>> saturdays on al jazeera america. technology... it's a vital part of who we are - >>they had some dynamic fire behavior... >> and what we do... >> don't try this at home! >> techknow, where technology meets humanity... saturday, 6:30 eastern. only on al jazeera america. >> this is aljazeera america. live from new york city, i'm tony harris. blot, senate democrats put an end to the republican efforts to derail the nuclear deal with iran. cheers outside of a courtroom in baltimore after a judge rules that the officers charged with the death of freddie gray will be fried in the city. swept away, heavy rains in japan force people out of their homes and onto rooftops. and missing link,

scientists discover an early human species. and we begin in washington with a victory for president obama's efforts to implement the nuclear deal with iran. the outpost resolution rejecting the agreement. and the house could vote on it tomorrow. so mike, this feels more like a done deal than it certainly has at any other point here. what led to this? >> reporter: you're absolutely right. well, it appears that the white house has pulled it off. rising opposition among the general public. and unless there's a dramatic reversal in congress, the deal goes into effect a week from today. this is the moment the white house has been waiting for, though a majority of the senate, including four

democrats and all 54 republicans, oppose the iran nuclear deal, their effort to move the deal forward fell short of the filibuster. it's a major victory for president obama, and republicans cried foul. >> i've heard colleague after colleague coming forward and saying, this deal is flawed and it's not the best and it needs improvement. since when did a bad option in the united states senate become the only option in the united states senate? >> the upshot, the president's iran deal is in the clear for now. >> this gives me confidence that this is the best possible opportunity to eliminate the existential threat of a iran nuclear weapon. >> thursday with the intense lobbying from both sides. a campaign to sway wavering members, while opponents of the deal, including the pro israeli

lobbying committee, apak, trying to sway congress. >> i'm going to give you two numbers. >> reporter: voters were urged to call bark are a mccalski and ben cardin. >> call senator mccalski and senator cardin and urge them to oppose this deal, and tell them we need a better deal. >> mccalski voted with the white house, and cardin voted against the deal. the deal is weakening, in july, just after the deal was announced, 33% of the public approved t while 45% disapproved and now the approval rating has fallen 12 points. 41 approve while 49% disapprove. sensing an issue that resonates with base voters, republican presidential candidates are now taking up the fight. and conservatives in the house aren't giving up. seeing that the cause was lost in the senate, they hatched a

new plan, alleging that the white house has not exposed all sides of the deal, including iran and the atomic energy association, and republicans are now threatening to sue the white house, arguing that it hasn't made good on the promise to release all documents related to the dell before the congress votes. the iae said that the claims are misleading and dismissed it out of hand. >> we have included all of the documentation in possession of the united states government. and it has been provided to congress. >> but though it lives on as a political issue, for now, opponents from congress will have to regroup. the president has won the day. >> the president has spoken with a clear voice, and the historic agreement to prevent iran from attaining a nuclear weapon will stand. >> particularring a reversal in

congress, tony, they have to start complying with the provisions of the deal. they have to reduce their uranium stockpiles, and they have to stop processing plutonium, and they have to let the inspectors from the iaea inside of iran to verify that they are complying with the provisions of the deal. >> mike viqueira, thank you. >> and with the waves of people fleeing conflict zones, the white house said that the u.s. is willing to take in more refugees from syria. >> this year, the fiscal year that will end this month, the united states is on track to take in about 1500 syrian refugees. the president has directed his team to scale up that number next year, and he's informed his team that he would like them to accept at least make preparations to accept at least 10,000 syrian refugees in the

next physical physical. >> but human rights groups say that the u.s. needs to do nowhere. they issued a statement in part, it's barely a token contribution given the size and scale of the global emergency. resettling 10,000 syrian refugees is only a drop in the bucket. the group went on to say that the united states needs ta comprehensive global initiative to improve access and protection for refugees and asylum seekers. it's getting tougher for refugees to travel across europe. austrian railways says that it has suspended service between hungary and austria because of a massive overload. but the trains are still running from the town of micklesdorf to veriena. and hungarian authorities are

