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Deadly Avalanche on Mount Manaslu; Libyan Army Threatens Militias; Pakistan PM Condemns Bounty; Candidates Brace for Busy Week; First Lady Defends Voting; New Laws Could Be Game Changers; Jailed Punk Bank Gets Award; U.S. Concerns With China, Russia

Aired September 23, 2012 - 14:30   ET

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

SUSAN HENDRICKS, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Susan Hendricks in today for Fredricka Whitfield.

We start with this. An avalanche happens on Mount Manaslu today, the eighth highest mountain in the world. Now a rescue pilot says at least 11 people are dead as a desperate search for more people is happening right now.

An entire camp reportedly swept away by that avalanche when it hit at over 21,000 feet in the air. It happened at 5:00 a.m. this morning. Now there are some survivors that have been airlifted to local hospitals.

We are told over 204 mountaineers broke up into teams of 25. They were apparently attempting to climb the mountain. At least 38 people are believed to be still missing. We're going to follow that, of course.

Libya's militias have 48 hours to leave Tripoli or else. That is the warning from the army. The military says it will use force if needed to push those militants out of bases, public buildings or property belonging to the former regime.

Now the threat follows passionate anti-militia protests like this one in Benghazi. Libyans who are determined to show they are not standing for the violence that left four Americans dead.

Pakistan is backing away from the bounty on the head of the filmmaker whose movie began this entire crisis. This man, a government minister said he will pay $100,000 for the death of Nakoula Basseley Nakoula.

He even suggested that the Taliban or al Qaeda may want to take him up on that offer. Nakoula is said to be in hiding, but cooler heads like Egypt's grand mufti hoped to defuse this situation before it grows even worse. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALI GOMAA, GRAND MUFTI OF EGYPT (through translation): I come from the corporation of laws and resisting the spread of hatred and to cooperate among each other against violence, against terrorism, against killings and against confrontations. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HENDRICKS: Now Pakistan's government is making it clear that the bounty is not an official position.

President Obama arrives in New York to attend the U.N. General Assembly tomorrow. The president speaks to the assembly on Tuesday. Administration officials say that he will likely talk about the worldwide protests over an online film that insults the Islam religion.

An official says the president is expected to restate his opposition on the movie and also denounce the violent acts of some protesters.

Both President Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney will talk policy and presidential politics during interviews tonight on "60 Minutes." Both candidates are bracing for a busy week on the campaign trail. Here's CNN's political editor, Paul Steinhauser.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Hi, Susan. Mitt Romney campaigns in the rocky mountain battleground in Colorado tonight and tomorrow. Our new CNN poll of polls indicates it's a close contest between the Republican nominee and President Barack Obama for the state's nine electoral votes.

On Tuesday, both Romney and the president speak separately at former President Bill Clinton's Annual Global Initiative gathering in New York City. After that, Romney heads to Ohio for a bus tour through the crucial swing state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I need Ohio to help me become the next president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEINHAUSER: Our poll of polls in Ohio indicates that right now Mr. Obama has the upper hand in the race for the state's 18 electoral votes. Both men have been frequent visitors to Ohio this year, and while Romney rolls through the state on Wednesday, the president stumps there as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: It is good to be in Ohio. It is great to be in this beautiful setting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEINHAUSER: Also this week, with the first presidential debate closing in, both men will continue their debate preps -- Susan.

HENDRICKS: All right, Paul, appreciate that. While the president and Mitt Romney are getting ready for the debates, First Lady Michelle Obama is speaking out on voting rights. She spoke at the Congressional Black Caucus gala last night about the importance of protecting the right to vote.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA: We all get a say in our democracy no matter who we are or where we're from or what we look like or who we love. So we cannot let anyone discourage us from casting our ballots. We cannot let anyone make us feel unwelcome in the voting booth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENDRICKS: Now, the first lady didn't specifically refer to it, but there is an election battle brewing right now over Americans' access to the voting booth. A lot of states have passed laws that many people say could make it harder to vote. Those laws could be game changers come November. Joe Johns shows us how.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: In the past two years, almost every state in the country has introduced or passed some type of change or restriction to the voting laws, 41 out of 50 states since the last mid-term election.

