takeaway is our company emerges from a time of war that i was elected in part to end. buzz we really want to turn away from taking appropriate action in the face of such an >> good morning. this is aljazeera. i'm del walters and these are stories we're following at this hour. key testimony from the secretary of state. president obama sending john as herry to face a powerful senate committee in his quest to persuade dong authorize a military strike against syria. >> a stunning number from the united nations, refugees surpassing the 2 million mark. >> firefighters are gaining the upper hand with 2/3 of that fire now under control at yosemite. >> dealing up $7 billion for nokia. microsoft making a major acquisition as it struggles for a larger share of the smart

phone market. ♪ theme >> all eyes on washington again this morning. in just a matter of hours, president obama will be taking his case to the house leadership. house speaker john boehner and minority leader nancy pelosi will join the president. the president wants to punish the president of syria for the chemical weapons attack that killed thousands of people. john kerry will testify before the senate relations committee. he is the point man in support of limited strikes. mr. obama trying to win support from senators john mccain and lindsey graham, meeting with the president on monday. mccain, who has been a long supporter of taking military action in syria says lawmakers must act. >> if the congress were to reject a resolution like this

after the president of the united states has already committed to action, the consequences would be catastrophic. >> mccain saying his meeting with the president was candid and he stressed the importance of degrading the assad regime's capabilities. >> the road ahead for the white house will not be easy. >> senators john mccain and lindsey graham at the white house monday to hear an appeal directly prom barack obama. they say his plan doesn't go far enough and they want him to topple the assad government. the president says that's not his plan. what he wants to do, launch cruise missiles at syrian military targets, sending a warning message to president bashar al assad. the senators said they might vote for authorization if the president gives more support to the opposition. >> it's encouraging, but we have to have concrete plans, concrete

details and we have to be assured that this is a dramatic difference from the last two years of a policy of neglect, which has led to the deaths of 100,000 people. >> for the many members of congress who received a classified briefing sunday, the bigger question seemed to be should the u.s. do anything at all. one issue, the evidence. >> they do not know anything from inside the regime. >> another question, the impact. >> clearly, he's someone who's functioning in his own self interest. i don't see how that's going to change by this attack. >> others wonder what are the risks. >> will it be effective? it's not clear to me what response might be undertaken by iran, by the syrians against israel, against us in the realm of terrorism. >> the most common question, why should the u.s. get involved. >> what is the relationship to the united states with, in other words, is there a threat. >> many in congress say they agree with the president's reasoning.

>> i think if this goes unchecked, it will invite every thug and terrorist organization in the world to feel that they can use poison gas against their own people with no repercussions and i don't think that's something that we really want. >> some argue that's not credible because in the past when chemical women weren't used and the u.s. didn't respond, it did i understand lead to more use of chemical weapons. there are those who say if the president does not act, that will hurt the national security in the long run. that will be a big issue as the debate begins. >> the president's still has to make his case to the full house and senate, and that won't happen until they return from their summer recess september 9. we are joined now live from paul

in washington, d.c. >> this is all part of the white house's strategy to really flood the zone, as they put it with top advises going to the house and senate starting today, making their case for action against syria. senators graham and mccain are playing a key role here, saying they need to be convinced but their meeting with the president was off. the goal is if they can win those two senators, the white house can win their support, possibly mccain and graham bring other senators along. >> the question that has to be asked is it seems they are gaining support with the statements that came out from senator mccain saying the united states has to do something. >> well, mccain again has been a strong have itic of the administration for the past two years saying they have not done enough. he's called outright for the toppling of the assad regime.

that is not what the white house wants to accomplish. it wants to go with missile strikes. mccain calls those pin pricks that will be ineffective. the white house is caught between a rock and hard place, senators mccain and graham pushing for more action and the a block on the other side that wants no action. somehow, the white house is going to have to thread that needle. >> also with the american public, as the poles indicate the american public seems to be split on the issue of whether or not the united states should act. >> very much so. the public poll after poll indicates that they are opposed to getting entangled in syria's civil war, even more so when the question is asked without authorization from congress. the numbers thank a little bit when in response to a chemical weapons attack as we've allegedly seen, killing more than 1400 people. the white house still has a lot of convincing to do.

