john blackstone, cbs news. >> the scramble to fill ted kennedy's senate seat has begun. a special election is scheduled for january 19th. possible contenders include kennedy's widow and his nephew, joseph kennedy. next week the massachusetts lemgs lay chur will consider whether to let the governor appoint a temperature replacement. >>> on cbs "moneywatch," markets in asia are in the green and karen brown is here with that and other business news. good morning. >> good morning to you. asian stocks are up today after yesterday's roux. shanghai was up 16 points. any key rose 38. despite wrapping up the best august in almost a decade, wall street once again starts the day on the down side. the dow closed monday down 48 points. the nasdaq lost 19. but bank of america believes things are going so well it wants to repay some of its government bailout money. the "wall street journal" reports b of a wants to pay back $20 million that could help ease government scrutiny on executive compensation. key figures will be release dad by the auto industry. because of the cash for clunker

john blackstone, cbs news, california. >> couric: now to the war in afghanistan.sident obama has to make a big decision and soon. should she send more u.s. troops to fight the taliban or rely more on special forces and attacks from unmanned aircraft or drones? today, national security correspondent david martin tells us the president convened his war council to examine the options. >> reporter: the vice president led a parade of top advisors to the white house this afternoon for what could be one of the most important meetings of the obama presidency. subject:edw many troops are nee? it will take more than one meeting to crack that. >> i think at least three more already on the working schedule and i assume there will be more after. that. >> reporter: general stanley mcchrystal, the american commander in afghanistan who has warned the war could be lost without more troops joined the meeting by video teleconference. his mission is complex, but the bottom line is simple: prevent afghanistan from ever again becoming a safe haven from which al qaeda could launch anoth

john blackstone has this that story. >> reporter: he's a seal pup who might just believe he's a puppy. the unusually friendly baby monk seal on the hawaiian island of molokai has been showing off his playfulness in youtube videos and beach photos. the 17-month-old seal clearly loves people says eric d.e.m. mers, who took these pictures. >> he'll pretty much give you a hug, he likes to be petted. he acts like a big dog. >> reporter: he was abandoned hours after birth and raised by a wildlife rescue team who named him k.p. 2. but now that he's grown to 175 pounds, his playfulness could turn dangerous because mature seals can hold people underwater. >> so please don't feed him, don't swim with him, and try to ignore him, as cute as he may be. >> reporter: officials tried moving. canp. 240 miles away but he was back two days later. now they're considering moving him back 200 miles. it's a dilemma if mill familiar with those who care enough to rescue animals. when the orphaned sea lion named leal was brought to six flags discovery kingdom, she didn't even know how the swim. volunteers had

john blackstone, cbs news, san francisco. >> couric: in other news, u.s. marshals are preparing to sell bernard madoff's homes to pay back victims of his ponzi scheme. today they released pictures of his manhattan apartment, estimated value $7 million. also for sale, his estate in palm beach, florida, worth about $11 million. and his yacht? $million. coming up next, remembering walter cronkite. >> he was a voice of in a wor in a world that was growing more and more uncertain. 2 million. impressive resume. i see you're flatulent in three languages... graduated top of your gas... (announcer) got gas on your mind? your son rip is on line toot. excuse me (announcer) try gas-x. powerful relief from pressure and bloating in a fast-dissolving strip. gas-x. pressure's off. a day on the days that you have arthritis pain, you could end up taking 4 times the number... of pills compared to aleve. choose aleve and you could start taking fewer pills. just 2 aleve have the strength... to relieve arthritis pain all day. ÷o@ this is humiliating. stand still so we can get a

