here in eastern australia. we did have word in the last hour or two that that a group of muslim organizations across australia have released a statement saying how dismayed they are that religious imagery in the shape of that black and white flag that we've referred to has been used in such nefarious circumstances. prayer vigils have been held by other faiths and other denominations across sydney and across australia as an entire country crosses its fingers for the safety and well-being of these hostages. it was a very uneasy day too for other people in martin place. the business and financial hub of sydney. many office workers forced to stay behind their desk because they were so close to the lindt cafe. among those people there was joshua acton, and he spoke to the bbc earlier. >> it was really quite surreal going for my morning coffee and cigarettes, and at that exact moment, police motorcycles turned up and police cars swung by, and policemen were screaming at everybody to get in the building and to clear th

koalas live in eastern australia, where they compete with humans for habitat.a tough equation. each koala needs 100 eucalyptus trees to survive. >> loss of the habitat not only loses where they live. it loses what they eat. you lose that you lose everything. she's fully grown. >> reporter: karen nilsson is head koala keeper at lone pine koala sanctuary part of australia's effort to protect a national mascot whose population has declined by 30% since 1990. >> little pockets of habitat don't work because they get fragmented, the populations within that group become severely inbred, and they lead to other problems. >> reporter: by "other problems "nilsson means a stunning and slightly uncomfortable reality threatening koalas-- chlamydia, a sexually transmitted disease. koalas sleep 18-20 hours a day and they eat a lot, more than two pounds of eucalyptus leaves daily. but they also mate, and inadvertently spread the virus which causes infertility and blindness. red eye is its signature. is the word "extinction" too alarmist? >> no extinction isn't alarmist. there a

they say a tanker has arrived in eastern australia. ,ittle bit of news on bg group seems to be falling on the back of it. >> thank you very much indeed. investor's an perspective on the news we have been talking about. james, chief investment officer, good morning to you. china, the shanghai market, the chart is amazing to look at. four-year high overnight. do i carry on if i have the opportunity? >> i'm quite nervous about the risk of a hard landing. one of the interesting challenges, is to look at the export-import numbers that china publishes and try to triangulate that against what other people are saying. actually, you can't make any sense of the numbers at all. my conclusion is that the companies are much more valiant than the government. the company numbers say that we need to be quite careful, particularly in the commodity-related plays. >> is this kind of a slowdown that we can manage? is this a slowdown we can be worried about? triple-double. we all know that. we also know that the central bank and government have ample capacities. that weresting issue as don't really know wh

. >>> thousands of people have lined the streets of eastern australia for the funeral of the 25 phillip hughes. he died last week after being hit by a bull in a match. john is in his hometown. >> today australia paid tribute to the young boy from the country who made the big time. an estimated 5 now, mourners attended the service in the tiny town where phillip hughes grew up. among them, great and good of cricket world as well as the australian prime minister tony abbott. the bowler who bowled the fatal delivery was also here. most have huge sympathy for him. the the congregation heard of a young player knocked down at the prime of life. >> phillip's spirit now part of our game forever will act as a custodian of the sport we all love. we must listen to it, cherish it, learn from it. we must dig in and get through. >> reporter: outside people watched on big screens set up on the local cricket pitch. maxville has lost its most famous son. for now people across australia are reflecting on the loss of one of the game's brightest young stars. >> this small community has been shocked by the d

it is 2015 in eastern australia. >> we are looking live at fire works lighting upside knee harbor.ated 1.6 party goers have been watching pyrotechnic , tapped by a grand finally. the australia is in three time zones. there it is. >> right on schedule 8:00 o'clock our time straight up, midnight their. >> how about that. >> wow. >> beautiful. >> it is underway: they put on a great show year after year. >> they really do. >>> i will enjoy this. this is all i will see. we won't see ours tonight. >> let's celebrate now, ukee. >>> final preparations are underway in new york city for the famous

