welcome to "american morning." >> good morning to you, and to you. it is a busy week. breaking news. freedom coming for two u.s. hikers held priter in in iran. they could be out with the half hour. right to mohammed jamjoon covering this. what's the latest? >> reporter: well, ali, we've heard from a lawyer from the the two detained hikers tells us a second judge in iran has signed the paperwork, the bail paperwork for josh fattal and shane bauer. the lawyer says now he can take that paperwork and start the procedures to free them. he expects they will be free with the half hour. also, iranian news agency saying they will be handed over to swiss embassy officials in about half an hour from now. ali? >> we've had false starts on this the last couple of weeks. the idea here, of course, it's through the judiciaries, any likely to stop this as far as you can see? >> reporter: ali, i apologize. having a little problem hearing you. we've heard in the last few weeks, wrangling going on between the judiciary and the president, mahmoud ahmadinejad. essentially ahmadinejad gave an interview the hikers would be released with a matter of days. the hard-liners came out and said we're the final arbiters. we'll release them when the time is right and made it clear it's the judiciary there, the judge, able to have the final say. this speaks to the tension in iran between the judiciary and between ahmadinejad. and the fact that ahmadinejad made the statement before going to the unga, before going to new york and couldn't get the hikers to new york before he went seemed to indicate the hard-liners were trying to diminish the stature of ahmadinejad. he couldn't have a big victory so he could look magnanimous in front of the world stage in new york. they're indicating they are going to be released today. we don't know all the behind the scenes wrangling going on, but speculation they're involved in trying to release the hikers and possibly could come here because sarah shourd released, revealed the amanis paid the bail for sarah shourd and speculation they might be involved in paying the bail for the two hikers who might be released today. a lot of details to be sorted out. speculation growing they will be released today. the iranians are saying speculation is high they will come to amman once released. >> you didn't hear the question but answered a exactly what i asked. we'll keep a close eye what's gone og an the minute the hikers are released we will bring you that as breaking news right here on cnn. and the white house. president obama meets face-to-face with palestinian president abbas. a push to stop the palestinian for applying for statehood on friday. instead, trying to steer them back to the bargaining table with israel. richard roth is with us. good morning, richard. >> reporter: good morning. well, the united states says there's been a seismic change in the world since the last general assembly high-level debate. that's certainly so in north africa. sweeping change from tunisia to egypt. turmoil in syria and yemen. president obama is going to address probably those changes. u.s. documents saying that the united states has helped change the course of action here at united nations with more of a spirit of cooperation, and a white house strategic communications director says the focus is also, of course, going to be on the middle east with the u.s. president set to meet the palestinian leader later today. >> at the end of the day, peace is going to have to be made between the parties, that it can't be imposed from the outside. that it can't be accomplished through actions of the united nations. >> this is the first day of the general assembly debate. the u.s. president always speaks second after brazil. this time, the first time a woman president will speak first leading brazil. it should be a very interesting day in the news of those possible hiker releases. president ahmadinejad speak tomorrow but will be in the building later today and not attending the u.s. president's address in the morning here at the u.n. christine? >> richard roth. thank you so much, richard. it is the dawning of a new day in libya. you're going to see it in a second. there it is. that new red, black and green flag of the north african nation now has its place in the row of flags at the united nations. libya's new interim prime minister, expecting to have a new government in place with ten days. [ chanting ] and that's what freedom looks and sounds like. cnn cameras capturing the people of libya celebrating wildly at the national transitional council troops rolled into the city yesterday. one of the last strongholds of the ousted dictator moammar gadhafi. a major setback to peace efforts in afghanistan. officials say the former president and chief peace negotiator was killed by a suicide attacker with a bomb hidden in his turban. they say rabanni was assassinated in his home by a man posing as a taliban peace envoy. the afghan president hamid karzai calls his death a tragic loss. he cut short his trip to the u.n. meeting in new york to return to afghanistan. waiting to die. a georgia death row inmate is set to be executed. troy davis convicted of shooting and killing an off-duty police officer more than 20 years ago, but he will be killed by the state under a huge cloud of doubt with supporters around the world still insisting they have the wrong guy. david mattingly has the latest from atlanta. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. at this hour supporters of troy davis saying anyone with the power needs to act now to stop this execution. [ chanting ] their last means of legal recourse seemingly exhausting. there may be little more to do but shout their frustrations and pray. meanwhile, the prosecutor who sent davis to death row for the. >> moderator:er of savannah police officer mark macphail broke years of silence calling it unfair and unjust. >> we have felt we were ethically bound to maintain our silence, and express our opinions and judgements on the facts in court, which is where we have. and every place where we have, we've won. >> reporter: now retired, he believes his witnesses who testified against davis 20 years ago and later changed their stories or recanted did so under pressure from davis' supporters and failed to appear credible, he says, in the eyes of the court. >> it has been a delay throughout. the longer the delea, the more time they have to create not honest doubt, real doubt, but the appearance of doubt. >> reporter: the georgia board of pardons and parole again refused to stop davis' execution saying its decision was based on the totality of the information presented in this case. davis supporters say race was a factor. >> this is jim crow in a new error. there's just too much doubt for this execution to continue. >> reporter: this is davis' fourth appointment with execution. another last-minute delay seems far less likely this time. families are davis and officer macphail both prepare for the end. >> it's like reliving a nightmare over and over, but the thing tab is, we have to stay strong in our faith. >> we have lived this for 22 years. we know what the truth is, and for someone to ludicrously say that he is a victim, we are victims. look at us. we have put up with this stuff for 22 years and it's time for justice today. >> reporter: and that execution now scheduled to happen in just under 13 hours. christine? >> david mattingly, thanks, david. dramatic new video of friday's deadly plane crash at an air show in reno, nevada. in it you can clearly see the plane slam into the ground and literally shatter. >> oh, no. oh, no. oh, my god. >> 11 people died including the pilot when he lost control of his vintage p-51 mustang crashing it straight into the ground. ray wilson was at the event with his two son. one shot the video you're looking at. he suggested it could have been a lot worse and that the pilot was a hero. >> anytime you see a plane in an air race go skyward you know something is wrong. as it's in the air, it actually works its way back behind the grandstands, which just never happens at an event like that, and because of that, when he comes down, his momentum is moving away from the grandstand, and so that the massive debris that you see out into the tarmac, you know, had he crashed where, you know, coming out of the race towards the stand, that would have come into the stands and we would be talking about mass casualties. >> and the cause of the crash is still not known. investigators are focused on part of the tail that appeared to fall off before the crash. that new video will obviously help them come to some conclusions. new this morning, a dispute over how much to spend on disaster relief threatening to trigger, yes, a gft shutdown. senate majority leader harry reade sayi reid saying it could happen at the end of the month. because of the hurricane and the people in texas dealing with devastating wildfires. >> -- heard the reports that senator mcconnell said there will be no shutdown. i am not that sure. i'm not that sure, because the tea party-driven house of representatives has been so unreasonable in the past, i don't know why they should suddenly be reasonable. >> the republican-controlled house votes today on a short-term bill to fund government agencies through mid-november. that bill campaigns a lot less money for fema and the army corps of engineers for a disaster response than a bill that passed the democratically controlled senate last week. and according to their attorneys, invoking their fifth amendment rights and not testify before congress this friday. they received a $555 million loan back in 2009 and the company filed for bankruptcy earlier this month. days later the fbi searched their offices, although it's unclear exactly why they're investigating. a cup of coffee and a muffin's may run you, what? $4? no. turns out the justice department paid five to six times that. the agency provided people at that washington gathering $16 for muffins. for one muffin. $8 for a cup of coffee or tea. just for one cup of coffee. oh, and a snack break -- >> $32 for everybody? >> no. that's $32 a head for a little popcorn i think and maybe a soda. >> where did the muffin come from? >> that's the question. a very smart subcontractor, vendor, who knew the government would just pay it and not ask any questions. >> a muffin made by the gods. >> this is after the department issued new guideline on wasteful spending because it served employees $5 swedish meatballs in the past. >> even i couldn't get to that. crazy. >> trying to think, a captive audience, charge you a lot. why doesn't government use its incredible purchasing power to negotiate prices for everything from muffins to prescription drugs? just wondering. >> i get my coffee from a little machine over there. you know how much i pay? goose eggs. >> those trying to raise taxes, why couldn't the government do more with the money we already give them? apples and oranges or muffins and oranges. >> i'm hoping those muffins were good. >> must have been amazing. coming up on "american morning," he left his heart in san francisco, but this morning tony bennett has other people questioning another part of his anatomy after shocking comments about the 9/11 attacks. and more serious, troy davis about to be executed. our "talk back" question this morning is it time to rethink the death penalty? and bill clinton with kind words for two republican presidential candidates. are we witnessing the return of civility in politics? carol's going to laugh the next two minutes as we take a break. it is 14 after the hour. you're watching "american morning." lorie sweetener with b vitamins, the first and only one to help support a healthy metabolism. three smart new ways to sweeten. same great taste. new splenda® essentials™. whose non-stop day starts with back pain... and a choice. take advil now and maybe up to four in a day. or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain. way to go, coach. ♪ way to go, coach. my grocery bill isn't wasteful spending. my heart medication isn't some political game. our retirement isn't a simple budget line item. i worked hard. i paid into my medicare. and i earned my social security. now, instead of cutting waste and loopholes, washington wants to cut our benefits. that wasn't the agreement. join the members of aarp and tell washington to stop cuts to our medicare and social security benefits. ♪ hush, little baby ♪ don't you cry ♪ soon the sun ♪ is going to shine ♪ [ male announcer ] toyota presents the prius family. ♪ walk if i want, talk if i want ♪ [ male announcer ] there's the original one... the bigger one... the smaller one... and the one that plugs in. they're all a little different, just like us. i tell you what i can spend. i do my best to make it work. i'm back on the road safely. and i saved you money on brakes. that's personal pricing. 