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Nevada Air Crash Investigation; New Tax Rate for Millionaires; Palestinians Want Status Upgrade; Communicate by Blinking; Troy Davis Execution Set for Wednesday; Satellite to Plunge to Earth

Aired September 18, 2011 - 14:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. It is September 18th. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Our top story, investigators in Nevada may have found clues that could help them figure out what caused that deadly plane crash at an air race in Reno. They've recovered parts from the plane's tail.

Right now, the death toll stands at nine. Dozens of other people were hurt, and today we're also hearing more from witnesses who were there.

CNN's Dan Simon is in Reno. So Dan, tell us what investigators have found so far and how those items really could be important to this investigation.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, first of all, we got a - a look at what that crash scene looks like today. You can see that the devastation is - is just tremendous. The plane left a three-foot deep crater there on the tarmac. It is eight feet wide, and the debris field is spread out over an acre.

In terms of what may have caused that plane to go down, obviously the focus is on the tail of that aircraft. Almost immediately after the crash, photographic evidence emerged that a piece of that tail came off during mid-flight and that's something that the NTSB confirmed during their news conferences.

And when the crews went to take a look at the debris field, they actually found a chunk of the airplane, and NTSB officials talked about that yesterday. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It just happened so fast. It's a split-second event. So, you know, you think, is this it? Am I going to die?

SIMON (voice-over): Well, obviously, that was not the - the right sound, but we want to talk to you a little bit about the victims, Fred. We got an update that of the 69 people who were taken to the hospital and treated for injuries, 31 patients remain in local hospitals and nine patients in critical condition.

And, of course, we know that nine people died as well, and I know that you have some more information on that, Fred.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Wow, that is incredible. That's right. We know that that number is at nine right now, but investigators are still saying and local authorities are still saying there are a lot of people who are at the - at the hospitals, being treated with injuries as well.

All right. Thanks so much, Dan. Appreciate that.

All right, well Michael Joseph Wogan was one of the people killed in the crash. The 22-year-old was there with his father on vacation. Michael had muscular dystrophy and was in a wheelchair.

In a statement his brother says, quote, "He was about moving past that disability and always driven toward independence. His motto in life was, the only disability in life is a bad attitude."

Meantime, there was another air show crash, this one in West Virginia. A T-28 plane crashed and exploded, killing the pilot. The pilot had performed a belly to belly maneuver with another plane when it wobbled and then hit the ground. Federal investigators are heading to the scene.

The President of the United States has been pushing for this now, a new White House plan to help reduce the deficit and reform the tax code. Tomorrow, President Barack Obama will propose a new tax rate for people earning more than $1 million a year.

It will be called the Buffett Rule, named after billionaire Warren Buffett who believes wealthy Americans pay less than their fair share in taxes under the current code.

The plan is getting a mixed response from lawmakers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: Well, certainly on those who are wealthy and comfortable and wouldn't even notice it, yes. Warren Buffett has been honest, and other people I know, who have been fortunate in life and wealthy, have said, for goodness sakes, you can raise my taxes if that's going to help this economy move forward.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: The tax code should be reformed for one purpose, to generate more revenue to help run the government and to create jobs. And when you pick one area of the economy and you say we're going to tax those people, because most people are not those people, that's class warfare.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The White House says the Buffett Rule would ensure millionaires pay at least the same percentage of their earnings in taxes as middle income Americans.

In the race for the presidency, candidate Ron Paul is celebrating a victory. Paul is the winner of the California Republican Straw Poll. He captured nearly 45 percent of the vote, beating Rick Perry and Mitt Romney, who finished second and third respectively.

And now to a deadly shooting in Central Florida. Officials say a gunman opened fire at a home in Lakeland, killing one person. The suspect then reportedly went to a church and shot a pastor and associate pastor, injuring both of them. Officials say church members tackled the gunman and then restrained him until police arrived.

The suspect is identified as 57-year-old Jeremiah Fogel. Police are not commenting on a possible motive.

And a peaceful ending in the manhunt for a Fort Drum soldier who escaped military custody. The three day search for Army Private Russell Marcum ended yesterday when Marcum surrendered in a wooded area near Ithaca, New York. He was being held by military police on a burglary charge when he escaped.

