52 died on sunday, including four children. secretary of state hillary clinton calling on the united nations to take action against syrian president assad saying he has lost his legitimacy to rule. a major concession from israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu that could lead to statehood for palestinians. netanyahu announcing israel is now willing to negotiate with palestinians based on borders that existed in 1967. in exchange, the palestinians would have to drop efforts to get the u.n. to recognize them as a state and it would have to publicly recognize israel as a state. leaders on both sides are indicating that they are willing to accept those conditions. back here at home, the extreme heat just won't let up in the midwest and dallas today will mark the 32nd straight day of triple-digit temperatures. excessive heat advisories from texas to parts of kansas and right now 12% of the country experiencing extreme drought conditions. rob marciano is in the extreme

weather center in atlanta. so, any end in sight? >> well, what we need is a tropical system to come onshore. that's what we were begging for last week in don, completely fizzled and brought virtually no rain to texas. that's strikeout number one. we're hoping emily can bring something to the southeast that can use the rain. tropical storm emily in the eastern caribbean, this larger dhan don but still has obstacles to undergo. islands that may get in the way of this thing. the forecast track, it will skim san juan, some rain there, maybe a little wind. get over hispaniola and that may tear it apart, at least limit its development because of the mountains there, and get somewhere into the southern bahamas, florida is in the realm of possibilities, as is the carolinas and georgia as we get towards the weekend. so this is going to be of great concern. if it develops stronger into a category 1, 2 or 3 hurricane

wouldn't be good, but a weak tropical system we'll take that. here's your heed advisories all over. 109 in dallas, 111 in oklahoma city, cooler tomorrow, no. cooler on thursday u.s.? >> -- no. the heat continues. this system doesn't look like it has much of a chance of getting to texas. they have to get their cool rain from another source. right now looks hot and dry. back up to you. >> i don't really think that's possible but maybe they'll think of something. >> that purple on that map just confounds me. the heat in the shade in oklahoma city and dallas, places like that, wow. >> quite a stretch. >> we'll check on the weather later on with you, rob. thank you so much. this might just be the worst humanitarian crisis on the planet. the people of somalia in the grips of a deadly drought and famine, nowhere in the world are people more malnourished. getting the help to these struggling people in this african nation is next to impossible because of another ongoing crisis, attacks by

islamic militants. cnn joins us live from mow ga deshah, somalia, this morning. nina, what's the situation there? >> ali, the shabab militant group have now announced their ramadan offensive, the muslim holy month started yesterday and annually every year, what shabab will do is use this as a rallying cry for their supporters around the world. we've been told that three weeks ago they received a shipment of weapons from across the red sea in yemen, they couldn't confirm 100%, but believe that was coming from al qaeda in the arabian peninsula in preparation for this offensive. that offensive has begun in earnest bringing with it huge concerns for the already impoverished aid that is reaching these people. the worry is that now that this offensive has kicked off, that those aids are in more danger as meager as they were, alley. >> knee nima what is the likely

ability to head off the famine? i ask you this because famine is a specific word, not thrown around normally, means something specific. how long does this likely go on for if they can't succeed in getting food to these people? >> that's the huge issue here. if they can't secure the corridors to deliver the aid, then we're only going to continue to see this humanitarian catastrophe grow. initially the united states said famine, you're right, it is a scientific term, talks about a specific malnutrition rate, initially the u.n. said that was only in two areas in south and central somalia. now it's warning that the whole of somalia is becoming a number min zone and the problem really is, ali, this really hasn't crept up on the world. for years now, year on year, we've been having drought warnings for somalia and people have been aware that the security situation, the stability situation, needs to change here and then, you know, this was coming. this could have been foreseen. and yet, now we have tens of

thousands of people at risk of hunger, starvation, death, and it doesn't really look like there is an easy answer to this on the horizon. many aid agencies are trying it to rat chet up their delivery of aid. it's well and good to get that to mogadishu, but how do you get it to the people that need its most. >> thanks very much for covering this for us. we'll stay in touch with you on this important and tragic story unfolding. still to come the triumphant return of gabrielle giffords. >> did this give you shivers. >> brought me to tears. why the wounded congresswoman felt compelled to come back to the capitol last night. you're watching "american morning." your business headlines up, too, after a quick break. [ kimberly ] when i was 19, i found myself alone