>> paul, thank you very much. >> in the middle east, an israeliy missile test has caused alarm. israel said the launch was a test of an anti missile system that was carried out with the u.s. this morning, another missile test is really raising those tensions. we are joined live from jerusalem. paul, what are you hearing there? >> >> well, intrigue, frankly, here, because the israeli ministry of defense said they were unaware that any test had taken place in the eastern mediterranean, saying they had no information at all. in an hour, they turned 180 degrees and confirmed that there had been a joint exercise with the u.s. in the eastern mediterranean. they called this an anchor missile test. what seems to have happened is

that two missiles were fired from an israeli yet and were used to test a u.s.-funded anti missile system. it would appear to be a rachetting up of the preparedness of coalition allies, essentially american forces in the eastern mediterranean so that they would be able to detect potential missile threats because of course assuming that they do go ahead and make some kind of missile strike against syrian targets, they have of course have to be prepared for the slim possibility that syria might attempt to lob some missiles in the option direction. >> paul, does this appear to be in your opinion a case of sabre rattles as the assad regime says that if the u.s. launches missile strikes, it will widen the conflict in the middle east, russia moving more carriers in. are we seeing an escalation of tensions, in your opinion? >> there is certainly an

escalation of tensions. the announcement by president obama relaxed the tensions here. that tension has relaxed somewhat and israelis go into the ras new year tomorrow. i am surprised that israel should allow its military hardware to be involved in this kind of joint exercise at this particularly sensitive time, because it certainly in my mind raises the possibility that

israel can be connected even more closely with the americans who may or may not be preparing to launch this military attack against syria, pending congressional approval. i'm surprised that israel should do this, when you would have thought that the americans have sufficient resources of their own to test the missile in the eastern mediterranean. >> paul brennan, thank you very much. i suspect you are not alone. they say those objects fell into the red sea. >> the tied of syrians fleeing the country showing no signs of slowing down. >> they're being forced from that you are country, 5,000 syrians a day are band donning their homes. a new report released this morning brings to light the full extent of the hardship syria's war is inflicting on its own citizens. it was one year ago that the number of syrian refugees stood at a little over 230,000.

one year later, it has swelled to 2 million. >> these people have the needs that they have are extremely basic, food, water, shelter, access to education and health care. the needs are enormous and the funding needed is absolutely massive. >> lebanon and jordan have received between 519,000 and 27,000 refer gees, while egypt, turkey and iraq have seen an in flux of syrians. another quarter of a million people have been displaced inside the country. more than 6 million syrians have been separated from their homes, neighborhoods and family members. it's a staggering number in a country of 22 million. many children are now suffering from malnutrition, often separated from parents. >> minute officers from iraq, jordan, lebanon and turkey are

meeting with u.s. officials tomorrow, all of this to bring international attention to the worsening crisis. of the 2 million refugees, a half million have fled into neighboring turkey. we are live outside one camp there. what are conditions like inside that camp? >> people will tell you if you're a syrian refugee, turkey is the place you'd most likely want to end up being in, because of the relatively speaking comfortable conditions in the refugee camp, if you compare them to other places, such as lebanon, jordan or even iraq. for those have us who have covered iraq, you do know that turkish contractors have quite the experience in building those encampments for u.s. troops in iraq, very similar type of encampments, container camps are

the kind we're seeing in turkey, so definitely a much bigger picture than other countries. what we're seeing here though is if you still talk to people here, the reality of being a refugee is still a very grim reality and they still like to go home. this is a country after all that at one point said it would only be able to take 100,000 refugees, now ending up with some half million refugees. just to give you an idea, that's almost the size of an american city, the population of atlanta, georgia, for example or sacramento, california. >> i guess the question has to be asked and you put it in great terms comparing it to a u.s. city, how is the government coping with this flow of people coming in across their borders? the turkish government said over the past two years since it has to deal with this refugee crisis, it has spent roughly

2 billion u.s. dollars, saying it's time for the international community to step up, because even if its economy can deal with this compared to the economies of the other countries, it's still a very difficult situation for them. mind you, at the end of the day, turkey also has other considerations to bear in mind, the possibility of any retaliation, if any movement is done in the syrian direction, so certainly the turkish government saying it's time for other countries to be involved. we're seeing them take part in that meeting in geneva to see how other countries in the world can help. >> thank you very much. >> with a possible military attack looming, relief agencies are doing their best to stop bad conditions from getting worse. joining us now to discuss the escalating refugee crisis is the

