it was under the control of a brother-in-law of the president. >> who is making the decisions in damascus right now? who is directing the syrian government policy facing this uprising >> translator: the regime in syria is a totaltar yn regime and a dictatorship. there is only one person who gives the orders, one person who is the president. the rest of the regime personnel are people who only obey. >> does the syrian president and supporters believe they will win? >> they are trapped. they committed crimes and entered into a world of blood and are aware they are going to pay for it. >> he is the second high profile sunni official to break within a week. says the syrian government is staging al qaeda style attacks in syria.

retired army general mark joins me from new york. you had several meetings with the brother-in-law of president assad. does this news between the connection of the regime and al qaeda afirm any of your previous believes? >> that was the presumption we have been working under. they were providing safe haven to al qaeda elements transferring through damascus and killing iraqi civilians and american soldiers. we told them this must stop. >> so the former syrian ambassador to iraq telling ivan watson that syria was furious. does this information shed new light on al qaeda sympathizers. >> it demonstrates that despite

the syrian denunsiation of al qaeda that they were actively involved and adding to the instability. >> and so what can the u.s. do with this information with anything? >> well, i think this and other information can be part of the case file that should this situation end up in the international criminal court it could be used against them in an international criminal court of law and the decision made by the syrians to accommodate al qaeda inside their country is becoming a situation where the al qaeda is turning against the syrian government as we warned and predicted it would. >> outside of the international criminal court does this give the u.s. any impetus for being involved in a direct manner with the unrest in syria right now?

>> i think it adds to the growing consensus that the days of assad and the assad regime are nearing an end. he is trying his best to maintain control but he is losing control on a day by day basis. >> so the defection, does that help to under score a weakening of assad's regime or hold of the country? >> it is reminiscent of the libyans who started to defect near the end of the gadhafi regime. it looks a lot like the last days of libya when so many senior libyan officials were starting to defect, as well. >> very complex situation taking place. alabama governor robert bentley is setting the record straight at the national

governor's convention. he mapd comments yesterday about mitt romney's financial records and said i think he ought to release everything. i believe in total transparency. if you have things to hide then you may be doing things wrong. now bentley says he comments were taken out of context. in a statement published he says this. i believe in transparency and that was the basis for my answer. there was no effort to imply that mr. romney has anything to hide. the chorus of those asking mitt romney to release more of his tax returns is growing. it seems to include some from his own party. ♪

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now to tense hostage negotiations in egypt. american tourist lisa alfonsi and pastor from massachusetts were kidnapped friday along with their egyptian tour guide. the kidnappers are demanding the release of a relative jailed on gun charges. first journalist mohammed fadel joins us. you just got off the phone with the security chief. what are they telling you about the negotiations that are on going? >> reporter: i just got off the phone with head of the security. he has told me that they formed a committee of the highest ranking of intelligence officers and police personnel and starting a new attempt of negotiation with the kidnappers. he confirmed that they are safe, well fed and in good condition.

he mentioned the name of the kidnapper, a well known veteran from the caribbean tribe. he is confident that these negotiations might reach some sort of resolution soon. >> this well known alleged kidnapper, they know him to have been involved in previous kidnappings? >> he is well known in the tribe being involved in other sort of criminal activities. this time around the kidnapper mentioned to security officials he will kidnap more tourists if they don't oblige to demands of releasing his uncle who he claims was falsely arrested on gun charges tlmpt have been at least half a dozen kidnappers. >> is this an unusual request or

is it usually money that is usually the demand and not necessarily the release of prison prisoners. >> the last time u.s. hostages were taken was in may and also requested the release of one of their relatives and the security officials gave into the demands and the hostage was freed. there is a chance that this might besolved soon. we are following the story very closely. >> do we know whether any of these hostages might have an opportunity to talk with their family members? will that opportunity be made? >> reporter: well, i think the hostages have spoken to their family members. they were taken on friday around 2:00 p.m. and since then there have been many efforts by the officials to secure a release. we are following the story

closely. the kidnapper has actually spoken on a local tv channel a here. he made it clear that they are well fed and safe. >> thanks for joining us. appreciate that. earlier today cnn randi kaye talked to pastor's family and asked what he knows about the situation? >> we know about just as much as we know in the news in terms of they're doing a lot of negotiating. they're trying the best that they can and we are waiting. >> how concerned are you about your father's health? >> we are concerned but we're christians. we believe in god. we're in good faith. we're resolved in our faith. we know that god is going to see

