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American Morning
Oprah Winfrey Builds School for Girls in South Africa; Preview of this Year's Emmy Awards
Aired August 25, 2006 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OPRAH WINFREY: I brought you all here today to tell you that you will be a part of the very first class of the "Oprah Winfrey Show."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And did I mention very excited?
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. That's great.
O'BRIEN: Oprah personally gives these girls a great chance at a better life. We'll have that story and much more ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
O'BRIEN: And welcome back, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
HARRIS: And good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris, in for Miles O'Brien.
O'BRIEN: Nice to have you helping us out. We appreciate it.
HARRIS: Oh, thank you. Thank you, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Thank you.
An international peacekeeping force appears to be coming together now in southern Lebanon. France says it will send 2,000 troops, instead of the 200, a number much maligned, frankly, into the region. Other nations now weighing in with their troop commitments today. Let's get right to CNN's Jim Clancy. He's in Naqoura. That is where the U.N. interim force in Lebanon is headquartered.
Hey, Jim, good morning.
JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.
A critical mission fraught with dangers, with the squeeze being put on Lebanon this day. But let's talk about what we see behind me there. Yes, these are French landing craft that have been coming in and out all day. They have brought in 170 personnel. They are bringing in heavy equipment. We talked a little bit earlier with Rear Admiral Xavier Magne who told us a little bit about the mission they have there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REAR ADMIRAL XAVIER MAGNE, FRENCH NAVY: Today, we are landing 170 men plus all their equipment and there is heavy load. They are coming with the bulldozers. They are coming with trucks. And all the necessary equipment to rebuild and also do some depollution and neutralization of ordnance, unexploded ordnance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CLANCY: So those are some of the things that the French troops -- these engineers are going to be charged with. They're really laying the groundwork for an additional 1,600 French troops that are due in here. And, of course, you've got Italy committing thousands of troops. Other countries going to be stepping up -- or it's hoped that they will step up their commitment as the rules of engagement change.
What's Hezbollah up to in all of this? A very critical question. Hezbollah has not gone along with the -- if you want to call it the spirit of 1701. If they may be going along with the letter of 1701, and that is they have not disarmed in terms of handing in their weapons. Their rockets here in south Lebanon that were fired into northern Israel. What they have done is said we will lay them aside, you won't see them. If anybody is seen carrying a weapon, they can be arrested. That's fine with us. But the short translation of that is those weapons are out of sight, but they're not out of reach.
Back to you.
O'BRIEN: Jim Clancy for us this morning in Lebanon. Thanks, Jim.
Tony.
HARRIS: There are new questions this morning about the Israeli military campaign in southern Lebanon. "The New York Times" reports that the State Department is looking into whether Israel improperly used American-made bombs. CNN's Barbara Starr joins us live this morning from the Pentagon.
Barbara, good morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Tony.
Well, "The New York Times" report spells out a controversy that is long known to military troops around the world. This is the use of cluster bombs in a war zone. "The New York Times" saying that now Israel is being investigated for its use of cluster bombs in the Lebanese conflict.
Let's first explain to everyone what a cluster bomb is. These are essentially artillery shells that come off a ground weapon, an artillery cannon for example, and contain hundreds of bomblets. Essentially shrapnel that when it hits the ground disperses over a very wide area indiscriminately killing whatever might be in its path. Military or civilians. There is no distinction. And that makes cluster bombs extremely controversial. "The New York Times" saying that now this investigation is underway of Israel's use because their cluster bombs were purchased from the United States. Well, the State Department now saying, according to a spokesman, "we have heard the allegations that these munitions were used and we are seeking more information. The Israeli defense forces saying "all the weapons and munitions used by the IDF are legal under international law."
So no one confirming the exact details, but the United Nations now has posted a map on one of its websites. And I think we have it to show to you. It's a little bit fuzzy, this map. But if you look at it and you see there are a number of red dots on this map. This is a United Nations map that spells out 249 locations south of the Litani River in Lebanon where they have determined that cluster bombs were used.
So a lot of controversy about all of this and a lot of questions about whether Israel used U.S.-purchased weapons against a civilian population and whether that if it is not a violation of the agreement the U.S. had to sell them to Israel, certainly it is something that is a great controversy amongst the military.
HARRIS: And we know you will get to the bottom of all of this. Barbara Starr, of course, at the Pentagon. Barbara, thank you.
HARRIS: Also this morning, new appeals for the release of two journalists kidnapped in Gaza. The Muslim American Society says it will send a delegation to Gaza. Plus, the Reverend Jesse Jackson leaves for the region later today to help try to free the men. CNN's Chris Lawrence is in Jerusalem.
Chris, good morning.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony.
