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Thirty U.S. Troops Killed in Crash; Leaders to Discuss Credit Downgrade; Credit Rating Dominates Sunday Talk; School for the Blind in Somalia; Polygamist Sect Leader Convicted; Prices Fall in Dubai, Jerusalem; Hunting for a Husband
Aired August 07, 2011 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOE JOHNS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and thanks for joining us. I'm Joe Johns, in for Fredricka Whitfield.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will discuss the credit downgrade during a conference call tonight with representatives of other G-7 nations. In the meantime, the financial world is waiting to see how Asian markets will react to the downgrade, announced after the end of trading on Friday. It's already Monday in eastern Asia and financial markets will open there in just a few hours.
There is already evidence the downgrade is making some investors very nervous. Middle Eastern markets were open today, and prices fell 3.7 percent in Dubai. The Israeli market had to halt trading for a time and it closed down more than 6 percent.
CNN's Kevin Flower is in Jerusalem.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN FLOWER, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF (via telephone): What analysts here are telling us, this is not only a market reaction to the credit downgrading of the United States, but also a response to broader losses posted last week and on Friday on global markets.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: In a related story, the White House gave Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner a vote of confidence today. Geithner has come under fire from critics who blame him for the U.S. credit downgrade. But Press Secretary Jay Carney says Geithner told President Obama he plans to stay on the job, and Carney says President Obama welcomes his decision to stay.
Let's check some other international stories. This is the latest video out of Syria, posted on YouTube. The video shows Syrian security forces on the street, heavy gunfire can be clearly be heard. This comes as the Arab League calls for Syria to stop the violence immediately.
And the U.S. ambassador to Syria says the Syrian government cannot be trusted to tell the truth.
Turning to London, where tensions are high after a night of rioting there. Rioters burned buses and police cars, looted shops, and set other vehicles and buildings on fire. The violence erupted last night following protests over the shooting death of a man involving police.
And the Abu Ghraib guard described as the ringleader in the physical abuse and sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners is a free man. Charles Graner, Jr. served six and a half years of his 10-year sentence at the Army disciplinary barracks in Kansas. He was released early for good behavior.
New details are a coming into CNN about yesterday's helicopter crash that killed 30 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
A little while ago, I talked to CNN's Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): The Navy SEALs were brought in to try and help another unit pinned down on the ground. They were already in the middle of a firefight. They needed help. They called for it. And the U.S. Navy SEALs came.
We now know that the unit that was pinned down were U.S. Army Rangers, members of the Army's 76th Ranger Regiment out of Ft. Benning, Georgia. They have been deployed in Afghanistan for some time, part of this country's Special Operations forces that are conducting these anti-terrorism raids across eastern Afghanistan.
They needed help. The SEALs came, and all indications continue to be we are told that that helicopter was brought down by enemy fire, Joe.
JOHNS: The more I'm hearing about this, just as an outsider and layperson, the more it sounds like this was a very atypical mission. Can you tell me if that's true as far as the size of the team goes, the way they were getting there, the type of helicopter. Was this a normal thing?
STARR: Well, to the extent that a quick reaction force. These teams that go in when other units need help are -- there is no particular way they do it. They take as many people as they feel they need, as many helicopters as they can. In this case, the original target for those Rangers on the ground was knowing Taliban leader that had been responsible, the U.S. says, for attacks against U.S. troops.
So, they were going into a very dangerous, volatile situation. And when they needed help, they called for it. It was a very significant group that went in to help. But that is what happens in this part of Afghanistan because they want to make sure they put down any firefight as quickly as possible. They want to go in with overwhelming force -- Joe.
JOHNS: Before I go on, do we know what happened to the Rangers they were going to try to rescue?
STARR: Yes. You know, so far, details on that part of this remain sketchy, to say the least. We are told the Rangers did not suffer -- start by saying they did not suffer fatalities. At this point, we don't know if there were wounded. We don't know if since then there have been any further developments with Rangers. We are checking on that, Joe.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: Among those killed in the helicopter crash, Nebraska National Guardsman Patrick Hamburger. The 30-year-old sergeant was deployed to Afghanistan just a week ago. Military officials with knowledge of the operation say Hamburger's mission was to deliver U.S. commandos targeting a Taliban commander.
His brother says he was always there putting others before himself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS HAMBURGER, BROTHER OF SGT. PATRICK HAMBEURGER (via telephone): Pat, you know, was always -- he was the guy that was always looking out for everyone around him. And I've got a twin brother, too. And he was always taking care of us and getting himself into bad situations to make sure that he had taken care of us.