18 minutes after the hour. we're following breaking news out of iran. the pending release of two american hikers. their lawyer says the court paperwork has been taken care of. our producer in tehran now reporting he just saw two diplomatic vehicles enter the prison compound where the hikers are being held. they could be free with minutes. we will let you know as soon as it happens. we've gat producer in tehran. we've got a reporter mohammed jamjoon in amman. very involved in trying to secure the release of these hikers. this has been a long, long story we're following. we'll let you know as soon as these two hikers are released if they are released. >> haven't seen freedom since july 1, 2009. a real ordeal for all of them. tone bennett hitting sour notes during an appearance on howard stern's radio show. promoting a new album, but the conversation took a sharp turn when stern asked limb about the 9/11 terror attack. bennett made it clear whom he thought was to blame. >> they flew the plane by, but we caused it. >> why, because -- >> we were bombing them and they told us to stop. said, what are you doing? and they came on stronger, and -- come on. we're going to have to retaliate. no, no, no. give them four times as much. >> the 85-year-old bennett apologized for these remarks saying there's no excuse for terrorism and the murder of nearly 3,000 innocent victims. >> now's your chance to "talk back" on one of the big questions of the morning. is it time to rethink the death penalty? troy davis, is convicted cop killer will die tonight, despite this rally and assertions of davis' innocence from amnesty international to the pope to president jimmy carter. whether you agree with them is up to you, but davis' case aside, american juries seem increasingly reluctant to see any inmate put to death. since the 1990s, the be in of executions in america has significantly declined, from 98 executions in 1999 to 46 executions last year. that decline seems at odds with the strong feelings many americans still have about the death penalty. witness the republican debate. >> your state has executed 234 death row inmates, more than any other governor in modern times. [ applause ] have you -- have you struggled to sleep at night with the idea that any one of those might have been innocent? >> no, sir, i've never struggled with that at all. i think americans understand justice. >> that's texas, but 16 other states do not have the death penalty. as for why juries seem loathed to impose a death sentence? that's unclear, but maybe it's because more than 130 people have been released from death row with evidence of their innocence since 1973. many juries now prefer another option. life without the possibility of parole. so the "talk back" question for you this morning -- is it time to rethink the death penalty? facebook.com/americanmorning. facebook.com/americanmorning. i'll read your responses later this hour. >> eager to hear the responses from viewers on that. a shocking political development. a prominent democrat has actually said something nice about two republican candidates for president, and it happened right here on cnn. >> i need a drink! >> this is really crazy. former president bill clinton, in "the situation room" with wolf blitzer, semi-endorsing jon huntsman. behold credibility. >> you'd be happier if romney or huntsman got the nomination than rick perry. >> they'll both lose if anybody this i've endorsed them. i'm just saying that i appreciate the fact that they are trying to navigate a landscape that bears almost no relationship to what's produced successful economies in the world, and had are lots of countries now doing better than we are in some areas, because of the very ideas that apparently you have to support to get the nomination. if you're anti-government guy you've got to say every tax is bad, every regulation is bad, every program is bad. first it's factually not true and distorting our policy. >> president clinton says there's a serious lack of debate about climate change in this country and he calls that really tragic. he, of course, is here as part of the clinton global initiative which takes place when the u.n. general assembly is in new york and a number of conferences this week, climate change has been an issue with europeans hammering hard on americans saying it has become trendy now, they say. trendy in the united states to say that you're anti-science or somehow reject the science of climate change. they find that quite fascinating. >> trendy? it's political. and many, frankly, don't believe in global warming in this country rcht to a lot of europeans, that's surprising we're still debating that. >> and alarming, they would say. ahead on "american morning," japan bracing for another deadly disaster. a typhoon slams ashore overnight. a live report from tokyo. it's 23 minutes after the hour. so who ordered the cereal that can help lower cholesterol and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. 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"minding your business" your business. uncertainty about greece and the fed zapping what was a three-digit, triple digit rally on wall street. the dow barely squeezing oun a gain, the nasdaq and s&p were down. futures up. as i mentioned, we'll learn today of the fed after its meeting unveiling a short-term stimulus to boost the economy. reviving a program known as "operation twist." it's goal, keep long-term interests rate down to fuel the recovery. the international monetary fund raising a red flag. the group in a report released prior to this week's meeting warns "the global economy is in a dangerous new phase" and expects the world's economy to slow in the next two years. forecast growth in the u.s. just 1.5%. that's not enough to pull down the unimploemt rate. word of another shutdown on capitol hill. how much to spend on federal disaster funding and could hold up the approval of a short-term spending bill to keep the government running into next month. news we all want to hear. right? jobs. gm adding 6,400 at plants here in the u.s. all part of a new labor agreement with the new united otter workers union, raising the pay for entry level positions and boosts profit sharing for all gm workers. and charging the gambling site full tilt poker costing investor more than $440 million. that site has been shut down. "american morning" will be right back after this quick break. [ woman ] jogging stroller, you've been stuck in the garage, while i took refuge from the pollen that made me sneeze. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. so lily and i are back on the road again. with zyrtec®, i can love the air®. good morning. we're crossing the half hour. we have breaking news for you. two american hikers held in prison in iran could be released at any moments. a swiss embassy car entered the prison. their lawyer says all the paperwork holding this up is complete. our producer in tehran confirms diplomatic cars have entered the compound holding the two men, shawn bauer and josh fattal, detained along the iran-iraq border back in 2009 along with share ra shourd who was released last year. iran convicted them as spies. we are waiting for an update and will bring it to you as soon as e get it. convicted to die -by by let injection tonight. they're fighting his execution hours away. with the future of the middle east on the line, president obama and mahmoud abbas meet face-to-face as the u.n., a last-ditch effort to get palestinians back to the bargains table with israel instead of seeking statehood later this week as expected at the united nations. and typhoon hits japan. urged to evacuate homes from a storm packing 100 mile-an-hour winds. paula hancock, what's the situation there? >> reporter: well, ali, at this point we know four people have died, three more missing from this typhoon, but the fear is that in number will rise. it is 7:30 at night here. it's been pitch black for two hours. it will be very difficult to tell what kind of damage there is until daylight. residents of tokyo felt the effects of typhoon roke that has been driving rain and very strong winds. of course, it made landfall down in the southern part, an area just a few weeks ago was battered by typhoon talas, described as the worst and deadliest typhoon for three decades. the hope, this isn't going to be as deadly. hundreds of flights cancelled, which means thousands of people are stranded. many of the subways here in tokyo were shut, meaning thousands of people don't know how they're go home tonight. ali? >> this typhoon is expected to pass directly over the fukushima nuclear plant. workers struggling to correct the disaster from march, trying to get rid of radioactive water. what is the threat this storm brings to fukushima? >> reporter: thinking this storm should skirt past fukushima at about 9:00 local time. this is the estimate from japan's meteorological agency. about an hour and a half away. of course, we've spoken to tepco, the operators there. they say they stopped all outdoor reconstruction work for the whole day, because it was too dangerous. they say that they've tried to stabilize the situation and they're monitoring it very closely, but, of course, the worry is, there is incredibly heavy rain heading towards fukushima and probably hitting that region right now. there's already contaminated water in the buildings around the reactors that the workers are trying to treat and store safely. if this heavy rain continues to flow, there is a fear it could overflow into the water, the underground water. ali? >> we'll stay on top of this story. paula hancocks. talk about roke and its path, rob? >> the main concern, look at the satellite picture. startling to see yesterday how powerful and well organized this system was being so close to the main island of japan. look at that eye. at one point, a category 4 storm making landfall, about a category 2. remember, typhoon and hurricane, same thing but a different name when you go west. same at a category 2 and now a category 1, winds at 70 knotts a knots west of tokyo. here comes the rainfall. not only across tokyo but up through sendai. you have water overflow potential and land honestly not settled after being shaken so badly just six months or so ago. land and mudslides a distinct possibility as rain continues to come down the next 6 to 1 hours. and westerly moving at 13 miles an hour. winds at 45. the forecast track. a lot of heavy wind to develop into something major. at this point, tropical storm strength taking it towards the islands of the bahamas, northern caribbeans and potentially towards the u.s. next week. again a weak front. guys, back up to you. >> thank you, rob. still to come on "american morning," some are calling it one of the worst marketing blunders. netflix changing the name of its videos to quickster. officials are baffled -- baffled they're not eating. >> idiotic. >> you have to see the video to believe it. is 36 minutes after the hour. 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[ male announcer ] if you're in a ford f-150 and you see this... it's the end of the road. the last hurrah. it's when ford's powertrain warranty ends. but in this ram truck, you've still got 39,999 miles to go. ♪ guts. glory. ram. ♪ [♪...] >> male announcer: now, for a limited time, your companion flies free, plus save up to 65%. call 1-800-sandals. conditions apply. 40 minutes after the hour. we're following breaking news. two american hikers held prisoner in iran two years could be released at any moment. our producer reporting two military vehicles enters the compound where they're being held, a second judge signed the documents and they could be released very soon. we're covering this from tehran and from amman, the amani government involved in their release as well as soon as these two are released we will let you know. welcome back. a decision that seems to have gone over like new coke or tropicana's less is more packages. netflix renames its dvd mail service to quickster this coming after a price hike in july that caused subscribers to quit the service in droves sending don the stock 55%. the ceo apologizes for being arrogant. what can netflix do now? social commentator adam hamm is the ceo of the marketing firm hamm products. you never want as a ceo to have your company become a case study for business schools. that's exactly what happened here. >> fay ir to say. made a series of blunders rolling out to be pretty bad for them. >> investors are looking at what the company's strategy has been and then breaking into two parts, quickster, netflix, the apology from the ceo and sold the stock again. >> people liked it. made it a double feature. bad idea. they want to deal with one idea. they took their problems and instead of saying here's one brand. >> didn't want netflix. rent them by mail. come in the red envelope. the first movers in this market. that's a business they saw dying. streaming movies, stlereaming videos was the way of the future. in focusing on the streaming they let the core audience who rubbed netflix the way it was, they just cut them off. that's something i don't know they can cover from. >> a cardinal mistake. basically said, look, we don't want to go bankrupt. we've got to transition. that's his problem. not the consumer's problem. the traditional dvd in the mail business play not be a high-growth bit bus profitable, around for a long time. should have migrated, choose a business under one central brand as opposed to bifurcate like he did. >> am i a netflix or a quickster customer? it confuses who they are. >> they aren't connected. you go to rent a movie and then stream a movie, log out of one site, go to another. bad user experience. >> what should he do now? the ceo said he didn't want to be dial up, his big fear that kept him up's in trying to avoid that fear, many say he made it worse for himself. >> he highlighted the fact a part of the business is in trouble. shop have done ap more elegant, seamless migration from one to the other. under one brand, not artificially splitting into two. >> he said he was sorry. the company seemed arrogant but didn't roll back the price increase nap just made fans and followers even more angry. >> he tried to isolate it, part of his strategy. if you want to be really bold and be honest say, i listened to my consumers. this was a bad idea. this was a 21st century -- we're going back to the way it was. >> can he, can the company, recover from this gaffe? >> i think over time they can, because i think people did like the brand. price increase aside, people do like to cue and the recommendation entry. a lot of emotional connection. he's got to work hard but can probably get them back over time. >> were they get hooked on a different service, it might be hard to get in back. >> might be. netflix is a powerful marketing acquisition machine. they were the first, have if down to a science. they do know how to acquire customers. >> quickster. a guy on twitter has a dope smoking persona that people laughed about. you know, i mean, ali's laughing, but was quickster also, some said it brings to mind napster and other defink-ster kind of companies. how about that as a branding choice? >> it shows they rushed into this too fast. the fact nobody in the vast enterprise said let's see who owns quickster on twitter? how ill-considered this move was. >> it's not really quicker. >> no. in fact slower. all confusing. >> so much to talk about on this. we'll see if the stock recovers on this. nice to see you. ali and carol? >> i thought adam was very charitable about this. i had it with this company. the cue, while it's neat, is not that great. now it's under competition. there was a time netflix was the game in town. >> i kept thinking, maybe i should get -- never did. i'm glad now. >> definitely goes down as weren't of the things we'll study. quick check of the morning's stories are straight ahead. stay with us. and our a.m. talkback question of the day, is it time to rethink the death penalty? it's 45 past the hour. the first children's car seat was introduced in 1921. by today's standards, early versions didn't offer much safety. 