i mean, thomas andrews is your great-great uncle. have i got that right?t but as a child it was all very recent and raw for us that we didn't talk about it as a family. and when we went to sunday lunch with our grandparents it was something that we just didn't talk about. but now, we're recognizing the industrial achievement of the launch of these ships. when belfast contributed a lot to the empire as the second city-- and there's no doubt liverpool and glasgow also contend with that role-- but there's no doubt belfast contributed a lot. and of course, the building of this ship, too-- the olympic. yes, yes. were any of your family at the launch of the titanic? my father was at the launch in 1911 when there were hundreds of wedges-- wooden wedges keeping it on the slipway. the slipway was all greased to make it slide down, and these all had to be knocked out at exactly the right moment. and he, aged about 8-- 7 or 8-- knocked one of the wedges out. quite a thing for a 7 or 8-year-old to do. yes, yeah. can you imagine, the towering thing above him. yes, and

andrew thomas, al-jazeera. >> morning is under way in brazil. still to come, more on the latest -- the latest on the worst nightclub fire in history. want to be british? [indiscernible] >> hello again. for many of us across europe, the weather has turned much milder. at the satellite we can see a blanket of clouds, the leading edge there, working its way eastwards and turning increasingly more light winter wheat with snow coming after that. toward the west, it will stay mild with a top temperature 13 degrees in london. it will not feel mild, thanks to the wind and rain. towards the southeast there is plenty of unsettled weather here. including particularly intense thunderstorms currently, sticking around even as we head through tuesday. that system is also affecting us a bit further to the south as well. it really is mild for this time of year and it will be another mile day on tuesday, but the wind will be picking up. into wednesday as when we will see the wind swinging down from the north. temperatures dropping away, we are>> a new season of w

andrew thomas, al jazeera. >> church leaders in venezuela are mourning the country's stability is at risk because of the president's absence. hugo chavez has been in cuba since early december for cancer treatment. church leaders support the opposition view that the presidential inauguration must take place on january 10 or the constitution will be violated. >> it is clear in the text of the constitution that on the 10th of january, the term of the current president expires and a new one begins, for which hugo chavez was reelected. the october elections last year would've been pointless if a new government term was not voted on. the goal of this conference is not to intervene publicly in the interpretation of the constitution, but in this case the common welfare of the country and the defense of ethics is at risk. to manipulate the constitution to reach a political objective is morally unacceptable. >> it's been a for your weeks since the president was last seen in venezuela. his presence can still be felt on the streets of the capital caracas. >> for these people, street art is a way

andrew thomas reports. >> forecasters have warned tasmania was about to endure its hottest temperatures in years and they produced the state's worst wildfires in almost half a century, carried on by hot wind, flames swept through the southeast of the island state destroying at least 100 homes. some escaped the fires spending hours up to their necks in water. in dunali, the worst affected town, the local school was among the buildings destroyed. once flames passed, destruction was clear. >> they've lost both their houses. my brother's lost his up there, millions of dollars. >> the worst of the fires hit the narrowest point of the peninsula, leaving thousands marooned. a flatilla of boats from the state capital was sent to rescue those cut off by flames. >> it was really hot and then the smoke came over thickly and it's full of debris and made me realize that it's very close. >> the night's relative cool brought little relief. the flames moved so fast, covering so much ground, that despite hundreds of firefighters, they couldn't be contained but for tasmania there is an end in sight. temp

andrew thomas, al jazeera, sydney. >> in cuba, music is the heartbeat of the nation. it signifies the past. many young people are using it as a means to a brighter future. we have this report from havana. >> cubans say music is part of their soul. that is why they came all the way to havana to study it. way to havana to study it.

andrew thomas has more on that. >> forecasters warned tasmania was about to endure its hottest temperatures in years. as feared, they produced the states worst wildfires in almost half a century. carried on by hot wind, the flames swept through the southeast of the island state destroying at least 100 homes. some escaped by spending hours in the water. in the worst affected town, the

andrew thomas has more. >> firefighters are racing to and through the latest blaze before it could get out of control. more than 150 wildfires raged in a study overnight and into wednesday morning. given the extent of the fires, in the worst conditions australia has had in many years, damage to buildings was remarkably light. this historic house in the southern state of victoria was the exception rather than the roll. although daylight revealed the devastation, it was one of just a handful of properties destroyed. new south wales got off more lightly still. plenty of land scorched but -- scorched but few homes, thanks to a mass of firefighting effort coordinated from a central control room on the scale of a space mission. the remarkable weather across australia has broken so many records that australia's meteorologist have had to revise temperature scales. a previous cap of 50 degrees celsius or 152 degrees fahrenheit, has proved inadequate this week. two entirely new colors, deep purple and pink, can be seen on weather charts. there has -- it has been much, much cooler in sydney and s