And he just -- he was selfless. He didn't worry about him half as much as everyone else. And you could have been a complete stranger and if he could help you, he would have done that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: The sergeant's stepfather says Hamburger joined the Guard when he was 18 and planned to propose to the mother of his 2-year-old daughter when he got back to the U.S.
We're learning names of other troops as their families are notified.
Michael Strange -- seen here in this photo -- was 25 years old from Philadelphia, a Navy SEAL.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLES STRANGE, MICHAEL STRANGE'S FATHER: He was intense. He was funny. He had that dry humor, like Seinfeld.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Also killed in that crash was Navy SEAL, Aaron Carson Vaughn, 30 years old, a husband and father two.
CNN's Don Lemon spoke to Vaughn's grandmother in Tennessee.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GENEVA CARSON VAUGHN, AARON CARSON VAUGHN'S GRANDMOTHER (via telephone): It was Aaron's birthday. In June, he turned 30. And I told him to be careful, and he said, "Granny, don't worry about me." He said, "I'm not afraid because I know where I'm going if something happens to me." Aaron was a Christian, and he stood firm in his faith.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: And you said you know he is with the Lord now?
VAUGHN: He is with the Lord now. And I'll see him again some day. And that's -- that's what the family is standing on now is faith.
We know that God is in control. And we know that he took Aaron for a reason. We don't know what, but we know that he took Aaron for a reason, and the rest of them, too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Keeping you updated on the latest on the crash. Stay tuned to CNN and CNN.com.
Also following the weather, it's a disturbance that has been on weather maps for days and days. Tropical depression Emily now off the Florida coast. Jacqui Jeras is tracking it for us.
Jacqui, why don't they give these storms last names?
(LAUGHTER)
JOHNS: This is Emily. Emily who, you know?
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Just Emily. That's all you need to know.
JOHNS: Emily Storm?
JERAS: It's Emily who is having an identity crisis.
JOHNS: Clearly.
JERAS: Yes. So, you know, Emily was a tropical storm. It faded out and chewed out basically to nothing. And then Emily as it regenerated itself back into a tropical depression as of yesterday.
But take a look at the satellite picture. This thing is falling apart. We're getting a lot of wind sheers, strong winds on the northeast side of the storm. So we really think it's possible that Emily is going to go back to a remnant low, once again possibly even at the 5:00 advisory. So, we'll wait to see if that happens.
But notice all the showers and thunderstorms that are really starting to pop up over parts of south Florida. This is really heavy at times and a couple of these thunderstorms becoming severe. We've got heavy downpours just north of Miami -- kind of light in Miami itself, but be aware of that as you have your travel plans, or maybe you're trying to hit the beach throughout the day today as well.
Now, most of the severe weather a little more organized a across parts of the Midwest. We've got severe thunderstorm watches in effect, including you in Kansas City, and over here in Indianapolis, over towards just the west of Columbus. Damaging winds will be our temporary concerns here. And the Northeast not really expecting much in the way of severe weather today, but we will see a lot of lightning and heavy downpours.
And with all that wet weather and the cloud cover coming in, we've got some major delays at the airport. Ground stop at LaGuardia, as well as Newark. Boston, almost three hour delays for you. Over an hour in San Francisco. JFK, 50 minutes. And 30 minutes in San Diego.
And of course, that heat just unrelenting. A little bit of a break, though, across the Nidwest and the South later on this week -- Joe.
JOHNS: Good enough. Thanks, Jacqui.
JERAS: Sure.
JOHNS: Verizon workers from Massachusetts to D.C. have walked off the job. Their union contract expired at midnight. Workers are upset the company wants to cut health care benefits and their pensions.
A union official says the strike could impact your phone, your Internet, or TV service. But Verizon says services will not be affected.
A new jet that promises to revolutionize air travel will soon be airborne. Boeing 787 Dreamliner was unveiled yesterday, three years overdue, billions of dollars over budget, is the first commercial airliner made mostly of lightweight carbon composites and durable plastic, making it much more fuel efficient. Japan's All Nippon Airways is going to start flying the Dreamliners by the end of the year, we hear.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame welcomes seven new members. They were inducted during ceremonies in Canton, Ohio. Among them, Deion Sanders who paid tribute to his mom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEION SANDERS, PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE: When you told me what I would never be, I saw my mama pushing that cart. When you told them I was to small, I wasn't educated enough, I saw my mama.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Sanders, you may remember, played for five different NFL teams.
A tough return to golf for Tiger Woods. He is not anywhere near the leader board at the Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio. He finished in the middle of the pack in the 76-man field. It's Woods' first tournament in three months. He took time off for knee surgery.
