story," in washington, i'm ray suarez. ♪ welcome to al jazeera america, i'm del walters. these are the stories we're following for you. one of america's largest pharmacies now taking a stand against smoking. cvs saying it will no longer sell cigarettes. >> there are number of degree of credibility we're tracking. and there is a new un report out accusing the vatican of accepting policies that allowed prooss to sexually abuse

children. >> to look like he just went to sleep. and the death row cocktail that is creating controversy. a major announcement today from cvs, saying it will no longer sell tobacco products at its more than 7,000 pharmacies across the countries. cigarettes and other products will be off the shelves by october. john do we know what prompted this decision? >> we do, del. and this is a big business change, and a big social change. you have got to remember how big this company is. ironically it is in the small estate in rhode island, they have 7,600 stores nationwide.

so when they say they are going to pull tobacco products off of their shelves it is something to sit up and way attention to. the ceo says going forward they want to be a healthy company, provide services on products that make people feel healthier and good about their lifestyles, and tobacco products simply don't fit into their business plan anymore. >> when we asked ourselves where we expect to be in the future as a healthcare company it became clear that removing tobacco products from our stores is the right thing to do. >> it is going to cost $2 billion to roll back all of those tobacco products out of the cvs stores, but that's not too mon much money when you

remember their revenue stream is $125 billion. so compared to that $2 billion is not too much money. the ceo of legacy, which is the foundation that advocates for the prevention of tobacco use sha says she thinks this is a well-thought out decision, and ultimately it will be very successful for them. take a look. >> in the long term selling a product that kills just about half of the people who use it, certainly can't be good for your business, so i think it -- it will prove to be very successful, and therefore, other retailers will follow. now the big question, del, is will other pharmacies follow suit? walgreens is the country's biggest, and they said they too have been looking at this as a possibility going forward. so we'll have to see, probably the fact that cvs has done this

will put pressure on walgreens to do this as well, but we'll see. >> how is the reaction from washington. >> reporter: immediate reaction shun from the commander in chief. here is his reaction . . . healthcare of course is central to his administration. and we heard from michelle obama, who tweeted very quickly, now, she says, we can all breathe a little easier, del. the united nations issuing a report sharply critical of the vatican, demanding that the vatican act now to remove clergy known to be child abusers. the vatican says the report is

distorted. >> reporter: the report is a devastating critique of the vatican. it says it is still not willing to recognize the scale of the problem for take responsibility for it. its a cueses of policies l amounting to a coverup the report lists many failings and has many recommendations. the church is still moving guilty abusers from parish to parish to avoid prosecution. that must stop. there is still a code of silence. that must stop too. all known and suspected abusers must be removed and reported to the police wherever they are. the church must pay compensation and provide rehabilitation to its victims. this ongoing us crisis continues to playing the credibility of the catholic church and its new pope. francis has set up a commission

to deal with it. the committee says he must call on outside help and everything must be made public. >> the credibility of the church will always be at stake unless there's a possibility of having total zero tolerance, protecting children to the health and protection that they need and deserve. >> reporter: the report's tough stance will be welcomed by victims of abuse worldwide. >> for so long we have been disbelieved. for so belong we have been criticized because they -- the church said that we were only after money or we -- we are anti-catholic. >> reporter: this is a real clash of cultures between the un and the vatican. it's also a challenge to pope francis, can he turn the new language and atmosphere of his

papacy into a change in the secretive culture of the catholic church? after 40,000 miles and 123 days, the olympic torch finally arriving in sochi. it was the longest journey in the history of the torch. the celebration coming just two days before the winter games kick off in sew chew, but that was cut short by reports that the suspect in the voel -- volgarad bombing is dead. >> reporter: sport is not the only thing on show in sochi, far from it. until the first ski is clipped on, russia security has the stage pretty much to itself. so the policemen are on the streets and military boats patrol the black seacoast line.

