treatment on all of those top stories with ali velshi at the top of the hour. cnn news room continues right now with ali velshi in new york city. doctor, it's all yours. >> you've had a busy couple of hours. we're going to carry on where you dropped off. two major stories that we're following right now. the first one is the hurricane. we're going to continue to be your hurricane headquarters. we're tracking hurricane earl by the second. it's a powerful category four storm closing in on the north carolina coast. let me give you some perspective on this. that storm is now larger than the state of california. hurricane warnings extend up the eastern seaboard to mass mags. especially those areas that lie outside the normal boundary of the united states. of the mainland united states. forecasters are not expecting earl, they're not expecting earl to make landfall in north carolina. but they say the hurricane-force winds could extend 90 miles from the center. you'll look at that, chad's

going to go that with us and explain why it's a dangerous storm. the issue is how fast it's moving. it's contained and it's organized. reynolds is going to tell us about that, not chad. here's a live look from kitty hawk on the state's outer banks. this is the area most likely to be affected. it's also in dare county, where officials are expanded a mandatory evacuation order. >> what we need to happen now is for the visitors to heed the warning to evacuate. ? going to be an overnight storm. which always makes it difficult, because, because it's nighttime. >> while many people are leaving, others are planning to ride out the storm. they're boarding up their homes and businesses. some folks have been stocking up on groceries. one of the fastest-selling items -- water. the high demand is leaving behind some empty shelves, so anyone who is in the path of the hurricane, start planning now.

airlines also taking action, air tran, frontier, delta, continental, waiving scheduling fees for rescheduling flights. reynolds wolf as i promised you is in the cnn hurricane headquarters, cnn's sandra endois on the north carolina coast at kill devil hills. sandra, what's the situation there? >> well, ali, i can tell you, we've been here since daybreak and we've started to feel stronger winds kick up. it's a beautiful day, the sun is shining and the waves are certainly intensifying. we've seen a couple of daredevil surfers out there, kite surfers taking advantage of the higher surf. but we've also seen lifeguards go around telling swimmers to be careful because the tide is certainly coming up and telling tourists not to go very deep. right now there's no hard-and-fast rule to stay out of the water completely, a lot of people here are coming to the shore, taking pictures of these

high tides and higher waves. and also just enjoying the day before hurricane earl comes through here. but you were mentioning, there are really two camps here. some people, long, hard-core residents want to brace for the storm and hunker down. they've been going to grocery store, stocking up on supplies, you mentioned ice and water and drinks and food for a couple of days to just watch the storm go by. others, we've seen on the road, a steady stream of cars of people heeding the evacuation warning that are in place in several counties around this coastal area. so certainly a lot of people taking precautions. but a lot of people also just wanting to ride it out. ali? >> sandra, thanks very much. reynolds wolf is in the hurricane center. take us back. we're following this very closely, but for folks who aren't, what's the situation on the storm and where it's going. >> the news we have on the storm, it's a dangerous category 4 storm, we're seeing some dry

air beginning to come in on the top hast of the storm for the northeast-northwest quadrant of the storm. as it gets closer to the eye, it tends to weaken. it has the perfect structure, it was all basically closed in. the eye is still well-defined. we're seeing the drier air and it may break it up a little bit. the long-term forecast we have from the national hurricane center shows the weakening process occurring, hopefully as we get into early friday morning. winds expected to be around 150 miles per hour. gusts stronger, up to 140. by 8:00 p.m., winds at 100 and then winds of 75. still a category one storm. this is your cone of uncertainty, the shaded area you see. keep in mind that the storm could deviate from that path. and it probably will. these storms don't just move from point to point. they wobble quite a bit. and that's going to be the situation with this particular storm. i can also tell you from where sandra was reporting live, there are parts of the coastline that by tomorrow, tomorrow afternoon

that may be unrecognizable, compared to what we're seeing today. even if the storm doesn't make a direct hit and stays off the coast, which is the forecast, the tropical storm-force winds are going to extend some 200 miles from the center. hurricane-force winds, some 90 miles from the center so it could do a widespread damage not just off the carolina coast, but off the virginia coast, the delaware coast, the jersey shore, up past massachusetts. you could have power outages that could be unbelievable. many places you could have up to millions of people without power. and speaking of the winds that could provide the power outages, wind gusts expected, possibly as we get to the evening hours, an 80-mile-per-hour gusts or stronger. waves 25 to 30 feet and storm surge, two to three feet. we talk about how rough it could be up and down the shore. already we're getting live information coming in. buoy data, quickly coming in. let's see, wind speeds there in

the water of 22 miles per hour. some of the wave heights have been pretty significant. some up to 29 feet in fact. then what we're going to be seeing as we make our way through the rest of the afternoon, evening. as some of this really begins to intensify, the farther north the storm goes, the more intense the winds are going to be felt, eventually off the delmarva peninsula. some people in charlotte, you're not going to feel much. but over towards raleigh and you're going to have the stronger winds. along the coast, they won't be quite as strong. 39 miles per hour, up to 50, but you will have occasional gusts of 80, up to 90-mile-per-hour gusts, the trees are going to hit power lines and the power lines going to cause the power outage. it's going to be a long-term problem through the weekend an possibly beyond. back to you. >> reynolds, when's the next update? >> it's going to be within hours. but if we get new information

from the national hurricane center, they'll jump the gun and we could get information in an hour or possibly sooner. we'll give you our updates in concert with the national hurricane center through the evening and through tomorrow. >> we know the drill, you got something, we'll put you on the tv immediately. i want to bring you up to speed with the other big story we're following. an oil platform, an oil and gas production platform about 80 miles off the gulf coast has exploded. 13 people were, were sent overboard. one of them is injured. but all 13 people is been accounted for and they've been transported to terre bonne parish for help and recovery. i want to talk to patrick cassidy who is with the company that operates this rig. patrick, are you on the phone? >> yes, sir. >> tell me what you know. >> well, at approximately 10:15 today, a fire broke out on our

production platform on vermilion block 380. this is about 100 miles off the louisiana coast in water depths of about 320 feet. there were 13 crew members. and all 13 crew members evacuated and have been accounted for. no injuries have been reported. in an initial flyover by company personnel over the site, there was, there was no hydro carbon spill that was reported. and mariner is working with authorities in response to this incident. we don't know what cassed it yet and there will be an investigation, once today's events are better resolved. to put this in, i know the initial reports were that there was a well blowout or something of that nature. those were incorrect. there were no drilling operations at this facility. there were seven wells producing approximately 1400 barrels of

oil in total in about 12 million cubic feet of gas in total. >> but everything is contained? >> it appears to be at this time, yes, sir. >> so that there was production that was feeding into this rig. everything is karened. you're telling me no reports of injuries, as far as you know? >> that's correct. >> do you know how, how these 13 people we're talking about, having gone overboard, do you know what transpired there? >> i do not know. the expectation is that they should in production, and then evacuated the facility. and they were picked up from a liferaft, picked up by a boat and are on their way to facilities onshore. >> anything happening at any of the other plat forms or rigs that you are involved with as a result of this. have any messages gone out, anyone been asked to check

anything, batten anything down? >> i don't know at this time, this facility is a bit isolated. so the standard provider procedure would be to shut in the production, evacuate the facility and then you would send out the fire response facility. fire response capabilities to put out the fire. >> patrick, we appreciate you talking to us. i want to ask you, however, obviously we're all trying to figure out what went wrong and it's going to be best figured out in an investigation. but there were some reports of this is a, a rig that has been under construction for sometime. and that there were construction delays on it. what do you know about the history of this rig. >> this was a facility that a discovery was made sometime ago. initially, hurricane ike had damaged the facility, so it didn't come on until earlier or late last year, earlier this year. but there were no operations going on.