In New York, the ultimate endurance test for athletes. The New York City triathlon kicked off this morning with more than 3,000 athletes swimming, biking, and running. Some of them were CNN iReporters. This year's winner: Ben Collins. Participants start off by swimming in the Hudson River, hmm, then biking along Manhattan's West Side Highway. They finish with a run through Central Park.
You don't hear this very often: a tornado in the Netherlands. We'll show you the video.
And later, two women take their search for love on the road. They're blogging about their adventures as they hunt for a husband.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: Checking international stories:
A dispute over who has control of a key town in Libya. The Libyan government says it had retaken control of Bir al-Ghanam after losing it briefly to rebel forces. But a rebel commander says the opposition still has control of the town. The capture is significant because little else stands between it and the capital of Tripoli.
Still no word on the verdict and sentence for three American hikers accuse of Iran of spying. The trial concluded last Sunday with a ruling expected within seven days.
This YouTube video was posted by a family in the Netherlands. Pure amazement as they watch an approaching tornado. A few homes and trees were damaged.
While the downing of a U.S. helicopter in Afghanistan is dominating the news, out of the war, there is another side to this conflict. There are Americans quietly working on the ground to make a difference.
CNN's Jill Dougherty introduces us to a farmer from California who is teaching Afghanistan farmers some new farming techniques.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Interrogation team, I'll be with you guys.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We're in Wardak Province, Eastern Afghanistan, with advisers working for the U.S. Agriculture Department.
Eighty percent of Afghans are farmers, so boosting the country's agricultural industry is crucial to the U.S. strategy here.
GARY SOISETH, U.S. AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT ADVISER: And I'm an orchard manager for my folks back home.
DOUGHERTY: Twenty-four-year-old Gary Soiseth. He's far from his almond farm in Turlock, California.
SOISETH: That's kinds of my real-life job, but for right now, I'm focused here.
DOUGHERTY: He's teaching old farmers new tricks.
SOISETH: The elders get a little rambunctious sometimes and say, hey, kid, what can you teach me? And you know what? You know, I know this stuff. And I say, you know, I agree. I defer.
One of the main solutions is to make sure your orchard floor is clean, keep your weeds down, and to also make sure all your fruit that is infected is removed.
DOUGHERTY (on camera): Did you have learn something today?
(voice-over): "Some new ideas on how to keep insects at bay," this man tells me.
SOISETH: A lot of times, you know, the father passed on to the son. Well, if this father was off fighting with the mujahedeen, or the father, you know, died in some war, that knowledge doesn't get passed down.
DOUGHERTY (on camera): Why would you pick up from sunny California and come to sunny Afghanistan?
SOISETH: I just kind of had to look at myself and say what do I really want to do? As an American and a farmer, where can I serve?
DOUGHERTY (voice-over): Gary's dream is to help Afghan farmers to move from living off their crops to selling them. In Kabul, Pakistan, maybe even India or Dubai. It could take a while, he says, so he's signing up for another year in Afghanistan.
Jill Dougherty, CNN, Wardak Province, Afghanistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: Helping college students succeed in this tough economy. Five steps that will put them on the road to financial success, coming up right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: Every week, we focus on ways to get started in the workforce, and even jump-start your career.
Here are some new numbers that give a snapshot of the economy.
First, the latest job report. The economy added 117,000 jobs last month. That's actually better than expected.
And the unemployment rate has fallen slightly to 9.1 percent. That's still high, granted, but overall it is welcome news, especially after a wild ride on Wall Street last week, plus everything else that has been going on.
In today's "Reclaim Your Career" segment, how you can help your college-bound children, or those already in college succeed in a sluggish economy. Felicia Joy is the author of "Hybrid Entrepreneurship: How the Middle Class can Beat the Slow Economy, Earn Extra Income, and Reclaim the American Dream."
Boy, that is an ambitious book.
(LAUGHTER)
FELICIA JOY, AUTHOR, "HYBRID ENTREPRENUERSHIP": Absolutely. I'm an ambitious person, Joe.
JOHNS: Yes. Well -- I mean, it's sort of a frightening time for college students. And I just want you to sort of run through, if you will, some of the ways that a parent can get their kid sort of, you know, in the pipeline towards success.
JOY: Right. Well, you know what, Joe? It's more than just a tough economy. It's a new economic reality. So, we've got to think differently and have different strategies for career and business success.
My first tip is to have parents encourage their college student to start a business while in college.
JOHNS: Now, that's really interesting. Start a business while in college. I mean, it's a great idea, but how are you going to give your kids the key to a company when you don't want to give them the keys to the car?
JOY: Well, the kind of companies I'm talking about starting cost less than $200 to start. So there is low risk. And that's precisely the reason to have them do it because if they decide to be an entrepreneur long-term, now they have a great foundation. Even if they don't, they get great experience that goes beyond the typical college work experience that can help them get a good job when they graduate.