And NFL fans are giving themselves a little extra time getting into the stadiums today. They'll need tickets and patience. The NFL has instituted enhanced pat-downs for everyone entering NFL stadiums.

The NFL says that the security upgrades have nothing to do with last week's incident involving a fan and a stun gun.

All right, tonight is TV's biggest night, at least one of them. The 63rd Annual Emmy Awards will be handed out in Hollywood. Stars from the small screen will be vying for statuettes in more than a dozen categories.

Our Kareen Wynter is already checking out the red carpet, and she'll be joining us live a little bit later on.

The United Nations General Assembly convenes this week. The Palestinians want to become a formal state, but the U.S. is expected to veto the proposal. We'll discuss that, straight ahead.

But first, you do you know how much money the United States sends Israel each year?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The United States sends $3 billion in aid to Israel every year. That breaks down to $8,219,178 a day.

All right, so the president of the Palestinian Authority plans to ask the United Nations General Assembly for full membership this week.

I'm live now with Elise Labott. She's our senior State Department producer. So, Elise, why is the U.S. planning to vote no on that?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT PRODUCER: Well, basically Fred, what they're saying is they don't believe that this is going to lead to a Palestinian state, and it's really not. Even the Palestinians are acknowledging it's a symbolic move, and they feel that the road to negotiations really, as Secretary of State Clinton likes to say, isn't leading to New York, it should lead to Jerusalem, where the parties can negotiate it out themselves. Let's listen to what the Israeli and Palestinian ambassadors had to say to CNN's Candy Crowley this morning on "STATE OF THE UNION" about the prospect for negotiations.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: But the U.S. position is that the territory and the statehood can only be done through negotiations with Israel and, therefore - and believes that this will undermine that effort.

MAEN RASHID AREIKAT,PALESTINIAN REP TO THE U.S.: We don't disagree with the administration that there has to be negotiations. The problem is that there are no negotiations right now. We are the party who needs negotiations the most, who need an end to the conflict the most.

MICHAEL OREN, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: Israel wants peace. Israel wants peace. Prime Minister Netanyahu said he's willing to negotiate with President Abbas anywhere, anytime, without preconditions on the basis of territory for peace.

We know we have to make compromises. We have to work out all these difficult relationships and problems with the Palestinians. The Palestinians want all the territory without the peace.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LABOTT: So what's going on now? basically, even though President Abbas said, Fred, that he's going to go to the U.N. Security Council, furious negotiations going on right now to stop him from doing that, anything from trying to block him at the United Nations.

Even though the U.S. can use its veto, it doesn't want to be all alone, so trying to get other states to vote no with him. But, also, other things, trying to minimize the fallout here, trying to find a way out a day after.

And so that means a statement by the so-called quartet, which includes Russia, the United Nations and E.U., a statement of principles so that, no matter what happens, even if he does go to the U.N. Security Council or General Assembly, where he might have a little bit more support, this will be the kind of parameters for negotiations to jumpstart. And they're hoping that no matter what happens, next week they really have to get back to the table and start those negotiations - Fred.

WHITFIELD: Well, it's interesting, because I guess the interpretation of the U.S. vetoing the proposal really does contradict what this White House has said it wants to happen. It - this White House has supported the Palestinians having some negotiations with - with Israel in order to move towards statehood, but the Palestinians are saying they've tried to reach out and talk with Israel and Israel has not come to the table.

So where does this kind of negotiating, where does this strategy really stand?

LABOTT: Well, the - the short answer is we really don't know. I mean, everybody knows that the negotiations have to take part. This isn't - no matter what happens next week, this isn't going to be the end of occupation. The Palestinians aren't going to have their state.

So that's why they want to get them back to negotiations, and the Palestinians know that they're not going to get this state at the U.N. next week, and the Israelis know that they need to negotiate with the Palestinians in order to have security for themselves and relations with the Arab neighbors, all part of a peace deal.

