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Palestinian Push for Statehood; GOP Debate: Fact vs. Fiction; Top 10 CNN Heroes; Rise of a Palestinian Leader; Palestinian Push for Statehood; Patient's New Hands: One Year Later; Conservatives Converge on Orlando; Falling Satellite Could Hit U.S.; Tracking Brain Trauma in Boxers

Aired September 23, 2011 - 11:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Live from Studio 7, I'm Suzanne Malveaux.

Want to get you up to speed for Friday, September 23rd.

It is the first day of fall. There's high drama at the United Nations. That is happening soon.

We expect the Palestinian leader at the podium. That in the nebs hour.

Mahmoud Abbas, he is set to ask the U.N. to recognize Palestine as a sovereign country. Israel and the U.S., they oppose that move. They want Palestinians to achieve statehood through peace talks with Israel so they can have a greater say in the outcome. Well, if Abbas puts the measure before the Security Council, the U.S. says it's going to block it.

All this playing out on the streets as well. Young Palestinians who want statehood threw rocks and bottles at Israeli border guards. That happened today. The Israelis responded with rubber bullets and stun grenades.

President Abbas has called for protesters to keep things peaceful. Israel has put additional forces along the border in case things get out of hand.

And Pakistan absolutely furious over accusations by the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen. For the first time publicly, he is accusing Pakistan's spy agency -- that is the ISI -- of supporting the insurgents who attacked the U.S. Embassy in Kabul just last week, among others. It was carried out by the Haqqani network. That is a group that is closely tied to the Taliban.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADM. MIKE MULLEN, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: The Haqqani network, for one, acts as a veritable arm of Pakistan's Internal Services Intelligence Agency. With ISI support, Haqqani operatives planned and conducted that truck bomb attack, as well as the assault on our embassy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Well, these aren't the first allegations that Pakistan was helping terrorists, but Mullen, he is the highest ranking U.S. official to make those claims publicly and forcefully.

Well, stocks earlier today tumbled at the open, but they are trying -- they are trying to stage a comeback. Right now we're looking at the Dow blue chips. They are up just a smidgen, .49 points there.

It's been a brutal week, as you know, for investors. The Dow fell more than 300 points. That was just yesterday.

Well, political gridlock is pushing Washington closer now to a partial government shutdown next week. Early today, House Republicans pushed through a bill funding the federal government until November 18th, but it cuts money for FEMA's disaster budget. Senate Democrats, they don't like it. The House plans to adjourn today, so that means the Senate must pass the House bill as is or allow a shutdown.

He is leading in the polls, so Republican rivals, they all ganged up on him. Yes, that's right, Rick Perry, at last night's presidential debate. That happened in Orlando. He and Mitt Romney accused each other of flip-flopping on issues such as Social Security and health care.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's a Rick Perry out there that's saying -- almost a quote -- it says that the federal government shouldn't be in the pension business, that it's unconstitutional. Unconstitutional, and it should be returned to the States. So you better find that Rick Perry and get him to stop saying that.

GOV. RICK PERRY (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think Americans just don't know sometimes which Mitt Romney they're dealing with. He's for Obamacare and now he's against it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Congresswoman Michele Bachmann called for a zero tax rate. That is, no federal income tax. Bachmann says it's your money and you should keep it.

So there are huge celebrations in Yemen right now. That country's president returned from medical treatment in Saudi Arabia today. Ali Abdullah Saleh was wounded in June during an attack on the presidential compound. Many think his return will only whip up tensions between his supporters and anti-government protesters.

All right. We love this story. Diana Nyad, she is giving it another shot, another try.

Tonight, she's going to jump in the water in Cuba, hoping to become the first person to swim to Florida without a shark cage. Well, Nyad, she called off her mission before, Cuba to Florida swim, earlier this summer after 29 hours in the water after a severe asthma attack.

Well, Nyad was 61 then. Now she's 62, trying again. Good for her.

