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American Morning
President Bush and Gordon Brown Meeting; Help With Passport Backlog; Will 9/11 Reforms Make a Difference?
Aired July 30, 2007 - 06:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Summer dip. Gas prices take a double-digit drop. Are lower prices here to stay?
Your Monday morning rush.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My god! Channel 15 and Channel 3 just had a midair collision.
ROBERTS: Up in the air. New questions about rules for news helicopters after a midair crash in Phoenix. What happened on the way to get you the sensational shot?
On this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: And good morning. Welcome back. Thanks very much for joining us as we kick off a brand new week.
It's Monday, the 30th of July. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry.
You know, and there are a lot of questions this morning in the aftermath of that horrific crash that claimed the lives of four news reporters and cameramen out in Arizona about the helicopters and the safety of news helicopters. They're in the sky in most major cities for hours a day, and you don't even think about it until something like that happens.
ROBERTS: Yes. And you would be surprised at the regulation or lack thereof when it comes to how they fly around those cities. Something that we're going to get into this hour.
Meantime, for the first time, President Bush is meeting with the new British prime minister, Gordon Brown, today. The two are meeting up at Camp David. We are expecting a joint news conference later on this morning around 11:30.
A lot of issues on the table. Just yesterday, newspapers in London reported new speculation that Brown is looking to pull troops out of Iraq.
Ed Henry is at the White House for us this morning. And Ed, both of these leaders taking an awful lot of effort in the last 24 hours to suggest that, hey, they're still pretty much on the same page.
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John. And that's what this meeting is going to be all about.
They're going to talk about Darfur and trade and the environment. But the biggest issue of all that will be hanging over these two days of talks will be basically, will Gordon Brown be as strong an ally as Tony Blair was?
As you noted, those early signs have raised eyebrows, speculation of British troop pullouts, the fact that Mr. Brown appointed a cabinet minister who has sharply criticized the Bush administration, and that minister also declared that the U.S. and Britain will no longer be joined at the hip. But the key, though, is that Mr. Brown himself has said the right things so far, saying he believes there needs to be a strong U.S.-British alliance.
But the fact of the matter is, he's a popular new prime minister. And he has to look at the example of Tony Blair, who, in the eyes of many Britons, got too close to Mr. Bush. And that -- you know, you know the criticism of being Bush's poodle and the like, and that's ultimately what ended Mr. Blair's career -- John.
ROBERTS: Hey, Ed, beyond showing that the two of them are still relatively on the same page and that relations between the two countries are still very healthy, are there any other goals for this summit?
HENRY: Absolutely. I mean, you know, they don't want to have any, as they call it, deliverables, or any actual policy pronouncement, but it's going to be all about showing there's chemistry between these two leaders.
You know, the White House spokesman, Tony Snow, correctly points out that back in 2001, the media was also predicting there was no chance that Mr. Bush would have the same relationship with Mr. Blair that Blair had with Bill Clinton, because that was so close. That obviously turned out to be wrong.
At their first Camp David meeting in February 2001, Blair and Bush even talked about -- joked about the fact they both use Colgate toothpaste. They also talked about serious matters, but they instantly showed that there was chemistry. They called each other Tony and George.
A lot of people are going to be looking very closely. There's a joint press conference later this morning. Will that same kind of chemistry be there?
John.
ROBERTS: Well, we'll see what kind of common ground they found out this morning. Ed Henry for us at the White House.
Thanks very much.
HENRY: Thank you.
ROBERTS: And a reminder, of course, that CNN will be carrying that press conference when it occurs sometime around 11:30 Eastern this morning -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Also new this morning, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates are headed for the Mideast in a rare high-level meeting that's going to be taking place in Saudi Arabia. The U.S. is looking to shore up its relationship with the Saudis and also put some pressure on them to support the Iraqi government.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZALMAY KHALILZAD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: We would expect and want them to help us on this strategic issue more than they are doing. And at times, some of them are not doing -- not helping or doing things that is undermining the efforts to make progress.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Supporting some of these Sunni militias, for example?
KHALILZAD: Or not engaging the government, or not engaging the Shias, or having diplomatic representation. The level of positive effort that they are making, compared to the stakes involved for the region, is minimal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, to encourage the Saudis to cooperate, the White House confirmed plans last week to sell them $20 billion worth of high-tech weapons. Is that the best idea given some of the allegations about whether or not they continue to support terror?
Well, we're going to be speaking about that coming up in a few moments with Richard Haass. He is the president of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Meantime, Iraqis over the world are celebrating the national soccer team's win over Saudi Arabia. They won the Asian Cup, and the victory triggered some wild celebrations in Iraq. Fans pouring into the streets of Baghdad, firing celebratory gunshots, even though that is banned, and banned for a reason. It turned out to be deadly, because stray bullets killed four people and injured 17 others in the capital.
