is. >> the senate is set to debate a

bill that would avert a partial government shut down next week. that vote coming an hour after the senator ted cruz 21-hour speech. al jazeera's libby casey is on capitol hill where they're set to vote after that speech. what is happening now? >> reporter: this is a bill to bring the vote to the floor and open up debate. an hour after senator cruz left, he came out of the senate chambers and was mobbed by reporters. this may have been his objective all along, to get attention on his issue. some supporters like mitch mcconnell he's supporting the effort of defunding obamacare

but he was not supportive of what senator cruz was doing. senator mccain said i've been here a long time, and i remember when we thought this issue out, the other side won. in 2012 the american people went to the polls. they re-elected president obama. senator cane said i may not like it. he was his presidential contender four years earlier, but he said the people have spoken. we need to move forward for this process and focus on other issues. we heard a funny equip from chuck schumer, out of new york, and wondered if he had paid attention to the green eggs and ham that was read on the senate floor. it was something tha about somee

trying something new and liked it and tried it. >> they also quoted duck dine dy last night. they warned house speaker john boehner that the government is going to run out of money in mid-october. what does that mean? are they heeding the treasury secretary's warning? >> reporter: the big fight is keeping the government funded past monday night when the government face as shutdown unless government can come to an agreement. but a much fiscal issue looms. they will run out of money in the sense that the bills going out are bigger than the money coming in and cash on hand. we saw the treasury hit it's spending limits back in spring, but they were able to use extraordinary efforts to extend

ththe funds. >> thank you very much. the united states is the 91st country to sign on the u.n. arms treaty. controls regulation in controlled sales of arms. >> this is about keeping weapons out of the hands of terrorists and rogue actors. this is about reducing the risk of international transfers of conventional arms that will be used to carry out the world's worst crimes. this is about keeping americans safe and keeping americans strong. >> now that has not stopped gun rights groups from opposing the treaty. it still has to be ratified by the u.s. senate.

>> u.n. inspectors have gone back to syria looking for chemical weapons. john terrett, up next the u.n. supremsecurity council, what ne? >> reporter: he's on the go from 5:00 in the morning to 11:00 most days. he signed the arms treaty. now we're told he is in the u.s. chair in a security council meeting involving the five permanent members, great britain, france, china and russia, and they'll meet to discuss syria. what will happen is they'll meet for however long it takes to meet, and then ambassadors or representatives will come out and give a statement here at the u.n. or they won't.

or the security council will offer a fairly lame statement or. won't. this is not the kind of meeting that generates headlines. this is a working meeting, and they're using the advantage of all these world leaders, secretaries and ambassadors all at one place to try to get things done. >> john yesterday the focus was on iraq. today it is syria as weapons inspectors have gone back into the country looking for chemical weapons again. this is their second trip in weeks. what do we know? what precipitated that meeting behind closed doors. >> a lot. yesterday they used the cover of the speech, they're working together with their secretaries and diplomats and ambassadors they were able to push things along quite nicely. you know the agreement to rid syria of its chemical weapons,

it needs to be turned into a security council resolution, and not much has happened on that front. they were hoping to have it done by last week and they didn't. the result of that was that these inspectors have gone back into syria today to begin calculating whether or not what bashar al-assad said he has in his stock piles are true. we found out from al jazeera late last night from two senior members there could be some agreement within the five permanent members of the council thursday, and possibly a resolution on the table for friday. no promises. it's just a possibility at the moment. there has been significant progress on what needs to be done, ie get the security council resolution on ridding syria of its chemical weapons. that's what is going on here on the sidelines of the general assembly. >> john terrett. thank you very much. all of this coming less than 24 hours after that pr offensive,

if you would, concerning the new president of iran, hassan rouhani. earlier i spoke to israel's minister of strategic and intelligence affairs for international relations. i actually started by asking him about the israeli decision to walk out on president rouhani's address. >> well, because we didn't see so far substantial change in the iranian quotes of its nuclear program regarding the state of israel. we held yesterday a different tone, but no real changes in iranian policy. president rouhani did not commit himself, did not comply with the existing u.n. security council

resolutions which takes uranium enrichment out of iran. even this was not said in his speech. so the rhetoric is different, the form, but it's the same. >> clearly you're not buying into this lat latest pr offensiy the iranians. do you have intelligence to back up your concerns? >> yes, we have very good intelligence which makes it very clear that what we see is a charm offensive, and an attempt to it deceive and to appease the west in order to gain very convenient understanding of agreement that would enable iran to exist with its nuclear

