are you saying ambassador grossman is now in islamabad or kabul or on the way to kabul? a. >> we understand that mark grossman is in kabul and he's in part of these talks about the transition of power from international forces to afghan forces. that's going to start in july with a drawdown of u.s. troops and is going to take place within the next 2 1/2 years. the talks started today with afghan, u.s. and pakistani officials. they were scheduled to resume tomorrow. it's not clear -- we haven't verified where they were taking place tomorrow but a series of talks did take place in kabul today. i will have you stand by and check on how he's doing. mark grossman in kabul right now for these talks. i want to bring in tom foreman at the data wall for us. set the scene for us where this is and what's going on. >> as we fly into this hotel here, you can see the big part of kabul here, the hotel is up in this area, sort of set apart from most things. what do we know about this hotel. we know it's a three-star hotel. 200 rooms. a lot of people there at 10:00. open in 1969, it was t

your destination in kabul. luxurious furnishes, gourmet food, the kind you may see in a film about international diplomats. tonight it looks like a scene from "apocalypse now." the vast structure is engulfed in flames. taliban terrorists have been hurling grenades at the building. it's not clear if they're terrifying siege is over yet. how many are dead, how did the terrorists penetrate what was believed to be the safest place in the city? we'll have a live report from the hotel in just a moment. and full coverage of what this means to america's plan to leave afghanistan. >>> but first, a look at the other stories tonight. los alamos is burning, 50,000 acres and counting. what if the fire reaches the nuclear lab? i'll ask, could this be another fukushima in the making? >>> and the businessman who wants to be president. herman cain knows his pizza, when it comes to the tough questions. >> that is not an answerable question. >> sure it is. >> can he take the heat? >>> raise the debt ceiling or risk default? john

and joining us from kabul with more details. tell us what is happening where you are now. >> let me tell you, we're almost 5 clom metters away and we have been hearing explosions and i cannot confirm what that is, but loud enough that we can hear them. the police chief of kabul has just told us that his forces have captured a suicide attacker and his forces are now trying to diffuse his vest and they are on the first and second floor at the hotel. there is no electricity. it is dark. we have been seeing from here that flares are being used to lighten the area. just showing how difficult the task remains for the afghanistan police and army. >> tell us more about the intercontinental hotel and why it would be a target. >> well, the hotel lies on the western side of the city on a hilltop, one of the two five-star hotels in kabul. this evening, we understand that provincial governors and other afghan politicians were there. there was a wedding going on in the hall, but the hotel is popular with afghan traders, with diplomats, with j

kabul has been relatively safe over the last several years. then there is a spectacular attack like this which makes everybody say, well, taliban can do this. they operate more or less at will when they do this. >> you're saying this is status quo. this is how it's always been? >> i don't think this is -- they've done these things before. it's embarrassing when we are talking about transferring control to the afghan government. that is the point they are trying to make. that is something they have a vote in. >> thisdo comes at a time when e u.s. admitted to being in talks with the taliban. is this a clear sign the taliban is not committed to peace in afghanistan? >> this is a little bit of a signal that talks are going to take a while. >> okay. how much pressure is this going to put on nato to get more involved? >> nato made its decision. most important member of nato which is the united states has said we are going to start drawing down. the likelihood of nato getting more involved is quite unlikely. perhaps maybe a different way to look at i

a car bomb at a top kabul hotel. violence on the streets of athens. protestors fight another round of austerity cuts as parliament prepares to vote. >> a new boss for the imf. another european but for the first time, a woman. it is 11 a.m. in singapore. >> it is 4:00 a.m. in london. this is "newsday". afghan officials say the militants who launched a sustained attack on the internet and tote -- intercontinental hotel, been killed. 10 afghan civilians died during the assault. the five hour gunfight ended after nato helicopters killed insurgents who had taken up positions on the roof of the hotel. this began when three suicide attackers decimated their -- detonated their explosions. >> it was a deadly late-night attack. a group of suicide bombers and several gunmen made their way past checkpoints into the intercontinental. one of the most heavily protected hotels in kabul. for hours, the scene was one of confusion. the guests hiding in their rooms while sporadic gunfire could be heard inside the hotel. the afghan police engage the attackers including a

