♪ congratulations on a job well done. the country appreciates you. i appreciate you. (applause) >> today president obama welcomed home u.s. troops who served in iraq at fort bliss army base in texas. they had been central to the war effort. he also told them the end of combat operations in iraq is not going to be a victory lap. president obama is hours away from addressing the nation about the ends of u.s. combat roll in

iraq. the president said this is it, even though there's still a lot of work to do to make sure iraq is an effective partner. >> white house spokesman robert gibbs said he couldn't foresee any circumstance where combat troops would be sent back to iraq. iraqi forces are responsible for their own security and the president gets to keep a campaign promise. >> joe biden is in baghdad to preside over the formal end of combat operations. as iraqi soldiers take over security, even the name is changing from iraqi freedom to operation new dawn. despite some high-profile attacks, robert gates said violence is at the lowest level since the war began. >> his forces haven't needed to conduct an air strike in more than six months. and an important victory against trans-national terror, al-queda and iraq has been largely cut

off from its masters abroad. >> there are now about 50,000 u.s. troops in iraq down from a peak of 170,000 during the surge. and those that remain will advise and assist rather than take the lead on missions. in a prime minister address tonight from the oval office, president obama will talk how a drawdown fulfills a campaign promise. >> the nation as he truly wants to rebuild is the nation that he lives in the united states of america. >> but there are still things left undone. five months after the last election, iraqi politicians haven't been able to form a g. and some leaders worry that al-queda and other militant groups may step into the power vacuum. and american troops will still be in harm's way. >> we're still here. we've still got a job to do. >> you can watch the president's oval office address live starting at 5 p.m. here on abc 7. and finally on his way to fort bliss today, president obama

called former president bush from air force i. the bush administration as you know presided over the start and the most violence years of the iraqi war and the surge as well. the white house confirmed the two men had a brief conversation but would not say what they talked about. kristen, cheryl. >> eric, thanks very much. >> meantime in afghanistan the violence against u.s. troops continues. insurgent attacks claimed the you lives of five more american troops today. four were killed by a roadside bomb. a total of 19 u.s. service members have been killed in afghanistan since saturday. >> federal investigators are at san francisco international airport right now trying to figure out what caused a qantas jetliner to blow an engine shortly after takeoff fromsfo this morning. terry mcsweeney is live at the airport with passenger accounts and their scary flight and stunning pictures. >> 212 passengers, 14 crew members took off from san francisco international airport

last night about 11:00 on their way to australia. 19 minutes later they're back on the ground doing an emergency landing. starting today the faa wants to figure out why. take a look at the hole in engine number one of this four-engine 747. it happened on qantas flight 45 minutes into its flight to sidney, australia. >> i just turned to my right and i could see a stream of sparks flying out. >> young men saying all right! and i wondered what they were talking about. >> they were talking about the river of sparks flying out of the engine and flames inside the engine according to eyewitnesses. you might think there would be panic by the passengers. we're told there was none. >> it was remarkably calm. i was really surprised that during the whole fireworks shower that there was no screaming and no obvious signs of panic. >> kept talking to us. and just reassured us the whole

way. >> the captain jet sonned the fuel over the ocean and came back in for an emergency landing, executed it perfectly. there were no injuries. the investigation begins. >> take everything and strip it down. look over the records of the aircraft, make sure it was maintained properly. talk to the crew. talk to people who maintain the aircraft. a whole investigation and try to put the pieces back together. >> this 747 could actually fly on two engines and the emergency landing is actually a fairly routine event. maybe routine for airlines, not for all passengers. >> one of just delay. weren't really sure what was actually going on, you know. it was like are you seeing what i'm seeing as well. >> as for the 212 passengers who had an extended stay here in the bay area, they are being flown down to los angeles a few at a time. there are far more flights to

australia from l.a. than from san francisco. the faa trying to figure out why any of that was necessary. live at sfo, terry mcsweeney, abc 7 news. >> terry, thanks very much. u.s. government officials now say it is unlikely that two men arrested on board a plane in amsterdam were conducting a dry run for a potential terrorist attack. authorities arrested the men after finding suspicious items in the checked luggage of one of the men. both drew suspicion after changing their travel plans at the last minute. the items included cellphones taped to a pepto-bismol bottle, a box and three large knives. officials say they were natives of yemen living in the u.s. legally and were not traveling together. he says his friend isn't smart enough to be involved in such a plot. >> it's not him. he let -- not educated person to do that stuff. >> well, authorities are holding the men on suspicion of conspiring to commit a terror attack. the white house says the men