The Afghan government pleading this morning with the Taliban to extend a deadline for the lives of 22 South Korean church workers being held hostage. Militants are warning the government to release some of its captured fighters or the hostages will be killed. Five hikers in South Korea died after being hit by lightning. It happened on two separate mountains just outside of Seoul. Investigators say that in one of the incidents, climbers were shocked through their metal climbing equipment. Six other hikers suffered serious burns.
Gas prices down 17 cents in the last two weeks. Checking the CNN gas gauge right now.
The national average, $2.89 a gallon, according to AAA. That's down from $2.96 a month ago and $3 a gallon last year at this time.
Another survey shows Cleveland now the city with the lowest price per gallon, at $2.65. Chicago the highest, at $3.29 a gallon.
Well, the big question for investors, will it be another rocky ride on Wall Street this Monday? We have some indication this morning from the overseas markets.
Tokyo's Nikkei closing flat, up three-tenths of a percent. And Hong Kong's Hang Seng closing up three-quarters of a percent. China's Shanghai Index up as well, as was Australia's market. Stocks in Europe are also trading up slightly.
ROBERTS: And futures here in New York looking up a little bit today as well.
It just turned six minutes after the hour. Here a look at some of the other important stories that we're following with our AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents.
Rob Marciano watching today's extreme weather down in Douglasville, Georgia, for us, live this morning.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: And the State Department is hoping that some interns can help tackle that huge backlog in passport applications.
Our Sean Callebs is in New Orleans with the story for us this morning.
Good morning, Sean.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.
Indeed, the cry, send in the interns. When the backlog reached close to two million, the State Department acted and sent 200 employees -- half to New Hampshire, half to here in New Orleans. These are two big regional centers for handling passport applications.
Well, about -- a lot of those people were sent down from the State Department here are presidential management fellows, basically an internship position. But these are indeed the best and the brightest, these are people who plan on making a career in public service. And John, you'll remember there was a lot of furor when the State Department employees first found out they had to come here or New Hampshire, but that's changed somewhat and it's turning out these young people are really being good for the city as well. I'll explain later on.
ROBERTS: Well, you know, and no shortage of things to do there down in New Orleans. So if you're a young person, maybe not a bad place to be for the summer.
Sean Callebs in New Orleans.
Thanks very much -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, legislation intended to enact the rest of 9/11 Commission's reforms is on its way to the president. One of the hallmark pieces of that bill is a mandate that within three years, all air cargo undergo security screening. It sounds good, but then there are some skeptics who are saying it won't work.
CNN's Jeanne Meserve is live on the security watch in Washington.
And Jeanne, at one time, there was talk of a veto. So what changed?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, the president says he's going to sign it. There was an earlier veto threat because of a provision in the legislation that would have given collective bargaining rights to 45,000 airport screeners, but that was taken out of the bill.
What remains in it, well, risk will be a bigger consideration in dividing up homeland security grant money. Target cities like New York had complained vehemently that too much of the pie was going to low-threat areas.
Also, as you mentioned, all air cargo will have to be screened within three years. And all incoming maritime cargo will have to be scanned for radiation within five years.
Some say that it's technologically and logistically impossible. The bill addresses that by allowing the homeland security secretary to ask for extensions if those are needed -- Kiran.
CHETRY: And also, what doesn't the bill address, Jeanne?
MESERVE: Well, Kiran, if you were to look right now at an organizational chart of all the committees on Capitol Hill that have some jurisdiction over homeland security, it would look like a bowl of spaghetti. There are scores of them.
One of the principal recommendations of the 9/11 commission was that that be simplified. This bill does not do it. The Republicans are criticizing it because of that. But you know what? When the Republicans were in control, they didn't do it either. The bottom line is nobody on Capitol Hill wants to give up any power -- Kiran. CHETRY: Isn't that always the case? Jeanne Meserve for us in Washington.
Thanks.
ROBERTS: This morning we are taking a closer look at a wild story in southern California. An admitted pedophile stalking children's events, snapping pictures of little girls and posting them on his Web site. Parents are outraged, but believe it or not, it's all legal.
Reporter Stacey Butler of our affiliate KCAL spoke to the man of the center of all of this. She joins us now live from our Los Angeles bureau.
And Stacey, I think there is really only one kind of word for this, and it's creepy.
STACEY BUTLER, REPORTER, KCAL: Absolutely. It's unnerving. It was definitely unnerving to speak with him. He is very candid about what his desires are and how he likes little girls.
He told me on camera a couple of months ago that he goes to these different events. You know, public events that are all over Los Angeles this time of year. Especially, the weather is nice. The weather, he says, drew him here.
Now, the last time I talked to him, he was living out of his car. He says that he -- he actually has a Web site. He had one at that time. He rated girls on a scale from one heart to five hearts.
Now, in that, the one heart is not too many cute young girls at events. Five hearts is, like, say, five stars from a movie rating. And that Web site is legal, and police say this guy is not doing anything wrong at the moment.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JACK MCCLELLAN, ADMITTED PEDOPHILE: It is really just a sexual thing. It's the whole ambiance of children that I enjoy.
