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American Morning
Fed Launching Criminal Probe After Worst Oil Spill in San Francisco Bay in Nearly Two Decades; New Information About Kids Who are Allergic to Milk
Aired November 12, 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: 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.
Plus, on the map. Targeting Muslims where they live. Outrage over this community outreach. On this AMERICAN MORNING.
Hey, good morning to you. Thanks very much for joining us on this Monday, the 12th of November. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry. It's Veterans Day.
Also, we have some breaking news out of Gaza. Gunfire erupting at a Fatah rally. It was to commemorate late leader of the Palestinian people, Yasser Arafat. Well, Palestinian sources are saying that forces loyal to Islamic militant group, Hamas, fired on the crowd, killing now what's up to three people. At least 30 others injured.
Hamas says that one of those killed was killed by a Fatah gunman who had fired from rooftops. The rally is expected to be Fatah's biggest show of strength since Hamas took control back in June.
Our other top story today, breaking news out of California. The fed now launching a criminal probe after the worst oil spill in the San Francisco bay in nearly two decades. Investigators grilling crew members of the container ship about the crash into the bay bridge last week. It spilled 58,000 gallons of heavy-duty oil.
Well, now the NTSB is reviewing the ship's data recorder, and volunteers across the bay area are offering to help clean up the gobs of oil that have now spread to nearby beaches, I think 23 beaches in all and counting, as well as the wildlife there.
AMERICAN MORNING's Alina Cho has been following the story from our national update desk this morning -- Alina.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, good morning, just a mess really. Part of the investigation will focus on 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 arrived in the area on Sunday and says his team was busy responding, and there was simply a delay in getting the information out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADMIRAL THAD ALLEN, U.S COAST GUARD: By late in the afternoon between 4:00 or 5:00, we had determined based on the ability to move the fuel into sound needs and the tank what the likely discharge was. At that time, we were mobilizing resources and response equipment, putting booms in place, getting skimming equipment thereafter was out there, and it was an error of omission, not co-mission. It shouldn't have been done, and we are looking at that as part of our response.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Now, a couple of others things you should know, weather was a factor. There was dense fog in the area at the time. But still, the coast guard initially reported only 140 gallons had spilled. It wasn't until several hours later that they realized the magnitude of the accident.
Remember, 58,000 gallons spilled into San Francisco bay. Only 16,000 gallons of that heavy-duty oil have been either recovered or evaporated so far. At least 200 birds have been killed, another 400- plus were covered in oil.
On Friday, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency, and this is affecting the local economy as well. Kiran, at least a dozen beaches or more have closed. Fishing has been banned in certain areas, and the cleanup could take weeks, possibly even months. And it could be awhile before we know what happened. The investigation we are hearing could take up to a year.
CHETRY: A lot of questions about their readiness as well and whether or not they were prepared for something on that scale. Alina, thank you.
CHO: You bet.
ROBERTS: Who knows how long the cleanup from the subprime mortgage crisis is going to take. World stock markets in a tumble this morning. Japan's Nikkei index falls to its lowest level this year. Markets in Hong Kong, Shanghai both closed down sharply.
The culprit? Banks in the United States losing billions of dollars on the mortgage crisis. Wachovia, Citigroup, Bank of America all reporting massive losses on subprime.
Our Ali Velshi at the business update desk for us this morning with what it means for today's opening on Wall Street. Is this what's happening in Asia just a reaction to what happened on Friday, or could this come around to bite us again today, Ali ? ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, both.
ROBERTS: Huh?
VELSHI: Actually, yes, on both counts. I don't know how folks who don't do this for a living follow and make sense of exactly what happens every hour almost it seems on the markets when they're trading.
On Wall Street on Friday, we had a very volatile day. You know at 3:30, half an hour before markets closed, I looked at it and the Dow was down about 90 points, which in this market is not that big a deal, and it ended up 200 points lower within half an hour. I mean, that's the way things go. Asia caught that. That's what started happening. It started to turn around this morning.
Right now, we've got a mixed morning looking like a positive open. But let's just look at last week on the stock market. Last week, one week, this is what the percentages look like.
The Dow was down 4 percent in one week. The Nasdaq, 6.5 percent. S&P 500, 3.7 percent. That's pretty significant. Look at the year to date. However, there is some good news here. On all three major markets, there are positive arrows.
You are still up on the Dow, the Nasdaq, and by a smidge on the S&P, and that's what we're looking at. Now this week today, we may expect news from HSBC, which by the way, had direct exposure to these mortgages. We may hear about a write-down from HSBC. We got a lot of economic reports, where people are going to be watching very closely to judge the health of the economy.
