abc's chief white house correspondent jonathan karl on the latest developments from the white house.ohn. >> reporter: history was made today, diane with that 15 minute phone call. a potential opening to a country the u.s. has accused of trying to build nuclear weapons and supporting terrorism. the storming of the u.s. embassy in tehran and the 440 day hostage crisis that followed has a u.s. president spoken to an iranian president. >> the very fact this was the first communications between an american and iranian president since 1979 underscores the deepness between our countries and indicates the prospect of moving beyond that difficult history. >> reporter: news of the call broke with a tweet from iran's president shortly before president obama announced it, rouhani turned down a face to face meeting when both men were in new york on tuesday, but the call was his idea. rouhani has been in new york all week, speaking at the u.n. and vowing warmer relations with the united states. the obstacles are huge, for years war with iran has seemed more likely than diplomatic progress. the pre

let's go back to jonathan karl at the white house. jon, this is about u.s. leadership on the world stage. what does the white house want to happen now? >> there is so much at stake for the president. he asked congress to postpone that vote at a time when he was going to lose that vote in congress. now so much rides on this diplomatic effort. he wants to go forward and see that diplomatic effort without being cut off here at home by a congress saying that they would not support him if he chose to attack. >> back now to martha raddatz. chief global affairs correspondent. what is the view at the pentagon about the russian deal and what is your thought about keeping the finger on the trigger someone said to jonathan karl earlier and keeping the u.s. military on alert? >> i think they have to stay on alert and the president made a case for the military strike, the threat of a military strike to stay in play. at the pentagon everybody is hopeful for a diplomatic solution. but it's highly unlikely that there will be a military strike because of these delays. >> is

abc's chief white house correspondent jonathan karl on the latest developments from the white house. john. >> reporter: history was made today, diane with that 15 minute phone call. a potential opening to a country the u.s. has accused of trying to build nuclear weapons and supporting terrorism. the storming of the u.s. embassy in tehran and the 440 day hostage crisis that followed has a u.s. president spoken to an iranian president. >> the very fact this was the first communications between an american and iranian president since 1979 underscores the deepness between our countries and indicates the prospect of moving beyond that difficult history. >> reporter: news of the call broke with a tweet from iran's president shortly before president obama announced it, rouhani turned down a face to face meeting when both men were in new york on tuesday, but the call was his idea. rouhani has been in new york all week, speaking at the u.n. and vowing warmer relations with the united states. the obstacles are huge, for years war with iran has seemed more likely than diplomatic progress. the p

abc's white house correspondent jonathan karl and global affairs correspondent martha raddatz. martha, what a turn of events today. someone said it's whiplash today. >> it's absolute whiplash. for the president to say this is a potentially positive development that may deter military strikes, put them off, saying to you absolutely it could put off military strikes, but when you look at it, his goal all along has been to deter any future chemical attacks in syria. if he can get some sort of breakthrough here with syria, they don't have to strike. >> and they're going to stay on alert nonetheless. >> military forces are ready to go whenever the president gives the order, but we have to see if congress votes on that to begin with. >> what about that, jonathan karl? it looks as if congress is going to have a long time to decide now. >> the senate just announced a few minutes ago that they're going to delay the vote. it looks really bad for the president in terms of the vote, especially in the house. they need 217 votes in the house to pass. that's the magic number. take a look at w

>> jonathan karl reporting in. thank you, jon. >>> now we want to take you inside syria. we have managed to obtain new video revealing the startling lives of some women who live beneath the veil there. it's part of an abc news division-wide effort, syria caught in the crossfire. tonight the mothers and grandmothers who carry guns and send a message to the world. abc's muhammad lila reporting from the region for us. >> reporter: hidden in a school with concrete walls and no electricity, they are women, mothers and daughters raising their families, volunteering to teach as a war rages around them. "a mortar shell landed close to here," the woman says, "the students were terrified." but these aren't just ordinary teachers. beneath the veils they wear for their religion, they carry a secret. they have been trained as rebel snipers, patrolling to keep their neighborhood safe. we were housewives. we were with our children raising them. she says, "the regime made us like this. they're the ones who made us come out and train with weapons." this woman shows off ammunition the rebe

