welcome to al jazeera america. i'm stephanie sy. here are the stories we're following for you. >> the american people don't want their government shutdown and neither do i. >> the house speaker fires back at the president. john boehner tells democrats they need to talk. the secretary of state arrives in asia for two summits in place of the president. plus gearing up for tropical storm karen with hears it could turn into a hurricane. the federal government has been shutdown for four days and

both sides still refuse to budge, meaning the shutdown could last for some time. house speaker john boehner has denied reports that he'll allow a democratic vote to pass a debt ceiling increase. the president has canceled trips to asia. we have two reports, randall pinkston is in washington, but we begin with libby casey on capitol hill. libby, good afternoon, what is the latest from the hill? >> well the house continues to take this series of votes to fund individual parts of government. today they are focused on fema and the national weather service. and then they will be in at work tomorrow morning voting on getting those furloughed government workers back pay. they passed the house, but they won't go anywhere in the senate. the other body said we're

looking at the whole budget picture. we heard today from house speaker john boehner. house republicans have been doing a series of public relations moves here on capitol hill, he has not been there. well this morning we heard from him and he's sticking to the republican perspective. >> this isn't some damn game! the american people don't want their government shut down and neither do i. all we're asking for is to sit down and to have a discussion and bring fairness -- reopen the government and bring fairness to the american people under obamacare. it's as simple as that. >> that is speaker boehner. well we're still hearing the same differing perspectives from senate democrats. harry reid spoke this morning, and he recalled yesterday's

dramatic events when capitol police rushed to a scene of a woman in a car chase. here is senator reid. >> congress owes it to them and every american family to get past our disagreements and reopen the united states federal government. this is just hard to comprehend, mr. president what is going on all because president obama's signature legislative issue that we were so fortunate to pass to allow all americans to have health care. >> senator reid speaking there. you hear that the sides at least publicly are not any closer to shutting down the debacle than they were days ago. >> publicly, yes, and yet we're hearing more about quiet

secretive movements is anything changing with regards to that and the infighting within the party. >> politics in washington is always things happening above the water and things happening below the water that you can't see. house republicans say it's time to give up the fight over the federal healthcare law that has already been litigated, let's move on from that fight and deal with the fiscal situation. some of them do speaker boehner's ear, but the speaker is publicly giving the perspective that he is sticking to the game plan. all he has to do is put forth a big-picture spending bill, and it is believed that it would pass the house. at this point the house speaker, not showing any movement on that front. we'll be watching this as the story develops today. but the debt ceiling is really going to come into play here.

because house speaker boehner said i date of birth want to breach this debt limit. that doesn't necessarily mean that he has folded; that he has caved. he might go for raising the debt ceiling for a couple of days or weeks. >> it seems so intrackable right now. libby casey reporting from the hill. thank, libby. and we'll go live now to randall pinkston. randall so the president decided to cancel the rest of his asia trip. does that mean he is working to end the shutdown? >> the president says he is going to be available to take whatever steps are necessary as he calls on the republicans to vote a clean bill to reopen the government and then raise the debt ceiling. but speaker boehner is also sticking to his guns. a statement released says that

if the legislation that the house has approved, the piecemeal legislation to keep open veteran's affairs and others, if those pieces of legislation do end up at the white house, the president will veto them. secretary of state kerry is standing in for the president at the asian conference. the president had earlier canceled his visits to the philippines and malaysia. also today another front in this debate over the budget, we have unions representing furloughed workers demonstrating on the steps of the capitol saying that they want lawmakers to do their jobs, reopen government, get people back to work so that they can get paid. >> we're here to tell those members of congress who think

they can use federal employees as pawns to score political points that they cannot do that. federal employees deserve much better than that. they serve our country every single day. they have mortgages and rent to pay, they have children and tuition, they have elderly parents they are trying to help and support. >> now as we have heard speaker boehner throw down the gauntlet this morning with his strong statement of connecting obamacare to whatever the house does, we now have some more mild words coming from senate majority leader harry reid who in his opening comments referenced the fact that perhaps he had been guilty of being too strident, perhaps too personal in calling on all members of congress to dial back the rhetoric. nothing substantive there, but perhaps we can take some comfort in a little bit of movement in the optics.

