>> the only way to find out, is to see it yourselves. on... borderland only on al jazeera america welcome to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. these are the stories we are following for you. >> we continue to see international unity in the face of a violation of international law and ukraine's territorial integrity. first responders still on the scene of that deadly mud live in washington state. and the findings from an

investigation into new jersey governor, chris christie have been released. it is an investigation, by the way, that he ordered. ♪ president obama is in italy at this hour. the president's day began with a state visit to the vatican. the two leaders speaking at a news conference that continues at this hour. we are listening to what the president has to say, and is our mike viqueira. mike they touched on a number of issues, and the president also talking about the nsa earlier today. was that an olive branch to the italian government? >> it could be.

the president started this visit with a visit to the vatican. their meeting lasted some 20 minutes longer than had been expected. and then the president moving on and meeting with the top officials, the president, and prime minister, and having a press conference now that is ongoing. on the agenda, of course, with pope francis. the pope bringing up immigration reform. they talked about the income gap in the united states and elsewhere around the world, something that pope francis has been talking about over the course of the last year as well. but in this oppress conference, again, the president being asked about ukraine. this european trip now in its fourth day. let listen to what the president has to say.

>> ukraine's leaders can show incredible courage and foresight, leave behind the corruption of the past. and today i want to call on the united states congress to make sure the united states does its part with an economic assistance package that helps support the ukrainian people as they move forward. >> and both the president and the vatican talking about the fact that the affordable care act in the united states came up, and that controversial precision, the subject of the supreme court here on tuesday dealing with religious organizations and the fact they are required to at least offer contraceptive coverage. the president saying it came up not with the pope so much, but the vatican secretary of state, nevertheless it was brought up here in rome. >> mike, i guess it would be safe to say what a difference an ocean makes, the president's

visit there is being covered wall to wall on local television. >> oh, you are absolutely right. and it has been something to behold. every time the president's motorcade turns a corner there is another camera to pick up the president. and this is something that is not all that ub usual, an american president being greeted in this fashion. he will, we might add do a little site seeing at the conclusion of this press conference, scheduled to go to the coliseum in rome. and then tomorrow on to saudi arabia and a meeting to patch things up with the king there, del. >> mike viqueira for us in rome. mike, thank you very much. just minutes ago the united nations passed a resolution condemning russian's actions in

crimea. 100 voted for the measure, only 11 against it, most notably, of course, russia. >> instead of a government of national unity, a so-called government of victors appeared. the shots were conducted by those who preached according to the decoration of the parliament racist, views that seemed to hate everything that is russia. >> the u.s. and european union delegations throwing their support behind that resolution. the imf is promising $18 billion in loans for ukraine. he saying he will put the country on the right track in his address today. they also debated a u.s. aid

package as well, if it passes america would give $150 million in direct aid. and ukraine's former prime minister announcing her intentions to run for president in the elections scheduled to take place there in may. the focus of the investigation [ technical difficulties ] >> -- apparently before it

veered off courses prompted investigators to ask this question. who has the ability to program the computer to direct it away from its northern route into y beiji beijing. they have reached the concussion collusion -- conclusion that it was the senior man in the cockpit. there were deleted files in his computer, and they sent those files to the fbi, the fbi director was asked if he was ready to release his report? >> i have teams working literally round the clock to try to exploit that, but i expect it to be done fairly shortly within a day or two. >> we should also point out that the pilot has many defendingers including the ceo of malaysia

airlines who called his work exeveryonary. others deny that shaw would have deliberately crashed the plane. so far they have not concluded that he has any ties to terrorist organizations, but he may have been set about an opposition of official who was convicted and sentences. >> and bad weather seems to be plaguing the search efforts, tell us what the satellite images are showing. >> the satellite images show 300 objects, about 1700 miles southwest of perth, australia. what is interesting is that they are about 100 miles from the images captured by the french

satellite. the french satellite images were taking on sunday, the thai on monday, so it's possible that both birds were smooting the same images. nobody knows because nothing has been pulled of the ocean yet. >> randall pinkston joining us life from washington, d.c. randall thank you very much. a law if i recall hired by chris christie has now released its findings, the findings clearing the governor. concluding there was no evidence linking christie to plotting those traffic jams. the political scandal has embroiled the republican governor's administration. >> in connection with allegations related to the george washington bridge

