jazeera.com. ♪ theme >> hello and welcome to aljazeera. i'm in new york. here are our top stories. >> i think we have found areas that we can work together, but we have a long way to go. >> senator john mccain says a vote against president obama's proposed strike on syria would be catastrophic. >> in russia, a call for a diplomatic solution to the war, suggesting lawmakers come to the u.s. to lobby congress. >> she did it, diana nyad reaches the florida coast and one of her life-long goals. ♪ theme

>> in washington, there are signs of a possible compromise in the president's plan to strike syria. the president just wrapped up a meeting with two key republicans senators, john mccain and lindsey graham. both wanted a broader plan on syria and say they walked out encouraged, but there is still a long way to go. we are in washington. paul, what more did those senators, mccain and graham, have to say? >> tony, as you say, senator mccain repeatedly said four times during his remarks that a rejection of an attack on syria by congress would be catastrophic. it's a calendar both senators two years have been calling for more aggressive action. both characterized their conversation with the president as positive, but as you said, both said they still have questions in that there is a long way to go. >> there seems to be emerging from this administration a fret

solid lon to get the regional players more involved. saudi arabia, turkey, jordan, a lot of the arab states have been helping quietly, now is the time to be open and more overt. >> really insisting that president obama, the white house, the administration, needs to make the case very clearly both to congress, to the american people, really to the world, why more robust action is needed in syria. tony. >> paul, what is it specifically that both of the senators want? i heard senator mccain talk about say strikes. are either two men advocating boots on the ground or calling for regime change in syria? >> well, senator mccain repeatedly has called outright for a regime change, saying that assad needs to be toppled and what the president has outlined

is not enough. he wants greater steps taken. he is clearly calling for assad to be ousted, not thinking that it would require boots on the ground, but a comprehensive strategy is going to do more than pinpoint strikes by tomahawk missiles. >> in russia, a delegation of lawmakers say they want to travel to washington to urge congress to vote down the president's plan. a speaker of russia's upper house of parliament said they hope the white house will not support military force. overseas, the french prime minister sent parliament new intelligence on the chemical weapons attack, saying. president assad spoke to a french newspaper urging france not to participate in an attack.

assad said everyone will lose control of the situation once the first powder keg explodes. there is a risk of regional war. >> phillip ittner is in london with the european perspective. a lot of activity this afternoon. what's in the new evidence presented in france? >> what we're hearing from those intelligence reports, that the prime minister gave to parliamentarians seemed to indicate that the weapons used, the extents of the weapons used and the coordination of the attack was far too sophisticated for the rebels to have been able to pull off and the intelligence reports also indicated that the missiles were launched from government-controlled territory into adjacent territory held by the rebels, and furthermore, that there were intercepted

communications indicating command centers were used to launch the attacks, much which which we kind of already heard from the american side of things, but it's interesting to see the french collating this intelligence and putting it out obviously in an attempt to sway parliament and the french public on it. >> is the french president asking for a vote on the use of military force from the parliament? >> that's a very interesting question. no, he's not. under the french constitution, the french president can act with military force for any kind of engagement up unto about the four month mark. he doesn't need a vote from the french parliament, as a matter of fact, that's been an issue

within france, parliament asking for a vote, hutch like here in the house of commons or in congress, the french parliament saying we can debate this, but if we don't have a vote, what's the point. that sentiment is echoed within the french public sphere, as well. >> what do we know about these lawmakers in moscow saying they want to come to the u.s. to lobby congress? >> yeah, that is another particularly interesting development on this side of the atlantic. apparently both houses, upper and lower house want to send delegations to directly engage with congressional members to talk with them about this vote, presumably to dissuade them voting in the positive. later in the day, apparently, even president putin stepped in front of parliament in russia and said this is a good idea, he endorsed it. what kind of influence they expect to have once they come to the united states, it's unclear,

