Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Major Winter Storm Hits Northwest; World AIDS Day; Panel Recommends Iraq Departure by 2008
Aired December 01, 2006 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Heidi Collins.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm T.J. Holmes in today for Tony Harris.
For the next three hours, watch events happen live on this Friday, the first day of December.
Here's what's on the rundown.
Shovel and shiver -- an early taste of winter whips the Midwest, blocked roads, airport cancellations. The cold air eyeing the East now.
COLLINS: Combat troops out of Iraq by 2008 reportedly the recommendation the president will get from the Iraq review panel.
HOLMES: And the faces of World AIDS Day -- four million new cases in 2006. Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Christiane Amanpour live this hour in THE NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: The calendar says autumn. The weather says winter. A massive snowstorm is blasting through the nation's heartland. Hundreds of flights canceled, even more delayed. Look at that snow on the right side of the screen.
We will keep you posted on all of the snarled air travel. So make sure you watch that.
But first, the view from the ground now.
Jonathan Freed is in Kansas City, Sean Callebs in St. Louis and Keith Oppenheim begins our coverage in Chicago.
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Heidi, we're standing in front of the Michigan Avenue Bridge. And, as you can see, there are commuters behind me who are braving very difficult conditions. And I've got a little update, too, for you on a developing story. And that is at O'Hare Airport, early this morning, there was a FedEx cargo plane that went off the runway and got its nose and front wheels stuck in the mud.
No major problems to the airport, really, because the airport, as you learned here, is pretty much shut down anyway, or at least it's on stand by.
But for the most part, that is one example of the kinds of troubles that Chicago and the region in general are going through this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's horrible.
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Severe winter weather is slamming the Midwest. Snow and ice are creating a travel nightmare across eight states.
In Wichita, Kansas, heavy snow slowed traffic on highways to a crawl, that is, if you could even get on the highway.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I sort of didn't get on the highway. I just kind of went astray.
OPPENHEIM: On Interstate 44, near Raleigh, Missouri, a tractor trailer jack-knifed on the slick road and slammed into a car, killing the car's driver.
In Chicago, ice is blamed for a seven car pile-up overnight along Interstate 55. But it's at the airports where traffic is really snarled. United Airlines canceled 385 flights in Chicago's O'Hare Airport, America's second busiest, before the storm even hit, to give passengers time to make other plans. For some travelers, that meant staying right where they were.
OPPENHEIM: I guess I'm just going with my gut and staying in Wichita for a night.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
OPPENHEIM: Back live now with a view of a Chicago Department of Transportation mini plow that's trying to clear off the sidewalks in the plaza where I'm standing right now. And, Heidi, there are also a number of power outages to talk about in northern Illinois. We're hearing from ConEd that there are 16,000 customers without power right now. So that's just another example of how this storm is causing havoc this morning -- back to you.
COLLINS: Wow!
It is just unbelievable to see what you are surrounded by there.
Keith, thanks so much for that.
Quickly, before we let you go, when they decide at the airport whether or not a flight will be cancelled or even delayed, does it turn out to be the airport itself or is it the airline?
OPPENHEIM: It's generally the airlines that are making those Democratic Senator, at least at this point. The airport can make that general decision for the entire airport. Keep in mind that in Chicago both Midway and O'Hare are operated by the city. So the city can make that call.
But last night, United and American made a general decision to cancel flights up until about noon today. So if you are flying to or through Chicago this morning, or those are your plans, it's more likely that you won't be in the air until this afternoon.
COLLINS: All right, interesting, too, that United and American made that decision last night. Oh, some serious forethought there.
Keith Oppenheim, thanks for that.
HOLMES: And from the snow there to Missouri and the ice and the power outages that come with it. That's the big problem happening there.
CNN's Sean Callebs is in St. Louis this morning -- are you having any problems?
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: T.J. it is a trifecta of bad news here where we are.
First, let's look at the streets. You can see, it was slush, the stuff that Keith and people in Chicago are dealing with. It has frozen in the few hours that we have been out here. The temperatures have dropped significantly.
Let me tell you, at the Interstate 70, near the capital of Jefferson City, is shut down for a large stretch. No word from the state police when they're going to be opening that.
Also, the commuter rail that provides service to bring people into the city, it is shut down this morning, as well.
Also, Lambert Airport a nightmare. Yesterday, before the snow came, freezing rain. They simply shut that airport down yesterday afternoon. One by one, we were there when the major carriers made the call -- United, Delta, American.
