>> tackling syria's chemical weapons, the u.s. and russia are due to meet the u.n.'s envoy in switzerland. ♪ ♪ >> hello and welcome to. i am stephen cole in doha with world news from al jazerra coming up. eight dead, after taliban fighters attack a u.s. consolate in western afghanistan. facing the death penalty four men convicting of gang raping and murdering a woman in india are due to be sentenced, we will be live in new delhi. and the $10 billion tweet. twitter plans to float on the

stock market. >> ♪ ♪ >> but first, in the next half hour, the u.n. envoy for syria is due to meet representatives of both the united states and russia. trying to broken an end to the fighting and the attempt comes as the u.s. secretary of state and russian foreign minister are meeting in switzerland, trying to find a way on of bringinger is i can't's chemical weapons under international control. barker is at the talks in geneva for us, neave what, are we expecting today? >> reporter: hoping when they make their opening statements it will set the tone for the rest of the day. it has been kept very close to the chest of russian and american delegations. both have arrived here with

unusually large delegation of top level diplomats and chemical and military experts, mr. there be technical discussions throughout the day as they both collate what information that they have to syria's chemical weapons stockpiles. there will be the need of getting hundreds of specialist into what is essentially an ongoing civil war with a view finally to did he voic destroy s chemical weapons. that is the technical sides. politically it will be most importantly a trust-building exercise between the russians and the americans. of course also the international community is going to have to put an awful lot of trust in to syria in this plan going to work. >> stay with us, never, because syria, as you know, has applied to become a member of the global treaty banning these chemical

weapons. that's part of its tempt to avert a u.s. military strike. here is what syria's ambassador to the united nation had his to say. >> president ba cza czar bashard signed the legislative decree, number 61 dated september 12, 2013 in which declared the syrian republic approval to exceed to the convention on the prohibition of the development, production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons and on there destruction of 1993. >> neave, what we have heard there seemingly, is syria is now part of the pact. but they are not quite, are they? because this is the first step towards income that pact? >> reporter: that's right, stephen, we are not past the point of no return as yet. those documents, as you heard

there, have been sent to the united nations where they need to be processed. they need to be translated before membership of the convention is actually sealed. i think most importantly, the americans are going to be looking for constant assurances that this will be the case. this all, of course, plays very much in to the russian plan. this was the first of four points put forward by the russians to try and show that there is a diplomatic solution to the situation in syria. i suppose the russians will now assume, well, they have fulfilled at least one part of the borin bargain now it's downe american to his lift the threat of a military strike on syria for failure to comply. both the americans and the russians are going to be struggling very hard to find common ground. as a said a trust-building exercise. this is welcomed as i good sign, but as yet, as i said a little earlier, not past the point of no return when it comes to membership of that chemical

weapons treaty. >> iindeed, that's right, thanks neave for that. of course we will follow that story in the meeting in geneva throughout the day. human rights watch are saying that syrian forces killed at least 248 people in two villages last may. the new york-based group compiled a list of those kills. the organization called for the government to be held accountable and says the numbers were probably much higher. most of the killings happened after fighting in the air between the army and rebels. in a few hours time india will sentence four men convicting of raping and murdering a woman last year. they could be sentence today death for the attack which happened on a moving bus in new delhi last december. the incidents triggered weeks of angry protests across india. joining me now live from new delhi with more on the story. first of all, let us know when they can expect a sentence.

and the media, anyway, say it's likely to be the death sentence. >> reporter: that's right, we can expect the sentencing to happen in the next few hours. we are expecting it to be 2:30 local indian team. while the media here are suggesting look, it will be -- or should be the death penalty, we should keep in mind that while the prosecutors are asking for the death penalty those defending those found guilty on charges of rape and murder are asking for a lower sentence, so at this point hard to call exactly what the sentence will be but we are pecking a sentence of some sort in the next few hours here in delhi. >> what what will the suppos prs likely to be followed when the sentence is announced. what i mean is how long could be it until the actual punishment is carried out? >> reporter: that's riley good question actually. the sentence is expected today. but the four men in this particular cares likely or

suggested to be appealing their charges of rape and murder. that would push the processer further the i want january judicial system has taken i long time get to the bottom of the cases even if the sentence comes today it might be sometime before an actual punishment is seen in terms of these cases being brought to have the court today. >> lastly, what was the last time capital punishment was carried out in india? >> reporter: well, that's right, we have seen recent capital punishments, one of the most recent and talked about we should men is that of the lone surviving gunman of the mumbai terror attacks, his punishment was carried out in mumbai. keeping in mind that that case, too, took a long time to come through the courts and punishment to actually be handed on you. it was surprising actually, in india, people were caught by surprise at how quickly that capital purpose.

