Transcripts For ALJAZAM News 20130913

From Hurricane Sandy, tehe jersy shore is once again losing a seaside attraction. And we begin with syria, and the effort to force syria to destroy its chemical weapons. Talks began today in geneva. Negotiations will continue tomorrow. Kerry has made it clear a promise to destroy the chemical weapons is not good enough. Mike viqueira is live this evening in washington with that story. Mike any progress . John, they met briefly in this first day of talks in geneva, secretary of state kerry and his russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. Tomorrow they get down to the it ine gritty. But as they sit down they cant agree on two fundamental points, number one who was responsible to begin with . And secondly, should the threat of force be even held out as a tool to get syria to comply with any deal . Going into crucial talks in geneva with the Russian Foreign minister, secretary of state john kerry laid out americas goal. It has to be real. It has to be comprehensive. It has to be verifiable. It has to be credible. It has to be timely, and implemented in a timely fashion. And finally, there ought to be consequences if it doesnt take place. Back at the white house president obama was optimistic. I am hopeful that the discussions that secretary kerry has with foreign minister lavrov as well as some of the other players in this, can yield a concrete result. But from russia a sign it may not be easy. Putin stood by his assertion that the assad regime wasnt responsible for the attacks. He writes. American officials were quick to respond. And are trying to shift the burden of success for the talks on to russia. Russia is assads patron and protector. And the world will note whether russia can follow through on the commitments it has made. In congress weight game. No votes and little debate on syria as the geneva talks go on. I have real doubts about the motives of the russians and president assad in offering this current path. And john, these talks could go on to into the weekend in geneva, the goal to have a framework to bring back to the United Nations Security Council. John . Are we hearing any reaction from the syrian rebels. They say they are disappointed. They do not like this process at all. We might also add that that military aid remember this is a cia covert operation that was supposed to begin at the beginning of the summer after the last chemical attack, and now the administration let it be known that that aid is finally flowing to rebel groups. The talks when kerry and his russian counterpart are set continue to tomorrow. The talks in geneva began with Opening Statements to the press by both, in which they expressed positions that really havent moved much since this crisis began, and since the idea of dismanteling the chemical weapons stockpile was floated. The u. S. Says that the threat of air strikes or some sort of military strike against the assad regime is really the only thing that has brought assad to the table, and as for moscow they are saying that threat basically is nonworkable as well, and the u. S. Should take assad at its word, and there shouldnt be this looming possible military strike. There is a lot more on the table, of course, not just some sort of Un Resolution that both parties could agree to, but also logistically how this could be done in the midst of a vicious civil war. Both delegations have arrived with an unusually large amount of people including expects on how this could be done, logistically, scientifically, and militarily if you are going to keep these teams safe from the warring parties. In addition and perhaps in conjunction with that, there has been some talk floated of a crea ceasefire or renewed calls for a socalled geneva two which would bring the syrians here to geneva as well as the russians and the us. But thats a long way off, and these talks have just begun, there is an awful lot of ground to be covered before some consensus can be made, and meanwhile the fighting remains vicious in syria. While the u. S. And russia talk in switzerland, syria sent the un a letter, saying it is joining the 189 nations who support banning chemical weapons around the world. John, what was the reaction to that letter . Wry smiles all around, john. And raised eyebrows, because for years they have denied having chemical weapons, and all of a sudden writing a letter saying they want to be part of the convention against them. Today the secretary general of the United Nations ban kimoon came out with a diplomatic rely, and says he welcomes the letter. Now enter the picture, Bashar Jafari the very colorful Syrian Ambassador to the United Nations, a man who takes a very long time to say anything and to make his point, but he came to the microphone to say the writing of that letter and sending it to the un means that syria is now a fully paid up member of the antichemical weapons club. Take a listen. With this chapter of the socalled chemical weapons should be ended and legally speaking, syria has become, starting today, a full member of the convention. So john what are the chances syria will comply with the convention . Its a very good question, john. Simply by sending that letter, it doesnt mean that syria has fully signed up to the idea, it is just writing to the un saying it wants to. Five minutes ago we didnt even know syria had chemical weapons, and now apparently they are revealing their stockpiles. The u. S. Knows where most of the stockpiles are, but not all of them, and it would only take a click of a mouse for them to say where the rest of the chemical weapons are kept in the country, and they are not doing that. You can only go as far as the wores they are offering, which is they wish to sign up to it. They could do a lot more if they really wanted to reveal where these chemical weapons were. So it could be a delaying tactic. Who else has signed . 