desk." trace: we are live been inside the newsroom because this is where the news begins. this is what is behind the news. that is tim gaughan. over here is the foreign desk. they cover the globe. this is the media desk, or all of the brand new pictures come into fox news channel. here on "the live desk" those pictures are on the right-hand side. we are about to find out how much the baucus health care plan will cost. the early word is, the cbo numbers, is it might be more expensive than democrats were hoping. in the middle box, developing information on the man accused of planning the worst attack on the u.s. since 9/11. he also has a new al qaeda connection. in the bottom box, could the

dollars days be done? an alleged in the east plot to ditch the dollar in the oil deals. martha: coming up, the way ahead in afghanistan. president obama is set to meet with congressional leaders as he decides when or not he will send more troops to fight the taliban. u.s. forces fanning out to search for those incertitude killed eight american soldiers. that is a live look at the white house briefing room. afghanistan in short to be at the top of the list for robert gibbs, as he walks into the room. the big one right now is will general mcchrystal get the troops he wants to carry out the mission? mike emanuel is standing by. what do we expect in terms of what robert gibbs will tell us

about the plan and what he expects from this meeting with congressional leaders? >> we can expect robert gibbs to tee up the president's goals. one would expect that robert gibbs would not want to box and the president on anything, let the meeting happened, and then try to get everybody a reality. there has been so much discussion about the general mcchrystal's public call for more troops. he says he needs them sooner rather than later. there has been a lot of discretion in military circles whether or not it was okay for him to be so critical in public. some suggest it would have been better to give that advice privately and then allow the commander in chief to make his decision. secretary gates said he

believes whatever decision president obama mix, those in the military will salute and follow orders. martha: nothing is accidental in the president's schedule. moments ago he spoke to top counterterrorism officials. what was his message there? >> he was speaking to the national counterterrorism center just outside washington, d.c., talking about the threat that al qaeda still poses. maybe they do not get all the credit that they deserve because they are stopping attacks. he did not mention afghanistan. one would assume that that question would come up here. martha: that is going to get under way. thank you for joining us. trace: there is new information

in the case against najibullah zazi. the associated press reporting that u.s. intelligence says he was in touch with a senior al qaeda operative after getting explosives training in that -- in pakistan. u.s. intelligence report of the only became aware of this bomb plot in august, a few weeks before his arrest. the vigil believe he was planning to attack on timber 11. -- officials believe he was planning to attack on september 11. martha: we are waiting for some big news from the congressional budget office. they will be telling lawmakers and the rest of us how much the latest senate reform bill is

likely to cost. we have all seen the beginning of that caucus' bill, so how much does it cost -- max baucus ' bill, so how much does it cost? as soon as we get those numbers, we will bring it to you. trace: in the meantime, we are tracking h1n1. the first flu vaccine to arriving in clinics and hospitals today, men do not start lining up for your vaccine just yet. health officials say these initial chance are first to go to small children. marianne silber aris in georgia. why can everyone get one of these doses? >> one reason everyone is not roll up their sleeves is because

they are coming in the form of nasal spray. 600,000 were ordered for the whole country. no need to be divided among 21 states. the first shipments are small, and states had to decide where they wanted to start. here in georgia, they decided that it needed to go to two and four-year-old first because it is difficult to keep them germ- free. trace: they have trouble keeping their hands clean. you understand why they are stored in there. is there a danger level for people who are younger? >> i spoke to a health official, and he said, yes, and her then to keep their hands clean. -- encourage them to keep their hands clean. a lot of them are in day care

settings, and they are in a high-risk group. they want to get them covered first. i spoke to an older woman who is expecting. she brought her two kids in here, but she was glad that she could do that. if you are pregnant, or have chronic medical conditions, you will have to wait for the injectable version. that will be a few weeks. martha: it could be another nail in the coffin for acorn. wait until you hear about the group is accused of. and detroit tigers first baseman miguel cabrera picked up on a domestic disturbance call.

here is part of the 911 call.

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trace: in the top box, that is wa seet. thdow is up 125 points, getting near 10,000.

in the middle box, the top u.s. commander for the wars in iraq and afghanistan, dr. david petraeus, has prostate cancer. doctors say that the disease is in its early stages and the treatment is positive. in the bottom box, cooler weather helping to get california wild fires under control. full containment could come on thursday. martha: bertha lewis, the leader of the acorn has just released their own internal reports. she said, --

this, as new details are emerging on embezzlement. eric sean is in the news room. what did she say about the white house in her comments? >> she said there is no sinister when house -- white house acorn connection. they were involved in some past efforts, but today, she responded to a question about any type of white house connections, especially with top advisers. she said there is no connection. basically, trying to tamp down

any relationship between the two. martha: she is talking about news that is not coming out, acorn embezzlement. >> we have known about this, about $1 million. this is from the brother of one of the founders of acorn. he embezzled $1 million. there is a report from the attorney general in which they claim that ms. lewis and others were talking about that embezzlement, not $1 million, but $5 million. she called that speculation and said it was not true, that it came from some disgruntled ex- board members. martha: what a mess. are they calling for another investigation? >> they are at capitol hill.

