-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com happening now in the newsroom, attack talk. >> totally convinced, not for the first time. remember, not for the first time bashar al-assad has used chemical weapons. >> there must be accountability. >> i believe we should use maximum -- have maximum use of cruise missiles. >> obama orders a report justifying a strike as assad tell s america, you will fail. also, yosemite tinderbox. firefighters replace tourists as thousands race to save an american treasure. >> oh, my god. >> this morning, condition critical. new concerns for the largest trees on earth, california's beautiful sequoias. have they met their match? plus, extreme heat shutting down schools in the midwest. temperatures soaring well above 100. >> it's just really hot, and

it's just hard because we're sweating and stuff like that. >> classes cancelled, practice postponed. relief not coming at least until the weekend. you're live in the "cnn newsroom." good morning, thank you so much for being with me. i'm carol costello. we begin in syria and late developments on the possibility of u.s. military strikes. just minutes ago, we learned that defense secretary chuck hagel told the bbc the united states is ready to go if president obama orders an attack on syria. and that's not the only new development. within the last hour, we've learned of a u.s. intelligence report that's about to go public. as early as today, we may learn what the decision makers now know about the apparent chemical weapons attacks and who is behind them. in the meantime, united nations

inspectors left for a second day of examining suspected attack sites that were turned back because of security concerns. syria's government blames that violence on the rebels, but in washington, secretary of state john kerry says there is little doubt it is the assad reseem that gassed its own people. >> as a father, i can't get the image out of my head of a man who held up this dead child, wailing while chaos swirled around him. the images of entire families dead in their beds without a drop of blood or even a visible wound. bodies contorting in spasms, human suffering that we can never ignore or forget. >> syria's president is warning washington about military action, though bashar al-assad told a russian newspaper, quote, failure awaits the united

states, as in all previous wars it has unleashed. end quote. war weary americans also oppose military intervention. this poll taken last week as first reports emerged of chemical attacks, fewer than 1 in 10 americans support military action. to give you perspective, consider this. according to real clear politics shows congress getting a 15% approval rating. that's nearly double the support for intervention in syria. cnn's chris lawrence is at the pentagon. it's a tough one, chris. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, carol, but we're learning now from a u.s. official that we may get proof or what the u.s. says is proof that syria did conduct a chemical weapons attack. the u.s. official telling us that as soon as later today we will receive an intelligence report. and that report had will contain not only evidence of intercepted communications among syrian military officials, but as he

terms it, forensic evidence, as well, building the case for the u.s. to go forward without any mandate from the united nations. within days, president obama's national security team will present him with its final detailed options and the administration is already making the case for taking action against syria. >> president obama believes there must be accountability for those who would use the world's most heinous weapons against the world's most vulnerable people. >> reporter: secretary of state john kerry accused the assad regime of gassing its own people. if the president gives the order, a senior defense official says four navy destroyers in the mediterranean sea could execute a mission within hours. submarines are also likely nearby, all armed with cruise missiles. the extremely accurate tomahawks can be fired from 500 miles away, with an ability to change

course in mid flight. the potential targets include the delivery systems that can be used to launch weapons, militia training camps being run by bashar al-assad, and the syrian government's command and control centers. the options are not designed to overthrow assad's government, but send a message and deter any further use of chemical weapons, president obama's red line. >> and any time you throw down a diplomatic gauntlet, your words have repercussions. >> reporter: in some ways, the president is under pressure to back up his unultimatum. the u.s. ruled out ground troops and a no-fly zone, but even a limited strike does carry dangers. although assad may back down, he may not and there's no way to tell what happens if he retaliates and things start to escalate. carol? >> chris lawrence reporting live at the pentagon this morning. already scary scene in

california, a wildfire at yosemite national park is still growing. it's also coming dangerously close to a reservoir that supplies san francisco with water. that fire could soon threaten hydroelectric generators that keep the lights on in the bay area. some 3,700 firefighters on the scene now, two dozen aircraft dropping water and retardant. the big worry, the giant sequoia trees, which could go up in flames. 179,000 acres already burned. look at that car hood. the fire is so intense, it melted. nick valencia live from yosemite this morning. good morning, nick. >> good morning, carol. some good news this morning, containment is up just 5% from yesterday. it's up to about 20%, but a problem here is the thick smoke just up until a little while ago. we had to use masks to breathe and that for us is a constant reminder the wildfire is still raging. huge plumes of smoke fill the sky as the rim fire continues to

rage nearly out of control. firefighters made small progress on monday, saying the fire is still less than a quarter contained, but the dangerous inferno is still rated to have extreme growth potential. as massive flames ignite rows of trees and dry brush. the fire inched near yosemite national park, growing near the size of chicago. more than two dozen aircraft are being used to fight the fire, the steep terrain making it impossible to access some of the forest by land. campgrounds now turned into ashes, this car completely charred. but the flames are still miles from one of the biggest yosemite landmarks, yosemite valley, home of the half dome, a rock formation that attracts thousands of tourists every year. >> visitors are through here by the thousands going into the north entrance of the park. >> reporter: the fire also threatens a reservoir that supplies water and power sources for san francisco. >> remove all the ash and loose debris out of the water and the water gets contaminated, that's

bad. >> reporter: as well as several rows of towering sequoias, some of the longest living things on the planet. groveland, california, is looking more like a ghosttown. the down owner of this bar says it's peak season but her business is down a staggering 98%. >> everybody who lives here and owns businesses here is terrified. >> reporter: the economic impact yet to be seen, but businesses and residents are grateful for the 3,700 firefighters risking their lives to try and contain the inferno. and, carol, for all the fire personnel that are here, it's incredible there's only been two injuries reported, minor injuries, but take a look at what they are dealing with. this used to be a forest, looks more like a moon scape. this fire came through here, tore through these trees. we're seeing these situations all throughout the forest. the concern right now is this could spread even further into the yosemite national park. carol? nick valencia reporting live

from yosemite this morning. starbucks' ceo is going down the road less traveled, he will not use obama care to lower benefits for his workers. those are his words. ups is cutting benefits to employee spouses because of the high cost of obama care. other companies adjusting or thinking of making changes include forever 21, fat burger, and, perhaps delta. delta says health care will cost it an extra $100 million next year, although delta did not specifically cite obama care as a reason. alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange with more on starbucks' decision. >> reporter: yes, we are seeing more and more employers talking about cutting hours and benefits because what they are doing is crunching the numbers and realizing, hey, this is going to cost them more to run their businesses, a lot more, even though you have to remember this

