Huge Typhoon Heads For Japan
VELSHI: Is that the same weather forecast all over the East Coast this morning?</s>CHETRY: It seems like it, doesn't it? Actually, is it real? Oh, yes, 96 degrees. It's going to be crazy today all over the country pretty much. Right now, it's 81 in D.C. A little bit later, 96 degrees and thunderstorms in the forecast.</s>VELSHI: All right. President Obama insists that there's no progress behind the scenes in the talks to raise the nation's debt ceiling and avoid default 15 days from now. House Republicans, though, plan to vote today on something called "cut, cap and balance." It's a measure that ties the debt limit increase to passage of a constitutional amendment to balance the budget. It's got very chance of Senate approval. And if it did, the president says he would veto it.</s>CHETRY: And a CBS Poll suggests most Americans favor a balanced approach to a debt deal. Sixty-six percent say that the debt ceiling agreement should include a combination of spending cuts and tax increases. Just 28 percent say it should be spending cuts alone. And only 3 percent say it should be tax increases alone.</s>VELSHI: Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick will be on Capitol Hill this morning -- lending his support to a bill that cracks down on dog-fighting. The legislation calls for stronger penalties against people attending dogfights and cockfights. Vick will be joined at a news conference by the head of the Humane Society. As you know, Michael Vick served 21 months in prison on dog-fighting charges.</s>CHETRY: Closing another chapter in space shuttle program history. The crew of the shuttle Atlantis waking up to Coldplay's "Don't Panic" this morning. Check it out.</s>CHETRY: Beautiful shot. And they are now getting ready to head home after undocking from the International Space Station. That happened at 2:28 this morning. Atlantis is scheduled to touch down in Florida at 5:56 a.m. Eastern Time Thursday.</s>VELSHI: It's going to be very cool. Early tomorrow morning, the crew of the space shuttle Atlantis will join us. That's on "WAKE-UP CALL" tomorrow morning, right about 5:00 a.m. Eastern. Set your clock. Tell your friends. It will be a fun conversation.</s>CHETRY: Absolutely. All right. Well, this morning, Japan's women soccer team -- they are the World Cup winners and they had the chance to meet with their Prime Minister Naoto Kan today. He congratulated the women on their fairy tale finish. Hundreds of fans swarmed the airport in Tokyo when the team arrived home last night. Japan beat the U.S. women's soccer team in a stunning penalty kick shoot-out taking home the very first World Cup Title for any Asian team.</s>VELSHI: Incredible. And, it's great for Japan. They could deal with some good news right now. The U.S. women's team returned home to a hero's welcome. The women were greeted by a crowd of supporters when they arrived at Newark, New Jersey airport last night. The second place finishers say they hope their success will kick up more interest in the sports here in the United States.</s>CHETRY: And this year's World Cup final was history making in other ways, as well. Sunday's match set a new Twitter record. Twitter users sent messages at a rate of 7,000 tweets per second during the World Cup Finals. That's more Twitter action than during the Super Bowl, the royal wedding, or the death of Osama Bin Laden.</s>VELSHI: And Japan is bracing for strong winds and heavy flooding as a huge typhoon heads for that country. It's packing winds of up to 100 miles an hour. The storm is 450 miles wide. It's huge. Forecasters say some parts of Japan could see close to three feet of rain in the next day. So, crews are rushing to install a cover over a damaged reactor at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant. Right now, the storm is far south the plant, but one forecast track from the U.S. navy shows it could pass over Fukushima on Thursday.</s>CHETRY: The city of Phoenix is dusting itself off this morning. You can take a look. They're really dusting themselves. This giant dust storm also called the haboob turned the city light shade of brown on Monday. It hit during evening rush hour. The dust wall, 3,000 feet high, and it was driven by wind gusts up to 40 miles an hour. They say it caused flight delays, also snarled traffic, but they say it all cleared out within an hour.