But once again, as you said earlier, John, fasten your seat belt. It's going to be another ride this week.
ROBERTS: The year to date rise of the Dow, though, almost about what you get if you put your money into bonds.
VELSHI: That's a very good way to think about it. For all that risk you took and all that volatility, not much payback.
ROBERTS: Yes. But, you know, it's like a roller coaster, you always think you enjoy the ride.
VELSHI: That's right.
ROBERTS: Ali, thanks -- Kiran?
CHETRY: Also, new this morning, the fight for democracy in Pakistan. The Bush administration calling President Pervez Musharraf's decision to hold elections January 9th a "positive element," but there is still some criticism. On ABC this week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that Musharraf needs to restore constitutional rule as soon as possible.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) 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 will 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.
Meantime, Opposition leader and former Prime Minster 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.
A former top Bush administration official admits that he was "foolish" for revealing a CIA operative's identity. Former Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, spoke out on CNN's late edition about naming Valerie Plame to a reporter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD ARMITAGE, FMR. DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE: I think it was extraordinarily foolish of me. There was no ill intent on my part.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Armitage publicly apologized to Plame and her husband, Joe Wilson, last year. Armitage said he saw her name in a memo, so he didn't think she was covert. He said that's not an excuse, and he still should not have revealed her identity.
America observes the Veterans Day holiday today, honoring U.S. troops. On this Veterans Day, we want to show you some pictures from tributes around the country.
A live look now from the World War Two Memorial on the mall in Washington, D.C. and also Fort Stewart, Georgia, home of the 3rd Infantry Division.
And this is Warriors Walk, where one tree is planted for each of the more than 300 soldiers who gave their lives in Iraq. A labor of love by one veteran, and we are going to meet him and hear what inspires him. Coming up in the next hour of AMERICAN MORNING. Just a beautiful shot out of Fort Stewart this morning, John.
ROBERTS: Just about eight minutes after the hour now.
Should adult adoptees -- should adult adoptees have access to their birth records allowing them to learn the identity of their biological parents? The U.S. Adoption Institute is issuing a report today that says adults who were adopted as children should be able to learn who their parents are. The group is urging the rest of the country to follow the example of the eight states that allow adoptees to have complete access to birth records.
The lights are much brighter on Broadway, at least not right now. Broadway went dark over the weekend as a stagehand strike shut down 28 shows. The first show shut down was "How The Grinch Stole Christmas."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We pull up and then all of a sudden we hear everything's going dark and the kids are like, what does dark mean? Why? No lights? Yes, basically, no lights and no show. So, it's a shame that, you know, they start with the kids', you know, play. That's disappointing for the children.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Stagehands have been working without a new contract. Now, they say they won't return to work until producers start acting "honorably" at the negotiating table.
And researchers say they now know why the drug-resistant "superbug" is so effective in beating the immune system. New findings show that it secretes a compound that actually causes germ-fighting cells to explode. The study was presented in the journal "Nature Medicine." Researchers say that it could lead to better treatments so they could figure out how to get in the way of that mechanism -- Kiran?
CHETRY: Well, Bonnie Schneider is at the weather update desk. She's tracking extreme weather, including a freeze warning for North Carolina. Hi, Bonnie.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMERICAN MORNING METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Kiran. You know, it will be a chilly one if you're looking to take a walk on the beach on the outer banks. We have a freeze warning in effect straight until 8:00.
Now, temperatures aren't that cold, but the warning has been issued because overnight anyone that had tender vegetation or crops need to kind of mind it. It looks likes the temperatures would drop even colder than they did. That's the same thing further to the north in New Jersey, where we're watching out for the possibility of freezing rain in around central New Jersey this morning for the morning commute, especially on bridges and overpasses.
The freeze warning in northeastern Suffolk County out on Long Island is about to expire 8:00 as well. Plenty of rain worked its way through Washington. Now, it's going southward towards southern Maryland. In and around the beltway, we had some heavy rain but looks like that let up.
Watch out for more rain riding along a warm front throughout much of the day today. There's a front coming through, first a warm front, then a cold one, that will bring about some wind and rain as well to areas into the mid-south. Speaking of wind, it's going to pretty rough going into the areas of the north, the pacific northwest, Seattle, down through Portland and Eugene. This is a powerful storm that's not producing a lot of rain right now, but the wind warnings are in place and they are going to be pretty strong. Kiran, the beaches right along Washington and Oregon coast could get up to 80 miles per hour wind gusts later today. It's going to be a fierce storm out there.
CHETRY: Wow, all right. Thanks, Bonnie.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
CHETRY: John?
ROBERTS: It's an allergy that may affect more children than you think. New information today about kids who are allergic to milk and how long those allergies can last. Our Elizabeth Cohen is at our medical update desk with more on this.
