. good morning. it is wednesday, july 18, 2012. welcome to studio 57 at the cbs broadcast center. i'm charlie rose. erica hill is off today. breaking news. a massive blast in syria reportedly kills that nation's defense minister. plus, this morning, new pressure on mitt romney to release additional tax returns. we'll ask tim pawlenty about that. i'm gayle king. leaders around the world celebrate the 94th birthday of nelson mandela. we'll speak with his grandson in a rare interview from inside the mandela compound in south africa. i'm norah o'donnell. is there a political agenda in the new batman movie? we'll show you why the romney campaign may not be so happy with this summer blockbuster.

first we begin with today's eye-opener. your world in 90 seconds. president obama attacks success and, therefore, under president obama we have less success and i will change that. >> mitt romney tries to get back on message. >> campaign co-chairman johnson is getting blasted by democrats for what they see as over the line remarks. >> i wish this president would learn how to be an american. >> mitt romney doubles down. refusing again to release more of his tax returns. >> romney actually did back in 2008, mccain took one look at him and said, you know what, i'm going with the crazy moose lady instead. >> security scare involving a stolen plane. the pilot scaled the razor wired security fence before driving off with a jet. >> somebody could jump the fence like he did. i don't think we're any more vulnerable than any other airport. >> he was able to engage the engines but unable to get it off ground. he took his own life. we're having a rougher time

than we imagined getting unemployment down. >> yes, that's true. >> so get to work, mr. chairman. >> still locked in a blazing heat wave out there, heat warnings and advisories are now in effect in 15 states. >> a man took matters into his own hands during a live cyber crime. he shot the suspects, both were later arrested. >> in a small colorado town a 6-foot monitor lizard is on the loose. >> if i run into him, i'd be pretty freaked out. into the crowd. did he make the catch? yes. >> inside a boston subway system. >> this just didn't work out too well for this woman. >> all that matters. >> what kind of dog would you get? >> pit bull. they have papers for them. my dog is a pedigree. >> comes with a pigeon. >> on "cbs this morning." >> marissa mayer, the newly named yahoo ceo announced she's six months pregnant. >> apparently she hid her pregnancy by only posting it on

use yahoo. captioning funded by cbs welcome to cbs news this morning, we begin with breaking news out of syria. there was a bombing at the national security building in damascus during a cabinet meeting. syrian television reports the defense minister was killed and several others wounded. >> elizabeth palmer is in london with the details. good morning, liz. what do we know? >> the details are still coming in. the bomb went off about 45 minutes ago, as you said, in the national security headquarters. a place you'd expect to be ultrahighly guarded. it killed the defense minister. also badly injured were the deputy chief of staff who is also president bashar al assad's brother-in-law and also the interior minister there. there are reports coming in saying they've been killed as well. opposition forces this damascus and some security officials securing the site are saying the same thing, that somebody

smuggled in high explosives into a room where this cabinet meeting was going to take place and they were detonated remotely. so earlier reports that it was a suicide attack seem to be false. in fact, the syrian free army has said that the bombers have got away safely. i spoke to a colleague in damascus a few minutes ago. he said he was quite close to the scene of the explosion. it was a small one as these things go. there have been huge blasts over the last few months. this one was relatively small. but extremely deadly and a devastating blow to this regime which is under tremendous pressure already now as the fighting seems to be closing in on the city's center. >> liz, is anybody taking credit for this? >> well, the syrian free army were the ones who said that they can say that the bombers got away. i suppose obliquely, that means they are. but as you know, this is of a highly decentralized organization.

i think we'll have to wait and see. >> what's the psychological impact in terms of a country that is close to, if not there in civil war? >> well, the damascus managed to be a bubble of normality. this puts an end to that fiction for everybody, even those in denial. for the regime, they've lost three key senior players. this is really going to be a crippling blow. >> liz palmer, thank you so much. we turn to campaign 2012, a new new york times poll out this morning includes some numbers that president obama will not be happy to hear. republicans are more excited about the upcoming election. 48% describe themselves as enthuse particular compared to 23% supporting the president. the other news, people are very concerned about the direction of the country. only 30% think we're headed in the right direction. these numbers come as both campaigns are fighting hard for

the political upper hand. dean reynolds is with the romney campaign in toledo, ohio, where we have the latest recalls for the tax returns. dean, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. romney has been trying to seize the initiative after days of democratic attacks on his stewardship of the bain private equity firm and on that refusal to release more information on his tax returns. for romney, it's been an uphill battle. in pennsylvania on tuesday, romney tried to turn the conversation back to the economy saying it's hurting because of what he suggested was the president's hostility to business. >> look, president obama attacks success and therefore, under president obama we have less success and i will change that. >> but his point was overshadowed all day after romney supporter and former new hampshire governor john sununu tried to push the argument with words that question mr. obamas patriotism.

>> i wish this president would learn how to be an american. >> it was the kind of statement usually emanating from the political fringe and sununu apologized within hours. but it was another off message distraction as romney struggled to gain the upper hand. turn the spotlight on mr. obama and talk about something other than how much or little he paid in taxes. >> mitt romney has used every trick in the book. >> romney has released his 2010 return and an estimate of his 2011. but the questions keep coming. to go further, he said in an interview tuesday night would be like handing ammunition to the democrats. >> their opposition people look for anything they can find to distort, twist. i want to make this a campaign about the economy and creating jobs. >> but even romney supporters are urging a fuller disclosure. the conservative magazine national review, former republican party chairman, haley barbour and michael steele, plus former gop opponents, ron paul

