welcome to al jazeera, i'm del walters in new york, and here are your headlines. president obama phones leaders around the world talking diplomacy, as top administration officials are now making their case for authorizing a military strike against syria. france says it will bring a resolution to the un security council. and apple trying to take a bigger bite out of the largest smartphone markets in the world. ♪ the push for a strike on

syria may be slowing down as the white house and congress are now talk diplomacy instead of military action. but the option of a military strike is still on the table. john kerry and chuck hagel back on capitol hill trying to press congress to authorize the use of force, but president obama says he will explore the new russian proposal to hand over syria's chemical weapons to the international community. president obama is also headed to the hill pushing congress to allow him to use force in the syrian crisis. mike viqueira has been following that campaign, and the white house tone seems to be changing as the story unfolds. are we now in a bit of a holding pattern? >> that would be a great way to describe it, and while net says he wants to keep his foot on the gas, trying to push congress to authorize the military strikes, obviously that is on hold. even the president says he does

not expect a series of votes in harry reid, while there was to be a test vote tomorrow, a procedural voted that would have gone a long way in gauging the support the president has, that now has been put on hold. a senior administration official says the president has talked to the president of france and the prime minister of the uk today. they will be working closely with russia and china. john kerry testifying as you reported dell, at the house armed services committee today. he says he is careful not to overhype the possibilities of this russian proposal. he'll be speaking with the russian foreign minister after he leaves the hearing.

here is a little bit more thov of what he had to say. >> we need to know that if this can't been performed or this is a delay or a game or unreal, that we're speaking with one voice, and we're going to hold the assad regime accountable, so the answer is that the use of force, absolutely should not be off the table. we're not asking congress not to voe, but it may be given what the senate leader has decided that we see if any russians make a proposal in the next hours or not. that's up to the president to decide. nothing has changed with respect to our request of the congress to take action. >> now nothing may have changed but in a sense everything has changed. the pressure off, the diplomatic solution being pursued here. delays in congress, and the president has a long way to go, dell, as we have seen in polls over and over again, an

increasing number of americans oppose the use of military force in syria. a new poll asks has the obama administration clearly explained its goals in syria, 79% say he has not. >> the president is still going to take to the airways tonight at 9:00, what more do we expect him to say? do we expect him to push for military action or a toned-down message? >> i think you will see two tracks. there is a way out of this crisis. i think one thing that is very interesting about this story, dell, it is almost hand by % accident. friday when the president was in st. petersburg, this proposal was put forward from putin to

the presient and yet events have unfolded rapidly in the past 24 hours when apparently secretary kerry almost inadvertently put forward this proposal. the russians ceased upon it. and events are unfolding quickly. it remains to be seen where this will end up. >> mike thank you very much. as mike indicated france says it will introduce a new un security council resolution to make sure that syria hands over its chemical weapons. and that resolution will call for the weapons to be destroyed. and syria could, quote, face serious consequences if it violates the resolution. >> translator: it's on the acceptance of these precise conditions that we will judge the credibility ofthy the intentions expressed yesterday. we will not fall for delaying

maneuvers, therefore we need rapid results. >> that means the next stop could be the united nations security council, james bays has more. >> there's the prospect of twop different resolutions being produced. the russians say they want to come up with a plan for these chemical weapons to be transferred to the international community. but france has decided it wants to speed up the process. it is worried this could be a stall tactic. and they are drafting their own resolution including some things which i think the russians will support, syria's chemical weapons should be handed over to the international community and a number of measures that i think the russians may not agree to. it says the assad regime must

hand over those responsible for the attack to the international criminal court. syria has said it had nothing to do with that attack. and what we understand of the french draft resolution, is that it will be made under chapter 7 of the un charter. what that means is it will be backed by the use of force if assad does not comply with any part of the resolution, that, then, could trigger military intervention. >> and people on the other side are also speaking out. the syria national council responds to russia's proposal. ryia is it safe to say the opposition believes the russian proposal allows the assad regime to literally get away with murder? >> absolutely. they have expressed frustration and disappointment saying the

world should not trust the assad regime, that the russian proposal was a stallig tactic, it said crimes against humanity cannot be resolved but concessions. and it does not address the issue of accountability, that the regime should not be held accountable or punished for the use of chemical weapons and nearly taking away the weapons from the regime does not constitute a punishment, that such serious violations must be responded to firmly in a proportional manner, dell? >> who spoke at the news conference, and did they present new evidence of whim call weapons use? >> well the press conference was held by the syrian national coalition, the main umbrella, entity for the coalition force, but also it presented a very

