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American Morning
Arrest In Thailand; Extreme Weather; Autistic Hiker Found; Planet In Peril
Aired October 19, 2007 - 06:00 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. First, unswirled. Now, unraveled. How an international manhunt brought down a suspected pedophile.
Extreme weather. Caught in the storm.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And all this stuff just started flying around.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The storm front on the move from the Great Lakes to the Gulf.
And mystery in Vegas. Why is the FBI raiding the warehouse of magician David Copperfield, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And good morning. Thanks very much for joining us on this busy Friday, October the 19th. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad your with us.
We start breaking news out of Thailand and an overnight arrest. It's the end of an international manhunt for a suspected pedophile who Interpol described as looking for a needle in a haystack trying to find this man. Thirty-two-year-old Christopher Paul Neil, a school teacher from Canada, is accused of sexually abusing at least a dozen young boys in hundreds of photos that circled the Internet for years. Now his face on those photos was disguised behind a swirl effect. Last week investigators figured out how to unswirl the image, revealing his face, and they were able to track Neil down to Thailand. That's where CNN's Matthew Chance is live right now in Bangkok.
Good morning, Matthew.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Kiran.
That's right, the Thai police, along with the world police organization, Interpol, are saying this was a triumph of corporation between international peace forces because it just took eight days from when Christopher Paul Neil was photographed entering Thailand to when he was actually caught in this nationwide manhunt. The Thai police so pleased with their work that they organized a press conference, a photo opportunity within the last few hours where they brought out Christopher Paul Neil, this 32-year-old Canadian national, who is accused of carrying out terrible abuses against children in Cambodia, in Vietnam and here in Thailand as well.
He first appeared wearing a blue t-shirt over his head. There was a lot of press around him pushing and shoving. He later appeared inside a press conference with his head uncovered and he was wearing very dark sunglasses. Throughout the whole time he didn't say a word. He sat there motionless, staring ahead in front of him.
I asked the police whether he had confessed to any of the abuses that he's been accused of carrying out against children, but he said, no. The police say that all he's confirmed at this stage is that his name is Christopher Paul Neil. And that's why police are keeping him in custody for at least the next 48 hours and possibly longer after that while they continue their investigation.
Now a number of Thai children have stepped forward saying that they recognize this individual as the man who carried out abuses against them. And so the Thai police are using this as a basis to build a case against this Canadian national.
Matthew Chance in Bangkok, of course.
You know, how extraordinary is it that they were able to unswirl that image using computer technology and then send it out to the public and that's ultimately how they got their hands on him?
CHANCE: Well, I mean, it was a major development that they were able to do this. For years, for three years, images of this individual have been circulating on websites around the Internet. Images showing him abusing young boys. But the problem has always been this electronically manipulated photograph, the way in which his identity has been completely hidden from people viewing those pages.
But German computer experts, who were leading this investigation, have been able to work out mathematically how to unswirl that image and produce this identifiable image. As soon as they did that, the image was posted on the Interpol website and hundreds of people literally came in giving their intelligence. It ultimately led to that arrest today.
CHETRY: That is unbelievable.
Matthew Chance for us in Thailand this morning. Thank you.
ROBERTS: Three minutes after the hour. Now to extreme weather and a major tornado outbreak from the Great Lakes all the way down to the Gulf. At least there people killed in two states.
This is video from Pensacola, Florida, captured through a police car's dash cam. You can see the funnel cloud over there on the left- hand side of that picture. The storm also damaged a shopping mall and a day care center in Pensacola. Teachers say they heard the warnings, grabbed the kids and then followed the drill. And because of that, no one was hurt. Tornadoes also reported in Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky. Eighty-mile-an-hour winds, golf ball sized hail damaged several homes in Indiana. Police say thunderstorms also injured four people in a trailer. That was west of Louisville, Kentucky.
And two people were killed in Monroe County, Missouri, when their mobile home was lifted off of its frame with them inside it. Police say 135-mile-an-hour winds tossed the mobile home some three-quarters of a mile.
And all that nasty weather is heading east now. Rob Marciano at our weather update desk in Atlanta tracking the extreme weather.
Who's in the bull's eye today, Rob?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, it does weaken somewhat, but it's still a dangerous situation, John, and moving east toward the Appalachian Mountains, Michigan hit hard. That's probably the most unusual thing about this system. That from the Canadian border, all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico, there was lots of action yesterday.
Here it is on the radar scope. We'll show you the larger picture and where it's moving. The center of it really still back in through here. You kind of see the swirling clouds. But most of the heavy weather is going to be out ahead of it as we've seen for most of the last couple of days. A two-day outbreak of severe weather, no doubt about that.
This morning, as what we saw yesterday morning, this is the quiet time of day. And once the sun comes up, we'll start to get a little bit more in the way of action. So tornado watches have been allowed to expire.
