do the show. >> this is open-ended. one of these days maybe i will. martha: will she? bill: i know she is a fan of "america's newsroom." martha: of course she is. she watches you will all the time. welcome here anytime, nancy. "happening now" starts right now. we'll see you later tomorrow. jon: right now, today's top headlines and brand new stories you will see here first. jenna: deja vu all over again. another obamacare delay announced by the white house. republicans seizing the moment. the saying enough is enough. time to delay the whole thing. all eyes on hotlanta today where it is very much snowing. authorities are pulling out all the stops to prevent the nightmare southerners lived through a couple weeks ago. nabbing a terrorist suspect right off the streets of tripoli. those stories and breaking news all "happening now."

jenna: hello, everybody. so glad you're joining us today. i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott. president obama changing the health care law once again. the administration pushing to delay the employer mandate for some companies until 2016. with businesses getting a break there is growing push for individuals also to get relief. in a statement house speaker john boehner saying once again the president is giving a break to corporations while individuals and families are still stuck under. mandates of his health care law. once begin the president is rewriting the law on a whim. and senator marco rubio reacting on "america's newsroom" earlier. >> most people are not in business for the next two years. they're looking to be in business for the next, 20, 30, 40 years and this law creates tremendous uncertainty. every time they delay a key provision it is a reminder how unimplementable this law truly is. jon: house minority leader nancy pelosi releasing a

statement saying the final rules reflecting the administration to smoothly implement the affordable care act offering increased flexible for 4% of the employers recovered by the employer responsibility requirement. joining me ellison barber, staff writer for the "washington free beacon." is this about a smooth transition for employers or more about politics, ellison? >> i think it is about politics. the first change they made to the affordable care act is in 2011. i'm inclined the statute for transitional flexibility as the nancy pelosi said is over by now. they're making this change because they're seeing that businesses are, like republicans saying, having difficulty complying with the regulations. they're having to cut back worker hours. it is hurting jobs. because of that they created this delay that conveniently goes past when elections are happening. jon: they're seeing conveniently awful lot of republicans who are running stronger in states represented by democratic senators all of a sudden. >> right. they're worried about keeping

control of the senate. in politics there are very rarely coincidences on either side. absolutely when someone implements delay like this, you have to think because they're worried about elections. they're not making a substantive change that would affect how this is going to impact employers long term. so the reason why it seems the reason they're doing this is simply because of elections. jon: so the white house is now saying, okay, if you have a business and you have 50 to 99 employees, you now get extra time to implement obamacare and get your employees covered by insurance. so what are those employees supposed to do if they're not going to have insurance through their employer? >> right. presumably they would still need to get insurance on their own. what the law mandates if you have three continuous months you don't have insurance as individual, you have to go into the marketplace to buy insurance otherwise you're subjected to the individual mandate and you have to pay a penalty. allowing employers to have two years they don't have to pay a pen knelt, they're essentially saying individuals you need to

go get your own insurance and if you don't we'll charge you the penalty. it is not fair they give the exemption to business. because they have given an exemption to businesses individuals now will be penalized if they don't still comply with the regulations. the reason why they won't have insurance because their impliers are no longer required to do so. jon: once again we have the white house changing the law on a whim apparently. >> this is always the argument. it is administrative action. that is what the department treasury pointed to because that is legal. technically changes are being made by irs or hhs. so administrative change but not a legal one. it consistently violates the take care clause of the constitution which says the president's job is faithfully execute legislation passed by congress, and making changes and doing them one after another, it more often violates the take care clause and than being administrative change. jon: what is to prevent the white house saying we think 16-year-olds should vote in this country, let's do that in the

next election. >> hopefully we never get to that point. i think something democrats are worried about, if they make a ton of administrative changes, that is something if republicans holding more offices they could do as well down the road. if i were a democrat i could do down the road, if there is republican president they will make administrative changes as well. they will have less ground to do that if they have done it throughout their entire presidency as well. jon: does that validate what a lot of republicans complain about the law? >> i think it does. this delay is halfhearted concession that what some of republicans are pointing to that they are right. burtening small businesses and hurtings them and how they hire workers then why would they have this delay? if it was going smoothly there is no reason to have a delay. this is the second delay. by 2016, first-year penalty for individuals is $95. by 2016 it is $695. that will still be a burden on individuals.

jon: ps, it is $95, or 1% of your income. if you make $50,000, you're paying 500-dollar fine the first year. >> increases every year for individuals. but now employees, employers have nothing until 2016. really does not seem fair. it is difficult to spin it as being fair particularly the escalating penalty for individuals and will be nothing for employers. jon: seems to be the case of the white house changing the nation's laws on a whim. ellison barber, from the "washington free beacon." thank you. jenna: for more about health care throughout the show today. meantime a fox news weather alert. some nasty winter storms to tell you about again. winter storm warnings are in effect, snow already falling in parts of the south. salting crews have been getting roads ready in parts of north carolina as you can see on the screen. georgia trying to avoid the mess we saw two weeks ago. remember this? when thousands of motorists were trapped in snowy roads? thousands of -- forecasters are saying this new storm could be

catastrophic. 88 georgia counties are under a state of emergency. earlier the governor had this to say on "america's newsroom." >> it is the opportunity to show we have the capability of doing these kinds of emergencies. we think we have done the preparations to do that. >> redemption storm, if you will. jonathan serrie with the latest from atlanta now. john that? >> reporter: jenna, snow is already sticking to the ground 40 miles north of the city. in town we're getting constant drizzle. we anticipate it will turn into wintry mix and freezing rain as we go into the evening. firms expect worst problems on wednesday. right now i'm at a staging area of the georgia department of transportation, one of several in north georgia, where they send out vehicles to problem spots, pretreating roads, elevated roads and bridges before they ice. they want to avoid what happened during the last winter storm just two weeks ago when you had people still going to school and

work expecting just a light dusting of snow. then when the heavy snow began to fall everyone tried to return home at the same time and many people became stranded in their vehicles. that is unlikely to happen this time. most school districts in metro atlanta already canceled classes for today, tomorrow, and some for the rest of the week. and also many people heeding the voluntary calls to stay home from work. lot of people staying home. when i drove to work during rush hour, the roads were relatively clear and a lot of people choosing to stay at home. a lot of people going to grocery stores, stocking up on needed supplies. so the big concern now is not so much traffic. all thee they are doing what they can to keep roads open. but electricity. the chance of ice forming on power lines, weighing them down, forming on nearby mitres which often topple on to power lines during the severe storms. in fact the national weather service is comparing this

particular storm to one that hit the metro atlanta area back in 2000. that storm knocking out power to more than 300,000 atlanta homes. so officials are warning folks at home to be prepared to hunger down, stay at home but loves to be prepared to go without power because power outages are very likely in this particular storm, jenna. jenna: we're hoping for a better outcome for you and everybody down south, jonathan. we'll watch closely. thank you. jon: incredible new video surfacing of an al qaeda terror suspect snatched from his home in libya by american special operators. surveillance video from the home apparently show as van rolling up after the suspect arrives at his home in tripoli. then, wham, three masked men jump out and grab the guy and take off. this as we're also getting disturbing information about a new al qaeda-linked group that is rapidly expanding in egypt's sinai region. chief intelligence correspondent

catherine herridge live in washington with more on that. >> reporter: thank you, jon and good morning. congressional investigators tell fox news they believe the surface-to-air missile or sam that was recently used to bring down an egyptian military helicopter in the sinai was from a libyan or syrian weapons stockpile. this video of the helicopter being shot down in late january was posted on line by a group called supporters of jerusalem. analyst who is follow al qaeda say it appears to be a front for the jamal network, using sinai to move weapons and training fighters flooding out of libya and now syria. mohammed jamal and his network are identified formally as suspects in the benghazi terror attack of 2012. with fighters from al sharia, and al qaeda affiliates banded together to kill four americans. the alarming spike in attacks was raised by the cia director in recent congressional testimony on threat of extremist groups to u.s. interests at home and abroad. >> the number of attacks has

gone up certainly over the past six weeks. and some senior level egyptian officials have been killed at the hands of these terrorists. >> reporter: analysts say when the leaders of this group in egypt is considered al qaeda royalty and his ties to the al qaeda network are laid out in the bin laden document that is were recovered by navy seals after the raid in pakistan nearly three years ago. so the bottom line is that you see even after three years these individuals are still working together to try and spread bin laden's ideology and we're now seeing it in the sinai specifically. jon: catherine herridge reporting from washington. thank you, catherine. >> reporter: you're welcome. jenna: a big question we'll tackle today. can our government use drones to kill americans overseas? americans who work with our enemies. a terror suspect is now in the cross-hairs. it's a big story and we'll have a live report on that and more analysis for you. plus a legendary child star whose singing an dancing cheered americans through the great depression. now shirley temple has died.

