[ music ] i am richelle carey. secretary of state john kerry has just arrived in paris >> we are very grateful for the statement that came out of the meeting today with respect to syria, a strong statement about the need for accountability. >> carry speaking in lithuania speaking for support of military action in syria. in rio de janero, the country marks it's independence. three very different cities going for the gold. one of them will be named in just a few hours to host the 2020 sum merauxlimpic games.

secretary of state john kerry is in europe this weekend. his first stop, the capitol, at lithuania where he spoke to members of the european union. now he is in france fomeet with the french foreign minister. top of the agenda: syria. fill kitner is in phil littner, tell us what you know is coming out of these meetings >> richly very interesting neel news coming out of the meeting. secretary of state kerry apparently swaying some ofs those. spairnth there has been a

communique that's been put out in bilnious in which all 28 members of the e.u. signed on saying that, yes, it does look like it was the assad regime behind those attacks on the 21st of august in which chemical weapons were used. >> that's a pretty shocking event because there has been little consensus on this side of the atlantic. that communique was red out by the head of the e.u. foreign policy department, baroness katherine ashton. she went on to say that there must be consequences for the regime's actions. >> in the face of the cynical use of chemical weapons, the international community cannot remain idle. a clear and strong response is crucial to make clear that such crimes are unacceptable and that there can be no impunity.

>>. >> what the reaction will be is still unclear. this is not an add -- they are not advocating directly some sort of military strike. there are other options that many e.u. member states would like to see pursued. perhaps a political move and certainly there is still strong calls for this to be played out properly in the u.n. by firstly a report being released and then possibly a vote. but it is interesting to note that the e. u. foreign ministers have gotten on to one page, one unified page by saying yes, it was assad and, yes, there needs to be consequences. >> it will be interesting to see what comes out of the meetings in france now because france has been a a allie. but now the secretary carey is in france. who knows what may come out of these meetings, phil >> reporter: yeah.

absolutely, richelle. i mean we will have to wait and see because nobody really expected this one single voice to come out of the e. u. so potentially, we will see what happens in france. it is interesting, though, that they are now saying that not only are the french going to wait for a vote in congress. they are also going to won't for the u.n. report. interestingly enough, also, though, we are hearing from germany. they have also apparently signed on to the statement that came out of saint petersburg, eleven members of the g20 signed on to it, now adding germany is 12 that there -- that there was the assad regime behind the attacks and there needs to be punishment. and the germans are also now going to the u.n. and saying, this report needs to be sped up. we need to get answers quicker than what originally had been intended, which would be weeks and weeks, waiting for those test results. so, germany even apparently now making atrition in its position. but around the continent, a lot of developments today as

secretary of state makes his rounds. he is in paris, as you mentioned. and then he will be coming here to meet with dig nat taries as well as the palestinian mahmoud ahmadinejma'a mammoudabbas. >> congress are the only ones not sold. military action abroad has decreased significantly from prior engagement, support for only 36% support military action in syria. 51% are opposed. now, our coverage of the war in syria continues in just a few minutes. we will go live to washington for the latest on president obama's efforts to convince congress to back a military strike. we are about three hours away from finding out which of the three finalist cities will get to host the 2020 olympic summer olympics, either madrid, tokyo. international committee expected to make the decision

just after 4:00 p.m. eastern. all three risks have risks. for madrid, spain's financial troubles could be a problem. in tokyo concerns of leaks at the fukushima nuclear plannt hae caused concern >> reporter: if together i don't wins, this is where the 2020 summer olympics will be. the main sporting arena for the 1964 games and the olympics marked japan's defeat from recovery in world war ii. now, it's an advanced nation with world-class infrastructure and superior technology. that, plus tokyo's experience and its reputation for safety makes it the favorite. but its bid is being overshadowed what's happening more than 200 kilometers away. the nuclear crisis at the fukushima plant. damaged by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011, the plant is still unstable and leaking

radiation. the prime minister has given his assurance that the situation will be under control by 2020. and the japanese government says, holding the olympics in together i don't will help inspire the world by showing how a nation can recover from disaster. >> the international committee will be announced later today. for the latest on all of that, stay here on al jazeera. five years ago, the financial crisis sent the u.s. economy into a tailspin. today, millions are unemployed. the market is on the mend, though. al jazeera's ali velshi reports. >> five years ago, america and the rest of the world marked to the edge of the abyss. warning sirens sounded when the government took over fannie mae and freddy mac. titans were placed on the housing market but a collapse in home prices started taking they

