fire fighters in colorado for not putting out the fire? there's only so much they can do in a condensed period of time. keep the conversation going, facebook.com/carolcnn, and thanks as always for your comments. >> i'm carol costello. thanks for watching today. snam >> reporter: continues right now with kyra phillips. >> hello, everyone. i'm k i'm kyra phillips. a pilot program puts cabbies to work as detectives and barclay's bank pays a high price for low rates and you may have paid a price, too. richard quest blows the lid off a scandal that may only be the beginning, and they are heros one day and excess equipment the next. the dogs of war. fighting for honorable discharge. >> i'll tell you what, another day of ferocious fire fighters and they will come and go without the remaining weapon. the c-130 planes are grounded

while the air force investigates the deadly crash of an eighth plane. one of these based in charlotte, north carolina. we expect to learn more in a news conference this afternoon. we know that four of the six crew members were killed, including this man, lieutenant colonel mike mckiel who spoke to one of our affiliates on saturday. lizzie o'leary with the latest out of washington. what's the latest? >> reporter: latest is that they are investigating the cause of this crash while the other c-130s are grounded, grounded by the air force right now, and that essentially really diminishes the ability of the forest service to fight a lot of wildfires. the way the service does this is they use a number of different planes, but some of the big guns, as you said it, are the c-130s that are on loan from the air force as part of this fire fighting fleet. this is not the first time a c-130 has crashed, a relatively horrific crash in 2003 when

essentially a c-130s wings folded up ward and fell off the plane in northern california. that crash was blamed on metal fatigue. obviously the air force is still looking into what caused this recent crash. >> any idea when the grounding might be lifted? >> that's a lot harder to say and what we're talking about here is looking at this fleet of planes. these are not the only tools that the local officials have to fight fires. they have another arsenal, if you will, of different tools so there are now nine p2v tankers and you also have convers. some of them are as much as 40 years old, and they are equipped with mobile fire fighting systems and then they are used by contractors who work with the federal government and send them out to different fires. they move from place to place. also one very large air tanker,

essentially a d.c.-10 that's equipped to fight fires and one of the criticisms you hear is even though this can drop more fire retardant, it's harder for them to get into smaller placs,s get really at the causes of the fire and get them early on. you have folks advocating the use of smaller planes. >> thanks so much. we're expecting a live news conference this afternoon on the c-130s. we'll continue to follow the story for you throughout the day. let's head over to colorado now. that's one of the 12 western states battling wildfires this hour. the air force had activated its entire fleet of c-130s to help fight the fires across the west. martin savage is there in colorado springs. martin, how visible were the c-130s there where you are? >> well, kyra, they were here reported by the incident commander. we're standing outside the incident command center where the fire has been fraud.

at one point i believe the national forest service said every one of the c-130 planes were here in colorado and were tasked for this fire when it was at its worst. that's all changed as a result of the incident that's occurred. i should tell you that word quickly spread of the loss of that kwirkt inside when it went down on sunday and, of course, the loss of life is felt deeply throughout the fire fighting community. they feel it inside even though it was a different fire. they have continued to fight this fire even without that aircraft. they have many other resources. it should be pointed out the c-130 is welcome and needed and they do have other air assets. they have the big sky crane helicopters, the massive things that look like insects that they can drop water, a lot of water on a fire. they also have contractors that are out there flying everything that looked like -- what do you call it, the spraying type airplane, very nimble. 500 gallons, but they can spin and drop that right on a very small fire and then you've got everything in between so the air assets are there and then they

have 1,500 wild land fire fighters here as well so the loss of the aircraft, the grounding of it felt but they carry on, and they do have other means of battling this fire. kyra. >> the waldo canyon fire. has it come down to just targeting hot spots now? how much of it has been contained? >> reporter: yeah, 70% is where they are at. that was the end of the day today. i imagine they will do better. there is a bit of a concern only because we have right now is some pretty good building heat and some light breeze and that could stir up some of the embers that are out there. but they have 70% contained. doesn't mean out, of course, but they basically got a defensive perimeter around 70%, a 26-square mile perimeter fire, so a large area they have to surround. they are making progress in doing that and what's burning is islands, interior islands, areas of vegetation surrounded by burned out areas. winds that could lift an ember and put it into fresh forest, that would be a concern. they are watching for that. >> okay, martin savidge, thanks

so much and homeland security secretary janet napolitano and agriculture secretary thomas vilsack will be there in colorado springs and we expect to hear from them this afternoon. stay with cnn for more on the fires the rest of the day. nearly 1.4 million people are still without power right now, and as the temps continue to rise, thousands of people across the country are enduring a fourth day without air conditioning. the power outages happened after that storm blasted through the east coast and midwest over the weekend and the outages are now scattered across 11 states and washington, we're talking indiana, ohio, west virginia, pennsylvania, maryland, virginia, delaware, kentucky, north carolina, new jersey and also illinois. all of these places without power and here's the most frustrating factors. the power companies are refusing to say when power will be restored. here's a pretty incredible example of just how hot it's

been. take a look at wisconsin. highway 29 in chippewa county. the pavement buckled because of the heat so an suv was headed down the road, hit the ramp, and it was sent airborne. we're told that everyone is okay and that the roadway has been repaved and is back open. of all the times i've been live in iraq what, went through your mind? >> what do you do about this district attorney? >> this is the geographic south pole. this is new york state. we built the first railway, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires.

then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com.

i tell mike what i can spend. i do my best to make that work. we're driving safely. and sue saved money on brakes. now that's personal pricing. all right. just a quick note for those heading out the door. can you continue watching cnn from your mobile phone or computer. just logon to cnn.com/tv. well, if you ever wished you could set interest rates with the snap of your fingers, well, there's a job open at barclay's,

two actually. ceo bob dimon as well as the chief's operating officers has stopped down, days after barclay's paid half a billion worth of fines in the uk and the u.s. now the bank admits it manipulated what's called the libor, the london interbank offered rate. now that's a daily read of the interest rates that big banks charge one another, but you don't have to be a big bank to be affected by the rises and falls of it. my colleague richard quest joining me now to explain what lies about libor mean to you. richard? >> well, it's very simple in a difficult sort of way. libor is a rate set in london but not set in sterling pounds or euros or yen. libor is also set in dollars, and that should follow the interest rates in the united states as given by the fed and another bank in the u.s. once libor, dollar libor is set,

all the credit card companies, all the home loans, all those consumer credit, the sofa you bought, the car payments you made, if you're going out to buy a car, you will -- you could well find it is described as libor plus 1%, libor plus 3%, and that is the inextricable link between you and me and the fraud for that's what it was that was taking place. when we borrow money, we borrow libor plus. >> and it's a pretty informal system, right? it's informal in the way -- >> they just call each other? >> not quite. >> not quite. >> no? >> the banks basically gauge what they can lend money at, write it on a piece of paper and submit it and then this organization sort of works it all out. all right, it is informal.

it's a formal, it's a simple and what's really worrying about this, what's really disheartening to anybody who looks at this is the brazen way in which the banks were fiddling it. there was no pssst, would you do this for me, hey, can you do that for me? this is open e-mails. dude, i need a lower rate. dude, i need a lower rate next tuesday. and the guy who was doing the rate says is 1.76 low enough? i mean, this is naked, brazen, scandalous, and that is why barclays in one of its submissions today, these events should never have taken place, and here's the point. >> how did they think they wouldn't get caught and there's other big banks that are involved, too, right? >> that's the point and here's why i think they never thought they were going to get caught? hear this, because it's probable everybody was up to it in some

shape or form. bay claes traders were asking other banks and you have a got to see this, kyra, in a pre-2007 environment. what's now being called the age of irresponsibility. subprime, aig risk, the sort of not looking that let madoff get away for so many years, enron, worldcom, all these events took place when the financial world thought it could get away with murder basically. >> it's arrogance. it's unbelievable arrogance, and where are the watchdog systems? i mean, totally failing the people. >> that was the point. well, you can argue me say, republicans and democrats, both share blame in all of this. some for getting rid of glass/steagall, and others for light regulation, self-regulation, some for cutting back on the s.e.c. budgets, others for making sure that people were put in place. there's so much blame, and you and i bear blame and everybody,

it was an era, it was an era that came to a crashing end in 2007 and 2008, and you know the phrase they always say. when the tide goes out, you discover who is swimming naked, and what we are seeing is many naked bodies that are best -- well, you can guess. >> richard quest, i'll tell you what, i love how you put everything into perspective. thank you very much. now let's take a quick look at our stock market. dow industrials up 54 points. okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle -- 8% every 10 years. wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. [ female announcer ] ensure muscle health has revigor and protein to help protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. keeps you from getting soft.

[ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge! delivering mail, medicine and packages. yet the house is considering a bill to close thousands of offices, slash service and layoff over 100,000 workers. the postal service is recording financial losses, but not for reasons you might think. the problem ? a burden no other agency or company bears. a 2006 law that drains $5 billion a year from post office revenue while the postal service is forced to overpay billions more into federal accounts.

house bill 2309 is not the answer. this is new york state. we built the first railway, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com.

four months to decide. that's how long it left until voters make their choice in the presidential election so where do we stand right now? check this out. it's the new cnn/orc poll. the president holds just a three-point lead over mitt romney, the exact same margin as last month, by the way, but as our joe johns reports that's just part of the story. >> reporter: even though the president maintains a slight edge in our nationwide polling it appears to be a different story in the 15 battleground states, including iowa where we met this group of young voters at the court avenue restaurant and brewing company in des moines. our latest cnn/orc poll indicates mitt romney is out to a 51% to 43% advantage in the 15 states we consider in play. the seven true tossup states and

the eight states leaning towards the president or his republican challenger. nick has supported romney since the iowa caucuses and says he sees the candidate's pragmatism as a key selling point. >> but if you look at his record in terms of his ability in the private sector and being governor of massachusetts, definitely some interesting insight into his ability to solve problems, and back obama said four years i'll solve the problem. he's lacked leadership in a lot of direction and mitt romney is really strong when it comes to solving problems and being very pragmatic. >> the news is not all good for the republican challenger, however. as a presidential election approaches few things are seen as more important than voter enthusiasm and the incumbent president seems to have it on his side, at least for now. in march only 46% of democrats said they were were enthusiastic about voting in november and now that number is up to 59%, a 13-point increase. >> i'm very excited for this election, and i've been really pleased that president obama has put his neck out on the line for

students. >> reporter: for romney not so much. republican enthusiasm has remained almost constant, 52% in march versus 51% now. it's a very different race from the last time obama and romney ran for president. >> i think our generation is less connected with this election than they were in 2008, primarily because in 2008 most of us were first-time voters. >> joe johns is still on the road. he's moved now from iowa to ohio, another key battleground state, of course. joe, what do you think, people there, have they made up their minds? what have you been able to gauge? >> reporter: well, you know nationally, kyra, 79% of americans say they have made up their mind, according to our poll which leaves about 20% who have not, and that, of course, is the key 20% that observe m and romney will have to go for. red state, blue state and a very polarized place right now. >> what are the voters most

concerned about aside from the heat because i can see the sweat dripping dunn your neck? >> reporter: i know, it's really hot out here. plus we've got a river in this humidity. what the voters are concerned about on this hot july 4th weekend is jobs and economy and here in the state of ohio things are getting better. unemployment is down for last year and 55% of respondents in recent polls say they don't think the country is on the right track so that -- the expectations and what's happening need to catch up with each other. >> joe johns, thanks so much. we'll keep checking in with you. mitt romney's campaign bus is there in columbus, ohio butted can't date is actually in new hampshire. president obama will be in ohio later this week for a campaign event. we're following all of it for you. tax or no tax, that's the debate now on the president's health care law. a spokesperson for mitt romney

says that his boss considers the mandate just a penalty, not a tax. that seems to go against what other republicans are saying, including minnesota congresswoman michele bachmann. she also told our piers morgan that there's more than just the mandate to dislike about this law. >> we're forced to buy a product that private insurance companies offer, and this is anathema to americans. we should be able to make our choices, not have the federal government make our choices for us. the good news is we really can have positive health care reform. we can do this, and we can bring down the cost of health care, and we can make sure that we have affordable, accessible health care for all americans, but the current situation won't work. >> supreme court decision upholding the law has sparked a fund-raising frenzy as well. both the romney and obama campaigns say they have each brought in around $5 million bucks since the announcement. ♪

[ male announcer ] ok, so you're no marathon man. but thanks to the htc one x from at&t, with its built in beats audio, every note sounds amazingly clear. ...making it easy to get lost in the music... and, well... rio vista?!! [ male announcer ] ...lost.

introducing the musically enhanced htc one x from at&t. rethink possible. introducing the musically enhanced htc one x from at&t. you know what's exciting? graduation. when i look up into my students faces, i see pride. you know, i have done something worthwhile. when i earned my doctorate through university of phoenix, that pride, that was on my face. i am jocelyn taylor. i'm committed to making a difference in people's lives,

and i am a phoenix. visit phoenix.edu to find the program that's right for you. enroll now. [ female announcer ] the gold standard in anti-aging. roc® retinol. found in roc® retinol correxion deep wrinkle night cream. it's clinically proven to give 10 years back to the look of skin. now for maximum results... the power of roc® retinol is intensified with a serum to create retinol correxion® max. it's proven to be 4x better at smoothing lines and deep wrinkles than professional treatments. new roc® retinol correxion® max. nothing's better than gold. new pictures have been released of aimee copeland, the georgia woman who contracted a rare form of flesh-eating bacteria. the woman is ready to face the cameras and just eight weeks ago

this college student was clinging to her life. she lost a hand, one of her legs and a foot to that routeless flesh-destroying bacteria. now we're going to see pictures of a smiling girl who says she is ready to get her rehab started. she's been transferred now from an augusta hospital to an in-paint rehab facility. tonight at 7:00 eastern erin burnett goes out front with aimee copeland's recovery. she will speak with the 24-year-old georgia woman with b her ordeal and her inspirational attitude. that's tonight at 7:00 p.m. eastern right here on cnn. the unsung heros in the war in afghanistan risking their lives every day and when their service to their country is over they often find themselves left behind in the combat zone. we're talking about combat dogs and the move to ensure that their life in retirement is safe and secure. chris lawrence reports. >> the bond between soldier and

search dog was forged the day this dog discovered her first ied. >> that right there was the moment that the relationship went from, okay, you know, i care about her, i love her, to this dog is absolutely amazing. >> reporter: it was a remote village in kandahar, afghanistan. sergeant dave varcat's patrol was hided towards a hidden bomb but the dog sniffed it out and alerted them in town. the soldier saved my life. best friends for life and it's the same thing with this dog. you okay. >> reporter: there are nearly 3,000 military working dogs and 600 are serving in war zones. they eat, sleep and fight alongside their handlers 24/7, but the military classifies them as equipment, right along with the rifles and rucksacks so if the dog gets old and retired on a base overseas he's considered

excess equipment, not entitled to be transferred home. someone who wants it adopt him has to pay the shipping costs and can run thousands of dollars. >> so when this dog handler left the army, he couldn't afford to adopt his partner named nooska. because it meant flying to an overseas base to get her. >> going to be in the couple thousand dollars between the ticket for myself and the ticket for the dog and the short notice of it all. >> reporter: you want to bring her back but that's a lot of money. >> right now i'm a full-time student. my wife works part-time at the local mall here and we have our son to raise, so there's not always a lot of extra money laying around to just go up and get a dog >> reporter: despite her four towers in iraq and afghanistan, nooska could have been left behind. now there's a push in congress to give the dogs their due. >> we're looking for a

classification that's higher than equipment. >> reporter: representative walter jones co-sponsored a bill to make them canines members of the armed services. it would allow the military to honor courageous dogs, make sure they all get flown back to the states and set up a private fund for lifetime health care. some people would say you guys need to be watching every penny that you spend. the cost is not going to be astronomic astronomical. if we can find 10 billion to spend in afghanistan, then certainly we can find a few thousand dollars to say that the dog is more than equipment. >> you ask any handler this is a soldier. there's no doubt about it, because the bond that we have with these dogs is absolutely amazing. >> reporter: nooska is 12 years old now and still feels the effects of her four deployments. >> even still today she's apprehensive towards loud noises like doors slamming. >> reporter: but thanks to a local school that raised the money robert brought his partner

home to become a part of his family. >> she doesn't have a whole lot of life left but what life she does have left should be comfortable for all that she's given. >> reporter: chris lawrence, cnn, washington. >> and for more on this or the latest reporting by our national security team, just logon to cnn.com/security. in 15 categories, including best overall car rental. so elevate your next car rental experience with the best. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz. mid grade dark roast forest fresh full tank brain freeze cake donettes rolling hot dogs bag of ice anti-freeze wash and dry diesel self-serve fix a flat jumper cables 5% cashback signup for 5% cashback at gas stations through september. it pays to discover. how did the nba become the hottest league on the planet?