eastern, followed by eastern australia at 8:00 a.m. eastern. the countdown to 2015 here in the east just under 18 hours away. >> watching the new year ring in. >> every hour somewhere. >> i move all the clocks forward three hours. >> you've already done that so the kids think it's 9:00. it's hard with cell phones and devices where they can see the real-time. >> they know what's up. >> all of my people are on the west coast i'm going to have to face time with them at 12:00 and face time with them when it's their 12:00. >> a lot going on. >>> back to the top story, the mystery of what brought down airasia flight 8501. our experts weighing in on questions you have tweeted us. >>> and objects thought to be from the wreckage of the plane have been spotted on the bottom of the java sea, is it the main fuselage? if not, where does the search go from here? narrator: these are the tennis shoes skater kid: whoa narrator: that got torture tested by teenagers and cried out for help. from the surprised designers. who came to the rescue with a brilliant fix

eastern in sydney australia, and just moments ago hong kong -- here in new york all eyes are on timesare where police are out in full force trying to make sure tonight's festivities are safe for everyone. nbc's stefanie gosk joins me. will this year be different than last years given the tensions in new york? >> hey, ayman. the nypd hasn't made public any significant changes of the security set up. this year like all other years there's going to be an incredible presence on the ground. in addition to the thousands of extra police officers on hand you'll have counter terrorism units, bomb squads there will be rooftop patrols, and they're going to be running regular security checks along the streets here. the hotels the shops. they'll be doing those sweeps as people pile in here. a crowd of hundreds of thousands of expected. they'll be putting these pens that are barricaded off -- >> seems like we lost that connection there from times square with stefanie gosk. we'll be following that throughout the course of the day. >>> congress is prepping up for their return from recess next week an

australia. the time, however, has changed. one other dpm eastern time. check the big board. ack. the news unfolded out of sydney australia, australia. 56.54. >> thank you so much for joining us on short notice. forgive me for starting with my opinion. i think the terrorist attacks highlight our own vulnerability to a lone wolf attack here in the united states. i do not think the president is ready to add it the level of danger we are in. >> al-jihad us have seen how it was done. this was a unique case. this is not a regular member of isis. this is a g hott who left iran under one name. on his own, and machine that goes from one side to the other side. keeping one thing in mind is that ideology. they have canceled in the capacity. you will get more of these. including in the united states. stuart: i am terribly sorry to cut it short. thank you so much. short commercial break. back with more morning after this. ♪ she's still the one for you. and cialis for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment is right. cialis is also the only daily ed tablet approved to treat symptom

australia. at roughly 10:45 eastern a swat team storm aid cafe where 17 hostages were taken.s after a lone gunman was killed and two hostages. one police officer was shot and suffered a non-life threatening injury. the center of sydney's shopping district has been on lock down.

australia. at roughly 10:45 eastern a swat team storm aid cafe where 17 hostages were taken. this after a lone gunman was killed and two hostages. one police officer was shot and suffered a non-life threatening injury. the center of sydney's shopping district has been on lock down. the the man is a self-described muslim cleric and activist who is iranian born. no stranger to law enforcement in sydney. he was charged with sending harassing letters to widows to soldiers killed in afghanistan calling their late husbands, murderers. here's a time line of events in sydney today. >> heavily armed police are presently converging on martin place where a sydney cafe right in the middle of martin place, you can see hostages have been taken. this is a live shot. >> 9:45 local time monday, sydney, new south wales. police are called to cafe. >> a man walked into the lint store in martin place, a woman believes he has a gun and calls police. >> helicopters flying above. police are doing a lot of work from the air. >> you see hostages with their hands in the windows. >> is there writing in

the inside story ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5 eastern only on al jazeera america >> we are following breaking news in australia, a hostage standoff in one of sydney's buzzest districts, several hostages come out, but several more are believed to be inside. >> murder charges filed against a u.s. marine in the philippines. the latest in the case that ignited international tensions. >> palestinians push for a u.n.

