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American Morning

Fred Thompson Running for President; Luciano Pavarotti Dead; Major Damage Done By Hurricane Felix in Nicaragua; More on the Toy Recall; Summit Security Breach; Cell Phones Interfere with Machines in Hospitals

Aired September 06, 2007 - 08:00   ET

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

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: ...done to keep your kids safe.
And, remembering the man who brought opera to the masses. The life of Luciano Pavarotti on this AMERICAN MORNING.

And welcome, thanks so much for being with us. It's Thursday, September 6th, I'm Kiran Chetry.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you, I'm John Roberts. We begin with overnight developments in two stories. Senator Fred Thompson finally getting into the presidential race and the rest of the Republicans getting into it with each other over Iraq.

First, to Thompson. He kicked off the campaign with an official announcement last night on Jay Leno's "Tonight Show."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRED THOMPSON, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That's one of the things I wanted to talk to you about.

JAY LENO: All right, all right.

THOMPSON: I'm running for president of the United States.

LENO: All right, there you have it, ladies and gentlemen!

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Thompson also said he does not think that the months that he waited before declaring his candidacy will hurt him with voters. Other people have other opinions about that though.

The rest of the GOP candidates squared off for their fifth debate last night in New Hampshire. There was plenty of passion about Iraq. Most of the eight Republicans defended the war, except for Texas Congressman Ron Paul who said troops should be withdrawn. That led to this fiery exchange with former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RON PAUL, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've dug a hole for ourselves and we've dug a hole for our party. We're losing elections and we're going down next year if we don't change it and it has all to do with foreign policy and we have to wake up to this fact.

MIKE HUCKABEE, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Even if we lose elections we should not lose our honor and that is more important to the Republican Party.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Both sides got applause from the crowd in Durham, New Hampshire. Looked like Huckabee won the point in that particular exchange.

CHETRY: A legendary voice has been silenced.

That's Luciano Pavarotti. Overnight, we learned the sad news that he lost his long battle with pancreatic cancer. But for more than five decades the Italian tenor thrilled audiences with his astonishing voice. His larger than life personality credited with almost single- handedly bringing opera to the masses. Pavarotti died in his home in Modana, Italy. He was surrounded by family. He was 71-years-old.

ROBERTS: Dozens of people are reported dead in two huge storms south of the border. Hurricane Felix's death toll climbed to at least 18 people now. The storm has triggered lethal mudslides in Nicaragua after hitting the country's Caribbean coast as a category five storm. Sixty people are still missing in Nicaragua.

Hurricane Henriette is being blamed for killing at least seven people in Mexico. It was downgraded to a tropical storm after hitting the country a second time. Forecasters say it could still bring some flooding rain to New Mexico and Texas. Which as you know, just can't handle any more rain.

Here you can see just what we mean, deadly high water, mud in some already saturated parts of Texas. As much as eight inches of rain triggering floods in the Dallas and Waco areas. Police say they found the body of one woman after flood waters picked up her car and swept it away.

He has cheated death time and time again. Search teams are hoping that multimillionaire adventurer Steve Fossett can do it one more time. The search for his plane picks up this morning in the Nevada desert. The 63-year-old Fossett disappeared after takeoff on Monday from William Baron Hilton's ranch. Crews from three states have been searching the Sierra Nevada Mountains by air and land, over an area the size of Connecticut. They say the region is notorious for powerful wind gusts that can whip up without warning and toss an airplane in the air like a leaf -- Kiran?

CHETRY: Well new this morning as well, a development in Senator Larry Craig's fight to hold on to his Capitol Hill seat. The senate ethics committee is going ahead with its investigation of Craig. Craig has a legal team trying to reverse his guilty plea for disorderly conduct in a bathroom sting in Minneapolis. If successful, he says he wants to stay in office.

So how is that playing his fellow Republicans in congress? Clearly, not well, but what has been the reaction, CNN congressional correspondent Dana Bash live on Capitol Hill.

What are you hearing this morning, Dana?

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're hearing that not well may be a big understatement, Kiran. Because Republican leaders, they thought when they watched Senator Craig give his press conference on Saturday in Idaho that it was over and done with because he said that he was going to fight to clear his name, he would wage a legal battle, but he also said that that would take time and that it would take away from his efforts here in the senate. That is why he said he intended to resign.

Now, the senate republican leader picked up the phone yesterday and it was Senator Craig who said, well, he is going to continue to fight to clear his name and if he does succeed, he told the leader that he won't resign. Now, that is something that did not sit well with the Republican leader. He said he still thinks that Senator Craig should go ahead with his decision to step down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, (R) MINORITY LEADER: My view remains what I said last Saturday, I thought he made the correct decision. The difficult, but correct, decision to resign. That would still be my view today.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: This idea of forcing one of their own to resign has been a little bit controversial. CNN has learned that there was a spirited and passionate discussion about this inside a closed door meeting of Senate Republicans yesterday. Some senators got up and chastised the leadership for forcing out one of their own so abruptly, but most, Kiran, we are told applauded the decision because they think that it was important from a political and even an ethical and moral point of view to get this taken care of fast just like they did.