but clearly the message is with we need to engage with the united states and dissuade them from any kind of military action. >> appreciate it, thank you. >> a group of computer hackers called the syrian electronic army has attacked the u.s. marines recruiting website today. a message on the site called for marines to fight with the syrian army and said "obama is a traitor who wants to put your lives in danger to rescue al-qaeda insurgents." few facts are known about the group but they have hacked media and social outlets in the past, including "the new york times," and twister. japan's government will take a more direct role in the cleanup of the damaged fukushima nuclear plant. there are growing concerns with the owning company to handle the

crisis. >> japan's nuclear regulation authority said there is no indication that there are no leaks at the plant. the radiation readings were higher over the weekend than two weeks ago because the company in charge of the power plants has been using more sophisticated machines to detect radiation levels than previous machines. the machines they're using now can read more. this latest embarrassing revelation now has forced the government to come in and take a more direct approach in handling this crisis. >> we have decided to take charge of the issue, not just leaving it to the company and using the budget to strengthen the system. we will deal with this so as to not repeat such an incident. >> the prime minister is due to chair another session of the nuclear emergency response meeting on tuesday, so the speculation that details of this plan can be revealed on tuesday.

we don't know yet what it will include but will you deal with the immediate problem of how do you store the contaminated water at the plant. the chairman of the nuclear regulation authority has reiterated that they may have no choice but to discharge some of this water in the ocean but will make sure discharged water meets regulatory thresholds. >> new details on documents leaked by edward snowden. journalist greenwald said he provided in tell that the u.s. spied on the private communications of the presidents of brazil and mexico. the allegations came forward on a brazilian talk show, alleging that the n.s.a. red the emails even before the president of brazil was elected. >> never ever give up. >> diana nyad didn't give up and

because of that she has done it. the american long distance swimmer finished the 10-mile trip from cuba to key west. she is the first person to swim that route without a shark cage. at 64 years old, she wants to prove that it is never too late to chase your dream. courtney has our report. >> 64-year-old diana nyad wanted to prove it's not to late to chase your dream. arriving on the shores of key west, florida, she finally succeeded, after five attempts. spectators cheered her on during the last 100 yards of her 103-mile swim. >> i got three messages. one is we should never, ever give up. [ cheers and applause ] >> two is, you never are too old to chase your dreams. >> that's right! >> three is it looks like a

solitaire sport, but i have a team. >> 53 hours after beginning in havana with a 35 person support team helping her along the way, nyad completed the journey, without using a shark cage, wet suit or flippers. >> adios! >> her past attempt started back in 1978, but she was defeated by severe weather, jelly fish stings and exhaustion. today she triumphed to that which seemed beyond her belief. >> a tornado tore through a tokyo suburb in japan on monday. the wild weather left over 60 people, take a look at this, several buildings topmented, power lines and roofs blown right off of boats.

>> we don't normally talk about tornadoes in other soundedries, but every single continent in the world can see a tornado and that's what happened. we have another atory to talk about in asia and that is a tropical storm. this is making its way north towards the southern part of japan. this storm, we don't expect to get stronger than a tropical storm. what we do expect to see is very heavy rain for the islands down here. we can expect between 15 and 18 inches of rain as the storm makes its way to the north. we'll keep you updated as this storm progresses toward the north. the u.s. open, we are in a rain delay because of the very heavy showers that have pushed through the area. unfortunately, i don't think we're going to be seeing much in terms of the play getting back into swing today, because

showers are going to be back towards parts of western new york and pennsylvania. we saw quite a bit of activity no the last 24 hours. boston did see over two-inches of rain and the flood warnings and watches are still in effect. i'll bring you more details as well as the delays of the airports. >> thank you. on this labor day, women entering the typically mail-dominated field of welding. we are shining the spotlight on a program that is training single mom little for work that will help them support their families. and pay no price? >> the president had seemed to be leaning toward military action for several days. >> that's not a surprise. the question, though, was whether he would seek

authorization from congress? it didn't seem that he would,

>> an interesting debate. coming up, a school where students don't read books. instead they use ipads almost >> a behind closed door meeting for president obama and key republican lawmakers on syria.

