>> i'm richelle carey. our top story on al jazeera, syria's war. president obama is growthed by president vladimir putin. behind closed doors it will members of congress discuss military action against syria. egypt survives an assassination attempt as a bomb explodes outside cairo. cities across the country call for better working conditions and higher wages for walmart workers.

fps. >> president obama and other world leaders have come together for the group of 20 summit. officially they're in st. petersburg to talk about the global economy you about the debate about syria is dominating. also puts it at odds for the host of the summit, russia. mike viqueira is there. mike. >> i'm here in st. petersburg. the president landed early, it was off to the first plenary session where the first person he should meet of course, vladimir putin. he greeted all of the leaders, putin did, at the palace, very i don'ornate surroundings.

it was president obama yesterday before arriving here who spoke in stockholm, said look, relations with russia have hit a wall over syria chiefly but over a number of issues on down the line and putin responded seemingly tit-for-tat. he said secretary of state john kerry termed him a liar, because in his testimony kerry said the situation was dominated by moderates rather than extremists. leaders are at an all time low but president obama is picking up the syria cause here. talking on the margins as they say. talkintalking to world leaders, holding side conversations, these have been going on and on as the day has worn on. i mention that president obama

spoke with prime minister abe before going to the full session of the g-20 and syria was on the agenda at that meeting as well. let's listen. >> i also look forward to having an extensive conversation about the situation in syria. and i think our joint recognition that the use of chemical weapons in syria is not only a tragedy but also, a violation of international law that must be addressed. >> reporter: now, president obama has two other bilaterals, formal bilaterals. president francois hollande of france, president hollande backing president obama's military strikes in syria. china backing syria's move. there will be no formal meeting with vladimir putin, just a one on one meeting. we do understand from aides that

they do expect one of the informal meetings around the g-20, richelle. >> we will be speaking with him throughout the day. it looks like it will take time for congress to approve actions. key events over the next few days. the g-20 finishes tomorrow. major issues, mike viqueira told us. boast the house and senate are expected to return to work, it's not clear when they'll vote on the resolution. responding to last month's chemical attacks near damascus. we want to show you paul beban is lufn near washington. tell us what's happening now and what's going to happen throughout the day.

>> well richelle as you mentioned, there's a lot going on. maybe not the same furs pace as the -- furious pace as the last couple of days in fact right now the senate intelligence committee meeting started at 10:00, they're hearing more about the specific intelligence on syria. we heard from republican senator susan collins a little bit earlier about some of the questions she plans to ask. let's hear what she had to say. >> one of the questions that i have asked is whether we're looking at this issue too narrowly. this is not a choice between doing nothing, and doing a military strike. there are other ways to put pressure internationally on the assad regime to isolate him, that might be more effective, and would not involve the use of military action. i'm also very wary of the united

states becoming entangled more and more deeply in what is the civil war. >> and you hear, susan collins in maine, in a closed briefing, getting more details presumably hoping to get some answers to those kind of questions. richelle. >> so whit gets to the full senate though, and those are questions a lot of senators whether you are a democrat or republican have right? once it gets to the full senate what's the lay of the land? what's it looking like paul whether or not it's actually going to get out of the senate? >> on the good news side for the administration, senator rand paul has walked back what was being reported as a threat of a filibuster. he has taken that off the table for now but that doesn't mean there won't be difficulty getting this passed. and let me just read off to you some notes here from the hill.com, they were handicapping the senate vote as of 10:00 a.m.

this morning before that senate intelligence committee meeting began. yes meaning they had 20, no, 13, and 57, 43 about which we don't have any guidance now. so still pretty open field there in the senate right now. richelle. >> and what are you hearing about the house? >> reporter: so the house, the senate vote could come as early as next wednesday, that would be 9-11. the house isn't expected to take up the measure until the following week, that schedule could change. everything is very fluid but might be a week before we hear anything from the full house. >> and the president has said that the plans that were given ohim are not necessarily time sense tougher. paul thank you so much. a convoy was the target of an explosion on thursday.

interior minister mohamed ibrahim survived the tack but many dead and six injured. the bomb was dropped from the top of a nearby building near him home on nasr city. first attack since mohamed morsi was out offe out of ousted in j. (n) a scheduled federal court hearing in san jose thursday, google's attorneys plan to argue that the long running practice is legal because of its use to sell ads. all users of e-mail must expect that their use is subjected to

ads. in a surprising online message from iranian president hassan rahani, has got many people scratching their heads.