kabul is much safer than it was, and afghan forces in kabul are much more capable than they were. >> warner: the president touted the training of afghan forces as making possible the u.s. drawdown he announced last week. >> we've got an additional 100,000 afghan troops, both army and police, that have been trained as a consequence of this surge. and that is going to give the afghans more capacity to defend themselves. >> warner: the withdrawal is slated to remove by the end of next summer. all 33,000 additional u.s. troops that mr. obama ordered there at the end of 2009. some 70,000 will remain. for more on the attack and what it bodes for the transition to afghan security control, we turn to pamela constable of the "washington post." i spoke to her a short while ago in kabul. pam constable, thanks for joining us. you've been up to that hotel, the intercontinental today, what are the eyewitnesses telling you about what it was like? >> there was panic, there was horror, there was chaos, there was shock. you know, i talked to one elderly muslim cleric who spent five hours hiding around

. >> the headlines this hour -- gun battle at a top kabul hotel. at least six afghan civilians are killed in a major taliban rage. violence on the streets. protestors fire another round of austerity as parliament prepares to vote. >> another boss for the i.m.f., another european but for the first time a woman. and in our power of asia season, we meet some of the one million indonesian women employed in saudi arabia. it's 9:00 in singapore. >> it's 2:00 a.m. here in london broadcasting to viewers around the world an america. this is "bbc," this is news day. >> it's generally seen as one of afghanistan one of luxurious and supposedly best protected hotel. but the intercontinental hotel in kabul came under attack for four hours with suicide bombs, automatic weapons and grenades. nato killed gunmen who were based on the roof. at least six afghan employees were reported killed inside the hotel. the taliban says it was behind the attack. >> it was a deadly late night attack, a group of suicide bombers and several gunmen made their way past checkpoints an

betty, just a terrifying night in kabul. >> no doubt. joel brown in washington, thank you for that report, joel. >>> now to that big wildfire in northern new mexico. officials at the los alamos nuclear weapons lab are standing by with foam in case it gets too close to the radioactive nuclear waste. thousands are standing by round the clock to bring the fire under control. the fire has forced the evacuation of the entire city of los alamos. sandra hughes spoke with one of the last residents to leave. >> the fire went from nothing to 40,000 acres overnight. it's now over 60,000 acres. it's extremely dry. >> reporter: with the wind picking up and the weather remaining hot and dry, all 12,000 residents of the town of los alamos were told to leave. it's not known what started the fire sunday and it's growing quickly. >> i seriously believe it could easily go to 100,000 acres. i hope not. god, i hope not. there is unburnt fuel out there. >> reporter: fueled by dry woodland and burning out of control this northern new mexico fire has charred al

well i mean first of all i wouldn't believe anything coming out of kabul because i think that conspiracy theories and xenophobia runs rampant through through the media there so i wouldn't believe much coming from kabul but i think it's clear that we can see that the longer that the us stays and nato stays inside of afghanistan the more enemies we create because what happens in war unintentional consequences innocent people get killed more people join the insurgency that normally wouldn't and so it's in our best interest because not having troops there doesn't allow the insurgency to grow we've seen every year the longer troops stay the insurgency grows and anti-american anti western anti european sentiment grows so that's why we should leave more importantly they're not all right you focus on the cost as well at the start of all this american said that it would rebuild the nation and bring democracy to the people believed to have been spent in the process they succeeded. no just to give you just an example we. report come out of the washington post a few weeks back that virtually all the

let's talk about the hard to get over to the to the afghans because they can coax her make lovely kabul claims it's ready to step in assume responsibility for the security but at the same sound is that we're seeing attacks in the very heart of the capital some experts say president karzai has little power outside kabul really isn't the right time to be calling and letting them get on with it. well i mean first of all i wouldn't believe anything coming out of kabul because i think that conspiracy theories and xenophobia runs rampant through through the media there so i wouldn't believe much coming from kabul but i think it's clear that we can see that the longer that the us stays and nato stays inside of afghanistan the more enemies we create because what happens in war unintentional consequences innocent people get killed more people join the insurgency that normally wouldn't and so it's in our best interest because not having troops there doesn't allow the insurgency to grow we've seen every year the longer troops stay the insurgency grows and anti american anti western anti european s