health care law doesn't kick in until 2015, so many people are saying, look, these companies are using it as an excuse, they don't need to cut so early. the thing is, many companies are hoping some changes could be made before the law goes into effect. okay, fast forward to starbuck's ceo telling reuters he's not going to cut benefits for workers and spouses. kind of interesting, because back in july starbucks said it's worried. look at its earnings, missing expectations, cut outlook for how business is going to be in the future, but you have to remember, starbuck's, yeah, it's a billion dollar company making almost $1.5 billion last year. one thing, carol, causing these other businesses to talk about cutting back on benefits is this worry of needing to pass along those higher costs to their customers, something they really don't want to do. but you also have to remember starbuck's is no stranger to raising prices. it just raised prices in june, in fact, starbuck's has

incrementally raised prices, little by little, for the last four years in a row. complicated drinks in 2010, 2012 in the northeast and sun belt states. starbuck's is balancing out the higher cost of the health care plan by raising prices. carol? >> why is howard schultz taking this chance, for lack of a better word, and other companies are not? >> he's got a good record for being involved in social issues, very much so. he sold bracelets to fund loans for small businesses and got involved in the gun control debate after newtown. starbucks is smart, because when they raise their prices, you don't really notice it that much, because 1% is not really that much. that's one of the most substantial increases that they've made. they make these penny incremental increases on their drinks so you really don't notice it, but these prices have

been going up for years on starbucks' drinks, but no one is sort of up in arms over that, because you really don't notice it. >> interesting. alison kosik, thanks so much. it is back to school for many students across the country, but a late summer heat wave is forcing many schools in the midwest to shut their doors early and cancel sports practices. on monday it felt like 110 degrees in iowa. at least seven states this morning are under heat advisories and warnings. cnn's indra petersons joins us live to talk about that. good morning, indra. >> good morning. hardly what you think about when you think back to school. temperatures are soaring. look how many people are affected in the midwest, pretty much all of iowa, minnesota, wisconsin, even back to the dakotas and nebraska. so a lot of heat. it's not a dry heat. we're adding in the humidity factor. the heat indexes making it feel like 105 to 110 degrees. here's what the temperatures are without even taking that in

consideration. on its own, des moines, 103 degrees today. that is 20 degrees above average. 96 in minneapolis, minnesota, unbelievable. look at the 90s out towards st. louis and chicago. is this heat going to last? unfortunately as i take you in through tomorrow, not seeing a change there, still about 15 to 20 degrees above average, even in through thursday, we are dealing with this heat. unfortunately, it's not about the hot temperatures, but how long you have to deal with the heat. that's what we're concerned with. >> indra petersons, thanks so much. miley cyrus, still talking about miley cyrus. teddy bear nude colored undes and twerking with robin thicke. you've seen the outrageous performance by miley cyrus. two days later her r-rated performance still has people buzzing and the funny men of late night are poking fun of something i especially noticed. miley has a really long tongue. >> nothing funny about it, this

little-known affliction here. take a look. >> every day is a struggle and every day you pray for things to get easier, but now there's help. if you're one of the millions of americans who suffer from restless tongue syndrome, there's a wide range of treatments that might be right for you. consult your physician today so we never have to see this again. a message from the restless tongue syndrome institute. >> miley cyrus getting a lot of criticism today for what many people are calling her raunchy performance last night at the awards show. remember the good old days was the most embarrassing things the cyrus family would shake was their mullet? >> that's ridiculous. get this, though, the jaw-dropping performance set a record on twitter, sparking more than 300,000 tweets per minute and miley cyrus herself boasted about that.

nischelle turner joins us with more. good morning, nicschelle. >> the tongue and foam finger did not make for a good combination, but you were talking about the twitter response and the response from celebrities have been the same response you and i had, carol, but thanks to twitter we can share a few of their shots. things i learned watching the vma's 2013, there's nothing you can do with a foam finger that you can't air on mtv. another actress scared miley is coming to her house, got to go, miley's at my door waving that giant finger and twerking my dog. bill maher thought the vma's resembled something else. haven't been in the strip club in awhile, but good to see nothing's changed. actor max greenfield was feeling for miley's dad. he simply said, billy ray sigh-rus. >> that's terrific.

>> that's my favorite. >> isn't robin thicke's mother commenting, too? >> yeah, robin thicke's mother is commenting. billy ray cyrus isn't saying a lot, although he is scheduled to be on piers morgan tonight, it will be interesting to hear what he has to say. but yeah, robin thicke's mother did talk to omg insider and she reacted in how you would expect a mother to react when seeing a lady gyrate on her son. here's what she said, i don't understand what she's trying to do. i think she's misbegotten in this attempt of her. it was so over the top as to almost be a parody of itself. that's a good point, carol, i never thought of that. maybe she was just spoofing us all. maybe the joke's on us. >> i hope so, because that would at least mean a little thought went into it. >> yeah, well miley did tweet about this, and she responded a little bit and it seemed almost like she was bragging or boastful, because she tweeted out, smilers!

my vma performance had 306,000 tweets per minute, that's more than the blackout or super bowl, #fact. there's a couple hash tag facts i could say, but i'm going to toss it back to you. >> nischelle turner, thanks so much. >> all right. still to come in the "newsroom," coach, business, first class, and now could it be child-free flying? plus, george zimmerman wants his money back, $300,000 in lawyers fees. should florida taxpayers foot the bill? and golden girls of comedy, tina fey, amy poehler, the globes. 20 million viewers can't be wrong. please, please come back. "newsroom" is back after a break.

