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New Day Sunday

U.S. Children Get Sick with Enterovirus D-68; Saying Good-Bye to Joan Rivers; Weather Report: Some Flooding in New England and Nice Weather for Northeast; Short Ceasefire Erupting in More Violence in Ukraine; Putin Creating Zones of Instability in Former Parts of Soviet Union; Obama Under attack for delaying immigration reform; Analyzing ISIS Threat; Unusual Turn at U.S. Open; Japan Celebrating Kei Nishikori's Victory; Joan Rivers Remembered by Prince and Prime Minister; Asteroid Coming Close to Earth

Aired September 07, 2014 - 06:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, a nice big breath, everybody! You've made it to Sunday. I'm Christi Pau.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Martin Savidge. I'm in for Victor Blackwell. It is 6:00 in the morning. 3:00 a.m. if you're watching on the West Coast.

PAUL: You never went to bed.

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: 3:00 a.m. Yeah. We do want to begin this morning, and we're so glad to have you here, Martin.

SAVIDGE: Thank you.

PAUL: Thank you for being here. We begin with parents in the Denver area right now. Because they are on alert. Doctors are suspecting a rare respiratory virus is to blame for sickening hundreds of children and landing dozens of people in the hospital. And the thing is some of them are in intensive care.

SAVIDGE: Yeah, this is something difficult for parents to watch. Colorado is just the latest state where doctors are seeing signs of what resembles enterovirus D-68. Health officials in ten other states from North Carolina to Oklahoma have also reported suspected outbreaks. The virus is related to the common cold with symptoms including cough and runny nose.

PAUL: It can be particularly dangerous, though, for children with asthma and for all kids younger than five. Now, Marc Stewart with our affiliate KMJH kind of walked us through this (INAUDIBLE).

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL CORNEJO, 13 YEARS OLD: A couple of days ago - a couple of days ago I was -- I couldn't breathe at all.

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The oxygen mask is a necessity. WILL CORNEJO: My head started hurting. After my lungs started sort

of closing up.

STEWART: 13-year-old Will Cornejo almost didn't make it.

JENNIFER CORNEJO, WILL'S MOTHER: White as a ghost, blue lips. He just passed out, had his eyes roll back in his head and I had to call 911.

STEWART: Now at Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children, Will's likely dealing with what is known as enterovirus 68 that makes breathing challenging and requires round the clock treatment over ...

DR. RAJU MEYAPPAN, CRITICAL CARE PHYSICIAN, ROCKY MOUNTAIN HOSPITAL FOR CHILDREN: Our pediatric floor is full of patients with pretty severe respiratory distress.

STEWART: Will was at risk, because he already deals with asthma. Yet doctors say, all kids under five are also prone to the virus that first appears as the common cold.

MATT CORNEJO, WILL'S FATHER: To go from a cold, you know, to being probably minutes away from death that's kind of scary.

STEWART: Despite it too, this eighth-grader is on the mend.

WILL CORNEJO: I don't know. I feel better than I did before.

STEWART: His family is sharing their story, hoping parents will pay attention until there is an all clear.

JENNIFER CORNEJO: It was pretty scary.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: Thanks to Marc Stewart with CNN affiliate KMGH for that. Now, you can help keep the children in your life safe from - This is really a very scary virus. Number one, washing our hands, we don't do it enough. That is key. Avoiding sick people and keeping sick kids at home. Don't send them to school. Keep kids asthma under control as best you can and get your family vaccinated against the flu and pertussis, also known as whopping cough, all of those things really help.

SAVIDGE: And in fact, ahead in the next hour we'll be joined by Dr. William Shafter, a professor of preventative medicine at Vanderbilt Medical Center. And he'll be here to talk more about this rare respiratory virus suspected of sickening children as we say, in 11 states.

PAUL: Well, the wife of an American doctor infected with Ebola says he's still really sick and he's weak but he's doing better. Even apparently had a little chicken soup.

SAVIDGE: Is this the cure ...

PAUL: Good for the soul, right?

SAVIDGE: Cure for everything, isn't it? We're talking about Dr. Rick Sacra. He's being treated at a hospital in Omaha in Nebraska. Obviously, the news is better. His doctors are trying to figure out, though, how he got the highly infectious disease. He was working in a hospital in Liberia delivering babies. Sacra is the third American with Ebola to return to the U.S. for treatment.

PAUL: Scary moment for a NASCAR champ Jimmie Johnson. He collapsed last night in Richmond, Virginia.

