it remains a political economic problem. a couple things going on. we have very poor growth numbers out of europe. europe is the biggest economy there, and their growth is flat. we have problems in asia and europe in the markets overnight and then the report from morgan stanley that says what we have all been thinking, the chance of a double dip recession has increased, and they did not say it's happening but just increased and there are a lot of policy and political issues in the united states and europe, and we will need to see more intervention into the european bank and those economies and here in the united states, and the debt crisis did contribute to the uncertainty in the direction things are going. you add to have, randi, we had weekly unemployment claims that came in worse than expected. nothing that should justify this market move. and you put a whole bunch of things into a cake, and some of them are nails and thumb tacks

and toothpicks, and then some people saying i don't want to try the cake because my mouth will get hurt. that's what is going on. >> this is something that we have been seeing over the last few weeks. is this really any different than the turmoil we have been witnessing? >> i think ali is spot on. you think back to just before the huge selloff and volatility last week, we had our own numbers that showed we had almost no growth. we have a new manufacturing number today, a regional manufacturing number that really hit investors hard. some analysts say it's a reliable number because it's a fresher number. this number is about manufacturing in august. the index was actually at one of the low points, and the drop was what analysts call stunning and

saying it never has been this low without leading to a recession. when you hear things like that, especially with manufacturing considered one of the engines of growth in this country, that's also why you see investors sell at this point. what you are really seeing play out is a culmination, not just the data here in the u.s., but the data or lack there of coming out of europe as well. >> thank you both. we will be checking back with you. another major story developing right now, after months of bloodshed in syria president obama for the first time today called on the syrian leader to resign. european nations quickly followed mr. obama's lead, including the joint statement by the leaders of germany, france and britain. yesterday assad told the

secretary u.n. general said his crackdown was over, and residents say nothing has changed. and a u.n. fact-finding mission says syria is guilty of human rights violation and it may be time for the international criminal court to take action. why did president obama take this action now? why now when he hinted it could happen at some point? >> well the united states is really incapable on its own of effecting the situation in syria. one telling figure is 90% of the oil that comes out of syria doesn't come to the united states, it goes to europe. so it was very important for both mr. obama and for secretary of state, hillary clinton, to do a lot of the behind the scenes diplomacy. secretary clinton did a lot of that literally for months. now they feel like they have the

coalition together, and it's the europeans and arab country, and turkey says they are fed up with the violence going on. and the violence at ramadan, and that was extremely important because the arab countries looked at appear and were horrified and that's how you have saudi arabia coming out strongly. and the syrian people themselves, they did not stop and they kept going out over here and at the white house they are saying the people have lost a lot of their fear. here is how secretary of state, hillary clinton, put it. >> we understand the strong desire of the syrian people that no foreign country should intervene in their struggle, and we respect their wishes. at the same time we will do our part to support their aspirations for a syria that is

democratic, just and inclusive. we will stand up for their universal rights and dignity by pressuring the regime and assad personally to get out of the way of this transition. >> and the key to this, of course, will be the opposition. they have not been together at all. the state department and white house saying they are slowly but surely getting their act together, at least that's a hope. there's a lot of criticism, randi, some criticizing the president for too little too late. the white house for its part and the state department saying assad's days are numbered and he is on his way out, or at least that's what they think. depends on how long it will take. >> people wondering if this will make a difference, because the white house and administration asked that gadhafi stepped down and leave libya, and nothing has changed there. what are the chances this will work? >> you have to take the

perspective that it has not happened yet. of course, the hope is that it will. but there has been a great delay, especially if you look at gadhafi in getting him out of the way, as the phrase is, and the feeling is that at least the international community is really now colessing in this message to him to -- to assad, to step down and stop the killing, whether it will take time, that's the big question, it could take months or years. who knows? at least the movement has begun. >> jill, thank you. in about 40 minutes, arwa damon will join us live. there is more deadly violence in the middle east today. two buses were attacked and two other vehicles killing several people and wounding others. the attackers were terrorists

that came from gaza. in retaliation, issraeli warplanes hit targets in gaza. what are the latest that you have on the attacks, kevin? >> reporter: it's a situation that is still developing as we speak. there have been exchanges of gun fire in and around the area where some of the attacks took place earlier today, and it's not entirely surprising because the israeli military government officials say they believe that up to 20 or more people infiltrated the israeli borders, these attackers, at some point and some may be on the loose down there. they are looking around, you know, patrolling southern israel, and looking for these asaleants. now, seven of them were killed in gun battles earlier today, as you mentioned, and six israeli civilians and one israeli soldier was killed in this

attack as well. israel was quick to point the finger at gaza saying they believe it was militants from gaza, and made their way into egypt and then crossed into israel, and that's the chain of travel that these militants took. with that said, they are blaming hamas and gaza, and we have seen a major air strike in southern gaza, and it targeted a palestinian militant group, and five members were kilds and one of their children, and we're expecting more violence in the coming hours. not surprising if we hear about more air strikes and more exchanges of gun fire in southern israel. >> thank you. athletes allegedly getting gifts of cash, cars, and prostitutes. the scandal us allegations, you

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aspercreme breaks the grip, with maximum-strength medicine and no embarrassing odor. break the grip of pain with aspercreme. if you think you have seen it all when it comes to scandals in the sports world, think again. let me remind you of the stunning allegations rocking the university of miami that we first told you about yesterday. a yahoo sports investigation revealed damming details of the school giving players cash, cars, prostitutes, and even paying for an abortion. what could be the greatest scandal in college sports history has the ncaa talking fundamental change and the university of miami scrambling right now to do major damage control as the ncaa's

investigation widens. the new hurricane's football cold, al golden, held a news conference about how the team is dealing with this. we will hear what he said in a moment. what we are talking about was exposed by this man that you see highlighted here. he is an insider and former booster. he was convicted and sentenced to 20 years for being part of a $900 million ponzi scheme. he told a sports reporter that the school broke ncaa rules from 2002 to 2010. a number of miami coaches and players knew about it and played along in some cases. during the investigation bayou who sports that included an audit and 100 hours of interviews, shapiro shared the details about gifts to six dozen former hurricane players and recruits, and the gifts are draw

dropping. hundreds of thousands of cash, rides on the yacht, and paid trips to restaurants and night clubs, and the players were offered bounties for injuring players on opposing teams. and the former booster said he paid to get prostitutes for players, and he paid for an abortion who claimed a hurricane player got her pregnant. the university of miami takes any allegations seriously and we will continue to cooperate fully in a joint investigation with the ncaa. the ncaa's president also issued this statement saying, quote, if the assertions are true the alleged conduct at the university of miami is an illustration for the need for fundamental change in many aspects of college sports. this pertains to the involvement of booster and agents with student athletes. while many are hearing about this case for the first time the

ncaa has been investigating the matter for five months. as you can imagine the drama unfolding at the university of miami has created a firestorm. many are commenting, and so is luther campbell, whose footsteps shapiro says he was following. >> so far i have not heard anything from the coaches. >> you try to take away from what golden has accomplished, what he is doing and working to do, and base it on something that happened eight or ten years ago. >> i do not believe under no circumstanceses any of those kids was involved in taking money from the guy. like i say, we would have heard about it. >> the booster, evan shapiro, names several elite players. and some of the former hurricane players are responding saying the real bad guy is shapiro, he's the one that spilled the

beans. the guy's in trouble and is trying to take everybody down with him. you kind of get upset about it but at the same time you can't control what anybody says. the ncaa is handling it, and we'll move on. >> and then vince wilfork says this. i want to go to the university of miami where david mattingly spoke to al golden who was just hired. david, how is the coach dealing with this? i imagine it's a big distraction? >> reporter: that's right. this should have been a time of great excitement for the university of miami program. they got a new coach that came in in december with the idea of getting this program in the top tier of the ncaa and pursue championships, and there was a great deal of excitement.