abc chief white house correspondent jonathan karl is here to tell us what happened. >> reporter: president obama was hoping for a historic shand shake, the first in three decades. it was the iranians who said no. white house officials say the iranians turned down the handshake with president obama, saying it was, quote, too complicated back in

jonathan karl now looks at the shutdown that seems both real and surreal.. >> reporter: at this point a shutdown looks unavoidable. the only question is how long will it last. with a shutdown now all but certain, the president issued a warning. >> a shutdown will have a very real economic impact on real people. it would throw a wrench into the gears of our economy at a time when those gears have gained traction. >> reporter: he placed the blame entirely on conservative republicans in the house demanding an end to obama care. >> one faction of one party in one house of congress in one branch of government doesn't get to shut down the entire government just to respite the results of on election. >> reporter: not everything gets shut down. troops will continue to be paid. social security checks will continue to go out. medicare and medicate benefits, too and the post office will remain open. veteran support centers will be closed, more than 800,000 federal workers told to stay home without pay. it's washington dysfunction at its absolute worst, unreasonable de

jonathan karl, abc news. st..s. could take military action with or without congressional approval and it may not be as limited as we have all been hearing. now, you're in turkey -- a big u.s. ally in the region. how are they reacting? >> reporter: diana, turkey would welcome a larger strike. now turkish prime minister erdogan has not committed to supporting any kind of strike. but the turkish public is against turkey being directly involved. they would like the u.s. to go in and really end this thing. really deal a fatal blow to president assad. now the refugee situation here is overwhelming. it's devastating. 500,000 syrians now live in turkey. and turkey is not able to sustain that population for very much longer. now, the assad regime has scud missiles that could reach ankara turkey. turkey would like to see the border shut down and returned to a safe, a safe crossing again. they would like the u.s. to go in and end this. >> molly, so many differing opinions from nation states in the middle east. how is the re

here's abc's jonathan karl. >> reporter: here we go again.g his opponents crazy. >> congress needs to put an end to governing crisis to crisis. >> reporter: and a republican party willing to go to the brink. >> more debt and no reform is absolutely unacceptable. >> reporter: the upshot for america, we are days away from a government shutdown and worse. republicans upped the ante. putting together a laundry list of demands, including everything from delaying obama care, to measure offshore oil drilling and spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. the president called that blackmail. sound familiar? of course it does. two years ago the same confrontation caused the stock market to tank and america for the first time ever to lose its aaa credit rating. lessons learned? nah. absurdity on display when tea party hero ted cruz gave his 20-hour-plus speech demanding an end to obama care in exchange for funding the government. bedtime story included. >> do you like green eggs and ham? >> jon stewart gave his own seussism. >> in the land

george stephanopoulos is standing by but we begin with jonathan karl who tells us what the opposeding sides are saying about each other tonight. >> reporter: here we go again, a furious president calling his opponents crazy and a republican party willing to go to the brink. >> more debt and no reform is absolutely unacceptable. >> reporter: the upshot for america, we're just days away from a government shutdown, and worse, today republicans upped the ante, putting together a laundry list of demands including everything from delaying obama care to more off shore oil drilling and spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. the president called that blackmail. sound familiar? of course it does. two years ago the same confrontation caused the stock market to tank and america for first time ever to lose its aaa credit rating. lessons learned, no. the absurdities were on display when ted cruz gave his 20 hour plus speech demanding an end to obama care, bedtime story included. >> do you like green eggs and ham. >> reporter: john stewart responded. >> in the land of d.c. in the se

