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American Morning
Pakistan in Crisis; Credit Crunch: Citigroup Loses Billions More; Winfrey School Scandal
Aired November 05, 2007 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Breaking news. Right now, Oprah speaks out about the scandal at her all girls school in South Africa.
On the brink.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Martial law!
ROSEN: Chaos and arrests in Pakistan this morning. What next for the U.S. ally in the war on terror?
Plus, live with the new mom who won the New York City marathon. Her amazing race on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: And good morning to you. Welcome back. Thanks for joining us on this Monday, the 5th of November.
I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us.
Oprah Winfrey is speaking out. At any moment she's going to be speaking, holding a press conference about the arrest of a worker at her academy for girls in South Africa. A former dorm worker has been charged in the case. She appeared in court near Johannesburg earlier this morning.
Winfrey is going to be holding a live news conference at her studios in Chicago. And we're going to be listening in to that in just a moment.
ROBERTS: Yes, as soon as that happens, we'll break into programming and bring it to you live.
Meantime, it could be the most important ally in waging the war on terror, but who is in charge and for how long remains in question this morning. Democracy has certainly been put on hold. President Pervez Musharraf has suspended the constitution in Pakistan. Newspapers and political opponents are being silenced by police. So far, more than 1,500 lawyers have been arrested.
CNN's Emily Chang is monitoring this breaking story for us at our international desk in London and joins us now.
Good morning, Emily.
EMILY CHANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.
Well, this story is changing by the minute. We've just spoken with the spokesperson for former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who says over 60 members of her political party have been arrested. Also, the head of the largest Islamic party in Pakistan has been arrested. And there have been rumors that President Musharraf himself has been arrested. The government has denied those rumors, but it just goes to show the volatility of this situation.
It started this morning with thousands of protesters taking to the streets, many of them well respected lawyers and journalists. They were met by police swaying batons and firing teargas into the crowd. Over 1,500 protesters were arrested and many have been injured.
All of this in response to President Musharraf's suspension of the constitution and declaration of a state of emergency. He has been threatened recently by the return to Pakistan of Benazir Bhutto, and also the possible decision from the supreme court that could jeopardize his reelection as president.
Now, the U.S. has called all of these events very disturbing. The U.S. and Britain consider Pakistan to be a vital ally in the war on terror. And both countries have given Pakistan billions and billions of dollars to fight terrorism.
But again, U.S. leaders saying they are very disappointed by this turn of events. Secretary of Defense -- U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was traveling in China this morning and had this to say...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We urge President Musharraf to return his country to law-based, constitutional and democratic rule as soon as possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANG: The Pakistan prime minister says this state of emergency will remain in place "as long as it is necessary." And the government has admitted that this could threaten democratic elections.
Those elections were scheduled for January, but these events could postpone those elections up to a year. The government, however, insists that they remain committed to democracy -- John.
ROBERTS: Emily Chang for us this morning in London.
Emily, thanks.
Hollywood writers are on strike this morning. The writers guild could not reach a deal with the studios over revenue sharing from DVDs and downloads. The late-night talk shows are going to be the first to feel the effects. Prime time shows though, have taped well ahead and could go a few months before having to turn to reruns.
Coastal New England is cleaning up this morning from the remnants of Hurricane Noel. Utility crews worked through the night to restore power to some 80,000 homes that lost it. More than five inches of rain fell this weekend in Maine and parts of Massachusetts. Noel was blamed for more than 140 deaths in the Caribbean.
Would you get on a plane with a wing that looked like this? You can see it there in the center of your screen, a little bit ragged.
A significant chunk of metal was sheered off during a runway collision two weeks ago at Heathrow airport. Passengers saw it happen, they were taken off the aircraft. But according to London's "Daily Mail," the crew put them back on the same jet for the 10-hour flight the next day. Seven passengers asked off, even though SriLankan Airlines tried to convince them that the wing tip is only for fuel conservation and is not necessary to stay up in the air.
CHETRY: It's merely ornamental.
ROBERTS: It's merely the wing, that's all.
CHETRY: All right.
Well, also new this morning, the president's choice for attorney general, Michael Mukasey, should have the votes needed when the Senate Judiciary Committee tallies them tomorrow. Republican Arlen Specter says he will vote for Mukasey, but is bothered by his refusal to say whether an interrogation tactic known as waterboarding is torture.
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SEN. ARLEN SPECTER (R), RANKING MEMBER, JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: The Department of Justice is dysfunctional. It is not performing. And every day that passes we do not have someone in charge of the investigation against terrorism, the fight against violent crime -- and it's very important in the national interest that we have a strong attorney general.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Senator John McCain, who is not on the Judiciary Committee but is a former POW, says he wants Mukasey to say waterboarding is torture and is illegal.
The space shuttle Discovery is headed back to Earth after undocking from the International Space Station earlier this morning. The 15-day mission included a first of its kind repair job that fixed a solar wing. Discovery is scheduled to touch down on Wednesday.
