welcome to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. these are the stories that we are following for you. a milestone for the destruction of chemical weapons in syria. the iraqi president comes to america, an up tick of violence in his country has him asking for help. and president obama is trying to convince business leaders from around the world to invest in america. ♪ syria has taken an important step towards eliminating its chemical weapons stockpile. the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons

says that syria has now destroyed the key equipment to make those weapons. that news coming a day before the dead line set last month. omar al saleh has more from istanbul. >> reporter: the opcw says they went to 21 of 23 sites declared by syria. the remaining two were not visited by the inspectors because of safety and security concerns. they removed some of the items in those sites to be verified and inspected at another location. now syria has met two key deadlines, but the most important one is yet to come, and this is called phase 3. it involves the destruction of an estimated 1,000 metric tons

of chemical weapons stockpile. the opcw needs to approve the plan of the destruction. here now to talk ariel castro this milestone is michael lujan. he is joining us via skype from the hague. michael how convinced are you that the asaw regime no longer has the capability to produce chemical weapons? >> we're completely convinced actually, based on the declared materials. our inspectors have been there for 30 days. they visited all of the sites that the correspondent mentioned and a verified firsthand that the critical equipment that is needed to run their production facilities in what are called mixing and filling sites, those have all been put out of action. and opcw has been doing this for 16 years. we had thousands of inspector days spent on verifying chemical

weapons destruction, so we're quite confident that syria no longer has the capacity to manufacture new chemical weapons. >> but what about the stockpiles themselves? how do you destroy them safely and are you concerned about doing so? >> there are a variety of technological options. in the case of syria there are some advantages going into this, because almost all of their stockpile is stored in bulk. that's to say that the chemical weapons agent itself, the sarin, et cetera, it is stored in bulk, and in the case of sarin, it is

stored separating the two reactive agents. >> there is also a concern that dictators move their weapons once they know you're coming. do you think you got them all? >> the verification mandate that opcw had in this joint mission with the united nations in syria to a verify syria's chemical weapons stockpile is actually morrow bust than the normal mandate under the chemical weapons convention insofar as while the inspectors are on the ground, if any other state party has information to suggest that there may be a cache of weapons, we'll act on that. but that has not been the case this month. we got a complete declaration,

and we have gone through those. >> how concerned are you about the two remaining sites? >> we're not concerned. we have given information that the material in those sites were moved to sites that were more safely inside of government controlled territory, and our inspectors did visit those sites and a verified that the production machine was put out of action by destroying its critical equipment. >> and finally, your team was shot at when they first arrived in syria, and then yet after that things went smoothly. were you surprised at how well things went in the final days? >> the incident you are referring to took place during the investigation of chemical

weapons in damascus. and it's true that the day they went into those neighborhoods to collect samples there was an incident where their lead vehicle was shot at and had to be changed out. there have been no incidents that i'm aware of, of that sort where our inspectors were deliberately targeted by violence. the syrian government is responsible for assuring a permissive environment for our inspectors do the work. they have done that. and in these cases where the two sites we did not visit, that is the kind of negotiation that the un mission in damascus does as part of this joint mission with the opcw. >> michael. thank you for joining us. congratulations by the way on the nobel. >> thank you very much. a senate taking a closer

look at the situation in syria. he talked to lawmakers about the state of the regime and opposition. >> the regime is suffering serious manpower shortages, for that reason it has brought in foreign fighters from hezbollah, and even iraqi shiite militia men. the opposition that we support is fighting on two fronts both against the regime and extremists directly linked to al-qaeda and iraq. >> ambassador ford also testifying about how the u.s. can best support the syrian revolution, he said it will wear on. iraqi's superintendent making his first visit to washington in a couple of years,

and he is asking for help. mike viqueira joins us live from washington. mike the prime minister speaking at the u.s. institute of peace this morning. what was his message. >> this is clouded by the increasing amount of terror in iraq. and now they are asking is the prime leading iraq back into a civil war. that was the context, the accusation that they made in a letter to the president on the eve of this visit. they accuse him of mismanagement, iraqi politics, mistreatment is of the sunni minority in iraq and calling for a more inclusive government. yesterday he was out to the vice president's residence, meeting with joe biden. he wants more military armaments to fight the insurgency, that

terror, much of which is being based in syria now, and al-qaeda attacks across the border. he spoke as you pointed out to the u.s. institute of peace today and talked about the impact that terror has had on iraq's ability to grow its economy and politically. >> translator: had we not had to face terror, we would have moved forward way more than we did so far in building the iraq state. none the less, fighting terrorism we moved forward, and iraq is one of the main countries in developing -- in rebuilding in exports and so on. without terrorism we would have leaped forward in provicing services to our people. >> time and time again during the speech he cited the threat from terror.

