farmers could apply for a state license to farm poppies. the senate council and international security and development think-tank have called for a poppy for medicine program, which would allow farming communities to produce morphine locally to provide rural communities with economic opportunities. >> in the earnings of farmers would receive from morphine would have stripped that of heroin. again, let's remember who is making the money out of this drug. it is isn't the ordinary farmers. the guys who make the money are those at the top end of the chain, the officials and the drug's barons, who are getting rich, you know, beyond their world extremes from this. so this is, again, creates a sustainable revenue year and year out for the farming communities which at the moment doesn't exist. >> reporter: previous attempts to tackle illegal opium farming have failed. too many afghan farmers depend on poppy cultivation for their livelihoods and are not convinced the options are viable. >> translator: were i were to grow wheat instead i have a harve

poppy growing is one othe main soces of income for the taliban. and thunited states, turally, is anxious to stop it. but now another idea h emerged, to have theovernment subsidize poppgrowing and use it to produce painedication that the world desperaly eds. it's our in-depth otlight report, and it comes tight from gmany tonight and deutsche welle. >> reporter: this opium field in afghanistan is bei distributed solely for the benefithe cameras. tural fact, opium. opium provides the raw material forhoirn. in recent years, illegal opum farming has beenn the rise. the illal drug business i the taliban's main soce of income and it hel finance its war machine. >> we havehe opportunity -- >> reporter: t u.s. is epping up the presre on its military alflies afghanistan to take actn against illegal opium fming but many fear this will incree the likelihood of attacks against international truce. however, there i a solution to e problem. afghanistan's large-scale poppy cultivation could put to an alternative a legal use. to produce medicines, such a morphine.

>> hi, poppy.'ve talked to job seekers across the country that have found jobs by moving, switching careers, networking through facebook and tweeting. one example, he's a recent college grad and like a lot of people in his situation, he was worried about finding a job. he picked up some odd jobs to make ends meet and then he took his time, crafting a resume and cover letter for each job application. when he did get an interview, he was hired on the spot. >> i know you profiled someone else who is a bit older, retirement age, really. >> that's right. boyd. he had to come out of retirement like a lot of other people to find a job in this economy. so he had to get up to speed with his computer skills. he used a lot of tools on-line. and he networked with his air force buddies and one lead led to a job. >> now, jes, joining us now from d.c. is someone that you profiled. it's juan velazquez. talk to us about your experience. you used skillful networking in a very, very effective way to find a good-payin

there is a small amount of huge farm, landowners who are making a lot of money off of the poppy trade but the vast majority of the people who work in the poppy trade on the ground in afghanistan are not only barely eking out a living, they're actually victimized -- the traffickers have implemented this predatory loan structure which means the most people who plant poppy can sell their popped in the fall, they get paid before they plant it but the way the interest structure works, they owe more by the time the spring harvest comes around and you hear these appalling stories of farmers having to sell their daughters to traffickers who work with the human trafficing rates, to the west, at this understanding in the west that people are getting rich off of the poppy trade, there is a very small amount of people who are getting a lot of money, they're very powerful but it is not -- there is an attitude that i hear a lot from u.s. officials that afghan farmers in the south are just breeding, they just want the money and did -- party sales are ten times more than other things they grow. in my

i'm poppy harlow in today for gerri willis. congress may be in recess, but the health care debate rages on. >>> then, the credit card holders' bill of rights. find out what rules go into effect this thursday, plus how to rent anything from electronics to sporting equipment, to tools and appliances. we'll tell you when not to buy. "your bottom line" starts right now. >>> well, august is make-or-break month for health care in america. town halls are causing public uproar, confusion running rampant. our chief business correspondent ali velshi touring the country on -- what else? the cnn express. joining us now from the missouri state fair. talk about getting the pulse of america, ali, what are you hearing? >> reporter: yeah. this is a fantastic place to do that. we've been driving from atlanta to des moines, and we passed through georgia, kentucky, tennessee, illinois, missouri heading into kansas and iowa, and we're talking to people usually in places smaller than would normally get media coverage about health care. in the beginn

poppy harlow is in new york with us. unemployment rates are on track to keep climbing, so this really doesn't feel like a recovery for a lot of people, probably for most people. >> not at all done. the unemployment tells less than half the story. more than 6.5 million jobs lost in this recession alone. when you look at the job losses last month alone, it's near 500,000. so you're looking at tough numbers. the scarier part, don, is the story featured on the front page of the "new york times" today, and it is the fact that come september and come the gnaw, about 1.5 million americans will lose their unemployment benefits and very likely won't have a job anymore. that's the harsh reality. you know, don, in the stimulus package, we got an extension of those benefits. in some states you get 79 week. that's not enough. a lot of people go a year, year and a half without finding work, and that's a major problem. there's a lot of calls to congress, especially now saying, what are you going to do? are you going to extend those une

