23 more deaths reported in syria. a day after president obama and several u.s. allies finally called on president obama bashar al assad to step aside. arwa damon is covering this story. another friday, a day of prayer, but it was a day of brutal violence as well, arwa. >> that's right, wolf. and it would seem some pretty dramatic footage emerging from damascus. in the center of the city and in the clip that emerged on youtube, we could not independently verify its awe tenitiesty. you can hear the fear in the people's voices on the recording. now, we spoke to an eyewitness, a person who said he was at that demonstration and just as they were leaving the mosque, he said security forces began firing op them from all sides. people scattered into the alley ways. some of them stood their ground and tried to use rocks to keep their security forces away. in the southern province and a number of towns there, again, the very same scenario unfolded. the people who were wounded were being treated in the secret clinics. the security forces they fear will pick them up from the hospitals they want themselves. and even though all of this unfolded during the day. at night, wolf, nighttime demonstrations still going on. people still taking to the streets. we just received an update from one of the activist networks again rrting gunfire, loud explosions being heard in areas in damascus itself. >> arwa, the whole day after the president of the united states, the leaders of several european country, canada, they came out and said that bashar al assad must step aside. is there any indication at all in syria, in damascus that he's listening to them? that he's ready to go? >> we's probably listening but he's probably not doing anything. the government is aware the international community is still fairly divided over this issue. and for it to be able to put enough pressure on him where that would even be something that perhaps he and his government would contemplate they would have to puch up a much stronger international consensus. they were saying it actually helped boost their morale and they're saying it also made them realize listening to the debate the h the international community wasn't going to come in militarily. they do appreciate the pressure, by say at the end of the day, they're going to bring down the demonstrators. >> if you want to check out what i wrote on my blog, i write about syria. on this day after the president of the united states said he must go. a feignful end to a painful week. dow jones industrials closing down more than 172 points after a volatile day and a late selloff. all major indices down. the dow has lost more than 10% of its value. the s&p has lost 13% of its value. the nasdaq has tumbled 15%. cnn's with. it was a roh, rough week. >> everybody is a exhausted here on exalt. you saw all the selling happen. investors don't want to hold their stocks through the weekend. everyone is worried about a negative surprise. this has really been a market driven by every news headline that came out. any gains that happen, we did see some earlier today, they're really aren't sticking. traders are saying there's nothing out there to support the market. one trader telling me, wolf, give me a reason to buy and he says i just don't see any positive reason to do so. wolf? >> so what are we bracing for for next week. what are the traders saying? >> the second quarter estimate showed very slow growth in the u.s. there's a lot of signs showing that growth is slow, not expanding. first quarter sg dp was revised lower. that's almost no growth in this country. ged chairman ben bernanke heads to jackson hole, wyoming. we're going to really be listening to what he has to say. at last year's conference he hinted at a new round of federal stimulus. the big question this year, of course, are we going to see a repeat performance. will he hint at any stimulus measures, anything that the fed can do at this point to come to the rescue of the economy 1234. >>. >> all right, alison, thanks very much. you'll see my in depth interview with president obama. he talks at length about jobs, the pressure on his re-electioned by, he warns the texas governor rick perry to watch what he says. tomorrow night, 6:00 p.m. eastern only here on cnn. president obama isn't the only person raising red flags about rick perry's comments. less than a week after the texas governor formally announced his presidential bid, some mainstream republicans are venting their concerns about him in public, even more so in private. today, one former bush administration bounced on perry's suggestion that the federal reserve chairman balanced budget committing treason if me pumped more money into the economy and helped president obama get re-elected. bruce bartlett spoke on cnn's "american morning." >> rick perry is an idiot and i don't think anybody would disagree with that. but the thing is that the politics of the fed itself are really a more serious problem. >> let's bring in athena jones. she's been look into statements about global warming causing a bit of an uproar. what are you finding out? >> we, that's right, wolf. 9 texas governor rick perry has been making news nearly every day since he entered the race. so we thought today we would take a closer look at one of his statements. this time it's about the cost of efforts to slow down climate change. rick perry is not afraid to say what's on his mind. he's bashed federal reserve chairman ben bernanke. >> printing more money to play politics at this particular time in american history is almost treacherous, or treasonous. >> he's also criticized steps to reduce global warming. >> the cost to the country and to the world of implementing these andy corbin programs is in the billions, if if not trillions of dollars at the end of the day. >> perry said global warming