Good morning, Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. John, it is really striking how many parents can miss the sign of a milk allergy in a baby or child, and doctors sometimes miss it, too. Well, there's a new study about this. And here are the signs of milk allergies that parents need to look for, and there are several of them and ones you wouldn't necessarily think.
For example, skin problems. If your child has a rash or hives or eczema, it could be a milk allergy or GI problems, like an upset stomach or nausea, or breathing problems like wheezing could mean a skin allergy.
Now, John, what this new study found is that most doctors will tell parents, oh, you know what, the allergy will go away by the time your child is 4. Don't worry about it. But this study says, no, no. That is not true. They said 80 percent of kids still have milk allergies on their fourth birthday -- John?
ROBERTS: So do kids ever eventually outgrow this? And just for parents who may not know, how is it different than lactose intolerance?
COHEN: Right, lactose intolerance is where you just have trouble digesting the milk. You're missing that enzyme and certainly can make you feel sick. But it's not going to give you the eczema issues or the wheezing issues. They're two different things, and it's important to make that distinction.
As for milk allergies, they will usually go away during the teen years, but it does take awhile. So if your baby has a milk allergy, it might not go away until they're 12, 13, 14, somewhere in that range.
ROBERTS: All right. So just be patient.
COHEN: Just right.
ROBERTS: Elizabeth Cohen for us this morning. Liz, thanks.
COHEN: Thanks.
ROBERTS: Kiran?
CHETRY: The Los Angeles Police Department saying it will use census data to pinpoint potential hotbeds of extremism. They say it's part of an outrage program and community. Police saying but not everyone think it's so innocent.
Some Muslim groups say they are being profiled for no reason. The head of LAPD Counterterrorism Unit is defending the program. We're going to talk with him. Coming up in the next half hour.
And meanwhile, it brings us to our "Quick Vote" question of the morning. Do you support mapping of Muslim communities to support community policing? Right now, 70 percent of you say yes. Thirty percent say no. We will continue to update the votes throughout the morning.
ROBERTS: Police are now pointing the finger at Drew Peterson in the disappearance of his wife Stacy. Investigators also re-examining the death of his previous wife, his third. We'll get the legal perspective from Sunny Hostin. That's coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Fifteen minutes after the hour. A look into the past in Peru. Archaeologists there have unearthed the ruins of an ancient temple. It's about half the size of a football field, and they say that it is Pre-Incan, which means it's thousands of years old. The temple holds a staircase that leads to an altar, and researchers think that the civilization that built it was surprisingly advanced -- Kiran?
CHETRY: Well, it's now been more than two weeks after 23-year- old Stacy Peterson disappeared in the Chicago area. Investigators are now ready to call her police officer husband a suspect. Stacy Peterson's family says that she would never leave her two young children. She had a 2 and a 4-year-old. Her husband Drew has said that Stacy left him for another man.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. 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)
CHETRY: Joining us now to talk more about this case, that was the Bolingbrook Police Department and the investigators in this case, by the way, is Sunny Hostin, our American Morning legal analyst. Thanks for being with us, Sunny.
SUNNY HOSTIN, AMERICAN MORNING LEGAL ANALYST: Nice to be here.
CHETRY: What are the implications of moving from person of interest to suspect?
HOSTIN: Well, they think he did it. That sort of --
CHETRY: They didn't before?
HOSTIN: They didn't before, apparently. But when a -- when law enforcement says this person has moved from a person of interest to a suspect, it really means we have some evidence. We are investigating. We think this is our guy.
CHETRY: Does it change the way they are able to question him and also his legal rights?
HOSTIN: It really does. Most of the time when someone is a suspect, that means they better get an attorney, they should lawyer up. If he's going to be interviewed, he's probably not going to cooperate anymore. By the way, his attorney will be with him.
CHETRY: So they said for the last week that he has talked to them less and less. So --
HOSTIN: Absolutely.
CHETRY: That will probably continue. Meanwhile, as all of this is happening with his current case, the judge's now ordered that the body of Drew Peterson's third wife be exhumed for additional investigation because of the disappearance of Stacy. Some mysterious circumstances. She apparently drowned in a bathtub.
HOSTIN: That's right.
CHETRY: Investigators found no water in that bathtub, and now, they're exhuming her body. What impact could it have on the current case?
HOSTIN: First of all, it's very, very unusual for that to happen. In this case, we had a coroner's jury, which typically is about 6 to 20 people that sit and they really review the evidence of that particular cause of death.
They found that it was an accidental drowning. And now, they're bringing up her body. When that happens, that means the government thinks that they need to take a second look at the evidence, and there may be foul play.