. >> you mentioned the gdp report, the president spoke about it on friday, let's listen to him, poppy, and then we'll talk. >> okay. >> today's gdp is an important sign that the economy is headed in the right direction, and that business investments, which had been plummeting in the last several months, is showing signs of stabilizing. >> so let's talk about unemployment, as you said, because if you're still jobless, right, if you still don't have a job, then you probably don't feel like the economy is rebounding because you don't have any money coming in. >> how can you, right? we have 6.5 million jobs lost in this recession alone from december, 2007, until now, many more underemployed people, people not making enough money and what you see on the screen, the june jobs report, unemployment rate ticked up to 9.5%, a lot say it will top 10% or 11% in the not too distant future and you have about 500,000 people that lost their job in that one month alone so let's wait for the july numbers, let's see what happens but don, what about the unemployment checks people are living on right now,

let's go to poppy harlow watching this story for us. poppy, cash for clunkers. what are you learning? >> reporter: coming to an end. official word from the u.s. transportation secretary ray lahood saying it will end monday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern. of course, this was a wildly popular vehicle trade-in program, started with a billion dollars in funding, got $2 billion additionally from the u.s. government. secretary lahood saying, quote, this program has been a lifeline to the automobile industry, jump-starting a major sector of the economy, putting people back to work. the tally so far on the number of vehicles sold as a result 457,000 at u.s. does he recalls across the country. he said about 1.9 billion in rebates so far for those trade-ins. of course, these offered rebates for people to trade in their gas guzzlers for more fuel-efficient vehicle, up to $4,500 in rebates. this will end monday night, urging all automakers to turn in those rebate forms complete by monday night at 8:00 p.m. there's been a lot of controversy over a lot of does he recalls saying t

and in this case, the marines dumped diesel on to the mountain of poppy seeds that they gathered, seted. then the next day, they called in air strikes, they dropped thousand pound bombs on that pile of poppy seeds. they rafed it with machine gunfire from helicopters and still had to do another round of air strikes that night, just trying to send a message to the narco traffickers in that area that that kind of activity is not going to be tolerated for much longer. this area, helmand province where ann and i were both imbedded is the opium capital of the world, arguably. 90% plus of the world's opiates come from afghanistan and a big chunk of that heroin and opium comes from helmand province where the marines are operating right now. the big question, if you take away that source of economic livelihood from those farmers, what are they going to do then to feed their kids? are they just going to turn into insurgents if you take away their cash crop. >> show that video ann shared with us of the one u.s. marine being baptized on the river. watch this moment here. >> on your profession in

we are not at war with the poppy farmers. general petraeus and i -- the combination of phasing out poppy crop eradication, upgrading agriculture, and upgrading interdiction, the military is taking down drug dealers, setting off bonfires with opium. this is the most successful thing we have done so far. we have increasing evidence that it is really disrupting the taliban internally. we are very pleased at the direction that is going. from the aid, we have to people. -- two people. >> good morning. picking up on what otto has discussed, we are changing the way we do business in providing development in both countries. we are focusing on capacity building and moving toward increased country leasing. [unintelligible] we want to improve governance, and justice, and rule of law. under the direction of the ambassadors in afghanistan, we are increasing the number of civilian staff. that is allowing us to move away from the large contracts and moving more toward local planters and improved accountability for the way we do our program.