were not on terror watch lists. >> the condition of a fremont police officer shot while trying to arrest a domestic violence suspect last week is improving. officer todd young remains in intensive care but he's been upgraded from critical to serious condition but could face a third surgery as soon as this afternoon. the man suspected of shooting officer young remains in custody in san diego. he was arrested saturday at the mexican border. police say he's confessed to being involved in the shooting while young tried to serve an arrest warrant friday in oakland. >> this is california's 62nd day without a budget. governor schwarzenegger plans to give an update on the state budget talks within an hour during a speech in san francisco. the sacramento party leaders say they will call for a vote today on two opposing budget proposals. but neither proposal is expected to get the two-thirds vote needed to pass. this is now the fourth longest in california history. >> san francisco saw the biggest

gains in home prices out of all major u.s. markets comparing this past june to june of last year, prices shot up 14.3%. the s & p case-shiller home price index shows home prices nationwide rose for the third straight month. prices were up an average of nearly 5% in the april to june quarter. the jump was largely to take advantage of government tax credits. since those incentives ended, home sales have dropped off sharply. >> a school day for hundreds of east bay middle school students, why the school day will last nine hours. >> plus the striking workers who left trash piling up on the peninsula last week have found a way to cash in on the problem they helped create. >> and dozens of men take off most of their clothes for a good cause today.

[ female announcer ] we know jerry brown was mayor of oakland, but what were the results? fact: brown promised to improve schools. but the drop out rate increased 50%, and the state had to take over the schools. fact: the city controller found employees paid for 22,000 hours... they never worked. fact: brown promised to cut crime. but murders doubled, making oakland the 4th most dangerous city in america. jerry brown. he just can't deliver the results california needs now.

you can see

>> closed captioning brought to you by mancini sleepworld school is now a full-time job for nearly 300 fifth graders at two oakland middle schools. schools at united for success academy and elmhurst community prep school start their school day at 8 a.m. and end at 5 p.m.. officials say the new nine-hour school day will help boost test scores. both rank among the worst performing in schools in california. the extra three hours will cost the district up to $2400 more

per student per year. it will come from private donations and teaching fellowships. citizens schools will oversee the extra three hours of academics and activities. well, this morning we are learning that trash collectors in san mateo county were paid quite a bit in overtime this weekend while cleaning up piles of garbage that was backed up after two dazed of missed pickup. those same workers walked off the job to support a two-day strike at a peninsula landfill. 250 employees at allied waste walked off the job last wednesday and thursday. it affected 36,000 homes and businesses in the county. the same striking workers were then paid time and a half or double time over the weekend. if you are looking for a job in this tough economy, we are cosponsoring another big job fair along with the resource agency. head to the hilton garden inn in emeryville. a dozen companies are trying to fill hundreds of jobs. don sanchez is there and, don,

folks are getting set up now and say dress for success. >> oh, boy, i'll tell you this is it. if i was looking for a job this where the place to be. you should come on down. we talked earlier with the earlier newscast with the folks from lens crafters. they're setting up over there. they have 50 jobs available and laurence berkeley national laboratory, 160 jobs. you don't necessarily have to be a scientist, right. so come here. here we are. we cosponsor this with the california job journal, you know the publication, probably see it all over the place, bart stations and elsewhere. you see where we are, the hilton garden inn, just off powell on the water side. going to be here from noon until 4:00. cathy from california job journal is with us here. you say this is one of the best ones that you've had yet. >> yes. in terms of quality of the positions and a lot of

professional positions, management or scientist, i. t., technical engineering is out of work, they should come down. we also have industrial and we have a lot of management positions between all the companies that are here. >> how many companies and how many jobs do you think? >> 13 companies but we have 400 openings. >> wow! that's a lot. >> it is. it is. for this economy, yes. >> and you're looking for quality people and they're probably out there now and they should come here. >> we have administrative and customer service so everybody come on down. >> indeed that is the key. it starts at noon so get in your car and fire it up and head on down. we'll be here until 4:00. as you see, the hilton garden inn. don sanchez, abc 7 news. >> don, as you know if you want the job, you've gotta look the part. dozens of men are shedding their clothes in san francisco's financial district today to

help. >> well, we'll just look at them. out around the city encouraging officer workers to give the suits off their backs for the men's warehouse national suit drive. it's the largest in the kind in the u.s. and helps workers suit up for success. the suits are given to local charities to distribute. these men will be out there through the afternoon bearing coupons for new suits and also donation information. >> answers the question. doesn't it? >> oh, yeah. either way it's a little chilly. >> those are supposed to be real workers? >> come on now. >> okay. let's move on. talk about, yeah, a little chilly outside this morning around the bay with fog on the golden gate. we'll talk about warmer weather and the need to shed clothes as it gets hotter later in the week. >> and a new look for the oval

