arabia, but critics say there is still a way to go. al jazeera. >> a reminder that you can keep up to do it with all the news on our website, the very late have on all of our top stories there, that's at aljazeera.com. >> this one trend, climate change affects all trends. >> president obama urges world action on climbs change at a paris summit, expressing confidence in that battle and the fight against isil. >> calls for resignation at ithaca college. >> the puerto rico debt, owing

millions of dollars to you during thors today, it may not be able to pay up. >> this is aljazeera america live from new york city. i'm stephanie sy. president obama is wrapping up his visit to paris and the international climate change summit with a call for action. the president compared climate change to battling groups like isil and said the time is now to deal with both issues threatening the world. al jazeera's senior washington correspondent is live in washington. the president made big pronouncements about dealing with climate change. >> he certainly did. he actually said i think we're going to solve this thing, that is climate change and global warming. 150 heads of state, some 200 nations from around the world represented in paris, a long planned meeting on climate

change. many countries coming to the table with individual plans to reduce their own carbon footprint, their carbon emissions. the president conceded that even if all plans were to go into effect, it would not meet the target that many scientists say is needed if global warming is to go halted. that is a two-degree sell i couldn't say increase in the last 140 years. the president says there's hope. as you reported, very interesting comparison. he said people tend to despire, it's natural for people to despair at the outset when problems seem insurmountable. he brought in the ebola crisis and even the fight against isil. now, all of this will be hard, getting 200 nations to agree on anything is hard. i'm sure there will be moments over the next two weeks where progress seems stymied and everyone rushes to write that we are doomed, but i'm convinced that we are going to get big things done here.

>> of course, the president faces opposition here commisticly to many of these plans, but the white house agrees that what is good upon in paris, the president said there could be obstacles, there could be days it seems there won't be an agreement. the white house insists if there is an agreement, that he has the power to do these things looking executive action. >> diplomacy has been talked about on the sidelines as rewards to isil and the president talked about the tensions between turkey and russia. >> you're absolutely right. the president did meet with president erdogan of turkey. they've had several conversations. they met just two weeks ago when the turks hosted the g20 summit in southern turkey. the subject of since then has been the insipient conflict between russia and turkey a the russian war plane allegedly flew over turkish territory for just

a brief 17 seconds before it was shot down by a turkish f16. vladimir putin said the turks are in a cover up to prevent the world from knowing they are buying oil from isil, from areas it controls within syria and iraq. president obama also has been trying to cajole and twist the arm of vladimir putin to focus russian airstrikes on the fight against isil and not many of the groups opposed to the assad regime. here's a little more of president obama at that press conference. >> first of all on mr. putin, i don't expect that you're going to see a 180 turn on their strategy over the next several weeks. they have invested four years now in keeping assad in power. their presence there is predicated on propping him up, and so that's going to take some time for them to change how they think about the issue.

>> very interesting comment there from the president, stephanie, essentially conceding that all of the talking and that he's been doing, negotiating with russia and vladimir putin has not borne any fruit and it's not likely to bear any fruit for the foreseeable future. >> mike, that you can. >> the tensions between turkey and russia and the fight against isil are also on the agenda in brussels. that is where fortune ministers are meeting at nato headquarters. turkey is a nato member. the secretary general has said the group does support turkey been the group. >> a major prisoner exchange between the lebanese army and members of the al-nusra front. nusra released 16 captive soldiers in exchange for prisoners held by lebanon and one freed is the ex-wife of isil leader, abu bakr al-baghdadi. >> it was a long and difficult journey to reach this point. we are here in nusra-controlled

territory. we are witness be the release of the lebanese soldiers. it was mediated by qatar and there were substantial efforts by nusra front and the lebanese government to make this deal happen. this is a convoy of the lebanese security forces bringing the prisoners to be exchanged. >> the lebanese army also received the body of one of its soldiers killed by the nusra front last year. the group is affiliated with al-qaeda. families camped out in beirut for more than a year, demanding the release of all captured troops. >> growing controversy in texas among calls to keep refugees out of that state. an agency is promising to keep up its work despite being told to stop. >> we're trying to odor more buses so that you and your family can go to the registration. >> the international rescue committee is nope for resettle

