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American Morning
Pakistan Protests, Toy Car Recall, World Markets Tumble, School Shooter's Video Posted on YouTube
Aired November 08, 2007 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: CNN's Dan Rivers is following this story for us live in Lahore, Pakistan. And, Dan, this pledge of holding elections by February the 15th, could that possibly defuse this crisis?
DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's certainly one of, that Bhutto wants elections to be held. Another key development is that General Musharraf is saying he will take off his army uniform, stand down as head of the armed services next weekend in one week's time, before he takes the oath of presidency for another five-year term.
But I still think there is going to be a lot of trouble, a lot of opposition against the situation at the moment. There are huge protests planned tomorrow in (INAUDIBLE) near Islamabad. The Pakistan people's party, Benazir Bhutto's party, is trying to rally at supporters and get them out on the streets, and possibly tens of thousands of people will come out in support of her party tomorrow.
It's difficult to see whether that's going to be enough to defuse the current situation.
ROBERTS: Dan, this pledge by Musharraf comes less than 24 hours after President Bush phoned him, imploring him to both take off the uniform and hold elections. The question is though that Musharraf seemed to be in political jeopardy with the Supreme Court there, if he takes off the uniform, will he be able to survive politically?
RIVERS: Well, I think the key accusations against him is that he keeps moving the goal post and doesn't really listen to the judiciary here. He staged this emergency law resolution just shortly before the Supreme Court was due to rule on his eligibility to become president in that presidential election a few weeks ago. And people feel, you know, that every time he feels he's going to lose a political battle, he simply moves the goal post. In this case, simply suspending the constitution, suspending the rules and locking up all of his opponents, the PPP (ph) would say.
So I think that's caused a lot of anger and a lot of dissatisfaction here. The problem is, he's got a lot of different elements of society ranged against him. It's not just Benazir Bhutto, it's the Islamists, it's the judiciary and today, we've even seen a small group of students beginning to speak up as well. So there are a wide range of opponents against General Musharraf, all of them who'd feel like he's acted unfairly and that it's time for him to go. ROBERTS: All right. We'll keep a close eye and see what effect that this announcement that he will hold by elections by the 15th might have on the unrest there.
Dan Rivers for us this morning in Lahore. Dan, thanks -- Kiran?
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: There's a troubling recall of toys made in China, not because of lead but because they contain a chemical that converts to the date rape drug known as GHB. Four 4 million Aqua Dots as they're called, a popular kids' toy, have been recalled after children in the U.S. and Australia swallowed them and then got so sick, some of them fell into a coma.
CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is at the medical update desk. This one really seems to take the cake in just how unusual it is. How did it happen?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's as strange as they come. There's no question about it, Kiran. We're talking about these specific toys and kids actually swallowing them, sticking them in their mouth, which is troubling in of itself, but then swallowing it. What's happening, what appears to be happening is that a chemical on the outside of these toys subsequently gets metabolized by the body, and it's metabolized into the substance you mentioned known as GHB, or gamma hydroxybuterate.
The reason we know so much about it is because it's also a drug that was actually used as a date rape drug. It's also something known as "fantasy." We know talking about these specific kids, there's two children in the United States, three children in Australia who have been documented to be affected by this.
For example, one of the kids in Australia is 2 years old. He ate dozens of these beads, got sick, got light- headed, threw them up and fell into a coma. But he fully recovered. The second child was in the hospital at least five days, and we're not sure if they've had a full recovery. The three children from Australia, we're getting some more information on them as well.
But GHB is this medication -- this drug that in low doses causes euphoria. In higher doses, it can cause you to go into a coma. It can cause seizures. It can cause something known as hypotonia or all your muscles just become very flaccid and they can cause people to become amnestic, meaning they forget everything that's about to happen to them, which is why it became a date rape drug.
So this is nasty stuff, and it appears the chemicals actually converting into it in the body.
CHETRY: OK. So, it's not being put in the toys, what seems to be confusing to people. So it's just whatever chemical combination happens with what is used to make the toys and how your body reacts to it makes it?
GUPTA: That's exactly -- we asked that same question. I think it is a little bit confusing. You're right. It appears to be a sort of bizarre reaction to one of the industrial chemicals actually found in these toys. Incidentally, they're called Aqua Dots in the United States, as you mention, Bindeez beads in Australia.
But it's a chemical that is not GHB until it somehow gets into the body and is metabolized. And as it's metabolized, it's converting into the GHB. It's bizarre. This sort of thing happens from time to time, but an Australian biochemist actually figured this out. It doesn't appear to be intentional, but it is bizarre. No question about it.
CHETRY: It does say on the packaging, just to point out these toys are for kids 4 and up. You know, you would think past the age of putting them in their mouths. But, you know, other younger kids get a hold of them and this is what happens unfortunately. Sanjay, thank you.
GUPTA: Thank you.
CHETRY: There is another toy recall that you need to be aware about it -- aware of. It's toy cars this time, close to 500,000 of them because of lead paint. The Consumer Product Safety Commission's latest recall includes 380,000 of these pull-back action toy cars. They're imported by Dollar General. You can get info on this one as well as the Aqua Dots on CNN.com if you need to know about where to send the toys back -- John?
