traffic control. two planes flew too close to each other last night as they were landing in detroit. the rules say they should have three miles between them, but a delta plane and a regional jet came within about two miles of each other. this happened just a day after the faa revealed three planes didn't have enough separation among them at reagan national airport due to an air traffic control miscommunication. now to the race for the white house and the candidates' efforts to get more supporters and more campaign cash. presumptive republican presidential nominee mitt romney is attending a fund-raiser today in indiana, and he picked up a big-name endorsement at another fund-raiser last night. that would be actor clint eastwood. eastwood joked with reporters as he headed into the fund-raiser in sun valley, idaho. >> i'm curious why you decided to endorse the governor. >> i haven't endorsed the governor. >> you're not going to? ? >> oh, yeah, i know. i just, because, i think the country needs a boost somewhere.

>> eastwood told the crowd at the fund-raiser romney was going to restore a "decent tax system." today is president obama's 51st birthday. he's spending the day at camp david. he'll hold a more official celebration in chicago next weekend. his wife, michelle, kicked off the weekend on the campaign trail, praising her husband's economic record at three massachusetts fund-raisers. >> when people ask you what this president has done for our country, here's what you tell them. tell them how many jobs he's created. tell them how much money he's put back in the pockets of american people. >> the president returns to the campaign trail monday with two stops in connecticut. now to syria. fighting is intensifying in aleppo. the country's commercial hub. our sister network cnn turk was able to enter an area under fire and captured this video. today rebels stormed into a state-run tv and radio station and took partial control of the

building, but eventually had to retreat because of some pretty heavy shelling. senior international correspondent ben wedeman joining me now live from northern syria. he just met with the commander of the rebel army. ben, what did he tell you? >> reporter: well, what he said is that they, according to the information they're getting, there are two large columns of the syrian army headed toward aleppo, one from the mediterranean coast to the west and one from the south from the direction of damascus. they say the shells are reinforcing their troops in the free syrian arming forces within aleppo itself, trying to get as much ammunition and weaponry as possible to confront what appears to be the beginning of a government offensive against the rebels in the strategic city of aleppo. but as they readily admit, they are severely out-gunned. at best, they have ak-47 assault

rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, some antiaircraft machine guns, very outdated, which are of little use when it comes to trying to hit back at the syrian army and air force, which have really some of the best and latest weaponry that russia provides to the regime of bashar al assad. so, there really is a sense of growing anticipation at the possibility of a major syrian army assault on aleppo, which until recently was considered one of the quieter cities in the syri syrian, now very much at the center of the fighting. randi? >> so, is the rebel army, are they getting any help in terms of arms and ammunition from elsewhere, from anybody else? >> reporter: well, certainly, some weapons are getting to the rebels from turkey, but the weapons coming from countries like qatar, saudi arabia and what not in the gulf, but

certainly, compared to what we saw, very soon into the consulate we began to see antitank missiles reaching fr i night vision equipment, other weaponry. you don't see that here. you don't see the level of support from the outside that the rebels enjoyed, and that seems to be one of the main complaints you hear from rebel commanders here in the northern province, is that they feel they just aren't receiving the kind of support they need to fight against an army -- [ inaudible ] -- better organized. randi? >> ben wedeman for us there in northern syria. thanks for hanging with us there. obviously, communication is not the best it can be trying to reach him and speak with him in northern syria. ben wedeman, thank you very much. secretary of state hillary clinton is in nairobi, kenya,

today, where she is meeting kenyan leaders, including the president and prime minister. clinton is urging the country to hold free and fair elections. a vote scheduled for next march will be the first since a disputed poll in 2007. hundreds were killed in the violence that followed that vote. ♪ they are calling this super saturday at the olympics. 25 gold medals will be on the line in 11 different sports. one of them belongs to serena williams of the united states. less than an hour ago, williams beat russian maria sharapova 6-0, 6-1 in women's singles tennis. later, americans will be focused on michael phelps. he leads the u.s. men's 4x100 medley relay team. a win would be his fourth gold medal of the olympics. phelps says he'll retire after these games. and 15-year-old katie ledecky won gold in the

800-meter freestyle last night. she is the youngest american competing. nasa calls it seven minutes of terror. the mars rover is set to land on the red planet tomorrow in a series of intricate maneuvers at 13,000 miles an hour. a lot is riding on this mission. let's see if we can go inside and save you some money on your plan. you ready? sounds great! can you tell them about straight talk? sure. with straight talk at walmart you get unlimited talk, text and data for only $45 a month. but do i get the same coverage? oh yeah. it's on america's best networks. sounds great to me. well we saved you a lot of money, and your girls like their new smart phones. i sent you a friend request. [ both ] we know. [ earl ] save money with straight talk wireless. unlimited talk, text and data for only $45 a month. only at walmart.

