do this after the election. there's no connection between the devastating losses the democrats faced last tuesday and the timing of this trip, although one might argue a cooling off period would be in order. even though congress begins the lame duck session middle of this week, the president give an interview saying the united states with its iraqi partners are entering a new phase of the fight against isil. he's sending trainers in.

many units of the iraqi army are not viable. doubling the number there are going to be trying to get iraqi forces to turn back isil and reverse the gains they've made across iraq. >> president obama in beijing for the apec summit, the first of three stops in asia. his main goal to fulfill a long time promise. >> pivot by the united states back to asia. our desire to pivot and focus on the asia pacific region. >> we were able to pivot to the asia pacific region. >> a long south after trade agreement with pacific rim partners include japan. he'll talk with the chinese president, about global warn to go cyber crime. >> i hope to make progress towards an ambitious high standard bilateral investment treaty that opens up china's

economy to american investors. >> the president's trip comes after his party took a drubbing in last week's midterm elections and his announcement over the weekend that he was doubling the number of u.s. troops on the ground in iraq. >> what it signals is a new phase. >> in an interview with cbs news, mr. obama said that first phase was getting a new and more inclusive iraq government in place. something he says that already happened. >> the airstrikes have been effective in degrading isil's capabilities and slowing their advance. now we need ground troops, iraq ground troops that can start pushing them back. >> those new u.s. troops would expand training beyond back dad and erbil to anbar province where isil has made huge gains and killed scores of men, women and children, including soon any tribes fighting the militants. >> we will provide air support,

but a what we will not be doing is having our troops do the fighting. >> that repeated promise bringing little comfort to some democrats, who say the president needs to come to the lame duck congress, which returns this week to approve that troop surge. >> a lot of us are going to be very reluctant to support this kind of infusion of ground troops. >> the president also asking congress for $5.5 billion to cover this fiscal year and carry the fight and expanded air campaign, the fight against isil. >> thank you very much. the president is in beijing at the same time as russian president vladimir putin. they might use it as a chance to address the situation. >> we will see if there are talks on the sideline about that. >> two americans are waking up in their own beds after their unexpected release from a north korean prison.

>> how exactly did their release unfold? >> this top secret mission reads like a spy novel. i mean seriously, they could learn from this stuff, because the national intelligence director went, carrying a letter from the president saying that he was there to obtain the freedom of the two americans. the north careens requested a senior official go over when they called the u.s. to float the possibility of a release. 25-year-old matthew todd miller came off the plane first. he was greeted by his parents who were waiting for him. he spent seven months locked up for reportedly destroying his visa and seeking asylum in north korea. >> 46-year-old ken bay, the missionary had been in prison for two years, accused of preaching against the north korea regime. >> i just want to say thank you all for supporting me and lifting me up and not forgetting

me at the same time, not forgetting the people of north korea. >> he had gone back and forth between the labor camp and hospital multiple times in the last two years, so i think because he had recovered some in the hospital, i think he was in better shape than we had expected. >> that is good news. ken bay's first meal was pizza. he said he's had enough of north korea food to last him a lifetime. matthew todd miller declined to speak to the media. >> pizza tastes very good. thank you so much. >> entering the new phase in the it aagainst isil, the fate of the group's leader remains unclear. a u.s. raid friday targeted senior isil fighters in iraq shortly after iraq state t.v. reported al baghdadi was critically injured in the talk. the pentagon says those reports are unconfirmed. let's head to baghdad.

turns out it was a tweet that set off rumors of baghdady's injuries. what are you hearing? >> the fact that we are in the middle of once again, a propaganda war. this original tweet was allegedly from the isil spokesman, however that was quickly denied by other isil sources who said that this twitter account was run by jordanian intelligence. that's really the tweet that sparked everything off. then we had the state media here begin to report, using ministry of information and interior sources that baghdadi had been injured. that was denied again. the pentagon say they have no idea whether baghdady was injured in that attack or not. the british are saying it may take a few days for the real

clear picture to emerge. right now, nothing has happened. we've been in this position before and seen these reports come put that the last time this happened, baghdady appeared at friday prayers and told people i'm here, i'm alive. whether he'll do that again, it is a bit more risky now with the coalition involved in airstrikes around the area, remains to be seen, but this could be a -- there accounted be a reaction from isil, quite strong one to say no look, i'm alive, i'm well and i'm here from al baghdadi. >> you've been able to get exclusive access to an overnight advance by the iraq army. why is that town so significant? >> the town's significant for two reasons. firstly, it's 15 kilometers away from the beiji oil refinery, one

of iraq's largest. there's been a fierce battle for that oil refinery where isil have smuggled oil out, giving them millions of dollars of revenue since june when they took over. that's also what beiji town itself was useful, the city, was a commanding control center for isil for their operations across iraq, not just up in the north. now what we've seen is iraqi troops go in. they've been fighting every single inch along the roads leading into villages and now they've taken the south and west and going toward the center of the city, but they are facing fierce resistance, suicide bombers used against them, nineties are being used against them. this is by no means an easy fight, but they are in the center of the city however, we've seen isil fighters under immense pressure cut off from the rest of their cadres. what happens now is these isil

fighters have nothing to lose and this is when they're at their most dangerous. this will not be an easy fight for the troops. it looks like it will go on for at least a few days. >> that is a key fight. we know you'll continue to follow it for us, thank you. >> in eastern ukraine an explosion rattling a nightclub, 11 people were injured. police believe the blast was caused by a gas leak, but the bartender claims a suspicious package was left at the club at kharkiv. investigators are investigating the cause of that explosion. >> heavy artillery and shelling broke out near third base. witnesses say it is the worst fighting in more than a month and the escalation threatens the ceasefire between ukraine's government and pro-russian separatists. we are live in donetsk. what is the scene in donetsk even as we speak? >> well, today this morning on monday, things are pretty calm. there has been some shelling

overnight that we heard here in the center of donetsk, but the intense shelling that we're hearing about, which is basically the most intense fighting that has been going on around here in about a month since the ceasefire deal was reached between pro-russian rebels and ukraine happened in the early hours of sunday for about eight hours. there was rather intense shelling happening in the north of the city by the airport. we went there yesterday and we saw some of the destruction that was created and we talked to some of the local people there, as well. >> how are the residents reacting to this violence? >> well, you know, as you know, some of them are very much used to it. fighting has been going on for a long time here. they're hearing the shelling all the time, and, you know, they

try not to pay too much attention, but certainly the streets are rather empty. there are many people that have left the region, and some people who are not venturing outside their homes until they absolutely have to. >> it's scary. of course it's scary. all normal people who live here, of course they're scared. >> when it's closer, then we take shelter, but when it's booming in the distance, we don't take any notice. we're used to the situation. >> well, as you can hear, many people are already used to the situation here. the shelling has been going on for some months now so it's not really a surprise to them, bullet streets are fairly empty here and many people have left and other people are just not venturing out at all. >> over the weekend, dozens of unmarked tanks were spotted in the east, ukraine's government

accusing russia of sending in more weapons and heavy supplies to the represent are a activities. what can you tell us about these unmarked tanks? >> well, there have been sitings of such unmarked vehicles, tanks, and light artillery for approximately two weeks now by both the e.s.c.e. and international journalists, and the fighting around the airport has also intensified. i don't know if those two things are connected, but certainly the concerns here are growing that the escalation is underway, and the further escalation of the conflict is possible very soon indeed. >> live for us from donetsk, thank you very much. >> it has been four months since a malaysia airlines plane was shot down over eastern ukraine but this morning the netherlands is pausing to remember the victims of flight mh17. the country will pay tribute to

the 298 people who died in the crash. >> the people of catalonia say they want independence from spain in an informal referendum, 80% of the citizens voted for a separate state. the organizers hope it will prompt negotiations. >> evangelical pastor and his wife are dead, a private plane going down in free port. the flight took off from nasa, about 130 miles away. he led ba ma'ams faith ministries international. there were no survivors. >> general motors massive ignition switch recall, a report says they knowingly neglected to notify federal regulators that the problem was happening. can you bring us up to speed on the report bisi onile-ere? >> the wall street journal got

ahold of email exchanges. in those exchanges a g.m. contract worker placed an order for over .500 thousand replacement ignition switches. this is very troubling, because it wasn't until months later that general motors issued a massive ignition switch rale. what is more troubling is that the automakers admitted earlier this year that it actually knew about the problem but waited over a decade to finally issue a recall. the issue is that the ignition switch can slip out of position and this can cause the vehicle to stall. it can disable a number of functions, including airbags. there have been dozens of deaths and car accidents that have contributed to this defect. >> almost half of the recalled cars still haven't been fixed. it's been nine months. why is it taking so long? >> g.m. is trying to figure that out right now.

