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American Morning

Tracking Hurricane Felix; Explosive Case: Egyptian Students Charged; Labor Day Campaigning

Aired September 03, 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): Category 5, a monster on the move. Hurricane Felix tears through the Caribbean. The latest path and the race to get out of the way.

Plus, pulling back. British troops withdraw to the Basra airport but don't have a ticket home yet.

And beyond the breaking point, swimming around Manhattan in record time. The man who pulled it off and barely lived to tell about it live, on this AMERICAN MORNING.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: And welcome back.

Take a look at this. You're looking at a picture of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, live this morning. The picture might look a little extra special this morning because starting today, AMERICAN MORNING is now broadcasting in high definition, 1,080 lines on your screen. And take a look at it when you put it on our big Vista wall.

Doesn't that look nice?

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: It does.

ROBERTS: Yes. Now, not every cable company is carrying us in HD just yet, but we're hoping over the next few months that will start to sort of cascade and everybody will be getting us in HD as the months wear on.

CHETRY: Right. So that's the best of, the beautiful shot of the beach. The worst of is you can see every imperfection as well.

ROBERTS: You have to have one. And the last time I checked you don't.

CHETRY: Oh, aren't you sweet.

ROBERTS: Welcome back. It's Monday, September the 3rd, Labor Day.

I'm John Roberts John Roberts.

CHETRY: And I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us this morning. On this Labor Day we're tracking Hurricane Felix, now an extremely dangerous Category 5 storm. The National weather Service is saying that winds are hitting 165 miles per hour.

It's interesting, because the only other hurricane of the 2007 Atlantic season followed this similar track, Dean, last month's powerful hurricane. Well, the storm was so powerful, Felix, that it tossed around a hurricane hunter-gathering airplane, a data-gathering airplane, forced it to abort its mission, according to "The Miami Herald".

Right now a hurricane watch is issued for Honduras. It looks like this one is going to track toward Honduras and Nicaragua, right along the border there, and then slam into Belize.

Meanwhile, these are some pictures from Aruba, where heavy rains and winds knocked down trees, flooded homes, causing scattered power outages on that island nation. Thousands of tourists were forced to hunker down in their hotels.

Our Rob Marciano is at that picturesque beach in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

But you're tracking Felix this morning.

Hi, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Kiran.

A little bit of a wind gust now. That's about as bad as it's going to get here at Myrtle Beach. You know, some of the locals saw our cameras lining up, and they said, "Hey, is there a storm coming here that we don't know about?" No, we're here because it's Labor Day, and for many the last day of the beach season, but we're also talking about Hurricane Felix in the Caribbean, which has just blown up over the last 24 hours into the most intense hurricane as far as categories go, a Category 5 storm, 165 mile-an-hour winds.

There you see it on the satellite picture. A reconnaissance aircraft went in there yesterday, as you mentioned, got bounced around.

They pulled out, groppled (ph). Some ice was hitting the plane. That's rare for a tropical system, no doubt about that.

And that eye has shrunk down to 10n nautical miles, and like a figure skater pulling its arms in, that's one of the reasons it has blown up in intensity. That, plus the fact that the water temperature there is about 85 degrees and will continue to be that hot, if not hotter, as it continues its march towards the west at 21 miles an hour, towards the Central American countries of Honduras and Nicaragua. And if it continues on that track -- there you see the forecast -- in the next 24 hours, likely this time tomorrow morning it will making landfall as a Category 5 storm, with winds in excess of 160 miles an hour. If there's any good news with this storm, it's that the wind field is relatively small at about 50 miles in diameter. So it will be a small area impacted, but the area impacted will be torn up with tornado-like winds. And then you go inland and we've got very mountainous territory, and it was Hurricane Mitch about a decade ago that killed thousands of people due to the rainfall there.

All right. Here along the beach in Myrtle Beach, along the Atlantic Seaboard, we're talking about water temperatures that are about 80 degrees. They will start to cool off over the next few weeks, and people tomorrow going back to work.

Hopefully everybody's having a nice Labor Day.

John, back over to you.

ROBERTS: Back to work, end of the summer. Oh, god, it went so fast.

Rob, thanks very much.

It's a wet holiday weekend in Savannah, Georgia. Folks there are dealing with some serious flooding.

Close to a foot of rain fell in some areas. Police closed out portions of several streets after some drivers got stuck in the water. More rain expected there today.

A beach bummer this holiday weekend in New Jersey. Several beaches along the Jersey shore are closed this morning after life guards found syringes, sewage and other trash. Environmentalists say the beaches won't open until all of the garbage is collected and cleaned up. Most of the problem in Monmouth and Ocean counties.

