disability. thanks for joining us. i'm joie chen. let's get you caught up to the top stories at this hour. thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators clash with police in hong kong. an american couple is banned from leaving qatar despite being cleared of wrongdoing in their daughter's death. afghanistan's president signs off on extending nato's mission in his country. 'tis the season to shop and to give. in our sunday segment "the week

ahead," we look at the state of charitable giving in america. we begin this sunday evening with live pictures from hong kong where pro-democracy activists have turned out in big numbers. no demonstrators are trying to surround government buildings to prevent workers from getting in. this was the scene about two hours ago when the protesters clashed with police. police used baton, pepper sprays and water to business% -- disperse the crowd. rob mcbride is covering the protests from hong kong. >> reporter: they were the most vie leapt clashes on the streets of hong kong in the two-month struggle. pitched battles around the main

government's headquarters in the district home to the sdmon traitors make occupation site. student leaders are called for a big turnout for what they said would be a new tactic, telling protesters to come prepared with googles and masks. then they revealed they would try to paralyze the government by laying siege to all the entrances of the government headquarters. police were just as determined to break the blockade using baton charges and pepper spray. demonstrators numbered seem to surge out of the frustration of not winning any concessions after two months of the campaign and also out of anger of losing the occupation sites in hong kong. demonstrators here are determined that the main occupation sites on hong kong island will not go the same way. rob mcbride, al jazeera, hong kong. >> we'll have more on the situation in hong kong throughout the ear. the bitter siege of kobani

is straining relations on the kurdish forces and turkey. dozens of isil fighters have been killed in the fighting with kurds and u.s.-led air strikes, but kurdish leaders accuse them to allow isil to attack through turkish territory. >> reporter: the latest attempt by fighters by isil to take control of kobani crossing into turkey involved an assault with a car filled with explosives and suicide bombers. at least 102 shells were launched and tanks were involved in the attack accord to the syrian observatory for human rights. the border remains in the control of syrian kurdish fighters according to their spokesman. this latest push by isil seems to have exacted a heavy toll on the group. around 50 fighters have been killed since saturday.

it would be their biggest single loss of life since isil began the assault on kobani in september. a kurdish spokesman says they appear to come from the turkish side of the border. the tush kish military dismissed the claim as lies. video has been posted online of a man firing from the turkish side of the border. the film shows grain silos there in turkey. the man emerges from between a wall and the siel lows. the railway line is also in turkey about 100 or so meters from syrian territory. the kurdish ypg says the gunman is from isil. turkish security forces have told al jazeera that the man is one of of a number of ypg fighters that took shelter there during heavy fighting. the attempt to take control of kobani has become one of isil's touchest challenges. fierce resistance from kurdish fighters joined by iraqi fighters and backed up with u.s. air strikes stopped the town

from falling. despite both sides pouring enormous resources into the fight, control of kobani remains ruffly evenly split between both sides. bernard smith, al jazeera, istanbul. >> reporter: in turkey today pope francis the head of the orthodox christians condemned isil and the persecution of religious minorities in syria and iraq. the pontiff wrapped up the three-day visit meeting bartholomew i. they say more must be down. >> translator: we hear this resoundingly here. it takes away a peace of apeople committing every act of violence especially when directed against the weakest and defensive is a grave sin against god since it means showing contempt for the image of god in man. >> turkey is home to 2 million

refugees from syria. thousands of christians where among the refugees. earlier in the trip he called for an interfaith dialogue. the convoy arrived in donetsk with much-need the food and supplies. the goods were unloaded at rather pows. the self-declared mayor of donetsk says the supplies will be distributed to those most in need at hospital and in schools. in russia protesters rally against health care costs. thousands converged on the streets of moscow protesting changes to the health care system and its cuts. they say the plans lead to massive job losses and closures of health centers. peter sharp reports. >> reporter: doctors, nurses and pashs gathered in thousands united in opposition to the government's draconian restructuring of moscow's ram-shackled health service. no one argues it doesn't need a

radical makeover, but they fear the plans lead to the closure of 27 moscow hospitals and clinics and nearly 8,000 health care workers being made jobless. health care is being buried it says on the side of the coffin. this doctor, a gastroenterologist says she's living on the edge fearing redundant see along with other members of her profession in their clinic, and she sees no logic in sacking doctors when there's a dire shortage of medical staff in the capital. >> translator: they fired doctors and nurses at preretirement age, those who gave up close to 30 years of life to medicine. many doctors in the city hospitals were offered ridiculous positions at cleaning staff. the situation is critical. they fire people because they say there are way too many doctors, although its acknowledged there's always a shortage of them. >> reporter: many of the elderly joined the march, genuinely concerned that the proposed cuts would leave one of the most vulnerable sectors of society at

