good morning, i'm morgan radford, and these are some of the stories we're following right now. 17 hours and still counting. senator ted cruz is on a marathon filibuster, saying he plans to talk until he can't stand anymore. but his mission may be in vain. >> translator: let me say loud and clear that peace is within reach. the presidents of both nations say they are ready for diplomacy, but still no handshake to seal the deal. getting serious about syria. the un security council talks about chemical weapons just as

new reports of mass starvation start to emerge. the standoff is shut down. in kenya three days of mourning begins as the death toll continues to rise. the countdown to a government shutdown is now underway. congress now has just five days to reach agreement on legislation to keep the government open for business, but the story this morning is on republican senator ted cruz. you are looking at live pictures of cruz on the floor of the senate. he is on a marathon crusade against the affordable care act. he began speaking at 2:40 eastern time tuesday afternoon. he said he would keep speaking until he was no longer able to stand. so let's take a listen.

>> not speaking ill of any member of this senate, republican or democrat, that is certainly what i have endeavored to do, and it is meaningful. senator roberts compliments said in his judgment we have had some success achieving that. >> al jazeera's erica explains how senator cruz got to this point. >> reporter: when we defund obamacare we're all going to be happy, happy, happy. >> reporter: texas senator ted cruz kept his commitment to literally stand up against obamacare. he vowed to hold the floor until he could not stand anymore. >> i live by my own rules -- >> reporter: while his non-stop chatter appears to be a filibuster, technically it is not. harry reid was quick to point out a vote would happen today no

matter how much cruz talks. >> we are going to vote tomorrow. under the rules no one can stop that. >> reporter: top senate republicans realize the rules make cruz's effort a make filibuster. they also know they do not have enough votes to push through the house bill to defund obamacare. which is why mitch mcconnell called cruz's speech, a waste of time. >> we may not always agree on tactics but on the question of repealing obamacare, we're totally united. >> reporter: that prompted this response. >> there are politicians in this body that are not listening to the people, they are not listening to the concerns of their constituents. >> reporter: cruz did manage to take a rest thanks to fellow republicans, like tea party member mike lee who gave cruz a break by way of a long-winded

question. >> and so center cruz . . . i have to ask you -- >> the lowest work force participation in decades. >> reporter: the senator read from a children's book. >> i would not like them here or there, i do not like green eggs and ham, i do not like them, sam i am. >> reporter: and he quoted a reality tv show. >> i want to point out a few wores of wisdom from duck dynasty -- the clock is ticking for senator cruz as lawmakers prepare to vote on a spending bill this afternoon. for a closer look, we're joined bier libby casey live in washington, d.c. good morning, libby. which way do we expect the vote to swing? >> we expect it to move forward, and this is really a vote to bring the bill to the floor, and

the bill would fund the federal government and defund obamacare. so republicans, not the ted cruz variety, but those like senator mitch, the top republican in the senate are saying let's get this to the floor, that way they can say i voted for this bill that would refund obamacare. what is going to happen later on in the week, is we'll see democrats strip out that obamacare defunding. but at this point the bill is expected to get to the floor, move forward, and we'll see more drama unfold. >> what does the gop think of cruz? what is the party reaction to what he is doing? >> there's a real split here. it's also between the new guys and the old guys. ted cruz is a freshman, marco rubio has only been in the senate for a couple of years. they need to appeal to the tea

party fraction of the republican party. the old guard of the republican party remember the budget standoff in the 1990s when they went head-to-head with president clinton. the government shut down, republicans blamed republicans, and president clinton got a real bump from it. so some say this is not the moment to make stand because it is not one that republicans are going to win in terms of getting obamacare defunded. they may get something in terms of the budget, but obamacare defunding doesn't look like it is going to go anywhere. >> libby casey thanks for joining us this morning, libby. inspectors are back in syria today. and this time they are gathering samples from a village in the northwest part of the country. last week the team confirmed

that sarin gas was used in an attack. and there is new concern about a growing hunger problem in the war-torn country. thousands of families have been left homeless and without food. while world leaders prepare for a third day of speeches at the general assembly, it is what is happening on the sidelines that may be more important. the five members of un security council will sit down to discuss syria and its chemical weapons. al jazeera diplomatic editor, james bays joining us now. what does this mean today? >> morgan, i have been speaking to diplomats and they say they are getting a little closer, they think to getting that deal that was done a couple of weeks

ago when john kerry and his russian counterpart, sergei lavrov to getting that into a resolution. they still have to be an executive board meeting before there can be a resolution -- [ technical difficulties ] -- going in the right direction, they are even telling me that meeting in the hague could happen on thursday and then be followed possibly with the un security council meeting in a vote to put this all into international law on friday. >> the diplomats that you have spoken to, have they given any indication of real action? >> that vote would, i think be the first stage, then they would have to work out a time line for sending? a team. the team that has now arrived in damascus, is the team that was there about a month or so ago.

