>> stephen cohen, good to talk to you. thank you for hang out with us, as always. this is our show, i'm ali velshi. the news continues on al jazeera america. >> a showdown at the united nations. presidents president obama and vladimir putin meet to talk about syria and the conflict in ukraine shutdown delayed - not nicely averted. the u.s. -- not necessarily averted. the u.s. government likely to stay in business until december uber in the sky, in trouble

for bringing pilots and passengers together and the red planet - what today's announcement could mean for the future on bars. -- mars. good evening, i'm antonio mora. we begin with a meeting between president obama and vladimir putin during the 70th general assembly meeting. president obama opened taking aim a russia over actions ayou ukraine and crimea. the president was critical when it came to russia's support of syria's president bashar al-assad. >> let's remember how this started. bashar al-assad reacted to peaceful protests by escalating repress and killing and, in turn, created the environment

for the current strife john terrett joins us now. vladimir putin spoke later, and there was an intense back and forth between the two. >> literally the two titans essentially agreed to fight i.s.i.l., but disagreed on almost everything else about the entire day at the united nations. president obama had choice words for vladimir putin today, but the russian leader managed to get in his own jab. bashar al-assad, at the center of the clash, president obama said bashar al-assad must go. vladimir putin says there's no alternative to him. >> reporter: russian president vladimir putin was not in the room when he heard president obama call him out over his annexation of crimea and involvement in eastern ukraine. but he did have a message for president barack obama when it comes to who should remain in power in syria. >> translation: we think it's an enormous mistake to refuse to cooperate with the syrian government and its armed forces.

we are valiantly fighting terrorism face to face and should acknowledge na no one but the kurd are fighting the islamic state. >> reporter: in his first speech vladimir putin called for a broad coalition including troops. it's unlike lay to include the u.s. as president obama on monday said bashar al-assad must go. the overtures hampered by criticism over the u.s. arming rebels, whom he said joins the group's ranks. >> it's not clear whom and using whomfor the benefits of goals, and the lat moderation in syria is the best example. we refuse attempts to play by the rules as not so much short-sightedness but a dangerous move while vladimir putin

solidifies his footing in the middle east with the soldiers and i.s.i.l. arriving in syria, iran announces it's ready to join too. that move, and its agreement with syria and iraq to share intelligence about i.s.i.l. >> translation: we are prepared to assist in the eradication of terrorism and paving the way for democracy, and ensuring that arms go not dictate the course of returns. as we aid the establishment, we are prepared to bring about democracy in syria and yemen. >> ban ki-moon blamed the security council for the lack of a solution, and the fall out, including millions of refugees inundating europe. >> five countries, in my view countries in particular hold the key. the russian federation, the united states, saudi arabia, iran and turkey. >> that call to action, however, a difficult one, as the differences between the u.s. and russia over-syria includes

turkey and france, who say no solution can be attained, with president bashar al-assad in power. >> i see someone unleashing diplomatic efforts to include bashar al-assad in this process. one cannot make the victims and the executioner work together. bashar al-assad is at the root of the problem, he cannot be part of the solution. >> it was a day at the u.n., so many big political names, after the speeches, president obama and vladimir putin held a bilateral meeting. we are told that was equally split down the middle between syria and the ukraine. vladimir putin do not rule out joining the u.s.-led air campaign against i.s.i.l. forces, but disappeared on the future of bashar al-assad. one wants him good mornings the other wants him in place. >> thank you as vladimir putin keeps the world guessing about his motives, the u.s. guesses the

posture, while a major part of the strategy appears to be in tatters. national security correspondent jamie mcintyre reports from the pentagon. >> reporter: pentagon sources concede that russia's surprise deployment. troops and craft to syria under the justification of fighting i.s.i.l. outstripped the u.s. and called it flat-footed. to be sure of the motives, the russian president has not made a secret that he's backing long-time ag lie bashar al-assad, the man -- ally, bashar al-assad, the man president obama insists must go. >> there's no other solution to the syrian crisis than strengthening government structures, and rendering them help in fighting terrorism. >> reporter: with russian support, president bashar al-assad is going nowhere any time soon. as in ukraine, the u.s. is powerless to stop the military