lamar smith, the ranking member of the house judiciary committee, wants the president to appoint a special counsel to investigate acorn. he wrote a letter to attorney general holder about that. his letter goes through all of president obama's work history with them, so he now wants to have a special counsel. this is on top of a variety of state investigations going on. then you have the trial in nevada dealing with that alleged voter registration fraud. martha: pretty tangled web. thank you. trace: the minnesota twins ticking on the detroit tigers tonight. the winner goes to the postseason. they were tied the final day

after the regular season. $158 million slugger miguel cabrera went hitless and lost. he then got drunk, got home, and got into a scuffle with his wife. listen-- trace: police say he had blood alcohol level more than three times above the legal limit. teammates picked him up at the station. he then went o for 4 the next

day in his baseball game. martha: we are waiting for the white house briefing to get underway. we expect a lot of questions about afghanistan. the big question right now is what does president obama want? he said he would evaluate what general mcchrystal had advised, and that is an additional 40,000 troops, in order to do what is really a counterinsurgency effort. he has been there for several months working on the ground and he believes that you have to win over the people, make the villages safe in order to get them to turn on the insurgency. trace: it is fascinating to watch the internal workings of

politics. now there is concern that maybe general mcchrystal may have stepped outside the chain of command when he was producing -- boosting his call for more troops. he was adamant, things are deteriorating, and we need more troops on the ground. the president then had a meeting one day later. he met with mcchrystal on air force one, and there has been back and forth about whether or not he should have kept his thoughts to himself, but the president decide. -- let the president decide. the press secretary said that detective conversations should be private and candid. a spokesperson for secretary gates today said that he was not talking about the general mcchrystal. however, the timing of it was

not opportune, because clearly, people are concerned about what is happening behind the scenes and to the president is listening to. martha: one thing that you have to give the president credit for it is he wants to get the discussion moving. now we have this topic, which everyone is talking about at home. if he did not speak up, this is what i want, you have to give me either the high sign or tell me not. trace: you heard us talking, what we said about secretary gates. a spokesperson said he was on talking about general mcchrystal's comments when he said these conversations should be private and candid. he was not talking about

mcchrystal. if not, who was he talking about? do you believe that? >> i am not sure. i think this is a disgrace. he was sent over by president obama to execute the counterinsurgency policy. he made it count in his speech. he is articulating president obama's strategy. he has not changed that strategy, to the best of my knowledge. and generals give speeches, this is a democracy. when general jones rebuked mcchrystal, he caused some controversy. he was involved in the war in afghanistan, so the notion that mcchrystal had done anything out of line -- how many times did general casey

come on to explain what was going on in 2006? this is not him doing anything rogue, but he is simply articulating the strategy. trace: the way that they handled the troop surge years ago is different from today. this is a brand new fox news dynamics poll. 66% of people believe military commanders should be the ones trusted to make the decisions and afghanistan. who do you think right now has the president's ear? >> i think he does not want to be a war president, wants to find an exit strategy. i hear that he could go with a $10 and troop difference. even though his commander, general mcchrystal, and general petraeus, said that more substantial numbers of troops would be needed.

i would be shocked and distressed if the president sends over too few troops. that would risk american lives unnecessarily. i am very worried the president, instead of focusing on winning the war, is worried about becoming a wartime president. every liberal is telling him that his domestic agenda is at risk. you have to figure out a way to get out of afghanistan. as president, he said that this is a war of necessity. i do not know who has his ear. i don't think this should be a tough call. but when mcchrystal and petraeus are on the same side, and i am astonished that we are even having this debate.

trace: we have to go. the first question is about terror. >> is this strategy review that is going on? why the u.s. is still in afghanistan? is he saying, the mission is clear, just a matter of how we go about it? >> we talked yesterday, pretty clearly, that leaving afghanistan is not an option. what the president laid out in march, and you mentioned, was a strategy that was focused not just on afghanistan, but also pakistan. first and foremost, we know what is on the president's mind, those that affect us on 9/11,

those coming through the global network of al qaeda, are planning to do so again. all of that is part of what is being evaluated, where we are in terms of progress. all of that is going into tomorrow's meeting. it should focus primarily on pakistan. >> is the mission itself set? >> the mission of dissent -- dismantling and ultimately disrupting al-qaeda and its allies, that is the focus of why we are there, and when we are trying to accomplish. i think the president used today is important visit to highlight the role that many individuals play in coordinating intelligence that we get here in the united states that helps to disrupt potential attacks, as we

have seen in the past few weeks. >> could you elaborate on what the president wants to accomplish with the meeting today? >> i think the meeting will start with the president laying on where we are in the review process, moving forward, and open it up to questions and answers with members of congress. i think you have a list of those who have been invited. obviously, as we have said, the president has, and wants to hear from, all those involved in decisions about protecting our homeland, keeping our country safer, as well as the deployment of our men and women in uniform. obviously, congress plays a significant role in that. this is about talking to them about that process. >> does president obama believe