it's a deliberate show of force and this is why. threats from armed separatists groups added to already jitdery global sentiment about the glams, and fuelled claims that russia wouldn't be able to protect them. >> translator: most probably attacks on athletes or guests would be impossible, and i think the terrorists would prefer to carry out attacks on less public places. >> reporter: two suicide attacks last december suggest this is indeed achievable. then there are threats of a different nature, on tuesday the austrian olympic committee said they received a letter saying two of their athletes would be kidnapped at sochi. similar letters sent last month

turned out to be a hoax. it will make esoinch very hard to attack, though nothing can ever be 100% safe. and of course until all of the competitors and spectators are back home safe and sound and sochi has returned to normality, russia won't be able to boast that it has put on a trouble-free games. if that is achieved, though, there will be immense satisfaction here. gay rights activists across europe are holding a day of protest against the russian government. they are speaking out against the controversial laws concerning homosexuality. phil what are they trying to accomplish? >> what they are trying to ash

accomplish aside from just bringing attention to the laws is to try to provide the sponsors to withdraw their sup poet for the games. they do expect to be in about 19 cities globally. it is organized by an lgbt advocacy group called all out. here in london, they are out in front of number 10 downing street, but again, this is mostly named at the sponsors >> and has there been any response from the russian government? the >> the russian government has said a number of things about this law. that home sexuals are welcome to come to the games, but in the words of vladimir putin, just leave the children alone, please. >> phil ittner live for us in london where the rallies are set to take place in about an hour from now.

another winter storm the second one this week, slamming more than two dozen states. when does it stop? >> well, it's ending now, but the ice is the big problem there, because you get that ice which coats a lot of surfaces, power lines and trees all come down. this pink area is where we're seeing the temperature down below freezing, but the warm air isment coming down aloft and that melts the snow. another low developed off of the coast that kept the cold air in place at the surface. this mix year, either sleet or freezing rain. now the next few hours we'll see this area move through new england. this mix now moving through connecticut and through boston, and clearing out by about 5:00 or 6:00. some light snow showers will linger, but we have cold air

coming in behind this storm. dry but the temperatures will be dropping. heavy snow close to a foot across new england. the rain is causing problems because that is on top of the ice which has blocked up a lot of the drains to flooding has become an issue. del. in pennsylvania more than a half of mill people are sitting in the dark. they said the heavy wet snow and rain weighed down the tree limps and stap -- snapped the power lines. detroit's struggles, trying to make a comeback with 78,000 empty homes and buildings.

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welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm del walters, four people in new york have been arrested on drug charges. the "new york times" reporting those charges stem from the investigation into the death of phil philip see more hoffman. lights on broadway will be dimmed in hoffman's memory. louisiana has delayed the execution of an inmate who was scheduled to die today by lettel injection. chris reports on the controversial cocktail. >> reporter: christopher has been on death row in louisiana for 20 years for the 1992 killing of his six-year-old stepson. the state had planned to experiment on the 70-year-old

condemned man. >> we believe there was going to be a serious risk that there will be pain and suffering, that it's unavoidable that will be inflicted upon him, and it shouldn't be. >> reporter: pain and suffering is what the family of the condemned prisoner dennis mcguire's family claim he suffered. the prison system had run out of lethal injection drugs, so ohio turned to a new combination. drugs that no state had ever used before. in an exclusive interview with america tonight, mcguire's son said his father feared what might happen. >> we didn't expect to see what we saw. we expected to see like he just

went to sleep. >> i have seen about 18 others and one differed dramatically. >> reporter: one of the witnesses said he had never seen an execution like it. >> after three to four minutes, dennis mcguire began gasping for breath. >> reporter: his son read from an affidavit about exactly what he saw. >> after making the first noise by father tried to lift himself off of the table by arching his back and pushing his head and wrists against the gurney. >> this went on for a very difficult ten minutes as he was gasping for breath, making gutter gutteral sounds, straining against the restraints which were helding him down. he appeared to be trying to get up or at least raise up in some

fashion. >> he then made a noise that sounded like he was fighting for air and grunting at the same time. it was extremely loud. while this was happening, the warden and the guard in the white shirt had horrified looks on their faces, and it appeared that they were in shock at the way that it was happening. >> reporter: now the family is filing a lawsuit to stop ohio from using the drug come bib nation that killed him. arguing that it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. >> when you strap somebody to a board, deprive them of oxygen for 25 minutes as they slowly die in front of their family, it could take a good imagination to come up with a more brutal form of execution than that. and later tonight on "america tonight," part three of our crime punishment series.