andrew thomas has just found this of date from tasmania. -- this update from tasmania. >> they have moved on from relatively populated areas, so at the moment there are no people at risk. police are taking advantage of the relatively cooler temperatures to go house to house to check that no one has been harmed. so far they have not found any evidence of that. the concern is that high extreme temperatures are heading further northward in particular to new south wales. sydney is expected to reach 44 degrees on tuesday, and if fires break out, we could see potential danger to people. julia gillard is meeting with evacuees. here is what she has to say. >> i have come to tasmania for one purpose, and that is to say to the people of tasmania the nation is standing with them at this difficult time. we will be standing with them in every way. i have already met the victorians and people from new south wales to have come to work in support of their friends in tasmania as tasmania continues to fight these fights and then move into the recovery phase from this. >> still ahead, regulatory is -- regul

jon meacham, three presidents that you know well now, andrew jackson, thomas jefferson and george bushw do you assess the first term of barack obama. >> i think if president obama had somehow lost in november, he would have a very strong historical hand to play. because the prevention of more economic disaster in 2009 is something that is not fully people who are suffering, historian like that kind of thing. you could have an assessment of how he had done and he had done pretty well in doing that. and i think that that great historian, the gibbin of our time joe by i put it correctly when he said osama bin laden is dead and detroit is alive. it's been a difficult four years i agree with bob on health insurance. it's pretty good four years. at some point maybe to you charlie obama said if i'm a one term president i'd rather get this right than be a two term president. i don't want to say it's all downhill from here but so far if his biographers i think would have a favorable view of these four years. >> i think something else historian might notice that the current generation notices le

is the 60th quote/unquote also rand to make it into the museum, along with the likes of thomas jefferson and andrewsidential election. that's an interesting museum, one you probably don't want to end up in. >> i've never even heard of it before. >> well, now you know. zb >> now i know. >>> we heard secretary of state hillary clinton take responsibility for the deadly attack on u.s. diplomats in benghazi, libya. when we come back, we'll ask the brother of one of the victims for his take on the secretary of state's testimony. whether he blames her, others, for his brother's death. [ male announcer ] don't just reject convention. drown it out. introducing the all-new 2013 lexus ls f sport. an entirely new pursuit. let's say you pay your guy around 2% to manage your money. that's not much you think. except it's 2% every year. does that make a difference? search "cost of financial advisors" ouch. over time it really adds up. then go to e-trade and find out how much our advice costs. spoiler alert: it's low. rlly? yes, really. e-trade offers investment advice and guidance from dedicated, professional fin

madison's study, he was present as madison received a queue of notables in that room from thomas jefferson to andrew jackson, henry clay, the daniel webster. and very many young men of learning. the madison's niece wrote that jennings sighed for freedom was enamored with freedom. well, you bet. those young men of learning, they would rhapsodize about spending one evening listening to the father of the constitution old fart. jennings, like part of the wallpaper, was present for hundreds of such discourses. and in the book id felt the thesis that jennings was able to absorb the theoretical underpinning that would support his inmate yearning for freedom and allow him to identify it as a natural right of man. late february 1837, jennings prepared the madison sitting house in washington for future use by the widow, dolley madison. paul jennings had returned to lafayette square for the first time in 20 years. james madison died the previous summer, and dolley decided she would make use of her sitting house in washington and sent jennings ahead to ready the dwelling. it was still february but in anticipati

the former "newsweek" editor in chief and also a prolific author about andrew jackson now he's out with another best seller thomasferson. jon, thank you so much for coming on the show. walking contradiction is that an easy, quick way of summing up a man whose passions for personal liberty extended to obviously the contradiction as it relates to owning slaves, the issues of his own shyness and the pursuit of power and politician. i mean going through this, he seems to be everything to anyone who is searching for him to be like themselves. >> right. you know, one of the reasons why we're sitting here talking about him now. his capacity to speak to the best instincts and the worst in american life. there have been marvelous books rent by jefferson. we all look back in search of either inspiration or sanction. that's what happened with jefferson. one of the problems with jefferson was he was so eloquent and prolific for so long that you could quote him on any issue, the same thing with winston churchill and the bible. those are other examples. >> gavin: 60 years span of writing. someone who kept and saved all of his

andrew, becky, i thought they did a great job. hopefully he'll do better than when he represented gore. one response i would have is, i think it was thomas you need is a government big enough to take it all away. i ponder that in the whole context of aig. >> i was watching him. i liked him a lot more, too, than with those hanging chads. i said that to him. >> i know. joe that was the only christmas party i ever went to in 2000 and i still remember you running around, you were not happy about the whole chad thing. it's a memory i cherish. >> you know it sounds like your morning cry is going to be the one about good morning vietnam. good morning "squawk box." >> absolutely. >> and steve, steve did the night time one. >> i brought along some more stuff that can be potentially used for the night time. can't sleep. you know for the ambien replacement. >> all-american survey? >> no. better than that. better than that. i brought along the seasonal adjustment patterns for jobless claims for just this reason. people like say, in australia or somewhere trying to get to bed early. put that up. see that chart right there? steve -- >> is this helping