risk during another brutal moscow winter. for the second time in less than a month, they're on the march again, thousands upon thousands in protest sending a message to the government that this rebellion by the doctors and their patients is far from over. peter sa sharp, al jazeera in moscow. about 12,000 nato and u.s. troops will remain in afghanistan in 2015. the president signed a new security agreement into law today. it extends the mission beyond december 31st. the president of afghanistan signed it among increasing violence. kabul has experienced eight suicide attacks in the past 16 days. >> translator: we will enter a new chapter tr the 1st of january in the near year. they will help us with training, equipment, funding and the strengthening of forces. >> the recent attacks raise concerns about the ability of afghan security forces foo it against the taliban.

the u.s. state department is urging the cat darary couple to leave the country. they were sentenced to three years in march. they were convicted in the death of their adopted daughter in 25013 apparently of complications from an eating disorder. although acquitted by the court today, they were detained at the airport in doha as they tried to leave the country. they're still waiting for permission to return home to the u.s. >> what are you looking forward to the most about going back to america? >> seeing our kids. >> we're so excited to see our son. >> reporter: the wongs expressed their frustration today saying in a statement, we have begged the u.s. ambassador, the secretary of state, and even president obama to call the emir of qatar and fix this ongoing injustice. we've wait for two years. john kerry says the u.s. is deeply concerned about the delay that prevents the wongs from

returning to the u.s. saying i quote i spoke to the president today and called on the government to immediately implement the court's decision and permit the return to the united states without further delay. a local qatari newspaper says according to a legal source it's uncommon for travel bans to be lifted so soon after a court verdict. we should mention al jazeera america's parent company is funded in part by the government of qatar. the mayor of ferguson says he hopes his city can now heal and move beyond the unrest sparked by the death of michael brown. jonathan martin is joins us from ferguson tonight. what did the mayor suggest to help a city move forward? >> reporter: well, good evening, tom. the mayor said first it starts with listening. he want to reiterate that to the people in ferguson he hears their concerns, specifically the concern that came up over and over concerning the police department, the racial makeup of the police department saying many people say there aren't enough minority officers. today he announced new

initiatives to change that. also today during the news conference announcing new details about the resignation of officer darren wilson. one day after darren wilson announced his rez mags from the ferguson police department, the city's mayor and police chief held a news conference and said he was not forced out. >> i think it's best at this point we continue to move on as a community. officer wilson and his family have moouched on, and at this point the city of ferguson is looking to, again, talk about how to bring the community together. >> reporter: as michael brown's parents attended church in st. louis on sunday where their son's funeral was held, reverend sharpton insisted him stepping down offers little discomfort. >> the afflicted is the family that remains with open wounds. just quitting your job or taking your job was not the objective. it was not about darren wilson's

job. it was about michael brown's justice. >> reporter: many ferguson residents say they're hopeful wilson's resignation will change the tone of some protests in the city, which for the past two nights included about 1100 demonstrators clashing with police and a handful of arrests. sunday the st. louis rams hosted the raiders, several rams players came on the fields with their hands up, a gesture that's a symbol of the protests in ferguson. the city's mayor is committed to address the concerns of the community. >> i hope that people understand that the city of ferguson has been responsive, has listened. >> reporter: starting with the makeup of the police force. he announced the city is creating new police academy scholarships to recruit more minorities to the police department. he also said wilson will receive no severance pay. his resignation is effective immediately. city leaders hope ferguson can begin to heal. a part of that moving forward and healing many people feel

will happen tomorrow when the ferguson commission meets. that's the group of 16 residents around the st. louis area appointed by the governor. that includes police officers, activists, teachers, lawyers, all of them getting together to address social and economic issues raised by the death of michael brown. everything from poverty to education and, of course, the relationship that the law enforcement have with people here in the community. thomas. >> you bring up a good point. you talk about healing, jonathan. what does it take? what do you hear from protesters on what it's going to take to bring about the real healing that the residents are hoping for? >> reporter: well, you know, thomas, one of the things that came up over and over and people have talked about today asking now that officer wilson has stepped down, will the protests end? a lot of people have said no. they want to see other changes. they want to see body cameras on police officers. they want to see new laws enacted surrounding racial profiling. they want to see other things happen, and they want to see the ferguson police chief gone. today during a news conference he has no plans to step down.

