♪ hello and welcome to al jazeera. i'm del walters in new york. with the government shutdown looming at that hour, all eyes are on the u.s. senate. also the other syrian crisis, the staggering number of ref gees who have fled that country's bitter civil war. and a powerful earthquake kills hundreds of people in pakistan. ♪ one hour from now the united states senate is is scheduled to take its first vote on a bill that would avert a

possible government shutdown on october 1st. that vote coming just 21 hours after ted cruz and some his fellow republicans launched their talkathon on the floor of the senate. they wrapped up just about 15 seconds ago. cruz is trying to stop the senate from stripping a house bill that would take away money from the health care reform law. libby casey is live at the capitol, libby what happens next? >> he could actually continue talking over the next hour after the senate begins its day afresh, but it sounds like he is done for now. now they move ahead to open up debate on this senate bill. the house bill would fund the government but defunds obamacare. that is expected to change as

the democratic-lead senate gets its hands on its in the next couple of days. senator harry reid wants to move forward pretty quickly. he says let's move forward, but he is going to have to get republicans to sign off on an abbreviated schedule, otherwise you can see 30 more hours of debate, and we'll see more discussion and debate on the senate floor. >> if senator cruz accomplished nothing how are his fellowseptors reacting? >> the question is in the eye of the beholder what he accomplished. they wanted to really drive this point home. there are other republicans who are concerned about what this is actually working towards. and democrats will be perfectly

happy to draw down this footage, and they will be able to point to this and say, hey -- [ technical difficulties ] -- that the clock would stop at noon and then at 1:00 we'll take a vote. so senator cruz was able to draw this out, and what happens next in terms of content. and how the house will deal with it. we all expect to see a bill that comes out of the senate that keeps the government running but doesn't unfund obamacare. so the question will be how the republican-lead house is going to deal with this next? i think a lot of republicans are asking what has this really accomplished? it is digging a whole or getting a point across. >> so you lead the tea leaves perhapser better than anybody in washington, what will happen

come october 1st? >> i think it's a anybody's guess at this point. we're all watching to see how speaker john boehner will handle it. some more long-term members of the republican party say we need to give speaker boehner some time to decide what his move is going to be next. they sent over a bill to the house that is different than what the house wants. it will be a big question of whether or not the house is willing to go to a showdown. if they are willing to risk funding the government and keeping this issue over the standoff over obamacare. as it gets closer more polls will come out about who the americans blame, and everyone will take that into account. >> libby casey on capitol hill. they actually quoted duck dynasty and dr. seuss today.

libby thank you very much. secretary of state john kerry signed the arm trade treaty a short while ago. kerry says the treaty will not effect gun rights here in the u.s. >> this is about keeping weapons out of the hands of terrorists and rogue actors. this is about reducing the risk of international transfers of convention alarms that will be used to carry out the world's worst crimes. this is about keeping americans safe and keeping america strong. >> now this is has not stopped guns rights group from opposing the treaty. the document still needs to be ratified be the u.s. senate. we're now hearing that rebels on the ground in syria

are disassociated themselves from the political opposition. we're joined now from turkey near the syrian border, and what can you tell us about what could be a threat to the opposition? >> reporter: well, essentially this is bad news for those who had been trying to forge or a find political solution for the crisis in syria. it highlights the extent of the deep division between the syrian opposition when it comes to the politicians based in exile versus the actual rebels fighting on the ground, and this of course is bad news for the syrians and the international community. it is bad us in for the syrians, because those fighting on the ground are now saying those politicians do not represent them. they want to unite under an islamic front, they want to

implement islamic sharia, and these are not just .different rebel fractions that are associated with al-qaeda, they also include important rebel fractions associated with the syrian army. so it is an complex issue for the international community to deal with. we're seeing world leaders rathering at the united nations to talk about a peace conference this geneva and russia and the united states trying to broker that, and now they are saying the opposition does not represent them. so the syrian opposition has failed to provide a unified represent in basically determining any possible way forward for the syrian revolution, and in that sense, dell, this is only good news for

bashar al-assad. >> and another point is the humanitarian crisis, millions of syrians displayed by the civil war. what have you seen firsthand? >> reporter: indeed, as we have seen the politicians in new york come in for this general assembly to try to talk about the fate of syrians, we're seeing an ongoing humanitarian crisis on the ground in neighboring countries that have to host refugees. the united nations describes this crisis as one of the worst humanitarian disasters that we would have seen in our lifetime. and to put it into context for you dell, when the united nations were meeting last year at this time, we were talking about 20,000 people killed. today just one year later, we're