moves. to pursue the defeat of i.s.i.l. without, at the same time pursuing a political transition is to fuel the very kind of extremism that underlies i.s.i.l. if that's the russian view, that's a logical contradiction. >> according to some observers, russia is in the driver's seat because it's willing to do whether the u.s. is not. namely put forces on the ground. last week retired general david petraeus, former top u.s. commander for the middle east told congress that vladimir putin's bold actions were a result to president obama's inaction. >> russia's recent military escalation in syria is a reminder that when the u.s. does not take the initiative, others will fill the vacuum. often in ways that are harmful to our interests. >> reporter: every time the u.s. turns around, it seems, vladimir

putin is a step ahead. for instance, he entered into an anti-i.s.i.l. intelligence sharing agreement with iran, syria and u.s. partner iraq. something the u.s. has been forced to accept. anthony, deputy secretary of state told cnn iraq is a sof rein country and has the right to decide where it gets help from. >> in iraq, the heralded counter offensive to retake ramadi, which supposedly started months ago with shaping operations is going nowhere. the official explanation is it's taking time to clear mined fields of i.e.d.s. u.s. military sources in iraq shows the bigger problem is shia forces are not anxious to liberate the mostly sunni city the taliban is now in control of much of kunduz, afghanistan's fifth largest city. it was a stronghold until a 2001

u.s.-led invasion. it took over the provincial governments office and released 600 prisoners, the first time the taliban took a major urban area, coming less than a year after the formal end of the n.a.t.o.'s combat mission. afghanis vowed a counterattack a bill has been passed to keep the government funded until december. now we turn to the house, where john boehner says he has the votes to keep it running. some conservatives are threatening to cut it down unless congress cuts funding to planned parenthood. libby casey reports. >> reporter: house speaker john boehner defended his record and let loose on ultra conservatives in his party. >> the bible says beware of follows prophets, and there are people out there, you know, spreading noise about how much

can get down. i mean, this whole idea of shutting down the government to get rid of obama care in 2013 - that's plain never had a chance. >> reporter: john boehner saying phone c.b.s. "face the nation", despite republicans control of congress, without the presidency or a super majority the g.o.p. can't institute change. >> our founders didn't want some parliamentary system where if you won the majority, you got to do what you wanted. they wanted a long, slow process. change comes slowly. and obviously too slowly for some. >> too slowly for republicans like those at this weekend's value voters summit, erupt at the news that john boehner is stepping down. >> speaker john boehner announced that he would be resigning. [ cheers ] the right flank is willing to push to shut down the government to stop federal funding for planned parenthood. don't expect that to happen since john boehner no longer had

to listen to them. john boehner and senate republicans plan to pass a short-term spending bill in a case of kiging the can down the road until december, and it will fall to a new house speaker to navigate, but who. the top candidate, second in command, kevin mccarthy, he's served five terms, but is a popular proven fundraiser, announcing his candidacy in a letter to members writing: it's conservatives that mccarthy must convince, like mick mul vainie, who pardon sunday. >> as the inside track, will things change. will they change for the better or are we replacing john boehner with someone else wholedo the same thing. >> offering a challenge. florida websters, a battle brewing for the number two

position, representative tom price winning significant endorsements from mainstream and conservative members. republicans are meeting at the capital to discuss strategy. there's no date on the calendar for leadership elections. today a judge sentenced former prison worker joyce mitchell to up to seven years behind bars. it was the maximum possible sentence for helping two inmates escape a prison in upstate new york. mitchell was convicted of providing convicted murderers richard matt and david sweat with the tools they used to escape. the manhunt lasted three weeks, involving thousands of people and costing new york state thousands. >> stock markets are down in asia, sparking fears of a sell off. the hang seng fell about 3.5% since the opening bell. the nikkei and dobingio is off 2.5%, following a day in which

major indicis lost 2-3% of their value many scientists say where there's water there's life - at least here on earth. researchers found proof of water on mars, and everyone wants to know if the same holds true on the red planet. also, donald trump releases a plan to change the tax system. critics say it has a lot of holes.

