protests from london to tehran after saudi arabia executes a prominent shia figure. factory out put in china is down for a fifth straight month. the effect may soon be felt around the world including the u.s. puerto rico in crisis.

we will take a look at what the u.s. territory faces in 2016 as it gets ready to miss yet another debt payment. >> i don't permit them to go outside and walk up and down the street crime is up in all categories in l.a., but the mayor says it's not as bad as some may think protesters attacking in the embassy in iran hurling molotov cocktails inside and smashing windows and furniture. they're angry over the execution of a prominent shia cleric in saudi arabia. those demonstrators and more around the globe are against the execution of 47 man today. nimr al-nimr's death could deepen a divide in the region

such as in iraq where religious leaders are saying ties should be severed with saudi arabia. rob matheson has more. >> reporter: these are some of the 47 men executed in saudi arabia. they had been convicted of plotting and out torist attacks-- terreist acts. enthusiasm include nimr al-nimr. also among them was a leading al-qaeda mreecher faris al-zahrani-- preacher faris al-zahrani. the men received a fair trial say saudi arabia. >> reporter: the judiciary is objective and we deal with the cases on merit. there is no difference between what a person does, rarely of his ethnic origin or affiliation or what he believes. we deal with facts and criminal intent. >> reporter: last year a special court sentenced nimr al-nimr to

death for sedition and bearing arms. he did not deny the charges, but said he never carried weapons or called for violence. saudi arabia vowed to stamp out terrorism after 15 people were killed in a suicide bombing in a mosque in august. many of the others such as preacher faris al-zahrani had been linked to tacks in the kingdom between 2003 and 206, said to have been carried out by al-qaeda. >> it has made sure that it sees no difference between any form of terror as long as it is threatening people, at the will take care of it and deal with it swiftly. it doesn't matter whether it is a shia or sunni source of terror. >> reporter: in october it warned saudi arabia of dire consequences if nimr al-nimr was killed. that warning was repeated when

announcement of his death was announced. >> iran will try to neutralize this by igniting the soft spots in the region. it would be a surprise if they do it again. >> reporter: following these latest executions more may be on the way. at least 2200 similar cases are still to be heard in saudi arabian courts the u.s. state department weighed in on the executions this afternoon. a statesman by spokesman expressed concern over the legal process in saudi arabia and the timing of these executions saying: the statement also called on the saw degovernment to have peace dissent.

protesters did that in saudi arabia following the clerk's execution. groups of men and women took to the streets in saudi arabia while chanting determination and nimr al-nimr until the grave. the neighbouring bahrain protest turned violent as police shot tear gas. protesters shouted anti-government slogans and carried pictures of nimr al-nimr. it reached as far as london where outside the embassy were protests. officials have secured an indian air base after gunmen opened fire killing two troops. the attack took place yesterday in nornth india near the pakistani border. it has been seen as an attempt to undo diplomatic process made

between india and pakistan. al jazeera's correspondent has the story. >> reporter: the confrontation began around 3.30am with several men dressed in military uniform arrived in an official vehicle carrying guns and explosives. police cordoned off the base as soldiers confronted the gunmen inside. after a gun battle which lasted several hours all four gunmen were killed. the area was already on alert after a senior police officer was briefly abducted earlier this week. >> translation: after a police officer's car was highjacked yesterday and today's attack, a red alert has been issued across punjab. we have barricaded the roads and are checking the vehicles. >> reporter: the area is no stranger to attacks. strategically located between pakistan and indian administered kashmir. in july last year three men

armed with guns and ingredient aids were killed after they stormed the police station. in this latest attack indian officials believe the gunmen are members of a known armed group based inside pakistan. the indian's government response is firm. >> translation: pakistan is our neighbour and we want peaceful relations, with all our neighbours. we want piece. any attack on india will get a befitting response from india. >> reporter: security agencies have been alert for attacks since india's prime minister made a surprise day visit to his counterpart in pakistan. analysts say pakistan must take responsibility for the attacks. >> translation: they cannot advocate and say that these are forces which are not under our control, meaning no state can advocate from actions of its own citizens, whether they are non-state or otherwise. >> reporter: talks between

