u.s. credit rating. thisas been a video metaphor for this week's medical crisis. >> that is very clever. some of the late night laughs have been perfect because you need a laugh when you look at stocks. futures are doing better, we are happy to report. >> who knows how long that will last! >> i know. >> laugh while you can. >> exactly. the jobless claims report was better than expected. >> t.j. holmes, we hand it over to you in the "cnn newsroom" to tell you futures are recovering a little bit and now it's your turn. >> enjoy the next half an hour while you can, my friend. >> sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying. we might be in tears in 30 minutes. good to see y'all. i'll take talk to you soon. hello. it's 9:00 a.m. on the east coast and 6:00 a.m. on the west coast. wherever you may, we are glad you're here. i'm t.j. holmes sitting in today for kyra phillips. yes, in 30 minutes the markets will open once again. this is the week we have seen so

far. if we stay true to form, that means we will see a huge rally today. cross your fingers and hold on, folks. also this morning, five nato troops killed in a bomb attack in southern afghanistan. coalition troops have killed nearly 200 militants in recent weeks. keeping an eye on afghanistan, of course. keeping an eye on great britain. britain's prime minister says london police waited too long to arrest rioters this past weekend. he said that when he was speaking to parliament in a special session on the rioting. we will have more on this in a moment. ♪ all right, folks, it's just like that ride. you are are having seconds thoughts getting on the roller coaster but you can't get off. we are still on this ride on wall street and in 30 minutes, we will have that opening bell. yesterday, the dow dropped some 500 plus points after the week

we have seen, it has been literally down, then up, then down and today would be the up day but we shall see in a few minutes. we have you covered this morning with our correspondents in new york and overseas. christine romans, i want to start with you and start with the word volatility. explain to our viewers how a bank in france they maybe never heard of and also rumors cost them money yesterday. >> reporter: i'll tell you why. this is a fragile market. a fragile global economy. it does not take very much to send ripples throughout the system. it's a completely interconnected global financial system and the worry is if there is weakness in france, you know, france's debt problems become a problem for europe, that becomes a problem for the united states. why? europe is our biggest trading partner. it is a huge, huge economic powerhouse for the world and that, obviously, would affect us. now, one of the things to remember about this week is we have had the two worst down days and the best day of the year in

just three days. so you're right to feel as though it has been very, very wild here, but i would caution people who are looking at all of this and thinking this is affecting them in the near term. it is if you are buying or selling your 401(k) or in your portfolio but most of us watching this, it's better to take a look at is your mortgage below 5%? it should be because interest rates are very, very low. do you have money in the bank? you should think about that, about a savings plan because, you know, 2 out of 3 people don't have a thousand dollars for an emergency, that's according to the national foundation for credit counseling. new numbers out of there. you need to take a look at the more personal things to draw it to the more micro of your finances than the big macro here. that would be my caution. >> christine, thank you. i turn to our alison kosik at the new york stock exchange. it's been kind of up and down in the futures this morning. so what are we looking like for an opening here in about 27 minutes some. >> reporter: and you're right about that, because there is a lot of volatility right now and the market is not even open right now. dell futures up 100 points

earlier this morning and down 100 points and now they are flat. why is the market flipping over the place? because of europe. there is more talk of a downgrade of france's debt which is currently at aaa. we have had heard this chatter since last weekend after s&p downgrade of the u.s. credit rating and now everyone really wants to know, okay, where is the next shoe going to drop? it's a valid questions since debt problems are not kvened to the u.s. as we get ready to start the day i want to show you where stocks are ready to open. dow at its lowest level since last september and every day this week moved more than 400 points during the session. it's crazy here. in less than three weeks the dow has plunged 2,000 points. i tell you what, we haven't seen volatility like this since the financial crisis and many people want to know is this an indicator of another crisis? >> alison kosik, thank you. anna corin is for us in hong

kong. can you tell us if the markets there are reacting pretty much like we have been seeing the markets in the u.s. as well as europe react? >> yeah. well, t.j., you mentioned volatility early. that is the name of the game in asia but also europe. start with europe. it began trading and just a sea of green. some major indices up 2% but throughout the day it has seriously dropped off. let's bring up the numbers for you out now. london's ftse is down and dax is down. but france, the cac is down more than 2%. there is real concern about the debt and also the health of the financial services over there in the euro zone. as christine mentioned a little bit earlier regarding france, there were rumors about france losing its aaa credit rating.

the credit agency squashed the rumors but the damage has been done and felt across the markets. there is real concern about the health and the stability of europe's second largest economy. we will hear in asia, it was a similar story, although the losses weren't as bad as what we have felt the last couple of days. hong kong and japan were down. australia flat. it was down throughout the day in seoul more than 4%. each managed to real crawl back and finish up two-thirds of 1%. china up 1 1/3%. asia is reacting to what is happening on wall street and certainly what is happening in europe. >> anna coren, thank you. reminder to our viewers we are under 25 minutes from the opening on wall street and we will bring that to you and keep a close eye on it throughout the morning. to england now. the prime minister is calling what they have there a new and

unique challenge. the rioting and dealing with the violence in the streets we have seen the past several days is what he is talking about. he was talking about this in a special session of parliament this morning, addressing four days of civil unrest we have seen there with the street gangs. cnn's max foster is live for us outside parliament. good morning, max. this has been a unique problem and also or has become an expensive problem. >> reporter: yeah, absolutely. costing the british country hundreds of millions of dollars, this whole process because shops have been closing early and a lot of damage is being done and they are having to make huge payouts but david cameron saying all businesses would get a payout of some sort if they are affected by this. david cameron talking about a broken britain and saying the heart of that problem was gang culture. boys from dysfunctional families. he is going to take advice, he said, from los angeles and new york on how to deal with that. but a huge problem for david

cameron and a big debate here in the uk but still ongoing problem. police still on the streets and came very close he said to using rubber bullets on the streets of bittan which would have been extraordinary. >> max, we certainly have been covering this story here and our viewers and the american audience seeing it from this vantage point, but what are the headlines like there and around the world? >> reporter: well, everyone is really shocked about seeing these scenes on the streets of britain. the pictures played large around the world. a look at the couple of the headlines. "the si need morning herald." widespread policy fail your have been made. going on to the belfast

telegraph in northern ireland. rioting tends to exhaust itself when the young have enjoyed the pleasure of destruction and theft. what matters more are the consequences. david cameron saying the consequences will be severe. >> max foster for us. thank you so much. 9 minutes past the hour now. sarah palin is crashing a party in iowa. our deputy political director paul steinhauser is with the express there in des moines. this is sarah palin. she doesn't need an invitation to show up to a party, does she? >> reporter: she does what she wants, no doubt about that. the spotlight in the political world is here in iowa. why? a debate tonight. the first one in nearly two two months since the debate in new hampshire. a straw poll in iowa for the candidates and the state fair here. as you said, we now learn good reporting from our political reporter last night that sarah

palin is coming here with her one nation bus tour. she did that tour earlier this summer from washington, d.c. up to new hampshire. it is resuming. could be as early as today, maybe tomorrow, maybe saturday. we don't know the details yet but she is coming here and maybe trying to hog some of that spotlight. palin says she will decide by september if she is running for the republican presidential nomination. >> important poll is coming up on saturday. still other polls and numbers we have seen there and maybe nationally what are they telling us about this race? >> reporter: we got brand-new numbers ourselves from cnn and orc. put them out a few hours ago. check this out. look at that. right at the top mitt romney but right next to him, rick perry. the texas governor we think on saturday pretty much will make his intentions clear he is running for president. he'll have a speech in south carolina. rudy giuliani, palin and ron paul at 12%. take palin and giuliani out.