189 countries have signed up so far. But seven havent ratified or signed on or agreed to it. But that may be about to change if the syrians go ahead and formally ratify it. The french have come up with a new draft resolution on syria, what is in that . The french are parting the resolution around their friends, the british and the americans, it looks at how they may be able to hand over their chemical weapons to the international community. But its under chapter 7 which still means there could be an attack on syria, and theres line in there about sending whoever care rid out the attack to the international court, and thats a big red flag for the chinese and particularly the russians. That could come before the Security Council tomorrow or it could not. But its likely to be blocked by the russians and chinese. John thank you very much. Some experts believe a military strike against syria would be a major boost for the rebels fighting the assad regime, but those rebels belong to a variety of different groups, some with links to al qaeda. Reporter he has been resisting the assad regime even before the resolution began in 2011. He is a member of the Free Syrian Army, the larging grouping of moderate rebel fractions. Translator they are larger in numbers, but the islamic groups have proven to be stronger. Most of them have years of experience in jihad and weapons. Reporter he doesnt quote mesh with them he says. There are strong idealogical differences between these groups. They say they seek to establish an islamic state. At times they have engaged in turf fights, including the only city fully held by the rebels. Al qaedalinked groups are also boldly targeting the Free Syrian Army commanders they have come at logger heads with. They attempt to impose their lifestyle have prompted protests in at least three provinces. But that does not mean the groups are losing respect or sympathy among moderate rebels including this man. Translator i just came back from fighting along them. They ask for our support sometimes, and we can ask for theirs. Reporter there are concerns that any strike might also target islamic groups. An commander who escaped two assassination attempts, says however the war plays out, the insurgency will prevail, not those who want to make syria an islamic state. Translator we will not allow any other entity to impose injustice. Those who try to impose their ideals at gunpoint should learn from the west. Reporter and they say focus on arming the moderate opposition. Even though the u. S. Is trying to find a diplomatic solution, the u. S. Military is spending millions of dollars to min contain its military might in the region. The pentagon spends about 27 million a week to increase its presence in the middle east. Back in this country, streets are running like rivers tonight in parts of colorado. Flash floods have claimed the lives of at least three people. Another is reported missing. Rising water, toppled buildings, stranded motorists, and reports of mud and rock slides. The hardest hit area has been in Boulder County, as much as six inches of rain falling over the last 12 hours. A string of other towns along the socalled front range are especially vulnerable tonight. Jim, what is happening right now . Reporter well, john, as you might be able to see, it is raining rai raining heavily here. It is really, really coming down. Take a look at this scene right here. We have residents here in downtown boulder, they are trying to built a makeshift dam to send the water away from an Apartment Building that is over there, so the basement will not be flooded. The latest numbers, two dead here in the county, and tonight one person is still missing. It has basically been raining here very hard over the past three days. Take a look at some of the pictures. These images are coming from broomfield county. A water rescue performed earlier there today. A small bridge collapsed three cars into the water, three people into the water. Dive teams were able to rescue those people, and they suffered only minor injuries. This man in boulder has been watching the flood waters wise all night long and all day long. About 1 00 in the morning the bridge washed out, and then it subsided a little bit, and then it started raining really, really hard, and about 3, 3 30 bedecided to evacuate before the mountain slid down the hill. As we left the mud slide happen and all of this rock was bloen through. It was pitch black out. Stay home. If you dont have to come out, dont. Just let us do our thing. Reporter the university of colorado campus at boulder is located here in this city. Classes were canceled on the campus today. Some 27 of their buildings have been damaged by the flood waters. Two people dead here in Boulder County, one person missing at this hour, and those numbers may change as the night continues. Jim, i cant get over that picture behind you. Those people are using anything they can to divert the water away from their apartment billing; is that right . Reporter yeah, thats correct. The Apartment Building sits to the side. The water has been coming down the hill, john. Earlier today we had about 40 people. A lot of them College Students who have had the day off. They have been trying to block that water off. Its just aer to rent coming down here. They havent had much success, but at this point they are not giving up. And you havent had much relief from the rain . Obviously raining right there now. It is raining very heavily right here now. And over the past three days, again. What