people say yes, there is progress and healing is taking place. businesses are re-opening but some of the protesters aren't happy until they see the changes i mentioned. thomas. >> jonathan, thank you. protest over the ferguson shooting brought traffic to a standstill in the nation's capital. the washington, d.c. department of transportation says demonstrators blocked both directions of traffic on interstate 395. images from social media show a line of protesters interlocking arms across the roadway. back in new york police at jfk international airport were forced to vac rate and isolate and search a plane after a bomb threat. it involved an american airlines flight from barcelona. about 200 passengers were on board. they were removed. the plane was taken to a remote part of the airport. officials say no explosives were found. a court in georgia has denied bond for the father and stepmother charged with hiding a 13-year-old boy behind a fake wall in their home. the child was reunited with his

mother after four years in captivity. police tracked him down after he used a cell phone to send his mom a text message. the father right there, gregory gene, and stepmother samantha dafs were charged with false imprisonment and child cruelty. neighbors had no idea the child was under duress. >> there was any issues, i honestly did not -- i dent show it. maybe he was too scared to say anything. i don't know. >> it's right up under our nose and we could have done something. he was never in distress it didn't seem like. we didn't think anything was wrong. >> police initially went to the house and did not find the child, but they returned after they got another phone call around 2:00 in the morning when the boy called his mom to say he was being kept behind a false wall. coming up, the disappearance of 43 mexican students has led to the discovery of 19 mass graves across the country. we're going to take a closer look at mexico's missing persons problem. hopes for an aids-free

generation. we gear up for world aids day as an estimated 34 million people still live with the disease today. plus, we'll look at the realities of charity donations in the united states. stay tuned for our sunday segment "the week ahead," plus rebecca has the forecast. >> 20 degrees of warming on the east coast, 20 degrees of cooling on the west coast. now i'll show you where temperatures drop below zero and where the rain is going to continue. travel troubles coming up in your forecast.

welcome back. as mexico comes to terms with the apparent murder 463 students in september, many families are looking for loved ones that went missing years ago often having to search without help from the government. monica reports from mexico.

>> reporter: i will not stop searching until i bury you reads the shirts of relatives of those that disappeared in the state of guerrero. they have come to pray at the site of what could be an enormous mass graves in the outskirts. everyone here thinks their loved ones are underneath the fields. >> translator: my son, he never did anything bad. he was hardworking. i taught him how to work in the fields. he wasn't doing illegal things. >> reporter: mexico's drug war has left thousands dead. some were also kidnapped by drug gangs and corrupt policemen. the victims are often innocent civilians. margarita lost two sons. she's traveled from another town to attend the service. after years of silence and fear, she says, missing people are now being reported. the presumed massacre of 43 students here two months ago brought a national outcry for justice and accountability.

>> translator: they won't listen to one person, but we're so many victims now it's different. >> reporter: in two months authorities have been swamped with new reports of disappearances, some recent and some dating back years. 50 dna samples are taken on average every day, and 19 mass graves have been found. there could be hundreds or thousands all over mexico. what the relatives desperately ask for is closure, a proper burial for the loved ones. we have came to the main cemetery, a place many tell us is too small given the number of people killed or disappeared in this area. the unidentified bodies are sent to the cemetery's common grave but the director says he has already run out of space. >> translator: look at this. the entire area is full. the tombs go up to the cemetery wall. >> reporter: the reason is in these fields traffickers buried

the victims far from their towns, and it appears many mass graves are here where the mayor was allegedly the member of a drug cartel. people won't wait until authorities exhume the graves. they have endured too far suffering and are taking the search effort into their own hands. voters in switzerland rejected a proposal today to cut net immigration to no more than .2% of the population. it was named the eco-pop measure linking environmental protection with population control. around a quarter of switzerland's 8 million people are foreigners. had the bill passed, the swiss government had to reduce immigration from 80,000 to 16,000 per year. hundreds in new delhi took to the streets to march for grey rights. it was the indian appear tal's first pride march since the country's supreme court reinstated a ban on homosexuality last year. a lower court had decriminalized

