welcome to our viewers here and around the world. you've been listening to president obama outline his vision for the arab world, the uprisings as well as what the obama administration would like to accomplish in establishing two-state solution, israel and palestine at peace, as well as looking at the region as a whole and moving forward in the next two years. >> all right. repression will fail, suzanne, was one of the things president obama said and the tyrants will fall. he even mentioned bahrain, an american friend, criticizing some of its actions against pro democracy activists in that country. fareed zakaria is live in cairo with his impregsz on this middle east speech. what did you make of this speech by the president fareed, today? it was really a sweeping look at the region, though some countries such as saudi arabia were not mentioned. >> hala, it was his role as

educator in chief that came out today. he provided a kind of world view, almost a historical interpretation of the causes and consequences of the arab spring. he began in the beginning with tunisia and moved forward. he tried to present a way in which he saw america's interests and values as squarely aligned with this arab revolution. he touched on the places that we don't like, the regimes we don't like that are having trouble dealing with people. tehran, damascus. he also talked about bahrain an yemen. but you are right, of course, he didn't talk about the 800-pound gorilla that is saudi arabia. but he also then went on to talk about ways to consolidate these revolutions, talking about the arab-israeli peace process. he's tougher on syria than he has been. he was more explicit in his support for two states, israel and palestine on 1967 borders,

plus mutually agreeable land swaps. so very comprehensive. i have a feeling though that while it will be well received in the region, there is an urgency here to questions about whether these revolutions are going to go awry or whether they'll be consolidated. here in egypt there is great concern that having done this extraordinary revolution they're still living under a military dictatorship that arrests its people, engages in military trials, torture, tear gas, and so i think they will be looking for that follow-through reactions that america's diplomats and ambassadors and perhaps the secretary of state do. it was a good speech but i think right now they need a little more force than just a speech. >> fareed, it was interesting, it almost seemed like the obama doctrine is like let's deal with this on a case-by-case basis, country to country, and essentially putting the responsibility and onus on the people there saying they'd done more in six months than the

terrorists had gotten done in decades. do you think that the people there in the arab world and the middle east wanted to hear more from this president in terms of concrete ideas and solutions to move their democracies or their revolutions forward? >> well, you know, there are 80 million people here and 80 million different opinions but my sense is they really do feel that this is about themselves. they do not feel the united states has all the answers or all the solutions. i think they are very much trying to consolidate their own revolution. as you know, there are calls in egypt for people to be -- crowds to be out here behind me in tahrir square tomorrow, and then again on the 27th, to call for a kind of second revolution. i think they would probably like the united states to help them in the process of making sure that the army does actually

devolve out to a againly democratic system. i'm sure they'd like the help economically but more than anything else i think they see this as their revolution and don't want anyone to big-foot it. they would not be looking to the united states to have some kind of silver bullet here. >> fareed, it is wolf in washington. i want your reaction to what he said about president bashar al assad in damascus. he was pretty tough saying assad can lead that transition to democracy, if he will, or get out of the way. i think there are very few observers who believe he will actually lead a transition to democracy. but the president stopped short of saying that bashar al assad must do what mubarak in egypt did or gadhafi in libya is supposed to do, namely -- leave. what did you think of the way the president finessed the words on syria? >> wolf, that is the one part of

the speech that i was a little puzzled by. because i think that we are clearly moving in the direction -- when i say "we," i mean u.s. foreign policy -- of calling for regime change in syria. i'm not sure why we are phasing it out over several weeks. because as you say, there's almost no prospect that assad will be part of a democratic transition. the syrian regime is a minority regime that rules over a majority that really do not want to be ruled by this tiny minority that they, by the way, that they regard mostly at heretics. this regime knows it has no place to go, it is not going to compromise. in that case if we are taking the position that there needs to be a democratic transition, the logical consequence of that is to ask for assad's ouster or at the very least to call on him to peacefully step down. i understand concerns about instability, but we're going there anyway and it struck me

that the president could have gone -- he went one shade further than he's gone. i think he could have gone a couple shades more. >> was there anything else that you thought was thunderously missing besides his avoiding any direct reference to saudi arabia, going -- stopping short of calling on bashar al assad to step down, was there anything else you would have wanted to hear, fareed? >> no. i thought it was a comprehensive speech. i, by the way, understand why he didn't bring up saudi arabia. it is the case where our short-term interests are not compatible with our long-term values. he highlighted the fact that there would be such occasions. he didn't point out that this was the specific one. if there were instability in saudi arabia, you are looking at $250 a barrel oil. that would potentially plunge the entire western war -- perhaps the entire world -- into another recession. so i think there are good reasons to be somewhat cautious about change in saudi arabia.

i think that he also gave a speech that i would be surprised if anyone in israel would object to because he was very clear that israel's legitimate security interests have to be taken care of. he was very clear on the fact that hamas could not be negotiated with as long as it refused to recognize israel and called for its destruction. i think that there are many of those kinds of key issues that israelis were worried he would either ignore or half-state. he stated pretty fully. so i thought he was quite even-handed while calling for a palestinian state on 67 borders, plus or minor land swaps. he also recognized israel's legitimate security needs so i'd be surprised if there is too much criticism out of tel aviv tonight. >> at the same time he also made clear that unless hamas accepts israel's right to exist, and accepts all the previous agreements, renounces violence, terrorism, then it is going to be difficult to restart

israeli-palestinian negotiations. fareed, stand by. we're going to go check in with all of our correspondents and our analysts here in washington, around the world. much more of our breaking news coverage coming up after this. ♪ things are gonna get easier ♪ ooh-oo, child, things will get brighter ♪ ♪ ♪ someday, yeah [ male announcer ] wherever you are, whatever it takes, like a good neighbor, state farm is there. ♪

her morning beginsere. with artitis pain. that's a cofe and two s. . back to sore knees. back to moreills. the day one but hang on... her doctor recommended aleve. st 2il can keep arthritis pain awaall day fewerillshan tylenol. th is laraho chose 2leve anfewells r day free opain. and get the all day pain relief ofleven liquid gels. welcome back. we were listening to president barack obama and his vision for the middle east. one of the things that struck me, it was in the very beginning

that he basically mentioned very quickly, he said about bin laden's capture and killing and he said that he was not a martyr but a mass murderer, that this was someone who did not promote democracy. then he moved on. how significant do you think it was that he mentioned bin laden, said he wasn't a martyr, but then the rest of the speech we really didn't hear much about it? >> right. i think what's significant is that he himself said the al qaeda agenda is seen as a dead end. was seen as a dead end by the time osama bin laden was killed. and i think that's very accurate based on what people in the region tell us. the popularity rating, if you want to call it that, of osama bin laden and al qaeda in some of these key countries such as egypt has slipped substantially. people after the revolutions have said and have felt that they are the ones that are producing change, they are the engines of the change, not the islamists. in fact the muslim brotherhood itself, if you want to talk about them, didn't even participate in the initial days of the uprising in egypt and

really joined the sort of movement a lot later. >> one of the other things that he mentioned, he talked about the two-state solution. it was so important, israelis and palestinians taking charge of their future here. that's something he's obviously staked his credibility and reputation on. take a quick listen. >> for the palestinians, efforts to delegitimaize israel will en in failure. symbolic actions to isolate israel at the united nations in september won't create an independent state. palestinian leaders will not achieve peace or prosperity if hamas insists on a path of terror and rejection. and palestinians will never realize their independence by denying the right of israel to exist. as for israel, our friendship rooted deeply in a shared history and shared values.

