♪ rebels in the southern philippines take the police chief hostage as the army continues the defensive. ♪ hello and welcome, world news from al jazeera and it's good to have you here. also in this program the french foreign minister heads to moscow for a resolution following the chemical weapons report. police identify the former navy service man who shot dead 12 people at a military base in

washington. mission accomplished the costa concordia is upright again! ♪ we begin in the philippines with the chief of zamboanga has been taken hostage and it's the 9th day of confrontation between forces and fighters from the liberation front and we have the latest from zamboanga. >> some of our exact things remain unclear on the ground and there are not as many clashes between the liberation front and government forces. the news that the zamboanga police chief has been taken hostage with other several other police is a surprise as people were expecting here on the ground that there will be a slow down of forces. now, for those the government

announced there were hostages that have been freed but it's unknown how many are under the custody from mnlf and there was a question of the service here and from the size of this all they ever wanted was a channel directly with the liberation frontage at least initially, try to rescue those who have been trapped. now, having spoken to them and the commander yesterday he said basically that negotiations are too late now. he doesn't believe that the philippine government is sincere in finding the answer. everything right now is unsure and we are not exactly sure whether the government will continue its assault or whether mnlf fighters are still held up there following reports that some of them might have already escaped. >> reporter: so the french foreign minister is meeting his russian counterparts in moscow and trying to reach an agreement

over a u.n. resolution on stripping syria of its chemical weapons, that is the podium where a press conference is due shortly and we will bring that to you when that happens. this meeting follows the release of a u.n. report confirming that sarin gas was used in damascus in august. france is pressing russia to back a tough resolution in the u.n. security council. and fred is live for us in moscow. so fred does it look like russia can be swayed? >> well, i think there will be a tough dialog which is probably just concluded and we will soon find out about it. but it seems every indication is the russians will stick to their point of view which is that the deal to remove the chemical weapons from syria can only be accomplished with the agreement of the syrian regime and without

the threat of force. the point of view in pretty much the entire west is that the assad regime has been brought to this point only through the threat of force and the crews have to be kept on him in order to bring about any kind of positive completion to this deal. so this is diametrically opposed positioning of russia and france and the whole west and probably they will come out saying they have had to disagree on that. >> reporter: and meanwhile though russia has agreed that there will be the chemical weapons from syria will be handed over to the u.n. what progress has been made on that? >> well, the russian point of view is that first of all there has to be a resolution in the united nation security council

which enables the whole process. and that resolution, the russian's claim, the basic text of that was decided upon between them and between them and foreign minister lavrov and secretary of state john kerry sat in geneva and contains no threat of force. following that it is the opcw, the organization for prohibition of chemical weapons which is attached to an and has the job of enforcing the chemical weapons convention which will do the actual work of removing chemical weapons from syria going in, cataloging them, preparing them for delivery or destruction, all that should be done by the opcw in the russian point of view and if it needs more personnel or other forms of assistance it can ask the security council. the russians have all this worked out in layers, but

basically what prevades these discussions is the suspicion on the russian side that the gee yo political in the west is regime and the mirror image suspicion ton on the western side is they want to save assad. >> reporter: thank you. this is a live shot there in moscow and as we said the french and foreign minister are speaking to each other and come to the podium and give a press conference on what was decided and what they are speaking about and we of course will go there when that happens. the u.n. confirms unequivocally contained sarin and positive for the agent.

and james has more. >> the u.n. secretary general came to speak to reporters after presenting the security council with what he said was evidence of a war crime. as he spoke he was flanked by the head of his weapons inspection team, professor who report the report 38 pages of scientific and forensic details. >> the report makes for chilling reading. the team gathered testimony from survivors, medical personnel and first responders. the findings are beyond doubt and beyond the pain. this is a war crime and grave violation of the 1925 protocol and other use of international law. >> reporter: what is the reaction of the security council? it's divided. some ambassadors claiming the detail in the report is a clear indication of who carried out the attack.

>> we have associated one type of ammunition cited in the report, 122 millimeter rockets with previous regime attacks. we have reviewed thousands of open source videos related to the current conflict in syria and have not observed the opposition manufacturing or using this style of rocket. >> i think statements to the effect that the opposition could not have done certain things, i think they are not really as scientific as grounded on reality as the actual situation could be. >> reporter: in the coming days attention around the security council table will turn to drafting and then voting on a resolution to set up a mission to go into syria with the aim of dismantling a chemical arsenal. even though the u.s. russian deal at geneva is in place they are wrangling over the wording of the u.n. security council

resolution and diplomates tell me they hope something will be in place by the end of this week. next week world leaders gather here in new york for the u.n. general assembly. >> james with al jazeera at the united nations. >> reporter: to the u.s. now where the f.b.i. identified the man they believe shot dead 12 people in washington on monday. aaron alexis who was killed at the scene was a 34-year-old former navy service man. al jazeera's heidi spoke to friends. >> they describe him as a quiet person and he was a member of the fort worth buddhist temporal in 2010 where he meditated and ranker errands. and he owns this thai restaurant