the flight from amsterdam to malaysia ended over eastern ukraine, where government forces were fighting pro-russian rebels. >>> let's head now to australia where police have charged a mother with murder in the deaths of her seven children and her niece. on friday, officers found the woman with stab wounds inside of her house. there, investigators also found the bodies of the eight kids. the victims are between 2 and 14 years old. the woman is still in the hospital. right now, investigators are trying to figure out exactly what happened inside that house. >>> an urgent holiday plea, as donations are drastically down this year. why the salvation army is having a hard time getting people to give a little for christmas. >>> winner officially starts this evening. we are beginning to see cold and dry conditions to end your weekend. i'm tracking changes on the way as we get closer to the holiday. that's coming up in my first alert seven-day forecast. >>> now your nbc 10 first alert weather with meteorologist brittney shipp. >> good morning. as we head into the rest of your weekend, we are going to see a cold and dry end to the weekend. expect t

australia's coast. and in july malaysia air flight 17 went down in conflict ravaged eastern ukraine. the plane was heading to kuala lumpur from amsterdam when according to investigators the boeing triple 7 broke up in the air as a result of a large number of high energy objects. it was damage consistent with a missile strike. but dutch authorities are at least six months away from completing the investigation. all 298 people on board were killed. but unlike the still missing mh 370 the airasia flight could be found much sooner even in a matter of days. it disappeared from radar in heavily traveled airspace. it also took a flight pass over the java sea which only reaches depths of about 150 feet. shallow waters which would make a signal from the flight-data recorders easier to detect. the missing plane and airbus 320 has about 23,000 hours of flight time over 13,000-- 13,600 flights. according to a boeing safety study published in auingt a a-320s have one of the lowest accident rates it in the industry. airasia is widely considered to have a good safety record, a record similar to mal

we'll have that at 6:00 eastern artifacts on an c-span 3's american history tv. u.s. and of 1944, australia forces face the navy in the philippine sea. he four-day battle was one of the largest naval conflicts of world war two. james hornfischer details one of the roles. he was posthumously awarded the of honor by congress. the author is the author of world war ii history. recorded at the u.s. naval academy, this is about an hour. >> good morning, welcome. the u.s. ailey at naval institute. it's honored to gather on this important topic. leaders in theme is action, ordinary people doing the extraordinary. i asked you all to sand up, please, for the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of america d states and to the republic to which it nation, under god, liberty ble with lip and justice for all. gain this year, we're deeply honored to have the foundation corporate sponsor. we thank the foundation and its trustees for enabling us to take a careful look and reflect on he meaning of historically significant deeds and actions. we extend a special mid ship all of the midz here a

the inside story ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5 eastern only on al jazeera america >> we are following breaking news in australia, a hostage standoff in one of sydney's buzzest districts, several hostages come out, but several more are believed to be inside. >> murder charges filed against a u.s. marine in the philippines. the latest in the case that ignited international tensions. >> palestinians push for a u.n. resolution ending israeli occupation and creating their own state. we're live in jerusalem. >> protests and prayers across the country, people filled church pughs and streets after more evidence is made public in the michael brown case. what one key witness is saying about the day brown died. welcome to al jazeera america. i'm stephanie sy. >> i'm del walters. the hostage situation in australia in it's 13th hour. an armed man is holding people inside a cafe. the number held is unknown. >> two people inside the chocolate shop and cafe were seen holding up a black flag with arabic texts on it. the words read there is only one god, the islamic declaration of faith. it is close to the parliament, and iconic

australia also is the next big celebration. theyl celebrate the new year at 8:00 a.m. eastern time. and we will have much more on th celebrations happening worldwide. and the events that are taking place right here where we live. >> our chance is coming . >>> are you going to have to have that winter coat handy as you head out to celebrate? >> storm team 4 meteorologist amelia siegel. >>> good morning to yt only the winter coat but layers underneath it. it is cold this morning. temperatures for the most part are in their 20s and 30s. but some spots in the teens including manassas and culpepper. washington at freezing. look at the 24-hour temperature drop from this time yesterday. frederick was 15 degrees cooler. manass jacket gloves. but the sunglasses as well. su another sun-filled day for tomorrow. te the, though they only hang out in the 30s today for the most part. 10:00 a.m. temperature of 34. by noon, we're in the. richard, coming up i'll let you know how warm it will get by the afternoon hours. >>> thanks. we have new information about a big water main break in fairfax county

australia also is the next big celebration. theyl celebrate the new year at 8:00 a.m. eastern time.will have much more on th celebrations happening worldwide. and the events that are taking place right here where we live. >> our chance is coming . >>> are you going to have to have that winter coa

