>> welcome to al jazeera america. these are the storie stories wih refollowing for you. president obama and the state of the union, set to call for an increase in the minimum wage. >> we have not achieved any breaks. >> but we are still at it. >> the u.n. envoy saying the talks are on hold, but the effort to stop the violence goes on. the ukrainian government doing an about face on anti-protest legislation -- trying to calm the streets.

♪ tonight president obama will talk to the nation and his fifth annual state of the union address, this has been a tough year for the president, according to the latest news the approval rate 46%, 50% of americans say they disapprove of the job he is doing, that is the lowest number ever heading into the state of the union, now during the speech, he will announce his intentions to use his powers to raise the federal minimum wage for contract workers right now $7.25 an hour, he wants to raise that to $10.10 an hour. that is just one of a number of issues he wants to outline. lisa, already the president getting push back. >> he is indeed. he was asked -- house speaker was asked about that move to raise the wage, and the

speaker said today they won't accomplish anything. >> the president has the authority to raise the minimum wage for those dealing with federal contracts. let's understand something. this is effects not one can't contract. it only effects future contracts with the federal government. how many people will this help? i say somewhere close to zero. >> but the white house insists this move is aimed at helping hardworking americans including folks like janitors and construction workers that are federal contractors. the administration says it will continue to work with congress to try to pass legislation that would raise the federal minimum wage across the board. >> lisa, what other big issues will the president address tonight? the white house has indicated

that will be very optimistic, but will include some concrete actions. unemployment, college and prek education, we know how important that is to the president. and certainly growing the economy and creating more jobs. this morning the caucus was briefed on what the president is going to say tonight, and new york congressman said mr. obama will lay out his agenda, and he is looking for republican help. we know that he is going to set an agenda, he is looking for a partner. the president is looking for a partner in this congress, he is desperate for one, but he is also showing that if he fails to find one, he is willing to act in a legal way to help move the country forward. the president has made it clear that he will use his executive powers when he needs to, if he feels that congress is not moving forward.

del. >> lisa stark joining froes washington, thank you very much. now, during the state of the union address, everyone from the first lady to members of congress invite special guests. now, among those attending the mother and sister of kenneth bay, they are the guest of two democratic congressman, bay is being held in north korea, his family repeatedly asking the government to help gain his release. remember last year, the president laying out a lot of ideas, but where are those ideas now? jonathan best did some digging. >> some describe 2013 as a year of disappointment, but it didn't start that way when he layed out his vision, including overhauling immigration, here is what he said about that. >> the time has come to pass comprehensive immigration reform. now is the time to do it. now is the time to get it done. >> but it didn't get done, the senate did pass a bill but reforms to create a path way to citizen ship stalled in the house. there's hoped it will happen this year, but then there's

the economy. >> a growing economy. that creates good middle class jobs, that must be the north star that our guides our efforts. >> and indeed the economy has been growing, the unemployment rate floras year, yet income and equality remains it's wide nest generations and other ideas like raising the minimum wage also stalled. but there were some successes. >> so tonight, i am announcing the launch of three more of these manufacturing homes within where businesses will partner with the environment of defense and energy to turn regions left behind by globalization into global senators of hi-tech jobs. >> it took a year, but that promise was kept, just in time. the president announced the first of those manufacturing hubs in north carolina this month. is to help struggling towns that have seen jobs go overseas. and the president also announced five promise zones are federal agencies will focus to create jobs and improve schools. now, another big push last year, was gun control.