project. we don't have to go to confidential material materials. hassan rouhani wrote a book in persian three years ago. in his book he's very proud of himself to win over and achieve the west. he talked about the negotiations he was leading, and he said he was sophisticating us to appease the west, to make minor concessions, and to save the iranian nuclear project for military tactic, from economic sanctions. only since a sophisticated diplomatic schemes. this is what he's saying himself. we need to be careful not to be

cheated once again. >> do you feel that he's pulling the wool over the eyes,. >> it is not just an israeli problem. it is a threat to the rest of the world. this is a global threat. if iran goes nuclear it will change the course of history and will create a dangerous new world. >> specifically in u.s.-iranian relationship, if it improves will that hurt u.s. relationship with israel? >> look, we are not against, on the contrary, if diplomatic solution is possible, this is the best option, also from the israeli perspective. but look, what rouhani might be willing during the speech

yesterday, to sign on something similar, the 2007 agreement with north korea. in 2007 there was an agreement with north korea, an. now they have nuclear weapons. there was an agreement with libya. in libya the nuclear industry was totally dismantled. there were some assurances tha,d now we know where that is at. libya never made nuclear weapons because it was dismantled. north korea did produce the weapon finally.

>> when we talk about dismantling of nuclear weapons i want to go back to the strike by the israeli government on what was perceived to be a nuclear there. how concerned with you about the diplomatic effort by united states and russia to enter into an agreement with syria and weapons of mass destruction. >> i heard it like you. there was an illegal clandestine nuclear in syria, and someone destroyed it. with regard to chemical weapons in syria, this is a political break through, but we have to wait and see to if this is cooperatively implemented. by the way, we can learn a

lesson. look what happened. for almost a year everyone knew that assad regime was using chemical weapons here an and th, and nothing happened. president obama claimed they crossed the red line, and it continued. but one month ago, he threatened syria, and suddenly there is a diplomatic break through. the syrians finally committed themselves to dismantle the chemical weapons, and we have to learn a lesson that economic and military pressure worked and it might work with iran. >> that is israel's minister of strategic affairs. we have breaking news from the

senate. senators, as you can see are still voting, but the motion has the votes needed to move forward. this according to the senate majority leader. it would keep the government running until december 15th but takes money away from obama health reform law. calling for action against the assad regime, but we're now hearing the rebels on the ground are dissociating themselves from the political opposition. al jazeera live in turkey along the syrian border. what do we know about this announcement and its implications? >> every time we thought the syrian crisis could not get more complicated it really takes a turn to the worse. this deals a rather big blow to any diplomatic efforts to reach

a political resolution to the crisis in syria. it essentially highlights the extent of the divisions between the syrian opposition, the disconnect between the politicians, the dissidents who are operating in exile versus the rebels who are actually fighting on the ground. this announcement was made by 13 rebel brigades crucial, important brigades. don't forget there are so many rebel groups fighting on the ground, and they, too, are divided. but these are 13 important groups not only groups linked to the islamic group but also brigades associate with the western-backed free syrian army. this announcement could not have come at worse timing, really. it comes at a time when the international community is gathered at the united nations general assembly. you've got russia, united

states, members of the united nations trying to forge a path forward to agree on a date, on a timing for a peace conference in geneva to bring the optio opposn and the syrian government together to reach a solution. when you have rebels on the grounds saying they no acknowledge the opposition politicians it begs the question when will represent the syrian opposition at that geneva conference. the person who gains to stand from it, of course, bashar al-assad. >> thank you very much. when we come back, the latest on that deadly earthquake that has killed hundreds. a massive shock creating it's own island.

