Kidnapping and murder by isis militants. Thanks for joining us. We begin with a stunning estimate from the cia on the strength of isis in iraq and syria. The group may now be able to muster more than 31,000 fighters. Thats about triple from last year. And it reflects a recruiting boom driven by battlefield success and the declaration of an islamic state. A cia source says it includes 15,000 foreign fighters. At least 2,000 of them from weste nations. An International Coalition will seek out and destroy isis wherever it is. We have more on that from washington. The fight against isis is the latest chapter in a long american war against islamic extremists. But it brings its own particular challenges. Each of them problems that had kept the president from launching a Broad Campaign until now. With military action inside syria, the u. S. Is plunging itself into a brutal and confusing civil war. Isis is the enemy today, but so is isis chief rival americas allies on the ground, both in syria, the moderate Syrian Rebels and in iraq, the iraqi army are unproven fighting forces. Neither has made any significant headway against isis on its own. The moderate rebels in the past havent been proven to be a cohesive fighting unit. In many cases, theyre also not very moderate. And sometimes they make league with groups like al nusra which were dedicated to fighting against. Reporter the president is sending an additional 475 military advisers to iraq, raising the total number of u. S. Forces there to 1,700. They wont be in combat, but they will face risk. In the air and on the ground. And the president s pledge to limit that risk by ruling out a combat role greatly limits the effectiveness of air strikes. An air campaign can be highly effective if you have targeters on the ground embedded with the combat units. On the home front, military action that many believe will last years will cost billions of dollars. Disrupting if not destroys the president s attempt to shrink the pentagon budget. It will be up to congress to come up with the resources to make sure that the u. S. Military is not encumbered by lack of funds, lack of resources. At stake, u. S. Security at home and abroad. U. S. Officials now estimate isis has anywhere from 20,000 to 31,500 fighters, up from an earlier estimate of just 10,000. Including 2,000 westerns, among them, about a dozen americans. The fear that those western fighters are being encouraged to carry out terror attacks when they return home. A u. S. Official tells cnn that u. S. Surveillance aircraft are now flying over syria. This to gather intelligence that the air strikes the president has ordered against isis. Cnn, washington. The u. S. Says the campaign against isis will be a coalition effort, but germany is ruling out its participation in any air strikes and the uk is Still Deciding whether it will. And the government of syrian president of Bashar Alassad said its ready to cooperate, but with a key condition. As i said, our foreign minister has made it very clear that we are ready to cooperate, but if any strike is done without our cooperation, we will consider it an aggression. But we should talk about politics, not only about media. So therefore, probably in political channels, this would be discussed in political channels, rather than on television screen. Syrian opposition groups welcome air strikes on isis, and despite the militants growing ranks the Syrian Opposition coalition tells cnn the jihadist threat can be overcome. Isis is not a tenfoot monster. They are vulnerable. Just recently, we heard from tribes in eastern syrian, theyre ready to rise up against isis. The federation that crosses the border into iraq those tribes are fighting isis. We seen the Free Syrian Army in the recent days go on the offensive against isis in the northern province. So this number is extremely fluid and, you know, the thing about isis is that its worst enemy, its achilles heel is the local populous. John kerry is in the middle east to rally support for the u. S. Led coalition. He met with the Saudi Foreign minister thursday saying afterward the saudis are deeply committed to destroying isis. He spoke with us about what the battle against isis is and is not. Is the United States at war with isis . It sounds like we are. I think thats the wrong analogy. What were doing is engaging in a very significant counterterrorism operation. And its going to go on for some period of time. If somebody wants to think about it as being a war with isil, they can do so. But the fact is its a major counterterrorism operation that will have many different moving parts. From saudi arabia, kerry will continue his outreach to the coalition. The u. S. Is trying to build. He goes next to turkey and then its on to egypt, meeting with leaders of both countries. The state Department Says kerry will discuss security and stability for both syria and iraq. Australia has just raised its Terror Threat level. Its gone from medium to high alert for the fist time in a decade. The new heightened state means a terrorist attack is likely. Tony abbott met with reporters. Last night, the director general of security raised the Terror Threat to high. Consequently today, the government is raising the public alert level to high. I want to stress that this does not mean that a terror attack is imminent. We have no specific intelligence of particular plots. What we do have is intelligence that there are people with the intent and the capability to mount attacks. French president Francois Hollande has arrived in iraq now. Hell hold talks in baghdad with iraqi