strike the asaad rah jet stream. but in the tough news for the british prime minister and president obama. syria's leader says his country is ready to defend itself. and his ally russia moves warships into the eastern mediterranean. ♪[music]

our top story tonight is syria and the new developments. zillion has not made a decision to launch an attack, but if he does it will be without our closest ally. paramedic limit said no tonight. and the security team briefed members of congress. we are also waiting for secretary of defense to speak to reporters in manila tonight, and if we has something to say we will bring it to you. first, we go to washington, d.c. and paul with the latest reaction. paul. >> john, what we are hearing about this teleconference tonight, between the national security team and congress is that it was about 90 minutes is tough but respectful. there was some tough questions from lawmakers about how this military reaction would be funded. there are questions about the

broad range of options that may or may not be available to the u.s. and mentioned the fact that the u.s. is wary of war. the american public is weary of war. again, on the call as you mentioned. representatives from the state department, pentagon, and all intelligence agencies. >> is there any kind of press or action that the president was considering? >> john, the general consensus is that this action would be really without precedent. that the u.s. has never attacked another country for using chemical weapons. president obama said it wouldn't be regime change or changing the civil war. instead, it would be a war in syria against using chemical weapons again. we know they maintain stock piles and we indicated from this podium and other places over the

course of the last two years that the regime will be held accountable for the security of those chemical weapons. >> but experts say it is a stretch for the president to say attacking syria is somehow about keeping america safe. >> the only way that the president can legally strike syria is somehow related it to america's defense. quite frankly, i think he is making a pretty tenuous case. >> the other big question concerns precedent. never before have they attacked another country. when sue dam hussein gassed thousands of turks the world took little action. even the state department admits there is no movement. >> is there aware precedent for an u.s. administration to use the use of chemical weapons as a justification to take some kind of retaliatory action. >> no. not to that specific question. >> so there is no precedent?

>> not that i'm aware of, no. >> the closest comparison may be operation dessert fox. in 1998, that's when the u.s. led a four day bombing campaign. in april 1993, when they launched tom hawks into in an attempt to assassinate george hw bush. in an interview with the washington post aspen said. request experts say this isn't about sending a message to syria at all. but to another american enemy right next door. specifically iran. he has told iran that all options are on the table.

to prevent them from gaining a nuclear weapon. if he lets it go, the threat in iran is weakened. >> john, and the question that experts kept raising with me today, over and over again, is why. why would asaad use chemical weapons now, especially when the president has repeated that this is a red line that cannot be crossed? >> in washington, d.c., tonight paul, thank you and as we mentioned the big news from europe tonight, british lawmakers said no to military intervention, and are backing the u.s. if the white house decides to strike. simon mcgregor has more from london. order. >> to the speaker of the british house of commons. bad news for david cameron and his coalition. >> the ayes to the right. the no's to the left, 285. >> his motion asking for support the the principle note reaction, defeated by 13 votes.

not a big number, but a very significant political loss. later confirmed to me there will be no british participation on syria. >> it is very clear tonight that they have not passed the motion. it is clear to me that the british parliament reflecting the views does not want to see british military action i get that and the government will act accordingly. this defeat is a significant personal political humiliation. he has miscalculated not only the mood, but of the british public in general, and damaged will take a long time for him to recover. >> damascus, president asaad showed his defiance, saying they will defend themselves against any aggression.

a few hundred kilometers away sean and panic. after more than two years of conflict, seems like this are a regular occurrence in many parts of syria. the president obama will act without one of the closest allies and friends he has already said there are core interests at stake for the united states, and that country whose violate international norms regarding chemical weapons need to be held accountable. simon mcgregor, london. started by asking james what the reaction had been to the vote. >> the u.n. is shocked that the loyal britts who safed by the americans in iraq and after dan