>> you have kids here who've killed someone? >> award winning journalist soledad o'brien takes us inside the violent world of kids behind bars. will a new experimental program be their last chance? >> i have to do my 100 percent best so i don't end up in a

place like this again. scientists at n.a.s.a. say that they have found strong evidence of flowing water on mars. it's a potential breakthrough not only in the search for life beyond earth, but in hopes of sending humans to the red planet. john hendren has more. >> n.a.s.a.'s scientist says the red planet is not the desolate dry place they thought it was. >> today we are revolutionizing our understanding of this planet. our rovers are finding that there's a lot more humidity in the air than we imagined. as we ingest the soils, they are moist, hydrated, full of water. mars is not the dry, arid planet that we thought of in the past.

today we are going to announce that under certain circumstances liquid water has been found on mars. >> reporter: researchers say a few years ago mars was covered with rivers, lakes and an ocean, but only a small amount of water remains, now n.a.s.a. says a camera captured streaks of briny water on the surface of the planet, a basic building block of life, and there's a water cycle changing over the course of a year. >> these are dark streaks that form that late spring, grow through the summer and then disappear by fall. >> reporter: that raises the possibility of life, possibly mike robial life and makes it easier for explorers to sustain themselves when exploring the planet as n.a.s.a. hopes to do in 2033. >> today's announcement about water on mars is a reason why i feel it's more imperative to

send astro biologies and planetary scientists to mars to explore the question of it there current life on mars. >> the possibility of life on mars has been envisioned in science fiction. >> movie reel: there's nothing here. it's mars. >> reporter: n.a.s.a. managers say the discovery leaves many mysteries unresolved. they don't know where the water comes from, or what, besides salt, is in it joining us is michael shura, curator of the department of the astro physics at the american museum of natural history in new york. good to have you hear with us. how confident are you that this is a done deal, and it's clear that some sort of water exists on mars? >> i don't think there's any doubt. there was strong evidence from the imaging that there was something that seemed to change. given the fact that there's the announcement of hydrochlorates,

there's nothing more to argue about. there clearly has been, and recently, days, weeks, months, flowy briny water on mars. why with all the rovers, orbiters, including one from india that is there now, is it hard to determine with certainty, to prove beyond any kind of speculation, that the dark streaks are water? >> well, one of the problems is we don't have video coming back from mars, only still images, and you need to compare images taken days, weeks, months apart, and most of the time, 99.99% of the time you don't see changes, you have to look through huge amounts of information before finding the tell-tale dark strarks, and it takes -- streaks, and it takes years to figure out how to analyse them, and there was only one instrument orbiting mars that could do that detailed

spectroscopic analysis. >> if it is waters, the question is how likely does that make it that we'll find life on the red planet. >> there's two possibilities, it's there or it's not. we'll have to go and drill down beneath the surface, sent down microscopes, analysis tools, and until we hit water, and see if the bacteria or other living organisms or things we don't expect down beneath the surface. >> we heard in our story that it's imperative to get people to mars to ascertain if life is present. can't rover do that. >> they can and should. n.a.s.a. wants to send humans to mars, and a human can do 1,000 times what a robot can. the initial experiment of sending a drill to mars, is something that absolutely can be done robotically. >> what does this mean for a

manned mission to mars. i know they are looking at getting someone there by 2039. mars has extreme temperatures from as low as minus 200 farenheit at the polls to 70 at the equator, could there conceivably be the possibility of greenhouses to grow food, if there is water on the planet? >> sure. why not. you would simply erect a greenhouse, pump air into it and away you go. you could grow food on mars, you can purify it. split the water, use it for fuel. it will help you live off the land. >> how optimistic are you about manned missions in the future. >> i'm confident it will happen, i can't tell you when. that depends on the size of the bigger budget. we can go there faster, smaller budget, longer. there's not the slightest doubt we'll go there. humansers explorers, we are intrepid. we have to go, and see for

