>> in an effort to destroy blight faster than it can regenerate. >> that is our show for tonight. i'm ali velshi. thank you for joining us. >> secret service shakeup after a string of embarrassing white house security lapses, change is coming to the ranks of those who protect the president. >> a plot to blow up capitol hill an ohio man charged with isil related threats against congress. >> the massacre on villages by boko haram. >> another rockstar welcome for pope francis the pontiff expected to draw millions in the

philippines as he visits the most catholic country in asia. >> a little battered and bloody, but two rock climbers make history, scaling yosemite's mountain with bare knuckled strength. >> good morning, welcome to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. >> i'm stephanie sy. four of the secret service top officials are stepping down, another two rehiring following sharp criticism of the agency after a series of embarrassing security breaching. >> last september that man jumped the fence and made his way into the white house. days later a security contractor with a gun riding the elevator with president obama at the c.d.c. an investigation blames a lack of leadership within the agency and leading to the resignation of the agency director. libby casey is live in washington d.c. what is the director joseph clancy saying? >> he's calling it necessary a

shake up of the top levels. it's not a complete gutting. >> this may have been the breaking point that led to wednesday's shakeup in the secret service. omar gonzalez scales the fence and runs deep into the executive mansion minutes after the first family left. that incident quickly followed by the revelation of an earlier security breach when an armed man rides with president obama in an elevator. it led to the resignation of the director and now a gutting of the direct or of operations, public affairs and technology. acting director announce said that the four top officials will resign retire or be reassigned within the agency or department of home land security. in a statement, he said change is necessary to gain a fresh perspective on how we conduct

business. i am certain any of our senior executives will be valid in other positions at the secret service or another department. in december, clancy in the wake of breaches asked the american people to give the agency he has served for more than 30 years another chance. >> we've got a good model a good foundation. give us some time to earn that trust back and prove ourselves. >> the house cleaning comes on the heels of a report commissioned by the department of homeland security in december recommending changes including raising the white house fence hiring more agents and officers and finding a new director outside the secret service calling the agency an organization starved for leadership. the secret service has been dogged in controversy for years before the 2014 security lapses, including agents involved in a 2012 prostitution scandal days before president obama's official trip to columbia. in 2011, it took the secret

service days to discover a gunman had fired multiple shots at the white house. sasha was home with her grandmother during the shooting. after pearson resigned in october, the acting director vowed to make things right. >> with honor and restore the secret service's rifle place as the most respected protection service in the world. >> this is part that have agenda but there are concerns that issues aren't being followed up on, the basics, like raising the white house fence. there are also concerns about just fixing some basic lapses in security that have yet to be done. >> how are these high level changes going over in washington? >> many members of congress are glad to see some changes but there is some criticism that this isn't going far enough or deep enough. there's a real question about the new leadership at the secret service, should the acting director stay in place where really should the push be

coming from, the outside of the agency or within the ranks. >> switching gears today prime minister david cameron coming to the white house. they published an op ed. >> they have four major agenda items they layout in the times of london, one is fighting terrorism. they write along with our french allies we've made clear to those who think they can muzzle freedom of speech with violence that our voices will only grow louder. they also talk about working with communities including the muslim community to grow tolerance and peace. they talk about standing up to russian aggression in ukraine and economic issues, like a trade deal they'd like hashed between the u.s. and e.u. >> what else is on the agenda during the prime minister's visit?

>> you can expect him to push president obama to get companies like facebook and twitter to work more with british intelligence so they can get access to information that those social media sites may ever about extremists. this is something that is controversial, because of privacy issues, but it's something that the prime minister and the president will certainly be talking about. >> libby, thank you very much. >> dell, the top u.s. official leading the fight against isil says more time and training is needed to retake mosul. we are live from baghdad. jane, good morning. this came from retired general john allen. why does he think it will take more time to retake that crucial city? >> well, stephanie really what he's doing is dampening expectations here that this is going to be quick and easy. really that's the impression we get talking to iraqi officials about what it will take to take back that isil stronghold.

general allen on a troop through here in the north west and baghdad, following a trip to saudi arabia essentially said that they have a lot more work to do. >> we'll see the effectiveness of this force improve over time and they'll be able to take back the population centers and municipalities. it's important that it be done in the right measures. it's important that we have all the pieces in place when that time comes. >> when does general allen think they will be ready to go into mosul? what's the plan? >> well, essentially he says they not only need this force in place and we have to remember that the u.s. has devoted $1.6 billion to this, but they're really only in the first part of it. that first part is basic training.

by basic it's really basic. it's learning how to use a rifle. there are going to be 12 brigades of about 2,000 people each and this is going to be in the north, as well as the south. they haven't even started yet so he says they need to do that training and then on top of that they need to do a plan for humanitarian assistance, for affected civilians for stability operations, a police force that would take over after security forces leave and for reconstruction. all of those things that would logically follow a major military operation that just aren't in place yet. >> we know that iraqi officials expressed frustration with the pace of the u.s. led coalition assistance there. >> five people in the attack at charlie hebdo are being laid to rest including two cartoonists and two who wrote columns at the newspaper. we have the story from paris.

>> as we speak, in the paris suburb outside the town hall behind me, a funeral service a memorial service is talking place for one of the four principal cartoonists on the newspaper charlie hebdo gunned down last wednesday. his name was bernard, 57 years old, better no one as the cartoonist on the newspaper. he lived in this area of paris for 30 years. it's an ethnically diverse area of paris a large muslim community here, a long way from the swanky boulevards of paris. we've just heard a benediction from his wife. there are other funerals taking place and at the same time, the police investigation continues

with news out of the french media here, not independently confirmed by the police that they may have identified the fourth suspect after uncovering a rented accommodation taken out by amedy coulibaly the shooter at the supermarket. they have taken vital clues that helped them identify a fourth suspect an immediate accomplice. as well as that, police may be searching for six additional members of the same network the same cell as those involved in last week's attack. >> jonah hall live for us in paris, thank you very much. >> a scare in paris this morning when a car hit a police woman guarding the french presidential palace. this were initially concerns that it was some sort of attack. it turned out the driver had simply gone the wrong way down a one way street. when the officer tried to stop him, he took off slightly injuring her. the driver and apparently were

arrested. >> secretary of state john kerry heading to paris today there to show solidarity between the u.s. and french. the white house has been criticized for only sending the ambassador to take part in those unity marches sunday. he he then goes to bulgaria. >> an ohio man is accused of plotting an attack on the u.s. capitol building. prosecutors say the 20-year-old professed his allegiance to isil. he planned to use fire bombs on the capitol. the f.b.i. had been watching him for months and arrested him monday after he bought two rifles at a cincinnati gun shop. >> nothing out of the ordinary about him at all certainly nothing to indicate he was involved in something of this magnitude. >> he was in contact with groups over seas, but planning the

attacks with an f.b.i. informant. they on his computers found plans or an attack and instructions or pipe bombs. >> five prisoners have been released from guantanamo bay. they were cleared for release six years ago. 122 prisoners are still at gitmo. >> the search for victims in the crash of airasia flight 8501 is now focused on the bottom of the java sea. divers are scouring the fuselage for bodies. >> officials are looking at ways to bring the wreckage to the surface. we have more now. a differ situation for divers. >> yes the problem today has been with us for the last three weeks, conditions are not easy for searchers to deal with. fifty of the 162 bodies have been retrieved. officials believe most victims and see bodies are trapped inside the main wreckage, the fuselage and getting victims out us their main priority.

