if we can't offer faster speeds or save you money we'll give you $150. comcast business built for business. hello, and welcome to our viewers in the united states and all around the world. i'm rosemary church. >> and i'm john vause. coming up this hour, the united states expands its offensive against isis. crunch time with two days and counting until scottish voters head to the polls. we will look at the so-called undecided voters. >> this is a historically important day, because whatever happens, scotland, england, things will no longer be the same again. plus outrage over the latest allegations to hit a nfl star,

this time involving a child. and thanks for joining us. our top story, new air strikes that mark the start of a new aggressive air campaign against isis. >> isis were fired upon at a sunni stronghold southwest of baghdad. this was the closest strike yet to the capital. previous strikes were focused on humanitarian missions and protecting u.s. personnel. american fighter jets also destroyed an isis convoy near sinjar. >> but we are told that these latest strikes are not the start of a major offensive. u.s. senle tral command has now carried out 162 air strikes since august. word of the latest military action came just hours after dozens of countries, including

ten arab say thes vowed to use any means necessary to stop isis. >> they called isis a threat to the international community. but still not totally clear what role each country will play. france has already began reconnaissance flights over iraq, saying there's no time to lose. >> the murderers say to the world, either you're with us or we kill you. and when you are facing a group like that, there is no other possibility but to defend yourself. >> despite the show of unity, two key players in the region were not invited to the conference. iran was left out, due to ongoing tensions with the u.s. and saudi arabia. >> and so was syria, which isis uses as a safe haven.

michelle kosinski has a closer look. >> the nation is grateful, and your commander in chief could not be prouder. >> reporter: while president obama honored military heroes of the past with a medal of honor, held the current military strategy is shaping up on the world's radar screen. isis beheading another hostage and threatening another. the threat to take the fight to isis is ripe with complexity. the white house would not answer questions on specifics, even whether other countries conduct air strikes. >> isil involved in a might against the united states, the international community is mobilizing. >> reporter: they say they need to fully complete the coalition first. and secretary of state kerry acknowledged there are real

offers out there, from arab countries. >> the answer is yes. there are some that have said that. there are some that are clearly prepared to take action in the air alongside the united states and to do air strikes if that's what they're called on to do. >> reporter: he says offers mott only of air strikes but of troops on the ground. iraq says france has offered air strikes, one nation the u.s. says it will not cooperate with -- iran. though there have been back channel conversations on the subject and iran rejected what it called an offer to work with the u.s. iranian militias worked with the u.s. in iraq to end a siege on an ethnic minority there. the other supposed non-partner -- syria. and the u.s. will fight a battle of sorts against isis inside the united states. the attorney general just announced his new initiative to

rye to target radicalism and extremist recruitment within american communities. michelle kaczynski, the white house. we'll take a hook at the challenges being faced by the u.s. and its partners and how the militant group might respond to this stepped-up offensive. this just in to cnn, we learning of a huge blast in the capital of afghanistan. the producer heard a loud explosion just moments ago. the duck and cover alarm is sounding right now. the cause of the alarm is not yet clear. and we will bring you more details on this as they become available. well, the fate of scotland's 300 year old union with the

united kingdom is just hours away. >> both sides have held a flurry of rallies ahead of thursday's decision. on monday, british prime minister david cameron gave an impassioned plea, warning of a painful divorce. >> this is a decision that could break up our family of nations and rip scotland from the rest of the united kingdom. and we must be very clear. there is though going back from this. no re-run. this is a once and for all decision. if scotland votes yes, the u.k. will split, and we will go our separate ways poforever. >> it was, at times, an emotional speech. 49% saying yes, 51% saying no. the mo, of course, no to

