hi, everyone, this is al jazeera america, i'm john than betz in new york. john siegenthaler has the night off. breaking point with tensions threatening to boil over. more deadly violence in israel and the west bank. protests spread in mexico as police release details in the case of 43 missing students >> and vladimir putin stockpilistockpil stockpiling tons of gold. and getting serious. jon stewart talks about his directing debut, telling the

true story of a journalist sent to prison just for doing his job. ♪ we begin tonight with another outbreak of violence in israel and the west bank. two separate attacks in tel-aviv an israeli soldier was stabbed to death at a crowded train station, and in the west bank, a palestinian man stabbed three people before police shot him to death. nick schifrin is on the scene. >> reporter: this is the scene of the attack that happened just a short while ago, and you can see behind me the israeli police investigating the very spot where the attack took place, scrubbing the ground looking for evidence. what israeli police say happened, is that a palestinian man drove up here, got out of his car and stabbed three

israeli civilians. one of the israelis live up this road, a jewish settlement much of the world considers illegal. this is the occupied west bank. about 150 feet that way or so this summer, three israeli teenagers were abducted and found murdered, and that has lead the head of the local council to call for blood. >> if you are murderer, we kill you. if you are a tourist, we put you in jail you won't get out. et cetera, et cetera. we have to [ inaudible ] afraid from us, and not the opposite. >> reporter: but the violence hasn't been confining only to year, just a few hours ago an attack in tel-aviv, a palestinian man went up to an israeli soldier and stabbed him while he waited for a train. and there has been massive dem

strikeses. an israeli palestinian knock on the door of police, and when the door opened, he retreated and the police shot and killed him. in response, benjamin netenyahu has suggested an iron fist. he says anyone even protesting the israeli government should, quote, move to the west bank or to gaza. these are loan wolf attacks. nobody believes this is some kind of terror campaign, dictated from the top, so they are very difficult to stop. the israeli government has tried to increase the penalties for anyone protesting or committing violence. anyone throwing sense to, for example, at police, could be sentenced up to 20 years in prison. but it has not meant decrease in violence. quite the opposite in fact. both sides are very fearful right now that there is nothing stopping the violence, and it only can get worse.

lincoln mitchell is a research scholar at columbia university, who focuses on the middle east and is with us tonight. why are we seeing this violence now? >> there could be any number of reasons. there is always a little bit of violence in the region, a little bit of violence between israelis and palestinians, so this could be just random. it might be an uptick because of issues from the last war, so there's a lot of reasons, but the question is not why is it happening so much as what will the leadership in the region do in response to this, which could create bigger problems. >> so what should the leadership do? >> right now what the leadership should do -- first of all it's not clear whether these are individuals acting on the palestinian side. and if individuals are acting and punished for those actions that may be a reasonable approach.

if leadership on the israeli side says now we need to go back into gaza, that will escalate it. >> but we have not heard israeli leaders say these are coordinated attacks by hamas. >> right. and they might be. but that is always what israeli leaders are going to say. >> is there not some credibility there? >> it's a very plausible idea. but the question is -- even if it is, a -- a wise prudent israeli leadership is not going to now -- you want to be careful about ratcheting up to another war, because then you are going to get tension in the area, which is what we have had for decades. >> do you think it could get as far as a third israeli uprising? >> sure, but i think that language is a little bit tricky. when you say the first uprising,

it suggests the periods are peaceful. the periods in between are never as peaceful and stable as everyone thinks. so a low-level of violence is the norm. >> right, but there are different levels of violence and clearly during the uprising it is different what we saw six, seven months ago from what we are seeing now. >> this could be the beginning of another uprising, it could peak for a few weeks and then go away, but if the goal is to keep the violence at a minimum, it's a different policy recommendation than if the goal is to make a strong statement no matter which side you are on. >> so the question is always thrown out about what role in anyone should the u.s. have at

this point? >> [ sighs ] >> big sigh there. well, i think what can the u.s. do. i'm afraid right now the u.s. can't do a heck of a lot, right? we have an israeli government that is pressured domestically not from the let's make peace side, but from the further right, the more hawkish. in the context of the ruling coalition in israel. netenyahu, it's an exaggeration to say he is a dove, but not much of an exaggeration, and for that government, the goal of staying in power -- i just read an article that netenyahu's goal is to stay in power from one [ inaudible ] to the next. and in those terms then the incentive has to be hawkish, and that incentive just isn't very strong to push towards a two-state situation. and a similar argument could be

