the state of the union coverage starting at 7:00 pm eastern time. for everybody here at "real money," thanks for watching. ♪ hi everyone this is al jazeera america, i'm john siegenthaler in new york. yemen unrest. new attacks on the government. state of the union, the issues the politics the president sets the table for his final two years. martin luther king, remembering an icon as the struggle continues. "american sniper," the film shattering records and the debate. and the study from 7,000

light years away. ♪ we begin tonight with the count they are is the home base for al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula. it is a country in chaos right now. and the prime minister residence surrounded by opposition fors. an attack today on the presidential palace left nine people dead. the fighting is raising new fears about yemen. omar salar reports. >> reporter: the fighting is being heard from blocks away. government forces and houthi rebels have been battling near the presidential palace since early on monday. the information minister describes the scene as utter

chaos. >> to be honest i don't think any single party is in control of you men. some of the yemeni army are responding to the command, and this why both ministers of defense and interior were in this committee, but there are people who wear the uniform and do not obey the orders of their superiors. >> reporter: houthi rebels at be at odds with the government for years, but they took control of the capitol and nine other provinces last year. there are forces that are still loyal to the president. the previous president is thought to be behind the chaos, in order to allow his son to become the next president. but monday's fighting has made the situation worse. >> nothing like this has been

seen before. this case is the first of its kind. even the attack on sana'a months ago were even close to this. the attacks were only focused on several areas of the capitol. >> reporter: houthis are reported to have taken control of the state television. and the prime minister's convoy was attacked but by what is being described as a third-party, who it's identity hasn't been confirmed. the declaration of a sees fire early in the day has been ignored. some forces are still loyal to the president. the president's decision to deploy troops in the capitol was triggered by the kidnapping of his chief of staff on saturday. it's not clear if he will win what could be seen as his last battle. some say what happened on monday

could lead to a new yemen, and lead to the resignation of the president, and pave the way to form a military or a civil council to rule and that could be the right moment for the separatists movement here in the south to enforce the demand to divide yemen into two regions or break away. what is unfolding in yemen could have far-reaching consequences. christopher swift has traveled to yemen and studied the conflict in that region extensive extensively. welcome. >> good to be with you. >> what is at stake here? >> a number of things. the first is the u.s. reslainship with the government in sana'a. the second is the future political competition and orientation of yemen at large, and the third is the very real

risk of society descending into some sort of chaos, and making it easier for spoilers of all sorts taking control. >> why is it that yemen is so critical to american security interests? >> sure. two reasons. it's a very important country for many of our allies especially saudi arabia. saudi arabia and yemen have about the same population. and saudi is very prosperous and yemen is very poor. but the bigger influence is the al-qaeda presence. they are one of the few organizations that has been able to localize the gee had.

they have attacked the u.s. and are an on going concern. we had a sense years after 9/11 of what al-qaeda looks like. what does al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula look like? >> there are two main factions. the first is this hard-core of former bin laden followers, who came back from places like likelike like -- afghanistan and iraq. but the majority are the people are local yemenese sometimes yemenese tribesmen, and their grievances have much more to do with who is in charge of yemen. they are radicalized, but again, this is this strange combination we see with al-qaeda success

organization. they have combined the idealogical dictates with the practical realities of running a local insurgency and that's really a game changer in terms of the organization ability to sustain themselves and grow over time. >> could the united states have prevented this? >> it's hard to say. i'm familiar with some of the negotiations that have been going on trying to get the various political and tribal and other factions together and part of what we're seeing is classic domestic politics where one tribe will use their armed forces to play a spoiler role and try to get a bigger piece of a shrinking economic pie. the problem here is the houthis have been so much more aggressive than many analysts predicted, especially in the last few days and if they decide to push it over the edge

we could be looking at a much more difficult situation there. >> so the internal strife is one thing, but how could that actually impact the world? >> sure. well look countries that are in the middle of long-term civil conflicts, civil wars or chronic instability, are easier for rubble groups to take advantage. afghanistan created a home base for al-qaeda. take a look at what isis has been able to do in the syrian civil war. taking advantage of the instability and building out its power. of course the local differences matter a great deal but it's not a possibility the u.s. government and its allies can ignore. >> we talked a lot about what

