able to talk to us. she has phases of being blank because she was clearly so upset about having to talk about the experience she had just had. you can only imagine then if these are the children who are getting to lebanon, what it must be like for those still inside in places like madaya, and idlib, it's a huge amount of psychological scarring that people must be having at the moment, as well as of course that desperate need to get food and other aid. >> caroline malone in beirut. thank you. and now let's go straight live back to the united nations where we can speak to our diplomatic editor, james bayes. james you asked ban ki-moon that question about called starvation a war crime, whether that meant that the perpetrators could be sent to the international criminal court? >> reporter: and of course they

can't until a proceeding of the nation criminal court starts and that can only happen a number of ways, and the only likely way in the syrian conflict if there was a referral by the u.n. security council to the international criminal court, and clearly ban ki-moon has made a pretty strong statement now about madaya. the u.n. in the last few days have been saying -- we must not see food used as a weapon in war. this may amount to a war crime. he was much stronger in the comments he just made to us, saying in his view this is a war crime. it clearly goes further than he has gone before on this issue. clearly, the u.n. secretary general has a great deal of moral authority here, but i don't think it's going to change the dynamics in the u.n. security council where any referral of this issue to the international criminal court, which takes a vote in any

security council, would trigger a veto by the russians and the chinese. also worth noting -- he's looking forward to that meeting on the 25th of january, and confirming something that i have been hearing that perhaps his sieged areas may well be the opening part of the negotiations that take place in geneva. he referred to them possibly as confidence-building measures. >> james bayes live at the u.n. thank you. i'm going to have more news for you in half an hour with more on that statement from the u.n. thanks for watching. bye-bye. ♪ [ sirens blaring ]

>> a deadly attack in indonesia's capitol, leaving several people dead. isil claiming responsibility. flint's water crisis getting even worse. a spike in legionnaires' disease now being found in that city's troubled waters. and we have a winner, more than one in fact, people in three states picking the right numbers in that record-setting powerball drawing. ♪ this is al jazeera america live in new york city. i'm del walters. the u.s. embassy in indonesia is warning that more attacks are possible after six explosions and gunfire rocked jakarta. isil claiming responsibility for coordinated attacks that killed at least seven people including the five attackers. those blasts happening at a major shopping and business

area. al jazeera's step vauson has more from the scene. >> reporter: the blast tore through jakarta's downtown area. at least six separate explosions and then gunfire. a multi-pronged attack close to the office of the united nations and a popular shopping fall. >> translator: he was on his own. for about ten minutes he did that mass killing. >> translator: indonesian television has released these pictures of a suspect who was carrying a gun. one bomb is known to have gone off near a starbucks cafe. and a police post was destroyed in one of the blasts. indonesia's president cut short a visit to oversee operations. >> translator: we cannot be afraid. we cannot be defeated by these terror attacks. and i urge people to stay calm, because everything is under control. >> reporter: the attacks were concentrated around this street,

a busy thoroughfare which is close to the u.n. offices and the presidential palace. the traffic and people which normally clog these streets are gone, replaced with heavy security. and indonesian police say several of the attackers are among the dead. tush kish officials are blaming a kurdish separatists group for a bombing in that country. at least six people there are dead. the area has been a hot bed of fighting between government forces and kurdish rebels since that's fire collapsed six months ago. today ten men from yemen once held at guantanamo bay are on their way home to oman. they had been held for more a decade without charges. four others have already been

moved out this month alone. 93 prisoners remain. and one of those being held, this man, has always been sent to oman, he was just 17 years ole when he was brought to that prison in 2002. he has never been charged and has been cleared for release since 2007. the obama administration is looking into whether those ten sailors detained by iran were treated inappropriately. they were released in less than a day. the obama administration says an initial examination shows the sailors were treated well, but they're making sure that indeed was the case. the republican presidential debates again in south carolina. the polls suggesting the races are tight for both the democrats and republicans. and the timing could be good

news for one candidate long considered the underdog. >> woe! >> reporter: with just over two weeks until the iowa caucuses, bernie sanders appears to be surging at the right time. the latest poll of democrats in the hawk eye state indicate he is now ahead of hillary clinton. in new hampshire, the most ring cent poll suggests he is up by 14 points. and nationally where hillary clinton had a 20-point edge over sanders just a month ago, now according to a poll, it's 48-41. throughout his campaign, sanders has promoted economic populism. >> let's have the courage not to beat up on mexicans or muslims but to take on the billionaire class. >> reporter: he wants to break up the biggest banks and impose new regulations on wall street. his fiscal plans are more progressive than hillary clintons who has big donors on

wall street. >> the truth is, you can't change a corrupt system by taking its money. i'm bernie sanders. i approve this message. join us for real change. >> reporter: in the face of the latest polls this week, hillary clinton has stepped up her attacks on sanders. >> but we have differences on guns, on taxes, on healthcare, and i think people should have that information before they go to the caucus or the primary. >> reporter: on tuesday in new hampshire even chelsea clinton hit sanders. >> center sanders wants to dismantle obamacare. >> reporter: the sanders campaign said it is not true. he wants to go beyond obamacare. and david axle rod said, quote: the republican presidential no, ma'am makes contest also appears to be getting tighter. the latest polls indicate donald trump and ted cruz are running

