Egypt Braces for More Bloodshed; Dow Drops for Second Week; U.S. Olympian Speaks Out
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Egypt erupts into chaos as the world watches in horror. The question now, what can America do about it?</s>BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And get ready for the rain. Rounds of it rolling into the already soggy south. There's fears of flooding and they're very real this morning.</s>SAVIDGE: And baseball might never be the same. The big decision that could change America's favorite pastime as we know it.</s>KEILAR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Brianna Keilar.</s>SAVIDGE: And I'm Martin Savidge, in for Victor Blackwell. It is 6:00 a.m. and this is NEW DAY SATURDAY. That's the unmistakable sound of heavy gunfire ringing out. Egypt, a critical ally of the United States, is bracing for more unrest after a very bloody and violent Friday. Dozens of people are reported killed in clashes between the security forces and Muslim Brotherhood supporters in what was called a day of rage. Hundreds are under arrest. We're also hearing that some people have left a mosque in central Cairo where they have taken refuge all night long. Let's go right now to Reza Sayah. He's in Cairo.</s>KEILAR: Hey there, Reza. Can you tell us about the latest situation there at the mosque?</s>REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Incredibly, after 17 hours, the siege and standoff still continues. Some dramatic images coming to us from state media about a couple of hours ago. Some of the protesters who were holed up inside, women, coming out, escorted out by armed security forces who were firing in the air in an apparent effort to disperse angry crowds who had gathered around. This particular mosque is in an area in Cairo that was supposed to be the final destination for tens of thousands of supporters of the ousted President Mohamed Morsy and the Muslim Brotherhood who were marching against the government yesterday. During these marches, there were clashes. Scores of people were injured. Scores of people were hurt. Many of the fatalities and casualties were taken to this mosque. Also racing to this mosque were protesters who wanted to take cover from the gunfire. Then came 7:00 p.m. The curfew went into effect. These people, these protesters were effectively trapped inside. Armed security forces surrounded the mosque. Also surrounding the mosque, unknown gunmen. At some point, state media aired video of these protesters attacked the mosque. These were apparently anti-Morsy protesters. Throughout the evening, security forces were apparently trying to negotiate with people to come out, but apparently they were too afraid to come out. But during the overnight hours, at least some of those protesters have come out, some have stayed in. And that's why, at this hour, remarkably, this intense standoff and siege of the mosque continues in Cairo.</s>SAVIDGE: And, Reza, the Muslim Brotherhood's calling for a week now of protests starting today and urging supporters to go back on the streets.</s>SAYAH: Yes, there's no question about it. And this is further indication that these two sides are digging in. The Muslim Brotherhood insists that they're not going to stop demonstrating. And there are all sorts of indications that this interim government, backed by the military, has no intentions of including the Muslim Brotherhood in the political landscape. And that's because increasingly you're seeing them use aggressive tactics to get them off the streets. Hundreds of these protesters, many of them unarmed, have been killed. Over the past six weeks, international human rights groups have condemned security forces of using excessive force. And again, yesterday, we witnessed with our own eyes, security forces using gunfire on protesters who were unarmed. And when you take a step back from this conflict, what's most alarming, is there's absolutely no indication that this conflict is going to end anytime soon.</s>KEILAR: Reza, we'll be checking in with you throughout the morning. Reza Sayah for us in Cairo. Thank you very much. Now, President Obama has condemned the crackdown on Egyptian protests and the White House has canceled next month's joint military exercises with Egypt. An international peacekeeping force is in the Sinai Peninsula. This includes 700 American soldiers. CNN's Wolf Blitzer spoke with Senator John McCain about concerns for their safety.</s>WOLF BLITZER, ANCHOR, CNN'S "THE SITUATION ROOM": What worries me, senator, I don't know if it concerns you as much, the 700 American soldiers who right now are in Sinai at a time of growing al Qaeda presence in Sinai, part of that multinational peacekeeping force in Sinai that's been in place quietly all of these years since the Israeli/Egyptian peace treaty was signed in 1979. How concerned are you about these American troops who are lightly armed in Sinai?</s>SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I am concerned about that. I'm concerned about the safety of American citizens. Under Mubarak, as you know, there was a tremendous amount of anti-Americanism and anti- Israel, which was fostered by the Mubarak government. This government is fostering that to an incredible degree. Pictures of President Obama in the street and our fine ambassador there, Anne Patterson. They accused me. The leading newspaper in Cairo said that John McCain had hired Muslim Brotherhood on his staff. The intensity of the anti- Americanism, which is being stoked by the military junta, makes a lot of our American citizens unsafe.