and rick perry are just a few of those who say romney should be more forthcoming. >> anyone running for office, if they're asked within reason to give people backgrounds about what they have been doing, including tax returns, should do that. >> and now the republicans are trying to gain some ground with the argument that it's unpair for the obama campaign to insist that romney release more of his tax returns as long as the president declines to release his college transcripts. >> dean reynolds, thank you so much. tim pawlenty is a romney supporter, obviously and one of the names mentioned as a public running mate. he joins us now from minneapolis. good morning, fwof. >> good morning, charlie. there's a question here that is at the top and core of this political discussion today. is why not? even republicans calling for the republican potential nominee to

release his tax records. he has done that before to john mcain when he was being vetted. why not now because the political rule is anything that will come out eventually should come out now? >> sure. well, a few things. first of all, mitt romney has released tax records. 2010 and 2011 and that's the standard for republican nominees, two years' worth. look, we shouldn't be debating tax returns from ten or 15 years ago or college transcripts from 20 or more years ago. we should be debating the main issue in this race, which is jobs and the middle class. you can't be middle class if you're unemployed. president obama has done an abysmal job to get the economy moving. mitt romney has a better direction. look, the president is hanging shiny objects before the public and the press and the press is taking the bait. there's no indication that mitt romney's done anything wrong with respect to his taxes and he's trying to distract from the main issue, which should be his poor performance. the president's poor performance

on getting this economy moving again. >> governor, how are you? it's norah o'donnell. you said that governor romney released two years of his tax returns. he's only released one year to be correct. you say the standard is two years. but i must point out to you, george w. bush released ten years, george h.w. bush released 14 years and bob dole released 30 years. mitt romney has only released one. how is that the standard? >> well, good morning to you as well, norah. as to the two years, of course, he released one year going back and also the estimates that he has for this year. that's two preliminarily on the second year. >> we don't know how much he paid in taxes on 2011. >> not yet. but he said he would release those going forward. as to the standard that you mentioned, the practice has varied. you cited some examples of some. but there's others who have only gone back a few years. the larger point is this. there is no claim or no credible indication that mitt romney's done anything wrong. he's within the range of past

practice and custom. but number two, why is the media focused on this issue, 10, 15-year-old tax returns or college transcripts, when we should be focused on the large issues and the main issues. >> is governor rick perry a member of media? >> i'm sorry. >> governor rick perry is not a member of the immediate yachlt he is the governor of texas and he said yesterday, no matter who you are or what office you're running for, you should be as transparent as you can be. do you disagree with governor perry? >> well, norah, i heard the clip you played just before i came on. his words were within reason. i think releasing a few years or two years plus the one coming up is reasonable given the past practice. >> i mean, there is this. that is, the governor who can is simply answer all the critics of those who say he has something to hide. then move on to the economy. the issue he wants to talk about. >> well, charlie, look, the fact

is when you have the tax returns that are released, a lot of information comes out understandable, but there's no credible claim that mitt romney's done anything wrong. >> why not let him prove that and show that he, like other candidates, is prepared to show you exactly the kind of tax rate he had been paying and why. and that, in fact, he's proud of the success that he has had as an earner, as a business executive and as someone who has achieved american success. >> well, i don't think there's any secret to the fact that mitt romney has been successful, he's achieved success and paid a lot of taxes. there's no indication that he's done anything wrong. the other issue here is look at president obama's performance on the issues that matter most and then he allowed the media, pursues these issues with great vigor. why aren't they pursuing the issue of 6 million fewer jobs,

people being employed since he took office. 23 million americans being unemployed, underemployed or dropped out of the workforce. 40 months of over 8% unemployment. those are the big issues in this race, not 20-year-old college transcripts or 15-year-old tax returns. >> you are close to the romney campaign and obviously you do not want to talk about who the nominee for vice president might be. but can you give us any indication as to what you believe the timing of the announcement? >> well, charlie, we don't talk about the timing relating to the vp aspects of it. i don't know that. i'm sure governor romney and his team will give you a nice notice when that's going to be forthcoming. but i don't have any insight into that that i can share with you this morning. >> governor, it's great to have you here. thank you so much. >> thanks for having me. a bizarre incident in utah tuesday where a skywest airline pilot suspected of murder commandeered a plane. >> it came to an abrupt end as

bob orr tells us from washington's reagan national airport. good morning. >> reporter: good morning norah and charlie. this is a bizarre story of a murder suspect who tried to flee in a most unusual vehicle. that suspect, brian hedglin is now dead in his last act, it's raising new questions about airport security. this was the trail of damage early tuesday morning at the saint george utah airport after brian hedglin stole a 50-seat commuter jet and rammed it into a parking lot. a clipped wing, a damaged jet way, a downed airport fence. >> it was a short window. so fween about 12:50 and 1:00 would have been the whole incident was started and ended in that time period. >> police officials say an officer patrolling around the saint george airport noticed something was wrong when he spotted an abandoned motorcycle with the engine still warm. a rug had been tossed over the razor wire atop a perimeter fence. police say hedglin apparently had scaled the fence, found his

way on to the aircraft and started the engines. as the plane began to move, its left wing clipped the jet way and the terminal. then rolled through the fence and into some parked cars. >> at that point, other officers had arrived. they entered the plane and found a 40-year-old male, mr. hedglin was deceased in the plane from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. >> hedglin had been on the run since last friday when police discovered his ex-girlfriend murdered in his colorado springs apartment. police quickly put out wanted posters will hedglin's picture. skywest airlines promptly suspended him and revoked his security cards. that did not stop hedglin from finding his way to southwestern utah and common deering the plane. the incident could force government officials to take a new look at airport security. while the transportation security administration has to approve all airport security plans, the airports themselves are responsible for policing the perimeters.