abc chief white house correspondent jonathan karl is here to tell us what happened. >> reporter: president obama was hoping for a historic shand shake, the first in three decades. it was the iranians who said no. white house officials say the iranians turned down the handshake with president obama, saying it was, quote, too complicated back in iran where hard line clerics still talk about the u.s. as the great satin. handshake or not there are signs an historic change may be under way. iran's new president has come to new york vowing friendship with the west and promising never to build nuclear weapons. president obama today opened the door to warmer ties. >> the road blocks may prove to be too great. but iran's genuine commitment to go down a different path will be good for the region and the world. >> reporter: for decades iran has been one of america's most feared add investigator sarys. american diplomats held hostage for 444 days. americans were reminded recently in the movie argo. just last year war with iran seemed inevitable was we were warned that iran was on the verge of going nu

abc's chief white house correspondent, jonathan karl, is traveling with the president and asking the big questions tonight. >> the president didn't find much support for military action against syria here at this summit of world leaders in russia. and he acknowledged he may not find much at home. >> it's conceivable that, at the end of the day, i don't persuade a majority of the american people that it's the right thing to do. and then each member of congress is going to have to decide if i think it's the right thing to do for the -- america's national security. >> reporter: the president decided to ask for congressional approval before striking syria, but he has not said what he would do if congress votes no. >> i still haven't heard a direct response -- if congress fails to authorize this, will you go forward with an attack on syria? >> right, and you're not getting a direct response. >> reporter: well, it's a pretty basic question. >> i think we will be more effective and stronger if, in fact, congress authorizes this action. i'm not going to engage in parlor games now, jonathan,

jonathan karl now looks at the shutdown that seems both real and surreal. jon. >> reporter: at this point a shutdown looks unavoidable. the only question is how long will it last. with a shutdown now all but certain, the president issued a warning. >> a shutdown will have a very real economic impact on real people. it would throw a wrench into the gears of our economy at a time when those gears have gained traction. >> reporter: he placed the blame entirely on conservative republicans in the house demanding an end to obama care. >> one faction of one party in one house of congress in one branch of government doesn't get to shut down the entire government just to respite the results of on election. >> reporter: not everything gets shut down. troops will continue to be paid. social security checks will continue to go out. medicare and medicate benefits, too and the post office will remain open. veteran support centers will be closed, more than 800,000 federal workers told to stay home without pay. it's washington dysfunction at its absolute worst, unreasonabl

i want to bring in abc's chief white house correspondent jonathan karl tonight. jon, is the white house concerned about this? >> reporter: well, there is certainly some concern about this, david, but they say they are fully aware of the movements of these chemical weapons. in fact, they say that some of the most recent movement has been consolidating them into smaller -- bigger stock piles, but fewer. and they say that the bottom line is, they have been spending a lot of resources, intelligence resources, in monitoring those weapons and they feel they have a very good handle on where they are. the bigger challenge, david, frankly, will be coming up with a plan, because there is no one yet, on how they will eventually turn them over and destroy them if they can get this agreement with the russians. >> absolutely the bigger challenge. jon karl, our thanks to you. a lot of questions about syria and george stephanopoulos will be sitting down with president obama, an abc news exclusive, and that interview airs first thing sunday morning right here on abc's "this week.

abc's chief white house correspondent jonathan karl on that part of the story tonight. jon? >> reporter: john mccain has been one of the president's toughest critics on syria, but now he may be his most important ally. facing what may be the biggest test of his presidency, president obama turned to an old rival for help. >> i think we have found some areas that we can work together, but we have a long way to go. >> reporter: president obama is attempting to convince a reluctant congress to give him a green light to use military force against syria. a rejection would be a monumental embarrassment, weakening him at home and around the world. >> how hard is the president going to have to work to get this passed? >> i think they're going to have to work very hard. americans are skeptical. >> reporter: mccain has been harshly critical of the president for not doing more on syria. now he says he will lobby his republican colleagues to support a military strike. >> the bottom line on the stakes here if the congress were to reject this? >> if the congress were to reject a resolution

