says the program's purpose is peaceful but others say it is just a cover to push for nuclear weapons. over the last decade, there have been many attempts to defuse the crisis. there have been brief suspensions in iran's enrichment activity. there has been talk of limiting how much it enriches uranium and about moving some of the sensitive material out of the country. these have all broken down. insists it is its right to have a nuclear power program. what with sanctions taking an increasing toll on the iranian economy, the new leader signaled he wants to resolve the crisis in the coming months. whether a deal can be agreed will depend on the exact details put on the table and whether or not both sides can compromise and trust the other. well, to look at the potentials and the pitfalls with me in the studio is the iranian

writer and journalist. thank you so much for being with us. first, let's go over to our tehran correspondent in geneva at the talks. what can we expect, james, realistically out of this first face to face? testing each other, essentially, the next two days. this congregation of negotiators have not met before, so essentially they are trying to work at who is on the other side and can they take each other seriously. i want to take you through some of the details. baroness catherine ashton gave an introduction and then the iranian foreign minister and from negotiator, suffering pretties series back problems, gave a powerpoint hesitation on his black lap top for about an hour. the last few minutes the iranian deputy foreign minister said the world powers have reacted positively to the proposals. we don't know what the proposals are. the morning session is over.

key, obviously, what is in the powerpoint. but we can assume, i presume, it is a roadmap. it was a series of punctuation points? >> we would imagine . we were told in the mediairan had a three-step proposal, but was struggling to work out step 1, 2, and three. but we know the aim of the government is to essentially do what it can to get sanctions lifted because those sanctions, particularly against the oil industry, have severely impacted the ability of the country to get money, which has affected ordinary people. essentially mr. rouhani was elected in june with a mandate to change iran's relationship with the outside world. that change is tested and begins right here. to a certaine that extent. i presume, nonetheless, there is no trust being discussed at this stage. it is about building measures of confidence.

>> it is about that. about getting to know each other. one western official told us last night don't expect any breakthroughs overnight, don't expect immediate agreements. we need to come up with confidence building measures to take some of the urgency away. the last few years, the outside world powers have put a number of proposals on the table -- or i should say demands. they want air ran to stop -- iran to stop in maine in every schmidt and shut down heavily fortified enrichment facility. they refused to do any of those three steps. so you can imagine that the world powers meeting behind me will be asking the new negotiator what about that, are you going to take some of the practical steps. >> how far is it expected to go at this stage? be what isl described as strategic

discussions. two days of talks to try to build up a framework. then we expect to have technical experts to meet over the next few weeks or months. but as we stress in the earlier part of our interview, a lot remains to be built, in particular trust, the fundamental issue, the lack of trust between iran and the west in particular. >> with me is the iranian journalist and author. thanks for being with us. let's look at it from the iranian side of the coin. has moved incredibly fast. he says he has been given a free hand, this damp to go ahead with it? >> absolutely. it seems like he is negotiating with the clear authority of the supreme leader and i think this is what is different on the iranian side. a broad spectrum of support. across reformists and pragmatists. i think hard-liners in iran are still viewing this with some suspicion and i think this is

one where iran will be keen to know the endgame, so they can go back and say we can get to this point if you come along with us. we can win concessions and get to limited uranium enrichment. >> that is interesting because one president rouhani went back to tehran he was met with some i guess thered -- will be a faction who never want to deal with the u.s.. >> i think that is true. i think that faction is now in the -- in retreat. it is a minority. from an iranian perspective it is a golden opportunity, really an important moment to create at least some space for a working agreement. i don't think anyone expects a breakthrough. but the public scrutiny is fierce both in air ran in the states, and probably the first time in history such an bit of diplomacy is being watched by the media and political opponents with such scrutiny. it is important to hope it does not undermine what happens at the table.

