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 two: case closed >> this al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm tony harris with a look at today's top stories. new confrontation when a police officer kills a black teenager. a jordanian plane goes down in syrian territory and a pilot is captured. and digital release of the interview.despite threats from hackers.

>> we begin in missouri. there is new found anger after an african-american teenager was shot and killed by a white police officer in missouri. it happened about 14 miles from st. louis and five miles from ferguson, where michael brown was shot and killed by officer in august. >> berkeley's mayor said there is a difference between what happened on tuesday and what happened in nearby ferguson last august. >> what i saw in this incident is not what people portray. this is not a policeman in the city of berkeley half cocked, warn out going out, as we say, black lives matter. this was not the case. this is--you couldn't even compare this with ferguson or the garner case in new york.

>> reporter: he was addressing the deaths of antonio martin, an african-american man fatally shot by a white police officer. not everyone agrees with the mayor's view. >> i understand that, and you sound very intelligent, and let me say this, truly you don't believe that every person or every black that is killed is because of the white policeman? do you believe that? every time? >> reporter: police release this video from a surveillance camera outside of the store. it shows the officer speaking with two young men. one of them appears to raise his arm. it's difficult to see what he is holding. the police say it was a .9mm gun. >> when we have a man pointing a gun at a police officer, there is not a lot of time, i think the officer responded with what he thought it was commiserate force at the time. >> reporter: martin's mother said what she heard from her

son's girlfriend differs from what police are saying. >> she told me that they went to the store. they were walking somewhere. they were walking, and a police, i guess he started to run or something, and the police started shooting. >> reporter: hundreds of people gathered tuesday night after martin was shot and killed. tensions rose. and then the situation turned violent. [ gunfire ] >> reporter: the police say two officers were hurt and four people were arrested and charged with assault. >> the police say the other teenager ran away. police officers are still searching for him. the officer involved in the shooting is on administrative leave while the investigation is ongoing. with us is courtney alan kurt any, he representsbergly and part of ferguson. what is your take on the early berkeley shooting when you heard

another african-american male shot by a white officer. did you think, oh, no, not again. >> absolutely. it is a tragic situation. this seems to be a different situation than the killing of michael brown. but this is an unfortunate loss of life. >> you're saying different. the mayor was saying different. different how? >> it's different because of the way that the police interact with citizens in berkeley. it's different because we have footage, and it gives you more information, and it's different in a number of ways, including the make up of the mayor and the police department, they're more sympathetic minority issues and fears in this situation. >> is it different because--and you're not saying it, i'm not sure that the mayor was saying it 24 way, but that it's clear or fairly clear, that a crime

had been committed? that there was a report of a crime being committed, and there is evidence of an arm being raised and a suggestion that a gun had been recovered? >> it appears that way. i know we don't have all the evidence and facts in yet, so i don't want to pass judgment. but it appears. but outside that have we know it's a different situation in berkeley because we don't typically have the same amount of issues that ferguson has when dealing with the residents. >> what's different about the make up about berkeley as opposed to ferguson. >> the mayor and city council are virtually all african-american. they've been there since ferguson, and they definitely understand what issues transpired because of it, and they are definitely trying to move in a different direction insuring that the actual investigation is swift and thorough and sympathetic to the

issues of the community with regards to the interaction with the police. >> that's my next question. is there a better relationship a more trust-based relationship between the citizenry of berkeley and the police department that serves it? >> it depends. i haven't heard of as many, you know, accusations or issues with the police. anybody that has a run in with the police has an issue, but in terms of ferguson, that's a place where people tend to avoid it. berkeley is not necessarily the same way. that in itself shows that there is a difference. >> what do you think about some of the hostilities, some of the violence and demonstrations that seemed to get out of hand last night? >> the emotion that is left over from the ferguson issue, from the eric garner non-indictment and other situations going on across the country, it's going to remain for the time being. there are still issues, but these questions are going to come up including shooting

deaths in police. >> there was a pilot announced in the county in september, september 10th that included body cameras for officers, and this officer who was involved in the shooting had a body camera that was in the car. it didn't have it on his body, but he had it in the car. and the dash cam was not on. that has to be troubling for. >> you typically the dash cam comes on when the lights come on, and they may have done a pilot, but they've shown that they don't want to implement the body camera. >> so that's a problem. d.a. m mcculloch will ultimately, the same county prosecutor, who handled the michael brown case, will make decisions on how this case is decided. what are your thoughts on that? >> he will. it's still unfortunate that he is still in charge. the issue with this one is at least we have video footage.