BUTLER (voice over): Jack McClellan isn't afraid to tell you how he feels about little girls.
(on camera): Are you a pedophile?
MCCLELLAN: Yes. I didn't even consider myself one until a couple of years ago. I started reading some of the stuff on the Internet and it kind of resonated with me. Kind of refer to ourselves as kind of the silent majority.
BUTLER (voice over): But he is terrified to show his face.
MCCLELLAN: I've received a lot of death threats.
BUTLER: Death threats, because he says he took pictures of little girls at countless family events near Seattle, then posted them on his pro-pedophilia Web site.
MCCLELLAN: I felt the best thing to do would be to get completely out of that area.
BUTLER: Before McClellan left Washington State, his site was shut down. But now it's back, and so is he, this time right here in the southland.
MCCLELLAN: I'm looking to find a permanent place here.
BUTLER: We found McClellan living out of his car near Venice Beach, mapping out local events to attend where little girls, or LGs, as he calls them, are plentiful.
(on camera): What about those events do you like?
MCCLELLAN: Just to be -- well, obviously, I'm just going there mainly to be around the kids.
BUTLER: He claims he's not a convicted sex offender, and police say his Web site is legal.
McClellan's message to parents? Get used to it. He's allowed to attend the same festivals you do.
(on camera): You don't see what you're doing as wrong?
MCCLELLAN: No. I mean, obviously, I'm not doing anything illegal at these things. I mean, if they pass a law saying you can't go to these things to admire kids, I mean, I guess I'd have to obey to that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BUTLER: And he is apparently still attending these events. We have viewers contact us and report his whereabouts.
Now, just over the weekend, Santa Monica police apparently approached him, questioned him, asked permission to take his picture, and he gave them that permission. Now he just wrote us and told us that he plans to take legal action against the Santa Monica Police Department for harassment -- John.
ROBERTS: You were saying there, Stacey, that you get citizens who are reporting his whereabouts. There's a lot of Web sites that citizens are running as well trying to bring more publicity to this guy to see if something can't be done in the lack of any kind of police action. It looks like people are really kind of, you know, taking things into their own hands as far as their protection.
Stacey Butler from KCAL for us.
Amazing report, Stacey. Thanks very much.
CHETRY: It makes sense, though. The more parents that see what he looks like... ROBERTS: Yes.
CHETRY: ... to keep their kids as far away as possible. It makes you sick to even hear about it.
Well, Gordon Brown is making his first trip to the U.S. since becoming the new British prime minister. Is he coming with a new plan for Iraq?
Also, what about the details of a possible sale of billions of dollars worth of arms to Saudi Arabia? We're going to talk more about that as well.
The details next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the most news in the morning.
President Bush is hosting the new British prime minister, Gordon Brown. In fact, right now at Camp David. It's Brown's first visit to the U.S. since replacing Tony Blair. And, of course, Iraq will likely be at the top of the agenda.
Richard Haass is president of the Council of Foreign Relations. He was also an adviser to Secretary of State Colin Powell during the president's first term.
Ambassador Haass joins me now.
Thanks for being with us.
RICHARD HAASS, PRESIDENT, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Good morning.
CHETRY: So, we have Gordon Brown. He's going to be meeting today in the first formal talks with the president. You say he has a little bit of a tightrope to walk. Explain.
HAASS: Sure. One of the important challenges for any British prime minister is to show that he can manage successfully their most important bilateral relationship. That's the United States. On the other hand, he has to show a little bit of distance.
He can't be seen as close to the United States and particularly President Bush, as Tony Blair was, because Blair paid a price for that. So that's the balancing act for Gordon Brown.
CHETRY: And a lot of it has to do with the unhappiness, the unpopularity of the Iraq war within the British public. In fact, there was an article in one of the British papers that raised the possibility of an early withdrawal of British troops.
Will we see a change in Britain's support for the Iraq war?
HAASS: Well, you're already seeing a withdrawal. You're seeing a gradual winding down of the British presence. It's probably down to about 50 percent of what it was. They're doing less.
So, whether or not you have technically a withdrawal, you're essentially seeing a winding down of the British role.
CHETRY: I guess a part of it is that our president is still able to talk about allied forces and a coalition of the willing, if you will. If there is not a single British troop in any type of combat role in Iraq, doesn't that change the game?
HAASS: There's troops still from a few other countries. This is essentially a U.S. action. We shouldn't kid ourselves. It's not really multilateral at this point, it's certainly not a U.N. thing.
So whether there's a couple of thousand British troops or troops from a few other countries, that is window dressing. This is an American foreign policy.
CHETRY: Another development, the Bush administration is reportedly putting together a package of arms sales to Saudi Arabia, something that could be worth upwards of $20 billion over the next 10 years.
Why would the Bush administration put forth such a deal when there have been questions about links to terror?
