welcome to al jazeera america, i'm stephanie sy, here are the stories we're following for you. >> we call upon speaker boehner, let your members vote. >> senate democrats call out john boehner as he gets ready to talk to the president about the government shutdown. millions of people logged in, but not everyone got signed um for government-backed health care. tom clansy dies. remembering the man who brought us jack ryan. ♪ we are seeing some movement

on an effort to end the federal government shutdown. the white house says president obama will meet with congressional leaders tonight as lawmakers debate how to end the shutdown, hundreds of thousands of federal employees still don't know when they are return to work. >> 800,000 americans who show up every day to keep america working so america can be safe, secure and also meet compelling human need. >> and those of us who are opposed to the federal government running healthcare in this country do so not out of pettiness or meanness or lack of concern for our fellow citizens, but because we want to diminish the role of the federal government in our lives. >> our mike viqueira is live at the white house now. mike, good morning, is there any more progress to report in

>> the arguments are extremely familiar as you just heard, stephanie. it appears at this point the sides are hardening if anything. the republicans in the house right be considering throwing in the towel, at least house leadership, it appears now we are melding into the next deadline, and that is that congress has to vote allow more borough. the white house announcing that they have invited the constructional leaders here to talk. you might say this is kind of odd, after two days of the government shutdown the president finally having a face-to-face meeting. the last time he spoke with these leaders was monday night, and he spoke with them on the phone. republicans are spinning this as the white house wanting to negotiate. the white house has a vastly different take on what is happening here. meanwhile as we pointed out the arguments are familiar.

they continue in the halls of congress and on the senate floor. here is dick durbin and john cornyn calling opposite viewpoints. >> why wouldn't he call this measure for a vote in the house? i tell you why, he knows it will pass because every democrat will vote for it and moderate republicans will vote for it. >> they are refusing any compromise. my way or the highway. >> you hear dick durbin make that point all that john boehner would have to do is put it on the floor and it would pass easily. it is just not the way it is done, oddly enough. >> isn't the other problem for speaker boehner is his party is rather divided on this issue. >> all along that's absolutely true, stephanie.

democrats have been united through the white house to the senate democrats and the house democrats, and one of the interesting aspects of this is the white house while the president sort of hammers republicans in public statements yesterday he was in the rose garden with beneficiaries of the affordable care act which obviously as we know enrollment for the exchanges happened yesterday, but he has left it to harry reid to carry on the tactics, and harry reid has drawn a very hard line. democrats think they have the advantage here. they think if they can keep pressuring john boehner to do something, to allow a vote on the house floor, then he is ultimately going to crack. and while as i say it appeared that way in the initial stages, now there appears to be a hardening on the part of the republicans. we'll see how it goes stephanie. >> mike, thank you. randall pinkston looks at the people behind the rhetoric and the numbers. >> reporter: the shoutdown is

expected to furlough 800,000 federal workers across the nation including tax collectors and food inspectors. >> i don't understand why the activity of the government should be stopped because of concerns about one aspect of legislation. >> reporter: the nation's capitol is being hit hard by the shutdown because tourism here is big business. visitors spend $6 billion a year generating more than 70,000 jobs. from national parks to national museums here in the district it was the same story, doors shut, tourists disappointed. you are taking a bike tour here. was this part of your plan? >> no it wasn't. we just thought since we can't get into any of the federally government run buildings this would be the next best way to see what is here. >> reporter: virginia settled for a snapshot outside of the

smithsonian. she and her husband are from oregon. >> our son who lives in oregon, his job, even though he works for the county, he could not work today because they use the communications system of the federal government. so it is amazing how many people in far-reaching areas of our country, and i would assume the world are effected. >> reporter: and at the world war ii memorial, men who fought for their country has to fight to visit the memorial build to honor them randall pinkston, al jazeera. it's not just here in the us. people around the world are trying to make sense of what the government shutdown means. phil joins us live from london. phil how if at all is this effecting america's global reputation?