made about hamas and their goals. so the united states should do a lot, probably can't do much right now. >> it's extremely complicated. thank you for coming in tonight. >> my pleasure. a suicide attack at a high school in nigeria has killed dozens of boys. it's believed to be the work of boko haram. today's attack happened in this state. our correspondent has more. >> reporter: carnage at the hospital. the victims of the latest round of violence sweeping northern nigeria. these people were wounded when the bomb went off shortly before the beginning of classes. the attack is particularly devastating. it is the largest single loss of life to school. in february '40 students were murdered in their sleep. 42 were killed in another attack in the same state last year. the nigerian government had

promised to protect schools and other targets from such attacks. boko haram fighters often attack schools because they are an easy target. and they represent everything they are against, namely western education. and despite the profit to protect schools, the group has launched attacks with devastating consequences. it comes as boko haram continues its sweep across the northeast. seizing large areas and displacing tens of thousands of people. the government is under intense pressure to bring about an end to the violence and find more than 200 girls still kept captive by the sect. >> why people are being slaughtered is really incomprehensible. and the government needs to say we're at war. why are we afraid to say we are at war? we are at war! >> reporter: boko haram's leader

has announced the girls are married and denounced a ceasefire with the government. much to the embarrassment of the authorities who earlier announced an agreement. the state has ordered the closure of all schools following the attack. a move which could be interpreted as a victory for boko haram. president obama announced a new deal with china today at the asia pacific economic cooperation summit. the chinese president greeted mr. obama in beijing. the president announced a plan to extend visas to students to five years, and business and tourist visas to ten years. >> 1.8 million visitors from

china supported our economy and created jobs. this agreement could help us more than quadruple those numbernumbe numbers. sweeping changes are comes to the embattled department of veteran affairs. the secretary announced what he calls the largest restructuring in the department's history. jamie mcentire joins us with more. >> when bob mcdonald was picked to clean up the mess, he knew he had his work cut out for him. he had no experience in medical arre, but he knows how to run a large company. the new head of the veteran's affairs department is laying out an ambitious plan to rebuild

trust. >> right now the department has before it perhaps its greatest opportunity to enhance care for its veterans in history. >> reporter: the va has been reeling from revelations of overwhelmed hospitals and secret wait lists. bob wheeler who alls -- also worked at the va spoke to al jazeera earlier this year. >> as a former employee and as a veteran, i believe that any waiting list is a tragedy. there is no excuse for that to happen. >> reporter: seeking to send a message of accountability, mcdonald is discharging 35 officials and targeting another 1,000 for possible firing. >> we are taking disciplinary action. >> reporter: but the problems at veteran's affairs are far deeper than a few bad apples, critics say the system is underfunded and ill equipped to handle the number of veterans who served in

iraq and afghanistan as well as the aging population of vietnam vets. >> we want them to think of our department as embracing them, giving them a warm hug, a place they can go to get the care they need. >> reporter: the overhaul calls for hiring 28,000 people, more doctors, nurses and other medical staff, creating a customer service department, and creating a single point of contact, and modeling some services on private care. the secretary is a veteran himself, a graduate of west point, and he says he was incensed when he read an inspector general's report details how phony waiting lists were used to make it seem like veterans were getting timely care when they were not. >> thank you. a strong winter storm is

pounding the northern plains tonight, dumping over a foot of snow in minnesota. the freezing weather will be heading south this week. kevin corriveau is here with more. >> this is the strongest storm we have seen this season, and you can see all of the snow we're seeing on the radar especially in minnesota where we have seen over 16 inches of snow falling. by the airport, 2.5 inches, but that was enough to delay flights over three hours, and we saw about 390 car accidents across the region. behind the snow the temperatures are really dropping over the last 24 hours. for rapid city, you are 33 degrees colder than you were yesterday. for denver 48 degrees colder. rapid city you are 11 degrees. this cold air mass is going to be a big problem, because we're going to be seeing it in place for over a week. and with the wind chill rapid city feels more like minus 15

