law,. >> i talked to the president earlier tonight. i'm not going to negotiate. i'm not going to negotiate. we're not going to do this. well, i would say to the president, this is not about me, and it's not about republicans here in congress, it's about fairness for the american people. >> but that's something the democratic controlled senate says no to, and president obama is pretty clear as well. >> one faction of one party in one house of congress in one branch of government doesn't get to shutdown the entire government just to refight the results of an election. >> the motioto table is approved. >> so, is there the top democrat in the house of representatives gave her take on it. >> we're saying to them we're willing to accept your number for the purpose of going to the table. keep government open and go to

the table. they're saying we're rejecting our own number because that shuts down government and only then will we go to the table. >> congressmen and women have been playing political ping-pong here, sending the bill back and forth between the house of representatives and the senate with no agreement. but the deadline to get that bill through has now passed and the government is in shutdown. what happens next is a question everyone here is asking. katie watson, "bbc news," in washington. >> well, let's get straight to washington and i guess americans on the east coast just beginning to wake up to this partial shutdown. what sort of reaction has there been already? >> well, some workers that we've spoken to have been told to come in for about four hours this morning, that's government workers, to effectively clean their desk, tell some their contacts they won't be in, and they don't know how long they'll be in for. so that's the impact obviously

as people come to work here in washington, d.c. we'll be hearing more about some of their reactions, specifically, how they worry it might affect them. but we've also been speaking to people across america to get their general reaction. lawmaker from both side of the aisle dug in their heels. nothing could stop a partial government shutdown. >> i think it's very disappointing to me, because it's kind of sending a message that the government cares more .bout their parties >> i think it would be a shame if people come here and can't get in or any other national park. >> i think washington needs to get it back together. there are real consequences to real people here in los angeles. >> i just hope they can get it resolved for the people of america. it seems to be so important, and i'd love to see it be put to bed and we can t on with running

the country. >> acting like a bunch of 3-year-old children. it's who can hold their breath the longest. >> the government will work it out, it's a political move. it's happened in the past. >> the g.o.p. is black mailing the american people and i don't think it's fair to do that over obama care. >> this is ridiculous. we got to find a way to work his out. >> that's some of the reaction. more than 700,000 government workers who will be affected by this. when there was a shutdown last time, it was about 17 years ago, and i think what people are saying is the real affect sometimes don't get to displayed straight away but it's when people aren't getting their paychecks, when people are spending days on end not turning up to the office that some of that reaction is really felt. so we may not see any of that

immediately. >> and in these reports early on, we saw some of the political argument. i mean, but are the republicans united on this, taking it to the wire and beyond? i see that john mccain, for example, has expressed his doubts. >> yes, i mean, the thing that's interesting here is we're not just looking at a big debate from replicans and democrats, but also between the senate and the house of representatives, the two different houses of government here. that is open behind me today, that's one government office that will be up and running. we'll be hearing more of those debates. but as senator john mccain said, he doesn't believe the republicans can win this, and that at some point they will have to cave in, and agree on a spending plan. what is interesting though is the resolve that many senior republicans in the house of representatives seem to have been displaying. they took that resolve to the extreme in the sense that they were prepared to face if kenses

of a shutdown. much of this is an idea logical debate for me of those republicanses in the house of representatives. they have pinned this whole argument and debate on the issue of president obama's flagship health reform. in some ways this has been a debate about something more than just a budget. >> all right, thank you very much. now, four m.p.'s from greece's golden party are to appear in an athens court later today. they're accused to longing to a criminal group and other offenses including murder, assault and money laundering. growing public anger almost two eeks ago of an anti-racist musician. so will the government crack down on this far right polical party and mark a new dawn for greece? let's have a look. so what is golden dawn? the group officially known as the popular association, golden dawn was formed in 1980, but

registered as a political party in 1993. it's extreme right wing agenda is built on a strong anti-immigrant rhetoric. they get 7% of the votes in the 2012 elections. that means they got 18 seats in the 300 strong parliament. well, our correspondent is in athens and we can join him now. at exactly, mark, have these politicians actually accused of? >> sorry george, it's a slightly bad line, can you repeat that? >> these politicians that appeared in court today, they're not in court related to this murder that i just spoke of? >> the police, george, say there is a direct link they have established between the man who killed him a fort night ago and the highest eschelons of the golden dawn party. wiretap records have shown that there was direct communication between the man who wielded the knife and some senior m.p.'s

