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FBI Conducts Raids as Part of Bomb Probe; Arizona Law Takes Aim at Ethnic Studies; High Ratings on Risky Bets Investigated; FBI Raids in Northeast; "Robin Hood" at Cannes; Dissident Thai General Shot and Critically Injured

Aired May 13, 2010 - 13:00   ET

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

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: We are continuing to follow this developing story. FBI raids in several states across the Northeast today tied to the May 1st Times Square bomb plot.

Our team is covering this story from all angles. CNN's Drew Griffin is following the leads from here in Atlanta. Jim Acosta is on the scene in Massachusetts. Susan Candiotti has the latest from New York. Let's start with Susan.

Susan, bring us up to speed. What have we got on this story?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's now 12 days after that attempted car bombing in Times Square, Ali. And now, we are see that the FBI, as a result of its ongoing investigation and the fact that the main suspect in this case, Faisal Shahzad, is still talking.

They've now conducted raids in three different states: in Massachusetts, in New Jersey, and in New York. So I know we have team coverage here. We'll try not to step on each other, but we can tell you is this, is that two of the locations are in Massachusetts.

We got two separate locations in southern New Jersey. One at a print shop, one at a private home believed to be connected to the print shop. One is in Camden, and one is in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

And then we have at least one -- rather two locations on eastern Long Island. And so we know that the FBI has conducted searches there, as well.

We can also tell you that three people are in custody, on immigration charges. Two of those three are said to be Pakistan and are said to be collaterally related to this investigation. They may not have had direct knowledge, in other words, of the bomb plot itself but are being looked at in connection with the case.

Now, we have additional resources, as you said, in other parts of the state. And Massachusetts, they're looking into these -- this connection, as well. And other locations, as well.

So Ali, that's what we have now. But it just goes to show you that the suspect is still talking. They are still getting evidence as a result of this investigation. VELSHI: OK.

CANDIOTTI: So it's far from over because, as you know, they are looking into who put this together. Was he indeed working by himself? And where did the money come from, Ali?

VELSHI: All right. We're going to continue to dig into this. Susan, stay there. We'll come back to you on this.

Let's go talk to Drew Griffin right now about this. Drew, you're working another angle of this story. Tell us what you know.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's all about the cash, Ali. Our source close to the investigation telling us these are potentially the cash couriers who may have been involved with Shahzad.

Whatever Shahzad is saying, and he continues to talk, led to these raids today. And what our source is saying is this has to do with cash couriers, people who bring money into the U.S. to finance operations like the one Faisal Shahzad is accused of trying to carry out in Times Square. That is why, you know, we're getting cautionary talk about there's really no danger. They're talking about the money. What finances it, how they get the money, how this guy got tickets to the country, buys a car, does all this kind of stuff.

And it is, apparently, whatever this guy continues to say that is expanding this investigation. Faisal Shahzad still has not had a hearing in court. That is, by his own, you know, want. He's waived -- he's waived the hearing.

VELSHI: Yes. That's strange though, Drew. I mean, it is strange that he has agreed to talk, that he continues to talk.

I guess the confusion that some people may have is that, shortly after this terror plot was exposed, the Department of Justice said that they felt that this was backed or tied to the Pakistani Taliban. But obviously, there are many -- if that's true, there are many links between the guy who was driving the truck into Times Square and whoever is pulling the strings at the Pakistani Taliban. And I assume that these round-ups are designed to try and find some of those linkages in between.

GRIFFIN: And the link may be, as it often is the case with terrorism and with organized crime, the money. The Pakistan Taliban, as we heard from Reza Sayah yesterday from Pakistan, has no money. They're a rag-tag group. They don't have any money to finance things.

Obviously, Faisal Shahzad, who quit his job last year...

VELSHI: Right.

GRIFFIN: ... whose home went into foreclosure, doesn't have any money to finance things.

Now, we know from past history that businesses that deal in cash... VELSHI: Right.

GRIFFIN: ... counterfeiting, other operations do finance some aspects of terrorism, as do illegal drug trafficking. Have no idea that any of that is involved here, but what we do know is this part of investigation is focusing on the cash.

VELSHI: Right. Which is why, as far as we know so far -- this is very fluid information. We're getting information in on an ongoing basis and is typical in a case like this, some of it is conflicting. But what we do understand is those people who have been arrested have been charged with immigration issues. This isn't -- they're not charged with terrorism at the moment.

GRIFFIN: At the end of the day, we may find out that these people worked at these various establishments and just have bad paperwork.

VELSHI: Right.

GRIFFIN: You know, they may have nothing to do with this.

We also know, Ali, that two people, two specific people have been under surveillance since yesterday. We have no idea yet if the two -- if the three people arrested are related to the two people who are under surveillance.

VELSHI: OK. Could be. Could be two different people. We'll have to -- we'll keep on working this. I know you will, Drew, and Susan will.

