♪ ♪ it's considered one of the most powerful jobs in the world. and later today janet yellen will be tapped by the president to become the first woman to lead the federal reserve in its history. president obama rachets up the pressure republicans saying he's unwilling to negotiate over raising the debt ceiling. but he may have provide aid small opening to get ideal done. new focus on safety standards in bangladesh after a fire kills 10 people at a crowded garment factory. and just weeks after swimming from cuba to florida, diana identify ahead takenyadtakes ong challenge to benefits the victims of hurricane sandy. ♪

♪ >> welcome to al jazerra america, i am stephanie sy. it is considered one of the most influential jobs in the world. on wednesday, president obama is expecting to no, ma'am made januarjanet yellen to prelace bn bernanke as head of the federal reserve. yellen is taking over at a pivotal time for the economy mad the banking industry. kimberly reports. >> reporter: running the central banking system in the united states is one of the most powerful jobs in the world. and the person in charge can directly affect the wallets of every american and the global economy. >> good afternoon. >> reporter: the fed chief is, s the chair is sometimes called sets the price of borrowing money, directly spurring economic growth or curbs inflation, the chair also controls the supply of u.s. money in the world economy. by buying and selling u.s.

treasury securities. president obama has announced he will nominate janet yellen for the job. the current head of the u.s. central bank, ben bernanke steps down at the end of january. but if confirmed by the u.s. senate, yellen takes over at an unpredictable time. the u.s. financial crisis in 2008 the u.s. central bank has been pumping money in to the nation's struggling economy. over the summer bernanke hinted the practice of printing more money to lift the u.s. economy would be winding down. but when u.s. interest rates start today rise, bernanke made the surprise announcement. >> the committee decided today to keep the target range for the federal funds rate at zero to one 4th% to make no change in either its asset purchase program or its forward guidance regarding the federal funds rate target. >> reporter: the rapid shift in thinking, left investigators around the world wondering whether they could still look to the u.s. to take a lead on fiscal policy. >> we still aren't in a robust

recovery by any means. we still haven't got to where we want to be on unemployment. we haven't o got to where we wat to be on growth and we have really perhaps reached the limits of what you can do with these measures. >> reporter: so it may be up to yellen to figure out how and when to stop the bank's unprecedented practice of stimulating the economy by printing more money. with an unemployment rate of 7%, timing will be everything. but yellen would face a tough political climate for making change. the u.s. congress is already in a heated budget crisis. and soon it will need to approve a white house request to raise the u.s. debt limit. so the country can continue paying its bills. the white house delay on nominating yellen has also caused up certain if i i certaie global market a worry that the u.s. cannot longer be trust today manage its money kimberly, al jazerra washington. >> yellen would be the first woman to head the fed, both yellen and bernanke are sketch

told appear with mr. obama at the white house later wednesday for the formal announce think. now to the government shutdown, nine days and president obama appears unwilling to negotiate with house republicans on principle. the president said he will not accept extortion, refer to gop demands for concessions in exchange for reopening the government. our white house correspondent mike viqueira has more. >> reporter: the president actually picked up the phone and called john boehner, they had a brief discussion but after dueling press conferences between the president he was in the briefing room for an hour and shortly after that john boehner it was clear we were right back where we started first thing this morning and that is at a stands off. the president had two missions today, first he wanted to continue this drum beat calling on john boehner to allow a vote on a so-called clean spending bill that would keep the government open for a short period of time. only up until next month. putting pressure john boehner saying the votes were there if only he will allow democrats to help it push across the finn

line of the here is the president. >> my suggestion to the speaker has been and will continue to be let's stop the excuses and take a vote in the house, let's end the shutdown right now. let's put people back to work. there are number reaso reasonabe republicans and democrats willing to vote yes on a budget that the senate has already passed. that vote can take placed to, shutdown would be over then serious negotiations could proceed around every item in the budget. >> reporter: now job two for the president today, there are those who are, he calls default deniers, they look at this impending deadline of october 17 it the to say it's not that bad, the president is alarming people needlessly the government can get by it, can pay its creditors it, can prioritize. the president was having none of that. he was sound th sounding the alt default going over the debt ceiling would be catastrophic for the nation.

