>> i'm richelle carey. president obama gets ready to brief congressional leaders on. chemical attacks. and terrorist organizations to spy on members. and the picture line. thinthey want higher wages. >> u.s. and its allies say syria must be published for last

week's--must be punished for last week's chemical attacks. the white house will brief congressional leaders about what is known about the attack and how the u.s. could respond. britain and other nations are also discussing a potential response. and u.n. chemical inspectors will complete their work in syria tomorrow, but they don't plan to place blame for the attack. we will gather to mike viqueira, mike, so much of the focus is on intelligence. the u.s. said they have intelligence. though know what happened. in the back of many minds has to be botched intelligence from before.

>> reporter: in an interview, the president reiterated that he has not yet made a decision, but he used the strongest language yet to indicate he has come to a conclusion on one thing. he said the syrian government, in fact, carried these out, talking about the chemical attacks. you're right. specifically he said we don't want a repetition of iraq. we used to call it the vietnam syndrome, the weariness that would loaning hang this country, now it's the iraq syndrome. there is an weariness and significant doubt not only on the part of lawmakers but the public regarding that intelligence. military will be briefing by conference call because remember that congress is still on

vacation, the top leaders democrat and republican of the top intel. still working on the coalition and in the united states as well. >> what would yohow would you dy action he might take? >> if you were to characterize him with a broad brush you would say these are predominantly tea party of congress. they represent a long presence in congress and that's the isolationist wing. will that happen? does leadership want that to happen. john boehner wrote a letter to the president yesterday asking some relevant questions, but

significantly not insisting that the president come to congress to get a vote for authorization as we saw in the case of iraq war and the action in afghanistan as well. among the questions, what is the result you're seeking to find if you are to launch this attack, which incidentally the president characterized as a shot across the bow. if there is to be military action, aren't you, in fact, helping the opposition of assad, which is not the stated goal of u.s. policy at this point. >> michael, what could the--this is a difficult question, but i'm going to ask it. what is the potential fallout if the u.s. does act unilaterally? >> well, i think that's part of the reason why you're seeing this very public campaign on the part of the administration, to let the public know when the president picks up the phone and calls the u.k. prime minister david cameron who is obviously having his own problem with

public opinion and getting parliament giving authorization for this. they trumpet the fact that the arab league has called the actions on the part of assad heinous. you're seeing this campaign by the white house to build this momentum here in public and in congress as well. >> mike, thank you so much. it's going to be a busy day for you. thank you. mike viqueira did just reference the british there, britain's intelligence commi, britain sais highly likely that chemical weapons were used in the attack. there is debate taking place in britain's house of parliament as they vote on what action to take in syria. philip joins us live in london. tell bus this debate.

>> reporter: well, richelle, david cameron is making an i a impassioned plea not only to parliament but to public at large trying to sway them into supporting some type of intervention in syria, something that's going to be an uphill battle because there is also war weariness in this country. the prime minister has repeatedly said this is not about regime change. it is about upholding international law. law that britain itself was part of establishing. >> put simply is it in britain's national interest to maintain an international taboo to prevent chemical weapons on the battle field, i think it is, and i think we have an interest in maintaining it. >> the prime minister also

repeatedly said if the international community does nothing after this, the first use of chemical weapons on the battlefield in the 21st century it will send a clear message to those who would use chemical weapons that the world will sit by and watch. >> you're saying this is an uphill battle, and this is a rerobust debate we're seeing, but david cameron does not need approval to take some action. >> yes, that's right. he does not need to get approval for action but it would be absolute political suicide for the government here. and part of what is being presented in parliament currently is actually putting a restraint on the government, putting in place regulation that would require the government to come back to parliament after an u.n. vote, after the u.n. inspectors had made their

report, and then go in for the second vote of actual use of military power. this is a long process, something that is being taken very delicately. as we mentioned he repeatedly the british people are not really in favor of this. >> great wrap up there, thank you very much. chancellor merkel called on quick unanimous international reaction. germany backed up russia but greed with french president hollande said that there must be human rights. hollande offered other support in political and humanitarian aid. violence is forcing thousands to leave the country.