but the kind of incident which played out in saint george, utah, involving a trained pilot may be especially hard to prevent. >> commercial aircraft are not locked up. pilot that's raided in the aircraft can get on board, get into the cockpit, power up the aircraft and be able to fly it single handed should he need to. >> some critics speculated or suggested that security at small airports like here may not be as good as the security at fields like reagan national here in washington. there's no evidence to point out that's true. in this bizarre case, it was an officer paying attention who spotted the incident. >> any reason to believe that this is a legitimate security incident? >> well, it's a security incident, charlie, in the sense that somebody was able to breach the perimeter and get access to an airplane. that's very, very serious. at the same time, we have to say we're not sure what the intent of mr. hedglin was. it's not clear if he was trying

to take off or wreck the plane. in the end, it raises serious troubling questions because this cough ended very, very badly. the federal regulators and the authorities are taking a hard look at it. >> bob orr, thank you so much. turning now to the massive drought causing hardship. president obama scheduled a meeting with the secretary of agriculture to address the issue. >> that's good news for those in texas where conditions are so severe that ranchers are now selling off their herds. anna werner is in gonzalez, texas with the story of this deepening crisis. good morning. >> reporter: good morning senator ah and charlie. this is what's happening to many herds. they're being sent to slaughter or auction. the drought has dried up the land and the grass that ranchers need to feed their cattle. buying hay to feed them is expensive and for many ranchers, it's a losing proposition. herds statewide have been cut by 10 so 15%. rancher jim sellman and his

family raised cattle on 3,000 acres here in gonzalez, texas since 1861. this year he had to sell off his herd of 600 cattle. >> just costs a lot to feed them. if you don't have grass to grow them and to carry the cows so that they have calves, well, you're just really up the creek. >> reporter: he expects to bring cattle back eventually. but some won't be able to do it. they're out of business permanently. and consumers will also feel the pinch out of all of this. because of the glut of beef coming in, prices are expected to drop temporarily but next year they say they'll be on the rise and let's talk about milk production for a second. farmers in wisconsin and missouri say that they've seen, because of the heat, their dairy cows are producing 20% less milk. there could be a rise in milk prices as well. norah and charlie, consequences

for consumers out of the drought. >> up the creek as that rancher said. thank you. for much of the country, another day of intense sweltering heat. heat advisories are posted across the midwest and mid-atlantic states and into the northeast. so far this month, over 2200 heat records have been broken across the u.s. 14 cities posted record highs yesterday. it's . this national weather report sponsored by bp.

promising news in the fight against alzheimer's. we'll show you an experimental drug that appears to stop the disease in its tracks. taking the bite out of mosquito mosquitoes. >> if you could come out of this lab and have a mosquito that didn't bite, people would be like bring it on. >> we'd love to be able to do that. in an engineering sense, it doesn't work that well. >> the buzz over malaria-proof

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president and michelle obama were caught off guard by the kiss cam. meanwhile, mitt romney was caught off guard by the show us your tax returns cam. >> does the new batman blockbuster have a political agenda? some say is does. the new archenemy is called

bane. >> we'll goat into

as you know friday morning, i woke up in my home in mount kiss coe, i had coffee and headed to the gym. i entered route 684 to exit and drove south. i remember getting on the highway and then i have no memory until i was stopped at a traffic light and a police officer was at my car door. i have never had any history of drug or alcohol abuse. >> kerry kennedy says a seizure caused her to crash her suv into a tractor-trailer on a new york interstate. kennedy, the ex-wife of governor andrew cuomo pleaded not guilty last night to driving while drug impaired. kennedy says tests showed she had no alcohol or drugs. the seizure was triggered by an

old brain injury. welcome back to "cbs this morning." the new release in the batman franchise is offering some political fodder for the presidential campaign. te caped cue saider's latest nemesis bears a name that perhaps could not have come at a worse time for mitt romney. perhaps, that's not the only thing that could have the candidate up in arms. michelle miller has that story. >> you're in deep with the wrong people. >> you don't know a thing about me. >> it's one of the year's most anticipated sequels. but before it even hits theaters, the dark knight rises is raising the spectre of political posturing. >> the hot political story is mitt romney's venture capital company which happens to bear the same name as the most frightening and current batman villain. >> mitt romney has been battling the bain of his campaign since the primaries. >> my effort at bain capital, as

you know, was in every case designed to make the enterprises more successful. >> president obama hasn't let up. >> if you're the head of a hedge fund or private equity firm, your job is to make money. it's not to create jobs. >> you have reason to die. >> the film's release is now started the bain name game. >> what are you? >> corporations are people, my friend. >> perfect for comedic timing. though conservative talk show host rush limbaugh is talking conspiracy. >> do you think that it is accidental that the name of the really vicious fire breathing four-eyed whatever it is villain in this movie is named bane? >> i would agree with -- if the bain attack becomes a bain caricature and a cartoon in a popular movie, the obama campaign couldn't be happier.

>> bain is in the corporate side. he's not restructuring companies, investing. >> not at all. >> this man is not a political pundit. but he is an expert on all things bane, the comic book character, not the company. >> in terms of real-life venture capitalism versus super villains breaking the back of batman, it's a little bit of a stretch. >> the venom breathing villain from batman was originally conceived in the early 1990s and nearly two decades before drawing controversy for the romney campaign. but the film may not be entirely a political. >> storm coming, mr. wayne. you and your friend better batten down the hatches. you're all going to wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us. >> last fall's occupy movement

was against corporate greed and economic disparity. christian bale told reporters "occupy wall street was actually happening a couple of blocks from where we were filming in new york which the director had no way of knowing when he kroept wrote the script. by the time it was happening, i was looking at him going, how did you know? and while nolan says his story was inspired by charles dickens' novel about the french revolution, a tale of two cities, the trailer's quick shots of a gunman on the new york stock exchange alludes to the country's tale of two bank accounts, an issue that might make it to november. for "cbs this morning," michelle miller, new york. >> i can tell you one thing, makes me want to see the movie. >> that's for sure. i may this weekend. >> the bane has gone back for a while. he's a great director. look forward to seeing it as well this weekend. there is a major step in the fight against alzheimer's

disease. we'll show you how a promising new drug appears to stop the disease from advancing. it's coming up on "cbs this morning." ♪ you do ♪ something to me ♪ that nobody else could do when i had my heart event. and i've been on a bayer aspirin regimen ever since. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i know if i take my bayer aspirin

