>> i'm richelle carey. here is the latest from al jazeera. president obama gets ready to brief congressional laelders on the chemical tack in syria, and how the u.s. should respond. factory workers across the country want higher wages. ♪ the u.s. and its allies say syria must be punished for last

week's chemical weapons attack. but while president obama blames the assad regime, other leaders are not ready to make that determination. britain and other nations are discussing a potential action. and un inspectors will complete their work in syria tomorrow, but they don't plan to place blame for the attack. we begin our coverage with mike viqueira at the white house. mike once the president makes a decision how might this play out? surely no one knows the exact time line, but can bepossibly see the president making a public case for this? >> i think that is absolutely going to happen, but it is before the tomahawks start flying or after? the president gave an interview last night. he said once again he has not

made a decision. and joe biden repeated that line today. the president again repeating that to respond to this deployment of chemical weapons is in america's core self interest, and the president said the syrian government carried these attacks out. if you circumstance -- circle a couple of dates on the calendar here, you mentioned those un inspectors. it's very clear that the administration or any allied coalition is not going to initiate an attack while those un inspectors are on the ground. then tuesday the president is scheduled to leave the country. he was going to go see putin, and that got changed, instead he is going sweden before going to the g20 meeting. a lot of folks think the

president might want to consult with leaders at the g20. others say that is not likely to have this hanging in the air while they are talking about the economy. also another wild-card here, if the british go wobbly in his term on this, and parlment does balk, then that throws another twist and angle into the potential timing. >> mike, tell us precedent for this. >> well, i think the most direct precedent is 1993 and 1998. 1993 a plot was uncovered tos a -- s a nate president bush.

really underscoring the symbolic nature of what they are going to do here, the punitive nature of what is being considered by the united states and its allies. so that would be a direct comparison. there is also desert fox in 1998, and the miez ill attack on key targets. and that is american soil. and so those would be the district anti-seedants i think an attack on america there's no need for a coalition in the view of most. so 6:00 tonight there will be a meeting on the phone with

congressional leaders. we expect them to lay out the intel case before it is made public. so we have all got ourer ears to the ground. we're watching all of the moving parts here in washington rachel. >> thanks for connecting all of the dots. >> order! order! >> reporter: britain's parliament recalled in emergency session. the prime minister said a possible tack against syria would be legal, and president assad has used chemical weapons on a number of occasions. >> when we have a regime that has used chemical weapons on 14 occasions, if nothing is done it will conclude it the use these weapons again and again and on larger scale, and when people talk about escalation, to me the

biggest danger of escalation is if the world community stand back and do nothing. >> reporter: the government has released a suchry of an intelligence report. it says the weight of circumstantial evidence points to assad's regime using whim call weapons. -- [ technical difficulties ] -- should old back. >> america could probably undertake this without britain's support. we are allies but having said that, i think it's important that we stick to the principal of the issue, and not do something just because we're friends, and in our view, many of us here in parliament, it is clearly wrong to rush into military action before we have seen the evidence and before we have asked questions about the legality of such action. >> the british government's

plans have been at least delayed by the realities of democracy. david cameron probably can't afford a defeat in parliament if he is going to pursue military action against syria. the legacy of iraq is very important here. at that time, the public felt they were mislead and cheated, and that helps explain the caution and suspicion in britain today. many people feel the government has not yet made out a case. >> people remember the mistakes that were made in iraq, and i'm not willing to have those mistakes made again. and one of the most important lessons from iraq is about giving the united nations, which is the body that we are part of, the proper chance to do its work. >> reporter: for all of the heat, noise, and passion in parliament, david cameron has

promised another debate after the un weapons inspectors have issued their report. that could happen next week. in that means this is just an opening skirmish. german chancellor called on putin to take quick action. he also agreed with the french president that there must be a reaction, must be a reaction to the chemical attack in syria. he says france will not increase military aid to the syrian opposition. now the violence in syria is forcing thousands of families to flee the country. later in this broadcast we look at the reasons so many men refusing to go despite taking their wives and children to the

border. muslim groups are calling on the justice department to investigate a secret new york city police department surveillance program that targeted mosques. police have been spying on several mosques in the city since 9/11, including this one in brooklyn. that has sparked outrage amenning members of the muse limb community. >> i feel betrayed. i feel stabbed in the back. we are the people who are trying to forge a corporation between the nypd and our community, and you come up with being surveilled just because we are muslims. >> the police chief has defended the programs. he says all investigations are legal and in line with the federal judge's direction. a positive sign for the u.s. economic recovery. the commerce department reporting on the gross domestic