The reason -- we have some pretty good video of them de-icing aircraft. But under FAA regulations, once a de-icing is done, that airplane has to take off within 15 minutes. If not, then a dangerous layer of ice could build up on the wing again, disrupting flow of air over the wing, and that can lead to potential disaster.
You talked about the power outages. That is a big problem right now. I want to walk you through exactly what's going on.
If you look at this tree here, you can see how the frozen rain has just locked up on it and just over-burdened these limbs. It's sagging. Well, this is what it's doing to the trees. So it's bringing down limbs in suburban areas. They're falling down on power lines. Get this -- about 450,000 people without power in the St. Louis area, everywhere in East Missouri, on up into Southern Illinois, as well.
No word on when they're getting that power restored. But what we are hearing from the power company, they're urging people to stay in their homes if they don't have to be out.
The reason?
All those downed power lines in the city.
So, even though the city did everything it could to get salt trucks, plows, sand trucks out throughout the last 24 hours, when this did finally freeze up, it just turned into a nightmare instantly. It has made a difficult situation throughout this area, trying to get people out on the roads, on the rails, and especially at the airport.
T.J. they hope to have the airport reopened some time around noon today. But unless there's a significant break in the weather, it may be a bit ambitious.
HOLMES: All right. You said they're telling people to stay off the roads. It seems pretty quiet behind you.
Are people pretty much taking that advice?
CALLEBS: Yes. We've been out here and we've seen very little traffic. It's interesting, too, because if you can pan over here -- and this one of the, you know, major arteries leading just down to I- 70. And where they routinely salted it and brought the plows through, it's OK. It's passable. People pull up to the stop sign -- in fact, the cars that are coming up here, you can see that they can pull up to a stop no problem.
But if you get off the road just a bit, that ice is there. And that's the big problem where the cars that salt trucks can't get to constantly.
HOLMES: All right, just a mess.
Sean Callebs for us in St. Louis.
Thank you.
We'll be checking back in with you, I'm sure, in a little bit.
Thanks.
COLLINS: We want to go straight to our CNN Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr.
She is traveling in Baghdad and has an update for us about the situation there -- Barbara, what do you have for us this morning?
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, actually, we're in a different location in Iraq at this point and we're not able to say our exact location due to security concerns. But we are traveling through Iraq.
We've been traveling with senior commanders in the region and we're, you know, we're learning from them their thinking
Iraq Study Group recommendations that are coming out and their anticipation of that.
Some of the senior commanders we have been talking to here in Iraq tell us that they do, in fact, see the new policy aimed at accelerating the turn over of the security to Iraqi forces, that's something that they are supporting. They don't want to see a set deadline for that, but they think that it is a good idea at this point to try and accelerate that turn over to the Iraqis -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, Barbara Starr, we'll be checking back with you just as soon as possible.
Thanks so much, Barbara.
Meanwhile, road crews in over drive trying to clear away the ice and snow.
Jonathan Freed joins us live from Kansas City, Missouri -- Jonathan, the situation there?
JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
Well, with apologies to my colleagues, Keith Oppenheim in Chicago and Sean Callebs in St. Louis, we're not having all that bad a day here in Kansas City. We got ours yesterday and last night, so this is what they have to look forward to as the system keeps moving its way through.
Let us show you what we mean. The snow removal crews here have been out -- we've been here since before dawn. And they were out in force and the piles of snow that were blocking the roadways here are gone.
And we are down in the more upscale commercial district here in Kansas City. And whether or not the stores actually decide to open today -- because this city went into storm mode yesterday. Schools are closed. The usual stay home, use caution warnings went out.
But, clearly, you can move around here today. So everybody here wondering are the stores actually going to open -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Well, that is certainly the question, I'm sure, for people who want to get out and around.
It looks a little bit calmer now, but I'm sure people will be very careful as they travel around where you are.
Jonathan Freed.
We'll check back later.
Thanks.
HOLMES: So, things looking pretty good in Kansas City. We were on the other side of the state a second ago. We saw St. Louis -- so, Reynolds, does that mean everything is just slowly moving over this direction to the east? REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. It's getting really -- it's going to get much better for a lot of people. You know, Jonathan Freed brought up a great point. I mean he's able to look through the rearview and see the storm moving off. And in parts of St. Louis it's going to get much better for you. In fact, if you look at the very, very bottom of the screen, that way down there is St. Louis. And they've just got a little bit of snow to deal with, then the sun-is going to pop pout.
They're still going to deal with these freezing conditions and dangerous conditions on the roadways so that's not -- they're not going to be done with the nightmare just yet.