ROBERTS: Another big plunge on Wall Street Wednesday. And this morning, world stock markets are tumbling in reaction. Hong Con, the Nikkei closed sharply down today. The Dow dropping 360 points yesterday, one of the biggest point drops of the year. And another big Wall Street bank announces billions in losses. Not a good day in the markets.
Is it shaping up to be today? Our Ali Velshi at the business update desk with all the news, you know, between Morgan Stanley, the Dow. Where are we heading today?
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's always tough to tell because things can change in the middle of the day. We have some things that will today, in fact, impact how markets are trading. But let me tell you what we had.
You mentioned the 360-point loss on the Dow. That was about 2.6 percent on the Dow. We had similar losses on the Nasdaq and even bigger loss on the S&P 500, almost 3 percent. Asian markets trading lower as you mentioned. It moved into Europe. But now things are looking a little bit better this morning.
One of the problems yesterday was some discussion by China about the U.S. dollar and maybe it not investing as heavily in the U.S. dollar. The dollar right now against the Euro hitting new lows, $1.47 is what it will cost you for a Euro, $2.10 for a pound, and $1.08 for a Canadian dollar.
The things that are happening today that you should watch for, we've already heard from Morgan Stanley, a $3.7 billion write-down. That, of course, follows Citigroup and Merrill lynch. We've had write-downs from them.
One homebuilder, Total Brother is saying it can't predict how long this down period will last. We are expecting within the next hour to hear sales -- the numbers for October from America's retailers to give as a sense of how consumers are spending money.
And fed chief Ben Bernanke is testifying before Congress today, something he does twice a year, so he'll be taking questions about the economy and that will happen in about 10:00 Eastern. And depending on what he says, we'll probably see some market moves on that, John, so a day to pay attention.
ROBERTS: Just real quickly, Ali. What's your gut telling you what the markets will do after Bernanke -- will be a thumbs up or thumbs down?
VELSHI: Well, he doesn't tend to say things that are -- he's asked very specifically by Congress. So I suspect he's going to say that they got no movement on interest rates coming, and we'll probably see a flat market as a result of his comments.
ROBERTS: All right. Ali Velshi watching the market for us this morning. Ali, thanks, for checking it out -- Kiran?
CHETRY: Also new this morning, another milestone, a dubious one for the national debt. For the first time, it's topped $9 trillion. The Bush administration says the 2001 recession, the 9/11 attacks and the cost of fighting terror have all contributed to the national debt. Democrats are blaming tax cuts from the President's first term.
Now, if you break it down, the national debt is now over $9 trillion, that means it grows by $1,440 million each day or $16,666 a second. If you wanted to help pay it down, it would take each of us throwing in about $30,000, everybody in the U.S. to pay down that national debt.
It's accused of an act of terrorism by the Iraqi government. The state department, though, has now cleared Blackwater security in the deaths of three Iraqi guards. An Iraqi police report said that a Blackwater sniper fired unprovoked from the roof of the Iraqi Justice Ministry. One guard working for the Iraqi Media Network on a nearby balcony was shot in the head, another in the neck. A third guard was found dead more than an hour later.
The U.S. government, though, has ruled the Iraqi guards fired first, making it an acceptable use of force. This happened months before a much more controversial incident, where Iraq has accused Blackwater of killing more than a dozen civilians.
When it comes to the war in Iraq, more Americans say they're opposed to it, despite a recent drop in violence there. According to a CNN poll just out this morning, 68 percent of those surveyed say they oppose the war. That's up 3 points from last month. Thirty-one percent, though, say they're in favor of the war.
When asked how things are going for the U.S. in Iraq, 65 percent say badly, 34 percent say things are going well. And when it comes to the military action possibly in Iran, 73 percent are opposed to it, 26 percent say they're in favor of air strikes and ground troops -- John?
ROBERTS: A historic step to protect gay and lesbians from job discrimination. The House has approved the first federal ban on job bias against gays. It would make it illegal for employers to make decisions about hiring, firing, paying, or promoting employees based on their sexual orientation. Churches and the military, though, are exempt.
ROBERTS: Bounty hunter and TV star Duane "Dog" Chapman is publicly apologizing for using the "n" word repeatedly about his son's girlfriend in the taped telephone conversation. Chapman was on LARRY KING LIVE last night and asked for forgiveness.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DUANE "DOG" CHAPMAN, BOUNTY HUNTER: I'm very sorry for using that word. Please, don't think any less of me and I'm going to fix it.
LARRY KING, HOST, LARRY KING LIVE: How do you fix it?
CHAPMAN: Well, I'll continue doing the things I've done working with, you know, interracial people. And I just have to, I have some classes I have to go to, and I need to get a greater vocabulary than what I have, obviously. And when I get mad and my brain searches for a word, I have to find different words.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Chapman also said he is not angry with his son for selling that taped telephone conversation to the "National Enquirer." The A&E network has suspended production of Chapman's reality show and has not said whether it will be renewed or not.