In southern Mexico, floodwaters are receding, but thousands of people still without homes this morning. Eight people killed in the flooding, which destroyed or damaged half a million homes. Mexico's president says that the flooding is one of the country's worst natural disasters in recent history.
ROBERTS: Police in the Chicago area are still searching for a police officer's wife. Twenty-three-year-old Stacy Peterson was last seen on October the 28th. Dozens of volunteers searched for evidence as to her disappearance over the weekend.
Stacy's husband, Drew Peterson, says his wife called him the day she disappeared to say that she was leaving him for another man. Some of her friends and family believe that he may have had something to do with Stacy's disappearance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that he's running scared and I think, obviously, he has something to hide. If he took off, you know, and he's not helping -- if he didn't do anything wrong, why isn't he helping to find his wife?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Right now authorities consider it a missing person's case. Sergeant Peterson not a suspect at this point, but investigators have reopened the investigation into the death of Peterson's last wife, his third, who was found dead in a bathtub back in 2004.
A teacher from Nebraska faces a judge today on charges that she had an affair with a 13-year-old student and then ran away with him to Mexico. Twenty-five-year-old Kelsey Peterson and 13-year-old Fernando Rodriguez were captured in Mexicali, Mexico, over the weekend. Rodriguez was in the U.S. illegally and may not be allowed to return -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Time now to check in with our AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents for other stories new this morning.
The CEO of the nation's largest bank is out of a job, and there's more bad news on the credit crunch. It has Wall Street a little bit scared this morning.
Ali Velshi is at the Business Update Desk with details.
Hi, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SR. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kiran.
We expected that Chuck Prince would resign from Citigroup. That was widely expected to happen last night, and it did because of Citi's handling of the credit crisis.
He is going to be replaced as chairman -- the chairman of Citigroup will now be Robert Rubin, who was, of course, with Citigroup. He was also the U.S. treasury secretary and with Goldman before that. The CEO on an interim basis will be Sir Win Bischoff, who runs Citigroup's European division. Here's what we didn't expect. Citigroup says that it is going to now write down another $8 billion to $11 billion. This is serious. This is what happened to Merrill Lynch a couple of weeks ago.
As a result of that, we've got futures on New York turning sharply lower, down about 100 points at the moment. As we speak, there is a conference call going on, Robert Rubin explaining the situation there.
I'll keep posted with that and tell you what's going on. But markets have turned very negative on news that Citigroup is going to write off yet more money related to the credit crisis -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Ali Velshi, thanks a lot.
Rob Marciano at the Weather Update Desk for us, talking about how it's getting colder, much colder. Well, it is November in many parts of the country.
Hey, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is, Kiran. Good morning again.
The good news this morning, because we're -- we set the clocks back, it gets a little bit warmer a little bit quicker, because the sun is up.
ROBERTS: We just want to interrupt Rob's story. This is Oprah Winfrey's press conference just about to begin here on the arrest that was made at the women's leadership academy down there in South Africa, just outside of Johannesburg.
A 27-year-old woman was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a few of the students. Of course, this is a big blow to Oprah Winfrey, who opened this academy earlier this year and wanted to make it a center for excellence.
So let's listen in to what's going on in Chicago right now. And we hope to see Oprah in just a couple of seconds come up to the microphone, the podium there.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... allowed one question per person. We have microphones on the sides that will be roving to help you ask your questions. And also, please introduce yourself and the organization you are representing when you ask your question.
Just one technical consideration, too. Please keep in mind, ladies and gentlemen, there's a six-second delay on the satellite.
And now I'll hand over to superintendent Andre Neethling.
ANDRE NEETHLING, SUPERINTENDENT: OK. Good afternoon, everybody. I just want to take you through what had happened in the last three weeks, just to highlight you in terms of the process that was followed.
On the 15th of October, I was contacted by the Oprah Winfrey Academy in Henley-on-Klip, and I spoke to Mr. Robert Farley, who, with two social workers, all three of them from Chicago, was conducting an internal investigation into certain inappropriate behavior by personnel at the college. Mr. Farley informed me that some of the issues that was unraveled during the interviews with children could result in criminal behavior or criminal accountability by certain individuals.
The same afternoon, I met with this team from Chicago. And they then briefed me with regards to the interviews they had with some of the children. It was obvious that some of this could account to criminal actions, and we then proceeded with a police investigation.
The school made available room for us, as well as two interview rooms so that we could interview children in isolation and in privacy. And I called in a team from our (INAUDIBLE) family violence and child protection sexual offenses team, Constable Mariletsi (ph) and his commander, Captain Pile (ph). They sit at the back here.
Various children were interviewed during the process and the -- we conducted the interviews, as well as provided the children with some emotional assistance or psychological assistance.