we take a look at new york's controversial stop and frisk policy. on "america tonight." and up a -- a down day on wa wall street. the dow down right now. the man behind the "new york times" center, and other major projects says income inequality is the biggest issue facing the world today. >> now we hear talk of people fanning the flames of class war fair and we have people defending against it and people encouraging it. how do we deal with? what is the solution? >> the most important thing is to have a real discussion, like the program you had on, a real

discussion about what the issues are, and how we deal with the issue. as long as we keep doing that, we begin to solve them. if we keep being divided tea party here, left over here, middle everywhere, it is not going to work. it has to do with discussing it, and talking about it. easier said than done. >> sure. >> but it is going to take a lot of work to change what is going on. >> he says raising the minimum wage will begin to change the problems. in the 1960s companies and jobs started moving away from detroit, and a lot of the residents followed. and that left a lot of empty homes and businesses. >> reporter: when the snowfalls, daryle gets to work, clearing off a snow-free path for his neighborhoods, even though these days his street is a shell of

what it used to be. >> the streets was full, people riding bikes, shooting marbles. >> reporter: he rised his children and grandchildren here today the home is like a beacon of light, and even though the house is worthless than it was when he bout it 20 years ago, he won't let go of it. >> for one i was raised in detroit, and i know detroit is coming on a comeback. >> reporter: a comeback. it's what this bankrupt city, homeowners and entrepreneurs like john george are banking on. >> i'm a detroitaholic, i love detroit. >> reporter: he could have chosen an easier place to open a coffee shop and move theater,

but he built on the west side, and mobilizes teams of volunteers to clear blighted homes. >> you will never hear me listing all of the problems of detroit, that's old news. >> reporter: george believes in about ten years detroit will be leaner and greener, redeveloped into something bigger and better. bigger and better is also what efforts like the motor city mapping project is hoping to make way for. 225 surveyors are combing 125 square miles, snapping pictures of every parcel of land in detroit. >> this is the first of its kind. we have got to do the entire city. >> reporter: the federal, state, and city partnership will use the data to determine whether to fight blight, the next step in rebuilding. >> people say you can't never go home anymore. but you can.

>> reporter: daryle has no idea what his detroit home will look like in the future, but he says he is certain the city will come back. it's what the 700,000 other detroit holdouts are holding on to. as much as 80,000 tons of coal and ash spilling into north caroli carolina's dan river. duke energy has been criticized for waiting a day to report the spill. the river supplies drinking water to virginia just across the border. officials say the water is safe. we'll be right back.

this place was home to little girls who's parents coul

welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. here are your headlines at this

hour. the united nations demanding the vatican act now to remove clergy known to be child abusers. cvs says it is fazing out the sale of cigarettes and all tobacco products. the chain saying it is focusing on health. another winter blast, millions of americans feeling the brunt of ice, rain, and snow. that storm pounding parts of the midwest, and expected to dump a foot of known on the mideast. charlie chaplain is still one of the most recognizable names in film. but he was also a writer. ♪ >> reporter: he is the man who's

face said a thousand words even when the script didn't have any. charlie chaplain, film star, screen writer, composer, director, and now author. >> to find something new produced by chaplain is absolutely extraordinary. >> reporter: the pages were full of scribbles, changes, drafts, and second drafts, and took experts in italy 12 years to assemble. the novel was the basis for his film limelight, widely considered his last great film. >> it is quite a deep reflection in the relationship between the artist and his own art,

and -- and his own audience, and i think the book -- the film deals with these issues, but the book goes much deeper into the nightmares and the shadows of this aging comedian. >> reporter: he was born just a stone's throw from here, and while many of his movies were filmed under the california sun, he never forgot where he came from. the film was set in london, and even royalty as he entered the local premier. and the release coincides with the hundred year anniversary of cap listen putting on his most famous costume. >> everyone went crazy about this character. there wasn't anyone who didn't know his name. it was called chaplain mania. >> reporter: a mania that

continues a century later. seeing charlie chaplain in the snow reminded me of people trying to get to work today. >> yeah, ice is now the big problem. we have ice on top of snow, now rain top -- on top of that, and that is causing some flooding problems. winter storm warning still in effect. we're starting to see flooding in some intersections as the rain comes down on top of the ice. we have -- thousands are gathering for the annual ice festival in japan. one of the sculptures built to

support the olympic team. thank you for watching al jazeera america. i'm del walters in new york. "the stream" is next, and you can check us out 24 hours a day at aljazeera.com. ♪ you might be surprised. our digital producer, rajahad ali is here, giving us all of your feedback, and raj, you