>>f he makes it to the dance charts, that will be quite a feat. the correct answer to our challenge question is b, graphene. remember you can always subscribe to our podcast on itunes. thanks for being part of my program this week. i will see you next week. a powerful democratic double-header. president obama and vice president biden team up for a big rally in pennsylvania. a state that could have a dramatic affect on midterm elections. we'll take you there live. cancer genes are a threat to millions of people. we'll tell you who is at risk and what options are out there if you test positive. that's coming up at 4:00 p.m. eastern. and then at 5:00, a key panel for the disabled gets its first autistic member. we'll ask him why his views are

generating controversy in a live interview. you're in the "newsroom." we begin with an extraordinary look into north korea's communist rej yegimereg. in a rare move north korean leader kim jong-il attends along with his youngest son seen here in civilian clothes. he could be the country's next leader. we go to north korea now for this report that was filed last night. >> good evening. tonight the north koreans are holding what they call a soiree. the third such event in 24 hours marking the 65th anniversary of the founding of the workers party of north korea but make no mistake, what this is is an

elaborate coming out party for the next leader of north korea, the son of the ailing leader kim jong-il. look behind me. it's peer pageantry. the colors, the choreography literally thousands of dancers, men and women dancing to north korean propaganda music. there were fireworks and earlier in the day right here there was also a military parade billed as the country's largest. there was a show of north korean military might. the hardware, if you will, the tanks, the missiles, the shoulder fired rockets. clearly a show of the military strength that this country has. remember, this is a country the size of portugal, the size of the u.s. state of mississippi but it has one of the largest standing armies in the world.

the media, we should mention, has been invited as guests. about 100 of us from around the world but make no mistake. the guests of honor tonight are in the balcony. kim ju >> not much in known about the younger kim. there he is if you take a look again on the left of your screen standing between two military leaders applauding his father. an author and north korean expert describes the younger kim. >> he's the youngest of kthe three youngest sons. he went to school in switzerland but he was there as the son of the driver of the north korean embassy and not the son of the leader of north korea. he idolizes michael jordan like his dad but the one thing that

we truly do know is that he is as ruthless and as calculating as his father. he's the one son who has the dictator gene. >> that's interesting. do you think that he would rule the same way as his father? >> i think he probably would. first of all, it's the north korean system that's important and not so much the person who is on the throne. kim jong un has been exposed to the west but so did his dad and he's one of the most ruthless and horrible tyrants at this time. i think the problem is that the north korean regime has its own logic. he's going to be in that regime and in the beginning he's not going to be very powerful because he's just only 27 and there are a lot of older people. got to remember that the north korean regime is a snake pit and this kid is a hamster. he's not going have that much effect on the way the regime goes. >> some experts say kim jong

un's appearance in civilian clothes is to not offend the officials. 33 trapped chilean miners would be days away from rescue. workers hope to bring the workers up on wednesday. the rescue shaft has been widened and engineers are now reinforcing the top part of it with steel tubing. they plan to send down a doctor and rescuers to check on the miners before hauling them up. a journey expected to take around an hour to an hour and a half per miner. >> there will be some rescuers very experienced at the beginning of the whole operation and also they are going to be received by a physician and a nurse as soon as they arrive on the surface. >> rescuers say all of the trapped miners could be out by friday depending on their

conditions they could be reunited briefly with family members before being taken to the hospital. relatives have been at the mine since the cave in happened. homer hickum knows what they are going through. he grew up in a mining town. in fact, his father developed the rescue cage that is being used. >> things are bad at the mine. >> if you put this nonsense behind you. >> sure was exciting watching the rockets go up. >> i know i'm going to be a miner. i have known my entire life. i have no choice. >> as long as you are alive on this planet, you have a choice. >> the latest novel is the dinosaur hunter. he's joining us via skype from huntsville, alabama. good to see you. >> thank you. great to be with you today. >> let's talk about these miners. they've been trapped now underground for more than two months. you've been down there in the mines. how do you expect that they are

holding up? >> well, you know, coal miners are stoic and strong. they have a philosophy of life that holds them together and also their families together. they are religious when under stress like this and they turn to god and they feel like they will pray to god but they will also depend on themselves to get themselves out. in this case they have a wonderful organization, topside, i'm very impressed by the step by step approach that the rescuers have made getting these miners out. >> it's pretty impressive. we do know that mining is a dangerous job. emotions run high for miners but also the families every day when they go off to work. what do you expect that the miners families are feeling and going through? >> well, as i said, miner families tend to go as strong as miners themselves. they have a philosophy of life.