CHETRY: The weird thing though is -- at least from a practical standpoint, how would all of this be wrapped up? They say it's a big uphill legal fight to try to get a guilty plea overturned and then on top of that the senate ethics committee doesn't move very quickly. What happens when September 30th comes and goes?

BASH: That is the big question Kiran, and you're right. The senator did suffer a setback in one of his battles and that is the battle here in congress that his attorney wrote a letter to the senate ethics committee saying that he really didn't want them to investigate. He didn't think it was proper, because he insisted that there is really no precedent for the ethics committee looking into a misdemeanor that has nothing to do with the senator's official duties like this.

But the ethics committee wrote to the Republican leadership, they said that they do think they have a right and a responsibility to look into this and they're going to continue to do so on the bigger front, the legal battle to overturn that guilty plea. You're right, that is very, very difficult to do and we're expecting that legal battle will start because it hasn't really officially started yet. They have not filed any papers in the Minnesota courts yet.

CHETRY: All right, so, boy, the plot thickens and the drama continues even though they were hoping it would go away. Dana Bash on Capitol Hill for us, thank you.

BASH: Thank you.

ROBERTS: A security breach at the APEC Summit in Australia. Police in Sydney are retooling the security around President Bush this morning after a group of comedians got past thousands of police and high fences. Take a look at this, 11 people were arrested for setting up a fake motorcade and driving it right through two checkpoints. The vehicles were decorated with Canadian flags.

The team tried to get inside the restricted zone near the hotel where President Bush is staying. Security and the secret service finally realized there was something wrong. Maybe it was when an Osama bin Laden look alike got out of the back of one of the vehicles. The comedians are part of a show called "The Chasers War on Everything." The producers of the program were warned earlier this week not to perform any stunts during the meeting. Obviously, they took that to heart.

A fight between two roommates at the University of Arizona leaves one dead, the other behind bars. Campus police say they responded to a 911 call early yesterday morning. Both women had stab wounds. Police say freshman Mia Henderson had filed a theft report against her roommate just prior to the attack. Eighteen-year-old Galareka Harrison now under arrest and charged with first-degree murder. The girls were part of a new scholars program for Native Americans.

(WEATHER REPORT)

CHETRY: A record drop in pending home sales. The housing market at its slowest since the 9/11 attack six years ago. Ali Velshi has more on that from the business update desk for us.

Hi, Ali.

ALI VELSHI: Hey, Kiran.

So you know when you buy a house, depending on where you are in the country, that closing can be anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. Until the time between when you sort of have gone into a contract and the deal is closed is when the pending home sales are counted. Now for July those pending home sales dropped almost 13 percent compared to the same time last year. Bringing pending home sales to their lowest level since the month of the 9/11 attacks.

When, of course, consumer confidence was at its lowest, people didn't want to make those big investments because they were worried about the future of the housing market. That was a big reason to be concerned about the future of the housing market in America. Today, those same reasons don't exist but it's some sense of how concerned people are. Probably about just where the value of their house is going whether they can afford to pay for it, but that's just another sign that this mortgage crisis and housing slump continues to be a problem.

We'll continue to follow all of the various elements that make this up, but, for now, we're looking at pending home sales at the lowest point since they've been -- since September 11, 2001. Kiran?

CHETRY: Ali Velshi, thank you -- John?

ROBERTS: You've probably seen the signs in the hospital when you go inside, particularly the emergency room or in ICU, it says turn off your cell phone! What is it all about? What could a cell phone do if it was turned on in an emergency room or somewhere where there was some sensitive equipment around?

Our Sanjay Gupta has been looking into this, a new study shows just exactly what it is and what did it find.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well it's very interesting. A study out of Denmark. And first of all, I think a lot of people do use their cell phones despite those signs.

ROBERTS: Do you?

GUPTA: I've used it in the hospital every now and then, my BlackBerry or something like that. Not in certain areas as you mentioned, the ICU for example. But a lot of people do and I think that they weren't sure that there was actually an effect here. But it turns out there is. A new study out of Denmark actually looking specifically at this problem, looking at whether or not -- there I am walking through the hospital, not on my cell phone, by the way, I'll add.

ROBERTS: It's in your pocket?

GUPTA: It's in my pocket. Looking through Denmark and various hospitals trying to figure out if these cell phones have an impact on vital machinery, from ventilators, feeding tubes, things like that. And they find that even if you have your cell phone just on, not even talking on it, but you just have it on, they can cause significant malfunctions with the equipment, possibly life-threatening malfunctions, at least according to the study.

