he is hosting a meeting that is taking place in brussels. just some of the things he said, he said the outcome of that meeting will hopefully be a united message that these countries will prevail in the fight against i.s.i.l. and he was noting the successes they have had, following up throughout the day here at al jazeera bringing you all the important news and then we do expect the u.s. secretary of state john kerry to be giving a press conference in a couple of hours time at 15 gmt, approximately. let's cross over now to iran and speak to anbar, one of the countries not part of that u.s. led coalition fighting i.s.i.l. not invited to the table in brussels, but there are reports that the u.s. is saying in fact it has no reason to doubt the reports that have been put out there that iran indeed is launching air strikes against i.s.i.l. inside iraq. so close to the border with iran. let's just start off on that and tell me what you're hearing. >> reporter: well, this is not surprising. we should be surprised if iran doesn't help and think abou

people in brussels believe the sanctions will work, long-term., they are already hurting russia. >> what you take from the speech? >> he is looking to the east and the west. the free trade agreement is supposed to be negotiated. he thinks it is important. it might help combat europe possibly does problem, the economic crisis. -- europe's biggest problem, the economic crisis. >> sweden's parliament has recognized edward snowden with the alternative nobel prize. he accepted via video link. >> he and a member of the guardian were chosen for helping to reveal massive surveillance by the nsa. he is living in exile in russia to avoid a possible long prison term on espionage charges. >> to activists are going on a hunger strike to press their demands. >> this is after the aftermath of clashes on monday. >> after two months of road test, it is heartening in hong kong. -- of protests, fronts are hardening in hong kong. >> chaos in downtown hong kong. police moved in after pro-democracy activist forced the government headquarters to close. the tactics appe

it's everywhere when you come to cover these brussels summits. and it reminds me if you covered the iraq war, you remember the long conversations we would have about yellow cake and quite frankly, it does something nuclear to your system. >> that looks delicious. please bring back some for us, hadley. we'll leave it there. hadley gamble, thanks so much. >>> the ecb is looking at some way toes make some of the eurozone countries bear the burden of any new stimulus program according to an exclusive reuters report breaking in the last few minutes. officials could ask central banks to set aside extra money to cover potential losses. we'll keep you updated on that story. >>> still to come on the show, lawmakers are tackling the problem of too bill to fail in the aftermath of the financial crisis, but what about too big to jail? we discuss with the author of that book, coming up next. we needed 30 new hires for our call center. i'm spending too much time hiring and not enough time in my kitchen. [ female announcer ] need to hire fast? go to ziprecruite

>> presumably, they are not. >> that's why we have the meeting in brussels. prime minister al abadi, the iraqi prime minister is co-hosting this session with the secretary of state, john kerry, so presumably, there are differences and the best example was the fact that we found out this week that the coalition air assaults have not prevented the iranians, for example, from getting into the act and bombarding several positions inside iraq. so, therefore, the coalition is not able to coordinate so far as these, all of the different operations that are taking place. and something which i am sure they are also discussing in order to coordinate better is whether or not they are going to trust local candidates, local actors who will put boots on the ground since western powers do not want to do this. who is it that we are going to trust? what kind of allies are going to be on our side? it's not just sufficient to essenti essentially coordinate air assaults. the real struggle starts when you begin to think about putting boots on the ground and trusting the local act

the meeting gets underway in brussels. on the agenda, how to hit the militants' finance and stops foreign fighters from joining them. the founders of hong kong costs occupied movement -- hong kong's occupy movement surrendered to police. and revving up for a bitter election cycle. snap elections will be held on march 17. benjamin netanyahu has fired two ministers. he says he cannot leave the country in the current state of affairs. the government has promised to not raise taxes again before 2017. we'll have details in about 20 minutes. and switched at birth -- it is every parent's first nightmare -- wosrst nightmare. we will have more on two french families now suing for 12 million euros. all that and more coming up. we go straight to brussels where u.s. secretary of state john kerry is hosting the first high-level meeting of the coalition trying to combat the islamic state militant group in iraq and syria. kerry is meeting with leaders from countries at the nato headquarters to discuss the best strategy against the group

