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American Morning
Bay Area Oil Spill; Volatile Markets; Finland School Shooting; Broadway Strike; Writer's Strike; Missing Madeleine
Aired November 12, 2007 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Criminal case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This incident should have never, ever occurred.
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ROBERTS: Damage and blame spreads in the San Francisco oil spill.
Sell-off. Overseas markets down again overnight. Where will the Dow head today?
Plus, a day without e-mail? Why the boss may want you to cut it loose, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
So do you think that you could ever last a day without e-mail or being tethered to your Blackberry.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I can't imagine. I can't imagine with how many we receive. But they're saying, OK, if you can't not e-mail at all, just think before you send out those mass reply-alls.
ROBERTS: My daughter asked me for one of these the other day.
CHETRY: Say no.
ROBERTS: I'll tell you.
Welcome to the program. It's Monday, November 12th. Thanks for joining us on this AMERICAN MORNING. I'm John Roberts.
CHETRY: And I'm Kiran Chetry.
Also marking Veterans Day today.
And we start the hour with breaking news out of California. The feds launching a criminal investigation after the worst oil spill in San Francisco Bay in nearly two decades. A tanker slammed into the base of a Bay Bridge tower last week. It leaked 58,000 gallons of heavy-duty toxic bunker oil, as it's called. Investigators grilling crew members about their role in the crash and the NTSB is now on scene reviewing the ship's voyage data record to see if the crew failed to communicate. Alcatraz surrounded by oil slicks. Blobs of oil making its way onto beaches. And right now the race is on to try to save hundreds of birds and fish as the city copes with the fallout, the environmental fallout, of that spill. AMERICAN MORNING's Alina Cho is following the story from our newsroom this morning and she has details for us.
Good morning, Alina.
CHO: Good morning to you, Kiran.
Now part of the investigation will look at just how fast the ship was traveling and whether there was a breakdown in communication between the captain and the crew. Now early indications are the accident was caused by human error, not mechanical failure. Meantime, California Senator Dianne Feinstein is among those blasting the Coast Guard for what she calls a slow response. The Coast Guard's commander, Thad Allen, arrived Sunday and said his team was busy responding and there was simply a delay in getting the information out.
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ADMIRAL THAD ALLEN, U.S. COAST GUARD: By late in the afternoon, between 4 or 5, we had determined, based on the ability to move the fuel with the sounding (ph) and tank, what the likely discharge was. At that time we were mobilizing resources and response equipment, putting booms in place, getting skimming equipment there out that was out there. And it was an error of omission, not commission, shouldn't have been done and we're looking into that as part of the spill response.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Now weather was a factor as well. There was dense fog in the area at the time, but still the Coast Guard initially reported only 140 gallons had spilled. And it wasn't until several hours later that they realized the magnitude of the accident.
Remember, 58,000 gallons spilled into San Francisco Bay. The worst in nearly two decades. Only 16,000 gallons of the heavy-duty oil has either been recovered or evaporated so far. At least 200 birds have been killed, another 400 plus recovered in oil. On Friday, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency. That frees up some funds for the cleanup.
And this is affecting the local economy as well, Kiran. At least a dozen beaches are closed. Fishing has been banned in certain areas and the cleanup could take weeks or maybe even months. So it will be a while.
CHETRY: Yes, quite a mess and the investigation continues this morning.
Alina, thank you.
CHO: You bet. ROBERTS: World stock markets in a tumble this morning. Japan's Nikkei index falls to its lowest level this year. Markets in Hong Kong and Shanghai also closed down sharply. The culprit, banks in the United States losing billions of dollars in the mortgage crisis. Wachovia, Citigroup, Bank of America all reported massive losses on sub prime. Our Ali Velshi is at the business update desk with us this morning to tell us what it means for today's opening of the stock market.
How's it looking right now, Ali?
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, interestingly -- John, good morning -- it's actually not looking too bad. Right now the Dow indicates a positive open. That's because some markets in Europe are starting to turn around and look a little more positive. But as you said, Asian markets down sharply. I think the Nikkei in Tokyo lost 2.45 percent following Friday's sharp loss on Wall Street.
Right toward the end of the day, in fact, it took a very sharp loss in the last half an hour of trading on Friday, losing 1 2/3 percent on the Dow. Look at that Nasdaq. It's been taking a beating all week. The tech sector, which was thought to be sort of separate and apart from these banking and mortgage wows, has been getting hit very badly in the last week.
The S&P 500 down. And that means for the year, your portfolios will be effected. There are some days when we say, you know, don't worry about this. If you're diversified, you're OK. Well, if you look at your 401(k) this morning, and depending on how you feel, you might want to do that.
The Dow is still up. Listen, here's the good news. Everything is up year-to-date. The Dow is up 4.65 percent. The Nasdaq, which had been the strongest performer, had been up almost 16 percent. It's still up 8.8 percent. And the S&P 500, the most diversified of the lot, 2.5 percent.