However, in Chicago, they still have a ways to go, especially into the western suburbs of Chicago. I'm talking about places like Aurora. They may get quite a bit of snowfall in that area. Also, downtown Chicago, you've already seen video from there. In fact, we did a live image from Chicago at this time. It shows plenty of snow at this time.
Let's pop it up. There we go.
You know what?
I'm not quite sure what expressway that is in Chicago, but at this point it doesn't matter. They're all pretty much the same way. I mean I guess that's maybe the Dan Ryan Expressway. It is a shot compliments of WLS in Chicago. It is going to be a rough time for you, to say the very least. If you don't have to go out at all today, by all means, just stay home. It'll be a lot easier on you.
Meantime, on the other side of this storm, we're not talking about snow. We're talking about some strong thunderstorms. Already the Storm Prediction Center has posted a severe thunderstorm warning in effect for parts of Ohio and moving into Pennsylvania, as well.
Here it is. This watch will be in effect until noontime. Let's see, we are going to be dealing with strong storms and the potential with these damaging winds. And as this storm system moves a little bit more back into parts of Pennsylvania, even into New York State later on today, we're talking about the potential of wind gusts stopping 70 miles an hour.
So we're looking at damage from a spring like severe thunderstorms making system and, at the same time, on the back side, of course, the heavy snowfall.
So we're going to watch it for you throughout the day and, of course, keep you updated. As we get more information, we'll send it on to you.
Busy times, to say the least.
COLLINS: Absolutely. And, Reynolds, we really like that screen when you can see all of the airport delays and all the information. So people should take the time to check that out... WOLF: No question.
COLLINS: ... before they really try to go anywhere today.
WOLF: You bet.
COLLINS: All right, Reynolds, thank you.
HOLMES: All right, thank you, Reynolds.
And, of course, the latest travel and weather news is as close as your computer. Log on continually to our Web site, which is continually updated. That address cnn.com/weather.
COLLINS: U.S. troops in Iraq -- stay or go?
They're watching the political fight back home. A top aide to the joint chiefs talks morale, coming up a little bit later in THE NEWSROOM.
HOLMES: And young lives filled with tragedy. AIDS took their parents away.
What now for the orphans of Nairobi?
CNN's Christiane Amanpour ahead in THE NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: We are looking at some tapes on -- let's listen for a moment to the bells ringing for World AIDS Day.
Just to let you know what this is, this is a group of people in front of the Foundry Methodist Church. That's in Washington, D.C. They are ringing church bells every five seconds here to mark the fact that globally there is a new HIV infection or AIDS death, apparently every five seconds of every day.
And on this World AIDS Day, we will be seeing pictures like this throughout the show and talk more about it -- updates, research, updates on research of numbers of people infected and continue to keep you informed about the disease here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
HOLMES: We now turn to Iraq and some details from the Iraq Study Group now coming out.
Sources close to the group say the panel wants to put the Iraq government on notice -- the U.S. troop commitment is not open-ended.
The panel favoring U.S. troop reductions beginning relatively early next year. It's also said to be favoring pulling U.S. troops out of harm's way, off the front lines, and giving that security work to Iraqi troops.
The panel expected to call for clear benchmarks for Iraq, especially in the training of Iraqi troops. And this morning, the "Washington Post" reporting the panel will recommend an almost complete withdrawal by 2008.
COLLINS: Army Sergeant Major William Gainey is the top enlisted adviser to the chairman of the joint chiefs.
He has just returned from Afghanistan and Iraq.
He is joining us in New York this morning.
Sergeant Major, thank you for your time here today.
I want to start by letting people know exactly what your position entails. Some people may have not heard of the senior enlisted adviser to the chairman.
Tell us what you're responsible for.
SGT. MAJ. WILLIAM GAINEY, SENIOR ENLISTED ADVISER TO GENERAL PACE: What I am is I'm the senior enlisted adviser to the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Peter Pace. And what I do, basically, is I go out and I'm his eyes and ears to all the services -- Army, Navy, Marine, Air Force and Coast Guard -- to see how young men and women are doing and I'm able to come back and talk to General Pace and the services about how they're doing.
COLLINS: Well, as we mentioned, you have just returned from a week long trip to both Iraq and Afghanistan. And doing what you do, what you've just explained, to tell you about that, about the morale of the troops right now, specifically in Iraq.
GAINEY: OK. Now, this is both, Afghanistan and Iraq. And in Iraq, I talked to young troops on the ground out in the field. And I asked them, I said, how are you doing?
And across-the-board they said Sergeant Major, you know, we don't like being away from home, but, you know, we know we have a task to fulfill here because while we're here, we're keeping people from attacking the United States. And we feel good about what we're doing. And I believe they really do.
