p.m. eastern on fox newschannel. that's it for today. have a great week and we'll see you next week on fox news center. hello, everyone. i'm kelly wright. welcome to our brand new inside headquarters. >> topping the news at this hour, president obama preparing to make his case to the american people about striking syria as skeptical members of congress from both parties speak out today. >> plus thousands of charred acres out west being examined this weekend as experts fear all that burned land could lead to massive flooding. meanwhile, millions of americans dealing with sizzling

temperatures. >> it's very hot and extremely humid. >> 100 degrees? oh, my goodness. if hell is anything like this, i don't want to go. >> but we begin with a fox news alert. high noon fast approaching for the white house as it goes all out to win support for a military attack against syria. the intense lobbying campaign will culminate on tuesday when the president will address the american people from the white house. but right now he faces a wall of skepticism at home and abroad as he presses the case that the syrian regime must be punished for an alleged chemical weapon attack last month that killed nearly 1500 men, women and children. national correspondent steve sentani is live in d.c. with the very latest on this. steve, what argument is the president actually making in his big media blitz? >> kelly, basically he argues that the world cannot stand by and tolerate the use of chemical weapons. as the white house pushes for

action against syria, a u.s. government official provided video of the gas attack last month in syria. it was reportedly shot by syrian rebels and was previously provided to members of congress. secretary of state john kerry was asked about the video. >> those videos make it clear to people that these are real human beings, real children, parents being affected in ways that are unacceptable to anybody anywh e anywhere by any standards. >> the president's campaign for action will include appearances on fox news tomorrow and an appeal to the american people on tuesday night. kelly? >> it's a big uphill battle for the president. how are the votes so far lining up in congress on the president's proposal? >> it's unclear, except it's clear there is a lot of opposition and a lot of disagreement. there is opposition on both sides, and on both sides of the aisle. >> i'm asking, where is the national security issue? and make no mistake about it. the minute that one of those

cruise missiles lands in there, we are in the syrian war. it's a civil war, and we're taking sides with the rebels, many of whom are still associated with al qaeda. >> we always are concerned about our credibility. the problem is i think lobbying a few tomahawk missiles will not restore our credibility overseas. it's kind of a face-saving measure for the president after he drew the red line. >> the congressional debate could begin in ernest as early as tomorrow in the u.s. senate. kelly? >> steve sentani, national correspondent for fox news. thank you for your report from d.c. today. tomorrow as steve mentioned, as lawmakers consider a possible military strike with syria, president obama will sit down with chris wallace. that interview will air during a special report with brett bear on monday, 6:00 p.m. eastern time, all in advance of the president's address to the nation on tuesday evening. fox news will bring you complete coverage then starting at 9:00 p.m. eastern time. so let's take a closer look

at the coming days as the president makes his case to congress and the american people. what can we expect? peter dusi reports from washington. >> if just one senator raises his hand on the hill tomorrow and says they do not consent to start a debate on the resolution to authorize the use of force against assad in syria, then the whole process is delayed for at least a day. without unanimous consent, the majority leader harry reid will need to make a parliamentary maneuver and file a petition which reduces the threshold to start debating to 60 votes. but a petition takes two days to process making wednesday, possibly, the day to watch. right now many lawmakers say their constituents overwhelmingly oppose taking action in syria. however, the white house chief of staff is unmoved. dennis mcdonough says the administration expects congress to support the president and vote in favor of using force. >> politics is somebody else's concern.

the president is not interested in the politics of this. the president is interested in making sure that our national security is protected. >> meanwhile republican senator rand paul says that since president obama asked the congress on their input to military intervention, then he better listen to the congress. >> ilget an amendment and my amendment will say that the vote is binding, that the president cannot, if we vote him down, decide to go to war, anyway. >> there are two other big days that could cause scheduling conflicts with the congress as they debate whether or not to use force on syria. wednesday is the address of the terrorist attacks, and thursday and friday night, they will celebrate yom kippur. also in the middle east, armed forces in day two of one of the largest military operations in years. targeting militants in the sinai

peninsula, tanks attacking in israel. egyptians now say they seized nearly a dozen shelled ammunitions. they were out of libya and some have gone to militants inside the gaza strip. in iraq, al qaeda now claiming responsibility for a wave of coordinated car bombings that killed more than 50 people in baghdad last week. this comes as we learn about another attack on a police station, killing at least three police officers and one civilian. this bloodshed just the latest in a wave of sectarian violence that has swept across iraq since april, killing more than 4,000 people. we are getting one of our first looks this weekend at the damage left behind from a massive wildfire near yosemite national park. this as scientists race to protect the area ahead of this year's rainy season. dominic natale has been following this and continues from our l.a. bureau.