just last week, the automakers started this initiative. they are trying to get more people into the shops to get these vehicles radar, and they're trying to offer, they're actually offering gift cards, $25 gift cards for people to come in and get these vehicles fixed. they've launched an effort through social media, sent out letters to people with these vehicles but for some reason, people aren't taking it seriously. they are not going into these rare shops to get these vehicles fixed which is a huge problem, because there could potentially be tens of thousands of dangerous vehicles out on the road.and us, wow. bashar al assabisionile-ere livn detroit, thank you. >> people can start shopping for their 2015 health care plans now. the affordable care act is giving people a head start to

avoid what happened in the beginning. >> an arctic blast originated in alaska, sending temperatures falling across the awesome. >> parts of the country will experience temperatures 20-40 degrees lower than normal. heavy snowfall expected to night in minnesota, wisconsin and michigan. >> as for the rest of the lower 48, all will feel the bone-chilling blast within the next 20 our-48 hours. >> nicole mitchell is tracking the system. good morning. ice and snow. >> and this is live, so this isn't something from over the weekend. i'll have more on the cold side and what happened with the system to shoot all this cold air southward, but the snowy side of it this morning, this is minneapolis and you can see traffic starting to move a little smoothly, some of that snow coming in at 3:00 a.m. specifically here, but it is making through that south central portion of minnesota, they're saying slow conditions

and snow covered roads through that central portion of the state moving in from the dakotas into wisconsin, as well this morning. here's how all this shapes up through the day. heavy cores of snow and then it moves into the great lakes. it's mostly a today event where it is right now and then tomorrow, less moisture as this continues to move along, but in the meantime, it is going to dump a lot of snow. this is our first big snowstorm of the season for the upper midwest. some places, minnesota into wisconsin, easily over a foot of snow, so winter storm warnings very widespread. >> it is here. >> it is here. >> thank you very much. >> this morning, two americans are waking up in their own beds for the first time in months. >> kenneth bay and matthew miller back at home after being in prison in north korea. we'll speak to jim walsh live after the break. >> plus a vigil that's been going on for more than 200 days. why some of the families who lost loved ones aboard a sunken

south korean ferry are still living in a gymnasium as a captain prepares to learn his fate. >> a colorado mother filing suit after finding her 7-year-old daughter locked in a cage at school. >> $8.5 billion is today's big number. >> why it could secure bowing as the big man on campus in japan.

>> today's big number is $8.5 billion. >> that's how much a japanese company shelled out for bowing affecting air travel in asia. >> it includes a new model from bowing. they'll help shore up bowing's position in japan. >> two americans are back home in the u.s. this morning, released from a north korea prison after intelligence chief james clapper secretly visited the country to personally bring them back. joining us now, someone who has

visited north korea i in the pat from mit. jim, good morning to you. thanks for being with us. the apec conference starts this week. what do you make of the timing of the release? >> i think the release itself is not a surprise. why north korea does what it does, that's often conjecture. it could very well be timed to the apec meeting, because certainly president obama will be talking about north korea among other issues. others speculated it has something to do with the economy or with a recent north korean charm offensive. i think the bottom line is none of these theories are very good, but the important thing is that they did release the two detainees. i expected that's where this was headed and that's certainly good news for the families. >> what do you make of the significance of james clammer himself going and delivering a letter and bringing these guys

back? >> in some ways, it was if you were writing a novel, that's the way you'd write it, because the director of national intelligence, easy our top intelligence officer in the united states. he has been label add cold war, sort of gruff, source of terse. he ran into problems with congress over the n.s.a. he's the ideal person to send. they can be gruff and terse and cold war oriented. we have used intelligence officers as go-betweens in the past, particularly in the middle east. we haven't done it in north korea. we've used former presidents or high-risking state officials. it makes sense. i think clapper's skeptical of engaging north korea, that would be my conjecture so in some ways was the perfect person to send. i do not think this marks a u.s. change in policy towards north korea. >> what would you expect to happen to miller and bay? will they be debriefed by intelligence or state officials

now that they're back? >> i think they will, but i think the first order of business is their physical and mental health. we had interview tapes with them about a month ago or so, maybe and get more than that. some of the detainees seemed to be doing better than others. the first thing is to get them evaluated psychologically, physically, get them treatment and then yes, i would hope, i would certainly hope that there would be an extensive debriefing. >> when americans decide to go to north korea, are they putting u.s. interests at risk? >> well, the short answer is yes. that can be mother risk, that can be less risk. if you're going with an official tour company that has a good relationship with north korea and you behave yourself, don't do something stupid, then the odds of you visiting and getting back are probably pretty good. if you go and you leave bibles or you start proselytizing with

the locals or tear up in the case of matthew todd miller, tear up your visa, then yeah, this is a problem, because the u.s. has to spend lots of hours, political capital worrying about your fate. i don't think people should go to north korea unless they are experienced and they know how to behave in a foreign country. >> jim walsh for us, good to see you, thank you. >> thank you. >> if you believe dennis rodman then kenneth bay owes him big time, saying he played a key role in bringing him home. rodman said he sent his friend kim jong-un a letter this year begging for bay's release. >> a closing of the temple mount, protests erupted following the shooting. israel is raising its alert level. we'll talk about the situation after the break. >> new images from inside a

raging wildfire that killed 19 members of an elite firefighting crew. >> could an entire town go tobacco free? it's one story caught up in other global net this morning. morning.

>> welcome to al jazeera america. usually players are injured in pro football, but this time, a cheerleader had to be taken off the field in baltimore during the ravens game. >> elderly victims of secretary of state asked to pay back fema. why the feds say they didn't deserve the storm relief funds they received. >> in our next hour, nasa getting ready for another mission to space after two accidents involving aircraft. we'll look at the crucial test

ahead for the orion. >> president obama is in beijing for the apec summit. the president says the u.s. wants to establish stronger economic partnerships in that part of the world, adding the u.s. is totally committed to asia. >> the fate of isil's commander unknown. iraq state television reporting abu bakr al-baghdadi was injured. that is not confirmed. president obama committed another 1500 troops to fight isil in iraq. >> evangelical pastor charles monroe and his wife were killed when their private plane went down near the free port airport. it took off sunday afternoon in nassau, 135 miles away. >> palestinian territories on edge, protestors hurling rocks at authorities in northern israel over the weekend. that followed the death of an

