i'm john berman.elcome back to cnn's special coverage of the syria crisis. hours ago we heard from president obama in the rose garden making his case for a limited u.s. military action in syria. we're going to go through the president's speech piece by piece, analyzing his words, what he said and why. let's bring in our panel, u.s. air force lieutenant general michael short joins us now from washington. cnn intelligence and security analyst bob bear is in colorado, and dana bash who has been doing fantastic reporting is live for us in washington. bit oba president obama started about the nature of the chemical attack in syria. listen to what he sglad taid. >> ten days ago the world watched in horror as men, women, and children were massacred in syria in the worst chemical weapons attack of the 21st century. yesterday the united states presented a powerful case that the syrian government was responsible for this attack on its own people. our intelligence shows the assad regime and its force preparing t

i'm john berman.world news you'll see banners of every stripe and color at the winter olympics except rainbow ones. russia anti-gay law is adding more chill to the cold shoulder war between president obama and vladimir putin. the sports lead. they've had the name for 80 years. the redskins have shown zero willingness to change it despite pressure from those who find it wince worthy. one of those who cover the redskins simply decided to stop saying the word. >>> and the pop lead. remember those mmm bop kids from the '90s? not only are they old enough to drink, they've created their own beer. they're not the only guys in the music business who want to give you a business. >>> welcome back to the lead, everyone. in world news a new russian law banning gay propaganda around young people is making it even more uneasy between the u.s. and russia right now. with fears that gay or even pro gay athletes and spectators could be arrested when they travel to russia for the 2014 winter games, this is a giant issue

john berman is off today. >>> we have two developments in egypt this morning.of the spirit chul leader, he is the latest in the party that backs morsi to be picked up by police and accused of insighting violence. that hours after the former ruler, hosni mubarak on one charge. he's been in custody followin i revolt two years ago. the death toll from nearly a week of violence is approaching 1,000 people. >>> there is late word this morning that the u.s. is temporarily holding up military aid to egypt. not all of it. the decision is not permanent. the u.s. gives more than $1 billion of aid to egypt every year. some u.s. companies have every reason to want that money to keep flowing. >> the obama administration could say enough is enough and cut aid to egypt. but some american companies want to keep that money flowing because they are the ones cashing in. >> you are buying u.s. equipment from u.s. contractors. >> the u.s. doesn't cut a check to egypt, it deposits aid into an account at the federal reserve bank. it pays american contractors to build the weapons and

. >>> we'll start off overseas in egypt, john berman bringing it to us. >> great to see you guy this is morning. making news beginning in egypt ousted president mohamed morsi supporters calling for more protests pushing for a million man march from 33 different mosques under the banner of egypt against the coup. they continue to defy growing warnings from egyptian officials to abandon the protests or be dispersed by force. >>> firefighters in the northwest battling a dozen raging wildfires, most of them in oregon. one firefighter was killed, another injured when they were struck by a falling tree while working a fire in the national forest, more than 40,000 acres have burned so far. the national interagency fire center says getting resources into these northwest fires is its top priority. >>> investigators are trying to determine what caused that massive propane plant explosion. on monday the blue rhino plant erupted into a spectacular ball of flames. the fire mar shal suggested equipment failure or human error may be to blame. >> 911, police or ambulance?

john berman in for ashleigh banfield today. been watching the sentencing hearing for ariel castro in cleveland. he is being sentenced today to life in prison, plus 1,000 years for holding three women captive for nearly ten years. we are getting dramatic details today about what went on in that house for all that time. and we are hearing and set to hear from ariel castro really for the first time at length a little bit later today. as the day began, we did hear briefly from mr. castro, who began to apologize to the women he held for so long. let's listen to what he said. >> i would like to apologize. can i do that now? >> yes, you may do that now. this is one of your opportunities to speak. >> so as you could hear, ariel castro apologized. he also said he expects to speak later on today. we assume that will be at length. people who know mr. castro have said he will talk for a period of time and let the world see the real ariel castro, whatever that means. as i said, it has been a day of high drama there. we have been learning de

