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American Morning

Hurricane Felix Reaches Category 5; President Bush Due in Sydney; Sudden Death: Can Your Workout Kill You?

Aired September 04, 2007 - 07:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Selling success.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Military successes are paving the way to improving security throughout Iraq.

CHETRY: The president on the road, off to meet allies in Australia with a message for troops in Iraq.

BUSH: It will be possible to maintain the same level of security with fewer American forces.

CHETRY: But will it be soon enough for Congress?

Plus, firestorm on the first day of school.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are paying with our public dollar for a religious school.

CHETRY: Inside the Arab school that has divided parents, student and taxpayers.

And, the ABCs of your DNA. A new path to understanding your genes and potential for disease.

What makes you you on this AMERICAN MORNING.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: And welcome, once again. It is Tuesday, September 4th. Glad you're with us.

I'm Kiran Chetry.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you.

I'm John Roberts.

First day back at school for a lot of people.

We're tracking two storms right now. Henriette now a hurricane in the Pacific and Hurricane Felix just upgraded to Category 5.

Felix is bearing down on Nicaragua along the Nicaragua/Honduras border with 60-mile-an-hour winds now. As the sun came up, it really gained intensity.

Thousands of tourists are being airlifted from resorts along the Honduran coast and the islands off line, like Roatan. Residents are asked to get to safety as quickly as possible.

Forecasters are predicting flashfloods and mudslides and a possible storm surge of 18 feet. Hurricane Mitch killed 10,000 people in that same area. That was nine years ago.

CNN's Harris Whitbeck is in La Ceiba, Honduras. He has got the latest for us from there.

What is it looking like this morning, Harris?

HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, John.

Well, it's still very clear where we are, here in La Ceiba. But as the hours pass, of course, the conditions will deteriorate quite quickly.

The Honduran government has chosen La Ceiba as its staging area for responding to whatever Hurricane Felix leaves in its wake, and several international NGOs and organizations such as the World Food Program have placed supplies and people in the area to respond quickly. This is a massive storm, they say. And the concern is that it could cause lots of flooding and mudslides, particularly in central Honduras, as the day goes by and as the storm passes by. And forecasters say it will pass by relatively quickly.

The officials here, of course, will be monitoring what goes on very, very closely to see how to react to that. A lot of people have left the area. A lot of tourists over on the island of Roatan left yesterday.

There is concern about the Miskito population on the border between Honduras and Nicaragua. According to some reports, some 14,000 Miskito Indians did not make it out in time and they'll have to ride out that storm. So a lot of concern about how they will fare as the storm progresses this morning -- John.

ROBERTS: Harris, the closest population center to where the storm is actually going to come ashore is a little town called Puerto Cabezas on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. It's very difficult to get to.

Do you have any idea whether people were able to evacuate from that area?

WHITBECK: Well, again, as you said, the area is very, very isolated. Most of that part of Honduras and Nicaragua is usually only accessible by air or by boat. And officials, at least in Honduras yesterday, were having trouble finding enough gasoline to power boats to get people out. So they are concerned that at least several thousand people might be stuck there.

ROBERTS: All right. Harris Whitbeck for us this morning in La Ceiba, Honduras, right up there along the Caribbean coast.

Rob Marciano at the CNN Center tracking Felix and also Henriette in the Pacific.

How bad does it look like Felix is going to be when it comes ashore?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's going to be like an F-3, EF-3 tornado in its smallest core. I mean, the wind field has expanded, as well. So, not only have we gained Category 5 status, but the extent at which the hurricane-force winds extend from the center of the storm now is at its greatest length, 45 miles on either side of this storm, mostly to the right of it.

And there you see the eye going over Cayos Miskitos there, that island, one of many little archipelago islands, just off the shore there of the Miskito coast. The Miskito coast itself pretty much right through here.

There are about 100,000 people that live there, mostly natives. And as you said, some of them did manage to evacuate, some of them did not. And that is going to be the extent of the tropical-storm-force winds right there.

All right. Within the next hour, we're going to start to see landfall of the western eye of this storm, and that yellow circle pretty much indicates where we'll see the most damage as this thing becomes to come on shore.

The forecast track brings it right along into Nicaragua and then central Honduras and through Guatemala, as well. It will weaken quickly because of those mountains, but it will be torn apart and we will see a great amount of rainfall and potential deadly mudslides with this system, also.