indian and pakistani officials are expected later this month. scheduled talks have been called off following previous attacks. there is no word yet if that will happen in this case a gunman who opened fire on the streets of tel aviv killing two people is still at large. road blocks have been set up for the region looking for a 31 year old suspect in the spree. the man's father recognised him from surveillance video and gave police his name. family members say he has a psychological disorder and has been previously sentenced to five years in prison for attempting to steal an israeli soldier's weapon. german authorities are taking extra precautions after a new year's eve security alert in munich. the interior minister says closer groupings is needed with international security agencies. a new year's eve intelligence alert led to the evacuation and shut down of two train stations

in munich. officials say there is no sign of immediate attack but much of europe has been on high alert since militants killed 130 people in paris in november t11 iraqi military members are dead after i.s.i.l. led attacks in the western city of ramadi. according to a general there, iraqi troops repelled bombs in the outskirts. the military continues to control that strategic territory. some british troops who served in the iraq war may face prosecution for war crimes. that's according to the head of the unit created to investigate allegations of murder, abuse or a torture between 2003 and 209. paul brennan reports. >> reporter: the british soldier filmed here abusing iraqi prisonerss was subsequently jailed. seven years after the end of u.k. combat operations in iraq, many other allegations of abuse and even murder by british soldiers remain unresolved and

unpunished. as to the severity of the reaction, one said: he went on: it now has a case load of more than 1500 alleged victims, including 280 said to have been unlawfully killed. the former commander of british force new zealand afghanistan needs more-- forces in afghanistan needs more support >> there needs to be a far more effective means of screening out the spoorous cases from the serious ones. >> reporter: human rights lawyers are critical that potential war crimes are taking so long to investigate. >> they are only investigating 45 of those cases.

so statistically it doesn't look like they're actually being very effective and we do have lots of concerns about how effective they can be in the circumstances. >> reporter: although the death of one in 2003 revealed systematic abuse, only one soldier was jailed. a public inquiry into 2004 allegations that british troops mered and mutilated iraqis in detention, found they were wholly without foundation. the ministry of defense issued only a statement saying: the number of legal cases continues to grow and ihads ability to deal with them is starting to look questionable. one clear inference from reading

mark warwicks interview is that the complexity and number of cases that he looks at risks overwhelming his team. that is bad for the defense team here. m od set up ihad in part to prevent the international criminal court from looking at the abuse allegations. if ihad fails the icc ask on stand-by and we could see british soldiers facing trial in the hague for the fifth consecutive month activity in chinese factories contracted in december. some experts say the government may eventually have to intervene to stop the slow down. as al jazeera's correspondent reports, the lag on the world's second largest economy could spell trouble for everyone else. >> reporter: china's stuttering economy. collapsing commodity prices. >> in action marks the end. >> reporter: u.s. hint rate

heights. factors which will be a slow down. >> you will see the incremental raising of states ripple through the global economy. >> reporter: after raising interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade, the feds signalled more rate hikes are in the cards. that would increase the value of the dollar even more against already be lee angered-- beleged currencies. making it harder for those in the country to service the debt that they have to pay back in dollars. >> the emerging markets are replete with countries under great currency pressure now. these have ripple effects domestically as many companies over the good times borrowed money on local currency terms and are paying back at much

greater amounts. >> reporter: a ripple amplified for oil producing nations like russia, venezuela and others dealing with prices now firmly under $40 a barrel. far short of what they need to pay far subsidies and well far programs. >> they're important for shoring up for the government that as those are cut, you will look to see political unrest starts to break out and whether the governments can, antipode, main feign control. >> reporter: opex's decision to keep pumping level full tilt into an already salt rated market has been a major drag on on crude prices. while china's economic slow down has ebbed its once insatiable appetite for raw material, hampering the commodities of countries. like brazil which is suffering its worst slump since the 1930s

due to falling export prices and a corruption scandle. it is not just emerging markets that could find themselves in the line of fire. the u.s. office of financial research recently warned that should financial distress in emerging markets morph into a financial crisis, it could affect the u.s. in the last democratic debate hillary clinton said donald trump had been using an i.s.i.l. recruitment videos. that became true as clips of donald trump appeared in propaganda video. it calls for a temporary ban of muslims entering the u.s. released on twitter the mrm appears to report racial justice and averages those to convert to muslim and engage in jihad.