>> yeah a little bit of friendliness, i guess randall. back to the furloughed workers, there has been discussion about back pay, which every shutdown going back to 1977, federal employees have gotten back pay. could this time be different? >> the house of representatives is going to hold a session tomorrow. the house leaders a few minutes ago said that they will take a vote on assuring federal workers that they will get their back pay once the freeze is over. we don't know if they are going to attach to that legislation an attempt to defund or delay obamacare. because anything with obamacare on it is going to get nixed by the man in the house behind me. >> what about these talks of a grand bargain. because of this collision of the debt ceiling and the shutdown coming to a head, that there might be more bigger issues that

end up being on the table? >> there has been talk of a grand bargain going back to 2011 when speaker boehner and president obama seemed to be very close to reaching a deal. so now what we're hearing, one writer described it as discussions about discussions. the president, the senate majority heard, the house minority leader say they are willing to talk about the budget, but they don't want to tie it to continuing the government of raising the del ceiling. >> thank you, randall. the morning rallied had been slowed on the tough talk by speaker boehner about helping ebb the stalemate, but the dow is up 42 points right now.

details are emerging about mirian kerry, the woman that was shot yesterday in the police chase. her mother said her daughter was suffering from postpartum depression. residents along the gulf are getting ready for tropical storm karen. homeowners are boarding up windows, stacking sandbags and stockpiling food and supplies. bay st. luis is one of those lou-lying areas. ben how is the storm prep going over there? i know those folks are pretty used to these types of things?

>> reporter: yeah, they are used to them, but look they always have an eye on something this important especially after all of the experience they have had certainly in the last ten years. we have spoken to a lot of people in the community here, certainly in bay st. louis, i spoke to people along the gulf coast coming here this morning who say obviously this isn't going to be a katrina or camille type situation, they don't anticipate, but they are taking all the precautions they can. people are boarding up some windows, but not to the degree you would expect in the past. but people are very concerned and this thing should be hitting them, and right along the coast here they have no protection. >> are people down there worried about how the government might handle this potential emergency,

given the shutdown? >> reporter: yeah, you know, absolutely. and that being said, fema has recalled some workers to come here specifically louisiana representative cedrick richmond wrote a letter to the president asking that fema workers come back to the gulf coast even given the shutdown, and that request has been granted. and president obama reactivated the hurricane liaison team. this is the team that deals with the hurricane center in miami who translates the message of how dangerous the storm can be to the dish states. you have to keep in mind, we have 350 miles of coast between new orleans and destine, florida, which is where the anticipated landfall should be. so people really need to be cognizant of what is going to

effect them. so, yes, the federal endeavor is a very important component of this. >> you are in mississippi, what do we know about what other areas of the gulf coast are doing to prepare now? >> reporter: kind of the same thing. piggybacking on what i just said, it's really tough to prepare for a hurricane. it's so different from a wildfire or tsunami. there are days to prepare, but these things shift. they have to do -- as our weather people have said with the temperature of the water, the currents of the water, the -- the way that the air flows, so everybodieiesiest -- everybody essentially is preparing for everything they can. they are boarding up windows and buying batteries. they know this is going to produce a lot of wind, a lot of rain, and they have to protect their houses and families. >> all right.