kabul is much safer than it was and afghan forces in kabul are much more capable than they were.es not mean there will be events like this taking place. that will go on for sometime. our work is not done. but as i said in my speech, the tide of war is receding. we shifted to a transition phase. much like we have seen in iraq, where we have drawn down troops, the remainder of the troops will be coming out by the end of this year, but iraq has been able to maintain a democratic government and to tap down violence there. we think a similar approach makes sense in afghanistan. but even in iraq, you still see the occasional attack. these are still countries that are digging themselves out of a lot of war and conflict. they are dangerous places. they are not going to be perfectly safe even if we were there, but we can improve the chances for the afghan people to defend themselves. jim shuto. >> thank you, mr. president. you are aware senators kerry and mccain have a bill on the floor to give you a way to continue with operations in areas. you said days not weeks, and are you prepared a

local time kabul. as soon as we get more information on the breaking news, we'll bring it to you. >>> i want to bring you up to speed on a couple other stories. america's most dangerous nukes. it is los alamos national lab in new mexico, and folks it is under attack right now by a ferocious fast moving wildfire. one other one i want to pass along, this is the scene in athens, greece. we're talking rock throwing, tear glass throwing. they're furious at their government for a desperate measure to save their country from failing. >>> bulger wants taxpayers to pick up the tab for his lawyer. remember, the feds found and confiscated more than $800,000 in cash in bulger's santa monica apartment. most of it was stashed inside a wall and prosecutors say bulger has admitted to stashing more cash with people he trusts. but he won't name names. the feds are also detailing his 16 years on the lamb in court. these court papers that were filed yesterday, bulger claims he was bent to boston several times in disguise,

defense secretary robert gates happened to be in kabul that day. he faced questions about civilian casualties, but maintained that a key insurgent had been killed. >> this is an individual who was responsible for organizing and orchestrating a number of attacks here in kabul and in northern afghanistan. this is the first that i had heard that civilians may have been killed, and we will certainly look into that. >> narrator: the military conducted a review of the operation. ten days later, a press release was issued. it said that the attack was "selective, surgical, and legitimate," but that the military "could not rule out the possibility of civilian casualties." we traveled to the remote corner of afghanistan where the strike took place and met with a group of survivors. ihsanullah is a schoolteacher who was there that day. >> narrator: these home videos show some of the election workers out campaigning. for some of their journey before the strike, they had a police escort, out of concern that the taliban might attack them. >> narrator: ihsanullah

staged at the intercontinental hotel in kabul. they were attacked -- they stormed the hotel, armed with guns and grenades and embattled afghan and nato foeses for hours. a hotel guest who heard the fighting told cnn he was terrified. >> none of us thought we were going to make it. actually i wrote my little will according to islamic law from the little i know. i put it in my pocket just in case. and i said if anything happens, i hope -- i want all my property donated according to islamic law and any charity. this is the extent of what i'm sure everybody was thinking. especially when the last explosion went off on my floor, right under me. >> afghan president hamid karzai says that the attack will not interrupt the security shift from international troops to afghan. >> this brought to mind the mumbai attack, sustained long term bombing, shooting, firefighters. that gentleman i think he's the same one, he said he wrote his will while he was in his room. >> officials had to go room to room afterward to see what kind of damage and mak

i believe it's the biggest threat to kabul because of how close they are to kabul.ant to get out. >> this week a powerful senator was out of patience. >> the safe haven enjoyed by the network in pakistan continues to provide freedom for that group to launch attacks against the united states and coalition troops in afghanistan. you both i believe have talked to pakistani military leaders. why do they refuse, why does pakistan refuse to take on the network? >> as we emphasized, we have to bring pressure to wear on this insurgent safe haven. >> i don't think it is likely to change. it is both the capacity issue for the pakastanis and i think potentially a willingness issue. >> now whether it's the ha cannies, taliban or al qaeda, the real question is that all of these have the ability to stage the attacks even as president obama is making the plans to bring the first troops home, raising questions again about whether the war can succeed in afghanistan. >> the explanation you are hearing for the fact that they claimed responsibility for the attack on the intercontinenta