arab israeli man at the hands of police. nick schiffron joins us live from phone from jerusalem. we're receiving reports of an israeli soldier stabbed in tel-aviv not long ago. >> this is another incident in a tense few weeks and months between the israelis and palestinians. according to the israeli military, one of its soldiers was stabbed in tel-aviv as he waited for a train at a train station. they had called this a terrorist attack and named the suspect as a palestinian from nables in the occupied west bank. that suspect stabbed the soldier. we don't know the soldiers condition right now. in the train station, he tried to run away and police cornered him quickly and managed to basically close him into a building right now. police say is confined to that building and they are trying to determine why he did what he did

and trying to make sure that he is the only suspect emergent. >> these clashes are the latest in a series creating new tensions in the region, particularly the area known as the old city. what is the situation there now? >> israel police have really flooded the old city, particularly around one spot, so sensitive what israel jew's call the temple mount, what muslims and palestinian consider the mosque, the place where muhammed is said to have ascended to heaven from. that is causing lots of problems in the west bank and all of israel. what israel did was close that mosque to worshipers. that was the first time in a decade they did that, increasing the high tension since the summer. police have continued to

restrict any muslim worshipers by age. women are allowed to go, but men under 45 are not allowed to go. even jordan said that's a red line so there's a lot of anger and criticism of the israel authorities because of that situation. >> nick schiffron joining us live from phone, thank you very much. >> doug waxman is a professor of international science at affairs at northeastern university, co director of its middle east center and joins us in the studio morning. it's a pleasure to have you. you heard our reporter talking about the most recent tensions. there was also this video that emerged over the weekend showing what appeared to be israel police officers shooting and killing a man who was walking away from the officers. we've decided not to show that very photographic video. what are the ramification are does like that being out there at a time of such heightened tension. >> there's an intense volatile environment happening been israel and east jerusalem and

west bang. this adds fuel to the fire particularly for palestinians who up until now have been spectators in terms of the violence happening in east jerusalem, this kind of brings them in and raises the prospect of violence and riots spreading within israel itself. it's a very dangerous development. i think it speaks to the frustration that palestinians citizens feel as well as palestinians in the west bank and east jerusalem. >> on that note, the israel police raising the alert now to the second highest level of prepareness, sections of the region already on edge. is this a sign that israel is concerned that what is bad now is going to get worse? >> absolutely. the events over the weekend in terms of the protest and violence by palestinians of israel, the stopping that's just been reported in tel-aviv, these have put the israel security authorities on

edge. things accounted escalate out of control. >> the extremes come out, on sunday, it was voted in favor of extending israel threw west bank settlers. would you expect that to go to the full parliament and be voted on? >> this is something that's been in the works for sometime now, the attempt by some right wing members basically to subtly extend israel control over the west bang and ultimately annex. i don't know particularly given the sensitivities whether prime minister netanyahu will allow this to a vol vote. he should hopefully be aware that this would only in flame tensions even further. >> thanks for being with us. doug waxman, the professor of political science and affairs at northeastern university. >> thank you, professor. >> tuesday, a south korean court will deliver a verdict in the

april ferry accident that left nearly 300 people dead. prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for the ship's captain and life sentences for three crew members. the verdict may bring little comfort to the victims' families. >> their numbers have dwindled over the months but not the strength of feeling. groups still come from all over south korea drawn by a tragedy that has touched the national psyche. >> as korean citizens, we have to come to pay respects to the victims and their families and also to wish for justice. >> slipping out of the port, these are some of the grieving family members, who still make the daily trip to the site of the wreck. for them, justice will mean a guilty verdict for the captain of the vessel seen here leaving his capsizing ship early. he could get the death penalty. his crew faces lesser sentences. mobile phone footage recovered

from the wreck shows the passengers, most of them youngsters remaining below decks at the insistence of the crew. >> the grief and pain here has he bed as most of the bodies have been recovered, and families have returned home. just a few relatives remain at the town's gymnasium, which has been turned into a temporary dormitory. the court case will provide them with little consolation. >> i don't think the death penalty solves anything. families still here don't have any emotion left. we are numb to the trial. >> what will ease their pain, the recovery of their loved ones bodies look less likely with time. >> resting upturned in waters with notoriously strong currents, the search has to be limited to just a few hours per day, but with the seas getting colder and with the chance of the vessel breaking up, so even that is getting harder to

maintain. >> there is now growing pressure to end the search and raise the wreck. even after that, what's happened here and the memory of it will play on the nothing conscience. rob mcbride, aljazeera, south korea. >> 295 bodies have been recovered so far, the last found only about two weeks ago. nine other passengers who were onboard the ferry are still listed as missing. >> there's no video out this morning, showing hooferrifying conditions were inside a arizona wildfire, killing 19 members of an elite fighting unit. >> we have the video and story. >> the 19 firefighters who died that day have come to be known as the yarnel13. they were known as the granite mountain hotshots. as this video shows, panic set in when other firefighters

realized the granite crew was trapped. >> newly released cell phone videos show just how bad things were inside the yarnel fire. as crews retreat from the advancing fires, the realization hits that the granite mountain hot shots are nowhere to be found. the crew had left a safe area known as black and dssignedded into the canyon that ultimately trapped the team. other crews knew much trouble the crew was in. >> firefighters request an air

attack to spray the team location, but confusion reigns as air commanders can't figure out exactly where that location is. >> do we have any firm location on where they're at? >> no, i can't, other than i would say the southeast corner. >> then more confusion as increasingly alarmed firefighters realize they can't call a superior for help. >> i have his old number, but i don't have his new number. can you take this for me? please, i really need it bad right now. >> after all this, firefighters are finally able to reach the 19 trapped members of the hotshots, but it was too late. it remains the largest firefighter life since 9/11. experts have urged the state of arizona to eye equip all firefighting crews with better

communicators. >> winter doesn't officially start for more than a month, but a big chill is on the way for most of the country. >> nicole mitchell joins us now. you say this all started outside of alaska. >> it started with the typhoon, which doesn't make any sense because by definition, typhoons and systems warn core systems, croppiccal systems. this was the typhoon as its peak. over the course of the weekend, this is a little hard to see, because it's where the satellites connect up together, but you can see that spiraling, then it impacted alaska causing a big storm there. it went so far, so strong to the north that it caused a rim in the jetstream, those are the stirring winds that circle the earth and the boundary between the cold and warm air. if you snap a rope, it causes a

ripple. that's what happened with all this. it shot the jetstream northward with the storm and that caused it to sink or snap southward, bringing in all that cold arctic air and that's what we're starting to feel today. with all of that coming in, by tomorrow, it's going to sink toward the gulf coast. today it's more into the midwest and northern plains, but 20, 30, a couple of places 40 below average and some places started above average. by the time everything is said and done, it takes a couple days for the coldest air to sink in, some places could have whiplash of 50 degrees. you're seeing the cold air in billings. temperatures by later in the week single digits, we've got with wind chills already because of the wind. >> a baltimore ravens cheerleader was taken off the field on a stretcher after she

had a bad ball in tennessee. she was performing a stunt at the time. ravens have not identified the cheerleader taken to the hospital for tests on her neck and back. she is thankfully back home recovering this morning. >> a 21 day isolation period ends dade for nurse kaci hickox. she is marking the day by moving to another part of maine. the state ordered quarantine was ordered by the state. she criticized it as an overreaction by officials to health care workers returning from west africa. >> an elementary schoolteacher under fire for allegedly locking a 7-year-old special needs girl inside a makeshift cage. inquist tories saying the girl's mother went to the school unannounced in may and found her daughter inside that cage. she is now filing suit against the school, one against the teacher, the other against the school. school administrators deny any involvement in what happened,

but this is headed to court. >> the first grade teacher has been put on leave so they have taken action at that school. >> in queens, new york, residents in an assessed living home are asked to pay up. fema say they owe thousands of dollars. the aid was given to them after secretary of state. s residents spent five months in three shelters after the hurricane, so that money had been given to them to pay for shelter and instead, the remembers dents used it to pay for food, so fema says they have to pay it back. a lot of those folks are on fixed incomes and can't pay it back. >> one man had crohn's disease and had to go where they could take care of him and he feels doubly betried by the system. >> a report says tobacco use remains persistent, 5.6 million american children, young children under 16 will soon be smoking. the town of massachusetts is

proposing a total ban. dunes bury had a cartoon on this, saying most states ms. use that money as part of that massive tobacco statement, didn't advertise to young children, as a result, young children are not lighting up. >> didn't dunes bury smoke? >> i don't know. >> i think he did. >> it will be the first place to ban tobacco products. >> it could be the prelude to a travel nightmare. >> the contract dispute that could lead to american airlines striking just in time for sanction giving. >> i draw dead soldiers every day. >> a tribute from a man who spends his life honoring

soldiers.

