... >> welcome to al jazeeramey. here are the stories we are following for you. shutdown showdown. day 13. the senate meets in a special sunday session to try to re-open most of the government. the u.s. coastline is taking a beating from phailin taking 14 lives forcing evacuation of hundreds of thousands. in central india, a crossing bridge stamp peaked killed at least 80 worshippers. thirteen days in, and still

no deal. talks between the white house and house republicans have gone nowhere. now, the government shutdown has moved from the house to the senate. senators will meet in a matter of hours. hopes are that a bi-partisan effort will break the budget impasse before default. john terrick joins us now from capitol hill. all right. john >> reporter: good morning. >> good morning to you. republicans ain the senate blocked a bill yesterday to increase the debt ceiling. so walk us through what could happen on the senate floor today >> reporter: the house isn't in today as they were last sunday or the sunday before the shutdown began. only the senate. they are coming in at 1:00 o'clock. we think it's going to be behind-closed-door meetings. yesterday, the republicans in the house capitulated saying the president is not dealing with them anymore. he thinks he can get what he wants by dealing with republicans in the senate and he wish their colleagues would stand firm and not give up on their principles. so when it came to a vote in the

senate yesterday on whether or not they should even discuss raising the debt ceiling limit, the vote failed, of course. the vote came in at 53-45. dick durbin reported there would be no republicans joining in. he was right. even some democrats joined in and voted against the wishes of their party. harry reid did but that's a technicality. he has to do that in order to bring the bill back up again. that bill died. the bigger thing was that susan collins, who is a popular republican senator from the state of main has on the table a proposal that may end all of this. she was surrounded while that vote count was going on by lots of democratic senators. lots of people comentated on it. she was being surrounded, i think, because this document that she has that would extend the debt ceiling limit to january the 31st and require some changes to the aca, otherwise known as obamacare, that's pretty much the only glimmer of hope out there. she was surrounded by these democrats, but then later in the day, harry reid came out of a press conferences and said her idea is off of the table as far

as the democrats are concerned. she is not giving up, richelle. she is determined to press on with this. as i say, many people think it's the only glimmer of hope out there at the moment. >> what else do we know, john, about what came from the president's meeting with the democratic caucus this weekend >> reporter: they met in the oval office about and it lasted for about an hour and 15 minutes. spokesmen saying it was productive. they said the democrats are willing to negotiate on anything as soon as we reopen the government and pay our bills. now, attending that meeting apart from the president were harry reid, chuck schumer, the senior senator from new york, dick durbin and party you may refrom washington state. it was a state of the union for the president really to make sure the democrats are all on the same page because earlier in the day, harry reid had met with mitch mcconnell and other leading republicans in the senate and reid said it went well. the feeling is reid and mcconnell are close, they are

ideologically clo'd lodge oppos feeling is they may be trying to cook something up behind the scenes, richelle. >> john terrett live on capitol hill. do keep us posted on what happens today. thank you so much >> reporter: will do. thank you. >> veterans in washington sent a messa message. thousands showed up to rally at war memorials. organizers of the million vet mercier vet vans have been dishonored due to the shutdown and they are asking for congress to introduce legislation that would prevent any member of the government from closing memorials except for maintenance purposes. about a dozen iconic national parks will soon reopen. but with money from individual states, not the federal government. the statue of liberty re-opened after being closed for neil two weeks during the government shutdown. new york state will pick up the more than 60,000 dollar a day tab to keep lady liberty running. similar moves in other states have resulted in other national parks like mount rushmore being opened.

jim cooley updates us on the push to reopen the parks >> reporter: the grand canyon was open against, the state agreed to pay $650,000 to keep it going for the next week. >> this arizona landmark draws millions of visitors every year, and i just refuse to let wrong-headed federal policy deprive tourists worldwide the opportunity to see this magnificent landscape. >> it's money the obama administration says the state isn't likely to get back but with thousands of jobs in northern arizona dependent upon the canyon and the tour rifts who visit it, that's a bargain the state appears willing to make. the situation is similar in south dakota where the state will spend about $15,000 each day to keep mount rush more open. in colorado, tourists are already back in estes park, the nearest city to rocky mountain national park, a relief to businesses that depend upon tourism? >> that's the draw for people to come to the park. without. >> one month ago, devastating

