for this wednesday, august 3. we have just gotten confirmation that bomb squad officers in australia have secured the safety of an 18-year-old girl who was in a house with a suspicious device attached to her. the operation to free her lasted three hours, they say her life was potentially at risk. nearby houses were evacuated and neighboring streets closed off. i ll talk to a reporter there in just a few minutes. stocks across the board are lower today, investors are worried about the weak economy and the debt deal that has done very little to reassure the markets. the dow has been down for eight sessions in a row now and has falling for the last eight sk t consecutive days. now the dow is down 70 points. so far u.s. rating agencies have not downgraded the country s credit rating. moody s and fitch both confirm the country s aaa status for now. but standard & poors has not announced it s decision yet. hosni mubarak was wheeled into court on a gurney and put into a cage
hey, kiera. good morning, guys. great to see you. here s some of the stories that have us talking this morning. nervous investors awaiting this hour s opening bell on wall street. the doll plunged 266 points yesterday for its eighth consecutive loss. trial under way for former egyptian president hosni mubarak. the ailing hue mark could face execution if convicted in the deaths of anti-government protesters. florida watching tropical storm emily as it approaches the northern caribbean. warnings up in haiti and the dominican republic. captions by vitac www.vitac.com well, the debt deal is signed but the damage is done. our nation s reputation is tarnished, and we re all likely to pay one way or another. alison kosik is looking at the cost to your retirement. george showing how college students will take a hit. ali velshi showing the new damage and how jobs are thrown into limbo. ali, let s start with you. the markets are about to open and there s mixed reviews on th
well, holiday shopping season is here and for many americans, whipping out the plastic and buying with credit. here s a sign of the times. in the past year, more than 8 million consumers have ditched their credit cards. and not all of them by choice. christian romans is joining us from new york. why the change in the spending habits? it s a huge consumer debt purge, kyra. we are digging out of that mountain of debt that we basically were buried under over the past three years. 8 million people ditching their credit cards and you re right. some of it is because people are ditching them by choice. some of it is because the banks ditched them as customers because they can t make money off of them anymore with new credit card rules. cards shut down by banks, consumers are not purchasing as much. people staying down the balances. transunion put together the numbers saying because more conservative investigators, more
kennedy, by the way was assassinated in 1968 walking into the kitchen hotel after accepting the democratic nomination for president, you may remember. it includes its own public park and a swimming pool. it will open next month. most colleges don t have a swimming pool. dana? new credit card rules are in effect protecting consumers from abusive practices by credit card companies. in most cases, charging a late fee of more than $25 is no longer allowed. double penalties and inactivity fees have been dropped. also, balances on gift cards will be good for up to five years so don t forget them in your wallet like i always do. meanwhile, go ahead and redeem yourself with a quick look at the weather and look right there, that blob, as you can see in the center right-hand portion of your screen, that is tropical storm danielle right now maximum sustained winds 60
during this program three years ago killing 13 people and injuring almost 150. engineering company that consulted on the bridge is agreeing to pay 50 million bucks to dozens of victims and to build a memorial to those who died. this company insists it did nothing wrong but decided to settle the lawsuit to avoid a very long court battle. their new credit card rules that went into place today, the idea is to protect you from what congress calls unfair practices. but that will not stop 15%, 25%, even 30% interest rates. next why those rates are the highest they have been in nearly a decade and what you need to know about these new rules. plus, one city spending half a billion dollars, half a billion on one public school. even as its district cuts teachers because of budget problems. so what s the best way to spend taxpayer money? we ll report. you decide. ed education in america is