blocking them. police in macedonia are using batons to hit refugees gathered at the borders can greece. look at this. >> reporter: it is a journey made much harder in the rain. have taken enormous risks to get to greece, and traveled the length of the country, traveling many kilometers on foot to the macedonian border, only to be confronted with this. violence from the macedonian police. there is little comfort ahead. the journey through hungary on the road to austria, is equally forlorn, and with so many people passing through austria, they have been forced to suspend onward rail services. >> reporter: from serbia to

hungary and budapest, they hold you for three days, and everyone is going through the forest, homeless, sleeping on the floor and getting lost. >> human rights watch has described conditions in hungery as horrific. saying that people are being treated like animals on the dor step to europe. it's a charge that the hungarians have denied. but these people will leave hungriy as soon as they can, going to germany. angela merkel leaves the door wide open. she stressed the importance of teaching german to child refugees at kindergarten. >> there's so much enthusiasm on them and so much readiness to learn, and we want to give them a good future. >> the pressure on society will be enormous. germany has already registered 450,000 refugees and migrants this year. another 105,000 in august alone. not all want to stay in

germany. on wednesday, denmark briefly suspended train services from germany, carrying hundreds of people toward sweden. europe's refugee crisis is spreading northward, and it's getting bigger. >> for my son and my wife and my life. because in syria, don't have life. >> the latest eu plan to shell out 160,000 refugees between states would be the biggest formal gesture yet. but with more than 3,000 people arriving on the beaches each and every day, it's nowhere near enough. aljazeera. >> as refugees are facing terrible conditions in camps in hungary, they are also dealing with fear.

hundreds of thousands are being taken to camps for processing and many of them don't know what the future holds. more from the hungary/serbia border. >> tony, the conditions are miserable and they have only gotten worse throughout the day in the pouring rain. you see behind me, one of the buses packed with dozens of refugees, and this bus will be taken to a refugee camp miles away. and the camp is surrounded by the police here. i have to tell you that throughout the day, refugees that i've been speaking with, some from afghanistan, they're extremely worried about what's going to happen to them once they get to the camp. they heard about horrifying conditions in the camp from other refugees, and this is a camp that the human rights watch says that the conditions are abominable in. we tried to get access to the camp, and we were denied access by the hungarian government.

and we're going to try to speak to the refugees within. but the refugees are so worried that within the last 90 minutes, several hundred here broke away from this place, and they walked to one of the train stations, and they are trying to get to austria. they are worried that they want to get stuck in hungery. they want to get to budapest and then austria. the weather is miserable, and we have seen children out here today, mothers, fathers, all of them extremely cold. there are aid workers on the scene and charities and medics, and yet the refugees say that simply not enough help is being given by the hungarian government. despite all of the criticism from the eu and the united states, they may be planning to stage a state of crisis or emergency next week, and that would make it easier for troops to be deployed to this southern

border with serbia to stomp the influx of refugees, but from all we have seen today on the border, it doesn't look like that influx is going to be stopped any time soon. >> to syria now, where there's mounting evidence that russia is joining the fight to keep president bashar al-assad, warning him against the escalating conflict. >> reporter: there's a major buildup in the airfield in the province. the syrian opposition said that it's to hem president bashar al-assad and his forces. it admits that the russian aircraft are delivering military applies and humanitarian aid. but he denies any military buildup. >> we have helped, and we'll

continue aiding the syrian government. the libyan scenario, and others have occurred in the region because of an obsession with some of our western partners with ideas of changing unwanted reregimes. >> they are sending ships and personnel carriers, and naval infantry to syria, there are reports already. [ audio difficulties ]

interview for aljazeera's up

front program, asked if he existed in afghanistan, even though osama bin laden was there during the attacks. >> i have come across the taliban, and other groups, and the people calling it some different names. different outfits of extremists. i don't know if the a the al qaa existed or if they exist. >> you can see more with karzai on the website. tomorrow, the nation will mark 14 years since the attacks on september 11th. but today, the memorial for those on the plane's crash site near shanksville, pennsylvania.

the united airlines jet was juan of four hijacked on september 11th, and it was the only one that did not reach it's presumed target, which was the u.s. capital. still on the program, the case of six baltimore police officers charged in the arrest of freddie gray. and plus, a warning for wall street and ceos. the justice department, putting white collar criminals.