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checking our top stories at 21 minutes past the hour, george zimmerman's attorneys plan to ask the state of florida for at least $200,000 to cover court-related costs. zimmerman was acquitted of murder and because of that, florida law says he can, indeed,

recover some expenses in the case. a massachusetts driver in big, big trouble after driving into a convenience store and fleeing the scene. witnesses describe hearing the crash. >> heard a loud crash and some squealing tires, and i knew something was amiss, so i ran out to my front yard to see a pickup truck entering and exiting the building. >> not a single bottle broken here? >> nope, lucked out big time, the alcohol fairy was with us today. >> it's always good to have the alcohol fairy on your side, isn't it? police tracked the suspect by following the trail of debris his truck left behind on the road. remember the stunning picture from the aircraft showing earth from saturn? yes, we are the tiny dot there. knowing our planet would be part of an interplanetary photo shoot back on july 19th, nasa asked us to take pictures of ourselves waving back. the result, a mosaic of earth made up of pictures of more than

1,400 people around the globe saying hello together to our distant neighbor. that's pretty darn cool. love that. still to come in the "newsroom," don't like getting stuck next to babies and kids when you fly? had your fill of kicked seats and temper tantrums? you're in luck. one airline is offering adult-only zones for an extra fee, of course.

all right, here's the million-dollar question, would you pay extra for your next airline ticket if you did not have to sit next to a little baby? seriously, no more crying babies, screaming toddlers, or kicked seats. it's possible on one airline, at least. cnn business anchor christine romans live in new york to tell us which one. good morning. >> it's not a million dollar question, it's a a $15 question. would you pay $15 so you would not have to hear this on an airline? [ crying ] i love that baby. carol, i love that baby, but i

think i would pay $15 not to hear that sound when you're going up or down. and that guy. toddlers, your ratings are falling as we speak because i've bombed you with all these crying children. look, the ceo of this airline called scoot air, the discount affiliate of singapore airlines says for $15 you can get a no-cry zone, a no-kid zone. seats are $15 extra, more leg room and young children are, quote, some place else. the ceo says no offense to young fliers or families, but we're going to have an area where there's not going to be a screaming baby next to you. scoot not the first to do this, there was a no-kid zone in malaysia airline that banned infants in first class at one point, child-free zones in coach class in that area, also the first seven rows of coach called a quiet zone, putting the families way to the back. there you go, happened before,

here it is, $15, small price to pay. >> asian airlines, what about airlines in the united states, would they ever consider this? >> you know, i'm sure they have considered this because they consider all kinds of ways to raise revenue, but it's more unlikely here. i talked to someone who doesn't see the big carriers doing this here. they are getting money in other ways and a lot of money in fees that are punitive, he says, when you look at the change fees, carol, to change your flight at the last minute or if you miss your flight, $200 a ticket now. have you noticed this? it has jumped up quietly to $200 a ticket. that's where they are really focused on revenue in the u.s. now i wouldn't rule it out. look, they are always looking for new ways to raise money, but most people i talked to this morning don't see it imminent here, not yet. >> can't they just do it because it would make some of their passengers happy and not to make extra money? oh, excuse me. >> i'm going to quote chris cuomo, he and i would both like

to pay $15 not to sit with our own children. >> that's awful, but i understand it. christine romans, thanks so much. still to come in the "newsroom," thousands of firefighters, dozens of aircraft battling a fire that threatens giant sequoias and could actually harm san francisco's water and power supplies. ♪ ♪ ♪ i've got something for you too. (announcer) fancy feast delights with cheddar. a meal that is sure to delight your cheese lover. now available in the classic form she loves. fancy feast. the best ingredient is love. she loves a lot of it's what you love about her. but your erectile dysfunction - that could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right.

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happening now in the "newsroom," firestorm. new concerns as the yosemite fire gets dangerously close to the water source for the city of fran san francisco. plus, the march on washington, republicans try to repair relations. and game, set, match. serena williams' opponent going to the ball boy for inspiration. we'll take you courtside. "newsroom" continues now.

good morning, i'm carol costello. thank you so much for joining me. water, power, and some of the oldest living trees on the planet, all are threatened by a huge wildfire that's still growing in yosemite national park. on the ground, 3700 firefighters hard at work, in the air, aircraft dropping water and retardant on the flames as the fire gets close to a key reservoir and hydroelectric generators. lee bentley is on the phone this morning, good morning, lee. >> good morning. >> so, everybody's saying the size of this fire is historic. from your perspective, what do you see? >> well, the fire is historic, in fact, it's grown to almost 180,000 acres. we've worked a number of ways today, lower humidity, degree difference from yesterday.

i see another intense fire day. the fire is burning into the yosemite park. last night when i went to bed, it had burned 2,200 acres, i think it's increased. i don't think it's going to get down to the hydro at all. >> we keep hearing maybe the sequoias, the giant trees in california may be in danger. what do you think about that, how in danger are they? >> well, they are definitely in danger, but we're doing everything we can. we've cut a lot of area around it, using sprinklers to keep it wet in case the fire does get that far. you know, we got a pretty good chance of keeping it away, but it's going to take a heck of a lot of work and a lot of air power. >> we keep hearing, sir, about so many wildfires cropping up, especially out west. what do you think is causing

this? >> well, we've had a real, real dry season the last couple years. where i'm at right now in the sierras, we only had 54% of the normal snow pack, and everything is very, very dry. you can light a match and touch it to a leaf, it would probably ignite. >> lee bentley, thank you so much for joining us. i know you're busy. lee bentley with the u.s. forest service. a report about last week's suspected chemical weapons attack in syria could be released today. that information has already been given to top obama administration officials as being declassified for wide distribution. defense secretary chuck hagel tells the bbc the u.s. is ready to go if president obama orders attacks on syria. let's bring in chris lawrence, he's our pentagon correspondent. chris, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, carol. you know, secretary hagel has been in asia all week traveling

on preplanned visits, but it shows the seriousness of the situation in syria that he has been completely looped in. just this morning, he was making calls with his counterparts to the defense ministers about the uk and france, talking about the situation in syria and what the next steps may be. and then an interview with the bbc, he indicated that the u.s. military is all prepared, all options have been presented, and they are ready to go at a moment's notice. this follows a defense official telling us that once they get the order, once president obama has decided on an option and the order is executed, the assets in place could begin that mission within hours. carol? >> i was just going to ask you about some of the options. chuck hagel says the united states is ready to go, what exactly does that mean? i know there are warships in the area armed with cruise missiles, is that what he means? >> reporter: that's right, let's start with what it doesn't mean,

they've ruled out ground troops and a no-fly zone. what they are looking for is stand-off options, destroyers in the mediterranean sea, also believed that the british have a submarine there. all of those are armed with tomahawk missiles, which are able to fire from 500 miles away, destroy land-based targets, command and control centers, the means by which syrian officials could launch weapons, we don't believe they are actually going to strike actual stockpiles of chemical weapons. and we're told all of these options are limited. they are not designed to change the battlefield radically, much less to try to overthrow the regime of bashar al-assad. these are very limited options designed to reply to what the