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welcome back. 11 minutes past the hour. if nasa pulls this off, it will make history. tomorrow after a series of intricate maneuvers, it will try to land a robotic rover on mars, the biggest one ever. it is a $2 billion gamble. here's john zarrella. >> reporter: eight months in space, 354 million miles per hour, $2.5 billion spent, nearly a decade of work. after all that, it will take only minutes, just minutes to determine elation or disaster. >> foull nights of sleep have eluded for for years now. >> we think about failure every day, how to avoid failure. >> reporter: after it reaches the top of the martian atmosphere, a series of

precision, choreographed events will begin to unfold, events never before attempted, events so dramatic and defining, the space agency put together a short movie, calling it "seven minutes of terror." that's the amount of time it will take "curiosity" to plummet through the atmosphere and either crash or land safely. >> 1,600 degrees. >> if any one thing doesn't work just right, it's game over. >> reporter: "curiosity" is huge, the size of a small car. its size meant nasa couldn't use the tried and true landing methods, airbags or shock-absorbing legs. on top of that, the rover has to hit a specific spot, one place nasa thinks could have hints of past or present life. that requires a precision landing. on one side, a mountain, on the other, a crater wall. >> to get there safely, though, we need to be able to land on the one big flat spot that sits

right at the foot of that mountain inside the walls of the crater. >> reporter: out of necessity was born the seven minutes of terror. "curiosity" hits the atmosphere at 13,000 miles an hour, steering her way toward the landing site. next, the parachute deploys, slowing "curiosity," then rockets fire, aligning "curiosity" with the landing zone below. finally, the sky frame. >> the rover is lowered below the jet's backpack, and the two together descend their way down on to the martian surface. >> reporter: engineers say at the end of the day, this is the safest way to get a rover this size on the ground in one piece. every component was tested again and again. >> three, two, one. >> reporter: but from the point "curiosity" hits the atmosphere, all the scientists and engineers can do is hold their breaths and wait. >> in the end, she'll be on her

own. >> reporter: seven minutes of terror. john zarrella, cnn, pasadena, california. america's drought is a natural disaster in slow motion. a government economist says it's the most severe and expensive drought in 25 years. right now, more than half of all u.s. counties have been designated disaster zones. crop losses could top $20 billion. and you could feel that loss where it hurts most, in your wallet. an accused wife-killer on trial. we'll take an in-depth look at the dramatic and oftentimes bizarre twists in the drew peterson murder case. take us with us. you can continue watching cnn from your mobile phone and also live from your laptop. just go to cnn.com/tv. on my chest... elept he thought he was having a heart attack. she said, "take an aspirin, we need to go to the hospital." i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen.

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he is a former chicago area police officer who now finds himself on the other side of the law. his name is drew peterson, and the death of his third wife along with the disappearance of his fourth has thrust peterson into a spotlight normally reserved for criminals. for years, the cases have been

cold, but now peterson's very high-profile murder trial is heating up. i took a look back at the events that led peterson to this point. >> this is the holiday season. >> reporter: if drew peterson did kill his third wife, kathleen savio, back in early 2004, he certainly hasn't cracked under pressure. >> what happened? >> don't know. i don't know. i had neighbors go into the house and they found her dead in the bathtub. >> reporter: eight years have passed since kathleen savio was discovered dead in her bathtub. she was naked and the bathtub was dried. at the time, peterson was a sergeant with the bolingbrook police department outside of chicago. just a couple of days before they were to divorce, peterson said he went to check on savio with neighbors but didn't go inside until he heard a neighbor scream. peterson insisted he had nothing to do with it, and the coroner agreed. he ruled savio's death an accidental drowning. case closed. that is, until the disappearance of yet another wife three years