stan will not be involved in this. are going to support this military action at the time. when he was speaking it looked as though there was a plan, a short path, a short attack, it looks like that is unraveling now. >> what does it mean for the possibility of the attack. >> they tried that again, they sat down with the other permanent numbers. looks like there's no way that russia is going to budge. the other problem is there was weapons inspectors yes they are believed -- what we are hearing is their sign disk work is going to take days possibly work. weeks. ambassador butler welcome back. it seems like there is

tremendous pressure on them. >> yes. precious as i'm concerned. they will leave tomorrow, no the day after tomorrow. they will leave on saturday. now thestiest i would expect that they could complete an examination of the reel deafly small quantity of materials they have been able to collect, would be four or five days. now that seems well outside the timeframe of the administration seems to be employing for a possible strike on syria. and then what will the question arising what will the analysis show? their ability to collect samples of soil, blood, uni, has been quite restricted by the syrians. they wanted to exhume some bodies they were denied that. so i'm not sure how comprehensive the results will

be. and what the quality of the analysis that would take four or five days would then be. and by the way, what they are analyzing is the presence of chemicals not who did it. >> so with the ritz out, do you think it is possible that they might decide to go sooner rather than later. >> i think it is possible. i can't imagine the difficulty of this being -- they exaggerate rather. the difficulty that is being encompassed in washington now. this is a clear result. and these united states high and dry on the other hand. the president has said look at how the drums have been beating this week, even absent the crucial piece of information required which is who did this thing.

am passado tonight. >> today russia said it is sending two of its own warships to the eastern mediterranean. near syria. a report from moscow, and why russia is so determined to defend its middle east ally. >> it was the height of the code war that the deal was struck. they signed a treaty of cooperation and friendship. with the then syrian president. it was a master stroke of soviet strategy. that immediately turned them into a major player in that tinderbox of the middle east. zero years ago. what does russia get from the deal today. it has access to a naval maintenance and supply base, that the syrian port, russian's only military base outside the

former soviet union. lucrative arm sales 10% of all weapon goss to syria. net worth $1.5 billion a year. and lastly, on parallelled access to the military and security apparatus. no surprise that russia has consistently voted down resolutions calling for sanctions. but one voice has remained silent. vladimir putin in a calculated display of indifference to the threat of u.s. intervention was 6,000-kilometers from thursday independenting flood defenses in the east. >> i don't think that putin has something to say just now. to come up and to to say that this attack will be wrong, and a mistake, and a crime, and don't do it, while i think everybody knows that it will happen

anyway. it doesn't make any sense to putin. i am sure he will appear after the strike, and he will strongly condemn. >> as for the russian people reveal that 39% have never even heard of the war. >> no. at the moment i am occupied with other things i don't follow the news. >> i turns out there were no chemical weapons. they will use this as an excuse to launch an attack. >> what is most important is not to be seen -- as the protector of syria. to that end, two russian warships were deployed on thursday, as tensioned continue to rise. a reminder to u.s. naval forces gathering in the area, that this is not solely an american. >> so the one man, vladimir who has enough clout with president

asaad to encouraging him to go to the tables after any strikes on his country, remains fundamentally opposed to the military action. the main highway between damascus has been jammed with syrians trying to leave the nation. those along this rout are almost exclusively supporters of. mostly they are ready to fight. david jackson reports between syria and lebanon. hot dusty and streaming with lebanese. trying to escape the dangers the capitol city is almost 20 miles away and seen as a certain target if the u.s. led coalition decides to strike as punishment for the use of chemical wells. but many of those leave willing sir januaries strongly supporting the rejeep. saying they would give their

lives to defeat america. >> you think asaad is the right side. >> absolutely. >> totally support mr. asaad? >> to the end. to the death. many of the men crossing here with him will be heading back today to support the syrian military regime. >> you are going to turn right back and go back in. >> sure. >> today? >> today. >> today you turn around and go back into syria. >> protect our families in a safe place, so we need to make them fight america. >> this is the main boarder crossing. the legal exit where legal papers are presented. but on dozens of back roads and paths it is believe that the rebel supporters are also making

