this thing where you talk to experts about people and al jazeera has really tried to talk to people, about their stories. we are not meant to be your first choice for entertainment. we are ment to be your first choice for the news. >> a massive multi national search operation again for another jet that may have crashed into the sea he he. >> the are you sure to rescue passengers stuck aboard a burning ferry. ♪ >> a changing of the guard in afghanistan, the ceremony that officially ends america's longest war. >> 365 days behind bars, three of our fellow al jazeera

journalists mark one year jailed in egypt. the hopes now that they could be released. >> good morning, welcome to al jazeera america. i'm stephanie sy. >> i'm del walters. the search is on for a missing plane, four nations searching the jar have a sea. it disappeared 40 minutes after it took off sunday. >> 162 people onboard, 16 of them children. the man in charge of the search believes the plane is now at the bottom of the sea. officials say oil slicks and objects have been spotted in the search area. >> the officials are saying chance of finding the jet are reasonable, but unfortunately it's likely to be now on the bottom of the ocean. you're waking up to news this morning that is not very good news. right now it's 7:00 p.m. in indonesia and investigators have suspended the search for the night yet again. the suspicious objects were spotted earlier today by

australian planes, but 700 miles away from where the missing plane lost contact with air traffic controllers. indonesian helicopters found oil slicks in a separate location so that oil is going to be tested to see whether or not it comes from the missing plane. >> the search is widening for the missing air asia flight that disappeared with 162 passengers and crew onboard. search teams from several countries are now scouring the java sea for the plane. >> based on the coordinates given to us and the evaluation that the estimated crash position is in the sea the hypothesis is that the plane is at the bottom of the sea. >> air asia flight 8501 was bound from indonesia to singapore, a two hour flight. the jet encounter thunderstorms and turbulence. the pilot asked to increase altitude from 32,000 feet to 38,000 feet to get out of the bad weather a request that was

denied by air traffic. then 42 minutes into the flight, the airbus 320 vanished from the radar. in indonesia and singapore relatives scoured passenger lists hoping for good news. this woman was waiting in singapore for her fiancee. >> he was supposed to be there last vacation before us got married. >> tony fernandez is the malaysian businessman who started the low cost carrier. the captain of the air asia plane was experienced with more than 20,000 flying hours and the plane itself had made over 13,600 trips. >> indonesia says it doesn't have proper technology for undersea searching but will be getting help from three countries, the united states,

great britain and france. we should also say that the u.s. seventh fleet is not yet officially involved in the search but is ready to assess anytime. this is a very different scenario to the loss of malaysian air 9mh370 in marsh. that disappeared without trace over the indian ocean. this one, they have a very narrow search area. they pretty much know where it is. >> still people are waking up saying again. >> absolutely, and another asian airlines. it's a problem for them. >> most of the passengers onboard the flight are from indonesia's second largest city. investigators there are doing background checks on the passengers and crew aboard the missing plane. >> they're looking at the profiles of all the passengers on this aircraft, also saying they are going to review the x-rays of the luggage done by the customs department. they are going to review all

that as well as closely look at the maintenance records the air cast history. it just went through a routine checkup six weeks ago, so that is being closely looked at. that is in addition to the search and rescue operation that started just after the sun rose here. they expand that had area, shifted to the east from where they were looking yesterday. there have been reports that an official indonesian official beliefs most likely this aircraft is at the bottom of the sea. that's different when we look at other oh aircraft incidents over the last year. it's a fairly shallow water. it's not going to be a situation where deep see listening devices are going to be needed and also we have the fact that this happened just over 24 hours ago so search and rescue continues and the officials here are looking at passenger manifest to see if anything is a red flag. no debris has been found or no real definitive physical evidence as to why this aircraft went missing.

>> if the plane crashed in shallow waters, investigators would have a better chance of finding the block box recorders and those could help explaining what happened to the flight. >> weather appears to be a key factor in this plane's disappearance. >> kearn is tracking those storms. >> we had some of the worst weather this past weekend with the monsoonal rain season across the area. all the way here from the philippines down through indonesia across jar have a malaysia is where the moon soon was the heaviest now. this is the area we're concerned about. to the north, we have some very high thunderstorms, as well as down towards the south. when the plane was in the air we had a major complex right over here located. we think that the thunderstorms were we will over 50,000 feet and of course planes can't fly at that level so what we expect to see going towards tuesday morning is we don't expect clear

weather, but we expect better weather than over the last couple of days. that is going to continue until at least wednesday morning. as we go towards thursday, unfortunately, we think it is going to get more severe across that region. wave heights in that area not too bad today. we are talking four to five feet, but we expect those to go up, making things difficult. >> the air asia crash is the latest involving a carrier from malaysia. in july, malaysia flight going down over eastern ukraine, shot down by a russian rocket, all aboard died. investigators still looking for another malaysian airlines flight from cool almost purr to

beijing. just ahead we're going to talk to oceanographer david gal low on the search for air asia flight. >> another disaster in the aid reatic sea. many endured a flight of smoke frigid temperatures and gail forced winds. 150 people are still on the ship that was on fire. >> rescue operation continues pretty much in the same mode as it's been for the last 12 hours or so. it's essentially an airborne rescue operation, a shuttle service, if you like, greek and italian naval helicopters

winching off small groups of passengers and members of the crew as quickly as possible. the operation is now speeded up because of the arrival of daylight. the conditions however remain extremely difficult. it's very cold and it is extremely windy. one cargo vessel, the greek vessel was able to reach the italian port carrying 48 passengers. they are being treated by local medical staff as they have arrived. that ship was meant to come here but the wind conditions were such that it simply wasn't able to get into this port. it gives you some impression of how ditch the conditions are. over 300 people have been successfully lifted off the nor man atlantic as we speak monday morning, leaving 150 but every 15 minutes or so, fresh small groups of passengers are being rescued and transferred to

waiting mainly italian naval ships that now are in attendance at the scene. the chief amongst those is the italian naval amphibious handing ship. there are 80 passengers aboard that vessel. we understand according to the italian navy that once everyone is safely off the nor man atlantic will eventually be towed probably to an italian port, but clearly the priority now is while daylight persists to get everyone off and into warmer conditions on the surrounding vessels hypothermia, exposure to long periods of cold, bitter cold and rain overnight is the main concern medically. >> greek officials say five people have been confirmed dead on that ferry. >> the greek parliament is now set to dissolve after it failed to elect a president in the

third and final round of elections. former e.u. commissioner failed to get the needed vote. under greek law the parliament must now dissolve. the country will hold a general election in late january. >> president obama saying the longest war in u.s. history is now coming to a responsible conclusion, his words. u.s. combat mission in afghanistan coming to a formal end sunday. the president honored the americans who have died there since the war started 13 years ago. libby casey is in washington d.c. this morning. this has been a violent one and violent since the conflict began. how is the president measuring success? >> he's pointing to really the breakup of the core group of al-qaeda leadership as a measure of success. he also in a statement yesterday pointed to the killing of osama bin laden and president obama says the afghan people now live in a more secure environment. they've been able to have

elections and they're taking charge of their own security. despite measures of success certainly afghanistan is still fraught with violence. this past year, 5,000 afghan security forces killed, in 2014 alone. even though there were elections, the government is fraught with problems, the president in a power struggle and he dismissed many of his ministers last month. there is a question of what will happen in the coming years as the u.s. look to iraq and the problem there with stability the development of the so-called islamic state or isil. >> at the height of the war we talked about 100,000 american troops in afghanistan now the number looks like 11,000, beginning in 2015. what do we know about what they're going to be doing? >> it's a massive shift and they have two major missions, one is to train advise and assist the

afghan forces, having them take the lead. the other, there is still a u.s. presence there who has the goal of really trying to draw down al-qaeda forces, even now. there is still that on going fight happening, dell. >> what is the end game? is there an end date for this new training and advise that go we're talking about? >> we will see according to the white house half those troops come home at the end of next year the end of 2015 and the remainder come home by the end of 2016. that way, president obama can say that this war ended during his time in office, but there may still be a necessary presence there as we talked about, there is a concern of just what can happen as the afghans take control. the afghan government that's in place now while it wants to take the lead and not be seen as relying on the u.s. too much, even they have concerns about just what happens in the vacuum. >> how expensive handling war

been and how does it compare to other u.s. involved wars. >> this is one thing that critics point out, it has been an incredibly costly war. a harvard study last year estimated the ultimate cost between four to $6 trillion that because of all of the cost for injured u.s. troops who will have to deal with disabilities and challenges for the rest of their lives and that will definitely ramp up the price tag, so we're looking at the longest u.s. combat mission costing very much. >> libby casey in washington, thank you very much. >> sony's play station network is back up and running this morning, experiences outages since christmas ago with x box. a hack group lizard squad said it was possible. another group posted data on line that says it belongs to 13,000 users.