>> russia could send a delegation of lawmakers to the united states to talk about syria. a couple of russian lawmakers made the suggestion to president putin. the u.s. gaming industry is making a comeback after a dip during the recession. last year, consumers spent more than $30 billion as casinos. the five biggest markets brought in $1,414,000,000,000 in revenue. at $60.2 billion, the las vegas strip accounted for in our in our% of it, double the revenue of atlantic city, the second largest market in the country. >> we visited atlantic city to see how it was doing during this peek tourist season. >> it's labor day here in atlantic city, tour i have thes enjoying the last full day of the summer season. there's a link between labor day

and the atlantic city. they are very worried about future job losses here because revenue in the town is down since 2006 from $5.2 billion to $3 billion. there are a lot of people here trying to make sure it doesn't go any further and they do something to bring atlantic city back in the face of stiff competition from gaming now allowed in states all around this city. take a look at this. >> they are truly cathedrals to gambling, aren't they he? >> gambling is a bless. >> it's a bless if you win. >> this man was laid off when the economy tanked and now runs a chain of ladies fashion shops around the boardwalk. hurricane sandy damaged this shop and he was forced to close an i.r.a. account to keep going.

>> otherwise, if i did not have the account and insurance hadn't helped me, i would be on the street. >> he and his wife often stay open all night to make ends meet. >> sandy damaged the shore all along the coastline. here there was flooding and the northern edge of the town swept away. the message seemed to go out, atlantic city is closed for business permanently. >> in fact, the 12 casinos were open again within a week. the revenue was down 10-15% for months after, but atlantic city's used to rolling with the punches. for years, it's often a combination of gambling and family entertainment that have kept its boardwalk pact. then came the 2008 financial collapse and stiff competition from nearby states that legalized gambling. >> pennsylvania, delaware, maryland, now new york city has the largest casino in the united states, taking some of the business from feeder markets to atlantic city.

>> new jersey senator ray lessniac will allow bets to be placed from homes. >> it's going to be a significant boost to atlantic city and hopefully in the end, sports betting, which would be a big, big win and would make the town the las vegas of the east coast. >> the sports betting bid is mired in court action. the hope is it could fill atlantic city hotel rooms in winter. lisa is charged with broadening the city's appeal way beyond the casinos. >> taking advantage of the natural environment, the beach, the boardwalk, the nightclubs. we have the restaurants. we are definitely going back to our roots as a tourist destination that has so many things for people to do. >> back in his boutique, he hopes the town's big gamble pays off. with his savings gone and pension plan depleted, he is

literally betting his life on it. >> it is job losses that they are most concerned about. 40,000 people used to be directly involved in the gambling industry employment. the sports betting is all about trying to stem future job losses. >> ok, as we just said, it is labor day, but not everyone is enjoying that day off this holiday. a recent survey shows 39% of employers will be open for businesses today. large businesses are more likely to require workers clock in on labor day. more than half of employers insectors like health care, and health services will require workers to come in today. single mothers now head a quarter of u.s. households. many are young, undereducated and poor, but some are building better futures for themselves and their children this labor day.

dianna easterbrook introduces us to one young mom. >> we're just going to put the headband on, ok, because it matches your shirt. >> ok. >> valerie galvin was homeless and jobless when her daughter was born five years ago. today, the 37-year-old single mom's life is headed in a different direction, thanks to newly acquired job skills. two weeks ago, galvin got a full time job as a welder at a chicago firm that makes bus seats. >> it was really hard. i struggled a lot. now, it's kind of, it's, i got a brighter outlook on life now, because i feel like i have a career path now. >> galvin got certified as a welder at chicago's jane adams research corporation, a not for profit offering job training and workforce development.

