Ahead of the curve: The next 7 days
August 7th, 2011
08:11 PM ET
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Ahead of the curve: The next 7 days

Markets around the world have started to open for business, ushering in the first week that the United States’ credit rating was less than top ranked AAA.What will be the effect on financial markets worldwide? Here is a look at this and other stories that CNN plans to follow this week:

Following U.S. downgrade, world markets worry and wait

The ripple effect from Friday’s downgrade by Standard & Poor's of the U.S. credit rating to AA+ from the top rank of AAA remains to be seen across the world.

Middle Eastern markets, the first to open since the downgrade, were sharply lower on Sunday. Israel's market temporarily halted trading at one point and finished down more than 6%, while the Dubai Financial Market General Index fell 3.7%.

Stocks on key Asian exchanges dropped modestly early Monday.

In early Tokyo trading, the Nikkei index fell 124 points, or 1.3%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index tumbled 2.6% at the open. And  U.S. stock futures fell around 1.7% in early electronic trading Sunday.

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Filed under: Ahead of the curve • Economy • Politics • U.S. • World
August 7th, 2011
06:51 PM ET
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Eight dead, including gunman, in Ohio shooting spree

Seven people, including an 11-year-old, were fatally shot in a small Ohio town Sunday in a rampage that ended when police killed the suspected gunman, authorities said.

Copley Township Police Chief Michael Mier told CNN affiliate WJW that the shooting began after an argument in a residence.

Lindy McCrady, who lives near the shootings, said a woman ran to her house and told her, "somebody had shot her husband point blank in the head. ... And then she started screaming, 'My son, my son, my 11-year-old son.' "

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Filed under: Crime • Ohio
August 7th, 2011
06:07 PM ET
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Saudi king: 'No justification' for Syrian clampdown

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah condemned the crackdown on anti-government protesters in Syria on Sunday, saying there is "no justification for the bloodshed."

In an audio message that aired on Saudi state television Sunday night, Abdullah said the kingdom had recalled its ambassador from Damascus for consultations.

His statement puts the leader of one of the leading powers in the region behind calls for an end to the violence. In his remarks Sunday night, he said Syria's future "lies between two choices - either wisdom or chaos."

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Filed under: Middle East • Protest • Saudi Arabia • Syria
August 7th, 2011
02:02 PM ET
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Verizon workers go on strike

Verizon workers, including call center employees and cable workers, have gone on strike. The move could cause delays in service, according to a report in the New York Times Sunday.

The workers are associated with the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers who disagree with concessions that the telecommunications company wants to make to employee health care coverage and pension plans. The strike covers workers from Massachusetts to Virgina, the Times and the Huffington Post reports.

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Filed under: Uncategorized
August 7th, 2011
01:28 PM ET
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London police say rioters fired at them

A vigil in London held Saturday to honor a man killed by London police turned from peaceful to violent. Rioters threw gas bombs and projectiles at law enforcement, according to the city's Metropolitan Police. Forty-eight people were arrested, officials said on Sunday.

The police are investigating the uprising.

The man whose vigil was taking place was Mark Duggan. He was killed while riding in a cab on Thursday. Police stopped the cab in an attempted arrest, and shots were fired, the Independent Police Complaints Commission said.

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Filed under: United Kingdom
SEALs were going after Taliban leader when helicopter shot down, officials say
Helicopter shot down after forces pursued Taliban target, officials say
August 7th, 2011
12:02 PM ET
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SEALs were going after Taliban leader when helicopter shot down, officials say

The 22 Navy SEALs killed when their helicopter was shot down in Wardak province were part of a mission to go after a known Taliban leader directly responsible for attacks against American troops, two U.S. military officials have told CNN.

Get up to date on the incident that happened Saturday in Afghanistan

According to new information CNN's Barbara Starr obtained, the SEALs who were killed had been called in to assist another unit on the ground pinned down in a firefight. The officials did not know if the Taliban leader had been killed. They declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of ongoing operations in the crash area.

Coalition forces remain at the crash site in order to remove all the wreckage, and prevent insurgents from taking photos of the scene to use as a "propaganda tool," one official said. Investigators will be examining the wreckage, but the same official said the crash was catastrophic that there may be little to glean from it. The United States had specific reports of enemy weapons activity in the same area at the time of the crash, so officials continue to assume that the Chinook was shot down. One of the officials also said that while the Chinook helicopter has been described as a "conventional" aircraft, it did have all the latest electronic equipment and that the crew had special operations training.

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Filed under: Afghanistan • Taliban • Terrorism
August 7th, 2011
08:34 AM ET
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NATO says soldiers killed by insurgents in Afghanistan

Four NATO soldiers were killed Sunday in two separate insurgent attacks in eastern and southern Afghanistan, NATO reported. Their deaths come one day after the worst single-incident loss of American troops since the start of the Afghan war. Read the full story

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Filed under: Afghanistan