that that process did not take place adequately under president bush? >> it is hard for me to grade that. this president believes it is tremendously important to seek that input, democrat and republican, house and senate, as we move forward. that is the intent of the meeting. >> more on the meeting, i wonder if you can talk about the role you see for congress? president bush and definitely saw the executive branch as having the lead role in deciding how many troops were going, and would consult with congress. does president obama taking a different approach? >> obviously, there are different roles. one is commander in chief. another is, obviously, through

the appropriations process, particularly, in the resources that are needed to move forward. that is an extremely important role. you cannot do one without the other. that is part of -- i doubt they'd get to into specific appropriations, but the ultimate strategy surrounding the need for resources. >> there is growingkepticm, as you kno among democrats about a troop increase. how important will that be in his decision making? >> as i have said, the president will hear from many in the political spectrum. the decision he makes will be what he believes is in the best interest of this country, those

that are serving in uniform, protecting us. this is not a political arguments. >> i want to follow up on your comment about not leaving afghanistan. >> i do not want to get into the notion about whether or not there was a debate about everyone going home. there were questions about some of that in -- over the weekend. i think it is important to dispense with, as the president did last week, that notion. >> in terms of the differences with the bush administration and their approach to iraq, president obama was critical of president bush. for example, talking about the general caption jackie. -- shinseki.

if this president does not listen to the general mcchrystal, isn't he pushing a general slide? >> i appreciate the opportunity to dangle a hypothetical, but there is a robust process that we have discussed -- >> so why doesn't he listened to the commanders? >> i appreciate that you fast forward through the decision making process, but we are going to focus on that first. i will not get into that. trace: you heard robert gibbs say there is no consideration about pulling out of afghanistan. i want to bring bill kristol back in. the question becomes, there is no talk about pulling out, so don't you have to go in? there has always been a controversy about you cannot do just what you're doing now. you either have to go all in or

ou at lst have hava justify oure edea thgoing to aomprensi plann cotahe e, lot of civilians, the idea that he is going to arbitrarily cut the number in half because it is easier to sell here at home -- it is amazing. he said the general over there a few months ago and they have hardly begun to execute the strategy. surely come he wants to give this a chance. the idea that he is getting cold feet now makes me worried. trace: thank you. martha: afghanistan is clearly the biggest story of the day, but this is another one. they are some of our closest allies, but are they part of a plot to rub out the greenback?

trace: the possible economic tsunami is forming in the persian gulf, taking aim at the u.s. some report that our allies have banded together with opec members in a plot to neutralize the power of the u.s. dollar. the allegations around many of these gulf arab states.

saudi arabia says the reports are incorrect. according to their ports, secret meetings took place with ministers from china, russia, and france, in order to orchestrate a shady wiloil sche. greg palkot has the latest. >> the report claimed that oil- producing nations like saudi arabia were meeting with will consuming nations like china and japan, and in these meetings, decided they might move away from the dollar as the basis for their oil trading. we spoke to an analyst and he said nothing like that should be happening any time soon, although he admits that as the dollar gets weaker and weaker, the phasing out of the dollar as

the world currency is being considered. folks here in england are still not over the pound resumed its global status. at home, if the dollar is less to use, it that you could be lower, and that could be a problem for paying off our debt. just talk of this hit the value of the dollar today. very sensitive stuff. martha: there is a secret push among our friends and enemies to basically end the dollar. this is a shocking development. let's bring in the panel. alexis glick is with us. eric bolling is also with us. i have been following this

story. this is a frightening development when we are living in the world when the dollar is not even included -- they are not even telling us that they are part of the basket. >> there is one more thing that you did not have in there. ggold. for the first time, some of nations, china, russia, international countries are saying, we may want to move away with the dollar, but we may also want to put gold in there. martha: thank you. i'm going to keep that. what bothers me is unknown not know if it is just about not

having faith in the dollar. some seem to take pleasure in this. >> this says america is losing its power in the global framework. look at countries like china, brazil, india, the bric countries, they are the ones holding up in the recession. they are gaining power. brazil and china, russia, they are talking about direct trading. these countries have real power and they are making their own side deals. this is not going to happen overnight, but it is happening already. the key thing is, reserve currencies, the middle east, over $2 trillion in denominated assets. they cannot force the dollar down too quickly, or else and will hurt their own economy.

