making news on this friday, august 27th. so many will be watching closely when fed chairman ben bernanke speaks later today. we all want to know what he'll say about the still struggling economy. new views after life under ground in that chilean mine. and surging calm, after an attack on a new york city cab driver, while trying to turn down the heat over that proposed islamic center. and ng, everyone. thanks for being with us. new government figures out today are expected to show the economic recovery in this country has slowed to a crawl. and that's raising fears about what's known as a double-dip recession. >> nervous investors are looking to the chairman of the federal

reserve for some reassuring words during a speech later today. john hendren is joining us from washington with more on what's at stake. good morning, john. >> reporter: good morning, vinita. some economists are worried we may soon be facing a declining cycle of falling demand, prices and wages we haven't seen since the great depression. and that raises the bar on a speech today by the chairman of the federal reserve. ben bernanke has some explaining >> well, >> well, i wish i could say it was going to be right around the corner. but i think this is going to be a very unique and painful recovery. >> reporter: in a major address today, analysts say the head of the federal reserve needs to boost confidence in the stalled economy, as new signs show a weakening housing market, as wall street opens with a dow below 10,000 for the first time in two months. and as the top republican in the house is calling for the president to fire his entire economic team. >> listen, this cannot continue. you know, i've had enough. >> reporter: a new unemployment report thursday showed the first decline in jobless claims in a month. but investors focused on the big

picture, driving the dow down 74 points over fears of a sputtering economy the white house is at pains to explain. >> the president is doing everything that we think is appropriate to continue moving the economy in the right direction. >> reporter: still, the bad news keeps coming. including the 27% drop in sales of preowned homes. >> i don't think we've ever seen a drop of this magnitude. >> reporter: and in the oil-ravaged gulf, another sign of a drop in the economy. northrop grummond is laying off workers with a round of other layoffs at the end of the year. bernanke's expected to offer his outlook on the economy and explain what the fed plans to do to halt the slide. so far, wall street is unimpressed. rob and vinita? >> john hendren in washington this morning. and we have got more business news coming up, after her first break. we're seeing amazing, new images of life deep under

ground. the government of chile has released new video of the 33 men trapped in a mine. and they appear to be in relatively good spirits. jeffrey kofman reports. >> reporter: astonishing first images of those 33 chilean miners, trapped by a cave-in more than three weeks ago. it's like nothing ever seen before. video of what it's like to be trapped half a mile under ground. a minicamera was lowered into the mine by a bore hole by the chilean government, giving the world these pictures. the grainy images allowed relatives of the trapped miners to see and hear from them. but it also allowed men to show doctors on the surface, any injuries they might have. the video broadcast across chile, shows the trapped men in remarkably good spirits. at one point, the miners are seen singing chile's national anthem and yelling, long live chile and long live the miners. the men have been trapped since august 5th.en told ththey've be rescue could take a very long time. they may be stuck in these

primitive conditions for three months or more, while a rescue shaft is drilled to free them. jeffrey kofman, abc news, santiago. former president jimmy carter is on his way back to the u.s. this morning with the american teacher imprisoned in north korea since january. he was facing eight years of hard labor on charges of entering north korea illegally. but mr. carter was able to negotiate his freedom. gomes is set to arrive in his hometown of boston this afternoon. police have arrested three men in canada on terrorism charges. among the suspects, a 28-year-old doctor, who appeared on "canadian idol" in 2008. he song a version of avill levine's song, "complicated." the two other suspects made an appearance in court yesterday. police say they arrested the men to stop them from sending money to sterer groups in afghanistan. passengers hit the ground hard when they touched down in sacramento. that's because the jet's fires blew out and caught on fire. everyone onboard had to exit the

plane on inflatable slides. 50 people were hurt, though most of the injuries were minor. an american airlines is facing a record fine of more than $24 million. it stems from the maintenance violations that caused the consolation of thousands of flights in 2008. the penalty would be the largest ever imposed by the faa. but american plans to appeal, saying passengers were never in danger and no penalty is warranted. hurricane danielle is packing 120-mile-per-hour winds as it inches closer to bermuda. it's now a category 3 storm and is expected to brush by bermuda as early as tomorrow afternoon. >> and tropical storm earl is forecast to become a hurricane in the next 24 hours. earl is on track to pass north of puerto rico. and there is a chance it could hit the east coast. and now, for this morning's weather from around the nation. thunderstorms from the carolinas to florida, with flooding around tampa and miami. wet also along the gulf coast, into new orleans. thunderstorms out west, from chi

onto salt lake city. >> 65 in seattle. 70 in portland. fargo will heat up to 90. and chicago, 83. mostly 70s in the northeast. 88 in atlanta. and 91 in miami. and when we come back, once it was a centerpiece of home entertainment. but now, blockbuster is getting ready to file chapter 11. that's in business news, next. and the suspect in the so-called serial stabbing cases. he's back in michigan. and now, he is facing charges. hi, mom. how was school today?

