>> the most definitive look at this shocking crime >> the major difficulty for the prosecution that there was no evidence >> al jazeera america presents lockerbie part one: the pan am bomber >> this hour on al jazeera america. >> these 50 years have shown that isolation has not worked. it's time for a new approach. >> a change in u.s. policy against cuba. after a half century of animosity. plus the release of an u.s. spy and an imprisoned aid worker alan gross. >> i'm incredibly blessed to have the freedom to resume a productive life.

>> in pakistan taliban murder over 130 children. and russia struggles to stop the bleeding. how the government is trying to prop up it's crumbling economy. >> we begin with a historic turn of events in the relationship between the united states and cuba. today the obama administration said it would normalize the relations with cuba breaking a 54-year policy of isolation. it comes with the release of american prisoner allen gross. this afternoon alan gross thanked the people who made his freedom possible. >> it was crucial to my survival

knowing that i was not forgott forgotten. your prayers and your actions have been comforting, reassuring and sustaining. ultimately the decision to arrange and to secure my release was made in the oval office. to president obama and the nfc staff, thank you. >> alan gross lost more than 100 pounds and several teeth during his confinement. we'll hear more about his story in a moment. mike viqueira hat the white house. mike, this is a huge policy shift. how did it all come about. >> a shocking development, no question, and you're right, it is historic. the pope played a key role here. there were secret talks going on brokered by the vatican through the good offices of canada. canada has a lot of business interest in cuba. wanted to see these long-standing trade relations improve between the united states and cuba that had been

severed since 1961. now upon the release of alan gross, they denied to the last that he had anything to do with he i espionage. the president said that released the last impediment to a policy goal and that was improving relations with cuba. this came completely unexpected. there are many critics, several of them are congressmen, and president obama anticipated the criticism, and here's what he had to say. >> to those who oppose the steps i'm announcing today, let me say that i respect your passion and share your commitment to liberty and democracy. the question is how we uphold that commitment. i do not believe we can keep doing the same thing for over five decades and expect a

different result. >> david, the white house insists that that spy swap that you mentioned, one cuban who had been spying for the americans in exchange for three cubans imprisoned here on the same charge had nothing to do with alan gross. alan gross was on a separate track and released purely on humanitarian grounds. >> what are the main components in the new policy as the president outlined today. >> first and foremost the president wants to open a new embassy in havana, something that the republicans said that they're going to try to block funding for. some other bullet points the president wants to ease sanctions both economic and otherwise communication between a cuban americans and people and friends and family in the homeland. ease travel restrictions for these same individuals, although tourism will not be fully liberalized under what the president is proposing.

raise the remittance level, the amount of money that cubans can accepted in to cuba for their family and friends, and of course expand trade. this is something that we might mention that u.s. business interests have long sought, including agriculture interests . >> mike, you mentioned criticism has been quite strong. >> marco rubio came out with biting criticism of the president. >> this president is the single worst negotiator we've had in the white house in my lifetime who has basically given the cuban government everything that it asked for. and received no assurances of any advances in democracy and freedom in return. >> now the larger trade embargo

is known as helms burton after the law passed in 19 6. it's still in forced and would require congressional action to lift that. that does not appear to be in the cards. john boehner said that there was no way he was going to lift the trade embargo. >> thank you very much. as we mentioned the release of alan gross was a key theme to trigger the final deal to come together. alan gross spoke this afternoon. at times he was feisty and at times quite humorous. >> well, david, quite the day in u.s. history and quite the interview as well. popcorn on the plane and it seems that alan gross is almost back to his old self.

who is this man held by the cubans so long. who we were told was becoming sicker and more depressed every day that passed. >> alan gross on home soil for the first time in five years, and not afraid to show it. >> i'm incredibly blessed finally to have the freedom to resume a positive and constructive life. >> a website said that he has traveled the world for a quarter of century helping people in 50 countries to create jobs and improve agriculture. ironically it was the worldwide web that kept him in cuba for five years. the state department overseas development wing he was accused of smuggling and sentenced to 15 years behind bars for attempting to distribute internet equipment to cuba's small jewish community without the proper permits. his wife judy appealed for alan's release on health grounds. he was, suffering from hip pain,