by building on the cisco intelligent network they're able to serve up live video, and instant replays, creating fans from berlin to beijing. what can we help you build? nice shot kid. the nba around the world built by the only company that could. cisco.

nobody knows the comes and goings of new york city bet are than cab drivers, so that's

where authorities are turning in their fight to help or turning their fight to try and help human trafficking and stop it. cnn's richard roth actually hit the streets to find out more. >> where would you like to go? >> 20th between fifth and sixth please. >> reporter: michael dick is a new york cab driver. soon, michael and all yellow taxi and private car services will be told by the city of new york where to go, a training course on how to spot sex trafficking in their vehicles. >> we want drivers to look for is the kind of thing a lot of children kind of hanging around a particular driver. are there people, children or adults, who don't speak, who seem incredibly nervous and frightened? >>. >> reporter: cab drivers say they oppose sex trafficking but feel they are unfairly targeted, and some question the effectiveness of one class. >> i think 90% of the cab drivers, although they may watch the video, i don't think they would take advantages or do

anything. >> reporter: sex trafficking by taxi is rare. however, as police crack down on brothels traffickers have adjusted, now paying drivers of all kinds of vehicles to ferry victims to the customer. >> it's a big problem. actually not only here in new york city and around new york state but around the world. we are seeing drivers as an integral part of the sex trafficking industry. >> the new law is supposed to place more eyes on the problem. >> can you begin your testimony. >> during debate a sex trafficking victim testified her identity hidden. she spoke through an activist. >> translator: for one week at a time the driver would pick me up and take me from location to location based upon the schedule that he had set up for the men who were buying sex. >> i think it's a really important issue but one that's incredibly difficult to enforce. >> i can't understand how they are going to enforce it. they don't even enforce the honking law which is a lot easier. people honk like crazy. >> reporter: the new sex

trafficking laws are tougher. >> if you don't want to lose your license, if you don't want a $10,000 fine, don't participate in sex trafficking. it's crystal clear. >> richard roth joining me live. i understand mayor bloomberg, richard, almost didn't sign this bill. what were the reasons behind his concerns? >> reporter: well, he had some concerns which he expressed on the eve of signing it and the concerns of several people connected to this story that women who were passengers in cabs, what the mayor might said have a sporty look, mentioning even his teenage or 20-year-old daughters, that they might be perceived as involved in some type of sexual trade and sexual work activity and there are others who said they would be unfairly targeted and they ajusted this bill a few weeks ago so that there would be no misconceptions. the mayor heard it from all sides, and in the end he signed it. >> all right. so when exactly will it take effect? >> in about three months the law

takes effect. it will probably be a video course that cab drivers will have to take, a course many cab drivers in new york, the ones behind me here at penn station in new york speak a lot of different languages as our cab driver said in a report there, he's wondering about the true effectiveness and how much they will be able to do or spot or want to get involved. >> our richard roth live for us in new york. richard, thanks. and in an effort to end modern day slavery cnn started the freedom project. for more on this visit our website at cnnfreedomproject.ork. so what happened to amelia earhart, one of america's most enduring mysteries. now a $2.2 million expedition has been launched. researchers believe that they may be able to finally tell us what happened to the famed female aviator 75 years ago. they will actually set sail today on an 1,800-mile expedition from hawaii to a tiny uninhabited island in the

pacific nation of kiribati. that's where they hope to find ear hart's plane. old radio transmissions and several artifacts have led these researchers to believe it is indeed earhart's final resting place. >> and what we've been finding are artifacts, personal care items that speak out of an american woman in the 1930s, a woman's compact, the pieces of the mirror, some rouge from the makeup, a jackknife, double-bladed bone-handled jackknife of the same type that we know was aboard her airplane. >> the group plans to arrive next wednesday conducting a ten-day search right there on its western reef. ♪ rocky, rocky mountain high ♪ ♪ all my exes live in texas ♪ ♪ born on the bayou [ female announcer ] the perfect song for everywhere can be downloaded almost anywhere. ♪ i'm back, back in the new york groove ♪ [ male announcer ] the nation's largest 4g network. covering 2,000 more 4g cities and towns than verizon.

rethink possible. mine was earned off vietnam in 1968. over the south pacific in 1943. i got mine in iraq, 2003. usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection, and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve.

sdwrirks electric shocks, pulling out fingernails, burning with acid, assaults, some of the heartless tactics of torture that human rights watch says that the syrian government is using about against its own people to try to crush that revolt against syrian president bashar al assad. if you take a look at this map, human rights watch says that it shows the actual torture centers all across the country. ivan watson is monitoring the developments from the base there in istanbul. what more can you tell us about this human rights report besides the fact that it's terribly disturbing? that's right. what human rights watch has done is interviewed 200 people, former prisoners as well as former security officers, and they have compiled the list of at least 27 detention centers where they say torture was systematically practiced, that belonged to at least four different intelligence or secret police agencies run by the

syrian state, and they have also named some of the commanders of some of these detention centers and a name and shame effort to try to put pressure on them to stop what they call crimes against humanity. the people they have interviewed for the most part are young men, ages between 20 and 30, but they also include women and elderly citizens as well as children. take a listen to an interview, an excerpt of an interview with what's clearly a boy who describes how he was treated in one of these detention centers, kyra. >> reporter: now, kyra, human rights watch is calling this network of tortured chambers the torture arc plageo and what's disturbing, even more disturbing about this is that it is meanly

an instrument of state policy to try to control the population and also the conclusions that human rights watch has come up to match those of cnn who have been following the story for more than a year. the interviews we've had with dozens of former detainees as well as former security officers that match these descriptions of the kind of torture med odds used and the security forces are using everything from a common car tire to battery -- car batteries, to clubs and batons to carry out this punishment against their own citizens to try to keep them in line. >> i think you've talked to these individuals as well. i mean, you brought us harrowing stories of those that have been tortured. >> that's right. i'm not a fluent arabic speaker, but i've picked up the expressions of different torture

methods that the syrian government uses, like where you tie somebody up to a board so that you can then beat them and they can't defend themselves. that's something that every person i've talked to who has been in a syrian prison has endured. they also have another method called the dula, a car tire. they stick a person's head and feet doubled over into his car tire so that they did then beat them on the back and on the feet and around the head, all so many of them describe being electrocuted, and what was chilling was talking to a former secret police officer who worked for five years in the detention center. in the only did he say that they pulled out fingernails and made detainees eat them or lick their own blood off the floor, he also said they had a name for the different clubs they used to beat prisoners. if the prisoners said for god sakes stop, they would say, oh, let's get the for god's sake stick. for my mother's stick, let's get for my mother's sake stick.

that gives you a sense of how systematic the use of torture is in the syrian state today against its own citizens. kyra. >> i know you are extremely passionate about this story, and you've been one to bring us some pretty unbelievable details on what's happening, and we all await some sort of finish to this. ivan watson live out of istanbul, ivan, thanks so much, and a new development today also on the shooting down of that turkish fighter jet by syria last month. syria's president assad is now saying that they shot it down because they believed it was an israeli jet. assad is saying that he regrets the incident. you can see. with res like whole roasted nuts, chewy granola, and real fruit. nature valley trail mix bars. 100% natural. 100% delicious.