We're in November, so this is going to make a big difference to see whether we all end the year on the up side. The thing you can't do if you're invested is turn away from these markets for too long.
John.
ROBERTS: The question people always ask when the markets are going down, Ali, is, where's the bottom?
VELSHI: You know, we're starting to hear from people that they are so uncertain about what this economy holds and what the next bank is going to say. I think what we're going to see in the next week or so is all the banks getting all their dirty laundry out hopefully and then maybe people will start to make a better guess as to how bad this is going to get.
ROBERTS: All right. Ali Velshi for us this morning.
Ali, thanks. We'll check back with you a little bit later on. Kiran.
CHETRY: Also new this morning, the fight for democracy in Pakistan. The Bush administration calling President Pervez Musharraf's decision to announce he's holding elections by January 9th "a positive element." But on ABC's "This Week," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that Musharraf should restore constitutional rule as soon as possible.
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CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: The lifting of the emergency, the taking off of his uniform, which signals a return to civilian rule, and then the holding of free and fair elections. That's the path that we need to insist on from Pakistan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Musharraf said he'll give up his army post after his October presidential election victory is endorsed by parliament. President Bush continues to stand behind the embattled leader, calling him a pivotal ally in the war on terror.
Opposition leader and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is planning to lead a protest march tomorrow to the capital city of Islamabad. Musharraf's emergency order has been in effect for more than a week now.
Turning now to Cambodia's brutal Khmer Rouge genocide trial. Police arresting the movement's former foreign minister and his wife overnight. The couple, both in their 80s, face crimes of crimes against humanity before a U.N. backed court. They become the third and fourth people charged. The Khmer Rouge is accused of atrocities during the late to mid-1970s, including the deaths of more than 500,000 Cambodians in what was known as the killing fields.
A former top Bush administration official admits he was "foolish" for revealing a CIA operative's identity. Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage speaking out about naming Plame, Valerie Plame, to a reporter.
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RICHARD ARMITAGE, FORMER DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE: And I think it was extraordinarily foolish of me. There was no ill intent on my part.
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CHETRY: Armitage publicly apologized to Plame and her husband, Ambassador Joe Wilson, last year. Armitage said that he saw her name in a memo, so he didn't think she was a covert operative, but he says that's not an excuse and still should not have revealed her identity.
Well many people enjoying a long weekend today in observe of Veterans Day. It was officially marked yesterday this year. Americans honoring U.S. troops past and present, including Vice President Dick Cheney, placing a wreath on the tomb of the unknowns in Arlington, Virginia. There were special parades and wreath laying ceremonies held across the nation for veterans of World War II, Korea, Vietnam, as well as Iraqis' Desert Storm. The nation also honored members of the military who have lost their lives in the current war on terror and the tens of thousands of troops who continue to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan.
John.
ROBERTS: This morning there was word of a chilling, new American connection in a deadly school shooting in Finland and it is shining a bright light on the dark side of the Internet. New reports say the 18-year-old who shot and killed six classmates, his principal and a school nurse last week may have had an online relationship with a teen in Pennsylvania. The same teen who is suspected of planning his own Columbine-style attack. CNN's Jim Acosta is live in Norristown, Pennsylvania, with the new developments.
Im, this really is a chilling connection here.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John, and prosecutors here in Pennsylvania plan to launch their own investigation into this possible link later this morning. If there is a connection, it could offer a new insight into the mind of a potential school shooter.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA, (voice over): Before he gunned down eight people at a Finland school, and before he left this cryptic YouTube warning of his campus attack, Finnish authorities suspect Pekka-Eric Auvinen was a visitor to this MySpace page glorifying the Columbine massacre. It was there, investigators in Finland say, where Auvinen may have chatted with a 14-year-old Pennsylvania boy named Dillon Cossey, who police say planned his own school shooting outside Philadelphia last month.
BRUCE CASTOR, MONTGOMERY COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: It's very sketchy. The Finnish authorities have said that there might be this connection, but they don't cite what makes them think that.
ACOSTA: The district attorney handling Cossey's case says he just learned of the alleged connection in an article that appeared in "The Times of London" newspaper. The story quotes Finnish authorities saying the Pennsylvania teen may have used a previously unknown screen name, Shadow19462 to visit that MySpace page dedicated to Columbine killers Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris.
CASTOR: We have a special unit of forensic detectives that deal with just computer cases. And I asked them to tear down the computer and check for this other screen name.
J. DAVIDE FARRELL, COSSEY'S ATTORNEY: Knowing my client, as I've gotten to know him, I would be very surprised if he were engaged in any true planning or encouraging behavior to an individual in Finland who was planning some sort of school attack.