All right. On the other side of the western shoreline there of Central America, this is Henriette. This has strengthened to a Category 1 status. It shouldn't strengthen all that much more, but it will make landfall across the southern tip of the Baja here as we go on later this afternoon and later tonight as a Category 1 storm, and then eventually making its way into Mexico and possibly some of that moisture getting into the southwestern U.S.

So that will have an effect on the lower 48. Of course, not as devastating an effect as this Category 5 storm, Hurricane Felix, will have on Central America, namely Nicaragua and Honduras. And it's going to make landfall here during this show, John, in the next hour, hour and a half.

And we'll bring it to you live as it happens.

Let's send it back over to you.

CHETRY: All right. Thanks, Rob. Well, just one day after President Bush stepped foot in Iraq, an eight-hour visit there, the war will be the focus down under, as well. The president is expected to arrive in Sydney, Australia, just about an hour from now for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum known as APEC. He will be greeted by one of his closest allies, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, and by anti-war protesters, as well.

White House Correspondent Elaine Quijano is live in Sydney with more for us.

Hi, Elaine.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Kiran.

That's right, President Bush is going to be arriving a couple of days ahead of that APEC summit, that annual gathering of Asian and Pacific leaders taking place this year here in Sydney. But, of course, Iraq hangs heavy over his trip.

In less than two weeks, the president will be delivering that crucial Iraq report to Congress, and just yesterday, during that surprise visit to the Al Anbar province, President Bush seemed to suggest or hint, at least, at a possible future troop drawdown. The president saying that if General Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker continue to see success on the ground in Iraq, that perhaps the same security level could be maintained with fewer American troops.

But later during his visit, the president seemed to take a more cautious tone, saying that no decisions have been made yet, Kiran. But the president, certainly here in Australia, will have a chance to strengthen ties with one of his staunchest allies in the war on terror. That, of course, being Australia's prime minister, John Howard -- Kiran.

CHETRY: So, as we said, the president due to arrive there in about an hour.

Elaine Quijano reporting from Sydney.

Thank you.

(NEWSBREAK)

CHETRY: Well, China launching an attack on the U.S. cyber warfare style. "The Financial Times" of London reporting that the People's Liberation Army successfully hacked the Pentagon's computers.

Monita Rajpal is following this from London for us.

Hi, Monita.

MONITA RAJPAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kiran.

Yes, American officials are actually calling it the most successful cyber attack on the U.S. Defense Department. They're also calling it a wake-up call.

According to "The Financial Times" newspaper in London, China's military hacked into the Pentagon's computer network, forcing the department to shut down part of Robert Gates, the defense secretary's computer system. Now, the intrusion reportedly took place in June. No word yet on what exactly was downloaded, but those close to the internal investigation are saying that the information was probably unclassified.

No comment yet from Beijing, but this isn't the first time that China has been accused of hacking into government computer systems. Just a week ago, Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel, complained to China's premier about hacking into Germany's computer system. Wen Jiabao, China's premier, said that acts undermining computer systems, including hacking, are criminal and are forbidden -- Kiran.

CHETRY: Monita Rajpal in London for us.

Thank you -- John.

ROBERTS: Lots of news coming out of a cardiac conference in Vienna, including new information for athletes and their hearts. An irregular heartbeat can be deadly.

CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is in Atlanta now with details.

Sanjay, we've seen stories about this in the past, of athletes dropping dead. What new is being added to this today?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's really interesting. And we have seen a lot of those sorts of images.

Most recently you may remember, John, Antonio Puerto, a 22-year- old soccer player, actually collapsed while playing soccer. It turns out that he subsequently had a heart attack. He had another heart attack after that and he died. And a lot of -- a lot of people ask the question, well, what is going on with these athletes, especially these super athletes who have these heart problems? Well, this new study that you sort of alluded to, John, sort of addresses that concern.

In a nutshell, what they're sort of pointing to is the fact that athletes who may have an underlying heart rhythm problem -- so the heart rhythm every now and then is uncoordinated -- if they have that problem and they add the super athleticism, sometimes it can sort of push them over the edge and turn what would otherwise be a harmless heart problem into a deadly one, and that seems to be what's happening here. What's happening exactly with an athlete like this is the adrenaline sort of surges through the body, sort of makes the heart beat faster and turns this rhythm, again, which would have otherwise been harmless into something very deadly.