i read about that in a book called "we're not afraid" that allows them to overcome fear. they are proud of who they are. they stand up for what they believe. they keep their families together most of them because they know that's where the real strength of everyone is really. and they trust in god but they rely on themselves. you put those four philosophies together and you're not going to be afraid. i've seen that everywhere. even the miners in china that i've met. they seem to have the same philosophy of life. they are very stoic but they trust in god but they are also well trained and they rely on themselves as well. and the miners families are the same way. they know that miners are smart and well trained and typically if there's a way to get out, they will. >> i have to ask you about this rescue cage your father developed. they are using this capsule to bring the miners up in chile. tell me about the rescue cage your dad created and how it worked. >> my dad noticed that there was

a ventilation hole in his mine that was 700 feet deep that was wide enough for a miner to come up through. he devised this rescue tube as he called it and had it made in the machine shop the same machine shop that made my rockets by the way and got in it with another guy and they had a crane and they lowered this tube down in the hole. got stuck halfway down and they had to bring in a fire hose basically to try to lubricate it to get it back out. the other guy got out. my dad got back in and says we're going to do this until we get it right. he got off. got back on. pulled it right back up and everybody said homer hickam you are a hero. until he got home. he said that's his job. my mom said, no, homer, i'm you're job, buddy. >> that's funny. what do you expect from these miners? do you think they'll want to go

after this ordeal back down into the mines? that the mentality? >> i think the largest percentage of them will. in the first place, if they want to live in that area, mining is the job of choice. that's what's available. i hope that a lot of them don't think they'll get rich out of this. we saw that back in pennsylvania a few years ago. after a while they all thought they were going get rich. that just didn't occur. with 33 miners with what medium money will come toward them will spread out. i hope they'll come back and it will be a while for them to reflect and decide to go back to work or whatever they decide to do. >> probably happy to be home. >> they ought to be happy to be alive and with their families. >> absolutely. homer hickam a privilege to speak with you today. thank you so much. >> thank you. battleground pennsylvania. the democrats are pulling out

the big guns today hoping to get voters fired up for the mid terms. that's next. ♪ ♪ [ engine revs, tires screeching ] we give to you the all-new volkswagen jetta. we have one more surprise for you. fifteen-thousand nine-hundred neunzig dollar? [ sobbing ] [ camera shutters clicking ] ♪ whoo-hoo, yeah ♪ whoo-hoo, yeah

it's just 23 days until the critical midterm elections and the democrats are putting on a full-court press in pennsylvania. the president and the vice president are both there today. cnn white house correspondent dan lothian is also there. tell us what is the real motivation behind the president's visit? >> reporter: the bottom line is democrats, president in particular, trying to tap into the yenergy they saw in 2008. a lot of democrats have been discouraged so they think that these large events are just the right setting that can really energize the base. this is a second of four such events just recently the president was in madison, wisconsin, where more than 17,000 students, young people, came out. it was a big rally there aimed

at young voters. some of the young voters that i spoke to about a week or so ago in a story that i did are discouraged because they don't believe the administration has been moving quickly enough and delivering on some of its promises and these young people played a key role in getting president obama elected so that's why you see that big push to reach out to these young voters as we move toward the midterm elections. the big message that you'll hear here today is don't be discouraged and make sure you show up on election day. >> is that why the president has been spending so much time in pennsylvania to get that message out there. >> this obviously is a very key state. the president has been here along with the vice president, former president bill clinton. the big race that's been getting so much attention is that senate seat with joe sestak running with pat toomey. the latest poll showing toomey is leading by a single digit