A Boston priest is under arrest on charges of stalking late night talk show host Conan O'Brien. Police say the Reverend David Ajemian was arrested at NBC headquarters last week, trying to get into a taping of the Conan show.
Prosecutors say he wrote threatening notes on parish letterhead for more than a year, even contacted O'Brien's parents. Police say the two may have attended Harvard University at the same time. The Boston archdiocese says the priest has been put on leave.
Now let's go over to Kiran.
CHETRY: High profile school shooting that took place yesterday, this time in Finland. And now word that the 18-year-old had posted videos on YouTube before the shooting.
Our Veronica De La Cruz joins us now with what she found online. A lot of people are shocked by this.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Shocked and as you mentioned, those videos were posted to YouTube. They're found on the Internet before the shooting occurred. And today, a lot of people pointing the finger at YouTube. And the question, of course, should more have been done? How did these videos end up on YouTube?
Eight people, including the head mistress of the school, all shot dead by the student before he turned the gun on himself. You can find details at CNN.com. There you'll also find a click-through gallery that chronicles the events as they unfolded.
We're looking right now at a screen graph from the gunman's last video posted to YouTube. It's titled "Jokela High School Massacre with the date. The gunman posted the video under the name Sturmgeist89. "Sturmgeist" means storm spirit in German.
Immediately after the shooting, YouTube pulled all of the videos off the web. In fact, if you do a search for sturmgeist89 right now, you will find 91 videos, none of which are available anymore. If you click, you receive an error message saying the video has been removed. It's no longer available.
And the majority of the shooter's video were set to hard-driving music by (INAUDIBLE), the same band that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold listened to.
And the blogs today questioning whether YouTube should have done more? How would a manifest of pledging war on the masses with a promise to die for the cause posted to YouTube? This is what one blogger is saying in regards to all these. We found this on zdnet.com.
It says blaming YouTube in such a situation would be equivalent to holding the U.S. postal service responsible for delivering the messages sent by the zodiac killer.
So definitely, a point of really, I mean, if YouTube is trying to crack down on copyright violations, how did a video like this slip through the cracks?
CHETRY: The other question too, is, how many people viewed it and thought nothing of it? You know, we saw also up to the Virginia Tech shooting, Seung-Hui Cho also had to videotape himself and alluded to the fact that he wanted to...
DE LA CRUZ: Right.
CHETRY: ... carry out mass violence. And in this one, you see him practicing shooting on --
DE LA CRUZ: Yes. Yes.
CHETRY: what looks like pumpkins.
DE LA CRUZ; Right. Right. A pear, right. So it's a big question today. A lot of people are outraged, and we're going to have to see what the fallout is for YouTube.
CHETRY: All right. Veronica De La Cruz, thanks -- John?
ROBERTS: Coming up to 14 minutes after the hour. The site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history, rumbling again. The amazing pictures for you ahead. Take a look at that.
And Lou's views, are they swaying the election? Our own Lou Dobbs is ahead of the curve on New York driver's licenses. What does he say about other states where it seems to be working? Lou's live with us. We'll talk about his new book. Next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Steam smoke, red hot lava and ash in your "Quick Hits" now as an eruption sends a boom across Indonesia. The island volcano is a popular tourist traction, but now tourists have been told to stay away as the child of Krakatoa explodes.
The nation's top volcano watcher has moved his entire team near the mountain to keep a closer eye. Look at some of the spectacular pictures, like a fireworks show as the lava spews out there as the magma wells up from deep beneath the earth. And its famous parent, the original Krakatoa, blew up in a massive eruption back in 1883, triggering tsunamis and killing thousands of people. Remember that famous movie, "Java, East of Krakatoa?"
Our Rob Marciano with the weather update desk now, tracking the extreme weather for us. And we don't have any volcanoes to deal with, Rob, but most of what we have to deal with is this cold weather.
ROB MARCIANO, METEOROLOGIST: That's true. And here, we get enough of those volcanoes erupting. You know, that will cool will cool the atmosphere, maybe send us into the next ice age but that's tough to predict. No doubt about that.
If you live in the south you might say, hey, it kind of feels like the globe is cooling right now. But it's just November, my friends, and the freeze warnings are out. Take a look at what's going on in the map.
The purple in the map this time of year means that it's cold, and we are seeing temperatures that have people shivering a little bit this morning. Thirty-one degrees in Huntsville, 29 degrees in Atlanta, 33 degrees in Savannah. Areas just checking some of the alps down around Tallahassee, 28 degrees right now in Tallahassee. And that's pretty darned close to the Gulf of Mexico. So you know you've got some cold air when it's that chilly down there at this time of year.
All right a little bit farther north. We're looking a little bit of snow. This is from our next little clipper system. Not a lot of moisture. I got to tell you that, but just in the north of Dayton, a little bit of snow falling in that area and in northern parts of Michigan, Saginaw, Traverse city along 75 some snow, and reports from Gaylord, Michigan, right around there, 1.1 inches.
