90% of contribute ptripoli. one of his three captured sons has escaped. let s he get the late frst from libya and sara sidner. first tell me what s going on there in zawiya. reporter: we were hearing a lot of loud booms, a lot of what sounded like mortar fire. there was definitely small arms fire. it sounded like this was a firefight and we went and checked it out. and we think that we have confirmed, we ve only talked to one of the rebels who has not been down at the square, but we think that it is again celebratory fire. but what they re using are things like anti-aircraft missiles. so it is very loud. it s hard to tell what exactly is going on. then we started hearing ambulances. we know zawiya has been under the control of rebels for about three days and we know that this has been a place that has been relatively rid of gadhafi forces for that period of time. and they ve pushed all the way into tripoli from here. but it is disconcerting when you start seeing tracer fire
right here in the united states. and a war of words between two florida lawmakers. democratic party chairwoman debbie wasserman-shultz joins me to respond to a congressman s rant calling her vile, unprofessional and despicable. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. right now, six u.s. senators are giving new momentum to talks aiming at avoiding a national catastrophe in the united states. their bipartisan compromise to slash the deficit. only 12 dpas left, president obama is due to meet this hour with house speaker john boehner and majority leader eric cantor. this just a short while after he met with top congressional democrats over at the white house. ours who correspondent dan lothian is standing by. kate baldwin has the latest. kate? polling show that americans are looking for compromise to get through this debt crisis. senators in the gang of six say that s exactly what they re offering here with their plan, but there are real questions if they can get en
distract from repressive tactics at home and theize see prime minister said that the demonstrations clearly illustrated that palestinians were not willing to accept a jewish state half of the palestinian government, he said, is made up of those that declare daily that they want to destroy the state of israel and that they are not a partner for peace. still, many palestinians are hopeful that increased pressure in the form of mass protest will bear fruit as it has in other arab capitals. we are going to follow the same methods to achieve our goal and right of return so that we can, again, pursue opportunity with the quality, with justice, and be free. until then, palestinians are planning more protests against israeli policies and both sides are expecting more violence. kevin flower, cnn, at the columbia checkpoint. the deadly clashes along
money. what should the government do now? some experts think they have the golden answer. cnn s mary snow is in new york. she has the answer for us. how serious is this? reporter: the treasury department is not in any rush to sell uncle sam s family jewels but the talk by some economists to sell gold and other assets is loud enough that the treasury department has addressed that to say why it is not in favor of it. as the united states plowed past its debt ceiling, the treasury secretary maneuvered to allow the government to keep bore oeg till august. congress is nowhere near an agreement to raise the debt limit to buy time for lawmakers to negotiate spending cuts some conservative economists think the u.s. should sell assets like land in the west leased for farming and ranching and the federally owned tennessee valley authority. chris edwards of the think tank the kato institute, which advocates limited government, thinks the u.s. should sell its
the president s campaign for re-election in 2012 begins to kick into a higher gear. president obama enjoyed a much needed boost in his personal approval ratings following the death of osama bin laden on may 1st. but according to the latest gallup poll, his approval ratings have now dropped back down to 46%. that s where they were prior to the bin laden raid. right around the lowest levels of his presidency. being tough on terror might be a good strategy for winning over some american voters, but it took us ten years to find bin laden. and what if there s another attack between now and the 2012 election? that brings us to the question, which is this would a terror attack on the united states make you more or less likely to vote to re-elect president obama? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile and post a comment on my blog. wolf? jack, thank you. today is the day the treasury department here in washington has been warning would come. the u.s. hit the debt limit set by congress, freezing the