who's to blame for an alleged chemical attack in syria? the government blames the rebels and the rebels implicate the government in what may be the deadliest single attack in the bloody two-year civil war. tell him to stand down now. tell him to stand down now. >> hailing a hero. authorities praise a school employee held hostage by a gunman who took over a georgia elementary cool. as dozens of wildfires burn throughout the west, the money needed to fight them is going up in smoke. and white house confidential. the last of richard nixon's secret recordings are made public nearly 40 years after they helped bring down his presidency. >> i don't care if i get impeached in the congress, i've

>> i don't care if i get impeached in the congress, i've got to get this done. captioning funded by cbs this is the "cbs morning news" for thursday, august 22nd, 2013. good morning. good to be with you. i'm an marie green. opponents of syrian government bashar al assad say they attacked rebel held positions near damascus this morning. this follows yesterday's chemical attack. scores appear to be killed but it's impossible to get an accurate toll. the syrian government denies using chemical weapons, but video appears to show people in the aftermath suffering from telltale signs of a chemical attack. we're warning, some of the images we are about to show you are graphic and they are disturbing. jurica duncan has our report. >> reporter: syrian claim the g bombed the same areas where an alleged chemical weapons attack took place yesterday. the grisly images posted to

youtube yesterday showed men, women, children either dying or alreay dead. rebels say chemical weapons killed as many as 1300. cbs news cannot confirm the videos but experts tell us they appear to support the opposition's claims. >> these people have died from some unconventional weapon and at the moment the most likely explanation will be some sort of chemical weapon. >> reporter: syria's information officer denies the country has ever used chemical weapons. he says everything that has been said is absurd, primitive, illogical, and fabricated. the u.n. security council held an emergency meeting last night. the council says it wants answers as to how so many people were killed. >> this represents no matter what the confusions are a serious escalation with grave human consequences. >> reporter: a team of u.n. inspectors are already in syria to investigate past claims of chemical weapons used. now they want to go to the site

of yesterday's alleged attack. >> we hope that they will be given access to the area by the government. >> reporter: outside the white house, a small group of syrian americans protested calling on the u.s. to do more to drive syrian president bashar al assad from office. >> the decision making happens from the white house. we know that when america decides that it's time for assad to be put down, then it will happen. >> reporter: the obama administration claims assad has ordered the use of chemical weapons in the past. jerica duncan, cbs news, new york. now to egypt where former president hosni mubarak is expected to be released from prison today. he'll be placed under house arrest possibly at a military hospital. the court ordered to release mubarak is causing further tension in a country already over the edge. alex ortiz is in cairo. alex, egypt is still reeling from bloody clashes this month. so how does mubarak's release

complicate an already tense situation? >> reporter: hi. good morning. well, yes, the prime minister using his state of emergency powers has elected to place mubarak under house arrest following his release at some point today. many people here who back ousted president mohammed morsi though are seizing on this to assert that what's really happened here over the last month and a half, all that really means is a return of the mubarak security state. >> now he's 85 years old. he still faces murder charges, corruption charges, but given the uncertainty in egypt since his ouster, what is the possibility of him actually getting back into politics? >> reporter: well, there's actually already a facebook page here in egypt calling for mubarak to run for president in 2014. now that just gives you an idea of how dramatically things have changed since the 2011 up rising that toppled him.

so there is consideration that he might, in fact, try to insert himself back into politics and that's quite remarkable given how far we've come since 2011. >> indeed, remarkable and surprising how the muslim brotherhood is calling for another day of protests tomorrow. does that also mean another day of violent clashes tomorrow? >> reporter: that's right. the brotherhood has called for friday demonstrations under the motto, the friday of martyrs, but there are real serious questions here that following the crackdown that's happening all week with the arrest of so many of their top and mid-level leadership, whether or not they still have the capacity to mobilize their supporters to the streets. >> alex ortiz in cairo. thank you, alex. well, back here the national forest service is running out of money to fight forest fires. there are currently more than 60 major wildfires burning in ten states. the forest service spent nearly a billion dollars fighting 33,000 fires this year and has