u.s. says is a chemical weapons attack in ssyria. >> all right, we're going to talk more about this in just about an hour. chris lawrence, thank you very much. investors are jittery about a possible strike on syria and the dow down 100 points after the open. alison kosik is watching it all from the new york stock exchange. good morning. >> good morning. you can always count on uncertainty to rattle the markets. investors are worried about the possibility that the u.s. is preparing for military action against syria, especially after those comments from the secretary of state yesterday. we did watch the dow drop yesterday because of that. and it's the reason we are seeing the dow down about 92 points. and this is following global markets, which are lower, as well. but this is just another week of back and forth, which is kind of normal. when you look at the broader view, though, it shows just how strong the market's been for the year despite the rocky past few weeks. look at the s&p 500 for the

year, up 16%. you know what that means, it's great for your 401(k). in fact, there's a new fidelity study that shows the average 401(k) balance jumped 10% in the second quarter of this year. guess who's doing better, people who stayed in the market, who had the stomach to stay in the market. those who have been invested in a 401(k) the last ten years, they've seen a jump of 19%. it's a lesson of people dumping money into their 401(k), just keep on going, because it may just work. >> for god's sakes don't borrow against your 401(k) or borrow from your 401(k). dreadful mistake. alison kosik, thank you so much. still to come, as the party tries to diversify, prominent politicians and policy be the republicans' biggest challenge? when we made our commitment to the gulf, bp had two big goals: help the gulf recover and learn from what happened so we could be a better, safer energy company.

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the 50th anniversary of the march on washington is bringing together americans of all backgrounds, including political parties. republicans kicking off the week with their own commemoration at a luncheon attended by rooins priebus and allen west of florida. as they crisscross the country, people like west and others could be hurting his efforts with statements like these. >> you have this 21st century plantation that's been out there, where the democratic party has taken the black vote for credit and you have established certain black leaders that are nothing more than the overseers of that plantation, so i'm here as the modern day tubman.

>> there are kids brought into this country by their parents, unknowing they were breaking the law and they'll say to me and others who defend the rule of law, we have to do something about the 11 million, and some of them are valedictorians. for everyone that's a valedictorian, there's another hundred out there that weigh 130 pounds and they've got calves the size of cantaloupes because they are hauling marijuana across the desert. >> republicans did condemn king's statements, john boehner calling them ignorant and not the party. joining me, jason johnson, hi, jason. >> hi, there. >> mr. priebus asked you to sit down with him so he could find a way to repair relations with minority groups. tell us what that's like. >> it's interesting, i can tell you, if you do the eye test, pr

irk ebus, he's sincere and wants the republican party to reach out to african-americans, he wants to do a long-term plan, hiring people within the black community to reach out and talk about what the gop has to offer. the problem is, the rest of his party outside of that room probably disagrees with almost everything he was trying to do, but i think he and most of the people there were very sincere. >> so, his biggest problem is members of the republican party? >> exactly. a perfect example is, representative from wisconsin said yesterday, got in front of this entire crowd of people and said, the number one priority of the republican party needs to be replacing section four of the voting rights act, and people in the room cheered. yet when we got into the room later on and talked to pundits and journalists, many said they would go to war with him over that. so that's the sort of, you know, schizophrenia they've got in the party. >> it's interesting you bring that up, because colin powell,

of course, an african-american and a republican, said the fight against voting rights if this country would backfire on the republican party. let's listen to what he said. >> here's what i say to my republican friends, the country is becoming more diverse. asian-americans, hispanic-americans, and african-americans are going to constitute the majority of the population in another generation. you say you want to reach out, you say you want to have a new message, you say you want to see if you can bring some of these voters to the republican side. this is not the way to do it. the way to do it is to make it easier for them to vote and then give them something to vote for that they can believe in. >> so, you know, i'm just wondering, allen west was invited to this luncheon. was colin powell? why wasn't he there? >> yeah, there were a lot of prominent names that weren't there, and i thought that was interesting, as well. colin powell wasn't there. allen west was there. i had a chance to chat with him.

i think it was a majority black room, and that's not really the demographics of the republican party. i think it would have been better to have more white members of the party there, as well. this can't be an effort by just black people and reince. this needs to be an effort to reach out to black voters. they can never win another national election if they get less than 10% of the black vote. >> african-americans voted for president obama, 93% of african-americans voted for president obama, so if it's in your mind that african-americans will always vote for a black candidate over a white candidate, then what's the answer? if that's in your mind. >> well, see, that's the problem. there's too many republicans who think that and they just dismiss 47% of the vote. you look at bob dole. bob dole got 14% of the african-american vote and that was against the first black president, bill clinton. so there's a message out there that the republican party can use, but they've got to stand up like ken melman did, he stood in front of the naacp and said,

look, i'm going to have a zero tolerance policy against racist comments. that's what priebus needs to do. >> jason johnson, thanks so much. >> thank you. still to come in the "newsroom," if you didn't get your fix from this year's video music awards, and who didn't? red carpet season is just around the corner. tina fey and amy poehler got rave reviews for co-hosting last year's golden globes, will they repeat? the great outdoors...

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checking our top stories at :50 past the hour. a military jury could begin deciding the fate of major hasan. the death penalty is a rare sentence for the u.s. military. the last execution was back in 1961. incredible video of a huge wall of dust. yes, this is the haboob that blew through phoenix, pushed by winds from an approaching storm. the destructive -- today. tina fey and amy poehler, the popular co-hosts of this year's golden globe have been asked to do it again on 2014. no word on whether they have signed off.