down the street from the temporal and alexis was a delivery man here. >> unbelievable. this is my customer that known aaron a long time and he was nice person. >> reporter: and he says alexis lived with him for three years. that was after alexis had been kicked out of his own apartment for having shot a bullet into the unit above him. alexis told police at the time it was an accident. he was never charged. and he says alexis carried a gun with him at all times even while at work. >> and we try to get something from the top, you know, and lift up a little bit i can see his gun. i told him you have to keep your gun in the car or out of the house, not here. >> reporter: they say he had an obsession with violent video games and he left his house about five months ago when a new job with a military contractor

took him to japan. but michael says alexis returned home upset, complaining the contractor wasn't paying him. >> he really felt like they should have paid him when they took him to tokyo. it was -- he loved to be able to travel but when he came back he talked about how they didn't give him the money they said. >> reporter: that was one of the last conversations he had with alexis. it wasn't until monday morning that he saw the news and he has been in disbelief since. heidi with al jazeera fort worth, texas. >> reporter: and they completed the operation to pull the costa concordia upright. the 114,000 ton cruise liner has been laying on it's side for 20 minutes off the island of giglio. >> after 19 hours all the fog

horns on the boats during the operations sounded and this was declared a perfect operation at 4:00. i'm going to step out of the shot so you can see how they have righted the costa concordia by 65 degrees and it's incredible to see how much of the ship has been laying under water for the last 20 months, it almost looks like an apartment building that has been partially collapsed and the collapsed part is the area that has been wedged on to the granite rock under water. that was possibly the hardest part of the operation, pulling it off those rocks in which it was deeply embedded and revealed a lot of deep cracks, extensive damage in the hull, it was a huge sense of relief here on the island of giglio and the engineers involved in the operations for over a year in the preparation. they said they were very proud of their achievement, a lot of people said it couldn't be done, and then they went and did it. a lot of relief here and now it's just looking forward to the next stage when the costa

concordia will be removed from these waters. >> reporter: and more to come on al jazeera, and the government gets its way the supreme court limits opposition leader to death and also ahead. >> i'll be reporting on these young man and call themselves the baghdad motorcycles. ♪

. ♪ hello again and let me take you through the top stories on al jazeera, the police chief in the southern philippine city of zamboanga has been busted with

fighters along with two officers and government forces try to retake control of the city. french foreign minister is in moscow for talks on u.n. resolution on stripping syria of its chemical weapons and we are expecting to hear the outcome of the discussions shortly which will take place from here, live pictures from moscow and the poison gas was used against civilians last month in syria. police have identified 34-year-old defense contractor aaron alexis who killed 12 people in the u.s. capitol and trying to find the motive behind the attack. a general strike is called by bangladesh after a senior leader was sentenced to death, he had been jailed for life but the government's appeals arguing the census was too lenient and he

was convicted from the liberation war in 1971. we have the latest reaction from daca. >> we spoke to the defense council and they said they are going to file for a plea of review of this case with the supreme court. they went on to say they accept the verdict because it's the highest court of the country. they will accept it and honor the court but they will plea for a review which is the constitutional right of the defendant. however, the government supreme court and the attorney general went on to say there is no such scope. only thing he can do is file for a clemency from the president of the country. while the latest we got is there is clashes in the port city of the second biggest city in the country. police clashed with student wing and demonstrators and one police vehicle was burned. we don't know if any physical casualty or anybody was hurt.

by evening you will see products across the country and we don't know if any of this as of yet but expect some disturbances that is for sure. >> reporter: votes are being counted since the 1994 genicide. the patriotic will end and peter has been watching the vote from the capitol. >> they understand security. this is the third parliamentary election since the genicide and although that was almost 20 years ago, its legacy is at the heart of politics here. that is why the party that controlled the government since the blood letting ended is almost certain to win an overwhelming majority. a relaxed president cast his vote, his job wasn't up for election but much of the popularity depends on his leadership. >> i don't think there is

another win but a win is a win so i just hope for the win. >> reporter: this is one of africa's most dynamic economies but it's such a dominant force there is no space for opposition and he thinks it's more sinister than that and the party leader is in prison for promoting genicide ideology a charge that is an excuse to silence genuine opposition and says the other parties are in bed with the rpf. >> translator: place the political position but they are not really political opposition parties and they are working for the ipf. >> reporter: this election seems to be relatively trouble free. observers reported no violence

or attempts to interfere with the poll during the ballot boxes or during the campaign. the count is relatively simple and they choose between party lists, not individual candidates, the tee chur designed to avoid potentially violent struggles of power. >> this vote count is not the end of the matter with 24 seats reserved for women, two for the youth and one disabled and they will be decided in separate elections over the next few days and will not know the final makeup of parliament until the end of the week. >> reporter: the rpf will win the election. they took 78% of the vote the last time around and nothing to suggest the support has eroded. and peter with al jazeera. >> reporter: and at least 40 people have been killed as two storms hit mexico and they evacuated thousands of people effected by the worst flood in