i'm zoraida sambolin. >> i'm john berman.30 minutes after the hour. >>> we have more on the top story, a deadly shooting in pennsylvania. witnesses say a man opened fire during a monthly meeting of supervisors. poppy harlow is live for us. what is the latest here? >> good morning to you, zoraida. this is a town that is never in the newspapers. it is today because of the horror that unfolded here. last night, a gunman bursting into a meeting with 15 people. it was a town supervisors meeting. this gunman shooting through the windows outside before he got inside, then sprang bullets throughout the meeting killing three and injuring others. heroism prevailing. police say that two people tackled the gunman to the ground, preventing more deaths. listen. >> they absolutely would have saved lives. he was entering the building, again, with a handgun and certainly his intent had been shown he wanted to harm the people. certainly, if they would not have done that, he would have killed or injured other people. >> reporter: now, as you he

but let's turn it over to john berman. he's picking up our coverage in "the lead." >> thank you so much, wolf. i'm john berman filling in for jake tapper while he's away. the president just wrapped up his press conference as you saw. he's expected to leave tomorrow for a week-long vacation with his family on martha's vineyard. he covered everything from the controversy over edward snowden and he had some fascinating words about mr. snowden to the investigation of benghazi and his constant battle with congressional republicans, especially over health care. we will delve into all the news and get reactions from top republicans. let's begin with jessica yellin. jessica joins us from the east room where the president just wrapped up. jessica, as i said, a range of topics but his statement in the thrust of what the president seemed to want to talk about were the surveillance programs that edward snowden shined so much light on. >> reporter: he laid out a framework for more information to come from the administration in the next

. >> am john berman, it is friday and i need it. it is august 16th. >>> a teenage girl kidnapped and taken on a 1,000 mile journey made her first public appearance. as we find out more about what was found inside the home of the man that took her captive. we have the story. >> hannah anderson's arrival at a family function was a surprise. >> this was an unexpected reunion. all our friends were here. itis like we haven't skipped a beat. >> they were invited to this restaurant, but not allowed inside during the reunion. >> hannah sends her love. she is doing good day by day. >> hearing hannah strong and pray for hannah t-shirts, neighbors, friends and the grandparents helped to raise money for the mother and brother's funeral. >> i wanted to say thank you all for coming. this is a small community that we are part of. the community came together, put on a great fund-raiser for hannah, her future and healing. >> what does it mean to go through this ordeal? >> it's horrifying he did what he did. it's sickening. >> reporter: alf ticket sa

i'm john berman and this is "the lead." your retirement account taking a hit from the story on syria. the national lead, an outbreak of measles among followers of a texas mega church. did their religious beliefs help the virus spread? and the buried lead. one more second and we could have lost another leader to an assassin's bullet. for the first time we're hearing what the president really saw the moment a member of the manson family tried to kill him. >>> hi, everyone. i'm john berman filling in for jake tapper today. the money lead, ta major reason for a drop today could be the bloody war that america might be on the verge of joining. >> the closing bell rang about ament and a half ago. you can always count on uncertainty to rattle the market. that's exactly what happened here with syria's news these days. investors are on edge over the possibility of a u.s. military strike on syria. any time we have geopolitical or war-related issues, you're going to see investors hit the sell button and pile up on assets that are more

john berman is sitting in for jake tapper. "the lead" starts right now. >>> the next few hours are crucial if the obama administration really plans to strike syria. i'm john berman and this is "the lead." the world lead. after complaining they're getting left in the dark, some lawmakers will soon hear what the administration has on syria. can the skeptics be won over? we'll talk to a lawmaker in the president's own party who is dead set against intervention. and would a strike on the syrian regime put us on the same side as al qaeda? would it trigger retaliation against u.s. ally israel? the complications of getting involved in another middle east complex. and the sports lead. they were once gods of gridiron who say the nfl profited off the trauma to their brains. now the league is paying up but is it enough for the thousands of players who say they will never be the same again? i'm john berman filling in for jake tapper today. we begin with the world lead and breaking news. just what does the u.s. have on assad? was he person