has been going on in syria. what about in yemen. >> right. well, one of the things the international community has forgotten, is the conflict inside yemen has resulted in massive internal displacement. mostly in the two southern provinces, where the yemeni army went in and pushed al-qaeda out by force. well they also wound up relocating a lot of people during that conflict and a lot of those people are on world food program aid, and they are a sort of a forgotten element in a very, very important story. >> glad you mentioned it tonight. christopher swift thank you very much. tonight at the white house, finishing touches are being put on the state of the union address. it will be president obama's sixth of the nation and it is

expected to focus on the economy. mike viqueira is in d.c. with more. >> reporter: john you can look at it as the black cloud inside the silver lining of economic growth with the gdp almost booming, the fastest growth since 1999. the unemployment dropping along with gas prices now, and an extraordinary economic story, but what is that black cloud? job and income growth. incomes have stagnated. they have not seen the benefits of a growing economic. -- so you are going to see the president proposing new ideas to get lower income and middle-income growth rising again, and you are going to see republicans seizing on that over the neck couple of weeks. we have seen the president touring the country, talking about his ideas to share some of the wealth of the country.

free two-year community college one proposal guaranteed paid sick leave to some 40 million american workers who lack that. and the way he is going to do that is $320 billion in tax hikes over any next ten years primarily aimed at wealthier americans. the estate tax going up capital gains taxes going up and fines for financial institutions. part of how the president wants to pay for it sort of a robin hood approach here. obviously not going anywhere in congress. john? >> all right. mike thank you. the president's plan to help the middle class including tripling the child care tax credit. the white house says the changes will help more than 5 million

families cover the cost of child care. mary snow reports. >> reporter: for working parents karla and todd tearing care of their baby and getting their 4-year-old up and running each morning can be nothing short of a miracle. >> no no not yet! >> reporter: but juggling the costs of child care has been the real daily struggle >> one third went to child care the second third went to rent. karla works as a tenured professor at college. todd teaches part-time at columbia university. despite a combined annual income of $110,000 a year they can barely pay for their

4-year-old's day care fee and one day of baby sitting a week. fees vary state to state. massachusetts is the most expensive, with mississippi the lowest. but nationwide child care costs have been growing at a rate five times that of family incomes. >> we're seeing a time in the united states of america, where people are having babies literally off of an economic cliff. >> reporter: kristen says the larger issue is a matter of supply. day cares in 19 states had waiting lists or turned away families all together, unable to keep up with the rising demands of today's labor force. >> 50% of the labor force are

women, for the first time in history. at the same time nearly 50% of families are relying on mom's wages as the primary breadwinner. >> reporter: bellmy recently landed a coveted teaching fellowship for the fall but worried she and todd won't be able to afford the additional baby sitting fees. >> what is the plan be? there is no plan be. >> mary snow al jazeera. join us tomorrow night for the state of the union address. a new report says the world's 80 richest people have as much money as the poorest half of all people in the world, and the rich are expected to keep getting richer. roxana saberi has more. >> reporter: john they call the numbers staggering. the world's 80 richest people

are worth a total of nearly $2 trillion. frustration over growing income inquality sparked the occupy wall street movement that has grown to china. from 2000 to 2009 the portion of wealth held by the top 1% actually fell but over the next four years it rose dramatically. and it is predicted it will keep rising just as the wealth held by the bottom 99% will deep dropping. >> we have seen incomes just not going up. minimum wages have stayed stagnant. and we have seen any rich just continuing to get richer.

>> reporter: they say the world's 80 richest people control the same wealth as half of the world's population. they are calling on governments to invest in free education and health care, improve worker's wages, and raise taxes on the rich. >> they should pay the kinds of levels of tax that they were paying as recently as the 1990s. >> reporter: income inequality isn't just unfair it hurts everyone. they released the report just ahead of the annual world economic forum in switzerland. the group hopes to urge world leaders to narrow the gap between the rich and poor. john? >> roxana thank you, up next

thousands mark the mlk holiday, and what our new al jazeera america poll found out about race in america. plus the controversy about the weekend's biggest movie hit "american sniper."