unicef spokesperson for the middle east. juliet, thank you for being with us this morning. >> thank you. >> the united nations is saying the number of refugees has topped 2 million. is this comparable that anything else you've ever seen? >> let me tell you one thing. half of these refugees are children. speaking of populations, it's like imagining a city like los angeles without its child population. we are talking about 1 million refugees. we are talking about only in one gear and increasing 10 fold of the number of child refugees in one year only. that meant that we had a boost all our efforts to respond to the needs of these children all across the region. i mean, that may be one of the biggest operations that unicef

has to take. this is the biggest that the united nations has to launch and if that shows anything, it shows the size of this humanitarian cats flee inside syria. >> i hate to phrase the question this way, but with so many children affected, could we be looking at what some say might be a loft generation if things continue? >> we at unicef have warned that should the violence continue, we are at the risk of having a loft generation of syrian children. we are talking about children from their homes, taken out of a normal condition. they fled, some of them have to wait until they reach safety in neighboring countries or inside syria. we are talking about four mill

children who are in immediate need of who you ha humanitarian, 4 million children is a huge number. weaver not seen anything like this for many, many years. >> and briefly, before we go, what happens to those children, to the refugees inside syria if bombs start falling is this. >> i visited syria just a couple of weeks ago. we are talking about a crisis of displacement and the results of the continuing violence. people have been displaced also internally multiple times. i met a father who's wife had a baby while they were on the road. he was displaced five times. i mean, the violence is eating up the social fabric of syria, and we at unicef are doing

everything we can to help, but the violence and the access remain a challenge. also, the funding remains a huge challenge for unicef to be able to continue to respond to the increasing needs of children and families. >> thank you for joining us. she is joining us this morning from aman, jordan. >> we are following a developing story out of the middle east where egyptian rockets have fired rockets, 13 rockets fired at houses near the gaza border. we will keep you updated as those developments warrant. >> stay with us as aljazeera will continue to have live coverage of the senate foreign relations committee hearing in washington, our coverage getting underway at 2:00 eastern time. somalia's president has survived an assassination attempt this morning. the convoy was ambushed and

those claiming responsibility for the attack say they have links to al-qaeda. diplomatic sources are saying the president and his entourage safely reached the port of murka after that ambush. >> good news for the firefighters fighting the rim fire. cooler weather and higher humidity helped. the two-week-old fire has been threatening hundreds of homes and the yosemite national park. fire officials say more than two thirds of the fire under control, but it could still take more than two weeks to completely knock it down. >> the humidity is a common headline across the u.s. with many which you returning back to work today. here is our meteorologist. >> higher humidity out west, good news for the firefighters there, getting a chance to really set some more fire breaks and continue to fight this. it's under 70% containment. that is the good there out west. looks like the conditions are

improving just a bit as the firefighters continue to work hard there out in the west. the temperatures are down just a bit and we have rain in the forecast, light rain out west and heavier showers and stronger storms coming across the northeast. a look at that and the national forecast coming up a little bit later. >> the japanese government announcing today it will spend $470 million to help clean up the fukushima nuclear power plant. the new plans include pumping refrigerants underground. water treatment will move radioactivity from most of the contaminated water there. this announcement coming as tokyo is making its bid to host the 2020 olympics games. the host city will be announced within the next few days. >> children across the country are headedding back to class

today. we'll tell you how dozens of shuttered schools in bankrupt detroit are being used to alleviate the strain on that cash-strapped school district. >> it's over. the tail mate has ended, and a deal reached to return the big bang series and nfl to millions of cable subscribers. >> a $7 billion deal to buy nokia. jazeera.com.

>> that month long standoff between cbs and time warner. the blackout impacted new york, los angeles and dallas, affecting 3 million households. most company reached an agreement on monday after a long dispute over transmission fees. >> another big agreement is making big headlines. verizon announcing it's buying out its partner for $130 billion. here's tom ackermann. >> they have been partners in the wireless business for 14 years, but it's been a rocky relationship marked by talks

over full control by verizon. under the deal now approved by the company boards, verizon will pay $130 billion, including the biggest cash payout in acquisition history, almost $60 billion. the deal freeze verizon to invest in faster mobile networks, helping verizon hold its own in a competitive u.s. market where it controls a third of the market share. it's a vote for vodafone. the u.k. government by law will collect no taxes from its rich tax haul. >> they're going to have to pay back an enormous amount of debt. >> at the moment, all the talk is about shareholders and very little about consumers. if the data networks are improved, the voice networks improved, customers should get a better deal. >> the deal is still subject to a deal by u.s. regulators.

