>> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. these are the stories we're following for you. president obama is set to meet with francois hollande. and the first openly gay player in the nfl. corruption case of former new orleans mayor ray nagin.

>> french president francois hollande will greet the president at a naval base later on. >> out of the protocol, the president will meet the french president at andrews air force base. the reason president obama is going straight to andrews is the two leaders will head down to charlottesville, virginia, mont chemontecello, the home of thoms jefferson. full pomp and circumstance, we don't get to see that that often, a ceremony on the south

lawn, greeting francois hollande, the touring of the troops, there is an oval office meeting, a joint press conference. a highlight to some view, a situation with all in formal dress. both these leaders have a big stake in all issues but it's interesting del it's sort of an an knacananachronism. it's meant to express the close relationship between these two leaders, del. >> how is it evolving? >> there's the big blowup with the nsa, that is something the leaders will be discussing, when francois hollande, along with geecialangela merkel and other n

leaders had their phones tapped. to tie it all together, del, delma roussef, leader of brazil, it revealed her phone was tapped, she cancelled the state visit. so it's no question the nature of this visit, the ceremonial aspects of this visit, really do carry a lot of symbolism and a lot of weight, del. >> thank you very much. hollande will be traveling loan, that is mike viqueria at the white house. illegally married same sex couples will be treatthe same way as other couples. his comments follow last year a's supreme court rulings. >> on monday i will issue a new policy memorandum that will for the first time in history

formally instruct all justice department employees to give lawful same-sex marriages full and equal recognition to the greatest extent possible under the law. >> now the move means that same sex spouses will have to testify against each other in federal cases. it will also impact bankruptcy proceedings and visitation proceedings in prison. he is an all american college standout and he is gay. michael sames, coming out for espn, while a lot of teams are looking at sames, he may become the first openly gay player in football. i came to tell the world that i am an openly proud gair man. >> michael sames has se sames st

year to his teammates and to his coaches. >> they rallied around me, they supported me and i couldn't ask for better teammates. >> sams the southeastern conference co--player of the year, says he came out now because he wanted to take control of how his story is told. if his story he says shouldn't make a difference no matter which team he ends up playing for. >> it shouldn't matter. if i can -- if i work hard, if i make plays, that's all that should matter. can he help us win games? he is a team player? that's all that should matter. >> a big question in the coming months is focusing on whether the locker room is ready for a an openly gay team mate. >> if the missouri players do

it, so can the seattle seahawks players and everybody else. >> echoed by the nfl which came out with a statement of its own saying, "we admire michael's honesty and courage. michael is a football player. any player with ability and determination can succeed in the nfl. we look forward to welcoming and supporting michael sams in 2014. find out soon if he will get a chance to win an nfl rotion terr spot. >> i'm not afraid to tell the world who i am. i'm michael sam, i'm a college graduate, i'm african american and i'm gay. >> turning to the debate on immigration reform, former attorney general al be alberto

gonzalez. >> this is why i believe comprehensive reform is prerchl preferable to piecemeal legislation. once republicans pass comprehensive security on the border they're going to wipe their hands and walk away from immigration. because they will have achieved what they really want which is more security at the border which i believe in very strongly. however, no one should be able to get everything they want in this debate. everybody needs -- they're going to have to compromise to some degree. >> one month after that massive chemical spill contaminated the water supply in west virginia, a federal official is sairg the accident may have been -- is saying the accident 98 have been prevented. he said the tanks that spilled the chemicals didn't comply with standards. robert ray, what came from that

hearing today? >> good afternoon, del. you could see this is the courthouse here in charleston west virginia where the hearing occurred on the second floor. a busy morning, a couple hours, the congressional hearing a rare one at that, as they came here on the ground, to get a sense for it, they talked to the president of the water company, they spoke to the department of health here, asking top questions to the people, looking at how the spill could have occurred, how it could have been prevented, what happened in the aftermath of this mrn emergencyd where we stand one month after the spill. tough questions to the local water -- >> we're having difficulty with robert ray. one of the things that came out to the hearing robert told us in an earlier report, the members of the congressional committee drank bottled water. the state department saying

north korea withdrew its invitation to a official to discuss kenneth bae's release. at the request of bae's family, the reverend jesse jackson traveling onorth korea. accusing him of antigovernment activities. military exercises between the u.s. and south korea set to begin at the end of this month. north korea is calling this a prelude to war and. >> cease fire in homs bir at least three days. that will allow extra time for civilians to get out of the besieged city. al jazeera's james bays reports.