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and time, now, for a check of market activities, starting overseas. tokyo's nikkei average jumped 84 points today. hong kong's hang seng is down in late trading. in london, the ftse opened lower. and wall street starts the day with the dow jones industrial average at 9985, after losing 74 points yesterday. the nasdaq index dropped 22 points to close at 2118. and yesterday's close was the dow's first below 10,000 since early july. stocks rallied early but last ground due to investor concerns about the economy. as we mentioned earlier, wall street will be listening closely this morning when federal reserve chairman ben bernanke addresses an economic conference in wyoming. he is expected to discuss how weak the economy really is and what the fed hopes to do about it. one economic glimmer of hope came on the jobs front. 473,000 americans filed for

first-time unemployment benefits last week. that's 31,000 less than the week before. the number of people filing first-time claims has risen the previous three weeks. toyota is now recalling 1.1 million cars. that recall affects corolla sedans and matrix hatchbacks made from 2005 to 2008. there's been numerous complaints about the cars stalling. toyota has recalled 11 million cars since november, mostly due to sudden acceleration. "usa today" is getting ready for a major reorganization. the nation's second-largest newspaper is planning to shift its focus away from its print edition. instead, it will concentrate on reaching more readers and advertisers on mobile de the ces. the paper is expected to lay off 130 people. that's almost 10% of its staff. blockbuster is reportedly planning to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection next month. the video rental chain is hoping to restructure nearly $1 billion in debt and get out of leases on

more than 500 stores. blockbuster, of course, dominated the home video market for a decade. but lately, it has had trouble competing with netflix and red box. when we come back this morning, word object when we can expect former illinois governor rod blagojevich to be retried on corruption charges. and tiger woods off to a good start at this week's pga event, just when he needed it most.

now, for a look at your morning road conditions. flooding on i-75, from tampa to sarasota and ft. myers. wet on i-95, from miami to the carolinas. and on 85 from atlanta to

montgomery. flooding on i-40, from flagstaff to albuquerque. and on i-15, around salt lake city. >> and if you're flying today, you can expect airport delays in phoenix, atlanta and miami. new york police continue to investigate the apparent hate crime stabbing of a cab driver. the suspect, 21-year-old michael enright, remains in jail. police say he was so drunk and incoherent when he was arrested, he was taken to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation. meanwhile, new york city's mayor is trying to downplay fears about any trend toward anti-muslim violence, particularly with so much heated debate over the proposed islamic center near ground zero. >> this should never have happened. hopefully, won't happen again. hopefully, people can understand that we can have a discourse. that's what the first amendment's all about. that's what america is all about. but violence is being disrespectful to each other is not part of why america was formed. >> this is the city of all

colors, races, all allreligion everyone will live her side-by-side, peacefully. >> the driver, ahmad sharif, said meeting with the mayor helped him feel more secure. he's welcoming support from city officials, as well as residents. the suspect of a series of stabbings across three states is being held without bond. he is charged with assault in a michigan case. as todd ang reports, prosecutors say they will file murder charges soon. >> why did you do it, sir? >> reporter: the suspect, in a multi-state stabbing pre, returned to the place where his attacks first began. in flint, michigan. >> we got the guy responsible for these crimes. he is now where he belongs. in jail. >> reporter: 33-year-old elias was arrested at the atlanta airport, where he was trying to board a plane bound for israel. he's accused of stabbing 18 men, 4 in virginia and ohio.

he assaulted 14 more victims in michigan. five of them died. he was extradited from georgia and arraigned in michigan. a single count of assault with attempt to commit murder. >> this is 1 of 14 incidents of murder and assault with intent to murder that occurred in this county and our city. >> reporter: police say they still don't have a motive for random attacks on mostly african-american men walking the streets. >> i've seen speculation in the last few weeks that anyone who would commit these crimes is sick. i believe he is not sick. he is evil. >> and he'll be given a complete physical exam, including the psychiatric evaluation. >> reporter: an evaluation that could shed light on a chilling ring of terror that began this spring. >> he has been a menace to our community. has left a lot of scars on this community. >> reporter: prosecutors say homicide charges will be filed soon.