she started training low income unskilled moms for high end manufacturing jobs. jane adams has placed nearly all the welders it's trained so far and plans to expand to train even more. >> we see women coming in all the time, but they don't want to work in office jobs. they want to work with their hands. they don't necessarily know what that translates into in terms of a job. we show them to we would and they get excited about it and say i can do this. >> galvin is making $10.50 an hour. that's not a fortune, but better money she made doing odd jobs. >> the average u.s. factory worker now makes $77,000 a year including benefits. with a few years of experience, galvin could make between $45,000 and $50,000 a year here, moving her into the middle class. >> five women welders have been hired here in the last year, including galvin.

the company president said he would hire more if he could find them. >> reliability is a big factor, decision making is big on the part of this decision and they show up better than their counterparts. >> she wants to buy a home and with her first paycheck. >> it's good. i don't mind showing it. i'm proud of it. >> she's on her way. aljazeera, chicago. >> labor day, many are taking a closer look at unions in the united states. david shuster spoke with the president of the aflcio about what he calls a labor crisis. >> how big of a problem is it right now? are we at a critical mass for unions? >> i think it's at crisis stage, where wages are stagnant for workers, benefits are disappearing, and unless unions can come back strong, i think year going to see the economy dave the 1% at the top and the

other 99% will be left out in the cold, stagnant and so left behind, that we won't recognize this country. the middle class in this country is under assault. it was a trade union movement and labor union movement that built the middle class and we are going to build it again. >> there was plenty of back and forth in that interview. joining me now is john degraff, from the organization take back your time, challenging the american habit of working too much. good to have you here. do we work too much because it is the road to success, to getting ahead, or because we fear we might be replaced if we are perceived as not working enough? >> well, i think it's by far the latter. we fear being replaced, but even more, we work too much because we simply have no laws

protecting our time like every other industrial country in the world does. we have no law that requires that anybody get any vacation time in the united states. no law that requires that people get holidays and so forth. >> how do we take back our time? >> well, i think we can do it in a number of ways. when people have to go to their employers and say look, i need the time, i'm stressed, i need time for my family, my health, and so fort. that i don't think workers can do it alone. an expanded labor market would help. that's what got us some of the good laws in the first place. i think we need legislation that provides us with what every other industrial country and poor country takes for granted. there are five nations in the world today that do not have a law requiring paid vacation for workers. those five are the united

states, geeian in a, nepal and burma. >> is the timing dead wrong for what you're talking about right now, the economy still struggling coming out of the great recession? >> absolutely not. the timing is dead right, as we found out in the great depression, one of the ways we put people back to work was reduce working hours and to share the work that exists. that's what we ought to be thinking about doing now. this is a time in which we still have widespread unemployment and we ought to shorten working hours and give everybody a chance to work. >> john, appreciate it. john is the national coordinator for the organization take back your time. thanks again, john. >> in business news now. verizon is going solo. the company saying it is buying out its partner for $130 billion, giving it full control of verizon wireless. it is one of the largest

corporation deals. they hope it makes them more anymore bell as it tries to fend off at&t and sprint that offers cheaper plans. it was a record setting center for hollywood. hollywood.com reporting movie theaters pulled in $4.7 billion from may through today, up 10% from last year and $300 million more set in 2011. sequels like iron man three, despicable me two were the top box office attractions. some major disappointments were off set, such as the lone rager and after earth. ross is here with the sports headlines and good news. ross. >> that's right. nfl season right around the corner, tony. the good news is that the patriots, ron gronkowski back on the practice field. the all pro tight end coming off multiple surgeries on his

forearm, as well back surgeries. he strapped it up for practice. will he play sunday? the head coach said he is day for day. the nfl season will kick off thursday night when the defending superbowl champions and ravens take on peyton manning and the broncos. the ravens are 9.5. underdogs. >> real madrid obtained the rights to bail for a record setting $132 million. $132 million just to talk to him. real madrid acquired the star and signed bail to a six year deal, pending a physical. that is a lot of money. >> and my apologies, ross really meant soccer. >> a crisis in kenya that has its fisherman reeling.

