Recession Fears Rattle Markets; Palestinian Statehood Request
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Straight ahead: Chaotic scene after shots are fired at a border check point in California. On Capitol Hill, the stage is set for a budget showdown. Late last night, the Republican-controlled House passed a spending plan. Democrats in the Senate are already saying no way. Kids as young as eight taking part in what appears to be cage fighting. The pictures are horrific. Some call it barbaric. But, is it criminal? Good morning. It's Friday, September 23rd. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. I'm Christine Romans, in for Carol Costello, joining you live this morning from New York. Let's get started with the markets right now. Asian stocks all finishing the week on losing notes. Europe is off to a slightly better start. U.S. stock futures this morning -- brace yourself -- they're showing signs of life. Maybe your portfolio and your 401(k) will make up a little of what they lost yesterday when the Dow dropped nearly 400 points. Let's talk to Nina dos Santos in London. You know, yesterday, Nina, the story was recession fear around the world. Today, the story is the health of the European banks.</s>NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's absolutely right, Christine. What we're seeing is conflicting reports today in a couple of newspapers about whether the Eurozone and European regulators for the banking industry will move to try to recapitalize or shore up the capital that some of the banks across this region hold. This is on the back of on going concerns about the health of the French banks after Mohamed El-Elrian, he's the head of the world's bond fund, PIMCO, said yesterday that we could be perhaps even a run on French banks and that could undermine the Eurozone, even pushing Europe into a broader recession. Now, today, the markets seem to be rebounding after flirting with some losses earlier on in today's session, Christine. But we should also remember that we've had really sobering statistics and warning shots from some of the world's biggest institutions this week. Let me run you through them. On a positive note, overnight we had the G-20 promising to act -- put forward concerted action to try to stop these losses and on going concerns about a return to recession. But we have, nevertheless, had the IMF warning about the path to recovery narrowing considerably. Earlier on in the week, the IMF decided to cut the growth forecast for global growth for this year and next. Even today, the World Trade Organization is forecasting lower trade next year for the world. And those are the kind of sobering thoughts that economists are trying to put into context. One of the reasons why the rebound we're seeing at the moment isn't particular pronounce and also one of the reasons why we saw some really significant losses for some of these markets. For final, I'll point, just to give you an indication of the kind losses we saw yesterday, $100 billion was wiped off the FTSE 100 in here London where I am just in yesterday's session alone, Christine.</s>ROMANS: Yes. And where I sit right now, if you're looking at the Dow, the last two days was the worst two days percentage-wise and point-wise since 2008. And we don't like to have any comparison to 2008. Nina dos Santos, thank you. Today, you'll probably read score sheets for the Republican presidential debate in Orlando. It wasn't exactly a trip to Disney World for the front-runner. Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann hammered Governor Perry on Social Security, the HPV vaccine in Texas and immigration. They didn't spare President Obama either.</s>MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's a Rick Perry out there that's saying that, almost a quote, it says that the federal government shouldn't in the pension business, that it's unconstitutional. Unconstitutional and it should be returned to the states. So you better find that Rick Perry and get him to stop saying that.</s>GOV. RICK PERRY (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think Americans just don't know sometimes which Mitt Romney they're dealing with.</s>PERRY: I've got one question for him. Have you ever even been to the border with Mexico?</s>RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes.</s>PERRY: I'm surprised if you have. You weren't paying attention.</s>SANTORUM: The answer is yes. Of course, I have.</s>PERRY: The idea that you are going to build a wall, a fence for 1,200 miles and then go 800 miles more to Tijuana does not make sense. You put the boots on the ground.</s>NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Nothing will turn America around more than election night when Barack Obama loses decisively.</s>REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As president of the United States, that's the very first thing I would do is repeal Obamacare.</s>GARY JOHNSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My next-door neighbor's two dogs have created more shovel-ready jobs than this current administration.