fest mass grievances, i'm david schuster, and thank you for watching. >> good evening, john seigenthaler is off. the sony hack, and there's a catch. defiant demonstrations rally in new york despite the plea from the mayor after the ambush of two police officers. caught in the crossfire. more children killed in syrian civil war. what it takes to final end the fighting. and heating up.

the fastest growth in a decade, and yet many americans are still left out in the cold. stay tuned for the movie, the interview. sony announced today that the controversial film will now get a limited release. the studio has decided to pull the movie altogether after a series of cyber attacks and threats of violence against the u.s. movie theaters. north korea has been blamed for the attacks. >> sony will release the movie in 500 theaters on christmas day. the announcement has lit up social media, and a lot of people are applauding the decision, including president obama. >> you want us to kill the leader of north korea? what? >> it's taking another twist with independent theaters from

alabama to georgia declaring on social media they will show the comedy, starting to christmas day. one of the first to announce he was taking on-line reservations. within 2 and a half hours, people remove buying tickets at this virginia branch. >> i'm going to stand up for free speech and creativity. >> the sony entertainment ceo confirmed the news in a statement. we have never given up on the interview. and we're excited that it will be in theaters on christmas day. we will stand up to those who attempted to oppress free speech. it comes days after sony announced that they will not be releasing the movie on christmas day, prompting the

criticism that sony wasn't doing enough to promote free speech. >> yes, i think that we made a mistake. we can not have a society where some dictator can start imposing censorship on the united states. >> after he vowed to stop north korea's it vandalism of sony, the country had sweeping internet outages, but. >> and the nort north koreans if their internet wasn't working, i can't speculate on that. >> while sony is vowing to show the interview. the people have spoken, and james franco posted this, with the caption, victory. >> one tweeted, excellent news, congratulations on this win against terrorism. paul? >> roxanne, thank you. north korea's limited web access went down again today. and the web was out much of the

day on monday before being partially restored. a web tracking company said that case went down at least two other times today as well. president obama promised to respond to the attack on sony, but many said that the u.s. was not responsible for monday's outage. in new york, sadness and anger on the streets of the city tonight. the protests have resumed despite a call from the mayor to suspend them. today's memorial was held for two police officers murdered over the weekend. and jonathan betts is here with that. >> activists are ignoring the pleas to pauls the protests. if anything, they said that the request from the mayor has energized their movement anger on the city streets, defying the mayor's request to stay home. >> they want to make sure that they know that this movement will not be silented and we will not be intimidated.

>> demanding justice for unarmed black men killed by the police. part of a movement that some worry led to the deaths of two new york city officers. >> i think that quite frankly it's an insult by suggesting that people exercising their first amendment rights have been inspired to kill somebody. >> we have to get everyone to move away from anger and hate red. >> after days of pain, today, a briemoment of brief pause. the two officers were gunned down on saturday. it's a time of pain for our city. it's a time of mourning for two good families. >> earlier, the mayor visited the growing memorial where the officers lost their lives. >> you can see how much it means to them.

>> flags were flying at half-staff across new york, as the victim's families started showing their deep pain. >> this is a difficult time for both of our families. we stand together. >> police are trying to piece together the last hour before he shot the officers. he was mentally troubled. >> if you have mental issues, and you are constantly going in and out of jail and prison, clearly something is wrong. he should have been offered help. in the system, right? but he wasn't. >> he also appeared partly driven by the recent protests. a crime, also insisting the movement must continue. >> we just can't stop. this is not possible. >> the mayor is asking the sky

scrapers to dim their lights tonight to honor the officers, and vice president, joe biden, announced that he will be attending the officer's funeral on saturday. charles ramsy is the police commissioner in philadelphia, and he is trying to find ways to improve relations between the police and the communities they serve. he told aljazeera that he has been discussing that goal with president obama. >> the president wanted to again express his out rage over the slaying of two new york city police officers, but also, he has a sense of urgency around the task force, and coming up with concrete recommendations that will lead to better relationships. it's not so much about what took place in new york, but just the broader picture of protests that we're seeing around the country, and around police and community tensions. >> in cleveland, the family of a boy shot and killed by the police is now calling for

