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Man Shot In Head In Police Car; Search for A Birth Control Pill For Men; Sears Sales Keep Falling; Security Council To Meet On Syria; 157 Killed In Syria Friday; NASA Updates "Curiosity's" Mars Journey; Dallas' Aerial Assault On Mosquitoes; Paul Ryan Campaigns In Virginia; CNN Sending Three I-Reporters To Tampa; Plaque Marks Obamas' First Kiss; "Searching For Sugar Man"; Israelis Obtaining Gas Masks; Obama To Israel: "We've Got Your Back"
Aired August 17, 2012 - 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: Hello, everyone. I'm Fredericka Whitfield, in for Brooke Baldwin.
A brutal shooting in South Africa. Police gunning down striking miners to tell you about. But who instigated the violence? We'll take you there live.
But first, here at home. Jonesboro, Arkansas, police now facing a mounting community outrage, have released more evidence involving the alleged suicide of a handcuffed man. You heard me right. It sounds physically impossible, but Jonesboro Police say this man, 21-year-old Chavis Carter, shot himself in the head with his wrists cuffed behind his back and he was in the backseat of a patrol unit when that happened. Well, earlier this week, police made public this reenactment video showing the act can be done. So, what the video has not done. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you fall for this, you'll fall for anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: It has not silenced the doubters who continue to protest, saying Carter didn't kill himself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GAYLE TAYLOR, PROTESTER: I saw the newsreel last night. I don't think that it is possible.
DR. ISAAC RICHMOND, ARK. CHAPTER, COMMISSION ON RELIGION & RACISM: We have tried -- on numerous (ph) of us, we have tried it. It cannot be done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Now police have released dash cam video from the two police units involved in the incident back in July, the 29th of July, in fact. They've also given out dubs of police interviews with eye witnesses. CNN's George Howell has gone through the footage and now, George, you know, give us an idea of kind of the material, the witness, the evidence that supports the police's claims.
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, we're talking about a 43-minute video. And it stops short of showing that actual moment of where you hear this fatal shot. It stops short of showing the moment where these police officers respond, take action after the shooting. But it's a video where you see the actual traffic stop. Let's talk about it here.
You see these officers going up to the truck. Everything seems normal. You also see three men over time here getting out of the car. The vehicle. Carter, actually, presumably, is put in the back of the squad car. These officers, they search the truck. They find paraphernalia in the truck. But they decide to let the two men -- release -- they released them. And let's take a listen to why.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Go back home where you're going. Don't be coming back down here. If you come back down here, don't be doing it at night, at 2:00. Don't -- I mean if you're legitimately down here for a reason, that's fine. But sitting on a side street like this, no, that ain't going to happen. There's too many people that are watching, believe me. So, all right. I'm going to keep your names on file, so if we ever run cross you again and you get another (INAUDIBLE) like this, I'm not -- I'm not going to bail you out next time. You're getting a free pass. He's going to jail because he's got something out in Mississippi that has nothing to do with y'all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: So, Fred, presumably they don't have the evidence to make that arrest, but they keep Carter. They say that they find some marijuana on him. And they keep him in the back of the car.
WHITFIELD: So apparently there are other eyewitness accounts?
HOWELL: On this video that was released, we see three witnesses. One a phone -- a person who called in by phone. Two people who came into the police station. And we hear from one person who says that she saw these officers away from the car, not near Carter, when the shooting happened. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So they let two of the guys go.
JAMIE ANDERSON, WITNESS: And they (ph) killed (ph) one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did they do with him?
ANDERSON: He put -- I think they put him in the backseat of a police car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
ANDERSON: And then about 10, 15 minutes after that, we hear a loud pop. I'm like, what is going on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You heard a pop?
ANDERSON: Yes. It sounded like a gun going off.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So where were the police officers when you heard this?
ANDERSON: They was standing on the outside of the car talking.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How far away from the car were they when you heard it?