agents landed in taliban-controlled poppy fields in the helmand province. what followed was a three-day pitched battle, to cut off the drug lord that provided money and fighters to the taliban. he and 60 of his men were killed. until recently, the u.s. military and the cia had ignored and sometimes worked with such wide-open, flourishing heroin business that help the taliban. >> you've got to try to shut off the fuel. it's all really based on drug money. we've shut off all of the other primary funds. >> reporter: now, any drug trafficker tied to the taliban is in the crosshairs of the u.s. military. the report by the senate foreign relations committee says the military does not authorize targeted assassinations away from the battlefield. but there are no other restrictions. and while most of the country considered part of the battlefield, especially in the poppy growing areas, the u.s. military has killed or captured several on the hit list. the senate report also found massive corruption in all levels of government. the operation in may, soldiers discovere

with most of the country considered part of the battlefield especially in poppy growing areas, the u.s. military killed or captured several on the hit list. >> what we realized clearly, we weren't going to get out of afghanistan until our military became more actively and more aggressively engaged. >> reporter: the senate report also found massive corruption in all levels of government and the operation in may. soldiers discovered and destroyed tons of opium they say beare long to the drug lord they killed. he was described as a former police chief with close ties to the faly of the afghan president karzai. u.s. officials have long considered president karzai's proper to be corrupt, something he denied but the senate report found there was no evidence that could be used in court against gathered by intelligence ce agencies was too sensitive to be made public because it would expose secret sources and methods. charlie. >>> this was a tragically violent day in iraq as terrorist bombers took advantage of the u.s. military pullback from iraqi cities. the worst attack was in a shiite commit

what have you got for us, poppy? >> worse than expected number when we look at the unemployment claims this week and what you need to know in every state you're eligible for those 26 weeks but then it changes, rick, when you look at the extension. it changes from about say 79 weeks in michigan where you have the highest unemployment in the country to 46 weeks in the state of utah. two extensions all depend on where you live. that's what you need to know. getting the final extension can be really tricky. that's what we found out. we talked to folks at the national employment law and they said the rules are crazy and they estimate that only half of the people that should get the unemployment benefits are actually receiving them. that's a big problem in this recession. one example, every week you've got to prove that you looked for work in three different places to qualify. how do you do that? you can do that online, you can do that over the phone, but if you have a claim that is a little different and needs some explai

poppy harlow is in new york. first though we want to go to cnn's morgan neil live in tokyo to tell us what this is all about. we want to warn you, there's a long delay. >> hi, don. that's right, well, the news just in this morning, japan has pulled out of recession in the second quarter of the year. japan's gdp grew by 0.9%, in annualized terms that comes to 3.7% overall so. that puts japan along with france and germany as the first g-7 countries to pull out of recession. now, what has led to this? essentially it's been export growth all the way, as it so often has been through japan's history. when the economy grows, it's because of better news abroad, greater consumption abroad. in terms of the specific report, we actually saw domestic demand shrink by 0.7% in the second quarter while trade grew by 1.6% over those three months. thus, adding up to this figure here. again, primarily export-led growth. many governments abroad have been putting in stimulus packages just like japan has. that's led to growth in purch

poppy harlow is in new york. first though we want to go to cnn's morgan neil live in tokyo to tell us what this is all about. we want to warn you, there's a long delay. >> hi, don. that's right, well, the news just in this morning, japan has pulled out of recession in the second quarter of the year. japan's gdp grew by 0.9%, in annualized terms that comes to 3.7% overall. that puts japan along with france and germany as the first g-7 countries to pull out of recession. now, what has led to this? essentially it's been export growth all the way, as it so often has been through japan's history. when the economy grows, it's because of better news abroad, greater consumption abroad. in terms of the specific report, we actually saw domestic demand shrink by 0.7% in the second quarter while trade grew by 1.6% over those three months. thus, adding up to this figure here. again, primarily export-led growth. many governments abroad have been putting in stimulus packages just like japan has. that's led to growth in purchase

poppy, what do you have?now searching for the pack of wild dogs that killed a couple in georgia friday. they rounded up some of the dogs last friday and now four more. it appears the woman was fatally attacked during an evening walk during her lexington, georgia, home and then her husband was apparently mauled to death when he went out to look for her. >>> meantime, a man in lake elsinore, california, not quite the surprise when he was relaxing on his front porch. an 11-foot snake slithered into his front yard on sunday night. he called animal control, of course to pick up the 50-pound burmese python. the first officer arrived and then he called for backup. they wrangled the snake into a truck and took to a shelter. >>> and protesting for the right to smoke indoors? about 1,000 people rallied in a park in anchor, turkey, against the country's month-old ban in smoking in bars, restaurants and cafes. many were owners and managers of the cafes and say the ban has seriously hurt their business. they want the gove