Jim Acosta is in Watertown, Massachusetts, outside of Boston, the site of one of the raids.

What can you tell us, Jim?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ali, I can tell you there was quite a commotion here earlier this morning. Neighbors were startled almost right out of their beds when they heard the FBI and Customs and Immigration Enforcement agents come to this home here that's behind me here in Watertown, Massachusetts, right outside of Boston.

And we have some video that we want to show you right now. One of those neighbors who heard the commotion this morning during this arrest pulled out her digital camera, a woman named Barbara Lasara (ph). And she started taking images of one of these suspects being placed in a vehicle by FBI agents. And we're told that two men were brought out of this house at about 6 a.m. this morning.

According to the neighbors here, nobody even really knew that these guys were living in this home behind me. There are a couple of neighbors who had maybe seen them once or twice. But what we're told by neighbors is that this house is sort of used time to time from renters who sort of move into the area for six months to a year and then they move out of the area. So these -- these two suspects, if we can call them that at this point, were not even that well-known to these neighbors. But one very enterprising resident across the street from the house in question got her digital camera out and started capturing some of these images that we're showing you now of one of these suspects.

And all of this was over in a matter of minutes. They ushered these suspects out of here pretty quickly. And then the FBI agents and customs enforcement agents who were on the scene started going through the house behind me, started bringing out boxes, bags of evidence from inside the house and then processing that evidence inside a truck, one of those mobile processing trucks that they have at these scenes all the time.

That is still going on right now. But besides that, not a whole lot happening on -- at this location in terms of the activity of this scene besides just neighbors and media and that sort of thing descending on the scene.

Now what we can tell you is that, across town, also outside of Boston, in Brookline, Massachusetts, FBI agents also conducted a search at a gas station that is just right outside of Boston. Apparently, this also happened this morning, that area has also been taped off by authorities. There's also residents and media gathered outside the scene.

We tried to talk to the owner of that gas station. Oddly enough, CNN had actually interviewed him several months ago about a gas price story, and he had very little to say. He actually had nothing to say to reporters except, "Please excuse me" and that sort of thing as he was leaving the scene. And also very little from authorities there, as well.

But, Ali, at least at this point, we do have some images of at least one of these suspects that was brought out of this house behind me about six or seven hours ago.

VELSHI: All right, Jim. We'll keep you on top of this. If there's any new news from your side, you'll let us know. Susan Candiotti on this. Drew Griffin, as well. CNN will continue to follow the story. We'll keep you up to speed on what's going on.

All right. I want to take a quick break. When we come back, erasing oppression from America's history. Arizona has gone forward with a ban on ethnic studies. We're going to tell you what that means when I come back. And I'm going to weigh in on that issue. Education, as you know, is one of my passions, so I've got some things to say in my "XYZ." Whether you agree with me or not, you'll want to hear it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Something's going on in the state of Arizona. Less than three weeks after passing that immigration law, one of the strictest, toughest immigration laws in the country, the governor of that state, Governor Jan Brewer, has signed a new law, this one targeting ethnic studies programs in public schools.

Now, supporters of the law say those classes are divisive; they underscore oppression and treatment that ethnic groups received historically and breed resentment. Critics say -- critics of the governor say this is another example of Arizona taking aim at Latinos.

Fifteen people were arrested during a protest at a Tucson school headquarters yesterday. This is -- Tucson is the -- is the city where this is aimed at.

Here's a little bit about the law. It's called HB-2281. It bans advanced courses that promote the overthrow of the U.S. government. It -- or that promote resentment toward a race or a class of people.

Now, it also bans courses that are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group or that advocate ethnic solidarity instead of treatment of pupils as individuals.

What it doesn't ban is it doesn't ban classes for Native Americans that are required by law or courses that include history of ethnic groups that are open to all students, unless the course violates those other rules. Complicated. It's -- like everything that goes on in Arizona these days, it's complicated. It's not as clear cut as it might seem.

Let me bring in a couple of guests who can tell us a little bit more about this. Dr. Augustine Romero is the director of student equity at Tucson Unified School District. He's live in Tucson. And Margaret Dugan is the Arizona deputy superintendent of public instruction. And she's joining me live from Phoenix.

Margaret Dugan, let me start with you. Thank you both for being with us today. Can you just tell me, give us some sense for our viewers who are not understanding why this sort of law would be necessary, this sort of ban would be necessary, what it aims to do?

MARGARET DUGAN, ARIZONA DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION: Well, first of all, it aims to make sure that our students are not segregated into classrooms where they are taught that they are oppressed and being victims of classrooms that teach that they are oppressed and victims of teachings in our school systems; and making sure that the public school systems are not teaching history or solidarity of a certain ethnic group, in which we believe that the Tucson Unified School District has been doing for some time.

