>> welcome back to the "france 24" newsroom. here are the top stories for you this hour. u.s. president barack obama tells congress he is willing to go it alone in his annual state of the union address. he says he is willing to use executive orders to get past partisan gridlock blocking legislation on capitol hill. the government in ukraine could decide to grant amnesty to jail activists. pressure from the opposition has led to the resignation of the prime minister. for the protesters, that is not enough. the un security council hands european trips the right to use force in central african republic. the u.n. says 10,000 troops are needed to store order to end the

deadly chaos in the country. also coming up, french footballer is leaving newcastle united. all the details on the 24 million-euro deal coming up and sports. china takes over france is the home of the most red wine drinkers in the world. it is as much about the color as the taste. head to the united states, where president barack obama delivered his annual state of the union address. speaking tuesday in washington, he put congress on notice that he is willing to go it alone. the president has made no bones about his frustration with

partisan gridlock on capitol hill. he says he will use executive orders to pass legislation that is blocked in congress. >> let's make this a year of action. barack obamadent signaled he is not giving up on advancing key programs like fighting income inequality and immigration reform. stymied the political gridlock the last 2 years, the president and congress on alert. not stand still and neither will i. whenever and wherever i can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more american families, that is what i am going to do. >> a big portion of his speech was devoted to the economy. he promised to strengthen the middle class and announced plans to tackle the wage gap between men and women and to raise the federal minimum wage. >> in a couple weeks i will issue an executive order requiring federal contractors to pay their federally funded employees a fair wage of at least $10.10 an hour because if

you cook our troops' meals or wash their dishes, you should not have to live in poverty. >> obama hasn't abandoned his goal of overhauling the country's immigration system. >> independent economists say that immigration reform will go our economy and treat our deficits by $120 in the next two decades. for good reason. when people come here to fulfill their dreams, to contribute to our culture, they make our country a more attractive place to locate businesses and create jobs for everybody. policy,ng to foreign obama touched on afghanistan, saying the war will formally conclude at the end of this year. he addressed to the crisis in syria negotiations with iran. leaders do not seize this opportunity, i will be the first to call for more sanctions and stand ready to exercise all options to make sure iran does not build a nuclear weapon.

of the lowest approval ratings of his presidency and the prospect of continued divided government, obama is seeking other ways to enact his agenda. republicans like tea party are blaming lee obama himself or america's problems. >> inequality, real inequality, it's trapping poor children in failing schools to benefit bureaucrats and union bosses, penalizing low-income parents for getting married getting .etter jobs it guarantees insurance companies taxpayer bailouts. withoutanging laws congressional approval and spying on american citizens without constitutional authority. and of course, obamacare all by itself is an inequality godzilla that has robbed working families of their insurance, doctors, wages, and their jobs. angela merkel gave her state of the nation

speech in parliament. she outlined the new coalition government's focus for the coming years. fractured her pelvis while cross-country skiing in switzerland over christmas, remained seated through the address. jessica, angela merkel is now governing with the social democrats. were there any signs of change in her policies in the speech from the usual politics now that she's sharing power? >> some of angela merkel's speech today and pay much of the well-worn rhetoric. especially -- contained much of the well-worn rhetoric, especially when she talked about germany being the strongest economy in europe at a role model for europe and the greater financial integration across europe. it showed influence from the social democrats with whom she is now in power, especially on issues of social reform such as hefty and expensive pension reforms, the introduction of the minimum wage in the germany.

these are conditions that the social democrats had insisted on in agreeing to go into government with and le -- with angela merkel's party. another topic she addressed was the so-called energy turnaround. she says the germany plans to by 2050 the using 80% noble energy resources. these are very ambitious for -- 80% renewable energy resources. these are very ambitious reforms on the debate that ensued after speech, many's parliamentarians were questioning how this would be funded. quiet has been quite about the nsa scandal where her own cell phone had been tapped by the u.s. but she mentioned it in the speech today. >> yes, absolutely. angela merkel has been criticized in the past for not reacting strongly to the nsa surveillance scandal which shocked and horrified germany. but she did address it towards the end of her speech could she said the german government was

working to increase data protection in germany to ensure that further spying didn't happen and was insisting that this happened on the european level. in terms of holding the u.s. accountable, angela merkel said talks with the usa on the subject would continue ritchie has been walking a diplomatic tightrope on the issue because, of course, germany treasures its friendship with the usa. she would be pressing the usa for more answers whilst also underlining that they usa -- the relationship between the usa and germany is very important. saltz reporting from berlin. the government and the u.k. could decide to grant amnesty to jailed activists. the government in the ukraine could decide to grant amnesty to jailed activists. it decided to scale back on recently introduced protest laws that set off a violent clashes between protesters and the police. for the protesters, that is still not enough. discussions continue in the

ukraine parliament. onmakers struggling to agree proposed amnesty to demonstrators who were arrested during protests. president yanukovych has said that the and and see should be can touch the amnesty should be conditional -- president yanukovich has said that the amnesty should be conditional. mice are trying to recover -- reach copper mic -- reach comprosmise. >> in an emergency session of parliament on tuesday, mp's voted to scrap anti-protest legislation less than two weeks after it was introduced, and in a dramatic move, the ukraine prime minister and the entire government resigned. but it is not enough to satisfy protesters, who are still out on the streets. they want president yanukovich to step down, too, and call early elections.