independence. >> with the rest come asking down to the wire like that, activists are doing all they can to woo undecided voters. >> reporter: she won't be voting in the referendum, but her dad's decision will define the scotland ha she grows up in. at this late stage in the campaign, it's about convincing the undecided voters. >> hello, sir. are you voting in the referendum? >> yes. >> do you know how you feel about it yet? >> reporter: what is the conversations you have? >> we get a lot of people that are already quite committed and want to pick up merchandise. we have posters and badges. >> reporter: if there's someone that's wavering, how do you try to convince them? >> some people have a variety of reasons. other people might be very worried about one specific thing. sometimes there's specific facts and figures that you can give

back to them, you know, if they say oh, i'm worried the oil will run out, which it's sill here, even at this late stage, there are people that their arguments against are so basic. >> my sister is an absolute yes. >> reporter: just up the road in glasgow's west end, campaigners are pounding the georgian streets with arguments for a no vote. >> particularly undecided voters as we go toward it. our sell, essentially, is that we preach to them we believe we have the best of both worlds in the united kingdom, we have a very strong scottish parliament. but a benefit for being a part of the united kingdom. >> i was out with one of my oldest friends yesterday whom i

haven't seen for several months, and he was explaining to he that he and his wife are voting yes, and i was quite shocked. >> reporter: so you are wavering. >> i am, and i was much clear e in my mind until yesterday. >> reporter: estimates in the number of voters vary greatly. as many will be voting for the first time. what's undispute ♪ that there wi is that there will be a high turnout. >> things will never be the same again. >> we cannot easily change it back again if we make the wrong decision. so people should get involved and vote. >> reporter: in the early hours of the 19th of september, the results of the referendum will be announced here in edinburgh. it will redefine the whole of the u.k. once the most powerful empire in

the world. max foster, cnn, edinburgh. it is truly mind-boggling what they'll have to do should they vote for separation. the actual separation will take about two years, and there is so much to be dealt with. it's really beyond belief. >> whatever happens here, this has been so divisive for scotland. and it will never be the same, as that woman mentioned. no matter what happens, whether the yes campaign wins or the no campaign wins. the divisions hear within the towns and villages has been extraordinary. >> even though the yes campaign has emphasized if you vote yes nothing will change. so why do it? >> the economics is the big question mark. >> we'll take a short break here. when we come back, thing the t

football league is dealing with another struggle. and dire warnings on the new ebola cases. details on the new help heading to west africa. that's after the break. stay with us. on my journey across america, i've learned that when you ask someone in texas if they want "big" savings on car insurance, it's a bit like asking if they want a big hat... ...'scuse me... ...or a big steak... ...or big hair... i think we have our answer.

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we help you shine every day of the week. centurylink your link to what's next. the attorney for adrian peterson is denying a report he allegedly abused a second child. cnn affiliate khou says the alleged incident happened to a

different son than the ones were based on the child abuse charge. no charges were filed based on that second allegation. cnn can not confirm details of the khou report. the vikings' running back turned himself in over the weekend after he was indicted on the first allegation and says he never intended to hurt his son. and now the team is standing by him. >> this is a difficult path to naf dwat, regarding the judgment of how a parent disciplines his child. based on the extensive information that we have right now and what we know about adrian, not only as a person but what he has also done for this community, we believe he deserves to play while the legal process plays out. >> peterson was deactivated for this past sunday's game, but as you just heard there, he will play for the vikings this coming sunday. >> and team owners say they will

monitor the situation closely, whatever that means. ed lief and dara shows us the pictures. >> reporter: the pictures are startling. the professional football star called it a whooping, using a thin tree branch 10 to 15 times. texas prosecutors say it is child abuse. >> the grand jury looked at the injuries inflicted upon this child and determined that that discipline was not reasonable and did not reflect the community standard of what was reasonable discipline. >> reporter: we've also learned new details of text messages peterson sent the boy's mother after the lashing. he said he felt bad after the fact when he noticed that the switch was wrapping around hitting thigh. he said i'm all tearing that butt out when needed.

