secretary of state john kerry and ban ki-moon is among those present, and bernard smith. what pledges have been made so far? >> well, there has been extraordinary numbers bandied around, not at least the 4 million syrians depended on u.n. aid in syria. the hopes of the conference, the kuwaities offered $500 million, first off the mark. the secretary of state john kerry offered $380 million on behalf of the u.s. government, and that already is getting close what was pledged a year ago, which was $1.5 billion. they are looking for that, $6.5 billion. >> one of the problems is that not all the money that is pledged actually gets paid. apparently 20% or 30% is outstanding from the last conference and this is worrying the u.n. chief ban ki-moon. >> well, i spoke to the u.n. representatives early on. they say now they have 80% of the money pledged last year. they are obviously knocking on doors and chasing up the outstanding funds, because it's all very well pledging the money, but the u.n. needs the cash in hand, to buy emergency relief supply, to buy food aid to give to the s

bernard smith, al jazeera. >> there's lots more to come on the al jazeera news hour. free water for people in india's capitol, but is it a feasible plan? >>> u.s. president barack obama's health insurance plan comes into effect, but not everything is going as it should. >>> and wimbledon champion andy murray does not begin the new year as planned. robben has that and the rest of the sports later. >> russia's visits has visited victims of two deadly bombings in volgograd. let's go to barbara. >> reporter: hello, there, thank you. vladimir putin has met security officials and has vowed to find a way to keep russians safe. bombings have raised fears of further attacks during the olympics in sochi next month. >> reporter: president vladimir putin's visit to volgograd came after he vowed to annihilate terrorists in his new year's eve address. the bombings have claimed the lives of 34 people, dozens of others were wounded in the attack, many of whom remain in hospital. since the bombing the city is still under lockdown with police and paramilitary troops sent to the city. t

. >> live to bernard smith, in bye route. what are we hearing? >> nine were killed when a rocket landed in asal. seven were children. it's a sunni muslim town, sympathetic to the revolt, the anti-assad revolution that's going on in syria. it's close to the fighting. we spoke to the deputy mayor, and he said that the rockets that fell seemed to have been as a consequence of the fighting between different rebel groups across the border. there are thousands of syrian refugees living in sal, and it has been targeted by the syrian air force. as happens frequently in towns along the border, it's caught by rockets. >> rockets are falling at the border town. not just there. >> no, it's not. it's a consequence of the fighting there. all of the towns are not targeted by the rockets, they are just happening to be near where the fighting is going on. the attack that hit is the worst that has been there. >> what are the repper cautions inside lebanon of the spillover. >> well, again, because of what happened fighting broke out in tripoli. this is what happens

. >> bernard smith reported extensively from cairo and is with us in the studio. the weather looks good in the pictures, in the capital. did anything at all happen in court. >> the stage was set for mohamed morsi and 14 others to go on trial. a litany of charges that the president faces, and one of the main charges is the incitement of killing of protesters in december, 2012. nobody appeared at court. mohamed morsi didn't appear. the authorities say bad weather stopped the weather transporting him from alexandria to the courthouse. we have seen live pictures from alex and it looks clear, but the authorities say the fog stopped the helicopter taking off. >> no trial until february. protests going on in various parts of egypt, aren't there? >> there has been regular protests across cairo and egypt since the ousting of mohamed morsi back in the summer. there's an an ebbing and flowing of the intensify of the protests. there were some in nasser city. there's a strict protest law in egy egypt. these days they are small scale. they happen in unannounced areas and disper

