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Shootdown and Bombings in Iraq; Sanctions vs. Diplomacy; Mother, Children Hanged

Aired May 29, 2007 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Right now we are waiting for a news conference on the tuberculosis scare. Apparently someone was infected with a form of tuberculosis, was on two transatlantic flights. Now the CDC, the Centers for Disease Control, is expected to hold a live news conference.
We'll take that as soon as it happens.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: The other major developing story we're keeping an eye on is a shocking one out of Texas. What police found inside a mobile home today is just unimaginable.

A 23-year-old mother and her four daughters all found hanging in a bedroom closet. This was in Hudson Oaks. This was near Fort Worth. The mother and three of the girls, ages 5, 3, and 2, dead. The 8- month-old baby survived and is listed in good condition.

Police say this looks like a murder-suicide, but an investigation is under way. They're also questioning the children's father, who had separated from the mother.

We will bring you more on this developing story ahead here in the NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: Targeting U.S. troops and their rescuers, it's a devious tactic that Iraqi insurgents have repeatedly used. Now they've done it again and the results are deadly. It started with a helicopter shootdown near Baquba in Iraq's volatile Diyala province, but it turned into much more.

Here's CNN's Paula Hancocks from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): As Americans around the world commemorated Memorial Day, more U.S. troops were killed in Iraq. Eight of the latest casualties in the volatile Diyala province northeast of Baghdad.

Two pilots were killed when their helicopter was shot down Monday with small arms fire, according to the U.S. military. A quick reaction force was called in to recover the chopper. One of the vehicles was hit by a roadside bomb, killing five. A second vehicle in the force was hit, killing another soldier. Three more were injured. This month's the deadliest for the American military since November 2004. Those killed were from Task Force Lightning, the force that patrols parts of northern Iraq, including the Diyala province.

It is at least the 11th helicopter to come down so far this year in Iraq with 30 deaths. Two more car bombs ripped through Baghdad Tuesday within an hour of each other, killing at least three dozens people and injuring many more.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, that was CNN's Paula Hancocks in Baghdad. And next hour we're going to head to the Pentagon for the latest on the fight for Iraq.

HOLMES: Taking a stand. President Bush orders economic sanctions against Sudan for years (ph) into the bloody conflict in the Darfur region. An estimated 200,000 people have been killed there by the Janjaweed militia. Another 2.5 million have fled.

The U.S. sanctions target Sudanese companies involved in its oil industry, preventing them from doing business with U.S. companies. And they also focus on a rebel leader and two high-ranking Sudanese government officials believed to be behind the violence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I call on President Bashir to stop his obstruction and to allow the peacekeepers in, and to end the campaign of violence that continues to targets innocent men, women and children. And I promise this to the people of Darfur, the United States will not avert our eyes from a crisis that challenges the conscience of the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: White House aides say the president wanted to impose the sanctions last month, but has been holding off to give the United States secretary-general more time to find a diplomatic end to this crisis.

Well, beyond the sanctions, Mr. Bush wants a U.S.-sponsored U.N. resolution that would put more pressure on the Sudanese government, but will all this put the U.S. on a collision course with the U.N.?

To answer that for us, U.N. Correspondent Richard Roth is with us now.

Richard, what is the secretary-general saying about this at this point, saying anything?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: He says that he would like to have more time. He had asked for more time for diplomacy, and President Bush held off for the last few weeks. However, he is also saying, look, this is a Security Council matter. That's how they divvy things up here at the U.N. The secretary- general can say what he wants, but it's really the countries who have the power. He's going to continue his diplomatic efforts, and the U.S. and Britain say sanctions do not mean that diplomacy goes away. They are there to enforce diplomacy.

HOLMES: And also, before we let you go here, we know the president wants further sanctions. Wants U.S.-sponsored U.N. sanctions. Do we know if there's support for that just yet?

ROTH: Well, the Chinese delegate here said that sanctions are not the way to go, that it's interference in a country's affairs, that it's counterproductive. And the Russian ambassador, Mr. Churkin, said he thought diplomacy was starting to work, didn't think it was helpful. They would have to be put to the test though. And whether they would veto or not is still open.

There's been a lot of pressure recently on China linked to the Olympics that will be held in Beijing. China has appointed a special envoy to Darfur which is rather unique in this type of diplomatic world. So they may be feeling the heat, and whether they will cave in on the sanctions issue. The British ambassador says unless we see a change on the ground, we're prepared to go with this resolution very shortly.