they are now looking into other allegations of chemical attacks. we're talking about authorizing a new team with a much bigger job of going all over syria and picking up assads chemical weapons. john kerry and his french counterpart are also going to meet on the sidelines today, but why the private meeting? >> private meetings are where you get these sorts of things done. we saw here those big publish speeches. we saw obama speak, and rouhani speak on the issue of iran. that changes the climate and tone, but to get to the concrete details, that is all done behind the scenes. there will be a very important meeting on thursday with key international powers and the

iranians. we understand the iranian foreign minister will be in the iran chair, and secretary of state john kerry. >> james bays reporting live from the un. secretary of state of john kerry and his russian counterpart met to try to hash out a deal on syria. joining us is mark jacobson. thanks so much for being with us this morning, and he is in washington, d.c. secretary kerry called his meeting yesterday very constructive. if no resolution is reached, is there still a chance of its end with without military environment. >> thanks for having me morgan. i am concerned that there is a chance that there is not a resolution that has an

enforcement mechanism, but i'm optimistic we'll see something come out of this process, and that bit about enforcement is something i'm sure that kerry and lavrov are talking about today. >> are you confident that assad is going to give up his chemical weapons? >> i think the real key to this is the russians. i think that they remain his only supporters left in the world and they have made it very clear to assad that this is going to be part of any deal that keeps him in power. >> will russia ever agree to a deal that keeps the threat of military force intact? >> i don't think the russians entirely control this. i think there are mechanisms by which the russians have almost backed themselves into, where they would have to accept some

security council deal. president obama made it very clear yesterday during his speech that if the united nations is not credible in its ability to -- to enforce resolutions that it passes, then the whole purpose of the united nations is in essence in question. so i think the russians can only play this so far, and while we may not see a specific mechanism in this first resolution, there will certainly be options for the un to consider military force in the future, and the option of a coalition to use force, perhaps lead by the u.s. but with greater legitimacy this time. >> thanks so much for being with us. >> in pakistan the death toll is

climbing due to an earthquake. the 7.8 magnitude quake shook the area on tuesday. al jazeera, kamal is in one of the hardest-hit areas. kamal how accessible is your area to medical and rescue crews? >> reporter: it must be underthat these particular distri districts in all, at six districts have been hit, in very remote regions, because of the earthquake communication is effected, and the networks out here are not very good. the earthquake happened in the evening when it was dark, preventing any helicopters from carrying out reconnaissance

missions. however, on first light the military helicopters have been spreading over the area checking to see what is happening on the ground. we have heard that a few hundred people have already been evacuated to the nearest hospitals. however, the assessment is still going on, and we're knot sure exactly what the death toll is, but there is widespread destruction in one remote district. back here in the u.s., tropical moisture is keeping the weather in florida unsettled for yet another day, as parts of the west deal with september snow. >> september, we have a little bit of everything, and the sunshine state not so sunny today. here is the broader look. we have a combination of a low-pressure area and a frontal boundary that has been allowing

storms to fire off all along the coast. moist flow has been very consistent through the region. but really, florida has been getting the brunt of this, over the last couple of days. so we're saturated and that's why we're seeing the watches and warnings that we're seeing. this has been the focal point of that rain. so where you see the darker greens, easily a half inch to an inch persistently, but some parts of florida have already gotten close to a half of foot of rain, like saratoga running around 5 inches so far. so that's one troublemaker for us. the mid-section of the country is really quite warm in part because of the southerly flow ahead of the next system. but let's get to that next

system, where you can see already those temperatures are much cooler, and that means for the higher elevations, then you add in the cooler air, yes, we have areas of snow. not just a light snow, but fog if it gets cold enough can freeze on contact. it makes things extra slick. but most of this area is going to stay rain across the region. you can see areas where we have the winter storm advisories and warnings. those are for elevations predominantly above 5 and 6,000 feet. morgan? thanks so much, nicole. the four-day standoff at the nairobi shopping mall is finally over. shaq is back in the basketball headlines, but by george it's a youngster who

really cashes in. i'll explain coming up in sports. ♪

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bloc the mall siege in kenya is finally over, and three days of national mourning is now underway. 72 people were killed in the siege but that number is expected to increase. three floors of the mall collapsed. more now from al jazeera reporter, ann drew simmons. >> it's day five in this situation, it's one of relief, but also perhaps even more grief than before, because there is an unknown number of bodies still inside this building.

