f-h-i-l-. thank you so much for being with here with us on "legal view." we appreciate you watching on this friday, everyone. "around the world" starts now. >> a deadly blast kills six people including a former ambassador to the u.s. investigators believe he was targeted. an ice breakers are making their way to a stranded ship off antarctica. now there's a new issue slowing down the rescue. and a glitch allows travelers to score some incredible airfares. round trip flights as low as 25 bucks. and the airline says it will honor those amazing prices. >> welcome to around the world". i'm fredricka whitfield. an explosion went off in downtown beirut, lebanon today. it was a car bomb that killed an outspoken former government

official. six people died in this explosion including the likely target of the attack, muhammad shah ta. he is a one-time type finance minister in lebanon and former ambassador to the united states. he was also no friend of the militant group hezbollah which he often criticized in public. more than 70 people were hurt in today's car bombing. let's go to beirut right now and talking to mitchell prothero. who set off this bomb? who is believed to be responsible and why would muhammad shah ta be the target? >> well, as a target, he's somewhat questionable. elves a high profile figure in the future movement party and a close ally of former prime ministers rafik. he was an outspokenen critic of

hezbollah. he was hardly the most partisan orbiter member of that party. there's been speculation that perhaps he was chosen as a widely popular person to target in order to send a message that maybe no politician in lebanon is saying. as for who did it, at this stage, it's purely speculation but people do think that it's obviously tied to the ongoing civil war in syria which we've seen spilling over here, fredricka. >> what's your understanding how this blast was carried out? >> well, it's clearly set up as an ambush. there was a meeting of the future movement party in a nearby home owned actually by the hariri family, and there's a number of check -- sort of choke points where if you were to leave that house, you'd have to pass through some of these areas. this was one of those choke points. if they weren't absolutely targeting mohammed shata himself, they were targeting somebody from that meeting and they would have i don't know had a handful of ways to leave the

area you know and pass by obviously would have been set up as an ambush planned for some time i think. >> was muhammad shata doing business in that area, does he live in that area? >> well, i'm told that he did have an apartment in that area but i wasn't able to confirm that. i do know he was at a meeting of the most ferociously anti-syrian regime and anti-hezbollah party of which he was a member there just close by. it was believed he had attended that meeting and on his way out was hit by either a roadside buena vista or i an car bomb. i think investigators haven't determined exactly what it was yet. >> mitchell, thanks so much for that update from the beirut. more deadly violence in that part of the world today. three nato troops were killed when had a suicide bomber hit their convoy in afghanistan. we don't know the nationalities of the military members. nato isn't releasing that just yet, but it happened in kabul and it's not clear which group carried out the attack. 12 nato troops have died in

afghanistan this month alone. and then there's some good news and some bad news for 74 people on and expedition ship that has been stuck in ice off antarctica. a chinese ice breaker called the snow dragon is within miles of the ship hoping to freel it today, but they may be waiting a little bit longer. we got word that the ice breaker is barely inching it forward because of a blizzard. an engineer said the ice was worse than anticipated and our diana magnay has more. >> reporter: it's painfully slow progress but rescue is on hand and within eyesight for the crew stranded for all of christmas week in the frozen seas of the antarctic. just hours ago, joy on board the ship. passengers pointing out into the distance as a chinese ice breaker set to rescue them slowly makes its way towards them. >> ice breaker coming to rescue us. >> brilliant.

