>> welcome to aljazeera america. i'm del walters, and these are the stories we're following for you. the president preparing for his fifth annual state of the union tonight. raising minimum wage for contract workers. the prime minister stepping down. and keeping track of these people. homeless on a bitterly cold night. making sure that they are getting what they need.

tonight president obama will talk to the nation in his fifth annual state of the union address. and in that speech, he will use his presidential powers to try to raise the minimum wage for contract workers to $10.10 an hour. that's one of the issues that he plans to outline tonight. and lisa, he's already getting pushback from republicans. >> he is indeed on that minimum wage proposal. house speaker, john boehner, said in a news conference that the president does have the authority to make this move, but warned that it will probably have little impact. >> the president has the authority to raise the minimum wage for those in federal contracts. let's understand something. this affects not one current contract.

it only affects future contracts within the federal government. and so i think the question is, how many people, mr. president, will this executive action actually help? i suspect the answer is somewhere close to zero. >> boehner said this could cost low income workers their jobs, and hurt the very people that the president is trying to help. but president obama has been trying to raise the federal minimum wage, and congress has taken no action on this, and he hopes that this will show that the president is standing up for the little guy >> reporter: president obama is leaving a turbulent 2013 behind and trying to turn the tide on 2014 with his fifth state of the union. his approval numbers are all-time low, and the congress' numbers are even lower. >> i have a pen and i have a phone. >> reporter: that was president obama nearly two weeks ago, who says that he has a new plan of action, doing what he

can on the new issues, when this polarized congress is unable or unwilling to act. >> success in washington of a president, of any party, 1 shoud not be measured alone by any bills that congress passions. >> let's be careful that we don't create a situation and a momentum y where congress is an afterthought >> reporter: president obama is expected to focus on three key word. internet, action and optimism. > >> it's time to restore opportunity for all. >> reporter: job training, retirement accounts for workers who don't have 401ks, promises from businesses to hire the long-term unemployed. >> that's precisely what is needed in my state where the middle class is really shrinking >> reporter: and then the other issues, ranging from immigration, education and income equality.

but he'll be facing an even more gridlocked congress. with many up for re-election this year, and battles like the debt ceiling coming around again. >> if president obama wants to give an honest, candid state of the union in week, he'll address the fact that his policies are not working. >> reporter: many will be likely be repeated. >> background checks, comprehensive reform. >> reporter: many have responses ready, they're already calling tonight's speech just more talk >> it would be nice to here how he's going to put all of these speeches into action. >> the republicans say they are willing to work with him. and senator mitch mcconnell say that the president should be in the middle. but congress is going to be hard to come by.

del. >> lisa stark in washington, and thank you very much. and a reminder that aljazeera america will have full coverage of the president's state of the union tonight. our coverage begins at 6 p.m. eastern time. parliament repealing the anti-protest laws. days of violent demonstrations, and also today, the country's prime minister with his resignation. but even with that, the people are encouraged to continue their demonstrations. jennifer glass is in kiev and what's the move following the concessions? >> reporter: well, del, there there's evidence that the president has made concessions in the last few days. down on the ground, the protesters are still digging in, and still standing around those oil drums filled with wood to

keep them warm in the bitter cold nights, and they are reinforcing the barricades of they have no plans to move anywhere. but one of the former heavyweight boxing champions said that things are moving in the right direction. >> the positive thing is we have revoked the shameful laws, against the constitution, this has never happened before in the history of the ukrainian parliament since 1991. this is a small, but very important step. today, we also need to bring up a question. a very important question of amnesty to stop the prosecution of all of the protesters. >> reporter: and it is that amnesty law where we see how far apart the parties still remain. the parliament is going to meet tomorrow morning and discuss the am midwesty law. the opposition would like to see all of the protesters freed.

and the security forces that attacked them, now three protesters are dead and the opposition contends this the police are responsible for those deaths. the government would like to see everyone forgiven in an amnesty, and the opposition said that it's just the protesters that are victims in the attack. so still to be bridged here. >> jennifer, you are in kiev, but the protests are taking place across the country, and is there a sense that the opposition is spreading and they will get everything that they asked for? >> reporter: well, i think they're going to get a lot of what they asked for. early on, when the demonstration started to spread across the country last week, that's what scared yanokovych. and his advisers say that he was taken by surprise that this is spreading, not only to the west of the country, which is the opposition-supported territory, but also to the east,

presidential strongholds. so we have seen big concessions in the last few days. the president offering the prime ministership. and we'll see more going forward. >> egyptian president, mohamed morsy was back in court today. leading to one of the most violent days in the egyptian revolution. morsy placed inside of a metal cage, even questioning why he is in jail. >> tell me who you are, do you know where i am? i am the head of this court. >> morsy already facing three other serious charges, some of them carrying the death penalty. now detained in cairo for 31 days, accused of spreading lies harm of to state security, and

aljazeera says they're totally false, and continues to demand their release itself. >> coming up, chemicals in the water. why west virginia may be more contaminated than first thought. and plus, a huge drug kingpin in mexico. how the cartels are changing. and a major topic in tonight's state of the union address will be immigration reform. but can all sides finally agree on a comprehensive plan?