here's what's all new in the next hour of "newsroom." george zimmerman is asking you to cover his legal fees form what about that legal defense fund? also, we meet the man beneath the obama rodeo mask. >> i never did anything because of anybody's race. it doesn't bother me. >> he said he was hohn oshed to shake the president's hands. >> the boys of one direction open up. >> yeah, it is fun. very fun. >> all new when the next hour of "cnn newsroom." ♪

a stunning report says the battle of the sexes tennis match was rigged. andy is here with us. i don't believe this. >> good morning, carol. 50 million people tuned into

watch king beat riggs. now we're learning the outcome may have been orchestrated by the mob. >> c'mon! >> he overheard riggs tell mobs terse that he would throw the match if they forgave the gambling match. >> you have to -- bet on this match as well, carol. riggs lost in straight sets to king. something believed something was up even back then, because four months earlier, riggs had defeated margaret court. king says the story is ridiculous and she nose that he was playing to win that day. the entire college football world waiting to see what will happen with johnny football. according to espn, officials from the ncaa questioned him about six hours about the

involvement with various brokers. he could be ruled ineligible for the entire season. well, a day after reports service that lamar odom had disappeared after a fight with his wife chloe kardashian, his agent said she knows exactly what he is. odom's agent says he still plans to playing in the nba this season. . the first round of the u.s. open serena williams was dominating her opponent maria schiavone. at first she was so demoralized. she goes over to the ball boy to get a hug. he's like, you want a ball? wait. you want a hug? wait, you're pretty sweaty. >> so wrong.

i don't think we'll never see that -- there's no crying in tennis. did i mention miguel cabrera going to win the triple crown, because david is going to slow down? andy, thanks so much. the next hour of "newsroom" after a break. [ beeping ] ♪ [ male announcer ] we don't just certify our pre-owned vehicles. we inspect, analyze and recondition each one, until it's nothing short of a genuine certified pre-owned... mercedes-benz for the next new owner. ♪ hurry in to your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for 1.99% financing during our certified pre-owned sales event through september 3rd. pre-owned s( bell rings ) they remwish i saw mine of my granmore often, but they live so far away. i've been thinking about moving in with my daughter and her family. it's been pretty tough since jack passed away.

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heating up. >> i'm 20e89ly convinced that bashar al assad has used chemical weapons. >> there must be accountability. >> i believe we should use maximum use of cruise missiles. >> assad tells america you will fail. george zimmerman wants his money back. should florida taxpayers foot the bill? fires, what's up with the weather in the southwest. if president obama turns out, i would be honored to shake his hand. >> a man who says he's not a republican or democrat, he's just a rodeo clown. the second hour of "newsroom" starts now. good morning, i'm carol costello. thank you so much for being with

me. with el begin with late developments we learned that defense secretary chuck hagel says the united states is ready to go if president obama orders attacks on syria. listen to hagel's interview with the about. bc. >> well, as i see it, i think prime minister cameron has said, president -- or all lies, partners, leaders around the world have said let's get the facts, the intelligence. but femme -- you are ready to go if. >> we are ready to go like that. >> we've learned of a u.s. intelligence report about to go public, when they learned what the decision makers now about the apparent chemical attacks. in the meantime today in syria, united nations inspectors are

stopped in their tracks. they had left for a second day of examination sites, because were turned back because of security concerns. syria's violence claims that violence on the rebels. we have a team of reporters on this story, but let's begin with jill dougherty. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, carol. you mentioned that intelligence report. we are told by u.s. officials that the plan is for -- to be released publicly today, and that would lay out the case for any type of military action that the president could order. now, what would be in that intelligent report? it will include, we're told, signal interception from the military, that would be communications among the syrian military. that is what the administration has been hinting at that it would be direct evidence that not only were chemical weapons used, but that they were used by the syrian regime. also that report, we're told, is

expected to have forensic evidence. we've been reporting on that for a while. that could be tissue samples, other physical evidence that chemical weapons were used. then the next stop, you just heard from the defense secretary hagel, they are ready to carry out any type of order that the president would issue. we are also told by officials that this is expected, if there is an operation, that it would be limited and it could actually be over in just several days. carol? >> jill doherty, reporting live from the white house. one of the syria as mo loyal allies is also the stronge critic of the united states. russia's foreign ministry says washington is just trying to make up excuses to justify any military strike on syria. cnn's phil black has that part of the story. good morning, phil. >> good morning, carol. >> yes, another day, another strongly worded message from the russian government condemning the very notion of military strikes against syria.

this one warns against what it sees as the latest attempt in i did words to bypass the security council and create excuses, ones that it says are unfounded and artificial to launch some sort of military intervention. it warns that this could create more suffering, and could have catastrophic d. what triggered it was the a meeting between u.s. and russian officials -- z. that meeting was supposed to work out the nuts and bolts of a big international conference that other parties have been trying to get together to try to come up with a diplomatic solution with the syrian conflict, but the united states has postponed that meeting. rush ooh says it's seriously disappointed, because it believes that right now that sort of coordinated diplomatic effort is what is really needed

to settle this conflict. >> phil black reporting live from moscow this morning. we'll have the latest on this deepening crisis, in cnn's view from within the embattled country. we have some exclusive pictures to show you at the bottom of the hour. new concerns that yosemite has a growing wind fire that threatens two of san francisco's most basic needs. it's coming dangerously close to a reservoir that supplying the city with water and could threaten the hydroelectric generators. two dozen aircraft are dropping water and fire retardant. a big worry are the giant sequoia trees that could go up in flames. take a look at that car's hood. the fire was so intense, part of that car's heed melted. nick valencia is in yosemite this morning.

a new perspective of what people are dealing with. all that stuff behind me, that's all smoke. that's the road back into groveland, california. that is heading toward yosemite. usually on a normal week, this road is full of tourists to enjoy the beautiful scenery and the view. right now only credentialed media and fire crews are allowed in. these were trees that were once alive. none of these are going to make it. it all looks like this one photoo that's monochromatic. this earth here is all charred. this is what it's been reduced to. it used to be a beautiful getaway. for residents i have spoken to in groveland are heartbroken.