but should you be made aware if you are consuming them. that's next on "consider this." same

>> welcome back, everyone to aljazeera. i'm tony harris. a behind closed doors meeting for president obama and key republicken lay makers russia

could send a delegation of lawmakers to the united states to talk about syria. a couple of russian lawmakers made the suggestion to president putin. >> diana nyad has done it, finishing the 103-mile trip from cuba to key west a short time ago. she is the first person to swim the route without a shark cage. taliban fighters launched an attack near the pakistan border this morning. three of the attackers were killed. afghan and u.s. forces exchanged gunfire with nato helicopters joining the fight. we have more from kabul. >> at a u.s. base near the border with pakistan, explosions destroyed dozens of deals and marks the start of a fight between firefighters. >> the enemy of our country has set fire near the base run by security forces. the attack was in two differently locations.

the vehicles there were set on fire. three attackers were resisting near the base. all three were killed. >> the armored cars and mine keepers were part of $30 billion worth of equipment being withdrawn as u.s. forces leaf afghanistan. there were no u.s. or afghan contactors. the border attack marks an increase is taliban assaults across afghanistan. in the past week, 100 afghans, including security forces have been killed, this is the second attack on a nato base in less than a week. wednesday, a nate co base was talked south of kabul, detonating a truck bomb, then sending 20 fighters in to assault the base. eight afghans were killed and more than 50 injured in that attack. in the same province sunday, the boileds of seven afghan army soldiers were discovered, their hands bound with chains. local officials say the taliban

captured them on the highway, then shot them to death. >> today, there were further crack downs by egypt's military crack down on the muslim brother hood. their status as a no one governmental organization is asked to be rescinded. since president mohamed morsi was deposed, most of the group's leadership has been arrested. 14 members of the brother hood, as well as morsi, will stand trial for inciting violence. joining me now is jahar aziz. thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> this is a non-bounding vote from this panel. if you take that in combination with what the new prime minister is saying, he is considering banning the group, what does it mean for the muslim brother hood

in egypt. >> i think this is an extraordinary move on closing the doors on any kind of political settlement in the county crisis between the muslim brotherhood and military. this is either being used as a negotiation tactic to get the brotherhood to make a deal or it is a message saying we are going to force you underground and he expel you from the political process. the problem with that move is the brotherhood is an indigenous group. it's been around for over 80 years and operating underground for many decades. you can't make arrests or kill it to distinction. >> it feels like an ultimatum, which says stop the demonstrations, stop th the incitement or we will run you out of town. >> i'm afraid they have to offer

something in return. in any political negotiation, and i have yet to see what they're going to offer the brotherhood, but one inning sons convince of this is that you have the far right groups, which are the other islamists or political islamists in the political landscape now making a move to try to take the place of the brother hood as the premeyer islamist players. >> did the brother hood in your estimation make a mistake by becoming political, forming a political party and taking on the political system in the country? >> well, they've always been a political group. i think they made many mistakes. it was not so much getting involved in politics. that should be open to anyone who wants to play by non-violent rules. i think their mistakes were becoming greedy with power, adopting the mubarak style

tactics and losing population who weren't brotherhood supporters but willing to give them a chance. they lost popularity through tactics that led to the july 3 military coup. >> good to talk to you again, thank you. >> kenya's once driving fishing industry is suffocating. a water weed is making fish sick and even killing them. we have more from kenya. >> for the last 20 years, moses has been finishing on the kenyan side of lake victoria. he says fishing here was once a lucrative business, but not anymore. in recent years, he and other fisherman have been returning with less fish. >> we do not ended. the fish have migrated. most are too small or sick, like

this one. >> this is the weed that has has dramatically reduced the fisherman's catch. where the once sandy shores were, the weed has taken over. the weed hampers fisherman, tangling nets and destroying fish breeding grounds. for millions of people who live on or near the shores, it's now choking and becoming almost solid with the weed, and that is having a disastrous effect on the people who depend on it. controlling the weed has bam priority for kenya. for the kenyan shores of the lake, a private farm has taken the initiative to clear the lake of the we'd. using this engine conveyer, the weed is cut and pulled out of the water.