ROBERTS: So what type of malfunctions? We've heard stories that it can turn off a pacemaker for example?

GUPTA: It can interfere with a pacemaker. What they said specifically is that it stops the reading of the pacemaker back to the EKG machine. Most concerning, it actually turned a mechanical ventilator off and someone had to go turn it back on and it can also turn feeding tubes, so people who have feeding tube pumps.

ROBERTS: Isn't a ventilator something with a hard switch on it?

GUPTA: Yeah, you would think. I mean I'm not sure what the signal is if somehow it's interfering with the signal somewhere, but it actually sent a signal to the mechanical ventilator and turned it off. Basically what they did was they just held these phones within three feet away. They weren't even talking on them, just holding them on and seeing what kind of electromagnetic interference it was causing.

ROBERTS: Is there any particular model of phone that is worse than others? I know that if I have my cell phone and this isn't my cell phone, but if I have my cell phone next to my computer speakers, every once in a while I hear dah, dah, dah, as it checks in with the network. But if I have my BlackBerry, oh my God, it's like a symphony!

GUPTA: Exactly, and we asked the same question. GPRS, you see that on your phone, a type of signal, that is the most problematic. One way to know is if your phone or your device can actually connect to the Internet, those -- or WiFi, those seem to be the most problematic. This is a real problem.

The older phones, it was interesting John, there was a study out of the Mayo Clinic a few months ago that said just these types of phones that are older, don't have that type of capability are not as bad. In fact, the Mayo Clinic allows their doctors and nurses to use their phones in most parts of the hospital.

ROBERTS: And we should point out too, that this is the only cell phone that is safe to bring into a hospital. Not because it's an iPhone but because it's made out of cardboard.

GUPTA: Which I just found out today. Ali has been using this on the show all the time and I'm finding out today, I have to come to New York that it's been fake the whole time!

ROBERTS: Sanjay, thanks.

If you have a medical question for Dr. Gupta, send it to his mail bag at cnn.com/americanmorning. Sanjay will answer your questions in the next half hour here on AMERICAN MORNING -- Kiran?

CHETRY: Yeah, Ali left the string in a tin can in his office so it's not going to work until a little later.

Well a record drop as Ali said in pending home sales. Just the latest measure of the mortgage and credit crisis and how it is growing. Gerri Willis will have more on the financial fallout, plus some advice. Is there a way to stem tide.

Also, made in China. Boy, these days, doesn't that seem like a warning label? What's being done to keep products that are dangerous to your children off the shelves before they have to be recalled. We're going to take you inside of a classic New York toy store to find out. All of that ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Some of the most incredible shots of the morning right now. Every tree toppled and homes completely torn to shreds. It's the scene in Sandy Bay, Nicaragua. An area that was completely destroyed when the eye of category 5 hurricane Felix passed over with winds of 160 miles an hour.

Violent flames in the windy bay area not a good combination for firefighters. They say the lit(ph) as its known starred three days ago. So far, it has burned 14,000 acres. Thick smoke is blowing over the south and east bay and you can smell it as far away as downtown San Francisco. Investigators say an illegal debris burn was responsible for igniting the fire.

Spark, smoke and red hot lava shooting out of the tallest and most active volcano in Europe, it's flown in from Mt. Etna in Sicily into the uninhabited valleys below. Officials say there is no danger to villages lower down in the slopes but one airport was closed because of the wind blown volcanic ash.

CHETRY: Toys made in China, we've had almost too many recalls to keep track of recently. Now there's a warning that there are probably more to come. We told you yesterday about Mattel's recall of nearly 900,000 toys that contained excessive levels of lead paint. Later in the day, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said it was clear that the issue with lead paint is not isolated and that we should expect more recalls in the coming months.

So what role are stores playing in keeping these products off of their shelves before the consumer buys them?

Joining us now from inside of FAO Schwartz, the flagship store in Manhattan is the toy company's CEO Ed Schmults.

Thanks so much for being with us this morning, Ed.

ED SCHMULTS, CEO, FAO SCHWARTZ: Thanks for having me.

CHETRY: How do large toy stores like yours and those around the country deal with things like this? The recall of 12 million toys by Mattel and Fisher Price, all told?

SCHMULTS: Well, it's a real tragedy for everybody here. Retailers, manufacturers and especially families and children. We've done a number of things first of which is to provide information. We've put out a toy guide on our Web site, trying to help walk parents through the toy decision and what makes a good toy and should you be concerned about toys from China.

We've also put signs up around our store to indicate countries of origin of certain of our toys. Toys from Germany, toys from the U.S., toys from UK, Canada, et cetera, to give that additional information and we also allow customers on our Web site to search by country of origin as well so they can seek out toys from other countries that they feel may be more appropriate for their children.