floods closed most of the roads leading here at the height of the tourist season. >> when i first heard that there was a possibility of the park opening up, it was hard to believe. it was too good to be true. >> to reopen the park, taxpayers in colorado will pay $40,000 a day. some re-openings are more about symbolism than the local economy. >> ladies and gentlemen, right this way. >> that's why new york state taxpayers will pay $61,000 a day to reopen the statue of liberty. >> so the governors in other states now have to decide what they want to do. will they use taxpayers dollars in order to open up the federal parks in their states or miss out on the tourist dollars that could be flowing through national attractions like this? jim hooley,ays, estes park, colorado. in washington yesterday, park police had to bring in a small army to guard what is usually an unmanned lincoln memorial. protesters passed by and say they are ang reover the closed you're. police escorted the protesters

away from the memorial. rescue and recovery efforts beginning right now along indiaas coastline as phailin drops devastating rains. they say they took a direct hit from the massive storm. it's the most powerful cyclone to hit the sub continent in 14 years. it weakened before making landfall but still, still, it was four times the size of hundred capital troop a. al jazeera has confirmed at least 14 people are dead, and that figure is expected to rise. the storm, which made landfall saturday has impacted nearly 9 million people and destroyed crops worth about $400 million. about 900,000 people were evacuated to shelters before the storm in one of the largest evaluations in india's history. the last major cyclone in the region in 1999 killed nearly 15,000 people. military personnel and rescue workers are over the affected areas right now using heavenlyings andbosis to get to villageses completely cut off by the cyclone.

along the coast, joined by phone, fez, obviously, it did weaken but it still has done, continues to do a lot of damage. what's happening now? >> reporter: well, actually, the thing is we still are not 100% sure what's happening because we know there are heavy rains. as you said, the storm took a turn to the north and the west. because of that coastal area was mostly there, odisha took the brunt of the storm. there is flooding in a lot of areas. for hundreds of miles along the coast, there are very small fishing villages and other communities and a lot of them being without power, there is no way to commune quite with them. so the government, themselves, several politicians, had said that it's going to be a couple of days because they actually had to physically go to the areas to assess the damage. so, it will be at least another day or two until we find out the full extent of psyche clo phailin. >> in the meantime, does it appear that rescue groups in the

government are prepared to continue to sustain people during this time? >> well, they claim they are. unlike 1999, when 10,000 people were killed, the government had several days' warning thanks to modern technology. so as of thursday, they were evacuating people from the coastal areas. now, the other issue, though, has come up that nobody expected the storm to go inland which it is now. it is already causing heavy rainfall in several pre states, and in one of them, we are getting rain about -- about eight inches so far almost. six to eight inches at this point, we are hearing. and government there suddenly sent out an alert to people, just today only to be prepared for heavy rains and possible flooding something nobody expected. so, the affects and the aftermath of this storm will continue for several days now. >> in fact, there was a lot of conflicting messages leading up

to this from the weather agencies in india about the extent of what the storm can be. now, you are saying they seem to be caught off guard by the fact that there is continued flooding, but that's often what happens with storms like this >> reporter: that's true. actually, compared to other meteorological services around the world, india did appear to be most accurate in saying that the storm would lose strength when it hit the coast when others were saying it would be much more intention. however, nobody seemed to predict that the storm would actually go inward as much as it did. so that seemed to have caught everybody off guard. >> okay. do keep us posted if it takes a while to figure out the effects of a storm like this and as the flooding and rains continue. joining us on the phone for the latest about the cyclone and the situation is mangala mohanty with the indian red cross. thank you for your time. as i just said, the storm is weakening. it's going to take awhile to

assess the impact of the storm. what are you hearing from your people on the ground? >> good evening. you have seen already a total of number of roughly eight million-plus people have been affected. roughly 250,000 houses damaged. 500,000, of crops. the rice has been damaged. a casualty of 20. you know, every time, these numbers will swell. and there has been no power since last seven two hours in many places. >> uh-huh. >> that's crimming all of our communications and systems.