(NEWSBREAK)

CHETRY: British troops pulling back this morning.

CNN's Monita Rajpal is in London covering international headlines for us this morning.

Hi, Monita.

MONITA RAJPAL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kiran.

It's a small movement of troops, but with a much larger significance. One that could deepen the discord between Britain and the U.S. over Iraq.

Now, British forces have completed their withdrawal of their last base in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. Now, that leaves some U.S. and even some Iraqi officials concerned about the future security of this oil-rich region.

Now, today's move involved about some 550 soldiers who were stationed in Basra Palace in the center of the city. They now moved to the outskirts of the city and the airbase there, where they are joining 5,000 other British troops.

Now the Iraqi military has sent hundreds of reinforcements to Basra, to the city's center, to try to stem off the kind of -- the expanding influence of Shia militiamen and criminal gangs who have posed quite a big problem for the British troops there. Britain has already transferred security responsibilities to Iraqis in three of four southern provinces.

Now, the pullout means that there are no British troops in any street, in any -- in any city in Iraq, of course leaving many to question why are there any foreign troops in Iraq at all. Of course, it continues, the criticism, of the U.S. post-war policy. Just this past weekend, another British retired general had called the U.S. post-war policy fatally flawed -- Kiran.

CHETRY: All right. Monita Rajpal live for us in London.

Thank you.

Well, to our terror watch now and disturbing charges against two Egyptian students in Florida this morning.

Our Kelli Arena is in our Washington, D.C., bureau with details on this.

Good morning, Kelli.

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran.

You know, "disturbing" is a very good word, mostly because there still seems to be a lot of unanswered questions about this story.

You may remember back in early August there were two Egyptian engineering students who were stopped for speeding in South Carolina. And at the time, local police said that they found materials in their car which could be used to make explosives, so the men were charged with possession of an explosive device and they were sent to the county jail.

Well, now those men are facing more serious federal charges, and those are for transporting explosives across state lines without a permit. But here's where it gets interesting. One of them is also accused of distributing information about building and using explosives with the intent of violence.

Now the indictment, Kiran, stops there, but law enforcement sources tell CNN that investigators discovered plans to place explosives inside miniaturized cars. But those officials had no information about any potential target, either domestically or overseas, so that's where it ends for now.

CHETRY: That's interesting. Now, law enforcement saying anything about whether these two had connections to organized terror?

ARENA: No. I mean, so far, no. They're not being accused of being connected to any terrorists or extremists. And as I said, officials that we spoke to say that so far, there's no evidence of a plot or a plan to attack any target.

Now, their lawyers, Kiran, insist that these two students are innocent, and they told "The New York Times" that the only reason that they're even in this predicament is because they're Egyptian. So, you know, we'll see if any more information comes out.

CHETRY: Kelli Arena, live for us in D.C. this morning.

Thank you.

ARENA: You're welcome.

CHETRY: John.

ROBERTS: It was once the starting line, now Labor Day is the home stretch for some candidates in the New Hampshire primary.

CNN's Candy Crowley is in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, with more on the race.

Candy, what is the state of this play as we kick off the fall campaign here on this Labor Day?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, think of this as prime time, John. It's sort of been off Broadway. Well, now this is -- this is the real thing.

Four months until the first voting begins in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada and South Carolina. So this is when they kick it into gear.

What's been remarkable about this race so far is how consistent the national polls have been throughout most of the year. Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side, Rudy Giuliani on the Republican side, have held on to those national leads.

It is not the same in the states, particularly in Iowa, where John Edwards makes a strong challenge against Hillary Clinton, often leading in those polls. On the other side, Mitt Romney is getting some traction in Iowa. And as you know, if you win in Iowa, it first of all says that your opponent is not invincible, and second of all says that you're viable.

ROBERTS: So, Candy, is there anything that the other candidates can do to try to chip away at Hillary Clinton's lead there in New Hampshire? I know that John Edwards may have an edge in some polls in Iowa, but she's really got a lock on the Granite State.

CROWLEY: She's doing very well. This has been an almost flawless campaign. It is tightly structured. It is tightly run. But yes, obviously, I mean, John Edwards has staked his fortunes in Iowa.

He hopes to have a blowout there to show his electability. We should mention that John Edwards is getting two major endorsements today. He's been courting the unions heavily, he gets one from the United Steelworkers, United Mine Workers. So, those are ground troops for him to put into Iowa, some extra infusion of cash. So obviously, he is hoping that, between Barack Obama, who sort of consistently runs second, and Hillary Clinton, he can find some running room.