they have not taken any concrete steps yet running for the white house. romney 23% and perry 18 and paul 14 and everybody else in single digits. we are here at the fair. you can get almost anything you want on a stick here at the state fair. >> i'm from arkansas. i've been to a lot of state fairs. what is the twinkie log over your right shoulder? >> reporter: check it it out right there. twinkie log is a deep fried twinkies on a stick. there is healthy food here too. >> right. >> you can get salad on a stick as well. salad on a stick! >> good to see you, buddy. talk to you soon. your next political update at the bottom of the hour. always get all of the political news 24/7 at cnn/politics.com. we are minutes away from the opening bell. we will have live reports for you from wall street and also with the markets around the world. 18 minutes away from the opening. also this morning, an

important story. we hope you are paying attention to it. a double danger for somalia's children. right now, somalia in the depths of the one of the greatest humanitarian crises going on in the world right now. our dr. sanjay gupta will be reporting for us. stay with us. [ male announcer ] summer is here. and so too is the summer event. now get an incredible offer on the powerful c300 sport sedan. but hurry before this opportunity...disappears. the mercedes-benz summer event ends august 31st. while i took refuge from the pollen that made me sneeze. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms.

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we take it on ours. this summer put your family in an exceptionally engineered mercedes-benz now for an exceptional price during the summer event. but hurry, this offer ends august 31st. coming up on a quarter past the hour. checking stories across the country. in philadelphia, three young men have turned themselves in to face assault charges. this is where these violent flash mob attacks plaguing the

city. the mayor has promised crackdowns on the flash mobs and has jicket curfews in place for minors. three siblings are expected to appear in court this morning. they were arrested after high-speed chase and shoot-out with police in southern colorado. the sister was shot in the leg. we are talking about dylan, lee grace and ryan dougherty on the fbi most wanted wanted list and accused of robbing a georgia bank and attempted murder of a florida police officer. in texas taking drastic measures so hot and dry there. the houston mayor says the city will cut back on its water usage going to limit the hours that people living there can water their lawns. it is the world's worst humanitarian disaster right now. men, women, and children dying every single day in east africa. we are talking about starvation

and sickness. no matter what it is, it's pretty much preventable. dr. sanjay gupta has seen this firsthand at a refugee camp on the somali/kenyan border. >> reporter: you have heard the numbers some time. the largest refugee camp in the world and 2,000 people coming in every day, is what they expect. for many people they are in search of a better life but that is not saying much. simply getting to the camp doesn't mean that their troubles are over. in fact, in some cases, the troubles can get even worse. and parents have had to do the unthinkable. the kids here will melt your heart. >> how old are you? >> reporter: wow. how old am i? i am 41. they impress me with their english so i spoke a little somali with them. is that good? >> yes. >> reporter: rare smiles in a place too full of heartbreak.

amin and her daughter came here for a better life, fighting so hard not to starve to dem. in the end, it made very little difference. amin lost something most she loved more than anything else in the world. we are talking to her daughter's grave. they are really piles of dirt with no name plate, no noweflow. just plastic trash blowing in the wind. she says she brought her healthy baby girl here with dreams of new beginnings but addison died within a month. what went wrong? she started vomiting, she said. then diarrhea. it wouldn't stop for days and days. diarrhea illness, it has been the major reason 30,000 kids have died here over the past three months. so many tiny little graves like this one. part of the problem is even after you get to one of these camps, there is still not enough

food here, not enough water and there is plenty of infectious diseases. viral ill nesses and diphtheria and pertussis. there is something frightening in a camp like this. this is osmond. he is 14 years old. you can tell here, he doesn't feel well. people are concerned here that he has measles. he had a high fever. he had the characteristic rash. he had conjunk take invites in his eyes. he never got vaccinated. he has nowhere else to go. measles is contagious. hundreds of thousands of these adorable children unvaccinated are at risk for the same fait as amina daughter. anything anybody can do? it is with god. it is with god. and so there is nothing else these kids can do but laugh and play, surrounded by the dead.

t.j., it's tough to think about, but it's happening all the time. parents burying their children. 30,000 children have died over the last three months. you also learn it's not just about food and water. it's about medical care. it has to be given quickly to make sure these types of tragedies don't continue to happen. back to you. >> thanks to our sanjay gupta and there will be a special report tonight from sanjay as well as anderson cooper from the front lines of famine at 8:00 p.m. eastern time. you may wonder how you can help out and make a difference for the victims in east africa. go to cnn.com/impact. we turn back to the economy here in this country and recession is bad enough. but being caught unprepared could be even worse. the advice you need to hear is coming up. also they have called off the active search for that

missing american woman in aruba. we will go there live to find out why after the break. specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone works as a team. and i only need to talk to one person about her care. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

woman missing in aruba. 35-year-old robin gardner last seen august 22nd. martin savidge is in aruba for us. tell us why they called off the active certain and what exactly that means and tell us about the person they have in custody. >> reporter: the search went on for a number of days. it was quite extensive at least

by aruban standards. they did that for several days and they found no trace of robyn gardner. this is one of the most perfect kofged pictures you'll find out of aruba. on august 2nd, robyn gardner along with the traveling companion she was with they were snorkeling and became separated and he came ashore and she is never seen again. he called the authorities and no trace of robyn gardner. authorities think there is enough discrepancy with the sto story. they detained him as he was trying to board a plane back to the united states. they don't call him a suspect but investigating him quite intensely right now. aruba is where natalee holloway disappeared in 2005. two pretty woman who disappeared in what they thought was a tropical island paradise.

>> martin savidge, thank you. appreciate you. we are six minutes away from the opening bell on wall street. hold on. after the week we have seen, who knows what is going to happen. lost another 500 points on the dow yesterday. that essentially gave back all of the gains that were made the day before. a lot of people talking about the possibility of another recession. what should you be doing in the meantime to prepare for such a case? our clyde anderson, our financial analyst, is here bus. good to have you back here again. we hate to think there could be another but in the meantime what should we be doing right now to get ready? >> a couple of different things. i tell people recessions are personal. meaning if i don't lose my job during a recession i will be better than the job that -- >> you may not feel that way. >> exactly. in case you are feeling this, this is the way you can do it. i say have an emergency fund. three to six months of reserves is means how much you make on a

monthly basis and have that stacked away. cash is still king so have the money put away so we can access it if we need it. cut two, cut unnecessary expenses. cell phone companies get us all the time and satellite companies get us all the time two-year contracts are hard to get out of. one thing you want to get rid of it. >> number three on your list was interesting there. did i see that right? can you put that back up for me? become the most important person at your job? >> this doesn't mean to stay at the job longer and look like you're busy. this means do things to help increase the bottom line. maybe cut expenses and find different ways to grow the business or grow revenues. you become that team player that they can't cut. you want to make sure you're solidifying your position on a team like if you're playing sports. you want to be the most valuable player. >> i have work to do on that one. you said network as well. go out there and shake the hands. >> do your facebook and other

things social media but being out there and being present is key. make sure you're doing it now. >> invest with caution? >> don't use your bill money to invest. investing is good and everybody is looking at the market right now and saying buy low, sell high. >> last thing, give me your reaction to a thousand dollars. we just had a report come out said most people don't have that in the emergency fund. >> the reality of the situation and it's getting worse. really that is where it's crucial. a lot of people don't think they need to start saving. just start saving something and it will build over time. >> clyde, appreciate it. awe fines aw a few minutes away from the opening bell. we have that live for you. stay with us. [ male announcer ] it's a fact:

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all right. we are coming up on the bottom of the hour. i just found myself like maybe you're finding yourself, taking a deep breath right now. because the markets are about to open. you see this happening on wall street. i was here with you yesterday when this was taking place and

we immediately lost several hundred points within a matter of minutes. it got down below 400 within a matter of minutes as well and ended up losing on the day. we have our reporters with us here. christi christine, we will see what happens the next few seconds. as we take our viewers through this, help us understand. it seems that we are now transitioning from what has been a debt crisis in europe and that now could become a banking crisis and when our viewers here hear a bank willing crisis, we have been down this road before. >> reporter: yeah. it's already fragile and we will be wang the big financial sector for leadership today as well. big bank stocks, financial sectors down 30% and stocks are this year. the big banks, the banks have cut 30,000 jobs. so on the one hand you have a

weakening u.s. economy hurting their business and that is hurting the stock and hurting concerns about these stocks. you also have the housing market a problem for companies like bank of america which bought countrywide financial. facing lawsuits over some of the loans they wrote. on top of that, add what is happening in europe. why is what is happening in french and european banks matter to american banks? they are all interconnected. when you have a sneeze in the financial global banking system, everybody gets a cold. we know that because of the way the system is made and europe is our biggest trading partner p.m. it's a huge trading zone and so whatever is happening there, definitely matters to you. now, why does -- you can see stocks are up. it's been -- alison can attest the futures up and down all morning and it's been just nuts. stocks are up right now. i'm betting if you look within those numbers you'll see a rebound for the banking stocks for the leadship there. they were so beaten down yesterday. >> alison kosik who is at the new york stock exchange for us,

you find yourself almost giddy just to be in any positive territory because it was immediately here with you yesterday. we were doing the same thing and we saw it plum met, triple digits within a matter of minutes. explain to us what we are seeing this morning. >> we are seeing green arrows which is a nice change of pace but don't think it's lasting all day. tread with caution here. how we start isn't necessarily how we are going to end. the fact of the matter is this is a market that is trading on each and every happily. we saw that yesterday. we saw that the day before and the day before. we have had some really startling headlines come out that are really moving the markets and that is really what is going to keep things going today. the good thing is volatility is down. at least a little bit right now. but not to say that is going to last forever meaning all day. we will keep an eye on the numbers for you. >> leona is with us as well. what are we seeing overseas?

>> reporter: we have got market whiplash here in europe as well. we started the day sharply higher, then they went sharply lower. and now they are a bit up and down across the board. the french concerns you were talking about earlier is what is really driving the markets at the moment because, obviously, we have the concern about whether france will be downgraded or not, even though the credit agencies have said they are sticking with that aaa rating but other issues with france as well. their debts are high. deficits high. their growth is quite sluggish and we are expecting second quarter numbers on french growth on friday so that will be key to watch. everyone is really concerned. you've got the banking issues here in europe as well about how much exposure dot banks have in italy, spain, ireland, greece. no one knows what is going on. all of that uncertainty is rattling everybody over here in europe. >> christine, as i bring you back in. we are seeing green arrows as

alison kosik just put it. 142 points up on the dow right now. do we have anything on the horizon we are standing by that could be some good economic news that the markets could react to? >> reporter: i'll tell you good economic news we had today, we had a jobless claims number under 400,000 for the first time since april. what does not mean? the jobless claim figures measures how many people for the first time lined up last week for unemployment benefits. these are people newly out of work and it was below 400,000 for the week for the first time since april. that is something that was a good piece of information. that comes on top of friday when we had more than a hundred thousand jobs created in the economy and more than 150,000 jobs created in the private sector. that was not good enough but still a little bit of good information. we will be looking for incremental signs the economy is not going into a recession, but is just in the doldrums.

for what it's worth it's a good economy if the economy is in a rut and not a recession. you want to get back. close to being a recovery if you're just in ouga rut, right? is it 1 in 4 chance of falling into a recession? something more than that? robert reich says more than 50/50 and martin felstein says it's 50/50. alison is right. headline-by-headline market. >> alison, to bring you back in here. go ahead, alison? you still with me? >> reporter: i was going to say, to piggyback off what she is saying. it is still earnings season and some of these companies are beating wall street expectations. those are sort of the little glimmers of light we are seeing. we are getting optimism from cisco that shares are up 14% and

network equipment make is what cisco systems is. making good progress on cost cuts. in normal times it could lift the broader market for longer than five minutes. see fountain rally we are having right now lasts. investors are also looking to the bare bones of what makes wall street tick and that is the companies that make up the stocks here, for instance, at the new york stock exchange. >> reporter: let me make a quick point. she is making a good point about cost-cutting and the reason companies are able to have better profit and good for investors but job cutting means job cuts. in cisco's case that is job cuts. something is happening for investors and for wall street and corporate america not happening for main street and the middle class. i think that is an argument and debate that will continue throughout the rest of the year quite honestly. wall street and investors and main street are being hit.

if you got exposure to either, it's a tough place to be. >> i appreciate you all. 36 minutes past the hour. we will continue to keep a close eye on what is happening on the markets. after the opening on the dow we have seen it 168 points up. this time yesterday, several hundred points down. still the way you start doesn't mean the way you're going to finish. stay with us. coming up, there are two things that one portfolio manager says are actually driving the markets. we will tell you what those two things are. one of them, gordon gecko made famous. mitt romney makes a big splash in iowa after missing in action there. we are live from des moines for this morning's political ticker. stay with us.