We're talking about all kinds of changes to the voting laws here, for early voting, for voter registration, for absentee ballots, and some of the most controversial changes of all are to laws requiring voters to show photo identification.

Eleven states have already gotten the photo I.D. laws in place. Another six states have photo I.D. laws that have now been challenged in the courts and are under review. This is going on mostly in Republican controlled states.

We have to say here, again and again, polling shows voter I.D. laws are very popular and make sense to people. Republicans who tend to support these laws say they're needed to avoid voter fraud, but in previous elections and the primaries this year, we've not seen a significant number of people charged with voter fraud.

Democrats who are fighting these laws from state to state say it doesn't have anything to do with fraud. They say it's just a plan to try to keep voters and especially minority voters, including blacks and Latinos, away from the polls on Election Day.

As you might imagine, some of the biggest battles over these laws are being waged in some of the most important battleground states namely Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida where many people think the presidential election could be decided if it's a close race.

The battle is over early voting in Ohio. The Obama campaign is fighting it out in appeals court with Ohio's Republican secretary of state over whether all voters will be allowed to go to the polls on Saturday, Sunday and Monday before Election Day.

In Pennsylvania, we are waiting for a state judge to reconsider a ruling he made allowing a voter I.D. law to stay in place. The State Supreme Court told him he had to make sure there is enough time for voters to get I.D.s.

And in Florida, it's been a bruising battle over voting rights for the better part of the year. Democrats won a few parts of this, Republicans have as well. Now it's coming down to a lawsuit filed by Democratic Congresswoman Corinne Brown over how many hours polls will be open for early voting.

Why is all this important? Well, it's about electoral votes. Ohio has 18. Pennsylvania has 20 and Florida has 29. The candidate who wins or loses these states has a leg up in the race for the White House. Back to you.

HENDRICKS: Yes, that is key, Joe. Appreciate that.

And if you would like to see more on the legal battle over voting rights in Florida, Joe Johns has an hour-long documentary premiering next month. Tune in to "Who Counts" on Sunday, October 14th at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

You know that jailed Russian punk rock band, they got a piece of word from none other Yoko Ono. You see him there. We're going to talk to the husband of one of the band members just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HENDRICKS: Welcome back. Yoko Ono just got together with Amnesty International go give out peace awards and one of the recipients was Pyotr Verzilov. He accepted the Lennon-Ono Grant for Peace on behalf of his wife, Nadia.

She is one of the members of "Pussy Riot," the Russian punk rock band given a two-year jail sentence after a protest against Russian President Vladimir Putin in a Moscow church. You may remember that.

Pyotr joins me now from New York. Peter, great to talk to you.

PYOTR VERZILOV, HUSBAND OF JAILED PUNK BAND MEMBER: Good to talk to you too.

HENDRICKS: Peter, let's talk about what this award means to you and your wife. Does she know about it?

VERZILOV: Yes. In fact, on Monday before going to the United States, I had one of my prison meetings with Nadia and I told her all about it. She was like, yes, I get to see Yoko Ono.

Well, obviously she was very happy about it and for anyone who's doing political activism, who likes to raise political questions, get in the works from Yoko Ono, a person who has championed these causes for decades, it's incredible.

HENDRICKS: It sounds like she's able to keep her sense of humor considering it's a two-year jail sentence. I know it's up to appeal. How is Nadia doing overall in terms of her spirit and well-being?

VERZILOV: Well, Nadia, as well as the other two jail members is an incredibly strong woman, and all of us have been amazed at how given the brutal circumstances of a Russian prison and Russian court system they've put in.

They manage to keep their spirits and make these amazing political speeches to smile and just basically to keep themselves together really good. So obviously all of them are really worried about being sent to penal colonies, they don't know how it's going to be like.

What the treatment is going to be down there, but they have their courage and they're finding the strength to keep on smiling and continue to fight even from prison.