>> scientists used a particle accelerator to find the god particle. >> now, a new study is calling that discovery into question. they say the swiss team discovered a new particle, but it wasn't the god particle. researchers in the university say the data could describe a different kind of particle. >> there may be a road block this morning in the merger between u.s. airlines and we are following the story from dallas. will this rejection affect passengers? >> the carrier says that there should be no effect at all on

passengers. this is after you'll remember this merger that happened in december of last year, creating arguably the largest airline in the world with u.s. airways and american airlines combining, despite anti trust lawsuits that have been filed by the department of justice. that lawsuit was settled but this weekend was the first signs of internal pains resulting from this merger. >> good morning, how are you doing? >> flight attendants at the world's largest airline failed to reach a deal on a joint labor contract. the proposal fell through by a narrow margin, just 16 ballots. 8,100 voted in favor, 8,196 voted against it. most cabin across were unimpressed with the offer, but the union representing flight attendants believe it was better work rules and higher wages. the failed contract goes to an

arbitrator next month where new terms will be hashed out. cabin crew won't have any say in that process. american ire lines is disappointed by the vote. the carrier merged with u.s. airways last year. it complicates a massive integration process. that arbitration will be carried out under the mediation of a federal mediator set to begin december 3. both sides, that's the union president and the carrier have told its members that the result of this arbitration will likely be less favorable than what they had been presented with. >> the big question on everyone's mind this morning, is this going to affect my thanks giving and christmas travel. >> the carrier saying that it won't, namely, it's because the workers new longer have any leverage by threatening or taking a strike, because both sides had agreed prior to this process beginning that if they

did not vote for this contract, that the arbitrator would have within their power to determine the terms and the members no longer have any say. >> thank you very much. >> top republican senators are urging congress to hold off an confirming the next attorney general. they want to wait until the gop is in control of the senate next year. laureate at a lynch was nominated this weekend. she'll soon face to have questions on immigration and executive power. >> the new secretary of veterans anniversary plans to clean house in the wake of a scandal that revealed long waiting lists for vets seeking medical treatment and attempt to say cover it up. former proctor and gamble c.e.o. bob mcdonald promises big chains. he has a list of 1,000 v.a. employees who will be fired. he said america owes it to its veterans. >> this is very personal,

because i served with a lot of these guys, and we were in very dangerous situations, and anytime you jump out of an airplane in a parachute, you're putting your life in danger. >> mcdonald will formally announce changes at the v.a. later today. it will be the biggest reorganization in the agencies history. >> tomorrow is veterans day. for a decade, vietnam vet michael regan has drawn images of the falling. >> 10 hours a day, michael draws. >> as long as people need these, i'll be doing them. >> it has brought his soul back. >> i draw dead soldiers every day, men and women, old, young. >> back from vietnam where he saw and lost so much. >> we were just holding his leg

on, hoping somebody could do something. he looked me right in the face and said mike, i just want to go home and he closed his eyes and died. i remember those eyes every day. when i start these port receipts, i see those ice. >> on this day, it is marine lance corporal david fenn looking back at him. whoever wants one of these portraits gets one. ten years ago, he got a call from a grieving navy wife who had seen his celebrity portraits. she wanted him to draw her husband. >> it's the beginning. there's number one and now i've done over 3500 of these. >> simple lines that add up to complex images and demand answers of the artists. >> why are you here? why am i here? i think i'm here to do this work. >> every portrait is sent to recipients with a personal letter from regan. >> it should be just about the

same. >> who thanks them for allowing him to share their loss and ease their pain. we brought this to his girlfriend. >> we have a delivery from michael regan. >> thank you. >> amy frost can once again look into fenn's eyes. >> sorry. >> there's some incredible broken hearts in this country and there's nothing i can do to fix that, but part of that broken heart are these families and i might be able to fix some of that. >> to still have the memories to hold on to, you want to get as many as you can. this will help a lot. >> even though he draws war dead web insists his art is not a statement about war or death. it's an acknowledgment of loss and service, a mission and a calling. >> i don't have a choice. this is -- i don't think i'm the

one drawing at the table, i think it's my hand. i'm never alone down hereveer an though i may be by myself. >> so many finished, so many more to do. michael regan will keep at this job and keep bringing these eyes alive. >> until someone has to draw my portrait. >> it costs the fallen heroes $700 a month in postage alone, most of that covered by a three year grant. >> in minnesota, right now, you can see snow already covering the major highways. it looks like traffic is slowing. meteorologist nicole mitchell tracking this. >> the road crews had been ready, ready to go, this is like the first big game of the season for them. when the snow is still coming down. a coastal low trekking up florida could bring showers

already into florida and the southeast. our big story has been the arctic blast. it hasn't gotten as much attention, the snow side of this. right where that front is, high winds gusting the 20-30-mile per hour range. it is blowing the snow around on top of all of this coming down which some places could be easily more than a foot. >> the cold air is just now starting to civic in, all the way southward by tomorrow. dallas ahead of this, really comfortable, temperatures above average, 77. by the time we get wednesday into thursday for the 40s, overnight's could be in the 20's. that's the shock a lot of the country will feel. >> the crew has asked me not to start singing christmas carols. thank you very much. >> egypt's iconic spinx will

reopen. it is one of the largest stone stops on earth. >> i will nor cunningham took up sky diving when she turned 90. she made her third jump dressed in a red suit and sneakers. cunningham says being a vegetarian is the key to a long life. >> it looks like the seattle seahawks was trying to send a message to a visiting giants fan, landing had been his head. >> he flew away. the fan petted the hawk during his temporary stay on his head. yes, the sea hawks did win the game. >> of course they did. >> ahead in our next half hour, honoring the victims. >> nasa getting ready for a key

test flight, it is the agencies first step to sending humans back in deep space in four decades. >> we are back in two minutes with more aljazeera. we leave you with live images, snowy roads in minneapolis. >> as us combat missions end in afghanistan >> they're going to make plans for an attack. >> the only thing i know is, that they say they're not going to withdraw. >> get a first hand look at what life is really like under the taliban. >> we're going to be taken >> it's so seldom you get the access to the other side >> fault lines, al jazeera america's hard hitting... >> today they will be arrested... >> ground breaking... they're firing canisters of gas at us... emmy award winning investigative series... special episode on the front lines with the taliban on al jazeera america

>> devastating climates... >> if we don't get rain we'll be in dire straits... >> scientists fighting back... >> we've created groundhog day here... >> hi-tech led farming... >> we always get perfect plants everyday... >> feeding the world... >> this opens up whole new possibilities... >> tech know's team of experts show you how

the miracles of science... >> this is my selfie, what can you tell me about my future? >> can effect and surprise us... >> don't try this at home... >> tech know, where technology meets humanity only on al jazeera america >> winter comes early across the country. most of the u.s. is bracing for icy cold temperatures, some could get snow and plenty of it. >> president obama looking to secure a huge trade deal overseas as he faces weakened political power back home. >> the new details about the release of two americans being held in prison in north korea and what it took to bring them home.