about 20 minutes to the top of the hour. you want to take a little breather. i know it's early. so early we are only 10 minutes

into the trading day but nice to see positive numbers like the negative ones we saw yesterday at the same time immediately after the opening. the dow 1506 points up at least again. an early start but still all eyes are on the markets today after it had been literally an up and down and up and down week. we will see how this day wraps up. back to floxpolitics now. many of the gop candidates are in iowa this week. shannon travis is there for us. they are not just in iowa. they are all showing up at the state fair. >> reporter: they are at the state fair or they will be coming here to the state fair. t.j., you see that sign behind me in deep fried twinkies. you can't come here and not have a twinkie fried on a stick. today is a heavy dose of

politics. some of the presidential candidates to the state fair. mitt romney we expect him later on tonight and others will be coming here tomorrow. they will all be lobbying for support. a crucial contest. the ames straw poll on saturday and they want their supporters to get out there and cast a ballot for them. also, as i just mentioned later on tonight, a debate tonight where the candidates will be there. mitt romney will be there and jon huntsman, his first time and tim pawlenty who possibly might go after mitt romney and michele bachmann on stage. this is the time all of the presidential republican candidates together again since the last debate aired on cnn in june. >> shannon, thank you from the iowa state fair. 42 minutes past the hour now. coming up, something i haven't seen yet and i intentionally didn't watch it yet because my team here said i

will not be able to keep from crying when i see this video. so we are going to watch it together coming up in just a moment. stick around for this soldier surprise. also this morning, there have been a lot of worried faces on the floor of the new york stock exchange but at least one guy is smiling. we will explain why. he is cleaning house right now. that's coming up. handle more than 165 billion letters and packages a year. that's about 34 million pounds of mail every day. ever wonder what this costs you as a taxpayer? millions? tens of millions? hundreds of millions? not a single cent. the united states postal service doesn't run on your tax dollars. it's funded solely by stamps and postage. brought to you by the men and women of the american postal workers union. ♪

about a quarter to the top of the hour. checking stories across the country. first, we start in western tennessee where the principal, that woman there of a small private school was found dead in a classroom. investigators say 49-year-old suzette york was found lying in a room at the academy and now a 17-year-old student is in custody in connection with her death. the fbi wants to know who left a home made bomb on a natural gas line in rural oklahoma. it was discovered and soon disarmed. agent say they have few leads. now the story i told you and they told me i was going to be crying about. this is darlo in a minor league game and throwing out the first pitch. look what happens when she realizes who she was throwing the ball to. take a look at this.

she had no idea. look at that reaction again. oh! that is her soldier husband who surprised her by coming home. his name is michael. he has been deployed to afghanistan, but a great story. she had no idea she was to have gone out the first pitch to her own husband! here we go. 130 points up. much different from what i was telling you right here yesterday. literally. we were hundreds of points down at this point minutes after the trading day started but, right now, the dow in the green. the other indices i believe as well are a little up as we speak. as we watch the markets go down several days this week, poppy harlow joins me now. somebody is getting rich, poppy. >> reporter: they certainly are. i couldn't have said it better. we all hate this volatility and hate to see the market go down

because we are generally long-te long-term investors. some are making a killing right now. i spoke with ryan benn, a portfolio manager with the bear fund and they make a lot of money when this market goes down. their portfolio up more than 15% in the last month. i asked him what on earth is driving this market. take a listen. >> it's all macro economics. it has nothing to do with price earnings ratios and valuations. it's all macro economics. it's sovereign risks. it's france, germany, greece, that's really what is driving this market and it's greed and fear right now. >> reporter: greed and fear driving this market. a lot of big fears about the state of europe. hopefully, we will find out more about that today or this week, so we can get a basis for this

market to move on. i also asked him, are we nearing bottom? are we trying to find a bottom here? his take is no, we have got a lot further to fall. so you asked from people, they have different answers. but this is a treacherous market right now. we will take the upswing right now but as you said we are only 17 minutes into the trading day. we have a long day ahead. >> let me hold on to hope, poppy. always good to see you. thank you so much. u.s. soccer star goalie hope sew although is set to appear nude in a magazine but we are not talking "playboy" or "hustler" here. we will explain and where you will be able to see all of her in minutes. next hour, the bus is making a stop right here in the studio. talking about jerome bettis. yes, he is talking nfl, but also a project that is near and dear to his heart that could help protect your young football player. stay with me. s just a pipe drea.

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all right. the 93rd pga championship tee off this morning. atlantic athletic club. rory mci will roy is playing with two other major winners. tiger woods, all eyes on him. he is on the course right now. he's fallen to number 30 in the world on tour. hasn't won a major since 2008 and is trying to get his game back up to par. if you will. a live report from the tournament next hour. also check this out. tropicana field. ray hosting the royals. sam fuld. knocks the hit to right center off the wall. all right. tampa's elliot johnson comes

around from first. ties the game up. now fuld gets a triple out of it. that's great. look what happens. the ball gets away. fuld ends up -- they came down from five down in the ninth to win the game. also one other sports highlight for you, if you will. u.s. women's soccer goalie hope solo says she will appear nude in espn the magazine's body issue. have you seen this? they have been doing it the past couple of years now. other sports stars have posed for it previous issues including serena williams, dwight howard. she sent out a tweet, solo did, saying being naked outside is very liberating. if you haven't seen it, they do have them with all of their clothes off but some of the more important parts are covered, if you will. political controversy has raised about -- raged about what some see as an unflattering photo of michele bachmann on the cover of

"newsweek" magazine. it turned into, as you can imagine, comedy gold. here now is our jeanne moos. >> it comes to this "newsweek" cover, the eyes have it. her eyes stare out to george washington with a black eye on "time" magazine. all week conservatives have been saying "newsweek" tried to make her look crazy. the only ones crazy about the cover are comedians. >> isn't that soon to be doing a female remake "the 40-year-old virgin." >> nancy pelosi saw and it said it doesn't look crazy to me. >> play some spooky music. there you go. i see you. >> the editor of "newsweek" told msnbc that they didn't try to make her look crazy or cross eyed. tina brown's favorite word is intensity. >> intensity in her eyes is in all the photographs of her. there's something about michele

bachmann with the eyes looking out. >> good morning, everyone. >> reporter: "newsweek" released what it called the outtakes from the shoot and apparently making the point that her eyes are pretty intense in all of them. john stuart backed "newsweek." >> shame on you, "newsweek," and your editor, tina brown. no, too glamorous. >> the one person who hasn't bugged out over michele bachmann's eyes is michele bachmann. a voter asked her about it. >> sort of wild-eyed photo. >> the campaign is not commenting. blogs are. hot chicks with michele bachmann's eyes. transplanted her eyes in to, say, michelle obama britney spears, even a cat. now bachmann knows what it feels like to be steve who had his eyes set to music.

♪ the last time we in the media focused this much on eyes was back when "usa today" got in trouble for retouching condi rice's papers. the website raised eyebrows when it said it brightened condi's image. critics said it gave her devil's eyes. no jokesters online enjoy intensifying them. who needs fire in the bell write when you have fire in your eyes? jeanne moos, cnn. >> i have one eye on you. >> reporter: new york. we are crossing the top of the hour. today on the east coast 7:00 a.m. out west. wherever you may be, we are glad you are here. will this be another volatile day on wall street? right now, just started 30 minutes ago, up 113 points on the dow.

much different from where we were yesterday. we shall see what happened after the dow lost 500-plus points yesterday. we are all over the story for you. also, initial jobless claims hit their lowest level in four months. last week 395,000 americans filed their first claims, a drop of 7,000 from the week before. also britain's prime minister says london police waited too long to arrest rye rioters thist weekend. let's get back to wall street and tell you what we are seeing now. so far so good. it is early. folks, the dow lost 4% yesterday. some 520 points. but right now, 30 minutes into the trading day, 129 points up. right now we will take it. christine romans, we will start with you. she is a part of our team keeping an eye on markets here and overseas. again, i can't help because i was sitting here yesterday and saw literally 300, 400 points down just minutes into the trading day. i see 132 points up.