will down. september 14th, lehman brothers collapsed, triggering a global freeze on credit followed by a government takeover of aig. literally, overnight, the recession became a global crisis. >> this is what brought us to the brink. >> all because auntie got a house she couldn't afford? >> congress had to act. they were presented with one choice: bail out the very banks that led the economy into the mess with their risky behavior. on monday, september 29th, the bill to rescue the system went down in defeat in the house of representatives. >> the motion is not stopped. >> spooked investors panicked. the dow dropped 777 points. the biggest one-day point drop it had ever had, $1.2 trillion in market value wiped out in a single day. >> we got much work to do. this is much too important to simply let fail. >> congress got the message.

on friday, october 3rd, they finally, passed the $700 billion troubled asset relief program, tarp for sure. >> on this day, the aid for 263, the na why s are 171. the motion is adopted. >> five years later, is america better off than it was then? yes, because it was that bad. could it happen again? >> ali velshi. >> brazilians marked independence today, september 7th? >> you might expect a huge party from the country famous for carnivale. protests are underway. thousands are expressing outrage against government corruption. demonstrators have been met with force from police. we will continue to follow that story for you. so, now, we are going to go to weather with julila >> thanks, michelle. it has been a quiet hurricane season. there has been a lot of hindrance to the development of

storms given the fact that there has been a lot of dust in the atmosphere, a lot of dry air pushing in off of the coast of africa. in addition to that, we have been dealing with some strong westerly winds coming in out of the west and that really has hindered the development of any storms across the atlantic. we have two areas of interest right now. one really just to the east of the caribbean. >> that's standing the chance for 20 % development. another one just pushed off the coast of africa and we may see those storms develop into tropical storms as we track into the next several weeks although it's very important to note, only six years, six hurricane seasons since 1950 have failed to produce a named hurricane actually during the month of august. we will continue into the next several weeks. i do think we will see more activity in the next several weeks, especially as these winds -- especially as these windy conditions settle do you know just a bit. i will is send it back to you now, richelle. >> thank you. president obama is back home from the g20 summit and has the

tough task of convincing congress to go along with the strike on syria. a closer look at the week ahead for hip. in australia has a new prime minister. a look at what the election and what americans need to know about tony abbott.

my name is jonathan betz. i'm from dallas, texas, and i'm an anchor for al jazeera america. >>my name is ranjani chakraborty, i'm from houston, texas. >>i'm kim bondy. >>nicole deford.

>>and i'm from new orleans. >>san francisco, california. when i was a little kid, i just really loved the news. >>news was always important in my family. >>i knew as a kid that was exactly what i wanted to do. >>i learned to read by reading the newspaper with my great-grandfather every morning. >>and i love being able to tell other people stories. >>this is it, i want to be a part of this. >>this is what really drove me to al jazeera america. >> welcome back. brazilian's mark their independence from portugal today. many are marking it with protests. thousands are expressing outrage against government corruption and slow reform. demonstrations have been going on. the demonstrators are met with force by police. let's go live now to rio where adam rainey is reporting.

thousands are expected to be in the streets protesting. what have you actually seen? >> reporter: what we have seen here in rio are several thousand people marching along the street behind me. you don't see them right now because a few moments ago, about 2,000 people dispersed from this area moving to other parts of the city. there have been a couple of dozen people arrested here in rio. we are seeing protests in s saopaolo. there is a soccer match in the capitol and we are seeing both fans show up there and protesters. and we will be following this, of course, throughout the day. what we are hearing from protesters in rio is that throughout this day, independence day in brazil, they are going to march throughout the city. there may be more people later in the afternoon or evening. so far, just a couple of thousand people. we did see some interactions with police, tear gas was fired by riot pleasure police officers at some protest to get them to move away from a military parade