there's no everyday linking the attack to the early attack on sony. >> searching the jar have a sea looking for a missing flight. >> 162 passengers and crew were onboard. we'll have a report from singapore where families are anxiously awaiting word on the fate of their loved ones. >> did the weather play a role in the plane's disappearance? we'll go live to malaysia where residents are suffering through some of the worst flooding in years. >> 2014 has been marked by an extreme level of violence towards journalists all around the world. >> a difficult and deadly year for journalists. we'll look at some of the reporters who have lost their lives defending freedom of the press. >> that brings us to today's big number, 365. >> it may not seem like a big number to you but it's definitely a big number for three of our colleagues, behind bars in egypt.

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it may not seem large but it is very large to us. >> that's how long our colleagues have been imprisoned in egypt. the three were detained last december, accused of spreading false news. two each serving seven year jail terms now the third was sentenced to 10 years. >> more than 150 human rights groups joining al jazeera calling now for their immediate release. >> our journalists in egypt are not the only once, dozens were killed, scores arrested around the world. >> they were doing what we do, report the news. >> during the war in gaza, a photo journalist's body is brought to the hospital. he would later be buried with his camera. during fighting in libya journalists take cover from incoming fire. in iraq, memorial for journalist jim foley after he was abducted

and beheaded in syria. >> 2014 has been marked by an extreme level of violence toward journalists all around the world. >> of the 220 journalists jailed, 132 are there because they criticized their own governments, 45 have been charged with nothing. >> the people and the parties involved in the conflicts wants to control the information pro produce and provide their own propaganda. >> in syria this year, 15 journalists were killed doing their jobs. after years of war the front lines blurry, local fighters are difficult to trust. the islamic state of iraq and the levant hunts journalists to execute or sell. >> i'm john can'tly and we're in the city of kobane. >> in the case of john can'tly turn into a propaganda

tool. >> syria is the most dangerous place for journalists right now. >> activists are arrested for questions their own government. >> in hong kong, chinese authorities exert huge influence massive protests were among the best covered in history. that made journalists the targets. >> china has been the biggest prison for journalists professional journalists and non-professional journalists since years. >> iran has the second most journalists in prison and the leader in imprisoning women

journalists. >> a journalist rebutted the government's position that no iranians were day and was thrown in jail. he won a press freedom award. >> after i was released, i would like to say that more determined than ever, i wanted to continue my profession and career. >> then there's egypt, 16 journalists in prison. >> the restrictions on freedom of expression in egypt are a concern. >> it simply cannot stand if egypt is going to be able to move forward in the way that egypt needs to move forward. >> the egyptian revolution replace add military leader, the muslim brotherhood leader who was toppled by the military. >> journalists are arrested constantly threatened and we have seen complete sham trials of the al jazeera journalists. >> we're dog to take a closer look at our colleagues' year in

jail, 365 days, airs tonight on an aljazeera america special journalism is not a crime. >> the indonesian official in charge of the search for air asia flight 8501 believes the plane is now underwater. search planes report oil slicks and debris in the java sea. the airbus jet was over that sea en route to singapore when it disappeared from radar sunday. we are in singapore where families are being kept away from the news media. >> the chinese airport group public relations people are tight-lipped about what's going on behind the barriers are that leads to the relatives' holding area. they have not revealed how many relatives are in there. what they've said is that they will reveal that a bit later in the day. the place is open for 24 hours they say in order that relatives and friends next of kin of whom there are are something like 30

plus in singapore can come and get information, updates as soon as possible. they can get assistance. they're provided with food and water and counseling. that earlier on today we did see one relative arrive and leave again very quickly. it was being reported that he he was the husband of somebody onboard the plane but he, again, was kept away from the media, so that to protect his privacy. one aspect as rewards the care that's being taken for the relatives of next of kin for passengers on the plane. >> while the flight was bound for singapore only one singapore national was onboard the jet. >> let's go to david gal low now, an oceanographer.

he joins us from massachusetts this morning thanks for being with us. the flight 8501 last made contact over the java sea. how crucial is that information now moving forward? >> extremely crucial. the knowing where the last known position isis important because in many ways, if you're thinking about it as a needle in a haystack, it gives you the center that have haystack and then you have to decide however could the plane have flown from this point. it's embarrassing and shameful that once again we lose a major modern aircraft on this planet and it's only because a group of air industry executives have decided that it's not that important. really shameful. >> expand on that. what do you mean by air industry executives saying it's not that important. >> well, there's no reason with the technology we have today that we can't have streaming data from these aircraft and it shows to me among other things,

a complete lack of what it takes to do an underwater search. the difference between knowing whether the plane was airborne for one minute and two minutes is the difference of searching for a week or a month and a half. it's not easy, even though it's shallow water there's all sorts of things that have to be overcome strong currents, poor visibility and also on this planet, there's a real lack of the teams the technology and the know how about how to find these aircraft and how to recover the black boxes and already a large portion of that has moved to the south indian ocean because of malaysian air 370. it shows a complete lack of understanding and to decide that it is not worth it when you see the anguish on the family's and loved ones of those souls onboard to me is irresponsible and i'd be anxious to hear what they -- >> i was going to say and continuing what you were saying, fuel prices are going down, these are record years of report profits for the air industry.

should there then be pressure on the industry itself to do more to make sure that these gaps as you say don't exist? >> absolutely. they need to be educated about the undersea search, what it takes when a plane goes into the water when you are not sure of the position and hopefully after air are france 447 that was recommended, that they know exactly where that aircraft is and there is streaming data. that much has happened then and we went through malaysian 370 still lost nine months later. we have this case and it is all too familiar with me, where we start to think the indonesian representative saying the plane has sunk to the bottom. how does he know that? it reminds me of the early days of malaysian flight 370 wild speculation. hopefully someone is in charge of that search at this moment. >> thank you.

>> winding down america's longest war. >> as her moneys mark the end of combat in afghanistan. what's next at american forces pull out? we'll talk to a senior counter insurgency advisor. >> they were screaming for help and i was telling them come out on the ledge. it's the only way they could breathe, because the smoke had overtaken them. >> a deadly fire at a texas senior centered. a few heroic firefighters saved dozens of residents. >> former president bush spending the night in the hospital, his condition and when we might see him being released. >> a mandatory breathalyzer to start your car the new proposal that aims to take drunk drivers off the road just one of the stories caught in our global net.