gee, well, the election is four months away and could well be decided by the states where autoworkers and union workers once ruled, especially along the rustbelt. both candidates are fighting for blue collar votes in places like wisconsin. >> a whole bunch of auto plants in wisconsin that wouldn't be open had we not intervened. >> i'll tell you. i think that president obama had just put this in his column. he just assumed from the very beginning wisconsin was going to be his. but you know what, we're going to win wisconsin and we're going to get the white house. >> so is which is which is up for grabs? poppy harlow has been hitting the road for a four-day road trip, wisconsin was the first stop of her rustbelt tour so poppy what did you find? >> i think it is up for grabs. we went to janesville, wisconsin, typically a

democratic town, a former big union town. they had the biggest gm, the oldest gm plant this the country there that employed about 4,000 people. that shut down in the end of 2008, and we've talked to folks, talked to autoworkers who still support obama and talked to folks supporting mitt romney. you know, it's interesting, a town that's divide, it's a town that's because it's not so heavily union, kyra, it's not necessarily backing obama this time around and take a listen to some of the people we met in janesville, wisconsin, really on opposite sides here. >> it's a town without an identity, a town with more unemployment and more foreclosed homes and -- and more people that want to work that just don't have that option anymore. >> they want jobs and they want good jobs. >> reporter: is it still a union town? >> that's changed. not a union-centered town anymore. >> we believe the country needs

to change a direction. >> reporter: what candidate provides you more of an economic opportunity to make it? >> it's mitt romney, no question. what he said today i'm going to get you back to work, i'm going to get you back to work. i care about it. >> reporter: we hear the same thing from president obama. >> but we see mitt romney's proved it as governor. he's proved it when he was working with this company. >> i believe president obama is working for the working man. i voted for reagan twice, okay? wish i hadn't. trickle-down economics where we all wait for a couple of quarters to fall out of the fat guy's pocket is -- this is why we're where we're at. >> reporter: now it's interesting, kyra, the last man you just heard from, eric ian who worked at the gm plant for over 30 years and even though the auto bailout didn't save his job, he's still supporting president obama but that evening i met a woman named linda at a local softball game and she said i'm behind mitt romney 100% because of the economy. she works as staples, and as you know mitt romney's bain capital record, staples is one of the companies that they invested in while there.

so it's interesting to hear people talking about his bain capital record, and for her she said i don't think that's a bad thing >> you know, this is my old -- my old stomping ground. i think the majority of my irish relatives still live in the great cheese state, you know, and this community, you know, usually went democratic, so what do you think? >> reporter: right. >> could you be seeing a switch here to more people going republican? >> reporter: very likely. we're not going to know until november, but this is a community that did vote for ted barrett, the democratic nominee in that recall election, not scott walker. however, it's not a union town anymore so i was talking with vic grassman, the economic coordinator development here on the phone. he said we're divided for sure. the uaw is gone, a town that's trying to figure out its identity. they still have 9% unemployment, down from 15% in 2008 and 2009 but it's still 9%, so it's higher than people want to see, and you saw the guy in our piece there, eric keene, you know. he went from a good-paying union job. he's 52 years old, delivering

pizzas and mowing lawn at the local golf course so the jobs are not paying enough for people. some of them will continue to support the president, give him four more years and some of us -- some of them tell me they have had enough and they want to change. where are you heading next?indi. have you ever been there? >> i have not been there. i have good friends in indiana. >> there you go. indiana is the most fascinating state we went to on this trip. it voted for obama in 2008 for the first time since lbj and now it is leaning. cnn has it leaning toward mitt romney. we spent the day in kokomo, indiana. we'll have that story for you coming up tomorrow. >> great. we look forward to it. poppy, thanks so much. as poppy just mentioned, we'll have more on the rust belt's impact on the presidential election all week. keep it right here on cnn. so you ever wonder just how private your online messages really are? well, a new york judge has just ordered twitter to hand over the tweets of an occupy wall street protester. the defendant malcolm harris

claims he had no idea about a police order to stay off the brooklyn bridge, but prosecutors say his tweets may reveal otherwise. well, legalzoom came up with a better way. we took the best of the old and combined it with modern technology. together you get quality services on your terms, with total customer support. legalzoom documents have been accepted in all 50 states, and they're backed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee. so go to legalzoom.com today and see for yourself. it's law that just makes sense. [ male announcer ] we believe small things can make a big difference. like how a little oil from here can be such a big thing in an old friend's life. purina one discovered that by blending enhanced botanical oils into our food, we can help brighten an old dog's mind so he's up to his old tricks. with this kind of thinking going into our food, imagine all the goodness that can come out of it. just one way we're making the world a better place... one pet at a time. vibrant maturity. from purina one smartblend.

one pet at a time. multi-policy discount... paperless discount... paid in full discount... [yawning] homeowner's discount... safe driver discount... unicorn discount. unicorn wearing a sombrero. olé... countless discounts -- now, that's progressive. call or click today. in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. so why should our anniversary matter to you? because for 200 years, we've been helping ideas move from ambition to achievement. and the next great idea could be yours. ♪

if you're leaving the house right now, just remember, you can continue watching cnn from your mobile phone. you can also watch cnn live from your desktop. just two to cnn.com/tv. all right. so we're just getting word that that fleet of c-130s that was suspended to fight the fires will restum. they will return to action. we are just getting word now. go ahead and cross over. you're fine. we're following that story for you and we'll bring you more information from the scene with

our reporters there on the ground. all right. mother nature may be putting her own fireworks on display. it looks like the storms and the blistering heatwave are going to continue throughout the fourth of july. karen mcginnis, tell us exactly what we can expect for america's birthday. >> kira, some areas are seeing their temperatures just kind of fall back a few degrees, but if you were expecting a widespread diminishing of temperatures, that's not going to happen. take a look at this. chicago and st. louis, both of these areas going to see fairly different ideas. right around 100 degrees for chicago, but we go toward saturday, temperatures -- 10 i2 degrees. little rock, temperatures approaching the 90 degree mark. atlanta, the temperatures do start to drop off. coming up for thursday, runners going to be up and down peachtree street running the big

race. it is going to be hot and sticky. make sure you stay hydrated for that race as well. all right. where do we have the problem with the heat? for today? extending from minneapolis to chicago, over toward indiana and ohio. this is where we're looking at this extreme heat. however, across the southeast, as i mentioned, those temperatures are going to back off a few degrees, but not for very long. because that same ridge of high pressure is going to envelop a good portion of the eastern third of the united states. you may remember over the last seven days or so, we've had 21 reports of record high temperatures. last thursday, norton dam was one of those areas that set an all-time record high. having to go back to the 1800s. they were 118 degrees. well, coming up for new york city, can't rule out the answer of a thunderstorm. these will be the estimated forecast temperatures at about 9:00 p.m. atlanta around 85. maybe an isolated storm. i think that will be more toward

the northern suburbs. if you're going to run the big race, the big peach tree road race, in excess of 50,000 people, well, it's mostly just going to be muggy. i don't think you'll see rainfall during the early morning hours. kansas city, toward the evening you'll start to see those temperatures right around 90 degrees. so a hot forecast there. if you plan to bring any food out or do any celebrations, make sure you've got plenty of water. lots of things to keep hydrated. seattle, 57. that sounds terrific to me. and for los angeles, partly cloudy skies and 64. so we'll probably have plenty of record high temperatures to tell you about coming up over the next several days as well. kira, back over to you. >> what you're saying is head to seattle. >> sounds good to me. >> okay. sounds good. i love seattle. it's beautiful. right there along the water. cool breeze. go to the fish market. all right, thanks so much, karen. they leap right into the wildfire, battling to bring it under control. the waldo anon fire has now destroyed more than 340 homes, but it could have been a lot

worse if we didn't have these guys. gary tuchman takes us into action with colorado's smoke jumpers. >> reporter: in the entire usa there are 430 of them, among the fire fighting elite. they are the smoke jumpers. >> 10,900 feet. >> reporter: many of them are in colorado right now, marching on to aircraft which is their transportation to the action. their job? to fly into the fires just as new ones are starting up. and stop them from getting bigger. this is video the smoke jumpers just brought back. it's hard to spot the flames up here at 1,500 feet, but the smoke jumpers are trained to see them and it's all very clear when they're on the ground. nowhere near any roads and sometimes quite a distance from any civilization, but if they don't get to the blaze quickly, the flames will often spread rapidly. smoke jumpers court disaster every day they're on the job. >> you talk to everybody you

know, close family, tell you what you do, what do they say to you? >> they think i should get my head examined. >> reporter: part of the reason, how they get to the fires. fire fighting is not for the timid. these guys aren't fighting fires, they sky dive into potentially deadly combustible wilderness. we were invited to watch the smoke jumpers train in this canyon near grand junction, colorado. after the smoke jumpers land, their equipment is attached to its own parachute. >> inside the cargo you'll find our hand poles that we use for fighting fires. shovels. >> reporter: the smoke jumpers who all work for the u.s. departments of agriculture and the interior also have mres, water and sleeping bags in their cargo boxes because they may be in the wilderness for up to 48 hours while hauling gear on their backs. >> weighs 120, 140 pounds and we'll hike out of that situation.