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27 minutes after the hour. minding your business right now. u.s. stock futures are trading lower ahead of the opening bell. wall street not feeling very confident about the economy this morning. stocks shot up at the start of the session yesterday on relief about the debt ceiling talks, but markets quickly took a turn and dropped after weak manufacturing numbers were released signaling stalled growth in the economy. today wall street looking to more economic data for a fresh read on the recovery. economists are forecasting that personal income and spending rose in june, slightly from the previous months. those numbers come out in about two hours from now. toyota announcing this morning a big loss in the last quarter, due in part to a lag in production following the earthquake in japan but the company also raised its earnings forecast for the year. other quarterly earnings coming out, pfizer, office max and hyatt hotels. later today the major automakers will start releasing information on new car sales for july and wall street will be watching. those figures are used as indicators of consumer demand and another gauge on the country's economic recovery.

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arizona kngs congresswoman gabrielle giffords making a return to capitol hill seven months after being shot in the head she said she had to come back to keep congress from inflicting a serious wound on the american people on this "american morning." good morning to you. welcome back to michael jacksck morning." >> i'm carol costello. >> christine is not here. it's sad for us on a couple levels. she's sick. sad for me, because you know how much i enjoy making fun of her in the commercial breaks with her cold. >> it's cruel. you don't have to come back right away. >> we are going to have more on congresswoman gabrielle giffords' amazing return to washington yesterday. it was amazing. first let us give you the top stories. a senate vote on the debt ceiling deal is expected within hours. the measure passed the house with 60 votes in the senate. america will be able to stave off default while phasing more than $2 trillion in spending

cuts. tragic death at yosemite national park. a 26-year-old california woman fell 600 feet from the top of the park's half dome peak on sunday. officials say the dome may have been slifrry from a morning rainstorm. the accident comes two weeks after hikers fell to their deaths at a popular waterfall? >> in northeast japan the crisis deepens at the daiichi power plant. officials getting the highest radiation reading yet since the tsunami triggered the meltdown at the facility. the radiation levels are high enough to kill a person within weeks if exposed to a single dose. several months after being shot in the head congresswoman gabrielle giffords returned to the house chambers last night, she said she did it to keep her colleagues from unflicting a wound on the american people. giffords voting in favor of a compromised debt ceiling bill before the senate. if you were on the house floor last night, actually most of you probably weren't, but here's what her surprised appearance felt like.

>> i can't think of any that is more special and means so much to our country than to witness the return of our colleague who was the personification of courage, of sincerity, of admiration throughout the country, congresswoman gabby giffords, brings us -- [ applause ] [ applause ]

>> her presence today to make sure that we honor the obligations of our great country is important and symbolic. her presence here in the chamber as well as her service throughout her entire service in congress, brings honor to this chamber. we are all privileged to call her colleague, some of us very privileged to call her friend. throughout america, there isn't a name that stirs more love, more admiration, more respect, more wishing for our daughters to be like her than the name of congresswoman gabby giffords. thank you, gabby, for joining us today. [ applause ] >> as heroic as the measure was,

her vote didn't end up being critical. the measure wasn't that close. it was 269 in favor of, 161 opposed. but her appearance did create a moment for democrats and republicans do something which you don't see very much anymore, come together. >> it was a very emotional moment. i don't think there was a dry eye in our office when we saw the congresswoman on the floor of the house. this is -- she's always taken her job very seriously. she's always looked at the trust that the people of southeastern arizona have placed her with, an extraordinary level of respect, so when something like this happens with the consequences of a vote like this, you know, it's hard not to well up. it was an important moment. >> i think giffords gabrielle has become the symbol of civility. what's sad, it's all over the blogs this morning, this moment

when vice president joe biden hugged michelle bachmann and everybody going oh, my gosh they hugged all because of gabrielle -- what a sad statement in american politics. but it was great to see her there. maybe it reminded us our congress people and lawmakers, maybe they really do try and they come back and they work hard and they want to be civil with one another and maybe that's what her visit symbolized. >> let's hope that's what it inspires. >> still to come, a soldier's story. part two in our series. out on a mission with combat engineers searching for roadside bombs in afghanistan. a story we haven't seen before and it's very, very moving. it's 36 minutes after the hour.