>> we are marking exactly 365 days, one year, suns our aljazeera america colleagues were jailed in egypt.

al jazeera continues to deny the charges and demand their immediate release. welcome to al jazeera america. ahead in this half hour, a surprising voice now joining the debate over police tactics in the u.s. tweeting black lives matter. and also in our next hour, survival of the fit effort, one man making it out alive after three days alone in the alaska wilderness. >> off the coast of indonesia search teams are still trying to find the wreckage of night 8501, 162 peoples onboard. oil slicks and objects have been spotted in the water. >> more than 300 of 500 people onboard a burning ferry have been saved.

the ship is in no danger of sinking, but strong winds and heavy rain are making it difficult to rescue passengers. >> the longest war in american history has come to a formal end, a ceremony taking place in kabul marking the conclusion of the u.s. and nato combat operation in afghanistan. more than 10,000 u.s. troops will remain in the country. this year, more afghan civilians and troops died in any other year since the war began. >> the senior counter insurgency advisor is cardinal senior fellow for the new america foundation and joins us this morning. thank you for your time. there's been political uncertainty in afghanistan. it's been only three months since the new president was elected. he has not chosen a cabinet. is this the right time for the u.s. to pull out? >> the u.s. is not pulling out completely. there will be a force of at least 10,000 troops, more like 11 right now that will remain

in place for sometime. that will taper off over the next year, but it's not true to say the u.s. is abandoning afghanistan. there will be a significant residual force in place. >> they will be there two years. is that enough time to get the afghans up to speed to battle the taliban? the taliban attacks have continued. this has been the deadly effort year so far of the whole war are. >> thief absolutely continued and it's hard to say what can be accomplished in two years. we could see great improvements over two years or we could see a kind of status quo remain. it depends on how motivated the afghan troops are how the government holds together and frankly, how dedicated your opponent is. >> is this a good policy, to tell the afghans and to tell the taliban that in two years, we will have pulled out? >> it's always problematic to put a deadline. unfortunately, american politics

drives there. you have to have a deadline and explain to the american people that we are not going to do this forever. the amount of money that we are spending in afghanistan still tens of billions of dollars is on the line of some of our minor cabinet departments. this is real money even by government standards and not something we can do forever. >> did it in the end become a nation-building exercise, going beyond the initial goal, to denigrate al-qaeda, which was seeking ref final in afghanistan. >> that's a great question. the united states certainly accomplished its minimal goals which was to get rid of the taliban government providing exapplies sits safe haven to al-qaeda and we have accomplished that and there is a government in kabul that is decent, at the very least. we really have done something but you're right our more expansive goals are creating a more modern afghanistan, of transforming the countryside of

trying to make it into a modern nation state where when it's really still far more tribal, those are things that we fell far short on, including drug rad occasion, still a major opium producer. >> wither not the first nation to have failed in that experiment. you were part of the -- you were an architect of the currently in iraq served at the former director or iraq at the national security council. when you look at iraq today and the iraqi forces inbat to fight isil on their own, do you worry that that will be repeated in afghanistan? >> i'm very wary of drawing parallels between iraq and afghanistan. i thought it was a bad idea in 2010 when we tried to import surge tactics in afghanistan and afghanistan is its own thing. it doesn't have a active isil type opponent on its borders but on the other hand, it's

nowhere near as cohesive as iraq. it doesn't have the same history of central government and the same lines of communication the same infrastructure. there are two very different problems and i'm wary about drawing parallels. >> is the u.s. safer today because of the u.s. mission in afghanistan? >> i think so, but that mission was accomplished in 2003, so what we've gotten over the last or maybe even as early as 2001 or 2002. over the last decade what we've gotten in a much more dubious question. >> thank you sir. >> thank you very much. >> there's a new report out that says isil has killed nearly 2,000 people in syria in just the past six months. the british based human rights group saying most were civilians and isil killed them because they were trying to leave and go back home. >> malaysia faces its worst

flooding in decades entire neighborhoods underwater thousand us stranded, 10 people believed to be dead. we are in the malaysia capital of kuala lampur. how is the malaysian government responding? >> >> the prime minister was on holiday in hawaii and a picture of him playing golf with president barack obama went viral and attracted a lot of criticism. since then he cut short his holiday and came back to lead rescue and relief efforts. the government has opened hundreds of temporary relief

shelters for people there have been evacuated. they have converted schools as well as other government buildings to house at least 160,000 people who were forced to flee their homes. the government has also announced $157 million to help victims of the flood. they've deployed at least 3,000 military personnel, as well as 200 navy personnel to help with relief efforts but interestingly, what the wider community is doing is very essential to providing some kind of respite to people that are stranded there. hundred was people have volunteered their time to go to the flood-affected areas they've been working to distribute food, drinking water and sanitary supplies and they have been crucial to providing aid to the people stuck far from

home at the moment. >> these people now stuck in shelters, what is life like for them in shows shelters? they are frustrated, the people we spoke to at a relief center we visited, they said the government had provided them with shelter and they were grateful, certainly, but all the other assistance they are receiving, they are getting from private organizations. at least hundreds of tons of food drinking water sanitary items, and even money is being given to them by private organizations ranging from religious groups, as well as n.g.o.'s that are accustomed to dealing with disasters. they feel that the government responded too slowly, and that they should be doing more to provide relief. now the government faces its own challenges, because they may have the resources and the relief material right now but

it's very difficult to get it to the communities that need it the most. those people that are actually still stranded and surrounded by floodwaters, that is going to be a continuing challenge for the government. >> thank you very much. >> back in this country investigators in san antonio texas are trying to figure out what caused a deadly fire at a home for seniors. five were killed and four others injured sunday. many residents couldn't walk, so firefighters had to carry them. >> after looking at the floors, it's amazing we did not have more loss of life. >> i don't know how he did it, but he carried me on his arm and went all the ways to the fire escape and came down the fire escape. >> the center has been completely evacuated in the wake of the fire. authorities say it will be several days before residents will be allowed to return. >> former president george h.w. bush in the hospital in houston. the 90-year-old is doing well

and could be discharged soon. the president has been hospitalized since last tuesday for shortness of breath. two years ago he spent nearly two months in that same hospital with bronchitis. >> a c.d.c. lab worker is showing no sign was ebola despite potential exposure. the technician is still being monitored and will be for several more weeks. her name hasn't been released. the technician was working with samples that were supposed to be deactivated. the c.d.c. is investigating just how live samples played it into her lab. >> there are new worries that the focus on ebola in west africa is taking away from another real problem malaria. in again knee, 33% of those who did not have ebola have tested positive for malaria. last year, 15,000 people from anyone knee died from malaria. it is the leading cause of death in children under five, second

only to aids for adult deaths, as well. >> g mail is off limits now in china. time magazine said access to the site appears to have been blocked. it started on christmas when traffic to the email service dried up. google said the problem is not on their end. >> a suspected drunk driver got his car stuck on the walk way on the golden gate bridge. anyone convicted of doing so would have to have a breathalyzer installed on their car. >> that is already in place in parts of new york. your car will not start until you breathe in it. >> the west is getting hit with snow. we have more on that. >> if you've been traveling out there, if you're on vacation out

there. you've enjoyed the ski cbs. i want to show you the video out of nevada, and people are absolutely loving the ski conditions there. we do expect that the snow will continue, at least for the next several days, at least com back here. i want to show you what we expect to see. here we are looking at it. as you can see all the way across much of the rocky mountains, we are looking at snow. the warnings are out winter storm warnings. skiers love this, but most of these states, we are talking at eight states looking at heavy snow across the region. over the next 12-24 hours across parts of denver, colorado and wyoming 12-16 more inches of snow is going to fall in this area. towards salt lake city and up towards park city, we are going to see lighter snow, but conditions there are quite nice, as well. into oregon, we are looking at a drought situation across southern oregon. into the mountains, we are

looking at snow. that's great news especially north reserves for the snow pack across the region. in california, we are not looking at much snow there over the next couple of days. they need a little bit of a break from all the rain earlier this month. >> our continuous theme this morning, journalists not only under attack, in hot spots overseas. >> some faced difficulty covering the events in ferguson, missouri, how the police handled the journalists there including some of our own reports. >> a silent protest where police officers turn their backs on the mayor in new york city. >> a tool that may be one of the oldest ever found. where it was unearthed and how old it is, ahead in today's discoveries.