COLLINS: Well, we have seen evidence of that and been able to report here many times that troops and soldiers end up going back for a second, a third, and sometimes even a fourth time.
But that being said, what are some of the concerns that they do share with you on an individual basis as they wake up every morning in a place like Afghanistan or Iraq?
GAINEY: Well, the biggest concern, ma'am, while I was there, was that the citizens of the United States realize that we are at war. And they need your support. You know, we give them equipment. We've got the best equipment in the world. But they need your support. You know, that affects morale directly when we at home do not support our troops.
COLLINS: I know that you were the Multinational Force Iraq Command Sergeant Major for 14 months, so you have a great deal of experience with these regions.
What are some of the differences that you noticed from when you were there before and this last trip?
GAINEY: Well, I noticed that when I was there, we was riding around with open Humvees. But now they have up-armored Humvees. They have the weapons systems they need and there are no shortage of equipment in Iraq at this time.
And our soldiers are very, very, very focused on what they are doing over there. And I had one young sergeant tell me, really quickly, she said, Sergeant Major, you know, I miss my family, but I know by the fact that I'm here, another soldier got to go home. And that's a 23-year-old young lady saying that, and that's outstanding.
COLLINS: You know, we've talked a lot back here in the United States about the Iraq Study Group, the final report being presented to the president next week. There's been sort of a preliminary report that I'm sure you're well aware of that talks about some troop withdrawals and some draw down.
What is the reaction when the troops hear that type of phrasing?
Do they get excited? Do they see an end in sight? Or do they see that there is still so much work to be done?
GAINEY: You know, to be honest with you, they're not really that concerned, the ones I talked to, about that, because they're focused on their mission. And believe it or not, the soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen that's fighting this war, they have faith in General Casey, General Abizaid, General Pace. They really have faith in their leadership.
That's one of the questions I asked them -- do you have faith in your leaders?
And all of them, all of them said yes.
COLLINS: What was the reaction to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld stepping down?
GAINEY: They -- the ones I talked to, ma'am, really have no reaction, because, you know, he was...
COLLINS: But that is the leadership, with all due respect, sir.
GAINEY: Yes. Oh, the leadership?
COLLINS: That's right.
GAINEY: We didn't even discuss that. We were so focused during my visit on the troops on the ground that we did not even talk about politics, not -- the whole 10 days I was gone, no political subject even came up. We was more concerned with the troops on the ground.
COLLINS: We have also heard from the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri Al-Maliki, that he believes some of the Iraqi security forces will be trained, up and running, by July of 2007.
Your impressions, especially from those you spoke with who are training these individuals, how on par is that?
GAINEY: Well, you know, I actually went out to the training sites and I asked them straight up, because I'm a straight out person, and I said do you trust the Iraqi military when you have to go into combat?
And they said yes. They said we trust them because they're very determined to get rid of the al Qaeda and insurgents in their country.
COLLINS: Senior Major William Gainey, we appreciate your time here.
The senior enlisted adviser to General Peter Pace, just back from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Thank you, sir, for your time.
GAINEY: Thank you, ma'am.
HOLMES: We now want to dip in to take a listen to Army Major General Benjamin Mixon, who is briefing reporters at the Pentagon about the situation in Iraq.
We just want to dip in and listen for a moment.
GEN. BENJAMIN MIXON, COMMANDER, MULTINATIONAL DIVISION NORTH: ... in January.
So I guess what I would tell you is really the key statement here is I have no concerns about the Stryker element departing from Mosul, when and if that happens.
MIKE EMANUEL, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: General, Mike Emanuel of Fox News.
At the end of your opening statement you gave a time frame of three to six months. And I just wanted to make sure that I could get a little more clarification about what you envisioned happening over the next three to six months with Iraqi forces. And go into that a little bit.
MIXON: Yes, I'll explain that. It has been our goal since the day that I arrived here, per the campaign plan that General Casey and General Corelli laid out, to transition Iraqi divisions in MMD North over to Iraqi Ground Force Command by March.
We expect to meet that goal. And then those divisions will be taking their instructions completely from the Iraqi Ministry of Defense and the Iraqi Ground Forces Command.
We will shift more of our effort to our mid-teams over time, over the next three months. We will continue to conduct combat operations alongside our Iraqi partners, while at the same time putting more energy toward the training of the police. And this is all a part of the transition plan that we have had, really, since the first day that I arrived, based on the overall campaign plan that General Casey and General Corelli (ph) provided me with when I came into the MMD North.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, let's go back to Pam.
PAM HESS, UPI: It's Pam Hess from UPI again.