Some good news in that there's been a little bit of rainfall in places that we need it. However, north Georgia, southeast Tennessee, seems to be a bit of a hole in the precipitation. Not only did Pensacola get tornadoes yesterday and lots of damage down there, but also a ton of rainfall. And this looks just like yesterday with lots of moisture coming in off the Gulf of Mexico, Pensacola right in through here. They had almost 10 inches of rainfall on top of what they saw yesterday.
Record high temperatures yesterday across the east coast. And that may very well fuel the fire for thunderstorms. A slight risk for severe weather expected out of the storms prediction center in Norman, Oklahoma. So hopefully today will be a lot more quiet than it was yesterday.
John.
ROBERTS: Good job yesterday, Rob, keeping us up to date on all those watches and warnings. And we expect that out of you again today. So we'll keep checking back.
MARCIANO: You got it. ROBERTS: Thanks, Rob.
Kiran.
CHETRY: Also new this morning, a climbing death toll from the bomb blast on the convoy of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. One hundred and twenty-four people were killed and 320 others hurt after a suicide bomber threw a grenade and then blew himself up. TV cameras caught the blast on tape as thousands lined the streets to welcome her back from an eight-year exile. Security was tight. Officials feared it was coming but nothing could prepare them for the aftermath. Bhutto was not hurt.
Well, what ramifications could this attack have on the U.S. and the war on terror? We're going to be joined in our next half hour by CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen.
Well there is certainly relief and joy for the family of a teenager with autism. Eighteen-year-old Jacob Allen got lost in the woods of West Virginia on Sunday. This morning he's reunited with his family. CNN's Allan Chernoff live outside the Davis Memorial Hospital in Elkins, West Virginia, where the boy is now being treated.
Allan, thanks for being with us.
Is he doing OK this morning?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. He certainly is. And when rescuers found Jacob Allen yesterday afternoon, he was hungry, thirsty and tired after four days on his own in the wilderness. But he was alive.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, we found him.
CHERNOFF, (voice over): Relief and joy after an autistic teenager is found alive in the West Virginia wilderness, but only after days of waiting, worrying and searching. Eighteen-year-old Jacob Allen went missing Sunday after wondering off while hiking with his parents. Jacob didn't answer calls of his name.
By Monday searchers honed in on 10 square mild of rugged terrain, shouting his name, along with promises of candy. Jacob's hat was found. Dogs were brought in. Helicopters searched from the sky. But time was working against them. Jacob had no food or water and temperatures at night dipped below 40 degrees. Worries grew. Worries his sister and brother expressed Wednesday on CNN's AMERICAN MORNING.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, that is our biggest concern that he, you know, someone calls for him, he can't say, you know, I'm here, you know, help me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know if he's going to be able to do much. CHERNOFF: The rescue is scaled back at night, but by Thursday morning the number of searchers grew to 300. Then the moment Jacob's family had been hoping for. Jacob was found sleeping in a small opening surrounded by brush by a 25-year-old volunteer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was hungry. He was thirsty. I think he was grateful to be found and be around people again.
CHERNOFF: Grateful, a word Jacob's family understands very well.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF: Rescuers fed Jacob candy bars and peanut butter sandwiches and they must have tasted mighty good. He's catching up on his sleep right now.
Kiran, back to you.
CHETRY: Oh, what a happy ending. Because there was so much fear about whether or not he'd be OK because of how many days he was there and because of his inability to communicate. But his family really is calling it a miracle.
CHERNOFF: Absolutely. I know, a wonderful ending to this story. And really it was very cold up there in the mountains. We drove through the mountains earlier this morning and it's way up. The temperature got below 40 degrees at night.
CHETRY: All right. Allan Chernoff. We're going to hear from his family a little bit later coming up in our next hour. Thanks.
ROBERTS: Pretty incredible that he was found alive.
A mystery this morning surrounding magician David Copperfield. FBI agents in Los Vegas raided his warehouse, taking a computer hard drive, a digital camera and nearly $2 million in cash. Copperfield's attorney confirmed that the raid had taken place but would not comment on the investigation.
Grammy Award winning rapper T.I. heads back to court in Atlanta this morning. A judge will decide if he'll be released on bond until his trial on weapons charges. T.I., who's real name is Clifford Harris, was arrested on Saturday after his bodyguard tried to buy machine guns and silencers from an undercover agent on T.I.'s behalf.
British singer Amy Winehouse was arrested in Norway overnight. Winehouse has openly battled drug addition. She was arrest for marijuana possession in her hotel room in Bergen, Norway. According to police, her husband and another person were also arrested.
Well, there could be one less Republican running for president this morning. Senator Sam Brownback is expected to withdrawal from the race later on today. He's a conservative from Kansas who's been struggling to raise money and raise his poll numbers. Brownback may instead run for governor of Kansas in 2010. And the Red Sox stay alive in the American League championship series. Game five against Cleveland was a tense one. Sox slugger Manny Ramirez pulled up during a play at the plate and later tried to call a time out after a long single, which he thought was a home run. And in the fifth inning, there was a bench clearing war of words between Indian's left fielder Kenny Lofton and Sox pitcher Josh Beckett, but the fists didn't fly during that one. Boston still topped Cleveland 7-1 to cut the Tribe series lead to three games to two. It's getting interesting.