todd ang, abc news. former illinois governor, rod blagojevich, will have to stand trial again on charges of corruption. a federal judge set the start of his retrial for the week of january 4th. blagojevich is accused of trying to sell barack obama's former senate seat. but prosecutors have dropped charges against his brother, robert, saying their case against him was weak. federal investigators say they have found positive samples of salmonella that link two iowa farms to that massive egg recall. tests show the bacteria was present in chicken feed, used by both farms. the concern now is whether other egg farms were using that same contaminated feed. so far, as many as 1,300 cases of salmonella poisoning are tied to those tainted eggs. time, now, for sports. we start with tiger woods in his first tournament since his divorce became final. he is on top of the leaderboard. >> he posted his lower score of the season yesterday. 6 under par. it was good enough for a share of the lead at an event being held in new jersey. this is the first time woods has

led any round of a pga tournament since last september. and the pressure is on today at the little league world series. the youngsters from hawaii staved off elimination last night with a win over the team from georgia. >> the same two sides go at it again this afternoon. the winner plays texas tomorrow for the u.s. title. and the winner of that game will play either japan or taiwan for the championship. details on professional sports, now, from espn news. >> good morning. i'm steve weissman with your espn news update. history happening in the nation's capital all the time. on thursday, it centers around baseball, and that guy, albert pujols, coming in the game 1 shy of 400 for his career. there it goes. the 47th player in major league history to hit 400 homers. and albert pujols becomes the third-young et to do it. however, it was not enough for the cardinals, as the nationals went on to win 11-10, in 13 innings. preseason nfl football. tom brady and the patriots, taking on the rams.

and that means number one overall pick, sam bradford. making his first start for st. louis. second quarter, second and goal. buzz michael home. and bradford would throw two touchdowns to the rookie from illinois. finished with 189 yards. third quarter, it's brady. hooking up with randy moss. 65 yards to the house. brady finished with 273 yards and 3 touchdowns. rams win it, 36-35. how about peyton manning and the colts, taking on the green bay packers at lambeau field. manning to reggie wayne. peyton finished with 214 yards and 2 touchdowns. aaron rogers did him one better. with a pocket collapsing. aaron finds jermichael finley. rogers went for three touchdowns and 195. the packers win 59-24. most points for a team in the preseason, any team since the merger. that's your espn news

update. i'm steve weissman. back to you in new york. >> thanks, steve. it took the pig to bring home the bacon in kentucky this year. >> a ham sold for a record $1.6 million at an annual auction at the kentucky state fair. the porker weighed about 16 pounds. that amounts to about, $100,000 per pound. >> it was for a good cause. the money will go to local charities, chosen by the winning bidders. up next, the stories we'll be following today, including an update about a missing youngster from oregon. and the miners in chile, keeping their spirits up, while living half a mile down. ????????

and now, a look ahead to the stories we'll be watching on this friday. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke, addresses the nation's economic outlook at a conference in wyoming. he's expected to talk about concerns over a possible double-dip recession and what the fed can do about it. new video of the trapped chilean miners shows them in surprisingly good spirits. but the company that owns the mine says they cannot pay the salaries and will likely go

bankrupt. danielle is now a major cat 4 hurricane, headed toward bermuda with 120-mile-per-hour winds. tropical storm earl is expected to become a hurricane by tomorrow. there's a chance it could hit the east coast. we may learn more about missing 7-year-old kyron horman when his parents speak in portland, oregon. they are planning a fund-raiser and events marking their son's birthday. an american teacher imprisoned in north korea since january is flying back to his boston home this morning a free man. former president jimmy carter negotiated a pardon for aijalon gomes, who was convicted of entering north korea illegally. and thousands of tea party activists begin arriving in washington, d.c. for a convention. the event will feature sarah palin and other conservative political and cultural figures. and coming up later on "good morning america" today, the road to recovery. five years after hurricane katrina. >> our robin roberts goes back to her gulf coast hometown to

check on where the rebuilding efforts now stand. that's on "gma" after your local news. more news after this. [ female announcer ] stay once... stay twice... earn a free night! two separate stays at comfort inn or any of these choice hotels can earn you a free night -- only when you book at choicehotels.com.

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and finally this morning, a long road to recovery. it's been five years since hurricane katrina. that storm that dealt a catastrophic and deadly blow to

the gulf coast. >> as new orleans and the rest of the region struggles to bounce back, scars still run deep. here's a look at some images from our abc news facebook special report, "katrina, then and now." ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ >> hard to believe it's been five years. but there has ble derable progress, there really has. which is encouraging to see. >> beautiful images.