JOHNS: All right, $200, OK? So I assume that's the basement. You can throw some more in there.
But one of the things you do talk about is helping them with a real estate portfolio.
JOY: Yes.
JOHNS: That's going to take more than 200 bucks.
JOY: Well, that is. But that's separate from starting the business. What I'm talking about is on average nationally. You're going to spend $6,000 to $10,000 a year for dormitory fees or apartment rent when your kid is in college. Instead of spending that there, find a local foreclosure or a house that's low in cost because the market is depressed, put that money as a down payment, and then your kid can rent out the vacant rooms to other college students. And when they graduate, they can hold that as an asset and keep renting it out or they can sell it a profit because they got it below market.
JOHNS: All right. Number three is very interesting. Don't give them the answers to life's questions.
JOY: That's right.
JOHNS: So, you're going to give them a company and get them started on a company and then not tell them how to run it?
(LAUGHTER)
JOY: No. They need to figure out how to run it on their own, as we saw with the recent gridlock in Congress. The ability to make thoughtful and expedient decisions is a valuable skill today. And if you're always telling your kids --
JOHNS: Yes, Capitol Hill is not having it, right?
JOY: Oh my goodness. If you're always telling your kids what to do because it's obvious to you, it's not helping them.
So, it's better to ask them questions and coach them through working out their own problems.
JOHNS: All right. And the other one that was interesting, help them make friends in different places and fast-growing economies. You're talking about other countries or other cities or what?
JOY: Other countries. That has to be a strategy now, more than for any other American graduating class students. Now is the time to do that because you want to broaden your options.
So the way to do that is go and study abroad there are many opportunities to do that at the same cost of tuition for staying on campus. So, it makes sense to do it.
JOHNS: So go global, huh?
JOY: Absolutely. China or South America definitely.
JOHNS: Got it. All right.
And then the other thing is it's better to start small? What do you mean by that? Start small -- don't shoot for the stars at first obviously?
JOY: Well, go work for a small business or a startup when you graduate, which is opposite from what I was told when I graduated. A lot of times people focus on working at an iconic brand like a Coca- Cola or a Verizon.
But go work for a small business or a startup. You know why? Because you're going to have a lot more responsibility. So, in just one or two years of work on the calendar, you'll get four to five years of cross-functional job experience that will help you get a leg up on the competition.
JOHNS: You know, this is really a lot to think about when you have a kid. No matter how young they are, before they get into college, you got to at least start thinking in these terms because it's a new world out there, isn't it?
JOY: It is a new world. And we have to play with new strategies.
JOHNS: Felicia, thanks so much for coming in, and really nice to meet you.
JOY: Thank you, likewise.
JOHNS: You bet.
Two women, one epic search and their recipe for finding Mr. Right. We'll take you on their journey and on what they think is their highway to a husband.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: A couple of women, single women, have a unique approach to finding a husband. They're traveling across the country -- get this -- blogging about their dating experiences, all in an effort to get hitched. But so far, both remain unattached.
Julia Yarbough and Sylvia Harapetian join me from Philly to talk about their dating experiences.
And full disclosure. I ran into you guys walking around at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention this weeks.
And actually, Silva, I've known you for a while. But I found it really interesting that you were doing this.
Given all this, you guys have been doing this for a year. And still no husband. I mean, is this disappointment, or has it just sort of turned into a business and it's going to be perpetual, more or less?
(LAUGHTER)
JULIA YARBOUGH, BLOGGER, HIGHWAY TO A HUSBAND: Well, I think, Joe, it started off with a concept that I thought if I don't have any date at home and I don't have any luck in my dating life, maybe if I open myself to new possibilities as I travel, I'll find the person that is my Mr. Right.
And what has happened is that you realize how much you change and grow from day to day, and that Mr. Right and Mrs. Right may change based on how you change.
So, no luck yet. There is no ring on the finger. But I believe I'm a better person in the process.
SILVA HARAPETIAN, BLOGGER, "HIGHWAY TO A HUSBAND": And the list changes. Everybody starts without a list of what you want. But what you really want may not be exactly what you really want.
And as you travel and you expose yourself to experiences that you would never have otherwise, because you're busy working and, you know, taking care of family in your day to day life, your expectations change.
JOHNS: Yes. Well, speaking of --
HARAPETIAN: And if you want changes, which is surprising.
JOHNS: Right.
Speaking of that -- one of the things that comes to my mind is you're traveling around the country, getting all this exposure. You're blogging about this. Have you guys sort of become high maintenance over the last year?