there were no drilling or other operations going on that facility today. and the fire appears to have been quite a bit a ways from where the wells are. but again, it's very early days yet, very early in the incident. the information we have, you know, does need to be fully analyzed and confirmed. >> as far as you know, was this a fire or an explosion or both? do you know? >> my understanding is it was a fire. on the northwest top of the facility. >> okay. patrick, thank you very much for joining us, we appreciate it. do me a favor. if you get more information, will you communicate it with us? we just love to keep everybody informed and after the deepwater horsen issue, it's probably best to try to get the most information we can. patrick cassidy with the company that operates the, with mariner

energy, which operates the platform we're talking about, thank you. a gunman with some major grievances, doesn't like what's on tv. i'll show you how the hostage standoff played by the hour. aah! aah! ha! ah! whoo! hee! heave! forgot your lunch. give me. give me. hee! ohh! ohh! announcer: you don't have to be perfect to be a perfect parent... i'm ok. because kids in foster care don't need perfection. they need you. hi, may i help you? yes, i hear progressive has lots of discounts on car insurance. can i get in on that? are you a safe driver? yes. discount! do you own a home? yes. discount! are you going to buy online? yes! discount! isn't getting discounts great? yes!

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police gave the all-clear at the discovery channel headquarters, saying there are no explosives in the building, that's a huge relief after everything that went down starting 24 hours ago. we've got new details about the bizarre hostage standoff. we watched it play out live on the show. he want to break it down for you hour by hour. police say around 1:00 eastern

yesterday, james lee walked into the lobby of the discovery channel in silver spring, maryland. waving a gun around, he had explosives strapped to his body. the people at discovery were familiar with lee and his extreme views. he had been arrested two years ago after protesting outside the building. he's been linked to an online manifesto that calls humans filth and demands the channel stop quote encouraging the birth of more pair sittic human infants. the company officials took action, sent an email to workers, seek protection in a locked office, the email said. some do, most of the 1900 employees evacuated. three men, one of them a security guard, are trapped in the lobby with the gunman. workers at the day care center in the building grabbed the children, including babies, put some of them in cribs and got them out of there. about an hour later, 2:20 eastern, s.w.a.t. team has the gunman in its sites.

os officers try to negotiate with lee. during the 3:00 hour, negotiating teams keep talking to lee, trying to convince him to end the standoff peacefully. politician say lee kept talking about all the issues he had with discovery's programming and he just keeps at it. at 4:50 p.m., police say lee points his weapon at a hostage, a police sniper shoots him. the hostages get away, they are safe. just before 6:00 p.m. eastern, police confirm that james lee is dead and they detonate explosives they found in the building. >> at the discovery channel today, counselors on hand to help employees deal with the hostage crisis and the aftermath. all right. building your own playground, a creative way to help fix our schools and a way to get kids to learn while they play. i'll tell you about it on the

other side. there's no way to hide it. sir, have you been drinking tonight? if you ride drunk, you will get caught... and you will get arrested.

fix our schools, those three words will drive much of what you've been seeing this week on cnn and what you're going to be seeing. we've sent reporting teams across the country to document the education crisis in america. most importantly shine a light on success stories that can empower us to offer our children so much more than what they're getting now. this is an architect that's encouraging little children to learn as they play. cnn's jessica yellin takes a look. >> reporter: what do you think you're looking at? you're not sure, are you? that's the point.

what do you think it is? >> it's like a slide, you can put balls in it and it will go down. i was thinking we could put water and stuff. >> reporter: there's some serious teamwork behind this. how did you build this? >> well we worked together and first there's only this much. and we had to do more parts. >> reporter: kids can thank world-renowned architect david rockwell, he usually designs hip hotels and restaurants, but the father of two decided to rethink the traditional playground. over five years he donated his time and works with play experts to come up with this. >> look at this, it's like kids world over there. you've got this kid moving the wheelbarrow with those pieces over. and all of these pieces are infinitely variable. traditional playgrounds are largely made from fixed equipment. seesaws, slides, monkey bars, swings, that are organized

linearly. so they're fantastic places to build kbros motor skills and to take your kids to burn off energy. >> wear them down. >> yes. imagination playground is a totally manipulatable environment in which every part of it allows kids to create their own constantly transformable playscape. >> for example, look what's happening by the water. >> you can see the little wood pieces are dammed. kids can dam it, flood it, make little boats, this is some sort of little raft community going on over there. >> part of a bigger idea. >> think about the freedom as a kid to be able to play here, run over, get something, come back. look, she's made a little house. >> susan solomon is an expert in play theory. she said imagination playground fills a need in kids' increasingly regimented standardized test-filled lives.

>> they learn that not everything is already laid out for you in a way in which it's always going to be perfect. it's possible to fail. and that's so critical for how kids learn. >> she thinks this is free and inventive and that's better for kids. >> they've in fact created it looks like their own sandbox. >> but don't tell anyone here what they're doing is good for them. as far as they know, it's just fun. >> it's fun because you do stuff that you never knew you can do over here. >> they say it's better than their regular playgrounds. >> here you can design like your own. >> and that lets you do different and new things? >> yeah. it's pretty fun. >> jessica yellin, cnn, new york. okay we've got a development in those middle east peace talks that are going on right now in washington. stay with us. [ male announcer ] like summer it's here, but not forever.