>> pro-gun patrol groups are holding rallies all over the country for national whatever it takes day. the phrase comes from andy parker, the father of the virginia reporter killed on live tv last month. and parker has pledged to do whatever it takes to end gun violence after his daughter's death. he joined in a rally on campus. >> the overwhelming majority of americans agree with common sense reforms, but too many members of congress remain in the pocket of the gun lobby, and that has got to change. >> parker urged demonstrators to vote anti-gun control officers out of office. the two police officers charged in the death of freddie

gray will stand trial. well, as you can see here, protesters who gathered outside of the courthouse this morning and cheered the decision. and the defense argued that jurors from baltimore would be biased against the police. and after hearing the accusations from the police union head, gene ryan, saying that a settlement with the gray family implied the guilt of the officers. >> the settlement is very clear. there's no admission of guilt whatsoever. he either doesn't understand that, or chooses to mislead his membership. this settlement takes any liability off of the table for the officers. >> okay, the six officers will be tried individually next month. debbie hines is a former baltimore prosecutor, and she joins me. debbie, welcome to the program. and are you ready for this? >> ready to go. >> so the judge, no nonsense

williams, has ruled these officers should be tried in baltimore city, and did judge williams make the right decision here? >> absolutely, tony. he made the decision based on the law as he should. and had the defense not met their burden, one, of showing that they would be actually able to have a fair trial, and of course they couldn't do that. and then trying to show that they were reasonable because of all of the publicity. and because of what the mayor had said. and the settlement and because of what the former police commissioner said, there was no way to have a fair trial. and judge williams just broke down each and every point that they made and showed why they were wrong, and that under the constitution, as well as case law in the state of maryland, that they were absolutely wrong, and they can absolutely get a fair trial. >> you're speaking with your

former prosecutor's hat on. come on, you may have done that kind of work in the courtroom, but debbie, we live in the real world. has news coverage of freddie gray's arrest and death made it impossible for the city to get a fair and impartial jury to decide this case? >> well, tony, judge williams also talks about the fact that who in the world has not heard about freddie gray's case? it's not joust a matter of moving it from boston, or another county, and people have the internet that they can look up about the case, and that's the point that he covered. we're in a different world now than what some of the cases point to. so there's no county in maryland that hasn't heard about freddie gray, because there's no major city in the world that hasn't heard about freddie gray. >> so every baltimorian knows that the city has approved the $6.4 million settlement, who

doesn't see it as an admission that the police grossly mishandled his case, and any jury in baltimore will take that present into the courtroom? >> i'm going to throw it back to you, tony. in a case with jonathan pharrell, there was a case with that, and that ended in a mistrial. and that was the very same issue that was raised by the defense police officer's attorney in that case, so it made no difference. >> he said that it would return the city to preriot

normalcy. will it hurt any healing efforts there? >> well, i think first, the police union spokesperson president, all he's doing is just basically stirring the pot. and that's what he has done all along regarding this case. he's not trying to be any kyp of re reckon siliator. and i don't know if that's his job, but that's million what he has done. how much pressure is on the prosecution? the state's attorney. the legal system in baltimore to return a guilty verdict against some or all of these officers?