>> john blackstone blackstone from sfrank thank you.n the bay area. good morning. our sources tells us that phillip and nancy garrido both have been taken into the special isolation holding cells. how unusual is that? >> it's not unusual at all. with these type of charges, they usually are isolated. in a prison system there is a certain code of morality and this type of crime ranks at the very very bottom. so it doesn't shock me either one of them have been threatened with death or the other type of thing, the rape, whatever else they've been threatened with. the sheriffs in the jail there have to keep them apart from the rest. and even when and if they go to prison, they will have to be kept in isolation because that will be the big worry, that someone will try to murder them. >> according from an associated press article this morning here talking aut phillip garrido, again and again he claimed to have found god to a woman he'd abducted and was about to rape to the judge who sentenceded him to 50 years behind bars for the crime, and la

john blackstone takes us on a tour. >> reporter: in san francisco, an innovative new museum is dedicatedthe man who created a world-famous mouse and a magic kingdom. walt disney excelled at family entertainment. and now his family goes high tech to remember him. the disney family tells the story of the walt disney they knew later on sunday morning. >> mason: tracy smith takes us inside the no holds barred world of nursery school admissions with richard roth we sneak a peek at britain's most provocative calendar girls and susan spencer lets us gaze upon the legendary hope diamond. and much more. first the headlines for this first sunday morning of our 31st season, september 27, 2009. iran's government now says it will allow the u.n. to inspect that previously secret nuclear facility. but it won't say when. the the uranium enrichment plan is still under construction. the obama administration says inspectors must have unfettered access to it. the government of the philippines has declared a state of calamity in the aftermath of the worst flooding that nation has seen in 40 years. the typhoo

john blackstone, cbs news, answ antioch, california. >>> switching gear, president obama is feeling the heat after deciding to drop the missile defense plans if europe. republicans say the president's decision is naive while democrats say the new plans will do more for defense and did i proceed maes. joining us now, michael crowley. good morning. let's go back to the bush administration asking poland and the czech republic to put a radar installation in one, missiles in the other to protect from missiles coming from iran. this was a big deal because -- >> well, because russia hates it. they don't want us messing around. they consider that their backyard. former client states of the soviet union. what is america doing there? they have military equipment, they saw that as hostile, although it really wasn't about russia. >> but at great personal risk to these countries, they said we'll go ahead and hook up with the united states. so yesterday morning, they wake up, they get this phone call, and they're thinking what? >> they're thinking we've been sold out, they're so upset that in poland

john blackstone, cbs news, antioch. >> and that's a look at your headlines. let's check your forecast and lonnie quinn. beautiful football weather. >> just perfect here in the northeast. it's the last summer weekend. this is it. then we sort of roll into you will fall come tuesday. the big weather story this low pressure system around the tennessee valley. the story is it's not just moving. it has rained and it has rained. flooding condition as big concern. take a look at the video from tennessee. this is a town called christiana, but some towns have received up to nine inches of rain. rain will be back today. flood warnings remain in effect. beautiful weather out west. the dakotas, portions of montana, up into the 90s. a cooker for you guys. that's a quick look at the national picture h. picture. here's a closer look at the weather no your weekend. respect if >>> that will do it for beth. as i said, it is the last official weekend of summer. i hope you all have a great weekend weather-wise here in the northeast we'll do fine. >>> want to turn back to another

there you see pete peter son, head of blackstone. the president outlined what his administration did to prevent a second break depression, and a vision for future regulatory reform. he at once chided wall street. but also tried to give skeptics that he believes in free markets. >> we will not go back to the days of reckless behavior and unchecked excess that was at the heart of this crisis. where too many were motivated only by the appetite for quick kills and bloated bonuses. those on wall street cannot resume taking risks without regard for consequences. i have always been a strong believer in the power of the free market. i believe that jobs are best created not by government, but by businesses, and entrepreneurs, willing to take a risk on a good idea. i believe that the role the government is not to disparage wealth, but to expand its reach. >> the president reiterated his desire for the federal reserve to become the super regulator of risk in the markets. he also reinforced his idea of a consumer protection agency for financial