>> reporter: this russian flagged ship the academic show cal ski stuck in the ice for four days after weather conditions turned bad. but help is on its way. behind it two more ice breakers one french and one australian if the snow dragon gets stuck, too. on board 74 researchers a mix of professional and amateur scientists who decided to spend their christmas check out the effects of climate change in the frozen antarctic it they had sailed 100 miles east of their starting point when the they got stuck. despite blizzards with wind speeds of nearly 45 miles per hour, the morale remains high. while they wait, they've had a few friendly visit sers checking in to say hello, but this morning's visitors are far more welcome. everyone on board the ship is safe and well. they had a great christmas as chris tuerney the expedition

lead earn people are still able to make jokes. diana mag nay, cnn, moscow. >> so this just in now to cnn. this involving the boat bulk collection of data by the nsa. a u.s. district court judge has ruled that collection is legal. this goes against a ruling a few weeks ago in which a d.c. judge ruled it is not legal. our cnn justice reporter evan perez joining us from d.c. to explain more conflict over this issue. so which ruling i guess supersedes the other? >> well, fredricka, both rulings are equal. they're both federal circuit court judges. so what this all means is that the nsa will probably still get to continue the program for the time being. and then we will probably see a supreme court have to rule on whether or not this it is legal sometime. it will probably happen sooner rather than later. this ruling today from a court -- from a judge in new

york basically he said that these are blunt tools that they collect everything. and he said that there is potential for abuse, but he finds that the program that the nsa is running which is collecting data on nearly every phone call made in the united states he finds that that program is legal. now, this as you said, is in contrast to a ruling last week from a judge in d.c. who found that the program he called it almost orwellian and likely unconstitutional. so both judges are looking at the same program and coming to very different different opinions on it, fredricka. >> we'll see how and when it may march its way to the u.s. supreme court not far behind you there. all right, evan perez, thank you so much. a deadly fire broke out at a shopping mall in southwest southwest china last night, killing four people. dozens of others were injured. the fire was caused by a natural gas explosion which also caused a nearby bus station to collapse. and investigators are trying to figure out what caused this

devastating bus crash in thailand. at least 29 people were killed. the bus skidded off a bridge and then plunged to the ground. police think the driver was not familiar with the route and may have been going simply too fast. all right. this week's winter blast in the states, well, it's left at least 20 people dead in the northern u.s. and even further north in canada. officials say most of the deaths were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning. that's often the tragic result when people without power use generators to heat their homes. ice-related outages have left more than 100,000 homes and businesses without electricity. and some may not see service restored for days and another arctic chill is on the way. toronto mayor rob ford spoke to reporters just moments ago about the storm. >> on the 6th of this terrible ice storm, we have 32,000 residents without power.

the number is declining as fast as possible. toronto community housing has 76 units still without power. our biggest concern is tonight we might have wind gusts over 40 kilometers an hour. approximately there are 30 but if they get higher to 40 and 50, that's going to cause problems. >> more bad weather on the way. let's check inning with meteorologist jennifer grey. the big chill is on, and it's going to get even more brute. >> yeah, we're going to have a brief warmup before we get cold again. that's the good news. folks in the north will be able to thaw out for a couple of days. we are going to see another chill by the end of the weekend. it's developing in the gulf of mexico. early in the weekend, we're going to see a of rain for new orleans. look at atlanta saturday around lunchtime, rain all across georgia, alabama, tennessee going to crawl up the mid-atlantic. d.c. you'll see rain by saturday evening into sunday morning. it reaps the northeast basically

on sunday, we're going to see rain anywhere from new york city to boston. it looks like this storm is mainly going to be a rain event. we could see a little bit of an icy mix. we could seep a little bit of snow. i think the snow is going to be concentrated in areas like vermont, new hampshire and even northern maine. and snow totals are going to top out possibly at 10 inches and this is for extreme portions of northern maine. areas like vermont, upstate new york, new hampshire, most likely will see anywhere from 2 to 5 inches of snow. it looks like this is going to be concentrated to the east coast and it's mainly going to be a rain event. we are going to see a little bit of lake effect in upstate new york. 31 in syracuse. detroit you're at 36. temperatures are getting above freezing in the north. and it looks like over the next couple of days, we will stay above freezing, fred, but then you can see by sunday into monday, those temperatures do plummet back down into the 20s.