SAVIDGE: He was suffering from severe cramping and dizziness as a result of, and it's a classic symptom, dehydration. Six time champion climbed from this car and laid on the ground after Saturday's federated Auto Parts 400.

PAUL: According to the Associated Press, Johnson required some five liters of intravenous fluids after being rushed to the tracks medical center there.

SAVIDGE: I believe that's the equivalent of an oil change. It's not clear why this happened to one of the fittest drivers in NASCAR, but just a few hours ago Johnson tweeted that he is feeling a lot better. That is really severe dehydration.

PAUL: Yeah, yeah, we certainly hope so. Hope so. So you know, a couple of hours away here from Joan Rivers' friends and loved ones going to be gathering to remember and pay tribute to her. This woman that so many people say was the kindest, and funniest they had ever met.

SAVIDGE: We talked to a number of those people yesterday. The trailblazing comedienne died on Thursday at the age of 81. You know that. One week after suffering cardiac arrest during a routine medical procedure. Fans have laid flowers and messages by her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and also left flowers outside of Rivers' apartment building in New York City.

PAUL: Yeah, look at that. Rivers joked that she wanted her funeral to be Hollywood all the way. Here's what she wrote. I love this. "I want paparazzi, I want publicists making a scene. I want Meryl Streep crying in five different accents."

SAVIDGE: And Rivers said, I want a wind machine so that even in the casket my hair is flowing just like Beyonce's. Today's funeral will be, actually, a much more private affair. CNN's Alexandra Field (INAUDIBLE). Alexandra.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christi, Martin, friends and family members will say a final good-bye to legendary comedienne Joan Rivers during a private ceremony at a temple just a few blocks away from her Manhattan apartment. The comedienne had joked very openly and publicly about the kind of funeral that she wanted. She wrote in one of her books that I want a grand show business style affair. But right now, this is a private service and the family has kept the details of how they will honor Joan private as well. Fans have had an opportunity to pay tribute to the comedienne, leaving flowers and cards at her doorstep, Joan Rivers' daughter Melissa Rivers has been seen coming and going from the apartment, stopping at one point to say how amazed she was by the number of tributes to her late mother.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FIELD: Melissa, anything you want to say about the tributes to Joan?

MELISSA RIVERS, DAUGHTER OF JOAN RIVERS: They are amazing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FIELD: Right now, investigators are still trying to determine what went wrong. Rivers was rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City in critical condition more than a week ago. She went into cardiac and respiratory arrest during a procedure at Yorkville Endoscopy Center. That center is now under investigation by the state health department which will be looking at documents and medical records as well as interviewing physicians and staff members to see what happened while Rivers was in the clinic for that procedure. Medical examiner says that more testing is still needed to determine the exact cause and manner of Joan Rivers' death. Christi, Martin.

SAVIDGE: Alexandra Field, thank you very much. The funeral for Joan Rivers will take place at 11:00 a.m., that's Eastern Time. It will be held at the Temple Emanuel on New York City's Upper East Side. That's by the way, is the largest synagogue in the world. As Alexandra mentioned, the funeral will be private, in other words, no public and no media. Alexandra joins us again next hour with more details on who exactly is going to be there.

PAUL: Yeah, but boy, the heartbroken fans of Joan Rivers. You know, they are blasting Yorkville Endoscopy Clinic in New York City. That's, of course, where she went into cardiac arrest during that outpatient procedure.

SAVIDGE: And they are doing it in really a very public way, online. Fans have flooded the clinic's page, the Yelp! Business reviews website. And some go so far as to blame that clinic for Rivers' death saying that it did not have to happen. Officials say right now no criminal investigation is under way.

Meanwhile, in Michigan, get this, more than 200 people still without power.

PAUL: Oh mine!

SAVIDGE: -- like 375,000 so they whittled it down.

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: Very little - very little whittling (ph). But they did it.

SAVIDGE: But that's a lot of people not watching.

PAUL: Oh, my gosh. High winds, powerful storms and we know what that's like. That's what knocked down the power lines. But we want to bring in Jennifer Gray and see, you know, if this is expected to really continue on as it pushes east.

JENNIFER GRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that system has completely pushed offshore. We did have some storm reports across New England late yesterday. But now the focus is really turned to the southwest because we could see some major flooding today. We're looking at Norbert right here, this is now down to a category 1 storm, barely a hurricane. 75 miles per hour winds, gusts up to 90, moving to the west-northwest at about 90 miles per hour. And here is the track. You see quickly turning into a tropical storm and then just an area of low pressure.

