>> it's an urgent need... and a host willing to ask the tough questions >> how do you explain it to yourself? and you'll get... the inside story ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5 eastern only on al jazeera america >> we are following breaking news in australia, a hostage standoff in one of sydney's buzzest districts, several hostages come out, but several more are believed to be inside. >> murder charges filed against a u.s. marine in the philippines. the latest in the case that ignited international tensions. >> palestinians push for a u.n. resolution ending israeli

occupation and creating their own state. we're live in jerusalem. >> protests and prayers across the country, people filled church pughs and streets after more evidence is made public in the michael brown case. what one key witness is saying about the day brown died. welcome to al jazeera america. i'm stephanie sy. >> i'm del walters. the hostage situation in australia in it's 13th hour. an armed man is holding people inside a cafe. the number held is unknown. >> two people inside the chocolate shop and cafe were seen holding up a black flag with arabic texts on it. the words read there is only one god, the islamic declaration of faith. it is close to the parliament, and iconic sydney opera house. >> we have the latest. some of the hostages got out. >> that's right. at least five of them, although it is unclear if they escaped

were were let go by the gunmen inside. the american consulate is nearby. >> chocolate store, there on martin. >> sydney on lockdown after thousands were evacuated from offices, banks, government buildings and opera house in the heart of the city's financial and shopping district. piece play this armed man entered a cafe at the height of the morning rush hour and took customers and employees hostage. >> a woman just shouted out that he a gun, everyone started running away like crazy. >> an unknown number of hostages remained inside, is this at times seen with their hands pressed against windows, others holding a black flag with white writing reading there is only one god. >> we are being tested today in sydney, police are tested, the public is being tested, but whatever the test, we will face it head-on. >> six hours after the siege began, at least three customer

and two employees raced out of the cafe into the arms of heavily armed police. it's unclear whether the man seen here wearing a white shirt released those hostages for they escaped. authorities have remained tight-lip have had demands but confirm they are negotiating. >> our only goal tonight and for as long as this takes is to get those people currently caught in that building out of there safely. that remains the number one priority and nothing will change. >> after meeting with his national security team, australia's prime minister tony abbot addressed the nation. >> the whole point of politically motivated violence is to scare people out of being themselves, and that's why i would urge all and you say uses today to go about their business, as usual. >> just a few months ago, prime

minister aboth ordered his police forces to carry out sweeping anti terrorism raised, giving police powers to arrest potential terror suspects. >> these are live images out of the sydney. there were warnings that something might happen in this place for quite some time. >> this relates to the terror raised that i was talking about ordered by prime minister tony abbot back in september. they used about 800 anti terror police in that raid. there were about 15 arrests made as a result, and the reason they did the raised is that there were strong rumors a isil was going to carry out beheadings around australia including in this central business district of sydney, australia which is now the pictures we are looking at where this cafe is, including martin place, which is the shop we're looking at. now here we are a couple of months down the road and we have this situation where we have what appears to be a lone wolf

gunman holding 30 people hostage inside. there is no link to what happened in september, but it makes you wonder. >> the flag certainly makes us wonder, but we have more questions than answers this morning. have authorities said how long they think this siege might go on? it is getting late into australia. >> we are now into the 13t 13th hour of this siege and this is apparently a lone wolf gunman on his own. he is said to of a rifle and backpack. he's been saying on various -- the other thing to say about this, by the way is we are witnesses a siege for the first time in the age of social media, where the gunman is allowing his hostages to tweet openly on facebook and twitter and other forms of social media, so we're not saying who the hostages are, but we know who they are and the demands of this gunman. he wants to have the isil flag sent in to him and apparently

wants to speak directly to the australian prime minister, tony abbot, but to your point, it's getting late. he's on his own. humans have to sleep at some point. the police seem to be playing the long game, at darkness has fallen, but as they move into the mall hours of the morning. >> we have a live reporter on the ground. we'll go to him in a moment. >> lisa stark is standing bay in washington, d.c. has the president been notified and has there been reaction from the white house? >> the president was briefed about the situation in australia by his counter terrorism advisor, and the white house is keeping mum at this point, although clearly monitoring the situation. they have evacuated the consulate near the cafe where these hostages are held and also the state department has issued a statement saying it has

advised americans in sydney of course to be vigilant, watch their surroundings and check their security. >> we continue to track the situation, but turning to other news, there's talk in washington about that c.i.a. interrogation report. some senior bush administration officials out this weekend on the talk shows slamming the investigation. what do they have to say? >> they are presenting really a united front, condemning the report by the senate intelligence committee and they continue to insist that the actions that were taken by the c.i.a. and the bush white house were appropriate in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. >> former vice president dick cheney is not mincing words. he has no regrets about the techniques used by the c.i.a. to try to get information from detainees. >> i'd do it again in a minute. >> he is pushing back about the senate intelligence committee report released last week, which

labeled the harsh tactics used as torture, but cheney called them necessary. >> waterboarding the way we did it was in fact not torture. when you're dealing with terrorists the likes of al-qaeda or isis, i haven't seen them water board anybody. they cut their heads off. what they did 9/11 was brutal, bloody 1/3. >> not everybody agrees with cheney. >> first of all, with respect to waterboarding and the vice president is obviously comfortable with it. i consider it to be torture. >> cheney said the report was "deeply flawed" and that the interrogation tactics absolutely worked. while the c.i.a. official who ran the program says the techniques did not cross the legal line and may have saved american lives. >> we knew that there were threats against us, including a second wave of attacks, and we needed to do something different, and this was something different, and

actually, it worked very well. >> one former c.i.a. chief defended the program. >> we're making a choice between two very bad, very difficult choice. if we he had not done this and a scent attack had taken place, what would today's conversation be like. >> republican senator john mccain, who was tortured as a p.o.w. in vietnam said it is clear the c.i.a. crossed the line. >> i think in retrospect, this of these practices fly in the face of everything that america values and stands for. >> the debate will continue. meantime, the report has raised eyebrows in great britain. that government asked for sections of the report to be blacked out. some wonder was this because britain was somehow involved in this campaign with the c.i.a. they are asking those questions and wanting to see the full report. >> i also understand that karl

rove had something to say about this report. >> he was on fox news this weekend and kept to the party line, insisting what happened was not torture. as he put it, it was not torture because it would neither cause severe pain or suffering or severe or prolonged mental pain and suffering. he said the techniques used were carefully designed not to cross that line. obviously others disagree. >> lisa, thank you very much. >> an american marine has now been formally charged in a murder in the philippines. there is probable cause that he killed a transgender woman in a motel room. she had been strangled and drowned. >> an american who snuck into north korea has harsh words for the u.s. he spoke with reporters in pyongyang sunday, slamming the u.s. political and economic system, arguing it benefits the wealthy. his mother said he suffers from

bipolar disorder. >> u.s. secretary of state john kerry is in rome, expected to meet with prime minister benjamin netanyahu in a few hours. it comes as palestinian officials are pushing for new recognition at the u.n. a draft resolution could be introduced calling for israel to leaf palestinian territories by 2016. they want to create a palestinian state along the 1967 borders. we are joined live from jerusalem. what is the israeli reaction to the palestinian push for that u.n. resolution? >> well, good morning, del, the israeli reaction is pretty clear, they are not happy. in fact, the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu speaking before members of his cabinet last night effectively said that any kind of settlement with the palestinians cannot be, in his words, imposed on the israelis, and that this resolution would firmly be

rejected by the styles, as well. >> also, the secretary of state meeting with the chief palestinian negotiator tomorrow. what can we expect from that meeting? >> well, u.s. secretary of state john kerry is indeed meeting with the palestinian negotiator. that is going to be a testing of the waters to see how firm the palestinian position is, and try to see if he can find some sort of compromise which will prevent what they see as this sort of head-on collision between the israelis and the palestinians. it would appear that at this stage, the palestinians are pretty firm in that they will approach the u.n. and clear that the israelis are pretty firm in that they are going to do anything they can to prevent that from happening. >> how significant is this move by the palestinian authority to submit that resolution to the u.n.? >> well, this isn't the first

