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Troy Davis Executed; American Hikers Enjoying Freedom; Band R.E.M. Breaks Up; World Stock Markets Plunge; Palestinian Authority Likely to Seek Statehood Recognition for Palestine from U.N.; Western Delegates Walk Out of Ahmadinejad Speech at U.N.

Aired September 22, 2011 - 15:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Fred. Thank you very much.

And hello to all of you. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

First here, let's take a look at the Big Board in New York, as we are watching those markets very, very closely, as we are an hour away from of course the closing bell. And you can see, whew, that is an ugly number on Wall Street, the Dow down 467 points there, right around 10653. Of course, we will keep an eye, a very close eye on those numbers, get a quick check with Alison Kosik a little later on, once those number settle.

Meantime, here's how we do want to begin the hour. We are still waiting to hear when those two American hikers freed from that Iranian prison, when they will head home to the U.S.

It was just about 24 hours ago when you and I were watching these pictures live from Muscat, Oman, Shane Bauer, Josh Fattal racing off that airplane, into the arms of their family members there. Hours earlier, they had been freed from one of Iran's most notorious prisons, where they had been held for 26 months.

Fattal's grandparents and cousin were actually perhaps just like you watching CNN this time yesterday from their home in Seattle. I want to you watch their reaction the second they first lay eyes on him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have emerged. The families are cheering. They're so happy. They're running down the steps.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Flashing lights.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Oh, how wonderful is that. What a moment for this family. Like I said, waiting 26 months for this day to come.

I have Josh Fattal's uncle, Fred Felleman, back on the phone with me today from Seattle.

Fred, what a past 24 hours, huh? How are Josh and Shane doing? And do we know yet when they get to come home?

FRED FELLEMAN, UNCLE OF JOSH FATTAL: Well, I did get a wonderful photograph e-mailed to me from my sister that I just sent on to your studio.

BALDWIN: Here it is.

FELLEMAN: A picture of Laura, Jacob, and Josh and Alex all together and looking rather remarkably happy.

And you saw my parents in their tears of joy. I think we're all still a little shell-shocked by the wonderful nature of this. And I understand that they're doing really well and we expect to see them home pretty soon here.

BALDWIN: Do we know yet what they said, do you know yet what they said those first moments after we saw them racing down the stairs in Oman yesterday?

FELLEMAN: I don't know whether they could hear between the tears of joy and the chaos of the situation.

But I don't know. I wasn't able to discern what was being said. But my parents actually did have a chance to talk to Josh directly. And so maybe you can follow up with them and see what they said.

BALDWIN: No, we certainly will. And we actually do have some sound. I just wanted to ask you if you knew anything firsthand. But we do have some sound as well from Josh and Shane right after this moment here, after the hugs and tears, tasting freedom in Oman. Let's listen to this together.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH FATTAL, FREED PRISONER: We're sincerely grateful to the government of Oman for hosting us and our families.

SHANE BAUER, FREED PRISONER: Two years in prison is too long and we sincerely hope for the freedom of other political prisoners and other unjustly imprisoned people in Iran.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Fred, you know Josh better than we do. How does he look? How does he sound to you?

FELLEMAN: He looks -- this is -- every time I would get a glimpse of him, between the trial or during the any -- during any of these milestones, I'm only looking for the glint in his eyes, the smirk in his mouth.

And at no point -- I have seen him look a little downtrodden, a little beaten up, but not -- emotionally -- but not ever broken. And he seems as vivacious and animated as ever. So I'm confident that this guy, who has a tremendously strong constitution, both physically and emotionally, is coming out of this hole. BALDWIN: Yes, we're looking at the moment. You could see Shane racing down, throwing his arms around Sarah Shourd, his fiancee, we should also again mentioned. Shourd was arrested with Josh and Shane in Iran. She was released just last year because of health concerns and then Shane proposed to Sarah when they were in Evin prison in Tehran.

Fred, what do you know about how these two, these three spent those 26 months inside that prison? Do you know?

FELLEMAN: How they spent them?

BALDWIN: How they spent their time, what they did.