save the whooping for needed memories. and in a later message peterson wrote never do i go overboard, but all my kids will say, hey, daddy has the biggie heart but don't play no games when it comes to acting right. he's familiar with the details in the peterson police report. according to wright, the incident happened after the little boy pushed another of peterson's children off of a motorcycle video game. >> the only parts of this that were different from usual were when the switch wrapped around the child's leg and cut the front of his leg and the one that hit the child on the genitals, like he said, aside from that he was asked by police are the marks on the child worse than usual. and he said on his butt, no. on his butt that's what a whooping is. >> reporter: wright says the little boy also told police he was scared of his father, and he

was often punished in what the boy described as the whooping room and that peterson had lots of belts. he talked about his father putting leaves in his mouth while he was lashed. peterson spoke with investigators in a 40 minute phone conversation. >> you listen to the audio with the police, and he comes across honestly as a loving parent who truly believes he was doing what was right for his son. who feels badly about two specific unintentional injuries. adrian peterson is very self-assured that he not only loves his children but that this type of discipline, at least he sounded self-assured at the time that this type of discipline was necessary and this type of discipline was more mild than the discipline that he received that helped turn him into the man that he is today. >> reporter: in a statement, adrian peterson wrote that after meeting with a psychologist, there are other alternative ways

to disciplining a child that are more appropriate. i am without a doubt not a child abuser. they announced that he will be back on the football field this coming weekend. cnn, dallas. >> that's horrifying. and meanwhile, the nfl players association is getting ready to appeal ray rice's indefinite suspension. >> deadline for filing that is just before midnight on tuesday. roger goodell originally suspended rice for only two games but increased it after that video emeshled showing rice punching his then girlfriend in the face in an elevator. she was knocked unconscious. the baltimore ravens released rice after the video surfaced. began with beating women, moved on to beating kids, and roger goodell, now nowhere to be seen.

>> nfl eacertainly in the spotlight right now. >> if you hit your wife, it's domestic abuse. if you punch your neighbor, it's assault. if you beat your kid, you're seen as a good parent? >> it's a worry, isn't it? all right, we want to turn to the weather now. a typhoon is closing in on southern china. that means lots of rain and heavy wind for you in hong kong. let's turn to our meteorologist. >> very very wild setup. you take a look. the storm system sits about 200 miles or some 300 kilometers away from hong kong, southwest of hong kong at this hour. but this is the perspective. conditions beginning to improve as the worse of the storm has moved away. this morning we had some 30,000 vessels back into the harbor because of the rough seas. we had some 6,000 oil rig

workers that were brought back by helicopters because of the approaching typhoons and 50 reports of trees coming down as well with wind gusts reaching over 100 miles per hour in some spots. 160 kilometers per hour, roughly 100 miles per hour right there. moderate to heavy rainfall in an area that is home across this region to nearly 20 million people. so this storm comes in as a category 1, making land fall very close and moving right through the gulf here. hai ph ong going to be impacted. notice it does quickly fall apart, also very quick moving storm system as it cruises through this region. we had tremendous rainfall come down in advance of this storm

system. and then you see significant damage. we had dozens of injuries reported. some 12 fatalities as well and several lamd slides that occurred. the last thing you want to see a mudslide. i want to leave you with what's happening across mexico's baja peninsula. we're touching on what it has in store for the southwestern united states, and it looks like pretty impressive rainfall that could be similar to what we saw a week and a half ago that caused all the damage across las vegas and phoenix as well. >> batten down the hatches again. >> you know it's bad if they stop the trading in hong kong. still to come, public officials are reviewing the call for help with the ebola

outbreak. >> the disspreads in west africa. the u.s. president will announce ex-panned plans. details ahead. we can save big with priceline express deals. hey you know what man, these guys aint no dragons. they're cool. these deals are legit. yeah, we're cool. she's cool. we're cool. for over 19 million people. [ mom ] with life insurance, we're not just insuring our lives... we're helping protect his. [ female announcer ] everyone has a moment when tomorrow becomes real. transamerica. transform tomorrow. okay patrick, one more stop. lets go base, shark, blitz. base, shark, blitz, break!