>> we're marking exactly one year, 365 days since our al jazeera colleagues were jailed in egypt. al jazeera denies the charges and demands their immediate release. >> the shooting of michael brown was a number of controversial police encounters this year. >> simmering tensions between the police and public reveal how tough it is for journalists trying to cover the situations. >> keep rolling keep rolling. >> for journalists covering the protests in ferguson, missouri was challenging. police restricted where they could go. >> they told us foot traffic was allowed to go through. no foot traffic either. >> not at the time. >> the reactions weren't always friendly. >> don't resist, i'll bust your ass, i'll bust your head right here. i don't give a [bleep]. you'll go and i'll confiscate the film for evidence.

>>. i think what propelled this story was the way the police reacted to it. they didn't seem like they knew what they were doing. they made mistake after mistake. >> olson was arrested after a state highway patrolman told him to get out of the street. >> he said well, i think this is a violation of the first amendment, because the press has a right to go wherever the general public can go. because i think it's a violation, i'm going to roll video to document the request. he said you're under arrest, failure to obey. >> he was charged with interfering with an officer and released from jail a few hours later. our own al jazeera crew faced tear gas and rubber bullets. there was no warning. at one point the federal aviation administration shut down 37 square miles of air space at the request of the st. louis county police. >> they finally admitted it was to keep the media out. >> the fly zone was to protect and not restrict media.

>> if we would have wanted to restrict them, we would ever started that on the ground and that's not what happened. >> reporters were roughed up in mcdonalds where they were working. >> journalists were feared in terms what have they were showing at any given moment. >> president obama commented on the treatment of the media. >> police should not be bullying or arresting journalist trying to do their jobs. >> 20 journalists were arrested covering the story. while there are multiple lawsuits filed, there is little public acknowledgment of wrongdoing. >> the committee to protect journalists condemning the harassment of protestors during the protests infer son and following around police departments around the country to let journalists just do their jobs. >> hour three colleagues still in jail in egypt just because they were doing their jobs.

it is an al jazeera special journalist is not a crime airing tonight. >> a spokesman for the ferguson police departments has been suspended following a memorial for michael brown. he was asked by the washington post about the memorial that was destroyed by a car. his response calling the memorial a pile of trash. he has now been placed on unpaid leave. >> an unlikely voice stepping into the debate over police violence iran's leader blasted race relations in the u.s. in a stream of posts over christmas weekend he likened jesus' suffering in the bible to the oppression of oh protestors. he he used the hash tag black lives matter in ferguson. >> as you have been watching, the mayor and police union in new york city at odds. >> funeral services were held for a second police officer gunned down with his partner. some of the hundred of officers in attendance were not happy.

the mayor attended the service. this is not a new wrist. >> the nypd already wasn't happy with the mayor. he campaigned on a platform of ending stop and frisk. the local and national police controversy of the last five months ever made the mayor a target of the police' increasing anger. >> inside the church at the funeral for the slain officer ramos, mourners gave new york city mayor bill deblasio polite applause. >> our hearts are aching. >> but outside the church, where the service was being broadcast to thousands of officers, a very different reception. many turning their backs as the mayor begins to speak. the gesture in response to comments deblasio made that police took at critical of them in the deaths of garner and michael brown. >> our police are here to protect us, but at the same time there's a history we have to

overcome because for so many young people, there's a fear. >> new york city police commissioner spoke out against the snub. >> it was very inappropriate at that event. that funeral was held to honor officer ramos. >> tensions were worse when the officer and his partner were killed in the line of duty. soon afterwards, police union president patrick lynch blamed the mayor for the officers' deaths. >> that blood on the hands starts on the steps of city hall in the office of the mayor. >> police lining the halls of the hospital where the officers were pronounced dead turned their backs on the mayor as he visited the victims' families. in his eulogy saturday, deblasio seemed to reach out to police. >> extend my condolences to another family, the family of the nypd that is hurting so deeply now. >> former mayor rudy giuliani

appeared on the talk circuit. >> you have to respect the mayor's position. i do believe mayor deblasio should apologize to the new york city police department. >> we'll find out if the police officers will continue their open disrespect to the mayor. deblasio is set to speak today as a police academy graduation and the officer's funeral is scheduled next sunday in brooklyn. mayor deblasio will be speaking that day, as well. >> let's go with more on these tensions between the nypd and mayor. joining us now is executive director of the police reform organizing project. put this in perspective for us. is this division between the mayor and the police going to have any real impact or are we just looking at politics? >> we're certainly looking at politics. one of the factors here -- >> 90% politics, 10% reality?

50-50? >> it's driven to a large degree by pat lynch. he's the head of the program's benevolent association. nerve without a contract for four and a half years. there's actually a lot of criticism of lynch's leadership within the ranks because he hasn't been able to provide a good contract, generous contract. his what we consider certainly would be reckless and irresponsible rhetoric is making sufficient noise to drown out the criticism of him and gain leverage with the mayor to gain a generous contract. >> patrick lynch last week said the mayor had blood on his hands. >> that's part of what i mean by irresponsible rhetoric. >> some say the mayor has had rhetoric coming from him, as well and not supporting the police and pointing out that he's had to lecture his own son on what to do in a police encounter. do you agree at all with mayor

jewel's point that perhaps to ratchet things back down, the mayor should apologize? >> i don't think he should apologize. he is not projecting strong leadership. he should not apologize. his statement about the warning that he and his wife gave to his son, every black and brown parent i've talked to who live in new york city have had the same conversation with their children particularly with their sons and that is a reflection of racially biased policing in new york city, which is a reality. deblasio should not tollies for that. >> why is it a them versus us mentality. a lot of the public please police are to blame in the death of eric garner and police say this is what caused the death of the two police officers. why can't the police be upset about both instances and the

public be upset about both. >> i think the public is upset by both. we are shocked and dismade by the shooting of the two police officers. one of the things that drives our work is a concern for justice and for the fair treatment of people, all people, including police officers. the shooting of those police officers was a shock and a gross injustice and a crazy act that affected all new yorkers and made all new yorkers sad and we all join in the mourning of those police officers. you're right there are divisions between the police and the community between some of the reformers and mayor and and the commissioner. one thing that is a challenge for us who are promoting reform is to be respectful of the police at the same time we are critical of nypd policies and practices. we are not anti cop, we are anti what we consider to be bad policies that actually make the jobs for the cops more difficult and dangerous. >> thank you so much for your

perspective and time this morning. >> thank you. >> we know the temperature in new york politically, let's get a check of your forecast elsewhere for new year's eve right now with kevin. good morning. >> a lot of people coming to new york of course for new year's eve and we're looking quite nice across the eastern seaboard. your forecast for the evening across some of these major cities, new york, partly cloudy to clear skies but because it's clear, temperatures will drop quickly. we expect at midnight it's going to be 20 some degrees. atlanta have the peach drop and that is going to be 37. minneapolis, it is going to be frigid and very, very cold. las vegas very, very heavy snow back to believe it or not with a temperature there of 32 degrees. now as we start the beginning of the new year, unfortunately it's going to be very, very rainy across the gulf states. we are going to see heavy rain showers from dallas towards -- >> 32 in vegas. >> and snow.