But making that bend back to the East. That's going to feed incredible amounts of moisture into extreme portions of southern California, and even on into Arizona. So we could see anywhere from, say, three inches of rain just to the south of San Diego, we could also see one to three inches of rain outside of Phoenix, two to four around Las Vegas. So we could see some flooding across portions of Arizona, even extreme southern California. So we do have those flood watches in effect for today for some very heavy rainfall. So we need to be on the lookout for that.

In the meantime, that system that pushed offshore in the northeast, bringing some very comfortable temperatures. We've been baking up there the past couple of days. Now temperatures will be at 80 degrees in D.C., New York City, 81 after a couple of days of the temperatures in the 90s, and then we're moving on down even more. Almost a ten- degree difference by Tuesday, high temperatures in the low 70s in New York City. So refreshing change, the humidity down, guys, it's going to feel really nice in the northeast the coming days.

PAUL: Nice. They needed that for the Open. Yeah, didn't they? That would ...

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: Thank you, Jen. I mean maybe it really would have helped because people are calling New York City a very upset city this morning. Big surprises on the court at the U.S. Open. Top seeds, lose to a pair of unlikely tennis underdogs. Tennis, of course, being Martin's favorite segment.

SAVIDGE: It is indeed, and I can't wait to get to that.

(LAUGHTER)

SAVIDGE: But first, something more serious. New U.S. airstrikes overnight like the ones like these in Iraq. This time the target, ISIS operations near a key dam. We'll tell you why. The details coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: Breaking overnight, U.S. warplanes carried out a new round of airstrikes against ISIS militants in Iraq. The strikes were launched near Iraq's second largest dam.

PAUL: Yeah, the failure of Haditha Dam could be catastrophic if it happens because it provides water to millions of people. Officials also fear ISIS could use the water to flood villages and take over Iraq's electricity industry. Let's talk at another flash point here. Eastern Ukraine, where there are fears this morning that a fragile ceasefire is going to fall apart not just a few days after it began.

SAVIDGE: Yeah, and now it seems to be sort of a ceasefire. There has been shelling and gun fire near two major cities in the region. A gas station was set ablaze. And a number of civilians have now been injured.

CNN's Diana Magnay joins me from Mariupol in eastern Ukraine.

PAUL: Thank you so much. Also, joining us Lieutenant Colonel and Pentagon consultant Bob Maginnis. Both of you, thank you for being here. Diana, I do want to start with you since you are there. What is the situation like where you are?

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, from where I'm standing, Christi, this doesn't feel much like a ceasefire. Around midnight last night we heard the sound of a heavy artillery bombardment what sounded like grand rockets being fired either out of the city or toward the city. We drove toward the checkpoint on the eastern part of town, going out toward the Russian border. And on our way we saw many cars driving as fast as they could in toward the city, residents in the eastern district clearly trying to leave the area as the shells came in.

We also saw one small car where civilians inside including children looked badly injured. We've been hearing machine gun fire just before the back of that windscreen had been clearly shot out and these three or four of them very badly injured and we've heard today from the hospital staff here that one woman was killed as a result of that attack. I can safely -- I can presume that it was those civilians that we saw in that car.

We went back to the checkpoint today. The shelling has come much closer into Mariupol than it being previously. As you said, a gas station there set on fire, the smell of propane gas thick in the air. And even as we were there we heard the sound of incoming mortar fire and all of the journalists who were there ran for cover.

So, certainly this ceasefire as far as where I'm standing and also according to reports in Donetsk, the airport has been shelled overnight, doesn't seem to be worth the paper it's written on. We know that two Ukrainian hostages have been released from across the border, a prisoner exchange was part of the terms of this deal. But I'd be very surprised, Christi and Martin, if that continued over the course of the day given the fact that this firing, this ceasefire, doesn't really seem to be being respected.

SAVIDGE: No, it does not. Diana Magnay, thank you very much for that update. Bob, how likely is it that this ceasefire is going to continue to hold? It is not looking good at this point. LT. COL. BOB MAGINNIS, U.S. ARMY (RET.): No, it isn't, Martin. And

it's unfortunate that we continue to see more than, well, so far 2600 eastern Ukrainians have died in the conflict. The reality is that Poroshenko, this president of Ukraine and Vladimir Putin, you know, talked about and came to some sort of agreement in Belarus that led to the ceasefire. You know, it really leaves a frozen conflict. And that's what Putin wanted.