I suspect I know what your feeling is about the possibility of a partition in the country. It is one of the ideas that gets kicked around here in Washington as people see what's going on there and kind of throw up their hands with, well, clearly, they can't live together.
What are you hearing from the Iraqis that you're working with?
Because it's your A.O. that would be very heavily partitioned.
MIXON: Yes, I've read all of the articles and the ideas concerning that. But I can tell you without a doubt, I have not met a single Iraqi, either that's in government or in the military or the few that I have met that are average citizens, that is interested in partitioning Iraq.
HOLMES: All right, again, just listening in to Army Major General Benjamin Mixon, commander of the Multinational Division North in Iraq, taking questions from reporters at the Pentagon, talking at troop levels and more energy being going -- being spent on -- or going to be spent on training the Iraqis.
We just wanted to dip in and take a listen there.
We will continue to monitor that Q&A.
COLLINS: We want to get you to this story now pertaining to Mexico-and the new president there, who is about to be sworn in.
But some drama.
Fredericka Whitfield updating us now from the newsroom on the situation -- Fred.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Some heated moments within the Mexican government just before the swearing in of the new president elect.
Let's take a look right now at some pictures that are coming in. And what you're about to see, this brawl, even involving punches being thrown and chairs being tossed, involves Mexican lawmakers.
But it's not clear exactly what precipitated those moments of throwing of the chairs and the punches being thrown, as well.
The conservative, Felipe Calderon, was to be sworn in just moments after all of this took place. As you know, since July, between this hotly contested race of Calderon against Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, folks have been very unhappy, a lot of folks within the Mexican government and outside of the government, have been very unhappy about the way that tight race was eventually ceded to Mr. Calderon.
And just moments ago, we got this tape in of this brawl taking place among the lawmakers. We're going to get some more information as to exactly what may have precipitated those punches being thrown and the chairs being tossed there -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Certainly not the way you want to start a new presidency, I wouldn't think.
We'll be watching this one.
Fredericka Whitfield, thank you.
WHITFIELD: All right.
HOLMES: And we think Republicans and Democrats can't get along. They're not throwing blows, at least.
We're going to talk about SeaWorld's killer whale out of control. It's not the first time the show has gone a bit wrong.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two times in 12 years. We'll take that track record, especially all the thousands of good interactions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: That story ahead in THE NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: And tracking HIV -- it's not just spreading in Africa. We look at other regions hit hard by AIDS, coming up in THE NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: On this World AIDS Day, a status check now. The demographics of the disease have changed. But high risk behavior remains a big concern.
CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta has an update.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Around the world, the HIV epidemic shows no signs of loosening its hold. This year, 4.3 million people were infected and two thirds of them are in Sub-Saharan Africa. They're in places like Nairobi, Kenya, where we visited last year with the Clinton Foundation.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's 100 percent preventable. And yet it's sweeping the world like a firestorm, killing people of all ages in its path.
GUPTA: And it's not just Africa. The economic powerhouse India now has 5 million people infected. That's more than any other country. Experts are also concerned about Eastern Europe as the disease skyrockets among IV drug users there. Even in the United States, the epidemic has not been contained.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's about 1 million or 1.2 million people in the United States that are living with HIV infection, about 25 percent of them don't know it.
GUPTA: Once seen most frequently among white, gay men, the disease is spreading across the population.
DR. KEVIN FENTON, CDC: We are beginning to see that the face of the epidemic changing. AIDS is increasingly becoming a black disease in the United States.
GUPTA: In fact, African-Americans who make up only 13 percent of the population account for half of all new infections. But amidst all the bad news, there is some good. Powerful treatments that have prolonged the life of people with HIV are more available than ever.
DR. MICHAEL SAAG, UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA: If we were to theoretically get every person who is infected with HIV in the United States into care and on treatment with a lower amount of virus in their blood stream, there's no question that transmission even without safer sexual practices would be reduced substantially.
GUPTA: But it comes at a price. Treatment runs about $20,000 a year, and those who need it don't always have health insurance.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: That seems to be one of the major issues, Dr. Sanjay Gupta joining us now. Let's talk about those retroviral drugs for a moment. How effective are they really?
GUPTA: These are amazing drugs, they're called retro-virals because the HIV virus is actually a retrovirus, that's where it gets its name. The key is that it has to be started early in the course of somebody's disease. That's hard to know as you know Heidi because so many people don't even know that they're infected. So by the time they figure it out, sometimes it's too late. If someone gets the medication early, it can lead to a normal life span. They still have to take these medications, but they could have a normal life span.