ACOSTA: Cossey's attorney says any connection between his client and the Finland school shooter should serve as a wake-up call to parents, that troubled teens may be socializing on websites that lionize campus killers.
FARRELL: Surely it's disturbing that online there is this hero worship of two killers.
ACOSTA: And is that poisoning the minds of some of these kids out there?
FARRELL: I would say it reinforces their alienation and feeds into their violent fantasies. Absolutely, it is poisoning them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: And Finnish police are expected to release a statement later this morning with possibly some new information on this potential link.
John.
ROBERTS: A disturbing connection indeed. Jim Acosta for us this morning in Norristown, Pennsylvania.
Jim, thanks.
Kiran.
CHETRY: Time now to check in with our AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents for other stories new.
Much of Broadway is in the dark this morning. More than 20 plays and musicals shut down as stagehands go on strike. And it's traditionally one of the busiest times of the year for Broadway. Our Lola Ogunnaike joins us with more on this, plus the writer's strike, of course, that continues into its second week.
But first, Broadway. I mean this is the height of the Christmas and holiday tourist season and it's just so strange to see it shut down.
LOLA OGUNNAIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, it is the height of the season and it's all gone dark right now, Kiran. Close to 30 shows have gone dark. That means your "Mamma Mias, "your "Phantom of the Operas," your "Wickeds" all closed down.
What this is about, of course, it's money. The stagehands want to guarantee that they will have control over how many stagehands are assigned to each production. The League of American Theaters are saying, no, we need to have more control over this. We need to have more flexibility. They've been negotiating since July. Neither side is budging. Right now, you know, 65 percent of tourists are in town for these shows and this could be a huge, huge hit for Broadway.
CHETRY: So how many of the shows are actually open and still running?
OGUNNAIKE: Well, there are eight shows that are actually open right now. That includes your "Zanadus", "Young Frankenstein" and your "Marry Poppins." So not all the lights are out on Broadway. But it's not looking good right now. The last strike was staged by the musicians. That lasted for four days and cost the city $10 million. They're saying that this strike could cost the city as many as $17 million a day.
CHETRY: Unbelievable. All right. And any light at the end of the tunnel for this one?
OGUNNAIKE: Well, the writers' strike is not looking good at all right now. You know, neither side, again, is budging in Hollywood. A number of celebrities have been out in support of the writers. You've got, you know, your Julia Louis-Dreyfus who's out there, your Robyn Williams, your Tim Robbins. They've all been striking. Neither side is budging, again, as I said. And in Los Angeles, the strikers actually plan to bring their children out. So they're bringing the kids into this today.
CHETRY: All right. Well, we'll see what happens, if anything changes on both fronts.
Lola Ogunnaike, thanks so much.
Also Bonnie Schneider's at our weather update desk. She's tracking extreme weather, including freezing rain in the northeast.
Good morning, Bonnie.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: A new book about the disappearance of that little British girl, Madeleine McCann, is out. The new claims and why they're outraging her parents.
Plus, chocolate bunnies and ducks. Who doesn't love them, right? Well, take a few bites of these and you'll get a lot more than just a chocolate high. We'll tell you why they earned one guy a trip to jail, coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: Soccer violence in Italy topping your "Quick Hits" now. Hundreds of people threw rocks, smashed windows and torched police cars yesterday after a fan was shot and killed by a police officer. Police called the incident "a tragic error," saying the officer was just trying to break up a fight between supporters of rival soccer clubs. Three top league match had to be called off in the wake of that shooting.
Well, a lucky break for a guy in Cincinnati after he crashed through a brick wall on the second floor of a parking garage. He says he was trying to back out of a parking space when his break got stuck under a rubber floor mat. And as you can see there, he ended up backing entirely out of the garage. Police say the fall was only part of the problem because, of course, his truck landed on gas lines. Crews were able to turn the lines off and no one was hurt.
Well, a Veterans Day 2007 live look now. This is the Warriors Walk in Ft. Stewart, Georgia. Americans across the country are pausing to honor members of the U.S. armed forces who died in service, including more than 300 lost by the 3rd Infantry Division at Ft. Stewart. A tree planted in honor of each of those people giving their lives for their country. We're going to be live there a little bit later in the show as well on this Veterans Day Monday.
John.
ROBERTS: Almost 17 minutes after the hour now.
Overseas this morning. The disappearance of Madeleine McCann is once again the buzz of Great Britain. A new book is raising new questions about the little girl's disappearance and the stories that her parents and their friends later told police. CNN's Emily Chang is live at our international update desk in London with more.
Good morning to you.
EMILY CHANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.
This case has aroused so much emotion, rumor and speculation, it is saturating media coverage. Publishers say it was inevitable that books would be written about Madeleine McCann and this will be the first of many.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHANG, (voice over): For six months her face has haunted headlines around the world. Now the first book about missing Madeleine McCann is making headlines of its own.