ROBERTS: So what we're looking at now is just sort of the background to what's happening in terms of this press conference that Oprah Winfrey will be speaking at in just a couple of minutes, just laying sort of the back story here of what happened at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy there and the 13 charges of abuse against a dorm matron there. Oprah Winfrey expected to come up in just a little while after this part of the press conference is done. They're going to be taking some questions as well.
We're going to keep monitoring the situation and we'll get right back to it just as soon as we see her appear.
Meantime, dramatic stories coming out of the two separate marathon runs in New York this weekend. One of them unfortunate. One of them inspiring.
Elizabeth Cohen is at our medical update desk in Atlanta now with a closer look at both.
And Elizabeth, first of all, let's address a tragic situation that occurred on Saturday, the death of an elite American marathoner.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. This is so heartbreaking, John.
Ryan Shay was 28 years old when he collapsed this weekend in Central Park. He was involved in the Olympic trials. Again, he was just 28 years old. His father said it was cardiac arrest. His father also said that his son had been diagnosed with an enlarged heart at age 14.
Now, a lot of elite athletes have an enlarged heart. It can be perfectly normal. However, an enlarged heart can also be a sign of a much more serious disease or condition. So we're still awaiting autopsy results on this.
ROBERTS: And Elizabeth, what about this other story? And this is the winner of the women's division in the New York City marathon. Just had a baby nine months ago and she managed to run, what, two hours, 23 minutes? Just an incredible performance.
COHEN: Right. It really is amazing. I mean, what a testimony to the human body and the human will and to women in general.
Apparently, runners' blogs are full of women saying hey, I did the same thing. I trained full throttle when I was pregnant. And so we asked a doctor who specializes in this, hey, is that OK to do? And he said yes.
The standard advice is, you can do whatever -- whatever you did before you were pregnant, you can do while you are pregnant. You don't want to be more intense, you don't want to pick up a new sport while you're pregnant. But if you did it safely then, you can do it while you're pregnant.
You have to make sure you don't get overheated. You have to make sure that you don't get injured, because your joints are loose while you're pregnant. But as long as you and the baby and your doctor are all fine with it, it's OK.
But what an amazing woman.
ROBERTS: Pretty incredible. You would think that all the jarring of running might not be good for a baby.
COHEN: Right. Well, what this doctor said is that it's really important to be atuned to your body.
He said, "I've had patient who just know. They can tell when they've had enough. They can tell when it's time to stop."
But it's not necessarily a bad thing to be running when you're pregnant. It's a common misconception. It's OK as long as you're in tune with your body.
ROBERTS: All right.
Elizabeth Cohen for us in Atlanta this morning.
By the way, Paula Radcliff (ph), who is the mom that we're talking about, is going to be joining us in our next half hour here on AMERICAN MORNING -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Well, still ahead, we're going to have much more on this abuse scandal taking place at Oprah's school in South Africa.
A live look right now. They're holding a press conference on it. Part of that from South Africa, part of it taking place from Chicago, where Oprah is going to be speaking.
We'll bring that to you live as soon as we have it.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back. We told you about the press conference today from Oprah Winfrey. Here she is speaking. Let's listen.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: ... sat in the room with me and they asked me to please not speak to the press until an arrest was made or risk jeopardizing this investigation. And of course, I didn't want to do that. So now that the accused has been arrested and has been charged, I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to you, Superintendent Neethling, for your guidance and your efforts throughout this difficult ordeal for all of us. And also thanks to you, too, Mr. Justice Munici (ph) and the entire team of investigators who really have been nothing but responsive and sensitive to all of our students.
So, let me begin with how this all -- how I came to know about these happenings.
On October 6th, a Saturday, I spoke to John Samuel, who is our CEO at the academy who you just heard from. And Mr. Samuel informed me that 15 girls had come to his office to see him with a list of grievances, including suspected sexual abuse of one of their classmates by a dorm matron.
They didn't use the word "sexual abuse." They implied that something inappropriate was going on. Hearing that, John Samuel immediately, after hearing that allegation, removed the accused, Tiny Makopo, from the campus.
I was, needless to say, devastated and really shaken to my core when I first heard this news. And immediately within the first hour of receiving this information, I contacted, here in the United States, Dr. Bruce Perry, who is founder of the Child Trauma Academy in Houston, Texas. And Dr. Perry informed me that the law in the United States requires that one must report -- even if you suspect child abuse, it must be reported to the Child Protective Services.
And so he said, "If I were you, I would confirm if that is also the law in South Africa," which I did. And first thing Monday morning, I contacted Superintendent Neethling and told him that I wasn't sure what had happened, but there was a suspicion on the part of the girls of some type of sexual abuse.
I told Andre Neethling that I wanted to conduct an independent investigation to determine what exactly had happened, and that I would appreciate his advice and his guidance in this matter. And he told me that his department would work in cooperation with our independent investigation.
Now, the reason why I did that is I wanted to hire an independent team because my experience with child predators is that no one ever, ever abuses just one child, although the girls only had spoken of one classmate. My first priority was to determine how many girls had actually been affected and to what extent. So, I hired a team of three, headed by Robert Farley, who is a former detective and commander of the Child Exploitation Unit in the Cook County Sheriff's Office here in Chicago.