talking about 100,000 people killed. so it's spiralling out of control. and 5 million displaced inside the country, 2 million displaced outside the country. here in turkey half a million of those refugees, grappling to provide aid for them. and these are actual human beings who require shelter, food, and medical care. >> reporter: this woman and her sons are surviving on crumbs. she used to be a sports teacher with a comfortable life, but she fled to turkey after her home was bombed, her husband killed,er this children orphaned. >> i made this tent to shelter us. the other day it rained. we got absolutely drenched. >> reporter: here for a month now, the four-year-old has a fever but there's no medical care for him, and no warm

clothes as winter approaches. the 2,000 syrians now call this park home. as the un general assembly debates the state of syria, these people wait in squaller, surrounded by human extrament and the stench of urine. the closest toilet in a mosque a mile away, and the only water source a tap nearby. the message to the international community is simple, help whichever way possible, because their choice cannot be death in their home towns or life in these kinds of conditions. >> reporter: this man was an accountant in the military, his wife an engineer, they abandoned their existence for this.

>> military helicopters dropped 400-pound tnt bombs. the children were in constant fear. >> reporter: their old life destroyed. their new reality destitute. >> translator: it's fine here for now, but once the regime force will go back and rebuild a better syria. >> reporter: a sense of hope not shared by many who are older than him. more refugees arrive outside of the park such as this woman. i'm a lawyer she tells me. i'm not used to this humiliation. she points to her an and says look at that, we can't even fix that, let alone our lives. these huge numbers of refugees,

dell, in a very sad plight. we have seen president obama pledge some additional $300 million to try to help with the crisis, we have seen heads of states say it's important for the international community to help these neighboring countries, because it is growing out of control for these countries. unfortunately the sad reality, this slight will not end any time soon. and really heart breaking stories. some people telling me something as simple as a shower is a grand luxury for them. some hadn't showered in more than a month. and these political negotiations are going to drag for a long time with russia and the u.s. trying to reach a deal on chemical weapons. something to remove chemical weapons by june of next year, and many of these people will

simply be displaced for a long time. >> hopefully those at the un saw your report, thank you very much. at the un the debate continues. john terrett is standing by live at the un. the security council meeting is next, and john what can we expect? >> well, we have just confirmed that john kerry will be at the meeting of the permanent five security council members. earlier this morning he signed the new small arms treaty, which brings the rest of the world up to the u.s. level when it comes to sending arms to fighters overseas, and although it could be a long time before that becomes international law, it was seen as a hopeful step that the u.s. becomes the 91st country in the world to sign that treaty. handguns of course kill most people. so that's that. now he moves on to the security

council meeting, and it is on syria, and here we can give added value to this. because al jazeera has learned behind the cover of the leader's day speech yesterday, there was quite a lot of work going on involving john kerry and sergey lavrov. they were trying to push the security council agreement needed to ratify the agreement between the two countries ever closer. and we understand they made progress. and as a result of that you see the un inspectors going back into syria to begin the process of ratifying any stockpile that the president of syria has its his possession. and we learned late last night that there could be an agreement by all of this tomorrow thursday, and then there could be a security council resolution on the table as soon as friday. only a promise, dell, at the moment -- not a promise, a

possibility. but that is movement that was not there prior to this last couple of days here in new york. >> john, i have to go back to the images we saw from rawya's report most a moment ago. is there a sense that the delegation sitting in very nice hotels, driving very nice limousines, do they get the fact that hundreds of thousands of people -- they don't have diplomacy? >> reporter: you know, they do get it. that's the truth. they absolutely do get it. but i'm afraid there is no other way around it. the international diplomatic circles move very, very slowly. it has always been that way. it doesn't make for great headline television, and it's not going to be any different over syria, but they wanted this to be done by last friday, and they couldn't achieve that, and the problem was there was lots

of paperwork, some say the russians were holding things up a little bit. and yesterday they managed to make some significant progress, so we could have that security council resolution on the table by friday, but you are absolutely right. this is always a humanitarian tragedy, these kinds of situations and the number of people displaced and killed has been ratcheted up massively in the last 12 months. and the un, i can tell you, is very aware of it. >> john thank you very much. we will be right back. 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.

