are >> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm stephanie sy here are the stories we're following for you. >> republicans say they are willing to talk but democrats aren't listening. mandatory evacuations on the gulf coast due to tropical storm karen. and pope francis follows in the footsteps of his name make. ♪ ♪ it has been four days since the government shutdown and

there's no sign that anyone is willing to make the first move to end the stalemate. here are the latest headlines. 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 capitol hill? >> we're seeing a series of votes unfold this afternoon. the republicans are continuing their piecemeal approach. so we're looking at legislation that would do things like fund fema and the national weather service. also a vote regarding the programs that help the needy, and tomorrow they'll come in to session and tackle funding for

those furloughed workers to make sure they get back pay. some these bills may get life in the senate, but it's not going to solve the overall big-picture problem. house speaker john boehner is still sticking to the republican talking points. here he is this morning. >> this isn't some damn game! the american people don't want their government shutdown and neither do i. all we're asking for is to sit down and have a discussion, and bring fair -- reopen the government and bring fairness to the american people under obamacare. it's as simple as that, but it all has to begin with a simple discussion. >> you see there that republicans are saying the democrats are failing to negotiate. that's what the democrats are saying as well. even though there has been some chatter about potential movement or change, we're still right back where we started. yesterday was a dramatic day,

unexpectedly so on capitol hill because of that car chase. the woman who was driving the black sedan and the capitol police, members who were on the job the police force here in this building surrounding this building were engaging that woman, and we heard from majority leader harry reid about their efforts. here is harry reid. >> congress owes it to them and every american family get past their differences, work through our disagreements and reopen the united states federal government. this is just -- 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. >> so you see there, both sides

still stillen -- still en trenched. so the furlough and the fiscal situation still goes on. >> now we're joined by randall pinkston also from washington. randall good afternoon. first the president has canceled the rest of his trip to asia. that's not a small deal. does it mean he is working in washington to end the shutdown, that there is some new strategy? >> whether the president himself is coming up with a new strategy is totally unclear, you could even argue that he is standing by his position no negotiations unless congress votes a clean bill on reopening the government and another clean bill to raise the debt ceiling. there was a statement released saying that the white house was very sdis appointed with the house of representatives in its decision to pass piecemeal

legislation. republicans have decided that they want to reopen veterans affairs. reopen national institutes of health and other agencies of that sort. but white house white house leaders they say want all of the government open. we saw president obama and vice president biden taking a stroll along pennsylvania avenue to grab a sandwich for lunch. the president saying he went to that a particular establishment because it is offering 10% discounts to furloughed workers. some of the unions rallied outside of the capitol today calling on congress to reopen the government so they can get back to work. >> randall you almost wonder if the president should have had a sandwich with speaker boehner there, but furloughed workers have been given back pay after

every shutdown going back to 1977. is there a chance this time could be different? >> i vice president heard that. the republicans themselves intend to hold a vote tomorrow. they are having a saturday session specifically for the purpose of passing legislation that will guarantee all furloughed workers will get back pay once the shutdown is over. the question is whether the senate will accept their legislation, because if it contains anything on it about obamacare it won't work. and it is also unclear whether this legislation has to be part of a comprehensive deal. a lot of uncertainty, and the parties at this point are still at logger heads publicly. >> publicly, let's hope privately they are working something out. randall pinkston in washington. thank you. wall street appears to be shaking off the concerns about the government shutdown.

investors turn their focus away from washington and towards corporate headlines. mandatory evacuation orders have been issued for parts of the gulf coast as tropical storm karen approaches. home owners are boarding up windows, stacking sandbags and stockpiling food and supplies. mississippi bay st. louis is one of those low-lying coastal towns threatened by karen. that is where ben is. good afternoon. looks like a great weather day there, but i understand evacuations have been ordered in the region. >> yeah, it's tricky business when it comes down to these storms like this certainly along the gulf coast. these things move in quickly and, you know, as you just stated, suggestions for people to move out have now turned into

demands in some cases. specifically in the barrier isle of grand aisle, and in the parish of louisiana which is the most low-lying area. they have spoken to officials in both of those areas, and they people are slowly moving. they are not overly concerned but obviously cautious as always, so they are moving out right now. we are in bay st. louis where people are doing the same things. i have spoken to many families who just want to take the cautious route and want to get to a safer zone as this is right along the gulf. it has shifted to the west as you know over the last few hours, and calmed down a little bit, but these things change. they are a little touch and go, so we'll have to see and watch this thing every very carefully.