we didn't have that so there aren't so many unanswered questions. there is a lot of controversy around it as of yet, but it is an unfortunate loss of life. >> state representative curtis, it's good to talk to you. thank you for your time and happy holidays to you. >> thank you. >> many people are going to social media to express their anger over the shooting in berkeley, ines. >> reporter: some of the reaction has been focused on the video released by the police. some say it's hard to make out.

>> appreciate it, we'll see you later in the program. thank you. new numbers show missouri spent more than $715 million on security for the protest in november after a grand jury decided not to indict the police officer who shot and killed michael brown. now the state's budget director said today the cost was split between the missouri national guard and the state highway patrol. for the first time in the fight against isil a coalition pilot was taken hostage. a jordanian government has confirmed that one of its pilots went down in raqqa. it was not shot down. the jordanian fighter jet was targeting a weapons stock pile when it crashed isil's media center. posted photos of social media shows rebels with parts of the downed plane and show photos of the man who is the captured

pilot along with the jordanian i.d. card. relatives gather in front of the pilot's home to show support. the coalition carried out airstrikes. for a second time in less than a week israeli forces released fire in gaza. a member of the hamas military wing was killed in the airstrike. hundreds of people filled th the streets of gaza for the funeral. the latest tensions happening alone the border of israel and gaza. we have the latest from gaza. >> reporter: well, it's here in this hospital in the southern gaza strip city where two men were injured in an incident involving the israeli security forces and a palestinian armed faction known as the custom brigades were involved in an altercation. we understand that one senior

member of this palestinian armed faction was killed after israel forces fired guns and tank shells in their direction. we also understand that an israeli soldier was take on it hospital after suffering a gunshot wound to his chest in what has been described as a sunshiner attack. whatever the case there are many concerns here that we are seeing an up tick in violence. this is the second major incident between israeli forces and palestinian armed factions here in the gaza strip. and the concern here is that we'll return to the violence that we saw over the months of july and august. in which over 2,000 palestinians were killed. >> as is often the case palestinians and israelis are blaming each other for the latest attack. senior joine hamas

representative joins us on the phone. >> they're causing the killing of the palestinian. this is the real situation. this is what has been happening. meanwhile, the situation now is calm. >> however, israel said it was over conducting routine patrols on its side of the border when troops came under attack. >> an israeli patrol unprovoked was shot at by a palestinian sniper. we have a soldier who was severely wounded in the unprovoked attack. this is the reality. the soldier was on the israeli side of the border.

we in response immediately engaged terrorists on the gazaen side that was involved, and perhaps carried out the attack. this is an evaluate which is unacceptable. >> a new international treaty to restrict the flow of guns and other weapons were in talks today. the agreement requires countries to scar arms would be used to commit human rights abuses before exporting. now five of the world's top ten arms exporter, france, germany, italy, spain and u.k. have ratified the treaty. the u.s. and israel has signed but not ratified 37 and other producers russian, china, pakistan, has not even signed on. we have reports where gun sales are thriving. >> not long ago the tribals were

walking around with weapons. but now there is restriction of local tribesmen with weapons. still the arms sells still flourishes. you will see rifles used by british soldiers during the first world war. it became a favorite with the tribals because this could shoot a target at a very long range. after that when the russians invaded afghanistan in 1979 we suddenly saw the ak-47 coming in to the market for the first time. the deadly weapon wrecked havoc, and the police forces had to change their weapons in order to compete with the criminals who were carrying weapons such as this. over the years the influx of nato forces has also meant that you can now find weapons such as the m-16, and for the right