i'm john berman and this is "the lead." the world lead, undeniable. that's the word secretary of state john kerry just used to describe the suspected chemical attack in syria. the question now, is the president going to act? the national lead. 150,000 acres and growing fast. a massive wildfire burning through one of our natural wonders, imposing a serious threat to life back here in civilization. and the sports lead. new jersey governor chris christie getting his howard stern on, taking over the airwaves and hosting a sports radio show. did the governor miss his real call as a shock jock? >>> i'm john berman filling in for jake tapper, who is off today. we begin with "the world lead." with four warships parked within striking distance of syria, the u.s. is sending its most aggressive message yet to the country. from the way secretary of state john kerry is talking, it seems the u.s. has already come to its own conclusion about what happened. >> the indiscriminate slaughter of women and children, the killing of innocent bystanders by chemical weapons i

i'm john berman. back to the world lead.such disdain for france and their opposition to the world in iraq, that peop people -- >> i strongly believe in the need for a tough response to the use of chemical weapons, but i also believe in respecting the will of this house of commons. it is very clear tonight that while the house has not passed a motion, it is clear to me that the british parliament reflecting the views of the british people does not want to see british military action. i get that and the government will act accordingly. >> we go live to the state department with the latest on the international reaction to a possible strike. what is the latest? >> reporter: the latest is they'll definitely be calling them french fries at the white house once again. i think that france obviously considered a very close ally, the fact that the british did not -- are not taking part i don't think is very important. tabtically certainly the u.s. is willing to go it alone and has the military resources to do so but symbolically it is

first up john berman in for michaela. >> from the w"the washington p,a new irs chief. n will lead the agency. >>> a new study says almost every man can trace his life to a man who lived 130,000 years ago the mother of all women may have been alive at the same time but this ancient adam and eve probably never met, no idea how the science or biology works there. "usa today" james cameron will make three "avatar" sequels the first to hit theaters in 2016. the original is the highest grossing movie ever. time for christine romans "i see you" with your business news. >> record highs on wall street, futures pointing higher this morning. the s&p 500 and the dow both closed at record highs up 20% this year. >>> american oil reserves posted their biggest gain ever last year in 2011 actually, the u.s. had 29 billion barrels of reserves, the 15% increase from the year before largely thanks to controversial fracking technique. >>> netflix offers different profiles for each user. it won't recommend spongebob because your kids like it, life changing technology that all of us will fee

i'm john berman and this is "the lead."aking a hit from the story on syria. the national lead, an outbreak of measles among followers of a texas mega church. did their religious beliefs help the virus spread? and the buried

thanks to john berman for that report. >>> i want to end this hour on this.that's happening above our heads right now. i'm talking way above our heads. in space. a couple of russian kos mo naughts are outside the international space station right now on a space walk. they're running power and communication cables, getting ready for a science module due to arrive in the coming months. let me wish them only the best. that does it for me. thanks very much for watch ing. i'll be back in t"the situation room" 5:00 p.m. eastern later today. in the meantime, brooke baldwin picks up our coverage right now. >>> machine gunfire. tear gas. military choppers. the chaos erupting in e yipt. protesters calling it a friday of anger as the government crackdown shows no signs of slowing down. i'm brooke baldwin. the news is now. >>> a dad begs chris christie, don't let my daughter die. today, the republican governor reveals his decision on weed. >> what if i told you you were actually swinging right next to this little boy. >> what? >> do missing posters really help? wait unti