ANDERSON: They weren't -- they weren't too far from the car.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: So, Fred, when you hear these witnesses, it seems to back what the police are saying. But many in the community, they question it. They want know what really happened. And they are demanding a thorough investigation.
WHITFIELD: Yes, it just seems hard for a lot of people to try to understand and put themselves in the same situation how that could physically happen. But I know this is just really the tip of the iceberg of this investigation. You'll keep us posted.
HOWELL: Especially handcuffed. You know, they have a lot of questions.
WHITFIELD: Right. All right, thanks so much, George Howell, appreciate that.
HOWELL: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: All right, we've got a lot more to cover in the next two hours. Up next, though, we go to South Africa one day after that brutal shooting of striking miners.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Whether what they did was legal or illegal, they should not have died.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And this shooting has many people there and around the world thinking apartheid.
Plus, what's going on at Sears? Could a historic department store be on its way out?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: Hundreds of police are patrolling the spot where they opened the fire on South African platinum miners armed with machetes and rocks killing 34 of them. South Africa's police commissioner says officers shot in self-defense as the miners charged at them. But today, wives and daughters of protesting miners marched and chanted slogans as they demand answers from police.
South Africa's president even cut short his trip to a regional summit in neighboring Mozambique to rush to the scene of the bloodshed at the Marikana mine. That's where we also find CNN's Nkepile Mabuse.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NKEPILE MABUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm at the scene of a crime that has shocked South Africa and the world behind me. More than 30 people killed when police clashed with striking mine workers on Thursday. As you can see behind me, forensic experts are still combing the scene, looking for evidence that's still left behind here. So many unanswered questions still. Who fired first? The police say they were attacked by the striking miners who had been refusing to go to work since last week Friday. And this violent wage dispute really spiraled out of control. Before Thursday, 10 people had been killed. Some in the most gruesome. Men hacked to death. Some (INAUDIBLE). Earlier I spoke to a reporter who witnessed Thursday's drama unfold and this is what he had to say about what he saw.
XOLILE MNGAMBI, ETV REPORTER: We saw a whole group of them, police officers, carrying massive guns, R-5's we understand, and they just moved in immediately. Now --
MABUSE: Were they provoked?
MNGAMBI: (INAUDIBLE), that's the question, I think, that I've tried to answer time and again since last night. We cannot say to you that the police were provoked. Yesterday the police were clear that today we're going to disarm them and remove them from the hill because the gathering is legal (ph).
MABUSE: This miner tells me that it is the police who provoked the miners and not the other way around. Were you here? Did you witness it? Did the miners shoot the police first?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): There's no worker that attacked the police. In South Africa we are supposed to be free, but people who are fighting for their rights are being killed. Whether what they did was legal or illegal, they should not have died. All they want is a wage increase.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Nkepile joining us live now.
So are there miners or anyone protesting today?
MABUSE: Oh, well, Fredricka, the situation here is still extremely tense. A heavy police presence. But since last week, what we had been seeing is miners coming out in the hundreds and congregating on a hilltop carrying weapons, machetes and traditional weapons and police say guns as well. Very aggressive. Singing aggressive songs.
None of that today. We saw a couple of miners congregating and I suspect it's because they were expecting that President Jacob Zuma was coming here. But we haven't seen that kind of violence. But the situation is still extremely tense. When I speak to miners, they are very, very angry about what happened here on Thursday. And they are still concerned that there may be reprisals.
Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: So President Zuma has not arrived there but apparently just about an hour and a half ago he did arrive in Rustenburg and had this to say. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. JACOB ZUMA, SOUTH AFRICA: These events are not what we want to see or want to become accustomed to in a democracy that is bound by the rule of law and where we are creating a better life for all our people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: So, you know, yesterday's violence, just seeing those images, reminding an awful lot of people about apartheid. You know, 18 years after the end of apartheid, unemployment remains a problem. Poverty and inequalities remain. Are those some of the struggles behind this conflict potentially?