Detective Farley and his team immediately flew over from the United States. They spent a week interviewing girls and staff.
I arrived before the team. I was accompanied by Dr. Bruce Perry, and I spoke to all the girls personally and I encouraged all of them, any of them who had actually been harmed, to please come forward and to trust the team and speak to the team and the police.
I told them that although they had apparently been living in an atmosphere that repressed their voices, that this was a chance for them to break the silence and to take their voices back. As a result of that conversation with the girls, by the next day five other brave girls had come forward. But all the girls were afraid of repercussions from the remaining dorm matrons, so we immediately removed all remaining dorm matrons and put teachers in rotation in the dorms.
That weekend, which was Sunday, October 14th, we had enough information by that time about the specific nature of the girls' complaints that we then started calling all of their parents to inform them of the situation and to ask for a meeting the following weekend. Then the following weekend of October 20th, I returned again to South Africa and I met with the parents and their daughters. I apologized for the unfortunate circumstances that we are enduring, and I promised to institute immediate changes to create a new model of excellence in social, emotional and academic life for the girls at the school.
This has been one of the most devastating, if not the most devastating experience of my life. Like all such experiences, there's always much to be gained, and I think there's a lot to be learned.
And as Mr. Samuel said, we are moving forward to create a safe and open and a receptive environment for the girls. And I'm also very grateful to their parents and to their guardians and their caretakers for their continued trust and their support in me and also in the school.
What I know is, is that no one, not the accused, nor any persons, can destroy the dream that I have held and the dream that each girl continues to hold for herself at this school. And I am prepared to do whatever is necessary to make sure that the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls becomes the safe and nurturing and enriched setting that I had envisioned, a place capable of fostering the full measure of these girls' productivity, of their creativity, and of their humanity.
It will become a model for the world. With each girl who graduates, we will show that the resilience of the human spirit is actually stronger than poverty, it's stronger than hatred, it's stronger than violence, it's stronger than trauma and loss, and it's also stronger than any abuse. No matter what adversity these girls have endured in their short lives -- and let me assure you, they have endured a lot -- their lights will not be diminished by this experience.
So, I would like to, at this time, recognize the courage and the leadership already demonstrated by those 15 students who came forward and reported the abusive dorm matron to the CEO of our academy. These 15 girls banded together and they acted because they felt previously their voices had not been heard by other adults on campus.
And now, thanks to what I now call the Alake (ph) 15, we are all here where a horrible situation has been uncovered and rooted out. They represent, those 15 girls, the new generation of youth in South Africa who fearlessly take back their voices to speak up about their concern for their fellow classmates.
This is really what we're trying to teach. This is what leadership is all about, to use your voice, no matter what the personal consequences, so that abuse will end and goodwill prevail. I continue to be proud of them and of every girl in our school.
And I welcome your questions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, please just limit yourselves to one question -- Robin.
ROBIN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Robin Curnow from CNN.
Is it correct that you have given each of the girls cell phones and that you've given them your personal number and have told them they can contact you any time they need to?
WINFREY: It is not correct that I have given them. It is correct that I have promised them to them. We are in the process of purchasing all the cell phones now in South Africa.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) From eNews.
Ms. Winfrey, the screening process has been called into question. The girl -- well, the woman that was charged that appeared in court today had no previous training, from what we can see, in terms of mothering children or being a dorm parent.
How close a look have you taken at the screening process and how is that going to be changed in the future?
WINFREY: I think that, knowing what I know now, the screening process was inadequate, although I do know that for every person that is hired at the school, there is both a criminal and a civil background check. But I was not directly responsible or in charge. Although, the buck always stops with me -- of hiring the dorm parents. But we are going to redefine what that position should mean and what the qualifications for that position should be for the future.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. Celine Jacobson (ph), Associated Press.
Perhaps you can just fill us in on what the status is of the head mistress who is -- who is on suspension and whether there's been any contact with the girl who has left the school and returned to her old school.
WINFREY: The first question regarding the head mistress, the head mistress was -- when I first heard of this, the head mistress was visiting the United States. She and I were to be looking at the incoming candidates for this year's selection of seventh graders. And I informed her that she would be put on a leave of absence, pending this investigation. And since that time, we have informed her that we will not be renewing her contract. Her contract was up this December 31st.
Regarding the girl who most recently left the campus, I recently spoke with that girl's mother. I had been told when the child left that the child was being taken out of the school by her mother because her mother wished to spend more time with her and wanted to go shopping. That's what I had been told. And it wasn't until I read the article in the paper and came to know that that article was true that I had reason to suspect that the child left for other reasons.
