kyra? >> it has been ten years since we went to war in that country to create democracy, and still, women are not being treated equally. >> that is true. you could argue that ten years ago women didn't have a chance to go to school, so an improvement to take this opportunity, but the real huge fear here is that the progress in women's rights which in part of afghan society is universally accepted, but in others, it is rejected. that is maybe one of the first

casualties of society here as nato and american troops start to withdraw this and next year, deep earn cconcerns about that, this apparent poisoning coming to the fore as examples of what women have to fear about in the year ahead, kyra. >> true. do we know what kind of poison was actually used? >> it is not clear at the point to be honest, no. there were suggests of a spray may have been used, but it seems to have been left in the classroom according to the witnesses there from the i'm they went home two days ago to when they came in yesterday morning. so concern that it is almost crept into the classroom overnight. kyra. >> nick, we will follow the story with you. thank you so much. last month 150 schoolgirls were poisoned eed in a provinc after they drank water. reuters reports that according to the education administration, 11 schools were closed down in provinces where the taliban have

strong support by insurgents. the commander of u.s. forces in afghanistan say that a troop drawdown will begin short i but it is not the end. >> the narrative that the taliban can wait us out is a flood narrative. >> john allen spoke with christiane amanpour said that u.s. troops will remain a force until 2014 and the u.s. will help to determine the long term presence with nato.

in syria, deadly clashes are a daily occurrence despite the international monitors on the ground, and new video shows al qaeda capitalizing on the unris. in this clip, you can see a bomb attack and raid against a military outpost. a senior jordanian official says that the terror outfit is behind them all. barbara starr is in alman, and you, barbara, got exclusive access to sensitive areas in jordan including the syrian

border, and tell us about that. >> absolutely, kyra. the jordanians have granted cnn really extraordinary access here. a couple of days we went up to the syrian border north of the capital of amman where we are talking to you now, and we were able to walk the no-man's-land between jordan and syria, and the barbed wire, and the guard t towers, and yet, hundreds of syrian taxis laden with goods and food and commodities coming into jordan, because there is still a good deal of trade between the people on both sides of the border. even as tens of thousands of refugees have tried to flee the violence of syria and come here into jordan. the government in jordan and the top leadership here believes, and they tell us that ton rest, and the bombings and the car attacks, the suicide bombings that it is really al qaeda behind most of that, and they estimate are about 1,500 al qaeda operatives and

sympathizers inside of syria sometimes working with the opposition, and sometimes work on their own to destabilize the government there. the worry here in jordan is that some of the violence, some of that destabilization, if you will, could cross the border. this country is a very important ally in the middle east, of course, and nobody wants to see that happen either here or in the obama administration. >> all right. we are having a little bit of an issue with your connection there, barbara. we did hear what you just said so i want to throw out one more question, and let's hope that you stay strong with us here via technology. you also have been looking into yemen as well. obviously, a lot of concern about the terrorism threat coming out of there with the failed underwear bomber attempt, and then most recently, the cia exposing another attempt and these forces in yemen both growing and becoming a big part of the support in terrorism.

>> absolutely. and guess who we ran into here in jordan? our sek -- the u.s. secretary of homeland security janet napolitano and she sat down with us exclusively, and we asked her about the airport attack plans and asked her about the al qaeda in yemen and the security issue, and listen to a little bit of what she had to say. >> we work with a lot of the countries on border-related issues, aviation, aviation-related issues, and we want to have as early a warning sign as possible that someone affiliated with al qaeda or any al qaeda-type group is traveling towards the west. >> so, this u.s. secretary of homeland security also in the middle east talking about al qaeda, talking to governments in this region about aviation and border security. all of this, kyra, coming as there is a major military

exercise going on here. 12,000 troops from around the region, including about 6,000 u.s. troops, special forces included, training out here with the jordanians, and everybody getting ready in case either syria or iran poses a new challenge. kyra. >> barbara starr in amman for us. in syria, another opposition party to the president has resigned. he will remain in the position until a new person is elected in early june. >> and it is graduation week in harvard and time for the alumni to get together and brag and get together and a famous year for the class of '62, and you can read about them in the alumni magazine of harvard and lawyers and judges and movers and sha shakers, and, oh, yes, the unibomber. he was a math whiz who entered

harvard at age 16, and graduated 50 years ago this spring. in the alum bio he lists the occupation as prisoner and serving eight life sentences which he lists under awards and under publications he lists the 50-page manifesto that was published in "the new york times." somal alums are not amused andneaand noo andnea andneather are the victims. she writes this. >> kaczynski is a con artist. he is a serial killer, and he's a murderer and everything is a game for him and to push people's buttons. you may remember a charity that is to help vet's, and now the senate is investigating the group to see if they deserve a tax exempt status. it is exposed that the tax records showed how it raised nearly $56 million, but little of the money went to help the

vets, an instead, nearly $61 million was paid to a quadriga art for the direct mail program. for the first time in history, graduates who are openly gay have graduated from the air force academy. president obama addressed the graduates. and there were no rainbow flags, and students and graduates said that the transition to openly gay students has been smooth. elton john is in the hospital. he checked into cedar sinai after developing a serious respiratory infection. his publicist tells cnn the singer is canceling three performances at thele coliseum in ceasars palace while he recovers, and i hope he does. i saw that show three weeks ago and he is amazing on the $1 m l