>> it hasn't changed anything. if he remains in power, nothing will change. >> anechoic -- meanwhile, yanukovich's supporters have also taken to the streets. >> we are here today because we support the government, because it is a government we elected and we want the chaos to and. remove began as a bid to yanukovich's decision to scrap the european union has turned into a major standoff. >> let's look at the other world stories we're covering this hour on "france 24." in the u.s. there is more bad weather. millions were hit right where snow and ice storm -- hit by a rare snow and ice storm in the south. georgia, mississippi, north and south carolina have declared a state of emergency. the ice and snow canceled 900 flights at the world's busiest airport in atlanta and

forced the airport in a new orleans to close. a grenadeere hurt in attack in bangkok this morning. it came just hours before antigovernment protesters were due to set off on a marched through the capital. the government has to push ahead with controversy snap elections despite threats by protesters to disrupt polls. police are on standby for the vote. and the parliament in tunisia has given the ok to a new caretaker government. the line of technocrats was locked in after weeks of horsetrading. it would replace the government led by the party that step down last year. part of a deal to end up -- a crippling clinical crisis. under the new roadmap, parliamentary and presidential elections would be held before the end of this year. fighting in south sudan is still going on despite a cease-fire agreement reached last week. both sides accused the other of

violating the truce that was thrashed out by negotiators in ethiopia. one topic you one official says that people are losing faith in the country's prospects for peace. the scene of some of the heaviest fighting over the past five weeks. backed by the ugandan army, government troops shelled rebel positions near the state capital. went high in the bushes and they came back to fight. >> last thursday, cease-fire allowed a 24 hour window for the fighting to end. but five days later, the truce still hasn't taken effect. , people crowd into a refugee camp. a monitoring group, the sentinel project, says that war crimes have been committed in the region. the u.n. under-secretary general took in the destruction with

her own eyes. >> the devastation in the town, the way that whole areas of the town have been completely destroyed. >> thousands have died in fighting between forces loyal to president saltier -- president salva kiir and those loyal to former vice president riek machar. many are afraid to return despite the recent truce. >> when i talk to people they have completely lost faith. they want to go to other parts of south sudan or leave the country. >> on wednesday, amos is set to meet with president salva kiir to push for a durable peace deal and allow access to people still in need of assistance. >> the un security council has given european troops the right to use force to protect

civilians in central african republic. the u.n. said some 10,000 troops are needed to restore order to end the deadly chaos in the country. a violent clashes between muslim and christian militias have left over 1000 dead since december. close to one million have been forced from their homes. acting at theus un security council -- backing at the un security council for the european union to intervene in the central african republic. it gives a mandate to around 500 european troops to support the french and african union troops already on the ground and to allow them to use force to protect civilians caught in the crossfire of clashes between muslim and christian groups. >> we need all the necessary support. and are coming, between 500 1000, and the mission is to protect -- we have idp who went

to the airport for production. it is a huge amount of people. french to go the to the city and to restore law and order. >> but aside from the conjugation of 55 soldiers from estonia, it is unknown -- contribution of 55 soldiers from estonia, it is unknown which eu countries will provide troops. >> the mission would be limited in scope and time. it is what we call a bridging mission and hopefully be operational very soon. it will be weeks, not months, and once deployed, it will be in the central african republic in six months. >> the resolution asks for sanctions against those blamed for acid chris and human rights fores but did not -- blamed massacres and human rights abuses. it suggests that elections take

place are the second half of 2014. you might think that french people are the biggest red wine drinkers in the world, but you would be wrong. china has overtaken france and italy to become a red wine's number one consumer. they prefer red to white not just for the taste, but for the color. it comes to cracking open a bottle of red, they are the top. the chinese have dethroned the french as the biggest red wine drinkers. the times finished third. conception falls and -- italians finished third. out consumption falls another countries, chinese are drinking more. terms, 155 million nine-liter cases. war than 80% of the wine drunk in china is chinese although

foreign wines are gaining ground. researchers say it is a question of culture as much as taste. in china, red is the color of good fortune. white, on the other hand, symbolizes death. experts expect consumption of white wine and champagne to price in the future, but italy finishes fifth when all -- it only finishes fifth when all drugs are taken into account. >> president obama tells congress he is willing to go it alone. he says he is willing to use executive orders to get past partisan gridlock blocking legislation on capitol hill. the government in ukraine could decide to grant amnesty to jailed activists. pressure from the opposition there has led to the resignation of the prime minister but for protesters that is not enough. and the u.n. security council

