then we'll start to keep the collaboration, not just reduction of the weapons that are still pointed at each other but doing something together against the third-party challenges. >> challenges russia has been a major diplomatic factor and provided the islamic republic with nuclear technology. for that, the relationship between moscow and washington may have to get a lot better. i'm hidely collins. cnn continues right now are tony harris. president obama and medvedev are about to answer questions from reporters. live pictures now from one of the five reception halls in the

grand palace while we wait for the news conference to begin, let's bring in jill doe her tea who is in moscow. set the stage for this to begin at any moment now. >> reporter: well, tony, this afternoon the -- president obama and president med deaf ved have been meeting individually and with other officials working out the details of what we want to hear now, what they have accomplished. and right before this news conference, which you said we're waiting for, a flurry of paper came out from the white house outlining exactly what they have done and i'll start with the s.t.a.r.t. agreement, the arms control agreement expiring in december, there was a real push to get something on that and it looks as though they have committed to a legally binding agreement which they would work at by the end of the year to

replace that s.,a.r.t. treaty. what are the numbers? how many war heads would they allow and how many delivery vehicle, the missiles, et cetera, that deliver the warheads? and according to the white house, they are going to allow 1600 to 1675. that's down from 1700 to 2200. we also understand that they have worked out an agreement to try to work on nuclear security cooperation and another thing that we expected and now we have it on paper, that's an agreement about afghanistan. the russians allowing military equipment across russia into afghanistan that should help in the fight. >> all right. jill, thank you. all eyes are on los angeles today where events surrounding

the death of michael jackson are overtaking the entertainment capital. who will get control of michael jackson's estate? the jackson family wants to put off today's proceedings in case another will surfaces. the jackson family has been talking with officials about the memorial plans. so far, no word on where jackson will be buried and harsh word for jackson from a new york congressman. you'll have to hear them for yourself. >> this guy was pervert, a child molester, a pedophile, and to be giving this much coverage of him day in and day out, what does that say about us as a country? no one wants to stand up and say, we don't need michael jackson. >> we'll have reaction to that in a live report in 30 minutes. right now all of the action is at dodgers' stadium in los angeles. fans lucky enough to score

tickets for tomorrow's memorial are picking up wrist bands and tickets. kara finnstrom, if you would give us a look around and set that scene for us. >> reporter: you can see a couple of fans at the encino family home of the jacksons just behind me leaving more flowers, cards, notes. just a tremendous outpouring of support from jackson's fans since his death. and overnight, of course, tony, a lucky 8,750 of them got actually two tickets to this memorial service. many saying that they want to go and pay tribute to the man they consider the king of pop. here's what's going to happen today, tony. this is at the dodgers' stadium. overnight they got an e-mail with a secret pass code. they get a wrist band slapped on the wrist immediately. and they get tickets. the purpose of the wrist bands

to try to prevent scalping from taking place. then they go with wrist bands and tickets to staples center tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. if there is a any type of caping or ripping of the wrist bands, they will not be allowed in. everything is going to be sealed off. tony, we're also told from media analysts that possibly hundreds of millions of people will be watching this online, from their tv sets. so making this really unprecedented as far as coverage of a memorial. >> okay. boy, a lot to report there. kara, appreciate it. kara, thank you. and if you don't have a ticket, then i want you to be right here. cnn is going all out so you don't miss a thing. michael jackson, the memorial all day starting with american morning at 6:00 a.m. eastern time. iran and britain are threatening each other over the tension of a british embassy

worker. they protest over the june 12th election that released one staffer yesterday but still holds one worker, a leading iranian clear rick, says that the staffer could be cited for unrest and warnings there will be consequences if the worker is not released. mexico's president could be losing punch with three years left in his term. preliminary results from yesterday's midterm election say calderon is losing defeat in the lower legislative house and gives the opposition revolution institutional party a solid lead over president calderon's national action policy. socialized health care, we take a trip to canada to separate rhetoric from reality. a federal judge has approved general motors' plan of bankruptcy and creates a new

company and crushes debt and expensive contracts. we want to hear from you. what kind of chance do you give the new gm? what do you think? log on to cnn.com/tony. for our viewers not near a computer, how about this? talk to us. talk to the program. call 877-742-5760. it's a brave new world.

well, there you go. live picture of a news conference to begin any moment now. we understand that the president of the united states is en route for that news conference. again, it's scheduled to begin very soon here. the president of moscow and russia to meet for the first time in seven years. we'll bring you that news conference live when it begins right here in the cnn "newsroom." canada's health care system covers everyone and it's free

but some would argue there is a cost, rationing of services and staggering wait times and they warn that's where america may be head he had. chief congressional correspondent, dana bash, has more. >> reporter: simple pleasures, walking with her dog and in her garden are a gift. four years ago diagnosed with a brain tumor and told that she could go blind or die. >> i realized right after the surgery how bad my position was. >> reporter: she is canadian but for her surgery she went to the u.s. because it would have taken four to six months just to see a specialist. >> with public health insurance and i always thought that i would be okay and everything could be fine. >> reporter: so this is

basically all of the surgery? at the mayo clinic where she was treated totalled $100,000 and she borrowed from family and friends. >> it's tragic, having dinner with my friends and i know how much money i owe them. >> reporter: republicans in washington are seething on her story to warn against government involvement in health care chief of staff at the kingston general hospital, and mitch mcconnell signaled out as exhibit a as staggering delays. >> the average wait is about 340 days. >> reporter: the response, mcconnell is exaggerating. >> average time is 91 days weight. >> reporter: but insists that there are limits and shortages. some patients do have to wait. >> i'm not going to say that we don't have issues but, again, if

you take the other side of the coin, these patients have access. >> reporter: despite the horror story, most patients with life-threatening issues are treated promptly. doug can attest to that. he's got the money to get care in the u.s. but says there's no reason. >> i have not had to wait. i've seen some of the best specialists in the country. >> reporter: he and others remind us that canadian health care available to all is free. >> okay. so let's break this down with our medical correspondent, elizabeth cohen. let's go through this. a senate minority leader, mitch mcconnell, talking about the problems, weaknesses in the canadian system. but i'm wondering if anyone here is suggesting that health care reform in the united states will look like the canadian system. >> no. >> no? >> all right.