VELSHI: All right. What's the -- there's something underlying this. You have to scratch away from the surface, and there's clearly a problem that is trying to be solved here. What's the issue?

Do you think the Tucson school district has somehow been promoting? I mean, one of the bans here is -- is banning the overthrow of the United States government, banning courses that promote the overthrow of the United States government. Have they been teaching courses in Tucson about that?

DUGAN: There is ethnic studies, browsal (ph) studies, which uses curriculum and books, textbooks that there's, to me, very disturbing information.

For example, one of the books they use is called "Occupied America," which teaches the students that this country was once Mexico and, if they rise up and take it back to be their country, once again.

And most of these students were born in this country. And they should be taut this country is a country that advances them to be productive citizens of this country and not to rise up and be disloyal to this country. And this is what I think that this course is teaching them, that they are victims and that they are oppressed. And this is what is very disturbing to me, that as a public school administrator that I was for ten years, and in the public school system, why are we having this type of curriculum being taught to our students?

VELSHI: Let's talk to Dr. Augustine Romero of the Tucson Unified School District. What do you say about that, Dr. Romero?

DR. AUGUSTINE ROMERO, TUCSON UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT: Well, let me first start by trying to establish the political terrain. We need -- the nation needs to understand that the political discourse within this law is based upon a racist witch hunt that has been used for political gain. Let's start right there.

The next thing is this legislation is based upon lies, untruth and lies. The reality of the situation is what we teach in those courses is the state standards. Two of those state -- to those state standards we apply a Mexican-American lens, a historical lens from the Mexican-American perspective on those events.

For instance, take a look at World War II. What was the Mexican- American contribution to end World War II? The normal textbooks don't really address that understanding. So we supplement that understanding.

The other understanding is, for instance, the history of the Constitution. The history of constitutional law, the idea that, when we talk about Brown vs. Board of Education, does the nation understand that the precedent in Brown was established by Westminster vs. -- Mendez vs. Westminster, which was a group of Mexican-American parents who felt as if though they were being denied equal access to education. Is that taught?

VELSHI: I'm going to stop you right there. I'm going to stop you there for a second. Let's go back to Margaret Dugan. So far nothing that Dr. Romero is talking about sounds problematic. Are you -- are you OK with that so far?

DUGAN: Well, first of all, why can't this all be taught in American history classes with all students? Why -- why do our Hispanic students primarily have to be segregated from all other students in our schools? And this is what I find...

ROMERO: The reality of the situation -- the reality of the situation... DUGAN: The -- the American history classes in all schools have to teach to our Arizona standards. And when you separate the Hispanic students...

ROMERO: The reality of the situation is that our students are not segregated.

DUGAN: ... you are not -- you are not -- what you do is that you segregate by the name exclusively across the studies.

ROMERO: We do not segregate. We do not segregate.

VELSHI: Let's answer that, Dr. Romero. Are -- can all students attend these classes?

ROMERO: These classes are open to all students. What I'm telling you right now is that these people are lying. They are lying. Just a flat-out lie. We do not segregate. These classes, the Native Americans take these course. The African-Americans take these courses. The Mexican-Americans studies courses are open to all children, regardless. And it is our intent to have all children in those courses so that they have a better understanding of who their neighbors are.

VELSHI: So hang on a second, guys. I've got to operate this within a -- within a time constraint. Margaret Dugan, why do you believe that they're segregating students, if Dr. Romero says they're not?

DUGAN: Well, primarily, I think if you look at the roster, there are mainly Hispanic students in the La Rasa's classrooms. And why, if you're teaching to the academic standards of our Arizona academic standards of American history...

VELSHI: Right.

DUGAN: ... I don't believe you have a balance of really what the American history standards are. You're giving more of a slanted viewpoint and teaching these kids that they are victims and oppressed of this country.

Now, I do believe that all students should be given the whole spectrum of American history. And I believe that these teachers, under the direction of Augustine Romero, are given a very biased viewpoint. And it's one -- they are wanting to teach these kids that they are oppressed.

VELSHI: Dr. Romero, can...

DUGAN: Very good (ph) point they would like to do this.

VELSHI: Dr. Romero, are these students getting American history at the Arizona standard, plus? Or are they getting it instead of the standardized instruction in the state of Arizona?

ROMERO: No, as I said before, what we teach in those classes are the state standards and we apply a particular cultural lens to these state standards.

And in fact, the reality of the situation is, up until 2006, we had what were called honor standards in the state. And what we did was we included all of those honor standards into our curriculum. So not only were they getting the state standards, but they were getting a very highly rigorous state standard with an ethnic lens applied to those state standards.

The other thing that must be understood is that TUSD is a -- is a predominantly Latino school district. So regardless of what school you go to, the vast majority of those students are going to be Latino. So, I mean, the idea that the rosters are majority Latino, that's our district. That is our population. That is the default. That happens by default. These classes are not exclusive.