we begin with abc's chief white house correspondent jonathan karl at the white house. jon? >> reporter: even as the president makes a last ditch effort at a diplomatic solution, he's doing everything he can to convince the congress and the public to support a military strike. as one senator who met with the president today put it, "he still wants to keep his finger on the trigger." in advance of his big speech tonight, the president tried the personal tough today, going to capitol hill for lunch for senators. it may be the biggest test yet of his leadership. asking for support on a national security issue and failing to get it would make him look weak around the world and like a lame duck at home. today syria announced it would accept russia's proposal to turn over their chemical weapons. despite that the white house is making a battle. the most intense battle to win over the congress since the battle for health care. the president and his team have directly lobbied nearly 450 members of the house and senate, including private briefings for key members in the white house si

abc's chief white house correspondent jonathan karl is with the president tonight on the ground in russia. >> reporter: president obama's first encounter here with vladimir putin lasted a scant 17 seconds. smiles aside, the white house sees zero chance of changing russia's staunch opposition to attacking syria. >> any progress on syria today in the talk? >> we were talking about the economy. >> reporter: later mr. obama headed to a dinner of world leaders nearly an hour late leaving him to take a long walk alone to the russian palace to dine with leaders who, for the most part, will not take part in a military strike on syria. alone or not, abc news has learned the president's national security team is preparing for a significantly larger military attack than most had anticipated. the air campaign which is expected to last at least two days will potentially include an aerial bombardment of missiles and long-range bombs fired from b-2 and b-52 bombers flying from the united states. that in addition to a relentless assault from tomahawk missiles fired from four navy destroyers. those ships

jonathan karl at the white house.hank you. >>> it is hurricane season with three storms whipping at our heart. two we have our eye on and third, that sam is coming into the mix. >> we're going to watch closely. when we see in this look has impressive. we'll start with a picture of gabrielle, a lot of people are taking pictures as it whips by the ireland of bermuda. humberto just got its name at 5:00 in the morning. just missed by three hours, being the latest start of the hurricane season. with the first hurricane. take a look at this. a 70% chance of development. it's right there across the yucatan peninsula. the idea is it hops off the yucatan. this is very warm and perfect for development. then the model. don't know what happens to it. does it curve up and be a rain maker or go to mexico and bring all the rain and wind, we'll have to watch this in areas of texas. we have a lot of weather to talk about. we'll do that in a few minutes. we turn to amy in today. for today's headlines. >>> good morning. >> we begin with

now the president would not tell abc news reporter jonathan karl today what he will do if congress voteso. >> still haven't heard direct response if congress fails to authorize this, will you go forward with an attack on syria ichltd and you are not getting a direct response. >> pretty basic question. >> i think we will be more effective and stronger if in fact congress authorizes this action. i'm not going to engage in games now jonathan about whether or not it's going to pass. >>reporter: president will address the nation on tuesday from the white house. he wants to build public support for streakment one congressional aide says the administration is planning a full court press aimed at undecided lawmakers. we'll carry that address for you on abc 7. >> here in the bay area several groups are planning demonstration this is weekend to convey their opinions about possible u.s. military intervention in syria. laura has that story. >> we need to know what we are doing before we do it. >> no good option left in syria. >> i think it's a no win in long-term. >> whale lawmakers debate whether t

jonathan karl on the two powerful leaders shadowboxing on the world stage. >> reporter: shortly after landing in seed win today, president obama said responding to syria's chem weapons attack is a test of more than just his leadership. >> my credibility is not on the line. the international community's credibility is on the line. and america and congress' credible advertise on the line. >> reporter: he pointed out that chemical weapons like those used in syria have been banned by international law for nearly a century. >> i didn't set a red line. the world set a red line. >> reporter: on the eve of president obama's visit to a summit of world leaders in russia, vladimir putin is once again standing in opposition. today accusing secretary of state john kerry of lying about syria. and in a rare interview with western media, suggesting it was syrian rebels, not the government, who used chemical weapons. putin also denied having a frosty relationship with president obama. but he added, your humble servant hasn't been elected by the people of russia to be pleasant to someone either. back i