Kiran.
CHETRY: Yes, at least this one there's actually a horse race. The other one was just a sweep.
Well, oil tops $90 a barrel for the first time ever. Ali Velshi is at the business update desk and Im going to make a prediction that he has his barrel with him. There you go.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's getting heavy. This is getting heavy. Every day, slupping (ph) this thing up and down. $89.42 is where oil settled yesterday. $89.47, I'm sorry. And then overnight we saw a trade go above $90 for the first time ever. $90.02 is where it went. Right now we're back a bit to about $89.80, $89.85.
At this point it becomes speculation. There are no new reasons. All these records we've seen in the last week, no new reasons for oil to be up there. It's the same tensions. But at this point, speculators are saying that the situation is not going to get any better any time soon. We're not going to see all of a sudden more oil flowing. And the thing most people have to worry about is how this is affecting the cost of heating their home and how it's going to filter into the price of gasoline at the pump, which is still relatively low considering the increase we've seen in the price of oil.
And I'm going to tell you a little later on about today being the 20th anniversary of the stock market crash of 1987. I think we may have a graphic here to show you what oil was trading at in 1987. Today $89.47. On October 19, 1987, it was trading at $19.80 barrel. Just to give you some idea of where oil has come in the last 10 years or so.
Kiran, I'll be back with more on this and markets as the show continues.
CHETRY: All right, Ali, thank you.
John.
ROBERTS: Twelve minutes after the hour. All you got to do is look at the front page of "The Post." It's the end of an era for the world's most famous sports franchise. Joe Torre refuses to take a pay cut and walks away from the New York Yankees. Torre rejected a $5 million one-year deal yesterday to stay on as team manager. Torre's exit comes after Yankees owner George Steinbrenner threatened to fire him if the Yankees didn't beat the Cleveland Indians. Torre lead the team for 12 years, took the Yankees to four world championships.
Diana and the ring tops your "Quick Hits." The jury hearing the inquest into Princess Diana's death saw video of Dodi Fayed in Paris buying a $19,000 engagement ring just hours before Dodi and Diana were killed in a car crash. Fayed's father claims that Dodi and Diana were murdered because they planned to get married.
More proof that Google is on a roll this morning. As if you needed any more. Google reported a revenue jump of 57 percent in the last quarter. Its stock has just exploded this year. Right now trading at more than $639 a share. Predictions are it could hit $700 by next year.
Well, it's illegal, dangerous and deadly, and taxpayers in one of America's biggest cities could soon be helping people do it. Should a health clinic invite heroin addicts to shoot up the right way? The debate over that is coming up.
And did a California congressman go to far after Democrats tried and failed to override the president's veto of a children's health care bill. Take a listen. Well, we'll get that for you in just a couple of seconds.
Pete Stark, a Democrat from California, has got Republicans fighting mad. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: Welcome back. From the shots you've got to see this morning.
It took 20 seconds to bring down the historic Sands Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City. There you see it fall. That was a planned explosion. Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Liza Minnelli and Cher just some of the famous names to play there. There's a new mega casino, of course, that's going to be built in its place.
Well, police in Alexander County, North Carolina, are looking for a burka wearing bandit. They say that this suspect walked into a bank, pointed a gun at a teller and left with a bag full of money. They say right now they don't know whether the person is a man or a woman.
And extreme weather caught on tape in western Kentucky. Strong lightning and a possible tornado destroyed a hotel. Eighty-mile-an- hour winds knocked down trees, power lines. Flooding also shut down roads and at least eight people were hurt when their mobile homes collapsed. And there's a look at the dramatic lightning.
John.
ROBERTS: Republican leaders this morning are demanding an apology from Congressman Pete Stark for his outburst on the House floor yesterday. The California Democrat lashed out at President Bush and the Republicans in Congress for funding the war and not a children's health insurance program. Take a listen to what he said. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PETE STARK, (D) CALIFORNIA: President Bush's statements about children's health shouldn't be taken any more seriously than his lies about the war in Iraq. The truth is that Bush just likes to blow things up in Iraq, in the United States, and in Congress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Unfortunately, that wasn't the comment that we were looking for. So tell you what we'll do. We'll move on and we'll come back to that when we get the right one because that's going to be the subject of our Quick Vote question and we want to make sure that you're voting on the right thing this morning. So we'll get that fixed up for you and we'll be right back with that.
Members of Congress apologizing to man wrongly suspected of links to al Qaeda and tortured. A Canadian man testified by video link yesterday about how he was detained at New York's JFK Airport in 2002, taken to Syria and tortured under the post- 9/11 practice called extraordinary rendition.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAHER ARAR, TORTURE VICTIM: I was interrogated and physically tortured. I was beaten with an electrical cable and threatened with a metal chair. When I was not being beaten, I was put in a waiting room so that to hear the screams of other prisoners. The cries of the women still haunt me the most.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Maher Arar has been cleared of any terrorists links but is still on a terror watch list and not allowed into the United States. Members of a congressional subcommittee apologized to him, though some defended extraordinary rendition as a necessary tool against terrorism.
Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, city health officials in San Francisco may soon be on hand to help heroin addicts shoot up the right way. The city taking steps to open the nation's first legal "safe injection site," as it's called. Users would have to bring their own drugs and inject themselves. Nurses would provide them with a clean needle, water, a table, and a chair. The idea is to reduce San Francisco's high rate of fatal drug overdoses and diseases like HIV. The model is based on the only other legal injection house in North America. It's located in Vancouver.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH EVANS, COORDINATOR INSITE: So if somebody overdoses in the site, our staff are able to provide emergency care. And we've had over 800 overdoses so far and not one fatality to date. THOMAS KERR, UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA: In think in our experience what people would tell you in the community is that it's a win-win situation for the community and for drug users. Drug users get the health care they need and the community is safer as a result.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, there are many others who would not describe it as a win-win situation. The White House Office of National Drug Policy is calling it "poor public policy" to just accept drug addiction and give up.
ROBERTS: Schools closed to fight the superbug. That tops your "Quick Hits." Two students in Fairborn, Ohio, with unconfirmed cases of the drug resistant staph infection. All of the district schools are closed today, will be cleaned and disinfected top to bottom over the weekend so that they're squeaky clean by the time students go back on Monday.
And four new cases of students with the disease have turned up in Connecticut. One in an elementary school and three at the Albertus Magnus College in New Haven. The school is power washing common areas and some of the students started wearing globes around campus yesterday after they found out about the infections.
We keep hearing about carbon footprints and the environment. But do you really know what it carbon footprint is? How do you find out if you even have one? We'll explain ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty-four minutes after the hour now.
Next week CNN launches its special investigation "Planet in Peril" to explore world environmental issues.
CHETRY: Yes. And this morning we wanted to find out more about carbon footprints. You know, everyone seems to talk -- I'm sure it's going to be in the dictionary soon because everyone's -- or it probably already is. Carbon footprint.
ROBERTS: I think it got added this year, actually.
CHETRY: It did. To the, what, Webster's . . .
ROBERTS: Whatever.
CHETRY: All right. (INAUDIBLE).
Anyway, what is it though and exactly how do you find out what your carbon footprint is when it comes to the environment. Well, we asked Internet correspondent Veronica De La Cruz to put us to the test yesterday.
And how did we fair? VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, boy. Well, we're going to get to those results in just a second. But first of all, let's answer that question, what exactly is a carbon footprint? That is the measure of greenhouse gases that you emit as a direct result of your activity. You might want to think about it like a credit report maybe, except that your score is based on how you treat the planet.
So certain things might be more obvious to lower it. Maybe carpooling. But other things you may never even think of, like going to the gym. Going to the gym can actually raise your carbon footprint, believe it or not.
CHETRY: How do you do that?
DE LA CRUZ: Well, because you might jump in your car, first of all, and then you might use the sauna while you're at the gym. And you think about all of the energy that's being expended. You know, all of the machines that are powered up. So you're better just to run around the block.
CHETRY: OK. So how do you rate your carbon footprint or measure it and how did we do?
DE LA CRUZ: OK. It's measured in units of carbon dioxide and we're going to take a look at our carbon footprints now. We measured all of these at poptech.org. The average person scores 9.44. Sadly, all of us have some . . .
ROBERTS: Wait a minute, 9.44?
DE LA CRUZ: Yes, 9.44. Sadly all of us have some pretty big feet. I mean there's mine right there. I use 27.7 metric tons. Kiran has some pretty petite feet. She's got a small footprint. It weighs in at over 12 metric tons of carbon a year. And then, drum roll please, there's John's. He uses an average of 86.6 metric tons of carbon a year.
John, can you explain this to us?
ROBERTS: Well, I don't know. You explain it to me. You did the calculations.
DE LA CRUZ: Well, it's air travel. You're traveling all over the place. Now he's fueling a private jet, so he's got to stop that.
CHETRY: Yes, John does a . . .
ROBERTS: You know, hold on. Wait a minute. Hold. Stop.
CHETRY: John does a weekly (INAUDIBLE) to (INAUDIBLE).
ROBERTS: Just before somebody picks up on that as fact, I do not fly in a private jet.
DE LA CRUZ: He doesn't. He doesn't.
ROBERTS: I fly the shuttle a lot, which is like a school bus.
DE LA CRUZ: And he takes the train, which is, you know, you're better off. You shouldn't even be flying. You should try to drive if you can.
CHETRY: But it is astounding how flying will just, you know, make your carbon footprint really explode exponentially. You talk about whether or not you live in a home or you live in an apartment complex, how many miles you drive. But when it comes to these flights and John's back and forth on the Delta shuttle.
DE LA CRUZ: And that's why he's weighing in at 86.6. So there are tips out there to minimize your carbon footprint. We've also been getting in lots of viewer e-mail because of this "Planet in Peril" series that we're doing. And I wanted to show you this one i-Report we got in from Allan Williamson (ph) and his wife. They live in this zero energy solar house. They're dedicated.