>> celebrating the fall of the wall, germans mark the destruction of that symbol of the cold war 25 years later. >> good morning, welcome to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. >> i'm stephanie sy. it's still fall on the calendar but a winter chill is descending across the country this week. >> that arctic blast punished alaska already and now that system is going to send temperatures falling across the u.s. >> parts of the countedry will experience temperatures 20-40 degrees lower than normal. this is a live look at minneapolis, minnesota, the snow already falling there. heavy snowfall expected there later tonight. nicole mitchell takes a closer look. >> that bitter, biting and freezing weather that dominated much of last year's winter is already making a comeback. a blast of frigid arctic air from canada is expected to impact 200 million americans starting today. snow already falling this morning in bismarck, north carolina.

in wisconsin, salt trucks and plows are on stand by. while in minneapolis. >> getting ready before the snow. >> residents and road crews are trying to get ahead of the expected foot of snow coming their way. >> got the plows on the trucks. we've got the salt in the salt sheds. we went through training for our drivers, so we're ready. >> while homeless shelters are bracing for the deep freeze. >> one of one room open tonight, but we will be full tomorrow morning. >> those plunging temperatures are expected to make their way all the way down to the gulf coast. the remnants of typhoon mury, a 800-mile wide storm blasted islands with winds and waves at least 50 feet high had a mammoth impact on the jetstream that is expected to dip 42 of the 50 states near or below freezing this week. >> take us deeper into the storm. how did this all come about? >> it's so counter intuitive

that a tropical storm would cause a u.s. deep freeze, but weather is all connected around the world, so the super typhoon that we were talking about last week, this was toward its peak in the western pacific at the time. it scooted to the northern pacific and caused a ripple in the jetstream, the steering flow that goes around the world, the winds at 30,000 feet. you can see this weekend, it's not the best view, because it's on the edge of two satellite image, but that's how fart north it got and it did cause that ripple effect. as one edge went up, the other place had nowhere to go but down and that's the boundary for warm versus cold air. while the west coast got a warming because of this, the central united states is just shoving that jet ward southward, funneling in the really cold air. already in the midwest today, gulf coast tomorrow, shooting temperatures 20-30 below average, some places 40 below

average and we were above, so the change could actually be a 50-degree change in this cases. >> like the chinese say, drop a pebble in the pond and it ripples out. nicole, thank you. >> speaking of the chinese, president obama is in beijing for the apec summit. the president will meet with the chinese president and push for a new trade deal involving a dozen countries. his visit follows last week's election blowout and the presidents declaration that he wants to send 1500 more u.s. military advisors to iraq. mike viqueira is in washington. what message is the president delivering to beiging? >> anytime an american president gets together with the chinese later and later today we do expect president obama and the chinese president to sit down together, there are a whole holt of contentious issues on the table, territorial disputes between nine in a and some of our closest allies that could end up being military disputes,

as well. there is chinese hacking, accusations from the american government several times over the past few years that chinese entities within the military are hacking into u.s. entities. the president wants to talk about trade. on the table now, a transpacific partnership, 11 pacific rim nations, the united states is trying to get this together. there is foot dragging in japan and concern in china, the american business community behind this now. with republicans running congress, more likely it could pass congress but not a guarantee in any sense whatsoever. it's an issue that splits the democratic party in half and even some republicans have their doubts, so plenty on the agenda for the president today in beijing. >> president obama and russian president poo tin are in beijing for this summit. are they going to use this as a chance to discuss the situation in ukraine, which appears to be

eggs congratulating. >> every time the president is at one of these international conferences over the course of the last several months, eight months, ukraine is front and center and the question is always will president obama have an opportunity to speak with president putin. evidently they will, they'll have an informal meeting on the side of this summit. this is the annual apec summit, several nations that represent the pacific rim economies. that with ukraine once again royaled by unrest, more intensive fighting in eastern ukraine, the election not recognized by western powers, including kiev that happened in breakaway republicans in eastern ukraine will be at the top of the agenda. >> mike viqueira for us in washington, thank you. >> we are also following a developing story out of nigeria this morning. an explosion at a school killed at least 47 people and injured 80 others. it happened in the northeastern part of the country. a suicide bomber walked into the

school and detonated an explosive device. much of that region has been fighting boko haram, though at this point, there is no confirmation that that group has been involved. >> reports of more violence in afghanistan as well. ten police officers are dead following a series of explosions in three cities. the attacks come days after a taliban suicide bomber entered a he's department in kabul. >> a soldier stabbed a short time ago. a palestinian man attacked him at a train station in tel-aviv. this is the latest in a series of violent incidents between israelis and palestinians in recent days. israeli security forces increased alert level this weekend because of the on going attacks. >> iran's nuclear program back on the negotiating table as a key deadline is looming. secretary of state john kerry meeting with his iranian counterpart this weekend. >> as james bays reports with two weeks left to go, there are no signs of a break threw.

>> as diplomatic negotiations go, these have been a marathon. now they could be in the final strait, international negotiators, the p5 plus one, the five permanent members of the u.n. security council plus germany set a deadline of november 24 to reach a deal. iran wants biting sanctions lifted, the international community will do that if it gets guarantee that is iran's nuclear facilities can't be put to military use. there are significant stumbling blocks, but just listen to the u.s. president and his secretary of state and it's clear the two sides are closer than they ever have been before. >> my hope is that now is the moment for really political decisions, to be made that make a judgment, that we can show the

world that countries with differing views, differing systems, but with a mutual interest of trying to prove a peaceful program can in fact do that. >> they've come to the table and they've negotiated seriously around providing assurances that they're not developing a nuclear weapon for the first time. >> the negotiators and in particular secretary kerry in the iranian foreign minister still have a big task, even if they get a deal selling that deal back home. skeptical hardliners must be convinced that remain highly suspicious of the u.s. for mr. kerry, the task i guess harder, lifting key sanctions a key part of the deal requires congressional action. >> if congress refuses to implement the deal, the primary winner of that will actually be the iranians, because they will be off the hook. >> talks have taken place in the

last year in geneva, vienna, here at the united nations in new york aband a secret tract to the negotiations in the gulf state of ohman. ohman's no longer a secret venue. with less than three weeks to go to the deadline, there are still political challenges. the political dynamics in washington only make things more complicated. james bays, aljazeera. >> if there is no progress in the coming weeks, congress could respond with fresh sanctions or iran. >> fighting intensified in eastern ukraine, residents worry the region could be slipping back into all-out war, heavy shelling near donetsk, witnesses say it's the worst fighting in more than a month. we are live in donetsk. that ceasefire between ukraine and the pro-russian rebels are still in place. what is being done to prevent more violence?