gay sex in 2009, but the supreme court struck down the decision saying politicians, not the courts, could change the law. gay rights activists say the ruling is a setback but them not give up. >> we need to keep the pressure on because i also think people do change their attitude, they do the way they think about issues and we can't give up clearly. >> violators of the law can be punished with up to ten years in jail. tomorrow is world aids day, which has been observed every year since 1988. it's a time to assess the impact of a deadly disease and focus on efforts to eradicate the virus. since the disease was identified, it's killed 35 million people worldwide, another 34 million are living with hiv/aids. this doctor from new york city's assistant health commissioner in charge of hiv prevention and control told us earlier widespread treatment has slashed

the number of new nfkinfections. >> many studies in africa demonstrate if you treat people you have a 96% reduction in transmission risk. >> that's huge. >> it's staggering. exactly. so just treating people is enough to make an impact. on top of that, with the messaging with condoms, the messaging with testing and now with preexposure prophylaxis, we have a lot of tools next to take it on. >> the centers for disease control says about 1.2 million people live with hiv in the united states. health officials are urging everyone to get tested. they estimate that 14% of americans living with hiv do not know they have the virus. millions are making the long trek home after the thanksgiving holiday weekend, but here in denver it may take you a little longer than you planned. at least 46 planes had to be diverted because you see it right there, the thick fog. more than 2 million travelers are expected to fly today, one of the busiest travel days of

the year. denver's airport is expecting close to 170,000 travelers. rebecca stevenson is joining us. is that the only problem spot across the country? >> i wish it was. san francisco has gotten so much rain off and on they had some delays there. >> no fun. >> to fun at all. denver, though, i can give you good news there. they don't expect any more issues with the dense fog. however, the clouds are laying low close to around 2,000 feet that the cloud deck begins. you get light snow off and on overnight. it will klee out through the day today. as we look at the satellite, you see the rain heavy at times in california. boy, we needed this rain. we need this mountain snow, too. but we get another hit in the same area as we get into the week ahead as that probably brings some issues when we look at mudflows potentially because it will warm up a lot. it already has warmed up quite a bit with all this rain san francisco is approaching a

half an inch of accumulation. in the snowy areas of the mountains that's around 6,000, 5500 feet. that's the snow level for the central sierra nevada. the next storm comes in tuesday night into wednesday. we're going to expect that excessive amount of rainfall again. that warmer air is already beginning to surge in, and as it does that, it's been causing some potential freezing rain in parts of the williamette valley of oregon. we see the next storm lining up to move on shore and bring more issues into the southwest. then we start thinking, okay, well, we know we had cold temperatures. we had an arctic blast that brought snow into seattle in this last few days, so 32 now for seattle, about 15 degrees below the average. that stretches over to spokane, boise and montana. bitter cold here. it's just downright dangerous to be outside because the winds are gusts 20, 30, 40 miles per hour. you've got already temperatures at 6 degrees or 3 degrees, so it

feels more like 20 below zero. as we look at temperatures across the board, still mild to the south. we are warming up here into the east coast. we're in the mid to upper 50s, and that continues through tomorrow. we're going to continue to see things start to switch back to what we're more used to as we get into the week ahead. first, we see some mountain snow into monday shift up into idaho and montana. then there's that rain on tuesday in california. we'll start getting some showers all along the east coast, but most of the snow looks like it's farther north and northeast and farther inland, too. >> brr. rebecca, thank you. i don't know if the weather played a factor, but black friday may be losing its appeal. fewer shoppers hit the stores over the holiday weekend. the national retail federation says online shopping, early discounting and a mixed economy may have kept people away from the malls. it's down over 5% from last

year. total spending for the weekend is expected to be over $50 billion. it's a good number, but that's down 11%. each shopper is expected to spend over $380 over the long weekend. that's down nearly 6.5%. coming up, there's black friday, cyber monday, but did you know about giving tuesday? we look at the state of charity donations in america. that's in our sunday segment "the week ahead."

