you have the prime minister tony abbott saying this had nothing to do with climate change. what do you reckon? bethe jury has to be said to out on this. there is no slamdunk answer you can give -- yes it is climate change him and no, it isn't. australia has always had fires of this type. in a sense, it is just natural. d, one of thehan key ingredients that allows a forest fire to take hold is high temperature. and if you look at the records, the last 12 months in australia have been the hottest ever recorded. conditions,ry another key ingredient. if you look at the climate science, you are seeing a pattern of warming, greater number of heat waves, and look at the projections of the future, and you are likely to see more heat waves in the future. so, you got a basic ingredient that does not guarantee more fires but make them more likely. >> what do you think the international panel on climate change would say to tony abbott in response? >> they would say on one level he is right, you can never link a single event like this to a trend which is climate change. on the other han

tony abbott went out as a firefighter overnight own saturday. he didn't take a tv crew with him.e is anxious to show that he is one with his firefighters and this is a serious situation that he is personally involved with. >> a suicide car bomber drove into a ca ka cafe killing 55 pe. it was a mainly muslim district job foreign leaders from the european union are arriving in luxembourg. they will be discussing how the bloc should act on the issue yof chemical weapons and them talk about the humanitarian crisis in the country. >> the syrian government has accused a turkey for supporting rebel fighters. turkey refutes resent resent developments on the ground. that is worrying the government. omar reports from that border. this is one of turkey's smallest provinces. it shares 110 kilometre border with syria. half of the people that live here are syrian refugees. many are nervous about the al qaeda in the area. >> we are worried. >> this is a road that leads to the syrian border. beyond this turkish border post parts of the northern syria have become a strong hold of al qaeda. last m

tony abbott has been a volunteer firefighters for many years. it's easy to be cynical about the actions of politicians, but over the weekend on saturday night tony abbott went out with his crew and actively fought the fires. he wasn't just doing it for a photo opportunity, but he was there hose in hand doing his bit. easy to be cynical, but the fact he's out there giving up all other matters of state to be on the ground to fight the fires shows how serious they are. >> it's encouraging that he's out there trying to help. do we have any idea what may have sparked these wildfires, andrew? >> reporter: well, the rumors that an 11-year-old boy may have sparked one by deliberately lighting a fire in the northern part of new south wales. he's being questioned by police at the moment. there's speculation another big fire maiven sparked by an army training exercise. they were using explosives on thursday last week when it was hot and windy. the big fire around springwood, the one closest to sydney, that's believed to have started when power lines came d

they met with the australian prime minister tony abbott. they discussed china's maritime presence and its territorial disputes with the philippines and other asean nations. they agreed asean leaders need to explore peaceful solutions. to the disputes. the sea should be kept open and stable as it is a common international treasure. he also said the territorial disputes on the islands in the south china sea should be resolved based on the united nations convention of the laws of the say and other international laws. he's against any unilateral change by force, keep in mind recent moves by china. >>> the u.s. secretary of state have assured southeast asian leaders that the united states is committed to asia. he had meetings throughout the southeast asian region. kerry stepped in for president obama who stayed home to deal with the government shutdown. he assured members that shutdown in washington is a moment in politics and will pass. kerry told them the partnership with asean remains a top priority. >>> experts working to eliminate syria's a

was absolutely a connection between the fires and rising temperatures here the prime minister, tony abbott, was quick to dismiss -- to dismiss that claim. >> fire is part of the australian experience. it has been since humans were on this continent. the aboriginal people managed landscape through various forms of fire. it took us a long time to figure out that i landscape needed to be managed and at times burned. climate change is real, as i have often said, and we should take strong action against it but these fires are certainly not a faction of fire change. >> pakistani prime minister know we sure he -- no wash our-- nawaz sharif is sitting down with president barack obama. the drone strikes may violate international law by killing civilians. >> the u.s. and pakistan try to get back on smooth ground after years of bumpy relations. prime minister now a sheriff -- prime minister nawaz sharif's visit wednesday is the first of its kind in years. >> there is the matter of drone strikes which have deeply disturbed and agitated our people. this issue has become a rift in our bilateral relation

. >>> australia's new prime tony abbott has advised indonesia to work on his key campaign pledge. he's met with president susilio bambang yudhoyono to discuss the issue of asylum seekers. abbott showed his focus on emerging asia by visiting indonesia before traditional allies like the united states and britain. 20 business people went along to seek opportunities in the growing economy, but abbott says bilateral relations are strained by asylum seekers. thousands of people each year cross the sea in rickety boats risking their lives. on friday, a boat carrying middle eastern asylum seekers en route to australia sank off the indonesian coast. at least 33 people are reported dead, and dozens missing. abbott campaigned for election on his so-called stop the boats policy. he promised authorities would intercept and send back seaworthy vessels, but officials in jakarta said that could breach indonesian sovereignty. the foreign minister last week raised concerns with his australian counterpart julie bishop. he said the policy could affect bilateral cooperation over immigration, but indon

tony abbott who was elected a month or so ago.h a mandate to get rid of a carbon tax in australia, a tax on pollution he has been skeptical about cl climate chane and he said on wednesday morning he said that u.n. official was talking out of her hat. here is a little more of what he had to say. >> fire is a part of the australian experience. it has been since humans were on this continent. the aboriginal people managed the landscape through various forms of fire stick farming took us a lodg a long time to figuret that our landscape needed to be managed and at times burned. look at climate change is as real as i have 0 often said ande should take strong action against it. but these fires are not a function of climate change they are a function of life in australia. >> so it seems people in new south wales have dodged a bullet with these latest fires. the worst is not necessarily over. it's going to get hot again next week. but there is a lull now. the temperatures will drop and the winds will drop off for a few days. the question i