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the israeli and palestinian leaders meeting right now in those peace talks in washington, have agreed to meet again. on september 14th and 15th and roughly every two weeks thereafter. that news is coming to us from senator george mitchell, president obama's special envoy for middle east peace. this is a former senator george mitch. this is a very, very significant development as analysts of the situation have been telling us. no one expected a peace deal to come of the meeting. but if there was a agreement going forward to continue dialogue, that would be deemed success. i'm going to bring you a lot of information about the importance of the middle east peace talks and bring you context to break down exactly why we're in the position we're in between israel and palestine. i have two people here who

have been intimately involved in these types of discussions over the years, you'll get some insider information about the middle east peace talks. for now, a very positive development, breaking news that israeli and palestinian leaders have agreed to meet on september 14th and 15th and for every two weeks thereafter, according to former senator george mitchell, president barack obama's middle east peace envoy. hurricane earl, this thing is massive, a big fast-moving storm, larger than california, closing in on coastal north carolina by the second. we've got the latest track on hurricane earl from our hurricane headquarters, it's affecting the entire east coast and it's affecting travel. love our claimservice. gecko:speciallthe auto repair xpress. repairs are fast and they're guaranteed for as long as you is thisyyourcphone?ey, th! gecko: yeah, 'course. sswhere do you po you...carry... for as long as you is thisyyourcphone?ey, th! waitress: here you go. boss: thanks

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cnn is your hurricane headquarters, this video if our ireporters, mark rosetta, shot on the south side of st. maarten as earl approached earlier in the week. a powerful storm of category four is closing in on the coast of north carolina. that's the kind of thing you can expect. look at the waves right now. it looks very calm out on coastal north carolina right now. but reynolds is going to explain to us why this is, is such a serious storm. there's something about this, reynolds, i'm no expert, no meteorologist, but i've seen many and they don't look as tight or as organized. this thing is compact. does that matter? >> what's interesting about this is you've got a center of circulation, but if you look at the outflow, it's a fairly large storm. and when you take a look at it, this is a satellite image that

was taken earlier this morning at 8:38. this is a visual satellite image. you see the eye pretty well defined, no question about it. you're seeing something else, the intrusion of some of the dry air that's trying to come in and break it up a little bit. what we've been seeing, this is 8:38 this morning. we're taking a look at a shot of again our enhanced satellite imagery. shows basically the same thing, another round of dry air trying to get in the middle. we see the eyewall looking like it's going to collapse, going through an eyewall replacement cycle. this thing will remain fairly strong. the latest forecast we have a from the national hurricane center shows this at least as a category three moving off the coast of the carolinas. as it makes its way on through, what you're going to be seeing along the carolina coast is the wind really beginning to pick up and the rain will be extreme. and the winds, they will also be quite rough. and they're going to be you have to at least hurricane-strength winds moving from 90 miles out

of the center, tropical storm-force winds some 200 miles from the center and those conditions are going to be felt as the storm continues to march up to the north. by friday, :00 p.m. it's expected to weaken, as it runs into an area of cooler water. gusts of 120. then to saturday, moving closer to the bay of fundy. with winds of 75. remember, you've got the cone of uncertainty, the area shaded in the whitish color, the storm could move closer to the coast which would be worse conditions obviously for the coast, or it could veer a little more to the east, which would be a little bit better. but one thing you can expect, very rough conditions, rough suf, obviously some monster waves, as we wrap up quickly. we'll show you the windfield we were talking about. hurricane winds probable in the areas shaded in red. that's where you're going to have the strongest winds, as you spread out, the winds will be weaker, back towards columbia, south carolina and towards richmond. but along the coast, they're

going to catch the brunt of it. and the brunt of the biggest waves will be on the coast. eventually moving into places like massachusetts near cape cod. you can see we have martha's vineyard and we have the just the coastal, from long island you're going to have rough conditions, but as this point you have tropical storm warnings, watches, up and down the coast from the carolinas to maine. it's something we'll be dealing with through a good part of the weekend. and the potential aftermath. many people without power. maybe a little weakening by the time we get to the next update. but it bears tracking. >> i want to ask you a couple of things. i shouldn't show you any disrespect, because during hurricane gustav you had my back on that one we were out in grand island.

if you're in somewhere where you don't think you're getting a direct hit from the hurricane. you may not have felt like you got a hit, you may want to ride it out in your house. but you could lose power, you could have nothing to do with the conditions immediately front of you, so you do need to take some of this into consideration and plan for it, because it's pretty uncomfortable having no power and possibly no water. >> absolutely. before the storm comes calling it's always wise to tie down certain things like deck chairs on your house, perhaps any other kind of lawn furniture. you see people that put the storm shelters, the barriers on the windows. any kind of precautions you can take, certainly a good idea before the storm comes calling. but for many people, it's going to be too late. the bridges that connect to the mainland on outer banks, once you hit 39 miles per hour winds, the bridges close. so people could be stuck.

>> the 140-mile-per-hour winds, how fast is this thing moving? and what the relevance of the eye that you were talking about? the size of the eye or the containment of the eye? >> the eye itself is basically an indication of how strong this thing can be. it's not the source of the power, but it gives us an idea of the thing tends to be fairly strong. an indicator that if you've got a well-defined eye, you've got a big storm to be reckoned with. in terms of the storm itself, the scope of it, the thing that's important about it, is the eye, where you have the strongest winds, you have to remember that the winds can fan outward. in some cases, the tropical storm-force winds up some several hundred miles from the center of the eye itself. we're hoping, though, that as the storm moves to the north and is on a path that isn't going from point to point, it's a wobbling, rotating storm on a spinning planet in a rotating universe, a lot of unknowns with

this thing. we do think it continues to march to the north and with luck weaken over the next several hours. >> thanks, reynolds, we'll stay in touch with you through the course of the afternoon. major new developments in middle east peace talks happening now. built with quality and backed with the best coverage in america including a 100,000 mile powertrain warranty. that's 40,000 more miles than ford. chevy silverado half-ton. a consumers digest best buy and the most dependable, longest lasting full-size pickups on the road. now get 0% apr for 72 months on 2010 silverado half-ton models with an average finance savings around $5,800.

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palestinian president mahmoud abbas will get together and meet every two weeks. this was the scene this morning at the state department. these are the first direct israeli-palestinian talks in almost two years. plenty to talk about. primarily borders. i'm going to have more about that in a minute. and also israeli settlements in the west bank, a very contentious issue and the plight of palestinian refugees, many on the run for decades. the leaders spoke briefly with reporters before they got down to business. >> i'm fully aware and i respect your people's desire for sovereignty. i'm convinced that it's possible to reconcile that desire with israel's need for security.