I might add that this whole circumstance came about because of that newspaper article. The girls have weekly sessions with various adults on campus, student leaders of the children. I think it's called the Akikibani (ph) group. And during one of those groups there was a discussion about that newspaper article, and the girls in that group were saying that that particular newspaper article was true, that the most recent student who had left had left because of complaints or difficulties with one of the dorm parents.
The children realized that previous articles criticizing the school had not been true, but felt that this particular article was true. And that started the whole discussion about why the article was true and that there was a complaint not just by this one child who had been taken out of the school, but that other girls also had their complaints.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. This is (INAUDIBLE) from 702 Eyewitness News.
Ms. Winfrey, do you feel that your academy has been targeted because it is so high profile?
WINFREY: Well, in this particular case, I don't think that it was targeted. I think wherever there is abuse and wherever there are children, there's always the possibility of something like this happening.
Obviously, you all know with the child abuse rate being what it is, the statistics being what they are in South Africa, I think 21,538 reported rapes and, out of that, 41 percent last year were children. The statistics for child abuse are off the charts. And this is not unusual to have a case where there is suspected child abuse.
I think that because of the high profile of the school, obviously, it would get a lot of attention. I'm happy for it to get the attention, because it is one of my goals in life to put child abusers, whether they be in my home, whether they be in my workplace, or in this case, in the academy, to put them where they belong. And that is behind bars.
So, no, I don't think that the attention regarding this is unjustified.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ms. Winfrey (INAUDIBLE), Radio Netherlands.
How personal do you take all of this? Do you feel that the whole issue has damaged your reputation at all?
WINFREY: Damaged my personal reputation? Are you asking, damaged my personal reputation?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's the question, yes. How personal do you take this?
WINFREY: Are you asking -- OK. Well, I take it very personally. As I said to the girls -- I said to the girls this summer before I knew of anything like this going on on the campus, because they say that they were always told that when I appeared on campus to put on happy faces and to never complain to me. I take it very personal. I said to them, I am a mama bear when it comes to protecting my children. These girls are like my children. That's not just rhetoric for me. It's not just a part-time pet, occupation for me.
I take their futures and the possibility for what their futures hold very seriously. And so, in that way, I take it personally. I don't feel that it has harmed my personal reputation, because I have done nothing wrong. From the beginning, I have only done what I thought was best to protect the children. Unfortunately, I think I and other people at the academy spent a lot of time putting up walls to keep people out, which we felt were necessary, considering the statistics for rape of young women in that country. We spent a lot of time putting up technical systems that would keep people out and protect the girls and as often is the case, child abuse, sexual abuse happens right within the family, right within the confines of people you know. Most children are abused by people whom they know and trust. So, this was also the alleged case here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gavin?
GAVIN PRINCE: Gavin Prince from "Report Newspaper". Oprah, you said earlier on you were devastated and also mentioned that the girls are receiving counseling, right? How are you dealing with the events that happened over the past few weeks, emotionally?
WINFREY: Thank you, Gavin, for that question. Well, I have -- as I said earlier, it has shaken me to my core. But at the core of me is a spiritual foundation and a belief that all things happen for a reason and that no matter the devastation, this, too, shall pass. And so, it is my spiritual belief, beliefs and support. I've had friends who have held me in their heart and had my back and understanding that the most important priority for me here was to figure out how I could best help the girls. You know, when I first heard about it, I spent about a half hour crying, moving from room to room in my house. I was so stunned; I couldn't even wrap my brain around it. But, as I said earlier within the hour, I pulled myself together and started making calls and preparing for what to do next and how to best look after the girls.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll for three more questions starting with the lady here.
EMILY BRANDON, THE TIMES: Emily Brandon with the "Times." In terms of the exams and the girls' academics, how has this whole situation affected them academically?
WINFREY: Well, I think they're all pretty nervous about the exams coming up. As John mentioned, a number of girls are receiving counseling, who were directly affected by the alleged accuser and they're very concerned. They're very concerned, they would normally be concerned. They were concerned at mid term exams because one of the difficulties in transitioning for the school prior to all of these events, one of the difficulties has been is that all of these girls have come from places where they were number one or number two in their classes. And one of the difficulties in transitioning has been for them to realize that they're no longer number one or number two. One of the girls said to me - I used to say to me, I used to be number one and now I'm number 12. So, they have a lot of anxiety when it comes to testing and being successful on those tests and I would have to say, this hasn't helped the situation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next question please.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER, CHANNEL AFRICA: Ms. Oprah, (INAUDIBLE) from Channel Africa. Do you feel that as a school you failed the girls? Because I mean if you go to school and you expect to be safer. So, do you think as a school you failed the girls?
WINFREY: No, I don't think that as a school we failed the girls because there's still many people at the school who are caring and dedicated and want the best for all the girls. I think that there are systems within the school that failed the girls. I feel that the girls were placed in an atmosphere where they were taught to be fearful and they were taught to literally be silenced. And so, when you remove the systems and put in a different kind of leadership, all of that will change. I have nothing but real strong hope for the possibilities of what this school can be. No one is ever happen to have this kind of scandal or crisis. I certainly am not. But I'm glad that it happened now and not two years from now because this gives us an opportunity to completely course correct, removing all the dorm parents and, as I've said to the girls, cleaning house from top to bottom.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next question, yes?
