Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

More People Going To Work; Romney In Virginia; Unemployment Drops to 7.8 Percent; Destruction in Syria; Supermodel on Journey from War to Fame; Tiny Apartment Worth Big Bucks; Finding Affordable Winter Getaways

Aired October 05, 2012 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL. I'm Suzanne Malveaux. We're taking you around the world in 60 minutes. Here's what's happening right now.

Thirty-two days until the election and now this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This morning we found out that the unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level since I took office.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: That's what everyone is talking about right now, the nation's unemployment rate has dropped now below 8 percent for the first time in almost four years. The Labor Department figures just out this morning show unemployment now at 7.8 percent. We're covering all the angles of our story. Our Christine Romans, she's breaking down the numbers for us. She is live in New York. Jessica Yellin, she's in Washington with the political impact. And Richard Quest joining us from London with the global perspective.

Want to go first to Christine.

Let's zero in on these numbers, the figures, what it means here. And 114,000 more people now going to work. What does it say about the state of the economy and where the jobs are now?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It says, quite frankly, Suzanne, that you're seeing steady hiring, not robust hiring, but steady hiring. And when you look at the unemployment rate dropping to 7.8 percent, we know that there are people who are getting part-time jobs, there are people who are starting their own companies or starting to work for themselves from home and that's what's moving those numbers.

You see there that the private sector added 104,000 jobs. And the government sector added 10,000. We saw health care jobs created. More than 44,000 there. This has been a trend for a couple of years now. Transportation and warehousing, we saw some jobs there. Some of the usual suspects we saw jobs created in. And about 16,000 jobs lost over there in the manufacturing sector, which is, of course, very, very important in some of these battleground states, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And, Christine, some of the attacks from conservatives, such as Jack Welch, saying that they don't believe the numbers. They believe the books are cooked essentially. Explain the process here of how we reached these numbers today.

ROMANS: OK. Well, one thing that's here, there's spin and then there are conspiracy theories. And the spin, which is valid, if spin can be valid, is that, you know, look, you still have only 114,000 jobs created on balance. That's -- you know, you need to see more than that at this stage of a recovery.

But let me be very clear here. These are two different reports that the BLS puts together, right? One of them is a survey of people at home, where you call them up and you say, are you working, and the people say yes or no and explain how. The other is a survey of employers where they ask, are you hiring? That's where the 114,000 number comes from. So that 114,000 number might not catch everyone who is working part-time from home or just working part-time or doing some kinds of contract work.

MALVEAUX: Right.

ROMANS: So that's why sometimes there's a discrepancy between the two. No, they're not in the basement of the BLS cooking the books for some, you know, nefarious political reason.

MALVEAUX: All right.

ROMANS: I would bring this one point, Suzanne. If they were, wouldn't they have done that after the president gave his speech in Charlotte instead?

MALVEAUX: We got it.

ROMANS: He gave a speech in Charlotte. It was a bad report the next day.

MALVEAUX: All right, we've got to cut you off there because we understand Mitt Romney is speaking to an event, a coal event, out of -- in Virginia. Let's listen in.

(BEGIN LIVE COVERAGE)

CROWD: Mitt. Mitt. Mitt.

MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Gosh, I just -- I just spent a half hour or so with some of your fine citizens from this area. Folks who are working in this area that want to keep working in this area. A wonderful couple that has a farm that now they wonder whether they'll be able to keep their farm because the husband lost his job at the coal mine. These are -- these are tough times in this community, but you are strong and confident and patriotic people and we're going to bring back jobs and bring back America.

Now, somewhere Congressman Morgan Griffith is here. Where is Morgan Griffith? Where is he hanging out? Is he over here?

Hello, congressman, how are you? Good to see you. Thanks for being here.

You got to make sure to re-elect this guy. Morgan Griffith is one of the best.

And, by the way, we'd have the governor here today, but he's down in Florida campaigning for me. So thank you to Bob McDonnell for all the work he is doing. A great governor.

