and hit "cnn newsroom" and take us with you wherever you go. i'll start working on this provide stuff and get back to you. what lead to your decision to go with the fusion? i just keep on going back to looks; it's a great looking car. how do your co-workers feel about your decision? they were the ones who were against ford. they were like they're a truck company. for the most part i am pretty sure i have changed most everyone's mind. krystal, you seem pretty comfortable up there, are you sure you haven't done this before? umm. . . i did 8th grade telecommunications class. [ slap! slap! slap! slap! slap! ] [ male announcer ] your favorite foods fighting you? fight back fast with tums. calcium rich tums goes to work in seconds. nothing works faster. ♪ tum tum tum tum tums

let's hit showbiz headlines for you. kings of leon fending off breakup rumors. its lead singer in dallas felt sick' left the stage. the band is issuing a stadium he is suffering from vocal issues and exhaustion and needs rest. he plays a mayor in his new tv show but kelsey grammer says he might run for office when he is done acting. according to to him, if and when he runs it will be new york where he and his new wife just relocated. marriage is tough. pearl of wisdom from divorcing diva jennifer lopez in the new issue of "vanity fair." most of the interview were done before she and mark anthony announced her split.

he replies he wasn't thrilled about her career comeback. helen mirren's lack of sag has earned her a new title. zain verjee has all of the details. i had no idea, zain, she is at her ripe beautiful age of oef something. she looks pretty darn amazing! >> reporter: she does. heldin mirren at 66 years old, check out this list. even pippa middleton was left in the dust next to helen mirren. of course, the big question for everyone is how does she do it? how did she get body of the year? she says good posture and she says buy four-inch platform heels and it looks like you have longer legs than anyone would think. she also says suck your tummy in. just suck it in. exercise 15 minutes a day.

she says she cuts her own hair! and she says she sleeps a lot too. sleep is absolutely key. she says when she is on a set, when she's on a shoot, everyone may be at the bar and going to hang out at a restaurant. she goes to sleep. also, kyra, she says the secret to amazing good looks is makeup. >> well, if you go to that checklist, we definitely have some of those things nailed. others, not so much. but we are sucking in that tummy and sitting up straight. >> stilettos! >> zain verjee, she definitely looks amazing. good tips for all of us. the senate is getting ready to vote on the debt deal. the markets are just about to open. we are going to go live to the new york stock exchange in a few minutes. heated debate over the nation' debt limit. a moment of triumph. congresswoman gabby giffords returns to capitol hill. we are going to hear from one of her closest friends.

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girl died. her body was found in a river one week after she was reported missing. emily, a tropical storm, could threaten florida by this weekend. final vote still a couple of hours away but investors have had a day to digest the meat of that debt deal for sure. alison kosik at the new york stock exchange and richard quest, quest means business, is live out of washington. alison, investors reacting to this deal or do they have other things on their mind right now? >> reporter: i think i got a little bit of everything right now on their minds. for one, we are going to see stocks have aer open when the opening bell rings, expect the dow to drop about 50 points. one session yesterday one analyst called it schizophrenic. the dow dropped and then ended flat. part of that movement had to do with the debt ceiling developments but that positive news was actually offset by some dismal economic data.

weak manufacturing numbers. they hit stocks hard yesterday and, today, investors are mulling over more disappointing numbers, showing americans earned more in june but spent a little less. the debt ceiling stalemate parnl coming to an end at this point. even with this debt deal, this recovery, the reality is it can't go anywhere unless employers they begin hiring and that is not going to happen unless they know the country isn't in for another crisis. the big worry at this point is the broader economy. >> so, richard, what is happening with the debt rating agencies? talk is still swirling around the deal can't save a lower credit rating for the u.s. what do you think? >> reporter: it depends on when the final numbers are crunched. i think there will be huge, enormous pressure from the rating agencies -- on the rating agencies not to do anything until the final numbers are worked out.