heroin poppies are everywhere.ity, you cannot eradicate poppies without providing something else for these people to live on. it is the taliban who is telling them to grow the poppies. martha: it is a huge factor in all of this. 30,000 more u.s. troops would be needed to accomplish the goal in this case? do you think that president obama will ask for 30,000 more american troops? >> general mccree stichristal ak for more. we have 18 months to make progress in afghanistan. after this election on the 20th of august, no matter who wins, there is going to be a request formally made by the afghan government. at that point, we have to insist that they recruit and train one under dozen more afghan security forces, they start paving the road to grow their economy, connect their people. that is where agricultural products -- trace: you made a good point. we know that the afghan economy is in shambles. we know that hamid karzai's power outside of kabul is nonexistent. we know that this strategy of protecting the villages and

cnnmoney.com's poppy harlow has our "breakdown" from new york. hi, poppy.ould it actually be? >> i think hangover is a great way to put it. we're looking at a projected steep drop-off in u.s. auto sales. right away a dealer in portland, oregon, telling us, and i'll quote him, i think you'll be able to shoot a scan none through here, talking about his dealership and not hurt anybody. edmund's.com, the experts there saying they think sales will fall 40% immediately now that cash for clunkers will wrap up, down to where they were in may. take a look at this chart and you'll see what we're talking about. sales were below the 10 million mark, 9.9 million. and thanks to the cash for clunkers program, in july the rate soared to more than 11 million. first time all year it crossed the 10 million mark. so, a big, big boost for the u.s. automakers. but the party can't last forever, tony, and it's over. >> it's over. aren't some of these dealers essentially wiped out of inventory? >> it's a great question. they are. we visited bay ridge toyota in brookl brooklyn, not

poppy harlow has some comments about this. >> reporter: it was incredibly popular.much all of the money has run out. the initial money exhausted during the first week and the senate could vote today to add $2 billion to that program. that is after the house approved that. very quickly, the fuel efficient and the senate outcome is really unclear because there are oppositions on both sides. some gops bailing out and some democrats don't feel that the fuel economy standards are lie enough. there is a lot of questions about whether they will get it. >> let's talk about the program that hasn't gotten much attention. >> it's very interesting. we visited one dealership on friday. we went to a dealership in new york and they are killing the engine on a 1996 plymouth voi injury. that's water mixed and liquid glass. and then they take them over to the scrap yard, the doors, the hood, and they crushed them with that huge machine. you know what? it's interesting because there's some uncertainty among dealers about the financing aspect because previously the rules had required t

poppy, what are you working on? >> reporter: suzanne, nuri al maliki said the security arrangement in his country needs to be re-evaluated, this following six bomb attacks in baghdad today alone. at least 95 people were killed and more than 560 others were wounded. two bombings targeted government guildings including the ministries of foreign affairs and finance. an iraqi army official says two suspects in custody are believed to be senior leaders of al qaeda in iraq. >>> also making headlines, hurricane bill is now a powerful category 4 storm with winds topping 135 miles an hour. it is expected to pass north of the leeward islands in the next 24 hours. the storm could intensify as it moves north. forecasters say hurricane bill could produce dangerous rip tides and high surf on the eastern coast this weekend. the new hurricane advisory is due out soon, and:'s meteorologist and severe weather expert chad myers will have all the details on that in the next hour of "the situation room." >>> and an 11-year-old british b

when we spoke to those poppy farmers, they told us this is the kind of help that they need.hey need this civilian effort. they told me to tell a message to the world don't bring us guns and bombs, bring us this type of help and general stanley mcchrystal has stated time and time again, particularly this summer, that with this increase of troops, they will be bringing that civilian effort and they will be bringing advisors within these troops to help the afghan people. kyra? >> thanks so much. >>> straight ahead, mother nature wreaks havoc across asia. if you thought hurricanes were bad, we will look at where not one, but two typhoons are creating some challenging and life-threatening situations today. >>> also, live pictures once again from wsvn, our affiliate in miami. hundreds of beach goers coming out to try and reunite this baby whale with its mom. earlier today, or just a little while ago, rather, we saw the mom up on the shore there. she had gotten stranded and couldn't actually get back into the water, and then we were able to see through our affiliate, wsvn, the chop

