dirty business. jacob ward, al jazeer al jazeer, mck-itrick, california. >> that's our show today. i'm ali velshi thank you for joining us. >> major escalation. russia and syria launch coordinated air and ground assaults. pressing for answers. >> we're calling on president obama to consent to the fact finding commission. >> doctors without borders demands an independent investigation into the bombing of a hospital saying president obama's apology is not enough. >> swollen rivers.

>> things are about to get worse on the coast. >> a storm battered south carolina gets a serious warning from its governor, the threat from floodwaters is not over. >> and going nuclear. >> they can make one of those dirty bombs you know, dirty bombs. >> trying to sell radioactive material to i.s.i.l. good evening i'm antonio mora, this is al jazeera america. the kremlin said today it launched rockets from four ships in the caspian sea. some 930 miles away in northern syria. at the same time syrian government forces unleashed a new ground offensive coordinated with the russians. u.s. officials continue to condemn russia's actions in syria. ash carter says u.s. forces will not cooperate with russia and called its air raids a

fundamental mistake. peter sharp has more from moscow. >> from the caspian sea 1200 kilometers from the fighting, russia opened a second front in the syrian war, at i.s.i.l. positions, the caliber missiles bearing the nato code name sizzler were launched without warning from the caspian sea flotilla. these images broadcast on the russian state television. targets were well within reach. moscow said it obtained permission from iran and iraq to overfly their territory to release the rockets. territory over iran and iraq but avoiding southeastern turkey. >> this morning we engaged the

caspian sea flotilla. data indicates all targets were destroyed and no civilians were harmed. >> reporter: well, the missile strike was totally unexpected and begs the question why russia would target i.s.i.l. position he 1200 kilometers away when it's got a large fighter bomber force carrying out daily strikes against i.s.i.l? it would go to remind the west of russia's military reach in this conflict. and in rome the u.s. secretary of defense ash carter formally ruled out any military cooperation with russia. >> i've said before we believe russia has the wrong strategy. they continue to hit targets that are not i.s.i.l. we believe this is a fundamental mistake. despite what the russians say we have not agreed to cooperate with russia so long as they continue to pursue mistaken strategy and hit these targets.

>> reporter: a disappointment for president putin who hoped to persuade the u.s. to join his coalition against i.s.i.l. peter sharp al jazeera, moscow. american fighter planes recently had a close call with russian aircraft over syria. officials did not provide specifics but said two planes had to be diverted to maintain a safe distance from the russian planes, further talks to avoid accidents and unintended consequence he in the skies over syria. coming up a little later we'll look at the investigation that exposed russian gangsters from trying to sell nooucialtion material tnuclear materialto i.. drafted ten page plan to force people out of europe immediately if they do not qualify for refugee status.

foicialofficials are hoping thew policy will discourage more refugees from coming. president obama apologized to doctors without borders for the u.s. air strike that killed 22 people in the afghan city of kunduz. more from al jazeera's mike viqueria in washington. >> reporter: antonio, in the five days since the attack, the white house insisted that president obama would wait for results from a pentagon investigation before casting any blame but the day after his commander in the area played corn sessions, president obama called dr. joann lu, president of doctors without borders to personally apologize.

>> when a mistake occurs, the united states owns up to it. if individuals have to be held accountable that will be done. >> reporter: dr. lu still is insisting on an independent investigation. writing: earlier wednesday, before she spoke to mr. obama dr. lu called it an attack not just on the hospital but on international law. >> today we say enough. even war has rules. >> experts on international law agree. and say an apology isn't enough. >> it doesn't address the issue of how this happened, it doesn't request, address the legal issue of what is the nature of responsibility on the part of

the u.s. military or specific commanders. so the real key questions aren't addressed. >> the white house still insists the ongoing pentagon investigation along with probes by nato and the afghan government is enough. the apology comes one day after the top u.s. commander in afghanistan accepted blame. >> a hospital was mistakenly struck. >> how did it happen? mark kimmit. >> that is what's going to be investigated. >> doctors without borders said patients in kunduz burned in their beds and regardless how it happened, the group isn't satisfied with a simple apology by the president. >> we are calling on powms to pt obama to consent to the fact finding mission, respect for

international law and the rules of war. >> president obama made a call to ashraf ghani expressing his condolence for the attack in which patients were killed in the hospital in kunduz. afghan officials have been defending the u.s. military their concern for president obama's plan to withdraw the troops by the end of next year is too soon. antonio. >> mike viqueria in washington. confrontations that started around jerusalem's al-aqsa mosque, escalating tension he caused israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu to call off a trip to germany. a key figure in the negotiations of the oslo peace accords told me earlier that it is time for israelis and palestinians to begin talking again. >> the heart of the matter, as concerns the halting of the peace process right now, is the

ever-expanding israeli settlements. however, i think both parties should now particularly because of the violence which is erupting now, threat 96 may be with a third intifada and wide spread violence throughout the gaza strip and the west bank, i think it's incumben incumbent oo as quickly as possible go back to the table. i believe it's been seven years since they met personally which is shameful and i think they should meet forthwith now, without any preconditions. >> under secretary general of united nations and former deputy prime minister of norway. the rain has stopped in south carolina but in some areas flood waters are still rising. even as the sun rose this morning so did the death toll.