>> the looks like chilly celebrations into the new year for most folks. thanks so much, jennifer. typical this time of year, right? here's more of what we're working on this hour "around the world." protesters in egypt met with gunfire and tear gas as police clash with supporters of ousted president morsi. we'll take you live to cairo. plus, gay and afraid in uganda. >> have been by thing on so many occasions i can't count. >> meet one woman who refuses to leave her home afraid she'll be sentenced to life in prison for her sexuality. and this, 70 people, count them, 70 injured in argentina after being attacked by a swarm of carnivorous fish. ♪ [ chicken caws ] [ male announcer ] when your favorite food starts a fight,

fight back fast with tums. heartburn relief that neutralizes acid on contact and goes to work in seconds. ♪ tum, tum tum tum tums! afghanistan in 2009. on the u.s.s. saratoga in 1982. [ male announcer ] once it's earned, usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaa's commitment to serve current and former military members and their families is without equal. begin your legacy. get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve.

all right. so here are some other stories we're following around the world this hour. the pentagon is praising what it calls a significant milestone in the long-planned transfer of a u.s. military base in japan. the base in okinawa is deeply

unpopular with residents there due to crimes including rape that have been committed by united states military personnel. okinawa's governor has approved a proposal that will allow construction of a new base on a less populated part of the island. and demonstrators marched through the streets and cities across turkey protesting alleged government corruption. the protests came as a fired prosecutor accused police and the judiciary of refusing to pursue corruption allegations. isaac cuization followed the resignation of three cabinet ministers after their sons were arrested or detained in an anti-graft sting. and egypt's government now officially considers the muslim brotherhood a terrorist organization and more than 250 people have been locked up for their connection to the group. this is is the group that supported mohamed morsi, the first democratically elected

president of egypt. morsi has since been forced out of office and new military leaders say anyone who claims to be a member of the muslim brotherhood will go to prison. matt bradley covers the middle east for the "wall street journal" and is in cairo right now. what prompted the egyptian government to take this very strong step labeling the muslim brotherhood a terrorist group? >> well, the actual event that prompted this was a bomb in the nile delta city of mansour ra which killed 16 people early on tuesday morning. what's interesting about this is a group based in the sinai peninsula claimed responsibility for this bombing but the government has still decided to levy most of the blame on the brotherhood and right after the hours after the bombing decided to designate the group as a terrorist organization which means anybody who is participating in a protest sponsored by the brotherhood can get up to five years in jail and

anyone found leading a pro fest can get life in jail. >> this would seem like a major setback for egypt, not just the muslim brother hood because after all, an the first democratically elected president was from that very group. now for the country to label it a terrorist organization seems very hypocritical and seems like a major setback. is it? and if so, to what degree. >> let's remember the muslim brotherhood has been around since 1928 when it was founded in the nile dealt at that time north of cairo. so they've had long experience with being essentially legal most of that time. abdel nasser who is the president from the 1960s and anhe's the president a lot of people are drawing comparisons to with the current regime, he arrested thousands of members and he was constantly at odds with the group. they were an us cooed attempting to assassinate him.

it's not really clear if this will actually end the muslim brotherhood and their involvement in politics or whether it's going to do like nasser did and just sort of put a damper on them for a couple years till they resurface. >> the muslim brotherhood says it continues to carry on with its protesting. will really reject the label as a terrorist organization. so how might that the impact the constitution referendum that is upcoming? >> well, that's the other thing. a lot of analysts and brotherhood people are saying in fact, the reason why this designation was made yesterday was that the muslim -- the government wants to see a lot of people turning out for this constitutional referendum which is happening on january 14th and 15th. this is the constitution that's going to replace the one that was drafted mostly by loyalists of mr. morsi and the muslim brotherhood late last year. so what's happening now is that they want to clear the streets. they want to clear all chances of protest of ahead of this

major referendum that's really shaping up to be a vote on the legitimacy of the government that pushed aside morsi in july. >> and this really has to put the white house in a real pickle because this administration did support this democratically elected president. at this point, do we know what kind of response is coming from the administration, and what will be the relationship between the u.s. and egypt from this point forward? >> the response from the administration has been somewhat wavering since the beginning but it's been very consistent over the last couple months which is expressions of concern about these major outbreaks of violence in downtown cairo that have killed more than 1,000 protesters since july 3rd, but you've got an unwillingness to break with the egyptian military. the united states and the egyptian military have a really long very close history dating back to the 1979 peace treaty between egypt and israel. the united states gives the egyptian military $1.3 billion every year, mostly in armaments.