You know, Putin wanted something like Moldova where they've had troops for years, Georgia where they had troops for years, he leaves his proxies there in eastern Ukraine, it stays unstable, and, of course, they will not be allowed into NATO, they will have to push back against the European Union. And that's what Putin wants. And so, you know, keeping an unstable tentative on again, off again ceasefire really plays into his hand.

PAUL: Bob, what is the endgame for Putin, do you think here? I mean you seem to have some sort of a grasp of what he does want. But in the big picture?

MAGINNIS: Well, you know, Christi, of course being an old KGB guy as he is, he understands how the instability along the former satellites kept the West at large. And he does not want the return certainly of the instability that followed the end of the Cold War. He wants something like he enjoyed when he grew up there in Leningrad, which is now St. Petersburg. So, basically, if he can keep that entire necklace of nations from Estonia to Azerbaijan in his camp, which, of course, there has been a tendency over the last couple of decades to go, you know, more into the Western camp. And Putin being what he is, really sort of a Stalinist in a way, with all sorts of I suppose nuances from democratic speeches that he's given, that that's what he ultimately wants.

He keeps reminding us, Christi that he has a very large nuclear arsenal and, of course, over the last decade, the double digit increased his conventional forces so he has a credible conventional force, a large nuclear force. He wants to be a major player in the world stage. And therefore, you know, Putin is doing what he is doing in Ukraine because that's the heritage that he grew up in and he wants to preserve that as best as he can.

SAVIDGE: Yeah, unfortunately I was always skeptical, too, of the ceasefire. We'll hope that it holds. We'll see if it does. But we'll continue to stay in touch. Lieutenant Colonel Bob Maginnis, thanks very much.

PAUL: Thank you, sir.

SAVIDGE: Fresh off a trip to the NATO summit President Obama's under fire for playing politics here over immigration reform. Why some pro- immigration groups are calling the move breathtakingly harsh?

PAUL: And tennis history made this weekend. Two huge upsets at the U.S. Open. We'll talk about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PAUL: Time to wake up, rise and shine our friends. And hello to all of you in D.C. You just saw a shot there, there is the shot of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

SAVIDGE: Look at all of the lights on.

PAUL: Martin is perturbed by that. Do they not preserve energy or conserve energy, I should say?

SAVIDGE: I mean ...

PAUL: And there is the Capitol again looking beautiful.

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: Partly sunny skies today. And you're going to see a high of 82 expected. We're so grateful that you're starting your morning with us. And so we know that starting your morning means you got to turn a few lights on. You've got to see where you are going.

SAVIDGE: Yeah, maybe they left them on. Might be a Secret Service thing. They might ...

PAUL: There you go. It could be. And that's true - have anybody ever seen the White House completely dark?

SAVIDGE: No.

PAUL: Just saying. President Obama, speaking of the president, under fire for what some are saying is a broken promise.

SAVIDGE: Yeah, yesterday the White House announced that the president will delay executive action on immigration reform until after the midterm elections.

PAUL: Now, that decision has critics on both sides of the island, including some pro-immigration groups accusing the president of playing politics.

SAVIDGE: CNN's Erin McPike has more. Good morning, Erin.

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christi, Martin. The White House is now thinking that if Democrats can hold the Senate, Republicans could come to the table to help pass comprehensive immigration reform later this year, or early next year, but the White House insists they will have a plan by the end of the year.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCPIKE: President Obama under attack for breaking his promise made in June that he'd take executive action on immigration reform by the end of the summer.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: If Congress will not do their job at least we can do ours. MCPIKE: Delaying any action until after the November elections the

White House says will stop, quote, those who would use it to score points as a kind of grandstanding issue. The move could help Democrats in tight Senate races in Arkansas, North Carolina and Iowa keeping their seats from flipping to the GOP and causing Democrats from losing control of the Senate. But the sigh of relief for endangered Democrats sparked fury from groups pushing for immigration reform like United We Dream, which blasted quote "The president's latest broken promise is another slap to the face of the Latino and immigrant community. And Latino groups CNN talked to in Iowa were just as angry.

CLAUDIA THRANE, LATINO ACTIVIST: I think it's terrible. They always use our community and believe me I'm a Democrat, but I'm tired of waiting. It's time for him to comply. And actually do something about this. Now. Not tomorrow. Now.

MCPIKE: White House officials insist immigration reform is coming before the end of the year. President Obama defended reversing himself in an interview with NBC News.