he said he was not aware of the allegations, and in the last few days he is hearing specifics. he is cooperating any way he can, and all of this happened before he got here. on today, the players were out there on the field practicing, and a dozen of those players could possibly be implicated in the scandal. so while he is trying to get his team prepared, he is also having to answer questions about possibly what happened before he got here, adding a whole new level to stress for the top tier team. now listen -- >> if anything it will bring us closer together. again, 90% of the guys have nothing to do with this as it happened in the past. so for the most part, inside here, we're moving forward. i said nobody wants to get to the truth quicker than i do, and the way you do that is you cooperate and get young people

to cooperate and if they did make a mistake let's be honest and open and move forward. >> i asked the coach what he thought about possible sanctions, and does he feel confident they will be on the field next year in the wake of the scandal. he says he is confident that will happen. he is focused on trying to keep his players focused on this season that until a couple days ago started with such high hopes, randi. >> the yahoo report specifically mentioned the 12 players, and does the coach address them at all? >> reporter: the coach is being fairly vague on exactly what conversations he is having with players and what he is not doing. he says his role in the investigation is to encourage players to participate in the investigation, and make sure that the truth gets out. what he actually is doing with those individuals is not known. again, all of this happened before he got here. it was the university of miami's responsibility to make sure that

it doesn't happen. at this point, every level of administration of this school is looking at this ncaa investigation, trying to get to the bottom of this and finding out just how bad the damage is going to be. >> what are students on campus saying about this whole scandal. >> reporter: classes have not started, and that happens next week. we were talking to incoming freshmen, and i was talking to some of them and they said they feel bad for the players and bad for the football team, but they did not come here to play football, they came here to study. so what they are saying is they might miss the entertainment value of the football program if there is that ultimate sanction where the team is not allowed to take the field, but at this point they are happy to be here and feel bad for the players. >> has the athletic director spoken out about this at all? >> reporter: the athletic director has released a statement as well, pretty much

inline with what we heard from the university so far, they are hurt and disturbed by the allegations and trying to get to the bottom of them as quickly as possible and helping the ncaa as quickly as they can. >> having covered a scandal at the university years ago, this is a long road ahead for this yurnt. a brain-eating parasite claimed the life of another child. >> i felt like he made me a better person, you know. i am sad that he's gone. i miss him more and more every day. >> her son died about a week after swimming in a virginia river. when we come back elizabeth cohen will be here to tell us how rare this is and how you can protect yourself and family. ersd cement. most wells are over a mile and a half deep so there's a tremendous amount of protective rock between the fracking operation and the groundwater.

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i wish i didn't have to report this next story. it's nearly as bizarre as it is sad. we learned two children have now died from a river amoeba after it got into their body. it happened while they were swimming in fresh water. i want for clear, deaths like this are rare but i think it's important to tell the story so you too can be aware of the invisible killer. elizabeth cohen will join me and talk about this. first let me tell you about the young victims. first, let me take you to florida. look at this young girl. 16-year-old courtney nash is from the sunshine state. an amoeba attacked her brain after entering her body through her nose. she was swimming in the st. john's river, one of the largest rivers in the u.s., and died this past saturday. courtney started to get very sick with a high fever about a

week after swimming and then a few days later she passed away. her mother spoke with us. >> just from her appearance, they could see something was wrong. they took us back immediately to the e.r. they ransom test and did a spinal tap test and a cat scan, and within two hours they came back with the bad news that she had the amoeba fibers. >> and we are learning more about a young boy that died here in virginia. christian strickland died after swimming in a fresh body of water, and his mom spoke about how scary it was when her son got sick a week after swimming. >> the next morning he doesn't want to get out of bed and falling asleep in an instant, and then looks at me like he doesn't know who i am or trying to figure out what words are coming out of my mouth.

and then i got really scared and called his pediatrician. >> after being rushed to the hospital, christian died a few days later. now, i want to bring in senior medical correspondent, elizabeth cohen, to tell us more about how the amoeba attacks the body and brain. it's so strange that when we hear about it it gets through the body and through the nose, at least in one case. >> that's usually how it happens. it gets into the body through the nose. and this amoeba swims up into the brain. a lot of people swim in the water and have the amoebas around them, but few people die. 32 deaths in the last ten years. we don't know why some people are more susceptible than others. that's what is scary, within a week or two your child is dead. >> this is in warmer water? >> i know people want to know how do i make sure my kid is not

a victim. if you want to have a no-risk situation, do not go swimming in warm untreated water. swimming pools are fine. don't go swimming in a warm lake or stream. we're talking more than 80 degrees. you can tell that's pretty warm. and if you do end up going under water, you can plug your nose, and then when you swim in a lake or whatever, your feet feel the mucky stuff on the bottom. if you stir that up, that increases the chance an amoeba will come to you. and one way to avoid it entirely if you live in a southern state where the water is warm, go r don't go in. >> yeah, because that could get it going once you stir up the bottom. you can't see these, like a jellyfish and swim away from them. >> you cannot swim away from the amoebas. it goes up your nose, and your child will be fine for a couple

days, and then what will happen is that your child might have a headache or your child might vomit or seem out of it and they might think they have a virus. and if you call your doctor, this is not the first thing they will think about. there are so many other things that can cause the symptoms. if your child does feel like this and they have been swimming in warm water, do tell your doctor, but i will be honest because there's almost nothing they can do. no anti-automat antibiotic pn. >> thank you. all eyes on wall street right now with the dow still down 422 points. stocks plunged at the open. morgan stanley slashed global economic growth forecasts.

the justice department is reportedly looking into the ratings agency standard & poor's over rated the mortgage backed securities, ultimately spurring the crisis. according to the new york timeses, the securities and exchange commission is also investigating s&p. hugo chavez is pulling gold reserves from the u.s. banks. he said the move is designed diversify the investments. he is moving his investments from sinking economies to places like china, russia and brazil. and then some new information on how long marriages last may surprise you. money magazine is out with the rankings of the best places

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where can you get more bang for your buck? fernando, mississippi, is number one on the list of making your money go far. they spend 88 cents on what a dollar would get the typical american. and they are dedicated to fighting obesity. the city upgraded parks and walking trails to keep everybody active. >> we have a culture of good health. you see people out playing and enjoying themselves and it's very satisfying. >> hernando, mississippi, is

number nine on the list of the best places to live. the time is half past the hour. let's get you caught up on news that you may have missed. the dow plummeted this morning, falling over 528 points. it's still down, but better. down 425 right now. we will bring you live updates and details on what this means for your wallet throughout the hour. it's vacation time for president obama. he is heading for the resort island of martha's vineyard off the coast later today. it comes after he spent the first half of the week touring the midwest and talking about the economy. critics say he should stay in washington and talk about the nosedive of the economy.