>> once again we wanted to state our commitment to follow our commitment to including security and we call on the israeli government to move forward with its commitment to end all settlement activities and completely lift the embargo over the gaza strip. >> you heard abbas talking about the embargo on the gaza strip. and to end the settlements. these are clearly the issues most important to the palestinians right now. president obama trying to get the talks off on the right foot with one-on-one meetings yesterday at the white house and a joint appearance laider with egyptian president, hasny mubar mubarak. i want to take a moment to map out the source of this conflict. and i do mean map. this is something i report recorded in my studio. sim pemest explanation for the

arab-israeli conflict is that this is a conflict over land this is the mediterranean. this is the area in question. this is israel this is the west bank and gaza. between the first and second world wars, western powers allied themselves with a nationalist movement called zionism. that called on the world's jews to immigrate to palestine inand set up a jewish state in the middle of palestine. it came into deadly conflict with the people already living there. palestinians are both muslim and christian. if you add to that, the regional power who is resisted the idea of a jewish state in their back yard, plus the religious significance of the region, jerusalem being a holy city to all three religions, you start to get a sense of why this conflict has been so intractable for decades. let me give you a little sense of the geography. here's the mediterranean. egypt, jordan, saudi arabia, syria and lebanon is right here. now this part in gray over here

is all israel. this over here is the west bank. it refers to the west bank of the jordan river. and this over here, this little slice of land bordering egypt and israel is the gaza strip. an impoverished area with millions of people in it. jerusalem is right here in this crook. this is jerusalem. and this is a disputed area. generally speaking, jews live in israel, although there are lots of arab who is live in israel. and the arabs live in the west bank and in gaza. now, israel's birth by war in 1948 spawned a palestinian refugee crisis that has not been resolved to this day. the palestinian refugees went to gaza, they went to the west bank and they went into lebanon. the legacy of israel's military occupation of this area, the west bank, and the gaza strip, starting in 1967, is contentious to this day. since that war, around half a

million jewish settlers have moved into the west bank. they live there among more than two million palestinians. now today, the palestinians want to set up their independent state here in the west bank, and here in gaza. two separate areas. but their leadership is divided between the two main factions. one of them is fatah, this is the old plo. and the other one is hamas. on the other hand, the israeli government, this government here has been expanding and annexing settlement blocks in the occupied territories, mainly in the west bank. and that has got palestinians upset. that's a major source of tension. so as the two sides meet this week to restart direct negotiations, many say the chances of a real end to this conflict seem pretty far off. >> i hope you're even marginally interested if what's going on in the middle east. if you're interested, we're not done yet, after a break, we're going 0 see what happens in the middle east peace talks after the cameras leave.

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to broker a middle east peace agreement or even try, you've got to be tough, if not

devious, that's not me talking, by the way, i'm quoting a man who has been there and done that. and now tries to educate the world about the process. he is aaron david miller, former adviser to six secretaries of state, now an author and a public policy fellow at the woodrow wilson center in washington. thank you for being with us. >> a pleasure, ali. >> you in your latest book describe some two decades of being involved in almost every negotiation that went on between israel and the palestinians. and your entire view of the situation went from optimistic to pessimistic to where are you today when you look at this middle east peace talk? do you think there's a chance that somehow these two parties, with the, with the support of the united states, can come to peace? >> you know, it's funny, ali, i started my career as dr. no, as an intelligence analyst. and then i moved to dr. yes as a

middle east goesh yartor and diplomat. now i guess i'm somewhere in between, maybe dr. maybe. i think under the right circumstances, particularly if the israelis and palestinians are prepared to make the tough decisions and president barack obama is prepared to be a tough, effective and reassuring mediator, yeah. i think there's a chance. in fact if those questions are answered yes, the administration may have a serious process. if the answer to those questions are no, then you might as well hang the closed for the season sign on the president's hopes for a two-state solution. >> aaron, let's talk about this for a second. there's never been successful peace between those two peoples without the involvement of the united states or certainly since 1948. there also hasn't been a successful peace with the united states. is the united states important to this peace? >> well i would argue, aillali,t in all of the breakthroughs in the peace-making.

carter's camp david egyptian-israeli peace treaty and jim baker's efforts to bring the parties together in madrid in october 1991, the u.s. played a critical role. but the real really is dependant on the capacity of arabs and israelis to own their own process. larry summers, smart guy, said in the history of the world nobody ever washed a rental carth and what he meant by that was that you care only about what you own. and the fact is, i don't care how much barack obama may want this. if netenyahu and abbas don't own it, they don't want it. then there's really not much we're going to be able to do about it. >> it used to be probably until 15 years ago, maybe ten years ago, that if you doesn't solve the israeli-palestinian conflict you were going to have global terrorism. global terrorism is well beyond the israeli-palestinian conflict. does it even matter to the rest of the world, not to the parties who live there, not to the palestinians and israelis who want security and economic

stability. does it matter to the rest of the world that they keep fighting or don't keep fighting? >> well you're 100% right. america has a lot of other interests. iraq, afghanistan, iran. but the arab-israeli issue, i have to say resonates out in that part of the world with a ferocity and intensity that makes an advantage to the americanes if they can make progress and a disadvantage if they can't. so i think we have a stake in reducing the amount of anti-american sentiment that exists out there. but we should be under no illusions. barack obama could solve this thing tomorrow and we're not going to fix all of our what ails the united states in this region. >> i want to ask you, aaron, a lot of people feel that the united states cannot be honest brokers in this because there are lot of arabs and palestinians who feel that the u.s. has a pro-israeli prejudice, there are some israelis who think the u.s. has not been its greatest friend in recent years and barack obama and benjamin netenyahu do not

have a warm, fuzzy relationship. let me ask you, can the u.s. be as broker, you write about in the book, as a u.s. >> we really are effective mediators. we do see israel's interest. we have a special relationship with the iz raes but we also see a need with the air prance yes, we can be an evidentive broker. we've just convinced ourselves that we can't be one. arab israeli peace is tough. and the american president is tough. and if he wants to succeed. >> what of this relationship, this thorny relationship between barack obama and benjamin netanyahu. it does seem they had dinner last night and it seems that has

not impeded the decision to move forward with more meetings. is this going to be an impediment? >> you foknow, if we want to mo forward, we're going to have to create a pretty strong working relationship on this issue with an israeli prime minister. because without one, we're never going to get anywhere. the real truth is politically incorrect, it may be. the one reason our phone keeps ringing all these years. when we use the relationship wisely and that relationship is special rather than becoming exclusive, we can use it to our advantage and to the advantage of the israelis, and to the advantage of the arabs and the palestinians. >> aaron, what a pleasure to

talk to you about this. thanks for the good work you've done and a career dedicated to try to find peace between the israelis and the palestinians. pleasure to talk to you. aaron david miller is a public policy scholar at the woodrow wilson international center. we're going to talk to ari fleisher in the next hour about this. ari, of course, a spokesman for president bush. he, of course, was up front and personal with some of the struggles between the israelis and the palestinians. we want to get his view on what he thinks needs to be done. fed-up parents in california unite to revolt against a failing school. we're going to go inside that war and look a controversial model for school reform that could catch on nationwide when we come back. an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn't cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to 80% of your part b expenses. if you're already on or eligible for medicare, call now to find out how an aarp...