time the palestinians have submitted a resolution to the united nation. security council, they have done it several times before. i think the difference here is the context. there's a real momentum behind the palestinians right now, not least because of the war in gaza earlier this year, not least because of the unrest, rather that we've seen in the occupied east of jerusalem and in other palestinian territories, but because globally, it would seem that the public mood is shifting forwards the palestinian statehood cause. you only have to look at governments across europe who have been recognizing a state of palestine, although some not formally, just something going as far as saying that a palestinian state should be recognized, but again, there is that momentum. you also have the i.c.c. upgrading the palestinian status, there, as well. all of this, i think leads the palestinians to believe that the winds, full, are in their favor, and that is perhaps why they are

pushing forward. >> live for us in jerusalem, we thank very much. >> residents in mows sell say their phone lines have been cut off by isil forces. they've been banned from leaving the town. we are joined live from baghdad. can you explain what is going on in mosul? isil fighters doing control in june. why are they taking these actions and how many civilians are left in mosul? >> there's talk of an imminent offensive on mosul. the feeling is perhaps isil is preparing for are that in cutting off phone lines and making it much harder for people to leave. there are reports that those who want to leave foes as you will, people who live there are now required to make sure that they leave a guarantee that they'll come back in the form of a family member, for instance.

that's really because although a lot of people in mosul actually welcomed size as i will when they first came in in june, the iraqi government is not very popular there and the city had been in the control of militants, this quickly wore off. life is grim, few services, no jobs, women not allowed to go out and the ever increasing threat that there will be a military offensive to take back the city. >> we are going to leave it there, because we have breaking news to get there. jane, thank you. >> we want to take you back to the hostage situation in australia. andrew thomas is live for us in sydney he. you have been reporting on this hostage crisis since it started. what's the latest at this late hour in sydney, australia? >> well, it was almost 14 hours ago now that this siege situation began in martin place approximate, a central city square 150 meters from where i'm

stood just down that road on the left-hand side by those traffic lights. this cafe is in that square. it's a major threw fair in the middle of sydney. it's got a number of shops and office blocks. it couldn't be a more how profile place. let me run you through the facts we do know, because they are few and far between. there is at least one armed men in that cafe holding a number of hostages. police in various press conferences over the course of monday have not revealed exactly how many hostages are head, although we believe the number is lower than 30 and potentially more than five or six, so somewhere in that kind of range. we also know that the hostage taker has tried -- is in negotiations with a police negotiator. they have made contact with him and he is difficultly negotiating at the moment. a big area of sydney c.b.d. is in lockdown.

this police tape is right around the martin place area and nothing is going beyond the lines, a very heavy police presence in the middle of sydney in the square itself, in martin place itself, heavily armed police with their weapons trained on that building, but most of the buildings evacuated around that cafe, so not that much information, but we can fill you in on what may have changed in the last few hours, because the police are keeping their cars very close to that check. determined that this siege has a peaceful resolution. >> have we learned anything this morning our time late tonight your time about how officials are respond to go what the hostage takers are demanding? >> no, well, the police are being very careful not to release any information about what might be being demanded, if you see what i mean. earlier on monday, hostages

apparently being held by the armed man in the cafe made contact with local media outlets, apparently on behalf of the hostage-taker and through those media outlets, a few demands were requested. the police ever requested of the media not know to repeat those demands. they want to keep that information secret, hidden, and therefore, if you're all right with it, i will also abide by what they are asking. they say that releasing that information could put the lives of those inside the cafe at risk, so yes, we do know that earlier on monday, the hostage taker, through the hostages, apparently made demands via media outlets about what was demanded. >> we will abide by those rules, as well. there is a hash tag with resident support for muslims. tell us about that hash tag.

>> >> well, it is #i'llridewithu. the muslim population feels under attack, 50 leaders have condemned a criminal incident going on. the senior muslim figure has condemned outright what is going on. nevertheless, there is a backlash. there have been anecdotal reports of people of muslim dress or symbols abused on public transport, so this hash tag has developed whereby people are being encouraged whatever they're wearing to still get on public transport, to still ride and the hash tag supports those people, if people can find somebody to ride with them to say to any people out there who wants to abuse people being

muslim as if that's got anything to do with this, that they are not alone and are supported. >> keeping a close watch on the events unfolding, we will update as events warrant. >> let's move on to this now public, hundreds of new documents tied to the michael brown shooting investigation. st. louis county prosecutor robert mcculloch say the pages were inadvertantly left out. among them, a transcript of brown's friend. he told police he saw brown raise his hands before he heard four shots. >> growing anger against treatment by police made its way into african-american churches across the country over the weekend. standing in solidarity with the families of unarmed black men killed in police-inflict shootings, coming after tens of thousands rallied in several major cities.

>> there was a protest outside the seattle seahawks game, chanting and holding signs. fans had to struggle to get around them into the game. >> we have reports of tornadoes in the midwest. >> good morning. it wasn't a major severe weather day. we had two reports and 15 total, wimp you know some of our totals in the spring, but this is a storm that hit kansas. you can see that reaching the ground. haven't seen a lot coming out of this, but the other reported in oklahoma was only on the ground for about a minute and no damage reported, so hopefully not a lot of damage as we learn more about this one, either. >> the spiraling in the atmosphere making its way toward iowa and the storms associated with that. we had a warm gulf flow, enough warmth and lift in the atmosphere to get that going. today, only a slight chance. what we're going to see is now on the backside, we've got the colder air. could be a messy morning from

the dakotas to minnesota as what is rain starts to shift into freezing participation and then eventually on the backside as more of the cold air filters into snow. that is our concern through the day. you can see not only day, but tomorrow moving through the great lakes and into the northeast more, that would be predominantly rain as it moves through. >> look at these pinks up there, for winter storm warnings, again, a lot of these places, freezing participation first, so that monday morning commute never pleasant. >> we are keeping a close eye on the breaking news out of australia. 13 hours and counting for that hostage standoff at a sydney chocolate shop and cafe. >> is there an international connection to this hostage situation? retired army major mike lyons joins us next. >> ending two weeks of protest, police clear the last remaining blockades in hong kong.

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>> these images live from sydney, australia. about 11:20 p.m. in australia right now, about 14 hours into a hostage standoff. an armed man is holding a number of people inside a chocolate cafe. police are in contact with them. so far, no one appears to be injured. five people ever gotten out of the store. >> joining us now is mike lyons, a senior fellow at the truman national security project. thanks for being with us. south wails police department said this is not a confirmed case of terrorism right now, but a hostage situation. is it quick to jump to conclusions at this point, simply because a flag with islamic writing was posted in the window. >> it's clearly a police and hostage situation now, however, australia is front and center in

this war against terrorism. they've done many things over the past few months to try to increase their profile, sent fighters to the war front in syria, sent soldiers there, as well. this is all part of where they're playing in the game. >> explain to us the reason for caution. in this day and age, how do we differentiate whether this is an act of terrorism or some guy that decided to go in and host hostages a get publicity. >> they are trying to connect communication dots to what happened inside here to what happened. they are trying to determine who this individual is, is there other people involved, other takes going to take place. as time goes on and those possibility are eliminated, that's where they're drawing that conclusion, probably only one individual. >> back in september, australian authorities, 800 police to raid different homes of suspected members of isil, of people suspected to have al-qaeda connections. is it possible that this incident is a backlash to those

raised? >> no question, or the further investigating of other people that were involved there, so, you know, again, this is a country that's taken a forward step with trying to prevent these incidents from happening number one. number two, it's outloud citizens from going to syria and fighting. it's gotten out in front of this issue of fortune fighters going to syria and helping out isis. >> there are more than 100 australian that have gone to fight in syria. >> again, for the past six months here, they've become more front and center with reward with the fight. they're clearly an ally standing shoulder to shoulder with the united states right now. >> from a national security standpoint, how do you combat something like this, the lone wolf, is this the new normal and as a society are we being prepared for what maybe as this fight progresses from now on? >> it is the new normal. it's based on intent of this

group in order to get this information out. it's going to pressure local police, homeland security. you've got an internal operation in order to thwart these attacks before they come. >> we thank you for the context. this is not a confirmed case of terrorism. there is no members susthat we know approximate, but we are talking about these things because this is the context we find ourselves with the war against isil. >> let's get to our big number, eye billion $700 million, that is how much is from a group taking over pet smart. the company says this deal will help iays this deal will help it reposition. it could help pet smart grab a larger share of the $59 billion pet industry. >> $83 a share will be paid to take it private. the deal should be completed

sometime next year. >> we're going to have a live report out of sydney for the very latest on that hostage situation coming up next. >> two years after a gunman left 26 people dead at an elementary school, families sue. they're going after the company that made the gun. >> police in alabama trying to find an escaped murder suspect. how he managed to get out along with two others. >> the amazon glitch that led to big deals for shoppers and big problems for seller is one of the stories caught caught.