our commitment to israel's security is unshakeable and we will stand against attempts to single it out for criticism in international forums. but precisely because of our friendship it is important that we tell the truth. the status quo is unsustainable and israel, too, must act boldly to advance a lasting peace. >> i want to bring in wolf here. wolf, president obama has been speaking about israel and palestinians acting boldly for quite some time. did you hear anything significant or new out of this particular speech that really moves the ball forward? >> well, he made it clear, what former president bill clinton and former president george w. bush supported, he made it clear that if he final settlement involving the israelis and palestinians has to be based on the pre'67 lines, the pre-'67

borders with mutually agreed swaps, in other words, if the israelis were to take over land in the west bank where they have is settlements, they'd have to give up equal amount of land pre-'67. that's what bill clinton did in his final months between u yud barack and yasser arafat. it is the kind of agreement george w. bush tried to put together. they failed in the final months. secretary of state, you'll remember, condoleezza rice tried to work out an agreement with the israeli prime minister ehud olmert at that time and the palestinian leadership of mahmoud abbas. here the president says it pluntly. was intrig bluntly. people are focusing in on september at the united nations general assembly. at that time there will be a resolution we're told in which they will recognize a palestinian state that basically includes the pre-'67 lines.

the president was critical of that. he said symbolic actions to isolate israel at the united nations in september won't create an independent state. a general assembly resolution as opposed to a security council resolution is not binding, it is a political statement, if you will. so the president made it clear he's not in favor of that. so it's a sensitive situation but everyone knows, if there's going to be an agreement between the israelis and the palestinians, the outlines that the president basically put forward there, they're nothing new but that's basically the outlines of an agreement if there's goodwill on both sides. >> i think it is a very complicated situation. i want to bring in our ed henry. the israeli prime minister is going to be at the white house meeting with president obama tomorrow. they've had no break-throughs when it comes to the issue of israeli settlements. that's still very much an impasse when it comes to these negotiations and talks. what does the president hope to get out of those talks tomorrow with netanyahu?

>> reporter: suzanne, you're right to frame it that way because that's very significant. the fact of the matter is benjamin netanyahu will be here at the white house and, as wolf says, it's not new in and of itself for a u.s. president to have this stance in terms of the pre-1967 borders. i just got off the phone with a former u.s. middle east peace neglect agenter. he says this is the first time a president has gone in a formal address to say this point-blank, that this is what israel should embrace and the timing of it coming less than 24 hours before the israeli prime minister will be here at the white house. it is obviously going to anger the israeli government but it is also worth noting the president steered clear of two other very controversial matters, didn't talk about dividing up jerusalem, and did not talk about refugees. those are two important issues for the palestinians. and so the president not mentioning that was a little bit of a bone to the israelis, suzanne. >> all right, ed henry. thanks very much at the white house. jill dougherty is at the state

department with more on what this speech means. let's talk again about this israeli-palestinian paragraph in the president's speech, jill. i found it interesting that he went in to some detail regarding what he believes, president obama believes, should be a future palestinian state, a n non-mill tar rides sovereign state. is that something we've heard before from a u.s. president? >> well, i think overall, yes. maybe not in exactly those words but the only news that i really heard, if you were looking for news, was that statement as wolf was mentioning about the 1967 borders. and i would like to stand back and kind of look at this and say, why did the president have to deliver the speech at this particular moment? it was extremely professorial. it had almost footnotes. in fact, as we're standing here, i'm taking my blackberry and looking at this blizzard of paperwork that's coming out of the white house right now.

there is a sheet on every single country and practically every single issue, complete with facts and figures. it really does feel like a doctoral dissertation. i almost had the feeling that you'd been through this enormous heads-swirling change in that area, and the middle east, north africa, and now everybody's come out after the tornado is over and said, what happened? and so the president was here to say, this is what happened, this is where we are, this is what we want to do, and then standing back, his overall message is, if you do reform the right way, which is what we think, if you support human rights and the right to vote and economic reform and women's rights, et cetera, then we'll be there to help you. if you take the risks of the free form, you'll have the support of the united states. that i think was the overall message. >> jill dougherty, thanks very much. suzanne, it did sound academic,

it did feel academic. >> it usually does with president obama. >> i think the line of the last five minutes is from jill -- the blizzard of paperwork we've seen out of the white house. every time i look up, i see another three or four fact sheets on different countries. >> i think the point, too, is that there is still a lot of unanswered questions and a lot of this is really determined by the people on the ground in the region, how they determine their own future and clearly the obama administration wants to play a role in that but i think that the primary role is going to be with the people there. we'll have more after the break. what's this option? that's new.

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welcome back to "cnn newsroom," special coverage of president obama's speech regarding the middle east and the u.s. vision there. >> i'm hala gorani, and welcome to all our international viewers watching us on cnn international this hour. >> i'm wolf blitzer here in washington where diplomats, government officials, members of congress, and people all over the world are beginning to digest what they just heard from the president of the united states. there's a lot of material there. >> cnn is committing its vast global resources to this potentially pivotal story all over the world. we are looking at the speech and reaction from the arab world. our senior international correspondent nic robertson is live in tunisia. jerusalem bureau chief kevin flower standing by in jerusalem. live from libya, our own sara seidner.

in neighboring egypt, frederick pleitgen. nic, tunisia was the first flash point that we saw, people very motivated took to the streets. did it make a difference? has anything really changed? >> reporter: well, even a week and a half ago when we were in the capital, tunis, they were still tear gassing by the pol e police. protesters are really angry, hungry for the sort of democratic change that president obama is talking about. so the change is coming. elections will be coming. the united states has sent officials here who can help give advice on how democratic elections can and should go ahead. so the appetite is here but the stability is still not here. tourism is down by is a third of

what it should be this time of year. the country's still hurting with instability in the region. a lot of concern in tunisia about what happens in libya. there in libya of course it could be an economic powerhouse for the region. so for people here there is still a lot of concerns about this phase of transition. but i do have to say, one of the interesting things, listening to president obama as he managed very carefully to lay out the different issues facing the different countries, united states position on all those things. when we look at what he said about israel -- the israelis and the palestinians, he talked about the status quo for the israelis cannot remain the same. it is of course the egyptians who help broker the deal between hamas and fatah, help solidify this palestinian position.

that's not something that happened under the ousted president mubarak. this is something that's happening across the region. these political attitudes are changing particularly towards the palestinian-israeli issue. >> nic, thank you very much. want to go to sara seidner in the rebel-controlled benghazi. was this president's speech strong enough? rebels are looking for a hard line commitment. do they feel like they got it? >> what we're hearing from the opposition is, "good enough." they were happy to hear that he talked about moammar gadhafi the way he did, calling him the most extreme case of a leader cracking down with violence on its people. but one thing that's very interesting and the thing that has people smiling here in benghazi is that he mentioned that libya's opposition has been able to create a legitimate interim council. now the united states has not recognized the national transitional council which was brought together by the opposition as a potential interim government. they haven't officially

recognized it but they feel like hearing that from obama really set that in motion and they expect that that will then happen because of what he said. there are a lot of smiles here when it comes to those who are a member of the national transitional council hope that means it will be recognized. and if and when it is recognized, they're hoping that will open the door to funds. really what the people here want is guns, funds and training. they did not hear mr. obama say that in his speech, however they think the door is open to at least funds and official recognition of the interim government. >> sara seidner in benghazi. kevin flowers is in jerusalem. how will the israelis likely to react to what they just heard? >> well, wolf, by and large i think they'll be fairly pleased with what they heard. they heard an unshakeable commitment by the white house to israel's security. they heard and outline of the peace process, a peace plan that is basically very familiar to them and one that they support.

