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President Bush: 'Iran is Dangerous'; Teddy Bear Teacher: Gibbons Back Home in England
Aired December 04, 2007 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: You're with CNN. Hi there, everybody.
I'm Heidi Collins.
Developments keep coming in to the CNN NEWSROOM on this Tuesday, the 4th day of December.
Here's what's on the rundown.
President Bush says Iran remains a danger. The startling new assessment of Iran's nuclear activity doesn't change his position.
High water shuts Interstate 5 down between Seattle and Portland. A blustery storm, 100-mile-an-hour-plus gusts is sticking around for one more day.
And she had been jailed in Sudan after her class named a teddy bear "Mohammed." A British teacher home with family today -- in the NEWSROOM.
President Bush on point and on the offensive in a news conference seen here on CNN just a few moments ago. His main topic, Iran's nuclear weapons program.
Ed Henry is at the White House. He was in the room when the president spoke.
Ed, what was the president's main message on Iran?
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think he was trying to make lemonade out of lemons, as I said before the press conference. That's exactly what he did.
There's no mistaking, no denying that this new national intelligence estimate is very bad news for this president. It really contradicts and potentially undermines a key argument he and Vice President Cheney have been making in recent months about Iran allegedly having a great thirst for nuclear weapons. It's what he was trying to do, was say over and over that the report does at least confirm that at some point Iran had a weapons program, and as the president put it, was dangerous, is dangerous, and will be dangerous because it could restart that program at any time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What's to say they couldn't start another covert nuclear weapons program? And the best way to ensure that the world is peaceful in the future is for the international community to continue to work together to say to the Iranians, you know, we're going to isolate you. However, there is a better way forward for the Iranians.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: But I thought it was very interesting and something to pay very close attention to, is how the president seemed to be trying to shift the standard on Iran now. Instead of saying just that the U.S. and the international community needs to stop Iran from having a nuclear weapons program, he was really focusing and shifting it to a more murky idea of preventing Iran from getting just the knowledge of a weapons program that they could pass on to others, potentially terrorists who could use those nuclear weapons. That's important to pay attention to.
And secondly, while the president insisted at one point that he will have no new policy, no new approach to Iran, that he believes his plan and his policy is working, on the rhetoric he also said he's not going to back down. No one has told him to dial back the tough talk about Iran.
But remember in October, the president, in a press conference just like this, compared the situation to a potential World War III. That that could be sparked by Iran trying to get nuclear weapons.
Today I thought it was interesting that he said, "If you want to avoid a really problematic situation, you need to stop Iran." He didn't say this time if you want to prevent a World War III. He may have gotten that message to finally dial that back, even as he's saying he's not going to dial it back -- Heidi.
COLLINS: CNN's Ed Henry at the White House for us today.
Thank you, Ed.
HENRY: Thank you.
COLLINS: We want to go ahead and get to London now. CNN's Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour is there and has more perspective from overseas.
Christiane, what do we really know about exactly what is going on inside of Iran?
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, as you know, the IAEA, the only people with intelligence on the ground in Iran, the U.N. Atomic Energy Agency, have been monitoring this and studying it and inspecting it for many years. And since 2002, they have been saying that there is no evidence of a weapons program. And they consistently stand by that.
And they are still out there asking Iran final questions as to all its nuclear activity. They have a work plan going that Iran has to answer continuing outstanding questions.
But let me just say this, we at CNN have had field reporters in Iran for the last many, many years. And we have done a lot of reporting that is consistent with what the NIE has now come out and said.
We have reported consistently after we've been to nuclear facilities and spoken, even on background and off the record, with high-level Iranian national security officials about this program. And consistently they have denied a nuclear weapons program.
And not only that. They have even admitted that there was at one time to me, in a confidential report a few years ago, just before the 2003 mark, that there was a significant debate inside Iran about whether to go the weapons route. And that debate led to them coming down on the side of putting that aside.