>> i suppose you can say the americans to a certain extent, the israelis in particular will say, look, you are energy rich. you don't need nuclear at any level or any reason. so, that will have to go. and i presume tehran would never say i will jump vaguely. >> they will not say that. partly that's partly a political system. they have enrichment rights under the mpt, and a measure of its prestige in the region to maintain that. i think what is important today an's is air ran i -- ir public diplomacy in full effect. it makes it harder for israel to isolate iran and harder for saudi arabia and qatar and others in the region who do not want to sleep this agreement go through to isolate iran. so i think public diplomacy will be very active. >> in terms of mr. rouhani, obviously an important issue. it willm outside iran,

be the benchmark upon which we judge what was done. inside, economically, things are tough. unlocking this deal could unlock everything. >> with inflation at 40% and the economy at a freefall, i think of president rouhani is able to create some sort of space for a working agreement moving toward a resolution, he will cement his place in a writing history. as will president obama. i think this will be his diplomatic achievement. >> thank you very much, indeed. some other news. a bomb in the mosque of the northern iraqi city has killed 11 and injured others. police said the blast happened as worshipers were leaving the sunni mosque after prayers marking the holiday eid. a court in russia rejected an application for bail by another of the greenpeace protesters who were arrested in the arctic. the protester from britain was

logistic coordinator of the arctic sunrise, the ship seized by russian security forces for weeks ago. the edinburgh zoo no longer believes that female panda is pregnant. her hormones and he later indicated she had conceived but lost later in the pregnancy. it is leasing the panda from china and pay $700,000 a year for them. 70 people died in an earthquake that struck central philippines, causing widespread destruction. the epicenter of the quake, which had a 7.1 magnitude was beneath the island of bohol. some modern low rise buildings collapsed, some roads were hit by lance glock -- landslides. jonathan head is following this from bangkok. we are hearing about some damage, some buildings affected. how much damage are we talking

about? wide area, david. the earthquake was a powerful, the tremors were building that's bringing down buildings up to 100 kilometers away from the epicenter. it is taking authorities some time to work out just how many casualties there are and how many buildings have come down. the first report came from the biggest city in the region, said blue, second-largest in the philippines. a number of buildings came down and people were killed by collapsing concrete slabs. some of the philippines' oldest and most historic churches dating back to the days of spanish colonialist, they have also completely collapsed as well. it is taking authorities quite all theime to assess small towns and villages. the island of bohol, web epicenter was, had no power at all today. they are facing a lot of logistical difficulties.

and i think it will not be really clear how big the damage is probably until sometime tomorrow. >> any idea how deep this earthquake was? obviously this is not a part of the world that is immune from earthquakes or not used to them. although it is a geologically active area, it has not had a lot of earthquakes. these churches, remember, have been handing for hundreds of years but many badly damaged or have come down completely. it was a very deeper earthquake. out to sea, it could've called space anomaly but there were no salami warnings or indications. also very powerful. president aquino has taken the opportunity to say maybe we should look more closely both at our preparedness for these disasters, and in particular, building codes. it is inevitable and a poor country like the philippines in the far-flung areas that a lot of buildings will not be up to standards. not many high-rise buildings,

but even low ones built with concrete simply collapsed onto the people inside them. certainly, there is some concern at the moment about the preparedness. something that affects such a large area as this one. >> thank you very much, indeed. thanks for watching us here on bbc world news. still to come -- the governor of the afghan ravens of logar, arsala jamal, a key ally of hamid karzai was killed by a bomb in a mosque. >> after the devastation of cyclone phailin in india, rising floodwaters left tens of thousands of people cut off by the rest of the country. officials say as many as 100,000 have been marooned by flooding in the state. 27 people are known to have died. more than a million were evacuated from their homes before the cyclone struck. elsewhere in india, accusations are still flying over what

caused a stampede on a bridge in indian -- in an indian state. 113 people are thought to have died in that is afternoon a temple after thousands gathered for a hindu festival. our reporter has been following the story and has more for us. >> this bridge was the scene of a deadly stampede on sunday in central india. in which more than 115 people were killed, mostly women and children. some were crushed under the feet of fellow -- so glum. -- pilgrims. this is a remote area where access to the hospital is not easy. i've met some people who were still looking for their loved ones. myi am trying to find husband here. he has not called me since the incident. i saw the news on tv, and i came here to search. i don't know what to do. i left my three children back home. i can't find him anywhere.