the martin luther king holiday was observed with events around the country. this afternoon the president and his family volunteered at the boys and girls club in washington, d.c. vice president biden and other administration officials also participated in service events. there were also marches today, many similar to the ones in recent months over race relations between the public and police. in philadelphia police protested against stop and frisk policies

and demanded more oversight of the city's police force. hundreds of protesters disrupted annual mlk marches in atlanta. and 100 or so others protested near the ebenezer baptist church. the holiday comes after turbulent year for race relations in the u.s. del walters has our report. >> reporter: decades after his death, the landscape as changed, the nation has a black president, and black attorney general. >> we need more than ever to take heed of dr. king's teachings. he calls on us to stand in the other person's shoes, to see through their eyes to understand their pain. [ gunfire ] >> reporter: but this summer's

explosions in ferguson and new york and cleveland, exposed many of the same ray shall divides that separated america during king's time. a black man accusing police of excessive force. a 12-year-old child dies at the hands of police in cleveland, he was holding a toy gun. >> we need to be outraged. >> reporter: those parallels were not lost on some members of the congressional black caucus to travelled to ferguson. >> the nation is watching the world is watching. ferguson is the new selma. ferguson is a microcosm of what can and will happen when we come together as a united front. >> reporter: they are also in sharp contrast to the same city that tried to undue his legacy.

these files describe king as evil and saying king there is only one thing left for you to do. you know what that is. you are done. it was authored by the fbi. as the wreaths are laid a preacher from atlanta who believed the world could change if it acted more like gandy through non-violent dem nations. >> martin luther king wrote, men, often hate each other, because they fear each other. >> reporter: on sunday actors from the movie "selma" lead hundreds of people at the bridge where marchers were attacked by police 50 years ago. >> this is what i know for sure everybody who crossed that bridge on bloody sunday and then had the courage to get up and go

again on tuesday, and then do the final march, every single person who was on that bridge is a hero. >> reporter: some would say it is a dream fulfilled, others would argue that it is just that a dream. the fact that it is being debated is proof that the legacy of the dreamer lives on. al jazeera america wanted to find out more about the issue of race in america today. and we teamed up for a new national poll. that poll suggests that americans remain deeply divided on the issue of race. >> the polling show that few americans feel the issue of race has improved but they feel that race is a big issue in this country.

despite his position as the first african american president many people we polled believe race relations in the united states have not gotten better under president obama: and today the united states celebrated dr. martin luther king's legacy we asked what people thought about leadership in the african american community: john we will have much more polling on race and other issues tomorrow during our state of the union coverage. >> david, thank you. now an update on a mother of two fighting deportation to honduras. a philadelphia church save the mother sanctuary in november.

this weekend she finally was able to leave the church without fear of immigration officials. >> reporter: a family celebration begins with the song "christ breaks a chain." part of the lyrics resinate more strongly by the lawyer who defends me never busy always on my side. the star of the service was angela. she came to visit her parent from honduras 11 years ago. her son is 11 and her daughter are both u.s. citizens. so is her husband. angela says she has lived in fear for over a decade. scared to take the kids to school or the doctor. >> reporter: what you say toe the critics who say you had no

right to stay. god have given everyone the right to a good life. she sought sanctuary last november in this church after being served final deportation orders. angela finally got her wish for now. >> the government and our elected officials that sometimes make these laws they are not this enemy. the enemy is inaction. >> reporter: her family priest gave her this set of rosary beads. as a symbol of victory. then she walked outside for the first time in nearly two months. [ applause ] ♪

she is one of nine people that went into sanctuary this fall is part of the revitalized movement across the country. she is the only one that went into sanctuary with her husband and two children. a 2011 policy document said deportation orders would not be carried out without prior approval in sensitive locations such as churches. when i asked her what she would do when she left the church she said she and her husband were still looking for a place to rent. the first thing she actually did was hold a march across the street. >> for all who is not free because of a deportation order -- >> reporter: to a small park for others facing deportation. coming up next new details

of why the white house was so sure north hacked sony. plus a selfie as the miss universe pageant becomes an international incident.

this is al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler. >> presumptive strike the new report on why the u.s. blamed north korea for the sony hack. war of words, the debate over "american sniper" as the film shatters box office records. patriot games how one nfl team headed to the big game is now accused of cheating. and sharp shooter the hubble space telescope snaps its own stunning photos ever. tonight a new report suggests the u.s. hacked north korea's computer networks long before the sony scandal.