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researchers say an experimental drug has had a remarkable result in stabilizing patients in the early stages of alzheimer's disease. >> dr. bill thesis, chief medical chief of the american alzheimer's association. he's at the group's international conference in vancouver this morning. good morning. >> good morning. >> so tell us exactly what this does and how significant it is and what amount of hope should it give to people who are living with alzheimer's. >> well, most scientists believe that one of the key events in

alzheimer's disease is the accumulation of a bad protein in the brain, and at least one of the things that this new drug does, ivig, is to lessen that accumulation of this bad protein. it's a mixture of compound, so it does some other things. that's probably the main thing that it does. >> it attacks the -- >> it attacks the protein and cleans it out. one of the most important parts of in study you need to recognize is it's relatively small. it certainly is intriguing and we're very interested in the results. we'll have to do more patients. the good news is that there's a very big study with this drug going on as we speak and within the next year, we'll see the results of that bigger study. >> doctor, that is exciting. you point out this was a small study. what about the cost, it could be

prohibitive for people if you find out it does work, right? >> certainly the cost of this drug under current market conditions would be very expensive. on on the other hand, the market for the drug is relatively small. it's used to treat autoimmune diseases largely. and that's a relatively small population. if we were treating a much bigger population, we could find better ways of harvesting the raw materials for this drug, which is basically blood, and we could get advantages of scale of production that should lower the cost. >> is there any way to accelerate the process so that people who are living with alzheimer's can have access to it? how long will it take? >> it will be about a year before we see the phase iii study. that's an interesting question. because this is an existing drug, it's available. but it's really not a good idea

to take the drug at this point without additional data. it's really not safe. >> all right, doctor, thank you so much for joining . you know the buzz and you know the bite. it's mosquito season and this summer could be really bad. why are scientists intentionally breeding millions of the little critters? the answer ahead on "cbs this morning." [ female announcer ] teach your kids to shield, sneeze, swish

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and new or worsening heart failure have occurred. before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. ask your rheumatologist how you can defend against and help stop further joint damage with humira. where do they get this music? i love it. in "healthwatch," building a better buzz. this summer brought us record heat, record humidity and a warning that we all could see a record number of mosquitoes. >> they're not just annoying, they can be deadly. as bill whitaker reports, scientists in california are trying to do something about

that. >> it's that time of year when the great outdoors is calling. but all too often that call includes a buzz followed by a bite from the summer's most annoying pest, the mosquito. >> last night i was outside with my dogs. i was covered with bites. >> they're just -- >> the bloodsuckers consider you their meal. you're trying to get your meal, right? >> this is the insectory. >> in this lab at the university of california irvine, they're breeding millions of mosquitoes. >> this is like your summer evening nightmare. >> yeah. >> the life's work of dr. anthony james who hopes to alter their behavior and change their role in world health. >> this is a cage of adult mosquitoes. >> oh, yeah. you don't have to open this one. >> no. >> here the pesky mosquito is also revered where we see a bloodsucking nuisance, james sees enormous potential. >> you admire these little bugs? >> believe it or not, they're

actually quite beautiful. >> admittedly, it's a love/hate relationship. >> what about that annoyance? it's a horrible buzz. >> can't sleep. >> that is the actual wing beat frequency of the mosquitoes. they're beating their wings at a certain frequency. it creates a sound. >> males don't bite. just the females. they're drawn to our scent and need our blood to reproduce. >> if you could come out of this lab and have a mosquito that didn't bite, people would be like bring it on. >> we'd love to be able to do that. engineering sense, it doesn't work that well. the next thing to do is make the mosquito that does bite but is not going to inject you. >> for more than 25 years, james has worked to build a better bug. his team of scientists figured out how to change a mosquito's dna using a tiny needle. they inject the eggs with malaria-resistant genes. they're one-tenth the size of a

sesame seed. as they hatch, this new generation is immune to the disease. once released, they'll breed offspring that also are malaria-proof. >> it's a tremendously significant development. >> each year in the u.s., about 100 people die from diseases carried by mosquitoes. in other parts of the world, it's much worse. parasites for fever and malaria kill one to three million people. >> a child dies every minute of malaria. >> james' breakthrough could help eradicate malaria. but there has been another reaction to his science, fear of tampering with mother nature. >> had people hear the phrase genetically modified mosquito, we've all seen the same science fiction movies, there are images that get conjured up in people's minds about what that is. >> in south florida, they are combatting the threat of west nile virus and dun gay fever with an air arsenal of

chemicals. the state showed an interest in releasing mosquitoes genetically engineered by a british company. a petition in key west against the man made bugs has already drawn more than 100,000 signatures. >> do you see a time when there will be no malaria? >> i am an optimistic person. i like to say we got to the moon, that was a challenge. >> his mission is to launch these high tech weapons as allies to conquer one of the world's oldest threats. for "cbs this morning," bill whitaker in irvine, california. this is exciting stuff because the idea we in this country don't appreciate how many deaths occur around the world, especially in africa, because of malaria. >> every second of every minute of every day children die of malaria. it's a big issue certainly. i know i'd like to end some mosquito bites, though. get rid of the mosquitoes

altogether. on to this. another story that people are taking a bite out of this morning if you will. the new ceo of yahoo is stirring an old debate. is it possible for women to have it all? >> have you weighed in on this debate? >> oh, i've got some thoughts about this. marissa mayer was hired by yahoo monday as the new ceo. a short time later, she annou e announced she's pregnant. we'll look at what she faces and all the debate about it. that's ahead on "cbs this morning." cbs "healthwatch" sponsored by nicorette. ♪ [ male announcer ] every time you say no to a cigarette you celebrate a little win. nicorette gum helps calm your cravings and makes you less irritable. quit one cigarette at a time.