>> well, this is a major case, and any prosecutor has had here in baltimore. so there's a tremendous amount of pressure, but one thing which the prosecutor knows, that maybe everybody else doesn't know is that these cases are extremely difficult to prove. it's no slam dunk for the prosecution, and for those who think that it is, it's absolutely not. it's an uphill battle in that courtroom. >> debbie joining us from washington, and that was fun. debbie, we kicked that around. and well done, see you next time. seven years after the financial crisis that nearly imploded the economy, some big banks have faced some hefty fines, but almost none of their executives have faced charges. but that could soon change. ali velshi is here to explain. ali. >> years after all of this

stuff, people asking why nobody went to jail, the department of justice has issued new policies. they were issued in a memo to federal prosecutors nationwide. and they prioritize the prosecution of individual employees, this is key -- not just the companies. the goal is to get companies to turn over evidence against their executives, and the new companies are seen by loretta lynch, and she was confirmed in april. and this is her first policy that acknowledges, and the justice department has so far secured record fines. you and i discussed this many times, but very few executives are charged with wrongdoing, and that's what these new rules aim to change. >> how will these new rules actually work? >> well, it's unclear. because you would think that if the department of justice had all sorts of stuff with which to charge people, they would have done it.

but the aim is to put new light on high-profile investigations. the justice department traditionally charges them themselves, and that has been okay because the fines are so big, but it doesn't change behavior. it only looks at executives after settling with the companies. takes the cash and starts to look at them, and in many cases, that means that the prosecution of individuals goes unpunished. so this focus moves to individual employees at the beginning of an investigation. and the companies likely have to identify employees at the beginning of the investigation, and then they will be compelled to turn in evidence against them. they're not going to get credit now, tony, for cooperating with the government unless they turn, and that might be able to save them billions in fines in a final legal settlement. but that is setting some people up. the new rules immediately, not clear if it's going to have any

effect on things that happen. >> thank you as always, and you can watch ali velshi right here on aljazeera america. still ahead on the program, growing concerns about russia military buildup in syria. and plus, underwater homes. washed away in japan. grack pictures after a tropical storm swamps the nation.

>> the russian foreign minister, lavrov confirms that russia is sending in aid, and mosmoscow is not commenting on that. >> we have helped them continuing to aid the syrian government, equipping the syrian army with all that's necessary for the libyan scenario and the other events that haver occurred in this region because of an obsession by some of our western partners with the ideas of changing unwanted regimes. >> the u.s. opposes a russian

military presence in syria, and secretary of state john kerry warns lavrov that it could escalate the conflict there. with the new schools, she joins me in the studio. and good to see you. why is president putin becoming increasingly involved in syria? >> well, lavrov explained it. absolutely, he said you don't need to go any further. he said we don't want our western partners to be the only people stabilizing the region. we actually want to stabilize it, and also, what they're not saying, that russia has some interest in -- they have a military base and a naval base. and it is really getting very close to maybe being taken over by the isis. and they're very afraid of that. >> you don't believe the reporting -- that russian

troops are now fighting alongside the syrian military? >> i'm sure that they are providing some assistance? in their random battalions here and there, and i wouldn't discard that. >> but they're going to deny the way that they have always denied military involvement where they should not be involved. but if the united states can deny various reports that the united states is involved in various conflicts, so russia can be involved in various conflicts, and decide that it can be politically denied. >> so a lot of us can understand the geo politics of what's going on between the united states and russia right now, but what many might have a more difficult time understanding is why russia is supporting this president. assad, when the evidence is overwhelming, it seems to me, and clear that it was the

actions of president assad that really kicked off the civil war inside of the country when they were kids, young kids who wanted to be part of the arab spring, and holding protests for freedom and those kids were brutally put down. why does president putin want to align himself so closely with that regime? >> well, he doesn't want to align himself with that regime. what he does, and what he says, and then the regime lends a hand to putin's interests. because putin doesn't want to destabilize the middle east. what he says, and a lot of countries feel the same way, that the united states allows all of the arab spring countries going, and having a revolution. >> in tunisia and libya. exactly, and libya, and now look at them. so what putin is arguing is not

