the debt ceiling deadline now just four days away. the senate and the house are both trying to reach deals to make sure the government does not default for the first time in u.s. history. more than 100 people are killed in india by a stampede on a bridge outside a hindu temple. triggered by rumors that the bridge was collapsing. two cars whacked with explosives blow up in the center of the syrian capital damascus, this as seven red cross workers are kidnapped in the war-torn country. 200 muslim muslims making the pilgrimage to mecca. the surprising number the number of faithful are down this year.

♪ ♪ >> welcome to al jazerra america, i am stephanie sy. global financialal leaders. little progress was made on capitol hill over the weekend, both houses of congress will pick up the ball again on monday which is day 14 of the government shutdown. the senate met for a rare session on sunday, members stressed the cost of the government shutdown and it's effects on the american public. >> americans are rightly looking at congress and saying, what are you guys doing? why are you hurting people? why are you hurting families? why are you immaterial peteing our economic recovery? they are also say why aren't you working on what we sent you there to do.

on creating jobs, improving our education the system, addressing our nation's long-term fiscal sustainability. >> for more on the government should shushutdown we turn to js been following the events from capitol hill. >> reporter: slow progress made in washington, d.c. regarding the raisings of the debt ceiling. only the senate was in session on sunday. we had a pa rad of senators come to go microphone to his have terry say, but mostly the republicans after they were swamped by the message on saturday s harry reid openedded and closed the session too. in the course of the day he had a telephone conversation with his republican opposite member mitch mcconnell. at the end of the session harry reid saying that call left him optimistic, particularly regarding raising the debt ceiling. >> i have have an active conversation, our discussions were substantive and we'll continue the discussions, i am

optimistic about the prospect for a positive conclusion. >> reporter: also speak buying tariff today the house minority lead are nancy pelosi tariffing president obama to plead with him to make sure that whatever deal is done regarding reopening the government, and particularly the debt control that go it last for his at least 12 months. pelosi looking for a clean continuing resolution and a clean raising of the debt ceiling. everyone seems to be getting hammered in the polls over the government shutdown and the raising of the debt ceiling issue but particularly the republicans an nbc wall street journal poll published last week got a lot of conversation in the media on sunday. appearing to show a 22% point margin between president obama and republicans. among people who ask who do you blame for the shutdown and the debt crisis they blame the republicans by 22 points more than they blame president obama. on monday, the house and the senate are back in session, the house of 12, and the se senate f two, time is running out to avoid a global economic disaster if the debt ceiling is not

raised. >> john reporting from washington. and on sunday, thousands of people staged a protest at the white house. and at war memorials in washington, d.c. organizers of the so-called million vet march say veterans have been dishonored due to the shutdown. they are asking for congress to introduce legislation that would prevent any member of government from closing memorials. a human stampede has killed at least 111 people in india. hundreds of thousands of hindus had gathered in a remote village for a 10-day festival. chaos broke out when worshipers crossing a bridge feared it would collapse, dozens were left badly injured. here is more. >> reporter: we are at the hospital which is about a two hour drive from where the stampede took place. some of the injured have been brought here for treatment. now a local medical officer that we spoke to earlier has confirmed that there are more than 100 deaths that have

occurred in this accident. he says that at least 120 people are injured. now, most of the deaths seem to be amongst women. and they have suffered from a lot of chest injuries due to asphyxiation. we still don't know how or why this stampede occurred. some 500,000 people had gathered at a hindu temple to celebrate the festival which is very important in the hindu calendar. about 20,000 people it's reported were gathered on a bridge leading up to the temple and it's reported that there were rumors that the bridge felt like it was going to collapse. and this may have triggered panic amongst the crowd. and caused the stampede. however, this has not been confirmed by officials yet. but these are not the only unanswered questions india has a long and deadly history when it comes to stampedes during religious festivals. just in february, more than 30

people died at a religious festival. >> that was a report from india. india's prime minister expressed deep sorrow and shock over the loss of life and has asked local official to his prix side aid pr victimvictims and that ivictim . a state on the east coast at least 17 people have died from the cyclone. the death toll would have been higher but hundreds of thousands were successfully evacuated before the cyclone hit. it damaged hundreds of millions of dollars worth crops, thousands of farmers face a long road to recovery. here is a report. >> reporter: he has been growing rice in these fields for 20 years. it provides a steady income for his family. but because of the cyclone he