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gayle has a look at what's coming up at 8:00. hello. >> oh, you're speaking to me now. norah, i've been here since january 9th. charlie rose comes in practically with a white towel around his arm to serve you pineapple and canteloupe. did you enjoy? >> can i ask you one question? >> yes, mr. rose. >> who took you to dinner sunday night? >> charlie rose he wins. the divorce rate for military couples at its highest level in years.

daniel silva is here to talk level in years. daniel silva is here to talk about his book and dad look, you can get eggs, bacon and pancakes for $4. umm. in my day, you get eggs, bacon and pancakes, and it only cost you $4. the $4 everyday value slam. one of 4 tasty choices for $4 off the 2-4-6-8 value menu. only at denny's.

let me tell you something, england, nobody puts brucie in a corner. springsteen gets to sing as long as he wants and as loud as he wants and there's nothing that you can -- message, be quiet, jon. it's 11:08. keep it down. >> what are you doing? >> it's late, jon. up.tain has the olympics coming- we need our rest. we lose two of the bronze medals that we're hoping for. >> a lot of people still scratching their heads about who would pull the plug on bruce springsteen and wall mccartney. >> a sound engineer. welcome back to "cbs this morning." i'm gayle king, erica hill is

off today. i'm charlie rose with norah o'donnell. marissa mayer started work tuesday as yahoo's new ceo. a day after being named to the position and announcing she's six months pregnant with her first child. >> the news is shining the spotlight on working mothers. how she will juggle motherhood and saving the struggling internet company. >> yahoo named marissa mayer the new ceo. >> certainly a figure in silicon valley. >> a move that came out of nowhere. >> but the real surprise came hours later when the 37-year-old made an announcement on twitter, that she's expecting. the former google executive was up front with yahoo directors who had no reservations at all about her ability to do the job. mayer is due to give birth in early october. in fact, she was pregnant when she talked about her career on "cbs this morning" back in may.

>> it's a great place for women. but that said, i tend to think of my experience there, especially at google, not as one of a woman but as a geek. >> the self-described geek is now the 19th female ceo of a fortune 500 company. in addition to being the youngest, she's also the first one to get the top job while pregnant. but don't expect motherhood to slow her down. she told fortune magazine i like to stay in the rhythm of things. my maternity leave will be a few weeks long and i'll work throughout it. the statement that prompted criticism from some twitter users. >> i think it will enhance her abilities? >> new york senator kristen gillibrand, a long time advocate for women's rights and a mother herself, says the key to mayer's success will be perfecting a juggling act. >> you figure out how to be the best mom you can be and the best ceo you can be. >> mayer will need to be that in order to turn around a company

that has gone through five ceos in five years. >> marissa broke the news of her pregnancy exclusively to patty seller. she joins us from aspen, colorado. good morning, patty. >> good morning, charlie. >> marissa, how does she view this or is it an issue for her? >> you know, when she called me the other night and said, i saved a piece of the story for you, i'm pregnant. i was shocked. and she was so calm about it. it was amazing. she told me that this has been a very easy pregnancy. her first. she has nothing to compare it to and it's been interesting here at brainstorm tech because there are a lot of high-powered women here who are mothers. and i have to say, many of them think that she's naive. that she's -- she thinks that she's going to be able to juggle

one of the hardest ceo jobs in the country and first time motherhood. but i have to say, this issue of young women not being aggressive enough and risk taking enough with their careers and not leaning into their careers has been such an issue for the last couple of years. and marissa mayer, who has been a role model, is now a new kind of role model for young women. >> i absolutely agree with that, patty sellers. good to see you. congrats to you for getting that. i can only imagine what it was like on the other side of the phone when she said, by the way i'm pregnant. she's respected and admired in the community. a lot of women i talked to yesterday said go, marissa. when we heard the second part, she's pregnant, it was like go yahoo. what are they saying about that? >> absolutely, gayle. you know, there have been two issues to this debate.

one is that companies aren't stepping up to accommodate working mothers and the other side of the debate is young women are not being aggressive enough with their careers. and what we have here in the marissa mayer/yahoo situation is both sides stepping up to the plate. according to marissa and according to sources close to and on the board, this is not really an issue with the board. of course, they thought about it. of course, they were concerned about it. but they decided, they just embraced the idea that we're going to hire what is now the youngest person who is running a fortune 500 company, 37 years old. she's pregnant and we believe she can do it and marissa said to herself, i believe i can do this. i think we should cheer them both on. >> hi, patty. it's norah o'donnell. how are you? >> hi norah, good. >> i have a lot of strong feels

on this subject because we talk about young women are not being pcareers.e enough in their cheryl sam berg talked about the ambition gap. why we don't have more female ceos. sts isn't that others stop judging her and stop saying she's naive. i think judging people in their careers has got to stop. >> well, you're right. women can be their own worst enemies. you know, there used to be this complex in corporate america called the queen bee complex. and the idea was there is only so much room for any of us and if i help another woman, i am risking my own chance to get to the top. that phenomenon is not as much of an issue as it used to be. frankly, there are more women at the top. honestly, more companies want to

promote more women. we've been talking at brainstorm tech here about the dearth of women in tech companies. i was moderating a talent panel yesterday and the consensus was that most of these big tech companies have about 20% of their employee population is female, which is pathetic. here we have the case of a young woman who is a computer science major, which is so rare today, and we need more marissa mayers who are embracing their full lives and going for the big jobs. >> what's necessary to make that happen, patty? >> well, i think we need more role models. i think we need more marissa mayers, cheryl sandbergs, the number 2 at facebook. she has two young children. you know, this whole issue of doing it all, i mean, here we have a case of a woman ceo, a new ceo, yes, trying to do it

all at once. but the thing is, most of these women who are very successful don't really try to do it all at once. what marissa did is she focused 100% on her career for the first 17 years of her -- 15 years of her life. she's 37 years old. she's having her first child at 37. she didn't try to have her first child at 28. >> right. >> you make a really good point. really, patty, it isn't a one size fits all. everybody has to figure out what works for them. right now, congratulations to marissa and congratulations to you, patty sellers, that's a big scoop. thanks a lot for joining us this morning.