and they're also going to like the words they heard, the words directed toward the palestinian side, the american president telling the palestinians that their bid for recognition of an independent state at the u.n. in september was something that he did not support. he raised questions. he said the palestinians were going to have to answer questions about how hamas-fatah unity government going forward, how that could actually work. so i think on balance, a lot more than israelis took out of this positively than the palestinians. not much good news there for the palestinians. but frankly, wolf, they were not expecting much out of this speech to begin with. >> kevin flower in jerusalem for us. hala, suzanne, we're getting ready, the prime minister of israel will be arriving in washington tomorrow, meeting with the president of the united states. obviously we'll get his reaction to what the president has just heard. then netanyahu will address a joint session of congress on monday. certainly a lot to digest on the

israeli-palestinian front and the democracy movement in north africa and throughout the middle east. we're only just beginning to understand this u.s. strategy as it unfolds. >> all right. thank you very much, wolf. many administrations previously have tried to do what president obama's doing now. we'll see whether or not he's anymore successful in the current state of affairs. >> it is going to be interesting. if the goal was to present a coherent u.s. foreign policy approach to the middle east, it is going to be interesting to see how it is received and digested in the coming days in the region. because so much is going on and each country is very different from the next. egypt is not syria. syria is not tunisia. tunisia is not bahrain.

so it is going to be interesting to see if the way it is welcome is what president obama intended for this speech which is to give sort of a general strategy, foreign policy strategy. >> thank you for watching this special "cnn newsroom" edition. . increasing network capacity, and investing billions of dollars to improve your wireless network experience. from a single phone call to the most advanced data download, we're covering more people in more places than ever before in an effort to give you the best network possible. at&t. rethink possible. better than any other luxury brand. ♪ intellichoice proclaims that lexus has the best overall value of any brand. ♪ and j.d. power and associates ranks lexus the highest in customer satisfaction. no wonder more people have chosen lexus over any other luxury brand 11 years in a row. see your lexus dealer.

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jail, at least for a while. the now-former head of the international monetary fund is back in court hoping to sell a different judge on a more restrictive bail request than the one rejected on monday. as you probably know, strauss-khan is charged with sexually assaulting a maid at a posh manhattan hotel last saturday. last night from his cell on rikers island the french socialist who scaled the heights of global finance resigned from the imf saying, "i want to protect this institution and especially, especially i want to devote all my strength, all my time and all my energy to proving my innocence." when he appears next hour in a manhattan courtroom, strauss-khan will offer to put up a million dollars in bail and submit to home detention with electronic monitoring. he'll also give up his passport. cnn's richard roth is watching the comings and goings. richard, this man knows about negotiating deals, for sure. does he have a winner this time

around? >> reporter: we don't know. a different judge, different courtroom and a larger amount of international media here on this street. strauss-khan has resigned from the international monetary fund. whether that wins any sympathy from the judge, don't know. he is putting up a lot, according to his attorney, in a bid to get out of jail, including a million dollars in cash, the deed to his georgetown home worth at least $4 million. he is saying he will wear an electronic ankle bracelet for monitoring and stay in manhattan. his daughter does live here. giving up his passport, his u.n. documents which allow him to move past security at airports, things like that. so he is saying, his attorneys, in these court papers that he is a family man, four children, international diplomat, no criminal record, they're going with everything they've got to try get him out of an 11-foot by 13-foot jail cell. it is unknown whether he will be wearing a suit, a prison

jumpsuit which we've heard he doesn't really want to appear in when we eventually see video from the courtroom. randi? >> richard, we know that strauss-khan's alleged victim has been in the strauss as well. what's the latest with her? >> well, grand jury material is secret but we know she's been testifying before a grand jury and there's a court event tomorrow, friday, and that could be where we find out if he is -- strauss-khan has been indicted. unknown if the prosecution would present material from that grand jury at today's hearing. this seems to focus more on bail and the possibilities of it. the attorney for that maid from guinea in africa says the possibility of strauss-khan getting out of jail just dramatically increases the fear level from her client, the possibility that the man who the attorneys say attack her sexually will be getting out of jail. >> all right, richard roth there following the developments in lower manhattan for us. richard, thank you. before we move on, i wan to

share a few details about the life dominique strauss-khan is leaving behind. listen to this. in 2010 his contract called for a base salary of almost $442,000 with an added allowance of om $80,000. no strings attached. he could spend it as he wishes. oh, and no taxes, either, by the way. first class airfare was covered for strauss-khan and his family whenever he was on "official business." hotel expenses as well. now to the middle east. as you may have heard live right here on cnn, president obama just reset the course of u.s. policy in the wake of the arab uprisings, of the death of osama bin laden, of the new palestinian alliance, of the nuclear standoff with iran, and, yes, i could go on and on. all by itself the so-called arab spring that swept from morocco to iran would be a game changer and the president promised support, moral and otherwise,

for the two nations that succeeded in overthrowing leer. >> we do not want a democratic egypt to be saddled by the debts of its past. so we will relieve a democratic egypt of up to $1 billion in debt and work with our egyptian partners to invest these resources to foster growth and entrepreneurship. we will help egypt regain access to markets by guaranteeing $1 billion in borrowing that's needed to finance infrastructure and job creation. and we will help newly democratic governments recover assets that were stolen. >> i want to get some insights from an egyptian-born commentator and arab affairs columnist who joins me today from chicago. mona, thanks for coming on the show. what did you hope to hear from mr. obama and did you hear it? >> thanks, randi, for having me on. i had hoped to hear more of a recognition of just how wrong

and confused u.s. foreign policy had been towards the region for decades. what i heard was that the u.s. administration is still trying to catch up with the reality on the ground that has outpaced everybody. for example, when he spoke about egypt and the need to support egypt's reform and its new dawn in egypt, there was a missing sentence, and the missing sentence was -- that the united states continues to give $1.3 billion in aid to the egyptian army and egypt right now is ruled by the supreme military council so there was nothing there. military council is detaining people, torturing people and forcing people on military trial. when the president spoke about the religious rights of minorities, for example, coptic christians in egypt and shia muslims in bahrain, it was great to hear -- but the missing sentence was that saudi arabia also violates shia rights in its country and saudi arabia has intervened in bahrain which he mentioned as part of the countries also going through reforms and uprisings.

>> well, clearly this speech was meant for a global audience. but to what extent, if any, do you think that it was crafted with next year's u.s. election in mind? >> well, i think that if anything, the speech was geared much more towards a local audience than an international audience because quite honestly, people in the region especially know all of these things and people internationally, too. i think that an american audience needed to hear that the united states needs to re-align its policies to recognize these realities on the ground. but leer's something else that was missing that i think a global audience understands. when the president mentioned the israel-palestinian conflict, he didn't really say anything new. what was missing and what i would have wanted to hear was a recognition that the uprisings and revolutions in the middle east and north africa are going to inspire -- actually have themselves been inspired by a long history of non-violent resistance from palestinians and they, in turn, these revolutions we're seeing, will inspire palestinians and we're seeing

palestinians now saying, nonviolently we want our freedom and dignity. the fact that obama did not connect these two i find very disappointing. so i would have wanted to hear much more. but i think for an american audience it is a good start but the u.s. administration still has a long way to go before catching up fully with what's happening on the ground. >> mona, as always, your insights much appreciated. next hour we'll get reaction to the president's speech from tony blair, former british prime minister, now the representative of what's called the mideast quartet, the u.s., the u.n., the eu and russia. wolf blitzer is about to sit down with him and we'll bring you some of thant viet intervie. the situation turns deadly in mississippi as floodwaters hit new record highs. we'll take you there live next. . [ tires screech ] seat restrictions got him stuck in a vicious circle. it's just not right! i keep earning miles, but it seems like i can never use them. the all-new rapid rewards doesn't have