we'll look at the life of a real american star coming up. ♪ it says here that a won's sex drive increases at the age of 80. helps reduce the risk of heart disse. keep hrt-healthy. live long. eat the 100% goodness of post shreddedheat. doctorrecommend it. i takbecause you can't beating for zero heartburn. woo hoo! [ male announcer ] prilosec otc is the number one doctor recommended frequent heartburn medicine for 8 straight years. one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn.

♪ ♪ where you think you're gonna go ♪ ♪ when your time's all gone? male annocer ] live a full life. the new lexus ct hybrid with an epa estimated 42 mpg. the further you go, the more intesting it ge. lease the 2014 ct 200h for $299 a month for 27 months. see your lexus dealer.

jenna: welcome back. fox news confirming an american is believed to be working with al qaeda to plan attacks against americans overseas and our government is now trying to decide whether or not to target and kill him with a drone attack. we don't know his identity but a senior u.s. official tells fox news, quote, he's a real bad guy. national security correspondent jennifer griffin has more on that, more reporting on it from the pentagon. jennifer. >> reporter: hi, jenna. right now there is a very important hearing taking place on capitol hill. the senate armed services is questioning the director of national intelligence and head of the defense intelligence agency about global threats.

so far they have not been asked the most pressing question about new plans revealed yesterday to tar get and kill a u.s. citizen believed to be planning attacks on americans. u.s. military sources tell us they are frustrated, however, and believe yesterday's leak likely tipped the suspected american terrorist. these sources think the american target will go to ground and the opportunity to kill him will likely be lost. u.s. officials confirm to fox news that the suspected terrorist came on to their radar several months ago. debates at the highest level, including the white house, whether it is legal to kill him have been taking place we're told for months. the most important headline to come from today's armed services hearing is undippedcation the u.s. will likely wait until after president hamid karzai of afghanistan leaves office to get a security agreement that would allow u.s. troops to stay there. without that agreement, the u.s. would have to roll up he its drone program in afghanistan which would harm the u.s. ability to target terrorists in

pakistan. >> whoever the next afghan president is, he is likely to be more reliable than president karzai, and his signature is likely to instill more confidence than would karzai's signature. with two months to go in the presidential campaign, i hope our witnesses will tell us if they agree that the united states and the coalition which we are apart would be better off waiting for karzai's successor to sign the agreement. >> i don't believe president karzai is going to sign it. >> reporter: now there is news out of afghanistan this morning, jenna, t karzai is preparing to release this thursday, 65 hardened taliban fighters, some with blood on their hands of americans. a nato spokesman issued a harshly-worded statement criticizing karzai's decision to go ahead with the prisoner release. jenna. jenna: a big story, jennifer, thank you. jon: former new york city mayor,

rudy giuliani, joined fox's greta van susteren for "on the record." talking on the controversy of killing u.s. citizens over drone and expressing concern the way the issue is being handled. listen. >> very concerned four american officials are talking about this to the press off the record. that is a serious breach, protecting our national security. if this guy has any brains he already figured out who he is and he is hiding somewhere. so, you know, a lot of the, a lot of the ways which they can protect us already have been come pre miced by the fact this has been leaked. jon: in just a few moments we'll be joined by former attorney general michael mukasey will give us his take on the situation. jenna: is one pain reliever safer than another when it comes to your heart? an fda panel is voting on that. dr. siegel breaking down what you need to know. major demonstrations to mark a turning point in history, the 1979 iranian revolution. today in iran they're burning our flag and cursing our

country's name. where we stand with iran today and what this means for our nuclear deal next with kt mcfarland. [shouting] honestly? this deal was way too good to believe.

instead of paying too much for an ipad, i got the surface 2. first of all, it comes with office and outlook. then, with free skype calls to phones in over 60 countries, i can talk to my cousins any time. and then, i got 200 gigs of cloud storage -- free -- so i can get my photos a stuff almost anywhere. others charge for that. surface is such a great deal. i feel like i should tell somebody. hey! ♪ honestly ♪ i want to see you be brave ♪ hi boys! i've made you campbell's chunky new england clam chowder. wow! this is incredible! i know. and now it has more clams! [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. what? [ male announcer ] it fills you up right.

[shouting] jenna: massive demonstrations in iran today marking 35 years since the iranian revolution. reports that demonstrators in the crowd chanting, death to america, and burning photos of our president. these protests coming just a week ahead of the next round of negotiations on iran's nuclear program. the current president, president rouhani saying today, that his country will continue its pursuit of nuclear energy

although the country yesterday test-fired two rockets including a long-range ballistic missile. we'll explain why that is important in a moment. the 1979 revolution, caused a rift between the iran and the west. overthrow thing shah, sitting the return of exiledded ayatollah khomeni who became the country's supreme leader. a month after the revolution, the hostage crisis began. americans spent 440 grueling days in captivity. kt mcfarland, former secretary -- deputy secretary of defense during the reagan administration. we're sitting down supposedly with our quote, unquote partners next week to negotiate the nuclear deal. this week they're burning our flag. why? >> look, president rouhani was elected because he wanted to do two things. i met with him with a group in new york. i was aim elected to improve economic ties to america.

i was elected so you guys would lift sanctions and i was elected to continue iran's nuclear program. what have we done? we have given everything he wanted. as a result this 30 fifth anniversary guaranties they will stay in power a long time. jenna: what do you think the reaction should be for our government watching overseas, again for people we're supposed to be partnering with? >> we should be very clear what kind of deal it was we signed. on one hand the president saying the deal we signed will stop iran's nuclear program. you have the iranian nuclear leaders, saying no. we can flip the switch back on in 24 hours and restart our nuclear program. as you said they're going to test a missile that plight be capable of delivering nuclear weapons. jenna: that is why that is important because it is not, once you have the nuclear bomb, you still have to deliver it in some way. >> yes, exactly. jenna: that's why this test is particularly provocative you. >> need three things for a nuke. you need enriched-uranium, which is what these negotiations are talking about, you need a

missile that can deliver a nuclear weapon and the sort of blueprint to pull it all together. they're getting there. they have 'the to do list" and working their way down jo watching an american flag on the scene. what if we did that? people taking to the streets in america and had this sort of reaction against the iranian revolution? we aren't doing that obviously, but there seems to be a double-standard. >> here is the problem. what this looks like 35 years ago when the ayatollah took power and the shah of iran was overthrown. american flags were burning in the streets then. what did you have after that? you had american diplomats taken hostage. the iranians realized they outsmarted american leadership. they will get what they want. their economy is on the verge of booming. even if you lift the sanctions just a little bit, they're is so pent-up demand, american companies, international countries and companies they're ready to move in to do business. those sanctions don't come back on. jenna: we're having this conversation on our news here in the united states.