>> how difficult is it to breathe there, nick? >> reporter: it's very difficult to breathe out here. you know, earlier we had to use masks to breathe out here. the smoke is the worst in the morning. we've been getting up around 2:00 a.m. and coming out here to set up for our reporting. that's been the most difficult party, to breathe during those hours. the wind comes through, and as the afternoon develops and the sun comes up, it's a little easier. that's the conditions the firefighters are working with. you can only imagine what it's like for them on the front lines. carol? >> nick valencia reporting live from yosemite this morning. temperatures are heating up across the midwest. many school districts cancelling activities because of a late-season heat wave. at least seven states are under

advisories and warnings. another bright sign for the u.s. economy. another report shows that u.s. home prices continue to rise. the s&p case schiller index shows prices up 12.1% from june from a year ago. and that may be due to rising mortgage rates. good news for air travelers who don't like sitting next to children. asiaacy scoot offers no-child zones. malaysia and others are already offering similar seating options. starbucks ceo is going down the road less traveled. in the last hour he told cnn he will not use obama care as an excuse to lower benefits for his workers. as you may know, u.p.s. is cutting benefits to employ crease' spouses because of the high costs of obama care. other companies adjusting or

thinking of making changes clr forever 21, fatburger and perhaps delta, saying -- another delta did not specifically cite obamacare as a reason. alison kosik has much more. tell us, alison. >> we did speak with the ceo a few moments ago, and he pointed out he's not criticizing other companies, but did say that starbucks' success over the years is directly tied to recognizing that success is best when shared. he went on to say that health care benefits are about self-esteem for employees and their families. so it seemsening in case that it's not just goodwill for him that he recognizes that it does go back to the business. he says that shareholder value is directly tied to employer value. that happier employ embrace tend to be better workers, they stick around longer. that's important because there is generally a high turnover in

kind of fast food establishments like starbucks, and this consistency helps maintain the quality of the product. but shultz says the health care costs are likely going to rise because of this. he doesn't say if he was sure about how much, but he did acknowledged a rise. the interesting question mark is we'll see if the company can absorb the costs or pass it on to consumers. though starbucks does tell us there's no direct correlation between the health care costs and prices, that lots of input into what they call their cost structure. >> interesting. alison kosik reporting live from the new york stock exchange. he caused a political controversy by dressing up as a rodeo clown. he's now speaking out explaining his costume and what he would do if he ever met president obama. atheno jones has more. >> i didn't do this to do any

hating on anyone. i did it to be funny, i did it to be a joke. >> reporter: it was a joke that caused an uproar. >> president obama. hey, i know the clown, he's just running around acting like one, doesn't know he is one. >> this is tuffy guess ling, who ignited controversy, an act some called racist. that got him banned from the missouri state fair for life. >> i've had somebody threaten to run me over. one of them wanted to burn the house down. this clown bit has been around for generations, and i didn't think anything more of it than what we have done 15 years ago, so years ago, 5 years ago, when we've done it with bush and clinton, and ronald reagan. >> some conservative talk show hosts who game to gessling's -- >> this is infant aisle.

>> reporter: the president hasn't commented. >> i can tell you as a native missourian, certainly not one of the finer moments for our state. >> reporter: now that the dust has settled, gessling would like to clear things up. >> i never did anything because of anybody's race. i don't care what anybody's color is. it doesn't bother me one bit. >> reporter: gessling says he'll bet at another roddy. >> if president obama turns out, i would be honored to shake his hand. >> reporter: athena jones, cnn, washington. still to come in the "newsroom room" be ware of the habo haboob. arizona gets hit again. [ male announcer ] for diarrhea, you take kaopectate.

but for all these symptoms, you also take kaopectate. kaopectate gives you soothing relief for all those symptoms. kaopectate. one and done. checking our top stories, a massachusetts driver in big, big trouble after driving his pickup truck into a convenience store, and then fleeing the scene. police track the suspect by following the trail of debris his truck left along the road. remember the stunning pictures showing earth from saturn? yes, we are that tiny dot nearly a billion miles away, knowing

our planet would be part of a photo shoot, nasa asked us to take pictures of ourselves waving back. here is the result. a mosaic of earth made up of pictures around the for globe saying hello together to our distant neighbor. that's pretty awesome, isn't it? let's talk sports for a second. no sweat for serena. she began defense of her u.s. by defeating francesca schiavone. look at the ball boy, she needed a hug, and the ball boy obliged. after the match, she told reporters the gesture was a joke. what she really needed was more points. a question for you, what's a haboob? let me show you. here's a haboob.

them haboob was caught on video hitting phoenix. we have more on an education about it. he, independence ra. >> i'm it's like mud coming in your mouth. let's talk about what causes so much dust out there. that's yuma, arizona. what you actually deal with monsoonal thunderstorms, all you need is one of those stronger downdraft and that leading edge will kind of take all that dust and carry it right there, right along with the cloud. that's pretty much it. typical this dime of year. they're still seeing the moisture. in fact the tropical moisture is still in place. they continue to see some of these into the forecast. one of the things were watching, though, is all that moisture making its way toward yosemite. potential there as you see those thunderstorms right over the

burn area. you could actually have flooding. once again you want the rain, but never too much in the wrong place. the complete opposite, we're talking about heat in the midwest. we're talking about temperatures that feel like 100, even 110 degrees out there. that's a good 20 degrees above normal. that heat looks like it will stay with them. >> poor kids. indra, thank you so much. time to call or text your twine? the boy band one direction is next, talking about the rise to fame and the success of their summer hit "best song ever." i'm a careful investor.

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♪ the best song ever? that was one direction's hit new vid video, which took a top honor this year. the quote -- best song of the summer. the boy band opened up about the rise to fame.

>> it was a few days before, where it was just kind of normal, normal, and then boom. >> it definitely opened quickly for us. that first year was, you know, we definitely had to work. >> not like we adjusted to it like a big slug. especially at the start, it was so exciting, it didn't feel like doing a job. >> we still haven't felt like we've made it. i think when it hit us was when we got number one over here. >> and the vm a's as well. you can see -- all of it like -- >> is it seemed like kate and perry and michelle obama singing the song seemed like a strange moment. >> we tried -- >> unfortunately i still haven't

seen --. ♪ . yeah, probably that we get to do -- we get to share the experience of being on stage. that's school. >> it's just fun. >> very fun. >> fun to look at. five idiots, that's the simple way of putting it. >> i don't think that people realize just how big this boy band is. >> exactly. people kind of scoff sometimes when they see the young girls

and this can't stop, because i was this way about new edition in my day. they could be the first ever billion dollar boy band. on the show the british x factor just three years ago. it's really actually pretty crazy. it's been a rapid rise for them. a huge following for young people. in fact, i went out for dinner friday night here in new york city. and across the street i said what are all these 10 and 12-year-old girls doing standing around? it was one direction's hotel. they were all camped out, hoping to get a glimpse of these guys. >> they are awfully cute surprisingly they were booed at the mtv video music awards.

why? >> that was interesting. when that he song won best song ever for the song of the summer, the fans voted on that song. maybe not everyone in the room actually agreed with the choice from the fans, because there were other songs that were up, some of us that think make may be the song of the summer. the fans definitely did. lady gaga was one of the people who stood up for the band in the wake of the booing, telling them directly they deserve all of the success they have gotten. by the way, this movie of theirs requests this is us" there's a certain scene in a certain entertainment correspondent's voice -- i'm just say'ing. >> i can't wait tows it just for that. >> if someone told my i could have picked out that voice three theaters over. i don't know if it was a compliment or a diss.