LUIS MAIA, CO-AUTHOR, "MADDIE 129": This book is mainly about doubts, about contradictions. Contradictions implicate lives.
CHANG: Meet the authors of "Maddie 129." Two Portuguese journalists who have been covering the case from the beginning. One hundred and twenty-nine, the number of days Madeleine was missing before her parents left Portugal and returned to their home to England after Portugese police named them official suspects in the case.
The book raises questions about Kate and Gerry McCann, the friends they dined with the night Madeleine disappeared, and inconsistencies in their stories.
HERNANI CARVALHO, CO-AUTHOR, "MADDIE 129": Speaking with the police, each one of them told different versions about the same fact.
CHANG: Portuguese police say they've sent letters to at least some of the McCann's friends requesting new interviews. The McCann's family spokesperson insists the couple would never do anything to harm Madeleine and blasted the book for suggesting otherwise. CLARENCE MITCHELL, MCCANN FAMILY SPOKESMAN: We think it's a great shame that anybody may be trying to make some money out of the situation. These books are being rushed out in time for Christmas and I think you can see perhaps the motive for them.
CHANG: Critics say the book offers no groundbreaking theories but merely fuels the constant speculation about the case. What we do know is, six months after her disappearance, no one's been charged and Madeleine's fate remains a mystery.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHANG: This morning, Madeleine is again in the headlines. "The Daily Mirror" has published what it calls the first pic of the snatch scene. This is supposed a view into Madeleine's bedroom at the resort in Portugal. "The Daily Express" is reporting a recent sighting of Madeleine in Bosnia. None of these headlines have been independently verified by CNN.
As for how the book is selling so far, it's written only in Portuguese. We've called a few book stores in Portugal and sales so far, they say, have been mediocre.
John.
ROBERTS: So many leads in the Madeleine McCann case and, unfortunately, each and every one of them a dead end.
Emily Chang in London for us this morning with that update.
Emily, thanks. We'll talk to you again soon.
Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, a farewell to a literary icon topping your "Quick Hits" now. Pulitzer Prize Winning Author Norman Mailer died Saturday in New York City of kidney failure. Mailer achieved instant fame for his book, "The Naked and the Dead." A best-seller about World War II. He'll be buried tomorrow in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where he lived. Mailer was 84 years old.
Hip-hop star Kanye West mourning his mother today. Dr. Donna West died in Los Angeles Saturday. The exact cause is not yet known. She was only 58 years old. Dr. West managed her son's superstar career. Before that she was a longtime chair of the English department at Chicago State University.
A baby in the family and in Congress. We're going to talk to Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers and her husband about their baby son, Cole, and what it was like when they found out that their son could be born with Down Syndrome.
Also, it sure looked like your average chocolate bunnies and ducks, but there's something more to this chocolate high. We'll explain coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
"Baby Talk" magazine recently had this cutie as their cover girl. A little baby with down syndrome. And she's an increasingly rare sight. A staggering 80 percent to 90 percent of women who receive a prenatal diagnosis for down syndrome decide to terminate the pregnancy. I recently sat down with Washington state Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers. She's the first sitting member of Congress to have a baby in more than a decade. She and her husband, Brian, got initial testing and learned that there could be a problem. They decided against further testing before having their son, Cole.
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CHETRY: There was a couple of days in between they wanted to take some blood work to just -- to confirm, yes or no, about the down syndrome diagnosis. What was your reaction when you got that phone call?
REP. CATHY MCMORRIS RODGERS, (R) WASHINGTON: It's very difficult. You are -- you're shocked when you first hear that news. And you -- I think it's fair to say that you go through the stages of mourning in that you are mourning the death of a dream that you had for your baby. And I remember when I showed up to the hospital that afternoon, I was full of tears. Yet even in talking with the doctors that day, they were just -- they were so positive. And I've heard from others that, you know, we've come a long way as far as even how the doctors share that news with parents. And they were very encouraging to us and made it clear, you know, we're here to help you and we're here to offer you support.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, we're going have to more of my interview with the Rodgers family coming up, including Cole's prognosis and what they've learned about down syndrome. Tomorrow, how the congresswoman's personal challenges also might affect the choices that she makes as a lawmaker. We're going to have a closer look at that tomorrow.
One of the things she talked about as well was just how much joy Cole has brought into her life, her husband's life and the lives, you know, everybody he comes in contact with. He's an adorable little six month old.
ROBERTS: Very, very difficult decision, though, for them.
CHETRY: Yes. And she says it wasn't for her. She says that she didn't want to know anymore when they had those warning signs in the initial testing and then after holding him in her arms she can't imagine any other decision.
ROBERTS: Wow. God bless her for doing that.