>> thanks, kevin. it's time for one of today's discoveries and it could be one of the earliest evidence of tools ever discovered. >> dating back 1.2 million years found along a river in western turkey. researchers say it shows signs it was hammered by a hard object. >> it could clear up when hall of fames traveled through the region. it was dropped nearly 2 million years ago. >> the missing air asian plane. >> ending the civil war in syria. we'll talk to a journalist who reported from inside that war-torn country. >> we leave you with what we have been talking about all morning long, a reminder of our al jazeera colleagues. >> the three detained last december accused of spreading false news, today marks exactly one year, 365 days since they

were jailed in egypt. >> start with one issue education... gun control... the gap between rich and poor... job creation... climate change... tax policy... the economy... iran... healthcare... ad guests on all sides of the debate. >> this is a right we should all have... >> it's just the way it is... >> there's something seriously wrong... >> there's been acrimony... >> the conservative ideal... >> it's an urgent need... and a host willing to ask the tough questions >> how do you explain it to yourself? and you'll get... the inside story ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5 eastern only on al jazeera america

>> sunday night. >> 140 world leaders will take the podium. >> get the full story. >> there is real disunity in the security council. >> about issues that impact your world. >> infectious diseases are a major threat to health. >> "the week ahead". sunday 8:30 eastern. only on al jazeera america. real reporting that brings you the world.

giving you a real global perspective like no other can. real reporting from around the world. this is what we do. al jazeera america. >> hopes fade as an international search team searches for a missing flight. the man in charge offers a grim assessment. >> rescue crews racing to save dozens trapped on a burning ferry. the death toll is climbing higher this morning. >> a new mission underway this morning in afghanistan the u.s. ends its combat operations after 13 years but thousands of troops remain. what the future holds for them.

>> one year behind bars in prison, the fight to free our al jazeera colleagues after 365 days in prison in egypt. the next step in their search for freedom. good morning and welcome to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. >> i'm stephanie sy. it is nighttime right now in the java sea between in dough he nearby is that and singapore where officials are searching for night 8501. >> it disappeared 40 knife minutes after takeoff traveling from indonesia to singapore. >> the official in charge thinks the plane is at the bottom of the java sea. we have the latest. darkness means at least one part of the search is off for now. >> that will be the air component. you cannot fly aircraft at the low level they need to fly at and see tiny objects floating in the ocean. that's the issue. it's 8:00 p.m. in the evening right now in indonesia and the

air search, missing plane suspended for the night. there have been two key developments. oil slicks were spotted near where the plane is believed to have gone down and suspicious objects seen 700 miles away. officials are looking into both reports while investigators are now predicting the worst for the missing plane. relatives of those onboard are still holding ought hope. >> the search continues for the missing air asia passenger flight that disappeared with 162 passengers and crew onboard. ships are looking for the aircraft. >> it is not easy of course in operation in the sea especially in the bad weather like this. >> ahead of indonesia's search and rescue agency said the plane is likely at the bottom of the sea, but in indonesia and singapore, desperate families waiting and operating for good news.

>> this man says he he hopes for a miracle. his two friends were on the plane. he he planned to join them, but canceled his plans. >> we still have hope. we cannot lose hope. >> family members were brought to the airport for a closed door meeting with airport and airline officials. air asia flight 8501 was heading to singapore from indonesia normally a two hour flight. the plane hit thunderstorms and turbulence. the pilot asked air traffic to increase altitude from 32,000 feet to 38 shouse feet to avoid the bad weather, a request that was denied. 42 minutes into the flight, the plane vanished off radar. the air asia pilot was experienced with more than 20,000 flying hours. the airline and the airplane, an airbus both have good safety ratings.

>> if the plane did crash in shallow waters as some of the investigators believe, that would greatly increase the chances of finding the missing airbus flight recorders. the u.s. seventh fleet based in japan and guam on stand by to help if they are asked. >> let's go to veronica pedrosa live from singapore. how are relatives there doing? >> hering singapore, we have been pretty much as the media away from the relatives. authorities at the chinese airport be trying to protect their privacy.

while we've seen people enter and leave the relatives' holding area we haven't been able to talk to them except briefly for them to tell us they have some relationship with a passenger onboard the missing plane. however, today be we did get a release from airport authorities showing a group of the next of kin, but faces were not shown but it showed them being given a briefing by the airport authorities, and the civil aviation authority about how this search was going. i think that they are going into this area, they updated and they are getting food, water

counseling. >> what is the role of the government in this plane? >> singapore has said that they are providing whatever help that they can to the indonesian authorities. they confirm they have accepted the offer of specialists who can search underwater to search for the recorders when it gets to that point in the search. now obviously they are just looking for the plane let alone those recorders. they have specialized equipment that can help find the electronic beconsist. there are naval ships out there and there are 2t130's provided by singapore, so a lot is being done. >> very rob da, thanks for that jump date. >> coming up, we're talking with former ntsb member about the

search for this missing air asia plane, what may have led to its disappearance and what role the u.s. may have in its search. >> another disaster in the aid reatic where rescue across are trying to rescue people off a burning ferry. at least five people onboard died, 60 people are still said to be onboard that ship. we have the story. >> it continues much in the same mode as it has been for the last 12 hours or more, a shuttle operation, if you like, of greek and italian naval helicopters hovering above the stranded ferry miles out to sea behind me and winching to safety small groups of passengers and crew members as safely and as quickly as possible. daylight bright, sunny skies

but still extremely windy and cold. the italian navy, the lead service in this rescue operation, if you like, has several large vessels including the amphibious landing ship, adjacent to the ferry. there are about 85 rescue passengers on that, and what remains to be seen is where the bulk of these passengers who have been rescued from the ferry will eventually be taken. they are still at sea in a number of different rentals and we are waiting to see exactly where they plan to bring those people for all the medical checkups that they no doubt need. >> also onboard about 200 carrion and dozens of cargo containers. there's no word on where the ferry is going to be taken when the fire it out and everybody rescued. >> officials are engaged in their new mission in afghanistan, the combat mission that lasted 13 years came to an

end over the weekend marked with a ceremony in kabul. several thousand u.s. troops will remain to train and advice afghan troops. we are in washington d.c., libby, good morning, this has been the subject of discussion for a long time both here and in afghanistan. what programmed taking the steps now? >> this has been a long-planned draw down. even though the mission came to a formal end yesterday, there is a u.s. presence there in having a and the mission is in may be ways not entirely over. the number of troops will still see in afghanistan in 2015, a number between 10 and 11,000. that's actually more than we're in the country in the early years of the war in afghanistan. it's not an insignificant number. we hit some milestones in afghanistan over the past year, including democratic elections. the president was sworn in in november. that was a hurdle for the

afghans to show progress. it took longer for the president to be sworn in than expected. that is why there are slightly more troops in 2015 than the president pledged but this ending of the war essentially has been something on president obama's agenda since he took office. >> 5,000 afghan soldiers and police killed this year alone. you see important milestones, but also steps back record. >> talk about this new mission that will stay on in afghanistan and in which the u.s. troops will be involved. >> it's really two fold. one is a nato operation. they're calling its operation resolute support. the goal is to train and assess the afghans. there is another mission. there's a u.s.-led effort to

fight al-qaeda and of course continue the fight against the taliban. this is considered to be a counter terrorism mission. a couple of places the afghans say they need help are with air support, intelligence gathering and there is a concern if the u.s. pulls back on those areas there will be a gap in forces. >> thank you. >> it's been one year since our colleagues were arrested in egypt. today pausing for a moment of silence. >> we have more on how our three colleagues wound up behind bars and what's being done to help set them three. >> the detaining on december 29 of last year was initially assumed to be short term, a mix up over accreditations. it became clear that the egyptian authorities under the new government president al sisi seemed to have other intentions. peter is a veteran correspondent