poppy harlow joining us now from new york., this guy is very, very committed to doing what he can to help out detroit. >> it's true, heidi. we went there, as you can see, we spent a day with him and setting up for his big headline concert. he talked to me about politics and the corruption in this city and he said, listen, i'm barack obama's health care plan but don't we need to focus on the kids that don't have access to healthy food? isn't that an issue first and foremo foremost? you don't expect that from someone like kid rock. all the things that he's doing for this city. he didn't talk about it pub lackly and didn't want to do it at first. it took a lot of convincing. he's relatively soft spoken and on that facade of a rock star and i got to tell you, he says at the end detroit needs a name, so, i spoke with his father who is an auto dealer at the concert and he said in many ways i think kid rock is detroit's angel. >> concerts were they free or donating the money to the auto industry or do we know about that? >> part of t

hello, poppy. you know, i've got to ask you, my first instinct to ask you is this the light at the end of the tunnel? >> but i don't care you can see light this far. >> it's sort of a case we will take what we can get on friday. much better than expected number. the unemployment rate which most thought would go up in july went down .1% in the month of june. and the headline numbers are strong. you've got the health care sector adding 20,000 jobs, of course, manufacturing and retailers still shedding jobs. but when you take a look at most groups, the picture's improving. look at these numbers when you look by gender, adult men andim. adult men and women, the unemployment rate is dropping slightly for both. look at by race. by race here. for white people down a little bit. hispanics, a different story the unemployment rate rising and for african-americans unemployment down. for hispanics and blacks higher unemployment, much higher than the national average. not all good news here, don. the unemployme

good to see you, poppy. >> good to see you, tony. last night. we're talking about colonial bank, it's a southern bank, a regional bank. dow jones reporting that bb&t, another regional bank in the south, will buy colonial bank. the fdic, we called them, and they won't confirm it. and bb&t not commenting on it either. very similar to colonial, a lot of business in the mortgage sector. colonial bank which by the way has 355 branches across the south is on the brink of collapse. the judge froze assets in a bank of america dispute with about $1 billion in assets of mortgage assets. its mortgage lending and accounting practices, tony, also right now under federal criminal investigation for the past few weeks. it's also one of two banks that was raided earlier this month by federal agents. a lot of questions about the health of this bank and what will happen to it. >> well, poppy, if colonial collapses, how big of a bank failure are we talking about here? >> you're very good on say "if" because it has not been taken over yet. if it were to

we'll turn to cnnmoney.com's poppy harlow who has a breakdown for us from new york.n. where are they going? >> this isn't just an economic stimulus plan of sorts. it's lgs also a plan to get the worst polluting cars off the road. the dealers are forced to get rid of the gas guzzlers. they have to destroy the engine. we visited a nissan dealer. they killed this 1996 plymouth vil agoer. you rev up the car and the solution hardens and in seven minutes, you can never drive the car again. that's the goal. the voyager you saw is the first one that that service manager at the dealership ever killed. take a listen to what he said. >> as a service manager you never want to junk the old cars, as the sales end of it goes, it will be a huge success and can't wait to do another 100 of them. >> can't wait because they get to trade them in and buy new cars and heptz the dealership. incredibly popular program. about $1 billion in funding as we know now about exhausted in a week of the program. >> you talk about the liquid glass you call it they pour into the engine. then what? >> th

poppy harlow joining us now from new york. poppy, hi. tell me what about rachel and anthony getting temporary jobs? >> it's a great question. that's what i asked them as well, but they get about $1,700 a month through their unemployment checks, christi, and that's more than they would make at most entry level jobs. they told us they couldn't, for example, rachel couldn't afford he rent if she was making minimum wage. he's not really incented to get a part-time job. that's an issue a lot of people take with the current unemployment system, christi. >> poppy, thank you so much. we appreciate it. >> you're welcome. >>> a malaysian model and mother was spared six lashes of the cane, at least for the time being. her crime, drinking beer in public. that's violation of the country's strict sharia law which mans muslims from consumer alcohol. her caning in malaysia is postponed until the end of the islamic holy month of ramadan. she pled guilty in a religious court and she'd be the first woman caned for violating mal malays malaysia's religious

