>> welcome to al jazeera. i'm del walters. live in new york. here are today's top stories. >> obama: the international community must enforce the man on chemical weapons. it is day one with president laying out his goal for the use of chemical weapons. the budget battle going on until the potential shut counse. now in kenya there are collapse of floors inside that building.

>> history being made, president obama opening the door today at the u.n. to engage a diplomacy, taking on new tone at the u.n. >> obama: i do believe that if we can resolve the issue of iran's nuclear program that can serve as a major step down a long road down a different relationship. one based on mutual interests, and mutual respect. since i took office i made it clear in letters to the supreme leader in iran and more recently to president rouhani, our concerns over iran's nuclear program although we're determined to prevent iran from develodeveloping a nuclear weap. >> we're joined live from the

u.n. john, a major day for the u.s. and iran. the two countries in dialogues more than the past two decades. >> reporter: you got it. john kerry and secretary of state o with the iran foreign minister. you can see how significant this is. i think th it dominated the speh by president obama today. i think his speech was written and rewritten multiple times particularly since friday when the op-ed appeared in the "washington post" newspaper. the president as you heard in that clip there was essentially saying that he was encouraged by what he has seen of president rouhani so far. he said if you can sort out this nuclear issue, what you're doing with your nuclear program, then

we can go a long way in having a half-decent relationship, and the president will support the idea of iran having a nuclear program if it is for domestic energy only. the fact that he referred to the 1950s removal of power, i know it happened 60 years ago, but iranians bring it up every year, and for the president of the united states to make mention that have in the u.n. general assembly forum with the eyes of the world on him, and it was huge and the iranians will welcome that. >> the c.i.a. acknowledging in july in collaboration with the british intelligence ove overthw

that regime. what will they say. >> reporter: i think it's a safe bet for them to refer to that op-ed on friday. that's where president rouhani will be taking the speech, and what a difference that will take to next year when his predecessor, mahmoud ahmadinejad was here. look, we may never end up supporting israel particularly, but we're going to leave it at one side. i think the tone of speech, and particularly if he mentions rale at all and in what does he mention israel. we can't tell you when he's going to speak. we expect it to be at 5:00 this afternoon eastern time. >> john terrett. thank you very much. the president is supposed to speak for 15 minutes today but

ended up speaking 45. president obama was not the only one speaking of concerns over nuclear weapons. here is turkish president abdullah gul. >> let me be clear, the u.s u.s.-russian agreement to eliminate syria's chemical weapons, that agreement has on it translated into an united nations security council resolution. >> we're live near the syrian border where they also have to deal with the humanitarian crisis stemming from th syria. >> reporter: we haven't heard any reaction here in turkey, but one would expect that the president obama hit certain

notes that are going to make the government quite happy to begin with obviously his very strong remarks against president bashar al-assad in which he made it very clear the mone obama's rem, quote, the notion that syria could return to a pre-war status quo simply is a fantasy. now this is a very important issue or aspect that the turkish government had been pushing for. even before the debate of chemical weapons has started. now the turkish government wanted to see regime change in syria. not just limited strikes, and certainly not a limited deal on eliminating chemical weapons. >> the president speaking right after president obama. what was his message regarding syrian refugees. we heard a portion but what else did he have to say?

>> reporter: yes, president gul hit two specific notes. he had a humanitarian aspect a d a political aspect. when it came to the humanitarian aspect, he made it clear that the humanitarian crisis is becoming simply a threat to the entire region, the entire international community must deal with this, and it's endangering the economies and security and political conditions of neighboring countries which he said we have bitterly come to see and realize. now of course he's referring to the fact that his country is now hosting half a million syrian regions, and spent over $2 billion over the past two years to support them, and he made it very clear that the international community must step up and simply not just give words of sympathy or sport, but also translate that into deeds.

that's when it comes to the humanitarian aspect of what president gul had to say. when it came to the political statement he made it clear, that while it welcomes the deal brokered between the united states and russia, h he said a more crescen comprehensive polil deal and the regime must not be resolved and not forget about the other deaths that have occurred not own fro only from l weapons but traditional weapons. >> the peace conference to end the syrian civil war.

