. ♪ giving diplomacy a chance, russia's proposal for strikes against syria gets support from key players. ♪ the plans for syria to hand over chemical weapon comes is welcomed by china and france and others and kenya says the hague are filing charges of crime against humanity. a court in india convicts four men for the gang rape and murder for a nationwide protest.

and under threat, why the west bank school built outool built recycled material would become scrap once again. from washington to paris to tehran a plan for, syria to give up chemical weapons could be a breakthrough and iran and france and china welcomed the proposal that came monday from the prime minister and could put the military strike on hold if the details are worked out and we have more from washington. >> this was supposed to be president barack obama's chance to convince the american people that the u.s. military needed to launch strikes on syria but instead during interviews with six domestic networks the president announced he would give diplomacy a chance. >> i have instructed john kerry to talk directly to the russians and run this to ground and if we

can exhaust these diplomatic efforts and come up with a formula that gives the international community a verifiable, enforceable mechanism to deal with these chemical weapons in syria, then i'm all for it. >> reporter: he is crediting the russians with the idea they turn over the chemical stockpiles to the community to be destroyed but it wasn't the russian's idea, it came from an off the cuff remark from the secretary of state, john kerry and he dismissed it as a possibility. >> he could turn over every bit of the chemical weapons to the international community in the next week, turn it over, all of it. without delay and allow a full and total accounting for that, but he is not about to do it. >> reporter: the president's comments seem to contradict what we are hearing from his own staff at the white house at the state department, they spent monday trying to distance themselves from kerry's comments saying it was not an official

ultimatium and called it russia's idea. >> he was talking about a scenario we find highly unlikely. >> it's important to note they have one of the largest stockpile of weapons in the world and spread across the country and it would take time, resources and probably a peaceful environment to deal with this. >> reporter: but president barack obama did not express any of the doubts just a few hours later. he did admit the american people are overwhelmingly against intervening in syria. he doesn't have the votes in congress, so now the vote won't happen as expected on wednesday. >> i think what we need to do is make sure that the president has the opportunity to speak to all 100 senators and all 300 million american people before we do this. >> reporter: the president will speak to the senate and the american people on tuesday.

trying again to make the case for strikes in syria, polls show his arguments have so far been unconvincing and if not confusing to the majority of americans. patty with al jazeera, washington. >> so the russian plan forcier yeah to hand over the chemical weapons has been getting support from important players in the conflict and the permanent members of u.n. council have a cautious welcome and this is a view from iran, one of syria's strongest allies. >> translator: we say moscow's initiative and the plan is a strategy to stop military in the region and as a country opposing the use of chemical weapons we demand the country to be free of weapons of mass destruction. >> reporter: the french morning minister has been speaking about the russian proposal and jackie is in paris for us and jackie a positive response always a cautious one. >> yes, i would say a mixed

reaction from the french and they said the french received the proposal with a mixture of interest and caution, interest because he sees it as a positive resolution of the russian position and caution bearing in mind the different positions that the russians have presented in resent weeks. speaking to french media on tuesday morning, and he maintains the change in the russian position vindicated france's firm stance. >> translator: it has been a succession of positions from them and the russians initially denied there were chemical weapons in syria and denied there was a chemical attack and have evolved and it's very good. >> reporter: and jackie, is this a way out for france and going ahead with military action which wasn't terribly popular with the public there?

>> this could, in fact, represent quite a positive development for france in a number of ways. you will recall that france along with the united states were the two countries left standing, speaking forcefully about the need in their view to punish, that was a word that the president in france used, the sierran regime and when they said there was a vote it left them looking isolated and we had the g-20 meeting last week where one got the impression that some european leaders were given the president the cold shoulder. he was in quite a difficult position so in a way this russian initiative, this proposal whether it's workable or not, has in a way offered the french a way to climb down but to climb down while maintaining dignity. >> reporter: jackie, thanks very much indeed for that,

jackie in paris and we are expecting to hear a live statement from the french foreign minister at the podium where he is due to appear we believe in the next few minutes, so we will go to that when it happens. now in egypt three antimilitary protesters are killed and 8 others wounded in sinai and three women are among the injured and they reportedly opened fire during a demonstration. kenya's deputy president william ruto is on court in the hague and him and the president accused of insighting violence after disputed elections in 2007, he will go on trial separately later this year, both men deny the allegation. and kathryn joins us live from ruto stronghold in western kenya and kathryn what are people

there saying about the trial? >> people here are very pessimistic, this is like you said ruto's stronghold and a lot of people support him. i've been speaking to victims since i came here and some of the victims have moved back to their families and others like the ones who are here in idp and they say basically they just want the truth, they want to know exactly how this happened, that their lives are disrupted so much and want to know who is behind this. then they are conflicted on where they would have wanted the trials to be held, at the hague or closer to home. kenya is very blocked and most of the victims, especially here, and the victims in this case, which is the president's tribe