the fuselage was spotted wednesday by a singapore favor ship. these pictures were taken with an underwater vehicle. the wreckage is a 100-foot long section of the plane with a wing attached. indonesian officials are trying to figure out the best way to get it out of the water. >> if it's faster to lift one by one, we will lift one by one. if it's possible to lift the fuselage, we will lift it. >> investigators are working with the black boxes downloading the content of the devices. the process of interpreting all the information could take many weeks. this morning in the last half hour, we learned to the u.s. navy has pulled its two ships that were helping with the search their assistance no longer necessary because the

plane has been located. >> the pope continues his tour of asia with a stop in the philippines. >> thousands greeted him just a few hours ago in manila, home to asia's largest catholic population. we have more on how the island nation will be treating him on his first papal visit. >> tens of thousands are already lining the streets for the relatively straight forward short drive from the military air field to the essentially the vatican's embassy here in the philippines. from friday, there will be hundreds of thousands on the streets. he will proceed from a mass cathedral to another engagement, meeting families at an arena sunday the big day of the visit here where an open air mass could see a record broken, more than the fewer million who turned out for john paul, ii in

1975. the real emotional hard will be saturday when he visits the region severely hit by the 2013 typhoon haiyan with the deaths of more than 7,000 people. he'll be opening a center for the poor here in his name and speaking there about climate change. two headaches for the organizers security, there have been two attempts on the life of a pope on papal visits here in the philippines in the past. this is a pope who likes to get up close and personal with the crowds and there will certainly be no inhibitions from the crowds here and reciprocity for that. also the weather, there is a storm heading this way across the pacific. it is dissipating somewhat. best case scenario is two downed events worst case, they'll have to be rescheduled. they would require a great deal

of reorganization and no shortage of tails as well, i'm sure. >> police are going to be deployed, nearly a quarter of the national forces. >> severe flooding has killed at least 10 people and displaced thousands more in southern africa. four days of rain have day luged mozambique. most were caught off guard because it came in so fast. >> for more on the weather here, we turn to nicole mitchell. >> not to the extent we saw in that video out there but as you look across the country we don't have too much in terms of active weather so that's good as beget towards the weekend. through the south, we have a disturbance with cooler air from rain along the coastline to the northern edge of this, places like missouri and illinois seeing a few snowflakes.

ahead of this, we have more moisture that there are areas of fog you are going to be in and out of this morning. this continues to clear its way out, mostly through the day today, lingering on the east coastline into the day tomorrow. as we get toward the weekend another dry forecast. i mentioned the northern side is kind of the snow side. a lot of these temperatures southward in the 40s so for the south, even nor january that's a very cold ron this morning and then we have had improvements as you get farther to the north in terms of temperatures, i'll talk about that, because it's a really nice warmup. we've had a cold january in a lot of places. it's finally above freezing. >> a writer came back with a sun tan and almost got lynched. >> we're going to talk to the colonel, former member of the joint chiefs of staff over fear

that is two militant groups are joining forces. >> we're learning the full scope of last weeks boko haram attacks. startling before and after images of entire villages being wiped out. >> a young man learning hard lessons about when not to walk on a frozen pond, his rescue caught on camera. >> $7.5 billion, the big number of the day. >> two smart phone giants could be teaming up to topple apple.

>> today's big number, $7.5 billion samsung is willing at a pay that to buy blackberry. >> the reports have been denied by the companies. the blackberry patents are really valuable. >> samsung has been the number one phone maker for consumers but less strong in the business market holding 44,000 patents reported to be $1.4 billion. >> no satellite images show what

appears to be the aftermath of a boko haram attack in nigeria released by amnesty international. this is before the attack, the red indicates vegetation, and you can see there's a lot of it. >> now, almost all of that vegetation everything in red has been destroyed along with a lot of homes and buildings. amnesty international said 2,000 people were killed. we have the story. >> the images show two towns completely destroyed by boko haram when they took control of the towns 10 days ago. survivors are in a state of shock. many nigerians thought this would never happen and most wish that boko haram never happened in the first place. could this have been prevented? probably. will we see another attack like this from boko haram? probably and motor likely, because boko haram at the moment are controlling a large territory in the northeast of the country. the nigerian authorities

including the military are doing all they can to push back the in is your generalities from where they are and even crush them. unfortunately, that process is painful and slow. in the process, boko haram continue to attack villages. even yesterday we saw boko haram trying to invade the biggest town by attacking the military and trying to lay siege to the town. the military were able to push them back. the situation on the ground in the northeast is that of helplessness. many people are hoping that the nigerian authorities would have crushed this group a long time ago. unfortunately what we're seeing is that boko haram is getting bolder and the attacks on communities, especially isolated communities are getting deadlier whenever boko haram attacks. >> next month nigeria elects its president and parliament. some believe the attacks are being ramped up ahead of those elections. >> u.s. officials are looking into the claims by al-qaeda's

branch in yemen that it was behind the deadly attack at charlie hebdo. they believe this video message put out wednesday is authentic. officials are still trying to verify whether al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula really helped organize the attack. let's go to a retired air force colonel, cedric layton joining us from washington this morning. is there any proof that al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula operating out of yemen was directly involved in this attack in paris? >> it seems as if the proof is at best circumstance at this point, at least what's publicly available. you have movements such as kouachi going to yemen possibly using his older brother's passport. there was definitely a connection there. the command of these terror attacks may not have been a

realtime command structure. it's not like in the military or in law enforcement where when you want to execute something you give a command and make it happen immediately or at least usually you do. in this case, probably gave a general instruction and said go do this, but do it at a time of your choosing, when a certain signal comes up and we don't know yet if they did it that way or the way they had more direct control. >> interesting that you bring up the command structure of al-qaeda. has that changed much? you look at 9/11, you saw terror attacks in madrid, killing 70 some people and attacks in london. they were inspired for directed by al-qaeda. does al-qaeda no longer have the ability to carry off a massive attack like those? >> it appears that that's the case. now, that could change based on other things that they he do, the possibility of course always

exists that they evade intelligence detection. it appears as if al-qaeda hasn't been weakened in the sense that they can not usually mount a very large attack, so the biggest attack before paris was -- and that then shows that the attacks that basically decrease in intensity over the years. that remains to be seen if that trend continues. >> from the perspective of authorities preventing another attack what difference does it make whether al-qaeda did direct the attacks from start to finish? >> it makes the difference in the sense it's a lot hard tore trace if al-qaeda did not direct the attacks especially in that last moment, those last few moments or days before. if that's the case, it makes it a lot harder to detect the attacks and makes it very did you have to mount a response. that's where it gets very hard for intelligence and law enforcement to really protect certain soft targets such as

charlie hebdo or others that may be on the terror target list. >> we are having some problems with your satellite shot this morning, colonel but thank you so much. have a good day, thank you. >> rescuers in massachusetts taking great care, helping a man who fell into an icy pond playing hockey southeast of boston. firefighters used a rescue sled to pull him to safety. the man was treated for hypothermia and expected to be ok. >> a lot of this country will be seeing warmer temperatures. let's get a check of the forecast sigh of relieve. >> a lot of people will be enjoying this. the ice you need at least four inches to safely walk out on it, for a vehicle 12 inches. it depends on the color of the ice. if clear it's going to be more solid. if it's white or snowy you need to double those numbers because it's not at solid.

it's been frozen offer dakota from wisconsin pretty solid it's been so cold. that morning these are some of the warmest temperatures we've had in a while minneapolis at 22. through january we've had a lot of sub zero temperatures. chicago, 30, minneapolis in the 30's, those are some of the warmest temperatures so far this month. finally, that ridge of warmer air from the west is going to move into the area. really not bringing a heatwave, but comparatively to what we've had, chicago that is finally above average. a lot of people will use this as an excuse to dig the house us out before the next snow he. >> you realize when we see ice by the way some of us stay inside. >> some people love it. >> an american journalist imprisoned facing charges in iran. >> tehran is not saying what he's charged with. we'll talk to a colleague in

iranian prison as well. >> the city of detroit hoping to bring developers back to the suburbs by tearing down streets of blight. >> two rock climbers making history, going to the top of el captain. >> tee shirts mocking the death of a rock star.

