this is al jazeera live in new york: president obama and the first lady to attend a memorial at the washington, d.c. navy yard later today. powerful typhoon usagi expected to hit hong kong hard with high winds and heavy rains.

24 hours after gunmen stormed a packed mall in nairobi kenya, they are holding hostages what is not known is how many people are trapped inside or hiding at the westgate mall in the capital city. 59 people we know are dead. at least 175 are said to be injured. some of them americans, 49 people are missing even as we speak. american and israeli security specialists now said to be working with kenyan forces in trying to resolve the crisis. al jazeera's alexandria simmons has more on the investigation into the attack >> reporter: much focus is being put on the early moments of this attack. 12:00 midday gunshots, grenades thrown but the response was for an armed robbery. this sort of policeman was called to the scene, not the anti-terrorist squad, not any specialist forces. that didn't happen until after an hour many people, indeed the

people of kenya are beginning to think mistakes were made and an inquiry is inevitable. right now, it's thought amongst the security services that more could have been done to contain the attack. more could have been done to prevent hostages being taken because they are con for theed now with a complicated situation. it's not as if the hostages in one places and the gunmen in another it's more complicated than that. i put this situation to the presidential spokesman who has been at high level meetings throughout this. he responded in this way. it's hard to say whether or not there was intelligence. >> if there was. >> it's unforgivable response surely. >> i think that the way you -- that the way you react to terror attacks is not always going to be uniform. when something like this happens, it gives you the opportunity to reflect and

think, what were we doing wrong? it may be we needed to do more, we must do more >> reporter: so this long stand-off goes on and many kenyans might be disturbed to hear that lessons could be learned. after all, al shabaab has threaten many times to attack the heart of kenya, specifically at a commercial target like this shopping mall. the 300 meters away, it's completely out of view. >> that's the way the security forces want to keep it, a complete blackout for all media. >> joining us to discuss the developing situation in nairobi is ambassador david shin, ambassador, thanks for being with us this morning. >> happy to join you. >> al shabaab has been a thorn in the side of u.s. officials for quite some time. why kenya? why this mall? >> the reason for attacking kenya is very clear. there are there are kenyan

troops inside somalia known as jubiland, going back almost two years. i think the al shabaab organization has said it has focused on kenya because of this. the reason for attacking the mall, i think, is self evident. it's a soft target. it's a civilian target. it's undefended. it's very much open to attack. and it's a very easy target to carry out an asim et trill cal -- asemit tri cal attack. i think these attackers are willing to do that. >> with that being said, should we recard this as a sign of strength or weaknets when it comes to al shabaab? >> i would consider it a sign of strength only in the sense that it shows the organizational skills of al shabaab to be able to shpull something like this o. it requires considerable organization. i think the more important

point -- and others will disagree with me on this -- is that it is a sign of weakness because it indicates this is the kind of thing that al shabaab can still do effectively: that is suicide bombings, kamikaze. attacks of civilian malls. what it cannot do very effectively is deal with the african union's security forces inside somalia and the kenyans and the government forces. they can carry out guerilla attacks and do suicide bombings but cannot stand toe-to-toe with these groups. with that sense, it shows weakness. >> mr. ambassador, long-term, how do you expect the kenyan government to address these kinds of security issues? >> i suspect, and i am only guess okay this gu i suspect they will take a leaf out of the ugandan book. when the al shabaab stacked killing some 70 people in

downtown kampala, uganda react strongly. they sent more troops into somalia as part of the african union forces and took stronger action against al shabaab inside somalia. i have no way of knowing what the kenyan forces will do. but i do not think they will be sheepish in their response. i think they will step up their activities inside somalia at least temporarily and also try to make some changes inside kenya, itself. obviously, there were some breakdowns in security, probably in intelligence. i think there will be a major effort to try to improve their ability to scope these kinds of things out before they happen. >> mr. ambassador, these israeli are there helping out for security reasons. they have a vested interest in that mall. is that correct? >> well, my understanding is that an israeli owned a restaurant in part of the mall where apparently at the point about at which the attackers

