♪ hi everyone this is al jazeera america, i'm john siegenthaler troops and ceasefire deal in ukraine and the pitfalls that can undue it. prayers in anger, thousands gather in north carolina to remember the three muslims who were shot to death. identity crisis growing up with a false name one woman's struggle in the witness protection program. and photo finish candid and compelling, the unforgettable images from this year's world

press photo contest. ♪ tonight a glimmer of hope to end a year of bloody fighting in ukraine. russia and kiev agreed to a ceasefire. possible turning point for the region washington's relationship with moscow but ceasefires have been signed before only to fall apart in a matter of days. a truce in the war in ukraine, a collective effort to bring about peace by european leaders, germany, france and russia. the agreement signed by ukraine and the pro-russian separatists calls for fighting to stop by sunday. the deal requires both sides to pull back heavy weapons from the front lines and sets up a security zone to separate the two sides. calls for all prisoners to be released within 19 days and

allows ukraine to regrain control of the international border with russia. hour after announcement people a rallied in the stronghold of donetsk where some of the most intense fighting has taken place. >> translator: this is not the first ceasefire; isn't that right and after every ceasefire porshenk o sends more forces. grim reminders of war and failed ceasefires in the past. >> translator: of course we hope piece will come and the bombing of our city stops and the children are stop being afraid and go out of homes and are not confident and don't trust kiev and don't recognize them. >> reporter: according to the u.n. the ten-month conflict killed 5,000 people and wounded more than 12000. each side blames the other for the growing number offensive civilian

casualties. >> two grandsons and we are tired of hiding in corridors or under ground what can i say we keep hoping. >> reporter: hope for lasting peace marred by tough talk and vows not to retreat. >> translator: we need to keep this position because there is a large contingent of enemy forces in nearby developed survey and many ukrainian soldiers here but we defeated them. >> reporter: and more now from the front lines of the conflict in eastern ukraine where there is uncertainty about ceasefire and the future of the region charles stratford reports. >> reporter: we drove to the front line only hours ago and ukrainian military fired rockets at this road. the separatists fighter with us said we should switch off our mobile phones and drive fast. there are few fighters at this former ukraine military base and say the primary role here is to

try and monitor ukraine army movements. we are in a position south of donetsk and fighters tell us ukrainian forces are a quarter in that direction and cannot go in front of the building because there is a danger of snipers. fighters here are unsure what the minsk agreement will mean for them. >> translator: we will stay here unless we get an order from our commander's to retreat or advance and holding this defense position to help protect the town. >> reporter: the separatist leaders said the agreement could have far-reaching implications. >> translator: we can't deny ukraine this chance because the whole country will change as a result, the attitude and people will change,, in fact the people of ukraine, we are still with them and totally consider them our people this chance is given to ukraine to change the constitution which is specifically mentioned in these agreement documents, to change its attitude. >> reporter: the minsk agreement fails to define the status of the people's

republicans. some of the people in donetsk are in favor of independence. >> translator: donetsk should be independent, unity won't work to return to ukraine we need to be governed by an adequate government. >> translator: how can we return to ukraine after everything they have done to us? >> reporter: thousands of people have been killed in indisit in shelling on both sides of the conflict. three shells hit this hospital in separatist controlled donetsk on wednesday night, at least one person was killed. >> translator: this is where we went and the patient is under the dust and one bed destroyed by shrapnel and it was terrifying. >> reporter: so many people have died since the last ceasefire collapsed in september. and there is great uncertainty among the people here as to whether this latest truce will be implemented and held charles stratford, al jazeera, eastern ukraine. the ceasefire may be as much about the bottom line as

diplomacy and fact is the sanctions have taken a severe toll on russia's economy. one way to look at the impact is with capitol flight that is the money that investors are pulling out of russia consider this in 2013 russia central bank said $63 billion left the country. in 2014 when the sanctions started the capitol flight nearly doubled to $123 billion. now, it's not just the money that is leaving, it's in 2010 33,000 people left russia. in 2014 the exodus topped 200,000. alexander is a former kremlin adviser in london this evening and welcome, tell me what you think of this ceasefire and whether you think it will hold. >> well it's a difficult, you know difficult to say whether it will hold or not because there are so many small things on every side of the story that we don't really we can't really