detail bumpers has died. he passed away at his home on friday. the senator was once considered a possible presidential candidate himself but never ran. the former city attorney is also known for his fight to integrate arkansaw schools in the 50s. he was 90 years old. much more to come. ninjas we will take a deeper look at puerto rico mounting debt. how it is about to miss a payment and what the immediate future looks like for u.s. territory. violent crimes are up for a second year in l.a. what is causing the uptick and how does it compare to other u.s. cities.

welcome back. puerto rico is facing an a rocky start to the new year. we take a deeper look at the island commonwealth and its economic crisis. puerto rico's government is expected to default on 37 million dollars in bond payments on monday. it is the government's second default in less than six months. the island's debts are part of what governor calls a death spiral. the economy is in a deep recession. residents are leaving for the u.s. mainland at a rate not seen since the 1950s. a u.s. city facing financial collapse would be permitted to file for a chapter 9 bankruptcy as detroit did back in 2013 but because puerto rico is a u.s. territory and not a state, its cities and public companies cannot file for bankruptcy.

robert ray is live tonight. how bad is this debt crisis for businesses and residents? >> reporter: happy new year to you. you listen to all the things that you've just said and you realise what a conundrum puerto rico is in and how complicated it actually is. if you go on the streets and you talk to the business owners and people who are trying to make a good liang, you realise it's not so easy these days. they just raised the sales tax from 7.5% to 11.5% in july. they're expected to be another raise in the next few months. >> translation: this week governor announced that the island had entered a new and unchartered territory saying it will be able to make most but not all the nearly one billion dollars in interest payments. >> what we are asking.

>> reporter: in a rare one-on-one interview puerto rico's governor spoke to al jazeera. >> we deserve to have the tools not a bail out, the tools for us to solve our problems. >> reporter: no matter what side of the isle you're on here, if you talk to them and ask them what is the reason for the recession and the massive debt, almost all of them will point to a 1996 act of congress that cut corporate tax incentives. by the time 2006 came along, most of those big companies left the island >> washington is to blame for the economic crisis of puerto rico. >> reporter: this member of the puerto rico senate says the island cannot stop the crisis without help from congress. >> it is not surprising that the current migration, massive migration of puerto ricans started in 1996. >> reporter: it has slashed health care and public

transportation services. they've let go of 30,000 public sector workers, closed over one hundred schools and increased the sales tax by more than 50%. opinions on how this has been handled are as diverse as the colours of the buildings on the island. if you drive a taxi here, what is your perspective on what is going on with this debt and how it is affecting people some >> the problem is not in washington. the problem is here. it is local. i believe the federal government give us more than enough. >> reporter: this little pocket, a couple of years it used to be booming with people doing business and trade. in puerto rico one third of the people have a job. there is a 45% poverty rate and you can see people that used to own shops, many of them are shut now, and places are for rent and not doing well.

long time resident and outspoken torn john mud says the government has mishandles the situation. >> it is like you go over to the congress and you say say, we need help. they say, okay, show me the numbers. you don't have the numbers. what do you mean? >> we're still dealing with it. >> reporter: as the economy weakens, so does the quality of life on the island. >> when we landed in puerto rico there was a young man who helped us with all of our equipment to our vehicle. he asked us why we're here. we told him h he said, you know, if you get a chance to talk to the governor, can you ask him whether or not he realises how bad it is for some of us average people trying to make a living and whether or not they should stay on the island or leave. what would you say to that? that's why i'm doing what i'm doing to protect them. at the same time we have been able to reduce crime rates by

half. for that guide that helps you. the rate was 16.-- unemployment rate was 16.5. it is now 11.4. it is still high but it is going down. >> reporter: the current crisis has been building for over a decade and the long-term outlook appears bleak unless congress caves and leaves the island towards a new economy. that is the key according to the governor here in puerto rico, that congress needs to take action. they need to give this island a pathway to economic reconstruction and recovery. if not, according to the governor and other officials here, they will have to cut essential services even more than they already have thank you very much. happy new yeah to you as well. stay with us. we would like to further this conversation with you, but i want to get to bring in my guest. joining me now is kate law.

