stand with your country, do you stand for your country? or do you want to take it down this evening? >> reporter: ankger in congress and part of the government starts to shut down. you are watching al jazeera live from doha and in the program a leading opposition member is sentenced to death for rape, torture and genicide in the civil war. the tax that could revitalize japan's economy may keep

customers out of the shops. and the largest show of military strength in south korea in a decade, the ceremony to mark the founding of the armed forces. ♪ hello and part of the u.s. government are being shut down, workers are temporarily laid off and offices are closing and tourist attractions won't be opening because politicians could not agree on a new budget for the coming year. democrats and republicans are blaming each other. >> the reason we are here today is that the speaker of the house refused to name budget negotiators in the senate blocked budget negotiations. why would they do that? because you have to compromise when you go to a budget negotiation, compromise on the budget, they didn't want to do that. so instead we have a very

deliberate and very calculated strategy, not to go through those negotiations but to wait until the government is on the precipice of shut down. >> it is unfolding on capitol hill in washington d.c. >> despite a last-minute offer to negate by republicans in the house of representatives that was an offer that was flatly rejected by the democrats in the u.s. senate because they said that they would only consider a funding measure that did not include language to dismantle the president's healthcare law that many call obamacare. as a result, because the two sides were not able to reach an agreement, the partial government shut down has now gone into effect. what does that mean? that means that more than 800,000 fed 8 workers will not be going to work, this includes things deemed nonessential. for example museums, passport processing, some school lunch

programs and even oversight for drug as well as for medical research, this will not be taking place. but what will be taking place is that the military will continue to operate, the president is signing into law a bill that will make sure that not only will the military operate but those 1.4 million in the military will continue to receive their pay checks, something that won't be guaranteed for many of the 800,000 plus federal workers who are not going into work and no guaranty they will be getting that pay retroactively. so a lot of strong feelings in the united states right now as a result of the fact that the u.s. congress elected to represent the people and was unable to continue to make sure the government designed to serve the people will remain open. there is already very strong feelings towards this congress, most polls showing there is a less than 10% approval rating for the u.s. congress when

americans discover that the fact of the government shut down, the partial government shut down has not been averted and expect the numbers to go even lower in terms of approval rating. >> reporter: and japan prime minister is announcing a controversial measure to revitalize the economy, a sales tax hike from 5-8% is expected to increase prices in the shops, that is the japanese prime minister talking live right now and also an attempt to reduce the country's huge debt burden which is fueled by looking after an and expanding elderly population. and wayne hey joins me now from tokyo and what do people say about the effect it could have on the economy? >> well, i think there is an air of inevitability really that something has to be done to get the economy back on track and to begin to start to reduce their huge government debt that is

among the highest in the world. so of course no one wants to pay more for goods at the shops but there is an air like i say inevitability and most people seem to believe that something needed to be done. there are a lot of concerns though about what effects this may have on the economy, the japanese economy had been doing quite nicely after 15 years of deflation and grow by 4% and there is a large percent of the society to raise the sales tax when the japanese economy is just starting to come right may be a little bit too early and may dampen the growth we are seeing at the moment. >> reporter: indeed wayne and for the reasons you outlined this is something of a gamble isn't it. how much of a political risk is he taking on in this decision? >> well some people are already

giving him credit because this has been flagged for some time and really what we are seeing now from the prime minister is a rubber stamp exercise and he is getting credit to make brave, tough decisions, decisions that may be unpopular with a large section of japanese society, the ones he and his government feel have to be made for the long-term future of the country. but it is a huge political risk. back in 1997 when the last sales tax increase occurred, it went from 3-5% soon after that and the country dipped into recession and sure there were external economic factors that contributed to that and the prime minister at the time was ultimately forced from office and people of course are hoping that doesn't happen this time and seeing so many prime ministers in japan over resent years and so much political upheaval that no one wants to