. >> that is bernard smith joining us from kuwait. >>> meanwhile, there are concerns that palestinian refugees inside syria are facing a humanitarian crisis. the delegates visited the refugee camps. the u.n. said 15 people have died in the camp in recent weeks as the blockade intensifies. >> don't view th them as your hn shield. this is an order for all armed men. >> reporter: let's go to the final day of a new election. protesters anger over the contents clash with security forces. >>> let's look at some of the numbers in this referendum. 53 million people are i believe intelligible to caseligibleto c. al jazeera cairo producers and reporters have been held prison. >> we're starting to see could yous across the country. obviously they had tuesday to start voting but many it a lot owill becoming to cast their vo. there are 47,000 and international ngo's in place on the flip side we've seen pictures going on in other parts of the country. the sixth of october city to cairo. again, we're not hearing of large numbers. people have tried to stage a protest. we saw pictures of the various g

bernard smith, al jazeera. >>> and a team of al jazeera journalists starting the new year under arrestn egypt, mohamed fahmy and baher mohamed are being held in a prison outside of cairo. correspondent peter greste is still being detained at the cairo police station. al jazeera continues to demand that its journalists immediately. >>> it takes just 15 minutes to fly from key west, florida to havana cuba, but it has taken over 50 years for this flight to take place, even though president obama gave permission for the resumption of flights in 2011. just tens passengers and crew are allowed to make the journey at one time from key west, and if u.s. citizens want to embark, they need to be involved in a cultural exchange program or have relatives on the island. however, thousands have been traveling to cuba from other airports. it was a point made by the u.s. secretary of state in november. >> each year hundreds of thousands of americans visit havana, and hundreds of millions of dollars in trade and remittances flow from the united states to cuba. we are committed to this human interchange

. >> bernard smith reports from beirut where attacks like this are increasing. >> the second suicide car bombing this month in southern beirut. a strong hold of lebanon's shia lebanon group hezbollah. it's believed to be linked to al qaeda, this blast, one of the many forces fighting government troops in syria. >> it is very destructive to the stability of lebanon when you see innocent people dying every day, and you see the women and children targeted at the civilian area. this does not sound safe or stable. i think the level of tension has risen to the extreme. >> iran-backed hezbollah has been sending fighters to help. al nusra says it's taking revenge. >> the fight is coming to the background of these southern suburbs. the impact of syria's war is being felt over more and more of lebanon. >> yesterday bashar al-assad was attacked. many villages have been attacked during the course of this week. when we talk about this, we are talking about targetting lebanon. i believe this is one part of the series. >> in tripoli, in the north of lebanon there was more violence, seven people, in

bernard smith has more. >> this blast was caused by a barrel packed with explosives dropped by a syrian air force aircraft. the target is a damascus suburb. forces loyal to president bashar al-assad have been intensifying their attacks on rebel-controlled areas across syria. but the ships that were supposed to have taken those chemical weapons out of syria are returning to support empty. the combination of bad weather and security on the ground means taking chemical weapons out of syria has not been met. >> everything that syria needs to complete the process of removing and transporting the chemicals out of syria, all has been provided and delivered. now it's a matter of getting the train rolling. we understand that a number of factors which have led authorities unable to meet the 31st of december deadline. >> reporter: the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons said it's still on track for the december 30th deadline. the syrian government is responsible for removing, packing and transporting the chemical weapons to latakia support. earlier this month assad's army took con

bernard smith, al jazeera. >>> it's the fourth day that three al jazeera journalists are being held intody in egypt. our correspondent is still at a police station in cairo. al jazeera continues to demand that its staff be released immediately. >>> russia's president putin has visited victims. let's cross to barbara. >> stephen thank you very much. vladimir putin has also met security officials and vowed to find a way to keep russians safe. the bombings have raised fears ahead of the winter games next month. >> reporter: president view tin's visit came after he vowed to quote, annihilate terrorists in his new year's eve address. dozens were wounded in the attacks, many of whom remain in hospital. the city is still under lockdown since the bombing. the focus for the leadership is how security would be beefed up ahead of the winter games in sochi. the bombings have demonstrated how vulnerable security is ahead of the games. >> translator: the crimes committed here do not need further comment, whatever motivated the criminal's actions there is no justification for committing these acts ag