Now, Italy, by the way, which is -- the Italian researchers actually conducted this study -- Italy is the only country to actually mandate electrocardiograms, EKGs, across the board for their athletes, for their professional athletes. And what they have found is over time, it has actually dropped the number of sudden deaths from heart problems from about four in 100,000 to .4 in 100,000. Pretty small numbers overall, but a significant drop there, as well.

No one is suggesting people shouldn't exercise, but this may be an explanation as to why super athletes have these problems -- John.

ROBERTS: You know, you would think if anybody could recover from some sort of abnormal rhythm or what is it, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is some of the diagnosis that I've seen in the past, it would be athletes. Why aren't athletes more able to recover from this or deal with this than normal people?

GUPTA: Yes. We thought the same thing. And there's really one reason that kept emerging as we investigated this.

It is that at the time of the event, at the time that you saw Antonio Puerto collapse -- there are other athletes in the past -- they are in a state of oxygen deprivation. They have just been exercising often so hard that they have not enough oxygen sort of circulating through their body. And so it makes it harder to recover at the time. Now, some people do recover at the time and then have problems later on, but that seems to be the most significant reason as to why somebody at the time instead of recovering might actually just die from it.

ROBERTS: Interesting stuff.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta for us this morning.

Sanjay, thanks. We'll see you soon.

GUPTA: Thank you. All right.

CHETRY: Well, your tax dollars for a school that is devoted to teaching Arabic. But some fear that something else could be going on. We're going to take you to the first day of a very controversial school here in New York City.

Also, an incredible rescue caught on tape. Rushing water, only an inch of breathable air, and a firefighter who winds up having to be rescued himself, risking his life to try to save another. We're going to show you how all of this ended, coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

CHETRY: Well, a couple of stops from Ground Zero, subway stops from Ground Zero, New York City's first all Arabic school is opening. It's opening today in the borough of Brooklyn.

Now, the city says the school's mandate is to teach Arabic, as well as non-religious Arab culture. Critics, though, and there are many, say that it could become a city-funded breeding ground for extremists. Richard Roth joins us live now at the school as students prepare for their first full day of classes amid a lot of controversy.

Hi, Richard.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Hello.

You would expect a lot of anxiety and tension on the first day of school, but here in Brooklyn, it's the adults, not the sixth graders who will be attending this special school, that have been upset for months. A storm of controversy over the special first New York City school that will feature Arabic learning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come on, baby (ph). Help me out here.

ROTH (voice over): When New York City announced plans for a public school that would teach Arabic language and culture, Carmen Cologne (ph) saw a great opportunity for her 11-year-old son.

I know for a fact that any American who learns Arabic will make tons of money, whether it's translation, whether it's in the customer service area. I thought it was the best advantage I could give my son.

ROTH: But some are outraged over the school.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are paying with our public dollar for a religious school, a madrassa.

ROTH: Pamela Hall (ph) is with Stop the Madrassa. The group believes the Khalil Gibran International Academy will impose a radical Islamic agenda in its classrooms.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Arabic immigrant student will be isolated. Whether that materializes instantly into terrorists, that's a huge statement to make. But are these students not assimilating and becoming part of the American fabric? And is that potentially a problem? We think so, yes.

DEBORAH HOWARD, KGIA DESIGN TEAM: There's no basis and fact for what they're saying.

ROTH: Deborah Howard and Reyad Farraj, both parents of Brooklyn public school students, worked on the design team for the academy and say it is not a religious school.

HOWARD: In terms of the curriculum, if it's a New York City public school it has to go by New York City standards. I'm Jewish. I would never be part of a school that would in any way, you know, be involved with Islamic fundamentalists.

ROTH: Much of the criticism was directed at the school's Arab- American founding principal, Debbie al-Mantasar (ph). Two local papers reported claims she had ties to Islamic extremist organizations.

The controversy reached a fever pitch when al-Mantasar (ph) was quoted defending the use of the word "intifada" on a T-shirt. She said in Arabic it simply means "shaking off". Soon after, al-Mantasar (ph) resigned and the city replaced her with a Jewish principal who doesn't speak Arabic.

REYAD FARRAJ, KGIA DESIGN TEAM: To be attacked so viciously has been unbelievably unfair. And quite sad.