Take a look now at this next piece of video. It's our "Hot Shot" of the morning. Philadelphia's old national building was brought down in seconds -- take a look at that -- to make way for the new expended convention center. It's going to be the largest connected exhibit space in the northeast. The new convention center opens in 2010.
And if you've got a "Hot Shot" send it to us. The address is amhotshots@cnn.com. Be sure to include your name, where you're from, a little bit about the picture or video. And one more thing. Make sure that the image is yours and not somebody else's. Don't go ripping it off the Internet and sending it to us.
A look now at a story coming up in our next half hour that you just can't miss. Can workers actually get more done by sending less e-mail?
CHETRY: I'm sure a lot of people would agree with that, where others would say, wait a minute, how am I going to communicate then? What is this thing over here that rings occasionally? It's the phone in my office.
ROBERTS: It's the reply all thing that just drives you crazy.
CHETRY: It sure does. Or when you're on one of those mass lists, right, and 99 percent of the stuff doesn't apply to you. Well, we're going to see why more companies are trying to tackle that. They're starting e-mail-free Fridays. But practically speaking, can they work in the office place? We're going to take a look at that and all the headlines when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. 6:30 Eastern Time. 6:30 there in Washington, D.C. A beautiful shot at the national World War II Memorial.
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KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING, 6:30 eastern time. 6:30 there in Washington, D.C. A beautiful shot at the National World War II memorial to all Americans who served in the armed forces and on the home front during the World War II. It's located right in the national mall in Washington, D.C. And for those that will probably be coming out today for Veterans Day to check out that memorial as well as the others. 46 degrees with light rain right now in Washington, D.C. Only getting up to about 60 degrees with the possibility of thunderstorms throughout the day.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: 60. That would be better than it was yesterday. It was cool yesterday.
CHETRY: Yes, but the rain and if you're walking around outside all day. Welcome back, once again. It is Monday, it's November 12th. I'm Kiran Chetry.
ROBERTS: And good morning to you, I'm John Roberts. New this morning, police sergeant Drew Peterson has been named a suspect in his wife's Stacey's disappearance and police say the case is now being treated as a potential homicide. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARL DOBRICH, ILLINOIS STATE POLICE: It was starting to strongly point to Drew Peterson being a person of interest. I would say that right now Drew Peterson has gone from a person of interest to clearly being a suspect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The 23-year-old woman has been missing for more than a week now. The case gained national interest in part because Drew Peterson's previous wife was found dead in a bathtub. It was his third wife. Judges now ordered that her body be exhumed to determine if her death was in fact an accident as a coroner's jury has ruled. We're going to discuss all the legal angles in this case with our Sonny Hostin coming up in our next here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Israeli police have raided several government offices all in search of evidence against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Authorities suspects the one-time Jerusalem mayor have taking part in shady real estate deals. Olmert accused of buying a discounted home in exchange for arranging construction permits while he was mayor. He's also alleged to have tried to rig the sale of Israel's number two bank to associates of his. Prime Minister Olmert has denied any wrongdoing. If a criminal indictment comes down and the prime minister public outcry could force him to step down from his post.
Terrorist attacks are down in Iraq. This according to Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki. Maliki says terrorist acts in Baghdad are down 77 percent since last year. U.S. officials have attributed much of the decline in violence to succession in driving al Qaeda in Iraq and other Sunni extremist groups from the Iraqi capital. Maliki says the terrorists are fleeing to neighboring countries. The prime minister has warned other Arab nations to be wary of who they let in.
CHETRY: Also new this morning, some breaking news overseas. Extreme weather sinking ships off the coast of Russians sparking a major environmental emergency. It's all happening in the strait of Kurtz outside of the Black Sea. Powerful storms and 18 foot waves sinking five ships and grounding five others. Among them an oil tanker that spilled thousands of gallons of fuel into the water. At least 23 sailors were washed out to sea. There was an urgent search now taking place to find them.
Well, no more field trips to the United Nations. At least for now. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he doesn't want school kids to visit the U.N. Headquarters until a number of safety hazards are addressed. That complex was built in the early 1900s lacking basic fire detectors and sprinklers on many floors. New York Fire Department gave the world body 866 violations last year. It was its first inspection in its 55-year history.
33 minutes past the hour now. Ali Velshi here "Minding Your Business." I'm just interested, could you do e-mail free Friday?
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not a chance. I couldn't do that. I couldn't save Friday and be e-mail free. I'm a total addict, junkie, yes. Not going to happen.
CHETRY: BlackBerry too. Couldn't just call everybody.
VELSHI: No, I mean, once in a while like my BlackBerry batteries died or the service is gone out and what little hair I have gets pulled out. I can't handle it.
CHETRY: I have to tell you this. Saturday I got pretty much no e-mail but I did get one from you. Did you get that Ali Velshi oil barrel e-mail?
ROBERTS: Yes.