i will take it. >> you will take it. you still have, let's see, 1400 points go to get back to where we were in july. put tonight perspective and it has been pretty rotten for investors because the world is trying to figure out if there could be another banking crisis. trying to figure out how slow the economy is. investors are trying to figure out if the most recent period of weakness in the market that began in july but exacerbated by s&p downgrade. if that's going to hurt confidence enough to tip the u.s. back into a recession. clearly, you know, consensus from cnn money is 1-4 chance of that happening. but it is -- there is a chance. that has people worried. we are watching the banking sector for any kind of rebound today. we have seen a little bit of a rebound in many of the banking stocks that were slammed yesterday, bank stocks, financials, which are our market leader. they -- they are down 30% this year. watching to see what concerns about france and rumors or worries of a downgrade of prance

and france's exposure to the debt crisis what that would mean for american banks. you heard us say it a thousand times, the whole financial system is interconnected. a sneeze there, cold here, same thing and has been that way for years and years. jobless claims fell to a four-month low. that's a good thing. you know, going back to the banking sector, i want to tell threw have been a lot of job cuts. 30,000 some job cuts in recent days in the banking sector. that's -- you know, that hurts. bank of new york, goldman sachs. announce something prior plans but also new job cuts that bring it up to 25,000 job cuts. you know, look, this is -- this is the way it is. watch something of that weakness in the banking sector is an important leader overall for the s&p and dow. >> all right. let me turn to you, we are seeing the number of the dow there. give us indicators this morning

here. >> yes. dow up 134. nasdaq better by 1.75%. s&p 500 which mirrors our 401(k)s. how things begin isn't necessary where we are going to see things end. we do have good news out there, though. you mentioned this that new jobless claims fell last week. dropping below that key 400,000 level. we got good earnings from cisco. cisco shares are up 14%. it is getting balance sheet in order. really much of the bounce back we are seeing today is because we had such a huge drop yesterday. more than 500 points down. we watched, you know, the major averages move into the triple -- dow at least making triple digit moves every day this week. you know, what you are seeing investors do, t.j., they are trying to figure out what the new floor is for the market. tri-trying to find out what's a fair value for stocks in this current economy. this slowing economy. of course, we have those

concerns about france and adding to the fears about the u.s. economy. we have top of s&p downgrading france's aaa rating and fear about the european banking system, we saw that move the markets yesterday. as christine said, this whole connection to europe is definitely affecting how we trade here on wall street. >> the markets overseas have not fared much better than the u.s. markets this week. >> we are calling it financial whiplash. market whiplash over here in europe. we started the day sharply hire. 2% to 3% across the main indices and went down the same percent. now it is kind of up and down. no one knows what's going on. it has been similar to every single day. when we have noticed is the past -- last half hour of trade is where we see most movement. that's about another hour away from us. over here, similar kind of situation. similar concerns about france's debt issues. it has -- big debt, big deficit. concerns about whether it is

going to be downgraded. concerns about how much french banks are exposed to the european debt in italy and spain and greece. those -- all those concerns really racking the markets and no one knows what's going on. that's really what's creating all the uncertainty here in europe, t.j. >> all right. thank you so much as well. christine and alison, we appreciate you all and are keeping a close eye on the markets. don't go too far. we are never too far away from that story. six minutes past the hour. some members of congress say the economy should command their full attention. they actually want law makers to cut short their recess. august recess and get back to work on capitol hill. yeah, right. first of all, explain to us how long is this recess supposed to be in the first place? >> this thing supposed to go into the first full week of september. so i think they are back something like the 7th of september or so. it is after labor day. >> after labor day. this is actually a pretty good

chunk of time, summer vacation, where so much seems to be -- seems to a lot of folks needs to be getting done. that's a big chunk of time where nothing is going to be getting done. is there traction to this idea of bringing them back? >> i heard senator pat toomey of pennsylvania on "american morning" wouldn't mind congress come back if they passed a pro-growth package. be careful what you wish for questions. four members of the conservative blue dog coalnition the house called on speaker john boehner, house democratic leader nancy pelosi to cancel the congressional vacation and make congress go back to work. this is jim cooper, mike mcintyre, they are calling out for it. debt ceiling plan didn't go far enough. there are editorialings suggesting same. the takeaway is that there are actually people out there that believe this congress could come back to washington and sort of miraculously solve the political

problems that led to the brink of default if they just canceled vacation and analytically if congress had any power to do on power and economy they would have done it over the last two years. meanwhile, t.j., also have to point out congressional approval ratings according to our polling, they are at 14%, an all-time low, which raises the question do you really want people you don't approve of in the capitol, "washington post" actually posted something just today that points out some of the other things that polled better than this congress including caning as a form of punishment, jordan w. bush at his lowest point had 23% approval rating. there are issues there. >> all right. presidents can't escape criticism when they go on vacation as well. >> absolutely true. that's true with this president. you know, he is going off to martha's vineyard. he's actually on the road today doing some business. but when -- presidents go on

vacation, particularly in times of turmoil, they always get hit. usually their answer at least when i was covering the clinton white house from time to time, the answer was it's a working vacation. so the president will go out and do some things and -- whatever he does and they can say well, he's really working even though he is on vacation. that's how they get around it. >> all right. joe johns, thanks to you, as always, in washington. we will continue on politics in terms of the iowa straw poll. happening this weekend. but two of the big names seem to be stealing some of the thunder. our deputy political director paul steinhauser in des moines. who are these two? >> reporter: they are sarah palin and rick perry. t.j., you are right. campaign fallen is definitely on iowa this weekend. why you have a debate tonight here in iowa. first since our own cnn debate in new hampshire would months ago. have you the state fair. that's where i am. this is a must-stop for anybody running for the white house. of course, have you that straw poll in ames, iowa, saturday.

which is crucial on the republican side. guess who is coming here. sarah palin. yes. former vp nominee on the republican side, former alaskan governor. her one nation bus tour will resume at the state fair in iowa. maybe today or tomorrow. we will find out. you know what? she says she will decide by september if she is going to run for the white house. every time she seems to fall out of the spotlight boom, she is right back in there. there is rick perry. in an interview with "time" magazine that came out this morning, pretty clear this guy is going to be running for president texas governor will be in south carolina on saturday where he will make that clear in a speech. he will be right here on sunday in iowa. >> all right. paul, also this morning, where does the race stand? we have seen polls out of iowa and other places. we have new numbers. >> yes. we got brand-new national numbers on the republican side from cnn. check it out. it is a packed field. mitt romney, former

massachusetts governor. you can see him there at 17%. look at perry. not even officially in the race yet at 15%. basically a dead heat with rudy giuliani. sarah palin and congressman ron paul. 12%. take pal wrin and giuliani out of the mix because they are flirting with it but not having campaigns yet at all. look at this. romney at 23%. perry at 18%. paul at 14%. i will grab you a fried twinkie. >> thanks so much. we will talk to you again soon. 11 minutes past the hour. news we are getting out of estonia. breaking story. we are looking into reportedly the shots were fired today at the ministry of defense at the capital of colin estonia. a government spokesperson is saying, in fact, there were shots fired there at the ministry of defense. as they put it, there has been a security incident there. there has been a shooting and security forces are currently

involved. we are not certain at this point if the actual defense minister was in the building or is involved in this in any way, shape or form. that's not what we are being told yet. confirming at least through a government spokesperson in estonia shots were fired at the ministry of defense. security forces have responded to it. we will keep a close eye on that for you. also coming up, out of philadelphia. these violent flash mob attacks, arrests have been made in those attacks because three people actually turned themselves in to the police. details on that for you coming up. also, dramatic end to manhunt for those three siblings accused of robbery. we will tell you what is next for them. stay here. [ female announcer ] now, give dry, damaged hair a whole new life!