(LAUGHTER)
HARAPETIAN: The opposite.
YARBOUGH: The opposite. Can I just say that as we travel, when we're living out of one bag in the car, you really can't be high maintenance. But I think what's happened is we have changed and we continue to hear from our fans and followers about different advice, suggestion, tips in terms of dating, and what it takes as an individual to be in a good relationship.
And so, we just continually learn. I don't -- are we high maintenance? No. We're probably more low maintenance than ever before because we've simplified our lives in order to open ourselves the new possibilities.
JOHNS: Do you tell guys -- do you, excuse me, do you tell guys that you might actually end up on our blog? Because that it seems to me it would change the way a guy behaves.
HARAPETIAN: Yes, we do tell them. But if anyone has looked at our blog, we don't ever identify anyone.
And, you know, we -- this is not about, you know, male bashing. This is about our experiences of men and women and the breakdown of communication and what we understand each other and what we don't.
So, this is about the comedy and sometimes the tragedy in being single professionals in this world. And men are in the same boat as we are.
JOHNS: Now, Silva
YARBOUGH: Yes. I think what we tend to hear from men and women is that it's challenging out there. And, you know, they're trying to figure out why is that the case? We hear from women who say, "I'm a great individual. Why can't I get a date?" Men say, "I'm just looking for a good women, and where are they?"
So, obviously, we believe there's a disconnect. And we're trying to bridge that gap to start the conversation, to figure out why do we not understand one another.
JOHNS: Are you making money on this? I mean, how are you making money? Do you get money, you know, ads on your blog or how does this work? I know you're both journalists.
HARAPETIAN: You know, this really started out as a really authentic project as, you know, Julia wanting to travel the country and meet someone, because you, you know, see your life pass you by working so much and being so busy. And it kind of turned into something more interesting because the more we traveled, the more we talk to people, the more we realize everyone is in the same boat. It's just that our locations are different.
So, we now know we're on to something. So, we have started a conversation and people are talking about it, and you know, the more we talk about it, maybe we will understand each other a little better.
We do have some ads on our Web site. We're in the process of writing a book. So, it's going along.
YARBOUGH: Because as much as we force change on ourselves, you know, we -- the reality is we all have to live and survive. But if we can take what we have learned and share that with other singles for some insight to say, why is this happening to so many men and women -- then it feels like our challenges are validated. And then we can help not only ourselves, but other people in the process.
And if we can do that, then all of this is a huge success. You know, if people can say, you know what? I'm happier. I'm more fulfilled. I did something more with my life. And I was the one who created the change.
HARAPETIAN: Yes, and little money would help, too.
(LAUGHTER)
JOHNS: I heard that. Hey, thanks so much to both of you. "Highway to a Husband," on the road in Philadelphia right now. And we'll be looking to see where you turn up next.
HARAPETIAN: On Twitter and Facebook, too.
JOHNS: You got it.
YARBOUGH: Thank you.
JOHNS: Everyone is wondering how Wall Street will react to the U.S. credit downgrade. We may get a clue from the global markets. The latest update is coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: Checking top stories now, the Defense Department has begun notifying the families of those 30 U.S. troops killed when a transport helicopter went down in Afghanistan yesterday. One of them was navy SEAL Aaron Carson Vaughn, 30 years old, a husband, father of two.
CNN spoke to Vaughn's grandmother in Tennessee.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GENEVA CARSON VAUGHN, AARON CARSON VAUGHN'S GRANDMOTER (via telephone): I say pray for our military every day, hold them up to the Lord and support them in any way that you can. Pray for their families, because the - the wife and the children are the ones that - they really have to be brave because when their - when their husband goes away, they don't know if he's coming back or not, and this time Aaron didn't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Another top story, U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will participate in a conference call tonight with world financial leaders. He'll discuss Friday's U.S. credit downgrade with representatives of other G8 nations. Prices were down on some Middle Eastern exchanges today, and Asian trading begins shortly.
Let's bring in Alison Kosik. Alison, the Middle East markets were the first big test of world reaction and it doesn't sound like it went that great.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: No. There was a massive sell-off with the Mideast markets. For Israel, for one, the markets in Israel, in fact there was a 45-minute delay to the open so everybody can kind of collect their thoughts, not hit the panic button right away.
But you see there, markets in Israel fell more than six percent, in Dubai down more than three percent. Saudi Arabia was actually up one tenth of a percent, but that's actually after a drop of 5.5 percent in a previous session - John (sic)?
JOHNS: Now we're waiting for Asian markets. What - what do we expect to go on there? And do we think we're going to see a little bit more calming?
KOSIK: And you're right about that. Next, we go to the Asian markets, as you said. The Nikkei opens at 8:00 here, and Shanghai Composite opens after that, the Hang Seng after that.