And you may know that a couple of nights ago we had a debate. You may have gotten the chance to see that. And it was a good experience, I think, for me, for the president, for people who watched. It was a debate of substance. We talked about the issues that America faces.

I got the chance to ask the president some questions that people across -- I think people across the country have wanted to ask the president, such as why -- why it was that when America was needing jobs so badly, he was pushing for Obamacare instead of working to get jobs for the American people. Got the chance to ask him why there's still 23 million Americans that are out of work or stopped looking for work, struggling to find good full-time jobs.

I got the chance to ask him why it is the middle class is so buried in this country. Incomes have gone down. Prices of gasoline have doubled. Prices of food and clothing and almost everything else you buy has gone up. People in the middle class have been squeezed. They've been buried, as the vice president said. I got the chance to talk about that.

Got the chance to ask him why he's cutting $716 billion from Medicare. That's not the right thing to do to pay for Obamacare. And I also got to point out that he's in favor of a tax plan that will kill 700,000 jobs. And so he had the chance to answer those questions, or not answer them as the case may be.

But then I think even more important was the chance to talk about where we're going in the future. What he would do and what I'd do. And what he described was, in my view, a reiteration of the status quo. He's going to keep doing the things he's done in the past. He's going to have a stimulus, if he can. He's going to hire more government workers, if he can. He's going to pick winners and losers, like Solyndra and Fisker and Tesla. A friend of mine said, no, he doesn't like picking winners and losers, he just likes picking losers.

And, so -- and, of course, he's in favor of higher taxes. Yesterday the vice president blurted out the truth. He said, in fact, they do want to raise taxes $1 trillion. Well, I don't want to raise taxes on any Americans, because I want to create good jobs in America.

Now, I'd take America in a very different direction. First of all, I want to makes sure that our policies encourage job growth. And I have five things I'll do. You've heard me describe them time and again. But five things I'll do that will get jobs growing in this country again. And growing right here in this part of Virginia as well. Because number one on my list is to take full advantage of all our energy resources, our oil, our coal, our gas, our nuclear, our renewables. And I know you care a lot more about coal than the other ones I just mentioned, so let me just remind you that when the president was running for office, he said that if you built a new coal fire plant, why, you'd go bankrupt. And the head of the EPA has also said that the regulations on burning coal are now so stringent it's virtually impossible to build a new coal fire plant. Well, I don't believe in putting our coal under the ground forever. I believe we should take advantage of it, put American workers back to work, and use a resource that's abundant and cheap and can be burned in a clean way.

And, by the way, I also believe in oil and gas. I believe we should develop our resources. I believe within eight years America -- North America, rather, should be energy-independent, and that requires all those sources of energy. And that will keep -- that will keep the price at the pump moderated. It will keep the price of electricity moderated. It will also mean a lot of good jobs for Americans.

It's been calculated that if we're really serious about energy, really take advantage of the energy resources we have, that you're going to create some 3.5 million to 4 million jobs. I know right now you're thinking about one job, your job. I'm thinking about your job as well, person by person. Every American deserves a good job. People are hard- working right here in this community. I want to make sure your jobs stay here, grow here, and provide a bright future for you and for your family.

Now, I also -- I also believe in addition to energy that we have an opportunity to create more jobs by selling our goods and services abroad. So I want to open up more trade with other nations. And if China's stealing jobs unfairly, I'll crack down on China.

Number three. Number three. I want to make sure that our people have the skills they need to succeed. So we have a lot of government training programs. And that's all fine and well except there are 47 of them federal government training programs and they report to eight different government agencies. And so the overhead cost of all of this burden and bureaucracy is just killing. I'd like to take the money the federal government is spending on training, bundle it up, send back to Virginia its fair share and let Virginia do what's right for the people of Virginia with their trading dollars.

And let me -- let me mention as my number four here, to get this economy going and to create more good jobs, let me mention something about the deficit. This idea of every year America's spending and the federal government $1 trillion more than we take in is bad for our economy, it's also bad for the next generation. As I said during that debate, I think it's immoral for us to keep spending more than we take in, so I will cut federal spending, I will cap federal spending, and I'll get us on track to a balanced budget.