thanks, ben. and let's take a look at the track of tropical storm karen. bringing in jelelah ahmed. >> i believe people are saying it looks like the track of katrina because it is pushing towards new orleans. right now it is situated in the central gulf of mexico. you can see it there spinning. most of the activity is toward the east of the storm. we're going to continue to watch it move through today into tonight and tomorrow as well. it's going to take a north, herself in northwest -- track. it will make landfall really to the east of mobile, alabama

where it will become a tropical storm and then we will see wind and rain. >> does this tornado have the threat of spawning tornados in the midwest? >> yes, this tropical storm does have the threat -- >> did i say tornado -- i meant tropical storm. very important. >> absolutely. the tropical storm does have the threat to create tornados once it pushes on shores. but the threat in the midwest is a bit different. we have cold front that is getting ready to push through across areas by minneapolis and all the way down. we had a few isolated tornados yesterday, and today that threat exists as well. >> meanwhile it's october, and i understand there is a blizzard possibility somewhere? >> absolutely. we'll go back to the maps for just a moment.

you can see the cold front extending across colorado and wyoming, and we're looking at blizzard-like conditions in the black hills. out of the denver international airport we have flight delays in excess of about an hour. this cold air mass will interact with that warm air mass. where you see the difference in the temperatures is where the instability is and that's where you will see strong storms today. where you see the blue pi pink -- mixing in with the pink, that's where you are going to have precipitation there. >> why do i think this is going to be a busy weekend for al jazeera meteorologist. jelelah ahmed thank you. >> thank you. pope francis is in the italian town of asisi.

he asked the church to quote strip itself of worldliness because it, quote, leads to vanity, arrogance, and pride. he is working on his mission to transform the catholic church. the pontiff has assembled three committees to make the church more transparent and less removed from its followers. the u.s. is about to hit its debt limit which would cause global consequences. ♪ investigates wage practices in the restaurant industry. >> the employers have the upper hand out here. they can steal from you and face very little if any consequences. >> basically this industry is saying, "we don't have to pay these workers at all. they should work for us but we don't have to pay them. >> two thirds of low-wage workers experience wage theft every week. >> you're telling me that these people are allowed to treat people like this and you can't do anything?

>> obama administration officials said they need to enrol 2.7 u.s. redents between the ages of 18 and 35 in exchange plans to balance risks and hold down costs. will they enrol come 1 october - should they pay the face. >> joining me now is jen mishory, deputy director of young invincibles, she's in washington d.c. and yevgeniy feyman, a research assistant at the manhattan institute. thank you for being with us. i want to start with you yevgeniy feyman. the young people are crucial to the success of obamacare. >> absolutely. they'll balance out the risk pool, they'll keep premiums that need the insurance, and the administration is reaching out to them. >> jen, the young invincibles

are in the 18-34 group. my name is jonathan betz. i'm from dallas, texas, and i'm an anchor for al jazeera america. >>my name is ranjani chakraborty, i'm from houston, texas. >>i'm kim bondy. >>nicole deford. >>and i'm from new orleans. >>san francisco, california. when i was a little kid, i just really loved the news. >>news was always important in my family. >>i knew as a kid that was exactly what i wanted to do. >>i learned to read by reading the newspaper with my great-grandfather every morning. >>and i love being able to tell other people stories. >>this is it, i want to be a part of this. >>this is what really drove me to al jazeera america. welcome back to al jazeera america, i'm stephanie sy. and here are your headlines. a state of emergency is declared in mississippi, louisiana, and 18 countries across florida. tropical storm karen is about to hit the coast. officials telling people in low-lying areas to move to

higher ground. house speaker john boehner is telling democrats they need to talk. he spoke a short time ago and said republicans don't want the shutdown and says the president is not willing to compromise. the government shutdown has lead to some tense conversations between a kongman and a furloughed worker at the world war ii memorial in washington, d.c. for the second day in a row veterans showed up at the memorial trying to get in. a furloughed worker lashed out at a congressman. >> how do you not allow them access? >> it's difficult. >> this woman is doing her job just like me. i'm a 30-year federal veteran, and i'm out of work -- >> the reason you are is because mr. reid -- >> no it's because you are not

