Going into effect. We begin with the issue of legalized marijuana. Colorado new reclamational Marijuana Law going into effect today. Anyone over the age of 21 can smoke and buy pot from over the counter licensed stores. Paul beban is live in denver, and paul it looks like business is already brisk. Thats right. Dell, as you were saying,lized Recreational Marijuana sales are about two hours old now and the line here has been out the door all morning and stretches across the parking lot. They were lining up here before the sun even got up during a snow storm, so it shows you the enthusiasm. There has been a cheer almost every time people have been walking out with their bags, with their purchases. Its a very festive atmosphere. Anyone over 21 can now legally buy up to an ounce of marijuana here. Interestly the first person to purchase here was a symbolic choice. It was an iraq war vet buying marijuana to treat his ptsd. Now i get to use this to help alleviate my ptsd, and its a steppingstone for ore states to help other veterans as well. He is a marine who has served in iraq and struggled with his ptsd symptoms. He had a hard time getting marijuana even when he had his medical marijuana card dell . Paul, this is already having a different effect on the state. They are referring to it as the new Rocky Mountain high, so what impact will it have on the states reputation . Well, the Rocky Mountain high the cliches are endless here. They are talking about green wednesday instead of black friday, green meaning marijuana as well as dollar signs. This will be a huge economic winfall for the state. Estimates between 400 and 600 million of sales in 2014 alone. There are about 120,000 medical marijuana users, and the estimation is there will be a half million recreational users in colorado alone, and that is not counting the tourists who will come here to take advantage of the new law. Paul, thank you very much. The president S Health Care problem is facing problems from the women he put on the supreme court. She is temporarily blocking the law to provide health care to religious groups. The white house has until friday to respond. But that wont stop coverager from kicking in for the 2. 4 million americans who have signed up. The Affordable Care act now specially making its long awaited pay due. Patty culhane reports. Reporter it has been a scene repeated across the country. Social Service Agencies working the phones, and the web, trying to get people signed up for Health Insurance. Well, i was suspecting you know expecting to qualify for some help. Reporter they are reaching out to people like jose, a selfemployed carpenter who hasnt had Health Insurance for 15 years. He makes too much to qualify for subsidies, he found out insurance will cost him 800 a month. Sometimes i can afford it. But what happen when i dont have something to do, you know, if im working for myself. Reporter his is a story repeated across the country, the president S Health Care plan is not going as planned, but in his final press conference for the year, president obama tried to point out the positive. I now have couple Million People, maybe more who are going to have health care on january 1st, and that is a big deal. Reporter but thats far from where the administration said it should be by now. I think success looks like at least 7 Million People having signed up by the end of march 2014. Reporter Health Economists say the low number could be a big problem. Who is signing up, could be another. If all of a sudden theres only a million and the disproportion at it are sick and older, then it will cause all kinds of problems with respect to the balance. And in future years the Insurance Companies are going to be forced to raise premiums. Reporter premiums that are already too high for folks like reyes. The left out signing up for Health Insurance, facing the choice, pay 1 of his income in a fine, or find 6 to pay for insurance. How he and millions of others decide could term if the president s Healthcare Plan survives the year. Patty culhane, al jazeera, washington. While were on the subject of health care, former First Lady Barbara Bush is in the hospital. She is reportedly suffering from a mild case of pneumonia, but said to be in stable condition. The family released this statement. New saw it coming five years after the financial crisis, stock posting alltime highs. 2013, a very big year for the bulls. The dow is up 26. 5 , and the s p up by almost 30 . Patricia sabga takes a look at what we might expect in 2014 . Reporter the bulls plowed through significanting cant obstacles in 2013. If your money was in equities, stocks, you were quite happy for 2013. Reporter but will the rally continue . There is nothing in the wake that would drive the market down. Reporter one factor fuelling the optimism, the housing recov recovery. Housing prices rose about 11 across the country. And new construction in year is expected to exceed 1 Million Units for the First Time Since the housing double burst, and that means jobs. Every construction job leads to three other jobs, so we can see a million new jobs coming out of a surge in housing. Reporter an improving jobs market is one reason the federal deserve has decided to start raining in the program that helped drive the stock market to record highs. But now investors will really have to focus on fundamentals. Firms are going to have to start innovating, investing in r d, and investing in in its employees, and start growing with new products, new services. Reporter and with