necessarily about assad, but -- >> what comes next? >> it's going to be another horrible hot spot, and isis is almost ready to take over. so in this sense, putin acts as a protecter of the world, not as somebody who actually destabilizes -- in his mind. >> take off the analyst hat and do you buy that analysis as it's presented clearly by the foreign minister. do you believe that the russian government really sees itself as a pors for good in this region? >> the russian government sees itself as a pors for g we have discussed ukraine at length. and they say those who speak russian suffer from the ukrainian government is we protect them. but putin with his own propaganda and in this scenario, what he has

appoint that the united states does not have a policy to handle that, with the crisis in the middle east. and that's why putin does what he does. because he wouldn't be getting away with it. >> i guess that the last question i have for you, at least at this time, so what is the united states' position here? it feels as though russia is getting more involved in syria. that is not necessarily a helpful thing from a u.s. perspective, so what should the united states' position be moving forward as it tries to calibrate this situation and respond to it? >> one of the things that the russian press is saying, yesterday and today, is that our presence there actually can help the united states to fight isis, but we're not going to allow the united states to have a regime change the way they have done all over.

and so i think there is a conversation could be had, but not a conversation with the united states, saying we're not going to let you do this. because if the united states does this, russia is saying, i'm sorry, we're going to do what we want to do, authorizing for the world. >> nina, thank you for coming back always great to see you. the u.n. gem assembly has overwhelmingly approved the proposal to raise the palestinian flag at its headquarters in new york. many of the nations that abstained were from the european union, and many voted against the proposal. james is live with this. and good to see you. were there any surprises from the vote? >> well, i think we're expecting this vote. but there has been a lot of lobbying going either way. in some ways, this is a question of u.n. procedure. about practice internally at

the u.n., and this was a deeply controversial one. because it does now mean that observer states from the united nations, and yes, that's the holy see. but also palestine, that's the controversial one, can now fly their flags outside of the iconic u.n. headquarters here in new york. but also, another u.n. offices around the world. and the palestinian ambassador, when he was speaking, said this is a very important moment, after last summer's gaza war, they have very little hope. and this is something that will bring them hope. and they're on a journey to self determination. >> maybe two questions in one here. what happens next? when is the flag actually expected to be raised? >> this, in many ways, is the most important. the palestinians and other arab nations that drafted this resolution, they were very clever, and they said we want the flag to fly. and the resolution said after

we have the vote, we want 20 days, and then wet the flag to fly. you remember what happens in new york city at the end of september, 20 days from now, it's when all of the leaders of the world converge for that general assembly, president obama is here, and putin is here, and 20 days from now, habas is supposed to speak to the leaders, and a victory for the president. >> james bay, appreciate it, and thank you. a dramatic rooftop rescue in japan after heavy rain caused massive flooding, and 40,000 people had to evacuate. but to make matters worse, the flooding has caused a leak of radioactive water from the fukushima power plant. >> another natural disaster strikes north of tokyo. this time, it was an inland sea of water, which hit the area

just after lunchtime. taking everything in its wake. the muddy wall of water uprooted trees and shook houses from their foundations. in joso city, rescuers couldn't keep up with the desperate pleas for help. only a lucky few were moved to safety. as it unfolded live on television, the national broadcaster urged people in cars and houses not to give up hope, but do whatever they could to survive. >> we have had heavy rain in the past, but i've not seen this much water in decades. >> the river broke it's banks after a second day of unusually heavy rain. some areas in the region recorded double the unusual september rin in just 48 hours. the weather bureau says it's the kind of rainfall that happens once in half a century. the typhoon has now moved off the coast. but the rain lingers across the affected area.