lead. this has been a very important state where control of the house and senate could be at stake by what happens here. that's again why you have seen the president and other top democrats spending so much spine here doing so much fund-raising? >> thank you very much. be sure to stay with cnn for live coverage of that event in philadelphia. president obama is scheduled to speak at 5:30 eastern time. we will, of course, bring it to you live. with just over three weeks to go, candidates are turning up the heat with their ads and in some cases democrats are actually running ads distancing themselves from president obama and speaker pelosi. one democratic leader said it's nothing to worry about. >> we're very proud of the fact that we have an ideologically diverse process. what they are doing is talking about their independence on certain issues. they are issues where they stood with the president and the speaker and issues they oppose

the speaker and president. that's their job opposed to the e other side where you have this test being moved farther to the right by tea party candidates which are moving the republican party way off to the right. >> success is getting the country back on track. success would be setting a new tone in washington and creating a new culture there as well. that's what the pledge lays out to do. we're running to win the majority. we're not running to be a minority party. >> for all of the latest news and notes from the campaign trail, be sure to check out cnnpolitics.com. there's nothing new about schools sending notices home with students but a school district in massachusetts wants to sell ads on those notices. is that a good idea? we'll talk it over. i used to see the puddles, but now i see the splash.

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checking top stories for you now. more deadly violence in afghanistan. a roadside bomb killed nine afghan civilians traveling in eastern afghanistan today. among the dead, three children and three women. afghan president hamid karzai i'll be on "larry king live" to talk about the war at 9:00 p.m. eastern. chinese police are reportedly keeping a tight reign on the winner of the nobel peace prize winner. she's not allowed to see people or use her telephone but has been able to send twitter posts. she was able to visit her husband in prison yesterday to tell him he won the prize. the obama administration opposes a national moratorium on home foreclosures.

foreclosures with improper paperwork should be taken care of as soon as possible. mercedes-benz is recalling 85,000 cars. they may have steering problems it turns out. mercedes dealerships will check those cars for free if you want to bring them in. with tax revenues way down, school districts are coming up with creative ways to raise more money but school officials in massachusetts are going too far some say. they want to put ads on notices they send home with the children. cnn's student news anchor joins us now with more. really? >> this is at the elementary school level too. what they are talking about are classified ads that would appear in the back of the school notices so we think about permission slips, maybe report cards, anything that kids take home for their parents to look

at and sign and could have ads that look like these. it's a way for the school to raise money. we saw in another part of massachusetts earlier this school year that they are thinking of charging $400 per student for bus routes that live within two miles of schools because the bus routes were canceled due to budget cuts. if you listen to a representative from peabody schools, you understand why they think classified ads instead of some other booster project. take a listen. >> we can only go to the taxpayers so often. they are tapped out. the parents are certainly tapped out with all of the fees that they are incurring and so i thought it was time to bring in the business element and make it entirely voluntary and try to raise money that way. >> so as you can see it's just, you know, they are out of money and out of avenues and they are looking for a new and it's sort of a creative way to bring in that revenue. >> what are critics saying about

it. >> a campaign for a commercial free childhood is one of the critics. we have a response from them. campaign for commercial free childhood is saying it's not hard to imagine that students who serve as couriers for ads for pizza parlors and ice cream shops will lobby parents to go to these locations the second they get home. there are people opposed to this. one thing i want to point out is they wouldn't include alcohol and tobacco businesses. regardless, there are some people who say putting ads in the back of notices to elementary school kids take home is not going to work. >> ads won't go home on homework or get coupons for ice cream or something on their homework. >> we'll have to find out. what also remains to be seen is if it would have an influence on whether the kids would then go to parents and say i read this on the back. we should go there tonight. >> that's what they do with commercials. >> it could be. it could go either way. on cnn student news we want to know what our student audience has to say.

middle and high school studio audience. this one came from john. the good is the school would earn some extra cash for things that are needed. the bad is you would be making a little kid be your billboard. one other comment from nicole. she brings up that massachusetts bus route charge i mentioned she's saying ad space is better than 400 bucks per kid for bus service. they are really split on this. the comments continue to come in. students have interesting stuff to say. >> especially at that age. they are fun to talk to to hear what they have to say. thank you, carl. very interesting. >> appreciate it. police in washington state face a puzzling case. what caused dozens of people at a college party to overdose. the into romantic. ♪ an accidental touch can turn ordinary into something more. moments can change anytime -- just like that. and when they do men with erectile dysfunction can be more confident in their ability to be ready