has little to look forward to this harvest season. >> this is my land. i used to farm it. but now look, it's flooded with water. i can't even see my crop. >> reporter: the government's disaster preparation saved many lives but no amount of planning could have saved the agricultural sector from widespread damage. people here say their livelihoods will bear the long-term brunt of the cyclone's fury. in 1999, a super cyclone demolished this village. this time it's been left standing. but some people who live here say this is both a blessing and a burden. they fear the authorities will be deceived by the lack of physical damage here when delivering aid. >> our villagville's village apg water source has been ruined. no without tower drink. our candles are finished and we

are finishing in the darkness, i can't find medicine for my elderly parents i am only just stepping outside my home. >> the storm was heavy. i leased my cattle in to the field but my family and i stayed home. we are now waiting for help. >> reporter: the cyclone tore through some of the most if you arofficertull agricultural area, destroying livelihoods and local food supplies. the local authorities are aware of the challenges they face. >> there is a big challenge for us as properties to the tune of several [inaudible] have been lost in the cyclone. >> reporter: during this time of year, hundreds of mill kwropblgz omillions ofindians pray to theu

goddess for strength and courage blessing the people of this state need in abundance as they try to get back on their feet. >> the indian ocean is a psych clone hotspot, 27 of the 35 deadliest known storms in history have come through the bay of ben gal. lashing india and neighboring bangladesh. >> meteorologist: the typhoon moved across the philippines and brought in di destruction in the way of flooding, mudslides and heavy rain, as we can see some pictures coming in. the newsroom showing us pictures that show all of the branches down, mud in the roads, and folks trying to push cars and mud out of the way just for get around. now the typhoon has gone back over water and start today strengthen and heading towards vietnam. it's expect today make a direct tract two denang but move in

just under the town hoo. that's a particular tract from are the joint warning typhoon center showing you over the course of the next 24 to 48 hours it will make eights way in and bring more rain to vietnam and will track to thailand and that's where we have already had a lot of flooding in the last few weeks from typhoons. now here is the story of the cyclone wipha. this is one developing and we have been looking at closely because it's gotten large and powerful. but the tack of that is to pass japan, right along the coast on the eastern side and that's why we were concerned because we still have problems with contaminated water around fukushima. this storm will be moving by that very area, however, it's going to go over cooler water so it will weaken and that means we could see better conditions for this storm to be much weaker and bring less rainfall. so now let's get back to the u.s. where we have been dealing with a lot of that rainfall in texas. record amounts, austin texas,

3.15 was the daily record, but you had over 10-inches of rain reported in your downtown area. you canceled the music festival the last day of the austin city limits. and we are going to continue with the flash flood and flood warnings. you are still going to get that rain coming up from the subtropics, blasting you with that heavy rain for the next 48 hours and some of that rain everyone moving in to arkansas through the day. >> rebecca, thank you. fbi agents are investigating a small explosion sunday night at los angeles international airport. the blast shutdown terminal two for several hours. brought security screenings to a halt and delayed flights from taking off. you are looking at a life picture of lax right now. no injuries aura rests are reported. investigators say it appears some dry ice exploded in an employee bathroom in the terminal. a midnight strike deadline has been pushed back 24 hours as union workers continues to negotiate with san francisco's bay area rapid transit system.

talks resumed on sunday night. bart workers are asking for more benefits and a pay raise, they walked off the job in july, but were ordered back to work by california governor jerry brown. they have been working without a contract since then. a strike would shutdown the nation's fifth largest rail system and force nearly 307,000 communers to find another way it get to work. red cross workers smashed in syria, al qaeda may have played a role in the kidnapping. calls for new protests today in egypt. what is being done to avoid more violence in the region. and former congresswoman gaby gifford attending a gun show for the first time since she was shot. we'll tell what you message she brought. my name's nicole deford and i'm a senior product manager in digital for al jazeera america. i was born in thailand, grew up in hong kong and singapore and graduated high school there. i think the most rigorous assignment i've ever been a part of is actually what we're

doing right now. they're building a network from the ground up, and al jazeera is a really great place to be right now. there are a lot of stories out there that are under-covered that people really want to see in the news. we're going to tell stories in a new and different, exciting way, and i think people are going to be really surprised and impressed with what they see.

