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American Morning
Seach for Madeleine McCann; General Motors and United Auto Workers Union Announce a Deal Overnight
Aired September 26, 2007 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news, auto workers and G.M. seal a deal.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Production will resume this afternoon.
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ROBERTS: A Madeleine mystery.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It appears to look very like Madeleine.
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ROBERTS: Is this new image proof that Madeleine McCann is still alive? You be the judge.
Plus, she got the crown but where is the cash? A pageant queen's fight for her scholarship money, live with Miss South Carolina, live on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And good morning, welcome back, lots to tell you about this morning and we'll tell you about what it all means for you as well.
It's Wednesday, the 26th of September. I'm John Roberts in Washington, D.C. this morning, here Kiran because last night I hosted a charity event for the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, the good work they do to keep kids off of drugs, raised more than $1 million last night, very successful.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: That is great to hear. I'm Kiran Chetry here in New York.
We begin with this breaking news. The first auto strike in a generation, it lasted two days. It is over this morning.
General Motors and the United Auto Workers Union announced a deal overnight ending the two-day strike against General Motors. Ali Velshi joins us now. What's in the deal for G.M. and also for the auto workers, Ali?
ALI VELSHI, CNN SR. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well the biggest thing here this is something that is going to be of interest to anybody who works for the union or works for a company that controls its retirement health benefit is that G.M. is going to be shifting most of the control of those retiree health benefits over to the union, somewhere between 36 and 50 billion dollars worth of retirement.
What the means is that the union will hire professionals to manage this health care trust, but it will be in their hands and no one else can touch that. That is valued at tens of billions of dollars. There are about 340,000 retired G.M. workers and their spouses who will benefit from that. And here -- that is the map that's interesting, 340,000 retired G.M. workers and their spouses versus 73,000 active workers.
That's why there is a problem funding this. Workers will get a lump sum payment over the course of the next few years. What is next is that this is considered a recess in the strike until the membership votes on it, but both General Motors and the UAW are recommending that workers vote for this deal. The contract is going to set the pattern for the negotiations with Ford and Chrysler and we are expecting to hear, by the end of the week, whether it will be Ford or Chrysler that the UAW is going to next negotiate with, so that is where we stand right now, but workers are going back to work. General Motors says it expects pretty much everything to be up and running by mid-day today, Kiran.
CHETRY: Sounds good. All right, Ali thanks.
ROBERTS: Also breaking this morning, new developments in the search for Madeleine McCann. Authorities say they are looking at a picture of a little girl that looks an awful lot like her. Take a look and judge for yourself. A Spanish couple says they took it while they were in Morocco on vacation. That was about a month ago.
It shows a local woman carrying a blond-haired child on her back. Here is a side-by-side comparison. Looks very similar to some pickets that we've seen before of Madeleine McCann, sort of the same round face and certainly the blond hair would seem to match. Earlier on AMERICAN MORNING, the McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said the family is staying positive.
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VOICE OF CLARENCE MITCHELL, MCANN SPOKESMAN: It is quite possible, because North Africa is only a short ferry ride away from southern Spain if she had been abducted from Portugal, as we believe, driven across the Spanish border to a ferry port, the ferry can only take about half an hour. The Mediterranean there is very narrow and it is quite possible that she could have been taken by an abductor for whatever reason and brought to North Africa.
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ROBERTS: It is just the latest of several Madeleine sightings not only in Morocco but across Europe. None so far have panned out -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right, thanks so much, John.
Well there is some new information this morning about a mystery at sea all centers on this chartered fishing boat, the Joe Cool. The two men who hired that boat were found floating in a life raft. They are now facing federal charges one of them a former Wal-Mart employee who is accused of stealing $92,000 from a store in Arkansas. The other suspect charged with lying to federal agents. Rescuers are now expanding the search for that missing crew.
There could be new leads in the search for missing millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett. Rescue crews say they plan to search a rugged area; this is the area near Death Valley by air and foot this weekend. The Air Force says that images picked up by radar and satellite could be Fossett's plane. He was last seen three weeks ago when he went out on what was supposed to be a short flight in the Nevada desert.
We're also watching tropical trouble or the potential foray in the Gulf of Mexico. There you see it right down there near Veracruz and Tampico. This is, according to Rob Marciano, the 13th tropical depression of the season and it could become a named storm Lorenzo. We are going to be speaking with Rob about it in just a moment -- John.
ROBERTS: Six minutes now after the hour and a consumer alert to tell you about. A recall of Topps brand hamburgers because it might be contaminated with E.coli bacteria. At least six people have gotten sick from eating the meat. The recall covers frozen quarter pound hamburgers in packages of 20. The affected boxes are marked with a sell by date of June 22 and July 23rd so that's something you might have in your freezer. Take a look. They were distributed nationwide, so every state is possibly affected here.