>> >> the rhetoric has stepped up and both sides blaming the other. the rebel leaders plan to take more territory, so perhaps this will lead to more violence. they want to take, they say the port city of mariupol. command has been given to the army to take strategic places around key cities in the east in order to protect from possible attack by the rebels. it's not clear what is actually being done to deescalate this conflict at the moment. >> what about these tanks? over the weekend, dozens of them unmarked spotted in the east, russia accused of sending more heavy weapons and supplies. what can you tell us about the tanks? >> the rebels have said that some of this military i.q.

belongs to them. the ukrainians say they have got some of this from russia. russia says they have no military involvement in this crisis, but the question is what is happening with the border between ukraine and russia. there is still a large chunk of land, which is not controlled by ukraine, so technically, it's possible that some movement is going across the border from russia. >> we have seen this playbook before, more than 4,000 people have died since april. can you tell us what's being done to help the civilians caught in this violence? >> some aid has been organized in the city of donetsk. we see some cues, quite large for aid, some of which is from the russian federation. some of this is from the oligarch who used to control much of this territory, but the

question is, is this enough for a very large population. the streets are empty. many have left, others are true afraid perhaps to leave their houses. >> thank you very much. >> two americans are back with their families and readjusting to life in the u.s. >> they were released from north korean prison after the director of national intelligence went there to secure their release. we ever the details. >> a director of national intelligence, it is hard to imagine anybody more senior than the president or the secretary of state himself going over, but it was james clapper to made the secret mission to bring the men home. it turns out it was the culmination of months of

working. >> this is something that had been predetermined, so there was no real uncertainty when he arrived in pyongyang as to the fact that he was going to bring these two guys back. >> obviously we are very grateful for their safe return. >> 46-year-old kenneth bay got off the plane with a big smile on his face and hugged his mother. the missionary was held for two years in a labor camp and later after he got sick in a hospital. bay was serving a 15 year sentence for allegedly anti-government activity. >> it's been amazing two years, i learned a lot, lost a lot of weight in a good way, but i'm standing strong, because of you, and thank you for being there at a time sues this. >> bays sister expressed her

gratitude. >> my brother is home. all of our hopes and prayers for this moment have finally come true. we are so thankful. >> bay's first meal when he got home, pizza. 25-year-old matthew todd miller was greeted by his family when he got off the plane. he was arrested last spring in north korea. state run media reports say miller tore up his visa and demanded asylum. he was charged with espionage and sentenced to six years in prison. last month, another american held, jeffrey fowle was also freed. >> the mission was so top secret only a few members of congress were briefed before hand. all americans out of north korea. the state department says don't go there. >> clapper was picked because he rarely ever publishes his schedule, so it was easy to get him out of the country without

reporters knowing about it. >> he canceled a meeting and we wondered why and over the weekend we found out. >> certainly a surprise. >> general motors secretly made an urgent order for new parts months before it issued a massive recall. according to the wall street journal, g.m. order add half million new ignition switches last december. the paper says the automaker did not alert federal safety regulators. there was a problem until february. the switches have since been recalled. at least 30 deaths have been linked to the problem. >> president obama's new attorney general nominee will wait until next year to get concerned, loretta lynch tapped to take the top spot. she was currently the u.s. attorney for the eastern district of new york is expected to face tough questions on immigration and executive power. coming up, we'll talk with our legal contributor jami floyd

about link's nomination and qualifications for the job. >> a private set crashes in the bahamas killing everyone onboard. the details of the crash, including a prominent religious leader onboard the flight. >> president obama kicking off his trip to asia looking to lockdown a major trade deal. author gordon chang is here. >> videos captured by our citizen journalists around the world.

>> clashes erupting at a university between students and security forces outside the entrance of the school. the students are supporters of the muslim brother hood and taking part in a demonstration over the arrest and kidnapping of female students in egypt. >> a citizen and you said drone to capture the extent of damage of flooding. rising roughs have flooded homes outside the capitol. >> thousands taking to the streets in budapest demanding the resignation of the tax

official there. 100,000 people rallied against a planned tax on internet usage. >> evangelical pastor dr. miles monroe, his wife and daughter are all dead. >> they were among nine killed when their jet crashed. the private plane crashed into a crane as it was trying to land at the free port airport. >> monroe led the ba ma'am ma's faith ministries international. he was in town for a conference. young was supposed to be on the plane but decided not to fly because of bad weather. >> president obama is in beijing for the apec word summit. wednesday, president obama is set to meet with his chinese counterpart. the president said asia is a top priority for u.s. economic and foreign policy and he's bullish on doing business there. >> apec economies account for about 40% of the world's

population and nearly 60% of its g.d.p. over the next five years, nearly half of all economic growth outside the united states is projected to come from right here in asia. >> gordon chang joins us this morning to devil deeper into this summit. thank you for being with us. i want to first get to the news a the prime minister of japan met with the president of china today. that was their first meeting. what did you make of that photo op? >> everyone says this is going to really be the important event that propels china and japan's relations. i think it could set it back. when you look at the video, what you see is one breach of protocol off the another. they were made to wait. when they met, words of greeting were spoken, there was no answer. >> you can see the president turn his head away. >> looking down in sort of

disgust and contempt and then he walked away. i think this is going to get the japanese really upset. >> you maintain that americans are not going to be happy when they hear with the president's coverage of the trip to china. >> we heard talk about president obama in derogatory terms. this has been going on for two or three days. i think the americans are going to be upset. whatever you think about our president, this is not just dissing him, this is dissing the united states of america and the presidency. >> has the president lost clout on this trip to china? >> yes, has he, but on the other hand, you know, when he went there first in november, 2009, first year in office, it was a very troubled trip, as well. this time, the chinese are pouring scorn on him, because of the midterm elections, but they've been wanting to do this, itching to do this. i think it really shows that china is not the great power

that we want it to be. when we look back, for instance at the first meeting between mar se tong and president reagan, we are not seeing that now. >> one of the corner stones of his asian policy is this trade pact with the asian countries. it does not include cline in a. is that an indication, the deal, is it going to be approved now because the republican congress is pro business. >> the republicans are going to be more amenable to that and to trade authority, necessary to get one of these big trade deals through congress.

transpacific heartner ship is at the heart of president obama's pivot to asia, 12 countries, going to create an enormous free trade area and chinese can't join it, because they can't meet the high standards. >> i know you argue that china has lost leverage, others would argue the u.s. has. are human rights and democracy going to be priority for the president on this trip? >> i wish they would be, because they go to the core of the troubles with china. when hillary clinton was secretary of state, she said she's going to downgrade human rights to have a better relationship with china. she meant that as a signal of cooperation. the chinese saw it as a sign of weakness, therefore just started to harass americans and gave president obama a very hard time in 2009. >> fascinating. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> open enrollment for the affordable care act kicking off saturday again, but people can start shopping for their health care plans now. the department of health and human services is giving people

an early start to prevent a repeat of last year's troubled rollout. >> the supreme court saying it will consider a key challenge to the affordable care act, including subsidies that help people buy health care insurance for on line exchanges. 4 million americans get those subsidies, many of them in states that don't have a health care exchange. wording in the affordable care act restricts subs decease to states who do have exchanges. >> the arctic blast pushing its way across the country is also bringing snow with it. nicole mitchell has a look at that. >> the cold air will impact so many people. this would have been a noteworthy storm for being the first really big winter weather storm of the season, even though we're not technically into winter yet. you can see this pushing through now. if you are in the twin cities, it is not pleasant. this is the first big snow

people are trying to get their driving skills back. you can see a lingering front with that, spotty moisture with that, so not a ton of moisture after we get through today. today is going to be a big deal, some places over a foot of snow, some place isolated, maybe two before everything is said and done. >> we'll keep our eye on that. nicole mitchell, talk. >> we continue to follow that breaking news out of nigeria, the deadly bombing in the school. after the break, we'll go live to the capital city in nigeria. >> new video showing the chaos that killed firefighters in arizona. the conditions the men faced on that deadly day. >> nasa is preparing to test out a new spacecraft. we'll look at orion and the key test that lies ahead for it.