peace. tamier rice was carrying a pellet gun when he was killed in a park in november. his mother said that rice's campaign has no place in the quest for justice. >> this is a movement and not a moment. and often movements will attract people with their own agendas, as i refer to these mercenary moments, and this has no place in peaceful reform. >> police are conducting an internal investigation of rice's killing, and the results will be presented to the grand jury for possible charges against the officers. >> now to milwaukee, an officer will not be charged in the shooting death.

>> she moved her family from milwaukee, wisconsin, because of gang violence. >> i. >> but that dream of a new beginning, and a safer life for her children ended april 30t april 30th. >> he was lying down here. >> that afternoon, maria's youngest son, dante hamilton, was sloping in the park when an officer found him. dauntre and the officer began to argue. >> he took his bataan, and witnesses are saying that dantre never struck the

officer. he was stand napping a defensive manner with the baton, and the officer must have gotten frustrated and unloaded his weapon 14 times. >> why would an officer shoot his weapon 14 times. >> we feel it was hatred, maybe emotion from getting his baton taken. >> you spoke to the victim's family today. and what was the reaction to not file any charges against the officer? >> well, obviously, they were very angry and disappointed. they weren't entirely surprised. this were lawyer had prepped them for this type of response, but right now, they want to keep on the fight and teen protesting. and they really are glad that the feds are involved and looking into the case, and they're planning to appear with jesse jackson this saturday at a rally in chicago. and basically, they want to continue a peaceful protest.

and try to get the world's attention. this kind of thing shouldn't happen. >> now, the officer was fired in october because of this encounter, and if that's the case, why aren't any charging brought against them? >> that's an interesting thing. he did identify that he was schizophrenic, but didn't follow protocol. and he proceeded to pat him down, and as a result, it looks like he got his baton, and then the officer proceeded to shoot him 14 times. so what he's being punished for, is approaching him and not shooting him as many times as he did. including in the back. >> speaking of that baton, this is something from the milwaukee police department. it's important to know that the individual shot was not unarmed, he was standing with

the officer's baton at the time he was shot. did the baton figure into the decision about the charges? of course he did have a baton, but as you mentioned, the officer shot him 14 times. >> absolutely, the baton did play a role in the decision, he was armed and the question that the family has, how could he have gotten the baton? why did he have the baton? two other officers had come to remove him earlier, and they decided that he wasn't a threat and wasn't disturbing anybody, and they let him be. and then the other officer was a little more aggressive and he approached him and patted him down and then the officer got scared and he proceeded to shoot him. it looks like he's not being accountable. >> the engagement and

escalating and deescalating. thank you very much. you can see more of christoph's report on "america tonight" coming up at 9:00 eastern and 6 p.m. pacific. in new york, a congressman has pleaded guilty to tax fraud. michael grim entered the plea today. but he will not stem down. grimm was accused of hiding around $1 million from the irs, and he will be sentenced in june. the state department official in charge of transferring detainees from guantanamo bay is stepping down. in his efforts to close the prison, jamie mcintyre has more. >> paul, former secretary of state, john kerry, praised him as a reason why 3 dozen detainees were transferred under his watch. and the state department is

denying sloan's resigning as the slow pace. president obama's inability to make good on his promise to shut down guantanamo bay prison. >> it's something that continues to inspire jihaddists around the world, the fact that they're being held. it's temporary to our values, and it's wildly expensive. >> the major credit to the fact that 34 detainees have been released to other countries over the last year and a half is being given to the diplomatic skills of cliff sloan, who is returning to the private practice of law. sloan's departer was a surprise. >> he said that he would give us 12-18 months here, and he gave us 18. and i think there have been reports out there that are totally inaccurate, that he