>> you're looking live at washington d.c. this morning where the talk of the capitol is security as they discuss an attack that was foiled on the capitol. president obama meeting with british prime david cameron today, both leaders discussing security, as well. >> good morning, welcome to al jazeera america. ahead, we'll look into the polite of an american journalist imprisoned by iran. >> oklahoma set to execute an inmate today with a new procedure. >> in our next hour, is the

third time a charm or a nuisance for the gop? why mitt romney's potential white house run is met with mixed reviews. >> first a look at top stories this morning. a top level shakeup at the secrete service, four assistant directors ordered to leave their posts, another two will retire following high profile security breaches and what was called a lack of leadership at the agency. >> if you know release for five victims of the paris attacks two cartoonists, two columnists and a security guard being laid to rest. u.s. officials are looking into claims to al-qaeda was behind the attacks. >> the pope touched down in manila for the next leg of his asia tour. he talked about charlie hebdo saying there are limits on freedom of expression when it comes to insulting religion. >> a u.s. journalist in iran,

his case has been referred to tehran's court. >> are we closer now to knowing the charges against him? >> still no word on these actually charges. we do noel stand trial in iran's revolutionary court which involve security offenses. he has been in prison since july 22. his employer the washington post calls it is charges baseless. this goes on as the u.s. talks to iran about its nuclear program that. >> the journalist is set to stand trial. the actual charges against him are sometime not clear. the washington post tehran bureau chief has spent the past six months behind bars without access to a lawyer. his brother spoke to al jazeera on this latest development in jason's case. >> my hope that is they'll quickly set a trial date and then let the judicial system move forward.

jason hasn't done anything wrong. if they would look at it, they would say just based on pure logic that they would let him go because jason loves iran. he says great things about the country always and there's no way he was doing anything to hurt the country. >> he and his wife and two photo foe journalists were day attend, all later released except for jason. he has been in solitary confinement as an iranian prison ever since. >> it's one of the hardest things because of the uncertainty and isolation. >> al jazeera reporter knows that feeling all too well, spending 100 days in an iranian prison after being falsely accused of espionage in 2009. she was tried in the revolutionary court the same one he will face for his upcoming trial. >> my trial was closed. in the room with me, there was the judge and a prosecutor, intelligence agent and they were all basically on the same side against me unfact when the first questions, the judge who is supposed to be impartial asked me how could you have spied on

iran. >> she said her attorney behavioral spoke up for her at the trial. >> it was a sham. >> she was sentenced to eight years in prison but released after an appeals process. the u.s. state department races concerns. >> we obviously believe that all of the american citizens detained in iran should be released. >> secretary of state john kerry addressed the detention with the iranian foreign minister ahead of talks about iran's nuclear program. >> his family is worried about his health. his mother visited him twice and said he is losing way too much weight. so far a date for the trial has not been set. >> an iranian journalist was held in a prison in ran for 55 days in 2004 and has known jason

for years. you said this is happening over and over and over again. >> yeah, jason is not the first journalist to be arrested like this. there is a pattern of arresting journalists in iran, keeping them in prison for months and holding a trial and releasing them after a few months. sips jason has been arrested, many journalists who cover iran inside iran from news agencies -- by spreading fear amongst journalists in tehran, the intelligence tries to basically control the coverage of iran in the international media. >> in china if they don't like what a foreign journalist is doing, they kick them out revoke their visa. why does iran feel the need to jail foreign journalists? >> to some extent, there's a

public struggle between the new administration and intelligence revolutionary guard. jason has not been arrested by the administration, the new administration's intelligence. he has been arrested by the intelligence of the revolutionary guard which is not happy with what the president is doing with the country. >> this is part of the internal power struggle? >> exactly. i think that is what is happening. there has been numerous conversations between u.s. officials and the government in iran and they have asked iranian officials many times to push -- put pressure on the iranian intelligence to release jason but there is no communication between the intelligence revolutionary guard and president. >> why are they afraid to even charge him, to say what he is charged with, because so far he he's charged with nothing. >> exactly. that's a very good question, because if there was any evidence that jason has done something wrong i think --

>> how do you defend yourself when you haven't even been charged? >> that's the difficult part. i think for jason, it is very overwhelming that he has been in prison six months, no charge, no indication he has done anything. if they had one single evidence that jason was doing something wrong, they would ever brought this up in the first month of the arrest. >> washington post editor has said that he hopes the referral of this case to a revolutionary court represents a step forward toward jason's release. why would he say that? why would that be a step forward? >> because the case would go from the intelligence hands to the judiciary. i think that gives the president more leverage to negotiate the release of jason to officials. >> this count are you is a country that bases itself on human rights yet journalists are being held against any law of

human rights in prisons in iran. what do you say to secretary of state john kerry that is continuing those on going nuclear talks with iran about what signal he is sending to tehran? >> i think american officials should bring up the case of jason at any commune caution that they have with iranian officials. >> could that hurt him though he? if they charge him with bang spy for the united states, could it hurt that there is a public push for his release? >> in meetings with iranian officials, that helps. if they issue public statements, that might not help, but in their meetings with the iranian officials, they ask them to do something about jason i think that helps because the president is in a situation to help jason.

the iranian president has decided not to do so, not to go after the intelligence and ask them to be more transparent and accountable with what they are doing with jason. >> you were held for 55 days. he has been there now for six months. what's it like inside a prison in iran? >> it's horrible, because imagine there is nothing against you inside and trying to fabricate charges against you. that means, you know, they put pressure on you physically, psychologically and that is devastating for somebody who is inside prison. >> thank you very much for being with us this morning. we're glad to see you. >> thanks. >> thanks. >> a frightening prison bus crash in texas left at least 10 dead at least five others injured. the bus was carrying prisoners from abilene to el paso when it crashed into a freight train. the roads were icy at the time. the prisoners did not have seatbelts and handcuffed together in pairs.

>> detroit is trying to get a fresh start from bankruptcy and one project tearing down abandoned buildings. the city is finding it hard to keep pace. >> in the motor city, rebirth comes at the end of a backhoe. with its bankruptcy owner urban planners say detroit is a old leader in blight. >> detroit's blight problem arguably is the most severe condition of deterioration that any major american city has ever faced. ever in must. >> half the city's population has left over the past 60 years. today, detroit is home to as many as 60,000 abandoned dilapidated homes. 16,000 are tear downs with a new in flux of $50 million from the u.s. government, detroit is demolishing 250 a week now and residents are noticing. >> there are some improvements and i do see that it is looking

up. you still have abandoned buildings, streets full of vacant lots that haven't been renewed or anything. >> the city land bank deals with negligent landlords with a harshness matched only by detroit's frigid winters. >> if it's vacant and you're not doing anything about the property we're going to sue you. you can enter an agreement to bring it up to code or we'll take you to court and in some instances take the property. we have not lost a case yet. >> blight is just a symptom of a fight from the city to detroit's rapidly expanding suburbs. the divide between mostly black city and mostly white suburbs can be seen at the boundary with grosse pointe park. on the detroit side, abandoned buildings and silent streets, the suburban side, prosperous shops and restaurants with roads lined with customers. >> grosse pointe park is erecting road blocking barriers,

keeping prosperity on this side, blight and poverty on that side. >> there are models for success. portland oregon reverse add population decline with a regional approach, offering incentives to build in the city. detroit's parent state of michigan doesn't seem interested. >> if the building industry keeps building more suburb and housing, detroit's toast. >> for now the motor city is in a race against time. an effort to destroy polite faster than it can regenerate. al jazeera detroit. >> detroit's mayor set to give his state of the city address on february 10. he will most likely discuss ways to tack that will blight. >> caesar's entertainment is looking to reorganize, filing a bankruptcy petition in chicago. it has been in a fight with its largest creditors. the company is said to be $20 billion in debt. >> oklahoma plans to put a convicted murderer to death