♪ in pakistan the death toll is quickly climbing following a powerful earthquake. 7.7 magnitude quake shaking the southwestern coast of pakistan. it was so powerful, it created a small island. >> reporter: this is what re-mance of many villages in the district. houses flattened, and hundreds of inhabitants wounded. it was the epicenter of the earthquake. >> translator: it all hand within a minute, everything was destroyed. when we went back even the little place where we kept water was gone. >> translator: we took out some bodies and some injured, but there are no facilities here. >> reporter: it is so remote

that it was a few hours before the injured or dead could be moved to hospitals. >> reporter: the earthquake has also severely effected the communication system, and the relief workers are facing a lot of difficulties, to look for survivors, and it also takes eight hours from the capitol to reach the district. >> reporter: medical camps are being set up and the military has launched a relief effort. >> translator: we have started relief work in some of our teams have already reached the affected areas. more health centers have been established. >> reporter: in april a 7.8 earthquake also hit the same

area. but there seems to be little preparedness to deal with such disasters. fighters deny that they hinder development, and accuse the government of not allocating enough resources and funds. it's the people regularly suffering from natural disasters only to see them compounded by man made ones. in kenya investigators are searching through the rubble following that mall attack. 137 hostages are still buried there, al-shabab says. ann drew simmons has more. >> reporter: it's day five of this operation and you can sense a different mood. it's one of relief, perhaps, but also of even more grief than before, because there is an unknown number of bodies still inside this building.

it has been revealed that three floors collapsed inside the building at some point. it is thought that that was on monday. unconfirmed reports suggest that a sniper was demried by the kenyan special forces and he shot what was thought to be the leader of the attack group. the other details are also coming in now and once source tells us that this was the key battle, and it was on monday. there were lots of distractions being made by the security forces that included explosions, stun grenades, and helicopters flying close to the building. now what happened next was that 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 for the security forces, it could seem, and that has lead 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. it isn't certain, but the number is bound to increase. the next crew of the international space station is due to launch later today. one american and two russians will join three others at the space station. the crew will receive the olympic torch at the space station later this year. that torch will be the one that will be used at the winter olympics in russia. if all goes as planned the space station will dock about six hours later. i'm meteorologist nicole

mitchell. we are a country of contrast today. i'll have your forecast. millions who need assistance now. we appreciate you spending time with us tonight. up next is the golden age of hollywood going golden but elsewhere. why l.a.'s mayor has declared a state of emergency for the entertainment industry there. next. on august 20th, al jazeera america introduced

♪ we are now looking at less than a week before the potential government shutdown.

the senate is set to take the first vote on a bill to keep the government open today. the un general assembly continues today as well, but some of the biggest action happening on the sidelines. secretary of state john kerry signing an arms treaty as un inspectors head back into syria looking for chemical weapons. in pakistan the death toll is climbing quickly following a powerful earthquake there. the quake shaking the southwestern coast of pakistan. many homes have been destroyed, communication has been cut off to some of the hardest-hit areas. flash flooding as triggered landslides in the philippines. the hardest hit regions are in the north, cleanup operations are underway. more than a thousand families are now living inside evacuation

centers. ♪ i'm meteorologist nicole mitchell we are only three days into fall, and we're already have a schizophrenic forecast. you can see the much cooler air in the northwest. if you want the really comfortable fall stuff, the northeast has been gorgeous, and the mid-section of the country, this heat, 90s in texas, 80s up into the dakotas. one other area the southern tier of the country, it hasn't been a topical system, but definitely an influx of tropical moisture for florida, so we're even seeing a little bit of that spring summer stuff here. places like tampa and sarasota

have been indun nated. some places have seen up to a half of foot of rain. some places could get another inch or two. some of those rivers and streams are starting to crest a little bit. the rest of the region is really kind of the extreme southeast that has gotten the rain, as we say we get dryer as we go a little farther on the west coast. texas is actually under those air quality advisories which you usually see more in the summer. this is our next big player. it has really been plaguing especially idaho into montana with some wind and the higher elevations about 5 or 6,000 and above, we have seen some areas of snow. that's why you see the blue out here, those winter storm warnings. and that could be some places that is getting a foot or more.

ahead of all of this has been the arm air, but we have also started to see some fog so watch for places like that in wisconsin. nicole thank you very much. you don't have to be a sailing fan to appreciate an amazing comeback by team usa in the america's cup. the team was on the brink of being down 8 races to 1. since then they have won 7 straight races. that series is now tied 8-8. one race today will determine who wins, who loses, and who takes home the cup. "inside story" is next. for all of the latest information you can always go to aljazeera.com, where the news continues 24 hours a day. ♪