local time in kabul. they were locked in a fierce firefight with forces.otel was at one point on fire. a journalist in kabul offered a firsthand account of the violence. >> it's extremely intense. the security forces are nervous. they're running at cars, point of impacting their guns at the drivers of the cars, pulling them out of the vehicle to have them search. a third attacker detonated his explosives. international forces were able to take down the last three insurgents on the roof. at least two police were wounded. on wednesday a press conference was to be held to discuss the previous announced transfer of power. >> it's part of this transition. this is the taliban's way of saying, you know, we have a vote here. >> reporter: kabul's largest hotel is frequented by westerners and diplomats. there's no information regarding the personnel inside the hotel. >>> we had record rain out there today, a possibility of rain tomorrow and a big armup -- warmup into this weekend. >>> time for tech talk. >> big news for netflix streaming users, especially those who

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we have the momentum. >> reporter: but today's attack in kabul highlights this fact. many more will die here before peace ever comes. mike boettcher, abc news, kabul. >> our thanks to mike tonight. >>> still ahead on "world news" this saturday evening, the fights now breaking out to get a front-row seat at the casey anthony trial. why do so many people want to watch this? >>> rare pieces of hollywood history on the auction block tonight. even marilyn monroe's famous dress. dorothy's shoes from "the wizard of oz." >>> and later, the book written by a dad with a title we can't say here on the news. so, why have so many parents made it a best-seller? desperate for nighttime heartburn relief? for many, nexium helps relieve heartburn symptoms caused by acid reflux disease. talk to your doctor about your risk for osteoporosis-related bone fractures if you take multiple daily doses of nexium for a long time. possible side effects include headache, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. other serious stomach conditions may still exist. talk to your doctor about nexium. if you can't af

and kabul bank happens to be where we put all the funds for pay of the afghan national army. now, some of that money may not be there when we need it, when they go to withdraw it. this is a situation where there's a tremendous flow of money, $171 billion a year. you need a financial -- a lot of financial control and oversight and i think those oversights that we made, we didn't put those things in place. i want, since i have the floor, let me just add one point. i may have created an this impression that anything that i'm critical of, that the blame belongs to mid-level and junior officers and ngos and soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines. and that could be the first of -- the furthest thing from my my. the responsibility for the mistakes being made to rest with the generals, admirals, senior diplomats, ambassadors. since the people on the ground are doing their damnedest best they can to execute the orders they have, and those orders are very tough and ambiguous, difficult orders. i don't want anyone who is wearing a uniform today to walk out of here feeling like they had b

mandy clark, cbs news, kabul. >> pelley: some americans have stopped paying their mortgages, and now they're living in their homes for free. breast cancer patients are losing the drug avastin. and what happens to the nuclear waste if that wildfire reaches the los alamos lab when the "cbs evening news" continues. >> pelley: los alamos, new mexico is where the atomic bomb was invented. today, a wildfire is burning near the national lab there where over the years, a great deal of radioactive waste has been stored. we asked cynthia bowers to look into the hazards. >> reporter: with fire burning just a few miles away, los alamos national laboratory scientist terry wallace pointed out area-g. it's there 10,000 55-gallon drums filled with low-level radioactive waste is stored. >> the bulk of the drums there truly are things like notes that are contaminated, gloves. >> reporter: those drums area housed outdoors in domes made of reinfoirsed steel covered with a plast sized fire-retardant fabric. radioactive waste is stored in concrete tubes buried deep in the ground. plutonium and uranium are

we work every single day with the afghan reintegration leadership in kabul. we also work every day with our military part errors and afghan security partners at the provincial level, where they have a provincial reintegration council and we absolutely do that although we have been down. on the reintegration issue, i am not in charge of the reconciliation effort. you have to ask the state department and other leadership level, definitely. thank you. >> i'm going to pass on a question that has been treated. last year general mike flynn wrote a paper called intel, which is very critical of the intelligence system in afghanistan. in particular, the afghan forces and the afghan people need a number of sessions in the paper. have any of those been implemented and are you seeing results from a different focus on intelligence clicks >> absolutely i see great results in that area. we built the whole igc around organization called the information dominant center that caught information across a broad spec to the things that are important to a counterinsurgency strategy

