>> this is al jazeera. >> hello, welcome to the news hour. i'm live in doha. live on al jazeera. kenyan security forces say they are treating an armed siege at a shopping mall as a terrorist incident. syria turns over its chemical weapons inventory over to u.n. inspectors, one of the founders

of afghan taliban is released. (f) bearing down on southeast station. asia, a typhoon. police in kenya say they are treating an attacken a chopping malchopping -- shopping mall in nairobi as a terrorist incident. carla malone has the very latest. >> security forces opened fire outside the westgate mall in nairobi trying to regain control from armed men. a blanket cover thought to be one of the casualties. the shopping complex was packed about midday local time when people heard a large explosion. then they saw men with ak 47 machine guns opened fire. some of the shoppers were able

to escape and about 20 people were rescued by the police but dozens of people are still thought to be trapped inside. the police were able to enter the building about an hour after the attack started. >> the hold up on the second floor. at the cinema. they have been isolated by the police and the police actually combing room by room, floor by floor. but as the issue -- the saga develops. >> there is a security process to guess into the shopping mall but as seen here there's a restaurant on the ground floor protected from the road only by a balcony, spread gun -- sporadic gun fire can be heard. carolyn are al jazeera news. tell us about what you're seeing.

>> yeah, i got here about 15, 20 minutes after the explosion stopped and it had died down for just a little bit. you could see at that time, there is still two dead bodies laid out in front of the mall and then the firefight erupted quite strongly again after that. and it's died down a bit now again but they're stilling bringing out -- they're still bringing out some people on trenchestretchers many of them e quite terrified, crying, clutching their children. >> so from what you're seeing people are able to get out of the mall, but are the attackers still inside? >> all reports is that the attackers are still inside. they are clearing out it seems like theyer clearing out the mall section by section but the attackers are still holding parts of the mall.

>> how much security is outside? what sort of police presence? is it just the police or is the seamer also on the scene? >> it's the police, it's the army you have civilian clothes, what looked like special forces or intelligence officers coming in. it's quite a large presence. at first there wasn't actually too many when i got here about 20 minutes after it started there was very meager presence. but since then it's been beefed up quite a bit. and then you have large crowds of kenyan bystanders stretching down the streets in all directions. >> allen any word from the police on how many attackers are inside the westgate mall and who they might be? >> from the witness he i talked to, i talked to people who were at two difference entrances and one of the entrances going up into kind of the second floor parking lot there were two men

that ran up. and i talked to someone else who we saw going to the main entrance and he saw were five gunman, it's not confirmed and the reports are kind of a bit hazy, talking to people, some people saw a there, a couple there, it's hard to piece together how many are inside. >> this is still ongoing allen, the situation is far from being under control? >> yeah, there's no indications that it's under control. they are bringing people out but they're bringing them out in kind of batches. and i was just talking to a military officer about five minutes ago. right before you called. and he said it's an ongoing situation they're still inside. >> allen thanks so much for telling us what you know there and what you're seeing outside the westgate are shopping mall in niez roabi nairobi, police fo

are outside trying to get people outside of this mall. kenyan police now saying they're treating this as a terror incident. thank you very much allen. let's now talk to senator bilo karo, from nairobi, thank you very much for being with us on al jazeera. i understand you are in touch with the intelligence community there. what are they telling you about this attack at the west gait shopping mall and what could have motivated it? >> thank you. the westgate shopping mall is the premier shopping mall in the part of town in nairobi, from this way we're getting, this is a terrorist attack. this is a three story building with hundreds of shops. and the manner in which they came in and immediately started

shooting and trying to shoot specific individuals and others killing them on the spot gives us an indication that this is a terrorist attack. and it's still too early to know what kind of people these are. but from what we are getting these are people who were speaking a strange language, people who seemed to know what, pretty much organized and so it's really fairly shocking. it's not -- from what we're getting it is not normally tagged who would go into a shopping mall. this is a huge building with hundreds of shops and thousands of visitors. >> even kenyan police are saying they are treating this as a terrorist incident. were security policing prepared for a terrorist act in nairobi

was the alert level, terror alert level been raised recently? >> well, yes. to some extent. like i think the kenyan security forces have been on alert on terrorism, as you're aware this country has had problems with terrorists before. you know, from the border in somalia from inside the country. generally on a level of preparedness on this regard. but this is a saturday, the shopping mall with hundreds of people you know coming in, there has been no, you know, alert what has been issued nor reports from -- that we know of, at least from intelligence forces that something is happening if nairobi initially that kind of thing. so it's really you say preparedness? yes, but not really in the manner in which security have been beefed up of course, all