Just a few minutes we spoke directly with the spokesman for the Palestinian interior ministry, Haled Abu Halel (ph), and he told us that right now there are no direct negotiations with the kidnappers, but there are communications with various Palestinian sides and they are terming what's going on right now progress. Now in the local Israeli papers, some of the local Israeli papers now blaming a renegade independently operating group from Fatah, for the kidnapping. Saying they're being held by this group. That has not been confirmed. And Fatah's leadership, of course, has denied any involvement. This report in this paper alleges that it is an independent group that is holding the journalists.
Also, the families continue to press for the release of both Fox News correspondent Steve Centanni and his cameraman Olaf Wiig. Steve Centanni's brother released a statement last night addressing the kidnappers saying, "please let our brother Steve and his colleague come home to their families." And as the families try to put pressure on these kidnappers, as the Palestinian authority works to put pressure, you also have this group of Muslim American whose are planning to make a trip to Gaza to directly appeal for the journalists release. Tony.
HARRIS: CNN's Chris Lawrence for us in Jerusalem. Chris, thank you.
And as you look at the pictures of those journals, maybe you've ask yourself what it must be like to be held hostage. We will hear from Jill Carroll. You'll remember she was held in Baghdad for three months earlier this year. The Christian Science Monitor has provided CNN with large segments of its interview with carol. That's coming up later this hour.
O'BRIEN: We're following a developing story out of Ireland this morning. A bomb threat against an Aer Lingus flight. That threat for Flight 112 from New York came in a phone call to Dublin police. The plane was evacuated and searched at the Shannon Airport in western Ireland and airport officials say the aircraft's luggage was also cleared in the search. Nothing was found. Passengers were allowed to travel on to Dublin.
More controversy this morning for New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. He was defending the slow pace of rebuilding in his city and took a swipe at New York City's ground zero in the process. Sean Callebs has our story this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Once again, officials working with the New Orleans mayor are in damage control. During an interview with "60 Minutes," Ray Nagin was asked why flooded out cars and other debris still litter areas like the lower ninth ward nearly a year after Hurricane Katrina.
MAYOR RAY NAGIN, NEW ORLEANS: That's all right. You guys in New York City can't get a hole in the ground fixes and it's five years later. So let's be fair.
CALLEBS: Nagin is talk about ground zero in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks. The mayor spokeswoman says it's disappointing that "60 Minutes" would release a statement she says is taken out of context. Nagin's off-the-cuff remarks have landed him in trouble before. He apologized and spent weeks trying to distance himself from this.
NAGIN: This city will be chocolate at the end of the day.
CALLEBS: Right now, New Orleans is trying to lure tourists, industry and investments back to the city. Business leader Rob Couhig ran for mayor against Nagin. Now they're on the same team. Couhig is heading up a committee Nagin appointed to rejuvenate New Orleans during the mayor's second term. He labels this a media-created story.
ROB COUHIG, NAGIN APPOINTEE: You guys wait -- you're so desperate to say, look at what Ray said now. Go with that story if you want. But if you ask me my opinion, I'm going to tell you that that story is in consequential in the building of the city. CALLEBS: Sean Callebs, CNN, New Orleans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: As the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches, Louisiana authorities are saying that reports that the storm turned the region into a toxic wasteland are false. They say they've got the soil samples to prove it. At least one environmental experts says that state and federal agencies, though, are just unwilling to deal with the damage.
A new government study says that hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars were wasted in Hurricane Katrina contracts. The House report says 70 percent of the contracts were awarded without the full bidding process. And they identified nearly $9 billion in contracts that involved overcharges, wasteful spending or miss management.
Thousand of Gulf Coast residents are still waiting for their insurance claims to be settled. The issue that is holding up many of these claims is whether the damage was caused by wind or by floods. Lots of people didn't have flood insurance. Insurance companies have paid out $15 billion in Katrina claims, but the flood versus wind debate is holding up billions of more dollars.
And the insurance debate is going to be part of our look at the "Red Tape and Rubble" a year later. Special reports from the Gulf Coast all next week in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina anniversary there. I'll be live in New Orleans next week on the one-year anniversary. Be sure to join us for our special coverage. We begin at 6:00 a.m. Eastern. "Katrina: One Year Later." That's on Tuesday morning.
HARRIS: JonBenet Ramsey murder suspect John Mark Karr is back near the scene of the crime. Karr was flown to Colorado from California yesterday afternoon. He's now in a Boulder County jail and will most likely face a judge early next week. CNN's Ed Lavandera joins us live from Boulder this morning.
Ed, good morning.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony.
Well, the jail you see behind me is where John Karr spent his first night here in Boulder. We are told that he is being segregated from the rest of the inmate population here in a cell all by himself.