90 years later an indiana division of derail industries is looking to the indy 500 for ideas to create what they believe is the safest car seat yet. >> being close to indianapolis really is what inspired us to try to work with them. >> reporter: the answer is in a material similar to the ones used in the race car seats. it's a foam called airprotect, it redices impact by spreading out the force of the collision and it's been put to the test. >> we've concentrated or side impact crashes primarily because they're the most dangerous. in all advances of automotive safety, a lot is up at the front of vehicle. side impact, 18 inches of distance between the side of the vehicle and the occupant. >> reporter: developer, say the key is protecting the child's head and upper torso. >> the design of the seat itself, how we have larger wings out the side, we'll dealing with and addressing the intrusion that happens in a side impact crash. >> reporter: airprotect is on the road now and investors hope crash statistics will be the only thing taking a hit. reynolds wolf, cnn. [ oswald ] there's a lot of discussion going on about the development of natural gas, whether it can be done safely and responsibly. at exxonmobil we know the answer is yes. when we design any well, the groundwater's protected by multiple layers of steel and cement. most wells are over a mile and a half deep so there's a tremendous amount of protective rock between the fracking operation and the groundwater. natural gas is critical to our future. at exxonmobil we recognize the challenges and how important it is to do this right. 48 minutes past the hour. what you need to know to start your day. on u.s. hiker freedom watch. two american hikers held prison in iran could be released at any moment. two diplomatic cars spotted entering tehran. all the court paperwork holding them up is now complete. president obama preparing for a face-to-face meeting today with palestinian president mahmoud abbas trying to convince him to negotiate statehood directly with israel rather than requesting it later this week from the united nations. supporters vowing to continue the fight to stop troy davis' execution tonight in georgia. he's scheduled to die by lethal injection for the 1989 off-duty police officer. and tony bennett apologizing. he told howard stern they flew the planes in but we caused it. the 85-year-old bennett says there's no excuse for terrorism and the murder of 3,000 in the victims. and ashton kutcher and charlie sheen, ratings watchers. highest ever on the network. ash toon kutchers debut on 2 "2 1/2 men." 28 million tuned in. a series high and the best prescripted tv shows since debt pris housewives in 2005. that's the news to get you started. "american morning" is back right after this break. nine minut of the hour. good morning to you. we asked you to "talk back" on one of the big stories of the day. the question this morning -- is it time to rethink the death penalty? from frank, why would criminals be afraid of punishment when there is none? how many parole hearings does a convicted criminal get? set them free to do it all over again? how many do we need to hear about? how kids need to be killed because a killer is set free? brian says, a civilized way to. >> moderator:er as punishment. teach our kids violence is okay if it's to a bad person? when will we as a nation realize violence brings about violence. hypocrisy at its finest, if you ask me. they don't belong in society. lights out. keep the conversation going. facebook.com/americanmorning. it worked in 1994 and newt gingrich is hoping it will put a little life into his presidential campaign. the former house speaker announcing he has a plan for a new 21st century america. one abraham lincoln would have campaigned on. you may recall in '94 republicans used it to win back a majority in the house. and michele bachmann's got a beef. there it is. she's holding a really sharp knife surrounded by carcasses making an appearance at an iowa meat plant, carving up the obama regulations and a side of beef talking about the need to "slice government regulations" that are stifling -- >> better than kissing babies and shaking hands. >> are we talking about trying to have different kinds of regulations on meat because we want to make sure all of these e. coli we can't get and -- >> she's talking about the regulations of small businesses. talking specifically about that and says this company actually has one person to deal with all the rules and regulations set forth by the government, although she doesn't specify federal or state. >> or which she thinks are owners? >> i didn't delve into it that much. we'll check that out. a cool photo op. it was different. >> true. he's friendlier than the average bear. you may believe what you're about to see, but, please, take a look. all right. billy gray and his son say they were fishing at pond in virginia when they saw a bear on the shore. the bear eventually comes out of the woods, goes right up to the two men. wildlife experts say you're really -- this thing could have gone the other way. >> if he was in a full feeding mode that would have been a whole different video. >> enough said. >> the bear stuck around about two hours. they were done fishing by the time they disappeared. so commy around humans probably because they're feeding them. something you're not supposed to do. >> i wouldn't have my hand or my phone, which i use more than my hand that close to a bear. >> i'm such a sissy. >> if the bear went to me, i'd hand them the hand before the phone. >> had his son with him. >> we're glad it was a nice bear. the repeal of don't ask, don't tell, has your late-night hosts joking openly. take a look. >> today the military's policy of don't ask, don't tell is officially over. ended today. ended today. yeah. see, now -- now gay couples can enlist, fight overseas, put their lives on the line all to defend people's right to defend people can't get married when they get back home. yeah. >> this shakes up the military chain of command. i had no idea. i'm ignorant. the military command changed. here's how it works out. at the top, commander in chief. barack obama, current president. next in command, leon panetta, reminds me of panchetta, mighty tasty. mighty tasty, and then after leon panetta, you have -- look. it's lady gaga. >> lucky it was gay people they discharged from the army. only gay people would remain in good enough shape to be able to re-enlist. >> that's so try, actually. >> that's funny. just ahead next hour, after two years american hikers held prisoner in iran may walk free this morning. an update from right outside the prison in tehran. 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[ sigh ] too bad you're not buying car insurance. like that's easy. oh, it is. progressive direct showed me their rates and the rates of their competitors. i saved hundreds when switching. we could use hundreds. yeah. wake up and smell the savings. out there with a better way. now, that's progressive. but not in my neighborhood. ♪ [ female announcer ] we're throwing away misperceptions about natural gas vehicles. more of the vehicles that fuel our lives use clean american natural gas today. it costs about 40 percent less than gasoline, so why aren't we using it even more? start a conversation about using more natural gas vehicles in your community. breaking news to tell you about this morning -- two american hikers held in tehran over two years expected to be freed any moment. we're live in tehran and amman. showdown. an issue the united nations hasn't been able to solve for decades. today it lands squarely at the u.n.'s doorstep. the push for a palestinian state. clemency denied a georgia death row inmate hours from being executed. supporters staging a last-minute push to save his life. and tony bennett in trouble over comments he made on the radio, and what he said president bush told him about the iraq war. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good morning. it's wednesday, september 21st. a major development in iran involving two american hikers. shane bauer and josh fattal, two american hikers held prisoner in iran expected to be released at any moment. their lawyer says all the court paperwork holding this up is now complete. joining us from outside the prison in tehran is charsaad with more. what do you know? >> well, right now -- outside the prison -- [ inaudible ]. >> looks like we don't have a good connection with -- is he back? >> -- where they could go -- and so it could be any minute now. we're just waiting. >> what we've been hearing reports of is that diplomatic vehicles, we heard one report swiss vehicles have gone to the prison compound supposedly these are the vehicles that will be used to bring these two men out. are you getting the same information? >> according to prison authorities i just talked to, when they are handed over, they will bring out the prisoner with their lawyer and where they go from there, we don't know yet, but i assume they will go to maybe the amani -- to amman. an amani car. >> i assume these two men are ready to leave prison on a moment's notice. once these papers are in order, they're ready? >> the last time something like this happened, the american was released, i think she stayed a few nights until she left, but we don't know. >> we'll hopefully learn about that in a little while. what do we know about the release? unconditional? conditions associated with it? is it bail? >> there is no conditions set for this. according to the lawyer and the authorities, the case is still open and they leave the country and if they are not back in time for their trial -- [ inaudibl ] [ inaudible ]. >> all right. you're on with our producers. you will keep us posted. as soon as we hear anything we'll come back to you for an update but are expecting these two hikers could be released aknit time. playing a huge role in this release, mohammed is with us. why amman? is it from the swiss? the men, from the american, the families? why ooh -- oman. >> it seems a country that can mediate between those two geopolitical forces when there are disputes. speculation has been building al week that when and if the hikers are released they will come to oman, it's been involved in the release. still, people are kind of scratching their heads at this and wondering why exactly is oman playing a role in these negotiations? >> i want to begin by thanking his majesty the sultan said for welcoming me to this beautiful country upon my release. >> a happy ending for american hiker sarah shourd after being freed from an iranian prison. her first stop came as a surprise to many. the sultan of ammoman, not so shocking once revealed they paid the bail money. why would oman be involved in such a high-stakes ordeal? >> oman has had a steady relationship with iran during the time of the shah and postresolution, one of the very pure if only leaders of the persian gulf arab nations which retained a cordial relationship with the islamic -- >> reporter: this man ruled his country more than 40 years. where most of his neighbors take an adversarial response to iran, he is considered progressive and it's separated from the strait of charmeuse. with only 18 mimes between countries, maintaining relations is crucial for this gulf state. seems like a natural trading partner with oman, but it can't offer the help oman needs in diversifying its economy. for that, they rely on the u.s., which they have a free trade agreement. for some, analysts wonder if their freedom might ultimately reduce the tension between the u.s. and iran, therefore reduce overall tension in the persian gulf. >> perhaps. i think an advantage point, apart from the fact he wanted to provide a humanitarian gesture by helping release these young men, he sees it in his interests to reduce the overall tension in the region by reducing u.s./iran tension. >> reporter: at a time when regional revolt has shaken so many regimes, some are no longer asking why in the world oman would want to be involved in this case, but rather, why on earth would they not want to be? and, christine, many analysts are suggesting that oman realizes now that this is its moment, and they really want to take advantage of it to try to raise their profile on the global stage. christine? >> all right. mohammed jamjoon. we'll continue to monitor. when we know the two hikers are released we'll come to you for analysis. and what could be biggest bibmatic challen diplomatic challenge of his presidency. trying to steer palestine back to the negotiating table with israel. that's a tough sell for a the palestinians. mass demonstration in support for statehood. richard roth live at the united nations what can the president say to mahmoud abbas to change his mind, richard? >> reporter: i don't think there's very much. he can now hope to work on after the application is submitted to the security council, white house officials saying in effect at briefings yesterday this is somewhat of a done deal that that will happen, and since there's no immediate security council vote where the u.s. has said it would veto, there's plans and time for more negotiations on this. last year president obama at the general assembly said if we act and do what's best for ourselves, he was previewing a palestinian state here at this time. that's not going to happen. the president will meet with president abbas ever the palestinians and prime minister netanyahu of israel in separate meetings to try to see what can be done to cool thing over though it does provide momentum for further talks and negotiation. carol? >> richard, a couple of things could happen. president obama could persuade the palestinians to postpone the vote. maybe for a few months. or not vote at all and go back to the negotiating table with the israelis. >> reporter: well, yes. the palestinians, once they submit their bid, no say on the timing of the vote. that's up to lobbying by them and others. can they get nine countries on the security council to vote yes? you need that, before the u.s. even considers a veto, and there are european nations, the united kingdom and france which hasn't specified. scramble for the african nations on there. lebanon would vote in favor. there are a lot of interesting dynamics ahead on tallying up the votes, but there would be no persuading president abbas to drop his statehood application while the general assembly meeting is under way. >> richard roth reporting live for us. thanks. rick perry is working his way into the palestinian statehood debate. the republican front-runner for president schmoozing with jewish leaders in new york, slamming the obama administration for its middle east policies claiming the white house is undermining america's security interests in the middle east. >> we're equally indignant of the obama administration and their middle east policy of appeasement that is encouraged such an ominous act of bad faith. simply put -- we would not be here today at this very precipice of such a dangerous move if the obama policy in the middle east wasn't naive and arrogant, misguided and dangerous. >> perry says jerusalem should be united under israeli rule and israel should build settlements wherever it wants. the texas governor telling jewish leaders, i hope you will tell the people of israel that help is on the way. also new this morning, the assassination of the afghan government's point man on negotiations with the taliban. a major blow to peace efforts pap suicide attacker set off a bomb hidden in his turban after greeting rabanni in his home. they say the attacker posing as taliban peace envoy was not properly searched. legendary singer tony bennett hitting a sour note with his comments on the 9/11 attacks. during an interview on the howard stern show, bennett said they flew the plane in, but we caused it. bennett also says former president bush confided to him that the iraq war was a mistake. >> he said it's a -- he told me, personally, that night, that, he says, i think i made a mistake. >> really? >> really. >> really? bennett has now apologized for his remarks saying there's no excuse for terrorism and the murder of nearly 3,000 innocent victims. typhoon roke blamed for at least five deaths in japan. the monster storm made landfallover night along the coast of central japan. 