350 miles along the coast, so a lot of people keeping a close eye on this. look, i have covered this a lot. i have been in this area a lot for storms like this, and they are touch and go, you know? it's hard to gauge what is going to happen, because they shift -- [ technical difficulties ] -- hopefully can stall this thing over the gulf and dissipate it a little bit, but -- too [ technical difficulties ] change. but you do have some people boarding up and some people leaving. we talked to a lot of people in this area who said look, we're

just going to be careful and go to grandma's house or a hotel and just ride it out. for more let's fwling meteorologist jelelah ahmed. >> thanks stephanie. we are looking at tropical storm karen. this system is pack maximum sustained winds of 60 miles per hour as it turns north. and as ben said it is taking a little bit of a westerly turn here. we expect it to make landfall late saturday night into sunday morning as a tropical storm. to the west of pensacola, if that gives you any indication, most of the models really do agree on that consensus. they also agree that this system is going to produce a great deal of rain, up to 6 inches of rain

all the way back towards pensacola, maybe even as far east as tallahassee. folks there need to use precaution. meanwhile across the plains we have a monster of a storm, really looking at a blizzard pushing across wyoming. that's going to continue to turn towards the east. look at these differences in temperatures. in between is where the instability is the greatest. and that's where we will see damaging winds hail and isolated tornados particularly across iowa. >> thank you, jelelah. pope francis takes an historic trip. the pontiff visits asisi and calls for church reform. 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?

on august 20th, al jazeera america introduced a new voice in journalism. >> good evening everyone, welcome to al jazeera. >> usa today says: >> ...writes the columbia journalism review. and the daily beast says: >> quality journalists once again on the air is a beautiful thing to behold. >> al jazeera america, there's more to it. anti-coup protests have broken out in several egyptian cities today. demonstrations in cairo turned violent when police fired live

rounds and tear gas at protesters. the fighting erupted after protesters from the muslim brotherhood which supports president morsi marched in defiance of a crackdown on the group. today is a day of mourning in italy. over 200 african migrants are still missing from a capsized boat. bad weather hampered the recovery mission. pope francis sent a message, calling it, quote, a day of tears. and pope francis is now in aseesy italy, the hometown of his namesake, st. francis. he embraced the poor and continued this reform the church. mr. cody thanks so much for joining us this noon. so tell me about the significance of this trip, besides the fact that it's

francis's namesake town. who was francis of asisi? >> well, francis of asisi was a 13th century saint who brought reform to the church at a low point. and his mandate he saw from god was to rebuild the church. and pope francis has chosen that name because he sees that as his mandate also. >> that is so interesting, because we have been talking so much about reform, and this pope trying to shift the issues away from issues like contraception and abortion and gays, and towards more openness. what do you think is driving francis. >> i heard you lead into this, and francis's first trip outside of rome was actually down to the island where he addressed

migrants living there, and his message there on that day is the same as what he is doing today. the greatest evil in the world is economic evil. the evil that forces people to leave their homes and search for a better life someplace else. an economic system that abandons the poor and leaves people alone. that's a message he delivered on monday -- excuse me, on wednesday, when he was speaking to a group in rome. so again, the reform he was talking about isn't just within the church, but of the church to embrace these kind of people and systems. >> it's so interesting to use the word reform, because in many ways what the pope is talk about what is christ talked about. many in ways aren't these traditional catholic values? >> yes. yes. they are in many ways, and he addressed that today in asisi. he said that people who follow

francis, in following modern times, they can get kind of the wrong idea about him, and he says the piece for example, francis is known as the peace saint, and the peace that st. francis sought wasn't some sort of saccharin piety. i think he called it a pastry shop christianity. it's a hard-edged piece, a hard-edged outreach to the poor, because where the church needs to meet the poor, pope francis is saying is on places like on lapaduza island. and that's where the church is going to be. and the reform he wants to bring inside the church is not so much to change things there as it is to redirect energies outside of the church to those margins, to the peripheries, and that's what

we're seeing again and again. >> that's interesting, because some people have speculated that the pope's more open comments suggests that he may change and reform church doctrine on some of those issues. what is your response to that? >> there is an openness there that has not been in -- in the last 39 years for sure. there is a change in tone that is changing -- that is signalling a change in the substance. francis himself has said that he is not looking at a change in doctrine. that is something that will come later. >> how is the church at large receiving this pope's message of returning to serving the poor? . >> you know, it's confusing people. i have to tell you. it's confusing people. especially when francis says we can't be focused on issues like abortion and -- and contraception and those kinds of

issues, gay marriage, he doesn't say that the church is wrong on those, but he said we need to refocus our attention to where people really are suffering. what we see in this country is people in the hierarchy kind of back pedalling. >> that's exactly right. we have seen so many bishops, especially in this country that have come on the forefront of the political issues. is this in some ways francis's rebuke of those political activities by bishops? >> i'm not sure rebuke is the right word for francis's intention, but it is certainly a message to redirect energies and attentions. and him being the pope is almost an order, i mean in the structure of the catholic church

what he says goes. that will have an immediate messaging at church, at mass this weekend? >> yes, i -- i think so. we haven't seen it yet, it hasn't filtered down to the church level, but i think it's coming. that's what we are saying in our publication. it's not just a change in tone like you would change the furniture in the room or change the paint. the tone really sets the agenda for what francis is about. >> how popular is this pope right now? >> every poll we have ever looked at in the last sick months just points to an extraordinary popularity. i know there is a poll just out i think today that is saying that the pew forum did a value of hispanic values and 86% say they are in favor of the pope.