CHETRY: It's interesting that you guys are doing that, because in a weird way, it seems like made in China is almost a warning label. It makes you think twice these days. Would it be possible for large toy companies to not sell toys that are manufactured in China until some of these things are worked out?

SCHMULTS: That would be very difficult. China is the manufacturer to the world these days and the vast majority of toys do come from China. The infrastructure is there and I think the majority of Chinese manufacturers are making good quality goods. The unfortunate thing for the made in China brand, is that there are some very bad manufacturers who have tried to cut corners.

I have been impressed recently with what the Chinese government is doing, they're very aggressively going after this, putting in place new testing regimens. There are going to be toys that are going to arrive late this holiday season because the Chinese government is sending inspectors out to every factory and requiring inspection and heavy metal testing, particularly on wooden toys and painted toys, for each shipment, which is a very new development and one both as a toy retailer and as a father of a 2 1/2-year-old, that I welcome.

CHETRY: FAO Schwartz is also known for having high-end toys as well. I mean it's not your every day toy store. Is there truth to that if you get what you pay for and these more expensive toys are less likely to harm your child?

SCHMULTS: I do think so. For the last 145 years, we focused on high quality toys. And while not making us immune from this toy recall, I think it reduces the probability. So far, only one toy that we've had, the Thomas trains, have been recalled. None of the other toys are toys that we carry.

And then, we're also growing our own private label branded toys. We started this last fall with a real green vents. Sustainable harvested hard woods and nontoxic water-based paints and these are made in a variety of countries.

CHETRY: Some of them made in China?

SCHMULTS: Some are made in China, Thailand, Spain, and the U.S.

CHETRY: So how can you ensure even your own brand when it is made in China? Are there individual checks and balances that these retail stores do follow through with?

SCHMULTS: Yes. For our own brand, we test them very heavily because it's our responsibility to do that testing so we've contracted one of the global testing agencies and we put them through a pretty detailed regimen of tests. We're confident these toys are up to snuff and are of a quality standard that deserve the FAO Schwartz brand.

We also have a strong relationship with the factories where we make them and we're using this global testing agency, also starting in the spring of '08 to put in place a comprehensive and very detailed testing program for every single toy in FAO Schwartz. We're not quite ready to announce the details of this, but it's coming very soon and it's going to affect every single toy beginning in the spring of '08 that we sell.

CHETRY: All right. Ed Schmults, taking some action into your own hands there with FAO Schwartz. Thanks a lot for joining us this morning.

SCHMULTS: Thanks for having me.

ROBERTS: It caused quite a stir here in New York City, but it turns out that a chemical substance found at a United Nations office last month is merely an over-the-counter solvent. Officials initially said it was a potentially deadly chemical agent once used by Iraqis in attacks against the Kurds. Phosgene gas is what they thought it was. The United Nations is investigating how it ended up there, mislabeled or not, in the first place.

Retracing her final steps. The jury in the inquest into Princess Diana's death will visit the Paris tunnel where she died in a high- speed wreck 10 years ago. The trip is expected to take place shortly after the inquest starts on October 2.

Trouble in the mortgage market delivers a blow to pending home sales. Our Gerri Willis breaks it down for us next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to the most news in the morning. Your quick hits now. Check out that guy. He's a voting member of society. Well not anymore but a Seattle woman managed to register her dog to vote, now she's agreeing to community service and a fine to avoid being prosecuted under election laws. The woman said she registered her dog Duncan to show how easy it is to get around the system for nonresidents to be able to register to vote.

Two students at Northeastern University in Boston are in big trouble this morning after being a little too vocal about their business. Undercover cops saying that they heard one of the boys yell from his dorm window over to another dorm that he had pot for sale. Cops say they searched the room and sure enough, they found marijuana. Both were arrested and charged, they were also kicked out of school.

And speaking of marijuana. A huge pot bust in California. Police finding 15 million dollars worth of marijuana off of a highway in Riverside County. Sixteen helicopters took out more than 5,000 marijuana plants that were five to seven feet tall and ready to harvest.

ROBERTS: Those guys in the dorm must have been crying a river over that!

The melting mortgage market triggered a 12 percent drop in pending home sales in July. That is the biggest monthly decline on record. The index now at its lowest level since 9/11.

Our personal finance editor Gerri Willis is here to explain. Where does the market stand right now?

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Well, good to see you John. The numbers aren't good again. I have more bad news about pending home sales, those are homes under contract and it's the most forward looking number out there. It allows you to see what's coming around the corner instead of looking in your rearview mirror. Not good. As you were saying, the index is down 12 percent. The worse showing since 2001 so not good news there.