jamie macintyre is in washington with more. jamie. >> reporter: well john u.s. intelligence and law enforce officials have been insist important that the evidence against north korea is unassailable and now it turns out that one reason for that high confidence that north korea hacked sony may be because the united states hacked north korea first. >> hello, everybody. we really have a full house today, huh? >> reporter: president obama has been unequivocal in blaming north korea for the hack of sony pickers last year. >> the fbi announced and we can confirm that north korea engaged in this attack. >> reporter: but some experts remained skeptical, was north korea really capable? a newly revealed document provides a tantalizing clue. the document was posted online

by the german magazine. it says we got the zero day out of passive and were able to repurpose it big win. that's computer jargon describing a zero-day program. what the document suggests is that the u.s. was deep inside north korea's cyber-hacking unit more than four years ago, and knows a lot more than it is saying publicly. >> some folks have suggested that we have it wrong. i would suggest -- i'm not suggesting i'm saying -- they don't have the facts that i have don't see what i see. >> reporter: the fbi says even before the sony hack north korea's cyber spies got sloppy more than once receiling their real internet addresses. those addresses were traced to an attack base of sorts. the area is suspected of a

source of a highly suspected attack on u.s. banks in 2014, which first marked north korea as a serious cyber threat. >> this recent episode with sony has shown that they can get recognition for their cyber capabilities. >> reporter: the report also says that president obama was convinced the case was solid. so john one obvious question was if the knew so much about what north korea was doing, why didn't it warn sony pictures and the evidence seems to be that the technique was so routine that it didn't set off any alarm bells, but it tricked a system administrator at sony

into clicking on a bogus link. >> all right. thank you. we're joined by a senior fellow who's work focuses on national security and intelligence surveillance. does this come as a surprise? >> not really. i think as your reporter suggested, the mix of extreme confidence with which the government attributed this act to north korea and the thinness of the report it was the kwi -- equivalence of saying the attacker used windows, they must be in the united states. so either they made a huge leap here, or this isn't the real evidence that convinced them. there's other evidence that they don't want to talk about.

>> so you have been an outspoken critic of the government surveillance program, what worried you the most about this. >> i'm not particularly worried that the government is spying on north korea, i think if the nsa should be doing anything probably it should be spying on north korea, but i find it indestructive that we are using the sony attack to push for harsher penalties, and more information sharing with the government and now we see in this case that the government via the nsa had really about as much information about that attack as -- as you could want -- >> but they just weren't paying attention. >> -- act on it in a timely fashion. i think cause us to ask, do we need to be giving them more information, or get them better at using the information they have and sharing it with the private sector. >> what about the danger imposed

when it comes to infiltrating civilian networks. >> one of the things discussed in the story that some of these documents came from that have been discussed in previous reporting is that it's one thing when the nsa says we're going to implant malware on the networks of north korean intelligence. but we found that in order to preserve their ability to get communication in the future they are doing the same sort of thing to large corporate networks to telecommunication companies. just in case there is a user of that network that they need to be able to spy on in the future and that seems much more dangerous. in particular because we see the way this attack happened was nsa was actually having trouble getting in. another intelligence agency had

used malware to get into north korea's network. nsa saw it and kind of piggy packed on that attack. there are other smart people in the world who don't work at nsa, so you have to ask, isn't it possible that by planting these back doors, by implanting malware in something like 100,000 people around the world, it may not be the nsa that ends up using it be it russia or china, or cyber criminals who kind a way to exploit those vulnerability. so very seriously consider the security risks they are created. >> jillian thank you very much. . in kenya police in nairobi fired tear gas at a group of

children. the children had just returned to school after a two-day teacher's strike. most of the children were between the ages of 8 and 13. at least were ten were injured. now to afghanistan. suicide amongst soldiers are on the rise. for many afghan soldiers sigma of mental illness gets in the way of help. >> reporter: in kabul's only specialist military ptsd unit this soldier wants to go back to the battlefield. >> translator: you are in a hospital, not a prison the doctor tells him. tell the commander to come get me out of here or i will kill myself he threatened. the doctor tells a nurse to give him an injection and assures the