product, jumped 2.5% in the second quarter. that's up from 1.7% estimate. that news combined with falling unemployment claims is increasing speculation the federal reserve will stick with its plan to ease up on its stimulus program later this year. it is lunchtime here on the east coast and many fast-food work verse walked off of the job. it's part of a nationwide protest demanding higher pay. they are promising it will be the largest rally they have held so far. stephanie have the demonstrations started own the west coast? >> reporter: good morning, to you richelle, there are more than a 180,000 fast-food workers here in the los angeles area. they are protesting fast-food chains like mcdonald's wendy's,

taco bell, jack in the box. they are asking for a pay increase to $15 an hour. the median salary for a fast-food worker here in los angeles is about $9 an hour. that's about $11,000 a year, so it's not a lot of money, and the workers say they are having trouble getting buy. many of them have to depend on public assistance. meanwhile they say the fast-food industry is raking in billions. this is one of three planned events here in los angeles. the organizers, a few of them have just started to trickle in. in about an hour from now they will be joining city leaders as well, and make a three-mile walk to take their point, and again, this is the largest strike to hit the industry thus far richelle. >> what are franchise owners saying about this in >> well, we did talk to some of the major franchises.

we did get a response from mcdonald's. mcdonald's saying it does offer competitive wage and benefits to its please, and wants the public to know that the restaurants remain open with our dedicated please. burger king says over 99% of bunker king restaurants are independently owned by franchisees. and it says it respects the rights of all workers, however, it doesn't make hiring, firing, or other employment-related decisions for the franchisees. >> we'll have to see how big of impact this has. stephanie stanton live in los angeles. thank you. eight years later marking the anniversary of hurricane katrina, scars of the devastation remain. a closer look when we return. and the weather will change

for labor day weekend. i'll look at the national forecast when we come back. ♪

♪ recapping our top stories nationwide fast-food protest is underway. workers have walked off of the job demanding higher wages. thousands of fast-food workers across the country are expected to join in the strike. an average worker makes about $15,000 a year. demonstrators want to double that. this is the late nest a spring of demonstrations that began last november. the british government says the legal conditions have been made for taking action against syria. wheen time the german government

says the chancellor and putin agree they must deal with the situation in syria. anticipation is growing over whether or not the president will make a strike against syria. thousands of syrian refugees have fled their homeland. they are describing how those left behind are preparing for a possible attack. >> reporter: this crossing on the lebanon syrian border is busier than usual. thousands of syrians have left their country because of the possibility of western strikes against the are smeem. many are tired this conflict is in its third year. >> translator: we just want an end to all of this.

>> reporter: her family is from damascus. for these people a political solution is the only way to restore security. >> translator: the army soldier is our son. the officer in the army is our son. we are all brothers, but there are many bad people who want to destroy our country. >> reporter: others who don't support either of the warring parties say the civilians are the ones who are suffering. >> translator: we had to run away. this is the way to help the syrian people. not to arm both sides in the conflict. >> reporter: those who stayed behind have been stockpiling food and necessities. syrian security officials has said the army is preparing for all eventualities. the officials didn't a say what measures they are taking, but people in damascus have told us that the government are

evacuating military compounds and moving hill tear hardware among the population. >> translator: the west wants to protect israel's security. they don't care about the regime nor do they care about civilians. >> reporter: very few people believe the west wants to tom the regime, rebels and government supporters alike say limited strikes won't change the war, but they could change the balance of power and would be a way to change the war. egypt's military-backed government may be changing their mind. the prime minister suggested that the party should be allowed

to operate under government monitoring. this is a major shift following a government crackdown on anticoup protesters. chuck makel is wrapping up his tour of asia. on thursday he took his message to the philippines. they have been developing a plan to increase troops to the country. it was eight years ago today that hurricane katrina slammed ashore on the gulf coast. the recover there is still underway. here are some of the creative people who have gone to the big easy to help drive the revival. >> reporter: matthew has come a long way since helping his father fix up houses in vermont. he is now a respected furniture designer with a booming

business. >> this material is what makes my work beautiful to me. >> reporter: and like many other creative entrepreneurs, he was drawn to new orleans in the desperate days following hurricane katrina. >> i visited and really fell in love with the city. the music, the young people moving here who wanted to be part of rebuilding the city. >> reporter: and the influx of the young and the talented is obvious across the city. shared work spaces are increasingly common, and new orleans is ranked as one of the america's biggest brain magnets. >> it has raised the bar, it has raised the level of possible advertise for the city, and what people can do here. >> reporter: there's little down that this new generation of fresh blood has helped new orleans stage a comeback, but when you come to neighborhoods