degrees. for minneapolis it will take more than five days for you to get above freezing. they are normally about 45 degrees this time of year. >> thanks, kevin. lava has claimed its first house on the big island. the lava began creeping towards the town back in june. residents of the house had been evacuated. the lava has burned a cemetery, a shed and a number of other structures. a disturbing study on how general motors responded to a report for faulty ignitions. it placed an order for replacement parts months before notifies the government of a problem. >> reporter: the wall street journal got ahold of a report that shows that a gm contract

worker placed an order for over 500,000 ignition switch replacements back in 2013 after a meeting with executives. it was couple of months later earlier this year when general motors issue massive ignition switch recall. we learned that gm knew of this problem for over a decade and did nothing about it. the inin addition switch can slip into the off position and a number of features won't work such as air bags. now today's report does not look good for general motors, and they released this statement, saying that these emails are further confirmation that our systemed needed reform, and we have done so. we have reorganized our entire safety administration and investigation process, and now move issues more quickly and

make decisions with better data. what is interesting is the auto maker is also having a tough time getting people into their dealerships to get these vehicles fixed. just a couple of weeks ago the auto maker started a new incentive where it is offering a $25 gift card to places such as wal-mart or applebee's just to get people through their doors. they want to make sure that every one of these vehicles are repaired. i'm told the auto maker has been in talks with the government for sometime to figure out ways to get people to the dealerships, but clearly today's report duds not bode well for general motors. jonathan. still ahead, the president's plea for net neutrality. plus she is nominated to be america's next attorney general. she talks to me about our qualifications and what she is

like to work with.

president obama has taken a stand in the debate over open access to internet. the president urged the fcc to make an opinion. jacob ward reports. >> reporter: when it comes to the fcc, president obama is just another citizen. he doesn't have authority over the fcc. but the fact that he is lending his voice to this, makes clear just how strongly people feel about net neutrality. let's revisit what it is that net neutrality really is. one of the founding notions of the internet is that it should be like a utility. think of it as trucks moving over a highway. everyone in that scenario, has equal access to the same roads to reach their destination.

but in recent years comcast and others have begun offering entirely different roadways, i'm talking about whole other highways, they are fancy, smooth, lots of lanes, and they get to charge a premium for being on those new highways. the worry is that if you have two different highway systems the companies in charge of them could begin ignoring the road that no one is paying for, offering only snarled traffic, and only getting around for people that can pay on the high end road. so the internet should be a utility is the argument. once you pay, everyone whether you are netflix or a local newspaper should be able to expect equal service. now that the president has taken this on it has become a political issue. ted cruz wrote a response facebook saying quote:

well, maybe. it's sort of a confusing point. but here is something to think about. consider that comcast and time-warner hope to merge which would put them in charge of providing the internet to 40% of the people in 19 of the 20 places in the u.s. anyone can get on the internet with a good idea and reach the world, but what if the person with that good idea has to pay extra, maybe a lot extra to the one network provider that can get it out there to each area, and what if the person takes their chances on the slower internet? if we have to wait for that good idea to load and load and load in our area, will you still wait around? that's the question we're grappling with here. possible battle is growing over the president's choice to replace eric holder.

lynch has won senate confirmation twice. she is certain, though, to face tough new scrutiny. alan is a long time friend and colleague of loretta lynch. we have heard a lot about her work, but what is she like personally? >> she's a great person. she's nice. she is bright. she's engaging. you know, just a real class act. >> and one who i have read avoids the spotlight. >> i think that's right. i think she lets the work of her office speak for her. but because she has been involved in a very big office and takes on high-profile matters, she has gotten some attention. >> how do you think she will be

able to handle the attention in the coming weeks? >> i think she will be terrific. she is very poised and unflappable. she is very calm and collected, under pressure, and she has been in pressure situations before. and she's very smart, and i think she'll be able to handle whatever comes her way with skill and appropriately. >> what do you think she will bring to the table as u.s. attorney general? >> i think she has got the whole skill set that you would want. she is smart, has great judgment, she has worked in the department for 15 years. she has overseen one of the largest attorney general's offices in the country twice now. and she handles high profile situations very well. >> some of those including prosecuting new york police officers for brutality back in 1997 against a haitian immigrant. how did that case define her career? >> well, it was an important case in her career.

i don't think it defines it. i think her body of work is far more extensive than that. the cases she worked on before that and after it. but that was a very important high-profile case, and i think she handled that expertly. >> and some of the other high profile cases including citi. but there has been criticism that she was too lenient on some of the big banks. >> right. and i suspect she'll get questions along those lines, and i expect she will be able to explain the challenges a prosecutor faces in what it takes to make a case like that. >> you think she will work well with republicans? >> i think she will work well with anybody with any political stripe. >> what do you think she is going through right now? do you think she is excited? nervous?