We have also reported just last year a very high-level official at the Iranian national security agency tell me that they believe and they have believed for a long time it is time to put all issues on the table with the United States and to keep, to try to move beyond this Cold War that exists between Iran and the United States and try to have dialogue on all these national security issues. The fact of the matter is the Bush administration, particularly the hard-line hawks in the administration, have not wanted to do that. And you heard from Frank Sesno just before the break about a special memo that was sent to the administration around 2003 that was rejected by the administration on how to move forward.
Most analysts believe that engagement is the way to move forward. It will be interesting to see what develops now, particularly since President Bush has now again readjusted the bar. It's no longer about whether Iran has nuclear weapons, it's whether it has even the knowledge of full enrichment. So this is going to be interesting to see how this proceeds -- Heidi.
COLLINS: And interesting also, Christiane, when the president was asking -- or answering questions regarding this topic and saying, if something happens later with that knowledge that he is so concerned about, enriching uranium, and it is passed on, and something horrendous happens, they will come back to him and his presidency and say, what were you doing in 2007? He said, this will not change, it will not happen on my watch.
AMANPOUR: Well, clearly, that has been the reason why the international community has been concerned about Iran, because while under the nonproliferation treaty, Iran has the right to develop a civilian nuclear program which it says it's been doing, most people believe because of for instance the current president, Ahmadinejad, his very belligerent and provocative public statements, that they believe Iran cannot be trusted. They want Iran especially monitored and to give all the answers to all the questions that the international community has.
And the IAEA, it's important to note, still has questions that it wants answered. And in fact, I've just spoken with the people over there. They cannot confirm that Iran had a nuclear weapons program in 2003, but furthermore, their questions on all the outstanding issues of potential weaponization are going to be delivered and hopefully answered by Iran, they say, within the next several weeks.
But that is indeed very important. But again, Iran has said over and over again that it wants to talk about these issues and it wants to talk on a basis of mutual interest and be able to put all the issues on the table.
COLLINS: All right.
CNN's Christiane Amanpour for us today coming from London.
Christiane, thank you.
President Bush does say Iran is still a threat.
Our Aneesh Raman is the only U.S. network correspondent in Iran now.
Iran -- wondering what Iranians are saying about the new report.
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN MIDDLE EAST CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Heidi. We're already hearing early comments essentially saying that President Bush, they are astonished here, hasn't changed strategy at all. That Iran is being presented as still an immediate threat despite the fact that the president's characterization of Iran's program has gone from what was before an actual factual statement, Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons, to now a hypothetical.
Christiane also raised a very important point. The bar has been lowered to knowledge of uranium enrichment. That is something that Iran never hid. It actually quite publicly announced its ability to enrich uranium on its own. It is a source of great nationalist pride on the ground within Iran.
There is broad-based support within the Islamic republic for the country's right to peaceful civilian nuclear energy. The country's right to enrich uranium. President Bush, in the press conference, said that is Iran's right.
The issue, as Christiane mentioned, is about trust, confidence. That has been lacking in part because of consistently controversial statements by Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
We are seeing within Iran growing dissent about his strategy, about statements that he's been saying, that that will likely be replaced in the coming days by a stronger contention from Iranian authorities that this issue can, should, and can only be solved directly with the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog. And it puts the U.S.' desire for a third round of sanctions against Iran by year's end very much in doubt in terms of the urgency that now is lacking given the new report -- Heidi.
COLLINS: CNN's Aneesh Raman coming to us live from Tehran on this NIE report. Thank you so much, Aneesh.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: And new this morning now, bail denied to three of four suspects in the killing of NFL star Sean Taylor. They made a brief court appearance by video conference in Miami. They're facing charges of murder, armed burglary and home invasion. A fourth suspect is going through the juvenile system.
The Washington Redskins star was shot Monday during a break-in at his Miami-area home. He died the next day.
Out of jail and out of Sudan. That teddy bear teacher now back home in England. Here what she's saying about the ordeal.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Some pretty unbelievable pictures coming into us now in the NEWSROOM. We told you about this story just a few minutes ago, but look at this. You can't even recognize it as a plane.