martha: what difference does it make what currency they use? >> it makes a huge difference. alexis, you are right about the numbers. if they all of a sudden say, we are going to move away from u.s. dollars, what happens is they have all of these dollars of their own that they have to unload into the market. the value on the world market will go down, so it will take a lot more on that to buy anything. inflation would skyrocket if that happened. this whole article was started from robert fiske. in the article, he called it an international kabal. i find it hard to believe that they want to have something on

this happened so quickly. >> when we are thinking about the u.s. dollar, we have to think about this in trade terms. what does that mean for us in terms of exports, imports, things that are dollar denominated? this is going to factor everything in trade -- affect everything in trade. one in the decisions that secretary geithner has been facing is if the chinese have been manipulating their currency lower. martha: before you go, a lot of this comes from the fact that china is such a huge consumer of oil. is this not just another argument for us to have our own resources, drill, baby, drill? >> they are doing actual physical deals, going through goldman sachs, morgan stanley, buying assets in canada and

mexico to drill oil. so part of the picture -- there is this huge sub plot where eventually if it goes up to 150 barry -- $150 a barrel, there will be a plan. martha: thank you. >> quickly, we import 25% of the world's oil but we only represent 4% of the world's population. martha: pretty amazing. trace: breaking news crossing wires now. an earthquake magnitude 5.6 just struck 175 miles southwest of puerto vallarta, mexico. it is not a massive earthquake,

but a significant one. we do not know if there is any damage. we will get you more as it comes in. in the meantime, congress debating what kind of sanctions to use against iran after provocative missile tests. and a secret missile facility exposed. economic sanctions cannot be -- cannot seem to be making a difference, so is it time for tougher steps? and "the hammer" gets his groove on businesses more efficiently,

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we're shopping for car insurance, and our friends said we should start here. good friends -- we compare our progressive direct rates, apples to apples, against other top companies, to help you get the best price. how do you do that? with a touch of this button. can i try that? [ chuckles ] wow! good luck getting your remote back. it's all right -- i love this channel. shopping less and saving more. now, that's progressive. call or click today. trace: when it comes to their nuclear program, iran has a history of promising one thing and delivering another thing. now the senate banking committee and looking at methods to

cripple their economics. the fox business network's peter barnes is with us. what did the administration saying about new sanctions? >> they told congress to get legislation ready but to hold off for now until the u.s. and other countries see how responsive the iranians are. there was allow the administration could keep doing without additional legislation on a unilateral basis, outside of any additional u.n. sanctions. for example, the obama administration and the bush administration put the squeeze on more than 80 banks around the world to reduce their dealings with iran. the administration is now trying to expand that to the insurance companies. most companies, especially iranian exporters, had a hard time doing business without insurance. trace: what are some of the new

proposals for sanctions in congress? >> there are a lot of proposals to increase sanctions, give the president new tools to use against iran, and he needs them. for example, christopher dodd introduced legislation that would, among other things, extend sanctions to the oil and gas lanpipelines as well as puta ban on direct imports. this would make it easier for institutional investors to hold securities for firms to invest in iranian energy products. trace: thank you. martha: stress fractures in both feet, not slowing down the hammer of the house. tom delay and doing the red, white, and the blue samba.

he said, what is a little bit of pain when you can party? he scored just 15 points from the judges. only one other did worse. bovotes are now being tallied. trace: someone said that he looked like a tgif's waiter. grew in dog fights caught on camera. our pinball fighting video is a legal, or is it free speech? the supreme court takes it up today. and new york taxi drivers are said to be aggressive, but this one is pretty ridiculous. if you have not seen this, you have to come back and watch

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trace: that is a live look at the center for disease control. an update on the dissemination of the h1n1 vaccine. we will be giving you some information in the middle box, the pakistani taliban claim responsibility for the attack at the u.n. food agency. they say it is because the international work relief was not in the interest of muslims. in the bottom box, court orders for the suspect involved in the murder of annie le. the judge said a probable cause hearing for october 20.

raymond clark is charged with strangling her. martha: arguments wrapping up in a controversial supreme court case today. a man is sent to prison for selling dogfighting videos, but the case is overturned. the unlikely ally is the nra and american civil liberties union coming down on the same side of the defendant. they say the ruling is too broad. shannon bream is at the supreme court. how did the justices react to the cases today? >> they were open to the argument that this was a first amendment issue and congress need to be careful when it limits anything that has to do with free speech. while no 1one enjoyed looking at these videos, they also have to look at the fact that the first amendment is a strong

right. so there was a spirited discussion and they seemed open to the fact that there could be problems with this law. with this casmartha: when they a step of overturning the law which bans these videos? >> again, it is not because of what he was doing in these videos, but they are worried about this law in other contexts. whether the media could cover animal injuries, deaths, and then there was issue of hunting videos. martha: a very interesting points. thank you. trace: it is not easy navigating the streets of new york city.

roll it. roll it. trace: they start fighting in the middle of manhattan. our fox news crew was shooting when this occurred. that is what you buy in the city t to get a ride. that is from our affiliate here in new york. he broke up the fight. here is the end of it. martha: only in new york. it was so perfectly shot, it

makes you wonder. we are minutes away from a crucial head-to-head between the president and congressional leaders. what will he tell them about his intentions in afghanistan? what will congress say in response? will general mcchrystal get the troops on the ground that he says he needs?