VELSHI: One of these days I'm going to debut my new oil barrel pretty soon. So that is one of the things we are watching this week. The other one is the big banks who were trying to shore up some of the credit markets. I'll tell you what this is. This big banks that have been announcing this massive losses, it's not tied to the fact that they were giving subprime mortgages out. Others were giving subprime mortgages out and then selling the package of those mortgages as an asset to banks.
So, let's say a bank was giving out mortgages at 6 percent. They would then sell that mortgage to someone else and take a bit of a spread on it and the people at the other end, the big banks got, you know, ended up holding the bag on these mortgages. And those are the losses we're talking about. So, the nation's big banks are putting together a super fund, $70 billion to 1$100 billion and what that's meant to say is. For people who have sort of risky investments, company, not homeowners that are not tied to subprime mortgages, they're going to have money out there to help them borrow and to continue some of these big deals that we've been seeing over the last year and that is supposed to help the market feel like there's still business to be done in America.
They're crossing the T's and dotting the I's on this. And we'll have to see how that helps. Right now, the Dow is still looking like it's going to be kind of a middling morning. Interesting, a little lower than they were half an hour ago.
ROBERTS: These things always change.
VELSHI: This thing about this market is no guessing what happens in the next few days. You're going to have to play it if you're playing it very carefully and daily.
ROBERTS: Hang on and hope for the best.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROBERTS: Ali, thanks.
Scientists get one step closer to cloning humans. For the first time, scientist created dozens of cloned embryos from adult monkeys. This leads to both hope and concern that the same procedure could be used to make cloned human embryos. Little Bo Peep or somebody lost a sheep. A little lamb led police on a wild and woolly chase through the streets of Philadelphia on Sunday morning. Several times police had it cornered but the sheep managed to get away until they finally caught it and called animal control. They still don't know where the sheep came from. CPR Clinic.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre reached a career milestone becoming the second NFL quarterback to pass for more than 60,000 yards. Former Miami Dolphin Dan Marino is the only other quarterback to have more yards than Favre. Favre is expected to surpass Marino's 61,361-yard all-time mark this year. Favre 17th NFL season.
CHETRY: Well, how about this. It look like your average chocolate bunny but police say that one Atlanta man was doing a lot more than just satisfying a sweet tooth. They busted a 20-year-old for peddling candy that had hallucinogenic mushrooms inside. Police say that the bunny concealed the mushrooms. The man was also caught carrying a sheet of LSD. Investigators say he was trying to sell all of it for $650.
Well, just in time for winter. A record supply of flu vaccines. Brand new government numbers shows 103 million doses of flu vaccine have already been distributed to clinics, hospitals and pharmacies across the country. It's the biggest number ever. The CDC says it should pave the way for a record number of people getting vaccinated before flu sales season peaks and that's in January.
Also, some new insight into the drug-resistant Staph infection, the Superbug known as MRSA. It's been making so much news lately. Well, investigators -- researchers are reporting for the journal "Nature Medicine" just studied mice infected with the illness and they found that forms of MRSA actually caused germ-fighting immune cells to explode. That would maybe help explain why it's so difficult for the body to fight the infection.
Well, it's not lightning in a bottle but it's in the backyard. One man says he can make lightning. What his neighbors are saying about the bright idea. Looks pretty cool actually, doesn't it? A little scary, only UFO-ish. We're going to show you more on what he is doing, coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: Some breaking news out of Gaza. This is new video just coming into CNN. Forces loyal to Islamic militant group Hamas opened fire today at the Rival Fatah group's mass rally. This is the mass rally. It was to commemorate the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Witnesses are saying that one civilian was killed. At least three other people were wounded. Hamas said the dead man was killed by Fatah gunmen with fired from rooftops but that could not be confirmed. This rally had been expected to be Fatah's biggest show of strength since Hamas overran Gaza back in June.
In the meantime, 41 minutes past the hour and Bonnie Schneider is at our weather update desk tracking extreme weather including freezing rain in parts of the northeast. Hi, Bonnie.
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CHETRY: Well, you know, they say lightning never strikes the same place twice but maybe Tesla Coil does. Kevin Eldridge has his Newcastle neighbors a little freaked out there in Oklahoma because of what that device is. It's a high frequency, high voltage resonant transformer also known as a Tesla Coil and it can bring fire in the sky down to earth. And of course, thanks to YouTube now, you can watch it whenever he sends sparks. Thanks by the way for putting up the danger high voltage sign. I'm sure that makes the neighbors feel so much better. He says he started doing this back in the 1990s with some small ones and he just went from there. And this was a 16-foot- high Tesla Coil as it's called. But really what it looks like is just lightning bolting out of the sky whenever he wants to do it.
ROBERTS: Is that something you really need in your backyard.
CHETRY: I don't know. Maybe you don't need it.