their way out. they have left syria illegally. never to return while asaad remains in power. >> they are crossing this boarder reluctantty quickly crossing only to go back into demarcus to witness the coming events and pray for people's safety. >> so you can't leave the family, you don't want to leave the family if they are in danger. >> so i am very -- how much danger or not, we fear that it is very dangerous, but we can't do anything. >> nervous, absolutely. but resigned to a life in a war torn city, certainly faces more battles ahead. david jackson, al jazeera on the lebanon syria border. >> now the syrian government is also preparing for a possible foreign strike. syrian president asaad says his country will defend itself against any aggression. the senior military commander is

reportedly staying away from the building because it likely be targeted in a strike. he is the head of a business intelligence firm he is a former u.s. marine intelligence officer, he has been in touch with colleagues in syria, and he has new information about what is going on. >> what they have reported is that the regime is believed that the president of the quite is not bluffing and they are making preparations for air strikes. >> what sort of preparations? >> so just in the past 48 hours, the analysis have spotted bus loads of civilians being brought into meza airfield in the

southwest. so it jug that ises. >> human shields. >> human shields. >> second, we've heard actual eyewitness accounts of troops syrian troops being moved into residential areas, into schools, just moving people out of the way. moving equipment out of the way, from those bases but also human shields being moved particularly to this airfield. >> so as the possibility of an attack approaches and we don't know what date that might be, if it is going to happen, there's a lot of activity going on. >> yeah, and additional activity includes the replacement of some of the officers who are very closely with asaad. some of those officers that aren maaing check points are being replaced with sunni officers. so they are trying to protect the elite. >> what about the safety of the people you talked to? >> so i talked -- i know they

are giving advice to their people on the drowned, to move out of certain areas. but right now, the expectations that the attacks may not come before saturday, that's our own speculation. >> with your intelligence background, what is that activity suggest about this? >> well, it suggests that even the threat of force is already having some impact on the battlefield. where is the potential there could be a little bit of a shift, a tilt on the battlefield in favor of some of the rebel forces. another example of that would be that the highway, we just learned in the last 48 hours the highway between damascus and lepo has switched hands to the opposition forces. and this highway is switched hands several times over the course of this conflict, but that was the main supply rout for proregime forces that are in alepo. they are now at least temporarily stranded. >> you said the asaad rah jet

stream believes they will attack, but the opposition doesn't. >> so from talking to people on both sides. they don't believe that the united states is going to follow through. as well as the regime believes that they will. >> it is fascinating information. matt, good to see you. >> thank you very much. >> right now we are still waiting on defense secretary it appears that he is getting ready to speak, in the philippines at any moment. and of course, syria will be the topic in his news conference. we are going to keep an eye on this news conference and we will get back to you if he has anything to say about syria.

we have record breaking heat in the midwest, add that with all this humidity, coupled them together and now we have storms developing. severe weather breaking out. now we will continue to see that heat through the day today, so expect all this humidity to continue to hang heavy in the air. but it is going to move further south. don't goout side and do a lot ofability ifty. that's how these thunderstorms that are moving right across wisconsin this evening, we are seeing them produce quarter size hail. we did have a look out for hail baseball size. now that is somedaying to the north. especially as we start looking at farmers watching their corn crops. it is just been inching back in, because it started to dry out again. where we are not drying out is in the pacific northwest, tonight a lot of lightening here, and we have currently been seeing a flood advisory around

the seattle area. coming unly tell you other areas that can expect to see rain showers for the day friday. >> all right, thank you very much. chances are this week you have seen clips of martin luther king's jr.s i have a dream speech. that's because the most iconic speech of the civil rights movement is also one of the most protected. al jazeera explains. >> i have a dream some day this nation will rise up. >> it is one of the most famous speeches in u.s. history. we hold these truths to be self-evidence. >> a defining moment in the struggle for civil rights. but if you want to watch his "i have a dream" speak, good luck. it is not legally on youtube or any news site. the reason, dr. king's speech is

protected by copyright laws. there is nothing in the united states copyright law that says that if if a work happens to become very successful, or extremely significant that it loses. the march on washington when dr. king filed documents to copyright his speech. he then sued a record company forcing it to stop. through the years the king family has taken legal actions to companies and news organizations like u.s.a. today and cbs news that used any part of the speech without paying licensing fees. all of the cases settled out of court. >> dr. king's family said look we own it. he didn't make a lot of money when he was alive.

