Transcripts For CNNW EarlyStart 20130830

0 >> reporter: that's made this combination of fresh fruit and a fresh idea into a homegrown success. tom foreman, cnn. >> that does it for us. thanks for watching. "early start" starts now. striking syria. president obama confident the government poisoned their own people. will the u.s. do anything about it? we are live. . thousands of fast food workers taking to the streets demanding a better wage. a new warning this morning about the deadly dangers of tylen tylenol. good morning, everyone. welcome to "early start." i'm poppy harlow. >> it is friday, 5:00 a.m. in the east. will the u.s. go it alone for a military strike in syria? it may have to. britain is out, voting against military action. prime minister david cameron may not like it, but saying the people have spoken. it comes as president obama briefs congressional leaders on syria and u.s. intelligence suggest the assad regime was preparing for a massive chemical attack. here is dana bash. >> reporter: top officials insisted on a thursday night conference call, they have no doubt the assad regime in syria is behind deadly attacks there. secretaries of defense, states and others back that up that the u.s. intercepted communications from a high-level syrian official that indicates they were responsible for the weapons. though obama officials insisted no decisions have been made on military action against syria, cnn is told they privately made clear to lawmakers chemical weapons is such a threat, the u.s. could engage with or without support from allies like great britain. bob corker emerged from briefings thursday announcing support for surgical, proportional military strikes given the evidence of their continues use of chemical warfare. bob menendez reaffirmed his support says a u.s. response is justified and warranted. others argue the president still has to come before congress and the american people before he acts. >> it's toup the president to sell this to the american people. >> dana bash, cnn, washington. we have fred in libya or lebanon, rather. he's in beirut this morning. we are going get developments from him about the syrian capital, how things are standing now. we'll get to him later in the broadcast. >> incredible reporting. we'll bring the latest from fred as soon as we have him. a new report in the washington post shed light on the bang the united states is getting for the spying bucks. the report says washington will spend more than $52 billion this year on intelligence going to things like paying cia agents and other analysts. the united states still has blind spots in the world like pakistan. spies don't know how secure things are in pakistan. north korea, another one. the missiles and the leaders are mysteries, this report says. the post used information from edward snowden for the latest report. progress, slowly, but surely fighting the enormous wildfire in and around yosemite national park. they are keeping the fire burning deeper in the park. the fire burned 200,000 acres. it's 32% containment right now. this is a shocking figure, i think, to many. officials are estimating the cost to date to fight the largest fire in california's history, $47 million. this is a concern. there have been so many other fires. it's been a bad fire season. it was predicted this year would be a bad fire season. it's turning out to be so. >> it's horrific. i want to bring in indra petersons. this fire took so long to get to 30% containment. the weather, what affect does that have. >> when you talk about the fire, it's larger than new york city. that puts it in perspective. i put up the top five fires. it's the top five in california. the biggest was cedar fire a decade ago in san diego. the weather is actually good. it's helping. it is the steep terrain. the wind is five to ten miles per hour. 77 degrees is the high. some hints for moisture in the afternoon producing a thunderstorm. that low is, again, just this terrain. it's so steep in the area. it's difficult for firefighters to get in there. they are dealing with that. the midwest, we are seeing the heat. look at the temperatures. we are seeing the heat farther south, oklahoma city, ten degrees above normal. des moines expected to break a record. want to take you forward in time. relief is in the forecast. the temperatures are starting to go down as the cold front makes its way through. saturday and sunday you see the change. we'll see 70s and 80s in the forecast. unfortunately, the cold front is good news for them as far as temperatures. for us, as we go through labor day weekend, a cold front moves through the area. that means chances for rain. sunday through monday, that's labor day. we watch the cold fronts merge and see rain in the northeast to the mid-atlantic as well. >> it's been a nice week. >> labor day weekend. a lot of people taking it off. >> i'm going with poppy on this one. >> make the best of it. >> she's very positive. we want to turn back to the top story in syria. a crisis as the world waits for president obama to react. the syrians claiming they proved the rebels were behind the chemical weapons attack. fred is monitoring developments. he is live in beirut this morning. we want to find out what you are hearing about this. >> reporter: this was apparently the defense minister. he was in a phone call with the defense minister of iran. they had evidence that rebels unleashed chemical gases in the suburbs of damascus. this is contrary to what the u.s. is saying and what many others are saying as well. they say it was the syrian government behind all this. the syrian regime is saying it was the rebels who did all of this. also, with a strong statement, bashar al assad came out saying if they are attacked, they will retaliate with any means they have. i want to tell you about the mood as well. many people are nervous and buying additional food. a lot of people have come over here to lebanon. it's not a big exodus but many are playing it safe, going to bring their families out of the country and wait to see if america strikes. the regime is sending people, propaganda people out waving syrian flags, honking their horns, making the people prepare for what could be an american attack. >> any word on how the u.s. is reacting to the claim it was actually the rebels? >> reporter: not so far. it comes out of left field. so far, the u.s. is saying all the evidence that washington has points to the fact this was a regime chemical attack that happened there. the big question is going to be what are the u.n. weapons inspectors going to find out? today is the last day gathering evidence on the ground. they are going to the eastern suburbs of damascus. they are leaving tomorrow morning then they want a brief. then we'll probably hear or possibly hear what sort of chemical agent was used in the attack. that could tell who could have done this. >> it will piece together what they find there. fred, we appreciate that. thank you so very much. vice president, joe biden, announcing two white house executive orders on gun control. first the military surplus weapons closing a loophole. register them to a trust or corporation without a background check. the nra responding by saying if the obama administration is serious about reducing gun violence, they should spend more time prosecuting criminals for gun crimes. >> will not challenge state laws in colorado and washington allowing people to grow, buy and use marijuana. they can regulate marijuana use on their own, not a federal level. this could set the stage for more states to make pot legal. the feds will focus on distribution of marijuana to minors and preventing revenues from going to various criminal enterprises. the nfl agreeing to settle a lawsuit with former players about concussion related injuries. the league setting aside $765 million. most of it for retired players suffering and those who died. a new warning added to the bottle caps of tylenol. you are going to see this soon. johnson & johnson will warn of the risk of taking too much tylenol. overdoses of it has been the leading cause of sudden liver failure in the united states for more than a decade now. the warning labels will be in stores in october. her dream of winning the u.s. open is over for this year, at least. 17-year-old victoria duval, no doubt, is still the -- you recall she scored a massive upset in her first round match beating the 2011 open champion. it was a bit of a heart break for her. i know she had sights set on much higher. she's a delight. she's a goofy girl. she's 17 years old, having a lot of fun. when you have fun at your job -- >> that's the best thing. she's got many years ahead. >> hopefully many u.s. opens, too. coming up, folks. >> work hard and they only pay us $7.35. >> thousands of fast food workers on strike. their fight for a better way of life. how a couple kittens shut down new york's subway service for hours. we'll have that when we come back. [ gerry ] you really couldn't have come at a better time. these chevys are moving fast. i'll take that malibu. yeah excuse me. the equinox in atlantis blue is mine! i was here first. it's mine. i called about that one. it's mine. customers: [ echoing ] it's mine, mine, mine. it's mine! no it's not! it's mine! better get going. it's the chevy labor day sale. [ male announcer ] the chevy labor day sale. just announced: $500 labor day cash now through september 3rd on most 2013 chevrolet vehicles! starts with freshly-made pasta, and 100% real cheddar cheese. but what makes stouffer's mac n' cheese best of all. that moment you enjoy it at home. stouffer's. made with care for you or your family.