(CROSSTALK)

FELLEMAN: Josh and Shane were roomed together. Sarah was alone.

BALDWIN: Separate.

FELLEMAN: So that was really, really a hard time for her and to be alone all that long. They would get an hour or two a day to walk outside and then they would get maybe like 15 minutes of television. That was their sort of connection to reality.

One story I did hear was that when Shane told Josh he wanted to propose to Sarah that Josh said he would forego his hour or two of daylight that day in order to give him some alone time outside, so they can ask -- he can propose. And so talk about good friends, if you only get an hour or two of sunshine a day and you forego that. I think those guys are going to be forever inseparable.

BALDWIN: I think so.

And then you have the picture. Let's put the video back up of Josh's grandparents who we saw. I don't know if that was laughter or crying there. Here they are, the grandparents and the cousin. They were watching the news yesterday with us. They're in their 80s. Fred, how hard has this been on them?

FELLEMAN: It's been -- you know, there's been a lot of emotional collateral damage associated with this protracted period.

And my parents are 87. And they are not what you call spring chickens, but they are very much with it. They know what's going on and have had the displeasure of watching the various false starts that this process has gone through.

And my father's heart has not been all that cooperative during a couple of these milestones. But he's hanging in there strong right now and we all need to close this loop in being able to put our own hugs around Josh and family.

BALDWIN: Do you know yet when you will get to do that? Do we know when they will hop on another plane and come home? FELLEMAN: Well, I expect it will be momentarily. I think that they have had enough of touring the Middle East, to tell you the truth. But I don't know exactly when, but do I believe that my parents have spent the past couple months in Seattle with me avoiding the hurricane season of Florida and are heading back next week.

(CROSSTALK)

FELLEMAN: So they will be potentially able to see them soon. But I'm waiting to -- as just the uncle sitting here in the wings, I'm waiting to hear what Josh wants to do and what he needs. And he might just need to get some space. Or he may need to sit in the middle of a city and just feel the vibration of all these people, in contrast to the isolation that he's been subject to.

But until he tells us what he wants, I'm just waiting in the wings to be helpful if I can.

BALDWIN: I cannot imagine. Fred Felleman, thank you so much for calling back in. We really appreciate it.

(CROSSTALK)

FELLEMAN: And I hope you -- did you see the still image that I sent that Laura sent from Oman?

BALDWIN: We got it. We got it.

FELLEMAN: Great.

BALDWIN: We have played it a couple of times. Thank you so much for sending it and sharing it with us. And perhaps we will check in with you once Josh and Shane are back home. Fred, many thanks to you. Have a good one.

FELLEMAN: Thank you so much.

BALDWIN: And now this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNELIESE MACPHAIL, MOTHER OF MURDERED POLICE OFFICER: It sounds awful, but it is kind of relief that it is over for me now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That is the reaction from the family of a murdered police officer after learning Troy Davis was in fact executed. But many supporters of Davis still believe in his innocence.

Also ahead, CNN's own Ben Wedeman finds possible yellow cake uranium in this Libyan warehouse. How did it get there? What is being done about it? Be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: The issue of the death penalty very much so dominating discussions after last night's execution of Troy Davis in Jackson, Georgia.

Davis was put to death by lethal injection for the 1989 killing of off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail. Davis' lawyers fought to save his life up until the last minute until the U.S. Supreme Court finally denied his stay. And one of Davis' attorneys is calling the execution last night a legal lynching.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS RUFFIN, DISTRICT ATTORNEY FOR TROY DAVIS: I witnessed something that was horrible, a tragedy. This night, the state of Georgia legally lynched a brave, a good, and indeed an innocent man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Davis was defiant to the very end. Witnesses say after he was strapped to the death gurney, he lifted his head and -- the MacPhail family -- he did not kill Officer MacPhail, didn't have a gun at the time. MacPhail's mother says she is relieved the sentence was carried out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Has justice been served?

MACPHAIL: In my mind, yes. In my mind, it has. It took a long time to get there, but it really does in my mind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Several hundred protesters, demonstrators rallied outside the prison there in Jackson, Georgia, where Davis was executed.