>> game of thrones when it came out, didn't hit any best sellers lists... >> the worlds, the magic and the fascination of george r.r. martin >> i'm writing the equivalent of a medieval world war ii... >> how his imagination keeps millions of devoted fans always wanting more >> it's nice to be doing something everybody is so aware of... >> every saturday, join us for exclusive... revealing... and surprising talks with the most interesting people of our time... talk to al jazeera, only on al jazeera america

>> grieving families gather in the netherlands to honor those loft in the makes airlines flight shot down in ukraine. we'll look at the ceremony for those who died. >> president obama announces his next choice for attorney general. we'll duke at who loretta lynch is and what type of a.g. she will be. >> the deep freeze pushing across the country this morning, the arctic blast starting in alaska going oh to send temperatures plunging 20-40 degrees below normal. heavy snowfall on the ground in minnesota, wisconsin and pats of michigan. >> president obama is in beijing this morning for the apec summit, expected to meet with the chinese president and push for that massive trade deal with more than a dozen countries. the president's push coming on

the following the elections. >> we are following the story in the capital of nigeria. is there any claim of responsibility for this latest attack? >> so far, there is no claim of responsibility for this attack, but the attack happened in an area where boko haram is known to have operated before. this school has been hilt four times in the last two years. all fingers point to boko haram, but so far the group has not claimed responsibility for the attack. this followed a statement issued on you tube and other social media by the leader of boko haram who said there is no agreement so far with the nigerian government and there won't be any agreement. it's not surprising if in the next few hours, boko haram claims responsibility for this, too. >> i understand boko haram has

targeted schools in the past. why do they target school children? >> well schools and western educations stood for everything boko haram is against. they are against western education. they are against western style, western lifestyles and everything, so they have said they will continue to target schools and that has been their principle or rather they are targets from the day they started this upricing in 2009. basically, school children are real targets for boko haram, because they stand for everything boko haram stood against. >> thank you. >> the pentagon now switching to the fight against isil, reports of isil leaders being injured are still unconfirmed this

morning. there are still unconfirmed reports that abu bakr al-baghdadi was injured in the strike. we are live in baghdad. why is this town so significant? >> it's important for two reasons. firstly, beiji was established as a command and control center where isil controlled their entire campaign in iraq. also, it's 15 kilometers away from the oil refinery this has been inch by inch along the road from tikrit to beiji, the iraqis have faced stiff resistance from isil fighters all the way down

the road. now by going in through the south and western center of the town, let's take a look at how that fight is now going. >> just a day ago, isil was said to be firmly in control. today, the graffiti tells the story. the flog used by the group has been covered in iraqi security force slogan as the army takes large parts of beiji town from isil fighters. the taking of beiji in the nearby oil refinery was an early victory for isil in june. this victory is seen as a triumph for the iraqi army and rapid deployment squad fighting alongside them. >> let all the young men join the armed forces, whether the army or popular mobilization forces. let them come here and join arms with their procedures to protect their country and dispet isil. we have to give big support to the youth to join the fight

against isil, especially in this province as it is considered the breaking point for isil's advance toward baghdad. >> fighting continues for the rest of the town. >> very early on, isil established beiji as a command and control center for all of the territory that it controlled inside iraq. it wasn't just about military strategy. it was also about business acumen p.m. from beiji, they controlled a lucrative oil smuggling operation which netted them millions of dollars. >> iraqi forces pushed them from the town. the oil refinery is the next big target. isil fighters remain in control of parts of the facility. they are cut off from the town itself and are surrounded by iraq forces. >> what we're seeing there is

isil fighters have been cut off from the rest of their group. now what that means and we've seen this before is that they will fight to the death and the type of tactics that they'll use, we are witnessing now in the fight against the iraq key army in beiji. it's suicide bombs, it's snipers, it's a very desperate fight and a fight that looks like it will take a few days for the iraqi army to try to burst through those lines and get in through the north and east of the city. >> this comes as the white house announce it is sending 1500 more troops to iraq, but not boots on the ground, advisory groups. how is the iraqi government and troops reacting to this? >> there's an interesting statement from al abaddi. he welcomed the new advisors but said it was coming a little late. this is this mentality within the iraqi government that they do need help, but don't want

boots on the ground here. the advisory capacity that the u.s. troops are in is about as much help as the iraqis would like to see. that's in stark can frost to what some of the sunni groups have said. they have said we would like to see the u.s. troops fight alongside them where they need the help. >> here now to discuss the situation is mike kay, former advisor to the u.k.'s ministry of defense. colonel kay, thanks for being with us this morning. we are talking about by thisy, you're a military man. if the iraqi army forces recapture this key town, would it turn the tide of battle? >> whether it's a tipping point, only time will tell. what we are seeing is a consolidation of a number of factors across the political and military. the key thing which i've been

maintaining throughout is the change of the political spectrum. we've seen the very divisive shia prime minister now gone, replaced by abaddi. the sunni community has been represented better. that will help bridge the divide between sunni and shia within iraq. the next bit is really important, you've got a consolidation of factors between the peshmerga, iraqi occurred forces, the west have come back in and they have chosen not to forget about what's going on in the country, but assist through training. one of the key things is deploying the airstrikes. a combination of all of those factors are now starting to turn the tide and hopefully stem isis's progress. >> over the weekend you had an

air strike and reports, that abu bakr al-baghdadi, the leader of isil was injured. would his death be the beginning of isils capitulation. >> this is a very interesting question. there are reports he has been critically wounded. if you go on to a twitter account linked to the iraqi foreign minister, they are claiming he's been killed. let's be guarded. i think we have to look back in contemporary history to understand if you chop the head off the snake, it doesn't solve the problem, al-qaeda is still very prevalent in north africa and around the middle east. if you look at al zarqawi he was the leader of the predecessor to isis. he was taken out in 2006. he was replaced bial baghdadie, who was taken out in 2010, then

replaced by al baghdadi, the isis leader now. there's no guarantee that it's going to capitulate. >> isil wants to hold ground and build a caliphate. are they seeing how difficult that may be with iraqi forces gaining ground. >> they have territorial ambition to say grain ground. al-qaeda didn't want to do that. the important thing about abu bakr al-baghdadi is he is a self-proclaimed caliph, claiming he goes back to the tribes that descended from muhammed. >> were he to die or be severely injured, it raises the questions

of what comes next. >> detroit is on its way to financial recovery. today a federal judge is he can specked to authorize the city's exit from bankruptcy. the court will put the final stamps on the last details of the restructuring plan. bisi onile-ere is in detroit. what are some of the things on the to-do list for today's hearing? >> well, good morning to you, dell. today's hearing is basically a day for house cleaning. we are expected to learn when exactly the city of detroit will emerge from bankruptcy, sources telling me that will likely happen before the thanksgiving holiday and the judge will sign off on documents making his opinion official, and we will also get a better idea on when power will be shifted back to city leaders. if you recall, an emergency manager was put on staff by the

governor has been in charge of the city says finances. today residents should get a better idea on when that power will be shifted back to city leaders. >> on friday, the judge will approval a deal that will help the city shed $7 billion in debt. how does that work? >> a number of factors. the emergency manager over the past 15 months has been negotiating settlements with major hold out creditors. that's a big factor. another is that thousands of city retirees, civilian retirees voted and agreed on taking pension cuts and there is also a deal hammered out to save a collection of art at the detroit institute of art, so a number of factors leading detroit where it is today. >> bisi onile-ere live from detroit, thank you very much. >> new video has been released showing the final moments for 19 arizona firefighters. the video was taken just before

the unit died battling that wildfire. fellow firefighters tried to rescue them. >> experts are calling on arizona to equip all wildfire fighting crews with locators and bettering communication among crews. >> in mexico, protests over the disappearance of student teachers, the door to the presidential blays was set on fire. on friday, the government admitted for the first time that the students may have been killed and their bodies burned by gang members. >> today, the netherlands is paying tribute to the victim of malaysian flight shot down in

