people choose to risk their lives? >> antonio mora, award winning and hard hitting. >> people are dying because of this policy... >> there's no status quo, just the bottom line. >> but what is the administration doing behind the scenes? >> real perspective, consider this on al jazeera america >> al jazeera america this is al jazeera america, live from new york city. i'm richelle carey, here are the top stories. vicious fighting on the ground in kobane. on the battlefield a divide between i.s.i.l.'s enemies. in the streets of hong kong - thousands demanding democracy statistics are staggering - 35 million deaths from aides, 34 million infected with aids and the new space race - where we are going, and how

we'll get there. the bitter siege at the border town of kobane is straining relations between the kurdish forces defending the city and turkey on the other side of the border. dozens of i.s.i.l. fighters have been killed, but kurdish leaders are angry, accusing attacks to come through turkey. >> reporter: the latest attempt by fighters by i.s.i.l. to take control of kobane's crossing into turkey involved an assault, including a car filled with explosives and suicide bombs. at least 110 shells were launched and tanks involved in the attack, according to the syrian observatory for human rights, u.k. based. the border remains under the control of syrian kurdish fighters, according to their spokesman. this latest push by i.s.i.l.

seems to have exacted a heavy toll on the group. around 50 fighters have been killed since saturday. according to the soh. it would be their biggest single loss of life since i.s.i.l. began its assault in september. a kurdish spokesman said the car bomb appeared to come from the turkish side of the border. turkish military dismissed the claim as lives. video has been posted of a man firing from the turkish side of the border, showing grain silos in turkey. the man emerges from between a wall and silos. the railway line is in turkey, 100 or so meters from turkish territory. turkey said the man is one of a number of y.p.g. fighters during heavy fighting. the attempt to take control of

kobane is one of i.s.i.l.'s toughest challenges. fierce resistance from fighters joined by iraqi peshawar, and backed up with u.s. air strikes to stop the town from falling. despite both sides pouring resources into the fight, control of kobane remains roughly evenly split between both sides while in turkey, pope francis and the head of the orthodox christians condemned i.s.i.l. and the persecution of the religious minorities. the pope wrapped up his visit, including meeting bartholomew the 1st. and says more must be done >> translation: we hear this here, some are scarred by an inhumane war, taking away the pass of the people, committing acts of violence, especially when directed against the weak

and the defenseless is a sin against god. it means showing contents for the image of god. >> turkey is home to 2 million refugees from syria. thousands of christians are among the refugees. france called for an interfaith dialogue with muslims to counter fundamentalism coming up, a one on one with a french fighter in syria, considered to be a leading recruit are for i.s.i.l. dozens of arrests in hong kong after protesters clashed with police. protesters are stepping up the movement, demanding greater autonomy for elections in 2017. police hit demonstrators with batons trirks to drive them from the -- trying to drive them from the streets. >> there was a big flare-up in hong kong. it began as a rally.

student organizers told protesters to turn up and be prepared with face masks and goggles. seems they had a plan in mooned. they have been looking -- in mind. they've been looking for something to do since being cleared out of an occupation site in kowloon district. they urged protesters to come to the admiralty part of hong kong island. and it seemed they'd try to block the headquarters, seal off the entrances into the headquarters and stop people turning up for work in the morning - civil servants. they have gone beyond that. there has been serious clashes, a number of injuries and arrests, and a number of roads have been occupied. in is one of the main battle ground, if you like, between police and protesters. police maintained and kept traffic running through hear for the past couple of weeks. it's been the scene of sporadic

clashes and once again the scene of a big clash. as you can see, thousands of protesters have taken obvious control of this road. they are waiting to see whether, indeed, the police will intervene, whether they'll come back, and what they'll come back with, with how much force. police maintain they used minimal force. that's disputed by the protesters, who are on the receiving end of the batons and the like rob mcbride reporting there rallies in egypt have been peaceful today after at least four were killed protesting a judge's decision to drop murder and corruption charges against former president hosni mubarak. the same groups that opposed hosni mubarak's regime, are calling for demonstrations cairo's tahrir square has become a symbol for the january 25th revolution bringing down the government of hosni

mubarak three years ago. now, the protesters are back. demonstrating against a court verdict. hosni mubarak had been charged with conspiring to kill demonstrators during the revolution. now that case has been dismissed. >> translation: the verdict to acquit hosni mubarak and his aides was a shock to all those taking to the streets. >> reporter: in scenes reminiscent of the 2011 revolution and the coup against former president mohamed mursi there were running street battles, tear gas and water canons. >> all those who died. if hosni mubarak didn't kill them with adley and his helpers, who killed them. we saw the armored vehicle running over people in cairo, tar rear and every province -- tar rear and every province in egypt. how can he be cleared.