CHETRY: I'm just wondering if there's something all of us do not know about how certain they are that Stacy Peterson was, in fact, murdered on the fact that they would go back to a case that really -- I mean, it was sort of open and shut, and they said that she died accidentally, the past wife.
And now, they're going through the process of exhuming her body when no one really knows what happened to his current wife. HOSTIN: Well, there's no body. And typically, with a murder case, you really need a body to sort of prove that case. So it's all circumstantial right now. She's missing. She has two small children. Now, the government is thinking this guy is our guy. And now, his third wife died accidentally, oddly. It really lends the suspicions. We have now a little more strength to the suspicions.
CHETRY: Why didn't the evidence raise more suspicions the first time around? Apparently, his third wife had abrasions, a head wound, and as we said the bathtub had no water.
HOSTIN: Well, you know, I hate to say this, and it's all speculation at this point. But the bottom line is, this was a member of law enforcement. His own -- you know, probably his friends were investigating the murder. People don't want to think that those close to them, especially those in law enforcement, would commit a crime, would be someone that would kill his wife.
And so my guess is, he said this was an accident. I wasn't here. They took it as face value as an officer of the court, as an officer of the law, and the coroner's jury believed whatever it is that he had to say. Now, we know that probably that's not true. He's a suspect.
We're going to get that body, her body, the third wife's body and hopefully that will answer some of the questions and hopefully we'll find his fourth wife.
CHETRY: Sunny Hostin, thank you.
HOSTIN: Thank you.
ROBERTS: A convention of crazy cars tops your "Quick Hits" now. Looks like a pump but it's really a car. It's one of many zany art cars at the Sacramento International auto show. There was an extra long car that was covered in clown wigs, even a set of wheels shaped like a banana. No sign of the Oscar Mayer winner car yet, though. The show runs through today.
Racing up the stairs of the nation's tallest building, about 2,000 people huffed and puffed up the 103 flights of stairs in Chicago's Sears Tower on Sunday. The climb is more than 2,000 steps, over 1,300 vertical feet. The event was expected to raise about $350,000 for cancer research.
How long would it take you to climb up those stairs? The winner did it in just over 13 minutes.
Dignitaries from all over the world head to the United Nations building every day, but New York city mayor Michael Bloomberg says it's not fit for kids. We'll tell you why.
And three years ago today, her helicopter was shot down and her life was changed forever. Tammy Duckworth says she's opposed to the war in Iraq. But hear why she says she'd return. Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the most news in the morning here on CNN. Your "Quick Hits" now on this Veterans Day.
We want to show you some pictures from tributes around the country. These are live pictures from the World War Two Memorial on the mall in Washington, D.C., a beautiful, beautiful scene. Unfortunately, a little bit of light rain there today and thunderstorms threatening for anybody who's planning on going down to the mall.
In Fort Stewart, Georgia, trees are planted to remember each soldier who died serving in Iraq. So far, there are more than 300 eastern red bud trees lining what's called Warriors Walk. The caretaker and veteran himself, Joe Jacobs, joins us in our 8:00 hour to talk more about it and his observance of Veterans Day.
And a tribute in Niagara Falls last night. The falls were lit red as a symbol of remembrance. The falls were lit for 15 minutes of every hour from 5:00 until 11:00 with the last moment of remembrance coming at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. We saw the Horseshoe Falls lit up as well on the Canadian side because in Canada, it's what they call Remembrance Day.
Then two vets giving back. Mark and Paula Thompson are Iraq war vets transitioning back to civilian life. They run a coffee shop in Michigan and pledged 50 percent of their Veterans Day profits to Fisher House, which is an organization that helps wounded vets.
CHETRY: That's right. It helps their families. And oftentimes, it's so expensive for them to fly across the country to where their loved one's receiving treatment.
Also, three years ago today, Tammy Duckworth's helicopter was shot down near Baghdad. She lost both of her legs. Well, today, she's fighting for the rights of all veterans. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta shows us how.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Tammy Duckworth, the fight began November 12th, 2004. Tammy seated in the cockpit of a Black Hawk helicopter just north of Baghdad. On her last flight of the day with Dan Milburn (ph), the pilot in command.
DAN MILBURN, PILOT IN COMMAND OF BLACK HAWK HELICOPTER: I'm thinking this is great, 15 more minutes, we're going to be home. We'll be (inaudible). Nobody sees us. Nobody has any clue we're even here. And all of a sudden, boom.
TAMMY DUCKWORTH, PILOT WITH DAN MILBURN: Then I remember a big orange fire ball in my face.
GUPTA: A rocket-propelled grenade ripped through her body.