refugees all over the world and pushing back against texas officials who have told the group not to bring syrian refugees to the u.s. the i.r.c. said it is important not to con plate terrorists with the syrian refugees who are seeking sanctuary in the united states. the executive commissioner of the health and human serviceles commission in texas threatened legal action and to cut funding if the i.r.c. tried to resettle syrian refugees in the state. nearly 200 have been placed in texas this year, but the governor has joined more than 30 saying no more should be left in until the government beefs up the screening process. >> because of the inability to establish good tracking information about the background of the syrian refugees, i would say it is impossible for them to meet our standard, our criteria to accept any further refugees. >> a similar fight is playing out in missouri where state legislatures held a hearing questions how the state plans to

use funds for the refugees programs. the governor supports refugee resettlement in his state. >> what threat, if any exists and what public funds are being used to minimize potential risk to our residents who may be coming into the state of missouri. >> syrians are said to be the most vetted group of people to come to the u.s. about 2200 were allowed to enter the country over the last four years. the obama administration has plans to bring another 10,000 during the current budget year. al jazeera. >> more wintery weather is hitting the upper midwest today. a storm system is already dropping know on minnesota and south dakota. it could drop up to half a foot of more snow before it's done. let's bring in nicole mitchell for more on that. >> the half foot is the totally today. we've seen big totals yesterday. in fact, i was just looking at some of those numbers, chamberlain south dakota and up on the minnesota border is liking at 11 inches so far.

we're about to top that one foot total mark. ahead, heavy amounts of rain. i'll get to that in a second. in terms of the snowy side, we're slowly starting to wind down. that is definitely some good news as we continue through the rest of the day, that corridor that i was mentioning, and even into iowa as well, that's where we'll continue to see some of the bigger snow amounts, but most of what we have has already accumulated. it's olt more that will push a couple of place over that one foot total mark. here's where we're locking at snow, but looking a the a broader picture, a lot of rain for the east coast. into the northwest, you'll hear we talk about this over the next days, heavy rain will push in. interns of the front side of the bigger system, even flood concerns, some of the heaviest rain, tennesseeing that, easily three or four inches the next couple days. we've already gotten rain out of that. behind this system, still especially rivers that are on the high side.

this is putting it all into motion. wet today for the east coast. it doesn't move quickly tomorrow, it will be a wet day for the east coast, as well. finally taper off that snow. northern parts of new england could see a little freezing participation on the back end of this either tomorrow or the next day. that will be something to watch in the meantime. after that, a lot of quiet territory out there. that will be a good side of this. it does keep temperatures on the cool side, though. >> nicole mitchell, thank you. >> puerto rico is on the brink of default. before the end of today, the u.s. territory must make a $354 million debt payment. at this point, its governor said the debt is unpale. this morning, congress will be meeting to talk about puerto rico's fiscal crisis. al jazeera's robert ray is live in san juan. how are negotiations looking this morning? good morning, stephanie. i wish there was negotiations. i wish people here, that's what

they want and the folks, all the residents, 3.5 million people here are hoping for that, but unfortunately, there hasn't been a whole lot of negotiates. governor garcia padilla will stand in grant of the senate judiciary committee and have plea his statement to the congress there. whether or not they can give them any help, obama and the governor of puerto rico have put out a plan that they think can help puerto rico pay back the debt, but the issue is that congress has to approve that, and unfortunately, there doesn't seem like there's a whole lot of leeway right now. as we know, that debt is due today if they don't pay that off today, then they will go into a default yet again. they went into a default in august. >> they are looking for either some sort of debt restructuring, forgiveness or bailout, robert. how does the debt crisis affect people on the island?

it's hurting them badly. we have a 45% poverty right here, about 39% of the people are employed. there are 300,000 people that have left this island in the past decade. thousands leave every month, looking for a better life and jobs up in florida, but, you know, that's the people here in puerto rico. if you look at the states on the mainland, it affects everybody up there, as well, because as we know, if puerto rico keeps defaulting, these bonds that are held become even riskier and all of a sudden this public debt up in the mainland states that goes towards building schools and infrastructure becomes riskier, and so the loans become higher, so this all affect everyone up there. people have money in retirement in bonds, and it just -- it's a trickle down effect, unfortunately and it doesn't

seem like there's a whole lot of solutions right now, except for a possible bankruptcy chapter nine filing, which they can't do now because congress has to allow that to occur, but hopefully, there's a restructuring issue that will come about in the next days, but the deadline looms. >> we'll see what happens at that congressional hearing today. robert ray reporting from san juan, puerto rico, thank you. >> students at ithaca college are following missouri's example. why they want their president out.