A bizarre bank robbery in Hollywood, Florida similar to the Pennsylvania pizza bomber case. A bank worker is saying two men kidnapped him, strapped a bomb to his chest, took him to the bank's drive-up window and demanded cash. They took the money and then left the bank employee behind. The bomb squad removed the device and blew it up. Police are trying to determine if it really was a bomb or just a hoax device. And they've got questions about the employee's story.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're just, at this point now where we have an opportunity to do an extensive interview of the bank employee to see if, in fact, number one is this legit? Is this all a hoax? Is he truly a victim? Did he somehow some way participate in this alleged bank robbery that apparently, you know, procured an enormous amount of money?
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ROBERTS: No one was hurt in the bank robbery. The other two men involved are still at large.
One person reportedly killed by police during protests in Myanmar. Police used tear gas to break up anti-government protests after a ban was put on gatherings of more than five people. Protesters defied that ban. About 300 were arrested. The capital city of Yangon has been closed to western journalists, so information is very difficult to come by in this standoff -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Well Rob Marciano is at the CNN Weather Desk. He is tracking extreme weather for us and we're talking about what could be the next named storm in the Atlantic.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It could be. That name would be Lorenzo. Same name as my grandfather. It looks like this one is not going to be so bad, though. Here is the satellite imagery out of the southwestern Gulf of Mexico. The center is actually flaring up. You see the confection, all the brighter colors that are -- those are high cloud tops indicating a lot of thunderstorm activity around that.
Right now, what the National Hurricane Center thinks this thing is going to do is head into Mexico so that is a good thing for the U.S. Flare-up of thunderstorms across parts of southeastern Florida and the Bahamas. That could develop into something over the next day or two as it heads over the Gulf Stream but what it's going to do for sure is bring more in the way of heavy rain across parts of southern Florida especially on the east coast. It is probably the one spot that is starting to recover from a bit of a drought there.
A line of thunderstorms now moving across the Ohio River valley just east of the Mississippi. This is all heading into very warm air. We had record-breaking high temperatures yesterday across much of the eastern third of the country and a little bit of severe thunderstorms possible later on today across parts of the northeast -- Kiran, back up to you.
CHETRY: Yes, we see it. All right, Rob Marciano, thank you.
MARCIANO: You bet.
CHETRY: John.
ROBERTS: About a thousand of the world's leaders in politics, business and health have descended on mid-town Manhattan for this year's meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative. CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is there for us. He joins us now. Sanjay, what are the goals of this year's meeting?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well you know they sort of set up four pillars, if you will John, to try and make it a little bit more concrete for all the participants at which there are about a thousand. They are looking at energy, they're looking at education. With energy is climate change as well, global health and poverty alleviation. With regard to global health they sort of break down those pillars by more things even so vaccinations for example.
Here in the United States we've probably never heard of someone who has died of whooping couth or measles, but millions of people die of those diseases around the world. How do you get vaccines that are available and are effective to people who need them the most? It's really the sort of bringing together about a thousand people who are both solution makers and access givers and putting in the same room with people who have money to get it all done, John.
ROBERTS: Sanjay, just a couple of minutes, you are going to be joined by one of the world's best known philanthropist Ted Turner. What are some of his goals?
GUPTA: Well, you know, Ted is a very well-known philanthropist. He gave about $1 billion over 10 years, started the United Nations Foundation. There are several things. He is, obviously, focusing very heavily on climate change. He is also looking a lot at nuclear proliferation around the world. I am going to talk to him specifically. I'm going to ask him, does he have any regrets about the $1 billion over the 10 years? Did it meet its intended sort of goals? And also this whole idea of philanthropy, what stimulates people to give? What stimulated him to give nearly 10 years ago and how do you sort of continue that? Those are some of the questions I'll be talking with him about in just a couple of minutes.
ROBERTS: Looking forward to that, we'll see you soon -- Sanjay Gupta from mid-town Manhattan -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Well there is a new study this morning that shows if you aggressively treat depression in workers it can actually boost not just the worker but the company as well. This study shows that employees who received quick and aggressive treatment worked about two more weeks over a year than people who got normal treatment. They were also 40 percent more likely to get over and recover from their depression. They were also more likely to stay on with the company that saves in both hiring and training costs.
We talked about business and political leaders in New York City today trying to help find solutions to the world's problems. Well today they're also talking about vaccines for kids and where they need to focus their efforts. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to be joining us once again to take a look.
