in libya, rebels claim to control most of the capital but gun battles continue in some parts of tripoli. an evacuation boat arrived there today for stranded migrants. the vessel was sent by the international organization for migration and can carry 300 people. to the west of tripoli, renewed fighting is reported near za ware and nato says three surfaces to surface missiles were fired on monday night near moammar gadhafi s hometown. nato is not aware of casualties or damage. the foreign minister is to fly to benghazi today to meet officials of the national transitional council. the chair of the alliance of nations is there to deal diplomatically with the libyan conflict. andrew? charles, meanwhile, moammar gadhafi is nowhere to be found. one of his sons, his chosen success, saif gadhafi has reappeared. he unexpectedly presented himself in front of cameras outside of tripoli hotel. libyan rebels had claimed to have him in custody. but clearly, free and able to move about, sai
committed crimes against humanity. pope benedict xvi is visiting madrid, spain. the city expects a million or so people to attend. not everyone is happy to see the pontiff, however. some spaniards are protests over the cost to put on the event. those are the headlines from cnn, the world s news leader. i m zain verjee and world business today starts now. good morning from cnn london. i m nina dos santos. good afternoon from cnn hong kong. i m andrew streechbs. you re watching world business today. the top stories this friday, august 19th. many people are happy it is indeed a friday because the market sell-off continues to roll around the world as fear takes hold of global investors. bank of america announces plans to cut thousands of jobs. and the story of a small business that s thriving despite the tough economic environment. now, the stock market sell-off has made its way right around the world as andrew is saying, driven in particular by fierce of recessio
resonate with voters. voters don t want to hear about the president s bad luck. they want him to do something. martha: we ll see what his reading list plan is over the course of the next ten days and i m pretty sure last summer on the reading list was an autobiography of ronald reagan that got quite a bit of attention at the time. he is going to make a big jobs speech when he comes back and all of that has to be in the mix in his mind, as he heads for vacation, stephen hayes, always good to have your thoughts on this, thank you very much. bill: two quick notes, we got the manufacturing number. and it is far short of expectation, which indicates a contraction in our economy. no shocker there. when you saw the numbers dropped and we talked about mortgage rates, if you want to buy a home, you want to refinance. look at this. you can save yourself a lot of money, right now, based on what you see. martha: 30-year mortgages, right now at their lowest rate since 1971. that is a shocking numbe
downgrade of the debt. bill: let me go through all three of you. does it pass, steven hayes. yes, i think it does but, the way it bill be structured, it will take everything from speaker boehner to pull reluctant republicans across the line and get the votes from the republican side it will need to pass. bill: lynn, does it pass? and, does president obama look like a states man in the end or weak. he looks diminished, i predict it will pass, speaker boehner s challenge is to not let the moderate republicans who wants to vote for it hang out there, 40 or 50 votes alone, and it will set them up for primaries from conservatives, next year. bill: stephen moore, i know you don t cover politics on the hill. but, you do cover the economy. are we now looking at a flat line for growth for a period of time that is much greater than anyone would want to admit? when you look at the first and second quarters gdp numbers, the manufacturing number that came
can pass it in the next day or two and avert the first default on our national debt in history. i am worried about the size of defense cuts that may be contemplated, but that doesn t mean i m therefore rejecting the agreement. i m just worried. this is a head scratcher. stocks take a tumble after the debt relief rally that happened earlier this morning. the dow surged more than 120 points, but a weak manufacturing report, just sanction the market. stocks posting the worst weekly performance in more than a year in a debt stalemate last week. the dow is at 12:07. down 70 points. new reports of gunfire after what s described as a nationwide offensive against government protesters. sunday s clash killed more than 70 people in that country and at least 50 of them in the city. security forces were responding to armed groups who terrorized citizens by firing from the roof tops of buildings. that s according to government there. egyptian security forces shut down protests in ca