doing your job. any government shutdown is just one part of the big fiscal debate taking place in washington. the u.s. is about to reach its debt limit and not raising it could have serious consequences. >> hello, everybody. >> reporter: u.s. president barack obama on the road with a message. >> and we can get back to the business of governing and helping the american people. >> reporter: shutting down the u.s. government is one thing, the next big thing for congress is a much bigger deal for the entire world. >> though united states is the center of the world economy, so if we screw up, everybody gets screwed up. the whole world will have problems. which is why generally nobody has ever thought to actually threaten not to pay our bills. >> reporter: but that is what the republican-controlled house is threatening, to refuse to

allow the u.s. to borrow any more money unless the president agrees to a list of demands. in about two weeks that means the u.s. government won't have enough cash to pay all of its bills meaning it could decide to default on its debt. the head of the international monetary fund describes finding a solution as mission critical. >> the government shutdown is bad enough, but failure to raise the debt ceiling would be far worse, and could very seriously damage not only the u.s. economy, but also the entire global economy. >> reporter: if the u.s. defaults on its debt, some possible outcomes, stock markets panic. the value of the dollar plummets. banks stop lending money. interest rates climb, making everything in the u.s. much more expensive, slowing the u.s.

recovery. irene foster says all of that puts other countries currencies at risk. >> where is capital going to flow? countries like brazil are very attractive to the global market. so capital might flow from the u.s. to brazil which will cause currency issues. it's hot money and flows fast and quickly, and so countries often can't recover fast enough when that happens. >> reporter: all of those dire predictions come with one caveat, everyone thinks that's what will happen, but they don't know, because it has never hand before. other countries have defaulted on their debt, but they weren't the world's largest economy. jpmorgan chase is taking the chase out of jamie diamond's

portfolio. one of the big questions on wall street today, when will twitter start trading? now that the social media giant has begun the process of preparing to sell shares to the public, speculation as growing as to when. some reports say it could be around thanksgiving. and one entrepreneur says twitter has the ability to be big. >> building awareness and that back and forth communication, it's not one way communication, you are able to hear from the consumer, react it to in real time, real build that deep engagement. >> analysts are speculating that twitter shares will be valued at 28 to $30 each. syria's president says turkey will suffer the consequences for backing opposition rebels trying to

overthrow him. he accused turkey of allowing terrorists to cross its border into syria. turkey has been one of the stanchest supporters of the syrian opposition. anti-coup protests have broken out in several egyptian cities today. demonstrations in cairo turned violent when police fired at protesters in several districts. the muslim brotherhood supporters marched in crack down on the group. up next, the latest on fifa's 2022 world cup decision. ç]

fifa the main governing body for socker is wrapping up a two-day conference in zurich. they decided to delay a decision on moving the games from summer to winter.

they are concerned about the heat during the up coming qatar world cup in 2022. a vote is expected next year. ♪ well good afternoon, all eyes are on the gulf of mexico, as tropical storm karen continues to turn her way north, northwest. we're monitoring the system, the bulk of the activity -- the energy i should say associated with this strong area of low-pressure is off to the north and the east of the storm. there's strong westerly winds which are intributing the development really on the left side here. so we're going to continue to monitor the system, and we expect it to stay a tropical storm given the strong westerly winds pushing in from the west.

we're going to continue to monitor the chance to see damaging winds and also heavy rainfall along the i-10 corridor. elsewhere we have a winter storm unfolding across wyoming into south dakota -- [ technical difficulties ] -- the day a lot of that energy, you can see the cold air from rapid city all the way to eastern portions of south carolina -- south dakota. we have a lot of instability and the chance to see damaging winds and hail and the chance for isolated tornados. so we really want to monitor this through the course of the day, iowa particularly. if we have anymore updates i'll share them with you. stephanie back to you. >> jelelah thank you.

"the stream" is next, and you can always head to our website, aljazeera.com. hi, i'm lisa fletcher, and you are in the -- "the stream." how is social media contributing to chicago's gun violence? ♪ the numbers are staggering, gunfire results in chicago about every five hours. this year alone more than 330 violence. >> you pull up on to any corner, and it -- it's almost like