he see that again and again. >> he is certainly making his mark. mr. dennis cody editor of the national catholic reporter. thank you so much. you are looking at live pictures of pope francis visiting asisi italy in central italy. we'll be right back. uncovers unheard, fascinating news stories? it drives discussion across america. share your story on tv and online. 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.

welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm stephanie sy. here are your headlines. house speaker john boehner is telling democrats they need to talk. we spoke a short time ago and said the republicans don't want the shutdown, and says the president is not willing to compromise. some residents on the gulf coast are being asked to evacuate as tropical storm karen approaches. a state of emergency now in effect in mississippi, louisiana and 18 countries across florida. homeowners are boarding up windows, and stockpiling supplies. for decades scores of u.s. manufacturers chased savings by

moving jobs overseas, but in the past few years jobs that were moved abroad have been trickling back home. >> reporter: lost livelihoods, shattered communities, images of u.s. manufacturing jobs migrating overseas, but that picture is slowly changing. according to a recent survey, by boston consulting group, more than half of those polled are planning on bringing jobs back from china. >> what we have seen over the last ten years is the costs in china, which were extremely low have been rising at 15 to 20% a year. >> proximity to labor costs are also making on shoring more attractive. as the jobs come home services spring up around them, creating

even more jobs. >> we believe it will have a significant impact on job growth. we believe by the year 2020 we'll see 2.5 to 5 million jobs being created because of these changes in the u.s. and that's very significant. that could move the unemployment rate down by 1.5 to 2 points. >> reporter: some argue many of the jobs that have already gone to china are unlikely to return. >> the chinese now have real capabilities in manufacturing, and they are very good at getting new products to market rapidly. >> reporter: susan spear headed a two year study in u.s. manufacturing. she says it is not the jobs that trickle back but the ones that are created here that will drive growth. >> company after company that we visited people are making goods and attaching valuable services to them.

>> she says u.s. manufacturers need more programs to train workers and capital to ramp up production. but with foreign shores looking less appealing images like these will hopefully become less common. we mentioned the president and vice president walking down the sidewalk in this photo opto get lunch. >> right now this establishment is providing a 10% discount to all federal workers who are on furlough -- >> plus a cookie. >> plus a cookie. [ laughter ] >> and that i think is an indication of how ordinary americans look out for each other, and aren't obsessed with politics and aren't trying to extract concessions out of each other. they just try to make sure that everybody is doing their job,

and that we're doing what is best for the country. >> mr. obama was to have at tented two summits in asia, but canceled because of the shutdown. adobe is resetting customer pass words after the company was attacked by hackers. they gained credit card information and other personal data of nearly 3 million people. there's a unique exhibition at the international center of photograph here in new york city. it's called jfk a bystander's view of history. it focuses on the assassination. it shows out amateur photography captured that day. the exhibit runs until january 19th. good afternoon. we continue to monitor a winter storm that's actually pushing

across wyoming into south dakota and even brought a bit of snow across portions of colorado. take a look at the map here where you see the pink and blue culminating. that's mixed precipitation. folks traveling from rapid city down into cheyenne. there is a lot of energy in the atmosphere and all of it is pushing towards the east. as a result, take a look at the map here as we continue to push into the afternoon. it is going to cool down quite a bit across omaha. between these two air masses, that's where the instability is the greatest especially through the afternoon and into the evening. that's when we'll see the threats. as i said the snow is coming down across much of wyoming even in denver where we're seeing some delays out of the airport. right now looking mostly cloudy

and overcast. but we have some strong storms that have already produced damaging winds and hail across iowa. des moines through kansas city, oklahoma city, the threat for damaging winds and hill and possibility of tornados. it will continue to snow through the afternoon and night as well across much of wyoming and into south dakota where you can see we have blizzard warnings in effect. it is going to be a very stormy day. if you are traveling across the region, you need to use caution on the roadways again. damaging winds, hail and isolated tornados. >> thank you. and thank you for watching al jazeera. i'm stephanie sy. "inside story" is next. for news updates throughout the day head to our website, aljazeera.com. i hope you have a great day. ♪

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