also the founder and executive director of the national puerto rican chamber of commerce. thank you for being here. i start with kate. it is clear that the puerto rico, they've had this financial crisis for some time. how did they get to this point? >> as your package mentioned, in 96 the congress ended a preferential tax plan that puerto rico had which they grandfathered in 2006. in 2006 economic activity just contracted. the government targeted issuing debt at that time instead of redoing their finances. they just kept issuing debt to make up the shortfall they had. so you see this massive spike in debt from 2006 for basically the last eight or nine years it is part of a shell game. why did it take so long for

someone to catch it? >> we knew in 2012 it would happen-- i wrote in 2012 that it would happen. many were concept kilogram. that they servicing their dead. it is like credit card debt and swapping them around. they were issuing dealt. it's was very hard appeared sometime hard to understand what the total package of debt looks like to you justin, puerto rico says it has 70 billion dollars in debt. what the government cannot pay the country is expected to default on some of its debts on monday. what would be the long-term impact on the millions of people who live there in puerto rico? ers have >> there may not be millions of people there for too long. the population is contracting quickly. 64,000, almost 2% of the population left last year, which is a contraction less than

elsewhere. it will have an effect on all. the government is trying to make up for it by raising taxes again. hopefully they won't be able to. the economic incentive, the conditions are going to contract much further than i think expected at this point. it is going to be dramatic for the filed clearly at this point they cannot stand to lose any more residents there. the government has had to go to extreme measures, as kate mentioned, to pay off some of those debts. i imagine pulling money from one source to pay off another can only last for so long. >> right. i think tone problem is where i the money going to come from where and pay off the government administration, the governor and

administration is promising to make payments. they're finding ways and there so a transparency issue, where it is coming from, where it is going to be paid. the governor has said there's nothing we can do and they find a way. should other people step in, should congress step in and try to be a bands aid or try to help with the fiscal crisis in any way they can. there's a lot of questions around that transparency issue which is one of the major issues going forward there has been some reports that i was reading today that the government will use money from the public employee pension fund to meet payments. this isn't out of the realm of possibility. it was done in detroit. >> no. it's not. as a matter of fact, we spoke to a teacher last time we were here

in early december whose pension funds had been cut by 50% already and she wanted to retire and she can't. she is going to have to fire through this entire debt crisis and hopefully come out on a positive end if, indeed, it does get cleaned up. just echoing some of the things that i'm hearing tonight, there is a transparency issue here. the residents, many of them on the streets, if you go talk to them they feel like their government has not been honest about anything that has happened, but then again, if you listen or talk to the government like we did, the governor just the other day, he feels like washington is not being honest and transparent. the fingers are pointing to a lot of different people and it is just a matter of people coming together and trying to figure this out and maybe stop playing with the monopoly money that's on the table right now i'm having a bit of a déjà vu here. i covered the bankruptcy in

detroit. when you think of bankruptcy you think of detroit. there are parallels being made between puerto rico and detroit. the judge that over saw the bankruptcy proceedings in detroit is an adviser for the situation in puerto rico. what does that tell you? >> puerto rico has about ten times the bonded debt that detroit had. multiples more types of debt. the pension system was pretty well funded in detroit. there's no assets in puerto rico. while steven rhodes was bavp in pulling these parties together and getting a resolution, congress will have to write a new law to deal with this. it doesn't fall under the same federal legislation that states or cities do. congress will start working on this very quickly next week do you think that they will

intervene sooner than later? >> yeah. there is a lot of pressure from parties. the last time they addressed puerto rico and established a constitution in 1952. this is a complex issue that the federal government has not legislated on for a long time could you touch on the poverty level there in puerto rico and what the financial situation. how does it impact the millions of residents there? >> actually, people in the lowest income brackets there have a lot of support from the federal government. about one third of the economy comes from federal transfers, in the form of medicare section 8 housing, head start. there is a lot of money that supports the lowest income people there. it is middle-class, i think, that is struggling to find jobs, doesn't really fit into those federal aid programs. the elites which don't pay a lot of taxes. i think that is an issue that needs to be looked at

