>> when you look at what he has done in child abuse, he hasn't required that any bishop resign, pedophiles, and i don't think that francis has done much in changing the tone or the dialogue on child sexual abuse. he hasn't made any children safer, or removed any bishops or any priests. and that's sad for me, i'm sad to say. >> he went to him. he spent $2.5 billion on compensation and lawyers, and this has been going on for a decade, but you're absolutely watching it. to washington now, president obama meeting the titans of academic use today, and four atg

into college, and then succeeded when they get there. price for colleges. during the obama administration, the price of college has skyrocketed, 19%, and the cost of public institutions has gone up over 20%. a child born in the lower one fifth of the population has only a 5% of making the top income strata in this country. so the obama administration today is going to gather some 100

the eisenhower office building will be first lady, meshell obama. >> mike, the president might want to talk about education, but the controversy about the nsa isn't going to end any time soon. >> all indications are that the president is going to be kicking over to congress some of the main or at least marquee items recommended by the president's

own advisory board. you remember in december, he received that report and reported that commission back at the height of the snowden scandal in the summer of last year, and of course the marquee item at the top of the list was to do something about

on by the intelligence community in the united states. >> thank you very much. in ohio, a convicted murderer has just been put to death by authorities using a new drug cocktail. dennis was executed this morning. the judge rejecting any last clemency. he was convicted for the murder of a 22-year-old. they stopped making it because they objected to it being used in lethal executions if e. >> a special tribunal has been opened nine years after the assassination of the lebanon president. those accused in the assassination are all members of hezbollah, but none of the men indicted has been arrested inia.

>> egypt is saying that more than 90% of the voters there have signed off on the new constitution. estimates are that 55% of the population turned out to cast their ballots in the first two days of voting. this is the first poll since president morsy was ousted in july. a support for the military backed government. what is new about this constitution? the preamble says that egypt wants to build a modern country with a civilian backed government. only personnel, and islam will remain the official religion of the state. and the draft said that there's freedom to practice religion, places of worship, jews, muslims and christians. >>. >> 11 people have been killed since the vote began on sunday. john mccain talking to john

seigenthaler about the country's new constitution. >> this constitution will be approved overwhelmingly, places the military in a position where they decide their own budget, they decide who the minister of defense will be, they're basically an autonomous organization in egypt. and that's not a real democracy as you know. second of all, there is still significant support in egypt for the muslim brotherhood. and whether that's wrong, i'll leave it to others to decide. you're going to have an insurgency here unless there's a reconciliation between the government and those in leadership. many of the leaders of the square are now in jail. many of the liberals who wanted a more liberal society have now been in prison. thousands have been in prison. and that's not the way the path forward to democracy, and in this day and age, you can't do

that and get away with it. they're facing another algeria in they're not careful. >> these are the new numbers coming out today. officials say that 400 people were arrested during those two days of voting. meanwhile, day 19 for the three aljazeera journalists that continue to be detained there. they have been held since december 29th. they're accused of spreading lies harmful to state security. and aljazeera maintains all of these allegations are false, and meanwhile, two other journalists from our sister channels have been in prison for five months. aljazeera continues to call for their immediate releasety. >> they may be down but far from us. people of the motor city looking to bring detroit back from the brink.

>> aljazeera has a document which could impact the upcoming geneva peace talks concerning syria. it's a letter accepting the invitation to attend those talks. but mall aa appears to be setting conditions saying: that geneva conference set toking take place next wednesday

in switzerland. james hague is here, and what is the significance of this particular letter? >> i think its port because it shows the official position of the syrian government. and the syrian government no less a figure than the deputy prime minister and noren minister. yes, he's coming and yes, he has a delegation, but we have concerned about counter terrorism and concerns about countries supplying the opposition, and we have concerns about some of the things that you've said in your invitation. now, i haven't seen the actual invitation letter, but i've seen other invitation letters that he wrote to other countries attending the conference, and all he did was lay out they're invited to talks based on geneva 1, which was an agreement back in the summer of 2012, and that means that the syrian government

is supposed to get together and agree on a transitional body to govern syria, and it seems that the syrian government has reservation on this idea as it comes together. >> so where does this entire letter leave the entire peace process itself? >> well, del, remember that the opposition side haven't even said they're going to attended talks, which are supposed to start in switzerland next week. they will make a decision friday, possibly on saturday. and there are some in the opposition that say, this letter shows that the syrian government isn't serious, and reasons why the opposition shouldn't attend. but i can tell you that western diplomats can tell you this is why they shouldn't attend. they can go to the talks and expose the fact that the syrian government, as these talks get closer, they have to discuss the

idea of sharing power. it will expose the position of the syrian government if they were to sit around the table, all of them, in switzerland next week. >> james, on the talks leading up to the talks. james, thank you very much. that big rally on wall street seems to be hitting a speed bump today. the dow down after two days of gains. one reason for the decline, bad news out of best buy. the deep discounts are taking a bite out of the holiday sales. down 9%. and it had to slash its prices in order to stay competitive. and their stock is down almost 1/3. a huge deal to tell you about in the healthcare industry. johnson and johnson selling it's

diagnostics business. $4 million. testing equipment. once celebrated, it's a city on the decline. but there are new signs that motown could be turning the corner. more on the motor city miracle. >> detroit begins 2014 bankrupt and surprisingly buoyant. >> me and my business partner, dave, have a foppedness for the the -- fondness for the city. there's a fear and a love for the city. >> as they became the largest bankrupt city, there was fear and optimism. he opened the largest distillery. and now so many customers come in for bottles of 60-dollar bourbon and 34-dollar gin and $2 vodka, that they have the limit of two apiece.