And people ask me how I'm going to do that. And I said, again, as I said the other night, I'm going to cut out programs we don't absolutely have to have. And, number two, I'm going to make sure that some programs go back to the states where they can be run more efficiently and effectively. We're going to cut back on the size of the federal government. And one of the programs I'm going to get rid of is Obamacare. We can't afford it. We don't need it. It's the wrong way.

And, finally, let me mention a fifth idea. And that is, I want to champion small business. I want to make it easier for entrepreneurs to start businesses, to grow. And I know how to do that. The president has an unusual tax plan. His plan is to raise taxes, particularly on successful small businesses that happen to employ a quarter of all America's private sector workforce. He wants to raise their taxes from 35 percent to 40 percent. And, by the way, when you take that together with state income tax and payroll tax and real estate tax and gasoline tax and -- you take them all together, that means small businesses that are highly successful are going to end up giving more than half of what they got to government. And that's going to kill jobs. I don't want to kill jobs. My priority is creating jobs. I'll help small business do that with everything I can do.

Now, we can do better. We don't have to stay on the path we've been on. We can do better. There was a report that just came out this morning on job creation this last month. There were fewer new jobs created this month than last month. And the unemployment rate, as you know, this year has come down very, very slowly, but it's come down nonetheless. The reason it's come down this year is primarily due to the fact that more and more people have just stopped looking for work.

And if you just drop out of the work force, if you just give up and say, look, I can't go back to work, I'm just going to stay home. If you just drop out altogether, why, you're no longer part of the employment statistics, so it looks like unemployment is getting better. But the truth is, if the same share of people were participating in the workforce today as on the day that the president got elected, why, our unemployment rate would be around 11 percent. That's the real reality of what's happening out there.

And then, of course, even those that have jobs are having a tough times. The middle class is being squeezed with higher and higher costs and with incomes that have gone down by $4,300 a family. This can't go on. I'll tell you this, when I'm president of the United States, when I'm president of the United States, that unemployment rate is going to come down, not because people are giving up and dropping out of the workforce, but because we're creating more jobs. I will create jobs and get America working again.

And so the American people have a choice. I think in both men we have individuals who care very deeply about our country and care about the people of America, but we would lead America in very different ways. This president calls his policies going forward. I call his policies forewarned, all right? We know where they head because we've seen them over the last four years.

We've seen 23 million people out of work. We've seen half the kids coming out of college not able to get work or college level work. We've seen incomes go down. We've seen trillion dollar deficits. The road this president has put us on looks like Europe. Europe isn't working in Europe. It will never work here. Look, the president -- if he's -- if he's re-elected, this president is going to have trillion dollar deficits every year. We'd end up with about a $20 trillion debt. It's about $150,000 a family. And you don't see that money. You don't see -- you don't see that debt, rather. But you're going to be paying the interest on it all your lives, and then your kids are going to be paying for it, and you're going to wonder why it is government's taking so much. And a lot of it is just to pay for the interest on all this debt we're racking up. That's the wrong way to go.

He would also take us down a path, like Europe, which means chronic high unemployment. They have high levels of unemployment and low wage growth. And their countries, as you know, are on the verge of fiscal collapse or fiscal calamity or crisis. That's the path that he's taking us on. I'll take us on a very different course. I will help create 12 million new jobs and rising take-home pay.

(END LIVE COVERAGE)

MALVEAUX: Mitt Romney out of Virginia, talking about the importance of coal. Also putting his own spin on the new unemployment numbers, that 7.8 percent. Mitt Romney making the case that if the same amount of people, number of people, were in the workforce, it would look more like 11 percent unemployment. We're going to fact check that, as well as give you the political implications, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Want to bring in our senior White House correspondent Jessica Yellin.