>> i watched the news and came running to find my son and daughter, were missing. so many people have died. so many people have been injured. i don't know what happened to my children. >> but today, it is business as usual as pilgrims are still coming in, chanting and singing and beating drums. today is the last day of one of the holiest festivals in the hindu calendar. the governor of afghanistan's logar province was killed in a blast and a mosque during prayers for the muslim festival of eid. arsala jamal, a close ally of president karzai was greeting worshipers when a bomb hidden under a table detonated. the attack took place in the logar province, south of the capital kabul.

the taliban in this area have been increasing their control. previously, he was governor of another eastern province. he is a high-profile target. 47 years old. a canadian citizen, in fact, who returned to afghanistan to serve in several key positions. he was president karzai's campaign manager during the 2009 resident elections. he wanted the university of malaysia where he gained a degree in economics. he worked for foreign ngo's such as care international using x bertie's and rural development. the killing mark one of the most high-profile assassinations this year. he survived other attempts in the past, including the suicide bombings. our correspondent in kabul has more about the attack. the loss of a very significant figure from hamid karzai's pointed you certainly. view, certainly. >> the most important death of

this sort this year, the biggest scalp, if you like, for the taliban or whoever carried it out. nobody said they did it. we are getting more detail. it seems like the bomb was placed in the microphone itself, standing above the podium where arsala jamal had gone forward after greeting people at the end of prayers, the first morning the great family celebration for muslims worldwide. just as he was beginning to speak, that bomb was remotely detonated. , -- one intriguing detail that may be connected with this killing, m is thatasood, the number two in the pakistani taliban, was picked up a few days ago in logar province. and the first indications it was him who have been picked up and that is where he was picked up speaking to the

ap news agency. if there were -- and we suspect there were -- attempts by the afghan government to have talks with the pakistani taliban through this figure, massoud, then arsala jamal is a person you might expect president karzai to trust to carry out the talk. as we understand, people close to president karzai and what he said in his press conference a few days ago that he is not so pleased with the americans, that the pakistani taliban was arrested -- he was arrested and taken off the streets and now a few days later we have the bomb. there may be no connection but there is this rather curious incident a few days ago. >> difficult to avoid it entirely. david, 47 years old. and man who has already held a number of significant positions. is it fair to say he was seen by many as part of the future of this country?

>> yes. absolutely. he was a technocrat trained in rural development. political astute. close to president karzai. call back from canada by karzai to take on this difficult province, logar, which should be prosperous, should be a place where certainly in the past development projects have worked. i used to travel there frequently. now it is very difficult to go there unless the taliban invite you, because they control most of the countryside in logar and the other province to the south of kabul. slightly further south. thosef the countryside in provinces is either disputed or in taliban hands. so, he was somebody who president karzai had put in to try to retake control of that afghanistan takes full security control for the country from international forces in this crucial period before international forces finally leave e,nd their combat

operations the end of next year. >> >> loins in kabul 4s. where united states senate leaders say they made tremendous progress in closing in on a deal that would raise the debt ceiling. the u.s. needs to raise the borrowing limit so that the nation, quite simply, can't pay its bills. democratic and republican lawmakers are also at loggerheads over a partial government shut down and has been going on long enough, into its third week. for some, it is causing a certain degree of mayhem. our report is in washington following the developments for us. lord, let me just try to get to the just -- laura, let me try to get to the gist of tremendous progress and what it means. are we on a -- on the brink? good week even today see a deal? >> what is emerging is a deal on the senate. remember, there are two houses -- the senate and house of

representatives. yet the wise old men -- and it is old men doing the deal -- in the senate. they have got the framework of a deal that would reopen the government until january 15 and allow the treasury to borrow until the middle of february. remember, we are only two days away from the u.s. government not able to meet its debt obligations. but the senate having a deal is one thing. the question is whether this deal would fly with the republican-controlled house of representatives. remember, all along, republicans have wanted changes to the president health care law, and they link back to funding the gut -- linked that to funding the government did we have minor changes to the health care law. basically tightening the verification for people who qualify for subsidies in the president health care plan. for that is not a major change. the president will -- the republicans wanted the delayed for an entire year. inwill have frantic talks washington. the republican leadership will