Barack Obama has a lot of money. He can go up in the air, put a lot of ads on the air, so it's not over yet, but she's the one to beat.

ROBERTS: And on the Republican side, Rudy Giuliani has been leading there in New Hampshire for a long time, but people seem reluctant to label hip as the front-runner. Is that because they're waiting for Fred Thompson to get in?

CROWLEY: Well, it's partly that. It's partly that the punditry and the reporters in general, the politicos, have always had a hard time looking at Rudy Giuliani and his moderate to liberal social views and seeing how he can fit into a primary where the conservatives vote.

Nonetheless, the Giuliani people think that what has happened in this election cycle is that people are far more interested in security and they view that as the strong point. But you're right, two words, Fred Thompson.

He gets in this week. He is -- a lot of high expectations here. And the question is, can he live up to them?

The Giuliani camp believes that, in fact, Fred Thompson takes strength away from Mitt Romney, so they still don't see a threat there. The Romney camp views it otherwise and thinks he sort of pulls from both. But nonetheless, they're running a very strong campaign, and never underestimate how much money the Romney campaign has.

ROBERTS: It will be as fun to see if he is as good a candidate as he is an idea.

Candy Crowley for us this morning in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, a beautiful place to be on Labor Day.

Candy, thanks.

CHETRY: And as you said, it is Labor Day. And for most folks, it means a day off to relax and enjoy. The holiday, though, does have meaning. And workers it celebrates are facing an uphill battle these days.

Labor Secretary Elaine Chao is gong to be joining us next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Well, to most of us, Labor day means the end of summer. It's back to school for the kids. But it's also a day to take a hard look at the economy.

Fifty-six percent of Americans asked say that they think we're in good shape, but that is down five percent since May. So what's behind that drop?

Joining us now, the United States secretary of Labor, Elaine Chao, live on the White House lawn this morning.

Secretary, thanks for being with us.

ELAINE CHAO, LABOR SECRETARY: Thanks for having me.

CHETRY: You know, the big financial story all summer, of course, has been the mortgage woes, the mortgage meltdown, especially in the subprime market. And some people in housing-related fields have already lost their jobs.

What are we doing and what are you doing to protect jobs in other sectors?

CHAO: Well, the president is very concerned about this problem, and that's why on Friday he announced a major reform of the Federal Housing Authority's modernization program. And he's also introduced a number of other measures to help home owners avoid foreclosure and keep their homes.

Secretary Paulison and Secretary Alphonso Jackson of the Housing and Urban Development have done a very good job in coming up with this proposal, and I think that's going to help homeowners keep their homes and avoid foreclosure.

CHETRY: We've also gotten a pretty mixed bag of economic news. Some good news, the median household income is up. Also, the poverty rate dropped for the first time since the 2000 census.

On the flip side, individual incomes are actually down for a third year in a row, and some people are asking, why am I working harder and making less?

CHAO: Well, the International Labor Organization just released a report today which shows that America's workforce is the most competitive, most productive and most creative in the world.

Overall, fundamentals of our economy are quite strong, unemployment is low at 4.6 percent, which is lower than the average unemployment rate of the decade of the 1990s, which was 5.7 percent. Overall, compensation is also increasing. Overall, compensation has increased about 11.2 percent since 2001.

So we're very concerned about ensuring that the American workforce remain competitive, and what we are seeing, however, is that there is a skills gap.

Eighty percent or the majority of the new jobs being created these days require higher education and more training. So we need to make sure that America's workforce continues to remain competive by ensuring that workers get access to training and education so they can take advantage of the new opportunities, the better opportunities that are developing in our economy. CHETRY: And, you know, another key issue, health care. You know, having a job really is the beginning. You have to be able to afford health insurance.

We have the number of uninsured Americans rising by a million from 2005 to 2006.

Will you be able to lower this number before President Bush leaves office?

CHAO: Well, we certainly are tackling it. Sixty percent of the uninsured are actually people who work in their own small businesses or their family members. So the president has proposed what's called the Association Health Plan, which would allow small businesses to come together and band together, pull their risk, and in so doing, enjoy the economies of scale in benefits and in programs and health care programs, insurance programs that would be available to big companies and also labor unions.

So we hope the Congress will pass the Association Health Plan which will, again, help small businesses and their family members and their employees to access quality affordable health care.