HOLMES: All right. Richard Roth for us at the U.N. On top of it, as always, for us.

Thank you so much, Richard.

PHILLIPS: President Bush is doing some stumping for the immigration reform bill under debate in the Senate, and today he talked it up at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia. More than 80 federal agencies train there, including the Border Patrol.

In addressing critics of the bipartisan bill, Mr. Bush was pretty blunt, saying they "don't want to do what's right for America."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Those determined to find fault with this bill will always be able to look at a narrow slice of it and find something they don't like. If you want to kill the bill, if you don't want to do what's right for America, you can pick one little aspect out of it. You can use it to frighten people, or you can show leadership and solve this problem once and for all so the people who wear the uniform in this crowd can do the job we expect them to do. Now's the time for comprehensive immigration reform.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, nothing will get done in this legislation this week, though. Congress is on break until next week.

HOLMES: We want to turn back to that just horrific story we're watching out of Texas, where a mother and her four daughters were found hanging in a closet. The mother and three of the girls dead. An 8-month-old daughter did survive, said to be in good condition.

But the sheriff there investigating, Larry Fowler, is on the line with us now out of Park County, Texas.

Sir, thank you for your time.

We understand you think this is a murder-suicide. We know this investigation is just getting started. What are the indications you see there, and have you been able to determine just yet if in fact this was a murder-suicide?

SHERIFF LARRY FOWLER, PARKER COUNTY, TEXAS: Well, due to the condition and some things that we observed at the scene, it's our belief that since this door was secured in a fashion from the inside, and you would have had to have been inside to secure the door, we believe it might -- that might be what we're looking at here. But until we're totally finished, and I mean totally finished with this investigation, we're not prepared to say that that's what it is.

HOLMES: And sir, we understand the 8-month-old survived and is said to be in good condition now. How -- give us an update first, if you can, on just what kind of condition the 8-month-old is in, and how was it that the 8-month-old appears maybe to have been able to survive?

FOWLER: Well -- and again, I'm certainly not a medical person, but I understand there's something about a baby that made this possible. The thing is, we don't know how long the baby had been, you know, in that condition there, but the people at Cooks Children's Medical Center a short time ago, when we spoke with them over there, the baby is in good condition. Which is rather amazing to me.

HOLMES: All right. And sir, I know you're also wanting to speak to the husband. They've been separated. Have you been able to find him and been able to talk to him? And has he been cooperating with police?

FOWLER: He is cooperative. We have located him, and he has been interviewed by sheriff's investigators, and that has been done.

HOLMES: What have you -- I'm sorry.

FOWLER: The man and the woman were separated, they were not living together.

HOLMES: Sir, what have you been able to gather together from neighbors, family and friends about this mother and about this family, and what kind of a unit it was, and what kind of -- I don't know, just what kind of mother she was, and what kind of -- has she been depressed lately? Have you been able to gather anything like that about her?

FOWLER: Well, there was a -- there was a sister -- one of her sisters who lives across the street was the one who found this horrible incident over there this morning. And I understand she was interviewed by our investigators, and she did make a statement to the effect that lately this lady had seemed depressed. Now, beyond that, I mean, I don't have any information.

HOLMES: All right. Well, Sheriff Larry Fowler.

Sir, we appreciate you taking time. I know you've got a lot more work to do there on this just horrible, horrible story we're hearing there, again out of Hudson Oaks, Texas. But sir, thank you for your time.

FOWLER: You're quite welcome.

PHILLIPS: China produces thousands of products that are probably in your pantry right now. How do you know that they're safe to eat? Questions now about policing the U.S. food supply next from the CNN NEWSROOM.

HOLMES: And 10 years after a fatal Paris crash, a British documentary will show pictures of Princess Diana inside the car.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a particularly sick gimmick.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Outrage in Britain, that is ahead here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And also, as soon as that CDC news conference begins about that case of tuberculosis, we will bring it to you. We expect to get new details about an airline passenger infected with TB.

Again, you are watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: We're waiting for a live news conference from the Centers for Disease Control. We told you about the threat of tuberculosis. Apparently, a patient on a plane who has been exposed to it now exposed other passengers on two flights that this patient -- still don't know if it's a man or woman -- took within the past couple of days.

Elizabeth Cohen now joining us as we wait for this news conference.

