xfinity mobile with your internet. it's wireless so good, it keeps one upping itself. the buck stops with him. president biden admitting the collapse of afghanistan unfolded more quickly than the u.s. anticipated. what now for desperate afghans left behind. breaking overnight, booster shots this fall for most americans, the new time line from the white house. and from bad to worse in haiti, a tropical storm complicating search efforts from the deadly earthquake. it is tuesday, august 17, 5:00 a.m., thanks for getting an early start with us. >> we are live this morning in

kabul, port-au-prince, washington, beijing and moscow as only "early start" can. but we begin with the taliban in charge of afghanistan. the white house now facing dual challenges this morning on a national security level, preventing the kind of extremist resurgence that led to the attack that drew the u.s. into afghanistan in the first place and on a more political level containing the fallout from the catastrophic retreat by the afghan army, the u.s. spent 20 years to defend their own land. images like this seared into history, desperate afghans fleeing the taliban chase an american military plane as it departed yesterday. >> also chilling scenes of what appear to be people in free-fall losing their grip after takeoff. and u.s. forced to get the allies who remain there out. and new photo inside a military cargo plane that flew out

sunday, 640 afghans crammed on a floor on a plane meant for far fewer. president biden admits that the collapse unfolded more quickly than the u.s. anticipated, but did not waiver on his decision to withdraw. >> i stand squarely behind my decision. after 20 years, i've learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw u.s. forces. if anything, the developments of the past week reinforced that ending u.s. military involvement in afghanistan now was the right decision. >> this morning the white house faces mounting questions about its apparent failure to prepare for the collapse of the afghan government. nick paton walsh is live for us in kabul, afghanistan. nick, what is it like on the streets this morning as the capital city tries to adjust to this new normal, if you will? >> reporter: yeah, it is still calm in the capital.

strange sense of order frankly. less so it seems around the airport where last night we did hear noises of gunfire in that general direction. it is of course the focus point of the remnants of the u.s. presence here where yesterday the pentagon were clear that they will try to get 22,000 afghans who at some point have worked for them or they feel they have a debt to into the airport and out of the country. i have to say when we even heard of that project when the afghan government was in position here that are friendly to the united states or were, that seemed like a far fetch idea knowing the chaos that often envelopes bur roke cr bureaucracy here in this country. and now the idea that 22,000 will go through taliban positions, checkpoints, the idea that they will somehow make their way to the airports, knock on the door and be allowed gently this is a tough sell, but it is the tenant of the remnants

of the u.s. presence here, ambassador to the u.s. saying he has not left, he is signing out visas to those who have arrived there. extraordinary operation for those who managed to get on to the airport. and of course the scenes we saw yesterday will have many deeply concerned i think inside that airport about how do you possibly get the right people in at the right pace unless of course you have some sort of cooperation or bargain with the taliban and of course that involves now the enemy of the united states for 20 years agreeing to let out of the country the afghans who the u.s. accepted were beneficial in their presence here. that is a pretty tough situation for anyone frankly to navigate. >> nick, president biden suggested in his remarks yesterday that he didn't act sooner to evacuate these translators and these friends of america because some people didn't want to leave, they were still invested in a better

outcome in their own country. and he says he held off on a mass exodus of americans and also, you know, afghans to avoid a crisis of confidence in afghanistan. how is all of that going over there on the ground? >> reporter: yeah, make no mistake when they talked about ramping up this program to the tens of thousands, there were already that sort of number trying to get out, it is not a new thing trying to leave afghanistan. pretty much anybody who can who has access and the wealth has got their way to other countries. so hence their role in so much of the migrant crisis in europe and elsewhere. officials say the last thing they need is the remaining people who have military experience with the united states getting out of here when we're trying to fight a war with the taliban. but that war is now very much over and the taliban won it. so obviously there may have been some months in which the afghan government were reticent and

then president biden said that they were concerned that it would slow the program down because some afghans didn't actually want to leave and i think -- i may have heard that once or twice, some individuals hoping that they could stick it out a little bit longer in the hope that maybe kabul would hold or some sort of accommodation could be made with the taliban and they wouldn't have to uproot their families. but that is the minority. the majority of people when given the opportunity for an american visa for their family and a new life in the united states leap on it. so a lot of what he said was logical to some degree listening to that speech, he was essentially saying this is a problem that nt can can't be fi i'll stop trying to fix it. but there was a lot of blame placed and i think in his heart he knows the american presence had to end here and is resigned to the consequences that we're already seeing and likely to see in the days ahead as their