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the united nations security council will hold an emergency meeting on thursday on ways to step up the global fight against ebola in west africa. >> yeah. the united states is expected to

expand its response. president obama will visit the center for disease control for briefings on the deadly virus. he's expected to announce plans that include more medical equipment and up to 700 beds. more doctors and nurses who are willing to go will be sent to west africa. and training of local medical treatment also ramp up. >> the sense of urgency is growing. >> this outbreak has killed an estimated 2400 people. there could be as many as 20,000 cases in the region before it's brought into control. >> reporter: six months after the worst epidemic in history, the world is losing the battle to contain it. >> the international response

has been a failure. >> despite warnings and international calls for action, ebola continues to spread. >> reporter: guinea, liberia and sierra leone, the number of new cases is moving far faster. dr. ian norton is part of an international team battling the outbreak. >> we are trying to take 500 additional beds. people are waiting outside the existing treatment units. so the situation is difficult. we are behind the wave of disease at the moment. and our entire focus is on getting ahead of the wave. >> reporter: according to one team from leading universities, this is what that wave could look like. now things improve in the areas of intervention and containment.

the study estimates by october 12th, there will be over 700 infixin f infixes. over 54,000 infections and over 27,000 fatalities during the same time period. at the moment, researchers say all signs point to the situation becoming more serious. one of the biggest obstacles to battling the disease, recruiting enough medical staff willing to fight it. at least 280 medical workers have been infected since the outbreak began. half of them have died. >> it's certainly understandable hesitancy to come to work and fight against ebola. but with the right design of a facility and the right training and the right personal

protective equipment then the risk to health personnel and logistic staff -- >> it is important that they have containment. without this deployment we will they ever get the epidemic under control. >> reporter: medical experts say it's not too late to control the crisis, but they are running out of time. erin mclaughlin, cnn. the u.s. is rallying international support to bring down isis. but after the break, one of the lone voices speaking out against barack obama's strategy. ups is a global company, but most of our employees

live in the same communities that we serve. people here know that our operations have an impact locally. we're using more natural gas vehicles than ever before. the trucks are reliable, that's good for business. but they also reduce emissions, and that's good for everyone. it makes me feel very good about the future of our company.

♪

and welcome back to our viewers in the united states and around the world. good to have you with us. i'm john vause. >> and i'm rosemary church. the u.s. is stepping up its air campaign against isis. u.s. war planes attacked an isis

position near the iraqi capital that was reportedly firing on iraqi security forces. this was the closest air strike yet to baghdad. u.s. central command says fighter jets destroyed six vehicles near sinjar. supporters for scotland's vote rallied. and the vote is too close to call. the vikings have reinstated adrian peterson. the star nfl running back is facing a child abuse charge, accused of injuring his 4-year-old son. his team says peterson deserves to play until the legal situation is resolved. as the international coalition against isis begins to take shape, one major regional

player is missing -- iran. kurdish fighters are calling for help, regardless of where it comes from. >> i think that the iranian role should not be disregarded, and i do believe if they participated it would be better because of the role of iran, and they have not participated because of some other problems that they have between each other. that's something different. >> reporter: so what would be your appeal to the united states, to iran on this particular matter? >> translator: my message is they should put aside their differences that's left for them, but i do believe that my message, my appeal to them is to put aside their differences in fighting isis and not mix isis, fighting isis, with their

ongoing problems. >> now some feel u.s. president obama may have made the battle against isis more difficult by giving away his plan to combat the militant group. we spoke with an expert who says isis is just as perceptive as they are barbaric. >> reporter: the united states now has a strategy to deal with the terror group it described as a threat unlike the world has ever seen. but a leading iraqi expert on isis believes president obama revealed more than he should have about the u.s.'s plans to the leader of isis, baghdadi. >> translator: the mistake in announcing too much of the strategy and this was a free gift to baghdadi. >> reporter: hashimi says the organization has already taken defensive measures. >> they moved a lot of weapons