he said it is not sunni versus shiite, it is al-qaeda attacking iraq. he is asking for military armaments including apache helicopters. >> what are the chances he'll get what he has asked for? >> i think it is on the good side. the president has been under great criticism ever since his administration was unable to keep a force over the neighboring countries and within iraq, so the united states absent any -- any ability to act on its own militarily, and the president has talked time and time again, talking about his ending the iraq war. this was a campaign point he made and has made over and over again. the u.s. is not going to send any military troops into iraq,

so military armaments might be the best thing. >> mike, thank you very much. the president is hosting an event in washington trying to convince business owners to invest in the us. randall it began with some rather good news about the u.s. economy today? >> yes, i deed it did. jack lew spoke here and it was very good day in terms of the nation's deficit, $685 billion, the first time since five years ago that the deficit dropped below $1 trillion. and the president will be arriving later today to encourage more invest inspect the us. one way for the u.s. to dig out of the deficit even more is to get foreign dollars here, and that's what this conference partly is all about.

>> the white house clearly prefers to talk about this rather than problems with the affordable care act website. was this a preplanned event? >> definitely a preplanned event. the fact that these other events are taking place, not exactly part of the plan, certainly the president wants to talk about this, because it has been a focus of the administration for the past two years. this is the first conference, but they have been working on trying to get more foreign dollars here for sometime now. you have had in the conference today, some of the top leaders from corporations around the world, including a wal-mart, dow chemical, for example, all of them saying that the u.s. has a lot of advantages, low interest rate, energy production is up, the u.s. for the first time is a

net exporter of energy, and companies are coming here to do business, and the u.s. wants to be involved in coordinating those efforts as opposed to leaving the states to do it on their own. >> randall thing you very much. problems with the obamacare website threatening to undermine one of the administration's key goals it wants to sign up nearly 3 million healthy people by the first of the year, and it has now turned to hollywood. >> reporter: seduced by one side. >> my company's health care. it doesn't cover mammograms. >> the aca covers mammograms. >> scared by the other. >> take your pants off. >> reporter: the online site aimed to attract the young and healthy. >> i think people in our age

group are more concerned with their finances than their well-being. it's tough -- like i don't know if that video gets that point across. >> reporter: that video, featuring jennifer hudson was produced by funny or die, a comedy website with 19 million unique viewers a month. hollywood entertainers were enlisted by the white house in july to help sell young people on obamacare. funny or die is volunteering its time and resources to produce 20 videos and projects promoting obamacare along with celebrities tweeting, obamacare is getting plenty of free advertisement. >> i like videos like this, because they make light of a pretty serious situation, and maybe reach an audience that wouldn't know about things like this. >> reporter: according to the associated press, the obama administration is reportedly

spending $684 million a year on pup i willsty, marketing and advertising, much of it parsed out to states for their ad campaigns. ♪ >> reporter: the anti-obamacare camp is using the same tactic. the group generation opportunity which has received $5 million, $750,000 of which was earmarked for anti-obamacare initiatives featured creepy uncle sam. the videos urge young people to opt out of obamacare. americans for prosperity a free market advocacy group has also posted anti-obamacare videos online. like generation opportunity, they are hoping to wu their audience away from obamacare and ultimately repeal the law.

both sides have their work cut out for them. a recent gallup poll showed 69% of 18 to 29 year olds didn't even know they had to buy insurance. it is unclear who is winning the information war, but for or against, the videos are raising awareness. today the senate committee is holding another hearings concerning background checks on contractors. >> i want to say that the vast majority of individuals who hold security clearances are honorable and trust-worthy people. many of them felt called into service after 9/11 to help protect our country, and they deserve our thanks. having said that, though, we still must have a better system.

that system must identify those with behavior signals -- that system must identify those who's behavior signals an unacceptable risk to be entrusted with classified information or access to sensitive facilities. >> the committee making its recommendations as officials continue to investigate to how aaron alexis was given access. core i will booker will be sworn in as senator. he will be the first african american to represent the state of new jersey inside the senate. coming up on al jazeera, america turning off your electric devices on board a flight may soon be a thing of the past.

and we have severe weather we are tracking. that's coming up with the forecast next. antonio mora brings you smart conversation that challenges the status quo with unexpected opinions and a fresh outlook. including yours.

