picture underwater is critical to making that happen. lots more on that and everything else that we have been covering here on al jazeera on our website. you can see it on your screens right now. the address, aljazeera.com. british parliament at this hour, preparing to vote on whether to launch an air assault on isil. iraqis reacting to the news of u.s. troops being deployed to their country, not everyone is happy. police officers around the country asking the nfl to change its gun policy at games. and say cheese, conservationists taking their cameras underwater, trying to save the world's sharks. ♪

this is al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm del walters. british politicians at this hour, battling it out in parliament today over britain's involvement inside syria. britain now considering joining the coalition forces in the fight against isil in syria. >> the prime minister understands that public opinion is moving increasingly against what i believe to be an ill-thought-out rush to war. and he wants to hold this vote before the opinion grows even further against it. >> dana lewis live in london. it has been an intense day a the british prime minister not mincing any words in his push for expanding that mission. >> reporter: i think in terms of political thrills and chills,

del, it was certainly very intense in the first couple of hours of this debate, and it has been underway for about five hours this afternoon now. prime minister cameron essentially said he is not going to refer to this group as the islamic state anymore. because they are not islamic, and they are not a state. and he is going to refer to them as daesh. he said they are a women-raping, muslim murdering, medieval monster. and he said, look, we either fight them in syria, or we fight them here. let's listen to what he had to say earlier. >> these terrorists are plotting to kill us and radicallize our children right now. they attack us because of who we are. not because of what we do. >> reporter: and del it got very -- very hot with the

opposition also. and in a way it was a 90-degree turn. and the prime minister last night, said people who do not support his vote today to bomb syria are terrorists sympathizers, and that really angered the opposition. he had about a dozen different demands to apologize, and in the end he had to step down somewhat politically and say he respects anybody's vote one way or the other. >> dana that is the argument and the situation inside parliament what about the appetite of the british publish for any expansion in the british role inside syria? >> reporter: well, i heard the leader of the labor party in the sound bite that you played earlier saying that public opinion is waning. and that does seem to be reflected in polls somewhat. but the recent polls that do support bombings in the wake of

paris and the wake of the attack in tunisia in june which killed 38 people, so in general people here fear an attack like the paris-style attack, and they feel that britain has to take some action here. >> if the vote is yes how much difference will the air campaign make? >> reporter: big question, del. they will have eight additional british aircraft bombing targets in syria, when the americans have been bombing for months and months along with the french. they say they have had some success in limiting the islamic state and containing them. they say the weaponry is very precise, but in the long run there doesn't appear to be a big end game solution. and people are worried that this bombing could go on for years in some patch of desert in the

middle east. many iraqis they say don't rel -- welcome the deployment of u.s. soldiers on the ground. the iraqi prime minister also saying that iraq has sufficient forces to combat isil. others say fighting terrorism has been an international issue. there's also new incite into just who isil is recruiting here in the united states. george washington university researchers looking into the background of people charged. and some of the numbers standing out. nearly 90% are men, 81% are u.s. citizens, nearly three-quarters all under the age of 30. france shutting down a third mosque in what it is calling a

crackdown on extremist activities there. this morning police raiding an mosque east of paris seizing a gun, computer, hard disk, and rebel propaganda. one person was taken into custody, nine others are under house arrest. officials saying the mosque had non-authorized islamic schools. the directors of the [ inaudible ] concert hall in paris saying the venue will reopen before then of 2016. they dismissed calls to turn the venue into a pilgrimage site. two thirds of the victims killed in paris were killed there. there is also stepped up pressure on bashar al-assad. u.s. officials again asking for the president to step down and leave power. >> look, the number one priority for russian intervention is saving the regime. everything else follows from that, and you can't understand

their policy unless you accept that. the russians are very concerned about the nusra front, and other opposition groups that are threatening the alawite heartland, so they have been hitting those targets very hard. but they have also been hitting some isis targets just not as heavily. i saw a report yesterday from the syrian observatory for human rights, which pretty much calls them as they see them, saying that basically an equal number of oppositionist and isis people had been killed in the last month by russian air strikes, and unfortunately there was also a large chunk of civilians, including women and children. >> many believe the rise of isil came about because of the power vacuum? iraq. what happens if assad goes?