dominic, 50 scientists are arriving there. that's more than normal. why so many? >> the third largest fire in california's history does need a team more than twice the size of normal to help in the aftermath. it's really called a burn area response crew and they're gathering today in the forest near yosemite national forest. the first thing they'll do is analyze what could make mudslides come this season. >> they will evaluate the roads. the roads could get washed out, bridges, campgrounds, any kind of property. but our number one objective for the program is to try to protect human lives and safety. >> and there's a reason for more alarm this year than normal because there is more potential for mudslides due to the sheer

scale of this one. the rim fire, as it was named, it bigger than, well, these cities. manhattan, it got as big as that, first of all. it then grew to the size of detroit, and then finally the combined bay area cities of san fran, san jose and oakland. absolutely huge, kelly. >> absolutely huge and absolutely costly as well. you know, it's going to cost millions to do all that special engineering that you're talking about. what about protecting san francisco's water supply as well from those mudslides? >> yeah, good point. so far the water at the reservoir where they get about 80% of their water from, it's clear despite all the ash that's been falling. about 5 square miles of watershed is made of steep runoff could really inundate it with debris and pollute it. soil scientists and also hydrologists that have gathered today, they'll be assessing how much tree planting and hydro

spraying needs to be done to tackle the problem. they've already got federal government money to cover 75% of the fire's cost, and that cost right now stands at around $89 million, but because of the risk to the water supply and the possibility of a higher number of mudslides due to the scale of this fire, it's likely to be an expensive natural disaster. back to you, kelly. >> certainly understandable. dominic denatale, always good to see you. now for a check of some extreme weather moving across the country, including a heat wave that is expected to send temperatures soaring well into the 90s. meteorologist janna steen is live in the fox center with more details. >> up in the 100-degree range. look at kansas city right now. 100 is the current temperature. chicago, you're at 76, but we'll warm up in the next few hours to the 90s. still feeling like summertime

across the central northwest and southeast. feeling like 103 in kansas city, 100 in memphis. you get the picture. it's humid in these areas, so oppressive heat will continue the next couple days and push northward into minneapolis and chicago. chicago, your average this time of year, mid-70s. today you're around the average, but look at monday, tuesday, even wednesday. back down to the 60s and 70s by friday and saturday. september is sometimes t topsy-turvy. we're going into the 90s in new york city by wednesday, 91 in d.c. by tuesday, up to 90 degrees for boston and on the weekend back to the cooler temperatures. that's what happens, sometimes you get the warmth, sometimes you get the cool. and the satellite radar imagery across the southwest, we've been seeing incredible amounts of rain here. the potential for flash flooding in all these areas that could receive anywhere from half an

inch to an inch of rain. this is the desert, remember, so a lot of rainfall is going to cause some problems. just be aware of that sechlt y northern rockies, the northern high plains where we could see some flash flooding as well as, perhaps, some damaging winds and some hail. we're still into hurricane season. you know we have not had one hurricane yet? and if we get to september 11, past that date it will be the latest we have not seen a hurricane in any hurricane season since the satellite era began, but we are watching this wave across africa. we think that could become our next depression, perhaps tropical storm, heather, but you know what, i think we're going to set a record this week. no hurricanes up until this point, which is really quite incredible. back to you. >> do you think we could escape the season altogether? >> i don't. i don't. typically when we see a late season in terms of hurricanes, we see them start to ramp up, especially after september 11. that's our busiest time. 61% of all hurricanes is when we

see them, from the mid-september area until late november. so not out of the woods. don't let your guard down. but it's certainly been a nice, quiet season thus far. >> and we're thankful for that. thank you, janice. >> i like quiet. it isn't quiet for the royal family. a royal mix at the buckingham palace. you got to check this out. guess which member of the royal family was mistaken for an intruder and now that prince releasing a statement. >> we talked about that yesterday but didn't know that part of it. and our very own dana pareno just got back from the congo last week after an incredible journey with the mercy ship. we'll look at her incredible trip up next. the latest on the cleanup effort in one uls uls city af.s major downpour this weekend. >> there was a huge torrent of water coming down from the mountain. >> the goal is to try to divert it back into the canals, into the ditches, into the storm

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a real quick check of the headlines. a mess-up at buckingham palace. royal police making one of the

sons identify himself as he was prowling around. he now says he is grateful for an apology by police. a major cleanup on the way after a torrential down pour yesterday in alpine, utah. heavy rains flooding dozens of homes and businesses. thankfully no serious injuries to report. that's a good thing. a new york city street renamed in honor of a six-year-old boy killed in the sandy hook elementary school shooting in newtown, connecticut. family and friends gathering at what's now called benjamin wheeler place. the boy's family lived in the neighborhood before moving to newtown. well, a new study finding that more americans are feeling secure about their jobs. 74% now versus 66% in august of 2011. but are american workers feeling a false sense of security? let's bring in brenda butner, she's a business correspondent of bulls and bears. thank you for joining us.

>> absolutely. >> americans feel more secure in their jobs, but should they? >> well, they're feeling more secure that they're not going to be laid off, but they're worried they're going to have more work for fewer rewards. the benefits are going to be cut, that their wages may in fact be cut. but they're not worried so much that they're going to be laid off. now, i think there should be a little concern here. because our latest unemployment report revealed a number of disturbing factors. yes, the unemployment rate fell, and the underemployment rate fell as well, but that's mainly because so many people dropped out of the labor force. the labor participation rate, which is the people who are in the actual labor force, is at the lowest it's been since the bee gees were at the top of the chart and jimmy carter was president. and that's very disturbing. >> so just for people at home, when you're looking at the unemployment numbers, what does that include?