which the police and government say have provided them with the government to classify golden dawn as a criminal organization. some of those individual counts include murder, assault and money laundering. let mehow you the theme here at the special court in central athens. this is where the four m.p.'s from golden dawn are very soon to aruoff. four of the six arrested because the party leader will arrive tomorrow. his number two will come here on thursday. you can see the st of armed security and riot police who have lined outside, and there are also supporters of golden dawn who have gathered around in black t-shirts and golden logo. >> he talked about the shame of neo nazis, and i wonder what extent is that view shared by the greek public at large? >> you know george, the murder country. tunned the

it prompted a huge outcry against golden dawn. but remember golden dawn had been accused of lots of violence before that, linked to 250 odd racist attacks and the murder of two immigrants. so it's nothing new, but it seemed to have prompted the government to act agait them. we've had some extraordinary evidence, details, emerging from the protected witnesses that have been speaking to police on how golden dawn works. hey say it's run across a nazi furor ty line, and a strict pyramid showing whom would answer to whom. they call it the furor of principle. they say there were hit squads that would ride on street bikes tomorrowing immigrants. new members will remain training, and they would be attacked if they disagreed with the rules. so all this evidence have

stunned people here and it will be interesting to see if it affects the party's pularity fuels that this is a violent group that needs to be reigned in. >> now a woman who went through early menopause has had a baby. she gave birth to a healthy baby after doctors found a way to reawaken the ovaries so they could produce eggs. it was tried in a small group of japanese women with a specific type of infertility problem. but scientists hope it could also help women who have trouble getting pregnant because of their age. well, professor charles kingslad is a consultant gynocologist liverpool women's hospital. joins me from liverpool, thank you very much for being with us, charles.

in laymen's terms, if i could ask you, what exactly have think done here? >> well, what happens is this fizz logically the woman has her full compliment of eggs when she's born and she doesn't have the ability to make them. she only loses them as she gets older. it really depends on how many she was born with, which dictates when she will run out of eggs and hence lose her fertility. unless something intervenes like disease, illness or chemotherapy, for example, following cancer treatment, which will of course destroy eggs. so, what these researchers have done is a very neat series of experiments which essentially -- they've taken a bit of ovary out of women who have prematurely lost their fertility and subjected the fragments of ovary to some chemicals which have reawakened some of the dormant sleeping or diseased eggs.

and then replaced them back into the female. these are then been fertilized and replaced back into the infer tile woman, and she got pregnant and had a baby. >> now it's been described as a otential game changer. do you think that's what we're seeing? >> i think it has such a high profile and such implications women, sometimes we put the cart before the horse, and they reach the media before they've undergone scientific rigor and further data collection. >> you sound skeptical then? >> no, i'm not skeptical, but i think we need to be a little bit reserved as to what the outcomes will be. we need to collect more data. we need to evaluate the

treatment itself, before we subject it to wider practice. however, i must say the techniques are potentially very simple, they're easy to do, and if more data was collected o the positive side, we could be seeing a game changer, yes. early days, though. >> and this is a matter of interest, in your clinics, on average how many women would you see that would have this kind of conditions, that would be helped by this kind of treatment? >> well, 100 women will lose their fertility due to this condition in their 20's and 30's, so it's actually quite common in the population. of course in my clinic it's very common because we have a specialist center, so we will see three, four, or five patients a day with this particular condition. so, it's potentially very exciting, but we don't want to get overenthusiastic before we

receive more information and hey have been subjected to scientific rigor. >> now, stay with us, still to come, the developments of a drone, this time they're going under water hoping to uncover the deepest reaches of the ocean. long awaited physical reforms announced by turkey's prime minister have been met by protest with tens of thousands of kurds. the proposals included lifting a ban on islamic head scarfs and strengthening rights. some say the reforms are nsufficient. >> this wasn't the reaction he was hoping for, but the prime minister announced a package of