</s>KEILAR: Although the U.S. has condemned the bloodshed in Egypt, it has not decided to suspend the nearly $1.6 billion of annual aid to Egypt. The U.S. has carefully avoided calling the ouster of President Morsy a coup and because that is something that would require suspending aid by law. Remember, most of the money to Egypt comes in the form of military aid. And complicating matters, that aid is typically used to buy tanks and aircraft produced in the U.S. So conduct aid would also impact American companies. And only four other countries get more American aid than Egypt. Israel gets double what Egypt gets. And then there's Afghanistan, $2.3 billion, then Pakistan with $2.1 billion, then Iraq, nearly $1.7 billion and then Egypt.</s>SAVIDGE: All right, turning to weather now. We'll take a look at a live shot of the sun coming up over Boston. The Northeast finally drying out after a week of heavy storms, but it is a very different story across much of the Southeast. Let's bring in meteorologist Jennifer Delgado in the CNN Severe Weather Center. Jennifer.</s>JENNIFER DELGADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Martin. And you see that live shot coming out of Boston. Well, it's a new day for you there. We're expecting high temperatures, 76 degrees, and a lot of sunshine in Boston. But rain is going to be heavy across parts of the southeast. Once again, we're expecting in some of these locations to pick up a couple more inches of rainfall today, as well as tomorrow. And some of these areas don't need it. We're talking four to six inches has already fallen in parts of Georgia, as well as into parts of Florida. In fact, we have some video coming out of Alabama. This is just to the west of Montgomery. You're looking at people driving through flooded roadways. And Martin and Brianna, we say this all the time, don't drive through flooded streets. It doesn't take much to lose control of your car. And, of course, that could certainly be deadly. Back over to our radar here. So the rain is really starting to work its way onto the coast. You can see from the Florida panhandle, and for areas including southern parts of Alabama, Birmingham, you're going to seeing rain coming down later today. But look at these totals. We're talking six or more inches anywhere in this area in orange. And that's why we do have flood watches and warnings in place for this big rainfall event. And, of course, we still are talking about the tropics. We're watching an area of low pressure, you can see right in the Gulf of Mexico. The convection is to the north of it. Not very well organized. Right now it has about a 40 percent chance for tropical cyclone development. And then all the way out into the ocean we have another storm. This is Tropical Storm Erin. Erin is what we're going to call a fish storm. It doesn't look like it's going to be a threat to land. That's good news. It's going to be interacting with some dry air. But for today, it's not all bad out there, as I said. The Northeast, sunshine and cool. Cool in the south because of rain. And look at these high temperature, guys. We have a lot of 80s out there for today and they're going to stick around tomorrow. But we will see a warming trend, but that's not coming in till late next week.</s>SAVIDGE: All right, we'll keep an eye.</s>DELGADO: So you get the good and the bad, Martin. Good morning to you.</s>SAVIDGE: Yes, we'll keep an eye on the Gulf, apparently.</s>DELGADO: Yes, we will.</s>SAVIDGE: Jennifer, thanks.</s>DELGADO: Uh-huh.</s>KEILAR: Well, police in Denver have detained a man that say set at least two booby-trapped propane tanks in the middle of a quiet street and then blew up one by shooting it. Police say the suspect shot and killed one woman and injured another. "The Denver Post" reports that Daniel Abyeta was shot and critically wounded by police. No one was hurt when that propane tank exploded and the other tank was dismantled.</s>SAVIDGE: To New Jersey where Governor Chris Christie appears ready to sign a medical marijuana bill if the legislate making two key changes. Christie signaled he wants lawmakers to make edible pot available only to kids. A pediatrician and a psychiatrist would have to sign off on a child's prescription. Christie's under pressure from the dad of an epileptic toddler who says that medical marijuana would help his daughter.</s>KEILAR: Now, in money news, it was a second week of declines on Wall Street.</s>SAVIDGE: Yes, some investors fled the markets after two companies posted earnings that failed to impress. And others are worried about the Fed pulling back on its massive stimulus program.</s>KEILAR: Alison Kosik has more on your week on Wall Street. Alison.</s>ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brianna and Martin. Wall Street is zero for two. The Dow fell for a second week in a row. August has certainly been a rough one for stocks. Until this month, the Dow was up for six weeks in a row. Analysts say there's an eerie calm settling over the market, so we could be in for a bit of a slowdown. It's normal to see weakness in August, though, but some of the economic data that came out this week was concerning. Big names like Wal-Mart and Cisco rattled the market when their CEOs called the global economy, quote, "challenging." Wall Street watches these companies for clues on how the entire economy is doing because millions of people shop at Wal-Mart and because Cisco sells technology equipment to businesses, the government and to main street. Cisco also announced its cutting 4,000 jobs. As for the data, a regional manufacturing report showed activity slowed down last month. We got weak retail sales and housing numbers and consumer sentiment dropped. And there's the ever-present worry of when the Fed will stop pumping up the economy with stimulus. So, with so much up in the air, investors took the money and ran. Brianna and Martin.</s>SAVIDGE: Alison, thanks very much. And still to come, a Disney shuttle bus slams into a car near Florida's famous Epcot theme park.</s>KEILAR: Plus, Hannah Anderson out and about after last weekend's dramatic kidnapping ordeal. We'll take you to California.