major shopping malls, there is none. and i don't think -- >> senator, sorry to interrupt you. do you think al shabab could be behind this attack? >> it's possible but there could be others, as a nation, as a country, the only group we know, have had specific problems with in terms of our security forces have been in somalia trying to fight them in that country, as well. but this is a very cost month cn town . we've had problems with international terrorists before. it's interesting, the people from what the reports we are

getting these people are kenyan. they speak kenyan language, swa swhahila language. >> we'll continue to follow all the latterrest developments in nairobi, where 15 people are now reported killed what kenyan police are calling a terror incident. deliberating over syria's chemical weapons arsenal, the u.n. backed investigation, believed to have about 1,000 tons of chemical toxins. it's agreed to destroy them under a joint russian american proposal designed to avert a u.s. strike on syria. live t to ah anita mcnaught.

>> it's all still fully under consideration from the opcw, the organization for the prevention of chemical weapons. supervising the destruction of and agreeing that syria has met the conditions for entering the chemical weapons convention. they are the ones that syria has to believed. they say they have received all of the expected documentation. yesterday they received only part, today they said they received all they expected. that should include an inventory of syria's chemical weapons, the other related materials that syria is meant to say it has. the they are looking at these documents.

syria has met the first step on the timetable. there are however many steps to come. >> what could happen anita? >> first of all it could be a full and complete disclosure. we're not privy to exactly what they're doing here, but they are checking what syria says it has alongside what reports the o opw has. they've got to get their inspectors back in the country, where they look at what's on the ground. full and unfettered access is not going to be easy given there's a civil war raging in the country at the moment all the way through. then of course there's a verification process that needs to be finished by november. the timetable is extraordinarily tight, extraordinarily tough to meet, they've got to do that. then of course against all the odds they will have to have

destroyed it all by middle of next year. as everyone has said when this agreement was made, there's a lot to ask, a lot to do here. >> anita mcnaught, thank you so much anita. one of the leaders of the pakistan taliban has been released, abdul ghani baradar, a good friend of the taliban spiritual leader mullah omar. but baradar may have lost his influence. >> i think he's important in a are symbolic sense rather than the substantive i think. once you're taken pruz ner new leadership takes over, and once the new leadership takes over it becomes difficult for them to reenter and at the same time

there are doubts about his health as well. so one does not know exactly what sort of a role he would play. but none the lest i think he is from the point of view of pakistan, i think it's a very good move and also it's a good move from the point of view of pakistan's attitude towards the peace process. pakistan has been very cooperative, very supportive. these are efforts that they have been looking for, pakistan has already released more than 30 prisoners and he is one of the top ones. and that is why pakistan in the initial stages was very hesitant to release him because they didn't know exactly what would be the impact of this release. would they join the insurgency or those that are invested in the peace process? and because mullah baradar was one of the ones who has been

second in command pakistan was most hesitant to release him. but ultimately he has and let's see what sort of a role he does play. i think firstly he may have to go to a third country from there he will probably decide what role he can play and what role the new leadership is prepared to give to him. >> i'll ask more to come on the al jazeera news hour. we'll talk about the dominated north where the civil war is taking place. we'll look ahead to the much anticipated verdict, chinese communist official bojilai. details coming up in sports.

>> recognition separates the philippines and taiwan. in the philippines, 100 families were evacuated from islands as torontoial rain caused flooding in four regions. in taiwan waves as big as buildings began smashing the coastline, flights and ferries were cancelled and have led to the evacuation of thousands of people. china's southern coast is being prepared for the worst. 4,000 people have already evacuated ahead of the storm and 23,000 fishes boats returned to

port. misag -- cause lots of problems for people who live in this financial center. this long weekend is the mid autumn festival and thousands of people are away traveling meeting their families in china, taiwan and the rest of the reasoning. that will cause incredible transport delays for those returning sunday and monday to this region. craig lee left-hand. >> at the moment the winds are sustained at 220 kilometers. fit were in the atlantic, we would be calling it a category 4 hurricane. this is the second most destructive there is.