Where do you want to start? Do you want to talk about -- we know now what flights these were, is that right?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: We know what flights they are, and I think it's also important to note this is not just plain old TB. This is not garden variety TB.

PHILLIPS: It's more dangerous. COHEN: It's much more dangerous.

This patient had what's called XDR, Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis. That means that when they try to give these patients drugs, it doesn't work. It's an extremely high mortality rate to this disease, and that's why the Centers for Disease Control says that a federal quarantine has been issued.

This is extremely unusual. I talked to experts who can't remember the last time a federal quarantine was actually issued.

Let's talk about the flights that this person was on. This is just in from the CDC, this just came to us via e-mail.

This person traveled to Europe via Air France Number 385, departing Atlanta on May 12th, and arrived in Paris on May 13, and then returned to the United States after taking a commercial flight on May 24 from Prague to the Czech Republic, to Montreal. So that was Czech Air 410. So, we have Air France 385 and Czech Air 410.

The person then reentered the U.S. May 24th via automobile. This person with XDR-TB, Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis, now is undergoing medical evaluation and is under isolation.

So those are the two flights that are under concern here, Czech Air on May 24th, and Air France, Atlanta-Paris on May 13th.

PHILLIPS: All right. We actually have a live picture from this news conference now.

Let me ask you a question.

There it is, right there. When it starts we'll take it live.

What should these passengers do now? Let's say they were on that Air France flight, 385, they're panicking. What do they do?

COHEN: First of all, the most important thing to remember is don't panic. Just because you were on this flight does not mean that you're going to get it.

There have been studies of people with TB on airplanes. There was one -- for example, someone with TB was on a flight with -- several flights with about 925 patients. Only 15 of them ended up getting TB, and it was latent TB. That's the kind TB that usually doesn't cause people problems. So that's important to keep in mind.

So, what the CDC recommends here is that people who were on these flights should be notified and encouraged to seek TB testing and evaluation. They're especially concerned about passengers seated in the same row, two rows ahead and two rows behind this infected person.

Now, the information that I have doesn't identify the -- it doesn't identify what row, and of course people aren't necessarily going to remember what row they were on. These are -- these are flights that were many days ago. But if you were on those flights, according to the CDC, you should be evaluated for whether or not you have this TB.

PHILLIPS: How communicable is it? I mean, is it the type -- is it through touch or saliva or -- I mean...

COHEN: It's airborne.

PHILLIPS: Airborne.

COHEN: So, if you and I were sitting in this room hour after hour, just having this kind of a conversation, it is possible that we could give each other TB. But it's usually given to people who are in enclosed spaces for hour after hour after hour. So we're talking about family members in a household together, people sitting on planes together.

But again, remember, in the study, with 925 passengers who had been on a plane with someone who had had TB, only 15 of them ended up actually testing positive for TB, and it was latent TB. They did not actually have the active disease.

So, that's important to keep in mind. This isn't as communicable as, let's say, chickenpox. You know, if one of us had chickenpox, the chances of the other one getting it are really high.

PHILLIPS: Right.

COHEN: TB's not quite like that, but it definitely does get transmitted person to person, airborne, through germs in the air.

PHILLIPS: All right. Elizabeth Cohen, you're going to stay with us.

We're expecting this news conference from the CDC any moment now. We'll take it live as soon as it happens, tell you about this TB scare and what exactly the government wants you to do if you were on those flights.

More information right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead to the CDC, Julie Gerberding, on this TB exposure.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

DR. JULIE GERBERDING, CDC DIRECTOR: The patient returned to the United States on Czech Air Flight 0104, and then entered the United States by car. During these two long flights, the patient may have been a source of infection to the passengers.

The passengers most likely to be at risk would be the passengers who were seated in seats immediately close to the patient. And consistent with the World Health Organization guidelines, CDC is recommending that those passengers be notified by their health officials in their responsible country or state, and that such persons then have a test for tuberculosis to determine whether or not they were in fact exposed.

We also recognize that other passengers on these two long air trips might be worried about the possibility of exposure, and so we will also be requesting that they be notified. While we don't think from past scientific investigation that their risk is high, we want to offer them the opportunity to be evaluated and tested also.

What is unusual about this circumstance is that this patient's tuberculosis organism was extremely resistant to the TB drugs that we would normally use to treat infection. We know this an emerging problem on a global basis, and from time to time it does occur.