HAASS: In part, it's because Iran has emerged as the biggest threat. Not simply to U.S. interests in the region, but to Saudi, Egyptian and other moderate Arab interests. So, partially, this is to give them confidence and capacity against Iran.
Also, it's hopefully some sort of a bargain, where the United States does things like this for Saudi Arabia. In return, the administration is hoping that Saudi Arabia becomes more supportive of the Iraqi government, does more to stop the flow of arms and people to various militias on the Sunni side of the equation in Iraq, maybe supports the administration's Middle East policy more broadly.
CHETRY: Let's listen to what Jane Harman said. She's the chairman of the House Intelligence Subcommittee regarding this possible deal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JANE HARMAN (D), CALIFORNIA: I think the record is extremely mixed. And Saudi Arabia continues to fund the terror movement in the Middle East. They continue to try to get -- wreak havoc inside with the civil war in Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: There seems to be a feeling that the risks, that Saudi Arabia will tell us one thing, but then do another. And how do you prevent that? And is this arms deal a good way to do that?
HAASS: There will be congressional opposition. There's concern about the long-term stability and political orientation of Saudi Arabia.
Also, some military experts are going to stand up and say, look, this is irrelevant. The Iranian threat is Hamas, Hezbollah militias. It's not the Iranian air force. So there's a mismatch between what the United States is doing and the Iranian threat to Saudi Arabia.
CHETRY: Ambassador Haass, thanks for your insight. Great to see you -- John.
ROBERTS: Decision day countdown. We could learn within hours if ""The Wall Street Journal" will be sold to Robert Murdoch. The last- minute hang-ups that could make or break the $5 billion deal coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: And it is 23 minutes past the hour now.
Ali Velshi is off. Polly LaBarre is "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Good to see you this morning.
POLLY LABARRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you.
CHETRY: So, we're coming down to the wire in one of the most hotly-debated sales in the media world that we've seen for a while.
LABARRE: Yes, which is Rupert Murdoch's $5 billion bid for Dow Jones, which obviously publishes "The Wall Street Journal". Now, this bid was -- this offer was put out in mid April and it's been hotly debated. "Wall Street Journal" staffers have protested, there have been competing bids put in, but over the weekend, the Bancroft family, which is the controlling family of Dow Jones, has been debating down to the 11th hour whether they're going to approve it or not.
The Dow Jones board has approved it already, so it's up them to approve the deal by 5:00 today.
ROBERTS: And any idea which way they're going to go on it?
LABARRE: It is so down the wire. It's so close.
So they control 64 percent of all the votes for the company. Murdoch needs about 30 -- about half of those, 30 percent, in order to put the deal through.
The family falls into two camps. One which is, we want to preserve the editorial independence of "The Wall Street Journal" from the debasing effect of Rupert Murdoch's, you know, politicizing and scandalizing approach to journalism.
Then the other faction says, look, this is a great business deal. It's a 67 percent premium on the share price before the offer was put in. We have no other future. We have no other plan. And, in fact, there was some extraordinary letter sent out among the family members over the weekend. This guy, Crawford Hill (ph), one of the Bancroft cousins, wrote a four thousand-word letter to everybody inside the family, which was of course leaked.
And he said, look, we have been a passive family. We have not engaged in management in a way that has built this company. And we haven't grown it, and now this is our only option.
CHETRY: Wow. Very interesting.
So, 5:00 p.m. today is the deadline to see what happens?
LABARRE: Yes. If I had to bet on it, I would say it was go through.
CHETRY: Oh, she's going for it.
LABARRE: If I was a betting woman.
ROBERTS: And are you?
CHETRY: Right, $5 billion.
LABARRE: Sometimes.
ROBERTS: All right. Well, we'll see if you're right.
Polly, thanks very much.
Also "On Our Radar" this morning, typically when a cement mixer and a truck tangle, the results for the -- the cement mixer, rather, and a car tangle, the results for the car are not very good. But in this case, this guy had an angel looking over him, because underneath that cement mixer is a car.
CHETRY: It really is unbelievable when you take a look at the car. There is a shot. It is completely crushed.
What happened to the guy? We're going to hear from him coming up.
The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING -- or actually, the next half hour of AMERICAN MORNING is right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Wow. Check out that tower camera shot. There's some -- there must be something on it. Maybe honey.
ROBERTS: Are those UFOs?
CHETRY: I think it's safer to say they are probably flies on our tower camera shot from WGN, Chicago, Illinois, this Monday morning. They're at 65 and sunny, shaping up to be 87 and sunny. So a pleasant day in Chicago if the darn flies don't bite you. Well, it is Monday, July 30th. I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us on this Monday morning.
ROBERTS: Yes. Good morning to you.
I'm John Roberts. No flies on us this morning.
The Afghan government is pleading this morning with the Taliban to extend a deadline for the lives of 22 South Korean church workers. Militants are warning the government to release some of its captured fighters or the hostages will die. Today's deadline was issued by the Taliban leadership council led by Taliban chief Mullah Mohammed Omar.