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a bizarre story out of

washington state. police are investigating a massive overdose at a college party this weekend. cnn's ted roland joins us on the phone now. ted, what is the latest there? what can you tell us? all right. it doesn't seem as though we have ted there on the phone. we'll get the latest from him as soon as we can get him back on the phone with us. it is really an interesting story that we want you to know about. let's take to you new york. this from new york. police are seeking a ninth suspect in what's being called a series of brutal anti-gay hate crimes. eight members of the latin king gang have been arrested so far. police say three victims were held against their will by as many as nine assailants who beat them. new york officials are describing the crimes as the worst anti-gay attack in recent memory. >> i was sickened by the brutal nature of these crimes and

saddened by the anti-gay bias that contributed to them. no one in this city should ever, ever have to feel afraid because of race, religion or sexual orientation. >> these crimes are not jokes. they are not games. they are things that eat away at the fabric of our city. >> some of the suspects are teenagers. police say they will be charged as adults. they face charges of abduction, sodomy, assault and robby. we want to get back to ted now. ted, are you with us? >> yeah. bizarre is the way to characterize this. police here are trying to figure out who brought this substance whether it was ghb or some sort of drug to this party which was mainly college freshman out of central washington university. they had come to one of the freshman parents cabin and it

started according to police as a small gathering but it went viral via text and a number of people showed up. some of them the host didn't know. when police arrived they said they were shocked by what they saw. they saw people passed out in varying degrees of consciousness and took 12 people to the hospital. 11 of those were female students between the age of 18 and 21. one was a male. this morning the last of those students was released from the hospital but police say literally they were within minutes of having a possible tragedy on their hands because of the health condition of all of these young women. a couple students who were at the party described basically what happened. >> people were having fun and then all of a sudden all of the girls were puking everywhere. girls were outside on their back and people were so drunk they didn't know what to do. >> they were rufyed.

they were falling down. their drinks were going every where i carried four people downstairs. >> again the last of the hospitalized women was released this morning here in central washington and now they are trying to figure out how this happened and who brought whatever it was to the party they have urine and blood samples taken off to the crime lab. one person was detained because he was having sex with a woman who was semi conscious and it turned out that that couple was boyfriend and girlfriend. however, that young man still is facing possible charges because of the condition of his girlfriend where police say she was almost unconscious when they caught this young man with her in a bedroom. >> that's enough to make any parent who has a student or child in college just shiver. any idea, ted, were all of these

college students who were there, are they looking into the fact that maybe someone might have come in that wasn't one of the students who might have been behind this? >> they believe at this point there was about 50 kids there and all of them were either students are friends of students and had all received information about this party the afternoon before. this took place friday night. and they have a pretty good idea of who was there. now it's a matter of going back and interviewing all of these people to track down who it was that brought this substance to the party and basically poisoned these young women. they don't believe it's the young man that hosted the party. they're not looking at him as the source of this. >> how long will this investigation go? >> there's two problems. one you have an eight-person police force so they are asking for hem from university police and the county. they have to interview these kids. at the time these happened they got names and phone numbers because they were not in condition really to be

interviewed. and then there's the toxicology. they are waiting for the crime lab to come back to see exactly what that substance was. they didn't find evidence of the substance when they searched the home. another problem. they do think they have a handle on who was there and eventually they will find out who brought what. >> all right. ted rowlands for us in washington where that story is unfolding. thank you, ted. let's get to jacqui jeras keeping an eye on possible storms for today. what are you watching? >> we're watching the southern plains states today. we have an upper level disturbance or an upper level area of low pressure and you can see that swirl here on the map across parts of central nebraska and to go along with it we have a cold front trailing on down and we think things will trigger later this afternoon. at this hour we have showers and thunderstorms. some are heavy. you hear thunder and see lightning. you can see the thunderstorms across parts of kansas and oklahoma. further south of there we think conditions will be more