leaders. His office earlier pledged to support iraq in its fight against isis. Mr. Hollandes visit comes before france hosted International Conference on Iraqi Security next monday. Are well, Oscar Pistorius has been cleared of murder charges in the death of his girlfriend ree va steenkamp, but the judge said the state did not bring intentional evidence of an intentional killing, but stated that she found his actions negligent. It points towards a possible verdict of culpable homicide when court resumes in just a couple of hours. Heres a look back at thursdays session. State council pointed to the fact that the deceased had a cell phone with him and locked himself inside the toilet. One of the possible reasons may be that the deceased needed to use the cell phone for lighting purposes. The state also had evidence of a relationship turned sour can assist this court to determine whether the accused had the intention to kill the deceased. Its not an exact science. It would be unwise for this court to give an attempt to figure out what the presence of partially digested food might mean. The accused is not unique. Women, children, the elderly and all those with limited mobility would fall under the same category. Would it be reasonable if they armed themselves with a firearm when threatened with danger. I do not think so. There are indeed a number of aspects in the case which do not make sense. It makes no sense to say she did not hear him scream get out. These questions shall unfortunately remain a matter of conjecture. The state has not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused is guilty of premedicated matter. It follows that the accused believed that his life was in danger. The accused therefore cannot be found guilty of murder. That, however, is not the end of the matter as culpable homicide is a competent verdict. This case has been particularly divisive in his native south africa. He was a beloved sports hero before his girlfriends death. We asked some onlookers what they thought. They should put him guilty. Hes guilty. He should stay in jail. He was not there, i was not there, the judge was not there. They have to depend on the evidence whatsoever. I think it will be guilty. We will have live coverage of the verdict as its being read when the court gets under way a little more than two hours from now. Well, school in ohio will be closed today after a teenager convicted of killing three classmates two years ago has escaped from prison. You may remember t. J. Lane shown here smiling and smirking and wearing a shirt that said killer at his sentencing. Lane was convicted of storming into his High School Cafeteria and firing ten rounds from a. 22 caliber rifle. Well, the now 19yearold got a life sentence for the murders, but police say hes out. Somehow escaped prison and all available officers are apparently searching for lane and the other gentleman you see there, 45yearold prisoner they believe escaped with him. Well keep you posted on any developments in that search. The eu and u. S. Prepare to slap new sanctions on roar. Up next here, details of those sanctions and russias response to them. Also ahead, why residents of one wartorn city in Eastern Ukraine say theyve had enough of the kiev government. Looks like were about to board. Mmhmm. Im just comparing Car Insurance rates at progressive. Com. Is that where they show the other guys rates, too . Mmhmm. Cool. Yeah. Hi. Final boarding call for flight 294. [ bells ring on sign ] [ vehicle beeping ] whos ready for the garlic festival . This guy bringing our competitors rates to you now, thats progressive. The u. S. Says it will put new sanctions on russia over moscows involvement in ukraine. They include a ban on eu loans to major banks, a ban on Debt Financing for defense and energy companies, and asset freezes and travel bans on 24 people. Russia has warned it will respond to in i additional sanctions. This is an unfriendly policy that contradicts the eus interests as well. The russian leadership made it clear to politicians of various levels we will take adequate measures in our response. It will be proportional to the damage which these sanctions caused to the economies of our state. Citizens and soldiers in Eastern Ukraine say they want nothing more to do with the kiev government. The grim cleanup of wartorn neighborhoods. And the grief of victims who feel betrayed by the westernbacked government in kiev. How can you bomb your own people . A place with children and the elderly asks this woman. She blames Ukraine Forces for shelling her grocery store. Thats why she wants a separate state. Andre kozer wants a separate state, too. We cant be a part of the yoo ukraine anymore. When you travelaround Eastern Ukraine, they hear people say they dont want to be part of ukraine anymore. And that brings into focus what could be the next obstacle in this conflict. How do you resolve this crisis when many here still demand a separate state. The president of ukraine promises a bill to give Eastern Ukraine great special status an greater autonomy. How much is unclear. Those here say too little too late. Ukraine crossed the loon when they targeted areas without regard for civilian lives. Shelling hit just steps away from residential buildings. People here say the Ukrainian Army did this. This one missed. Others did not. In shaktar, entire buildings were destroyed. Civilians were killed, many injured and displaced. Its not clear how many. The government denies shelling residential neighborhoods. Rebel fighters are accused of hitting civilian areas, too. But there