realignment, we found that governor kripstive had no knowledge beforehand of this george washington bridge realignment idea, that he played no role whatsoever in that decision or the implementation of it. >> governor christie was once seen as a leading con tender for the presidential nomination in 2016. day six of the search in oso, washington, questions are turning to why so many people were living there in the first place. allen we understand the governor has called for an examination of that very issue. >> that's right. he is asking state agencies to study whether the state of washington has appropriate landslide risk accessment processes in place. we're just hearing about that this morning, and i don't know

what that means for what agencies, but certainly the state is going to be taking a look at those dapgers and at events like the one that happened here last saturday. certainly everybody in this region sort of keeping an eye on what is behind them and above them and everybody wondering about those upslope dangers. >> people knew this is a land slide-prone area. sometimes big events just happen. sometimes events that nobody sees happens, and this event happened, and i want to find out why. i want to understand why. i want to understand the dynamic of a potential small earthquake behind it that shook it loose, and i don't have those answers right now. >> a lot of answers still to come, of course. they have gone back and checked the seismic records, and they found a very small earthquake

right at this site about ten days before this hit. so maybe that had something to do with it. they just haven't been able to connect those just yet. this thing called the sun is shining at least a little bit here today. that will be very welcome for the rescuers and searchers. and also hearing from a press briefing being held just seconds ago, that the numbers of the dead have not changed. we're still going with 25 victims who have been identified. some of them still haven't been brought out of the site and properly identified yet. but 25 fatalities, and again, del, 90 missing at this point. >> and allen now that the sun is shining, are they expecting more progress with regards to the search today? >> every day that it's dry and

there is a little sunshine and less rain, they are going to be able to do more work. the drier it is, the better it is, we'll see how long this lasts. this is pacific northwest in march, so it's not likely to last that long. >> allen schauffler thank you very much. an historic peace back in the middle east, ending 40 years of conflict.

after 17 years, the government of the philippines have signed an historic peace tremendousty, ending a conflict with their largest arab opponen opponents. >> reporter: millions have been displaced, and today a peace

pact has been signed between the two groups. i am here at the strong hold in the southern philippines, the mood is festive, thousands of fighters watched and listened, the signing of a peace agreement, they say, will now give them the opportunity of a better life. there have been fighters who fought against the philippine government for decades, there are those who have been born into a protracted war, and they say now their children will not have to go through the same difficulties that they went through. i spoke to some of the fighters who said this peace agreement is also for those who have died, and sacrificed, and who have been killed in the process, they said. because of this peace agreement they have been given justice. the bigger challenge is still ahead, really, the

implementation. and they said they are aware that it is not going to be easy. in particular, the decommissioning of tens of thousands of fighters, the spoilers, many local government officials, people, groups here on the ground who have long profited from war. it is not going to be easy they say, and they are ready for the challenges ahead. but right now they are thankful for the sincerity of the philippine government and the hierarchy of the liberation front. the united nations also passing a rule investing sri lanka. 40,000 people were killed in 2009, the u.s. and great britain are sponsoring the investigation. the un was accused of ignoring the killings as they happened. ♪

stocks up and down between gains and losses throughout the session today, the dow right now is down about 14 points, declines in tech shares weighing on the government. vladimir putin saying he is pushing back against those sanctions. he says the company will set up its own credit card system to get around restrictions. mastercard and visa said they would no longer service credit cards from banks that were targets of the sanctions. consumers are giving a boost to the economy. the government's final read of the fourth quarter showing a gain of 2.6% a year. consumer spending jumped the most in three years. mike soft's new ceo is expected to make a big announcement, likely to unveil a new version

of its operating system one that will work with ipad. connecticut on wednesday becoming the first state to pass a $10 minimum wage. lawmakers voting to race it from $8.70, to $10.10. that trumps washington state which now pays $9.32 an hour. the raise won't go into effect until three years from now. a federal judge declaring and deciding that football players at northwestern university can create the nation's first union of college athletes. erika pitzi explains. >> ladies and gentlemen, your northwestern wildcats. >> reporter: in a game-changing decision, the national labor relations board found football players now kwaul approximatefy as university employees.

the players argued their scholarships are compensation and coaches are their managers. the board agreed, in part because the university excerpts employer like power over the players. >> control over their time, scheduling, what they can do with their private lives. >> reporter: here is what they want, medical coverage for players who get long-term injuries, better procedures to reduce head injuries, and the potential for players to pursue commercial sponsorship. northwestern said they are not employees but students. adding . . . as the university files an appeal in illinois, lawmakers in the big college sport state of tennessee consider a bill that gives its student athletes a grant when they graduate of up to $50,000.