crumbling front at least and was angry at the cuban government for detaining him for so long. she spoke to al jazeera about her husband's deteriorating condition. >> very gregarious, great happy person, great personality, very warm. unfortunately, that's changed quite a bit in the past four years. >> gross' five-year jail time has been complicated by the decades-old trade embargo against cuba now under review after more than 50 years. plus the revelation of secret u.s. i.d. programs against the communist island, including a twitter feed designed to destabilize the regime in hava havana. president obama hinted that behind-the-scenes negotiations in the sit down last week with spanish tv. >> we've been in conversations about how we can get alan gross home for quite some time. we have been working through a whole variety of channels. >> so now alan gross is a free

man once more. free to join his family for the holidays, and by his own admission to get those teeth fixed. >> i hope that they'll be strong and sharp enough to make a difference. >> yes, that is quite some grin. and alan gross was saying in the course of that press conference that this is the first day of hanukkah, and this is the best hanukkah he's likely to have for the best of his rife. in the meantime, he and his wife have asked for complete privacy while they enjoy the holiday season with their family, and most importantly take care of health issues. i have a femaling femaling that this is probably not the last we've heard from alan gross. >> indeed. alan gross won his freedom in a prisoner exchange with the remaining remain cuban five. they would gather information on

cuba's exile groups. they were convicted on espionage charges. joining us now from miami where reaction has been sharp, lordes who came from cuba as a child in the 1960's. tell us about your story, and why this is such a big deal to you. >> this is a big deal to me because it hurts the very fact that they're negotiating with terrorist countries. i mean, you're trading bullets for cellphones. the core of the five, they killed american citizens. they plan to do espionage against congress and we traded a wonderful human being who went there to help the jewish

community for five terrorists. >> just to be clear bass the obama administration is consistent on this, that this was not a trade for alan gross. yes, it was a spy swap, the three being held in florida for an american spy who had been held there for 20 years. it's not fair to say that this is gross being traded but your reaction is that you're not happy about it. >> i'm not happy. you cannot negotiate with terrorists. this puts the united states in a very week position against the arab nation. if they can do it once they can do it again. it hurts our security. >> what about the idea that this promote u.s. security by strengthening economic ties with the cuban people, and if the cuban people are able to benefit with that, then the united states would benefit as well?

>> the cuban people will not benefit from any economic betterment. it will only be the' least. the elite. i want freedom of speech, the ability to elect my rulers, the to be able to vote. they've had the same government for 54 years, do you think that's going to change? >> a lot of people changed when the berlin wall came down. sure you can make the claim that china and others maybe that's the analogy for cuba, but some people say look at what happened in eastern government. >> as long as the castro government is there, they're not going to give up power. it is not a democracy, it is a monarchy. would you give up power if you had it? you would not. >> there is no argument with castro being an monarchy. what is going on behind you

lourdes. >> obviously, this is a great country. you can express your thoughts. some people are happy, some people are sad. i just wish that the obama administration had more forceful hand. there is no comparison with the power of the united states and the power of cuba. this is ridiculous. and no embargo. by the way. >> lourdes, is an attorney from little havana. thank you for coming on the program. we appreciate it. cubans in the united states and cuba are reacting not only in city streets and miami, but a lot of discussion and debate has been spilling out on social media. maria ines ferre is here with some of that. >> reporter: yes, david, we're sees reaction. let's start with cuban americans. rebecca said, my grandmother, who emigrated from cuba in 1958, is so happy she's crying. she e-mailed, cuba in 2015?

can't wait to see her old home. as cuban american i'm extremely happy to see the start of hopefully good relations between the two. and polbecath writes, i will never set foot on that island until both castros are dead. there are students and people gathered to listen to president obama. in cuba, the cuban five are portrayed as heroes. some refer to them as ambassad ambassadors. when raul castro announced that the three remaining prisoners in the u.s. were returning to cuba, cubans began tweeting volienndo, they have returned. >> this is a remarkable day in terms of what has been going on in not only cuba and washington,

but also around the world. it has been over 30 years since president jimmy carter left the white house, but for a long time the former president has been working on u.s. and cuban relations among everything else he has been trying to work on around the world. earlier john seigenthaler asked president carter how the new policy changes will directly affect cubans. >> over the past 60 years we've had very harsh sanctions that have been very difficult for the 11, 12 million cuban people to live with. and what's happened is that we've just punished them and the castro brothers have used this economic sanctions to give excuses for the difficulties that the cuban people have experienced because of the communist restraints.