the seeds get flushed straight back to the waters. >> we are trying to make sure the fishermen who are majorly affected, for at them, at least there is an avenue so they can go into the water and go fishing, rather than going very far away. >> for some, though, the weed has ban blessing. making furniture out of dried branches. >> my children can go to school, they can eat well, they can dress well. >> for the authorities removal of the weed, it is i am per active. so far now, the weed has its dark grip on victoria. from the kenyan shores of lake victoria. >> intelligence leaker edward snowden revealed privacy

concerns within the national security agencies inner workings. now there are new questions raised involving another government agency and its practices. there are reports today of the d.e.a.'s partnership with american telecom giant at&t. the report says at&t has been paid for access, the phone records since 2007. joining me now is managing member of romano law, an attorney specializing in corporate law and has been following the case. what is your reaction? >> it's startling. the scope is unbelievable. the n.s.a. keeps records for five years of phone numbers, data, cell towers. this program goes back to 1987. it started in 2007. they are looking at 26 years of phone records. really, that's incredible in scope, and it's domestic, druggen forcement mostly. >> does it go beyond what you would consider a proper relationship between the

government and corporate america? >> possibly, because of the lack of oversight here. there are no records. this was made public, new york times had the story yesterday through a freedom of information act report. there doesn't appear to be a lot of record keeping here. >> were subpoenas involved in this process? >> they don't involve judicial oversight, approval or the grand jury process. >> the obama administration says that there are no novel privacy issues here, do you believe the administration when it says that? >> they're right in a sense. this has been going on for years. there are 335 different federal laws that law for administrative subpoenas. the supreme court ruled in 1950 that administrative subpoenas fine, so long as they're reasonable, they have reasonable relationship to the investigation that's going on, the right agency issues the authority and the scope, the duration is reasonable.

in that sense, it's not november very well, it's a common investigative technique in the drug enforcement tool kit. >> you're issue is it goes beyond what you consider the proper limit of government surveillance. >> it's just too much data. >> the issue is who controls it. who is supervising this? in 2010, the investigator revealed that the f.b.i. had been routinely misusing administrative subpoenas, so what's going on now? who's overseeing what the d.e.a. is doing. >> what should happen here? do you want it to be shut down. >> i think that would be a a mistake, because it's worked. there are a number of situations. earlier this year, there was a south carolina woman, several bombing threats, they were able to track her down using the system. someone impersonated a general and ran over a naval officer. oversight, disclose you have.

>> congress doing its job. >> newt bad idea. >> thank you. >> a problem. >> oil sands boom is producing piles of petroleum coke. millions of tons of the substance are building up in canada and the united states. we are in detroit where clouds of the stuff have been blowing into homes. >> is that the pet coke? >> a video says it all, clouds of black dust against a dark sky whereby blowing over the detroit river. there was panic on both sides of the international water way. hearing the worst, a canadian tour boat stopped under a bridge while passengers and crews looked on. >> i thought it was a tornado, it was so frightening all of a sudden, but it wasn't shaped like a tornado. at first, we didn't know what it was, but it was a like this

black cloud. it obliterated the entire bridge. you couldn't see through it. >> the dust is a byproduct of refining canadas tar sands. u.s. officials say it's not dangerous, though scientists are divided on that. river front residents are finding the fine black dust inside their homes, all along their streets. >> their first concern was with their health, because the dust was flying on to their window sills, getting into their amounts and so if it was that easy to seep into their apartments, that means that they're breathing it. >> after the uproar in detroit, the piles have shrunk. politicians at city, state and federal levels told the storage company to move the petroleum coke or get rid of it. though rarely used at fuel in north america, it can be sold to generate power in china and elsewhere. that's a limited market and