>> we were love for them to continue their education or start a business up here in tennessee. >> reporter: while the former players did not ask for money, the issue of composition looms large in the big business of college sports. >> hundreds of millions of dollars come into these schools, and now the players want a part of it. >> reporter: for now the only players that may get a part of it are players at private schools like northwestern. the ncaa says it is disappointed adding that the students play for the love of the sport not salary. but it says the current system still works. nepal winning its fight against a devastating disease, giving hope to thousands of children. and denmark launching a rather unique campaign in an effort to get more people to have more children.

welcome back to al jazeera

america. i'm del walters. these are your head lines at this hour. the president is in rome, meeting earlier today with pope francis of the vatican, and just concluding a news conference with the italian prime minister, the president reiterating the commitments to the ukraine. and the dell toll in the mud slide in washington state is still at 25. new jersey's governor has been cleared of any wrongdoing following the controversial bridge closing. he ordered the report, the attorneys were hired by the governor's office. concluding the governor had no knowledge of the planning or implementation of the plans. local media now reporting about a plane crash in spain saying those initial reports were wrong. they are now saying the plane

did not crash. the world health oring nice as i is expected to declare nepal polio free. >> reporter: this woman contracted polio when she was five. she doesn't remember much except for the high fever. she remembers the doctor saying that it would take her years to move again if she recovered at all. >> translator: when all of my friends started going to school, and i could not, i felt really bad. >> reporter: but she refused to be stopped by her disability. she worked as a primary school teacher for years, but had to stop after multiple operations on her legs. up until the 1990s, up to

200 people per year were infected. the success of the polio eradication are the result of people like this. they make sure no child is

[ technical difficulties ] -- in the whole of the southeast asia, we have really achieved all polio free zone except for pakistan and afghanistan, and so long as we have live polio viruses in these two countries, we cannot be protected. >> reporter: india has always been declared polio free. with continued immunization campaigns, victims believe that polio will soon be a thing of the past. i'm dave warren. a few storms we're keeping an eye on, impacting the national weather here, first in the northwest, the spin is an area of low-pressure that brought with it rain and snow to the higher elevations right over washington and oregon. but it has cleared out, and we're starting to see a few

breaks in the clouds there. not a lot of snow, maybe just a few inches of snow coming down, so not a warning, but a fairly heavy ban of snow is producing that warning. here it is on the radar plus the clouds, right through nebraska, south dakota, and mp mn. a closer view shows this darker blue color indicating heavy bans of snow. in that is giving us about one inch an hour with that accumulation. cold air spill in place with record lows this morning across the northeast, philadelphia just barely above freezing. new york 34, albany 40, still that litter cold wind chill. the storm producing the snow is right over the midwest there and it will have the potential for severe weather, not where the snow is coming down, but where we're getting this warm air up from the south. so the timing of this will look

like this afternoon and this evening, a line of severe weather could drop through kansas, missouri, and pushing through the midwest. this could be severe storms with hail throughout the afternoon and evening. there is that heavy snow area. snow and gusty wind with severe storms, we center of the storm is right over lake michigan. it will impact the east coast but not until tomorrow. look at the warm up coming up the coast. temperatures climbing into the is 50s close to 60. >> dave warren thank you very much. there is one big problem in denmark. not enough people are having babies. now they are offering a campaign

that encourages people to get pregnant while on vacation. and it offers three years of free diapers just because they do it in denmark. thank you for watching. i'm del walters in new york. >> hey, i'm wajahat ali and you're in "the stream." narendra modi, is poised to become india's news prime minister. what would this mean to the world's largest democracy ? lisa fletcher is way on