>> yes, keep going. >> enthusiastic, all of it. >> that too. >> is this something you thought was on her radar when you knew her years ago? >> i wouldn't say that. i mean she's extraordinarily talented and committed prosecutor, but i can't say i thought 15 years ago she would be attorney general years ago, that said i'm not surprised she is president obama's pick. >> she is breaking some ground there as well as being the first african american woman to the attorney general's office once she is confirmed. >> all right. thank you for coming in tonight we appreciate it. >> my pleasure. still ahead, protecting its borders, or provoking military conflict. plus with one in five women sexually assaulted in college, we'll talk with "america

tonight" joie chen.

welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm jonathan betz. coming up, protesting turn violent in mexico over the suspected murders of 43 missing students. plus going for the gold,

russia amasses tons of the precious metal. and no laughing matter, jon stewart on his new film why the famous comedian and critic is taking a serious stand for freedom of the press. ♪ can protests are spreading in mexico over unanswered questions in the disappearance of 43 students. today thousands protested, blocking access to the airport. clashes with police injured about a dozen officers. our adam rainy has the details. [ shouting ] >> reporter: the latest in nearly daily demonstrations in mexico. confrontations followed. blood was spilled. some protesters are provoking authorities like these in

acapulco. in guerrero state where the studentings were attacked and abducted. angry protesters have repeatedly attacked cars and government buildings. here at the national palace where the president is in office, a handful of protesters set the door on fire and tried to break it down. but the mass movement is a largely peaceful one. it shows an enraged nation, one calling out for justice. one tired of the fact that 30,000 people have gone missing in a raging drug war. daniel edits one of the nation's leading news cites. >> translator: we people have asking for a major change. what they are going to achieve is difficult to say, because mexico we have a political class completely uninterested in solve

the problem. >> reporter: but today he says it's different. perhaps the tragedy has awoken mexico. for now the families of the 43 students, and those of thousands of others disappeared are still seeking justice in a country where that eludes so many. let's talk more about this with a contributing writer who focuses on latin america for global voices online. thanks for being in tonight. >> thank you for inviting me. >> let's talk about the protests we're seeing now. why are we seeing so much anger over this crime? >> well, this is a product of frustration for many mexicans in the way that the government has been handling this untamed situation of violence and -- particular in states like guerrero and other states in the northern part of mexico. i think it's the anger, the frustration, the fact that the government -- at least the

municipal government at the helm of the mayor of iguala, they were colluding with these criminal forces. >> these are supposed to be trusted authorities that ended upturning on protesters. why would the mayor and his wife allegedly want these people killed? this >> here is the story -- i think you mentioned something really interesting. the emotional component that this has. these were students, and rural students. i mean they are not well off students by no means. so the backdrop of the story is that they -- the students went to protest the fact that the mayor was going to cut funds for indigenous people, even for them -- for vocational purposes, and this was on the 26th of september when they were going to protest, lead some rallies during an event that the wife was organizing -- the mayor's

wife. >> the concern was they were going to interrupt the wife's speech. does it come down to that basically? >> correct. and what they did -- what the mayor did was just to send public safety to contain what they were supposed to do. they thought they were going to sabotage the event, and that's when we see the cross fire where at least three students, you know, died in that -- in that moment of -- you know, that reaction between the public safety and the -- the gangs called guerrero [ inaudible ] and then we saw that the students went back to the bus, or the buses, and then the police chased them down. >> and eventually handed them over to the gang members who allegedly killed them all. >> exactly. >> we have talked about the anger that is coming from this. how far do you expect the anger to go? how troubling could this be for the mexican president? >> this is what could happen. what we have seen is a rise of