CHETRY: It looks cool (ph).
DE LA CRUZ: Look at all of those solar panels. Look at them. They drive an electric car. They live in southern California. And they say, get this, guys, they say they offset between 20,000 to 40,000 pounds of carbon dioxide in one year. So maybe they'll take us in. You guys need a roommate?
CHETRY: What do they mean when they talk about offsetting?
ROBERTS: Yes, I don't understand this whole offset (ph) in bio carbon credit.
CHETRY: Because they don't use it for the solar panels?
DE LA CRUZ: Well, you're offset your emissions by doing things like -- well, first of all, you're going to donate to organizations that take it upon themselves to plant trees and such. Renewable energy sources. Stuff like that that will offset all the damage that you are doing. So poptech.org is a website that you can look at and that will give you more information.
ROBERTS: All right. Veronica, thanks very much. Good stuff.
DE LA CRUZ: Of course. Just stop taking the private jet, John, by the way.
CHETRY: Now if you really want . . .
ROBERTS: Stop saying that.
Don't miss "Planet in Peril" next Tuesday and Wednesday 9:00 p.m. Eastern only on CNN.
A look at a story coming up in our next hour that you just can't miss. The south in hot water about the water. Major drought taxing the region's dwindling supplies. CHETRY: It really is a scary notion when some cities are able to say, look, these are the number of days we have left until we literally run out of water. They say that officials say that even if the current drought ended tomorrow, we'd still be facing a crisis 15 years from now. Our Rob Marciano is going to be taking a look. We're going to have that story and today's headlines when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING 6:30 here on the east coast. Friday, October 19. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. We begin with breaking news out of Thailand and the major arrest overnight. The world's most wanted pedophile is in police custody after a week long international manhunt. Christopher Paul Neil is suspected of sexually abusing at least a dozen young boys. He was nabbed about 130 miles northeast of Bangkok where Thai police say, he was trying to contact underage boys. This most recent breakthrough with Interpol's three year long investigation came when the international police agency released a photo of a face that was descrambled from about 200 child porn photos that were circulating on the internet.
CHETRY: Also, new this morning. Homeland Security in the hot seat for not stopping a man with highly contagious tuberculosis from entering the U.S. some 76 times. House Lawmakers now demanding an investigation into why federal officials allowed this man to continue crossing the boarder, potentially infecting hundreds of fellow passengers. The Department Of Homeland Security says that the man provided false information and that made the case much more difficult to track.
Well, we told you a few minutes ago that Republican leaders are demanding an apology from Congressman Pete Starr from his outburst on the House Floor yesterday. Well the California Democrat lashed out at President Bush and Republicans in Congress for funding the war and not a children's health insurance program. So here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE STARK, REPRESENTATIVE (D) CALIFORNIA: You don't have money to fund the war or children. But you're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president's amusement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Those are the comments and Stark has refused to apologize for them. Democrats yesterday fell 13 votes short by the way in their attempt to override the president's veto of the children's health bill. That brings us to our quick vote this morning. We want to know what you think. Should Congressman Stark apologize for the comments he made on the House Floor? You just heard him. So, please cast your vote, cnn.com/am. We're going to give you the first results a little bit later in the half-hour.
John?
ROBERTS: 33 minutes after the hour. At least 124 people are dead and another 300 plus wounded in a terror attack caught on tape. Suicide bombers targeted former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto just hours after her return from a self-imposed eight-year exile. What does this mean explosion for a country that we really rely on the new war on terror? CNN terror analyst Peter Bergen recently spoke with Bhutto when he has traveled widely throughout Pakistan and the rest of the region for that matter. He joins us this morning. Peter, who do you believe is behind this attack or is there any way to narrow it down yet?
PETER BERGEN, CNN TERROR ANALYST: Well, unfortunately there's a long list of potential suspects. Obviously al Qaeda. Big members of al Qaeda had tried to assassinate Benazir Bhutto in the past. Then there's the Taliban which made throw against Bhutto himself. Then there are various jihadi groups in Karachi which is pretty ungovernable city of 14 million people, a place where, you know, a lot of political violence in the past. The American consulate there has been attack three times since 9-11. Danny Pearl, the American journalist who was kidnapped and murdered there.
ROBERTS: Why is she such a target?
BERGEN: Well, she's a woman. She's regarded as a liberal. She's the most popular politician in the country. There are people who don't necessary wanted to be successful.
ROBERTS: Yes. Is she really a threat to these groups? This is what she said prior to her return to Pakistan. She said quote "The terrorists who tried to take over my country, we have to stop them." Does she really represent a threat because she doesn't control the military. She's not in power. Though, she may try to run for Prime Minister, she can get a couple laws changed.