promise to get tens of thousands out isn't realized. >> a state department spokesman yesterday also said that people shouldn't be going to the airport. americans in the kabul should not be going to the airport, they should be sheltering in place. to w do we have how many people are behind closed doors waiting for the next leg of that evacuation still in kabul trying to keep their heads down? >> reporter: i'm afraid i can't give you an accurate number as to how many americans may still be here. i would say that the presence has thinned out certainly from when i left here about ten weeks ago where there was a pretty massive community. it has gotten more thinly over time and i think the numbers have dwindled and there is a drumbeat for people to use commercial available airlines out if they possibly can. so i would be surprised if there was a significant number of people sheltering in place within the city. but i could be very much mistaken of course if they are in hiding, they are not about to talk to cnn. so it is a mixed series of

events here and i hope that some sort of accommodation potentially for the afghans and for the u.s. military and for the potential for just keeping peace along alonthe airport roan get made so people can access the airport and leave. but we're still in the point i think when the taliban are recognizing their new power, trying to work out quite what to do with it, looking to see you if they get international recognition from the people who said that they would not get that if they took kabul by force, they might argue they never did that because they didn't get much resistance. but everything is so in flux within the city despite the fact of the sense of the real calm that the taliban have imposed themselves that the fate of that u.s. presence which is supposed to be growing hour by hour, day by day, with more troops so that they can begin this process, the fate of how that project goes is i would say very much in doubt. >> all right. nick paton walsh, thank you so much for your analysis. stay safe there. breaking overnight, bring on

the boosters. federal health officials expected to recommend a third round of covid vaccine shots for all americans eight months after being fully vaccinated. sources telling cnn this plan is still being developed and could be rolled out in mid september, mid to late september i should say, once the fda formally approves the vaccines. research has shown the three vaccines offer protection between six and eight months. >> part of the goal is to let americans know now that they will need to plan for additional protection against the delta variant. nursing home residents and health care worker will likely be the first to get booster shots followed by older americans. still ahead, after 20 long years, what do most americans think about the upheaval in afghanistan? that is next.

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the death toll from the earthquake in haeat over the weekend soaring to more than 1400, now a tropical storm threatening to cause flash flooding and mudslides in the same area where the quake hit. only complicating an already challenging search and rescue effort. let's go live to cnn's joe johns live for us in port toe -au-pri. what is it looking like there? >> reporter: the prime minister has declared three days of mourning as the government tries to figure out what it can do for the vehicle it ims, victims, many of whom spent the night in the rain after losing their homes, programerhaps other fami members. as the sun comes up, we'll find out just

faired. the numbers are terrible, 1400 killed, something like 7,000 people injured so far. and 37,000 homes destroyed. just an unimaginable tragedy for this country. by the way, this is a country that does not have the institutions to recover from a situation like this. listen to what is going on with the health care workers. >> translator: yesterday it was really hard and we didn't have enough staff didn't have any staff. although we kept them until 6:00 a.m. >> reporter: moving through the streets of the city here, port-au-prince, it is very evident that this country has not recovered from the earthquake ten years ago that took more than 200,000 lives. the question now is how are

other institutions going to respond. we do know the united states has sent in u.s. aid, other organizations are trying to lend assistance. but the recovery process has not yet begun because they are still trying to figure out who they can save and who is not available for being saved. back to you. >> and still dealing with the aftermath of the assassination of its leader as well. joe johns, thank you for being there for us. back to the u.s., returning mostly unvaccinated kids to school is proving to be quite complex. in tampa, nearly 6,000 students and employees are in quarantine or isolation. the school board will hold an emergency meeting tomorrow to discuss mitigation strategies including masking. >> and three other counties are enforcing a mask mandate. meanwhile in texas, dallas and

san antonio school boards also requiring masks, all of these counties defying anti-masking orders from their state's respective governors. >> my opinion shall be guided by the expert opinion and position, facts, expertise and experience of the individuals that we'll be listening to very, very soon. >> the governor is looking at polls, he is no longer even talking to his own medical experts, he is looking at polls of what republican primary voters want to hear and working from there. >> in tennessee, just days into nashville's school year, more than 1,000 students and teachers are quarantined or isolated. this after a fiery school board meeting over masks last weekgov signing an executive order allowing students to opt out of school mask mandates. >> they are protective and if parents want their child to be