>> we have senior sit ends count counts on the ground their checks arriving. disabled veterans are count on the ground their benefits. we have companies doing business for our government and military that i have payroll that his they have to meet f they do not get paid on time, they may have to lay off workers. all those folks are potentially affected if we can't pay our bills on time. >> reporter: we thought we saw a short or brief opening for the president, he said he would agree to a short-term tex edges of the spending bill and the debt controlling and that would bring him to the table with republicans, john boehner appearing more than an hour after the president appeared here at the white house shut that door very quickly. very completely. >> mike viqueira reporting there washington. in that phone call to house speaker boehner, mr. obama said he was willing to negotiate after congress end the shut don buffer in a press conference of his own, boehner expressed confidence that the upcoming debt ceiling deadline will force

a compromise. libby casey has more from capitol hill. >> reporter: despite calls from all sides to negotiate, house speaker john boehner says for republicans to sign off on raising the debt ceiling without getting something in return for decembedecemberdemocrats would o unconditioning surrender. >> i didn't come here to stkhoupbt the government or did he fall to the debt. when it comes to the debt limit again over the last 40 years, 27 times the debt limit has been used to carry significant policy changes that would, in fact, reduce spending and put us on a saner fiscal path. >> reporter: speaker boehner says using the debt ceiling as leverage is acceptable and should be successful. that got angry push back from democrats, including senate majority leader harry reid. he has put forth his own bill to raise the debt ceiling original eighting in the senate. it's a tough lift, though, because it needs bipartisan support, both democrats and republicans would have to

support it to hit his 60 vote threshold to cancel out any filibuster threat and it's pretty much doomed in the house unless speak boehner changes his tune. well, leader reid says this is republicans fault, he says they keep changing the target. first we want to did he fund to delay the health care law, now identified fighting over did he have is the reduction and says republicans need need to get on one track. >> i said late last week, by hayley barber and ed gillaspie former chairs of the national republican party, republican, they said this, not me. there is a time now when republican have his to starting forced something. not -- for something not against everything. >> reporter: the fight over the current government shutdown is now closely tied to the looming fight over raising the debt ceiling. that's raising the stakes but not getting capitol hill any closer reaching agreements. >> libby casey from capitol

hill. white house is denying reports claiming the u.s. is considering cutting off most military aid to egypt. the reports are surfacing amid protests in egypt did manning the return of the ousted president mohamed morsi. the u.s. gives egypt $1.5 billion each year. about a third of that goes to the egyptian military. obama administration says the announcement on future aid to egypt will be made in the coming days, righters reports any cuts to the military would not affect ongoing counter terrorism programs or security in the sinai region which borders israel. protesters gather tuesday at a rally demands being immigration reform, followed by a sit in on ca capitol hill whee eight house december krarpts arrested along with two other demonstrator along them john lewis of georgia, charlie rangal from new york and minnesota

representing tiff keith elson. ♪ ♪ >> meteorologist: hello again. before we get to the west coast i want to go to the east, this rain will be major progress, it's already rain ago cross parts of the carolinas it's a by nation after cold friend as well as the remnants of tropical storm karen. because of that we are seeing a lot of rain over the net are the next 24 hours carolinas could see four-inches of the rain on the coastal regions and it will slowly be making its way up towards the north. over the next three days and major problem by the time we get towards new jersey. now, up towards the northwest, we are going to be taking a look at all the rain coming in. what's happening out here is off the west coast, we are looking at a trough of low pressure, beginning to make its way on shore. that's where you see all of these clouds moving in. now, with that, being, we are seeing some cooler air too. a lot of that rain will start to ease its way down towards the south. temperature wise, though, not really too good for seattle.

we are going to see the cooler temperatures and rain on thursday. and that's going to stay that same temperature, 58, 59 degrees all the way across the board. low temperatures in to the mid 40s. now the big change will happen down here towards the southwest, because a lot of places that are normal will see lower average temperatures, probably 13 degrees lower than average in some locations and a lot of rain especially across the sierra nevadas, the rain in the higher elevations will be snow of about 6,000 feet. temperature wise for phoenix you are dropping down, you can see 75 degrees on thursday there. las vegas will see 71, that's about 13 degrees lower than average. but we do expect to see those temperatures come back up. texas, well, you have been dry over the last couple of days, we don't expect too much of a change there. high testimony type of 84 degrees, really staying that way all wait through all wait through the weekend and seeing on sunday about 85 degrees there. and very quickly over here towards the southeast, a lot of clearing going on and up towards

georgia your high temperatures in the low 70s. >> kevin, thank you. the u.s. is moving closer to debt ceiling deadline. who might be impacted the most if the government can't pay its bills? another deadly incidents at a factly in bangladesh, this time a fatal fire that's renewing safety concerns. the pilots in the deadly asian a air crash in san francisco weigh in on the accident, what they say may have been the cause.

as the u.s. approaches the october 7 typeth deadline to raise the debt ceiling, fear of a default is growing. and so is the debate over what will actually happen if the nation is no longer able to pay its bills. jonathan betts takes a closer look at the potential impact. >> reporter: the default means it's out of money, it's like you have maxed out your credit card but still have bills to pay so you try raise your credit limit. so just how much does the u.s. government spend?