then -- >> what president obama and some of the democrats are suggesting is that there be a government-sponsored health care program as an option for people to choose. so you could choose aetna, united, kaiser, or the government program but they are not -- obama and the democrats are not suggesting that it be the only game in town. and in canada it's pretty much the only game in town. >> the singer payer option, is that -- i know that's not on the table here -- >> the canadians don't like to call it a single payer option because of the provinces but it's government-run health care and it's pretty much the only game in town. >> so what if our reform is not going to look like the canadians, what is being proposed here? what will health care reform

likely look like? >> well, it depends on whose plan gets adopted. but at this point what obama and some of the democrats are saying, again, is this option. they are saying, we're going to change a lot of things about health care including a program out there that will be less expensive and then people who can't afford private insurance, which is a lot of people, 46 million uninsured americans, at least it would be less expensive. >> elizabeth, again, thank you as we try to focus and drill down on this. >> can i add one thing? >> yeah. >> here's the concern, though. here's what mitch mcconnell would say, the minute you put the option out there on the table, it will become the only system out there because most americans get their insurance through their employer and an employer might say, hey, i can have this option and i'm going to go with the government one and then the decision gets made for you as an employee.

it's a leap. that's the nightmare scenario. >> and the truth of it is, they haven't answered that question effectively or that criticism of or what your employer would say, the administration at least to my hearing of the debate so far haven't answered that effectively yes. >> the last time i was on the phone with the administration official said, we're not going to go down the road with all of the details because we don't know what is going to happen in the future. we're not going to go down that road because there's so much things out there on the table. >> good to see you. thank you. still to come, if you like doing your banking with the click of a mouse, how do you know you're getting your best deal? gerri willis has the answers coming up for you next right here in the newsroom. oh, before we go to break, let's not do that. aning system... that seeks and destroys engine gunk... left by lower-quality gasoline. it protects engines from performance-robbing gunk.

try new nitrogen-enriched shell gasolines. okay. let's get you to the news conference getting under way right now. president medvedev and president obama. let's listen in. >> speaking in foreign language.

>> chief of the armed services of russia, first, deputy minister of defense, army general and on the u.s. side, chairman of the joint staff of the united states army, that's admiral to sign the framework document on the development of cooperation between the armed forces of the russian federation and the armed forces of the united states of america and the memo random of the adoption of the working plan to improve military cooperation between the armed services of the russian administration and the armed services of america for 2009.

[ applause ]

the minister of foreign affairs and the undersecretary of state, william burns, are assigning an agreement between the government of the united states of america and the government of the russian federation on the transit of military equipment, military property, and personnel through the russian federation in connection with participation of the united states of america in efforts to ensure the security, stabilization of the islamic republican of afghanistan.

>> translator: in exchange of notes on the russian and u.s. commission on the p.o.w.s and m.i.a.s that have taken place and the social development of the russian federation and the department of health and human resources services of the united states has been signed. >> translator: the president of the russian federation medvedev and the president of the united states of america, barack obama,

signing a joint under standing on further reductions and limitations of strategic and offensive arms. >> translator: during the visit, the president of the united states america, barack obama, and medvedev, also have adopted joint statement of the president

of the russian federation, medvedev and barack obama and on cooperation in nuclear and joint and on afghanistan and the decision has been adopted onseting up the joint russia-u.s. presidential commission to develop cooperation.

>> not only the future that our country depends but also to a larger extent the world development. i would like to emphasize -- and this is extremely important. we have agreed that we will

continue to communicate in this mode further on in reality for our relations it is very important and it is not a simple joke because the backlog of problems is quite impressive. but we have had enough of mutual positions of principles that we have always occupied to make the discussion of this problem in a business-like manner and we have reached mutually beneficial results. i would like to emphasize that each of our countries understand its role in its own way but at the same time we realize our role and responsibility for the situation in this world. especially in the period when the level of globalization has reached such dimensions and such

parameters that the decisions we make very often determine the situation in general. and such powerful states, as the united states of america, and the russian federation, accept responsibility for everything happening on our planet, we have many mutual interests and global and economic ones and variety of other interests. but our desire to discuss this subject was mutual and this is also one of very important results of our meeting since the work we are doing requires goodwill, mutual respect, and honest understanding of each other's position. we also came to the conclusion

that russian-american relations and the level achieved to date does not correspond to their potential, to the possibilities of our countries. and the important thing is that the level that we have today does not correspond to the need of the current age and the active development of our relations on the foreign affairs agenda and trade, educational relations will now be able to build the road to the 21st century. we have spent several hours in negotiations, very specific. and at the same time we dwelled on the questions of philosophy of our countries and i'm grateful to the president of the united states for the understanding he showed on the principles that we put forward

and our attention to the proposals made by the american side. so despite the fact that in several hours we cannot remove the burden of all of the problem, we have agreed that we will go forward without stopping, that we will make the decisions that are needed for the development of relations of our two countries. we have discussed quite specific problems and i would like to share some of them with you. we, of course, discussed international subjects. we spoke about such difficult problems as the process of middle east settlement. we agreed to continue working and the visits that we had in the middle east recently and the plans that we discussed -- we discussed the possibility of holding a moscow conference on

the middle east. we spoke about very important subjects. that is requiring activities, this is the problem of afghanistan without our joint work in this area we would not be able to achieve success in that area and on that score we have agreed on a special statement. our relations will be also consolidated by our humanitarian field, in the field of science. this has to be done by all means and we'll be dealing with this after this meeting in a very persistent way. now, a few specific results of our negotiations. you are aware of them. we have agreed on the very important subject, the new agreement of strategic offensive arms. this is a basic element of

mutual security. the work was very intensive and i must admit that our teams, our delegations worked on this subject in a very fruitful way. they have shown reasonable compromise and i would like to thank everyone who took part in these negotiations or is going to take part in them. the result of this is that we have reached not only a mutual understanding of how we should move forward but also to the basic levels on which we will advance our cooperation in this field. we agreed on the levels of carriers and war heads, meaning that this is a very concrete subject in the future you'll understanding that we have just signed with the president of the united states, it is said that our two countries can have from 500 to 1100 carriers of strategic arms and from 1500 to

1675 war heads. these are the new parameters within reach our dialect will be going on and we hope to achieve final agreement that will be part of the new treaty. we have agreed, also, that the offensive and defensive systems of both countries should be considered together. we have adopted the joint statement on -- and this is an important result while even taken into account that we have divergenco on a number of items. nevertheless, we assigned the approved document. we have discussed measures of cooperation in the nuclear field and, most importantly, that we will continue our cooperation in

every area and it depends on our country, we have signed an agreement on military transit to afghanistan. we decided to create a presidential commission on cooperation which will be in relations among various agencies of the united states and russian federation respectively on all priority areas, including economic and military areas. in the military area, these questions will be dealt by the chiefs of staffs that have just signed the document. soon all of these documents will be published and you'll be able to familiarize yourself with them. on the whole, by characterizing our first day of work as a result of negotiations that we have had, i would like to say that i view them as the first

but very important step in the process of improving full scale cooperation between our two countries. we should go to the benefit of both states and both states benefit by it. that means everybody will benefit by it. i would like to emphasize, in conclusion, that our country would like to reach such a level of cooperation with the united states which would be realistically worthy of the 21st century, which will ensure international peace and security. this is in our interests and we are grateful to our american colleagues for the joint work we have done. it is true that the solution of many world problems depends on the joint will of the united states and russia. thank you. >> good afternoon, everybody.