Well, everybody learns E equals MC2. I remember that back in high school physics. Well, was Albert Einstein wrong?

Swiss scientists say they have broken the universal speed limit. They've made tiny particles travel faster than the speed of light. So, granted, it's just 60 billionth of a second faster, but, still, they believe they have a new definition.

The battle for Palestinian statehood, it's front and center on the world stage today. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, he's set to make a formal request in the next hour to become a full member state of the United Nations.

So, he knows already that his bid cannot succeed. That's because it's going to need to pass a vote by the U.N. Security Council. And even if it does, the U.S. Has pledged a veto.

The United States, just one of five countries with veto power. The others, China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom.

Senior State Department Producer Elise Labott, she's joining us live at the U.N.

Elise, you have broken many stories in covering the United Nations General Assembly. You've watched all of these power players get together. This is a real showdown here.

Why do you suspect that the Palestinian leader is making this push right now?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN SR. STATE DEPARTMENT PRODUCER: Well, Suzanne, we understand from our sources that the reason they're doing it right now -- for two reasons.

First of all, the Palestinians say, listen, the Oslo Accords were 18 years ago when they first decided to start negotiations, and they haven't gotten their international legitimacy from these negotiations. They want to get their international legitimacy from the international community, and then they want to negotiate with the Israelis as two states negotiating, not one occupying power to the occupying people.

Secondly, they say, listen, we're really frustrated with U.S. policy. They're frustrated with U.S. policy, and they feel that they really have no option. It's a desperate attempt -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: So, if Abbas knows that the U.S. is going to veto this, why go forward? Do they get anything out of this? Is this all about symbolism? What do they take away, Elise? Help us understand.

LABOTT: Well, it's a little bit about symbolism, and it's a little bit about trying to strengthen his hand, kind of upping the ante, as they say. What he hopes to do is sweeten the pot, for kind of terms of reference, for a peace deal, and right now the international community is really dancing on a pin.

He's leaving from New York with a sword other the head of the international community, trying to get everybody to come up with the best option. And then he'll agree to negotiations, but he's going to leave this, let it brew for a few weeks, and see what the international community comes up with for him. He's holding all the cards right now -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Do we think that Abbas, by going forward to the international body, is he going to be able to privately perhaps squeeze anything out of President Obama or anything out of the Israeli leader, Benjamin Netanyahu?

LABOTT: Well, right now we understand that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is negotiating between the Israelis and Palestinians, this -- what they call a quartet statement. And the quartet is the U.S., the EU, the U.N., and Russia, these terms of reference. And what he's hoping to get are a couple of things.

He wants a negotiation based on these 1967 borders that President Obama mentioned in his May speech with agreed-upon swaps. What he really wants is something that will stop settlements. We've been watching this last year with settlements being the real issue between Israelis and Palestinians not being able to.

What he wants is a settlement freeze. We don't understand that he's going to be able to get that explicitly, but we do understand that in this statement, perhaps the parties will agree not to provocative actions during the period of negotiations. And implicit, that's a settlement freeze.

But right now we understand that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is willing to play ball. He's softening a little bit. But we understand they will be negotiating throughout the day.

The quartet envoys are meeting right now. And everyone really is looking to see how they can get President Abbas to walk away from the U.N. Security Council.

MALVEAUX: And Elise, you have been talking to a lot of these leaders, as well as the diplomats there. Is there a sense of nervousness at all when they see what is taking place in Israel, when they see what's taking place on the border, when they see folks that are starting to throw rocks, and you have got Israelis responding with weaponry? Do they worry that perhaps this is going to make the situation escalate there?

LABOTT: Absolutely, Suzanne. This is what everybody was fearing would happen, that this bid for statehood would create expectations in the Palestinian territories, and they would be dashed, and then the Palestinians might resort to violence.