JILL GIFFORD, THE STAR NEWSPAPER: Miss Winfrey, Jill Gifford from "The Star Newspaper". I've spoken with the father of the girl that has left the school and he said that he was hoping that the school would eventually make contact with the family and once they're through with exams and everything that there was a possibility for her to go back. Is there a possibility for that to happen for her?
WINFREY: Do know, as a matter of fact, when I first heard that this child actually had left the school for reasons other than I had been previously told, after speaking to the girls for the first time on the weekend of October 13th, and as soon as I finish my conversation with the girls and told the girls this is about taking your voices back and things are going to be different and I explained to the girl that all the dorm parents had been removed and they cheered and wept at that announcement. They cheered and wept. They were so happy, as they say, so happy. And several of the girls came up to me and said would it be OK for this child, who had gone to come back and I said I welcome her. I welcome the opportunity for her to come back to the school. As matter of fact, I have not spoken to, as I said earlier, I have not spoken to her father, but I have spoken to her mother extensively, who told me that she had, on three occasions, been to the school and had a conversation with the head of school, complaining about the dorm parents. I said to her, as I say to you, that was never relayed to me. I was told something completely different I was told she was a mother who missed her child and wanted to go shopping, which didn't make any sense to me, because it was so close to the end of the school year. And I was questioning, why would a mother want to take her child out of the school when it's so close to the end of the school year? But anyway, yes, I welcome the opportunity to have the child come back to the school.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much. You've been a very cooperative press corps. Miss Winfrey, thank you so much.
KIRAN CHETRY, HOST: All right. We just heard from Oprah. She was speaking in Chicago, via satellite, to reporters in South Africa, making some more comments about the scandal that's enveloped her all- girls academy in South Africa. She talked about the importance of making sure that this continues to be a worldwide model for success and that she's not letting this scandal stop future successes for these girls.
JOHN ROBERTS, HOST: Yes, obviously, putting in the best face on what is a bad situation for her, trying to say this gives us an opportunity to clean house. It's a very positive that these young girls, who in the past have lived in fear, came forward but no question that the reputation of this school will be in question for some time to come. How they respond to this, I think, will be what tells the tale in the future.
CHETRY: She also answered the question many people had. Are you going to be changing the requirements for the future? The woman at the heart of these allegations of possibly sex abuse and also just physical violence was a dorm matron, somebody that lives in the dorm with the children. And she said that while they did a civil and criminal background check before, the very nature of this job is certainly going to change in the future.
ROBERTS: As I said, we'll see how they respond to this, whether they do clean house, institute these new procedures for screening these dorm matrons and avoid something like this happening in the future. Oprah did say she's glad it happened now in the first year of operation of the school rather than a couple of years from now. Bill Zwecker of the "Chicago Sun-Times," he's a columnist there, he's been following this story from the beginning and has been reporting an awful lot on Oprah's career over the years. First of all, let me ask you Bill, your impressions of how she handled the situation this morning?
BILL ZWECKER, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: Well, I think actually John, that we just saw a sort of classic Oprah. Why Oprah is one of the most influential people in the world today. She clearly and very specifically answered all of the questions and I thought her opening remarks were also very detailed and obviously answered a lot of questions that could have been asked later on. But I think she dealt with it absolutely the best way. As you mentioned a moment ago, a terrible situation, one that nobody wants but I think she's dealing with it directly and I think that going forward, obviously, the school will be under a lot of scrutiny but I think probably a lot of scrutiny also, additional scrutiny from her. But moving forward, I think it will hopefully -- they'll clean it up and move on.
ROBERT: Bill, you had wondered in a column last week in the "Chicago Sun-Times" why she took so long to speak out about this. She seemed to answer that question this morning when said that the investigators had asked her not to say anything about it for fear it could jeopardize the investigation. They said please wait until we make an arrest. Is that a good enough reason to keep quiet?
ZWECKER: Well, I think so. I think the way she explained it and the fact that the investigators made it very clear that it could have endangered their case. And you know, when you hear those kinds of reasons and rationale, I think that does answer it. You know, she could perhaps have said a little bit more than it's under investigation, that's really all they said last week. That's why we raised that question in the column. But I think she clearly handled it the right way and is certainly on the right track.
ROBERTS: What is interesting that, given her own personal experience of sexual abuse, that she didn't bring that into the conversation this morning. She does come from a foundation of understanding what went on there.
ZWECKER: Yes, I think it's the fact that -- I think she realizes everybody is very much aware of her own history and she didn't need to go into that in detail, except to make sort of kind of slight reference to it. But certainly, everyone is very much aware of the fact that she was abused herself and has done so many programs on this issue and has done so much to try to put child abusers behind bars, as she said. And, of course, has had that program where she has given away you know, $100,000 to people and so forth on numerous occasions. So, it's pretty clear she is very well versed in this subject.