ROBERTS: It's an interesting conversation piece. I don't know if you really need it.
Diplomacy not more tops your "Political Ticker" this morning. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is assuring skeptics to senates vote on Iran does not open the door to war. Some Democrats are concerned about the recent resolution designating Iran's revolutionary guard core as a terrorist organization. They say it could green light the administration to take military action against Iran but Rice speaking on ABC yesterday said the president is on a diplomatic path with Iran.
President Bush marked Veterans Day in Texas. He honored U.S. troops past and present at a ceremony yesterday for four Texans who died in Iraq. The president told families of fallen veterans their loved ones served a cause that is good.
Barack Obama says that if elected he will push for higher social security taxes. The Democratic presidential He says it's the best way to fix the finances of the retirement program. He says he wants to see the well off pay just a little bit more so that those in need will be protected.
Mitt Romney is holding back speaking in New Hampshire this weekend. Romney says his political advisers have urged him to give a speech explaining more fully his Mormon faith. Romney's religion has played a major role in his campaign. A Pew Senator Research Poll in September showed a quarter of all Republicans said they would be less likely to vote for a Mormon. His faith also brought some interesting comments from John McCain's mom a couple of few days ago. We're going to take a swat at that this morning with our political ballot jackpot and meantime, you can find all of the day's political news around the clock at cnn.com/ticker.
CHETRY: All right, mapping Muslim, the Los Angeles Police Department saying it will use census data to pinpoint potential hotbeds of extremism. (INAUDIBLE) say that it's part of an outreach program and community policing not everyone thinks it's so innocent though. Some Muslim groups are saying they're being profiled for no reason. The head of LAPD's counterterrorism unit will defend the program in our next hour.
And it brings us to our quick vote question of the morning. Are you in favor of the mapping of Muslim communities to support community policing? Or do you think it just amounts to racial profiling? Vote and we're going to have the first tally coming up in the next hour.
In the meantime, too many e-mails taking up all your time at work. Just imagine how long it takes to filter through all those reply all e-mail that really have nothing to do with you. We'll tell you what companies are doing to try to ease the e-mail burden on their employees.
Also, two columbine suspects may have killed themselves after their shooting spree. But they're alive and well on the Internet. A scary look at some of the sites that glamorize these teens ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: Welcome back. If you're just joining us, 6:49 on the East Coast. Here's a look at what's making headlines this morning. Breaking news out of Gaza. Gunmen -- gunfire erupting at a Fatah rally. It was commemorating the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Witnesses say that forces loyal to Islamic militant groups Hamas killed one civilian and wounded at least three others. There's a look at the rallies that were taking place. Palestinian sources say that one person was killed and more than two dozen hurt. Hamas said the man was killed by Fatah gunmen. He would fire from rooftops. That could not be confirmed. The rally was expected to be Fatah's biggest show of strength since Hamas overran Fatah back in June.
The oil spill in San Francisco, now the subject of a criminal investigation. It's the worst spill there in 20 years. Crew members are being questioned to figure out what cause it. The container ship hit the bay bridge leaving a gash in the ship's side and 58,000 gallons of oil leaked into the bay. We're going to have a live report coming up at the top of the hour.
Also stocks across Asia lower this morning following another big drop in the Dow on Friday. In all, the Dow lost more than 550 points last week. Investors are hoping to see some signs of relief in the financial sector which has been hit hard with losses from bad loans.
And Veterans Day 2007. Here's a live look this morning from warriors walk in Ft. Stewart, Georgia. Just a beautiful shot there this morning as Americans across the country pause to honor members of the U.S. Armed Forces. Those who died in service. Those who are still serving including more than 300 lost by the 3rd Infantry Division at Ft. Stewart, Georgia.
Well, first TV and now Broadway especially in the height of the big holiday Broadway season. 28 shows shut down because Stagehands are on strike. Stagehands have been working without a new contract and now say they will not return to work until producers start acting, quote "honorably" at the negotiating table.
ROBERTS: 51 minutes after the hour. Now, a Finnish teen who shot and killed eight people at his school last week may have been chatting online with a teen in Pennsylvania accused of plotting a similar attack. CNN correspondent Veronica De La Cruz joins us with more on this. Such a tragic and bizarre case.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We heard Jim Acosta tell us about it earlier. Both high schoolers reportedly regulars on MySpace and YouTube pages. That glorified columbine idolized killer Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold hanging at the wed looking at some of these pages, John. It's apparent that these were not alone. If you go to myspace.com type in columbine, more than 48,000 items pop up and users have put together photo montages, video montages of the 911 calls and surveillance video from the columbine shooting and we really found disturbing are some of the comments posted of one 16-year-old MySpace user writing you know, "I can't really say anything that would justify what they did and as wrong as it sounds I will say this, they stood up for what they believed was right."
ROBERTS: That's shocking.