And also, if you look around the rest of the region right now, the Arab Spring, right now the people are kind of running the street, if you will, and you don't have these friendly leaders that are willing to guarantee peace between Israelis and Palestinians. You saw what happened in Egypt last week with that attack on the Israeli Embassy. Israel is facing a much more hostile environment, and some diplomats do think that might give Israel the impetus to negotiate.

Certainly the United States has been very concerned about a possible third intifada. And even Arabs themselves didn't want President Abbas to go to the U.N. Security Council for that very reason.

MALVEAUX: Excellent report, Elise. We appreciate it. Obviously, we will be keeping our eyes on both of those very important speeches, the one from the Palestinian leader, Abbas, as well as Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

And it all comes down to really what happens at the U.N. today. We're going to be hearing from the Palestinian leader, as we know, who's demanding that Palestine be recognized by the United States -- rather, by the U.N. -- as its own state.

And then later from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He's going to take the stage. Many assume that, obviously, he's going to be shooting that down. That is not a surprise.

We're going to be keeping a close eye on all of these speeches and the developments out of the United Nations all day today on CNN NEWSROOM.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Well, when they weren't taking shots at Rick Perry, the Republican presidential candidates, they took aim at President Obama during last night's debate. We heard a lot of claims, allegations flying back and forth.

Our Truth Squad has been taking a closer look to separate fact from political fiction. CNN's Tom Foreman, he is joining us from Washington.

Tom, we heard a lot of things last night, so let's start with Mitt Romney talking about how President Obama has handled Israel and the Palestinians.

Here is what he said last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: And the president went about this all wrong. He went around the world and apologized for America. He addressed the United Nations in his inaugural address and chastised our friend, Israel, for building settlements, and said nothing about Hamas launching thousands of rockets into Israel. Just before Benjamin Netanyahu came to the United States, he threw Israel under the bus. (END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So, Tom, what do we know about that? True or false?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, "He threw Israel under the bus," that's sort of the definitive statement here. There has been a lot of reporting in the past few days though saying, hold on a minute before you say all of this.

First of all, when President Obama spoke to the U.N. the first time, yes, he talked about the rights of the Palestinians, the concerns about the Palestinians, but he did talk about the rocket attacks on the Israelis and the concerns about that. When he spoke to them most recently, he also brought up those problems.

He did talk about how the settlements by the Israelis were a problem, but it's worth pointing out the Bush administration did the same thing. They said these are a problem.

The simple truth is a lot of analysts have looked at his comments and said he's not really that far off from what previous presidents have been saying about the situation. So to characterize him as being somehow way off the mark, we're going to say that's misleading, because it's very much like what we've seen many times before -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: He sounds very much like President Bush on that matter.

FOREMAN: Yes, very much.

MALVEAUX: Yes.

Social Security has been a big issue for Rick Perry. Here is what he said about the program last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PERRY: For those people that are on Social Security today, for those people that are approaching Social Security, they don't have anything in the world to worry about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: How does that claim check out, Tom?

FOREMAN: Well, that claim -- I'll tell you what happened with that claim. When he talks about Social Security not being something that you can rely on this way, the simple truth is, he's saying to seniors, you have to be able to rely on this.

Well, you know what? He said in an editorial on Fox.com the very same day the system is broken, it can't go on, it's got to be fixed. So, truly, what he's doing is tailoring his message to whichever group is listening at the moment . Politicians do that all the time, but if you heard just one part it like last night, it would be misleading, because you're not getting the full picture of his views -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: OK. Finally, what about the comment from Congresswoman Michele Bachmann on health care reform? Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The signature issue of Barack Obama and his presidency has been the passage of Obama care. This week, a study came out from UBS that said the number one reason why employers aren't hiring is because of Obamacare.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So do we know, true or not?

FOREMAN: Well, true or not? Well, this is a kind of a tricky thing when you think about it. Think about what she said there, this company UBS.

