month. the u.n. general assembly plans to stroet this afternoon on a resolution condemning president assad for the brutal crackdown. our journalists in syria say government forces appear to be losing their tight grip across the northern part of the country. we're going to get a firsthand account on the ground from cnn's ivan watson. >> reporter: young men and old sit on the ground chain-smoking next to assault rifles, but they say they've gotten these weapons within the last couple of months. they're trying to protect their communities, their families and villages by laying rings of improvised land mines but they're aware they do not have weaponry to match the tanks or personal carriers and air power of bashar al assad's army. we are learning more about how whitney houston spent her last days. they say she was drinking heavily the week before her body was found in a beverly hills hotel room. hotel guests heard her complaining that her drinks waurpted down. here's what dr. drew said about what happened. >> the fact she could go to treatments as recently as last may and she come up and people around her think partying with xhol is okay because her problem is other drugs, it shows that the treatments were ab jekt failures. a bill to keep your money in a paycheck is a done deal. lawmakers have resolved all the differences on extending the payroll tax cut. once they sorted out the remaining technical issue, the bill goes to the house and nature for final votes. p if you make $50,000, tax cut is worth about $83 a month. legislation extending unemployment benefits, prevents attac attacks, a cut in fees for medicare doctors as well. we're a long way from november, but the road ahead looking up for president obama. the latest polls showing him leading his republican rivals and hypothetical match-ups. the new cnn roc international poll, president obama leading mitt romney 51% to 46%. they were virtually tied in january. holds a lead with 52% to 45% for rick santorum. north korea celebrating the 70th anniversary of the birth of its late leader, kim jong-il. the large military parade there in the capital city of pyongyang. the event used to shore up support for his son and chosen successor kim jong-un. while soldiers pay respect to his father while pledging loyalty to him. the death toll in the honduras prison fire now at 382. inmates' families wait to find out if their loved ones were among those victims. fast-moving fire broke out on tuesday and it's one of the worst tragedies for decades in latin america. they renewed focus on the prison conditions in that region. two russian cosmonauts taking a stroll in space. they're preparing the international space station for the brand-new module next year and installing shields to protect it from space debris. > the revolt in syria entering its 12th month. the world is now ready to condemn president bashar al assad for killing his own people, but today's u.n. general assembly vote is symbolic while the death toll is rising. a syrian man who left new york to join his fellow syrians now joining us via skype. he's at a refugee camp on the turkish syrian border. first of all, explain to us how it is that you leave brooklyn and your family in brooklyn and now try to head to syria, essentially putting your life on the line? >> hi. actually my family, they are not in brooklyn. they we they are in homs. i decided to leave brooklyn to join my family to die with them, because it might be the last chance for me to join them. >> you say your family is in homs in syria. have you had a chance to talk to them? do they know that you are trying to cross the border and head in their direction? >> no. i tried so hard to get contact with them, but i couldn't. >> and how did you make it to the turkish border? what is your plan? how do you plan on trying to actually reach your family? >> actually, after i heard the news every day without taking any part of it, so i decided to leave. as long as i know that my name has been blacklisted at the damascus airport, i thought it could be safe or possible for me to go by ground it to homs. i felt it could be the easiest way to go from turkey and from there to find my way to homs. unfortunately, it was impossible. >> you say that you are willing to risk your life. why? >> there's nothing athat happen left to live for, so it's a matter of dignity. it's a matter of future. i want to be with my family if they are going to die. >> when you cross the border and you find your family, what will do you next? will you try to get them out of the country? >> actually, today it's different to me, because the whole syrian people, they are my family now. so somehow it's not my own family i'm talking about. so it's all syria now. >> it's a larger family. >> yeah. >> do they believe in what you are doing? i mean, what good can come of this, do you think, the putting your life on the line and potentially not coming back? >> i believe that every one of us, the syrian people who are fighting against this criminal regime, if every one of them took a small bark of tpart of t big picture than we may be able to do something eventually and free our country. >> do you feel you have the kind of support you need, or are you there by yourself on your own trying to cross the border to get to your family? >> we honestly don't have any kind of support. we have been listening to news every day, and we are hoping to get something from anyone, but no, there's nothing at all. it's our own -- it's our own fight, and i don't know why the syrian blood is so cheap. is it water? i don't know. >> thank you so much just for talking to us, for risking your life to talk to us, for being there where you are to bring this story to us. it's so important what's taping place there. please keep in touch with us and let us know if you're able to cross the border. if you