>> these are live images out of sydney, australia. police are in contact with the armed man holding people inside a sydney cafe. that beginning during the morning rush hour 14 hours ago. five people ever gotten out so far. no one has been injured. welcome to al jazeera america. >> let's get back to andrew

thomas right now in sydney. any change on the ground there in the last half hour and any sign of this ending anytime soon? >> no sign at all of it ending anytime soon, to be honest, no real change in the last half hour, either. the street behind me, the blocked off street that leads to martin place is still blocked off. there's been little movement in the last half hour. the police have said in a press conference that they will wait for as long as it takes for this situation to reach a peaceful resolution. they're absolutely determined that that's how this will end. as far as they know, nobody inside the cafe has been hurt yet and they're determined it will remain that way. this is a major area of sydney c.b.d., the heart of this city that has been blocked off by this big cordon that extends 500 meters in any one direction from martin place, a very busy they're fair right middle of sidney c.b.d.

this is mccrory street, one of the main thorough fairs through sidney. mar 16 place is 150 meters on the left just down there. you keep going further down the road 600 meters or so, less than a mile is sydney's opera house, the harbor bridge another column at her to the other side, the main shopping area, banks, hotels, all very concentrated in this area. although sydney is a big, sprawling city, the heart of it is very contained, very walkable and this cafe is absolutely at the heart of that square, the heart of this city. it couldn't be a more high pro file spot that is currently under siege. >> there were five people who managed to get out. have we heard from police since they escaped and where are they now? >> >> the police are talking to them to find out what they know

of what is going on inside, what they said are being debriefed. they are all in good health. beyond that, we've had no information from them, they are as far as we know still talking to the police about what they know about what was going on inside. what we don't know is whether they were released by the armed hostage taker or whether they escaped in some way, very unclear as to exactly how they got out and the police were asked about that and the press conference wouldn't say. they didn't want to give information out that would in any way jeopardize those inside the cafe. andrew, thanks for keeping us posted on all the events unfolding right now. >> let's bring in john tarret and mike lyons. this hostage taker have made demands to the australian authorities don't want publicized. what is happening right now with the negotiations and really how

could the coverage live affecting the situation. >> australia is trying to shut that down and keep talking to this individual. i'm sure they've got all the plans for the cafe outlined, likely have cameras possibly in there. they're trying to collect as much information as they can, but the key information is time. he eventually has to go to sleep. this has been going on a while. if they can keep him talking and get him to the point he drops his guard, they will do so. >> the time element is the crucial thing. 14 hours and counting and nothing has happened other than the hostages being taken. that is a good sign that the f.b.i. would think. >> probably and the fact that there's no other hostage taker there, there's nobody else that seems to be helping him. this is one individual that controlling 20 people also. as he becomes more tired, that

becomes more differ. >> give us a little context. we saw that incident a couple of minutes ago in canada's parliament. we look at these situation, trying to put them in the context of the fight with isil. the fact is with he don't have a lot of evidence other than that flag with islamic write that go showed up on the cafe that this is connected to terrorism. >> the flag that the flag was held up by those very frightened hostages is the situation leading us to believe that this is linked somehow to isil, but quite right, we don't know with certainty. on the ground in sydney, the police are being extremely tight-lipped about this, not giving much tail at all. the situation is recording the muslim community in australia, there are about 400,000 of them there, about 2.2% of the entire country. right now, a lot of them are pretty scared and there is this hash tag gone up i'll ride with you, which is an attempt for australians to get together with

muslim communities and essentially ride on their subways together to show they are not scared. >> they're worried about a back flash. >> the problem is that the australian prime minister in september announced a very wide ranging crackdown on many members of the muslim community. they used about 800 anti terror police to crack down. there were around 50 arrests. the reason they did that was they were very scared there was going to be a series of beheadings in australia -- >> don't we need to be careful to say that there were a series of raised belonging to a religious community. if we carried out raised on every christian attack in this country, think how it would look around the world. >> that is certainly something that many people on social media and this is a social media story right now. it was almost an agitation by prime minister tony abbot,

almost goading people. it certainly happened in the spot that the australian authorities feared it would, martin place is a key public thorough fair, it's a square, there's a television station there, channel 7 -- >> this television station is across the street, that's how they got some of the foot acknowledge, but you're right, they were specifically concerned about this area which is why we're talking about this in an international context. >> the reason mr. abbot acted when he did because there was thought to be a public beheading of some kind and martin place was specifically mentioned. >> specifically mentioned. >> here we are in that exact location. can you link the two? no, you can't, but obviously people are linking the two. >> we are getting close to the 14th hour of an ongoing hostage crisis in the middle of one of australia's largest cities, sydney, australia. this is a live picture outside of the lind chocolate cafe where

negotiations with the hostage taker are ongoing. we are going to continue to follow this story. >> the parents of some children in the sandy hook elementary school massacre filing suit against the gun manufacture. >> these families placing blame on the company itself. >> that's right, stephanie, bush master firearms is the maker of the semiautomatic rifle used to kill 26 people that day. the deadline to file a claim fell on the two year anniversary of the shooting, sunday, so today, the families are announcing their own path to justice. >> families marked the two year anniversary with the hope of accountability. on september 14, 2012, armed with an ar15 rifle, two other handguns and loads of ammunition, shooter adam lanza shot his way into the building,

killing six duties and 20 children in less than five minutes. some parents are suing bush master fire articles, the manufacturer of the semiautomatic rifle used in the massacre for the wrongful deaths of their children. none of the families are speaking out on the suit yet, but the connecticut senator said this: >> two years have passed and congress has been complicit in the gun violence in this country by failing to act, with and i share the frustration that may in part underlie the reason for this legal redress. >> the families are enlisting big name legal talent, including the lawyer who represented michael jackson's family in a $1.5 billion wrongful lawsuit against his international concert promoter, a former aid to president clinton who takes on major corporations. some say it's time for justice, not only for the families of the

slain children but also their young school mates who still struggle with understanding what happened. >> i miss my friends who were killed on december 14. i honor their memories with action. >> legal experts are saying this case would be an uphill batting, mainly because congress pass add controversial law 10 years ago that explicitly shields gun manufacturers from actions with the guns after they're sold. >> police are searching for a suspect they believe connected to a shooting outside portland. two men have been taken into custody. police won't say if they're the gunlen who opened fire. police believe the shooting was

gang related. >> secretary of state john kerry and russian foreign minister meeting in rome yesterday a day after senators in washington approved the ukraine freedom support act calling for sanctions and clears the way for military hardware. >> the economic board member of the ukrainian congress committee of america joins us this morning. are you pleased with this latest round of sanctions? >> the bill, the act is great because it gives the president authorization to do a number of things, including giving the president the authorization to put more sanctions, as well as deliver the weapons. this is in the president's hands and we are looking for him to sign the bill sooner rather than later. >> russia warns it will retaliate. saturday, russia's deputy foreign minister said we will not be able to leave that without an answer. if president obama signs off, how do you expect russia so react?