booming tar sands production means 10s of millions of tons of coke are accumulating in both canada and the u.s. >> our whole society is built on cheap energy. that cheap energy does not include the cost of energy byproducting, such as waste piles of resituals. this is a really expensive problem that's still waiting to be solved. >> activists expect new piles of coke will now be placed here, amid it is stockpiles of coal a the an industrial site just a half kilometer back from the river near a shipping port. whether or not it's as toxic as many fear, petroleum coke in vast quantity at this time is no longer stored at detroit's waterfront for now. what to do about this byproduct remains a huge challenge not just here, but across north america. aljazeera, detroit. >> the nfl season will kick off on thursday night. an exclusive interview with one of the all time greats of the

game, troy palamalu is coming up in sports.

protestors. i'm morgan radford, you can see us again at 7:00 eastern. >> welcome back to aljazeera. people flocked to new york today for the sights and sounds of a labor day tradition. people crossed the state lines and traveled to represent their heritage and caribbean culture. the spectacle includes floats, beautiful costumes, and the sounds of reggae and calypso. >> the nfl, final, meaningful

games tart thursday. >> are you ready for some football? >> so ready. >> the college kids got all the attention this past weekends, but the big voice, the guys that play for pay will be take thissing center stage thursday night. the baltimore ravens will have a new look this year. ray lewis retired, antoine bolden in san francisco. they still have the supervisor m.v.p. in joe flacco and ray rice. >> feels good to be week one again with, man, you start a new year, a new chapter and you go through camp, and obviously, when you win a stehanie miller, you can say you feel the pressure, but you get out of a training camp like we got out of, and you know build the camaraderie that we've built, just having week one again is exciting. that whole defending the title is, you know, it's a long way from that. you still have to go out there

and play the game on thursday night. i'm excited for a new year and definitely new opportunities. >> now to get you jacked up for the nfl season, aljazeera will be having exclusive one-on-one interviews with some of the best players. tonight we kick things off with troy palamalu, because the future hall of famer hoping to lead the steelers back into the playoffs. we sat down with the seven to him pro bowler. >> where are the steelers in 2013, a team in transition, reloaded or ready for one last one? >> it depends on how healthy we can be throughout the season, how this team, the camaraderie and how this team is built. that's kind of been our strength. >> what would your defense be missing this year with james harrison, down and signed with the cincinnati bengals. >> obviously, his game speaks for itself. he was the intimidator, the guy that can play, you know, he was the steel curtain, you know what

i mean? he was one of those style of players. so we lose that, for sure. we also have guys that can carry that on, you know, we've got jarvis jones, extremely talented. he's not a james harrison, but harrison wasn't the a porter and porter wasn't a gill and gill wasn't his predecessor. we've had a love of people that were very successful. their games may not be similar, but their production will be. >> with age in the league, they say he's not the same player anymore. what do you have to do to get back in the form that earned you the 2010 defensive player of the year award. >> they're right. i am getting older. honestly, i'm not sure, but i will say my knowledge of the game is much more. my feel for the game i guess much better, but who knows, you know what i mean? time will tell.

ththe level of success i'll have this year. >> players getting protected, or do you have to think about what you're doing on the field now more than you ever had. >> of course when you talk about health, that's a very, very important issue, especially brain health, so the development of that part of the game obviously is positive, because you want to take care of people and to be healthy. on the other side of it, i'm a football purist. this game challenges people in so many different ways, and fear is a huge part of it. when somebody is going across the middle and you've got to think about somebody taking his head off is what separates a professional football than something that's watching it from a couch on the t.v.