do see family and have some support when you enter that country, and please, please be safe. thank you. >> thank you very much. i really appreciate it. thank you. here's a rundown of some of the other stories we're covering. first, as whitney houston's family prepares for her funeral, we have more on the disturbing details how she spent her final days. a big you-turn for gm. two years ago was bankruptcy and today record profits. he's a sensation, linspiration, jeremy lin inspiring a whole new way with words. and since my doctor prescribed lipitor, i won't go without it for my high cholesterol. why kid myself? diet and exercise weren't lowering my cholesterol enough. now i'm eating healthier, exercising more, taking lipitor. numbers don't lie. my cholesterol has stayed down. and here's another number you might be interested in. lipitor may be available for as little as $4 a month with the lipitor co-pay card. terms and conditions apply. visit lipitor.com for details. 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[ man ] saw 'em in '83 in fresno. place was crawling with chicks. i got to go. ♪ any way you want it ♪ that's the way you need it ♪ any way you want it ♪ [ male announcer ] engine light on? come to meineke now for a free code scan read and you'll say...my money. my choice. my meineke. we're hearing troubling new details now about how whitney houston may have spent her last days. don lemon is live in los angeles with the latest. don, what have you learned today? >> reporter: some very disturbing details, and it would lend itself to the possibility of the end. not really the possibility, suzanne, but the end that whitney houston came it to, if indeed, true. according to sources who were briefed on whitney houston's activities and behaviors the days before her death say that she really had some erratic behavior, partying at the hotel bar and at the pool and also jumping in and out of the pool doing somersaults, guests explained that she looked disvedi disheveled and her clothes were mismatched and complained loudly that they watered her drinks down and put too much ice in her drinks. you look at pictures of her days before her death at the pool. you see a drink. we don't know for sure what's in the drink, but it does coincide with the reports people say they saw her in the hotel at the pool area in the bar wandering around and also drinking at the pool. they said that at times, suzanne, she was alone, and also there were times when she was with her entourage, and that she was drinking. they saw her, and then also with a male companion. it's very disturbing, but it gives us an idea of her activities and really her physical state leading up to her death. >> and what do we know about the investigators who were questioning her doctors about these pills that they found in the room with her? >> reporter: suzanne, not just questioning. they've issued subpoenas to doctors on the west coast, on the east coast. they want to know everything, every single doctor who treated her ever, ever, every single person who ever prescribed a pill to her. every single person who ever filled a precipitation medication for her. they want to know, because they want to be exactly 100% sure, clear that she was not doctor shopping or pharmacy shopping, as we hear so much about in celebrity cases. at this point they say it doesn't appear that any of that is the case. everyone has been extremely cooperative, and some doctors and pharmacists have been able to give them information na leading them it to other doctors and pharmacies. again, nothing appears out of the ordinary at this point, suzanne. >> we know as the investigation continues, obviously her family is preparing for the funeral this saturday. i imagine this is just going to be a who's who of musicians, music legends, actors, everything in the community. do you have a sense of who's actually going to be attending? >> reporter: absolutely. it pains me to have to report about her activity the days before she died, because your heart, suzanne, you know, goes out to the family. cissy houston, bobbi kristina and everyone. your heart goes out to them, but cissy houston was famous before her daughter was born, a famous gospel singer. the family friends with the winans family and the winans are part of the celebrities there, aretha franklin, l.a. reed, ray judge and brandy and valerie simpson. i'm going to speak exclusively with jakes on my show as well. you see jesse jackson is participating and at least will be there for the funeral, and also it's going to be streamed live on cnn.com as well, suzanne. >> thank you for your excellent coverage. we have full coverage this saturday beginning at 11:00 a.m. eastern. don's going to be there, and he's going to be joined by piers morgan, soledad o'brien ased world says farewell to legend whitney houston. checking stories affiliates are covering cross country begin in new orleans at the end of a tough chapter in recovering from hurricane katrina. fema has now removed the last trailer. after six years, the last of the survivors have relocated to rebuilt homes. cleveland, this is a one-month-old puppy pulled from a sewage drain trapped for two days. this rottweiler german shepherd mix was breathing, but our affiliate said he wasn't out of the woods yet. they lost track of him after he started to walk on monday. this car is kind of cool easier to squeeze into a parking space. m.i.t. developed in tiny two-seater. it folds up when you park. it's called the city car, and can go into production as early as next year. and just two years after bankruptcy, general motors breaking records. the latest earnings for the maker of chevy and cadillac also mark a turning point in the auto industry as a whole. whwheeee! ! whwheeee!! whwheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! ahah h heaeadsds u up. whwheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! evevererytythihingng y youou l , nonow w momobibilele.. dodownwnloloadad t thehe n nep totodaday.y. all right. one of our friends has a million dollars hitting the jackpot, our friend and co-worker jen hauser just won the georgia lottery. the pay outis $1 million. she still showed up for work today. she's going to talk about what she plans to do with the money. we hope to give her some ideas. we want to hear from you. what would you do with aa million dollars? go to facebook with your responses. some milestones in motor city. general motors reports record-breaking profits and it's the first time in seven years that the big three automakers in the black at the same time. alison kosik is at the new york st stock exchange to break down the numbers. this is extraordinary it's happening all at one. >> exactly. this whole turn-around took three years to turn it around and not just in the profits but they're hiring as well. ford and chrysler reported their earnings a few weeks ago. today we heard from gm. they reported an almost $8 billion profit for 2011. that is a record high, but it definitely wasn't easy. she slashed and burned during bankruptcy but set themselves up to make money by closing plants, selling off some brands. they changed the union labor contract. now you see gm as a leading machine and a company that can benefit more from the recovering economy. suzanne. >> we're also hearing that gm is cutting costs and changing the pension plan. do we think that's even necessary? >> it is, because gm's pension, suzanne, it's running out of money. what it's going to do now is move all of its salaried workers into 401(k) plans. gm will still continue making contributions, but 401(k)s are cheaper than traditional pension plans. what it does is shift some cost to the workers, and this is helping gm to keep a lid on expenses because at present, you know, sales here in the u.s. for gm are good, but gm is losing money in europe. suzanne. >> do we as taxpayers own a piece of this, a piece of gm? >> yes. the government still owns about 30% of general motors. its waiting to sell those shares until the stock price picks up. that way the government can can make more money. gm right now is up 4%, but it's trading below its ipo price. if the government did it sell today, it will be at a loss. so the government is holding out until at least it makes a bit of a profit. overall, the market is in the green today. boosted by some improving jobless claim numbers and home construction numbers as well. the dow is up 55. nasdaq and s&p are also in the green. suzanne. >> thanks good news. check this out. this is outside of detroit. drivers finding it kind of tough to stay on the right side of the law here. look at this sign. it's located in a school speed zone. it lists at least six different signs when drivers need to slow down during the day. the school district official says the times are needed because there are three schools in the area with different start and end times, so the law requires each specific time to be listed there. that's just confusing. >> did anybody stop and think about that sign? i guess that's the whole point. you stop short, and you're going to sit and read that, but you're going to cause accidents in the process. >> i can't imagine anybody is moving on that street when you look at all those different times there. i guess they'll sort it out. >> i think they need on to change the sign. >> i'm thinking, too, now that it's on air. we'll see what happens. thanks. >> yes, we're making fun of it. jeremy lin's winning streak with the knicks not over. the lin puns, they're not stopping either. we're going to run down some of the most creative lin one-liners. before we get to that, it's time for travel insider. as cnn reporters, producers often get the inside scoop on some of the great places to go, my friend brianna keeler shows where she likes to unwind. >> i cover the white house for cnn, and one of my favorite places in the d.c. area is old town alexandria, virginia. it's about 7 1/2 miles south of the white house. this is a place where you can come and get a great meal, do a little shopping, and even get a history lesson. this is, after all, the hometown of george washington, and here you can find the grave site of his personal physician, james kreeg. it's a little spooky and one of the stops on the ghost tour in town. i say we get out of here and find other spirits. this is one of my favorite places to end the evening, it's the px speakeasy and it's unmarked. the blue light means they're open. you can knock on the door and come on in. when you get upstairs, you might be lucky enough to show up on a night where todd thrasher is here to mix you a drink. so what are we having tonight? >> what are you in the mood for? rum, vodka, gin. >> let's try gin. >> that is a wine from france. purple basil. put a little dash of gin in there to give it a backbone. three drops of scitric acid. we wave it to the cocktail dogs. the sweet basil. >> that's amazing. >> thanks very much. >> cheers from old town alexandria, virginia. i'm good about washing my face. but sometimes i wonder... what's left behind? 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[ female announcer ] yoplait original. 25 flavors for you to love. it is so good. the u.n. takes a vote and considers options to end want bloodshed in syria. whitney houston leaves behind a legacy and a huge personal fortune. he's plain linspirational. a look at the nba's newest superstar. syrian forces pounding the city of hams foms for the 13th straight day. new diplomatic efforts are under way to try to end the bloodshed. we want to bring in fran townsend. fran, the u.n. general assembly takes up this mostly symbolic resolution on syria today. what do we make of what's going t