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cnn.com/tv. this afternoon, soldiers of the 3rd regimen duty will take on a time honored duty, the old guard it is called, and will place a flag on the more than 260,000 graves at arlington national cemetery. monday is memorial day, and arlington leads the nation in tributes to the fallen service members past and present. president obama will take part in the ceremonies as well 11:00 eastern four days from now, and you le soo will see you it live here on cnn. and i want to tell you about a brey marine who fought for the country and paid a high price. this soldier cuz sh -- this sol shot in the head, and it is a story like justin who will bring th thousands of people out to the convert plaza as part of the 23rd year that the national symphony orchestra and a-listers will celebrate the nation's

troops and veterans and military families and for co-host joe montaigantegna mantegna, this will be concert number seven. he joins us live from washington, and veteran advocate and warrior justin constantine. guys, great to see you. >> great to see you as well. >> thank you. >> well, joe, what is it like to sit next to a man like justin and just know about his story, become friends with him, and -- yeah, i bet we have funny stories, too, but -- >> oh, yeah. >> but just warriors like him, and what keeps you coming back to this event? >> well, that is what keeps me back. i have been doing the concert, and this is the 11th year of the concert and seventh year co-hosting with gary sinise, but to put it, they have been lucky in my life doing what i have had a passion for since high school being an actor.

as an actor, i have had the many opportunities to portray heroic people. it is not everyday i get to sit next to and be a friend with a real hero, and so that's the difference. it is one thing to play pretend which is what i do for a living and another thing to do what justin has done and does for a living. so, i mean, i along with the rest of the country are forever and eternally grateful to the sacrifices that our men and women have made in the military, and so it is a privilege to be here, and it is a privilege to be a friend of his. >> ah. and justin, i understand that you even got to visit joe on the set of "criminal minds." what was that like? >> well, you know, it is always inspiring for us to go and have a chance to hang out with some of the folks like joe who have true star power and help make sure that the country does not forget about the sacrifices of those who have gone before us. i was thrilled to be a part of that. >> and you know, let me ask you about that, justin. this memorial day concert that

happens every year, what does it mean to you beyond the music and the stars like joe who show up with their support, there is something that we all need to take away from this, yes? >> absolutely. the memorial day concert in my mind is a fantastic opportunity to remind america about the sacrifice sacrifices that so many of the service members and their families have made just in iraq and afghanistan alone, 6,400, service members have made the ultimate sacrifice, and so if we can create a good production that will remind america why we are so great and who is out there protecting us, i'm really, really humbled to be a part of that. >> and joe, you are not just humbled by justin's story, but you actually took your uncle to a concert rehearsal and ended up to be an emotional moment? >> yeah, well, i bring my one uncle willie who is with me today and he is going to be 90 years old, and world war ii

veteran as are his three brothers, but a marine like justin was on the "uss enterprise" and the rehearsal happened to biz h birthda-- hapo be his birthday and the bugle corps, when they heard it was my uncle's birthday they came down off of the stage and sang "happy birthday" to him. and that is the first time i have seen my uncle in his 80s crying and tell me that this is the greatest thing that ever happened to him in his life. and so, moments like that, you can't, you know, you can't create that in hollywood. that is life. that is something that i'll always remember, and as justin said, it is just part of why we owe so much to these men and women throughout our history. >> and justin, you know, just to try to bring it back home, you know, after 9/11, i will never forget that everybody had an american flag on the car, in the

front lawn, and it was such a patriotic time for this country, and you know, as these wars have gone on, and on and then we have entered the iraq war, what do we need to do as americans to support you, others like you, warrior families in a time like this weekend, you know, thinking of you obviously on the holiday, but past the holiday? how can we get involved and how can we support and understand what you and others are going through when you come home from these wars? >> well, that is a great question, and kind of complicated actually. but i will say without hesitation that the american public no matter where they stand on the political spectrum have been amazing over the last ten years in their support for the service members. for each and every man and woman who has gone over there to fight for the country, they have come home to great receptions. i really appreciate that. it is a whole different story than from vietnam, and we have a

lot, a huge thanks, and today's service members have a huge thanks to the vietnam vets to make sure that those mistakes will never happen again. the american public can continue to help on a very gran ular levl by helping people in their communities who they know who are wounded orrer who have returned and believe me, they have their plates full trying to pick up the pieces from when they deployed. they can two to visit those families and babysit for them, and spend some time with their spouse spouses or whatever. on a another level there are groups like wounded warrior fund or semper phi fund, and gary senise has a fund, and there are post-traumatic stress groups, and so i encourage every american to help support the

troops, because we need it. >> amen. wounded warrior project, and injured marine semper phi fund, and thank you everything that you do, joe, and justin, we lift you up and honor you. thank you both for being with m me. >> thank you. >> thank you so much. the time is 8:00 p.m. eastern and the place is west lawn, u.s. capitol, and if you can't be there, you will see the show live on pbs. and you can also watch the annual memorial day observance with the presidential wreath-laying ceremony at the tomb of the unknowns. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of america's biggest cities. siemens. answers.