anticipate. and already certain games have started surrounding this agreement. the western countries are already saying european countries are saying they will introduce sanctions if russia does not abide by the agreement. as if russia is the only side in this whole situation. so you know difficulties have emerged even before the ceasefire and actually stepped into force. >> what if this deal falls apart down the road do you think president obama will actually send weapons to ukraine? >> well at the moment of course a lot of people are saying that it won't work. and i think it was basically decided in a very short term of time. you know the problem is that in this century we have bad military decisions approved by politicians like iraq libya, syria, afghanistan and now we have this ukrainian situation

where the generals the military people on the ground have not been really asked how it can be carried out. and so we have deadlines at once. you know on sunday at midnight everybody has to stop firing. which is practically impossible. i think the politicians, again, are pushing their agendas and unfortunately the, there is no realization of the situation on the ground. >> some people might suggest the bad military movement was on the part of russia when it got involved in this conflict what do you think russia wants out of ukraine? >> well, first of all, we have to go back to the coup in february last year in kiev when the regime were over thrown legitimately elected regime was over thrown and a new government came to power basically by force. and the whole crisis goes back to that coup because we would not have now crimea being part of russia and we would not have

the uprising in the east if there was no coup in kiev in february last year. >> but you know the argument on the other side is russia walked in and took crimea and that ukrainians in the west are concerned that russia wants more of their country, what do you say? >> well, first of all, russia did not take crimea. crimea held the referendum after the regime in kiev which replaced the previous democratically elected regime and started making threats and threatening the people living in the east and south and that is why the referendum took place so russia did not start this whole crisis. and to the same situation happened in the east when the hostile new regime in kiev started threatening ethic russians and calling them enemies and foreigners and so on and why the crisis developed.

>> what does vladimir putin want to end the crisis? >> one thing lacking in the agreement is there is no obligation on the part of the west not to drag ukraine into it. i think the basic problem is that russia does not want the nato troops on its border in the ukraine. now, the agreements during of after the end of the cold war was between russia and the west and nato would not move eastwards. unfortunately it was not the case in real life. nato has done it. and now the situation is that ukraine and the new regime is saying we want to be part of nato and whatever you know the conversations going on between russia and the west at the moment russia is not feeling there is an obligation something set in stone saying that no ukraine will not become a member of nato until

this matter is resolved there will be tension, there will be distrust and i don't think the crisis will end in ukraine. >> alexander it's good to have you on the program, thank you very much. now back in the u.s. three north carolina students shot to death in cold blood were laid to rest today, thousands attended the funerals and students were all muslim and alleged killer a neighbor and police are still investigating the motive but family members and many in the muslim community say there is no doubt it was a hate crime. paul is in raleigh with more paul? >> john that is right, this is a community here that is really still in shock trying to make sense of a senseless tragedy. i'm standing in the center of the north carolina state university campus where there was another vigil tonight, hundreds of students and community members gathering here to remember these three students to hear from victims' family members some of whom came

straight from the burial at a muslim cemetery outside of town. earlier today there was a huge prayer service, thousands of people coming from far and wide to gather to be together to mourn together. ♪ on a brisk and blustery winter afternoon they came to pray. the crowd was so big more than 5,000 people that the service for the muslim students gunned down in chapel hill had to be held on a soccer field, a giant blue tarp serving as a prayer mat. in front of the stage three coffins, deah shaddy barakat, his wife jusor mohammad and her sister rozan mohamad abu-salha. the women's father mohamed abu-salha spoke. >> the pain is undescribable and

rerejoice and we enjoy and have all the blessings and the glad tidings of giving these children, the three of them up to god for what they believed in and how they lived. >> reporter: but how they died remains a question many here are convinced the shooter was motivated by hatred of muslims and police maintain the primary motive was a dispute over parking. >> this has hate crime written all over it and i'm not going to sit down and bend over that because we need to know things the way they are. >> i want to take this opportunity and i won't speak much about the investigation today at all because this is a time to be together i will recommit that we are examining every possible investigative angle to include potential for a hate crime. >> reporter: when the service ended mourners carried the coffins to hearse for a procession to a muslim cemetery outside raleigh in a private burial ceremony.