>> reporter: his aides and two sons were cleared as well. hosni mubarak is under house arrest for a separate embezzlement conviction. after the verdict he spoke on local television. >> translation: i felt i did nothing wrong at all. i was waiting to find out what they will come up with this time. it was an innocent verdict. i did nothing wrong at all. >> the so-called arab spring was full of hope and promise in egypt. most of that has been lost. in its place is an undivided country. and the man protesters struggled to overthrow may walk free in russia, the issue is health care. thousands of demonstrators converged on the street of moscow protesting changes to the system, saying it will lead to job loss and the closure of

health centers >> reporter: doctors, nurses and patients gathered in their thousands, united in opposition to the moscow health service reshuffle. no one argued that it doesn't need a makeover. these professionals near the plans will lead to the had closure of 27 moscow hospitals and clinics, and 8,000 health care workers being made jobless. health care is being buried, it says, on the side of the coffin. this doctor, a gastero enterologist says she is living on the edge, fearing redundancy along with others. she sees no logic in sacking doctors when there's a dire shortage of doctors in the capital. >> translation: they fire doctors and nurses of preretirement age, those who gave up to 30 years of their lives to medicine. many doctors were offered

ridiculous positions as cleaning staff. they fire people because they say there's too many doctors, although it's acknowledged there's a shortage of them. >> reporter: many the elderly joined the march, genuinely concerned that the cuts would leave a vulnerable sector of society at risk to a brutal winter. for the second time in less than a month they are on the march again. thousands upon thousands in protest, sending a message to the government that this rebellion is far from over. >> demands for independence could be heard in yemen today. thousands gathered in the south to call for independence from the north. it comes on the 47th anniversary of independence. north and south yemen were separate states. this report from aiden that the movement is again gaining momentum. this is the focal paint of

south yemen's secessionist movement. the independence square has become the symbol of their campaign to breakaway from the north. today they commemorate the anniversary of their independence from british colonial rule almost 50 years ago. the flag, the slogans and the chant are a nostalgic reminder of when aiden was the capital of a socialist republic that existed until 1990, when the south joined the unified republic of yemen, a move that is widely seen here as a mistake. >> we want to breakaway from the north, which is occupying our lands. we will wean our fight for independence. this colonel is a retired officer, now in charge of training the army that will take

over security if the south splits. >> translation: we are prepared to take over the security of the south. we have military bases and our soldiers are ready to fight for the liberation of the south. secessionists described the movement as peaceful. inspired by houthi political and military gains in the north. the separatists say if their demands are ignored. they may be advised to unilaterally close the border with the north. >> for the secessionists this could be the beginning of a long fight. they plan to escalate the civil disobedience campaign, until they get a state of their own women's issues have been a big topic of discussion at the francophonic summit. there was a milestone in the selection of a new leader.

barnaby phillips reports. . >> the most significant outcome of this meeting of la francophonie is the choice of a new secretary-general. for the first time in this organization's history, it will not be led by a man or an african. that had been the unspoken tradition of la francophonie, that an african elder statesman would be at the helm. it's been broken by a canadian woman of haitian origin. she is a former governor general of canada and she'd like to take la francophonie into the 21st century with a greater emphasis on women's rights and the rights of young people, human rights, democracy and so on. we'll have to see how easy that will be. it appears her selection was something of an arduous process, the announcement coming later than expected. perhaps that indicates tensions behind the scenes. the french supported her, they

are keen to dispel the notion that la francophonie is a cosy cabal of old-style west african leaders, if you like, with close ties to governments in paris barnaby phillips reporting the mayor of ferguson, missouri says his city is taking steps to address issues raised following the killing of michael brown and hopes the community can begin healing. jonathan martin joins us with more. the mayor is hopeful. it seems there are significant segments of the community that are not as hopeful. >> yes, still a challenge here for a lot of people. a lot of people here in the community expected that darren wilson would resign, but a lot of leaders wished he would have resigned sooner, before the grand jury decision, the tone of the protests would have been different. the mayor and the police chief of ferguson held a news conference a couple of hours ago