So not enough to close schools and a batch of rain and a series of rain storms about to move into the pacific northwest. All in all though, nothing too unusual for this time of year. Cold air, a little bit of rain in the northwest and a little bit of snow on the map, but it could be a lot worse.
ROBERTS: All right. Rob, thanks. My early morning dyslexia is showing through. It was "Krakatoa, East of Java" and not the other way around, which the way I said it.
Rob, thanks. We'll check back with you soon -- Kiran?
MARCIANO: All right.
CHETRY: All right. Well, he says the country is way off track and that Washington needs to wake up. Lou Dobbs, the outspoken anchor and managing editor of CNN's LOU DOBBS TONIGHT. He has a new book out titled "Independents Day, The Awakening of the American Spirit." And we welcome him to the show right now. Great to see you.
LOU DOBBS, HOST, "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT": Great to see you.
CHETRY: You had to come in early even though you're at a new time. So it's almost like daylight savings time for you.
DOBBS: It's just like the news business, any time, 24-7 we're ready.
CHETRY: We're glad we have you with us. You know, you talk in your new book which is a great read, by the way, about advocacy journalism...
DOBBS: Yes.
CHETRY: ... and that how that is your obligation. What does that term mean to you?
DOBBS: All right. As an advocacy journalist, it means that I bring my experience and background and whatever little knowledge I've gained over the course of my time as a journalist to analyze issues and come down with a view that hopefully is helpful to providing perspective and context to the events.
CHETRY: One of the things that you've certainly been talking about a lot is your outspoken views on immigration. And in fact, the latest poll numbers we have from CNN show that 61 percent of Americans are saying that illegal immigration is extremely or very important to them to your vote for President.
DOBBS: How about that?
CHETRY: Yes. Do you think the candidates are talking enough about it?
DOBBS: Oh, no. I think as I've indicated in the book, this has been an issue. Illegal immigration has been a critical important issue to Americans for years now. It has been a critically important issue to this nation, along with border security. But there are two issues that the national mainstream media wouldn't poll on.
We have seen this, whether it's the state of Arizona or whether it's California, whether it's New York, and all of this country in between. There is never been a greater divide between our leadership, our elected officials and the people in my lifetime.
CHETRY: You speak about this situation in New York right now, and of course, one of your core issues is this extreme opposition to the governor's proposal to offer driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.
DOBBS: Prince Elliott you mean?
CHETRY: And to be polling -- I'll keep my mouth shut there. But the polling has obviously --
DOBBS: I'm a self-advocacy journalist. I could say that the man is absolutely flaunting disregard for the citizens of New York.
CHETRY: Because the polling really does seem to fall in favor of your point of view.
DOBBS: How about that?
CHETRY: However, there are other states where this seems to have just sort of happened, New Mexico offers driver's license to illegal immigrants.
DOBBS: Sort of is it?
CHETRY: But they say that they have a commuter system that can match photo IDs with a database...
DOBBS: Exactly.
CHETRY: ... in Mexico and confirm an applicant's identity. Does that solve any of your security concerns?
DOBBS: It's an approach. It's certainly far better than what Governor Spitzer is proposing in New York, but there is no reason. And Michael Chertoff, whom I'm extremely critical, the head of Homeland Security, says point blank, anybody listening, we in this country our government agencies at any level should not be giving lawful documentation or identification to illegal aliens. It is not very complicated. These people are illegal.
If they want to drive on our roads, do what an American does when we're in Mexico or when we're in Europe or Asia. Get an international driver's license. Be honest. Be straightforward. That's the obligation. It's stupid.
CHETRY: There's another big issue going on, and it's in the news again today.
DOBBS: Sure. CHETRY: Problems with recalls in China. And I want you to listen to what Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul said yesterday about the U.S. economy and how it relates to China.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. RON PAUL (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The Chinese right now are bringing us to, bringing us down, not with a weapon, but the weapon of the dollar, because we've created too many of them. You have to stop the spending. You have to balance the budget. You have to live within our means. And if we don't, the currency is going to be destroyed and all of our domestic programs are going to be threatened. It's a very, very serious problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: You know, this is the man, Ron Paul, has talked about a lot.
DOBBS: Yes.
CHETRY: Yet, he's still polling at the bottom of the pack. Is there not -- why isn't there more resonance about this problem with voters?
DOBBS: One of the reasons is that you have two political parties, the Republicans and the Democrats that are simply -- those two parties are simply opposite wings of the same bird, and they're giving the bird to the American people. There is no -- the dollar is declining. Right now in my judgment, as much because there is no leadership in this country, either in business or politics or government, as the fact that we are in massive, massive debt.
We have these presidential candidates seeking the party's nomination, none of which, by the way, I think will ever be elected. I think we're going to see a surprise candidate between now and next November. But they're not talking.
CHETRY: An independent?
DOBBS: An independent, absolutely. A populist caring more about the people than corporate America and special interest and socio- ethnic interest.
CHETRY: We've never seen it happen.