left frustrated and. and i think the opposite is true. >> the white house's detainee processes and the approval by the pentagon. in particular, the president in the face of transfers, something that he confirmed in comments to travelers traveling with him last may. engel said, what i'm doing is taking my time. i owe that to the american people. i have a responsibility, he said. my name goes on that document. with the transfer of four afghans to afghanistan over the weekend, the number of prisoners still held at guantanamo has dwindled to 132 from 18 countries. of that, 64 have been approved for release, but the u.s. has nowhere to send them. and then the roughly 3 dozen detainees that are essentially forever prisoners, who face

indefinite captivity, with no due process. more transfers are in the works, and they hope to get the number down to fewer than 200, and they hope to get congress to lift the ban to bring the remaining detainees to the united states, where they can be held in prisons. the next generation of cuba is expected to get a big economic boost in relations from the united states, but struggling with a new question. will cuba's young people of today want to stay in their own country tomorrow as they get older? reporting from havana. >> on a side street in central havana, kids will be kids in the world. watching on the sidelines, 13-year-old hernandez, and his friend, fabio, wait for their chance to play. even at their tender age, they have a view on what changes

could be coming to their country, and a promise of better relations with the united states. [ speaking spanish ] >> without this block aid, we won't have to bring everything from china, so maybe our school lunches will be better, and everything will be more modernized. >> most cubans don't have internet. and he hopes that that will change so he can do things that many children in the world now take for granted. >> i think it will be better, because we'll have the power to communicate with people that are abroad by internet, to connect with them and send emails, like to my father, who has been living in the u.s. the past months. >> cuba is a country for decades, where the big important decisions are made by a few, like the castros, in their 80s. and they have shaped cuba to what it is today. but the children, they are so young, they have no historical

context to where the country has been, and they could gain the most long-term with the blockading lifted. and they are the first generation that could be growing up in a new cuba. that's if they decide to stay. look everywhere around havana, and you see signs of americana in unusual places, but for kids, it's not a political statement, just a political trend at the moment. >> sure, we want to live in the united states because it's better than my future. >> i want to visit the u.s., but i still want to continue to live here in cuba. >> as the sun sets on the famous city, the last rays of the sun, even the youngest know their country is entering uncharted waters. aljazeera, havana. >> up next, syrian airstrikes hit schools and mosques.

reports of at least 10 children killed. and plus, the impact on fracking on one of california's biggest cash crops.

>> a child caught up in the war. this is the aftermath of the syrian government's strike in dumas that hit a school. activists have loaded these

videos on the internet that show the makeshift staff struggling to cope. many pieces of shrapnel have been taken from the boy, and he showed signs of life before he had to be resustated. children waiting to be seen by the medics. their school was not the only one hit on tuesday. others died as well. the rising number of child casualties in the war that's well into its fourth year. more than 11,000 chirp have been killed across syria, and thousands of schools have been destroyed or damage. many of them are being occupied for military purposes. some cues the regime of starting schools. and entire areas have been leveled. reports from the city of raqqah, which has been taken by

isil, said that they have killed more than a dozen people. many of them children in the schools. human rights groups in the united nations have asked both the rebels and the syrian government. children end up paying for a war they cannot avoid. >> mike lyons is a retired army major and a senior fellow at the truman center. and it's good to have you here. another gruesome turn of the wheel here in syria, and where does assad's regime tand going into syria? >> they're on the ropes, financially, they're in trouble, and they have run out of money, and they have probably less than 100,000 soldiers fighting at this point, and that's all they know, while he desperately

hangs on to power. >> the allies in syria that are trying to get some kind of a solution here. we have three major players inside of syria, isis, and you have the rebel forces, and you have the government. and right now, you have to solve one problem between the be rebel forces and the government first, and then that entity has to go out and fight isis to gain its country back. so it's highly complicated, but i think right now, russia and the you'reanians are doing what they can to get a solution for 2015. >> and as you mentioned, the war has only gotten more complicated with the rise of isis, and is there anything for the sources?