still, accessing the interior communities including small villages is really very, very difficult there has been extensive damages on account of, you know, trees falling and, also, the crops and mostly the rice. even as i am talking to you, you know, many places, including the inlands, it is raining heavily. there has been, also, you know, winter rainfall and it's slowly moving in a way nobody predicted, to the western part of and it is affecting, you know, places like alshura. we have floodlike situations in some of the coastal areas in

areas where there is some rain for all of us. >> it seems like what we are hearing is that the damage is perhaps more widespread than what we anticipated. it will take a few days to really truly know the extent of the damage. manga mangala mohanty thank you for your assessment. keep us posted on what it is that you are doing to help people. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> absolutely. at least eighty people have been killed. more than 100 others badly injured in a stampede in northern india. the chaos broke out as worshippers feared the bridge they were crossing would collapse. several were women and children. local media reports hundreds of thousands of worshippers had gone to a remote village as part of a 10-day festival. >> in afghanistan, at least one nato officer is dead after a man wearing an afghan army uniform shot at shoulders. the so-called insidertac in the

eastern part of the country is the fourth in less than a month. it was the 10 thth year of taking a death total of foreign personnel of 15. they have not released the nationality of the soldier. >> at least 10 people are dead after a rash of bombings in iraq. the deadliest happened in hila after two car bombs went off killing at least five people. eleven bombs went off across the country in mostly shiite regions. police say two more people were killed and at least 31 injured in the city of poot. increasing violence have killed more than 6,000 people in iraq so far this year. next on al jazeera america, a gun show in new york welcomes a special visitor who, herself, was a shooting victim. plus fighting to protect the land and risking their lives to do so, an in-depth look at a large load devastating much of this state.

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>> former congressman gabrielle giffords are attending a begun show. six people were killed. 13 others injured. she will be joined by new york attorney general eric snyderman. they are endorsing gun sale and background check tracking at gun shows. talks between the san francisco bay rapid area system and unions are expected to resume today. the un ions are asking for a new agreement that includes a 12% pay increase. transit workers walked off the job for five days before the governor order them on the jo type of a strike would shut down the 5th largest rail system and force thousands of commuters to find alternate ways to work. a road running through tribal land in idaho has become a shortcut for big trucks, trucks carrying oil equipment from the u.s. and tinto canada. the native american tribe is fighting big oil to keep it from

destroying their scenic river corridor. >> reporter: a road that twists through the wilderness lies at the heart of a battle, pitting some of america's most powerful corporations versus a small tribe of native americans and their allies and the corporations are losing. >> we are not going to stand by and let this happen again and again and again. >> highway 12 runs through the n nez pers tribes along the banks of the clearwater and luza rivers in northern idaho. it's also the cheapest route for the exxonmobil, conoco phillips and general electric corporations to transport giant oil processing equipment like this from manufacturers in asia for use in the tar sands of alberta, canada. the shipments called mega loads are too big to fit beneath overpasses on larger highways. they take up the entire width of

the 2-lane road. the highway 12 corridor is protected from development under federal law as a place ofnique natural beauty and environmental value. plans tor run hundreds of megalows appalled borg henderson who have lived nearly all of their lives along the river. >> it's almost incomprehensible that something as beautiful, spiritual, historical as this could be industrialized. >> this area is just too important to the american people to sell it to exxonmobil or conoco phillips or ge or anybody else who wants to trans form this route into an industrial route to the tar sands. >> the couple began organizing legal action to stop the mega loads. meanwhile, a worry that mega loads would harm the habitat of salmon that swarm in the clear water got the nez pers tribe involved. aaron penny runs the fitch

hatchery >> the river system here has been our life blood for thousands and thousands of years. my worry about the megaloads is that it is the tip of the iceberg of leading to something bigger and possibly more dangerous to the environment. >> in august, hundreds of ne nez pers blocked the inside of the reservation. this cell phone video was recorded by one of the demonstrators. over several nights of peaceful protest, dozens were arrested. alisha oatman, a nez pers mother of two was one of them >> picked up by two state police officers, man handled. i was bruised severely. my arms were hurt. >> ge's equipment passed through. but to date, that was the last mega load to roll down highway 12. >> on thursday, a federal judge

reaffirmed an order barring any megaloads from traveling on this highway until further environmental, cultural and social impact studies are completed. >> a ge spokesman contacted by al jazeera said the company had no comment on the court ruling. the nez pers have fought adversaries to a standstill before. in 197, they won a series of battles with the u.s. army before tribal leader chief joseph surrendered to prevent a massacre. it is a fight against the eke lodgequal. >> damage in the tar sands region of alberta. many believe it's a blow in the battle to stop man-made climate change. >> i believe the world is looking at us to stop a lot of this, depending upon us. >> so far, the ness pers and their allies are winning the