>> these heavy rains are unprecedented. we can say that it's a serious danger. serious disasters such as landslides and flooding have occurred and they're still happening. >> the prime minister has urged local governments to be as ready as possible for the disaster. >> the heavy rains are unprecedented and likely to continue. the government will take disaster measures. >> more than 800,000 people have now been urged to evacuate their homes. while the rain has reaction, it's forecast continues into tomorrow. rescue authorities are now waiting to see what daylight brings. rachel mealy, aljazeera, tokyo. >> the justice department and new york city's district attorney, are contributing tens of millions of dollars to help eliminate the nation's backlog of untested rape kids.

vice president joe biden calls them an essential tool in modern crime fighting. lisa stark joins us now, and just how big is this backlog that we're talking about here? >> that's part of the problem, nobody really knows, but it's estimated that there could be hundreds of thousands of untested rape evidence kits sitting on shelves nationwide. the money will cover testing for about 70,000 rape kids. evidence collected from victims, helping to solve cases, and give some measure of relief. >> there's nothing more, morequential than giving a woman back her life. the whole of her life. >> the vice president got a tour of the crime lap, new york giving $38 million in grants to help others do the same. money from the federal government will go to to

jurisdictions to catalog and test the kits, and to pay for prosecutions. >> no victim's suffering should be extended one minute longer because of procedural issues, ever, ever. >> this is not a new effort. in 2004, congress passed funding to help pay for dna evidence on rape kits. that could be cost thousands of dollars each. but debbie smith, the evidence in her case sat on the shelf for five years. >> i thought i had found a fate worse than death. and it was living, and it was living with the fear that this man would philadelphi fulfill h, to kill me and or my children. >> after testing, the man was identified. and he was already in prison for kidnapping two women, and he was sentenced to life for attacking smith.

over the past decade, congress has approved $1 billion for testing, so the fact that there's still a rape kit backlog frustrates many. >> unfortunately, all too often the funding doesn't make it to the intended goals. it's only a fraction that's actually making it out to the door. >> instead, some money went to research, training and administrative costs, and it was so frustrating that they had to try again. >> the first bill that created the program. when it went to law enforcement, they weren't using it for the purpose designated. so i had to pass another bill that said that the debbie smith fund had to be used for processing the backlog of dna kits. >> that was two years ago, and advocates say that there are still bureaucratic delays. the department of justice has yet to pass out money to help

the states audit their backlog, and processing the rape kits. >> you have the tool, and we know it works. all you need is the political will to make it happen >> reporter: a promise now from the nation's pop prosecutor to the victims to help make it a priority. >> this is our pledge to you. we last name forget you. we last name abandon you. >> and advocates say that they will be watching and pushing the justice department and even congress if necessary to make sure that the programs and the money is in place, tony, to clear up this backlog of these evidence kits. >> lisa, it's a big deal. and the question for you, why would new york's top prosecutor want to spend money to help other cities with their rape evidence case? >> well, it's not taxpayer money. we want to make it clear. it's forfeiture money they have, but one of the reasons may be because criminals cross

state lines, and in fact, when they tested many of the rape kits in the city of detroit and they linked it to criminals, they found that many of them had committed crimes in as many as 39 states, so really as a nationwide problem. >> lisa stark for us in washington, and still ahead, a discovery that could change the way that we chi about human evolution. a distant human schefter with a human trait.

>> lebanon's garage, trying to resolve the dispute that has caused trash to pile up on beirut's streets. it calls for opening new landfills in lebanon, but people are upset. it remains to be seen if the plan requires parliamentary approval. scientists in south africa have found fossils. they are part of the largest species of homonid discovered on the african continent. >> reporter: it was unveiled in front of the world's leading scientists and the media.

this is homonidy, part a, part human. >> it has long legs, and feet like you and i, but if you were standing next to us right now, you would not think that it's a human. he has a tiny hip the size of my fist. and it would be small, high shoulders like an a. >> they were found in south florida two years ago. there are 15, and what's more significant, is what it tells you about the homonid's behavior. scientists say that they were put there deliberately, suggesting a burial ritual. and until now, the scientists

thought that only we, homo sapiens did. >> that emotional basis, that social basis, some recognition that a dead member of their own group, their own species is special in some way, that seems to be what we're seeing here. and it's in some ways maybe the first step to humanity. >> common thinking was that the homonid's body was more like ours, but homoliddy, it's the other way around. the species could have emerged around 2.8 million years ago. as delighted as the scientists, homoliddy confirms one of the richest sources to one of the