ROBERTS: She is very famous for keeping a tight reign on her staff and keeping a tight reign on information that comes out. Was this school just too far away for her to maintain control?
ZWECKER: I think it is. Of course, the whole distance factor that probably is a good point, yes. And I think also the fact that you know it's very hard to do these things long distance. I have a feeling that she will certainly be very careful going forward with the people she has on site that are in control and people that she really trusts very, very deeply. And I have a feeling she'll also be much more attentive personally and probably be over there a lot more going forward.
ROBERTS: Asked the question, she said she doesn't believe this damages her personal reputation and perhaps that's true, bus she really didn't have anything to do with it. But does this forever tarnish the reputation of this school? Will it always be known as the place where that happened?
ZWECKER: You know what? I don't think so. Because I think she's dealing with it so directly, she's going you know to take the old -- terrible, right thing to say, but make lemonade out of lemons. Take this, make this an example of how to prevent this going forward and probably will create a model for a school like this that can be replicated in other schools around the world that are also bordering institutions. And I think she's take that and go positive with it. And I do not think this will have a long-term, negative effect on the academy.
ROBERTS: Alright, Bill Zwecker from the "Chicago Sun-Times," thanks for being with us this morning.
ZWECKER: Good morning, good to see you.
ROBERTS: Good to see you.
Forty-three minutes after the hour, coming up and incredible story yesterday's New York City marathon - a mom, just nine months into motherhood wins the women's division of the marathon - an incredible two hours and 23 minutes. We'll talk with her about what it was like to run the race and training while she was pregnant. Kiran's outside to talk with the winner, coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: Forty-seven minutes after the hour, the most news in the morning here on CNN. A chaotic situation in Pakistan this morning where democracy is literally on hold. President Pervez Musharraf has suspended the Constitution. Police used tear gas and batons to control a crowd of lawyers and journalists outside of a courthouse, 1,500 people were arrested. One person that hasn't been arrested though is President Musharraf himself, despite rumors swirling throughout Pakistan that he was under house arrest. Pakistan had parliamentary elections scheduled for January but they have been postponed, perhaps a year or more.
New this morning, television and movie writers will hit the picket lines soon. The writers guild decided to go on strike over night, they could not reach a deal with the studios on how to split the money from new media, including DVDs and Internet downloads. Shows that are written daily such as late night talk shows could go into repeats almost immediately. But most prime time shows have enough episodes taped in the can, so to speak, to last a few months.
And reports this morning that rising crime rates are taking a toll on community policing from New Jersey to Ohio to Pennsylvania, police departments say budget cuts and spikes in crime have forced them to move resources and shut down neighborhood outposts. Community policing has long been credited with a decade-long drop in violent crime.
Rob Marciano down in Atlanta monitoring extreme weather across the country in bit of a cleanup from the weekend in new England after Noel blew through there, rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN WEATHER CENTER: Yes, tremendous winds John, across Eastern Massachusetts especially. And we spoke Friday about how there likely to be power outages. You get winds over 50 miles an hour so and that'll take down some trees and there's still few thousand people still without power in Eastern Mass, so they continue to clean up there. Next on horizon, not nearly as strong wind wise. What will be -- not that bad rain wise but there is wind across Michigan. What will be big thing will be the cold there. The coldest there of the season that runs in November -- one, two fronts coming down the pike, it will get all the way down to Florida, across the Gulf of Mexico as well. So, you won't see temps down in Florida but you'll see low temps and continues across parts of the northern tier and lake-effect snows expected beginning as early as later on this afternoon and evening. And there are winter storm warnings where it's posted for the parts of the U.P. of Michigan, five, six, maybe ten inches of snow in these areas. And the only good news is that because it was such a warm October, the lakes are actually above-average temperature wise.
And right along the immediate shore line, there are probably be rain mixing with snow and shouldn't accumulate that much as far as widespread goes. Rainfall, just look at the swirl in the clouds here, low right here across parts of the islands in Hawaii and the big island seeing tremendous amount of rain. We have flood watches out for most of the island chain. They've seen a lot of rain over the weekend, and it was four to seven inches of rainfall in many spots. Watches and warnings posted today -- 12,000, 13,000 foot level, so the bigger mountains, bigger volcanoes, there's snow falling. John, back to you.
ROBERTS: Incredible. Rob, thanks.
CNN NEWSROOM just minutes away now. Heidi Collins at the CNN Center, with a look at what's ahead. Good morning, Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN NEWSROOM: Hi there, john and good morning here, everybody. Crisis in Pakistan is on the NEWSROOM rundown this morning. Police hauled hundreds of activists off to jail today. How will the Bush White House deal with a crackdown by a major ally in the war on terror? And we'll talking live with UN ambassador, Bill Richardson, that one.