him out of this situation. but at the same time we are human and we want to see our father get home. we want to see the sister, the member get home, also. we also want to see the tour guide, too. i'm sure a lot of people are not speaking about him, too. >> he says his father had no idea the region posed a risk to tourists. this is the third kidnapping of american tourists this year. president obama's campaign has released a new ad this weekend. it features mitt romney singing "america the beautiful." obama's campaign charges in the ad the mitt romney either shifted jobs or stores his

portfolio in other countries. the new documents show that he was being paid by bain for a couple years after it. romney is ripping the president's reelection campaign for what he calls demeaning and disgusting tactics. >> i think what the president is doing is terribly destructive to the political process and beneath what the people from america expected from someone who said he would rise above partisan politics. >> my understanding is that mr. romney attested to the s.e. krempt that he was the chairman, ceo and president of bane capital. a i think most americans think if you are the chairman, ceo and

president of a company you are responsible for what that company does. >> cnn senior political analyst joins me from washington. will this take voters aback that there are inconsistencies in romney's dealings with bain, coupled with romney not willing to release tax returns while his predecessors on the campaign trail have done so? >> there are a lot of things that happen day to day that don't happen much. the battle over defining what the meaning of romney's business experience is to voters i think along with the objective of the economy really are one of the three central battlefields. romney more than any majorer party nominee is relying on his business background is arguing that is what equips him to be chief executive. the obama campaign makes

explicit what has been implicit to this point. the closing caption of that ad is mitt romney issant the solution. he is the problem. that is what we are arguing about here. romney argues his business background equips him to solve the economy and the obama campaign argues he practiced a capitalism that is emblematic of the problem we are facing and enriched the few at the expense of the many and that is the way they want to portray him. >> is this to the president's advantage or is it undermining as romney states? >> the longer this is the focus the better off the president is. the president i think faces a reality much like george w. bush did in 2004. it is absence on bigger recovery. it is entirely possible he will get to election day without 50% of the voters saying they

approve. some increment of voters he has to find a way to convince them to stick with him. the way you do that is by making the challenger up acceptable to voters. this struggle between the two sides to defind what the bain experience is whether it shows romney to be someone who has personified the problem i think is going to be a central tipping point in this race. >> even republican alabama governor robert bentley is chiming in saying release the tax returns although now he is saying his words is taken out of context. are republicans in large numbers also questioning romney's approach here? >> a few other conservative commentators, what romney is doing is somewhat unusual. he drew a very hard line saying

you are not getting anymore tax returns from 2010 and 2011. the tax returns, the bain experience and offshore accounts is all part of one kind of broad set of issues that the obama campaign wants to show romney as someone who does not show the interests of voters. they did not run well in 2008. all poll shows he is looking at further erosion. the best calling card is to make the argument that romney is someone who really embodies the forces that have made their lives less secure economically. >> we saw images of president obama in virginia. he spent a good bit of time there yesterday as well as friday. he said if i win virginia i will be in the white house another four more years. is that true? is virginia that pivotal? >> he is probably right. virginia may be the tipping

point state of the election. the reason for that is because virginia within its borders embodies both of these party's modern coalitions, the modern democratic coalition, young people, minority voters. the republican is blue collar, conservative. northern virginia you have a big amount of white collar. this is a kind of battle of the bulge state where we are seeing the two modern coalitions araid in nearly equal proportions and the issues will determine which way it falls. i think it is a state right at the 270 marker in a close race. >> is it a mistake that romney did not spend his weekend in

virgin virginia? there are still another 3 1/2 months to go. mistake to have surrogates competing against the president? >> you can't be everywhere at once. there will be no shortage of mitt romney in virginia. you can commute to the subway to the state that might decide your fate. there is a reason why virginia is a swing state, the shifting nature of the democratic coalition and the number of minority voters have made virginia a competitive state and like colorado a state that embodies a collision of the two coalitions. >> let's talk about the top names for romney including paul ryan, tim pawlenty.