ourselves. >> i can tell you are excited. anyone watching this is excited. michael thank you republican presidential front-runner donald trump announced a plan to revamp the tax code, unveiling his proposition in new york, saying low income earners would benefit the most. >> if you are single and earn less than $25,000, or married and jointlieierb earn less tha $50,000, you'll not pay income tax, nothing. this eliminates very strongly and quickly the marriage penalty, very unfair penalty. >> donald trump's plan has four tax brackets instead of seven. the highest income tax rate is 25% down from about 40%. also it would eliminate estate taxes. critics jumped on the plan saying it would funnel money to the rich, costing the government

trillions. vice president joe biden has yet to announce whether head run for president, and still has time to qualify for the first debate. it will be held on october 13th. the network announced it relaxed its criteria meaning the vice president could announce its candidacy and qualify. in most polls biden is in third space behind hillary clinton and vermont senator. >> a pilot and entrepreneur is in trouble with the f.a.a. the reason - an online business some called the uber of flying. why the government says he is breaking the law after billions of dollars fighting for years with environmentalists, shell oil gives up on finding oil in the arctic ocean. >> workers are being injured constantly.

shell oil is ending its arctic ocean drilling campaign. royal dutch shell only started drilling off the coast of alaska over the summer, but announced it has found far less oil and gas than expected. the project cost $7 billion, inspiring protests from environmental activists and politicians worried about a spill the former c.e.o. of volkswagen is under investigation in the missions rigging scandal. german prosecutors are trying to determine whether martin winterkorn was involved. the company has admitted it installed software designed to underreport emissions. vw says 11 million diesel vehicles are affected worldwide.

martin winterkorn stepped down last week, but says he was not involved. if responsible, he could face up to 10 years in prison now to a new start up - some call the uber of the skies. looking up private pilots with passengers through the internet. the f.a.a. says it's illegal. the company is taking the fight to court. jacob ward reports from san francisco. >> reporter: as a college student matt, who grew up flying planes in new york spotted a wasted resource. >> if you look at the number of airports that commercial planes fly to. 500 in the u.s. if you look at general aviation, you go to 5,000, it's an improvement of places you can go to. >> they knew about the practice of offering a ride in a plane in exchange for the equivalent of money. he created flight nav to move the arrangement on to the web. >> in august last year, 2014, we

had a response from the f.a.a. stating that any pilot using flight nav platform would be operating illegally. that changed the whole game. >> operating illegally because, according to the f.a.a., offering a ride over the web makes a pilot a common car your, a commercial operator, which involves meeting tougher safety standards. now he's in court to announce that the requirement already exceeds the f.a.a.s. should the service be hold to standards. roughly one person dies. compare it to many dying in private planes. the difference in risks is why the standards are so different. as an aviation attorney, michael doesn't find himself on the same side as the federal aviation industry. >> the f.a.a. is the largest and most vulnerable adversary. >> reporter: he point out there

is a large difference, and bumming a ride with a private pilot. most generally the aviation liability policies are very, very low limits. low limits to the point where you would probably not drive your car if you had such low limits. based upon my understanding of the law, and as much as i am intrigued by disruptive companies, i think flight now has major obtack tackles. >> the -- obstacles. >> the concept is attractive. flight where you want when you want. these flights may be delayed indefinitely i'm antonio mora, thank you for joining us. for the latest news any time head to aljazeera.com. luis suarez is next with "inside story". we leave you with pictures of the sky show last night. in case you missed it, for the

first time in 30 years, a lunar eclipse coinciding with a super moon. the rare occurrence will not happen again until 2033. have a good night. [ ♪ ] after almost five tumultuous years as speaker of the house, john boehner is out. leaving on his own steam, and he says on his own terms. on his way out he's made it clear who he blames for his troubles, the false prophets of the republican right, who promised more than they could deliver in opposing president barack obama's gender. government watchers conclude a shutdown is unlikely. are troubles over or