a live report from kabul next. plus this -- >> fire!n troops under attack by taliban forces in afghanistan. a cnn reporter was there as it happened. it's a cnn exclusive you don't want to miss. hey! you want that? you want a warm, super-delicious strawberry toaster strudel yeah but now i have nothing to eat sure you do. hey! you can have the pop tart! pillsbury toaster strudel. the one kids want to eat >>> new information on a story that broke on our watch yesterday. the fire and deadly attack on the intercontinental hotel in kabul, afghanistan. the interior ministry says 21 people died in the siege that began with suicide bombers storming the hotel. the dead include two afghan national police, ten civilians and owl the attackers. the taliban claimeded responsibility but the afghan government blames a warlord determined to destabilize karzai's government. the interior minister says all nine attackers came from pakistan. journalist aaron cunningham was at the hotel intercontinental as the siege wore on. she's with us from kabul. erin, an

nick schifrin, abc news, kabul. >>> and the kabul attack is having an immediate effect here at home. the nypd is now stepping up security at hotels in the big apple in the wake of the attack. a spokesman says there's been no specific threat but the measures are being taken as a precaution. the president is expected to address the afghan situation during a news conference this morning. you can see that here live at abc at 11:30 eastern time. >>> lawmakers in greece are voting today on the first of two drastic cost-cutting measures aimed at prevent inging total economic collapse. the unpopular belt-tightening plan has triggered violent demonstrations on the streets of athens with protesters and police at odds all night long. our alex marquardt was there when things turned ugly. >> reporter: you can see here the continued clashestheen the riot police and protesters we've seen all day long with wave after wave of tear gas and stun grenades. tear gas has been hanging in the air everywhere making it very difficult to see and to breathe. >> protesters areing to defy a police blockade around

mandy clark met some students in kabul today who aren't so sure. are the ones who will inherit the country that the coalition troops leave behind. 24ed nearly nasria and 27-year-old habib graduated last year. both of them fled afghanistan during the 1990s as the brutal civil war took hold. now nasria worries that the u.s. troops are withdrawing too soon. >> i would call it a mistake but that may not be the right word. >> reporter: by 2011 coalition troops will have spent $40 billion to recruit, train, and equip the afghan forces the trouble is many afghans don't believe their own security forces are up for the job. in fact a recent report from nato came to the same conclusion. it found even after ten years of working with coalition troops, afghan forces still suffer from poor training, lack of professionalism, and corruption. with afghan troops not ready and american support dwindling, there's also fear the taliban might come back. >> reporter: the heaviest price so far has been paid by the afghans themselves. according to the u.n., more than 8,000

from kabul the afghan journalist. thank you very much. well coming up here in our twenty first century exodus find out why thousands of israelis are applying for european and american passports in the hope of leaving the promised land. and emergency ministries plane has been sent to russia's north caucasus to collect those seriously injured in a gas explosion at a wedding ceremony for six people including six children were hurt and those with the worst injuries will not be brought to moscow. is in a city of a lot of where the blast took place. well everything happened during our wedding ceremony and weddings here in russia's north caucasus are big celebrations were no less than three hundred guests coming the food is usually being cooked outside in special councils. and this requires gas canisters well one of those gas canister exploded and injured dozens of people many have been taken to hospital and the moment of them are children whereas a sieve am burned now according to the latest information coming from the hospital many are serious

taxpayer dollars ever gone to kabul bank. >> it is just imf money? >> i am not familiar with imf funds having gone, but i cannot speak to that. >> he say no u.s. funds have gone to the bank, but if we are paying afghan contractors, and we have blown their gdp up above what it will be after we are gone, that money is going into some banks, so i would hasten to add that a lot of the money that is gone into every afghan bank has been american money. would that be fair? >> there is no program that has existed in the past that provide support to kabul bank. what we have done as a government is support the afghan's governments ability to develop its financial system. that has been involved in building the afghan central bank from nothing into an entity. part of that has been to build the capacity. i hasten to add that at no point has the u.s. government, or u.s. government officials or contractors by responsible for the oversight of afghanistan, the banking system. if that is a sovereign function of the government of afghanistan. we have attempted to build