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mitt romney says that if we lekt him president, he can lower unemployme unemployment. >> i can tell you over a period of four years by virtue of the policies that we put in place, we will get the unemployment rate down to 6% and perhaps lower. >> 6%? perhaps a little lower. really? fact check is fair game, and maria maria cardona, dana lash. >> i thought it was so curious he said this because a couple months ago he said he'd get it down to 4%. here is the interesting part about this. the cbo put out a report a couple months ago that basically said by the end of 2016 we were heading that way anyway, that the unemployment number would be probably at 6%, perhaps a little bit lower. you know what we need to do to get there? we actually need to create about an average of 155,000 jobs a month between now and the end of

2016. guess how many jobs we've been creating since the beginning of 2011? 165,000. we're headed that way anyway. so the obama campaign and this administration knows that. they're focused on trying to do better than that because the president understands that more people need to be put to work than 165,000 a month. and so hopefully republicans will join us in understanding that more needs to be done and that numbers are just gimmicks sometimes during the campaign and we need to do better. >> dana, gym snimmicgimmick? >> there's a little fuzzy math maria is employing. i also read that cb o report and nobody is discussing that massive spending. the interesting thing about jobs and the number of jobs created, when you lose people from the job pool, that doesn't mean that there are more jobs. it means people are giving up,

and the cbo has noted especially women, you want to talk about a war on women, we have had 324,000 women drop from the job pool in the past three months alone. when we consider job creation, we need to factor all of that in as well. plus, it's really easy to say we're going to be creating jobs when obama care is implemented we're going to be adding thousands and thousands and thousands of government workers to the irs just to implement that. so creating government jobs and having long-term government spending, that puts us on the path towards greece. that doesn't put us on the path to long-term economic sustainability. >> we have talked about jobs, porn policy, no it's education. >> here we are in the most prosperous nation on earth, but millions of our kids are getting a third-world education, and america's minority children suffer the most. this is the civil rights issue of our era, and it's the

greatest challenge of our time. >> and maria, he chose latino forum to give this speech on education. are you buying it? >> absolutely not. for a couple reasons, kyra. first of all, he has nowhere to go but up with support from the latino community. he is so in the hole and in the trenches with lack of support from the latinos, but what's so interesting is that he went to latino group to talk about education. he is right in that it is one of the greatest challenges in our time. it's a huge civil rights issues and for latinos this is a number one issue for our community. but guess what? if we actually embrace what he wants to do with education with the paul ryan plan, it would decimate, for example, pell grants, which thousands and thousands of latino students depend on pell grants to go to college. it would decimate head start programs which hundreds of thousands of latino families depend on head start programs for their young children. it would decimate the hiring of

good public school teachers and, again, hundreds of thousands of families depend on good public school teachers for their kids' education, especially in latino communities. so what he is saying and what he wants to do for the latino community does not match up. >> dana, i have to let dana respond. go ahead, dana. >> i think that we can very easily compare and contrast barack obama and mitt romney's educational policies with what's happening in the d.c. opportunity scholarship program. the president's 2013 budget proposal absolutely gutted this program. this is something that he tried to do back in 2009, house republicans went in and saved the program. this provides students from low-income areas and minority students with vouchers to go to private schools so they don't have to be segregated to schools that are performing poorly. here is the problem. they cut that $8,000 voucher per student which is several thousand dollars less than what d.c. spends on per public school

student anyway, and instead they decided to propose spending $10,000 per buyer for chevy volt. they suggested actually increasing taxpayer subsidies to chevy volt buyers. edmunds.com said the average salary for a purchaser of a chevy volt is $175,000. that's the 1%. the president puts his money where his allegiances are, not with children, not with school, not with education, but with chevy volt, gm, and the 1%. >> the president's policies. -- >> ladies, we have to leave it there. >> he gutted that program, maria. >> that's "fair game." ladies, we'll do it again. >> thank you, kyra.

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victoria's secrets exposed, queen victoria that is and her personal diaries. was it -- were these censored or not? that's what i still don't understand, max. >> some of them weren't, some of them were. so the very early ones i was allowed to go in and see in windsor castle. it's quite a rare opportunity to see them. they were just handed them as well. it's quite extraordinary. but the early ones were written by her but the later ones were rewritten at her request by her daughter beatrice who spent

something like 40 years doing it. we're told the wording you see there is victoria's wording but they left a few things out to avoid embarrassment of other members of the royal family. >> oh, boy. >> she has taken some secrets to the grave. >> there's some people who want to know, they're fascinated. we have time for one, if you don't mind, quote here you picked out. 43,000 pages published. today is my 18th birthday, how old i am and yet how far from being what i should be. she seems a little unsure of herself. >> she does, and i'll give you another quote later on in that year to show that she wasn't quite prepared for what was coming up. so on june 20, 1837 she writes, i got out of bed and went into my sitting room only in my dressing gown and alone i saw them. the lord chamberlin acquainted me that my poor uncle the king was no more.

consequently i am queen. so her uncle died that same year that you were reading that quote from, kyra, and then she became queen. there's endless reames of information that comes from the following years where she talks about heading up the empire so she was arguably britain's most successful queen because she said that britain had a worldwide empire on which the sun never set, including india, canada, australia, and it was queen victoria that created that empire. >> there's so many people with insight into the royals. max foster, thanks for a little bit of a peak. thanks for watching. cnn "newsroom" continues now with our suzanne malveaux. i want to get right to it. hurricane bud is getting stronger as it makes its way to the northwestern coast of mexico. now a category 2 storm with sustained winds almost 105 miles per hour, but it is expected to gain more strength and begin to weaken tonight. it is the second named storm of the east pacific hurricane season. as for the atlantic, officials just announced today they are

expecting 9 to 15 named storms this year with 4 to 8 of them becoming hurricanes. singer elton john is out of a los angeles hospital following treatment for a serious respiratory infection. he developed the condition last weekend while performing in vegas. john has canceled tonight's performance and two more weekend shows. we will continue to follow his progress, bring any updates. it's a case that changed the way we look for missing children. right now the police are questioning the suspect in a 1979 disappearance of eton patz. the 6-year-old vanished while walking to the school bus stop by himself for the first time. the case attracted national attention, helped set off a movement focused on missing children. susan candiotti is outside the manhattan district attorney's office. susan, what do we know about this guy? >> reporter: hi, suzanne.