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the oval office will be sporting a new look tonight when president obama addresses the nation about iraq. workers installed new wallpaper, a new rug and furniture while the first family was away in martha's vineyard. under quote from dr. martin luther king jr. among the five quotes, one from president obama abraham lincoln's gettysburg address. government for the people, by the people. >> the hurricane the big story along the east coast. the minimum riptides and big surf. a pretty big storm. let's show what you it did to puerto rico over the last 24 hours. you can see some of the heavy rain falling there and some of the flooding rain that has been taking place in that area. good news as we look at live

doppler 7 hd. i've got it zoomed down to san juan. you can see the storm clearly pulling away, just scattered thunderstorms. the heaviest of the rain is over. it is a category 4 so it's a major damaging hurricane with 135 mph winds. let's take a look where it's going to go. anytime hurricanes get close to the eastern seaboard, the westerlies kind of kick in and those tend to make it recurve back to the north and northeast and that's why it's going to skirt the east coast, maybe cape hatteras, maybe the cape in boston or massachusetts may get a glancing blow by this. something we'll keep an eye on. let's talk about what's going to happen in our weather as we look outside. you can see lots of sunshine in downtown san francisco all the way over toward the east bay. a few high clouds around. that's about it. let's talk about how those temperatures are responding to all the sunshine. where the clouds are, 55 half moon bay. mid to upper 60s through the bay, near 70 the south bay. seeing low it mid-70s in the

east bay valleys. same thing watsonville and gilroy. a few clouds santa cruz and monterey in the low to mid-60s. the warming trend begins today. with that will come clear air tonight. may start a little cooler tomorrow but by tomorrow afternoon it will be the warmest afternoon along with thursday. cooler at the coast friday and that cooling spreads across all our neighborhoods as we head through the holiday weekend. august. we talk about how cool it's been. let's see compared to average as we close out august. santa rosa 1 degree cooler as you look at the highs. oakland 3, san francisco 4. livermore 5 degrees cooler than average and san jose at a record pace, 84 your average high. record coldest average high 80. right now you're at 79. temperature near 80 degrees today, probably will break that record. here we're looking to the next storm city. it will rise where the coder air's going and make way for this warm bubble of air. temperatures about 5 to 10 degrees warmer than yesterday.

puts up to 75 milpitas, 80 san jose. low to mid-70s with a sunny disposition if you will over the peninsula. low to mid-60s along the coast today. near 70 downtown in south san francisco. it will be a great evening for baseball at&t park. low 60s, clear sky, not too windy. low to mid-80s through the north bay with low to mid-70s through most of the east bay shore. upper 70s union city, fremont, castro valley. low to mid-80s through most of the east bay valleys. 90 brentwood. that's the thrust of the warm air. that will warm all of us, 10 degrees tomorrow, a couple addresses warming up thursday and look what happens to the coast in the bay friday. that 10 degree drop moves inland saturday. we drop about another 2 degrees around the bay to 10 degrees inland by monday. cool for labor day. >> mike, thanks. >> you bet. >> it may soon be harder to buy certain cough medicines. later this month officials ask health experts whether cough

medicines should be available only as a prescription. the ingredient is found in robitussin, nigh trial and over a hundred over-the-counter medications. it is sometimes abused for its euphoric effects. inappropriate use was linked to 8,000 emergency room visits in 2008. you've heard the saying it's not the quality, it's the quality. a new study shows that may be the real reason mothers of newborns are so tired. west virginia university researchers say new moms average seven hours of sleep a night but that sleep is frequently interrupted and it comes in short spurts rather than a full sleep v!$ñpcycle. they suggest breast-feeding moms try pumping so they don't always have to be the ones to get up with the baby. >> the trick is convincing dad to good up. >> a lot of good dads out there, right! >> reality stars, actors, singers and athletes. a look at the new lineup for this year's "dancing with the stars."

>> today on oprah at 4:00, saying fair well to nate the decorator as he starts his own talk show. at 5:00, operation knockout. a state crackdown taking place now on the gang operating out of pelican state bay prison at salinas. join us for that story and more immediately following the president's speak on iraq. >> finally we know who will be trying to wow the judges on the next season of "dancing with the stars." >> the contestants include sarah palin's daughter bristol, florence henderson from "the brady bunch." >> retired cardinals quarterback kirk warner, michael bolton,

median market cho and david hasselhoff of baywatch fame. >> yep. karl massey in it. singer brandy who once went to the prom with kobe bryant. and adrina partridge from the hill. "dancing with the stars" begins september 20th here on abc 7. >> a lot of folks want to know who will be dancing, right? >> can't wait. that's going to do it for us. >> okay. enjoy the heat for the next couple days because it's downhill as we head towards the holiday weekend. >> not confirmed but tomorrow's conditions could be a spare the air. >> so far bay area headed tooooo [ female announcer ] introducing pillsbury sweet moments bite-sized brownies

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