So what the U.S. is hoping is no matter what this - you know, what they call maybe even a dog and pony show a little bit next week, this isn't really going to be what the day after is. And so they're trying to minimize the fallout while also talking to the parties about, look, let's move - even thinking past, even though we're looking towards next week, thinking about the week after, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Elise Labott, thanks so much, from Washington.

All right, one more note about this week's gathering of the United Nations General Assembly, Libya will be represented there, but by a representative of the forces that ousted long-time leader Moammar Gadhafi. The General Assembly adopted a resolution two days ago that not only approved the National Transitional Council to represent Libya, but also established a U.N. support mission to help the Libyans work on security and a new constitution.

Elsewhere, overseas today, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is addressing his nation. Right now, we're told that he's covering a range of issues, but we're also waiting to see if he'll be addressing the case of the two American hikers awaiting release from prison in Iran.

Also speaking out today, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund. Well, he is giving his first interview since the sex assault charges that cost him his job and landed him in jail in New York for some time.

Well, he's now back in Paris and he is speaking today to French journalists.

And this right here is just ugly. A reality TV getting a little too real right there. Tensions between two Russian businessmen on a talk show boils over and gets pretty physical, as you saw right there. One of the men said that he would rather punch someone than talk business with the other one, who actually took him up on the offer.

All right, straight ahead, can blinking your eyes actually get work done? You have to see to believe.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The - using a computer or smartphone might be easy for you, but for thousands of disabled people these are tools they just can't use. Now, one company is helping them communicate by blinking.

Gary Tuchman has this week's "Technovations."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Drew Miller was 43, with no major health issues, until ALS limited his ability to speak and move. Now, though, he's able to communicate and connect online with the blink of an eye.

BARBARA BARCLAY, TOBII: Eye tracking is revolutionizing life for people with disabilities. Now they have a communication tool. They can take part in social media.

TUCHMAN: For Drew and people with similar disabilities, eye tracking technology is a huge part of their lives, and it could become a part of everyone's sooner than you think. New computers allow you to flip through folders, scan over maps, even select music with a glance of your eye.

BARCLAY: In the next five to 10 years, eye tracking technology will be in almost every device you use on a day-to-day basis.

TUCHMAN: Which could mean using your eyes to adjust settings in your car, scroll through the Web, and even play games.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ah, yes.

TUCHMAN: It looks like a lot of fun, but it can also give insight to how we think.

BARCLAY: So many things about the way your eyes move is related to how your brain is working.

TUCHMAN: It's also helping doctors spot early developmental problems in children, and rehabilitate people with traumatic brain injuries.

It's the technology of tomorrow with advantages you can see today.

Gary Tuchman, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: The life of death row inmate Troy Davis hangs in the balance. Why a meeting tomorrow could determine if his execution will go forward.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Checking our top stories right now.

The execution of Georgia inmate Troy Davis is set for Wednesday unless the State Parole Board decides to intervene in a hearing tomorrow. Most of the witnesses have changed their stories about the murder of a policeman 20 years ago, and Davis maintains his innocence.

So does his sister. Last night, she spoke to our Don Lemon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIMBERLY DAVIS, SISTER OF TROY DAVIS: And he's always maintained his innocence and, you know, he told us he was not the one that shot the police officer, and we - we stand behind that innocence and stand behind his word.

I am emotionally prepared, as well as Troy, because Troy said that if the state of Georgia does succeed in executing him, they will only take his physical body because he's already given his soul to God.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The mother of the slain police officer, Mark MacPhail, doesn't want her son forgotten. She was in court when the jury reached its verdict in the Troy Davis case back in 1991, and says she's suspicious that so many of the witnesses have changed their testimonies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANN MACPHAIL, MOTHER OF MARK MACPHAIL: I was at court when that all happened. The jury, I mean, was emphatically saying, he's guilty. Now, after 17 years, they're saying the other thing.

Somebody is on their back, and I knew before even they were, because it came back and, see, we have family in Savannah. We know what they were doing.