1 million people urged to evacuate. it could pose a threat to the damaged fukushima daiichi power plant. it's 11 minutes after the hour. rob marciano is in the extreme weather center. good morning. >> a scary storm yesterday as it made its approach to the main island of japan as a category, equivalent of a category 4 storm. weakened to category 2. now still a category 1 equivalent typhoon here and really just to the north and west of tokyo, and moving quite rapidly towards the north and east. the big story now obviously will be a tremendous amount of rainfall. this is on top of the rainfall they've already seen just in the past two weeks from another typhoon. 6 to 10 inches potentially more. up to fukushima and sendai. and not very settled there. could be looking for a potential land and mudslides. in the atlantic basin, 1,000 miles away, heading towards land. winds sustained at 45. the forecast from the national hurricane center has an amount of head wind barreling through. it will track towards the caribbean and the bahamas gone through the next week and over the weekend likely staying as a tropical storm but making an approach towards the u.s. maybe next week. we have a front that keeps coming down the pike. like they do in fall. they've shot these storms out to sea. hopefully this will do the same. a slow mover but powerful. cool air behind it. moist air out ahead of it. it will probably stall right through this area. that means sustained kind of dreary, unsettled weather for the northeast. new york, philly, traveling knew atlanta as well, delays up and over an hour in spots and d.c. metro and charlotte may sigh deld see delay to a lesser extent. 56 in minneapolis, that air pouring down towards the south and east. hopefully the fall fronts will save us from these approaching tropical storm and hurricanes. we'll be watching ophelia. >> winterlike temperatures in texas. 80s. low 90s. >> need your parka. >> breaking out the bur burqa. >> no kidding. >> did you say burqa? >> there you go. >> i don't know what that meant. >> i missed you guys. >> rob, thank you. still to come this morning, democrats and republicans at it again. thousa how their latest disagreement could trigary shutdown. and weighing in on the troy davis case. the georgia death row inmate denied a last-minute clemency. he is now hours away from execution. coffee doesn't have vitamins... unless you want it to. new splenda® essentials™ no calorie sweetener with b vitamins, the first and only one to help support a healthy metabolism. three smart new ways to sweeten. same great taste. new splenda® essentials™. same great taste. when an investment lacks discipline, it's never this obvious. introducing investment discipline etfs from russell. visit russelletfs.com r a prospectus, containing the investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and other information. read and consider it carefully before investing. that didn't just hide your breakouts... but actually made them go away. neutrogena skin clearing makeup has our proven blemish fighting formula so it clears your breakouts. now that's beautiful. neutrogena®. continuing with our breaking news coverage our tehran. word now lawyers for the two hikers have arrived at the prison where we understand the final papers have been signed for the release of the two american hikers. we also understand that swiss embassy officials and omany officials arrived there. reports they saw swiss diplomatic vehicles entering the compound and other diplomatic vehicles which may be used for the release of these prisoners. we don't know where they will are going if released. sarah shourd was out of the country on the same day. no plans for these two hikers. when we last thought they would be released it didn't happen. as we understand it from their lawyers all final papers have been signed. the lawyers for the two men, swiss embassy and omani officials enter the compound. we'll let you know as soon as they are released from the compound in tehran. troy davis is set to be executed tonal at 7:00 p.m. after his last-ditch effort for clemency was denied. he will be killed by the state under a huge cloud of doubt with supporter around the world still insists they have the wrong guy. >> you probably heard it by now. davis was convicted of shooting and killing an off-duty police officer, that happened in georgia back in 1989. paul, a lot of people are outraged about this case, because seven of the nine people who testified they saw troy davis pull the trigger either changed their stories or recanted altogether. a lot of people are wondering, how could the georgia parole board have made this decision when there's all this doubt? >> you know, there's tragedy on both sides of this case. those in favor of the death penalty remind people the victim was a young man in his 20s with a young daughter and young son. former army ranger shot in the heart and the in the face by an individual who they say, proponents of the death penalty, the case was overwhelming. nine people supported the conviction at the tile. convicted. back to the history of the case, they're so heartbreaking. this case is 22 years old. we went through, in my office last night, to see how many courts have looked at this case, have touched it. i came up offhand in a quick count, 28 separate courts had looked at this. >> have all upheld this conviction? >> every single court that has looked a the it upheld the conviction. the georgia board of pardons and appeals have upheld the conviction twice. now, they, and different members of the board at both times. now, we get back to this thing, people saying, seven out of the nine have changed their story, and how could anybody uphold a murder conviction if seven out of nine have changed the story? the supreme court of the united states was so concerned about that claim that a couple of years ago, they sent it back it a federal judge and said to him, we want to you conduct an actual innocence hearing, because you've got to get to the bottom of this. you have to find out. >> you say actual innocence, don't mean a proposal hearing on so many of these things that debt brought through the system in a death penalty case? >> usualliy write on there. usually procedural. violation of a technical rule. perhaps the trial wasn't fair because of that. no. this was, look at the case. is there evidence he really didn't do it? >> right. >> the federal judge held two days of hearings in the case, and his conclusion was, smoke in mirrors. this guy is guilty. these claims the witnesses have changed their story and were inaccurate at the trial cannot be depended upon. weren't of the big things that federal judge said that resonated with me, the defense, when they were doing this hearing and prior hearings, frequently would not call to the witness stand the witnesses who recanted. instead, they would just submit a piece of paper, an affidavit they had signed. the judge said, why wouldn't you submit them under oath to be cross-examined if the guy's really innocent and. it they're really changing their story? remember, it's 22 years later. at the time of the verdict in this case, back in the -- this happened in 1989. trial in 1991. a jury of 12 people, including 7 african-american americans, convicted him in two hour. based on the testimony in the case. >> but i thought that three jurors are now saying that we would have ruled differently? >> yes, they are saying that, and i will tell you, being a person who has tried an awful lot of jury cases that ten minutes after jurors hand down a verdict, i'll give you an hour. they sometimes chaeng their minds. once they get into the outside world, they rethink. >> right. >> we can't have a system based on jurors later on, years later saying, gee, maybe i would have decided different. there has to be some certainty. >> debate about the death penalty overall. i think what this case really shows is this unease in american society about the death penalty. >> and i think that's a very, very legitimate question. there is a lot of unease, and i've tried a lot of cases as prosecutor. i've put people in prison for murder and defended people in murder cases, and i know the system does make mistakes, and when we're imposing the death penalty, we want to make sure 100%, that we have the right person. >> if the death penalty weren't in a case like this, would you get fewer people recanting later on? >> whats in a death penalty case is you get a huge number of death penalty opponents who have sig cant forces behind certain cases. that's what happened in this case. it's been remarkable the amount of public support generated in the davis case. on the other hand i think death penalty supporters would say, you know, the pope, amnesty international, al sharpton, a whole host of people, are opposed to this execution -- >> also, before we have to let you go -- there's nothing anyone can do to stop this excuse? president obama cannot intervene because it's a state matter. the governor of georgia. can he intervene? >> no. the governor cannot. in georgia, a special system where it's the georgia pardon and appeals bureau. only they can intervene. the u.s. supreme court could issue another stay, if they came up with some reason, but, frankly, they've looked tat so many times. they've offered this actual innocence hearing. i don't know why the supreme court would intervene. now, there was one news report that obama could intervene andish u a statement. the president doesn't have the power to do that. that's inaccurate f. all goes as planned, so cold to say it that way. the execution will take place at 7:00 p.m. eastern tonight. >> yes it will. >> nice to be with you. >> as with you. the question this morning on the "talk back" question, is it time to rethink the death penalty? troy davis, a convicted cop killer, will die tonight despite this rally and despite assertions of davis' innocence from amnesty international to the pope to president jimmy carter. whether you agree with them or not is up to you. davis' case aside, americans seem increasingly reluctant to put anyone to death. since the 1990s, the numbers declined from 98 executions in 1999 to just 46 last year. that decline seems at odds with the strong feelings many americans still have about the death penalty. witness the republican debate. >> your state has executed 234 death row inmates, more than any other governor in modern times. [ applause ] have you struggled to sleep at night with the idea that any one of those might have been innocent? >> no, sir, i've never struggled with that at all. i think americans understand justice. >> that is texas, but 16 other states do not have the death penalty. as for why juries seem loathe to impose a death sentence? that's unclear. but maybe it's because more than 130 people have been released from death row with evidence of their innocence since 1973. many juries now prefer another option. life without the possibility of parole. so the "talk back" question this morning, and it's a tough one -- is it time to rethink the death penalty? facebook.com/americanmorning. facebook.com/americanmorni facebook.com/americanmorning. i'll read your comments later this hour. still to come this morning, a stark warning from the international monetary fund. what they're now saying about the world's economy. you're watching "american morning." it's 25 minutes after the hour. [ female announcer ] lactaid milk is easy to digest. it's real milk full of calcium and vitamin d. and tastes simply delicious. for those of us with lactose intolerance... lactaid® milk. the original 100% lactose-free milk. 27 minutes past the hour. welcome back. "minding your business" this morning. uncertainty about greece and the fed zapping what was triple digit rally on wall street. the dow barely squeezing out a gain. the nasdaq and s&p were down. this morning u.s. stock futures trading mixed prior to the opening bell. the fed unveil as short-term stimulus to boost the economy. speculation they'll revive a program known at "operation twist." it's goal, teep long-term interest rates down to fuel the economy. chuck schumer is urging the federal reserve to ignore a letter by republicans leaders writing we have serious concerns further intervention by the federal reserve could exacerbate current problems or further harm the u.s. economy. congress has no business telling the fed what to do. raising a red flag. the group in a report released prior to this meeting, "the economy is in a dangerous phase and expects the economy to slow and the u.s. will grow at only 1.5%." the iconic beermaker fosters has agreed to be taken over. weren't of the largest brewing companies in the world and said to have paid $10 billion for fosters. don't forget, for the very latest news about your money, check out the all-new cnnmoney.com. "american morning" will be right back after this quick break. my grocery bill isn't wasteful spending. my heart medication isn't some political game. our retirement isn't a simple budget line item. i worked hard. i paid into my medicare. and i earned my social security. now, instead of cutting waste and loopholes, washington wants to cut our benefits. that wasn't the agreement. join the members of aarp and tell washington to stop cuts to our medicare and social security benefits. ( singing along ) ( singing high note ) that