of corporate defections and inversions. obviously i'll stay on top of this. that's our show for today. i'm ali velshi. thank you for joining us. ning us. >> weapons to ukraine - the white house takes a fresh look at arming government forces as russian backed separatists say they'll recruit thousands more to fight. trillions of dollars for the middle class. >> it helps working families paychecks go further. >> president obama rolls out a budget plan that he says will move the public forward. republicans are objecting final free - peter greste

talks about his 400 days from an egyptian viction. and why he's conflicted about being out of gaol. >> real stress at leaving colleagues and friends that have really become family and his colleagues are not a vision for the disabled. a wheelchair controlled by the user's eyes. >> good evening this is al jazeera america, i'm antonio mora. we begin in ukraine. fighting is reaching a new level of intensity. at least a dozen soldiers have been killed in the last 24 hours. separatist leader announced plans to add fighters to the rebels' ranks. the obama administration is looking at sending lethal aid to the ukranian government. something resisted in the past. jamie mcintyre reports. >> what pentagon officials are saying is that the chairman of the joint chiefs is giving president obama his best military advice about the best

way to aid the government of ukraine, and that the president has made no decision. but privately pentagon officials say the worry about pouring arms into the conflict may not bring a solution closer. >> reporter: officials say russia has been moving hundred of pieces of equipment into eastern ukraine, including battle tanks to armed separatists there, and pentagon officials say it is apparent that the 118 million in nonlethal aid that the u.s. provided to kiev is no match for moscow's deep arsenal. >> we continue to see support organised and effective support to the separatists in terms of heavy equipment, and materiale. that support continues to virtually unabated. >> in recent weeks ukraine's forces suffered a series of setbacks and pentagon sources say the government troops need defensive weapons, such as

american toe antitank missiles that have a chaps against the rebels. that prompted a fresh look at the lethal aid, there's concern that an arms race with the russians is a losing game and may make a negotiated solution tougher to reach. >> our focus is on pursuing a solution and we are evaluating other options helping to create space to a netted solution to the crisis. >> reporter: speaking in beijing, russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov accused the u.s. of supporting the ukranian authorities. pentagon officials say it is unlikely that the threat of providing better weaponry to the forces could change the calculus. in an interview with cnn over the weekend president obama said vladimir putin's position is helping his image at home. >> i'm not wildly optimistic

about the orientation changes. the one thing that has been successful for vladimir putin is his politics. >> a white house official is quoted as saying the president is considering military aid and tougher sanction and they may be the preferred option. he stressed the president made no decision. thank you. the white house has made a decision about what it wants to get done in the next year. president obama released a $4 trillion budget proposal he says will help the middle class. this report from the white house. >> president obama's budget blueprint reflects his priority including half a trillion for defense spending. >> 400 trillion for infrastructure, and spending on education. it focuses on what the white house calls middle class economics, including paid sick

and family leave. we met a woman working a range of part-time jobs to make ends meet including doing hair and working as a security guard and is one of millions of americans watching the fight over paid sick leave play out. >> tracy was at work as she suffered an asthma attack. >> i was in the break room. they called the ambulance for me, which is what they consider a medical emergency. >> reporter: when she returned to work she was suspended without pay for three days. >> they confiscated my badge and security i.d. card and escorted me out of the building as though i was a fugitive or criminal of some sort or had done something. >> she is suing her employer over the unpaid suspension because seattle is one of the nation's first cities with a law guaranteeing sick leave to

workers, including those paid by the hour. president obama wants to see that model over the country, and is calling for paid leaf in the annual budget. >> it helps working families paychecks going further. by treating paid sick lee and child care as the economic priorities that they are. >> the white house says workers should earn up to seven sick days a year and use the time to take care of themselves or a sick family member. the president obama organization wants to expand on paid parenting leave for parents. not everyone is on board. >> it's best to let business owners decide that for themselves. they know what they can afford. >> jack says small companies depend on their employees showing up for work. >> now, if your people are not there doing work that day, you are losing money, because no one is servicing customers.