>> right now, we're focused on the iraqi situation there. and they want the assad government out as well. and if we support, for example, the u.n. envoy, they want places where the civilians can go that are safe. and we support that. but the united states has been fundamentally staying out of syria to focus on iraq, and i think that we'll come back in. >> is there more we can do now, or should we wait until isis is more contained? >> well, we have helped the kurds in kobane, and that has been a major victory in 2014, and i think that we can only focus on iraq at this point. >> back in november, we saw

some talks, and where does that stand? >> that was a tremendous area, there's not enough time to get an in. the number was 5,000, and it will have no impact on the battlefield six months from now. there's no telling of what it will look like six months front now. we know that the syrian government on its own, with the u.s.-backed equipment, has made some advanced in the south. and the question is, can they put enough pressure on get a solution, but again, they have to figure out what to do next after isis gaining back their country. >> it sounds like there's a long way to see a solution, up next. it's evident that the economy is getting stronger, and plus, should parents be forced to pay for their child's college education?

>> why the boom still feels like a bust to many americans, resource strain, millions of gallons of water used for fracking in drought-ravaged california. water that farmers say should go to them. >> when it goes against big oil, everything changes. >> and blood feud, the fda eases a lifetime ban on gay men donating blood, but some gay rights groups call the move offensive. people who want to see sony's controversial film, "the interview" will get their chance. last week, it was pulled when

theaters in the u.s. and canada refused to show it, with the threat of cyber attacks against sony. the white house has blamed north korea for the attacks. david poehler is in los angeles, and welcome. do you think that sony made the right call to show the movie >> the whole thing is a bit of a mess, but the new story is they basically approached the big theater chains, and they were going to put it on big screens a week ago, they were planning on opening it a week ago before they canceled it. and they kind of told us at the last minute that they wanted to reinvigorate the idea of going to theaters, but they wanted to go day and day, and it changed the whole thing. so a lot of mistakes involved with this, blue going into theaters is ultimately a win on some level. >> surely, they're making it up

as me go long here. but that's the whole problem. everybody is act and ca acting t taking time to think much. >> will major distributers cave in and show the film? >> the distributers will not. if there's a dod deal, there's not. if anything happens, you can expect it never to be shown. >> of course video on demand, and that would negate any chance of it getting onto the big screens. >> that would be a conflict between sony, they would like to demonstrate on video on demand, but the big distributers feel that it would cut in.

and if they did that, all of the major distributers would be out. >> so sony spent $88 million on the marketing of this movie, and it's not going to be in big chains, but is it still going to be profitable? is the notoriety going to give it a big bump? >> no. the only hope actually is international. and there's not generally a big market for international comedies from america, but it's possible with the notoriety of this, it has been on the news constantly for a week, it's possible that there will be more interest overseas, and they could make a lot of money. the odds are not great. but that's a possibility. domestically, forget about it. >> let's turn to other questions here. what's thing long run impact here? what's the precedent that sony has set here in terms of free

speech in. >> none. realistically, it's good that the movies' out. and the bad guys would have won. but long-term, this is a very unusual situation. the question comes next time that a situation arises and i assume that it will, and how does sony handle it, and how does the united states handle it? these are all issues for the future. but in terms of the movie business going forward months agmonthsfrom now. >> how much are you and i to blame in the wake of all of the cyber attacks. >> i don't know about you and i, but i would say that the media has been done a great deal for the hysteria at sony. people don't like to be embarrassed and this has been an embarrassing situation, uncomfortable, and scary situation, and the truth is

that the media has been there with their teeth into it, beginning with reporting every piece of gossip that came out and through the whole thing, everybody has been reporting constantly what sony is doing. every time a bit of information comes out, the new york times said that this is over, and the movie would never be seen, and the long-term effect on the world. and that's the damaging thing. we all have to look at particularly journalists, what we have done, and how we're going to pursue this in the future. >> we can all sit down and watch it. >> i don't know if that's good or bad. >> thank you. >> the united states economy is growing faster than in over a decade. growth surged by 5% in the third quarter, and stocks got a