. >> poppy seeds. doesn't look like my muffins back home. >> yeah, you smell it? >> all right. that's hash. >> money from the drug trade is believed to generate $125 million a year. >> oh, yeah. all this right here. oh, here's the sifters. >> and from the taliban and the growing insurgencies in pakistan and afghanistan and possibly al qaeda, tarentino leads his men on four deployments. their mission is to collect evidence and build legal cases against some of the most corrupt drug dealers. >> all right. >> often, targeting smaller dealers to build larger cases. >> handcuffs -- that's what i need. i need to talk to the women. you're under arrest. illegal possession of narcotics. >> this arrested man just told his distraught wife th he is only being taken away for questioning. but afghan laws are strict and he's likely going to jail for the next 15 years. >> it's never just about seizing and destroying the drugs. it is really more about taking down and dismantling the organizations. this operation will start to generate intelligence and information that will assist for follow-on

we'll get our poppy harlow to break it down. when you think about all you can do in an all-wheel-drive subaru... you'll find there is a lot to love. that's why we created the subaru a lot to love event. where you can get a great deal on any new 2009 subaru. and see theee really is a lot to love. hurry in and lease a 2009 impreza for $179 ppr month. now through august 31st. >>> once again waiting for president obama to appear at the news conference in gaud la ra, mexico. there you see, looks like president calderon has passed the torch over to stephen harper. so the president looks like will be the last to speak. but we are following this for you and when the president does make his remarks we'll take you there to guadalajara live. >>> the pace of job loss is slowing but the next bubble in the recession could be about to burst. unemployment benefits are running out for hundreds of thousands of americans. cnn money.com's poppy harlow has the breakdown from new york. this one could be tough. >> you know, we folked so much on the un

for instance, it's "i googled poppy on the internet."nternets to find poppy with the google." one more piece of advice, senator baucus, it's pronounced public option. it gets easier the more times you say it. >> excellent work, kent. thank you. >> thank you. >>> thank you for watching. >> time to close the deal. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. leading off tonight, the closer. barack obama knows how to win. he got into columbia he went to harvard law, made president of the law review, within a seat in the u.s. senate, won the democratic nomination for president and overtook john mccain to win the job. he closes well. and now it's time to start the kick for health care reform. the make or break test of his first year presidency. it's going to take a strong close for him to win, to claim the kind of break-through that will make the history books, the way i see it, he's got three ways to go at this point. one, they can challenge the senate rules and ram through a bill with just 50 votes with the help of

the taliban makes about $400 million a year from the sale of poppy which becomes opium which is thent of this country. and it is intrinsically linked to the militant activity. so when the u.s. military targets taliban leaders and drug dealers, they're often targeting the same people. >> all right. richard, thank you. >> now a check of the big economic stories we're tracking. first, general motors. ebay announced more than 200 california gm dealers of list cars on the online auction site. consumers will be able to bid on the cars on ebay starting tuesday. >>> gas prices on the rise. current national average for a gallon of regular stands at $2.65. a week ago, a gallon of regular was 10 cents cheaper. the dow jones industrial average down 67 points. we'll keep our eye on that throughout the day. let's get to cnbc's matt nest yoe. what is moving the markets? >> you know, i like that poor guy in wisconsin you were talking about earlier. these markets by at least one measure have come unglued, if you will. and that is because this is, believe it or not, only a .7% decline, the single wors

one official referred to as a state sere reported to the board opm has been recently made from white poppy cultivated for the purpose in vermont, new hampshire and connecticut the annual production estimated by hundreds of pounds and this is generally than a sword and the communities where it is made. it has also been brought from florida and louisiana while comparatively large quantities are regularly sent east from california and arizona where its cultivation is becoming important branch of industry. 10 acres of poppies set to yield. although this description of a thriving domestic opium crop might sound surprising today the board's characterization certainly doesn't. quote of the opium habit is especially common among the manufacturing glasses it asserts for to act to live regardless of the laws. it puts some of the blame for such lower class use on doctors who are, quote no small responsible for the welfare of their patients, on quote and shouldn't be allowed to get away with the in judicious often unnecessary prescription of opium. america's better have made up, quote, so large a prop