CHETRY: And you know, Secretary Chao, I laugh, because I'm here every Labor Day and I feel I talk to you every Labor Day. You know, there's been a lot of departures from the Bush administration, but you've been there, you know, for years.

Are you planning on staying until the very end?

CHAO: Well, you know, we have no job security in these jobs at all, and it really depends on the president. But I love my job, and it's a real privilege and an honor to serve the American people.

CHETRY: Well he must like you a lot, too, because you've been there.

Secretary Elaine Chao, thank you for being with us this morning.

CHAO: Thanks so much.

ROBERTS: She's the only original from back in 2001.

CHETRY: Yes, she is.

ROBERTS: Absolutely. Lasted all this time.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Well, a beautiful shot of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, this morning as many enjoying the last throes of summer. It's officially over today, Labor Day. Seventy-two degrees and cloudy right now in Myrtle Beach, shaping up to be 86 degrees. Maybe the people that are out there now, John, are smart, because there are some thunderstorms in the forecast today, a high of 86. So maybe they're getting out and enjoying it.

ROBERTS: You may have noticed, too, that that shot is just a little bit wider, a little more detailed than you've seen in the past. It's because we're now broadcasting as of today in high definition.

CHETRY: The first network to do it 24/7, high definition. If you have one of those screens and your cable provides it, wow what an incredible picture.

ROBERTS: As we said earlier, not all cable companies are providing it just yet, but in the next few months more and more will start to come online and you have the incredible vista of CNN, there in your living room, bedroom, whatever.

CHETRY: That's right. In the old days before your HD, it will seem like you have an eight-track in your bedroom.

(LAUGHTER)

ROBERTS: Can you imagine?

CHETRY: Welcome. It is Monday. It's Labor Day, September 3rd. I'm Kiran Chetry.

ROBERTS: And I'm John Roberts. Good morning to you.

CHETRY: New this morning, British troops in Iraq pulling out of their base in Basra overnight, handing over control, officially, to the Iraqis. Nearly all of Britain's forces, that's about 5,000, are consolidated near the Basra airport now. They are planning to turn over control of southern Iraq in the next few months.

Also new this morning, Iran says it's reached a major goal in its nuclear program; 3,000 centrifuges to enrich uranium. Iran says it's developing nuclear power but enriched uranium could be used to make a nuclear bomb. U.N. inspectors say that as of last Thursday Iran was only operating about 2,000 centrifuges.

We are tracking Hurricane Felix, now a major Category 5 hurricane and moving fast. The National Weather Service says that winds are hitting 165 miles per hour, as it makes its way across the Caribbean, due to skirt over the border between Honduras, Nicaragua. Right now a hurricane watch has been issued for Honduras. It is also expected to then hit Belize.

These pictures though are from Aruba, where the hurricane skirted by as well, toppled trees, flooded homes, power knocked out. Thousands of tourists were forced to hunker down in their hotels.

ROBERTS: A relentless heat wave is baking Southern California and taxing the power grid. Thousands of people lost electricity yesterday as temperatures reached 109 in the San Fernando Valley. Customers are being asked to do anything they could do to conserve electricity.

A child's belt buckle caused a scare on a cruise ship in Miami over the weekend. Security says it was shaped like a grenade. Thousands of passengers who just came back from a Caribbean a cruise waited hours to leave as the bomb squad checked out the belt buckle.

CHETRY: Well, a lot of the country is still talking about Idaho Senator Larry Craig's sudden departure, announcing his resignation Saturday. Some Democrats are also speaking out, crying double standard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D), VERMONT: There's another senator from a Democratic state, Republican senator who apparently used the telephones in a Republican cloakroom to engage in illegal activity with a so-called Washington madam, and call girls. They seem to have completely ignored that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: At least one Republican senator meanwhile is coming to Craig's defense. Dana Bash has been covering this story and is live in Boise for us this morning.

Hi, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kiran.

You just heard a Democrat say anything about the story and that is pretty much a new development, because last week, Democrats were mum on this, sort of content to sit back and watch Republicans eat their own, frankly. And now, though, they are talking about it.

You just heard Senator Patrick Leahy, the Judiciary chairman, make the point he thinks Republicans engaged in a double standard because they pushed Senator Craig out. Senator Craig from a reliably Republican state, the state of Idaho, but they did not push Senator David Vitter from a state, that is Louisiana, which has a Democratic governor. They didn't push him out.

So Democrats are now saying that Republicans are essentially sort of cherry picking, if you will, of the scandals that they have and are deciding what is politically best for them, and that that is a double standard.