he will receive regular briefings from the national security and economic teams. veteran african-american congresswoman is outraged over the economy and black unemployment that has nearly doubled the national rate. he says president obama should do more. >> the president of the united states is, of course, the president. he is the leader of the nation. we support him. we want to work with him. we want him to use that bully bull pit. >> waters is in atlanta attending a jobs fair hosted by the congressional black caucus. and now in israel, militants launched attacks near the border of egypt. 40 were injured and some killed when attackers hit two buses. republican presidential candidate, michele bachmann, is on a bus tour through south carolina. she says if she is elected president she will bring gasoline prices back down to $2 a gallon.

moments ago the congresswoman touted her opposition to raising the debt ceiling. >> i just got off with the debt ceiling debate, and for the last two months i have been leading the charge and for many times a lone voice in the wilderness of washington saying, you have the premise wrong, we will not start with assuming we will give the president another $2.4 billion blank check. i think we have seen what he does with our money, haven't we? good news on the marriage front. married couples are staying together longer. according to a report, couples are staying together nine years before separating on average, and that's up from 7 1/2 years in 1980, and it's taking longer for couples to get divorced. >> how do you know if you are having a heart attack? there is a question for you. what you should and should not ignore is next.

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cnn's chief medical correspondent, dr. sanjay gupta has spent more a year looking into the last heart attack. >> reporter: randi, there are plenty of misconceptions about heart disease. people think there is going to be warning signs, pain ahead of time to give them an idea something is about to happen, and that's not always the case, in fact it's usually not the case. the first pain is the heart attack and it literally seems to come out of the blue. for many people they have vague symptoms of fatigue and something that is not right. if you are worried about heart disease and have the symptoms, you need to get them checked out. another myth has to do with the

cholesterol number. one-fifth of people that have had heart attacks have low k cholesterol levels. there's a point of looking at your blood vessels, and trying to figure out are they becoming latent with cholesterol or plaque. it's not just the amount of cholesterol, but also has to do with the size of particles. smaller particles could get into the vessel wall and cause damage, and larger cholesterol not as much. that's something to keep in mind. family history, as i have learned, doesn't mean you are doomed. that's a myth.

we know two things now. one, you can change your genes through lifestyle changes, and this idea that once you have plaque, it's there forever. also not true. there is plenty of evidence showing diet alone will start to reverse heart disease. so these are some things, good news, for people worried about heart disease and some of the latest news we are doing to try and get to the point to avoid the last heart attack. my doctor said i am heart attack proof, and i bet you want to have that as well, and we'll have that for you. >> for more on your heart health be sure and watch the special report "the last heart attack" this sunday night, 8:00 eastern, right here on cnn. he talks to doctors on the cutting edge of heart disease prevention, including a former surgeon that has a radical diet

that he says could make anybody heart attack proof in a month. new sanctions and a new directive from president obama, next when we go globe tracking.

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responsibility. what's your policy? president obama is calling on syrian leader, assad, to step down. the syria regime has had a brutal crackdown on opponents. arwa damon is there. what reactions are you getting there? >> reporter: well, when it particularly comes to the u.s.'s call for the president to step

down, followed by france and germany and the uk, activist to a certain degree, yes, they welcomed that, but at the same time this is what they have been calling for for months. this is why they are going out on the streets and demonstrating. there has been a great level of frustration with the u.s. and other countries because it has taken them so long to reach this point. an activist will tell you they knew all along the assad resem was never intent on reforming. i was speaking with an activist who had gone into hiding, and his parents had been threatened and he was completely distraught, and he said at the very least after hearing this announcement he did not really feel all that alone. >> how do you think the new sanctions, though, will affect syria? will anything change there? >> reporter: well, u.s.

sanctions are not really likely to have a big impact. what syria would need to have take place when it comes to sanctions that will significantly impact the economy is to see the european union then follow on sanctions on the energy and oil sectors. there are two main european oil giants operating inside that country, so that is what will have to take place to have a true impact. the u.s. wanting to set the example as we have seen in the past, and it tends to be when the u.s. does something, other countries follow suit. and one would only hope that is what will take from their perspective. >> do you expect with the new hard line from the u.s. maybe assad will stop attacking his own people? >> reporter: at this stage, there's no indication that the syrian government will respond to anything coming from the u.s. or from europe for that matter.

we have repeatedly in the past seen them being defiant when secretary clinton over a month ago said that assad lost his legitimatene legitimateness, they lashed out and said they should not make any comments when it comes to the syrian government. and we heard any sort of reforms put in place in syria was because of the government's decision that they would not bow down to outside pressure. what we will have to watch and see right now is what countries like turkey do. what does saudi arabia and other arab leaders do? especially we need to keep the eye on positions of countries like china and india who are on the united nations security council, and russia is in the mix, still selling weapons to the syrian regime. >> arwa, thank you very much. take a look at this with me. the next time you see a bug

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do you remember this scene from the si-fi classic? creepy scene. scientists from the university of texas in arlington say this technology is not so far off. they have created some of the world's smallest may soon be capable of surveillance, crowd control and intelligence gathering just like in the movie.

they will even swim and fly, yes, kind of freaky. joining me for much more, harry stefano, the director of the automation and robotics research institute at the university of texas at arlington. thank you so much for joining us today, harry. all right. so exactly -- >> thank you for having me. >> what are these things exactly, and what are your hopes for them? >> well, these things are small robotic devices from a centimeter all the way to the millimeter level, and there are two main applications. one that you alluded to is for surveillance, and more and more we see the need for covert surveillance, both indoors and outdoors to basically be able to monitor terrorists or drug dealers or people who cross the border illegally, and the key there is to make them inexpensive so that they are disposable and eventually they can self-destruct and to be able

to do so without letting the adversary know that we're doing it. >> how small exactly are they in. >> well, right now they go from centimeters but we have plans to let them go all the way to a little less than a millimeter, like fleas, so we can tag drug dealers and track them back to their hideout. also, some of these things are a little bigger. they form a sphere, and can you drop them from a helicopter to go out and detect ieds, explosive devices. >> and when you say tag, you mean actually get one of these on to one of the bad guys and you actually follow them home? >> yes, yes, follow them home, exactly. attach themselves to their clothing. >> so would this possibly cut down on surveillance costs for police departments and for the military even? >> yes, yes, yes, quite -- quite a bit, and if i may get into the

second domain, it is medical, and the idea there is to be able to have them get inside the human body from the mouth, for example, or other orifices in the head to be able to remove cancerous lesions or get down in the stomach and make the person think they are no longer hungry so that they can control their weight, and we are working some surge ops, particularly at dartmouth university, to do this. >> so you put one of those inside the human body and it can do all of those things? >> not those, smaller ones. >> smaller ones. >> okay. >> a few millimeters. >> and can these actually -- i mean could, they one day eventually operate on somebody? i mean, could these perform procedures? >> yes, and that day is not too far. it's a small number of years, but they will not do it autonomously. the surgeon will at least be in the loop, at least for the