is a theory that hasn't been proven. his doubts about global warming aren't new. in his book "fed up" he called the science of climate change a contrived phony mess. and he isn't alone. the percentage of americans who believe the earth is getting warmer has fallen since 2008. but leaving aside arguments about whether global warming exist, and the majority of experts believe it does, how true is perry's statement about the cost to the nation about efforts to combat it. fro opponents of measures to reduce greenhouse gases has it wrong. >> the reality is we should be investing millions of dollars, but we're not. >> in fact, the impact on federal tax players is minimal. lawmakers have not passed national comprehensive climate change legislation. the obama administration has set new fuel efficiency standards for vehicle, but auto makers have years to comply. companies may eventually invest billions of dollars developing technology to meet new standards. and households may spend more on energy efficient cars or see higher electric bills as plants dut emissions, but some argue the higher costs are worth it. >> suppose we are spending billions on anti-carbon approaches. that doesn't mean it's a bad idea. if indeed the science is compelling, as most scientists believe, then billions might be a good investment. >> now, governor perry's doubts about global warming put him at odds with gop rivals like nit romney and john huntsman who both fwlooef the earth is getting warmer. i reached out to rick perry to see what he's basing his remarks on, but i didn't hear back. >> if you get anything, let us know. athena jones reporting. we'll talk more about rick perry in our "strategy session." we'll discuss whether democrats would love to see him face president obama next fall. stand by for that. plus, local governments are trying to crack down on criminal flash mobs. we're going to show you what they're up against. and an 82-year-old grandma becomes the face of foreclosure. says she's been treated unfairly and she's now fighting back. the eagle flies at dawn. the monkey eats custard. price-line ne-go-ti-a-tor. so, you've been double crossed by other travel sites and now you want to try the real deal. yes, is it true that name your own price... ...got even easier? 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[ female announcer ] nourish plus. only from aveeno. law enforcement officials are reporting that a flash mob quickly gathered to rob a convenience store. it's a growing problem from law enforcement across the country. what are you learning? it's unclear if there's a copycat effect. but they're posing a challenge. it comes on the hill of a flash mob in maryland. in this case, police say they can't use social media to plan this since many had just gotten off a bus returning from a county fair. but in other city, there has been organizing on special media that's led to violence. one professor specializing in youth crimes say police are in unchartered territory and he says not helping matters is the fact that there's a generational gap. >> the police can close that gap, but the reality is a lot of police departments are i laing off and letting officers go. and the reality is the people who are let go are the younger officers who might be more inclined to engage in social media and have a better understanding of social media. i think there's an internal problem of police developing the personal capacity to monitor and respond to social media. to try to get an understanding of the problem, 106 retailers, it found found that 1 out of 10 reported being victims of flash mob tactics. >> thank you. now to an enormous foreclosure problem in the united states. sadly, americans get booted from their homes every day. but what if authorities tried to evict a feisty 82-year-old woman who refused to budge. cnn national correspondent susan candiotti is following this dramatic showdown in new york. >> we want justice for our people! >> honk your horns! >> early friday, supporters rallied outside the home of a woman whose only home she's known since 1969. >> it means everything. i have put everything into this house. all these years. >> she ran into trouble in the mid 1990s when she refinanced in order to raise cash to fight for custody of her great granddaughter, she was hoping to cash out $10,000. >> when they turned and gave the check to me, i almost passed out. $1,176.51. >> far less than the $10,000 she expected. she still has a copy of that tech czech. >> the next day, i went to the district attorney because i didn't know what to do. >> the lender turned out to be shady, but she could not have the loan rescinded. after a long legal battle, her home was sold at an auction three years ago. the new owner wants her out. >> i have no intention of leaving. if they break in and take me, i won't resist. >> cnn was inside ward's home mid morning. >> the marshal will not be taking any action today. >> after the closed-door meeting, cnn caught up exclusively with the owner. he told us he's considering a pro proposal to hand the property over to a nonprofit that would allow ward to stay in her home. >> we try to cork out as much as we could. >> you couldn't come to a resolution upstairs? >> i do not get a chance to talk to her. >> i hope so. >> do you have an objection to her staying in the house? >> ward, the proud granddaughter oof a slave is safe from eviction for a few more weeks, but after that, her fate depends on whether her lawyers can strike a deal with the owner. >> yes, it will be hard. but justice is going to be done. and soon. dignity for all. they're trying to take away our digni dignity, but they'll never take awe way my dignity. >> she's currently living in a building behind all this fencing and chicken wire and she has a lot of sup poerts. politicians say often an r african-american women are the targets of predatory lending. cnn money could not reach those involved in this deal. they're said to be back in business. wolf? >> all right, good luck. we'll see what happens. keep us up to speed. so much is the richest member of congress worth? we're going to show you a new list of the wealthiest lawmakers here in washington and we'll break it down by party. and after 18 years in prison, the men dubbed the memphis three, they are now free. we're going to tell you about the dramatic events that led to their release. 