and i want to thank president medvedev and the russian people for their hospitality. michelle and i and our children are pleased to be here in moscow and be here so early in my administration. we just concluded a very productive meeting, as president medvedev has indicated. the president and i agreed that the relationship between russia and the united states has suffered from a sense of drift. we resolved to reset u.s.-russian relations to we can cooperate more effectively in areas of common interests. today, after less than six months of collaboration, we have done exactly that by taking concrete steps forward on a range of issues while paving the way for progress in the future. and i think it's particularly notable that we addressed the top priorities. these are not second tier

issues. they are fundamental to the pros parity and security of both countries. we have taken the steps forward to stop the spread of nuclear arsenals. the world's two leading nuclear power, the united states and russia, must lead by example and that's what we are doing here today. we have signed a joint understanding for a follow-up treaty to the nuclear warhead from a third to our current treaty limitations. this legally-binding treaty will be completed this year. we've also agreed on a joint statement on nuclear security cooperation that will help us achieve the goal of securing all vulnerable nuclear materials within four year, progress that we can build upon later this week at the g-8 summit. together, these are important steps forward in implementing the agenda that i laid out.

we must ensure that other nations keep their commitments and we have constructed agreements between north korea and iran. north korea has abandoned it's own commitments and violated international law and that's why i'm pleased to say that russia joined us in the steps to block north korea's nuclear and ballistic programs. iran poses challenges through its failure to live up to international relations. this is not just a problem for the united states. it raises the prospect of a nuclear arms while the ballistic program could also pose a threat to the broader region. we've agreed on a joint statement on cooperation of missile defense and a joint threat assessment of the ballistic challenges of the 21st century including those posed by

iran and north korea. second, we have taken important steps forward to strengthen our security through greater cooperation. president medvedev and i agreed upon the need to combat the threat of violent extremists, particularly from al qaeda. and today we signed an agreement that will allow the transit of lethal military equipment through russia to afghanistan. this is a substantial contribution by russia to our international effort and it will save the united states time and resources in giving our troops the support that they need. thanks to admiral and his russian counterpart, we've agreed to resume military to military cooperation between the united states and russia. this provides the framework for improved cooperation between our armed services so we can better address the threats that we face from terrorism to privacy. we've also agreed to restore a joint commission on prisoners of

war on missing in action and will allow our governments to cooperate in our unwave vering commitment to our missing men and women. third, we've taken steps forward to broaden a full range of issues that threaten the security and prosperity of our people. president medvedev and i are creating a bilateral presidential commission to serve as a new foundation for this cooperation. too often the united states and russia only communicate on a narrow range of issues or let old habits stand in the way of progress. that's why this commission will include working groups on the development of the economy, energy, and the environment, nuclear energy and security, arms control, and international security, defense, foreign policy, and counterterrorism preventing and handling emergencies, civil society, science and technology, space, health, education, and culture. and this work will be coordinated by secretary clinton

and secretary clinton will travel to russia this fall to carry this effort forward. just to give you one example of this cooperation is the new memorandum of understanding on health. we've learned, most recently with the h1n1 virus, that a disease that emerges anywhere can pose a risk to people everywhere. that's why our department of health and human services will cooperate with the russian counterparts to combat infectious, chronic, diseases. finally, i'm pleased that russia has taken the important step of lifting important restrictions on live stock. the cost to american business is over $1.3 billion and we've now made important progress to restoring that commerce. i won't pretend that the united states and russia agree on every issue. as president medvedev indicated, we've had frank skaudiscussions

there are areas that we still disagree. i reiterated my firm belief that georgia's integrity must be respected. even as we work through our disagreements, we agree that no one has an interest in renewed military conflict. in going forward, we must speak candidly to resolve these problems peacefully. president medvedev and i are committed to leaving behind the suspicion and rivalry of the past so we can advance the interests that we hold in common. today, we've made meaningful progress in demonstrating through deeds and words what a more constructive u.s. and russian relationship can look like. tomorrow i look forward to business, civil society, and the dialogue among the american and russian people. i believe that all of us have an interest in forging a future in which the united states and russia partner effectively on behalf of our security and prosperity.

that's the purpose of resetting our relations and the progress we make today and i once again want to thank president medvedev and his entire team for being such wonderful hosts and working so effectively with our teams. thank you. >> translator: colleagues, now we begin the joint press conference where they will be able to answer two questions. don't forget to present yourself and the question goes to the u.s. media. >> thank you and good evening to both presidents. president obama, i'd like to ask you about the issue of trust. after this period of rocky relations with the country and also with the agreements that

you've just laid out today, having spent time with president medvedev, do you feel like you have full trust in him and have you settled in your mind who is really in charge here in russia, the president or prime minister putin? and president medvedev, i'd like to ask you, the polling shows that the american people have hard feelings about -- i'm sorry. that the russian people have hard feelings about america. i'm wondering what you think president obama can do to try to change this. >> well, first of all, this is now my second lengthy bilateral meeting with president medvedev and we've also had a series of telephone calls and other exchanges. and throughout our interactions i've found him to be straightforward, professional, he is clear about the interests of the russian people but he's also interested in finding out

what the interests of the united states are. and we have found, i think, an ability to work together extremely effectively. so, yes, i trust president medvedev to not only listen and to negotiate constructively but also to follow through on the agreements and, again, i'm very appreciative not only in the manner in which he's dealt with me but the manner in which our teams have worked together. if you think about the short time frame from our meeting in london to today and the fact that we have essentially accomplished all of the goals that we have set in london and these are not insubstantial achievements, i think it's a good sign for progress in the future. tomorrow i will be having

breakfast with prime minister putin. i have not met him before. i am looking forward to that meeting. my understanding is that president medvedev is the president. prime minister putin is the prime minister. and they allocate power in accordance with russia's form of government in the same way we allocate power in the united states. and so my interest is in dealing directly with my counterpart, the president, but also to reach out to prime minister putin and all other influential spectors in russian's society so i can get a look at the needs of the russian people and the needs of the russian people and my strong impression is that president medvedev and prime minister putin are working very effectively together and our

interest is dealing with the russian government as a whole in order to achieve the improved bilateral relationship that i think can be accomplished. >> translator: first of all, i would like to thank president obama for the kind words he has just said about this period and the level of openness we enjoy in our personal relationship. if i said something about it previously, personal relationships are very important, especially when you speak about the building of interstate relationships and when the relationship between the government and personal relationships are on the same level, positive is always good