HENDRICKS: You have a daughter, Pyotr, she's four years old. I saw a picture of her, so cute. I understand she knows her mother is in prison and she's drawing diagrams, talking about how to free her mother. How do you talk to your daughter about this?

VERZILOV: Well, you know, Russian politics in a lot of sense is very much like a fairy tale. It's really black and white because Putin in recent years have been taking on the role of dictator who is never going to leave. He's like this evil twin now.

So basically it's really easy to explain what's happening in Russia to a four-year-old kid, and this is how she understands what's happening to her mom and what's happening to Russia. She thinks that Putin, as the evil hero, has locked up Nadia in a castle in a cage and we have to fight to defeat this evil prince and get her out.

HENDRICKS: I'm always surprised to hear how strong you sound when talking about your wife and the two other members. Do you ever have bad days about this, and when you think about how long two years could be without really seeing much of your wife?

VERZILOV: Well, obviously imagine not seeing the person who you love, the person who is very close to you not only personally, but also professionally for two years. It's an amazing -- it's a very big period of time, and, well, the quiet moments obviously give you very hard feelings.

HENDRICKS: What do you think will happen? I know you're ready for the worst, but do you think your wife and other members will get out before the two years on this appeal?

VERZILOV: So, yes, we do not have any hopes that the appeal will do any good, that it will significantly change the rules. We might get six to eight weeks off the sentence, but I think in general it will change most of the sentence.

And given the present political situation in Russia, things basically get worse by the month. More people get sent to prison, more criminal cases get opened. We don't really have any optimistic hopes that things will change before Putin gets out of the Kremlin.

HENDRICKS: Does the group have any regrets? I know when the sentence was handed down, they were smiling and people weren't too happy about their reaction. Do they have regrets on what they did in terms of the protests?

VERZILOV: No, the band and the girls have been saying that the amazing international and internal outcries that appeared after their case and all the issues that have been raised and picked up after their performance and after their arrest is just an a demonstration that there was no law in Russia.

There is no separation of the state and the church. That Putin commands and controls everything. All these issues basically point out to the fact that their performance was actually very key and it was vital.

And if the government is making them pay this price, then they have to pay it. It's not like anyone is asking them if they want to pay it or not. They're there and they have to live with it.

HENDRICKS: It is something they are doing with the sentence. Pyotr, we wish you and your daughter well. Thanks so much.

VERZILOV: Thank you. Thank you very much.

HENDRICKS: Echoes of the cold war. We look at the modern day problems posed by Russia and China coming up, and the tough decisions that await the next president.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HENDRICKS: Welcome back. China and Russia, whoever is serving in the White House after the election in November will have to deal with these two countries so how do the candidates' strategies differ?

CNN's foreign affairs correspondent Jill Dougherty takes a closer look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On Russia and on China, Barack Obama made cooperation his motto.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: In an interconnected world, in a global economy, nations, including our own, will be more prosperous and more secure when we work together.

DOUGHERTY: But with the Kremlin's increasing authoritarian outlook and with Beijing's growing assertiveness in Asia, he's found that approach more difficult.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: After a decade in which we fought two wars that cost us dearly in blood and treasure, the United States is turning our attention to the vast potential of the Asia Pacific region.

DOUGHERTY: With his visit to Asia, Mr. Obama made a strategic decision for the U.S. to play a larger, long term role in Asia. And facing a more than $200 billion trade deficit with China, he brought suits against Beijing at the World Trade Organization.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: We're going to continue to be firm in insisting that they operate by the same rules that everybody else operates under.

DOUGHERTY: He fended off Republican and Democratic demands to designate China a currency manipulator, concerned with a trade war. Angering Beijing, he signed off on armed sales to Taiwan, but refused to sell them advanced F-16 fighter jets. But Mitt Romney vows to take off the gloves.

ROMNEY: So if I'm president of the United States, I will finally take China to the carpet and say, look, you guys, I'm going to label you a currency manipulator and apply tariffs unless you stop those practices.