>> russia has been on the offensive. for them to say they are going to retaliate is a bit of a misnomer. they have been on the attack, a million people displaced and deaths and a civilian airliner shot out of the sky. for them to ramp up, it's really people don't understand what that would mean, since they're currently on the attack, even in the midst of a ceasefire just announced a couple of days ago. >> what are people on the ground saying about the global market, oil market is a free-fall, great for the gas pump, but bad news as a terrible time for russia. how is that going to affect russia moving forward and the region? >> the oil prices, even though anxiouses were announced in july, those haven't affected russia's economy as much as the dropping of the oil price. that has affected russia more than twice the amount of the capital lost due to the sanctions. because of the fact that russia gets 50% of its state income through petro dollars, that's

going to be hurting them in the long run. we haven't seen anything from penalty putin saying he's going to change his mind due to this. >> can russia continue to battle this on that front in ukraine? >> in the long run, russia demographically and structurally has been invested in being a long term power. we need to focus on what's happening now. we need to save the people who are being fired upon currently, like today, the people who are being shot at and also deported. today, there's a trial held in moscow of a ukrainian service member kidnapped from ukraine and brought up on criminal charges in a moscow court. actions like this fly in the face of authority and against international norms. >> thank you pour being with us

this morning. >> one of pakistan's largest cities has been shut down by protestors. the crowds in lahore are holding sit-ins, upset over alleged voter fraud. the protests are led by a leading cricket ear. >> protestsings hong kong have been going on for two months and barricades have been removed by police. protestors are looking to other methods to protest. >> to protect our seas and territory as well as citizens happy lives, we need to create a new set of laws, including the right to collective self defense

and that's what we will do at next year's parliamentary session. >> 52% of those eligible to vote did so, it was the lowest turnout in japan's post car history. >> police in alabama are trying to find a man they call a dangerous criminal. he escaped with two other inmates from a county jail, overpouring a guard. the two other inmates have been recaptured, but woodard is still on the run. >> the nfl players association expected to file suit on behalf of adrian peterson, days after an arbitrator upheld his season ending suspension. he pleaded not guilty to spanking his son with a tree he branch. he is expected to lose $4 million in salary. >> bill cosby is commenting on the sex scandal that threatens to tarnish his image forever. >> it seems he chose to talk

around the issue as opposed to talking about it. >> he made no direct comments at all on the subject. instead of offering admissions or denies, he offered directions on how the media, particularly the black-owned media should report on his story. this is in the wake of accusations by 23 women alleging that he forced or attempted to force himself on them sexually over a period of 35 years, often by drugging them. the latest accuser, model beverly johnson, first african-american to make the cover of vogue. >> the new york post reports a freelance journalist managed to get cosby on the phone he reportedly said this: >> when asked how his wife of 50 years, camille, was holding up, he said lineup and strength of womanhood, let me say it again,

love and strength of womanhood. you could reverse it, the strength of womanhood and love. >> the reporter said he seemed eager to talk, but said he was staying silent on the advice of his public relations team. >> let's take a look at other stories caught in our global net. spanish publishers want google news bag, asking the government to stem in and help. google announced last week that it would close down the service in spain, and that's because spain has laws which requires going toll basically pay royalties for all the snippets of articles that it has on google news, which is an aggregate site. >> some in the u.k. calling is a holiday miracle. a glitch on amazon sold products for as low as a penny. amazon said it's the third party software that let's sellers list items on the site. most of those orders have been

canceled, but some businesses could be seeing red because of it. >> some are suing. >> yes. >> you could call one high school senior a superstar of the stock market. he has been trading on his lunch break. he is worth an estimated $72 million. he's been trading since the age of nine. he owns a b.m.w., but he can't even drive. >> he has an apartment, but his parents say nice try, but you're not moving in until you get older. he he said he wants to go to college, partly cloudy he wants to be a billionaire. why go to college? >> a trillion dollar spending bill waiting for the president's signature. >> we tell you how the bill made it through a divided congress and what it could mean when republicans take over the house and senate next year. >> flipping the switch on stem cells, new findings could change the way diseases are treated in the future. that is one of today's discoveries.

>> these are live images out of sydney, australia. that is where that hostage standoff is now entering its 14th hour. people are held hostage inside the chocolate shop and cafe. we have been tracking developments there. we will bring you the latest as events warrant. >> a one dollar and one cents trillion spending bill is on the president's desk. the senate approved it saturday. the bill will fund most of the government until september. funding for the department of homeland security is said to expire in february. we are joined by professor of campaign management at n.y.u. this bill passed the upper house saturday, but not before republican ted cruz threw up a last minute obstacle. let's listen to what he said: >> both democrats and

republicans will have the opportunity to show america whether they stand with a president defying the will of the voters or with the millions of americans who want a safe and legal immigration system. this point of order is tarted not to the entire omnibus, but specifically to the d.h.s. funding that the president has announced will be spent unconstitutionally. >> let me translate for the viewer a little bit. he basically employed this procedural act, point of order to try to defund obama's executive action, right? why did he do this? >> he did this because he really is trying to appeal to the right wing tea party and his constituents. he did this in defiance of his own party leader ship. mitch mcconnell told reporters friday we're going home for the weekend. we're going to come back monday, vote on this omnibus bill. this backfired to a certain extent on ted cruz. he forced them into a saturday session, which is very rare and

then harry reid, the out going leader was able to get 24 of president's nominations on to the floor. >> that's the point. he actually, cruz actually bought the democrats time saturday to advance these nominations. i guess the question is is cruz causing the party to have to shoot itself in its own foot? >> absolutely. that's what he accomplished. now, will ted cruz be upset about that? maybe not. he didn't want these nomination, but got what he wanted. he would like nothing more than his constituents to be saying the establishment of the republican party, washington are unhappy with ted cruz. it's similar to what he did in 2013 on the government shutdown. >> onette left are anti establishment senators, elizabeth warren condemning provisions added to this budget bill at the last minute, including one that would weaken the dodd frank regulation act. are her tactics in some way

similar to cruz's in that they play to the port's base? >> to a certain extent, these are mirror images. you had 64 in favor, 40 against, 19 democrats, 20 republicans and one independent. almost every senator who's thinking of running for president in 2016, including listen beth warren, if you had cruz, marco rubio, all voted against the bill. it was really these strange bed fellows. elizabeth warren has emerged. the difference between warren and cruz, she did not pull a move hike he did over the weekend that could potentially shut down the government. she voted against the bill, but didn't go as far as he did. >> all right. always great to see you. >> you, too. >> one of today's discoveries is called and on-off switch for stem cells. researchers discovered the way

that one gene helps control how stem cells develop, working as an air traffic controller to direct stem cells to turn into other types. by learning what direct cells to change, they may develop treatments for all sorts of diseases. >> in indonesia, thousands of rescuers try to find people buried by a landslide. 32 are dead, dozens missing. heavy rain caused mud to bury 100 homes. roads and bridges were also destroyed. that's made it hard for equipment to get in and help. >> let's get another check of the forecast in this country now. >> one of the pretty sides of the storms we've had hitting the west coast, some of that making it interior, this is out of new mexico. the kids enjoy it, but makes the roads a little tough. we are going to have once again with the next storm system, it's been very active, already snow in upper portions of the seer i can't, moist flow moving into

california and another boundary behind that. we are not going to get a huge break between storms, help to go start to erode the drought situation. this is a multi-year drought, so it's not going to turn around quickly. snow already in pores of the sierra, and this continues to push in, a little bit of a break and more rain, so not much of a breakthrough the early part of the week. at least with this system, it's not the huge douser and flood concern some of those last two were, but two to four inches easily possible in the coast and central areas of this state. >> nicole, thank you very much. >> it's deadline day for americans who want to sign up for the affordable care act. >> what you need to know about the government's health insurance plan is coming up next in our next hour. >> we have newly released evidence in the michael brown shooting, learning what brown's best friend so you that day, why he has a very different story than officer darren wilson.