So - but I really don't know what happened on Monday (ph), but - what it's going to do. I'm being very, very cautious because it's - it's the fourth (ph) time, and every time something else came up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: A petition seeking clemency for Troy Davis has more than 660,000 names on it, and yesterday I talked to our legal guys Richard Herman and Avery Friedman about the case and I asked if that petition is helping Davis win some time and potentially his freedom.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: The Georgia Pardon and Parole Board really holds his fate, and they're going to be meeting obviously in a very short period of time.

Six hundred and sixty-three thousand petitions are important. But, I'll tell you, Fredricka, what's more important are the efforts made by former FBI director and former federal judge William Sessions, along with 27 other federal prosecutors, state prosecutors and judges, who say there is some evidence, actual evidence of innocence. That's what the board has to consider.

In fact, Judge Sessions published an Op-Ed piece yesterday in the Atlanta newspapers there, and I think the parole board is going to really struggle to make a decision. There are three new members. They rejected it in 2008. Let's see what happens.

WHITFIELD: So, Richard, you know, has the parole board been at this crossroad before that there may have been witnesses that recanted their story or that jurors were second-guessing the conviction? If this has happened so many times prior, why - why did it - A, why was it not considered, and why are we at this juncture again?

RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, you heard the representative from Georgia say we've considered everything, and we're not going to consider recantations made 17 years after the fact. I mean, there was sufficient evidence to convict him, Fred. Shell casings from his weapon were found at the scene there and allegedly reused - or, not allegedly, were proven to be used to be - to kill the police officer.

So there was evidence to convict. The issue here -

WHITFIELD: Shell casings, but no other physical evidence?

FRIEDMAN: That's right.

HERMAN: Well, there were eyewitness testimony. And, the question is, how valuable is eyewitness versus circumstantial? Everybody thinks eyewitness is the best. It's really not the best, and we're seeing that here.

People make mistakes. "60 Minutes" did a great piece on this a few years ago, people make mistakes. Eyewitness testimony is not the best.

And the real dichotomy here is, are you pro death penalty, are you against it? If there's a chance of putting an innocent man to death, is it worth the death penalty?

That's the overriding issue here, and people - including Pope Benedict - are fighting hard to get clemency issued to this man.

WHITFIELD: So, Avery, if that is brought to the attention of the parole board, that people make mistakes and that possibly people made mistakes in this case, isn't that defense enough to save a man from being put to death?

FRIEDMAN: Well, it - it has to factor into the - into the formula. The fact that you see the Pope and other anti-death penalty people advocating it, they would advocate it anyhow.

But, again, the focus has to be on the board. Is there any likelihood that there's actual evidence of - of innocence? A hundred and seventy two pages by a federal judge said no, and that's what the board has to consider, although they don't use the same legal standards. They have complete, absolute discretion.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And you can catch our legal guys every Saturday, noon Eastern. All right, some other stories that we're following. Investigators may have found clues that could help them figure out what caused the deadly plane crash at an air race in Reno, Nevada. They have recovered parts from the plane's tail, and it's believed the damaged part, called an elevator trim tab, may have played a role in that crash.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK ROSEKIND, NTSB BOARD MEMBER: They have identified and recovered portions of the accident aircraft tail. And, as part of this process, the NTSB has been aided by a technical inspector with firsthand knowledge of these modified aircraft.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Right now the death toll in the crash is nine.

An unseemly ending for a high school football game in Pennsylvania.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another fight across the field. And this is where it gets ugly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: With just 10 minutes to go in the game between Sharon and Hickory, referees called the game because of that fight. While the outburst was ugly, so was the final score. Hickory beat Sharon 43 to 7.

Former President Ronald Reagan was honored during the coin toss at the start of yesterday's University of Southern California football game. USC great Lynn Swann tossed a special commemorative coin issued to mark Reagan's one - to mark Reagan's 100th birthday.

The commemorative coin toss is part of a year-long centennial celebration sponsored by the Ronald Reagan Foundation. Other college, NFL and high school football teams are expected to follow suit next weekend.