protected in that way, then sthy should do so. if a parent feels that is not best for their kid because of other reasons, they should have the ability to make that decision for the health of their children. >> optional public health. >> at the same time in las vegas, a very different story. big moves towards vaccine governor saying that they have to show proof of vaccination. mgm resorts will require all employees and new hires to be vaccinated.he raiders are first require vaccinations for fans. one thing for the players and staff, but for the fans, i wonder if that actually could be the incentive that could help some people. >> and there is a big demand yelp and others are starting to

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people. a reporter for the uprising newsletter is joining us. i'm wondering outside the washington bubble what is your sense of how most americans waking up this morning view the situation. >> there is pretty much a consensus in recent polling that majority of americans support the idea of withdrawing from afghanistan. now we'll have to see if some of chaotic and frankly indelible images from kabul change that figure but i think for now this is a move on which he has the support of most of the american people. >> and you've also suggested on twitter there are essentially two policy positions on the situation in afghanistan. you've talked about that one being that the war was just a complete waste or on the other hand that we have this obligation to continue fighting there. but doesn't the last few days reflect more of a concern about the way that the withdrawal has been handled and simply why

people weren't evacuated a long time ago? >> i think that this does reflect some legitimate and dangerous changing conditions on the ground but also somewhat a bit of short attention span within our political discourse. we're talking about the situation of the last few days rather than the situation of the last 20 years which has left over 200,000 people dead including 6,000 u.s. troops and contractors. so this has already been a chaotic and messy situation and i think that there is a bit of a bad tendency to, you know, pretend that it suddenly became that way. prior to the situation, really this was a question of whether to withdraw or continue the war, i think that there is now a little bit of a more nuanced debate and that is why you see people like congresswoman ilhan omar suggesting to secure the evacuation and then leave, but you also see people like liz

cheney and mitch mcconnell who i've written about where they are jumping on bipartisan for the chaos in kabul over the last couple days and using that as an entree to make the case that we should essentially continue the war in afghanistan and leave troops on the ground. >> the last few days no doubt has been messy. these images are frankly hard to watch. what will be the lasting impact though of the president's decision on afghanistan, will it be these images or will it be something else? >> these are extremely dramatic images. they have unquestioned he can companie -- echos of ssaigon. and i think that it will be a political problem for him. but i do think that majority of people supported this and for thousands it means loved ones coming home and less threat of

violence. and of course way too often we cover this stuff and talk about the u.s. casualties but the afghans who died will be a footnote. but they will continue to experience instability but i think this also exposed the fact that it is not just the recent u.s. missteps in the past few months that have led to instability in afghanistan, it has been unstable there for quite some time. >> very fair point. you th hunter walker, thank you very much. two of america's biggest foe foes will stand to benefit from america leaving afghanistan. we'll be right back.

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health officials in the biden administration expected to advise that most americans should get covid booster shots eight months after becoming fully vaccinated. two soirs sources tell cnn the s still being developed but third shots could begin in mid to late september pending fda authorization. i stand squarely behind my decision. after 20 years, i've learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw u.s. forces. >> president biden admitting that the collapse of the afghan government unfolded more quickly than anticipated, but he stood behind his decision to withdraw u.s. troops. nancy pelosi holding firm on her dual track plan on infrastructure. she wants the senate passed deal to move along with the democrats larger human infrastructure package. moderate house democrats have demanded a vote on the hard

infrastructure plan first. a tropical storm threatening more devastation in haiti on the heels of an earthquake that killed more than 1400 people. the storm could cause flash floods and mudslides. first ever water shortage declared on the colorado river cutting the water supply for millions in western states early next year. historic drought conditions have pushed water levels on lake meade to record lows. tennessee's former top vaccination official may have orchestrated a phony plot sending herself a dog muzzle. a new report finds there is no evidence that anyone was threatening to silence the doctor and that the muzzle she reported receiving before she was fired was paid with her own credit card. t-mobile confirms it has been hit by a data breach, hackers claim to be selling customer info for more than 1