OBAMA: But what I'm saying is that I'm going to act because it's the right thing for the country. But it's going to be more sustainable and more effective if the public understands what the facts are on immigration, what we've done on unaccompanied children and why it's necessary. And the truth of the matter is that the politics did shift midsummer because of that problem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCPIKE: Republican leaders like House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are accusing the president of playing politics with the issue. Meanwhile, Republican strategists who are working on the midterm elections say they will continue to use this as a campaign issue in the final sprint to Election Day. Christi, Martin.

PAUL: All right.

SAVIDGE: Thank you very much for that.

PAUL: Yes, so, another part of the big news this morning is that more U.S. airstrikes in Iraq happening. We're going to talk with a terrorism expert about President Obama's push to get Congress and the rest of the world on board for the ISIS fight because a lot of people are saying why is the U.S. doing this alone at this point it seems.

SAVIDGE: Have you heard about the upsets? Upsets? That huge upsets. Historic tantamount to a massive earthquake in the tennis world.

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: That was very good.

SAVIDGE: Thank you. We'll explain it all coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Well, hello and good morning at 31 minutes past the hour. I'm Christi Paul.

SAVIDGE: And I'm Martin Savidge. Now, the five things we all should know for your new day. Number one, family and friends of Joan Rivers are preparing to say a final farewell to the trailblazing comedienne. Her funeral will be held at Temple Emanuel. That's in New York City. It's scheduled to begin at 11:00 Eastern. It's private invitation only. Rivers died last week at age 81. She had been on life support after she stopped breathing during the routine procedure.

PAUL: Number two, just days after the leader of al Shabaab was targeted and killed by U.S. airstrikes, the Islamist militant group we understand has named his successor. It's the group's third leader characterized as a low ranking commander. This as Somalia braces for possible retaliation for the death of Ahmed Godane.

SAVIDGE: Number three, a Jamaican military search team has spotted what could be debris from a single engine plane that crashed Friday. The aircraft plunged into the Caribbean several hours after air traffic controllers lost contact with the pilot as it headed from New York to Florida. The U.S. Coast Guard confirms what a Jamaican military spokesman calls a high impact debris field.

PAUL: Number four, Simone Battle, a member of the singing group G.R.L. and X-Factor finalist has died. The 25-year-old was found dead in her West Hollywood apartment Friday morning. Battle bandmates tweeted the news after - tweeted after the news, I guess, saying, quote, "Words cannot express the depth of our loss. Simone's incredible talent was only surpassed by the size of her heart." Cause of death is still under investigation this morning.

SAVIDGE: Number five, more than 200,000 homes still without power in Michigan and one man was killed after being electrocuted by fallen power line. That was near Detroit. Fierce thunderstorms slammed the area over the last few days with strong winds, ripping up trees and destroying those power lines.

PAUL: U.S. warplanes have launched a new round of airstrikes against ISIS militants in Iraq carried out yesterday near Iraq's second largest dam in western Anbar Province.

SAVIDGE: The bombings, which destroyed ISIS vehicles and an ISIS checkpoint followed a separate strike Saturday near Mosul dam. The failure of the Haditha Dam which provides water to millions of Iraqis would be catastrophic for a number of reasons. Officials fear that ISIS could use the water to flood villages and take over Iraq's electricity industry.

PAUL: And Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was speaking just hours ago said the latest strikes align with President Obama's goals in Iraq. He said the Iraqi government asked for U.S. air support and Iraqi security forces devised this operation. The attacks bring to 138. That is the number of U.S. airstrikes in the latest campaign. SAVIDGE: Meantime, the president is gearing up to meet Tuesday with

congressional leaders to discuss how to counter the ISIS threat. He has just returned from a NATO summit where world leaders united in their call to destroy ISIS as a global menace.

PAUL: Joining us now Sajjan Gohel. He is a terrorism expert and international security director at the Asia Pacific Foundation. Thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it. In your opinion, what case does the president need to make to congressional leaders about U.S. efforts to fight ISIS?

SAJJAN GOHEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The thing is, Christi, is that this has become a growing problem, in many ways we walked into it. ISIS has grown and spread its tentacles in Iraq, in Syria. It is attracting a large number of foreign fighters, both from Europe, both from the United States. So, this is a problem for the U.S. in the sense that there could be potential blowback in the future. The U.S. nationals that are fighting in Iraq and Syria if they survive the campaign they may come back to plot and plan attacks. So that is something the president will need to show to congressional leaders because this is a problem that could hurt everybody, especially the United States.