for the rerelationship of the countries. but speaking towards the attitude of the american people, they are friendly. i don't see any negative thoughts there. but when there are problems between the states, when there are negative signals being sent by the government, then, of course, these signals reflect on the ordinary people and the relationship between the countries are more empathy people have towards each other in different countries. we touched upon the relationship between our countries new ups and downs. during the world war ii saved

the world and now we also have a feeling that a lot depends on our relationship and the success in delivering on all of those expectations, bearing in mind that our people have always had sympathy -- empathy towards each other. you have the floor. >> translator: thank you. i have a question to both presidents. russia and the u.s. are the largest nuclear powers in the world. accounting for 95% of warheads. it has been working on the

documents for quite some time. if fact, it seems 1970s. do you feel you have the situation in this area under control when there are so many negative around the globe? >> translator: well, the proliferation problem is very important for our countries because we have and share the largest burden in the area of nonproliferation of strategic arms. we do have the major nuclear arsenals and we have full responsibility for those arsenals and i agree with you totally. there are negative trends in the world and they are due to the emergence of the nuclear. some of them are not members of

the nuclear club but they have aspirations to have nuclear weapons and declare so openly or which is worse, doing it clandestinely and have a negative bearing on the world. due to reasons very well known, there are regions around the world where the presence of nuclear arms would create huge problems and these are areas where we should concentrate our efforts together with our american partners. those regions, those areas are well known. there's no sense in naming them but it's quite obvious that the situation in the middle east, on the korean peninsula will depend the climate throughout the globe. it's our common, joint responsibility and we should make our out-most to present in a negative presence there and we are ready to do that.

our negotiations with president obama have demonstrated that we share the same attitude towards this problem. >> well, i think president medvedev said it well. this is an urgent issue and one in which the united states and russia have to take leadership. it is very difficult for us to exert that leadership unless we are showing ourselves willing to deal with our own nuclear stockpiles in a more rational way. and that's why this post s.t.a.r.t. agreement is so important and i'm hopeful that we can reduce our nuclear arsenals by as much as a third and hopefully can move even beyond that in subsequent agreements and treaties. the critical issues that president medvedev identified is

the fact that we are seeing a pace of potential proliferation that we have not seen in quite some time. and he mentioned two specific areas in the middle east there is deep concern about iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons capability. not simply because of one country wanting nuclear weapons but the fact that if iran obtained nuclear weapons, it is an almost -- it is almost certain that other countries in the region would then decide to pursue their own programs and we would see a nuclear arms race in perhaps the most volatile part of the world. in the korean peninsula we've seen north korea flout its own commitments and international obligations in pursuit of nuclear weapons. and in all of these cases as you

see more proliferation of nuclear weapons, the possibilities of not only state actors targeting populations with nuclear weapons, but the possibility that those nuclear weapons could fall in the hands of nonstate actors, extremist organizations causes an extraordinary threat to both russia and the united states. so i'm pleased on the progress we've made so far. i think the fact that we've got a joint threat assessment in terms of what ballistic missile capabilities and nuclear weapons could pose to our countries that we will be conducting a review of that and making assessments to find ways that the united states and russia can cooperate more effectively. that is going to be very important. i think continuing to pursue the cooperation that always exists between russia and the united states on loose nuclear

materials and making sure those are secure, that's going to be very important. structuring a new reinvigorated nonproliferation treaty that applies a set of rules to all countries and allows them to pursue peaceful nuclear energy without having the capacity to weaponize that nuclear capacity, that's going to be very important. and so we've actually suggested a global nuclear security summit that we intend to host next year. and i discussed with president medvedev the strong possibility that in a subsequent summit it could be hosted by russia, where we bring all of the countries together around the world to start making progress on this critical issue.

>> from reuters. >> deep divisions over a proposed u.s. missile shield can'ted greatly to the deterioration of relations over the years and it does not seem you gentlemen have resolved that issue either. president obama, you have said very clearly that you would not accept the linkage between the missile systems and arms control talks. president medvedev, you and prime minister putin have said the issues must be linked. are either of you gentlemen willing to budge or compromise on the issue, or could this can't to a blockage or obstacle in reaching a final start 2 agreement and i wonder if you would give your reaction to the chinese government crackdown in the northwest of the country on rioting and unrest that killed

more than 140 people. >> with respect to the china situation, unfortunately, i've been traveling all night and in meetings all day, i have not been fully briefed and i don't want to comment until i see all of the information. but i assure you our team will get a statement to you as soon as i've been able to do that. on missile defense, we have agreed that we are going to continue to discuss this critical issue. that is part of the joint statements that we've signed. i also believe that it is entirely legitimate for our discussions to talk not only about offensive weapon systems but also defensive weapon systems. part of what got us through the cold war was a sufficient sense

of par ddy and that both sides during the difficult times understand that a first strike, the attempt to use nuclear weapons in a military conflict against the other, could result in an extremely heavy price. and any discussion of nuclear strategy, security has to include defensive as well as offensive capabilities. the difference that we've had has been on the specifics of a missile defense system that the united states views as a priority not to deal with russia, but to deal with a missile coming in from iran or

north korea or some other state. and that it's important for the united states and its allies to have the capacity to prevent such a strike. there's no scenario from our perspective in which this missile defense system would provide any protection against a mighty russian arsenal. and so in that sense, we have not thought that it is appropriate to link discussions of a missile defense system designed to deal with an entirely different threat unrelated to the kinds of robust capabilities that russia possesses. now, having said that, president medvedev has been very clear that this is a point of deep concern and sensitivity to the russian government.

i suspect when i speak with president prime minister putin tomorrow he will say the same thing. and what we would like to do is to work with russia to advance a system that ensures that a stray missile, whether it was one or ten or a handful of missiles coming from a third source, that we have the capabilities to prevent those from doing damage. i think we can arrive at those types of understandings. it's going to require hard work because it requires breaking down longstanding suspicions. with respect to the configuration that was proposed several years ago, as you know we're undergoing a thorough review of whether it works or

not, what has been proposed. that review should be completed by the end of the summer. and i indicated to president medvedev that as soon as that review is complete, we will provide the russian government our assessment of how we think we should proceed. and that will be the subject of extensive negotiations. so ultimately, i think the more progress we make on some of the issues in s that i discussed ea, nonproliferation, being able to track ballistic missiles coming from other sources, to the extent that we are building deeper cooperation on those fronts, i think the more effectively we're going to be able to resolve this issue. i believe that over time we will end up seeing that the u.s./russian positions on the issues can be reconciled and that in fact we have a mutual