justin, you commented about people leaving the area. what do you think would be the ripple effects on puerto rico's financial crisis? >> well, unfortunately the people that can afford to leave are the people that have incomes, they have jobs, they have means, they have an education. so the ripple effect in puerto rico is that they're losing their best base, their tax paying base. they're losing the ones who have the opportunity to contribute in a long-term issue. you've taken away the thinking class, theed indicated class, the only people who can turn puerto rico around. it is really that middle-class people that are going to floor in new york seeking better opportunities throughout the u.s. we get a lot of people moving to texas. so greater opportunities elsewhere. who is going to pay taxes, who

is going to cover these debts. it could have greater implications for that death spiral that the governor was talking about previously i know you don't have a crystal ball, but can you at all speculate on what you think life would be like for puerto ricans, say, three or five years from on now? >> i think things are going to get a lot worse and the one to two year timeframe, three to five years, i hope that there is some sthablt found and long-term-- stability found and long-term stability in that people can foresee and once that happens, then you will start to see some greater reinvestment in puerto rico. there is some investment in puerto rico, but it is really people looking to take advantage of the bipod situation there. once people-- bad situation there. when they see that puerto rico has some opportunities, the economy can maybe turn around, then the xhep will start to grow because they will see the local

investment again. that's what they need, local investment, not so much foreign investment or manufacturing. they need locals to boost the economy hedge funds are said to benefit. how could they fair if there was a promotes declared? >> about 30% of the debt in puerto rico's is owned by hedge funds. 70 is owned by retail individuals and mutual fund and direct holdings. some of those hedge funds were bought at extremely low prices. depending on the class of debt, some will make significant amounts of money. that is basically in any distress situation what happens. puerto rico is not that unique. for those obviously tours, there-- vultures there are a few. some work for pension funds and

mutual funds what is the general sense, what are you feeling from residents there in puerto rico. is there a sense of optimism or is it doom and gloom as we approach the days ahead? >> reporter: most people on this island of three and a half million people are optimistic in the first place. it's just their nature. most people are very happy here. if you look at the different sectors of the population, the middle-class as we have pone about tonight is very concerned. there is just not the jobs here. of course you have the tourism industry, but that is a finite amount of the economy here. they need people here to come here around open up factories-- and open up factories. if you look at the impoverished, the 45% of people living in

poverty here, they're concerned as well. their life has not been easy at all. they're working and living day-to-day, but overall there is a general mistrust of the government here. the bureaucracy on the island. like the taxi drive we poke spoke to earlier, want more clarification and transparency not only from the governor but the senators and all of those officials on the ilisland. coming up on al jazeera, stats show crimes is up in all categories in l.a. how that trend compares to the rest of the country next. why more than 100 somali people have been fired. >> reporter: we are looking at

dangers as we go into next week and further beyond. we will also take a look at those temperatures that are diving into the single digits.

>> new moms forced to choose. >> the united states does lag behind other countries on this. >> now a revolution in workers' rights... >> my story is so many peoples' story. >> that could decide the election. >> it can be different. in l.a. crime is on the rise. 2015 marks the second year in a row the city's numbers have gone up. as al jazeera's jennifer london reports, officials have a plan to combat the violence. >> reporter: these are some of the meanest streets in l.a. with notorious nicknames like death

alley >> no cheating and crying. >> reporter: this woman grew up here. when she was 17 her boyfriend was shot and killed in the cross fire of a gang shooting. she was six months pregnant at the time. now a mother of four, she struggles to keep her children from suffering the same fate. >> it saddens me because they're not free because i don't permit them to go outside and walk up and down the street. when he want to play, he plays on the bike on the pavement in the backyard >> reporter: the struggle extends far beyond gang shoots, according to the l.a. police department, violent crime increased all over the city by nearly 20% in 2015. there were 280 homicides up 10.2% from 2014, more than 1600 rapes, a jump of 8.6% and more than 13,000 aggravated assaults, an increase of 27.5%.