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new brutality in syria this morning according to one human rights group, at least 24 people were killed overnight in hama. that is the same town that president bashar al assad's father attacked nearly 30 years ago, killing tens of thousands of people. it's symbolic. secretary of state hillary clinton is demanding president assad stop the killings and the u.n. security council is expected to discuss the issue

this morning. joining me live from london is fawas, the director of the middle east center at the london school of economics and author of "the rise and fall of al qaeda." good to see you. >> same here, ali. >> first of all, the united nations is taking this issue up. does the syrian administration care that united nations is taking this up and does it matter? >> well, it cares. the voice of the international community matters. ali, one point must be made very clear, the syrian regime is fighting for its very survival. this is all-out war. it's a fierce struggle to the bitter end. both camps, the syrian authorities and the protesters, are basically going for broke and i doubt very much whether president assad will listen to the condemnation in new york in the next day or so. >> fawaz, tell me how syria is different from egypt or libya or

tunisia? what's the balance of power between the syrian government and military and the syrian people who are protesting? >> ali, this is a very important point. you're asking really several questions in one. the first question is that there is no daylight between the security authorities in syria and the political leadership. the security apparatus, the bulk of the security forces will fight to the end to protect the regime because there is no divide between the two. point one. point two, ali, and for your viewers, more than 50% of the syrian population lives in two cities, alapo and damascus. neither has fully joined the protesters. what i'm trying to say is that there is a silent majority out there and when and if the silent majority joins the protesters, this would mean the end of the syrian government. finally, i think the economic situation is deteriorating very sharply. the next few weeks are very, very critical. if the economic situation

deteriorates further, then the silent majority will throw its luck with the protesters and that's why now it's all-out war. the next few weeks in particular, during ramadan, are really critical for both the opposition and the syrian authorities. >> explain to me the significance of the month of ramadan. it is an important month, when the worshipers go to the mosque and sometimes those friday prayers become flashpoints, or they become points from which people then move on to protests. is that a real threat to the administration? >> absolutely. ali, ramadan is a holy month of fasting and prayer and reflection. remember, during the protests in syria in the last few months friday is the day because the mosques has served as basically an outlet for modernization. what the protests would like to what the protests would like to do is use ramadan to turn man ] there'ver any seats for 25,000 miles.

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it is 47 minutes past the hour. a look at headlines this morning. this afternoon the senate is expected to vote on the debt deal. the plan passed the house yesterday and now today, the day that the government runs out of money to pay its bills. if the bill passes the senate it heads to the president's desk. among those in favor of the bill, congresswoman gabrielle giffords, made a dramatic appearance on the house floor casting her first vote since she

was shot in the head back in january during a shooting rampage in her home state of arizona. russian prime minister vladimir putin calling the united states a parasite on the global economy. he said the country is living beyond its means and the u.s. dollar is a threat to the financial markets. ford recalling more than 1 million pick-up trucks because of fuel tank straps that can rust that could allow the tank to come loose and drag on the ground. the recall covers the best-selling u.s. passenger vehicle the f-150 model from 1997 to 2003 and some of the f-250s 1997 through 1999. the record-setting wide receiver randy moss is retiring from the nfl. moss spent the majority of his career with the minnesota vikings. he currently holds the record for the most touchdown catches in an nfl season and most by a rookie. when it comes to hollywood's hottest bods, helen mirren is the leading lady. at least that's according to a new poll by l.a. fitness. the 66