MABUSE: You know, Fredricka, I think this incident really highlighted so many issues. First of all, violence is still very, very pervasive in South Africa. As you said, for many, many years the majority of people in this country oppressed in a very, very violent manner. The way they resisted to that oppression was sometimes also very violent. We've seen, in the streets of South Africa, people protesting, wanting better services, but doing it violently, destroying property. Forty-six people are murdered on a daily basis in South Africa.
And then this rivalry between the unions. We're hearing reports that some union members -- there was a hit list for some leaders of rival unions. So this violence, Fredricka, is something that South Africans are starting to really look at seriously and ask themselves, how do we move from a nation that reacts in a violent way to a nation that chooses to rather speak instead of react with violence like this, Fredricka. So, serious questions being asked here in South Africa. But it's those steps that South African's need to take in order to reverse the situation that really we need to judge this nation against.
Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Nkepile Mabuse, thank you so much.
All right, you see the commercials everywhere. Pills for a man's prostate problem for erectile dysfunctions. But not for male birth control. That might be changing. Details next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Yosemite National Park officials say they've disinfected cabins in a popular tourist area where a man stayed the summer shortly before he died. The death has been linked to a lung disease caused by the rare Hantavirus. A woman who stayed nearby also became ill but is recovering. Hantavirus is spread through mouse droppings and cannot be passed from person to person.
A birth control pill for men is one of the most elusive beasts of medical research. But researchers may have found a new path in their quest to develop the first new fully reversible male contraceptive in centuries. Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here with us now.
So, Elizabeth, tell us what's difference about this. And this is coming, what, some 50 years after the pill --
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right.
WHITFIELD: That many women have enjoyed or taken part in.
COHEN: Right.
WHITFIELD: But this comes half a century later?
COHEN: I know, it's taken a while, hasn't it?
WHITFIELD: What's taken so long?
COHEN: Well, one of the problems is that they were trying to work on men's hormones in the same way that the female pill works on women's hormones. And it just wasn't working very well. And so this group of researchers said, let's try something else. There's a protein involved in sperm production. Let's alter that. And these mice, low and behold, became infertile. And then when they took them off the drug, they became fertile. So this is a wonderful day if you're a mouse who needs contraception, but this is, you know, human beings, this may never work. And even if it did work, it would take years and years for it to go through all the proper testing.
WHITFIELD: So in the case of mice, once they went off this contraceptive or this compound, months later they were able to reproduce? Their offspring perfectly normal?
COHEN: Yes, easily. Right, easily, yes.
WHITFIELD: No problem.
COHEN: It sounds quite reversible.
WHITFIELD: OK, how far down the pipeline are we talking here?
COHEN: Years and years.
WHITFIELD: Uh-huh.
COHEN: If at all. I think it's important to say that just because something works well for mice does not mean that it would work for people.
And this is a cancer drug that they gave these mice. So you wouldn't want to give a cancer drug to real men.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
COHEN: And you would need to change it. You would need to do something. So, I mean, this is years away. But it's proof of principle, which is what's important.
WHITFIELD: Something tells me, you mentioned the word "it's a cancer drug" to a lot of men and they're going to be a bit resistant (ph) to even take it.
COHEN: Well, if it got to men, it wouldn't be a cancer drug any more. It would have been altered and changed and they would have to sort of single out that one thing that work for sperm production. You know, it's interesting to me because a lot of people say, well, men would never want to take a birth control pill. But men do get vasectomies in relatively high numbers. So maybe they'd be willing to take a pill instead. But I think a pill is going to take a while, because for women what you're doing is you're stopping the production of one egg a month. For me, they make a thousand sperm in a second. So it's a -- that production is harder to tamp down, so to speak.
WHITFIELD: My goodness. OK, still in its infancy stages, so to speak.
COHEN: That's right, but proof of principle.
WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Elizabeth Cohen. Appreciate that.