Now, Republicans came out and they said that that is not the case. That in this particular case of Senator Craig, he did plead guilty to a misdemeanor, and that is the big difference. As a matter of fact, Republican leaders are actually crowing, if you will, about what they did in pushing Senator Craig out. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN ENSIGN (R), NEVADA: One of the things that I'm proudest about our leadership is the swift action, not only calling for an immediate Senate investigation, ethics investigation, removing him from his committees, but also sending the signal to him that it was probably best that he resign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: There you hear a member of Senator Craig's own Republican leadership making clear that he is proud of what Republicans in Washington did in making it abundantly clear to Senator Craig that he is not welcome back in Washington in the Senate Republican conference, among their colleagues there.

CHETRY: And he also, when he made that announcement he talked about resigning effective the end of September. So do we know if, or when, he plans to actually return physically, return to Washington, D.C.?

BASH: We know we do not know either. We don't know if or when he will go back. His office is being very mum about it. They simply won't say. I think, in large part, it's because they don't know. Senator Craig went on what aides say is vacation after he made his announcement Saturday, here in Idaho. And we simply do not know if he's going to go back to Washington. He did say that he wants to do the work of the people of Idaho until the governor does find a replacement. We don't know where he's going to do that, Washington, or here.

CHETRY: Dana Bash for us in Boise, thank you. Thank you.

ROBERTS: A horrific mid-air collision is taught on tape. Thousands of people were there to witness it at an air show in Poland. Take a look at this.

A Polish air force spokesman says two pilots were killed when their planes slammed into each other at full speed. The wreckage then spiraled into the woods below. There were no reports of injuries on the ground.

Takeoff and landing at Baghdad International Airport is extremely dangerous. Three U.S. senators and a congressman got a taste of the danger when their plane was fired upon by rocket-propelled grenades. Joining us to talk about his harrowing plane ride it Senator Richard Shelby, of Alabama, who was one of those senators who was on board.

Senator Shelby, always good to see you. Thanks very much for joining us on this Labor Day.

SEN. RICHARD SHELBY (R), ALABAMA: Thank you.

ROBERTS: So tell us a little bit about what happened last week.

SHELBY: Well, it happened so fast. Four of us, three senators, one congressman, we'd spent the day in Iraq, meeting with a lot of our own troops from our various states, also General Petraeus, and his staff and others. And after a long day, we were going back to Amman, Jordan, and we were a few minutes out -- on the military plane, out of Baghdad. And I looked out the window and I saw a rocket going by the window. And I knew we were being fired upon, But I didn't know by what.

Then I saw another one. I didn't actually see the third one. Then the pilots, the crew did such an outstanding job, I thought. They started rolling the plane, they fired off flares, to try to use that to fool heat-seeking missiles, if there were any.

ROBERTS: Right.

SHELBY: It took us awhile to get back. The troops go through it every day. It's something new for a lot of us in Washington, but it shows that there's danger there, but there's been a lot of progress there, too.

ROBERTS: Do you have a greater appreciation for the dangers they face, now?

SHELBY: Absolutely. After being there, and meeting with the troops, but also after seeing the danger people are in every day, when they're flying around there. It brings it home.

ROBERTS: Yeah, nothing focuses the mind like getting shot at, huh?

SHELBY: I can't hear you.

ROBERTS: I said nothing focuses the mind like getting shot at.

SHELBY: Well, it's not a good feeling. It's a dicey feeling. It happened so fast. And all of us, but I speak only for myself, I thought my goodness, you know, this could be it. Like anybody shooting at. I was thankful for the crew and professionalism of our soldiers there.

ROBERTS: After being over there, your assessment of the situation, what do you expect General Petraeus to say next week in terms of how long U.S. forces need to stay there and all that?

SHELBY: I don't know. I don't want to pre-empt him.

ROBERTS: Yeah, I know, I'm just wondering what your thoughts are.

SHELBY: Well, we'll have to wait for what he actually says but I believe he's going to say that we've made progress, and we have. That we'll continue to make some progress, but that we shouldn't do a precipitous withdrawal, but we will leave Iraq. But we need to do it in a measured way. We should not be perceived as being run out because it would collapse our whole foreign policy in the Middle East.

Our troops have great morale, I can say that. And a couple of them told me, they said, "Remember on thing, Senator, we haven't been defeated on the battlefield." And they're absolutely right.

ROBERTS: Senator, one quick question on a different topic. As you know, Senator Craig said that he's going to step down at the end of this month. Should he come back between Washington between now and then, or would you encourage him to stay at home in Idaho?