there's only so many things you can do before it's not football anymore. you're not going to tell people to stop boxing in the head in m.m.a. that's the beauty of our sport, is there's so many emotions in it. the number one you have to overcome is fear. >> did you know that his flowing locks are insured for $1 million. speaking of football and money or as tony likes to say, soccer and money. record setting $132 million, that's just to talk to him. real madrid signed bale to a deal pending physical. the record was shattered from 2009 when real madrid acquired a blare. >> former heavyweight champion morrison passed away last night.

the cause of death has not been released, but he tested positive for h.i.v. in 1996. he beat george foreman for the heavyweight title in 19 line three and made a guest appearance in rocky five. >> mother nature wreaking havoc at the u.s. open. >> rg3 will start monday night for mike shanahan against the eagles. >> thank you, sir. >> one look at a family free in iceland and you will find almost everyone is distantly and entering a relationship can be risky. now an app gives an instant answer to important questions, as tim friend reports, it's helping people get together without the risk of embarrassment. >> in a country of just 320,000 people, it's inevitable that during the day, you'll bump into someone to whom you're related, perhaps closely, but how close

do you want to get. >> by simply bumming two phones together, you can find out exactly how closely you're related and avoid potentially embarrassing situation. >> the app was create bid three university of iceland students, and emits a warning alarm if you're about to commit a social blunder. >> it's fun to see how you are relied to people you meet, like if you have a new friend and you find out that you are like fifth cousins. that's just a fun fact. >> the app taps into a database of residents and their family trees, dating back 1,200 years. so how close is agnes, our producer to one of the inventors? it turns out that their first shared ancestry dates back to the 1690s. the database was first

developed. >> allowing people not just to have access to the genealogy, but history to the map force. this is a way we can monitor data and accessing data no the future. >> this is a case of ancient iceland ike saga meets mod he were science without embarrassment. aljazeera. >> a giant portrait of pope francis appeared in northern italy this weekend in a field. an italian land artist created the picture. he calls it love liberates. yesterday, the pope called for a day of prayer and fasting over syria to be held september 7. the one person town of buford wyoming was auctioned on line last year, now reopening as a coffee distribution hub. the town was bought for $900,000. the 10 acres of land came with its own zip code, convenience

store. the new owner will use the town to she will and sell vietnamese coffee across the u.s. when we come back, weather. stay with us. ♪ my name is jonathan betz. i'm from dallas, texas, and i'm]

>> well on the last day of the labor day weekend, it is unfortunately very messy for many people in the northeast. come over to the radar and satellite imagery and you can see all the rain showers pushing through right now. we have a mess. we have delays at the airport. we have flash flooting going on in parts of northern new england. roads are being washed near manchester new hampshire and i don't think we'll see much of a break. breaks in terms of new york one mass of showers has gone through, we have a break now but as you can see in new jersey and pennsylvania more rain is coming. some accumulations in boston over -- boston about half an imp. in portland, maine, about two inches and concord new hampshire two inches as well. that's going to continue for the next 24 hours. now this is what we're concerned with flash flooding in northern new england as well as severe

thoamples in parts of new york -- thunderstorms in parts of new york as well as new hampshire. things better but not much change there. at the airports we have significant delays at kennedy newark as well as jfk. philadelphia as well as washington. tomorrow new york we have rain in your forecast but for the rest of the week things are looking quite nice. on friday how about ploisk with high of 77. rks partly cloudy with highs of 77. forth lauderdale and miami. nevada over the last 24 hours, flooding was a major problem there. that's a look at your national weather, tony has your national headlines coming up next.

>> hello again everyone i'm tony harris. here are some of the stories we are following for you. in washington signs of a possible compromise in the president's plans to strike syria. john mccain and lindsay graham both met with the president this afternoon. they wanted a broader plan from the president they walked away encouraged but still a long way to go. further crack downs by egypt's government against the muslim brotherhood, invoking as a nongovernmental organization. the brotherhood was registered as an