[[voiceover]] from al jazeera media network comes a new voice of journalism in the u.s. >>the delta is a microcosm of america. [[voiceover]] we tell the human story, from around the block, across the country, with more points of view. >>if joe can't find work, his family will go from living in a motel to living in their car. [[voiceover]] connected, inspired, bold. >>about a thousand protestors have occupied ... the 90ingal re 90 internatid cross says there las been no contact with kidnaps that kip

nad 7 78 aid workers. -- seven aid workers. red cross had six red cross workers and one local volunteer, here is more now. >> reporter: we understand that the six staff members as well as the syrian arab red crescent volunteer were kidnapped when they were returning back to damascus after spending three days in the province there. they were assessing the medical needs and they were providing medical supplies to doctors in that area. now, according to syrian active shifts they do believe that the islamic state in iraq, an al quada affiliated group is behind the kidnapping of the staff. now there hasn't been any claim of responsibility there that particular group but this is what syrian activists do believe. now, in another piece of information that we have been

gathering the nationalities of those kidnapped are not revealed by the icrc, but information coming from activists do suggest that they are some of them are arab nationals as well as foreigners. >> omar reporting there. also in syria, two suicide car bombs exploded. sunday's blast went off in downtown damascus near the state television and radiohead quarters. according to state media there were no ca, at thises. syrian television showed footage of what peered to be two burning vehicles. a fire engine and images from inside a nearby building where windows had been blown out. also in syria, thousands of people have been allowed to leave a besieged rebel-held suburb of du damascus, the syrin government with the help of the red crescent escorted 3,000 civilian to his safer areas over the weekend. international aid workers some been trying to reach that area for months. some in the town have died of malnutrition. since the war began more than

2 million refugees have fled syria. supporters of egypt's ousted president mohamed morsi are calling for protests against the military-backed interim government. they are asking for small marches around the country. they are advising against a large take over of cairo's square where massive protests have often ended in violence. dozens of protesters and security forces have been killed during demonstrations in the past two weeks. an american detained in an egypt jail for more than six weeks has been found dead hanging in his cell. the man was identified by the state department as james henry lund. he was arrested in august for breaking curfew. lund, who was a retired army officer is the second foreigner to die in egypt custody since september. an investigation has been order today determine if his death was a suicide. rescuers in columbia are now sifting through what remains after high rise building in

hopes of finding survivors, it collapsed late saturday night. one body was found on sunday, 10 people are still missing. emergency officials say many lives were saved when the building was h evacuated friday night after cracks were spotted in the building, most of the people trapped inside are the workers working to repair the cracks. railroad general scenargentine't of the hospital, she was released on sunday and order bide doctors to rest. she won't be able to fly for the next 30 daze, the surgery caused her to cancel campaign plans ahead of congressional elections later this month. former arizona congresswoman gaby five guards wh give giffor. she is still spa partially paird after being shot in the head. ray lynn johnson has more.

>> reporter: it might be one of the last places you would expect a shooting victim to be. at a gun show. >> gaby. >> hello. >> one of our female firearms dealers in new york. >> reporter: it was safety, not sales that brought the former congresswoman here. >> now is the time to come together. be responsible. democrats, republicans, everyone. >> reporter: her visit along with husband mark kelly, is part of the couple's national campaign to expand background checks for gun sales. her crusade ties to the history of your assailant jared lautner, he purchased his gun legally in arizona. his mental instability having never been legally determined and that allowed him to pass the state background check. for the past two years gifford who is a gun owner herself has appealed to congressional lawmakers to close loopholes that allow criminals and the mentally ill to purchase guns. >> you must act.

be bold, be courageous, americans are counting on you. >> gaby gifford deserve a vote. the families are new town deserve a vote. the families of aurora deserve a vote. the families of oak creek and tucson and black berg and the countless other communities ripped open by gun violence, they deserve sample vote. >> reporter: while gun control legislation failed in congress, states like new york have made it harder to purchase firearms. the safe act passed in new york earlier this year, expand a ban on military-style weapons requires mental health professional to his report threats and creates a registry to keep guns out of the wrong hands. the organizers of sunday's show have made an agreement to adopt rules that will track sales at shows provide on the spot

background checks and mandate proof of purchase for buyers exit the building. it's a model gifford sees as a gun control compromise, one that doesn't infringe on second amendment rights. she still struggles to walk, he speak, read, and white but she is determined to take her gun control message to an audience least likely to want to hear it. ray lynn johnson, al jazerra. >> new york's new gun control laws were prompted by an investigation in 2011 that found gun show dealers were evading background checks, at least 10 dealers were chargeed in that probe. the u.s. has been using drone to his fight wars for years. but the technology is growing at such a rapid rate that the growns are moving from the battlefield in to every day life. the newest evolution is on display at dark, the drones and aerial robotics conference in new york city. these much smaller versions could cost as little as $300, drone builders say this is just

the beginning. while law experts at the conference addressed issues of privacy and liability. >> what are drones really but flying smart phones if you builds a drone a third ate pa*erthird party canwrite an ol. how do you allocate respond among the person who person who owns it and the person that writes the software where bones are on the line instead of just bits. >> the legal concerns come as more drones take flight in civilian air space. for example, drones mounted with cameras, whether used by law enforcement or journalists are raising privacy concerns. some 2 million muslims garth fore a holy pilgrimage the challenges that are keeping some from taking part. london police looking to restart the search for madeline mccann, who disappeared six years ago, the steps they are take to go generate new leads. new orleans looks to turn the tied as it faces one of the highest murder rates in the country.