later. stacy peterson, his fourth wife, gone in a flash. >> she told me she found somebody else and she was leaving. >> reporter: nobody's heard a word from stacy peterson since october 2007, almost five years ago, but we've heard plenty from drew peterson, whose bizarre encounters like these with reporters are most memorable. >> please go home. please leave me alone. i'm going to come camp myself in front of your house and see if you like it. >> reporter: the couple's home was searched, local ponds dredged. and even as investigators began to close in on drew peterson -- >> right now, drew peterson has gone from a person of interest to clearly being a suspect. >> reporter: -- his strange antics continued. >> what do you get when you cross the media with a pig? >> reporter: drew peterson has never been charged in stacy's disappearance, but he is still a suspect. with wife number four missing, illinois state police investigators got curious and decided to take a second look at the death of wife number three. on november 13th, 2007, they

exhumed kathleen savio's body for another autopsy. she had been buried 3 1/2 years. the day before, drew peterson resigned from the bolingbrook police department after three decades of service. when asked about savio's body being exhumed, he said this on nbc. >> it's a shame that her rest in peace has to be disturbed, or something like this, when they did it once, now they're doing it again. >> reporter: a few months after that interview, february 2008, a stunning reversal in savio's cause of death. two coroners found it was no accidental drowning but homicide. two new autopsies showed savio had a one-inch laceration on the back of her head from blunt force trauma, plus scrapes and bruising. savio's sister said she always lived in fear. >> we never felt that it was an accident. she always told us that, whether it was a premonition or not, she always said that it would be an accident and to take care of her

children, he was going to kill her. >> reporter: even the possibility of murder charges didn't keep peterson quiet. he seemed to relish his celebrity. in january 2008, during an interview with a chicago radio station, peterson suggested the station start a new contest called "win a date with drew." it never panned out. about six months later, a major blow in the pages of "the chicago sun times." two friends who had agreed to wear a wire for the state and record conversations with drew peterson told the paper peterson said this about savio -- "i should have had that [ bleep ] cremated. it would cost me less and i wouldn't be going through this trouble." he also allegedly claimed he would be acquitted of savio's death long before his fourth wife's remains would be found. in may 2009, peterson was arrested. >> look at this spiffy outfit. my god. >> reporter: and charged with first-degree murder in the death of his third wife. he pleaded not guilty. from jail, he kept talking,

calling that same chicago radio station with another outlandish suggestion. >> i know we can't do the "date with drew" anymore. >> yeah? >> but i'm thinking what we should doing is like "win a kong gal visit with drew," let's do that. >> peterson's lawyer called it all a case of bad luck. >> we have a guy who had one wife who died of an accident and another one who ran off, which may make him unlucky, but nothing mischievous about either of those two things. >> reporter: now 58, peterson has been in jail for several years awaiting trial for the murder of wife number three and as recently as last month, he was still chatting up reporters, telling "the chicago sun times" he is "sick of being called sinister." and drew peterson's trial will pick up again on tuesday in joliet, illinois. the battle of the bulge. the potential threat to america's national security. ♪ [music plays]

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>> reporter: this is not how mercedes lipscom looked a decade ago when she tried to enlist in the national guard and was rejected, told she was too fat. >> i am totally happy they didn't let me in at 220 pounds. i think i probably would have died out there. >> reporter: according to a report releasing later this month from a group called information readiness, 25% of all potential recruits are turned away because of their weight. the problem is potentially so serious, commanders of all ranks who spear-headed the study describe it as a potential threat to national security. >> the statistic that blows me away on that is one in four americans is too obese, young americans, is too obese to join the military. >> reporter: rear admiral jamie barnett and more than 100 retired generals and admirals warned of the problem two years ago ago. in a new follow-up report "still too fat to fight," they contend the military is working harder than ever to find eligible recruits. >> more and more, we're seeing

that those folks showing up at the recruiting centers are not really fit to come into the military. >> reporter: hundreds of recruits wind up discharged early because of weight-related issues. >> recruits who have not done as well, have been overweight, don't do as well in boot camp, are more likely to not complete their first term of enlistment. >> reporter: the cost? some $60 million a year invested and lost in recruits and finding their replacements. military leaders say the problem is reversible. they're now targeting school lunch programs and vending machines, pointing to the success of new york city's schools in regulating unhealthy food and lowering average student weight. as for mercedes lipscomb, she reapplied to the national guard after dropping 80 pounds. >> if you're sent into a combat zone, you want to be in shape, you want to be able to maneuver, you want to be able to protect yourself and, you know, protect your fellow soldiers. overweight, how are you going to