big boost. >> reporter: on wall street, an extra measure of christmas cheer as the dow jones index passed the 18,000 park for the first time. a 5% annual rate jump in u.s. economic out put from july to september. that increase, the biggest in a decade, consumer sentiment is at its highest point in nearly eight years, giving a boost to retail spending. much of the cash so far, to a $75 billion tax cut for american households, but employment gains are also fact,. >> in the past four years, we have put more people back to work than all other advanced economies combined. >> moreover, wage increases are outpacing inflation, the outlook for 2015 is upbeat.

but economists call for improvement on the job front. >> with too many people who want jobing unable to find them. how many working part-time but would prefer full-time work, and too many who have given up searching for a job, but would likely do so if the labor market were stronger >> so analysts warn that the oil price benefit is unlikely to be lasting, while u.s. military spending will be slowing. what we saw in the third quarter doesn't offset or undermine or reverse the long-term depressed condition of global capitalism in general. and of its leader, the united states, in particular. but as the old year rings out, the numbers give americans reason to believe that things are looking up. tom achermann, aljazeera, washington. >> major ups and downs for the american auto industry.

they are expected to sell 2 million cars, and this was a year of massive recall and alarming safety concerns. detroit in a year of review. in february, general motors linking the defect. weeks later n. a stunning admission, the automaker said that some employees were aware of the problem a decade ago. >> we have apologized. but that is just one step in the journey to resolve this. >> an apology that fell short to employees whose loved ones were harmed or died. >> they did nothing. >> prompting members of congress to take action. >> this subcommittee will take order. >> in february, mary barra was on capitol hill on the hot

seating grilled by members of congress. the automaker's failure to act on the recall sooner means that there could be hundreds of thousands of vehicles on the road that could switch off, triggering the power breaks and steering and airbags to disable. >> we now know that the difference between this switch and one that would have worked was the difference between life and death. and you know the other difference? the other thing that we now know? that it would only cost $2 to repair. $2. >> gm was find $35 million by the national highway traffic safety administration, which also faced criticism. and by june, the automaker released it's results of the internal investigation. for years, gm fostered a corporate culture where 15

employees were fired and four disciplined. they hope that someone is held criminally responsible. her daughter, amber rose, was killed in 2005 driving a chevy cobalt. >> she admits that amber was one of the 15. i'm here to tell you wrong. amber is one of the many hundreds killed by this defect. >> since then, the death toll has more than tripled. gm's compensation fund has linked 42 deaths and dozens of injuries to the faulty ignition switch. it's a number that will likely rise. a recall by japanese airbag manufacture, tecatta, shows no sign of slowing down. >> it sounded like a shotgun. and my right side went pitch-black. >> cory was hurt when his airbag exploded, sending shards flying, and today, he's blind

in his right eye. so far, the airbags have been linked to five deaths and more than 100 injuries. like jm, tecatta has apologized, but they have expanded the massive recall nationwide. several automakers have taken action. automaker columnist said that the recalls are likely in the coming year. >> we're going to be more careful when we see a problem in the future. >> but the road ahead could get rough in 2015. the focus of a criminal investigation. aljazeera, detroit. >> in california, the devastating drought is sparking a new debate in the area over fracking. at issue, the millions of gallons of water that fracking uses up.