VELSHI: I'll just show -- I'll just show our viewers the distribution of the Tucson student population. Fifty-six percent are Hispanic, 29 percent white, 8 percent African-American, 4 percent Native American, 3 percent Asian.

DUGAN: I guess that would be my point. Why do you have to call La Rasa studies if they're predominantly? Why don't you just call...

VELSHI: Is a name -- is it the name? If they change the name, would that make you happy?

DUGAN: Well, the course itself in board rule is American history, but they have slanted it to be called Rasa Studies so that they can give their ideology. And it's really the viewpoints of director Augustine Romero.

Back in 2000 -- when I took care of English for the children, I know that he was telling students that...

ROMERO: Be more inclusive. It's good to be more inclusive, not exclusive.

DUGAN: When Augustine -- when Augustine Romero was a teacher back at Troya (ph) High School, he told the students, because the students told me, that I was falling for the white man's traps when I was pushing for a law to get rid of bilingual education. And...

ROMERO: That's a lie. That is a flat-out lie.

VELSHI: I'm going to let Dr. Romero answer that. Did you say that, Mr. Romero?

ROMERO: That is a flat-out lie.

DUGAN: I believe he did.

ROMERO: Again, we have to understand. We have to flat-out understand the discourse. The discourse in this legislation...

DUGAN: The discourse. ROMERO: ... mirrors the legislation -- mirrors the discourse of Nazi Germany. All we are trying to do here is create fear of one group of people...

VELSHI: OK. That's a big accusation. Margaret Dugan, how do you respond to that that? I mean, he's saying this is like Nazi Germany.

DUGAN: No, it's not. What we're trying to do make sure that all of our students receive a quality education in Arizona, not a distorted view.

VELSHI: OK.

DUGAN: And also to teach them not...

ROMERO: Just like Nazi Germany, you folks like about a particular group of people...

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: I've got to make you stop. There's a lot more to this, and we're going to continue to cover this. I want to thank you for both of you coming on. It's a hot issue. And all I can say to you is that I hope it continues to be discussed and hopefully with -- maybe a little cooler than it was today. But if this is where you need to discuss it, we'll have you back.

Dr. Augustine Romero is director of student equity at the Tucson Unified School District. Margaret Dugan is the Arizona deputy superintendent of public education. As you can see, that issue isn't going to get solved today. I will talk to you a little bit about it in my "XYZ" at the end of the show.

Now let's not forget that it was less than a month ago that Arizona passed that immigration law that is deemed by many people to be the toughest in the nation. There's the state of Arizona as you can see. It borders Mexico. Now it's having a ripple effect across the country.

Lawmakers in at least nine states say that they are planning to craft legislation that mirrors that that has been passed in Arizona. You can see that. A couple of them are border states. Look at those up in the northeast, Utah, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Michigan, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Maryland, and Ohio.

There are some major backlashes though. Several cities have either enacted an Arizona boycott, or they are calling for one. Cities like San Francisco, Austin, Washington, D.C., and now the Los Angeles city council has overwhelmingly approved a boycott of Arizona. That's the biggest city yet to do it. Yesterday a resolution was even filed in New York City. So we're talking about millions of dollars possibly being pulled out of Arizona.

In fact, city estimates from Phoenix estimate losses of up to $90 million over the next five years because of this controversy over immigration.

All right. We're going to take a break. When we come back, New York's attorney general is looking into whether the big banks misled the credit rating agencies into giving high ratings on risky investments that they shouldn't have. And what role that had in the financial crisis. Christine Romans following this. She's got details, right ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: All right. This is yet another confusing element of this financial crisis and who might be at least partially to blame for it. Christine Romans standing by in New York. She's my co-host on "YOUR $$$$$." She's been investigating charges that are being put forward by the -- Christine, are they charges or is it an investigation by the New York attorney general into banks?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It's an investigation.

VELSHI: OK. Tell me what this is about.

ROMANS: OK, this is an investigation into the practices of the banks as they pertain to the credit-rating agencies, Ali. Did the big banks mislead the credit-rating agencies when they were crafting some of these financial products that the credit-rating agencies then would rate, so that the banks could sell them? It sounds a little complicated, right?

But let me show you first what the banks -- the banks are. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office looking into these, I think, eight banks overall. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, UBS, Citigroup. Ali, I think it's pretty fair to say that, if you work in the legal department of one of the big Wall Street banks, you've been very busy recently...

VELSHI: Yes.

ROMANS: ... between the SEC, the Justice Department and the attorney general now of New York. There's a lot of poking around going onto what happened during the bubble.

Now, this is why credit ratings matter. This is why the credit- rating agencies are coming under scrutiny -- scrutiny.