here is what is happening in the state news in iran. "the new york times" tehran correspondent has a great twitter feed and he was tweeting some of this out. for example, iran's state radio saying once again people took to the streets to punch the united states in the face. words can not describe the level of unity. congratulations to all of you. we're here to support revolution and slap the united states in the face. that is sort of rally i cry to the united states. in the streets, propaganda, which we want to point out that we're receiving here. what should american people unify when it comes to, how should we rally against iran? on just on a very public, you know, forget the politics for a moment. how should we -- >> nobody wants another war in the middle east. so i think that although president obama and kerry say the military option is on the table, iranians say, bring it on, it is not realistic. we should understand iran needs oil above 80, $90 a payroll they don't meet payroll.

they have a very inefficient economy. they fail to do anything except the oil business. they don't even refine it. they send it abroad to be refined f the united states developed our own energy, oil and natural gas, guess what? the world price of oil would fall. those ayatollahs and leaders would be so busy about their next, they wouldn't have time to worry about their nukes. jenna: different approach. >> beat them economically. what is america really great at is economic warfare. that is the conduct we should have now. jenna: kt, great to have you as always. >> thank you. jenna: jon? jon: we're following, jenna a tuberculosis outbreak. 14 people at one high school test positive. what health officials are doing now. the obama administration considers striking a american terror suspect abroad using a drone. former attorney general michael mukasey is hear to weigh in. that is just moments away.

jenna: well earlier jennifer griffin reported that the white house is deciding what to do about an american believed to have been directly responsible for killing other americans overseas and plotting with al qaeda. one option may be for the united states to use a drone to target and kill the suspect and it is raising a whole host of legal issues. judge michael mukasey is former u.s. attorney general who served under president george w. bush. basic question, judge, just to start off. >> okay. jenna: if we know this person has killed americans and is plotting to kill more americans,

why is there even a question? >> that's a very good question and i am mystified about it, particularly if he is in a place where it is not feasible to capture him. it is perfectly lawful under any principle of international law, constitutional law, whatever, to go and, and strike. jenna: under the law, as it stand, when does an american citizen forfeit their rights as a citizen? >> when they join up with, with a declared enemy of the united states. there is a case going back to world war ii when a bunch of german saboteurs landed off long island and florida. they were tried before a military commission and executed. one claimed to be a u.s. citizen, went up to the supreme court. the supreme court said that was immaterial. he said once he joined up with the german armed forces he didn't have rights as an american citizen. jenna: what do you think of this debate?

leaked to the associated press. >> which they should not have done. jenna: we've done our crew, jennifer griffin, among others done incredible reporting on it and confirmed the story. why do you think this came out in very public way? why do you think officials would be talking about it? >> i can't imagine talking about it. often people will talk about a program if they want debate to kill it but i can't imagine anybody being as cynical and as faithless to his oath as to do that. jenna: the president gave a speech just late last year talking about what would need to happen for a drone to strike and kill an american and the way that it is easy to digest what these parameters would be, it would be legal and constitutional. you say it would be here. >> correct. jenna: in your experience how long does it take to determine if something is legal and constitutional? does it takes weeks to decide that for an individual? does it take months? what is the time frame? >> there is no time frame. when you're satisfied you have got the proof and when you have got the opportunity you do it.

there is no need to get all wound around the axle about it, engaging in overanalysis of the subject. jenna: senator rand paul has been very outspoken against the drone program. he says in the past, and i'm paraphrasing his stance on this. jon: is that he is concerned it's a very slippery slope because we work americans overseas because they're working with enemies and does that mean we kill americans at all? his example with a drone strike on coffee shop somewhere, somehow, if the power is concentrated in the executive brand. your thoughts on that? >> rand paul is a joke. he, he is a afraid if we kill americans abroad, who are plotting to and have killed other americans, and who are in a place where they can't be captured that we are then going to be using drone strikes on coffee houses in the united states? he is actually concerned about that? then i think he needs clinical help. jenna: do you think these

programs have the proper oversight as they now stand? >> yes, they have the proper oversight. given the debate that is going on, they have more oversight sound like than they need. what they need is for somebody to analyze the situation and take action and take political responsibility for it. jenna: i would like you to respond to a critic of this program. her name, mary ellen o'connell, professor the international law at notre dame. she is quoted in the original ap that came out. there is school of thought that the obama administration drone policy is lawless and this idea, she says painting of a picture how, we're just trying to figure out if this is okay for an american or not shows that we don't have clarity on our own policy. what do you think about that. >> i think the constitution was drafted by very practical men who meant it as a charter for survival. they didn't mean it as a bunch of abstract principles for lawyers to play while we go over a cliff. the fact is that the rules are

clear enough and all you need is to get the facts that justify the use of force. you can then explain it to the american people and take political responsibility for it. analyzing it to death isn't the way, isn't the way to approach the situation. jenna: paralysis by overanalysis. >> correct. jenna: judge, great to see you as always. >> great to see. >> jon? jon: an entire community in south nevada on edge now after 14 people at one high school test positive for latent tuberculosis. arthel neville live in our newsroom with more. arthel. >> jon, the possible exposure happened in november when 350 people affiliated with the school were tested after coming in contact with someone who had tb. now 14 people at coronado high school have tested positive for latent tuberculosis. health officials say the group could include students, faculty or even staff. with latent tuberculosis, by the way, those who tested positive are not sick and they can not spread the disease to others. the health department says they

will be offering treatment to help prevent them from developing tb later on. the southern nevada health district has completed its second round of tb testing at the school, claiming no additional active cases have been discovered, however, health officials are encouraging those with latent tuberculosis to start medical treatment. that means daily medication taken for up to nine months. this can cure a patient of the disease. health officials confirm the strain of tb at coronado high school is different than the strain found during the summerlin hospital outbreak. in that situation, jon, 61 people tested positive after health officials said the infection was spread from a sick mother and her twin girls. jon: scary night is. jon: arthel negative very, thank you. >> the secret of human intelligence. coming up how researchers think it relates to the size of an area of your brain. we'll explain that. remembering shirley temple today. the iconic child star passing

away at the age of 85. coming up we'll look back at her life and her long distinguished career. ♪

jon: well, perhaps, the most famous child star in hollywood history has died. shirley temple black started out in showbusiness at the age of three. she rose to fame at the height of the great depression, singing and dancing her way through films that captivated audiences all over the world. after retiring from acting, temple went on to serve twice as a u.s. ambassador. with more on her life, julie banderas is here with the fox 411. >> most popular child star in the world ever, shirley temple black leaves a star of. according to her publicist she

died yesterday at her home in woodside, california, from natural causes. she was billed as shirley temple charmed the world beginning in knitter 35 and saved what became twentieth century fox studios. she made 40 movies before turning 12. born in 1928 at three years old her mother enrolled her in a los angeles dance studio that trained young children to work in film and advertising. during hardship of the depression, americans fell in love with our optimism in baby take a bow in 1934. they recognized her talent with a miniature oscar at at can academy awards. she caned and sang her way moo american's hearts turning out hit after hit. with songs like on the good ship lollipop and bright eyes, an animal cracker in my soup sang to fellow orphans in the first film, curly top in knitter 35. she caned in 1936 with jack

hayley, in "poor little rich girl." became one of her best films according to critics. she made four nims with bill, bojangles robinson who she said was her favorite co-star. appeared in the "little colonel." dancing up and down the staircase, matching robinson, 50 years her senior, step for step. an amazing moment. as a teenager her star began to fade. she retired from film making at 22. marrying her second husband, charles black, embarking on a new career as foreign diplomat. as active republican she ran unsuccessfully for congress in 1967. was two years later appointed you know delegate to the united nations by president nixon. shirley testimony bell black is survived by a son, two daughters, a granddaughter and two great granddaughters. an american legend dead at 85.