>> there is a long history of genyof -- as a woman and a prominent african american republican there are a lot of reasons to put the name in the headlines. we are all looking around after shadows and a lot of focus on rob portman from ohio. republican nominee can't win ohio by himself is. paul ryan is someone who energized the base and sharpen the proposal as the author of the plan to convert medicaid. tim pawlenty is a do no harm pick. i'm looking at it from the outside. i think portman or ryan.

and also marco rubio. that seems more secondary. >> hard to believe we are about 3 1/2 months away. clock is ticking and it's getting there. >> you know it is getting close. >> thanks. appreciate that. always good to see you. disgraced former congressman anthony weiner may be looking for a second chance in political office. a new york post says multiple sources says weiner is thinking of a run for mayor of new york. a legally blond woman competes for miss usa crown and makes history. remember you can watch cnn from your mobile phone and from your laptop. [ manager 1 ] out here in the winds,

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no crown for the first legally blond woman to compete for miss florida usa but conner boss finished number five. she has a genetic eye disease.

boss was chosen miss photogenic and says she feels like a winner even without the overall title. >> i have come to learn it is not even about winning the pageants. i'm so glad that my story can be shared and at least i can inspire one person. if i can inspire one person i feel like i have won. >> pageant winner michelle lugeary will compete next year. two men decided they want to fly from oregon to montana in a lawn chair. they strapped themselves into lawn chairs and then attached 350 balloons to kind of seal the deal. so what could possibly go wrong you ask? everything. hail, snow and thunderstorms knocked out 35 of their balloons forcing them to cut their trip short. it was a rough landing but

thankfully they are okay. a pretty remarkable achievement. 8-year-old tyler armstrong climbed mount killmimanjaro. >> i want to climb because i hike for muscular distrophy. every month i climb a mountain for elevation. it's 19,341 feet. it takes eight days. six days up and two days down. we started at about 9:00. somedays we hike for three hours and some days six hours.

one part we had to rock climb. the glaciers were really big and all ice. on the mountain you go steady. that is what pulley pulley means. they sing the song. on the top it was below 12. we had warmers, toe warmers, hand warmers, body heaters. my heart was pounding so fast so i had to take lots of breaks. i was all worked up. at the top i felt like i wanted to turn around but my dad said don't turn around. we are going to make it. i was at the top of africa and super high. it was amazing.

i have done mount kilimanjaro. >> second youngest. >> i get to hang out with my dad and see nature and raise new heights. >> congrats to him. fantastic. medical tragedy that takes one family by surprise straight ahead how a simple test could have saved a life. attention, well, everyone. you can now try snapshot from progressive free for 30 days. just plug this into your car, and your good driving can save you up to 30%. you could even try it without switching your insurance. why not give it a shot? carry on. now you can test-drive snapshot before you switch. visit progressive.com today.

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a top syrian official defects and calls for foreign intervention. the former syrian ambassador to iraq accuses the assad regime of collaborating with al qaeda in both syria and in iraq. he is the second syrian official to defect in a week. a weekend for two boston tourists. tourist lisa alfonsi and pastor louise was taken from the tour bus. celeste holm has died. she was an accomplished broadway actress and tv star. she passed away today at her home in new york. she was 95 years old. and now to the race for the

white house in florida. the mason dixon poll says the race in that state is a dead heat. cnn political editor takes a look. >> a busy week ahead on the campaign trail. both president obama and republican challenger mitt romney reach out to voters in crucial political battle grounds. after fundraising in mississippi mitt romney heads to ohio. >> america's greatest days are ahead. we are the shining city on a hill. ohio is going to make a difference. ohio, i need you to help me become the next president of the united states. >> it comes two days after president obama's visit there. the visit will be mr. obama's

eighth swing this year. >> i want to give tax breaks to companies investing right here. in cincinnati, ohio. and the united states of america. >> the president fund raises in texas the next day and thursday and friday he campaigns in florida, another very important battle ground state. a medical tragedy now taking one family by surprise for the simple inexpensive test could have saved a life. here is lisa sylvestor. >> reporter: moments of childhood that are fleeting. >> there is nothing to indicate. >> reporter: moments oliviae never takes for granted. >> it is important to focus on what you have.