parra militarism in mexico. we have seen that in the area of of what we call [ inaudible ]. what i mean by that -- is that -- is -- peasants, people who can arm themselves they take justice in their own hands. the contact that the mayor had connections with the cartels, and even the police -- the police handed these students over to the cartels means that people cannot trust the government anymore. so what could happen is a rise in paramilitarism. this could be a way that we are taking actions into our own handses. >> but it also could turn into a uprising. >> absolutely. seeing the consequences that you see in columbia, for example, where you see self-defense forces using just as an excuse

to kill a bunch of people that is what could happen. >> that's what you are afraid could happen. >> i'm very afraid that could happen. >> thank you for coming in. in the middle east the iraqi army says it has managed to reach the center of an isil strong hold. an exclusive look now with reporter imran khan. >> reporter: just a day ago, isil was said to be firmly in control. today, the graffiti tells the story. the flag used by the group has been covered in iraqi security force slogan as the army takes large parts of the town from isil fighters. the taking of the town and the nearby oil refinery was an victory or isil as they swept through in june. once geb -- again this is being seen as a victory for the iraqi army and those fighting with them.

>> translator: let all of the young men come here and join warms -- warms with their brothers. we have to give big support to the youth to join the fight against isil, especially in the province as it is considered the breaking point for isil's advance towards bagdad. >> reporter: fighting continues though, through the rest of the town. very early on, isil established the town as a command and control center for all of the territory it controlled inside iraq, but it was also about business acumen. they control their lucrative oil-smuggling operation, which netted them millions of dollars. the iraqi security forces used helicopters to push isil fighters from the center of the town. the oil refinery is now the next big target. located about 15 kilometers away, isil fighters remain in control of parts of the

facility, but they are cut off from the town itself, and are surrounded by iraqi forces. two days of high-level talks over iran's nuclear program have ended with no apparent progress. secretary of state john kerry left today after meeting with the iranian foreign minister. u.s. officials would not comment on the talks. a senior iranian official said little was accomplished. a deadline is now set for december 24th. a highly disturbing pattern of violations is being described as tensions deepen over ukraine. barnaby phillips has more. >> reporter: in the skies above europe, russia and nato are playing out a dangerous game. this is a norwegian fighter following a russian bomber. bringing nuclear powers into

potential confrontation. >> i think the danger is they fire or each other or collide with one another. one side or the other believes they are attacked and takes action to avoid that act, then we have a shooting incident which could then spiral out of control. >> reporter: the report identifies three incidents. the first in april when a commercial airliner narrowly avoided colliding with a russian surveillance plane off of the coast of denmark. the second was the abduction of an estonian intelligence officer. the third was a large-scale submarine hunt last month. sweden went looking for what it called a foreign power. some accused russia, an acquisition moscow denied. the hunt for the mystery submarine evoked memories of the cold war when a number of soviet

submarines enter swedish waters. but in the cold war the two sides had systems in place to talk to each other, and prevent escalation. >> there is a need for military to military communication between nato and russia, so they can communicate about what their militaries are doing, where they are doing it, and when. therefore making sure that everybody is a little bit calmer, and people can take a little bit more time over decisions. >> reporter: in eastern ukraine, military hardware, presumably russian in rebel t terer -- territory this week. russia says it's the west which interferes and seeks to expand its influence. it may not be the idealogical struggles of the cold war, but the dangers of that era are creeping up on us again. now to another mystery out

of russia as western sanctions hit home. the russian president has been stockpiling gold. >> reporter: that's right jonathan. russia has one of the world's largest stockpiles of gold, and they may need to cash in. it appears the kremlin may have a backup plan. while the watched the price of gold drop off of a cliff over the last two years, russia has been buying and buying. in september alone the country bought 41 tons of gold valued at $1.5 billion. putin may just be taking advantage of a bargain or it might be part of largest plan. >> this these are mainly strategic golds. it's a way of hedging its bets against the dollar. >> reporter: western economic sanctions over the ukraine crisis, the fallen oil prices, and a weakened ruble all have