You know what UBS is? UBS is an investment company, a global financial services firm. And this does not seem to have risen to the level of being a study, like she referred to it. It was more of an assessment for investors where they did mention Obamacare as being sort of a prime concern, but they've previously put out information that said there are a lot of concerns in our economy right now.

So, for her to sort of depict it as the great job killer in America is Obamacare, it sort of ignores everything else out there that is affecting our job market right now, which also, some of which she could argue, is the president's fault. But she's laying it all at the door of Obamacare on this one thing, and that doesn't seem quite right, or at least she's suggesting that that's the big, big factor. So we're going to say that that is, at very best, true but incomplete.

We have a lot of this stuff, Suzanne. We've had all of our great Truth Squad folks in their fortress of solitude all night, working on all of this. We'll keep laying it out throughout the day.

MALVEAUX: Oh, I can imagine.

FOREMAN: And I'm fearful we'll be doing it all year.

MALVEAUX: You have your work cut out for you, Tom. I don't envy you on that one.

I noticed nobody gets the ultimate "true" over there, so you've got your work cut out for you.

FOREMAN: Not yet. But we'll get some of those. We've got some of those.

MALVEAUX: We want to see if somebody hits that ultimate "true" arrow on the other side.

All right. Thank you, Tom.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

MALVEAUX: NASA announces a major change in the path of that falling satellite that we've been telling you about. So now it could land in North America. We're going to have a live update on what led to that change and what does that mean, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: This year is the fifth anniversary of CNN Heroes. Over the years we've received more than 40,000 nominations from you, our viewers, in more than 100 countries. We've introduced you to an extraordinary individual each week.

This week, we reveal our Top 10 CNN heroes of 2011.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER 360": I'm Anderson Cooper.

All year, we've been introducing you to everyday people who are changing the world. We call them CNN Heroes. Now we announce the Top 10 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 motel 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 a sisterhood of healing for a new generation of American war widows.

Congratulations to 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)

MALVEAUX: The CNN Hero of the Year will be awarded $250,000. Well, who is it going to be? You decide. Go to CNNHeroes.com now to vote for the most inspirational hero online and on your mobile device.

All 10 will be honored live at "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute," hosted by Anderson Cooper on Sunday, December 11th, but only one will be named CNN Hero of the Year.

Well, his own state, that is what Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is demanding today at the U.N. General Assembly. But just who is Abbas? What's his role in the splintered politics of the Middle East? We're going to take a closer look at this key player.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Here is a rundown of some of the stories that we are working on.

Next, the man behind today's pitch for Palestine's statehood at the United Nations. My profile of Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas.

And then, a woman who became the first ever in the country to get a double hand transplant shows the amazing progress that she's made just one year later.

And soap opera fans -- oh, this is a tough one for them. I know, say good-bye to "All My Children." We're going to look at why the soaps are becoming a thing of the past.

So, they call him "Abu Mazen." It's a nickname meaning head of the family. But will Mahmoud Abbas finally become the father of a Palestinian state?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX (voice-over): Abbas has been at the bargaining table in the Middle East peace process since the beginning, along with Yasser Arafat. He was a founding member of Fatah in the 1050s, the first guerilla group in the Palestinian Liberation Organization. His reputation has always been as a moderate, pragmatic by contrast with Arafat's colorful charisma.

Abbas has been a quiet, but constant presence in the movement. He played an important role in the 1993 peace accord with Israeli's then Prime Minister Ravean. After Arafat's death in 2004, he took the reins becoming chairman of the Palestinian Authority and head of Fatah.

But not long after the movement splintered. In 2006, the radical Islamic group Hamas took power beating out the more moderate Fatah party in parliamentary elections. Hamas then seized control of Gaza in 2007 leaving Fatah in charge of the West Bank.

Palestinian militants in Gaza continued to fire rockets at Israeli border towns, and Israel responded with full force and a blistering attack in 2009. An Israeli human rights organization put the Palestinian death toll at more than 1,300. More than half of the dead they say were not soldiers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We came back after the offensive and found the house I had spent my whole life building was no longer there.