because it is skirting quite close to both of these places and quite mountainous places, it has disrupted quite a little bit. it is expected to weaken by the time it makes landfall. we're expected that around 18 gmt on sunday which local time is around 2:00 in the morning on monday. but when it does so we're expecting it to be a lot weaker than it is now. >> so it will weaken, it's a slow-moving storm and headed towards hong kong. where else can be affected? >> the entire region, it is a huge form, from east to west it's 800 kilometers. a huge region that's going to see prolonged and heavy rain from this. because it's going to hit the southeast coast during the night which means if rivers burst their banks chances are people can't see urtd and it could happen during the worst time

day. >> thank you. another storm now in mexico where there's also been quite a lot of damage. now ahead of sunday's german election the leaders of the two biggest german parties, chancellor angela merkel is attempting to win another term, she is up against piersteinberg from the left party. joining us from berlin. the final hours of the campaign nick how are the rallies going? >> well we were angela merkel rally, christian democratic union rally, the chancellor people holding up banners saying, "angie". she has been a safe pair of hands for the last four years. approval ratings around 70% in this country, pretty incredible

when you think she's been in office for eight years. it's expected that her party will take the lion's share of the vote. that said, not everybody is happy with the chancellor's record. >> angela merkel is the most popular elected politician in germany with approval ratings around 70% and her christian democratic party is doing twice as well in the polls as its nearest rivals. a big part of that success is because of how the chancellor dealt with the euro zone crisis and kept down the bail out bill for german voters. but not everyone is happy with merkel's record in office. for example people who want a more united integrated europe. the go slow theory didn't get well received, we don't see

merkel having the same insistence, she is not someone who fights hard for her convictions but that's what we need in europe right now. >> another disappointment for some, energy policy. merkel surprised germans and europe by announcing she would shut germany's nuclear plants by 2022 and push for renewable energy. that actually led to a jump in coal consumption and production to meet the shortfall caused by closing down nuclear plants. >> we want to exit nuclear power and we want to do something for the environment. but the expansion of renewable energy is failing because merkel is not keeping the security of energy supply in mind. we are a highly industrialized country and we cannot meet our needs with a few thousand windmills. >> then there's disappointment in some corners over what merkel has been doing or not doing for women. in the past year the chancellor

postponed a plan for having more female participation in corporate board rooms, germany has one of the lowest female participation in europe. >> childcare placement is even harder for older women, especially when you have more than one child. >> merkel has addressed some of these problems and made promises to fix them in her election manifesto. she's likely to be returned to office and to get another opportunity to win over the voters who feel disappointed. >> so nick, with merkel's junior coalition partner in trouble now what sort of coalition could we be looking at? >> well, you're absolutely right. the free democratic party which has been angela merkel's junior coalition partner for the past four years is apology around 5%

sometimes under -- polling around 5% sometimes over sometimes under, we'll see what happens on sunday. however if they don't get past the 5% barrier they have no are seats in parliament. she is expected to lead her party into winning the lion's share of the vote, she is expected to form a coalition, the way it works here in germany, a coalition with someone else, the social democratic party is the party she last been campaigning against, something she has done before. it was uncomfortable for the sdd, social democrats, as it was before, she got credit for the policies that were undertaking, a banking sector in germany during the global economic crisis. something to watch in sunday's vote is not the social democrats

or her party we pretty much know where they're going to be situated but the small parties, the free democrats as well as a new party only five months old called the alternative for germany which is an antieuro party, a party that thinks it's time to go back to the deutschmark. what's more it's inflicting a lot of pain on countries like greece. now if they should get past the 5% barrier and the polls are saying they might do that, angela merkel may lose some seats in parliament. >> 96 spicer live for us in berlin. voters in northern sri lanka have gone to the polls the first time since the civil war, 26 year long conflict. the tamil tigers, began their struggling for their own country in the far north.

the number of people killed in the 26 year civil war is estimated to be 80 to 100,000. at the end of 2008 the president launched a huge offensive on the north dwe defeating the south in 2009. allen live from london with what the election means from the country long term. thank you very much allen for being on al jazeera how important are these elections are, when we know provincial governors have very little power and the government has centralized much of the government's powers? >> well, yes that's obuilt of a paradox. iit's extremely important, first time that the tamils have the chance to elect their own council, and there's some sense that perhaps having done so they will gain somewhat of a foothold

and be able to challenge the central gof of government's policies a little bit. but the basics problem is you have a very hostile government in colombo which makes clear it doesn't want to devolve any significant power to the north. >> and you have the tamil national alliance which is expected to gain control of the northern provincial council. if they do what would change in terms of you know social and economic things in the region in the northern province? >> well, in the short term, very little. what you'll have is a battle, where the provincial council headed by the tna will try to assert or claim the powers, limited but nonetheless potentially significant powers that they could have under the provincial council. now, if the government in colombo were desirous of sharing powers and of really reconciling with the demands of tamils in