welcome back to al jazeera america. violent protests and dozens of arrests in hong kong. police have clashed with pro-democracy demonstrators trying to keep them from staying to the streets. these are live pictures are the situation appears to have calmed down. to two months now protesters have been demanding greater autonomy for elections in 2015. 50 isil fighters have been killed in kobani. the rebel fighters launched

strikes in the border town from turkey, but turkey denies the accusations. if confirmed, it's the first time isil has carried out strikes from turkish territory. ferguson mayor james nolan says ex-police officer darren wilson will not get servance or other benefits. the city is making several changes in response to the killing of unarmed teenager michael brown. he hopes the community can begin healing. it is sunday night, and time for our regular look at "the week ahead." 'tis the season for shopping and giving. last year charities took in just over $335 billion, that's up 4.5% from 2012. in all that help certainly needed. last year there were 49 million americans living in households without food security. tonight we look closer at charitable giving in the holiday season. we begin with this report. >> reporter: black friday got its name because most retailers finally get out of the red and

turn a profit. while malls and stores swell with holiday shoppers, it's not just the season to shop. to many it's the season to give. now the tuesday after black friday and cyber monday has also been given a new fame fame, #givestuesday was started several years ago to set aside a date to inspire people to make a difference. the salvation army is in its 125th year with the head kettle campaign already underway. last year they collected almost $136 million in private and corporate donations across the country. >> with the salvation army between thanksgiving and the end of the year, you can see anywhere from 25 to in some places 40% of the income would come in during that five to six-week period. >> reporter: salvation army volunteers are a ubiquitous sight during the holidays with more than 24,000 locations across the country helping 4

million families. while the cold weather may make some americans more generous, it's the holiday spirit rather than the temperatures that seem to inspire many. >> it has an impact in places where it's cold, but i serve for florida for 13 years. i can tell you people responded just as well down there. >> reporter: the end of the tax year brings in large donations. >> what you see at the end of the year, the week after christmas before new year's, you see some large gifts, people making large gifts because of tax implications. before that people realize that this is the season of giving. >> reporter: last year was the first year since the end of the recession according on the black bout index to see an increase in donations with nonprofit organizations nationwide already seeing an increase in charitable giving this fall, many are banking that this holiday season will bring tidings of comfort and joy to many. courteney keely, al jazeera.

some encouraging news. people give more to charities since the ofederal end of the recession in 2009. there are about a million charities in the united states. the most popular types include education mief based, human services and health charities. the average household giving just under $3,000 every year. surprisingly middle to low income people give at a higher percentage those of wealthy individuals. yet, here in the united states there are still more than 600,000 homeless people including many families. those in need are not just struggling with food but shelter in the colder months. to talk more about charitable giving during the haul kolidahol welcome joel berg. gentlemen, great to have you with us? >> thank for having us. >> tisz the season to give here. what does habit tell us about how we give, mr. berg? >> habit tells us that most americans give in ways they're uused to giving.

the wealthy give less in aggregate and give to institutions that benefit themselves and their families such as big hospitals, big cultural institutions and museums, and that's why our message is that charity isn't the answer. that higher wages, more jobs and a more equitable tax system where the wealthy like the middle class and poor who donate more to our organizations and habit tells us if you give to the organizations you've given to in the past. if you give to an effectsive organization like mine, new york city coalition against hunger, you keep giving. unfortunately, too many americans just give to the name they know and don't know whether it's effectsive or not. >> it's the brand name syndrome. there's a fair amount of social science about how and why we give. do most americans do their research before they give? >> no. in fact, the social science rye search which you're sights shows that the arch american puts in exactly zero hours and zero minutes. as joel said, he's exactly right. they give out of habit.

they give to the brand names. they give to the charities that their friends or family recommends. they don't do it based upon effectiveness research. >> mr. berg, people are generous this time of year, but the charities know it. ron has a business. we saw the ads and direct mailers. >> yeah. a lot of groups spend a lot money on fund-raising. my group only hahn one full-time development person but some sorgss spend more money on fund-raising than on services. there's an inside baseball discussion within the nonprofit community about what percentage of overhead makes sense. but in general a lot of people use that as the one and only way to determine how much they donate to organizations. >> a lot of people say, wait a minute. 60 cents on the dollar is going to overhead and paying for this and that. >> it's not a good way to judge. if you look at microsoft or google or some of the most profitable organizations in america, by those same metrics, they have a lot of overhead. what you should look at is whether they've reduced the

problem or not. if you're fighting hunger and you consider yourself an anti-hunger organization, you shouldn't be judged by hoech money you give out. that's judges the hospital by how much medicine you give out. it should be building the muchlt to reduce hunger. >> what's the most effective way to give? time? money? canned food? >> i think that's a personal decision. money is the most useful for a charity in the sense they can put it against the highest and greatest need. as you said in the report, americans do give generousy about $300 billion a year. that money not just given at the end of the year when -- which is sort of the last time they were given over the course of the year can be used by a good charity for the highest and best needs. that could be indirect services or things characterized as overhead, research, training, investments in infrastructure, all of the things necessary to