and he went to middle school with two of the victims. >> they made such a huge impact and it's crazy because you wouldn't -- there are so many things i didn't know until now they did and it's like wow, like that is the way, that is the way to be a role model. >> reporter: and she drove from greensboro north carolina 75 miles away >> after this incident took place it's really a shocker. i don't know like how many neighbor feels any more about me, my mom and sister have a very good job and worry for their safety. >> reporter: meanwhile the suspect craig hicks was transferred to a prison in raleigh not far from omthe service. he has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder. the fbi is now working with the chapel hill police in the case the families say they want a full-scale investigation of hicks' motives. >> we need to identify things the way they really are. >> reporter: john craig hicks was transferred to central prison it's not far from campus

here today and there is somewhat of a fuller picture now being painted of him, residents of the apartment complex say he was bad to people there about noise and parking and confrontational and condo association held a meeting specifically last year about how to deal with him but as you heard it's really not going to satisfy a lot of people in the muslim community here who are convinced he was targeting muslims, that he was targeting those three victims because of their faith and john a lot of unanswered questions here. >> paul in raleigh and thank you. in egypt two al jazeera journalists held behind bars for 411 days ordered release pending retrial fahmy held up the egypt flag in court an ordered $33,000 bail and mohamed will not have to post bail and both reused of aidingly muslim brotherhood and

giving false news and we have a correspondent with democracy now and he was in the courtroom. >> a rare moment of joy in an egypt courtroom today when the judge granted release on bail for fahmy and mohamed and erupted in cheers and applause and family members could not hold back tears and really was a scene of great happiness after 411 days behind bars the journalists were finally set free the courtroom is held inside a prison complex in egypt. and defendants are held in a cage dock which has been outfitted with sound proof glass, first of all you can hardly see the people on trial let alone hear them but the judge did grant fahmy a request to address the court directly. he was brought out. his arm was in a sling. his shoulder has been permanently disabled from an injury he sustained prior to his arrest. but that was exacerbated during his very harsh imprisonment and

improper medical care and addressed the court directly and he gave a plea for his defense and said we as journalist committed no violence. and he spoke about his reasons for giving up his egyptian citizenship at the end of his address he held up an egyptian flag to the packed audience and turned around and the courtroom erupted in applause. i spoke with his wife she was esstatic and a mother of three young children, one of whom was born in august while he was in prison and said the first thing she is going to do is go home to tell her children that daddy is finally coming home and she said breaking down in tears while she did that the last year has been a year of sorrow and tragedy for the family. there was relentless coverage of this case it sparked worldwide condemnation and i think we can safely say that the public pressure both domestic and international brought the release of these skrourn --

journalists after 400 days. >> next hearing is february 23 and al jazeera is calling on egypt to dismiss this case release them unconditionally and a third al jazeera journalist greste was deported to australia earlier this month, coming up next in the broadcast "modern family" and take you inside one home that represents the changing face of america. and lives changed forever, we will hear from a women who grew up in the witness protection program. ♪

six months after the police shooting of michael brown months full of protests and debate we heard unprecedented and candidate comments today from the director of the fbi, james comey says some officers view blacks and whites very differently. he says it is time for the police to confront what he calls unconscious bias and lazy mental short cuts. >> we must better understand the

people we serve and protect by trying to know deep in our gut what it feels like to be a law abiding young black man walking down the street and encountering law enforcement, we must understand how that young man may see us. >> reporter: comey is calling for a new federal database to track police involved shootings in the u.s. the current system is voluntary only tracks fatal incidents and many police departments do not submit reports to the department of justice. ♪ in tonight's special report race in america the sentence bureau projects within 30 years white people will no longer be the majority in the u.s. and those numbers are based on some questionable assumptions. science and technology correspondent jacob ward explains. >> reporter: released numbers that say that non-hispanic whites that is me everybody, are going to drop out of majority by 2044. right now folks like me account