favorable for large hail and damaging winds. can't rule out an isolated tornado but we don't think it will be a big tornado day. this is the area we're concerned with. it does include you in the oklahoma city area so we'll keep you up to date as those storms develop later on this afternoon. as we head into tomorrow, that front will advance toward the east. places like dallas-ft. worth on into the houston area, we'll see that chance of rain. we also see some scatter the showers across parts of the northeast. keep that in mind if you have travel plans for your monday. tomorrow is a holiday. columbus day. some of you don't have to work and may make it a long weekend with travel. temperaturewise, look at this. this whole ready area i highlighted from dakotas stretching down into the southeast, temperatures are going to be unbelievably warm for this time of year. we're talk 10 to 20 degrees above average pushing 80 degrees in minneapolis for your monday and into chicago. 85 in st. louis. 87 in atlanta. even d.c. up there at 86 degrees. hopefully you can get outside and enjoy some of this nice fall

weather. now, we are keeping our eye on the tropics. it's october. we're still in hurricane season. you have until november 30th before that is over with. and the national hurricane center has identified this cluster of thunderstorms as having a high risk of becoming our next tropical depression. that could happen in the next 24 to 48 hours. either way it will bring heavy rain to honduras and nicaragua. we'll have to keep our eye on it. what a great weekend. picture perfect weather in albuquerque, new mexico. and this was for the international balloon fiesta. they had a mass ascension there yesterday morning. the weather in the mid 70s for highs. we're talking mid 40s for lows. it's just fantastic. great pictures and last but not least speaking of beautiful conditions a quick peek at the map to show you where peak conditions are. >> i'm looking for leaves coming up next week in connecticut. >> should be good. >> i'll check with you so you can tell me where to go exactly.

all right. thanks. popping the question on a unique day in history. ten couples got engaged at a very special ceremony in las vegas today which happens to be the tenth day of the tenth month of the tenth year of the century. 10/10/10. future groups got down on their knees at 10:10 a.m. chosen out of 200 couples competing to take part in the event. a veteran husband was the host. singer donny osmond who has been married for 30 years. microsoft is about to unveil a new smartphone. just how much brain power does it have? the answer coming up in today's tech time. ed directions to go t. pearblossom highway? it's just outside of lancaster. sure, i can download directions for you now. we got it. thank you very much! check it out. i can like, see everything that's going on with the car. here's the gas level. i can check on the oil. i can unlock it from anywhere. i've received a signal there was a crash. some guy just cut me off.

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let's check the top stories now. as early as wednesday chilean officials say that's when they hope to start pulling 33 trapped miners through a rescue shaft. right now workers are placing 16 tubes into the completed shaft to make sure the miners can be lifted safely to the surface. the miners ordeal began august 5th. north korea celebrated it self and its leaders with a massive military parade. 20,000 troops took place in the spectacle. it marked the 65th anniversary of the workers party of north korea. more significant, his son was also on the reviewing stand. a russian spacecraft docked with the international space station yesterday. two russians joined as well.

construction began in 1998. smartphones are one of the hottest high tech products of the year. sure to be on the top of a lot of holiday wish lists. maybe even yours. mark, i understand you are heading to new york tomorrow for the big unveiling as we will of the windows phone 7. >> that's right. steve balmer will be on the stage tomorrow a little earlier in the day to unveil and officially announce windows phone 7. formerly windows mobile. this is that refresh. the re-entering the smartphone race. let's say before it's too late because as you know it's currently dominated by the likes of research in motion with their blackberry smartphone, google's andro android.

there's not static icons on the screen. they have tiles. they move around. they show you realtime photos and info and video. there is a consolidated contacts list that has your friends and their social networks on one page. xbox integration if you're a gamer. one touch search and cool advantages and they hope of course, microsoft wants this to be enough to compete against the big guys out there. >> you think it will be? >> i think critically they will be well received. like i said, i've had a chance to play with it this as a mara their windows according to som analys ty to get these smartphon think iin i know the best card you're holding.

