is critical to making that happen. lots more on that and everything else that we have been covering on our website. the address on your screens right now. aljazeera.com. ♪ british parliament preparing to vote on whether to launch an air assault on isil. iraqis reacting to the news of new u.s. troops being beployed to their country. police officers across the country asking the nfl to change its gun policy at games. and changing the climate using art to inspire action and improve urban life. ♪

this is al jazeera america live from new york city. i'll del walters. british politicians battling it out today in parliament over britain's involvement in syria. britain is considering joining coalition forces in the fight against isil inside syria. the prime minister using strong language to make his case. >> think 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. >> let's go live to dana lewis in london. it has been a tense day as the british prime minister not mincing his words in his push for expanding the mission. >> reporter: sure, del, and it would appear that mr. corbin who we just heard from, is certainly in a minority here. i mean it looks like that there

is probably 60 to 100 votes that the prime minister will have at the end of the day to push this through. he started off by saying they are plotting to kill us right now, referring to the islamic state. so he was very passionate about it in the beginning of his speech. he said he is no longer going to call them the islamic state because they is not islamic and they are certainly not the state, he is going to use the arabic word daesh to describe them. and again, he told the british public and british members of the parliament today, you either fight them now in syria, or you will wind up fighting them here in britain. let's listen to what he said earlier. >> these terrorists are plotting to kill us and to radicalize our children right now. they attack us because of who we are not because of what we do. >> reporter: last night he said

anybody who would not support this vote would be a terrorist sympathizer to use his words. and that almost derailed the debate for him. because the opposition was furious about those words and is there were about a dozen different calls for him to apologize. he didn't apologize, but he did step down from that somewhat. >> dana what is the appetite on the streets of london for any expansion into syria? >> reporter: british tourists murdered earlier this year, 30 killed in tunisia, the wake of paris not very far behind us, people are worried. the terror warning continue to be red lighted here. there was a terror exercise yesterday where police played out a possible terror attack on a mall here in london, so people are worried, so for that reason they support this vote to a large degree. but when you get

into the actual debate there is deep concern over two things, one the prime minister has said that there are some 70,000 fighters they could rely on. rebels on the ground that would then assist the -- the -- the british and the coalition in getting rid of assad and toppling the islamic state. there has been a lot of debate about how effective of force that really is, and whether it's one force or dozens of them that will not cooperate with one another. and the other concern is once you start this bombing campaign, how does it end? and it could go on for years, because hitting them from the air is simply not good enough. and an additional six planes from britain, what is that really going to do? there are also developments on the ground in iraq. many >> translator: today we are the ones that will settle the battle. any foreign force which enters

iraq will be viewed as an invading force. >> the prime minister saying iraq has sufficient forces to fight isil, others they fighting isil is now an international issue. but some question the u.s. could prefer to send more troops rather than increase or continue air strikes. george washington university, looking into the backgrounds of 71 people charged with isil-related activity, and some of the numbers stand out: france shutting down a third mosque today in what it is calling a crackdown in extremist activities. police raiding a mosque east of paris. they seized a gun, computer hard

disk, and rebel propaganda. officials also saying the mosque had a non-authorized islamic school. two other mosques were shut down last week. the directors of the concert hall in paris say the venue will reopen before the end of 2016. two thirds of the 130 victims of the paris attacks died there. and there is stepped up pressure this morning on bashar al-assad. u.s. officials are again calling on the syrian president to leave, to step down. former u.s. ambassador says it is clear that russia has been working to keep assad in charge. >> look, the number 1 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 in and around the port city of lattakia. so they have been hitting those targets up in idlib province very hard. but they have also been hitting some isil targets just not as heavily. i saw a report from the syrian observatory for human rights, saying that basically an equal number of oppositionists and isis people have been killed in the last month by russia air strikes, and unfortunately there was also a large chunk of civilians. >> mr. ambassador many believe the rise of isil came about because of the power vacuum created in iraq. what happens if assad goes? will that create yet another power vacuum? and is libya, i guess, the next frontier for isil? >> i believe it would create a vacuum, and that that vacuum would not in all likelihood be

dpil -- filled by secular democratic forces. 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 in these kinds of struggles, the jihadists often emerge on top, and i fear that's what would happen if assad's regime were to disappear tomorrow. on tuesday president obama saying he expects that russian president vladimir putin will eventually realize that assad has no role in a post civil war syria. turkey's president calling for russia to retract its accusations that the president of turkey does business with isil. the defense minister saying that erdogan is directly involved in the group's oil trade. turkey is the largest buyerer of

