world news bbc america reporting from washington. president obama summons congressional leaders to the white house, but there is still no end in sight of this u.s. government shut down. morealy, there is stability tonight after silvio berlusconi performed a political u-turn, helping the prime minister when a confidence vote. and what happens when a super bowl cano erupts? -- super volcano erupts? welcome to our viewers on public television in america and also around the globe. , congressional leaders are gathering at the

white house to meet president obama on day two of the government shut down. so far, there has been no sign of a breakthrough. short time ago, president obama gave an interview to cnbc television. and like everybody else, insisted he does not like this shut down. >> during the course of my presidency, i have bent over backwards to work with the and haven party purposely kept my rhetoric down. i think i am pretty well known for being a calm guy. sometimes, people think i am too calm. am i exasperated? absolutely, i'm exasperated, because this is entirely unnecessary. >> an exasperated president. to be a cheerful, friendly, conciliatory meeting between the two sides?

>> i think what we are going to have tonight is the theater of the meeting, the theater of progress. the reality is there is very little middle ground for anyone to discuss. there is very little out there in the air beyond both sides wanting to show the rest of the world that they are not dragging their heels. they come up with these plans and meetings and proposals, but there does not seem to be any meat. i know the republicans will be very surprised to hear the president say he is not using rhetoric. the democrats see the republicans as a bunch of crazy extremists. there is nothing in the middle at the moment. you have to wonder quite what they will discuss here tonight. meanwhile in the real world, we have had people coming to the white house, the heads of america's biggest banks, warning about the damage done to the economy, the heads of intelligence service talking about the damage being done to national security. there still seems to be little

for anyone to discuss. it will be fascinating to hear what they will have to say afterwards. >> you are far too young to remember the shutdown last time, 1995-1996. i think it lasted 28 days. how long will this last? >> i think it will last up until the deadline for the next fiscal crisis, the battle over raising the limit on how much america can borrow, the so-called debt ceiling. that deadline is october 17. these will shut down -- the shutdown and the debt ceiling are rapidly being rolled together. that might be convenient for some, but it is terrifying for many, who see the debt ceiling argument as far more important than the shutdown itself. the debt ceiling have -- having far more implications for a host of things. there seems to be very little agreement at the moment that this is going to come to any conclusion soon.

>> could the global ramifications of america defaulting on its debt be the thing that pushes these two sides, which are so far apart, to actually realize they have to cooperate? >> i think it probably will. i stress the word, "think." this.d enough to remember last time we had the argument over the debt ceiling, nearly everybody was saying this is a blast, this is a faint -- feint, too important to take up to the wire. markets around the world went crazy about it. everyone is even more entrenched this time. everyone has laid out their position. it is extraordinarily difficult to see how they reach agreement without flipping backwards on things they said to their own people. this is not just a battle between the republicans and the democrats. it is a battle between

republicans as well, so it makes it more difficult to reach a conclusion. >> thank you, as ever. from instability in the united states to signs of certainty in italy. former prime minister silvio berlusconi is known for theatrics. today, his political u-turn may 'sve saved the country government from being toppled. here is our europe editor, gavin hewitt. >> a day of high roman drama. silvio berlusconi arrived at the senate having pledged to bring down the government. inside the prime minister, enrico letta, appealed for a vote of confidence, saying italians could not take any more scenes of what he called political bloodshed. the government's problems must be separated from the legal problems of silvio berlusconi and that the government's

collapse would be fatal for italy. while he was speaking, silvio berlusconi sauntered into the chamber, weary from a night of trying to get his party to back him. there were gestures of respect, but dozens of his mp's were preparing to defy him. so, he announced an extraordinary u-turn. >> italy needs a government that can deliver reform. we have decided, not without some internal strife, to support the government. >> enrico letta had survived and gave this response to mr. berlusconi's climb-down. >> when he left the senate, he faced boos and shouts from some of the crowd outside. some of his allies spoke bitterly of traders in the party -- traitors in the party. others tried to defend their leader. >> more than ever, he has shown that he is a statesman.