should do it. enjoy your new shower. ( door opens, closes ) naomi pryce: i am. i'm in the name your own price division. i find empty hotel rooms and help people save - >> - up to 60% off. i am familiar. your name? > naomi pryce. >> what other "negotiating" skills do you have? > i'm a fifth-degree black belt. >> as am i. > i'm fluent in 37 languages. >> (indistinct clicking) > and i'm a master of disguise >> as am i. > as am i. >> as am i. > as am i. >> well played naomi pryce. about 31 minutes past the hour. breaking news. two american hikers held prisoner in iran could be released any moment. reuters says a swiss embassy car has entered the prison. their lawyer says all the court paperwork holding this up is now complete. shane bauer and josh fattal detained a little the iran/iraq border back in 2009. almost a year ago to the day we spoke to sarah shourd who spent time with them as a prisoner until she was released. >> we'd long been fascinated with the region. the middle east is a diverse body of cultures and we knew we wanted to immerse ourselves in that part of the world to learn more about it and to be hopefully more of a bridge between the people in that region and the people in our country. so i taught in damascus for a year and there's not been a lot of green mountains in dough mass k damascus. i don't know if i'll ever understand that. we did nothing wrong. meant to harm to the iranian people did not intend to cross the border. it was unmarked. we were on a trail recommended by the hotel in respect were hundreds of family there's. a very popular spot by a waterfall where families picnic, and, you know, i -- i just think it's a huge misunderstanding that has a lot more to do with the problems between our countries than with us as individuals. >> this morning president obama meeting face-to-face at the united nations today with palestinian president mahmoud abbas. he'll try to convince abbas to negotiate with israel directly instead of applying for statehood friday at the united nation. the u.n. general assembly voting to accept credentials of libya's new government. confirming the u.s. will reopen its embassy in tripoli this week and america will continue to protect libyan civilians. >> difficult days are still ahead. but one thing is clear -- the future of libya is now in the hands of the libyan people. for just as it was libyan whose tore down the old order it will be libyans who build their new nation, and we've come here today to say to the people of libya, just as the world stood by you in your struggle to be free, we will now stand with you in your struggle to realize the peace and prosperity that freedom can bring. >> all right. in connecticut this morning, testimony resumes in the trial of the man accused of mast per minding a deadly home invasion. >> weren't of the worst ever. the lone survivor, the father. his wife and two daughters brutally murdered. reliving that on the witness stand yesterday. deb feyerick in the courtroom. weren't of the most difficult to even cover. top see this man talking about the death of his family. >> it really is, especially because police were so close to getting everybody out safely and they were on the premises when all of this happened. yesterday in the courtroom, it really was a day of reckoning. the defendant, joshua komisarjevsky came face-to-face with the man he is accused of beating and torturing. >> he didn't know if he was awake or dreaming but remembers thinking, ow, ow, ow, as his head filled with pain and blood flowed down his face. in his comfortable connecticut home, standing before him in the dark of night, he says were two hooded men. weren't of them holding what looked like a gun. if he moves, put a bullet in him, he heard one intruder say. then the doctor's wrist and ankles were bound with rope and plastic ties which the men had with them. joshua komisarjevsky on trial for the home invasion that left a mother and her two children dead listened closely. during 2 1/2 hours of testimony, dr. petit described the night his world shattered. hup he was taken to the basement and tied to a pole, heard his wife jennifer telling intruders she had to get dressed, get a checkbook and identification, turns out to withdraw $15,000 and how he heard one of the intruders say, get the money, and no one will get hurt. this bank surveillance video shows mrs. petit getting the cash quietly telling the bank manager two men were holding hostage her husband and daughteridaughter ings hayley and michaela. dr. petit described hearing a loud thud. on the witness stand he paused and said, i heard moaning, which i think was my wife. it was then dr. petit realized he had to get out. breaking free from the pole, he escaped out storm doors, rolling to his neighbors. call 911, he shouted, as moments later a police officer, gun drawn, emerged through the bushes, just as the petit home went up in flames. and you know, it was just so difficult to listen to him talk about this. he was very stoic, very stready very calm. there were a couple of pauses, but he never lost his composure at any time. and it's such a hard thing to talk about, and then in a remarkable gesture of goodwill, jennifer hawke-petit's father, a reverend, actually crossed the i'll aisle and shook hands with the father of the defendant. when i asked the reverend late wlaer they spoke about, reverend hawke told me he must be hurting as much as us and paused and said, well, maybe not as much. >> you know what i was thinking through all that, the person with the life sentence is dr. petit. he's got live with this the rest of his life. no way out for him. what's this trial exactly trying to prove? >> the second of two trials. the first defendant was convicted, now on death row. the likelihood the same will happen, what komisarjevskys lawyers, they're trying to get him to avoid the death penalty. >> say heg wasn't interested in killing anybody. involved in everything else but didn't want to kill anybody. >> exactly right. intent. they did show the ties used to bind dr. petit, those were not ties originally in the house. in fact, these two invaders, they did bring certain equipment, certain things that clearly showed that this wasn't just, let's get in, let's get out. take this stuff we've got and sad looking at the loot they got away with. a couple of wallets, credit cards. gift cards. they had jars of change, they took three jars of change. you know? and an ipod dock. that's the price of three people's lives. i men -- incredible. >> such a difficult case. deborah feyerick. thanks. >> of course. also new this morning, new and dramatic video of friday's deadly plane crash in an air show in nevada. in it you can clearly see the plane slam into the ground and shatter. 11 people died, including the pilot, when he lost control of his vintage p-51 mustang crashing it straight into the crowd. brent wilson was at the event with his two sons and one shot this video. they shared the video to showcase the hero, not the horror. >> really struggling with this, and he came to the realization, he says, we have to help. we have to help. we have to show the spirit -- the spirit that, human nature, to come to each other's aid, and really show that heroism of the pilot and the heroism of the people on the ground. >> the cause of the crash is still not known. investigators are focused on part of the tail that appeared to fall off before the crash. still to come this morning, democrats and republicans at it again. how their latest disagreement could trigary government shutdown in the next few days. >> say it ain't so. can congress accomplish anything? the gridlock paralyzing the country. our senior political analyst will join us. today's "roman's numeral" $16. a hint, a toilet seat as a problem? we'll have it for you right after this. 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[ junior ] ...and they've helped build my business. all right. i've got a "roman's numeral" for you, velshi. >> i always feel it has to do with golf. >> the number is $16. >> too low to be anything to do with golf. >> you're right. according to an audit, the justice department served $16 muffins to folks at a 2009 conference. just it department paid $16 -- >> for muffins. >> and at a hotel conference. >> laced with gold? >> i don't know. gold powder on the top? just run of the mill muffins. also $32 for a snack break. >> $8 for a cup of coffee. i said earlier i do a lot of my eating in airports. i manage to pay more money for things than people -- it's unbelievable. what did i just pay for that? i have never gotten $8 for a normal cup of coffee, and i don't have fancy coffee. >> $8 cups of coffee and tea. $32 for a snack break, after the department heissued new regulations on cutbacks. after serving expensive meatballs. we've been talking about government waste for years. years. >> this stiff is not going to bring down the deficit, but it is worthy of understanding. >> just a reminder. there you go. here we go again talking about possible government shutdowns through capitol hill all because they can't agreed on funding for disaster relief agencies like fema. >> kate bolduan is live with us from washington. what kind of timeline are we looking at for a shutdown, and is it likely to happen? >> reporter: we will see. if you asked a couple days ago, i would have said, no. things are heating up. facing a shutdown at the end of this month. a week from this saturday, if congress can't reach agreement. also complicating this timeline is a house and senate, scheduled to begin a week-long recess this weekend. we could be looking at an even tighter timeline to get this figured out. listen first to the difference in opinion between the top republican and top democrat ins senate. t. won't be a government shutdown. the congress always responds appropriately to disasters. we're having a discussion about the appropriate way to do that and i'm confident it will be resolved. >> i heard the reports that senator mcconnell said there will be no shutdown. i'm not that sure. it i'm not that sure, because the tea party-driven house of representatives has been so unreasonable in of the past, i don't know why they should suddenly be reasonable. >> here's what's going on. the republican-controlled highways is set to vote on a short-term spending bill today that would fund the government through mid-november. that never also includes additional money for federal sdamp relief, as so many states have been hit by the recent tornadoes, hurricanes and wildfires. a horrible season, but the house would be allocating fewer dollars to federal disaster relief in that measure. about half of what the senate has already approved, and that is where the standoff is. senate democrats, they are not happy with the dollar amount that republicans in the house are pushing forward tore federal disaster relief. on top of the fight over the dollar amount, senate democrats are also upset house republicans are insisting part of the disaster money be paid for and they would do that by taking money from another program that helps automakers retool plans to make more fuel official vehicles but democrats say also creates jobs. neither side willing to budge and surprisyingly both sides yesterday were saying the other is playing politics here. >> kate, thank for that. we'll check in with you in an hour and see what else you've got there. we have breaking news for you. the hikers have been released. shane bauer, josh fattal, having been in an iranian jail since 2009, they were convicted last month of entering iran illegally and spying for the united states. they were sentenced to eight years in prison. we then heard from iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad they would be released with days and then that didn't happen, because the judiciary didn't comply with his request. we then learned this morning that the second judge necessary had signed the release papers. we had our producer there reporting that diplomatic vehicles entered the compound, both swiss and omani diplomatic officials were at the prison. half an hour ago we learned lawyers entered the prison and we have confirmation shane bauer and josh fattal have been released from prison. when sarah shourd was released she went to the omani embassy and was out of the country that night. we don't know where these two men have gone. we're speaking to our people on the ground to try to establish where they've gone and where they'll be going from here. whether they'll return to the states immediately. we know now and can confirm shane bauer and shane fattal have been released from an iranian prison. >> their traveling companion released on medical grounds, on bail last year, sarah shourd, but never returned to the country. a quick break. 