ROTH: The verbal attacks caused Cologne (ph) to pull her son out of the school.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The people who are so against this school who, for me, seem more like the terrorists by terrorizing the community and making us feel that it's unsafe for our children to be there, they're the ones who are terrorizing us, not the school, not the principal and not the administration.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROTH: But not every parent has withdrawn their child. Of the 60 slots available, 57 students will be here. Ten of them are Arab- American, 67 percent are African-American -- Kiran.

CHETRY: You know, this coalition, the Stop the Madrassa coalition -- these are the people who have led the battle against the school -- they plan on holding a rally at City Hall. They want to get the mayor to shut down the school as this first day of classes gets under way, Richard.

What are they saying is their primary reason for being so against it?

ROTH: They believe that if you're teaching Arab culture and language, it will lead to teaching about Islam and will set up potential in the future terrorist or terrorist supporters. Mayor Bloomberg has supported this school and has even defended the principal who had to resign over the T-shirt controversy.

CHETRY: Richard Roth, reporting from Brooklyn this morning.

We'll see how the first day goes. Thank you.

And still ahead, whose idea was this? We're going to talk to one of the school's developers coming up in our next half hour. They're going to weigh in on all the controversy swirling around the first day of classes at this school -- John.

ROBERTS: A summer of sitting at the airport. Why has it become OK in the eyes of the airlines to wait hours for your flight? The numbers and the frustration coming up.

And Hurricane Felix now a dangerous Category 5 hurricane capable of tremendous death and destruction. We're tracking it as it closes in on the coast of Central America. Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Twenty-six minutes now after the hour.

Ali Velshi here "Minding Your Business".

And the summer nightmares for air travelers, as bad as everybody thought, maybe going to get worse.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Most likely is going to get worse.

We've been talking about this all summer. We've shown those lineups. Well, it is really bad.

Just in August alone, there were more than 16,000 flights canceled. More than 30,000 canceled flights this entire summer, which is double what we had last summer.

11.9 percent of flights arrived more than 45 minutes late in July, but for the whole summer, the average is more than 13 percent, and the average delay is 60 minutes. But, as you know, some of those delays were several hours with people stuck on the tarmac.

Now, what is the problem? US Airways earlier in the summer said it was their reservation system. They combined the reservation systems as part of its merger.

Northwest was blaming its crews. Remember that dispute between Northwest and its pilots?

Others say it's the FAA and the air traffic system. Others say we just haven't built more airports. Greg Hunter has been reporting on that. There just aren't enough runways and gates. There are a lot of planes -- a lot of airlines flying smaller planes more frequently so that the planes are full, as opposed to bigger planes, you know, so you get more planes, that takes more runway space, more gate space. And that's not getting better.

Right now if you look at travel deals or you're trying to book travel for later in the year, you find prices are up, planes are full. So we are traveling more as a result.

So, at the moment, we don't have a fix for this. And really, when it comes to air traffic and planes, this is kind of a long-term fix. You've got to start deciding what you're doing, and there's no plan on the books right now that says this problem is going to be solved any time soon.

CHETRY: Well, the air traffic controllers are, I guess, pointing to possibly going on line years from now with a new system and new navigation.

VELSHI: Right. There's a new navigation system in the works. Some people don't even think that will solve the problem because it's a great navigation system but it doesn't add a gate and it doesn't add a runway.

So, if you're at an airport like LaGuardia, you've got two runways, you can have the best navigation system in the world. You're still landing and taking planes off all the time. It's not going to help.

ROBERTS: So, oh wise one, how would you fix it?

VELSHI: Well, you've got to look at your growth of your cities and decide how many airports you need, try and spread traffic to maybe some more suburban airports. Big centers are going to need more airports. Or you convince people not to fly. But that's not going to happen .

CHETRY: You had a third option, Jetsons-like.

VELSHI: The Jetsons. Yes, everybody just flies on their own with a little pack. That would work.

CHETRY: All right. Think outside the box, Ali.

VELSHI: That's right.

CHETRY: Thanks.

Right now we're going to tell you about something coming up that you can't miss, using your own DNA to figure out what diseases you may be at risk of getting. It's very fascinating science, once again cracking our code in a way that's been unheard of.