DOBBS: Absolutely. You've never seen it happen, so it can happen. We are going to see it happen in my opinion. But the point in thinking about Ron Paul, because he's talking about the issues, these other candidates and these parties don't want to talk about the fact this superpower is spending hundreds of billions of dollars carrying out a global war. It's unsustainable. So there's no discussion when we talk about Iraq and Afghanistan and the global war on terror. We don't name the enemy.
These candidates are not being straightforward. When we talk about a superpower, this is the world's largest debtor nation. Our middle class is getting screwed. Our public education is falling apart, the great equalizer in the society, and I truly believe you're going to see this be the year of the independent, independent thinkers, critical thinkers. If the independents decide to create a party, it's going to be the thinking men and women's party and it's going to be an action party.
CHETRY: All right. We'll see if it happens. The "Independents Day, Awakening of the American Spirit" is a new book. Lou, by the way, has moved starting --
DOBBS: A whole hour.
CHETRY: That's right, 7:00 p.m. Eastern time. We'll be watching, by the way. Thanks for joining us.
DOBBS: Please do. And that's awfully late for you, starting this early.
CHETRY: We don't go to bed until 8:00, so you're in the clear.
DOBBS: Now, come on, Kiran. Come on. But we appreciate the thought, thanks.
CHETRY: Thanks, Lou.
ROBERTS: We just do without sleep all together.
We were talking this morning about the chemicals that they use to make plastic. They make up so many products that we use every day but baby bottles. A lot of people are worried about them and worried enough that they're shelling out top dollar to find toxin-free products. We'll have that for you coming up.
And we also want to know what you think. Would you be willing to pay more for toxin-free products? Go to CNN.com/AM to cast your vote. Right now, 83 percent of you say yes. Only 17 percent say no. We'll bring you the results throughout the morning.
Lots of you take statin drugs to lower cholesterol. Now, doctors are warning about a new nightmare side effect, Dr. Sanjay Gupta breaks it down for us. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Well, look at the story coming up in the next half hour that you can't miss here on AMERICAN MORNING. Lots of plastic products that you use every day, raising a lot of eyebrows because of what's inside.
CHETRY: Yes. A lot of people spending big bucks to get items that don't contain certain additives. There have been questions about things like phthalates and Bis-phenol A, in particular. Maybe our grandparents had it right. These are glass bottles, got away from them for a couple of generations and now they're back. ROBERTS: And this is a phthalate-free baby bottle made in Israel. It's by the Born Free company. These are very expensive, though. Not cheap to stay away from these chemicals.
CHETRY: Exactly. So is it worth it? We're going to talk more about that a little bit later. This, by the way, also an aluminum water bottle. That's a big thing catching on as well. Greg Hunter is going to break it down for us. We're going to have much more on that when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN, ANCHOR: Picture this morning at the Ben Franklin Parkway in downtown Philadelphia, where it's sunny but very cold, 33 degrees. We had the mayor-elect there Michael Nutter just a little while ago, didn't realize it was so cold out when we had him stuck outside. Going up to a high of 50 today but it will be a beautiful day. It'll be nice and sunny. Thursday, November the 8th. Welcome back. Thanks for joining us on this AMERICAN MORNING. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN, ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry. This was the rocky steps, by the way, made famous by the movie.
New this morning, the search for a missing Illinois mother of two. Investigators are saying they want to speak with her young children, one just 2 years old, the other 4 years old. 23-year-old Stacy Peterson vanished 11 days ago. Her husband, a local police sergeant is claiming that she left him for another man. It's something that her family vehemently denies. Drew Peterson has been married three other times. He's 30 years older than Stacy. His other wife, his last wife drowned in a bathtub back in 2004, that was ruled an accident but now the state attorney's office says it will re- examine the case. We're going to be speaking to John Walsh of "America's Most Wanted" about that case, coming up in our next half hour.
So will there be another O.J. Simpson trial? A Las Vegas judge is going to decide that today, whether or not prosecutors have enough evidence to go forward on a case against Simpson. He faces charges of armed robbery and kidnapping for an incident in which he went to a hotel room to reclaim some of his personal memorabilia. Three of Simpson's co-defendants pleaded guilty and will testify against him. They will say that Simpson told them to bring guns.
ROBERTS: It's a job where the smallest miscalculation can lead to a terrible end but hundreds of pilots, airline mechanics and air traffic controllers have complained that they are making mistakes because they're too tired. That's according to "USA Today." The paper looked at NASA safety records going back to 2003. The reports show that there were six cases where pilots fell asleep in mid flight. The NTSB has reportedly linked pilot fatigue to ten commercial accidents since 1993 that killed 260 people. The agency will address the dangers today at a hearing in Washington.
Guns and chaos during student protest against President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Students marched to the Supreme Court to protest constitutional changes that Venezuelans will consider in a December referendum. Police say at least eight people were hurt, one of them by gunfire at Central University in Caracas. Pro-Chavez supporters in ski masks were seen storming the crowd and firing.
And another violent anti-government uprising in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. This was one against its pro-western president and U.S. ally. Riot police used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons to break up demonstrations calling for his ouster.
In a televised address to the nation the president blamed Russia for the protest and said the police action was necessary.