All right, the United Nations announces a new envoy to travel to Syria as that country's foreign minister blasts the regimes opponents calling some of them hypocrites.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Apple's stock has set an all time high. It's now more than $644 per share. That puts the company's value at over $600 billion. Experts say the buzz over the new iPhone, which is reportedly due out in September, is probably the cause of the rise in stock. If Apple's shares reached just under $664, it would become the most valuable company ever.
So while Apple is beaming with good news, Sears, on the other hand, is in limbo. The brand once known for being the world's largest retailer lost $132 million in its second quarter. Experts say that we may be seeing the fall of Sears as we know it. I want to bring in Maribel Aber, who is at the New York Stock Exchange.
Maribel, this would be a really sad chapter. We all grew up with Sears. In fact, it was my first employer while I was in high school.
MARIBEL ABER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. You know what, it -- big memories for me too. I used to go to the tool -- buy -- look at tools with my dad at Sears. But let me tell you what's going on here. Sears did manage to narrow its losses last quarter, but it did that by cutting costs, not by increasing sales. So, in fact, sales were down.
But we're not just talking about Sears alone, but its parent company Sears Holding, which also operates Kmart stores, plus a number of other brands like catalog retailer Lands End, Kenmore Appliances, Craftsman tools and, you know Diehard car batteries. So, Fredricka, what analysts are really worried about is that Sears Holding is less concerned with improving itself as a retailer than it is with managing all those assets there. Sears recently announced plans to sell off 1,100 hometown and outlet stores. And analysts are predicting more asset sales are on the way. And, you know, Lands End could be next. Also you've got Kenmore and Craftsman out there too. Very popular and could be worth a lot of money to the right buyer. So it makes you really wonder.
WHITFIELD: Yes, it does. And so all this, you know, while the stock is up 83 percent this year for Sears. Why?
ABER: Well, you know, earlier this year, Fredricka, investors were mostly pleased with the way things were going. Shares shot up in February after the company announced plans to spin off the outlet stores, as well as a plan to sell 11 of those store properties to a real estate investment group. And like with any stock here, investors really want to see value and room to grow. So if you believe that selling off assets will get the company trimmed down in the position to grow again, then this stock can look very attractive.
But on the other hand, buying it now means really believing that the company can turn around years of issues. And the recession really didn't help. It's got steep competition out there. You know, we've got -- for Kmart and Seas, sales have fallen for Sears Holdings in every years since 2005. And the other thing, Fredricka, is that investors have also got to be thinking, are consumers continuing to shop there?
WHITFIELD: All right, Maribel Aber, thanks so much. Appreciate that.
All right, the United Nations announces a new envoy to travel to Syria as that country's foreign minister blasts the regime's opponents calling them hypocrites.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: The U.N. Security Council has scheduled a meeting for Monday on the war that's ravaging Syria. Among the council's new concerns are the government's recent use of fixed wing fighters to carry out attacks against opponents. This strike near Idlib was videotaped today. A similar strike Wednesday leveled several city blocks north of Aleppo and left dozens of people dead according to human rights monitors. And for its part, the Syrian government is defending itself today. Ivan Watson has that from Istanbul, Turkey. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In an interview on Syrian state television, Syrian's foreign minister blasted the regime's opponents, both inside Syria and abroad. He challenged the United Nations to come up with one single member of the Syrian opposition who's interested in talking about peace. He also went on to accuse the organization of the Islamic conference, which suspended Syria's membership in that group this week, of being a group of hypocrites. And he also claimed that the Syrian military is trying to protect civilian lives and avoid damaging infrastructure as it continues to bomb the northern city of Aleppo from the sky and from artillery day after day.
WALID AL-MOALLEM, SYRIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): Some may ask why there is a delay in Aleppo. And I will say it is simple. The Syrian military has plans to keep the casualties and the destruction of the infrastructure to its minimum when confronting these armed gangs. The Syrian military always keeps in mind that they need to safeguard and protect everyone. But the armed terrorist gangs have no principles. They kill and destroy and no one holds them accountable.