he took the decision only considering the interest of the country. >> why this drama mattered? instability in italy could have shaken the eurozone. after all the days and hours of political intrigue, there is one big unanswered question -- is italy more stable now than it was? is it any more capable of carrying out much-needed reforms in the midst of the longest recession since world war ii? >> this crisis has shown silvio berlusconi's influence slipping away. there was a moment today when the man who has dominated italian politics for 20 years appeared week, and he knew it -- appeared weak, and he knew it. >> political crisis seems to be the buzzword of the day. greece was included in that club today. a leader of the far right, golden dawn, now under arrest. he and five members of parliament have been charged

with assault and money laundering. our correspondent in athens has the details. there is flash photography. >> party leader or a criminal boss? ikos mihaloliakos escorted to court. golden dawn has soared with greece's economic collapse, coming out of nowhere to get 18 mp's come in the third most popular party. , the third most popular party. >> they talked about beating up gay and dark since people -- dark-skinned people. a party leader said he could break someone's legs for 300 euros. he came back and told us not to say a word.

>> it was after a left-wing musician was killed by an alleged golden dawn member that the police clamped down on the gang. huge protests demanded the party he reigned in -- party be reigned in. these men fought back protesters. at least one of them is now identified as belonging to golden dawn. that, says this migrant, is why the party got away with it. he was almost killed a year ago, he says by suspected golden dawn supporters, but nothing was done. >> they asked me where i was from. when i said pakistan, they stabbed me. the police came and did nothing, made no arrests, and never talked to me again. if i were greek, they would act. now i'm terrified to go outside. i want to leave greece for england where it is safe. >> nazi paraphernalia at the home of one of the golden dawn mp's charged.

authorities say they could only act when they had the proof. outside the court, a rally from those fighting back. the golden dawn faithful remain defiant. they said they are proud nationalists, victim of a political witchhunt. the party has taken a huge hit in the past fortnight, but it still has a significant support base. three of the mp's have been freed on bail. the response from one was on repentance -- was unrepentance. the government now believes it can crush golden dawn, but is growing its ideology will be far harder. >> over the past few months, there has been much to cushion -- much discussion of foreign fighters who have gone to act in the syrian conflict. the common perception is that they are nearly all young, muslim men. last month, the death of a man from northern israel jew attention to the fact that arab israelis are also fighting with the rebels.

>> heavily armed opposition fighters on the outskirts of damascus. verifyot independently this footage, but they are said to be members of the nusra fron t, which is linked to al qaeda. many have been killed in recent clashes with the syrian army. it all seems a long way from the family home in northern israel. but last month, he found out that his son had been shot to death outside the syrian capital. he tells me he did not know he had joined the nusra front. >> we were not surprised, because we knew that since he was a teenager he was religious. he always wanted to leave to join a resistance movement, to fight in the name of god, and become a martyr. known israeliirst

citizen to become a casualty of syria's conflict, but he is not the only member of this country's arab minority to have left to fight what is seen as a jihad or holy war. it is thought there are some 20 others who have joined the rebels. two other local men are missing. that surprises many in the community. people in this community are mostly observant muslims. there is a lot of support for this -- for the conservative islamic movement in israel. they do not support the decision by young men to go and fight in syria. they say the priority should be the struggle for palestinian independence at home. across the middle east and around the world, hundreds of muslims have bought into al qaeda's radical islamic ideology and traveled to syria. >> there was a group in london in 2005, another group in 2004.