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personal pricing now on brakes. tell us what you want to pay. we do our best to make that work. deal! my money. my choice. my meineke. quarter fast hour now. checking news making headlines across the country. in philadelphia, this is where the flash mob attacks plagued that city. three young men have turned themselves in to face assault charges. police say that three put a man in the hospital. the mayor has promised crackdowns of the flash mobs and set strict curfews for minors. they are having to take steps in texas where it is so hot and dry. a houston mayor says the city will cutba back on water usage d

limit the hours homeowners can water their lawns. three siblings expected to appear in court this morning arrested after a high-speed chase and shoot-out with police in southern colorado. the sister was actually shot in the leg. you are seeing the three there. dylan, lee grace, ryan dougherty. they were all on the fbi's most wanted list. they are accused of robbing a georgia bank and attempted murder of a florida police officer. the dougherties have been on the run since that florida police officer tried to pull them over nine days ago. now that it is over brian todd tells thus could have ended much, much worse. >> reporter: the skid marks on the highway reflect an appropriately violent ending to their odyssey. officials say that three siblings from florida armed, dangerous, had fired on law enforcement vehicles pursuing them on a southern colorado highway. after several miles and speeds approaching 100 miles an hour the vehicle rolled off interstate 25. the sheriff who had been chasing them in florida wasn't

surprised. >> they were prepared for a battle. that's what they got. >> ryan dougherty, his sister lee grace dougherty, half brother dylan dougherty's family are in custody in colorado. it could have ended much worse. >> female defendant took off running through a field. she had an automatic pistol. she turned and made an attempt to chamber around and point it at the officer. and he fired at least one shot striking her, i believe in the leg. >> reporter: the injuries to lee grace and her brothers are not considered life threatening. the three siblings were wanted for trying to kill a florida police officer who had tried to stop them. >> several more shots at me. >> reporter: for robbing a bank using automatic weapons. before all of this, there were indications of trouble. ryan dougherty had been sentenced last week for sending harmful information to a minor. police say that he cut off an ankle monitor before they took off. a cnn affiliate reports the siblings had spent time living in a bunker made of cargo

containers buried underground. lee grace dougherty, part-time stripper, had posted on the social media site flicker, i love to farm and shoot guys and wreck cars. i like milk and german engineering and causing mayhem with my siblings. i spoke with bill of the u.s. marshals who hunted fugitives for 25 years. are you surprised in the end they were together? they hadn't split up? >> not really. i think the information from the very begins was that they were very close and i think individually they would have had a more difficult time surviving. they had strength among the three of them together. >> reporter: he says he's surprised that they were on the run for as long as they were and they got as far as they did. given the media attention in this case and the fact their faces were on digital billboards across the country, he says, he thought that they would have been caught much sooner. brian todd, cnn, washington. 18 minutes past the hour now. coming up -- >> this has never been written

before. >> there is a reason. >> there are a lot of people that have been rave being the book and now movie "the help." there are others that wish "the help" had never been written or turned into a movie at all. i am going to talk to one of those folks and let them explain for themselves. e sneeze. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. so lily and i are back on the road again. with zyrtec® i can love the air®. another good thing about geico so like say you need to report a people wclaim, alright./7.. a real person will be there to help you. then you can use geico.com to view photos of the damage, track your claim, print an estimate. you want an english muffin? they literally hand you a toasted muffin with butter and jam. (sigh) whaa. tasty. that's, that's a complete dramatization of course, but you get my point. vo: geico 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance.

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21 minutes past the hour. there it is. so far so good. i know, we are not even an hour into the trading day. dow up 180-plus points after we lost some 520-plus points on the dow yesterday. we will keep a close eye on the markets for you today. right now, though, i want to

give you a little showbiz update. headlines here and lopez tonight has seen its last night on ittb. his show was just canceled after two seasons because production costs were too high. ratings were too low. tbs is owned by cnn parent company time warner. also, he talked about his interest in politics before. now alec baldwin is getting pretty specific. he said he would like to run for mayor of new york but not until 2013. he says he wants to get a master's first in politics to learn more about the office and its responsibilities. we don't know where michael moore stands on baldwin for mayor but we do know he likes another actor for president. the filmmaker says matt damon has been very courageous in his political positions and could be a great potential candidate. the bestselling book "the

help" has been called graceful and real. it has also been called flat-out racist. now it is making waves on the big screen. >> the table isn't set. >> abilene, you spilled something. >> you know as well as i know a white home should have a separate bathroom for colored help. >> that's a white woman named skeeter giving voice to the voice of two black maids. some people have issues with the story. martha southgate here has some issues. an award winning author. newest novel is "the taste of salt." martha, we appreciate you being here with us. you just wrote a piece with b the movie for "entertainment weekly" called the truth about the civil rights era. tell me, do you have a problem with the story of "the help" or a problem with who wrote it in the first place?

>> i stand in the camp that has a problem with the story itself. i feel that if you do it skillfully writers can take on whatever subject is important to them. but may problem with the story has to do with -- even the long tradition of stories that put white people sort of at the front of the civil rights struggle or have them be the traders for it. when historically there weren't. >> i should make clear if i-didn't to our viewers already the story was written by a white woman but you are saying to me if a black woman wrote it, it doesn't matter who wrote it the idea in the story here it seems like the while character, protagonist in the story, is the one that helps the black maids find their voice. you say that's just not the case. >> yeah. i think that's not historically accurate. i also think there are many african-american writers who have tackled this in a very nuanced and thorough way.

one thing that comes to mind off the top of my head is toni morrison, "the bluest eye." to get back to the civil rights movement to me that's the biggest problem with the book. it is a historic one. as i point out in my piece, it dates back to a movie from the '80s called "mississippi burning" and even further back. >> one of the actresses, viola davis, certainly you know they have been hearing some of this criticism. we talked to her here at cnn. take a listen to what she had to say and we will talk about it on the other side. >> i have to be honest, i had trepidation. hi trepidation because -- because she is a maid in and in 2011 i feel a great responsibility depicting images of black women that i feel a areder rare derogatory. i felt that mostly because i love quiet characters. that's because i'm -- i'm an actress. i love creating characters that are complicated and have layers. but i didn't necessarily believe

that people would get abilene because of that, because she so quiet. i just thought that they would just see the maid and i was just very worried about the backlash from that. >> it sounds like there she even had some issues with playing that role. had some concerns. do you think this is the type of movie it takes, the type of story that gets -- it has to be the white protagonist leading the way even in a story about the civil rights era? >> historically that seems to be the case, unfortunately. there have been movies made with black protagonists but the ones so many of them haven't been. i also briefly want to say that i have nothing against the actresses in the film. i think viola davis is a magnificent actress. actress necessary her position often don't get parts as interesting as this. the struggle is in order to play a judge that's less -- less richly written or play a maid,

african-american actresses, like many african-american writers, struggle with this question all the time. people have been attacking them and i just want to make sure -- clear that i am not one of those people who believes they deserve to take the wrath. >> certainly understood. martha southgate, the name of your newest novel, "a taste of salt." it will be out in september. do i have that right? >> yes. >> it shipped early. it is in bookstores now. september. yes. >> okay. thank you. i will also send out to our -- our viewers where they can read actually your article about "the help." thank you so much for taking time with us. you enjoy the rest of your day. >> all right. you, too, thanks so much. >> coming up on the bottom of the hour. sarah palin is on the bus again. would you believe she is turning up in iowa just in time for the ames straw poll this weekend. our panel looks at that move coming up next. also, we are going to try to get

a bus physically in this studio today. i hope he does mind me still calling him that. jerome bettes is who we are talking about. his nfl career. now he is trying to help maybe your young athlete avoid some serious issues on the field. he is here to talk about it. hi there!