the only thing he had really were his properties, his literary in effect properties. so get a license. pay us for it. >> critics say the family has gone too far. note doctoring king's relatives have received millions of dollars licensing out part of the speech to companies that wanted to leverage it for commercial advertising. one dealing included singular wireless, which used the tag line "free at last." it is a very sad and painful contradiction of how dr. king led his own life, and what he would want his legacy to be. >> dr. king registered his copyrights in part so that his heirs would have potentially financial security from the use of his copyrights and the heirs

and licensing access to his work are acting as any other copyright owner would. >> the king family does make the speech available to schools at a discount. so is king's family being greedy or just protective of his words? either way, all of this may continue for a while. you see thanks to u.s. law kings copyright is valid for 70 years. after his death. that means until the year 2038, viewing one of the most remarkable speeches in u.s. history will come with a price tag. al jazeera. be shower asaad. >> the sign says it is time for sports.

for concussions and other football remitted head injuries. even after the settlement, the nfl still contends it never with held information from any former players. in tennis, five times roger fred err has won the u.s. open, today he made short work of carlos in straight sets. 6-3, 6-2, 6-1. he approved his career record, thanks in part to six aces and 37 winners. in baseball, reigning mvp miguel cabrera hurt his abdomen after an awkward slide. he would leave the game but insisted he would be back on friday. those are a look at your sports headlines more sports news coming up in 20 minutes. >> michael, thank you very much. coming up on al jazeera, a super

sized fast food strike. workers across the country walk off the job demanding more money. defense secretary is speaking right now, in the philippines we are listening if he makes any news about the situation in syria.

>>introduces america tonight. >>in egypt, police fired teargas at supporters of the ... >>a fresh take on the stories that connect to you. [[voiceover]] they risk never returning to the united states. >>grounded. >>real. >>unconventional. [[voiceover]] we spent time with some members of the gangster disciples. >>an escape from the expected. >>i'm a cancer survivor. not only cancer, but brain cancer.

what happens when social media uncovers unheard, fascinating news stories? >> they share it. >> social media isn't an afterthought. america. >> al-jazeera social america community online. >> this is your outlet for those conversations >> post, upload and interact. >> every night, share undiscovered stories.

>> the stream, tomorrow night, the young folks. >> what are the laws going to begin to take effect? >> reporter: the laws do not go >> mike leaves is back with sports. i was surprises at the size of this settlement. >> and some people said today that they were surprised that it wasn't bigger because they thought they had that strong of a case, but instead of potentially facing several more years of litigation, the nfl and 4500 retired players have decided on a settlement. with the league prepared to shell out $765 million, to those former players who have suffered concussions and other football related head injuries. no uh the players have claimed that the league with held

information about concussions for decades so they would return to the field faster. a claim the league has denied and continues to do so even after today's settlement. here is how the deal breaks down. 675 million-dollars with cognitive impairment. $75 million for the base line test of any retired players not just the one ties to this lawsuit, and 10 million would go to a separate research and education fund. now is settlement equates to money for the -- each would be based on diagnosis, number of seasons placed and other relative information. for those suffers with alzheimerss get capped at $5 million. $4 million for those diagnosed with c. t. e., which is the brain disorder commonly associated with concussions. and former players with dementia can receive $3 million. now approximately half of the settlement will be paid over the next three years with the balance to be paid over the next 17 years. well, the college football