47 minutes after the hour. exclusive to the military. and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. from free checking to credit cards to loans, our commitment to the military, veterans, and their families is without equal. ♪ visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different. usaa. we know what it means to serve. two of the most important are energy security and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands. this resource has the ability to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. at our kearl project in canada, we'll be able to produce these oil sands with the same emissions as many other oils and that's a huge breakthrough. that's good for our country's energy security and our economy. it is 48 minutes part the hour. president obama trying to head off a diplomatic disaster in the mideast, the texas governor in new york cozying up to jewish leaders and carving up the white house for what he calls a policy of appeasement with the palestinians, and did you catch michele bachmann carving up a side of beef? it's just a great picture, and we have to talk about that, toop that's why ron brownstein is joining us live this morning. cnn senior political analyst. you're going to help us find clarity in a sea of chaos. >> yes. >> or beef. right. something else. we'll get to michele bachmann in the carving of beef in a second. we want to talk about governor perry, because he has been reaching out to jewish leaders. in fact, he gave a big speech yesterday criticizing president obama's approach to israel, and he useded word appeasement. let's listen. >> we would not be here today at this very precipice of such a dangerous move a dangerous move, if the obama policy in the middle east wasn't naive and arrogant, misguided and dangerous. >> all right. there are some who think it's fine to criticize the president. but because rick perry criticized the president so harshly at a time when maybe we need to be unified in this country, since president obama is going to speak before the united nations, that was kind of a dangerous move. >> well, the idea of the politics stops at the water's edge, which was the historic adage is long behind us. politics behind this and legitimate policy difference. the fact is that benjamin netanyahu's view to maximize israel's security is closer in its world view to conservatives than to american democrats that put more effort on negotiating with the palestinians. relationships between netanyahu and democrats are fraught. it was difficult between him and bill clinton. we saw a little bit of that in yesterday's interview with bill clinton yesterday. really put a lot of pressure on him and really changed direction since, but, still, they are not exactly on the same page by any means and someone like rick perry, both seeing opportunity in the jewish community, perhaps for some votes, but, also, it is perhaps easier for them to find a common direction with where netanyahu wants to go. >> on the subject of president obama throwing israel under the bus, piers morgan said he had been pleased with president obama's support of israel. what are we to believe as the voting public about president obama's views on israel and whether he's throwing them under the bus. >> president obama, like all american presidents has been basically very supportive of israel, but i think a democratic president, bill clinton, and now barack obama, does put a greater emphasis on pressuring israel to negotiate seriously with the palestinians and believe that is a sure pathway to lasting security for israel than any republican president might do. you saw yesterday as i said yesterday in the interview,b bill clinton was critical of netanyahu and saying, look, the u.s. is going to take this step to defend israel at the united nations but you need to come across with some indication that there is a pathway toward conversation, towards negotiations. so, there is that difference. it is really erraticably. >> i wish we could get to michele bachmann, but it is good breaking news. i'll throw it over to ali. what's new? >> i want to give you breaking news right now. standing by in iman with news of these american hikers who have been -- mohammed, we have just confirmed that the u.s. hikers have been released in tehran. tell us what you know. >> ali, u.s. state department official tells cnn that u.s. hikers josh fattal and shane bauer have been freed. now, we were told a few minutes ago from our producer in iran that omani government officials were seen entering the prison a short while ago. we know they have been freed, we don't know where they're going next, but a lot of speculation their first stop, once they leave iran. last year when the hiker sarah shourd was released her first stop out of tehran was here. the reason for that being that the omanis had paid her bail. a lot of speculation that they had been intricately released. no confirmation on that yet, but officials were seen going into the prison and we do know that those two hikers have been freed. >> mohammed, about the conditions of their release. it's a bail under which they may be called back for trial. i can't imagine they're ever going to go back to iran, is that actually part of the condition of their release? >> we don't yet know all the conditions of the release. we know the bail has been posted, that's according to the lawyer and according to two judges that signed off that the bail had been posted. we were told by the lawyer last week that the bail was at $500,000 for each person. so, that puts it at a million dollars in bail money. the conditions of the bail for release of sarah shourd, even though she was released on humanitarian grounds, she could be called back for trial. she could be called back to proceed with that trial. conventional wisdom would have it that they would not be called back. this would be seen as a humanitarian gesture, but we don't know at this time and we don't know yet if the sentence was commuted or they would be given some kind of amnesty. the bail money went through and they have been released and we're waiting the emergence of more details soon to come. ali? >> they were convicted of spying. they continued to maintain they had nothing to do with spying and the iranians continued to maintain they were being spied. no change in what the iranian government thinks about these guys. what is the basis of the release? >> well, last week the indication from iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad was that this was seen as a humaneitarian gestion. to make sure they were released just as he made sure that sarah sh shourd was released and it would make him seen magnanimous and he was indicating if more american prisoners were released and perhaps iranian prisoners in the u.s. should be released. not being said, the judiciary iranian say this charges still stand, they were convicted of espionage and many investigations that they were part of the cia and they were spying and that is what they were convicted of. they had an eight-year prison sentence that was dulled out just this past month. even though this is seen as a humanitarian gesture, right now the charges still stand and the convictions still stand. whether or not at some point that sentence commuted. right now the conviction stands and they're seen as two people who were convicted of spying who crossed into iranian territory for the purpose of espionage. >> thank you very much. we'll now move into the step where we'll try to figure out where these guys are going. whether they're going to swiss embassy. >> did they say who paid the bail? >> we don't know. >> looks like the speculation is that oman paid for it or conduit for it. remember, it was $500,000 each, which is -- some are saying that's a payoff to the iranian government, not a bail. we're taking a break, we'll be back with more coverage. stay with us. st allergy symptom. so lily and i are back on the road again. with zyrtec®, i can love the air®. a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function so moving is easier. and celebrex is not a narcotic. when it comes to relieving your arthritis pain, you and your doctor need to balance the benefits with the risks. all prescription nsaids, like celebrex, ibuprofen, naproxen, and meloxicam have the same cardiovascular warning. they all may increase the chance of heart attack or stroke, which can lead to death. this chance increases if you have heart disease or risk factors such as high blood pressure or when nsaids are taken for long periods. nsaids, including celebrex, increase the chance of serious skin or allergic reactions or stomach and intestine problems, such as bleeding and ulcers, which can occur without warning and may cause death. patients also taking aspirin and the elderly are at increased risk for stomach bleeding and ulcers. do not take celebrex if you've had an asthma attack, hives, or other allergies to aspirin, nsaids or sulfonamides. get help right away if you have swelling of the face or throat, or trouble breathing. tell your doctor your medical history and find an arthritis treatment for you. visit celebrex.com and ask your doctor about celebrex. for a body in motion. visit celebrex.com and ask ♪ ♪ co-signed her credit card. -- "buy books, not beer!" ♪ but the second that she shut the door ♪ ♪ girl started blowing up their credit score ♪ ♪ she bought a pizza party for her whole dorm floor ♪ ♪ hundred pounds of makeup at the makeup store ♪ ♪ and a ticket down to spring break in mexico ♪ ♪ but her folks didn't know 'cause her folks didn't go ♪ ♪ to free-credit-score-dot-com hard times for daddy and mom. ♪ offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™. (rawhen an investmentrsation) lacks discipline, it's never this obvious. introducing investment discipline etfs from russell. visit russelletfs.com r a prospectus, containing the investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and other information. read and consider it carefully before investing. freedom. i'm christine romans. two american hikers are out of an iranian prison after being held prisoner for more than two years. obama and abbas about to come face-to-face. i'm carol costello. the two leaders about to square off at the united nations. can the president convince the palestinians to stop their quest for statehood? and they must have been some muffins. i'm ali velshi. a bombshell audit finds a justice department forked out 16 bucks for a muffin and wait until you find out what they paid for the coffee on this "american morning." i'm hungry for a $16 muffin. >> good morning, everyone. september 21st, welcome back to "american morning." those two u.s. hikers held prisoner in iran have now been released. >> let's go right to mohammed who has been covering this from iran. mohamm mohammed, what is the latest? what do we know? >> officials have been saying that they have been released from tehran's evin prissen and we were speaking to our producer in iran. he saw swiss officials and omani officials entering that pris an sho short while ago. what role the irainies might be playing in this. sarah shourd's first stop was in iran, where we are right now. right now we don't know if josh fattal and shane bauer will be coming here. there is speculation that this will be their first step and speculation that their family members are here right now. ali? >> this is carol costello. why would iman place the bail? >> oman is a low-key country here in the middle east and they're trying to raise their profile right now but a diplomatic rarity. relations with iran, unlike most of the countries in this region and they're seen as a go-to country. kind of a go-to country to try to mediate disputes that might happen between the u.s. and other eastern countries. by doing so last year they raised their profile and they have a free trade agreement with the u.s. the more business they have with the u.s., the better is for them. it raises their economic profile, as well. the omanis haven't been commenting, but they went to iran last week to secure their release. did pay the bail to try to mediate the dispute. >> thank you so much, mohammed jamjoom. >> we're hearing reports of several cameramen detained outside evin prison in iran. what do you know now maybe about these new detentions? >> i just heard mohammed jamjoom the state department confirmed they are released. we haven't seen that yet. the lawyers still inside. taking the documents to release them, but they haven't yet. that's jumping the gun saying they have been released. we haven't seen that yet. >> you have not seen them leave the premise. there were reports earlier of a swiss vehicle entering the prison compound. but you haven't seen any of these diplomatic vehicles leaving yet with these two hikers? >> no. no. not yet. and apparently, as far as the prison authorities are concerned, they told us the two americans will be handed over to the swiss ambassador. so, swiss ambassador sitting in their car and they haven't shown up yet. >> the swiss ambassador still in the car and we think that's the custody they're going into. any, when we talked earlier, you didn't have any idea where they might be going after that. mohammed speculated based on what happened to sarah shourd they might go to musket, iran, but we don't have any information on that. >> i asked the ambassador, but she refused to answer it. whether they would go to her embassy and from where are they going to go? she said, i can't comment on it right now. but after their release, he can divulge that information. >> this release is happening. it is imminent. we have not seen them in the custody of the swiss ambassador yet in the swiss vehicle leaving the compound. but no reason to believe that this is not something that is happening right now that these two young men, 29 years old each after a couple years now in prison will be leaving. >> that's exactly right. there is no reason to believe that they will not be released. they will be released. but it is just a matter of time, could be any minute. >> we got word that these american hikers were released. that's according to a u.s. official, that comes from our senior state department official, as far as we know, those two hikers have been released. >> one of those things where they're outside the jail but maybe not outside the prison buildings. maybe working out their logistics. but between mohammed jamjoom and elise, we'll get you the information as it becomes available. mahmoud ahmadinejad is in new york right now for a meeting. he made it sound like the prison josh fattal and shane bauer was staying in wasn't all that bad. listen. >> translator: these two people are having a very good condition here in prison. it's like staying in a hotel. >> well, one person disagrees with that. and she'd know. it's sarah shourd the first hiker to be released. shane ba uer's fiancee. we spoke to her almost one year ago to the day. >> i know what shane and josh are enduring. i could see them in their cramped little cell with very little sunlight and they only get out one hour a day and they exercise side by side, a space like the size of a towel and they're wonderful, wonderful people and i want the world to meet them. >> sarah insisted that all three of them did nothing wrong and said they are certainly not spies. all right, presidents, prime ministers and kings all gathering in new york this morning for the opening of the 66th annual u.n. general assembly. president obama is there. right now planning to deliver the session's opening address. just the very beginning of a very, very big day. >> we brought out our own big guns. richard roth live at the united nations this morning. good morning, richard. >> well, i think i'm rather disarming. i don't know about having a gun. but here at the u.n., president obama has not arrived. he's usually the last to arrive as everyone gathers in the general assembly hall. you're looking shortly, hopefully, at some of the people coming here. we haven't had any of the big shots arrive yet. what the president has said that there is a seismic change through the region in the middle east certainly since the last general assembly. few would have predicted the amount of riveting change and turmoil that exists in many other lands. the white house is already expecting that palestinian leader abbas is not going to change his plan for submission of a bid on statehood for the middle east when the president greets him today and also meets privately with the israeli leader. they're looking at the next stage in the negotiation trying to persuade the palestinians to not