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as we continue to look at ways to fix our schools, we want to look at the importance of prekindergarten and kindergarten education. some think these classes are just glorified day care where kids don't really learn all that much. but according to experts, nothing could be further from the truth. check this out. $320,000 is what a good k kindergarten teacher is worth because students who were successful in kindergarten are more likely to go to college and more likely to earn more money as adults. joining me is randi weingartner. we're specializing in education this week, but our show likes to look at this on a regular basis. so much comes down to teachers. some of it is criticism, some is

solutions. what is the importance of the quality of education that somebody gets before they even start the first grade? >> so, this is what happens, at least in terms of the brain research. 6 kids' minds are like sponges. every parent knows. they are sponges when they are age 0 to about age 5. so if you can actually create appropriate learning environment for kids when they're 3, they're 4, they're 5, sts a huge leg up. now, what happens is that middle class rich folks, they not only understand this, but they have the means to create it. print rich environments, leading to kids. >> when we say print-rich environments. the books that's done at home, the reading that's done at home. >> exactly. what we need to do if we want to help all kids is give kids that don't have a leg up that leg up. that's where all day pre-k or kindergarten comes into play.

i say all day because if you're a parent and you have a half day pre-k or kindergarten, you still have to do daycare for the other half of the day. we tried to push -- all the research is there, we tried to get school districts to implement full day pre-k and kindergarten programs. it will help kids, particularly disadvantaged kids have a level playing field. in this recession we've seen the opposite direction. these programs are the first one that get cut -- >> one school district, parents are paying for kids to send their kids to full time kindergarten in some schools. bus services are being cut in some places. some of them are becoming part time. here's a map of some place where is this has become really difficult. how do you convince people. this is public school. when you're fixing, what are you

fixing first? >> we push so hard with federal dollars. that's why the new $26 billion is for an investment into kids. so look, we have to fix -- this is the tough part about kids. you can't let kids in a recession suffer. if we really believe we have to prepare kids for life, college and career, then we have to find the extra dollars to do it. we know that pre-k and kindergarten are a huge investment every single dollar, we need to invest there. we should be investing there. that helps our kids and our grand kids for the future. >> let's talk about race for the top a little bit. we talked about this before. a number of states, ten more states, including new york and the district of columbia are the latest to win round two. that means they get money from

the government for kmangs do you agree with the reason why new york won? do you agree with the changes they're going to have to implement? i guess the bigger question is a lot of people think race to the top is the best program out there to fix education. a lot of teachers think it unfairly punishes them. >> well, look, this is what race to the top did. it actually focused people's attention. one of the things we said for the beginning is that race to the top should focus almost exclusively on how you overall teacher evaluation. >> some have meant student test scores. >> our unit has been a vanguard of this and frankly won one of the grants from the i-3 department of education grants. evaluation should be about how we help teachers better their

practice, but part of that is always looking at not only what are we teaching, but what are students learning? so of course, student data, student learning has to be part of it. what's happened is we're all looking for the fast, quick fix. now tying test cores to teacher performance, even though every single researcher says go slow on this. you can not deal with this issue. having said that, new york -- now, granted i'm from new york, but i had nothing to do with new york winning this. or with them getting the grant. the new york application was amazing. not because of the fight the people were having about charter schools. it was amazing because they came up with a very smart good way of overhauling teacher evaluation. i can't say the same about d.c. what they did in new york is

they figured it out in a collaborative smart way where teachers will ultimately own this because this is really about continuous improvement. d.c., frankly, i don't know why d.c. won. >> interesting. always a pleasure to see you in person. and thanks for being a good friend of our show. >> thank you for doing this show. >> it's our pleasure to do it. listen, we're following hurricane earl. it's now a category three storm. winds of 125 miles an hour according to the national hurricane center. it keeps going back and forth from a three to a four. this is a wobbly storm but it still packs quite a punch. we'll talk about it on the other side of this break. [car horn honks] our outback always gets us there... ... sometimes it just takes us a little longer to get back.

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>> cnn is your hurricane headquarters. we just receive word minutes ago, it's been downgraded again to a category three storm. we have seen this show before. hang on a second. it's still very powerful. it's expected to sideswiped. hurricane warnings now extend all the way up the eastern seaboard to massachusetts. the next few hours are crucial in determining what's happening for this. the outer banks heed the warning and leave. many are doing just that. here's a live look from kitty hawk in dare county. that expanded a mandatory evacuation as tourists leave as earl approaches. many are boarding up their homes and businesses. some folks have been stocking up on groceries.

one of the fastest selling items, water. high demand leaving behind some empty shelves and some airlines are also taking action. air tran, american, continental, delta, waving rescheduling fees for travelers flying to and from cities along the eastern seaboard this lay dor day weekend, which also marks the end of the summer travel season. meteorologist chad myers in the cnn hurricane headquarters. there is a change in this, chad. they're saying it's a category three now. what's it mean to you? >> it's down to 125 miles an hour. the sustained winds in the eye. and a very small area. 131 is the threshold between category three and category four. so it was above that for a while today. it was above that 131 threshold, now down. there's a plane flying back and forth. it's called the reconnaissance plane. it's also finding the pressure is going up, which means the winds should continue to go down.

lower pressure means bigger winds higher pressurer not as much winds. still a dangerous storm. the threat here yet still, is that the storm is not going due north yet. it's still slightly west of due north. which still takes it on a track at this point, if it doesn't turn to hit the outer banks. has to turn away. if it doesn't turn, it hasn't been a pretty good turner, trust me, it seems to have gone straight a lot of this forecast. if it does not turn, it will do more than just brush the coast of carolina. that would be a straight line, we don't want that. we want it to turn a lit bit off to the right and eventually the ocean. >> i tension, parents your participation is needed to save your child's education

>> fix our schools. those three words will drive much of what you see on cnn this week. most importantly, we will shine a light on success stories that can empower us to offer or children so much more than they are getting now. parental involvement is a crucial part of a child's education. unfortunately there are a lot of parents out there, who are not actively involved in their child's education. some schools are going to desperate measures to change that. in delaware, one school district proposing paying patients that

participate in school events, like parent-teacher conferences because attendance from parents are so low. money would go into a college savings account for their child. in st. louis, a local organization is offering cash if they enroll their kids in a certain public school and parents must attend at least three parent-teacher meetings. okay, this is a problem. this is a big problem. how can we get more parents actively involved in their child's education? joining me now is the founder and ceo of the success charter network, i'm sorry. a parent advocate of one of the kids who goes to the charter schools. just had a conversation with randi weingartner. one of the things is that we do hold teachers responsible for our kids education. but parenting and -- school is more complicated than it was when i was growing up.

