tonight "worldfocus" -- as he delivs a jor foreign licy address to the united nations, president obama is said to beonsidering portant policy shts on afghanistan and the middle east. > the president ys iran must be held accountable if it continues to pure a nuclear weaps program. the iranian leader also speaks out. weill take you to jamaica fopart two of our "signature ries" on the battle against aids. tonight one woman's personal crade to endthe stigma attached to the disease. and from south america, from peru, an unusual ist on global warmin wints there are acally

getting colder wh dire consequees. >>from the world's leading reporters and alysts, here's what'sappening from around the world. th is "worldfocus." major support has been provided by roz behind p. walter and the peter g. peterson foundation, dedicateto promoting fiscal responsibility and addressg key economic challenges fang americs future. and additional funding is provided by the followin supporters -- goodvening. i'm dalj dhaliwal. tonight we want totep back a bitnd assess wre u.s. foreign policy isheading, especial on the critical issues of war and peace in especial on the critical issues of war and peace in afghanistan, the middle east iran. the president has been in office for eight months now, andoday heave a major speech to wod leaders here in n york for the united natio general assembly. in that speech the president

said thatthe united states is coitted to working with oth countries solve the wod's majorproblems. but he challenged them to do more and deride what he call analmost reflexive anti-americanism sweeping the globe. as we hear now, the president gave no hint of any major changes in u.s. poli toward afghanisn. >> the violent extremists who promote confli by distting faithave discreded and isolated themsels. they offer nothing but hatred and disruption. confronting them, ameri will forge lastingpartnerships to target terror, share intelligence and coordinate law enforcement and protect our people. we willermit no safe haven for al qaeda to lach attacks fr afghanistan or any her nation. we willstand by our friends on the front line as we and many nations will do in pledging suppt for the pakistani peoe tomorrow. >> theresident also seemed to break little new ground on his remarks about the ddle east, calling on the palestians to

puue peace with israelnd ging the israelis to curb settlements in palestinian territories. >> we continue call on pastinians to end incement against rael. anwe continue to emphasize that america does not accept the gitimacy of contied israeli settlements. the time -- [ applause ] the time has come -- the time has come to relaunch negotiations. without preconditions. >> though he gave no hint of it, during his speech "the new york times" reported tod that the obama administration is considering mar feign policy changes inhe mdle east and afghanistan. the imes" said that the prident is easing his demand for an israeli settlemen freeze in apushto get the mideast peace talks started. it said the pivot greatly increases the stakes for an administration thatas fou

even sma advanc to be bond reach. it also risks makingr. obama appear ineffeive in not having gained a tangible early goal in his middle east policy. "the timesalso said the prident is considering a sttegy shift in the afghan war by psuing altnatives to plans to send mre additial troops there. this article said the options der review are part o what adminiration officials descrid as a wholesa reconsideration of a sttegy that theresident announced th fanfare just six months ago. soust how significant are these shis? we are joined james ndsay, a senior vice present and directorf the studies at t uncil on foreign retions. sowhat about this alternative approach to afghanistan? what might it be? who might be pushing it? and what are the chances of the administtion would pursueit rather tn sending moreroops

to afghanistan? >> okay, let's begin th what we know. and that is the have been no shifts or decisionsmade the president. what the presiden aprently is giving, cording to today's story in "the new york tim," is asking tough questio about whether he wants t get deeper into aghanistan in rms of committing u.stroops. there seems to be some division within the administration ove whher to send mre troops or toither hold steady o deease the number of troops >> so what would a more nuanced understanding of his foreign policybe? give u your reports on that? >> i think wh we'reeeing righ here is that president obama realizes he's at a pivotal point in his afghanistanpolicy. back in the spring, the president announced to great fanfe, his new strategyfor afghanistan which emphasized what we call inthe business counterinsurgency, sendingmore troops in to afghanistan to provide greater serity for the afghan people. ov the intervening six nths, two imrtant things have happened. number one, we've had an