patient it will make him feel better. also he tells him, suicide is forbidden in islam. medicine is the treatment here not psychiatry. >> translator: there are lots of ptds cases, but we don't have any way to measure it here. we are at war. these cases are present here as well. >> reporter: but only a small fraction end up here. there is a cultural sigma to admitting a problem. this 47-bed ward was built for those with pstd. doctors say there are so many empty beds here not because there aren't cases of ptsd but because they either don't know how to treat the illness or

report it. >> translator: the commander and i and other officers are on the lookout for any problems. if we see a problem, we do our best to solve it. >> reporter: one young afghan soldier it's too late. no one saw signs of trouble the day he put on his gear walked out of his quarters and shot himself in the head. he was like all of the soldiers here under tremendous pressure. >> translator: they have to work here. they can't leave the job, and they can't leave their family. any one of them could develop mental problems. >> reporter: back at the hospital the patient has grown wrestle again. the doctors let him take a walk to calm down. tonight part of

ukraine'sestern city of donetsk have been reduced to rubble. russian-backed fighters say they have ceased control of the airport. the clashes are making things even worse. >> reporter: from central kiev's high-end retailers to this street market is less than 10 kilometers, but it may has well be 10,000. a woman tests freshness in milk. as inflation erodes their already meager income every last sent of cash is precious. >> translator: the wages are the same but everything else is more expensive. >> reporter: 12-month inflation to the end of december was 24.9%. gdp dropped by 7% and the currency is worth 15 to the u.s.

dollar just half of what it was a year ago. before being ousted a year ago, the president enjoyed extraordinary opulence. his former estate here epitomizes the successes of the former regime. but economic recovery depends not just on ousting a president and removing a few corrupt officials, it means cultural and systemic reform. yanukovych's staff try to destroy incriminating documents here on the river. this man helped retrieve the paperwork. and works for the anti-corruption watch dog. >> the problem is how it's -- too slow. >> reporter: economic and political reform sunday way, driven by young dynamic people brought in from the business

world. this is one of them an entrepreneur and former microsoft executive. among his rasks balance the spending habits with the need to recruit good people. >> know the language work with the [ inaudible ], work with the contemporary technology yada yada yada. and that person is going to earn 10 months? that's not going to fly. >> reporter: discussion has evoked a rauch. >> we're in a war, and you worry about the economy. the economy is fine. it's not fine says the milk seller not fine at all. paul brennan, al jazeera, kiev. in chechnya today, several

thousand people protested prepick shun of this prophet muhammad that include the edition of charlie hebdo. >> reporter: this was without a doubt one of the biggest demonstrations ever seen in the capitol. hundreds of thousands of men and women heeding the call of their president, taking to the streets to protest against the publication of caricatures of the prophet muhammad. the president who joined the march had called for a million people to get on the streets in peaceful protest, and his appeal was answered. it was an opportunity for the president to remind the kremlin that he enjoyed widespread support in chechnya and in neighborhooding countries. there was no aggression here. posters read take your hands off of our profit. addressing the crowds the

president said he will never allow the president to be insulted and said we are ready to die for this. he said european journalists and politicians are insulting the feelings of believes in the guise of free speech. and western countries are only interested in provocation. the russian government only too well aware of the depth of feeling, was quick to distance itself from the movement and reiterated its full support of media ban on religious caricatures. peter sharpe al jazeera, in moscow. there were similar protests today in gaza. hundreds gathered outside of the french cultural center. demonstrators burned a french flag. security forces were called in

to control the crowd. mideast tensions have made their way too the miss universe pageant. it started with this photo by miss israel. she is on the far left. next to her was miss lebanon who was condemned in her home country for con sorting with the enemy. miss lebanon says she was photo bombed. measures could be taken against the beauty queen. coming up next big box office and a growing controversy. we'll talk to a retired navy seal about "american sniper." and did the patriots tamper with the footballs in sunday's playoff game?

the biggest movie at the box office this holiday weekend is bringing with it a lot of controversy.