poppy harlow has our breakdown now on this.ppy. >> it's interesting, heidi, because the focus has gone away so much from how many people are unemployed to the folks that unemployed and when will their benefits run out? that will be 1.5 million by the end of the year. that's according to the national law project. those are carry numbers. the benefits, you should know how many you have in your state because it varies state by state. take a look at this 50.2%, up to 79 weeks of unemployment benefits there, that is good news, welcome news, news that they need. when you look at alabama, they are in the middle. you have 10.1% unemployment. 5.7%, national average and 46 weeks of benefits and heidi, there is just some pressure among people on their lawmakers who passed another extension on top of what was on the stimulus package to extend those benefits to even further yobd what they've been extended. some people say because the case of is falling a bit. >> tens and thousands of people have already used up their benefits. how are they

the poppies are still being grown. can president karzai stop what he was unable to stop before? we don't know. >> reporter: and before we do know, afghanistan will have to name its next president. preliminary results are expected by the end of the week. international donors are helping to pay for afghanistan's $223 million election undertaking, but right now the u.s. envoy in afghanistan says that it is top in the midst of the war to stage an actual election but that he is confident democracy will prevail. michelle? >> susan roberts in washington. susan, thanks. >>> it's reported this morning the cia hired a secret and possibly illegal squad of private contractors to help find and assassinate al qaeda leaders. "the new york times" reports that five years ago the cia hired operators from blackwater usa, the private security contractor, for the still classified program. one source says it was unsuccessful and that the contracts were cancelled. >>> scotland will announce today its decision on releasing the only man ever convicted in the bombing of pan am flight 103. the jet blew up

we are not at war with the poppy farmers.neral petraeus and i -- the combination of phasing out poppy crop eradication, upgrading agriculture, and upgrading interdiction, the military is taking down drug dealers, setting off bonfires with opium. this is the most successful thing we have done so far. we have increasing evidence that it is really disrupting the taliban internally. we are very pleased at the direction that is going. from the aid, we have to people. -- two people. >> good morning. picking up on what otto has discussed, we are changing the way we do business in providing development in both countries. we are focusing on capacity building and moving toward increased country leasing. [unintelligible] we want to improve governance, and justice, and rule of law. under the direction of the ambassadors in afghanistan, we are increasing the number of civilian staff. that is allowing us to move away from the large contracts and moving more toward local planters and improved accountability for the way we do our program. ou

and with most of the country considered part of the battlefield, especially in the poppy growing areas military has already killed or captured several on the hit list. >> what we realized clearly was was that we weren't going to get out of afghanistan until our military became more actively and more aggressively engaged. >> reporter: the senate report also found massive corruption in all levels of government. in the operation in may, soldiers discovered and destroyed tons of opium they say belonged to the drug lord they killed. he was described as a former police chief with close ties to the family of the afghan president karzai. officials have considered karzai's brother to be corrupt but it's something he has strongly denied. brian ross, abc news, new york. >> on capitol hill, house democrats have backed down from an effort to force the pentagon to buy planes it did not want. democrats had within been criticized for adding $330 million to the air force budget for the passenger jets. the planes are often used to transport top government officials, including members of congress. >> tod

for instance, it's "i googled poppy on the internet."aucus, it's pronounced public option. it gets easier the more times you say it. >> excellent work, kent. thank you. >> thank you. >>> thank you for watching. "countdown" with keith olbermann starts right now. >>> which of these stories will you be talking about tomorrow? rahm emanuel lives. democrats seem set to go it alone on a health bill. finally, their go it alone view is being shaped by what they saw as republicans' purposely strident tone against health care legislation during this month's congressional recess. really? i hadn't noticed. >> why support a policy as obama has expressly supported this policy -- >> on what planet do you spend most of your time? >> back on this planet the president's official white house line remains. >> he can and will continue to work to try to get agreement on both sides of the aisle on this. >> just get the democrats to agree with it. the republicans can agree to run against it while everybody's insurance premiums are going down. "the daily beast"

most of the world's opium is produced from poppies grown there, and that drug trade finances taliban operations. today, 400 marines and 100 afghan troops ininvaded one of the largest towns in helmand to take it back. from afghanistan, here's chief foreign affairs correspondent, lara logan. >> reporter: u.s. marines stormed into the taliban-held down in southern helmand province. the first u.s. troops ever to set foot in this taliban stronghold. >> we're on the offense now so the defense is going to get out. >> get up, man, get up! >> reporter: the taliban had no intention of giving up this strategic base easily. intense fighting went on for eight hours. taliban gunmen firing back from hidden positions on rooftops and courtyards. their resistance was so strong, the marines say the militants must have known they were coming. >> exactly, right there, yeah. >> you'll see him. >> reporter: ramming their trucks through walls, marines broke into a suspected taliban compound, looking for weapons and drugs. 66 pounds of opium were seized. not surprising in this town. it is vital to the taliba