A giant satellite is expected to soon begin its plunge to earth. Space junk experts now believe that will happen on Friday. NASA expects at least 26 pieces of the satellite to survive re-entry and actually hit the earth's surface, but just where they will land is anybody's guess right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's called UARS, the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, launched by the Space Shuttle in 1995 to study the earth's atmosphere. It ran out of gas literally in 2005 and its orbit has been degrading ever since.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: Wow. Let's talk about more on this. Jacqui Jeras now in the Weather Center, now kind of helping us get a better scope of what is going on here. Where might this stuff come down?

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, it's a really large area. They don't know exactly, and that's the problem. So it could be anywhere from northern Canada all the way to southern parts of South America.

Yes, like that helps, right? It's going to be about a 500 mile stretch. But, you know, scientists say don't worry about this. This happens all the time. Satellites and other pieces of space debris fall into the earth's atmosphere, most of it burns up on contact and no one has been hit by this before.

Should you worry? Your odds are really not all that bad. They say the odds are 1 in 3,200 that somebody will get hit by a piece of space debris. But that odds -- that person is you, one in 21 trillion, right, so you're feeling more comfortable about that.

They're also tracking this out there. Take a look at this. This is from Google earth. This will show you where you are it is right now. There it is over the Middle East. Here's India just to put it in perspective. So that's the location of the satellite right now.

They're tracking all kinds of space junk, which is out there. In fact, there are about 20,000 different pieces, about four inches in diameter. So there's all of this stuff out there and it's just something that we're going to be watching. So Friday they think is their most likely target date that this could potentially hit give or take a day.

So it could be a day on either side, so maybe Thursday, certainly maybe even this Saturday. If you want to track this at home, if you're paranoid and you're worried this could be impacting you, go to nasa.gov, go to the mission pages and they will be putting updates on this.

They've already been several of them just in the past week. All right, what else has fallen from the sky, Fredricka? We've got rain falling from the sky today. That's not unusual, right? But some of it is a little on the strong side and it's a little unusual to see this in parts of Texas.

How about that? We love seeing rain in Texas right now. This is stretching through the nation's mid-section into the upper Midwest. Not too terribly heavy right now, but it's enough to impact your travel. Chicago, for example, looking at delays around two hours. Some volume delays in Newark right now.

Our other big weather headlines are those cool temperatures across the eastern half of the country. We're still well below average, but warmer than we have been. We have a number of record low high temperatures yesterday.

We'll probably see a few of those once again today. You have think about, OK, record low high temperatures. Just means it was a cold high temperature.

WHITFIELD: Got it.

JERAS: -- for yesterday.

WHITFIELD: OK, very good. The coolness everywhere kind of feels good right now.

JERAS: I like it.

WHITFIELD: I like it so far so good. We'll be complaining, of course, when, you know, we get like another 24 --

JERAS: December.

WHITFIELD: Snow somewhere. All right, Jacqui, thank you.

JERAS: Sure.

WHITFIELD: All right, coming up, we'll have the latest video games for the fall season. Our gaming and gadgets expert joins us next with a preview.

But first, what is the bestselling video game of all time? We'll be right back with the answer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Before the break we asked what was the best selling video game of all time? The answer is Wii Sports for the Nintendo Wii. As of January 2011, over 75 million copies have been sold around the world. That's huge.

All right, holiday season is right around the corner and the latest video games are soon to hit the market. Our gaming and gadgets expert Marc Saltzman joining us for the preview.

You get to sample all the stuff before everybody else. OK, so let's begin with the rather adventurous game for the Playstation 3.

MARC SALTZMAN, SYNDICATED TECHNOLOGY COLUMNIST: That's right. So Uncharted 3, Drake's Deception is coming out in November. There's a lot of hype for this game. It's the third main game is this coveted series. Once again you play as Nathan Drake, an adventurer, this time setting off to find a lost city.

And much like its predecessors, it's cinematic, played from a third person perspective. So you always see Nathan always on the screen. There's huge set pieces, lots of combat and stealth, and puzzle solving as well. Along with the single player campaign, there will be multiplayer modes cooperate and competitive.

WHITFIELD: My goodness, OK, so now, let's talk about the Nintendo Wii, what's the hot game for it?

SALTZMAN: Yes. So the must have game for the holiday season will be The Legend of Zelda, Skyward Sword. This is again another game in a coveted series, The Legend of Zelda staring link, a young boy, out fighting evil.