ROBERTS: Yes. You know, they did that whole Human Genome Project a number of years ago, but just in the last little while they have actually come out with one person's entire DNA code. It just happened to be the guy who discovered DNA.

CHETRY: It is -- yes, it is fascinating, but how can this translate into helping us fight and prevent disease?

We're going to talk about it with Sanjay Gupta when AMERICAN MORNING comes back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Picture this morning of the sun coming up over Minneapolis, St. Paul. Thanks to our friends at KARE TV for that picture. 72 degrees right now, going to be a beautiful day. 89 degrees and moderate humidity. So, good thing to wake up to, on the first day of school, I guess there in Minneapolis, as well.

And, welcome back, thanks for joining us. It is Tuesday the fourth of September. I'm John Roberts.

CHETRY: And, I'm Kiran Chetry, thanks for being with us. ROBERTS: New this morning, police in Afghanistan say the man behind the kidnap kidnapping of the South Korean aide workers was killed overnight. The Taliban leader was one of 16 suspected militants killed in a fire fight with coalition forces and Afghan soldiers. The battle happened in the eastern Afghan province of Ghazni.

The South Koreans had been held for six weeks, two of them were killed the other 21 were -- or at least two of them were killed, two released. The remaining 19 were released last week.

North Korea is still a state-sponsor of terror, at least as far as the United States is concerned. North Korea claimed it was off the list of state sponsors and that Washington decided to remove sanctions. The State Department here says that's just not true. The claim came on the same day that North Korea promised to shut down its nuclear program by the end of this year.

CHETRY: Well, we are tracking two storms right now, breaking news in Central America, Hurricane Felix just upgraded to a category 5 within the hour and bearing down on the Nicaragua/Honduras border. 160 mile-per-hour maximum sustained wind and thousands of tourists are being airlifted from the resorts on the Honduran coast. Residents being asked to get to safety while they can.

And, forecasters are predicting flash flooding, mudslides and a possible storm surge of 18 feet. Hurricane Mitch killed 10,000 people in that same area nine years ago. Well, CNN is, of course, your hurricane headquarters. Our Rob Marciano has been tracking Hurricane Felix for us from the CNN weather center. Hi, Rob.

(WEATHER REPORT)

CHETRY: We're getting videos in from all across the Caribbean and the Gulf of the hurricane -- Hurricane Felix. You can send us your i- report videos at CNN.com/ireport. We want to show you one that was sent by an i-reporter in Aruba, taking a look at the winds just gusting through this open air resort restaurant as Felix moved past the island.

Of course, even though we see the water just whipping across the floors there and the palm trees being blown almost horizontally, this was not even the worst of Felix as it makes its small crawl across -- toward Honduras and Nicaragua. By the way, if you are taking these types of pictures, we certainly appreciate them.

We want you it put your safety first though, of course. Again, CNN.com/ireport, if you've been able to capture anything. John?

ROBERTS: Coming up now to 36 minutes after the hour. We told you earlier in the hour about a public school devoted to teaching Arabic language and culture opening today in New York City. Very first day is today. Many critics are concerned about what sixth graders will learn there.

We're joined by Garth Harries in the New York City Department of Education to talk a little bit more about this. Garth, the big concern that these critics have is that this could become a center for radicalization, religious indoctrination, what do you say to people about those concerns?

GARTH HARRIES, NYC DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION: That is absolutely not the case. It's important to understand that this a public school. It's got a public school curriculum, and frankly, it's in the best traditions of New York City public schools. It's inclusive, it's relevant, it's important and it's committed to excellence.

ROBERTS: Talk to us a little bit about that curriculum? Will it follow the standard New York City schools curriculum in terms of science and math and other subjects like that? What part will Arabic language instruction play in it? And most importantly, will Arab religion be part of that curriculum?

HARRIES: It's a core sixth grade curriculum that these kids are starting with, which is the basics, math, English, history, science and the kids are also going to be learning Arabic which is an incredibly exciting and unique opportunity for these kids. Religion plays absolutely no part in the school. This is a public school, it wouldn't play a part in any of our schools.

As a theme school focused on a language, it's like so many other, we have 70 dual-language programs around the city, and those are programs that give our kids a leg up. To give them a language, they're inclusive and they let them learn about the world.

ROBERTS: So then, the only difference with this school is that it will teaching Arabic language and some Arabic culture what -- in terms of history and current events, how will that be taught?

