>> this is al jazeera, i'm richelle carey. these are the stories we're following. >> we have agreed to destroy all chemical weapons. >> breck through in geneva, an arms deal on syria, and plans for possible action. a massive rescue effort is underway in colorado after the worst flooding in decades. entire towns have been cut off and 200 people are unaccounted for. >> what hurts me the most is all this has to be rebuilt. after everything that has happened, now this. i wonder if it's actually meant to be. >> the daunting task of moving on and starting over--again. along the jersey shore seaside

boardwalk. >> a breakthrough in the syria crisis. russia and the u.s. have come to terms on a deal of syria's chemical weapons. but questions remain. >> reporter: the decision in geneva between secretary of state john kerry and his russian counter part, sevgey lavrov, they have outlined our syria will relinquish it's stock pile of chemical weapons, something that they have not admitted to having until last week.

it also demands that the regime clearly outline the size and nature of its chemical arsenal--within a week. much quicker than bashar al-assad said th's month that hd that they needed. meanwhile, the pentagon made it clear that the agreement has not changed it's military posture. that may be purposely vague. neither the russians nor americans have walked away having lost faith but neither side seems to have visited from their positions much. russians say there are many more steps before the world can act against assad. >> in the event of non-compliance we have committed to impose measures under chapter seven of the u.n. security council. ultimately, perhaps more so than anywhere in the world actions

will matter more than words. >> reporter: what those consequences will be are unclear. the wording of the regulation simply states if there is a threat to peace or act of aggression the u.n. can respond in military or non-military action to restore the peace. >> now the white house said it issued a statement a short time ago on this deal. it reads in part. we now have the opportunity to achieve our objectives through diplomacy prosecutor i. if diplomacy fails, we will react. jean, it says specifically the united states is prepared to act. that's very broad. >> it is, but it's reinforced by a statement from the pentagon saying that u.s. forces remain in position. no change in force posture whatsoever. the u.s. feeling that it was

this threat of force that propelled diplomacy to this point. it does not want to remove that threat at this point in time until it sees where it goes from here and there is compliance from the assad regime. the president was briefed on what has happened in geneva by his national security adviser susan rice. he called the u.n. ambassador and also the secretary of state john kerry to learn more about what had happened in geneva, and to congratulate john kerry on the progress that had been achieved with the russians. after that the president went and played golf on what is a gorgeous day here in washington. >> what does this mean for the president going forward. to go where the president was just a couple of saturdays ago saying he thought military action was the way to go. he was going to go to congress to try to get that, and now where he is now, what does this mean for the president? >> there are going to be very

mixed reactions to what has happened here. i think there will be some who will applaud the president for his flexibility, and for stepping back from the brink and avoiding that military action, which the u.s. public was simply not enamored over, they were distraught over the idea of additional u.s. military action. but there will be undoubted be others who feel that the president wavered too much here, showed too much of his hand and gave too much to the russians at this particular time and going forward. i suspect tomorrow morning on the sunday talk shows we're going to hear those opinions put forward by members of congress. >> we absolutely will. jean, out of washington. thank you very much. well, this agreement is just the first step. the process of dismantling chemical weapons from syria's arsenal is very complicated here to discuss this is a former

policy at the hague. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> reporting out of geneva over the last two days there have been two talks go on, the surrendering deal and then a second talk. the u.s. wants an accounting of the weapons that syria has in its arsenal, how practical is that? >> well, i think that's not inpractical because syria is a tightly controlled regime. assad has a pretty good grip on the stock pile. he probably does know where all of his stock piles are and production areas are. it's a shorter timeline than, and shorter than you would see in a normal disarmament process, i think it will be best and it's syria's first test of good

faith. >> and then to secure and dismantle these weapons. how difficult of a process is that? particularly with the civil war going on? >> normally how you secure a weapons stock pile is that inspectors go in, and they seal it and they do an inventory, then they go away, and they come back periodically to make sure that nothing has been diverted from the stock pile. now here that's not going to work because that's essentially the same as trusting president assad with the stock pile, which is what we're doing now. we have to come up with some mechanism for guarding the stock piles that are waiting to be destroyed. in the agreement you actually see some references to how they're thinking about this, because they say that the u.n. the obc, the organization of the haig, and membership capacity will come together to figure out how figure out how to keep the

stock tile secure. i think they're contemplating some sort of guard post to go in there to make sure this does not leave international control. >> and the final step of doing away with these weapons, and the timeline that secretary kerry and foreign minutefer lavrov laid out, the first half o of 2014. it remains to be seen how large this arsenal is, but that seems to be a very short timeline as well. >> yes, it is certainly a very short timeline, and they don't know where they're going to do it. >> do they know what they're dealing with? >> i think they have now--i think one of the discussions they've had is coming to an agreement about what the contours of the stock pile are because that's reflected in the agreement. russia and the united states have come to an understanding about what is the scope of this problem. now when it comes to destruction they seem to have less of an understanding. they say well, we're going to do two things. we're going to destroy some in