>> the violence that surrounded the evacuation of the old city of homs is one of the factors i think that has soured the atmosphere here. i think even though things were bad in the first round of talks it's quite possible now they are even worse than they have been before. and that may explain why the mediator, the man who's chairing these talks, the veteran negotiator lac lakhdar brahimi,s decided to have separate meetings starting with the opposition then with the government to try and find some common ground. but there isn't much common ground and we've heard very angry attacks from one side on the other when they briefed the press earlier. >> that is james bays in geneva, switzerland. there's reports out of aleppo that at least 15 people are dead, under fire since the civil war in syria began. major offensive in pleap.

al jazeera's emtiaz reports. >> this is a city under siege. for weeks president bashar al-assad's forces have dropped barrel bombs on the city. the damage caused by the crude bombs is clear. so, too, is the trauma experienced by the people caught in the middle of the conflict. >> i'm 74 years old. i've never seen anything like this in all my life. it's god's will. >> the neighborhood has been the target of some of the heaviest bombardment by government force he. sunday's attacks are part of a weeks long campaign by the syrian army to retake control of the city. parts of aleppo were seized by rebels in mid 2012. >> 5,000 people used to live in this neighborhood and the last one left. they're shelling us day and night with tanks, barrel bombs

and rpgs. >> the attacks have forced nearly two-thirds of the people living in these areas to government parts of the region, in alt almost 2 million people have left aleppo since the fighting began three years ago. closing arguments in the case against former ar narnlz ns mayor, ray nagin.

al jazeera america gives you the total news experience anytime, anywhere. more on every screen. digital, mobile, social.

visit aljazeera.com. follow @ajam on twitter. and like aljazeera america on facebook for more stories, more access, more conversations. so you don't just stay on top of the news, go deeper and get more perspectives on every issue. al jazeera america. >> we have reestablished communications with our correspondent robert ray in west virginia, covering a congressional hearing because the residents still don't believe the water is safe to drink. the hearing is concluded. robert bring us up to date, what they had to say here today.

>> del, earlier this afternoon, inside the county courthouse in charleston, west virginia, the congressional commission brought people together that were deeply involved in the spill just one month ago. tough questions were asked but one thing emerged, this could happen anywhere across america, that the regulations for chesms anchemicals are just not there. the president of the commission taking some very tough questions, during the aftermath why didn't you just shut down the entire water system if you felt it was a risk. what did he have to say? >> in addition to loss of water for cooking bathing and drinking, for approximately 300,000 people. the shutdown would have also quickly evolved in a loss of --

in a loss of fire protection. >> the director played an interesting statement on the status of the water saying there are different definitions of safety as far as the water goes, that are prompted senator joe manchin of west virginia, to ask, do you think the water is safe? they dodged that question, seems that people will not want to answer that with pure conclusion. here is what manchin said. >> we thought that the tested and checked but knowing, haz-mat material, it didn't have to be, the chemical vaift improvement act which for the first time in 42 years, think about this, 1976 was the last time we ever tried to find out what chemicals we are using and how it affects

humans. >> also del the company freedom industries blamed for the chemical spill was asked to be here at the hearing, they were a no-show and in fact didn't even have a statement. no courage you could feel the anger towards that company, some of the people on the hearing committee this morning were just frustrated and wondering where these guys were and why no one is hearing from them even though their in chapter 11 bankruptcy right now. >> thank you very much. a short time ago, accused a man killing a teen over loud music. michael dutton is accused of killing a man back in 2012. prosecutors say he acted in premeditation, but dunn said he shot davis in self-defense. (t) corruption trial of new orleans mayor ray nagin went to the jury a few moments ago.

essentially, is ben lemoin is are outside the ne new orleans courthouse. do we know why the mayor didn't agree to a plea deal? >> nagin had an advantage in this case, six other people had been charged, indicted, five of them pled guilty, one of them went to trial and was found guilty, and obviously, mayor nagin knew what the evidence was prosecutors had. he was indicted last year, that eliminated the possibility of taking a deal from federal prosecutors. prosecutors laying out their case, presenting a long laundry list of different types of paper trail evidence.