on top of that the president wants them to pay the workers who are not there. it's a double hardship on the business. >> many republicans agree, and plan to fight the president's proposals. tracy says she understands that businesses need to stay anote, but having a safety net would make her a better employee. >> i understand the concept. i cannot perform to you to the fullest, to the fullest of my capabilities if i'm notted healthy. >> reporter: the fight over paid leave will finance in the nation's capital and states across the country considering expanding it on their own. democrats in the house and senate are teeing up legislation for paid sick and family leave. watch the fight play out soon on capitol hill general motors is starting to make amends with the families of people seriously injured or killed due to faulty ignition switches. the company says it offered

compensation to 93 families, and may take months to sort through the other pending claims. the deadline to file passed over the weekend. g.m. expects pay outs to total around $600 million details are emerging about a fatal police shooting 17 months ago in virgin. documents from the investigation show officers and witnesses were in agreement. 46-year-old john geer had his hand raised when shot to death by officer adam torres. they contradict torres' statement that he saw geer reaching for a weapon. geer's father said the findings have been a long time coming. >> it's been 17 months and many many nights of you know laying awake in bed thinking about different aspects of the whole think, wondering if we'll ever see a solution. >> one of the officers at the

scene told investigators that geer had asked to scratch his nose and was putting his hands back up. that's when he was shot. >> president obama sis i.s.i.l. is holding an american woman hostage and the u.s. is doing what it can to locate and free here. the president spoke with n.b.c. news and said he is personally affected watching the execution of hostages. >> in syria, the government carried out a series of air strikes on rebel-held towns. 20 were killed. dozens injured, including women and children. many were reduced to rubble. aleppo the once financial sector is among them. >> reporter: buried beneath the rubble a boy called omar cries for help. rescue workers try to reassure him as they work to free his leg, pinned under the concrete of all that is left of his family home.

all around him the search is on for other survivors. this was a residential neighbourhood, a residential district. syrian jets levelled blocks killing women and children. eventually omar is pulled from the rubble is alive, but only just. doctors decide they have no choice but to amputate his crushed leg. >> most of the wounded were children and women. some of them later lost their lives. others lost their hands or legs. doctors are dealing with a case to amputate a patient's legs. >> reporter: the scenes of destruction are too common torn apart from a war lasting four years. the syrian observatory for human rights said 200,000 people lost their lives, and they are deemed where the task at hand seems insurmountable. volunteers are thankful for at

least one survivor. >> translation: first a barrel bomb hit the district. 2 minutes later a barrel bomb hit the district and destroyed buildings. thank god we managed to bring two children alive from the rubble. >> reporter: having done all they could workers watched on as heavy machinery worked over clearing rubble from homes with the little hope of finding anyone alive. tonight peter greste, our colleague is a free man for the first time in 400 days. the fight is far from over. two others convicted for aiding the muslim brotherhood are still behind bars. peter greste says it was a shock. >> i can't tell you how relieved i am that i'm free. we were settling in for a period of months behind bars for the retrial. to be out today, with a

few minutes notice really is extraordinary. what is clear is that this is a massive step forward. it's been a big step. everyone acknowledged that it is an important moment. i hope that egypt keeps going down this path with the others and not just other family but the other four. you don't spend 400 days in a box with someone without getting to know them intimately indeed. over that period i got to know and accept baher mohamed and mohamed fadel fahmy and the others as family. they are my brothers. couldn't be any other way. mohamed fadel fahmy is an extraordinary professional very dedicated journalist and a very passionate strong-willed character. baher mohamed is one of the most amazing family men. if anyone suffered out of all this it is baher mohamed.