CHETRY: You say members of the house financial services committee were grilling regulators on Capitol Hill yesterday to find out, to see if they could get to the bottom of this. Did they find anything out?

WILLIS: It was a marathon session, three hours Kiran. They went on and on with questions about aggressive lending practices, what were mortgage brokers doing? What were lenders doing? A lot of very serious questions about what to do going forward. One representative, Gary Ackerman from New York, he was concerned about what was going on with advertising, where were you guys, you regulators, when these ads were out there? Proposing people get into these very toxic risky loans. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. GARY ACKERMAN, (D) NEW YORK: When you advertise can't get credit, no problem, bankrupt, no problem. No background check, no income verification. You see this in ad after ad after ad.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIS: Well, you know, we went back and we looked at the number of foreclosures since congress held its first hearing on this issue, 817,000 people have gone into foreclosure since congress began talking about this. So you can see there's a lot of talk, not a lot of action, it's very frustrating for people out there who are struggling right now.

ROBERTS: Yeah, you can sort of see these things coming down the pike but regulators usually don't get involved until there is a huge crisis.

WILLIS: They did wait this time around, too.

ROBERTS: Looking forward, is there anything that can bring us out of this slump?

WILLIS: Well as you know, the Federal Reserve is going to be meeting in a couple of weeks and there's a hope that they will cut rates and certainly that might ease some of the difficulty, but the question is, will that be enough of a response? Will the president's plan announced last Friday be enough of a response to turn this thing around?

ROBERTS: All right, Gerri Willis for us this morning, Gerri, thanks very much. And of course, don't forget, Gerri joins us every Saturday morning at 9:30 eastern on her show, "OPEN HOUSE." I expect you'll be dealing more about this and what else do you have on the show?

WILLIS: Absolutely. We're talking a lot about the mortgage meltdown, talking about what happened along the way to people who were inside that mortgage brokerage industry, how did things go so awry?

ROBERTS: Another great show. Gerri, we'll see you on Saturday morning at 9:30.

CHETRY: Thanks Gerri. Well coming up, a story that you can't miss. They say security is no laughing matter especially when you're dealing with world dignitaries like those at the APEC summit over in Australia. Well one group of comedians managed to crack into the security in a fake motorcade. There you see one of them.

ROBERTS: Yeah, dressed up like Osama bin Laden. That was the secret service's first hint that something was wrong. Typically, I've been to these things, you can't get security unless, of course, you're a comedic troupe dressed up as Canadians.

CHETRY: How the heck did they do it? We're going to talk more about it. It's all the buzz right now over in Australia when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: You're going to be on a rocky mountain high today. That's the sunrise over Denver. What a beautiful day! A nice sleepable 59 degrees right now. It's going to be 83, partly cloudy today. So for all of those of you along the Front Range there, looking forward to a real good day.

Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. It's Thursday, the 6th of September. I'm John Roberts.

CHETRY: I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us.

New this morning, Fred Thompson, he's finally officially in it! He announced last night and he's in Des Moines, Iowa today. The first time he officially is campaigning for president. He is made his long expected announcement last night with Jay Leno on "The Tonight Show."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRED THOMPSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And that's one of the things I wanted to talk to you about.

JAY LENO, TALK SHOW HOST: All right, all right.

THOMPSON: I'm running for president of the United States.

LENO: All right! There you have it, ladies and gentlemen!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Someone in the back yelled, finally! I'm kidding. Thompson doesn't think the months he waited before declaring his candidacy will hurt him with the voters. And he actually was fodder for some of the other candidates. They were at a republican debate he decided not to attend saying it's much tougher to get a gig on Leno than it is to go to a debate so they had some fun at Thompson's expense.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARIZONA: That's a decision that Fred should make. Maybe we're up past his bedtime, but the point is, I think ...

MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I was scheduled to be on Jay Leno tonight but I gave up my slot for somebody else because I'd rather be in New Hampshire with these fine people.

RUDY GIULIANI (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I like Fred a lot. I think Fred is a really, really good man. I think he's done a pretty good job of playing my part on "Law & Order."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Funny comedians. If they don't get the ticket, the nomination, maybe they could open up a Caroline's or something.

Thompson jumps ahead of most of them in the race, the national polls at least. They have been running first or second but as you pointed out, John, some of the other polls like the ones in New Hampshire and Iowa have Mitt Romney, as well as Giuliani ahead instead of Thompson so he has some ground to cover.

ROBERTS: Fred well back and those are the polls that really count too.

Breaking news from overseas.

A new twist in the case of Madeleine McCann, the four-year-old British girl who disappeared from her family's hotel room in Portugal. British media are reporting that investigators will re-interview Madeleine's parents. Her mother, Kate, will talk to detectives today along with her attorney. Madeleine's father, Gerry, will be interviewed tomorrow.