bank statements, financial statements, phone records, and of course, city contracts. the mayor is accused of taking money and bribes from state contractors in return for giving them the contracts. over the past two weeks, defense attorneys have denied all of these allegation is, saying everything he did, every contract he granted was strictly for the benefit new orleans. >> ben lemoin, thank you very much, we'll wait for the jury's decision. at this hour wall street seems to be in a holding pattern, wadin waiting for the testimony of janet yellen. the dow posted it's best record earlier there year. toll on sales, mcdonald's,

and global sales were better than expected. off set here in the u.s. hasbro, earnings falling slightly to neared $100 million, the company claims weak sales in north america and sale of its toys to younger little boys. in ukraine, illegal mining is big business but taking deadly toll. hundreds of miners, killed every year. david crater reports. arings as $18 a day for the most dangerous work in the country. >> power ground it's estimated

hundreds of miners died every year. 75% of ukraine's official coal mines are classified as dangerous. but these are legal mines, and these conditions here are absolutely lethal. >> turning into ghost towns, abandoned and crumbling. she now has nothing to help bring up her four children and her eldest son is now following his father's footsteps. >> translator: they three miners were even fished out of the pond here. >> reporter: the lead story in the local newspaper, attack on their own editor, in this heart land of support, the papers campaigns posed corruption met

what locals call the law of the fist, thugs who tried to break his skull, succeeded in breaking his leg. >> i was attacked by two persons, they used a sledgehammer against me. >> illegal mines are run by criminal network who pay to turn a blind eye. alexei sarconof, digging out 102 tons of coal in six hours. this monument stands at the crossroads now used to dump bodies of the men killed in the surrounding illegal mines. david chater, al jazeera, donex. >> coming up. new star of the movies.

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>> welcome back to al jazeera merrick, i'm del walters. these are your headlines at this hour. francois hollande ask traveling to the u.s. for an official french visit. another obstacle for prisoner kenneth bae, a prisoner for more than a year. taken back discuss bae has been sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. after this massive bill, federal safety officials saying the accident could have been prevented. he said the bill did not meet standards. well, if you tbild it they

will come. in china they did just that, building 5,000 new movie theaters and the film industry is taking note. >> this is what happens when word gets out, when the hollywood stars but hollywood is so last year, china's charging ahead of this year, staying the festivity full of promise. there are three chinese movies in competition of the top prize alone, the golden bear. nine films are screening here. this is a country and an industry that really means business. you realize how huge if chinese labor industry is, especially compared to, say, hollywood, you take a huge, 2012 in 60 countries worldwide, that took just under 120 million u.s. dollars which is not an

insignificant amount of cash. but compare that to a choins che movie, that movie brings in $100 million more. there is so much money to be made in the chinese cinema, they are not places to start. which is why he is here premiering his, processing even though china may be changing the censors are still very. >> using at least six months to censor you. >> the government? >> the government, because they tell you? this part cannot do this. this part, can you change something to this is torture. you know, here. >> china's richest man is

currently building the world's biggest movie complex in his, already courting hollywood. >> well, hollywood is serng being in bed with china we've seen that in the last couple of years with the attempt to do more official co-productions and also the casting of chinese actors in hollywood movies. >> the world is watching china in general. china hopes the world will be watching its movies, too. phil lavell, al jazeera at the film festival. >> i'm meteorologist dave warren. watching temperatures in the southeast. below freezing, memphis north, now we're talking about sleet and freezing rain. the storm will continue to

intensify, radar, cold air here, here we are talking about sleet and freezing lain. this is by tomorrow's rush hour so all through southeast, snow sleet or freezing rain. it continues throughout the morning then we're getting a little break here, another storm develops, that will affect the north atlantic and the northeast by thursday. here's what we can expect. that rain, mix in between and the snow sets monday and by tuesday, north carolina and up the coast, although that next storm will really impact the atlantic. rain and snow in california but it did cause some problems with freezing rain in oregon and washington, still blizzard warnings in effect because that wind will really increase east of the rockies, reducing visibility. welcome sight, impact here,.

>> dave warren thank you very much, and thank you for watching al jazeera america. "techknow" is next, 24 hours a day by aljazeera.com innovation of hardware and doing it in a unique way. this is a show about science by scientist. let's check out our team of hardcore in other words, christ is a molecular neuroscientist. tonight science and cigarettes. they are the new rage. the smokeless smoke. what's the truth about e cigarettes? we'll investigate. marita davison is a biologist. tonight inside the food lab. we have the crazy of the looking innovation that his will your palate to the test. lindsay moran is an ex-cia