it's on course to hit the eastern and northern provinces, and the city where thousands were killed by haiyan a year ago. >>> beijing criticized australia donating to a green fund designed to help developing nations cut emissions. >>> it came a day late, but a new era in space travel has begun after nasa launch orion into orbit. >> one and lift off at dawn. the dawn of orion. >> the orion rocket was sent off from florida. andy gallagher has the details. >> reporter: it has and was a perfect launch in the words of nasa engineers. it la -- the mission itself, th maiden mission will last for about four and a half hours, the unmanned craft will orbit the earth twice, do vital tests for radiation, and this mission is basically a test of this small capsule, because, remember there will be an another unmanned mission in a couple of years, and eventually it is hoped to put men on this missile. there is a real sense of triumph here at nasa. so a successful launch. we're expecting the craft to re-enter the earth's atmosphere for a vital stress test. and in another couple of hours it will splash down just off of the coast of mexico, and all being

eastern time last night, approximately four hours into the unfolding drama. it was then the united states government reached out to australia and offered any counterterrorism that the australians might have requested. we don't know any was provided but again just in relative terms it doesn't seem that there was even time for the u.s. to scramble that kind of assistance together. the u.s. consulate in sydney is located about a block away from the lindt chocolat cafe where this crisis erupted. it was evacuated like other buildings in the martin square district. it remained closed. we got a message from the u.s. con so you sue late in sydney, advising all citizens it would remain closed on tuesday in sydney. all personnel at the consulate we're told are accounted for. very dramatic situation. anguishing one not only for the australians but for its allies around the world. united states has partnered with australia in the campaign against isis and that may have been a contributing factor in this event, leland. jon: we know isis called for attacks in australia by their followers. we'll see if that plays out as well. aerials rose

eastern right here on cnn. great work. we have a lot of breaking news for you out of sydney, australia. unfolding there. we're going to take a quick break and we'll be back with that at the top of the hour. the holiday season is here, which means it's time for the volkswagen sign-then-drive event. for practically just your signature, you could drive home for the holidays in a german-engineered volkswagen. like the sporty, advanced new jetta... and the 2015 motor trend car of the year all-new golf. if you're wishing for a new volkswagen this season... just about all you need is a finely tuned... pen. get zero due at signing, zero down, zero deposit, and zero first month's payment on select new volkswagen models. just in time for the holidays. t-mobile introduces america's only unlimited 4g lte family plan. get two lines of unlimited 4g lte data for just 100 bucks a month. with any smart phone. including the samsung galaxy note 4, for $0 down. add more family members for just 40 bucks a pop. think the other guys have a family plan like this? think again. only t-mobile has an unlimited 4g

eastern but for now, we're going to leave you with what's happening now. >>> and a fox news alert, gunshots and explosions have rocked sydney australia overnight as a terrifyingtage stand-off has come to a violent end. >> s.w.a.t. teams storming a cafe in the middle of the night as hostages held by a gunman run for their lives. it's happening now. >>> a terrifying end to an apparent terror seige in sydney, australia. the sound of gunfire and a possible explosion in the air. initial reports suggest there are casualties. live fox team coverage and in-depth analysis ahead. plus -- >>> jeb bush makes some moves ahead of a potential 2016 run. but is hillary clinton and elizabeth warn going to battle it out ahead of the race. >>> this point of order is targeted specifically to the dhs funding that the president has announced will be spent unconstitutionally, if you believe president

australia closing a rain-affected day on 517-7. also a good day for steve smith who finished unbeaten on 162. >>> now cleveland beat nba eastern conferenceonto 105-101 on tuesday. a good night for another all-time great. ko kobi bryant scored 32 points. the kings went deep into the third quarter before kobi leveled the scores at 92-92. the lakers going on to win 98-95. that is just their sixth win of the season. okay. more sport coming up later on. >> all right. thank you very enough. >>> for our viewers in the states, back to your regular programming. international viewers back in a moment. stay with us. ♪ >>> a stain on our values - the senate report on the c.i.a. and torture sparks passionate debate and a new alert to law enforce. in the u.s. an obama care architect apologises to congress, and elephants threatened with extinction because of the ivory trade. how terror groups may be benefitting >>> i'm antonio mora, welcome to "consider this", those stories and more ahead. >> coercive interrogation intelligence.