reforms designed to oil its wheel. but tens of thousands of kurd took to the street to show his speech fell short of expectation. they flocked to the southeastern city to make clear their disappointment. the prime minister's reforms include changes to the electrical system to give pro kurdish parties a greater chance of entering parliament. he also moved to scrap restrictions on the use of the kurdish language and the wearing of head scarfs. but some say these proposals don't go far enough. we have shown that the only reform package that you recognize and you will recognize is a a status of the freedom for ur leader. >> the reform is seen as vital

to end the fighting between rebels and the government. last month they suspended their with draw from the company because they said the government had failed to improve kurdish rights. the reforms are key for the political prospects. he faces elections next year. the peace initiative has drawn strong public support, but it's also attracting criticism from nationalists over perceived concessions to militants. mily thomas, "bbc news." >> let me bring you some other stories from around the world. south korea has held its biggest military parade in a decade. it's been showing off new missiles designed to counter any threat from the north, following a very tense few months. the south's president said her country would continue upgrading its armed forces until the north abandoned its nuclear weapons

program. and senior leader in bangladesh has been sentenced to death for his part in the country's war of independence from pakistan. salahuddin quader chowdhury was found guilty of nine charges out of 23, including genocide, murder and abduction. he is the first sitting member of parliament and most senior figure in the opposition. bangladesh, nationalist party, to be convicted by the tribunal. this is holding the first meeting of a new kitchen cabinet for the vatican. the group of eight cardinals have been chosen to help reform the way the catholic church is run. the pope has described the vatican court as the lepp si of the papacy. he said the church must engage ore with the modern world. to syria now where their mission

is part of an agreement reached between the united states and russia and endorsed by the unite nations security council. syria has said they will comply with the process. the inspectors from the organization of the prohobition of chemical weapons face the daunting task of trying to destroy a country's nuclear arsenal in the middle of a war. our correspondent jim muir in bay rite joins us now. on the last point, the fact that they'll be working in a war zone. i gather 17 of the 19 sites are actually in combat zones. >> that ice what the foreign minister said. yes, i think that's the first time we heard that figure of 19 declared sights. there have been reports that there were more than 40 areas where chemical weapons have been dispersed over the past year or so. but in any event, a bit

surprising if they're actually holding stocks of chemical weapons in really dodgy combat areas. let's face it, t the kind of thing you would want to have near where things are exploding randomly. so, we'll have to wait and see. but inspectors, one of their first task, once they actually get on the ground and have a lot of stuff to work out, this is an advanced team at the moment, one of their first jobs will have to assess by each of those sites, and first priority will go to actually destroying not the weapons themselves or the chemicals, the precursors but the actual equipment used to assemble them to mix them and to make them into the deadly toxins that they become once they're mixed. so that's the first, and of course the delivery system. any rockets that may be used for actually firing those weapons off. so, that's the first priority, and then they'll get around to the business of actually getting rid of the chemicals themselves.

>> is that process, underway, i mean, there is a sense of a political dividend from all this, that somehow cooperation on this will lead to a wider sort of agreement? >> well, that's certainly the hope by the russians, the americans and the u.n. security council that the kind of unprecedented that could be built ontoead towards rapid movement of the political settlement at so-called geneva two to follow up on geneva talks last year. long, long postponed, they're talking about holding that meeting in the middle of november which may be optimistic because there are many obstaes especially on the rebel side that needs to be overcome before meaningful talks can be engaged. >> all right jim, thanks very much. thank you. now scientists working on a

project to develop undersea drones say it's easier to communicate with the moon than the ocean floor. while ariel drones have become almost common place, and controversial, undersea drones are still being developed. christian frazier reports. >> we spent plenty of unmanned explorers into space, but how much do we really know about what is beneath the surface of our oceans? well, here we have marine drones, on which scientists are testing the latest technology for deep sea research. they're using artificial intelligence that will give his eyes on the darkest beds of the sea bed that we've never seen before. they'll be used to monitor marine life, pipelines, oil spills. they'll give us 3-d vision of the deepest reaches of the ocean and they'll be used to defend harvest, ships and shipping lanes. >> i think today, if only

acknowledge a few percent of the ocean sea floor, and there's so .uch things to discover >> the key is getting them to work as a team so for example, in military terms in a harbor like this you might have one drone identifying a mine and another disabling it. the trouble is that the radio waves to command theseachines don't travel particularly well through seawater, which means marine drones have to communicate by sound. or acoustic signals. in much the same way as dolphins, these machines will be constantly chirping to each other to swap commands and information. but, at the moment, this is state of the art in deep sea research. this is the three months which was used to dive on the wreck of the titanic all the way back in the 1980's, and still this is only one of six in the world.