. >> the greek finance minister wasn't set for an easy time in brussels.reece wants to wind down their international bailout program and wants to avoid other ossterity issue measures but they are not convinced they met the conditions for the current bailout. now euro zone finance ministers have agreed to a two-month loan extension. >> in europe we have the principle that is rules apply to all. in emergency situations we say it is depends on what is possible and what each country is capable of achieving. >> they approved a new budget for 2015 forecasting growth and low deficit. leaders hailed it as greece's first balanced budget in a long time. but it failed to impress the international creditors. european commission and the imf saying the budget is too optimistic. there is a gap of at least 2.5 billion euros in greece's budget next year. >> okay. with creditors approving a two-month extension to the bailout let's go to brussels to find more. why just two months? what comes after that? >> the so-called technical extension is no doubt a success for the greek

foreign ministers of 60 count thinks are meeting at nato's headquarters in brussels, and a joint statementsair strikes are forcing isil fighters to quote proceed with caution. here is u.s. secretary of state john kerry had to say. >> we have made already, significant process -- progress in two and a half months, but we also acknowledge there is a lot more work yet to be done. daesh is still perpetrating terrible crimes, but there was a consensuses that the momentum, which it had -- exhibited two and a half months ago has been halted, that it has been forced to modify its tactics, and some of those modifications severely hampering their ability to operate in the way that they were certainly. >> and tim friend joining us live from brussels. tim he also said there were other reasons he believed that progress was being made. >> reporter: yes, he did, and he spoke about the propaganda war. he said the perception of isil around the world was one that meant that most people in his view were of the opinion that isil needed to be eradicated and stopped in its tracks. it advances slowed down and term

this comes as euro finance ministers prepare to meet in brussels.hat does this balanced budget mean? will the push to exit the program? joining us now from athens is a senior scholar and consulting ceo. good morning to you, miranda. the head of the eurogroup in the last few minutes saying that the extension to the bailout, very much still an open matter. he does not feel confident on greece. what are the implications of a deal not being done on an extension for the bailout? >> there are several implications. first of all, greece might lose 1.8 billion remaining under the current program, which expires at the end of december. there would be no credit line unless this review is completed. bondsy, greek government would no longer be accepted as collateral by the ecb. greece would be left without the unlessp come january 1 this was concluded, and conclusion of the review is a prerequisite for requesting an extension of the program into three months or six months of 2015. >> what are the chances of the review being completed and greece getting an extensi

it messes up our plan a little bit. >> there are no plans of brussels airport.t affects all belgian airspace. >> the center-right government's intent on implementing safety measures. these will affect primarily workers, employee pensioners, and the sink. >> on to the markets in europe. a pretty steep selloff. we have the summary from the frankfurt stock exchange. >> traders do not believe in a quick recovery. besides flooding the economy with money, not much has happened. the prospect is not so bad. the economy is in remarkable good condition. saving consumers and companies about 30 billion euros per year. the german market had a good start into today but the mood remains a very nervous. >> we can stay for a quick look at the number, starting with the dax. the finishing number was 9330 four, down by nearly 3%. the dow off by one third percent. the euro trading lower against the greenback. it has been a nightmare 24 hours for uber. australians turned against the company after saying they were charging people up to 100 australian dollars to escape the city during

in 1404, duke philip the bold died at the stag inn near brussels. 20 years earlier his royayal sculptors had begun work on philip's tomb. one of them carved these images of the funeral procession which transported his body back to burgundy. clothed in the habit of a carthusian monk philip's embalmed body was sealed in a lead coffin and carried in a funeral cortege whh took nearly seven weeks to wind the 250 miles from brussels to dijon. accompanied by his sons, his chaplains, and members of his royal court the hearse was drawn by six horses in black with the blue banners of burgundy fluttering at its corners. at dijon, it was received not only by the weeping clergy but by 100 chosen townspeople and 100 poor also clad in black at the duke's expense. as with the other great royal and ducal rituals of the later middle ages death itself could be turned into public theater. philip's tomb itself lay just outside dijon at the carthusian monastery of champmol. it took nearly 30 years to complete and was finished in 1414. three sculptors worked on it. among them was a forgotten genius of european