Normally when someone has tuberculosis, we influence them through a covenant of trust so that they don't put themselves in situations where they could potentially expose others. In this case, the patient had compelling personal reasons for traveling and made the decision to go ahead and meet those personal responsibilities.

We recognized after the patient had left the jurisdiction that the tuberculosis organism was extremely drug resistant, and we felt it was important at that point in time to take our responsibility to protect the public to the ultimate limit and issue a federal order of isolation under the Public Health Service Act that gives us statutory responsibility for issuing quarantine orders. What this means is that the patient was ordered to be in isolation and is required to stay in isolation until the responsible public health officials deem that he is no longer infectious to others.

The patient currently is in a situation where he is isolated. He is undergoing medical evaluation, and we anticipate that we will be able to provide the best technical expertise in designing a treatment regimen that would be best suited for his organism.

We are well aware of the fact that taking a measure such as issuing an order of isolation is unusual. In fact, people at CDC don't recall us doing this since 1963. So, we always want to balance personal liberties with the requirement to protect people's health. But in this situation, because this organism is so potentially serious and could cause such serious harm to people, especially those that have other medical conditions that would reduce their immunity, we felt it was our responsibility to err on the side of abundant caution and issue the isolation order to assure that we were doing everything possible to protect people's health and avoiding any additional potential for exposure.

I want to emphasize for the passengers on these two flights -- again, that was Air France Flight 385 that left Atlanta on May 12th, and Czech Air Flight 0104 that departed from Prague on May 24th -- that we have no suspicion that this patient was highly infectious. In fact, the medical evidence would suggest that his potential for transmission would be on the low side, but we know it isn't zero.

And so we are considering not only his own ability to transmit, but also the seriousness of this organism and the chance that some passenger on this plane could be one that was at a special risk for serious tuberculosis on the basis of their own personal medical history. So we are encouraging these passengers to cooperate with the advice from their health authorities for testing, and whatever medical follow-up is indicated.

It's also important to recognize that we're early in the process of investigating this situation. We have great cooperation from the affected airlines and certainly from the health ministries around the world who will be reaching out to their citizens to assist in the assessment and the evaluation, but this is going to take some time. We can't manage these things any faster than the information becomes available, is checked, and then we reach to travelers who sometimes are difficult to track down to give them the best possible medical advice.

We also want to reassure people that weren't on these flights that their risk of exposure on a random air flight is extremely low. And we're not concerned about a generic threat to travelers. We're focusing in on these two airlines because they were long trips, because our science indicates that if there is a risk, these are the kinds of trips that could pose a risk of transmission. And again, because this is an unusual TB organism, one that's very, very difficult to treat, and we want to make sure that we have done everything we possibly can do identify people who could be at risk.

So, we're balancing both a need to protect individuals' freedoms, as well as the right -- the responsibility to protect the public. And at the same time, we're balancing information that people would want to know about their own health hazard with the reassurance that generally speaking this is not going to pose a serious risk to the vast majority of people who were flying that day.

So let me stop there and address any questions that you might have. And I'll start with the question in the room.

QUESTION: Hi, Dr. Gerberding. Thanks. I have a couple of questions.

Number one, did this passenger know he had TB before he got on these flights? And also, how can you enforce that people get tested, especially if he was being exposed to other people after the fact? It seems that you indicated he went back to his family.

So who all has to be tested? And can you enforce it, and can these others countries enforce it as well?

GERBERDING: Our understanding from the county health officials who were responsible for managing the patient when he initially presented with tuberculosis, that he was aware of his diagnosis, but at the time that he departed, he may not have been aware of the fact that he had Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis.

In terms of compelling testing of people who may have been exposed, I don't think we would compel people to be tested, because this is a part of a personal decision about their own health risk assessment. But we would strongly recommend that those people seated next to the passenger, two rows behind him and two rows in front of him, be followed for a baseline skin test to make sure they weren't infected in the past, and then retested in several weeks to make sure that they don't have signs of an incubating TB infection.

One thing important to understand about tuberculosis is that it takes a long time for the disease to evolve. So there is time for people to get these tests done before they would pose any hazards to others. And so we're not concerned about the passengers posing a risk to other people at this point in time, we are just concerned for their own sake that they be assessed and either reassured or asked to participate in longer follow-ups.

PHILLIPS: Dr. Julie Gerberding, the head of the CDC, holding a live news conference right now.