And, Jessica, you've been following both sides of this. We just heard Mitt Romney, his spin on the new unemployment numbers, essentially saying that if all the people who were in the workforce who were working for -- looking for work were still there, as four years ago, this would look more like 11 percent unemployment as opposed to 7.8 percent. We're going to fact check that, see if that's actually accurate. But how is the Obama administration using these numbers today?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the president has already spoken about them and made the case that it's a sign that his policies are working and moving the nation in the right direction. He did not make the case that this is, you know, a great triumph or some sort of enormous victory because the economy is still suffering and people are still suffering, but, you know, the slogan for his campaign is forward, and he was arguing that this is proof that his policies are moving the nation forward.

Here's what the president said earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: You know, after losing about 800,000 jobs a month when I took office, our businesses have now added 5.2 million new jobs over the past two and a half years. This morning, we found out that the unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level since I took office. (END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: And, Suzanne, you know as well as I do, this is a symbolically meaningful number because one of the -- in the war of words, 8 percent was the marker that the two sides have been tussling over.

The fact that it's fallen below 8 percent has to be some wind in the sails for the Obama team after a very, very hard week.

MALVEAUX: All right, Jessica, thanks, again. Appreciate it.

Well, later, you know her as a fashion superstar, but Alek Wek is also a survivor of Sudan's bloody civil war. I'm going to talk to her about her amazing journey to the top.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: FBI agents, U.S. special forces, as well, are in Libya today. It's been more than three weeks since four Americans were killed in a rocket attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. One of those killed, of course, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens. Now, the FBI says inadequate security prevented them from starting their investigation in Benghazi before now.

Angry, frustrated people feeling powerless to stop the civil war in Syria. This is Hama. This is where opposition groups say that more government shells landed today. They are reporting more deaths from fighting in Homs, Aleppo, near Damascus, as well.

After 19 months of fighting in Syria, the United Nations estimates that 19,000 people have been killed and opposition groups put that number much, much higher. More than a million people, half of them children, they're refugees. They're even too afraid to go home. And there's also another victim of the civil war, too. We're talking about the country's rich, important, ancient history. This from Hala Gorani.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Rich in history and culture, Syria is home to some of the world's greatest landmarks and ancient ruins. But now, after 19 months of fighting and civil war, the Global Heritage Fund says many historical treasures are being destroyed.

The ancient villages of Northern Syria were named a UNESCO Heritage Site in 2011. The region is home to monasteries, ancient churches and preserved Christian Byzantine villages. Many of those ancient ruins were knocked over, as seen in this amateur video, possibly used as roadblocks in the fighting. And Syrian army tanks have moved through the region trampling some of the landmarks.

Al Bara was once a popular tourist destination. Now, the ancient tombs are damaged by shelling. The Croix de Chevalier has been around since the time of the Crusades, considered the most preserved military castles from that era. Now, this heritage site is being used as cover by rebel forces defending themselves against the government's heavy artillery.

Another ancient location, Apamea, located about 5 kilometers northwest of Hama. The ruins here date back to the Roman and Byzantine periods and the site is known for its ancient columns. Now, Apamea is heavily damaged by shelling. Looters took mosaics, even a Roman statue, reportedly selling some of the priceless artifacts for weapons.

And then there is the ancient city of Aleppo, known for its culture and urban development and home to the largest covered market in the world dating back to the 12th century. Last week, that market was burned during fierce fighting. Precious ancient treasures that belong to the world, not just to Syria, once preserved and admired, now, some gone forever, destroyed by war.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Hala Gorani is here from CNN International.

When you look at those pictures, it's just really heart-breaking to see that because you were talking about hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands of years. I mean, ancient treasures that, as you say, belong to everyone.

GORANI: It's really the world's cultural heritage that's going up in flames, that's being destroyed, that's being trampled. Of course, nothing is more tragic than the loss of human life. It's irreparable. You don't come back from it.

You can rebuild some of what is destroyed, but in the case of Aleppo, a city I know very well, it's almost like seeing a person you know die because it's the soul of a city, this old market, the Croix de Chevalier, a Crusader castle that is the best preserved Crusader castle in the world.

MALVEAUX: Show us these pictures.

GORANI: I want to show you a before-and-after picture that made it on social media websites.