is unusual is the fact that september here is usually some of the sunniest weather and driest weather that we get. This is very unusual and unfortunately it has turned deadly here today. All right. Jim thank you very much. And lets turn to Rebecca Stevenson to find out what kind of system can trigger the flash flooding like in. The last two weeks we have had a tap of tropical moisture coming up from the south. As it comes up from the south, it comes into the mountains. And there is an intense about of rainfall that comes into the mountains that we dont even measure compared to the low lands. You can see the city of boulder, marked by the parp l and dark purple. We know theres much higher amounts that fell in the mountains, ran through the screams and creeks, and went down into the city. This shows us in the bright greens where the most moisture is, and you can see the tropical moisture tap from mexico into colorado. And the winds are supporting this from the south, southwest, lowpressure is going to track very slowly eastward. As it does that, it is going to start to shift the winds westerly for colorado, and those winds will be a little drier and bring less rainfall. All right. Rebecca thank you very much. Joining us on skype are two people who live in the middle of flood zone in lions colorado. We welcome you both. How are you both doing tonight . Were holding in. Were here. You are staying at a friends house i understand, and you are concerned about the Power Outages in the area. Yes, we are staying at a friends house right now, luckily, but, yeah, we are hearing reports that we may be experiencing some Power Outages later. What has been the toughest thing about this other than the echo that you are hearing right now . I apologize . [ laughter ] its just it has been just kind of, you know, dealing with not being able to go anywhere. You know, it the town of where theres about 2,000 people, you know, we just cant you cant get anywhere. You are stuck within, you know, like maybe an eighth of a mile before you run into a lot of water, and its hard. What sort of shape is your house in . Our house, as far as we know is doing okay. We dont know for sure, but the last report we heard from friends who were able to make it down to that area. Luke, go ahead. Oh, we have been getting photos from a lot of our friends from facebook and videos, and thats you know, thats what we have been seeing is our our house has pretty much been the downstairs our patio is flooded and part of the basement is flooded, but other than that, you know, like where we are looks good. Well, the pictures that were seeing from other parts of the area are just devastating. Josh and sarah we wish you the best of luck tonight with your home, and we hope to talk to you soon. Good luck. Thank you. Thank you. More height break at the seaside boardwalk in new jersey. Now a massive fire is burning in that community tonight. Plus twitter has something to tweet about. Its going public. But it looks like it will be different than what facebook did. You are looking at a live picture from seaside park, new jersey where a massive fire is burning out of control along the boardwalk tonight. The blaze apparently started at coras frozen custard stand and spread very quickly north into seeside heights. The southern stretch has survived Hurricane Sandy. So far the fire has destroyed more than 30 businesses. Time and resources that we have put in to help the folks at seaside park rebuild, like i said at the top it is just unthinkable. I can only imagine how the Business Owners and residents are feeling. My heart goes out to them, and thats why im here. And listen, this is us, as soon as this over, well pick ourselves up, and get back to work. Several firefighters and residents are being treated for smoke inhalation. It is raining in net income new york, but in new jersey it is not . They got a little bit of a break. But wind is a problem there . Wind is a big problem. We are getting gusts up to 25 to 30 miles an hour, and the good news is, is that as we get the evening wearing on, were going to have the wind shift, bringing all of the heavy rain and gusty winds will start to move east ward and have the winds come from the north, northwest. Those winds will be a little bit drier, they will going to settle down a little bit, and they are going cool off. But they will still have high winds . Not after the front passes. Its directly over us right now which means a lot of wind. Yes. So they are in for a few more hours of this stuff . I would think so, and when the wind changes direction, thats where they will focus in on where the fire will travel. Thanks very much, rebecca. You bet. Twitter is going public. The Company Revealed in a tweet this afternoon that it has submitted a miling with the security and exchange commission. Companies with less than a billion dollars in annual revenue can file for an ipo without making their financial records public. But twitter is expected to be one of the biggest ipos since facebook went public last year. Many analysts say the company would be worth as much as 11 billion. So were here talking about the jets tonight. Its a circus actually. Mark sanchez making headlines. Before the came sanchez told the nfl network that there is no doubt that he won the competition over rookie quarterback geno smith, and despite needing surgery at some point, sanchez also said he plans to get back on the field for the jets this season. The marlins Jose Fernandez crossed the line right here, watch him. He was admiring the home run, flipped the bat, and took his sweet time around the bases which is a nono. Brian mccann and the braves look exception to that. But after the game the 