News just in within the past couple of hours that legendary Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman has died. Bergman directed more than 50 films and was regarded as one of the great masters of modern cinema. Bergman's 1957 film "The Seventh Seal" features one of the most memorable scenes in movie history -- a knight playing chess with the shrouded figure of death.
Ingmar Bergman was 89 years old.
CHETRY: Well, there's some news this morning about the most seriously injured victim of the New York City steam pipe explosion. You remember that scene last week, when apparently a steam pipe just exploded, possibly due to some water collecting around that pipe.
The most seriously injured was the tow truck driver, Gregory McCullough. That's his tow truck, down there, in that sink hole. He had to be put into a medically induced coma because of the pain from the third-degree burns over 80 percent of his body. But this morning, a glimmer of hope. "The New York Times" is reporting that McCullough has opened his eyes. And his family is saying they know he can hear them.
New this morning, in Montana. Hot, dry windy weather helping to spread a wildfire burning near Glacier National Park. Firefighters say it more than quadrupled in size over the weekend, growing from about a 1,000 acres to 5,000 acres. Several other fires are also burning across Montana. Crews say the near record heat, combined with the low humidity, is making it very difficult for them to get any kind of control.
ROBERTS: Enormous bureaucratic mess one that has forced people to miss or reschedule vacations; it's messed up weddings, even caused some people to miss funerals. The problem is a huge backlog in passport applications. Some 2 million people are affected.
What is the solution? Believe it or not, interns. Sean Callebs is in New Orleans this morning with more.
How do the interns come to the rescue here, Sean?
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDEN: No question the passport application office here needed some help, needed it immediately. When the State Department decided to send employees, they didn't send grizzled, hardened people servants, used to the Beltway mentality. What the city got were mostly young, motivated workers, interns that were expected to hit the ground running.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CALLEBS (voice over): Angry and tired of waiting.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I pay taxes. I deserve better.
CALLEBS: The passport backlog reached nearly 2 million. The State Department's plan to ease the burden, call in the interns, albeit the best and the brightest.
CHRISTIE ARENDT, PRESIDENTIAL MANAGEMENT FELLOW: They brought us into a meeting and said, "We need you to go. We need you to leave next week, and start training." It was a little bit of a shock factor, I think.
CALLEBS: About 200 employees, many Presidential Management Fellows, paid interns with graduate degrees, told they must go to either New Orleans or Portsmouth, New Hampshire to process passport applications. The backlog was created early this year when the U.S. mandated everyone traveling to Mexico, the Caribbean, Bermuda or Canada need a passport. The result nearly 1.5 million more applications than the government anticipated.
BRENDAN DOHERTY, PRESIDENTIAL MANAGEMENT FELLOW: The American public needs their passports, and they deserve their passports, in a timely fashion. They really did a very quick efficient job at mobilizing a large amount of people to address this problem.
CALLEBS: New Orleans handles passport applications from 14 states. It already faced a severe backlog after being closed for months following Hurricane Katrina.
ARENDT: I think the attitude in the department, and of the people that have come down from Washington is we're here to work, we're here to do a lot of passports.
CALLEBS: In June, the New Orleans office completed 188,000 passport applications. The newest crop of workers are having an immediate impact. This month, more than 200,000 applications are expected to be processed. By September, the government hopes to reduce the average wait time from three months to two.
DOHERTY: We are making a dent which is, I think, exactly why we're here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CALLEBS: There was a certain degree of carping and complaining when the State Department employees found out they had to come down here. But lest we shed a tear for them? They are put up in a luxury hotel on Canal Street. They work 4:00 to midnight. They say they've heard a lot of good music and had a lot of good food. But also, John, we know some of these interns have spent some of their weekend working for Habitat for Humanity, so they are giving back as well.
ROBERTS: Nice to hear. Sean Callebs for us this morning. Thanks, Sean.
CHETRY: We all slather sunscreen all over our kids to protect them from the sun's damaging effects. Now there is an amazing new study that finds a link between how much sun your child is exposed to and the risk of developing multiple sclerosis. That affects more than 400,000 Americans. Dr. Thomas Mack is a lead investigator in the study and he joins us from Los Angeles this morning.
Doctor Mack, great to see you. Thanks for being with us.
DR. THOMAS MACK, PREVENTIVE MEDICINE & PATHOLOGY, USC: Good morning.
CHETRY: Your study looked at sun exposure in early life and the risk of developing multiple sclerosis. Tell us what you found.
MACK: We actually studied a large number of twins in which one twin had multiple sclerosis and the other did not. We found that in general -- almost invariably, the twin who did not have multiple sclerosis had had more sunlight exposure when they were a child.
CHETRY: Wow, that really is fascinating, because you think with twins they would both be at the same time, at the same place in many cases. What does it mean for people with MS and also their children?
MACK: If it means anything for individuals, it would mean something for the kids of people who have MS, because about 3 percent to 4 percent of them will ultimately themselves develop MS. And if sunlight can be -- lower that risk, it would be useful for people who have MS to make sure their kids get a little bit of sun when they're young.