>> well, if you look -- there are two different surveys and that's why it's a little bit confusing. the number of jobs created, which was 169,000 in august, is done by a survey of businesses. the unemployment rate is done by just talking to u.s. households, are you employed or are you not employed. sometimes they move in tandem, sometimes they do not. >> is that the source of confusion for people, when they're feeling more confident that they're going to have job security? >> we're seeing the unemployment rate falling, we're seeing even the underemployment rate falling. but again, it's not for good reasons. it's basically negative factors that are driving this. and again, it's because so many people are just dropping out of the labor force. right now we have 4 million people who have been unemployed for more than six months. 11.5 million people are looking for work. that is not positive. >> so is there one category of worker that is affected more than another? >> yeah. it's young people who really

have the worst time of it. their unemployment rate is 16%. and also lower wage earners get hit harder and may be more prone to layoffs. the other thing is that obamacare is going to kick in soon, and basically a lot of employers are saying, we don't want to pay for these health care benefits, so we're going to move full-time workers to part-time workers. >> and it seems like people get that part of it, and that's why there is this concern for doing more work for less benefits. >> yeah. they're worried their pensions are going to be cut, that they're going to be paying more for their health care and that their wages are not going to go up. >> so the piece of advice coming out of this is you may have a job right now but don't have that false sense of security. >> well, basically that the economy is not as good as the unemployment rate might show. >> okay. all right. thank you so much, brenda butner. we'll catch you back here. you can catch brenda on bulls

and airs bears on 10:00 a.m. on fox news. dana and her husband traveling with mercy ships on their mission to provide free surgical care in developing nations. and they brought the camera along to document it all. >> okay, well, getting ready to leave on a trip. one last scratch and a shake. and off we went to africa on a more than 6,000-mile journey to be part of the mercy ship's mission to the congo. we flew first to frankfurt, germany, to libreville to refuel and finally to our destination, the congo. shortly after we arrived, we were greeted by the leaders of the mercyship. they launched it in 1998 to help

the forgotten poor. ♪ >> over the past 35 years, mercyships has visited more than 575 ports in 72 nations. but it's the first time to the congo, and they'll be there for the next 10 months. most people there don't have access to basic medical care, and many haven't ever seen a doctor. on board the floating hospital, i met the man who steers the ship, captain tim traithway, and took a tour of the bridge. i also met buck, the 180-pound training and drilling exercise dummy, and i even got a tour of the kitchen from head chef ken hatfield from north carolina. he and his staff serve anywhere from 1200 to 1700 meals a day. when i go home, if i've gained

any weight, can i call and complain? >> you can call it mercy hips instead of mercy ships. >> okay. the entire crew including the heroic doctors and nurses are all volunteers, nearly half of them from the united states. and you never know who you might meet, including the security team made up of six gerkas. believe me, the ship is in good hands. on patient screening day, more than 7,000 people lined up in hopes of getting care, all waiting patiently to be seen by the volunteers. ally chandra is one of the amazing volunteer doctors. she looks at whether the doctors will be able to treat them. do you want to have your lip fixed? yeah? >> she told me about the joy she feels when she knows she'll be

sending someone through who mercy ships will be able to help. >> there is nothing that compares when you see a kid, when you see a patient come up when you known we will be able to help. being the first one and being able to say yes, it's saying yes to everything. >> but perhaps the hardest part of her job is when she has to inform others there may not be anything mercy ships can do for them. >> unfortunately, the problem with his feet is caused by a problem that's in his brain. so because of that, it is not something that surgery will be able to correct. >> over the next ten months, thousands will undergo surgeries to remove life-threatening tumors, cleft lip repairs and more. >> if you show them very quickly when they're waking up, show them their face in a mirror, they're just moved that their face that's always caused them shame is now -- they can see

it's better even with the bandages on. >> there are so many angels aboard the africa mercy, like chief medical officer dr. gary parker or surgeon mark shrine or finance director john wall to name a few. i marvel at how well they all work together and how devoted they are to helping others. a lot of people have asked me what was my deepest impression from the week-long trip in the congo with mercy ships. it was a great reminder that kindness is at the heart of humanity, and we could all learn a lot from the people who make mercy ship missions possible. >> dana perino, that is awesome, and for anyone who has ever been to africa, you can see a great work going on there, especially for a crew like mercy ships. they are wonderful. coming up, christians under siege in syria as people reportedly linked to al qaeda capture a village.

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welcome back. new concerns over the safety of christians living in syria. new reports suggest rebels attached to al qaeda have attacked a historic christian village northeast of the capital of damascus. meanwhile the israeli government trag dramatic steps preparing to protect its people against a possible retaliatory attack. connor live from our jerusalem bureau. connor? >> with the threat of a u.s. threat on bashar al assad,