>> tomorrow, the landmark series concludes. >> i'm on a mission that i have to keep this business going. >> an intimate look at middle class families. >> i panicked because, how we gonna pay that? >> the issues we face. >> there's no way to pay for it. >> fighting to survive. >> she's like my role model... as in perseverance. >> building a better future. >> it's coming together little by little. >> real life solutions you can't afford to miss. >> we're making it the best that we can. >> "america's middle class - rebuilding the dream". >> tomorrow. >> 7:00 eastern. >> only on al jazeera america.

>> former vice president dick cheney firing back on the skatings report which c.i.a.

interrogation techniques. a leader member in congress had a much-different take. >> fighting foot waste and poverty with one simple solution, the supermarket giving new hope to the poor and saving the earth at the same time. >> i said that was really neat that you could respond to these letters and help kids. >> more than a century of making christmas dreams come true one letter at a time. behind the scenes of santa's satellite workshop here in the heart of new york city. >> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. >> i'm stephanie sy. it is midnight in australia, 14 hours into a standoff at a chocolate shop and cafe. an unarmed man is holding people hostage there. >> the opera house is a short distance away, a parliament building and reserve bank, as well. john has been tracking developments. the police ever made contact with a person they believe is the gunman inside. >> yeah, that's one of the extraordinary things about this

particular hostage situation all being played out on social media. the gunman has been talk to various media personalities involved in the radio and television arena in sidney, so yes, there's very much negotiation going on. the police are in direct contact with the shooter inside. their stated aim at the moment is to release all the hostages unharmed and they are playing the long game. five people inside this cafe shop did get out, but it's unclear if they escaped or if they were released. let's just address the number of people who may or may not be inside. australian radio is saying there are around 29 or 30 people in there, but the police are very tight-lipped, not saying very much at all. we don't have much to go on with great authority, but we do know according to a correspondent in

sydney that the number is greater than five and probably less than -- >> one reason they do not release the numbers is because sometimes there are people inside the business that the hostage takers do not know are there and that gives the hostage takers more information. >> i think this is something the police are going to face a losing battle over. everybody in that cafe appears to have personal testify teens and access to facebook and twitter, the gunman apparently is encouraging them to use that. the information is all out there. the demands, let's talk about the demands, there has been a list of demands made, but the authorities of keeping a tight lip on them, demands are published all over social media, but the police in sidney are saying that negotiations are underway there and that talking openly on radio and television about those demands would damage the case to try and get everybody out safe and well. take a listen to this: >> our plan, our only goal

tonight and for as long as this takes is to get those people currently caught in that building out of there safely. that remains our number one priority, and nothing will change. >> now, a local radio and television personality spent nine hours on the air over there on the radio station in sydney and took a direct telephone call apparently from the gunman and from some of the hostages. didn't put them on the air, saying it was far better that the police negotiators deal with this than a media personality, but that is how so much of the information is out there on social media. one key image that authorities are investigating in this standoff is that black flag, which two people inside the cafe were seen holding up for quite a while. the words read there is only one god and that is the islamic

declaration of faith. it is that and that alone that really links this to the possibility -- >> it's why it's an international news story, because australia is in the u.s. coalition against isil. prime minister abbot has taken a number of counter terrorism measures in australia, specifically in sydney in recent months. >> back in september, there were about 800 anti terror police used to go after various people in the muslim community in sydney, but also in other australian cities. the reason--there were 15 arrests. the reason this happened was there was a very, very strong scare that isil or daish or whatever you want to call it were planning public beheadings in martin place, which is now several months later where this drama is playing out. many people say was that acknowledge station, did that drive radicals to retaliate in

some way. we simply don't know, but what we he do know is that flag was held up. we do know there were these anti terror raised in september. we do know there was a very real threat, public threat made very widely known back in september of some kind of isil action in martin place and now two months later, we have this. >> we want to jump to that flag for a second, because we don't want viewers to be mistaken about what it can and what it cannot mean. the flag hoisted inside the sidney cafe is quite similar to those used by a number of groups. this is what went up inside the cafe, commonly used by an extremist organization founded in jerusalem with an operating branch in australia. this is the flag used by isil, the group that be taking over parts of iraq and syria. it is also what al shabab uses for its operations.

another variation with more words is used by al-nusra. this is what the taliban used when it rolled most of afghanistan from 1996-2001. this is the flag of the kingdom of the saudi arabia, using the same lettering on its flag along with a sword and a green backdrop. >> this hostage crisis going on, when you talk about hard targets versus soft targets, a coffee shop, i can't think of much of a softer target than that. >> if it's 1-20, let's say the number is 20 being held hostage, how does that end. does this person from a survival perspective try to just let everybody go and try to medal in

with them himself. you've got to think all the australian police are going through the different scenarios, trying to identify the person. at this time, they're thinking about how do we get this to end. >> what the gunman may be thinking or being negotiated with, should the gunman be concerned now people realize these things could end badly and these people may take it upon themselves to overpower them. after september 11, the one thing that seems to be clear is that people have to take action on their own sometimes, not waiting for the authorities to act. >> maybe culturally is the reason it hasn't happened yet. in the united states, people would be i am patient. you brick the male bravado, perhaps this person would be have been overwhelmed by this

point. >> stay with us. because this is still going on. lets turn to lisa stark in washington. good morning. how has president obama responded to this situation in sydney? >> the president was briefed by his advisor on counter terrorism and national security. the white house hasn't released official statement yet, but are watching the situation. the u.s. consulate has been evacuated. it is located near this cafe and the state department has issued a statement saying that american citizens in sidney should be on alert and watch their security carefully. >> we are going to continue to cover that hostage situation. i want to turn oh other news in the u.s. now. tonight is an important deadline for people covered under the affordable care act. are more people expected to sign up this time around? >> that is what the administration hopes. they are projecting about 9 million people will sign up for coverage under the affordable care act.

this year, 2014, the number was about 6.7 million. even that 9 million number isn't as much as some estimates, so the u.s., the government is trying to sort of manage expectations, meet its goals and trying not to give such a large number that it looks like they fell short. tonight is the deadline if you want coverage to start in january, but you've got a couple of more months before you ever to pay a penalty. you've got until february 15 to sign up. >> and the website is working. >> it is, much better than last time. >> over the weekend, a senate pass add massive bill, but there is a debate over provisions stuffed into the bill. tell us more. >> this is a 1600 page bill, lots of rooms to put things in. the democrats are upset by two key provisions that would allow deep pocket donors to give more money to political committees

and also by a provision that weakens the regulations over the because banks, but there is a lot else in there. mrs. obama, her signature school lunch program, that took a hit, because schools now don't have to meet such a low salt standard and they may be able to get out of the whole grain requirement when it comes to tortillas and also some pastas. things like that are in the bill. it's 1600 pages, things like this always get stuffed in. could be interesting reading for those who need something to do. >> and it's press substantive stuff. thank you. >> the release of the c.i.a. torture report continues to resonate especially with republicans. former vice president dick cheney denouncing the support. he defended the techniques authorized while he was in office. we have more. >> vice president dick cheney and other bush era former officials are facing tough

questions as more details come to light from that 500 plus page senate report detailing c.i.a. interrogation techniques in the wake of the september 11 attacks. cheney defended these tactics, which include waterboarding, hanging people by their wrist, putting them in coffin sized boxes and a technique known at rectal hydration. they may sound torturous to the average person, but according to former vice president chin knee, these stopped short of torture as defined by the justice department. the report does detail stems taken by the c.i.a. that make sure that their agents did not cross the line that was laid out by the justice department. that said, vice president cheney said that not only does he think these techniques are legally justified, he felt they were morally justified, as well. >> i've told what you meets the definition of torture, it's what 19 guys armed with airline tickets and box cutters did to