there was no mention of him in brussels, nobody talked about him. the turks came out and said what are we going to do about assad, they were the only ones. everyone said the islamic state was the enemy, when assad had ceased from exist. when assad -- >> far from ceased to exist. >>> coming up. choke holds, new york city banned them years ago, but why are they still being used and the reverse of sentence of a killer in texas, coming up next. >> i'm john siegenthaler. this is al jazeera america. no charge. >> i can't breathe, i can't breathe. >> the decision, the outrage and the nypd ban on choke holds. execution stopped. an appeals court spares a mentally ill inmate on death row. >>> right to work. the supreme court case that could change the way employers treat pregnant women. >> we shouldn't be made to choose between our job and having a child. >> plus all christmas music tal timallthe time on some radio st. why do they do it? >>> a grand jury has decided not to charge a new york city police officer in the death of eric garner. an unarmed black man

there's a showdown in brussels over google. the question - how big is too big. stop the presses. it's time to rewrite japan's world war history. is the government in budapest taxing and regulating the freedom out of the hungarian media. plus, mischief makers in thailand doing what the media can't get away with. the general is not amused. >> the european union voted in favor of a resolution that could unbundle search engines from others. it could prevent google - that's who the resolution was written for - from optimizing products in a google search. it's the latest salvo in a tussle between the e.u. and google over how the company operates in europe. if the forces behind this initiative win the day, it could change the way many europeans get their news. much of which they access using google as a gateway. the tech giant has 90% share of online traffic in europe, a larger share than google gets in its home territory, the u.s. those in google's corner says it's a reflection of customer satisfaction. many news organizations say they like what google does for them - directing traffic

jackie roland, al jazeera, brussels. >> tackling two problems at once, food waste and poverty. phil lavelle has more. >> you don't see that often. beef down from six pounds to one. the whole lot for a little over $5. special offer, no. standard fare at a new type of supermarket. trying to combat food waste and food poverty. 50 million tons of supermarket food ends up in the bin in the u.k. every year. bypassing checkout to chuckout. the box may be damaged, the store might have just overorderred, social supermarkets like this one, be resword for next to nothing. the promise of cheap food is always going to lure crowds in. but the point behind this place is the doors will remain firmly closed to all but members. first they have to be living in an area classed by the government to be deprived. secondly they need some form of income like government support. effectively a number of classes run by this place on things like debt management, confidence building and how to apply for jobs. on top of that the membership will not last forever, we're talking six months max. after that time,

we are in a wait and see situation in brussels. the dramatic event in moscow, with the ruble plummeting, is changing the picture. the eu wants to see beyond the press conference, what mr. putin has in store. >> the other aim of the summit is to boost investment in the struggling eurozone. has any progress been made there? >> jean-claude juncker is here to present his 315 billion investment plan for europe. he says that the money in the pot is not enough. he does not have 315 billion euros, only 21 billion euros starting with that money, he hopes to invest 300 billion euros worth of private investment to europe. he is calling on the member states to set -- step up to the plate and add money to the front . so far, no commitments have been made, talking with the french delegation. we are waiting to see whether this plan really works. we will see what it has to do with the 21 billion euros on the bank account. he hopes that these will generate 15 times more private investment. there -- >> thank you for that report from brussels. a fren

. >> on thursday, eu leaders meeting at a summit in brussels agreed to more sanctions. the latest round prevent european businesses from doing business on the crimean peninsula, which russia annexed from ukraine back in march. the sanctions are one of two big agenda items at the summit, being hosted for the first time by the european council's new president. >> he is a seasoned career politician. even he joked he felt like a debutante with stage fright. his first summit as european council president faces to herculean task. europe's moribund economy and increasingly testy relations with russia. >> we know that the situation is dramatic and very dynamic, and of course, the situation demands immediate reactions. >> leader's have set a green light on a multibillion-dollar -- multibillion euro investment plan. chancellor angela merkel welcomed the proposal. >> the first proposals are on the table but have to be fleshed out with concrete projects. >> the european strategic investment fund will receive core capital from the bloc's coffers. du and european investment bank will