[captioning made possible by fox news channel] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- martha: we are waiting right now for the cbo to get together to tell senators except we how much itr costs. trace: but if he remembered, the senate finance committee finished its amendments to the bill on friday, but a boat was pushed off until the committee gets the press pack. the initial estimate could come at any time now. now we are also getting some behind-the-scenes feedback. let's go to our chief political correspondent on capitol, carl cameron. we knew it was going to be a few days before the cost analysis, but are they running into trouble? >> it will be just more than a few days. because the senate finance committee does not use the legislative language when it posts the bill -- instead using conceptual language -- the cbo

does not do a comprehensive analysis. they do the preliminary score for cost reductions. under no more circumstances, they are doing best case informed guesses, so this becomes even more 6 c13

>> i would like to welcome you

back on october 6. this is a common -- public comment period. we have a bit of -- we have about a three-minute limit. we have all left burke after that would be linda humphries. >> good afternoon. my name is paul and on behalf of the boys and girls of the palm beach district and want to thank all of you for the collaborative effort with the newly opened "centennial elementary school. it is the only elementary school that the school district will open this year in the 100th year anniversary of palm beach county. it is on a postage sized piece of property. it was great coordination. two weeks before school opened, there was no road there. it was dirt. there were no curbs or sidewalks.

by the time school opened, a reading was in place. on behalf of our students and on behalf of the county and the citizens, it is nice to see and hear the great example of good collaboration and timing in making things happen in a very timely fashion. have a great afternoon. does anybody have any questions? >> i want to make a comment for the new commissioners. about four years ago, the school board did and analysis where it turns out the students were in unincorporated palm beach county. it had some history. we worked hard and was on inc. and i think we put close to $2 million worth of road program into that school. it is one of our ccrt areas there. your names and pictures are in

the little thing that will go up 100 years from now. i will take a tour and i will see you then. it is a great partnership to get that going. >> thank you very much. >> i will see you back tomorrow night on the convention center. i am lobby, if you can tell. welcome. >> my name is linda humphries. i am on the audubon board. i am speaking as a private citizen. there will be a proposal for alternative energy which i do believe, in the right place, winter blinds are great. i would like to see as lean more toward solar energy. the reason is the birds. there are so many killings of birds. heavy recent article that account yesterday that says " bird watchers and wildlife yours spent $3.1 billion per year in florida supporting some $35,000

-- 35,000 jobs. as the birds are flying, thousands of them are getting killed with regular cell towers. with winter blinds, it is killing hogs and the big and small birds. " " in palm beach county, we have the migrating birds going through now i just saw a flock of 14 great blue herons fly. they need to come up with an alternative way of making sure the birds are aware of the turbines and maybe you can find a study being done for a different way that we can save the birds and still have alternative energy. mr. >> i had someone who had lunch with me. the eldrab committee was

reviewing those. they actually sent that information and asked them to be more sensitive about it. when we get it back -- i did not think we would do that many windmills around here. we're trying to focus on selling. >> for the power and light, trying to get a generalized zoning is what i was led to understand. once they get that, they can do what they want him to tell us there is no wind unless you are on the ocean. i do not see anybody letting us put those on the ocean. eldrab is looking to that and we can be sensitive to that. >> the agreement was more toward solar. >> i want to add my support to that. >> i always read your article in your magazine. >> thank you very much. >> patton wheeley? patton white. sari, domi to the tree or names.

-- i don't mean to butcher your names. welcome. >> i am payton white and i am on but wind turbines. i will not follow up to much. i do urge you to consider the zoning on this. cornell is doing a major study and that should answer some questions. there are things being done to retrofit turbines that will have minimal effect on the birds. it is a matter of holding off. i summer where there are turbines and i don't usually have a problem. it is for the birds. >> thank you. after that is peter tim. >> i am here to thank you as well. i have the brochure, hot off oppresses. we decided to this last

september for awareness month. i just pick them up at the children's services office. i wanted you all to have a copy of this. this is a step forward. all of our newborn parents will have this information. we have to pray that they read it. we were talking about the mendelson indictment. this little boy in boca raton lost his eye. i would like everybody listening to keep his family in your prayers. he will start chemo therapy immediately. the pediatrician did not know how to do the standard of care correctly. how many other children are losing their sight to the much more prevalent eye diseases for the same reason because the doctors did not look. i am praying with all my heart

and soul that someone in this delegation is going to 6 c13

trace: in the top box, president obama makes his first visit to the national counterterrorism center in virginia. he was telling intelligence officials that they were keeping the u.s. safe and more united than any other time in history. in the middle box, u.s. troops ramping up relief efforts in indonesia. it is the largest operation since the 2004 tsunami.

in the bottom box, the tennessee mother whose newborn was kidnapped -- she had been cleared of baby selling allegations. she will be reunited with her baby and three other children. martha: for some of you out there, the nasal version of the h1n1 vaccine is here. the who says it is the best way to battle the swine flu, despite some minor side effects that have been reported in china. still, some americans are concerned about how all of this will work. according to a fox dynamics poll, 44% of people will not be vaccinated. here to talk about it is dr. manny alvarez. good to see you. everyone is asking the question. when is it going to be in new jersey?