DUCKWORTH: And I don't remember my physical feelings other than absolute frustration that the pedals of the aircraft were not responding to me pushing on them.
GUPTA (on camera): The pedals weren't responding. Why?
DUCKWORTH: Right. I didn't have any legs.
MILBURN: And she's slumped over up against the instrument panel.
She didn't seem like Tammy. She didn't have a smile on her face. She wasn't talking. I thought she was dead. And, yes.
GUPTA (voice-over): An ocean away, Tammy's husband, Brian Bowlsbey (ph) was celebrating with his family in Maryland. It was the night before his brother's wedding. Brian was best man. The evening interrupted when he played a voice mail. It was Tammy's dad.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Department of the Army Casualty called him and told him that Tammy had been shot down, lost both legs and was likely to be a triple amputee.
GUPTA: Thirteen long months at Walter Reed. Tammy Duckworth had a lot of time to think about the future, and it looked bleak.
DUCKWORTH: Watch out. I started becoming more and more worried that the transition from the incredible care I received at Walter Reed was not going to happen smoothly as I went to the V.A. Then I started worrying about the fact that maybe this country won't remember in five years that there are all these war wounded and that this is also a price of the war.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Dr. Sanjay Gupta's "Broken Government Special, Waging War on the V.A." It's Saturday and Sunday, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.
ROBERTS: We want to put up a live shot that we're getting from APTN, the Associated Press Television in London. You can see a massive plume of smoke there behind the millennium wheel. Now apparently, it's not close to the millennium wheel, which is right across the Thames River from parliament. That's off on the east end of London.
Don't know if that's some sort of fire, perhaps along the docks on the eastern part of London, but we're checking into it. We'll try to have more for you. But again, a massive plume of smoke this morning in London. We're checking on the source of that smoke. We'll get back to you just as soon as we can. We'll have the day's headlines as well as soon as AMERICAN MORNING returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN, ANCHOR: We have the pictures right now but not much information. This is a shot this morning out of London. You see plumes of smoke in the background there. This is coming from east London. The cause, the location of exactly where this is happening we're not sure. JOHN ROBERTS, CNN, ANCHOR: Good morning to you. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
It's November the 12th, John Roberts along with Kiran Chetry. The perspective that you are seeing in that particular shot there, it looks like the camera was is in Westminster, which is right near the parliament buildings. This obviously a different one. But taking a shot through the Millennium Wheel on the last picture which would put it somewhere along probably the Thames River in the eastern part of London. There don't appear to be any large oil storage tanks or anything like that. Very, very thick smoke. It looks like it almost could be coming from some sort of a fuel depot.
Of course, a tremendous number of buildings along there as well. No indication at this point what the source of ignition was for this fire. But it's obviously a very large fire because of the amount of smoke that it's giving off. We've got the folks in our London bureau working the phones right now to try to find out what's going on. Other than that, there's not a whole lot that we can tell you at this point, but we'll keep watching it and we'll get back to you on this just as soon as we have a little bit more information.
Also this morning, breaking news out of Gaza. Gunfire erupting at a Fatah rally commemorating the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Palestinian sources say forces loyal to Islamic militant group Hamas killed as many as five people. At least 30 others were injured. But Hamas said the dead man was killed by Fatah gunman who had fired from a rooftop. The rally is expected to be Fatah's biggest show of strength since Hamas took control of Gaza back in June.
Also breaking news out of California to tell about, 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, leaking nearly 58,000 gallons of heavy-duty toxic bunker oil. The Coast Guard is investigating whether speed and communication problems caused the disaster. The NTSB, National Transportation Safety Board, is reviewing the ship's data recorder. Volunteers across the bay area are offering to clean up globs of oil that have now spread to nearby beaches and wildlife.
CHETRY: Another major oil spill to tell you about, but this one off the coast of Russia, just outside of the Black Sea. Powerful storms, 18-foot waves sinking five ships, grounding five others. Among them, an oil tanker that spilled thousands of gallons of fuel into the water. You see those huge waves just crashing over these boats. At least 23 sailors were washed out to sea. An urgent search for them continues still.
In Italy now, in a fiery showdown between soccer fans and police. This was in Rome. Hundreds of fans stormed a police station late Sunday, lighting fires, pelting rocks at officers. It's all in retaliation for an officer accidentally shooting a soccer fan in Tuscany, trying to broke up a post-game fight. So far, only minor injuries have been reported in that riot in Rome.
34 minutes past the hour. Ali Velshi here is minding your business this morning. So, you've got your new and improved oil barrel. What are we looking at in terms of how much we're going to pay?