great mysteries. where did we come from? the cradle of human kind, south africa. hundreds of doctors in columbia are scared to go home. they were part of the brain drain. the controversial program has been scrapped now that the united states has resumed diplomatic relations with cuba. >> in this cramped department, a cuban doctor and pharmacists await word from the u.s. embassy. they're part of the cuban medical personnel who fled to the columbian capital, bogota, seeking special visa from the united states. set to undermine the castro regime, but with the two countries now normalizing relations whether they will come to the u.s. is uncertain.

doctor silva has been waiting for more than four months. >> i think they did break their promise that they made to us. we want to be free. the goal is to be free. >> reporter: the cubans here are in limbo. they're in colombia. and they risk deportation. returning to cuba is not an option. there they would face certain punishment. >> could you go back to cuba now, saying i made a mistake, and i want to come home and be with my family, and just go back and have all of this go away? >> if i return to cuba, people will hate us, we'll be spied o. accused as counter revolutionaries and we won't be able to peak make a living. >> they were opposed to the long-standing policy of

healthcare. more than 150,000 [ no audio ] their work is praised by the world health organization and even secretary of state john kerry. for all of the praise, the u.s. government has tried to systematically disrupt the cuban program since 2006. u.s. documents, offering the right to live and work in the united states are offered to any cuban nurse or doctor or other medical professional who is working or studying abroad in another country under the cuban direction. it's called the cuban medical patrol program. and it's an enticement. cuba gets a lot more than good will from its medical brigade. take venezuela, where cuba has an estimated 10,000 healthcare providers. more there than any other country. in return, venezuela sends cuba

100,000 barrels of oil a day. other countries pay cash. about $8 billion a year, out stripping even tourism as a money maker for cuba. between the raising of the cuban plag at the cuban embassy in july, and the stars and stripes at the u.s. embassy in august, visa for cuban medical workers dried up. what happened in an orderly process, often taking three months, suddenly fell into limbo. >> you can see more of sheila's reporting tonight on aljazeera america. for a look at what's coming up at the top of the hour, john seigenthaler is here. >> all right, tony, more at 8:00, helping syrian refugees. we know they're stepping up efforts to allow more people into this country, but frustrations are boiling over in europe, fighting and long lines. the reality for tens of thousands escaping war and famine. senate approval, the iran

nuclear deal is one step closer to becoming a reality. but will it mate the same fate in the house? and how long will president obama be able to draw back sanctions on iran if it's passed. >> . >> mud slinging for gop candidates. the first attack, increasing donald trump at the center, but is there anything that can stop the frontrunner from these remarks, and how has he maintained his lead? also tonight, guitarist and vocalist and songwriter, warren haynes. he's best-known for his work with the ahlman brother's band. and now he talks about his career. >> something comes along, and you take advantage of it, and see where that leads. there's no business model for being a musician. >> we're going to have those stories and a lot more in 4 minutes. >> novelist, steven king, and actress, sally field, are two

of the newest recipients of the national medal of honor. president obama honored them for outstanding contributions for the arts. and he spoke about this year's recipients. >> they all have one thing in common. they do what they do because of an urgent inner force, and they express inner truth. and as a result, they help us understand ourselves in ways that we might not otherwise recognize. >> the cookbook author, alice waters, and theater director, ping chong, and george shirley were three of the other recipients. roger goodell last name be there for the kickoff in foxborro, massachusetts, that's when tom brady will be there for the patriots. this is the first game that he will miss as commissioner.

brady will be starting as quarterback for the patriots. you may remember that goodell's punishment was overturned.

♪ . >> hi, everyone. this is al jazeera america. obama's pledge. >> the president informed his team he would like him to at least make preparations to at least accept 10,000 syrian refugees. >> as the crisis grows the president promises to take in 10,000 people from syria next year. is it enough? under atalk. >> donald trump is not a