And his case drew international attention, because seven of those nine witnesses who testified several decades ago recanted or contradicted their earlier testimony. And among those holding this vigil last night was Davis' sister, who says she will continue fighting to prove his innocence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTINA CORREIA, SISTER OF TROY DAVIS: I have to get over that because I believe in a higher power. And I believe that he is going to give me the strength to carry on and to continue this fight, not just for my brother, but all the Troy Davises around the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Former President Jimmy Carter has been outspoken, had called for sparing Davis' life, releasing this statement. Let me read this for you.

He says: "Rosalynn and I are deeply saddened by the execution of Troy Anthony Davis by the state of Georgia. If one of our fellow citizens can be executed with so much doubt surrounding his guilt, then the death penalty system in our country is unjust and outdated."

David Mattingly joins me here to talk about this.

You were there. I was watching you for hours on end last night through "360." If you can, just take me back to those moments last night. You were surrounded by, it seemed, a fairly peaceful, solemn occasion, people holding candles. A lot of those people didn't want Davis to die.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. There were hundreds of people, most of them across the street from the gates of the prison facility where we were.

Between them and the facility were about 100 armed officers, many of them in riot gear, which really struck us as sort of strange, because the demonstrations had been so peaceful up until that point. But as the night went on, when we got to 7:00, the time when the execution was supposed to take place, there was this crescendo of emotion.

Demonstrators wanted everyone to know that they were there and what they -- how they felt at the time. And when they realized that there was a delay, there was sort of a brief period of elation. There was some jubilation in the crowd. People cheering. But then as the hours went by, people became emotionally weary, physically weary as the night wore on.

And once they got word that the Supreme Court had rejected the stay, everything was very quiet. A lot of prayer. There were some tears. At the time of the execution, people were lighting candles. There was a lot of silent prayer, group prayer. People resigned to what was obviously going to be inevitable once the Supreme Court ruling came down. It was a night for a lot of personal reflection and people there walking away feeling like that they weren't done.

BALDWIN: We also though on the flip side heard from Officer MacPhail's mother saying this is relief. This is relief for her. But then at the same time, we heard the sound from Troy Davis' sister saying, even after his death she wants to prove his innocence. How can she do that?

MATTINGLY: I wouldn't know how they would go about doing that. They have had so much help, so many people involved in this fight for the last 20 years. In the last few years, since his last, past delay with execution back in 2008, there's been a tremendous amount of work going on here.

I don't know how they will proceed in the future. But Troy Davis has become more than just a single inmate being executed on Georgia's death row. He has now become a tremendous symbol, not just in the state of Georgia, but worldwide. Remember, there were over 600,00 people that signed this petition signing on to his case. There are many, many people that were emotionally invested in seeing him have his sentence commuted, having him get off of death row. When that didn't happen, now you have a lot of people with a lot of unresolved energy, wanting to see something happen here. So I really don't think that this is the end.

BALDWIN: I don't think it is either. We will continue this discussion with someone else who is going to me next hour talking about the death penalty and here as we move forward nationwide.

David Mattingly, excellent job last and my thanks to you.

MATTINGLY: Yes.

BALDWIN: Now this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We used to have the best infrastructure in the world here in America.

We're the country that built the Intercontinental Railroad, the interstate highway systems. We built the Hoover Dam. We built the Grand Central Station.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: President Obama still pressing for infrastructure spending to create jobs.

Also, the NFL, it's not taking kindly to fakers, sending out a memo after players were caught pretending to be injured so the referee would call a time-out? That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Checking our top stories now, a woman accused of a deadly shooting spree at the University of Alabama-Huntsville will go to trial in March. This is the first time we have actually seen Amy Bishop in just about a year-and-a-half.

She is the woman accused of killing those three professors in 2009 where she worked in the biology department. Prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty against her.

And the remnants of the former Typhoon Roke are moving now across the Northern Pacific. The storm killed at least 10 people in Japan. Four people are still missing. CNN iReporters are sharing their images with us here of the storm. Mohammed Tolakter (ph) shot this video from his 12th-floor balcony in Yokosuka, Japan. He said he didn't see a lot of damage in the area per se, but there were really strong winds and nonstop torrential rain.