like these, it's obvious some problems still endure. >> good job. >> reporter: problems that sonny lee is keenly aware of. he runs a program that mentors fatherless boys. many people simply never returned to his old neighborhood. >> whoever used to live here, the person across the street knew. so to look across the street and not see your neighbor there has got to be an empty feeling, a lonely feeling. ♪ >> reporter: the picture for new orleans is of a slow but steady recovery. thousands never returned, but many more have, and are proud to call the big easy home. ♪ ford says demand for its fusion zeidan is surging, and it is hiring 1400 workers here in

america to make more. it has been produced in mexico, but now the company is starting to produce the car at its plant outside of detroit. >> it's really all about meeting demand. our plant in mexico is completely full. but demand for the all new fusion has been outstanding. it's a great knew product, and we need more. so we had a shift available here, and a flexible body shop was built to be able to build the fusion for the market, and now we can add capacity, get more sales and meet demand. >> the fusion has been a big success for ford. sales so far this year are up 13%. freddie mac says the average fixed rate mortgage is down this week. last week it was at a two-year high. still mortgage rates are up more than a full percentage point

since early may when a 30-year fixed average was 3.35%. still to come on al jazeera, there are no concerns in california as crews continue to battle the massive wildfire in yosemite. and downpours in pennsylvania cause severe flooding. ♪ hi, my name is jonathan betz, and i'm from dallas, texas, and

i'm an anchor forç]

♪ welcome back. so a predator drone is the latest koolt helping to get a handle on the wildfire burning in yosemite national park. more than 4,000 emergency workers are fighting the rim fire. it has been spreading for nearly two weeks now. fire officials say six firefighters have been injured and there's a growing concern for san francisco's water supply. the reservoir is at risk of contamination. >> reporter: the greatest risk of this fire is an enhanced input of sediment which is dirt from the forest floor into the reservoir. >> more than 2.5 million people get their drinking water from the reservoir. the rim fire is about 30% contained right now. there has been severe flooding in pennsylvania this week.

heavy rainfall caused this flooding around pittsburgh on wednesday. several days of rain left the ground saturated earlier in the week. leaving the conditions ripe for flooding. no reports of any injuries, though, thank goodness. ♪ we'll keep it right there in pennsylvania and show there's not much on the radar right now. things are clear across the northeast. there is some drizzle coming down, just picked up barely by the radar. low cloud and light drizzle. not much sunshine out there, especially closer to the coast. that has changed a bit from new york. yesterday the us open had a rain delay, today should be a little more active. there's one person waiting the suspended payout. they are patient. right now the rainfall shows

there is not much happening across the northeast. there may be drizzle out there today, so not completely dry, but not like yesterday, not expecting flooding in the northeast. temperatures are down because of the clouds. philadelphia is at 76, only climbing into the mid-to low 80s with those clouds around. there is flooding in taiwan, konk-rea is slow moving and dumping a lot of rain in the area. so we'll see more images coming in from this area, as the storm should eventually turn north and effect japan. this is juliette, it is just enough water where it continues to maintain it's a strength. and they are getting wind and rain all along the coast and it will continue to move north and then turn out over the pacific. severe storms move through north

dakota this morning. watches and conditions favorable for gusty winds and hail. to the south there's not much in the way of rain or storm, but these are heat advisories, another day where temperatures could climb into the upper 90s and near 100 degrees. it is almost up to 90 already in kansas city. 95 in kansas city, a lot of 90s. rapid city, south dakota, this area has seen day after day of temperatures close to 100. there is some relief that could be coming in by this weekend as we get cooler air in here. the southwest, this is all tropical moisture, and then we get these showers and storms in the afternoon. they are isolated but they

contain gusty wind and potential for flash flooding. this is for arizona, and new mexico, california, not seeing much rain over the rim flyer and still a bit breezy, so they are trying start to fight that fire, but not much in the way of rain where we need it in california. listen to this, japan is gearing up for trial runs of the world's fastest train. how fast you say? speeds of about 360 miles an hour. the magnetic train floats on powerful magnets inches across the track. the trip will take less than half of what it usually takes. it is scheduled to open in 2027. i'm richelle carey, up next, stay tuned for "inside story." you can always visit our

website, aljazeera.com, for the latest headlines. thank you and have a great day. ♪