so many men are refusing to go despite they take their wives and children right to the border. in a televised interview the interim president of egypt said that the party shoul the--the ps new york city want the justice department to investigate a secret citywide surveillance program. journals of the associated press say police have been spying on several mosques in the city since 9/11. some have been calling it racial profiling. >> reporter: midday prayers in brooklyn, but according to the number of police department this is not merely a place of worship, documents reveal this is one of a dozen mosques in the city which have been secretly

labeled by the department as a terrorist organization since 2003. it means anyone who attends their prayer meetings could be subject to surveillance by the nypd. >> we came to this country for what, freedom, justice. this is the most important thing you live for. and when you in the united states there is no democracy, no justice, no freedom, what do you think. >> reporter: he said that officer kelly must release the information that he has. >> our kids are learning in an after school program. women are learning english. food pantry, mosque, what is it that they are in our mosque for ten years at a time. >> reporter: am. >> i feel betrayed. i feel stopped in the back.

we are the people trying to forge a cooperation between nypd and our communityish and you come up with being surveilled just because we are muslim. >> the commissioner insists that it is legal. >> what we're pursuing is consistent with the federal judge position. >> reporter: over the last year mayor bloomberg has resisted criticism claiming that it's necessary to keep the city safe. >> reporter: early organizations have sued the nypd accusing the department of unconstitutional rogerreligious profileing and unsuspicious surveillance.

>> the government's latest reed on the economy is stronger than economists had forecast. the grow gross domestic products increased 2%. the news following unemployment claiclaim and they'll stick wite plan until later this year. >> workers in new york and detroit have walked off the job and workers also in if chicago. we have one woman's struggle to get by. >> reporter: the squeeze of living paycheck to paycheck is all too real for nancy and her two kids coming home to a camped one bedroom apartment.

>> we leap here. >> there is no room in her budget for more space, and staying ahead of the bills is impossible. for ten years she has worked at mcdonald's never making more than minimum wage which here in illinois is $825 an hour. >> i get last notice where i'm going get disconnected and i have to pay a portion of it so i have to come up with the money. he's living conditions are why why salgado and others have sustaining a stand for higher wages and respect on the job. the movement has asked for it to be moved up to $15. >> if these people earned $15 they could give back to the economy and they wouldn't have to depender on the government for food stamps. >> reporter: a substantially

higher minimum wage may not be a win fall. at $15, they may be much more selective about who they hire. alan anderson teaches economics at the university of ohio. >> the average person who doesn't work at mcdonald's at $7 an hour would certainly want to work there at $15 an hour. >> reporter: salgado has no choice but to put on a smile at home. she can't afford to lose hope. >> as the conflict intensifies more and more syrians are leaving the country. eight years later marking the history of hurricane katrina while much of the region coming

back and scars do remain, we'll take a closer look. >> meteorologist: and we've got strong storms and heat, we'll have the forecast coming up.

>> recapping our top stories. the nationwide protest is underway at this hour. workers in new york, chicago and detroit have walked off the job demanding higher wages. fast food workers across the country are expected to join this strike today. an average worker makes $15,000 a year and demonstrators want to double that. this is a string of demonstrations that began last

november. the british government said legal conditions have been met to take action against syria. the obama administration will brief congressional leaders regarding the latest chemical attack in syria. the president will decide if he'll launch an attack. yesterday he said would like to take action that would not result in long drown out action country. >> here on the syria-libya border there have been refugees coming out of syria. we had 13,000 leaving the country yesterday. certainly far fewer than that today. it is interesting i spoke to a number of people coming out of the country this morning.

all of whom said they wanted to bring women and children, family members out into lebanon. the men in the cars all expecting to turn around and go back into syria today and tonight. they all sported the assad regime. they said if there is a military strike that takes place in syria, they want to be there when it happens. they have even said they would volunteer to fight with mr. assad if they were given the opportunity to do so. everybody here feels that if there is any form of a strike it will come after our weekend saturday and sunday. the united nations inspectors leave on saturday. nobody expect anything to happen until after that. so in terms of the sense of urgency in crossing the border. there isn't one yet. they say a lot of people will wait until the last moment and try to get out in those first few days of next week. from the lebanon-syrian border, david jackson, al jazeera. >> you can follow developments on our website,

www.aljazeera.com. it was eight years ago today that hurricane katrina slammed ashore on the gulf coast, more than 1800 people were killed, and the city of new orleans devastated. the recovery there is still under way. wthere have been creative people who have gone to the big easy to help drive the revival. >> matthew has come a long way since helping his father fix up houses in vermont. now he's a respected furniture designer with a booming business. >> this material is what makes my work beautiful to me. like many other creative entrepreneurs, he was drawn to new orleans in the desperate days of hurricane katrina. >> i visited and fell in love with the city. the music, the young people who were moving here who had it in their heart they wanted to be part of rebuilding a city. >> and the influx of the young