back to you, jon. jon: what a remarkable story. thanks very much. >> sure. jenna: when someone is really smart, often times one might say, well they have a really big brain. turns out it might actually be true. scientists discovered a gene that links the thickness of the brain's so-called gray matter to intelligence. the thicker the gray matter, the smarter the person and so on. once more, scientists say the new discovery why some people appear to have harder time learning than others. dr. marc siegel, fox news medical a-team and professor at nyu langone medical center. if i had to guess you have more thicker brain matter. >> you too. you also have a big brain. jenna: explain this. what is the connection that researchers found here. >> what is exciting, jenna, it is on a genetic level. researchers look at the gene, nptn, they're saying if you have

a lot of this gene you're making better connections in the gray matter which is where the deeper part of the brain where thinking is going on where processing, making decisions is going on, where memory is going on. they're looking at the left side of the brain where most is going on for us. the right side is pictures, how we look spatially at things and left side is language, how we think about things. it is thicker, more neurons, more connections and process of chemicals between neurons. jenna: easier, and again i'm oversimplifying but to make the connection between information that is coming to the brain? >> that's right. exactly right. and this is in a journal called, molecular psychology. they looked at 1500, 14-year-olds to say see how they did this. this will really help psychiatry. things like schizophrenia and we can't figure out what is going on. why is one cell in the brain not

communicating? jenna: why does that happen in some cases? in early 20s especially we see that with men. what is interesting about the study they did choose 14-year-olds. i was curious about that, doc. we all asked a question whether or not 14 year-olds have brain deficit. >> i asked that very question. jenna: are their brains still growing at that point? at 14 is your brain still growing in size or already developed? >> it is growing inside. it is not that the head is getting bigger but there is more development going on one neuron to the next this is when these pathways are developing. jenna: so what can you do with that information then? say we're able to map the neurons, what's connecting, what's not, what can researchers do as part of the next step. >> that is great question. the question is what can we do to the gene to get more of it developed? what drugs can work to prevent deterioration from occurring? what drugs will cause more of that gene? what drugs will cause the problem to not occurring. >> very interesting. i have to get to the second topic because i have certainly

taken a few a leave and advil pills in my life. as athletes i'm sure a lot of our viewers have as well. >> absolutely. jenna: the fds a taking a survey of doctors, whether or not there issue of taking these type of pain pills and one's heart. explain what could be the issue. what are they looking at here. >> first i want to say to people all the so-called non-steroidal drugs, which are drugs, they prevent inflammation in the body, they're all problematic for the stomach. all of them cause problems with you willers and bleeding. but the question is are some better for your heart than others in looks like patient that is take aleve or naproxen tend to get less heart disease than those that take ibuprofen or motrin. jenna: does people that take ibuprofen have elevated risk or if you take the other pill you have lower risk. >> i think the former. if you take ibuprofen you have more of a risk. i'll tell you why.

they cause fluid retention. they cause you to retain more fluid. if you have a problem with heart disease to begin with, more likely to have the problem if you have got more fluid in your body. jenna: while the debate is ongoing is there anything the viewers should know if they are taking advil or aleve and have concerns? >> that is another great question. might have question is let the fda figure this out. meantime i would be cautious to all the drugs. i don't want to say people say i can get aleve now. no problem for my heart. that is sim policetic. all the class of drugs called non-steroidals, nsaids can be problem for fluid retention or problem for your heart. maybe one more than the other but can be a problem. jenna: can get get them without prescription. >> makes me more worried. >> thank you, dr. siegel. jon? jon: a woman charged with murdering her husband's ex-girlfriend, now amanda hayes defense attorneys are make the their case to the jury.

could a surveillance video taken from a hardware store implicate her in the murder? >> not where you expect to find waterfront property. what scientists are saying about the possibility on the surface of mars. stay tuned for this. i'm beth... and i'm michelle. and we own the paper cottage. it's a stationery and gifts store. anything we purchase for the paper cottage goes on our ink card. so you can manage your business expenses and access them online instantly with the game changing app from ink. we didn't get into business to spend time managing receipts, that's why we have ink. we like being in business because we like being creative, we like interacting with people. so you have time to focus on the things you love. infrom chase. so you can.

my feet felt so heavy at the they used to get really tired. until i started gellin'. i got dr. scholl's massaging gel insoles. when they're in my shoes, my feet and legs feel less tired. it's like lking on a wave. dr. scholl's massaging gel insoles. i'm a believer!

jon: we are awaiting a joint news conference by president obama and french president fans r francois hollande. just yesterday the u.s. and france announced a agreement to launch a joint mars mission two years from now to explore the red planet. there are tantalizing questions to answer about mars. nasa found clues there could be water on the surface there. while scientists believe the red planet once had water, new images taken from a space probe

suggest there could actually be water flowing on the martian surface right now. here to explain this mystery and how they found it, derek pitts, chief astronomer and director of the franklin institute planetarium. interesting to me, the discovery was not made by some fancy scientist but by an undergraduate student. he was looking at some photographs of mars and saw some things that were changing. do i have that right, dr. pitts? >> yes, you do. there are actually great photos that can be examined by these wonderful students that reveal an awful lot about the surface of mars and what was identified was a stain on a slope of mars showing that something had happened there in recent time and if you compare a number of these images you can find these interesting sort of details about things that have changed over time. this particular one though, is really especially interesting because it seems as if it shows some mineral deposits that might be associated with the flow of

water. jon: and it is not, we're not talking about, you know, a fresh bubbling willing, freshwater stream and a briney, brackish, flow that goes down the slope and disappears right? >> what is interesting about these kind of flows we've been able to identify evidence of this kind that seems to point to some sort of flowing. even though we've seen the signatures more than once now, the real issue we haven't been able to find the quote, unquote, smoking gun. we haven't seen the water as it flowed out from the surface making these streaks, but, we've been able to look at subsequent photographs that show that the area looks like have, shall we say, dried up several months lateer? it really does indicate something is happening that might involve water. jon: it seems to suggest there is sort of a rainy season on mars if you will. there is a time period when this water, if that's what it is,

appears to flow and then it just disappears, goes away. >> yeah, you know i think the way i would say that actually, jon is that the mechanism for how the water seems to get out from beneath the martian surface and comes out on to the slopes is not very well-understood. however we do know there is tremendous amount of water frozen into the martian soil. so radar studies have showed there is a tremendous amount of water that's frozen beneath the surface. we've also had landers on the surface that have been able to scrape the soil and see there is permafrost there. so if we can understand better what the mechanism is, it might have something to do with the fact that it is now martian summer in the northern hemisphere, that might help us figure out how this water can make its way out. jon: still no little green men discovered on the red planet. dr. derek pitts. >> thank you, jon. no little green men yet but

chance to buy beachfront property soon. jon: i will put down a deposit. dr. pitts, thank you. jenna: i prefer the beach frond property than the little green guys just for the record. jon: i think they come with the territory. jenna: more than a dozen people go into the hospital for surgery. now we're learning they may have left with a deadly incurrable disease. we'll tell you where. also a terrifying day on the job. a construction worker dangling from an overpass. more on this heart-stopping accident next.

jenna: big developments on the top stories and breaking news. jon: after 10 days of testimony and dozens of witnesses, prosecutors rest their case in the amanda hayes' murder trial. a look at what the defense will try to do now. a potential break in a cold case nearly four decades old. the new link in the case of two sisters who vanished back in 1975. and scaffolding snaps leaving a

worker dangling from underneath an interstate overpass. the daring rescue all happening now. a republican plan to raise the debt ceiling is now scrapped. hello to you. i'm jon scott. jenna: hope you're off to a great day. a new twist in congress' showdown over the nation's looming debt ceiling deadline. we're here again. sources telling fox news that g.o.p. lawmakers are abandoning their plan to tie any increase to restoring military pension benefits saying they simply could not get enough votes. the plan now, a clean debt ceiling bill that will likely need plenty of support from the democrats as well. doug is live in washington with more on this. hopefully he can explain it. what is the deal here today? >> well, another example of the conservative wing of house republicans rising up against speaker boehner. last night he hoped to bring a vote as early as tonight, a plan

to raise the debt ceiling that would also restore military retiree benefits that were cut a couple of months ago. but by this morning, it became clear to a disappointed boehner that he did not have the votes in his own caucus to raise the debt ceiling even with off sets to pay for the military retiree benefits. this morning boehner was led to hand passage of a kreen debt ceiling bill to the democrats. >> understand, the president driving up the debt, the president wanting to do nothing about the debt that is occurring will not engage in our long term spending problem and so let his party give him the debt ceiling increase that he wants. listen. this is a lost opportunity for america. >> even if all 200 house democrats vote to raise the debt ceiling, they would still need 17 or so republicans to cross over and vote for a clean debt ceiling increase. jenna: so what kind of time line?