money you can buy even rocket launchers, although they will not be in display for the markets. importantly pakistan's military is conducting a major operation, and therefore most of the tribal areas are shield. but we are here only because of the local hospitality of the tribes. >> former president george h.w. bush could spend remains in hospital in houston. his spokesman said that the former president was taken to the hospital last night after complaining shortness of breath. mcgrath tells al jazeera the 90-year-old is still doing great but will remain in hospital for observation. two years ago you may remember that mr. bush spent two months in the hospital suffering were bronchitis and infection. right now live pictures from vatican city pope francis is delivering christmas eve mass to 8,000 pilgrims in st. peter's

basilica at the vatican. the service ends a busy year for pope francis in which he pushed for a more inclusive church, and it comes just days after the pontiff criticized of hypocrisy and demanded reform. no. iraq home to some of the earliest christian communities the year is ending with a grim holiday season for many. many christians have been displaced because of fighting. >> for children here the joy of christmas comes in small packages. these children are from ancient christian town in north of iraq. the ornaments are donated by a local charity. since the rampage began in june more than half of iraq's 300,000 christians have been forced from their homes. the leader of the world's catholics worry they won't be going back.

>> we're not supporting or encouraging people to leave, also i think the situation has changed when there is a decisi decision, a personal decision, if i made a decision to leave, we have to respect and we don't have any right to tell them no, stay, because there danger for them, and they don't have a secure future. >> the christian district of the kurdish capitol of erbil the shops are full of candy canes and christmas trees, but there are few people with money. hundreds of family live in this unfinished mall. there is a christmas tree, and there will even be a manger, but children will rely on charity for gifts and clothes delivered by peshmerga fighters. >> at this school in baghdad

like in most places there is almost no report from the government. the families here are fed by the church. every egg is precious. people are doing their best here to make it feel like christmas. some of them have written their christmas wishes and put them on this tree. one man hopes for a better future for his children. another for peace across iraq. but the biggest wish for the new year is that they'll be able to go back to their homes. al jazeera, baghdad. >> "the interview" is now available online one di before it opens in some theaters. we'll look at sony's about face. and residents recovering from yesterday's devastating tornadoes as parts of new england brace for heavy flooding.

>> you can now see the controversial movie "the interview" online today. sony is making the film available to rent or buy in a variety different platforms. the news comes one day after it was announced . >> it's referring to this move as a fight against cyber criminals, but its bracing for more trouble after the release. >> you wanting to kill kim jong-un. >> totally. >> the bizarre circumstancesre s surrounding the release of "the interview" has forced sony to make an unusual move.

it's releasing the movie online. people can now rent the movie on youtube, google play and this sony website for around $6. in a statement sony said we could not have predicted the movie traveled to get to this moment, i'm proud the fight was not for nothing. google announced that sony made contact a week ago asking to make "the interview" available online. in a statement google said it was eager to help although the security implications were very much at the front of the minds. after discussing all of the sirs we agreed that we could not sit on the sidelines and allow a handful of people to determine the limits of free speech in other country, however silly the content might be. the move marked sony's latest change of mind. last week it said it would cancel the release of "the interview." that decision prompted broad

criticism that sony was not strong enough to stand up for free speech. >> more want to see the movie because we should not set a precedence to backing down to terrorist threats. >> tickets have been selling fast, but how much of sony's $44 million investment can be recouped through a few hundred screens and online rentals remains to be seen. >> a spokesman told me law enforcement officials say they don't foresee any attacks on christmas day but the theater will have extra supreme court. i've been reading statements, one man said he didn't care if the movie was good or bad, he bought it to show support. he a woman felt suckered by sony and called it good hype. >> roxana saberi, thank you. let's bring in an entertainment

attorney with music affairs. what kind of guidance after the hack attack do you think--i'm curious about this, the attorney for giving to the leadership of the pictures division as to what to do about this situation? >> it's about risk and measuring the risk, and then the executive decides how much risk they want to take on. here's the risk, and god for bid anything that should happen. but if there is an attack on a theater, anybody gets hurt, there is damage to the theater, then lawyers have to think about a possible lawsuit against sony for damage and loss of life. this calls in to play a legal issue called negligence, a kind of tort in the law, and it is not a simple matter at all. the plaintiff would have to show that sony was negligent, and it would have to prove but for