And, you know, some traders that I've been talking to say, you know what? That's really going to be the real indicator of that reaction to the downgrade, because they actually say what you saw happen in the Mideast markets was actually a bit of reaction to that 512-point drop last week in the Dow. A lot of Mideast markets were closed, so this was actually their first session where they could react to that 512- point drop. You remember that, right, John?
And as far as - and as far as the U.S. markets go, you know, it's really anyone's guess at this point. You can't really know how they're going to react.
But there are a couple of things that we do know, that, you know what? U.S. markets, Wall Street, they've had the weekend to kind of process this information about the downgrade. Also, this didn't come as a huge surprise. It was expected. It's been talked about since April, when the S&P warned that this could happen. So this doesn't come as a huge surprise and, as you know, Wall Street doesn't like surprises, so this may not shock the markets as much. What you may see, John, is maybe a sell-off at the open, and then you'll see markets stabilize, and then move on to other issues that are affecting the economy. And, you know, not to say that we're discounting the downgrade, but Wall Street really probably is expected to move on after the first session - John.
JOHNS: So other countries have been downgraded in the past. What have we been able to learn from previous experience?
KOSIK: That's right. I mean, when - when you look at other countries that were downgraded, let's say Canada, you know, their stock markets didn't suffer at all. I mean, Canada was downgraded in 1993. Its stock markets rose 15 percent. Now, bond yields did rise, but by less than one percentage point.
Japan was downgraded in 1998, and a year after that Tokyo stock market rose 25 percent. And - and, you know, you can't make an exact comparison to the U.S., Japan, and Canada, but, you know, just goes to show we really don't know what's going to happen and it may not be as bad as we think anyway, Joe.
JOHNS: Good enough. Thanks so much, Alison Kosik.
KOSIK: Sure.
JOHNS: Who may be the most disliked man in America right now? Find out after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: As you might imagine, S&P's decision to downgrade the U.S. credit rating got a lot of play on the Sunday morning talk shows. Here are the highlights.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, HOST, ABC "THIS WEEK": Just hours from now international markets will begin to register reaction to the first ever downgrade of America's AAA credit rating. Standard & Poor's handed down its verdict late Friday evening, and the White House has been pushing back hard ever since.
I hate to say, but you must be - in some quarters, at least - the most disliked man in America right now.
JOHN CHAMBERS, S&P MANAGING DIRECTOR: We've been saying for some time that the fiscal trajectory of the United States was on a bad path and that the political gridlock in Washington leads us to conclude that policymakers don't have the ability to proactively, you know, put the public finances of the U.S. on a - on a sustainable footing.
DAVID AXELROD, OBAMA CAMPAIGN ADVISER: Let's review exactly what happened. For months, the president was saying let's get together, let's compromise, let's do a $4 trillion package that will really stabilize the debt and get us on the right path.
The fact of the matter is that this is essentially a Tea Party downgrade. The Tea Party brought us to the brink of a - of a default.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: Well, if we listened to the Tea Party, we'd have $4 trillion reductions in - in debt over time and not been downgraded.
Now, the Tea Party has come to Washington, talking about reducing spending. Thank God they're here. This is the first time we've ever raised the debt ceiling where we tried to actually reduce spending. That's a good thing.
STEVE FORBES, CHAIRMAN AND EDITOR IN CHIEF, FORBES MEDIA: You never get a sustained recovery when you trash your money, you never get a sustained recovery when you have a massive binge in spending, of massive uncertainty about taxes, and all of these new regulations that are coming, it creates uncertainty and people hold back. That has to be laid at the feet of the Obama administration.
ALAN GREENSPAN, FORMER FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIR: What I think the S&P thing did was to hit a nerve that there's something basically bad going on, and it's hit the self-esteem of the United States, the psyche.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Nobody is surprised by these spectacular attacks. It is in fact very much in the pattern of what the Taliban have left, and partly because we have been successful.
So the Taliban are choosing to attack in Kabul, to assassinate people individually, to take on this kind of event. That doesn't represent their strength across the country.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Our prayers and thoughts go out to the families of those brave, brave, brave elite of our elite that have sacrificed. But, at the same time, we're going to have to address the sanctuary situation, and we are going to have to address the problem that the president has created, and that is that, out there, there is the perception in Afghanistan and other parts of the country - of that part of the world that America is withdrawing. That can't be good.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: Three siblings, all in their 20s, all on the run. It's the manhunt everybody's talking about.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: Got some more headlines for you.
Remembering General John Shalikashvili. Dignitaries joined hundreds of friends and family late yesterday at a memorial service for the former Joint Chiefs Chairman.