jackie roland joins me from brussels. it's been a quiet day hasn't it?he protesters have achieved what they set out to achieve. >> it has indeed although you may be able to hear sirens in the background which show you the emergency services are still working today. but by and large the public sector has ground to a halt, which means train stations like brussels central station that you can see behind me has had it's doors shut all day. international trains the service to paris have all been halted as well and the airport also 600 flights had to be cancelled today and thousands of passengers were not able to make their journey. so the unions feel that they did do as they set out to do, namely to bring brussels other parts of the country to a standstill. but the question really is where do we go from here? because their objective is to somehow try to change the government's plan, change its austerity program but it's difficult to see what kind of action they could plan next after this general strike. >> so where do they go from here jackie? what do they do

now, of course, in iraq and syria, against isil. >> thank you tim friend live from brussels.nd we can get more analysis, because we spoke earlier to a senior commentator with the gulf news, and he told us that the coalition allies do need a different approach in order to defeat isil. >> if it were possible to defeat them through air assaults from july to now, it would have been done. there are two ways to really address the ildz potential threat. one defeat the ideology of isil, and there is only one way to do that, support the moderate muslim communities throughout the region, and the second thing you have to, unfortunately, you have to put boots on the ground to defeat the isil terrorists once and for all. where this will happen, when this will happen, how this will happen is what they are discussing in brussels. >>> syria said the u.s.-lead coalition air strikes are not making any difference between isil. bashar al-assad made his comments in an interview to a french magazine. he said, quote, you can't end terrorism with aerial strikes. he went on to describe his position i

air strikes will continue as necessary. >> jonathan marcus is at the meeting in brussels. we can go to him now. john kerry talking about the progress that has been made. what is the strategy moving forward? >> reporter: one is keep up military pressure on islamic state. obviously in the first instance that's by u.s. and coalition air power. in the medium term, they clearly hope to improve the training of elements of the iraqi army, kurdish fighters and of course the stark training of allied forces in syria. the training will probably take place in turkey. it's going to be a long while before there are effective forces on the ground to combat islamic state. you'll see other activities continuing to restrict ability of islamic state to the get funding, continued efforts to try and mitigate the spread of its message and try to deter and stop people heading to the region to join and fight along side islamic state as well. >> we've been talking about iran's involvement in this area as well. has that come up today? has john kerry made comments? >> reporter: i don't think that's

you at this hour -- >> united against islamic state, diplomats from more than 60 countries meet in brussels to talk strategy and stamina. >> in ukraine, a technical fault has shut down europe's largest nuclear power plant, but authorities say there's no danger to the public. >> and remembered as a hero -- germany mourns the death of a student killed trying to defend others. for as long as it takes -- with that declaration, the international community resolved to not stop until islamic state is defeated. >> diplomats from 60 countries are meeting in brussels at the first ever anti-i.s. summit. >> john kerry reported progress tanks to more than 1000 airstrikes launched since august. >> he emphasized that the fight will take years. we'll have more from that meeting in a moment, but first, this report from northern syria. >> this is what is left of kobani. the mainly kurdish population has fled, leaving a shattered ghost town that has become a similar the threat posed by jihadist islamic state. stopping the group's brutal rise is the ambitious goal. cooperation between western and arab states i

let's go over to chris morris, who's in brussels. great to have you on the program. explain this to us? a lot of people watching around the world who may not follow this kind of thing. you go hang on, if these three have been basically propping up greece, the greek government can't just go on and approve this without their permission, can they? >> well, they can and they can't. they're supposed to get the approval of these troika, but the greek government believes that it's produced what is essentially the first balanced budget in greece for decades really. and isn't it good to be talking once again about economic growth in greece after years of massive decline. but as you suggest, the creditors, the troika think these forecast just aren't right. they believe there could well be a 3% deficit and that more needs to be done. more spending cuts or tax rises or a combination of the two. we're at a difficult stage where we're close to the end of greece's bailout program and it's that program which is very unpopular in greece, but which gives these creditors leverage over