This is actually a prequel to Okarina of Time, a coveted game in this series from Nintendo themselves. So with this game on the Wii, it's actually going to have a one to one sword fighting mechanic. So it's going to take advantage of the Wii motion plus peripheral, extra sensor built into the wireless remote that gives it a realistic feel.

So whatever you do in front of the television will be mirrored in the game. And along with the dungeon crawling and the fighting across towns, there's going to be a lot of aerial levels. So you're going to be flying on the back of a giant bird, for example, and traveling between these islands and clouds and back on the land as well.

So it's going to be an epic adventure. It's a single player game, but certainly may dozens of hours of content. That's coming out November 20th.

WHITFIELD: Yes and something tells me once you get hooked on that you're not going to see daylight. You're not going outside. You're just going to be parked right there in front of the screen. All right, let's talk about something else that's for the whole family, something for Kinect.

SALTZMAN: Right, so Kinect for Xbox 360 is that hands free peripheral that whatever you do in front of the TV, is mirrored in the game just like the Wii motion plus controller.

But you don't hold anything. You are the controller. And one of the biggest games from Microsoft coming out for 360 this fall is called Kinect Disneyland Adventures. OK, so it's not for the call of duty crowd. This is obviously a family-friendly game.

It's actually a simulation where you walk around 85 acres of Disneyland, you know, digitally rendered in this game and you partake in more than a dozen mini games based on famous Disney rides and movies.

So everything from Peter Pan to Pirates of the Caribbean to Alice in wonderland you're going to partake in games using your body and voice, walking around this virtual version of Disneyland interacting with characters and mascots, you know, both 40 of them in total.

You're probably seeing some video here, you know, high fiving Mickey Mouse and hugging Snow White. So I think this is going to be a great game for the family. It's certainly a cheaper alternative than packing up the family and bringing them to Disneyland.

WHITFIELD: I guess so. It seems as though family or maybe some of these manufacturers are trying to think about the family now. They're making them a lot more appealing for the families.

SALTZMAN: Yes. Well, without question the biggest game of the year will likely be Call of Duty, Modern Warfare 3 coming out I believe November 8th, but that is obviously an "M" rated game. That's a military shooter.

So I wanted to focus on some family friendly ones from each of the three big consoles. But there's a lot of content regardless of your age or taste.

WHITFIELD: All right. Marc Saltzman, thanks so much. Sounds like a lot of fun. I'm sure your family is getting involved with trying these things out too. So a double thumb's up, right?

SALTZMAN: You know it.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much. Good to see you.

SALTZMAN: Take care.

WHITFIELD: All right, for more high-tech ideas and reviews, just go to cnn.com/tech and look for the gaming and gadgets tab.

All right. The primetime Emmy Awards are tonight in Hollywood. You know how many years these awards have actually been handed out? Here are the choices. Is it 60, 63, 65? How about 70? The answer when we come right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Hollywood is gearing up for tonight's 63rd primetime Emmy Awards. Actress Jane Lynch from TV's "Glee" will host. One small screen star could actually get a long desired statuette. Our Kareen Wynter looks at the latest buzz.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANE LYNCH, VETERAN ACTOR, COMEDIANNE: I'm really excited. This is huge.

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From Emmy winner to Emmy host. Jane Lynch will once again be center stage for television's biggest night of the year.

LYNCH: I'd rarely say no to anything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm excited to see what Jane brings to the table. She's a friend and hilarious and provides the skill set for this kind of show. I'm assuming she'll knock it out of the park.

WYNTER: More than Lynch's friend Neil Patrick Harris himself hosted the Emmys in 2009.

NEIL PATRICK HARRIS, ACTOR, FORMER EMMY HOST: There has to be welcoming and inclusive and also very adept and light on your feet. That's her bread and butter.

WYNTER: Best known for her current role on the hit TV series "Glee".

LYNCH: I will bring it. WYNTER: Lynch is a Hollywood veteran having starred in dozen of TV shows and more than 60 films like "Best in Show" "Role Models" and the "40-Year-Old Virgin."