ukraine. what has been happening today inside the arena? >> it's a very highly choreographed morning. the dutch royal family led by the king and queen, the dutch prime minister, various diplomats, and 1600 relatives of the 196 dutch people who were onboard that ill fated flight, being mourned inside this arena and i think it's true to say nationally, as well. the dutch kneel as a national tragedy. >> the shooting has been described as the dutch 9/11. is that feeling palpable today in amsterdam? >> >> well, i think it is, all the flags across the nation are flying at half mast. the flags of the countries of

those who had citizens onboard are all flying at half mast. it's said here of this tragedy that everyone in this small european country knows somebody affected by that terrible loss. 196 people, over two thirds of those onboard were dutch and you do get the sense here that this is a nation in mourning. >> all these months later, dutch investigators still can't get to the crash site. where does that leave the government of the netherlands and the victims' families? >> i think that only makes this terrible sense of loss worse for the victims. i think they'll get some solace from the ceremony today, the feeling that they are not alone, that the nation is behind them in their grief, but there must be so many unanswered questions about what happened on that terrible day and the dutch team on the ground for several months, today, monday, they're

going to try to recover the wreckage, but the fighting in east ukraine is preventing that from happening. this whole notion of justice remains today a distant dream. >> simon mcgrowing gregor wood, thank you. >> nasa could go deeper into space than ever before. >> after last week's virgin galactic crash and the explosion of another rocket moments after liftoff, nasa had supportive words for the crews and officials involved. >> in the space business, we're one big family and when somebody has a failure, we all feel it and we all rally behind them to make a return to flight. >> ambitious plans continue for the orion spacecraft, which in december will take its first test flight without a crew and

eventually journey to mars. it looks similar to the apollo spacecraft and represents a sharp departure from the shuttle program. it launches vertically and on return, parachutes into the ocean. next month's test will launch the orion 3,600 miles above the earth, that's 15 times higher than the international space stations position i have not orbit and farther than any spacecraft designed to carry humans has gone in 40 years. the plan is that the orion will reenter the earth's atmosphere at speeds of 2500 miles per hour. the launch at high speeds and high temperatures will test the heat shield, the largest ever made. >> it's going to see 4,000 degrees. it's about a 1.6 inches thick. it will burn off, we project 20%

that have will burn off, that's part of the plan. the big part of the test is we'll get it back, see how it performed. there's uncertainty relative to the dynamics and flow. >> the plan is to send the orion with astronauts to the moon and beyond. the first test mission around the moon is planned for 2018. >> this is america's first real return to space with its first new spacecraft in decades. it's also the first time in decades a u.s. spacecraft can go to the moon with the ultimate goal of really going to mars. >> love it, what happens next? >> today you're going to see this majestic procession of what we people as the real kind of spaceship making its way to the launch pad. it will be rolled out slowly against the nighttime sky. it will be placed on delta four rockets and they will start the test. the test for four and a half hours is going to be incredible. it's the stuff we would think of

when we were kids. >> there are features that look like the apollo spacecraft. thanks so much, exciting stuff. >> president obama announcing his choice to replace eric holder as attorney general. >> jami floyd is here weighing in on loretta lynch. >> marking the 25or's anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall. the end of this cold war symbol.

>> loretta lynch was nominated by president obama for the position of attorney general. she'll face questions on immigration and executive power by the congress. she has two degrees from harvard university where she graduated from the law school there. she's 55 years old, a native of

greensboro, north carolina. jami tried is our legal contributor here. president obama distribution her as tough and fair. >> i think tough, fair and apolitical, which is the most important thing here. i've talked with folks on both sides of the political aisle that shed got the credentials she needs to make it even in this new congress. i think it was a wise chose. >> lynch would be the first african-american woman to hold the post. >> right. >> only the second woman to hold the post as a.g. is this shattering hillary clinton glass ceiling and also fulfilling martin's dream that we're not talking about that first and foremost which is an historic announcement. >> we've had a woman, we've had an african-american in this post, she'd be the first african-american woman. that's starting to secede, we're talking her credentials.

she's had huge cases, notably a big police brutality case in new york. it became a national story of police brutality. she's prosecuted on both sides of the political aisle and is a low profile person, not trumpeting her own political record. >> eric holder faced a lot of criticism, in fact a contempt of congress citation. can she expect the same? >> some folks are saying she'll have a hard time in confirmation. will she go up with the lame duck or will they wait until the new congress comes in. some folks suggest that because the holder tenure has been so controversial, they'll be happy to have her come in, so maybe she won't be challenged so much in her confirmation.

>> were you surprised? >> i was a little. her name had been floated but so many people were lining up for that job, i think i was surprised, because she is so low profile. she's been getting a pretty good reception here and even in washington. >> more than 1 million people jammed berlin to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the fall of wall. we were there for the ceremony. ♪ ♪ "heroes aba song symbolizing the strength of a couple's love in the shadow of the berlin wall. a fitting tribute on the day that marked the triumph of people power over the east german leadership, performed in front of the brandenburg gate where the wall once ran and fell exactly 25 years ago.

earlier in the day, the german chancellor remembered the east germans who died fleeing to the west before the wall tam came d. >> it showed we have the power to make things better. that is the message. it is directed to us in germany, but others in europe and the world especially ukraine, syria, iraq and other regions human rights are threatened or violated. >> people began gathering in the morning for the festivities. this man showed me his east german travel documents and remembers taking the first train in the morning to wait for hours at a check point. >> then we crossed and stood in west berlin. it is to this day an overwhelming memory. it's a strange feeling even now to see the gate from the western side. it's something you will never forget. >> as part of the festivities, balloons lined a path through the city, the path that the wall followed in a divided city, that divided a city, country,

continent and the world in a super power standoff. >> then they were set free to fly over the capitol of a reunified germany, a symbol of the struggle for unit and power for peaceful change, even when it seems impossible. >> such a seminal moment in history. you know, the wall once encircled all of west berlin. there were more than 300 lookout towers to spot those trying to escape from the east and an estimated 5,000 people actually made it through. >> i still have a little chunk of the wall that a friend brought back. what's inning is the things east germans wanted most when they went shopping, bananas and pine apples, things they'd seen on television and couldn't get. >> extraordinarily rapid change in the last 25 years. let's get another check of the forecast now with nicole mitchell. >> a busy, potent system with two facets. if you get this snow, you'll be more concerned about that.

places like minneapolis, rush hour we've been dealing with that. this has spread all the way from the northern plains into wisconsin. that's going to be the core of it, really anywhere from south dakota through wisconsin, some places over a foot of snow, isolated spots, we could have a couple amounts top two feet. the cold is going to spread through a more widespread area, so more people will be feeling that element of this system dropping temperatures 20, 30, 40 degrees blow average. a lot of places already above average. that means that temperature contrast is going to be pretty extreme, starting to sink in today, but feeling colder because of the wind. spreading farther to the south by tomorrow, these are frost and freeze watches and warnings all the way down into texas. you can see that cold air, houston 70 for tomorrow, real mild healed of this, including for the northeast today. that 70 for tomorrow is the morning temperature that falls

through the day, so don't look at those temperatures too closely. >> we made it through the morning without saying polar vortex. >> don't get me going. [ laughter ] >> thanks, nicole. tomorrow morning on aljazeera america, we'll track that cold snap making its way across the country. we will look at how the city of ferguson, missouri is readying for the grand jury's decision on whether to indict the police officer who shot and killed unarmed teenager michael brown. coming up in two minutes from doha, the latest on the attack on a school in nigeria that killed nearly 50 children. >> we will see you right back here tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. 7:00 a.m.

>> dozens killed in a suicide talk in a school in northeastern nigeria. >> we have the top stories here on al jazeera. fighting intensifies a day after the new government takes charge. we bring you exclusive pictures. plus remembering the victims