since verizon controls the business, it is unlikely to meet much resistance. >> yet a third big agreement this morning, microsoft planning to buy up nokia's mobile phone business for $7.2 billion, nokia teaming up with microsoft in 2011. that deal is subject to a deal voled on by shareholders. we thank you for joining us via skype from singapore. is this a sign that things aren't going as well as microsoft might have wanted? >> of course it's a sign. mike co soft is continuing to declean as a company, as a share, as everything else. they've got 3% of a market. that's not much of a statement. >> nokia used to be a big player in the mobile phone business. that it missed the smart phone

era and how did microsoft buy into something that wasn't going well and wasn't going to go well? >> it's a sign of desperation on the part of microsoft's part. nokia used to be, blackberry used to be, if you missed the market, and then you try to, you know, you're putting together two companies that have missed the market, that rarely, in fact i can never think of that working very well. it's rarely worked, if ever. >> it used to be that advertising, if you threw big bucks at it and a big glossy campaign things would change. that can't be the occasion with this. there are adds all over this phone and we're talking about the money of microsoft. are we looking at a market now dominated by sam supping and apple and it's just not going to change no matter who enters the market. >> i won't say no matter who, steve baumer did say the apple

phone would never work. i'm not going to say never. somebody's going to do something someday, but i'm afraid it's not going to be microsoft. >> how easy is it going to be to integrate these two teams? >> some of them have been at microsoft before, so it's not the end of the world, but you are talking about tens of thousands of people joining in microsoft. again, when you put two losing companies together, rarely in history, in fact, i cannot think of anytime when you've had a success. >> you're a money man. if i'm an investor in one of these two companies, how should i feel this morning? >> if you're nokia, the tock has boomed, because they know they're getting rid of a losing proposition and getting future amounts of cash that they can now do something with. the market would rather have the cash than the losing

proposition. >> jim rogers, thank you for joining us this morning. >> it is the first day of school for children across the country, but 57,000 kids who would have started preschool this year can't because of budget cuts. we'll tell you where taxpayers are being asked to pay more to help lower income children to get a start to their education. >> the new york giants get their top receiver back. we talk one-on-one with big blue about the upcoming season later on in sports. nothing. here is my question for every member of congress and every member of the global community: what message will we send if a dictator can gas hundreds of children to death in plain sight 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,

components of the aljazz mission. >> there's more to america, more stories, more voices, more points of view. now there's are news channel with more of what americans want to know. >> i'm ali velshi and this is "real money." this is "america tonight." sglovrjs our -- >> our news coverage reveal more of america's stories.

♪ theme >> welcome back. i'm del walters. president obama turning to congress later today, looking for support and pushing his plan to strike at the syrian government for their use of chemical weapons, according to the white house. key testimony from secretary of state john kerry later today. >> an unsettling statistic about syria, refugees released now total more than 2 million syrians fleeing the country, most in just the last year, according to the u.n. the japanese government said it will spent close to half million dollars cleaning up the fukushima nuclear power plant including a frozen earth wall around the react tore. >> even at president obama tries

to drum up support for a strike on syria, his russian counter part is doing his best to prevent any military action. vladamir putin will try to convince others at the g8 summit. >> if president obama was hoping as more evidence came out about the chemical attacks this would change russia's stance in his dealings with syria, he would have been disappointed. russia remains steadfast in its support of president assad and maintains as it has done since these attacks were carried out that the attacks were carried out actually but the rebels in an attack to drag western nations like america and britain into the war itself. of course, now this is going to create tensions in the upcoming g-20 in st. petersburg.

they say the evidence they've been given is inconclusive. this is going to make for an interesting time on thursday when the 20 countries gather for this meeting, a meeting that's going to be basically looking at economic matters, but of course on the sidelines where the news will come will be the bilateral meetings with one topic of debate, and that is, of course, syria. >> as you see throughout the current crisis in syria, russia remaining consistent about bashar al assad. joining us is the former director for russian affairs on the national security council serving during the clinton and george w. bush administrations, thank you for being with us this morning. >> it's great to be here. >> president obama and president putin will be meeting at the g20. do you think even though the focus is supposed to be the