HARRIES: Yes, that's right. So, cultural awareness about Arabic and the Middle East and focusing on preparing kids to go out and not only graduate from high school, but understand about that part of the world.

ROBERTS: How do you teach about Arabic culture though, without going into the realm of religion, because Islam is such a fundamental part of Arabic culture?

HARRIES: That's not accurate. Arabic is a huge part of the world and not all of it is Islamic. It's just like speaking Chinese.

ROBERTS: But, it's a huge part of it.

HARRIES: It is part of it and just ...

ROBERTS: How do you teach people the difference between Sunnis and Shiites unless you talk about the religion aspect of it?

HARRIES: From an educational standpoint, that's right. And so, you need -- kids need to be aware about the religions of the world just in a way that if you were studying China you would be aware of Buddhists and other forms of religion in China. And, that is part of the cultural awareness that is such a special opportunity in this school. Kids to come out and know about that part of the world, be able to be useful to this country and to the world in understanding it.

ROBERTS: Does it raise any other concerns that the New York City Department of Education has to address such as security or, I understand that they going to be bringing in speakers from the outside. Will they be vetted in terms of what they'll talk to students about?

HARRIES: Yes, we're absolutely going to be focused on what is going on in the school, and if anything inappropriate happens there will be consequences. We're focused, as well, on the security in the school, given the controversy that surrounds its opening, that we're frankly disappointed in.

But, one of the most powerful statements about the school, amidst all the controversy, it's opening a full house and parents and students and kids and teachers are voting with their feet. They're in this school because they understand what a special opportunity it is and how relevant it can be for them.

ROBERTS: It's an interesting project to see how it goes. Garth Harries, for the New York City Department of Education, thanks very much.

HARRIES: And you.

ROBERTS: Kiran?

CHETRY: Well, there is an important development in medicine to tell you about this morning. It's all about your DNA. The most comprehensive human genome of a single person has just been published. And, it's both a look into your medical history and your possible medical future using your own DNA to determine what diseases you might be susceptible to in the future.

CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is in Atlanta to explain. And now we all remember the big hubbub, I guess it was a few years back, when they say they cracked the human genome. What's different now?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That was amazing. That was in 2003 when you had the two companies sort of vying to be the first to crack the human genome. Now, we have the DNA of one person, you said it's out there available -- it's actually online. Craig Venter, who was one of the researchers trying to crack the human genome a few years ago has actually decoded his own personal DNA and actually put it online.

Ninety-six percent of the 6 billion pieces of his genetic code are now available online. Very interesting. Several different things are sort of emerging as we've looked at some of the investigation here. First of all, we are not as similar as we thought we were. Everyone said after the first human genome came out, that we are 99.9 percent similar.

It's closer to 99 percent, so you and I are still pretty similar, but not as much so as thought possible. Also the relationship between human beings and chimpanzees for example, about 95 percent similar. As part of this whole thing that they did with the new genome, they also found 300 new genes for various diseases.

And Venter, himself, actually looked at his DNA trying to figure out what he was at risk for. I had a chance to talk to him about several of these things. It was sort of interesting how he pieces things together. For example, you might find out that he has a normal risk for melanoma, but a higher risk for blindness.

He does carry the gene for blue eyes, for example, he does have blue eyes, but he also has the -- higher risk for Alzheimer's, alcoholism and anti-social behavior. The big question, Kiran, is what do you do with all this information? Do you screen more often? Does it change your way of life? Do you start medicines earlier?

That part is unclear, but this is the first time you have had one individual who's actually posted his information online as far as what that could mean for us.

CHETRY: It really is so fascinating. Even if you're not that aware or into science to take a look at this. Will there be a future, somewhat close to now where we can all do this, and it would be affordable?

GUPTA: I think so, and it's going to go through some various iterations before we get there, but it is very cool you're right. Just to give you a sense of perspective, the consortium, which is the government consortium trying to crack the human genome, they actually took the genome of about 270 different people to get the DNA that they needed.

It took them 13 years and $3 billion to do this. Celera, which was Venter's group took millions of dollars, they had five different people's DNA and it took them several years to do it. And now people are saying you might get to the point where just with a cheek swab -- there's a lab at Harvard for example, they say with a cheek swab they might be able to give you the most important part of your DNA.