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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. >> this is one of the most important sites in the century. >> this linked the mafia and the church. >> why do you think you didn't get the medal of honor? >> i can't allow you not to go into that because that is your job. >> we gonna bring this city back one note at a time. >> proudest moment in my life. >> half a million fields will lie fallow. >> if we had another year of

this severe drought, i'd say all bets are off. >> president obama is leaving the claims conference in paris expecting optimism over what can be accomplished there. the talks were overshadowed by the talks on isil. the president said is confidence in his fight against the group. >> i am confident that we can continue building momentum and adding resources to our effort to degrade and ultimately destroy isil, to disrupt plats against america and our allies and to bring about the political resolution necessary to resolve the situation in syria, and relieve the hardships on the syrian people. >> joining me from washington is retired army brigadier general mark kim met who was also assistant asks for political military affairs. thank you for being with me.

president obama again asked about his isil strategy in paris. he is sticking to it, saying that sending troops is not the only way to project american power. what do you think of that? >> what i'm concerned about is his overall strategy. in fact, he does have a significant number of troops on the ground right now, but defeating isil is going to be far more than just defeating isil inside syria. it needs a comprehensive approach that goes well beyond our strategy in syria and what i see is that strategy is simply lacking in some of the key areas. >> what are those areas in your view that are lacking? we heard president obama talk about stemming the flow of foreign fighters, cutting off isil financing, addressing the ideological issues. what is he missing? >> i don't think he's missing anything. i think it's the application of the lines of effort that his administration is working on right now that is lacking. we do have a significant

military presence, i see no effects on the counter messaging campaign. i see no effects on the flow of foreign heighters coming in and i see no effects on the tightening of the finance issues. while they may be talking and these are good words, i don't necessarily see the effect of those other critical areas in this comprehensive strategy. >> so the house armed services committee will be holding a hearing on isil strategy. they'll be grilling defense secretary ash carter today. would you expect a case to be made for an increase militarily in isil in either syria or iraq? >> i would expect to see pressure for a large troop contribution, and it's not this 50 versus 50,000, but i think most experts recognize that somewhere around 10,000 troops, in order to get down inside the units not in a combat role but

in an advisory role bolt for the troops inside iraq and rebel groups inside syria is an appropriate way to use military force and to achieve affect both inside iraq and syria. >> thank you for your sign heights this morning. >> convicted boston marathon bomber dzhokar tsarnaev is heading back to court today. his lawyers are trying to get him a new trial and have his death penalty overturned. he was convicted on more than 30 federal charges in june. his lawyers say is a security ruling the same month incalendar dates half of those bombings. the bomb ins killed three and wounded 260 others. >> republican presidential candidate donald trump sat down a african-american pastors in new york. he claimed he would be endorsed by the group, but no endorsement was issued. trump has been called out for

saying a black lives matter protestor kicked out of one of his rallies deserved it. he said after the meeting he is not changing his tone. >> well, you know the tone has taken me to first position in every single poll, including state and including national polls. they didn't really ask me to change the tone. i think they want to see victory, because ultimately it is about we want to win and win together. >> trump said the religious leaders he met with are calling for results in the form of jobs. he said some were pressured by the black lives matter movement not to endorse him. >> racial issues are front and center at ithaca college in new york where students have voted overwhelmingly that they have no confidence in the school president. they say he has not done enough to address racism on that campus. al jazeera's andy jones is now from ithaca, new york. if the vote is symbolic, can students expect any action?

>> stephanie, even though the vote is non-binding, the faculty here is holding a similar vote and the results of that should be released in a couple of weeks. if that is also a volt of no confidence, combining the two votes together will force the board of trustee to say possibly dump the president. there have been a number which protests on campus, accusations of work racism or more subtle institutionalize kind of racism. the student body president said he understands and supports the protestors, and he also understands the criticism that from folks saying these students are just wham perked cry babies with their safe spaces and there is all political correctness run amok but insisted there are valid complaints of racism on campus and said these students are paying to go here and deserve an inclusive campus. >> they are that the president has not done enough to address those issues?