>> we keep hearing is going to be in the middle of october, but there are still questions as to who is going to get it first. i asked a dozen of my friends in the medical profession, looking to see who was going to get it, but they were confused. we have some information on our website. look, we do not really know the mechanics of it yet. when we get it, how do we prioritize giving them out to all of these kids, health care workers? martha: that is another story, the distribution channel. ok, so who needs one, who needs two shots? >> now you only need one, but small children might need two. i would say less than two years old. their immune system is a bit premature and they might need more exposure to the virus, and

partial immunity is better than nothing. of course, the nasal spray is being distributed in some states. they are prioritizing them to certain people like health care workers, children, because that nasal spray is a modified treatment. martha: let's talk about the side effects. i am always very about brand new vaccines. >> it has been tested. it has been tested here and abroad. martha: but not for very long. >> it is no different than any other year the flu vaccine. we change the ingredients and put them out there. one thing the fda said was that

they would be monitoring any big side effects so they can react if they need to. martha: what if you are allergic to eggs? >> unfortunately, this will be a problem because most vaccines made today are egg-based. martha: is it ever going to get to you and me, is it just going to be health care workers and children? >> the way things are going, it could be the end of the flu season by the way -- by the time we get all of it. by november, we could see better distribution once there is more organization after this initial prioritizing. martha: there is a list for everyone who is first in line. for all things h1n1, check out foxnews.com.

click on the survival guide for any questions you might have. thank you. trace: it has the highest murder rate in the world, and is also the host of the 2016 olympic games. the drastic measures that some people in rio de janeiro are taking to protect themselves every day. plus, president obama meeting with members of congress at the white house this hour to talk about the war in afghanistan. will the president give german, mcchrystal -- general mcchrystal the troops he needs?

martha: about 18 minutes away from the big meeting. the war in afghanistan tops the agenda. we will find out then if you minutes when they will be discussing. in the middle box, a trip overseas is on tap for vice president biden. he will visit three nato allies, poland, romania, and the czech republic. in the bottom box, thousands of homes in the california san gabriel mountains are still threatened by wildfires, but cool weather is helping the firefighters get a handle on the flames. trace: rio de janeiro, home of the 2016 olympics and the world's highest murder rate. now they are trying to live down their reputation of crime. in fact, violence is such a problem that more and more ordinary people drive around in

armored cars. steve harrigan is with us in rio de janeiro. >> rio is going to have an $11 billion budget for those games, and they will have to spend some of that money on neighborhoods like this, either to knock them down or to want them off. these types of slums cause a security concern, and that is why more brazilians drive armored cars compared to other countries in the world. >> my knees started shaking, are they going to take me, are they going to shoot? >> the host of the 2016 olympics has the highest rate of by the murder in the world, five times about -- higher in the city of rio alone compared to the entire u.s.

120 companies now have armored cars in brazil and 86,000 are on the road here, and double the number from one year ago. kevlar and steel vines good protection. it is an investment that some see as an unpleasant necessity. those without the means brave the streets unprotected. >> there are limits as to how much armor you can put on your car. the bill only go up to level 3, which would be able to withstand up to military-grade weapons. trace: thank you. martha: the alien members to allow student accused of killing a fellow student was in court today. raymond clark is charged with murdering annie le last month.

her body was found stuffed in a wall where they both worked. he will be back in court for a probable cause hearing in two weeks. when that happens, his attorney says, he plans to plead not guilty. trace: bergen news in miami. a shooter on the run, after shooting a taco bell employee. >> the restaurant is open pretty late, and early in the morning, someone came to the window and said he wanted some food. he would not leave. now there is a manhunt for him because he stalked the parking lot, waited for the employees to leave, and opened fire, hitting a young girl in the pie. he was shooting at the manager.

-- in the thigh. a manhunt for the taco bell shooter. martha: we are minutes away from a major meeting on afghanistan. president obama has invited over 30 congressional leaders, including john mccain and john kerry. they will sit down together and talk about the way forward in afghanistan. and unemployment at almost 10%. a war overseas and millions at home without jobs. what is being done about this?

trace: we have a brand new information on three stories. nancy pelosi will meet with the dalai lama. president obama will not. molly henneberg is in washington. >> she presented the tibetan spiritual rights leader with a human rights aboard. she said the president intends to meet with him in the future. many believe it is likely after he meets with china's president next month. but the top of public and on the foreign affairs committee says that he is kowtowing to china by not meeting with the tibetan monk. trace: the supreme court is

taking up the issue of videos of cruelty to animals. shannon bream is outside the supreme court. >> and did tonya -- a virginia man was sentenced for selling dogfighting videos. he said his first amendment rights were violated, and the supreme court agreed with him. they will resolve this question in a matter of months. trace: the president spoke to some intelligence people today but never mention the war in afghanistan. mike emanuel is on the north lawn. >> that is right, he never mentioned afghanistan. i asked robert gibbs about that, and he said it was not a geography bee to name every

nation around the world. however, many reporters thought that it was noteworthy in could have been included. trace: thank you. martha: this is a fox news alert. we are about two minutes away from president obama meeting with congressional leaders. they will sit down and discuss what the next step in afghanistan is. in an interview, his defense secretary, robert gates, made clear what the commander in chief will not do. he said -- then we heard from hillary clinton. she says -- meanwhile, in the "washington post" an op-ed says this -- let's bring in michael hammond