for 63% of the u.s. population and by 2030 that number will be 55.5 and 2044 it will drop below half. now the thing is that math is totally unreliable fertility rates and immigration rates change but there is another fundamental problem. the whole notion of a majority or a minority in the united states is a pretty primitive concept and that is because it doesn't take into account a few very fundamental things. first people are having kids with people of other ethnic and racial backgrounds, in 1960 only 0.4% were multi racial in 2010 it was 8.4% over all. when you look at multi racial marriages those most likely to marry outside their race are whites and dispanics and 44% of the time they marry one another. also people don't identify themselves the same way throughout their lives. in fact, in the 2010 census says

8% of americans changing their minds about what they are. and it doesn't know how to handle multi racial people. you can check multiple boxes but 6.2% of 2010 census respondents selected another race and that is a group that they do not have data to identify by race or ethnicity and account for people changing their spouses and moving from place to place and having more kids over the course of their lives so why can't our math account for a change of personal identity? by 2044 the world is going to be a very different place full of extraordinary innovations and one of them is going to have to be a more sophisticated way of accounting for the melting together of all the different races in a very multi racial america. and this is al jazeera san francisco. as jake just showed us a person's race can be difficult

to identify. some americans aren't sure exactly what box to check. that's the case for one san francisco family that represents the changing face of a new america. >> my name is robby. more commonly i go by robby lowe because it's a long name and i'm very lucky to be married to my wife sandy chan and have two great kids ky and makoa. and this is my dad, peter persly all family reunions we are very diverse with all the different blood, family members as well as people in other relationships have been married into and that is kind of the world i grew up in. my dad's dad is african/american. but black but from louisiana so that is really kreal and on my mom's side her father was

hawaiian chinese and more chinese but culturally hawaiian and her mom is irish and english. >> born 1942 in san francisco, raised in berkeley my parents were what was called an interracial marriage which at the time they got married which was 1939 was actually still illegal in california. swing music was a big thing and a ballroom on oakland and decided to go on the colored night. >> yeah. >> to the ballroom and it was right at that time when things were changing in america and just marched right up and the guy at the door is like sorry, we are not going to do that folks. we got to do this. >> they said not tonight. we said why not tonight? which not tonight? they let them in. >> people would say, well what are you? well american united states.

no but what are you though? [laughter] that wasn't quite an answer you know. my mother's side right, no that side of my family is traced directly back to the may flower. >> i remember i think taking sat for the first time my sophomore year in high school and it's like check the box which ethnicity are you and i think i checked like three or four and checked multiple boxes and it might mess it up but this is who i am. the privilege part of it is it allowed me to see race as a construct and even though people might have thought i was a certain ethnicity or tried to characterize me or maybe acting in a racist way, you know thinking that i'm this or that i was never any of the things so i could sort of escape that

categorize and he is not the first black president but multi racial mixed person. we are relatively youngish country so i think that this is kind of the stage of identity crisis of like previously america looked like this and we were only these kinds of people with light skin and talking a certain way and i think the reality of like america is this incredible mix of people. >> and coming up in tomorrow night's race in america special report, the talk for many african/american families it's a fact of life parents teaching their kids how to interact with law enforcement. one high school in washington d.c. the aclu gave students some advice. >> let the situation play out and stay calm as possible, that is the first rule don't run. if you start running or you start fleeing from the police what are they going to do? what are they going to just be like okay? >> reporter: parents we spoke to in washington say the talk has taken on an added sense of

urgency after the deaths of michael brown in missouri and eric garner in new york that is coming up, tomorrow still ahead on this broadcast witness protection program and the impact on children who grow up in hiding. plus stepping in the order by a federal judge in alabama over same sex marriage. ♪

this is al jazeera america and i'm john seigenthaler hiding out >> i will not forget the day finding out my father was a murder ur. >> reporter: children growing up in the witness protection program, what happens next? alabama standoff over same sex marriage, the federal ruling finally providing some answers tonight. joanne story. >> for me and john it was about the simple things and moments in life. >> reporter: a mother with terminal cancer and hear from the heartbreaking film nominated