i'm john berman in for christine romans. if nobody sees it, will it change the way you watch movies for good? call it hollywood's latest disaster epic. no one in the film business wants to see a sequel, an avalanche of mega movies have fallen with a thud. columbia pictures "after earth," disney's lone ranger" and i ppd all fell short of expectations. with price tags exceeding $100 million, these productions will be lucky to make back half of what they spent. steven spielberg director of the original blockbuster "jaws" says all these busts will change what you end up paying at the box office. >> eventually, you will have to pay $25 to see the next "ironman." and you will probably have to pay $7 to see "lincoln." >> reporter: like many other american industry, globalization has hit hollywood and business a abroad has helped the bottom line. "ironman 3" made about $300 million at home but more than double that abroad. it turns out the international market has a taste for the epic computer effect heavy spectacles. that's just on

john berman is sitting in for jake tapper.ial if the obama administration really plans to strike syria. i'm john berman and this is "the lead." the world lead. after complaining they're getting left in the dark, some lawmakers will soon hear what the administration has on syria. can the skeptics be won over? we'll talk to a lawmaker in the president's own party who is dead set against intervention. and would a strike on the syrian regime put us on the same side as al qaeda? would it trigger retaliation against u.s. ally israel? the

i'm john berman. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. the hour. >> the top story, the deadly, bloody, crackdown in egypt. it is quiet there this morning. this was the scene yesterday as they battled in the streets of cairo and beyond. 421 people are now dead, since yesterday. thousands more injured and the prospects for a resolution for the conflict, they seem murky at best. that may be an overstatement. reza is live in cairo. he's been in the middle of it all since yesterday. give us aceps of the feeling in the city today. quiet, but for how long? >> reporter: that's not clear, but it is quiet at the moment, john. of course, thursdays in egypt are the end of the workweek. usually cairo is buzzing with activity. it's calm and probably because of the state of emergency that was declared late last night after an awful day. it's difficult to describe the outrage, the grief, the widespread bloodshed we witnessed yesterday. many describing what happened yesterday as a massacre and considering the death toll, many will say it's a fitting descr

john berman. >> that trailer voice leaves something to be desired.d of all, do you know the ratings the premiere shark week were the highest ratings they have ever had in we are talking in 26 years more people watch that show than ever before. as that is happening, the number of shark sightings in some parts of the country are on the rise too. scientists say when it comes to these interactions, it is much more a case of human invasion. >> reporter: call it the summer of the shark. the underwater predators are making a big splash on popular shows like "sharknado" in discovery channel's shark peek. >> this thing is a monster. >> it turns occupy the hammer heads and great whites aren't just invading your tv screen. the shark sightings on the rise in the real world too from the carolinas. >> i saw him and he jumped up and bit me. i tried to push him away. he got off. >> reporter: so florida. >> trying to catch a wave and, all of a sudden, i feel something on my foot. >> reporter: look what these guys caught off the california coast. >> if you had fallen

. >> i'm john berman. it's been an interesting morning already. it's tuesday, august 13th, 5:00 a.m. in the east. we begin with the story of hannah anderson. the 16-year-old girl is home. we are piecing together the details of the ordeal she went through. we are finding out more about what happened on the 1,000 mile journey taken from her home by a family friend. miguel marquez has our report. >> reporter: more than a week after being kidnapped by a family friend, hannah anderson is waking up, released from her captor, the 16-year-old teen reunited with her father. >> i'm very proud of her and love her very much. >> reporter: the ordeal hardly from over. she is learning her mother and brother were murdered. they were found in a burned home east of san diego. >> the healing process will be slow. >> reporter: dimaggio is believed to have kidnapped hannah leading to an amber alert. the manhunt stretching up and down the west coast. she was found 1,000 miles from dimaggio's home. he had a rifle where he held hannah. >> the only way to access it is by