based in kenya at the time of his arrest. by his own admission he knew little about egypt. he said he was shocked by the idea that he was linked to some way by what the ski egyptian government described as terrorism. >> the two others were arrested, as well. the hash tag went viral and respected journalists came out in support. >> the trial failed to come up with anything against the three men, which could even vaguely have been said to incriminate them. footage from a different channel entirely were all shown during trial as evidence. the men were convicted and jailed. for the men's families, it was the lowest point of a desperate

year. andrew spent over four months in and out of cairo visiting his brother. speaking from his farm in australia, he describes what it's been like for peter. >> he's determined this whole experience isn't going to break him. he doesn't want to come out and be a twisted man. it has taken a lot of effort and a lot of self discipline and determination and focus for him to remain mentally together and also look at himself physically. >> world leaders including president obama denounced the court conviction. >> the issue of the al jazeera journalists in egypt we've been clear publicly and privately that they should be released. >> mean while the egyptian government defended the ruling, arguing it hat not been a political decision and now up to the appeals process to determine what should happen next. al jazeera denies any allegation that its staff had any links to political groups. >> al jazeera, we work in so

many different places and we should be taken as a professional media institution not as a part of any political or ideological or any other establishment. >> al jazeera's maintained its public campaign on behalf of its journalists and what's going on behind the scenes is less cheer. the president al sisi would have prefer to have had the journalists deported, aware of the damage this case was going to do to egypt's reputation. a year on and for all the campaigning, the three men of still jailed. >> tonight we look back on our colleagues' year in jail with a special journalism is not a crime. that is at 9:00 p.m. eastern 6:00 p.m. pacific. >> greece is heading towards nationwide elections this morning. they couldn't elect a new president, meaning the legislature has to dissolve. general elections set to take place in late january. >> in the u.s., the weather will turn from cold to dangerous as

temperatures fly into negative territory. >> we turn to kevin people coming into town for new year's eve bundled up. >> when i say ridiculously cold, right now, new york city at 38 degrees. across the northern plains and border states, billings five, minneapolis four, but north dakota minus eight in bismarck. far go is seeing minus 28 degrees. with these wind chill temperatures, it takes less than 30 minutes of exposed skin, nose ears, fingers to get frostbite, so very dangerous. this is going to continue over the next several days. we have wind chill advisories for many states now going towards tomorrow. that means wind chill's minus 20 to minus 28. we are already seeing that. wind chills will start to raise

because the sun's going to coming out. overnight, we're going to see wind chills drop again so very dangerous conditions. minneapolis, normally you have an average high of 24 degrees. we're going to see a high tomorrow of three wednesday 21 and we're going back to snow and very low conditions. it's very cold, very zang russ. >> is nicole really ice finishing right now? >> no. >> just checking. >> she's wearing less clothes than we are down in the caribbean. >> kevin thanks. >> investigators this morning trying to figure out what caused an air asia flight to disappear in the waters off indonesia. former ntsb member joins us with what investigators will be looking for trying to piece the clues together. >> we're going to go live with kuala lampur for the worst storm in decades. >> the proposals to stop four

years of blood shed.

>> all day on aljazeera america we are marking one year since our al jazeera colleagues were jailed in egypt. >> another story we're following, the search for missing air asia flight 8501 suspended for the day. it's dark off the coast of indonesia. the official in charge believes the plane is in the bottom of the sea. 162 people onboard the flight disappeared 42 minutes after takeoff. a former member of the ntsb joins us this morning. thanks for being with us. the satellite images showing heavy thunderstorms in the place where the plane lost contact shortly before it disappeared. what does it tell us? >> it certainly justifies why he asked for higher altitude and asked for a little diversion from his planned route. the fact that there's a thunderstorm in the area is not a significant event unless it's

a level five, but the pilots with their weather radar can see severe storms on their screen and avoid them and that's what i assume he was doing when he asked to go above the storm or what he thought would be above the storm. >> our expert in the last hour said there is technology now that would make it much easier and fast tore find these planes but the air reversed to do so because of cost. >> behavioral the cost has been a factor, but there is a lot of work going on in that area since the malaysia flight 370 went missing, and i think where he will see electronic monitoring realtime of all our airplanes in the very near future. >> a lot of people wonder, partly cloudy you can find yourself almost anywhere in the world by logging on to the internet and they can track your credit card anywhere in the world to tell you you don't have

money. why is it hard to find planes that go down, something that large? >> because there's large areas of this world mainly over oceans that there's no way to keep track of them, because of the curvature of the earth the radar doesn't travel far enough out to camp them. i mean, people probably don't even realize that when you leave the east coast of the united states, after you're just a few hundred miles offshore, you're no longer covered by radar. it's all position reporting. we do have the technology to make that better and i believe as a result of these recent events, that we will see that technology implemented. >> two of these planes going down in the same region from the same region, should we be looking at the pilots? >> well, they're going to be looking at the pilots, at the equipment and procedures. that's normal in every investigation. there's a protocol that all the investigators follow, and they will be looking at that in great

detail. also the people in the security business are going to be looking at those same issues themselves with the pilots and what's on the airplane and who worked on the airplane, who had access to the airplane when it was at the gate so there's a lot of work being done, even though we haven't found the airplane, what's left of the airplane. there's a lot of work being done. >> i'm almost out of time but as a traveling public, should web concerned about flying planes from this region. >> i fly constantly, so i'm not concerned. we still have the safest system ever devised by human beings to travel. >> thank you for being with us this morning. >> that same weather system that could r. played a role inflate 8501's disappearance is responsible for devastating floods in malaysia and thailand. 140,000 people have been forced to evacuate. this is the worst flooding in decades and 10 people reported

dead so far. in kuala lampur this morning we have a report. we hear thousands are still stranded by these waters. has the government response been adequate? >> initially, the government faced criticism for reacting too slowly to this disaster. the prime minister was on holiday in hawaii, and he continued his holiday despite receiving news of this disaster. in fact, a photo of him playing golf with u.s. president barack obama went viral here in malaysia and caused plenty of controversy. since then, he that come back to malaysia and hitting reliever efforts. the government has opened up hundred was evacuation centers converted schools and other government buildings to house the evacuees. thief announced $157 million in aid to help the victims of the floods, and they've also deployed at least 300 military

personnel and 200 members of the navy to help with relief efforts. >> what are the biggest challenges right now? it sounds like there have been a lot of evacuation, for example are there ongoing rescues happening? >> well, it's become very, very difficult, because the weather conditions have not improved. the regions affected are still being battered by torrential rain making it very difficult for air supplies, for example helicopters are finding it difficult to reach communities that are completely underwater. when i was flying over, as far as the eye could see the land was completely covered in water. this means that the roads have been washed away, so you can't reach effected communities by road. you certainly can't go walking. the water reaches your neck level, and even further so there's no way you can do that.

of course, the easiest way to reach these communities is by air, and that is also compromised because of the weather. >> serious situation over there thank you. >> let's go to kevin. the images behind you are stark and startling, that is a lot of rain. >> it is a lot of rain. it is their normal rainy season now. if you get a thunderstorm one place too long, that causes flooding in the situation. we are talking about malaysia right here, as well as the northern part of malaysia, also parts of thailand are seeing that very heavy rain. massive thunderstorms right now are going over that eastern part of -- northeastern part of malaysia. we're watching that carefully. this time of year, the tropical moisture movers closer down towards the equator and the equator's down right here. until we get towards the spring time then the moisture will lift a little more towards the north. there's one other factor that we're going to watch carefully.

right here in the philippines we have a tropical storm going over the philippines now. that is going to move into the south china sea. we're going to have to watch that carefully because once that movers to the west, that's going to start to enhance the rain showers and the thunderstorms across that region. now, the track is a little uncertain but does show that it's going to make its way down toward the southwest and over the next four or five days, that could really enhance and make some very dangerous a bad situation much, much worse. >> it is not over yet. >> it is not over. >> thank you. >> officials now saying that missing air asia flight likely at the bottom of the ocean. up next, we look at the mounting international pressure to find out just what happened to this latest plane. >> services slowly coming back on line for sony play station users, they'd been cut off by hackers. we talk about who is responsible. >> new york city's top cop the criticism he has for some of his

own.