and i knew you are in kabul. what was better for afghanistan life under the taliban or the last ten years under nato operation. i think. occurred in. air force for us some good things and we have some achievements in korean government but also we have a lot of tension. i can tell you that i have contract with some countries. outside their capital kabul and countries all leaving intentions and the. rest roll their sleeves because of this. and then because of this because of this wrong and fake. idea of. intelligence and services that people. do think that one term we do not have this tension. this troll. free to walk and go through some of the. countries. and this government go according to government under the support of us we have some achievement i shouldn't say we shouldn't hide it we have some achievement we have some construction but most of them. in the use of us not and it was up against i so you say you had some achievements and some construction in recent years but international investigators have releas

that timetable, changing the political landscape here in afghanistan. >> nick paton-walsh here in kabul, thank you so much. >>> looking for ways to kill the time at the airport? >> shopping. >> some people took wheelchairs out for a spin and even tried out the public address system. just ahead the viral video that's raising eyebrows and raising a lot of questions about security. >>> the wimbledon championships are under way, the tennis, the weather and the fashion. stay close. i don't know, i reserve the right to not speak about that. [ male announcer ] built like a volkswagen. the 2011 tiguan. [ grunts ] 8% every 10 years.age 40, we can start losing muscle -- wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. [ female announcer ] ensure muscle health has revigor and protein to help protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. keeps you from getting soft. [ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge! britta olsen is my

cbs news correspondent mandy clark is in kabul with more on that.happened late last night with an explosion outside the first checkpoint. gunmen armed with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifle opened fire in the lobby. eyewitnesses say some were wearing suicide vests and others were wearing police uniforms. the attack lasts several hours and only really ended when coalition forces helicopters opened fire and killed a few militants on the rooftop. some stunned survivors were seen leaving the hotel today. now the intercontinental is considered one of the safest locations in kabul, three layers of security and it's up a hill. it was playing host to a number of regional officials who had come to the capital for meetings. those meetings took place today and the main topic under discussion was security, the handover of power from coalition forces to afghan troops. now the taliban has come out and claimed responsibility for the attack and said this assault proves that they can strike at any time. jeff? >> mandy clark from kabul, thank you. >>> an em

one of kabul's most secure spots had been under siege. in all, six attackers approached the hotel with machine guns and suicide vests. one detonated himself at the first security checkpoint, several hundred feet from the entrance. the rest of the group shot their way through two more security checkpoints, and then opened fire on hotel guests. the bombers then entered the lobby and spread out throughout the hotel, shooting and outside the hotel, afghan police raced to help. an international helicopter hovered above, and killed three attackers on the roof. the siege was over. within moments of this siege, the taliban took credit for attacking at this icon of kabul. for decades, the intercon has been popular with travelers. fancy by afghan standards, with pools and restaurants and a view of the city. tonight, it was also hosting a senior level meeting of afghanistan's 34 governors. it is unclear how many of them were hurt or killed. those governors survive, but they're about to oversee a crucial transition in this country, as the u.s. turns

is going to have to accept being there longer or accept more attacks like the one we saw in kabul because if nato troops and u.s. troops aren't there, this is what's going to happen. >> gadhafi continues to hang on, especially where in the middle east. he's hanging on a couple of rebel advances recently and then last night, i saw the news out of cairo where you and i were last, covering the explosion of happiness then violence then happiness as part of arab spring, more violence in tahrir square behind where we were. >> more violence today, two days of clashes, this is the worst violence since the revolution itself. and the people, the revolutionaries are back out in the streets, clashing with the security forces, about 100 people hospitalized between today and yesterday because they're skeptical that the military, which is seen as a custodian of power here, overseeing the transition to a post revolutionary phase. they're skeptical that the military is serious. they want to see faster action, they wants to see more action taken against gadhafi and his cronies, so this is an expression of