And we do know that just after midnight last night a gentlemen by the name of Seth Tendem (ph), with the Colorado public defenders office, emerged from the jail here after spending three hours speaking with Karr. He wouldn't tell us what they spoke about or describe his demeanor in any way, only to say that John Karr had asked the Colorado public defender's office to represent him. Of course, there are two attorneys in California who also say they represent John Karr. So at this point it just seems like John Karr is collecting attorneys.
But by any means John Karr will be expected in court probably on Monday and sometime next week as well. Colorado prosecutors here in Boulder will have to file charges. Of course, the D.A.'s office here remains very tight lipped. No public comment as to what's going on with the investigation.
But in a court document that they had to file yesterday, or was filed Wednesday, was made public yesterday, the D.A.'s office says they only learned of John Karr's full identity five days before he was arrested. So the only glimpse we've received in the last week is just how quick moving this investigation has been into John Karr since we heard of his arrest last week in Thailand.
Tony.
HARRIS: So, Ed, looking forward. When John Mark Karr finally does appear before a judge, what might happen at that time?
LAVANDERA: Well, there will be just a preliminary hearing on probably on Monday, as we said, where he will learn of the charges. Be just probably a very quick hearing. No cameras allowed in the hearing, as well.
And then at some point, I think within two days of that, there will be the hearing where he learns or learns if the charges have been filed. So there will be a lot of steps here. And, of course, they need to work out probably this attorney situation since right now it seems like John Karr has at least three. So it seem as little confusing at this point.
HARRIS: Sure does. OK. Ed Lavandera for us in Boulder, Colorado. Ed, thank you.
Happening in America.
In Vermont, the 26-year-old who police say went on a deadly shooting spree after a break-up could face charges as early as today. Police say the shooting began at the home of the suspect's ex- girlfriend and ended at an elementary school. According to authorities, Christopher Williams shot four people, killing two of them, before shooting himself. The suspected gunmen is expected to survive.
Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen waking up this morning at home. He visited the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota for tests to diagnosis his mystery illness that's causing flu-like symptoms. The 62-year-old governor has not appeared in public or spoken with reporters since August 14th.
In Washington state, reinforcements are being brought in from Arizona, Oregon and New Mexico to help get wildfires under control. The largest fire has scorched more than 130,000 acres.
Minnesota's governor plans to tour storm-damaged area of the state today. This is a look at the fierce tornadoes that ripped through southern Minnesota last night. No doubt a lot of cleanup today. This is a community about 80 miles south of Minneapolis where an entire neighborhood was destroyed. Nearby an elderly man was killed when a tornado hit his house. Several people were hospitalized with broken bones. A real mess.
Chad Myers is standing by.
Chad, are you telling us that we may see more of these storms develop during the course of this day?
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, are you frustrated by the new airport security rules?
HARRIS: Yes. Oh, sorry.
O'BRIEN: Wait, there is a silver lining. CNN's Kathleen Koch is live at Reagan National Airport this morning.
Hey, Kathleen.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Soledad.
Well, if you have a need for speed, you'll be pleased with a surprise fringe benefit of the new security rules. I'll have more in a minute.
HARRIS: And a CNN exclusive. Oprah Winfrey talks about her $40 million mission to transform lives in South Africa. Winfrey explains how her new school fulfills a dream.
O'BRIEN: Only Oprah would wear a dress and high heels as she digs.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Happening this morning.
A report in this morning's "New York Times" says the State Department is looking at whether Israel broke a secret agreement with the United States on the use of American-made cluster bombs in Lebanon.
An international force for southern Lebanon is starting to come together. France is boosting its contribution to 2,000 troops. Some are arriving today. The French contingent will be part of an international force to help the Lebanese army keep the peace in southern Lebanon.
And we're expecting word today on when John Mark Karr will make his first court appearance in Boulder, Colorado. The suspect in JonBenet Ramsey's killing arrived in Colorado last night. Right now he's being kept in solitary confinement.
O'BRIEN: More than two weeks after London police say they disrupted that airline terror plot, there's good news and bad news for air travelers. Passengers are checking more bags and that means getting through security and boarding much faster. That's the good news. But the bad news now, at the end of the trip, getting those bags. Well, not good. CNN's Kathleen Koch is at Reagan National Airport this morning.
Good morning, Kathleen.
KOCH: Good morning, Soledad.
Well as you pointed out, when it comes to the new security rules, there is still some pain. But the good news is that there is finally some gain in the equation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KOCH, (voice over): The initial results of the new rules were easy to see, more people checking luggage, more lines at the counters, more work for the airlines.
JOHN MEENAN, AIR TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION: It's put some additional stresses on the system. It's obviously meant some overtime for baggage handlers.
