A current estimation of Iran's nuclear capabilities; initial jobless claims raise fears of a double-dip recession; details on BP's compensation fund; 70 years since the Battle of Britain; fall movie preview; the political context for the U.S. military delivering aid to Pakistan; salmonella outbreak leads to massive egg recall; AMC's new spy thriller series, 'Rubicon'; New York Governor David Paterson on the proposed Islamic cultural center in New York City, and efforts by detractors to use eminent domain to block the center's construction. Miles O'Brien and Katherine Lanpher host for John Hockenberry and Celeste Headlee.
Chief Washington correspondent for The New York Times, David Sanger on when Iran will get nuclear weapons; headlines.
It's a simple question with an infinitely complicated answer: what happens if Iran is able to build a nuclear weapon?
Russia is expected to deliver low-enriched uranium to Tehran to bring the Bushehr reactor, Iran's first nuclear power station, online. And the U.S., Israel and other nations are reportedly on alert, as hawks are calling for the bombing the reactor before the fuel is loaded into it.
Financial markets took a hit yesterday after jobless claims rose to their highest level since last November. The jobless claims were up 12,000 from the prior week, which indicates that the claims are at 500,000. This increase is feeding concern that the economy is starting to slow down again. Louise Story tells us whether this is yet another looming sign of the feared double-dip recession.
He used to be bound for the Hall of Fame, but now seems more likely to go to prison. The seven-time Cy Young Award Winner, Roger Clemens was indicted on six counts by a federal grand jury yesterday, for allegedly lying to Congress, with statements like this, "let me be clear, I have never taken steroids or HGH."
Kenneth Feinberg officially took over the $20 billion fund allocated for those affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil gusher. BP, the company responsible for the crisis, has already paid $368 million to individuals and businesses who suffered financial losses. But thousands of claims are still left unresolved and will fall now on Feinberg's desk.
On August 20, 1940 Adolf Hitler and his Nazi army looked unstoppable. With the United States still remaining neutral in the war, Great Britain was the soul protector of Europe. The country was being constantly bombarded by German air raids, and morale was low when UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill took the microphone and uttered these famous words: Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
It’s been a brutal summer for movie-goers, with only a few memorable hits and one or two Oscar contenders. Takeaway film contributor and Newsday critic, Rafer Guzman assures us that it will all be getting better soon. He walks us through the movies he’s most looking forward to this fall.
Navy captain David Wray is the chief of public affairs for the U.S. military relief operations in Pakistan. He updates us on the efforts and the remaining challenges of bringing help to the country; headlines.
To support relief efforts in Pakistan, the United States currently has 18 military and civilian aircraft in the country and three based in Afghanistan. American helicopters have evacuated nearly 6,000 people and delivered more than 717,000 pounds of relief supplies. And Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has just announced the U.S. will increase aid to Pakistan to $150 million.
But the context for the American military presence in Pakistan is more complicated than simply delivering humanitarian aid. Pakistan is home to militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, whose offshoot organizations have already become a visible force during this crisis. The Pakistani Taliban is already believed to be behind two attacks against security forces in Peshawar since the start of the flooding.
The Wright County Egg company, based in Iowa, recalled 152 million eggs yesterday due fears of salmonella contamination. This brings the grand total to 380 million, after another recall back on August 13. Marion Nestle is an acclaimed nutritionist from New York University and the author of "Safe Food: The Politics of Food Safety." She says that this isn't the first time the Wright County Egg company has found trouble with the FDA, and that salmonella should not be difficult to prevent.
After seven years and five months of war in Iraq, the final U.S. combat brigade has left the country ahead of the Aug. 31 deadline that President Obama set for ending combat operations there. Now that those troops have left, we're asking a big question: Do you think we won the Iraq war?
Facebook user, Deanne Bonner Simpson responded:
"Why is this question in the past tense? My husband is getting on a plane to Iraq today for a year of deployment. If it's over, why isn't he home playing outside with his kids? Let's not get ahead of ourselves."
There’s a new series on AMC that’s been getting a lot of buzz. It’s called “Rubicon,” and its debut earlier this month garnered the highest ratings of any premier in the network’s history, beating “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad. "Rubicon" focuses on the secretive operations of the fictional American Policy Institute in post-9/11 lower Manhattan. It stars James Badge Dale as Will Travers, a code-cracker who can unravel any puzzle, but can’t come to peace with tragedies in his life.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to announce that Israel and Palestine will return to direct talks for the first time in over 18 months. Direct talks between the two countries would mark a victory President Barack Obama, who has been trying to revive the Mid-East peace process since taking office. However, there are still many contentious issues at the heart of any talks. BBC Middle East correspondent, Wyre Davis reports from Jerusalem on whether we should be optimistic about peace in the region.
The 9th anniversary of the September 11 attacks is coming up next month – and Ground Zero is once again a center of religious controversy. The current flashpoint is a planned $100 million Islamic cultural center and mosque, scheduled to be built by private investors two blocks from the World Trade Center site. Last week, President Obama weighed in, saying Muslims have the right to build the religious center; many Republicans have sharply criticized the plans.
Amidst the controversy New York’s Governor David Paterson, has said moving the proposed 'Park 51 Center' to a location away from Ground Zero would be “magic moment” for him.
Whether they are families of September 11 victims or just normal New Yorkers, a recent poll showed that the city is split over Park 51, the Islamic cultural center and mosque proposed a few blocks from Ground Zero, in lower Manhattan. Two-thirds of New Yorkers are against it, and less than one-third in favor. Mid-term election candidates have made the center an election issue, with politicians defending it as a First Amendment right or demanding that the city prevent the construction by taking over the site via "eminent domain." With all the controversy, emotions are running high.
If you could decide whether or not the center were built at that location, how would you make your decision?
Baseball great, Roger Clemens, has been indicted for lying to Congress. What does this mean for baseball and for the player? For more background, we talk to Nathaniel Vinton, an investigative sports reporter with The New York Daily News. He also co-authored, "American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America's Pastime."
"Roger Clemens is one of the greatest baseball players of his generation," says Vinton. However, if you look at his career you can see that the ball player had a renaissance at age 35, which is when he started using performance enhancing drugs, according to his trainer.