so it's going to take a really quite a lot more for the an obama administration or anyone in the administrationing to really break cleanly with the egyptian government, which is dominated right now by the egyptian military as it has been most of the last 60 years. >> thanks so much, matt bradley. i appreciate your time from cairo. >> thank you. still to come, al qaeda and its mission to kill americans. barbara starr shows us how the terrorist group has reshaped and rebounded. plus, thousands of flyers got one last christmas of present. bargain basement basement prices on delta flights. you're not going to believe how low the prices went. the airline says it's going to honor those prices. all that will straight after this.

"stubborn love" by the lumineers did you i did. email? so what did you think of the house? did you see the school ratings? oh, you're right. hey babe, i got to go. bye daddy! have a good day at school, ok? ...but what about when my parents visit?

ok. i just love this one... and it's next to a park. i love it. i love it too. here's our new house... daddy! you're not just looking for a house. you're looking for a place for your life to happen.

during sleep train's huge year efor a limited time,dels save hundreds on tempur-pedic mattresses. get the most highly-recommended bed in america at closeout prices. plus, get interest-free financing and free same-day delivery. why wait for the new models? sleep train's year end clearance is on now. superior service, best selection, lowest price, guaranteed. ♪ sleep train ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪ all right. imagine paying 40 bucks to fly across the country or boston to honolulu for just 6 bucks round trip. those are some of the amazing deals people got on delta.com, not because of a sale but

because of an online glitch. richard quest has more on this amazing error. >> it was a travel opportunity of which we all dream. tickets from new york to l.a. for 40 bucks. first class tickets to hawaii for a fraction of their proper cost. delta admits that it was a' computer glitch that caused the problem. they won't say how or where or what was responsible for that glitch. was it simply fumbling the program or did the computer itself go wrong? we'll never really know. whatever it was, hundreds of people took advantage of it. again did, delta won't say exactly how many of these ultracheap tickets were sold. they have said, however, the airline already stand by those fares and honor the deal. so there are lucky people who made off like bandits and

weren't shy about tweeting and putting on their facebook page that they had the deal of the year. it's not the first time this has happened. united airlines earlier this year had a similar sort of mistake on computers. then it was giving away fares for free. you only paid the taxes. all it shows is that computer systems for airlines are extremely complicated as they do battle with each other trying to outdo each other on price. so it is a case of a ticket where the price was simply too good to be true. that is, unless you got in there fast. >> okay. well, are one company's loss a lot of people's gains. let's talk about some other losses in a very big way. remember just a couple weeks back, starting right after thanksgiving, target a number of atm and credit card information to the tune of 40 million hacked, stolen, taken. we understand that target said

no pin numbers were taken. guess what, there's an update on that. zain asher with us now. we need to be a little bit more nervous if we were among it the 408 million pin numbers were breached? >> hi, fredricka. yes and no. so target just coming out now saying that pin data was in fact stolen. here's what you have to remember. they're saying even though pin data was stolen, they believe it is still safe and secure because they don't believe the hackers were able to decrypt the data. they don't store the key anywhere. so i guess imagine it like this. imagine that hackers were actually able to steal pin data but not actually able to encrypt the pins. so what that means is, an analogy i'm going to use is if thieves steal a safe way bunch of money in it but they don't have the combination code, then they don't get access to the money in that safe. the hackers did steal the pins, 40 million pins i guess but