i'm john berman. >> i'm zoraida sambolin.t's 30 minutes after the hour. >> there has been hell to pay because we did not buy the winning ticket. zoraida is upset about that. >> yes. >> it is a good morning for people in new jersey and minnesota. someone there or groups there we don't know yet, they won or split the power ball jackpot. there were three winning tickets sold. >> ours was bought in new jersey. >> you are so bitter. let me tell you the numbers. 5, 25, 30, 58, 59 and the power ball number was the big 32. zain is in south brunswick, new jersey. not the place where we bought our tickets here at cnn. it is a supermarket where one was sold. >> reporter: there's so much we don't know whether they were an individual or group. we know there are three winning tickets across the country tworks in new jersey. new jersey only joined power ball in 2010. they have already had five winners, five winning tickets. one comes from where i'm standing, south brunswick, new jersey. population, 43,000. i spoke to one of the workers at t

i'm christine romans in for john berman. >> nice to you have. i'm zoraida sambolin. it's 5:00 a.m. in the east. >>> up first, we're learning more about the suspected gunman. 20-year-old michael brandon hill is in custody this morning. witnesses say the shooter told them he wasn't afraid to die. remarkably no one was injured in the shooting but as cnn's david mattingly telling us hundreds of students had the scare of their lives. >> reporter: hundreds of kids ages 4 to 10, running for safety as gunfire erupts inside the school. inside, the gunman tells them to call a tv station. >> i never discovered anything like this. he wanted to us start filming as police died. >> reporter: the gunman fired half a dozen times. officers returned fire when one office worker convinced him to surrender. >> i held him the whole time. because he actually wanted to go out and start shooting again. i just started telling him my life story. asked him to put the weapons down. >> reporter: police searched the suspect's car for explosives. children had to be escorted away from the school as a precaution bef

i'm john berman. >> he's cute. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. 30 minutes past the hour. >> the top story, theat u.s. diplomatic posts around the world. nearly two dozen u.s. embassies and consulates shut down today. among them, the post in abu dhabi. john is live there this morning. what is the latest? >> reporter: this was supposed to be a 24 hour closure in abu dhabi. one day became six. to make this clearer, we have the end of ramadan holiday. it is going to start on wednesday. so, this is basically what we are seeing monday and tuesday, a bridge to that holiday is going back to the strategy that the state department didn't want to get caught flat footed as they did in september 2012. a more cautious approach. let's give you a sense of the landscape. you get an idea of what we are looking at in terms of the u.s. embassy. it's the tall, slanted building here. it stands out in that quarter, which is a mile away from our operation here. normally, on the new circumstances, we can't go into that quarter with a still or video camera. that's how tight security normally is in the uae. it's worth r

well i'm john berman in washington d.c. and here's what's coming up tonight on the big picture come january most of the major parts of obamacare will go into effect republicans are trying to sabotage a law that will give tens of millions of americans access to affordable health care but could the republican plan backfire that and more tonight big picture politics and also the twenty twelve presidential election was the longest and most expensive in american history besides all the famous romney flaws while will history remember about the election that put the two americas on a collision course with each other on the washington post's dan balz at the bottom of the hour and.

. >>> i'm john berman, filling in for jake tapper today. we begin with the the national lead. they came from all over the country, by car, by train, by bus, 250,000 people packed into the national mall here in washington, d.c. the day was hot, they marched through the nation's capital. they were standing in the sun mopping sweat from their brows when the moment arrived, when dr. martin luther king jr. shared his dream. >> i have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. i have a dream today. >>> it became clear that day with it wasn't clear already that change was coming. this was the scene at the national mall on that day, august 28th, 1963. and this was the scene at the mall today. on the 50th anniversary of the march on washington. 50 years since dr. king took the podium with a vision of abraham lincoln looking on from the memorial perch. the king family rang a bell at the mall in unison with bells at more than 300 sites across the country from alabama to