>> -- whether democrats carry the day in the house of representatives is the minority. this feels like alice in wonderland. totally upside down. the majority is supposed to be the party that moves us forward because they run the ship. jenna: he can anchor any time for me. sorry about that sound running a little early. but talk to us about the time line here because there is one when it comes to the debt ceiling. what are we really looking at? >> we're hearing this vote will occur tonight. for practical purposes, it has to happen by wednesday because house democrats are headed out of town on thursday for their annual retreat on maryland. congress will be in recess for two weeks after that but treshy secretary lou indicated if the u.s. runs out of borrowed money by february 27, add to that a snowstorm barrelling down on washington that could dump as well as a foot of snow tomorrow night and that could physically paralyze the city in ways that

politics cannot. jenna: you are just a bright ray of sunshine today. you got to tell it like it is. there's a lot of factors at play. thank you. >> you bet. jon: joining me now for more on this, associate editor and columnist for "the hill" and the chief political correspondent for the washington examiner. republicans found themselves in sort of a difficult position. they don't want to get into another fight over the debt ceiling but at the same time, they want to reduce the nation's debt and deficit, they say, but what was the problem with trying to do it by restoring benefits to the cost of living adjustment to veterans? >> this is turning into a debacle for republicans. another debacle after the whole debt ceiling thing and budget thing last year. what has happened is, there's a small group of republicans who

would support a kleenex tension of the debt ceiling. everybody else wants to attach something to it. some people want to attach the keystone pipeline to it. some people want to get rid of bailouts for insurance companies under obamacare. some people wanted to do this wp military pensions. none of them could agree on you on nighting behind one of those things so for republicans to pass it on their own, they need 218 out of about 232 republicans in the house. they need 218 of those to do it by themselves. they have to do it with democrats who are insisting that it be a clean debt ceiling extension. jon: so it seems like despite the fact that republicans have the majority in the house, they couldn't come together on one plan of action that they would be able to pass? >> it was interesting. i was speaking to republicans two weeks ago before the state of the union address and they said, we're definitely going to have a no drama year. we want to look like we're

governing, finishing up the farm bill at the time. we hope that if obama wants something on immigration reform, he'll give us something on the debt that we can call a deal or a compromise. a week later they start to retreat and the leadership learns that approval of the keystone pipeline wouldn't be big enough to win over enough votes, nor would the blocking of the bailout, the risk border provision and obamacare. there was nothing that people could coalesce around and decide it was worth swallowing an increase in the debt ceiling that's a painful vote for republicans as it is for democrats but more so for republicans. nothing was going to be good enough. as you know, years ago when we were in this fight in 2011 and we were at the -- you know, the edge of the default, you have to look at spending. now just get it out of the way. get out to recess and come back

and hopefully talk about obamacare. jon: when democrats successfully recaptured the house and senate in 2006 and when barack obama was campaigning for the white house, they were all saying, you've got to pay for increases in federal spending. you can't just keep doing this deficit spending year after year after year. what's happened to that idea? >> that has gone away. i mean, democrats got some political gain out of the large deficits that have piled up during george w. bush's presidency, said they were only going to use the rules that any new spending that congress approves, they have to approve a cut in other spending or an increase in taxes to pay for it. that's just gone out the door. how else can you get a deficit that gets to $1.5 trillion and start celebrating when it gets to only half of that? so those rules have gone out the

window but democrats have never gone through this self examination over increasing the debt limit that republicans are going through and republicans are apparently in this situation, going to have to get used to the idea of eventually passing a clean extension. >> jon: so are the military cuts going to stay in effect? >> no. i think you'll see there was a vote to restore the funding. there is a pay for actually by extending sequester funding -- cuts, excuse me, and the mandatory spending area for longer in the out years that actually is more money than they would be restoring for the cola. i think that's something that you can pass for the house but members made it clear i want to do that. it's just not good enough for me to go home and tell the kids. i want to increase the debt ceiling increase and then restore the cola. jon: interesting battle to watch and as you say, they're getting ready to take their february

break here in a couple of days. we'll let our viewers know how it all goes. thank you both. >> thank you. jenna: now turning to obamacare. americans who enrolled for coverage under the affordable care act are now not only finding out that they may not be able to keep their doctors but that the pool of physicians that they can choose from is very limited. chief washington correspondent is live with more. >> hello. consumers that were signed up or were forced into obamacare are now learning they're going to face some nasty surprises. listen. >> many consumers have ended up purchasing a plan through the exchange thinking kld cover their normal set of physicians and hospitals and now as they're using services, they're figuring out they don't. >> one study shows a commercial plan would have about 40 cardiologists per 100,000 people. typical obamacare plan would have an average of only 15. there's a similar situation in a county in florida. listen.

>> the attritions for a county that serviced almost a quarter million children, we found plans in san diego county that only gave you access to 10 dermatologists. >> one california county, the nearest neurologist was 90 miles away. if you have to go, you have to go far. and seattle children's hospital is suing over what it calls the false promise of obamacare and failure to ensure adequate coverage because it was excluded from the network by the state insurance commissioner. now, the root of the problem is that extra benefits offered by obamacare were so expensive, the only thing insurers could do to hold down costs was clamp down on providers. >> price is paramount when you're talking about a consumer market. the premiums are the first thing a consumer sees and for better or worse, many of them are making decisions based on premiums rather than looking at the total cost of the plan and the provider network. >> so the end result, our plans employ a plan of rationing

either by distance or long wait times to get an appointment z. when you go to try to schedule an appointment to get access to services, you can get that appointment. >> much like medicaid, health care for the poor which has notoriously bad access to doctors because it pays so little. not exactly the way obamacare was advertised. jenna: jim, thank you very much. and be sure to watch your world with neil cavuto today. his guest is legendary billionaire investor carl eicon. he's a god person to ask about what this means for businesses moving forward. what is the latest delay for the businesses that we all know and use, likely. that's today at 4:00 p.m. right here on the fox news channel. jon: and extreme weather alert for you now. deep south bracing for a big winter storm. georgia already closing schools,

preparing salt trucks to try to keep the roads clear in an effort to avoid another nightmare monster traffic jam like the one two weeks ago. it left thousands of people stranded on icy highways, sometimes overnight in their cars. meteorologist janice dean is live in the fox extreme weather center. how is it looking for atlanta right now? >> very bad so it's a good call to shut the city down pause what's to come could be a historic ice storm for georgia up towards the carolinas and virginia. there's the past 12 hours. not really a big deal just yet. we're seeing some snow, some mixing and south of that some rain but it's the next area of low pressure that's going to ride along the frontal boundary and give us a perfect setup for a crippling ice storm for not only georgia but through the carolinas and virginia. a quarter inch to half an inch on the roads and the power lines. again, that will shut down some

of these big cities, including atlanta, georgia. this could be a very big event for all of the cities. we'll keep you posted. make sure you're tuned into your local weather stations. winter storm is going to form off the coast and that's going to give us not only the icing event, significant icing event across the southeast potential blockbuster nor'easter for the mid atlantic and the northeast wednesday, thursday into friday for new england. we look to be a little warm along the coast so some areas could just get one to three inches. new york, you're on the border of three to six. eight to 12 is not out of the question so the blue shaded areas you see here could be higher total, six to 12 and the deeper blues, that could be more significant snow, maybe even up to 20 inches. so yes, this could be a big event but i just -- with the caveat of if this storm moves 100 miles to the east, we could deal with heavier snowfall

totals for jersey, long island, coastal connecticut and massachusetts. if the storm moves to the west, it will be an inside mover and it will be a little bit more warm, bringing some of that southern air with it and then it will cutback on some of those snow totals. we'll be refining this forecast. a lot of people are going to want to know what the forecast is going to be but expect a big nor'easter for the northeast and mid atlantic and perhaps an epic ice storm for the carolinas, georgia, up towards the mid atlantic as well. you see all the cold temperatures in place. winter not going anywhere soon but jon scott, a little silver lining here. i saw some long range forecasts going into the middle week of february, end of february and much of the country could be in store for a warmup of above average temperatures. fingers crossed. jon: people will be -- well, they don't know what to do at least here in the northeast. >> absolutely.