jonathan marcus, bbc news, brussels. >> pretty blown-up there. to more on the battle of the islamic state, i spoke a short time ago to former nato ambassador nicholas burns who joined us from boston. nick burns this, fight against islamic state, whichever way you look and whatever the evidence or not of iran's involvement is producing strange bed fellows, sent it? >> it certainly is. i think this is an important meeting today. in addition to the air strikes that the united states and allies have been conducting, there has to be a political coalition that's willing to isolate isis and try to interdict finances and try to discourage young men and women from joining its ranks but you're right, producing strangest possible partners. here you have two countries that have not talked to each other much, u.s. and iran on the same side of the struggle thrk particular struggle. i thought secretary kerry said the right thing today f. iran will act in some respects to weaken isis, that is in essence positive for the overall effort the united states is leadin

how are they going to do it in brussels? how are they going to pay for all those differences? euble also praised italy and said their structural reforms are competitive. at the same time, he said all the programs and principles that apply to greece have to apply to the other countries. that is a clear reference to italy and france. they are not going to come in under target. we are going to have a fun meeting. angela merkel dropped a bomb, criticizing france and italy. we are going to see some tension. jon. >> hans nichols, thank you very much. now. head out to athens a former world bank economist and member of hellenic parliament, now with thought for action. elena, i'm going to start with a quote. when bondting the era markets were close to us and we needed bailout loans to buy. is the prime minister too optimistic? are we that close to exiting that era? >> i think he is more optimistic than reality. we are not very close and that is the actual reason why. we are still communicating and negotiating with the troika. crunch oft the last the european bailout. we will be able to

that is why we will need a global campaign to prosecute an effort against isil, last week in brussels, kerry held a -- common and shared commitment across five lines of effort. this conference for the first time formalized a global coalition to defeat and degrade isil. the lines of effort include military support to our -- humanitarian support and deal with -- we're now seeing progress along each of these lines of effort. on the military side, there are now seven countries flying combat air missions over iraq. as a result of these strikes, isil's offensive has been halted, it's ability to mass and maneuver forces degraded, it's leadership cells eliminated. in the past 60 days alone, iraqi forces have retaken ground at mosul dam, and down baghdad. they have also held the line. efforts to generate additional forces, specifically 12 new brigades, will soon begin at multiple sites across iraq in cooperation from our coalition partners. in syria, coalition air -- massive isil assault leading to significant attrition of isil fighters. they are now losing 100 fighters per week including top

this response after brussels forced the country to make drastic cuts in return for a bailout. today in the market new the parliament the popular left-wing opposition party is promising to end the cuts and renegotiate greases international debt. -- greece's international debt. >> we have already changed parties once, this woman said and nothing has improved. the situation is a mess. greece has already been destroyed. >> another is not looking at changing greece, but changing europe. >> is in a common interest of all european countries, the winds of change will spread all over europe. we are living in historical times. >> now it is political change they are worried about. it has grown into a fully fledged political machine will stop the winners -- political machine. the winners next month could give a boost across europe. that could leave brussel in in awkward position and the north with questions when it comes to eu strategy and rules. where does national democracy fit in? >> joining us, professor costas an outspoken critic of the greek bailout program. what do you think is goi

what all could potentially come out of this meeting in brussels chaired by u.s. secretary of state john kerry? >> reporter: well, we're expecting him to have opening remarks, been meeting in the last couple of minutes just arriving there at the nato headquarters in brussels, nato is hosting this, it's not a nato event. meeting with the french foreign minister and there will be representatives of the about 60 nations that are members of the coalition, you know, you have the australians, the french, the british along with the united states involved in the air strikes, the bahrainis and uae from the gulf also involved in that active air campaign coalition that's going on at the moment. but there are many other countries involved in other ways and it's to take stock of where things are. we're not being told about some specific targets that they want to achieve but really to analyze where they are and find the best path forward and improve their coordination, rosemary. >> all right, nic robertson. i know you're monitoring that and let us know if there are any breakthr