decades and we report. >> these are manuel and ingrid storms hitting mexico simultaneously from two separate end and they brought landslides to the coast and manuel flooded much of the pacific coast and dozens of lives lost and dozens of homes destroyed or damaged. >> translator: we are waiting for boats to come to take us across and waiting since last night and there is no sign of help from the authorities. >> reporter: a state of emergency is in place as heavy rains are still hampering rescue workers. 20 highways and a dozen bridges were also badly damaged, major roads are blocked and air traffic has been disrupted. >> translator: provoked by two simultaneous events, one on the pacific and the other atlantic ocean and it has affected more than two third of the state and

there are three states not effected. >> reporter: the states that were worst hit and state authorities say they are providing food and shelter as best they can but for three dozen people non-manmade defenses were not a match for the weather phenomenon and dozens are still missing. flash floods and landslides are still in place and they fear the death toll may rise as more cases of drowning and accidents come in, al jazeera. >> reporter: 500 people are still missing in flash floods in the u.s. state of colorado, and they lived through the disaster and returning to their homes and rob reynolds reports. >> reporter: relentless and powerful the water flowed down. paying no heed to the fragile works of mankind and roads and

houses and possessions and lives. the water moved and haden court was just in its way. jennifer parow moved in her new house on haden court only six weeks ago and in her basement there is a thick layer of mud and a foul river smell and tokens lay ruined in the muck. [crying] it's all gone. yeah, it's just gone. >> reporter: she has no flood insurance but even with all the damage she sees redemption. >> i'm faith and alison and my sister and dog are safe and people in the neighborhood are safe, which what is really important and it's not this stuff. >> reporter: up and down haden court wrecked cars and huge

chunks of asphalt and toppled lamp post testify to the power of the flood and people are taking stock and figuring out what to do next and they cleared debris and he helped his parents scoop muck from the garage and dina is hobbling with her leg and was home with her children and friends when the water came up fast and saw her car swept away. >> it was a time span of probably 2-3 minutes from when the water hit the bottom of the tires on our durango and up and we just watched it, within three minutes go over the durango and take it down the road. >> reporter: they were trapped for eight hours before rescuers came for them in a boat. but in the meantime her husband, jeff, swam across flooded fields battling the heavy current to get to his family.

>> you are out of yourself. you just have to get to your family and that is it. >> reporter: emergency workers say they will have the power back on in a day or two but the repair work and the cleanup will take a lot longer than that. and none of the families who live here on haden court will ever forget the day the waters rose. robert with al jazeera long mont, colorado. the dutch government is struggling to balance its books before they predict the deficit is set to increase next year and tim has this from amsterdam. >> fresh and unique, the healthy fast-food grocery store are those that experts say the dutch government would do well to follow to boost the economy. instead there is likely to be cuts and tax increases that many fear will stifle recovery. >> it will be very, very nice if

the government would support this and start ups. it helps the economy and for us specifically it will help us. >> there is limitations and restrictions in order to get the loan and fortunately we didn't have that problem but we know from other people that they had a harder time getting the necessary finances to start their business. >> reporter: the netherlands out spoken advocate of pain is a cure for euro zone ills and the recovery has a handful still in recession. >> no one is suggesting the netherlands will need anything like a bail out, but of course the fiscal figures are generally much better than the southern euro zone partners but it's more difficult to preach financial

rectitude to others. >> a little less austerity and growth may have avoided some of the pain. >> i think that part of our austerity was our signal to the rest of the world, look, we can't start floundering the 3% rule because we don't want others to do it as well and now it would have been helpful had we all been a bit lenient and taken times before reducing the budgets. >> outside of the business school students are pessimistic. >> a couple beers when i finish my study i think and lit be hard for me, i think they have to cutback even more because i think a lot of people suffer from those cutbacks. >> it seems that the recipe for the country's economic success still has to be cooked up. tim friend, al jazeera amsterdam. >> reporter: now when you live in baghdad where bombs go off almost already it can't be easy to relax.

but al jazeera's met one group of young men says the weekend provides an escape. >> reporter: many youth the world over showing off comes naturally. this loosely affiliated group of young meniscal themselves the baghdad knights and in this city an empty stretch of road is a rare thing and they take advantage to let off steam and perform some tricks. their leader calls himself a reference to the superstar and by weekday he is a photographer by the weekend it's about the bike and finding something for him and his friends to do. >> translator: we set up the club because there is nothing else to do. the government doesn't provide us with places to go. this provides us with chance to get together and enjoy our bikes. >> reporter: some of the bikes can reach high speeds and the tricks are self-taught and it's

not just a risky business safety wise but legally as well. and these are becoming more popular and using a road like this is technically illegal and the authorities harass the baghdad knights and they often have to change location. and despite what the group calls harassment they will never give up their bikes. >> translator: and it runs in my blood and a hobby since i was a child and no matter what the police do to us i will never quit. >> reporter: getting decent bikes and equipment into iraq is difficult and expensive but every penny spent on the bikes gives them a sense of identity in post war and far from peaceful place. these men are old enough to remember the worst of the war. bikes give them a chance to think about something other than violence and security. and offers them a reason to look forward to the weekend and al

jazeera baghdad. >> reporter: and a reminder you can always keep up to date with all our news on our website and you can see it has the top stories with details and analysis and features and you fine that at al jazeera.com. take a look, and it's good to have you here. ♪