General Shalikashvili was 75 years old when he died two weeks ago. He will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery in October. Check out these faces. They're being put on digital billboards across the southeast. The trio - this is a brother, a sister, and a half- brother - they're wanted in connection with a bank robbery in South Georgia, and the attempted murder of a police officer in Central Florida.
At midnight, more than 45,000 Verizon workers from Massachusetts to D.C. went on strike after contract talks stalled. The company's phone lines were up and running today, with managers replacing striking workers. The walkout does not affect Verizon Wireless customers.
Jacqui join us - Jacqui Jeras join us. Too many J's in there. I know, Joe Johns -
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We know.
JOHNS: With an update on Tropical Depression Emily. And, Jacqui, you actually have some news on this. Something's happening out there -
JERAS: Yes.
JOHNS: -- or not happening.
JERAS: But we told you Emily was having a bit of an identity crisis earlier, right?
JOHNS: Right.
JERAS: Well, now she's saying bye-bye once again. So Emily finally dissipating into what we call an extra tropical area of low pressure, so it's no longer a tropical depression. It's not organized anymore.
And take a look at how the winds have just kind of blown this thing apart today. You can't find that - that center of circulation. It just isn't there.
But do note that all the showers and thunderstorms have really picked up some of this moisture here across parts of South Florida. So we're going to have some really heavy downpours, and urban flooding is going to happen real easily at times as we could get one to two inches of rain an hour with some of these storms.
So - so no more Emily, and that's - that's some good news. We've gone through five names on that list. However, in case you missed it, earlier this week NOAA has upgraded their forecast for the remainder of the hurricane season and you might be saying to yourself, I've heard a lot of people say, what happened to hurricane season? How come nothing's going on? We've already had five storms, by the way.
Well, we're just getting into that part of the height of the season, which really kind of takes place between mid-August and mid-October. And so, we're looking at a few more storms, they think. This is the updated forecast here, 14 to 19 now, seven to 10 of those becoming hurricanes, three to five of those becoming major hurricanes. So we've got a big chunk of the season.
If you had to guess right now, Joe, guess what the temperature is in Oklahoma City.
JOHNS: One hundred four.
JERAS: You know, you would normally think that that would be a good guess -
JOHNS: Yes, right?
JERAS: -- and that's close to where -
JOHNS: Yes, that's -
JERAS: -- they've been for like the last 60-plus days or so.
Well, believe it or not, they got a big, big break today.
JOHNS: Really?
JERAS: Yes. You know, we were expecting a couple of thunderstorms, and I'm going to say this is a little unexpected because we've had this little wave of showers that's just gone through Oklahoma City all day long.
JOHNS: Wow.
JERAS: That's been enough cloud cover and enough to keep them cool that the high so far, 87 degrees. Right now they're down to 80. So this is huge, huge break for Oklahoma City.
JOHNS: Sure. They got some rain, too?
JERAS: They got the rain - a little bit of light rain. So it's really great to see that.
JOHNS: That's nice. Yes.
JERAS: But tomorrow, unfortunately, I think we're going to be right back up there.
JOHNS: It's been brutal out there.
JERAS: Yes.
JOHNS: You know, stay here on the East Coast.
JERAS: Eighty feels good, though.
JOHNS: Yes. So - it's just 105 every now and then out here.
JERAS: Yes. Every now and then.
JOHNS: Great. Thanks, Jacqui.
JERAS: Sure.
JOHNS: Somalia - the people are starving, the country is wracked by war, and there is one school, one dedicated to Somalia's blind children, desperately in need of funding. We'll take a look inside next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: The life and death crisis in the Horn of Africa is worsening. The International Red Cross says more than 29,000 children died in Somalia in the past month, blaming drought, famine, civil war. Facing such an emergency, Somalia's less pressing issues being forgotten.
CNN's Nima Elbagir visited the country's only school for the blind.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the children's break time, and although they're definitely having fun showing us their favorite games -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That person (ph) is not good.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, so you have to go outside?
ELBAGIR: -- this is more than just play time.
(on camera): So, who won this time?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Me.
ELBAGIR (voice-over): In war-torn Somalia's only school for the blind, playing is a matter of survival. In addition to Braille, the children must learn to be aware of their surroundings. And in a country where disabilities are viewed as a curse and the afflicted hidden away, they're also learning to be proud of themselves and their gifts.
AMAL (ph), STUDENT, AL BASEER SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND AND DEAF: I felt lonely (ph).
ELBAGIR: Amal is a budding poet who wants to grow up to be a professor.