foreseeable future. >> how do you think that will sit with patients? i don't know, i think about one of those guys on me doing an operation. i'm not sure how i'd feel about that. >> well, robotic surgery is already being practiced. certainly in hospitals. the only difference is we're making it much, much smaller. the robot that's being used today is quite a bit larger and increasingly the -- the new generation feels very comfortable with robotic devices because they grew up playing video games. >> and can you tell us where we might see these, or is that all top secret, futuristic information? >> i am not exactly sure where, but as i mentioned, we're working with dartmouth. you know, they are one of the leaders there so i think good things will -- will happen there. >> all right. harry stephanou. >> if i may also. >> yes. >> there's another medical

application that is also very important and that is a mask that is worn by veterans with severe facial injuries, and this microtechnology sensors will help reduce scarring and heal faster. >> it is fascinating. we are out of time, professor, i'm sorry. we're out of time, but it is really fascinating, and we certainly appreciate you coming on and sharing the details with us. thank you so much. >> sure. >> and if you want to check out more about this, go to my facebook page, facebook.com/randikaycnn, and don't forget to tune in tomorrow. we'll have another interesting "big i" for you. president obama taking heat from both sides of the aisle. joe johns joins us with the details next. [ male announcer ] imagine all of your missed opportunities in one place. ♪ the front-row tickets you never bought.

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it's not just good for business -- it's good for the entire community. at bank of america, we know the impact that local businesses have on communities, so we're helping them with advice from local business experts and extending $18 billion in credit last year. that's how we're helping set opportunity in motion. let's talk politics with our friend joe johns joining us now from washington. so, joe, i guess it's a good thing the president is going on vacation, because he's taking a lot of heat, isn't he, these days? >> reporter: you can say that, randi. totally safe to say president obama is susceptible to heat from all sides of the political spectrum right now. we have a pretty good example of that here showing it's not just people who want to take his job who want to slam mr. obama on jobs and the economy. some of his own supporters in congress. to the president's left are

ready to do it, too, but they may feel their hands are just a little bit tied. congresswoman maxine waters is a good example of that. she got real with the crowd at a congressional black caucus town hall in detroit actually explaining the bind the cdc is in when dealing with mr. obama. she suggested that the cbc has wanted to go after him for his policies and the way he does things, but he realizes they are supporters who are also strong supporters of the president who might punish them for it. the congressional black caucus, she says, loves the president, too. listen. >> the congressional black caucus loves the president, too. >> that's right. >> we're supportive of the president, but we're getting tired, y'all. we're getting tired. we want to give him every opportunity, but our people are hurting. unemployment is unconscionable. we don't know what the strategy is. we don't know why on this trip that he's in the united states

now, he's not in any black communities. we don't know that. >> reporter: maxine waters talking again. >> and joe, what's this about her minca herman cain is on a mission to get obama out of office? >> former godfather's pizza ceo and republican presidential candidate, herman cain. he obviously gets positive feedback from the right when he says something about the democrats, especially president obama, so now cain is talking about impeaching saying impeaching the president would be a good thing, in his words, and in cain's view the things obama has done includes pushing through the health care act and so on, randi. >> all right. things are certainly heating up and getting interesting. as always, joe, great to see you. thank you very much. >> reporter: you bet, bye. a huge selloff taking place on wall street right now.

the dow fell sharply at the opening bell, and stocks have been taking a beating ever since. this continues to happen. you take a look there at the dow, now down 466 points. a lot of factors, of course, at play here, and with that lets go to the best market watcher in the business, ali velshi in our new york studio. ali, what the selloff today? >> reporter: well, i think you actually said it perfectly. there are a lot of factors involved, none of which are particularly new, but a bunch of them coming together that have affected this market. mostly it's global growth. we've seen it in euorpe, the biggest economy in europe, talking about problems with greece, spain and italy. bottom line, it's taking its toll everywhere and germany has now got flat growth meaning a slowdown in economic growth, and slowdowns make people worried about double dip recessions. we already started this morning off with european markets slowing down. then we got this report from morgan stanley suggesting that the chances of a global recession have increased. it's still not the main case, but it's increased, and they think that the world is going to

need more intervention from the central banks. the european central bank in europe and the fed here in the united states, and as you know from some comments rick perry made earlier this week, that is particularly unpopular, among -- in some quarters here in the u.s. finally, we've got some numbers right here in the united states that were worrisome. we got some inflation numbers. we got slow existing home sales, home prices down, compared to a month ago, manufacturing activity has slowed, and the weekly jobless claims number was up just a smidge. none of this should have had an effect on the market, started off weak, piled on and a general fear about what's happening in the world and people are saying i don't know if stocks are the safest places for my investment. sometimes the stock market goes down because there's a real change in the expectation of the value of the companies in the stock market. that's not what you're seeing here. you are seeing global fear. money is going into gold, brand new record there, and money is going into u.s. treasuries. the ten-year bond, for instance, which is where mortgage prices are set, has now hit a new low yield, under 2%. the u.s. government can borrow

money for ten years for under 2%. you've seen the result, randi, low mortgage rates, under 4.5%, so people are putting their money into something that is liquid and safe. >> right. >> and -- and easier to guess about than the markets are. >> so ali, we're seeing a lot of volatility here, but it's not like people are running from the market, right? i mean, they are buying. >> yeah, look, you saw the market open up. we were down more than 500 points, and then we were down in the 300s, so there are buyers in there, but, you know, when i've talked to a number of people today who are in the market, they are not sure why. in other words, they think that stocks are a good deal, but they -- they understand that the market is not acting rationally, so you may think there are good buys in the market, but you may want to keep your powder dry because you don't know what the rest of the world thinks. yeah, that's a problem. there's a lot of volume and some real concern in this market, but it's -- you know, as i -- as you and i always talk about, the market is one part of the economy. it's a barometer more than anything else. it's not its own thing and it's being a little irrational

because people are sketchy. they are nervous, and any little piece of bad news will get it down, and the we had more than our share of bad news today. >> yeah, we certainly did. all right, ali. thank you very much. the turmoil on wall street and new recession fears will be the topic when ali comes back on the show. he'll rejoin us in about 20 minutes. he'll go head to head with the one and only richard quest in our "q&a" segment. you do not want to miss that. another major story developing right now. after months of bloodshed in syria, president obama for the first time today called on syrian leader bashar assad to resign. he also imposed tough new sanctions against the assad regime. mr. obama's move comes after months of a deadly crackdown by syrian government forces against pro-democracy protesters across the country. european nations quickly followed mr. obama's lead, including a joint statement by the leaders of germany, france and britain. just yesterday assad told the u.n. secretary-general that his crackdown was over, but residents say nothing has changed. and now this.