WATSON: Syrian opposition groups claim 140 people were killed around the country on Friday. Many of them killed artillery and air strike being used to opposition groups both in Damascus and around the northern city of Aleppo and in other chunks of territory around the country as well.
Meanwhile, Syrian journalists, a group of pro-regime journalists with the television station were released and rescued according to Syrian state media by a military operation on Thursday.
They were rejoined with their loved ones and family members. The journalists themselves accuse the rebels who had kidnapped them days ago of torturing them and killing one member of the four man crew, the camera man.
In further news, the spiralling conflict is affecting trade groups. An Air France flight that was supposed to land in Beirut on Wednesday diverted from Beirut due to a Shiite group that blocked the roads there and threatened to kidnap foreign nationals.
That plane then tried to land in Damascus, landed there and an Air France crew asked some of the passengers whether they were available to donate cash to help pay for refuelling the flight in Damascus because evidently, Syria cannot provide credit for foreign airliners, notably Air France.
In the end, Air France was able to pay for that refuelling without having to get money, cash money from the passengers. Air France apologized to the passengers saying this was done as a precautionary measure.
Just a sign of how much the escalating crisis is affecting international trade and ordinary transactions as well as sanctions continue to take up fight in efforts to conduct ordinary transactions with the Syrian regime. Ivan Watson, CNN, Istanbul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And now an update on the mission to Mars. New information from NASA on the curiosity rover. Chad Myers has details and pictures coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right, "Curiosity" watchers, you're in luck. NASA just conducted an update of what its rover is up to on Mars. Chad Myers has close tabs on all the images and all the inside scoop. So what have you got for us?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: A few new things and one I think as a weather man that's really cool is the "Curiosity" has a thermometer on it. It found the air there is one degree above freezing.
That's only significant because if we can prove there was liquid water, not just vapor or ice, that would significantly increase the potential for life at some point on that planet.
WHITFIELD: I thought we did learn that there was ice. So we know it's chilly willy.
MYERS: Things don't grow as well in ice as they do in liquid.
WHITFIELD: Sometimes they preserve things though.
MYERS: So let's get to some of these new pictures because they are kind of cool although the best images are still to come. Honestly they are just unfolding the best cameras to take best images making a run here toward Mount Sharp.
That line off to the bottom to the right there, so it's two kilometres that's about a mile and a quarter. So that tells you how far that is right there. So it has a long way to travel yet considering this thing goes like --
WHITFIELD: It likes to take its time.
MYERS: Well, it does because it takes 14 minutes to send the signal back to the world, to the earth and then another 14 minutes for us to say go another inch. It's kind of a delayed reaction. There's a self-portrait, a bunch of mosaics all glued together there.
And then a couple of spots there. They're going to go to these scour spots thinking maybe something might be down there. They want to get as deep as they can right below the surface and eventually they'll begin to drill. That drill will go a few inches. I think that right there, I think that's a dinosaur skeleton.
WHITFIELD: Of course, you do. So when you say drill, we're not talking about the rover would have the capability of doing that too? MYERS: Yes. The "Curiosity" will be able to take its drill and drill below the surface and pick up that rock that's down below there, 6, 8 or 10 inches, bring it up and put it inside of itself and do the analysis.
WHITFIELD: There's a lot of power in that little slow puppy.
MYERS: It's not solar so it's not going to run out of power.
WHITFIELD: All right, this is fascinating stuff. Thanks for bringing that to us. You got us at the edge of our seats now. Thanks, Chad. Appreciate it.
All right, let's talk about something else that has a lot of people at the edge of their seats really because they're trying to figure out how it is that West Nile virus has created quite the problem in a good part of the lower 48 particularly in Dallas, Texas where they have experienced more than 15 people dying from West Nile virus.
You recall this is a virus that's transmitted by birds and then to mosquitoes, mosquitoes bite people and then the most vulnerable are succumbing to it. So last night health officials allowed aerial spraying of pesticides.