KOCH: But travelers quickly started noticing something else. Faster security lines.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This morning I got -- not long at all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Haven't gone through security yet, but looks like it shouldn't be too bad this time of day.
KOCH: Faster border and deplaning.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Definitely much more speedier. Don't have to fight for overhead space. People aren't as cranky. It's very nice.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's not as many people standing in the aisle. It's easier -- faster getting off the plane.
KOCH: Airlines say it's all having a ripple effect.
MEENAN: They're moving through the lines very quickly. Moving on to airplanes very quickly. And, as a result, the system is running on time or even a little bit ahead of schedule.
KOCH: On-time arrival at 24 of the nation's top 30 airports have improved the last two weeks over July. There has been some concern the government's screening system would be strained trying to handle the nearly 25 percent increase in checked bags. But the Transportation Security Administration insist the level of security has not been compromised.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, right now we are able to manage the load very well. KOCH: So despite initial frustration with the security changes, passengers and the system at large seem to be adjusting.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Actually it hasn't been bad at all. We were -- I was anticipating the worst and long lines and so far I've been pleasantly surprised.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOCH: Now as to the question that all air travelers want to know, do more checked bags thus mean more lost bags? Now airlines say they haven't gotten any final results to answer that question yet.
Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Kathleen Koch for us this morning. Thanks, Kathleen.
KOCH: You bet.
O'BRIEN: And I've got to tell you about a travel nightmare for hundreds of people who were hoping to go on vacation. These are folks who live in London. Ended up with, at the end of a very long day, police had to board their flight. Let's show you how bad it got.
Here's how it began. Three hundred and fifty-two people got onboard the Virgin Atlantic flight, 8:45 in the morning on Thursday. It was supposed to leave Gatwick Airport at 9:30 heading for Havana, Cuba. Boarding, though, wasn't finished till 10:00 a.m. All right. They're already delayed. The doors are locked, though. An engineer was supposedly working on the plane's engine. Then were having a little trouble. Then . . .
HARRIS: After sitting there, sitting there for an hour, passengers were finally told there's a technical problem. 11:30 now and they're still waiting for a spare part. Fast forward. Two more hours and that part has now apparently arrived. Passengers are now told takeoff, Soledad, is imminent.
O'BRIEN: Well, imminent might mean three hours later because we're going to fast forward you now to 2:45 in the afternoon. Keep in mind, these are folks who got on the plane at 8:45 in the morning. It's now 2:45 in the afternoon. Still no movement of this plane. They're told, though, that there might be a problem with the in-flight meals. I guess they'd been sitting there too long.
HARRIS: Exactly. So now it's nearly -- is this -- this can't be -- six hours after the scheduled takeoff time and the plane is finally beginning to move.
O'BRIEN: Ah, good news. Good news.
HARRIS: Taxing. Taxing.
O'BRIEN: No, wait.
HARRIS: No? O'BRIEN: The plane stopped. Car pulls up alongside. Apparently there's a problem with the tire.
HARRIS: Wait a minute, car pulls up as the plane . . .
O'BRIEN: 3:45 p.m. now, pilot tells passengers that they've got to turn around because they've got a tire problem. The flight is finally canceled at 4:00 in the afternoon. Again, they got on at 8:45 in the morning. But apparently people are so annoyed and angry that police have to come onboard the plane. They're worried, it sounded like, that the passengers might start a riot or something.
HARRIS: We're not done yet?
O'BRIEN: No. No.
HARRIS: There's more?
O'BRIEN: Yes.
HARRIS: OK. 4:30 now, the people are allowed to get out of their seats and off the plane but still must wait for their luggage. And that time line comes to us courtesy of "The Daily Mirror" newspaper.
O'BRIEN: Well, the airline issued a statement saying that they "apologizes for the inconvenience and frustration caused because of the delay." They also said that "the safety of our passengers and crew is our top priority." I guess it was also about eight hours on the plane. Two glasses of water per person . . .
HARRIS: That's it?
O'BRIEN: And no food is what they've said. Although they do say that reports that there was a near riot onboard are completely untrue.
HARRIS: OK. That said, I'm not complaining about waiting for my baggage at baggage claim. That's it. No more winning.
O'BRIEN: It could always be worse, right?
HARRIS: Absolutely.
O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, the prime time Emmy Awards are going to be handed out on Sunday. Some folks think, though, that some of the most deserving shows and actors aren't even up for an award. We'll take a look at the controversy over the nomination process ahead.
Plus there's this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OPRAH WINFREY: It is a complete full circle moment in my life. It is -- I feel like it's what I was really born to do. And that's what all of that fame and attention and money was for. (END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Oprah Winfrey in a CNN exclusive, explaining why she is pouring millions of dollars into South Africa to transform lives and educate young minds. We've got that story and much more ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: The music couldn't be better. It's great. Maybe that's a "Laverne & Shirley" song. Maybe that would be pretty good here.