>> reporter: the fires in colorado have been unpredictable and relentless, but there are so in other ways to get hurt including lightning and bad parachute landings. phillip was once seriously hurt when he missed the target. >> had a branch of a tree puncture me, come through this pelvis and eviscerate me. the personnel i was with was a trained paramedic. >> reporter: the smoke jumpers put out fire by clearing fuels with their equipment and diggin lines, also backfires to stop the wildfires in their tracks. they have to get along with each other because they rely on each other. are there times when you're fearful? >> all firefighters have moments when they're fearful. we like to sicourage is not the absence of fear. >> reporter: there has been no shortage of action this fire season. gary tuchman, cnn, grand junction, colorado. >> thanks for watching. everyone. continue the conversation with me on twitter @kiracnn or on

facebook. "newsroom international" starts right now. welcome to newsroom international, i'm suzanne malveaux. we're taking you around the world in 60 minutes. a dangerous military buildup is under way in the gulf. both the u.s. and iran showing force. the u.s. navy quietly deployed extra ships as a signal to iran not to attempt to block the strait of hormuz which is critical to shipping oil around the world. more american fighter jets are in position capable of striking deep into iran if the standoff over its nuclear program escalates. meanwhile, the iranians are conducting a second day of war games. they fired missiles capable of hitting u.s. warships and american troops in the region. and here, dramatic video from assam, india's northeastern state. millions affected and driven from their homes in one of the worst floods to hit the area in eight years. almost all of assam's districts are now under water and the

agriculture minister tells "reuters" at least 77 people have been killed so far. and in the uk, two little kids grabbing the olympic torch? you can see them back there. they just broke through security, ran up to the torch bearers and tried to take off with it. well, those runners making the handoff there kept their composure as well as the torch. right now it is in the middle of a seven-day run through the uk leading up to the london olympics. no arrests were made. an apology today from syrian president bashar al assad. he says he regrets that his soldiers shot down a turkish warplane last month. they thought the plane belonged to israel. president assad told a turkish newspaper the doomed jet was flying in an area previously used by israeli air force. what he's not apologizing for is the widespread torture that his government is allegedly inflicting on his own people to crush the revolt against his regime. ivan watson has the story.

>> reporter: arabic names for torture techniques that former prisoners and security officers say are systemically used by forces across syria. >> we've documented the use of torture in 27 detention facilities scattered across syria and, you know, what we found is that torture is widespread and systemic. >> reporter: a new report published by the group, human rights watch, maps out dozens of detention facilities where prisoners say they've been routinely tortured. human rights watch is calling it the torture archipelago. >> it is a network of torture center, of torture chambers that the authorities are using to intimidate, to punish people who dare to oppose the government. >> reporter: human rights watch interviewed scores of torture victims. some of whom were only children.

these testimonies are very similar to those gathered by cnn over the last 15 months. this opposition activist from latakia says security forces beat him after handcuffing and blindfolding him when he was arrested in april of 2011. the torture continued throughout his 40-day detention. "they used the car tire technique and threw cold water on our naked bodies and also urinated on us," he said. torture victim accounts matched those of former torturers like this former secret police officer. he defected months ago and joined the rebel free syria army.

human rights watch isn't just documenting abuses. it's also naming and shaming. publishing names and ranks of commanders of individual detention centers. >> by indicating the names and identifying the people responsible for these detention facilities, we're really putting them on notice that somebody will have to -- somebody will have to answer for these violations. >> reporter: violations that the syrian government routinely denies, but the evidence being gathered in reports like this one by human rights watch is being prepared for that day when the dust finally settles in syria. a day when many hope those accused of crimes against humanity will be brought to justice before an international court of law. >> ivan watson is joining us live from istanbul, and ivan, tell us first of all, do they think that this naming and shaming strategy is really going

to work? >> reporter: only time will tell, is the short answer to that. basically what they're doing is compiling evidence in a way that i haven't seen in past conflicts. part of which, because the syrian conflict has run on for so long, it's much easier to get names. proposals i've heard from western diplomats is to get the cell phone numbers of individual military commanders whose battalions are accused of carrying out massacres and calling them up directly and saying, we know your people did this. we're gathering evidence against you and we can bring you to court when this is all over. and syrians should be looking at the prosecution of the former liberian dictator charles taylor before an international tribunal on war crimes allegations and thinking this may catch up to us later. >> and ivan, real quickly here, has the syrian government responded to this report by human rights watch? >> reporter: no official

response. and they've routinely denied accusations from the united nations high commissioner for human rights. when she has accused the syrian regime of crimes against humanity. just last week, the syrian ambassador to the u.n. stormed out in protest at a u.n. human rights council meeting which was, again, raising allegations of serious human rights abuses inside sere wra. >> all right. ivan watson. thank you. syrian rebels are putting up a strong fight against government forces. what they lack in weapons training they make up in sheer determination. both sides are now suffering heavy casualties. bill knenealy is taking us on t front lines in the syrian capital. >> reporter: the face of revolution in the heart of the capital. these are syria's rebels, and they're getting closer to president assad. it's not that they've reached damascus. they live here and they patrol openly, driving us for hours to the very frontline of the war against their own regime.

these men of the free syrian army they say control this area and that regular syrian troops have no power here. there's certainly no sign of them here. this is one of several suburbs in damascus where president assad clearly has lost control. an air force drone is buzzing, watching overhead. the rebels are often hit from the air. rockets, artillery. killed by their own former comrades. >> he was in the army and now he has left. they have few weapons. they're young, but this they say is a war they will win. these are their victims in a conflict that has just had its bloodiest week. syrian soldiers are now being buried by the dozen. these men died in duma on the edge of damascus. 42 of them in a day and a half of fighting. the survivors console each

other, but these men have reason to worry. the army death toll is now in the thousands. the pity of war is shared by both sides, but this army is accused of a pitiless bond pa bombardment in a war they're sure they will win. you are sure you will win this war? "yes, he says. we're ready to die, but they will." they've come to the funerals directly from the battlefield. behind them, 16 empty coffins. ahead of them, the battle for damascus, that in the suburbs has raged for days. countless civilians, soldiers and rebels, victims of its deadlock. bill neely, itv news, duma. south african bishop desmond

tutu is talking about thesyria. >> we're very, very concerned of all the carnage from whichever side. we have been urging that a stop be put on all of that killing. it's not statistics. it's the daughter of someone. it's the mother of somebody who are dying. and for goodness sake, can they do something about putting a stop to that? >> bishop tutu is a member of the elders. group of elites, senior statesmen dedicated to solving tough global problems. here's more of what we're working on this news hour international. it wasn't supposed to be open until the apocalypse. militants linked to al qaeda just destroyed a sacred tomb known as the end of the world

gate. we're going to bring you the chaotic situation in mali. and in his home country he's considered an outcast, emven a criminal. his crime, being gay in uganda. >> someone think because you're gay, it's like a virus, i cannot get close to you, i cannot talk to you, i cannot sit next to you. choose control.

introducing gold choice. the freedom you can only get from hertz to keep the car you reserved or simply choose another. and it's free. ya know, for whoever you are that day. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz.