BERGEN: Well, I think that's a good question. I mean at the end of the day, the Pakistani military, the most important group in the country, whether she's in power or not. One thing that is worth remembering is Benazir Bhutto the first woman who became the leader of a Muslim country. However, her government did help the Taliban rise to power. So now, that's not necessarily her decision. That was a decision made by the military. I think your point is well taken. At the end of the day, even if Benazir becomes Prime Minister which I think is originally pulls the scenario, she has to deal with the Pakistani Military and the Pakistani Military are proven unwilling or incapable of going after Taliban leadership in the country.
ROBERTS: So what you think is the overall effect of this? Does this galvanized support for Benazir Bhutto. Does it further destabilize Pakistan, which as we said is a critical ally on the war on terror? BERGEN: Well, I think both. I mean, you know, this obviously going to be a rally around the flag effect. This is, you know, even (INAUDIBLE) himself, who is not a big friend of Bhutto has made a statement saying, this is a terrible act, but you know, Pakistan since January, John, has been a blizzard of suicide attacks unfortunately. Something like 200 Pakistani soldiers being killed in the last two months and a thousand of people killed in political violence in Pakistan this year. The place is really, you know, heating up.
ROBERTS: For them to strike like this, be able to strike like this, in the heart of Karachi with all of the security that was surrounding her, what does that suggest about the extremists and their strength in that area?
BERGEN: Well, you know, it was well planned. I mean, the fact that she was coming back on October 18 was widely advertised for several weeks. Anybody who wanted to do her in had a lot of time to plan.
ROBERTS: Peter Bergen for us this morning. Peter, it is always good to see you.
BERGEN: Thank you, John.
ROBERTS: Thanks.
Kiran?
CHETRY: Well, it was certainly a lot of relief and joy for the family of a teenager with autism. An 18-year-old, Jacob Allen, was lost in the woods of West Virginia. It was this passed Sunday that he's hiking with his family. Well, he was found safe and he's been reunited with his family. He went missing while he was hiking with his parents. They sent thousands of volunteers to search for him and that included our next guest who ended up finding Jacob shivering. His socks and wind breaker wet. Jeremy Reneau joins us now from Elkins, West Virginia at the hospital where Jacob Allen is recuperating. Jeremy, thanks for being with us.
JEREMY RENEAU, FOUND MISSING AUTISTIC TEEN: Hi, how are you?
CHETRY: Great. And boy, congratulations. A happy ending when many were not sure if that was going to be the case. He was missing for four days. How did you find Jacob?
RENEAU: Well, we covered an area that had been covered probably three times before and it was very thick area and it was just thoroughness. I'm going back over and retracing our steps.
CHETRY: And so, where was he and what was he doing when you found him?
RENEAU: He was sleeping or resting. I'm not sure which. But when I got to him, I called his name and he responded to me. And then I knew he was okay.
CHETRY: Wow, how did he react when you came up to him?
RENEAU: I think, he was a little weary but, whatever, I presented him with food and he seems okay.
CHETRY: And what condition was he in when you found him?
RENEAU: For being in the woods for four days without food and water, he was in really good condition.
CHETRY: They describe Jacob as nonverbal and they were saying that was going to be a big issue in this search because you guys could call out to him and he perhaps could hear you, perhaps could be nearby but really had no way of letting you guys know that. So it really is, some were describing it miraculous that you were able to find him. How do you think, he survived the elements? What do you think he did for those four days?
RENEAU: You know, I have no idea. I think, a lot of it was just luck. It was a miracle.
CHETRY: Yes. That's what a lot of people are saying this morning. Well, congratulations. I know it must be a relief for all of you that put in countless hours to find him. Jacob Allen, now safe and sound with his family. Jeremy Reneau, thanks for being with us.
RENEAU: Thank you.
ROBERTS: 38 minutes after the hour. Coming up, if you were so inclined, how far would you go to steal a puppy? We'll tell you what one man did. It's all caught on tape. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the most news in the morning. We want to show you some I-reports now of two tornadoes that touched down in Pensacola, Florida, taking the city by surprise. This is cell phone video that was shot and you can see the twister. This was sent in by a viewer near Pensacola. He shot this from his office building. It was five or six blocks from where the tornado touched down. He says he was in a meeting in a second floor conference room when someone spotted the tornado. Thanks for getting you camera out. Amazing pictures.
Also, this was found from the dashboard camera of a police cruiser catching what seems to be, once again, the formation of what would soon become a tornado. You can see those ominous clouds on the horizon start to swirl into a funnel and there you see it again from the dash camera of that cruiser. At least two tornadoes they say did touch down in the Pensacola area.
We also have a report from a frequent I-reporter, Jay Lancer (ph), as he sent us video of some of the damage in the aftermath of this line storms that blew through. They had damaged homes. Cars flipped over. Downed power lines. But nobody appeared to have been seriously hurt. He said the city responded pretty quickly and it looked like things were getting back to normal shortly after that line of storms blew through. Rob Marciano at the CNN weather center looking at extreme weather facing the south. The extreme drought as well. Hi, Rob, Good morning.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Kiran. You know, the severe weather we've had the last couple days has done little to relieve the drought. This is the drought monitor map behind me. And it really hasn't changed a whole lot. Those darker reds indicate beyond extreme drought and it compasses a lot of the southeast. Places like Robbinsville, North Carolina, extremely hit hard by this drought. And they are taking drastic measures in some other schools as a matter of fact in that city. They're doing things like using paper plates, plastic utensils in an effort not to have to do dishes or using maps instead of hosing down things or decreasing the water pressure in the school in an effort to help maintain the city's dwindling water supply.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are concerned, very concerned, that from the talk that we heard that it takes months to rebuild your water system.