And the NFL not taking too kindly to fakers. A league-wide memo sent out today, this whole thing was in response to this moment during Monday night's game. You see a Giants player is on the ground seemingly injured to the referee's right. So they have got to call a time-out. You see him waving his hands. But look again. You can actually see, he is walking just fine and then fell to the ground.

The NFL says teams and players by faking injury will face stiff penalties. The memo from the executive vice president of football operations says this -- quote -- "Those found to be violators will be subject to appropriate disciplinary action for conduct detrimental to the game. Discipline could include fines of coaches, players, and clubs, suspensions or forfeiture of draft choices."

And right around this money now, President Obama just wrapping his speech, as he has been near this decaying bridge to drive home a political point in Ohio: Fixing bridges could put people to work. President Obama in Cincinnati today pushing for his jobs bill. But with so many bridges in disrepair, why is the president choosing this one?

The Brent Spence Bridge spans the Ohio River connecting the home states of two of the president's most powerful rivals, GOP Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Speaker John Boehner of Ohio.

Let's to go Cincinnati. In the crowd, we find White House correspondent Brianna Keilar there in Cincinnati.

And, Brianna, just quickly here, what was the president's message? What was the headline?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, it was pretty interesting.

He was very aggressive. This is something that we have seen over the last couple of weeks, aggressively calling out Republicans by name, House Speaker John Boehner, Mitch McConnell using this, the Brent Spence Bridge, as a backdrop, because Kentucky is over there. Ohio is over here, really sort of trying to highlight what he says Republicans who are standing in the way of his $447 billion jobs plan.

Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: But -- but part of the reason I came here is because Mr. Boehner and Mr. McConnell, those are the two most powerful Republicans in government. They can either kill this jobs bill or they can help pass this jobs bills.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now, you will remember, Brooke, that the president kind of during that whole bruising debt ceiling battle tried to strike a tone of being the grownup in the room, the compromiser, the reasonable one.

And now he is facing in the aftermath of that dismal approval numbers and we're seeing a very different tack that he's taking, being very aggressive in calling out Republicans.

BALDWIN: Brianna, I have got one more for you and then I will let you go. I know the band there is loud.

But we were looking into this bridge. And we know that the president's jobs proposals, it calls to get people jobs, get people back to work now, projects that are shovel-ready. But we discovered this particular bridge there connecting Kentucky and Ohio, it is anything but shovel-ready. What's the deal there?

KEILAR: That's exactly right. And that's what a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Transportation told me, that this really isn't the best example of a shovel-ready bridge or a shovel-ready project.

That's something, Brooke, that Republicans are absolutely slamming the president for trying to promote a jobs plan that he says will create jobs immediately and then coming here, a bridge that best-case scenario wouldn't have construction going on until mid, more likely late 2013. That's with an expedited process. More likely you wouldn't see jobs here on a wide scale until 2015.

Here's what the White House is saying. They're saying they didn't say it was shovel-ready. Their point that they're making, and this is what we heard from Jay Carney today, is that this is symbolic of the crumbling infrastructure across the country, and that Republicans have a choice to help out the president to do something for jobs, and that instead the White House says, they're deciding to play politics instead, trying to beat him politically, rather than try to do something for the American people -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Brianna Keilar, thank you.

Speaking of the American people and stocks and the Dow, let's take this full here, the Big Board on Wall Street. The Dow is down now over 500 points, as we're just about a half-hour away from the closing bell, a huge, huge drop. We will check in Alison Kosik and see what's behind these numbers today.

Also, it is the end of REM as we know it. After more than 30 years, the band is breaking up. I will actually talk to one of my favorite musicians who has been very much so inspired by REM and played with members on this last album. Colin Meloy of the Decemberists is going to join me live here in a couple minutes.

But, first, Anderson Cooper introduces us to the top 10 CNN Heroes of 2011. And they will each receive $50,000 and a shot at the $250,000 prize in December -- Anderson.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Anderson Cooper.

I'm Anderson Cooper. All year, we've been introducing you to everyday people who are changing the world. We call them CNN Heroes. Well, today, we announce the top ten CNN Heroes for 2011.