for an oscar plus from intimate to inspiring the pictures from this year's world crest photo contest. ♪ the witness protection program is designed to help people who testify against dangerous criminals with a new identity and life really in exchange for that testimony. often witnesses take their families with them. one woman who grew up in witness protection says it's not designed to meet the needs of children and carol has a rare look in the secretive program. >> i'll never forget that day finding out my father was a murderer and i hated him but i still loved him because he was my dad. we stayed in the top floor over there. >> reporter: 33 years ago a run-down hotel across from the railroad tracks became home for billings montana, newest family. >> we didn't know anybody here and it's freezing and nothing to do in the hotel room and we are

playing in the snow that is all there was to play in the parking lot in the snow. so welcome to montana jackie taylor. >> reporter: jackie taylor does not know her real name her birth name evaporated when he father entered the fed witness protection claim and her father was a high ranking officer in the cleveland chapter of the hells angels the most vicious motorcycle gang. >> a look in the club back in the 60s 70s and 80s. >> reporter: after participating in dozens of violent crimes in the 60s and 70s the club's bombing murder of an innocent child convinced crouch to turn against his biker brothers in 1982 and he was the state's star witness this three trials. >> he couldn't do it any more and just had an epiphany he wanted to be a family man. >> reporter: kept his biker past locked away in an old steamer trunk. >> should we just flip it. >> reporter: we dragged it

across the floor and opened it to talk. did they know something was in here? >> he left a whole bunch of things for me. >> reporter: the counter court documents show he made a deal with the feds in return for inside information he received a reduced prison sentence for his own criminal past and a premise of new identities and protection for him and his family in a town 1600 miles away. >> i remember them coming to get us like it was yesterday. 1:00 2:00 in the morning we were woke up by guys with suits and we were scared. we didn't know what was going on and had no idea i was seven years old and my sister was five and my brother was two. >> happy birthday. >> happy birthday. >> soon you will be ten. >> reporter: this home video taken the night before butch crouch went to prison. >> soon you will be 11 and 12. a kiss for jackie for each of the eight birthdays he would

miss. >> happy birthday. >> merry christmas. >> reporter: the trick was she was a victim there should be therapy to prepare them for this. >> reporter: therapists tom farro says the witness protection program ignores the unique mental health issues of children and he was one of the few people who knew of jackie's true past and treated her weekly at her new elementary school. >> it was the first time i worked with anybody that with that situation and so it was pretty delicate at the time and i couldn't tell other teachers. >> reporter: he was present when her mother revealed to her young children their father was not a ship captain as she told them but, in fact, a killer her younger sister ford was this first grade when she found out. >> she called us all in the room at the school with the counselor and told us your dad is not working on a ship you know he murdered someone and he is in prison, and we are in the witness protection program and blah, blah, blah you can't tell anybody. >> we practiced writing our new

names once they figured out what our new names were going to be so i remember one of those little childhood little note pads with the lines and i had to fill up that whole book with jacqueline and taylor. >> actually impossible for a kid to wrap their head around that having to be told you cannot tell the truth. you have to lie. you have to be somebody you're not. >> reporter: for witnesses with targets on their backs a complete identity change is part of the bargain. what is less clear is the marshal's responsibility to their families as jackie was about to find out. >> no birth certificate and no passport. >> reporter: never supplied with a birth certificate and lost her passport and not been able to replace them. >> i tried to call the marshals the department of justice, the fbi, anybody, victims advocates, social security nobody knew

what to do. >> reporter: it's a nightmare that left her three children without healthcare. >> my children's medicaid got cancelled because i do not have a birth certificate. >> where does it say that? >> jackie right here. >> jackie citizenship does not exist. >> when it affects my kids i'm not okay. >> reporter: journalist bill spend years covering the witness protection program and has interviewed dozens of witnesses who share jackie's frustration. >> no thought or funding of family members for people many the program and frankly to family members are just as much an innocent people as the people who were victims of the original crimes. >> reporter: jackie grew into a rebellion teenager and went from high school to high school and drank heavily and got addicted to meth and kicked her habit years ago. >> okay girls huddle up quick. >> reporter: and coaches her