LYNCH: I'm very discreet, but I'll haunt your dreams.

WYNTER: The actress is no stranger to live television either. Hosting both the VH1 Do Something Awards and "Saturday Night Live."

LYNCH: I just want to say that you all look taller in person too.

WYNTER: For the 63rd prime time Emmy awards, don't expect any Sue Sylvester track suits. Lynch says she's opting instead for multiple gowns, tons of comedy and celebrating great television.

LYNCH: I think it's going to be hilarious.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: You know it's going to be hilarious. There's Kareen Wynter in her lovely periwinkle on the red carpet. All right, set the scene for us, action already?

WYNTER: Hi there, Fred. It is definitely heating up the sun. Just a little bit of action that we have right now. It's 80 degrees and feels like 100. So we'll all be melting by the end of the night.

But we're standing on the red carpet. Still a little early. We're waiting for the stars to arrive. The carpet opens in a couple hours. So this is the way they'll be coming in and stopping and.

Of course, talking to us, talking about what they're wearing, the big night ahead. This is where the fans will be sitting as well. So we're gearing up for that and have all that for you, Fred, when it happens.

WHITFIELD: OK. It all is going to be very competitive this evening. Is there one category that's more competitive than the others?

WYNTER: Goodness. Everyone has their eye on the best drama category. That's because "Mad Men" the last three seasons have cleaned up here at the Primetime Emmys. They won three years in a row. Everyone is wondering and waiting to see if they'll pull out their fourth win.

But they have a little bit of competition, Fred, from HBO's "Boardwalk Empire," they're a favorite going into this as well, Steve and his team. In fact, last weekend they did amazingly well at the Creative Arts Emmys and one of the lead categories won best drama.

So they could get a little bit of competition from them. but we're here, we're excited. Jane Lynch is hosting, she's also nominated. So it's going to be a fantastic night. We're hearing that she could also be doing a little song and dance. She sings on "Glee." So we can expect anything.

WHITFIELD: Something tells me she's going to be doing a lot of song and dance. All right, we'll be watching and we'll be watching you, of course, throughout the evening. Kareen Wynter on the red carpet. Thanks so much.

Of course, you can all watch the action from the red carpet tonight. We'll have Primetime Emmy Award coverage at 6:00 Eastern time.

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WHITFIELD: It's time to look at the financial week ahead with our financial reporters Poppy Harlow, Felicia Taylor and Karina Huber. We begin with Karina.

KARINA HUBER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. We finally have good news about the stock market. The major averages gained between 4 percent and 6 percent each this past week thanks to some rare optimism regarding the debt situation in Europe.

Five central banks including the Federal Reserve said they would pump U.S. dollars into the European financial system. In addition, France and Germany said Greece would stay in the euro zone.

Despite these moves, though, there's been lots of talk about Greece defaulting on its debt, which could spread hitting other European nations. So there's still no long-term plan in place right now. Felicia --

FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Karina. Mortgage rates hit a record low this past week. The average 30-year fixed rate loan fell to 4.09 percent. Mortgage rates tend to move in tandem with the ten-year Treasury bond, which is also at a record low.

Investors are buying U.S. bonds as a safe haven, a way to guard against a weakening global economy. Still, record low mortgage rates aren't doing much to boost the housing market. Home sales remain very weak. Poppy Harlow has a look at what's coming up next week.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Thanks so much, Felicia. President Obama's debt reduction plan will hit lawmakers' desks on Monday. The plan goes to the 12-member bipartisan "Super Committee." Their tasked with finding ways to cut the federal deficit by $1.2 trillion to $1.5 trillion.

President Obama says his plan will top that $1.5 trillion mark and will help stabilize our nation's debt load. No details as of yet, but the president's plan is likely to include more taxes on higher income Americans and will likely not include changes, at least not now, to Social Security. We'll track it all, of course, all week on CNN Money. Fred, back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, ladies. Time for our CNN Equals Politics update now. We're keeping an eye on the latest headlines in the cnnpolitics.com desk. Here's what's crossing right now.