The honorees are in alphabetical order by first name. Amy Stokes. She uses the Internet to match teens lacking role models with adults around the world. Bruno Serato is serving up a solution so no kids don't go to bed hungry. Derreck Kayongo collects discarded hotel soaps and reprocesses them to save lives. Diane Latiker, in a violent neighborhood, she opened her door inviting gang members in.

Eddie Canales helps young football players sidelined by spinal cord injuries. Elena Duron Miranda offers poor children a way out of the trash dump and into school. Patrice Millet diagnosed with incurable cancer, started feeding and coaching children from Haiti's slums. Robin Lim helps poor women have healthy pregnancies and safe deliveries.

Sal Dimiceli pays for rent, food, and basic necessities to keep the working poor afloat. And Taryn Davis, who built the Sister of Healing for a new generation of American war widows.

Congratulations. The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2011. Which one inspires you the most?

Go to CNNHeroes.com online or on your mobile device and vote for CNN Hero of the Year.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Let me get you that URL one more time. Here's what I need you to do for me. Hop on CNNHeroes.com right now. That's CNNHeroes.com. Then, of course, watch with us as we honor all of them on December 11. We're calling our CNN Heroes an all-star tribute hosted by the man just saw, Anderson Cooper.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The Dow taking a tumble today into the red. We're half-an- hour away from the closing bell.

And I want to check in with Alison Kosik as we one more look here at the Big Board.

Alison, what gives? The Fed announcement yesterday? The world markets? Why the tumble?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. The Fed announcement yesterday really wasn't -- it really was the catalyst that kind of got things rolling, because it wasn't so much the stimulus program that the Fed announced. It is what it said in the statement, that the economy looks like it will be weaker in the future. And that really set stocks into a tailspin yesterday.

And that sell-off, it just hasn't let up. It has been a really brutal day for the markets. You see the Dow down 491 points. It actually may be one of the top five worst Dow point drops for the year. We will see where things end up.

The volatility definitely picking -- picking up right now. We have got a half-hour left in this session. And it is pretty usual on a day like today to see the volatility pick up, as investors try to shore up their positions before that closing bell that everybody is waiting for today, Brooke.

BALDWIN: We'll check back in with you when the bell rings in half an hour. Alison Kosik, my thanks to you.

Now to southern Libya. More scattered fighting even as the national transition council, the NTC is urging Moammar Gadhafi's tribesmen to surrender their weapons. They're trying to mop up pockets of resistance and have been in negotiations with loyalists. The NTC warns its patience is running out.

All of this come hours after the Libyan rebels took a CNN team to the two large military warehouses. What did they find? You're looking at it, thousands of barrels, some marked radioactive, two or three bags filled with what experts say could be a crude form of uranium. CNN's senior correspondent Ben Wedeman takes us inside.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We came upon this site about 15 minutes drive to the northeast of the southern Libyan city. There on a military base, we were shown by an NTC field commander two huge warehouses full of thousands of blue barrels with indistinct markings. But some of them had a yellow tape on them which said "radioactive." We also found in one of those warehouses several bags of yellow powder also closed with this tape marked radioactive.

We showed pictures of those bags to experts outside of Libya. And they say that is most likely yellowcake which is crude uranium. And in fact, to create enriched uranium for the use and production of nuclear weapons, you need much more in the way of processing that Libya actually possesses.

The real danger, of course, is that local people will get on this base and get their hands on this material which is very dangerous if improperly handled. Also on the site, hundreds of what seemed to be surface to air missiles. The worry is that those missiles could easily blow up next to the nuclear material, causing the danger for the entire area. I'm ben Wedeman, CNN reporting from southern Libya.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Ben Wedeman, thank you.

Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blaming the U.S. for a litany of international problems, including the global financial crisis. U.S. and several world officials react in a way you have to see.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, took on the United States in a speech at the U.N. general assembly. Today Ahmadinejad blamed the U.S. for a litany of international problems including the current global financial crisis. But I want to you watch this. Watch what happened during his speech. Here you go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, IRANIAN PRESIDENT (via translator): The slave master or colonial powers today reparations to the affected nations. If the damage --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: There goes France. There's another one, another one. A flood of western delegations getting up, walk out including Germany, Ireland, and the United States. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AHMADINEJAD: -- political powers in the United States and in Europe. Will there remain any gaps --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And out they go.