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MARCIANO: You know, Atlanta residents still feeling the pinch as well. Lake levels north of Atlanta where most of the city's reservoir is, now officials are saying maybe only 81 days left of water before they run out. And that's a problem. Some long range predictions out of the climate prediction center. Their mode of thinking is, hey, we might see below average rainfall not only through winter but possibly right on through spring.
Interesting thing about a drought is that sometimes it can actually, you know, have this cycle that perpetuates itself. You get the sun beating down on the ground and obviously dries out the ground and in a typical situation, it will have moisture. That will help build some clouds above. Those type of the moisture that be rolling in from somewhere else. And you will get clouds and you will get showers especially in the summertime and get those afternoon thunderstorms.
The drier that air gets and the more that sun beats down especially if you got a heat wave, well that dry ground heats up even more. Dries out even more and then you don't have any evaporation, you don't have any clouds. It's almost a cycle that continues to perpetuate itself until a large scale of weather pattern sets in. So droughts can become a huge issue with that. And you know, Kiran, as we get into a warming climate, global warming, I think droughts may become a little bit more prevalent and in tonight's special we'll talk the truth about global warning. We'll talk about his, we'll talk about floods and we'll talk about hurricanes. It's going to be a great special. That's tonight at 8:00 eastern.
CHETRY: All right. We look forward to it. Thanks a lot, Rob. ROBERTS: Coming up to 45 minutes after the hour. The top stories on your "Political Ticker" now. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton says her universal health care plan is for Americans only and not illegal immigrants. She says, illegal immigrants should still get basic health services but citizens and legal immigrants deserve more comprehensive treatment.
Republican Senator Sam Brownback is expected to drop out of the race today. Brownback is not done well in raising money. He's also tied for last with Congressman Tom Tancredo in our latest poll. Each have 1 percent of the Republican vote. That's not going serve you well in the primary.
Republican leaders are demanding an apology from California Democrat Pete Stark for comments that he made on the House Floor yesterday during the children's healthcare debate. Stark said that innocent Americans are getting their heads blown off in Iraq for President Bush's amusement. The White House has not commented.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney calls the United Nation a failure. He's in favor of a new coalition of the world's pre-nations. He says, the U.S. should withdraw completely from the U.N.'s human rights council.
Off all today's political news around the clock at cnn.com/politics.
CHETRY: So a man walked into a pet store and ended up leaving with a pug, only he didn't pay for it and he walked out with the pug in his pants. Here's surveillance video from the pet store. You see people walking in. They say their looking for the man in the white t-shirt seen in the video walking around the store with some friends, looking at a couple of dogs and then stuffing a 10-week pug down his pants and leaving. Again, they were not able to get their hands on him. They are still looking for him at this point.
Well, Ellen DeGeneres has now canceled a taping, actually two tapings. There will be reruns today, as well as Monday all of it surrounding that big controversy over an adopted dog. Ellen DeGeneres broke down crying on her show the other day and producers decided she needed a long weekend to pull it all together. She's in an emotional dispute with an animal rescue agency over a dog that she adopted ended up not getting along with her cats and so she gave it to her hairdresser.
Hairdresser's two young daughters really fell in love with the little dog named Igi (ph) when the adoption agency found out that she had done that. They said, it violated the policy and took it away and despite her tearful pleas they have adopted it out to another family. So, again, Ellen not going to be live on her show today or Monday so that she can take a long weekend to get over all the emotions of the past week.
Well, Britney Spears can't even visit her kids now. Her ex- husband Kevin Federline has custody of the two children and the court is now blocking her visits because she's in violation of a court order. They're not revealing what order she violated at this point but there will be another hearing on the matter next Friday.
Imagine being on the runway and seeing this. Plumes of black smoke coming out just a few feet away. What went up in flames at an airport?
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CHETRY: 50 minutes past the hour now. And if you're just joining us here a look at what's making the headlines this morning. Breaking news from Thailand overnight. A Canadian school teacher suspected of sexually assaulting at least 12 different boys arrested about 130 miles north of Bangkok, Thailand. Christopher Paul Neil, he was the subject of a three year international investigation. Investigators were able to unscrambled photos of Neil that he put out on the internet distorted. CNN's Matthew Chance is in Bangkok and we're going to be checking in with him at the top of the hour.
Rising number of dead in Karachi, Pakistan, now where at least 136 people were killed and more than 380 others hurt in two bomb attacks on the convoy of Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. She was returning yesterday from an eight-year exile. It was believe, she has made it out OK.