COLLINS: What about an AIDS vaccine, though? I mean, could that really come some day?
GUPTA: You're going to hear different things from different people as you ask this question. I have done a lot of homework on this. There are 30 trials going around the world in 19 different countries. We've looked at a lot of these trials, some of them have some signs of encouragement, but the problem is a lot of these trials are sort of based on a similar scientific method. So if one of them doesn't work, there's a good chance because they're all sort of similar, that none of them will work. I don't want to sound too pessimistic here, but you know it's a tricky virus. This virus constantly changes, it constantly mutates. So you're really shooting for a moving target here.
COLLINS: And when you're doing those types of studies, you always have to make sure that you have a large enough sample, too, right?
GUTPA: That's right. People are always surprised, a large number of these studies are actually done in Thailand, they're done in Southeast Asia, they're done in Africa, because you have a large number of people with HIV/AIDS there.
COLLINS: When you talk about that large number of people, what are the fastest growing demographics, I mean not only in the U.S. but overseas as well?
GUPTA: It's interesting, now, I think Asia is probably the fastest growing. You know you talk about India, with 5 million people, it has more cases in a single country than any other country in the world. Also, Eastern Europe because of IV drug abuse that has increased, skyrocketed really, Russia and the Ukraine really have very fast moving components now, as far as the demographics go. In the United States it tends to be young African-American women, oftentimes unmarried.
COLLINS: That's really a change, isn't it?
GUPTA: It is a change. You remember, this was a gay, white man's disease and a lot of people who are watching your show right now probably still think that in some ways it is. But the fastest growing demographic, African-American women. Fifty percent of the new cases are in African-Americans in this country, despite the fact that they're only 12 to 13 percent of the population. So, it is an access issue, it is a prevention issue and there are some populations that still aren't being reached.
COLLINS: Wow, it's amazing. All right Dr. Sanjay Gupta, we know that you will continue to follow this one for us. Thank you so much.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: The opening bell this morning, being rung, after yesterday, the NASDAQ, the Dow, down just a tad. Let's call them flat, that sounds a little better. Of course, keeping an eye on today. A lot of people a bit worried, financial institutions and whatnot, websites being targeted maybe by al Qaeda. That's the warning that we got yesterday from the Homeland Security Department, so keep an eye on that. Today, right now, things are looking up just a bit. So we'll keep an eye on it.
COLLINS: Wintry storm wallops the Midwest and the plains. The first major snow storm of the season is creating dangerous road conditions from Texas to Missouri to Michigan. Blizzard warning was posted for parts of Oklahoma and the governor of Kansas declared a disaster emergency for 27 counties. The storm has grounded hundreds of flights. More than 400 were canceled at Chicago's O'Hare airport. Flights are also grounded at the St. Louis and Dallas-Ft. Worth airports. We're going to update air travel delays on the right side of your screen. You see it there. A lot of them not looking very good so you certainly want to be watching that today. (WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMS: Those who have so little share with those who have a need. Children in a Nairobi school receive one meal a day. But they bring some of that meager serving home. We'll explain that in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Want to get you to Beirut now, looking at all of these flags waving here, Hezbollah flags. What we are looking at is a massive demonstration here. Can't even quite pinpoint exactly how many people. But tens of thousands easily, in the square there in Baghdad. They're aimed at toppling apparently Lebanon's western- backed government. We have been talking about this for days. The United States has viewed this, of course, as a barrier to spreading Iranian-Syrian influence in the region. Something interesting to mention here, obviously very, very tight security, also a barbed wire sort of fence if you will in circles of the Lebanese Prime Minister Siniora's offices right now. Although, even though they knew yesterday this was going to be happening today, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said that there will be absolutely no coup in Lebanon. In fact, is very much not in support of a mini state within a state, which is another proposition that has been brought up. This all comes on the heels of the assassination of the anti-Syrian Lebanese industry minister that you remember us telling you about on this program, Pierre Gemayel, that was last week. So we will watch this today. We have our Brent Sadler in the area, he will be reporting to us about what's happening there and we'll continue to watch this today.
HOLMES: Their bellies far from full, these Nairobi children are sharing what little food they're given. CNN's Christiane Amanpour has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the slums of Nairobi, Kenya, it's morning rush hour. Eight hundred thousand people live here, and 50,000 of them are AIDS orphans, including these three children picking their way through the mud and garbage to get to school and to their first meal of the day. Why do you have to feed the children here?
JOSEPHINE MUMO, STARA RESCUE SCHOOL: Because this is their only meal. Most of the children are orphans.