contributed to a slowdown in russia's economy. the central bank predicts there could be zero net growth through 2013. >> they are not doing well right now because of western sanctions, as the ruble has fallen to a four-year low against the u.s. dollar. so buys more gold is just sort of a reaction to safeguard its reserves. >> reporter: it would also be a way to give putin the upper hand economically. if the ukraine crisis flairs up. >> if we start to see a deterioration in the situation in ukraine, that once again [ inaudible ] on local markets in eastern europe, and that in turn will feed through into europe, and i think in particular have a further negative impact on the euro. >> reporter: so far western sanctions have not been aimed at putin personality, and remains popular in russia. he earns about $187,000 a year

as a russian president, he is believed to be one of the world's richest men, because of his personal stake in oil companies, as well as gazprom. jonathan in the last ten years, russia's central bank has been the most active purchaser of gold. and has been buying even more this year. sanctions are blocking russian mines from selling on the international market. so russia has been forced to buy up all of that extra gold. a year ago "america tonight" debuted a special report on sexual assaults on campuses. now joie chen is taking a look at what changed and what hasn't. >> i remember waking up, and he was kissing me, and before i knew it, he was trying to have sex with me, and i tried to push him off, but i was so weak, because of how intoxicated i was, it wasn't effective.

and i told him no, and to stop. and they could don't this. >> did you know you were being raped? >> at the time no, i didn't even remember leaving the party. >> the justice department estimates one in five women will be sexually assaulted on a college campus. in the police report, according to rebecca's lawyer, the attacker admits having sex with her long after she said no. he fully admitted to continuing to have sex with me after i said no. >> we began to think, really something needs to be done to remove this young man from this campus. >> they found it in "america tonight" report. >> we saw it in the expose. >> title 9 mandates schools that get federal money protect their

students from sexual assault and fully investigate abuse claims. >> i had never heard of title nine before. i was one of those people that always thought oh, it's never going to happen to me. >> the number of title nine complaints filed have more than tripled. right now 90 cases are under investigation at 86 colleges and universities. >> rapes are not always in back alleys. it happens in the presense of people you know and trust. which i don't think the general public recognizes. >> joie chen joins us live from washington. since your series aired, has anything gotten better? >> yeah, i think it's a meter of perspective. the number of title nine complaints has tripled since our investigation ran. does that mean it is better or worse? better because there's more reporting or worse because there

are so many of these events. the white house has launched a major initiative and threatened to pull funds through the title nine complaints, but we have to know after all of the investigations that have been done, not single college or university has yet lost his funding. >> wow, and what about the students judged guilty of these complaints. >> yeah, victims say it is really a slap on the wrist in many cases, that only 10 to 25% of the cases, and we have review ed that, even when an attacker is found responsible of a sec crime is that person expelled even when a university agrees he is responsible for the attack. they are often encouraged to write letters or essays, but survivors want them expelled. on the other hand, tomorrow night we're going to look at sex crimes from the accused perspective even when there's a false accusation, that can ruin a student's academic career.

>> we are looking forward to that report. joie chen thank you for that. and joie will have much more coming up on america america at 9:00 pm eastern, 6:00 pacific. tonight the fbi is investigating a cyber attack on the u.s. post office. they say employee information was hacked. the information of up to 800,000 employees may have been compromised. customers could also be at risk. open enrollment for the affordable care act starts on saturday. the obama administration expects between 9 and 10 million people to get coverage. officials are trying to encourage consumers to sign up, saying the site is faster and easier to use. >> reporter: this is the first time the administration has ventured an estimate about how many people will sign up under the affordable care act for 2015. the congressional budget office

had its own estimate of about 13 million enrollees. from health and human services much lower about 9.9 million. although that's more than the 7 million enrollees from this year. they based the estimate on a three-year phase in. hhs is saying, it is going to be a much longer phase in, four to five years. the open enrollment period does begin this saturday, and health and human services secretary sylvia burwell says consumers will find a streamlined interaction. >> they have a better interaction. things are simpler, faster, and more intuitive. >> reporter: the republican congressional leadership has promised to at least peel back parts of the law.