i think this will not only give them a better life, but also open up to american farmers, particularly those in georgia, a wonderful chance for new trade, both in buying raw materials from cuba, but also selling them our corn, chicken and and things that have already been arranged. >> you can catch more of the interview with president carter tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern and 5:00 p.m. pacific with john seigenthaler. in pakistan the prime minister lift its ban on the death penalty. taliban gunmen armed with suicide bombs attacked a school on tuesday killing at least 145 people including 132 children. relatives of the victims have now begun the grim task of burying those young victims. we have more now. [♪ singing ] >> reporter: pain and agony, one after another more than 130 children have been laid to rest.

as more injured succumb to their injuries, even grown men struggle to keep their composure. one man buries his nephew. >> it was confirmed that it was abdullah, but i was not ready to believe. >> grief is giving way to anger. >> if we can't protect the children, if we can't make the army to stand in front of the schools, there should be no army in front of the commanders house, there should be no army, no security of any government official. they should be like us. >> political leadership has jolted in action. the prime minister has removed the ban .

>> classrooms are riddled with bullets. books and shoes scattered after the mayhem. this is where the children were taking the exam. each of those who survived say they have a terrifying story that they will never forget. >> me and my friend hid under the chairs. it was intense firing. many of my friends were lying there dead. there was lots of blood. many children were crying. whoever was making any noise the attackers would shoot them. >> schools across the country held prayers for the departed.

those who used to play in playgrounds are now filling cemeteries. their parents want action not just words. al jazeera. >> just ahead today the u.s. federal reserve made a very important announcement and gave the markets a big kick, and it will effect your finances. ali velshi will join us next to explain.

>> stocks broke a throw-day losing streak and had the best day in more than a year. real money's illinois is here with the story. how good did good? >> the dow was up 288 points. 1.7%. i saw it happening.

i was watching you all day talking about cuba, and i thought that was a strong reaction to this announcement in cuba. markets must be celebrating, but it was something entirely different. it was the federal reserve. the s&p and the nasdaq doing better than the dow. 2%. that's a lot of percent. this is the s&p 500's best day since october of 2013. by far the best day of 2014. this of course is a great take away for people who have investments in 401ks and retirement accounts that mimic the index. i don't think the cuba stuff hurt. >> explain why the market loves it so much. >> there are economies around

the world slowing down, china, india, europe and russia because of the sanctions between them. but ultimately the drop in the price of oil has meant that inflation threats, which is really one of the things that the feds look like has been erased for a little while. if the fed sees inflation as a problem. or the economy growing too quickly they increase interest rates. as a result the economy slows down. but now the threat of inflation has disappeared because of oil prices, they're leaving it alone. now look, it doesn't really mean a ton because interest rates are going to go up at some point. the market has read this to say that interest rates will now probably not go up as quickly as the fed had suggested it would in 2015 or in the spring of 2015. here is the important take away, however, for people watching this. your mortgage rate is not set by the federate. as we said mortgage rates in the

last year hal year and a half have been at the lowest janet yellen came up and said, i don't know what you're reading into this, we'll probably still race interest rates around where we thought we would, in the spring of 2016, but the market decides what the market will decide, and today it decided to go up. >> i know ali will be talking about cuba tonight at 7:00 p.m. eastern on al jazeera america. egypt is one of the world's leading gas producers, and yet produce as gas crisis. reporter clayton swisher has the report. >> this is a group of men who have grown rich through secretive energy deals between egypt and israel. they have cost the egyptian

people billions of dollars in lost re revenues. >> it's obvious that egypt was being ripped off. one of the men responsible is a confidant of hosni mubarak. the other a former israeli intelligence officer who is now suing the egyptian state. >> how much money will you be satisfied to take from the egyptians? >> i'll settle for $50 billion. have a good day. >> israel's peace accord with egypt has a new balance of power emerges in the region. >> from israeli's perspective there is a game changer. >> israel has laid claim to some of the largest gas fields discovered this century. >> when gas came on stream. >> as gas shortages sweep egypt president al sisi hopes that a