i tell mike what i can spend. i do my best to make that work. we're driving safely. and sue saved money on brakes. now that's personal pricing. in west africa right now, sacred tombs dating back to the 15th century are being destroyed by militants linked to al qaeda. it's happening in timbuktu in mali. take a look at this. this is the entrance to a tomb that honors muslim saints. militants went on a rampage on

friday one day after the u.n. world heritage committee put the shrines on a list of endangered sites. what is behind this destruction? the militants want strict islamic law to govern everything in mali. they say these monuments are a form of un-islamic idolatry. michael holmes joining us. let's talk a little bit about this one particular site that was destroyed. this gate, if you will. do people actually believe, anybody believe that the apocalypse is going to happen because the gate has been destroyed? >> the locals do. those who believe this tomb was so holy that the gate would not be open until the last day of earth. well, yeah, they think bad things are going to happen now because of this. the extremists who done it, no, they say, as you said, that it's idolatry, it's not their version of islam where tombs should not be any higher than six inches off the ground. >> you and i were talking about this. you said this is a case of muslim versus muslim. can you explain that? >> yeah, when you or i were ahead of this story, actually, we talked about mali a couple

months ago. it was the turak rebel who wanted to set up a homeland in the north of the country, kicked out the government soldiers from there. they worked with islamists when they were fighting, the government soldiers. what's happened since then, those islamists combined with al qaeda-linked groups swamped the area. they hijacked that revolt, if you like and they're the ones running an area the size of spain now. and these guys are hardliners. day are hardliners. they want strict sharia law. the locals don't want them there. the locals are not that branch of islam. so you -- basically it's just being taken over by these extremists. >> is there anything that the people there in mali can do to fight this, to stop this? >> it's very difficult, you know? also timbucktu, this is a historic site, been on the unesco heritage site for years and years. this is a place that was a place

of islamic teaching from the 13th to the 17th centuries. there are hundreds of thousands of islamic documents there. there are numerous shrines like these, all of which they're going to try to destroy. what can be done? the locals can't do anything. they don't have the power. they're a different type of islam to these hardliners that have come in. the rebels say they want to take it back again. they have no chance against these guys. the only chance is france saying they're confident that the u.n. security council is going to back a proposal for west african troops to go in and get these guys out. it's ironic -- >> is that likely to happen? could that happen soon? could they actually see some of these more sites destroyed in the meantime? >> that's the thing. it could happen soon. i think it will happen soon. you'll see west african troops. ironically didn't go in to stop the fighting but go in to protect what's left of this area. will they get there in time? you know what, probably not. there was a spokesman who was quoted early today saying they're 90% done with the destruction of -- this is a couple of dozen shrines and tombs. you know, it's just -- unesco

spokesman said this is a tragedy for all humanity in terms of -- >> because, i mean, the value of these historic, historic places. michael, we have to leave it there. thank you as always for the update. an american graduate student now is in stable condition after being attacked by two chi chimpanzees in south africa. the attack happened last thursday at a chimpanzee sanrtuary. in south africa where it all happened, tell us first of all how is the student doing? he is, i assumed he's worked with chimps before. >> reporter: he has worked with chimps before. there are so many holes in the story, suzanne. obviously because he's still sedated in the intensive care unit of the hospital, not being able to communicate.

we don't have his side of the story. he's undergone two operations we are told by the hospital to investigate his wounds and clean them out and stitch some of them that could be stitched. and obviously mend fractures that he sustained. we understand that he sustained very, very serious injuries. as i said, all the details we do not have yet because most of the information we're getting from the sanctuary. they told us andrew jumped over the first mete barrier which ist a meter and a half high to separate people from the animals. there's a second barrier, an electric fence, where the chimpanzees were. we understand he may have identified a stone he thought one of the chimpanzees would pick up and maybe throw at one of the tourists and he wanted to stop that from happening.

he put his foot on the stone and that gave the chimpanzees an opportunity to grab him. they grabbed him by the legs and, you know, we understand from the sanctuary that they attacked him for a good 15 minutes, suzanne. >> that's terrible. we know this is a sanctuary very well known, on the tv program "escape to chimp eden." is this is something that happened before or the first time they've seen something like this at the site? >> reporter: they say, you know, they've never seen anything like this. and obviously we've been speaking to other experts here in south africa and conservationist who's been working for 33 years around the continent. he says he's seen lions maul people, crocodile attacks but he's never, ever seen chill pan ci sys attack a human being in such a manner. we're told they were in a warlike state we're told while they were attacking.

people were computing that they were fighting to defend their own territory and they saw him as an intruder and that's why this very, very vicious and horrific attack, suzanne. >> all right. we certainly hope that he gets better. thank you very much. we hope he recovers. [ male announcer ] this is anna, her long day teaching the perfect swing begins with back pain and a choice. take advil, and maybe have to take up to four in a day. or take aleve, which can relieve pain all day with just two pills. good eye.

welcome back to "newsroom international." taking you around the world in 60 minutes. news, culture, even music. here's what people are listening to right now in south korea. ♪

all right. that was busker busker holding down the number one spot on korea's board this week. they got their start when they appeared on the south korean talent show called superstar k3. sicientific announcement tomorrow could change our lives. researchers in switzerland are expected to announce they have kiss covered what is called god particle or pretty sure they discovered it. the last 50 years it's been the most sought after particle in all of physics. think of this as a missing puzzle piece in our understanding of how the universe works. a scientist, a professor at yale university, thank you so much for helping us here, because our team, we've all been talking about this for the last couple days. we're absolutely fascinated. we're a little confused. if you can help us understand, tell us what is the god parti e particle? >> well, thank you, suzanne.

the god particle, well that's a term that's kind of been used just to promote what it is, but its official name is the higs bozon. what it is is the missing link that links us to the big bang. the big bang occurred under 14 billion years ago, and it started with lots of particles that had no mass and now we have us today full of elements with mass. now, how do we get mass? well, it's the higs bozon or the god particle that is the missing link. that's the thing that created the mass. >> so that's the thing that gives us all our shape, our form and our weight? that one kind of particle? is that right? >> it's that particle that gave all the elementary particles mass. electrons, protons and nutrons which create atoms, people, earth, everything we understand. so that's the missing link and that's what's -- >> that's great. so we got the missing link here. what does that mean for us now? what can we do with this information?

>> well, first, it helps us decide that the model that we have to describe the universe works. if we have this data and we found out that it's correct, then we have a formula, if you will, that will describe everything in the world. it will describe why the sky is blue, why dna has twists the way it does. it describes everything. so this is a great way for us to understand how the world works. so that's the first part. and the reason why we do this research is just, it's curiosity, but also town the road, the higs bozon might be important to us from a technology point of view. first we have to find it. >> so are we absolutely sure that we found this god particle? you say you're almost certain but not absolutely sure. >> we're not absolutely sure. it's more of a definite maybe, if that makes any sense. the thing is that we can look at things and we have some confidence that it's a particle that looks like a higs. we have to make sure all the

properties are right. that takes a while. no one is really willing to stick out their neck because it almost looks like the higs bozon. we want to be certain that's the case. that's going to take more time to dig through all the data. i didn't mention, but the experiment where this happens is in certain. it's called the lhs. these experiments happen a million times per second. a million times per second. that's a lot of data. and we have to comb through that data to see if it looks like what the higs bozon should generate. it's going to take some time to dig through all that data. >> professor, is it worth it? we're talking about 50 years and billions of dollars spent to find this so-called god particle? >> well, it wasn't -- it's not 50 years and billions of dollars just specifically for this particle. there's a lot of infrastructure that's needed that's used for other science as well. the first scientist, peter h higs, thought of this idea about 50 years ago and we've been on this quest to figure it out and

find it since. >> what's next, professor? >> what's next? well, we'll find out tomorrow, july 4th, whether scientists feel confident that they actually found the higs bozon and we'll continue on with the science. the science not only helps us understand the world, but there's so much more that we gain from big science. we gain all kinds of technologies that we use today. we don't talk about this, but sern, the place where this experiment happens, is actually the mother of the worldwide web. so while we do big science, we create all these other things as well which we use and enjoy today. >> all right. thank you for breaking it down for us. really appreciate it. there are people in his home country who would like to see him dead. well, his crime, being gay. now he's fighting back against the government of uganda with a new documentary. in 75% of your, listerine® cleans virtually your entire mouth.