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now to the disaster in mississippi where a 69-year-old man from vicksburg has died after being pulled from the floodwaters. this is the first death linked to the flood in the state and the second since the flooding began. this is the same area where the mississippi river is cresting today. in fact, floodwaters are reaching new historic levels in vicksburg right now.

the mississippi is more than a foot over the record set in the city 84 years ago and it is expected to stay had high for days. life up and down the mississippi river has become one of survival and a torturous waiting game. nine states are affected. millions of acres flooded. tens of thousands of people have lost their homes an thousands more are about to. david mattingly joins us downstream in nach chtchez, mississippi where the flood is expected to crest on saturday. the army corp of engineers is keeping a watchful eye on that yazoo levee but the backwaters are already claiming property. what's the situation where are you? >> reporter: the situation is the same thing we've seen all up and down the mississippi. right now we are waiting for the crest here just as we've seen a little further north, just as we saw last week in memphis. the water creeping up to that crest, that historic level. right now all eyes are a little further north of here on the mainline levee along the mississippi here in the state of mississippi. the army corp of engineers addressing what they're calling

a sand boil where water has been undermining one of the levee structures that they have there. they say it isn't a big problem but they expect to see a lot of things like this popping up as this water continues to press against the levee system all up and down the river. they sent a large number of dump trucks to throw a lot of dirt an stone at it to make sure it doesn't get any worse. it was a cause of concern, because if it is left unaddressed, it could undermine the levee and they could have a levee failure but they aren't even close to that but they are taking care of it right now. >> david, from what i understand, 2,000 people already have been displaced in vicksburg. how much worse is this going to get? how many more people do you expect are going to lose their homes and businesses? >> reporter: we're looking at 4,900 evacuated in mississippi. in louisiana, it is harder to get an actual number because every single parish is keeping their own records and they are not keeping track exactly who's staying and who's going at the moment.

but we're looking at thousands being affected down there as well. this flood is only half-way through with its march down to the gulf of mexico and it is going to split and hit louisiana going down the mississippi and down the atchafalaya river after opening that spillway. so they're getting caught on two fronts there and we're expecting to see that start to make a lot of still more shocking details on the schwarzenegger scandal. the very latest from the man in the know. next. i remember the days before copd.

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ask your doctor about symbicort. i got my first prescription free. call or click to learn more. [ male announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. authorities want to take dna samplings from the unabomber, ted kaczynski, and it has to do with the 1982 tylenol poisonings. joining me now from san francisco, dan simon, he's been all over this story for us. dan, tell us why does the fbi want kaczynski's dna? >> reporter: well, that's a good question, randi. what we know is that the fbi in chicago went to see kaczynski in prison. he's in federal penitentiary in colorado. what they wanted to do is see if he would voluntarily provide a dna sample. as far as we know, there is no firm evidence linking ted kaczynski to this case in 1982 in chicago. the tylenol poisoning case, the

very famous case. now kaczynski apparently declined to provide a dna sample. there's no firm evidence as far as we know linking him to the tile not case but it does bring back some memories from that case. of course, seven people died in the chicago area by taking cyanide-laced pills. it also puts the spotlight back on kaczynski. we haven't heard much about him since he was taken into custody back in 1996. he was convicted of sending mail bombs that killed three people. he's been in federal custody since 1996, again no firm link in terms of linking ted kaczynski to the case in chicago but interesting development, nonetheless. >> dan, i'm curious, how did we learn about this? is this true kaczynski himself actually wrote a letter? >> reporter: it is. you know, it's fascinating. kaczynski apparently wrote a letter to a judge in the federal district court in california,

northern california, stating basically that he didn't want to provide this sample and he wanted to halt the auctioning of some of his items, some of his personal items that were seized from a montana cabin are being put up to auction. proceeds would go to the victims' families. he those items auctioned off because he believed some of them might dine evidence that would show that he did not, you know, possess potassium cyanide, which was in those pills from the tylenol case. the judge, as far as we know, made no ruling on that, and that's basically what we know at this point, randi. >> dan simon with the latest on that for us. meanwhile, the plot thickens for arnold schwarzenegger and his secret chide with his former employee. my jaw is still sore from dropping when we found out that

schwarzenegger's mistress was pregnant with his child at the same time his wife maria shriver was pregnant with their youngest son, christopher. in fact, his two sons were born less than one week apart. we were able to obtain the boy's birth certificate, and on it the father is listed as the man baena was married to at the time. however, baena and her husband separated less than three weeks after she gave birth to the child. speaking of divorce, "people" magazine is reporting that maria shriver hired high-profile divorce attorney laura wasser, she's represented a host of a-list stars like, angelina jolie, christina aguilera. straight to harvey levin. i want to talk about the alleged obsession his mistress had with maria shriver. first i want to ask you about the divorce attorney that maria shriver has hired, laura wasser. what do you know about her? >> i know she -- first of all,

she fihired laura w pachlasser ago, she's one of the most powerful, effective lawyers in town. she's become a go-to attorney for celebrity divorces because she not only knows the law, she's not only really smart but effective on this level. she is a formidable opponent for anybody. so, laura wasser means business. maria shriver has not pulled the trigger. maria shriver has talked about getting a divorce for two years, we know, and has never done it. still hasn't made a decision, we're told. we're confident on this point, has not made a decision on whether to get divorced. she has been talking to wasser for a while, we're told, talking to financial people as well but has not yet pulled the trig. >> that is certainly interesting. let's get to the other point. i in theed it on our website, what do you know about mill tre

dread's alleged obsession with maria shriver? >> this is crazy. so this woman, she goes by patty, actually. she wants to be or wanted to be maria shriver. she would tell her friends this. that she had an obsession with maria, that she would take maria's clothes and jewelry and wear them out in public without maria knowing about it obviously. one time maria noticed jewelry missing and confronted everybody and she just thought it was hilarious. everything she did, she dressed her kid one of her kids like one of maria and arnold's kids. everything was about being like maria. she wanted to use the marital bed when she fooled around with arnold and would crawl into the bed when maria took the kids to school. a crazy situation that she talked openly to friends about. this was not a discrete woman. this woman is a little bit off. >> wow. this sounds leak it getting uglier than we thought just days

ago. what about this, arnold did quite a bit financially for mildred's family, right? >> absolutely. very generous. >> or patty, as you call her. >> patty. a lot. and it was done as soon as arnold found out that she was -- that she was -- that he was the father. he began, you know, doing a lot, paying for her -- paying for her place, expenses. we got a picture of her and the kids at a big family function that arnold underwrote, one of these coming of age things for one of her -- one of patty's relatives. arnold was all over this but ultimately helped buy her this house in bakes are field. we'll have more on that later on the website. but this was arnold intricately involved financially with her. >> all right. harvey levin, details keep

coming out. we will continue to follow it, along with you, i'm sure, and check your website and our website. we should point out, we're not naming the child in this case, of course. we should also tell you it was the new york times that we are giving credit for for mildred patty baena, the name of the mistress that is coming to us. harvey, thank you. the job market still rough but there are good-paying jobs out there, if you have right training, if you need a job. well, you need to listen to this.