they're not actually able to decrypt those pins. it is looking a little bit better for target and consumers. the pins were stolen, but it's unlikely the thieves will be able to unscramble those pins. >> i don't know if i'm feeling that comforted if i'm one of the 40 million. if they were brilliant enough to grab it, acquiesce it, are that means they might it be able to figure out how to encrypt those codes. that's what i'm thinking >> it's interesting but target saying they don't actually store the encryption key anywhere. it is highly unlikely they're saying these hackers will be able to unscramble these pins. >> hopefully many will be confidented by that. good news, bad news. how is that? all right, thanks so much, zain asher. appreciate that. >> of course. >> meantime the u.s. has intercepted is messages from senior al qaeda operatives. detailing plans for new attacks. their findings right after this.

world." the united nations is sending more soldiers and police officers to south sudan in an effort to keep the african

nationing from spiraling into civil war. gun battles between government forces and those loyal to the former vice president have left the streets littered with bodies. regional powers are calling for a new peace talk in the oil rich nation. frederik pleitgen joins us from new york with the latest on this. it is heartbreaking so many people would he enjoy the independence of this new nation only for this now to be happening just over a year later. we're hearing that south sudan's government agreed to a cease-fire in principle, are but what does that really mean? >> well, it means that they agreed to a cease-fire if the other side is going to agree to one, as well. certainly at this point, there doesn't seem to be any sort of indication that is the case. the regional powers are african nations that met in the kenyan capital earlier today and they said that they are demanding action for a cease-fire to happen immediately. they say if there is no cease fire within the next four days, then they will consider taking action themselves. we're not exactly sure what that means. however, they say they are going

to stay with this and they want this to be resolved before year's end. right now, it does not look as though that is going to be the case. as we said, the government for its part is saying its willing to go into talks unconditionally. however the rebel fighters loyal to the former haven't are saying that they will only enter into talks, will only go for a cease-fire if key allies of the vice president are released from detention because he's accused of launching a coup against the president, something he denies. right now the situation is still very difficult and there is a lot of fighting going on especially in the oil-rich north of the country, fredricka. >> it is potentially dangerous for u.n. peacekeepers on their way and those already there. to what extent are they able to protect civilians? >> well, that's their main mission. the interesting thing about the u.n. peacekeeping force, it has been increased drastically. they hope for the next peacekeepers to arrive within the next 24 hours. they aren't going to try and get between the two warring factions

at this point. their main goal and their only task really is to protect civilians. they said they are going to use all their means to do that. they have been authorized to use force wherever civilians are in danger. a lot of civilians on the run in that country and the u.n. said today it's as many as 120,000 people who are on the run that many of them are on u.n. bases. they are going to try and protect those civilians on those u.n. bases. the bases have been attacked in the past and clearly the u.n. wants that to stop. they've even employed attack helicopters. >> fred, thanks so much from new york. also overseas, people who know warren weinstein personally are speaking out about their friend being held hostage overseas. al qaeda released a vid of weinstein on christmas day showed him appeal and bearded, much different and older look canning than he was kidnapped in pakistan 2 1/2 years ago.

a friend of weinstein talked about him on cn. >> i'm very concerned. he's 72 years old. quite honestly, i didn't recognize him in the picture. he has changed so dramatically from the person he used to be in terms of appearance. i would hope that something could be done so that he has a chance to be reunited with his family with his wife, with his children with, with his grandchildren and not to have to die in captivity in a foreign country far away from those he loves. >> in the video, warren weinstein appeals directly to president obama and the american public to press for his release. it's the third time al qaeda has released images of weinstein since his abduction. military analysts tell cnn al qaeda will start the new year stronger than the year before and the terror group is actively planning more attacks in the middle east, in europe and even in the united states. here's barbara starr. >> reporter: cnn has learned recent intercepts of messages