A bit of a scare as we got word coming over the wires now -- it's been confirmed, apparently -- a passenger on a couple different airline flights, the first one being Air France 385, leaving Atlanta May 12th, arriving Paris May 13th, a patient with TB then transferring to another flight, Czech Air Flight 410, departed -- left Prague on May 24th, and then arrived in Montreal, Canada, May 24th. And then Dr. Gerberding saying that patient driving himself to the United States.

The question now is, are the other passengers on those flights at risk? Do they need to get tested for TB? How dangerous of a strain is this TB? Is this the TB that we know, or is this something that could be far more fatal?

Well, the bad news is, it is one of the worst parts of TB, a form of TB, and it's very difficult to treat, you heard from Dr. Gerberding there.

Therefore, Elizabeth Cohen working the story as well.

So people know what to do if they've been on those flights -- immediately get to a doctor and get tested for TB.

COHEN: Right. Get yourself checked out, because you definitely want to know if you have this. This is Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis.

It's not like the kind of tuberculosis we usually hear about. Drugs don't work, this disease has a very high mortality rates. And unfortunately, people can transmit it to people, especially when they have close contact -- sitting next to, or the row in front or behind someone who's on an airplane. Someone in your household, that's usually how these things are transmitted, through relatively close contact, where the germs that you put in the air can be transmitted to the person who is next to you.

So, the people who are on those flights need to find out if they have this disease. However, it's important to say that when TB -- when someone with TB has gotten on an airplane, the vast majority of fellow passengers have been just fine. PHILLIPS: And what's interesting, we're learning a little bit more about this patient. Apparently, he did know that he had this, was detained, and released some important family business he had to take care of. You talk about how fatal this is. Maybe he knew this might be the end, which kind of breaks your heart, but at the same time, why was he on these flights? Why didn't he let people know what was going on?

COHEN: I think in response to a question actually from CNN producer, Mariam Falko (ph) that Dr. Gerberding (ph) said that he did not realize that he had this kind of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis. There's a huge difference between, for want of a better term, garden variety tuberculosis and this extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis.

When someone has regular tuberculosis, drugs work. When someone has extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, they usually do not, and that's why you have such an incredibly high mortality rate with this disease.

PHILLIPS: Federal quarantine, the government is coming forward, the president has to sign off on this, this is a huge deal.

COHEN: It is a huge deal, and Dr. Gerberding says that at CDC, they can't -- the last time they remember doing a quarantine in isolation like this was 1963, and the president does have to sign off on this. You can only quarantine people for eight diseases. You can see here, the federal government has the power to apprehend and detain individuals in order to curtail the spread of disease. The president has to sign it, and you can only do this for eight diseases. TB is one of them.

PHILLIPS: All right, we'll stay on top of the story as well. Elizabeth Cohen, thanks.

HOLMES: China produces thousands of products that are probably in your pantry right now. How do you know they're safe to eat, though? Questions about policing the U.S. food supply. That's next here in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: House prices are dropping, that we know. What's surprising in a new survey though, is some of the cities that are seeing the biggest drops.

Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange with all the numbers. Hey, Susan.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

HOLMES: Well, that apple juice you buy at your local store may look like it comes from a nearby orchard, but did you know -- or do you know how much of it comes from China -- where issues with food and drug safety have caused worldwide alarm. It's just one thing to consider as you navigate that supermarket, and it's part of a bigger problem. The government estimates 76 million Americans become sick from food borne illness each year and 5,000 die.

Well, joining me now to talk about the safety of your food, William Hubbard, he's the former associate commissioner for policy and planning at the Food and Drug Administration.

Mr. Hubbard, thank you for being here. Sir, I read something that scared me a little bit. And I'm certainly no expert, but read that we got 13 million food shipments imported to this country, one percent of those are inspected? Now, is it just me, or is that ridiculous?

WILLIAM HUBBARD, FMR. FDA ASSOC. COMMISSIONER: That's right, T.J. The country is being flooded with imported foods from around the world and the Food and Drug Administration has not been able to keep up because of budget cuts.

HOLMES: Now, is it just budget cuts? Or is there something else, I know money is an issue -- is it more money or is it simply money, or is the FDA doing something else wrong? Is there something systemic about the FDA that's keeping them from doing a good job?

HUBBARD: Well, some people think FDA does need more authority, that it needs to be able to say to a foreign country you need to send us safe food, but the budgets cuts have been a huge part of it. FDA can't look at all this food, and so we need a strong FDA. They're the bulwark, they are really the protection for our food supply, and when the FDA is not funded, they cannot do their job.