let's peek in to its check book or the daily treasury report. on thursday thursday. just last thursday the united states brought in $110 billion. from taxes, farmers paying loans, customs fees, but on that same day the treasury spent $143 billion. just from thursday, the united states is in the red $33 billion. so to pay those bills, it borrows money. but we are about to hit america's credit limit and this is what it is. $16.6 trillion, it's a huge number. but it's not enough. and it can borrow no more than this right now. the united states government needs, soon, a trillion more dollars just to pay the bills. so what gets paid? what doesn't? well, no one actually knows for sure. but things like social security checks for retirees, medicare, military pay, money for local cities and schools, they could all be at risk in theory. and there is a huge impact on the economy, the value of the dollar will nose dive.

so american products sold overseas, they are not worth as much. stocks, 401ks, bonds, all go down. folks trying to buy homes or cars will see higher interest rates. so people stop shopping. now, some argue it may not be this bad. perhaps the fresh treasury can pull off accounting tricks and pay the means things that maddon. a default would be felt globally and could trigger recession worse than the one we just went through. >> jonathan thank you. a deadly fire ripped through a garment factory in bangladesh, at least nine people have been killed. and dozens more injured. the factory was closed when the fire started but about 200 worker were still inside. no word yet on what sparked the fire which happened 25 miles north of the capital. insurgent the third deadly incidents at a factory in bangladesh since last november. six months ago a factory collapse there killed more than 1100 people. the driver i've monster truck that plowed in to a crowd of

spectator a the a an air snow mexico is facing manslaughter charges, nine people killed and 80 others injured in saturday's crash. the driver, 51-year-old, told the court his helmet came off as his trunk bounced over old cars everything claimed he got knocked knocked out when his head hit a metal bar signed a truck. the pilots of asian a flight 214 are raising the possibility that mechanical failure played a part in the crash. they say the auto throttle that controls engine power and the speed of the aircraft may have malfunctions on the both 7770 without enough speed a plane can quickly lose altitude. but on july 6th, flight 214's landing gear hit a seawall just short of the runway at san francisco international airport. america's children have been falling behind other country when his it comes to subjects like reading and math and now a new study says american adults are falling behind too. jonathan martin has more.

>> pulse. >> pulse. >> reporter: a bulls in this nashville literacy class are trying to catch up with skills they'll need for the 21st century they are not a the loa, alone.they tested picture ages o 65 in more than 20 developed countries. >> precious. >> that's it. >> reporter: they measured and compared reading skills, math skills and the ability to resolve problems. researchers found that the u.s. ranks below average in all three categories. in literacy, the u.s. ranks 16th out of 24. the 21st, third from the bottom in math skills. and 17th in problem solving using technology. along with basic reading and math, participants were also test odd things like calculating mileage, sorting e-mails and comparing expiration on grocery store tags. the research group found social background and poverty have a major impact on adult skill levels. >> we are not surprise billion dollar that report.

>> reporter: the nation villa difficult literacy council says these cora bills are necessary for most jobs. >> i mean, everything, almost everything, every job is computerizeed in some way. it whim also affect your personal lives if you can't read you won't do e-mail. you won't be able to receipt documents at work or even things that are on the computer. >> reporter: debra boyd is a associate dean of education in nashville tennessee. she says american adults fail to learn critical skills as students and fail to develop the capacity to apply what they have learned beyond school. >> i think we are all realizing that some of the important literacy skills that we need to encourage among our younger people, and therefore in our adults, is the ability to use what they read, to draw conclusions, to support their thought processes, to actually read for the content and the

context and then be able to use that. >> reporter: u.s. education secretary arnie duncan agrees sega doles that have trouble read, doing math-solving problems and using technology will find the doors of the 21st century closed to them. jonathan martin, al jazerra, nashville. >> in fact, in all three categories adults in japan, canada, australia, finland, and other countries are scored significantly higher than americans. a new push to close the prison in guantanmo bay, what the obama administration is doing to speed up the process. apple looks to take another bite out of the tablet market as it prep to his unveil its latest ipad. and she concurred the waters between cuba and florida now diana nyad is taking a dip in new york for hurricane sandy victims. in fact, she's swimming right now. here say live look at the pool where that swim is taking place at 2:00 in the morning.

