NEWS SUMMARY AT THIS HOUR-TUESDAY 9/11/18

                                          (WILL UPDATE-EDIT THROUGH 530AM)

Good Morning on this Tuesday September 11th, 2018, the 17th anniversary of the Al Qaeda terrorist attacks on the United States.

In northern Syria 10-thousand or more Al-Qaeda fighters, thousands of Islamic State forces and many other opponents of the regime of Syria's President Bashar Assad are under air and artillery attack ahead of a ground offensive.

But the United States, United Kingdom and France are raising an alarm as the military action gets underway.

US National Security Advisor John Bolton says that a "much stronger response" will be directed at Syria if there is any use of chemical weapons.   Bolton says the use of chemical weapons would be the "third use" by Syria's government.

Meanwhile a Republican State Senator from Virginia who visited Syria last week , Richard Black, sees the incidents differently.  Black says:

"I've studied each of these gas attack provocations and with the exception of Douma, every one of them has been carried out by the terrorists, often in conjunction with Turkey or with other foreign intelligence agencies....There never was a gas attack in Douma"

Black says the Douma incident in April of this year was totally staged without using any chemical agents.

While the notion of war crimes in Syria is on the table to justify military action by the US, the US is warning the International Court not to prosecute Americans for war crimes.   National Security Adviser John Bolton says the ICC will be sanctioned if it targets American soldiers for abuse of detainees in Afghanistan.  Bolton called the court "illegitimate".

North Korea's ruler Kim Jong Un wants another summit meeting with President Trump and the White House says its working on the matter.   Kim recently sent a letter to President Trump and Trump offered Kim praise via Twitter last weekend.

President Trump urging residents of the east coast to stay safe as Hurricane Florence approaches.  Currently maximum sustained winds are 140 miles per hour with landfall expected in the Carolinas by Thursday evening.   The storm centered 975 miles away from Cape Fear, North Carolina.

At 5am the National Weather Service issued a Hurricane and  Storm Surge Watch from Edisto Beach, South Carolina to the North Carolina-Virginia border.

Tropical Storm Olivia is some 500 miles east of Honolulu and moving into the Hawaiian Islands in the next 48 hours with maximum sustained winds of 70 miles per hour and heavy rains up to 20 inches that could cause flash flooding.

This Thursday is Primary Election Day in New York and there has been a last minute mailing attacking outsider progressive candidate for governor Cynthia Nixon.    The mailing questions Nixon's support for Jewish people saying she "won't stand strong" for Jews and is silent on  rising anti-Semitism.   It was distributed by the New York Democratic Party.

Nixon is running against Democrat incumbent Andrew Cuomo who is backed by Establishment New York Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

In Canada, Ontario Premier Doug Ford is flexing his muscle against the man who beat him in the race for Toronto Mayor, John Tory.   After losing in court on his plan to cut city council seats in Toronto for next month's election from 47 to 25, Ford is calling  a special legislative session Wednesday.

Ford will invoke the "notwithstanding clause" to pass legislation to override the court decision in a case brought by Mayor Tory and other members of the existing city council.

Tory said Ford's move is "contrary to the Charter", Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms, "wrong" and "not acceptable".