he has a wife and three children one of whom was born while he was in prison. it was incredibly tough for him as someone so devoted to his family to have to be where he is knowing that he's innocent. knowing that this is a huge mistake. we need to keep the focus on him. we don't quite know what will happen from here on. i still feel a sense of concern, a sense of worry. if it is appropriate for me if it's right for me to be free it's right for all of them to be free. it was a difficult moment walking out of the prison. saying goodbye. not knowing how much longer they would have to put up with this. and then the ride to the airport was a sense of wonder are willering what is happening in

the end. we had an awful lot of false starts and alarm, moments when we thought freedom was close, if not imminent. i didn't want to let myself believe it was happening until i got my backside on a seat on the plane with my brother mike and we knew then that for me at least. this is over. >> mohamed fadel fahmy holds egyptian and canadian citizenship. canada's foreign minister said mohamed fadel fahmy's release is imminent but gave no further details. to look at the legality we are joined by jamie. egypt's constitution guarantees free speech. there was a farcical trial where no real evidence was presented against the men. it took a new law for them to be freed. >> i bet a lot watching are amazed to hear that there's a constitution let alone there's

freedom of the press, given how many journalists are in prison. there's a new decree and that is the guys underwhich abdul fatah al-sisi freed peter and gives him the authority to repatriate convicted prisoners. >> it does. it gives the authority to send journalists and other prisoners back to their own country. the problem is what about those who are not with dual citizenship, those that are egyptian journalists or others. >> it was fine for peter greste who was an australian he was able to be deported and we hope it will be fine for mohamed fadel fahmy, who has a dual canadian egyptian citizenship. >> sound like it will be. but we have egyptian journalists, our egyptian - we talk about the three al jazeera journalists. there are more than a dozen

journalists held in connection with their case and not in connection with their case and that does not take into account six journalist have died in the last two years in egypt alone, that's more than died in the last 10. one journalist in the last 10 years has died. >> do you see hope legally for baher mohamed who is egyptian? >> we have to hope that what led to the release of peter was not really a law, but the political pressure that this is not really a legal decision it's a political decision. i mean listen to what peter wrote when he was in prison - we have created a huge global awareness of not just our cause, but the far wider and vital issues of press freedom, persecution of journalists and justice in egypt. we have galvanised an incredible coalition of diplomatic and media figures and a vast army of social media supporters to fight

for the basic of rights - the right to know. and what i think is really happening in egypt is a realisation that this is not working, it's backfiring. this is a political decision to release peter, and i hope to release the others because journalism is not a crime. it is not a crime anywhere not even in egypt. >> in fact president abdul fatah al-sisi has said that this has been a black eye. >> and he said had he been in office when the men were arrested he would have not gone so far as to prosecute. and we have to hope that that will be the case going forward as journalism is practised in egypt. >> let's hope they are all freed. good to have you with us. coming up two major snow storms in a week. round 3 could be headed to new england soon. rebecca stevenson is in next with a look. also health officials warn the measles outbreak could keep

growing, sparking a debate over who should be vaccinated. only on al jazeera america

>> the new al jazeera america primetime. get the real news you've been looking for. >> now everybody in this country can hear them. >> at 7:00, a thorough of the day's events. >> at the end of the day, we're going to give you an intelligent, context driven, take on the day's news. >> then at 8:00, john seigenthaler digs deeper into the stories of the day. >> this is a complicated situation. how significant is it? >> and at 9:00, get a global perspective on the news.

>> they're sending their government a message. >> organizing themselves. >> people say they're finally fed up. >> weeknights, on al jazeera america primetime. the c.b.c. is warning a measles outbreak could grow bigger. a daycare center was shut down after the baby was diagnosed with the virus, the outbreak is provoking a discussion over vaccinations vaccinations. >> what began in disneyland spread across the country. more than 100 people infected with measles, 18 new cases reported prompting a plea from the president. >> measles is preventible. i understand that there are families concerned about the effect of vaccinations. the science is you know pretty indisputable. >> as the number of cases swells so does the concern that

vaccinations laws may be lax. 19 states allow parent to skip vaccinations if they don't want to every other state allows parents to opt out for religious reasons. mississippi and another don't. the only reason to skip is medical. >> you should have them inoculated. you shouldn't have a choice. you are putting everyone in danger. >> reporter: many disagree. the anti-vaccine moves has green. these parent worry it will create problems for the kids. >> we won the healthy family we don't vaccinate. >> reporter: 90% of children are vaccinated. last year saw the most cases in two decades. 72,000 kindergartens were not vaccinated and it's crept up to