and nationally they would want to support the president who is also going to be on the dock in november and what they are saying is that this trial should have been held here but they have reconciled that the president and the deputy president has no business really being at the hague but then there are others saying they want justice and a local mechanism to try that. >> reporter: kathryn, i'm really sorry to interrupt you, sorry but we have been waiting for the live event from paris so we have to cut you and the foreign minister is speaking now about syria. >> to have the support of increasing number of states. yesterday the minister, the russian foreign affairs minister took an initiative in this direction, calling upon the syrian leaders not only to

accept and place under a chemical weapons under international control and to destroy them, but to fully support the organization for the ceasement of chemical weapons. this position was supported. we welcome this new position with interest, but also with caution. we do not want this position to be used as a means of distraction. that is why after having discussed with a french president we have decided to take the initiative. france will submit a resolution before the u.n. security council. and the process will start this

very day, the text will be assessed with amendments by our partners and the security council. on a very practical level, france will today propose to the security council members a proposal to put into practice these ideas immediately. what ideas? first of all, to condemn the massacres of the 21st of august committed by syrian regime and secondly to request from this regime that it gives us information on its chemical weapons program and places it under international control. and to place under the

organization for prohibiting weapons for emergency measures, to sanction the players of the people responsible for the massacres the 21st of august before the international courts. it is in the light of these events that we will assess the credibility of what was expressed yesterday that syrian people have suffered too much. we will not be -- we want quick results. france wants to act in good faith so that a firm and specific response can be applied to the syrian threat, can finally be found with a two -- two objectives we have stated,

the sanction and dissituation and always in the same way with thoughtful reflection. thank you. i'm ready to answer your questions, at least some of them. and foster. >> translator: how do you consider the good faith, consider the future of president al assad? . >> translator: i will not venture about talking about good faith. what i take into consideration is the new position expressed by my russian colleague yesterday, joined by the chinese which is explained through the firmness that we have expressed. but it is self-evident that one

must be extremely vigilant. good morning. . >> translator: what is the resolution delay or cancel the strikes? we have the same attitude right from the beginning, our objective is the elimination of the chemical threat and the protection of the syrian people. and as we have seen with the russian proposal yesterday, it is our determination to act including militarily that allowed yesterday a new path and we want to explore this new path in good faith, but we do not want it to be used for military measures. so all the options remain on the

tabl table. >> translator: so they are giving a live press conference in paris saying that france is going to submit a resolution before the u.n. security council, and the process is going to start this very day and comes at the back of russia's proposal to put syria's chemical weapons under international control and then destroy them. let's go to jackie row land in paris and it's interesting jackie because in going to the u.n. security council they are saying france is going one step further than the proposal and want to condemn massacres by the syrian regime and put those responsible for the august 21st chemical weapons attack under sanctions and that is a lot more than the russians presumably would have done. >> in a way this is quite a clever move by the french and

testing the russian position and testing if the u.n. security council which of course is the route that russia, iran and other countries insisted must be the way by which they move forward on this. france is actually putting that result to the test by proposing they will put this very day, he said, a text for a new resolution to the u.n. security council and spoke of five points and said first of all france would seek to put those weapons under international inspection, under international control. he said also that france, that syria would be obliged to sign up fully to an inspection regime by the organization for the control of chemical weapons and he said also that there should be condemnation in the security council, firm condemnation of the chemical attacks, so really if the others on the security

council were to accept that draft resolution they would be, in fact, acknowledging there was indeed a chemical attack on august the 21st and that seems reluctance to acknowledge that. finally and i think he really did have a key point there that france wants to see those held responsible for the attack on august the 21st brought before international justice. obviously this goes further as you said than the russian proposal but in a way the french are now calling the russian's bluff, okay you acknowledged there are chemical weapons in syria and you say that you want to bring these weapons now on to an international and control and inspection regime, let's see how far you are willing to go along this new line. >> jackie, interesting stuff and thanks for that, jackie row land in paris and we will take a quick break and the hostage crisis in the southern

philippines continues for a second day as army tanks move on to take on the fighters, stay with us. ♪

♪ welcome back, i have a reminder of the top stories, china, iran and france welcomed the proposal forcier yeah's chemical weapons under international control and speaking in the last few minutes france foreign minister will submit plans for a proposal. and william ruto is on trial in

the hague and accused of insighting violence following the disputed elections in 2007 and thousands were killed. an indian court has convicted four men for the gang rape and murder of a woman on a bus in new deli last december and the sentencing will be on wednesday. defense lawyers will appeal against the verdict. . >> translator: they accuse the families and lack political and financial clout and this is motivated and under pressure from the ruling government for mileage and it's to please the conscious and the people are innocent and should have been acquitted. >> and we have more from new deli and looks like all of the convicted men are going to appeal. >> that's correct. we spoke to some of the lawyers representing two of the men accused of the crime and now convicted of the crime and they