from senior al qaeda operatives in yemen are renewing concern the group is planning new attacks. the intercepts don't indicate specific targets, but are described by one source as "active plotting." >> there are multiple indications that al qaeda in the arabian peninsula is plotting attacks both within yemen against u.s. and other western structures as well as overseas. >> the group in yemen already well-known for the failed underwear bomber attempt to bring down an airplane christmas day, 2009. four years later, the u.s. intelligence community believes it poses the greatest threat of an attack on the u.s. >> they are still capable of conducting attacks outside of yemen, including plotting attacks against the united states in multiple locations including trying to conduct attacks against the u.s. homeland especially by taking down aircraft. >> analysts say the group

rebounds in 2013 from battlefield losses. u.s. drone strikes have had mixed results. a drone attack this month failed to kill an al qaeda planner believed to be behind a plot to attack the u.s. embassy. yemen says more than a dozen members of a wedding party were killed in that attack. yemen's al qaeda leader also advising al qaeda fighters across the region and those al qaeda affiliates from yemen to syria, iraq and libya are growing stronger. the threat they pose worries key members of congress. >> are we safer now than we were a year ago, two years ago? >> i don't think so. >> i absolutely agree that we're not safer today. >> reporter: in iraq, police are trying to crackdown. but al qaeda openly operates training camps near the syrian border and from there, al qaeda has moved into syria with

weapons and tactics learned during the u.s. war in iraq. inside syria, a key al qaeda affiliate also stronger than a year ago. about 100 americans along with potentially hundreds from europe are fighting alongside i'd thousands of militants. >> if they were able to return to europe and to get access to the united states or return directly to the united states and they were not put on any watch lists, they would pose a very serious threat. they're well trained, radicalized and they have the ability and the intent to strike the u.s. homeland. >> analysts say the rise of the new al qaeda affiliates is part of the price paid for years of attacks against the old core al qaeda, many of those leaders are long gone including osama bin laden and now the new affiliates have much more autonomy, much more freedom to operate as they see fit. barbara starr, cnn, the

pentagon. and as we continue our review of the year, we can't close the book on 2013 without looking at the winners and losers of the year. that's coming up next. mine was earned orbiting the moon in 1971. afghanistan in 2009. on the u.s.s. saratoga in 1982. [ male announcer ] once it's earned, usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaa's commitment to serve current and former military members and their families is without equal. begin your legacy. get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve.

all right. here's one way to look at the

newses in 2013. there were winners and losers. michael holmes has a look at the countries and leaders that did well and those that did not. >> ambassador burns, great to have you back again. let's talk about winners and losers from 2013. if you're going to talk losers, something we discussed in the big international stories segment, losers have got to be syrian refugees but refugees around the world. there are so many people displaced by conflict. >> yes, and the irony here, michael, is that we're living in a time when the strongest countries are not fighting each other. that's a good thing, obviously. it's mercifully good. but there are millions of refugees all across the world on nearly every continent. united nations just last week issued an emergency appeal for $13 billion in international assistance just to support the refugees in place. it's a major problem for the entire global community, and we've seen it most dramatically in syria. >> when you look at another

country north korea which is in the news, usually for the wrong reasons, do you see losers there in terms of the population? >> well, the population of north korea has been victimized by this mafia dictatorship, this family that runs north korea. they've just had this brutal execution of the uncle. they have copied repression of human rights. the north korean people are cut off from the everything that's good in the world from the internet, everything that's good about technology and modern life and they're living in this heartless communist system. it's really a pity. one of the last bastions of that brutal authoritarian communist rule we knew in the 20th century. >> i'm going to throw this one out there, too. when you look at american politics affects the world around the world, do you think that voters in the united states when they look the an their congress are losers as well as from 2013? >> i think americans are dissatisfied by the dysfunction in washington, d.c. by both political parties, and the inability of our government to move forward. here again, there's a bit of a