Madeleine vanished from her room while her parents were at a restaurant 50 yards away back in May. Gerry and Kate McCann have remained in Portugal with their 2-year-old twins. This latest development comes amid reports that arrests could be eminent following a forensic breakthrough. We'll be watching that story for you.

And a developing story that we're following right now, a possible military confrontation between Syria and Israel. The Syrian ministry of information tells CNN that Israeli jets entered its air space and dropped bombs and that Syria was forced to fire on the jets. This reportedly took place somewhere over the northwestern part of the country.

Well, every Thursday we reach into Dr. Sanjay Gupta's mailbag. We get him to answer your medical questions, a little one on one with the doc.

CHETRY: That's right and today, we have him in person so we're happy with that. Sanjay joins us now.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: So much fun I wanted to be here.

ROBERTS: This is a real treat. I got this pain I wanted to ask you.

GUPTA: It hurts when I go like this!

CHETRY: It's from me elbowing him all of the time.

Well, our first question today comes from Florence in South Carolina. She writes, "I've heard a lot about the lead paint problems of course in the toys coming from China. Children sometimes chew on pencils. If there is lead, can they breathe paint dust when sharpening the pencils?

GUPTA: Good question. You both probably know this. Although a lot of people don't. That is that lead pencils don't contain lead. They're graphite. Even the yellow paint doesn't contain lead anymore as a result of all the regulations regarding lead. That's probably not a problem. A couple of things.

This lead recall thing has become a real huge issue and the Consumer Product Safety Commission on their Web site you can find all the toys that have been recalled. It's worth looking at because, as we've talked about, it takes a lot of lead to get a child sick. We showed those 28 pieces of lead paint that you actually have to eat. It takes a lot but it can happen. We may hear some stories about that. We haven't heard any yet but we may hear stories about it, throw those toys away.

ROBERTS: The paint on the pencils is not supposed to contain lead but neither is the paint on the cap that goes with your Barbie doll.

GUPTA: That's a good point and I don't know if pencils are something that should be looked at as well. Pencils from China, I don't know if they use that lead but they're not supposed to. At least that's what the regulation says that.

ROBERTS: They will look at them now.

Next is from Becky in Oregon. She writes, "My dad recently had a stent put into an artery that was 95-99 percent blocked. This particular stent was drug-coated. What exactly does the drug-coating stent do? How is it different from a normal stent?

We also have news, too, about strokes associated with this. GUPTA: Absolutely. This is fascinating stuff because for a long time, you have an artery that was blocked and you say we're going to open up that artery. How do you keep it from blocking again? Put in a stent to sort of hold it open. Problem was that's a foreign body and the body would say, wait a second, form scar tissue around that. What happens? It closes off the artery again.

So they started to coat it with this drug that would actually prevent scarring from blocking down the artery again. Problem was sometimes that can actually cause people to develop blood clots so now what the FDA recommends what you should know about your father is they probably are going to recommend he be on a blood thinner as well in addition to having this drug-coated stent.

CHETRY: Didn't the research then show it doesn't happen as often as they thought in terms of the blockages?

GUPTA: It doesn't. And about 20 percent of the time they thought and the drug coating does seem to be effective in terms of preventing that.

CHETRY: We have a final question. This is coming from Joseph and he is in Valley Stream, New York. He wants to know about cholesterol. He says that recently he's been told that his good cholesterol is low. What are the risks and what can you do about that?

GUPTA: See, there is a good cholesterol and bad cholesterol. You want the good cholesterol to be higher and the bad cholesterol to be lower. It's not easy to do. A lot of people have trouble with that. Good cholesterol is actually the type of cholesterol that sweeps up the other cholesterol from your body and you want that number to be higher. Sixty is a great number. Fifty in men and forty in women good numbers as well. The way to get it, don't smoke, try and exercise. By the way, I'm training for the New York marathon in your fine city.

ROBERTS: Really?

GUPTA: I've lost a few pounds.

CHETRY: You're looking trim.

GUPTA: I have to get my HDL, my good cholesterol higher and exercise is one of the best ways.

ROBERTS: Your buddy Lance said as much training as he did with the Tour de France, he was not ready for the marathon.

CHETRY: I will help you with the carb loading. It's in the wings.

GUPTA: I've heard about your diet!

ROBERTS: Thanks, Sanjay. If you have a question for Dr. Gupta, e-mail it to us. Go to CNN.com/AmericanMorning. Sanjay answers your questions every Thursday here on AMERICAN MORNING and join Sanjay for his weekend "HOUSE CALL." He's going to have the story of how one man is predicting his health by mapping his own DNA. Plus, parents raising millions to find cure for their son when drug companies wouldn't do the research. "HOUSE CALL," 8:30 in the morning Saturday and Sunday on here on CNN.