That kind of ruffles the feathers of some residents. However, you've got the other side of the spectrum where residents were saying that this is the way in which to control West Nile then so be it.
So the Dallas mayor, Mike Rawlings, well, he was here on the program earlier in the week, on Wednesday and now he's actually updating the media. So let's listen in to, I think, this press conference is underway.
MAYOR MIKE RAWLINGS, DALLAS: We'll be flying and take a second swap at this on starting Monday and Tuesday and hopefully be finished with everything at that time.
Obviously, because of weather, if there are any increment rain showers that may push back and as the judge said we would then finish up on Saturday night.
We decided to move it up one hour to make sure that we can get this done. That one hour plus the four planes is making that happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: We're going to keep you posted on those drops of that pesticide to try and control, if they can, the spread of this West Nile virus.
All right, now we're 10 days away from the Republican National Convention. Can you believe it? Where has the time gone? CNN has a unique announcement, coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right, less than a week after Mitt Romney announced his V.P. pick in Virginia, Paul Ryan is back in that important swing state today making two campaign stops.
This morning Ryan spoke at a Republican rally in Richmond suburb of Glenn Allen. Next hour, he'll speak at a high school in Springfield and we'll bring that to you live as soon as Ryan appears.
When Republicans gather in Tampa for their convention later the month, among the hordes of people covering the event will be three CNN "I-Reporters. Each competed for the slot beating out more than 200 entries.
We want you to meet them right now. Let's begin with Elizabeth Lawton of Virginia who tells us she has volunteered for every Republican presidential campaign since 2000.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELIZABETH LAUTEN, I-REPORTER, ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA: The 495, the beltway that separates those in D.C. from the people they represent. I came to D.C. with a single mission, to stand up for those who live outside of this highway. Back then we were told hope and change was the answer to it all. Now, nearly four years later, Obama has squeezed the hope out of all of us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right, now to Matt Sky of New York who says he's an independent voter who finds this year's GOP race fascinating.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATT SKY, I-REPORTER, NEW YORK: To have Michelle Bachmann and Herman Cain, Tim Pawlenty dropping out before they even had a chance of the rise and fall of Rick Perry. But ultimately Romney was able to hold onto this consistent level of support.
It wasn't enthusiastic, but it was there all along and as we shuffle through all the candidates ultimately ending with Newt Gingrich finally down to Rick Santorum. You know, Romney was the guy. It will be interesting to see if the party is able to unite behind him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Our final I-Reporter who will be helping to cover the Republican National Convention for CNN is Alex Anderson of Minnesota. He interns at the conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEX ANDERSON, I-REPORTER, PLYMOUTH, MINNESOTA: This will be my first vote in a presidential election. I'm realizing that the future of my nation will depend on my generation. As a college student and freelance video journalist, I've seen firsthand the importance of communication amongst by generation.
Internet, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube have all effectively connected a generation unlike any time in history. Now is the time to send the voice of my generation into the political forefront of this upcoming election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right, that's Alex, Matt and Elizabeth. Get to know them. They will be filing I-Reports for us from the Republican National Convention, which begin August 27th in Tampa.
Remember, my colleague, Brooke Baldwin will be at the convention. She'll be anchoring this show live from Tampa. It kicks of August 27th right here on CNN.
All right, do you remember the first time you and your honey locked lips? Thanks to the owners of a Chicago shopping center, President Obama and the first lady are unlikely to ever forget their first kiss.
A granite marker was installed this week to mark the spot where the first couple first locked lips back in 1989. It's right outside the former ice cream shop where they had their first date. How's that for sweets.
And now the true story of the most famous musician you never heard of. Decades after giving up on a rock n roll career, Detroit construction worker, Sixto Rodriguez learned that he's an icon half way around the world. A new documentary chronicles his amazing discovery. Here's Poppy Harlow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We thought he was like the inner city poet. He was this wandering spirit around the city.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sixto Rodriguez, a Detroit native who tried his hand at rock history in the '70s.