interest in protecting both of our populations from the kinds of dangers that weapons proliferations is posing today. >> translator: i'll say a couple of words on this subject. of course, anti-ballistic missile defense, not ballistic missile defense but the problem of the region area is a difficult subject for our discussion. i would like to draw your attention to what president obama said. i would like to point it out myself. in our mutual understanding that has been signed we talk about the linkage between offensive and defensive weapons and it already constitutes set forward some time ago on this question

we had all differences. now this linkage is being stated and this opens up the opportunity of bringing positions closer to each other. secondly, nobody is saying that ballistic missile defense is harmful or is posing danger. it is aimed at resolving a number of practical tasks. the question is of linking these configuration of missile defense with interests of other countries. i would like to point out especially that our american partners, unlike what was happening in recent years, have taken polls and are studying this situation as a result of this, they will form late their final position. this is also a step forward in reaching possible compromise on this fairly difficult subject. before we just heard that all

decisions have been made. they do not concern you, but they present no -- to you. our position is somewhat different. you're well familiar with it, i'm not going to say it again. our understanding is that this decisions do concern us and we will have to come to terms on this position as we realize fully well that the number of threats including a link to the medium range and ballistic missiles is not diminishing but growing in number so we all have to think about what configuration on the global anti-ballistic missile defense could have. and this during our limited composition meeting i mentioned to my colleague. >> last question. channel number 1. >> good evening. the question is to both

presidents, you spoke about your concerns about afghanistan. can you be more specific? what do presidents think about this situation in that country? there is a feeling that the counter terrorist operation in afghanistan is having difficulties and to what extent cooperation between u.s. and russia in transit can help or improve the situation in greater detail, please? the subject of u.s. russian cooperation in afghanistan is extremely important. it is for this reason we paid so much attention to the discussion of this problem. and we have just signed an agreement that concerns transit. it's an important subject and we will of course, continue cooperation with our american counterparts, concerns the current situation, it really is

not simple. i am not trying to say that it is being worsened but in many aspects the progress is not available or is insignificant, but we value the efforts that are being made by the united states together with the other countries in order to prevent the terrorist threat that was emanating and is still coming from the afghan soil. we are prepared in this sense to a full scale cooperation with our u.s. and other partners, including in transit areas. we are prepared to help in the various aspects. i don't know to what extent how quickly the situation will improve, it depends to a large extent to the development of the ballistic system in afghanistan, how they achieve successes in the economy and it is not a simple task.

nevertheless, we are prepared continue with our efforts, the consultations with the afghan side and the president of the country and the president of pakistan, both of problems have to be resolved together. and if we can join our efforts both in the economic peaceful field and in terms of support of counter terrorist operation, the success will come sooner or later. in the final analysis, let me emphasize again, it will depend on the maturity of the afghan state and the readiness of the afghan society to change. >> well, as you may be aware, as soon as i came into office, we undertook a thorough review of our afghan strategy to that point. in consultation with not only our nato allies but all the

forces internationally that contributed to the efforts there. and we concluded that we had not made as much progress as we should have given the duration in which we've been in afghanistan and that we can improve it. so our approach has been to say that we need to have a strong security system in place for the afghan elections to be completed. we have to train afghan nationals for the army and police so that they can effectively secure their own country. we have to combine that with more effective diplomatic efforts. and we have to focus on development so that, for example, the people of afghanistan don't have to grow poppy but have other crops and goods that they can make a

living with. now, we have just begun the implementation of this new strategy, so i think it's too early to gauge its success so far. by the time we completed the next election and the -- either president karzai or another candidate has taken his seat, then we will be able to i think do an additional review and see what other efforts we can take in order to improve the situation. i will tell you that russia's participation and contributions to this effort will extraordinarily important. obviously russia has its own concerns about extremism and terrorism. russia also has deep concerns about the drug trade and its infiltration into russia. and russia has extraordinary

capabilities when it comes to training police forces and training armies. and as part presidential commission structure we put in place, we'll further discuss both the military efforts in afghanistan and the development efforts and diplomatic efforts to make progress and president medvedev is right that this is important for afghanistan but also important with respect to pakistan. and we're going to have to think regionally in terms of how we approach these problems. obviously the countries along the border of afghanistan and central asia are of deep importance and it's very important we include them in the conversations about how we can move forward. but i just want to thank, again, the russian government for the agreement, for military transit that will save u.s. troops both

time and money. and it's, i think a gesture that indicates the degree to which in the future russian/u.s. cooperation can be extraordinarily important in solving a whole host of these very important international issues. >> thank you very much, everybody. >> president obama and russian president medvedev, the two men hoping to reboot relations. they met with reporters in the lavishly orn ate hall of the grand kremlin palace. the leaders agreed on a new nuclear arms, to replace the start treaty. perhaps the most pressing matter, the state of u.s. and russia relations which chilled during the bush years.

okay. cnn international anchor jim clancy is here. how long have you been reporting on russia? >> since before the collapse of kmunism in the mid 1980s. this was fascinating -- >> tell me why. you said that when you walked up here. >> clearly they've made progress here. you talk about reducing the nuclear arsenals of the two country that's hold 95% of all nuclear weapons in the world. reducing them 30%. that's an accomplishment. you talk about the missile defense shield that's been a sticking point. there's an accomplishment there. not as clear but i think president obama is signaling very clearly to his russian counterpart, we're reassess, let's see if it works and we'll sit down and talk to you about all of this. that's what moscow wants, somebody to come to the kremlin and ring the doorbell before you set things up all around mother russia, if you will.

cooperation on iran, cooperation on north korea, cooperation on nuclear proliferation. these are issues vitally important to the united states and all of this is preliminary. all of this is the framework, so to speak. >> so here's the question we were talking about this morning in our meeting. where's the real power here? vladimir putin, the prime minister, he's still the figure that looms large here. is he the puppet master here? is medvedev really the power center of this russian government? >> americans love to get obsessed about all of this. and it's probably true that you know, vladimir putin still has the power. he's the former fsb, kgb guy, probably the most popular politician in all of russia today. as barack obama pointed out there, look, any deal that washington makes isn't made with vladimir putin or with dimitry

medvedev it's made with the russian government and you deal with both of these guys and how they decide the power structure is between them. >> they really seem to -- president medvedev seemed really clear about his desire to have -- that these countries need to work better to face challenges of the 21st century. isn't that a big takeaway? >> what he's really saying is we're back. we want to be back. a lot of people will say russia will never be back. that he will never regain that super power status. it will never again be on a par with the united states. the russian people and i think the russian leaders don't like to hear that kind of language. when he's standing there saying, you need us and we know it. we're just as important as you are, i think it addresses that domestic audience. >> nice. we appreciate it. thanks for your insight.

