>> this is al jazeera. special counsel has been appointed to investigate joe biden's handling of sensitive documents. the second set of papers were found in the u.s. presidents delaware home. biden says he did not know he had the documents. >> people know i take classified material seriously. i also said we are cooperating fully and completely with the justice department review. as part of that process, my lawyers reviewed other places

where documents -- from my time as vice president restored and finished the review last night. they discovered a small number of documents with classified markings and storage areas and file cabinets in my home and personal library. >> house speaker kevin mccarthy called for investigation. >> they knew this has happened to president biden before the election, but kept it a secret from the american public. he goes on 60 minutes, criticizes president trump, knowing what he has done when he was not president. now we find another location, but he refuses to answer. his press secretary will not answer the question. you watched them leak photos, setting up files of president trump. where are the photos of president biden's documents? he knowingly knew this happened going into election, going into interviews. this makes america not trust their government.

>> ukraine says forces are holding onto the eastern city of soledar as fighting intensifies despite the russian mercenary group wagner claiming it's gained control of the area. protests are being held in peru's capital surrounding the current leader. protests started after the ousting and arrest of the president in early december. thousands have rallied in somalia's capital against the armed group al-shabaab, one of the largest social gatherings in recent years. those are your headlines. the news continues on al jazeera after inside story. ♪ ♪

>> a computer glitch grants thousands of -- grounds thousands of planes. disrupting international travel. how did this happen, and how vulnerable our future systems elsewhere? this is inside story. ♪ >> welcome to the program. failure of a system that gives safety warnings to pilots forced the grounding of all departing planes in the u.s. on wednesday. thousands of flights were disrupted, domestic and international, with delays heading towards the u.s. from elsewhere. how could this have been, and what lessons can be learned? we will put it to our guests.

first, heidi joe castro from washington. >> it was a sight not seen since 9/11. thousands of planes grounded at all u.s. airports due to a nationwide stoppage by the faa. >> no. nothing like this since 9/11, obviously. everything stopping because of a system. they should punch control of the leak. >> a computer failure was to blame. specifically, the notice to aeration system suffered a temporary outage. without it, flight crews could not access the latest safety alerts about flood conditions and runways. >> we still consider this to be a vital safety system because it moves messages that pilots need on anything from the taxiway or runway being out, to an issue with the navigation beacon, or military or space operations in a certain sector. >> the outage did not impact flights in the air.

it lasted about one hour and a half into the faa said the problem was fixed. the cause of the outage remains unclear. >> no direct indication of any external or nefarious activity, but we are not prepared to rule it out. >> president biden order an investigation. the white house says there is no indication of a cyber attack. >> the faa is working aggressively to get to the bottom of the root causes for the system outage so it doesn't happen again. >> thousands of delayed or canceled flights. air boards are red. this is the domino effect of the ground stop. it is impacting travelers already battered by a chaotic holiday travel season. wilford smith hopes his life in washington to fort lauderdale florida will take off on time. his wife is waiting there and he has not seen her in a long time. >> my first thought was freaking out.

i have not seen her in five months. now it may be a day or two more. >> an apparent technical glitch can hold the u.s. travel industry, impacting millions, drawing renewed scrutiny. a full investigation has been promised. heidi joe castro, al jazeera. >> two weeks ago, a different system broke down in florida, causing delays. while failure of such technology is rare, it is not the first such incident in recent years.