SAVIDGE: You know, we were talking about how the U.S. conducted more airstrikes this weekend and especially on that key dam, the Haditha Dam in western Iraq. How critical is that target? Why?

GOHEL: Well, the dam is an important part of Iraq's infrastructure and the concern has been that groups like ISIS may try and destroy it because it could be very negative economically, it could also create enormous humanitarian problems as well. There's been this concern that ISIS have deliberately taken control of key parts of Iraq's critical national infrastructure. And as we've seen in the past with other terrorist activity they often tried to target these places because of enormous repercussions they can create.

PAUL: We know that Secretary of State John Kerry and other leaders are going to be heading to Arab states during the next few days to try to solidify some Arab partners for this coalition against ISIS. What do you think that conversation needs to be? How can the secretary encourage other Arab partners to get on board here?

GOHEL: It's a very difficult challenge. In many ways on the surface all the countries in the region are agreed on the fact that the ISIS threat is a major problem and a concern and the group needs to be dismantled. But this is also a strange coalition of bedfellows, it's a coalition of rivals because you have Saudi Arabia and Iran, two countries with conflicting interests, the Sunni Shia divide also. They will have to cooperate, ironically, to try and defeat ISIS, but then both of them have different views on Syria. The Iranian regime supports the Assad regime. Where Saudi Arabia wants its removal. They will all want different things from the United States. The Arab countries in particular will want continued support for the ousting of Assad, and even though the U.S. doesn't publicly support the Assad regime they are not necessarily getting engaged on that issue right now. SAVIDGE: Yeah, this is why it is going to take time and it's very complicated. Sajjan Gohel, thank you so much for joining us this morning.

PAUL: Thank you, sir.

Well, if you were watching I know you are stunned as the rest of the tennis world is after a rising young star makes history. One of the biggest upsets in tennis history. Taking you to Tokyo where fans are going wild, people.

SAVIDGE: It is the other upset city. And it is not just that city that celebrates. Meanwhile, we're talking about Joan Rivers and there is mourning going on today, of course, as the funeral is held to remember one as the comic legend this morning. We'll have full details coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: You know, if you can take control of the TV remote today during football, I don't know why that's a challenge. People are using more than one television. But anyway, if you could, you might want to throw to the U.S. Open because top seed Serena Williams has a chance at making history once again. There's a lot of history going on.

PAUL: I know. CNN's Andy Scholes is right in the middle of it, too. He gets to see it first-hand. Before we get to today's action, though, Andy, you know I got to ask you, which of course was you know, about yesterday, two biggest upsets ever in tennis played out in front of the world. What was it like?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Certainly, Christi. You know, upset Saturday. Usually it's starting - for college football but it was a theme at Flushing Meadows yesterday. Everyone in New York, you know, was looking forward to another epic Roger Federer/Novak Djokovic. Kei Nishikori and Marin Cilic today had other plans. Nishikori, he shocked the world outlasting the top-seated Djokovic in four sets. With this win, Nishikori, he became the first Asian-born player to reach a major singles team match ever. Everyone assumed he'd end up playing Federer, but no.

The 6'6" Cilic with his serve that tops 132 miles per hour he pulled off another huge upset taking down Federer in straight set. He was 0- 5 against Federer coming in to that match, so quite the surprise. So now, guys, we have two players who have never made a major final, going to square off for the U.S. Open men's championship on Monday night. It will be tenth seeded Nishikori versus 14-seeded Cilic. And guys, this may be the beginning of a new era in men's tennis. For the first time since 2005 a major final not going to have the likes of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal.

Wow. All right, how about the women? We get to what's going to happen tonight with the final.

SAVIDGE: Absolutely. PAUL: What do you think?

SCHOLES: Oh, this one should be a good one. You know, Serena Williams is going to be taking on Caroline Wozniacki. And guys, these two are actually really good friends. Serena is one of the people who publicly supported Wozniacki during her breakup with golf star Rory McIlroy, but, of course, if that means she's going to take it easy on her today, no way.

(LAUGHTER)

SCHOLES: You know, Serena is looking to make some history this afternoon. She's won 20 straight U.S. Open matches and if she gets the win later today, guys, she will become the first woman since Chris Evert in the '70s to win three straight Open titles and with the win she'd also tie Evert and Martina Navratilova with 18 major single titles. So it's going to be a tough dash for Wozniacki today. But she is looking for her first ever major title this afternoon as well. It will be a good time to get it forward, with, of course, Rory McIlroy winning in the last two golf majors. So I'm sure she would love a nice title to hold on her side as, of course, Rory is getting all of the pub for being the best golfer in the world right now.