MALVEAUX: Now, with a divided, scarred people, Abbas is also faced with a peace process that has ground to a halt. A meeting at the White House in September of last year proved fruitless. Israel has gone forward with the construction of Jewish settlements in disputed parts of the West Bank, a move that's infuriated Abbas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: So today the Palestinian leader, he is ready to go it alone, without the United States or Israel by demanding statehood from the United Nations. Abbas is expected to deliver his speech before the U.N. General Assembly, that in the next hour.

Joining me live from New York to put all of this in perspective, Fouad Ajami is a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. Professor, thank you very much for being with us here.

How important right now is President Abbas' speech? Do we think that is going to change at all this equation in terms of allowing statehood, Palestinian statehood, to go forward?

FOUAD AJAMI, SENIOR FELLOW, STANFORD UNIVERSITY HOOVER INSTITUTION: I think, Suzanne, your narrative of Mahmoud Abbas is really fair to the man and fair to the record. Look, this is Abbas' moment, his rendezvous with destiny if you will.

He's a man in his mid-70s. He believes this is his moment. He was always in Arafat's shadow. He's waited for diplomacy. Diplomacy didn't yield much to him. He's waited for President Obama and that didn't work. And I think he's come to this moment in his own biography and in Palestinian history.

MALVEAUX: How much of this is about symbolism, achieving a symbolic victory, and how much of this is actually about moving forward to achieve statehood?

AJAMI: I think Abbas is ready for a noble defeat. I mean, that's a term I would use for this. He's ready for a noble defeat. He's brought this bid to the United Nations. He knows the morning after even if this bid were to succeed. The circumstances and the conditions of the Palestinians on the ground would not change.

But this is a man who witnessed the split that you talked about in your introduction between the West Bank on the one hand and Gaza on the other and he wishes to write a different kind of destiny.

MALVEAUX: Where does he go from here if this is all rejected? Is it all for naught? What are we looking at next week or the week after?

AJAMI: Well, I think there is -- much is going to happen, by the way, at the U.N. for one, Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian bid will have to secure nine votes at the Security Council and that's not even guaranteed. By the way, that may be the exit.

That may be the solution for the Obama administration is that the bids fails to get nine votes in the Security Council and we will have time for diplomacy. So I think basically Mahmoud Abbas rolled the dice. He really doesn't know what will happen, but he feels this is his obligation at this point in time.

MALVEAUX: And what do you think the Obama administration should do next? What should President Obama do to try to get the Israelis and the Palestinians back together negotiating?

AJAMI: I think president Obama was really, in my opinion, very -- there was a kind of presumption on history. He came in with this conviction that he's going to succeed.

Where 11 of his predecessors, I counted them from Harry Truman to Barack Obama, 11 of his predecessors had given the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a try and had failed. President Obama believed he could transform this conflict.

He could solve it. I mean, he even said to so in his speech to the U.N. But I think now he understands that this is a much more difficult journey.

MALVEAUX: You bring up a very good point there. Eleven of his predecessors could not do what he also vowed to do. Fouad Ajami, thank you so much for joining us. Obviously, we'll be watching very closely what Abbas and Netanyahu both have to say this afternoon.

All the turmoil in the West Bank right now comes down to what actually happens today at the U.N. We're going to be hearing from, as we mentioned, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who is demanding Palestine be recognized by the U.N. as its own state.

And then later, we're going to be watching for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He's going to take the stage. Many assume that he will shoot down that proposition by the Palestinians. We're going to keep a close eye on these developments at the United Nations all day today in the CNN NEWSROOM.

A life-changing operation turned an amputee into a self- sufficient woman. See the amazing things that Sheila Advento is doing a year after a double hand transplant.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Each week our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta profiles an extraordinary person in a segment we call "The Human Factor."