today using a lethal injection protocol a new one. that's not sitting well with those who witnessed that botched execution last year. >> it was in this chamber where a convicted murderer laid gas spinning and struggling in restraints. witnesses say he grimaced, clenched his jaw and writhed on the gurnee. it resulted in panicked officials closing the blinds so no one watching the procedure saw him take his final breaths. investigate i've reporter witnessed the execution. >> something very unusual happened. he goon struggle. he was moving, he growned, he was attempting to speak. the only thing i could hear him to say clearly was the word "man." >> the execution was oklahoma's first, using the controversial lethal cocktail involving the

sedative. some states opted to try new untested drug combinations because of an ongoing shortage of traditional lethal injection drugs because european companies and officials have protested the use of their drugs in u.s. prisons. the death penalty information center says the sedative was associated with disastrous consequences in three executions last year, including those of locket joseph wood in arizona and dennis mcguire in ohio. mcguire took more than 20 minutes to die. >> this gets to a basic philosophical question about what's happening. we are now in an era and last year was part of it where they are trying drugs never used before in executions or combinations or dosages. they're doing that on humanitarian beings. >> the fiasco in oklahoma generated such worldwide outrage, the department of

corrections overhauled its execution procedure. a state investigation uncovered poor training, improper equipment and a lack of planning leading up to the botched execution. the execution team failed to properly insert the needle to deliver the lethal injection drugs or properly monitor the i.v. drip. it had no contingency plan when things went terribly wrong. >> the public deserves full information about the governments power to take a human life. the death penalty represents a serious government power and the public deserves to of the same oversight as other parts of the criminal justice system. >> other states are also scrambling to prevent more botched executions. last week, ohio banned the use which the sedative as part of its lethal cocktail after the prolonged execution of dennis mcguire, who choked and gasps

before dying. like oklahoma, those states are determine would to keep up the grim work behind these prison walls, fueling the debate over what exactly constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. al jazeera houston. >> the journalist you saw in that story plans to be at today's execution in oak on the ground but she may not be able to see it, oklahoma cutting the number of media witnesses allowed from 12 to five. >> two women held captive in cleveland for years in cleveland are working on their own memoir, the book due out in april will be called hope, a memoir of surviving cleveland. the third survivor put out her own memoir last year. >> some shirts are causing controversy on line, showing kurt cobain's suicide note. the u.s. daily news said they were available on ebay. they were far sale for days and then quickly taken down. one comment read that takes poor

taste and exploitation to a whole new level. >> we've reported this week on the inflation crisis in venezuela, which dates back more than a year now. some staples of in short supply with prices skyrocketing. three states have actually banned people from lining up overnight outside stores. that's what they ever been doing just to get basic supplies, lines like these which we have covered here. not allowed to do that anymore in three states. >> among the staples they want, toilet paper and milk. >> here's another product you can only get in colorado and california. it is a spray for women that contains marijuana. "u.s.a. today" said it's scened to ever better sex lives. the relaxing properties will help women have more satisfying sex is what it claims.

>> an aljazeera america find interesting employers using a loophole to legally steal their wages from workers. >> an amazing accomplishment history has made as two rock climbers scale a mountain in yosemite using their hands and feet. >> an issue of depth perception. why seep see creatures may not be as deep as you think. think. help, work with me. >> ali velshi kicks off our special state of the union coverage at 7:00. >> we'll take an in-depth look at our nation's financial future. >> then john seigenthaler breaks down the issues. >> we need to know what's going on in our backyard. >> plus, objective analysis and live reports from across the nation and reaction from around the world. the state of the union address. special coverage begins tuesday, 7:00 eastern. right here on al jazeera america.

>> time for one of today's discoveries. those giant fish in the sea may not be as big as you think. >> they were compared to scientific reports and found sizes often overstated. giant squid reported at 60 feet long actually 40. >> it's just human nature to exaggerate the size of things.

>> it is not your typical hollywood story but played out in l.a. sunday. an eight-foot alligator had to be removed from a home. >> that is big. >> the gator had been living in the backyard for 40 years purchased as a pet and was being cared for by the owners. the animal now being examined at the los angeles zoo. >> now to a startling discovery from our colleagues at america tonight, their investigation finding some employers in new york are using loopholes to essentially steal wages from their workers. we have one man's story. >> i always imagined the u.s. to be a free and democratic country. i expected to see mown everywhere. >> a 44-year-old father and husband came here to new york in 2001 for what he hoped would be a better life. >> it's not like i imagined, just like china the u.s. has dark sides, has a lot of

unfairness. it's a society with a lot of inequality. >> in 2007, he took a driver job with a tax key company working long hours. >> in 2007, you were making about $500 a week? >> uh-huh. >> is that right? >> yes. >> your pay was $500. how many days a week were you working? six days? >> yes. >> six days a week? >> yes. >> about 12 hours a day? >> yes. >> do the math, he was working 72 hours a week, earning $6.94 an hour with no overtime. two years later yes car announced an increase in protection fees they charge drivers, bringing his pay down to just $5.50 future an hour, well below the legal minimum age. >> after a while i wasn't actually making any money. i realized was basically working for free. the little mown i did make, just wasn't enough to make ends meet. >> he wasn't alone.

in 2009 a lawsuit was filed for wages. they say the owner got away with underpaying them for years by classifying them at independent contractors instead of hourly workers. >> we're at the department of labor in manhattan which has received thousands of claims from employees saying their employers stole wages from them. because of backlog it can take years for an investigation. >> we wanted to speak with the state about the claims. department secretary would only speak by phone. we asked him by the man's case has been so delayed. >> one of the practical realities of litigation is that it takes time. i would suspect that the case that you referenced is actually completely outside of the department of labor and in court. the only part of the pros that the department of labor controls is the investigation stage.

>> we also wanted to ask the owner of yes car about the man's wages and the wages of the other 20 drivers. >> is this yes car service? >> yes. can i help you? >> we're from al jazeera. >> ok. we are running a taxi cab. nobody work for us, it's all independent contractors. >> you classify them as independent contractors the drivers? >> yes. >> the new york state department of labor is unaware of any theft cases involving drivers who currently work for yes car. >> a linebacker for the indianapolis colts facing rape charges this morning a woman claiming he assaulted and raped her at his apartment last month a warrant now out for his arrest. on sunday, the colts are set to play the new england patriots for the championship. >> two american men have conquered one of the greatest challenges in climbing in record setting fashion.

>> both have become the first two men to free climb the face of yosemite's he will el capitan. it is now the highest formation to have been free climbed to the top. the two completed their 18 day climb of el capitan's dog wall wednesday to cheers from above and below. they grabbed on to granite with bare hands climbing at night sleeping in tents hung from the side. in free climbing, you are allowed to use rope to keep from taking fatal falls. that came in handy jorgensen

fell 11 times. he peer severed. after three weeks of climbing, the two made it to the top. he said pride wasn't the first thing he felt when the guys made it to the top. >> i really say radio he leaf is a stronger emotion than pride. i've been proud of him for a long time, you know. the whole world is just learning about the person i've known his whole life. i've always been proud of him. >> a proud relieved father. >> president obama was proud. he marked the occasion with the following tweet: so proud you remind us that anything is possible. >> i was trying to find statistics about how many have died trying that. people have died trying to free climb much lesser peaks in yosemite so big deal.