3,000 americans on 9/11. >> now clearly, there's a lot of debate about this. even the republican party is divided, senator john kerry of arizona, a former prisoner of war himself takes a completely different view. >> some of these practices fly in the face of everything that america values and stands for. you can't claim that tying someone to the floor and having freeze to death is not torture. >> while debate a and discussion is taking place in congress, there seems to be little appetite to prosecute anyone in connection with the c.i.a. tactics. on the international level, even more outrage and questions being asked, including from the u.n. on torture, juan mendez said there should be an investigation to see if the united states violated the conventions against torture. how the united states could be held accountable under that convention remains to be seen. >> cheney hitting back about

reports that claim this president bush was kept in the dark about the practices. he said he and bush attended daily briefings with the c.i.a. >> in iraq, residents in mosul say isil is making a new effort to cut them off from the world. their phone lines have been cut and they cannot leave. what is going on in mosul? >> there's a feeling that there is an attempt imminent by the iraq military to retake mosul. they set up a command operation center to liberate mosul, and they're trying to figure out the best way to do that. it's a very complicate operation they're looking at. it's not clear at all that it is imminent, but people in mosul say that in recent days, they've been told that if they want to leave the city, they have to leave a member of their family there to make sure that they return. phone lines have also been cut. iraq officials here have been

saying that they are going to press ahead very soon with that attack on mosul, but to actually succeed, it's not just a matter of airstrikes. it is going to take turning around the sunni population, reactivating filterings and a whole host of other complicated issues that are to be dealt with before they go into iraq's third biggest city. >> as part of the u.s. spending bill, there is more money for the fight against isil. how might that change efforts, if at all, to stop that group in iraq? >> it will help somewhat, but we have to understand that as difficult as it was for american troops to fight al-qaeda when they were here, this is so much more difficult. this is a much more determined enemy. it has more funding, it has more technology, it has more u.s. made weapons. it still has hundreds of

humvees, for instance, u.s. made humvees that it seized from the rack military when it rolled into the north and west of iraq, but what some of that money will go to will be trainers for -- to try to rehe constitute the iraq forces, the ones that melted away, the ones that didn't even exist when isil came through. the americans are really focusing on looking at several bases in which they will do commands, control, and advise key units, such as special forces, but really, when you look at what it will take to defeat isil, it's not just a military operation. it's very much a political one, as well. >> jane live for us with the perspective from baghdad, jane, thank you. >> it is a push for a middle east compromise, secretary of state john kerry set to meet with benjamin netanyahu in the next hour and later in the week with palestinians officials. it comes as palestinians push for new recognition at the u.n.

nick schiffron is live in jerusalem. what is secretary kerry hoping to accomplish this time? >> what u.s. officials tell me kerry is trying to accomplish is compromise, a common path forward you at the u.n. that would combine the diplomatic efforts being done on behalf of the palestinians. last night, palestinians came out and said they want resolution as soon as this week. it's not clear that they have the votes in the security council or any country you could actually table that resolution. this is an attempt to pressure the u.s. to actually take a step forward toward palestinian stayedhood. in response, as you might expect, israel wants nothing to do with this. they do not want to talk about diplomacy at u.n. we heard from prime minister benjamin netanyahu this morning, he's talking about security and terrorism. >> we will not accept attempts for unilateral moves to be dictated to us within a given

time line that. in the reality that islamic terrorism is reaching out to all four corners of the world, we will resist any attempt that will put this inside our home, inside the state of israel. >> for u.s. officials, there is no love lost. the u.s. and israel agree they want peace to be negotiated and so at the end of the day, the u.s. and israel still on the same page. >> what exactly is the current status of talks at the u.n.? >> i think it's important to note that the momentum is increasing for the palestinians to table some kind of resolution, to ask for a state. there are two resolutions being discussed. right now, one is through jordan, the palestinians are asking for a deadline of the israeli occupation within two years. the french in turn have circulated another draft proposal among the europeans

that calls for peace agreement, a two state solution within two years. it would make palestine a full member of the u.n. and call settlements and obstacle to peace. finding a compromise in the middle is what kerry is trying to do. meeting with officials in the next 48 hours, trying to find language that the u.s. will accept. it's not clear whether the u.s. will accept either one of those drafts and what exactly kerry is willing to do at a time when israel's in elections, at a time when the u.s. is trying to actually keep arab countries on it's side because it's fighting isil and they father angering those arab countries would threaten the alliance against isil. >> nick, thank you very much. >> we are following breaking developments in australia. >> that gunman still holding hostages inside this calfify you are seeing here. after the break, we go live at

the scene. >> passionate protests from coast-to-coast as new evidence is made public in the michael brown case. what his friend is saying about the shooting he witnessed firsthand.

>> you are looking at a live picture, a heavy police presence at this hour in sydney, australia. we are nearly 14 and a half hours into a hostage standoff there. an unknown number of people are still inside a chocolate store and cafe along with an armed man. let's go straight to andrew thomas live in sydney. he's been reporting there since the standoff began. we are hearing the lights inside the cafe have been turned off. what can we read from that? >> well, we can read anything or nothing, frankly, simply that fact, the lights in the cafe have been turned off. it's unclear who turned them off, whether it was someone inside the cafe, whether it was from outside the cafe by authorities. i don't think it signifies that anything is about to happen. the lights went off an hour and

a half ago now. there's no movement. there's been a bit of a standoff for many hours now. you can see this road that leads to martin place about 150 meters up there on the left-hand side has been very quiet for the last few hours, as has the square itself. there are receively armed police in that square, weapons trained on that cafe and a negotiation, we are told is going on between police negotiators and the hostage taker inside the cafe. the police are not releasing details of what the hostage taker might be demanding, asking forar saying, but they are absolutely determined that this siege will end with a peaceful resolution. , however long it takes. >> authorities urged persons to go about their daily routines,

in fact. >> authorities want people not to feel terrorized and said people should go about their normal business. we have a clip from the premier of new south wails. >> we are being tested today in sydney. the police are being tested, the public is being tested, but whatever the test, we will face it head-on and we will remain a strong, democratic civil society. >> that was the premier of new south wails telling people they should get on with their normal day to day lives. if your day to day live involves sydney city center, anywhere in the central business district of this city, you simply will not be able to get on with your normal life, because so much of the city is in lockdown.

this is the commercial hub of sidney's busiest, most popular city. the shops are there, the main office blocks are there, a tough v. station on the square, a big hotel, as well. all of that is in lockdown. very interesting, though that he did suggest people should go about their normal lives, because the i am application there is that this siege will be going on tuesday morning. he didn't make suggestion that it would be resolved overnight monday into tuesday. it's gone midnight here. we're now into tuesday, australian time and no sign yet of resolution to this on going siege. >> all right, we know you'll keep following it. andrew, thank you. >> a story we're following here, the st. louis prosecutor releasing hundreds of new documents in the investigation in the shooting death of michael brown. those documents include additional witness testimony. we want to go live to diane for more. the prosecutor said those pages in his words inadvertently left

out. how did that happen? >> well, del, he didn't say why. he just said it was possibly and oversight. when you go through some of these documents, you finally realize the mountain of evidence that this grand jury had to consider. >> thousands of pages of grand jury documents previously kept secret have now been made public. in them, more testimony, witnesses giving their account of what happened the day a white police officer can be darren wilson, shot and killed an unarmed teen, michael brown. jurors had to wade through months of statements. in all that time, some changed their stories dramatically under questions. others admitted to lying, but one account remained consistent throughout the investigation, that of brown's friend, dorian johnson. he said officer wilson grabbed michael brown. the teen was shot as he attempted to run away from wilson, and that brown's hands were up when he was shot.