The Palestinians meantime, they want to be recognized as a state. And in the past President Obama has said they should be. But is the United Nations really the best way, the best path to an independent state of Palestine? Certainly the path of Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas has chosen. He plans to submit a request for full U.N. membership. He'll do that tomorrow. And President Obama is trying to head that off in his speech yesterday to the general assembly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Peace will not come through statements and resolution at the United Nations. If it were that easy, it would have been accomplished by now. Ultimately, it is the Israelis and the Palestinians who must live side by side. Ultimately, it is the Israelis and the Palestinians, not us, who must reach agreement on the issues that divide them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Ghaith Al-Omari is the executive director of the American task force in Palestine, also a former adviser to Mahmoud Abbas. Mr. Al-Omari, thank you for coming on.

GHAITH AL-OMARI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AMERICAN TASK FORCE IN PALESTINE: Thank you for having me.

BALDWIN: The first question is going to the United Nations seen by many as a very risky move by president Abbas. Is it worth the risk?

AL-OMARI: It is an expression of frustration. I don't think they believe it will change the facts on the ground, but they are taking that step to show the world that the issue is still alive. Is it worth the risk? I don't know. But the risk is not only to the Palestinians. It is to the Israelis and the international community.

And therefore no matter what happens in the U.N., I think we have to keep our eye on the ball. To make sure things do not deteriorate to create a new crisis. Let the diplomatic crisis pass and let us see what we can do after that to make sure there is some sense of progress.

BALDWIN: Let's take it a step further. We know the United States plans to veto the full membership. There could still be a symbolic vote within the general assembly. What would the Palestinian people gain beyond a symbol of frustration? What will they gain for that?

AL-OMARI: The gain will be a reaffirmation of Palestinian rights. But as you indicate, it will not create any real changes on the ground. Ultimately, the changes will happen two ways. Negotiations on the one hand, and on the one hand, the continuation the Palestinian have been doing over the last two years, which is building their institutions on the ground, working on improving the economy.

These two tracks are the two track that's will get real results. The U.N. move is simply a way to job on the system and to create a sense of urgency. I don't think it will get to the general assembly any time soon. We have gained a few weeks and possibly a few months for diplomacy because even though Abbas will present the request tomorrow, the vote will not happen for a while. We have these weeks and months. Let's hope they are used in a constructive way.

BALDWIN: Let's take one of those options. You know, Mr. Abbas, is there any way he, the Palestinians will change course and agree to talk directly with the Israelis?

AL-OMARI: The Palestinians are not, and in particular, Abbas has been saying negotiation is the first option. Today we are seeing diplomacy led by the U.N., the U.S., the EU, and Russia to try to create negotiations. If sum a formula can be reached, such a formula is possible and I understand that they're very close to reaching it. We might yet see a return to negotiations, not tomorrow, not the day after but hopefully within the foreseeable future.

BALDWIN: Mr. Al-Omari, I just want to show you an image. I don't know if you saw this. It was Mahmoud Abbas during president Obama's speech to the G-8 yesterday. You can see right hand on the forehead. What does this image? What does it say to you?

AL-OMARI: I think the Palestinian delegation in particular, and generally the Palestinian public were disappointed by President Obama's speech. Not necessarily by the substance of the speech. That was expected, but by the tone. President Obama and rightly so, showed empathy with Israel, and they are still our strongest ally.

But he has failed to show the Palestinians suffering. He talk about political issues but did not show the kind of tone of empathy that he has been known to show. I think a mix of the two has created a sense of frustration. This is what we see in President Abbas's gesture.

BALDWIN: The president falling short showing empathy yesterday morning. Mr. Al-Omari, thank you very much.