run? how are you going to get away? >> reporter: the study hopes to target young generations, so when the time comes, they'll be combat-ready. the nation's leaders hoping to stem the child obesity crisis so it doesn't become what they believe could be a national security crisis. deborah feyerick, cnn, new york. as kids head back to school next week, it's going to be a great weekend to hit those back-to-school sales. that's because many states are helping you out with tax-free holidays. there are 17 states that have the dates set. most of them are this weekend. it's a big help, of course, for parents or grandparents looking to get some back-to-school items for the kids. it was a kidnapping with no ransom. the target, hall of famer cal ripk ripken's mother. she's fine now, but the manhunt is on.

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checking top stories now. occupy protesters smashed in a window at president obama's campaign office in oakland. about 200 protesters had been demonstrating in the downtown area last night. a few obama campaign volunteers were working inside the office during the incident, but no one was hurt. an elderly man in houston has died from west nile virus. the disease spread by mosquitos. the cdc says nationwide, west nile is significantly on the rise with 241 cases so far this year, the largest number officials have seen since 2004. they don't know what's behind the jump. the cdc also says the majority of people getting sick are in texas, mississippi and oklahoma. protesting chick-fil-a with a kiss. gay rights activists staged kiss-ins outside chick-fil-a restaurants across the country last night. they were protesting comments

made by the president of chick-fil-a, dan cathy. in a recent intervex, cathy says he supports the biblical definition of the family unit. earlier this week, cathy's supporters made their position known by crowding into the restaurant. conservatives dub ed the day chick-fil-a appreciation day. the manhunt is on for the person who kidnapped baseball hall of famer cal ripken's mom. she's safe now, but everybody wants to know what was behind this. police are counting on a tip to crack the case. here's joe johns. >> reporter: former baltimore orioles star cal ripken jr. is asking the public to help find the man who abducted his mother last week. >> i would encourage all of you to call in and report what you know. >> reporter: ripken and authorities are looking for this unnamed suspect captured by a security camera at a suburban maryland walmart hours after he allegedly forced 74-year-old vi ripken from her home at gunpoint

and drove her around in her own car for almost 24 hours. she was found tied up in the back of her car a few hundred yards from her house, but so far, that video along with tips to authorities has not been enough to track him down, which is why police are looking for more information. they've circulated a wanted poster complete with a sketch of the suspect, put up billboards, even offered a $2,000 reward for tips. it's clear police are searching for answers. >> it's bizarre. there's been -- there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. most abductions or a parent or child or some kind of family relationship or somebody knows somebody and there's, you know, something going on there, but this is just bizarre. >> reporter: one of the things we do know, or at least we think we know, is that the guy who did this seemingly came prepared to tie somebody up. >> the materials used to bind her were brought there, so there's a lot of evidence that shows that there was somewhat of a plan and it had to be premeditated.

>> reporter: even after being restrained for almost a day, ripken's mother did not have any physical injuries, but she's so rattled from the experience, she's been staying away from her home, the place where it started and the place where cal ripken grew up. >> she's affected, no doubt about it. so, don't know when she will go back, but certainly right now she's not back in her house yet. >> reporter: what we still don't know is whether vi ripken was targeted because of who she was or if the spenuspect had been planning to ask for ransom. police say he never did that, by the way. police say during the 24 hours she was missing, they were not sure where she was taken and would not answer questions about the suspect's alleged use of his victim's credit card along the way. joe johns, cnn, washington. the university of colorado has hired a former u.s. attorney to investigate how the school handles ex-student james holmes, the alleged shoot yeg of the massacre in aurora on july 20th. holmes had just withdrawn as a doctoral student from the school

before the attack. it's not clear how much of the report by attorney robert miller will be made public. miller began his probe last week. think you could eat 10,000 calories a day? olympic gold medalist michael phelps sure does. he has to. we'll explore the unorthodox eating habits of our top athletes. in here, every powerful collaboration is backed by an equally powerful and secure cloud. that cloud is in the network, so it can deliver all the power of the network itself. bringing people together to develop the best ideas -- and providing the apps and computing power to make new ideas real. it's the cloud from at&t. with new ways to work together, business works better. ♪ with the fidelity stock screener, you can try strategies from independent experts and see what criteria they use. such as a 5% yield on dividend-paying stocks.