say this conviction occurred because of the tremendous public pressure that these men are innocent, that some of them were not even present on the bus the night the crime took place and they plan to appeal this conviction to high courts once they receive documentations from this court. >> reporter: were the family of the victim in court, and what are they pressing for? they want the toughest sentencing possible, don't they? >> well, they said from the very beginning speaking to india media they will not be satisfied with anything less than the death penalty. the families of the victims, sorry the family of the victim were in court when the sentence was passed. a reporter said they were teary eyed and welcomed the decision but now they really want to know what the sentence will be. they are of course supported by popular opinion in india, if you remember in december when this

case first came to light, it really shocked the nation. it shook its consciousness and people poured out on to the streets, demanding justice and bonding and tougher laws against sexual assault and rapist and other sexual criminals get the toughest penalties, so there is tremendous public pressure to get the highest possible sentence, the death penalty for those convicted of this crime. >> reporter: thank you very much indeed for that. and we are in new deli there. now the philippines at least 150 people are being held hostage a second day by fighter who want an independent region. the military says six tanks are going to the port city and we report. >> the army is surrounding six villages where 300 gunmen are held up. 170 people are being held hostage and used as human

shields according to the mayor in the south of the country. the standoff began on monday when the military arrested five mnlf members wearing combat uniforms and carrying pistols there. at least eight people were killed in the gun bat thal broke out on the streets of this crowded port city. more than a thousand residents fled their homes. the mnlf want an independent muslim region in the mainly roman catholic country and launched the attack as the government was about to resume peace talks with the muslim international front and the mnlf has left left out of negotiations. and this has been 42 years and claimed 150,000 lives and those who escaped the fighting sheltered in a sports stadium and others spent a night

sleeping on the streets. bernard smith with al jazeera. >> 7 passengers on a bus killed by a roadside bomb in afghanistan and 17 were injured in the providence and the bus was going to kabul from kandahar. they have a senior afghan mp was released after being kidnapped last month and al jazeera has the video of her release and this is an exclusive report and jane furgeson caught up with her. >> a month in taliban custody ended with an embrace of her children. she was the first female mp to be kidnapped by the group and the most senior. speaking exclusively to al jazeera she described her experience. and it was traumatized but never sexual assaulted. >> translator: i was there a while and wouldn't respect their mother or sister. in reality it wasn't that way.

the taliban treated the women and living with a miss conception about islam. >> reporter: it was a dramatic effort headed by senior politicians and afghan intelligence services and those in charge of the rescue visited her in her home in kabul to celebrate and the government said there was an exchange of prisoners to get her back and taliban has four of her relatives were given back and she was seized from a car with her three children after a few days, the children were released, this video shows the dramatic handover in a strong taliban area. their mother would stay on with capacitors for works being moved to 12 different locations in afghanistan and pakistan. despite their strengths, however, she noted the difference in various fighter's ranks. >> translator: the leaders were educated people and everything. and junior taliban that didn't

have a clue what the holly war is about and who it is against and why and how. >> reporter: she has no intention of abandoning her career in politics and a career shaped and influenced by a rare glimpse inside a fighting force that many of her peers considered the enemy. jane ferguson kabul afghanistan. >> reporter: this is the month when children in parts of the world begin a new school year but in the west bank and a village school built with recycled materials is under threat and paul brennan has more. >> reporter: they are ready for the new year and they keep their uniforms clean and tidy and a genuine thirst for learning and she loves school and i can learn and have a future she says, i want to be a dentist. but these children know their school could be bulldozed at any time and that ambitions

bulldozed too. i want to be a doctor, but if there is no school i will be a mattre mattre mattress chouffeur and this was built of tires and mud. and it has thrived. >> translator: the school is very important because it alleviates suffering of the community and the closest other school is 35 kilometers and the children will drop out. >> reporter: there are ten teachers and 122 students. but this is area c, occupied territory under israeli control and with no hint of irony the residents of the illegal israeli settlement nearby say the school is an illegal structure and demanding the army flatten it. >> they are claiming they are

settlement and we are teasing and filtering it here as palestinians and of course what is happening is the contrary. >> reporter: what makes this important is not the fact that it's a concept building, mud covering car tires, but also the concept behind it, the power of education, it's a challenge for the better culture and mixing boys and girls in the same class and it's a project gaining international recognition and governments and ngo are supporting this. and while we filmed someone from sacramento united states arrived giving books and resources. >> an education is important to give them a chance to go to university and give back to the community. >> reporter: they have not given up. another hearing will take place in the israeli supreme court next month and the argument will revolve around legal points but it's the life prospects of the children which is really at stake. paul brennan, al jazeera the

occupied west bank. >> reporter: and lots of twists and turns and developments throughout the day on our top news stories particularly on syria and developments coming from there, the latest statement from the french foreign minister and the details.