>> reporter: yep, people on this side of the atlantic are really scratching their heads in confusion about this. it's not front page news. it must be said. when europeans do look at what is happening in the u.s., they simply don't understand it. the nuances of the debate are not what is being discussed. what is being discussed is an apparent america that has lost its direction. and looking at this on the heels of the syria incident. so on the global stage, stephanie it appears as though what is happening domestically in the states globally is causing reaction of confusion and a little bit of loss of faith. >> yeah, and i think a lot of americans frankly are confused as well, phil. but how is this effecting the world's economy if at all,

especially with the debt ceiling deadline looming? we're certainly starting to see a reaction from wall street, for example? >> yeah, the markets around the world here in europe in particular are kind of holding their breath and waiting to see what happens with that debt ceiling debate. right now the -- the european markets have taken minor hits here or there, the dollar has taken a hit, but really, it's matter of wait and see for what happens with the debt ceiling argument. europeans in particular very vary of that because the recovery of what is happening in the euro zone is so tenuous and anything that happens in the american economy will be felt here as well. >> all right. as we were mentioning with no apparent end in site for the government shutdown, wall street is reacting negatively as you

can see the big board now. investors had been betting the stalemate would be short lived. but now it is feared that the anger in washington might be so high that lawmakers might also not agree to raise the debt ceiling. as you can see the dow traded down substantially at this hour. people trying to sign up for health insurance coverage are still experiencing problems. heavy traffic has prevented some people from using online exchanges to buy a health insurance pollty. they are an important part of the health care reform law. president obama says the number of americans visiting the exchanges have far exceeded his expectations. the rollout of the health care act hit some states particularly hard. alan as that story.

>> washington is one of the 16 states running their own insurance exchanges. and the ceo has warned us all that there might be some bumps in the road. sure enough on day one, there was quite a bump. this woman drove more than an hour to get help enrolling in a new plan, but she didn't get very far. we spoke to her through an interpreter. >> translator: i'm not able to get this to cover my health, i'm not able to get all of the medication i need. >> reporter: administrators put the site in what they called maintenance road while they worked on it. more than 50 staff members went through training while they worked on the new plans to help their patients.

rebecca parker was all set to go but got the same rude welcome. >> i'm a little disappointed it is not up and running. >> reporter: this is a police where many indigent patients use the emergency room as a drop-in doctor's office. >> we care for a lot of patients that don't have any kind of health care coverage, and for many this will be the first time in their adult life that they have had any kind of medical coverage at all. >> reporter: in the afternoon the website came back up, but still didn't run smoothly. for this woman it was a disappointing day. >> translator: very excited and i also worry that i'm not able to get it. >> reporter: the state has eight

approved insurers shopping 46 different insurance plans and the website is the doorway for that information. and now right the door has been closed. tom clansy has died. his wife told the "new york times" that he passed away at a hospital in baltimore this morning. clansy was perhaps best known as the author for the hunt of red october and patriot games. tom clansy was 66 years old. with chemical weapons inspectors getting down to business in syria, today, the un is also taking action on the humanitarian crisis in the country. plus why some investors are reportedly trying to force bill gates out of microsoft. uncovers unheard, fascinating news stories?

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across the country, tourists hoping to visit landmark monuments have discovering they have been shut down too. there are [ technical difficulties ] >> tourists today has been the hardest part. especially the foreign visitors for most people like that, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. it's hard to tell them, you know, we're closed and, you know, will it be open tomorrow? i don't know. it's sad. >> fairies to the island still

pushed off for grumpy passengers who brought tickets weeks ago. >> stupid. what else can i say. stupid. >> fairies are still running but they are only allowed to circle the island. >> this family came in from arizona, and it is not as close as they had hoped. >> i think it's pretty pathetic. there are people that have come from europe and all over the world, and it's a shame. >> reporter: visitors to the statute generate $174 million a year for the local economy. from souvenir stands to the fairies. >> if this drags on people are going to be laid off. it is just not right. >> reporter: this is just one of many closures creating waves as a national beacon of freedom now

stands out of reach. a team of weapons inspectors is now in syria. the arms monitors will begin finding and destroying that country's chemical stockpile. a second group is scheduled to arrive later in the week. their location is being kept secret for safety reasons and because syria has the right not to reveal military secrets. kristin, good morning. how bad is the humanitarian situation on the ground in syria that the un has finally felt compelled to pass this statement. >> yeah, it's getting so bad that it's hard for the security council to continue to ignore. [ technical difficulties ]

4 million syrians displaced and at risk of starvation. and hospitals are being systematically attacked preventing care of the wounded. so humanitarian groups really lobbied hard to come out with this statement which calls for greater access in syria going across battle lines inside of syria. >> so it calls for better access, but is a un statement enforceable in the same way that a resolution might be? >> it doesn't have the same force that a resolution does, but it does carry a moral authority with it. it's the international community coming together and acknowledging that something should be done. that said there are concerns about implementation, and the humanitarian groups that i talked about are also calling for follow-up on the part of the security council to make sure there is indeed progress on the