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♪ you are what you eat. that well-known phrase probably hit the american mainstream when nutritionist victor landmar wrote a book by the same title about 70 years ago, but what are you if you consume 10,000 calories a day? well, then you probably should be training like olympic swimming legend michael phelps. you may remember, phelps poked some fun at his diet when he hosted "saturday night live" just a few years ago.

>> tired of suffering through a salad at lunch? >> then try a pound of pasta, three cuban sandwiches with mayonnaise, a barrel of halloween candy, and to wash it all down, a pitcher of hallen daze sauce. >> now, that's a lunch! >> joining me now is registered dietician paige love. good morning to you. >> how are you doing? >> so, we have a table here of food, because not everybody can eat like phelps, right? i mean, some people need to eat like gabby douglas, for example, the olympian. so, what would her diet look like compared to a phelps diet? >> well, we're looking at a 200-pound athlete versus a 100-pound athlete, so we can say he needs twice, if not three times as much, since he's going a lot longer distance, endurance kind of swimming. she still needs the same types of foods, but the portions would be scaled down. for example, we might be looking at her meat portion being the deck of cards or the palm of a woman's hand, and michael

phelps' meat would be more about this 8-ounce steak. >> okay, that's really the size to go by, even for the rest of us at home, is the palm-sized -- >> for the petite-sized person, athlete, would need really close to the palm of their hand. that's a good frame of reference for a meat portion size. for pasta, for fueling their exercise, maybe a cup of pasta, or for him, three cups of pasta. >> and meat and vegetables mixed in as well? >> sure, use the government model for eating. it works well for the athletes for three-fourths of the plate of carbohydrates and one-fourth of protein. this is where some athletes may go off track, maybe half or two-thirds of the plate in protein and a lot of athletes need to scale that down. the muscle mass doesn't weigh as much. they don't need as much. >> and maybe not go so heavy on carbs, right? >> yes. >> what about for an average person trying to stay fit? what is the right balance between a training regimen and eating? because i've seen, you know, i've read a lot about this, where a lot of people will overeat because they think

they're training so much that they look at it as an excuse to just keep eating. so, what is the right balance? >> some of the things i talk about every day are eating combinations of carbs and proteins at every meal. for example, skim milk and a cereal, lean luncheon meat and whole grain wraps or breads. so, tomato sauces and the pastas with the meat inside. that combination is key for any active person to stabilize their blood sugar and keep them fueled. eating frequently in small meals throughout the day, carbing up a little bit for activity and including protein and fluids in the recovery. >> you mentioned a lot of protein. we have a protein powder, plus beans on the table and other protein sources. how much protein do you really need? >> it's based on body size. a good rule of thoum is half of your body weight in grams. so half of your pounds in grams is a good example of what you need. some athletes like the size of michael phelps may need something like a whey protein, but gabby may want to just have

some milk in the recovery. we recommend this for the normal athlete to get within the first half an hour. it's a nice balance. not too high of a protein supplement. >> so, what if there is an aspiring michael phelps or aspiring gabby douglas or anybody else at home watching? it's never too early to get a young woman started eating the right way, right? >> definitely not too early. what you can do is start to train your body to store more fuel as you gear up for higher carbohydrate eating, which is so key. 60% of the diet coming from all these good things we've been talking about. you want to start eating that way and you actually train your body to store more fuel. the eating frequently i've been talking about, the hydrating well. a good rule of thumb is hydrate until your urine is a pale, clear color, and that may be like a lemonade type color. that is a sign you're hydrating well. maybe recording your food intake, for example using a program like nutritiming, which lets an athlete look at how well they're fueling throughout the day to make sure they're meeting

their energy needs. a online diet is easy for traveling convenience. and definitely work on increasing the colorful foods. we've got a lot of colorful foods. >> yes. >> the broccoli, the fruit, the deep greens, and a lot of young teen athletes aren't big on fruits and vegetables. >> right. >> so, this is to be a fourth to a half of the plate and they're missing the boat on these. these are good ant ox dent nutrients that help them stay healthy. >> so they can compete and be healthny general. >> exactly. >> page, thank you. appreciate that great advice. >> thank you. >> great to have you. well, if you have kids, you know who these folks are. they are the famous wiggles, of course. kids have loved watching them for years, but that will soon change. that our sales have increased by... sorry, my liege. honestly. our sales have increased by 20%. what is this mystical device i see before me? it's an ultrabook. he signed the purchase order. with an ultrabook, everything else seems old fashioned.