SHELBY: I can't understand your question, because of the transmission.

ROBERTS: Oh, I'm sorry. Let me ask you again. Senator Craig, as you know, is stepping down at the end of this month. Between now and then, should he come back to Washington or would you encourage him to stay at home in Idaho?

Well, we seem to have totally lost communication between myself and Senator Shelby. I don't think he's ignoring the question, so we'll say thanks very much to him, unfortunately, we had that little bit of a technical difficulty. But that's live TV, Kiran.

CHETRY: That would be a new tactic.

ROBERTS: I would be a new tactic. Sorry, I can't hear the question.

CHETRY: Hurricane Felix has blown up into a major Category 5 storm, making its way across the Caribbean and our Rob Marciano is coming up with the latest track.

Plus he's one of the few guys who jumped in the east river without cement shoes. We're kidding, but the man who battled the currents and some really interesting elements to make swimming history, he joins us to tell his harrowing tale on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Welcome back to the most news in the morning.

It's only Labor Day but a lot of moviegoers had Halloween on their minds. Your "Quick Hits" now: Rob Zombie's remake of the 1978 film John Carpenter film, "Halloween" raked in $26.5 million, topping the box office, and breaking the previous Labor Day weekend record set by "Transporter 2", that was back in 2005.

OK, 173 wings in 12 minutes. That's what the winner of the National Buffalo Wing Eating Festival scarfed down. That winner was not one of those great big guys, it was the 105-pound woman in the middle there, known as the black widow. Sonia Thomas is her real name. She's ranked No. 5 in the world by the International Federation of Competitive Eating.

There she is right there. Got hot sauce all over the mouth. The contest was held where else? Buffalo.

CHETRY: They say that adds up to five pounds of wings. Where does she put it? Now she weighs 110, not 105. Congrats, Sonia.

It's safe to go back in the water after a shark that gave a "Jaws"-like scare to swimmers in Rockaway Beach in New York. It beached itself and died yesterday. There's the picture of it. It's a six-foot thresher shark. Thresher sharks have a tail just as long as their body. They say they're pretty sure it's the same fish that caused that panic when it swam ashore Saturday. It's a relatively harmless shark. They think it had been hit by a pleasure boat, according to witnesses, which is why it beached itself, because it was so injured. Biologists say shark attacks in New York City are rare. They've only reported six since 1650.

ROBERTS: It's 44 minutes after the hour. Our Rob Marciano is in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He's tracking the weather on this Labor Day. Not the shark attacks, including very dangerous Category 5 hurricane churning a long way away from the United States.

But some people still in the crosshairs, Rob?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, thankfully a long way away from the United States. We're in Myrtle Beach. Actually, our cameras were out, and people were like, hey, is there a storm coming here that we don't know about? There's no storm it should be nice here.

But the Category 5 hurricane in the Caribbean continues to barrel towards Central America on a track similar to Dean, maybe a little bit farther to the south; 165 mile-an-hour winds. Through see the satellite signature, very small, tight eye. And the reconnaissance aircraft had a hard time penetrating that eye. It is an intense storm.

Here is the track, on a track westerly at about 21 miles an hour, should get to the coastline of Honduras and/or Nicaragua by around this time tomorrow morning as a Category 5, winds extending from the center, hurricane force winds 25 miles in either direction so pretty small but very, very intense.

Myrtle Beach, no stranger to hurricanes -- tell you what, want to show you some I-Report shots out of Curacao and Aruba. Tremendous amount of rainfall and wind there. Very rare event to get a hurricane this far south.

Aruba, technically has been known as an island that is hurricane proof, but being skimmed by a couple in the last four or five years obviously getting a little taste of the action thanks to the I-Report video there.

Beautiful here on Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. No stranger to hurricanes here, John. Hugo back in '89; that was a major one Cat 4 that struck just south of here. And they get brushed or hit by a hurricane about every three and a half years. So Myrtle Beach certainly in the crosshairs -- but not today.

Labor day last unofficial day of summertime and there are folks on the beach enjoying the pristine waters here of South Carolina. Back up to you.

ROBERTS: Rob, thanks very much. It's 46 minutes after the hour. We should tell you that he's done it again. President Bush on his way to the APEC Conference in Sydney, Australia. Instead of going the Pacific route, chose to go the Atlantic route and touched down in Baghdad just a little while ago. If I'm not mistaken, I believe this is correct, the last time he was there was that Thanksgiving trip, 2004 or 2005, have to double check on that.