jennifer is in california with the second part of her series. >> jay, california is the remain fourth largest producer of oil and natural gas, and fracking is increasingly important in the state, especially in the central valley, which happens to be the bread bask, but fracking and farming are on a collision course. >> from up here, i not only see my own orer charred, but i see oil ol all sides. >> for four generations, there's something else. >> surrounded by oil fields where frack being happened. >> we're surround, and this is new. we have been invaded here. >> kern county is adding oil

country in california. and more than 80% of the oil and gas are produced here. they use millions of gallons of water, water that farmers say that they need to irrigate their crops. >> these trees will die if they go two months without water. also, it could contaminate what little ground water is left. in 2012, he videotaped the illegal putting of waste water into his or charred. >> as a farmer, i know and i've seen what happened in this area. that whatever chemicals we have used on the surface, a lot of those chemicals have made their way into the ground water already. >> it's an $118 billion industry in california's central valley. and every single al monday is dependent on what's in the soil and what's in the water used to grow the trees. if the water and soil are contaminated, so are the almonds. this summer, the state shut down nine disposal wells for

illegally dumping 3 billion gallons of industrial waste water. he's in charge of regulating the oil and gas industry in california. who is protecting the people of california to make sure that their ground water isn't being contaminated? >> there are a multitude of agencies looking out for that, because there are a multitude of jurisdictions. >> one of the agencies is the water resources control board in sacramento. ground watering and assessment. >> john, is big oil poisoning millions of gallons of water each day? >> -- >> so you're asking me to give you a yes or no answer on something that i don't know. so i think that the right answer would be, i don't know. >> do you think that you should know the answer to that question? >> because i think that a lot

of people are asking that question. a lot of californians are saying that fracking is happening, and we're worried about toxic water. >> it's a reasonable concern that people have. and as a resident of california, you should be. >> back on the farm with tom franz, he says when it comes to farming versus fracking, it's not a fair fight. >> do you think that farmers have a friend in sacramento? >> big ago ha ag has always hada friend in sacramento, but they're getting their way. >> oil and water don't mix has taken on new meaning. and it's important to note that farming is recently water intensive. almond farming uses 10% of california's farming supply for the year, and they're not even

the most concerned crop. paul, tomorrow, on the third part of our fracking series, we take you back to cool off cool . >> tomorrow, we'll get the third partly of jennifer's look. children who live near frack being wells, and why so many of them are minorities. and now to the strange case of a new jersey woman who is suing her estranged parents for college division. the parents of kate lynn were ordered to pay $16,000. and they refused, saying that she had failed to apply for financial aid. now a judge says that he has never seen a family torner apart like this one. attorney, wendy patrick, joins me from san diego, and thanks for being with us. >> thank you.

>> in new jersey, where this is going on, actually, cases involving division tuition, whit the story that we could be discussing today, they're not all that common in new jersey. what makes this case different, it's daughter suing parents. sometimes you see them, but it tugs not only on their heart strings, but their purse strings. in october, a judge ordered them to pay $16,000 toward her tuition to temple university. >> are the parents legally obligated to pay tuition for their children? what laws govern this case? >> this is a new jersey specific law, and it sells, if parents are capable, qualified students are entitled to some amount of tuition. so you see there's an awful lot of area.

in cases that are worthy, and of course all of those are at play here. we don't the students reloading off of their parents, but also, in new jersey, we want to make sure if parents are able, that some amount of tuition, they might be on the hook for. as in this case, not only do they have to pay 16 grand to temple, they were ordered to pay some of the tuition to the previous college that their daughter was attending. >> is this case the sign of the times? is it a trend? >> i think that a lot of parents are worried that it might be. we're not just talking about a daughter coming home on weekends to have her mom do her laundry. we're talking about a significant tuition bill, this is a daughter who has been estranged for a couple of years. a family reunion is supposed to happen in somebody's already, noalready -- living room, not in

a courtroom where this is playing out. they're trying to mediate. but unfortunately, they're digging in their heels, and you're right, paul, viewers are watching and worrying that this case might be a sign of the times to come, with more students suing their parents for tuition money. >> i wonder if in a few years, we'll see her suing for law school tuition. >> when does it end is. >> thank you. >> next up, controversy over new rules of who can and who can not donate blood.