ectionn afgnistan with widespread charges of corruption, raing questns about the reliability of our allyr.karzai. second thing is that genel mcchrystal, who president obama apinted to the job of being chief general inafghanistan, has come back wi a report that is very dire in its assessmen of thesituation. so from what we cantell, th president is considering whether he wants t get in further in afanistan. >> and mcchrystal is going to be sending his tro request byhe end of the week, which is earlier than it had anticipated. whdo you think thatis? >> well,we're hearng mixed stories as to whetr general mcchrystal is goin to send foard his troop requestor whetr it's going to be held to the side. there's fundamental split within the administration from all pss reports, what we're hearing is thatice president biden has been arguing sinc the beginning of the adnistration that we should not be getting deeper into afghanistan, that would be better to put more resources into pakistan, whereas other elemts of the

ministration, apparently secretary clinton, argui for thepolicy the president ulmately has decided on. so i thinkgain right now what they're trying to do is figuring out do th want to connue on e road theytarted going down or not, and you'll know by whether orot the president decides to acceptgeneral mcchryal's rommendation for mo troops. >> let's turn to the midd east for th remainder of e time that we have left. w significant d you tnk it is that the administratio is pressi for peace tal without the iraelis freezi settlemes? did benjamin netanyahu essentially outlas the presidt? >> well, think what you're seng is the president's recognition thatis effort to get theisraeli pri minister to have a tot freeze on israeli settlements has not worked and is n going to work. and actually from the prident's point of view has been counterproctive. it has tually maderi minister netanyahu much more popular israel and driven esident obama's favorability

ratings into t single digits in rael. so what the white house now seems to beoing is saying, okay, we're going t back out of thisead end, we're not going to get stuck on talking about lo to startnegotiations. wee going to do what you said all along you're willing to do, let's begi talki about actual negotiations. >> isn't it a majo policy reversal? >> is not a poicy reversal, but it's certainly changing tactics. one thinto keep in mi is that the presint has not abandoned his call on the israelis to free all settleme activity. one of the things you diover in politics that y may mke an initiative, it doesn't work, you have achoice. u can sort of stay stuck on the tacticyou have or you can try dierent ones. i think that the president's tactics are changing,but his goal, which i to g the peace press moving between the israelis and the paleinians and to get something approaching a final settlement, thatoal remain intact. jamesdsay, thank you very

much. >>hank you, daljit. in his dress tohe unite nations general assembly, president obamaalso spoke about another key foreign polic issue, the nuclear amtions of ir and north korea. veral countries l by the unit states areonsidering addition sanctions again iran and north kore if they don't curb their nlear programs. >> and i willepeat -- i'm committed diplomacy that opens a path to greater prosperity and more secure peace for both nations ifhey live up to the obligations. t if the governmes of iran and north kea choose t iore inteational standards, if ey t the pursuit of nuclear weaponahead of r stability, if they are oblivious to the dangers of escating nuclear arms ras in both east asia and the middle eat, then they must be held accountable. >>n an interview with the associatedress, iranian presidt mahmoud ahmadinejad said that he excts xt week's discussions with the wt about ir's nuclear pogram to be

free and open, but called on the world's clear powers to give up some of their weapons, too. ist likely nucle negotiations withiran will succeed or are harsher sanctis against iran inevitabl joing us is maour farhang, a professor of internional relations at beningtoncollege. professor farhang was revoluonary iran's first ambassador tthe united tions. welcome to the program. >> pleasure to be here. >> do you thin that these talks,hich are going to b stting next week, are they going to succeed or are harsr sationsnevitable against iran? >> regrettably the talks will not succeed but i'm not sure we'll see harsher sanctio. ey will not succeed because irson ing through a signicant shift in the centers power from the coervative erics and their lay associates to the security and intelligent

of the state. this shiftas given the revoluonary guards and thr allies inthe so-caed economic foundations in the count a siation that they rely need an enemy in order to justify within the regimend supess e dissident elents who question the tolity of the regime. >> does iran come to these talks om a position of weakness? >> iran ces t this pition from a position of witne internally but nexternally. because the united stas is aware that it's in tourole in afghanisdtifficulties in aq. the possilities of pressuri ir are limited. irans someat certain that china and russia are not going to participate in significant sations against the iranians. >> do u think that ir is making a bomb? does it want bomb? >> there is question that iran wants gain thecapacity