This is actually the remnants of a small plane that crashed and apparently exploded at New Castle Airport in Delaware this morning. Rescuers say at least one person was killed, but they are struggling to be sure since, as you can see, the plane just completely disintegrated.
They say it's possible a plane this size carried four people. More answers though, hopefully, anyway, once the federal crash investigators get a look at the scene.
Boy.
Well, she's looking for a job, but maybe not in Sudan again. Gillian Gibbons now back home in England. She is the teacher who was jailed after her students named a teddy bear "Mohammed."
Our Paula Hancocks is in Gibbons' hometown. That's Liverpool this morning.
Paula, what is she saying about her experience?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hello there.
We have heard from her a little earlier this Tuesday morning as she touched down really after a very brief reunion with her son and daughter, who went back to London to see her. She went straight in front of the cameras, and what she said is she was very happy, very relieved to be home, a bit bewildered by all the publicity she's now realized that this incident has actually generated.
And very interestingly, she was very kind about Sudan. She was kind about the Sudanese people, saying she found them to be extremely kind, extremely generous. But obviously her time in a Sudanese jail was absolutely terrifying. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GILLIAN GIBBONS, TEACHER: I'm just an ordinary, middle-aged primary schoolteacher. I went out to have a bit of an adventure and got a bit more than I bargained for. I don't think anyone could have imagined that it could have snowballed like this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANCOCKS: Now, she certainly was very bewildered by how this could have ended up like this, as were many other people surrounding this incident. Her friends and her family always said that she would never have intentionally insulted Islam, something she said this morning as well after that trip from Sudan, stopped over in Dubai, and then back to London.
Now, we know she is spending time with her friends and her family. Now she's with her son and daughter, and she has said that she certainly wants this time to relax, time to get her head around what has happened to her -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Wow. Certainly very, very understandable.
Paula Hancocks live from Liverpool this morning.
Thank you, Paula.
New notoriety for An "American Idol" castoff?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of pictures of her in very risque positions showing herself nude.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Who? Busted. First fame, now a free-fall.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A scary setback for little Youssif. He's the 5-year- old Iraqi burn victim that you helped send to the U.S. for medical treatment.
On Thursday, his parents feared they could lose him. Hours after he underwent an operation to remove a huge scar from his face, Youssif's cheeks were twice soaked in blood. Doctors had to reopen his stitches to locate the bleeding. They patched things up and he is now OK.
A busy day, a big meal, and maybe an eggnog or two, right? Well, now you're not feeling so hot. Chock it up to the holidays, or maybe something more serious. Heart attacks, in fact, spike this time of year.
CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta was here earlier talking about that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: The number of people who have heart attacks actually goes up in December and January. There have been a few studies have shown that. The question for a long time is why.
COLLINS: Yes.
GUPTA: You can point to the obvious things -- lots of rich food, alcohol seems to increase at this time of the year, climate. You know, people in northern climates seem to -- you know, shoveling snow maybe for the first time.
COLLINS: Yes.
GUPTA: But what's even more...
COLLINS: Stress. Where is the stress, too?
GUPTA: Stress, yes. People certainly have stress, especially when you have to visit your family, you haven't seen them for a long time.
But something else seems to play a role here which I found very interesting. And that is just simple denial.
People are more reluctant to actually go see the doctor, for example, because it might disrupt a holiday gathering. They may forget their medications when traveling from one place to another, or just simply be in a strange city and not know how the hospitals there -- where they are or have their own doctors.
Those things can all play a role, and it seems like a pretty big role. And also remember, the symptoms of a heart attack very classic. A lot of people talk about the shortness of breath, for example, chest pain, light-headedness, though, nausea. And so -- now people, you have nausea, you just had a rich meal, you have nausea, and now you attribute it to the meal when, in fact, it could be heart attack symptoms. Heartburn, that's another one, vomiting, even, arm discomfort. Those things all play a role.
COLLINS: Now, should we be weary of the fact if you just have one or two of those symptoms, not -- do you need to have them all?