The most important few percent of your DNA within a few days and you might be able to have that information to determine what diseases you're at risk for and what you should do about it. We're not there yet, but you also mentioned earlier James Watson, who 50 years ago actually discovered DNA was actually presented with his own DNA.

It costs about a million dollars and a couple months to do, but he was given his own DNA. We're going to get there some point soon, I think, where we can at least get the most important part of our DNA in an affordable amount of money in a short amount of time.

CHETRY: Wow, as a doctor, that must be really fascinating to you, especially, as you figure out ways to treat people.

GUPTA: And what we do with that information, absolutely.

CHETRY: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks.

GUPTA: Thank you.

CHETRY: By the way, we want to remind everyone, every Thursday of course, we answer Sanjay's medical questions right here on AMERICAN MORNING. If you have a question for Sanjay, go to CNN.com/Americanmorning and e-mail your questions to Dr. Gupta's mailbag, that's right on our Web site. And, he'll be able to answer them for you. He does it every Thursday.

ROBERTS: President Bush says things are getting better in Iraq. He even took his message right to our troops there, but critics say it's just spin. Who's telling the truth? We're looking into it, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

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ROBERTS: Welcome back to the most news in the morning. Firefighters south of San Jose, California, battling a fast-spreading brush fire in Henry Coe State Park. So far 1,200 acres have been wiped out. Park rangers are forcing dozens of campers to bail out.

CHETRY: Well, is progress being made in Iraq or are they trying to put a more positive spin on a tough situation? It depends on who you ask. Yesterday President Bush visited Iraq, and once again, said that things are improving. Of course, not everyone agrees. It's still a very contentious issue.

Joining us live from Washington to talk about it is CNN Chief National Correspondent, John king. John, good it see you this morning.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

CHETRY: So, you made that surprise trip yesterday to the Al Asad Airbase north and west of Baghdad. He was on the ground for about eight hours and his mission, though, very big. Because the polls still show about -- only about a third of the country favors what is going on with the war in Iraq. Did he gain any ground in yesterday's visit?

Kiran, what is most fascinating is remember, for four years now we've heard the President say publicly don't talk about troop withdrawals that would send a dangerous signal to the enemy. There was the President of the United States on the ground in Iraq telling troops that he believes relatively soon you'll be able to bring some troops home.

Now, this is such a change for the President, and why is he doing it? Because he knows when Congress comes back to town this week, Democrats and many Republicans are going to say, Mr. President, it is time to bring the troops home. So, Mr. Bush is trying to get ahead of the argument and win the debate about how many troops to bring home and how fast to bring them home. And to do that, he is now publicly saying you can draw down troops. So, the President is at a very weak standing in the polls as you mentioned, but the White House believes at the moment it has the upper hand and can still beat any Democratic proposal to put a strict timetable on bringing the troops home.

CHETRY: And, you have a lot of leeway when you say bring the troops home, there's 160,000 plus troop there's and even some of the critics calling for bringing home a small number. So, we'll see. The President also used the word success at least ten times yesterday. Let's listen it one example.

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GEORGE BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When we begin to draw down troops from Iraq, it will be from a position of strength and success. Not from the position of fear and failure.

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CHETRY: You know, and in some cases like the Al Anbar Province and areas around Ramadi that people have just really almost given up on and now seeing signs of quote/unquote "success" when it comes to security situation there. How are Democrats going to counter what he's saying?

KING: Kiran, this is both politics 101 and psychology 101. The President is actually saying to the American people we're on the verge of success. What the Democrats want to do is failure. Pick. Would you pick success or would you pick failure? The Democrats will counter it by saying this, that it has been more than four years in Iraq.

The U.S. death toll is way too high, that it has cost way too much money. And even if there is military progress on the ground now, even the Bush administration concedes there's not much political progress and so the Democratic's argument is why should the troops stay another six months or another year if at whatever point they start to pull out the Iraqi government will do its part of the job? That will be the Democrat's argument.

CHETRY: They still have to also make the case though, what is the better alternative? Is there a better alternative? John King, thank you very much. Chief National Correspondent, good to talk to you.