while johnson's account didn't change, the documents showed that wasn't always the case, with untrustworthy testimony coming from both sides. when a grand jury asked are you telling us that the only thing that's true about all of your statements before this is that you saw that police officer shoot him at point-blank range, witness 35 responds, yes. in another example, with the 22 is asked you gave two statements, were both of those statements true? the answer, no, i just felt like i wanted to be part of something. i didn't see what i told the f.b.i. what i saw. >> when another witness is pressed to remember what they saw, you told three different stories in the time we've been here today, so i want to know which one is really your memory or did you see this at all? number 37 asked if none of thigh stuff is making any sense, like why do y'all keep contacting me? >> the prosecutor's office said

all of the testimony has been released. what you won't be seeing are any pictures of michael brown's body or anything that would identify the witnesses. >> with this release, are there questions as to whether or not the prosecutor has left out anything else? >> we don't know. he said early on he was going to release all of the documentation and did he say that there might be some things that he misses. at this point, he says he thinks everything is out there, so we have to consider, we have to, you know, conclude that maybe it is out there, but again, there could be something that might be missed and he has assured the public if he comes across anything, he will release it to the public. >> diane, thank very much. >> there is winter weather bearing down on the midwest. let's go to nicole mitchell tracking that new storm. >> this is the same one that caused severe weather yesterday. minimum reports, two isolated tornado reports in oklahoma and

kansas. the moisture today pushing through missouri, but on the northern end, the snow. the warmer air in place could add to isolated severe weather. cold enough air behind this and dropping temperatures, so these temperatures fall for highs in the 20's today, and with some of those temperatures even falling on the backside of this freezing precipitation, then snow. we could have a slick go and we have advisories up. this moves through the great lakes into the northeast tomorrow, causing problems along the way. freezing precipitation on the backside, the core of this could see six inches of snow. >> a u.s. marine behind bar it is in the philippines. >> murder charges have been filed in a case sparking international outrage. >> why an american man is slamming the united states after being caught trying to sneak into north korea for the second time. >> another hack attack on sony has some asking whether north korea was behind it. the latest movie screen to be

released.

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weekdays at 5 eastern only on al jazeera america >> you're looking live at a host automobile situation i in sydne, australia. >> the sale of the century, the glitch that let amazon customers by pricey items for next to nothing. >> we are looking at the following stories this morning. the deadline for health area under the affordable care act, you have today to sign up for exchanges to get coverage january 1. it's the deadline to make changes to your existing coverage. >> isil is banning residents from mosul from leaving the city and cutting their phone lines. isil has controlled mosul since

june. >> just past midnight in sydney, australia. the hostage standoff is still going on. a gunman is holding people inside a chocolate shop and cafe in a very busy part of the city. >> why is this area so significant in sydney he? >> this is the central business district in the city of sydney. it couldn't be a busier place. in this area, there's a verge hotel, there's a television station, channel seven is based there. there's also the federal bank, there, as well and several other key buildings, including the parliament of the state of -- sydney is actually in. >> south wails. >> new south wales.

in september, there was a raid involving 800 anti terror police, and there were 15 arrests resulting from that. that was on many members of the muslim community right around this area, but particularly sydney, the reason the authorities did that was because they were very fearful there would be a series of beheadings carried out by isil in this very area, the martin area of the city that we are talking about. that's why this is so significant, the central business district of sydney and there have been threats made on this area within the last two or three months. >> we want to bring back mike lyons, a security specialist with us here on aljazeera america. as this clock particulars, this is not adding

up. >> the australian government has done a tremendous job of shutting down his capability to have a megaphone to the outside world. something's off here. there would have been another attack someplace, another person like him. this does not look like a terrorist episode. >> early on, there were serious concerns that there were devices planted all over the city, including the opera house, very close by and also the sydney harbor bridge. all that have has come to nothing. >> which is exactly what happened after september 11, there were reports that there were bomb going on, panic leads to this. >> this does not look like somebody backed up by anybody. it does rather point to the lone wolf scenario he. >> yes. >> that is a thing nobody can control or predict. >> he had to ask for an islamic

flag. he obviously knows that's an important way to get into the media. >> regardless whether this is just a nut job who has a flag and put it out there, does this create fear in societies and in countries that are participating in the fight against isil, and is that the point? >> i think that's very interesting, because any kind of incident like this creates fear and that is obviously the main idea behind it, but look what the premier of new south wales and the prime minister, tony abbat have been saying, they've been saying go about your business quite normally tuesday morning in sidney, in other words ride the subways, go to work. if you work anywhere in the immediate area, work from home but otherwise just carry on as normal. >> if there is a plan, we've got to worry about a cope cat. if you're the enemy thinking in that record, when this is over, there will be a natural pause and standdown -- june a look at

what we know and what we don't know and what we got right and wrong. >> an american marine has now been form ally charged in the murder of the philippines. prosecutors say there is probably cause that he killed a transgender woman. >> an american is criticizing the u.s. from inside north korea. he spoke with reportersing pyongyang sunday, slamming the u.s. economic system saying it benefits the wealthy. >> i would like to offer a sincere ology to the leadership for knowingly having violated nations laws and boundaries by illegally interesting as i did in such a foolish way and am extremely grateful from having been bordened. >> he is seeking asylum in venezuela. it is not clear if he is being

used as a propaganda tool. his mother says he suffers bipolar disorder. >> sony scrambling to contain a cyber attack. >> sony is taking new steps to stem this tide of embarrassing information. >> well, among those new steps, sony entertainment is expected to have a country wide town hall meeting today to talk about with all employees. meanwhile, a more powerful step, sony hired a powerful attorney and he has sights set on people like us, the media. >> he's played a key role in tobacco lawsuits to sports lawsuits so the bush-gore lexicon refers to. david boyce is working on behalf of sony super at the same time as it deals with a signer attack that's embarrassed the company.

the hackers ever released a wide range of information, including executive salaries and emails disparaging some of the biggest names in hollywood. in its eighth information leak in three weeks, the group claiming responsibility, the so-called guardians of peace, has reportedly stolen early versions of the script for the next james bond movie, specter, which is still in production. if the hackers release the script, media companies shouldn't republish any portion of it, said the tosh, or any other of sony's pr proprietary information, calling it stole that. it is said that north korea is behind the attack because of a movie called the interview. in it, journalists conspire to kill north korean leader kim jong-un. "the new york times" is

regarding sony's c.e.o. was so worried about offending north careens that he demanded the fictional death scene be made less graphic. sony has reportedly decided not to release the film in asia. sounds like the hackers are planning another release of sony data. they promised sony a christmas gift that would put sony pictures in the worst state. >> if you think this is a hollywood problem that doesn't apply to you, cyber experts warn think again. a security consultant hired to fix sony's problems warn that where there used to be 10 people in the world that could carry out such an attack, now there are hundreds. >> here to talk about both stories surrounding north korea is the author of "nuclear showdown, north korea taking on the world." do we have strong evidence it

was north korea? >> we think so. the f.b.i. said they couldn't attribute it to the north korean, but the malware was written in korean and also the code used against sony is the same code used against south korean businesses in marsh and june of last year, and the south korean government did attribute that to the north careens. the north careens have been gloating about this. they've issued non-denials, so probably with all the a attribution is done, we'll learn it was the north careens. >> if north korea put out a film in which we were talking about two reporters sent to assassinate a u.s. president, there would be outrage and demands worldwide that that film not be released. >> there would be those demands and north korea has demanded to this film not be reds, as well. they've written a letter to the u.n. and to president obama in july. clearly, sony should have

anticipated something like this, because this really was very, very corrosive as least from the north korean point of view. >> a man from texas in north korea was taken before the media where he slammed the u.s. on human rights. >> i would like to reveal facts about america's i am perillistic influence and dominance as well as much of its corrupt and threatening practices proving itself to have no reward for human rights or serving the greater good. >> your take. >> well, you know, here, you've got a story of someone who has bipolar disorder, who tried to get into north korea twice. this is like the bad guy trying to bet into the asylum rather than the other way around. i don't think north korea will get much traction out of this, but it's clear the north careens want to use this. they're being hauled before the international criminal court or trying to prevent that, so therefore, they want to tar the united states and everybody else