talking about the resignation, that it had been in the works for weeks, and the threats made to the police department and to officer wilson himself, and that he will not receive severance pay and the decision, the resignation is effective immediately. >> i think it's best at this point that we move on as a community. officer darren wilson and his family have moved on, and the city of ferguson is looking to see how we can bring the community together. >> reporter: did you or the chief ask for his resignation? >> no. >> so, again, saying they did not. it was up to darren wilson to resign. a criticism in ferguson over the last few months is the police department not reflective demographically of the community. one of the things that the police chief and mayor mentioned is they are starting a scholarship to recruit more african-americans. they'll provide scholarships to

the police department. african-americans. i want to mention that we saw michael brown's parent. they were at a church service, at the church where michael brown's funeral rahs held. -- was held. they did not speak publicly, but reverend al sharpton was there to deliver the sermon and spoke, saying the resignation was a step in the right direction, but brings little comforted to the family. >> the affected is the family that remains with open wounds. and just quitting your job or taking your job will not be objective. it was not about darren wilson's job, it was about michael brown's justice. >> so again, the question here remains, and the thing that a

lot of people talk about is how will the resignation, the fact that he stepped down will affect the tone of the process. a couple of hundred were out here, some were arrested. a lot of protesters pointed out they were not just protesting for michael brown to step down, but for new lawyers, and a lot want the police chief to step down. during the news conference he said he had no plan to step down if it's sunday in america, it's football. i understand you have something to tell us how football and social issues intersected today. >> yes, the rams, st louis rams and oakland raiders are playing. it should a wrap up any minute. they are playing at the stadium of st louis. we saw some of players protest in their own way. some came out with their hands

up, the gesture we see over and over again during the protests. we saw a lot of protesters outside before the game started. seems like that's something the protesters are trying to do. getting attentions that this is on national tv. a lot of people saw the players protesting in their own way. >> makes a statement. thank you the state department is urging the qatari government to allow an american couple to leave the country. >> matthew and grace swan were sentenced to three years in a qatarry prison in march. they are convicted for the death of their daughter who died, die apparently from complications of an eating disorder. cleared by the court, they are unable to leave qatar. >> we feel the qatar government is ignoring the calls of police and the u.s. government. and that the emir has a heart for justice, but this case is a fault of lower level people that

refuse to admit their mistakes. >> they spent a year in prison before being released. this note - al jazeera's american company is funded in part by the government in qatar coming up, hopes for an aids-free generation, world age day as 34 million people are living with the disease today plus, an al jazeera exclusive - one on one with a man recruiting foreign fighters for.i

tomorrow is world aids day which has been marked every year since 1988. it's time to assess the impact of the disease and focus on efforts to eradicate the virus. the disease has killed

35 million worldwide. 34 million are living with h.i.v. aids. joining us is dr dmitri, an assistant commissioner of health with the department of hygiene. thank you for joining us. it's tomorrow. what are the big advantages to celebrating on a day like tomorrow? >> the world of h.i.v. is different to the last couple of decades. we have anti-rhettero viral therapy saving millions of lives and h.i.v. acquisition, it's the town of a now day where we have hold and new tools creating a continuum of those at risk. >> what progress has been made, and people who need these things getting access to it? >> we are making a lot of progress. the important thing is that all the stars are aligned.

the political, scientific will and medical will are there, where we are getting antiviral therapy to the hands that need it, at risk and living with h.i.v. we have wonderful ways to increase access and really, like i said, with new medicines on board to prevent h.i.v. acquisition, that political will is there, and the medical will to make a public health intervention. >> what has been working in new york city, that you think can work in other parts of the world? >> i think the treatment and prevention is a powerful element working in new york city. thousands and thousands of people are on anti-rhettero viral therapy, more and more are engaged in care and taking meds and more being detected, if you don't have the virus in the blood. that means you are protecting their health. that is a lesson for the world. we are learning from africa and other parts of the world.