property crimes throughout the city rose by 10.3%. this marks the second year in a row that violent crime has gone up. in a statement released to al jazeera the mayor's office says: >> reporter: in clues adding more officers to the metro division which supports l.a. pd's community based programs programs. >> when you look at south l.a. you still see the same problem; namely, high unemployment, joblessness and i think a second thing which i think fuels that is the alienation, the sense of disempowerment on the part of so

many young people >> in order to stop it, it will take all of us to stop it. i mean gang members, former gang members, mothers, fathers, uncles, cousins. somehow we have to break the cycle. >> reporter: the police are also undertaking as they're looking to make the streets safer for everyone vincent hill is a former officer with the nashville police department. he is now a private investigator. he joins us tonight. >> thank you. happy new yeah to you and to you. i'm going to start off. l.a. has seen the murder rate drop 90% in the past 23 years. that's a significant decrease, although there has been a 10% increase in crime, the numbers are still relatively low, but i imagine there are still many reasons to be concerned here. >> yeah. there's many reasons. not only in l.a., but across the country. you look at major cities like

chicago, baltimore, roughston, crime is up and i think a lot of it has to do with there is a lot of left proactive policing going on. when i was in patrol i was stopping cars, i was knocking on doors. contrary to popular belief this is how you fight crime. when you look at a city like baltimore, actor freddie grey, after his death, officers said we're not doing this proactive policing. when you stop doing that you're going to see this spike in crime that we see in l.a. and across the country as well you mentioned less policing, and i believe that is being referred to as the ferguson effect. so who needs to be held accountable to make sure that officers are on the job? >> well, of course, it starts with the chain of command, but it's hard to tell an officer, hey, go out and do this when you have officers fearing, i'm either going to be beaten

because i'm an officer, such as the case in birmingham with have where the officer was pistol whipped because he didn't want to be the next white officer in the media, or when you look at baltimore where you have officers who are doing their job and doing their job legally using proper use of force, as they did in freddie grey, contrary to popular belief, they don't want to be charged with assault or if something goes wrong killing someone. it is hard to tell these officers to go do their job in the current state the society is insofar as policing the city says it is taking proactive around comprehensive steps-- and comprehensivive steps to combat this issue. how should the city go about fighting crime in a way that will essentially be effective? >> that's just it. the word "crime". we have to focus on crime prevention and that is going to take community as well as police. it is going to take police actually going out and doing

what they're sworn to do, protect and serve, and it is going to take the communities to have that faith in their police department that they're actually doing it. also realising too that police work is not always pretty. sometimes you're going to have to use force against someone. so, again, if an officer is worried about if he uses force he is going to be seen as racist or abusive, we need to get away from that in order to make this work i want to look at this. here is how crime stats compare in in other sfis new york developed about 2% in 2015 despite seeing an increase in the number of murder and rapes. chicago saw similar numbers, murder and rapes went up but overall crime fell about 6% from the 2014 numbers. in baltimore they experienced more crime in 2015 than the previous year by about 5%. so according to one report 35 cities saw their murder rates rise in 2015.

could this become a national trend? as we see l.a. isn't alone. >> absolutely. it goes back again to proactive policing. when i would stop a car and find a gun in that vehicle, i don't know if maybe that person was going out to commit a murder or had he just committed a murder, but i've even seen less officers making traffic stops. again, proactive policing come bats crime. until we get get back to that, i think we're going to see this up take in crime nationwide always. thanks as always. we appreciate your perspective >> >> thank you more than 100 people were fired at a meat packing plant in colorado last month for what the company calls attendance violations. most of whom are muslims from somalia say they walked out after a change in company policy prevented them from praying on the job. the company denies that and says they were fired for failing to report to work at the plant

north-east of denver three days in a row without explanation. >> i'm working five years. they said, you're talking about the pray. we don't accept any pray here in the statement the company says it makes every reasonable attempt to provide religion i don't use accommodation - religious accommodations. president obama has declared a state of emergency in missouri following historic mid-west flooding. at least 24 people have died and four remain missing from the flooding. the declaration clears the way for federal disaster relief coordination and aid. the governor of illinois declared 12 counties disaster areas and called in the national guard to help with evacuations. he says residents need to heed orders because of the threat of hypo therm i can't. flood-- hypothermia.

