welcome to al jazeera america. here are the stories we are following for you. >> day 13, and all is quiet. the shutdown in washington drags on. the tourists in some states discover federal monuments are open again. the enormous cyclone phailan comes ashore in india. >> 13 days into the government shutdown, four days until a federal default, and the only politicians talking have been doing so on the sunday morning

talk shows. the senate is expected to be in session in an hour. hopes are that a bipartisan effort will break the budget impasse before default. john terrett joins us from capitol hill. let's get people up to speed. republicans blocked a bill yesterday to increase the debt ceiling in the senate. today, what could happen today? the focus is on the senate. take it from there. >> it is because the house is not coming in today, they didn't come in last sunday or the sunday before the shutdown began either. the senate is meeting today. we expect them to get together at 1 o'clock eastern. it's a rare sunday session for the senate. what they are going to achieve no one is sure. there'll be plenty of behind closed doors meetings, as there were yesterday, when we realised the emphasis in this - the government shutdown and the debt ceiling or raising it - moved away from the house though the senate. all eyes on the senate.

republicans in the house conceded that the president is not dealing with them, he thinks they can get more out of their colleagues in the senate. they have been telling them to be on their guard, stand by their principles. it got to the point where there was a vote that you were talking about, where they tried to vote in favour of working out how to talk about raising the debt ceiling - not raising the debt ceiling, just thou talk about. the vote failed - with the help of some democrats, harry reid did it. the democrats had a meeting with the president in the oval office to get everyone on the same page. that followed a meeting in the room surrounding the senate chamber, involving harry reid, and mitch mcconnell and other senator republicans. the meeting was good, said harry reid afterwards. there may be movement, we don't know. >> we are four days from the

october 17th default deadline, right? >> we really are, yes. >> two weeks into the government shutdown, and there has been polling that has been bad for both parties - clearly worse for the republicans, right? >> yes. >> surely there'll be a point where voters say, "i don't care who is more responsible, who i feel is more responsible. i need someone to fix this." >> there was an n b.c. washington "wall street journal" poll with a 22% difference between who people blame. they blame the republicans more than the president by a margin of 22 points. so that is very, very significant, and worrying for the republicans, who were hoping to get more senators into the senate - republican senators in the midterm elections next november. that has to be on the cards. i think it will not be one person. a lot of people are saying where is john boehner, speaker of the house. he's the de facto leader of the

republicans, where is he? we haven't seen him until the back end of last week. a lot thing he's allowing the freshman representatives to run his party for him. it could come from john boehner. he is hobbled because of the tea party faction. it most likely will come from a number of people, including susan collins, the republican senator from maine, considered a moderate. she has on the table a plan which the democrats rejected. she is not giving up. she'll continue to per cent veer with that. -- per cent veer with that. many think it is a glimmer of hope. it will extend the debt ceiling to 21 jan, and it involves obamacare. mitch mcconnell and harry reid - harry reid suggesting that he and mitch mcconnell have known each other a long time and been through this a lot of times, including 31 december last year and did a behind the scenes deal, the two of them, and harry reid hinted that they may have to do the same thing again. one thing to bear in mind -

whatever happens has to happen quickly, it will take a couple of days to sort everything out. the debt ceiling deadline, the serious issue now comes up on thursday. >> and this is called governing now. okay. john terrett, live from the capitol. thank you. >> the barack obama administration is allowing states to seize their own money to pay for park operations. some are jumping at the chance. nearly a dozen national parks and monuments are opening thanks to state funding. one is the statue of liberty in new york city, available to tourists for the first time in almost two weeks. utah reopened six attractions, and a day later it opened canyon lands and the glen cannion national recreation area. arizona's grand canyon opened and colorado's rocky mountain national park, and tomorrow south dakota mt. rushmore is set to open. jim huli has more.

>> reporter: in arizona the grand canyon is open. the state agreed to by $650,000 to keep it going for the next week. >> this arizona landmark draws millions of visitors. i refuse to let wrong-headed federal policy deprive worldwide tourists to see the magnificent landscape. >> it's money the obama administration says the state is not likely to get back. with thousands of jobs dependent on the cannion and the tourists that visit it, it's a bargain the government is willing to make. the state in south dakota will spent $15,000 to keep mt. rushmore out. >> in colorado, the tourists are out in estes park, the nearest city to rocky mountain national park - a relief to businesses depending on tourism. >> that's the draw to people to come to estes. without the park we wouldn't be here. >> a month ago devastating

floods closed roads at the height of the tourist season. >> when i heard there was a possibility of the park opening up, it was too good to be true >> to reopen the park taxpayers in colorado will pay $40,000. some reopenings are more about symbolism than the local economy. that's why new york state taxpayers will pay $61,000 a day to reopen the statue of liberty. >> gof ners in other states have to decide what to do - use taxpayer dollars to open up these attractions or miss out on the tourist dollars flowing through attractions like this. >> in washington park police had to bring in an army to guard usually an unmanned lincoln memorial, after protesters pushed past barriers into the memorial. >> police escorted the protesters away from the

memorial. veterans in washington showed up to rally at war memorials in dc and across the nation. organisers of the million vets march say veterans have been dishonoured and ask for congress to introduce election preventing members of government to close memorials, compels for maintenance. >> secretary of state john kerry says a partial agreement was reached with afghanistan on a security deal, but the issue of war time jurisdiction is not settled. kerry spoke with president hamid karzai before leaving afghanistan on friday. both agreed on a series of contentious sovereignty issues, including the safety of afghan citizens at the hands of american troops. the african courts should -- afghan courts should have jurisdiction against soldiers. >> the electronic benefits cards stopped working saturday morning because of a glitch in the system.