21yearold apologized. The big cat carded a 5 under on the day. But despite being in contention, tiger wasnt happy after todays round. The bmw is the third of four events in the fed ex cup, and the winner of the fedex cup will pocket 10 million. Which is why tiger is expecting perfection. Well be right back. c] welcome back to al jazeera, im john siegenthaler. Here are the top stories. Diplomatic talks continue about syrias chemical weapons. Kerry says syrias soul promise to get rid of its weapons just wont do. President obama says he is confident diplomatic talks will work, but says the u. S. Has not ruled out a military strike. Flash flooding have claimed the lives of at least three people in colorado. There are reports of mud and rock slides. The hardest hit areas are Boulder County and towns along the socalled front range. And more than 30 business have been destroyed along the boardwalk in new jersey. Part of that stretch survived Hurricane Sandy to now be consumed by flames. Now more on our top story, the effort to get rid of chemical weapons in syria. Welcome. Its good to see you. Its good to see you too. How do you get rid of chemical weapons . Its not easy cheap or fast. You can either incinerate them at very, very high temperatures, or you can subject them to a Chemical Reaction and then take whatever is left over and neutralized that as well. So those are the two main kinds of technologies that have been used. So once you find them, can you move them to a location to do either of those things, or do you have to do it right on the site . You could technically move them, but it is fraught. Dangerous. Yes, its very dangerous, because not only are you moving toxic chemicals let me back up. Chemical weapons have two components, one is the agent, and one is the munition. Sometimes the chemical weapons are stored inside the munitions, and sometimes the chemical is stored separately and the munition is stored separately. I assume any sort of leak could threaten the surrounding area, yes . Absolutely. And in an area like syria, you have the possibility that any convoy moving chemical weapons would be attacked. So the best idea is to keep it where it is and destroy it there, but if you dont have an incinerator can you roll in an incinerator in no, thats a very difficult thing to do. Countries that have destroyed their chemical weapons stockpiles have put up a destruction plant whos soul job it is to destroy the so you have to build a factory to burn the chemicals. Thats right. How long would that take . Four to five years. So what happens in the meantime . So what happens in the meantime is that you secure the chemical weapons stock. You have International Inspectors go in, they inventory, tag it, seal it, and go back periodically to make sure nothing is removed from the stocks. Obviously when you are talking about a situation like syria, that typical scenario looks difficult to manage. How can you a verify that you have all of the weapons . Great question. Generally speaking the way the chemical weapons work is you rely on the country that has joined the convention to tell you what weapons it has. The country is saying im here ready to destroy my chemical weapons but i got to tell you what they are first. But the world has to trust them to begin with. Absolutely. This sounds like a process that is much longer than i ever imagined that could last years and years before even close to getting rid of the chemical weapons and not sure whether you have all of them. Thats right. So when the United States and russia are sitting down at these talks trying to come up with a plan, are they having this kind of discussion about how long it will take, the details of how they do this . I think so. Were actually still talking at a pretty macro level about these issues. But they have to make the fundamental decisions as to whether the stocks will remain in syria, or whether theres any conceivable way that they can be moved to a neighboring country. And if they were able to move them to turkey, they might be able to secure the stocks over there, and then they could sit there, until theres a chemical weapons destruction facility. But then another country would have to be willing to take these chemical weapo chemical weapons stocks and most countries dont want them. How difficult is it to transport these weapons during a civil war. Is that possible . Its possible, but its very, very difficult to do and high risk. The plan sounded like such a great idea, but when you hear the details it sounds a lot tougher. All right. Its good to talk to you. Good to talk to you too. The secretary of state will be talking with the Russian Foreign minister in geneva again on friday, john reports on day one of their talks. Reporter the report seemed good between two men who have worked together for years, but these talks have only just begun, and getting a deal here is an enormous challenge. Translator the solution of this problem makes it necessary any strikes on syria, and im sure our american parters in would prefer a peaceful solution. It has to be verifiable. It has to be credible. It has to be timely, and implemented in a timely fashion, and finally, there mouth ought to be consequences if it doesnt take place. Reporter russia wants the threat of force removed all together. And so does bashar alassad, that told Russia Television he had not given in through fear of u. S. Air strikes nor would he proceed with the plan unless the United States backs down. Reporter john kerry and Sergey Lavrov are said to get along well. But there are fundamental points of disagreement here over timing, over how to test the seriousness and credibility of a deal. And there was this, an article in