a u.n. fact-finding mission says syria is guilty of human rights violations and that it may be time for the international criminal court to take action. jill dougherty joins us now from the state department. why did president obama take this action now? >> reporter: well, you know, that was a question that just came up, just came out of the briefing here at the state department with victoria newland, a spokesperson, and a lot of the questioning, randi, was exactly that. has it taken too long? has this been going on and meanwhile thousands of people have been killed? with the administration and what victoria newland is saying is they had to build a coalition, and she went back to the speech of the president back in may saying, look, we -- you know, in essence we couldn't do it alone. economically the u.s. certainly can't do it alone because all of the business interests of syria are really located in europe, so they built that coalition. in fact, she went through, randi, a list of every single country with whom the secretary

has been speaking. i think i counted about 20 different countries, and then also making that point. they had to build this coalition, and here is how she explained it. >> this is the kind of coordinated action that we have wanted, and as you know we will continue to work with -- with allies and partners around -- around the region to tighten our collaboration, and, again, it's not like we hadn't taken any steps. we had already sanctioned entities in syria and around assad and assad himself. >> reporter: and so you can hear some of the kind of defensive tone coming in right there. another thing that the administration is on defense about is whether they should keep the ambassador, ambassador robert ford, in syria. there has been some criticism, especially from republicans, that that rewards the syrian -- mr. assad, president assad's

regime. the state department at this point is saying that he is valuable there. he is a symbol, they argue, out to the people of syria that the u.s. supports them and also victoria newland saying that the ambassador and the embassy are able to get information about the opposition, and that's another key. they are hoping that this opposition will strengthen and will be able to become a cohesive group. >> jill, just 20 seconds here question lick. what are the odds of military action now in syria by the u.s.? >> basically can say not going to happen, at least at this stage. nobody has the appetite for it. that would be far too big at this point. they are talking about economic and diplomacy. >> jill dougherty, thank you very much for the update. the fbi now investigating a threat against david letterman. we'll tell you who is calling for him tongue to be cut off. that story is next. digest best buy award. a s then they gave us an iihs top safety pick and you... well, you gave us your approval.

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and no embarrassing odor. break the grip of pain with aspercreme. all right. this is no joke. the fbi says it is now investigating a threat against comedian david letterman. where is it coming from? a jihadist website. that's right. it turns out letterman made a joke back in june about an al qaeda leader that didn't exactly go over well in the extremist community. here's what he said. >> they picked a successor to osama bin laden, and his name was elias cash mirri. well, guess what, he was blown up by an american drone, yeah. it wasn't going to work anyway. they got off to a rocky start with this guy, botched up the story of paul revere, and then -- and that ain't going to

work. >> that paul revere part was referring to a history blunder sarah palin recently made, but what angered this jihadist group is what they called letterman's mockery of kashmiri. following letterman's joke the website called on muslims in america to cut off letterman's tongue to, quote, shut it forever. letterman's publicist has declined to comment, but an fbi spokesman tells us, quote, in the post- 9/11 world we take all of these threats seriously. joining me now is comedian dino dubala heading up the comity tour the muslims are coming. dean, what do you make of this? >> it's ridiculous, nothing to do with islam. he's a radical and terrorist and my question is though the joke was told june 8th. the guy got offended august 17th what. happening in between, watching "glee" and "jersey shore" and

got to his backed up monologues on dvr. it's the kind of thing we deal with and tarnishes the image of the average muslim around the world. it's despicable and laughable. >> how far can you go, when you want to make a joke and want to be funny, but how do you know when you're going too far? >> look at trey parker and matt stone in 2009 received threats from some radicals because of their depiction, sort of depiction of the prophet muhammad on "south park," and since then they had a hit broadway musical that won nine emmy awards. i perform around the middle east with christian, jewish and muslim comics. we've joked about almost everything. i've made fun of al qaeda in the middle east, never been threatened whatsoever. one person in pakistan writing something on a website to me is not a credible threat, especially when the organization

that's uncovered this threat is a for-profit group, you have to pay to read their article on the website. they are making money from the war on terror. >> right. >> to me the source has so little credibility, i'm not saying to just fluff it off, but i want to make it clear it's nothing to do with islam, despicable act, nothing to do with a religion, but about a crazy guy in pakistan who wants to get press. >> you say you've made fun of al qaeda and made fun of terrorists. why do you think in this particular case, whoever is behind this, latched on to this particular joke by david letterman? >> it makes no sense, describe him as being jewish, dave letterman is not, he's presbyterian. it's a radical personal that's actually elevated to the media stature that it did because of the for-profit organization that wants to fight jihad by selling you services. if that group was so concerned about david letterman, why not contact fbi and go after him.

the media taking and running with it and sadly enough it ends up smearing muslims. people say look what they are about. this has nothing to do with us. i perform in the middle east for muslim audiences, christians, jews, sitting together and laughing and on stage, not been an issue. >> very quickly, yes or no. if this was you and the threat was directed at you, would you continue with the jokes or would you stop? >> i'd continue the jokes, of course. i am not afraid of radicals of any faith whatsoever. we go out there, you know. i'm going to live my life. i'm sure david letterman is going to live his life and i hope with the success of trey parker and matt stone and what they did "the book of mormon" on broadway. >> i hope nobody threatens you. >> i prefer to tell jokes. i'm not really worried. >> great to see you. >> nice seeing you again, bye. >> the damning allegations of hurricanes players getting gifts of cash, cars, prostitutes has

put the university of miami at the center of what could be the biggest scandal in college sports history. we are live in miami with the very latest. stay with us.

the scandal unfolding at the university of miami is rocking the sports world. no stranger to embarrassing allegations, of course. what could be the greatest scandal in college sports history has the ncaa talking fundamental change, and the hurricanes doing some real damage control. these allegations come straight from a hurricanes insider and former booster nevin shapiro who you see right there highlighted. keep in mind he was convicted and sentenced to 20 years for being part of a $900 million ponzi scheme. sharp row told yahoo! sports reporter charles robinson he

gave players hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, also cars, jewelry, even paying for prostitutes and in one case for an abortion. let's go straight to the university of miami. david, an incredible story here. i know you spoke with the hurricanes football coach who was just hired last september. now he's inherited this mess. what's he saying? >> reporter: well, this should be a great time for al golden, starting a new program here, trying to take this program back to a national championship form. there was a lot of expectations when he arrived here on campus, and now he says in the past couple of days he's been having to deal with things he had never heard about before, and now he says his role in this investigation is to encourage all players to come forward with the truth. he also has the added responsibility of keeping them all focused on doing what they are supposed to do, and that's play football. listen. >> i think, if anything, it's going to bring us closer

together. again, 90% of the guys have nothing to do with this as it happened in the past, so for the most part inside here we're moving forward. yesterday i said nobody wants to get to the truth quicker than i do, and the way you do that is you -- you cooperate and you get your young people to cooperate, and if they did make a mistake, let's be honest and open and let's move forward >> you heard him saying that 90% of the hurricane players had nothing to do with this. he's referring to the fact that shapiro says that 12 of the miami hurricane players that are still on the team had questionable dealings with him and possible rule violations, so they are looking at those 12 players that are on the team and wondering what role they might be able to play if this goes further. >> and "the miami herald" is reporting that lawyers could actually go after players that received gifts. what's the latest on that? >> reporter: well, the initial reaction is there may be -- it may be difficult to find a paper trail on all of this because so

early in the investigation shapiro himself saying that a lot of this was done out of pocket with cash. it may be difficult to actually draw a lane to individual players, but, again, it is so early in this, the ncaa says that they have been looking into this new for five months and the coach himself says he hasn't heard any specifics about this except for the last few days. might be a little early right now to determine what sort of liabilities individual players might have. >> david, just 20 seconds left here, what about sanctions? >> there are things that could happen at the university of miami, and none of them are good. we're looking at the possible death penalty which means the team may not take the field for an entire season, and also looking into the possibility, if the allegations turn out to be true, look at the possibility of losing scholarship and losing postseason play, not the thing that a new coach trying to build a new program here would want to deal with. randi in. >> certainly not. david mattingly in coral gables,

david, as always, thank you. well, hold on to your wallet. in the event of a double dip recession, what do you do? that is the topic of this week's "q&a." we'll have it for you right after the break.