Also, the buyers market just got a little bigger. Home sale figures are out. We're going to see what that means if you're looking to buy or if you're trying to sell -- all that is ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: And welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. We are going to show you this next shot and they are saying maybe they should have taken a closer look at the blueprints. These are Navy barracks in Coronado, California, which look fine from the ground, but then when you take it from the air clearly it looks like a swastika. The buildings have been up since the 1960s. They didn't necessarily see this until Google earth revealed the aerial view. The Navy has now decided what they're going to do is mask it with landscaping and construction to the tune of about 600,000 taxpayer dollars -- John.
ROBERTS: Sometimes you never think of how these things are going to look from the sky. CHETRY: And that was Google earth, right? I mean you can see anything.
ROBERTS: Yes. Absolutely. Yes. I mean it is a fascinating little tool that you can have on your desktop.
One of the top issues on the agenda for this week's United Nations General Assembly is climate change and what can be done to reverse it. This October "Planet in Peril", a CNN worldwide investigation will premiere in glorious high-definition. "Animal Planet's" Jeff Corwin gives us this preview from a helicopter flying over northeastern Alaska.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have this incredible terrain of ice that seems to almost go on forever. Somewhere hidden on this ice, on this white reflected snow and ice, is a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) we need to catch up with.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Steve (UNINTELLIGIBLE) a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey has been doing this for 26 years, trying to learn all he can about what polar bears can tell us about global warming.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a nice lead here we might be able (UNINTELLIGIBLE) footprints...
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: His eyes are keenly trained to find what seems impossible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Oh, my goodness. Look at that (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: However, finding the tracks is only the beginning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a bear right there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) alongside and now we're about to move in and you're about to see something absolutely incredible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Boy. Good deal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) straight across.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're right on them.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) loads the tranquilizer dot into the gun as we circle low over the mother bear to make sure we don't scare her away from her cubs. Then we lift up and she takes off racing across the ice. Our helicopter lowers down within feet of her. Amstrep (ph) hanging from the side of his window aims and takes his shot.
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ROBERTS: You can see what happens next in the four-hour documentary "Planet in Peril"; it premiers on October 23 and 24th. Jeff Corwin, Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Anderson went to 13 different countries, uncovered a lot of fascinating stuff. See for yourself through the video trailer on the "Planet in Peril" Web site. Just go to CNN.com/360 and click on the "Planet in Peril" link. While you will be seeing lots of Sanjay Gupta on "Planet in Peril", right now he is in mid-town Manhattan at this year's meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative.
And back now with that special guest that we promised, someone very familiar with CNN -- Sanjay.
Well, apparently things don't work as well as they did sometime ago during Ted Turner's rule here at CNN. We're going to try to get Sanjay back. We're having a few technical problems, the hazards of live TV. In the meantime, here is Kiran.
CHETRY: That's right. We're going to take a quick break -- when we come back, the credit crunch hitting existing home sales. The new numbers are out. And we're going to talk with Gerri Willis what it means whether you're buying or you're selling -- all of that ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: Twenty-two minutes after the hour now. Fingers crossed. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is in mid-town Manhattan this morning for this year's meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative. He is back now with that special guest we promised, someone very familiar to us here at CNN -- Sanjay.
GUPTA: And I'm joined now by one of the world's most influential philanthropists. He is also the founder of CNN. Ted Turner thanks for joining us.
TED TURNER, PHILANTHROPIST: It's a pleasure.
GUPTA: Nearly 10 years ago, you decided to give away $1 billion. This whole spirit of philanthropy, what motivated you to give at that time?
TURNER: Well a lot of it actually came from starting CNN, learning about all of the problems that there were in the world, because as you know, we emphasized international news, so while we were doing it, I learned about a lot that was going on overseas and particularly the thing that triggered it is the United States was not paying its dues to the U.N. at that time and we were a couple of years in the rear, so and about $1 billion and the U.N. couldn't pay its bills. And so I was trying to figure, well I said I have $1 billion. I'll just step up and see if I can fill the gap for a while.
GUPTA: Now looking back, almost 10 years later, any regrets about that? Did the money do what it's supposed to do?
TURNER: Well I couldn't give the money directly to the U.N. It turned out they can only take money from -- at that time they could only take money from sovereign states, so we set up a parallel foundation called the U.N. Foundation to administer the gift but to give to U.N. causes. What was the question?
GUPTA: Any regrets about it?
TURNER: No, no, no regrets at all. In fact it is the best thing I ever did other than having my children.
GUPTA: Having your children which is a great thing. I have two, myself. You come to an event like this, the Clinton Global Initiative. It is a lot of names, a lot of people getting together. Does it achieve something? Has it affected do you think?