and the need to agree to a conference to end the assad regime. and while world leaders wait to hear from hassan rouhani, some outside are not waiting at all. they're rouhani testing his his--they're protesting his appearance. >> as a hoto say that iran and s president hasan rouhani cannot be trusted. i'm across the street at an event organized by the people muhajdine they have high profile

speakers including rudy giuliani and former u.n. ambassador john bolton. they are joining a growing chorus of voices in the u.s. senate who say iran simply cannot be trusted, and sanctions should not be ruled back. i should point out there was another demonstration shortly here a short time ago taking the opposite point of view. a demonstration saying that the time from iran and united states to talk, and its time to end bellicose language and the organizers of that organization,

a group named abas. they show 60% of americans do in fact direct talks between the two countries. but as you can see the opposition voices are very loud. >> admitting rather difficult conditions, thank you very much, kristin. the leadership of iran is having an impact on one watchdog group. >> reporter: from billboards on times square to online ads to demonstrations, a group against iran has been steadfastly devoted to their cause. they have been fervent protesters. >> this week is like our super bowl. >> this time it's different mainly because the new little elected president of iran

recently claimed his government will never develop nuclear weapons. that single statement changed the lot of the group. instead of ramping up their protest presence, they're scaling back. >> it's in response to the tone that we see from the iranian side. we do think that over time that will be the only true way to judge whether the rhetoric will be matched by substantive action. but it's worth it give a short period of time what the true intentions of th of iran. >> ahmadinejad is the one who said they were going to wipe israel off the map. this president does not say such incendiary things. but we know his background.

he's been part of the regime. >> which is why one lette lettes sent to him asking him to denounce. >> why should new yorkers be hosting this regime that is opposite of american values. >> reporter: whether they will back up recent words with action remains to be seen. these men are not overly hopeful just as yet. >> not when we see the increasing nuclear development and i don't know going assistance to the assad regime and syria. we see the on going human rights abuses in iran. >> reporter: still with the iranian president set to speak tuesday afternoon for the first time in this group's fight against a nuclear iran. >> we want to hear what he has to says and what happens.

>> still ahead we have an update on the deadly siege in nairobi. there are reports that floors inside the building may have collapsed.

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. >> we're at the scene where the united nations world leaders are getting ready to silt down for launch. perhaps the most important gatherings of the day. earlier in the day president obama addressing those gathered to engage iran in the issue of diplomacy. i poke with the undersecretary of state for political affairs now professor for harvard's kennedy school. i asked him on remarks on the

issue of iran. >> if iran wants sanctions relief, it's going to have to make fundamental compromises on its nuclear program because it has not told the truth in the past up until now about what it's doing, and i'm very strongly in support of negotiations between iran and the united states and the p-5 countries on the nuclear issue, but iran has to understand that it's not going to get any relief unless it fundamentally convinces the international community that it's not building nuclear weapons. that's the fundamental issue that the president lay down, the iranians have to understand. >> professor burns, is now the time for dialogue between the u.s. and iran? i take us back to 1979, hostages

held for 444 days and the united states back then was considered to be the great satan. has that much changed? >> well, i think it is time for dialogue. we have a painful past with iran. iranians like to talk about the fact that the united states was involved in the overthrow of their government in 1953, and they have to talk about all the targeting of american citizens, terror attacks and taking hostages. we have to learn not to look backyard in this relationship but forward. i'm very much in support of dialogue with iran. it's time to do that. it's been an extraordinary cold war, if you will, between iran and the united states, and that should end. i hope very much there would be a diplomatic solution with no need of force. but you heard obama today, we

need a serious negotiating team. >> i remember when then senator obama said they wanted to open a discussion, he was roundly criticized. do you think he'll be criticized today? >> i don't. i think most americans will agree with president obama to seek negotiations with iran. it makes upon sense with our country if you have a problem with another country you can talk it out. you cannot use and should not use military force unless you've exhausted diplomatic alternatives. we've not even gun discussions with iran. in 2014 you'll see negotiations on the nuclear issue and i hope they'll take this opportunity to discuss with iran and the issues in syria and iraq and

afghanistan. they should all be on the agenda, and i think we're looking at an historic moment with the u.s.-iran relationship. this is time for diplomacy and we should take this time for negotiations. >> former ambassador nicholas burns coming to us from cambridge. it was brazil's turn, it's president saying they were going to take efforts against cyberspying. >> the activities carried out on global network of electronic spying has brought about anger among public opinion worldwide. in brazil the situation was even more serious we see forget target of such intrusion, meddling in such manner in the

lives of other countries is a breach of international law and as such is an affront month to the prince that should otherwise govern among friendly nations. >> meanwhile, president obama has a very busy day. he's at that luncheon where he's meeting with ban ki-moon. and that luncheon hosted by the secretary general. and then he'll meet with mahmoud abbas, and then this evening we'll meet on the healthcare reform. libby casey is live from capitol hill, a heated debate going on in the senate, correct? >> reporter: that's right. we're hearing two different messages from the democrats and republicans. they will keep the government funded until october.