interesting figure in that press conference, a doctor who's defection or escape from syria, rather, has been talked about a lot in the past few days. he told journalists about a specific attack earlier this year in march, which he said after examining bodies of those who lost their lives -- there were 14 people who were killed and that attack, he says, and those injured, according to him after examining them, they showed signs of being poisoned or being the victims of poisonous gas with similar characteristics of sarin. this is not the same attack in damascus which has sparked all of this talk of intervention in syia. this is another attack earlier this year. this doctor did not provide any conclusive evidence as to who is responsible, but he told us it

was his impression that they weren't responsible because there are only five people from the government forces injured in that attack, and because witnesses testimony indicated there was military hovering above the area during -- before the attack. but he did not provide conclusive evidence. dell? >> thank you very much. meanwhile israel is says it is preparing for a potential military strike on syria. it has deployed defense equipment along its borders. they are saying it is just precautionary measures, but a lot of israelis are worried. >> reporter: at a gather of prisoners from previous israeli wars, talk and fear of another. >> i'm afraid of war, because i

understand -- at my age, i understand bet whatever war is. >> reporter: she and others here have seen the horrors of battle firsthand. this man was held for three years in a damascus prison in the early '80s. >> even if it sounds crazy, sometimes you miss the interrogation, just someone to talk to, and the solitude is something that is unbearable. >> reporter: worried an american strike could mean an attack on israel out of revenge, many will be closely watching president obama's speech. >> there is something i don't like is conflict. >> reporter: after weeks of concern and fear, there is front page us in here in israel, and that's talks of a diplomatic solution. >> if it is possible to remove all of the chemical weapons from syria, it's a great idea.

>> reporter: although israel remains on high alert, with each day, fear here eases. the government asures people to continue with their travel plans. >> i think it's very good. because first of all we don't need war here. war is not good. >> reporter: a former general points out some israelis worry about the perception it appears they are the ones medaling. >> we don't want once again to be perceived as those that are districting to drag the united states into another war in the middle east. >> reporter: this man for one doesn't welcome war, but he also doesn't fear it. >> words, that's all. i think that if you want to shoot, shoot. >> reporter: that is, he says, if shooting is still necessary al jazeera will carry the

prsident's address to the nation live tonight at 9:00 pm eastern, and then following the speech we'll have a live townhall meeting sfrom washington, d.c. toyota issues a recall if you own a r r r r r r r r r r r r rt to stay tuned. and a a a a a a a a a a a a a a hoping to make a big splash again. ferz

♪ >> welcome back to al jazeera, i'm del walters. about an hour from now, we'll find out what apple has in store for the iphone.

the company is set to unveil a souped up version and a cheaper version. there's even talk about a fingerprint scanner to unlock the phone. melissa is at another big tech event in san francisco. and what are the experts saying about the apple phone that is due to be released? >> it's really interesting to be at the other major technology event of the day. you can well imagine that a lot of the people at the apple keynote are going to be huge fans of the apple, but here you have technology that might not even use apple. i spoke to a guy who whipped out his nokia. other people said they look forward to the possibility of having a cheaper iphone. in terms of talking about the features, we know it's going to

be faster, ahead of the actual key note we don't know for certain what the knew features are going to be, but expectations are there is going to be a nicer camera and bigger screen, so these are features we expect, but, again, i think it's really important to keep this all in context. there are other smartphones on the market now. the iphone is no longer king, and a lot of people outside of the technology world might not know this, but the android market surpassed the iphone market a couple of years ago. so it's interesting that the iphone still gets so much attention. there will be a number of comparisons between the iphone and android. >> it used to be when apple releases a new iphone was

released, the whole world stopped to listen, but now is this a good or bad thing they are introducing a cheaper version? >> well, the chinese market is huge, and there is a growing consum consumer clientele. i have seen people lining up outside of the apple store in beijing every single day. they don't even bother putting the iphones or ipads in the back. they just stack them behind the counter and people are buying them by the armful. and this is interest now, epecially because there is competition, that apple is looking another other ways of making more profit. >> when the iphone was first introduced even dinosaurs like myself couldn't wait to rush ou% and buy one, do you think we'll