parenting is so important when it comes to your kids' school. >> for myself, at harlem success academy, my daughters are in a program where we're made to be involved and we're told in the beginning it's a contract. it's between myself as a parent and all of our scholars. so there's work we're able to do by working together. we're involved in regular communication with the teachers. we have the teachers' phone numbers, we get out, we march, we protest, we write letters to our local senators. we do whatever it takes to go t our children's needs at home met. >> things like that, communation with the school, that type of thing. then there's the stuff that you do at home. are they correlated? what kind of involvement do you need for kids in your charter school network for kids to be successful? >> well, first your promise is absolutely correct.

you can not have a successful school without high levels of parental involvement. and obviously parents come to schools with different time constraints and so forth. but every parent loves their child and wants the best for their child. i'm the mother of three, so this is a direct experience for me and my own children. but you need to make parental involvement easy and you need to explain to parents why it's so critical. we tell our parents, we can't educate your children without you. we are partners. we need to do this together. we're not going to ask you to fundrai fundraise, but we're going to ask you to get your child to school on time every single day, and to check that the homework is done. if you sign that the homework is done, we expect that you've looked at it. you don't need to do the homework for your child, but you do need to make sure that you have a quiet place so your homework is done. >> i guess this becomes a

critical area. what happens when your kids are having trouble learning and the parent is just not well enough equipped to help them with the math or the english or whatever it is they're learning? >> i have a phone number for each of my daughter's teachers. so at home success, they've supplied us with a teacher list. i'm able to contact that teacher directly and say i'm having a problem with this, can you please help me understand it? can you explain it to me? sometimes i find i have to call a teacher more often. that's never a problem. all the things i couldn't get from a regular public school here in new york city, i was able to find at home. >> the fact that the parents

you're dealing with, parents like natasha has kids in a charter school means they eve worked hard to get their kid in there. they've recognized this. can you have the kind of deal that your parents have in charter school network that a noncharter public school can have with their parents? does this work because you have charter schools? >> i don't think so. it's just another kind of public school. it's free from the bureaucracy of management. we're free from some of the work rules of the union contract. but the premise that parents need to be invited into the school and made partners in a child's education can happen any place, anytime, anywhere. as long as the school is deeply committed to parental involvement. some parents it becomes more natural. other parents you have to

inspire. what's the problem with getting your child on time? sometimes it's the lack of a stroller so it's hard to get to the bus. sometimes it's setting the alarm clock ten minutes early. you need to provide the support and you're considering parental convenience. we have meetings on saturday. if you have meetings at 3:00, not every working parent can make that meeting. we're always thinking about parental convenience. thanks to both of you. how can you look good by going green? can i get in on that? are you a safe driver? yes. discount! do you own a home? yes. discount! are you going to buy online? yes! discount! isn't getting discounts great? yes! there's no discount for agreeing with me. yeah, i got carried away. happens to me all the time.

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do not throw your old coats away, put them to good news. stephanie elam has our one simple thing. >> ask new yorkers how they get rid of clothes they don't want anymore, and you're likely to get the same answer. >> threw them in the trash pop evening went in the garbage. >> the stuff that wasn't wearable, i would just throw away. >> reporter: textiles make up 36% of waste every year. >> that's a pretty significant amount that actually can be reused for other purposes. >> wearable collections is helping new yorkers cut that number down. >> we try to make it as easy as possible for new yorkers to recycle their clothing as it is to recycle their cans, bottles and newspapers. >> reporter: the company's bins collect fabric and clothes in about 150 apartment buildings across the city. >> how much do you get on a daily basis on that? >> anywhere 3,000 to 4,000 pounds. >> banana republic jeans here that look perfectly fine.

somebody could wear these. >> somebody could wear these. somebody will wear these again. >> jacket. fine quality. >> and a skirt. >> reporter: it also collects textiles at various one-off collections like these green markets. >> if i had to go 40 blocks out of my way or even ten blocks out of my way. i probably wouldn't. it's just too much to go. >> everything is then sold to a sorting facility and they give 20% of their proceeds to partnering charities. >> we're creating money from used clothing. >> on any given month, you could write checks to 10 to 20 charities. the checks are anywhere from $50 to $300, $400. >> from there, some of the clothes are reused as second-hand apar rel, some are turned into rags and the rest are shredded into fibers like carpet padding, seat cushioning and insulation, a renewed purpose for stuff that would otherwise clog land fills. >> we can't act like there's an unlimited amount of resources.

we're all going to reap the rewards of a consciousness or we're going to pay the penalty of not being conscious together. >> reporter: stephanie elam, cnn, new york. >> we just got an update that hurricane earl has been downgraded with a category three hurricane. it's packing a punch of 125 miles an hour. and it has not made its turn to the right. we are still looking at it skirting, sideswiping north carolina and there are hurricane and tropical storm warnings all the way up to maine. that is the cone of uncertainty you're looking at. see that three there? the bottom line is the storm has been unpredictable in its behavior. we will continue to follow that. richard qwest is up next for a little q&a. [ dr. banholzer ] every once in awhile

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if you ride drunk, you will get caught... and you will get arrested. i use capzasin quick relief gel. [ male announcer ] starts working on contact and at the nerve level to block pain for hours. capzasin. takes the pain out of arthritis. around the world and around the united states, this is q&a. it's time to go head to head, who nows the most p.m. >> we're going to talk business, travel, invasion. nothing is offlimits. today we're tackling housing.

we've got a question. is it a good time to buy a house? we have of 0 seconds each. is a house a good investment? well, maybe the question richard should be, is a house a good investment or is it shelter and a place to live? the answer is often both. but think about it. over history, property has been a good alternative to more traditional types of investments like stocks and mutual funds and things like that. but over the last few years where stocks haven't done well, mutual funds haven't done well, neither has housing. the hiddian price of a single family home in the united states is down $40,000 over the last few years. about $184,000. you have to decide, investment or a place to live. at $140,000, if you're one of these people who doesn't have to put any money down on a house, that's one thing.

but you often have to put down 30%. even if you get a great 4.5%, money invested would have been better off outside of the house than in that house. i'm not sure it's a better thing to do than to buy a house than to just live in it, richard. >> oh, ali, ali, now let's have another go with this one properly. here we go. give me a minute on the clock. confucius says, it was the you can tell the strength of a nation is derived from the integrity of its houses. if that is the case, then we are all in deep trouble indeed. figures in the united kingdom today showed that house prices stagnated for the last two months in a row. and that is causing great cause for concern.

ali is wrong. wrong, wrong. when he says that housing would have done better than stocks. if you look at an investment, $100 invested at the beginning of the last century would be worth far more in the market than that same $100 invested in property. the long and short of it, property today may be safe, but it wasn't a recovery it was. a house is still a home. >> that will do it for that part of the conversation. you didn't really comment on my prop. i don't know whether we're tied or i'm ahead of you. but the voice has some question to see what one knows more about this stuff. i don't have my bell with me. i'm just going to make a buzzing noise. >> gentlemen, hello, the voice is in the house and ready for another round of q&a.