TURNER: I think these meetings -- you know, I think the first really major one like this was in Davos, Switzerland. They started 25 years ago and I've been to it several times. I think these conferences are good. I think it's good to get people together from around the world to discuss the deep problems that we have. This is an NGO and we've got, you know, the United Nations, they're doing a lot of great work, but these meetings, I think, are good.
GUPTA: Climate change is another one of your big passions. You know, Clinton always talks about the fact that HIV-AIDS since he has left the presidency has been one of his biggest initiatives. What is yours?
TURNER: Well the two things that I'm most concerned about are the nuclear arsenals and the fact that they are still on hair-trigger alert, the Russian and American arsenals and if something were to go wrong or a mistake and they get accidentally launched, it's the end of the world in an afternoon. I think that's probably the greatest danger that we face.
And the second one is probably global warming. So those are the two that I'm most concerned about, but I'm concerned about AIDS and measles and malaria, too. The U.N. Foundation is -- takes a holistic view and tries to help out at least some in every area. We still got to finish eradicating polio, too. So we don't let it come out of the bottle again.
GUPTA: It's amazing how many countries still have people who get polio every year.
TURNER: That's right, three or four. But we're 98 percent of the way there. But there's a lot of donor fatigue and it's not as sexy right now as HIV-AIDS or measles or malaria. But the very fact that we're close to eradicating we ought to go ahead and finish doing the job. GUPTA: Now looking -- you've been doing this for a long time. As things stand right now are you optimistic that you're going to be able...
TURNER: About the future?
GUPTA: Yeah and solve some of these problems that you're talking about.
TURNER: Well certainly, we have solved some of them. We've eradicated smallpox. Yeah, I'm optimistic but that -- to equate it to a sports event, a baseball game, I think it's the seventh inning and humanity is down by two runs. Now, we've got to score three runs in the next two innings and we've got to hold them right where they are. So it's real tricky. We're in a dangerous spot but we can pull it out if we really work together and go to work on it and do the smart things and stop doing the dumb things like bombing third world countries.
GUPTA: Well, I really appreciate your time. This is -- I like the baseball analogy as well.
TURNER: Thank you.
GUPTA: Not surprising coming from you. Ted Turner...
TURNER: Always a pleasure.
GUPTA: Yeah, great to see you, sir. Really appreciate it. He's the founder of CNN. He's one of the world's best known and most effective philanthropists. We have a lot more coming here from CGI -- back to you guys for now.
CHETRY: Great stuff. Thanks a lot Sanjay.
Now from home prices to home sales, there seems to be no end in sight right now to the housing market's downturn. CNN's personal finance editor Gerri Willis has more on the latest developments and what it could mean for you. They came out with new numbers on existing home sales, so what do you have for us?
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: That's right. You know I wish I had better news, Kiran. You know home prices posted their sharpest drop in 16 years. And this is according to three-month moving average and index of prices put together by S&P and Kay Schuler (ph). Now I want to show you some of the specific numbers here, Kiran.
Look at Detroit here down 9.7 percent. Look at these numbers. I'm telling you this is supposed to be the period, May, June, July, the hottest months out of the year. This is supposed to be the hot spring selling season. Look what happens to these cities. Detroit, of course, is having all kinds of problems with its economy. The other four cities here have been go-go cities that are not go-go anymore. Now I do have a ray of sunshine for you. It's not big. There is some. Some cities actually gained ground here, many in the south. Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas and a couple of West Coast cities, Portland and Seattle still making ground here, still making some sales price gains. But I got to tell you, I spoke to the S&P economists about these numbers.
He sees no end in sight yet for this downturn and he reminds people that real estate cycles last a long time. For example, the previous cycle that peaked in October 1989 didn't hit its trough (ph) until the first quarter of 1994. At that rate, Kiran, we won't see the end of this cycle until two years from now, 2009.
CHETRY: What is the advice quickly for -- if you're trying to sell? Should you hold off right now if you don't need to sell?
WILLIS: If you can hold off, you probably should hold off, but if you absolutely have to sell you have to price it right. That is realtors' speak for drop your price. And I wish I had better news but that's really what people really have to do out there if they're desperate.
CHETRY: And if you're looking to buy, is this -- for first-time home buyers who have decent credit, is this the...
WILLIS: The world is your oyster...
CHETRY: Really?
WILLIS: You really want to go out there, find the very best deal you can. You can negotiate. You can get help with the down payment. I mean there are all things -- kinds of things you can do in towns and in cities where prices have fallen and fallen dramatically and sellers are desperate.
CHETRY: And as you said, the busiest time of the year and now we're going to go into the holiday season where there's not -- there really isn't a lot of movement...