daughter's basketball team and active in pta and works several jobs to support her kids after ten years of roadblocks she almost gave up calling government officials for help. >> i'm on the witness protection program and i do not have a passport and marshals are not answering my calls and nobody knows and nobody seems to know what to do. >> reporter: the u.s. marshal service wouldn't provide al jazeera assistance with specific information on the witness protection program citing witness safety but after an al jazeera inquiry montana senator's office said they would help her navigate the red tape. >> we will work with the state department on this end and see what we can do to help. >> okay. >> second and third generation witness protection program people are really struggling and, you know it's just an issue that they did not foresee. the more they know me the louder i'm getting and it needs to get

figured out and not going away until it is. >> reporter: she is not going to go away as for the paperwork from john's office she tells us this week she finally got it at her house and she is going to fill it out but really because she has been through so much she is crossing her fingers but says there are no guarantees. john. >> so carol explain the to me is she still in the program? >> well you know it's funny she doesn't know if she is or not because when she calls the u.s. marshals office they won't respond and won't answer her phone calls so she assumes that she is. >> and i guess maybe she is not supposed to reveal that what happened to her dad? >> well her dad, it's a long story butch crouch was his given name but he went through four or five aliases and died a year and a half ago and actually killed himself and his family. but the last 20 years he was a man named paul dome and had done really well but about six months before he died he was having a hard time getting any kind of

government assistance because he had no consistent identification. he needed social security and he needed medicare and he was very sick and he just kind of lost it and jackie says you know he was paul dome and that was a good man but at the very end he became butch crouch again and left her that big black trunk with the answers to her own life. >> so, carol, i can understand why she is speaking out about this but at the same time isn't she in some danger? >> well you know that is kind of a double-edged sword and it goes in the u.s. marshals office favor because all of the second and third-generations of people who did testify years ago are stuck because they are too afraid to speak out. jackie is not afraid any more because one of the hell's angels guys who was going to kill her dad approached her years ago and told her you know we were never after butch crouch's family we were only after him and she is not afraid of motorcycles anymore and says she is going to speak out until she can help all

the other people get their identification back. >> strong woman and an interesting story, carol thank you. former fbi special accounts james put several people in the witness protection program and in sacramento tonight so did the government think about what happens to the children? >> well they have to honor or try to work with the parents and so they are the adults that the government has to deal with and have a contract with if you will. >> in some ways are they the people who are forgotten? >> they can be. but it looks like the program here looks like that she has broken the cardinal rule of the program and that is she has spoken about the program and she has made contact with folks in her family and maybe friends and as the report indicates even a hells angels member and so that

puts the marshals office in a predictable, it's something they cannot live with. it's a liability that never end. >> she was a child and didn't have anything to do with going in the witness protection program herself, why should she be required to keep and obey the rules? >> well it will be interesting to learn when was the rule violated because often it's the person that violates the rule it goes on for a period of time and then the marshals office is contacted and asked to rectify things. for example i had a person put in a witness protection program, they were in the program for about six months they decided it wasn't for them, they elected to move back into their community, they registered their kids back into school using the phony names and just went on with life as if nothing happened. and so the problem is the

marshal service has to deal with people that at best many are not stable and so making these arrangements sometimes they do fall apart. >> what else forces people out of the program? >> well they go into the program thinking they are going to make a lot of money, that they are going to be in a nice place and that everything is going to be given to them. and, in fact what happens is they get a new life and given a new identity but it's incumbent upon them to work to get a job and build their new life and put kids in school, a lot has to be done on their own once they have been given the new identity. >> this is the stuff movies are made of and probably the closest most americans will get to it but do you have a sense how successful this program really is? >> oh, john it has been successful. it's been going on for 45 years. i was an at agent in the bureau