>> makes my concern about the stair master moot now. nicole mitchell, you are a climber. >> i climb, i would never free climb. ropes make you feel a lot better safer and i've never climbed anything of that stature. >> the west coast, you can see the mass of moisture coming in, satellites taking over. over the next couple of days, the first system already starting to move in with rain today and another one behind this we're going to watch for. one through friday morning and another one looks like saturday night into sunday is going to be the next round of moisture. already with this, especially the higher elevations could look at six urges of snow or more, couple isolated spots up to a foot. this is the one part of the country we have temperatures running above average so it's warm somewhere if you're trying to get out. >> thank you very much. >> ahead in our next hour, many calls for preserving freedom of expression after charlie hebdo attack. many want to know why france

arrested dozens for voicing their opinions. >> how artists changed an apartment complex into a temporary history lesson. >> we are back with more in two minutes. minutes. >> basically we just don't multi-task as well as we think... >> are we focused on what's ahead? >> what could those misses mean? >> distracted driving... the new road hazard >> i'm driving like a maniac >> you're distracted... >> techknow's team of experts show you how the miracles of science... >> this is my selfie... what can you tell me about my future? >> can effect and surprise us... >> don't try this at home >> techknow... where technology meets humanity... only on al jazeera america

>> al jazeera america presents the best documentaries >> i felt like i was just nothing >> for this young girl times were hard >> doris had a racist, impoverished setting had a major impact >> but with looks charm.... >> i just wanted to take care of my momma... >> and no remorse...

>> she giggles everytime she steps into the revolving door of justice >> she became legendary... >> the finer the store, the bigger the challenge >> al jazeera america presents the life and crimes of doris payne >> cleaning house the secret services making changes after a series of embarrassing security lapses. >> the f.b.i. stopping a lone wolf attack on the u.s. capitol building. what we learned about the suspect and how his pledge to isil led to his arrest. >> the challenges faced by crews in the recovery effort of airasia flight 8501. >> the backlash against mitt romney gearing up for a potential white house run in 2016. some are calling for him to

stand down after his standing in the 2012 election. >> welcome to al jazeera america. >> it is a major change in the secret service this morning four assistant directors ordered to stand aside another two will retire. the acting director ordered those moves after a series of embarrassing security breaches. >> in september a knife wielding man jumped a fence made it into the white house and not long after it was revealed that a man with a gun rode in an elevator alongside president obama during a trip to atlanta. >> libby casey is in washington now. six of eight assistant directors out. were these changes expected in washington? >> there's been a lot of scrutiny for the secret service in recent months, and a scathing report from the department of homeland security in december cited problems ranging from low morale to basic infrastructure issues like tight budgets

fences that aren't tall enough and said that the leadership there is pretty much falling. the report said that the secret service is starved for leadership. because of all of that, it was expected to see major changes. joseph chan see the acting director of the secret service put out this statement: that means the department of homeland security where they are expected to be assigned. they led department of operations investigations, technology and even public affairs at the secret service. >> were the september security breaches we've reviewed at the white house and the c.d.c. simply the final straw? >> more than that. there was certainly concern brewing, but the brooch of the without a house fence in september was very dramatic. this knife wielding man was able

to penetrate the white house and get into the residence where the president and his family live. that was a huge issue and it came just days after the president rode in an elevator with a man who had a criminal record and a gun. there have been problems in the past scandals like back in 2012 when secret service agents were busted for hiring prostitute as they prepared for the president's visit to columbia, but this was a major issue. there has been focus on how the secret service mission has changed post 9/11. they've been given more to do, making sure the technology is safe to doing a lot of big events like crowd control making sure the big areas are safe and they even have to protect more people now. that's something the bush administration instituted. they are stretched thin. it took dramatic incidents to bring the issue to the fore.

>> what happens now? it looks like the acting director has a lot of denks to fill. >> he does and he'll figure out who he wants to be his top level positions. he he may be brought on permanently, although the security report last month recommended bringing in someone from the outside. that's something people within the security industry said that may not be the best idea. there's a basic question about what happens next in terms of raising the fence and doing some really simple fixes that haven't been done, even though this report came out a month ago. that's got to be next on his agenda. >> thank you. >> today british prime minister david cameron roughs unwashington for mootings at the white house. he and president obama co authored an op ed in today's times of london including about the paris attack saying:

>> a 20-year-old ohio man faces charges that he was plotting to blow up the u.s. capitol building. christopher lee cornell was caught with the aid of an f.b.i. informant, caught trying to buy weapons. he pledged allegiance to isil on line. his father said he only recently converted to islam. >> nothing out of the ordinary about him at all. certainly nothing that would indicate that he was involved in something of this magnitude. >> initials found plans for an attack and instruction for pipe bombs on his computer. >> a sam about her day in paris five victims killed in the charlie hebdo attack are being laid to rest today. we have the story from paris. >> i'm standing outside the town hall in the suburb of greater

paris where he spent the last 30 years of his life. he was known as the cartoonist on the magazine chowing killed last wednesday. friends and family gathered, the public as well, this is a public homage. in a short while we'll see his cough funny merge before taken off to the cemetery to be buried. this is a suburb of paris an ethnically diverse area, not particularly prosperous. it has a large muslim population, a place fitting to this cartoonist to have lived a magazine that directed its satirical cartoons to all faiths and position of power. he was remembered by his wife, described as a man of great

bravado, courage who never forget his humble roots. >> president hollande saying this country will stand united and protect all religions. >> isil forces are launching fierce new attacks across iraq, killing dozens, including kurdish fighters. we have more from the capitol of baghdad. bring us up to speed on the fighting in iraq. >> >> the u.s. has carried out 11 attacks, an indication that even where iraq security forces along with the kurdish forces, the peshmerga and shia forces have taken back territory, they continue to be in play. the u.s. is looking very closely

at a battle campaign here to take back sties such as mosul. it has made clear that that could be sometime away. >> was going to ask you about that. the top u.s. official yesterday saying during a press conference in baghdad that the fight against isil is going to take more time because of training. what else can you tell us? >> he made the point as i had asked him what would be needed, really to take back the city of mosul, because iraqi officials are really fond of saying that it's pretty much a done deal, that they are ready to go in and take it back and he really made clear that it isn't as easy as that. he said there needs to be more training and part of the $1.6 billion the united states has pledged to this effort here in iraq is for training. that hasn't even started yet and when it does start it's going to be very basic training, learning how to use a rifle.

you have to get that out of the way. he said there would have to be a reconstruction effort, humanitarian assistance to deem with the foul out from that. there would have to be a police force, all those things that didn't happen quite so much the first time around when the united states was here, a proper plan to make sure that even if this offensive works if mosul and other cities are taken back, that they won't be lost again. that's really the bottom line everybody is talking about. >> how are iraqi officials reacting to this comment from general allen? >> the new iraqi prime minister was made possible by u.s. support and other support. general allen when he came here from riyadh on the tour of some of the coalition partners was very keen to show they were

behind the iraqi prime minister, he met and released a statement saying they wanted the u.s. to do more, more airstrikes and training. it's a sign that there is still a difference 2007 the u.s. time line and the iraqi time line. >> live in baghdad jane, thank you. >> five more guantanamo bay prisoners have been released, all future from yemen, four to amman to be resettled another to estonia cleared for release six years ago. there are still 122 prisoners at the camp. >> divers have been busy at the bottom of the java sea in indonesia searching for the wreckage of airasia flight 8501. >> their focus is on retrieving the bodies. we have the latest. what are challenges that divers are dealing with? >> only 50 bodies of the 162 onboard have been recovered thus far. finding the rest is a huge

priority. the challenge underwater is visibility and the simple weight of the fuselage now found. if they can't reach the bodies in the sea then officials may ever to change strategy and lift the aircraft. >> indonesian divers are back in the sea today examining a section of the fuselage. finding it, the main section of the plane that holds passengers and crew is a major break in the two and a half week search for victims. it's believed most onboard are trapped inside. >> we'll stick to our main purpose, dive and search for bodies. the operation will continue in my it is not effective enough to conduct search. then we will try to lift the body up. >> a navy ship located the plane with the wing attached. these images were captured from an underwater vehicle. the slogan, now everyone can