to mak a nuclear wean because th is the way to become a serious pler in regional relations. hower, whether or not ian wi go the last step and actually do make mb, withdr from internatiol atomic agency and make a mb, that depends on how secure or insecurehey feel at tt time. which is a year, two years or three years down the road. >> professor farha, thank you. thank you verymuch. and that brings us to tonight's "how you see it." eight months ito the obama administration, is u.s. foreign policy headed in the right direction or therong direction? you can tell us what you ink by going to the"howou see it" section our weite at worldfoc.org. in central amica, in honor rous, supporters of dposed

president manuel zela again to to the streets last night in deance of government cuew. zelaya has been holed upn the brilian embassy in honduras after sneaking sbak io the country on monday. it has bn reported that six people have died in thoseen denied by the government. deutsche welleeports on the stando from the honduran capital of tegucigalpa. >> reporter: flash eruions as supporte again took to the streets despite the extend curfew. >> tralator: we're here to defy the curfew because the constitution says don't have to take oers fm a government created by a coup d'at. >> reporter: t street protests and growin ternational pressure appear to be having so effect. in a statemt read by his foign miister, interim president roberto micheletti said he's willing to talko zeya. >> i'm ready to discuss how to

resolve the political csis under the framework provided to us by the honduranconstitution. and i am readyo do so with m zelaya as long ase explicitly recogniz theconstitutionality maated presidential elections. >>eporter: zelaya is constitutionally barred from standing for a second tem, but the ousted leader contests that point. >> translar: you can't deny the people in honduras the rht to vote for o they want. even as prident, that is a violationuñ of the constitutn. >> reporter: sce monday, zelaya has been holedp in the braziliaembassy with troops suounding the blding and cuttg off lectricity, water and telephone les. the brazilian governmenis pushing for a urgen u.n. curity council meeting on the honduran cris. >> that report from dtsche

welle. argentina's so-called dirty war ainst political disent is again makingews mor than 25 yearafter it ended. pilot for a european airline has been arrested by spanish authorities during a stopover in that country. the pilot is suspected of having flown deathlights forthe former argentin government in which prisoners were thrown from airplanes to the atlantic ocean. 's wanted for qestioning in cases involving some 100 deaths. no,ou're not looking at piures from theatest hoywood sci-fi thriller. instd, this is what rsidents the eastoast of australia wo up to this mornin the eerie scene is the result of the worst du storm in

australiain 70 years, caused by high winds and a recd drought. overseas flightsnto sydney, ho of the country's lgest aiort, were being turned away while millionsf aussi were left coughing and sneezing. and from india, there is a warning about a severerought to come. with india's rainy season aout to end, rainfall ha been 20% less th the counry usually gets. ofcials worry that the shortfallill stunt farm crops and disrupt t flow of water into reservoirs thatre used t generate hydroelectric power hampering india economic growth. over the last seval ars, india has had one of theworld's fastest growi economies. > in south america, in peru, they are also experiencing tir are of unusual weather. but th coequences there have been mordire, leading to hureds of deat. overhe last several years

wiers in peru's andes mountains have gro longernd longer wh nhttime temperatur often dropping far below normal, all e way down to 20 bow zero. peruvian officials believe global warmi is behind the unpredented cold spell. itn's gish juneja rerts from this little vited are >> reporter: a mixtre of poverty andlimate change lled baby ros she died so after catching pneumonia. there was nonearby medial facility. but rose's distught faer sa the sudden onsetof the illness down to changing weatherpatterns. >>ranslator: since i can remeer, i've seen the sun getting stronger and t winds gettin colde you can see at this altude. i can only imagine what it mst be up higher up le where i grew up as a child. >>ow are you meant to predict such things. >> reporter: in ye in the andes er 300abies have died

and not all deaths are ported. doctors complainhat by the timeick children rch them from roteregions, often a ey can do is offer respite. >> translator: at this hpital we've h 28 deaths. at least 22 died at home and 6 died here. when they arrive the children alady have serious pneumon. little beck do for themand they die within few hours >> reporter: her nearly 4,000 meters above a level, records show the sun's rays are gettg stnger and the nights colder. locals say a lack of basic health svices is now compnded by thisapidly changing virpt. the radio stion tries to warn people abouthe impts of the changing weather. this yea winter arrived three months early, in march rather than je. >>ranslator: we aren't talking about pitics here. we have toalk over this issue of the cold that costing lives. >> reporter: but theres talk of politics, the governmnt in lima is accused of abdoning