for 35 and i can tell you i put a number of people in the program and had one that moved back but everyone else was able to live with the program and as far as i know are doing well. >> is there anything the government can do to help the children? >> well they can reach out and they can have a dialog and try to rectify and correct things. i read a piece in the report and it said that the marshal service was in contact but some phone calls were not returned. i'm sure there is a dialog problem there and the marshals will want to correct it just as much as the woman. >> james it's always good to see you james and thank you very much. now to washington where there will be soon a change of command at the pentagon the senate voted overwhelmingly today to confirm ashton carter as next secretary of defense and succeeds chuck hagel and carter

could take office in the next few days and faces several challenges including the fight against i.s.i.l. the crisis in ukraine and winding down the war in afghanistan. today president obama signed a bill to help reduce the number of veterans who commit suicide. the bill would create a website to provide veterans with information on mental health services according to the veterans affairs 22 vets take their lives every year. alabama a federal judge ordered mobile county to start issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples. alabama's chief justice has told local judges to ignore a federal ruling allowing gay marriages in the state, more from christof. >> it's going to happen if not today, it's going to happen sometime in alabama i mean you can't kick and scream and i don't want to give people equal rights why not, you know? i don't think anybody can answer why not. >> reporter: chantay and corey

have been spiritually married a year but like many same sex couples they wanted more to be legally wednesday and it's a dream deferred. counties across alabama they refuse to issue same sex marriage licenses because of the boss chief justice moore. >> i'm not dictating who you love or don't love, i'm trying to say the law restricts who you marry in this state, no federal court can turn it otherwise and if they do where do they stop? >> reporter: despite the federal ruling declaring the state's ban on gay marriage unconstitutional on sunday night chief justice moore instructed probate judges to uphold alabama state law and not issue marriage licenses to same sex couples. >> i'm sworn to the constitution of alabama and support the constitution saying marriage will be between one man and one woman and i see no power in the federal government or united

states supreme court for that matter to redefine the word marriage. >> reporter: judge moore's stand makes alabama the only state in the conservative south to defy the federal court on gay marriage. >> it's an embarrassment to the state and was the first time he was on the bench and doing it again. i hope he will learn their lesson this guy is not meant to be in public office. if he wants to be a preacher then go be a preacher but you cannot use the bible to interpret constitutional law. >> simply doesn't and is not recognized in the state according to our constitution. it's not very difficult. it disputes the social policy of our state. >> reporter: moore is not backing down and maybe he says not even for the supreme court itself if it eventually makes same sex marriage legal in all 50 states. >> i make the decision at that time. >> the state of alabama i proudly pronounce you married and in love you may kiss one another. >> reporter: however this plays

out for newly wednesdays life just got a little sweeter and it's hard to argue with that. christof with al jazeera, montgomery alabama. you can see the report on america tonight at 10:00 eastern time 7:00 pacific. now to the weather, cold extremely cold temperatures for the northeast and here is metrologist nicole mitchell. the story over the next few days is not snow but temperatures especially the cold temperatures as we get into the northeast, we had the front come through and behind that between a new area of high pressure and the low that is has moved out that really causes a pressure gradient of high winds coming from canada but all that cold air funneling in so that is going to be pretty significant for us as we get into tomorrow morning. some of those temperatures 10-20 degrees below average but with that wind that i was mentioning that is going to put the wind chills well below 0 especially in places like north carolina in--

new york and wind chills could be 20-30 below 0 and on the exposed skin be careful with treacherous weather and the east coast is under that cold air, the west coast well above average, places like california about 20 degrees above average and record territory, once again tomorrow. and this goes out for a couple days and you cannot see much of a change in the pattern so that region of the country will stay warm los angeles 89 degrees, typical temperatures are in the 60s. now the one other thing we will watch, not with the last system but the next one coming for the end of the weekend, by the time we get to sunday could be another heavy snow day for boston still digging out from the last rounds and back to you. >> thank you. nearly 100,000 images submitted by photographers all over the world but in any contest it all comes down to one. jonathan betz has more on the world press photo of the year.