sony's release of the movie that the act of terrorism would not have happened, and that it was reasonbly foreseeable. now of course, these are legal terms of art that good lawyers can argue forever. in this case it would probably last for years until you got a judicial decision, and then an appeal after that. now, my reasonable thought is that sony would not be found liable at the end of the day because the causal connection is too tenuous between the release of the movie and act of terrorism. >> but the end of the day could be years down the road. >> that would be legal fees. >> that would be legal fees which sony would not want to incur. >> it would be millions of dollars. that gets you into the area of insurance. >> yes, let's talk about that. >> general liability insurance would recover trips, falls, accidental death and damaged property would not cover i wants

of war or terrorism. you would have to get, and we don't know. >> special terrorism insurance, you were telling me. >> that's exactly right. and it would be an additional premium on your insurance. after 9/11 george bush signed in to law terrorism risk insurance act. this would subsidize insurance companies. 9/11 results in tens of billions of dollars in damage. insurance companies did not want to take on that risk. the federal government would reimbursement if the amount of damages went over a certain amount. it's a complicated formula, but the bottom line is this, insurance for terrorism is affordable for companies like sony. so the question is did sony get this kind of insurance? an ironic thing is maybe we know if the hackers released that insurance policy. i haven't read it. maybe somebody out there has. i don't know.

>> so those are two issues, and steve, i appreciate it. we ran out of time but that was terrific. this is an important one for us. steve gordon, an entertainment attorney and former director of sony. the dow reached a new record. the s&p 500 dropped, and nasdaq up closing at christmas day. takata with massive recall of faulty airbags. takata's chairman will now take over the company. executives are now taking pay cuts of 50% over the next four months. the teenager shot and killed last night in electric by berkeley, missouri.

the police officer did not have his dash cam on or body camera on.

>> you know, there is anger in berkeley, month m after an 18-year-old african-american teenager was shot and killed by a white police officer. there have been comparisons to the shooting in ferguson, but the mayor says the shooting was very different. >> we have the majority of black officers in our city, okay. the mayor is black. the city manager is black. the finance director is black. the police chief is black. in a city that is 85% black we have the majority of the police department, okay. so our experience is different.

>> the mayor was referring to the ferguson police department. the police said that martin pulled out a gun and officer open fired. there will now be an investigation of the shooting. we go to the founder of the just advocacy group. justin, when you heard about what happened in berkeley. when you heard t did you think, here we go again. >> when you're on twitter, you hear about it right away. first split second was not again. then i was reminded of the statistics. maybe america needs to know how often this happens. >> you see the circumstances decidedly difference. what is alleged to have taken

place here? >> it's important not to rush to judgment about what happened, but if you pull the lens back there is a larger conference about the systemic issues here. we cannot sum up the value of an 18-year-old chide's life about whether or not he had a weapon on him or not. sorry, but there is more to talk about in terms of system abuse. >> a weapon has been recovered. it seems to be a different situation than with garner and michael brown, would you agree with that? >> i think it would be a different situation. i'm a bit appalled that the car's camera was not on and the officer was not wearing his body cam that he should have been wearing. that would have given us more material. the footage has been fuzzy, to be honest. but at the same time, i don't think it tracks with what advocates are saying, which is

that law enforcement continues to be oppressive on communities of color and we need to do something about it. >> but police have a job to do, and there are going to be situations, african-americans commit crimes, and unfortunately, i wish it weren't the case, but african-american males commit crimes. and the mayor seems to be suggesting that a crime was committed. that a crime was committed, and the officer is not some rogue officer. he ihe is a six-year veteran of this force. >> i think they will be have discussion about policing in the united states. i don't think no one should be rushing to judgment, including the mayor. but there is a movement that has begun that is not going away, and that is police tactics. no master how this turns out.