But another sneak attack on Baghdad by President Bush, stopping off on his way to Sydney, Australia. We'll get our White House people geared up and get more on that surprise visit in just a little while.

Meantime, imagine swimming 85 1/2 miles, all at once, around the island of Manhattan, three times.

CHETRY: Our guest this morning not only just did it, he did it and set a world record. He paid quite a price for it, though. Fifty- year-old Skip Storch joins us now.

Skip, we should mention, you were supposed to join us on Friday, actually, but you actually had to be sent to the hospital. You broke the record on Thursday night, but you ended up getting hypothermia, among other things. What happened?

SKIP STORCH, SET SWIM RECORD: Basically my muscles broke down. You pay the price when you're 50 years old and swim 85 1/2 miles.

ROBERTS: We should point out that the record was set back in 1984, by a 23-year-old. What are you doing at 50 years old swimming around Manhattan three times?

STORCH: Basically --

ROBERTS: And I can say that because I'm 50, as well.

STORCH: There you go.

I had to choose between being a survivor or a victim after 9/11. And I chose to be a survivor. I have a disease called Sarcodosis. After 9/11, a lot of people have been getting it. And unfortunately, I got it. And so I had to do something about it, and take my medicines, listen to my doctors at Mt. Sinai Hospital. And also get back in and pay my tribute to the victims that aren't able to become survivors.

CHETRY: It's what makes it all the more unbelievable that you were able to pull off this physical feat. It was 32 hours, it took you. You broke the world record, by the way, it's a total of 85 1/2 miles. And you're doing it with a lung disease, when you need your lungs to swim. How'd you do it?

STORCH: The doctors basically said that my function is superhuman, but I have a disease in my heart and my lungs. But they told me to take my medicine, to live a clean life, believe in myself, and that's what I do.

ROBERTS: You certainly did that. Not only did you swim around Manhattan three times, you had a couple of people following you. One was a woman in a canoe, who overturned while she was following you. You had to turn around and save her?

STORCH: Yes, unfortunately, she got pinned underneath one of the escort boats. And I had to go underwater, pull the boat from underneath the other boat, and right her so that she was able to breathe some air.

CHETRY: Quite an adventure. You could have risked losing the record by taking the time to do that. Of course, you did the right thing and helped her as well. What is it like? Has the East River and the Hudson, I mean, they've been a joke for so long about the water quality. Has it cleaned up over the years, over the past decade?

STORCH: That's a very good we. I've been swimming in the waters around Manhattan for 25 years. At one point you couldn't see beyond your elbows. The water tasted wonderful. I didn't get any ear infections no, infections at all. As far as the water quality in the past 30 years, through efforts of the state, a lot of private groups, a lot of -- just everybody it's gotten better.

ROBERTS: We could notice there's a difference in the coloration between your forehead and the rest of your head and your face. Is that from wearing the bathing cap?

STORCH: Yes, the bathing cap, exposure to the sun, the salt.

CHETRY: Because you did this unassisted, you didn't have a wet suit on, which is why you got hypothermia. It's a different record if you'd have worn something.

STORCH: There really isn't any record. If you do wear a wet suit or use paddles or fins, or boogie boards, or inboard outboards, it's called an assisted swim. It's just there to be noted, but what I did is called an unassisted nonstop swim.

ROBERTS: So you're feeling better now, back to normal?

STORCH: I'm feeling a lot better.

ROBERTS: What's next?

STORCH: A lot of rest. Lots of rest.

CHETRY: And you raised a good amount of money for your organization?

STORCH: I'm not sure. I'm not sure, but hopefully all the money -- people can always send money to Mt. Sinai Hospital, to victims of 9/11.

ROBERTS: All right, Skip Storch, thanks very much, what an incredible feat. You've given all of us middle-aged guys something to shoot for here.

STORCH: Absolutely.

CHETRY: An inspiration. Thanks.

STORCH: Thank you so much. CHETRY: We are watching breaking news, right now. Just got word that President Bush made a surprise visit to Baghdad on this Labor Day. We have a live report coming up.

Also on this Labor Day, we're looking at the labor problems that are really causing some problems for the recovery effort on the Gulf Coast. Why labor costs, construction costs are so high. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Just a quick update here. President Bush's third trip to Baghdad, June, 2006 was his last, original one was Thanksgiving 2003. Memory not quite what it used to be.

Two years after Hurricane Katrina there are thousands of people in New Orleans still trying to rebuild and it's not just insurance woes that are to blame. CNN's Sean Callebs is live in New Orleans with more on why some residents still can't get the help they need.