FBI agents in Las Vegas raided a warehouse that belongs to illusionist David Copperfield. He took a computer hard drive and digital camera system as well as nearly $2 million in cash. The FBI says the case originated in Seattle. The investigation is pending. Copperfield's attorney confirmed the raid but no one is commenting about why.
A teenager with autism missing for four days in the West Virginia wilderness found safe and sound. Rescuers found Jacob Allen lying on the ground cold and hungry but alive. Volunteers gave him peanut butter, sandwiches, and candy bars. He's in the hospital for observation but they say he's in good condition. He's going to make a full recovery.
Well, a tornado outbreak from the great lakes all the way to the gulf. And we have some new video coming into us right now from Indiana. At least eight people were hurt last night. There's a state of emergency in some of these cities because of the wicked weather there.
ROBERTS: A scary sight for air travelers in Hawaii as a small piece of the airport in Maui went up in flames. I-reporter, Peter Rosen (ph), captured the huge cloud of thick black smoke rising into the air. He says, two fuel storage tanks went up in flames. Fire trucks were able to put it out and everyone believed to be OK.
Swastika at school tops your "Quick Hits". The New York Police Department's hate crimes unit is investigating 22 Swastika's inscrolled throughout a high school in Manhattan. The school is Mary Burke Graham High located right next to one police plaza.
The dollar hits an all time low against the Euro. European currency broke through the $1.43 cent mark yesterday. It came after reports from Washington said growing economic weakness was boosting job claims.
Well, today just happens to be the 20th anniversary of the stock market crash of 1987. With the DOW at record highs, are you worried that it could happen again?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING. A new warning for men taking impotence medication. How taking the pills it could impair your hearing. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta sorts out fact from fiction ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: 56 minutes after the hour. What were you doing 20 years ago today? Probably not expecting the DOW to lose. What was it 30 percent of its value?
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: 33 percent in one day but it had lost 15 percent in the week coming up to it. That's what we refer to as Black Monday even though it was a Friday, because it was October 19 so it's two years ago on this date. A 20 years ago on this date exactly.
ROBERTS: It only seems like two years ago.
VELSHI: We haven't seen that sort of thing in a long time. But what I want to give you a sense of, John, because you say I'm the bearer of bad news often, is what would have happened had you invested after that. Here's the thing, when markets crash, people tend run the other way. But take a look at that.
Take a look at where this market has been since then. It closed to 1739 that day and we're now at almost 14,000. It hasn't been an entirely smooth ride all along but by large, if you draw a line from that date to this date, it is a pretty significant rise and better than most things you could have done, that the average person could have done. Better than any bank account, better than any bonds, over billion. Look at how the market does. You kind of have to look at it in ten year periods. It's a mugs game if you're not a professional to be looking at this year's market or last year's market, but the state of diversified and invested over the long-term and that can be very good for you.
ROBERTS: Any idea how much, say a $1,000 investment a day after the crash would have yielded now?
VELSHI: Well, a $2,000 investment when I given you close to $14000 at this point. So it's about a roughly 12 percent increase which by the way, per year, compounded, which is kind of what the DOW has always return over time. So the trick is, if you get in at the best time in the market and you sell at the worst time, kind of like a real estate. If you stay invested over the long-term, if there's any lesson we've learn out of that, that's the key. There are people who think this market might be poised to pull back. There are technical reasons why you can't have that kind of drop at least in one day now. The market which has stopped trading. There are reasons for that. But you know, it's good to look back and see it looked like the end of the world for some people that day.
ROBERTS: It sure did. It was the end of the world for some.
VELSHI: It was a much more serious thing. Some people were heavily invested. They weren't diversified. And there's very bad things happened after that. But we've had a good market in the intervening 20 years. C'mon you got to give me a cloud side inside that silver lining
ROBERTS: You mean the silver lining inside the cloud.
CHETRY: (INAUDIBLE) if you put $1,000 in because that's all people had left after the crash of 1985.
VELSHI: John wisely told a story about how they avoided investing just about a month prior to that. So you see he came out winning in that situation.
ROBERTS: I didn't feel good about things at that point. I' going to check with him for my investments. It saves my focus. Thanks, Ali.
Next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.
ROBERTS: Breaking news, unraveled. A suspected pedophile busted overnight after an international manhunt.
Extreme weather. A line of deadly storms rips across the country.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All the stuff, it just started flying around.
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The latest forecast and the amazing I-reports.
Plus, warning signs. New concerns about a strange effect from impotence drugs on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And good morning. Thanks very much for joining us on this Friday, the 19th of October. I'm John Roberts.
CHETRY: And I'm Kiran Chetry. We begin with breaking news out at of Thailand in an arrest overnight. An international manhunt is now over for a suspected pedophile. Christopher Paul Neil suspected of sexually abusing at least a dozen young boys. International police have been investigating the case for about three years after they discovered more than 200 photos of a man sexually abusing children that he had circulated on the internet. An Interpol special agent that we talk here in AMERICAN MORNING said that it was a very difficult hunt. I was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
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