</s>ROMANS: We didn't show Jon Huntsman in that series of clips. We'll hear from him a little later. Two new polls suggest the former Utah governor is climbing into double digits in New Hampshire. Palestinian leaders are expected to submitted application today for full membership for the United Nations. President Mahmoud Abbas has been pushing this idea all week. The U.S. has promised to block the application. Experts say Abbas is doing this to help create a legacy because he's frustrated with the go-nowhere peace talks of Israel. Yesterday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke to the General Assembly. Several delegates walked out after he predicted the demise of the U.S., questioned the 9/11 attacks and accused Europe of using the Holocaust as an excuse to support Israel. Standard fare from the Iranian president. There's been a shooting at the U.S. border with Mexico. It happened last night in San Ysidro, California. Two customs and border agents fired on a man they say waved a fake handgun at them and pulled the trigger. Our affiliate KFMB in San Diego reports the man is expected to survive. This happened in an area where agents check people who walk over the border into the U.S. A third state has executed a death row inmate last night. Last night, Alabama put to death Derrick Mason. He is convicted and condemned for the 1994 robbery and murder of a convenient store clerk in Huntsville. Like Troy Davis in Georgia, Mason had a lot of supporters who rallied to save him, including the judge who sentenced him to death in the first place. Alabama's governor denied requests to stop that execution. And as we told you yesterday morning, Texas also executed a condemned man. Lawrence Brewer was one of three men convicted in the infamous dragging death of a black man, James Byrd. Take a look at the last meal he requested: bacon cheeseburger, omelet, fried okra, fajitas, steaks, barbecue, pizza, ice cream and fudge. How could one man eat all that? Well, guess what? Brewer didn't eat any of it. Because of him he isn't serving special meals to death row inmates anymore. They'll eat with the rest of the inmates. Now, let's go to Rob Marciano live to Atlanta. Tropical storm Ophelia losing steam as she treks through the Atlantic. What's the latest, Rob? And good morning.</s>ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. Yes, we were thinking this was going to happen. And it certainly has. But it's not done. Here is a look at Ophelia as of right now, as of 5:00. The tropical storm, it was very close to becoming a hurricane as of yesterday. But had some pretty strong headwinds and that shear is not helping it. I want to start you off, though, with what's going on across the East Coast as far as the rainfall is concerned. There you go, Atlanta to the Carolinas, heavy rain at times here. We've got street flooding across Atlanta. And this moisture is pushing up towards the Northeast as well. The radar will begin to fill in there. We've got flood watches and warnings posted for this very, very slow-moving front making its way across towards the East Coast. Flood watches for Friday through Saturday for all this area up and down the I-95 corridor. So, be aware of that and take the precautions you need to. If you're traveling on this Friday, obviously, there are going to be some delays especially at the metro, airports around New York City, D.C., and Philadelphia as well. All right. Let's talk about what's going on with this satellite, all right? Things haven't changed since yesterday. Here is a look at the orbit that this thing takes on between 57 south and 57 north. So, that's the area where this thing can fall out of the sky and cause some damage. But when we think this is going to happen, plus or minus nine hours, this afternoon or this evening. So, there you go. And this takes North America out of the equation. I found a couple of things that were interesting, Carol and Christine. First of all, from the FAA, they're warning pilots to record and report any sort of observations that they see of debris from the satellite falling out of the sky. They do not mention actually avoiding that debris. I would add that. The other thing is, this is from NASA's prediction. This is at 9:30 last night they sent this, an update saying that it's still either this afternoon or this evening, but the predictions will become more accurate and more refined in the next 24 hours, which is basically when it hits the ground. So, we're all pretty much watching and waiting. No telling where this thing is going to fall. They're taking North America out of the equation. Odds are it false in an ocean or uninhabited area of the earth -- Christine.</s>ROMANS: Odds are. All right. Rob Marciano, we'll check in with you again in a little bit.</s>MARCIANO: OK.</s>ROMANS: Comedian Stephen Colbert gives his two cents on European's debt crisis. Here's your punchline.</s>STEPHEN COLBERT, COMEDIAN: The E.U. is on the verge of collapse.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The European Union itself is falling apart and fast.</s>SIMON JOHNSON: The great weakness is obviously governments like Greece. If they were to default, which is what's happening in other countries, you would have a collapse of the currency and a lot of problems.</s>CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL, GERMANY (through translator): If the euro collapses, Europe collapses.</s>COLBERT: And if Europe collapses, where will college students spend a semester abroad to learn how to throw up sangria in Spanish. The collapse is imminent because once again, Greece is in danger of defaulting on their debt. And to save themselves, they have only two options: A., Prime Minister George Papandreou can turn Greece's creditors to stone by using Medusa's head. Or B, Greece can convince the other European countries that they're getting their financial house in order. But to do that, someone in Greece may have to do the unthinkable: get a job. Let me explain, Greeks.</s>ROMANS: Very funny. A group of European researchers stirring up all kinds of controversy this morning. They think they might be able to prove Einstein is wrong about the speed of light. What they say appears to travel even faster. But, first, our quote of the day, "My father still refers to the Internet as the World Wide Web." Find out which former first daughter said that about her dad, coming up in 90 seconds. It's about 11 minutes past the hour.