>> it has been one year since our al jazeera colleagues were jade in egypt. al jazeera denies the charges and demands their immediate release. >> greece's parliament failed to elect a new president this morning. how that could derail the countries international bailout. we're hearing from one man lucky to be alive. he spent three days in the freezing alaska winderness. what he says was the key he to his survival. >> u.s. forces in afghanistan taking part in a new mission this morning. the longest war in american history coming to an end with a ceremony in kabul. it cost 2200 american lives. 10,000 american troops are staying at the country to train afghan forces. >> italian officials only the captain sand a few rescuers

onboard a burning ferry. not clear what caused the blaze. >> darkness putting the air search on hold where crews are trying to find the wreckage of air asia flight eye 501. 162 people were onboard. >> we are live in indonesia right now. most onboard were from the second largest city. how are their families reacting to the latest from indonesian officials, what their hearing? >> 77 of those people onboard that aircraft, that airbus were from this community, 77 of them. what's been happening is i'm at terminal two where the plane took off early sunday morning. there is a separate crisis

center for family members just inside the terminal. we're not allowed in there. it's a private terminal. they have been visited by the indonesian vice president had a private briefing with them. at the beginning of the day monday morning, they were actually briefed before anyone else's brief by the search and rescue heads. they haven't really -- we haven't heard any vocal anger of how the airline or how the government has been handling the situation thus far. it's still very early stages, information is very, very slim at this stage sunday, there's bad weather. so it's difficult for the search and rescue operation to operate in the scale it needed to. today, that was a different story, but nothing really came out of it. we know that some family members have stayed in that crisis center through the day. we saw most come in at 8:30 this morning. it's after 8:00 p.m. now. it's going to be interesting to see how things go as the day goes on.

this is a very large search operation, 100-mile stretch of territory in the java sea being looked at. aircraft from different nations looking for it, as well as ships on set a. they are looking for any kind of information, any shred of evidence that would tell what happened to the aircraft. so far we haven't seen -- all of a suddenly there's emotions running high, but nothing against the government on how the incident is being handled. >> is there second guessing of the flight controller's actions based on what you're hearing where you are? >> specifically for that, no. we have not heard anything about what's happening. we know that as part of this investigation, we've got the search and rescue operation and you have the investigation. the investigation obviously is looking into any of the recordings that happened before this aircraft dropped off radar

lost contact with the control tower. that's being reviewed. haven't heard anything specific about piece that go apart to see if there is mistakes made or there was a lack of communication or miscommunication, nothing along those lines. investigation is looking into the profiles of passengers onboard this aircraft, also looking at reviewing the x-rays taken here at terminal two before the aircraft took off looking at the maintenance record of the specific aircraft and officials reviewing the operations of air asia has a very safe history but they are looking into everything, turning over every stone for an indication of what might have happened. >> thank you very much. >> a grim new assessment of isil's actions in syria, it is said 2,000 people have been killed in syria in just the past six months. the majority of them were

civilians. 120 were isil members executed because they were trying to leave the group and go back home. >> as we have reported, syria was in turmoil even before isil came into the picture. the civil war is going into its fourth year. >> the united nations said it is the children of syria who are the most affected. hundreds of thousands at a school and forced to work. >> we are having problems with the audio for that piece. we'll investigate that and see if we can get it back. >> most syrian refugees are in

lebanon now. the government opened its schools to the syrian children, but human rights groups saying language barriers, overcrowding and the cost of transportation has kept a lot of the refugee kids out of school. >> as that war continues the syrian government is signaling an interest in peace. a government official said bashar al assad's regime is willing to take part in dialogue. others dismiss moscow's plan saying there are no clear details on a framework for the talks. nearly 200,000 people ever died since the war began. we are joined by al jazeera contributor rasha. we are not using her last name for security reasons. she joins us this morning from washington. good morning. why now -- >> good morning. >> why is syria willing to return to the negotiating table? >> the regime is exhausted with

this on going war that seems to have no end in sight. syria's divided into three different parts, one part controlled by isil, the other part mainly by al-qaeda, the third part by assad's regime forces propped up by moscow and tehran. things are not doing well. this time last year, you know, syria was a little more consolidated than now and it's just not moving in the right direction, so any lifeline that can be thrown to the assad regime is welcome at this point. >> how significant is it that moscow has offered to host these talks? are they the only ones with the leverage to get assad to the negotiating table? >> it's very significant indeed. i mean, without moscow and without tehran, the assad regime would have fallen long ago.

no one else in the international community has been able to provide a solution for the crisis there so it's important for either moscow or take you ran to take the initiative here. if moscow says assad needs to show you want to negotiations table and we need to resolve this then, you can rest assured assad will show up. >> do you think that putin would be in favor of assad himself leaving the picture if other parts of the regime were left in place? >> i think it's pretty clear now that it would be near impossible to move forward for as long as assad remains in power but, you know everybody remembers the experience with iraq when the entire sadaam government was dismantled virtually overnight and the country descended into darkness. known wants that for syria

especially with isil so close to damascus. i think it's pretty clear and there's a lot of consensus even among opposition, that at this point, it's best to maintain some integrity to the regime in syria, but get rid of the top head certainly the president and his family, and his close circle, and this way, you know, the country can start to reconcile and maybe move forward. >> when we were talking a year ago about international brokered peace talks those fell apart without real results. what has changed since then? >> well, not much has changed but i think the biggest thing is that moscow is onboard. moscow might be feeling some pain right now from lower oil prices, and feeling pain

economically and from continuing to support the assad regime with no end in sight. iran-backed lebanese militia hezbollah have been suffering a lot, fighting alongside assad troops inside syria and they're kind of tired of having their fighters come back in coffins. everyone is exhausted, and i think as we learned from the lebanese civil war people come to the negotiations table when people get really exhausted. i think we might be getting to this point. >> how have the u.s.-led airstrikes against isil targets affected assad? i would imagine they benefited him. >> well, they only -- i mean, they benefited him in that, you know assad is now just continues to perpetuate this myth that there is no alternative to my rule, it's

either isil and the extremists or myself. also assad has taken advantage of the coalition led airstrikes on isil, so that he can strike some rebel areas and just sort of go for some land grab, kill more rebels, weaken more rebel brigades. for the most part, assad is not in a stronger position than last year. it's just his patrons iran and russia are start to go feel more pain. i think that's start to go show. >> aljazeera america syria contributor, thank you so much, rasha. >> south korea ready to restart high level talks with north korea. they hope top discuss issues including the reunion of families separated by the korean war, both sides meeting last

october when pyongyang sent a delegation. >> sharing sensitive information about north korea's nuclear and missile programs, japan was once the colonial ruler of the peninsula. >> greece is headed for a general election next month after parliament failed to elect a new president this morning. under greek law the parliament must now dissolve and the stall in leadership could delay the country's bailout. we are live in athens. this was the third vote, so why no consensus? >> essentially because this is a country split politically between those who grudgingly during six years of recession have come to accept the need for policies of austerity and those who on the center left or the

leftwing believe that austerity has failed to improve people's lives and needs to go, so to increase the international debt burden and so does greece's bailout program. a snap election has been called now for january 25. those are the battle lines. >> jonah with that general election set for january, could we see a major change in the power of parliament there? >> yes distinctly possible. the leftwing coalition groups as a whole currently lead in the national opinion polls by a margin of 3%. it's not a foregone conclusion, but that is just enough of a margin to have the financial markets extremely concerned about the uncertainties that surround the programs of the leftwing, if they were to come to power and the financial markets, of course have brought

greece to its knees before. they have the ability to do so again, just as greece's borrowing costs have begun to improve just as if country was begin to go flicker economically back to life. >> what happens next for the country's international bailout plan? >> the bailout form ally comes to an end at the end of february. the government had been in negotiations to get an extended line of credit to act as an umbrella over activities of the state, trying to get the economy back on its own two feet. at this stage that line of credit is in doubt because the international lenders are concerned about the policies that may follow ageneral election in january. >> jonah, thank you very much. >> iran's stream leader is joining the debate over police violence in this country the eye toll i can't tweeted over the weekend using the hash tag black lives matter and ferguson.