we're looking at a week when the u.s. will run out of money unless the congress and senate can come to an agreement. >> it's time to stop obsessing over old battles and think of the consequences of a government shutdown. mr. president, we need, long time member of congress approaching four decades being in congress, recognizing how we've worked together over those decades, accomplishing good things for this country. we needing to back to those days, days of working togethe together. >> reporter: despite the couple by coupleby yeah message, they t

a break on things and halt negotiations and focus on defunding obamacare but senator mitch mcconnell needs to be on record as being against the federal healthcare law and he needs to talk about defunding obamacare. >> we're giving them a do-over. a second chance, if you will. they do not want this law to be implemented or do they double down on this failed experiment. >> reporter: he talked tough but he's not willing to side with senators like ted cruz who say we're going to hold everything up over this law. >> libby, there are hundreds of thousands of workers wondering whether or not they're going to be given an involuntary day off. do we have a time line on senate action on this funding bill that

will keep this government operating? >> reporter: tomorrow is the day to watch. we'll be out watching the vote on the senate floor. and then a series of votes heading through the week and even the weekend. what is important about tomorrow we'll see an attempt to get over this filibuster threat. six republicans have to side with the democrats. folks like leader mitch mcconnell who say they're not going to stop that. they're not trying to whip up votes to put that brake on. instead, what we'll be watching later on in the week is an amendment process to try to get that obamacare funding dealt with. >> thank you very much. we want to go to kenya now where that country's president is saying that several floors have collapsed inside that mall where that stand off is now in its fourth day. we're joined live now, peter, what can you tell us about the reports of the floor collapsing and the deaths?

>> reporter: i find it difficult to hear what you said, but what the kenyan president just told the nation, they have defeated the terrorists in his word. they have captured 11 of them. 5 are dead and death toll stands at 72 including 61 civilians. you were talking about the dead who are still trapped. they did say the floors of the shopping mall has collapsed, and as far as this country is concerned, as far as the president of this country is concernconcerned, the terroriste been defeated. >> i get the sense that this is not over. is that the sense that you're getting? >> reporter: what we were waiting for, what we were hoping for and expecting definitive words declaring that it is

absolutely over. that they have every part of this building under control, and there are no more terrorists or gunmen around. he didn't use those words. he said they have shamed and defeated the terrorists. i've been speaking to a spokesman from al-shabab who insists that they're still alive and they're still there. i think we have to take the president at his word. >> peter greste live from nairobi. five attackers among the dead, 72 killed and 11 said to be in custody. nicole mitchell said weather on both coasts is a concern. >> reporter: but the middle has a great forecast. we'll have that next.

>> meteorologist: i'm meteorologist nicole mitchell with what for the most part is a lovely fall forecast with just a couple of exceptions out there. one of the things that people enjoy about fall are the temperatures and they're comfortable for much of the region. in minneapolis, it's 72. we have the cooler fall air all the way down to the southeast, northeast, just a couple of spots that aren't quite feeling like the southwest, for example. but really pretty plenty. a lot of northeast in 60s and 70s for the next couple of days under all that sunshine. they had that first cup of hot apple sider, it's that time of year where you can make excuses for all those good things. in the midsection of the country with a lot of dry air. we have rain in florida, a stationary boundary in that region. it has centered over florida, and then this moving line in

parts of mississippi. so dumping a lot of rain if you've been under one of those bands. it means we have flood concerns across the region, and especially in florida one or two more inches. and heavy as you get under one of the bands. and because of that you have some of the flash flood watches and warnings. the other little disturbance we had in the middle section of the country, most of this is not making it to the ground, but a few more clouds, minnesota, iowa with a lower pressure system. the biggest system is in the northwest. we're seeing rain in idaho, but cool air as it comes across the region we could see a taste of snow at the higher elevations, del? >> well, thank you for watching al jazeera. i'm del walters. "101 east" is next. we'll take you live to president

obama where the delegates gather. it's a harder humility that we live in.