the obama administration is moving forward with planned to close the controversial military did hdetention certainty at guao bay. pew lewis will decide whether maintaining the facility is flesh for u.s. security, roslyn jordan has more. >> good afternoon, everybody, please be ceased. >> reporter: nearly five months after the president renewed his promise to close guantanmo. the pentagon a mounded to annouy their envoy will be paul lewis. a long time congressional lure. here is what facing lewis, 164 men are currently being held. 86 cleared for release. lewis' job, clear the backlog. and according to a guantanmo spokesperson, 17 detainees on are on hunger strike, 16 on the lead for tube feeding, two in hospital for observation, the

detainee population will drop by one. a federal judge says this man can be released due to his severe mental illness. meanwhile, the administration is still fielding questions about the capture of accused al qaeda operative on saturday. right now, the suspect in the 1998 u.s. embassy bombings is being questioned on board a u.s. navy ship in the mediterranean. >> we know that he planned and helped execute plots that killed hundreds of people. a whole lot of americans. and we have strong evidence of that. and he will be brought to justice. >> reporter: but congressional republicans think the administration is making a mistake. >> this system of using navy vessels, navy war ships in lou of gitmo, comprises our ability to gather intelligence. the best tool that we have in

intelligence gathering it time itself 67 that's a nonstarter remember the administration says it won't be sending anymore people to guantanmo. and sits a reasons include the cost of the prison. $4.7 billion since 2002. and rising. >> this is really a political issue. and unfortunately, u.s. tack pairs end up paying the price. i mean, really of course the detainees pay the price. but, i mean, one aspect of it, the fiscal aspect of it is that u.s. taxpayers don't even realize we are spending bill i don't understanbillionsof dolla. >> reporter: remove what the president calls a stain on the u.s.' reputation while ignoring the critics, roz sin jordan, al jazerra, wash. >> lewis will be charged with finding new country ri country e the detainees,. accord to this tech blog all things d. the new versions of the diseases

set to be unveiled october 22nd, expected to be thinner and lighter and more powerful processors that its president soughters, apple is facing growing pressure in the tablet market from rivals such as samsung, going and amazon. the apparent company of kfc and taco bell is still struggling in china, yum bronze said its profits fell 70% because of chinese worries about food safe safety and bird flu. shares fell 7% in after hours trading. as the one year anniversary of hurricane sandy approaches a famous swim ser going to great length to his raise money for victims, 64-year-old diana nyad made history last month swimming 110 miles from cuba to florida. you are looking at a live picture at a new york city pool where she's begun another marathon. this is her swimming the lengths and juan carlos molina spoke to her earlier. >> reporter: no 48 hours, diana

nyad is swimming. have yovirtually nonstop in this two-lane pool build for her in the middle of new york city to help the victims of super storm sandy. >> the whole focus is sunday on some athletic record it's on those people. those people who endured, so my feeling is the least i can do is endure for these 48 hours. >> hurricane sandy hit her hard. a lot of people still without homes to live in. and she said let's go to new york and see if we can do this. >> reporter: last month the 64-year-old nyad made history freestyling her way from tube kube a too floridcuba too flori3 hours, she called it a swim of a lifetime. this swim about helping peeping still struggling almost a year after sandy struck. >> the least we can do one year later is raise some funds and put their faces and their stories back on the front pages. >> reporter: this family from staten island is one of those families in need. >> really didn't get much warn to go evacuate.

we had maybe two hours where they finally said, okay, get out. so we packed up whatever we could that was -- we felt was valuable for us and we left. >> reporter: their home was completely destroyed. their neighborhood unrecognizable. >> sand everywhere. there was dumpsters, containers, storage containers thrown all over the plate. there was cars all over on top of the fences it looked like something that was in a movie. i thought it was a movie set when we got back. >> reporter: this unique vents will raise found a nonprofit relief organization that's already helped raise millions for sandy victims. >> hurricane sandy happened approximately a year ago, so this event is going to raise a lot of money to help people for whom there are still a very great need. >> reporter: now, amare cares has teamed up with proctor and gamble to put this events on. and proctor and gamble is paying for all the costs of the events to make sure every pen pen erad here goes directly to victims. the second lane is for

volunteers who want to swim along nyad. some are celebrit celebrities le olympic swimmer ryan lochte, but many are just folks wants to be help out. >> we were hit pretty heavily by hurricane sandy as well as the surrounding community and we were up right today come support diana nyad in this wonderful cause. >> reporter: today a special volunteer, the 13-year-old daughter alyssa, an avid swimmer herself joined nyad for about 15 minutes of her two-day mission, a mission to help bring some relief to 10s of thousands. juan carlos molina, al jazerra, new york. >> nyad's new york city swim is expected to last 48 hours, her trip from cuba to florida took 53 hours in much more difficult conditions of course, that does did for this edition of al jazerra news, i am stephanie sy. remember morehead lines at the top of the hour, thanks so much for watching.