>> i'm troubled about this, there is this pilot program here in the county for police to wear body cameras and certainly for dash cams to be turned on in an incident like this, yet that was not the case. i don't know how you expect to collect data and work out the bugs of the program if you got the gear in the car and not on your person. >> well, it's important to point out that dash cams are not the civil bullet solution, if you will. if you look at the garner case on camera, most americans saw that video, yet we saw the outcome. i think it's a step in the right direction, but this is more about accountability. this is about police departments that have compassion, understanding, and don't rush to adjustment about criminality of a person based on the color of their skin. >> sounds like the same count prosecutor who handled michael brown will have a say in this case. i won't prejudge your answer. what do you think about that? >> that's hugely troubling. the system needs fixing.

at the same time we have a system that allows folks like him to make the sort of decisions that he made, that gives us the outcome that we ended up with, and some do think that it was totally unfair. >> what do you think will happen with the protest. >> i think they'll continue. i think this is a movement at this point. when you look at what you see on media, i think media is divided by this. americans, black, white, latino,ens, are very interested in change and don't want criminal justice system and law enforcement system that operates the way this one does in their neighborhood. >> glen, president and founder of advocacy group just leadership usa. thank you for your time. >> likewise. >> we'll talk live with the mayor of berkeley. good news coming tonight at 6:00. four deaths reported in the tornado that hit mississippi.

50 people were injured, and dozens of homes--look at these pictures, heavily damaged. cars flipped, and more than 6,000 residents lost power during the storm. kevin joins us now. kevin, is the threat over? >> meteorologist: the tornado threat is over. we're still seeing activity across parts of florida and georgia. we're going to take you back 24 hours. this is the line of thunderstorms right through parts of columbia and mississippi. we saw a lot of activity on parts of alabama as well as georgia, florida saw flooding and right now we're seeing a lot of activity here in parts of northern florida, a tornado warning was dropped 20 minutes ago. a funnel spout was reported in that area. we also have problems up here towards the northeast. we're dealing with a lot of rain. believe it or not with this rain own newark and philadelphia are reporting delays at the moment

at the airports. but for the rest of new england we're going to be dealing with flooding throughout the rest of the evening. we have flood watches in effect as well as most of northern new york. you can see an inch to two inches of rain especially down here towards rhode island and parts of the cape. tomorrow the rain is going to be heavy, and i think we're going to be seeing most of that rain ease out as we go towards the rest of the morning. things are going to be clearing out for a lot of people. >> appreciate it. good to see pup thank you you. thank you. gross was working with u.s. i.d. he was working to extend internet access. the cuban government convicted him of crimes against the state. during world war ii there were no computers to hack or cellphones to spy on. government looked to intercept

incrypted letters and telegrams. that was easy. but deciphering them was not. we look at the intimidation game. >> reporter: 70 years ago as world war ii was raging this joint tied, an hour north of london, was a top-secret beehive of activity. bicycles racing around delivering important messages. thousands of people intercepting telephone calls, translating german telegrams, breaking enemy code. bletchley park, so secretive, it was almost erased from history, is now a museum and has now found popularity thanks to the film "the imitation game." >> the story of a mathematical genius, alan touring, who helped to break the nazi code, is nominated for nine golden

globes and tipped for oscar glory. visitors to bletchley park will see the instruments used in the code breaking. >> i think the film is hugely successful and giving viewers the player of the excitement and pressure that people were under in world war ii. >> reporter: the huts have been refurbished using original material where possible. at the height of its activities here at bletchley park there were more than 10,000 people in and among these huts. because most of the men were at war, two-thirds of the workers were women. one of those women is ruth borne, she joined or th right out of school and worked two years under secrecy. >> if we had known how exciting and valuable--we were only 18--we might have kept our traps

shut. >> borne said she was not allowed into hut eight. the desk is just as he would have left it. the mug tethered to prevent theft. projections bring the room to life and explain techniques us used. archive of a recruitment film give visitors an idea of what was expected. bletchley park today is busy again. visitors learning about a vital part of world war ii history. once so secret it was almost destroyed and forgotten forever. al jazeera, england. >> 61 oklahoma death row inmates are suing the state over its use of lethal injection drugs. we will speak to their attorney who called the process cruel and unusual punishment. that's next.