bright light. congress is very close to passing a budget bill. that may seem ordinary to some people around the world. for us it's a big step forward. let's hope we can have more bipartisanship. 2014. >> let's talk winners from 2013. the nuclear deal and let's see how that unfolds but the deal that's been done with iran. that could be a big winner. >> if it's possible to negotiate a final agreement sometime in the first half of 2014 between iran, the united states, the eu, china and russia, it will be historic. it will mean we don't have to see another war in the middle east, that this great country iran can emerge from its isolation, but the iranian government needs to make these fundamental decisions and compromises to see that peace secured. >> and i notice something you're interested in too, global public health. some.countries, polio is still a problem. syria, pakistan, as well. but there have been advances on global public health in the last

year or so. >> there have been. they're quite striking and quite optimistic. there's a chance to eradicate polio in the next five to ten years. there's a chance in our lifetime, malaria could be eradica eradicated. there's been so much virtuous work done by the bill and linda gates foundation, about by the u.n. &, by governments like my own that hiv stads infection rates are coming down. the treatment is better for people in sub sa har ran africa. this is a good global story in global health worldwide. >> let's talk about winner whether americans might like it or not. russia has to be a big winner terms of its global standing >> i do. it's a double-edged sword. russia has increased its influence in the middle and become one of the power brokers in syria. 80s cynical in syria but it's become a power broker. it's a very important country in the iran negotiations and the russians are just about to host the sochi winter olympics in

february. by all accounts, i think the russian government is more prominent in the world today. the double-edged sword would be the cynical maneuvers by president putin so often in ukraine certainly but also in theure asia to see the russians trying to exploit other countries. i do think it's a little bit of a mixed bag. certainly you would have to say the russians are more prominent than in a long time. >> to wind it up, as a man who lives the world stage, are you happy about 2014? >> am i happy about 2014. >> yeah, do you think it's going to be a good year? >> i think we have to guard against all these problems we've talked about. but there are a lot of reasons to believe the global economy's coming back. there are already growth rates positive now in europe, in the united states and in asia. that means a lot to lift people out of poverty and stabilize the international situation if an iran deal can be achieved, if we can make progress on syria, then obviously those are the great challenges of 2014.

so a lot of work ahead for governments and for people all around the world. >> covering a lot of ground there, again, nicholas burns, ambassador burns, thanks so much. great to get your thoughts. >> thank you, michael. >> also coming up, gay and afraid in uganda. be. >> i've been bitten on so many occasions i can't count. >> meet one woman who refuses to leave her home afraid she'll be sentenced to life in prison for her sexuality. ñk =

welcome back to "around the world." members of the russian punk band pussy riot say they plan to form a human rights organization focusing on protection of prisoners. they spoke to reporters today since being released from prison on monday. the women spent almost two years behind bars for singing a protest song at a moscow cathedral back in 2012. one of them says vladimir putin pardoned them solely to improve his image before pohosting the winter olympicsing >> putin understands his olympics can be boycotted. a lot of money has been stolen from the budget which could have been used for better purposes. he needs some sort of political relief. among those in prison are people not forgotten by the world.

i'm very grateful to the world for not forgetting them. that's why it was possible for him to release people like me and khodorkovsky because we did not have a long time left to serve. >> very bold activist there. now to uganda where a strict anti-gale bill awaits the president's signature. under a new law that cleared the u dan dan parliament december 20th, gay u dannians could face life in prison. human rights groups are calling on the from ez to reets toe that bill. it has members of the gay community there in fear fur their lives. here is arwa damon. after talking to a number of people who are afraid to show their faces in public. >> i got so much involved with god praying so hard to like change me. >> malcolm still pray buzz now knows who he is. transgender, foreign female but identifying as male. in a nation that is deeply conservative, religiously, and

rabidly homophobic. >> physically, it's -- it's painful because it has been mostly done by my family. >> reporter: male relatives including, he says, by his own brothers. >> they need to teach me like how to behave like a woman. they raped me. i was around 17. >> reporter: and you had no one to protect you, no one who you could talk to. >> just blaming me. that experience made me hate my family. it made me leave them and i stayed with my grandmother but unfortunately, she also died. >> reporter: i'm sorry.