>> reporter: these are some of the most striking news images captured around the world last year and are personal historical and now award winning. honored by the world press photo competition. these three uniforms are reminder of the mass kidnapping of nearly 300 school girls in nigeria and most are still missing today. then there are the light-hearted moments like twin brothers sharing birthday chocolate with classmates and one touchdown catch and a bus waiting for sunday school with red powder in the air a chinese worker tries to protect himself while making christmas decorations. italian government put the navy to work rescuing refugees at sea, one mission saved hundreds off the coast of libya but out of thousands of entries the world press photo of the year went to niessan, a photographer

for this image and captured a moment that feels like a painting by one of the old masters and shows john and alex a gay couple living in russia where sexual minorities are facing growing legal and social discrimination. jonathan betz al jazeera. and coming up next on this broadcast an inside look of documentary of a mother fighting cancer while taking care of her son and plus remembering cbs news man bob simon and the stories he covered around the world. ♪

joanne a heartbreaking doszes menry and follows a cancer patient to leave behind a video diary for her young son and the

director shares the story with us in the first-person report. >> she suffers from an incredible cancer and when she discovered that she has got the cancer the doctors told her she had just three months left. she is also a mother of a seven-year-old boy and she is full of life so she didn't agree to die so early and she started to fight and she survived almost three years so much more than the doctors said. but for me joanne is about the simplist things and moments in life that we very often forget.

when i learned about joanne and when i started to read her blog i discovered those little moments and things that for me were always the most important in life and at the same time i could see that people keep for getting them. i think she wanted some relief as much as possible for her little boy because she was kind of afraid that when she passes away she is still very young and he can forget daily life. i finished the movie in august 2012 and two months after she passed away. i would like to leave a message that just live now start living just now because you can't be sure if tomorrow ever comes

comes. >> reporter: released in theatres around the country and stephanie sy has a story in the next hour after more than 100 forces iraqi forces liberate the oil refineries. >> we were there as iraq forces got the upper hand on i.s.i.l. under siege by i.s.i.l. forces since mid november the oil refineries they were working to protect is near beji and one of the largest and the city is of such interest to i.s.i.l. for 103 days both sides traded fire until reenforcements arrived and made a strategic move. >> translator: we have separated sunni from beji the people know how crucial these two locations are and beji in control entirely since 2006 but now we have made good gains by making that separation. >> reporter: the threat does

remain as i.s.i.l. still has control over beji itself this exclusive report is coming up in our next hour the camera is right there on the front lines. >> you will be back in four minutes and thank you and we end the hour with a tribute to a colleague, cbs bob simon who spent ten years reporting for 60 minutes died yesterday in a car accident in new york and it was his remarkable brand of journalism that set him apart. 47 years and starting in the 60s on campus unrest and inner city riots in the u.s. soon cbs sent him to vietnam and he was there through the end leaving on one of the last helicopters out of saigon in 1975. >> today three. >> reporter: he reported from war zones in porchal and in 91

the persian gulf war and was 40 days in torture by the iraqi army and talked about it last year. >> when you are detained in horrible conditions as they have been it's undescribable the only people you can talk to are the people who have been this that condition. >> reporter: he also expressed his solidarity and support for our three al jazeera colleagues then being held in an egyptian prison. >> but the fact they are keeping western journalists in jail i don't get it. >> reporter: if numbers are anyway to sum up a career simon was unrivalled and won 27 emmy's 4 peabody awards and 40 journalism awards in all and a journalist whose extraordinary work had a tremendous impact. bob simon with 7 -- was 73

>> that is the program and i'm bob seigenthaler and we continue with stephanie sy.

>> al jazeera's investigative unit has tonight's exclusive report. >> stories that have impact... that make a difference... that open your world... >> this is what we do... >> america tonight only on al jazeera america ♪ yemen is collapsing before our eyes eyes. we cannot stand by and watch. >> reporter: a dire warning from the head of the u.n. on a day when an al-qaeda group captures a yemen military base bang cherokee moon calls on the world community to act. on the front lines in iraq with an al jazeera exclusive, iraqi troops taking the fight to i.s.i.l. a first-hand account of the battle. making peace in eastern ukraine,