>> executions of death row inmates are set for next month

after the judge ruled that the use of lethal drugs are constitutional. an man died after receiving an experimental cocktail, his execution took nearly an hour to complete. earlier i spoke with an attorney representing one of the inmates, who sued the state of oklahoma. he described his next move now that the judge has ruled in favor. >> we have filed an appeal with the tenth circuit court of appeals, and we have a brief due on december 31st. >> can you give me at least in broad strokes--i know you're still working on it, and you're still working through the legal arguments that might be applicable here, can you give me the framework of what you're thinking as to the claims you'll make in that appeal. what you'll be arguing? >> well, the main issue in the case is the use of the drug

medazalame. it is not the appropriate drug to use because it's not an anesthetic. and it doesn't--it's not a pain reliever. so what happened in the clayton locket case is we saw how it really works. because of the mall-administration of the drugs, because of the medical team was not able to access the vein. >> you mentioned one case, but i know the case that many will recall, and you were involved in that as well, the joe wood case in july. remind our viewers how horrendous a process that was, putting him to death in arizona. it took close to what, two hours? >> well, the state of arizona used a two-drug formula of

medazalame and hydromorp hoish phone. throughout the process mr. wood began to breathe. he was gasping and gulping. that lasted for an hour and 40 minutes. and it took almost two hours for mr. wood to die. >> sounds to me as though there is experimentation going on here. >> well, that's exactly what's going on. the states are experimenting with different combinations of drugs to carry out the lethal injections. historically the drug sodium p poypenthal was used. that drug is no longer

available, and the states are trying different combinations to achieve the result. >> hmm, would you like to see a different set of drugs used? look, the country is not going to move away, at least it doesn't appear to be moving away from this idea of capital punishment, so what is your position here as you represent your clients? >> well, we believe that we have put forward evidence to show that the current protocol in oklahoma is unconstitutional. and it's not up to us to come up with a fix. it's up to the states. if the states want to have the death penalty, then they have to carry it out in a manner that come ports with the eighth amendment to the constitution. >> there is the potential here if there are a few more botched

executions that we may get a court to maybe the supreme court to say, you know what, we need to declare a moratorium on the death penalty until all of the issues here with respect to the drug cocktail being used are sorted out. >> we have the botched execution of dennis maguire in januar january 2014. we have clayton locket in april, and joe wood in july. there have been reports that prisoners in florida have moved during their execution when that

drug is used. >> 2014 brought the world's driverless cars, smart houses and running robots. jake ward has the year in technology after the break.

>> "consider this". the news of the day, plus so much more. >> we begin with the growing controversy. >> answers to the questions no one else will ask. >> why did so many of these people choose to risk their lives? >> antonio mora, award winning and hard hitting.

>> people are dying because of this policy. >> there's no status quo, just the bottom line. >> what is the administration doing behind the scenes? >> real perspective. "consider this". monday through thursday, 10:00 eastern. only on al jazeera america. >> authorities in south korea have ordered uber off the roads. todaabandoner is accused of operating an illegal cab service. conviction could result in two-year prison sentence. in a statement uber said it is confident it will prevail in courts. one year is a long time in the age of computers, right? in the past 12 months programmers continue to make devices that are smarter, smaller, and more useful. jacob watered has a look at the forces that drove the technology forward in 2014. >> those of you who drive regularly know this already.

but driving is chaos. the sheer amount of data coming at you, the lane markers, and the street signs, the signals and the other vehicles and the rain on the windshield, that's an unimaginable amount of data. before now it was assumed that only human being beings could handle that kind of data and process it for us. but in cars and in all other parts of our lives algorithms are taking over. computers are becoming as good and sometimes better than human beings when it comes to processin processing that data. the machines are beginning to do things that they never did before. a competition for emergency robots use machines that could navigate over rubble and use tools. but this year break throughs in image-recognition technology are giving machines entirely new

abilities. this korean robot can run 28 mph and can leap over objects nearly a third it's height without breaking stride. and two teams of researchers independently created software that can write better, more accurate captions than human cans. it's getting simpler, lighter, putting them in smaller and smaller machines. drones we've seen explode in popularity can use gps signals and find their way back to the pilots, but certainly funded projects are on their way to make cheap drones that will navigate their way on its own. using light sensors to the web make them incredibly helpful but this year it was clear that the

u.s. government is in the habit of using our technology to spy on us. is information like location awareness and motion sensors something you should let in your life? this uses information to turn the heat on and off, and they'll only use the information to improve services. but if this came in with a nsa logo you would probably drown it in the bathtub. computer awareness is poised to do amazing things. in october, tesla the electric car manufacturer unveiled a new model that runs faster than a lamborghini, but who will pick you up. when exactly will software take over everything from deciding what you eat to which way you drive to work in the morning? jacob ward, al jazeera, san francisco. >> so how about this. a video of a homeless man