This is -- the top is the Ottoman wooden balconies of Aleppo. You see it on the top and then, on the bottom, it looks like the apocalypse, the post-apocalyptic sort of like lunar landscape. I mean, these are the types of things that you cannot rebuild. You can't rebuild a 150- year-old wooden balcony. It's gone forever.

MALVEAUX: And who's responsible for this? Are we talking about -- are these the rebel forces? Is it the government forces? I mean, is it just fighting? Is it the result of war?

GORANI: Well, what happens usually in a city like Aleppo is you have rebels that take up positions in the old town, in the old Aleppo, and then you have regime forces that come after them and they might use shelling, they might use other types of military attacks and those are the types of things that lead to the widespread destruction and irreparable destruction of old buildings, as well.

As far as who's setting the market on fire, I mean, at this point we don't know. The reports are that you could have regime forces come in after the rebels and set some of their positions on fire. Either way, some of these places and some of these landmarks are gone for good.

MALVEAUX: Is there any effort, do we think, after the civil war ends, that there would be some rebuilding, that you'd have organization that would come in and try to do what they could?

GORANI: Well, I spoke with a UNESCO representative for crisis situations who is in charge of safeguarding, preserving, and protecting these world heritage sites and she told me, essentially, look, I mean, once the conflict is over, we can do our best. We can go in. We can try to make an assessment of what needs to be done to rebuild, but it's expensive and it takes a very long time. It takes a few minutes to burn down a whole alleyway in a market. It can take years to rebuild.

MALVEAUX: All right. Hala Gorani, thank you, Hala.

GORANI: Sure.

MALVEAUX: Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL, she wasn't always a supermodel. Once, she was a refugee running from a brutal civil war. We're going to talk to Alek Wek about rising to the top.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Many of you know her from high fashion magazines and catwalks, but supermodel Alek Wek has an amazing story about her journey to the top of the fashion world and how she has come full circle. She was born in Sudan. She and her family escaped during a bloody civil war when she was just 14-years old. She became a refugee in Britain.

Well, recently, Wek returned to South Sudan to mark the first anniversary of the country's independence from the north. She joins us from New York to talk about the emotional homecoming.

It is so nice to see you. It is an amazing story, your life experience, and you write about it in a CNN.com article. You say it was overwhelming to actually go back. Tell us what that was like.

ALEK WEK, SUDANESE-BORN SUPERMODEL: Wow. I mean, what can I say? Getting raised through the civil war at the time, I never really foresee that they were going to be an independence and it was a lot of emotions and, going back to where I was born and looking at the children, I saw myself in them, you know, and everything starts to make sense.

Just in the fact that my father, bless him, before I went to seek refuge in London he passed away, but he always said, you know, education, education is the key. He was never a politician, but he always said you've got to have -- to raise your voice if you want to say something that's correct. It's wrong. There's this. There's that. So, yeah, it was very emotional going back.

MALVEAUX: Is there optimism there? You say you saw yourself. We see those pictures of you and the children and you see yourself. Do they believe they have a future, I mean, because this country has just been torn for so many years when it comes to the civil war?

WEK: Yes. A lot of bloodshed took place, especially the young men. They really fought this war. And the fact that it was 30 percent, 60 percent, 70 percent, almost 100 percent people went and voted for referendum, that say something, that people had enough and they really want to start to rebuild. And ...

MALVEAUX: What is the biggest challenge, do you think, Alek, for your people there?

WEK: Oh, my goodness. I think the challenge right now is the growth, of course. The land itself is very flourishing, is very rich. The culture, the people, everything is incredible. I mean, I think the most challenging is to be able to educate because 50 percent, 60 percent of the nation are the youth. If women -- not even women, like young girls before, what is it, eighth grade, that's 14 years old. Those are children. They're dying in child birth.

So, like the old saying, you educate, you know, young girls, you educate a family, you educate a community, and I think the challenge right now is how rapidly it's growing. Of course, Juba is the capital city, but I think Juba is going to be like the New York of America.