"american sniper" grossed a record $90 million in its nation's opening. that's the biggest opening in hollywood history. it tells the story of chris kyle a decorated sniper who served four tours of duty in iraq and killed more than 100 people but the movie has drawn criticism for being pro-war. robert serves in iraq and afghanistan and is in washington, d.c. tonight. michael welcome. i want to start with michael moore's tweeting that snipers are cowards. why has this movie touched such a nerve? >> one of the atlantic stories we head about today were talking about moore and seth -- >> seth rogan. >> seth rogan is these are isolated snapshots, in fact rogan followed up about his

comment about it being like a subset from another movie, saying i really enjoyed "american sniper," and it was just a rough passing. and moore did a long facebook update on what he was talking about, saying his grandfather, or uncle was killed by a sniper and he -- he was taught that snipers are cowards. the reason i understand the importance of having that capability in our tool set and families who have loved ones lost by a bullet will have a very different experience. >> in the movie they make reference to the number of kills made by chris kyle. does that put a point on this topic or not? >> i would say he was good at his job. it sounds cold maybe to look at

it from that perspective, but, again, sniping is an essential function. sniping -- a friend of mine was on a building and shot a driver of a suicide vehicle racing towards the barracks along the lines of the marine barracks that was bombed and he put a bullet in his chest and he detonated his vehicle before he reached the marine base. the policy makers and ethics and philosophy of who it is okay to snipe -- if we could have sniped bin laden with all of the, i guess, hindsight in the world, if he could have sniped bin laden. i didn't know chris personally

but we all have to do our part. he was very good at his job, but it does of course raise the specter of violence and gun violence, and so forth which is not really compared. >> even more i have heard some people talk about whether it's a pro-war film or anti-war film. it raises the question of whether or not the united states could have gone to war at all. >> sure absolutely. >> do you think that's natural? >> i think it's natural. and i think it's completely in inappropriate, because chris kyle's life was about one man doing his mission in theater, and protecting his buddies. you are not fighting for your country, you are fighting for the guy to your left and right when you are in that situation, so kyle was doing what he had to

do in those moments and according to policy directing him to do so. but the comparison is completely out of place about the microcosm of one person's life. it's happening i agree with you. >> yes, and i have a feeling it is going to continue. i was in the movie theater over the weekend and it was packed with people. so we'll see how this discussion develops. robert thank you for adding to this discussion we appreciate it. >> thank you. ♪

the new england patriots yesterday advanced to the super bowl but not without controversy. >> yeah john some people are calling this deflate gate.

the patriots facing accusations of deflating the actual football. controversy now hangs over the patriot's celebration. the nfl is investigating whether new england cheated, by slightly deflath deflating the football. patriots quarterback tom brady laughed off the accusations. >> would you care to weigh in on that? >> i think i have heard it all at this point. >> and his receiver brushed it off too. nfl rules require the balls be inflated to between 12.5 and 13.5 pounds per square inch. a softer ball makes it easier to catch especially in cold

weather. it all could be linked to this confusion. on sunday a referee stopped play and switched out the ball. it's unclear if that play has anything to do with the controversy, but league officials said they did take several balls out of play. before every game officials check a dozen footballs from each team. they are inspected and marked. it's not the first time the nfl has investigated whether the patriots vialed -- violated the rules. whether the ball was deflated or not had any effect is up to debate. even the sports writer who first broke the story tweeted they were man handled, 45-7.

so new england is heading to its 8th super bowl. if anyone is found responsible they could face a $25,000 fine. >> do they check it? >> they check it 2:15 before the game and they don't check it again unless there is a question there. >> interesting. coming up approaching a tipping point on equality the problems it could cause for the global economy. the hubble telescope has brought the world extraordinary images from space, but nothing like what you are about to see tonight. they are stunning. >> reporter: according to the change -- ancient myth it was atlas who bore the weight of the

heavens on his shoulders. but now we can finally see the pillars of creation as they really look. clouds of gas and dust where young stars are forming. with the clarity and depth that would have made galileo's eyes pop. it gives us a deep focus look into the universe with the hubble telescope in 1995 but those images were nothing like these new images and give us a sense of how the clouds have changed. they are part of a much larger cluster 7,000 light years from earth. the closer you look the more detail you see, like these swirling clouds that help form the constellation orion. the year marks the 25th since hubble's launch. mesmerizing images like these

are a kind of anniversary present that you simply can't take your eyes off. happy birthday hubble. unlike some of us you get better with ages and better at unlocking a universe. >> joint military exercises between united states and south korea are regular occurrences. this one, codenamed max thunder - took place in november at the kunsan air force base 150 miles south of seoul... >> this type of exercise takes place every year but for the north korean government they consider this a provocation and a threat.