today the bodies of two men were found inside a truck, 16th and 17th victims, officials fear there will be more. paul beban, twoir hours ag 24 he concern was dams would fail,. >> 60 dams, we're here below the beaver dam outside of columbia and you can see here the power of moving water, it was form hely a two lane road, now it's a gully with wawt flowing through it. there was concern that that dam would fail, local and state agencies have managed to shore it up but the beaver dam is one of 60 that officials are watching closely and the question is will these dams hold? for the second straight day, the sun was out across most of south carolina but even as recovery

operation picked up system, governor nikki haley warned. the fight is not over. the record breaking floodwaters. >> of the thousands of dams across the state in south carolina, 62, we are morning, currently right now, 13 that have already failed. so we will continual to monitor those as we go forward. >> reporter: overnight the 50-year-old beaver dam in columbia was on verge of becoming the 14th to fail. people living below it were told to get to higher ground, warned that the dam could give way any minute. crews worked furiously to shore it up with sand bags and rock but just as they thought they had it stabilized a water main running through the dam

exploded, a set back but the water was shut off and the dam held. south carolina department of health and environmental control has warned those rn owners to wh thatheir dams closely. if additional storage for anticipated rainfall is needed. this afternoon residents below the beaver dam were breathing a little easier, families turning out to thank national guard troops who helped save their homes. but across the state thousands of people remain without clean water or power. others are still in shelters with no homes to go back to. and even though the water has stopped, things are worse downstream. >> things are okay in the midlands, things are about to get worse on the coast.

>> often administered by homeowners associations, as people age out of these homeowners associations as the board of directors, say, turns over there's less and less awareness over time about what their responsibilities are in terms of maintaining these dams these structures that are so critical to public safety. the beaver dam for example, according to published reports in columbia, is supposed to be inspected every three years. last time it was inspected was back in 2000. antonio. >> paul beban, thank you. the coast guard has ended its search for a cargo ship with 33 crew members. the el faro sank after hurricane joaquin hit it on thursday, the problem is it's 15,000 feet underwater and they do not know

where. al jazeera's lisa stark has more from washington. >> allen would you increase the speed of the ship to sea speed. >> it is a position no sea captain wants to be in. staring down a category 4 hurricane with your ship taking on water and most critically having lost engine power. >> you are at the mercy of the sea, not much you're going to do once you don't have propulsion. >> this is as close to that reality as some hope to be. we're in the world's largest ship similarity just outside of baltimore at the maritime graduate studies. the man at the controls can whip up winds of 54 miles an hour, seas of 50 feet, frightening enough but far less than those board the elz faro were facing. >> we don't hear things sliding from one side to the other,

including coffee pots and mugs and pencils and dividers and rulers and whatnot. it can be chaos up here if you don't have everything nailed down. >> captain michael davidson at the helm of the el faro was highly experienced, he would have planned his route with the up to date forecasts. the forecasts were all over the map. >> they all changed within a period of hours. >> as the ntsb continues to piece together what happened, the ship's life ring, a victim in a survival suit, a clear indication of how dire the situation had become. putting on one of these heavy survival suits, deploying a raft, getting into a raft is difficult to do in calm conditions, in a pool. imagine what it would be like in

waves taller than that building and winds over 140 miles per hour. training every five years, abandoning a ship is a last resort. >> abandoning ship in something like this, would be difficult, even after you put the life boats in the water how survivable would the life boats be? >> everything from the condition of the ship and its engines to crew training, pressure to get underway even with a storm brewing. >> how much pressure is there on capitals to make a run no matter what? >> there's always pressure, marketing sales, make promises to customers, they expect your christmas trees, ornaments, race cars, barbie dolls, to be delivered over the ocean over time. it is the captain's imperative

to protect the cargo and the crew so he has the overriding authority not to succumb to these pressures. >> it may well have been a safe trip despite the hurricane but once the engines fails, the el faro and its crew were helpless to steer away from danger. lisa stark, al jazeera, maryland. a strike at fiat chrysler. and after months, hillary clinton comes out against the trade agreement she once worked on.