we don't know too much about this man other than he was picked up on wednesday in new jersey being questioned at this time by investigators looking at the etan patz case. this is a man who we are told was on the radar of police decades ago but is now according to sources coming to their attention again because of the recent search a few months back when authorities went in to search the basement and an area about a block away from where etan patz lived. that search turned up nothing but they questioned a number of people at that time and this man's name kept coming up again and again. so authorities went back to talk with him one more time, and this man, according to sources, claims that he killed etan patz. authorities, of course, are now trying to sort this all out, suzanne. >> do they think this is credit

snibl creditable? do they believe him? >> reporter: i'm sorry. we have a bad connection. i'm unable to hear what they're saying. this is a case, of course, that has captivated new yorkers in particular for decades and decades. when this boy disappeared, everyone took stock of their children and watched them far more carefully. so that is why everyone, of course, in every missing child case people worry, but this one has really captured the attention not only of new yorkers but the country as a whole. when authorities were searching that area in soho a few months back, they brought in cadaver dogs because they seemed to pick up a scent, but the leads turned up nothing at the time. however, authorities quietly have continued to work behind the scenes and that led them to this man, and he is now in custody and being questioned, and we are told by police that they may be releasing more details about this later in the day. police commissioner ray kelly

saying this man has implicated himself in the death of etan patz. >> all right. so you s susan candiotti thank you very much. most of us can't imagine what the parents have suffered through all this year and the emotional roller coaster. marc klaas knows. he knows firsthand what parents have been through. his 12-year-old daughter polly was snatched from the bedroom during a slumber party and then killed. as a result of the tragedy he became an advocate for children's issues. he's joining us from san francisco. thank you so much for speaking with us again. you are truly an advocate and somebody that can shed so the light on this. first of all, can you imagine and can you even describe what the patz family must be going through right now? >> well, suzanne, you described it as an emotional roller coaster, but even the highs are really alluding to the fact that maybe they have resolved the

case, found the body, or arrested somebody. so it's not like you're going from any kind of ecstasy so any depth of misery. you really kind of begin at the bottom and then there's gradations of that. they've been in a limbo for 33 years now, and they deserve some peace. they deserve to know what happened to their child, and one would hope that now that this announcement has been made that there's something really to it. >> do you think that the police, that the investigators, that everybody who has looked at this case, do you think that they are doing enough for this family? >> i don't know what the contact is between the family and the authorities, but i do know that they deserve to be treated with respect, and they deserve to be treated with dignity, and that this is hopefully a real lead that is going to give them the resolution that they need and not just some other tangent that

is being reeled out for public consumption. >> what advice, what would you say to the parents? what would you say to them who are going through this very difficult time just waiting? >> my prayers are with them, that the whole country is watching to see what happens here, and i only hope that they get the peace that they deserve because it really is an emotional limbo that one gets stuck in not knowing. it's always better to know what happened to your child regardless of what that means than to be stuck in this emotional roller coaster that extends year after year after decade. >> it was months, literally months, before your child was missing and then discovered dead, and that must have been so hard for your family. is this something that this

family can overcome or do they need that closure? do they need to find her in order to move on? >> oh, you need closure. you absolutely need closure. you need to know, and i'm watching sierra lamar's family here in california right now, going through exactly what etan's parents are going through, although in a much more condensed style. they've arrested somebody for murdering their child, yet they have no weapon. they have no history of violence. they don't know how she was murdered. they have no remains. so what do you do? you hang on by a thread. you grab what you can and hope that this will resolve itself well. well, etan's family is in a different place because the best resolution they can hope for is that the case is finally solved and they know in their minds that their son is at peace. >> the case of your daughter, polly, really brought national attention to the issue of missing children and clearly

etan patz, who is the first child on a milk carton to be described as missing haas really change the way we look at missing children. what still needs to be done in your opinion to protect kids? >> so much. there's so much. i mean, there's been so much done in the last 19 years since i have been involved in this, but i'm in a situation as i just mentioned here in northern california with a family that's exactly where my family was at that point. listen, we need to ensure that today's kids don't become tomorrow's predators so we need to invest in those kids, but similarly once we identify somebody who is of a psychopathic nature, somebody who commits crime without conscience or has a predilection for sex with kids, we have to take these individuals and remove them from society so that they can't continue their aberrant behavior. what we see is we see these kinds of crimes escalate over

time, and what might start out as looking at little boy's underwear in a catalog could escalate into something much more sinister over the course of time if steps are not taken to stop it. >> all right. marc klaas, thank you so much. we really appreciate it. here is what we're working on for this hour. they broke into his office and beat him up. we're talking about the president of mali. i'll talk to a candidate who says he can turn the country around. before he pulled the trigger, he wrote a letter to the police that could put a new twist on the trayvon martin case. then mitt romney puts a hard number on what he says he could do to create jobs. >> we get the unemployment rate down to 6% or perhaps a little lower. >> but how does he plan to make good on it? you inspired a ron howard production. with your photographs.