south africa is marking a very special birthday today. nelson mandela turns 94 and the whole country is celebrating. we'll speak with his grandson after the break. tomorrow the remarkable story of spencer west who climbed kilimanjaro despite having no legs. you're watching "cbs this morning." [ female announcer ] great taste is always in style

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hey i heard that e-news is sending bruce jenner to cover the olympics. of course, there's already a bit of controversy after it was revealed that part of his face was actually made in china. i don't want to -- that's funny business. >> today is international mandela day set aside by the u.n. to inspire people to change the world for the better. just as nelson mandela has done. >> and on this, his 94th birthday, we'll speak with the south african icon's grandson

from the mandela family compound in south africa on "cbs this morning" when we continue. this portion of "cbs this morning" sponsored by the bourne legacy. there never was just one. in theaters august 10th. it's strange, i'm getting gray but kate still looks like...kate. [ female announcer ] nice'n easy with colorblend technology is proven to give more blends of tones. for color that's true to you.

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i don't want to be in the public eye anymore. >> you like it better? >> i really do. >> eight years was awesome. and i was famous and powerful. but i have no desire for fame and power anymore. >> that was former president george w. bush speaking at the hoover institute. welcome back to "cbs this morning." with more than 72,000 students, arizona state is the largest public university in the united states. dr. michael crow has been the

president there for the last decade. he's created a model of higher education that has attracted the attention of other educators from as far away as china. welcome. >> thank you. >> you use a term called arrogance ignorance. what do you mean? >> the concept of what's happened for us in american higher education is that we've built a system, an enterprise, if you will, which is fantastically recognized for its successes around the world. but not designed, because of our success to actually educate the whole of the country. our arrogance of our success created an ignorance in how to design a higher education enterprise that can reach the breadth of our talent in the united states. >> what do we need to do to show that we're getting it and we're smarter? >> we need to innovate and change our clock speeds, we need to find ways to find talent across a broad spectrum of society. we need to find ways to drive learning at faster rates.

all of that requires innovation. >> there's a question of whether college education is appropriate for everyone? >> it isn't appropriate for everyone. but lifelong education is required for everyone in the economy going forward. if we don't figure that out, we won't be competitive at the level we need to be. >> what role will online education play on that? >> it will be a foundational base at many levels. there will be courses available from places like coe cera, which released stories yesterday in "the new york times." there will be online augmentation in the classroom, online in people's homes, in their lives. you have to imagine that education is not a step that you take. it's a part of your everyday consumption. >> tell me about the role of president. you've had this job for a while. what have you learned and what mistakes have you made that were a teachable moment? >> there's lots of teachable moments. lots of things that you learn along the way. i think the role of the

president of the university is one where you have to make decisions in the best interest of who you serve. in our case, we serve our students, we serve the people of arizona, we serve the people of the united states. that's a slightly different decision if you think you're there to serve the faculty. there's a tension if the leader of the institution is attempting to deliver the program for who we serve our students. there's a tension between faculty and student objectives. there's a lot of lessons about how to do that the right way. >> what are the lessons coming out of penn state? >> the penn state lesson from my perspective is they lost track of why they're there. they're not there to play football. football is a means, not an end. they lost track of the fact that they're there with children and young adults to protect them, to nurture them, to bring them forward and everything that they do must be related to that. if you don't think that that's what you're doing, then you're making a big mistake.

>> should they suspend their football program? >> i would support a severe punishment, yes. >> which might be what in. >> it could be what's referred to in the ncaa as the delt penalty which means not playing. >> for a year or more? >> whatever the process. there's a process they have to go through. i believe that there has to be some sanction, yes. >> my friend bill friday from north carolina a man you know and respect has been concerned about the impact of college sports. you have a large athletic program. >> right. >> how do you find the balance? >> it's a tough balance to find when college sports -- i was a college athlete, when college sports runaway from their purpose. their purpose is to provide young people with an unbelievable opportunity to compete at a very high level across a broad spectrum of sport, but also to sort of give this vision of young people competing. well, we've gotten a little bit away from that. the way that we're pulling that back is by intensifying our academic requirements across the

spectrum of colleges and universities. mark emirate the new president of the ncaa is driving those. i support those immensely. he's a college classmate of mine. but it's really about returning to the roots. college athletes competing at the highest possible level. >> what was your sport? >> i was a javelin thrower. >> you were? >> yeah. >> did you have olympic ambitions? >> unfortunately, yes. >> finally this. in terms of how long this balance with the faculty and the power of the faculty and all of that, that exists at a university, it is also said that university presidents should not stay too long. >> you know what's interesting about that. you know, fls the turnover rate is probably faster than it should be. i serve at the pleasure of a booed. i certifica-- of the board i ha five-year term. if the enterprise is moving forward and you're successful, move it forward. if not, get out of the way.

>> michael crow, thank you. if not, get out of the way. >> mi[ male announcer ]you. olympic tennis players bob and mike bryan are always on the move. so they can't get to the bank to deposit a check. instead, they use citibank mobile check deposit. it's easy. they just snap a pic... ♪ hit send... and their checks are deposited right to their account. well almost all of their checks. stand back. seriously? [ male announcer ] citibank mobile check deposit. easier banking. every step of the way.