. >> and i'm john berman, it's wednesday, 5:00 a.m. in the east. >>> and president obama is speaking out for the terror threat that led to the closures overseas. on nbc the president said a worldwide shut down and temporary shutdown over the world was necessary and it was warranted. >> it's significant enough that we're taking every precaution. we had already done a lot to bolster embassy security around the world. but especially in the middle east and north africa where the threats tend to be high of the. and whenever we see a threat stream that we think is specific enough that we can take some specific precautions within a certain time frame, then we do so. >> the office also turned to a wide range of other topics. president obama called for more dialogue about the trayvon martin case. he defended obama care and insisted the u.s. does not have a domestic spying system, just systems to track phone numbers and e-mail addresses connected to potential terrorists. he also said he was disappointed that russia gave temporary amnesty to nsa

i'm john berman. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. it's wednesday, august 14th, 35k a.m. in the east. we're going to begin with a tense 12-hour standoff at a bank in louisiana. it is now over, and this morning with the hostage-taker dead and two of the hostages shot. it happened in st. joseph, that's near louisiana's northeast border near mississippi. alina, what you can tell us? >> reporter: zoraida, this is still a very active scene. we're going to zoom into the bank so you can see the police remain here. investigators continue to comb the bank for vefd. now louisiana state police have identified the alleged hostage-taker as 20-year-old fuaed abdo ahmed. authorities say ahmed walked into this tensas state bank with a gun and took three employees hostage-over the course of 12 you hours, ahmed made several demands, even leased a female hostage. just before midnight, local time, a s.w.a.t. team stormed the bank because the gunman, according to police, threatened to kill the hostages. ahmed was shot dead. police say he shot dead both ho

i'm john berman in for christine romans and this is "your $$$$$." so remember these? this is a newspaper. maybe you've never flipped through one. maybe your kids have never seen them but newspaper readership is falling. print ad dollars drying up and digital ads can't fill the hole fast enough. for every $15 newspapers lose in print revenue, they gain just $1 in online revenue. the business model clearly struggling and price tags flu plummeting so enter the billionaire buyer. 70 million bucks is how much john henry paid for "the boston globe." $334 million is how much warren buffett spent on 28 daily newspapers according to the company's 2012 an all report. buffett has bought more papers this year and then there's the amazon founder shelling out $250 million for "the washington post." 1% of his personal fortune. as our jim accosta reports, billionaires have gone shopping in america's newsrooms. >> watergate brought down a president. >> have to get something on paper. >> but it made a newspaper. a triumph not just for reporters, bob woodward and carl bernstein but also

zero heartburn. >>> i'm john berman in new york.e're back with cnn's special coverage of the crisis in syria. while president obama seeked congressional supposed for the for military action in syria a recent poll shows that american s do seem split on tissue. nbc poll conducted a few days ago found that 42% support u.s. military action in syria but 50% are opposed. i should tell you that number is essentially split when you ask them if they support a limited operation. a majority supports that. meanwhile, though, people took to the streets today as we showed you before to make their voices heard. there were some small demonstrations in several u.s. cities and around the world to protest a possible u.s. military action on syria. >> hands off syria! obama, hands off syria! >> dozens rallied outside the white house, right outside where the president was spending his entire day. in australia people gathered in sydney against military intervention in syria. and in london, where the uk parliament voted this week to not join the u.s. milit

"early start" anchor john berman joins us with more.ter. >> you call him a little critter and in the science community we call this mammal history. it has been more than 35 years since we last identified a new mammal here in the western hemisphere. it is safe to say this little ball of fur is a big, furry deal. grumpy cat might be gripping, cute dogs captivating but there's a groundbreaking development in the world of develop, meet the olinguito. we didn't know it existed. researchers announced the rare discovery thursday. it's long thought to be his sister species the olingo. >> you have not seen an animal quite like this. >> reporter: weighing in at two pounds with wide, big brown eyes, even the claws are cute. >> it is not dangerous. this creature the olinguito belongs to a group of mammals we call the carnivores but it's primarily a fruit eater or eating nectar. >> a cross between a house cat and teddy bear has been hidden all this time, spotted in the high tree tops in the tree forests of colombia and ecuador. it's active at night