HOLMES: Now, is it going to take something where there is -- we've had plenty of issues lately with food and people getting sick, but is it going to take an incident where a lot of people die before Congress, before the White House, before everybody gets on board and gives the FDA and starts taking this more seriously?

HUBBARD: Gosh, I hope not, T.J. I hope that the pet food crisis will be a wake-up call for official Washington, for the White House and the Congress, that they need to step up and fix the FDA and they need to do it now.

HOLMES: Now, is China the big headache? We've been hearing a lot about it, and talking a lot about it, and a lot of issues, month after month after month, most of them we see come from China with some of the imports that are stopped. Is that the biggest headache right now and why?

HUBBARD: Well the FDA refuses more food from China than any other country, but there's lots of other third world or developing countries that send food to the United States, Vietnam, Thailand, Latin America. That don't have strong food safety regulatory systems. That's why we need a strong FDA. They're the ones that can screen this stuff. When FDA doesn't have people to do it, we have a problem.

HOLMES: How many inspectors are out there working right now? Is that right? Did I hear just a few, less than 700, 600 or something like that? HUBBARD: For imports they have about 450, but that's with 13 million food imports and another 7 million drug and medical device imports, so you're talking about a tsunami of food and other products coming in with a tiny number of people to look at them.

HOLMES: At the same time, sir, we heard this number I had here -- I read in that intro that 76 million people get sick from food borne illnesses. Five thousand die. Sure, one death is too many, but until people here -- but it doesn't seem just in our day-to-day lives, we don't get sick from food borne illnesses, or if we a little get a stomach issue, we get over it and we get past it. So it still maybe with all that food coming in, it may not, to a lot of folks, seem like that big of a deal.

HUBBARD: I think we've come to accept the food borne illness, which we probably shouldn't. So many of them are preventable. When you have contaminants from overseas that are just plain poison like melamine, that's a real problem that needs to be addressed.

HOLMES: Would you call our food supply safe? Or should we be nervous?

HUBBARD: It can certainly be made much more safe. And I think it should be and I am nervous. I think there's a potential for a large problem, even a catastrophe, if the FDA is not strengthened.

HOLMES: What is the threat, as well, if other countries see, that OK, they don't have enough inspectors to inspect all this food. All these imports coming in, those countries know that, so maybe they try to sneak some of their bad stuff into our country, dump some of their worst products on us. Is that maybe happening already?

HUBBARD: You are so right, T.J. The FDA professionals have said for years that they fear the word is out. That foreign countries can send us their bad food because they know no one here is looking.

HOLMES: Nobody here is looking. Well, William Hubbard, we know you're looking, again former associate commissioner for policy and planning at the Food & Drug Administration. Making it your mission now to try to beef up the FDA to try to get them the money, the funds, the resources, the help that they need. Sir, we appreciate you, and enjoy dinner tonight.

HUBBARD: Thank you.

HOLMES: Alright. Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, in the last hour we've been learning about that TB scare that has the potential to affect passengers on two transatlantic flights. We'll have more details on the disease with an expert on TB, that's coming up in the NEWSROOM.

Plus, the man who helped investigators foil an alleged plot to attack a New Jersey army base. He's speaking for the first time. You'll see him only on CNN. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

HOLMES: I do want to take you now to a developing story. Information we are just getting out of Walt Disney World. That an accident has taken place there and five guests and a cast member were injured this morning. You'ree taking a look at this picture here -- video we are getting.

The name of this attraction is the Cally River Rapids, at the Walt Disney World, part of the Animal Kingdom there. But apparently what happened, there was some kind of a sensor that went off, that let them know there was some kind of problem, so the ride was just stopped. Well, there's a procedure for each ride, according to the P.R. person there, Kim Cronty (ph), there's a procedure in place where if a ride is stopped to evacuate the guests.

Well, that process was put in place and a manual platform was brought out. And at that point, that platform, that was evacuating the folks. Some kind of weight collapsed, and the people were injured. They have been taken to the hospital and apparently none of those injuries are thought to be life threatening. But at least five guests and one cast member injured in this accident at Walt Disney World. We'll keep an eye on it and get you an update as we get it.