Is the brew city getting some bad publicity? Milwaukee was ranked as the drunkest city in America by Forbes.com.
O'BRIEN: OK, that's hard to watch. Let's (INAUDIBLE).
HARRIS: What's going on there? Bad movie.
More than 70 percent -- that I've seen in my life. More than 70 percent of adults there reported having at least one alcoholic drink within the last month. That compares with 45 percent in Nashville, Tennessee, which ranked last on the list of 35 cities. Milwaukee, in case you didn't know, is the home to Miller beer. But officials -- oh, Gary. Gary, our cameraman.
O'BRIEN: We get it. Drunkest city. We get it.
HARRIS: Gary is from Milwaukee on camera. Bless your heart. Had to go to the south on that. Bless your heart.
But officials say there is much more to the city than malted barley and hops. Should I continue this story or have we lost it? Should I continue?
O'BRIEN: Carry on.
HARRIS: All right. Forbes based its list on information from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
O'BRIEN: And the city leaders are not happy to have this ranking at all.
HARRIS: Not happy. No.
O'BRIEN: They are (INAUDIBLE).
JENNIFER WESTHOVEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, their team is the Brewers.
HARRIS: They're not pleased with Gary at this moment either.
O'BRIEN: Right, people who brew, no people who drink.
HARRIS: Right. Right.
O'BRIEN: Although I guess the argument could be made that there's an intersection there.
Let's talk business news this morning. More problems for laptop owners. Apple joins Dell now in recalling batteries and Jennifer Westhoven's "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Hey, there.
WESTHOVEN: Hey. Thank you, Soledad and Tony.
Well, this is the second biggest recall now in consumer electrics history, and it is the same Sony-made batteries that are causing the problem here. They seem to have a knack for bursting into flames not very often but often enough for a big recall. It happens when metal ions get introduced in the manufacturing process into these lithium batteries. So it's really coming from the same place, Sony will have to pay for this, but this affects 1.8 million Macintosh computers. We're talking about the iBook G4 and the power book G4. But even though this is so huge, we really want to mention that in terms of what kind of a danger this poses to you, we have really only seen fires in about 10 out of 6 million computers involved here. So you may have seen some pictures like this, they look very scary.
Don't -- you know you don't necessarily have to get really afraid to turn your laptop on. Go ahead, you know call in and get the new battery but you know we mentioned not to make a joke out of it, but 66 people are killed by lightning every year according to the National Weather Service. This is only eight fires. So your chances of something dangerous happening are slim. But you know, keep an eye on your computer and definitely do a call in. We also want to mention what the danger is to apple here. Because Dell stock got really hurt by this but it's kind of seen as though that's feeding into the perception at Dell that they already have a track record for poor customer service, for problems whereas Apple they have problems but not like Dell.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah.
WESTHOVEN: Not with quality.
HARRIS: Ok, all right. Thank you.
WESTHOVEN: You're welcome.
O'BRIEN: We're going to take a look at our top stories this morning. We'll be back right after this short break. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: John Mark Karr is in Colorado this morning, transferred from Los Angeles to the Boulder County Jail. He's expected to appear in court early next week.
In Essex, New Hampshire, police say a man apparently upset over a bad break-up went on a shooting rampage. He is suspected of killing his ex-girlfriend's mother. And then authorities say he also killed a teacher at a local elementary school. We have some pictures right there, that's the school where his ex-girlfriend worked.
Mayor Ray Nagin's staff now in damage control mode after the mayor's latest comments. He was doing an interview with "60 Minutes" and he was asked, well why is there so much debris still in the lower ninth ward. What he said was this, "You guys in New York can't get a hole in the ground fixed and it's five years later", obviously referring to 9/11 and ground zero. Not going over so well this morning.
HARRIS: No, no, I would think not.
O'BRIEN: Welcome back everybody, I'm Soledad O'Brien.
HARRIS: And good morning everyone, I'm Tony Harris in for Miles O'Brien.