by contrast, the marine drones are smaller, they're more versatile in the water, and they're much, much cheaper. if the scientists can perfect the technology, they can multiply the number of explore rations they run and the data they bring back will be unlike anything we've ever seen befo. christian frazier, "bbc news," at the french ocean research center. >> fascinating stuff. now do stay with us here on g.m.t. there's plenty more to come, especially on the partial shutdown in america.

>> make sense of international ews at bbc.com/news. >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newman's own foundation, giving all profits to charity and pursuing the common good for over 30 years, nd union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to understand the industry you operate in, working to nurture new ventures and help provide capital for key strategic decisions. we offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide rae of industries. hat can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet, los angeles.

welcome back to "newsline." i'm yuko aotani in tokyo. here's some of the stories we're following this hour. japan's prime minister is set to announce a sales tax increase. one he's planning to couple with a multibillion dollar stimulus package. iran's president has sent another signal to the u.s. as he studies the possibility of resuming direct flights between the nations. and authorities in china turn to overseas investors as they try to revive economic growth. executives at japanese companies are feeling better about this state of the economy. they say it's recovering steadily. a key gauge of business sentiment at major manufacturers rose for the third quarter in a row. hit the highest level since the collapse of lehman brothers in 2008. officials say the weaker yen is one of the main reasons. bank of japan officials released the results of the quarterly

tankan. the sentiment among major manufacturers stood at plus-12 points, up 8 points from the previous survey three months ago. officials attributed the increase to better earnings by automakers, electronics, manufacturers and other export-oriented firms. they also said sentiment has strengthened among nonmanufacturers. that index rose two points to plus-14 points. growth in public works projects and housing demand is boosting the construction sector. the survey measures short-term business confidence among managers at about 10,000 companies nationwide. the increase in confidence is an important factor in a decision by the prime minister. shinzo abe wants to rein in japan's mountain of debt. he's announcing later in the day he'll race the consumption tax to 8% from 5% starting next april, pairing the move with a newtimulus package to ease the impact on his main economic priority. that, of course, is growth.

abe has spent months weighing the costs and benefits of the sales tax increase which was set in motion by the previous administration. he decided to go ahead with it, but he'll soften the blow with a $50 billion supplementary budget. some of that money will go directly to low-income earners. they'll receive $100 to $150 each in cash. the government will also commit a large chunk of money toward repairs on old tunnels and bridges and will invest in better transportation infrastructure for the 2020 olympics in tokyo. lawmakers with the ruling liberal democratic party and coalition partner nu kometo have agreed to consider another proposal. they want to scrap a corporate tax designed to raise money for the reconstruction effort in the northeast. the levee was scheduled to expire at the end of march 2015, but prime minister abe wants to end it a year early. ldp lawmakers say they'll look for other sources of revenue to support the reconstruction. they're also proposing a

two-year extension of a tax break for companies that increase their employees' salaries and they plan to start discussions on setting new corporate tax rates. now, japan's job market showed a mixed picture in august. the unemployment rate unexpectedly worsened while the availability of jobs rose. internal affairs officials said the jobless rate rose 0.3 percentage point from the previous month to 4.1 pk. it worsened for the first time in six months. about 2.7 million people are without work. more than 63 million had jobs. meanwhile, labor ministry officials say the availability of jobs rose for a sixth straight month in august. it says 95 positions were available for every 100 job seekers. jobs in the construction sector increased. that was due to a rising number of public works projects as well as increased housing construction ahead of a consumption tax hike. now, tens of thousands of civil servants