the north you could have some possibilities for a new civilian government that really caters to the interests and the rights of tamils but unfortunately you have a government that's extremely hostile to even the limited powers that the council has. you're going ohave a battle, a political struggle which will -- the outcome of which is to be determined but where the central government holds the vast majority of the cards. >> but is it also not in the interests of the raja paska government to have fair and free elections, this government has been very much criticized by the international community. >> yes, and that's the only reason they're having elections at all is because they came under intention pressure especially from india which was the country which basically forced sri lanka to institute the provincial council system in

the first place in 1987. and only because india twisted the raja pax's arm did we have this where election. but it's going to require sustained pressure from india from the commonwealth which is having its council in november in colombo, opening up the space for some degree of powers to be granted to the tna the council. >> do they know any steps taken by the raja paska government that would forge reconciliation to the tamils at all? >> while that is of some use and some value it doesn't go to the heart of the problem which is the sense of political marginalization, seclusion and insecurity that tamils have felt

throughout the country but particularly in the northern conference since they gained independence from the british in 1948. so economic development doesn't address those issues. and away you've seen in the north in the last four years since the end of the war is a governance through the military. massive numbers of troops who set the policies, and closely monitor the civilian population, harass anyone who speaks up. so that's what tamils want to have stepped up reduce the control of the military controlling over their lives. >> allen keenan joining us live from london. still ahead on the news hour, oracle team, they close the today. on the emirates team. details coming up in shorts very shortly, do stay with us.

>> you're watching the news hour on al jazeera. police in kenya say they're treating an attack on a shopping mall in the capitol nairobi as a terrorist incident. at least 15 people have been shot dead and a number of others are injured. international investigators have begun deliberating over syria's chemical weapons arsenal. the u.n. backed investigation

hopes to destroy the chemical weapons store. the peace process in afghanistan, abdul ghani baradar has been in jail for several years. nairobi there has been a shooting in the kenyan capital. at least 15 people dead. according to the kenyan red cross these are reports outside the westgait shopping mall. what's the latest you've heard from the shopping mall in nairobi? >> it is not as dramatic as it was before. people are no longer running from the scene. we are aware that the situation is still ongoing. a lot of people have got away. it isn't entirely clear whether this was an organized hostage operation whether they were

contained in a certain area or whether there was just panic. i'm hearing a short time ago from a chief executive of a private security firm in nairobi that he had one of his colleagues injured on the ground cross fire between police and the gunmen. the interior ministry earlier said this was a robbery, the police said it was a robbery. they seem to be now changing their minds, although they are not certain it is a terrorist assistant as they refer to. this is an ongoing situation with at least 15 dead. >> the interior ministry saying this may be an attack by terrorists. any idea on the number of attackers who may be involved? >> first report was suggesting there were five attackers but unconfirmed reports suggest they may be entering from a different way, a three pronged attack, what that actually amounted to wasn't actually described

business the source. however it does appear that at least one grenade was thrown, a stun grenade, a smoke grenade a military fraction grenade is not clear. but it is unusual for robbers to be using that sort of hardware. also eyewitnesses describe the men as wearing military fatigues, hoods, which would suggest that obviously robbers wear military fatigues as well in nairobi. it is not absolutely set here but what we do have here is a prestige target if it is a terrorist attack. it is an upscale center it is very, very open to attack paws the cafe, the art cafe in front of the building. >> a popular restaurant. >> indeed. you have lived in nairobi, i know from my time there between 2005 and 2010 it was a

prestigious place a place on saturday where you would naturally go to take a cup of coffee, food shopping, underground car park straight out. and obviously you've seen the panic and the chaos, appalling scenes with children present as well. >> indeed. we have been talking to a kenyan senator who was in charge of intelligence in nairobi who told us that some of his connections say these people were sw swahil. al shebab being, of course comes to mind. >> if indeed it is a terrorist attack that is what police are looking at. this goes back to the entire

history of al shebab, vowed to do attacks like this and take on the west. >> because of kenya's involvement -- >> involvement in somalia, absolutely right. so kenya mass gone to the lengtsd of actually sending its forces over the border. somalia is less violent than it was, still incredibly tense and al shebab has been driven into a more confined state. if this is al shebab, i think it's attacking nairobi and kicks at the heart of the commercial hub in the capital. >> alan simmons in the studio with us. at least seven people have been killed in the nigerian

capital, a fight against bokaram fighters. earlier this week outside the town of benishke. >> two suspects are paraded in front of the camera, accused of being members of the boca haram group. involved in a fatal shootout near a residential complex. >> buried on the ground on the site. so a joint security team had to proceed to recover the arms. when they got here they came on attack and of course they had to respond back. >> but one african news agency says it has spoken to 17 men who say they survived the shooting and have no connection to boca haram and were only staying in the building at the time.