>> tell me about that. >> from a lot of studies, many of which happened in africa, it demonstrates that if you treat people you may have a 96% reduction in transmission risk. >> that's huge. >> it's staggering. treating people is enough to make an impact. on top of that, the messaging with condoms, testing and pre-exposure, we have a lot of tools necessary to take this on. >> what are the next achievements or goals horizon. . >> i want everyone tested for h.i.v. that is important. for me, h.i.v. testing is a gateway not just for people living with h.i.v. to get into care, but people who are a negative, to learn about ways to stay negative. i think it is to lead the duality of h.i.v. positive and negative, and enter the world, but this is just one story. >> fantastic, tomorrow, world aids day, thank you very much the latest numbers from the

world health organisation show nearly 7,000 have died from ebola this year. the outbreak has been controlled in guinea, sierra leone and liberia. one of the biggest problems is lack of awareness. kim vinnell introduces us to people going door to door to find anyone that is infected. >> reporter: when he's on patrol he gets to the point. >> do you have any sickness in your house here? >> no. >> he asks whether anyone has died recently. or whether anyone is sick. it's a routine he'll repeat every day until this entire county in liberia's north-west is declared ebola-free. >> translation: in my country i'm assigned to 40 households in block c. there is two of us. for me i have 20 houses i visit daily. among the 20 houses i came across three who are sick.

>> reporter: he is an active case finder, one of a thousand locals who finds those that have ebola and teach them about the disease. liberian officials believe communities have the power to lower rates of infection, even by simple means. >> since i started the awareness, it's encouraging. people are accepting it, some are going by what we are telling them. some forgot about using buckets to wash their hands. going around talking to them, they started to use buckets. >> but the ebola virus is one step ahead of efforts to contain it. in liberia, it's thought 23% of the people who have ebola are being isolated, and burial teams in liberia, guinea and sierra leone are still in short supply. >> no secret. we have tradition, playing with

the bodies. >> reporter: the u.n. put 250,000 towards training the ebola detectives. on the front line battling myths rampant across west africa. >> it's there for you to make the person to believe that ebola is real. >> it's hoped they'll prove an effective weapon coming up, our exclusive interview with a man considered to be a leading recruiter for i.s.i.l. homelessness reaching letters not seen since the depression, and how the biggest city may be sweeping the problem under the rug.

welcome back to al jazeera america here is a look at the top stories. demonstrators returned to the streets for a peaceful protest. last night the major said that

darren wilson would not get sever rens pay violent protests in hong kong. police grab pro-democracy protesters trying to prevent them taking to the streets. they are demanding greater autonomy for elections in 2013. >> a twist in the siege of kobane. the i.s.i.l. launched strikes from turkey. if confirmed it would be the first time they carried out strikes from turkish territory. turkey denies it. >> i.s.i.l. fighters from islamic state of iraq and levant - half are foreigners. al jazeera talks to a man regarded as the number one recruiter of french fighters. >> reporter: in early 2012 foreigners started to join the fight against the syrian government. some were mobilized by the suffering of syrians. others came when the war took a sectarian turn. for others, it was a sectarian duty.

. >>: >> reporter: according to french government authorities, this is the number one recruiter of french fighters. this senegalese born french national has given interviews before, but this is the first time he revealed his faith. >> al jazeera obtained a tape in which he explains travelling to syria is migrating to the land of islam. >>:

>> reporter: he used the internet to reach out to participation recruits. it's not clear how a man who is not a cleric and spent time in a french gaol on criminal charges was able to come to this point. he is based in the syrian controlled countryside. today some experts believe he has little influence online and on the ground. >> translation: his videos are basic with old archives with films from news reels in france, calling for jihad abroad. it has had a big impact on the young people in france, many of whom went to syria. that gives him legitimacy. his group attracts fewer militants, they have less presence online and are isolated with young followers. they fight very little. >> reporter: today most of the recruiting is done by i.s.i.l.

and french nationals appeared in the videos. according to the french government, france is the biggest single european supplier of fighters. authorities say more than 1,000 citizens have left or plan to leave to join i.s.i.l. on the surface the message in the videos may not be different to what omar used to recruit. but he didn't recruit fighters to join a group, but rather to join a cause. >>:

>> reporter: getting rid of the bashar al-assad government is not the only goal. there's no going back for those that have chosen this task. >> reporter: it is a message well understood and conveyed by i.s.i.l., a message that those joining the fight seem to understand columbia's rebels freed an army general and two others. the kidnapping prompting the

president to call off talks with the rebel. we have this report from bogota columbia. >> the handing over of the general shows a level of maturity and brings back the right climate for the negotiations to begin once again. the government peace negotiators will travel on monday. they will meet with f.a.r.c. rebels, and decide just how and when these talks will be able to resume. on the other hand the rebels, in a statement, said that they want some of the rules of the game to be reconsidered before the talks can begin again. they are trying to reach a bilateral ceasefire, which they will not be able to get. they've been clear about that. many people are talking about the possibility of possibly scaling back the conflict in some specific areas and making sure that events like this do

not occur again more than a week of rain in morocco caused devastating floods, hitting a part of the country popular with tourists. we have this report. >> reporter: flood water etched a path of destruction in this village in the a grks -- agadeer region. tearing through homes, leaving homes buried in mud and people shattered. >> everything we owned gone with the waters, what can we do. >> reporter: those that called this village home say they don't recall this much rain. this man says he and his wife moved here from france to build a mental health centre. flood water washed it away. >> we lost everything and i ask why do they give licences to build the area threatened by fluids? >> people have gotten used to the situation in some ways.

many built their houses by the river. >> elsewhere in the south, raging flood water damaged part of a bridge, and ate away chunks of road, including this primary artery leading to the border of mauritania. the damage left drivers and goods being transported stranded. >> we are waiting - and i don't know whether we'll be able to continue our journey. >> since rain pounded the south, the government says at least 32 people have died, including a child swept away by a river. others have been reported missing. this flooding it the worst in a generation. once the rain finally stops, they face a counting task of rebuilding homes and lives. >> according to the department of housing and urban developed,

600,000 americans are homeless. with the low temperatures chilling the country, the rush is on to keep the people on the streets warm. kristen saloomey takes a look at this issue. >> reporter: thompson square park on the lower east side of manhattan, is where the homeless can come for a meal and camaraderie. a place to share resources. >> i finished 18 years in prison and got released. i don't have no place to go. >> reporter: where did you sleep last night? >> on the streets. so it's it's kind of like wanting to go back. i'm trying. >> after a view weeks on the street david is thinking prison was not so bad. >> homelessness hit record highs. the city promises a shelter bed. it's estimated 3300 live on the street. >> for every person sleeping on the streets of new york. another 17 spend the night in a

city shelter, largely invisible to society. as the homeless numbers increase, they are more visible in public spaces like this. >> so all of a sudden you are walking home and you see nine bodies in sleeping bags. >> reporter: susan lived and worked in the neighbourhood for more than 40 years, and has seen the cost of the housing go up. >> there has been homeless people in the neighbourhood for some time. how are things changing. >> there have been homeless here. there has been many shelters that people are not aware of. now you see more homeless on the streets, a dramatic increase of people on the streets. >> with the shelter system growing as rapidly, and the amount of people in the shelter. during the day they don't have a lot of places to go. there's a lot of individuals staying in the shelter at night. hanging out in the park during the day, on the street corner. some panhandling.

>> i need somewhere to stay and medicine. >> reporter: city outreach workers come to make sure people like david know there are warm beds available. have you tried the shelters? >> it's worse. it's preferred to lie on the streets than being there. >> reporter: what many say is the homeless need more affordable housing amid the post thanksgiving shopping days, black friday, small business seat and cyber monday, there's another day important for many persons - giving tuesday. tonight on "the week ahead" we look at the reality of charity donations in the united states. tonight on "the week ahead". images of wars' aftermath and destruction is part of an section in london. the museum is taking us through 150 years of conflict.

>> reporter: conflict time photography is the name of a show at cape modern. hundreds of images are on show across 11 rooms. it's war photography after the fact. each photograph was taken after conflict. sometimes seconds later like don mcco mccollon's shell-shocked marine, and others like these fields showing world war i executions. >> they were told to follow the battalion, that wint over the front, were slaughtered. they resisted. they said they'd been exhausted. one in 10 people in the battalion was executed. >> reporter: there are grainy images from the american civil war and contemporary pictures of holocaust survivors in ukraine. another imageother image - this after the atomic bomb was