WILLIS: Usually calms down and it will probably get even quieter as we go forward here, Kiran.
CHETRY: All right, Gerri, thank you.
WILLIS: You're welcome.
CHETRY: Well still ahead, Miss South Carolina and her fight for her scholarship money. She joins us to talk about why she says the pageant owes her thousands. We're going to talk about it coming up.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. It is Wednesday, September 26th. I'm Kiran Chetry here in New York.
ROBERTS: And from Washington, D.C. this morning. I'm John Roberts. Good morning, Kiran.
CHETRY: Good morning. And we woke up to the news this morning about a possible break in the search for missing 4-year-old Madeleine McCann. Authorities now confirming that they are taking a close look at a picture that was given to them of a little girl that looks a lot like Madeleine. Take a look for yourself. A Spanish couple saying that they took it about a month ago on vacation in Morocco. There you see the picture. It shows a local woman carrying the child that looks stunningly like Madeleine McCann on her back. A side-by-side comparison now. There it is. The McCanns have been through this before. You may remember there have been many sightings of Madeleine. In fact, there are a lot of sightings of Madeleine in Portugal, I mean, Morocco even before this picture came out. Earlier, AMERICAN MORNING had a chance to speak with the McCann family spokesperson who says it is possible.
CLARENCE MITCHELL, MCCANN SPOKESMAN: We are confident that the woman who took it has submitted it to the police in good faith. She believes that it was her. It stands up to an initial assessment as possibly being significant but once that technical work is done, we will know for sure if it's a genuine picture or not.
CHETRY: So, again, they're going to be looking at that picture right now. Also a former Scotland Yard commander told us that there is plenty of reason to be skeptical as well.
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JOHN O'CONNOR, FORMER SCOTLAND YARD COMMANDER: It did look as though it might have been staged. It didn't look to me as though the picture of Madeleine was genuine. I may be entirely wrong on that and that of course is one of the issues there; but once they do a computer enhancement of the picture itself, we'll be able to say whether or not it's Madeleine.
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CHETRY: Agonizing, of course, for the parents who have since been accused of -- by Portuguese police of having something to do with the disappearance. Again, I think we have a map to show that it really isn't that far away where Portugal is, the tip of the area of Portugal where they were vacationing and even the family spokesman said this is really a short ferry ride, maybe about a half an hour to the part of Morocco we're talking about here. We are keeping an eye on this situation. There is hope. Of course, people want to believe this is Madeleine but, again, no confirmation as authorities continue to look into this picture. John.
ROBERTS: Other breaking news this morning, Kiran, to tell you about.
Striking United Auto Workers will be going back now that a union and General Motors have tentative contract agreement. The deal ends the two-day strike against General Motors. Our Ali Velshi joins us now with the details. Winners and losers here, Ali? ALI VELSHI: Well, look, I think everybody is back to work and that probably makes them all winners. You know, I was at the picket lines in Michigan yesterday and a lot of those strikers who get $200 a week for striking were not interested in this going on a long time. GM is the big winner here because it has managed, I'll tell you what this deal includes, its managed to transfer responsibility for its retiree health care trust over to the union basically for less money than it would have to if they have to administer it. GM will put billions of dollars into the trust either in cash or in assets. The problem here is that there are 73,000 union workers. Those are the ones who are strike but there are 340,000 people who are retired or the spouses of those who are retired who have to access this fund for their health care.
Now, workers were looking for guarantees that they wouldn't lose their jobs and that more factories won't close. It doesn't look like they got those but in exchange they get some lump sum payments. What happens next, John, the UAW said this is a recess of the strike. It means it's not canceled; it's recessed until the workers vote on it. Once they do that, it will be ratified and they will use that as the model with which to negotiate with Ford and Chrysler. We don't know when that is going to start but we do think by the end of the week the UAW will announce that it's next negotiating target is either Ford or Chrysler and they will try to use this contract as a model for those negotiations. We should expect most factories to be up and running by mid-day today. John.
ROBERTS: Ali Velshi for us with the latest in the GM strike -- now over, a settlement reached. Ali, thanks very much. Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, a battle over free speech and where to draw the line on a college campus. It's over a one-line editorial in the Colorado State University student newspaper that read "Taser this, f Bush." Today, the paper's editor will have to defend himself before the school's communication board. Some have called for him to be taken out of that position. It was supposed to be a response to last week's tasering of a University of Florida incident who disrupted a forum with Senator John Kerry. The editor told CNN that the paper was just trying to spark dialogue on campus.