>> president obama and other world leaders are in russia for the group of 20 summit. officially, in st. petersburg to talk about the global economy but the debate over syria is dominating talks on the sidelines of the summit. congress is expected to get members only briefing on syria. placing the resolution on the calendar. boast the house and senate are scheduled to return to work but

isn't sure when they'll be voting on the resolution. , corresponhow close is thin to willing to interior minister? >> well, i think the interior minister did come very close in fact to be asas assassinated ifs is a an assassination attempt. actually, the work of the interior ministry, he said that the blast happened when he was in a car, in a convoy passing his residence. in the nasr city area of cairo. he said obviously it was a very large device. now the latest we have is that two people were killed aand at least 21 injured.

we don't knowhe identities of those who died. forensic teams have been at the site on thursday, and try to fi out if as much as they can, many shops in the area were badly damaged and several cars were destroyed. so it was a big blast. the interior ministry is saying that initial reports seem to suggest it was parked car which targeted the minister. >> what do we know or what are we hearing about who mig be behind this attack? there has been claim of no responsibility so far. there has been in the half hour a claim that we will not allow the terrorism that egypt is in the 80s and 90s will be allowed to rear its ugly head. clearly there are concerns.

a very quick reaction from the alliance that has been protesting on the streets a elsewhere for mohamed morsi to be reinstated as president. they condemned the attack but they have also said that they believe that perhaps the authorities might use things like this to extend the city of sastate ofemergency in egypt. >> quite extensive damage and loss of life. thank you for that report from cairo. during this week's hse and senate hearings some lawmakers said that they were concerned about those helping the assad regime. they said it is because of some of the groups that make up the opposition. former minister richard murray says the dangers are valid. >> the danger as time goes on the opposition attracts what we

call extremists. secretary kerry has been making that point, thathe need to act is now as quickly as possible. >> we'll continue to follow the war in syria. new revatio in talks between israel and the palestinians. according to the international press, israel wants to keep the bases in the west bark. came from a palestinian official despite calls from both sides to keep the talks a secret. a surprising online message from iranian president hassan rouhani. as the sun is about to set here in teheran, i wish jews a peaceful rosh hashana. he is expected to address the

u.n. in new york. a couple of reports show slow but steady improvement in the job market. near a five-year low, at the same time adp reports private companies added 176,000 workers in august. most of those jobs came in the service sector. economists say the numbers are encouraging but the jobs front still has a lg way to go. >> i estimate we need between 7 and 7.5 additional jobs if we are going to see full employment in the united states. that is an unemployment rate of about 4.5 to 5%. we need a lot more employment. >> tomorrow the august employment numbers are released. stick with al jazeera for in-depth coverage of tha very important report. walmart workers are demanding higher salaries, a minimum of $25,000 a year. calling on walmart to undo the

firis that took place in a previous strike. the company has not responded. now in total walmart employs 2.2 million people worldwide, 1.3 in the u.s. alone and is the largest employer in 25 states. across more than 10,900 stores in 27 countri. the company controls more than 900 million square feet of retail space. that's roughly 34 miles or an area about one.5 times the size of manhattan. it's large. to help us understandow walmart strike relates to larger concerns about the u.s. economy, we turn to louis highman, an assistant professor of labor and history, at cornell university. professor thanks for jning us. >> it's my pleasure. thanks for having me. >> strikes are nothing new but what is the precedent for the

specific wage protest that walmt employees are engaged in right now? >> i think it's really important to contextualize this. to see it not just as a strike but as a protest, as these sort of increasing recognition that the recovery has left so many millions of americans behind. and we can see this in relation to last year's big black friday strikes atalmart which of course were not very successful. although with the events of last week william account fast food strikes maybe a corner has been turned. >> what does this say about the state of our economy right now? >> i mean, the economys going organigang busters for those the higher education. but for people at the bottom with high school and less degrees, the picture is pretty bleak. labor force participation ntinues to fall. so even though this month's particular unemployment rate may have dropped a little bit, the

overall picturisf people in the long term being alienated from the labor force. >> what realistically would you expect companies like walmart to do? >> well, walmart is very different from the fast food companies that we saw last week. in both of the cas they employ people at the bottom of the wage scale and if they increase their wages it wouldn't affect prices all that much. but walmart actually owns all of those location he, all of those stores, employs all of those people directly. so if they actuall had to increase their wages for their workers it would substantially affect their bottom line and certainly it would spread arod the country. whereas every single one of those mcdonald's and burger kings are independently owned and operated. so it's a very different situation. they're dealing with their particular workforce at a particular location.