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democracy. what are we talking about? we're talking about maly, and here is what happened. just eight weeks ago army soldiers overthrew the president and took control of the country. this week a mob of protesters broke into the presidential palace, beat up the interim president so badly he's now in a hospital in france. mali its safe to say is a mess. there's no leadership. the population is furious. now we learn a possible safe haven for al qaeda. in just a minute i'm going to talk to a man who wants to be the neck president of mali. i want to bring in michael holmes to talk about this. michael, imagine, just take it here. if thugs and terrorists broke into the white house, dragged president obama out, beat him up, and he had to go to the hospital and they're all hanging out on the north lawn. that is what happened. >> they are all hanging out in the palace. >> that's what happened in mali. tell us what is going on there. >> what you have there was --

there's that photograph. that's what the protesters are doing now, just chilling out in palace. what you had was a model of development and democracy for 20 years in west africa and now you have essentially a power vacuum. to take it a little further than the simple coup. the military was annoyed the government wasn't giving them enough resources to fight rebels in the north of the country. the rebels in the north seized vast swaths of area and they split the country basically north and south and declared an independent state. >> who are these guys, the ones who are now sitting in the presidential palace, the equivalent of the white house? >> they're civilians. they're protesters. the main concern is the rebels in the north of the country. while all this is going on, they seized power in the north. it's a medd eley of different groups. this rebel force, if you like, has been infiltrated by an arm of al qaeda. we talk a lot about al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. this is al qaeda in the islamic

maghr maghreb. now, they have basically hijacked what the rebels wanted to do, which is independence and turned it into a religious and islamist uprising. they have instituted sharia law, you can't play football anymore in a football mad country, women have to cover up, all that stuff that goes along with that. >> sud the u.s. be worried? >> yeah, they should on a humanitarian level for a start. here is another example of al qaeda hitching onto the dissent of local problems and incorporating themselves into the fight, seizing territory. and what you've got here is the risk of it spreading. you've already got al qaeda now in mali. we have al qaeda in yemen. there are elements of it in algeria which is next door. what some analysts are calling an arc of instability.

>> what is next for mali? >> the problem is now, yes, they do hope to echo the unity. you have the north being held by islamist rebels including al qaeda. even if you get that stable government in the capital, they've got to go sort out the north which is a problem. you have this spread of al qaeda, this footprint of al qaeda throughout many countries with porous borders and weak central government. >> thank you. >> i'm glad you tackled this one. it's important. >> it was alarming when you read about it, when you see the pictures, and you realize what's taking place there. >> and what it means bang, bang, bang, bang. >> it has repercussions. >> right to here. joining us to talk about all this is a man who wants to be the president of mali.

that's right. he was born in mali. he went to the u.s. to get his master's degree. he's now back in mali. he built schools, was elected mayor there. now he wants to take leadership of the country. thank you for joining us, really good to see you. first of all, with all due respect, tell us why on earth would you want to take on this job? >> well, the love of one's country. when we love our country, we're willing to take risks. we're willing to take on challenges to contribute to the process of freeing our people from the grip of underdevelopment, and that is what brought me into this and my desire to serve the people of mali. >> can you explain to us what is taking place in your country? the pictures are disturbing, they're alarming, and to see the fact that there is a group that can actually go into the presidential palace and beat up the president? it's just unbelievable.

>> ttion it is unbelievable. we are in shock. this happened i can say in the last few months. mutinous soldiers were able to break into the presidential palace leading the president to resign, and recently the protesters were able to get into the presidential palace. we are very outraged about this because it takes -- it tells us that even the highest office in the country is not protected. so mali is in serious problem. we need to fix it, and we need to make sure that security is granted first and foremost to our institutions. >> and we learn about this and we condemn this act with the last vigor because we do not want this to repeat again and we call upon the government to investigate and make sure that

those who were leading this manifestation be punished severely. >> who is running the country right now? is there anybody who is in charge? >> yes. we have a prime minister with full power who is in charge of the country now that the interim president is in paris recovering from the beating of the mobs. but i had the opportunity meeting with the prime minister this morning, and we discussed his plan for mali. he is very optimistic. certainly we believe pally mali deserves better governance. we need to come together at this time because every democracy, every successful democracy goes through some challenges in their history and mali is facing a big

one right now. it takes a collective effort, all of the malians to get out of this. >> sure. >> i give my support to the prime minister and i believe that mali can surmount this difficult time. >> if you become president, clearly security is going to be a number one issue in your country. how is it you will take on these militant groups who are now connected to al qaeda? >> well, first of all, the rebel groups who are malians need to be separated from the al qaeda and we need to make sure that they do not rely on the support of al qaeda as a form of survival. we need to make sure that the whole country as a whole develop that people do not need external forces anymore to provide schools, to provide clean drinking water, to provide hospitals. we need to make sure that everyone in this country wherever you are, south, east, and west, you understand that

the government will make sure that we provide an environment where every malian can thrive under normal circumstances without having to rely on terrorist groups. >> and when are the elections being held? i know you're in limbo right now, but when will you actually get a shot at the office? >> the election is scheduled for a year, and i do believe we should give as much time as necessary to make sure that mali can rebuild itself and prepare for a more troansparent electio. >> you're running for president. you see what's happened to the first president, now the interim president. are you worried for your safety at all? >> no, i'm not. we have to provide -- as a leader the whole issue in mali be it the north or the security issue i believe is an issue of leadership. just like in many places in

africa leadership is an issue. i will provide leadership that will focus on making sure that first and foremost every malian including our institutions are safe and secure. >> mr. samake thank you so much for joining us. really appreciate it. all the best to you. good luck in this very difficult situation that you're facing in your country right now. thank you. >> thank you so much. he shot and killed an unarmed teenager, but an e-mail he sent to police before any of that happened is putting a new spin on the trayvon martin case. ( whirring and crackling sounds ) man: assembly lines that fix themselves. the most innovative companies are doing things they never could before, by building on the cisco intelligent network.

