and when you do, you'll be grateful for the adaptive cruise control situation in syria. these are pictures just in to n that automatically adjusts your speed when approaching slower traffic. cn of ay and for the blind spot monitoring that helps remind you that the highway wedeman and his crew. might not be as desolate... rebels deny they are retreating. ...as you thought. a short time ago i spoke with ♪ ben wedeman by phone from north syria about what he is seeing. >> what we saw is a city very much at war. about half of it under the control of the free syrian army. the government is not hesitating to use its fire power and artillery to fire not only upon to combatants in neighborhoods like salahuddin like you just mentioned and other neighbors as well where they still have significant population and just a handful of fighters. ne these areas are coming under regular bombardment. last night we had a very hard time getting any sleep with all the bombardment that was going on. humanitarian situation very difficult. food supplies are tenuous at best. doctors say they are running low on medical supplies and medical staff as well as many of those who could help the wounded are unable to get to the parts of town that are controlled by the rebels. we're hearing that regular troops have entered and retaken the salahuddin neighborhood. all right. we're just a few minutes away from the top of the hour. that means my friend wolf rebel commanders say it's not blitzer and "the situation room." wolf is here with a preview. true and they inflicted heavy hey, wolf. >> hi, alina. we've got lots of news coming up casualties on the government in "the situation room." newt gingrich is going to be forces detroying between one and four of the government tanks and joining us by the way. we've got important issues i want to raise with him. they have not fleeted any ground is he going to be delivering a major speech at the republican at this point. >> that was ben wedeman inside presidential convention at the end of august -- end of this month in tampa? has he been invited yet to deliver a speech? we know that rick santorum's syria. another story we're watching been invited. i'm anxious to hear if the closely is the mission to mars. former speaker of the house has already been invited to deliver rover is on its third day on the a speech or not. red planet. also, bill burton is going to be this is one of the new images joining us. a lot of people don't know who that nasa released this afternoon. he is. he's the former white house it's a panoramic view of the deputy press secretary. mars horizon. he worked for president obama. he now runs the pro-obama super the team at the jet propulsion laboratory pieced it together. pac that came out with that what struck them and how much is rather controversial ad the mars like earth? other day suggesting that mitt >> the thing that really struck romney may have at least indirectly been responsible for the death of a woman whose the science team about this husband lost his job. so we're going to go through all image is you would be forgiven of that with bill burton. we got a lot of other news for thinking that thnasa is tryg coming up. so we're watching all of these stories very, very closely, to pull a fast one on you. alina, as you know, we always do a little l.a. smog coming in that. >> i know you do. and i will be watching. there. the thing that's amazing about you know what my mom said to me yesterday, wolf? this is to a certain extent, you that wolf blitzer, he is so nice to you. he is so nice to you. she can tell on tv. see how earth-like this seems >> your mother's a lovely lady. looking at that landscape. i've had the pleasure to meet >> that's pretty incredible. her. you know what they say, alina, yesterday, engineers released the apple doesn't fall far from the first color photo from mars. the see. >> see, this is why i said that. there it is. all right, wolf. all of it more evidence of what i'll see you at the top of the hour. a stellar success this mission thanks so much. >> thank you. >> good to see you. has been even in this early nearly 800,000 people evacuated stage after launching the rover from their homes in the philippines to try to dodge a just eight months ago. massive flood there. more than half of nasa's one-third of manila is under water. residents trying to scoop landings to mars have failed. gallons of water from their homes. and as alex obell reports, it may take weeks for the flood waters to recede. john, you're on the surface of >> reporter: a break in the rain mars or something sort of like on wednesday, the cleanup got underway in the philippines' that? >> yeah. capital of manila. i think it's as close as i'm people rummaging through their ever going to get. that's for sure. flooded homes, discarding trash i like to call this the stand box. this is place where they and bailing out the water with buckets and shovels. and it was back to work for many replicate right down to the of the more than 12 million lighting. this lighting you're seeing above me is pretty much exactly people living in this city with the roads again jammed. the yellowish kind of tint that's, we talk about mars being but for many people here, it may a red planet, that's because of be quite some time before life the iron that there is in mars. returns to normal. you can see right now this is this is the scene here in one shantytown in one of the the math and it started to twist just a bit. hardest-hit areas in metropolitan manila. it turned. as you can see this shantytown the reason it did this is because you're looking at an is completely submerged in engineering model of the water. you have people in boats trying curiosity rover. to pick valuables out of this this is an exact replica of debris that's just being swept curiosity on mars. through this fast moving current of water. that water at times moving what they do is everything that massive piles of what was once curiosity does or has done they people's homes. replicate it. arnold, a taxi driver, brought they duplicate it here so they his family to the santo domingo make sure that everything is working properly. what you just saw, the turning church turned evacuation center. of the mast cam