GUPTA: You really -- no, you don't need to have them all.
COLLINS: OK.
GUPTA: You can have just one of them. And sometimes it can be very vague.
And in women, for example, it can be different than men. Women might have just a feeling of fatigue.
COLLINS: Yes.
GUPTA: Who doesn't have that, especially this time of the year from time to time? If you have a history of heart disease, if you're concerned about this, start to develop some new symptoms, no matter where you are, no matter what kind of family gathering is going on, you need to get this checked out. This might be one of the most important things we talk about.
COLLINS: Yes. It's so scary, too, because we -- a lot of us feel a lot of those different symptoms. Yikes. Very scary.
When you talk about the food, though, because we are all going to be indulging here, how much of a factor do those rich foods really play in this?
GUPTA: Well, you know, a lot of people say to me, put those rich foods in your body, does it immediately start coating your arteries? Well, it's not that simple, as you might imagine, but it can increase your blood pressure, it can increase your heart rate, especially rich foods.
Even more of a problem, probably, is high sodium foods, foods with a lot of salt. Maybe you've experienced this, Heidi. You may get some swelling, you may get some swelling in your hands or your feet from just eating very salty food. That can also have an impact on your blood pressure and heart rate.
So if you're someone, again, who is worried about their heart and has a family history, you've really got to watch it this time of the year, even though you want to indulge.
COLLINS: Oh yes, definitely. I wonder, though, do hospitals, because of these numbers and they realize that more people are being treated, do they make changes before the holidays come?
GUPTA: We asked that same question, and it turns out they do and they are sort of making changes all year long. Let me briefly tell you, is that there is something called room to balloon time.
So as soon as you hit the emergency room door, if you're having heart attack symptoms, you want to open up those blood vessels with a balloon. What hospitals strive for is 90 minutes. Get the person from the door of the emergency room to the balloon in 90 minutes.
COLLINS: Wow.
GUPTA: That is what a lot of hospitals strive for, and a lot of them are doing it.
COLLINS: Room to balloon in 90 minutes.
GUPTA: Room to balloon.
COLLINS: Wow. All right. Well, I did not know that.
Thank you. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, appreciate it.
GUPTA: Thanks, Heidi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Yes, that could be very true. In fact, Dr. Gupta warns rich foods and, importantly, salt can affect your blood pressure or heart rate. So you might want be to carefully with those this holiday season.
To get your "Daily Dose" of health news online, log on to our Web site. You'll find the latest medical news, a health library, and information on diet and fitness.
The address, CNN.com/health.
(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: President Bush standing by his policy on Iran's nukes this morning. Last hour, the president said a new intelligence report serves as a warning on what Iran still could do. That report said Iran actually stopped working toward a nuclear weapon four years ago, but the president says Iran is still a serious threat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: Iran was dangerous, Iran is dangerous, and Iran will be dangerous if they have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: The U.S. has been pushing for a third round of sanctions against Iran, but some critics say the new report may make that a tougher sell.
Rob Marciano standing by now to give us more information on these incredible pictures that we've been getting in.
Rob, specify, flood waters in the Pacific Northwest. Look at that.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Meanwhile, "American Idol" finalist Jessica Sierra jailed after an ugly incident with a police officer. It's not the first time she's been in trouble this year. Josh Rojas reports. He is with affiliate Bay News 9.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOSH ROJAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Tampa police released surveillance video of what they say is a drunk Jessica Sierra outside a bar early Saturday morning. Police say she hit an officer in the face, called him the "n" word and then offered the cop sexual favors for her release.
An attorney in this Tampa office, who's suing Sierra, says what happened in Ebor (ph), combined with this new evidence he obtained, is going to be damaging to her case.
Attorney Dennis Hernandez says he got a hold of Sierra's laptop.
DENNIS HERNANDEZ, ATTORNEY: We obtain a copy of her entire computer, which she had sold at a pawnshop.
ROJAS: These are some of the pictures of Sierra, partying with friends, Hernandez says was on that laptop. Others we can't show you.