cla clandestine deal to buy gas from israel will help the region. >> what else could be better? >> singles its foundation israel's lack of oil and gas has been a key strategic weakness. in the 1960s it looked to neighboring egypt. >> egypt has been extracting gas from the waters off its coast since 1960s. in the 1967 israeli war, israel seized the sinai peninsula and oil fields. this set the stage of energy independence. >> in the 1970s, two-thirds of its land of oil came from land illegally occupied. the state department made a secret offer to appease israel. the u.s. agreed to supply israel

with oil for five years if it's own supplies are disrupted and it cannot meet it's normal requirements. >> it was always a factor in the relationship between egypt and israel. the sinai was and still is a producer. and when you get the first camp david part of the issue was how to set them at work. would the egyptians get the oil from the sigh semi. >> you can watch the entire special tonight at 10:00 p.m. eastern and 7:00 p.m. park right here on al jazeera america. president obama's historic shift changes the cuban learn relationship, in many ways they are a still a long way off. when hillary clinton left the white house as first lady, today's college seniors were in kindergarten. so their knowledge of clinton is a little bit off. that story ahead in power

politics.

>> hundreds of days in detention. >> al jazeera rejects all the charges and demands immediate release. >> thousands calling for their freedom. >> it's a clear violation of their human rights. >> we have strongly urged the government to release those journalists. >> journalism is not a crime. >> al jazeera america presents >> somebody's telling lies... >> it looks nothing like him... >> pan am flight 103 explodes december 21st, 1988 was the right man convicted? >> so many people, at such a high level, had the stake in al-megrahi's guilt >> the most definitive look at this shocking crime >> the major difficulty for the prosecution that there was no evidence >> al jazeera america presents lockerbie part one: the pan am bomber

>> today was a historic shift in the relationship between the united states and cuba. president obama announced sweeping changes that will ease travel restrictions. this all comes as a prisoner swap in exchange for three intelligence agent who is were arrested and jailed in florida. these are images of gross as he arrived at andrews air force base on a plane that brought him out of cuba. he was there giving hugs to members of congress and others working for his release. cuban president raul castro was speaking about it this afternoon. he said it fulfills the vision

of his brother more than a decade ago. >> they arrive in our country, this decision by president obama deserves the respect and recognition of our nation. i want to thank and recognize the support of the vatican and especially of pope francis. >> pope francis played a crucial role providing office space and secrecy for talks between cuba and the united states. despite president obama's policy shift rule the main issue, the longstanding economic embargo must end. the shift between the united states and cuba is huge news in south florida. 70% of cuban americans live there. morgan radford spent a semester at the university of havana during the last year of fidel castro's presidency. first, what is the scene like where you are? >> that's right, david. as you said it is a historic day

here, and the two prevailing questions here right at the heart of miami's little havana community is why is this happening now? and where do we go from here. the way people are solving this almost family style. i would like to say that there is mixed reaction but the reality is there have been only a couple of obama supporters who support what is happening. and the majority of the people out here where i am david they're saying, look, obama really betrayed us, and some saying that obama is an assassin just like the castros, and they're saying he really sold us out, david. >> morgan, i go to ask you. look at the guy with the cuban flag and all the tattoos. is that guy a supporter of the announcement today or a critic

of the obama decision? >> he, i believe, is a critic. we spoke with him on the corner earlier, and a lot of people are saying, look, obama, he didn't hold us down. we had three people it does not equal one. a lot of people are saying three people responsible for killing american lives to one, alan gross, who brought the internet to a small jewish community in havana. many are saying that obama did not do right by them. you can hear chants who are saying the obama administration has a conspiracy with castro as terrorists, and a lot of people saying they renounce him as president. i'm translating here, and they're saying the terrorists like allen gross. >> terrific stuff from little havana. morgan, thank you. americanfarmers in the united

states have exported goods to cuba for years now cuba could be opened up to other american industries. we're joined with more on that. what does this announcement mean for american business and american commerce. >> you're looking at 11 million people close to the united states, and you're just salivating. the headlines that come out of this, cuban cigars that you're going to be able to buy. $400 worth of goods that you can buy on the cuban market that you could not do before. but if anyone is looking for the hilton or general motors to set up shop in havana, that's not going to happen yet. keep in mind this cuban economy is remuch run by the state. the army actually controls many of the partnerships that are done with private investments and firms. however, when you look at the trade between these two countries, it's not totally cut