good to see you. thanks. >> there are plenty new developments in the jackson death investigation as well as talk of another will. cara, bring us up to speed. what's the latest? >> reporter: some additional developments, the los angeles times reporting that the lapd has issued three, at least three search warrants and this has to do -- i'm sorry, mike is not working there. we're told the lapd issued three search warrants and these have to do with trying to get more information about whether prescription drugs may have played a role in michael jackson's death. now, detectives have been for a while trying to figure out the exact chronology of michael

jackson's medical history. there have been a number of doctors he has seen so the search warrants will help piece that all together. within the last half hour we're getting information on a court hearing that's taking place regarding michael jackson's 2002 will. now what's happening there is executors named in the will are looking to take control of the will. and since a day after michael jackson's death it has been under the control of michael jackson's mother katherine. we do understand from a crew that is in the courtroom right now that there are about 20 lawyers in the first couple rows of the courtroom. in the will that was put together back in 2002, his mother katherine and three children and unnamed charities are the beneficiaries. this hearing would be the first opportunity for either jackson's family or any unnamed persons to actually contest that will. we're waiting to hear whether that may come out of the hearing this morning. >> cara, was the talk about there being another will?

>> reporter: well, tony, nothing confirmed along those lines. often times there are more than will. and this will was put together back in 2002. perhaps his family could want to hold off on actually putting this will into play because they believes others might surface. there's been talk of that. at this point we haven't seen another will and have not heard official word of another will out there. >> cara, we appreciate it. thank you. it is about celebrating jackson's life and thousands of fans are at dodgers stadium said to do just that, picking up their tickets for tomorrow's memorial service. oh, good, live pictures now. that can't be live. along with the tickets -- what are we seeing here? explain this to me -- >> i guess these are pictures from a short time ago. they are being fitted with wrist bands. you can't get in without a ticket and the wrist bands are being used to make sure there is

no scalping. fans had until 6:00 saturday night to register for the free tickets. more than million and a half signed up. >> growing up in the '70s we're big music fans and jackson five and american band stand, the early work and seeing michael grow up over the years with all of the successful albums, been a part of our life and woven in our own history in pop culture. it's overwhelming we'll be able to be there and help celebrate his life with his other fans and family, and it's such a momentous occasion. >> if you can't be there, you should be with us, join us for around the clock coverage of the memorial, celebrating the life of the worldwide superstar as family and friends and fans say good-bye. michael jackson the memorial cnn all day tomorrow starting with american morning 6:00 a.m. eastern time.

a new york congressman isn't happy with the media coverage of michael jackson's death but republican peter king may have stretched the point a bit by calling the late superstar, among other things a pedophile. listen to this. >> when you cut aside all of the psych co-bable, he was a pervert, child molester, none of us would let our children or grandchildren in the room. yet he's getting the headline stories and television and radio. >> there's actually more to this but our senior political analyst can candy crowley has heard it all. there's been plenty of push back that the coverage of jackson's death has been excessive. why do you think representative king chose to attack jackson in this way, this is a man who obviously can't defend himself. >> well, first of all congressman king is not known for his shyness in talking and saying exactly how he feels. we should note he was in front

of a american legion hall on july 4th weekend and he like many others looked at the coverage and thought isn't this slightly out of whack with the important things that are going on with policeman or firemen or soldiers or teachers. then when you take the next step, let's face it, in his -- when he was alive michael jackson in the later years was a terribly controversial figure in his private life. he was while there was a trial on child molestation charges, he was found not guilty. lots of famous people payout to avoid a trial without implying any kind of guilt. he took it a step farther of calling someone guilty of being a pedophile when there was absolutely no place anywhere where he was found guilty. this is a grown man who said yes he did have young children over for sleepovers. you are hearing, i think, less

an attack as far as peter king is looking at it, less of an attack on jackson and more of an attack on the media and coverage, saying people are giving up lives every day for this country, where is the coverage for them? >> you take me into two different areas. let me start with this politically. i'm wondering and i don't have anything to go on when i ask this question, are other conservatives in the media, talk radio, television taking on jackson and the media coverage in a similar way? >> there's -- yes, i think you'll find a lot of chatter and we've seen it on tv as well. again, it has to do with the coverage of it and is this over the top and okay nine days later weren't we done with this yet. part of this has to do with the fact that there's been no service yet. in a kind of necessarily stretches it out for a while. >> don't get me started on that. >> we also see in the polling

that if you just want to look at it from a purely political point of view, when the question is were you a michael jackson fan, there are far more democrats that were fans than republicans. that doesn't say how they felt about him as a person just how they viewed his music. >> in political terms king said he made the video to highlight efforts made by teachers and firefighters and that he said go so unrecognized. did he lose the impact of that message by attacking jackson and the coverage, you think, in the way that he did? >> probably not. and here's why. i think people are going to look at this where they already stand. that if you like michael jackson and think he was great and you think that he was all of the criticism and things about his private life are bogus, you're going to look at this and say, wait a minute, how dare he say this sort of thing. if you're in peter king's district or if you're looking at

this going, what -- why are we idealizing this guy who had a controversial private life, you'll go ahead and agree with him. what happens is we're talking about the video so certainly it's probably out there than had he say let's pay attention to firefighters and policemen and teachers. >> i can't let you go. we'll do a segment on alaska governor, sarah palin. have you made sense of friday? were you surprised by what you saw and heard in presentation? >> yes. i remain surprised by it and i remain puzzled by it. what we have to go on is what she said, that so many people were out to get her, that had it prompted investigations and she just didn't really -- didn't think she could work for alaska any more. if you listen to any of the shows over the weekend, she has even fans going what is she

thinking here. i don't know that we have clarity at this point, certainly i do. >> thanks for your time. alaska governor sarah palin stepping down. reaction still to come from the bombshell announcement. we're back in a moment. asolines. contain a nitrogen-enriched cleaning system... that seeks and destroys engine gunk... left by lower-quality gasoline. it protects engines from performance-robbing gunk. try new nitrogen-enriched shell gasolines.