corporations issuing profit warnings at a record rate, investors may be more discerning in 2014. Also in 2014, new york has a new mayor. This is the seen live in downtown manhattan. He officially became mayor just after midnight. Running on a progressive platform, de blasio is the first democratic mayor since 1993. And in detroit mike duggen was sworn in as mayor. He will be tackling that citys desperate financial situation. Duggen is hoping to have a larger role in handling the turn around of the motor city. Coming up on Al Jazeera America, an update on that kay anotheric situation in south sudan. And a chance handshake raising questions about the future of uscuban relations. Interactive television. In fact, we depend on you, your ideas, your concerns. All these folks are making a whole lot of money. You are one of the voices of this show. I think youve offended everyone with that kathy. Hold on, theres some room to offend people, im here. We have a right to know whats in our food and monsanto do not have the right to hide it from us. So join the conversation and make it your own. Watch the stream. And join the conversation online ajamstream. An exclusive america tonight investigative series we traveled here to japan to find out whats really happening at Fukushima Daiich three years after the nucular disaster, the hidden truth about the ongoing cleanup efforts and how the fallout could effect the safety of americans are dangerous amounts of radioactive water, leaking into the pacific eververyday . Join america tonights michael okwu for an exclusive four part series, as we return to fukushima only on Al Jazeera America in south sudan, both rebel rebel and government negotiators are now in ethiopia to begin talks on ending the fighting in that country. Rebels have captured the city of bor on tuesday. Reporter fighting is going on, on at least three different fronts here in south sudan, the small town near the oil field, some of the most productive oil fields here fighting broke out after the rebels attacked government positions. We are also aware that a small town 60 kilometers away from the capitol of the unity state, that town was taken by Government Forces and now advancing on. Outside of bor Government Forces who have been taken out of the town on tuesday, what they are saying is that was a tactical retreat and they are waiting for reinforcements before they go back and take the town of bor. We have seen government soldiers being dispatched to the different front lines. And they say they will continue fighting the rebels in piece is achieved. Russian president , Vladimir Putin paying an early visit to volgograd. He talked to city officials to tighten security there. That came after his pledge to fight terrorism after the attacks. Syria missing that deadline to get rid of its first batch of government weapons. The government siting security concerns and weather as reason. Meanwhile the use of conventional weapons hasnt stopped. Reporter this blast was caused by a barrel packed with explosives and dropped from a syri syri syri syrian plane. The regime may have been stripped of its chemical weapons but that seems to have had little effect on its cam tin against antiGovernment Forces. But the ship thats that were supposed to take the chemical weapons out of syria, are returning. That means the deadline hasnt been met. Everything which syria needs to compete the process of removing and transporting out of syria, the chemical weapons, all of the equipment has been provided and has been delivered, so now its a matter of getting the train rolling. We understand there are a number of factors which have made the authorities unable to meet the december 31st deadline. Reporter the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons says it is still on track for the june 30th deadline, when the program must have been dismantled. The Syrian Government is responsible for removing, packing, and transporting the chemical weapons to the port. Earlier this month, assads forces regained control of the highway linking damascus to any coast, but convoys could still be vulnerable to rebel attack, but its the conventional weapons that are causing the death and destruction. This is inside a hospital in southern syria on new years e eve. More than 46,000 civilians have been killed since the conflict began in 2011. Bernard smith, al jazeera. And a team of al jazeera journalists starting the new year under arrest in 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. Reporter that statement along with the relaxation of rules for the u. S. And cuba, for cubans visiting the u. S. Have led to speculation that the embargo may have been lifted. But some observers say it is unlikely to happen soon. In order to lift the embargo, the administration could have to go to congress, and it cant even get a budget pass that is serious and the government shuts down, can you imagine if this issue came up in congress . Reporter nonetheless the recent hand stake between these two once again stoked speculation that things were changing. Experts say only concrete action will prove that is really so. The first thing would be in fact getting cuba off of the terrorism list. There is no basis for that anymore. And there is a possibility that that might happen, because cuba has been very important in the negotiations between the farc and cuba. Reporter nonetheless will relations normalize between two geographical neighbors. Up next, a look at the year ahead in technology. Welcome back to Al Jazeera America. Im