>> overwhelming majorities of americaning, american whose believe in the second amendment. that was two months after the sandy hook, but ideas like expanding background checks and banning assault weapons failed. congress did not pass any sweeping gun laws. next, iran. >> the leaders of iran must recognize thatle now is the time for a diplomatic solution, we will do what is necessary to prevent them from getting a nuclear weapon. >> actually agreed to scale back the program, it was a historic first step. and other issues like gay marriage got only a passing mention. overall, even the white house admits progress was modest. >> al jazeera jonathan best,

and al jazeera america will have continuing coverage of the state of the union address, that coverage begins tonight at 6:00 p.m. eastern time. ukraine ensure a stable government, this morning par limit repealing those unpopular protests laws the opposition says that's not enough. they are urging felon stray tor to stand firm. jennifer glass is in kiev, and those protest are now spreading across the country, is there a sense that all of their dend mas will be met? >> well, dell that's what they are hoping. certainly the government has made a big about face in the last week or so, but the protestors are staying put until they get what they have. tomorrow, parliament are talk about amnesty b about getting all of those people out of jail that were arrested for the past two months because of

demonstrations. but the opposition and the government is far apart on this. the government and members of parliament say that amnesty should include the police and security forces and that's a problem for the opposition, because they say why should they be rewarded and security force whose attacked protestors in some case shooting protest torture laws, why should they be rewarded and that is a big sticking point. of course there is the question of president victor. many of the people i spoke to today, at the barricades that face on the road to parliament, say the president has to go, he had to resign or call early elections. so while we have seen a lot of progress, still a long way to go. >> on the subject of that today, he met with representatives from the union, is there any indication that ukraine will strengthen its ties?

>> kathryn ashton she will be here, and they will be talking about what happening to that trade agreement, it was scrapped in knot that's what started all of this, many of the opposition would like to see closer ties with the european union, but ukraine is a divided country, and the president is strong hold in the east they are very very eastern looking, they really believe that ukraine's historical ties are with russia, and should remain with russia, and of course the president has sign add $15 billion aid deal that gets renews every quarter so russia stills that a lot of influence. two opposition has the people on its side. tens of thousands have come out across the country, so the government is feeling the pressure, and we will see what

kind of changes it makes. >> jennifer glass, thank you very much. the afternoon session of the syrian peace talks was called off today. both sides trying to end the dodd lock over who would be part of any transitional government. in geneva, and nick, do we know yet why the session was with called off? >> well, dell, we expected these talks to be very difficult, and tense, and we are told this mornings session was the most tense of all of the sessions that have happened so far, and so the u.n. special envoy to syria lifted both sides and they said look, you are way too hot, we will skip the morning session, then he came to reporters and spoke to us, and said look, this is going to be difficult. this is going to be tense, and he appealed to everyone to relax. >> so nobody is walking out.

nobody is running away. we all prepare ourselves for what i hope will be a better session tomorrow morning. you know, he says these talks will determine the future of syria, he is looking at the long term game here. there are thousands of people who are dead, thousands of people dying, has there any movement on the humanitarian aid? sadly no. and holmes is the worst effected. for eight months there have been 1,000 families that haven't had food, or water, or the basic necessities of what they need, and part of the problem is the deadlock here between the government, the opposition, and right in the middle now is the united states. and on the government side, they are saying look, we don't want to talk about humanitarian aid, we don't want with to talk about

assistance, we want to talk about the fighting. and we heard from the deputy foreign minister of the syrian government, just a few hours ago, he said look, the opposition isn't listening but then he said the real problem is the united states, because the u.s. is funding and arming opposition groups. we were again disappointed that it was prepared and brought out during the morning seg. suddenly, the other party said they don't agree with such a statement, and that they support the wrights' steps to arm terrorist groups. and to provide them with all kinds of weapons. >> the u.s. has been working behind the scenes here, and they have been emailing us statements and they were not pleased at all when they heard that statement. spokesman eddie vasquez from

the state department said look, the problem is the syrian regime. it is unconscionable that they would block the work of humanitarian agencies. the u.s. wants to talk about humanitarian aid, they do not want to talk about the assistance they are or aren't giving what we have here is two sides not even agreeing about what they are talking about, they are actually talking past each other, that means as the politics goes on, the fighting and is suffering continues on. >> and the death tom rises in geneva, thank you very much. objectioned egyptian president was back in court today. he is accused of being part of a jailbreak during that maz uprising, more than 20,000 inmates escaped. morsy protested being placed inside a metal cage, even questioning why he is in jail. >> tell me who you are, dune where i am? i am the head of this court.