>> reporter: olivia has found a place of happiness after living through the terror every family fears. >> this is veronica jane. >> reporter: her daughter died when she was only seven weeks old. >> and i have a little pajammas that she died in. i save it so i can still smell her. it's amazing that someone's life fits in this little bag on a shelf. >> i gave birth to my third child, a girl in april of 2009. and i had had 20 week ultrasound, good prenatal care. we were under the assumption

that she was perfectly healthy. i put her down to bed. and that was the last time i saw her alive. >> reporter: olivia didn't know her new baby had a congenital heart defect. no shortness of breath, no blueness, nothing. >> it's your worst nightmare times 100. >> reporter: olivia later found out about a simple test that likely would have saved her daughter's life. it's called a pulse exsymmetry test. >> it is an accurate way of measuring the oxygen in the blood. >> reporter: it looks like a band aid and is over in about five minutes. holy cross hospital in silver spring, maryland began screening all newborns.

new jersey was the first state to pass a law requiring mandatory screening at all birther facilities and on that first day a baby was found with critical congenital heart disease. when a heart defect is detected with early treatment a child can live a healthy normal life. >> we think there are about 200 babies each year that die undetected with congenital heart defects. we need to get those 200 babies. this is a loss that can't keep happening. >> if it can happen to me it could happen to any parent. that is why i think it is so important. >> you want this? >> reporter: this story has a happy ending. six months after vuron ca's

death olivia was pregnant again. >> it is inexpensive. this is an example. it wraps around your finger. it would be the baby's hand. it is painless and inexpensive. it costs about a dollar per test. it is not being done at so many hospitals around the country. that is what the focus of this piece is and that is what olivia easley wants to highlight. >> does this mean parents should request the test? >> it is something parents need to be aware of and a question to ask at their birth hospital. there is a role for lawmakers here. health and human services secretary last year came out urging hospitals to adopt these tests because it has been proven to save lives. olivia is herself a medical

doctor. she is an internist. she could not tell by looking at her baby that there was anything wrong. in the past they have looked for blueness or shortness of breath. you can't always tell just by looking at the baby. those pictures were taken ten days before her baby died. that is why this test is so important. >> said none of those things were apparent in her baby. thank you for bringing that to us. two religious scholars, want to change what you can watch in your hotel room. we'll get reaction from their calls for hotels to remove porn channels in particular. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 you get at some places. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 they say you have to do this, have that, invest here ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 you know what? ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 you can't create a retirement plan based on ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 a predetermined script. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 to understand you and your goals... ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 ...so together we can find real-life answers for your ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 real-life retirement.

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a christian and a muslim working together to battle x rated entertainment at hotel chains. >> reporter: in many hotel rooms finding adult entertainment is as simple as a click of the remote. that may change. >> we are reaching out to people who are profiting to pornography and pointing out that that is a bad thing to do. >> reporter: a christian scholar from princeton and a muslim scholar cowrote a letter to hotel groups asking them to remove adult movies.

>> we believe that hotel executives and people of good will, shareholders can act on the basis of conscience here and lay profitability aside for the sake of human dignity. >> reporter: george calls the letter a small step and acknowledges that porn will still exist but hopes to limit access to it. >> the society pays heavy costs in terms of addiction, wounded people. >> reporter: kraig gross agrees and feels going after hotels is the wrong approach. he prefers to target the demand for adult movies, not the supplier. >> this is about money and dollars. that is why this is sold in hotels. and so removing it from hotels to me isn't the issue. the issue is that people are consuming pornography. >> reporter: pornography would still be available on the internet and mobile devices even

if hotels pull the plug. >> are we going to ask them to stop in the mini bar. >> reporter: porn star ron jeremy says there are normal adults who watch adult movies and wants religion to butt out. >> if you don't want to watch adult movies watch reruns. i do. it's fine. >> reporter: the american hotel and lodging association defends the right of hotels to choose. but professor george hopes hotel ceos see it differently. >> there are some things that are so contrary to our humanity. >> reporter: the omni hotel group dropped adult movies in 1999. marriott says new hotel rooms will not have adult entertainment. choice hotels leaves it up to the franchisees and others haven't responded to the letter. su

susan candiotti, cnn new york. a heart stopping close encounter with that great white shark. would you remain calm? i talked to one fishermen who does. he talks about having no fear of the deep. ♪ ♪ ♪