ALI VELSHI, CNN, "MINDING YOUR BUSINESS": I rushed and we probably paid a little extra to have that oil barrel ready for the fact that we're all looking at this $100 a barrel oil. That's not where it is. Oil closed the day on Friday at $95.52. I'm sorry, $96.32. It's around $95.52, now it's down further. Why is oil going in that direction? A couple of reasons. One is OPEC heads of state, this is not the normal OPEC meeting but the heads of the states that are members of OPEC are meeting in the next few days, and there is some speculation that will be, that will affect the price of oil.
ROBERTS: Kiran, we got these pictures back.
CHETRY: That's right. That's what we've been following breaking news out of London.
VELSHI: These are OPEC, sorry. There's your London pictures.
ROBERTS: Right. Richard Quest from our London bureau is on the phone with us now. He joins us live. Richard, we're hearing that this may be a warehouse in London's industrial east end that's on fire? What information do you have?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN, CORRESPONDENT (over the phone): Well, it was about, I was actually at home and that's where I'm speaking to you from at the moment. I live on the seventh floor of an apartment building in London. It was about 15 minutes ago, 15, 20 minutes ago that I just happened to look outside over a cup of tea, and there (inaudible) over the east end of London was the most enormous smoke plume coming out of the east end of London.
I'm speaking to you now and I don't know whether you have pictures of this yet. The smoke which is thick, it's black and it looks acrid. It is now starting to spread like a giant cloud over the center of London. Looking down to the base of the fire or at least the base of the smoke plume, it is obviously still continuing because the smoke is still rising. Now, from my knowledge roughly of where I am in relation to the rest of London, it's well on the east end of London. And whatever has caused this fire is still feeding it. I would suggest extremely strongly, John.
ROBERTS: Right. Richard, we do have the pictures up of the smoke. We can see it's obviously very heavy. Of course, any time something like this happens in London, you wonder if it's perhaps terror-related because we all remember what happened earlier this summer when terrorists tried to explode two car bombs in London, and then ran one into the airline terminal there Glasgow. This, though, Richard, could be your every day, ordinary run of the mill warehouse fire, though, could it?
QUEST: I'm, speculation is always very risky in these situations, but I'll have a go at it anyway. I would suggest, judging by the size and scale of what I'm looking at, that it is, pardon the phrase, a common gardener fire. I would have thought if this would have been some sort of explosion we might have heard by now that the nature of it, or we would be getting reports of "an explosion." But I do emphasize, you know, you make yourself a hostage to fortune when you say something like that. I can tell you, looking at that smoke at the moment, it is getting thicker coming from the base of the fire, from what I can see over here. So, it is clearly a, a fed fire, if you like. It's clearly still raging. Whatever is burning, whether it's fuel or whether it's industrial condiments of some sort, it is clearly still very much raging at the moment, with black, billowing smoke.
ROBERTS: All right.
CHETRY: Do you know about the area? We're getting a little bit of info off our wires from London that it's Waterton Road in Stratford in that industrial area, east of London. Are you familiar with that area?
QUEST: Yes, vaguely familiar, yes. What we are talking about, and to put it into terms of saying New York, for example, by the time you're heading out towards that part of London, you're heading out towards the Brooklyn, Queens, way out area of London, into the Stratford part. So, you are talking about the suburbs of London. You are talking about a part of the city that was industrial. It is under massive regeneration. And that is a key area where the Olympics in 2012, the regeneration of London, is all going to be based.
CHETRY: All right, Richard, thanks so much. We did get a tiny bit of new information, just some more details. Scotland Yard spokesman saying there were no reports of an explosion, that police are reporting to a, responding to a large number of emergency calls. They say they have eight fire engines there, around 40 firefighters dealing with this situation. So, again, we will keep our eye on it as we find out a little bit more about the cause. Again, no reports of an explosion, at least according to Scotland Yard, but a fire on the east end of London today.
We have our own Nic Robertson as well who is there. Perhaps, Nic, you can give us a few more details about what we're just learning, and Scotland Yard confirming this is not an explosion?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kiran, I was in the east end of London this morning when the column of smoke started to rise up, been watching it steadily growing. It's over my head now, some of it is gray, some of it is black smoke. What we are seeing now that we weren't seeing a few minutes ago, small pieces of look like burned paper floating down out of the sky, some pieces of white burnt paper, some pieces of black burnt paper, charred paper just now beginning to fall out of the sky. Out of this black smoke. I'm looking at lots of small pieces of paper coming down around me now.
Now, the column of smoke as Richard was describing before, it's a clear blue sky. It's the column of smoke was coming up very close to London City Airport, in the east end of the city. You can see some of the planes on their flight path diverting around, or appear to be diverting around this very big column of black smoke. As it rose up you, became bigger and broader. I'm looking up at it now. It's right above my head. Thick, black, blotting out the sun, Kiran.