push for a formal vote in the security council in hopes of giving direct negotiations between israel and the palestinians a chance. >> richard roth, thank you so much, richard. new this morning, a dispute over how much to spend on disaster release threatening to trigger a government shutdown. harry reid warning it could happen at the end of the month. he is concerned about politics coming before people when it comes to east coast and fire plagued texas. >> it won't be a government shutdown. the congress always responds appropriately to disasters. we're having a discussion about the appropriate way to do that and i'm confident it will be resolved. >> i heard the reports that senator mcconnell said there will be no shutdown. i'm not that sure. i'm not that sure because the tea party representatives have been so unreasonable in the past, i don't know why they should be reasonable. >> the republican-controlled house to fund government-controlled agencies through november. that contains less money for fema and army corps of engineers for disaster response than a bill that passed the democratic-controlled senate last week. how much you spend on coffee and an average lunch? you might be surprised to see a justice department audit about how much it has been willing to spend. let's lookt a one conference that the department of justice held at the san francisco hilton. $76 a person for lunch featuring slow-cooked berkshire pork carnitas and a salad. $32 for a snack break with popcorn and energy bars and coffee for $8.24. the justice department spent over $20,000 for this one conference that 65 attended. that's not all the fun that we've got right now. let's talk about this. plenty more. the audit department looked at ten different conferences and found overspending on food and beverage was commonly on the menu. take a look at this. cookies or brownies. $9.60. muffins $16.80. beef wellington, not beef wellington as you think about it, little hors d'oeuvres for $7.32. how do you plan an event without an event planner? the department of justice spent $600,000 on event planners for five conferences. and for a conference held in california, well, there must not be any event planners in california because they hired someone from alaska from the job wracking up $3,000 in travel expenses and on top of that $29,000 in hotel travel and food costs for one face-to-face meeting. overall, the department of justice held 1,832 conferences between 2008 and 2009 at a total cost of $121 million. i hope the food was good. >> i know. that must have been some brownie. i hope there was something else in there. >> that's insane. >> that was between 2008 and 2009. have they solved the problem? >> that's a good question. this is going to lead us to ask those questions. we're still trying to find out who supplied that food. i would like to meet them. but as christine says, you would think the government as such a big buyer would use its buying power to say, why don't you cut us a discount and we'll give you a lot of business. >> we talked about ways of cutting out fraud and abuse and every time you get the audits from the inspector's general, you see they just can't seem to do it. good thing tennessee congressman phil rowe went to medical school. he was drinking coffee at an airport when a man collapsed nearby. how he brought the man back to life when he joins us, next. 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[ female announcer ] only from aveeno. that's a good song for what we're about to do here. >> not about policy and not about washington. >> however, in washington it's cloudy right now. thunderstorms later today, if you're wondering. there is a doctor in the house and he's also a u.s. lawmaker. congressman phil roe of tennessee being called a hero this morning after saving a man's life at the charlotte airport. >> he didn't even ask the guy if he is a republican first. congressman roe joins us live from washington. good to see you, sir. you are a medical doctor and a member of the house of representatives from tennessee. and what happened? you were in charlotte airport with another representative or somebody you were with and tell us what happened. >> well, we fly over on the red eye early in the morning and just had a cup of coffee and standing there in the c terminal and someone yelled, is there a doctor available and i ran around the corner and there's a gentleman that's just laying out on the carpet and something, obviously, had catastrophic had happened to him and first thing you think first thing in the morning, are they diabetic and it was obvious he was just minimal bleeding and we couldn't feel a car caroted pulse. we realized this man was in deep trouble and began closed chest massage on him. you know, folks had called 911, everybody tried to help. the folks that were there were doing what they could to help. >> you worked on him 45 minutes doing hands-only cpr. >> we did. i want to give kudos and a big shoutout to the charlotte emt guys. i was a mayor of johnson city before i came to congress and those men and women do such a great job and very professional. had the equipment that we needed and when we hooked the external defibrillator on it was obvious he was flatlined and hit the button and defiberalated one time and his rhythm came back and he began to breathe and it was really a great feeling. >> those defibrillator things really work. >> 45 minutes, that's a long time, isn't it? >> it was about four, five, six minutes something like that. it might not have even been that long. it always seems like an eternity until you get somebody's pulse back. i want to tell everybody, it's not a hard technique to closed chest massage it's not hard to learn and these external defibrillators you see in various public buildings, they are worth every nickel. yesterday convinced me they're very easy to use and they work like a charm. you put them on and they talk to you and i've used the paddles in the hospital many times, but this is something everybody should learn. >> we'll have to keep that in mind what works and what we need in terms of public services. am i right, you're an ob by training? >> yes, ma'am. i delivered almost 5,000 babies in tennessee. a lot of voters, i might add. >> so you're not so used to the ticker end of the business, more used to the beginning of life. what does it feel like using your medical training? you always hear in the movies, is there a doctor in the house? is there a doctor on the plane? this is one of the rare chances you get to use it. >> after you've done it for 30 years, your training really kicks in and, again, i can't thank the people there. just the folks around. everyone pitched in and tried to help this man and i certainly prayed for him last night that he's doing well today and can be home with his family. >> thank you, congressman. so much. you brightened our morning and we appreciate that. >> congressman phil roe. >> great, great conversation. i'm glad to hear that. >> who delivers his constituents and then serves his constituents. it's 20 minutes past the hour and now is your time to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. is it time to rethink the death penalty? troy davis a convicted cop killer will die tonight despite this rally and a despite insurgence of amnesty ininternational to the hope to jimmy carter. whether you agree with them or not, it's up to you. davis' case aside, american jurors seem -- the number of executions in america has significantly declined from 98 executions in 1999 to just 46 last year. that decline seems at odds with the strong feelings many americans have about the death penalty. witness the republican debate. >> your state has executed 234 death row inmates, more than any other governor in modern times. have you -- have you struggled to sleep at night with the idea that any one of those might have been innocent? >> no, sir, i never struggled with that at all. i think americans understand justice. >> that's texas. but 16 other states do not have the death penalty. as for why jurors seem loathe to impose a death sentence. that's unclear. maybe it's because more than 130 people have been released from death row with evidence of their innocence since 1973. many juries now prefer another option, life without the possibility of parole. so, the talk back question this morning. is it time to rethink the death penalty? facebook.com/americanmorning. facebook.com/americanmorning. i'll read your comments later this hour. cheating at poker, a popular online poker site is shut down for allegedly scamming players out of millions of dollars. 22 minutes after the hour. 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"american morning" is back right after this break. sun life financialrating should be famous.d bad, we're working on it. so you're seriously proposing we change our name to sun life valley. do we still get to go skiing? sooner or later, you'll know our name. sun life financial. my grocery bill isn't wasteful spending. my heart medication isn't some political game. our retirement isn't a simple budget line item. i worked hard. i paid into my medicare. and i earned my social security. now, instead of cutting waste and loopholes, washington wants to cut our benefits. that wasn't the agreement. join the members of aarp and tell washington to stop cuts to our medicare and social security benefits. it's real milk full of calcium and vitamin d. and tastes simply delicious. for those of us with lactose intolerance... lactaid® milk. the original 100% lactose-free milk. and the breaking news we're following for you, freedom, finally. two u.s. hikers held in prison in iran have been released this morning. >> let's go to mohammed jamjoom. what is the latest for us? >> well, according to u.s. officials, we're told that the prisoners have been released. that josh fattal and shane bauer have been released. but according to producers in tehran, no indication they have left the prison yet. although we've been speaking to the lawyer for the two hikers today throughout the day and he says he believes they will be released today, that bail has been posted and all the paperwork has been signed. we're told that officials, including the swiss ambassador and omani government officials are still inside evin prison waiting for the release. that the swiss officials will pick up the hikers, once they are released. we don't know where they will go after that. the reason we're here in iran is last year when sarah shourd, the third hiker was released after bail had been posted her first step out of tehran was to come to iran because officials had posted that bail that guaranteed her release. a lot of speculation has been mounting that once the hikers leave iran that they will come here, as did sarah shourd last year. a lot of speckules that their families are here in oman. but officials aren't commented or confirming those reports. >> mohammed, where do we think this bail money came from? the omani government itself, a conduit and why is the omani government involved in this? >> well, ali, oman is seen as a diplomatic rarity in the region because they have good relations with both iran and the u.s. oman at a time when there is so much strife in this region, they're trying to raise their profile. they have been seen as a very low-key country on the world stage and especially in this region and they see from analysts at a time when there is so much strife in the middle east, if there is something they can do to mitigate a dispute, it will raise their profile and make them look better on the world stage and decrease tension here in the region. there is speculation that omani government and the bail had been set at $500,000 for each of the prisoners, so a million dollars in bail. many diplomatics do believe the omanis will post that bail. but it would be conventional wisdom that they would because they posted the bail last year for sarah shourd. last year they were trying to raise their profile when they did so. it's not just diplomatic reasons, but economic incentives, as well. they have a free trade agreement with the u.s. the more they can be seen as a dependable player, the better it looks for them and raises their profile. ali? >> it seems to be working. please, keep us up to date when you hear these prisoners have left the prison. mohammed jamjoom. almost a year ago we spoke to sarah shourd who was captured with the other two hikers who were released this morning. she spent 110 days as a prisoner in iran before she was released. >> the middle east is diverse body of cultures and we knew we wanted to immerse ourselves in that part of the world to learn more about it and hopefully be more of a bridge between the people in that region and the people in our country. so, i taught in damascus for a year and there's not a lot of green mountains in damascus. i don't know if i'll ever completely understand that, but all i can say is we did nothing wrong. we meant no harm to the iranian people and we did not intend to cross the border. if was unmarked. just on a trail behind a tourist site that was recommended to us by the hotel. there were hundreds of families there. very popular spot by a waterfall where families picnic and, you know, i just think it's a huge misunderstanding that has a lot more to do with the problems between our countries than with us as individuals. >> we'll stay with this story, obviously, until we see that those hikers are out of the prison and on their way back home. meantime, in this country, waiting to die. a georgia death row inmate is set to be executed tonight after his last-ditch effort for clemency was denied yesterday. troy davis convicted of killing an off-duty police officer more than 20 years ago. >> will he be executed under a huge cloud of doubt. david mattingly has the latest from atlanta. this is it, though, right, david? >> that's right, carol. and in these final hours, the supporters of troy davis are calling on everyone from the president to the courts to the state of georgia to stop this execution. >> we won't let troy davis die. >> reporter: their last means of recourse seemingly exhausted. little more for troy davis supporters to do but shout their frustrations and pray. meanwhile, the prosecutor who sent davis to death row for the murder of savannah police officer mark macphail broke years of silence, calling the campaign to save davis unfair and unjust. >> we have felt we were ethically bound to maintain our silence and express our opinions and judgments on the facts in court. which is where we have and every place where we have, we've won. >> reporter: now retired former d.a. spencer lawton believes that those who testified 