First of all, the banks would bundle loans and sell these products. The rating agencies would rate the quality of those products. The rating agencies are paid for by the banks. The banks need the good ratings to then sell their products. And investors buy and sell based on these ratings. So the rating agencies...

VELSHI: In other words, there might be a bundle of mortgages, and the bank is selling them. The credit-rating agency has rated them as the top risk, AAA rated, low risk.

ROMANS: Sure. VELSHI: But somehow the conflict here is that the credit-rating agencies are getting paid by the banks.

ROMANS: Well, and, Ali, we now know that 93 percent of the subprime mortgage bundled products were rated AAA. Subprime by definition means subprime, that it's not AAA.

VELSHI: Right. Right.

ROMANS: So we now know that a lot of these products were rated as top quality products for investors when they were not containing top quality investments in the first place.

So Cuomo's office is looking into this. He's also looking into, we're told, whether there was a revolving door between the mortgage desks of these big banks and the credit-rating agencies.

So you go -- just like everything in Wall Street and government or Wall Street and other parts of the system, you go from one place where you design the product to another place where you rate the product. Back to the -- you know. So it's -- it should be very interesting.

I will say that this is a very busy time.

VELSHI: Yes.

ROMANS: The humming, humming, humming of the legal departments of all of these companies.

VELSHI: Going to be a busy time for you and me, as well, as we have to get our heads around this and help our viewers understand it, as well.

ROMANS: Sure.

VELSHI: Christine, good to see you. You can see Christine and me every day, Monday to Friday on this show, and then Saturdays at 1 p.m. Eastern and Sundays at 3 p.m. Eastern on "YOUR $$$$$." She's my co-host on that show, where we get deeper into those issues that affect your money and your finances.

OK. When we come back, let's go back to the Gulf of Mexico and find out what is going on. BP has already changed its mind about a plan we told you they were going to implement yesterday. We're going to update you on the containment efforts in that oil spill when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: In that rupture in the Gulf of Mexico is still spewing oil into the water. I'm going to update you on the latest efforts. BP says before it moves the top hat, that's the one we told you about that yesterday, the top hat containment dome into place, over that ruptured well, it is going to try something else. This latest operation -- I know this is hard to follow because it changes every day.

This one is called a riser insertion tube. Basically they slip a small tube -- I don't know how small it is -- and a stopper into a leaking well. I'm going to show you that in a second, because we're not talking about the Cannes Film festival. But they stick the stopper and a tube into the well. If that seals the well off successfully, they will be able to suck the oil flow to a storage tanker on the ocean surface.

Now, if that doesn't seal successfully, guess what? We're back to the top hat. They put that top hat into place. They haven't actually sealed it off yet. Apparently is at the bottom of the ocean. And we'll try this and keep you up to speed with what goes on.

All right. We teased with you that we've got the Cannes Film Festival here. It is the 63rd Cannes Film Festival. This is the festival of all festivals. This year, though, America only has one movie in competition for the famous Palme d'Or. In recent years, it's that movie, by the way, that has grabbed a lot of attention. There's always a lot of attention to grab at Cannes. Let's listen to Brooke Anderson.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: The music's thumping and the PA is blaring, that must mean the Cannes Film Festival is under way.

(voice-over): The red carpet was rolled out for the stars of "Robin Hood," marking the official start of the 63rd edition of the festival. Co-stars Russell Crowe and fellow Aussie Cate Blanchett were among the big names who made their way into the famed Palais for the world premiere.

(VIDEO CLIP, "ROBIN HOOD")

ANDERSON: Don't look for silly green tights and feathered caps in this version of "Robin Hood." Director Ridley Scott's take goes back to the medieval origins of the legend, as Crowe explained in a news conference earlier in the day.

RUSSELL CROWE, "ROBIN HOOD": We took a very arrogant perspective on this, which I believe you have to if you're going to retell a story that's been told for 1,000 years.

CATE BLANCHETT, "MARION LOXLEY": And hell, we're Australians, so...

(LAUGHTER)

CROWE: We took the perspective -- we took the perspective that whatever you think you know about Robin Hood is a previously understandable mistake.

(LAUGHTER) ANDERSON: Cate Blanchett got dolled up for her trip up the red carpet, but she said while shooting the film, her makeup consisted of dirt and water.

BLANCHETT: Mud. I used a lot of mud. I usually come down to the set relatively clean and Ridley would pick something off the ground and smear it on me.

ANDERSON: "Robin Hood" is playing out of competition, meaning it's not eligible for the big prize of Cannes, the Palme d'Or. The winner will be selected by an international jury headed by director Tim Burton. Nineteen titles are in the running, none of them directed by a woman and there are only two women on the nine-person jury.

At a news conference, jury member Kate Beckinsale was asked if that concerned her.