PAUL: Yeah, that she is going to show, listen, I'm surviving just fine myself as well here.

SCHOLES: I will see.

PAUL: I think so. Andy, thank you so much.

SAVIDGE: Well, you know, if you were buffing around Tokyo last night around midnight trying to get into a sports bar ...

(LAUGHTER)

SAVIDGE: It would have been darn near impossible because with his heroics at the U.S. Open, Kei Nishikori didn't just earn a spot in history, he has become a source of great national pride. Just check out fans in Japan reacting to his win.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CHEERING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (speaking Japanese)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: That's fabulous. That's fabulous.

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: CNN's Will Ripley joining us now with more from Tokyo. All right. Walk us through this. So, what was it like to be there last night? WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, well, I think, you know, obviously you saw the excitement. Japanese fans tend to be a bit more on the reserved side, so when you see a room explode in applause and cheers and happiness. That's when you know that it's a big deal. And that was definitely happening all over Japan in the overnight hours, any fans who are still awake right now are probably a bit bleary-eyed. Because the match ended around 4:00 in the morning local time. And if they want to watch the final, which a lot of people do, they are going to have to wake up early because it's at 6:00 a.m. local time here. The big networks here in Japan, you know, soccer, baseball, those are the sports that tend to get a lot of ratings here in Japan, and so no major network was actually broadcasting this tremendous match.

But fans found a way, they watched live streams, there was one pay network broadcasting it. And Kei Nishikori, I mean he is just becoming a bigger and bigger star here in Japan. His victory actually wasn't on the morning headlines this morning because it happened too late, but if you look at the papers just in the past few days you can see he has been front page news on paper after paper after paper, because you know, his accomplishment is really in the last three matches he beat the fifth seed, he beat the third seed and now has just beat the number one seed. A huge source of pride in his hometown. He comes from the Japanese countryside, a seaside town in southwestern Japan. They are very thrilled this morning. Here's what his elementary school coach had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Wow. I can't believe this. He really became a great player. This is our pride, the pride of all Shimani residents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: He's already won five tournament titles, Christi and Martin, and all eyes here in Japan are going to be on the next match coming up very early here Tuesday morning.

SAVIDGE: How about, Will, sponsorship deals. I mean I got to imagine there is a boatload coming his way.

RIPLEY: Yeah, oh, absolutely. Already the major Japanese clothing retailer Uniqlo, (INAUDIBLE) Watches has signed him on. He sells for a Ramen Noodle company. And you see from the way he is on camera in the United States just how charming and endearing he is. It's very much the same with his hometown crowd as well. So, there are big dollars already headed his way. And we'll have to see probably even more after the match. Right now his focus is on the match. After that there are lots of sponsorship, but deals are in his future.

SAVIDGE: Well, will be watching along with a lot of other people. Will Ripley, thank you very much.

PAUL: Have fun, Will.

You know, Joan Rivers had a lot of things on her wish list for her funeral. Not a lot of people talk about this so publicly about what they want. And her wish list was quite broad. It will be interesting to see if any of that happens today.

SAVIDGE: We've been talking about that, yes. And, you know, we know that she never failed to make people laugh. Because of that, she had some very famous fans around the world including a prince. We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOAN RIVERS: Only a doctor for you. When I was 22 she said all right, a lawyer. CPA.

(LAUGHTER)

RIVERS: 24, she said, well, grab a dentist. 26 she said anything.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

SAVIDGE: I love that.

PAUL: Such typical Joan Rivers, she's irreverent, she's indomitable and ready to laugh at everyone and everything. Including herself. She was very self-deprecating.

SAVIDGE: And that's one of the reasons she was loved in the U.S., but she was loved widely around the world as well. So, let's bring in editorial producer Nadia Bilchik. And Nadia, she did have some very famous fans around the world.

NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: She did. And - irreverent, she was so irreverent that you might find it surprising that one of her greatest fans and friends was Prince Charles. Prince Charles and Camilla. She was actually at their 2005 wedding.

PAUL: Wow!

BILCHIK: And she performed at an event, a charity event in honor of his 60th birthday. So, I want to read you what Prince Charles said about his friend Joan Rivers. "She was extraordinary woman with an original and indefatigable spirit and unstoppable sense of humor and an enormous zest for life. She will be hugely missed and utterly irreplaceable." I just have these visions of Charles, you know, so formal and proper.