while boca haram has not taken on attacks elsewhere this year, other where areas are different. the burned out cars are evidence of an armed attack on tuesday that has reported to have killed many people. >> killed our people, only women and children escaped. >> boca haram has led an armed campaign for four years, however, despite a large military deployment to the worst military areas, local vigilante groups to fight back but dozens of volunteers have been killed in recent weeks. dominic kane, al jazeera. >> families separated for

decades, won't be reyeunted this described. conservative forces in the south reunion to have a conare front station. radically in since the year 2000. on sunday, at the court in china expected to deliver its verdict against the disgraced politician, former officials accused of bribery embezzlement and abuse of power.

other court cases involving senior figures accused of corruption. but as harry fawse faucet repor. >> turns revelation. wife video testimony, alleging that approved family wide thousandth. there was this faceoff with this former police chief, whose tortured secret love for was behind his actions. damaged the party of authority for was it in some way all part of a plan?

>> trial was relatively open and fair. what happened in the courtroom can't even to some extent what happened was a little bit beyond government expectation, it was still to the party's demand. transcripts were published based on the court's social media site, but it was clear plenty was also held back. charges were limited, the amount of money relatively install. no mention of those alleged human rights violations, crack down when in charge of the city of chong ching. authorities were rounding up people they accused of spreading unfounded on rumors about other

officials. some such rumors have indeed been found to be malicious? others at first denied, eventually brought down, choifn's leadership is walking a difficult line trying to demonstrate its resolve to take on rampant reaction are the effects on the public trust if the flood guests were to proceed fully? corruption drive will extend to the very top. since the trial it's been reported that he is seeking an of the former security chief, being placed under investigati investigation. such decisions first discussed, the negotiated among the powerful.

>> if the party is really serious about getting rid of russian more than 100 countries that have already done so, the party always says it is to be the condition, doesn't require much security to do that. bo chi lai's trial, more twists and turns than anyone could have predicted. but its conclusion will serve as oreminder that china's communist party was always firmly in control of his fate. harry forseth, al jazeera beijing.

>> the cleanup continues after devastating storms in mexico, more than 100 people have been killed on landslides, 30,000 homes across the country have been destroyed. village was almost completely buried in several roads and brings were damaged. several areas have been cut off, but some aid is finally arriving by air, helicopters tbrawt in food and want to the thousands of people were taken into temporary shelters in a ak acapo dur the storm. more than $900 million in emergency aid, one of mexico's costliest disasters. well, let's find out about what is happening right now in

mexico. here's seth. >> over mexico it certainly has been very, very wet, what we have had is storms now, we still got some rain but at least it's not quite as heavy since the weather that we saw not so long ago. so far, capable of giving us to very heavy downpours, although this is displaced towards the south and elsewhere we've also seen a lot of are -- it's not elsewhere across central america we have mrs. seen flooding and land shied. deepest pictures are actually out of honduras. it is to be headed in the next few days, but that area of wet weather that sits in the north

that's really going ocause us quite a few problems. up in the area in the pacific northwest, where pretty sharp showers that we had with the next few days. an area of wet weather, northern part of mexico is also with this over parts of the u.s. and canada as well. you can see this huge trail of clouds, all the way up towards the northeast. and that is giving us something very heavy downing pours, particularly in the southern stretch. so some of us in text wee seen more than 30 years of is distance. we have seen over 100

millimeters of rain there in louisiana. this whole area we have seen some pretty lively weather, closely getting east wards. next two days. >> thank you very much, coming up next: raul will be here with all in sports, including new york yankees star alex rodriguez is making headlines. please stay with us.

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this year the extent of ice cover was 50% more than in 2012. for all the talk of global warming and ice caps it seems for once a glimmer of good news. sea ice in the arctic is most likely hit the lowest important in the year. that level is considerably higher than it was in 2012.

the sea ice is frozen ocean water that melts in the summer and then refreezes every winter. scientists measure the seasonal variation, telltale sign of climate change.

yet the overall, still not out of the danger zone. the time of ice free summers in the arctic should be just decades away. jerald tan, al jazeera. >> do stay with us here on al jazeera. coming up very shortly we'll have. as terrorist. do stay with us live from nairobi coming up very