In Charleston, South Carolina, a survey by the Citadel is raising eyebrows and concerns. The survey shows almost 20 percent of the female students say they had been sexually assaulted since enrolling. Some graduates say the numbers surprised them. CNN's David Mattingly joins us live from Charleston. David, good morning.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony. Since the first female cadets arrived on campus here at the Citadel, their numbers have remained small. This year there's 118 female cadets out of a student body of 2,000. And according to the findings of a recent survey on campus it shows that one out of five of those women will experience some form of sexual assault in her four years on campus. That's a rate five times greater than their male counter parts. 68 percent, almost seven out of 10 of the women will experience sexual harassment. That's a rate four times greater than that of the men. The university president calls the findings a disappointment but he says going public with these findings is the first best step in dealing with the problem.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GEN. JOHN ROSA, CITADEL PRESIDENT: Some wonder why we took the tactic of releasing this information. My reason is simple. In order for us to address these issues we have got to discuss them openly and honestly. Communication requires openness and honesty. This is a public institution. And honesty requires courage. These are the things that the Citadel instilled in me. It's the right thing to do. And it's an imperative of leadership, something that we want to instill in all of our young people.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: I spoke to the head of a rape crisis and counseling center off campus here in Charleston, South Carolina, she applauds what the university here is doing. She says that it's very good that they are going public with these findings. And everyone acknowledges this is part of a national problem. The Department of Justice back in the '90s did their own study and found that one out of four women on university campuses across the country will experience attempted rape or rape during four years at college. Now the rate here at the Citadel is one out of five with some form of sexual assault. They have a very broad definition of what that is here at the Citadel. It also includes unwanted kissing. That's because here at the Citadel any kind of sexual or romantic contact between any of the cadets is prohibited. That's on and off campus. Tony?
HARRIS: CNN's David Mattingly for us. David thank you.
And coming up just about an hour from now we will hear how a graduate and a cadet from the Citadel feel about this survey.
O'BRIEN: We have a firsthand account now of what it is like to be held hostage. Jill Carroll was kidnapped in Baghdad earlier this year. Of course her story made all the headlines. "The Christian Science Monitor" has been providing CNN with large portions of an interview in which Carol describes her three months in captivity. CNN's Anderson Cooper has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jill Carroll, her translator Allan Enwiyah and their driver were leaving the office of a top Sunni politician they tried to interview, when a group of men came at them, yelling and waving guns.
JILL CARROLL: I was trying to get out of the car and I started to say no, no, like my no got sort of louder and louder. Then I sort of realized very slowly what was happening. Like I realized they weren't stopping, they were coming at us with the guns. You know you don't realize right away that things are happening.
COOPER: The men overpowered Carol shoving her back into the car.
CARROLL: And then as I'm bending down and kind of being shoved over I was looking out the corner like in the crack of a door was opening and I saw -- I saw Allen was there and I saw them kill Allen. And so we're driving off and they are screaming jihad, jihad, and they were like overjoyed like they won the lottery. I mean they just were so happy and excited.
This other guy was driving and he was saying, oh, he got on the phone to call home, say he is coming home. And then he got off the phone he said, oh my mother and my sister and my wife are -- they say they love you so much, they're so happy that you are coming.
COOPER: It only got more surreal. Over the next 82 days Carol was shuttled among six safe houses guarded at times by whole families.
CARROLL: People are always looking for some guy with a big beard and you know with a (INAUDIBLE) in his hand driving the car as insurgent. It's not like that. They look like regular Iraqis. Regular people and have their kids in the car, have their wives in the car.
COOPER: She says her captors didn't harm her physically. She was looked after, well fed, though she could barely stand to eat. CARROLL: You have to eat a lot of food to be polite. And it is not a time to be rude. It was not a time -- this was a time you must be the most polite ever. You don't want these people to get mad at you. And so I choked down this food like the bread would like stick in my throat and I just my stomach -- I wanted to throw up.
COOPER: Everyday experiences become fraught with risk. One of her captors sat down in front of a television one day and handed Carroll a remote control.
CARROLL: I'm trying to figure out what to watch. I know you shouldn't watch anything that is going to make him upset. I didn't want to see any violence, I didn't want to give him any ideas, you know. And so I found an English channel too, I came across Oprah on channel one from Dubai. I was like ok this is good. She won't have anything weird on.
COOPER: Just a few days into her captivity Carroll's kidnappers turned the cameras on her, ordering her to make a hostage video, the first of many she'd record in captivity, many of which have never aired.
CARROLL: It's really wrenching, it's very -- I can't tell you how hard it is. You know you're sitting on TV pleading for your life, these people with guns are everywhere and you know what this means, like I knew what that meant. It means in three or four days they put you on Al Jazeera, they do it again, they cut your head off. That's what they do. I knew that.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: So Carroll's full story of her 82 days in captivity can be found on the "Christian Science Monitor's" website, which is csmonitor.com. Anderson's report first aired on "AC 360." You can catch it weeknights at 10:00 p.m. eastern.
Ahead this morning, the government makes some changes to help air marshals blend in better with other passengers. Could you spot an air marshal on the flight? We'll take a closer look at the new regulations.