>> morsy already facing three other trials on various charges, some of them carry the death penalty. 55 children are dead, but who are they? a project is launched looking for answers that once was the democracier school for boys. and buying a home for the first time it can be scary, but now rising prices make it even worse.

you are looking live right now at the manhattan skyline, which believe it or not making it much warmer than other parts of the country. fargo north dakota not the place i want to be right now. >> no, not if you like that cold air, so we have both there. hey, we are looking at warmer temperatures and the temperatures probably say warmser barely above freezing. that's the problem here, as you are getting rainfall bag cold air. not the case here. there it is, 15 in

philadelphia, the latest observation, now 18. warm up a degree or two, we call that 18 warm. 19 in richmond, getting closer to the freezing mark, just seeing it climb to the freezing mark there in new orleans, houston, 30, there's teens and 20's but you add that warm air above this cold air, now you are having rainfalling into air which is below freezing. can either freeze before it hits the ground, or freeze when it hits the ground. ice coating the ground here in this pink section, where it is cold enough it is all snow, but the mix is the area of concern now, ice is really starting to accumulate. when it moves out, see what is in storm. have that in the national forecast. >> thank you very much. for almost a century, a florida reform school was plagued by allegations of brutality and child abuse, now researchers have found remains of 55 people buried on that campus. they have been digging for two years, but there are questions. how did the bodies get there,

how did they die, and who is responsible. natasha, 55 people dead, children, where do they even begin? >> well, and think of this, i spoke to a woman today who has been waiting 73 years. to locate the remains of her brother, we have interviewed a couple of men who shared really awful stories about what they claim happened while they were students at the reform school. this school closed in 2011. families came forward and had been told at some point that their loved ones had been buried on the campus cemetery, they wanted to know exactly where their loved ones were with, and in some cases even if they were buried on the campus. a team of researchers stepped in. they got permission to

excavate the campus and began computing the bodies. so far, they have found the remains of 55 people, and dell, that is 24 more than official records that the school documented, now through dna testing the team of researchers is hoping to identify the remains of probably all these boys. again, we aren't sure, because there remains if there are adults or possibly girls. be uh in any event, so far 11 families have come forward seeking answers. decades after their loved ones have died. i was curious asking for the public's help, what do they want the public to provide? >> well, we should clarify, there is no criminal investigation being launched, too much time has been passed. has gone by, rather, at least that's what the attorney general said. today the local sheriffs is asking people to come forward.

h they released the name of the boys that died. so what they are hoping is these surviving relatives will come forward, provide dna evidence, or samples rather so they can test them to hopefully identify these remains. and you know, this is as much about bringing peace to these families so they can properly bury these boys as it is about providing a historical record, so people can know exactly what happened at this school. taking a look at business news, some signs of life on wall street, the dow up 86 points. getting a boost from some positive news and about consumer confidence.

that is the best in eight years prices have remained strong. now those increases in home prices are good news for sellers but bad news for you want to buy a home. for them the dream of owning a home is becoming more and more difficult. >> oh, nice. >> he is searching for the perfect starter home, but he is having trouble finding it in a white hot real estate market. homes he likes don't fit his budget. >> whoa, they have a master bath. >> that's why it is 359. >> and many of the homes he can't afford he doesn't like. i never like a bedroom on the fist floor. it is sad when you walk into a place and there's holes in the ceilings and the floors are wonky. >> eager buyers are jump starting the u.s. housing market, existing home sales top 5 million last year, up more than 9% from the previous