MIKE THEODORE, CO-PRODUCER, COLD FACT BY RODRIGUEZ: When we walked in and heard the songs we was singing and what he was writing, we had to record him. He's great. We said this is it.
HARLOW: But it wasn't. Rodriguez's albums flopped in the U.S. Somehow though his first album, "Cold Fact" made it halfway around the world and became a massive hit.
MALIK BENDJELLOUL, DIRECTOR, "SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN": In South Africa he was a rock God.
STEPHEN SEGERMAN, OWNER, MABU VINYL IN CAPE TOWN: To us it was one of the most famous records of all time.
HARLOW: The sound track of the anti-apartheid movement ending the revolution. At home in Detroit, Rodriguez had no idea. He had given up his music career. That was four decades ago.
(on camera): You used to play across the street?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I played a lot of places in Detroit.
HARLOW (voice-over): Unaware of his fame abroad and getting no royalties, Rodriguez lived on little raising his daughters doing demolition work.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not a stranger to hard work.
HARLOW: He made failed bids for mayor and city council and state rep.
(on camera): You call yourself a musical political?
SIXTO RODRIGUEZ, MUSICIAN: Yes. I don't see now anyone cannot be.
HARLOW (voice-over): Then at 57, he was rediscovered by a South African music journalist and a record store owner who found clues in his lyrics. They brought Rodriguez to South Africa and he played to thousands of adoring fans.
RODRIGUEZ: Thanks for keeping me alive.
SANDRA RODRIGUEZ, RODRIGUEZ' DAUGHTER: He's on stage and the crowd is just going wild. They are singing and crying.
HARLOW (on camera): It brings you to tears to see something like that happen to someone.
RODRIGUEZ: It was epic.
HARLOW: Do you not think your story is exceptional beyond belief?
RODRIGUEZ: It's pretty wild. I 'm a lucky man to be so fortunate at this late date.
BENDJELLOUL: This is a true Cinderella story.
HARLOW (voice-over): Filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul tells it in his documentary "Searching for Sugar Man."
BENDJELLOUL: A man who lives his whole life in Detroit working as a construction worker without knowing at the very same time he's more famous than Elvis Presley in another part of the world. That's the most beautiful story I've ever heard in my life.
HARLOW: A beautiful story, but also a mystery. Where are all the royalties?
BENDJELLOUL: I don't know. I don't know. I do think it's an important question because he didn't know he was famous was that he didn't get royalties. HARLOW: Asked if he feels ripped off?
RODRIGUEZ: No, not in that sense. Hate is too strong an emotion to waste on someone you don't like.
HARLOW (on camera): Do you want the fame and the fortune? Now 70, Rodriguez may finally get his due.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Rodriguez.
HARLOW: Do you ever pinch yourself and ask is this real?
RODRIGUEZ: Is it real? It's certainly a different life. It's not what it was.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right, thanks, Poppy Harlow. It's a fascinating story.
In Columbia nearly one in five teenage girls are pregnant or already mothers. This week's "CNN Hero" Catalina Escobar is tenaciously attacking the problem carving out brighter futures for these young moms and their children.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CATALINA ESCOBAR, COMMUNITY CRUSADER: Teen pregnancy in Cartagena is a very big issue. When you go to the slums, it's unbelievable what you see. Many of my girls live here. This is so wrong. You see these girls. They're babies holding babies.
About 10 years ago, I was volunteering at this maternity hospital and I was holding this baby. He passed away with me. His teen mother failed to raise the money to cover treatment. Four days later, my own son passed away in an accident.
I realized I didn't want any mother to feel the same grief that I went through. My name is Catalina Escobar and I'm helping teen moms get a healthy and productive life for them and for their babies.