nearly 91,000 kids today. >> over the last five years we have seen more cases and outbreaks than in the five years before that. a lot depends on you know how many people travel. >> in 2000, measles was considered eliminated in the u.s. cases popped up from people bringing it in from overseas. >> there has been over a billion given, and study after study shows that there are no negative consequences. >> doctors worry as vaccinations fall that the virus is making a comeback. >> if you saw the patriots beat the seattle seahawks on sunday you were in good company this. year's super bowl was the most watched broadcast in u.s. history. almost 115 million viewers watched the big game. it was the most tweeted super bowl with 28 million tweets. the celebration will have to wait though the patriots will

arrive home to a snowy boston. the city postponing a victory parade because of the bad weather. boston saw a record-breaking amount of snow in a week. patriots fans will get to sea the team later in the week the tri-state tollway was shut for hours, as many as 50 vehicles were involved in a pile up. no serious injuries. rebecca stevenson joins us for a look at the storm, and there's another in the pipeline. >> there's another coming up. this is not nearly as strong as the one we dealt with not even from last tuesday and wednesday into today. tonight the big problem is a flash freeze. the ice we see on the sidewalks has new snow on top of it and we are going to see the snow move out of the picture. many areas clearing out, but cold air coming in behind the

storm. we have a temperature change. they dropped 25 degrees colder than the same time last night. chicago, fifth largest blizzard and they are digging out back. any day in the month of february. chicago has set a record. 16.2 inches. that came on february 1st, here we are, groundhog day, and everyone is hoping we do not get a repeat of the ice. we have the cold temperatures up to a quarter of an inch. icing is expected in places that did not dry out from the storm system. now we have wind chills to worry about. continuing into tomorrow. >> it's a mess out there. >> it was bound to happen eventually. gas prices are headed up after falling for months. how much more we can pay at the pump next. how engineers hope to give people who are paralyzed new independence for less than $200.

gas prices are slowly creeping up for the first time in months.

a gallon of regular costs $2.06. up slightly from last week. it will stay below the $3 mark. what if you could move with the blink of an eye. british scientists are engineering a wheelchair that does that. it tracks eye movement and could mean independence for those suffering paralysis. as phil level found out, the technology costs less than a tablet computer. >> reporter: steve has been ill for five years, all he can move is his eyeballs. >> i have motor neurone disease. it's taken over most of my life. i need around the clock care. >> reporter: this is how steve talks, the computer tracks eye movement turning it into a voice. he cannot physically move himself. >> i tried foot controls but

cannot manage them. earlier i was capable of controlling a wheelchair. it's different to move myself around without having to book a helper. >> could this transform steve's life. from a lab nearby a creation you could call revolutionary. an electric movement that moves using the eyes. >> reporter: there's no doubting this is a prototype. spot the sticky tape holding it together. >> this came off the web. the device holding it was from the lab. the wheelchair from the skip. >> reporter: it comes in at a little under $200. what is fascinating is not the technology even though eye tracking is phenomenal it's the way it's been implemented using equipment that anyone of us could get hold of. what it does is opens up the

possibilities for millions of disabled people all over the world who ordinarily would not be able to afford this kind of kit. creating a new market known as frugal health care. >> you don't have to learn to use the technology. you don't have to know where to look to do what. you just look as if you were normally looking when you walk or drive around. and you are translating the normal look into the real world. if it turns out cheaper than existing technology then it was never done before. >> reporter: this is the start of a long journey for the project. many doors to go through before it could be brought to market. the fact that it could be achieved so cheaply and reliant on donations shows where the forward could be heading. with it those who otherwise would not have been able to move anywhere. >> what an incredible advance that would be. i'm antonio mora, thank you for joining us.

for the latest news any time head to aljazeera.com. "inside story" is next. have a good ^ below "inside story" is next. have a good night. hello, i'm ray suarez you would a guessed that a lot of american schoolkids live in poverty, we have known for a long time that poverty has a lot to say about where you go to school and who is at the desk next to yours. this of the last few days a striking number emerged from the nation's classrooms a survey from the southern education foundation reports that a majority of american public schoolchildren life in poverty.