quote, stolen oil from syria and iraq. russia and turkey's relations have been rough since turkey downed a russian jet last month. the trial of officer porter will begin this week. john, the prosecution just giving its opening statement. what did they have to say? >> reporter: that's right, del, good afternoon. the trial of william g porter underway as of about midway here, and the prosecutor putting incredible emphasis on the stop that was made when freddie gray was arrested that day back in april. because it was officer porter who was supposed to come to his care. of course the accusation is that he did not. now the prosecutor saying that when officer porter saw freddie gray in the back of the police having a gone, he said he recognized him from the

neighborhood. and the prosecutor went on to say that shortly after that, officer porter shouted do you want a medic? yes, said freddie gray. you want to go to hospital? yes, said freddie gray. and according to the prosecutor at that point freddie gray said to officer william porter, help get me up off of the floor. and at that point, officer porter picked freddie gray up like a sack of coal and dumped him into the seat, and did not strap him security into the seat. so that's the opening argument now from the prosecution here in baltimore. they have broken for lunch, and we will hear the defense argument later this afternoon. del. >> all eyes on the jury this case. selection completed just this morning. what is the makeup of the jury? >> reporter: well, the judge has always said he wanted this trial to start this week. and he seated the jury in

remarkably quick time. he pretty much personally interviewed 75 potential jurors on monday, and another 75 yesterday. because he did the voir dire, the discussion and the questioning of potential jurors behind closed doors, we have no idea what he asked them, but this morning he seated his jury and the panel was acceptable to the prosecution and the defense. and it is the majority african american female, and the numbers i think are 8 african american female, and four white males, and then there are four alternate injury,s, they are all male, three are white, and one is african american. del. >> john give us a sense as to how long the trial is expected to last. >> reporter: well, it started now within the last hour. and the judge has said he wants the thing to be wrapped up no

later than the 17th of december. so everybody in that courtroom has their eye on a finish date. of course it could end sooner than that, but he says it will go no later than the 17th of december, 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 on tuesday. there have been days of protest in chicago over the shooting death of a black teen by a white officer who is now charged with his murder. a secret service officer accused of sending lewd photos has now been indicted. he was charged with attempting to transfer on scene materials to a minor. police say he sent naked pictures to an undercover officer posing as a 14-year-old girl. and the former national security advisor to bill clinton

has died. he has been diagnosed with cancer a year ago. burger playing a critical war in ending the war in what was then yugoslavia. he always went with clinton on his last big trip of his presidency, vietnam. an investigation into the cia's interrogation program. we'll talk about the push for a criminal probe into what many believe is torture. and armed in the stands, why some police want to be able to bring their guns to nfl games.

>> half a million fields will lie fallow. >> if we had another year of this severe drought, i'd say all bets are off.

nato has invited montenegro to join the alliance. the secretary general announcing the invetation at a meeting with foreign ministers. the process be take several months. russia, though, warning that enlargement of the un general assemblies u.s. lead alliance into the balkans is, quote, irresponsible. u.s. officials admitting they i don't thinkly imprisoned a yemeni men for years. he was the victim of mistaken identity. he is still being held at guantanamo. and staying in guantanamo, human rights watch demanding a criminal probe into the cia's policy of torture there. al jazeera's lisa stark has our

report. >> this is too serious a crime to ignore. it's too grave to ignore. >> reporter: laura is the chief author of the human rights watch report, and it is clear where she stands on the cia inthing gags techniques that the bush administration sanctioned and put in place after the 9/11 attacks. >> state-sanctioned global program whereby men were abducted from all over the world, put in secret detention and tortured. >> reporter: the practices detailed in a congressional report released by think senate a year ago included water boarding, sleep deprivation, isolation, exposure to extreme temperatures. >> the cia program was far more brutal than people were lead to believe. >> reporter: california senator fought to make though report public. >> it shows that the cia's actions a decade ago, are a stain on our value and an on our

history. >> reporter: human rights watch says no one has ever been held accountable. it wants an a criminal investigation into nearly two dozen former bush administration officials, including president bush, vice president cheney, cia director, and torn general, and national security advisor. 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 has shortcomings, and the agency made mistakes. they cia also pointed out the justice department previously investigated and decided not to investigate criminal charges. 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. you bet your ass. in a heart beat. in a heart beat nflt [ 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 signal that what would happen was criminal, there is a real danger that this could happen again. >> reporter: we did reach out to the obama administration for comment. a spokesman for the national security council 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.