was served. so in that case it should be sooner than later. >> we'll wait for the sentence. thank you. the taliban says it carried out an attack on a u.s. consolate in western afghanistan. at least eight people, including five attackers were killed. jane ferguson reports from kabul. >> reporter: the dawn attack against the u.s. sons let's happened at about 6:00 a.m. local time. that is very typical of complex attacks by the taliban which include several suicide bombers. for this attack, there were five attackers themselves. it's believed a loud explosion started the attack and that was a car bombing. four suicide bombers did detonate themselves and then the final attacker was killed by police officers. two police officers so far have been reported killed and one private security consultant at the gate. 17 people have been injured, including security forces as

well as civilians. it's not believed any u.s. citizens have been injured or killed in the attack. >> -y just a minute's interim government has extended a state of emergency for another two weeks. the president's office said the decision was taken because of the security situation. state of emergency has been in effect since august the 14th. it'that's when more than a thoud people were killed after police disbursed the citizens by anti coup protesters. >> 30 missing after a fire broke out at a russian psychiatric hospital. it happened in the town of luka. the second fire at a psychiatric hospital this year. in april a blaze in a facilities outside of moscow killed third eight people. barnaby phillips joins me live from moscow. tell us more about this fire and the death toll. >> reporter: well, we are now hearing from local officials that six bodies have been found and its feared that the toll will rise as you said, some 30

people are missing. the fire, we understand, began in the middle of the night at about half past 2:00 in the morning in a psychiatric hospital as youed isaid in a sml vellum, one official believed that maybe one of the patients started the fire while lying in their own bed. it was an old, wooden building, it seems tragically it spread very fast. the fire fighting services weren't able to put the fire fought a couple of house the situation is now under control and they are look through the sad remnants of the psychiatric those try to identify bodies inside. >> russia doesn't have a great safety record when if comes to prevention of such places in these type of institutions, does it? >> reporter: no. in fact, quite the opposite. and you mentioned say similar

incident in a similar kind of institution outside moscow in april of this year. a number of fires in different kind of state institutions, schools, hospitals, often sadly, we would see evidence afterwards of poor safety management. i know that the fire in april was blamed on bad electrical wiring. i understand that already officials in relation to this latest fire are talking about possible criminal procedures, negligence against officials responsible, but as i said, it was an old, wooden building, so it did go up in flames very, very quickly. >> barnaby phillips in moscow, thanks, barnaby. still to come on this program, more than 20 children are saved from a suspected child trafficker in nigeria. plus. >> reporter: i am nick in hamberg and looking at support for the social democratic party here right before the german federal elections. ♪

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>> welcome back, a reminder of our top stories. the united states and russia are set to hold a second rounder talks in geneva to try to reach ideal overrer is i can't's chemical weapons on thursday damascus moved to join the u.n. treaty banning their use. an tack on a u.s. consolate building in iraq. five attackers were killed and three others. four men due to be sentence today for raping and murdering a

woman last year, they should be sentenced to death for the attack which happened on a moving past last december in new delhi. the philippine president has warned rebels they will use force if they don't end their violence. it has entered a fifth day. the philippine government said they are ready to crush the rebels unless they surrender. 200 fighters from the national liberation front of holding at least 100 people hostage. outhe asia regional director for humanitarian dialogue joins us what do they want? why are these holding these people? >> reporter: the mlf is not involved in the current negotiations with the mlif. which is successfully reached agreement with the philippine government. and essentially this faction of

the struggle wants to be considered more serious in terms of reaching final agreement. there is a peace agreement with this group the mlf date bag being to 1996, but these two agreements need to be properly aligned and that's really i think at the base of it, the reason why they have stirred again. and have felt that they are not being listened to. and as a result, have launched this attack. >> so the attacks are deliberately timed, which is after all is a very large city, isn't it, the country's sixth largest city. time to coincide with the resumption of talks. will more talks help? >> well, only if the mlf is consulted as well. but the problem here is that the chairman is a very difficult person to deal with. he wants and is di demands to be treated more serious had there are no, sir not inclined to treat him that way. and he has the loyalty of many

