We begin tonight with atrocities in syria and accusations of chemical warfare. It could put more pressure on president obama to get involved in the dispute. Opposition groups are claiming that the government used chemical weapons in the overnight offensive. We want to warn you that some of the pictures we want to show you are extremely graphic. They show injured people being treated by hospital workers while others lie motionless. Activists athey are victims of banned chemical weapons fired by government forces. And other video shows survivors struggling to breathe. Al jazeera cannot verify the videos but if proved true it will spotlight president obamas pledge almost a year ago to respond forcefully of any chemical weapon used by the assad government. The death toll has reached more than 1200. He also says rockets loaded with toxic agents were launched into the suburbs and the hospitals are not able to help the number of victims arriving. We have all angles covered from the white house to the United Nations. Well hear from john serve. It could knock alassad out of power, but then what next . Yes, the United Nations met to explain great concern about the use of chemical weapons in syria and promised investigation. The possibility of the use of chemical weapons which will be investigated. This has been further underlined. The secretary has already expressed his preppe preparedner the investigation and we hope that everyone realizes the importance of seizing the hostilities. Now john joins us live from the United Nations with more on this story. John, how long would this investigation take . Well, thats very much up in the air, john. What happened here was the u. S. Britain, france, south korea, and luxembourg met, but they came out with the most watered down statement that is possible to come out with. This was not even a former statement to the press. It came from the ambassador of the of argentina, she simply said members welcomed the determination of general secretary ban kimoon to investigate these allegations coming out of syria. Its deeply divided when it comes to syria. So now its all eyes on ban kimoon, the secretary general. Those are his inspectors who are in syria at the moment. 35 member nations have written to him asking him to expand the investigation. The problem is now theyll have to negotiate with the Syrian Government because it took them a very lock time to even get those inspectors on the ground, months of negotiations, and its thought this could take a very long time just to move the investigation a little further to include what were now allegedly witnessing in determining what those inspectors do in syria. Thank you. Now to egypt where former president Hosni Mubarak could leave a cairo prison at any time. He has been held under maximum security since forced out of power. And now an Egyptian Court has ordered hip released while being investigated for corruption charges. Watching the man they hold responsible for the killing of their son is ordered released from prison. Whatever the fate of former president Hosni Mubarak, the decision is another hit for a family who is still waiting for answers. He showed me the picture of the 18yearold who was killed in an up rising when a car ran him over. He has kept it in his pocket for almost three years. Firsts the corruption cases, and then my sons case, the one of the killing of protesters and mubarak will be cleared of everything. I want to know who is responsible for killing my son, who ran him over. I feel like any mother would in this situation. I lost my son so suddenly. I thought our Justice System was fair, but i would like someone to explain whats fair about it. On the streets a feeling of deflation more than anger. If the judge decides to release him, its his ruling and we have to accept it as rule of law. We had a revolution, people died. What was that all for. Things have gone just back to the way they were before. We have other things on our minds. The silenc violence and so on, n is gone anyway, i dont feel anything. So much is going on in the country, Hosni Mubarak is pretty irrelevant. Weather happy or sad, people are not surprised by this verdict. They dont care about politics or even who is in power. They want justice for their son. Every corner of their home a reminder why their lives will never be the same again. Al jazeera cairo. Our David Jackson has been following the situation in egypt. He joins us live from cairo. What is it like there tonight, david . John, right now at 2 00 it couldnt be much quieter here in cairo or across egypt. Everyone is waiting to see what happens eight hours from now when the former leader is expected to be released from prison. Mubarak will now go to house arrest, as we no, and we do not what that means or where that will be. A lot of speculation right now on exactly what will happen to him whether hell go to one of his own homes or a prior palace he had from before. He may go to a town on the red sea. He also could go to a Military Hospital because at 85 years old, and in poor health he may need hospitalization for a while. So all anybody knows for sure here almost certainly he will be released from his current jail situation in about those eight hours from now, and everybody will have to watch and see what happens. Now we do have to remember that he does face another trial. That trial begins in just four days. He does not have to appear in the courtroom at that time, but the legal maneuvers regarding him are certainly far from over. The only thing we know for sure is that hes not allowed to leave the country. David jackson in cairo tonight, david, thank you. Back in this country one of dozens of wildfires burning in the west is now threatening a national treasure. A 25 square mile fire is burning out of control in Stanislaus National forest outside of Yosemite National park. Its threatenin one of many firs ined. This is truly a wild, wildfire. 