in a stream of posts he likened jesus suffering to the oppression of protestors. >> a spokesman for the ferguson police department now off the job, suspended without pay. he called this memorial to michael brown a pile of trash. he was asked for comment by the washington post after the memorial was destroyed by a car. >> in new york city, a growing wrist between the mayor and new york city police officers again on display this weekend. did he brass yo attended funeral service was for officer ramos who was gunned down with his partner december 20. officers turned their backs to a video screen showing the mayor delivering the eulogy. the application commissioner said the officers were wrong to do that. >> another night in the hospital for former president george h.w .bush. end be discharged soon. he believe hospitalized for shortness of breath. two years ago he spent a month

in the hospital with bronchitis. >> headaches for sony following the day debut of the interview. >> one year behind bars, the fight to release our colleagues from an egyptian prison for reporting the news. >> the big quote is about our colleagues in egypt:

>> who said this: >> our big quote is from al jazeera's peter gresta, released

from a jail in egypt. we mark one year since our three journalists were put in prison. al jazeera demands their immediate release. >> that is a milestone we hoped that we would not reach. one year ago today all three of our colleagues were detained in egypt simply because they were doing their jobs. >> their issue has highlighted press freedom and led to a massive media campaign for their release. we have more. >> news rooms across the world start to mark an anniversary people find hard to absorb. it's one year since an al jazeera team was arrested in cairo on false charges a whole 12 months behind bars for just doing their jobs. the three were all convicted in june. it was a trial that had no compelling evidence against them. peter's parents spent christmas

day in egypt getting an hour and a half to visit their son. >> he is truly amazing the way he's been able to draw upon his reserves of resilience and strength and in fact inspire us all to carry on, because as we all know, this has been a very, very long struggle. >> it's been a year that's seen protests spread around the world, the hash tag freeajstaff went viral. >> we've been clear publicly and privately that they should be released. al jazeera maintained its. campaign. >> we work in so many different places and we should be taken as a professional media

institution, not as a part of any political or ideological or any other establishment. >> egypt's president al sisi insisted it was an issue for the courts. their appeals process is due to start this week. what's been going on behind the scenes is less clear. where president al sisi has suggested he would have preferred to have had the journalists deported. perhaps a sign that he was aware of the damage that this case was doing to egypt's reputation. as 2014 comes to an end, al jazeera's team remains in jail, having committed no crimes. andrew simmons, al jazeera. >> tonight we're going to observe that one year since our colleagues were detained with an aljazeera america special journalism is not a crime. >> sony play stations and x

boxes being knocked on line is apparently over. >> a group saying why they did it. >> sony's rough month continued over christmas as the hackers made new play stations found under the tree inoperative putting sony in damage control mode even as it experienced a small victory with its controversial movie "the interview." the wait is over for frustrated gamers. they can access their game systems for the first time in three days. since christmas day gamers have not been able to use the systems to play popular games. sony acknowledged that its play station system had been hacked. a hammer group called lizard squad is claiming responsibility. in a statement a lizard squad representative who said he was from finland names ryan

announced that he and two others had executed the attack. he gave this explanation: >> the latest attack comes at sony was recovering from its devastating attack thought to be the work of the north careens. this weekend sony released a film that may have sparked that attack "the interview." sony put that on line and in 300 theaters this christmas the movie about assassinating kim jong-un took in $2.8 million at the box office as well as $15 million on line. the north careens continued to

deny any involvement in the original sony hack. this weekend the north koreans slammed president obama, accusedding the white house of orchestrating the attack on the countries internet service bringing it to a standstill last week. >> back to the hacking incident, as to whether or not he and his two accomplices felt guilty for depriving access to the gaming systems, he said i can't say i feel bad. i might have forced a couple of kids to spend time with their families instead of playing games. >> they have a sense of humor. >> i saw his remarks. he didn't look like he was smiling when he said it. >> in the old days, the only reason you couldn't play with your christmas presents was because your parents didn't buy batteries. i'm just saying. >> mcdonald's customers in japan have something to look forward to in the new year, super sized fries back on the menu.

the company had a shortage of potatoes coming from its american suppliers forcing the restaurant to sell only small-sized fries in japan. that shortage is coming to an end. >> a man lost and injured in the frozen alaska winderness fighting off a wild animal. he spent three days in that condition and made it out to tell his story. he was in the middle of a trip to visit his family when his snow machine crashed dumping him into freezing water. he walked 30 miles talked by a wolverine before he could be rescued hi his cousin. >> something inside me made me stream at him tell him i was right here. he was just yelling ahh, i'm here. >> he used a stick to defend himself from the wolverine and used a box as a shelter. he suffered a punctured lung and is now recovering at the hospital. >> these pictures are from

germany, snow tied up traffic and made driving treacherous and even strapped skiers at resorts. there's been a significant avalanche risk, as well. for more on that massive winter storm, let's bring in kevin. >> that particular storm in germany also responsible for the rough seas in the adriatic. here's picture from albania just on the other side of the sea from italy. they are also dealing with a lot of snow, so very extensive storm that we are talking about across the region. unfortunately, over the next couple of days, of course the skiers love this, but we don't expect to see much of a change. let me tell you what is happening. this is the storm that brought all of the high seas, the low visibilities and the very high winds across much of the adriatic in terms that have rescue for the ferry. what's going to happen is we have an area of low pressure and trough right here. it's pretty much stuck not

moving. even though this is more toward the east, we do expect to see a lot more coming into play here. we're going to be watching this area carefully over the next couple days. here across the united states, across the southeast and into parts of virginia, heavy rain showers causing problems on highway 95. up towards the west, it is the snow, that is going to continue across the rockies a foot to a foot and a half of snow is expected over the next couple of days. then, it is very, very cold temperatures across the northern plains. we are talking about wind chills that are down to minus 28 degrees. this morning we're going to see those raise toward later morning in the afternoon but tomorrow morning, it is going to be as dangerous. if you need to go out you're going to be driving, make sure that you have the supplies in your car. if you break down, it is a very dangerous situation. it takes less than 30 minutes to get frostbite in those conditions. >> i love those images out of

germany, because europeans always accuse americans of not being able to drive in the snow. >> that's right. well, they have good cars, too. >> i actually can drive in the snow fair criticism. >> that's it for us here in new york. i'm del walters. >> i'm stephanie sy. we leave you with our images of the day another look at our three al jazeera colleagues imprisoned in egypt for the last year. >> all three men just doing their jobs, which is reporting the news. al jazeera continues to insist that they be released immediately. >> catch our special tonight. it will be 9:00 p.m. eastern "journalism is not a crime."

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>> the search continues as officials say a plane with 162 people on board may have crashed at sea. >> welcome to al jazeera. coming up, journalists around the world show solidarity with al jazeera staff jailed in egypt for one year. greece heads to early elections after parliament failed to elect a president for a third time. and all the passengers on a ferry that caught fire off