the program is run by xerox which says the problem is fixed and blames the outage on maintenance procedures. a spokesperson for the government insists the problem was not related to the shutdown. >> a rescue and recovery is beginning along india's eastern coastline, as cyclone phailan continues to drop def stating raps. the states of andhra pradesh and odisha took a hit. it is the most powerful cyclone to hit the subcontinent in 14 years. it is four times the size of hurricane katrina. we are joined live from the capital at odisha. thank you for joining us. what damage have you seen so far? >> absolutely. i mean, we have been driving out of the state capital, odisha, where you go one or two hours out and you can see the impact this has had on small communities here. streets, roads are covered in

trees, strewn with debris. i should say, coming back towards the capital later this evening, things were clearing up. people were returning - life was returning to normal. a sense of resill yepsy and a can-do attitude. certainly in the -- resiliency and can-do attitude. in the hours after there was debris and damage. >> what do you know about the other parts of the state, where it's headed now? >> absolutely, at the moment the cyclone, as we call it in india, has turned into a tropical depression. it will bring heavy rains and strong winds according to local authorities. that is sweeping across the western code line of odisha, hampering or is expected to hamper the rescue and recovery effort, the rebuilding efforts in the hours and days going ahead, which is critical to keep in mind given the enormity and

the geographical and spacial areas that we are talking about in this area. >> how organised are the clean-up efforts as you have seen them? and i realise it is early on. >> i shut bring in an illustration that i noticed earlier in the day. we were at a local government office here, and we happened to get talking to army personnel carrying the maps and logistical details of where they'd been shy to open up to me initially. once i got them talking about where they'd been and what they'd seen and done, there were some areas along the odisha coastline that were unrecognisable at the moment. that's according to army personnel that have been in these areas first hand. we are seeing villages, smaller communities along bhubaneshwar areas, suffering the impact. comparisons are to be made in

terms of need of people going forward, but yes, the immediate damage and aftermath and loss of life is low in minimal compared to that. >> it will be an undertaking. let's hope people's needs will be met. let's go to an update on cyclones brewing out there, headed for south-east asia. >> there's plenty of activity. i want to take you to india to show you after the system made landfall 24 hours ago. it continued to fall apart. it's lifting north wards. as it does we'll see weakening with the systems, plenty of moisture. that's how we are expecting to see the rainfall associated with it. here is a glimpse of what people are facing. we talked about power outages, trees down. weak structures torn apart thanks to the strong winds along with the system. flooding rain will be an issue.

most reports have only shown up about seven inches of rain. with an on and off rain through this evening we'll see additional amounts included with that. tropical storm wind gusts, 30 miles per hour. aside from that typhoon nari is heading to vietnam, and typhoon wipha headed towards japan in the next few days. >> thank you so much, ebone. >> 80 have been killed, 100 others injured in a stampede in central india. the chaos broke out as worshippers feared a bridge they were crossing collapsed. several killed were women and children. hundreds of thousands of worshippers went to a remote village as part of a 10-day festival. >> in peru there was no survivors after an overcrowded bus crashed, killing 51, including children, who were on the bus when it veered off a cliff into the river. passengers were on the way to a

celebration. some bodies were recovered 300 feet away from the crash site. last year more than 4,000 were killed in similar accidents along the roads in the peruvian andes. 11 people were reported missing after a bridge collapsed in south-west china. the bridge over the yangtze river was under construction. a beam from a crane fell on to the bridge, causing it to collapse. 10 construction workers and a woman doing her laundry by the river - they are all missing. >> still ahead - an oil leak, and the furious people who discovered it. taking a stand to protect their lands. the new fight from the nez perce indian nation.

and the furious people who

an oil-rich north dakota people are learning about a pipeline leak days after it happened. it's said to be the state's largest, around 20,000 barrels. a wheat farmer found the leak

11 days ago, nine miles north of dakota. it's owned by terosa. workers say the leak has been maintained, but area residents are furious, saying they should have been told about the spill. state officials believed the leak to be smaller. >> a native american nation is taking on u.s. corporate giants to stop an invasion of heavy machinery. a road passing through nez perce in idaho has been used by companies exploiting oil. we went west to find out how the tribe is preventing oil driving through the scenic river corridor. >> a road that twists through the wilderness lies at the heart of a battle, pitting some of america's 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. >> highway 12 runs through the ners's tribe -- nez perce's area. it's the cheapest route for exxonmobile, conocophillips and general electric to transport machinery like this for use in the tar sands of alberta. the megaloads are too big to fit between overpasses on larger highways, and take up the width of the 2-lane road. the highway 12 corridor is protected from development understand federal law as a place of unique beauty and environmental value. plans to run hundreds of megaloads through the corridor appalled lyn laughly and borge hendruckson who lived all their lives along the river. >> it's incomprehensible that