and that is lisa stark reporting. black friday marking a new record for gun background checks in the u.s. the fbi says it processed more than 185,000 background checks for potential gun owners just last friday. they say that's up 5% from last year. the prior record was set on december 21st, 2012, the day after the new town elementary school shootings. and some police fraternities are asking the nfl to let police officers bring guns into games. >> reporter: since 2013 the nfl has banned anyone not specific hired for security to carry guns into its games. but the national fraternal order of police sent a letter to the commissioner urging him to change course.

it says not having off-duties officers in attendance who are armed could leave players and fans in danger. local police unions in ohio, detroit, and new york have made similar appeals to the league. jerry henry says repealing the stadium ban makes sense. >> i think it's a great idea. it gives an untold source of law enforcement officers who have plenty of experience in handling out breaks such as this, if something should happen. >> reporter: but the nfl says it sees plenty of negatives. the chief nfl security officer, a 24-year veteran of the pennsylvania stated police says paid security officers are fully trained and not at loued to drink alcohol during names. that reduces the risk of an accident shooting. but for gun rights activists the

benefits outweigh the risks. >> when you do that, people are not going to go in to start things in those areas. there may be a big sale in yahoo's future. the wall street journal saying company leaders are talking about selling off yahoo's internet business and discuss selling off its stake in alibaba. yahoo mail and news are the third-most visited internet sites. dr. ben carson may be losing some appeal to voters. he has fallen 7 points over the last month. front runner donald trump continues to hold on to a solid lead still ahead, using art to help the environment, one woman's mission to save the planet from the city. plus dangerous produce why a recent recall had to be expanded.

the world's food is getting sweeter. researcher say this is more and more added sugar in all kinds of food. the highest numbers are in latin america, north america, australia, and western europe. in the u.s. 74% of all packaged foods contain added sweeteners. one of the places looking at attacks and even all-out ban on sugar is thailand.

that country ranks second in southeast asia for obesity. a celery recall expanding to a dozen states due to an e. coli outbreak. last week a california farm recalled a vegetable mix from costco. it is believed to be the source of that e. coli outbreak in chicken salad. health officials urging consumers to throw the chicken salad away if you bought it before november 20th. new tests fining that rio's waters are more contaminated than first thought. raw sewage runs into larger bodies of water. in that makes it a problem o offsho offshore. to an individual, climate change may seem like an overwhelming problem, but bun scientists argues you can do

more for the planet. patricia sabga reports. >> what do i do? what do we do individually? what do we do collectively? what do we do institutionally? what do we do? >> reporter: one artist and engineer is meeting head on. she creates practical scaleable works of art. >> the work i do is invitation to coproduce the future. >> reporter: like this project that reintegrates trees into cities not as ornaments but as office landlords. >> it is owned and operated by the tree. the tree is the landlord. so this idea that we can change

the revenue structure and the way that we value nature. >> reporter: and the role people play in it. the idea behind the urban farming city that encourages city dwellers to grow flowers. she -- one artwork solving many problems, a theme that drives her creative process. like filtering black carbon from the air we breathe to make pollution pencils. >> so we put the lead back in to make a pencil. >> reporter: encouraging zip lining as a viable form of urban transport. >> once you have earned your wings, you can strap on your wings and explore emissionless

radically inextive mobility. >> reporter: and turning hula hooping into an beneficial exercise. >> we fill them with seeds, as you houla hoop you are spreading perennial resources for all of those valuable pollinators. >> reporter: on approach she is spreading through her new york university environmental health clinic. >> people come with environmental concerns and walk out with prescriptions for things they can do to improve their local environmental health. >> patricia sabga. but sure to tune in for climate sos. our special report on climate change. right here on al jazeera. thanks for joining us. i'm del walters live in

new york. the news continues live from london next. ♪ >> hello there, i'm barbara serra, welcome to the news hour live from london. coming up in the next 60 minutes. >> to defeat the evil organization of isil for good. >> the british prime minister makes his case for airstrikes against isil and syria, a crucial vote in parliament is just hours away. russia's defense ministry says it has proof that turkey's president has profited personally by