thanks so much, john berman. >>> watching your watchers. is your television watching you?at this means is i could be sitting here watching tv from my bedroom and you could be anywhere in the world looking at this image of me watching. >> yep. i could be sitting at a laptop in a cafe in paris. >>> when you're watching tv like right now, this very moment, you probably don't think someone could be on the other side watching you back. an alarming security flaw in samsung's smartvs makes this possible. loir has more. laurie? >> reporter: here at this hacker convention, we've spoken to a lot of folks and they're saying there are major vulnerabilities. check it out. what's really eye opening here is you watch tv, but with this hack, your tv can watch you. show us how that works. >> one of the things we were able to do with the smartv platform was abuse the driver so we could gain access to the camera that's built into the tv. what we can prove here is that with a little bit of extra code, we can turn the camera on in your browser. >> wow. >> while this is evident to you because w

i'm zoraida sambolin. >> i'm john berman.morning, a sign of relief for protesters after egyptian police postponed their plans to stop to sit ins against morsi. the goal was to cut off access to food. it appears it's not happening, not yet. in cairo, what is the latest on this? >> reporter: things are calm at this hour, john. you get the impression a lot of people are anticipating what's to come. a lot of people went to sleep last night thinking they might wake up and a crackdown would be under way against two pro-morsi rallies taking place for six weeks now. morning came, however, the crackdowns did not. no sign of security forces, no sign of police. the demonstrations continue as we speak. what we have is this high stakes waiting game and this political conflict where on one size you have the military backed government. on the other side, supporters of morsi and the muslim brotherhood. they say they won't leave the sit-ins until more si is reinstated again. it's a scenario that seems unlikely at this point. there was a ten-d

i want to bring in john berman. this is not a political position.the chairman of the federal reserve, this is not a political job but the politics, white hot politics in washington who gets the job. >> we have never seen anything like this. the chairman's normally filled by one of the most boring people in d.c. now a white-hot bottle with lobbying we have never seen it before. it's more like a shouting campaign. you have senators writing letters. editorial boards weighing in and most remarkably, you have the president out loud in front of members of congress defending someone he hasn't picked yet. it is really staggering here. until now it's been a one-sided debate with critics of larry summers and supporters of janet yellen being the loudest because most summers supporters are insiders that don't talk to the press very much. >> you hear people talking about the gender and the gender of summers and a whisper about how don't count out larry summers because he's a man. the people think the president needs to promote a high-profile woman to this job. >

i'm john berman. >> i'm michael pereira. >>> up first today, it's sentencing day for ariel castro, the ohio man who kept three women imprisoned in his home for at least a decade. castro pleaded guilty last week to more than 090 counts including murder and kidnapping. it was a deal that spared him a possible death sentence and we're expected to hear from one of castro's victims. as new details emerge from this decade of horror. >> reporter: prosecutors failed a sentencing memorandum thursday detailing how he kidnapped amanda berry, gina dejesus and the abuse they endured. they kept a diary. castro also admitted to having the girls chained by their ankles with only one meal a day, showering infrequently. while he had sexual lu assaulted them. he said that he had other victims but some of them made it home and others had not. castro pleaded guilty to more than 900 counts including kidnapping, rape and murder. >> i may have been through hell and back, but i'm stronger enough to walk through hell with a smile on my face. >> reporter: sources say that knight will likely make an impact statem