CHETRY: Overseas markets sliding this morning, the second time in a week after a drop here in the U.S. that's been spread throughout the world. Japan's Nikkei fell by 2 percent. The Hong Kong index lost nearly 4 percent. At all of the news yesterday, close at the Dow losing 360 points.
Well, the stock market took a plunge yesterday, as we just said. The dollar is falling, oil prices skyrocketing and the sub prime mortgage market still in trouble. With that as an economic backdrop, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will testify before Congress today. This is something he does twice a year. Just last week, the fed cut interest rates by a quarter of a point and told investors not to bank on further rate cuts.
ROBERTS: Thirty-five minutes after the hour. New York City's former top cop is expected to be indicted today on tax evasion and other charges, with alleged connections to the mob. Bernard Kerik is the close friend of Republican presidential front-runner Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani hand-picked Kerik as police commissioner when he was mayor of New York. Also recommended him for Homeland Security Secretary to President Bush. Could this affect Giuliani's race for the White House? CNN chief national correspondent John King joins us now from Colombia, South Carolina with more on that.
John, Rudy Giuliani had no comment about it yesterday, but he has previously said that he doesn't think that this is going to have, he's not worried about any impact this might have on him. Should he not be worried?
JOHN KING, CNN, CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He should be worried a bit, John. There's no evidence at all that Rudy Giuliani has done anything wrong but what happens in a case like this is, he will be asked questions. His whole campaign is based on leadership, his command of New York City after 9/11, and a key facet of leadership is judgment. So the question for Rudy Giuliani will be, did his friends get special treatment? Were they not put through the scrutiny, the background checks that anyone else would get when they want a senior government position?
So, it will become a question of judgment and leadership. Not only will the Bernie Kerik case will be looked at but others judgments Giuliani has made as mayor may get a second or third look. You know, if you live in New York or Washington, the fact that Bernie Kerik has shall we say "ethical" issues is not a surprised. But if you live elsewhere in the country, like here in South Carolina, you're just tuning in because of his presidential campaign. It will come up again and he will have to answer questions about it.
ROBERTS: John, what are the counts against Kerik expected to be a charge that he lied on his application to become Department of Homeland Security secretary. It was Giuliani as we said who recommended him for the job, don't think that has any lasting impact on President Bush but may this have some effect on Giuliani in raising questions who he might appoint as he fills out his administration, should he win the White House?
KING: Well, that gets to the point about his judgment. When he recommended Bernie Kerik for the Department of Homeland Security, a very (INAUDIBLE) position at a very sensitive time. Did he know anything about it? Did he just say this is a friend of mine, let's get him into the Bush administration, did he ask himself the question about Bernie Kerik's background, was there anything that should have been known to him at that time. So, people will look at questions like that and look at other appointments he made to government.
Generally, his record at New York City, you don't have a lot of corruption. President Bush would say the same thing, a very low corruption rate in his administration but it is the judgment and the character questions that will be asked of Giuliani and he has defended his friend Bernie Kerik, saying he has a great job as police commissioner but there will be more broad questions now about how Giuliani goes about personnel decisions. That is fair and will be tough scrutiny in the weeks ahead.
ROBERTS: And those indictments against Kerik expected to come down a little bit later on today. John King for us in Columbia, South Carolina. Always good to see you John, thanks. Kiran.
CHETRY: Also ahead, millions of Americans take cholesterol- lowering medication. There is word now of a troubling side effect, we're paging Dr. Sanjay Gupta, he's on the case this morning. Hi, Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning again, Kiran. We're talking about statin medications and the possible link between them and sleep disturbances. I'll tell you what's going on here and more importantly what you can do about it when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back.
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ROBERTS: 41 minutes after the hour. Breaking news just in to CNN. A U.S. military helicopter has crashed in northern Italy. Italian media now reporting that five people who were on board are dead. It's believed to be a Blackhawk helicopter. Our team at the Pentagon working the story right now, will have an update as soon as we have something new for you. Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Well, 41 minutes past the hour. Rob Marciano following the latest in the weather for us and boy, it is cold, a freeze warning in effect, in a place where you wouldn't think it would be.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, well. This time of the year, I guess we get the cool punches of air, and they're diving all the way down to the south. As a matter of fact, they just issued a frost advisory for folks on Long Island. So there are some areas across the northeast that haven't seen their first hard frost yet. These purple areas from the North Carolina all the way to the down to the northwestern part of Florida, freeze warnings out with temperatures in the lower 30s in many cases and Tallahassee reporting 28-degree temperatures. So not far enough south to hit the citrus farmers but certainly enough to say hey winter is on its way. As with these white blotches on the radar scope, just over an inch in parts of northern Michigan. This is really not really lake effects. It's just an advance of our next system.
By the way, Chicago O'Hare last night got a trace of snow that is the first official snowfall of the year, pretty much on track, they average about October 30th. Meantime out west pretty warm, Phoenix, Arizona, 92 degrees, record temperatures. Edwards air force base, 84 degrees and red bluff. California, 84 degrees as well. Where it will be cool, 40s across the northeast today. The backside of the high will bring in the temperatures that will be unseasonally warm. So, a tales two of sides of the weather system. John, back up to you.