AL-OMARI: Thank you. BALDWIN: Now here's a question. What's the first thing to go when you're having a tough time making ends meet? How did designer dresses, purses, shoes? Coming up, we continue our in depth coverage on the new face of poverty with a look at this boutique shopping experience, started by two ladies who love to shop for girls who never had a chance to be choosey about clothes. That conversation is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: In depth today, the number of people applying for unemployment dropped last week. The labor department says there are 9,000 fewer first time applications for unemployment, but more than 400,000 people filed claims. So the ailing economy, the tough job market, we just saw the Dow taking a tumble as well, the housing market, it is all playing a part in pushing families to the edge.

And it is putting a new face on poverty. More and more young people, they're risking living in poverty, now -- more so now than World War II, and we're talking one in five. Kim Fettig, a consumer reporter with CBS Atlanta News, and clothing boutique Dana Spinola are the cofounders of Free Fab'rik, a charity program that helps teens and moms in need. Ladies, good to have you here. This whole thing started. You were all sitting around.

KIM FETTIG, CBS ATLANTA NEWS: Doing what we all do.

BALDWIN: How did the idea, what specifically is this, Free Fab'rik?

DANA SPINOLA, CO-FOUNDER, "FREE FAB'RIK: It is free shopping sprees for those that need it, people that can't go into a boutique and shop. What we did is we gathered clothing and transformed our boutiques into no price tags. So we had girls to reach out to us. And we have personal shoppers. They came in and had the shopping spree.

BALDWIN: So this is an actual boutique. Certain days --

FETTIG: The boutique that Dana owns in the Atlanta area and all around the country now because she's franchised. You can turn them into free shopping days for the girl. It started out we were reaching out to shelters. As you mentioned, with the number of people out of work, the foreclosure rate in Atlanta, we were seeing people not just in shelters but families saying, we can't afford back to school shopping.

BALDWIN: So is it adults? Is it kids? All of the above?

SPINOLA: We've done a couple different ones. We can help so many people. The donations are so many. We've had kids come from back to school. We've had moms come in for holiday shopping. A bunch of different things.

BALDWIN: What more do these people say when they walk in the doors? It is a new face now, a new face of poverty. What are they saying when they take the beautiful clothes people donated?

FETTIG: Some of the girls we met with, we started a mentor program, they said we're living in transitional housing. We just want our parents to get a job again. But they're so happy to be able to spend time with us, to have confidence going back to school. That's what we all wanted to do. High school and junior high, it's tough enough.

BALDWIN: When you want to have cute clothes and you can't quite have the same jeans that your friend has. Maybe you can to go fabric.

SPINOLA: Fabricstyles.com/charity for Free Fab'rik. And you can find out how to donate clothing, how to be a volunteer at these events.

BALDWIN: Wonderful organization. Check it out. Thank you very much.

And tomorrow our in depth coverage continues. The face of poverty is all around us, especially at the grocery store. In fact, after the show today I'm going grocery shopping with a father of four who has found some creative ways to stretch a dollar and a meal.

Now though, Brad Pitt seems to be backtracking a little bit more after allegedly suggesting his marriage to Jennifer Aniston wasn't too interesting. What he is announces about his ex.

And then this.

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BALDWIN: The end of R.E.M. A lot of you are talking about it and tweeting about it. It's trending. That's after the break.

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BALDWIN: You know the song, you know, the band. And now after more than three decades, 15 studio albums, global success, R.E.M. has announced they're breaking up, and that's what is trending today. The announcement on their website, I want to read just part of it to you. They said this -- "We have decided to call it a day as a band. We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, finality, and astonishment at all we have accomplished."

And you know what, they inspired scores of musicians as well including the singer/songwriter of the hugely successful Indy rock group, the Decemberists.

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BALDWIN: Colin Meloy good enough to call in from on the road, he's out and about promoting his new children's book called "Wildwood." The last time and u beyond and I sat down, sir, we were talking about this latest album and you were telling me that R.E.M. was one of the first bands that really sort of made you love music. How so?

COLIN MELOY, THE DECEMBERISTS: Yes, I grew up in Helena, Montana and had a hard -- there was a whole lot of access to -- interesting music around there. And an uncle in college, mixed taped. He would send new mixed tapes of things he was discovering from the college radio station. And R.E.M. was one of those bands. I think the first song was "Superman" from "Life's Rich Pageant," and it kind of changed my life.