CHETRY: So it is hereditary?
MACK: It certainly is hereditary. And that is why the study in identical twins is especially useful.
CHETRY: Doctors tell you to make sure your kids are covered with sunscreen. Should you be watching that or is there a chance of overdoing the sunscreen?
MACK: There probably is a chance of overdoing the sunscreen, but I think it depends a little bit on the individual's particular risk. If the child of the case of MS and MS is the most important thing to be thinking about, and if this is true -- and it looks like it's true from a variety of studies -- then getting a little sun is good for the kids. On the other hand --
CHETRY: How do you quantify that? Sometimes in the summertime kids are out all the time. Is there any key amount of sunlight you should be aiming for?
MACK: I wish there was, but I think the thing you've got to do is make sure that kids don't get burned. And make sure that they're not out for more than the usual 20 minutes to a half hour in the strong sun without protection.
CHETRY: There's a suggestion, I guess, that the UV rays may offer some protection by boosting vitamin D levels. Can vitamin D supplementation also make a difference?
MACK: There is some evidence to that effect, but it's not complete yet so we want to find out whether the sunlight is working by virtue of vitamin D, or whether it's working independently. Whatever it does, it is affecting the immune system and that is the key to preventing MS.
CHETRY: Right, which MS is an auto immune disorder, one that many affects hundreds of thousands of people. A fascinating study. Dr. Thomas Mack, thank you for joining us this morning.
MACK: You're very welcome.
ROBERTS: Coming up to 37 minutes after the hour.
A deal is finally reached in that garbage strike near Oakland, California. Topping your "Quick Hits" now.
Teamsters approved a new tract contract and were back on the job, as of last night. The strike lasted almost a month. Despite some 500 temporary workers, piles of overflowing trash popped up in many neighbors.
Ft. Worth, Texas is getting creative when it comes to stopping gang violence. They're suing. The city joins San Francisco and a few other cities in filing injunctions against gang members to prevent them from hanging out together or in certain places. The idea is to give police the legal ability to stop gang activity.
A deadly collision between two news helicopters is raising some serious new safety questions this morning. We'll take to the skies with the concerns and the possible solutions to keep people safe next on AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: This morning there are critical new questions about the safety of television news helicopters. It follows that deadly mid- air crash between two choppers over Phoenix on Friday. Federal investigators are expected to remove the final pieces of wreckage from that site today. Two pilots and two photographers were killed. Funeral services for them are set for tomorrow.
This morning, however, the tragedy is turning a new spotlight on the rule book for TV choppers and the risks to get shots that cameras on the ground just can't get. The fog has lifted over New York City, so CNN's Jim Acosta is up in the air, this morning. Over by the East River, just right around by the Brooklyn Bridge. And he's live there for us.
Good morning, Jim.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Looking down on Lower Manhattan, what I'm doing, at the moment, is being called into question by many aviation experts who are starting to ask the question whether this daily staple of local news, needs some new rules, that is, the choppers.
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ACOSTA: They are the eyes in the sky. Beaming back bird's eye views of breaking news. In Phoenix last Friday, these two news helicopters were hovering over a slow-moving police chase.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My God! Channel 15 and Channel 3 just had a mid-air collision. They're in the park! Oh, man!
ACOSTA: Both choppers spiraled to the ground.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard like a loud gunshot and then about two seconds after that, there's real loud, like huge bang. And then just two helicopters coming straight down.
ACOSTA: Four people, the two pilots and two photographers in each helicopter died. Federal investigators on the scene believed the chopper on the left in this picture for station KNXV somehow flew into its counterpart, at station KTVK. News chopper accidents are rare, but they do happen. Three years ago in New York, a helicopter for station WNBC spun out of control and slammed into a rooftop in Brooklyn.
MARY SCHIAVO, FMR. DEPT. OF TRANS. INSPECTOR GEN.: I think it should be reviewed. It's only going to increase.
ACOSTA: Aviation expert Mary Schiavo says it may be time to require news choppers to pilots to a co-pilot, or a lookout in their cockpits, to make sure they don't get too close.
SCHIAVO: Here, that person, the co-pilot would have served as a look out, probably would have dramatically increased the safety of the operations.
ACOSTA: Because news choppers typically fly at lot altitudes, they don't spend much time communicating with air traffic controllers. Once they're cleared into an area, it's up to those pilots to avoid accidents by sight. Schiavo says that's too risky.
SCHIAVO: The rule of the road in visual flight rules, the rule of the air, is see and avoid.
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ACOSTA: Just to give you a sense of how things work, here, in New York. I want to show you a view from inside the cockpit here, if we can take a look at that image. There is the image.
Here in New York City because of the three different airports, LaGuardia, JFK, and Newark, they actually fly with a co-pilot in New York City. We know that's not the case in some local markets but they take that extra precaution here in the New York area and as for staying in constant contact with air traffic control towers that might be next to impossible. Many of these pilots say when you're chasing another car chase on the ground -- John.