CHETRY: When we come back, we will talk more about the news developed this morning that investigators want to interview the parents once again of that 4-year-old girl Madeleine McCann who disappeared while on vacation in Portugal. Why? Are there new leads? We're going to be speaking about that with someone who has been helping find and capture some of America's most wanted criminals. A live interview. John Walsh will be joining us with that coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Coming up to 43 minutes after the hour. Expensive push to help America's war vets. The senate is getting ready to vote on a bill that would provide major increases for medical care for veterans of Iraq and other wars. It is expected to pass the measure which would bust President Bush's budget by $4 billion.

CHETRY: As we just told you, missing Madeleine McCann, the 4- year-old British girl who disappeared from her family's hotel room in Portugal, there is some new news this morning about her case. Her mother is being re-interviewed by police in Portugal this afternoon and they are also set to interview her father as well separately. The latest development comes amid some reports, at least over in the U.K., that arrests could be imminent following a, "forensic breakthrough." A lot of unanswered questions in that case.

Joining us now with much more on this as well as some other information this morning is someone who's worked to help missing and exploited children for more than two decades now and he joins us this morning. Jon Walsh, host of "America's Most Wanted" heading into hits 21st season, by the way.

Thanks for being with us this morning.

JOHN WALSH, TV SHOW HOST: Glad to be here.

CHETRY: This is a case, the Madeleine McCann case, that is certainly captured national attention. Her parents actually went to visit your organization as well. What do you make of the reporting this morning they want to re-interview the parents?

WALSH: That's normal, standard police procedure. You know, they have a parallel investigation. A good police investigation is to interview the parents, keep talking to the parents, but never rule out the possibility that there is a stranger involved, that it could be just a random predatory abduction. I think they're working both of those angles and they have to do it. Many times, small police agencies like in that little town in Portugal are overwhelmed. They just don't have the resources to do what people expect them to do.

CHETRY: It always is interesting to see how parents react to the situation. They have said they're not leaving Portugal. They have two other young children. Until they can make sure they are pushing every day for more information and for more investigation. At the same time, they're possibly under an umbrella of suspicion themselves.

WALSH: That comes with the turf. I mean, when Adam was missing, the police interviewed Renee and I. You have to cooperate. They have cooperated fully with police. They're there and they've seen the Pope and come to America to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

People ask me why is it certain cases get so much attention. People wouldn't know who Natalie Holloway was if it wasn't for her mother staying in Aruba and the family begging and keeping the media in touch and engaged. What people understand is the not knowing is the worst and you need some resolution. So Madeleine's parents have done that.

What people don't understand is the not knowing is the worst and you need some resolution. People are ready for the fact that maybe the worst has happened and 99 percent of these cases the child is dead but her family has gone to extraordinary lengths to cooperate with police and to work with people around the world and say, please, help us find out what happened to little Madeleine.

CHETRY: You want to protect your kids. That leads us to another story we've been following closely on AMERICAN MORNING is this self- described pedophile, Jack McClellan. He's now left state of California and people in Portland, Oregon are waking up to find out this is where he has moved. You know this is a tough case because technically he hasn't broken any laws but you see the intent. It's maddening for parents.

WALSH: It is absolutely maddening. I think what people don't realize, there are 600,000 convicted sex offenders in the United States. The Justice Department says 100,000 of those are in noncompliance with their parole and probation, convicted sex offenders. The Adam Walsh law was passed last July, but guess what? It hasn't been funded yet.

This Democratic Congress hasn't given the U.S. Marshals or the FBI the resources to go out and get thee 100,000 convicted guys. This guy is out there driving parents crazy. But you know what? It opens the discussion and people I think are starting to realize just how dangerous pedophiles are. Tomorrow I go to Boston with the FBI and put another pedophile on the FBI's 10 most wanted list. I think people are becoming very aware.

CHETRY: Twenty-one seasons, how many criminals have you put behind bars?

WALSH: 958 fugitives around the world. We've had the great partnering with the law enforcement and kept the show on the air for 20 years. Tomorrow, this weekend, we do a whole bunch of new scumbags and two unsolved child murders. So my hat is off to the public. 958, we're heading toward a thousand.

CHETRY: It's a track record to be proud of for sure. John Walsh, always great to see you.

WALSH: Thank you for having me.

CHETRY: John.

ROBERTS: Forty-seven minutes after the hour now. CNN "NEWSROOM" is minutes away. Tony Harris at the CNN center with a look what is ahead.

Hey, Tony.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: John Roberts, good morning to you.

2008 politics on the "NEWSROOM" rundown to you. A late night announcement from Fred Thompson. The former Republican Senator and actor is running for president and today campaigning across Iowa.