Good morning, Sean.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

Exactly, even people with the money and the means, well, nothing is easy in this city. In the past couple of years the price of building materials has gone up significantly. And secondly, licensed contractors say some of their unlicensed brethren are hiring illegal aliens, often doing shoddy work. So in the end, quite often it's the homeowner who suffers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CALLEBS (voice over): Eighteen months ago, Debra Taylor started to rebuild. Almost immediately things took a nasty turn. Her contractor bilked her out of $13,000 for work he never did, and then ran.

DEBRA TAYLOR, NEW ORLEANS HOMEOWNER: It has made my life very difficult, because I'm still trying to move in. As far as money -- I don't have any more money.

CALLEBS: It's a story that's being repeated over and over again for thousands of people here. Contractor Kevin Nichols is on the up and up. He came down from Louisville after Katrina.

There's a ton of work to be had but profit is small, he says. That's because he's competing against a wealth of illegal aliens willing to work off the books for a lot less money. Tulane University researches found as many as 14,000 illegals have poured into the city over the past two years.

KEVIN NICOLAS, CONTRACTOR: We do every legitimate as possible. So you got that kind of overhead, and you have guys walking in, living in a truck, or 14 guys living in an apartment. And they're underbidding, undercutting, underbidding, and going in and doing sloppy work.

CALLEBS: To make matters worse, the price of building supplies has gone up dramatically. Home owner Greg Matusoff is forced to pick and choose who what to buy and when, hoping for sales.

(On camera): Save here, spend more here, that kind of thing.

GREG MATUSOFF, NEW ORLEANS HOMEOWNER: Right, it's a shell game, that's exactly it, too.

CALLEBS: If you're lucky enough to afford a contractor, you'll still have to get in line. Contractors are juggling several jobs at a time.

NICHOLAS: Not to name any names, but certain contractors in this area have 16 to 25 houses going, and they'll drag it out for a whole year.

CALLEBS: Taylor is on her third contractor, and says she still is months away from moving back into her home.

TAYLOR: I tell you, at night I just sit sometimes and cry, and I ask the Lord sometimes, what did I do?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CALLEBS: Boy we hear that a lot out here as well.

The state tells us there are about 4,500 licensed contractors working in the state. Get this, 60,000 unlicensed, quite often preying on people who need reconstruction.

And secondly, Immigration Customs Enforcement has also been busy, John. They tell us they have deported more than 11,500 illegal aliens in the past two years. If it's made a dent here, locals say they haven't seen it.

ROBERTS: These tragedies often bring out the best in people and the worst, as well. Sean Callebs for thus morning.

Sean, thanks.

CHETRY: And still ahead, four winning tickets were sold for the monster Mega Millions jackpot. One man's coming forward and says he won it and thanking Wiccan gods for his newfound fortune. We'll have more on his story coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back. Breaking news, on this Labor Day, we got word that President Bush made a surprise visit, he's on his way to the APEC Conference in Sydney, Australia, taking a detour, if you will. An 11-hour detour to Iraq, to the heart of the war zone. Coming up upon this report coming up from General Petraeus, next week, about the state of things and whether or not the so-called surge is working. ROBERTS: Yes, and 11-hour flight. John Yang (ph) is the pool reporter aboard U.S. Force One. He filed this audio report just a little while ago. Take a listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Steven Hadley says the place was chosen because of what he called the remarkable turn around in the province. A year ago violence was high source bad that a military intelligence officer said it was lost to Al Qaeda.

(AUDIO GAPS) to of course is to battle Al Qaeda.

The president was spirited out of the White House late Sunday and driven to Andrews Air Force base, 16 hours before he was scheduled to leave an a trip to Australia. He boarded Air Force One in a hangar, and took off after dark.

White House officials won't say how he got out of the White House. They say it worked so well he might want to try it again. John Yang, with the U.S. TV (AUDIO GAP) with the president in Iraq.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

ROBERTS: That's John Yang, who is the pool reporter aboard Air Force One.

Let's go to our Michael Ware now, he's in Baghdad.

Michael, this is the president's third trip to Baghdad. Any idea where he, what he'll see on this visit?

MICHAEL WARE, CNN INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely no clue, John. This is very much a cloak and dagger-style visit, as we have seen in the past from the president. Again, on holidays, this is obviously Labor Day, back home.

So, he's come in here, there's multitude of reasons that you could fathom. Clearly, this is on the eve of the all-important reports to flow into Congress, and the testimony next week from Ambassador Ryan Crocker here. And from the American commander of the War in Iraq, General David Petraeus.

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