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with the gold delta skymiles credit card. call 1-800-skymiles to apply. this is the official card... of the world's largest airline. alas kas ka, governor, sarah palin gone fishing. she abruptly announced friday she was resigning as governor at the end of the july.

the announcement shocked the republican party. palin used a basketball analogy in revealing her decision. >> a good point guard, here's what she does, she drives through a full-court press pretekting the ball keeping her head up because she needs to keep her eye on the basket. she knows when to pass the ball so the team can win. that is what i'm doing. >> so what now for governor palin? sean is in anchorage. >> reporter: she has kept a low profile before making a bombshell of the announcement. she made one brief public appearance, that at the holiday parade on july fourth. she's been spending time with her family doing a little fishing in the western part of the state, also visiting a couple of villages as well. what is behind this? a lot of people in alaska want to know, just like people in the lower 48. many firmly believe she is paving the way for 2012.

what will she do in the interim? go on a speaking tour circuit made a ton of money, be a analyst for some network, write a book? how is she communicating? the way so many people do nowadays, via twitter and facebook. this is what she had to say, so sad washington and the media will never understand it's about country, though it's honorable for countless others to leave their positions without finishing a term, of course, we know by now for some reason a different standard applies to the decisions i make. a lot of people believe she's making herself the victim in all of this. but what will happen next? we know that the fbi is not investigating her. the bureau making the very unusual announcement over the weekend coming out and saying, there is no investigation into the governor's activities. a lot of this deals with ethics, allegations and hear in alaska,

anybody can make an ethics investigation, she had to defend herself against 15 here. it cost half a million dollars. that's the big reason she says she's stepping down to take away the critical focus on the state so they can move forward. cnn, in anchorage. >> could there possibly be some hidden reason for the move? we'll look at what sarah palin's political future may look like next.

alaska's governor sure knows how to stir things up. her plans to resign at the end of july have a lot of people asking what now. susan paige and jonathan martin, senior political correspondent for politico.com. thank you for being here. have you been able to make any sense of what happened on friday, if you have, will you explain it to us please? >> it makes a lot of sense in that sarah palin will make a lot of money giving speeches, writing a book, get a lot of attention, energizing republican audiences. this is a party that has kinds of muddled field in leadership

going forward. she'll appeal to a segment of it that. if her desire is to win the presidency i think she made that task harder. >> do you hear you agreeing? >> she makes a lot of sense. this is a decision based upon the status yoe in alat skalaska. six months was enough for her. i don't think she's calculating ahead to 2012. i think she just wanted to get out of alaska, embrace the fame and celebrity she won last fall and as susan alluded to all of the benefits monetarily that come with that. as long as she's famous and embracing that celebrity, 2012, 2016 are still out there. >> jonathan is this a total bail on the people of alaska or a move that makes her the defacto

front-runner for the gop nomination? >> i don't think inthat you can rule out either. there are a lot of folks in alaska, certainly, that think she is bailing on the state. democrats and republicans. it's tough to argue otherwise when you're a governor and don't serve out your full term. as for 201, she'll perhaps cross that bridge and consider it. every conventional political analysis is the same, that is that not serving out one full term as governor is not helpful to running for president. you have to some kind of record to point to. in doing this, it is reasserting the fact in a her political identity is based more on who she is and not necessarily what she's done. >> i don't mean this to be a loaded question, but i want an answer to this. what are her political strengths as you see them? >> her strengths are her car is ma and connection with the

audience, shs a spokesman for the anti-media crowd. on the other hand, to win -- you can run for president appealing to one strand, to win the presidency, you need to have a broader coalition and make the case that you're a serious person, that you're disciplined and have staying power. she has raised questions on all of those fronts in the last three days. >> jonathan, jump in. >> don't assume necessarily that she wants to run for president. that's fun for us to speculate about. but there's a very real prospect here that she is leaving life of politics for now and wants to go out and be andvocate and be someone a prominent figure but more of the limbaugh hanty strand than somebody who is seeking elective office. as long as tprospect of running

for president is out there, we'll cover that. she knows that. >> how do we report on her particularly now that she's giving up the statehouse, is she a political, a celebrity? how do we cover her? >> it's a great question. you answer it this way. until she says no and makes clear she's not running for president you have to cover her as somebody who one day may run for president. there's a similarity here pat buchanan was a kmcommentator an someone who ran for president. >> pat buchanan never won the presidency. i assume that sarah palin would like to actually be president. it doesn't look to me that she's someone who likes to talk. although talking is fun and well paying, not saying talk sg a bad thing. but pat buchanan, to use that analogy did affect the course of

american politics when he challenged the elder george bush. he made a serious run there. maybe that's a good analogy to use. >> susan, good to see you. jonath jonathan, as always good to talk to you. >> new video just moments ago, there he is, senator elect al franken. does he take a question or something here? let's listen in quickly. nothing? okay senator elect al franken in washington today. his swearing in ceremony later. he tells cnn he is eager to get to work. the nation's longest serving and most vil fied defense secretary robert mcnamara died today. left the pentagon under presidents kennedy. mac nam ar ra accepted responsible for failure in vietnam admitting rehe realized

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only meineke lets you choose the brake service that's right for you. and save 50% on pads and shoes. meineke. we get some relief from the sweltering temperatures here and heat in the south. can i tell you something, reynolds, i heard someone say 0 0 degrees for a high in atlanta? >> i know, that's a little chilly. we're spoiled and ridiculous in the south. it's nice. >> people have new york have no idea what we're talking about. coolest spring since 1958. out west just very dry conditions and you want to talk heat. let's talk about video we'll show you, certainly hot stuff happening near arcadia, wildfires going out of control, trying to create fire lanes to

break up the spread of fire. with the winds gaining some intensity they could have some problems. dry in california. certainly you have the flames. we go to the magic wall, we'll sew you the opposite kinds of conditions in florida. heavy rain and possibly flooding because we've had scattered showers along parts of the i-10 corridor near mobile. north of the big easy we're seeing cells pop up. the reason is quite easy, we have a frontal boundary that has been draped right across parts of the southeast. with all of this moisture that's been feeding in from the gulf of mexico, that's been interacting with the frontal boundary and that will combine with daytime heating and give us a chance for showers and storms. in low lying areas and places where you happen to have poor drainage, you could get the flash flooding. in parts of the four corners could see thunderstorms in big sky country, not only strong storms but possibly large hail developing into the afternoon hours and into the evening.

let's talk about the temperature, tony started off talking about the cooldown in parts of the southeast, including atlanta. hard to believe we're talking 80 degrees for the high. right now mainly in the 70s. 85 in people fis, 83 in chicago and 83 in kansas city and back into phoenix and vegas we're talking about triple digits. hot is hot. get it out of here. >> we appreciate it, thank you. president obama and russian president medvedev hold the first summit in moscow. they approved the new framework for the start treaty and the u.s. could reach russian territory to reach afghanistan. >> i won't pretend that the united states and russia agree on every issue as president medvedev indicated we've had frank discussion in the areas where we still disagree, we had a frank discussion on georgia

and i reiterated my firm belief that their sovereignty must be respected. even as we work through the disagreements on georgia's borders we do agree no one has an interest in renewed military conflict. in going forward, we must speak candidly to resolve the differences peace fully and constructively. >> tomorrow he has breakfast with vladimir putin. jill, the president says he had never met the prime minister but that he is very much looking forward to that first meeting. >> reporter: he is. and there's a good reason, of course, because vladimir putin used to be the president of russia, now he's the prime minister. many people here and in the united states believe in a mr. putin still pretty much calls the political shots here. so it have been interesting to see that meeting tomorrow because after all, right before president obama came here to moscow, he made a statement that