Today, he introduces us to Sheila Advento. She's the first woman in the United States to receive a double hand transplant. Now, a year has passed since she got her new hands and Sanjay reports on her amazing progress.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Imagine having to learn how to use someone else's hands as your own.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pinch, pinch.

GUPTA: That's a reality for Sheila May Advento, the first woman in the United States to undergo a double hand transplant.

SHEILA MAY ADVENTO, DOUBLE HAND TRANSPLANT RECIPIENT: I just remember being rushed to the hospital and in the ER and then that's it. I was out.

GUPTA: Advento's hands and feet were amputated eight years ago after she contracted a bacterial infection.

ADVENTO: They were so lifeless, you know, and so black.

GUPTA: She got prosthetics for her hands and her feet, but the idea of a possible future hand transplant was always on her mind. When the opportunity came from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, she went for it.

ADVENTO: I am amazed by my own progress. I had no expectations.

GUPTA: It's been a year since she got her new hands and already Advento has hit several milestones. She can feel temperature, pain. She can feel various textures. It's the result of a lot of hard work. She undergoes six hours of physical therapy five days a week.

ADVENTO: For me to finally feel these things again, my hair, my face, or even my jeans, that's something big for me.

GUPTA: Advento says her ultimate goal is to live as independent a life as possible.

ADVENTO: This is actually my very first painting.

GUPTA: She draws, she paints, she drives, she puts on makeup, finds a way around her kitchen, even clips her nails.

ADVENTO: I'm not able to pinch the mail clipper that well. I was able to figure out how I would do it for myself. That was my other way of figuring out how to be independent.

GUPTA: The last eight years have been difficult, but Advento says she's overcome so much by believing it all happened for a reason. No matter how painful, she tries to always be positive.

ADVENTO: I don't give myself much of a choice, but to keep going despite whatever obstacles I encounter in my life.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Wow. What an amazing story. In addition to her physical therapy, we understand that Sheila works one day a week every week. She hopes to be able to display her artwork at a local gallery soon. Good for her.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Well, conservatives are converging on Orlando. They're not going to Disney World. That's for sure. It's their version of the political action conference known as CPAC.

Republican presidential candidates, they're lining up to speak at this conference. Peter Hamby is part of the Best Political Team on Television. He's live from Orlando.

So, peter, first of all, I know you have been watching this very closely. A lot of folks who have been speaking, Mitt Romney just a little while ago hitting hard on an immigration issue. What do we know?

PETER HAMBY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: That's right, Suzanne. I mean, he had a well-received debate last night and landed a lot of clean hits on Rick Perry, specifically about the 2001 Dream Act that Rick Perry signed into law in Texas that gave tuition breaks to the children of illegal immigrants.

Rick Perry defended that saying this is the right thing to do. He just has a heart. Well, Mitt Romney said he took a victory lap after his debate speech and took another shot at Rick Perry, his chief rival for the nomination. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My friend, Governor Perry said that if you don't agree with his position on giving that in-state tuition to illegals, that you don't have a heart. I think if you're opposed to illegal immigration, it doesn't mean that you don't have a heart. It means that you have a heart and a brain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMBY: So you heard that line there. It got good applause here as Mitt Romney is trying to recover his position as the front-runner. He left here today, Suzanne, to do a fundraiser in Chicago, President Obama's backyard. And tonight he's going to speak to an Indiana GOP dinner in Indianapolis.

MALVEAUX: And Peter, what about Florida Senator Marco Rubio? I understand he's also making some waves.

HAMBY: Yes, I mean, Marco Rubio is the rock star among Florida Republicans. He is almost guaranteed to be number one on the vice presidential short list next year when Republicans, you know, start sniffing around for who their running mate is going to be.

A lot of Republicans here that would love to see Rubio actually run. He spoke by video yesterday at another conference right here in Orlando and I got to tell you. He got a bigger applause and bigger reception than most of the candidates for running for president who are actually here in person.