fighters on the ground and that's why we have seen this action. >> the government has been trying for many years to try and contain violence by muslim-led groupings. how effective or otherwise has been in the southern philippines? >> well, one of the problems is being that going back to the 1996 agreement there was never really an element of demobilization of disarming the rebel fighters. the current agreement being negotiated with the mlif there is, and importantly, an element of norm saying of putting the weaponweapons aside and out of e that wasn't the case before and there are larger areas particularly in the sulu area where these people have come from to attack where it's people are heavily armed. >> and there is indeed more violence today i notice on the island, is that violence connected and i suppose if it is

connected there is a fear of wider violence in the region. >> i think everyone in the region now fears if not addressed, and one of the immediate priority ises to try to bring about some kind of humanitarian seize fir ceasefirm things down to address at a minimum the immediate grievances of the lack of consultation that the mlf feels, but they are all connected in many ways to other groupings, who i think are now stirring in the area and, of course, if you go back to the beginning of the year there was an encouragement. the great fear is if this is not addressed the violence could spread. >> many thanks for joining us. advisers to the operator of the fuchs seem hufukushima radio pls

are not a concern. two former officials of the u.s. regulatory commission he were brought in after it admitted that it needed help with the cleanup process. hundreds of tons of radioactive water are leaking from the plant every day. the advisors say it's nothing to worry about. >> this is not finished but i don't believe there is anything of major concern and they have an adequate leak control system there but it needs to be better and addressed and needs to be explained much better than it's being explained. >> 25 children have been rescued from a suspected child trafficker in nigeria. the child welfare department said they are being kept in a in appalling conditions, so far, though, no relatives have come forward it complain the children. >> reporter: these are some of the 25 children who were rescued from a suspected child trafficker. accord to this state government. the house where they were kept was raided by child welfare officials on august 17th

neighbors became suspicious about the number of young children the women holding the children khabibulin has been charged and jailed and being investigate odd suspicion of traveling the government alleges she was using the illegal orphanage as a cover to traffic the children. >> yes, we believe it's a case of child trafficking we have children from neighboring country, they are not properly fed they were sickly and hungry. some of them were crying. and we saw them and then we had to remove them from that environment and put them in protective custody what you have seen today. >> some of the children are as young as three months old. the oldest is 12. they have been appealing for the parents of the children to come forward for weeks. but so far, only one parent has. this is where the children were rescued. it's considered a crime scene so we can't go in.

investigators are searching for clues here that might lead to identifying the children's parents. but so far, no identity documents have been found here. the women who has been charged denies trafficking the children. and says this was just a on orphanage. but such orphanages are thought to be one of the causes of human trafficking in nigeria. 7,000 children and adults have been rescued from traffickers over the last decade. the government body set up to fight it says the children could have been handed over legitimately to the woman. >> what was the complicit of the parents, how can parents hand over the children. was it handed -- was there any particular agreement signed these are the things that we need to know. currently, now, what is trending in nigeria is the case of selling babies handing over babies for ill will he gal at i. >> they are hoping public at this will lead to the identity of the children being revealed. but say anyone claiming them will have to undergo a dna test to prove that they are related.

al jazerra. >> protests have been taking place in turk foyer fourth consecutive night after the death of a demonstrate they are week. the family says he was killed by the police. he was protesting against the planned construction of a prayer house next to a sunni mosque. 250 people were involved in the unrest. thousands of fish have been killed off the coast of honolulu in hawaii because of a leak of molasses. a pipeline was transporting it from storage tanks to container ships, molasses is a byproduct of the refining of sugar cane in to sugar and there is a warning that sharks may be attracted especially those with sweet teeth. voters in germany go to the polls in nine days times, the chantchancellor hopes to hold oo office. nick is in hamberg and take a look at the different forces shaping the political landscape from there.