ROBERTS: Rob, thanks very much.
CHETRY: Millions of Americans are taking statin drugs to lower their cholesterol but a new study says that lowering your lipids may leave you less time with your lids closed. CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now with more. Sanjay, this is a new one - insomnia because of statin drugs?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is very interesting, John. We've actually done quite a bit of homework on this. First of all, there's been a lot of anecdotal evidence for some time these statin medications, taken by tens of millions of people could cause some problems with sleep, small studies, shortened duration. What I'm talking about this morning is a large study, about 1,000 people over a longer duration, about six months, specifically comparing Zocor, Pravacol and a placebo.
Let me tell you something that I think is important here. Stick with me. Zocor is actually soluble in fat, Pravacol is soluable in water. Placebos typically are sugar pill and the reason that it's important is that we find that Zocor, these fat soluble medications actually cross the blood-brain barrier and sort of get into that insulation around some of the nerves in the brain and that can suppress your sleep and cause you to get not as much sleep and that's exactly what the researchers found. As the people who took Zocor complained of sleep problems much more so than people who for example took Pravacol or the placebo.
Now, we called to the makers of Zocor complained of sleep problems much more so than people who for example too Pravacol or the placebo. Now we talk to the makers of Zocor, Merck, they released a statement specifically. We have said that they conducted their own sleep studies compared with pravastatin and placebo and found that there was no difference with regard to sleep disturbance between his and the statin which is Zocor and the placebo. So, they're saying really not much to it but if you look at the package labeling for any statin, John, interesting is that you see insomnia as one of the possible side effects.
ROBERTS: So, what can people who are on the medication do, can they just switch to another statin that is as you say water soluble or should they think about going off the medication?
GUPTA: Yes, that's certainly an option. You know, it's important to keep in mind here that not everyone who has insomnia has it because of the Zocor and not everyone who takes Zocor is going to get insomnia. So, it's important to talk to your doctor about all the medications you are on and figure out if there's a culprit in there somewhere. You could switch to a water-soluble statin, you could switch to an entirely different cholesterol-lowering medication all together as well but this is something to think about.
If you've been really troubled by sleep problems and you take one of these medications it's probably worth investigating. There's a lot of reasons to get good sleep. As we know, John, we talk about the fact that not getting good sleep is going to lead to poor concentration, poor performance overall, driving risk which is a big one, and even weight gain. Getting less sleep actually causes weight gain. So, importantly really to get this checked out.
ROBERTS: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta for us this morning. Sanjay, thanks. Sanjay by the way is coming back to answer your questions about sleep, you still have time to e-mail us. Go to CNN.com/askdrgupta. We will dip into Sanjay's mailbag coming up in our next hour. Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, illegal access to O'Hare Airport in your "Quick Hits" now, nearly two dozen illegal immigrants arrested in Chicago after allegedly using fake security badges to gain access to critical areas of O'Hare. The arrests follow an eight-month investigation. The workers were assigned to O'Hare by a temp agency that was hired by the airline.
Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, are your baby bottles toxic?
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just don't want to take the chance with your children.
CHETRY: How parents are pushing manufacturers to make baby bottles with less chemicals. Greg Hunter gives us the lowdown on baby bottle safety, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: 11 minutes now to the hour. If you're just joining us, here's a look at what's new this morning. More on the breaking news coming in to us from Italy. CNN now confirms that an American helicopter has crashed in the northern part of that country just outside of Traviso. Five people on board have been killed, several others injured. It's not clear what brought down the helicopter. Our teams in Italy and at the Pentagon are working the story right now. We'll have an update for you just as soon as we get some more information.
Breaking news out of Pakistan as well, a promise from President Pervez Musharraf to hold elections by February the 15th. But Pakistan will remain under a state of emergency for at least another month. Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto says it's not enough and she says Musharraf should step down as army chief within a week.
Overseas stock markets are sliding this morning. The second time in a week that a drop here in the U.S. spread throughout the world. Japan's Nikkei fell by 2 percent, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost nearly 4 percent. Yesterday, the Dow industrials yesterday lost 360 points and pointing down again today. Now, let's go over to Kiran.
CHETRY: We've been talking this morning about the chemicals that are used to make plastics, so many of the products that we use every day and a lot of people are worried there is a growing movement about concern about what is actually in them, and whether or not you can find toxic-free products and whether or not you're willing to pay a little bit more for them. Our Greg Hunter is looking out for you and he joins me now with more on this.
GREG HUNTER, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran, how are you doing?
CHETRY: Hi. You never thought that phthalates or (INAUDIBLE) would be part of a discussion of everyday life, but it is, catching on.
HUNTER: Hard hard plastic, phthalates softeners. We are talking about hard plastics, are those hard plastic bottles for babies bad for babies and is there an alternate that some say doesn't release potentially harmful chemicals?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTER (voice-over): These little guys are having a big impact on the green baby bottle business. For moms, safety is paramount.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You just don't want to take the chance over your children.