-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com all week cnn is going in-depth, breaking down the current job market. young or old, having a hard time landing a good-paying job, technical college could be a good option. >> i'm the oldest. older than the instructor. >> at 61, john apple by is a true senior at chattahoochee technical college. the journey back to study began with a decline in construction that left him out of a job. >> i got tired of not being able to do any work because nobody wanted to pay me none. so i thought, i'm going to do something i can make a living at and something i will enjoy. >> reporter: appleby counting on making more money as a trained diesel mechanic.

many turn to technical schools to maneuver themselves into better-paying jobs. enrollment here at chattahoochee technical college increased 15% over last year in large part due to the struggling economy. students come here to get degrees in fields that range from mechanical to medical from cosmetology to computers. 17-year-old emily wilson is the face of another growing population at technical schools. the young student, who takes college courses in high school. through a state program, she's using tax dollars that would go to her high school to pay for her technical college education. >> it make me excited, because i know i'm getting ahead where i need to be, to be able to finish college as soon as possible and get my career on a start. >> reporter: emily will graduate high school with a year of classes completed toward her two-year associate degree in accounting. she'll be able to work sooner, and that may allow her to continue her education at a

four-year institution. the president of ctc says the colleges have to adapt to the needs of the job market. >> we're going to grow a group of entrepreneurs in the future, a group of people who can lead our country out of this transformational recession we've seen, then we think that we do that through changing the technology that they know, their knowledge base, and it will be done across a spectrum of people from the traditional student to the nontraditional student. >> first day of math class, i mean, i'm saying, i raised my hand and i said, i haven't done an algebra problem since 1964. >> reporter: going gak to school at his age has been difficult but as retirement age rises he knows training for skilled jobs is a must for the young and old alike. catherine callaway, cnn. our top story takes place

moments from now in new york, where dominique strauss-kahn is out of a job, and plight soon be out of jail for a while. the now former head of the international monetary fund is back in court, hoping to sell a different judge on a restrictive bail request than the one rejected on monday. strauss-kahn is charged with sexually assaulting a maid at a posh manhattan motel last saturday. last night from his cell in rikers island the french socialist who scaled the heights of global finance resigned from the imf say, quote, i want to protect this institution and especially, especially, i want to devote all of my strength, all of my time, all of my energy to proving my innocence. soon, in a manhattan courtroom, strauss-kahn will offer to put up $1 million in bail and submit to home detention with electronic monitoring. he'll also give up his passport. cnn's susan candiotti is watching and waiting for all of this. >> reporter: randi, dominique

strauss-kahn wants out, out of a jail cell, far cry from the lifestyle that he's used to. also, a cell where someone looks in on him every 15 minutes while he's been under a protective suicide watch. here's the offer that's on the table. he's telling the court he would put up $1 million bail, the same amount offered on month but a different judge and a different hearing. he will remain at home 24/7, won't leave, he would submit to electronic monitoring, probably include an ankle bracelet, having to call in by phone every day with the court to tell them where he is. he would give up his passport and united nations travel documents. he puts up the deed to his $4 million home in the section of washington, d.c., called georgetown. he would waive extradition if he wound up in another country that does not have an extradition treaty with the united states, he would willingly return to the

united states. he's telling court in writing he has no criminal record, he has strong family ties, for example, two daughters that live here in new york, and he's not a flight risk. when he left -- tried to leave, get on a plane to head to paris, late on saturday, that he was not rushing away from an alleged attack, instead he said he was in a hurry to leave the hotel to have lunch with his daughter and go on to the airport. will the district attorney accept these charges? will the judge? if the judge does, then he could walk out of court a free man, penning trial. if not, it's back to a jail cell. randi? >> all right, susan. before we move on i want to share a few details about the life dominique strauss-kahn is leaving behind. 2010, listen to this, his contract called ford a base salary of almost $442,000, with an added allowance of almost $80,000, no strings attached. he could do what he wanted and

with that allowance. oh, no taxes. did i mention that? no taxes. first-class air fare covered for strauss-kahn and his family whenever on official business. hotel expenses, as well. now, to an issue on the radar of every u.s. president in modern times, the middle east. as you may have heard, live right here on cnn, president obama reset the course of u.s. policy in the wake of the arab uprisings, of the death of osama bin laden of the new palestinian alliance of the nuclear stand-off with iran. yes, i could go on. mr. obama talked about all oef oes things and one more, the conflict between the palestinians and israel. >> while the core issues of the conflict must be negotiated, the basis of those negotiations is clear. a viable palestine, a secure israel. the united states believes that negotiations should result in

two states with permanent palestinian borders, with israel, jordan and egypt, and permits israeli borders with palestine. we believe the borders of israel and palestine should be based on the 1967 lines, with mutually agreed swaps so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states. the palestinian people must have the right to govern themselves and reach their full potential in a sovereign and contiguous state. >> my colleague, wolf blitzer, wrapped up an interview with tony blair. his current job is representative of what's called the middle east quartet, the u.s., u.n., eu and russia. here's an excerpt. >> the president was specific he says israel and palestine, new borders should be based on the '67 lines with mutually agreed

swaps. does that mean if israel were to take some parts of the west bank they'd have to give up an equal amount of land to the pre-'67 israel? >> it's not absolutely predetermining what's happening in the negotiation but saying in essence the palestinians have got to be sure that their state is viable, in terms of territory, and that means, if you like, a size of territory that's at least comparable to that laid out by the 1967 lines pop so obviously there's going to be deviations or changes from those '67 lines, which are mutually agreed through swaps, and that's part of the negotiating process for a long period of time. but the president's trying to say, look, on the one hand the palestinians have got to know if they go back to the negotiating table they're going to get a viable state. on the other hand, israel's got the right to protect its security, we will stand behind them on that. >> of course, you can catch the full interview with wolf blitzer

on "the situation room," today at 5:00 eastern, right here on cnn. how is all of this playing in the region? i want to bring in cnn's reema, watching the speech, was anybody besides you watching the speech there? >> reporter: nearly all of the middle east has been looking for this speech. arab tv networks airing it and aired the full speech of barack obama, translated in arabic for audience, and even now they're airing analysis of the speech, hosting a various number of political analysts across the region. it is the top news for us here in the middle east. and even serious tv, which obama address addressed to president assad, even syrian tv was airing the

speech and analysis after that was a bit negative. >> what were people saying there when you say it was negative? >> reporter: well, the analysts were saying that president barack obama has nothing do with internal affairs of syria, he shouldn't interfere. he said the change and reforms should come from within from syria itself and they claim that this is what president bashar al assad is doing. >> what kind of reaction was there on social media after this speech? >> reporter: as you know, these days, the social media networks, along with two major news networks, al arabiya and al al jazeera are the main players in the region. there were many tweets with different opinions. lie read one from syria, the general mood of syrians was a bit disappointed with the speech. one tweet, obama, guess what?

we syrians started this alone and if you are too afraid to take an action we can handle this alone. and another tweet, from a well-known blogger in egypt says, so what will -- what we will get is a symbolic reshuffle of debt. nice. yeah, that will fix things. in general, we can say people on twitter expected a little bit more on syria and on bahrain. >> rima in lebanon. the historic flooding turns deadly in mississippi and the waters are only getting higher. thousands of people wait for the inevitable. thi .. get the ball, girl. hmmm, you can't do that. but you can do this. bengay pain relief + massage with penetrating nubs plus the powerful pain relief of bengay. love the nubs! ask me. if you think even the best bed can only lie there... ask me what it's like...