AMANPOUR: Josephine Mumo started the Stara Rescue School where 70 percent of the children are AIDS orphans.
MUMO: They have to drink their porridge at 10:30, then have their meal at 12:30.
AMANPOUR: And that's all they have in 24 hours?
MUMO: Yes, that's all they have. And most of the children do carry some in their pockets to take their bedridden mother whose home on their sick bed.
AMANPOUR: And we watched as these little kids took a few bites themselves, then carefully spooned the rest into bags because their sick mothers have to eat properly in order to stomach their harsh AIDS medicine.
MUMO: Some of them are refusing the drugs because they don't have food.
AMANPOUR: What's the way out of this?
MUMO: The way out is only food. Food for the children, food for their mothers at home.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And our Christiane Amanpour joins us now from London. Christiane, pick up on that last sound bite we just heard there. We're talking about this terrible AIDS crisis and she doesn't say medicine, she doesn't say -- she says food is the key. What does she mean by that?
AMANPOUR: Well she means that food is as important as medicine because, as you know, the ARV drugs, the antiretrovirals, when they can get them, are very harsh on the system. And you can only get them if you are a certain weight or you have a certain nutrition level in your system. Otherwise, you cannot take them because they will kill you or they'll make you even more sick. So, in Africa, which is so poor, they definitely not just need medicine but they need the ability to be able to withstand the effects of that medicine and that means they need food and they need proper nutrition.
HOLMES: Tell us more about these kids. They're really young kids and they seem awfully generous and responsible enough to take food home to their parents. Do the kids have a great grasp and understanding of just how dire the situation is and they know what they need to be doing and they're taking responsibility for it?
AMANPOUR: You know I think they do because all around them they see the effects of this terrible pandemic, this awful disease, AIDS, which is still going -- it's still spreading in Africa and the numbers are still getting higher despite the efforts. What these children see are their parents dying. Most of those children who take a little bit of food home are doing it for their mothers who is possibly the only living relative that they have left. And they know also that their mothers must have food if they are to take medicine because many of their mothers are sick with AIDS, that's how they got it. They were infected through birth by their mothers. So, they're trying to keep their mothers alive as well for themselves and to keep them stronger so that they can actually afford to take ARVs if they become available. The sad thing is that these drugs are not available to all of those people who need them, unlike in the west. You were just talking to Dr. Sanjay Gupta. While African-American women are now most at risk in America, the actual disease is contained in the rich part of the world because we know the drugs and we know how to give them ARVs. And the transmission of HIV/AIDS from mother to child is almost zero because we know how to prevent it. Unfortunately, it's not the case in Africa. There are 12 million AIDS orphans in Africa right now.
HOLMES: All right. That's just tough to watch. Christiane Amanpour for us this morning in London. Thank you so much Christiane.
Of course, Christiane's special, "Where Have the Parents Gone?" airs tonight on CNN at 11:00 eastern. If you can't watch it tonight, we will replay it here Saturday and Sunday nights at 8:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. eastern.
COLLINS: Punches being thrown and chairs being thrown today in Mexico, regarding the new president there. We want to go ahead and go straight to Mexico City where our Harris Whitbeck is standing by with an update on the situation. Harris?
HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Heidi, I am outside the congress in Mexico City where Felipe Calderon will have to be sworn in as the next president of Mexico. Last night, in a ceremony that took place at the official presidential residence, outgoing President Vicente Fox gave the presidential sash to Felipe Calderon, it was a ceremony considered to be largely symbolic because according to Mexican law, Calderon must be sworn in by congress. However, opposition lawmakers, those lawmakers who support former leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador have been trying to prevent the ceremony from taking place. So that is what's happening now. We would expect Mr. Calderon to be here at congress within the hour to take place in the ceremony, but again, opposition lawmakers inside the congress have been attempting to prevent that ceremony from taking place. A lot of security outside the congress, members of the Mexican armed forces, and the Mexican presidential security detail have been here for days to prevent anything from happening, also to prevent supporters of former candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador from coming here to congress this morning. Heidi?
COLLINS: Interesting, too, Harris, I think you mentioned that that sash was passed over last night in relatively unceremonious moment. This was done secretly or why did that even happen, if it had to be, of course, approved by congress?
WHITBECK: Well, it's a ceremony that had never been seen before in Mexico and a lot of commentators here have mentioned the fact that that had never happened before. The ceremony was announced rather quickly, it was transmitted on national television, but again it was considered, by many to be largely symbolic. And considered by many as a tactic to avoid Mr. Fox, former President Fox, from having to come to congress and face his opposition lawmakers who have been thorns in his political side, if you will, for quite some time now. While that ceremony did take place, again, it was largely symbolic, according to Mexican law. Mr. Calderon will have to be sworn in by congress today. Heidi?