CHETRY: Wow, you know, we just want to let anyone know that if you are there at the scene and you can send in an i-Report, we would love to see what you're seeing. What we have Nic is basically just a pretty wide shot, and we can certain, we see a lot of the city and we see the plumes of smoke rising in the background but not what exactly is going on in the east end, in that area of Waterton Road.
ROBERTSON: I wasn't able to be very close to where the fire began, although I had come through that area before. And it was very quiet, very normal day, nothing untoward at all. Just as we turned back to face London, the column of smoke began to rise up, and I can tell you everybody around here is stopping, looking out of their windows, stopping their cars, looking at it, peering across the river, across the river Thames toward where this fire is. Anyone with a camera is taking picture. Anyone with a cell phone, able to take pictures, taking a picture of it. Everyone is watching it and wondering exactly what's causing it. As I'm looking now into the sky, I can see the planes flying in from the east of London now diverting around, some of them actually going into this huge, huge column of smoke which must be very, very clear from the sky where they're flying into the east end of London. Kiran.
CHETRY: All right, Nic Robertson reporting for us. Again, a little bit of new information just flipping over the wires. Again, it's believed to be, at least according to police and fire officials, a fire that happened inside an old bus garage in east London. So, again, when asked about the possibility, it was connected to terror, police spokespeople at this point from London, saying it's too early to speculate.
ROBERTS: The war on terror, the Los Angeles Police Department wants to identify potential extremists by putting Muslims on a map. Is it a good idea, or is it religious profiling? We are talking to the head of L.A.'s counter-terrorism unit, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: 14 minutes to the top of the hour.
Now, a look at the large plume of smoke hanging over London today. Apparently, it's a fire in what might be an old bus garage in the Stratford area in east London. It's a few miles from the Canary Wharf development. The London police say too early to tell if terrorism is involved here, too early to speculate, the official quote. But it may be that this is just, as Richard Quest told us a little while ago, just your ordinary gardener's fire is what he said it was. The fact that there may be some old buses inside it filled with diesel fuel may be part of the reason why we're seeing such heavy black smoke, but certainly caused a little bit of concern there in London today initially. According to the London fire department, they've got about 30 firefighters that are working on it. Indeed, the amount of smoke seems to be decreasing somewhat so perhaps they are making some progress in getting the fire under control.
In terms of what we're expecting today as far as weather goes, our Bonnie Schneider at the weather update desk for us today, in for Rob Marciano, tracking extreme weather. Cold in the southeast today, Bonnie?
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely, John. There was a freeze warning for parts of North Carolina, it just expired because temperatures are now starting to get close to 40 degrees but it was a cold period there overnight. Also cold in central New Jersey. We've been watching out for flurries, the possibility of some freezing rain, haven't had any reports of it yet.
But be on the lookout. Bridges and overpasses, we could see that there. Also across Long Island, we are looking at cold temperatures, not too bad but there is a freeze warning once again for northeastern Suffolk county until 8:00 this morning. Plenty of heavy rain is passing to the south of Washington, D.C. right now, heading into Delaware and Maryland. This cold front is advancing to the east. And what's happening is we have high pressure in the southeast. The warm air riding along that high and then going right along the front. And that's where we're seeing the rain there. And we're also following a huge storm in the Pacific northwest. I'll have more on that coming up. Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Thanks a lot, Bonnie.
Well, the LAPD under fire, an anti-terror program putting Muslims on the map, mapping areas where they believe could be a hot beds for extremism. Is it common sense or it is racial profiling. The head of L.A.'s counter-terrorism unit defends the idea. He's going to be speaking to us, coming up ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: 50 minutes till the top of the hour.
And this is a look now, a live look at the black plumes of smoke rising from the skies of east London. Police and fire officials there are investigating a large fire in what's believed to be the inside of an old bus garage in east London. As you can see, the smoke is thick, and the plumes are going out over the city. It sparked a lot of concern, actually, about the possibility of terrorism. That was something that was quickly put down. Police say that it's too early to speculate that it had anything to do with terrorism. Again, there's about 30 to 40 firefighters there still trying to put out the blaze, as you see the huge pile of smoke continuing over the city this morning.
ROBERTS: 51 minutes after the hour. How far is too far in the war on terrorism? Police in Los Angeles are drawing fire for a program that would map the areas Muslim-American community. They say it could identify potential hot beds of extremism. Others say it's religious profiling. Deputy Chief Michael Downing heads L.A.'s counter- terrorism unit and he joins us now live from Los Angeles. Chief Downing, thanks for being with us. Could you briefly explain what the LAPD's goals are in mapping the Muslim community?