fly, could be seen on the wreckage. >> the location we found was 3,000 meters from where we fund the tail section of the plane and 800 meters from the data recorder. >> we have major pieces of the airplane separated by two mules. >> the key to why the air asia jet crashed may be inside the black boxes. information from the cockpit voice recorder and the flight's data recorder is being analyzed. it is expected to take some time before there are answers. air asia's c.e.o. tweeted wednesday, i'm gutted and devastated but hopefully we can find the rest of plane and being closure for families, something family members are operating for, too. >> i am thankful to god that the plane's body has been found. we hope the missing people will be found. >> meanwhile with the discovery of the main wreckage, the u.s.'s seventh fleet which have been helping in the search operation are now being redeployed,

america's work done. >> thank you very much. >> investigators are looking into a deadly crash involving a prison bus in texas. ten died and five were hurt when the bus slammed into a freight train carrying prisoners from abilene to el paso. it ask i haded on icy roads. the prisoners did not have seatbelts and handcuffed in pairs. >> oklahoma will conduct the first excuse there since the botched injection where they used the wrong protocol. this time they are using an updated protocol. >> the process was changed after an inmate's death was botched last year. some wonder if the new cocktail will have the same results. >> in april last year, an execution the oklahoma state penitentiary went badly wrong. the convicted murderer gasped and writinged in pain after

officials began his execution. three quarters of oklahoma voters approve of capital punishment, as do most of their elected representatives. >> at the end of the day the people expect us to hand out justice in the manager that they prescribe. as a government, we're under obligation to do that. >> states like oklahoma have found it crossingly difficult to obtain drugs mandated for lethal injections. >> makers of pharmaceuticals have clamped down more and more on the uses of their drugs designed to be therapeutic.

>> whenever you increase the nitrogen level by dehe increasing the oxygen level in a person they black out they lose consciousness. it's what would -- he some have said a euphoric death. >> u.s. tuesday towards capitol punishment of evolving. >> in 2014, 35 convicted criminals were put to death the low effort number in two decades. seven condemned criminals were exonerated and freed from death row. >> recent polls show 52% of americans favor life imprisonment over execution for convicted murderers. twenty years ago 80% supported the death penalty. 13 u.s. states boll i should capitol punishment. barring a last minute stay from the u.s. supreme court charles

warner will be the first person to die in oklahoma's new and improved death chamber. >> the mother of the little girl he killed says she doesn't want to see him die she'd rather him live out his life in jail. >> a massachusetts firefighter has had to use a rescue sled to free he a man who fell into an icy pond, playing hockey. he was taken to the hospital but had to be treated for hypothermia. he is expected to be ok. >> parts of the country are in for a soaking this morning. >> might already be hitting that on your drive in along the gulf coast, interstate 10 having problems. we look at the bulk of the country, we're pretty quiet. another system coming to the northwest. we do definitely have that activity along the gulf coast moving in and firing up overnight. the northern end of this, parts of southern illinois or into

missouri, it is snow. most of this is rain and ahead of this, we've had enough moisture already that we had areas of fog places like georgia and south carolina might be getting has hit and miss. i'd rather take the snow than the cold, soaking rain. birmingham at 32 degrees. behind this, nice and clear. today's temperatures a little on the cool sides a lot of 40s through the south. this is one of the parts of the country that we are going to have a warm up over the next few days. it is a nice one. at least it gets a lot of the country back above average. i know people are going to enjoy that. i'll have the details on the big winners coming up in just a few minutes. >> nick much, thank you. >> france under fire for arresting a controversial comedian over comments about the charlie hebdo attack.

al jazeera security and law contributor joins us to talk about a potential double standard when it comes to free speech. >> a washington post reporter being held in iran is indicted. tehran refuse to say what the charges are. we'll have more on his case. case. >> a series of blasts rocking a metro station in chile. that video and others captured by citizen journalists around the world. the world.

>> time now for the video captured by our citizen journalists. three men tried to rob an atm setting off explosives, nobody was hurt. >> waivers breaking over the sea wall flooding streets and parking areas along the harbor. >> a different and prettier

weather scene in the united kingdom creating a winter scene in that city. it won't be call for long as the snowfall is turning into a blizzard there. >> congress pushing for more sanctions against iran, with a pie partisan bill. the white house is warning it could interfere with on going nuclear talks. secretary of state john kerry speaking with the top iranian diplomats in geneva wednesday officials saying the talks were substantive. >> secretary of state john kerry repeatedly calling for the release of jason a journalist in iranian prison. >> it came up several times. now the iranian foreign minister said his government is willing to provide humanitarian assistance to jason in plus son as he awaits trial. despite an indictment, still no

word on what exactly the charges are against him. he will stand trial in iran's revolutionary court mostly involved in hearing security offenses. he has been in prison since july 22. his employer the washington post calls the charges baseless. >> my hope is that they'll quickly set a trial date and then let the judicial system move forward. jason hasn't done anything wrong. if they would look at it, they would say just based on pure logic that they would let him go. jason loves iran, says great things about the country always and there is no way he was doing anything to hurt the country. >> his mother visited him twice and is worried about his health saying he is losing too much date. a trial date has not been set. >> a crack down in france against so called hate speech.

54 people have been arrested since the attacks in paris that killed 17 people last week. most are accused of making public statements defending terrorism. a french comedian will face trial over a facebook comment sympathizing with attackers. we go to our security and law contributor, thanks for joining us this morning. how does france define hate speech? that is not protected by statutes in the u.s. >> the french system is very different from the united states. in the united states, you can prosecute someone for hate crime, a crime committed and the motivation behind it is racial or religious but can't prosecute pure speech. in france, you can prosecute hate speech and get civil and criminal penalties for hate speech basically defined as

making statements that are insulting to somebody on the basis of ross, reluggagen, ethnicity, you name it, a number of different categories. >> people are confused,s saw 40 world leaders saying we defend free speech and then on wednesday, this controversial french comedian arrested for posting this message on facebook a reference to the gunman who did murders. he mixed two slogans. did he go as far as in some instances as charlie hebdo has gone and the other side? >> the problem is what is satire to me may be hate speech to you. and it is slippery slope allowing it is people in charge to decide which hate speech they want to suppress and which they

don't have a problem with. >> that's the interesting conversation and pope francis weighed in on that this morning saying, he said there should be limits to freedom of expression when religion is insulted. are we seeing in france a debate between protecting secularism versus religion? >> i think you are seeing both happening. obviously with some of the steps the french government has taken over the last several years banning the walking of headscarves by muslim women in public schools and government offices, as well as the banning of the full veil, the burqa complete in france, that you certainly have the differences about protecting the french secular identity and that butts up against freedom of religion, the pope, that's an interesting thing, because certainly

religious leaders from muslim countries have long taken the position that there should be limits to freedom of he canpression when it comes to religion and sometimes that goes very very far though. >> let's take it beyond france. after the paris attack, attacks on muslims increase. we saw a huge rally in dresden germany billing itself against islamization. give us the larger context of what we are seeing happening in europe? europe has had for several decades a problem with immigration, right? you've seen the rise of far right parties not just in germany, but france and the united kingdom and the scandinavian countries really across the board combining strong anti immigrant rhetoric with very strong anti muslim rhetoric. uneurope, those populations are much more the same than they are say in the united states, where the immigrant population is kind of different.

you've had this kind of long-standing anti immigrant anti-islam what's happening to our culture they're changing it we're losing the essence of europeanness. >> that's now being exploited through this. >> this gives people an excellent talking point look, you let these people in, now look at what they're doing. >> even though the majority of islam immigrants have nothing to do with these terrorists. >> as many pointed out, there is the muslim police officer killed as part of the attack, so what is the face of islam in france? is it the people who attacked or the people who defended? >> thank you for being with us this morning. >> bad news for winter lovers, arctic air giving way to a january thaw. >> you don't have to worry too much. it's not like the lakes are going to unfreeze or the ice melt away. chicago, 19, minneapolis at 21.