economy, syria has got to be topping the agenda. >> i think putin signaled that over the weekend. after about a week or so of the russians being mum about how they viewed the crisis, putin said he is going to use the st. beaterburg meeting to frame a global agenda. i think it will be uncomfortable and fast moving. >> we're hearing reports that president who the tin plans to send a delegation of russian lawmakers to the u.s. to discuss the situation in syria with members of the congress in the u.s. do you think they will have any impact? >> we'll see what happens when they get to town. there's really no existing rapport between russian parliamentarians. it's part of the strategy to throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. >> how can russia continue to defy world opinion that assad

did use chemical weapons? >> i think what the russians are going to do is say we have real questions in the aftermath of iraq on any such, you know, u.s. intelligence that would one way or the other demon trait who is responsible. the u.n. mission that's been on the ground in syria last week, their mission was just, you know, to determine what actually happened. they were not there to determine responsibility. i think for the russians, they've been for quite some time now insisting that the rebels have some sort of chemical weapons capability, this is all part of i think a basic smoke screen to say there's no predicate for foreign military intervention. >> there are no public opinion polls in russia. andrew weiss, thank you. he joins us from washington, d.c. >> right now, france is the only major european ally that seems to be supporting military strikes against syria and the

french president is eager for president obama to take action, french intelligence officials saying the assad regime launched the attack involving the massive use of chemical weapons, indicating that syria could carry out similar strikes in the future. mine we'll, syrian president assad warns a military strike would result in a wider war across the region, telling a french magazine that neither the u.s. nor france has proof the government was behind the chemical weapons attack that killed more than 1,000 people, this according to the assad regime. >> france has backed the syrian rebels sips the start that have crisis two years ago. we are joined from paris, live with more. what are the arguments being advanced by the french government for intervening in syria? good morning, del. well, the french government is

framing this in national security terms that governments and groups out there can't be given the message that it's ok to use chemical weapons. they're also basing the argument on fundamental values. france is a countries based on oh the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity, the government saying it wouldn't be french to allow a government to kill its own civilians using chemical gas and to threat that the nation. also, the government is using intelligence gathered by the intelligence agencies to press home its case. a report that was reds on monday showing a massive and concerted attack which the french say satellite imagery in particular prove could only have been carried out by forces loyal to bashar al assad. >> public opinion in the united states according to polls seems to be against a military strike. there was that vet in the british parliament. does the situation in france

mirror the situation that we're seeing in the united states and the u.k.? >> very similar in many ways, del. certainly the latest public opinion polls here in france indicate that close to two thirds of people would be against france taking part in any military intervention. that doesn't mean to say that the french people are indifferent, far from it. when you talk to ordinary people about those television images we saw of children gagging for breath, civilians gasping with, french people are dismayed by this. they believe that a political solution is one that should be south and they're particular wary of beginning an apparently open-ended military action, and certainly parliament tarns are skeptical saying they haven't seen conclusive evidence that

this was carried out by government forces and are wary about france entering into anything, particularly a unilateral action. you mentioned the parliament debate on wednesday. a key difference here, the french parliament won't be taking a volt. the ultimate decision about whether to act lies with the french president. >> >> aljazeera has continuing coverage of the events in syria. stay tuned and on line you can track the situation all day. >> in michigan, school districts were dissolved and some of tarting in the red. we detail the impacts cuts are having on families there. >> good morning, del, i can tell you that the detroit public

school district is no longer holding on to property it doesn't need. for investors, this means that they can breathe new life into old structures. >> joel landy loves movies, and here, he runs the show. the movie theater, the entire believe, all of it is his. it was once a detroit public high school. >> many people saw the schools as a one purpose, one use, it's a school, tear it down. when i walk in, i see great space that can be used for almost any purpose. >> he's invested hundreds of thousands of dollars, buying up several shuttered detroit schools. one is now a charter school, another a music school, and residential losts. >> the rewards are really what influence it has on other people. >> joel isn't alone. over the past four years, thety has sold 46 school buildings.

>> detroit is hot right now. >> tammy dean runs the detroit public school district's real estate office. >> everyone's looking to see what's going to happen with the city, what's going to happen with the school district and all the property. there's lots of property. >> sales have generated over $18 million, money that goes back into the budget of the city's cash-strapped school district in a city whose population is half the size it was 50 years ago, the sales have been largely uncontroversial. most buyers are local, but some are from out of state, competing for the property. >> multiple offers, and people fighting over property, yes. >> 81 schools are still on the market, and more schools here are expected to close, but some see that as just more opportunity. >> it's an educational and a publicity job to convince people in this city that they have great futures and that built

structure has great value and to learn how to reuse it. that is one of my important missions that i work on every day. >> with active bids now on as many as 13 more schools, there is growing hope that a historic part of detroit's past con soon become part of its future. >> if it's not for sale, then it may be for rent. the district is not only selling property, but also leasing to area churches and non-profits. back to you. >> it is tough to think of a story that might be even more disturbing, but i guess the question has to be asked is this going to get worse? >> you know, that's a very good question. there are some predictions that say, you know what, the situation is going to get worse, but the goal right now for the district, one of many, is to increase enrollment, once they can do that, they'll need all the property they have. >> thank you very much.