dropped. a piece of skull fused inside. a series documenting places where unspeakable human rights abuses were committed in libya is included. >> then you see this entrance to an underground bunker and human rights workers found prisons. they found live and dead bodies within the areas after the revolution. >> kabul became for photographer simon norfolk warfare. >> the buildings are picked to pieces, like this one. you see it's almost been nipped at. >> reporter: his pictures tell the story of devastation and death. his conflict photographs - they are beautiful to look at. in war photography there's a fine balance. you can't make the photograph too great esque -- grotesque, because it won't be used or seen. you can't make it pretty either - because war isn't. this is an alternative to

typical war reportage, giving visitors a new perspective and the time to reflects on how war impacts people's lives coming up next - n.a.s.a. prepares for a big test of its newest spacecraft. and we'll take a deeper look at the competition, a hallmark of the new space race.

thursday, n.a.s.a.'s newest spaceship gets its first test. exploration flight test one involves launching a craft into orbit. the system, including heat shields will be tested leading to a man flight expected to take place in 2022 from the beginning, the exploration was led by united states and russia, a result of research and political will power. that has changed, the international space station being an example of global cooperation. additional nations and

entrepreneurs have joined a new and exciting space race. >> reporter: the first space race launched on october 4th, 1957, with the sputnik satellite which was nothing more than a radio strans mitter in a -- transmitter in a spear. photographer the years russia and united states challenged each other to put a man in space and on the moon. after that competition cooled and both concentrated on space stations and missions. the new race is more wide open. many nations launched probes into space. >> how do you put it together. how much cooperation should there be, how much competition. >> when china launched their first into orbit. it was the third nation behind russia and the u.s. with the capability of putting human being into space. >> they'll have as space station

of their own saying they want to go to the mon. india's space station is robotic. one of the the five crafts orbiting mars is indian. >> they are the first nation to go into mars on their first try. >> the european space agency launched a satellite in 1975 and intends to use the dream chaser in space. with all players, cooperation seems to be the way forward. >> human space exploration is expensive, difficult, risky, challenging that it probably makes sense for is number of nations to do it together. >> it's an interesting model. of 15 nations working together. countries with serious arguments on the surface. >> there are the new breed of

private companies. >> we are on the verge of a great shift. there's a disruption in the wind, and that disruption is the ability of private commercial transporters to launch vehicles for a significantly smaller cost than we have seen. >> some of the new players include spacex whose craft is used to ferry supplies to the international space station. bigelow is building modules for working and living in sparks and blue origin, building rocket engines for n.a.s.a. and designing orbital and suborbital craft. despite the setback, virgin galactic has a broad agenda. >> the space tourism mission is one component in building a space infrastructure that that company, i think, intends to do last week retired astronaut chris hadfield spoke about the challenge to cooperate with

other nations, specifically russia, in space. >> it's never been easy to work internationally on something the scale of the international space station. it's never easy. i was hired as an astronaut in 1992. the soviet union came apart. when i was hired there was never a thought that we would have the russians as part of the n.a.s.a. space programme. three years later i flew and helped build a russian space nation, flying an american space shuttle and laid the ground work for the international space station. there's great arguments on earth over money, territory and power and inertia and other reasons that we argue with each other. in parallel, there's a lot of cooperative things happen that we forget. some are big and symbolic. when there's the level tension that exists on the surface, it

is good as a counter point to have a rock-solid example of cooperative success, and space station is that right now. if you doubt it, walk outside at dusk and watch the space station go over, and it - you know, it flies in the face of history. but it flies. it's up there. and there was one of the cosmonauts recently talking about what a symbol, a global symbol of success that is. any kid anywhere can walk outside and watch the flyover and think nearly impossible - things do happen. >> more of that interview will be featured on the upcoming episode of "talk to al jazeera". coming up at 6:00, the hurdles that need to be overcome before human being walk on the red planet. >> joining us now, author and thooero eticcal firsta sift. he joinses -- theo retical

firsta sift. in the past couple of weeks people are excited about rosetta and the fila lander. what are we learning. >> when we land on a comet most of the water on earth probably came from comets. what we see when we look at the material, is the material that was the basis of forming the earth, including learning about organic materials delivered to earth, which were the seeds for life. we are learning about origins when we consider that. you'd never land a human on a comet, not in our lifetime. you can do more with robots. they it is a huge factor. >> that makes all the difference in the world. >> it does. 99.9% of the money spent for sending humans into space is to