entered and interestingly, they apparently pretty much ignored the restaurant walking right by it. it did not seem to be an attack that was focused otisisi-owned restaurant. i don't know if the israeli have bigger interests in that mall. if they do, i am unaware of it. >> thank you for being with us. david shinn, a former state department coordinator for somalia during the 1990s. thank you >> thank you. >> u.n. secretary banki moon says he condemns it in the strongest terms. he calls it reprehensible. today, president obama is going to pay tribute to the 12 americans who were killed in the latest mass shootings in the nation's capitol. his remarks come this evening. that will be nearly one week since the shooting at the washington navy yard. the president and first lady are going to meet with family members who lost loved ones there that day. eight other people were injured. randall pinkston is live now in washington where the president is preparing to speak. randall, these attacks are personal for any president, but

for this president, they are adding up by some counts as many as 14 mass shootings during his term. what do we expect the president to say today? >> well, actually, detail, we expect him to say when these shootings occur, the daily shootings that occur like his own hometown of chicago. by one count, there are at least one or two shootings every week that involve four or more persons. the president is not going to be expected to propose any new legislation of t legislation. last night speaking to the congressional black caucus, he acanswered his administration has not been able to get congress to pass tighter gun control legislation earlier this year. he said what needs to be done now is for the people in congress who are concerned about gun violence to keetch tp the pressure up, get up and go back at it, said the president. >> shifting gears, there is that work coming up over the debt

ceiling and, also, the situation involving a possible government shutdo shutdown. is the president concerned that's going to take place? >> well, there are many people who are concerned that that is going to take place. of course, what we have now is the senate taking up the continuing resolution passed by the house of representatives last week. the house of representatives, house speaker john boehner say they do not want a government shutdown but what they included in that bill is legislation that the democrats in the senate and the president say will not fly, and that, of course, is a defunding of the affordable care act action obama care. harry reid is expected to take that bill up sometime this coming week. but first they will have to get past the debasis and a promised attempted filibuster about republican senator ted cruz who says he will do whatever is necessary to defund obamacare. he would not say if that means shutting down the government, but if, in fact, the chambers don't reach an agreement, that's

what's going to happen at the end of the month. >> randall pinkton live from washington, d.c. randall thank you very much. the poles close in an hour in germany. voters are expected to reelect angela merkel as the chancellor for the third time. those poles suggesting her conservative christian democrat union may get the largest number of seats in parliament but her power may be limited. those poles suggest she may be in an taawkward co am list. jennifer tall takes a look on germany's stability in europe >> reporter: we are approaching the end of the election day here where we will have a much better idea of how things look but until terms of polling data compiled ahead of this election, chancellor angela merkel is on track as a third time for chancellor. her center right party is likely to win the largest percentage of the vote, well away of the center left social democrat

rivals, no absolute majority, of course. >> this is a country of coalitions. as she knows only too well, you either get the coalition you want or you get the coalition you simply have to live with. the coalition she wants is a continuation of her current arkansasment with the free democrats but their support has fallen around draft rusly i knew the last election. further pushed out by the emergence of a new anti-your o party drawing support away from the conservative parties on the right. so she may have no choice but to turn to her opponents, social democrats to form a grand coalition that spans the politics of the mainstream parts, an outlandish idea in many kuntz trees but it has worked here before during her first term. chancellor merkel's first term, the social democrats, though, will likely demand a far higher price, programs key cabinet positions, perhaps key policies in coalition talks that are likely to go on for weeks, possibly months before germans now finally, see the shape of

their new government. >> a pair of suicide bombers targeting an historic church in pakistan killing more than 60 people. bombers striking people leaving church in the northwestern city of peshawar. officials saying the death toll there will could rise. they say as many as 600 people were packed inside the all saints church when that explosion took place. extreme weather is headed towards hong kong. the powerful typhoon usagi making landfall in china and could cause major flooding and coastal damage. and it's a move for education and equality taking to the streets for trans gender rights.

on inside story, we bring together unexpected voices closest to the story, invite hard-hitting debate and desenting views and always explore issues relevant to you.