>> in denver, the problem is not enough space. some schools there, the 3-year-olds are keeping their fingers crossed hoping they'll be able to start preschool. thousands may be turned away on their first day. >> >> 3-year-old with my is full of energy and to his proud mom, full of potential. >> she wants to accept with my to preschool this fall, but he can't get in. >> he is on the waiting list for a year. every month i will be asking either a new child who had birthday, so they need to move to another class. >> william qualified to attend the state's free or reduced price school program for low income families. there are not enough spots. it's a problem nationwide. federal spending cuts to head start mean 57,000 children who

would have started preschool this year cannot enroll. the shortage of preschool slots is a particularly harsh blow to low income families. they must rely on state-funded preschool for the educational boost it gives kids. >> early learning is really all about play, and language development, and learning how to form strong relationships with caregivers and teachers and other children. >> due to budget constraints, lawmakers cap the number of children who would attended the colorado preschool program to a little more than 20,000. >> we have far higher demand than we had just 10 years ago. >> legislators are hoping to change that. in november, colorado voters will be asked to raise taxes to help fill the void. >> in the last 25 years, the number of kids living in poverty in this state has doubled.

>> researchers at the university of california berkeley say for children living in poverty can impact memory and attention. they compare the damages of growing up in poverty to suffering a stroke. >> early childhood education experts say if kids are not proficient in reading by the end of third grade, they are four to six times more likely to fall behind school or even drop out. they are closing the opportunity gap. >> that could mean losing the opportunity to be competitive in school and in the global marketplace. >> no matter whether it's states better than one another, is it better than japan or china or england. >> preschool can address potential problems early. helping low income children reach that level playing field. >> colorado's preschool program

has room for 29% of the state's 4-year-olds. >> the long labor day weekend is over and many of you are going back to work in the rain. >> the rain came through the northeast, then it passed through with showers and storms last night, but it is clearing out now. you can see the radar tracked all of that rain, this line of storms moved to new york, to new england, maybe a few isolated showers could develop, possibly severe but not as steady as early this morning. here's are the forecast, just light rain up in maine, maybe a pop up shower or storm in pennsylvania. temperatures in the 70's didn't drop too much, climbing into the 80's today. warm and muggy with an isolated shower or storm, then cooler and dry weather wednesday, thursday, friday, saturday, this coming week looks pretty good. last chance of rain will be today. that rain's pushed south, the line moving through north

carolina, south carolina. we are warm today, that line will continue to push south. that is the cooler air pushing in. temperatures hot and humid today, but it will be cooling off just a little later here, the middle of this week by the end of the week. the line south, behind it, clear and dry, comfortable weather in the northern plains, nice relief from the heat. a little rain in the southwest, even in california where we need it. here's showers and storms popping up from the southwest. the temperatures are warm again. we'll have pop up showers there. not much happening in the tropics here, prettyette caribbean to the gulf of mexico. keep your eye on it. things are pretty quiet right now. >> why are we smiling with so much rain in the northeast? that's because it is the opening week of the nfl. >> they'll play through all the rain, too, it's football. the official opener is just a few days away, bringing us to

day two of our preview week. the new york giants are under the spotlight, they've won two of the last six superbowl, yet missed the postseason three of the last four years. defensive end means business, he talks about the challenges of 2013 with our john henry smith. >> after missing the playoffs, every new york giant player is in the words of g.m. jerry rees on notice this season. >> this is the nfl. the bottom line is there's another man in line. we're always on notice about our jobs, our reputation, our security in this league, because there's not oh whole lot of it. when you're general manager says something like that, everybody's ears poke up a little bit. no matter what happens, we're not going to have another let down like last year. >> in the final three games of the last four seasons, they've gone a combined 5-7.