The Iraqis say 14 people were killed today at a Baghdad battle. The Americans say U.S. and Iraqi troops were going after Shiite militants.

Remembering opera's great tenor. The long and masterful career of Luciano Pavarotti ended by cancer. Breaking news when it happens.

Fredricka Whitfield is with me in the "NEWSROOM" and we get started at the top of the hour right here on CNN.

John, back to you.

ROBERTS: We will see you then, Tony.

Halle Berry is going to be a mom. The 41-year-old Oscar winner says she's pregnant. The father is her boyfriend fashion model Gabriel Aubry. This is her very first child.

And comedian Sherri Sheppard is set to become the fifth co-host on "The View." Sheppard is expected to join the ABC day time drama show, it's a day time show, not a drama on Monday. She's filling the seat vacated by Star Jones last year. Whoopi Goldberg made her debut this year. She's replacing Rosie O'Donnell.

Some stars of a hit Australian comedy show are in big trouble today after a stunt outside of the hotel that President Bush was staying at. Did they go too far? The fallout ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: A prank pulled by Australian comedy show is getting worldwide attention this morning.

CHETRY: They breached security and put a fake motorcade within a stone's throw of President Bush's hotel in Sydney. Damian Ryan of Australia's National 9 News gives us a closer look now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAMIAN RYAN, AUSTRALIA'S NATIONAL 9 NEWS: In a city by motorcade mania, this seemed just another one. A convoy of black vehicles, one flying the Canadian flag, security agents jogging alongside, escorted by two motor bikes rolling down the street.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Prime minister, obviously. Maybe he's meant to look as important as Bush.

RYAN: The Canadian leader wasn't even in Australia, a fact that seemed to escape the APEC security knit. The fake motorcade was waved through a check point and got within ten meters of the U.S. president's hotel before the ABC's chase was caught. In the back of the limo, a comedian dressed in Arab robes posing as Osama Bin Laden and while he was laughing, this was a serious security breach.

Another chase star was also in on the stunt. He was questioned and then photographed by police. In total, 11 people were arrested, including camera crews and the hired car drivers. The effectiveness of what is Australia's biggest security operation is now clearly being questioned, after a bunch of TV comedians in a fake motorcade managed to get so close to the American president.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They should be able to handle it.

RYAN: But police are furious. They say with the president's hotel crawling with snipers, the crew could have easily been in their sights.

DAVE OWENS, APEC SECURITY COMMANDER: They're putting themselves in a position where security is extremely taut and they are running the risk of a very serious swift response.

RYAN: And after being hood-winked by Osama, this disguise was a little less convincing. Police sending George on his way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been locked out of my own barricade. Can you believe it?

RYAN: Damian Ryan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: Well, here is a quick look at what the "NEWSROOM" is working on at the top of the hour.

ANNOUNCER: See these stories in the CNN "NEWSROOM."

HARRIS: Fred Thompson's late night announcement he is running. The actor hits the presidential trail in Iowa today.

Three in custody. German police looking for another ten suspects in a foiled terror plot.

Crews struggling with a big wildfire south of San Francisco.

And remembering opera legend Luciano Pavarotti.

"NEWSROOM" minutes away at the top of the hour on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Time for another CNN hero. The boy you're about to meet didn't spend his summer vacation playing video games. Instead he spent his vacation helping others. Here is tonight's CNN's hero.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK: The doctor came in and she said you have leukemia. It was devastating, horrifying and scary. All I knew about cancer was that both of my grandparents had died from it. I was in the hospital and watching the TV and a Hispanic girl died because she couldn't find a marrow transplant match. I'm half Hispanic and I decided to change it because it could affect me, too. I said, mom, I want to do something. Let's have a bone marrow drive. She said, "What?" And I said yes, we're going to have a bone marrow drive for these bone marrow donors and then it turned into Driving for Donors.

Hi, I'm 12-years-old and I'm trying to sign people up to the national marrow registry. It's our responsibility as a human being to watch out for someone else. Driving for Donors is a 30-city national marrow drive. We sold advertisements spots on the blessed and on the head and raised close to $100,000.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What Patrick is doing it comes from inside him. It's something that's very personal to his heart. My sister died of leukemia because she could not find a match within the Brazilian community. 70 percent of the cases you do not find a match with your brother or sister and have to find a match in the national registry.

PATRICK: If you sign up to the registry, it's just a cheek swab. You know you could be the one to save a kids' life. You are going to be on the registry until your 61st birthday which is a really long time away. Here is your card. If you ever move or anything, just call it. You are now a number.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.

PATRICK: I don't need a bone marrow transplant myself. I'm in remission and I feel fine but I still have cancer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At 12-years-old, he is showing that each one of us can do so much to save all of those people's lives.

PATRICK: People don't know that it's such a big issue and that people are dying each day and I want to change that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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