million people. t-mobile is not commenting how widespread the damage might be. atlanta falcons are number one in the vaccinations, the first in the nfl to have 100% of its players vaccinated. falcons are now the only team that can go maskless around their training facility and eat and workout together. when images desperate afghans clinging to planes emerged monday morning, president biden had already conceded to aides that he had little choice but to interrupt his stay at camp david and return to the white house. and he largely placed the blame elsewhere. >> the truth is, this did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated. so what has happened? afghanistan political leaders gave up and fled the country. the afghan military collapsed. sometimes without trying to fight. american troops cannot and

should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves. >> biden also placed blame on former president trump and has voiced disagreement with former president obama on decisions he made a decade ago. jasmine wright is live at the white house -- in washington i should say say. the president seemed dug in on his position, he stood firm, but takes behind the scenes of what we saw yesterday. >> reporter: we saw president biden return in defense mode really after being put under pressure by his own political allies to come and address the nation after the fall of afghanistan. and the thing, this is not only raising questions about what politically the impact will be on the president, but also this is about real people, afghan people whose country is falling into the hands of the taliban. so my colleagues reported that the president while he was getting briefed at camp david,

remember we saw those pictures of him getting the video briefings, was quizzing his own aides about how they could misjudge the time line for when the afghan army would collapse. and now the dominating factor when we're talking about crafting that speech, it was not just about that gop criticism that they expected to get, but it was about how president biden himself could get it so wrong. remember he said last month that it was highly unlikely that the country would be overrun by the taliban, that it would not look like a saigon moment, but that is exactly where we are. and those miscalculations we heard him briefly admit that, yeah, it happened more quickly, that was really all in the realm of what they were talking about when they were putting the remarks together. and another thing, yes, he did pass the blame on to president trump, a little bit on former president obama, but also on afghans themselves and that ousted afghan leader ghani who

actually fled the country. he said that they basically gave up. so this is a president aides say that showed no signs of any real acknowledgement that his own actions, his own decision to pull out of afghanistan really contributed to the chaos that we saw over the weekend and on monday. so the question is really what comes next. and so we'll all from media to congress to the administration itself, but when you talk to officials privately, they will tell you that the american people are behind the president with the decision to withdraw from afghanistan. and so while they are concerned about covid and domestic issues and the economy, this may not be top of mind for most americans. >> yeah, no doubt he is seeing the same polling we have. the question is whether those same polls may change given how the withdrawal has actually gone down. jasmine, thank you.

with the u.s. pulling out of afghanistan it seems other countries namely china and russia stand to benefit from the return of the taliban and less u.s. influence there. we have live reports from both china and russia, first to david culver for us in beijing. i know the chinese foreign minister has spoken with secretary of state antony blinken, says that they are willing to work with the u.s. here, but what is the chinese position? >> reporter: this is one to watch, it is interesting because publicly we're seeing that you just need to roll the images desperation out of afghanistan and that plays right into the chinese state media propaganda. they are essentially telling the world this is what happens when you rely on the u.s. and they just show those pictures. privately, they are worried. observers are looking at this and saying there is a lot of concern about the instability that could a rise from this. china shares a very small border with afghanistan, about you they have been strategic over recent weeks. five weeks ago, july 16, that is

when president xi jinping had a phone call with now ousted president ashraf ghani. and on that phone call he didn't endorse the afghan government but he said that he of course supported the afghan people and stability and peace. fast forward 12 days. let me show you these images. these are from july 28th. these show the foreign minister meeting with taliban officials right here in china. they met, they discussed political stability, stability within the region. that word is used a lot and they want to maintain that. what will be fascinating going forward is to see what happens in the foreign western region. we have covered extensively the widespread allegations of human rights abuses, what the u.s. considered to be genocide, against the weaker muslim minority there. you've got the taliban, are they going to deal with the chinese government or are they going to push for the rights of those who

are their brethren in faith. that is what we'll be watching for and it will be fascinating to see how this plays out. >> a whole new set of circumstances. all right. david culver for us in china, thank you. >> let's go now to fred pleitgen in moscow. russia appears to be giving take ta tacet approval if you will. and saying kabul actually seems safer since the taliban took tr control. so how is this actually helping vladimir putin? >> reporter: i think the russians believe that they will be able to deal with the taliban a lot better than they had been with the ghani government. the special enjoy called the ghani government a puppet government and he believes right now stability is actually coming back to kabul. so one of the things that the russians have been doing for years is they have been cultivating ties with the