are growing calls in this area for independence. How kiev responds will either resolve or deepen the crisis. An american doctor battling ebola has received blood transfusions from a colleague who has already survived it. Medical Officials Say dr. Rick sakra has received plasma on at least two occasions from dr. Kent bradley. Both were infected while doing relief work in liberia. After brantley was treated and released, he apparently traveled to nebraska where sakra is battling the virus. The Pakistani Army is working surgically to rescue thousands of people in the path of dangerous floodwaters. Many of them had to be pulled to safety. Look at this shot here. By helicopter because they live in regions too remote to access by boat. More than 400 people have been killed in flooding across india and pakistan just this past week. And hundreds of thousands more have been forced to evacuate. Our meteorologist has got this map up and what a story this has been and continues to be, ivan. An incredible story. If youre seeing them on cnn, those are the lucky ones that were able to get out. We understand that upwards of as many as 200,000 people are still in need to be rescued here in some areas, which are just very difficult to get to because of the flooding thats been ongoing. Just completely marooned. So think about that. Youre in your house. Youve got water and food for how long . A week . A couple of weeks . Its been that long now. And so you are not able to get to the store because the store is gone. So this is what were dealing with here. A couple of rivers to the north. All feeding into the indus river. So if you are in the north, conditions are actually improves. The crest is going downstream here. This is where it currently resides. And as we head into the weekend, this is where well be, so we have a ways to go. In fact, this is going to go into next week. So to the north right now is where we have the warpings. The areas are going to be impacted next. And then further down, we have a watch for the early part of the week. And so anyone living across this region here of course is going to be evacuated. But i must say, if you are downstream, you know this is coming. So if you are able to get out of the way, you will. Its to the north, we were really caught offguard in the flash flood and coming down the mountainside. People were stuck in their homes. Well show you pictures and set the scene for you of whats been going on, not just in pakistan, but of course, in india as well. Upwards of 2,000 villages just completely submerged here. Again when we talk about that, those are areas that are just marooned. You cant get to them. You have to fly in. And the beginning of this crisis here, what we had, of course, is the rain that just continued. That hampered efforts. And my goodness whrk yoen talk about upwards of a Million People being impacted here, going to take a while to get them all hout. Its just a matter of time before all that water which was dry just a few weeks ago has been completely covered by water here. Well continue to watch it. At least its not continuing to rain. Thats a good thing. Iv ivan, thanks. We should have live pictures for you. Francois hollande arriving in baghdad with to have talk requests iraqi leaders. His office pledged to support iraq in the fight against isis. His visit comes before france hosts an International Conference on Iraqi Security that happens next monday. So again, french president just now arriving in iraq. The 13th anniversary of 9 11 was marked across the United States thursday. Solemn ceremonies in Lower Manhattan at the pentagon, and in shanksville, pennsylvania. Well tell you more about it ahead here. Plus, youll hear from the mother of james foley. One of two american journalists beheaded by isis. Well have that exclusive interview coming up here. Jims hair is perfect. Sos his serve. 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These are live pictures coming from new york city. The twin beams of light marking the place where the twin towers of the World Trade Center stood for nearly 30 years until the terror attacks of september 11, 2001. The memorial lights in Lower Manhattan concluded a long day of 13th anniversary ceremonies across the United States. Most especially, of course, where the deadly events took place in new york, washington, and pennsylvania. A look now at some of thursdays solemn observe advances. By the dawns early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilight last gleaming 13 years ago yesterday you put me to bed not knowing it would be your last time. I misyou so muchmuch, daddy. Youre my hero, i love you. Tyrone may. He means the world to me. Ive got to be here. This is where he passed. This is where his spirit is. My family remembers with pride what my mother was able to do on that most horrific day. In our hearts and minds, she will forever remain our hero. [ bell ringing ] by coming here today, you honor the memory of those that have gone before. Beginning tomorrow, there will be teenager, young adults who were born after 9 11. Itsable. Although they didnt know the horrors of that day, their lyes have been shaped by all the days since. A time that brought us pain but also taught us endurance and strength a time of resilience and renewal. And the home of the brave ll jobs all over america. Engineering and innovation jobs. Advanced Safety Systems technology. Shipping and manufacturing. Across the United States, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. When we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. Thats not a