When we first started at the maternity hospital, we reduced the infant mortality rate. My girls end up being pregnant because they don't have sexual education and many of my girls are sexually abused.
When my girls come, they drop their babies in the day care center. We have different workshops so they can develop their skills. We are changing the lives of these girls. If you give them the right tools, they're capable of moving forward.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: If you have a hero in your neighborhood, you can nominate that person by going to cnn.com/heroes.
Angry residents of one Michigan community want answers from police over the shooting death of a plan. The innocent was caught on amateur video. We'll show it to you.
And should Israel take on Iran by itself in war? It's a question going around the nation with prominent voices on each side. We'll have a live report from Jerusalem.
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WHITFIELD: Israeli officials are warning one again possible strike against Iranian nuclear targets. Israeli public is paying heed. The Israelis this week have been obtaining gas masks as precaution against retaliatory strikes from Iran.
The Israelis also are debating whether to go it alone against Iran or whether to seek support from Washington. They have this pledge from President Obama made last march to the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: As I've said to the prime minister in every single one of our meetings, the United States will always have Israel's back when it comes to Israel's security.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: CNN's Diana Magnay is now with us from Jerusalem where the president's promise is suddenly back in the headlines -- Diana.
DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. Well, it is because the president of Israel, Shimon Peres has come out with some comments, which very controversially here reflects the comments earlier in the week from Washington, from the defense secretary, from the joint chief of staff that any action by Israel would serve only to be delay Iran's nuclear program.
Contrary to the kind of statements that the prime minister and the defense minister here say, Shimon Peres said that he felt that Israel should not act alone. He felt that the U.S. should take the lead on any kind of strike against Iran and that any action by Israel would serve only to delay Iran's nuclear program.
He also said a strike is in the U.S. interest just as much as in ours to prevent Iran from requiring a nuclear weapon. We will not be alone on this, but we must allow the U.S. to take the lead. The prime minister's office issued a response saying this wasn't the president's place to come out with these comments.
He's been wrong on issues of national security before. It would appear as though Shimon Peres' comments reflect really Israeli public opinion. You know, Fredricka, the latest polls show that the majority of Jewish-Israelis feel that a strike on Israel should only happen with the U.S.
And that they say that the latest sort of war rhetoric and there has been quite a bit of it recently Israeli there just to gear the U.S. into taking more decisive action -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And so Diana, we're talking about a pre-emptive strike, you know, on Iran and if so, the Israeli military believe they really can take out Iran's nuclear installations by going at it alone?
MAGNAY: Well, Ehud Barak, the defense minister has talked about this immunity zone is the phrase that he's used. What he means by that is that there only a limited period of time in which a strike by Israel on Iran's nuclear facilities will make any difference.
That sooner rather than later they will be buried so deep underground that Israel will not have the strike capacity to get to them. Now it's very difficult to know whether that assessment is fair whether Israel does have the capacity.
Whether that program the enrichment facilities are already too deep underground and whether it wouldn't require the kind of bombing capacity that only the U.S. has and whether any strike action could be sustained enough to rid Iran of its enrichment program.
These are all very open questions and it really is the defense minister alone who speaks of this immunity zone -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And Diana, we saw pictures of Israelis obtaining gas masks. Does the Israeli public really seem to be on edge?
MAGNAY: Well, the gas masks is a sort of difficult barometer of how the Israelis feel because it's been a sort of issue or directive they should have against masks since the 2003 Gulf war. Only about 50 percent of the public have gone to get gas masks.
There's been gas mask distribution for the last couple of years. If war was imminent, you can expect to see gas masks being issued as standard as a directive across the country. That isn't happening.
At the moment we've been getting tests, text messages. What would happen if there was a missile strike? People would get text messages delivered to their phones. That process is being tested out over the last few days.
But again those opinion polls say that most people believe that Israel won't act without the U.S. and that if it were to act it wouldn't take so much about it -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Diana Magnay, thank you so much for that update.
Hello again, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in for Brooke Baldwin.