for their how many rights records. >> sony aside and this man aside, was a window missed, because recently north korea did what some would say is a good will jestiture by releasing those hostages. was a diplomatic window closed? >> we'll never know about that. the issue here is whether the north careens are really ready to deal with the international community in good faith and because of all the problems in pyongyang right now, probably not. this is an issue that will go unabced, because we don't know. clearly the north careens want to reach out to washington. the question is are they really prepared to do what is necessary. >> we thank for being with us this morning. >> thank you. >> a shopping slip up in amazon, the sites british marketplace suffered a technical bridge, everything from can dells to coats listed as costing 1 cent. most of the orders were canceled before they were sent out. >> we're all buying too much food, forgetting it in the fridge or covering it, throwing

it out unseaten. grocery stores, as well. one in london hopes to use that waste to feed the poor. >> a whole chicken, reduced from price. this beef down from six pounds to one. the whole lot for a little over $5. special offer? no, standard fare at a new supermarket, trying to combat food waste and food poverty. 15 million tons of supermarket foods ends up in the bin every year by passing check out from chuck out. the box maybe damaged, the store overorderred. much of it will go to social super markets like this one and be resold for next to nothing. >> the promise of cheap food will lure crowds.

the doors remain firmly closed to all but members. to become a member, customers meet requirements. they have to live locally in an area classified the government as deprived. secondly, they have to be receiving some form of benefit, income support and thirdly, have to agree on what's called a development program, wimp is effectively a number of classes run by this place on things like debt management, confidence building and how to a ply for jobs. on top of that, the membership will not last forever, we are talking six months max. after that time, it has to be reviewed to see if somebody else needs it more. >> most people are enthusiastic about changing their lives, this is exactly the right place for them, if all they are looking for is really, really cheap food and there are place you can buy that from without needing other intervention. >> this is the first large community supermarket to open, based in london.

a trial store proved so popular in northern england, 20 more are due to open their doors. mavis is a regular. >> it's a supermarket, you're paying for the goods and items, however small, for your debt reduction, but you feel there's some dignity about it. >> last year, one of britons biggest super markets tracked it's top 25 selling products, finding 40% of apples wasted. bananas, 20% of never eaten and half bakery goods end up in the bin. much of this will now be sold to social super markets for pennies, then to customers for little more, putting food on plates and smiles on faces. >> al jazeera, london. >> according to the national resources defense council, saving just 15% of our foot waste would be enough to feed 25 million americans every year. >> lest we forget, this is a

hunger problem in the u.s. >> there's a solution. >> stems toward slowing climate change, delegates agreed on an approach, but delayed the decision on one of the biggest sticking points until next year. we're going to talk to the global director of the climate program after the break. >> a look inside santa's other workshop. tackling a mountain of mail. >> you don't need a p.h.d. to see for yourself that the world is already changing. who said that, after the break.

>> developed countries have to provide financial support to vulnerable developing nations and all countries set targets that go beyond their current undertaking. the global director of the claims program at the world research institute join us. thanks for being with us. >> china said it would drastically increase its use of alternative energy in the next 15 years and allow emissions to plateau. it was supposed to be a big deal, countries were supposed to

jump on the climate change bandwagon. did we see that in lima? >> we saw some of that. i think the u.s.-china announcement was seen as a real water shed event to have those two, the biggest polluters cooperating together, so the momentum coming in was very strong. it helped raise the stakes in a way to make sure they did what they needed to do in lima to set up this paris meeting next year. >> i want to look at something else that secretary of state john kerry said before the delegation came to an agreement. >> every nation has a responsibility to do its part if we're going to pass this test, and only those nations who step up and respond to this threat can legitimately lay claim to any mantel of leadership and global responsibility, and yes, if you're a big developed nation, and you're not helping to lead, then you are part of the problem. >> you were in lima as an

observer. did you sense a shared urgency, which i think you hear secretary kerry talking about in that statement about climate change or does it feel like a far off threat to some countries? >> there is a shared sense of urgency and i think you especially from south african, from small island nations, you can hear the urgency in their voice, it's food security for south africa. that is driving the intensity of this right now. >> how do you get countries that are more concerned with feeding their people to make claims change commitments? >> one is the cost of the impacts is an economic issue. the second that is what we heard from dell allegations here is they see that the benefits of acting, less -- better energy

security, better air pollution also is something they're interested in, growing renewable energy. i think the debate is starting to change. in the end, you need the coalition to come together and pull along those not yet ready to act. >> jennifer, thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> yes, virginia, there is as santa claus. the spirit goes on in the giving of the adjustment portal system. >> it lets volunteers answer them, as many kids are simply asking for the essentials. >> christmas in manhattan and only a few blocks, the decorated store windows, behind these doors, new york central post office, zip code 10001 is home to operation santa. now in it's 102nd year nationwide with 20 cities participating, volunteers sort through letters, identifying the

once from the poorest zip codes. addresses are blacked out, each letter assigned a number and the letters made available to anyone who would read them, shop for presents, wrap them up and mail them. >> i am a huge fan of christmas, and i just thought this was really neat that you could respond to these letters and help little kids. >> many come back year after year. >> sometimes you hear about a parent who died or someone just lost their job right before christmas and they can't provide for their kid, which is just really hard. i never had to deal with that when i was a kid. you want to do what you can to help these kids have a great christmas. >> in the main post office, they received 300 to 500 letters a year addressed to santa, but only 10% get answered. >> pete has worked in the post office for over 40 years, and has been chief elf of postal holiday operations since 1995.

while there are many requests for x boxes and lap tops, there are still many asking santa simply for food, warm blankets or winter clothes. >> a child will write my mom doesn't have a winter coat, not asking for anything for themselves. they send us their bills now and ask us to pay them with their account information. >> he says he's seen the number of needy grow in recent years. >> there's no doubt that the need that tremendously gone up, and it goes with the economy. you can pretty much see it from the way the tone of the letters is, how the state of the economy is. >> figures indicate that one in five american children currently live in poverty. in some cities, that rate is over 30%. >> it's still considerably higher than before the recession started, with urban child poverty and national child poverty. >> the sting of going without can be particularly painful during the holidays. >> you've got the pier pressure and consumer culture, and, you

know, it is what it is, and i think it is -- it is -- a source of disappointment for poor children. >> despite the dire reality for many, the christmas magic has not worn off and the spirit of christmas leaves on. >> do you believe in the magic of santa claus. >> i do. there is a magic. it is a force. >> this program is available in 20 cities in postal branches, so you can go and volunteer and be part of this program. >> let's get a last look at the weather. they used to say it doesn't rain in southern california. >> i have friends in l.a. that said pretty much the heavens opened up last week. the next system funneling moisture in is more targeted at central california, but you can the large swath of moisture as we come in and another area behind this. we've had storm after storm,

this one not as heavy with the rain as last week. central california definitely getting the rain and as we continue through today, chances for the whole state and then another system behind this, bringing more chances for the whole state, as well. how this shapes up over the next -- this is just the next two days, the core of this central and northern california where we can get two to four inches out here, but definitely some needed moisture, it's just been kind of a rough go the last couple of weeks. >> thank you very much. >> coming up, the latest from sydney on the hostage standoff. we'll ever continuing coverage throughout the day and of course tomorrow, right here on aljazeera america. that's it for us here in new york. >> we leave you with a look at i am packages from the hostage standoff in sydney. five people got out of the cafe, but several more are said to be believed to be inside. >> we'll see you back here

tomorrow at 7:00 a.m.

>> five hostages managed to escape a siege in a cafe in sydney, but an armed man continues to keep an unconfirmed number of people trapped inside. >> we will go to sydney for the latest in a few minutes. this is al jazeera. also ahead the battle for libya, 16 people die after violence near the border with t tunisia. >> no planes and then no trains.