let's bring in poppy harlow, cnnmoney.com. poppy, recovery, recession, what's going on here?rom the reports. let's talk about weekly jobless claims. when you look at the number that came in 558,000, that was worse than economists were expecting. this is hard news to swallow because it comes just about a week or so after we got a july job reports that was better than expected, that showed us that unemployment was actually falling. the job picture shows us that things might not really be getting better. that is tough news for people to look at. however, on the flip side of that, some good news in the report that we got this morning from the government saying that those continuing unemployment claims are actually falling. that number still stands, wolf, at 6.2 million. that's a high number, wolf. that tells us the job picture is still very, very bleak in this country. >> how do the retail numbers factor in? >> it cuts to the heart of how consumers are feeling about the economy as a whole. few of us need all or most of the things we buy. people feel more confident in the economy,

poppy harlow has our break down from new york.ing this whole automobile industry. >> i know. you're talking about kids and their education and don't we all have a right to education, but the detroit public school system might make an unprecedented step and might file for bankruptcy protection and not the worst thing to happen to the school system like it wasn't the worst thing to happen to detroit and chrysler. a major issue is their deficit of $259 million. got a graduation rate there that is 58% in detroit proper versus 76% when you look at the state as a whole. you also have a host of corruption issues and the detroit school system. for all of those reasons, enrollment is shrinking in the public schools there. we spent a day in detroit with a very, very concerned parent. take a listen to what she told us. >> my daughter has never attended eany detroit public schools and it's because of this. as a concerned parent, my daughter would never go to a detroit public school as of now. where as i felt comfortable as a child going to sc

thanks, poppy. do you have any solutions for detroit?with a twit at twitter.com/kyracnn. >>> breaking news now on bill clinton's diplomatic trip to north korea. abc is reporting that the former president has met with the two american journalists that he is hoping to take back home. we haven't been able to confirm that yet. what we do know, clinton is shall di -- what the white house insists is a private mission with no overtures from president obama. laura ling and euna lee were arrested march 17th after crossing into north korea from china. they were working on a story on human trafficking. they were convicted in june of illegal entry and so-called hostile acts. in closed trial, they were centersed to hard labor. for a former u.s. president, bill clinton, is on pretty good terms with the state. let's get more insight from christian amanpour. why is he the best man for this move? >> reporter: clearly because of his high profile. it was obviously a high profile visit in order to try to secure the release of these two journalists. many hav

cnnmoney.com poppy harlow has the breakout.ve covered everything in detroit, the corruption in the detroit public schools, the fact it might have to file bankruptcy. you have been talking about all the foreclosures. now, all the major grocery stores gone? >> they are gone. it is an unbelievable thing that's happening. the big chains aren't making a lot of money in detroit, so they are pulling out. what are people going to do? you are talking about a city that is 140 square miles, huge. population has fallen from 2 million in the 1950s to 830,000. he have tons of abandon land. what do you do with it? more and more are talking about urban farming, these big community gardens where folks grow their own food. we spent time at this one, about two acres. they produce about 7,000 pounds of food a year. access to healthy, local food, that's a major issue in detroit. as i said, no major chain grocery stores there anymore. take a listen to just how dire the situation is. >> detroit has a huge public health issue in terms of healthy food

we are not at war with the poppy farmers. general petraeus and i -- the combination of phasing out poppy crop eradication, upgrading agriculture, and upgrading interdiction, the military is taking down drug dealers, setting off bonfires with opium. this is the most successful thing we have done so far. we have increasing evidence that it is really disrupting the taliban internally. we are very pleased at the direction that is going. from the aid, we have to people. -- two people. >> good morning. picking up on what otto has discussed, we are changing the way we do business in providing development in both countries. we are focusing on capacity building and moving toward increased country leasing. [unintelligible] we want to improve governance, and justice, and rule of law. under the direction of the ambassadors in afghanistan, we are increasing the number of civilian staff. that is allowing us to move away from the large contracts and moving more toward local planters and improved accountability for the way we do our program.