>> in pakistan the death toll is now climbing following that powerful earthquake that has left more than 300 people dead. thousands more have been injured. 7.7 magnitude quake shaking the southwestern coast of macstan. it was so powerful that it created a small island. we report from baluchistan. >> reporter: houses flattened and hundreds wounded. it was the epicenter of the earthquake which hit southwest pakistan. >> it all happened within a minute. everything was destroyed. when we went back even the little place where we kept water was gone. >> we took out some bodies and injured but there are no facilities here. >> we don't know how many are dead. half of us are alive.

half of our families are gone. >> reporter: it's so remote it was within a few hours before the injured or dead could be removed to hospitals hospitals. >> the earthquake has created difficulties to reach out to earthquake survivors. it also takes eight hours from the capital to reach the district. >> reporter: an emergency o staf emergency has been announced, air ambulance and soldiers are taking part of rescue efforts. >> we started relief work and some of our teams have reached the affected areas. more health centers have been established. >> reporter: in april a 7.8 magnitude quake hit the same province. scores have been killed in

earthquakes in 2011 and 2008. but there seems to be little preparedness to dole with such disasters. pakistan government has been fighting a bloody insurgency there. but they accuse the government for not allocating enough resources and funds. it's the people regularly suffering from natural disasters only to see them compounded by manmade ones. al jazeera. >> we want to take you live back to washington dc capitol hill where the senate has voted to move forward aimed at diverting the possible government shut down on october 1st. libby casey is on capitol hill. is this the republican version of the bill, and if so is it dead on arrival in the democratically-controlled senate? >> reporter: the senators are voting to bring the bill to the floor and open up debate. it seems that we've been hearing

debate on this bill already, especially if your name is senator ted craz cruz. this is the house version. it is to keep the government running, and it defunds obamacare. the bill will change as it goes through the amendment process in the senate. this essentially will be dead on arrival by the time it gets out of here. a lot of members of congress are supporting this vote, including senator ted cruz even though he spent the last 20-some areas staging a bill of a filibuster in spirit a talk-athon, he voted to end the debate and get this bill to the senate floor. both parties move the bill forward. >> ted cruz now being attacked by members of his own party. who is lining up to say that they thought it was a waste of time. >> senator john mccain is one

of the strongest voices, look, you guys are new. senator cruz, you're a freshman. i've been here a long time. we've already debated the obamacare and in 2012 president obama was re-elected. this is not the time to talk about this. he is not sayin saying that this shouldn't be debated or discussed but this is not the time or place. the pr of this, the public relations is going to be important next week as we get closer to reaching this government shutdown moment. if republicans and democrats and house and senate can't come together this week, then we really could see a government shutdown happen monday night. the concern is who is going to get the blame for that, and how will they pick up the piece it is that happens? >> libby, i suspect with 50 members of the tea party across the hall there is a different feeling about this bill coming their way. are we looking at falling off that clip on october 1st and

shutting down the government? >> reporter: members of the hours who are conservative republicans say you wanted to see this happen. you want to see democratically-controlled care on the table. you got your wish. but now it will ultimately get kicked back to them can john boehner, who controls the house of representatives, could they move forward to keep the government running but deal with this issue of healthcare law. president obama will not sign any legislation that will defund his signature healthcare law. an update for you. it's unanimous. every senator voted for moving forward to bring this bill to debate on the senate floor. despite all the wrangling we're going to move forward and it is unanimous in the senate. >> libby case, very much thank you for following this ongoing

debate for so long. thank you, libby. when we come back it is one more the record books. years after physical adversity a proud student is graduating with a very special honor.

>> welcome back. i'm del walters. we want to take you back to capitol hill where we have less than a week to go before the potential government shutdown. the senate just voted to begin debate on that bill that might keep the government open. the u.s. has now become the 91st nation to sign on to the u.n. arms trade treaty. secretary john kerry signing that document this morning. it establishes regulations to control arms sales. kerry said the treaty will not affect gun sales here in the u.s. opposition groups are splitting from their rebel leadership changing the dynamic in the middle east. and you don't have to be a sailing fan to appreciate an amazing comeback by team usa in the america's cup after being down 8-1 against the new zealand team, and on the brink of losing the cup, team usa won seven straight races.

it is now tied at 8-8, and a race off the coast of san francisco will determine who takes home the cup. a 99-year-old woman who dropped out of high school after a diving accident, she dropped out 80 years ago. she needed, get this, just one more credit to graduate. now for years she called it one of her biggest regrets. well, on monday the school board, as you can see, gave her an honorary diploma. congratulations. we want to thank you for watching al jazeera. "techknow" is next, and remember for all of the developments concerning the latest on capitol hill you can always go to www.aljazeera.com where the debate continues as you can see from these live pictures from capitol hill. they'vthey have heard everythinm

duck dynasty to dr. seuss. www.aljazeera.com, we're there 4 hours a day.