syria, and we're going to remove some in syria and destroy them somewhere else. that obviously still needs to be worked out. one important thing i think about an agreement like this is from the perspective of the united states is that it would not only take weapons out of the hands of the assad regime, but it would take them out of play no matter which faction eventually takes over the syrian government. that is something that was girl for the president obama. >> and that was part of president obama's case that it should not fall into the wrong hands. >> precise. >> i thank you very much. i'm sure we'll call on you again. in iraq a suicide-bomber killed 23 people at a funeral this morning. it happened 23 miles east of mosul. no one has claimed responsibility for this attack. floodwaters continue to rush through colorado leaving thousands stranded in the rockies. the national guard is evacuating people by ground and by air.

older county officials say 172 people are unaccounted for. we're joined live with some of the flooding that is happening in longmonnt, colorado. how does it look for you right now. >> it's usually only a couple of inches deep and a couple of yards wide, but it's a raging river right now cutting the town from the north side to the south side. the number of people missing shocking, the number jumped by a hundred overnight. rescues in rocky mountains, towns that had been virtually cut off completely. they're only accessible via helicopters, via planes. 15 helicopters and planes via

the national guard of colorado. they're trying to rescue people who have been stranded for 48 hours. more rain coming in overnight. that's a great concern for everyone here in boulder county in colorado. >> jim hooley thank you so much, we're going to talk more about the weather. everyone wants to know when they'll have the break. >> meteorologist: richelle, i think it's going to come on monday. we'll have drier air coming in from the west. i think the moisture pushing in out of the south will be cut off. but as for today we have problems across portions of new mexico, along i-25 along the albuquerque area, extending to the north right around denver. commerce city, aurora, all the way into boulder looking at an additional one to three inches of rain. that's a problem out there. we're going to see a change as we track in the next 24 to 48 hours. you see that moisture pushing out of the south. that will be a major role player

as we track into tonight and into tomorrow. but that's when we'll see a break from all the rain, when the cleanup can begin and hope folks that have been separated from their family members will make it back to safety. >> it will be a long two days for them. a common medical procedure has sparked protest. at issue, circumcision. find out why coming up on al jazeera.

>> welcome back. investigators are sifting through the charred debris trying to find out what caused thursday's boardwalk fire at the jersey shore. we spoke with business owners who are grappling with the

devastation. >> reporter: as firefighters hosed down smoldering embers, people who live and work here looked out over the devastation and said, not again. michelle jackson was lucky. her restaurant survived the flames. >> um, it's been a long road since sandy, and we've been down a lot. our percentages are definitely down. we were just starting to see things pick up and start looking promising, and i started feeling better about how things were going, and not that feeling of doom. now this happened, so now all that feeling that we've had before just came back. >> the new jersey shore was just getting back on its feet after hurricane sandy when a fire ripped through the iconic boardwalk when it ripped through seaside park, and seaside heights. dozens of businesses burned. >> all of this has to be rebuilt, and people who want to

come back and make something of this place, and right now they don't know what to think. after everything that has happened, now this. i'm wondering if it's really actually meant to be. >> firefighters put up a desperate effort to stop the flames from spreading. >> our strategy was to do what we could, protect as many exposures as we possibly could, and we're going to containment plan. our first containment plan failed because of the volume of fire. the second containment plan worked. >> that second containment plan was the fire break. behind me is where firefighters made a trench cut to stop the blaze in its tracks. these shots are completely burned. as we look over here these stores are perfectly intacted about just repairing the boardwalk could cost over $1 million. that does not include the

businesses that burned. >> i'm lucky to be here, but the rest of the boardwalk is gone now. so that's not very lucky. >> reporter: after sandy the mantra then, jersey strong. once again the community will have to find the strength to rebuild. al jazeera, new jersey. >> seaside was supposed to kick off its centennial celebration this weekend. that has now been postponed. >> meteorologist: i think a hurricane is going to make landfall in mexico as we track in the next 24 hours. that is right, the tropical storm will be upgraded to a hurricane by the end of the weekend. we also have coastal flood watches across eastern texas, corpus christi and brownsville. we're going to see three to six inches of rain. that is good news given we have

been dealing with drought over the last couple of months. unfortunately, this rain will come rapidly causing flash floods and we want folks to stay off the roads. two storms will make landfall in mexico this weekend. ingrid, the one i was just referring to, will make landfall right around tampic o and till leave 12 inches of rain. and then further north, south, and eastern portions of texas it will be an exceptionally hot weekend where high pressure is in control. >> circumcision was once consideredded a routine procedure. over the years the procedure has become controversial. the number of circumcision versus dropped nationwide. we have that story. >> reporter: lloyd has become a leader in the fight against circumcision. in 2011 schofield collected