the New York Times written by vladimir putin. The russian president also continues to maintain that the august chemical attack was in fact care rid out by the opposition, a view strenuously rejected by the French Foreign minister. Translator the reality is quite clear, that the Assad Government gave the order. Reporter in damascus the imminent threat of a u. S. Strike seems to have relieved some tension. Reporter after the Russian Initiative tension began to ease on the streets. Reporter elsewhere, this is a conflict that has claimed the lives of more than a hundred thousand people and forced millions more to flee the country. Conventional weapons will go on killing. And we turn to north korea where it appears that country may have restarted a Nuclear Reactor. Satellite images show steam rising from building next to the reactor. The reactor was shut down in 2007. U. S. Officials say restarting this plant would violate Un Resolutions. The russian diplomat says the reactor is in a nightmarish state. Egypt is extending its state of emergency for two more months. The government gij rally enacted the state of emergency after a bloody crackdown on promorsi supporters on august 14th. Officials say the extension is necessary because of security concerns. There is some good news in the global battle against infant mortality. According to the group unicef, some 90 million childrens lives have been saved over the past two decades. They said the annual number of deaths for children under five has been cut in half, from nearly 12 million in 1990, so 6. 6 million in 2012. The group attributes that to three things. Lets bring in sarah crow from unicef, she joins us from our un studios. Welcome sarah. Thank you. Can you tell me what do you think about this report . Clearly it is very good news. Im assuming it is not good enough, though . It is never good enough, is it . Im just back from east africa, where i was able to see on the ground some of this this good work and to see a country like ethiopia that has cut Child Mortality rates by twothirds in this short period of time, and that means that, you know, this is a country that was once known for famine poverty and war, and now they have used this army of extension workers, 38,000 of them on the ground in the communities who live with the people who are well trained and unicef supports them, and equipments them, and they are able to bring lifesaving interventions, the vaccines, the rehydration salts for diarrhea, hand washing with soap and so on, and in uganda where they are using innovations such as mtrack where they send a text message to the district level so that drugs get replenished very quickly, in real time instead of waiting. And these are country with huge distances and fragile, poor infrastructure. So that is some of the good news, but of course the majority of children who are dieing in the world still are dying in sub sahara africa, and thats unacceptable. We hear so much about stories like this, in which the children are dying, and there are so many children that are still dying, and yet, this really seems to create some hope that you can turn all of this around in a fairly short time. What is what is your plan for the future and how long do you think it will take . What we have seen is these rates are accelerating in the past five years even in the poorest countries, and thats why exactly as you said, it does give us good cause for hope. The countries that do not have strong gdp growth, are very lowincome countries are really throwing up surprises because they have political will at the top and Community Involvement at the grassroots. And i think theres growing realization now that we see with this political commitment and this movement that is called a promise renewed, call to action on child survival, where 176 countries around the world are involved with this move to the Development Goal now, this big push is to really accelerate against the big killers of children, diarrhea, pneumonia malaria, and it can be done because we can seen this sort of progress, so it does indeed give some good signs. I was surprised to hear you talk about technology and targeting drugs in air glareas you need it. Can you talk about that a little bit more. Yes that is a very exciting program. In uganda it has become something of a development laboratory. What they do is at the Community Level the nurse will find out what the levels of the stock, the drugs are at the number of cases, send this into the district. For instance where i was there are 49 cases of malaria. It was sent into the district bash dashboard, and then it is matched up with the drugs. And then you get the drugs in real time. Theres no waistage, the drugs dont expire, and patients dont have to come back again and again to get their drugs or wait a long time for the next delivery from the government. So technology can be a real game changer for children. It is it is great to talk to you. Sarah crow with unicef at the United Nations. Thank you. Merck america tonight is coming up at the top of the hour. Good evening, joie. You have seen the video the trees of louisianas scarred bayou swallowed up in seconds. This area is known as cancer ally as hazardous gas and decaying debris rise from massive sinkhole. Critics point to a larger problem, the relationship between the state and the oil and gas industry there. You cant unbite this apple. This thing has been broken it took thousands of years to create. Now you broke it. And you may change an entire community. That and a lot more at the top of the hour. Joie thanks very much. It was an impressive day on the golf course for tiger woods. Well have that a lot more. Htonw w nasas voyager one spacecraft has