and is libya the next frontier for isil? >> i believe it would create a vacuum and that vacuum would not be filled bisek lar democratic forces. my belief is despite the calls of secretary kerry and the president for assad to go, the fact is they want him to go eventually. they don't want him to go today or tomorrow for precisely that reason. we have seen time and again that in these kinds of struggles, the jihadists, the most extreme factions often emerge on top, and i fear that is what will happen if bashar al-assad's regime were to disappear tomorrow. on tuesday president obama saying he expected that russian president vladimir putin will eventually realize that assad has no role in post civil war syria. turkey's president calling for russia to retract its accusation that he does business with isil.

russia saying that erdogan is directly involved in the group's oil trade. russia turkey relations have been tense since ankara downed that russian yet earlier this month. william porter is going on trial in this connection with the death of freddie gray in april. john we're getting word that the jury has been selected now. what can you tell us? >> reporter: yes, good morning from a rainy baltimore, del, the news is that the judge has its jury, and he did it in remarkably quick time. interviewing personally 75 jurors on monday, and another 75 yesterday, tuesday, because he did the voir dire as it is known behind closed doors, we have no idea what questions he asked,

but now he has a panel that is acceptable to him, the prosecution, and the defense. and the news is that the panel is predominantly female and predominantly african american. the four alternates are all male. three are white, and one is african american. so now we have the jury in place. the other jurors thanked them for their service and thanked them for their ability to be fair, and now we wait the beginning of the trial of officer william porter, it will come no doubt sometime this afternoon, del. >> john, on that note, do we know how long this trial might last? >> reporter: we do. we know exactly how long it is going to last -- well, at least we know when it is going to end. because the judge has told us so. he was very keen to get this trial underway. he wanted it to start this week,

and he achieved that. and he said it will go no locker than the 17th of december. >> and baltimore hasn't been the same since the death of freddie gray. >> reporter: that's right. there is a real sense that the police have backed off here. and over the summer there has been terrible violence. there is always a spike in murders in the summertime. it was even worse this year. a lot of people feel the police were backing off because of the freddie gray case and other cases. and this trial today is starting in the shadow of office-related deaths in minnesota and chicago, which are also topping our headlines this week. so the eyes of the world are very much going to be on this trial in baltimore, and what a trial it is. an african american police officer on trial in a majority

of african american city, in front of an african american judge, and a predominantly african american jury. del. >> john thank you very much. to chicago now, the illinois attorney general says he wants a federal review of the chicago police department. the superintendent forced out just yesterday. there have been days of protests over the shooting death of a black teen by a white police officer who is now charged with murder. and police in chicago are being asked to release the dash cam video from yet another fatal shooting. the family members say they saw the footage, and it shows the officer shooting him in the back after a foot chase. both the family and the attorneys say the video will refute claims by police that the 25-year-old johnson had a gun. >> number 1 there is nothing in his hand on the video. and number 2 that gun was not in

his hand unless the police glued it to his hand. >> it is very important for me to clear my son's name because he didn't have a gun in his hand. because i also seen the video. >> reporter: the city rockeded with a statement saying and investigation into the cia's interrogation program, we'll talk about the new push for a criminal probe. and armed in the stands, why some police officers say they want to be able to carry their guns into nfl games. ♪

nato inviting montenegro to join the alliance. the process will take several months. russia, though, warning that enlargement of the u.s.-lead alliance into the balkans is, quote, irresponsible. the government releasing documents on tuesday showing that this man was the victim of mistaken identity. the pentagon thought he was a trainer for al-qaeda. they now believe he was just a low-level fighter, he is still being held at guantanamo. staying in guantanamo, human rights watch demanding an invest into allegations of torture. lisa stark has our story. >> this is too serious of a crime to ignore.

>> reporter: laura pitter is the chief author of the human rights report. >> a state-sanctioned global program whereby men were abducted from all over the world, put in secret detention and tortured. >> reporter: the practiced detailed in a heavily ed itted report including water boarding, and other extreme measures. california senator diane feinstein fought to make the report public. >> it shows that the cia's actions a decade ago are a stain on our value and on our history. >> reporter: human rights watch

wants a criminal investigation into nearly two dozen former bush administration officials, including president bush, vice president cheney, john ashcroft, and condoleezza rice. the group called on president obama to appoint a special prosecutor to look into possible charges. it wants the president to acknowledge u.s. wrongdoing, apologize to victims and offer compensation. in a statement the cia told al jazeera it has acknowledged, quote, the program had shortcomings and the agency made mistakes. the cia also pointed out that the justice department previously investigated, quote, and decided not to initiate criminal charges. >> all right. >> reporter: president obama as one of his first actions in office banned these interrogation techniques, but some of the 2016 g.o.p.