this really is milder air returning, getting us back to or above average in some cases. into the deep south where we had the rain, temperatures in the 40's by tomorrow the 50s nudging warmer. minneapolis and chicago get near fort over the next couple of days. we've had that deep trough of colder air. finally some warm air from the ridge in the west will spill this way but another disturbance comes through and reinforces cold air, for example, the northeast isn't going to shift so much and the chicago will get kind of stay stagnant the next couple boss before we get the warm air on saturday. there are brief traces of hopes over the next couple of days. >> ice fishing still on hold for you. >> still totally a go. >> thank you very much. >> more than two dozen people have been culled, thousands displaced by dramatic flooding in mozambique. as the president declares a state of emergency we'll look

at the havoc caused by the heavy rains. >> as mitt romney hint about another white house run conservatives are running away from the former presidential candidate. we will break down the growing backlash against government romney. >> they've done it, john henry smith will be here with a look at the final push in what's considered the world's most difficult rock climb. ck climb.

>> what you're looking at is the oscar nominations bunk announced. the announcement has just gotten underway. >> welcome to al jazeera america. some world war ii veterans are criticizing the government forking an agreement the deal made that touches on a problem still facing this country. >> one man use ago form of art associated with blight to combat the problem.

the project turning any sore into beauty. >> a shakeup in the secret service, four assistant directors ordered to leave their posts, another two to retire follows several high profile security breaches and a government report detailing a lock of leadership in the agency. >> a 20-year-old ohio man in custody over an alleged plot to blow up the u.s. capitol the fib saying he planned to use fire bombs to kill people. he allegedly made on line posts pledging allegiance to isil. >> divers in the jar have a sea searching for the fuselage of airasia flight 8501 for the bodies of the victims onboard. that is the pope who just touched down in indonesia. he is going to be speaking there, one of the largest catholic populations in indonesia, 85 million people. >> severe flooding has killed

people and displaced more. the intense storm caught residents off guard. >> strong river currents like this one ever forced tens of thousands of people out of their homes in mozambique. dozens including children have been killed. >> we ever unconfirmed reports that more than 25 children and their god fathers were washed away by the water but are not able to get to where this happened. we have yet to confirm the information. we have reports two elderly people were washed away. >> rain storms and strong winds have hit the two countries. in mozambique, the roughs have burst their banks and more than half of ma law wee have been declared a disaster zone. >> it started around midnight. they came to wake me up.

they lost houses, goods really a lot of stuff that they lost. >> governments are struggling to deal with the scale of the disaster, and appealing for help. many areas of the main export crops have been destroyed. the waters have washed away roads and livestock. many remote areas have been cut off, making it difficult to reach stranded people. >> mozambique has been hit by massive floods if the past, the 2007 floods affected thousands of people. each lasted for weeks opening the gates of overflowing dams, worsening the damage for the downstream. it took years for the reconstruction. the government is issuing an alert. there are warnings of heavy rainfall and flash floods over the next two to three weeks. >> local officials in mozambique

say these floods are the worst since 1971. >> secretary of state john kerry is head to go paris for what he calls a big hug for france. he's there to show he solidarity between the u.s. and french people. he was criticized and the white house for sending only the ambassador for the unity marches. >> president obama will outline a plan today to expand paid family and sick leave calling on congress to make it the law that workers get up to seven days of sick time every year. he will take executive action to give some federal employees at least six weeks of paid time after the birth or adoption of a child. >> the conservative backlash growing today against the idea of another mutt rom presidential run. media mogul rupert murdoch calling romney a terrible candidate. >> the wall street journal

blasted romney in a blistering op ed. david shuster that more. >> nearly a week after telling wealthy donors is exploring a 2016 presidential bud he is facing a buzz saw rupp opposition. the conservative wall street journal hammered romney for his last campaign: that turnout operation relied on date and social media tools years behind president obama's campaign. despite the president's vulnerabilities with dropping approval ratings romney still lost the popular vote 51% to 47% and got crushed in the electoral college. in new hampshire kentucky

senator rand paul, boasting one of the best organized operations in the potential 2016 field said another romney nominations would be insanity. in a radio interview paul ridiculed romney's pledge to run to the right of jeb bush. >> if he runs to the right of jeb bush, he'll still be to the left of the rest of the party so it may be a difficult spot to occupy. i like governor romney. i like him personally. i think he's a good person. i think he was a great businessman, but, you know, that's yesterday's news. >> texas republican senator ted cruz you who was also considering a 2016 campaign said romney he represents the party's mushy mulled. >> the way rums win is we paint in bold colors, not pale pass tells. pale pass tells is a path to losing. >> still romney supporters argue he's been proven right on key policy issues, like russian vladimir putin's aggression and

the threats emerging from syria's civil war. his fundraising network remains intact capable of hauling in as much as anybody in the 2016 field. >> romney and his advisors believe national elections are usually about the future, not the past. david shuster, al jazeera, new york. >> let's go to jeannie zaino now. some say with friends like that. who needs democrats. >> it's going to be the feud between the establishment wing of the party and the same fight we've seen, the fight between conservatives. conservatives are happy about the fighting between the mod receipts meaning they actually have a chance to get a conserve

tough on the ballot. >> if the voters rejected romney not once, not twice but now going back for a third time, why should anybody believe the third time is going to be a charm for mitt romney. >> mitt romney looking at what we call the invisible primary season is in a very good position. yes, he's loft twice now and you can't imagine he could do it again and be successful, but he's got the money the enamoration and he has the organization on the ground to make a go of this thing because this is really a fight about for the mod receipts, who could attract that moderate vote. he is one of the few people who can to it, along with wash and christie. >> he has the baggage. many believe his comments about the 47% didn't go anywhere, the tape didn't go anywhere. did he think the voters going to forget what he had to say about that segment of the population? democrats aren't going to. >> democrats aren't going to

forget it. i watched a litany of romney misstatements and the 47% which really drove his election last time really hurt him. that's going to be there. that is certainly going to haunt him. there's always a benefit of being known which is that all your baggage is out there people know it, so it's not at shocking os the new people in the headlines. >> politics these days is about sub groups and the biggest is the group of voters, women. romney lost to obama by a margin of 56% to 44%, 12 percentage points. how does a mitt romney fare attracting female votes when there is the potential of the first female president on the ballot? >> it's going to be very difficult. it's the women's voted also the

latino vote where republicans are going to struggle, maybe not so much like jeb bush, but romney and other potential candidates. they are going to have a very tougher time in the general election. weaver always known that, because the republican party is now the party of congress, where as the democrats are the party of the white house. the democrats have what it takes to win nationally, republicans by their own assessment in 2012 said if we don't take significant steps on immigration to attract a larger bails of latino voters, to attract african-american, to attract women, we can't win nationally and that remains true today. the republicans you don't see candidates reaching out to these constituents potentially with the exception of rand paul, who has been trying to make in roads in the african-american community and others to a certain extent in the latino community but not enough for the party as a whole. >> has it downed on the republicans as they fire shots

at each other, they are destroying each other while the democrats seem solidly behind hillary clinton as the potential democratic candidate for 2016. >> it dawns on the republican hon chose the big people who run the party but for the candidates themselves, this is an owl out brutal battle, about ego, about power. they're going to do what they can, if it takes beating each other up, they'll do it. it's going to be the disservice of the national party. we've seen this with the democrats in the past, a big field, they're going to beat each other up and harder to coalesce around a candidate in the end. >> ego power and politics. >> i love it. >> thanks for being with us, as always. >> did he say dispute a veto threat the house approved a bill overturning the president's recent executive action on immigration. it is now headed to the senate. wednesday's vote came as part of a broad security bill also

providing almost $40 billion to finance the department of homeland security. >> some world war are two veterans say the government has broken a promise to them. they are foreigners told if they fought their children could apply for residency in the u.s. we have the story. >> in a tiny amount not far from the nation's capitol, they are surrounded by family. nearly every space filled with photographs, place holders really as the couple enters a third decade, waiting on a promise from the u.s. government that would reunite them with that you are four children. >> when rudy he was 11, he along with 250,000 filipinos volunteered in world war ii to help the u.s. army keep the philippines out of the hands of the japanese.