Marjorie Salbatera worries that bisphenol A, a chemical that hardens plastic in baby bottles may slowly leak out of the plastic and into the liquid. High levels of bisphenol A or BPA had been linked in some animal studies to hormonal changes and abnormal development in the very young and possible cancers later in life. But the juvenile product manufacturers' association says that there are plenty of evidence that contradicts those findings.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe there are plenty of studies out there to prove that it is safe. I think it's, yes right, I think there are some questionable studies but the majority of studies have shown them to be safe.
HUNTER: The FDA agrees, saying it has determined that the use of polycarbornate safe bottles is safe. Still manufacturers are rushing to fill consumer demand for baby bottles and accessories that are free off BPA. One reason sales are up, the internet.
We just have a savvier consumer on our hands and marketers have to wake up. Many marketers already have and they're listening.
HUNTER: Ron Bigdorf is president of "Born free," a company that sells more than $1 million a month of bottles that are bisphenol free and go for $9.50 each. Your critic say there's enough science out there that shows traditional plastic baby bottles are not harmful. What do you say?
RON BIGDORF, "BORN FREE": I understand their science shows that and other science that shows different. And I say if there's any of a doubt, what would you do?
Some moms agree.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'd rather do my own research and come up with alternatives to myself and my family than take the word of some company that may be doing testing for a company that's trying to sell products.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTER (on screen): "Born free"'s president told us that the critical thing about baby bottles is that more bisphenol- A is released when the bottles are heated and scrubbed repeatedly. Now, the FDA says it sees no reason to presently ban BPA-based coatings or the stuff the baby bottles heart. This has no BPA, the stuff that hardens the plastic, also has no phthalate in it.
CHETRY: It's more of a consumer-driven thing. The FDA is not necessarily saying it's bad for you in your regular plastic.
HUNTER: Let's research out there. I mean, we have a science still working. That's what we have.
ROBERTS: This is much more expensive, too, right?
HUNTER: It is more expensive. And when it comes to, the first thing I thought about, drinking water bottles, does that have phthalates? The stuff that makes your, the bottle soft? Now, phthalates have been banned in baby's toys in California and also in the hospital tubing. You know, the stuff that other stuff that makes things malleable. But according to the American chemical council, no phthalates in plastic drinking water bottles. You can tell by looking on the bottle, it says PET or PETE and resin code one and the triangle for the recycle code. No phthalates, no kind of chemicals, those kind of chemicals can leak out of your drinking water bottle. Hey listen, if you're thinking oh, my god, am I drinking water bottle that's bad? That's what I thought, immediately, not true. No phthalates in these bottles.
CHETRY: So it's still something that is catching on. Are these stainless steel water bottles for not only the recycling but for not getting plastic additives.
HUNTER: You can watch wash it, you can heat them, and you can leave them in your car, or you can do all kinds of things, you can use them over and over and over again. They're popular, costs $18, $19, but you know, you can use it forever.
ROBERTS: And things like this, instead of putting plastic wrap over the top of your glass bowl they got these new silicone lids as well.
HUNTER: Silicone is what's in the top of this nipple, the baby bottle nipple because it violate there are no phthalates in silicone, nothing that can leak out.
CHETRY: And then the move to glass, these are the glass bottles as well.
ROBERTS: They can break? We got other tips for you this morning as well, if you don't want to use chemicals in your house, you can go back to the way people used to do it. My mom used to tell me you want to clean the windows in the car or in house, use a little bit of vinegar mixed together with water in a spray bottle and use newspapers to wipe it as well because the newspapers don't leave behind a residue.
CHETRY: That's right, and then also furniture polish, instead of having some to use that and some people have a reaction to the smell, old-fashioned vinegar and olive oil mixed together with a soft cloth, supposedly makes your wood just as shiny as the polish.
ROBERTS: A few tips. Borax, too, as opposed to using like one of those harsh cleaners like a chlorinated cleaner or something like that?
CHETRY: Right, good old-fashioned baking soda, add a little bit of water and it can scrub anything. It scrubs your teeth.
ROBERTS: So, you know, maybe our parents were right. What do you think? He's right.
CHETRY: Don't say it too loud. They're listening. Greg, thanks a lot. By the way, is there any way to purge your body of these unhealthy chemicals? Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, Sanjay Gupta is going to give us a reality check about it.
ROBERTS: We want to know what you think. Would you be willing to pay more for toxin-free products like this bottle, which goes for about $10? Go to CNN.com/am to cast your vote. Right now, 84 percent of you say yes. 16 percent say no. We'll bring you the results throughout the morning.
Big night for big country and an even bigger one for country star Kenny Chesney. We've spoken with him already. We have that for you just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Breaking news. A promise in Pakistan, setting a date for elections. Will it ease the crisis?
Killer toys.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ms. Thompson can fall into the concomitory. A stunning made in China recall this morning.
CHETRY: How the date rape drug got into a popular kids' toys. Plus, he's the king of country. A visit with Kenny Chefney this morning after his big award last night on this AMERICAN MORNING.
That's right, he was kind enough to stay up late and I guess early, if you want to call it that.
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