candidates have defended the practices and even embraced them. >> would i approve water boarding? you bet your ass i would approve it! in a heart beat. in a heart beat. [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: that concerns human rights watch which says accountability is critical to send a message to other countries and future u.s. presidents. >> without clear-cut signal that what happened was criminal, there is a real danger this would happen again. >> reporter: we did reach out to the obama administration for a comment, a spokesman told us that the president has made it clear that u.s. law prohibits torture without exception. as for any possible criminal investigation, the department of justice tells us it is reviewing the human rights watch report. black friday, marking a new record for gun background checks

in the u.s. the fbi processed more than 185,000 background checks last friday. in that is up 5% from last year. the prior record was set back on december 21st, 2012. some police unions are asking the nfl to let off-duty officers bring in their own firearms. right now in almost every state it is banned. >> reporter: since 2013 the nfl has banned anyone not hired specifically for security from carrying guns into its venues. but the national fraternal order of police sent a letter to the commissioner urging him to change coarse. the union says not having off-duty officers in attendance who are armed could leave fans and players in danger.

local police unions in ohio, detroit, and new york have made similar appeals to the league. the gun rights group georgia carry says repealing the ban makes sense. >> i think it's a great idea. it gives an untold number of officers who have experience in handling outbreaks like this. >> reporter: but the nfl says it sees plenty of negatives, a 24-year veteran of the pennsylvania state police said paid security officers are fully trained and are not allowed to drink alcohol during games. that he says reduces the chance of an accidental shooting. but for gun right's activists the benefits of having more armed people in the stands outweighs the risks. there may be a big sale in

yahoo's future. the company's board meeting on tuesday. the wall street journal saying the company leaders are considering selling off the internet business, and spinning off its stake in alibaba. they are the third most visited internet sites. just ahead, saving the shark. plus dangerous produce, why a recent recall had to be expanded. ♪

the world's food is reportedly getting sweeter. researches say there is more added sugar in all kinds of food. this highest numbers are in latin america, north america, australia and europe. 74% of packaged food in the u.s. include added sweeteners. nutritionist says global food companies are to blame. >> sugar in our food supply is very subtle. they use hundreds of different names for it and we're not aware of it. >> one of the places looking for an all-out ban on sugar is

thailand. that country is ranked second in southeast asia for obesity. a celery recall doing to an e. coli outbreak. last week a california farm recalled a vegetable mix from cosco. it is believed to be the source of that e. coli out break in chicken salad. more problems for rio. new tests finding the city's water is more contaminated than first thought. the water is so bad it could threaten the health of the athletes competing in next year's olympic games. researchers in florida are baiting sharks for their own good. all part of a conservation

effort involving a patch work of cameras around the world. >> reporter: one, one sea creatures here are unaware their every move is being recorded. the cameras are part of a worldwide effort to count sharks. ocean away off of the florida keys, marine biologist is taking part in the first of its kind census. the process is tedious. video cameras sit below these metal cages. chunks of ground up fish are put inside each cage. >> got it? >> reporter: then lowered 60 to 80 feet. now the waiting period starts. between the time that the bait goes in the water and the time you may see sharks could be a

couple of minutes or longer. after an hour and a half, the cameras are lifted back up. on this dive, plenty of fish try to get the bait. but not one shark came by. over in the bahamas researchers captured close-ups of the top predators. the count is far from exact science. how can you tell you are not counting the same shark over and over. >> we kind of go through it and find out one frame what is the most sharks you see at one time so you can't count the same shark twice. >> reporter: for the next three years expeditions like this will take place all over the world. with cameras capturing activity at more than 400 reefs. >> in general where you have lots of sharks you have healthy reefs. we want to know why that is so we can prioritize areas where we

might want to protect sharks or where sharks are in trouble where we might want to rebuild their population. >> reporter: scientists estimate some 100 million sharks are captured ever year for fins and meat, and they are slower to reproduce than other fish. scientists hope the data they collect leads to conservation efforts. >> there are a lot of people that rely on sharks for resources. it's about how do we work with coastal communities to make sure they are sustainable from the human and economic perspective, but also the environmental perspective. >> reporter: getting a clearer picture now is critical to making that happen. thanks for joining us. i'm del walters in new york. the news continues live from london next. ♪

an ill-thought out rush to war. >> a bruising debate in britain's parliament. where politicians are preparing to vote on whether to expand military action against isil. ♪ hello there, i'm barbara sarah, you are watching al jazeera live from london. also coming up in the next 30 minutes. russia accuses turkey's president of making personal profits from isil's oil. an allegation the turks say is slanderous. and a formal presidential advisor is arrested