The White House says tomorrow, President Obama will propose a new tax rate for people earning more than $1 million a year. It will be called the "Buffet Rule." Named after billionaire Warren Buffett who believes wealthy Americans pay less than their fair share in taxes under the current code. The White House says the new rate will be included in the president's deficit reduction plan.

House Speaker John Boehner says it's America's duty to stand by Israel. His comments came during a speech this morning before the Jewish National Fund Conference in Ohio. Boehner says the U.S. must support Israel, not as a broker or observer, but as a strong ally and reliable partner.

In the presidential race, GOP candidate Ron Paul is celebrating a victory in a delegate rich state. He has won California's Republican straw poll capturing nearly 45 percent of the vote. Rick Perry and Mitt Romney finished a distant second and third respectively.

And for the latest political news you know exactly where to go, cnnpolitics.com.

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WHITFIELD: Dominique Strauss-Kahn says whatever happened in that New York City hotel room was the result of what he calls, quote, "moral weakness." But he insists there was no violence or aggression.

The former head of the International Monetary Fund today gave his first interview since his arrest jailing and subsequent dismissal of sex assault charges.

Let's go to Paris now and CNN's Jim Bittermann. So, Jim, he spoke with French journalists. Can you elaborate any further what he meant by that?

JIM BITTERMAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think he was pretty specific and fairly combative about what he was saying this evening. I don't think that observers really expected him to be as combative as he was.

He denied that there had been as you mentioned any aggression, violence or constraint as he put it. He did however say that this is much more than a weakness. This was a moral failure on his part. He'll regret it forever. He realized he let down his friends and family and France, as he put it, Mr. Rendezvous with France.

He was rumored to be the leading candidate for president in this presidential election coming up in 2012. The fact is, he's kind of admitted guilt in the sense he was guilty for what he did to the French people. He didn't admit any guilt, however, in terms of what he was accused of in New York.

And he said about the affair still hanging in France, the complaints have been brought against him by a young journalist that he tried to rape her back eight years ago, he said that was total imagination on her part and denied that anything had happened there.

So he was on the facts denying everything. In the -- when asked about his future he said, I have no -- I'm a candidate for nothing he said. I'm going to sit back and I'm going to reflect and my whole life has been to try to serve the public and we'll just see what happens. So that's basically the kind of tone that he struck this evening, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: So, Jim, when he talked about the moral weakness, you know, failing the French people, did he elaborate any further or at least admit that he -- did he admit he had sexual relations with the woman in New York who accused him of assault?

BITTERMAN: He was not that specific. He basically stayed away from real specifics about what happened except at a couple points, he waved the prosecutor's report or what he said was the prosecutor's report. And he said that the prosecutors report did not bear out anything that Miss Dialo's attorney has been saying.

That in fact the prosecutor's report said that she was an unreliable witness and not someone who could be trusted and a number of different versions in the stories she told. So he was using the prosecutor's report in his own defense.

And, of course, I don't know that anyone has seen the entire report other than him and the other principals that are involved. I don't think it's been published. There's been a number of things published that he said purported to be the report, but what he waved around this evening was what he says is something that, in fact, takes his side of the case, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jim Bittermann in Paris, thanks so much. We'll have more on this and your reporting one hour from now. Thanks so much.

All right, checking today's other top stories, a Florida man is in custody accused of carrying out a deadly shooting this morning. Police say 57-year-old Jeremiah Fogel shot and killed a person at a home in Lakeland and then opened fire at a church shooting and injuring a pastor and associate pastor there. Police are not speculating on a motive.

Investigators may have found clues that could help them figure out what caused the deadly plane crash at an air race in Reno, Nevada. They have recovered parts from the plane's tail. It's believed a damaged part called an elevator trim tab may have played a role in the crash. Right now, the death toll stands at nine.

And I'll be back in one hour from now. As the economy struggles, many of you are seeing your adult children move back home. They're called boomerang kids. In our Financial Fix, consultant Karen Lee shows you how to set the ground rules so that you and your children can live together under one roof again and not go broke.

It's coming up in our 4:00 o'clock Eastern hour.

Stay with CNN. "YOUR MONEY" starts now.