>> for the second year in a row, immigrants will be attending the state of the union. and they'll be guests of some of the congress to hopefully shed line on immigration reform as a

path to citizenship. for the center of american progress, he's in washington d.c. this morning. and good morning, mr. fietz. >> good morning, del. >> are you confident that this year immigration reform passes and are you sure why it pass it's. >> i'm confident that the president will be talking about the importance of find of bipartisan agreement with this congress, and this is obviously the issue that seems more teed up to have the senate has passed a bill by a bipartisan super majority and now it's up to the house to pass it. and we know that the pass republican conference is meeting in a retreat this week, and one of the things they will be discussing is how to move forward on immigration reform. so hopefully the starsa aligned and we'll get over the finish

line. >> are you satisfied that it's because it's the right thing to do, or because it's the politically right thing to do? >> in dc, sometimes it's hard to separate those two things. i think that they understand that it's a political imperative for them, certainly before the 2016 elections. they need to get right on this issue before they try to compete at a national level again. but i also think that there are enough house republicans that think this is the right thing for this country. the president will talk about it tonight i'm sure in an economic frame. this is good for the american economy. it will create 121,000 jobs a year. >> that being said, it was one the things that they could not agree on for the first five years. pathway to citizenship. and if we don't hear those words

tonight, wha what do you expecto hear? >> i think we will hear pact way to citizenship tonight from the president, and i think that the principles that we'll see this week, we'll talk about legalization, and it might say no special pathway to zip. citizenship. but it doesn't mean no it citizenship at all. >> we talked about this. i'm one of the people living in the shadows, how do i feel about this country that i want to call home that is having such a difficult time opening it's doors to the huddled passes again. >> yeah, if i were an undocumented immigrant living here over the last 15 years, it would be enormously frustrating. i'm working two or three jobs to put food on the table, and to be treated the way they have been for so long is enormously difficult and frustrating.

that said, i think that the debate has come so far that we're at a point where even a year ago, the house republicans in the republican party was talking about part of their 2012 platform as being self deportation, and now they're talking about legalization for the undocumented. it has been a slow process, and somewhat painful process, but i think we're on the right track. >> marshall fietz joining us from washington, with the center for american progress. thanks. >> thank you for having me. >> taking a look at business news. wall street trying to get out of its january funk. right now, the dow up 58 points, but the nasdaq is lower, dracked down by disappointing sales news from apple. the blue chips have had five disappointing sessions this year. americans are more positive about the economy. the consumer confidence rising

to its highest level since august. optimism about six months from now is said to be on the increase. mexican leaders have captured the leader of the knights templar, one the most drug cartels. they have had increased violence in the last months ago. and he had quite the bounty on his head. >> reporter: caught hiding in a closet, one of mexico's most notorious drug bosses arrested. known as the uncle, he had a quarter million dollars bouty on his head. he was one of the top leader the knights templar drug cartel. >> reporter: he allegedly rap the drug cartel in the city, maintaining ties to the leaders

in the area. >> reporter: in response to heavy fighting between vigilante groups that had sprung up to fight the drug cartel. they wouldn't lay down for arms until the drug bosses were contained. this comes at a tough time for the mexican government. despite the police, they continue to grow. and now it's up to the government though prove that they can bring peace and security to a troubled recently. >> reporter: but the government is also acknowledging the vital role played by the vigilantes or the self defense group. on monday, they met with the vigilante leaders and announced that their leaders would be integrated into a rural defense corp. >> this has great expectations for the region. what we need is a strong common front, whereby trust can be rebuilt. >> reporter: it wasn't so long

ago that the vigilantes were disarming the police, who they had accused of working with the drug cartels. now, the mexican government say that arresting one be of the founders of the nights templar is a step in the right direction, helping to regain the rust of the people. >> in geneva, the afternoon session of the syrian peace talks has been called off. a deadlock over who would be leading the transitional government. syria is devastated by years of war. and nick is in geneva, and it appears there's a real impasse here. >> yeah, del. it has been a really tough day for all sides. we see fireworks from the opposition, from the regime, with the u.s. in the middle of it. this morning, we saw the government representatives lay into the united states when they were talking to all of us, saying that the u.s. is arming

terrorist groups inside of syria, and the u.s. has sent terse statements, they are only sending non-lethal aid. and the opposition says look, we need to be talking about the syrian people, food, water, medicine, to thousands of syrians who don't have any of that. and in the middle of this, very calm. they have been doing it for decades. >> so nobody is walking out and nobody is running away. i have suggested to them, and they have agreed that that they meet this afternoon, and we all pray for what i hope will be a better session tomorrow morning.