2,000 structures are under threat. Of course they all error on the side of caution. By structures they mean by residential and commercial buildings. There are a lot of cabins in this area. The good news, though, no injuries and no deaths so far. What kind of resources are they putting into this fire . Well, there are federal resources at the moment, and the federal resources are being absolutely stretched. There are 18,000 firefighters across the western United States dealing with fires in idaho, montana, oregon, and here in california. What were seeing firefighters dealing with one of blaze and then they get it contained somewhat, and then theyre hopscotched to another location, possibly another state to deal with this. Help. Melissa chan out in yosemite park, thank you very much. [ music ] meteorologist well good evening, im Kevin Corriveau yesterday at this time i was telling you we have 53 wildfires, including those in alaska. Tonight we have 61. Were getting worse in terms of wildfires as a whole in the western part of the United States. We have been focusing on idaho but we have many places we need to be watching as well. Here in the west we have the thunderstorms going on. These are the thunderstorms producing not the rain but the dry lightening that is a major problem here. During the heating of the day and the temperatures are getting quite worm into the 90s, that is the problem. We have high temperatures across the region. We have red flag warnings encompassing parts of idaho also oregon and colorado. Were also looking at bad air quality in effect as well as discrepancy and flood warnings going on in parts of nevada. Right now boise, idaho is looking at 90 degrees. We dont expect much rain here across the area. Tomorrows lows is going to be 67. But tomorrows highs are going to be quite warm. We expect parts of idaho to go up to 95 degrees. When i see you later on ill tell you what is happening across the southeast. Facing his victim. Still ahead on al jazeera the plea entered by an american surgsoldier accused of killing 6 afghan civilians and the choice the jury will have in his fate. Mission. Theres more to america, more stories, more voices, more points of view. Now theres are news channel with more of what americans want to know. Im ali velshi and this is real money. This is america tonight. Sglovrjs our our News Coverage reveal more of americas stories. [ music ] well, attorneys for the soldier who killed 16 afghan civilians in a rampage last year will push for lighter punishment. The sentence hearing is underway in washington state. Sergeant robert bales has pleaded guilty to the murders. Today he faced more survivors. Now to the case of Army Private Bradley manning. Hes responsible for the largest leak of classified information in american history. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison. The former surveillance analyst was arrested in 2010 for allegedly leaking more than 700,000 government documents to wikileaks. The judge convicted him of most of the charges in july, but he was found not guilty of aiding the enemy. Manning will be credited for the three plus years he spent in custody. Kimberly has hour report. Reporter private Bradley Manning walked into court to find out if hell get his wish. At trial he said he wanted to go to college, get a degree, have a better relationship with his family. Those goals now put on hold as he is sentenced to 35 years behind bars dishonorable disdischarge and loss of pay. Manning was convicted of espionage and theft charges for this, making it possible for the world to read the secret thoughts of u. S. Diplomats. He also wanted americans to know what was happening in their name. The truth shown in this helicopter video. Soldiers shooting civilians, a reporters camera mistakenly called a weapon. I think i just rolled over a body. Its their fault for bringing their kids to battle. Manning pled gender identify bringing this picture as proof. Mannings lawyer said hell work to have this sentence reduced. The time to end brads suffer something now. The time for our president to focus on protecting whistle blowers instead of punishing them is now. The time for our president to pardon pfc man something now. Reporter but the prosecution describes him as an arckist and traitor. They wanted to send a mention to deter further leakers. Im perfectly content that the man is guilty. I feel the man violated his trust. Eve lated his oath. He did damage way, way out of proportion to the things he said he was concerned about. In the military Justice System the commanding general can reduce the sense. There will be an appeal, but manning is likely to spend the next eight years in prison before being granted even the possibility of parole. Al jazeera washington. The nsa collected up to 56,000 emails and other communications by americans with no connection to o terrorism ovr the past three years. They show that the nsa was ordered to find ways to limit the information it collects and how long it keeps it. Former army major nadal hassan spoke three words today, the defense rests. Reporter he had wanted to tell jurors he killed u. S. Soldiers to save muslim lives in afghanistan, but the military judge deemed that argument irrelevant. The americanborn nadal hassan was limited to addressing the fact of the case, the facts the accused agrees with. Most observers would call this an unique trial. Not only is hassan representing himself, but he told the jury on day one that he is the shooter. Hes charged with 16 murders one was a civilian. In his case against hassan prosecutors painted a scene of heroism and chaos during the attack. 