>> it's really, businesses is opening up and people moving into the neighborhood. and we have seen results of the business. >> with the northern american auto show pumping $400 million into detroit's economy, automakers and suppliers are equally optimistic. ei automotive supplies parts to two-thirds of the automakers around the globe. >> we expect fourteen to be an excellent year. i was born and raised in the city of detroit. and i still live here today. and i see a lot of positive change. i think that detroit is on the move, headed in a very favorable direction. >> yet the money coursing through the motor city bypasses vast neighborhoods where more than half of the city's population has vanished in the last half century, leaving

massive pockets. >> there's a lot of poverty and a lot of transportation issues for people, and we have a gentleman who i believe is mentally distressed, harmless, lives in a tarp behind our building here. >> a decline in the decades could take decades to fix, and yet as some mission ut on detroit's fragile recovery, many see cracks in the fortunes. aljazeera, detroit. >> you're looking live right now. this is the scene at the white house. we're waiting for president obama and the first lady to speak. they're looking at forums to expand college opportunities here in the u.s. non-profit sector and big business for today's event. we'll bring that to you live. having faith in hollywood. why movie makers are using the bible to create biblical blockbusters.

>> welcome back to aljazeera america. i'm del walters and here are the headlines at this hour. vatican officials have being asked very tough questions about abuse in the catholic church. a committee on children's rights. it's the first time that the vatican has had to address its handling of pedophile priests. college leaders today are watching the scene at the white house right now, waiting for the president and the first lady to come out and speak. they're trying to make it easier to succeed in college once they get there. >> >> and talks on syria. russia is hosting the leaders of syria and iran today. they are the main allies and they hope to bring the sides together for the first face-to-face meetings in the

geneva 2 talks this week. and the president is set to meet with the titans of academia any moment now. and mike, i might have minute, t trip from the drive to the west wing. they will take the stage, there will be 1200 colleges and universities represented there in that auditorium, along with 40 other stakeholders there. whether they be college admissions boards and sat and down the line. what the president and the first lady are going to try to address, not only the skyrocketing cost of college, but it's not just the sticker price. anyone who shops for colleges with someone they know, there are financial breaks, credits, tuition assistance available to

many lower income students. and still, the price tag can be daunting. but what they're going to try to address, trying to get lower income students on the right track. in other words, identify early students who have potential in college it get them into the right schools, to college to partner with some of the institutions you see there. the larger is what the president is talking about during the course of his administration in the last five years, and it sort of leveled off. but oval, the past 19% in the last five years. and this affects the middle class, and we expect the president it talk about it not only today. but in two weeks time, the state of the union on january 2nd. this is the theme with the

widening gap of income disparity in this country that he's going to be discussin exactly, mike. i want you to know i'm not going to cut you off right now. because there's an incredible scene this we're watching right now coming out of los angeles that we want to go to before we go to the president. these are the flames that were spotted about two hours ago in a wooded part of glendora, and it is already spreading to 125 acres. it's drought conditions out there. strong winds fanning those flames, and this time no word of any injuries. more on the story as it progresses, but we want to go right now to dave warren to find out about the dry, scorched earth out there that they have to contend with. >> yes, normally, we would see the snowfall accumulate and then melt and provide a lot of moisture, and we're not getting

it. we have red flag warnings, and the winds are picking up with the santa ana. very dry and the humidities are low and the temperatures warm. this weather pat not is not changing. you see the storm tracks going well up into canada and not affecting southern california. and the snow should be in the mountains, but we're not getting it. it's going up and around this area of high pressure. this is out west. to the east, low pressure with the pattern here, the disturbances around the boundary here, with the cold air and this gives snow and wind and shots of cold air. off the coast. light snow on thursday and friday, and then another disturbance coming down through north dakota and midnight and then through the midwest, light snow, but another shot of cold air behind it. and reinforcing the weather pattern. it's not changing. this is what we can expect today

and tomorrow. and another one coming down this weekend. look for the weather patter, and it's not changing much in the next few days. the wind is picking up and we have wind gusts of over 60, 70 miles per hour. at least, and this is a high wind warning for north dakota. and it goes to kansas. light snow coming in from the north. and that's the gusty wind. the temperatures dropping only to 5 in fargo. when you factor in the gind, it feels like its 30 below in fargo and 18 below in bismarck and only 6 in minneapolis. this is another shot of cold air that will move south and push through the great lakes, and another one this weekend. and that will be accompanied with light snow. can't seem to break out of this weather pattern. >> we thank you for watching aljazeera. usually we take you to "inside story," but we're watching the white house right now, and we're

awaiting remarks from president obama and michelle obama. they're talking about opening the door for colleges. we're going to take a short back and be right back with the president.

anidous for care of priest who is have been pulled from their ministries. 3,000 lawsuits have been filed welcome back to al jazeera america. we await the president and first lady to come out and address the nation getting all americans into college. take a look at this video. >> we're trying our best to become the future of america, or even the future of the world. >> it will replace the stigma that our generation is lazy and don't want to work. >> i want to better myself and be the best i can be. >> i want people to understand the trials and tribulations they face are not weaknesses, b