ROBERTS: It doesn't have a cord, but that doesn't mean that you can't keep them on a leash. New parental controls for cell phones ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

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CHETRY: We have been following breaking weather news all morning here on AMERICAN MORNING and the latest news with Hurricane Felix, a category 5. The National Hurricane Center saying just moments ago that Felix has made landfall in northeastern Nicaragua as a category 5 storm, as we see the track there brushing the border between Honduras and Nicaragua. But, again, Hurricane Felix making landfall right now.

And actually, an interesting aside, this is the first time in recorded history that two top scale storms, meaning category 5, the strongest there are, have come ashore in the same season. Of course, we were talking about Hurricane Dean about a week ago. Hurricane Dean making landfall along the Yucatan Peninsula, south of Cancun and Cozumel.

But again, the news right now, Hurricane Felix, another category 5 making landfall in northeastern Nicaragua.

ROBERTS: Not going to be good for all those little fishing villages along the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. They're not even barely above sea level there.

Fifty-three minutes after the hour. Ali Velshi here Minding Your Business. If your toddler has a cell phone. They're some tips on how to keep it on a leash.

ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I'm fascinated by this, I really do like technology, but I've been reading about the cell phones that are available for kids and the services that come with them, and there are companies marketing to kids as young as five. Now, the estimates from one company are that 72 percent of 13 to 17- year-old of kids have a cell phone.

So, for those kids who are going back to school today or went back to school last week, if you haven't had the conversation with your kids, you're going to soon. They're going to get to school and they're going to see that their friends have cell phones. So, AT&T today is launching a new service whereby parents can exercise yet more control over what their kids do on their cell phone.

It's called the Smart Limits plan. Five bucks a month on top of whatever service you got. You can block text messages to and from specific numbers, you can block calls to and from specific numbers and you can restrict times that the phone can be used. A lot of schools find the phones a distraction, so you can turn it off during school hours or you can turn it off at night, so the kid's not running up bills.

Also you can set something whereby once the kids have made enough text messages and phone calls to run up to a certain cost, the phone will just shut off. I'm not sure whether this is going to overcome, I mean, these kids know how to use these phones far better than the parents do in most cases. When I get a new phone, I need to figure it out, I find the local 10-year-old and see if they can figure it out.

CHETRY: Well, what ever happened to just listening to your parents? Shut your phone off when you're at school, turn it off at night.

VELSHI: Apparently they're not around, which is why the parents need the kids to have cell phones to keep in touch with them. So, if you are giving your kids cell phones know something about how they use them and how you might control some of it. CHETRY: Got you.

VELSHI: My advice.

CHETRY: That's right.

VELSHI: From a non-parent.

CHETRY: Thanks, Ali.

VELSHI: All right.

CHETRY: Well, a new flavor of microwave popcorn topping your Quick Hits now. Weaver Popcorn has switched to a new butter flavoring replacing a chemical that has been linked to a disease known as popcorn lung. Well anyway, concerns about the chemical diacetyl have been growing along with lawsuits filed by plant workers suffering from progressive lung disease. So, again, they are changing that formulation to get rid of that chemical.

A nationwide study find that psychiatrists are the least religious of all physicians. They're less likely to be Catholic or Protestant, as well than other types of doctors. Nearly 30 percent of psychiatrists are Jewish, compared with 13 percent of other physicians. The authors of this study say that religious beliefs of doctors could be an important factor for the a patient's mental health care.

An incredible rescue caught on tape. Rushing water, only an inch of breathable air, and a firefighter who ends up putting his own life at risk to save someone else. We're going to show you how all of this ended coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

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ROBERTS: Just about a minute before the top of the hour and a look now at a story coming up in our next half hour that you just can't miss between I guess the early part of the 1990s and now, how would you think the number of kids diagnose with bipolar disorder has increased?

CHETRY: A lot.

ROBERTS: A couple, three, four -- 40 times.

CHETRY: Yes, and they are asking the question right now is -- that there are really more children who are suffering from bipolar? Or, are doctors just over diagnosing and calling children who may have other behavioral problems bipolar? We're going to take a look at that with Dr. Sanjay Gupta coming up in the next hour.

ROBERTS: The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.

CHETRY: Storm surge, the monster category 5 Hurricane Felix makes landfall in Central America. And Henriette grows into a hurricane in the pacific this morning. I-reports, live reports and the latest forecasts right now.

Plus, hidden dangers, an unmarked mine traps two sisters. How many other mines are out there reachable more than every by those ATVs?

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