hands european troops the right to use force in central african republic. the u.n. says that 10,000 troops are needed to restore order to end the deadly chaos in the country. u.s.s a very combative president barack obama gave his annual state of the unit address -- state of the union address last night. the president has made no bones about his frustration with partisan gridlock on capitol hill. he says he will use executive orders to pass legislation that is blocked in congress. america does not stand still and neither will i. canever and wherever i take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more american families, that is what i am going to do. >> president obama delivered an address before a joint session of congress and millions of americans watching on television . that speech is the subject of today's inside look.

joining us is a u.s. specialist. much moreike it was a confrontational barack obama we heard in that speech. would you agree? >> yeah, but there were signs that he was going to go it alone. remember in the first few weeks, "i have a pen and i will use it when it is necessary. also, the opinion polls are bad and he has to do something about it. finally some republicans may be moving on the immigration bill. maybe he realizes this is the time to say it is now or never. at the november elections are very soon and then he will be a lame-duck duck president. he has a short period to act. >> do you think he was convincing enough? >> he will be a lame duck after the elections. the only question is how many things can't he get achieved in that period until november? >> he didn't invoke that she did

-- he did invoke the id of the executive order, which some of attack this -- some have attacked as anti-constitutional. , a limit toa scope what he can do with executive orders. of illegalportation children, this is not anti-constitutional. he also wants to make sure there are stronger and stricter standards for pollution. their are things you can do -- he can do with executive order. this is not against the constitution. there are a lot of things he will need congress. theaid he is the example of american dream so mr. boehner if , maybeot running again that will make some progress. also, i think the tea party is realized that his donors are

very angry with them and they stopped giving them -- business donors are very angry with them and they stopped giving them money. >> interesting, the republicans did come out swinging, many of them, after the speech was given last night. many of them toe the line that if life is harder for america today is due to obama and his policies. >> even the statistics obama is using to show that there is job creation, we can do what we want with statistics. the americans do the same and say that whatever progress has been achieved has been despite obama. for instance, job creation is due to fracking, not due to the president's policies, etc. websites fact checking that say that obama was a little fuzzy about this, the republicans are more or less lying about that. there is no way we can say that obama is making life more

difficult and no way we can say the republicans -- everything the republicans say is wrong. the speech most of talking about a misty dishes but he mentioned one international one, iran -- about domestic issues but he mentioned one international one, iraq, on which he was pretty tough. that surprised everybody, apparently there is that agreement. obama made clear that if it is not working we're are back to sanctions did but during that period when we are trying to make headway, if you pass sanctions i will veto. >> what can he truly a compass this time around? -- truly accomplish this time around? >> probably immigration. apparently he has given up on gun control could maybe climate change. not sure. >> thank you very much. that was today's inside look. a is a home coming for

french footballer. he is leaving newcastle put all the details on that deal in sports. starts right now. the french international joint prisons for 24 million provisions ford 24 million euros. in english from your lead -- english premier league, despite being outplayed for much of the winning start for the united career. chelsea faced west ham on wednesday. manchester city will also be in action on wednesday and will go top with a win at white hart lane. spurs are a different prospect.

with their new coach, they've taken 16 points from a possible 18 since he took over. and the boss expects a tough test >. games of thest 4 last five games they play. they're playing very well and it is always important when you are in a good moment. i'm sure we're going to have a tough game against them. arsenal city and chelsea are clear in the title race. pellegrini says it is not a three-horse race. just, i don't think we're three teams. in football you never know. board -- playy for eight points more.

it is an important part. >> recovering from a shoulder injury, the spurs are still without anders townsend and their record signing. also playing on wednesday night, the record king's cup winners barcelona. the commanding made will allow the coach to rest some of his players. despite the lead, martino remains cautious. is a sensation that everything is sorted, but in fact, there are 90 minutes ahead to be played. the players and myself know that this is not the case. and the game deserves all of our attention. rivalall, not allowing a to get very close to our area, we have to be on our guard.

three have recovered from injury and are included in the squad. another remains out with an ankle problem. >> he had a serious injury in the game and he has already recovered ash he is already recovering from that. there is a peripheral situation around him, but i don't take it is affecting him at all. he is focused on recuperation and his return to the team. , they willprogress play in the semis. a norwegian teenager weaved his way to slalom victory. the 19-year-old was second after and he finally, found his groove. everything started to fall into place. he was aggressive and fast during the transition.

thers could only watch on in awe. the norwegian crossed the light 11move into first place, :43 -- 1÷g99ñwça7guc f v vúúú