eastern sri lanka. >> on wednesday, veer con capedrosa reports in southern thailand. a seaside cowherist village devastated by the asian tsunami, we look at how it's been rebuilt ten years on. in australia, a manager who has been held -- tori johnson was killed during the 16 hour stand off at the lind cafe in sidney. he was 34. a memorial service was also held for katrina dawson who also died in the attack. the hostage taker a self-described cleric with a criminal past, died at the scene. >> staying with australian survivors of devastating bush fires in 2009, have won 400 million-dollars in pay outs. that's the largest class action settlement in the nation's history. it raged through the east in southern victoria, and it was considered the largest of the fires on what was known as black saturday. still to come, could australia have solved one of it's biggest mysteries involving this olympian? details coming up next. in this new era ofet, now confrontation, the kremlin is anxious to stay in the race. russia hoped to eventually launch it's own space platform, to rival the international space station. grand plans for a country entering a full blown crisis, but still necessary aspirations a

eastern on al jazeera america. >> that is our show for today. i'm ali velshi. thank you for joining us. ♪ >>> hi, everyone, this is al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler in new york. australia. the hostage stan off. the flag. the fear. >>> drug fix, american's veterans overdosing on painkillers. >>> cosby controversy. his wife break s her silence, and the comedian breaks out. >>> and a species on the brink of extinction. ♪

australia. >> if you're just joining us this morning about five minutes here until 11:00 a.m. eastern00 in the morning sydney time, after 16 hours, police in sydney saying the sydney siege is over. more details to follow. we are getting reports of two dead, three injured, although channel 7, mandy, saying they cannot confirm, in fact, two people have died at this stage. >> we don't know the fate of the gunman and whether or not if it is true, whether or not one of those is gottenman. i'm watching the breaking news here, carl and simon, from 7 news, the local outlet, saying that the two, the reports were that the two that died, were of cardiac arrest. oh. okay. we're getting more news. 7 news is reporting that the gunman shot one of the hostages. this would gel with some of the earlier reports we were getting. unconfirmed, guys, that there was a shot fired inside the cafe before the police stormed in. so once again, 7 news is saying there are reports that the gunman shot one of the hostages. >> okay. and with that, that does add one more details to this horrific story. the reports the

australia. matt taylor has the latest. >> hi there, michelle. we're now into hour 14 of this standoff which began at just before 10:00 a.m. australian easternthis morning at a busy cafe in the heart of sydney. this area frequented bay number of business people and holiday or vacationers alike. we know a gunman entered the building where he then held a number of people hostage. the number is still not being disclosed by authorities in australia. and the range has been anywhere from between 12 to 15 people. but at this stage we believe the number is around 15 people remaining inside that building. five people have emerged from that cafe in downtown sydney. three were released initially. and then another two followed about an hour later. it's still unclear and authorities aren't saying whether or not they escaped from that building or whether or not they were released by the hostage takers. authorities saying they're not going to speculate on the motives behind this incident as it sits right now. now, we did get some updates a little bit earlier with a number of these hostages inside the cafe contacting australian media outlets and passing on

eastern accent with an australi australian tinge. we have been a country like your country, very welcoming of people from that part of the world. we have a long tradition of lebanese christians coming to sfr australia. and more recently, people of the muslim faith. the vast majority are peaceful, hard-working people who want to make a life for themselves. but we have these radicals, lunatics who have between 12 and 25 people holding hostage. the police know, but they won't release the number. originally there were somewhere between 15 and 30. so you take a guess. it's either ten people in there or 25. we don't know. >> now you say he threatened to dispose of hostages. i'm making the assumption he threatened to kill them. >> caller: that's what he was saying. police negotiators say now that we're in the ninth hour and no one's been hurt or injured this is someone they can deal with, if you nknow what i mean. >> hang on. we're getting a live news conference. >> -- might assist, and, again, i put out that plea and that message, if anybody does have information, please let us know. it's really important that you pass it on, because even a small snippet of information might be vital. >> -- inside, faceb