COLLINS: All right, Harris Whitbeck, we are looking at some live pictures of people gathering there and getting ready to go ahead with that. So we will continue to follow it and check back with you Harris, if anything should happen. Thanks so much. Live from Mexico City, Harris Whitbeck.
And now we are "Minding your Business," Ali Velshi is here with a preview. Hello to you, Ali.
ALI VELSHI: Heidi, the head of the world's biggest oil company has warned the U.S. government it ain't broke, so don't fix it. It's about oil prices, I'll tell you more about that when we come back. You're watching the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: The higher price of gas is keeping Americans off the roads. Ali Velshi is "Minding your Business" today. Nobody likes to see this, Ali.
VELSHI: No, but you know what's interesting because last year we had very high average gas prices, 2005. So one company has done the research on how much Americans drove. And it turns out that Americans drove an average of 54 miles fewer in 2005 than they did in 2004. Now 54 miles, the average the American driver drives in a year is over 13,000 miles so who knows why they drove 54 fewer miles. I mean 13,657 was the total in 2005. But some people think it's because of the psychological impact of the high price of gas. We spoke to a lot of people last year, Heidi, who said that when gas crosses $3 a gallon it's psychological for Americans who love the road and love their cars, they might actually start to pull back, they might change the way they drive, they might change the cars they buy, they might take the bus or carpool. So it might have had some effect. Those 54 miles, it's the first time in 25 years that Americans have driven less in a year than the year before.
COLLINS: So does that mean that the market works? I mean if prices are high enough, people will figure out ways to use less gas, actually.
VELSHI: Well, you might think so because back in 2005 we also saw sales of big pickup trucks and SUVs and big gas guzzlers plummeting, but now gas prices have pulled back and we start to see those sales start to pick up again. So where is that magic number? Where is the point that the market actually dictates? There are a number of people who follow the oil industry who say there was nothing better than Americans paying higher prices for gasoline because it forces them to look for alternatives and to use less fuel in the end. So it's kind of interesting. Now there's another story that's interesting and that is Rex Tillerson who is the CEO of Exxon Mobil, the largest oil company in the world, the largest publicly traded company in the world, in Boston was commenting that perhaps the new government, the new administration -- not the administration, but the new Congress, democratically controlled Congress should watch out in fulfilling its aims to tax the oil industry at a higher rate or to cut back on some of the tax breaks. Because what Tillerson says is while they will continue to explore and drill and produce oil in the United States, most of the oil companies make more money with the work that they do overseas and that this kind of behavior might encourage other governments to do the same thing. And if oil companies don't get the money for the risk that they take, they might stop taking the risk. Which sounds, I don't know, sounds like tough talk to me.
COLLINS: Will he threaten the government?
VELSHI: Sounds like a threat. Sounds like a veiled threat to me to say if you impose changes or tax us higher, you may not get as much oil as we produce. In the end, business dictates. If they are making money selling oil, they'll sell oil. They've sold oil when oil was a lot cheaper. But it does get a little dicey when CEO's of oil companies start telling the government how to do things.
COLLINS: Supply and demand or not.
VELSHI: Or not, yeah.
COLLINS: Ali Velshi, "Minding your Business," thank you.
VELSHI: See ya.
HOLMES: We're getting word now, reports that someone else has positively tested positive for that radioactive material that killed that ex Russian spy. This report is coming to us from Sky News, reporting that an Italian security agent who actually met with Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian agent, actually has now tested positive for those same traces of that radioactive material that killed the Russian agent. That material, polonium 210 is what it was, some stuff you can't just go down to the local drugstore and pick up. This is some stuff that many are saying possibly had to have come from a government agency and, of course, Litvinenko went to his deathbed saying that this went straight to the Kremlin, even blaming Russian President Putin for his death. But now, getting word, Sky News reporting that someone else has now tested positive for that same material, polonium 210, that killed the Russian agent. This is a fascinating story that we will continue to watch, bring you more information when we do get it.
We're going to continue now to talk about that winter weather and looking for some traction around here. December rolls in with snow and ice for the plains, plenty of travel delays to tell you about and we'll tell you about them, here in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: You already know to catch us weekday mornings from 9:00 to noon eastern, but did you know you can take us with you anywhere on your iPod? The CNN NEWSROOM podcast available 24/7 right on your iPod.
HOLMES: Advice for President Bush from the Iraq Study Group. Bring them home before you leave town. We look into that in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com