. >> the suburbs of sidney could be at threat under certain circumstances and tony abbott who has been a volunteer firefighter for years went out as a firefighter overnight on saturday, a grainy image appeared on twitter. he did not take a tv crew with him but he is anxious to show nevertheless he is one with his firefighters and this is a very serious situation and he is personally involved. >> reporter: it may be years before people can go back to their homes close to japan's damaged fukushima plant and they are way behind schedule. thousands were forced out of their homes when the nuclear plant went in meltdown in 2011. a team of international experts delivered the preliminary findings into an investigation of the site. >> now we have seen that the program is in good coordination with the reconstruction efforts. all of it of course will be aimed to lead the conditions of the people affected by the accident. the team has also offered it some new advice on several things that we consider that there was still room for further improvement of some practices and especially to increase the

authorities say they have averted the worst of the threat, and prime minister tony abbott all this partf the experience. >> we should take strong action against it, but these fires are certainly not a factor of climate change. they are just a factor of life in australia. >> emergency alerts remain in place to the north of sydney, as well as alerts in surrounding cities. >> a german bishop dubbed the bishop of blame has been suspended by the vatican. he is accused of spending more than 31 million euros on renovating his official residence. a few days ago, he discussed the matter with pope francis. it is not known how long he will spend away from the diocese or what he will do while an inquiry is held. and in the u.k., it is george's day. we are talking about prince william son. the three month old has been christened in central london. now, here is our correspondent there with more on the rather low key event. >> it is a very high profile but a very close profile affair. just a few meters from where i am standing, not, indeed, at buckingham palace, behind me, which is where william was c

tony abbott also went out as a firefighter. a very grainly image. he didn't take a tv crow with him, but he's anxious to show that he is one with his firefighters and this is a serious significance situation that he's personally involved with. >> meteorologist: there is a chance of the odd shower pushing over sydney buts not going to be much useful rain coming in. the weather has moved over new south wales. we're looking at the temperatures, 32 degrees celsius. and wednesday is the big day where conditions are set to worsen. conditions will come in from the interior, and the top temperatures of 4 degrees celsius. we may see things worse before they get better with temperatures falling to 22 degrees celsius. hopefully that should help. we have weather making its way towards japan. we have typhoon san francisco. we expect it to reach tokyo about the latter part of this week, and that could well cause further flooding in an area that is already struggling with floods. similar conditions across the other side of the pacific. mexico with flooding across

promised tens of billions of dollars in investment and he courted australia's new prime minister tony abbottd more trade and more cooperation and technology and energy. it's not just trade, a new report from the nonprofit rand corporation outlines the dramatic escalation of china's foreign aid. in 2001, beijing spent 1.78 billion on foreign aid. in 2010, the figure rose to 169 billion. by 2011, it reached $189 billion. about 3% of china's gdp and it's still going up. the money trail points to a country flush with cash looking to snap up resources and opportunities around the world. what has been less clear in the last two years is the effectiveness of beijing's foreign policy. as the chinese scholar points out, not a single member of china's seven member standing committee, the pinnacle of power in beijing is a foreign policy expert. the country's foreign minister doesn't make it into beijing's bureau and china made several missteps in the past three years. it escalated territorial disputes and was scene as a bully flexing its muscles with its neighbors. these signals mostly rhetoric were a

. >> and response, australia's do prime minister, tony abbott, dismissed the comment saying -- mexico says it has won a pledge from president obama to investigate the nsa's apparent spying on its government. leaks from edward snowden reported by der spiegel suggest the nsa hacked the e-mail account of then-president felipe calderÓn in 2010 and of current mexican president enrique peÑa nieto before he was elected. on tuesday, mexican secretary of foreign affairs said obama has promised an investigation and has assured enrique peÑa nieto he didn't authorize the spine. the white house has acknowledged two key components of the new health care insurance exchanges will take longer to repair than previously disclosed. on tuesday, senior officials said the administration is not sure when low-income americans will be able to enroll in medicaid online. the white house also acknowledged that online enrollment for spanish speakers is still an active. amidst growing criticism of glitches in the help exchange rollout, the white house said tuesday it would bring in a former acting director of the o

tony abbott went to the site of the 2002 bali bombings that killed 202 people, among them 88 australians. he announced a scheme to compensate australian victims of overseas terror attacks. they could apply for $70,000 in compensation. >>> the u.s. president has told republicans to stop holding the economy to ransom. barack obama is trying to end the deadlock which has shut down parts of the government for more than a week. in a few days he'll also have to grapple with extending the country's borrowing capacity. that could have an impact on the world economy. patty culhane has more from washington, d.c. >> reporter: another day passes with the u.s. government partially shutdown, and another day passes and the u.s. is closer to possibly defaulting on the debt. the leadership, both the republicans in the house and the president here, are not necessarily sitting down to negotiate. instead, they're fighting it out in front of the cameras. >> a decision to actually go through with it, to actually permit default, according to many ceos and economists would be, and i'm quoting here, insane, cata

australia's prime minister tony abbott says they haven't broken any laws and everyone of the officials at home and abroad operates in accordance with the law. it is worth pointing out many experts around suggest spying such as this is nothing new but of course many leaders here in asia may be a little bit uncomfortable at the moment to know america can read perhaps their emails and listen to their phone calls. back to you, jon. jon: david piper live in bangkok. david, thank you. jenna: i will go ahead read this. stream of revelations from the nsa following steadily coming up. more on this. new reports that the feds have been secretly collecting information on millions of google and yahoo! users. our panel looks at what it means for you logging online. what is different about that? it will be one of the big stories coming up. sorry, jon, made to steal that from you. it just happened. jon: go ahead. take it away. jenna: a pair of violent bombings. why islamic militants may have attacked a pair of businesses. our next guest is long-time critic of obamacare. a congressman for nearly two de