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here's a story that caught our eye this morning. a boston woman tries to ride her wheelchair up the escalator last friday. you can see, not a good move. it did not work. she fell backwards. thankfully, she was not seriously injured. >> it happened early on. >> a lot of people came to help her. the good news is she's okay. that's tough to watch. welcome back to "cbs this morning." nelson mandela turns 94 today. people across south africa and the world are marking this day

with celebrations. before we speak with his grandson, mark phillips has a look at the festivities surrounding the special day. >> ♪ school assembly is different on nelson mandela's 94th birthday here at the school about a mile down the hill from the mandela home, they stood in lines forming the number 94 and they sang. happy birthday ♪ >> this may be international mandela day. but here in qunu it's a local event. this little town is the mandela ancestral home. they have an understandable connection to the man who came back to spend the end of his life in the place he grew up. but the idea is for virtually every school in the country to sing out greetings to mandela. the man is affectionate and -- tribal name. >> it's a happy day. around qunu, around everywhere.

it's a good day. >> the idea is for people to do 67 minutes of community work, a minute for each year mandela devote today public service. here the school kids went into the village to read to residents. conveniently, today's reading was a book about mandela. it's a scene repeated all over the country, a new generation learning the mandela story. the story of their past. because of him, also the story of the promise of their future. the reverence for him goes far beyond south africa. many leaders including president obama had well wishes. one former president came in person. mandela isn't seen in public anymore. he's confined to his house where he receives guests. the tributes are made outside. >> i don't think he wanted to be a hero. i think he wanted to lead his

country into freedom and unity. it was heroic. and when the price turned out to be very high, he just kept paying it. >> and now people are trying to pay it back giving their time in a small way the way he gave so much of his. for "cbs this morning," i'm mark phillips in qunu, south africa. with us now from inside the family compound in qunu, south africa is nelson's mandela's grandson. >> he's joining us live this more than. good morning to you. >> good morning. how are you? >> we're all very good here. we're excited for you for today. how is your grandfather and what are the big plans? >> he's doing really well. he had a surprise visit from former president bill clinton and his daughter, chelsea clinton, yesterday, which lifted his spirits. we're looking forward to a really nice 94th birthday lunch today with the entire family. >> this is charlie rose.

how is he doing these days? >> he's doing well. i mean, his physical body isn't what it used to be. but his mind is still strong. i think that's the most important thing for us. >> and your earliest memories of his presence in your life? >> the first time i met him, i was about four and a half years old. and we traveled to a prison, which is in the western cape region of south africa. he was still under house arrest at the time. i remember walking in and being told to sit down in front of a tv that was playing cartoons and he walked into the living room and offered us all some hot chocolate. so that was probably my first memory of meeting my grandfather. >> when did you know that he was nelson mandela and all that that meant to everyone certainly in your country and in the world? >> i think the first time i really grasped it was probably when he was released in 1991.

i was living in america at the time. the teacher came in that morning and basically told everyone that my grand dad was a very special person and that he had finally been released from incarceration after a very long time. i started to get an early grasp of who he was and what he had been struggling against here in south africa. >> what do you call him? >> i call him just grandfather or tata. some people call him by his clan name, others nelson. >> how much does he spend in a sense reading or trying to keep up with world affairs and taking meetings with people who want to come and pay their respects to him? >> i mean, he tries to do that as much as he can. he has kind of a daily routine where he reads the five local

newspapers here in south africa. >> he's a man we can admire. >> he generally takes visitors every day for a few hours. so he's still very active with interacting with people. >> you know, the thing about nelson mandela, whenever people are in his presence, the one thing he always wants to know is about children. he's very big on relationships. that's something that's always -- he's always very affectionate with people who come to see him. do you feel added pressure carrying the mandela name? >> look, i believe it's a gift and ultimately it's a curse. but it's something that i think any individual has a name that they have to live up to. whether that be mandela or that be anything else. i think it's something i've come to terms with. i just want to be successful with what i'm doing in my life and hopefully that will resonate is people and have an impact in

some small way. >> his achievements are monumental. what is it you think he most wants as his legacy? >> i think it's a combination of things ultimately. he's always said he wanted to set an example by the way he lived his life and by his presidential term that he had in south africa. i believe at the forefront of that is giving young children universal education in south africa and hopefully that extending to the rest of the world and another big thing for him is obviously the fight against hiv and aids, which he took up once he retired from office. so i think for him seeing a generation where there is no longer the pandemic of hiv and aids is definitely something that he'd love it see. >> for you personally, what is something that you -- that he has given to you personally? >> i just think being there ultimately. like you said, he has a great presence. he always tries to make people

feel included when he's in the room. he shared a great amount of responsibility, you know, with everyone in this country. i think if i can take up that mantle in some small way, it will be a huge thing for me. >> thank you so much for joining us this morning. enjoy the cake. i know it's going to be a great day. great day. >> divorces among members of the military skyrocketing and domestic abuse is on the rise as well. meet one couple working very hard to save their troubled why should our wallets tell us what our favorite color is?

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you'll get my joint when you pry it out of my cold dead fingers. that's what. >> i think she's serious. >> okay. >> moving right along. >> she has style. >> only one roseanne. as many military families can attest, the wounds of war can easily follow a soldier home. >> a growing number of husbands and wives are fighting themselves on a new battlefield in their own homes. michelle miller met up with one couple who fought to keep their marriage together. >> at mcdill air force base, sergeant major chris faris tries to draw out -- >> combat vets sitting here that hey, man, you're getting touchy, feeley, i'm not going to talk about that. if you don't share it, we can't identify it. ten years of war, there's a lot of cynicism in the force amongst you as well as your families. >> he started having nightmares. >> lisa faris is chris' wife.