KATE BECKINSALE, CANNES JURY MEMBER: I'm really happy that we get to be the two girls together on this. Not super frightened of boys, so -- it doesn't really bother me. I'm just excited to be in such incredible company.

(VIDEO CLIP, "FAIR GAME")

ANDERSON: Among the other films in competition "Fair Game" with Naomi Watson, Sean Penn, in the true story of outed CIA agent Valerie Plame.

(on camera): The Palme d'Or will be presented in the end of the festival which runs through May 23rd.

Reporting from the Cannes Film Festival, I'm Brooke Anderson.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: We've got news happening in Thailand. You know there's been tension there. Political tension for a long time. Now, an anti- government leader has been shot and critically wounded in Bangkok. There seems to be a lot more violence going on right there. We're going to go to Dan Rivers live in Bangkok when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: All right. We give you a segment called "Globe Trekking" everyday. Unfortunately, some days it's not going to be interesting good news, it's going to be interesting bad news. And that's happening in Bangkok, Thailand right now. Dissident Thai general has been shot. Our camera were on it.

Let me take you around to Thailand for a second. That's not working. So, let me take you to Dan Rivers, who's standing by in Thailand right now with the latest update. Dan, what have you got?

DAN RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Ali, this is part of this huge Red Shirt protest that has crippled the center of Bangkok for a month and a half now. The tension has kicked up in gear. This evening, within the last few hours, one of the hard-line Red Shirt leaders, a guy they call the Red Commander, Sei Deng (ph), was shot through the head while he was talking to the media. We don't know who shot him, but the army has been deployed this evening to try and lay siege to these Red Shirt protesters. At the moment, we understand he is in a critical condition in hospital.

Meanwhile, we've been on the streets the last few minutes, and there is still a lot of unrest on the streets. It's mob rule, basically, and one other protester has been shot in the head and killed. That happened just a few hundred meters from where we were standing. And as I said, this situation is ongoing at the moment. It's pretty anarchic outside.

VELSHI: Dan, we've heard about the Red Shirts. Just give us some sense of what's going on in Thailand. Who are the Red Shirts, what are they looking for? This has been going on for some time.

RIVERS: Yes, this goes right back to the coup in 2006. The military stepped in and kicked out the then-prime minister, a guy called Taxin Shinewa (ph). He was a billionaire businessman who came to power on the back of sort of popular reforms that helped the poor. I think he upset a lot of people in the elite established circles here, and finally the military stepped in and kicked him out in a coup.

Ever since, his supporters have been trying to find a way for him to come back. And they've coalesced together under this umbrella called the Red Shirts. They've been getting steadily more and more radical in the last couple of months. They've taken to the streets and basically occupied downtown Bangkok, including shopping malls, hotels, and a major park in the center of the city, refusing to go home until they get an election. The government has been trying to be conciliatory, offering an election in November, and it looked as if there was a deal in the cards, but now things are unraveling fairly quickly.

VELSHI: Dan, tell the us about this general. We're showing pictures of him having been shot in the head. Who is he? What was he demanding? What did he represent?

RIVERS: Well, he's major general, a serving major general in the Thai army but one who has been consistently aligned to Thaxin, this prime minister kicked out in the coup. He's a longstanding ally of Thaxin's since way before the coup, and he never really accepted the coup. He sort of went off the rails with it and sided with he's Red Shirts and gotten more and more outspoken.

He's 59 years old. He's been a bit of a kind of media celebrity down at these protests. He's dressed in combat fatigues and is seen marching around, presiding over his cadre of sort of paramilitary guards down there. He has spoken to the media in the last few days, saying he feared he would be targeted by the military. We don't know who shot him, but now, as I say, he's in hospital with a critical head wound.

VELSHI: Dan, keep us posted on this. Dan Rivers in Bangkok, Thailand. Thank you, Dan.

Looking at a man in uniform being shot, that's always something that is shocking. In fact, nothing moves police officers faster than hearing "officer shot" over the scanner. Now, Philadelphia cops were on a manhunt for a black suspect who they were told shot one of their own. You are going to be shocked to hear who actually pulled the trigger.

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VELSHI: Yes, that graphic came up because I was going to say, that was not Larry king. It's T.I. Who is going to be on Larry King.

All right. Let me give you a look at the top stories that we're following here on CNN.

The FBI is raiding locations across the Northeast in connection with the foiled car bomb found in Times Square. CNN has learned they're focusing on a system of what they're calling cash couriers. People who bring money into the United States from overseas, though investigators have not determined whether that cash trail was tied to the failed plot that arrested suspect Faisal Shahzad is still being questioned about. At least three more people, by the way, have now been detained.

In Bangkok, Thailand, the leader of antigovernment protests was shot in the head while giving an interview. We were just talking to Dan Rivers about that. The renegade Thai general is said to be one of the Red Shirt's most radical leaders. They are the opposition.