and ammunition. al baghdadi moved elite and foreign fighters among civilian populations, knowing that the u.s. air force cannot target civilians. >> reporter: hashimi says this alliance could drive more terror groups to join forces with isis. but having egypt and saudi arabia on board is essential to countering isis' narrative. >> translator: help is needed from saudi and egyptian religious scholars. this is key to extracting isis from roots. >> reporter: excluding iran, arguably the most influential player is dangerous, he says. >> translator: iran controls the

shias. >> reporter: he says the united states should have one strategy for fighting isis in iraq and syria, the tactics would be different. >> translator: americans don't have to apply the afghanistan and iraq strategy in syria. >> reporter: it would include special forces operations and air strikes. but syria is far more complex. air streaikes alone, he says wod benefit the regime, arming rebels will not do the job. he believes it will require ground forces. with reaction seemingly slow, he says isis is now preparing for the next phase and may be relying on sleeper cells. >> al baghdadi is now planning

qualitative operations that would target nations on their home soil. >> reporter: the battle will be a long and bloody one. cnn, baghdad. >> now the campaign to destroy isis, the pentagon is ratcheting up air strikes and quickly building a coalition. and among a steady drum beat for military action, i spoke with one of the few opposing the u.s. offensive. she's the co-founder of code pink. when thousands of women and children are stuck on a mountaintop about to be murdered. when christians are being crucified. when millions of people are under direct threat, when journalists and aid workers are being beheaded, what other immediate options do you have apart from direct military action? >> the problem, john, is you look at the last 13 years of

u.s. intervention, and you have to have one conclusion, which, it doesn't work. u.s. intervention is actually counter-productive. it has to be the people of the region. it has to be the peshmerga. it has to be the other kurdish groups like the pkk which is the group that not those yazidis off the mountain. it's got to be the iraqi army, the sunnis that find a reason to be, have their allegiance toward the baghdad government and not flock to isis. those are going to be the solutions. >> you're saying there is no role in any of that for the u.s. to use air power, to be involved in any way militarily? >> i say there's plenty of role for the u.s. politically and humanitarian aid, but the u.s. military intervention is counter-productive. >> the obama administration has made the case that the thread from isis is unprecedented. this is what mr. obama and hagel

and secretary kerry had to say. >> there's a dangerous, dangerous ideology of a brutality, barbaric nature that we've not seen before. >> isil is an animal unto itself. >> these terrorists are unique in their brutality. >> are they overselling the threat here? and if so, why? >> well, none of those clips you played actually said it was an imminent threat to the united states. certainly, isis is brutal, but to then go from there to say that it is about to attack the united states, i think, is wrong. what will make isis want to attack the united states more is u.s. bombing, u.s. intervention. i think that had make us less safe here at home. >> under what circumstances would you support any kind of direct military involvement by the united states? >> i just have to look at the history of u.s. military involvement. i know i've written a book on drone warfare, for example, to see how the u.s. involvement in the case of yemen where

president obama said it was a successful case is laughable, because when obama started bombing in yemen, there were maybe 200 adherents there. and now there are thousands. every time there was a strike there would be an entire village if not an entire tribe that would turn to the extremist groups and hate the united states. it's recruitment for extremism. that's why i say under no circumstances would i support u.s. military involvement. >> i'm not saying i agree. i'm not saying i disagree. but i wish we had this debate in 2003, before the iraq war, because i don't think, at least in this country, that debate was ever really held. >> yeah. that's really the case. >> i think these are important issues to talk about. >> and i think as you say this, it's difficult, isn't it, because you think, well, if there is military action here it