. >> brussels sprouts. >> broccoli! >> asparagus! >> reporter: 30-plus students and six fully equipped kitchens baking, boiling and sauteeing vegetables all the while getting a primer on the art of cooking. >> this is probably one of my favorite days of the year is this day because kids that are like no broccoli, no asparagus, no brussels sprouts, that's a big one brussels sprouts, and they enjoy them. >> reporter: and they love this class. today it's veggies, next week it's baking. in four short months these students will know their way around the kitchen from following a recipe to nutrition, prep, measurements, safety, the works. >> are you taking this home and showing it off to mom and dad? >> yeah, i do a lot of cooking at home so it helps me improve. >> have they noticed you improved? >> i hope so. >> they are impressed with my cooking. i cook in front of them things we cooked in this class and they are pretty impressed. >> don't forget about clean-up, everybody. >> reporter: yes, these cookers are also cleaners. learning good h

coming up, the eu summit is underway in brussels. we will take a look at why the president of france is going against other european union leaders in proposing sanctions relief for russia. stay with us, bottom line on bloomer television continues in just a moment. ♪ >> welcome back. stocks are rising after the biggest jump of the year for the s&p 500 of global equities rallied on the federal reserve -- federal reserve saying to be patient on increases. the dow jones industrial is rising at this hour, up 1.6% at 17,461. , it is on the rise as well. the s&p is up at 1.6% as well, at 2045. >> it is not so much the volatility is spiking or going back to normal. that is the key word here, is the big going back to that 20 range echoed that is where it used to be. we have had an unusual time of a function ofrtly accommodation. as the fed normalizes, volatility should as well. >> the nasdaq composite index this hour, it is at 4728. let's take a look at crude oil on this thursday. crude continuing its live. intraday, down nearly 3.5% at 54.53

close to half of flights were canceled at brussels airport and train traffic to and from brussels wasompletely halted, including with the euro star. in los angeles, part of two major freeways have been shut down due to that massive fire you can see there. more than 250 firefighters are battling the blaze at an apartment tower that is under construction. no one was in the building when it caught fire and the cause is still unknown. in mexico, new evidence has confirmed the identity of the first of 43 students missing since september. the 19-year-old's family is calling for justice. catherine clifford explains. >> alexander's father stood by as those arrived to pay respects. >> being a teacher was his dream and there is nothing we can do now. they took away his dream. >> the attorney general said the 19-year-old was identified among the charred remains in a nearby river. the students had been handed over by local authorities to be killed and burned by local gangs. >> human remains matches the evidence gathered during the investigation and with the statements given. >> independent forens

they are the two main issues they are addressing here in brussels today. >> is the u.s. also still trying to recruit even more nations to join its coalition against isil? >> well, they're certainly willing to take anybody that is willing to join, frankly. the secretary of state was at pains to say in his opening statement that basically anybody who has a contribution to make, he would like to hear from them. he said the meeting today, he didn't want it to be just speeches, he wanted an open dialogue, people chipping in whenever they could with best practice that they could bring to the table, that should take place. i'm quite sure if there are more countries willing to contribute to what john kerry insisted was a global threat, clearly he would accept those contributions gladly. >> there are reports this morning that iran carried out its first airstrikes against isil in iraq. an unhand system is dispute that go oh reuters. >> iraq's prime minister is taking part in those meetings. >> nato has made clear they would welcome a request from iraq to provide support for the fi

from brussels here is tim friend. >> the coalition's assertion that it's making process against isil would be created with skepticism here as they wait for the next attack. a small team of doctors and nurses providing the only remaining medical services in the syrian border town of kobane is preparing for a new serge of admissions as fighting intensifies. a single aid station is all that is left of two of the three medical facilities were destroyed when isil attacked the town in mid-september. injured from the coalition of kurdish and free syrian army fighters, who have been holding isil at bay, receive treatment here. >> from now as the situation in kobane permits we'll find other places where we can hospitalize the injured because we know that the number will increase, more injured will come. we have to be ready. the most important thing for us is to have an operating room. >> they insist that they're making progress in the military operations cutting off finance and supplies as well as the flow of fighters to isil. but there is a long way to go as the u.s. secretary of state admit