>> we went out to the europeans. >> most members of uganda's lesbian, gay, by sexual, transgender community tend to live secret double lives. >> people are out but they've gone back to the closet now. >> a gay rights activist, one of the few to speak out nest public. >> i've been beaten on so many occasions i can't count. >> kasha goes to great lengths to protect those around her from repercussions because of her sexuality rarely leaving her home and these days never alone. >> i've tried to come up with a security plan of my own to i stay alive because i believe a better active whivity alive than dead. >> homosexuality has always been illegal in u dan ga andra conian measures, life in prison for repeated homosexual acts and simply being viewed as promoting

homosexuality, a crime that could land someone in jail. >> homosexuals, the recipients are children of god are welcome to repent and have a life. >> at church on christmas day, praise from the archbishop. >> immorality, homosexuality. i want to thank the parliament for passing that. >> the widespread belief is that homosexuals are possessed by the devil or victims of sexual deadvance brought in by the west. >> maybe in your country you understand, but here's a new p a new idea that is not from here, someone is imposing it on us. another kind of colonialism. >> but kasha will not be scared off. >> i'm not going to allow someone to push me out without a fight. another thing is that our movement needs a face. our movement needs a face. i don't want them to think that they've won because the battle

is just starting now. >> she was also blaming me. >> for a community already living in the shadow, the fear is that the new bill only legitimizes the violence against them. >> it's so hard and just the people. >> arwa damon, cnn, kampala. >> and then coming up, piranha-like fish attack. injuring 70 people in argentina. that story right after this.

all right. frightening stuff here. dozens of swimmers were attacked by a swarm of pir ranas in argentina. it happened at a beach along a river near rosario on christmas day. the associated press reports that the seven children lost parts of their fingers and toes. these fish are known for their razor sharp teeth. joining me now is george parsons, he is the senior director of fishes at chicago's shedd aquarium. so officials in argentina say this is insist. insignificant attack.

is that the case that this is unusual particularly along this river? >> yes, that's definitely the case. we did work in argentina and brazil and the amazon. we went looking for piranha. they're very skittish fish. all the conditions were so right and so rare that they call came together in one big thing and this is an unusual freak occurrence. >> really? so you said the conditions were so right, meaning what, food supply was down, is it because of this time of year and it just so happened that all of these people in the water just seemed like perfect prey? >> yeah, so we're at the right at the end of the dry season, the beginning of the rainey season. a lot of times the water level will be down, the temperature was really warm. so the piranhas go up to the surface to get more oxygen. at that point, maybe at that point, it the swimmers -- there were more swimmers in the water. i know they're having an

unseasonal heat wave, as well. it's just all the conditions were right. >> interesting. so it is common knowledge though that dry season means that's when piranhas are most active. it would seem people in that area would know that. >> yeah. well, food supply gets a little bit lower in the dry season. so and like i said, it's a super rare occurrence and it's just -- there must have been some other external influences, as well. maybe some fishermen might have been throwing some carcasses over or something like that, but generally they do not go after humans. when doing work in the amazon, we had to really hunt them down to even see them and once they saw us, they took off. so they're really, really skittish animals. >> wow. so ordinarily really quickly, what do they usually like to go for to comfort people who might be swimming in waters piranha are known to be? >> sure, well most of the piranhas especially these types

are fish eaters. they do eat insects, as well a lot of times. some ennen eat fruit and nuts that fall from the trees in the rain forest. >> not this time. it was a holiday feast for them. george parsons from the shedd aquarium, appreciate it. happy holidays to you. >> happy holidays. >> thanks so much for watching. i'm fredricka whitefield. the "cnn newsroom" continues right now with brianna keeler. >> right now target confirms that hackers did, in fact, steal customers' debit card pin numbers during that massive breach of 40 million accounts. also right now, a nationwide manhunt. authorities are hunting for a bark robber suspected of killing a police officer two days before christmas. brand new numbers show us just how bad this year's flu season is. we'll tell you what parts of the country are hit hardest and how well the flu vaccine is working.