>> for more than 30 years, the fda has banned blood donations from gay and bisexual men. but the agency said that there's it time for a change. there's one big and very controversial condition. we have more on that. >> reporter: that's right,

paul. the fda is proposing a change in their policy next year to allow gay and by sexual men to donate blood. but there's one caveat. they must abstain from sex with men. they carefully examined and considered the available scientific he had, and now there's a change in the blood donor deferral period to extend it to indefinite to one year after sexual contact. it gives them a choice. either be sell bat for a year, or don't donate blood. many gay rights activists say that it's unfair. >> that's ridiculous. >> he's a marriage and family therapist, and physician and researcher in early december when a panel of experts met to consider changing the ban. ban. >> why would i be forced to

wait for a year to give blood, and a heterosexual man without a condom can go in and they can take his blood. >> in terms of has someone paid money to a prostitute or other things that put them more at risk. >> but the fda is standing by its decision. back in 1993, in the early days of the aids crisis, they decided that no man could donate blood who had had sex with another man since 1977, and now they have not fully taken the current medical advances into account, they say it's a change in the right direction. >> it might be too long if you look at it in terms of the data. but they're saying that a year ban is better than a lifetime ban. >> according to sexual

orientation and gender identity laws, eliminating it altogether would mean allowing 600,000 pints into the blood supply, but this one year ban only adds 3,000 pints. while it could boost the yearly blood supply for up to 4%, it's a one-year deferral. and in a statement, it's consistent with the red cross position that the current lifetime ban is over. >> what changes in technology have been to make this possible? >> it's interesting. it's based on the waiting period. so you used to have to wait six months after possible infection. now you only have to wait two. >> thank you. >> three of our aljazeera colleagues have now spent 360 days in an egyptian prison. they were convicted of spreading false news, charges that aljazeera has strongly

rejected from the very beginning. in a new letter, he said that the situation is dire, and it's a huge global awareness for press freedom. the persecution of journalists and of justice in egypt. we have a public discussion and awareness of the vital role that journalism plays in any democracy. a bright spot. peter's family tells us that his family is grateful from any message from peter. >> it's any indication of what peter feels as well, and i want to thank all of the people working on his release. the other aljazeera

colleagues are due back in court january 1st >> reporter:? >> reported tornadoes are being blamed for the beating of at least four people in mississippi and the storm damage in several gulf states. >> we're looking at a major storm system pushing through. decimated with this. and i'm going to show you what we're looking at for the rest of the evening. let's show you back here, what we saw louisiana and mississippi. this is where the storm was across columbia. look at the video across the region. we're talking about over 6,000 people without power. major damage in the town of columbia, as well as georgetown. we're looking at four casualties being reported. and also, looking look back at the wool, a line of thunderstorms being reported.

you can see all of the reports not only of tornadoes, but where 11 have been reported right now across parts of mississippi and florida, but hail damage, some quarter sized and some larger than that. up to softball-sized hail. and now the next area. tornado watches still extended across parts of mississippi, alabama, louisiana and georgia, and the panhandle of florida. and believe it or not, parts of florida and flash flood warnings are still in effect. so if you're traveling, especially on highway ten, be very careful because of the low visibility and the flood spots. tomorrow, rain in much of the eastern seaboard. so about you're traveling, the earlier, the better, and unfortunately, most of the major hubs will see delays. not only because of the low

ceiling. in portland to seattle, and here on christmas day, things are clearing up across the eastern seaboard, while we're looking at major snow across much of the mountain states. >> we'll be right back.

>> other musicians are not happy at all with youtube, and plus, it's the end of the road for a cherished holiday tradition, especially in the northeast. these stories tonight at 8:00 and 11:00 pacific. and in pakistan, a christian boy decorates a tree for the upcoming holiday, and that's in one of his islamabad

neighborhoods. we're going to leave you with a picture of rockefeller center in new york, america tonight is next. >> on "america tonight", a policeman, a street clash and a difficult suspect. did the officer go too far to gets a mentally ill man under control. >> at that point the officer must have got frustrated and unloaded his weapon 14 times. why would an officer shoot someone 14 times. >> "america tonight"s christopher putzel on the hard question. are we asking too