so take your oral health to a whole new level. listerine®... power to your mouth™. i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i looked at my options. then i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. call now and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, it helps pick up some of what medicare doesn't pay. and could save you thousands in out-of-pocket costs. to me, relationships matter. i've been with my doctor for 12 years. now i know i'll be able to stick with him. [ male announcer ] with these types of plans, you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital

that accepts medicare patients. plus, there are no networks, and you never need a referral to see a specialist. so don't wait. call now and request this free decision guide to help you better understand medicare... and which aarp medicare supplement plan might be best for you. there's a wide range to choose from. we love to travel -- and there's so much more to see. so we found a plan that can travel with us. anywhere in the country. [ male announcer ] join the millions of people who have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp, an organization serving the needs of people 50 and over for generations. remember, all medicare supplement insurance plans help cover what medicare doesn't pay. and could save you thousands a year in out-of-pocket costs. call now to request your free decision guide. and learn more about the kinds of plans that will be here for you now -- and down the road.

i have a lifetime of experience. so i know how important that is. breaking news to cnn now. actor andy griffin has died. we all remember the iconic show theme, just take a listen. ♪ >> "the andy griffith show" starring andy griffith. >> his folksy manner made him a star in the 1960s as sheriff andy taylor on the andy griffith show. griffith played a single dad who doled out advice in a sleepy country town. the 1980s he found fame again in "mat lock." he was a member of the tv and christian music hall of fame.

he was 86 years old. we're going to talk to larry king at 1:00 about his friend, andy griffith. now, to uganda where politicians can call for people to be put to death because they're gay. in uganda it is illegal to be gay but activists now are fighting back. a new documentary tells their story. kareen wynter met one of those activists on a trip to the u.s. >> reporter: ugandan native lon jones is visiting the u.s. for the first time, experiencing something rare for him. a feeling of acceptance. >> actually i'm just amazed. i'm amazed. >> reporter: in his homeland, jones is an object of hatred for being gay. >> someone thinks because you're gay it's like a virus. i cannot get close to you. i cannot talk to you. i cannot sit next to you. >> reporter: in uganda, as in many other african countries homosexuality is illegal. gay people are frequently

vilified. >> being homosexual, no one will back you up, no one will want to defend you, no one will want to associate with you. you're basically living in a world of isolation. >> there's a way you feel when you know you're unwanted. that's how i feel. >> reporter: jones and several other gay rights activists are profiled in a new documentary "call me kuchu" which reflects the war in uganda of homosexuality. some want imprisonment, even death for anyone who is gay. >> god's law is always clear that sin is death. >> reporter: leading gay rights activist, david kato, was murdered last year. the documentary filmmakers were recording at his funeral as clashes broke out between supporters and detractors. >> who are you to judge? >> reporter: the ugandan government sent mixed signals

about legal protection for gays. a spokesman told cnn to his knowledge no one is in prison for being a homosexual. as for kato's death, he maintains it's not a hate crime. the government recently raided a workshop for gay rights act vists and banded dozens of nongovernmental agencies accusing them of supporting homosexuality. >> it's unconscionable to target gays and lesbians. >> reporter: president obama and u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton have spoken out against you gone to's policies on gays. last month the state department criticized anti-gay legislation pending in the ugandan parliament. >> we think it's inconsistent with uganda's international human rights obligations and sets a bad, bad precedent. >> reporter: visiting los angeles for the documentary's premiere, jones marvelled about how open gays can be in the u.s. >> it's quite amazing at how free and acceptable. >> and just an example, put a smile on your face.

you don't see that in uganda. >> no. >> when people say, this is who i am. >> no way. >> reporter: jones says he's been warned his life is in danger back home. >> waking up one morning, you don't know whether you're going to see another day. it's really hard. >> reporter: despite the risks, he says he will soon return to uganda to resume the campaign for gay rights. >> i have to be there because the battle and the struggle is on the ground there. i may not live to see the fruits of the fight, but someday someone will say we fought for it. >> kareen wynter is joining us now from los angeles. kareen, we know uganda is not the only country that has anti-gay policies. how widespread is this across africa? >> suzanne, there are anti-gay laws on the books in many african countries. we're talking about nigeria, tanzania, cameroon and zimbabwe, with stricter laws against male

homosexuality than female. a prominent gay rights activist was brutally murdered recently in an apparent hate crime. as to why african countries have anti-gay laws, some experts attribute it to the influx of american evangelicals who have come to africa, basically urging people there to combat homosexuality. you heard lon jones' story. he's hope lg to have quite an influence on his country and beyond and really in his own way change stereotypes out there. >> does he feel like he's risking his life by coming forward? >> absolutely. one of the most revealing parts of the interview, suzanne, i have to say, when i asked him, is it worth all this? he said, careen, there are some days i wish i weren't gay, that i didn't come forward. what would that accomplish? there are so many lives to be saved, so many minds and social concepts to be influenced. he feels like he has an important work to do back home.

he says if he doesn't see the fruits of his labor that this will have an impact someday. incredible individual. >> yeah, very brave. kareen, thank you so much. appreciate it. imagine being so desperate for cash that you would be willing to sell your body parts on the black market. that sounds pretty crazy, right? for some people in serbia, they actually believe this is their only option. like how a little oil from here can be such a big thing in an old friend's life. purina one discovered that by blending enhanced botanical oils into our food, we can help brighten an old dog's mind so he's up to his old tricks. with this kind of thinking going into our food, imagine all the goodness that can come out of it. just one way we're making the world a better place... one pet at a time. vibrant maturity. from purina one smartblend.

breaking news. u.s. and pakistan are moving closer now to an agreement on re-opening the border crossings into afghanistan for nato supplies. i want to go to jill dougherty at the state department. i understand secretary of state hillary clinton had a chance to talk to her pakistani counterpart. what did they discuss? >> we did. we just got this statement from the secretary, and it's one word. one word that is very, very important that's kept this standoff from basically seven months between pakistan and the united states. and that word is "sorry." the importance here is that the so-called glocks, these are ground routes into afghanistan from pakistan, and they are critical to the nato operation in afghanistan. for seven months they were closed because pakistan was very angry about 24 of their troops who were killed in a shooting

and attack by nato forces. nato and the united states said that it was not intentional, that it was a mistake. they had said everything but we are sorry. they talked about regrets and condolences, but still this was held off. and now i think we do have a graphic of the statement by secretary clinton. saying we are sorry for the losses suffered by the pakistani military. we are committed to working closely with pakistan and afghanistan to prevent this from ever happening again. so, suzanne, the news is, of course, that these ground routes are re-opened and the other part of it is how this came about. a very difficult diplomatic issue that apparently has been solved. and i should point out that on the second page, it said, we are both sorry for losses suffered by both our countries in this fight against terrorists. so in other words, there's an

apology directly to pakistan but also an apology in a sense to both countries for what has been going on because of terrorists. >> and jill, explain for our viewers, if you will, the importance of this route that literally connects pakistan and afghanistan and the kinds of supplies that are necessary to support the nato troops, u.s. troops that are in afghanistan? >> absolutely. they're ground routes. so much of the equipment they use in afghanistan is very heavy equipment and it has been critical to getting that in and now getting out as the troops pull out, getting out of afghanistan. without that, they have to find new routes and they have been doing that to a certain extent in central asia. some of it might have to be shipped out, flown out. that would be extremely expensive. so it's very, very important to get this agreement going. and it was really a diplomatic problem. now, another thing was the price. we will have to get more details at the briefing, but there was a

transit fee, or there could have been, on these shipments on trucks coming in and out of afghanistan. in this statement, it says pakistan will continue not to charge any transit fee in the larger interest of peace and security in afghanistan. now, we want to see the -- let's say the lawyer's language on this. how that has been finessed as well. but apparently that price for the shipments has been overcome as well. we'll get you some details we hope very soon. >> and, jill, i imagine this certainly underscores the importance of the relationship the u.s. has to pakistan because it has been so full of tension. a lot of it has deteriorated, if you will, over the last six to nine months, over a lot of incidents between these two countries. i'm assuming the reason the secretary made that apo popolog because it was important to get beyond that and try at the very leaf to improve that relationship. >> oh, absolutely.