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[ male announcer ] this is our beach. ♪ this is our pool. ♪ our fireworks. ♪ and our slip and slide. you have your idea of summer fun, and we have ours. now during the summer event get an exceptionally engineered mercedes-benz for an exceptional price. but hurry, this offer ends august 31st. for an exceptional price. or creates another laptop bag or hires another employee, it's not just good for business -- it's good for the entire community. at bank of america, we know the impact that local businesses have on communities, so we're helping them with advice from local business experts and extending $18 billion in credit last year. that's how we're helping set opportunity in motion. >> i'm wolf blitzer. here's some stories we're working on for the next hour. rebel troops right now making dramatic advances on the capital. tripoli also, thousands of americans are being declared dead by the social security administration due to clerical errors. and the latest fallout from christine o'donnell's walking out on her interview with cnn's piers morgan. you're in "the situation room." . these members of congress are among the wealthiest lawmakers in washington right now. that may or may not help them politically at a time when so many americans are hurting, but financially they're in great shape. and one of them is suddenly a lot wealthier than he was before. kate baldwin has been looking at a new ranking of the richest members of congress. kate, what are you finding out? >> a pretty interesting list. roll call has put out the 50 richest members of congress and here you can see the top five. let's run through them. at number five, you have senator mark warner. a democratic senator from virginia. his minimum net worth, $76 million. it comes largely from the cell phone business. he co-founded the company that eventually became nextel. senator jay rockefeller, his minimum net worth, almost $82 millio million. coming from the famed family rob fellers, descendant of oil tycoon john rockefeller. number three, senator john kerry. his minimum net worth, $193 million. pretty impressive. he's of course the chair of the foreign relations committee and most recently named a member of the special committee on deficit reduction. kerry can attribute much of his wealth to his wife, marrieded to theresa heinz kerry. then we move over to california. daryl issa, $220 million. he's the powerful republican chair of the house oversight and government reform committee. he built his fortune on the car alarm company that he founded in the '90s. the company's products include the well known viper alarm system. then topping out the list at number one, the wealthiest member of congress, congressman m michael mccall. minimum network is $294 million. pretty impressive. it appears a majority of his wealth comes from his better half. he was number five on last year's list. and roll call attributes his big jump to the transfer of wealth from his wife's family. here are the top five wealthiest members of congress. but we also broke down this list in the top 50. found that republicans outnum r outnumbered democrats. 31 of the top members. men outnumber women 39 to 11 and house members slightly outnumber senators. 29 and 21. but considering there's four times the number of house members than senators, senators are doing pretty well. >> we're going to follow what's going on with some other story, including three men convicted of murder in a famous case. they go free. almost two decades later, we're going to tell you why. and the social security administration is killing off americans on paper, at least. it's a records nightmare happening to thousands of people. we're going to tell you what's going on and what you can do about it. confidence. available in color. depend for women is now peach. looks and fits like underwear. same great protection. depend. good morning. great day. it's pro-cool technology releases armies of snowmen masseuse, who cuddle up with your soreness and give out polar bear hugs. technology. 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[ female announcer ] introducing onstar fmv. get it installed on your car at best buy or visit onstar.com for more stores. three men known as the west memphis three are free after 18 years in prison. barry snow is monitoring that in "the situation room" right now. what do you have, mary? >> the three men walked out of the prison a short time ago to the cheers of the supportive crowd. two were sentenced to life sen sense and one was convicted to death. the case drew national attention with many people believing they were innocent. many said they were on course to win the right to new trials this year. we'll have much more on this story at the top of the hour. >> 69 people died on an island where young people were gathered if for a summer camp. family members are being shown the location where each victim was found after the attack. federal authorities arrested two pennsylvania men charged with making threats to former alaska governor sarah palin, her family and her lawyer. they're john christie and son 22-year-old craig christie. they're accused of calling palin's attorney more than 400 times this month and leaving profanity-laced threats involving sexua