>> demonstrators in miami say it is a move for equal rights. they want lawmakers to make an order fiancées . natasha spoke to one person fighting for her community. >> araya lessor says inside her heart beats the heart of a motion. she began transitioning to become a woman 15 years ago after years of struggling with depression. >> i thought i was an abomination. you know, what's wrong with me? i felt alienated from society and my family. >> lester has been unemployed since 2010 and she's been sleeping on a friend's couch for the last year. she says her trans gender identity has cost her countless jobs. thanks to donations, she opened a trans gender drop-in sender on south beach but she doesn't draw a salary. lester says trans gender people are regarded as second-class citizens and they need

protections against discrimination. >> there are so many obstacles, so many things that come up against us in life that prevents us from having the good quality of life that everyone, you know, should be offered. >> lester, and members of the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual committee want an amendment passed today include trans gendered peep. >> the absence of that makes it permissible to discriminate based upon somebody's trans gender preference. >> this summer as county commissioners discuss it t the christian co alition sprung int action. they said the amendment would force all restrooms in places to open bathrooms and dressing rooms to trans sexuals and discriminate against those who disagree. >> nobody is denying them the right to fantasize the section you want to be. what you don't have the right to is to demand everybody else in

society to play along with your make pretend. >> lester is hoping to speak to county commissioners to educate them more about the trans gender community. >> going to let people know on just what type of life we need and why we need help. we have been disserviced and under serviced many years. >> they and other advocates believe with their efforts, miami dade county will eventually ensure trans gender people aren't discriminated against when it comes to employment, housing and public accommodations. natasha game, al jazeera, miami dade county. >> earlier this summer, lawmakers dismissed a vote on the ordinance to add rights for trans gender people after facing pressure from religious groups. typhoon usagi making 905-mile-an-hour winds could slam hong kong as it heads east. the chinese government has issued a red alert, the highest of its kind. usagi is a large and powerful storm that extends 700 miles in width. it will likely slam china's

heavily popularized longdong prove incident with torrential rains and fierce winds. rob mcbride updates us on the storm from hong kong. >> und >>. >> under skies darkening, now, well practiced preparations put in place for what is the worst storm so far this year and might turn out to be hong kong's worst typhoon in decades. passengers taking last ferries before the suspension of services. for those who didn't make their planes on time as scores of flights were cancelled, a long wait ahead. the power of usagi has been well illustrated. it dumped huge amounts of rain as it passed taiwan in the northern philippines. now, it's the turn of china's south coast. authorities in mainland china issued a red alert before evacuating thousands of people from low-lying areas. >> as usagi comes ashored, so

there the threat of widespread floating. the arrival coincides at higher than normal tides. the next will happen when the winds are expected to be at their fiercest. rob mcbride, al jazeera, hong kong. >> mexico is cleaning up from a pair of devastating storms there, more than 100 people were killed after tropical storm hit the pacific coast while hurricane ingrid pounded the gulf coast. mud sleights strapped homes and roads on both coasts. pinyanoreta promised to help survivors build in a safer location. we are going to go back to hong kong now. that is because we have craig leeson, standing by live. has the eye of the storm made landfall yet? >> if it hasn't, as luck would itv it, it just missed hong kong, which is good use for hong

kong. it is the most densely populated city on the planet and damage would have been severe. it's gone just 100 miles to the northeast of us. at this point, it's directly above us. and the wind is whistling around the building of our studio, right on the harbor front now. the windows are rattling. it caused the deaths of two people as it mind landfall in sha shantal city in guandong province. it is expected to do more damage. the entire region has about 55 million people and it's expected mainly the rainfall will cause the problems with landslides and the like in that particular area. guhe but here in hong kong the have been few reports of damage and certainly none of injury. >> joining us from fujon province. stay safe. >> those storms in mexico and hong kong are a he reminder of how fortunate the u.s. has been

so far this storm season. let's check on the current tropical conditions with our meteorologist jalelah someplace akmed. >> it's quite but we can't say the same along the south china sea. this is the latest image rewe have from the typhoon warning center. it's indicating we did see ugasi push on land as a tropical -- as a category 2 tropical storm. we will continue a north/northwest track as it makes its way north of hong kong. really by 3:00 o'clock in the morning, really local time, 3:00 p.m. here east he were time. we are going to continue to see that storm push towards the west where it will become a tropical system and a remnant low as we continue to look at this storm. look at how huge it is. it will make its way toward hong kong. we are expecting to see winds pick up around 3:00 o'clock in the morning, local time here in hong kong. historically, we had another storm as mentioned earlier in the live shot. we continue to see these storms track from the pacific across