ROBERTS: Jim Acosta for us this morning, high above the East River in New York City. We should mentioned too, that in the city of Washington they don't fly at all because of that frozen air space.
Coming up in our 8:00 o'clock hour we will talk with a former director at the National Transportation Safety Board. He will tell it us what he thinks the government could do to keep chopper crews and people on the ground a lot safer -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Amazing story of survival out of Florida this morning. Take a look at these pictures. You think how could anyone have survive this? A car completely crushed when a 35-ton cement truck simply fell over on top of it.
The man driving in that car survived, though. He not only survived, he was untouched! He was even able to talk to reporters right after the incident.
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KIM STANDBERG, SURVIVED ACCIDENT: It was just a little pocket where I was left in the car. I couldn't move. They cut me out. After the open heart surgery a few years back, I was trying to figure out why I'm supposed to be here. But I guess there's some kind of reason.
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CHETRY: There must be because you certainly dodged a bullet that time. It's hard to see where the pocket he is talking about even is located. Police say that all of it happened when the truck driver tried to avoid rear-ending some cars, so he swerved off the road, then when he came back, he ran into that car and then flipped on top of it. The truck driver also fine. He is expected, though, to get a few tickets.
ROBERTS: Extreme weather in India to your "Quick Hits" now. Heavy rains and flooding have killed at least 18. It's said to be the worst flooding in three decades; 75 relief camps have been set up to provide shelter for a 100,000 people left homeless.
Weather experts are blaming the freaky weather conditions in China on global warming. They say the unbalanced distribution of rainstorms and powerful typhoons are the result of climate change. Forecasters say Shanghai is set for its hottest summer on record. While flood and drought conditions are persisting in other parts of the country.
So, you buy the bottled water. Why do you buy the bottled water? Is it convenient or because you think it's more pure than stuff that comes out of the tap? It turns out, some of the stuff is coming out of the tap! We'll have that story for you next on AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: Welcome back to CNN, the most news in the morning.
Facebook facing some problems with its security practices. Your "Quick Hits" now.
The online social networking site being accused of not doing enough to keep sexual predators off line. The Connecticut's attorney general says he has seen three cases of registered sex offenders filling out profiles with Facebook. You'll remember last week the problem was with MySpace.com.
Certain college degrees could apparently soon start costing more. University of Wisconsin is going to begin charging business students $500 more than other kids, next semester. The reason is because certain professors are commanding higher salaries. It's always about something, isn't it?
Making streets safer. Life-sized cutouts of kids to try to slow drivers down. One guy says he that put pictures of his children in the front yard and ever since then the drivers have been stopping down, or stopping. They're slowing down at least, because the kids look so real.
Here's another idea. He puts a photo of a cop with a radar gun up on the side of the street, and drivers automatically slow down because they think they will get a ticket. Some of the things people are doing out there trying to keep our kids safer.
CHETRY: Good idea.
How about this one? If you love your bottled water -- you know, people can't get enough of the bottled water, they're always drinking it. You know, we live in a country where this is probably one of the only places in the world where you guaranteed that your drinking water is pretty safe and actually pretty good. But why do we spend billions on these? Our Rob Marciano did a little bit of digging. He's actually in Douglasville, Georgia, where people are trying to beat the heat, hanging around by the pool. And chances are they will grab a bottle of water like this.
Do we really know where this water comes from, Rob?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That is the question. Every source, every bottle maker seems to have a different source. Just this past Friday, Aquafina, or the folks at PepsiCo, who make Aquafina, pretty much coming out and saying they are going to re-label this bottle, so you know exactly where that water comes from.
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MARCIANO (voice over): Don't let that scenic logo fool you. This water is not bottled from a mountain stream. Now, PepsiCo plans to spell it out for consumers, adding the words, "Public Water Source" to the label of its Aquafina brand. In case you didn't know, Aquafina is purified tap water.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That would make me never want to buy Aquafina again. Knowing that it was bottled public water.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, no. That's just not cool.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What am I paying for?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow!
MARCIANO (on camera): How does that make you feel?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like I've been bamboozled and hoodwinked all this time!
MARIANO: On a statement on Friday, PepsiCo said, quote, "If this helps clarify the fact that water originates from public sources, then it's a reasonable thing to do."
Coca-Cola's Dasani does the same thing, purifies and bottles public drinking water. One environmental group found at least 25 percent of bottled water is actually just tap water. Sometimes purified, sometimes not.
MAYOR GAVIN NEWSOM, SAN FRANCISCO: We are now exposing an underbelly truth. That is, a big percentage of bottled water in this country is tap water.
MARCIANO: San Francisco's mayor banned city workers from buying bottled water, citing environmental concerns and saving the city $500,000 a year. Let's face it, it's expensive.
Brands like Fiji can cost eight bucks a bottle, or more, at high-end hotels. Ironic that droughts have led to water shortages on the island that exports. In total, Americans snapped up $11 billion worth of bottled water last year. All in a country that has some of the cleanest public water in the world.