speaking from al jazeera's headquarters in doha, correspondent bernard smith called for his colleaguesrelease. >> we would like our colleagues to be released immediately. they are journalists simply doing their job in egypt are poorly a variety of story -- stories from egypt on all sides. >> secretary of state john kerry is expected to return to the region on thursday to aid peace talks between the israelis and palestinians. "the new york times" reports that a delay of settlement construction has been agreed to so as not to embarrass his visit. earlier today, and 85-year-old palestinian man died after inhaling tear gas fired by israeli forces and demonstrators rallying near a west bank town. the palestinian ambassador to the czech republic has died in an explosion at his home. check officials say he appears to have accidentally triggered an explosive device attached to a safe he tried to open. millions of americans have begun receiving health insurance after the coverage provided by president obama's signature healthcare law went into effect on wednesday. the first day of obamacare's i

first we go to bernard smith in beirut with the background. >> the syria peace conference in switzerland is the most it the serious global effort yet to end the 3-year long conflict. at the heart of it is a plan to agree a roadmap established by the u.s. and russia. and other global powers in june 2012, a roadmap for syria, that will see a transitional government leading to fresh, free elections. the syrian national coalition has been persuaded and agreed to attend the talks. a third of the members, an umbrella group and rebel forces opposed. a third of those people did not vote on whether they'd attend. anyway, they are going to attend and will sit across a table from representatives of the syrian regime. the first time it's happened in three years. here is a problem the conference will face. it says it is attending because it wants to start to continue fighting what it calls terrorism. an invitation letter went to the syrian regime and said they were being invited because they want to be part of the discussions to set up a transitional government. opposition groups are worried, those o

bernard smith was there. >> there has been extraordinary numbers bantered around not least the 4 million syrians that are now dependent on u.n. aid inside syria. kuwait kicked off the pledging offering some $500 million. i spoke to the u.n. representatives earlier on and they say they now have got 80% of the money that was pledged last year. they're obviously knocking on doors and chasing up the outstanding funds because the thing is it's all very well pledging the money, but the u.n. needs that cash in hand now. it needs that cash to buy emergency relief supplies, to buy food, aid, to give to the syrians. but one of the other major challenges that the u.n. faces, and it was touched on by u.s. secretary of state john kerry and by ban ki-moon, it is very difficult to get aid in when the syrian regime is not allowing the aid to get in. there are a lot of besieged towns and cities that are preventing aid from getting through. again, john kerry accused the regime of using civilians as pawns in this civil conflict, and he's appealing to the syrian regime to allowed aid to get through. >> earl

bernard smith with the background. >> the most serious global effort yet to end the three year long conflict and at the heart of this peace conference is a plan to agree, a road map, established by the u.s. and russia and other global powers back in 2012, a road map for syria that will see a transitional government leading to fresh, free elections. the syrian national coalition has finally been persuaded, agreed to attend these talks but a third of the members of the snc an umbrella group that covers political groups, and rebel groups opposed the assad, didn't vote on whether they will attend. they will attend and sitting across the table from representatives of the syrian regime, first time that has happened in three years. this is one of the problems it is going to face. the syrian regime says it is attending because it continues to fight what they call terrorism. the letter said they were being invited because they want to be part of the discussions to set up a traditional government. so the opposition groups are worried those based outside syria are worried they are going to lose credibi

al jazeera's bernard smith is at that conference in kuwait city. >> reporter: there has been some extraordinarybers bandied around, not the least the 4 million syrians dependant on aid. offering some $500 million. i spoke to the un representatives earlier on today, and they say that now they have 80% of the money that was pledged last year. they are obviously knocking on doors and chasing up the outstanding funds, because it's all very well pledging the money, but the un needs that cash in hand now. it needs that cash to buy emergency relief supplies, to buy food aid to give to the syrians. but one of the other major challenges that the un faces, and it was touched on by secretary of state john kerry, and ban ki-moon, is it is very difficult to get through when the syrian government is not allowing aid through. the regime is preventing a lot of the aid from getting through. and john kerry accused the syri syrian regime as using the citizens as pons. >> reporter: some of the syrians have been met in lebanon and are most in need of international help. >> reporter: it is a heavy burden for this 14