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an australia fishermen who came face to face with a shark said he is not afraid to go swimming and went back in this weekend. they were circled by a 12 foot

shark stoalking them. nathan captured the whole thing with a mini video camera. you and your friend dave were spear fishing in an area where there were reported incidents of great white attacks. why did you decide to go spear fishing there? >> there hadn't been any reports in the area where we were. there had been a spite of sightings and a couple of attacks in the state. a few people had seen white pointers likely in the area but it was the last thing on our minds when we went that day. >> take me back. you and your buddy are fishing. you are in depths that are fairly shallow. we can see that you have a mounted camera so you are videotaping it all. you have your spear fish rod there. then what happens? >> i turn the camera on ready to

do my second dive of the day. and i was braving up. i was taking my final breath ready to do a dive and i just heard him scream my name and i turn around and i was face to face. >> so you have said that you always wanted to encounter a great white and now that you have it is the scariest thing and you never want this to happen again. what were you thinking at the time when you saw this great white which by estimates was about 12 feet long? >> i said i would like to see one. i never want to see another one in the water. it's nuts. it is.

>> how close did this shark get? did you actually have contact with it? did you poke it with the spear? >> i had to fend it off twice and my buddy had to fend it off twice, as well. >> why did you do that? did you feel like it was in attack mode or did you feel like you could actually scare it off? >> it wasn't in attack mode. it was more curious. when you are face to face you don't let it get too close. and just sort of supposed to let it know that we knew it was there and we were not going to let it get closer. >> and did it just go away on its own? you can see in the background from your images that your boat

was a pretty good distance away? >> we were just over 60 meters from the boat when it came in. it followed us the whole way back and circled us a couple of times and came in to take a closer look. we got back to the boat. my buddy jumped right in. as soon as it was on the edge that was it. we never saw it again. >> lucky guy. we have more about sharks. our soledad o'brien goes for an incredible swim with whale sharks and talking to bransen about his campaign to stop the slaughter. >> what was your reaction the first time you were eye ball to eye ball with a whale shark? >> the beauty of it. it is an enormous gentle giant

in the ocean. i couldn't bare the idea that people are slaughtering them in their millions. i decided to devote my time to draw attention to that. >> see that tuesday morning on "starting point" at 7:00 a.m. trucks with no one to drive them and the wide spread shortage is costing you.

think about the essentials you need every day. most of it makes it to the store

because a truck delivers it. now there is a shortage of truck drivers and that could cost you. athenna jones explains. >> reporter: in his 42 years a trucker david boyar has travelled more than 5 million miles like going to the moon and back ten times. how long does it take a normal person? >> it takes a normal person 125 years. >> reporter: in other words it's impossible. he explained why at 59 years old he is not ready to hand over his keys just yet. >> you can sit here and do about 180 degree view and everything that you see a truck brought it other than the trees and the grass. the brick in that wall, the metal in that wall, the flowers on that grave, anything that you get each day a truck ends up

bringing it. we are essential to the nation. boyar loves being on the open road and takes pride in his work. many drivers around his age are calling it quits. as more and more truckers retire trucker companies are having a harder time filling the jobs. every year 1 million positions become available. drivers spend days away from home. drivers must be 21 years old and undergo extensive training to get licensed with a six week course costing 4 to $6,000 on average. starting in 2013 new federal rules that reduce the number of hours drivers can be on the road will require companies to hire even more to meet demand. driver shortages can delay deliveries and add to freight costs that rose 40%. >> at the end of the day we pass

our expenses on to our customers and the end consumer bears the brunt of that. since many of those living the military are used to handling heavy equipment and being away from home for long stretches. the impact of drug violence hits home in mexico. find out why journalists are too afraid to cover the story now. this is new york state.

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hello again. i'm fredricka whitfield. we start in syria. this is the most senior syrian diplomat to defect and support the country's uprising. nawaf al-fares defected last week and sat down with our ivan watson for his first television interview with the u.s. network. he says the country is a totaltar ian regime. >> reporter: in 2003 after the toppling of the regime the syrian regime felt threatened so they coordinated with al qaeda and had an agreement to keep the

road open to iraq. militants came from all over the world through syrian under the eyes of the syrian police who are responsible for the killing of iraqi and american forces. he trained and provided shelter and built safe havens for al qaeda to hide in. i remember one of the safe havens. the americans raided it in 2008 and captured prisoners. this was a hiding place for al qaeda on the border with iraq. it was under the control of a brother-in-law of the president. >> who is making the decisions in damascus right now? who is directing the syrian government policy facing this uprising? >> translator: the regime in syria is a totaltarian