So he was supposed to speak in person today, Suzanne, but he has to stay in D.C. and deal with CR votes in the Senate. So he will do another video address today, but I guarantee you the crowd will be paying rapt attention to their favorite son in Washington, Marco Rubio.

MALVEAUX: All right, we'll be paying close attention. We'll be following that. Thank you very much, Peter. For the latest political news, you know where to go, cnnpolitics.com.

We've been following the story here. It's got all of us excited in talking about it. I want to go to John Zarrella who is live out of Miami.

John, it's this whole notion, right, of this satellite, this space junk that is going to come through the atmosphere. It's going to land, and I understand now NASA is saying it could be North America?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there's some talk now -- you have to remember this satellite is very erratic. It's tumbling. It's basically, you know, in a descending orbit and that's why NASA has been saying right along that they really could not predict exactly when or where.

Although for the past couple days they were saying North America was ruled out, but now NASA is saying North America is not completely out of the picture any longer. You know, it could be -- and they're saying that it looks like it will be probably sometime around midnight tonight.

Others are saying maybe a little earlier tonight. But it looks like it could be -- it's possible that some of it could fall over the United States. Still a very slim chance NASA is saying, but, you know, the United States is back in that cone of uncertainty let's say, Suzanne --

MALVEAUX: We'll be looking out for it. We'll watching out for it, John. And obviously you said it wasn't that dangerous, right? You have been telling us not to panic. That's still the word from NASA? Don't put on the hard hat yet?

ZARRELLA: Absolutely. There's 26 pieces that they identified that will likely survive re-entry. Some of them are pretty big, but, again, remember, there's still a very small chance that it will hit land. It still could hit anywhere over the 70 percent of the earth that's covered by water. MALVEAUX: All right. John, thank you so much. Keep us posted.

ZARRELLA: Absolutely.

MALVEAUX: All right, thanks.

We're just getting word now that the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has officially handed his letter, this petition for statehood, to the secretary-general of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon. That's first phase of what we are going to be seeing unfold this afternoon when he addresses the United Nations general assembly. He will be calling for the United Nations to recognize Palestine as an official state.

It is a showdown that we are watching this afternoon between the United States and Israel on one side, Palestine on the other. The whole issue, whether or not Palestinian statehood should be achieved through the United Nations, through the root of New York or through negotiations with the Israelis. We're going to have more of that after the break.

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MALVEAUX: I want to go to the United Nations to our own Richard Roth who has been watching what is taking place there.

Richard, we're just getting information now that Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader, has gone ahead and officially presented this letter to the international body requesting -- or that there is acknowledgement here for Palestinian statehood. What can you tell us about that and what that means?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Well, this was long expected, but we are now also seeing video coming in. We've got video of Leader Abbas of the Palestinians arriving to this meeting.

Also the United Nations television is transmitting pictures of the actual meeting, which I'm going to turn away to look at to see if the letter is being handed. Yes, we see video of the letter being handed right now by the Palestinian leader, this historic moment, possibly also a letter of explanation.

Here it is, let's listen if there is any audio there. Well, it's hard to hear. That is -- please take that picture off. That's the general assembly where -- there we go. All right, well, the Palestinian leader handing over this letter saying the Palestinians indeed want statehood and that was long expected and it is historic.

Now it goes to the Security Council and in a few minutes, we'll eventually hear from the Palestinian Leader, Mr. Abbas, to the entire general assembly.

MALVEAUX: Richard, do we know who's actually going to be there in the audience, who's going to be anticipating and watching this very important moment, the delegations? ROTH: Well, you're going to have more world leaders than usual on the third day of a conference like this. You will -- we've seen various prime ministers and heads of state would normally would be long gone entering. I think you're going to see a full house with rapturous applause when the Palestinian leader speaks and probably announces what he has done.

Statehood is not guaranteed. The U.S. says it will veto and the Security Council should it come to that, the Palestinians need nine votes no in approval also on that same 15-nation body.