build a great organization whether that's a for-profit organization or not-for-profit organization. >> can i say two most effective ways is to give cash instead of the food. you can feel good about yourself donating food but most food charities work far more effectively than you can buying retail at a groeshy store. two, consider filing better about yourself not just by volunteering around the holidays but year-round. if you have professional skills, volunteering with those professional skills. we have a national website, w . www.hungervolunteer.org. you can find out how to be most effected with skilled-based work throughout the year and how to engage in public policy advocacy. congress and the president have cut food stamps, snap benefits by $14 billion. all the food charities in america distribute $5 billion of

food. we want people to donate and volunteer and they want them to elect elected officials and speak out for people who give serious support for low income people and not just ribbon cutting around thanksgiving. >> mr. stern, let's talk about the government. how much are they pitching in? are they doing enough? >> let's also talk first about the relationship between the nonprofit sector and the government. the government is the biggest source of revenue and support for the social sector. as joel said, a lot of the programs that nonprofits work on have been cut by the government. it really is up to individuals to make up the difference. >> let's talk about these charities. what are charities, mr. stern, doing wrong this time of year? >> well, i don't know that it's that charities are doing

anything particularly wrong this time of year. there are a lot of charities, 1.1 million as you described earlier, and the question is really for donors. how do you get the resources to the most effective charities. charities campaign to raines money. the obligation is really for donors to step back say across the yearses and not just the last weeks of the year, what are the best charities and how do i support the boast charities? how do i make sure they're making a difference to get the bulk of the support and not just the familiar ones. >> 1.1 million charities out there. how difficult is it to vie for the same dollar? >> it's very difficult, and it's very difficult for the average american to understand which charities are effective as mr. stern has written. charitable hospitals around necessarily charitable. >> what question should they ask? >> one thing they should ask is what do the executives make? do they far more than the president of the united states? i'd suggest no nonprofit leader myself included has to make the call whether we send a drone to

destroy a village, and i don't think any nonprofit executive needs to make more than the president of the united states or far more -- 20 times more, 50 times more than their lowest paid employee and need to visit the projects, if they can, and see whether they're making the biggest difference in the fight or whether it's marketing window dressing. >> they get that information from the charity? >> they can. they can go to the state attorney general's office. if your charity does not have its tax form and its financial information on its own website, very, very wary. i consider us public agencies because we're sub sid died by tax dollars. we accept no grant money. that's sort of not true. the vast majority of nonprofits get tax dollars. all organizations need to be trandz parent about their finances, their spending, and they should have that as we do on their website, make it easy for people. >> mr. stern, your thoughts? >> well, i would agree with the vast ma rt jo -- majority of

that. i would add to it the thing i look for first, there aren't a lot of resources out therein for donors and it's really up to each individual donor's sort of self-help. i always go to the website and see if there's actually research in effect. does this organization set their goals? how do they know themselves whether they're successful or not? how do they know they're making a difference? what is the metrics and research and results. they need to be trandz parent for exactly the reason i stated before. they need to be able to put it out there and show whether they're effective or not. surprisingly a few charities look at over time thousands of websites really do much in the ways of showing the research showing standards and he results. >> the problem with that it's self-reporting, and the truth of the matter is americans don't want to hear it, but there's far

more effective oversight of the programs than over the nonprofit sector. the truth of the makt is the government food assistance programs are generally more economically efficient than charities are. it's not what people believe, but it's true because there's oversight and there's no oversight of the nonprofit sector. there's no way every american is an expert on charitable giving, and that's why we we have representative democracy and that's why in the eisenhower administration the wealthiest paid 94% of the income in taxes. now it's 39% and many don't pay that. i'm not suggesting we go back to that. i'm saying if the billionaires in america paid close to their fair share of taxes again, we would have more than enough revenue to provide the vital social services and have our elected officials who if you don't like you can boot out making fact-based determinations of which needs are more important. mr. sterns pointed a charitable roller derby charity in america, and i think most americans if