. >> i'm christine romans in for john berman this morning. >>> international eyes remain on syria.dreds were killed in an alleged massacre. amid all the calls for investigation, some are asking why is the united states not doing more. here is jill. >> reporter: at least 1,000 victims, many of them women and children are reported dead in a possible chemical weapons attack, this time near damascus raising questions about president obama's red line. >> the president directed the intel community to here, in the united states, gather additional information. that is our focus on this end. >> reporter: the u.n. is asking the syrian government to allow a chemical weapons team to investigate. u.s. officials cannot determine whether chemical weapons were used and not say whag president obama would do if they were. >> this would be an outrageous escalation of chemical weapons use if the facts are found to be true and the president has a range of options to consider. >> reporter: a year ago this month, obama drew his red line. >> a red line for us is we start seeing chemical weapons being move

response to audience feedback based on the last segment. >> something to tune in for. >> viewers want, john berman leading the charge for mr. berman to do it shirtless is one of our fellow cnn anchors. a woman you may know by carol costello has been all over social media. she is starting a grassroots campaign. i'm against it. i see it as objective -- >> you didn't see any of this coming, did you, carol? >> at least he's not going to do it pantless. see, i got you, chris cuomo. >> we'll see you later, carol. >> have a great day. "newsroom" starts now. >>> happening now in "newsroom" crisis in syria. >> the security situation isn't safe. >> breaking overnight, pressure building. >> there must be a response. >> inspectors on the ground. >> vice president biden saying there's no doubt chemical weapons were used. >>> also, hot spot. the rim fire racing deeper into yosemite this morning. helicopters swooping in, firefighters struggling to save the oldest trees on the planet. >>> plus, charged. tesla is tops. fueled by el

john berman is here.he most heart broken contestant ever. >> the question is who is thomas hurley? i know that because i had an im prompter in front of me. a lot of people on the internet are in his corner. he was sent home from final jeopardy despite the fact that he and many others say he got the question correct. . >> it's being called the saddest moment in jeopardy history. an eighth grader loses final jeopardy during kids week for misspelling a word. >> emancipation -- well, because he misspelled it badly -- you put a "p" in there, proclamation. that's unfortunate. the judges are ruling against you. >> thomas hurley iii held back tears. he later told his local newspaper i was pretty upset that i was cheated out of the final jeopardy question. it was just a spelling error. the incident blew up with social media with many commenting on jeopardy's facebook page. he got the answer right. he misspelled it. big deal. hurley's parents claiming they were less upset about the loss and more upset about how ale

maybe that's john berman.s a huge tiger on his left arm. >> could be his biceps. >>> disturbing new case of a florida teenager chased down by police, tasered, then died. his parents want answers. >>> plus the man accused of kidnapping a teenaged girl may be armed with explosives, we're learning this morning. we'll talk to the girl's father who says he considered the suspect family. we'll also talk to her grandparents, they're speaking to cnn exclusively. shakes. (growls) (man) that's a good look for you. (woman) that was fun. (man) yeah. (man) let me help you out with the.. (woman)...oh no, i got it. (man) you sure? (woman) just pop the trunk. (man vo) i may not know where the road will lead, but... i'm sure my subaru will get me there. (announcer) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. [ all ] who's new in the fridge! i help support bones... [ ding! ] ...the immune system... [ ding! ] ...heart health... [ ding! ] ...and muscles. [ ding! ] that can only be ensure complete! [ female announcer ] the four-in-o

the family involved. >> all right, john berman, many thanks.had to step away from that story because, as you can see, ariel castro has now entered that cleveland courtroom. he is about to sit down and page take me through this. prosecutors will, what? they will outline the case against ariel castro, once again. then castro will get a chance to speak. >> that's normally how it happens. give the prosecution and the state an opportunity to lay out the facts of the case. almost the way they would have presented it at trial. then the judge will turn to mr. castro and his lawyers and give them an opportunity, if they want to, to call the witnesses or at least let their clients speak. i expect that will happen here. >> douglas, this is likely to last a few hours, right? >> i think it depends on how long the prosecutors want to lay out their case. again, this is a bit unusual because we already know the senancing outcome. but the presentations are going to be an effort, i think, by both the prosecution and defense to explain both the facts that so many

. >> i'm john berman. it is thursday, august 15