this is a global phenomenon. i am not surprised. >> from israel's cease-fire line with syria in the occupied golan heights, you get a close-up view of the conflict next door. the two countries themselves remain technically at war. until recently, this region had been quiet for decades. now, israeli security services are worried that syria's troubles will cross the border. arab israelis returning home radicalized and battle hardened, creating a new threat from within. bbc news in northern israel. in syria fighting continues, today, international inspectors started their work on destroying syria's chemical arsenal. it is a daunting task in the middle of a civil war. paul has spent extensive time

covering this conflict. he was honored with an emmy last night for his coverage. i spoke with him last night. in a speech he gave last night, you said it is getting harder and harder to report on syria. why? what is changing? ofit was striking to me that the five shortlisted nominations in our category out of 6, 5 of those were for syria. it has been a tremendous couple of years of reporting. as you say, in increasingly difficult circumstances. the bbc started going to the opposition areas just when the protests against the assad regime were turning into an armed uprising. it then became a full-scale civil war. now we are seeing that civil war take on increasingly sectarian tones and we are seeing more and more following jihadists -- more and more fallen jihadists.

the risk of kidnapping is very high, either ideological kidnapping by jihadists. there is a fact walk -- a fatwa issued by al qaeda groups. or you have chemical -- criminal gangs looking to make money. thee chemical weapon -- >> chemical weapons inspectors will have more security when they try to do their job, but how hard do you think it will be for them to try and find and get rid of syria's chemical weapons in this circumstance? >> it's going to take a long time and it's going to be extremely difficult. if you cast your mind back to when the u.n. mission was in syria, in a period of two or three months, they said we cannot operate in this environment. we are driving across front lines. it is the same environment that the chemical weapons teams are going to be working in. >> you have been covering the war for a couple of years.

do you think of the americans had decided to strike against syria a couple of weeks ago when they were initially thinking of it -- how much difference would that have made it to the situation there? >> it would have dependent on the kind of strike. people opposed it. you cannot just right for reasons of solving your conscious and then walk away. it has to be part of the ongoing military strategy. we heard all sorts of contradicting things from washington on what they did intend, whether it be a short, punitive missile strike, or an effort to degrade the syrian military infrastructure. i think it would have changed things, whether it was small or big. or is a huge difference between changing things just enough to prolong the civil war and changing the outcome -- there is a huge difference between changing things just enough to prolong the civil war and changing the outcome. most people in syria do not expect much of a peace process.

the regime has made clear that president assad has no interest in standing down, and the opposition say that is the only basis they would except for peace talks. -- accept for peace talks. president assad is looking stronger than ever. most people are predicting a very long and even more bloody civil war. this is a civil war which has already killed 100,000 people. >> we hope for all of our sakes you can carry on reporting. i hope you have your any with you and you can show it to all you and your emmy with you can show it to all of us. >> this is for all of the bbc teams and my colleagues. >> it is very well deserved. we have all benefited hugely from the great reporting you and your teams have done. paul, thanks very much. and congratulations on the win.

you are watching "bbc world news america." tonight, we look back on the life and work of author tom clancy. u.s.matic row between the and venezuela has escalated. the american state department is expelling the highest-ranking thezuela ann diplomat from country along with two others. this comes after american officials were booted out of venezuela, accused by president nicolas maduro of promoting sabotage against the government. >> the diplomatic spat began on monday. venezuelan state television broadcast this footage, which it claims showed three u.s. diplomats leaving offices of an ngo which is linked to the opposition. then tough talk from president maduro. he says the diplomats have been trying to destabilize the country and have conspired with the extreme right to sabotage the economy and power grid.

he gave them 48 hours to leave venezuela, saying "yankees, go home." >> we published a names of three officials of the embassy of the united states. they were detected during an ongoing investigation of nearly six months. we direct -- we detected their participation in events that violate international law. >> united states vigorously denies the allegations. it says they are related to the officials' travel to bolivar state. >> they were there conducting normal, diplomatic engagement. as we have said in the past and should come as no surprise, we of course maintain regular contact across the venezuelan political spectrum. >> as the u.s. diplomats leave venezuela, the state department has really -- retaliated. in a tit-for-tat exchange, it has expelled three venezuelan diplomats and given them 48 hours to go.