held along this main avenue to mark independence. there has been some conflict, a little bit of tussling between some protesters, themselves and we will look to see if there are any more outbreaks of violence or if this is a peaceful protest or not. >> adam, where is this movement going? >> it's pretty unclear right now because it's not going away, although the street behind me doesn't illustrate it. what we are seeing are sporadic protests in which hundreds of thousands of people show up, not just on major holidays but since june, there has been a mass movement in this city and other cities across the country of people calling on the government for more social services, calling on the government to stop spending billions of dollars on stadiums for the international world cup tournament for soccer next year here in brazil and, also, calling on the government to have better health services in general. people say, yes, brazil has had a lot of economic growth in recent years but it's still a very unequal society in which millions of people live in utter

poverty and they don't have basic services. you are seeing a lot of anger for this movement. so far, the president keepssponding with promises of more spending on social services and saying she supports this movement. in theory, the people have the right to protest and tell the government what they want. it's not clear if that's going to be enough. people are just upset and ang rye and despite continued promises from the government, they just keep hitting the streets. >> we will have to see if anything changes and how long the protests lasts. adam raney, thank you. our top story now, the crisis in syria, president obama's back at the whitehouse. now trying to convince congress and the american people to back a military strike against syria. he has quite a bit of work ahead of him. this is a look at an anti-intervention protest outside the white house in washington. we now turn to paul beban at the capitol. the protest in washington is just one of actually many across the country today. this is a tough sell to the american people. >> that's right. these protests are going to be

taking place today and tomorrow, richelle, and possibly for the rest of the weekend as long as this question about intervention in syria drags on, as the president comes back from his trip to europe for a really failed to garner any international support for a strike against syria. now, all attention turns to continuing the white house continuing to make the case in congress. let's hear from a couple of lawmakers. >> the problem is, he is trying to figure out if we go in is more harm possibly done by some type of retaliation by president assad and others? does iran do something? does russia do something? we are not sure. >> the president has painted himself in a corner on this. his credibility is at stake. i don't want to make a decision based upon the president's credibility. i want to make a decision on what's best for our country. and that's what has to be debated >> reporter: hearing there from

democrat elijah cummings and republican dan coats, really hearing the resistance from both sides of the aisle, the skepticism the president is facing from both parties as he tries to continue to make this case for an attack on syria. now, the associated press has done a survey in both the house and the senate doing some vote counting. let me run those numbers for you. in the house, they've got 30, the ap counts 30 supporting intervention or leaning in favor of authorization of the president's initiative. 192, however, opposing u.s. involvement or leaning against it and about half still undecid undecided. in the senate, 34 supporting the president, or leaning in favor. 32 against and 34 remaining undecided. so, a mixed picture at best in the senate and very bad numbers for the white houand the administration in the house, richelle. >> paul, what does the white house have planned for the next few days to change numbers?

>> well, the effort continues. tomorrow night, vice president biden is going to have five republican senators over the house for dinner. monday when they are back in session, susan rice is giving a big speech, a high-profile speech here in washington. and that's all the ahead of tuesday's address from the white house by the president to the nation continuing to press the case for action. >> okay. paul beban, live in washington. thank you very much. now for some context on the continuing syria debate is mark jacobson, the senior transatlantic fellow. thank you so much for your time. we always appreciate it. >> good afternoon, richelle. thanks for having me. >> the g20 summit just ended. secretary of state kerry is in europe right now. he just wrapped up a very important meeting with the eu, the foreign ministers. what, in your opinion, are the most significant developments in forming an international coalition that might actually move things along for the

president president position? >> i actually think the european series of statements has been extremely important. not just the saint petersburg, germany to sign on. i think what you are seeing here is truly some increased diplomatic support. in other words, the united states went into the g20 with very little diplomatic support for considering military action against assad. and while there has not been expressit support for it, there is no doubt the united states and president obama have come out of europe in a much stronger diplomatic position than before. >> well, any of that -- will any of that help the president make his case to congress and to the american people? do they actually care? >> i think congress does care about the international support because after all, whether or not we take action and our credibility in the world also depends on what the international community thinks

of our actions. but as you pointed out, the more imports piece will be, can the president convince the american people that despite their reluctance, military strikes against assad are in our national interests. >> and to that point, in the press conference, when the president spoke, and was wrapping up the g20, i am sure you caught this particular moment where the president acknowledged that what is happening in syria does not pose an imminent threat to the american people. i wonder if he wishes he had not said those exact words because surely, there are some people that will not -- will not come to his side when they hear that. >> i actually think it was extremely important that he said those words. >> okay. >> for two reasons. first, it's an accurate statement. >> true >> it's the truth. >> okay. >> he is not trying to drag the american people into war. and frankly, we all know how the ghost of iraq has played in this debate. one of the central points of the bush administration in terms of