>> i'm sure it was a compliment. still to come, now that you've been acquitted george zimmerman's defense team is asking the state of florida to pay up. how much it will cost taxpayers. i'm angela, and i didn't think i could quit smoking but chantix helped me do it. i told my doctor i think i'm... i'm ready. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. i knew that i could smoke for the first 7 days. i knew that i wasn't putting nicotine back into my body to try to quit. [ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these, stop chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of mental health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. if you develop these, stop chantix and see your doctor right away as some can be life-threatening. tell your doctor if you have a history of heart or blood vessel problems, or if you develop new or worse symptoms.

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call... and ask about all the ways you could save. liberty mutual insurance -- responsibility. what's your policy? happening now in the "newsroom" chuck hagel says military strikes are ready to go if president obama gives the order. now his defense team wants the state of florida to pay up. upgrade your iphone. if you're looking for a new device, don't throw away the old gage either. according to reports --

"newsroom" continues now. good morning. thank you so much for joining me, i'm carol costello, video you will only see on cnn. we want to warn you, the pictures are disturbing. they're from the syrian capital of damascus where a mass grave has been dug. the area reportedly sustained the highest death toll from last week's alleged chemical gas attack. cnn's frederik pleitgen joins mess now. hi, fred. >> reporter: hi, carol. yeah, obtained by cnn. so a ground furor, if you will of the chemical weapons attack, among them, a mass grave.

they buried hundreds of bodies in that place. another one, a very interesting story of a man who said he made a makeshift homemade gas mask for himself, to try to survive. he said it helped a little, and what the journalist saw was really horrible. in the local field hospital there that have not been buried, because they weren't identified yesterday. still looking for people to try to identify the bodies. but really interesting things. of course, indicating they might have been killed. also the bodies, that also had no -- -- so it seemed as though something as well. certainly from what we're hearing from the people on the ground there, it seemed as though that attack happened last

wednesday, sometimes around 2:00 a.m. and that many people simply were in their sleep and therefore were killed in their sleep, because they couldn't try to make a getaway. >> frederik pleitgen will have more for us later. the american secretary of defense chuck hagel told the bbc that american forces are ready to launch strikes on syria if president obama chooses to order an attack. what might an attack look like? retired army general and cnn military analyst spider marks. good morning, general. >> hi, carol. good morning. >> thanks for being here. a laundry list of militariologieses. the first one up, some people say the united states should just target assad and take him out? >> i don't disagree. clearly we have defined that assad is the principal bad actor in syria. his regime has brought the destruction on its people.

the challenge that we have is the insurgents that egg on his regime are populated with al qaeda affiliates. there are a number of bad actors that have access to chemical weapons and are willing to use them. should assad go? absolutely, and i think there could be legitimate legal findings that would allow us to targets him. the problem with that is you have a downwind hazard. if you can't control the time of explosion you'll have, you will have some considerable collateral damage. folks that live in the area will be harmed by the fallout that would okur absolutely as a result of those explosions. we've been able to do that in the past.

i think that's probably the option that as the preferred option. we have the experience, having done that in the past, we have the precision strike capability, the tomahawk cruise missiles. the 6th fleet in the mediterranean is poised to do that. we have a target list and essentially the air defense and all of assad's war-making capability that he's using right now. >> a fourth option would sort of be a desert fox option, sort of like what america did in iraq, a sustained bombing campaign over a period of days. is that possible? >> it is. a real degradation that i think

is the option we are talking about now. and a fifth option, no one is suggesting that the president is for this at all, in fact he says no ground troops, but it is an option, right? >> it is. inevitably you have tore prepared to do that. the worst outcome would be al qaeda with chemical weapons and assad gown from the picture and no governing body in place in damascus. that's a horrible outcome. at some point there probably is the legitimate entry of ground forces to try to maintain the

president is set to get the document that -- how long after that do you think a decision will be made? >> i would hope a decision has already been made and all that is necessary is confirmation, at least alerting the american public this is an inevitability. it literally could be a new york minute. there should be no effort on the part of assad -- we've demonstrated, or at least assad has demonstrated an inability to be reasonable in terms of what he is doing, so our expectations should be that he's not going to alter his behavior. we need to be prepared to strike immediately. >> general marks, thank you for making it clear for us. we ra really appreciate it. george zimmerman wants his money back from the state of florida. he was acquitted of murder. should taxpayers foot all of his legal bills?

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the lawyers no george zimmerman are preparing to ask the state of florida to reimburse their client for at least $200,000. it's allowed under state law, they argue, because he was acquitted. it sounds like it should go up from there, though, as far as legal expenses, because mark o'mara put in a lot of time. >> this is a florida statute. 939.06 if you want to know the number. it does allow, when a person is acquitted of charges, they can bill some of the costs of their defense. it doesn't include legal fees. mark o'meara can't put in for

everything he's billed, neither can don west. however, there are other significant costs they can put in such as the expert witnesses that were brought in, travel, depositions, even that very intense 3-d video put together by a hollywood animator. all of that could be considered a justifiable expense and that's why they said it could be anywhere from 200 to 3 -- they're still working on the numbers. >> so the state of florida isn't -- so the legal defense fund would city maybe be used for that. >> there would, and that was a significant fund, no doubt about it. the exact numbers are still being totalled up, as we tried to find out. however, we know that even before the trial began there was $500,000 that the defense team said they had to spend. that was going to just things likes housing and food for zimmerman and his family, and security which was extremely expensive. so that's why the money of that

particular fund will not go anywhere -- in fact, if you added of all the legal fees that the attorneys say they had billed, it would be between $1 to $2 million. >> did mark o'meara do this pro bono -- i'm only asking, because george zimmerman has been traveling, across texas, we know that, stopping to get his picture taken with various people. we have seen that picture. where is he getting the money to do that? he's not working. >> first of all, it's anticipated there would be income from a number of potential sources. one of them maybe being a book. any other kind of events like that. but on top of that, mark o'mara has not been working pro bono. he hasn't been paid, but they do anticipate they will be paid. exactly what the terms of the deal are that were worked on with george zimmerman, we don't know. that's confidential between the attorney and the client, but i don't think they were doing it

for free. >> i don't think so somehow. they're lawyers after that. i don't mean that as a slam, but they put a lot of time in. they have to feed their families, too. martin savidge, thank you so much. jay z may still have to face the music. a lawsuit over his song "big pitchin'." pimpin." [ male announcer ] come to the golden opportunity sales event and experience the connectivity of the available lexus enform, including the es and rx. ♪ this is the pursuit of perfection.