DEPUTY CHIEF MICHAEL DOWNING, LOS ANGELES POLICE: Sure, this is really an extension of what we've been doing for the past 18 months, involving our entire command staff and the 19 service areas, bringing the command staff in to have dialogue with the Muslim community, but in recognizing what we're trying to accomplish, and that is on one side identify areas that might be more isolated and removed from the greater society so that we can, on one hand, provide service, be the catalyst to infuse social services and governmental resources, but on the other hand make sure we really understand the community, understand what the needs are so that we can protect and serve the community.
ROBERTS: So, critics say that this amounts to religious and racial profiling. What do you say?
DOWNING: Yes, it has nothing to do with profiling. I mean, we're not looking at individuals. We're looking at entire communities. You know, Los Angeles has the second-largest Muslim population in the United States, next to New York. And we just don't know enough about the communities. They represent countries from all around the world. They have language issues. There's barriers to integration, and we believe that we have the opportunity to be the catalyst to help support that community in, in integrating into the larger society.
ROBERTS: In terms of your mapping efforts here, the Muslim Public Affairs Council said, "any aspect of racial profiling or singling out Muslim-Americans for scrutiny would drastically undermine any trust between law enforcement and local communities." You've been working hard for the past 18 months to build trust between the LAPD and the Muslim communities. Do you think that the controversy over this could undo all that work?
DOWNING: Well, we have been working hard, and part of the dialogue, especially in the last few months, has been reaching out to academia, reaching out to the Muslim leaders and Muslim organizations, talking about this. This is, there's nothing covert about this. This is open and transparent. We want to proceed with this in a process that includes the Muslim community, that includes academia so that there's credibility in the methodology of the research.
And in the end, when it's all said and done, the product that we developed will be able to be used by us, by academia, by the Muslim community to really support that community. And assist it in integrating into the larger society. I've talked to MPAC several times. In fact, they are the organization that I have asked to be our partner in this, and there was some acceptance. They looked at it, that it had value for the community. I think the word "mapping" is causing some problems, and in talking about that with the Salama Madiari (ph) from MPAC. We agree a better term night be the community integration initiative, which is fine. Mapping does tend to cause concern on some people but we have done it in other communities in Los Angeles. You can look at the Jewish community. Many of the Jewish leaders send us maps of the community so we can understand the culture and also serve their needs during high holy days.
ROBERTS: Chief Downing, can you really, can you really do this accurately? A lot of what you are using is census information and census information does not designate religious affiliation, it's illegal for them to ask that question. So you could have Iranian Jews, and how do you tell the difference between them and Lebanese- Christian and the difference between Saudi-Sunni Muslims?
DOWNING: That's correct, it doesn't. That's why we need academia and the Muslim community to work with us.
ROBERTS: All right. And you're meeting with them on Thursday, you hope to iron this out?
DOWNING: On Thursday, we have a big meeting, an important meeting. I've given them our document which is a community engagement initiative white paper explaining what our goals and our objectives and how we want to phase in the plan. I hope we can clarify the concerns and move forward.
ROBERTS: All right. Well, good luck at that meeting. Perhaps we'll check back with you on Friday to see how it all went. Deputy Chief Michael Downing of the LAPD for us this morning. Chief, thanks very much.
It brings us now to our "Quick Vote" question of the morning. Do you support the mapping of Muslim communities for the idea of community policing? Right now, 71 percent of you say yes. 29 percent say no. We'll continue to update the votes throughout the morning. Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we will bring you the latest on the situation in London, a big fire there, what they believe is a warehouse shooting thick plumes of smoke into the sky. It's actually affecting air travel in the area. We're going to bring you an update when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back.
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ROBERTS: Breaking news, a giant cloud of smoke in the skies over London, right now.
Federal case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This incident should have never, never occurred.
ROBERTS: Investigators on the scene of a spreading oil spill disaster in the San Francisco Bay. Did the crew or the rescuers drop the ball?
Plus, a mother's love.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have these hopes and dreams for your baby. It doesn't involve Down syndrome.
ROBERTS: A congresswoman speaks out for the first time about raising a baby son with Down's syndrome on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And good morning, thanks very much for joining us on this Monday, the 12th of November. I'm John Roberts.
CHETRY: I'm Kiran Chetry. We begin we begin this hour with some breaking news and large cloud of black smoke over London. According to the British press, the smoke is coming from a fire in what's believed to be an old bus garage in an industrial area in east London. These are live pictures this morning. Emily Chang is live from London with the latest and at least from our view it seems like the smoke just keeps growing as opposed to it dissipating a bit. Emily.
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