ingenous in the mountain >> translato when did this weather change? ars ago.about five to eight before it was manageable. before we could hand the n's race. now yone with sensitive sin st gets burned. the me happens with the cold. but e issue of pneumonia is out poverty as well. there's no money to tale et, no money for medication or supervision. >> reporter:he government adts that ere have been delays in providing medical care due to what it tes as lostical and budgetary problems. the traditional way o life in the andes mountains may be under threat. >> it is not easy to live in those ki of ples. we have the threatof the pressures of oxygen, we don't have enough hun sources like doctors to go to work here. >> reporte the days here are maed by pristine turquoi ies that scorch the earth. at night t whole region is

described a living freezer with icy winds. the temperatures now rea as low as minus 30 degreeselsius. we end tonight wth our "signature story." we call it "in the shadows." in jamaic as in many places, those with aids often find themselves shunned society. depression and even suicide among aids ptients theres common. that is why we were drawn tohe wo of one woman in t capital cityf kingston who ha taken it upon herself to help ads patients reclaim thr sense of gnity. "worldfocus" producer lisa biagiotti has her upliftin story. >> reporter: aids is a fact of life in thompson pen, an ier

ci community on the outskirts of kingston. here some of jamaica's poorest peop are living wth aids and the fear and social stigma that always seems to travel with it. ida northover, known as ms. gene, has lived in this mmunity for 59 years. a few years ago she volunteered to becom the local reprentative for jamaica's national aids program. >> the lawr, the doctor and i do everhing. erybodycomes to meust about everytng. >> reporter:oday an estimated 27,000 peoe areiving with aids in jamaica. mi gene hamade it her job to look after those in her community. peopleike lasalle gray. >> here is your medication.

>> reporter: when ai first appear in jamaica in 1982, it was a death entence. few medications existed, and those that did, the po couldn't affor >> persons couldn't buy their meditions. so people t real sick. people get sores. some people just have that. reporter: most people liv lesshan a year after diagnosis. and icide was a common sponse. >> fir time the doctor spoke to m i was thinking about suicide, you know. so life goes on. and i receive the support. get back to myself. >> welco to ourupport group. and the topic today is about enrance. >> reporr: the national program has set up support groups like th one toelp pele cope th the daily

challees of living with aids. >> you have to have a fever cong and we know that fe goes on. >> reporter: wheyou get into a group of persns who are hiv positive a you see they are well and they're looking well, they can be well, they cane productive and they contin to ve a normal life,then this helps them psyclogically. >> rorter: wston keane dawes whouns the program her says e biggest change came five years ago when the governnt began providing free drugs to everyone with the rus. >> the mication free of cost. but they can see that they're feelinmuch better. ey're looking mu bette nobo can suspect that pers looksyzke an hiv person. >> reporter: here being publicly identified with ai often leads to social isolation andven violence. whenikon brown was rst diagnod with hiv, he was

afraid to leave his house. >> he was not allowedo come out because the risk ofeing killed, tol socialejection. >> there were occasions where people wt to get rid of tem by lightg the place on fire for threatening to killthem. >> at first infected. >> i tried to explain to them what hiv is all about. and if a person hds your hand, sits dowhere, you cannot catch it that way. you tell them sex wi, ood, otherwe you are not going to catch it. >> nikonhas gone from beinse clu cluded ia room to knowing the community is supportive of him. >> reporte miss gene has changed the lives in thompson pen which today has become a haven of tolerance in a still turbent sea of stigma and

discmination. >> youtart a little ripple and it becomes a wave. at's the only thing. and a coept really. because 'resstarti with one little part of jamaica and thompson pen h gone beyond to the adjo communities. . l the communities are not that successf because it's n everywhere thawe can find a ge. ♪ why worry >> rorter: for "worlocus" i'm lisa biagiotti in kingsston, jamaica. that is "worlocus" for this wnesday evening. you can finds here at the same time tomorrow and on the web any time. at's at worldocus.org. i'm dait dhaliw. for me and e rest ofhe "worldfocus" team, ank you for joining us. e-bye.

-- captns by vitac -- www.vitac.com major support for "worldfocus" has been provided by roz behind. walr and the peter g. peterson foundation, dedicated proting fiscal responsibility and addressing key economic challenges facing america's future. and additionalunding is provided by the folling supporters -