these elements are unusual but not surprising -- these developments are unusual but not surprising. relationships between the two countries have been strained for more than a decade. titanic super volcano eruptions. it sounds like a scene from a bad hollywood movie, but they happened on mars. they may have helped shape the planet's climate. ofmars has remnants thousands of volcanoes, including this one, nearly 1500 mount -- meters high. these were nothing compared with the cataclysmic power of the planet's super volcanoes. the ultimate blast from the past, each one more explosive

than a million atomic bombs, sending up searing hot ash. they blotted out the sun. rather than destroy the planet, they may have breathed life into it. more than 3 1/2 billion years ago, it might have led to this. a mars with a thick atmosphere and running water. >> these volcanoes spew loads of dust and gas into the atmosphere. this is how atmospheres evolve on planets, through volcanic eruptions, especially massive ones like this. it certainly could have allowed the planet to arrive to these conditions by producing the chemical met serial -- materials. >> by studying pictures taken from orbit, the doctor found these structures, which look like craters but are not. they are gigantic holes in the ground. these are what are left of the martian super all cain knows -- super volcanoes.

>> how were they formed? they begin when molten rock moves up toward the surface. gradually, the pressure builds, causing the surface to break up and explode. the ground below collapses, leaving something which looks like a giant crater. what is emerging is a story of a violent beginning from which a habitable world emerged. the big question is what happened next to have led to the dry and desolate world we know today. bbc news. >> one day, man will get there to see it. one of the world's best-selling authors, american writer tom ofncy, has died at the age 66. among his famous books are "the hunt for red october" and "patriot games," both of which went on to become huge movie hits. >> the film adaptation of tom clancy's 1984 debut novel "the hunt for red october."

them out once more, we play our dangerous game -- >> once more, we play our dangerous game. >> the cold war thriller launched his career and that of his protagonist, jack ryan, who would appear in subsequent novels, several of which would also be turned into hollywood blockbusters. clancy gave his adrenaline- inducing stories added adrenaline. >> i look at the real world. i talk to people in the business. i say is this possible, they go, yeah. >> in the mid-1990's, he wrote "debt of honor," whic some consider -- which some consider to be prophetic. >> he goes, mr. clacny, -- mr. clancy, to the best of my knowledge, if we had a plan to deal with this, i would not give

the talk to you about it. to the best of my knowledge, we have never looked at this possibility before. >> tom clancy was fascinated by naval history but poor eyesight or him from pursuing a military career -- poor eyesight prevented him from pursuing a military career. times", "the new york described his writing as "the verbal equivalent of a high-tech videogame." writing, tom clancy said, was like playing golf. you kept going until you got it right. which, his millions of fans would agree, he did. whoemembering tom clancy, died today. that brings the show to a close. you can watch bbc on our 24-hour news network. thanks so much for watching. do tune in tomorrow. >> 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, union bank, and united healthcare. >> my customers can shop around, see who does good work and compare costs. it can also work that way with health care. with united healthcare, i get ratings for doctors, treatment options, and how much i will pay. that helps me and my guys make informed decisions. i don't like guesses with my business, and definitely not with our health. that is held in numbers. united healthcare. -- that's health in numbers. united healthcare. >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to understand the industry you operate in, working to nurture new ventures and help provide capital for key strategic

decisions. we offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide range of industries. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet, los angeles.

- hi, neighbor! we're going to meet a new friend. her name is chrissie! and then... we're going to school to find out what's the same and what's different about our friends. will you come to? grrr-ific! i'll be right back. is made possible in part by... the richard king mellon foundation. dedicated for over sixty years to south western pennsylvania's quality of life, and competitive future. and by these pittsburg foundations. working together to enhance and enrich the lives of children for more than seventy-five years. and by the arthur vining davis foundations. dedicated to strengthening america's future through education. adcasting, dedicated to strengthening america's future and contributions to your pbs station, from viewers like you.

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