off. the embargo is not--it's just sort of a one-way street. america still trades with cuba. many don't think that, but that's not the case. [music] >> reporter: for many americans this is the picture of cuba. a rhythm-infused culture known for its classic cars and cigars, mixed with a communistic style government reminiscent of a buy gonbygone era. but the message is clear, cuba is forbidden. and for those who think the island's markets are completely off limits to u.s. business, think again. >> there is a lot of interaction between the u.s. and cuba. the u.s. has been free to sell agriculture commodities to cuba, and has. it sold as much as three-quarters of $1 billion a year. less in recent years, but that trade does go on.

>> reporter: last year u.s. exports to cuba totaled $350 million making the u.s. the island's largest source of imported food. that means that beans and chicken eaten in places like havana often come from farmers and ranchers in places like nebraska and ohio. >> cargill is probably the biggest single exporter, that is bulk commodity, soybeans and corn. another exporter tyson's chick chicken. cuba buys a lot of chicken pieces. >> last year the u.s. sold $144 million in frozen chicken, and agriculture business in places like iowa, illinois and nebraska have sold corn and beef to the island. >> it's time to begin a new chapter in u.s. cuban relations. >> the 12-person team included executives from cargill and

amway. >> many midwestern congressmen and senators have been trying for years to further liberalize because the market could be much larger than it is. >> so that new chapter in u.s.-cuban relations begins today. but to change that dynamic, that will take an act of congress. there is nothing that the white house can do that will remove that. in the end this is really a decision for the american people. >> from real money, thank you very much. let's take a deeper dive on these policy changes. let's go to the latin america center at the atlantic council, jason, i wonder if you can put this in historical perspective what a huge and significant moment this is? >> thanks, david, this is incredibly significant moment. for over five decades the united states has maintained the same policy towards cuba with some

changes along the way. president clinton in the late 1990's had opening of travel and remittances that was scaled back by president bush and a lot that president obama has done is reinstating what president clinton did. but what he did it will be very difficult for further administrations to undue. he did not just tweak the travel or remittances, but to fundamentally change u.s.-cuban policy. in many ways yes the embargo still stands but this is the official ending of the embargo as we've known since 1961. >> that has led to a tricky situation for those of us who have been to cuba. there are charter flights that go from miami to cuba that the airlines operate. how soon--we've been getting this question a lot--for

tourists, how soon there will be direct flights that you can say reserve through the airlines that are publicized and sponsored and whatnot? >> yes, i've actually taken that same charter flight through miami, and it's no fun. you know, at least ten u.s. airports offer--12 that offer direct non-stop flights to havana. what the president did today, there are 12 different categories in which you need to apply for a license to travel to cuba, whether it's for religious reasons or cultural reasons, educational reasons. and he basically now lumped that under a general license that still says you need to go there for purposeful travel, but you don't need to apply for a specific license through the travel department. important note that americans cannot travel to cuba solely for

tourism purposes. tourism for tourism sake is still prohibited after what the president announced today. >> yet, if you go for journalism, education or culture, you will be able to use your credit cards and debit cards, something not allow previously when banks were embargoed from doing business in cuba? >> right, and this was a big--this is a very hypocrisy in our policy towards cuba. we opened up travel especially under president obama under the last few years but still pro hinted debit cards and credit cards from being used. if a traveler went down to cuba, you had to go to cuba with wads of cash. it was a very big security concern for americans traveling to cuba with that kind of thousands of dollars in cash because once you got down to cuba, if you ran out of money, you ran out of money. you could not go to your local

atm to get cash to pay for your hotel bill or cab fair for the airport. this allows for the travel that is occurring to cuba. a half million americans last year to be able to go to cuba and do it in a much safer way. i think also important to point out that we did a poll earlier this year and found it overwhelming support across the country, 56% of americans even more support in florida, 63% for change in policy. this is not just democrats, but democrats, independents and the majority of republicans as well. >> jason, deputy director of the latin american center for the atlantic council, jason, thank you for coming on the program. the entire world was watching as alan gross was released and president obama announced a new era with cuba. jamie mcintyre looks at what it could mean for the u.s. standing across the globe. >> well, the president made the case that normalizing relations