see the same thing with the release of these two phones. >> it seems like with each passing there isn't quite that oooh ahhhh. but the phones are getting faster, lighter, but those with expected. we expect laptops and desktop computers to become lighter and faster, so what is the new idea here? a lot of people are apple has not produced an oooh and ahhh moment for a long time. >> thank you very much. scott has more on why apple has been struggling so much in china. >> reporter: welcome to the global smartphone gold mine,

china, 500 million of their people have smartphones. but not many chinese own iphones. am's slice of the market is well behind samsung. and to those who closely watch the industry, it's not surprising as apple still has limited access on china's mobile networks. >> the local carrier, they are frankly -- they are not quite successful. apple from our people see, looks a little bit arrogant, and chinese markets used to be ignored in their whole global prospectus. >> reporter: and the iphone

itself is hundreds of dollars more expensive than the competitors. the local brand is beating apple at its own game right here in china. [ cheers ] >> reporter: just last week it held a huge product unveiling, and introduced an executive they scooped up from google last month. >> they create a tribe and tribe culture among its fans. it makes its users believe their phone is cheap, but still has a relatively high profit margin. >> translator: samsung has the biggest screen, and i prefer the android system which is more open. >> translator: even the low-end product is still very expensive.

i can't afford it. >> reporter: it may be time for a bit of re-engineering. ♪ higher interest rates for home loans are drying up the financing industry. the bank says it will layoff 2100 workers in its mortgage unit. interest rates fell below 3.5% four months ago, they are now more than a percentage point higher. and more bad news for banc of america, it is getting booted frm the dow jones industrial average. alcoa and huet packard are also being shown the door. first day of the new look dow will be on september 23rdrd.

toyota is recalling some 800,000 of its vehicles to fix a problem with its suspension. the lexus 250 hybrid, and the rav4 crossover. at least nine crashes and three injuries have been reported. it is the second time that toyota has recalled vehicles for the same problem. that ohio man who confessed in an online video to killing a man while driving drunk has now officially been charged with the time. >> my name is matthew cordial, and on june 22nd, 2013, ji hit and killed vincent. >> that video now has more than 1 million hits. the 22-year-old admits he was drunk when he drove the wrong way down a highway.

if convicted he faces more than eight years in prison. still ahead, we'll tell you how a machine is teaching scientists how hurricanes develop and grow. and i'm dave warren, we are seeing hurricanes develop now, just topical storms now, i'll have a look at the storms in the national forecast coming up.

welcome back to al jazeera, i'm del walters. france says it will introduce a resolution. saying there could be very serious consequences if syria violates its resolution.% john kerry says the option of a military strike against syria must remain on the table. carey acknowledging diplomatic solutions are being explored. the nation's ivey league schools are simply the best, taking tp honors on the u.s. news and world report list of best colleges and universities. the destructive hower of hurricanes is well-known, but

how they grow is still unknown. researchers have created this device that mimics a hurricane. the simulator gives researchers information about storms that can't be gathered by airplanes or satellites. the next step will involve building taken that is six times as wide. ♪ and we are tracking two storms that are brewing in the tropics and flooding in the southwest. dave warren is here with your national forecast. >> we have two tropical storms developing out over the atlantic, and that's where they are expected to impact. this is gabrielle, it's was a tropical storm, weakened and now restained strength. and humberto could become a

hurricane. it does not look like it is turning to the west. it will turn north and then northeast. watching the atlantic closely. watching the midwest as more heat continues to build up. all of this heat will continue to spread northeast. 85 in new york, but 90s in memphis, washington, chicago, could easily be topping 100 degrees today. excessive heat continues. now the radar is tracking a strong area of storms over the great lakes, but a large area of rain now moving through new england. then once the sky is clear the temperatures lime. there is that heat from the midwest, hitting new york tomorrow with a thunderstorm, and then getting much nicer over

the weekend. it is comfortable with highs only into the mid-70s. more rain and flash fooding across the southwest in utah, new mexico, and off to the northeast, because the flash flood watches indicate the area is under a flash flood watch, and flood warnings moving up towards utah. dell? >> dave warren, thank you very much. james bond submarine car was auctioned away in london, despite the fact it can only operate under water. it is best known from the film "the spy who loved me." the auction house thought it would sell for about $1.5 million. road, but it doeswork as a fully optional submarine. "inside story" is next. more news at the top of the

hour. we'll see you then. ♪