They may in the end, as they have also said, accept a lesser grade, but still improved observer state status. More rights, still don't have the full access as a "member state" and all that's granted in the U.N. system.

MALVEAUX: Richard, give us a little bit of the color there. I know that this is really created somewhat of -- some excitement if you will at these events. It's not always all that interesting, but a lot of people are looking at this wondering how this is all going to play out. What's the buzz? What are people talking about?

ROTH: Well, the Palestinian story is really all that everyone's talking about. The Ahmadinejad anti-Semitic rant yesterday was sort after side show for a few hours. It is the Palestinians who have always asked for attention of the world.

They feel they haven't gotten it with the U.S. blocking at various points in the Security Council. So it is the Palestinians that have dominated and captured media attention here at the United Nations. You see all those cameras that were there for the photo opportunity.

There would have been more if the U.N. would have allowed the access. I think it's going to be an historic moment no matter what the future holds for when Mr. Abbas speaks to the general assembly.

To be followed by the prime minister of Israel who insists that such a move is counterproductive and will only cause violence and that direct talks between the two are is what's needed.

And he will also echo that he favors the statehood only except after a peace agreement is formed, a statehood for both Jewish and Palestinian people.

MALVEAUX: Richard, how soon are we to those remarks, do you think, for Mahmoud Abbas?

ROTH: I think we're less than 30 minutes away.

MALVEAUX: All right, Richard. Thanks. We'll be following this.

Obviously, we will take it live as soon as that happens. The Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas going before the United Nations, a very important and, as Richard said, historic occasion. We'll be watching that and will bring that to you live as soon as it happens. Well, imagine getting hit day in and day out. It is like the life of a boxer, right? Next, see what this doctor is doing to help prevent future brain trauma.

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MALVEAUX: So if you get hit in the head every day, you're likely to have some brain problems, right? Well, that's the life after professional boxer.

CNN's Soledad O'Brien has the story of a doctor and a boxing enthusiast who's been studying long-term consequences of getting hit day in and day out.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had a chance to look at your MRI scan and it shows a little atrophy or shrinkage of the brain. It is probably from boxing.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dr. Barry Jordan is a renowned neurologist who specializes in brain injury at Burke Rehabilitation Hospital in New York. His patient is Iran "The Blade" Barkley, once the world middleweight champion.

(on camera): When you were at the height of your career, when was that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In 1988. When I fought Thomas Hearns.

O'BRIEN: You won.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, I won the title.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): After years in the ring, boxing brought him to Dr. Jordan.

DR. BARRY JORDAN, NEUROLOGIST: If you have multiple concussion concussions, there's always a risk of chronic brain injury. You may have problems with memories. You may have difficulty with walking.

O'BRIEN: Dr. Jordan started tracking more than 300 retired boxers to measure the long-term effects of all those punches.

JORDAN: This is a scan of a boxer compared to a normal control. You can tell the colors are just not as robust. Here's another scan showing fibers between a boxer and a normal control.

O'BRIEN (on camera): My gosh, the boxer is missing so much.

JORDAN: That's one of the things that you see, is that these athletes may have the shrinkage or atrophy of the brain. Now close your eyes.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): For patients like Iran Barkley, there's little to do, but the research could help others. JORDAN: Through understanding chronic brain injury and boxing, we might be able to learn something about Alzheimer's.

O'BRIEN: Dr. Jordan says more comprehensive medical monitoring before and during fights could help minimize injuries.

JORDAN: Boxing is a dangerous sport. There's no way you're going to make it 100 percent safe, but I think you can always make it safer.

O'BRIEN: Reporting for "IN AMERICA," Soledad O'Brien, CNN, New York.

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MALVEAUX: A quick programming note -- this Sunday, Soledad O'Brien introduces you to a Latina boxer who will fight in the first Olympic boxing tournament to ever include women. CNN's "LATINO IN AMERICA 2: IN HER CORNER" airs Sunday, September 25th at 8 p.m. Eastern.