HARRIS: Also Oprah Winfrey uses her millions to make a difference in South Africa. In a CNN exclusive Winfrey explains how she is making good on the promise to the children there.
Plus this -
BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Brooke Anderson in Hollywood. Did the Emmys get it right this year? Criticism over the new voting process and where are the big names? Will viewers watch? We'll take a look at the controversy coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
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O'BRIEN: Oprah Winfrey is giving hundreds of South African girls a chance that they thought they'd never get. She is providing a top notch education for free at a school that she helped design herself. CNN's Jeff Koinange was there when the very first group of girls got the great news. It's a story you're going to see only here on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 12-year-old Palessa(ph) and her 13-year-old cousin Lebohang(ph) live in this three-roomed house along with four other family members in Soweto, one of Johannesburg's sprawling townships. They've heard U.S. talk show host Oprah Winfrey is in town and she's looking for a few good girls to be part of her new project. What they don't know is that Oprah's about to pay them a visit. Word spreads fast about Oprah's presence in Soweto and the visit is no longer top secret. After all, this is Oprah. Oprah has been coming to South Africa for the past several years, determined to fulfill a promise she made to former president Nelson Mandela or Madeva to most here.
OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: So I said to Madeva, I would like to build a school and I would like to commit $10 million. This was five years ago. And he said, yes.
KOINANGE: And just like that the two broke ground for a girl's school just outside Johannesburg in what began as a $10 million project. It's since grown to $40 million and counting.
(on camera): Less than four years later this is the result, the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls. Set on more than 50 acres of land, it houses more than two dozen buildings and Oprah says she was personally involved in the design and layout of most of them.
WINFREY: The dream for me was to create a school that I would most want to attend. So from the very beginning I sat down with architects and I said, we have to have a library in the fireplace so that the girls can, it can be a place of learning as well as living for them. We have to have a theater because this is a school for leaders and in order to be a leader you have to have a voice. In order to have a voice you need oration. So the idea for the school came about based on what I felt would be an honor for the African girls.
KOINANGE (voice-over): And all this for free. Free uniforms, free books, free meals. Everything is free at Oprah's school, which brings us back to Soweto and Palessa and Lebohang's house. Lebohang's mother died of AIDS nearly two years ago. Palessa's mother and grandmother now help feed five hungry mouths. But Oprah sees potential here, the right ingredients for leadership in her leadership academy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The future awaits you.
WINFREY: The future awaits you, I agree. I think your future awaits you. Your future is so bright it burns my eyes. Yeah, that's how bright your future is.
KOINANGE: Palessa's mother is overwhelmed by Oprah's philanthropy. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was thinking that angels are white and they have wings and you only see angels in heaven. So now I can see we are living in this world with angels. Oprah, you are an angel. Angel from God, I believe in that.
KOINANGE: And outside the word had spread like wild fire. The Oprah Fan Club had instantly multiplied. Oprah insisted on personally interviewing all the prospective students from schools around the country. Her requirements were simple, the girls had to have better than average grades and they had to come from under privileged homes, much like she did.
WINFREY: I look in their faces I see my own. The girls who came from a background just like my own. I was raised by a grandmother, no running water, no electricity, but yet because of a sense of education and learning I was able to become who I am. And I want to do the same for these girls and so I think there's no better place than Africa because a sense of need, the sense of value for education and appreciation for it could not be greater.
KOINANGE: And in true Oprah fashion, she invited all the finalists to what was supposed to be an informal get together and dropped this bombshell.
WINFREY: I brought you all here today to tell you that you will be a part of the very first class of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy. And just like that, 150 young lives were transformed in an instant. What does this mean, this moment right now, what does it mean?
WINFREY: It is a complete full circle moment in my life. It is -- I feel like it's what I was really born to do. And that's what all of that fame and attention and money was for. It feels like the complete circle of my life.
KOINANGE: As for cousins Lebohang and Palessa --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm overwhelmed. I don't know what to say. I'm that happy, I'm just waiting for next year.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm just waiting for that date.
KOINANGE: It seems that date can't come soon enough for South Africa's best and the brightest here, an all expenses paid top class education. And all because one woman wanted to help out an old man.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALES: We love you, Oprah.
KOINANGE: Jeff Koinange, CNN, Johannesburg.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Oh, my God that was like watching "Oprah," the show, where people are cheering. How great. What a great thing to do.
HARRIS: Well I was just looking at the faces. How about the faces? They just can't stop talking, they're talking over one another.
O'BRIEN: I can't wait for next year, good for her, good for her.
HARRIS: Isn't that great?
O'BRIEN: You know she's a person who puts her money where her mouth is time after time. Good for her. Maybe she'll spur other people into doing some more things.
HARRIS: Fingers crossed, let's hope so.
O'BRIEN: That would be great.