something as beautiful, spiritual, historical as this could be industrialised. >> this area is just - it's too important to the american people to sell it to exxonmobile, conocophillips or g.e. or anybody else that wants to transfer the route into an industrial root to the tar sands. >> the couple began to organise legal action to stop the megaloads. meanwhile a worry that megaloads would harm the habitat of salmon swarm in the clearwater and liver got the nez perce involved. aaron penney runs the state-of-the-art salmon hatchery. >> the river has been our live blood for thousands of years. my worry about the megaloads is that it's the tip of the iceberg of leading to something bigger, and possibly more dangerous to the environment. >> in august hundreds of nez

perce blocked the highway inside the reservation, halting a general electric megaload. the the cell phone video was recorded by a demonstrator. overall several nights of peaceful protests dozens were arrested. alicia oatman, a nez perce moth are of two was one of them. >> i was picked up by two state police officers, manhandled. i was bruised severely. my arms were hurt. >> g.e.'s equipment passed through. but to date that was the last megaload to roll down highway 12. on thursday a federal judge reaffirmed an order barring megaloads travelling on the highway until further environmental, cultural and social impact studies are completed. >> a g.e. spokesman contacted by al jazeera said the company had no comment on the court ruling. the nez perce fought powerful

adversaries to a standstill before. in 1887, they fought against the u.s. army, until chief joseph surrenderered to stop a massacre of women and children. the fight is a fight against the ecological damage in the tar sand region. many believe it's a blow to the battle to stop manmade climate change. >> i believe the world is looking at us to stop a lot of this, depending on us. >> so far the nez perce and their allies are winning the battle. . at least 2 million muslim pilgrims are expected to take part in this week's hajj. many arrived in mecca. it's the largest gathering of muslim people in the world. many will pray for peace in egypt and syria. >> next we have the national

forecast. we'll show you an engineering marvel to stop the rising water in the city of venice. it's the largest gathering of

> welcome back to al jazeera america. here is a look at your top stories. >> shut down showdown in what many say will be a financial nightmare. the senate meeting hopes to find a way to open the federal government and avoid the debt ceiling deadline. the death line is expected to rise after cyclone phailan slammed into the coast of india. >> also in that country 80 people died sunday in a stampede in the central part of india. the chaos came as a crowd of worshippers crossed a bridge during a religious festival. >> flooding is a concern for venice. new engineering technology may block rising waters before it

cause problems. >> rising to the surface after decades of planning, this is what should save a world heritage sight from rising sea levels. the first four mobile gates of a system of barriers built to protect the city of venice from high tides were officially tested saturday. when completed in 2016, 78 of them will be raised from the bottom of the lagoon to stop tides as high as 3 metres reaching the city. the chief engineer says the barriers will protect venice without taking away trademark high waters. >> venice is flooded when the water reaches 80cm above sea level. we'll close at 1 metre and 10 above sea level, otherwise we'd be obliged to close too much. 1.10 - we'll close five times.

80cm, more than 40, 50 times a year. this will affect eco system, and the port authority. >> venice lived with high tides since its construction. rising sea levels and lands subsidence means they are higher and more freient. in the last 100 years venice sunk 23cm. this system of barriers has been in the making for a long time. it was first conceived 30 years ago and has been under construction for 10 years. at $7 billion it is an expensive project attempted in italy. while it is supposed to stop high tides, the barriers have attracted a wave of criticism. >> local residents believe stopping the tides from coming into venice will change the lagoons eco system, turning venice into a pond.

experts say the walls will only be operated when necessary. >> the lagoon will not change behaviour because it is a temporary closure. the number of closures will be limited, in the first year especially. so the lagoon and the tide will only interrupt for a few moments, few hours, so will not damage the lagoon itself. >> with the first test deemed a success, hopes are rising that venice will be shielded from the forces of nature. all right time for a check of the weather with metrologist ebony dion. >> i know you are focussing on flooding in texas. >> a lot of heavy rainfall in the last 48 hours. it's still coming down and will add to concerns. a number of areas across south central and south-eastern texas

understand a flash flood rush. we have seen a record rainfall total of 2.5 inches around austin, and roads and highways have been closed in hayes, as well as udaldi counties thanks to the rain that has been persistent over the last day or so. we are watching plenty of moisture on the frontal boundary. there's additional moisture from the pacific, where tropical storm octave, it's bn upgraded this morning. it is aspected to weaken -- expect to weaken as it closes in. it's a rain maker, pushing moisture to the southern plains. we are quiet across the midsection of the boundary, we are cooling down and drying out. across the west we are watching a disturbance bringing rainfall and higher elevations will deal with snow. we'll see that snow level coming

down from about 8,000 feet to 6,000 feet. i want to update you in the tropics because we have typhoon nari, and typhoon wipha. typhoon nari will continue to make its way west through the south china sea. now it's equif lents of a category 2 hurricane, expected to make landfall monday. we are watching typhoon wipha - now well out to sea.