our coverage begins with abc's jonathan karl at the white house. >> reporter: trying to convince the public and congress to support military action, secretary of state kerry went on five talk shows. presenting dramatic new details on the evidence, poison gas was used in syria. >> from first responders in east damascus, we have -- signatures of sarin in their hair and blood samples. >> reporter: kerry told george stephanopoulos he is confident congress will approve the president's plan for a limited military strike. >> we cannot allow, assad, to be able to gas people with impunity. i believe the congress of the united states will understand that and do the right thing. >> what if the votes aren't there will the president act anyway. >> the president of the united states has the right to take this action. he doesn't have to go to congress. >> if i hear you correctly, the president is going to act no matter what? >> no, i said the president has the right to act. >> so will he? >> george, we are not going to lose this vote. >> reporter: how did we get from this -- >> i have decided the u

jonathan karl, abc news.tag on infections in hospital. infections cost hospitals $10 billion in the last year. actually less than previous estimates. harvard researchers say 440,000 patients pick up infections in hospitals every year. many pick up hard to treat super bugs. usually after surgery. >> a rather strange story from houston. a guy who likes his bud light in something, a surprise that was waiting for him. marcus had bought an 18-pack of his favorite brew ahead of a party he was going to host. when he opened the box and went to dig in. he found a snake inside of the box. >> i opened the box. his head was like. and fingers in between it. didn't realize what it was. i realize now what it was. >> he said the snake must have been in the box quite some time. the smell was so bad there was no way he was going to be able to drink the beer. he put the snake in a bag and it became quite the conversation piece at his party. >> man, oh, man. >> alabama, high school football coaches in trouble following an ugly o

jonathan karl, abc news, the white house. >>> from the white house to the middle east where presidentss is certainly getting a lot of attention. >> alexander marquardt is live in beirut. let's get right to it. even though the assad regime denies it used chemical weapons it agreed they would hand them over. can we trust the assad regime to allow inspectors in and to follow through on this? >> well, there is a huge amount of skepticism, not just in the u.s. but beyond. it is justifiable. many don't trust the regime and this would be a huge logistical under taking. you heard the president saying it has to be verifiable. secretary of state john kerry said yesterday this cannot be a delaying tactic. and that's the major fear that president bashar al-assad will simply use this as a delaying tactic and continuing his campaign against them rebels in syria. that assad is using this to avoid a strike but won't actually give up the chemical weapons program. it's going to be incredibly difficult to carry this out. there's dozens of facilities all over the country. the chemical weapons have been m

we begin with jonathan karl from the white house. quite a surprising turn of events. >> reporter: absolutely. while the president has told the world he believes the united states should launch a military attack against syria, he also made it clear he is not ready to act alone. the president made an impassioned case that the syrian government should be punished for using chemical weapons. >> i have decided that the united states should take military action against syrian regime targets. this would not be an open-ended situation. but i'm confident we can hold them accountable for the use of chemical weapons, deter the behavior, and degrade their capacity to carry it out. >> reporter: but he isn't ready to launch an attack just yet. first, he wants to get a green light from congress. >> while i believe i have the authority to carry out this military action without specific congressional authorization, i know the country will be stronger if we take this course, and our actions will be more effective. >> reporter: the move will certainly

jonathan karl, abc news, stockholmo cf > jh >>> let's get a live update from the region.ning, molly. >> reporter: hi, john. good morning. the front page of the leading newspaper here in turkey, we're just on the turkish side, says prime minister erdogan will push for syria action at the g-20, and john, that's exactly what many turks here want. they'd like to see obama go one step further. they would like him to weaken the syrian government, force a political solution. turks living on the border are tired after 2 1/2 years. they have been subject to attacks inside turkey as well as numerous border incidents. they would like to see the u.s. and president obama put an end to this as soon as possible. >> molly, an extraordinary amount of people are fleeing syria and have been for at least two years now. what is the refugee situation in turkey where you are right on the border? >> reporter: it's overwhelming, diana. it's devastating. with 5,000 people flooding out of syria on a daily basis. many are coming north to turkey. turkey's government has warned if there is no internat