bad luck or something worse? >> it's a position that we create for our receivers whether through lack of focus or lack of passion, whenever it is in each individual season, we can point back to a certain point where we had this game one but we didn't finish, we didn't play with the same intensity or came out flat. there's something going on obviously there. i think the key for us is to make sure that doesn't happen again. >> the superbowl will go down at the home of the giants, met life stadium. i asked if any of the giants nfc east rivals could stop the giants from playing a home game for the lombardi trophy. >> starting with the redskins, the big question is can robert griffin three rome be as good a runner and passer on a surgically radar speed. >> a little speed off of him would still put him at the top in terms of ability and speed. he can still be as good. in my opinion, should they continue to run hip as much as

they did? no. it's a dangerous play and eventually lead to another injury. >> the eagles hired chip kelly. we now know michael vick will run his offense. how much of that oregon spread offense will he bring with him? >> we leave a lot of that up to the coaches. they've done study, research, talked to individuals from all over the country. i think that they are developing game plans to aid us in stopping it no matter how much or how little he brings in. >> then there's the cowboys. >> i think the fact that they didn't do a whole lot of moves means they're going to stay with what they have and try to make a push. for all of the teams in the division, we're trying to get to the superbowl and win it. i understand where they're coming from. here, we have a much better chance of get that go done. >> john henry smith, aljazeera, new jersey. >> the giants get tested right

out of the gate opening their season on the road against the cowboys on sunday. the big noose for big blue, we may see salsa dancing, victor cruz might be ready for the opener. 86 catches and a second consecutive 1,000-yard season, he returned to practice monday after being sidelined for two weeks with a bruised heel. >> it felt good. last time i was out there, we had the training camp crowd and people out there, now it's quiet, just us and hearing ourselves talk. it was good. >> i got to watch the films, got a few routes to him. i didn't see anything different. looked sharp and like he had his full speed. >> everything continues to feel good, wake up in the morning and it doesn't swell up on me or anything crazy like that, i'll be good to go. >> that's a look at sports this hour.

back to you, del. >> i am a redskins fan and sad for all those giants fans. >> you were thinking of rg3 running around. >> i can see it. >> she made international headlines with a historic swim, proving it is never too late to realize your dreams and take a look at this. a new bay bridge opening to traffic in san francisco, built to withstand an earthquake stronger than the one that damaged the original. "consider this" will be right back. ç]

>> sometimes they say a picture is worth a thousand words. this is were you ever those days. you are looking live at san francisco, that is the new bridge there, following years of delays and increasing costs and unending debates, the bay bridge did reopen. the eastern span opened late last night connecting oakland with san francisco, playing the one that was damaged in 1989 in an earthquake. it has been built to withstand the strongest earthquakes.

$6.4 billion was the cost to rebuild it. >> one woman gives new meaning to the saying if at first you don't succeed, try, try, try, try again. diana nyad swam from cuba to florida without a shark cage. she left havana saturday and reached florida monday. >> 64-year-old diana nyad wanted to prove it's not too late to chase your dream. arriving on the shores of key west, florida, she finally succeeded a5 attempts. spectators cheered her on. >> 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.

>> amen, sister! >> three is it looks like a solitaire sport but it's 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, a wet suit or flippers. her past attempt started in 1978, but she was defeated by severe weather, jelly fish stings and exhaustion. today she triumphed against that wimp seemed just beyond her reach. >> these are the stories that we continue to follow. president obama meeting today with leaders of the house, kick starting the debate to make a military strike against syria. meetings are coming as the u.n. announced the crisis has topped

the 2 million mark. >> the japanese government will spend nearly a half billion dollars to clean up the damage at fukushima nuclear power plant coming after the earthquake and tsunami there. >> we have a major upset is the u open. good news for the redskins fans with the season about to kick off. >> it is hot and humid, but that is all about to change. get ready for cooler weather. i'll have the nothing forecast, coming up. >> aljazeera continues in just two minutes. morgan radford is up next. for news throughout the day, all you have to do is go to aljazeera.com. on techknow, our scientists bring you a sneak-peak of the future, and take you behind the scenes at our evolving world. techknow - ideas, invention, life.

>> good morning. i'm morgan radford and these are some of the stories we're following at this hour. key testimony from the secretary of state, president obama accepts john kerry to face a powerful senate committee in his quest to persuade congress to authorize a military strike against syria. >> syrian ref fees surpassing the 2 million mark. >> turning the tide. firefighters gain the upper hand with better than two thirds of the massive fire at yosemite national park under control. >> microsoft makes a major acquisition struggling for