is something the water was rising fast tuesday night, he says. that already took place on it was up to our necks. now he's not even sure if his curiosity hours ago. it may move a bit more here home even exists. because what they are doing here but i still have my taxi, he taking some of the images you adds. so i can provide for my family. saw released today. and we're all safe. you can see it moving again. this woman says the water at her were taken by two cameras up home was over their heads. she came here with her family underneath here and the stereo and only a blanket. but those staying here at this cameras. some of the pictures released church, which was home to about 3,000 people on tuesday night, tothd sh are getting help. today showing in the crater wall taken by the cam. >> the generosity of the people is really shown. you really feel their generosity. donations just keep pouring in. if the weather improves, conditions improve, i think most of them will be going home by they make sure that everything, tonight. >> reporter: but then came this. if for example, something goes wrong, they run into a boulder, something stops working. they use this rover to test and later on wednesday more rain, try to figure out what they need which is probably the last thing to do to make the one up there these people here ever want to work. this is a key piece to the see. and when you look at the rainfall totals, it is simply success of this two-yearlong staggering. we're talking about 2 to 2 and a half feet of rain in about the mission. past 48 hours. so when people wake up here on >> one of the things that struck thursday morning in manila, they will certainly be hoping for me is he said that the surface clearer skies. is not unlike earth. alina, back to you. i'm curious to know we're in all right. this early stage of the mission, from the photos they've seen, alex, thank you very much. what have they been able to a severe typhoon slams the east glean? coast of china south of >> well, what they told us was shanghai. look at the buildings and homes they haven't gleaned a whole that typhoon haiku destroyed heck of a lot yet other than one when it hit land this morning. of the key things they were more than 600,000 people have talking about is in the martian, been evacuated from the storm's path. it's the third tropical cyclone this is sort of what mars looks to hit china's east coast in less than one week. winds are expected to weaken as like. those rocket engines from that the storm moves across land. that often happens, but it will dissent stage pushed all of this continue to dump large amounts dirt aside and revealed to them of rain raising the risk of landslides and flooding. bedrock. country music star randy they've already seen something they didn't think they would see travis arrested last night on that bedrock is very close to charges of driving while the surface at that spot. intoxicated. the story takes a strange turn. already the science team is according to police they found travis lying naked on a remote saying maybe one of the first things we'll do is go over there road in northern texas and and look at that bedrock and see smelling of alcohol. and that's not all. his car was apparently wrecked what's under there. nearby. and the singer allegedly they thought if there were water on mars it would be a slushy, threatened to shoot highway patrol troopers who responded to the call. travis is free on bond today. icy water underneath the this is his second dwi arrest surface. maybe they'll get lucky and find water buried underneath the just this year. new york governor andrew surface. you never know, and that's why cuomo is cracking down on bath they're there. >> that would be almost as good salts which can be dangerous as little green men. when inhaled. >> we're talking about poison. thanks for joining us. great to see you. this is poison that is being president obama speak frg ate in which he is trailing distributed and sold. mitt romney in the polls. all this mr. happy california we're going to bring that to you live in a moment. stay right here. dreams, blueberry blast, it is do i look like i'm stalking plants? 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[ cheers and applause ] you deserve a president that will fight to keep it that way. that's the president i've been. that's the president i will be if i get a second term as president of the united states to keep moving this country forward. [ cheers and applause ] on the issues that matter, you don't have to take my word for it, you can take me at my record. four years ago i delivered on my promise to pass health reform before the end of my first term. that's what we did. the affordable care act also known as obama care. i actually like the name cause i do care. that's why we fought so hard to make it happen. to affordable care act helps make sure you don't have to worry about going broke because one of your loved ones get sick. insurance companies can no longer place lifetime limits your hon your care. they can no longer drop your coverage when you need it most. they can no longer discriminate against children with preexisting conditions and they'll no longer be able to deny you coverage on a preexisting condition like breast cancer or cervical cancer or charge you moreor care because you're a woman. those days are over. [ cheers and applause ] this allows young adults under the age of 26 to stay on their parents health care plans. >> president obama on a two-day swing through colorado. a state that he won back in 2008. according to the latest new york times poll he is trailing mitt romney by five points in that state. within the margin of error but a appealing to woman saying when it comes to women's health care choices, his opponent wants to take our country back to the 1950s and he wants to go into the 21st century. we're watching that closely. as president obama continues to campaign, his challenger is planning a bus tour this weekend. there's a lot of speculation that romney could announce his running mate very soon. john king, nobody better, has been digging into this. he'll join me live to break down the v.p. possibilities. stay tuned. 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