PHILLIPS: Keeping his eye on the ball and on a global crisis, an NBA player wants to put a full-court press on saving Darfur. His creative plan straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: I'm Brooke Anderson, in Hollywood. A wild weekend for Lindsay Lohan comes to an end. Is the 20-year-old socialite heading back to rehab? That story and more, straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

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PHILLIPS: Peace, harmony and everyone getting along. It's not the sight that fans of The View are really used to. "Showbiz Tonight's" Brooke Anderson joins me now with the latest drama from Hollywood. Hey Broke!

ANDERSON: Hey there, Kyra. It was an unusually calm day on The View. And it was Rosie's decision and that's that, according to mother Barbara. This morning Barbara Walters spoke for the first time since Rosie O'Donnell has announced that she is taking an early departure from the program.

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BARBARA WALTERS, THE VIEW: Rosie was never fired. There was no desire to have her leave the show. We wanted to have her stay. In the beginning it was her decision to leave the show, because her representatives and ABC could not come to terms on her contract. It was her decision not to come back. We hoped that she would have next year as long as she wanted to. Then again, this time it was Rosie's decision not to return for the other three weeks. She has said on her blog that she was upset by a split screen, which is a device that shows two people together. We've used the split screen several times last week. I just think so much was exacerbated by a very hot discussion that usually takes place off-camera.

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ANDERSON: Today marked the show's first live taping since Rosie announced she would not returning to her job after last week's explosive exchange with co-host Elisabeth Hasselback. On Friday, Rosie, who had planned to leave the program when her contract was up in June, asked for an early release after the blowup. Now, in a video blog on her web site, Rosie says she hasn't spoken to Elisabeth since the spat, probably won't, and basically that's okay.

Elisabeth added today that she and Rosie had been in contact over the weekend, but didn't say whether it was on the phone or Kyra, maybe via e-mail.

PHILLIPS: Drama, drama drama. Speaking of drama, Lindsey Lohan. She's heading back to rehab, not back to rehab. Everybody's in rehab.

ANDERSON: Right. Well and that seems to be the latest question surrounding the wild weekend of Lindsay Lohan, the very troubled star, we all know. According to TMZ.com and In Touch weekly, the answer is yes, she's going back to rehab. TMZ reports that Lohan's lawyer drove her to Promises Rehab in Malibu yesterday to check herself in. Now this comes after a weekend of partying that included a suspicion of DUI arrest after she drove her car into a curb on Sunset Boulevard early Saturday morning. Officers at the scene found what they call a quote, "usable amount of drug," tentatively identified as cocaine.

Lohan's publicist has been unresponsive and neither confirmed nor denied to CNN the rehab reports. You may remember back in February, Lohan completed 30 days in the Wonderland Rehab Facility for alcohol abuse. And her publicist, prior to that, had said she had been attending alcoholics anonymous meetings. Now Kyra, Lohan's tentative arraignment date for that arrest and the misdemeanor charges is scheduled for August 24th.

PHILLIPS: Well of course this video that everybody is talking about now. Poor Miss USA took a little bit of a spill, but you know, T.J. and I were talking, it was the most beautiful spill we've ever seen.

ANDERSON: Can you believe it? What a graceful, quick recovery, right? And haven't we all slipped and fallen at some point? There she is, pretty tough weekend for Miss USA, Rachel Smith. You know, the 22-year-old did slip and fall during the evening gown competition at last night's Miss Universe pageant. It was held in Mexico City, but as you say, boy, she jumped to her feet very very gracefully, but after that, listen to this. She was booed by Mexican audience members during the interview portion of the process, because of what they called U.S. unfriendliness toward illegal immigrants.

In the end it was a pretty successful night. Smith was named fourth runner-up while the crowd went to Riyo Mori, a 20-year-old dancer from Japan.

Coming up, on "Showbiz Tonight" tonight, more on Lindsay Lohan's freaky weekend from her DUI arrest after a car crash to her collapse outside a club. Has Lindsay hit rock bottom and who's to blame for her out of control behavior? That startling story and the picture on TV's most provocative entertainment news show. That is 11:00 eastern and pacific, headline prime. A.J. Hammer and I hope to see you then.

PHILLIPS: Thanks a lot, Brooke.

ANDERSON: Thanks.

HUBBARD: Miss USA just needs a hug. Meanwhile, we are going to turn on to these humpback whales. Those pair of wayward whales. They are getting closer to safety. We have been following this story for a couple of weeks now. We hope to finally get there. We'll bring you a live progress report ahead, here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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