e well, quest means business and so do i, particularly today. we're here together in the cnn newsroom around the world. hello, richard. >> good day to you, ali, on a thursday. we discuss business, travel and innovation, but today there's only really one topic that we need to get to grips, the potential double dip recession, ali. >> something that's feeling a lot more real for people, richard. economists disagree on how likely the world is to fall into another downturn, but they generally agree that it could be a bad thing and hard to pull out of, so the question for today, "q&a," is in the event of a

double dip recession what do you, the viewer, do? richard, i'm going to let you go first. you've got 60 seconds. >> what a day. wherever we look the numbers, the data, they are simply not good, and they are getting worse. the u.s. is slowing down. germany is slowing down. france is stagnant. the jobless numbers won't fall. deficits remain high. austerity is the name of the game. morgan stanley is worried about another dip. others say the chances have now risen to around 50%. individually, there's not a huge amount you can do. firstly, slow down spending and make sure financial houses are in order. truthfully, the real action has to be taken by policy-makers, and there there is disagreement and cause for panic. some say stimulus before we go over the cliff. others say austerity. in the u.s. the first stimulus is over, and the economy is slowing down. frankly when all is said and

done, it doesn't really matter whether we go into a technical recession or we just stay growing slowly. for you and me it will feel awful. >> richard, there's no one who provides analysis better than you do, but you simply didn't answer the question. the question is what are you supposed to do about it? so let me take a try at this for 60 seconds. richard, the great recession of 2008 was exceptional because different asset classes which normally move in the opposite direction of each other all went down together, a perfect storm, not a normal recession, and we are unlikely to see that again. plain old-fashioned diversification is the absolute best protection against a downturn, even like this one. do not run from stocks like people are doing today. in fact, if you go into a downturn like this with some cash, could you pick up some great stock bargains, richard. growth companies with low price-to-earnings ratios, some of which pay fat dividends and don't diversity by asset class,

do what you and i do, spread out geographically and hold stocks with funds that benefit from growing economies. it may be slowing but china and india are growing a lot faster than the united states is, even africa is. now if you're entirely, entirely risk averse, cash works and so do these, richard, bonds, but be careful about this, gold. folks call gold the ultimate safety play. it can't be overvalued however. do not put all your eggs in one basket, richard, because unlike when you cook eggs, in the real world they all don't come out the same under the same pressure. >> ali velshi, well, what can one say? buy on the dips, i've heard it before. the voice is with us. according to the imf, how many global recessions have there been since 1985?

is it a, three, b, four, c, five, or d, six? ali? >> three. >> incorrect. give it a go, richard? >> since 1985 there have been four global recessions. >> four. >> that is correct. >> the most recent taking place between 2008 and 2009. on to question number two. >> well, you didn't say including the most recent one. >> well, i said since 1985. i thought it was self-explanatory. on to question number two, please. according to the world gold council, which of the following countries has the largest gold reserve? is it a, china, b, india, c, russia, or d, switzerland?

go ahead, ali. >> russia. >> incorrect. go ahead, richard. switzerland. >> incorrect again. the correct answer is china, with over $59 billion worth of gold. on to question three. a clemson university project asked undergrads to dip a chip, bite, redip and then bite again. what did the double dip the chip test find? is it a, more germs in the mouth than the dip, b, more germs in the dip than the mouth, c, equal amount of germs in the mouth and the dip, or, d, the quote costanzo, where double dipping the chip was, quote, like putting your whole mouth right

in the dip. >> okay, definitely not d, richard and it's got to be a or b. what do you think? >> i'm going to go for b, incorrect. >> a. >> that is correct. more germs are found in the mouth than in the dip. >> victory. >> huh. where does one go g from there, richard? >> that makes it a tie, which is probably the best way to finish this edition of "q&a." that's it for this week. we're here each thursday, quest means business, and in the cnn newsroom at 2:00 p.m. eastern keep the topics running on our blogs at cnn.com/qnb and cnn.com/aly. tell us each week what you want to talk about. we'll be covering this downturn

all day, so see you later, richard. >> see you later, ali. have a good one. [ vending man ] hi there! that's not going to satisfy you. come on. it's time for a better snack. try this. it's yoplait greek. it has two times the protein of regular yogurt. you'll feel satisfied. [ female announcer ] yoplait greek.

it is so good. oh, and there's a smile. man on tv: ...rbis and 36 homers. swings at the first pitch and fouls it deep back into the stands. [ding] [fans whirring] announcer: chill raw and prepared foods promptly. one in 6 americans will get sick from food poisoning this year. check your steps at foodsafety.gov. it's half past the hour. let's get you caught up on some news you may have missed. the justice department won't comment on a report that credit ratings agency standard & poor's is under federal investigation. the "new york times" says the government is reviewing s&p's aaa rating. it gave those bundled mortgage securities and helped fuel the

2008 financial meltdown. "the times" said the investigation began well before s&p cut the government's credit rating earlier this month. militants launched multiple attacks in southern israel today near the border with egypt. at least seven israelis were killed. 40 more were injured when attackers hit two commuter buses and two other vehicles. israel's military said it launched an air strike against militants in gaza in response. sources say six people died in that strike. a quick update on the case of a homeless man in fullerton, california, who police are accused of brutally beating to death, but first, i want to warn you. the photo i'm about to show you is tough to look at, but it's important that you see it. this is what kelly thomas who was homeless and schizophrenic looked like before and after the alleged beating. witnesses say this was done at hands of six fullerton police officers who they say savagely beat kelly thomas on july 5th after responding to reports someone was burglarizing cars. now, as we've been telling you,

thomas died from his injuries five days later. the alleged beating and death continues to spark outrage. watch what happened tuesday night when the fullerton city council met. multiple residents demanded the fullerton mayor and other city leaders resign for what some call failed leadership. the situation got so heated, at times mayor richard jones and the council walked out of the room, but despite increasing pressure and recent reports of the mayor's resignation, mayor jones issued this statement saying, reports that i am considering resigning my position as mayor of the city of fullerton are erroneous. i am not resigning. there is much work left to be done in our great city. the mayor met with kelly thomas' father ron thomas following that heated city council meeting. both men came out of the meeting shaking hands. the mayor thanked ron thomas and said they had a very good conversation saying they now have a lot of understanding of what kind of people they are. in the meantime, the fbi, orange

county district attorney's office and now an independent consultant are investigating the death of kelly thomas. according to london police, a 38-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of conconspireing to unlawfully intercept voice mails. the former hollywood reporter is the latest of several arrests connected to allegations of illegal phone hacking by staff at the "news of the world" newspaper which was run by news international, the british arm of rupert murdoch's news corp. a justin bieber way street sign has been stolen. say it isn't so, this just two days after the city of forney, texas, allowed 11-year-old caroline gonzalez to name it. look how cute she is. gonzalezs was the mayor for a day on tuesday, and one of her first acts was to rename a section of main street after the pop star. the city plans on having a replacement sign put back in place by this afternoon. must have been taken by a fan. seven israelis dead in a

series of attacks by militants. israel responds with an air strike. a live report from jerusalem next in today's "globe trekking." ordinary rubs don't always work on my arthritis. try capzasin-hp. it penetrates deep to block pain signals for hours of relief. capzasin-hp. take the pain out of arthritis.

and now to a major story developing right now. after months of bloodshed in syria, president obama for the first time today called on syrian leader bashar al assad to resign. he also imposed tough new sanctions against the assad regime. here's what secretary of state hillary clinton said about the president's move.