bernard smith, al jazeera. >> a team of al jazeera journalists are under arrest in egypt.roducers seen here on the left and middle, continue to be held in prison. fami was removed to th the priss hospital to treat a broken hand. he corresponded. they will be responding on sunday and al jazeera is demanding that the journalists be released. a new healthcare law going into effect today. we look at how indonesia is approaching the issue. and a look at the legal struggle that led to a culture visit. the purchase of legal marijuana in colorado. >> welcome back to al jazeera america. here is a look at your top stories. declaring a state of emergency in the two states, now controlled by rebel fighters loyal to the former vice president reik machar. negotiators arrived in ethiopia to begin cease-fire talks. >>> covering americans who purchased insurance. so far more than 2 million people have signed up. marijuana sales are brisk. the state became the first to be legally sell marijuana at licensed stores. christian, it had good to talk to you. what are your thoughts on this day? >>

bernard smith has more. >> the second suicide car bombing this month in southern beirut, a strong holdhezbollah. al nusra front in lebanon claimed responsibility for this blast. it's believed to be linked to al qaeda and is one of the many forces fighting government troops in syria. >> it is very destructive to the stability of lebanon when you see fantastic people dying, being killed and the women and children are targeted at the civilian area. this does not sound same or stable. the level of tension has risen to the extreme. >> iranian-backed hezbollah has been sending forces to help. as well as bringing the conflict to the beirut suburb, the impact of syria's war is felt over more and more of lebanon. >> yesterday tripoli is being attacked. many have been attacked because of this week. when we talk about this, we talk about targetting lebanon. and i believe this is an episode of the series. >> in tripoli, in the north, there was more voirns on tuesday as a result of the bombing. seven people, including a three-year-old boy has died in saturday. sunnis generally support the syrian up

in new york, shareef mun sour, middle east and african coordinator and in manchester, england, bernard smithndent for al jazeera english. let me start with you on this, what are your colleagues accused of having done and what is al jazeera's response to what seemed like some pretty dramatic allegations? >> well, essentially these three colleagues of mine were journalist doing a journalist's job just journalist journalists peter has been there covering over the christmas period, mohammad had been there for all last year. they were picked up in the middle of the night at the end of december, from a hotel in cairo. they haven't been charged with anything yet. they have been detained and they have been periodically interrogated by the prosecutors, some of the allegations are that we edited stories in a way that made them sympathetic to the muslim brotherhood and in ways that suggested that egypt was on fire. >> it sounds like they're taking al jazeera and turning it into part of the political debate and what's going on in the country right now? >> it's well known that egypt has an ax to grind, a

bernard smith joins us from doha. remind us what the charges against mohamed morsi are. good morning. mohamed morsi faces a list of charges. the most serious is he incited the killing of protesters who gathered outside the presidential palace in december 2012, and were protesting against a presidential decc ree, giving himself sweeping powers. the consequence of the process, 10 were killed. it's the most serious charges that mohamed morsi faces, charges that carry the death penalty. >> so the trial has been adjourned today again. can you tell us more about that. what weather conditions are they referring to? >> well, we are told mohamed morsi's being held in a prison system near the mediterranean city of alexandria. we were told there was fog, and it prevented the helicopter from taking off. the prison is 60km, 50 miles or so from alexandria. the weather was clear from the pictures we received. fog further down the coast. we were seeing live pictures from the police academy in cairo, where mohamed morsi and 14 other muslim brotherhood defendants were due to go - to appea

smith, tracy burns, jonas max ferris, bernard whitman. welcome, everybody. john, we have been warning about this. is it going to get worse? >> yeah, we have been warning about this the wle time. something about this whole thing will be free. it didn't resonate. we said this would be paid for through tax dollars. we said we were going to have higher premiums. >> that is exactly what's going to happen. we said we were goi to have fewer health care options. we just had a terrible jobs number. the unemployment rate went down. weave the lowest labor force participation rate retention since march of 1938. 35 yea since jimmy carter's days sensee had fewer people employed percentage-wise tan right now. this obamacare is adding to the problem as in the fact that we are looking at lo-term unemployment enefits. what people wa are jobs. we are doing everything we can to hurt the fact that this country can not create jobs. >> this jobs report does it convince you that omacare could hurt t job market? >> no, not at all. john is playing the role of chicken little again. >>