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welcome back. to disaster in mississippi where a 69-year-old man from vicksburg has died after being pulled from the floodwaters. this is the first death linked to the flood in the state and the second since the flooding began. this is the same area where the mississippi is cresting today to new, historic levels. life up and down the mississippi liver has become one of survival and aer tortuous waiting game. david, the army corporation of engineers keeping an eye on the levees, what's the situation where you are? >> reporter: right here where we are, there's a certain sense of relief in general, because the water's going to be a foot

shorter than what they originally projected the crest to be. right now, fighting this mississippi is a game of inches. for instance, this levee i'm standing on right now having that water six inches down means a lot of less pressure near the top of the levee, where it's most vulnerable. right now the army corps of engineers is vigilant, watching for problems up and down the mississippi, addressing a problem right now to the north of here on the main line levee here in mississippi. what they're looking at is a problem where water's been getting under the levee and possibly eroding part of that, they've been dumping a lot of the dirt on it, dump truck after dump truck going into that area. they're saying it's not a breach and they're not in danger of a breach. get used to this. as long as this water is this high, we're going continue to see problems as the flood goes on. >> and, david what about those who are about to lose their

homes and businesses? do you have any idea how many more we're talking about, having looked at so many in the thousands who have lost homes? >> reporter: 4900 of mississippi, and thousands more to the south of us in louisiana, the flood is not done yet. when you talk about people losing everything new york place epitomizes that more than where i'm standing now. this levee was not built with taxpayer money and it's not maintained by the army corps of engineers. this levee was built by one family, as they try to protect their business that was started a century ago. five generations of the jones family here have been running a lumber company and the only thing separating that lumber company from this high water right now is this levee. they have been working on it constantly, the problem now is making sure it stays in one piece and they're giving it everything they've got. listen. >> we're trying to keep this thing going for the community,

you know, and for this -- these generations, is what we're trying to do. and if we fail, we fail. you know, if we fail, we'll say, well, we tried. >> reporter: and they're not ready to give up yet, not by any stretch of the imagination. but the river is so high, it is already a huge task at hand to keep it back. they're also worried about the river traffic going through here. the tows pushing the barges up create a wake in the northbound traffic here. those wakes hit up against this levee that they built and gouge out precious bits of the fragile dirt that they've got underneath here. look down here that group of people down there, this is something that's going on constantly out here. they are loading sandbags at an area where some of the dirt has fallen away. randi, this work is constant for this one family. they're trying to save a five-generation legacy here and

they're giving it everything they can. they stopped operations at their lumber company here over 20 days ago and they're devoting every resource they have into keeping this levee up and keeping it strong. randi? >> what a battle under way there in mississippi. david mattingly, thank you. well, if you have a bright idea for any kind of project but don't have the money, there's a website that can help. we'll explain how coming up in the connection.ri tidy ca. our premium litters now work harder to help neutralize odors in multiple cat homes. purina tidy cats. keep your home smelling like home. [ woman speaking chinese ] thank you. do you have an english menu? no english. [ speaking chinese ] [ gasps, speaks chinese ] do you guys like dumplings? i love dumplings.

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>> in this week's "connection" one internet company is helping people turn ideas into reality. a website called kick starter, a place to go if you have an idea but need the bucks. deborah feyerick reports. >> reporter: got a good idea? yancy strictler has an idea for your idea. >> take that project, piece of art, record, put it out to the world and let them have a say versus some boardroom, some businessman. >> reporter: in this small office on the lower east side you won't find a boardroom, just strictler and two dozen employees the heart and soul of an internet company called kickstarter. fund and follow creativity. >> it's a way for creative people of all kinds, artists, filmmakers, musicians, documentarians, chefs, technologists, whoever to bring ideas they have to life.

>> reporter: it's not charitier. rather something in between art patronage and commerce. user post a plea for their projects and anyone can can support them with a financial pledge. in exchange the creator gives donors a reward or unique experience like a signed memento or tickets for screenings. you can see how much a project has been funded already and how many days remain to reach the goal. kickstarter won't give the creator any money until all funds have been raised. >> out biking or walking -- >> reporter: alex and mindy are two grad students who came up with an idea to create fashionable reflective clothing. >> we're both casual bike riders and wanted clothes to wear everywhere but provided us with extra safety and visibility. >> reporter: started as a class assignment to make wearable technology. they used sme special materials on shirts that would reflect light on busy streets but are hardly in theable in normal environments. they took we flashy to kick

starter and raised woel above the $6,000 costs. >> people we never met before. >> reporter: to date, kickstarter raised more than $50 million and supported more than 20,000 projects, ranging from an artist who wanted to pen a handwritten letter to every person in the world to a short film nominated for an oscar last year. >> some of the projects on site, you know, are freem from people could get traditional money. other people, this might be their own chance top to create a place where that can happen, happen simply was the dream. >> reporter: a dream letting other dreams come to life. deborah feyerick, cnn, new york. >> the u.s. hit its debt ceiling on monday and some are calling it a crisis. but are they just crying wolf? ali velshi and richard quest will debate next in a special edition next.

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quest means business, so do i. here in the "cnn newsroom" around the world. hello, richard. >> hello, ali. each thursday, ali and i, coming to you from around the world,

for ritual humiliation as one or other of us gets to be beaten up on business, travel, and innovation. >> nothing is off limits, including one of the biggest topics this week. we're talking about debt. the united states hit its debt ceiling this week, some are calling it a crisis. but are they crying wolf? richa richard, you got 60 seconds to tell us. >> ali if it wasn't so serious, it would be almost comical. but the numbers are truly huge. the u.s. debt now over $13 trillion, and rising at an astonishing rate. it's the size at which the debt is growing that is truly amazing. from the year 2000 to now it's gone up by more than 300%. even allowing for the recession, the situation gets worse. the real problem is, everyone

says the ceiling will be raised, but nobody realizes what could happen fun it doesn't. think greece, think ireland, think portugal, think of all of that and multiply many times over. while they are arguing, something could go wrong. and if that goes wrong, and defaults, even for a split second takes place, there would be financial calamity. by the way, ali, while i've been talking, the debt interest has cost $464,231. >> you are quite a talker. i'm disappointed that you and i probably agree on this point. let me take a go at it. the united states reached its debt ceiling on monday. we're still here. we're still alive and kicking. now, true, the treasury has some wiggle room between now and august to divert funds here and there before congress has to decide to raise that debt

ceiling again and by how much they're going to do it. just like they've done, by the way 74 times since 1962. so this is commonplace. why, richard? arguing over the debt ceiling is really arguing over whether or not the united states pays bills that it has already incurred. a perception, as you hinted of u.s. default on its obligations would be far too great a price to pay. politicians know it. where they're playing with fire is insisting that america can get going forward by slashing spending. it's not enough, richard, and some point in the future, american politicians were going to have to tell their constituents they're going to have to pay higher taxes if they want to rein in the debt and balance the budget. that's going to spell political doom for some in congress. americans have to hear that discussion now. >> the best part of a million dollars has just been paid by u.s. taxpayers in interest while

you and i have been waffling with hot air. now talking of real hot air, the voice. >> i prefer lukewarm air myself. but let's jump right into it. the united states has the largest amount of public debt in the world and treasury bonds are how governments, like the united states, borrow money. china and japan own the most u.s. treasury holdings. at end of 2010, who is the third largest owner of u.s. bonds? was it, a, brazil, b, canada, c, taiwan, or, d, the uk? richard? >> i'll say the uk. >> that is correct. the u.s. was the third largest hold of the u.s. treasury bonds at the end of last year. question two. the g-20 is made up of the finance minister and central bank governors of 19 countries.

at the g-20 summit in toronto most was made of the fact most countries agreed to lowering debt to gdp ratio in some way. which of these 19 g-20 nations had the least amount of debt to gdp ratio last year? was it, a, australia, b, russia, c, saudi arabia, or, d, south africa? ali? >> saudi arabia. >> you're guessing. >> nice try. richard? >> i would say lowest debt to gdp ratio, australia. >> nice try. ali, want to give it another go? >> russia. >> that's correct. russia is the runaway winner with over 8% of gdp as debt. saudi arabia is a close second with under 13%. let's go to the other end of a

scale. we've already established that the united states has the largest amount of public debt in the world. but there are other countries with even more dire debt situations. in fact, there is a g-20 country with a debt-to-gdp ratio over over 227%. according to the imf -- >> come on! he can't press his bell before you asked the question. >> he's going to finish the question. >> how do you live with yourself? >> since you jumped the gun. go ahead, try to answer the question, richard. >> so which g-20 has the highest level of gdp? ali, you know the answer to this. it is japan. >> that's correct, richard, well done, though you spoke out of turn. >> i'm polite. i was waiting for the question to be asked first. >> nice guys fin irk last, ali. i'm out of the here. >> see you, voice. thanks very much. rewee need new rules in the game, richard.