rudy says they were called guerillas. he was a courier on horseback. >> bringing magazine, six people. >> the filipino soldiers were side by side with americans fighting and dying. in exchange for their service their children would be able to apply for and receive u.s. citizenship. >> we have promise to be american citizen so we are very happy on that very moment, but i don't know that this is the life that we will have in america. >> a life without his children and grandchildren. miles of red tape and 20 year back logs have held up the process so long a only 20,000 of the veterans are still alive to hope to see their kids now grown come to the u.s. for rudy, he has no regrets.

the promise was bigger than america for his children. >> if it so happened that democracy was defeated on that very moment, there are so many people who would not be born. >> his patriotism gives way to emotion when he and his wife think about holding on to their kids instead of an empty promise. >> family reunification was one part of an immigration plan agreed to last year in the senate. that bill was rejected in the house. >> the f.d.a. approving a new tool in the fight against obesity, a surgically implanted device similar to a pacemaker

that puts out an electrical signal to trick the brain into thinking you're not hugy. not clear how effective the device will be long term. patient who used it lost 8% of body weight. >> it turns out a lack of exercise maybe worse for you than obesity. a new claim found staying active can increase the life span for people of all sizes. light exercise like walking for just 20 minutes a day is recommended to see duties. >> two american men making history to free climb yosemite's heel capitan. we have more. this was quite a feat in the world of free climbing. >> no paid fat on del walters either. to free climb means to use your hands and feet to pull up to the surface, no tools allowed.

you are allowed to use ropes to camp you if you fall, something they did often before finally reaching the top. cheers from the ground and campaign toast on the peak as they did what many said couldn't be done, they free climbed the wall known as el capitan. to give you perspective, you could stack the empire state building on top of new york city's new freedom tower and el capitan would still be taller. >> this is the highest mountain that's ever been free-climbed by a human being. one of the guys, his finger was sawed off, used to be a carpenter, so he's only climbing with nine fingers. >> it took 18 days for the nine fingered caldwell and for

jorgensen to ascend, often climbing at night and sleeping in wind-whipped hanging tents. >> there's this crazy arctic wind storm. >> it's getting preed rowdy. >> in 17 day span, jorgensen fell 11 times making his way up through a treacherous part of el capitan. >> i was pretty devastated and thoughts crossed my mind that i should throw in the towel and support tommy through the top. >> after planning and training and three weeks of climbing, the two men made it to the top much to the relief of family, friends and well wishers like his dad. >> i heard he he made it, i cried. i would really say relief is a stronger emotion than pride. i've been proud of him for a long time. >> jorgensen and coldwell's

reward climb comes after the new fee maim speed record for climbing was set in other sections of el capitan. it took the men 19 days to climb without tools the two women made their climb with tools in four hours, 43 must notes. >> that makes a big difference. >> they did part of this climb at nate. >> and they slept on the side of a mountain with winds whipping back and forth. it's an amazing com plushment. >> it is the pinnacle of free climbing. you have to wonder what's next after something like this. >> breathing new life into the streets of new orleans using one art form considered an illegal hobby. >> one art you have the turned a run down building in the big easy into a massive art exhibit. >> one piece of technology from a galaxy not so you're never more than a few you're never more than a few minutes away from a check of away giving a young star wars fan a chance at

a normal life. >> france works to move forward from the charlie hebdo attack. >> that leader with a dream on how to stop hate, next. e, next.

>> who said this: >> our big cot of course this morning is from martin luther king jr. today would have been his 86th 86th birth do you. >> january 15. the nation's large effort casino operator is relying on bankruptcy to solve its debt problems filing a petition in chicago. it's been a fight with some of

its largest creditors the company $20 billion in debt. >> in no orleans artists are using the buildings to make them pretty turning blight into beauty. >> what started at one man's hobby has grown into a massive exhibit. >> brandon odom knows this kind of art often goes unappreciated. >> it's always on the borderline of vandalism. >> once known as the gal manor this now vacant new orleans apartment complex is where he for weeks trespassed his way into a gutted two story building coating the walls with giant faces of civil rights eye consist and his personal heroes. things stopped the day the property owner showed up, as he was painting. >> i seen the guys walking up and i was like uhoh. >> there was no confrontation just cure os city. the owners were impressed wanting to know more about the images and stories behind them. >> it led to me pitching this

crazy idea. >> he wanted to turn the entire ruined complex into a sprawling street art exhibit and open it to the public. the owners eventually agreed he could use the property. in two weeks, 30 area street artists made a pair of ruined five story buildings their canvas a way to tell the stories of this old neighborhood. >> towards the 1980's with crack heads, this space became different. >> this building was programmed. >> he was honored to see his face in the exhibit. he lived here and ran a youth program, but in 2006 after a change in ownerrion and increase in crime problems, he said everyone was evicted. >> you had real god other fearing people, you know, that was living here. >> there's also a tribute to george carter, a popular teen, who's murder remains unsolved. >> this is if you know days, if that, worth of work. >> what was supposed to be a one

weekend exhibit is stull open two months later attracting several thousand visitors, including many school groups. >> i was happy because someone remembered these people and their lives. >> i guess this corner is the popular corner, right? >> soon the buildings and the art will come down. developers have plans for a sports complex and hotel on the property. graffiti is hardly ever personal but brandon feels he and other artists left this place better than what they found it. >> there are still 30,000 blighted buildings in new orleans. >> it's too bad about that one being torn down. >> earlier this hour we mentioned the oscar nominations just announced. bird man and grand budapest hotel have the most nominations nine each, including best picture. we care with the razzies and

transformers age of extinction is at the top of the list for worst picture worst director. >> i like that film. >> they will be given out the night before the oscars. >> liam porter now has his very own star wars inspired prosthetic arm. it was modeled on the good guys, not the storm troopers. >> let's get another check of the forecast with nicole mitchell. >> we're going to head westward and look at the next system coming in, a lot of country quiet today. you can see broad moisture and another behind this. we've got a couple rounds as we get toward the weekend this one just starting to bring that initial rain. more of this builds up today and early tomorrow, so as that band goes through and then you can see another behind this, this is more saturday night and into sunday with a little bit of a break in between. the temperatures through this

part of the country this has been our warm spot and our ridge of high pressure. a lot of this will be rain, but higher elevations, we could see know of six inches or more especially traveling over mountain passes. i mentioned the milder temperatures, up and down the west coast not as cold as elsewhere. los angeles at 77 degrees for today if you're looking for warmth. >> miami at 79 ain't bad either. >> in two minutes from doha, more on the if you know release in france for victims of the charlie hebdo attacks. >> we're keeping on eye on the aftermath of attacks by boko haram. this is the scene before and that's after fighters raided a village in the north. >> that is it for us in new york. >> we leave you with a look at our images of the day from india, holy men and pilgrims flocking to the river.

>> have a great morning. we'll see you back here tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. >> 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

>> boko haram's largest and most destructive attack yet satellite images show homes clinics and schools in ruins. >> you are watching al jazeera in doha. president hollande vows france will protect all religions as funerals are held for the charlie hebdo cartoonists killed in last week's attack. >> almost 100,000 people forced from homes as fierce floods his mozambique a