89 prosecutors witnesses took the stand. A retired Staff Sergeant who was shot seven times. A Police Officer who shot the attacker in the hand preventing him from reloading and allowing her partner to take him down. One by one the victims walked past hassan in his wheelchair, some looked at him in the eye and all described him as the shooter. Hassan declined to call any defense witnesses. He declined to present a case. Hassan, a former Army Psychologist said he wants the jury to consider capital charges and not lesser penalties. The former army major said he would still be a martyr if executed. Time now for business headlines. More evidence the housing recovery is gaining strength. Home resales rose in july to their highest level in over three years. The National Association of realtor says sales jumped 6. 5 , the median price for a home rose to 213,000. Meanwhile applications for mortgages falling for the second straight week. Higher 30year mortgage rates, which has dropped twothirds over the past three months. Its a good time for Home Improvement retailers. Lowes riding the housing recovery to monster profit, the company earning 1 billion in the last three months and it expects the rest of the year to remain strong. The performance comes a day after rival home depot posted robust earnings. Well, the southwest is experiencing the worst drought in decades. New mexico has been especially hard hit. The state is experiencing a dry spell as officials describe as extreme. Farmers are especially hard hit. Every morning this is what you got to do every morning. Take all the fluid. He farming has been in his family for generations, and he has the tools and knowledge to keep the business going. I got my tractor, i got actually everything that i need, but actually i dont because i need the water. Henrys 60 acres of land are going to waste because there is no longer enough river water for the farmers here. His neighbors are surviving the drought using a deep expensive well. But henry cant afford that, and wont produce a crop this year for the first time in his life. Its going to be hard later on in the future. Itses going to be really hard for the future farmers in this area. It hurts a lot. It hurts. His irrigation ditches used to bring water from the rio grand. The river is still flowing, but dropping water levels at up stream reservoir means there is not enough for everyone. Farmers have been using the rio grand to irrigate their feels for as long as anyone can remember, but it wasnt until they completed this dam in 1916 that people started to control the river and decided who got the water and how much of it. Professor king has studied Water Management here for the past 20 years. He says the drought has brought in complex legal battles that have pitted state against state, farmer against city, and farmer against farmer. Theyre all driven by shortage, and this happens every time we get into a real bad drought. People dont reach for their sixshooters any more. They reach for their lawyers. Henry is also in the fight. Hes part of a collective of Small Farmers demanding legal recognition of water rights that date back to the 1800s. Can i use the water . No, youre going to dry up like everything else. Youre going to fight for your water rights. Youre going to fight for your water. He keeps his tractors oiled and ready, hoping americas legal system will prioritize his water rights. But industrial farms, cities and the state of texas all want the same resource. So henry ortega knows what he may ultimately need is 50,000 to dig a well for a few good years of Rocky Mountain snow. Casey kauffman, al jazeera, new mexico. In russia there are claims of pigeons falling from the sky. While this may stir up images of the apocalypse Scientists Say there is a more reasonable culprit. Its called new castle disease. Ive been out among moscows pidgeon population looking for abhor rent behavior pidgeons that fall out of the sky. Pigeons that fly into things and pigeons that are too friendly too people, and in short im looking for zombie pigeons. Television stations have been frightening people of moscow with this shocker. They lose their orientation and fly without a sense of direction, and then fall already lacking the strength to get up. But moscow vet and ornithologist has examined dozens of dead birds and say the demise could be due to new castle disease. The symptoms of new castle disease are apathy, no energy, breach of Central Nervous system. The pidgeon is often found lying on its back with a twisted neck and foaming from its beak. Perhaps there is another reason for the appearance of the zombie pidgeon. The superstition believes their behavior marks the end of times. The rasputin predicted th frida. The predictions of a madman or new castle disease. Your choice. Still ahead, survivors of north koreas prince tell us what happened mind the gates. Ive been tortured in different ways, but the most painful was when they handcuffed my hands to the back. Thats just the beginning. Details from the defectors next. And a trial is gripping china, the former communist party facing corruption charges. Welcome back to al jazeera, im john seigenthore. A wildfire is threatening Yosemite National park. Structures nearby wil are also n danger. At least 7,000 firefighters battling a dozen wildfires in california alone. Former egyptian president Hosni Mubarak may be out of prison in days. A Court Ordered his release today, and according to Egyptian State tv mubarak will be under house arrest. He has been charged with accepting gifts from stateowned newspaper and hes also on trial for his alleged role. Josh, welcome, thank you for being with us. Thank you for having me, john. Give me some idea what you think the u. S. Government should do in this case . Maintain its cy there should be intervention in the wake of this attack. So intervention means what . El civilians and regime is not working. We heard the u. N. Wants a prompt investigation, but it does n china. All right, josh, thank you very much. Good to see you. The heart of Hurricane Season is fast approaching, and new orleans is still recovering from Hurricane Katrina is rolling out a creative system to save people