>> almost 40,000 workers at fiat chrysler are waiting to see if they will walk off the job. a midnight strike deadline, demanding a new contract, 11th hour negotiations have been underway all evening.

john terret joins me now. this will be the biggest strike in the u.s. in a long time. >> yes i think so, we haven't had a big old style industrial dispute for a long time. i remember you reporting on the dock workers in california. >> that was fewer workers. >> we are facing potential stoppage. there has been little stomach since 2008 when billions of taxpayer dollars propped up two of the big 3. but now chrysler is owned by fiat and management and workers now are head to head over pay and negotiations. >> sales of.com jeep and ram have been relatively good lately, sales have been up 14% from the year before. but the american auto workers threaten to walk out tonight.

>> the weakest of the three and to push it any further would be to force it into a situation where it would have to consider other alternatives such as taking current investment in the united states and putting it elsewhere. >> reporter: last week the uaw voted to reject a tentative agreement. >> the members have spoken. they have expressed their dissatisfaction with the agreement and it's their opportunity to, if an interim agreement isn't reached between now and midnight, which doesn't look likely, to express themselves through some sort of a job action, if that should happen. >> reporter: among the union's demands cost of living pay hikes and an end to a two tier pay system in which entry level workers earn far less than experienced cleez. >> thcolleagues. >> the two tier needs to

disappear. we all work the same, we all need to get paid the same. >> health care provision and the end to making vehicles in mexico. >> right next door in mexico you can produce cars for eight or $9 an hour and there's been a tremendous amount of growth and employment in the auto industry, auto parts industry in mexico, tremendous amount of growth in capacity. they estimate that they may be able to build 5.5 million vehicles in the near term. >> the labor action whether it's an all out strike strikes at certain plants or work slow downs is due to start at midnight eastern. inside chrysler tension is said to be high, if workers find out whether they'll be at work on thursday or on the picket line. >> strike is no good for anybody but you know if you can't come to a fair conclusion, you know i guess that's what might happen here. >> i think the company is doing good and it should treat the

workers fair. >> reporter: if they can't sort out their differences at chrysler there are fears that strikes will spread to gm and ford. workers at those companies are waiting for outcome of its dispute before they negotiate their contracts. the outcome of the dispute will set the tone for union talks with the other two big 3 vehicle americas in detroit, that's general motors and ford. the contract does run out at 11:39 eastern time. they have another 37 minutes to negotiate. workers genuinely don't know whether they'll be on the picket line or the shop floor tomorrow morning. thank you john. the head of volkswagen of america, michael horn will testify on capitol hill tomorrow. the auto make are admitted to rigging vehicles to pass

emissions test but put out more pollution during actual driving. they expect to complete repairs by the ends of next year. democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton says she opposes president obama's tpp agreement. even though as secretary of state she championed the agreement grant. and the investigation into clinton's e-mail has taken a new term. a tech company she hired to back up her messages revealed it has turned over a hardware device to the fbi. it could contain some 30,000 e-mails that clinton deleted. russian gangsters trying sell nuclear material to i.s.i.l. and others. the suspects and the evidence.

>> the fbi has reportedly helped break up a smuggling ring in eastern europe that was allegedly trying to sell nuclear material to i.s.i.l. the associated press is says the agency stopped four attempted sales of radioactive materials. emma hayward reports. >> he was no ordinary target and armed moldovan, police, this is what they've been looking for.

a sample of radioactive cesium for potential use in a dirty bomb. the seller said one of the suspected middle men wanted the stash sold to i.s.i.l. it's a case which has exposed moldova as a hub. operating illegally in an impoverished part of eastern europe. in the past, moldovan police have stopped four attempts by by russian linked gangs. when they raided the home of former kgb informant theodore khetris they found blueprints on how to build a dirty bomb.

>> one of those dirty bombs, have you layered of such a thing? explosion would spread material over this big a territory. >> reporter: this was all part of a sting. khetr-is believed when he went to pick up hundreds of thousands of dollars, it came from an informant. the sentences have been short and that the danger posed by many others in this murky and dangerous world still exists. emma hayward, al jazeera. three scientists have been awarded the nobel prize in in chemistry. explored how cells repair damaged dna. the royal academy of swedish science, the scientists will share nearly a million dollars this prize money.

i'm antonio mora. thanks for joining us for the latest news any time you can head over to aljazeera.com. ray suarez is up next with "inside story." have a great night. ♪ after years of negotiation the united states and a big group of pacific rim trading partners agreed to a new set of rules for international trade. americans are of many minds about trade deals, what should they know about this one? and as we proceed into the presidential cycle does the trans specific partnership have the makings of a campaign issue? are you down with tpp? it's the "inside story."