>> we understand the strong desire of the syrian people that no foreign country should intervene in their struggle, and we respect their wishes. at the same time we will do our part to support their aspirations for a syria that is democratic, just and inclusive, and we will stand up for their universal rights and dignity by pressuring the regime and assad personally to get out of the way of this transition. >> mr. obama's action comes after months of a deadly crack dunne by syrian government forces against pro-democracy protesters across the country. european nations quickly followed mr. obama's lead, including a joint statement by the leaders of germany, france and britain. just yesterday assad told the u.n. secretary general that his crackdown was over, but residents say nothing has changed, and now this. a u.n. fact-finding mission says

syria is guilty of human rights violations and that it may be time for the international criminal court to take action. and now in israel an air strike has been launched against militants in gaza. that's after seven israelis were killed and dozens more were hurt in a string of attacks on buses, civilian vehicles and israeli soldiers. kevin flower is live in jerusalem for us. ketch, what is going on there now at this hour? >> reporter: well, randi, the latest is that the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu made a nationally televised comment to the country. he said, among other things, he indicated that the israeli military had struck against -- the strike in gaza was a strike against those who were behind the attacks in southern israel earlier today. he said, quote, if they think they can hurt our citizens, this is to other people who might be staging an attack, if they think they can hurt our citizens, they will find out that they will have a heavy price to pay, so

basically the israeli government has firmly put the responsibility on this attack on the gaza-based militant group which is one of many palestinian groups, militant groups operating in the hamas-controlled gaza strip, and it was earlier today that the israeli military said that militants from this group or connected with this group staged a complex and intricate attack. as you mentioned, seven israelis were killed and six of those civilians. one israeli soldier. seven of the attackers were killed during the course of an hour's long gun battle with israeli security personnel in southern israel, and randi, this is something that's still going on right now. israeli security personnel in southern israel are looking for more members of some of these -- some of these cells who they believe are still perhaps hiding in areas around southern israel, so there's a heavy police

presence, heavy military presence in southern israel, and along that israeli-egyptian border tonight as we speak. randi? >> kevin, just question quickly. is there any official claim of responsibility here? >> no, there's not. this group says they are not responsible. in fact, it is bad to, quote, open the gates of hell against israel for the attack on its membership in gaza. hamas, which controls the gaza strip, has said that it is not responsible. it, too, is saying that it was justification, a pretext by israel to attack gaza, so no one has come forward and actually claimed responsibility at this time, randi. >> kevin flower in jerusalem with the latest. kevin, thank you. hits check the markets for you. the dow, let's take a look here, down 425. it's been down all day. it's been a rough, rough day on wall street. we'll take a closer look at what

exactly is behind all this and what it means for you next. [ waves crashing ] [ martin luther king jr. ] i still have a dream that one day on the red hills of georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. i have a dream today! [ male announcer ] chevrolet is honored to celebrate the unveiling of the washington, d.c., martin luther king jr. memorial. take your seat at the table on august 28th. it's pro-cool technology releases armies of snowmen masseuse, who cuddle up with your soreness and give out polar bear hugs. technology. [ male announcer ] new bengay cold therapy. the same technology used by physical therapists. go to bengay.com for a 5-dollar coupon.

it is vacation time for president obama. he's heading for the resort island of martha's vineyard off the massachusetts coast later today. it comes after he spent the first half of the week touring the rural midwest talking about the economy. some critics say mr. obama should stay in washington and focus on the nosedive on wall street and other troubling economic issues. white house spokesman jay carney says he doesn't think americans are opposed to the president, spending some quality vacation time with his family. in carney's words there's no

such thing as a presidential vacation because mr. obama will be in constant communication with his staff and will receive regular briefings from his national security and economic teams. veteran african-american congresswoman maxine waters is outraged over the economy and black unemployment that is nearly double the national rate. she says president obama should be doing more. >> the president of the united states is, of course, the president. he is the leader of the nation. we support him. we want to work with him. we want him to use that bully pulpit. >> waters is in atlanta attending a jobs fair hosted by the congressional black caucus. and now a huge selloff continues on wall street. the dow fell sharply at the opening bell, and stocks have been taking a beating ever since. alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange watching it all. alison, we've been watching this dow today, down about 400 points or so all day. how come? >> reporter: well, this is definitely one of those things which the selloffs are just sticking, and what really sends stocks into this motion since

sort of investors running for the exits is a note from investment bank morgan stanley that came out this morning before the opening bell basically saying that the u.s. and europe are getting closer to going into a recession. also, morgan stanley dialing back its economic growth forecast for the u.s. and for europe. obviously wall street not reacting very well to those forecasts. also, we got a litany of bad news on the front here in the u.s. jobless claims for one. they were up to 408,000. home sales down another 3.5% and also we got some data out of the manufacturing sector. regional manufacturing survey showing a stunning decline in manufacturing activity, and analysts say this is a really reliable indicator for the manufacturing sector, especially since the data is much fresher because the data is august data, and one analyst says, you know what, with this index it's never been this low without a leading for a recession? one trader i talked with who said, you know what, with all this bad news out there?

there's no reason other than to sell because the news is sort of a drum beat, steady drum beat of bad news. randi in. >> but give us some perspective as we wait here now. the markets will close in an hour and 14 minutes or so. >> right. >> but put this in perspective, if you can. is this 2008? how worrisome is this? >> reporter: this is definitely not 2008, so let me first put that out there, and even if you want to take the month of august, just last week, this could wind up being the fourth biggest drop on the dow if we end up 437 points lower. you look at august 4th, we were down. august 8th we were down 600 points so you see these other big drops that we had in the past couple of weeks, but when you look at it on a percentage basis, though, this drop that we're seeing today, it doesn't come close to what we saw back in 2008. right now the dow is down -- about 3.8%. back in 2008 during the height of the financial crisis we had several days where the dow was down 7%, 8%, so this does not

come close, just to put that in perspective. randi? >> alison kosik, always appreciate some perspective on a day like this one. thank you very much. >> reporter: thank you. cash payments, alcohol, strippers, even abortions. will paying college athletes break the ncaa institutions ripping through the headlines? we'll put that to the exteam team next.