see that happen again but there is a possibility it will be a big political risk for him. >> reporter: a closely-watched move and wayne hey is live in tokyo and thanks very much. and south korea is celebrating 65 years since the foundation of its armed forces. to mark the event is the biggest ever military parade, 11,000 soldiers are participating in air and ground demonstrations and u.s. defense secretary chuck hagel is the guest of honor and it's a show of force to north korea as the neighbor continues its suspected nuclear weapons program. and they are watching the parade in seoul. >> every five years south korea marks the day with a large milita military parade and 11,000 troops and more than one hundred

aircraft involved and it's very much a demonstration and the current capabilities particularly with regard to the threat of nuclear weapons from north korea and they made it very clear at the speech at the ceremony earlier on saying in the future south korea would have a kill chain, a way of preempting a strike and striking it on the launch pad if it were detected ahead of time and an air missile defense system to protect south korea in the event of such a launch. we have seen unveiled publically for the first time a domestically south korean cruise missile which would be part of the kill chain process. but as well as the military hardware that is on display and what south korea relies on is the u.s. alliance and 28,000 u.s. troops in south korea and at the moment if there were a war the u.s. troops would be in command fighting any korean peninsula war.

u.s. defense secretary chuck hagel is in town and due to have talks with counterparts about that very issue. at the moment south korea is due to take operational control from 2015 but many feel it doesn't yet have the capacity to lead such a war and it wants to delay that process, so that will be the major part of chuck hagel's talks on wednesday. >> reporter: a new team of chemical weapons experts are due to start work in syria in the coming hours and inspectors from the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons are to cow late a list of syria stockpile to be destroyed and experts left the capitol damascus after completing the second mission in two months and looking into several alleged chemical attacks. 2 million people fled syria according to the united nations but not just the neighbors are feeling the pressure, refugees

make the journey by boat across the medeterrian and sicilly is where they end up. >> reporter: they travel across the desert to libya and then paid $2000 each to get on to a small boat to europe. they were rescued by the italian coast guard after three days at sea. >> translator: we were sitting up on the top deck and we looked underneath and shocked to find another 300 people below us. there was a storm and the boat took on water and we called for help. >> reporter: this man says the italian authorities forced them to be fingerprinted. and beating some of the refugees. >> we think this is a free country and italy as you know it, it's a democracy. why they ask like this i don't know. >> reporter: local authorities deny using force.

the southern town is already home to hundreds of african migrants. most of them want to leave italy and head for northern europe but while they are here they depend on local help. >> translator: i'm not a racist but this is an exceptional situation because now there are just too many of them here. why are they here and not other parts of italy? >> reporter: he is doing his best to calm tension but he admits his administration has run out of money. >> translator: there are many people here who are out of work, they can't pay their bills and there is a perception here the state is giving immigrants more attention than their own citizens. >> reporter: out at sea the italian coast guard waits for the next distress call. in the past year thousands of lives have been saved. very little the italian coast

guard can do once the migrants are in the water and they have to rescue them and take them to shore. the local magistrates are looking into the criminal gangs who are organizing the human trafficking. this recent footage shows the dramatic chase and the rare capture of a 30-meter vessel with almost 200 mostly syrian refugees. the italian border guards arrested several of the trafficics on board and hundreds of syrians and other migrants waiting for the next crossing to italy and running away from poverty and also war, risking everything for a chance at a better life. al jazeera. >> reporter: coming up, on al jazeera, the report from peru go rich amazon region and minors

are unhappy because police are destroying their equipment and the members of the party are back in court and we will be live in athens. ♪

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. ♪ hello again, reminder of the top stories on al jazeera, the white house has ordered a partial government shut down after congress failed to pass a budget and democrats and republicans remain deadlocked over efforts to defund a new healthcare law and a million public workers could lose pay but not everyone.

japan's prime minister is announce agree controversial measure to revitalize the economy and sales tax will increase from 5-8% and the price of goods is likely to go up and shops as a result of making the measure unpopular with consumers. south korea is celebrating 65 years since the foundation of its armed forces and to mark one of the big event is a parade and chuck hagel is the best of honor. our special war crimes tribal in bangladesh sentenced a leading figure from the main opposition party to death and he is a member of the bangladesh national list party and guilty of charges relating to the civil war in the 1970s. previous verdicts against leaders of another opposition group party sparked violent prozest and it was set up in