keep the humans alive. there's little left over for doing other things. it's true that the international space station is a political symbol, but that is about all it is. as far as science is concerned, it has done little. i often said one of the best experiments with the space station is let it fall in the ocean and see how big a wave it produces. >> oh dear. let's talk about the robotic probes. where else do you anticipate us sending them. >> first of all, we sent them tos mars. you talked about sending humans to mars. it's not going to happen. it's expensive. it will cost $100 billion. it is not clear that we can keep them alive on a round trip mission. i wrote a piece for the "new york times" saying we should send them on a one way mission. that's feasible. as i have tried to emphasis, you can send a rover to mars, as we have done, for the cost of making a movie about sending

bruce willis to mars. we can send 1,000 rovers to mars for the cost of a human, and have incredible rovers on the planet lasting years long. i feel just as much as if i'm on the planet, with pictures of the rovers. it's - yes, they can teach us an incredible amount. it's true in a short time a human being can do more on mars than robots, but they are improving. you have to give that compromise. that's not to say that i'm against human exploration of space. it is primarily for adventure, it's political, exciting for young kids. i was - i grew up watching astronauts go to the moon. it's inspirational. we could look for life under the oceans of europa. we'd never do that with the human being. >> thank you so much.

i am sure your class is very exciting. thank you. >> i'll talk to you again some time, take care. >> next on al jazeera america - she became a celebrity on the internet. a story of this baby sea otter and the people raising her.

good afternoon, we are in the peak of the travel for the busiest travel day of the year, whether it be on the roads or in the air. it's not been too bad of a day in terms of what we have seen in weather. we are seeing the weather - it is out here to the west. there's a lot of rain across parts of coastal california. snow moving across the plains, and low temperatures across the plains as well. this is what our forecast looks like. we'll watch this particular area, san francisco, san jose. the rain is creeping down to the south. we'll see more rain in the week. i'll showyou that. we'll see it across the mississippi valley and ohio. then on tuesday, look at the rain across parts of the california. that is a good thing. we are in a severe draught situation across most of the state. we'll see much-needed rain.

in some areas up to 3 inches of rain by the time we get to midweek. temperatures for the end of the day look like this - cold across the northern plains. when you factor in the wind, it feels like zero for some locations, but nice across the south. looking at temperature, and continuing on monday to see temperatures into the mid 70s. atlanta 67. well above average. new york, 57. that is above average. not lasting too long. as we go towards tuesday, the colder temperatures are where the northern plains shift to the east. new york seeing 41 degrees. minneapolis, improving with a temperature of 24 a sea otter pup has become an internet sensation. as diane eastabrook reports, the aquarium hopes she can shine light on the plight of other sea otters. >> reporter: at 7 years old, this sea otter pup is learning

to dive. she is learning to groom herself. these are big steps for a baby otter, orphaned at a week old, learning basic life schools in chicago's aquarium. >> like an infant, they need to be fed, groomed around the clock. we are playing the role of her mother. >> the pup got her name because she's the 681st southern sea otter rescued off the coast of california in the past 30 years. the wildlife service considers southern sea otters a threatened species. marine biologieses say they are killing thousands a year, sometimes leaving the young pups to fend for themselves. shed has four sea otters and was eager for another. the aquarium's vice president of external affairs says some orphaned sea otters are having a

diff time finding -- difficult time finding home. >> we do a space survey looking for who has space, what are the plans in five years, how many otters can you take now. many facilities had to say sorry, we have no room at the in. >> reporter: the shed got its first sea otters in 1989 after the exxon valdez oil spills, it has rehabilitate and raised 10 pups to adulthood. caring for this ball of fur is expensive. a seafood smoothy is prepared six times a day and she is bottle-fed. she gets small pieces of fish. between food and labour the aquarium sends $30,000 on the pup before she's an adult. it may be worth the expense. 681 is a darling on youtube, logging more than 3 million hits since the aquarium posted videos. if she's that popular on video,

she may be more popular when she swims before the public i'm richelle carey, "real money" weekend is next. check out the website aljazeera.com. ♪ the business of space, a new age is dawning for space exploration, a new commercial space age. >> we're democratizing space. it's about you and me, not just some massive government program. >> private american companies racing to advance the technology that will challenge our concept of space. they call it a new frontier. >> i believe that it's on the