whether you're a college sports fanatic who covers yourself in your team's colors, at work or never watched a game in your life, you've probably heard about this remarkable story. a yahoo! sports investigation released this week revealed damning details about a university of miami booster giving players cash, cars, prostitutes, even paying for an

abortion. some say it could be the greatest scandal in college sports history, and it has the ncaa talking fundamental change. and, yes, it got the sports world fighting about this age-old debate. should college athletes be paid? joining me now to debate this, dan breyerio, sports radio talk show host at kfan in minneapolis, minnesota, on the phone kristine brennan, a sports columnist at "usa today" and also on the phone with us, brandi chastain, current assistant coach and former world champion soccer player. brandish, let me start with you. given your perspective as a coach and former athlete, sports gives thousands of men and women a free education, saving them thousands of dollars, so should they also be paid to play? >> this is such a tricky situation, but, you know, talking before this interview and thinking about this very topic, you know, i think it's an amazing gift that a student athlete has to go to a university, to get a life education and to participate in the sport they love.

i think where we have to remember is, you know, of all of these athletes that are participating in the hundreds of sports that are being played collegiately, a majority of them won't go on to be professional athletes, and i think it's with that in mind i'm more of the ilk to say that i think they owe themselves the respect and the university the respect and the game that they play the respect to -- to accept that scholarship and that contract and fulfill it, and -- and that that is a gift, and, you know, payment comes later when you do become that professional, but not before. >> dan, let me turn to you. you and i have known each other for years and been on your radio show. i know you have a very strong opinion about this. i'm anxious to hear it. >> well, i've softened my position, i used to be don't pay at all, softened a little bit because of the amount of money that we're talking about here, randi, that these sports generate, the big revenue

sports, but what is nonsensical to me is the notion that in this story out of miami is a cautionary tale that proves that, you know, you've got to give the players stipends. if there's anybody out there delusional enough to think that a, you know, a kid who gets a $500 a month stipend is suddenly going to go to the booster, the over-the-top booster, hey, i don't need -- i don't need access to the yacht, to the strippers, abortions for my girlfriends, rapper access. let me just go do my physics assignment, i've got my $500 stipend, they are out of their minds, so the miami case has nothing to do to me to justify the act of maybe, you know, considering some form of payment, as difficult as this is to do. do you want to do that because you think it's the right thing to do, phone, but don't think you're going to resolve or you're going to solve these kinds of miami issues by giving them a stipend for $500. it's nonsensical. >> well

christine, what do you think about that? >> i don't think they should be paid, agree with my friend randi and dan on this topic, and most certainly with dan, too, that i do think this miami thing has the ohio state and the usc and other scandals we've been dealing with the last six to eight month, auburn as well, in college football. they are not going to go away if you pay the players, and i guess i would caution that there's a law known as title ix which gave us the wonderful women's soccer team which brandi was a part of in 1999 and the followup in 2011 that everyone went so bonkers over the women's world cup soccer team as well as millions of women having an opportunity in sports and title ix would tell us if you pay the football player, you have to pay the field hockey player so that we would be paying all athletes, and what state and what university has the budget for that in these economic times, so i just think that alone would nip this in the bud, title ix

and the rules and regulations that that law -- that beautiful wonderful law i think has -- has given us, so i don't think it would solve the problem, and i think we would be paying everybody in economic times, randi, that we just couldn't afford to do that, so i think it's an interesting conversation, but i don't think it's going anywhere. >> brandi, just very quickly. is it about getting the boosters to behave here then? >> you know, most of the time when we have problems in sports it's usually the adult, not the kids, and i think this is another case of this. when you have parents on the sidelines yelling at kids and officials and then you have boosters who are -- who want to show how, you know, how wealthy or strong or powerful they are, you know, they get involved in these things, and i think it's up to the universities, i think it's up to the coaches, i think it's up to the students themselves to recognize that they are in a wonderful situation, and granted, you know, those other things that we're talking about, that money -- it does draw you in. you want that because it makes you feel good and maybe, you

know, you get something that somebody else doesn't get, but bottom line is for these kids, the ability to get an education, a life -- a lifelong opportunity to advance themselves is really worth more than i think it's given credit for. >> right. >> and there is -- actually i feel there needs to be more responsibility by the student athlete who signs that contract to go on and get their degree and be responsible for what they said they were going to do and not just go maybe even for one year, pray basketball and leave or two years and three years and play football and leave. >> all right. i'm sorry to interrupt you, brandi, but we have to leave it there. appreciate you all getting on. sorry we didn't get to you a couple times there. brandi, christine, dan, great to talk with all of you about this. presidential candidate rick perry was greeted by protesters this morning in new hampshire. details right after the break. if you don't have an iphone, you don't have facetime on your phone, which makes it this easy to talk face-to-face

with another iphone. this easy to talk with a mac and this easy to talk with an ipad. facetime. just one more thing that makes an iphone an iphone. [ martin luther king jr. ] i still have a dream that one day on the red hills of georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. i have a dream today! [ male announcer ] chevrolet is honored to celebrate the unveiling of the washington, d.c., martin luther king jr. memorial. take your seat at the table on august 28th. it's pro-cool technology releases armies of snowmen masseuse, who cuddle up with your soreness and give out polar bear hugs. technology.

[ male announcer ] new bengay cold therapy. the same technology used by physical therapists. go to bengay.com for a 5-dollar coupon. the sso i takeology one a day men's 50+ advantage. as a manager, my team counts on me to stay focused. it's the only complete multivitamin with ginkgo to support memory and concentration. plus it supports heart health. [ bat cracks ] that's a hit. one a day men's. what if we designed an electric motorcycle? what if we turned trash into surfboards? whatever your what if is,

the new sprint biz 360 has custom solutions to make it happen, including mobile payment processing, instant hot spots, and 4g devices like the motorola photon. so let's all keep asking the big what ifs. sprint business specialists can help you find the answers. sprint. america's favorite 4g network. trouble hearing on the phone? visit sprintrelay.com. and now let's get to paul steinhauser who is keeping an eye on the political fiticker. hi there, paul. >> reporter: let's start in new hampshire where ron paul, the congressman from texas is making his third bid for the white house. he's campaigning there. last night he opened up his campaign headquarters in concord, new hampshire, the state that votes send in the primary caucus calendar, the first primary state in the nation. you know what? he took a little bit of a dig, it seems, at rick perry, the texas governor who just jumped into the race. he said i've been going after

the fed for a long time calling for it to be audited and abolished and talking, of course, about the controversial comments from rick perry this week on the fed chairman ben bernanke. randi? >> and paul, i also understand that rick perry was actually heckled a little bit, wasn't he? >> reporter: this stuff happens on the campaign trail. we saw that mitt romney getting a little bit of heckling last week in iowa and rick per they morning in portsmouth, new hampshire, making the rounds like a candidate would. democratic activists supporters of social security going after him. take a listen to him. >> rick perry, stop attacking middle class families. stop attacking middle class families, rick perry. stop attacking -- >> reporter: it happens a lot, and rick perry went on and finished his event and moved on, and we move on as well, randi. >> well, it is that time of year. all right. paul steinhauser, appreciate it. thank you very much. that does it for me.