we just need to get through the next couple of days, next week or so and then we could deal with really good temperatures. jon: thank you. take you to the east room of the white house now in the fox news alert. president obama there in a joint appearance with french president hollande. let's listen in for just a moment. >> it's always a pleasure to host him. at camp david two years ago i was trying to make the summit casual and he showed up in a necktie. we tried to get him to take it off. when i hosted him in chicago for the nato summit, i thought he would try some of our local cuisine, chicago style hot dog. i'm not sure he had one but we do know that he's sampled american fast food in the past because this happens to be the 40th anniversary of his first trip to america as a student and i understand he travelled across our country studying the fast food industry so if back in 1974 you noticed a french guy poking

around your local mcdonalds, that was him. now he's back as the 24th president of france and michelle and i look forward to hosting him tonight at a state dinner with different kind of american cuisine. the great son of france who chronicled our american democracy wrote that even as we marvel at our freedom, there's nothing harder than learning how to use our freedom. it's a lesson our two countries have learned over more than 200 years. standing together and using our freedom to improve the lives of not only our citizens but people around the world is what makes france not only america's oldest ally but also one of our closest allies. our military and intelligence personnel cooperate every takda

dealing with crisis and challenges from africa to the persian gulf. our development experts help impoverished villages boost their agriculture and lift themselves out of poverty. and this level of partnership across so many areas would have been unimaginable even a decade ago. but it's a testament to how our two nations have worked to transform our alliance and i want to salute him for caring this work forward. you haven't just spoken eloquently about france's determination to meet its responsibilities as a global leader. you've also acted. from molly and the central african-american to syrian iran, you've shown courage and resolve and i want to thank you for your leadership and for being such a strong partner to the united states. in that spirit, i'm grateful for the progress we've made together in four key areas.

first we're standing shoulder to shoulder on the key challenges of global security. our unity with our t 5 plus one partners backed with strong sanctions have rolled back key parts of the iran nuclear program. we agree next week's talks in vienna will be an opportunity for iran to show it is serious about a comprehensive solution that assures the world that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. we a degree on the need to continue enforcing existing sanctions even as we believe new sanction would endanger the possibility of a diplomatic solution and we remain absolutely united on our ultimate goal which is preventing iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. just as our unity on syria and the credible amount of force led to a plan for destroying syria's

chemical weapons, we're united on what needs to happen next there. syria must meet its commitments and russia has a responsibility to ensure that syria complies. as talks continue in geneva, we'll continue to strent -- strengthen the moderation. this week we're working with our security council partners to call for an end to indiscriminate attacks on civilians and ensure humanitarian aid workers that have impeded access to syrians in need and we'll continue to work with france and others to bolster our partners in the region, including lebanon. more broadly, as israelis and palestinians move forward with talks, we agree that france and the european union will have an important role in securing the final agreement and we a degreed to continue our cooperation on the central african republic

where leaders need to pursue reconciliation. second key area, as major trading partners, we're working to boost exports and create jobs. i'm pleased to announce we're launching a new economic dialogue to expand trade, increase the competitiveness of our businesses, spur innovation and encourage new entrepreneurs and his visit to silicon valley this week underscores our commitment to new collaborations in science and technology. related to this we've agreed to continue pursuing an ambitious and comprehensive trans atlantic trade and investment partnership. i want to thank him for his commitment to these negotiations. we could support hundreds of thousands of additional jobs both in the united states and the european union and promote growth on both sides of the

atlantic. number three, we agreed to keep expanding the cooperation and clean energy partnerships that make our countries' leaders in the fight against climate change. even as we take steps at home to emit carbon emissions, we need growth. finally, we're moving forward together on global development initiatives. food security and nutrition that can lift 50 million africans out of poverty, our determination to respl spleplenish to fight t.d. malaria and aids and i'm pleased to combat infectious diseases and save lives. this just some of the progress we're making together using our

freedoms to advance security, prosperity and human dignity around the world. and i could not be more grateful for your partnership and your friendship. i especially want to thank you for honoring our d-day veterans today and i'm very pleased to announce that i have accepted his invitation and will travel to france in june to mark the 70th anniversary of d-day. i was there for the 65th anniversary and it was an extraordinary experience. i'm looking forward to returning to honor our remarkable veterans and to reaffirm this extraordinary alliance. >> mr. president, you support me as you have done the day after my election with theame

sincerity, the same respect and same friendship. back then i knew you. there was a major difference there between us. america was moving forward once more. america was able to make something possible, to make progress possible. when you can see i'm wearing a tie today. you welcomed me at a time that was challenging to europe because what was at stake was a very existence of the euro zone. to be able to come out of doubts

that prevailed and then on financial markets and your call for solidarity and for growth was heard and was extremely useful back then. since then, since this meeting in camp david, europe has come out of the financial crisis t. now has the relevant instruments for stability and it has entities, banking union. i also remember our meeting in chicago. i remember that in chicago, i had announced that france would withdraw its combating troops from afghanistan but it wasn't an easy decision to make. it wasn't an easy decision to understand and yet, you accepted. and we remained in afghanistan in spite of this at a lower

level than the level we had anticipated at the time. but you accepted this movement all the more so because this was part and parcel of a commitment to have been made before the french people, similar to the one you made before the american people when you came to iraq. you recalled historic relations and i should not mention again the warm reception of yesterday but i would like today, here, to pay tribute to the american unknown soldier fallen during world war ii, to veterans, american veterans of the second world war who enabled france to be liberated and indeed europe. we will commemorate the 70th anniversary of d-day landing. i had invited you to come and

join in june and you have just accepted this invitation which i welcome. this will be a strong message because we will commemorate the sacrifice made by those soldiers. we will also celebrate reconciliation and peace. this brings us back to our responsibilities in terms of security. france and the united states are two countries which, due to the history and their place in history but also due to permanent members of the u.n. security council can act on security throughout the world for freedom, democracy, the rule of law. this is precisely what france did with the help of the american friends. we need to make it possible for mali to recover. its operation was successful.