bringing the united states into war in iraq was that there was an imminent threat to the american people. what president obama is saying is that there are security threats to the united states. there are security threats more imminent, perhaps, to our allies. but there is also america's place in the world. and unfortunately, because of our role in the world, our as the last super power, there is a little bit of fine print there. and that means sometimes this nation must act even when others won't. >> okay. real quickly, i am going to ask you the million dollar question quickly: if he does not get authorization from congress, do you think the president will proceed anyway? >> i can't see a u.s. congress that forces the united states to go back on its word to do something. >> wow. okay. mark jacobson, thank you for urin insight. stay with al jazeera for the latest on the stouffer. we will have live coverage of the president's address to the american people tuesday night in

prime time. >> kevin rudd has conceded defeat in the country's national election. >> i gave it my all, but it was not enough for us to win. >> red lobster advocate tony abbott has ended six years of labor party rule. now, on the issues he campaigned with a promise to end unpopular tax on carbon e mixtus and vowed to boost the nation's flagging economy. he aims to bring political stablthty after years of labor party infighting. he andrew thomas has been tracking the results and has more from sydney >> this was a comprehensive victory led by tony abbot but a complete rejessica of the labor government. and it was as much them losing this election as it was tony abbott's party winning it. i think that this unity in the labor governments over the last

few years has really damaged their brand in the eyes of the australian voters. kevin rudd was elected in 2007. three years later, his own deputy took over that top job. she effectively three years later, he did the same to her. he took over the top job again in june. and that disunity, that merry-go-round of leaders upset the public. if the labor party can't run themselves, how on earth can they run the country? he claims to be united and kevin rudd had a strong track record in foreign policy. one of his campaign slogans was that tony abbott didn't. tony abbott made a gaffe a few days ago saying it was buddies against buddies. all trade i can't is a very

strong ally of the united states. it would seem whatever the united states chooses to do, australia will support it. but we will find out more when tony abbott formally becomes prime minister two or three days from now. >> thank you, and dry. coming up on al jazeera, the u.s. returns to the moon. >> 3, 2, 1, 0. >> a look ahead at nasa's mission as it starts it's lunar mission. >> across the north central plains, it's exceptionally hot. we are expecting heavy rain again in the southwest. i will have all of the details right after the break. why some critics say the school is setting the kids up for failure.

nasa's newest robotic explorer is on its way to the moon. from virginia. >> 3, 2, 1, oh, ignition and liftoff. avatar 5. >> the 280 million mission will study the thin, dusty atmosphere and see if there is water on the moon as well. it will orbit for six months before plunging to the moon's

surface. the launch provided a rare flight show for spectators along the east coast. shortly after the launch, nasa tweeted this: we are headed to the moon. it was a clear night for the launch. nasa asked people to snap pictures and send them to flicker because the launch site was in virginia, the rocket could be seen over the entire northeast area. i can't believe i missed that. the bright orange streak in the sky could be seen from washington, d.c. to new york. it's gorgeous. >> as richelle said, it was an absolutely gorgeous night across the central portion of the country all the way back into the midwest and definitely in the northeast, where high pressure remains in control, and we are looking at an absolutely gorgeous day. nothing but sunshine really across the interior as we continue to travel actually further into the north. we are going to have to deal with a dangerous heat out there

across minneapolis today which usually this time of the year is actually in the 70s. 91 out there. in chicago, 89. it will continue to be very uncomfortable across the region. we have moisture pushing in out of the west. it's certainly going to push across the dacotas, anywhere from billings down to rapid city, we could see some potentially volume time storms. i want people to be careful traveling out there. in chicago, we will see a shower or thunderstorm later on in the day. that could cause some travel delays if you are out of o'hare or in the northwest, drying out across oregon. in the southwest, more heavy rainfall against therage region. we had damaging winds. if you are line i-15 in southern california, use precaution traveling through the day. i am done. and i will send it back to richelle. i am richelle carey. thanks for watching al jazeera.

"earth rise" is next. thank you so much for your time. keep it here. i'm amanda purr row. >> i'm in the jordan valley looking at how simple principles are bringing the desert to life. >> i'm in new york, where