frank and michelle -- you like brussels sprouts, michelle? >> i love them. bring them back. >> leave them there. >> all right, roberta. thank you. [ laughter ] >>> for more on "food for bay area families," you can visit our website at kpix.com. >>> being pro-active with your health may not pay off this year. the story every person who got a flu shot needs to hear. >> and we want to invite all you pet lovers to send us your questions about their health and well-being. just email pets@kpix.com or on our facebook page, and we'll have our pet expert give you an answer every friday right here at noon. we'll be right back. ,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, >>> well, today's tip of the day is going to be is with tangerines. let me show you. they peel so easy. look at this. there's no seeds. it takes about five or ten seconds to peel it. the flavor is fantastic. when you peel them, they smell good. loaded with nutritional value. let's talk about selection. when you buy them, you want to make sure right here it has to be shiny. citrus the shinier the fresher. heavy for their siz

ak producer at as a the conference we had in brussels last week.hey were at the table with the the ign minister, as were other neighbors. has 1.8 or example million refugees. it is extremely difficult, and lebanese are very about this particularly. in the our partners region, the country neighboring syria, lebanon, iraq, and jordan are central to the efforts of this coalition. what we heard in brussels, countries all around the world, the fact that our friends are suffering from this crisis. i can follow up on this with a more detailed briefing. >> i'm happy you raise the issue with jordan. i understand it a more and more active in demonstrations, and aggressive activities. >> well, jordan is also front-line state. you know, the refugees they are taken and have really taken a on the resources. general alan and i met with someone last week -- working closely with jordan. trying to limit stream is present in southeast there a lot of focus on the aleppo is very - but jordan focused. state is a front-line and providing substantial humanitarian assistan

. >>> i'm joined now by eddie williams in brussels, he's a cyber security specialist. attacks be prevented? >> well, it's very difficult. if you really target a company or an organization, you always can circumvent a lot of security measures. so it's very difficult to -- to block it completely, even if you are aware that it is going to happen, and that's what happened yesterday with sony and the xbox. >> how is it that large multinational companies like sony and microsoft, which can potentially invest millions in the kind of software to protect themselves from these kinds of attacks have been targeted in this way? they made it easy for the hackers perhaps. >> i don't think they made it easy, because they have protection measures in place. it just -- you know, hackers are very -- they have a lot of techniques they are going to use, or can use, and you don't know where the attack is always coming from, so that's part of the problem. so it's very difficult to defend you against it. however, we see an increase of a lot of [ inaudible ] going up for circumventing and preven

we've got this huge gathering in brussels which just kicked off.ossible to sum up whether the sense is that the international action is making any progress against i.s. or is it being counter productive? >> both sides are trying to put the positive spin on military developments over the past few weeks during which the action has taken place. isis has been successfully able to say that it has held out for quite a long time for example in kobane in northern syria despite the attacks. americans would say isis has not been able to take the entire town. so each side will define success and progress according to the senate trying to say it's advancing and the other side is losing. we can't say of course isis expansion and take over of vast areas of land in iraq and syria has been slowed down since the attack started. that is quite clear. they have been forced to go underground in certain areas. we don't know about the effect on their finances. the battle is still at the very beginning. >>> in other news, israel says there will be an election march 17 nex

that is what we are apparently getting from brussels.o you think the investment that is being proposed by jean-claude juncker is enough? there were a group of businessmen at the for him saying, no, not enough and not well targeted. what does france need in terms of investment? what help does it need from brussels? it is not france that is needing something, it is europe. what we want to do in europe, of course europe is dramatically needing investment plan. what mr. juncker proposed two weeks ago is enough. we need much more to fight against the risk of deflation that we are seeing right now. it is not a question of france. france is able to take its responsibility to reduce its deficit and make reforms. what we need in europe is a big investment plan in order for , for customers to be tofident in the future, and stop the mechanism of deflation that we can see. and itvestment is needed is not enough. >> one of the reasons people may not invest in france is they fear for what the leadership will do next. do you think people are not instin