meeting this morning, but already there are signs from some conservative republicans saying no deal is better than a bad deal. >> that is a statement, isn't it? because presumably for republicans in particular but for all of them there is a lot of face savings to be done here. >> there certainly is. terrible for both parties. an abc news poll released today says 74% disapprove of how republicans have handled this but democrats have nothing to celebrate, about 61% disapprove of how they have handled it. the end isstion in whether the speaker of the house of representatives john boehner would put a senate bill onto the floor of the house of representatives for a vote. because he might gamble in the votes,t there are enough a handful of republicans plus all the democrats in the house that would vote for this emerging field, and that would go through. so, it is really an numbers came at this point. conservative republicans clearly are unhappy about this deal, but

will that be enough to derail it? >> this has become a world of bipartisan poison? any element in the negotiation to try to crack heads together that could lead to something more positive in the months and even years ahead? >> let's hope so. they are supposed to be passing a major overhaul of immigration is of the 10 million people who live in this country illegally are given a path to citizenship. so, if they can't even agree on this, how do they tackle the other major issues facing the country? indeed. you very much, i should say, for a better understanding of the u.s. debt crisis, what it means of the country does fail to pay its bills, we can get a whole -- you bbc.com can get whole story on ws, andsite bbc.com,/ne look at a video explaining the knock on effect within the u.s. itself and also what it could mean not just within america but, indeed, for everyone else on the world looking on and wondering are they going to get

a deal? could they conceivably default on the debt, something united states has done before? all of that on the website bbc.com/news. do stay with us on "gmt." on the next half hour, we look at airbrushing and the effect these perfected images can have on real women's perceptions of themselves. part of "100 women" a special on the challenges they say women today. you are watching bbc world news. stay with us. >> make sense of international news 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, and union bank.

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welcome back to "newsline." i'm yuko aotani in tokyo. here are some of the stories we're following this hour. lawmakers in u.s. say they're moving closer to an agreement to avoid a government default, but they're running up against a deadline. a powerful earthquake has

struck the philippines damaging buildings and leaving residents in a panic. and city officials in shanghai are promoting green rooftops and creating opportunities for eco-minded businesspeople. leaders in the u.s. senate say they're closing in on a deal that could avert a financial catastrophe. they've been trying to find a way to raise the limits of the national debt and end the government shutdown, but they don't have an agreement yet. and they need to reach one before a thursday deadline. >> there's been some progress on the senate side with republicans recognizing it's not tenable, not smart, not good for the american people to let america default. >> president obama made the comments during a visit to a charity organization for families with low incomes. leaders in congress are pushing hard to reach a deal on the total amount of money the government is authorized to borrow.

the democrats want to increase the debt ceiling for about a year without conditions. republicans agree the limit needs to be extended, but only until january and demand changes to obama's health care reforms. the democrats need the republican support. the republicans hold the majority of seats in the house of representatives. at the same time the lawmakers are trying to reach an agreement to end the government shutdown. the debates over a budget bill led to a suspension two weeks ago of a range of government services. a powerful earthquake has has destroyed buildings on popular tourist islands in the southern philippines. the u.s. geological survey says the magnitude 7.1 quake hit the island southeast of sabu shortly past 8:00 a.m. local time on tuesday. it says the focus of the quake was about 20 kilometers below ground. a hawaii-based tsunami warning

center said no -- the quake caused several buildings on belo island to collapse and caused damage across sebu. reuters reports at least four people died. a japanese man who works at a shop on the island told nhk the ground shook for about a minute. he said people scrambled to flee from the coast. delegates from iran and six major powers are ready to restart discussions on tehran's nuclear program. they're sitting down for talks for the first time since president hassan rouhani took office in august. negotiators from japan will meet in geneva with five permanent members of the u.n. security council plus germany. the delegates include european union foreign policy chief catherine ashton. >> i hope in the course of that

time there will be an opportunity to really go into the detail and to explore the possibilities. we come here with cautious optimism, but a real sense of determination. >> the iranians expected to ask their counterparts to lift economic sanctions. they're promising to offer up a new proposal and hope to reach an agreement within a year. delegates from the u.s. and europe are expected to demand that the iranians stop the uranium enrichment program. president rouhani said iranians have the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes. he denies the goal of the program is to produce nuclear weapons and says they'll be more transparent about their nuclear activities. many iranians believe that in electing rouhani they would bring about change and hope the talks in geneva will be a step in that direction. nhk world reports from tehran. >> reporter: people in