BALDWIN: What is it about these that totally resonates with fans all over the world?

MELOY: I think they came around at a time, you know, when punk rock was a little tapped out and new wave was on the rise and they kind of created this new really American music, you know, borrowing both from new wave and punk, but you can hear like a birds influence. There was something really universal about it and something really novel and new and I think really American, too, in so much music, punk and new wave was coming from England at the time.

BALDWIN: Your latest album, "The Kind is Dead" R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck played on three tracks. Did you have any inkling at any time that the end was near for R.E.M.?

MELOY: Well, you know, chatting with peter after the show, he played with us at Edgefield, we did two nights in Portland, and he was mentioning that as the band was together and they were working on a couple of new songs for this greatest hits package coming out soon that they kind of had a weird feeling of finality to it, like it might be the last thing they do. I didn't really delve, but I guess I wasn't surprised to see the news yesterday.

BALDWIN: Favorite song?

MELOY: By R.E.M.? Oh, man. Geez. Going - "South Central Rain." That would probably be on the top there.

BALDWIN: Yes. Before I let you go, I want to mention as I mentioned a moment ago, you were on the road with your wife, Carson. You have an amazing, you're an amazing song writer, but now, you've taken your written this children's book. She's illustrated it. How's the tour going?

MELOY: It's going good. Yes, it's an illustrated novel and it's been great so far. It's been a lot of fun. Meeting people in a way I haven't with the Decemberists.

BALDWIN: Tougher than a rock 'n' roll tour?

MELOY: In some ways, yes, they certainly get you moving and doing a lot more. At least on a rock tour, you can kind of disappear on the bus for a little bit.

BALDWIN: Colin Meloy, thanks for stopping for your biggest friend here an CNN. I really appreciate it. Again, his book is called "Wildwood." and R.E.M., fans, they'll be releasing this greatest hits album in November and maybe we'll feature them in a Music Monday as we did the Decemberists. Colin, again, thank you very much.

Coming up, is President Obama finished playing nice with Republicans?

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OBAMA: You're already hearing the Republicans and Congress dusting off the old talking points. You can write their press releases.

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BALDWIN: Gloria Borger is up next. She's breaking down what many are calling the president's transformation.

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BALDWIN: Chief political analyst Gloria Borger joins us with the latest news fresh off the CNN Political Ticker. Gloria, I know you wrote this column on CNN.com about the transformation you see of Obama. Talk to me. What kind of transformation?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I saw Barack Obama as more of a Clark Kent figure in the debt ceiling negotiations, for example. Lots of liberals thought he was somebody negotiating with himself, a little more passive, trying to be the grown-up in the room.

And then suddenly what we saw coming out this week was the guy going into the phone booth and come out as superman, right, the hero to the base of the Democratic Party laying down a marker, saying this is where I am going to stand in these negotiations with the super- committee.

So I think we saw very different kind of Obama. I think he was reacting to House Speaker Boehner, who had given a speech saying no taxes can be a part of this deal. So the president decided, I'm going to lay down my marker at the beginning of this, but now we just have to wait for the super-committee to get something done because these folks have staked out very, very different positions.

BALDWIN: And people can read your piece, CNN.com/opinion, all things superman and Clark Kent. Quickly, we know, there's another debate here tonight in Florida. Thirty seconds. What should we expect?

BORGER: Well, I think we're going to expect more fireworks on the Social Security issue which started in our debate in Tampa. Mitt Romney has made it very, very clear he's going to continue to take on Rick Perry. He's already said that somebody who wants to take on Social Security is unelectable, would obliterate rate the party. He's put out another press release saying he's going to --

BALDWIN: Gloria, forgive me, I must interrupt and go to the closing bell. It's been an ugly day. My thanks to you.

BORGER: Yes.

And there she is, the closing bell. It has been a tough day and the Dow has tumbled very much so into the red. We'll take a look here in a minute and see just how deeply the Dow has tumbled.