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details emerging today about george zimmerman's changing. of the sanford, florida, police department. zimmerman is the neighborhood watch volunteer charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of the unarmed teen trayvon martin. zimmerman says he rode along with police back in january 2011 and he described some of their actions as disgusting. months later he praised the department's professionalism. david mattingly is following this story. david, it's a little confusing, but what is this relationship that he has with the police department and why does he have a relationship with the police department in the first place? >> well, let's start with january of last year. that's when this change of heart

has its roots. we're looking at him at a public meeting where he's very critical of the police department there for their handling of a case in which a black homeless man was beaten up. he was outspoken, accused the police chief at that time of an illegal cover-up. he accused him of having corruption within his department, and then he talks about this ride along that he took with a particular police officer. we are hearing the audio from that meeting so that's why we're talking about it today. let's listen to what he had to say at that meeting. >> i also have had the opportunity to take ride hng alongs with the city of sanford police department and what i saw was disgusting. the officer showed me his favorite hiding spots for taking naps, explained to me he doesn't carry a long gun in his vehicle because in his words, anything that requires a long gun requires a lot of paperwork and you're going to find me as far away from it. he took two lunch breaks and attended a going away party for

one of his fellow officers. >> now. >> y would they pick an officer like that to take somebody along for a ride-along. you hear zimmerman being extremely critical about the sanford police department about their lack of professionalism and corruption and an illegal cover-up. that begins to change. that police chief goes. bill lee comes in, and during that tenure is when zimmerman starts to get very active with the neighborhood watch program in his neighborhood. he starts to have a lot of interaction with the community volunteer coordinator from the sanford police department. he's very impressed with her, likes the results they're getting in his neighborhood. he sends an e-mail to now police chief bill lee where he says, i have high hopes for and restored faith in your administration and the sanford police department in its entirety. so you see a big turnaround here. george zimmerman now saying you're doing a good job.

less than a year before he was saying the opposite. >> why is this important in the case? >> we're seeing inside his head his. of the sanford police department. at times there have been people saying he had a close relationship with that police depament. that's one thing we're not seeing here. we're not seeing anything in this new material that tells us how the sanford police department feels about george zimmerman. we're seeing a young man who is interested in becoming a police officer, who is very outspoken, very comfortable with giving the police department his. and having a change of heart and a change of. of how they're doing their job over the course of a year. >> there's some people who believe because he had a close relationship with the police, that there was some sort of cover-up or that that had occurred -- or that was one of the reasons why he wasn't initially arrested. >> that has been talked about, speculated about, but, again, with this new material we're not seeing anything about what the sanford police department thinks of george zimmerman. we're only seeing his. changing over that period of eight months from when he thought there was corruption there to a point where he thought that he had confidence

in how the department was being run. >> fascinating. all right. david, thank you. good to see you in person. >> thank you. mitt romney talking in hard numbers about dropping the unemployment rate, so why is he so confident? what's his plan? we're going to take a closer look at his comments. dond forget, you can watch cnn live on your computer while you're at home. head to cnn.com/tv. you can part a crowd, without saying a word. you have yet to master the quiet sneeze. you stash tissues like a squirrel stashes nuts. well, muddlers, muddle no more. try zyrtec®. it gives you powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin® because zyrtec® starts working at hour 1 on the first day you take it. claritin® doesn't start working until hour 3. zyrtec®. love the air.

vice president biden has a popularity problem. mitt romney gives us another look at what his first day as president would be like. these are just some of the stories on our political radar right now. i want to bring in paul steinhauser to talk a little bit about this. let's talk about the number two spot on the ticket. vice president biden, not popular in some places. but the important swing states, here is what a new poll shows. this new usa today/gallup poll shows 40% of voters have a

favorable view of biden, but 54% have an unfavorable view. so they've been putting the vice president out there. they believe he is going to help with some of the working class foek folks. is he a liability in some places. >> this poll is interesting. his numbers have been dipping according to gallup and they've been tracking this for a while. part of this is almost natural, right? vice president biden has been on the campaign trail a lot, a lot more than the president over the last six months to a year. plus, a vice president's role, running mate's role is very different than the top of the ticket. he's supposed to be more the attack dog to go after mitt romney. that's what he's been doing, and that's kind of almost natural for his favorable numbers to go down a little bit because he's been taking that political role. i just got off the phone with the re-elect out in chicago. i talked to a top official. he said, no, not at all worried or concerned about vice president biden. he said he thought vice president biden had been doing a very good job and he pointed out

three states in particular, pennsylvania, ohio, and michigan. you have seen the vice president there a lot lately, suzanne, and you asked democratic strategists, they say vice president biden can really help in these working class blue collar areas that maybe you won't see president obama visit as much and pennsylvania and especially ohio and michigan, three very important states in that battle for the white house. >> he can also get pretty fired up, which is i guess a compliment to president obama's cool, calm and cool. you have the vice president jumping up and down and screaming lately. >> very different stiles. no doubt about that. >> mitt romney has got a new campaign ad out called day one, part two. let's watch. >> what would a romney presidency be like? day one, president romney announces deficit reductions ending the obama era of big government, helping secure our kids' futures. president romney stands up to china on trade and demands they play by the rules. president romney begins repealing job killing regulat n regulations that are costing the

economy billions. >> so, paul, there's always a lot of this excitement, the first days of the obama administration he was signing executive orders left and right. i mean, it seems like you can get a lot done in the first week, but sometimes not so realistic here. that ad, how would you rate that ad there in terms of can he really accomplish those things in the first week, in the first couple weeks of the presidency? >> it's a great point. you were there in the obama white house those first couple days when you were covering the white house. you saw the president sign a lot of things into law, but you're right. there is a little bit of a liable here. this is the second of two ads. this one started running this morning in a a lot of battleground states. the first ad they talked about mitt romney on his first day in office would pass the controversial keystone pipeline and he would start to move to repeal what they call, of course, obama care, the national health care law. so what's the liability? what happens if mitt romney wins election and then he doesn't actually do a lot of these things in 9 first day or two? he may be called on the carpet.