battle. rob rental, al jazeera on the banks of the loxa river, idaho. >> at least 14 people have been confirmed dead as cyclone phailin continues dumping rain on india. they came to shore bringing in devastating storm surgeries. at a time may lead to landslides in the southern part of the nation. nearly 24 hours after landfall phailin, we are dealing with the impacts of the season. rim ants heading off to the north and we still have lots of moisture left behind. so the rain discontinue. we will continue to see this moisture kind of lingering over the next 24 to 36 hours. that will lead to more rain as well as the flooding potential in this area. of course, the clean-up continues where thing. of course, a lot of trees and power outages, trees down, rather, and power outages here across the area, so we are still going to be dealing with some devastating conditions from this

system. now, aside from phailin, other activity, we are tracking tropical psyche low nari, heading into vietnam sometime on monday during the afternoon. >> that's when we are expecting to see landfall here along coastal areas of vietnam. right about behind that, tropical cyclone wippa, an equivalent of a category 4. that will be curve toward the north. the northeast brushing coastal areas of japan over the next few days. so at least with that system, it is expected to weaken what we are impacting jaman. right now, still a major hurricane or major tropical cyclone in that area. closer to home, dealing with rain, plenty of it here across seven areas of texas right along the tail end of a cold front i have been tracking continuing to make its way to the east. there is a lot of tropical moisture associated with it as well. tropical storm octave just upgraded off of the south of the baja peninsula.

with the persistent rain, we will see the potential for flash flooding here around austin where we have already picked up record rainfall earlier today, over nearly two and a half inches. we will continue to watch this closely. houston starting to see showers closing in on the western side of the city. no warnings in effect for you but just outside of houston, we are going to be dealing with the flash flood watch through later this evening. here is a look at the advice occurs that have been posted. we will continue to be soaked through this evening across sou south central areas of texas. richelle, thank you to you. after the break on al jazeera, america, it's a solar race to the finish line attracting global drivers. plus a tree owes of services available at one international bus stop. there is becoming outdated as a digital divide is overtaking their country.

my name's nicole deford and i'm

>> shutdown showdown, nearing what many say will be a financial nightmare. the senate meeting today in hopes of finding some way to

reopen the if he hadral government and avoid the debt ceiling deadline. the de death toll is expected to rise after cyclone pailin increases the risk of mudslides across mud slide. >> the rawandan government is giving women type writing courses >> reporter: a typewriter is a lifeline. she doesn't know when it was built. all she knows is that it's older than she is. she is 35. she bought it second-hand in 1995. she has been here with two friends in a side street off of the bus terminal ever since. they are the last of the straight -- street typists. it used to be a clattering rank of almost a dozen lined up here.

internet cafes have taken most of the business. but there are still enough people willing to pay $0.50 a j page for job access, business correspondence and love letters. >> i have an accomodation, looking for another job and i use these typists abouts they know how to write it quickly. if i had to do it myself, i wouldn't do it well. >> the three old friends know their days are numbered. they only need to look to their neighbor to see that, which is why the government is sending them on a course of information technology. >> i am excited by it. i am looking forward to the day i get a computer. i am lucky to be getting those skills because once i graduate, i can give up this really old machine. >> still, there are plenty of people who will be sad to see them go. in the age of the internet and the smart phone, this is a dying art. there are plenty of people tobly

their documents here because i believe that somehow the old fashion look makes their letters a little bit more persuasive. >> across town, the keyboard is the only thing that is familiar. none of the type he was have worked with the computers until a month and a half ago. now, they are developing skills in the government-run program to drag rawanda into the digital age. the software is english. the jargon, unfamiliar. this isn't just about career development, though. this is about survival. tigali. >> driving through the australian desert is no easy feat. imagine crossing that in a solar-powered car. competitors from 23 currented trees took up the challenge the vehicles were allowed only five kilowatt hours of stored injury. the rest would have to come exclusively from the sun. thank you for watching.

i am richelle. listening post is next. you can always access aljazeera.com. >> hello, i'm richard gisford and you're at the listening post. bipartisan bickering on capitol hill. lonely end of the newsroom. the job of the ombudsman. >> government takes the gloves off over the coverage of the unrest there. and how to conduct yourself in public. that's our web video of the