tax dollars were applied, they wouldn't use the tax dollars for that. they would for homeless shelters and feeding programs. zo most americans give between now and christmas. what are the rest of the year? >> in general gifring and volunteerism is down throughout the rest of the year, and that's when it's needed most, particularly volunteer service needed most not on thanksgiving or christmas but the other 363 days out of the year. >> our final thoughts? mr. stern, to you. >> it's hard to disagree with that. in fact, it's not just between now and christmas. actually, the biggest giving season is between christmas and the end of the year, about 25% of all online donations throughout the -- for the whole year are made in the last 48 hou days of the year. it's tax driven more than anything else. it's hard to run a business when you don't know until the last 48 hours how much money is coming in. i urge people to not just focus on the last week of the year but really on the needs and the needs to support your community throughout the whole year. >> certainly hope more americans

dig deep this year. we have to leave it there. joel berg, and ken stern, author of "with charities for all." thanks for joining us on "the wee ahead." >> before we go let's look at other events. on monday u.n. climate change talks begin in lima, peru. tuesday the french national assembly will vote on recognizing the state of palestine following a similar vote in the european parliament. on wednesday president barack obama will host the tribal nations conference in washington, d.c. leaders from more than 500 tribes will send their representatives. up next, nasa prepares for a big test of the newest spacecraft. looking ahead, the hurdles overcome for humans to survive on mars.

>> a conflict that started 100 year ago, some say, never ended... revealing... untold stories of the valor... >> they opened fire on the english officers... >> sacrifice... >> i order you to die... >> and ultimate betrayal... drawing lines in the sand that would shape the middle east and frame the conflict today >> world war one: through arab eyes only on al jazeera america on thursday nasa's newest spaceship gets the first major test. exploration flight test 1 involves launching awn unmanned

orion capsule in orbit. success could lead to a manned flight expected to take place in 2022 from the beginning of the exploration of space was led by the united states and russia. the result of cold war military research and political will power. but that's changed in recent years with the international space station being an example of global cooperation. additional nations and daring entrepreneurs have joined a new and exciting space race. >> reporter: the first space race officially launched on october 4, 1957 with the soviet sputnik 1 satellite, which was nothing more than a radio trans transmitter in the metal sphere. the soviet union and united states challenged each other to put a man in space and a man on the moon. after that accomplishment the competition cooled and both

nations focused on space stations and missions in lower earth orbit. the new space race is a lot more wide open. many nations have launched probes into space. >> how do you put it altogether? how much cooperation should there be? how much competition? >> reporter: when china launched its first dykonot into orbit in 2003, it became the third nation behind russia the and u.s. with want capability of putting human beings into space. >> they're going to have a space station of their own. they want to go to the moon on their own. >> reporter: india's space program has been purely robotic, but they've already achieved a notable level of success, one of the five craft orbits mars is an indian probe. >> they're the first nation to go into mars orbit on their first try. >> reporter: the european space agency launched its first satellite in 1975, and it intends to use the sierra nevada corporation's dream catcher for human missions in space.

with all of those players, cooperation between programs seems to be the way forward. >> human space exploration is so expensive and so difficult and so risky, so challenging that it probably makes sense for a number of nations to do it together. >> the international space station that's up there right now is an interesting and new model for us all. 15 of those leading nations of the world working together. countries that always have serious arguments on the surface. >> reporter: then there are the new breed of private companies. >> we're on the verge of a great shift. there is 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 dragon spacecraft is used to ferry supplies to the iss. big low is built inflatable mod

he'll for space and there's blue origin that's building rocket engines for nasa and designing orbital and suborbital craft. despite this month's setback, virgin galactic has a broad understand agenda. >> it's one component in building a space infrastructure that that company i think intends to do. the author and theoretical physicist at arizona state university says we're learning a lot from common missions. he spoke to al jazeera's richelle carey. >> we're learning when we land on a comet, most of the water that's on earth probably came from comets. in fact, what we see when we look at that material is the pry mored yal material that was the basis of forming the earth including learning about maybe organic materials delivered to earth which was the sooeds for life on earth. we're really learning about our origins when we look at that.

by the way, you'd neverland a human on a comet at least not in our lifetime. you can do so much more with robots because, you know, you don't have to get them back alive, which is a huge factor. >> that makes all the difference in the world. >> it really does. 99.9% of the money spent for sends humans into space is to keep the humans alive. there's very little left over for doing other things. i mean, it's true as i just heard in the interview that the international space station is a political symbol, but that's about all it is. as far as science is concerned, it's done very little. in fact, i've said one of the best experiments you could do with the space station and let it fall in the ocean and see how big a wave it produced. >> oh, dear. let's talk about the robotic probes. where else do you intend to send them? >> we already sent them to mars. talked about sending humans to mars, it's not going to happen. it's expensive and it will cost