is the right thing to do. the white house argued that it could pay diplomatic dividends beyond the u.s.-cuban relations, removing the source of friction and improving relations with other countries in the western hemisphere. many argue that raul castro got everything he wanted from president obama but gave up nothing in return. in a vatican statement pope francis played a key part in the deal expressed his warm congratulations. u.s. general secretary ban ki-moon thanked the two presidents for taking a very important step. >> as much of the membership organizations have repeatedly emphasized through generous u.n. resolutions over many

years, cuba and united states normalize their bilateral relations. >> world opinion is soldly behind the president's approach with la vanna. the last non-binding united nations vote on ending the u.s. embargo against cuba was 188-2. only israel supporting the u.s. in continuing the embargo. only congress can lift the embargo, but obama's restoration of full diplomatic relations is more in line with how the united states deals with other communist countries it accuses of human rights abuses such as china and vietnam. >> two decades ago we re-established relations with vietnam where we fought a war that claimed more americans than any cold war confrontation. cuba will be part of the summit where in the past they were deflected about complaints with america's unpopular cuban policy. >> we hope that we're going to

foster a greater debate on whether the cubans have the right policy when it comes to their own people, and if they'll get away with tra trampling the human rights that the united states has championed. >> it benefited aid worker alan gross, who accused both countries of belligerent policies. >> two wrongs never make a right. >> reporter: gross said he has the utmost fondness and respect of the cuban people and regards the olive branch that president obama has extended as a game changer, which he says he fully supports. the white house hopes that time will show that gross is right. >> jamie mcintyre reporting from washington. in today's power politics there has been a lot of intriguing reaction to the

announcement from former florida governor jeb bush that he's exploring a bid to president. ted cruz is also considering a campaign. cruz has not announced yet, it's the end for republicans, quote. if we nominate another candidate in the role of bob dole, john mccain or mitt romney, what they did didn't work. and if we nominate another candidate of the same mold the same voters who said home in 2008 and 2012 will stay home in 2016. hillary clinton is the next president. >> the kentucky presiden republican senator is welcoming jeb bush to the race. saying the more the merrier. here he is on fox news. >> why is jeb bush out ahead of you? >> well, maybe he has more ground he needs to gain. he's been out of this for a while. maybe he needs to get back in

and practice up a bit. >> rand paul said that jeb bush will have a tough time winning the prim primary. >> marco rubio is another republican considering the presidential campaign as we mentioned earlier in the show. but he said that jeb bush joining the race will not influence his decision. >> i want to make my decision on the basis of where is the best place for me to achieve our agenda to restore the american dream. that's the decision we're going to make irrespective of anyone, of course governor bush is someone i admire greatly. >> rubio worked closely with jeb bush in florida, but his adviser said that they don't see a down side with the young senator launching a presidential campaign regardless of the outcome. there is now a jeb bush attack ad. it's called "welcome to the g.o.p. primary, jeb."

>> g.o.p. leaders say that they don't want jeb bush to run for president. >> he's got a conservative problem that he'll have to deal with. >> i think the party has changed in a lot of ways that jeb bush doesn't have his finger to the pulse. >> now to the potential democratic frontrunner, hillary clinton, how old is she? some college students were asked that very question, and they were shocked to learn the real answer. watch this. >> how old is hillary clinton? >> hillary clinton? late 40s? >> maybe she's in her 50s? >> she's 67. >> holy-- >> like 40? >> how old is hillary clinton? >> i have no idea, 180. >> i would say like early 50s. >> like 50. >> 27. she looks good recently. >> the last time hillary clinton drove a car was in 1996. talk about an unique protest, a mississippi pastor has been stopping around the

federal courthouse with a horse named charlotte dressed in a wedding gown. here's what he told a local television station. >> i'm just wanting to send a message how far are we going to take this thing? the horse is to show the ridiculous idea of a man, two men getter married. >> the pastor said that he hopes that he and the horse makes an impression on the court of appeals. finally a lesson that you should not make your mother angry. brad woodhouse and his brother, they're known in their family for fighting. they're political activists and a new film called "woodhouse divided" chronicles their spats like this one. >> first of all. >> first of all, i'm talking first of all after you lose, we