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time for cnn equals politics update. with just 23 days left until the all-important midterm elections, we're keeping a close eye on cnn.com political ticker. karl rove says he's being a attacked unfairly by democrats and that he has ties to a group that may be circumventing campaign finances laws. rove says the charges are baseless. former president bill clinton is heading out on the campaign trail this week. he'll be in west virginia tomorrow to support joe manchon. republican admits he took

place in reenactments where he played a nazi soldier. he's running against a democrat seeking her 15th term in congress. beefing up your bank account by going on a financial fast. it will only takes 21 days. we'll tell you how to do it after the break. ♪ another dollar ♪ daylight comes [ dogs barking ] ♪ i'm on my way ♪ another day ♪ another dollar ♪ working my whole life away ♪ another day ♪ another dollar

the nation's 58 million social security recipients will most likely not get an increase in their monthly benefits for a second year in a row. the official word won't come until next week when the social security administration announces whether there will be a cost of living adjustment for 2011 but experts who have crunched the numbers say there hasn't been enough inflation to justify a bump in benefits. want to put money problems behind you? here's an idea. a 21-day financial fast.

>> let's talk about this 21-day diet. you have a subject here in atlanta that you are putting on a diet. you met with her recently. before you even ask someone to reveal their finances, et cetera, you say you have to make this commitment. you have to be really dedicated about where you spend your money and how you spend it and in other words you're really asking them not to spend any money except for essentials. >> i'm shutting you down. no eating out, no gum, for potato chips. no doughnut. nothing. nothing. and people think you're crazy. i can't do this. i ask people to look at their finances. we're talking about people not just making $20,000 but i know people making six-figure salaries who are struggling. if they lost their job tomorrow would be broke. i'm saying cut it out. spend some time looking at your budget and what you're doing

with your money. and listen, all i'm talking about is consumption. i don't say drop your kids off at a corner somewhere. people go nuts when i say this. but just think about that in itself. all i'm saying is don't shop. don't use your credit. people freak out. what does that say? >> so you are also telling them don't use your atm card. there was that mentality if you have cash, you can spend your cash just don't put it on credit card. you say at least during the 21 days to discipline yourself and know where you can spend money. pay bills, pay your mortgage, your rent. here they are. not going to use plastic in any way. you are not even going to window shop or browse online because of temptations. >> if your drive to work is past the mall and that's your thing, take another route. and the thing about the debit card is we think that's the great card. it is still plastic. studies show when you use plastic debit or credit you

spend more money than if you had cash. if you walk in a grocery store with $20, you are limited to $20. with a debit card you can overspend what's in your account. that's called overdraft. lots of people pay those overdraft fees. they are listening right now. >> you are still spending more than you need to. so this single mom that you've been introduced to is on a tight financial diet. she's only allowed to spend her money on those essentials. a 10-year-old son. let's take a listen to how challenging this might be. >> i listed the order you wanted. retirement. saving for college. not sure about having a job. where does savings fit into that? do you have any savings? i can already tell the answer is no. >> i have some savings. but not as much as i know i need to have. >> do you have a budget?

that would be a no. >> i don't. to be honest, there's something that i want, i will probably just purchase it and figure out the rest later. >> and that's probably very common. just figure it out later. how do i pay for it. >> that's right. we don't have a budget. no one wants to call it a budget. they want to call it a spending plan. it's a budget. you have to know what's coming in and what's going out. and if you don't have that plan, that budget, you won't be able to save. you won't be able to get rid of that debt. you won't know where your money is going. people just spend and they don't even know that they're spending. >> when it means not spending, where do you want people to put their money? your savings should go into that reserve, emergency fund. do you want them to put that money into savings for kids' college. where do you want that money to go? >> you dictate where you want your money to go. if you're behind in retirement,

boost that. if you have children, rug rats i call them, i have three, you don't want them to graduate with a ton of debt. start saving. you may not pay all of the education but save what you can. get rid of that debt. there's an emergency fund and a life happens fund and that is the amount of money you pay for things in life that happens. car breaks down. that kind of thing. if you only have an emergency fund, you will dip into that and when you lose your job it won't be there. you know your values. >> that was fredricka whitfield talking with personal finance expert michelle singletary. >> check out the qualifications of this help wanted ad to see if this is something you're interested in. wanted. patient person physical fit with basic knowledge of biology able to take pictures. sounds like your kind of job? here's the catch or rather the job. find bigfoot. there's more