He's in critical condition. Political protests in Thailand erupted earlier this year. The Red Shirts and those they represent want former a prime minister who was ousted in a bloodless coup back in 2006 put back into power.

And President Obama visits Buffalo, New York today, continuing his White House to Main Street tour. Buffalo is one of the worst off cities in the nation with nearly 30 percent of the people living at or below the poverty line.

It's also near the site of a 2009 plane crash that killed 50 people. The president is meeting with the victims of those families. We will, by the way, have live coverage of the president's town hall meeting and speech right here on this show. That's going to happen very soon, actually. About six minutes away is what we're told.

Listen to this. A white officer shot last month in the city of Philadelphia. The so-called suspect, a black man who supposedly ran off and started a huge manhunt. The problem: all of it was complete fiction. Here's Randi Kaye.

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RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was 4:00 in the morning when Philadelphia when the radio call came in: cop shot. A white police sergeant said he'd been shot by a black man. Officers responded in force. An all-out search of the African-American neighborhood in Philadelphia's 19th Precinct, where Sergeant Robert Ralston said it all went down.

(on camera): The sergeant told the story this way. He'd come across two black men along the railroad tracks on the morning of April 5. One ran away, he said. The other pointed a silver revolver at his head. He knocked it away, he said, but it fired anyway. And the bullet grazed his left shoulder. He also said he fired one shot but wasn't sure if he'd struck the suspect.

(voice-over): Police gave thanks their man had survived. Tragedy averted, they said. The white cop described the shooter this way: dark skin, braided hair, and a tattoo next to his eye. But police never found the black shooter or anyone matching that description. And now more than a month later, we know why.

The real story: the two black men the cop said he encountered never existed. Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey says Sergeant Ralston made the whole thing up.

CHARLES RAMSEY, PHILADELPHIA POLICE COMMISSIONER: It was clear to us soon after it took place that this simply was just not true. Just the evidence just didn't support the story he was giving.

KAYE: But wait. What about the sergeant's shoulder wound? The commissioner says Sergeant Ralston actually shot himself, which may be why, he said, he got off one shot at the suspect. An explanation as to why his gun had been fired.

RAMSEY: A test was run on his shirt. The powder on the shirt matched the same kind of ammunition we use in the department.

KAYE: That's right. The gunpowder on the sergeant's shirt was the same kind his own weapon used.

And there's more. The angle at which the bullet struck him didn't square with his story either, says the commissioner.

We tried to ask Sergeant Ralston to explain, but outside his home, he dodged our cameras and ducked inside.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you tell us why you did that, sir?

KAYE: Neighbors called the sergeant's actions a sad statement.

BRAWLY JOSEPH, NEIGHBOR: I can't believe he would really do something like that. That's really uncalled for. He -- ever since I've been living here, he's really been, like, antisocial around this area.

KAYE (on camera): What's still unclear is why Sergeant Ralston, a 21-year veteran of the force, would make up such a wild tale. Only after hours of interrogation, police said, did he finally admit he shot himself on purpose. The police commissioner says he may have done it for a job transfer or maybe for attention but that the sergeant didn't give a reason.

(voice-over): The police commissioner calls this a, quote, "terrible and embarrassing chapter in the department's history."

RAMSEY: The fact that he stated that two African-Americans were involved in this, again, just I think, inflames tensions in our community, something that we certainly do not need.

KAYE: Sergeant Ralston has been suspended with pay. The commissioner says he will be fired. He was given immunity in exchange for his confession so he doesn't face criminal charges. But he'll have to pay for the massive manhunt to find his phantom suspects. Cops are still adding up the cost.

The days of calling Sergeant Robert Ralston a hero and crediting his quick actions for saving his own life, long gone.

Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: Wow, he was given immunity because he testified, so he can't have criminal charges laid against him for shooting himself and blaming someone else. In this case, the person everybody thought was the victim turned out to be a particularly heinous perpetrator.

The real victim here is the city of Philadelphia itself. Particularly the African-American community, which is more than 40 percent of the city's population. Community activists say this incident gives African-Americans another reason not to trust Philadelphia police, particularly white officers. This is the city that has struggled with this for some time.

And speaking of police, this has done them no favors. It's a P.R. nightmare and there are plenty of good cops in Philadelphia on the force who now have to deal with the fallout from this one.

All right. When we come back, we've got a great "Big I" for you today. Solar panels on plain paper. Solar panels on paper. Can you imagine such a thing? I'm going to show you all about it when we come back.

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VELSHI: Live pictures of a company called Industrial Support Incorporated. Buffalo, New York, near my hometown of Toronto. The president is there. He will be speaking there momentarily. It's part of his White House-to-Main Street tour. We'll bring you his comments. and then he'll be holding a town hall where he'll take questions from the audience. And we'll cover it in its entirety.