>> this -- that will do it for this week. did you know the answer, by the way? >> i knew the answer, yeah. i knew the answer to the first one, too, but you're quick with your little bell. >> i've got to be quicker than you. we are here each week, thursdays only quest meets business at 18:00. >> cnn.com/qmb and cnn.com/ali. tell us each week what you want us talk about. see you next week, richard. >> see you next week, a limit.

naomi pryce: i am. i'm in the name your own price division. i find empty hotel rooms and help people save - >> - up to 60% off. i am familiar. your name? > naomi pryce. >> what other "negotiating" skills do you have? > i'm a fifth-degree black belt. >> as am i. > i'm fluent in 37 languages. >> (indistinct clicking) > and i'm a master of disguise >> as am i. > as am i. >> as am i. > as am i. >> well played naomi pryce.

half past the hour. let's check the headlines and other news you may have missed. a major policy speech today, president obama outlined his hope for the future of the middle east and north africa. he expressed his concern over the growing division between the u.s. and the arab world, acknowledging their futures are tied together. he pledged economic support to new democratic governments in nations such as egypt and tunisia. >> we do not want a democratic egypt to be saddled by the debts of its past. so we will relieve a democratic egypt of up to $1 billion in debt and work with our egyptian partners to invest resources, foster growth, entrepreneurship. we will help egypt regain access to mark business guaranteeing $1 billion in borrowing that is needed to finance infrastructure and job creation. we will help newly democratic governments recover assets that were stolen. in new york, the newly

resigned head of the international monetary fund is back in a courtroom, trying to get out of jail. lawyers for dominique strauss-kahn are asking for a million dollar bail and home detention in manhattan with electronic monitoring. charged with sexually assaulting a hotel maid last saturday. last night from his cell, he stepped down from the imf while strongly professing his innocence. doctors are calling congresswoman gabrielle giffords' progress almost miraculous, one day after they planted a second of synthetic bone in her skull. part of her skull had to be removed after she was shot in her head. they implanted a shunt. doctors say giffords is recoving really, really well. she was shot in the january where she was greeting constituents. nasa inspecting possible damage to heat shield tiles on

the shuttle "endeavour." the tiles appear to have been gashed by falling debris during the launch. so far these are the documented areas of interest, which received the damage. here you can see the impacted tiles up close. right now, engineers are trying to determine how deep the gouges are in those tiles. russian astronauts were able to capture these images of dhfr "endeavour" so engineers can assess the impact sites. mark kelley commanding the mission says, they've seen this kind of stuff before and it's not too big i've concern. additional inspects may be needed on saturday if engineers determine repairs are needed. osama bin laden speaking from beyond the grave. hear what he wanted to tell the world in his last recording before his death. that is coming up after this.

he's dead, but the world is still hearing from osama bin laden. a recording of bin laden praising the uprise, sweeping the middle east surfaced just yesterday. michael holmes joins us atlanta to talk about this. michael, when was this recording made? what's the message. >> reporter: it was done in the islamic calendar but we're sure it was may before he was killed on may 2nd. with all of these tapes, we're unable to absolutely confirm the authenticity of it but it does call for the downfall of those tyrants and replace with those based on strict islamic law, referring to the arab. one point he asked what are you waiting for? save yourself and your children, because the opportunity is here. so that's what we're hearing on the tape. >> and, who is the audience, would you say, for this tape?

these uprising occurred in spite of bin laden and al qaeda. >> reporter: yeah, which probably annoyed him a lot. they were caught off guard, like everyone else, you know? not sure who is listening to this except the more extreme islamists. as you mentioned, those leading the revolt moving or in the direction of democratic reform, democratic governments, which, as i said, would be anowing to al qaeda because they missed the boat on this. trog poiinteresting to point out came out on the day that saif al abdel is the temporary leader, remember that. >> if we can, let's turn to afghanistan, to the war in afghanistan. i want to talk about the taliban because they're wanting to keep their name in the headlines claiming responsibility for killing at least 36 construction workers, that is right? >> reporter: that's right. attacked their camp in eastern province on the border with pakistan. more than 70 workers, 72,

kidnapped as well as those killed. these guys were working on a road, building a road, being used or to be used by u.s. and nato forces and the taliban said that was the reason they attacked. >> so what's happening here? is this more evidence that the taliban spring offensive is under way? >> reporter: absolutely. that's safe to say that. remember, the taliban recently declared they started spring military operations. we saw that action in kandahar the other day that we were talking about. >> i want to talk about this "the washington post" story. really good reporting on the fail ture to recruit taliban defectors. >> reporter: the ineffectiveness of the karzai government, with so many of the country's problems, the blame for this pretty much falls in his lap, as well. and the sheer inefficiency of the government. u.s. and afghan officials told "the post" they're losing the chance to capitalize on the military gains that we've seen, and the death of bin laden, et

cetera, et cetera, by not bringing people into the fold. >> so what's the delay all about it? what's causing it? >> reporter: political squabbles, bureaucratic delays in the government, money's not getting it to where it needs to go. there is a system to provide for taliban defectors. the u.s. also unable to be providing stopgap solution because of the way u.s. aid is interpreting the congressional restrictions on the use of the reconstruct funds. it's got tonight so bad the delay and the training and the funds, the governor in kandahar, he's told taliban leaders, mid-level leaders who want to come in and be protected and part of the surrender program to hold off, delay it for a while. he says, because they're not as prepared as they should be. can you believe that? after repeated producting from the u.s., the karzai government approved the plan to win over taliban fighters. it offers amnesty to those who

haven't committed war crimes. they want to come in, can you wait a bit guys until we're ready? crazy. >> let's thoed irelahead to ire. the queen trying to men relations. she had fun today. >> reporter: she went to ireland's national horse stud breeding center. the royal family, the queen's mum was huge on horse racing. the queen mum used to sit back with a gin and tonic and call her bookie, so people said. the queen got meet jockeys, unveiled a statue marking her visit as well. >> very nice. was a more serious occasion last night. >> she was going to state dinner and it would be the only time you would hear her speak in public and she did indeed. she opened her remarks speaking in gailic, a big surprise, started off speaking in the irish language and impressed everyone with that. she also, in the speech, said that she had deep sympathy for the victims in both countries

over the long and deadly conflict that ultimately led to the independence and the creation of the irish public back in 1921. it wasn't an apology, but it was close, you know? a lot of people admired it. >> got to love the tiara. love looking at the queen. sorry. she looks great. more power to her. looks great. may we all look that good at her age. >> reporter: yeah. she's 85. quiet here without you, i've got say. >> yeah. thank you. see you back in atlanta tomorrow. hurricane season officially starts june 1. how many hurricanes will hit the u.s. this year? five, ten, 20? we break down the numbers and what you need to know. ♪ things are gonna get easier ♪ ooh-oo, child, things will get brighter ♪