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for years, the wiggles have wiggled, danced, and sung their way into children's hearts, but now three members of the group are calling it a day. we look at their success story and the personal struggles of the blue wiggle. >> reporter: for more than 20 years, the wiggles have driven -- ♪ >> reporter: -- shimmied. ♪ >> reporter: -- and snacked

their way into homes everywhere, all to the tune of about $29 million annually in dvd, album and concert ticket sales. but in may, the wiggles surprised fans, yes, adults love them, too, by announcing that three members plan to retire. the group will continue. replacements have been picked with anthony field, better known as the blue wiggle, staying on. resiliency is something field has come to know well. in spite of the success and megawatt smiles of the australian group, it hasn't been all lollypops and rain bows. >> i go on stage with the wiggles happy, because i love going on stage. but after the stage, getting off stage is when i fall into this heap and physical and mental rage. >> you describe balling your eyes out in the dressing room backstage. >> yes. quite a lot of times. >> reporter: in his memoir, field opens up about his lifelong struggle with clinical depression and a dependence on painkillers to help him cope with a variety of ailments.

a herniated disc, joint pain, migraines, digestive problems and chronic infections. but after decades of failed treatments, he managed to turn his health around. >> it all started with dr. james cox. he's a chiropractor. >> reporter: popular with celebrities, his main advice for getting field back on track didn't exactly sound like star treatment. >> when we decided to go bar foot, he looked at me strangely. the footwear is a device that inhibits the natural motion of the foot. >> when you get the exercise in with barefoot, your muscles in your feet get strong, everything gets stable and you do a better job exercising and your body gets better. >> reporter: by ditching shoes as often as possible and committing lengthy treatment sessions and revamping his diet, he is free of the pain that almost caused him to quit the wiggles. >> right now anthony is just

really addicted to exercise. >> best physical shape. i'm nearly 50 now. i enjoy my life. i can pick up my children. i couldn't lift them. >> you stay like this for ages. and watch the world go by. >> but nor too long. the wiggles are touring the u.s. through the summer. they're calling it a celebration tour, their last horray as the original four. with the blue wiggle not feeling so blue anymore. shannon cook, cnn, new york. >> who knew there was such a wiggles saga going on? >> that's serious business going on. >> and leading into me. >> yeah. >> rob marciano is in for fred. >> call me when -- the bubble guppies, that's my daughter's favorite. they're animated. here's what's at noon. we have the drew peterson trial. we'll update you on that. we have the legal guys in. they'll dissect that and the

atlanta daycare killing trial. and also this, a guy feeding a gator. he's a tour boat captain. well, while feeding it, he got his hand bit off. and now he's being charged with a crime as well. so talk about adding insult to injury. we'll dissect that. balk abotalk about ernesto drought. and there is a song called "marry me" by train. people have been proposing in the middle of the concert. so in and out drummer of all things has been ordained. so he's actually performing weddings at the concerts. we'll interview them. and the reason that fred's not here, marvelous matt whitfield. he'll be in london. she'll there be. >> all right, rob, we'll check back in with you in a few

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now you can test-drive snapshot before you switch. visit progressive.com today. wouldn't it be nice if there was an easier, less-expensive option than using a traditional lawyer? well, legalzoom came up with a better way. we took the best of the old and combined it with modern technology. together you get quality services on your terms, with total customer support. legalzoom documents have been accepted in all 50 states, and they're backed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee. so go to legalzoom.com today and see for yourself. it's law that just makes sense. . welcome back, everyone. for 15 years my next guest has been on a mission, a mission of making miracles happen. i want you to meet alyssa montonte. since 1997 she rescued more than 150 children from around the