HARRIS: Yeah that's good, yeah. Coming up, the controversy over the nomination process for this Sunday's Emmys. Were the most deserving shows and stars nominated? That's next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: In "AM Pop" this morning the prime time Emmy awards are supposed to showcase television's best in show. This year a new nominating procedure has -- was designed to give some Emmy love to those who in years past might have been overlooked. But as CNN's Brooke Anderson tells us, the new system may be a lost cause.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They will never do it this way again, this doesn't work.
ANDERSON (voice-over): On the eve of the Emmy's the talk is usually about who is going to win. But this year the focus is on something else. How a change in the voting procedure turned the awards into a case of missing persons. Worthy series and performers left out of the running. Critics including TV Guide's Mary Murphy say it's all the fault of new rules that put a committee in charge of whittling down the contenders.
MARY MURPHY, SENIOR WRITER, TV GUIDE: I think it backfired on the TV academy. There is no reason that some of the most talented people and the best shows on television shouldn't have been nominated for an Emmy this year. And "Lost" is the number one example.
ANDERSON: Last year's Emmy winning drama "Lost" didn't even get a nomination. Neither did "Desperate Housewives" for best comedy a top contender last year. The show's main stars were snubbed, too. And while "House" earned a best drama nomination, star Hugh Lorie(ph) was left. Call it a medical mystery.
MURPHY: Without Hugh Lorie there would be no "House", was not nominated. Go figure.
ANDERSON: Perhaps most surprising of all, "The Sopranos" James Gandolfini and Edie Falco won't be competing Sunday. In the absence of those mainstays, who stands to take home the gold?
MURPHY: I would go with "24", I think it's the year for 24.
ANDERSON: She's also picking "24's" Kiefer Sutherland to win best actor in a drama. On the comedy side the odds on favorite is "The Office".
MURPHY: It just consistently got better week after week after week.
ANDERSON: Star Steve Carell is the heavy favorite to win best actor in a comedy. Comedy actress is a toss up, but some critics give Julie Louis-Dreyfus the edge for "The New Adventures of Old Christine." Without Edie Falco in the drama race, that award could go to Kyra Sedgwick for the TNT series, "The Closer."
MURPHY: This is the role of a lifetime from Kyra Sedgwick.
ANDERSON: Another lingering question will anyone be watching the Emmys? It's been moved up this year to a time when audiences may be busy vacationing.
MURPHY: My forecast for the ratings, cloudy.
ANDERSON: Brooke Anderson, CNN, Hollywood.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And the Emmy Awards hosted by Conan O'Brien airs Sunday night, 7:00 eastern on NBC.
O'BRIEN: Cloudy, that's not exactly --
HARRIS: No.
O'BRIEN: -- a good forecast.
Let's talk about a new convenience store it's opening in Florida today with a little twist. Nobody works there. Jennifer Westhoven's "Minding your Business" this morning. Ok.
HARRIS: No one works there?
WESTHOVEN: Yeah no one works there. Imagine that, you go in, you get your soda, your sub sandwich, you get to leave without ever having to deal with that clerk behind the counter. It's a whole new concept here. It's called get and go express. And essentially it's you in a well-lit room with a lot of machines. The grand opening is today. It's outside of Tampa Bay and in this shop they have a lot of different stuff. There's the ice, right? You can get cash, there's a cash machine. You can get ice cream, candy, you can rent movies, they'll have DVDs. They also are doing things like sun block and aspirin. So they'll have also lots of the other kinds of products that you would pick up in a convenience store.
O'BRIEN: How does it work? Are there machines and you basically like pick a number and it drops down after you put your card in or something? WESTHOVEN: Yes, a whole bunch of vending machines.
O'BRIEN: Oh.
HARRIS: Oh, just vending machines.
O'BRIEN: Ice in a vending machine, that's a big vending machine.
WESTHOVEN: And a awful lot of them in there. But then, you know, the question to the whole point is right that the people who own these can save a lot of money on labor costs because they won't have to have so many employees. Now they do have some labor going on, they're going to have somebody who is essentially watching the computer, so that if something runs out they can fill it up. Also refunds if your stuff gets snagged by the machine.
O'BRIEN: I was going to say, because it jams.
WESTHOVEN: Makes you mad.
O'BRIEN: You know how angry you get when your thing jams in the machine.
HARRIS: Absolutely. I hate when that happens.
O'BRIEN: All right, sound goods to me. Jennifer, thanks. Maybe they will bring one to New York City.
HARRIS: Why not.
O'BRIEN: I'd like that. I like it.
HARRIS: We'll try it, we'll try it.
O'BRIEN: We got to take a quick break. We're back in just a moment with the top stories. Stay with us.
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