and the supreme court has agreed to hear a case about federal subsidies that allow many to afford the insurance. the court will decide whether those subsidies are legal. health and human services are trying to keep the focus on the individual stories of those who can now get health care, when in the past they could not. >> our lisa stark in washington. a doctor being treated for ebola in new york city is expected to get out of the hospital tomorrow. officials say craig spencer is free of the virus. he was admitted on october 23rd. he returned to the u.s. after treating ebola patients in guinea. patagonia is one of the world's most remote locations. the delicate ecosystem is now under threat. but an american couple has an

innovative idea for saving the region. >> reporter: a dream to turn the clock back as close as possible to the place darwin found when he first stepped foot in patagonia. until recently the chilean region was considered the most remote corner of the southern hemisphere, but not enough to prevent environmental destruction from overgrazing. >> we have donated three national parks so far. >> reporter: now thanks to thompkins and his wife chris, this 70-kilometer hot spot is coming back to life. the fences are gone, and the wild grass is growing. >> you come here, and you think god this is like a paradise because they are black where their belong. they know that they are not hunted, and that's why you can

stand here so close to them, and they don't -- they don't care. >> reporter: they don't run away. the native cousins to the llama are once again thrivering as are these animals, which were in danger of extinction. now their only enemies are the natural predators. the exceo of the outdoor clothing company, patagonia used much of her personal fortune to by this former sheep and cattle ranch. creating a national park is almost always accompanied by controversy, and this is no exception. the thompkins are the first to admit that shifting land use to conservation enef have itably start controversy.

chris thompkins who now considers patagonia her home, say the parks are a way to build a defense to the destruction of the natural world. >> are we willing to use up every square inch of this planet at the risk of losing most species just to make sure we humans consume as much as we want to. >> reporter: they have formed the largest collection of land destined for conservation and national parks of any couple in the world, are saying no. there's a lot more ahead tonight, including our photo of the day, plus -- >> you are not projecting strength, you are projecting weakness through these crackdowns. >> reporter: the daily show host talks about turning the story of an imprisoned journalist into a movie.

earlier i told you what is happening with our snow storm. we're getting a lot of snow right here. tomorrow we'll be focusing a little bit more towards the north, especially in michigan. we could be seeing up to 24 to 30 inches of snow between tuesday as well as wednesday. then a lot of that snow goes up towards parts of ontario. for minneapolis you may see a mix of rain and snow, and the problem with that is, the sground still going to be frozen, so that means it is going to be very slick on the road over the next couple of days. as the rain starts to push off, you'll see a lot more cold air coming into play here. really no rain or snow to talk about here. it will be replaced by very, very cold air. i want to show you the low temperatures we expect to see every morning. first of all denver 24 degrees.

but take a look at houston. they will be seeing only 40 degrees, and that will drop to 35 degrees. minneapolis will start at about 40 as well, but the cold air by the end of the week makes its way towards the eastern seaboard, new york 40 degrees, washington, d.c., 32 degrees. dallas you are seeing about the coldest you have seen all summer and into the winter. we're going to be about 25 degrees below average for this time of year. over here towards new york city, you are going to be cold as well, but no rain or snow in the forecast. that's a look at your national weather.

this week the first feature film from comedian jon stewart debuts. it's about a journalist jailed in iran back in 2009. we sat down to auk about the film and the issue of press

freedom. >> john, why did you decide to do this? there are so many different and universal aspects to this film. and i wanted to see if we could tell it in a way that did it limit it to the eccentricities of one regime. these are practices going on in many countries, and they are arresting more and more people. whether it be iran, turkey, saudi arabia, egypt, the united states has its way of putting pressure on journalists. this is happening. >> so i watch you on his show talk about what happened to you, and the impression i get -- i mean, you seem joyful, you seem positive, you seem energized now that you are out. there doesn't seem to be a lot of vindictiveness. >> no, i mean there's no point of vindictiveness and anger. and of course when that was happening to me, but then when you put a distance between

yourself and the experience, you have to sublimate your bad experiences into something more positive -- >> and you did that with the book? >> with the book, with the film, and talking with you now. >> and you can see much more of jon's interview tomorrow. we take an in-depth look at rose water and the issue of press freedom tomorrow at 8:30 eastern right here on al jazeera america. still ahead at 11:00 pm eastern, taking the idea of no smoking another step further. does a city have the right to go tobacco free. plus why china created a national holiday to celebrate the lives of singles. and finally, our picture of the day. it's from the apac meeting in beijing. the summit hosted 15 economic

leaders from around the world. stay with us. "america tonight" starts right now.