And also, Texas police, fielding hundreds of tips about toddler. A fisherman found a body of baby grace stuffed inside a plastic utility box. I'll talk with the Galveston Sheriff's Office on that.
And Hollywood writers on strike. Are reruns in your future, as they say in the biz, stay tuned. We'll cover any breaking news as well, as always, right here in news on top of the hour CNN. John?
ROBERTS: Alright, Heidi, we'll see you then.
As special treat for you coming up now, Kiran's downstairs on Central Park, to set a marathon glory for a new mom who ran away with it all. Hey, Kiran.
KIRAN CHETRY, CENTRAL PARK: That's right. We're here with Paula Radcliffe, she is the winner of the New York City marathon and to make her story all the more unbelievable, she did it just ten months after giving birth to her baby daughter. Congratulations, by the way.
PAULA RADCLIFFE, MARATHON WINNER: Thank you.
CHETRY: Show your medal. We're going to talk to Paula after we take a quick break.
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CHETRY: Well, a big congratulations is in order for paella Radcliffe, she is the world record holder for marathons, but she also won the big New York City marathon this weekend. And yesterday, she won it by the way yesterday in two hours and 23 minutes. She joins us now, we're out here in Central Park. Paula, thanks for being with us.
RADCLIFFE: Thank you.
CHETRY: Congratulations once again.
RADCLIFFE: Thank you.
CHETRY: What made it all unbelievable is at the end we saw you pick up and hold your baby, 10 months old. You trained throughout your pregnancy and just 12 days after giving birth, you were out running again. How difficult was that?
RADCLIFFE: I didn't find it hard. I was very lucky. I had a smooth pregnancy and felt good throughout and had a lot of help from my gynecologist and from exercise specialists about what to do. I mean, number one priority was the baby's health throughout. But they were doing regular scans to make sure she was growing well and she was 10, 10, 10 on her Apgar scores when she was born. So, she was very healthy.
CHETRY: Is this something you planned ? I know you took time off from running after 2005, right, because of the pregnancy?
RADCLIFFE: Yes. I actually got an injury. I should have raced beginning of 2006, but I picked up an injury and then we kind of planned to fit the pregnancy in pre-Beijing Olympics. So, we just went ahead with that. So, I ended up having a two-year gap from racing, which I really, really missed which is one of the reasons I was happy to in a way to have my baby out, get my body back and get back to running and I'm so happy happy to be back here racing.
CHETRY: Now, you won. So, obviously you've still got it. Did it feel different, having - running post -- being a mom and having a baby?
RADCLIFFE: You know what? I think I felt stronger. I definitely felt stronger cardiovascular and breathing wise. My legs probably need a little more adjustment to just running and racing at speed again. But I think also when I'm happier, I run better. So, I'm definitely happier, having a bundle of joy in my life.
CHETRY: She was adorable, by the way, little Aila (ph), 10 months old. It's interesting your training regime while you are pregnant had you running 75 minutes in the morning and another 30 to 40 minutes in the afternoon all the way up until five months and you cut that back a little bit. How did the doctors make sure you weren't exerting yourself too much because pregnancy is such a big exertion on one's body anyway?
RADCLIFFE: I was careful with my nutrition, to make sure that I was -- had something to eat before I exercised and straight way afterwards and stayed hydrated. The biggest thing is not to overheat and not to push your body, It just to go how you feel. I wore a heart rate monitor the whole time and didn't go above 60 to 70 percent of my maximum heart rate. And then if I felt tired, I just walked that day or just took the day off.
CHETRY: It's interesting because doing some of the reading (ph), they said you're almost a test case because they've never seen the effects of pregnancy on an elite athlete, especially a runner. And what are you planning to do in the future? Are you planning to have another pregnancy and keep running?
RADCLIFFE: Absolutely. My gynecologist said she was nervous at the beginning and then after Aila was born, she said you know, I'm going to tell all my moms to run and exercise if they want to through the pregnancy, because it hasn't harmed her at all. She's really healthy. And so, definitely, I don't regret anything I did through the pregnancy and would repeat it again.
CHETRY: Well, we'd be there certainly to and I'm expecting myself and I can't imagine getting out there 75 minutes every morning, and 40 minutes. And that's why you're an elite athlete. So, congratulations to you and congratulations with your adorable daughter as well.
RADCLIFFE: Thanks very much. CHETRY: Thanks for joining us. Paula Radcliffe, hold your medal one more time, do we have it? She says it's quite heavy, it is. The winner of the New York City marathon and still the world champion as well. Paula, thanks.
RADCLIFFE: Thank you.
CHETRY: John, back to you.
ROBERTS: She's an inspiration Kiran, you should take a lap around the park with her. Come on.
CHETRY: I know. I was embarrassed. Out of breath just coming downstairs from our building about, you know, 100 feet away. She, meanwhile, running 26 miles.
ROBERTS: I couldn't even run that much. Hey, AMERICAN MORNING will be back right after this. Stay with us.
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