even. and now, trump is ratcheting up his claims that cruz is not qualified for the presidency, because the texas senator was born in canada. >> that means that -- a lot of people think you have to be born here. >> reporter: most legal experts call the issue non-sense, but cruz has been put on the defense if. >> i have never breathed a breath of air on this planet when i was not a u.s. it is tin. it was the process of being born that made me a u.s. sill sin. >> reporter: for months cruz largely ignored donald trump, not anymore. >> donald comes from new york and embodies new york values, and listen, the donald seems to be a little bit rattled. >> reporter: the iowa caucuses will be the first time many americans will pay attention to the nomination race. and donald trump and hillary clinton seem to be facing the

growing chance of opening with a loss. in chicago a judge has decided to release another video of police shooting an unarmed black teen. it shows the fatal shooting of a 17 year old back in 2013. the video is evidence in a wrongful death lawsuit. it could be released as early as this afternoon. residents innen flint, michigan have a new concern. >> reporter: as national guard troops were beginning their first day in handing out water bottles, the man who many blame for doing this made a stunning announcement. >> in the course of 2014 and

2015 we saw a spike in legionnaires' disease. >> reporter: legionnaires' disease is a respiratory infection most often spread through the mist of a contaminated water source. not all of the 87 cases report having contact with flint's water supply. >> we're not making any recommendations for change of behavior because of this. >> reporter: a federal investigation is already underway. >> i don't discourage the u.s. attorney from investigating. i think it's a good thing. it should be investigated. >> reporter: starting in 2014, the governor's appointed city manager switched flynn's water s supply. it was an effort to save $19 million. but residents almost immediately complained about discolored, ill

smelling and tasting water. it was discovered that the water supply was contaminated with lead, but it wasn't until a year later that authorities declared the water supply unsafe. this week flint parents began taking their kids to the first of 15 scheduled testing events to see how much damage has been done to the city's youngest residents. >> what if something happened to your child. >> reporter: fema has announced it has approved governor sneijder's request for federal assistance. at least three people around the count think may be looking for investment advise today. they had the winning numbers to the huge powerball jackpot. one ticket sold at this 7-eleven. hundreds of people going to the

store after finding out the ticket was sold there. the winning numbers just in case you are curious were: also several tickets selling in nearly two dozen states matched all five winning numbers to win the second prize of $1 million. up next, a major milestone for africa. plus making their way to the u.s. how one major city is getting ready for thousands of cuban migrants looking to start a new life.

>> west africa now is officially ebola free according to the world health organization. the outbreak in liberia, sierra leone, and guinea, killing more than 11,000 people. an infectious disease physician earlier she told me after this latest outbreak, there is a

silver lining. >> a bit more about how the ebola virus can linger in the human body over long periods of time. so this is precisely why the world health organization is warning we could still see flairups. we have seen patients like the nurse who came back and had a relapse months later of the disease. we have ian who still had virus lingering in his eye. we know that men up to nine months after recovery, about 20% will still have virus in the seemen. so there is still the potential for more transmission. >> when does africa get to let its guard down? >> i don't think ever. because the preexisting conditions that lead to the outbreak in the first place, really weak economy, people having to be in very close contact with the animals that carry the i have sus in the first place, these things are still there, and you have the ongoing risk of flairups, and that could have new transmission

chains. if you look at the americans who developed ebola, they, you know, survived, and it's because we had very high level medicine where we can be very aggressive. what is possible on the ground in these countries, it's not that level of care. so you are still looking at 30 to 50% mortality rates. >> and she says ebola flairups in west africa are now likely, and what makes it so concerning is the world health organization is severely underfunded. just a few days into his first term, the new governor of louisiana making good on a campaign promise. he is expanding medicaid in the stayed, and as jonathan martin reports, it is something the former governor refused to do. ♪ >> reporter: along time trumpeter in new orleans, kenny is like most musicians in the city. he has no health insurance.

he is among 300,000 people falling into a coverage gap, they make too much to qualify for medicaid, but don't qualify for credits towards obamacare. >> if i'm sick or something. i don't tell anybody at all. i just say like, don't worry about it. done worry about it. i'll be all right. just pray to god that they keep me going, pulling forward. >> reporter: but he has reason to be hopeful his situation may change. >> i don't look at this as some revoluti revolutionary thing. this is simply the right thing to do. >> reporter: louisiana new democratic governor signed an executive order that begins the process of expanding medicaid in louisiana. previously republican bobby jindal had refused to accept money for expansion.