did not go down well here among the russians and that was he said that president putin in contrast -- prime minister putin in contrast to president medvedev has one foot in the past and one foot in the present. that, again, did not go over well. and yet, at his new conference, it was a first question that was asked by an american journalist of the president, let's hear how he answered it? >> tomorrow i'll be having breakfast with prime minister putin. i have not met him before. i'm looking forward to that meeting. my understanding is that president medvedev is the president. prime minister putin is the prime minister. they allocate power in accordance with russia's form of government in the same way that we allocate power in the united states. >> reporter: okay, so a diplomatic answer by the

president there. you have to say mr. medvedev, the president and president obama seem to be getting along quite well. they do -- they are both the same generation, young and lawyers. and that is important. >> absolutely. all right. jill, appreciate it. thank you. still to come in the newsroom, a soldier and little boy write to each other from far away but become more than just pen pals, they become teacher and student. poor leg circulation. doctor says it's p.a.d. peripheral artery disease? hmmm. more than doubles your risk for a heart attack or stroke. so i hear. better ask your doctor about plavix. plavix can help protect you from a heart attack or stroke. plavix helps keep blood platelets from sticking together and forming clots, the cause of most heart attacks and strokes. my cousin the m.d. call your doctor about plavix. (male announcer) if you have a stomach ulcer or other condition that causes bleeding, you should not use plavix. when taking plavix alone or with some other medicines including aspirin,

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our parents and supporters and teachers help us but sometimes it is a complete stranger that makes all of the difference. met a boy from dill an whose life was changed by someone he never met. >> the hardest part. >> the minutes can't tick away fast enough. >> 12:55 is when he gets here. >> we have 40 minutes. >> reporter: waiting is how this started. >> we had no idea if the soldier would even write back. and i desperately wanted something to help my son.

>> make sure it's your best handwriting. >> reporter: last fall jacob was in the third grade but his reading and writing skills weren't. >> he was informed he was nowhere near close to third grade student. >> reporter: his mother tried everything. >> he would not pick up a pencil. would refuse to write. >> reporter: at wit's end she tried one last thing, a pen pal program called adopt a u.s. soldier. it was worth a try. >> at first when we sat down to write a letter, he struggled to write a couple sentences. >> reporter: they win sent to a marine stationed in iraq along the syrian border. they mailed the first letter and waited and waited. >> sure enough, one day before school, i went out and checked the mail and there was a package. >> reporter: he not only wrote back but sent a message that changed everything for jacob. >> it was wonderful, it was to my child. it was talking to his level and

told him that he -- it was important to learn to read and write. >> reporter: and jacob did, every week for months and months they exchanged letters and e-mails. >> are you nervous? >> kind of. >> reporter: jacob is no longer wait are for them. he's waiting for the real thing. >> he waited so long. >> reporter: long enough that jacob is no longer struggling in school. >> he did excellent, got a lot. es. >> reporter: on own he'll even -- >> pick up a book. >> start looking. >> reporter: it was time. >> hi. >> how are you doing? >> good. >> reporter: it was a chance to exchange more than words but also a chance to realize how important his words had been. >> it was overwhelming. you know, i didn't think that a couple of words to a young person could do so much for him. he was e static. >> waiting might be the hardest

part but waiting on the chance to finally meet the sender is worth every minute. >> it started with one little letter. >> how about that? best story of the day. well now that gunnery sergeant adopted another student serving in iraq. what do you think about gm's future that's our blog topic for today. sound off. go to my blog here. cnn.com/tony. ies who need

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and this just in, we've been telling you about new york representative peter king saying we should spend more time focusing on american troops than michael jackson and the representative calling jackson a pedophile. mary snow just finished interviewing the congressman. here's a bit of the interview. >> i understand the impact he's had on pop culture. having said that, i don't see

how we can ignore the yant part of the life. this was such a large part of his life. the whole bizarre lifestyle and to have him glorified this way was bothering me. >> stay tuned as we push forward to the next hour. mary snow will have more in the 1:00 p.m. hour. general motors is a big step closing to emerging from bankruptcy. a judge approved plans for the automaker to sell its best assets to a new government-run gm. so, what's next? poppy has the breakdown. >> the real goal here and what is ahead is what is so important. this is the beginning in a very long process for general motors. be lean and profitable. they are trying to do that. closing more than a dozen factories, have announced closing up to 40% of the

dealerships and focusing on the four core brands you hear so much about. analysts are still skeptical of whether gm can make a true come back. this might buy general motors time by erasing debt and not fixing the fundamental problems. the key problem is the declining market share. this goes from 1985 until today. we saw 40% of all u.s. cars on the road in 1985 were general motors vehicles. the first half of this year, less than 20%. this has been a challenge for more than two decades for gm. the labor force costs still an issue because they are still union workers and some of them have gotten pay cuts but that's really focusing on the future the workers will make a lot less, not current workers and gm is shrinking, not bringing on a lot of new employees, the question is how the cut the labor costs significantly. >> and what does gm ultimately

have to do in your view to turn this around? >> first thing is, make people want to buy the cars. i want to clarify something, no one wants to buy gm cars. that is simply not cars. they sell more cars in the u.s. than ford or chrysler. the ceo has said to me, it's been going back to the basics and exciting customers with the lineup he thinks that naturally will change the public's perception of this company. he said in a statement today after the favorable bankruptcy ruling, he said now it's our responsibility to fix this business and place the company on a clear path to success without delay. this man likes to move very quickly. but did the court make the right decision? was the judge right to do this? in the next four days they'll hear hundreds of opposing arguments against this. we want to you weigh in,

facebook/poppyharlow. >> great thing, we did the same thing we my blog. we appreciate it. thank you. she just mentioned general motors, we asked you to head to our blog and tell us what you think about gm's future and also added a new fangled way to talk through the show which i like a lot. let's hear what you're saying to us. >> my name is don and i'm calling from lexington, kentucky. i believe that gm will not become number one again. >> my name is jerry, calling from toronto, canada, in terms of the gm question, i think it will take a really long time for them to gain that level of success. >> you're joking. gm is now making a station wagon. cadillac station wagon. who needs a cadillac station

wagon. gm is not going to make it. there's nothing they make that he i would buy. >> this is stanley from mississippi. i believe in gm and believe they'll make a good comeback. >> what do you think about gm's future? too much of my picture, let's get that out of there. that's our blog today. sound off. cnn.com/tony, we're back in a moment. so what do you think?

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