DE LA CRUZ: A different sight dedicated to columbine. A 15- year-old MySpace user writes, "I think that they are the most awesome people. I mean they actually did what they wanted, they will never be forgotten, rest in peace, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris." It is absolutely shocking. Now, that's MySpace, John.
If you go to YouTube and you search you'll get more than 900 pages, numerous videos paying tribute to Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold them. Like this one called columbine dead celebrities. Well, there are plenty of users on these sites that express their disgust for these killers. It is very scary to see how many young people write about how they can relate to Eric and Dylan even describing them as God- like. It really is scary too see the population of this websites that exist. Now, they're trying to make the connection between this Finnish high school shooter and this high school kid in Pennsylvania.
ROBERTS: You kind of wonder with the kids glorifying Harris and Klebold, where is the parenting here? Where is the, you know, establishing the values and morality?
DE LA CRUZ: Exactly, yes. Good question.
ROBERTS: Incredible. Veronica, thanks.
Kiran?
CHETRY: Sure is. Well, it's moving day in space. Astronauts using the space station's robotic arm to move the new docking connection into place today. The connection is called "Harmony." It was what was recently delivered by the shuttle "Discovery" crew.
Can you imagine a day without e-mail? Well, why some bosses are starting to ask workers to pull the plug. One day a week. Is it practical? Could it work in your office? We'll talk about it coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: Well, are you overloaded with work e-mails even when you're not in the office? More companies are beginning to institute what's being called e-mail-free Fridays to try to wean people off their BlackBerries and computers.
CHETRY: So, does less e-mailing mean more work getting done. We're joined by Polly Labarre right now to talk more about it. I can't imagine not turning this one and seeing 15, 20, 30 e-mails coming in every 15 minutes.
POLLY LABARRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the very tools that we've created to help us with our productivity are actually now bogging us down. Because they are so ubiquitous. So, the average office worker gets interrupted roughly every two minutes by a ping or a ding or pop-up window and it's really overwhelming. So a lot of leaders are sort of taking back the night and saying, wait a second, let's put a hold on it. Let's try to stop it. And the main experiment here is something called no e-mail Friday.
So, it's kind of like the slow food movement. Now, we've got the slow e-mail movement. Let's pull it back. So, leaders at Intel, Deloitte and Touche U.S. seller have actually instituted this policy of let's get rid of unnecessary e-mails on Fridays.
ROBERTS: Is it just employees that are whining about it or the real productivity issues.
LABARRE: Oh, huge productivity issues. I mean, if you look at some of the numbers, employees send 20,000 e-mails a year. That adds up to about 55 or 100 a day. A 100 work days essentially spent on e- mail. So, if you spend about 40 percent of your time on e-mail and think that a third is wasted time dealing with reply to all, spam, unnecessary, sort of jokes forwarded, it becomes a real productivity issue. Importantly, when you are interrupted by an e-mail it takes 15 minutes to get back to your original task. HPD did a study that said, all these interruptions and you spend your day working on tasks and being interrupted, you lose ten I.Q. points that's equivalent losing a full night sleep.
ROBERTS: People need to know how to multitask.
CHETRY: And you know, the interesting this is when you talk about where people e-mail and just how often they e-mail. This is kind of a wake-up call.
LABARRE: This borders on certifiable, this behavior right. 59 percent of us e-mail from bed. 53 percent of us e-mail from the bathroom. 12 percent from church. You know, this -- we really need to put this down. And I think we all experience this. Checking our e-mail first in the morning, last thing at night. Checking it several times an hour. It's really becomes a behavioral issue. CHETRY: I would love to follow Polly around on one of this e- mail free Fridays with a camera
LABARRE: And see how long you last. I'm as much of an addict as anyone else?
CHETRY: Would you be a guinea pig for us?
LABARRE: I would try.
ROBERTS: You know, e-mailing from the bathroom is one thing. I went to a washroom the other day, there was a guy in one of the stalls chatting away on his cell phone. And I thought to myself, what if the person, the other end of the line knows where he is.
CHETRY: Polly, thanks so much.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Polly. Story coming up in the next hour that you just can't miss on AMERICAN MORNING.
He's been a husband four times, now he's a suspect in his current wife's disappearance.
CHETRY: That's right. There are some new details this morning on the case against Drew Peterson and then there is new information about the mysterious death of his last wife. If she feared him and whether or not she was ever arrested for domestic violence. The plot victim this morning as the search continues for this 23-year-old who has been missing for nearly two weeks.
The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.
ROBERTS: Spreading disaster.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The U.S. attorney's office has opened a criminal investigation.
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ROBERTS: What caused a cargo ship's oil spill? Could earlier word have prevented worse damage?
American Link. Investigating online ties between a school shooter in Finland and a troubled teen with an arsenal in Pennsylvania.
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