the other thing that's interesting about these ads is the romney campaign is touting how these are positive ads, not attacking the president, talking about what romney's agenda is. but you listen to the ads and there's a lot of jabs at the president, obama care, regulations that are hurting business business. it is interesting. they're calling it a positive ad but in some ways it's very negative and it's an attack ad against the president. >> another promise romney is making is this idea that he's going to get unemployment down to 6% in the first four years, but a lot of money experts, including our own christine romans says that's probably already going to happen anyway whether or not he is president. does he run the risk of looking like he's going to be a little disingenuous here? >> some people are pointing that out. you are seeing a lot of buzz on social networks, that, yeah, the experts already say, guess what? it is going to be down to 6% by 2016 which would be the end of a first term if mitt romney is elected in november. that is a good point. the key here though is jobs,

jobs, jobs. suzanne, mitt romney's main task here as he runs for the white house is he says he can do a better job creating jobs than president barack obama. that's why i think they highlighted the 6%. it was part of a plan also they put out late last year, late i think in september about getting the unemployment rate down to 5.9%. take a look at this. the economy, it is the most important issue on the minds of americans. this is an abc/"washington post" pog. 52% say the economy and jobs. who do americans think is doing a better job or can do a better job? take a look at the next number. they appear divided when it comes to the economy. you can see the president and mitt romney pretty much divided. same thing with creating jobs. you're going to hear a lot more about this between now and november 6th, suzanne. >> all right, paul. good to see you, thank you. comedians, talk show hosts are in a tough spots sometimes when it comes to playing politics. do you beat up on the democrats, the republicans equally in the monologue? david letterman talks with regis philbin who was feeling in for

our own piers morgan. >> you see, over the years talk show hosts have not gotten involved in politics because they fear -- >> it's all different now. >> -- that if one portion of your audience is a republican or democrat, they don't like what you're saying, they're going to tune you out. >> that's right. >> doesn't bother you. >> well, i know what your point is, and i have been guilty of appearing to be playing partisan politics. however, i'd just like to say for the record i am a registered independent. you go where the material takes you. poor bill clinton, no president that i'm aware of got hammered harder than president bill clinton over the monica lewinsky situation. we beat up on him. we still use him as a reference. and then we were desperate, we thought, well, this was so easy and then we got george bush and within a matter of days we re realized our prayers have been answered, he's just as good in

terms of material. so it may appear to people that we have a slant one way or the other, but if a guy, you know, drops his dog or a guy straps his dog to the roof of his car or if a guy gets a shoe thrown at him, well, this is where the material is going to be. >> you can watch the full interview with david letterman with regis philbin hosting for piers morgan tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern. they have been waiting 5,000 years to have their voices heard. what do the egyptian people want their future to look like? [ dad ] i'm usually checking up on my kids.

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day two of egypt's historic presidential election. polling places saw big voter turnout, high enthusiasm, very few reports of trouble or intimidation. people are picking one of 13 candidates on the ballot and our hala gorani is there in cairo. >> reporter: suzanne, it's the second and final day of voting, and round one of egypt's presidential elections. still very much on people's minds that this is a historic and significant event for their country. more than 15 months after the uprising that toppled hosni mubarak. now, polling stations were crowded in the morning. there was a bit of a lull in the afternoon when it got hot for people and some of them took their lunch break. we understand that polling stations are going to keep their doors open one more hour in the evening as they did yesterday to

accommodate the large number of voters. now, there are no reliable polls in this country so it's very hard to tell who the front-runner is. we're seeing several widely different estimates, but essentially there's a handful of top candidates, two islamists, and two former regime members. one of them who was a foreign affairs minister under hosni mubarak and then served about a decade as secretary-general of the arab league. many voters here saying that they want security to come back to their country. they want also the economy to get better because it has in some cases crashed such as the tourism sector since the uprising. however, there is still big unresolved questions. what will the role of the president be. big question marks as far as the future of the country, but voters you will hear still very much excited on this second day of voting for the first round. suzanne? >> thank you, hala. he ran for president but now he's waiting on the most important vote of his life. we're going to have the latest on the john edwards' trial as

the jury weighs the case against him. just stay off the freeways, all right? i don't want you going out on those yet. mmm-hmm. and just leave your phone in your purse. i don't want you texting, all right? daddy...ok! ok, here you go. be careful. thanks dad. call me -- but not while you're driving. ♪ [ dad ] we knew this day was coming. that's why we bought a subaru. ♪

new talks with iran have taken an unexpected turn. iran's top negotiator and diplomats and six world powers are extending the talks in baghdad for a second day. officials are tight-lipped about the reason for the extension but a european official says progress is being made. western nations, they are worried about nuclear weapons being developed, and they want iran to stop enrichment of uranium.