at the moment, both fitch and moody's and s&p have said they will wait and see. they will see whether this really does create, say, 3 trillion or 4 trillion worth of cuts over the long term. it fit does do that, then things look more optimistic. however, if they determine that this deal does not really make serious -- i use the word serious -- cuts into the u.s. debt load, then they will downgrade. this is not about what happens today or next week or next month. this is about the long-term ability of the united states to deal with its debt problems. and when they decide to downgrade or if they decide or perhaps they decide to downgrade, they will be saying that not enough has been done. at the moment, i would put a pound to a penny, as we say,

that they are going to sit on their hands for a bit longer. >> dow industrials right now, richard, i know you can't see the numbers, down 31 just after the opening bell. so what is your take? >> reporter: i take this as being that exactly what you and i talked about yesterday. the rally yesterday was an inch thick and a mile wide. a relief rally that evaporated like the mist in the early morning of summer here in washington. basically, all that happened was that people were just glad that armageddon had been avoided. what they have now really got to concentrate on is those low manufacturing numbers, those worries about the jobs. jobs, jobs, jobs. and the concern that this debt deal that has been put together will have a drag on the u.s. economy. there's no doubt it will have an effect. the question is how much. one other thing just to keep

into this mix of problems, europe has got difficulties, china is slowing down, the u.s. is now put in a big bit of drag as well. this is not a terribly optimistic moment for the global economy. >> okay. yet you did say we avoided armageddon. let me bring in wolf blitzer. did you think we avoided armageddon? >> we avoided what could have been a disaster potentially even fountain u.s. would have paid its bills in terms of foreign countries that the united states owes money to as far as treasuries are concerned. there would have been a lot of domestic bills, defense department related bills, vendors from various agencies that wouldn't have gotten paid in the month of august and that would have sent a shock to those credit rating agencies. they, no doubt, would have moved much more quickly. they would have moved more quickly if the deal had not been

struck. the deal doesn't do anything directly to create jobs but it avoids a disaster and what could have been a armageddon as some have called it and that would been a disaster. why so many democrats and republicans hated this deal, but voted for it when all was said and done, because they fully understood the consequences of failure. the same is going to happen in a couple of hours in the united states senate. kyra, a lot of members are going to vote in favor of this legislation, probably get at least 70, maybe 70 votes in the united states senate, but -- but they recognize that if they were to reject it, it would be just be a disaster. >> those that oppose it, wolf, could we see last-minute stall tactics? >> you know, in the senate, they can, obviously, filibuster. they will need 60 votes. i think they have well over 60 to get it passed. i think that between mitchell mcconnell, the republican leaders, the minority leader in

the senate and harry reid, the senate majority leader in the senate, they will get the votes. you can come up with tactics to filibuster but those who favor the legislation have 60, then you can beat back the stalling tactics. >> we are following it live there in the bottom quarter of your screen. wolf blitzer, we will be talking a lot more. thanks. how about the remarkable return of gabby giffords? a mere six months after a horrific gunshot wound to the head, look at this. applause. cheers. all of it nonpartisan. giffords voted in favor of the debt ceiling deal, by the way. her first vote since being shot january 8th while meeting with consit wens. >> i went on the chamber of the house and saved some seats to make sure they were by the exit

by putting my purse and ipad and folder on three seats so we could keep her one seat in in case it was too much for the mob that we knew would happen. but she went right to the last seat, the seat on the end so she could have the easiest access to all of the members. her whole delegation, arizona, came over. republicans, democrats. we had a very tough few weeks leading up to this fight and this final compromise, and gabby melted everybody's heart last night. >> an aide to the congresswoman says her staff was pretty thrilled to see her in the house again. >> 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. >> next hour, i'm going to have a chance to talk to the intern who helped save the congresswoman's life. he is going to talk to us about her recovery and his experiences. daniel hernandez is joining us at 10:10 eastern time. coming up, tea party politicians paid a big role in

the debt deadlock. our contributor lz granderson says it's a big problem for the gop. he joins us next. mine was earned over the south pacific in 1943. vietnam, 1967. i got mine in iraq, 2003. u.s.a.a. auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation, because it offers a superior level of protection and because u.s.a.a.'s commitment to serve the military, veterans, and their families is without equal. begin your legacy. get an auto insurance quote. u.s.a.a. we know what it means to serve.