20 years ago and later changed their stories or recanted did so under davis supporters and failed to appear credible in the eyes of the court. >> it has been a game of delay throughout. the more time they have to create doubt, not real doubt, but the appearance of doubt. >> reporter: the georgia board of pardons and parole, again, refused to stop davis' execution, saying its decision was based on the totality of the information presented in this case. davis supporters say race was a factor. >> this is jim crowe in a new era. there's just too much doubt for this execution to continue. >> reporter: this is davis' fourth appointment with execution. another last-minute delay seems far less likely this time. families of davis and officer macphail both prepare for the end. >> it's like reliving a nightmare over and over, but the thing about it is we have to stay strong in our faith. >> we have lived this for 22 years. we know what the truth is. and for someone to ludicrously say that he is a victim, we are victims. look at us. we have put up with this stuff for 22 years and it's time for justice today. >> and that execution now scheduled for 7:00 tonight. carol? >> am i right about this, president obama cannot intervene because this is a state matter? the governor of the state of georgia cannot intervene because the laws on the books now preventing him from doing it. the united states supreme court has gotten involved, but unlikely it will be involved, again. is there no other avenue for troy davis? >> this doesn't mean the attorneys can't come up with some reason to appeal again to a court here in georgia. it's possible they may try to do that when the courts open later today, but they were looking at their last best hope being with the georgia pardons and parole board and that board refused to stop this execution. >> so 7:00 p.m. tonight, 7:00 p.m. eastern time, troy davis expected to be executed. david mattingly, live in atlanta, thank you. >> the case has been reviewed many, many times by different courts and every time the conviction was upheld. >> often these things are reviewed because of a technicali technicality, but in this case it caused a federal judge to look at it as an innocence issue. >> because of these witnesses who changed their stories or recanted and, of course, you heard from david mattingly's piece that death penalty opponents changed their minds. it wasn't really that they didn't see what they thought they did back then. divided survivors and families of the nearly 3,000 people who died on 9/11 plans to build an islamic center and mosque near the world trade center site opens its doors today. we'll speak to the developer on how things have changed and whether he would do it differ t differently. [ woman ] jogging stroller, you've been stuck in the garage, while i took refuge from the pollen that made me sneeze. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. so lily and i are back on the road again. with zyrtec®, i can love the air®. the islamic community center in lower manhattan opens its doors for to the public today for the first time. plans to build it so close to the site of the 9/11 attacks called it a backlash. some critics called it a slap in the face. joining us now is the developer of the product. good to see you, sharif. you are, for people who don't know you. you weren't the face associated with this mosque. you are a brooklyn born child of an arab father -- >> and a polish, catholic mother. >> you weren't particularly religious in your upbringing. >> no, i wasn't. i reconnected with my faith after 9/11. i couldn't believe how muslims and islams were being portrayed in the media and in the print after those horrific events and i started praying in a mosque four blocks from the world trade center. >> because you -- >> i lived and worked in lower manhattan. that's where i started praying. due to unfortunate circumstances, that mosque got evicted in may of 2009 and over 2,000 muslims were displaced at that point and i was fortunate enough to secure a piece of real estate. >> you were looking for something for a while. just a place for muslims to go. >> i had been looking for the last eight years, since 2002, for a building that we could buy. and, you know, real estate in manhattan is probably one of the most competitive marketplaces in the world and i finally was able to secure 4551 park place in july of 2009 and i solved a major problem, crisis in lower manhattan. close to 3,000 muslims had been displaced and were praying on the streets. >> so, you, you're an upper west sider, you were on the upper west side when you had little child who you wanted to be able to swim and you associated that with the jcc, the jewish community center, which is the place if you're on the upper west side where your kid learns to swim. i wonder why we can't have something like this. >> exactly. every time i walked into the jcc i would feel welcomed and always asking myself, why don't muslims have the community facility like this in new york to serve everyone, regardless of faith, regardless of religious belief and that was the evolution of this project. >> so, that was your model. your model was a place that the jewish community puts up in new york that everybody can go into, but it's associated with them because they've provided the space. >> right, right. >> and that's exactly what park 51 is going to be. it's going to be based on islamic valus and heritage, but open to all people regardless of faith, lack of faith. it's here to serve new york. >> the photo exhibit you're launching is not something specific to muslims? >> no, i think the photo exhibit is really specific to new york. and a year ago i met danny goldfield and he shared with me what he had been working on and he had been working on taking pictures of 170 different children from 170 different countries that all live in new york. and when i saw this, i said that this needs to be our first program. this needs to be the first way that we open these doors up and thank god, tonight is our opening. and starting tomorrow, it's going to be open to the general public. and we all can't think of a better way to introduce this project and to introduce, ultimately, who it's going to serve. >> when you first did this, you went for your public hearing and the first one went off swimmingly. the second one, you were very surprised. you walked in sort of thinking there would be kind of 50 people there and there were hundreds and they were protesting and they were mad. >> right. >> you still have some protesters. >> we still do have protesters. it's unfortunate because people still don't understand who we are. what our values are, what we stand for and today we have an obligation to let people know who we are. whether we like it or not -- >> do you think they don't understand? do you think the protesters who are left don't understand, or do you think they're not going to welcome you regardless? >> no, i don't think they understand what we're trying to do and i don't think they understand who we are. there have been criminals who have been committing acts of mass murder in the name of my faith and in the name of my practice and we, as muslims, have nothing to do with those people or with those acts and today we have a responsibility to reclaim our narrative and to get back our identities. >> would you have done anything differently knowing how this all played out? >> well, i would have spent a lot more time with the 9/11 families. the real families that lost loved ones and had many more sessions with them because, to be quite frank with you, we didn't know about them when we were going about the planning process. i would also spend a lot more time with the muslim leaders nationally and locally. speaking to them about the project. but we've made lots and lots of mistakes. we've been learning from our mistakes, but park 51.org tonight is opening up the new york city children exhibit and we feel that this is going to be an excellent way for us to open up our doors and to really start serving new york city, which is what the objective of this project is. >> we'll continue to watch it closely, sharif, thank you for being with us. chairman and developer of park 51 project. morning headlines are up next, it's 47 minutes after the hour. 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[ kristy ] she's definitely not like other moms. yeah, my mom is pretty weird. ♪ ♪ hush, little baby ♪ don't you cry ♪ soon the sun ♪ is going to shine ♪ [ male announcer ] toyota presents the prius family. ♪ walk if i want, talk if i want ♪ [ male announcer ] there's the original one... the bigger one... the smaller one... and the one that plugs in. they're all a little different, just like us. 28 minutes past the hour. here are your morning headlines. iran has released two u.s. hikers who have been prisoners there for over two years. we're waiting for them to physically walk out of that iranian prison. shane bauer and josh fattal were detained along the iran/iraq border back in 2009. supporters vowing to continue to stop to stop troy davis' execution tonight in georgia. he is scheduled to die by lethal injection for the 1999 shooting of an off-duty police officer. happening now, presidents, prime ministers and kings all gathering in new york this morning for the opening of the 66th annual united nations general assembly. president obama scheduled to meet face-to-face at the u.n. with palestinian president mahmoud abbas. he'll try to convince abbas to negotiate directly with israel instead of formally filing for statehood at the united nations on friday. we could be facing a government shutdown in ten days. this time the fight is over how much to spend on federal disaster funding and it could hold up the approval of short-term spending that's needed to keep the government running in october. talk about wasteful spending. an internal justice department audit has uncovered the agency provided people at a washington gathering in 2009 with $16 muffins. that's $16 apiece. $8 cups of coffee and tea and it spent $32 per person for snacks like cracker jacks. and the markets open in just about 45 minutes. the dow, nasdaq and s&p 500 all trading lower as investors wait from word from the federal reserve about whether it will act to boost the economy. singer tony bennett apologizing for his comments in a radio interview that blamed the united states for the 9/11 terror attacks. the 85-year-old bennett said there is no need for terrorism and the murder of nearly 3,000 innocent victims. phil roe of tennessee being hailed a hero this morning after saving a man's life. roe, a retired obstetrician, used cpr and a defibrillator to resuscitate a man who flatlined at the airport in charlotte. that's the news you need to know to start your day. "american morning" back after a break. a new sign of strain on relations between the u.s. and pakistan. sharpening its warning for pakistan to cut ties with the taliban group believed to be responsible for u.s. interest in afghanistan. >> barbara starr following this story and she's live at the pentagon for us this morning. good morning, barbara. >> hey, good morning, everybody. you start hearing this about the war lord group in pakistan of insurgents, terrorists that were launching many high-profile attacks and come across from pakistan into afghanistan. they are said to be responsible for attacks against u.s. troops, attacks against many high-profile targets in kabul, in the capital of afghanistan. this is a growing concern to the obama administration because they are leading to a lot of security concerns. here at the pentagon yesterday, defense secretary leon panetta really put it out on the line saying that the pakistnis have to start cracking down on this network. have a listen. >> our biggest concern right now is to put as much pressure as possible on the pakistanis to exercise control from their side of the border. we've continued to state that this cannot happen. we cannot have them coming across the border, attacking our forces, attacking afghanistanis and then disappearing back into a safe haven. that is not tolerable. we have urged them to take steps. >> not tolerable. what is the u.s. going to do about it? it is well known at the csi operates drone attacks on that side of the border. why is this front and center right now? yesterday, of course, the former president of afghanistan rabani who currently heads the peace effort to reconcile with the taliban was assassinated in his home by suicide bombers right in one of the most secure areas of kabul. they're looking at the possibility that the hakanis were involved in the rabani assa assassination. they're said to be responsible for the attacks against the u.s. embassy that led troops to have to be on the roof of the military headquarters with their rifles firing back. so, the hakanis now really considered almost public enemy number one in the war in afghanistan. >> that was a remarkable fire fight that took place. it almost makes you wonder, we thought we hadn't seen that kind of thing. outside on the ground outside the embassy. barbara, thank you very much. up next our talk back question of the day. is it time to rethink the death penalty? hundreds of you responded this morning. we'll read some of your responses after this break. five minutes to the top of the hour. for their clients' futures. never taking a bailout. helping generations achieve dreams. buy homes. put their kids through college. retire how they want to. ameriprise. the strength of america's largest financial planning company. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you, one-to-one. together, for your future. ♪ good morning to you. now it's time for our talk back question. we ask you this question this morning. is it time to rethink the death penalty. this from sue, civilized society does not kill its citizens. those who claim to be christians and are proponents of the death penalty need to read their bible. i feel the death penalty is warranted in some instances. the human factor and judgment we make mistakes and even worse, people lie. if god is the judge and jury, then it would be infallible, but that is far from true. this from joshua, the death penalty should only be applied if there is incontrovertible and uncontroversial evidence of the guilt of the convicted. i must say, most of the people were against the death penalty on our facebook page, at least. but when you look at polls, pretty much split down the middle in the country. 50/50. >> also today you have that trial in connecticut of the two men who, well, this is the second of the perpetrators, the accused perpetrators of that petite family. it i