AMAL: Before, when I was not in school, I was meaning (ph) that only all the world I'm only the girl who is blind. When I was in this school, now I learn something. I can do most things which I never thought.
ELBAGIR: There are no figures for how many blind children there are here, but other than those blinded by war wounds, many Somali children's blindness is reversible, if only the resources were available.
Six months ago, Abikar Bashir, the founder of the school, began knocking on the doors of families that he knew had blind children. He couldn't raise the funds needed for treatment, but he could try to ensure they were no longer locked away by their families. ABIKAR BASHIR, AL BASEER SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND AND DEAF: In Somalia, there are not much known about blindness. So the families who do that, when their child gets blind, they just keep on the bed, staying there, just eating, going to the toilet, without doing nothing.
ELBAGIR: For some parents, it's a matter of protecting their children. For others, in a country where everyday is a struggle for survival, the burden is just too great.
Ali (ph) is 20 now, and wants to learn English to be an interpreter. But, as a child, he survived fending for himself on the streets of Mogadishu. He can mimic and recognize the sounds of the different weapons used in the Somali conflict perfectly.
ALI, STUDENT, AL BASEER SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND AND DEAF: The second is M16.
ELBAGIR: A talent that helped save his life, helping him to gauge the intensity of the fighting and how quickly he needed to reach shelter.
ALI: I go to El Baseer School -
ELBAGIR: Now, he says, the school is helping change his life.
ALI: -- and I have learnt more subjects.
ELBAGIR: But Abikar worries that they wouldn't be able to afford to do that for much longer.
BASHIR: There is not any other international agency or local agencies working about that issue. They don't really check (ph) projects for relief education, for IDBs, for whatever. But educating these disabled people, they are not much interested.
ELBAGIR: At a country where millions of children are starving, the aid agencies' priorities are understandable. But Abikar hopes someone will help him continue to give these children a purpose, not just give them aid.
Nima Elbagir, CNN, Mogadishu.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: CNN's Anderson Cooper and chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta are on their way to Somalia and they'll join our team of Nima Elbagir and David McKenzie for extensive coverage of the famine and devastation.
Watch "ANDERSON COOPER" tomorrow night at his new time, 8:00 Eastern.
A jury already found him guilty. Now, how to punish Warren Jeffs. That story is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) JOHNS: A Texas jury is deciding how much jail time polygamist Warren Jeffs should serve. Jeffs was convicted last week on two counts of having sex with a child.
In a special Saturday session, one of Jeffs' nephews told jurors his uncle raped him when he was five years old.
Yesterday I talked with our legal guides about the Jeffs case, asked them if they were surprised the jury in this case deliberated for just three hours.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: It would have been much longer, except he - he didn't put a defense on.
The - it really, I don't think, was a surprise to anyone, and what we learned in the trial is that Warren Jeffs, in his yearning for Zion, wasn't yearning for Zion. He was yearning for children. And the evidence was overwhelming. There was no question that we were looking at both a sexual assault and then an aggravated sexual assault.
That's what the jury is thinking about right now in penalty, Joe, because they are now hearing evidence from many of the people that went through this experience, personal sexual experiences, as children. And that evidence will continue to be presented all the way through Monday, probably up to Tuesday, when they'll finally make a decision on - on how long he's going to spend in jail.
You're looking at life, I think.
JOHNS: Right. Do you agree, Richard? This is a case where you've got, you know, all this evidence. We're probably going to reach some type of decision on the sentencing phase around Tuesday. Do you think this is life in prison?
RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Joe, if they could give him more than life, they would do that.
This guy made a big mistake.
JOHNS: Right.
HERMAN: He messed with Texas. And I - you know, you don't want to do that.
So now, this - this ex-prophet, current child rapist, who is going to get sentenced, is going to get hammered by this jury. The tape recordings that were played to this jury were devastating.
It was not a complex case, Joe. It was a streamlined prosecution. Other prosecutors should learn from this - Orlando.
Anyway, it was a streamlined prosecution, Joe, and the jury just ate it up. It was a horrific case. And Avery's right, he put on no defense. He sat there like a lunatic. He - he fired all of his attorneys.
Now, during the sentencing phase, he stands up in court and tells a judge, remove me from the court. I can't see my religion persecuted like this.
FRIEDMAN: Yes, upside down.
HERMAN: So the judge says fine. You're out.
JOHNS: But I've got to ask you -
HERMAN: Put in one of his old attorneys to represent him. Yes. I mean, it's brutal.
And now the testimony that's coming in is devastating, Joe. This jury is not going to tolerate it. He's facing 90 years on the 12-year-old, and 22 on the 15-year-old. He is going to get it all.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: You can catch our "Legal Guys" every Saturday at noon Eastern.