win, we pass, we sign it in law, do you get to keep your job? >> let me ask you something. >> okay. >> no, no, shut up. >> let me ask you. >> north carolina--north carolina delegation. >> well, mom has finally had enough when she heard them arguing on a live appearance on c-span. so she called in to the viewer phone line. >> hey, somebody from down south. >> well, you're right i'm from down south. >> oh, gosh, mom. >> and i'm your mother. i disagree that all families are alike ours. i don't know many families that are fighting at thanksgiving. >> is this really your mother? >> this is mom. >> i was very glad that this thanksgiving was a year that you two were supposed to go to your in-laws, and i'm hoping you'll have some of this out of your system when you come here for christmas. >> the call was not planned, and when mom was asked what was it

like to raise the two boys, she said, well, it wasn't easy. that is today's power politics. coming up, new reports said north korea is behind the hacking at sonny pictures of new threats of violence over the company's spoofing north korea's leader.

>> welcome back. four former chemical company executives from indicted for a chemical spill in west virginia. the spill left some 300,000 people without water to drink. the executives face charges of pollution and neglect. they failed to make sure that the plant was operating safely. there is a new report out today focused on climate change. the arctic report card is more troubling than ever. jacob ward explains. >> scientists have been worried about the arctic for decades. but a new report put out by the

national oceanic and atmospher ic administration or noaa. >> the arctic is like a thermostat. we're changing the thermostat, and that feeds back in our global climate and the weather we experience. >> the world is seeing some of the lowest levels of arctic ice in decades. that's effecting the weather everywhere. in the u.s. alaska's temperatures of january 2014 is nearly 20 degrees higher than a year earlier, and snow melted three to four weeks earlier in scandinavia and western russia. at the at the same timsame reported extreme warming

temperatures. in the past they have focused on the specific conditions of the ice sheet, but this year they feel they have enough data to begin describing secondary effect its. for instance, on polar bears. they are what we call a dependent space. they're decreasing the area in the summer this is decreasing polar bear numbers, and the health and the condition of the polar bears. >> past studies have focused on very specific data, but now we're beginning to see the bigger picture. sea ice is melting, and that is having significant effects everywhere. jacob ward, al jazeera, san francisco. >> coming up the latest the theater chains that have pulled the sonny movie, and there is reports that north korea is

behind the hack. >> and i'm breaking down what the most dramatic policy change between the two nations in over half century means for american businesses. next on real money.

>> there are new reports that north korea was, in fact, behind the hacking at sonny pictures. these reports come as sonny has canceled the christmas day release of the film that mocks north korea's president. sonny made the decision because several theater chains said they would not show the film after the threats. roxana saberi? >> reporter: the reports say u.s. intelligence officials concluded that north korea's government was very involved in the hacking, and this news comes right after sonny said it's deeply saddened by efforts to stop the interview from being seen. but the compan country lashed out begin.

>> you want us to kill the leader of north korea? >> whaat? >> sonny is is disappointed not to bto be delaying the screening of christmas day. the warning convinced several large theater chains that they would not screen "the interview." for now. sonny said it has been the victim of unprecedented criminal assault. those who attack us stole our intellectual property and south to destroy our spirit and morale. all an apparently to thwart the release of the movie. but sunny is reeling. it's facing the loss of ticket

sales during one of the busiest times of year at the box office. >> there have been things that made hollywood institutes change distribution of movies, but nothing from an attack from a nation-state forcing it's hands on a movie that is really just a comedy. you know, this is almost unimaginable. but you know, certainly it's a tough situation for them. >> sony did not say that it would never release the movie, and they have still deciding whether to publicly accuse north korea of cyber attacks. >> what are the theater chains saying about their decision in this case to suddenly get cold feet? >> they're basically saying that safety is their priority. since these threats are not clear, it's not clear who they're coming from or what will actually happen, they want to

take this precaution to postpone the movie or not showing it at all. >> not exactly the profile of courage. i'm david shuster. "real money with ali velshi" starts right now. >> cuba could be opening for business for america. i'm breaking down the policy change between the two nations in a half century. i'll tell what you it does and does not do for american businesses and what it means for generations to come. i'm ali velshi. this is a special edition of "real money."