how they are using sports to stop that trends. on inside story, we bring together unexpected voices closest to the story, invite hard-hitting debate and desenting views and always explore issues relevant to you. on august 20th,

millions of muslims are in saudi arabia for the annual pilgrimage. today worshipers will gather spending date in prayer the main ridge you would. crowds are smaller than usual this year because of a serious respiratory try russ in the region, saudi authoreds also issued fewer vehicles as because of the construction. london police are releasing a reenactment video they hope generates new leads in the case of madeline mccann, the three-year-old who disappeared six years ago. the child was left alone in her family's holiday apartment in portugal has her parents dined out with friends, police say they have new reason to believe madeline is still alive. the video will be released later today and will feature the most detailed look at the case to

date. the first cuban american write tore receive the pulitzer prize fofor fiction has done unexpectedly in new york city. he wrote of the immigrant experience, he won the pulitzer for his novel the mambo king's sing songs of love which was later turned in to i movie. it tell us the tale of cuban brother that his immigrated to new york city and achieve minor success following an appearance on the i love lucy show, his wife says he collapsed sunday while playing dennis, new orleans was -- tennis, new orleans has one of the highest murder rates in u.s. steed. 193 people were killed in 2012. in response the city's mayor created a program getting at-risk youth off the streets. dan explained. >> reporter: with his need dread locks and warm smile it's hard to picture ryan dalton as a self confessed street thug. >> i was in the lifestyle. i was a high-risk individual,

living that lifestyle. i was subject for that to happen. >> reporter: doing drugs or whatever. >> dealing drugs and just being in that life. >> reporter: a life that nearly killed him four years ago. >> i was shot three times with an ak47 and i am about 150 pounds and the guys was like five feet off of me. >> my administration has decided to focus the hard issue of young african american kids shooting young african american kids who know each other. >> reporter: now dalton heads up midnight basketball, part of the nola for life program. basketball targets troublinged teens, young people 16 and older and lets them engage in friendly, free weekly basketball competitions. it's from 8:00 p.m. to midnight a time when the teens may otherwise find trouble. murder is down in the united states, about 10% since 2002 accord to this fbi. still nearly 13,000 people are killed in this country each year. people at programs like midnight

basketball say the answer is in more programs just like this one. new orleans is following that trend. murders are down, 25%. compared to the same time last year. but it's not known how much the nola for life campaign or midnight basketball is helping. >> you may or may not hit the real risk kids, most kids have no risk of murder. you know, the small group of kids maybe 800 in the city. >> reporter: still, some say midnight basketball helps. >> any one of these people could be outside sought streets they are not, they are playing basketball. >> reporter: getting the most at risk kids involved, getting them away from violence is the toughest part. dalton says when you are living the street life, you often overlook opportunities that are right in front of you. >> so a lot of times it's just not in air eyesight, they don't know about it. to them there is no opportunity. >> reporter: they don't see a bigger world out there? >> exactly. not many of them see past, you know, a certain age and not many of them see past their situation, they lifestyle or

community. >> we live in the united states of america and we can solve any problem if we identify it as a problem and if it's important toss, i happen to think the lives of young african american men are critical and important to the country. >> reporter: a future they might have a shot at by coming here, dawn, al jazerra new orleans. >> the state of lou is actually the murder capital of the u.s. with almost 11 murders for every 100,000 pima cord to this fbi. the world seems to be developing a sweep tooth crying out for more chocolate and driving prices sky ward, score owners say the cost has jumped 20 to 25% in the last two years. and that could be just the beginning. chocolate's main ingredient the cocoa bean is in limited supply while the worldwide demands is smolking like never before in places like india and china. that will do it for this edition of al jazerra news. i am stephanie cy. people and power is next. remember news at the top of every hour as well as online you can always log in to

aljazerra.com for the latest headlines, thanks for watching. >> for centuries, some west african communities have branded children born deformed or with disabilities as evil spirits. they are seen as a drain on limited resources and so ... medicine men are often asked to perform rituals and prepare poisonous concoctions ...to kill them. thousands of defenseless children have been murdered in this way.