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checking our top stories at:46 past the hour, as early as today, a military jury could begin deciding the fate of major hasan. he faces the death penalty after being convicted of the mass murder in ft. hood. the last execution took place in 1961. a bunch of honest shoppers caught on camera leaving money on the counter when a clark never showed up. the owner wants to thank them all in person and give them a gift certificate for their good deed. they're the golden girls of comedy. they hit it big when they co-hosted last year's golden globes. now they're being asked -- no word yet on whether the former snl pair have agreed to a second act. for jay z it's a lawsuit that just won't go away.

♪ you may remember this song. "big pimpin" the story goes back decades before. ashleigh is here now with a preview. good morning, ashleigh. >> great song, isn't it? you know, carol, you have to wonder if it was made great by the sampling. back in 1957, when you and i were nowhere near even thoughts in our parents' eyes, there was another big song -- you have to listen to the background. you hear that egyptian tune? >> oh, yeah. >> yeah, baby. what is it? >> it's called cosara, if the people behind it get their way, they're saying that's our song, and he owes us. you have no idea how much litigation has been going on for decades. it makes you wonder, seriously?

>> i know, right? >> apparently, yes. have you seen how much money that song has made? >> i take it back. >> can i tell you? 1957. we're going to take you back there. >> i look forward to it. still to come in the "newsroom" time forren a iphone? want money for your old one? apple may be starting a program that would give you cash back. we'll tell you about it. so then the little tiny chipmunks go all the way up...

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now you may have a chance to trade in your old iphone for a newer, better version. according to reports, apple plans to launch an iphone trade-in program to allow users to swap their old phones for an upgraded version. how much do you get? that's what i want to know. alison kosik is live from new york to tell us. >> well, carol, whatever you get i think is better than the doorstop that it becomes, right? keep in mind what we're getting as far as the information goes, a lot of it from tech blogs, really par for the course. usually how it goes before an apple event. here's what the reports are saying. what you would wind up doing is

taking an older iphone into an apple store, they're going to assess the value, and you can wind up putting that money toward a new iphone if you're due for an upgrade. the value that you touched on, the value of that phone is really going to depend on the model and what kind of condition the phone is in, but look at this. the convenience of this is really key, because just being ability to walk in there and exchange your phone instead of mailing it off and waiting, that's a big deal. for apple this is a big deal as well. it could help drive more traffic to stores. think about it, you're going to change an iphone in, you go in there, play with other stuff, you may want to buy something extra. that is the -- sort of the golden aspect of this program. >> so is there any official word from apple on this? >> we reached out to apple, haven't heard back, pretty typical. apple is, you know, pretty big on keeping the worst-kept secrets all the time, but you also see these rumors swirl around an event, would, it puts

more pressure on apple to perform, but we're hearing this program is a pilot program at some apple stores and could go into effect as everliy as next month. >> alison, thanks so much. still to come in the "newsroom" a whole lot of skin. it isn't just viewers that got more than think bargained for. the singer is now in the middle of a growing controversy. ingeniously uses radar to alert you to possible collision threats. and in certain situations it can apply the brakes. introducing the all-new 2014 chevrolet impala with available crash imminent braking. always looking forward. while watching your back. that's american ingenuity to find new roads. and recently the 2013 chevrolet impala received the j.d. power award for highest ranked large car in initial quality.

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>> reporter: it was a krovp-grabbing tongue-wagging grinding performance, a stork with legs, even if we can't slow exactly what she was doing through them. never is one of those we're number one phone fingers been so man handled. but now everyone is pointing the finger. >> it was cringe worthy. >> i think it's desperate. >> trying so hard. >> just this side of on-stage pornography. >> she was the targets of tweets. just watch that performance, and i think i'm not legally required to put myself on some kind of registry. her look wassic mooed on youtube. thumbs up, thumbs down on the

miley cyrus performance. >> oh, that foam finger, yaw a little awkward. >> i think she's trying too hard. >> way too old and too vulgar. >> when you sit there and watch what your grund daughter, who's 11 years old and you have to be embarrassed, we both looked at each other and went, oh, well. >> this was as close as we found to matt on the street support. >> i'm in the middle. >> reporter: middle? >> very good. it's art. >> reporter: everyone kept show will smith's family aghast. >> they could believe what they're looking at. >> reporter: when it turns out what they were looking at was lady gaga's performance. the person on the right was just scratching. miley's latex-clad bottom was compared to a chicken's. her look was compared to jim carrey's as a steroid-using female body builder. she tweeted out my vma perform

yawn had 600,000 tweets a minute, more than a blackout or super bowl. she also sent out a photo with her upraised finger to thing that five years ago the onion made this prediction. >> most experts now agree at current usage levels miley cyrus will be drained dry of entertainment value by to 13. >> it's now 2013, but still a lot of entertainment value off this performance. >> be a little more classy. >> miley, if you let your foam finger do the walking, try not to make it seem like street walking. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> in case you were wonder what her parents may be thinking about it, be sure to watch piers morgan tonight, 9:00 p.m. tonight here on cnn. thank you so much for joining me today.

i'm carol costello. "legal view" with ashleigh banfield starts now. sdmoo are they obligated to take immediate action in that country? also this hour, talk about disorder in the court. wow. what would you do if you heard your brother was stabbed 69 times? and say it ain't so. the battle of the sexes that took the nation by storm in the 70s, a sham rigged? a bombshell report alleging that bobby riggs through the match with billie jean king. hello, everyone. welcome to "the legal view." i'm