MALVEAUX: New York? What do you think -- when you came back, what did they think of you because you are so incredibly successful? I mean, you are so beautiful and you're such an incredible model for your country.

WEK: So humbled, I'm so humbled.

MALVEAUX: Yes?

WEK: I was very humbled because I was nervous. I was emotional because I didn't know what the country was like because when you have development and you also have a new nation -- I mean, America has been through what, like, independence for over 200 years? South Sudan is just one year. You think about the growth that took place, but I think infrastructure is very important.

MALVEAUX: And, Alek, would you ever go back? Do you think you would go back? I know your nephew has returned. A lot of young people have gone back.

WEK: Oh, absolutely. My mother wants me to go back. My mother wants me to marry a Dinka man. Of course, I really want to work with the UNHCR to implement education, especially when kids have to walk for two, three hours for secondary school, and then they get caught in the rain, and then they catch malaria from the mosquitoes.

I think it's -- it's not just a matter of thinking, but I think it's very fundamental, and we can be able to emphasize in that we don't have to repeat the same atrocity, and that is what I gathered going back after this independence.

MALVEAUX: Alek, it's so nice to see you. It's nice to meet you and, of course, you know, we wish you the very best for the children in that country. There's a lot of work to be done, and, of course, your mom's wish is to get a Dinka man. Good luck with that, too. I'm sure you have many options, so thank you once again.

WEK: No, no, absolutely. Thank you.

MALVEAUX: Good to see you.

You can read more about Alek's trip to South Sudan. Find out how you can help people there by going to CNN.com/impact.

They call themselves Code Pink. They're an anti-war group, of course, and they are furious over drone attacks. Today, they're in Pakistan, taking a stand, meeting with people affected by the violence.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: About 35 Americans are in Islamabad today. They are protesting U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan and apologizing for the suffering the attacks have caused. The protesters are from the anti- war group, Code Pink.

Now, American officials say the targets -- the strikes target militants and that civilian casualties are extremely rare. Code Pink disputes that. The group wants the drone strikes to stop and the families of civilian victims to receive compensation.

The whole apartment is only ten-feet long, eight-feet wide, so why are so many people excited to pay $200,000 for this London flat? Our Richard Quest is going to explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: It's only 10 feet by 8 feet. In most of the United States, about the average side of a garden shed. But in the U.K., it's a London apartment and, as Richard Quest shows us, tiny space going for big bucks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some are compact, others bijou. There are (INAUDIBLE) and studios. Then, there's Flat 8- F. Nothing quite prepares you for something so small.

(on camera): This is it. All of it.

(voice-over): There is no more. Ten foot four by eight foot four.

(on camera): I can't touch from one side to the other without hitting the wall. I am 6'1" tall. And this is the length of the flat.

(voice-over): The apartment is a converted porter's toilet and cloak room. It tasks even the estate agent's vocabulary. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unusual, unique, interesting marketing opportunity. I would point out the high ceiling. I would point out the natural light coming through. I would point out the potential refurbishment, the location.

QUEST (on camera): The original asking price of $145,000 has been well exceeded. The current top offer is believed to be around $280,000 for one simple reason. The old rule, location, location, location. This tiny apartment is in the best part of London and next to the top people's department store, Harrod's.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got Harrods food hall, who needs a kitchen. With this post code, you're going to get a hell of a lot of interest.

QUEST (voice-over): The demand for this unique property has been intense. More than 100 viewings. A dozen offers. Ironically, the winner is likely to be an investor from Greece.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Wow. Richard Quest joining us from London.

Richard, we did a little research here. We found some studio apartments in New York, in the West Village. One going about the same size, $325. And then some other studios, anywhere from $100,000 to $600,000.

QUEST: Right.

MALVEAUX: That being, you could look at it as a steal almost. But how they're even managing to be competitive is pretty amazing there.

QUEST: Look, this is the actual size that we're talking about. We've drawn it out here in the studio. And you really do get a feel -- I mean, the fact is, this is going to be sold to an investor. Somebody -- or how about this? Somebody who wants a room for their maid because they've already got an apartment in the building. Or this is the best one I heard. Somebody who just wants a parking space in the locality, because it's such an expensive area. But all this could be yours. Just send me your check.