and talented is across the city. shared workplaces like in the heart of downtown are increasingly common, and new orleans is now ranked as one of new orleans biggest brain magnates a trend that a professor says is a game changer. >> the biggest difference after hurricane katrina it has raised the bar of what the city and people can do here. >> reporter: this new generation of fresh blood has helped new orleans stage a remarkable come back. but when you come to areas like the lower ninth ward, which was hit particularly hard, there are problems that people still endure. problems that sonny is keenly aware of. he runs a program that mentors fatherless boys. >> this was a family, and to look across the street and not

see your neighbor there, it's not to be an empty feeling. [♪ music ] >> the picture of new orleans is of a slow but steady recovery. thousands never return after hurricane katrina but many have and are proud to call the big easy home. >> the big easy, indeed. in seattle some former boy scouts will file a lawsuit alleging they were sexually abused at camp. it will be the largest court case ever filed against the boy scouts of america. sexual predators sexually molesting the scouts. most of the abuse is said to have occurred at washington base boy scout camp. there are new concerns in california as crews continue to fight the massive wildfire in yosemite.

>> welcome back. a predator drone is helping to get a handle on the fire burning at yosemite national park. 4,000 firefighters are now working to fight the fire. it is now consuming 300 square

miles. six firefighters have been injured, meanwhile there is a growing concern for san francisco's water supply. officials say that the reservoir is at risk of contamination. >> the risk of this fire is the enhanced input of sediment which is dirt from the forest floor no the reservoir. >> 2.5 million people get their drinking water from the reservoir. there is severe flooding in pennsylvania because of heavy rainfall. multi counties have reported road closures of homes and businesses. heavy rainfall has saturated the ground leaving the condition ripe for flooding. there have been no injury reports, thank goodness. >> meteorologist: we're talking about flooding but not in

pennsylvania, this is taiwan. the problem with this storm is that it's moving slowly it's not exactly a big storm but it is putting a lot of rain over the same area. and its affecting taiwan, a like images like this coming in, china, and eventually we'll turn to the north and affect japan. there is another storm out there in july yet juliet, this is hasd rain over the peninsula, and it's slowly moving forward. these boxes indicate watches, and we see heavy rain continuing to move through. no more warnings, but these are advisories for the heat and excessive heat warnings as well. the heat continues to affect the northern plains. this could be the last day because it looks like cooler air

will try to move in over the weekend. heating up in 80 in omaha, and 99 maybe 100 degrees out there in tulsa all the way from fargo, north dakota. hot and humid weather. if not the heat then the rain, play was suspended for the u.s. open but today the radar looks all clear. the clear has rained out and the last of the rainfall forecast shows nothing here over new york. it's not completely dry, but there is some drizzle out there, low clouds and drizzle but not the steady rain like we had yesterday. that's what we're dealing with in the northeast. it keeps the temperatures down. 72 in new york, and 80 degrees this afternoon and this evening. the radar clouds in the west shows it's dry over california again, but this moisture comes up from the south, and around phoenix, arizona, showers and

storms that are very isolated. it's picked up by the forecast here some heavy rainfall in arizona and it will get lighter and lighter the further north you go. where we need t we're not seeing much rain in california, it all stays south especially along the coast as that tropical moisture comes through the united states. richelle. >> we'll talk business, good news. ford is hiring. it's fusion is one of the best selling cars in the country, and its plant in mexico could not keep up with demands. the company is starting to produce the car at its flat rock, michigan, plant outside of detroit, that means more american jobs. using fusion sales. in japan high speed tests resume on the experimental magnetic levitation train. it would flow inches above it's

track going as fast as 300 mph. the trip from tokyo to nygoya would take 40 minutes. it's 90 minutes now. they plan to work on the $51 billion train that is scheduled to open in 2027, and is expected to be extended to the western japanese cities, yes, did i say 300 mph. that was not a mistake. i'm richelle carey on al jazeera. you can check our website for all the news throughout the day, particularly the situation in syria, that's www.aljazeera.com. thank you for your time. keep it here.

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