just a few days of financial resources left. it's diverting money from other areas, like recreation, to make up for the short fall. this out of control fire near california's yosemite national park is a top priority. it's destroyed more than 25 square miles and it's just 5% contained. one small town and several camp grounds have been evacuated. at least nine buildings have been destroyed and a major roadway into the park has been shut down. the man who made his way into a georgia elementary school and allegedly exchanged gunfire with police could be arraigned today, and we're learning more about michael brandon hill. he has a long history of mental illness and had enough ammo to kill hundreds of students. mark straws man has more. >> michael brandon hill took this photo of himself holding what police believe is the same ak-47 that he snuck into this elementary school. in the main office the 20-year-old confronted a school

employee who called 911. >> okay. stay on the line with me, ma'am. where are you? >> i'm he in the front office. oh, he just went outside and started shooting. >> reporter: you can hear hill giving orders to police through his hostage. >> tell them to stand down now. tell him to stand down now, he said. >> reporter: the gunman demanded that police pull back. >> he doesn't want the kids, he want the police. back off and what else, sir? he said he don't care if he die. he don't have nothing to live for. and he said he's not mentally stable. >> reporter: hill stepped outside the school three times to fire at police before putting down the gun and agreeing to surrender. >> i just want you to know that i love you though, okay? and i'm proud of you. that's a good thing you did giving up, and don't worry about it. we all go through something in life. >> reporter: ray davis is the case's lead detective. >> he had approximately 400 -- approximately 500 rounds of ammo with him. >> how did hill, a convicted felon, get his hands on this ak?

>> he obtained the weapon, we believe, from an acquaintance. >> the acquaintance gave him the gun or he took the gun? >> we can't release anything at this point but we believe he obtained it from the house of an acquaintance. >> reporter: davis would not elaborate on hill's motive, but his brother says he's bipolar and schizophrenic and has tried to kill himself several times. in june of 2009 he admitted to sitting his parents' house on fire. what the motive was police won't say. closing arguments in the trial of the army officer charged in the deadly shooting at fort hood, texas, is scheduled for today. major nadal hasan is representing himself and has made no attempt to prove his innocence. he is accused of killing 13 people and if convicted could face the death penalty. hasan rested his case yesterday without calling a witness. army private bradley manning

wants a presidential pardon. manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison yesterday for leaking more than 700,000 classified documents to wikilea wikileaks. it was the largest amount of classified material leaked in u.s. history. manning's pardon request will be handled like all others. >> if you deny my request for a pardon, i will serve my time knowing that sometimes you have to pay a heavy price to live in a free society. >> manning will receive a dishonorable discharge. his sentence makes him eligible for parole in seven years. san diego mayor bob filner and the city have reached a tentative deal regarding a sexual harassment lawsuit. the deal will be presented to the city council today. it's unclear if the proposed agreement involves filner's resignation. at least 18 women have accused filner of making unwanted sexual advances triggering growing call for filner to step down. coming up on the morning news, a shoreline shocker.

we will tell you why a giant military ship decided to make a surprise landing on a crowded beach in russia. and later, google is trying to get into the game of pro football. this is the "cbs morning news." [ male announcer ] at scott, we don't spend money inventing phrases like "triple jumbo giant roll" to tell you scott 1000 has 1,000 sheets. instead, we give you deals and rewards when you join scott shared values. sign up at scottbrand.com. see... 1000.

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(balloons popping) i can see the edge of my couch! (balloons popping) a big surprise for sunbathers in russia when a huge navy hovercraft landed on a crowded beach. a beach goer shot this photo sunday. they say the beach belongs to the military and this was a routine training exercise. he says it's unclear why people were on the beach. no one was injured. on the cbs "moneywatch" now, finding clues from the fed and google makes a play for football. marlie hall is here in new york with that and more. good morning, marlie. >> good morning, anne-marie. will they or won't they, that's what investors are asking after they released minutes from their

july meeting. fed officials say the central bank should end its massive bond buying program but they won't say when. they say the economy is not growing as fast as some board members had hoped. those minutes caused a run on wall street. the dow fell 105 points for its sixth day of declines. it's the worst losing streak since july of 2012. the nasdaq dropped 13 points. asian stocks were mostly lower showing china had an increase in factory output. tokyo's nikkei dropped a half a percent. hong kong's hang seng added about a half percent. the fed mentioned home sales in their minutes. they rose 6 point phone 5% in july to their highest level in nearly four years. and the national association of realtors say that's a 17% increase from the same month last year. the fed believes the housing market is the primary reason the economy will grow later this year. and google could kick off a new era on the internet.