boldly gone where no man made object has gone before. Scientists have confirmed that the vessel ventured into interstellar space about a year ago. The voyager project scientist says the spacecraft has passed a mile sense to of sorts that is created by the sun. Well, the sun creates a bubble around itself which envelops all of the planets, so this is the first time we have had a spacecraft leave the bubble and enter interstellar space so we can determine what is really out there. We know precisely where we are. Were about 125 times as far from the earth as the sun is, and were headed in a particular direction towards interstellar space where we have now arrived. We were very fortunate that there was a large storm on the sun which propagated out to where voyager is, and allowed us to measure the density of the material, and we discovered the density is much denser than what is inside. We can measure what is in here, and we know there has got to be higher density outside, and thats what we have discovered voyager is in. It came from the explosion of other massive stars. Nasa Scientists Say they hope to discover more with voyager two, which is expected to enter interstellar space within the next several years, and unlike voyager one, the craft can send back readings on density throughout its journey. And ross, and a big night in sports. The jets and patriots and take two for robert give inthe third. He was rusty in his season opener, but that was expected. The good news is griffin looked sharp as the game progressed. And he is hoping that continues on sunday. The knee feels fine. Typical soreness from getting hit. Philly got me good a couple of times, and thats just the way it goes, but as far as the knee goes, its fine. Ill never try to be like any of those other quarterbacks out there. Do i want a super bowl . Oh, yeah, but as far as trying to be like Aaron Rodgers, thats not something i try to go about every day. We just want to win. And Aaron Rodgers and the packers have won a lot of games over the years, and we want to win as well. I think he has zero chance of getting his fine reduced and i think he is awfully lucky he didnt get his second career suspension. He is just a repeat offender, and he has got to stop and expect more from him. He got the captainship this year, and they really expect him to be better than that. He has got to quit being a dirty player on the field. Robert griffin the third looked like a quarterback playing in his first preseason game rather than regular season opener. What is the bigger concern in washington, his surgery prepared knee and subsequent rust or the defense which got shredded by the eagles . They have a lot of problems in washington, but you are most concerned about rg3 now. Last year he had a high completion percentage. He was fourth in the nfl last season. He didnt do that, especial early in that game. And the turnovers. You have an interesting article coming out tomorrow about johnny manzells future. He is a very interesting prospect. There have only been two guys drafted in the first round who were under 62, in the modern era, rex guessman and michael vick. So he could join that elite class. The concerns are obvious about johnny. We talked about his size. His arm strength is an issue, and his off the field activities. I talked to doug this week, and he said he sees a lot of himself in johnny manzell. Clay matthews responded to questions about his manhood after going ripped by jim h harbaugh earlier in the week. If you are going to go to the face come with some knuckles, not an open slap, so i think that that that young man works very hard on being a tough guy, hell have some repairing to do to his image after the slap. Im on to the next game. Im not worried about it. You have saw his comments, [ technical difficulties ] the big cat dropped in 7 birdies but also had two double bogeys the bbmw is the third of four events in the fedex cup, and the winner of the fedex cup will win 10 million. So tiger expects perfection. It was just one of those days. Im not real happy. I mean i played well, and i just didnt get much out of that round, so as i said, i missed three short ones in there, and then played the par 5s even 5. Clay matthews says he is an awesome player. All right. Ross. Thanks. America tonight starts at the top of the hour. Flash flooding has been a big story tonight and not just in one area. It is happening in the southwest and northeast too. Both are caused by different reasons, but the one in the southwest is tropical moisture coming right out of mexico. Moisture from the gulf is pushing into mexico texas and curves into a center of low pressure. That has been causing the concerns in colorado, but it also has been spending moisture across the United States. Bringing a lot of flash flooding here, and you can see it directly over even southern manhattan. Were going to see a severe thunderstorm watch stay in effect for at least another hour, and we had had rain impacting places like albany, but we still have strong storms that could be popping up closer to the coastlines. The good news behind this, you are going to get drier and cooler, despite the warnings in effect tonight. For the west were still going to get heavier rain tonight, but tomorrow, similar story, drying out. Welcome to al jazeera, im john siegenthaler. Here are the headlines. Diplomatic talks are underway in geneva concerning syrias chemical weapons. John kerry says syrias soul promise is to get rid of its chemical weapons, but thats not enough. President obama says he is confident diplomatic talks will work but there is still the possibility of military action. Satellite images show steam rising next to a Nuclear Reactor in north korea