taliban. they say currently they are in touch with all the factions inside afghanistan with all those who hold any sort of power inside afghanistan. so they believe that they are in a fairly comfortable position at this point in time. their embassy is staying open and continuing to work. at the same time the russians are saying that they want to take sort of a wait and see approach to see whether or not they are actually going to recognize the taliban as being the new rulers of afghanistan. but at the same time they do believe that they are in a fairly comfortable position right now of course in all of this, they also did take a big swipe at the united states and they do believe that this hurts the u.s.'s credibility in that region. they said that when the soviet union left afghanistan in 1989, at least the government they left behind lasted for three years. the government the u.s. left behind didn't even last until the actual pullout date. so you can see the russians gloating, but at the same time it is a strategically important region for them and certainly one where they will want to strengthen the ties that they

have here. >> fred pleitgen, thank you so much. we'll be right back. a fast walker. thanks, gary. and for unexpected heartburn... frank is a fan of pepcid. it works in minutes. nexium 24 hour and prilosec otc can take one to four days to fully work. pepcid. strong relief for fans of fast. (vo) unconventional tnking means we see things differently, so you can focus on what matters most. that's how we've become the leader in 5g. #1 in customer satisfaction. and a partner who includes 5g in every plan, so you get it all. this is the sound of change from pnc bank. it's the sound of a thousand sighs of relief and of a company watching out for you. this is the sound of low cash mode from pnc bank, giving you multiple options

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i'm adamant we focus on the threats we face today in 2021, not yesterday's threats. today the terrorist threat has metastasized well beyond afghanistan. these threats warrant our attention and our resources. >> president biden insisting there the u.s. must focus on terrorist threats today, not those of the past, but critics say his decision to withdraw from afghanistan might increase the threat level and quickly.

joining us now is charles lister, senior fellow and director of the counterterrorism program and middle east institute. >> nice to see you. help us understand what happens when nonstate actors like the taliban take over territory, take over a region, take over a country. >> thank you so much for having me this morning. i think it goes without saying that for a group like the taliban to take over an entire country is like an earthquake at home, at abroad. at home, it has created already a significant humanitarian crisis not just the scenes that we've been seeing from kabul at the airport, but nationwide there is now widespread fear and uncertainty amidst the population about what it now means to be living under taliban rule. and of course this is a medieval jihadist organization and we now all about how they got it because they were governing -- excuse me, they were governing afghanistan before 9/11. and regionally and

internationally it creates a diplomatic crisis. how to governments respond. and we've seen the vacuum it has created has seen other adversaries like china and russians and turkey step into the void. they have all announced their intent to establish diplomatic ties with the new government in afghanistan. >> the worry of course is that the taliban taking control potentially opens the door for extremist groups to make inroads in afghanistan. the entire narrative that i was told my entire life as a teen and young adult is that we had to go this because it was a terrorist organization and we had to protect american lives here. so where does the biden administration go to ensure that that doesn't happen? >> well, you are absolutely right. we went in for the right reasons. i think there is an argument to be made that our reasons for staying did indeed change. but i think first off the

taliban itself is an extremist group and should be classified as a terrorist organization. it gave harbor to the very people who committed 9/11 nearly 20 years ago. the taliban shares an oath of allegiance with al qaeda. that is an irreversible religiously binding oath of allegiance and that is not going away despite what some of our diplomats at the state department have told us. so there is no doubt in my mind that al qaeda and possibly also isis which has a presence in afghanistan stands very well placed right now to revitalize itself in afghanistan. so what does the biden administration do? the wording from the administration is that we will still have the means necessary to counter any possible terrorist threats emanating from afghanistan and that is really rooted in two core kind of capabilities. number one, having intelligence on the ground. the reality is, and we know this, that the cia and rest of