enough signatures to get a ban oof circumcision on the ballot n san francisco. >> it's unnecessary. the motto of the medical professional is do no harm. this is a harmful procedure. >> reporter: a judge decided to strike the initiative from the ballot ruling a city cannot regulate medical procedures and citing religious freedom, because for jews and muslims it's considered a sacred right. >> there were a lot of bias politicians and religious leaders who were against our initiatives, so we didn't even get a chance to take this to the people. i'm sure we would have been successful. >> reporter: the circumcision

once thought a surgical procedure some call it genital mutilation. others don't see why it's necessary. >> i don't see a medical purpose for it, and i--i watched a dvd and read a little bit about it, and decided there is no need to do that. it's an old tradition. >> most recent statistics show that over the last 30 years circumcisions have decreased nationwide by 6 percentage points. when asked if he wanted to have his son circumcised. >> i don't know, it has not been on our radar, so when they asked, i almost didn't know the word. then we didn't do it. we didn't know anything about it. >> reporter: the american academy of pediatrics say circumcision lowers the risk of urinary tract infections and diseases.

but they don't necessarily recommend the procedure. >> it's not our desire. if they want that. >> cleanliness is the reason why they decided to go through the circumcision. >> i don't know why it's so controversial. it won't damage him or effect him as a male. >> reporter: it has increasingly become an interactive process between doctors and patients. california is one of nearly two dozen states where medicaid doesn't cover the cost of circumcision. more and more insurance companies are stating they will not cover them unless it's a medical necessity, which mayed a to the decrease of the procedure. >> protesters were calling the surgical procedure a cruel and

outdated religious practice. there is a protest in front of a hospital where all can see. bisi, it's a voluntary procedure, so what is the crowd demanding? >> the organization behind today's protest called no circ michigan. they believe that circumcision is unethical, an unnecessary procedure and they feel it goes against the baby's right. they want doctors and staff know that circumcision must stop. >> what is the significance of that particular hospital? why are they there? >> well, according to this organization, beaumont hospital here, they perform about five circumcisions a week. this organization feels that because insurance companies cover this procedure, that

hospitals such as beaumont, they push these procedures for profit. we did reach out to beaumont hospital, and they tell us when it comes to circumcising the child, it's the parent's decision, that parents' decision alone. >> bisi, thank you so much. a reaction to the syrian chemical weapons deal is coming in from around the world. next, what rebels fighting the assad regime say about this plan. that's all i have an real money.

victoria azarenko

>> welcome back. i'm richelle carey. here is a recap of our top stories on ankle. a deal in "s" in place for syr syria. secretary john kerry and foreign minister. ravrov have approved a plan. the commander of the rebel free syrian army say syrians feel abandoned by this. they say that syrian opposition with fighters on the ground rejected the russian initiatives who placed the chemical weapons

in international custody. what are they unhappe unhappen . >> the discourse has been reduced to the issue of chemical weapons. he feels that the international community, according to him, has used the blood of syrian people to lay its hands on the stock pile of chemical weapons owned by the bashar al-assad regime, all the way forgetting the plight of the syrian people, and not holding account anyone responsible for that plight. he said while he was let down by the international community he's not necessarily upset at the united states who he still thanks for all of its efforts, however he reminded the international community once again that it is very difficult for them to trust the russian leadership. >> the agreement about the

chemical agreement of the regime, we do not recognize the russian initiative, and we think that the russian and syrian regime are playing games to waste time for the criminal regime in damascus. >> the general once again saying that even though they feel let down, they will not be obstructing the work of any united nations inspectors or investigators, they will give them access, but essentially the issue of chemical weapons was not a problem in the hell rebeld area but it was an issue of being controlled or held by the the syrian government, not the rebels. >> there is a political arm of the opposition, that political

arm having elected a a new interim prime minister. does that mean they get a seat at the table in any way? >> well, this, is a very important development. the syrian opposition for months now has been wrecked by divisions. without going into the intricate details of the politics of the syrian opposition, i'll spare that you complication, i'll tell you why this is important on an international level. this is really about the credibility of the syrian opposition at a time when we see russia and the united states engaged in high-stakes diplomacy, and they're basically raising up their game and improving the game. now the international community can take them seriously. there were concerns if you go to geneva who will respect the

opposition. now you have someone who will represent the opposition. >> discussing the cease-fire in philippines at the site of the stand off will begin talks. at least 22 people have died, and 24,000 were forced to flee their home. japan has launched a new rocket that could bring down the cost of putting satellites into orbit. the epsilon lift off and it cost about $37 million to develop. that's relatively cheap by space travel standard. the rocket is orbiting telescope that will observe other planets in our solar system. that's it for this edition of al jazeera. i'm richelle carey.

up next, "earth wise: solar energy after dark."