it has been revealed that three floors chanced inside the building at some point. it is thought that that was on month. unconfirmed reports suggest that a sniper was deployed and he shot what was thought to be the leader of the attack group. the other details are also coming in now, and one source tells us that this was the key battle, and it was on monday. lots of detractions were being made by the security forces. now what happened next was there was a full-on gun fight and this progressed into the explosions, it seems, or fire that resulted in the collapse of the building. that was something that certainly wasn't in the plan security forces it would seem, and that has led to a number of deaths. now this wasn't touched on in

the presidential address on tuesday night. but we are expecting for more details to be revealed about what exactly happened and how many are dead. it appears the death toll could increase quite drastically. >> that was andrew simmons. authorities say it could be days before they have an exact number of those kilned in the attack. have you ever posted an embarrassing tweet on twitter or facebook? a new internet bill requires various social media sites to offer underage users a way to get rid of those postings forever. and things are heating up in the americas cup and here with us in sports is mark morgan. mark? >> that's right, morgan, we're going to start this hour away

from the baseball diamond and the football field. as you said, big news at the america's cup. team usa rallying to tie things up with new zealand at eight game apiece. new zealand needed just one more victory to take the cup, but the americans have won seven straight forcing a winner take all. now last season the indiana pacers fell just one game short of knocking off the miami heat and reaching the nba finals. the organization wanted to make sure all of the pieces are in place for a lengthy stay, so they will sign 6'8", paul george for a five-year max extension. he was arguably the pacers mvp last season. george was named the nba east

most improved player. now we have all said things publicly we regret, right? right? about ten years ago shaquille o'neal called the sacramento kings the sacramento queens. shaq says he was trying to enhance the rivalry between the two teams. he will now have to explain that to his new employees. he has purchased a minority stake in the team. he is part of a new ownership group. he has all right dubbed the city, shaqramento. so the pr makeover has begun. >> today is an exciting day for me and the ownership group. we look forward to the challenges of bringing it back to where it used to be and going even further. i was really interested in this team for three reasons, vivek,

mark, and demarcus cousins. the new name of the town will be called shaq -- [ technical difficulties ] and i'll be here a lot, and if you see me, give me a hug, give me a kiss, or do whatever you want, and again, i'm sorry, i apologize. >> the detroit lions have lost a key player in an off the field accident. it was single car accident that hand on tuesday morning after he left a monday night football party. he was reportedly reaching for a falling pizza box when he lost control of the vehicle. according to police alcohol was not involved. he is scheduled to undergo surgery today and could miss the rest of the season. that's a look at sports this

hour. i'm mark morgan. >> taking solar energy to a whole new level. a scientific break through that would one day provide electricity all around the globe.

a un report on climate change published in 2007 blamed humans for many of our environmental problems, but scientists in switzerland have discovered new ways to harness the power of the sun. >> it's not the most likely place to look for a solution for the planet's environmental woes, but here at a research laboratory run by the computer giant ibm, scientists believe they have found a far more efficient way of using the power of the sun than anything solar power has achieved before. a key part of the system are these tiny photovoltaic cells. the mirror over there concentrates the sunlight down on to the cells, harnessing the power of up to a thousand suns.

this is a prototype, of course. in a year they expect there will be a working system 40 times larger, providing enough power for ten homes. put 400 of those in a field or strip of desert and you get a 10 megawatt power station meeting the energy needs of a small town. and the cells that harness the power of a thousand suns tend to get hot, very hot. here they have worked out how to school their system using water, sea water, river water, even wastewater, all freely available. having removed the heat from the cells, the warm water evaporates leaving salt and other impurities behind. the vapor is reduced back into water so pure you can drink it. >> that's pure, pure water. >> pure, pure water. >> but not good for drinking? >> not very good for drinking,

but a small amount is okay. >> it doesn't taste too bad. >> during my education my understanding was always that'cology and economy go opposite direction. and if you want to make ecological progress, you need to make an economic compromise. and this system running parallel. as we make the energy cheaper, we can help save the planet, and this doesn't cost economically a lot. >> reporter: it's the culmination of eight year's work for bruno. and soon, perhaps they will receive another award, who hopes to give the world abundant supply of energy and clean water. the project aims to harness the power of 2,000 suns. and that will do it for this

edition of al jazeera news, i'm moore radford, thanks so much for watching. ♪ ♪ sin city's housing market bounces back, but the stakes are still high, and i'll tell you what you pay for prescription drug costs under obamacare. money." ♪