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MARCIANO: This time of year, especially, it seems like everybody is walking around with a water bottle. It's like a security blanket, you can't leave home without it. The brands are just -- I mean, we're awash in brands, here. Some are filtered water, others are the tap from a mountain spring. Fiji is artesian well water. This designer stuff, its like bucks in the grocery store. God knows what you would pay for it in a restaurant.
There is also environmental concerns. What do you do when you're done with the bottle? Less than 20 percent of them are actually recycled, so they are filling up our landfills and they literally take hundreds of years to decompose. Not to mention CO2 that is pumped into the atmosphere by just getting these things to the store.
This is not something that was posh or fashionable 15 or 20 years ago. A lot of people, back 20 years ago, would say bottle water and sell it? Crazy! I'd be a billionaire. These manufacturers are certainly doing that.
Bottom line for a lot of people, Kiran, it's that it's pretty convenient to go into your fridge and grab a bottle, as opposed to getting the glass out, and filling it up with ice and turning on the tap. But it seems like more and more people are at least starting to think about it.
And just in case you were wondering, the water in this pool, is salt water. But it's a nice setting. There will be people filing in, I'm sure, as the sun comes up here in central Georgia. Back to you.
CHETRY: Wow! That's something you don't see every day. Very interesting. Rob, thanks.
ROBERTS: A rare moment of celebration on the streets of Baghdad. We'll tell you what it was all about coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING, the most news in the morning.
A bizarre story out of Phoenix to tell you about. Police responded to a report of an exorcism on a young girl. When they got there they found a 49-year-old man choking his three-year-old granddaughter. Relatives say the man was simply trying to release some demons. Police used a stun gun to subdue the man. He later died. Investigators are waiting for autopsy results to figure out exactly why he died. The girl and her mother, who was in the room during the struggle, were both taken to the hospital.
CHETRY: Some stories on our radar this morning. This one will certainly get your blood boiling. Any parent out there can understand the outrage of this situation has sparked in California.
This is a guy who is an admitted pedophile. He blogs about his obsession with young girls. He goes out to public events, knowing little girls are going to be there, takes pictures of them, then posts them online at his site and actually rates them.
ROBERTS: He says that he has not acted on his feelings yet, and he insists it's all legal. He says he has no intention of stopping. Take a listen to this guy.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. I mean, obviously, I'm not doing anything illegal at these things. I mean, if they passed a law saying you can't go to these things to admire kids, I mean, I guess I'd have to obey that.
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ROBERTS: So, what can parents to? We will be talking with a retired LA. police department official about that. Apparently, it looks like some parents are taking matters into their own hands. They have taken this guy's name. They have set up a web site, an anti- website against this guy. They are also apparently informing each other, of when this guy is in a particular area. If the police can't do it, parents are at least trying to look out for their kids as well.
CHETRY: The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.
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ROBERTS: (voice over): Summer freefall: A new week and a big new drop in the price of gas. How long can it last?
Mad money: The markets gained ground this morning, overseas. What it means for Wall Street's summer blues on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ROBERTS: Good morning to you. Welcome back. It's Monday, the 30th of July. I'm John Roberts.
CHETRY: I'm Kiran Chetry.
We start off with a busy first meeting taking place between President Bush and the new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The two are meeting at Camp David and we are expecting a joint news conference a bit later this morning, around 11:30 Eastern Time
A lot of issues on the table. Of course, Iraq. Just yesterday, newspapers in London reported new speculation that Gordon Brown is looking to pull all troops out of Iraq . Ed Henry is at the White House this morning.
We talked to Ambassador Hass, a few minutes ago and he pointed out, you know, that Britain has been sort of withdrawing troops in a slow fashion. They're down about 50 percent from their high in Iraq anyway.
ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Good morning, Kiran.
The anxiousness at the White House, privately, is about the possibility, I stress possibility, of Britain accelerating the pace of those British troop withdrawals.
And Gordon Brown, himself, has been saying the right things. He has been saying he understands the importance of the U.S./British alliance. But obviously, the White House has to be looking, on the other hand, at the fact that there have been these leaked reports about possibly more troop pullout.
You've also had the appointments from Gordon Brown. He appointed one cabinet minister who is a Bush administration critic and declared publicly the U.S. and Britain will no longer be joined at the hip.
If you look at this contextually, and the fact that Tony Blair, the former prime minister, his career essentially ended because he had grown too close to Mr. Bush, perceived as being so close that critics back in Britain said that he was Bush's poodle, Kiran.
CHETRY: So what are some of the goals? What are they hoping to accomplish at this first meeting?
HENRY: The most important thing is establish chemistry. That's what president Bush did in February of 2001. He brought Tony Blair to Camp David, just as he's doing now with Gordon Brown. At that time the media was predicting there is no possible way Mr. Bush could forge a close bond with Tony Blair.
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