we work every single day with the afghan reintegration leadership in kabul. we also work every day with our military part errors and afghan security partners at the provincial level, where they have a provincial reintegration council and we absolutely do that although we have been down. on the reintegration issue, i am not in charge of the reconciliation effort. you have to ask the state department and other leadership level, definitely. thank you. >> i'm going to pass on a question that has been treated. last year general mike flynn wrote a paper called intel, which is very critical of the intelligence system in afghanistan. in particular, the afghan forces and the afghan people need a number of sessions in the paper. have any of those been implemented and are you seeing results from a different focus on intelligence clicks >> absolutely i see great results in that area. we built the whole igc around organization called the information dominant center that caught information across a broad spec to the things that are important to a counterinsurgency strategy

afghanistan who's going to be in command of the war effort and what does an attack by the taliban in kabul today really mean then why ask if obama has finally turned in to dick cheney and his legal battle against reporter james rosen where you have all that and more for a deny but first let's take a look at what the mainstream media has missed. you know we've done quite a bit of trash talking on the show about the mainstream media's coverage of the casey anthony trial it's been incessant it's been over the top it's been quite ridiculous to say the least but today's coverage i think takes the cake every single cable news network for at least two or three hours this morning we told her in our office had nothing on it screens but the casey anthony trial they discussed every piece of evidence every little minuscule piece of paper every question and answer i mean it was non stop it was kind of like the rest of the world stopped by casey anthony was the only thing going on. here leave this what's happening now george anthony's on the stand and he's being question. about his relationship and did

jerome starky reporting from kabul. thank you very much. >>> today from the intercontinental hotel a conference was supposed to be held detailing security forces to the afghans themselves. it is part of obama's plan to reduce the american presence there. what's going to happen when the u.s. military leaves? cnn nick patton walsh has answers from an isolated military outpost. >> reporter: everywhere you look here on the eastern border, the choices aren't good. out post caught between the taliban. if the americans leave, militants from pakistan will flow through the valley. if they stay, then every few days this happens. mortars hit the base. the last attack was long enough ago there's panic. they are worried the taliban have been preparing a big one. for days they have finally amassed around the compound and attacked. >> come on, hustle up, grab it and be ready. >> reporter: they use mortar first. the incoming fire is very accurate here. they arrange cover from heavy machine guns. >> as soon as they go, go quick. >> repo

taking on the taliban, extremist launch an attack in the heart of kabul. can afghan security forces really keep the peace? ♪ ♪ >> giving classical music an un classical appeal. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america. the greek parliament voted for tax hikes and spending cuts today and the public responded with fury. without the austerity package, greece would not receive billions of dollars in bailout funds from the european union and imf. even that was not enough to persuade protesters who seem to think that bankruptcy is a better option than more financial cuts. >> fierce clashes continued tonight in athens after the greek mp's voted to increase tax increases and spending cuts in an attempt to avoid bankruptcy. our earlier in the square. -- earlier in the square, protesters hope to enter the vote that would bring in hard austerity measures. thousands of protesters gathered outside of parliament. even before the vote had started, there are volleys of teargas aimed at the crowd and the crowd has a sense of tension knowing that within an hour, they're sup

victory seems a lot way off in kabul right now. there was an attack on a hotel yesterday. the taliban has claimed responsibility. this brings fresh concerns about turning over security to the afghans. >> the taliban or their allies showing that they can strike at the heart of afghan power. the intercontinental hotel was packed with government officials for a conference on transition to afghan security control. the fighting continued throughout the night. in the end, a nato attack helicopter was needed to kill three of the suicide bombers as they fired down from the rooftop. the government still needs a lot of help. among the dead, waiters, musicians, a senior judge, and police. many internationals were trapped inside of the hotel. >> i don't think we really know what happened. >> there was huge blasts, some 546. -- some explosions. >> this is a part of the taliban activities at the moment against the position of the mountain that has been gathered by these forces to try to make highly publicized attacks on civilian targets as well as the military targets in afghanistan. we