>> brussels. >> brussels? >> yeah, helping "politico" start a new branch. >> congratulations. >> this is just the beginning so -- >> i think there's no doubt that what belgium needs is a version of "politico." [ laughter ] >> yeah, the waffles are delicious there by the way. cheryl bone, you have been naughty. [ laughter ] >> cheryl go ahead. go ahead. >> reporter: thank you mr. president, looking ahead to your work with congress next year, you mentioned an area of possible compromise, tax reform. do you see a republican congress as presenting a better opportunity for actually getting tax reform next year in will you be putting out a new proposal? are you willing to consider both individual and corporate side of the tax ledger there? and also are you still concerned about corporate inversion? >> i think an all democratic congress would have provided an even better opportunity for tax reform, but -- but i think talking to speaker boehner and leader mcconnell, that they are serious about wanting to get some thin

>> brussels. >> brussels? >> starting a new -- >> well, congratulationses. >> reporter: it's been a long road. >> there's no doubt what belgium needs is a version of politico! [ laughter ] >> yeah, the waffles are delicious there, by the way. >> you've been naughty. go ahead. >> reporter: thank you, mr. president. looking ahead to your work with congress next year, you mention tdz an area of possible compromise. tax reform. so, i am wondering, do you see a republican congress as presenting a better opportunity for actually getting tax reform next year? will you be putting out a new proposal? are you willing to consider both individual and corporate side of the tax ledger there? and, also, are you still concerned about corporate inversion? >> i think an all-democratic congress would have provided an even better opportunity for tax reform, but i think talking to speaker boehner and leader mcconnell, that they are serious about wanting to get some things done. the tax area is one area where we can get things done

tim friend, al jazeera, brussels. >> a suicide-bomber attacked the iranian ambassador's home in sanaa today. the driver drove the car up to the residents and detonated it. the ambassador fine but three were killed and others badly injured. the al-qaeda faction has taken responsibility. the sunni fighters say they think iran has been supporting shia houthi rebels, who have been control of the capitol since september. up next we'll get back to our top story here on al jazeera america. a grand jury decides not to indict in the case of eric garner. a black man who decide after a white police officer put him in a choke hold. protesters are on the move across new york city at this hour. and in washington attorney general eric holder is expected to address the case. we'll have that for you live at the top of the hour. with real money from ali velshi. >> you mentioned blockades. talk to us about the police presence. how many officers do you see? what kind of a presence do you see? how would you describe it? >> well, there are police officers all over the place. but it's hard to tell if they w

in may, four people were killed by a gunman at a jewish museum in brussels.tember in moore, oklahoma, a woman was beheaded by a coworker. october 20th, a canadian soldier was killed in a hit-and-run attack in quebec, and two days later the canadian parliament building was attacked and another soldier died. with some insight into all of this, we're joined now by michael morell who was until last year the number two at the c.i.a. he's now our senior cbs news security consultant. michael, brussels, moore, oklahoma, sydney, australia, all of these individuals acting alone. what's the common denominator? >> scott, i think common denominator is there are a lot of young men and young women who are looking for meaning in their lives. they can be mentally unstable. they can be mentally stable. and isis is giving them that meaning. through its pervasive social media. >> pelley: very sophisticated social media. >> the most sophisticated i've seen, which i think is a result of the westerners that have gone the fight there. they've helped isis hone that social media. >> p

i'm in front of brussels central station, which you expect to be busy, but it's deserted. the shutters are down, doors are closed, it's the same with underground stations, no buses are running, and no international trains, the unions do seem to have brought to a standstill. the unions are saying why are workers being asked to shoulder the burden. why is it not put on to big businesses, or on financial transactions, for example. that is what is at stake here. i travelled 50km to the south, to see how the economic crisis is affecting people there. >> reporter: this used to be an industrial heartland with coal mines and steelworks. most of the factories closed half a century ago. nowadays it is one of the poorest parts of belgium, with high unemployment. this construction company on the outskirts of the town is an example of how the region is trying to diversify economically. it makes blast furnaces and employs 60 people. the factory is not working during the strike. managers expect traffic chaos, and prefer to remain closed for the day. the technical director can see both po