del walters in new york, and here are todays headlines. Beginning today more than 2 Million People have insurance under the Affordable Care act, the coverage is for americans who signed up for policies before december 24th, the white house hoping about a Million People would will covered by now. It is now legal to buy marijuana in colorado. The state selling its first over the counter purchase this morning. Anyone over the age of 21 can buy and smoke marijuana. As the situation in south sudan worsens, anyinegotiators arrive in ethiopia for peace talks. Good afternoon, to you, im eboni deon. I want to start off with a look at the snow we with expecting to come into the northeast. It is definitely cold enough to get some of that wintery precipitation. We are expecting heavy amounts of snow, in fact some areas could top a foot, in these darker shades of blue. Even around new york city and in newark, we are talking 4 to 8 inches of snow storm system will really start to take shape as we get into thursday and friday and into the weekend. We have some moderate rain showers in the gulf, and the snow has been per advertisent around areas of northern illinois, and even ohio. This snow will continue to drift southward and event yulely it will make its way into parts of kansas and missouri. Here is a look at what were expecting. Were watching an area of lowpressure, that will build up overnight tonight and into thursday, and as it continues to look north it will pull up all of that moisture from the gulf of mexico. Where the air is cold enough, were also going to be deal with snow coming in from the west. And well see a lot of moisture, cold air, and that will start the snow showers here in new york city around thursday or friday. By friday the storm system really dropping our temperatures behind it, were only talking teens for highs on friday. In the northwest, were no stranger to the arctic air. So you need to continue to bundle up. As far as our snowfall amounts heaviest here around chicago. Where we could see upwards of 3 to 6 inches. Dell . Thank you very much. 2013 was a banner year for breakthroughs in technology. Jacob ward takes a look. Reporter 2013 was a mix of goofy inventions and discoveries. Shrinking electronics gave rise to wearable technology. But while glass sounded like a goods idea, it seemed to just out our friends and it made sergei look scary. At least as of this year, you wont have to turn them off of the plane, the faas new rules allow you to keep your phones on for a flight. It was a pretty boring year for apple, that means in 2014 the companys fans will be looking for some of the rumors to arrive. Personal 3d printers fell to the 1,000 dollar mark. Just dont expect to keep any of this stuff private. Revelations that the nsa has been monitoring the communications of millions of unwitting americans have destroyed the notion of digital privacy. In 2014 companies will look to prove that our texts emails are out of the governments reach. Scientists developed an expeer mental therapy to fight cancer. A technique called crisper allowed for genetic micro surgery, turning on or off the genes that lead to or prevent certain afleflictiafflictions. What really got attention this year, however, was the brain. Deep brain stimulation, a method of feeding electrical currents into our heads has already eased the system of parkinsons. In in switzerland, the human brain project is throwing 1. 6 billion at building the First Complete computer simulation of the human brain. And scientists seem to have figured out what sleep is for. According to tests on mice it clears toxins out of the brain that build up during the course of the day. That could lead to a better nights best for everyone in 2014. But what about the future . What might we see in the coming here . Tarek bazley has that story. Reporter much hyped and years in development 2014 will see googles glass eyewear go on sale to the public. Questions remain if it is anything more than a fad. The same thing goes for smart watches that link to your phone. Some are already on the market, but tech giants will add their offerings in in the months to come. This to me is freedom. Reporter some experts predict well see the rise of things like bitcoin. The transaction keys are the costs are almost zero. And a lot of people are seeing it as a vertical safety deposit box. You can use it anywhere you want, and the interaction will eventually be done through mobile phones. I believe watson has the potential reporter super computing and Artificial Intelligence are also set to enter every day life. Ibm has given access to watson. Its vast power and ability to understand natural language, could transform even a simple online search. Artificial can do that, because it can monitor what you say and do and what you do on line, and then you can get a Search Engine specific to you. Reporter we learned how spy agencies track us and learn our communications, and now there is an increasing demand for encrypted messages. This has lead to the rise of apps like snap chat. It deletes itself after the person saw it. So things like snap chat are kind of a new idea that are taking hold pretty quickly. Reporter they are already in use in show business, but holographic or 3d images are also being developed. They are expensive, aaron alexis the advanced Technology Make it unavailable for most. Thanks for watching. The stream is next. Loses sight of a conversations serious subject. Cathy griffin joins us
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