The guilty plea of Senator Larry Craig at issue in a Minnesota courtroom today. Craig is not going to be at the hearing but he says he wants to retract that plea because he panicked and accepted it without talking to a lawyer. Craig pleaded guilty to a disorderly conduct charge after he was caught in a bathroom sex sting allegedly making sexual overtures toward an undercover cop in a Minneapolis Airport bathroom.
ROBERTS: President Bush is in New York this morning. Still, he attended a dignitary-filled dinner at the United Nations last night and praised Ban Ki-Moon for his first year of leadership as secretary- general. Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been the focus of an extraordinary amount of attention over his visit to New York and the United Nations. First, it was the talk of visiting ground zero, which the NYPD nicked. Then, the highly charged atmosphere around his appearance at Columbia University and finally a defiant speech at the United Nations staying that Iran will not back off of its nuclear program. Afshin Molavi of the New American Foundation is the author of the "Soul of Iran" and he joins me now. What is your take on what this whole visit means for us here in the United States and also for him back at home? But let me play a quick little excerpt from his speech yesterday where he suggested the nuclear issue was a done deal. Take a listen.
AFSHIN MOLAVI, NEW AMERICAN FOUNDATION: Sure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, IRAN (though translator): And I officially announced that in our opinion, the nuclear issue of Iran is now closed and has turned into an ordinary agency matter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So he is saying basically, Afshin, that he's got an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency and Mohammed Elbaradei who is not the United States' favorite guy. How are the rest of the countries of the world taking this?
MOLAVI: Well, one thing that was very interesting is both the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, made very tough speeches about Iran's nuclear program. But look with President Ahmadinejad and the Iranian government as a whole; they are pretty unified on this particular issue. They think they are on stronger ground when they refer it to the IAEA, when it's referred to the nuclear nonproliferation treaty of which they are a signatory because that signature actually gives them the right to enriched uranium below a bomb grade level. It's the fact that the international community and particularly these countries do not trust Iran with that right, the conflict that we're seeing right now.
ROBERTS: And of course, probably trying to drive a wedge through the U.N. Security Council as they, you know, take a position with whether a third round of sanctions will be imposed on Iran. The other statement that he made, this is just way over the top for so many people, was this at Columbia University. He was talking about homosexuals. Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, IRAN (through translator): In Iran, we don't have homosexuals like in your country. We don't have that in our country. In Iran, we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who has told you that we have it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So actually, that loopy statements like that which seemed to totally destroy his credibility on the world stage but how does it affect the folks at home for him?
MOLAVI: I think firstly, President Ahmadinejad probably needs to widen his social circle because there are, you know, homosexuals in Iran. But I think the trouble with him is he tends to deny the realities of his own country, even when he is within Iran, he does this. There has been a lot of talk about the rising prices in Iran. And there was criticism about the rising prices of tomatoes but his response in Iran to that was 'oh, you're just shopping at the wrong markets." And so --
ROBERTS: Better than we don't have any tomatoes.
MOLAVI: That's right. That's right.
But when he goes off and he makes this litany of accusations against the United States for the secret prisons and the human rights abuses and the tapping of phones and that sort of thin, well some people might argue that yes, those issues are very serious issues and they are worthy of criticism. The trouble is they're coming from a man who does have secret prisons in his country, does tap phones, does engage in human rights abuses. So, you're absolutely right, it's hard; he doesn't have much credibility on these issues.
ROBERTS: It's all a matter of where it's coming from. Afshin Molavi of the New America Foundation. Good to see you again.
MOLAVI: Thank you very much. Good to see you.
ROBERTS: Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Well, there's an ugly dispute going on between a beauty pageant and a beauty queen. Miss South Carolina wants to know why she hasn't gotten the scholarship money that she won. We're going to talk about it coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Swiss firefighters rapping? That rap video came to remind people that the telephone for emergencies is 118. A recent change in the phone number for directory assistance is something similar caused 118 to get dozens of calls that were intended for directory assistance. Boy, they have an interesting way of doing things there in Switzerland. Don't they, Kiran?
CHETRY: Well, that will on MTV in no time. How about it? Youtube sensation once again.
Well, how about this? A baby jaguar making its public debut in Mexico. The cub is three months old. There she is. She doesn't have a name yet but she already knows how to hiss. It's the first jaguar cub born at this zoo in six years, part of their entire program to try and protect this endangered species. They are thrilled that she came along and so once again, three months. Come on, think of a name. Rob, I have a name for her.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: What is that?
CHETRY: Lorenzo.
MARCIANO: Oh, I like it. I like it. Actually, that's my grandfather's name.
CHETRY: Yes. It's your grandfather's name.
MARCIANO: God bless the man.
CHETRY: And the name of a possible tropical storm.