year. at the same time inventories at the end of the year dropped by about the same percentage of fewer foes closure and short seams. strong demand are lighting a fire under prices. through october of last year, hard hit markets like las vegas, los angeles, and san francisco saw price increases topping 20%. and chicago charlotte and dallas posted their strongest annual increases in decades. while home prices are still below their prerescission bubble in most markets the highest prices could begin shutting some potential buyers out of the market. income is raising barely one to 2% a year. also face rising interest rates and tougher mortgage regulations. is went into effect just a

couple of years ago. but also add to the cost of a mortgage. >> across the industry, it has added athletes 25 bases points. even in the face of higher home prices and interest rates real estate agent says his business is booming. that's putting pressure on tom so find a home fast. al jazeera, chicago. space the the final frontier, and now there's a new camera in space that will let you look at it for a price.

>> welcome back to al jazeera america. i'll dell waters here are your headlines. the president going into his fifth state of the union address with low job approval numbers. the president speech on healthcare and the economy. ukraine's government giving into some of the dend mas of protestors still on the streets. parliament repealing those unpopular laws in the country's prime minister has resigned. and a deadlock in geneva, concerning the syrian peace talks. this afternoon session called off. the sticking point remain

whose will make up the bobble transitional government. those meetings are set to resume tomorrow. there are two new cameras promising new images from space, but installing them on the international space station has been a little tricky. daniel reports that is just part of the drove. installing two cameras that will send a constant stream live via the internet. from oil pipelines to volcanos riots to refugee movements the canadian company that built the cameras says all sorts of imagery will be available to almost anyone with an internet connection. >> will be selling to governments and agriculture, of course, secondly we will be targeting businesses, people who want to be able to track, farms, business intelligence, mining resources and things like that around the world, and thirdly, will take it

process and it stream it out over the web, so the farm kerr log in with their phone, and get a picture of their farm taken two weeks ago on their phone. so it is all three segments. >> nasa, google and others do offer space imagery now, but earth case and a few other countries involved in private data collection say their images will be higher quality and much more detailed. able to zoom in on a battlefield, or a city square. >> and that does raise privacy concerns. one commentator said the rush by private companies to provide data from space, amounted to sill can valley sending up it's own spy satellites. governments and privacy advocates say they will be watching the new projects closely. in the end, the space walk had mixed results. ground controllers say one of the two cameras is working the other isn't yet providing quality data. up close is potentially more

personal than ever before. >> if you are looking at this image, you are probably wishing you had that uniform they had on in space, because in some parts of the one, it is that cold outside. >> that would help a little bit, yeah, the temperatures are not quite as cold -- >> i think i saw somebody with that outfit on on the metro. >> outer space just a little colder. and even colder if you go fourth toe the west here. cold air is in place, now you are seeing snow which is melting and then falling into that cold air. here it is all snow where the temperature is cold enough. this pink area is where the snowle farmers which is above

freezing it mets in longer snow, either sleet or freezing rain that's a big problem, because it will continue to aqume late on surfaces if it freezes. by about 2:00 in the morning we are still seeing it here, but the back end is approaching from the west, but along the atlantic coast, still seeing that snow and ice. noon you remember to, still coming down, it clears out, and then it is quiet, just have that ice which is left over, and the snow as well. especially across the carolinas there, up to virginia, there's some snow coming down, significant snowfall two to fourisms winter storm warnings are in effect because of that, there's some ice in the mix here, not just all snow, that's where you sea scenes like this. this is ice that accumulates on surfaces. and it can bring down some tree limbs that will cause power outages. now the cold air is here, the actual temperature below freezing.

20 to 30 below, with the wind chill not quite as cold, but still, that bitter cold air bundle up before you head outside. >> dave, warren, thank you, and thank you for watching al jazeera, in new york, earth rise is next, and remember we have full coverage of the state of the union address. >> i'm steve chow, malaysian borneo, where villagers are restoring one of the world's oldest rain forests. >> i'm omar khalifa and i'm in the philippines, where the humble coconut is leading the fight against environmental disaster. >> and i'm sinead o'shea and i'm in sarasota, florida making reef balls.