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>> every night share undiscovered stories. welcome back to al jazeera america. here is a look at your top stories. the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons says that syria has now destroyed key equipment used to produce chemical weapons. iraq's prime minister saying terrorists got a second chance to thrive in iraq because of the civil war in syria. he said the world needs to help iraq deal with the insurgency. and the president is courting leaders of some of the biggest interthagsal corporations. they are in washington for a summit, where the president is trying to attract foreign investment. women's rights groups are

outraged in kenya. they are demanding justice for a 16-year-old girl who was gang raped after coming home from her grandfather's funeral. >> these people are protesting the punishment of men who were convicted of the incident. they delivered a petition that has been signed by 1.3 million people. >> it asks for arrest, and disciplinary action on the police who are embolding others

to rape and commit similar crimes. >> reporter: shortly after the rape men were arrested and police forced them to cut grass and then they let them go. today it was a different story. >> i'm aware that the cull .rits are at large. >> reporter: is not just about the punishment, but also bringing to a stop the widespread practice of rape in this country. one in every three women in kenya stand the risk of being raped. most of the rape victims suffer in silence. it was not until october 3rd months after she was raped that she [ inaudible ] one of our doctors decided to contact this

woman, a journalist with the nation newspaper. >> at times i really, really get frustrated because i have talked to everyone, i have talked to the police, and every day when i talk to the police, they tell me that, oh, we have not yet found these people. and i ask myself who will find them. >> reporter: she is now in a wheelchair. the injuries to her spine may never heal. but activists are hoping the police will react to rape and sexual violence in this country. the u.s. plans to increase its cooperation with japan in cleaning up the fukushima nuclear plant. the u.s. energy secretary due to visit the plant sometime tomorrow. a heart-stopping moment in china, a girl dangling from a

third-story window. we'll tell you what happened next.

you are now free to read and play your video games. the federal aviation administration announcing that it is going to allow passengers to use those electronic devices during takeover and landing. it will be widely allowed by the end of the year. it was put in place to keep electronics from interfering with the communication equipment, but the industry has long been arguing that ereaders are no more dangerous than a paper book back. wait until you see this video, a young girl in china safe after dangling out of that third floor window. the girl was supposed to being watched by her grandmother who was out at the time.

rescuers had to cut the power off of a line until the grandmother got back and opened the apartment and they somehow managed to pull her in. ♪ i'm meteorologist dave warren. severe weather is moving across the southeast, and a lot of rain in a short period of time. the line of storms through western louisiana here continuing to push from west to east, actually bowing out, an indication that there is some strong wind with these storms. a close-up view shows a few isolated storms, and they have the potential to spin a little bit. we could see some isolated tornados as these storms move

through. the watch extents in to mississippi. this area is seeing a lot of rain, but also flooding with these storms coming through texas and into arkansas and northwestern louisiana. this area could receive over 4 to 6 inches of rain. so flash flood warnings are issued throughout the state of texas. gulf moisture is coming up from the south, cold air from the north. that squeezes a lot of rain out, so a lot of rain and the potential for strong storms. it will continue to move east over the next 12 hours. so by this afternoon and this evening, western pennsylvania and western virginia that will move out of the area. atlanta we'll see the temperatures into the 70s today. the rain comes in tonight and early tomorrow, and then it

drops and the temperatures are in the mid-to low 60s over this weekend. behind the front the western side of the country seeing much cooler temperatures and maybe an isolated snow flake coming down. a lot of rain coming in overnight and tomorrow. the temperatures go from the 70s down to the 60s, and 50s on sunday. dell? astronomers have found a planet that looks a lot like earth. it has been given the name kepler 78-b, and it's hundreds of light years away. roughly the same and composition as earth. it orbits a star similar to our sun, the only difference, an estimated temperature of 3 to 5,000 degrees. that's hot. thanks for watching al jazeera

america. i'm del walters. "the stream" is next. ♪ with its self over gay marriage? same-sex marriage is now legal in fourteen states. just before it came into effect for new jersey, republican governor chris christie quietly dropped his effort to stop those unions. now, some say his action or lack thereof shows a larger shift within the republican party on the issue of gay rights. earlier this year, the republican national committee voted unanimously to keep the defion