humanitarian front. and one of the council members came out after the adoption of the statement and said that they went this route instead of a resolution, because they wanted to act quickly, and a resolution takes a long time to negotiate, and the need was for speed, but he held out the possibility of a resolution in the future if this statement doesn't have the desired effect. >> if a environment is that all aid is funneled through assad's regime how will it get to the liberated parts of the country? >> it calls for access across borders and across battle lines, so the intent i think of the security council is to open up all means of access to those in need inside syria. some of the places most in need are in fact very close to turkey and other states where the

quickest way to get to them would be to come across the border, but they are going to have to have cooperation somewhat. take a listen to what the syrian ambassador had to say. >> it's the overall effort to provide assistance to the syria people wherever they are. wherever they are. it should go through the syrian government and the office at the united nations. >> and the syrian government obviously very concerned about weapons and other items funneling across borders, and hence their desire to keep control of what comes into the country. >> thank you, kristin. ♪

the government shutdown might cause a delay in friday's government jobs report, but today's employment data is raising concerns on wall street. adp says just 160,000 private sector jobs were add last month, that's fewer than forecast. adp says cut back in government spending are now being felt in the job market. it's wait until next year for the keystone pipeline. the energy company does not expect the u.s. government to make a decision on the more than 2,000-mile pipeline by the end of 2013. the white house has held up approval of keystone because of environmental concerns. supporters say it will create thousands of jobs and create energy independence. three big ingresstors want bill gates out of the door. they feel his position is stifling the ability to move

forward. reuters adds there is no indication the board will ask gates to leave. classified documents shedding new lights on president clinton's division to intervene in the bosnian war. what the commander in chief says about his decision 20 years later. closest to the story, invite hard-hitting debate and desenting views and always explore issues relevant to you. 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 introducedç]

welcome back to al jazeera america, i'm stephanie sy. here are your headlines. there is some movement in the standoff over the federal government shutdown. president obama is set to meet with house speaker john boehner this evening. millions of people trying to log in for government-backed health care, but there were glitches. government officials say curious onlookers and repeat visitors could be blamed for the high volume. computer experts are working to fix the bugs. the soul survivor of a colorado mountain rock slide is alive today because her dad shielded her from the rocks.

there were five victims, rescuers are struggling to move the bolders, some weigh as much as 100 tons. ♪ i'm meteorologist nicole michelle and we'll going to start off with the tropics, because it has been a very quiet tropical season, and wouldn't you know when we have the government shutdown, now we have something going on. fortunately the national weather service, the hurricane center, the critical people are still in place, and they are needed because this system on the mouth of the gulf of mexico is looking like it is headed into the gulf of mexico. so over the next couple of days whether or not this drops that low-level circulation, it is still tracking towards the northern gulf.

the hurricane hunters who were furloughed are still able to investigate this later today to get the data back from what that system is doing. in the meantime we still have showers and definitely cloud cover. it's pretty hit and miss but you still might watch that as we get through the region. more widespread, but a big system has been moving across the northern tier of the country and that has been causing problems. northern parts of minnesota for example, a large wet weather cloud shield, but we are also going to notice a temperature drop. when the cold air funnels in from the 70s today to the 50s by friday in some cases. as we get towards the northwest a little more rain, but in the northern rockies that's why we need to be concerned with some of these areas getting snow and

high winds. nicole thank you. the cia has declassified intelligence relating to the bosnian war in the early 1990s. bill clinton spoke about the war and his role. andy gallagher reports. >> i spoke up in the middle of the night last night, and i couldn't go back to bed, i relived bosnia from start to finish. >> reporter: this is the first time a u.s. president has been part of a declassification of classified documents. he told the crowd that intelligence was vital in every decision his administration made. >> like all of history, there are many questions still pending, but the peace is held, because a long time ago with a lot of other things going on, good people were given good

information and made good decisions. [ explosion ] >> reporter: war in bosnia began almost 20 years ago, following the break upof yugoslavia. the serbian forces fought with others, and the conflict finally ended in 1995. the declassified documents were released early by the cia. for many it's about transparency. >> it's a very healthy for us who work these issues back in the '90s to now be able to stand back and look at those documents and see what incite we had. >> they were incites shared by former clinton advisors who came together for the release of the

documents. madeline albright said it wasn't always an easy process. >> it was okay to disagree, that was the whole point. and you can see us disagree in these documents. >> reporter: it's normally at least 25 years before documents are released. this symposium was basically a celebration of what the clinton administration views as one of its greatest achievements, lasting peace in bosnia. president clinton rallied allies to support strikes to prevent ethnic killing in the region. new york's famous fat lady goes silent after 70 years. the new york city opera is closing its doors and filing for bankruptcy. thank you so much for watching al jazeera america.

i'm stephanie sy. "the stream" is next. have a good morning. ♪