the u.s. intelligence community has essentially had to dissolve its entire network all across afghanistan because of this withdrawal and because of the days on achaos and uncertainty that has created. and the so-called over the horizon air strike capability. despite what the president said yesterday, we haven't negotiated a single over the horizon air access deal with any of afghanistan's neighbors. so we don't have the means that the president is claiming that we do. we just simply have quit, packed up our bags, left the country and claiming we are stillprotec from threats. but right now that is just a flat faced live. >> charles lister, thanks for that perspective. a lot to think about. now to tropical storm fred making landfall in the florida panhandle. the system is expected to deliver storm surge, river flooding and possible tornadoes. fred is one of at least two

storms that could hit the united states this week. pedram javaheri is live for us. what should very expect for the rest of the week? >> quite a bit of rainfall here especially from areas across the south all the way to the northeast before this system finally rains itself out. you will notice this is not very impressive on satellites. it has been over land about 12 or so hours and it is crossing out of alabama into georgia. and widespread flood watches in place, even tornado watches at this hour because of the system spinning into the region. so from macon into metro atlanta, we have flood watches in place and continues into the appalachian mountains and eventually even into western virginia. but this is exactly what we're looking at for rainfall amounts, radar estimated coming in here, as much as 4 to 6 inches, some pockets crossing up into 8 inches. but notice the tornado watch remains in place including metro atlanta through at least 1:00 p.m. here before conditions are

expected to gradually improve. here is what is left of fred. notice scattered storms across the northeast and once the system eventually arrives here within the next say 36 to 48 hours or so, expect heavy rainfall to continue around some of the major metro cities in the northeast in part thanks to what is left of the system and then finally we see this exit stage right. now, on the western side of the u.s., we are back in action here with critical concerns for fire in the southwest and nine states dealing with red flag warnings as well. so gusty winds back in the forecast, temperatures into the century mark around that refugee often the u.s. and in the south, atlanta highs only 77 degrees. you can thank a lot of rainfall, about 2 1/2 inches worth, expected in the metro area for atlanta. >> pedram, thank you. and now a look at your business. markets around the world, you can see asian shares closed down. europe has opened mixed here.

on wall street, stock index futures are all leaning lower here. it was record highs though again for the dow and s&p, the dow closed up 110 points, they have hit records five trading days in a row. s&p 500 is now double its pandemic closing low from march last year. wow, it is up 19% so far this year. stocks have been up six months in a row now showing just how incredible the recovery has been on wall street. the risk now for the economy and markets now is the delta variant. naomi osaka breaking down in tears during her first news conference since withdrawing from the french open for mental health reasons. andy scholes has the "bleacher report." what happened? >> first time in almost three months that naomi osaka has held a media session. this was in cincinnati. and she was asked by paul dougherty about benefiting from the media but not enjoying the press conference format. >> you are not crazy about

dealing with us especially in this format. yet you have a lot of outside interests that are served by having a media platform. i guess my question is, how do you balance the two. >> when you say i'm not crazy about dealing with you guys, what does that refer to? >> so dougherty and osaka had an exchange with osaka saying she was interested in his point of view. dougherty rephrased the question referring to how osaka has suggested that there is a better way to hold media sessions. osaka said she was still trying to figure out how to balance all the media attention. and then moments later she became advisably upset after another question. >> sorry. >> no, you are super good. >> okay, i think that we'll take a quick break. we'll be back in one moment.

>> osaka would then get up and leave. she returned a few minutes later. area agent called dougherty a bully and said he was trying to intimidate osaka. osaka withdrew from the french open and did not play wimbledon of course in order to focus on her mental health. >> it is tough. i hope that she is getting the help that she needs. she is obviously going through something tough there and it is hard to watch someone have a real sort of breakdown and human moment like that. >> i think it is super brave these athletes who are speaking out about the pressure cooker that they are in. i mean, you know, it is brave. andy scholes, nice to see you. that is it for us this tuesday morning. i'm christine romans. >> and i'm laura jarrett. "new day" is next. lucia. who announces her intentions even if no one's there.

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that's cool, but ours save us serious clam-aroonies. relax people, my wireless is crushing it. that's because you all have xfinity mobile with your internet. it's wireless so good, it keeps one upping itself. good morning to our viewers in the united states and all around the world. it is tuesday, august 17, i'm john berman with brianna keilar. we begin with breaking news, a huge development overnight in the battle against covid. u.s. health officials are expected to recommend covid booster shots for most americans. that is eight months after getting their second vaccine dose. it was only last week that third shots were recommended for people with weakened immune systems.