it was only successful because a decision was made by the international community. it was successful because americans took part and because europeans helped as well as americans to also give their support and president has now been elected in mali and the state has now found its authority again. we also are looking at preventing what could have been a humanitarian disaster. there have been already brutal actions there that affected a population that was already suffering a growth deal. there's violence every day, there are clashes every day but france does what it can with the help of other european nations

and with the help of americans and this bears witness to an exceptional situation in our history because our countries have always beenal mr aal aa aa and trust each other. this is characteristic of our personal relationship but also of our goals, common goals. barack obama reminded us of our position in syria. we were prepared to resort to force. but we found another option, negotiation. we made it possible for parts of the chemical weapons stockpile to be disrupted but we haven't found a political solution. geneva is the possible step in the right direction. we will have to make headway. we'll have to cooperate more, make sure our services cooperate

more. we need to support the opposition. we need to make sure that the choice is not between dictatorship on the one hand and chaos on the other. chaos with the fundamentalists and extremists and we found this potential solution. identically on the iranians, we found common ground. it's a challenging issue and a final agreement will be challenging but the iranian nuclear program being suspended and this is precisely the outcome of our collaboration, collaboration between france and the united states of america. we also act in the middle east and i welcome the american initiative to resume negotiations. freight work of agreement needs to be signed now in france and

in europe will suddenly give their support to a two state solution. we're also attentive to what happens in lebanon. lebanon is a country with which france has historic ties. there again, france and the united states stand side by side in order to help this country resist this massive influx of refugees and with the risks of clashes and the rift to return to the war that is a reality so we need to support lebanon and make you are it's supported in its unity and in its integrity. we also help children receive refugees so on international issues, we have convergence. we stand united. not that we never debate or that

we never partly disagree. we might be allies and friends but we also respect each other's sovereignty. that's a fundamental principle in our relations. america experiences recovery in its growth due to the policy and the political choices made due to steps made by the united states, the united states of america trusts innovation, energy. low cost of energy and bold decisions. this economic recovery in the united states is an opportunity for europe but it also is an example to be followed, a reference that should encourage it to promote connectivity through the necessary means and also promote innovation and new energy and that it precisely the meaning of my visit to the

silicon valley tomorrow. finally, we agreed with our american friend to sign a partnership agreements between europe and the united states with the best intentions, to open up markets, to make sure that the same opportunities be offered to all companies so that they can make proposals for markets. each country has its own position. we all know what was given to the european commission. we all know how concerned we were when it came to farming, agriculture or to cultural products. but we really want to reach this agreement because this agreement will contribute to growth, developing world trade in a

balanced manner is a pressure contributing factor to growth for companies. and now, climate change. how not to mention climate change when france next year will convene and host a conference. it's not just about hosting a conference and having a total, no. it's about attending a global -- reaching a global goal because there is a danger. we want a serious and comprehensive agreement, one that will enable all countries if everything comes with developed countries to work together towards a number of common goals. food security, developments, the struggle against aids are three other issues in which we work together but there are so many subjects i could mention and every single time i would mention one of those issues, he

would bear witness to say the quality of our relations and trust, including on the most delicate issues and the most challenging w ones was the history of iran. also a reference that is current in france. how far can you go when it comes to equality and how far can you go when it comes to freedom? and the revolutionaries want the independence of america, those who want it a republic in france have this thing in common. they want to be as old as possible when it comes to freedom and liberty and they want it as respectful as possible when it comes to equality. this is precisely what the american dream is made of and also what the french dream is made of even though many have their own little dream but the

mission remains exactly the same. we want to be together again. >> we have a couple of questions each. where is mark? there he is. "new york times." >> good afternoon. both of you talked about syria in your opening remarks and i wanted to ask a bit about that. the latest round of the geneva 2 talks have proven to be as unproductive as the first round was. the chemical weapons agreement that you both alluded to has removed some weapons but by all accounts it's a small fraction of the stockpile the asad regime had and the syrians have missed a couple of deadlines. i don't need to tell you the syrian regime is starving thousands in their homes and elsewhere. everybody a degreed that more pressure needs to be brought to bear on the asad regime to

change this deadly equation. beyond the general statements you made, what additional tangible steps did you discuss in your meetings today to help the moderate opposition to try to change that equation on the ground and -- >> i forgot my french. i need to ask in english. >> how is it okay for a trade delegation with 100 fefrj ceo's to travel to tehran to explore opportunities when they've committed to the integrity of the sanctions regime. >> why don't i take a step first at the syria question. we still have a who are daib

horrendous situation on the ground in syria. i don't think anybody disputes that. what is absolutely clear, with each passing day, more people inside of syria are suffering. the state of syria itself is crumbling. that is bad for syria, it is bad for the region, it is bad for global national security because what we know is that there are extremists who have moved into the vacuum in certain portions of syria in a way that could threaten us over the long term. this is one of our highest priorities and i know that he feels the same way and many of our european partners as well as our partners in the region feel the same way. the geneva process recognizes that if we're going to solve this problem, then we have to find a political solution. and the first geneva conference

committed to a transition process that would preserve and protect the state of syria, would accommodate the various sectarian interests inside of syria so that no one party was dominant and would allow us to return to some sem blns of normalcy and allow people displaced to start moving back in. we are far from achieving that yet. i would not completely discount the fact that in this latest round of negotiations, what you saw was a coherent, cohesive, reasonable opposition in the same room for the first time negotiating directly with the regime. now, the regime, asad's regime

wasn't particularly responsible and i think even some of their patrons were disturbed by their belligerence but we are going to continue to commit to not just pressure the asad regime but also to get countries like russia and iran to recognize that it is in nobody's interest to see the continuing bloodshed and collapse taking place inside that country. you asked tangible steps we can take. both france and the united states support a moderate opposition. we're continuing to provide enormous amounts of humanitarian aid. one of the problems we have right now is humanitarian access to deliver that aid and as we speak, today u.n. security council, we will be debating a resolution that would permit much greater access for

humanitarian aid workers to get food, water, shelter, clothing, fuel to people who need it. now, there is great unionimity both most of the security council on this mission. russia is a holdout and there's a message to them that they cannot say they're concerned about the well-being of the syrian people when there's starving citizens and it's not just the syrians that are responsible, the russians as well if they're blocking this kind of resolution. that's an example of the kinds of diplomatic work that we are engaging in right now. but, mark, nobody is going to deny that there's enormous frustration here and i think the underlying premise to the question may be, is there

additional direct action or military action that can be taken that would resolve the problem in syria? i have said throughout my presidency that i always reserve the right to exercise military action on behalf of america's national security interests. but that has to be deployed wisely and i think that what we saw with respect to the chemical weapons situation was an example of the judicious, wise use of possible military action. in partnership with france, we said we would be prepared to act if syria did not. syria and russia came to the conclusion that they needed to, for the first time, acknowledge the presence of chemical weapons and then agreed to a very extensive deal to get those

chemical weapons out. you're right that so far, they have missed some deadlines. on the other hand, we've completely chronicled all the chemical weapons inside of syria. a portion of those chemical weapons have been removed. there's been a reaffirmation by the syrians and russia that all of it has to be removed and concrete steps are being taken to remove it. we will continue to keep the pressure on but we now have a u.n. mandate with consequences if there's a failure, something we did not have before. whether we can duplicate that kind of process when it comes to the larger resolution of the problem, right now we don't think that there's a military solution, per se, to the problem. but the situation is fluid and we are continuing to explore every possible avenue to solve

this problem because it's not just heartbreak to go see what's happening to the syrian people. it's dangerous for the region as a whole, including friends and allies and partners like lebanon or jordan that are being adversely impacted by it. but let me just make one last comment with respect to the iran sanctions. we have been extraordinarily firm that even during this interim agreement, we will fully enforce all applicable sanctions. in fact, we have taken various steps just over the last six, seven weeks to identify companies that we felt were violates those sanction and have been very clear to the iranians there's not going to be any let-up. in discussions with president hollande, he feels the same way as do all of the members.