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we are at the bottom of the hour now. give you an update on the breaking news we told you about a short time ago. shooting this morning at the nation's ministry of defense building in estonia. this happened in tallinn, northern european country. a government spokesperson telling cnn that this is an ongoing situation. few details are available to us at this point. we are hearing from a local journalist citing police that two hostages have been taken. this was a at the defense ministry office in estonia. we don't know if the defense minister is actually in the building or has been a part of this at all. right now any of that would just be speculation. the update is that this is an

ongoing situation with government officials and a reporter saying two people have been taken hostage. we will get back to that as more information comes to us. 31 minutes past the hour now. political buzz. your rapid fire look at the political topics of the day. three in 30 seconds. who do we have to play with us today? democratic national committee member robert zimmerman. good morning to you, sir. cnn contributor and independent john avalon. good to see you. cnn contributor will cain. gentlemen, good to see you all. let's talk about sarah palin, shall we? she is crashing the presidential party. i don't know if you want to call eight crash. she is sarah palin and doesn't need a ticket to party, does she? her bus tour is going to iowa just in time for the ames straw poll this weekend. let me start with you, robert. is this noncampaign working for her? >> well, t.j., it is working in the context we are talking about her. but the bigger question is, is she relevant?

the sarah palin reality tv show was canceled earlier this year. her last book didn't move well at all. and, of course, sarah palin, the movie, made the remakes of "arthur" and "then lantern" look successful. i don't know what's left for her except for doing "the housewives of wasilla." >> does it keep her relevant? >> yeah, that's why she is back in it. look, i'm going to beat you over the head with a completely forced metaphor. this is like the girl in college you dated. completely popular. wasn't that into you. but every time you started to move on and she showed back up at the bar and wink, more flirty. totally sabotaging your ability to move on. that's what sarah palin is. is it working? is it going to work? i mean, i don't know. i guess we are talking about her. the rest of the field is completely unimpressive. >> i have been looking for a guy

that could speak in terms i could understand on politics and you nailed it right there with in a one. >> is that a personal story for you. >> we will talk about it later. what do you think, is this working? >> look, i'm glad the conservative did the creepy girl stalker metaphor because i think that's most defensible position. for them to make. but in all seriousness, this has a weird bid for attention aspect to it. this is not about a presidential bid. this is about someone that's wants to keep asserting themselves in the conversation. it almost is like she is running for v.p. but we saw that movie and it didn't do too well. i think it follows under bid for attention, not anything resembling a serious presidential bid. >> we will move on to john mccain now. he was asked but refused to apologize for calling the tea party hobbits during the debt negotiations. is this evidence or further evidence of a growing continuing to grow split in the gop? john, you start this one.

>> i love it when john mccain is unvarnished and unplugged. look, it does -- there is a rift in the republican party. it is between some of these folks in the -- certain there last debate where there were debt ceiling den ires happy to take the country off a cliff to prove a point and more practical points that knew we needed to reduce the deficit and debt but the default was simply not an option. john mccain is a responsible member of the second group and we need responsible members of each party to stand up to extremes in their own party. that's the only way we can heal the bipartisan. >> will, you go. >> i can make this a personal story for me. nine months ago i would have called myself somebody who was a part of the tea party, strong affinity for the tea party. but something is changing for me over the last nine months and culminated with the debt ceiling deal. for people to say we didn't need to raise the debt ceiling, period. then put a period on the sentence, left me with the really jaded outlook on the tea

party. the problem is, t.j., i-can't define it. i don't know anybody who can. is it social conservatism? constitutionalism? sit michele bachmann? rand paul? i don't know. >> robert, you get in there and sounds like we have a guy here who has a personal story about that split himself. >> you are giving us all a lot of hope. encouraging to see that shift. reality is that -- it is being used -- hobbits is one of the kinder words being used frankly by senior republicans. because they blame the tea party candidates like o'donnell for costing them the senate majority. the real split is between independent voters and republican conservatives. that's played out over ryan plan and over the republican party's response to the debt ceiling and that's where you are seeing dramatic shift that will change the political landscape. >> last one, will, 20 seconds on this question. congress on recess. president obama about to leave for a week and a half getaway at

martha's vineyard. these guys work pretty hard in washington. doesn't washington deserve a vacation now, will? >> you bet. absolutely. take a long one. let's take six months, nine months, a year. i don't care. go away. the point is one of the biggest cliches in congress is get something done. the last time we unanimously can't agree they got something done we got a brand-new entitlement. the idea of getting to work for congress is completely overrated. i think we -- would all be better off if we have a good long vacation from getting stuff done. >> robert, do you agree with that? >> i think i need a vacation for from all of them. i think the reality is that both sides have got to throw their partisan talking points away. recognize we have a crisis now in governance and leadership in our country. i believe, frankly the president ought to call the congress back into session. they should cancel their vacation plans. he should cancel his own. the president should be outlining a very clear specific agenda whether it is infrastructure bank, whether it is payroll tax holiday. he has to show clear message to

get the country back to work. >> john, wrap it up for me. >> i love to see washington get to serious work and start tackling problems but i have confidence that bringing them back to washington will do it. start docking their way until they can come to a concrete agreement to move the country forward. that would get their attention. vacation stuff is just, you know, more silly season stuff. >> you all certainly know about the silly season. three guys a part of it for quite some time covering it and otherwise. gentlemen, good to see you all. john, will, robert, thanks. enjoy the rest of your day. >> take care. 38 minutes fast hour. look at that. all right. hour-plus into the trading day. i will just saw so far so good. we have a long way to go to get the gains to make up for the losses over the past couple of days this week. but still, it is good to be in positive territory. right now the dow industrials up 230 points. we are keeping a close eye on wall street. still ahead this morning, the crisis in somalia.

famine crisis in somalia. bono sounds off on what the world can do to help. >> people seem to prefer watching, you know, people in the high streets of london fight policemen rather than watching children of somalia fighting for their lives. people watch the values. [ male announcer ] to the seekers of things which are one of a kind. the authentic, the rare, the hard to define. to those always searching for what's pure and what's real from we who believe we know just how you feel.

