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it is not our policy position to respond to this through regime change. we will take an appropriate response, and we are evaluating, the president and his team are evaluating the options available to them. and the president will make an assessment and an announcement in due time. defense secretary chuck hagel made clear that u.s. military forces are ready. suffice to say the options are there, the united states department of defense is ready to carry out those options. if that would occur, that would occur also in coordination with our international partners. but you re ready to go like that? we re ready to go like that. meanwhile, closest allies are lining up in agreement. british prime minister david cameron. now, of course, any action we take, or others take, would have to be legal, would have to be
that could be used to deliver chemical weapons such as airplanes, artillery rockets, and no apparent serious regime targets are included in that ris ....
minutes. so when that statement comes, we ll, of course bring it to you. and of course all of this ongoing in sydney as it comes up on 6:00 local time. this siege going on now for more than eight hours. i m john vause at the cnn center in atlanta. and i m natalie allen. we have been with you for several hours, and we will push on as this situation in australia continues. it is breaking news of a siege there in a coffee shop that has been ongoing. a gunman holding people hostage at the lindt coffee shop in downtown sydney. sky news has just informed us that the gunman is calling himself the brother , and has contacted a radio station and two tv stations via hostages with demands, a conversation with the prime minister and an isil flag. we do know five people have managed to get out. three men were seen running out two hours ago. two of them were customers. the man in the blue jacket, the man in the white zirs and a few moments later there was a man wearing an apron who ....
so there s no training behind this. there s no standard attack in any of this. so, actually, we can see it going any way. but i think the i think the longer it goes on without violence the more likely there won t be any. welcome back, everybody. i m john vause at the cnn center. i m natalie allen. thank you for joining us. we ve been here several hours with this breaking news out of australia. and we will continue to bring you the latest now. and we d like to welcome our viewers in the united states and all around the world. we d like to give you the update now. a gunman is still holding an unknown number of people at a lindt coffee shop in sydney s main business district. sky news australia reports that the hostage taker, seen here, is calling himself the brother. he has forced hostages to speak with three media outlets over the phone. he apparently has two demands. he wants an isis flag. he also wants a conversation with australia s prime minister. we also have video ....
tonight. this is one of the backward and nasty executive orders the president has issued. also today thousands of anti-abortion protesters gathered in washington for the annual march for life. mike pence told the crowd the president would announce a supreme court nominee soon and trump hinted strongly at the person he s choosing. the person i pick will be a big, big i think people are going to love it. i think evangelicals, christians will love my pick. and we ll be represented very fairly. jeff zeleny begins our coverage tonight out front at the white house. trump signing a flurry of executive orders this week, up to 14, but these on immigration, do they really have teeth? reporter: indeed they do. the ones that he signed late today, they do sort of play out exactly what he talked about in the campaign, extreme vetting. it should come as no surprise, but they are going at the heart of refugees coming here to the country, particularly syrian refugees. the white house ....
weapons attack. look at those pictures. if russia has the influence in syria that it claims to have, we need to see them use it. we need to see them put an end to these horrific acts. how many more children have to die before russia cares? the trump administration s foreign policy certainly being put to the test this week. he s meeting today with jordan s king abdullah, just the latest in a series of high-profile meetings with world leaders. let s bring in our senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny. jeff, the white house condemned the attacks in syria. but the administration suggested in recent days that the syrian president bashar al assad could remain in power. what does that mean for today s very important meeting with king abdullah? wolf, it is critical in this critical meeting. more importantly, we re waiting on word from the president himself here. what he says about syria. we saw, you know, a quick remark there in the opening. but will he embrace, will he ampl ....