receiving $100. has gone viral. it stunned the person who gave it to him. >> reporter: josh was doing a social experiment. he wanted to see what would happen when he gave a homeless man $100. watch. >> 100 bucks, here. >> no way. keep it. it's your money now. >> reporter: so the homeless man's name is thomas. he can't believe josh's generosity and thanks him. so josh's cameraman follows him around. he walks in to the liquor market. he walks out with some bags in his hands. then awhile later he walks away and he walks towards a group of friends. there he is handing them, as you see, food. so he's handing out food to his

friends. but it doesn't stop there. he then goes to another table of friends, and he hands them food as well. at this point josh decides to go up to him. watch. >> i owe you an apology. you went to the liquor store earlier. >> i thought i was going to get all smacked up drunk. >> i thought you were going to buy alcohol. >> but there are things that money can't buy. i get happiness out of what i'm doing. >> reporter: can you believe it? josh gives thomas another $100, and he gets to know his back story. thomas said he became homeless after quitting his job to take care of his parents. both of them died recently, and he lost his parents' home. this video, tony, has gotten more than 13 million views in just two days. josh said it has taught him not to judge a book by its cover. you never know a person's back story. you never know what they've gone

through, their struggling with in life, or what they would do if you gave them $100. people want to help thomas get back on his feet. and a special fund was started for him. take a look at how much money was collected. in just two days alone. $70,000 to help thomas get back on his feet. the goal was $10,000. far exceeded that. >> does it remind you of the homeless guy with the incredible voice. >> reporter: yes, i remember that story. >> it reminds me of that. >> reporter: an amazing voice. >> ines, appreciate that. thank you. >> reporter: thank you. >> santa claus gets the credit, but let's be honest about it, the post office does the real work, right? the u.s. postal service delivered 28.2 million packages on monday, breaking a record that was set earlier.

>> reporter: christmas in manhattan, and only a few blocks from the elaborately decorated store windows a quite christmas tradition takes place behind these majestic doors. new york central post office is also home to operation santa. now in its 102nd year nationwide volunteers sort through thousands of letters to santa, eyeing the ones from the poorest zip codes. addresses are blacked out. each letter is assigned a number. the letters are available to anyone who wants to read them, purchase gifts and wrap them up. >> i thought it was neat that i could respond to letters and help little kids. >> many come back year after year. >> you'll hear about a participant 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 as

a kid 37 i always had a great christmas. you want to do what you can to help kids have a great christmas. here in new york city in the main post office they received 300,000 to 500,000 letters a year addressed to santa, but only 10% of those letters get answered. pete has worked at the post office for over 40 years and has been chief elf since 1995. while there are many examines for x-boxes and laptops, there are many asking for food, warm blankets or winter clothes. >> a child will write, our mom does not have a winter coat. not asking for anything for themselves. they send us their bills and ask us to pay them. >> he has seen the number of needy grow over the years. >> the need has tremendouscally gone up, and it goes with the economy. you know, you can pretty much see it from the wave from the tone of the letters how the state of the economy is.

>> reporter: figures indicate that one in five american children currently live in poverty. in some cities that rate is over 30%. >> still considerably hire than it was before the recession started. that's true of urban national poverty. national child poverty. >> reporter: the sting of going without can be particularly painful throughout the holidays. >> we have the consumer pressure and the culture, it is what it is, and i think a source of disappointment for poor children. >> reporter: despite the dire reality for many, the luster of christmas magic has not worn off, and the true spirit of christmas moves on. >> do you still believe in santa claus? >> yes, i do. there is definitely a magic at work with santa claus. there is a force. >> reporter: al jazeera. >> that is all of our time for this news hour. i'm tony harris in new york city. merry christmas to you. for the latest on any of our

stories you can head over to our website. we'll leave you with images of the vatican where pope francis is holding mass on christmas eve. we'll see you back here at 6:00. >> back in 2002, when the u.s. opened an detention center at the guantanamo bay naval base, did the people who did it think we would still be arguing about the place in 2014? that there would still be a detainee population there? it's inside story. h