could make things worse. and that's, but on the other side, what happens if you don't take military action? we all admit and we all know that isis is a brutal group. but, does it require 40 nations in a coalition to fight it? and what will be the ramifications? will that just make the situation worse? >> and a lot of people have been horrified by the beheadings and the video. >> absolutely. let's move on. of course condolences are pouring in to the family of davidhaines, the latest british aid worker killed by isis. the daughter wrote on a facebook page dedicated to her dad that she appreciates all the messages and that he would be really touched and grateful. britain allen henning is the next threatened in a video released over the weekend. >> he is a taxi driver who

volunteered to transport humanitarian supplies for a muslim charity. investigators are now poring over the isis video for any clues it might reveal about the killer behind that mask. cnn's bryan todd takes a closer look now. >> reporter: he's a menacing figure, all too familiar to us now. >> this british man has to pay the price. >> this man has become the boogeyman that scares the west. >> reporter: shortly before the execution of david haines, the isis militant threatens david cameron. >> your evil allies of america continues to threaten isis. >> reporter: those who examined the video says there's a reason he calls the british the lapdog of the americans. >> he's trying to link the two

together. those are who the hostages he has. >> reporter: after haynes' execution, the militant threatens to kill allen henning. it was made within the past week. as for where it was, isis is being more cagey. in the james foley video you can see structures in the background. in the foley and sotloff videos specific topography is shown. but in the haines video all you can see is sand. they don't want to give away their position to american and british intelligence. >> reporter: cnn analyst tells us that david cameron knows the identity of the man. but they're not going to reveal it for security reasons. >> they're running operations

right now, not only to try and figure out where he is, but others who are working with him. they may be working with his family to try to lure him back home. >> reporter: could there be a rescue mission for allen henning? they've tried to down play that possibility saying they don't know where he is. update now on the explosion in afghanistan's capital. the country's interior ministry says a suicide attack targeted a convoy of foreign forces in kabul. it's unclear whether the blast struck the convoy directly. it's also unknown who was in this convoy. the attack happened during early morning rush hour. a large plume of smoke has been seen near the airport road. more details as soon as they become available. all right. we will take a very short break. but still to come, it could be the biggest ipo in history. a look at the man behind

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thousands of people book them everyday. perhaps it's because there are thousands of four star hotels to choose from. or maybe people just like saving up to 55%. look - saving you money makes us happy. it is one of the most anticipated stock market debuts in recent history. alibaba is raising the price range to be between $66 and $68. alibaba founder started his ipo roadshow monday in hong kong. we take a look at the visionary businessman who built the

world's biggest e-commerce site. >> reporter: he tested his vision 15 years ago on the streets of san francisco, when he asked strangers if they knew the word alibaba. the ability to gain access to all kinds of treasure. today alibaba is trying to be amazon, paypal and ebay all in one. he has not been under the radar. in 2005, he was named a young global leader. business week named him business person of the year in 2007. he was one of time magazine's top influential people in 2009. he may only be 49, but he's already done a bill gates and retired as ceo of the company he helped found, taking on the role of executive chairman. >> you know, the thing about

jack ma and alibaba, he's not particularly an inventor. what he's done is come in and used existing technologies and beat some people at their own game. so that's really what his genius is. >> reporter: estimates of his wealth vary widely. one ranks him at china's fourth richest man at $9 billion. one says number six. at $4 billion. no matter, his ranking could greatly change by the price of the shares and options over the long run. >> you have to work very hard. >> reporter: he's also noted for his charitable endeavors. he has already established a trust fumd worth 2% of his share of alibaba, which could fund the trust north of $3 billion. with the rest of the money he and alibaba raise from this ipo,

expansion of the company is certainly on the cards. jimt bolden, cnn, london well, though some have questioned whether beauty panel panelants are relevant any more -- >> the talent part got a lot of snarky comments on twitter that we've already seen, but she says there are more important things to worry about than her little rid cu red cup. here's a look. ♪ might be crazy what i'm about to say ♪ >> she says the performance is just part of who she is. so is it a tempest in a red plastic cup? >> look, i thought the

commentary was pretty mean. i thought the biggest thing was that they spelled jane austen's name wrong. they said i love anything jane austen and they spelled the name wrong. >> they said this was a sneaky way to dress up a thin voice with limited range. it was all inspired by that movie "pitch perfect", which i never saw. coming up, off the hook in more ways than one. >> the story you'll have to see to believe. how and why this gold fish survived a life-threatening illness. uys! you're not gonna believe this! watch this. sam always gives you the good news in person, bad news in email. good news -- fedex has flat rate shipping. it's called fedex one rate. and it's affordable. sounds great. [ cell phone typing ] [ typing continues ]