what has his response been? >> well, much like what's happened in missouri, they say he hasn't responded enough to them. he did put out a statement or the administration put out a statement last night saying they support the pros of what's happening here but say they do take these claims of racism seriously. >> has the president's administration beyond those words made any changes? >> they say they have had campus meetings about racism on campus. they have hired a diversity officer. they brought in body cameras for campus police. for a lot of the protestors, it's not enough and might not be enough to save the job of the university president. >> thank you, andy. today, chicago says mayor plans to launch a task force to investigate police conduct. this as anger grows over the shooting death of a black teenager by a white police

officer. the officer is free on bail after posting $150,000 cash. he faces murder charges for fatally shooting laquan mcdonald 16 times. it has led to days of protest in chicago. >> classes are resuming at the university of chicago. >> bari dean is accused of making threats against the school. police say dean threatened to kill 16 white men on campus, plus any police officers he came across. the on line threat prompted the school to cancel classes on monday. dean is a student at nearby university of illinois of chicago. >> the act of courage that defined a movement, why civil rights activists say the fight must go on. >> the latest new york city initiative designed to make it easier to shake the salt habit.

>> coming up tonight, we'll have the latest... >> does the government give you refugee status? >> they've marched to the border. >> thousands have taken to the streets here in protest. >> this is where gangs bury their members. >> they're tracking climate change. >> they believed in what they were doing but they were not scientists. it wasn't science at all. >> there's a lot of lives at stake, a lot of innocent people. >> how many are still locked up? >> the integrity of the criminal

justice system is at stake, plain and simple. >> "faultlines". >> what do we want? >> al jazeera america's hard-hitting... >> today they will be arrested. >> ground-breaking... >> they're firing canisters of gas at us. >> emmy award-winning, investigative series. >> we have to get out of here. >> today is word aids day and there is a renewed push to increase awareness about the disease around the word. the u.n. says the asia pacific region faces a hidden epidemic of h.i.v. among adolescents. there were 50,000 new infections there. last year, a 15% increase. there are now 220,000 people between the ages of 15-19 that have h.i.v. in that part of the world. bangkok, and jakarta are hubs of new infections. >> starting today, a tiny little symbol is the law on some

restaurant menus in new york city, warning diners they are about to eat something with a lot of salt. we have the story. officials hope putting this icon on the menu will help with health problems. >> our blood pressure can go up when we eat too much salt. these icons can help consumers. >> new york is the first city to make chain restaurants put that warning label next to menu items that contain more than 2300 milligrams of sodium. that's the recommended daily limit and officials say some popular items like a subway foot long spicy italian sub or an applebee's grilled shrimp and spinach salad can put you over that limit. >> the blood pressure and sodium work alone and together to create vascular damage. this vascular damage allows the body to then start creating plaque. it gets bigger and bigger

causing either heart attack or stroke. >> new york applebee's began displaying the salt warning logo last month. >> we are not telling them what to do, but i think it's important that we give them the opportunity to make the right decisions or wrong decisions, if that's what they so choose. >> this is just the latest. health initiative connected to food in new york city. the city requires many restaurants to show calorie counts and city lawmakers ban transfats, an ingredient that's also been linked to heart disease. >> some good news on stopping diabetes. there has been a decline in cases in the united states. the c.d.c. says new cases dropped 20% between 2008-2014. there is a 33% decline in the amount of soda americans drink. the drop is mostly among white

americans. the rate among african-americans and hispanics is largely unchanged. >> 60 years ago today, rosa parks made the decision that eventually made her a civil rights icon. december 1, 1955, she boarded a bus in montgomery, alabama and refused to give up her seat to a white man. it was a planned protest that got her arrested and sparked the bus boycott. civil rights leaders urge americans to continue working toward her goal of equal rights. >> we are still in the struggle. it's not as avoter at it used to be and we've made some progress, but the struggle for equal justice continues. >> freddie gray was one of the lawyers who represented parks. democratic presidential candidate will join gray at an event hosted by the national bar association to mark the anniversary. >> thanks for watching. the news continues next live from doha. have a great day.

>> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello welcome to the news hour. i i'm live from our headquarters in doha. >> it's not going to be easy, too much blood has been shed. >> reporter: president obama says it is time to end the war in syria, and he has plan. lebanon welcomes home 16 soldiers freed in a swap deal with syrian rebels. also beijing and new delhi