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42 minutes past the hour. taking a look at stories making headlines across the country. principal of a small private school in west tennessee found dead in a classroom. investigators say that york, 49 years old, was found lying in that room at memphis junior academy. a 17-year-old student is now in custody in connection with her death. also the fbi wants to know who left a homemade bomb on a natural gas line in rural oklahoma. the device was discovered

yesterday. it was soon disarmed. agents say they have very few leads. the surprise of her life. threw out the first pitch at minor league baseball game. that was not a big deal. what was the big deal? look at her reaction. she didn't realize the guy behind the catcher's mask was her soldier husband michael who was is just back from afghanistan. came to surprise her. and what a surprise it was. look at her reaction again. she figured it out. that's just golden. 43 minutes past the hour. big named celebrities are tweeting and facebooking for a really important call right now. they are trying to spread the word about the famine crisis in somalia and how you can help. more than 150 stars from lady gaga, david beckham, giving shoutout to save the children of east calf can a campaign. if you are on twitter look for the be a friend tahash tag or

savethechildren.org. >> for me the thing i keep thinking about is, you know, you hear half a million children are on the brink of starvation. you hear 600,000 children on the -- you know, at risk of starvation. those numbers, you know, so big they almost don't seem real. and we start to think this is just a normal thing. but, i mean, i feel like that should be a headline in every paper and newscast event ray day while this is going on. 600,000 children at risk of starvation on the brink of starvation is -- catastrophe. >> look, 30,000 of them have zied zi -- have died in the past few months. people prefer watching people in the high streets of london fight policemen rather than watching children of somalia fighting for

their lives. >> we will have more of that interview with bono tonight in a special report from the frontlines of famine. anderson cooper and dr. gupta at 8:00 eastern time. as promised, i don't know how we did it but managed to get a bus in the studio. i hope he does mind me saying that. jerome bettis. hay is here in atlanta in the studio with us. talking about a topic near and dear to his heart that could actually help protect your young football player. he joins me after the break.

about 12 minutes to the top of the hour. jerome bettis was known as the bus for being able to essentially roll over some defenders when he was out on the football field. you will remember this man. he played 13 nfl seasons. most of them with the pittsburgh steelers. hay is fifth on the nfl's all-time rushing list and scored 94 touchdowns, played in six pro bowls. jerome bettis in the studio with me to talk football. not just that. a project that's now near and dear to you trying to protect some of the young athletes. good to see you, my man. >> great to be here. >> i was asking you a second ago, you are not 40 yet. look like you are in good shape. could you still do it? >> no, i don't think so. >> sure? >> if they put me in for one play, one play, i can give them one big play. >> you are in the gym every once in a while. >> yes. >> feels pretty good. >> feels good. i think i do but i know realistically how fast they run on the field -- >> we will get back to you here in a second. you have a new project here. i want you to tell me about it. the whole idea is trying to

protect the young athletes from these concussions. let me ask you about you first. how many concussions did you officially have in your playing days? >> that's the key word. officially. i officially -- three during the course of 13 years. that's not realistic because -- you know, i wasn't educated enough to know what a concussion was. you know, i thought i got dinged or got my bell rung. i thought that was just part of the game. that's a minor concussion that you got. you just don't know. you don't report it to the trainers. it goes unnoticed. >> you said three. if you had to ventura guess of how many you actually had, probably come up with that number? >> i would probably say, you know, 60, 7037 you have to figure you play 200 games. you are going to get your bell rung, you know -- >> now, that's you. professional sports with the best trainers and best doctors out there. what about for a young person? whether it is peewee league, high school, college, what's the

danger for them if they don't have that staff properly diagnosed? >> the danger the young student lee going back on the football field, undiagnosed. so when you go out on the field undiagnosed, you risk further injury because now it starts to compile and now have you multiple situations. where for us, we hadding the doctors pulling us back and saying no, you know, we had the baseline testing you need to have for the doctors to say you can't go back out there but these high school and middle school kids don't have the baseline testing to say you are not able to perform. >> what's the project now? how is it going to help with that? >> the project is called protecting athletes through concussion education. the idea behind it, dick's sporting goods said we provide all of the safety equipment for our young athletes. but now we want to provide the educational side of it. they said we want to put together this program. and by putting together the program, we create an educational vehicle for our

student sxleets give them the baseline testing that they need and once you have the baseline testing, then if -- concussion occurs, the trainers and doctors and physicians can look at the baseline testing and then look at your testing after the concussion. and decide whether or not you are able to play and that's important. >> this had to come about because of a project we talked about pace. why isn't this just done? it sounds like every school in the country should have it. >> it is terrible that our -- you know, our young students -- young athletes are not getting tested. it is a shame because all the professional teams are doing it. hockey, baseball, basketball. football. everybody is doing it. everybody understands the need. for some reason it is not trickling down to our high schools and our middle schools. i think part of it is no one has stepped up and said we want to do something about it. that's why, you know, when this -- the project was presented to me, i jumped aboard because realize dick's sporting goods wants to do something to make a change, i wanted to be a

part of that. >> if they want more information at sporting -- dick's sporing goods. >> i want the the parents go to the site and they can get the educational information they need and sign your high schools up to be tested. >> important topic. the bus good to see you, my man. for anybody out there looking for a fullback, he is still available. if you got the call would you take it? >> i would listen. >> look at that, folks. 300-plus points up on the dow. an hour and a half into the trading day. long way to go. lot of people will be relieved to see that. ♪ let me entertain you

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i want to turn to barbara starr joining me live because there is a second test run of a hyper sonic jet that can reach anywhere in the world in less than an hour. do tell. >> well, it sounds whacky, doesn't it? there yes, it does. >> sometimes that's what the pentagon does, whacky things. they are testing this morning what they call a hypersonic vehicle. basically they are launching a rocket with this vehicle, if you will, on top of it. out of california. we believe it is going to launch any minute if it hasn't already. it will fly this vehicle and this triangle wedge at 13,000 miles an hour. the idea is they are going to test and see if they can prove the concept that it could reach anywhere in the world in one hour. not that you are going to fly on it. the idea is that it might become a weapon of the future. so that if the u.s. military wants to reach out and touch somewhere, they can do it in an hour. quick response, quick military

response, that's the idea. this is the second test of it all this morning. it failed last year. so we will be watching it throughout the day and see how this very unique test really goes. >> i can't wait to hear this update. interesting stuff there. barbara starr. thank you. we will chat with you again. also coming up in the news room, suzanne malveaux will be here in just a moment talking about gold prices near record levels. she is talking to gold buyers, sellers and investors. [ male announcer ] it's a fact: your nutritional needs can go up when you're on the road to recovery. proper nutrition can help you get back on your feet. three out of four doctors recommend the ensure brand for extra nutrition. ensure clinical strength has revigor and thirteen grams of protein to protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. and immune balance to help support your immune system.

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let's turn to shannon travis, live in des moines, iowa, for us with this political update. hello again to you. >> reporter: hey there. we are here at the iowa state fair where just a few moments away, about 30 minutes away, we expect mitt romney to come in and realize supporters and calling the soap box. mitt romney, this is his second time in iowa during this election cycle. last time was back in may. he hasn't been a campaigning that aggressively in iowa this time around. he says that he expects to for the iowa caucuses. later on tonight, he could actually be taking a lot of incoming fire politically speaking from his opponents. michele bachmann and tim pawlenty. presumed front-runner. a lot of them may be critical. tim pawlenty had been critical of bavpman ach