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knew welcome back. hurricane season officially starts june 1. this morning the u.s. government's weather agency, kn noaa released predictions on what to expect this year. chad meyers has been watch all of this. better or worse? >> depends on your point of view. you hear -- everybody's got some kind of hurricane forecast but only one official one, from the

national weather service and from noaa. noaa's may forecast, this will change as the year goes on, right now 12 to 18 named storms, 6 to 10 hurricanes and 3 to 6 major hurricanes. major hurricanes 111 or more miles per hour. so how does noaa do? last year, noaa said 14 to 23. they were right in the middle. the actual was 19. hurricanes 20814. there were 23 12. none hit the u.s. they turned off into the middle atlantic. another busy season in store for us this year. >> chad, i hear there's a cool app that you can get that actually warns you about storms? >> yeah. let's go over here. it's for the iphone only right now. but it is very, very cool. you can download it for free today. it's called imap weather radio for free. first 100,000 that get it, get it for nothing. it knows where you are because you're iphone has a gps in it. and if you're driving, it can

alert you if you're driving into a tornado warning. how about that? nobody else can do that right now. turned on just a random city, elk city, severe thunderstorm warning in effect until 2:30. we know that. the whole story here is, as we change this pattern from a hurricane pattern to tornados or severe thunderstorm warnings this will warn you. that's a great app. also, let's me do something else. i can show you where that cell is. there's elk city. there's the cell. thunderstorm. you can do this, make it bigger or smaller. you know how you can do the stuff with it ipads and iphones. i'm stuck with the flip phone. i'll get there when i'm 60. >> that is cool that it can warn you. i rely on you to warn me, and you're free, too, except my cable bill. >> get me on sirius and you can drive with me too. >> all right. i will do that. thank you, chad. cool stuff. we'll be right back. [ me a] in 2011, at&t is at work,

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breaking news related to the dominique strauss-kahn case. there's a bail hearing in lower manhattan.

straight to richard roth who is outside the courthouse to bring us up to date on this breaking news. richard, what do you have for us? >> reporter: the developments, the prosecution has told the court that dominique strauss-kahn, formally head of the international monetary fund, has been indicted about a grand jury. this sets the stage for potential trial. the defense is arguing for their client, strauss-kahn, to be released on bail. the prosecution in the court has said it opposes this. the defense, in the last few minutes, stating to the judge, judge obis, that the conditions for bail are more than sufficient, yesterday he was ahead of a major global organization, now he is not a security risk, he can stay with his wife in an apartment in new york city and that they have recommended a security company to do the monitoring, the defense saying, quote, we have obtained service of a well-known security company. we are proposing the most restrictive possible conditions

in manhattan. the defense opposed the presence of the video camera. the judge opposing the request. dominique strauss-kahn walked into the courtroom, acknowledged his wife, who is now there, and his daughter, with a smile, and sat down, surrounded by three court officers. once again, the prosecution telling a judge here that an indictment has been filed against dominique strauss-kahn, who is accuseded of several sexual assault crimes against a hotel maid in times square, saturday afternoon. randi, back to you. >> quickly what was his reaction in the courtroom? >> reporter: from our producers in the court, we do not know. i'm not sure if they had a view of him. but the defense, again, stating that he did not try to flee, that he called the hotel twice, asking for his cell phone, told them where he was, he was at jfk, preparing to get on an air france flight to europe. and that he is not a flight risk. the prosecution on monday said, he is indeed a flight risk. he could become like roman

polanski who escaped criminal charges in california. no ruling yet as far as we know from the judge. >> thank you for that update on that break news. i want to bring in our legal analyst, jeffrey toobin, he's on the line with us. i'm sure you could hear the breaking news, an indictment filed against dominique strauss-kahn. your thoughts on this. all right. we seem to have lost jeffrey toobin there. >> i'm here. i'm not hearing. i'm only heard -- >> there is an indictment filed against dominique strauss-kahn. let's try jeffrey toobin one more time to get his take. jeffrey if you can hear me this time what do you make of this n in? >> i'm sorry. >> he's there. we're working on getting him so we can get the important reaction. >> i mean, he is -- strauss-kahn

is now in an even bigger world of trouble than he was before, because now it's clear the government feels it has enough evidence to bring this case to trial. it also makes bail a tougher -- a tougher road for the defendant, because the stakes are now much clearer and much higher. so this is just more bad news for dominique strauss-kahn. >> so, obviously, yes, it means that things are much more serious for him. is there anything you think he can do to get bail at this point? >> well, i do. if you believe that bail is supposed to be not a punishment but just a means of making sure that a defendant will show up for trial, i think strauss-kahn has a very good argument for bail. with his passports take an way, with 24-hour house arrest, with electronic monitoring, with the fact that he is an international celebrity, the idea that he would escape somehow, like roman polanski, does seem very

farfetched. so i think the argument for bail is a pretty good one. i think this is a tough call for the judge. >> all right. jeffrey toobin, appreciate your insight. glad we got you on the line. the ex-imf chief, strauss-kahn, has been indicted. we will continue to follow that. in the meantime, switching gears a bit two days from now, that is when a california minister predicts the rapture will happen. the day many christians believe they'll be taken up to hev tonight meet jesus. the man making the prediction responsible for thousands of billboards just like this one around the world. the bill bores clearly state that may 21 will be judgment day, when christians will be saved and others, nonbelievers, will be left behind to a world of chaos. 89-year-old harold camping the president of oakland-based family radio. he made a similar prediction in 1994. this time, he says he's sure about the date but was of a deep and complex study of religious

texts but others are not buying it. but about that day or hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the son, but only the father. let's debate this, shall we? with our stream team, father alberto cute, co-create somewhere coproducer of the new york arab-american comedy festival, and a best-selling author. all of you, thank you for joining us. father cute, does this prediction harm christianity and give nonbelievers another reason to doubt? >> i hope not. certainly there is so much fanatical stuff out there, there's no doubt that the end of the world has been a topic of discussion for thousands of years. 2,000 years of christianity we saw it in the first millennium, with the y2k crisis when the year 2,000 was around the corner

and we see how these groups continue to instill some fear in people, to tell them the inis near. we know the world's going to enbut don't know when. jesus made that clear. >> rabbi, do you believe this gives some people another reason to mock religion? >> of course. legitimate religion has been fertile ground for quacks and nut jobs, and there seems to be too many houses of worship that has a magnet that draws these crackpots. religion is supposed to be about life. moses says, choose life. we have predictions of death, mass slaughter for nonbelievers. it's not limited to religious circles. we have radical environmentalist saysing life is coming to an end. what is it about our culture that we love focusing on death, movies are people being slaughtered and even religions about getting virgin sex for u side bombings and now strains

are moving into christianity. in judaism, our emphasis is specifically on choosing life. >> dean, what is your take on this doomsday prediction? >> i'm hoping it's true i stopped paying my credit card bills two months ago. the man predicted it in 1994, hundreds gathered it didn't happen. one word to tridescribe, awkwar. the tunisia, japan, mets won 5 of last 7 games but in reality the average person, we laugh at this. it's a joke. we know. it's not a mainstream part of christianity, it's a fringe man in california saying this. >> father cutie -- >> in order to ensure it doesn't become part of mainstream, let's not forget unless the center condemns these extremists instead of laughing them off as some sort of clowns, this can become mainstream. we can start speaking about the

rapture that christians specifically will go to heaven and those not believers in jesus, like jews or muslims will go to hell. a lot of the beliefs are beginning to invade the center. we risk den grading as comedy, we saw this happen in islam, a great world religion. look how extremists started pushing in and saying violence should be done in the nail of god. we should repudiate it logically and say it noose place in mainstream place. >> father cutie, what do you think of the party nonbelievers have scheduled? that is taking things too far? >> it is. and the only thing it's doing is getting more attention to the craze that's go on. i agree with the rabbi and the dean what they said is totally right on target for us. as christians we doesn't think we need to sell bray tcelebrate craziness but we couldn't believe the religion of fear which is growing needs to be