2010 to investigate war crimes between the 1971 war of independence with pakistan and al jazeera chad joins us live now from outside the court in beka, what has been the reaction there among the public in bangladesh, not only to this decision but to these trials overall? >> well, if you move around in the street you wouldn't see anything going on. there is a handful of people and freedom fighters association were in front of there and they are jubilant justice has been done. if you ask on average the bangladesh what they think of the war crime, they say they do want justice but people have question marks because it has been marked in controversy. just today i was speaking to some people and a document that

is a draft of the verdict actually was leaked out yesterday and it was found on the website in belgium and linked to alternative sites and what was there it leaked out from the law ministry, the ministry of parliamentary of law and secretary and the draft actually had line by line what the verdict was and that is kind of strange it has line by line verdict which actually leaked out a day ahead and it shows the draft was done in may 2013, some of witnesses were not even interviewed by then. so this is going to be quite scandalous if it's true and we don't know exactly what it is. we can't independently authenticate it yet but it's one scandalous document that will hurt the government down the road. >> the events of 1971 and the war of independence still although it was more than 40

years ago now it's something that still hits a raw nerve among people in bangladesh and why is that and why haven't there been more efforts perhaps at reconciliation here? >> well, there are people who say truth and reconciliation may have been better than do ing this to the country. and a lot of violence and several hours of the verdict and this is not the case today. the nationalist party high school not come out with a statement and the lawyer in the high courts say they are not happy with the verdict and justice and most people said it should have been done with 40 years ago but there has been so much controversy in the process. this government was this power in the 96 on ward, that is when they should have done it and haven't and now it's there, the government says if they come to

power, the bangladesh party they would continue with a verdict but not in this controversy, they want to be an international standard and marked without controversy so we have yet to see where it all end up in considering the election is so near, end of january, 2014 and parliament will desolved and so much to see. >> reporter: live in baka and thanks very much. in peace from the political party in greece are appearing in court and arrested over the weekend as part of a crack down on the far right party after the killing of an antique facist music and the group and leader are among 22 people arrested and greece's prime minister is promising to eradicate them from the political landscape and describes this as an neo-nazi

group and we are outside the courthouse in athens and john what are we expecting to happen at this arraignment? >> i think this is going to be a long process here today. i was speaking earlier to one of the lawyers for one of the defendants and she was telling me that each of the four mps that will present the first defense here today before a judge is also then going to see the prosecutor and together this judge and prosecutor will decide on the terms on which these defendants will await their trial. greek law allows them to be let out on bail without permission to leave the country and allows them to be let go until the trial date. but it also allows police to keep them in custody for up to 18 months. the four mps are the main item and three party officials and will be heard today so this is a protest likely to take the next several hours and go on until night fall. >> reporter: what is happening then on the political front with

all of this? >> on the political front the government has moved to ask parliament to vote for an amendment that will cutoff party funding from the state to any party with criminal indictments hanging over its members and its leadership and particularly indictments concerning espionage, the territorial of the country and the conspiracy to create conflicts between greece and other countries and weighty charges in the criminal code book and also the charges of conspiring to form a criminal organization or working for such an organization or for the committing of terrorist acts, all of these kinds of indictments if they are hanging over the heads of mps will cause their party to lose state funding if this amendment is voted through and further to that the parliament speaker has asked members of the house to vote for an immediate cessation

of pay out if you will of salaries to the six mps under indictment. >> thanks for that and john is live in athens. people in china are marking the 64th anniversary of when the country became a communist republicanic and they are taking part in a ceremony with flowers in bejing square and the first they were together since they were formally elected in february. bp accused of lying about how much oil was leaking in the initial days of the gulf of mexico spill in 2010. the british company is back in court for the second phase of a trial to determine how much damage it will pay over the spill. the u.s. government says 4.8 barrels leagued in the worst disaster in history and 11 people were killed and bp could pay fines of up to $18 billion.