MARCIANO: Potentially, yes. Or you can either call him Lorenzo or Spot or something boring like that. Lorenzo or potentially Lorenzo... look at that flare-up. The brightest colors are the infrared satellite pictures picking up the cold temperatures, believe it or not, which means that the clouds are high, which means there's a lot of thunderstorms around this thing, which probably means it's getting stronger. Hurricane (ph) in and out of this thing the past 24 hours and likely to become a tropical storm. And also likely not to bother the U.S. So that's the good news with this particular system.
A flare-up of thunderstorms off Cuba, southeastern parts of Florida. This has been bringing rain through extreme southern tip of Florida. Looks like it's going to continue to do that if it meanders over the Gulf Stream over the next couple of days, it may develop into something tropical. We'll watch that for sure. Thunderstorms flaring up here from western Tennessee in through Kentucky. The Ohio River Valley, some of these yesterday, especially in Michigan, were severe. We had winds gusting in Grand Rapids to about 60 miles an hour. Looks like Detroit is going to get hit with some thunderstorms this morning. So be aware of that. All of this is bumping into some seriously warm air. The numbers aren't popping up. You see a lot of red on the map. Temperatures in New York City could easily touch 85, 86, 87 degrees today. Stay cool up there for this first week, not October yet but it's definitely fall. It doesn't feel like it.
CHETRY: Yes, it's the first official week of fall, right, and it feels like a little bit more like the end of summer. All right, Rob. Thanks.
MARCIANO: OK.
ROBERTS: Certainly not fall here. It's going to be 90 degrees in Washington today.
The CNN NEWSROOM just minutes away. Tony Harris at the CNN Center with a look at what's ahead. Good morning to you, Tony.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, John. Good morning, to you. Good morning, everyone.
GM's new deal on the NEWSROOM rundown this morning. The automakers got a tentative contract with workers. If approved, GM would shift the retiree health care cost to the union.
Senator Larry Craig gets his case in front of a judge today. Craig wants his sex sting guilty plea thrown out.
Strange stickup, a man claims that he was abducted and forced to wear what he was told was a bomb and then rob a bank. Sound familiar? Sure it does. Breaking news when it happens. You're in the NEWSROOM just minutes away at the top of the hour. Right here on CNN. John, back to you.
ROBERTS: We will see you soon, Tony. Thanks very much.
Your "Quick Hits" now. Actor Kevin Spacey is the latest Hollywood star to visit Venezuela and meet with President Hugo Chavez. They met at the presidential palace in Caracas. Spacey also toured Venezuela's $13 million film studio.
And Italy is marking the death of Luciano Pavarotti with a series of commemorative events around the world including concerts, film screenings and photo retrospectives. The events begin in the week of October 6th, a month after Pavarotti's death from pancreatic cancer.
A pageant winner says she never got the scholarship money that she won back in 2004 but the pageant says it's her fault. We'll talk to her ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: 10 minutes now to the top of the hour. Welcome back to the most news in the morning here on CNN. You know, even the vice president has to wait in line from time to time. Here's a photograph of Dick Cheney at a Border's checkout in downtown Washington. A couple of books and a magazine. Smile on his face would seem to suggest that he doesn't mind standing in line at all. Kiran.
CHETRY: Right, John. There he is. Standing in line. Just like your everyday Joe.
Well, a beauty queen says she is being ripped off. Miss South Carolina 2004 says that she's never been awarded the thousands of dollars in scholarship money that came with her title. Pageant officials though are trying to blame her for it saying that she didn't fill out paper work on time and that is why. Well, Ashley Wood of the University of Pennsylvania joins me now. Ashley, thanks for being with us.
ASHLEY WOOD, MISS SOUTH CAROLINA 2004: Thank you.
CHETRY: In a nutshell, you say you're owed more than $25,000 in scholarships. They're claiming, the Miss America Organization and the Miss South Carolina Organization that you missed deadlines to receive the money. What do you make of that situation?
WOOD: Right, well they're focusing on local scholarship awards that were agreed to be paid to me and then were never paid. And so the state and the national organizations are using that as an excuse to pay me, rather than helping me to obtain those funds. You would think they would be providing some oversights to these local organizations, helping them to provide me with a scholarship rather than saying 'oh, well, they didn't pay you, we're not going to pay you either.'
CHETRY: You know, it's interesting. They sent a document because this was picked up by "The New York Times," there are other people describing going through something similar. They say that you signed papers acknowledging that you understood the pageants rules. Here is what they say, 'the rules are plainly written, incredibly fair and apply equally to all. No one can arbitrarily re-write the rules to suit themselves.' What do you make of that statement?