</s>VELSHI: And Rob Marciano is at the Extreme Weather Center for us this morning. Good morning, Rob. What's going on?</s>ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, guys. The heat continues, so if you do get a thunderstorm, as long as it's not severe, that will cool you off, but the problem is the ones that have popped up yesterday, they were severe in places like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Strong enough to knock down some trees and some power lines, and we got a little pink on that again today. Over 20 states are in some sort of excessive heat warning or heat advisory, heat watch today. So, the heat wave continues to build, and in the same spots, 110, 120 is what it will feel like again today. Forecast highs for this heat wave what it feels like throughout today, again, getting up in over a 100 degrees in Minneapolis, getting close to that in Chicago. Tomorrow, we start to see the temperatures get knocked down, and then on Friday, the heat wave shifts a little bit to the south and then to the east and the northeast, including D.C. and New York City will get into the act then. Along the stationary boundary which isn't really sinking that far to the south, that's where you're going to see the focal point for some thunderstorms today in the afternoon. Some of which could become severe. Down to the south, continued hot and dry across Texas. Dallas, 17 days in a row of seeing 100 plus. Tyler, Texas, 21 days in a row, that sets a record. Tropical storm, Bret, doesn't look too healthy on the satellite picture. A lot of dry air wrapping in here. Some vertical wind sheer. It's not only get too much stronger if that all, and the forecast is for it to continue to go out to sea and become what we like to refer to as a fish storm. So, not to worry about Bret here over the coming days. Typhoon Ma-on (ph) heading toward Japan, just skimming the coastline right now. The eye is onshore in Southern Japan, and the forecast is for it to skim and recurred out to sea as well, but it will dump a fair amount of rain and some wind as far north as Tokyo, but the brunt of the storm should stay south of the Fukushima nuclear plant. That's latest from here, guys. Try to stay cool up there in New York. It will be slightly drier and slightly cooler for you tomorrow, but today, still a little bit.</s>VELSHI: Is today the worst of it for the foreseeable close future?</s>MARCIANO: Well, you get a break today or tomorrow.</s>CHETRY: Friday is supposed to be bad.</s>MARCIANO: And then, Friday, we crank up the thermostat once again.</s>VELSHI: OK. Thanks, Rob.</s>CHETRY: Triple digits Friday, perhaps.</s>MARCIANO: All right, guys.</s>CHETRY: You got to take off your jacket.</s>VELSHI: I'm such a weather denial, OK?</s>CHETRY: Way too hot.</s>VELSHI: Because I just know because Rob is going to tell me, but it's always too late by the time -- Rob, I'm already there. It's like he got drenched (ph). Oh, Rob tells me it's going to rain.</s>CHETRY: Oh, I can't imagine your outfit changes much depending on the weather. This is what you wear in a snowstorm. This is what you wear in triple digit heat.</s>VELSHI: This is what I wear to bed.</s>CHETRY: Yes. It's like imitating art and winning. Charlie Sheen returns to television in a new series titled "Anger Management." It's based on a 2003 movie that starred Jack Nicholson and Adam Sandler. The sitcom is now being shot to broadcast and cable networks. Listen up ladies, the man of steel will soon be back on the market. Superman is going to be a bachelor again when DC Comics re- launches its superhero series in September. Superman and his long- time love, Lois Lane, have been married in the comic book since 1996.</s>CHETRY: So, he's going to be single again? They're splitting?</s>VELSHI: Yes. He's a cartoon character. So, it's not really something to be believed, nor is it to be believed that I sleep in this. That was a joke, too.</s>CHETRY: Right. He used the exact same thing but flannel.</s>VELSHI: Yes. It's like a onesie.</s>CHETRY: Up next, time to go shopping for a new book. It is the final chapter for one of the world's largest chains which chain closing their doors.</s>VELSHI: And gold surges to another record. What's behind that gold rush? We're "Minding Your Business" next. It's 26 minutes after the hour.