I want you to take a look at this. I don't know if you can see it in my hand. This is a solar panel, a picture of a solar panel on paper, OK? Now I want to take you over to the wall and show you something. Here's a bunch of things; I want you to tell me what the three things have in common. On your extreme right -- wait a second, that's your left.

You've got a solar panel. You've seen what those look like. You have a printer and you have a stapler. What do the three things have in common? Can you imagine being able to print out a solar panel and staple it to the wall? That actually could become a reality. I want to tell you a little bit about this.

M.I.T. researchers have created a solar panel that basically can be printed. There's, like, a screen that goes onto paper. It's sort of an organic semiconductor material. By the way, I'm just using this as an example. It will not actually look like this. It's regular paper that you can print. But basically, it's little dots.

It's still in the research phase. It's not industrialized yet or commercialized yet, but they are saying they can actually do this.

What's the advantage of having solar panels on paper? One of the problems with solar panels is how expensive they are. They have certainly come down in cost, but they're expensive, and frankly, very big and heavy. Can you imagine just a piece of paper with a solar panel on it? It would be lower in weight -- it would be lighter in weight. It would be cheaper to manufacture, obviously, than solar panels which are particularly expensive. And can you imagine being able to print it out? Talk about easy to produce, being able to absolutely print it out.

It's just one of the many technologies that is being employed to try to get the energy from the sun. This is one I'm waiting for. I have no idea what it's actually going to look like. I think it will look like a regular, ordinary piece of paper, but this is my rendition of it for now. A solar panel printed on a piece of paper.

These are the fantastic ideas that will change the way we live. You'll probably be able to use this in just a few years.

Let's go back to Buffalo, New York, where the president is getting ready to speak. The teams are assembled. The cameras are there. The audience is there. He's going to speak to this group. It's part of his White House-to-Main Street tour. This is a company that outsources, it manufactures things -- it's sort of the company to which you outsource.

It manufactures things for all sorts of American companies. He is going to go there. There's a remarkable story of this company, by the way. It is a company that started, it's called Industrial Support, Incorporated. This was a company that had five employees. It now has over 70 employees. We're going to talk to you about that.

We're also going to talk to you a little bit about Buffalo and its economic state when we come back.

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VELSHI: All right. President Obama, we are waiting for him to take the podium at a company in Buffalo, New York, where he's continuing his White House-to-Main Street tour. It will be followed by a Q-and-A from the audience. It's a town hall, you've seen the president do those before. We're going to carry that live and the Q- and-A we'll be with you.

Why is he in Buffalo? Let me tell you a little bit about Buffalo. I grew up near Buffalo. By the way, Wolf Blitzer, "THE SITUATION ROOM," is from Buffalo.

Let me give you a snapshot of Buffalo. It's an older American city, an industrial city, and as a result, it's been in decline since about the 1970s. Just since the year 2000, in fact, the population of Buffalo has dropped by 46,000.

Now, Buffalo is an industrial town, as I said. It's a manufacturing center. It's got GM and Ford, it's got auto plants. It's also got a lot of industry. It used to have a lot more industry. And as industry and manufacturing jobs have disappeared in the, United States, Buffalo, like many cities along that corridor, has suffered with it along with that area.

Now here's the interesting thing. The unemployment rate in Buffalo, which has long been higher than the national average is actually lower. The national average unemployment rate is 9.7 percent. Take a look at Buffalo. Buffalo is 8.6 percent. It peaked over a year ago and has now started to decline. In other words, there are more jobs being created in Buffalo.

Now, let's talk about the company that President Obama is speaking at. It's called Industrial Support, Incorporated. It's a metal fabrication company. They do metal stamping, welding and braising and contract electronic assembly. This is important, because contract electronic assembly means they do it under contract for other companies elsewhere in the United States. So, if a company wants to manufacture some sort of electronic device and they need components for it, they don't make all the components themselves. They outsource it to other companies, including companies like Industrial Support, Incorporated.

So, we think of manufacturing outsourcing as being something that we send to other countries. Well, in this case, this is a company that's actually a recipient of -- of work from other companies that are manufacturing things.

Based in Buffalo, New York, you can see that right there on Lake Ontario, right near Niagara Falls, and as I told you, a lot of the industrial damage in this country has been done around the Midwest. Interesting company, because it started with five employees. Five employees. And it has expanded now to 70 employees, and that's -- I guess that's part of the message that the president wants to get out there about how to actually create jobs.

So, that's our a little "Snapshot" of Buffalo and why the president is there. It's an interesting place if you're ever up in the neighborhood. But if you do go to Buffalo, make a side trip to my hometown, in Toronto, very close by.

Don't know if the president's there. Let's take a look. He's not there yet, so let's take a quick break. We'll come back, and maybe he'll be there by the time we get there. If he isn't, I'll definitely have something interesting to tell you.

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