the web giant has been meeting with nfl officials and may be talking about taking over the league's sunday ticket which gives fans access to out of market games. directv currently has rights to the subscription service but their deal ends in 2014. anne-marie? >> should be interesting. marlie hall here in new york. thank you, marlie. straight ahead, your thursday morning weather, and the 600 pound fish on the end of this fisherman's hook can cause acid erosion. uice...tom. the enamel starts to wear down. and you can't grow your enamel back. my dentist recommended that i use pronamel. because it helps to strengthen the enamel that you have. and i believe it's doing a good job.

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. here ease a look at today's forecast in some cities around the country. new york, thunderstorms today with a high of 85. morning showers in miami and thunderstorms in chicago. dallas will be sunny and los angeles mostly sunny as well. time now for a check on the national forecast. showers and thunderstorms will roll through the midwest. some isolated storms could be severe. a cold front will trigger showers and thunderstorms in parts of the northwest and more scattered showers are expected across the southeast. in sports, yankees outichero suzuki reached a milestone. in the bottom of the first he slaps a single to left field. that's his 4,000th big league hit. he has more than 2700 hits since coming to the u.s. in 2001. before that he compiled nearly 1300 hits in japan. later in the eighth inning alfonso soriano hits a towering

home run to left field to put the yankees up on toronto for good. new york wins, 4-2. in a tough turn of events for braves outfielder jason hayward. he takes a 90-mile-per-hour hit off his face. hayward sustained two jaw fractures and will undergo surgery today. it's unclear just how much time he will miss. meanwhile, the first place braves avoid a sweep at the hands of the mets by winning 4-1. and the women's draw at the u.s. open tennis tournament just got a little bit easier. 2006 championship maria sharapova pulled out citing a shoulder injury. sharapova was seated third going into next week's tournament. she has only played in one match, a loss, since going out in the second round of wimbledon earlier this summer. some sportsmen off the coast of new hampshire got a bite bigger than they bargained for. a group of fishermen caught a 600 pound thresher shark.

it took them 2 1/2 hours to reel the shark in. then there was the matter of actually getting the eight foot long fish into their boat. they needed help from a captain of a nearby boat to get the shark on board. would you look at that. when we return, the last batch of the president's tapes. growing watergate scandal. to become visible. dove has the effective solution. dove® cleartone™ anti-perspirant. the result? underarms with visibly reduced dark marks and an even tone. try dove cleartone. his day of coaching begins with knee pain, when... [ man ] hey, brad, want to trade the all-day relief of two aleve for six tylenol? what's the catch? there's no catch. you want me to give up my two aleve for six tylenol? no. for my knee pain, nothing beats my aleve.

making it impossible for firefighters to get the upp hand. and more shocking images out of syria... the evidence opposition leaders proves the government is usa horrific kind of weapon. crews are working around the clock to put the finishing touches on the new bay brid. next - a look at what it wi look like to actually drive join us for kpix 5 news this morning... beginning at 4:3 good morning. it's thursday, august 22nd. i'm frank ,,,,

here's a look at today's forecast in some cities around the country. washington, d.c., thunderstorms today. thunderstorms in atlanta and st. louis as well. high of 90 in st. louis. denver, thunderstorms with a high of 89 and seattle, partly sunny. a rare courtroom drama is unfolding in china. the trial of disgraced party leader bo occurred today. before his fall last year bo was

one of the most visible figures in chinese politics. his trial is expected to last two days and he could face the death penalty. the last of president richard nixon's secret tapes were released wednesday. they were recorded from april to july of 1973. and as bill plant tells us, they offer a rare look at nixon's efforts to control the growing watergate scandal. >> reporter: in the spring of 1973, richard nixon was consumed with watergate. his national security advisor, henry kissinger, assured him no one would remember. >> you have saved this country, mr. president. the history books will show that and when, no one will know what watergate means. >> reporter: white house counsel john dean had been called before a committee. nixon was ready to let his two top aids resign. he spoke to alderman as he prepared to speak. you and john have made the