from the brookings institution. david drucker is a writer for roll call. talk to me about these questions. as the president showed his hand at all in terms of what he believes is the way forward in afghanistan? does he know what he wants? >> i think he has because he did a review on his policy upon becoming president, and has spoken for two years on the campaign trail, and that's senator, about how he did not like the policy of the bush administration and its minimalist approach. now rumors that he may revert back to that himself would be a strange turn of the offense because he is on record saying that he basically supports strong traditional counterinsurgency is. that puts him in the position where it will be hard to say no

to general mcchrystal. martha: ditty think differently about afghanistan as a president compared to when he was in the campaign? >> no, he sent more troops to afghanistan in the past few months. if he were to immediately revert back to what you could describe as a rumsfeld-like approach, that would be strange indeed, and inconsistent with where he has been. the more important, difficult debate for him will be to decide whether to increase u.s. forces yet again while the afghan government is doing such a poor job with the presidential election over there, anti- corruption agenda, and so on. martha: david, he is about to talk to congressional leaders. what do you think they will want to know? >> i think they want to know

what his plan is. we still do not know what the president will decide. we would think that he will decide for something strong based on the fact that he is the one that hired general mcchrystal, and this is his recommendation. what is interesting about the meeting is something that we have not seen in his presidency so far. this is the first time he really need republicans. there are a lot of democrats who are either split or go against an idea of a major troop surge. we know joe biden is against that idea. here, the president, for the first time, has to ask republicans to support him. it is the republicans who will be on the side of the president, for a change, at least according to the plans that he laid out a few months ago. this is the first time we have seen the president made with republicans in his office en masse, in several months.

martha: john mccain has been very outspoken on this. he believes nothing short of a troop surge, giving the general what he wants will get the job done. also, and general jones said that he disagrees about the way that this should be handled. >> i am a big fan of senator mccain, but in this case, and general jones, from his public position, has been good at opposing things without helping to conceptualize any viable alternative. he went to afghanistan in june and told commanders on the ground, you have all that you are going to get. now he is criticizing general mcchrystal, throwing cold water on the idea of additional troops. he has not said what is a viable

alternative, and perhaps it is not his job, but if not, who? we do not have another great alternative option. from what i have heard from general in jones, i am somewhat critical. the real question becomes, how do we push president karzai to do better in afghanistan as we increase forces? to me, that becomes the important policy debate. martha: this brings to my mind question with secretary gates. he says we are not leaving, but that does not tell us all whole lot. >> you are right. in theory, the joe biden counterterrorism option, if that is what he favors, would allow us to stay. if we go too low, and we remain, then we do not have any

choice because there is no way to remain in a country that is taken over by the taliban. we may be willing to stay with small forces indefinitely, but if the war is lost in the process, it will not be meaningful. martha: this administration was critical of the way that the bush administration handled the war. now he is bringing in this big group in to listen to different ideas. how much will he be open to listening what he hears today? >> the president is always open to listening, this one in particular. but at the end of the day, congressional members will be taking their lead from him. republicans would like to see this mission continues in a strong way, the way that michael

o hanlon put it in the "washington post today. -- washington post" today. he can garner a lot of support here but he has to push for it. martha: robert gibbs said the president was upset when he heard what happened to eight u.s. soldiers in afghanistan, this ambush of 300 taliban members. he said the president was very upset about not news. how much stomach does this president have for committing, winning this war in afghanistan? >> until proven otherwise, i am a believer in him. i think he was initially so strong in support of the kind of requirements that had been denied for most of the previous eight years. until proven otherwise, i will

be hopeful, and assume he needs some time to think this through, but i hope he moves in the mcchrystal direction, again, with the ability to bring afghans belong. martha: is a complex situation. we are only talking about things from a political perspective. thank you both. trace: high jobless numbers putting the president into a tough catch-22, how to shore up unemployment benefits without increasing america's massive debt.

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martha: and there is the senate did sherry some committee. they are holding a hearing on

the history and legality of the executive branch czars. in the middle box, the top commander for the wars in iraq and afghanistan, david petraeus, had prostate cancer. doctors say the deceased employee was cut in their early stages and believe his outlook is very positive. in the bottom box, the taliban claiming responsibility for the deadly attacks at the u.n. food agency office. they said it was because the international relief work was not in the interest of muslims. trace: with unemployment reaching 10%, the president's economic team is considering plans to extend a program to provide jobless benefits and possibly tax incentives to renew hiring. the president raising those ideas in his weekly radio address. >> that is why i am working with my economic team to explore different options to create jobs.