>> they have been criticized for not getting enough done, but be patient. this is very very difficult. >> thank you. a story that we have been following here on aljazeera. thousands of gallons of chemicals are leaking from that storage tank in west virginia. it's more than first reported. a revived response to the order from the environmental protection. the numbers given to the company are now under review. the tainted water affected 3,000 people. but officials say that it's now safe to drink. imagine being one of the hundreds of thousands of people who can't come in from the cold in the city? getting a headcount of the homeless, erica has their story. >> it's brutally cold. >> reporter: bundled up in coats, they walk block by block,

searching for the homeless. >> i'm from the city of new york. we're doing a survey. >> reporter: as part of the survey, the volunteers must talk with the people they find in the streets or hanging out on the corners. >> s not homeless? good. >> reporter: to ensure that the volunteers are thorough, the city even plants people pretending to be home many. >> she's not homeless. we're making sure that we are covering our area. >> reporter: they have only come across a few homeless people in their area, but they're just a handful of volunteers out of 3,000, covering nearly 15,000 miles across the city. they walk in the middle of the night in hopes of getting the most accurate count. they do not count the people she see in buildings or subway cars. it's strictly on the streets. >> the more we know out here and where they're in, the more we know where the large amount of homeless people are. >> and a night as cold as this one, with temperatures plunging into the teens, they say helps

their cause. >> because if they're out here, they have nowhere to go. >> reporter: two volunteers like naima jones, these people are more than just numbers. >> would you like to come in for the night? it's cold out here. if it gets too cold, don't stay out here. >> reporter: still, she thinks that getting a good count is a step in the right direction. >> nobody deserves to be living on the street. >> coming up on aljazeera america, fighting fire with ice. stream challenges that firefighters are facing in the freezing cold. and inspiring a generation a singer of american folk music.

>> welcome back to aljazeera america. i'm del walters.

here are the headlines. president obama is set to address the nation tonight for his state of the union, focusotion healthcare and immigration and the economy. ukraine is repealing it's unpopular anti-protest laws. after days of violent demonstrations, and also the prime minister is submitting his resignation. and home prices in the largest cities falling sharply, sparking a nine month streak. a gain of almost 14%, and that's the best year since february of 2006. the best advice during extreme temperatures is to stay indoors and just work at home. but that's not always an option for everyone. the bitter cold presenting problems for firefighters and other emergency workers. >> for essential businesses like fighting fire, there are no days off, just an added challenge. across the country, it seems like this one in new jersey

demonstrates how difficult it is to douse blaze was freezing water. a fire ripped through a restaurant on chicago's west side, the structure is literally frozen >frozen. >> it can be literally challenging in these extreme cold temperatures. >> reporter: barry is in the fire department in chicago. without the help of heat or anti-freeze, the biggest concern is the use of water. >> probably the most critical element when we're facing the with this type of weather, is the cold temperatures and the fact that the water quickly freezes. so when you use waters an extinguishing agent, it's important that you keep it viable and moving >> reporter: to do that, they are keeping it from freezing. >> the fact that the structure

is getting an enormous amount of water, and ultimately will freeze, that we can't do anything about. but what we're trying to do is make the scene safe for our operation. >> reporter: as for the gear, it's the same. the bunker pants and the jacket, a nomad hood to protect the face and neck and head area is to protect them from the fire and not the ambient temperature outside. >> the equipment we give them is the actual safety gear that the firefighters wear, is the same whether it's today at 15 below 0 or 110°s fahrenheit during a summer heatwave. >> i'm meteorologist, dave war warren, and we're still talking about the windchills and this is as cold as it will be in the next few days. it will try to get warm tore the south here. there's warm air coming up from

the gulf. but it's hitting the cold air, and that's where the battle ground is off of the gulf and the cold air coming in from the north. the temperatures are below freezing but above that, we're seeing temperatures above freezing, so now we're seeing rain before it hits or freezes when it hits. freezing rain, dealing with the pink area where it's cold and snow and all rain in the middle. you're getting the ice accumulation. next few hours, it will continue, but the back edge of this is starting to move to the coast and off the coast by wednesday morning. still snow coming down, but it's generally ending throughout the morning tomorrow. still rain and mix lingering in florida by wednesday afternoon and evening. and by thursday, it's just off the coast. there's significant snow in north and south carolina. the rain in the south, right in the middle, you see that mix. we're seeing ice storm warnings because the ice accumulation, about half an inch on surfaces,

could bring down limbs and cause power outages. that's the problem there. and in the north, temperatures down below 0, and windchills even colder. >> thank you very much. rolling stone magazine, famous for its cover photos, between rock and rollers and hollywood stars, but upcoming, it has articles on sting and pope francis i, but it's different. pope francis appeared on the cover of time as it's mean of the year. pete seiger has died. family members say that he died peacefully in his sleep at new york's presbyterian hospital. he was an activist for environmental causes, and he wrote if i had a hammer, turn, turn, turn, where have all of

the flowers gone and kisses sweeter than wine. i'm del walters, and you can check us out 24 hours a day by going to aljazeera.com. $1.5 billion industry. how safe are they? >> our digital producer is here bringing you the live feed back for the show. there's a lot of good scugs. people are a little -- discussion on this. people are a little surprised that this is unregulated and is available for kids. >> who would have thought e-cigs can create so much debate.