but the question is, are you two ready? >> we are. >> let's get to it. what country had the biggest fall in new home prices last quarter? adjusted for inflation, of course. a, the u.s., b, iceland, c, ire lapped, or d, bulgaria. >> bzzzz. >> i'll take that, ali. go. >> iceland. >> wrong. richard, would you care to weigh in? >> i'm going to go for ireland. >> richard, you are exactly right. on the board early. ireland saw home prices drop nearly 16%. the u.s. was down about 3.3%. the uk was up nearly 6%. richard takes the first question. according to the demographic international housing affordability survey -- and that's a mouthful -- which of these cities is least, least affordable? a, vancouver, b, sidney, c,

honolulu, or d, bournemouth in the uk. >> was that you, ali? >> yes. >> go for it. >> c, honolulu. >> that's wrong. richard, would you care to weigh in and make it 2-0. >> i think it's a trick question. i think it's bournemouth. >> i'm going to go for bournemouth. >> you're wrong. >> vancouver. >> we thought we would get you on that question. yes, you're right. the answer is vancouver. the average price of a single family home there is a whopping $540,000. and as for the uk and bournemouth, you might think london would be the least affordable place there, but it's actually the sleepily seaside town of bournemouth. richard, you still lead, 1-0. question three. in which country is the world's

most expensive private home? a, the u.s.? b, the uk, c, france or d, india. anybody? ali? go for it. >> i can't say i know and i think the u.s. is too obvious an answer. because of that, i'm going to go for india. >> and ali, you would be right. and you tie this round at 1-1. the most expensive home is in mumbai, worth around $2 billion. it's owned by an indian billionaire, fifth on "forbes" billionaire list. it's 27 stories tall and has a 150-car garage. now, that sounds like a lot, but there's one problem, he reportedly has 168 cars. just like you, ali.

>> thank you, voice. >> listen, ali, you and i have problems. the voice has delusions of grande grandeur, attempting to take over before you and i are over. >> today's topic came from a tweet. log on to cnn.com/ali. have a good one, richard. >> have a good one. >> we've got some promising new developments in the middle east peace talks happening right now in washington. we know this much, the two sides will keep on talking to some people. that's a success. i'll bring you up to speed.

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>> signs of progress. george mitchell, former senator says israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu andy authori mahmoud abbas will meet in the region and meet every two weeks thereafter. entering the penguin lynn franklin room with secretary state clinton in the middle, literally and figurativety. what are they talking about? primarily borders. also, israeli settlements in the west bank and the plight of palestinian refugee. the leaders spoke briefly with reporters before they got down to business. >> president abbas, i'm fully aware and i respect your

people's desire for sovereignty. i'm convinced that it's possible to reconcile that desire with israel's need for security. >> once again, we want to state our commitment to follow on all our engagement. the commitment to end all activities. >> they sat around the same table for a private white house dinner. after a break, i'll speak with

george w. bush right here. we'll talk about it. i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn't cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to 80% of your part b expenses. if you're already on or eligible for medicare, call now to find out how an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company, helps cover some of the medical expenses... not paid by medicare part b. that can save you from paying up to thousands of dollars... out of your own pocket. these are the only medicare supplement insurance plans... exclusively endorsed by aarp. when you call now, you'll get this free information kit... with all you need to enroll. put their trust in aarp medicare supplement insurance. plus you'll get this free guide to understanding medicare. the prices are competitive. i can keep my own doctor. and i don't need a referral to see a specialist.

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call this toll-free number now. >> before today, high level negotiators had tried eight times since 1979 to reach an israeli palestinian peace acc d accord. eight times they fail with tragic results. george w. bush's first white house press secretary joins me now to share his experience and insights. good to see you again. let's talk a little bit about this. first of all, are you hopeful? the nez sure of success for these meetings today was there would be another meeting. they announced their ear going

to have another meeting in a couple of weeks. >> well, of course, i'm hopeful. but who isn't hopeful. i have low expectations. >> clearly there's a negotiation, you're saying they don't have the negotiation back home -- >> abbas wants peace. he's seen as weak by the pal st stinian people. if he were were able to do what hussein of jordan did, do actually make peace, if he would be able to keep his job. i'm not sure the people of the west bank wants peace. he does. but he's not strong enough to

deliver the people. >> i spoke with an israeli and palestinian journalist this morning. israeli journalist said he thinks benjamin netanyahu is not going to be able to come back to israel because if he cuts in i deals he's going to have political trouble at home. this is kind of interesting, there are two views of who can actually execute peace if they make a decision. >> i disagree with that point of view. i think netanyahu, it's the nixon goes to china theory. he can make piece with abbas. >> the hawks married up with unmarried leaders.

talk about the relationship, president obama has had what is considered a rocky relationship with benjamin netanyahu. he's largely thought of a friend of the united states. see. >> people are really down to the final brass, emotional tacts. it's very important. will the united states have our backs if things go wrong? that becomes a trust issue. >> what do you think right now? >> i think israel is mindful about it. after all, palestinians in 1999 and 2000 when bill clinton was president, they had a chance to have 90% of the west bank, that wasn't good enough. that's why the fundamental issue is, are they ready, willing and

able to accept israel. >> america makes great noises about the friendship between america and israel. do -- can palestinians see america has an honest brokener these negotiations? >> it's tough for them. i recognize that, because the united states has historically been on the side for israel for i think the right moral reasons and strategic reasons. they're a democracy, an ally, a friend of ours. palestinians took to the streets to celebrate the september 11 attacks in our country. so we have had an historical bias towards israel. but it's also a bias the united states should continue to have. it's the right bias to have. >> in that case, can the united states -- look, does the united states need to be the broker? can there be peace if the united states isn't the honest broker? >> i don't think there could be peace. way beyond us there can't balanced budget peace unless israel and the palestinians want

to make peace. that's the fundamental starting point. this will be tested now for a year-long process. at the end of the day, i still have huge questions about the pal stillian commitment to actually crossing the line. mahmoud abbas is not a king hussein. >> you believe he wants peace? he's coming to the table with the right agenda. your concern is can he sell it -- >> i sat in meetings with mahmoud abbas. and ariel sharon stood up and hugged him. the he ba-- he wants it. the question is, h s he strong enough. i don't know that he's strong enough to deliver it. >> does it matter to security in the world? when you were -- when president bush was in office and you were his spokesman, i would argue that it was more important in that day, because it was really

key to peace in the region and peace elsewhere, and ten years before that, it was even more important. today, global peace doesn't seem to depend as much on israel and palestine getting together and getting along with each other. >> well, we're just in a lull, thankfully. it will eternally be important. you don't have to think back too far in 2 06 when missiles were being launched. it's calm now. it's always a tender box. iranian agents really is what they are. it can always go up. and then all of a sudden, the flash point resumes. i've got a great story for you. she went from homeless teen to

harvard coed. she's putting food on the table for the most needy children in america. liz murray is our "mission possible." you have got to hear her story. . today just seemed like a great day to save. oh, it's not just today. with our free loyalty program, you earn great stuff like accident forgiveness and bigger discounts just by staying with us. oh! ooh! so, what you're saying is, it gets even better with age. oh! tell me we're still talking about insurance. rewarding loyalty. now, that's progressive. call or click today.