MALVEAUX: Oh, my God. I just -- I can't do it, Richard. I just can't do it. I'd need a little bit more space there. I got to let you go there. Thank you, Richard. Good it see you, as always.

QUEST: Thank you.

MALVEAUX: So, of course, we're all looking to get out of town. Maybe some great travel deals and maybe a beach. That's up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Feeling a little chill in the air. Visions of a long, cold winter? Nope. We've got a better, sunnier outlook. We actually have a few of them. We're talking about "Travel & Leisure" magazine's affordable beach getaways around the globe features director Nilou Motamed and she joins us from New York.

Nilou, you know, I'm a beach gal and I love it.

NILOU MOTAMED, DIRECTOR, "TRAVEL & LEISURE": Yes, I like it.

MALVEAUX: So, where are we going? What are the good deals here?

MOTAMED: First stop is Jamaica. This is one of my favorite hotels, and with good reason. Not only is it beautiful and it's on a beautiful pristine bay. It's actually called Pristine Bay in Negril. But this is a hotel that gives back. In fact, "Travel & Leisure" just gave this hotel our award for global vision because what they do is give back to that community. In the last seven years that they've had a foundation, they have given $2 million for libraries, for schools. This is in a tiny little community. It's a big, big deal. But, for you, the best part, since you're a beach gal, is you can go there and the rooms start at $125 a night.

MALVEAUX: Ah, very affordable. Take us to Acapulco. I know there's a good deal there too, yes?

MOTAMED: I will take you to Acapulco. It's my pleasure. And the Boca Chica is not only charming, but, again, affordable. For $150 a night, you get to stay in this -- in this place that definitely has a nod to the heyday of Acapulco in the 1950s, but very -- in a very contemporary way. White and beachy. And they didn't -- see this lovely thing, which is an outing to La Roqueta Island. It's a beautiful, ecological preserve. And the chef there will actually make you a picnic for two, so you can take your hamper with you and go and explore for the day.

MALVEAUX: Nice. Very nice. Romantic.

Tell us a little bit about Bali. I've been to Bali. I love it.

MOTAMED: I love Bali too. That's where I went on my honeymoon, so I have a huge soft spot for it. And this property is absolutely gorgeous. It's on 23 acres of beach. The Nusa Dua Beach Hotel. And this is gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. But, again, a value. And I think the main thing when you're looking for a beach getaway, of course it's 80 degrees in New York right now, so you might not need a beach getaway this day, but tomorrow it will get chillier. And when you're looking for a beach getaway, is look for a place where you're going to be able to explore the local culture and a place where you're going to feel immersed in what's going on around you.

MALVEAUX: It's gorgeous.

And now, Nilou, all these places, all these resorts you're talking about, what, $150 per night, is that right?

MOTAMED: $150 and under per night. This, you know, when we're talking value, we're talking value. These are all great deals, but also beautiful properties.

MALVEAUX: All right. I can hardly wait. I'm going to book my vacation now.

MOTAMED: Get to it, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right, thank you, Nilou.

MOTAMED: Thanks.

MALVEAUX: He is rocking South Korea, inspiring a dance craze that's gone viral around the world. You know who he is. We're going to get the latest performance from PSY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Now to South Korea. Its latest superstar, you know him, PSY, treated more than 80,000 fans to a free concert last night. In the end, he took off his shirt to do his famous horse riding dance, "Gangnam Style." That is right. The concert was streamed live online. The music video holds the Guinness World Record for the most liked video ever on YouTube. It's gotten more than 350 million views.

I'm Suzanne Malveaux. This hour in the CNN NEWSROOM, call it a comeback. Democrats celebrating after a jobs reports show the unemployment rate below 8 percent. And, we are also looking at a dangerous form of meningitis blamed on contaminated steroid shots that claim more victims. Want to get right to it.

Thirty-two days until the election. Now this.