abc's jonathan karl is traveling with the president in st. petersburg.rning, jon. >> reporter: good morning, george. president obama arrived here in st. petersburg, russia, just a short while ago, just as russian president vladimir putin has upped his war of words with the u.s., accusing the obama administration of lying about syria. president obama did not come here to st. petersburg to meet with his nemesis, vladimir putin, but to attend a summit of world leaders. but putin is the host of the summit. and the two will undoubtedly exchange a few words and a handshake or two, their first face-to-face encounter since russia granted asylum to one of america's most wanted fugitives, nsa leaker edward snowden. but the biggest point of contention today is syria. president obama challenged the world to support his call for a strike against syria for using chemical weapons. noting they have been banned under international law for nearly a century. >> i didn't set a red line. the world set a red line. >> reporter: the president said russia's efforts to block acti

abc's jonathan karl is on top of it all from the white house and joins us with the latest. jon, is there any hope for a resolution here? >> reporter: not much, robin. as the clock ticks down towards shutdown, there's no real sign of progress anywhere. the senate is going to be in session through the weekend. they will, i believe, pass a bill that would fund the government, just for a month and a half or so, over the weekend. but here's the thing. speaker of the house john boehner has already said that the house republicans will not accept that bill because it does not defund obama care. they're going to make changes. the back and forth is going to go on. we're going to get closer and closer. far more dire is what's going to happen in about two weeks later, which is the government hits the amount of money it can borrow. it maxes out its credit card. if they don't raise their ability to borrow money, we could face default. >> that's it right there. what are the chances the government will shut down and default and not be able to pay the bills? >> reporter: i say the chances a

abc's jonathan karl has the latest from washington.ood morning, jon. >> reporter: good morning, robin. with the president seemingly on the verge of defeat in congress, the president's allies are hoping they just got a lifeline in the form of that offer from russia, to get syria to turn over its chemical weapons. as the president prepares to address the nation tonight, in a series of interviews monday, including with abc's diane sawyer, he opened the door to avoiding a strike. >> if bashar al assad yields control of his chemical weapons, to international authority, is military strike on pause? >> absolutely, if, in fact, that happened. if we can resolve this without military conflict, that is my great preference. >> reporter: the white house is promising to pursue the idea of brokering a deal with syria, but the president is still trying to convince congress to give him the authority to launch a military strike. >> my hope is, by people understanding what's at stake, and the limited but significant tools we can to address it, they will

jonathan karl, abc news, new york. >>> now a developing story from pakistan.erday afternoon and created a new small island off of pakistan's southwe coa it forced evacuation of buildings in the largest city. the death toll around 200 people. it is expected to climb. the property damage is ad t be widespread. >>> in italy, the search for the bodies of two victims missing nearly two years after the "costa concordia" wreck. 50 divers and 20 firefighters are looking for the bodies. the ship was lifted out of the sea. divers have not entered the underwater deck, instead using high definition cameras until they get a safety green light. >>> and the search for bodies in the partially collapsed mall begins today. as the siege ended, the death toll is 72 but that is expected to rise as more victims are recovered. abc's karen travers is following the developments. >> reporter: kenya's president declared the nearly four-day standoff is over. >> we have shamed and defeated our attackers. >> reporter: terrorists from al shabaab a somalia-based al qaeda affiliate stormed na

it starts with abc's jonathan karl at the white house this morning.ood morning to you, jon. >> reporter: good morning. this morning, the president and the white house are promising to flood the zone making an all-out effort to explain to members of congress what is at stake in syria and to urge them to authorize the president to use military force. more than 70 lawmakers, most of them fresh off vacation, filed into a secure capitol hill auditorium to hear directly from the president's national security team. presenting the evidence against syria. >> i think that it's a good thing for the congress to be briefed. >> reporter: but it's clear the white house will have to work hard to convince congress to go along with a military strike. there is skepticism from republicans -- >> it's far from settled. >> reporter: and democrats. >> i would not vote for it today. >> there are a lot more questions that i have to have answered. >> reporter: one big problem for the white house, the ghosts of the iraq war. >> the very shoddy evidence of so-called weapons of ma