WOOD: I haven't rewritten any rules. I understand the rules as does every contestant who participates in the program. I'm attending the Wharton School of Business. I'm a graduate of Duke University. I can understand rules and the things that I'm signing. So, I know that this is happening to a lot of girls and the question to ask is why is this happening to so many people? This isn't just about me. There's, obviously, a fundamental flaw somewhere for why this is happening.
CHETRY: Because the point of the organization, of course, is to award scholarships for people to advance your education. You're saying that you get tripped up along the way with some of these rules and regulations. Do you think it's time for a rule change?
WOOD: Absolutely. In fact, I've offered to help them reformat their document so that it's easier for contestants to understand what they are supposed to do, and that has not, they have not taken me up on that offer as of yet.
CHETRY: You know, as far as you know, with other people that have come forward, do you think that you're eventually going to get this money or do you think that you will eventually get this money or it's going to be a huge fight?
WOOD: I hope that I will get the money. The scholarship that I won as Miss South Carolina was supposed to be the compensation for the work that I did the year I was Miss South Carolina. And it's very difficult hard to work hard and do what you were supposed to do, to fulfill your obligations and then be told that you're not going to be compensated and be blamed for why you were not compensated. That's a very difficult process to go through. I hope that I get my money and I hope I can stop this from happening to other girls in the future.
CHETRY: I know that the University of Pennsylvania certainly isn't cheap. It is expensive. Would you stop going to grad school because of monetary reasons or eventually if this doesn't work out in your favor, are you still going to find a way to pay for it yourself?
WOOD: Well, I was awarded a merit base scholarship at Wharton to cover part of my tuition and I've taken out loans to cover the rest of it. And I'm very committed to earning my MBA. This is a goal that I've had for a very long time and I'm going to follow through with that. I hope that I will have this pageant money to use. I would think the pageant would be proud to have a former titleholder who's at one of the top business schools in the country.
CHETRY: Rather than saying no as they're putting it on a technicality, you're saying that this paper work needed to be filled out in a certain manner and that you needed to get some money from he local before you could get the state money and so on. Now, has there been any help? Anybody helping you investigates this or looks into this, authority wise, at the federal or state level?
WOOD: Right, at the state level, the secretary of state's office in South Carolina has looked into this. They investigated the pageant and fined them. I don't know all of the details about that. The investigation is ongoing, however, because they pass it on to two other state agencies, the state law enforcement division and the department of revenue who continue their investigations now.
CHETRY: All right. And you're going for that business degree. So everyone better watch out.
WOOD: Thank you.
CHETRY: Thanks for coming in and telling us your story.
WOOD: Thank you.
CHETRY: Good luck with everything. Ashley Wood -- she won Miss South Carolina 2004. John.
ROBERTS: Just five minutes now to the top of the hour. And a quick look at what CNN NEWSROOM is working for when it turns 9:00 a.m. Eastern.
HARRIS: See these stories in the CNN NEWSROOM.
GM workers heading back to their jobs today. A tentative deal shifting retiree health care cost to the union.
Outgoing Senator Larry Craig's case in court today. He wants his guilty plea related to a bathroom sex sting tossed.
British police examining at this photo. Does it show missing girl, Madeleine McCann?
And a mother getting physical on a school bus.
NEWSROOM at top of the hour, just minutes away, on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, how about this one, it's a modern day revenge of the nerds, I guess you could say. So-called nerds at Washington State University are looking to trade their skills for a date. The university's largest computer club is holding a "nerd" auction, that's their words, to find sorority girls to date them or at the very least to give them a makeover. In exchange, the nerds are offering to help fix computers, to help with homework or to take the girls out to dinner. That's a pretty cute idea, John. You know, it's sort of match.com but you know maybe some budding romances would happen out of it.
ROBERTS: I will see you "nerd" auction and raise you a speeding ticket.
A 33-year-old man is in jail this morning after setting a high- speed record in London. Police recently clocked Tim Brady doing 172 miles an hour in a Porsche. The wild ride also cost Brady his job. Why? It turns out that the Porsche belonged to his boss and he took it without permission.
CHETRY: Wow. A double whammy so to speak.
All right. How about this one? This is a little rare white rhino born at the zoo in Israel. How adorable. The first to be born at the park in 15 years. When he grows up, he is going to weigh 6,000 pounds and have horns just like his mom.
ROBERTS: You can't beat baby animals.
CHETRY: So adorable.
ROBERTS: OK. You won.
CHETRY: All right. Well, thanks so much everyone for joining us. John, you will be back here tomorrow for AMERICAN MORNING.
ROBERTS: I will see you then. All right, see you then.
CNN NEWSROOM with Tony Harris and Heidi Collins starts right now.
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