decision, let's just say it's been made. >> reporter: following the speech the president spent the night taking calls of support. this one from governor ronald regan. >> had to say it. >> yup. i know how difficult it was and i know what it must be with the fellas having to do what they did. >> that's right. they had to get out. >> reporter: a call from the reverend billy graham, nixon asked about coverage of the speech. >> what did cbs do, did they knock it? >> i felt like slashing their throats. >> reporter: in the midst of all of this, nixon was advising his envoy to china, david bruce. they're very subtle. they're not like the russians who, of course, slobber and flattery. >> reporter: three months before anyone knew about the white house taping system nixon asked alderman to destroy the tapes. for whatever reason, that was never done. bill plant, cbs news, washington. well, coming up after your local news on cbs this morning,

more on the nixon tapes. we talked with a former cia interrogator and nixon historian. i'm anne-marie green. this is the "cbs morning news." i'm ann marine green and this is cbs news. rewards when you join scott shared values. sign up at scottbrand.com. see... 1000. sign up at scottbrand.com. goglossophobia, is the fear of public speaking. ♪ ♪ the only thing we have to fear is... fear itself. ♪ ♪

well, this month a giant panda at a zoo in taiwan was reunited with her one-month-old cub. the story made big news in china where pandas are beloved, but as seth doan reports, their numbers continue to dwindle. >> reporter: the cheng do panda base is home to 74 giant pandas. even here in china every panda birth is celebrated, but the conservationist says there's a down side, too. >> it makes our job harder because people tend to think the problem is solved. humans really think we can fix everything with technology. >> reporter: they warn that the panda's natural habitat, bamboo filled alpine forests in china continue to be destroyed to build the roads and factories

that feed the world's desire for cheap goods manufactured here. >> the hard battle now is changing human behavior, and if we can't change human behavior, all of this was a waste of time. >> reporter: you think if we humans continue consuming in the way that we do, that's the end of the panda? the habitat just goes? >> yes. >> reporter: isn't that alarming? >> that's fine. prove me wrong. bring it on. i so want people to prove me wrong. we're going up the steps here. >> reporter: on this day she stressed to these american high school students that their habits can impact a panda's habitat. maggie was on the tour of the center. >> the pandas for china is like the bald eagle for the united states. to lose a big part of your country and your heritage and what you stand for, i think it's really important to preserve that and to make sure that they stay around. >> reporter: it's believed 1600

pandas live in the wild today. there were nearly 2500 in the mid 1970s. the chinese government has set up more than 60 nature preserves to try to protect the remaining pandas. >> i think that the hard thing that every government has to balance is the demands of their people, more mouths to feed, more bodies to clothe, more bodies to put in a house and environmental protection. >> reporter: that balance is not tipping in the panda's favor despite the promise and all the attention each birth receives. seth doan, cbs news, cheng do, china. well, coming up after your local news on cbs this morning, more from seth doan live in beijing for the latest on the corruption trial of bo, plus the reaction to the alleged chemical attack in syria. we will go to the state department. director spike lee will be in the studio to talk about the

controversy over his kick starter campaign. that's the "cbs morning news" for this thursday. thanks for watching. i'm anne-marie green. thanks for watching. i'm anne-marie green. have a great day. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

>> your realtime captioner: linda marie macdonald good morning, it's thursday, august 22. i'm frank mallicoat. >> i'm michelle griego. time now 4:29. lawrence reminded us, one more day until friday. >> yes! we're not excited about that,

are we? >> did he remind us? >> yes, he did. >> one more day. it looks like the threat of thunderstorms is ending so as you head out, we have low clouds and fog. the temperatures in the 50s and the 60s. some brighter days are ahead. we'll talk about it coming up. >> and we're going to take you out for a live look at the bay bridge toll plaza this morning. it's the lower deck where we have three lanes blocked. caltrans scheduled it until about 2 p.m. hopefully we picked up the next couple of hours. we'll let you know coming up. >> thank you. a big wildfire burning out of control near one of california's most famous tourist spots. the fire has exploded across more than 16,000 acres near yosemite national park west side. it's 5% contained. hundreds of homes, hotels, campgrounds are in its path and this is just one of a dozen major fires burning across california. this is a bird's-eye view from a helicopter making a fire drop. >> reporter: we are