(LAUGHTER)

BILCHIK: And there is Joan Rivers. It just seems -

SAVIDGE: That's impossible. But maybe that is why ... BILCHIK: And they had more than just an acquaintance. This was a deep friendship.

PAUL: Friendship.

BILCHIK: And then London transport, it's my old time favorite, because they pay tribute to Joan Rivers, but also take a slight dig at her. They say as a tribute to the late Joan Rivers, part of the station will be gradually replaced over the next 13 years.

PAUL: Oh, no.

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: You know what, she would probably laugh at that.

BILCHIK: Oh, she would.

PAUL: She would think that is ...

BILCHIK: As you said she was good at making fun of others, but she had great pleasure making fun of herself. Do you remember that joke when she said I have had so much plastic surgery that when I die they could donate my body to Tupperware?

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: And you have to think, I mean she did not when we were talking about the instructions, the wishes that she wanted for her funeral, this was not something she wanted to be sedate.

BILCHIK: No, she didn't want to be sedate. And before we get to her wishes, can I tell you what Benjamin Netanyahu say?

PAUL: Yes. I'm certainly ...

BILCHIK: Not at all, we have to get to that, but just because he said Joan Rivers brought laughter to millions around the world and was proud of her Jewish heritage and a vocal supporter of the state of Israel. We miss her deeply and we send heartfelt condolences to the family. I mean how many people have from celebrities to prime ministers.

PAUL: Yes.

BILCHIK: She was also very good friends with the Mulroney's, former prime minister of Canada and his wife Mila. And she said something interesting, Mila. She said Joan was very different privately. She was much quieter, and she was a great listener. So, maybe the quieter part. But as you said, Christi, she did not want a quiet funeral. What she said about her funeral is I don't want some rabbi rambling on. Well, you know it's going to be at Temple Emanuel, so there will be a rabbi. I want Meryl Streep crying in five different accents, I want to look gorgeous, I want to look better dead than alive. I want to be buried in a Valentino gown and I want Harry Winston to make me a toe tag." PAUL: It will be interesting to see if any of those things actually happen. I would really hope so. On some level for her, you know, that she was able to craft that. Nadia, thank you so much.

BILCHIK: Rest in peace and laughter, Joan Rivers.

PAUL: She wants to leave us laughing, no doubt about it.

SAVIDGE: Well, it's the size of a house, and it is supposed to make a fly by this afternoon.

PAUL: An asteroid we are talking about, an asteroid on a path that will bring it near the Earth, how close? Are you going to be able to see it? We'll tell you.

SAVIDGE: That's the heads up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: Space enthusiasts have a reason to geek out today. Sounds like that first.

(LAUGHTER)

SAVIDGE: That is because a newly discovered asteroid will buzz by Earth later this afternoon.

PAUL: Yes, you officially have license to geek out if you wish. NASA says the space rock is about 60 feet long. So, some of you are thinking wait a minute, is there a problem with that, Jennifer Gray?

(LAUGHTER)

JENNIFER GRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, you know.

PAUL: Any danger?

GRAY: No, no danger at all. You know, but this thing is going to pass pretty close to Earth. It's going to pass within 25,000 miles, how about that. Yes. The thing is about 60 feet long. And it was just discovered on August 31st, so we just came to know about this a couple of days ago. So 2014 RC as it is known will pass ten times closer to the Earth than the Moon. It will be too dense to see with the naked eye. It's actually going to pass over New Zealand about 2:18 Eastern Time. And this is one of 11,000 near-Earth asteroids NASA tracks every year. Guys, there are some Internet sites that you can go on and watch it but you better not miss it. Because it's going to be like ...

PAUL: Don't blink.

GRAY: It's going to be fast.

PAUL: Already. Jennifer Gray, thank you so much.

GRAY: All right. And thank you for starting your morning with us. SAVIDGE: We've got a whole lot more ahead on your next hour of "NEW DAY." And by the way, that starts right now.

PAUL: Oh, there you go, just stretch out, people. It's Sunday, your whole day is ahead of you just like an invitation. I'm Christi Paul.

(LAUGHTER)

SAVIDGE: That was well put. I'm Martin Savidge. I'm in for Victor Blackwell at 7:00 in the East Coast. This is "NEW DAY Sunday."

Let's begin with breaking news overnight. U.S. warplanes launched a new round of airstrikes against ISIS militants in Iraq, strikes were carried out near the country's second largest dam.

PAUL: Yeah, the failure of Haditha Dam, it's what we are talking about, it provides water to millions of Iraqis and it would be disastrous if it were to happen.