>> i didn't find it normal one night when he woke up or i woke up and he was on top of me strangling me. i was trying to wake him up. i'm going chris, chris, wake up, wake up. he finally looks at me and says what? i'm like you're strangling me. he went, no, i'm not. rolled over and went back to sleep. >> together, the faris' tag team a retelling of their troubled marriage. what was it about your story that you thought could help these guys? >> we went through so much bad as a couple that there's got to be something good coming out of that. if we can cause people or effect change in their behaviors and their relationship patterns from the early stages so they don't have to go through this, i think it's a positive thing to do. >> so it's not just about chris and lisa? >> no. it's not about us at all. >> if you've been in this cycle of deploying and coming home and deploying and coming home, you're probably in the same loop that we were in that led to our

problems. >> faris is the top enlisted man in the military's most elite unit. special operations command. >> my coping mechanism for combat was to think of myself as dead. to accept my death. so all those years from '93 until this war began, when my wife looked at me and said something in you has died and i looked at her and said you're crazy, i'm still the same guy, you know what, she was right. that mechanism, to me, absolutely built distance between me and my family. >> after a decade of war, separation and trauma, it is a story shared by many military families. more than 30,000 military marriages ended in divorce last year. its highest level in ten years. >> i love you, i love you. he kept saying it. every time he said that, it was like i would cringe. i didn't want to hear it. i didn't want him to say it. i didn't want to feel it. i didn't want any part of it. he says, lisa, i will do

anything it takes to make it work. >> together, with counseling, they did make it work. healing what faris calls, wounds of the soul. >> we're just a normal couple that has normal issues and normal arguments. that's okay now. >> a work in progress. like any marriage. like any marriage. >> for "cbs this morning," michelle miller at mcdill air force base. >> we were just saying "the new york times" -- "time" magazine has a cover story about military suicides. it really is one of the big challenges for the army as they look at the number of tours that soldiers had between iraq and afghanistan and dealing with these issues. >> military families have suffered so much. it's not just the physical wounds of war, but the emotional wounds of war. the military families need help. >> bravo to them guys. i love what chris said. if you don't share, you can't identify. being so candid about their marriage. that's going to help a lot of

people. author daniel silva, i like him, he's got a new thriller. intrigue at the vatican is the subject of his new book. there he is. he'll tell us all about it when "cbs this morning" continues.

reviews can barely find enough words of praise for daniel silva's 15 novels. words such as superlative, intense, provocative and fast-paced. >> i'll add another. gripping. his books are international best sellers published in more than 30 countries. his newest thriller is called "the fallen angel." do you mind if i hold the book up? >> that's fine. thank you so much. >> the whole time i was reading, i thought this could be a movie. it starts with a murder in the

vatican. did she commit suicide or was it murder? before we talk about the book, were you a kid that liked spy games? were you that little boy? >> i think i was a kid who enjoyed -- had great friends but i was a kid who spent a lot of time by himself. i was a long distance runner when i was a child out there running hours and hours a day. and i think that i actually started writing stories when i was out pounding the roads training to be a long distance runner. >> how did you create gabriel? >> quite by accident. i had written my fourth book and i had written a couple of books preceding gabriel that dealt with a cia officer named michael osbourne. he was a work a day cia officer who worked in the operation's division of the cia. when i was working on gabriel, i decided that i wanted to create a very different kind of character. kind of a magical character. a character with two distinct

hats. and i had a dear friend of mine who truly is one of the world's finest opera stars. i was having dinner with him one night when i was making the notes on gabriel. there was a bolt of lightning. i pulled him aside and said, listen, i have a crazy idea. i want to turn an israeli intelligence officer into an opera star. can you help me? yes, he said. i was inside the restoration labs at the national gallery of art in washington. and there was a monet on one easel and you see the restorers with the visors on. i knew i had stumbled on something magical. >> he was an art restorer, sa assassin and -- >> bill clinton inspired the entire series. i started this during the period

when clinton was -- in the waning days of his administration, trying to bring peace to the middle east. he went to camp david with everyone. i created a -- conceived a story in which a palestinian terrorist who undermine his work. so 12 books, 12 years later, i never imagined it, that he likes gabriel and appreciates gabriel. i must have done something right. he knows a great deal about the middle east. >> writing can be tough. you get writer's block sometimes. >> no, i don't. writer's block is a myth. it's a myth. >> 15 novels -- >> we write and we don't like what we write. that's writer's block. >> i love all the research. it takes you to some horrible places. rome, paris. >> this book runs along the jerusalem to rome historical axis and goes sort of backward in time from rome to jerusalem. my research took me along a similar trip. we spent a week in rome. really inside the vatican.

i got to go into the vatican museums and inside the restoration labs where my character was working. it took me sort of backwards to jerusalem, backwards in time and into the secret tunnels underneath the old city. >> he's inside your head. you talk as gabriel. >> he's like us -- to me, he's like sitting around here. not just gabriel, but the characters around him. he has a wonderful supporting cast of supporting characters around him. not just israeli spies. he has friends in the vatican, in london, art dealers, art thieves, a lovely wife. don't forget the wife. never forget the wife. >> i seem to recall in one of your books you had a character named nora. >> what was she like? >> she was so horrendous to her husband that she drove him -- >> how long have you known each other? >> about 20 years. >> so horrendous to her husband -- >> was he a chef?

>> no a cia officer who sold his soul to get away from nora. >> thanks a lot. >> if you were casting gabriel, who would you cast? >> charlie rose. i think that you are -- >> that's what i need. another job. >> an assassin, charlie rose. >> i've never cast anyone in my head. there are a number of really wonderful actors who would like to play the role. >> where are we in this process of bringing gabriel on to the big screen? >> we're trying. movie deals are complicated instruments. they are more complicated for someone like me who has so many books dedicated to one character. i'm working on it. >> it's great to have you here. the book is called "the fallen angel." it's on sale now. that does it for us this morning. up next your local news. so we will see you tomorrow right here on "cbs this morning." gayle king will be here. norah o'donnell will be here,

i'll be here. and the world each day gets more ?gw?qyjw

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