i will not give up until those who are seeking jobs confined them, until businesses can find credit, and until all hon by the homeowners can stay in their homes. trace: we have a special guest, and douglas holtz-eakin. the stimulus was supposed to create or saving a whole bunch of jobs. and did not really work out the way the government intended. now we are at plan b. is it a good idea for the government to go back into the business of creating programs to save or create jobs? >> when you do not want to do is double down on a failed policy. the stimulus bill will cost about $900 billion, has not been successful at what we really need to do which is getting small businesses hiring again. the president is talking about extending unemployment benefits. he is talking about some tax

benefits, but these were benefits that his democratic colleagues were unwilling to go for the first time around. trace: i spoke to a buddy of mine who owned a small business and he said he did not know what the health-care costs would be. i cannot hire somebody until i find out exactly how i will be hit for hiring someone. >> i think that captures one of the real problems that the administration has. if you look at the kinds of things on the table, they include higher taxes, expensive health-care mandates, less in the way of international opportunities, the potential for high regulation under a cap and trade bill, and high deficits that could lead to inflation. there is a lot the administration, from a dog's perspective, should stop doing and allow the labor market to perform. trace: we mentioned in the

introduction that you are the former director of the cbo, so you have more insight into this then all of us. the cbo will score the baucus plan, which will tell us how much this costs. the last times they scored something, it did not go well. it came in a lot bigger of the price tag than anyone imagined. what do you imagine this time? >> there are a couple of things to look for. does that come under the $900 billion -- $900 billion price tag that the president wants? initially, it seems that will not be true. is it really budget neutral over 10 years, and beyond? what we saw in the house bill was a bill that we created our intel month prague -- problems. and to pick up the bill? does this violate the president's pledge not to impose taxes on people making under $250,000?

the baucus bill did that. trace: that is the problem. everyone is concerned this means more taxes, taxing health benefits. just means more money from your pocket. >> this is a real concern. one of the ironies is this was about to be -- supposed to be about controlling costs. but if you put all of these new taxes on insurance companies, americans will be picking that up. we are likely to see more expensive insurance, not cheaper. trace: thank you. martha: tim is watching this miami situation. what are you seeing? after >> we, we are looking at you stand now. -- >> actually, we are looking

at houston now. we have a description of the suspect who fled the scene after a robbery. he is believed to be in his fifties. the scene was not hectic, but there was a woman in distress who was taken to the hospital. martha: the possibility that we may see someone running around in a mask "studio b" is quite possible. shepard: their helicopter was giving me the dizzies. i like chasing things. i hope they get that situation under control.

and if not, we will. we have to get the news to the people. did you hear about the 740-pound shark? this guy is fishing off the coast of south florida, i assume atlantic style. 748 pounds. take a look at that video. martha: what kind of shark is it? shepard: a big one. maybe we are being scanned on this, i do not know. martha: that never happens. shepard: rick klein from abc news, we should hire him. he is pretty smart.

we have hired pretty much everyone else from abc. then there is health care. we have a special guest coming on who is a neurosurgeon. we called 30 democrats -- n martha: and none of them would come? shepard: are they waiting for msnbc? we are hoping to get this balanced. if not, we are happy to play devil's advocate. we will call you. it is our job to get the news to the people. martha: coming up at 3:00.

shepard: i am just waiting for ole miss vs. alabama. trace: while the u.s. is struggling under massive debt, one of our biggest debtors is leading the world in economic growth. why business is booming in china. next. . not long ago, this man had limited mobility.

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the second relates to the terror plot that they believed was being hatched by najibullah zazi, the shuttle bus driver that was brought in. here is what the attorney general is saying. that this is one of the most serious thoughts since 9/11. it was not just operational, it was something that they had the ability to carry out. he said that the feds have a pretty good sense of who else was involved and where those people are. he would not say if those suspects have left the country but he did say that that investigation is pretty far along. he says that this plot was the most serious since september 11. we will bring you more breaking news from eric holder as we get it. >> a very different story economically in china, they are

anticipating 8% economic growth this year. we got an inside look at chinese factories. what is happening in the chinese industry? >> would we not love that 8% growth? part of what is driving that is the $1 trillion that the chinese government is pumping into the economy. road building, pushing new rails across the country, bridges and dams. it is not very often that you can actually get into factories and talk to people. we were able to do that this time. they were very open about the fact that most of their exports to the u.s. have fallen off. workers have been laid off, salary cuts, you're on your china is down 43% of exports. -- yiron year china is down 23% of an expert -- year on year china is down 23% on exports.

trace: is there a shift in strategy to open up new markets for china? >> china is their biggest market and hours as well, probably, in the future. 1.3 billion people. if we cannot get into that market, we will not be competitive is. -- competitive. their salary is slowly rising. 20% of china will represent the world computer market in the next four years. chinese companies have suffered sale losses, they are now trying to sell to their own. trace: great to see you. martha? martha: right now we are waiting to hear from republican leaders on the war in afghanistan. we may have some information coming out of there with a lot of big news from the democratic

and republican side. if any major decisions come out of there, we will talk about that as soon as we come back and bring it to you live.

martha: thank you for watching. trace: "studio b" with shepard smith is right now. shepard: eight years to the day since the start of the afghan war, another deadly one. president obama is meeting with leaders on the future of