the strait into the south china sea but the last time this happened, really, at this magnitude was back in 1979. hong kong really does have to deal with this through the course of typhoon season that peekstically from june toward december, the most catastrophic typhoon, that is, that ever hit hong kong was in 1906 that killed 11,000 people. then we had the great hong kong typhoon in 1937 that killed anywhere from 10 to 15,000 people. and then as i just mentioned, we had typhoon wanda in 1962, which killed 434 people. as we make our way back towards the map and take it back to the united states, you can see really across the atlantic basin very quiet but we are tracking the latest cold front today. the first day of fall, high temperatures in new york city right around 73. down in washington, d.c. right around 74. we had a bit of rain in new york city earlier on the day but high pressure is building at this time. and, so, we are looking at

plenty of sunshine, really looking at heavyy rainfall across the south, across florida back into new orleans. that rain will continue to push toward the east and this entire frontal boundary will push offshore and we will have a great deal of sunshine as we make our way back to cities like atlanta and definitely into nashville, into tomorrow in the next 24 to 48 hour you see. look, really secluded across maine but we are going to see clearing skies across much of pennsylvania and new york city, certainly here in new york city through the remainder of sunday into monday and it definitely feels like fall. fall has finally, arrived. mostly sunny skies monday and tuesday in new york city and temperatures will be in the low 70s. del, back to you. >> thank you very much. those typhoon numbers show early warnings work. some say it is a white supremacist welcome wagon how one north dakota town is bracing for a meeting with controverse

ye new neighbors. homemade, one of the questest and popular ways to travel in one african city.

>> a deadly attack at a mall in kenya in the second day. 59 people are dead. hinge hing dozens of hostages being held. kenya's government ministers saying there are 175 people who were injured in saturday's attack. the somalian rebel group, al shabaab. congress has eight days to work out a funding deal. house republicans passing a bill on friday that would fund the government but effectively kill the affordable care act. president obama and the first lady will be meeting with families who lost loved ones in the washington navy yard shootings. the president will attend a memorial for the victims. >> a small town in north dakota making national headlines and bracing for protests. 350 demonstrators are expected to make their message heard in the small town of leaf. that town has a population of 16 but it is at the sent of a big fight hanging national headlines

because white supremacists want to make the town white. members of the u.s. national socialist movement, a neo nazi group have been buying up property in hopes of taking up the local government. they plan to protest the group's presence in that town. after decades of conflict, few people in the democratic republic of congo are afford vehicles but people use hand made scooters. al jazeera malcolm web takes a test drive. >> it takes concentration and a steady hand to safely ride this giant wooden scooter. it's called a chukuda. augusto is carrying a friend but mainly it's used for transporting goods for a fee. >> it has helped many people here my father died when i was young, so we didn't have much money but it has given me money.

>> they are used to carry almost anything. this man's carrying timber from the hills into town. here, a set is being delivered. >> it has several useful features. this bit of rubber sproifz suspension. these boards are son son provides -- they are used to tie cargo on the back. on the back wheel here is a brake operated with your foot. >> this attracted some attention. i don't think it's normal for people to see aphone trying to do this. it's quite bumpy but it has tires and su-spenspenuspendtion now, the break. yeah. just bring it gentley to a stop. there we go. it's good. it's very simple, but it's very tough. and. >> and it needs to be, they can carry more than half atons. going uphill is hard work. most people here can't afford motor bikes or cars, but many

say if you own one of these, you will always be able to make a living. sampson makes about eight every month. finding a strong enough tree for the wood is crucial. and it takes years to learn how to make them well. tra trn /* -- i cut the tree and i knew i could use it to make something nice. i brought it here and i gradually learned how to make chikudu. >> people here are fond of the chikudu. in the city center, there is a statue of one. it is a symbol. eastern congo has suffered many conflicts. many live in poverty. it is a local solution that overcomes some of the challenges. malcolm web, al jazeera, goma in the democratic republic. >> earth rise guerilla warrions

is next. stay tuned 24 hours a with aljazeera.com.