iran is trying to get economic sanctions lifted. in kitkittery, maine, a sigf relief now that a fire on a nuclear submarine is out. the sub's reactor was not operating at the time around was not affected. it wasn't clear what actually started that fire, but an investigation is under way. the jury in john edwards' skrups tri corruption trial is reviewing the evidence for a third day. he allegedly used almost a million dollars from two wealthy donors to keep a secret that eventually doomed his presidential bid. his affair with rielle hunter and the baby they had together. former ads congresswoman gabrielle giffords and her husband had some inspiring words for the audience at an awards ceremony. they were given the medal of l valor last night in beverly hills. she was shot while meeting with people in her district early last year. giffords left congress in january to keep working on her

recovery. giffords' astronaut, astronaut mark kelly, says his wife inspires him every day. >> often as she heads off to therapy each morning, her last words to me after she gets in the car is what? >> fight, fight, fight. fight, fight, fight. >> that's nice. two candidates are running for giffords' house seat in a special election set for june 12th. a little voice on your iphone helps you with pretty much everything, but you have to hold on for a minute. siri more of a chatter box than you ever imagined. this sunday, she's the indiana jones of outer space. >> i tell my students on day one, a picture is worth a thousand words, a satellite image is worth $1 million. my name is sara parkhack and i'm a professor of archaeology.

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it's a iphone users best friend, you can ask siri to do something like dial your mom. consider it done. >> is it going to be chilly in san francisco this weekend? >> not too cold. >> but ibm says her voice recognition service is a security problem and has banned its employees from using it.

alison kosik is joining us from the new york stock exchange. alis alison, you can look at your phone and ask sire i why do you think ibm is a security problem? >> siri will say because i can't keep a secret. >> exactly. >> this one is not talking back to me. here is what happens when you give that command into the phone. what happens with that information is that it's zapped all the way to a data center in north carolina where the words are interpreted and sent back. apple does not specify how long the information is kept or who has access to it which is exactly why ib m leaves siri at the door. it will not allow employees to use siri on their gadgets when they walk in the building for work. there is an apple user agreement which i'm sure no one reads. it says all this data is used to help siri and dictation understand you better and recognize what you say. it is not linked to other data

that apple may have from your use of other apple services. ib m admits it's being conservative but that's the nature of the business when you have all these company's secrets and ibm saying no way, leave siri out of it. >> if you have an iphone should you be concerned with privacy? how is it different from google or another search engine? >> think about everything we do on facebook and what we put out there on twitter. you know, one thing to keep in mind with siri is you can use siri to write e-mails or text messages. some of the data can really be very personal. actually back in march the aclu issued a warning about siri saying that apple's siri personal assistant isn't just working for us, it's working full time for apple, too, by sending lots of our personal voice and user information to apple to stockpile in its databases. i know that sounds a little outlandish, but this is where the aclu is thinking. as you said, it's not much

different from everything else that we do online. google actually if you remember came under fire for the way it uses and stores our search data. google wound up responding by making our search results anonymous after nine months. so google sort of addressing that, but you know what? if you're worried about what siri is kind of doing with your information, turn her off. you can always turn her off. >> that is true. you can always just turn all this stuff off, right, alison? >> i know. easier said than done. >> you're the only person. everybody else has it on. >> i could never. traveling with kids, right? pretty tricky, to say the least. one perk, you can board the flight early to get settled in, but some airlines are actually ending that practice. we're going to tell you which ones. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the property." and the branch manager said, "all right, i will take a chance with the two of you."

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dozens of afghan girls remain in a hospital a day after they were poisoned in their classes with some kind of spray. taliban militants are suspected of carrying out this attack. here is our own cnn's nick paton walsh. >> reporter: to afghanistan's most extreme conservatives like the taliban, girls going to school is so offensive they'll do anything to stop it. including poison school girls. students went into class at the girls school in northern tahrir province and noticed a powerful smell. they began to fall ill. in panic 125 girls were rushed to hospital. there headaches and dizziness set in. many of the girls requiring

longer treatment. >> translator: the number of girls age from 15 to 18 were brought from a school to hospital today. generally they are not in critical condition. we are looking after them but let's see what happens later. we understand so far from the situation that they are mostly traumatized. >> reporter: amid the distress here, a growing fear that even in the once peaceful north hardliners can strike at will. police have sent blood samples from the girls from kabul for analysis to work out what the poison is but they already know who to blame. >> translator: actually the afghan people know that the terrorists and the taliban are doing these things to threaten girls and stop them from going to school. that's something we and the people believe. now we are implementing democracy in afghanistan and we want girls to be educated, but the government's enemies don't want this. >> reporter: this has happened elsewhere before, and in this province only a few months ago, fear, a powerful weapon, but not powerful enough yet to stop these girls from wanting to

learn. nick paton walsh, cnn, kabul. i'm suzanne malveaux. police in new york are questioning a man who says he killed etan patz according to law enforcement sources. etan is the 6-year-old boy who disappeared in 1979 on his way to school. it raised national awareness about missing kids. the maen is in custody but a law enforcement source says authorities are treating his claims with, quote, a healthy dose of skepticism. more details are coming out about george zimmerman's changing his opinion about the sanford police department. you will remember he's the neighborhood watch volunteer charged with second-degree murder in the death of trayvon martin. during a public meeting in january 2011 zimmerman said he had been on a ride-along with police. >> i also have had the opportunity to take ride-alongs with the city of sanford police department, and what i saw was disgusting. the officer