congress' debt deal isn't a pig hit. tea party even though they played a big role in shaping it. a lot of people think they drove a role in driving out the lockout. lz granderson joins us. you write kick those free-loading tea partiers out. it's harsh. tell me why you're so harsh! >> i'm harsh because i think that the jig is up. they being the traditional gop boehner's group were happy to ride the tea party wave because they are seeing the tea party gains. now they see what it's like and in bed about with the devil.

i think boehner is frustrated because he is a rational guy and he felt obligated to this wing in his party. >> what would the gop stand to lose without him? >> well, that is the million dollar question, right? that is the reason why you haven't seen people outside of mccain call them out the way he did last week. there's some -- there's a recall election happening in wisconsin next monday and tea party will show up to protect the six gop members being targeted. i think the tea party is definitely going to have a lot of power and be here for the long run for sure but if the people end up getting kicked out, i think what you will find then is that the boehner group won't find it necessary to listen to the tea party as much because they haven't proved to be as powerful as they say they are. >> so is this a sign of things to come? >> unfortunately, yes. you know, this really isn't

about me wanting to see barack obama re-elected as much as i want to see intetlligent discourse as we head to the general elections. i think we won't get to that intelligence discourse if we bend down to these tea partiers. lz loves your comments. check it out at cnn.com. checking stories across the country. a 26-year-old woman fell to her death on sunday on half dome. it rises 4,800 feet and the cause of her fall is under investigation. in webster alabama, a goodwin family lost their home to a tornado earlier this year and didn't call for fema assistance and when a baptist church stepped in building a brand-new home for the family to live in. take a trip to space to

celebrate the 50th anniversary of seattle space needle? they are holding a contest and grand prize is a trip into space of six minutes of orbital flight that would cost normally 110 grand. we are going talk about will mcclain. he is the soldier that one of our correspondents jason carroll followed from the beginning to his time in afghanistan searching for bombs is what he is doing now. does he regret his decision? we are going to have that story straight ahead. also, a bloody crackdown on government protesters in syria. how is the world responding? we go live to london in that in four minutes.

senate votes at noon on a debt ceiling deal. president obama meets with the crew of the space shuttle "endeavour." 9/11 compensation fund town hall meeting is held in melville, new york at 6:00 eastern. a deadly night for

anti-government protesters in syria. syrian human rights group says 24 people were killed and dozens more were injured by government security forces. our zain verjee is in london following the action. >> reporter: the international pressure is growing amid this brutal crackdown. the syrian government is saying they needed to get in there because of what they are calling armed terrorist groups. let's take a look at the international headlines to see what their analysis and response is. this is the national from the united emirates. they say ramadan could alter the course of arab uprising. they say that forces loyal to mr. al assad is an indication that the regime recognizes this will be its most testing four weeks. then take a look at "the guardian." it's headline is "under the hammer," saying the overwhelming

truth after four months of protest that assad has lost even the bare minute to govern. there is no way back. the u.s. president barack obama has said this situation is horrifying, that it's brutal, but the u.s., in reality, kyra, many analysts say does not really have a lot of leverage in a situation like this. >> we are following pretty dramatic pictures. zain, thanks. he is a changed man thanks to the u.s. army. >> how much more weight have you lost? looks like you have lost even more weight? >> i'm around 175. another 15 to when i was in the states. >> but the changes this soldier are more than just physical. coming up next, we will catch up with mcclain in the combat zone two years after first meeting him.