season kicked off tonight with 13 games on this thursday night schedule, including 6th ranked south carolina hosting north carolina. two gamecocks led by clownmy, wildly considered the number one pick, but it was the offense that was the real start tonight. jumping out to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter. south carolina piled up nearly 400 yards of offense on the way the a 27-10 lead, before the game was delayed due do dangerous weather in the columbia area. the game would resume after a delay of an hour and a half, and south carolina would cruise from there and win by the final score of 27-10. mark, take a look at this game, there is a lot of expectations for them. >> that's true. as you said, clownny was the center of attention coming in,

but it attorneys out to be the big play offense. theyed that lee touch downs of 29 yards or more. also his back up quarterback with a t.d. pass, and also mike davis the 75-yard run. he didn't dominate the game individually, but a lot of attention paid to him helped out his defense. and that was pet i primaciesive, north carolina with that hurry up offense. they scored only 10 points. >> speaking of clownny, obviously he is a tough guy to game plan for, but if it is the first game of the season, you have way more time to try to come one a way to defend clownny, but that just means other guys on the team have their opportunities and i'm sure that's something that steve spurrier is hoping transpired. if you don't get clownny someone else will get you.

yeah i think that was the underlying team. how much attention was on clownny. a heisman trophy contender, but that does seem like that was the case today, hey, we are got defenders as well, as much attention goes on number seven, the rest of us can pick up the slack. as i mentioned north carolina runs that offense. they ran 79 plays and gained only 279 yards. so south carolina did a lot of things pretty well, without a dominant performance tonight. >> mark, we mentioned the weather delays. for those of us not able to see the game, how severe was that weather at the time they stopped the game. >> well, michael it was pretty crazy. about 20 minutes before it happened you have to give the folks here a lot of credit. they said inclement weather is headed in this direction, please

be ready to seek shelter. then about ten minutes later they said the game is being suspended leave the stadium. everyone left, less than ten minutes late ear downpour with lightening. so the safety issues were taken care of, so again the delay, and after that some of the people returned to the stadium, and obviously as you showed south carolina closed the deal. >> good work all the way around today for you. with that severe weather, mark morgan joining us where 6th ranked south carolina takes down north carolina. one nfl note, the red skins marked up a pre-season without robert griffin the third. he met with his surgeon who performed the surgery on his knee back in january according to twitter, dr. andrews cleared him to play, the red skins open on monday september the 9th. the final say will come from mike shanahan, but he refused to say after the game if he will

indeed start the opener. bull awe eyes are pointing to him being on the line-up. >> you know, it strikes me you have the story about the settlement, for mehmets and damage to the brain, and then we have these kids and the ncaa, and also in high school. hitting hard. >> it is not going to stop people from playing football. we want to see what the triple down long term will be. >> very interesting, thank you very much. >> rebecca stevenson is back with a check of the weather next, and coming up, america tonight with joey chen.

>> showers and thunderstorms were very specific in location across the united states tonight. we had them riding through the west, up unto the midwest, and then down into parts oif southeast, be tough central portion of the united states stayed mostly dry, albeit on the hot humid side, but dry. right now we are looking at showers and thunderstorms just hammering new mexico.

you have flash flood warnings in place because of these. and that includes parts of southern california. now this flash flooding coming from the showers are coming from a storm that is just falling apart. at one time it is a tropical storm, but it is headed to the north. the moisture feed will continue to ride around high pressure, so we get another good hot day with a lot of humidity in the midwest. we will stay cooler for the west. which will continue off and on, and even the northeast is going to start to see a fur showers popping up as this moisture continues to ride over towards the eastern side of the state. thank you for joining us on ol' jazz. we will keep you updated especially where the severe weather is happening.

new development on syria tonight. defense secretary just spoke to reporters about the possibility of a military strike against syria. speaking in the philippines hagel said the white house is still aiming to find an international coalition willing to act together on syria. >> the ayes to the right. 272, the no.'s to the left, 285. >> earlier britain's parliament voted against the possible military strike, prime minister disagreed with the vote, but said he would respect the will of the people. two white house also briefed members of congress tonight on syria, congressman said offi