evenhough it's a same population of underemployed low wage workers it's a very different strategic situation for the two kinds of corporations. >> so having said that do you think anything is actually going to change? >> i think that the strike portion of the walmart protests will not change anything at walmart. if a specific pla is successful shutting it down they'll just shut down that location. what i do think it is possible, is that this is part of a larger conversation about the minimum wage in america, and the political nature of it. and i think in that regard, all e pple who are going out on strike have a real possibility if they connect with their political representatives in congress. >> okay and as we said, we did reach out to walmart for a comment. professor, we appreciate your pa of the conversation. thank you so much. walmart's first profits are significant with over 30 billion earned in the second quarter of this year alone.

their profits soar over the competition, walgreen's amazon costco, and target earned between 20 billion and 27 billion less than walmart. j.c. penn evergreeey is loca court battle with macy's over licensing store's products. it is unclear how the decision will the deal, signed a 200 llion deal with martha stewart in 2011. china's swong yee purchase of smithfield foods possibly tomorrow. it will be the largest u.s. company ever to be brought by a chinese firm, the pork producers. the companies say it's ain for both countries.

mcdonald's dollar menu may soon be more than a dollar. testing a market menu that includes a dollar or more. three price points, $1, $2 and $5. mcdonald's and other fast food chains are experimenting with ways to boost profits yet not rozzing the customer wh likes vae meals. according to the wall street journal which points to interest volatility, banks with lots of cash to lend for a change. the mortgage bankers association says last weekumbo mortgages average 4.3% while conventional was 4.71. bradley manning is requesting a presidential pardon. manning is serving a 35 year prison sentence for the biggest

leak of classified information in history. still on al jazeera, a new type of christian rampage is ramping up. we'll take you to a skate ministry in florida. >> and we're looking for an update in the tropics and very cold temperatures as you head out the door. i'll have the numbers and national forecast all coming up. ]

>> in florida a new type of ministry is ramping up. skate parks for young christians. these so-called skate ministries are rolling across the country. andy gallagher reports. >> they come to practice their flips and slides. and for skate borderers across the globe, skate parks like this one of in fort lauderdale are important. this is more than just a place where you come and practice your latest trick on the ramp and the halfpipe. it is to many people also a house of worship. >> god, we're skaters and we love you, and --

>> run 48 is more specifically a skate ministry. part of north america's largest evangelical churches. ramp 48's director says bible classes aren't compulsory. >> there are bible studies every tuesday. we have been doing it for wow, 13 years now. it's not -- we don't make them come. they can come or they can leave, you know, it's all good. >> but 13-year-old marcus montoya is a church regular in ramp 48 paps most talented -- >> katy: talented skateboarders. >> you read the bible and talk about jesus around god and you come back and skate and you have a good set of mind and you just skate hard. >> but for parents like kate dunn, skate ministry wasn't an easy sell.

she was initially wary to bring her son there. but the experience was transformative. >> he would have told you two months ago he was atheist. very recently he said, i read the entire book of matthew yesterday, or hey mom, they found noah's ark. >> andy gallagher, al jazeera, forth lauderdale, florida. >> update here out in the pacific northwest, we have both fire weather and flooding problems all in the same area. the reason for that is because the storm just off the coast bringing very heavy rain from nevada up through idaho and montana. that rain going over the same area. thunderstorms and some dry areas that lightning can could cause a fire problem there and then it

turns around the low pressure and gives more problems in washington. could be too much rain a little bit of lightning or a little bit of rain. causing many problems in the pacific northwest. one of the few places with a lot of radar happening across the country. this is the only place seeing heavy rain, idaho, western montana washington and the northwestern tip of oregon. temperatures are warm, cool air setting up in the eastern part of the u.s., great lakes to new england, the radar shows that all the clouds and showers have pushed to the south. this is a front that came through and it's giving us cool weather across much of the eastern united states. the temperatures are a big key here. this morning, mid 70s, continuing to warm up, a little cooler in the north new england states. overnight tonight it will get

cold in fact chilly, temperatures dropping into the 30s in many new england states, could be at the freezing mark in new york, frost advisories and warnings, could be a chill when you wake up tomorrow. tomorrow afternoon is the coolest day and a little warmer in saturday and sunday. tropical depreparation gabrielle, giving heavy rain over puerto rico. richelle. >> dave listen to this. there may be aoway to avoid long security lines at the airport. the tsa has been testing which will allow preapproved fliers, bringing laptops liquids and gels in their carry-ons. comes with a price: it will cost you a fee of $85 for a five-year pass. think about it. i'm richelle carey. keep it here. people in china orient express.

thank you so much for your time. i'm richelle carey. >> for three hundred years the most powerful countries on earth grew richer and stronger on the profits of the slave trade. more than 12 million men, women and children were forcibly transported from africa to the plantations and colonies of north and south america. today slavery is illegal in every country on the planet. yet slavery didn't die in the 19th century. it is alive, thriving - and bigger than ever.