DOUGHERTY: China Governor Romney says is a cheat.

ROMNEY: China is stealing our intellectual property, our patents, our designs, our know-how, and our brand names.

DOUGHERTY: Romney says he would sell more arms to Taiwan and he would confront China on its human rights record. With Russia, Obama tried the reset button.

HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: We want to reset our relationship so we will do it together.

DOUGHERTY: He won a new start arms control agreement, got Vladimir Putin's green light opening crucial supply lines for coalition forces in Afghanistan, and canceled the Bush administration's plan for putting missile defense components in Poland. Mitt Romney blasts Obama's approach.

ROMNEY: Under my administration, our friends will see more loyalty and Mr. Putin will see a little less flexibility and more backbone.

DOUGHERTY: Romney says if he's elected, he'll ditch Obama's reset button. Russia, he says, is --

ROMNEY: Without question, our number one geopolitical foe.

DOUGHERTY: Romney vows to re-evaluate that arms control treaty and to confront the Kremlin on its human rights record. But would Mitt Romney substantially change U.S. policy toward Russia or China? Four years ago, Barack Obama took a harder line too, once in office, he tempered that with diplomatic calculus.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HENDRICKS: Right now, Moscow and China oppose U.S. efforts to remove Bashar Al-Assad in Syria. But Washington needs their help on other challenges like Iran and North Korea. Debates over Russia and China often are black and white. But seen from inside the White House, there's a lot more gray. Jill Dougherty, CNN, the State Department.

HENDRICKS: Be sure to tune in for a special hour of CNN NEWSROOM at 4:00 p.m. today. We're going to have a special on where the presidential candidates stand on the biggest issues in America. New York police offer a bizarre explanation for why a man left into a tiger's den at the Bronx Zoo. It probably won't make much more sense to you than it does to us. Keep it here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HENDRICKS: Pakistan's prime minister is making it clear that his government has nothing to do with the death threat against an anti- Islam filmmaker.

Nikoula Basseley Nikoula is said to be in hiding now after a Pakistani government minister offered a $100,000 reward for his death. That official admits this is not the government's position, but says, the Taliban and al Qaeda should consider his offer.

New York police say the man who leaped into a tiger den at the Bronx Zoo had, quote, "a desire to be one with the tiger." Commissioner Ray Kelly added that the victim was not drunk or insane, but just temporarily had no common sense.

David Villalobos is hospitalized in stable condition. He suffered a variety of injuries, most because of his jump from a monorail into the den.

A lot of folks travel for a living. When they do, it helps if they can find a place to set up shop. And if that place has everything they need and accommodates them, well, that's even better, right?

Josh Rubin says he has just the right town. That's Austin, Texas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSH RUBIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Do you need help with baby? Well, there's a co-working space for that called "Plug and Play." Come for the people, work space and meeting rooms and stay for the onsite child care.

Amy Braden came up with the idea while juggling a conference call with a three-month-old.

AMY BRADEN, PLUG AND PLAY: It was an exhausting experience for both of us and I thought there has to be a different solution for parents who want to work and raise families.

RUBIN: Do need childcare. Well, with more than 10 co-working spaces around Austin to choose from, you can probably find one more your speed. For example, Link Co-Working is upscale, quiet and filled with every kind of professional you can imagine.

LIZ ELAM, LINK COWORKING: When people come in, they generally have a giant exhale because they know they can get here, hunker down and make things happen. But then what happens, people start talking to each other. They start sharing ideas. They start hiring each other.

RUBIN: The cost of joining these spaces vary, usually between $100 and $200 a month. For many, it's worth it. I'd like to think of it as a gym membership for professional sanity. You might not have a co- working space in your town yet. It on happens to be on the cutting edge. Don't worry, your town may catch up. Josh Rubin, CNN, Austin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HENDRICKS: Josh, thank you. I'll be back in one hour. We're going to have special coverage of issues 2012 from job, economy to terrorism.

We will examine the topics driving this year's election. Stay with CNN, "YOUR MONEY" starts after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)