$100 billion to send humans to mars. even so it's not clear 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 one-way missions. that's more feasible. >> we'll talk more about that. sending people to mars is a science-fiction dream that a number of groups hope it turn into reality. it's a difficult challenge. erica pitcy reports. >> reporter: in the first space racelanding a man on the moon was the goal. it is fulfilled by neil armstro armstrong. >> that's one small step for man and one giant leap for man kind. >> while the apollo missions showed our ability, going to mars is far more cham lenninging. first of all, going to the moon takes three days. going all the way to mars takes months. that's a lot of food and water that have to be hauled along with the crew, but once we get

there, the real difficulties begin. without protective suits we'd die within minutes on the surface of mars because the atmosphere is very thin, only a tiny fraction of what with we need to survivor. what atmosphere there is on mars is poisonous. 95% carbon dioxide. the snow that falls there is actually frozen carbon dioxide. and it is cold. averaging minus 80 degrees fahrenheit. the winds are fierce, enormous dust storms can blanket the entire planet for months. as if that was not bad enough, the thin atmosphere and the lack of a magnetic field means very little protection against radiation, which we goes the question, why send humans when robots can explore without the risk? >> the role that mars has in our future is as a potential place to expand human civilization through the solar system. >> it's the raw human experience that's at the core of anything that matters. >> reporter: there's certainly plenty to see.

mars is only half the size of earth. with no oceans, so it has the same amount of land area. the martian days lasts 24 1/2 years and a year 687 days. some of the landmarks are the an chents volcano olympus manz, which is three times as high as mount everest. it will cover the entire state of new mexico. we have some valleys that run six miles deep and extendses 2,500 miles, the difference between philadelphia and san diego. >> maybe one day. still ahead, she's got nearly 3 million views on youtube. how a sea otter public wound up in chicago and the new push to save the species right after the break.

a sea otter pup at the shedd's aquarium hope her newfound fame will help others like her. >> she's learning to dive and also learning to groom herself. these are big steps for a baby otter, orphaned at a week old and learning basic life skills from trainers at chicago's shedd aquarium. >> they need to be fed and groomed and taken care of around the clock. that's what a mother would do. we're playing that role. >> reporter: the pup got her temporary name because she's the 681st southern sea otter rescued off the coast of california in the past 30 years. the u.s. fish and wildlife service considers southern sea otters a threat uppened species. marine biologists say pollution and larger sea predators are killing thousands a year,

sometimes leaving young pups like 681 to fend for themselves. shedd has four sea on theers and was eager for another, but the aquarium's vice president of external affairs says some orphaned sea otters are having a difficult time to find homes. >> we do a space survey of facilities accredited by the parent organization looking for who has space, what your plans in five z years, how many otters could you take right now? many facilities had to say, sorry, we have no room at the inn. >> they got the first sea otters in 1989 right after the exxon valdez oil spill. in the 25 years since then, it's rebe ha at a timed and hand-raised about ten sea otter pups to adulthood. caring for this 9-pound ball of fur is expensive. trainers prepare a special seafood smoothie and bottle feeder six times a day. she gets small pieces of fish also. the aquarium estimates between food and labor it will spend

close to $30,000 on the pup before she's an adult. it might be worth the expense. 681 has become a darling on youtube, logging more than 3 million hits since the aquarium began posting videos of her progress. so if she's that popular on video, she might be even more popular once she begins swimming before the public with the shedd other sea otters. diane esther brook, al jazeera, chicago. >> you can see why she's so popular. quite a holiday spectacular in rio de janeiro. the seaside city kicked off the holiday season last night with this, the up annual tree lighting ceremony. by the way, that's the world's largest floating tree. it's wrapped with more than 3 million lights, and it's supported by 11 floats. what a sight. that's going to do it for this hour. thanks so much for joining us. i'm thomas drayton in new york.

i'll have another hours of news at 8:00 pacific. stay tuned, part of two marco polo, a very modern journey and coming up next. thanks for watching. let's take a look at china. china overtakes us. it's the world's manufacturer. america has to live with the china that exists.