a wall street veteran who's new on the job at blackstone advisory services. serves now as vice chairman. not new to the program, though. byron joins us right now from midtown manhattan. byron, nice to have you on the program. >> nice to be back. >> let's get your sense of where we are in this economy. you have to believe this is a victory given the last several months. >> i think this is a market that surprised all the bears here. it's done a whole lot better than most people expected. i think it's on its way to higher levels. i think the economy itself has moved away from the recession low. a question of how strong it will be. but my view is over the next couple of quarters, we're going to be favorably surprised, because inventories are low. i think final demand will be relatively important here, impressive. and as a result of that, i think we could have very good earnings at the end of the year. >> and certainly confidence settled back in, which is something that you've spoken about recently. tell me how you've invested in that environment. what groups do i

of course, blackstone may be exiting the orangina. there are many other number of ipos they are getting ready to file at the lbo shops that are at least of some interest in terms of being public investment. whether or not they can actually get through the window that is open right now in terms of ipos, is a larger question. you can file your s-1s. it doesn't mean you're going to be able to get the public market quickly. look out for those, they're coming. with so little leverage available, so little financing available, yet with all that firepower available because they've all raised these huge funds, what's going to happen there? what is going to happen? are they going to be relegated to just doing a lot of types? really, is that a business that people want to be investing in where they're just making private investments in public equity? we'll see. as m and a picks up, certainly for any large deals is private equity. big staffs, big funds no, leverage. mark, back to you. >> thank you, david. >>> up next, gearing up for the open with

>> well, japanese beveragemaker santori says it is in talks to buy soft drinkmaker oragina from blackstone and lion kalal. suntory would probably pay more than the $2.6 billion the two funds paid for oragina in 2006. it is in talk toes be sold to larger rival, kiran. a larger multibillion dollar deal out of australia's project, chef wron, which has invested in the project, has agreed to sell nearly $3 million tons a year to companies in south korea. under the agreement, chevron will sell part of the equity stake in the project, reducing its holding to 47%. it declined to reveal financial details, but it's said the deal could be worth more than $60 billion of ex ports over five years. gm has shaken up its board and sent a negotiator to be lynn to deliver a sealed decision on opel to german authorities. we look at how that's likely to be received, next. welcome to the now network. population: 49 million. right now 1.2 million people are on sprint mobile broadband. 31 are streaming a sales conference from the road. eight are wearing bathrobes. two... less. - 154 people are tracking shipments

john blackstone, cbs news, san francisco. >> joining us this morning from san francisco is sharon murch, the mother of michaela garecht who has been missing now for 21 years. good morning, sharon. >> good morning. >> you asked investigators if you could visit the garrido home yesterday. they said yes and you went. why was that important to you? >> well, i wanted to go out there and see not so much the home as the operation. i wanted to see the efforts myself that were being made to find my daughter. and i really wanted to go out there and offer my support to our police investigators who i think are doing a wonderful job. and there are many volunteers out there, as well, who are putting a lot of time and effort into a very difficult job. and i really wanted to express my support and appreciation for their efforts, as well. >> was there something more? was there part of you hoping you would see something that would remind you of michaela? >> well, i thought that it would be nice to be available in case they found anything that i might be able to identify. but i know that if they find anyt

they were trying to chase goldman sachs, tryingo chase blackstone. they wanted to roll the dice and give to be that top infesent bank. we were right inhe middle of the paprika lehman brothers was the fourth largest investment banks as we had smaller banks the lowest that we had much bigger investment banks above us and after t glass-steagall act was taken apart in 2000 and we-- patrick did a wonderful job explaining what happened, that allmwed the gramm-leach-blile act that took apart the glass-steagall act allow these big commercial banks to compete againstehman sipa lehman brothers and a very, very dangerous position because now lehman brothers is a sll to mid-sized investment bank and now we have, bank of america, all these large peanuts of commercial banks wh massive posits. you he remember annvestment bank like lehman brothers does not taking deposits. eight invest money around the world and sell stocks and bonds but itoesn't have pple's money in a bank the way does, the way bankamerica does. and bankamerica have over a trillion dolla in real mo