the weather. taking a look at those images it's hard to believe that they're still dealing with this. >> reporter: that's right. we're seeing illinois, parts of northern missouri, water is going down. it is the states that are down towards the south that will be dealing with it. for these rivers along the areas water has subsided. all of this water is slowly making its way down to the south. we're talking about next week and probably until mid-january before we see most of this area is relieved of that. i want to show you the flood stage here in saint louis. it has gone down. tomorrow we think it will go into moderate stage. the cape won't be until thursday until we get out of major flood stage. down towards carrutherville,

they are up here and they will hit flood stage on tuesday. this is an ongoing threat to the south and the flood warnings are still in effect. i want to show you another story that we're going to be watching. we had a record breaking december in terms of temperatures, ago but on sunday 44 degrees for new york thachlt is about normal for this time of year. on monday nor your high 31 degrees, we have a cold front coming through. take a look at the morning laws as we go towards tuesday. we're talking about 15 in new york - 17 in new york, 15 in chicago. washington, barely about 34 degrees. finally a little bit of pay back it's finally beginning to feel like winter. thank you so much. still ahead a massive fire at a luxury hotel goes up in flames in it due bay.

two days later we're getting a look inside. what's happening to china town in american cities. dubai

we're getting another look at the damage inside a luxury hotel where a fire broke out on new year's eve. flames erupted as the address hotel just hours before dubai's fireworks supply. 17 people suffered injuries during evacuation and one person

died after suffering a heart attack. the cause is still understanding investigation. questions remain about the safety of dubai's rapidly growing sky line after another sky scraper caught fire earlier in the year. cold winter and rough assess is not enough to stop the flow of refugees into europe. volunteers save hundreds of migrants who face snow and stormy waters to enter turkey and greece over the past few days. an american volunteer and rescue workers say they've never seen anything like it >> if you see the faces of these people, they're not scary; they're scared. they're terrified. i guess maybe i have a different perspective for one not only because eye see them here-- i see them here but i've seen them in the sea >> i've prevented more people losing their life in the sea in the last month than i have in 25 years as a professional

turkey and greece are both primary get aways or gateways for refugees trying to enter europe. ireland is looking to decriminalise the possession of drugs by providing addicts with shave places to shope up. the aim of the so-called injection rooms is to get drug users off the streets and into supervised places where they won't overdose. experts claim that around 400 irish individuals use drugs publicly every month. >> why don't we have an injecting center where you take people off the street and into a warm, compassionate area. that they can be part of a process into a more sustainable recover the first injection site will open in the next 12 to 18 months pending legislative

approval. an estimated four million chinese immigrants now call the u.s. home. many are in china towns, but many of those neighborhoods are disappearing. our correspondent reports. >> reporter: when jenny tang came to washington dc with her family almost 20 years ago from china, she chose to live in the tight-knit ethnic enclave of china town in order to hold on to some of her cultural heritage. but today china town is fast disappearing. the famous chinese gate over the main avenue only remains as a tourist attraction, surrounded by western food and clothing franchises. it is about the people. at one time 3,000 chinese lived in washington's china town. today only about 300 remain, and half of those might soon be gone, their building being replaced. jenny tang to be evicted so a

luxury con dough can be built. >> translation: most of the people live here have jobs. we don't have as much money as them, but we always pay our rent on time. >> reporter: they're victims of what is called gentrificatoin, a process as poor minorities are pushed out as cities develop and the wealthy move in. non-chinese populations in these areas have doubled in a decade. some researchers estimated that of 915 large china towns in america, only three still remain authentic to their chinese cultural past. >> the china town is not just with the people. china town is a place where social networks, economic fabrics, right, is being built. >> reporter: when chinese are pushed out, it breaks up

cultural cohesion of the community and threatens traditions. in new york, people are fighting back. >> in some ways new york city has been one. lone success stories of peopling taking to the streets at fighting back because everyone knows once the heart heart sole and original character of their china town has come it would never likely go back. >> reporter: in washington jenny tang knows this and is saddened. >> translation: my sister told me to come back to china, but i don't want to go back. >> reporter: looking out at a china town that sympathy now barely-- she now barely recognises thank you so much for joining us. coming up the dark side, secrets of the sports dopers. goodnight. >> the sports story everyone's talking about.

>> as long as they know what the testing procedure is, they'll always be able to beat it. >> don't miss the world exclusive undercover investigation. only on al jazeera america.

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