world. children who were maimed or injured in war. so how does one woman pull off such a feat? not alone, through a network of volunteer doctors, nurses and hospitals. she brings the children back to the united states for treatment providing them free care and a place to stay. her organization is called the global medical relief fund. and just this week the group opened a brand new home for the children in new york called the dare to dream house. she talks about her incredible crusade in her new book "i'll stand by you." she is joining me now along with a very special guest. good morning to both of you. alyssa, why don't you first tell us your audience who is beside you. >> he is the reason i began the charity 15 years ago. >> so he sparked your whole mission? >> he certainly did. it was -- he's the culprit. >> well, let me ask you, good morning you to. what do you remember about first meeting alyssa back in 1997, i

believe it was? how did that -- how did that happen? tell me about your experience coming to america. >> well, to make a very long story short, i wrote a few letters out to asking for help for prosthetics. i lost both my arms and leg in the bosnian warm. one of the letters was answered by alisa herself. i was in disbelief that one woman from new york would help me where no other organization could. and about a month or so later i was here in new york receiving help. i met alisa who was so full of energy and just positiveness that we became so close and she is like my adopted mom now. >> that is so sweet. alisa, explain to us the process of finding these children, first of all, how you managed to do that and then the process of getting them out of their own country into america. how long do they stay?

where do they stay? what happens? >> well, in the beginning, of course, i was very small. so since then it's really the military in iraq, many of the requests, i would say 90% of the requests come from the military. and now everyone is finding us. so the children are out there in this fragile world that we live in, unfortunately. there are so many. so we have the new children that become follow up. so the follow up children come back every year depending on how fast they grow. and then, of course, there's new children. there's earthquakes, there's war. so they're finding us, actually, at this point. >> and you and your mom actually live with alisa for four months during your treatment about 15 years ago. but you actually came back to live. tell me why. >> well, i became so close to

alisa and she saw the situation in bosnia. she wanted to do everything she possibly could to give me a better life, to make sure that my future is set up for me. and she had gotten me into a college in the united states which i graduated from. currently in the united states living here, working here, doing everything on my own. and it's all thanks to her. she made my life possible. >> and alisa, i know you've been all over the world helping children, places like haiti, afghanistan, lib yashgs lya, li just to maim a fname a few. tell us what it's like to seat children see the children so desperate. >> just seeing the kids in the situation they're in, it's so much bigger than yourself. and you just know that you have to do whatever it is to do to help these children. and a lot of the times there's a

lot of red tape bringing these children, for example, a boy now i was in lebanon two months ago when i had seen a 15-year-old boy who was carrying the engine on his shoulder back and forth to safety across the border. he became a victim by stepping on a land mine. so we're trying to get him because the american embassy denies it. he's a refugee. it's always a situation. the follow up children are easier because they've been here before. but going to these countries like haiti and lebanon, iraq, it hasn't been easy. but we have succeeded. >> they really are doing incredible work. that will do it for me, everyone. have a great day. cnn newsroom continues now with rob marciano. i hand it off you to, sir. >> i got it. appreciate it. seven minutes of terror. seven minutes of terror. that's the pe trifiing ride in

nasa's rover curiosity is about to take that unprecedented trip in the search for the building blocks of life. we're live at the jet propulsio. it is the best produced nasa video i've environment enseever. >> they never attempted this kind of a landing before on mars. up until now the rovers -- you can see one behind you that, is the mock-up of curiosity. in the past they were small enough they could put them in air bags and cushion them with air bags and land it on the surface. that was the tried and trued method. but this rover is the size of a car, 2,000 pounds. it's too big to do it any other way than what they're going to attempt in 36 hours. never before happen. and what they will do is hit the atmosphere at 13,200 miles an hour. they'll begin to slowdown.

they'll be maneuvering through the atmosphere and then at some point will deploy a parra chute which will further slow the vehicle but not enough to get it on the ground safely. at that point they will fire some rockets on the spacecraft and it will begin to line itself up with the martian surface then they'll use a sky crane where the rover will actually dissend from the bottom of the landing vehicle and the two will dissend on the surface together. then they will fire off the other part of the vehicle that they no longer need. so that will all take place in a matter of seven minutes, from the time they hit the top of the atmosphere to the time curiosity lands in the gale crater on mars, seven minutes, seven minutes of terror. if one thing goes wrong, rob, the whole thing is over. >> i don't think other than a manned mission, obviously, i don't think i've ever seen something so complicated, so sci-fi other than the here is