it's about $16,000 for a single person, and just over $30,000 for a family of four. >> there are 30 states that have done this. this is not a partisan thing. this is not right versus left, this is right versus wrong, and today we got on the right side. >> reporter: he wants the expanded coverage to start by july 1st, but the state will need to hire more than 200 new people to handle it. >> identifying and enrolling all of those people in six months might be ambitious. >> reporter: he says louisiana's biggest challenge will be fining a way to pay for the expansion. the state currently facing a billion dollars budget deficit. medicaid accounts for about a third of the budget, and while the federal government will cover the initial costs of the expansion, starting in 2017, louisiana will have to pay 10%. >> i just don't see how else you

can do this without reducing taxes, closing loopholes or generating new taxes. >> reporter: the governor plans to meet with the department of health and human services to ensure a smooth transition, and hopes to sit down with president obama during his visit on thursday. medicaid expansion is expected to be a key focus of the president's speech. ♪ >> reporter: kenneth says he is grateful the governor is making healthcare a priority and eager to finally have insurance. >> i am a married man, and have two kids, i have to be here for them. an effort is underway to impeach the governor of maine. nine lawmakers asking for a vote to investigate him. but ousting him could be difficult. he has offended many with his remarks, last week he complained of drug dealers with names like d-money, smoothy, and shifty, getting white girls pregnant.

nearly 200 cuban migrants stranded in costa rica are now making their way to the u.s. as roxana saberi reports, south florida is getting ready. >> we have six beds over there. >> reporter: you are going to put bunk beds in there? >> yes. >> reporter: she says she is running out of time to turn this hold house into a temporary shelter. how many days do you have to get ready? >> 20. >> reporter: they would be among the thousands of cubans who could soon arrive in the miami area. >> that guy is from costa rica right now. >> reporter: a cuban immigrant herself, she is in touch with some of them every day. she says groups like hers are not prepared to support so many so fast. >> i don't receive any help from

the city, the state, from nobody. the only help we receive is from the community. >> reporter: is this a crisis? >> yes. >> reporter: south florida is already home to the largest number of cubans outside of cuba. thousands have fled here in the past year alone. many fearing that as relations improve between washington and havana, their window to get special immigration status in the u.s. will close. miami major says local resettlement agencies will struggle to handle and house even more cuban migrants. >> the agencies are telling us, mayor, we cannot take anymore people. we are running out of funds, we're running out of places to house them. >> reporter: this area has accepted thousands just in the past year, so what is a few thousand more? >> it's not human for us as a city to have people living in the streets for several weeks

just waiting for their papers. >> reporter: but this official says the region is prepared. especially since he expects the new migrants won't all come at the same time or to the same place. >> we have a lot of cities and a lot of ability to i think absorb a population, for in the indication of the migrant population, we're talking about, quite well here. >> reporter: when you hear somebody saying that this is a crisis, or that they are worried, are they exaggerating. >> i don't know that it's exaggerating for the mayor in the circumstances of the city of miami. we have this expectation that the federal government is going to make sure that the money and services are here to support these folks. >> reporter: how confident are you that the federal government will step in? >> i am not confident at all. they have not responded to our calls. >> reporter: valdes agrees. so she is relying on people like

these cuban imma grants from miami to step in with donations. >> translator: i want to give back what i received when i got here. >> reporter: they leave her with the words, keep fighting. roxana saberi, al jazeera, miami. from hurricanes to tornados and boughts, a super computer that forecast natural disasters better than ever before.

some nasty weather in western new york. new york's governor activating a state of emergency center as blizzard-like conditions continue. the area getting at least two feet of snow, combined with high winds. and that frozen car finally free. we showed you it a few days ago. the owner said he had to use 350

pounds of flaked calcium to melt the ice. a powerful tool could give forecasters a better look at weather patterning going forward. ines ferre explains what it does. >> reporter: the new super computer is said to provide a faster better way to know what is happening in the earth's atmosphere. researches say it can do twice the number of calculations as the current machine. >> this is where we store the data. >> reporter: it's 5.34 quadrillion calculations per second. >> you get a better picture of all of these areas that restudy. so it's like getting more mega pixels on your camera. >> reporter: who far the models have provided scientists with

everything from cloud formations to the patterns of water develop lets to solar storms. the computer can even detect heat on the ocean floor which leads to the creation of and wes which effects the atmosphere. >> people would like to understand whether this is the new normal or is this just an outlier event, for example. we know there are a number of violent events that happen in the weather. people are clearly affected by that. and being able to predict those and understand how they work, and make correct predictions about what is going to happen is really critical to saving property and more importantly saving human lives. >> reporter: last year the federal government responded to at least 77 disaster declarations, floods, tornados, and massive droughts in california. scientists say super computers have already helped make better forecasts further in advance, forecasts that can help save

lives. movie fans around we the world with remembering alan rickman. he died of cancer at the age of 69. rickman was a member of the royal shakespeare company but gained international fame for his role in die hard. and then in the harry potter films. the oscar nominations are out, the revenant is in the lead. eight films are up for best picture, including think big short, brooklyn, mad max, the martian, room, and spotlight. the winners will be announced on february 28th. thanks for joining us. i'm del walters in new york. the news continues live from london next. and you can check us out 24 hours a day by going to our website, aljazeera.com, where the news never stops. ♪

. >> this is a al. >> hello there. this is the news hour, live from london. thank you for joining us. coming up on the program. >> the use of starvation as a weapon of war is a war crime. >> ban ki-moon condemns the treatment of the people of syria. indoner sha attack, isil says that it was question hind the series of explosions that killed seven people in the capital. attack on turkish security forces at least six people are killed and in the