>> reporter: on this part of our tour of germany as it prepares to vote, we are on a small fishing boat going up the river towards the city of hamberg. long a strong holds of the social democratic party. we'll be looking at why some of its voters are beginning to feel a bit adrift. these days, fishermen is somewhat like the social democratic party or spd. over the years, the daily catch he gathers with his son has been getting smaller and smaller the same goes for the spd and their haul of voters who used to vote for the party no longer. >> they are no longer the party of the little imagine. all they are interested in is power. >> reporter: hamberg is an old city of sailors, dock workers and traditional left wing politics going back to the 19th century and creation of the modern welfare state. so you would think of the social

democrats campaign promises of instituting a national minimum wage, of taxing the rich and a more special spending would find a lot of support. but there are problems. their leader, he's come under fire for making paid speeches for big business and then making repeated gaffs in the campaign. many party followers had already lost the faith when the last social democratic chancellor introduced painful welfare and job market reforms in 2004. they are bearing fruit now but the chancellor is getting the political benefits. in this campaign, she's borrowing a plan for a minimum wage and other ideas from the social democrats to win over their voters who are typically working class. trade unions close to the working class suggest the spd may have only itself to blame. >> from my perspective, there is

a lot to criticize. but the spd is still the lesser evil. especially for workers. but i just think the party should defend workers rights more. not just claim they do. >> reporter: polls suggest voters trust merkle as much as the spd to bring about social justice. to win voters back, the social democrats need to cast their net wider possibly by wooing big business, hard to do without being seen as losing your social democratic soul. on the next step of our tour through germany ahead of the vote, we'll be visiting a poor down, looking at voters who are tempted by political extremes. >> the inventor of the dole by sound system as died at the age of 80. he pioneered a noise reduction method that resulted in crystal clear found he founded his company in 1965, and decades later, dole by technology is widely used the audio master won a grammy, two emmies and an as

ca are fooscar for his mine ear. twitter says it plans to go public the stock offering is the most anticipated since facebook listed its shares last year old. here we explain why in 140 characters. >> reporter: these days you haven't made a point on the web until you add a had been tag. welcome thashtag, welcome to the world of twitter, news outletting advertising form and real time communication forum. in just over seven years, it's transformed from micro blogging site in to a core engine of social media and it's now poised to grow even bigger by going public. in true twitter style, the announcement took the form of a tweet. short, succinct, there are rules of engagement after all. twitter works like a messaging board, anyone with an account can post texts or pictures as long as it's under 140 characters.

add a hashtag and the message gets grouped with similar posts to create what's called a trend. twitter says there are more than 200 million active users collectively they are putting out some 400 million tweets every day. and those millions of tweets translate in to billions of dollars. specifically more than $10 billion. twitter's estimated market value. it's decision to offer stocks sen generating excitement especially because inning invesw what to expect after facebook's own experience last year. >> twitter won't have to do it's same edge case but has to produce it's own business model which consist of small sponsored tweet advertise littladvertisemr messages and ties little will add up as well. >> the sheer traffic on twitter has made it an inning defense

benindispensabletool. a source no news and entertainment. twitter has changed the what i with he learn about the world. once it's listed pima will be able to buy in and capitalize on it. one hashtag at a time. gerald, al jazerra. >> more than three decades after take off a nasa probe has become the first man-made object to leave the solar system. this is the moment joiner one was launch in '77. it was sent to study the planets in our solar system. during the 80s it surveyed many planets, voyager one then turned it's its cameras to lookn on earth. the probe contains old records evened with music and images from earth in case it's found by intelligent life. the chief scientist says the probe is teaching us about the furthest reaches of our solar

system. >> well, the sun creates a bubble around itself that en involves all the planets and provides a short of a shield between us and what is outside interstellar space and the stars. this is the first time a space craft left the bubble so we can determine what is really out there trying to get in to this bubble. we were fortunate that there was a large storm on the sun which like a tsunami wave propagated out to where voyager one is, out at the very edge of the bubble, we know precisely where we are, we are about 125 times as far from the earth as the sun is. and we are headed in a particular direction towards interstellar space where we are now -- have now arrived. >> a photograph taken of the launch of a nasa rocket has been leaping about on the internet showing an unsuspecting frog propelled into the air by the

force of the rocket's engines the u.s. space agency has confirmed the photograph is genuine and take then virginia last week. sadly, we think the frog croaked. there is the website.