>> before i introduce you to today's mission possible. breaking night, it's up through the sun rises. she lived on the streets through high school. this could have had a very bad ending. but liz ended up with a school scholarship where she graduated from. wra breaking nights through her story. why is it the title of your book, staying up till the sun comes up. >> we, i didn't know what to title it first. but when i came to the chapter where i read about homelessness, i didn't qualify myself as homeless for a long time. i just used the slang saying in the bronx and actually urban america, which, you stay up all night and the sky is pitch black. at the first hint of sun, you know you've broken night. and it just seemed appropriate. because well, in so many senses i was breaking through all the darkness in my life.

>> give us a thumbnail picture. it's quite remarkable to hear your story. your parents and how you ended up homeless. tell us a bit about this. >> my parents partied a lot in the '70s, they got addicted to drugs. my parents contracted eed hiv they both got sick. we had to fend fur ourselves. >> how did you manage being in school and being homeless. >> there's the logistical side of it and the quick answer is my friends. i have the most amazing friends. and they took care of me. but some nights i would sleep on the train or the park. there was really a choice that i had to make at some point that this wasn't going to be my life and actually i could make decisions about my future that did not have to be based on my past. i decided to go back to school. i would sleep on the train and hallways and in people's house.

i would inch myself forward one assignment at a time, one choice at a time until i turned around and i had carved out an entirely different life for myself. >> how did you end up at harvard? >> i didn't know that was going to happen. i think there's two ways to look at it, right? you can look at what was created out of this mindset and look at the choice themselves. i ended up at harvard, i can tell you right off the bat, my community helped me in a big way. my teachers were fantastic. there's a nonprofit downtown that helped me tremendously. but also inside, i guess at some point, i think people believe that so much of life is out of their control. and there are some things like the weather, you know, disease, disaster strikes. but i believe that we have so much more say about what happens to us, so much more say. and once you realize that, anything is possible. >> off book that comes out on tuesday. it's a magical read. >> thank you. >> tell me about this. you have now turned this around into something else, and you're providing -- tell me about this

partnership you have about blessings in a backpack>> it's the most amazing organization. so what we do with blessings is founded by a man named stan curtis. he's an incredible man. and people notice basically that kids that grew up just the way that i had, hungry, starving even, in this country would go home. they would count on the school lunch during the week. and when there's nothing on saturday or sunday, they go home and they go hungry. so with blessings in a backpack, they get to take home a backpack filled with food every friday, bring it back empty on monday and that creates consistency in their life. we see a boost in grades and self-esteem. with blessings in a backpack, i thought, i want to have this book do incredible things. it's a book and that's fantastic, but really my success, i'll measure it in how it creates opportunities for other people. i said to myself, what am i going to do with blessings. so this fall, i'll be going on a bus tour in parts of the midwest and our mission is, as of september, we'll be feeding 38,000 children across america with blessings. but with the bus tour, our vision is to raise that number

to 50,000 children fed through blessings in a backpack, using the book as a vehicle to have that happen. >> congratulations on all you've done. >> and the book is available for preorder. in stores. go to homelesstoharvard.com and get information as well. >> if you want more information on her and her work, go to cnn.com/ali. we will link the website homelesstoharvard on the website and then you can buy the book. middle east peace talks are dominating the conversation today in washington. coming up, senior white house correspondent ed henry joins me for the stake hoout on how thin have done. he's the one that said success will be judged by whether there's another meet meting. there's another meeting. [ female announcer ] we can't live in a bubble.

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president obama is at the center of the middle east peace talks even though he's not in the room today. he welcomed the major players to the white house yesterday for a little talk and a big dinner. let me welcome our own player who wasn't at the dinner but he knows all about it. i have to tell you, you're the one who planted in my mind the fact that, look, nobody think wes ear coming out of this thing with a peace treaty. but if they can agree to meet again, that will be deemed by some people a success. moderate success, but a success. that's what they came out with. there's a deal they will meet again september 14 and 15. tell me what your thoughts are. >> yeah, absolutely. i had a key player in all of these negotiations tell me at the beginning of this process that we would know on thursday

whether or not it was a success. if there was a specific date attached to a second round of talks but also secondly, if that second round of talks was going to be in the region. now they haven't made it official yet, whether it's going to be in the middle east or not. but i'm told by officials close to these talks that the second round of talks that you mentioned, september 14 and 15 is very likely to be in egypt. that is significant, why? basically because the israelis and palestinians want to show that they can do this, not on u.s. soil. that they don't have to have the u.s. president in their face pushing them along the entire process. he gave it a big push this week. it's the first time we saw president obama taking a small role. there's going to be more on september 14 and 15. it's in the region, away from the u.s. there may be officials like secretary clinton on the

sidelines. but the fact that it's going to be in the region and they're going to try to show they can stand on their own two feet. that's significant progress. they're still far from a treaty, but it's progress. >> we take progress if we can find it. ed henry, thanks very much doing the stake out. i'll see you tomorrow. ed is always with us a little earlier every day. amid a world filled with conflict, i want to send out a message of peace. they like that vehicles like the 2010 malibu, traverse and silverado half-ton have each been named a consumers digest best buy. they like that chevy backs the quality with a one-hundred-thousand mile powertrain warranty. they're not just trading in, they're trading up. qualified lessees now get a low mileage lease on this malibu ls for around one ninety-nine a month. call for details. the switch begins at chevydealer.com.

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plus now it supports my heart health and helps maintain healthy blood pressure. [ engine revs ] whoa. kinda makes your heart race, huh? time now for the "xyz" of it. it seem like there was a simpler time when the tensions of palestinians and israelis seem to be at the heart of global unrest.

sadly, the world is much more complex today. and solving the general dispute tweens israelis and palestinians may not be enough to curb the threat. we saw a small sign of progress today as direct peace talks were launched at the state department. true, it may be yet another false start, or it may be a turning point. i'm going to choose purning point because i think we have to. we need peace. in a world where building a house of worship becomes a national debate, in a world where it takes two hours to get through airplane security, it's time to choose peace. that's my "xyz for now. rick joins us now with rick's list. just as we're watching everything going on with