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well, the potential trouble from tropical storm odile is far from over avatar getting mexico. the storm is now eyeing parts of

the southwest u.s. and our meteorologist joins us with more on what the next chapter of this is. >> yeah, plenty of flooding. it looks like a tremendous amount of rainfall, guys, upwards of what we saw a few days ago, we're talking 3, perhaps 5 inches in a few of these areas which would be equivalent of 50% of the annual rainfall in places like tucson. odile now tying the strongest storm to ever make landfall across the mexican baja peninsula. the last one was an o-letter storm, olivia in 1967 which came in with 127-mile-per-hour winds. look at the damage here as far as the wind speeds leading to the damage. 116-mile-per-hour winds out of portions of cabo san lucas. here were the scenes. power lines down, trees down,

some cars flipped over. quite a serious scene for a lot of people. most of the area's power lines also came down. officials saying 239,000 people without power across that region at the height of the storm system. and look at this photograph. just came across this looting here going across this portion of cabo as well with people literally going into pharmacies, grocery stores, electronics stores and getting away with anything they can. officials quickly putting a stop to that. but the airport was closed for all flights as it received significant damage as well. you take a look, the storm system at this point has weakened to a strong tropical storm just shy of a category 1 hurricane. 73 would make it a category 1 hurricane. it looks like the models take it right through the southwestern united states, and flood watches for over 9 million people. and the rain totals upwards of 3

to 5 inches and 2 to 4 for southern mexico. >> appreciate the heads up. life or death surgery of a goldfish. >> apparently. the fish was suffering from a tumor, i guess. seriously. here's jeanne moos. stupid story. jeanne moos. roll the package. >> reporter: desealed goldfish get no respect. >> this is where they buried my brother! >> my brother comes home, why did he die, dad? come on, why did he die? because who gives a [ bleep ]. that's the reason. >> reporter: but the owners of george the goldfish did give a [ bleep ]. cared so much they paid for george to have surgery to remove this giant tumor from its head. >> he was getting bullied by the other fish. >> reporter: the doctor of the

lord smith animal hospital in melbourne, australia performed the surgery. took about 45 minutes. first george was put in a bucket of water laced with an and aesthetic. then more water and and aesthetic were trickled on the gills as the tumor was removed. george's owners were given a choice. either operate or put the goldfish to sleep. they considered the 10 year old fish a family pet. >> just as important. they bring a lot of pleasure. they're beautiful to sit and watch. >> reporter: that's george back in his bond doing well after surgery. the vet says the teeny stitches didn't really take so he had to seal george up with tissue grew. so how much was the bill for goldfish surgery? the animal hospital says a couple hundred bucks. george should be saying thanks.

even at age 10 he could live another 20-plus years. but folks, do not try this at home unless you want to practice on the type of goldfish that feed you instead of you feeding them. scalpel. nurse, this isn't a scalpel. jeanne moos, cnn. new york. >> if the cold fish is like a member of the family, i want to meet the family. >> and john has his say. all right. a short break now. the united states has launched new air strikes on isis militants near the iraqi capital. >> much more on that story after the break. you're watching cnn.

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we help you shine every day of the week. centurylink your link to what's next. hello, and thanks for joining us here on cnn. i'm rosemary church. >> and i'm john vause. we'd like to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. the u.s. launches its new offensive against isis. the but one iraqi leader tells