the kiling of osama bin laden was a turning point where there was a lot of anger. in this statement i'm noting also references to america respects pakistan's sovereignty and is committed to working together. so there's a lot of language that tells pakistan that the united states does support its sovereignty and that was one of the things that the pakistanis were very angry about. >> all right. jill dougherty, thank you so much. appreciate it. we'll get back to you when you have more on that statement as well. imagine being so poor you have to sell your body parts just to survive. well, that is a growing number of desperately poor people. that is what they are doing. there's a lucrative black market for human organs and it is spreading now across europe. nancy hughes is director of organs watch which is a uc berkeley based documentation and research project. it's unbelievable when we hear about it. we're hearing about people offering kidneys, lungs, bone

marrow, corneas. is there any end to what people are willing to sell out of desperation here? >> well, there's some limits because you're not going to sell your heart. kidneys are prime, the blood diamond of the organ trade. much less so, half your liver or cornea, because the cornea's gotten pretty easily from the dead, although people offer. they offer to sell anything. i've heard people in manila say anything of which i have two, an arm, a leg, a testicle, anything, i'll sell it if i need to to feed my family. >> please tell me why this is going on. what is happening in serbia that is so serious that people feel like they've got to sell their organs? >> this has actually been going on since the fall of the soviet union. it began with collapsed villages all over eastern europe and then

also with the war in yugoslavia. people began to be desperate and more importantly there were outlaw surgeons and brokers, which i call often kidney hunters, who have set up very e will elaborate and very sophisticated according niced crime networks, elicit networks, including money laundering, renting hospital spaces, flying people with illegal documents. really human trafficking for organs is what it's about. people selling to each other online, yes, that happens a lot. but the main problem is when black market profiteers get involved and they're trafficking people, often lying to them, deceiving what they're doing and also patients willing to travel. willing to travel to ba cku,

turkey, philippines, to wherever, colombia, to cyprus. >> explain to me the role of the internet because i understand that is really very significant here. that you have a market, a very lucrative market, a black market and the internet is playing a part in getting people together and actually fostering this. >> yes. the internet is, of course, very important, but to tell you the truth, the real criminal networks do it by word of mouth because they're afraid of being caught. so the internet exists for people who want to post their own need, their own desire to buy, but i'll tell you, that's now how the criminal brokers organize it. they use the internet but with great discretion and they use mobile phones. they use meetings in shopping malls. they work through dialysis units, where they recruit people.

they go to villages and they have people go door to door trying to recruit people who are desperate. >> it is so disturbing to hear. i know that there are people who are trying to obviously tackle this issue. we're going to have to spend more time at a later date talking about that. thank you once again, nancy sheper-hughes for bringing it to our attention. he was the top dog at one of the most powerful banks in the world. now he's out. we're going to tell you about the spectacular rise and fall of barclays' chief executive. [ female announcer ] research suggests the health of our cells plays a key role

throughout our entire lives. ♪ one a day women's 50+ is a complete multi-vitamin designed for women's health concerns as we age. ♪ it has more of seven antioxidants to support cell health. that's one a day women's 50+ healthy advantage.

welcome back to "newsroom international." we're taking you around the world in 60 minutes. ceo of barclays resigned. the bank's chief operating officer has also stepped down. american and british administrators fined barclays last week for fixing interest rates at the height of the global financial crisis. b barclays with one of several banks facing lawsuits. richard, quite a scandal in england. is it a big deal because of how big the bank is or basically because they're caught up in manipulating interest rates? >> bit of both. barclays, one of the largest banks in the world which is also a large part of the new york investment scene ever since it bought the u.s. part of lehman brothers. walk down times square around broadway and you will see that large blue building with

barclays plastered all over it. add to that the fact that they were fiddling interest rates, or at least a certain number of traders and bankers were, and you have what it is. just this time yesterday when you and i were talking, it appeared that bob diamond, the chief executive, wasn't going to go. the chairman had gone. so we're all wondering, what happened overnight? who finally said, bob, here's the pistol, go outside and do the decent thing. >> do we know, or is it still pretty much a mystery how that all unfolded? >> some believe it was the bank of england, the uk central bank. others believe it's the fsa, the financial services agency basically that regulates in britain. barclays said he made a personal decision because of the external pressure is how they're putting it. we will find out, because here's the interesting thing, barclays,

bob diamond is giving testimony tomorrow answering questions before members of parliament and we've already had an eight-page submission from the bank which really does give more details of just what was going on and how the whole thing came about. i -- i think tomorrow when you and i speak, because i suspect we will around this time, we will be sort of sweeping up the mess on the carpet from what's gone on in parliament. >> all right. we might be sleeping up the mess. all right. thank you, richard. appreciate it. he's a newsman. he's also a man of god. we're going to talk to a cnn anchor who decided to become a priest. the freedom you can only get from hertz to keep the car you reserved or simply choose another. and it's free. ya know, for whoever you are that day. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz.

in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. so why should our anniversary matter to you? because for 200 years, we've been helping ideas move from ambition to achievement. and the next great idea could be yours. ♪

welcome back to "newsroom international." ake we tu around the world in 60 minutes. most would agree the newsroom far cry from being considered a holy place. yet during his career at cnn a journalist more than 30 years experience receives what he called his higher calling. charles hodson, he's based in london as a news anchor with "world business today." july 1st he added a new title to his name, reverend. he was ordained on sunday. the reverend charles hodson joins us from england. tell us why the switch, why the change? >> very briefly, very simply,

suzanne, god called me. i wasn't aware of it but others were. one day somebody said to me, have you ever thought about becoming a priest? of course my instinct was to say, no, not me, but i then, you know, i thought for about half a second and then i thought, hmm, maybe the rest of my life has been preparing me for just this moment. and i have to go with it. and i went to the meeting and i said to my wife, you know what, i've just been asked by the priest i've been speaking to, would i like to be a priest? and she said, that would be the latest fad, you know, you'll get out of that by the end of next week. but it wouldn't let me go. i think of it as being, like, somebody's hand in the small of your back and they're just pushing you forward. and, you know, at the heart of that there's a tremendous serenity and confidence that you're going the right thing and, you know, i went to various wise people and they discerned this was god's will for me. >> how do you use your experience, journalism

experience, financial journalist for 33 years to wruse that now the priesthood? >> i think there are a lot of transferable skills as they say. one of them is communication. one is the idea that you're out there and you have to provide, you have to keep things going. you have to provide some kind of performance. i miss sometimes when i'm in church that reassuring thing that you and i have that we'll share with the viewers now. that is the fact that in this little ear piece there's a producer who is ultimately taking responsibility for everything and saying, we're going to do that because the other thing's fallen down. if things are falling down in church and you're taking this service, you have to go with the flow. you're going to have to go with whatever's happening. >> yes. >> the other thing is just the idea of putting your thoughts together and expressing them. you know, and letting ideas flow sometimes, suzanne. >> yeah, despite the producers, thoughts, that they're the voice of god in your ear, not so much we don't think. reverend, congratulations. very nice to see you. >> thank you. god did all the hard work, but by god's grace, here i am.

it was a bit of work for me, too. >> good to see you. our favorite photos of the day from around the globe, that's up next. the postal service is critical to our economy,

delivering mail, medicine and packages. yet the house is considering a bill to close thousands of offices, slash service and layoff over 100,000 workers. the postal service is recording financial losses, but not for reasons you might think. the problem ? a burden no other agency or company bears. a 2006 law that drains $5 billion a year from post office revenue while the postal service is forced to overpay billions more into federal accounts. house bill 2309 is not the answer.

several stories caught our attention today. photos as well. take a look at this. this is belarus, soldiers marching in a military parade marking the nation's independence. today marks the 20th anniversary. dancers perform in front of london -- rather tower bridge in london. they're taking part in a series called "the mayor of