and to u.s. generals have effectively been fired over their failure to defend the major base in afghanistan from a taliban attack. two u.s. marines were killed and eight others injuries when taliban fighters breached security last year. an investigation find charles and greg did not protect the base and the pair have been asked to retire early. afghanistan's presidential election season is getting underway and the man who lost out to current president hamid karzai is throwing his hat in the ring again and jennifer glass met him in kabul. >> reporter: he is critical of the current administration and blaming it for institutional corruption and widespread injusti injustice. >> we have a concern and that is the lack of commitment from the

ruling political class to the rule of love to the transparency of the elections to the fairness of the elections. >> reporter: he has reason to be concerned. he was the runner up in afghanistan's last presidential election in 2009, a vote widely seen as flawed. >> we should not step backward. if the elections are worse than before the people will be utterly disappointed and that will be a big blow to the efforts of stabilization of the country. >> reporter: the 2009 vote was marred by accusations of fraud, including the use of false voter id cards and poor security prevented voting in some areas. security remains a concern for next year's presidential election but in terms of fraud there is hope that technology might help and millions of afghans have phones and connect through social media and could mean access to otherwise hard to reach rural areas. after the first media summit a

debate on facebook and twitter in the elections and the former head of intelligence said they will not have a meaningful effect and the potential presidential candidate thinks they will allow ordinary afghans to monitor the vote. >> if they could see something huge happening they could just take the photo which is in evidence and tweet or put it on the facebook. >> reporter: and they are reaching afghans the traditional way and inviting them to the home and listening to their concerns. >> the people of afghanistan are confused. they don't know what sort of thing they are heading towards and that is because of lack of vision. >> reporter: april's election would mark the first democratic transfer of power in afghanistan's history, jennifer glass al jazeera kabul. >> reporter: and he went on tv

and accused of conspiring with the opponents to sabotage the economy and 48 hours to leave the country. >> translator: i have evidence in my hand and enough evidence gathered of the attitude of the officials, several officials at the u.s. embassy in venezuela violating international law with evidence and to be on the safe side we cannot accept this group of u.s. officials take action against the peace of the republicanic like this, no. >> reporter: mexicans are warned to bewarery of crocodiles washed into areas by resent storms and up to four meters have been caught and in a neighboring state said one attacked and killed a child and experts are attempting to relocate the reptiles to their natural habitat. in peru illegal gold mine is

worth more than the drug trade and trying to crack down on the mines but the miners say it's too restrictive and they are going on strike. >> reporter: the miners launched a nationwide strike with protests. they are unhappy because police are destroying their equipment to stop illegal mining, operations in the region. and this is what is left of his motor and now he can't work. >> translator: i still owe money and took a loan and missed the loan and depend on mining. >> reporter: gold mining, destroyed nearly 50,000 parts of the rain forest and it's completely illegal in protected areas and in areas where it's allowed lakes, rivers and ponds

must remain intact. >> translator: we need a law that does not prohibit us from working in areas where the gold is. >> reporter: the law says they have to become licensed by april of 2014 paying taxes and submitting environment impact studies among other missions. this is how they are doing the roadblocks along the highway and they say they will protest until the government changes the laws. but the government has vowed to stop the rain forest being devastated by fuels, metals and other contaminants. >> translator: the business of illegal mining, experts is worth $2 billion every year, that is much more than the illegal drug exports and we will attack it. >> reporter: they vowed to join the strike but the government says the operations will continue until the situation is

under control. and al jazeera. >> reporter: that does it for this half hour but remember there is plenty more on our website, you can get up to date with all of the latest stories al jazeera.com is the address, news and announcements is all there for you. >> the speaker is now midnight and the great government of the united states is now closed. >> at 1 12:01 in the morning th government shut down and why it happened and what the fall out may look like. ♪ good morning, this is al jazeera america and i'm thomas and good to have you with us, for the first time in 17 years the u.s. government has shut down. republicans and democrats in the house and senate could not come to a deal to pass a temporary budget to keep ts