and so businesses may be exploring are there some possibilities to get in sooner rather than later if and when there is an actual agreement to be had, but i can tell you that they do so at their own peril right now because welcome down on them like a ton of bricks. you know, with respect to the sanctions we control and we expect full compliance with respect to the grup in the interim. we don't want new sanctions. but we also want to send the message to the iranians that if they don't resolve this broader issue of their nuclear program that there will be consequences and that the sanctions regime not only will stay in place but are -- will likely be tightened

in the event these talks fail. >> iraq will show now, sketch the french approach on the issue that were mentioned. first of all, geneva 2. the only purpose of this conference is to make political transition possible. it's not about discussing humanitarian measures only. it's all about making sure that a political change be possible which eventually will have to take place in syria. we encouraged the democratic opposition to go to geneva and to demonstrate they are prepared to commit themselves to this

process and this approach and some of them are blocking, there's no price of guessing who it is. it is the syrian regime. one other observation or conclusion, as a matter of fact, we should help along the humanitarian situation and that is why a resolution will be voted at the nusc and we will see, again, who speaks clearly on the issue of the syrian question. how can you object to humanitarian corridors? why would you prevent the resolution if, in good faith, it is all about saving human lives? so if i needed to go all the way

to get this verification? that question, the chemical weapons stockpile. barack obama and myself, when we're presented with the proof of the use that had been made by the asad regime of chemical weapons but resorting to force was an option and it was because we made this decision, the negotiation was also kept on the agenda. it is for that reason that president vladmir putin made this offer in circumstances that you are all familiar with. this led to the destruction of some of the chemical weapons but i agree with you, it is a very long process. it's only partial destruction and it doesn't go nearly fall enough so rules were adopted, particularly within the framework of the security

council resolution in case, and we should enforce those measures. chemical weapons have to be destroyed fully and pressure will be exerted fully and then there are choices. we chose to support the democratic opposition. we chose to make sure that the democratic opposition and an alternative even though negotiations will have to take place at the geneva conference. you asked me a question about french businessmen in iran, that trip to iran. for those of you who are unfamiliar with the french situation, the president of the republic is not the president of the employees union in france and he certainly doesn't wish to be. and i don't think anyone wishes for him to be. companies just make decisions

when it comes to travelling. but i certainly let them know that sanction were enforced and would remain enforced and if contacts were to be made, a new situation in iran, a situation where iran would have renounced the nuclear weapon, fully and comprehensively, unless such a new situation would prevail, no commercial agreement could be signed. that's what i told french businessmen and they are very much aware of the situation. and as far as sanctions are concerned, they will only be lifted if and when there is a definite agreement and during this period of interim agreements, they remain in force. french question perhaps now?

>> you have actually praised france very warmly today and granted our president the front seat visit to your second term. does that mean that france has become the best european ally of the u.s. and has replaced great britain? >> oh, goodness. >> in that role and if so, why not extend france the agreement that you have with england after the big scandal of the n.s.c. program? >> and mr. president, you praised the excellency of the franco american cooperation but on iran, are there differences in terms of analysis between france and america on the necessity to have an ambitious

agreement? do you see that americans be prepared to make too many concessions? thank you. >> well, first of all, i have two daughters and they are both gorgeous and wonderful and i would never choose between them. and that's how i feel about my outstanding european partners. all of them are wonderful in their own ways. now, to the serious part of the question, what i do believe is that the u.s.-french alliance has never been stronger and the levels of cooperation that we're seeing across a whole range of issues is much deeper than it was, i think, five years ago, 10

years ago, 20 years ago. and that is good for france. it's good for the united states. it's good for the world because we share certain values and certain commitments and are willing to act on behalf of the commitments and values. with respect to the n.s.a., obviously i expressed my strong commitment to making sure that our rules and how we approach intelligence and surveillance, not just here with respect to any particular country but worldwide that we do it in a way that takes into account the incredible changes in technology and the new capacities that have evolved over the last several years and the first place that we look to in terms of how do we

make sure that our rules are compatible with our partnerships and our friendships and our appliances was where countries like france that have been long time allies of ours and some of our closest partners, it's not actually correct to say that we have a quote, unquote, no spy agreement with great britain. that's not usually what happens. there's no country where we have a no spy agreement. would we have like every other country, you know, an intelligence capability and that we have a range of partnerships with all kinds of countries and we have been in consultations with the french government to deepen those commitments. at the same time, what i've said privately and publicly and i want to reiterate today to the french press is that we are committed to making sure that we are protecting and concerned

about the privacy rights not just of americans, not just of our own citizens but of people around the world as well. that's a commitment that's fairly unprecedented in terms of any country's intelligence operations and what we've said is that we are putting rules in place so that we're not engaging in what some of the speculation has been when it comes to ordinary citizens in france. we are respectful of their privacy rights and make sure our rules are abiding by concerns about those privacy rights. we do remain concerned as france is and as most of the e.u. is with very specific potential terrorist networks that could attack us and kill innocent people and we're going to have to continue to be robust in pursuit of those specific leads

and concerns. but we have to do it in a way that is compatible with the privacy rights that people in france rightly expect just like they do here in the united states. last point, i know you asked it of president hollande but i want to comment on this, the reason iran is at the table is because we have a very high threshold they immediate to show us they are not making nuclear weapons. we have sanctions in place to make sure that's the case. i don't think the concern during the course of these negotiation $ whether or not we're going to be making too many concessions. the concern is whether or not iran can recognize the opportunity to prove in a verifiable fashion to the world

in ways that scientists and technical experts can confirm that any nuclear program they have is for peaceful purposes and the facts are what will guide these negotiations. if we meet what gives us those assurances, then there's agreement potentially made. if there's not, there isn't. it's not subject to a woel lot of interpretation. there's some judgment issues involved but part of the reason we are where we are right now is because iran isn't able to give us those assurances to anybody in the international community they weren't pursuing a nuclear weapon. >> in response to your first

question, i have four children so that makes it even more difficult to me to make any choice at all. but we're not trying to be anyone's favorite. there are links, we share common values and i can see that views converge on many issues but it's not about heirarchy. it's just about being useful to the world because the friendship between the united states and france is not just about strengthening our ties, economic ties, cultural or personal ties and that already would be a great deal. it's not just about bringing our two societies closer to one another. it's not just about sharing technology, no. what makes this friendship between the united states of america and france is the fact that we can hold values in a --

at a specific point in time with this american presidency and with the french presidency if i may say so. with regards to iran, the second question, just as the united states, we wanted to work on the basis of the pea sized scenario. this was the basis of our action. nothing prevented us from having bi lateral contacts and i have some bi lateral contacts in new york during the unga, i received the president during the general assembly so it is perfectly legitimate discussions to take place of whether we have to meet together in order to be strong together and in order to make sure that our tasks bring about this interim agreement, which it did. but there is still work to be done just because we signed an interim agreement for a few

months, doesn't mean that there's no longer an iranian problem. there is an iranian problem for we need to make sure that iran renounced the nuclear weapon in a definite and comprehensive manner. the n.s.a. now. i was going to say the question wasn't asked to me but president obama answered the question so i will answer the question, too. even though if you choose to ask me more specific question, i can be more precise but following the revelations that appeared due to mr. snowden, we clarified things. president obama and myself clarified things. then this was in the past and then we endeavored towards cooperation. we wanted to fight against terrorism but we also wanted to

meet a number of principles and we are making headway, this cooperation. mutual trust has been restored and that mutual trust must be based on respect for each other's country but also based on protection, protection of private life, of personal data. the fact that any individual in spite of technological progress can be sure that he's not being spied on, these are principles that unite us. >> thank you very much. mr. president, yesterday your administration delayed the asa employer mandate for mid sized companies. last night fur marn talked about the new choices people have to find health care outside the

workplace. i wonder if you could explain the delay and also talk about over the long term whether you see a future where health insurance is less tied to the workplace. >> well -- i'm sorry. >> and for you, you most talked about the pursuit of the trans atlantic trade agreement. i wonder if you followed the domestic battle here over fast track authority and whether that questions your mind whether a deal could be ratify. >> the announcement yesterday was fairly straight forward. the overwhelming majority of firms in this country already provide health insurance to their employees who are doing the right thing. the small percentage that do not, many of them are very small and already exempted by law so you have just a small category of folks who don't provide health insurance, weren't exempted by law. they are supposed to make sure