right through to kabul. it is clearly challenging. there was never an intent to do exactly in the east what we've done in the south with respect to our forces. i think that all lies within this overall strategic approach. all of us knew going into this that the surge of forces were going to come out next year at some point. the discussion about exactly when it is obvious the relevant, but, in terms of numbers of months and getting through the fighting season, the end of september is almost all the way through the fighting season. there'll be those who argue that october is a pretty tough month. what we have is the vast majority of our forces, for the next two fighting seasons, not unlike what we said in 2009 -- we put 10,000 marines and the helmand -- in a moment in 2009. my position was that we did not have a good handle on what was going on. we probably have to change of strategy. i believe these decisions and our strategy give us time to understand how good the afghan security forces are going to be, how

and we know that the hotel was full of provincial governors who are here for a meeting in kabul, which is due to take place tomorrow, so far, with reports of ten people who have died and further reports that we're still waiting for. that's it from here, brian. >> schel, thanks. we should no more by day break. schel uddin on the scene there and we'll talk later. >>> news tonight about breast cancer on two fronts. first, the fight over what is become the number one selling cancer drug, it's called avastin. it's in a tug-of-war the federal government saying it needs to come off the market as a treatment for breast cancer. and thousands of gravely ill women who say it's the last best hope they now have. our report from our chief science correspondent, robert bazell. >> reporter: avastin was approved to treat several other cancer when in 2008 the fda approved it for the treatment of breast cancer. but the approval had a condition. the manufacturer, genentech, was ordered to do more studies on the drug to make sure it was safe and effective. but those studies showed cause for serious concern

and at the local market it does not take time to track one down. 24 hours a day, buses poured out of kabul, taking migrants on the first leg of their journey. many would-be migrants are caught at the border between afghanistan and iraq. the ones that do manage to slip through travel thousands of miles over hostile terrain to reach turkey, and then west to the river border with greece, the gateway to europe. the border is incredibly puris and a huge headache for the greeks. infrared cameras watch as migrants try to cross the river land borders illegally. no one knows how many people died trying to break into fortress europe. migrants are desperate people. the goal is to get there no matter what. >> taiwan's opposition party is trying to avoid confrontation with china as it prepares to launch its campaign for the next election. the democratic progressive party infuriated beijing with its calls for independence for taiwan. the party's presidential candidate said the party now wants to resolve its disagreements through dialogue. she has been speaking to the bbc as part of our power of asia ser

and the greater kabul province area and within kabul, afghan security forces are in the lead conductingll operations as the lead elements including some absolutely suburb special operations forces which indeed we do seek to support and enable with certain indeed intelligence tools and assets. but which conduct the operations on their own pursuant to arrest warrants issued by afghan authorities. so again, more difficult without question, i'm not sure, though, that i would say not doable. >> thank you. thank you very much, senator snowe. senator wyden? >> thank you, general chair. let me join my colleague in expressing my gratitude for your service. i think what sls important in the director position is we get the straight story. i'm convinced you will be a straight shooter. i appreciate that. i brought with me a new issue of "foreign affairs" magazine. it talked about the arab revolt. it had a big caption, "why no one saw it coming." so what i would like to do is begin by asking you what you believe is reasonable for policy makers to expect the intelligence committee to be able to antici

. >>> ten afghan civilians are dead after taliban fighters attacked a hotel in kabul overnight. an orange glow of flames could be seen coming from the top floors of the intercontinental hotel. eight heavily armed suicide bombers stormed the hotel which is pretty popular among international guests. a four hour gun battle followed. nato helicopters and afghan forces ended the standoff. >> it was huge blast. some five, six blasts. [ indiscernible ] what i learn from the policeman five people who are shot dead. >> eight suicide attackers were reportedly killed. authorities say most of the civilians who died were hotel workers. the attack comes ahead of a conference scheduled for today to discuss the planned transition of security from international to afghan forces. >>> hotels in new york city are on alert in the wake of the hotel attack in afghanistan. a new york police spokesman says there is not a specific threat in the city, but precautions are being taken as the department learns more about that attack on kabul's intercontinental hotel. >>> president obama is expected to commen