HERNANDEZ: On her hard drive a lot of pictures of her in very risque positions, showing herself nude.
ROJAS: Hernandez says there's also song lyrics on the hard drive.
HERNANDEZ: She's used the "n" word multiple times throughout various lyrics. Whether she actually did the lyrics or whether she obtained them somewhere else, we don't know, but she does have a lot of that information on there.
ROJAS: Hernandez says he plans to use the laptop to prove his civil case against Sierra for hitting his client in the head with a glass. That happened in April at a Tampa bar. And now with the latest incident, where she allegedly used a racial slur, along with the laptop, Hernandez says his case is getting stronger by the day.
HERNANDEZ: The most recent incident has really convinced us that the hate crime aspect of this case could, in fact, be a much stronger civil case by Mr. Hadad (ph).
ROJAS: Sierra's civil attorney is on vacation and could not be reached. And the 22-year-old turned down our request for a jail house interview. In Tampa, Josh Rojas, Bay News 9.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: An attorney for Sierra blames substance abuse for his client's problems.
Quickly want to get to this. We -- just a few moments ago heard from the president on the National Intelligence Estimate regarding Iran and their weapons program. We are listening here in just a couple of minutes to Rahm Emmanuel. In fact, let's go ahead and listen in. He's speaking on the economy, which we also heard comments on from the president a little bit earlier today.
REP. RAHM EMMANUEL, (D) ILLINOIS: Since the GI Bill of Rights in college assistance. And now we're on the doorstep of passing an energy policy and doing in 12 months what 32 years of Congresses and presidents have failed to do, which is getting an increase in the cafe standards of fuel efficiency.
So I would say that, in fact, although there are certain -- you could say the president wanted to say there are certain strengths in the economy. The economy's overall strength. I would say if you talk to folks and hear what their -- the challenges that they're facing on health care costs, energy costs, retirement challenges, their paychecks, this economy, for them, is struggling and making their paychecks harder and harder to go -- to get from the first of the month all the way to the 3oth month.
With that let's take some questions.
QUESTION: According to President Bush's speech (INAUDIBLE), there might have been an assumption that at some point there would be more overriding of some (INAUDIBLE). And I'm wonder what you perceive in the future and if you think you can win a veto showdown on the spending bill.
EMMANUEL: Well, look, first of all, I mean you -- you know this. We just had a veto override. The goal isn't to have a veto override. The goal is to get something done for the American people. And I'm not in the business of giving the president or the Republicans political advice, but we stand ready to cooperate and compromise, rather than a policy of complaining and confrontation. And I think that the president of the United States, today was his nineteenth press conference where he was pointing fingers at Congress. I think if we get a little more cooperation, a little more compromise and a lot less confrontation and a lot less complaining, you'll see a lot more things get done for the American people.
QUESTION: I'm just curious, how do you characterize this? When you -- we know what the steadfast position of the White House is. We know what the position of the Democratic congress is. And we hear from Senator Reid that you don't want to do a CR (ph) for the next fiscal year. Where do we find (INAUDIBLE) this cold, rainy day of December to get this done?
EMMANUEL: Oh, we're working very hard at getting it done. And we will get it done. And, you know, look, for 32 years nobody had an energy bill or an energy strategy for America. A number you said that you didn't think we could get it done around July 4th when we said we had finally got the reports from each committee chairman issued their legislation. We are now on the doorstep of getting the most significant energy policy done for this country in 32 years. And I feel quite comfortable that when it comes to "the appropriations process" that, too, will get done. I have absolute confidence we're going to get that done.
QUESTION: Isn't that exacerbated (INAUDIBLE) the end of the year here and that everybody attempts to say, OK, you know, the gig is up (INAUDIBLE).
EMMANUEL: No. It will get done. I think part of this is (ph), I can say, is that there should be a tonal shift from the White House. A tonal shift from the White House. One that's less about complaining and more about cooperation. One that's less about confrontation and more about compromise. If you did that, you'd be amazed what you can get done. I've been on both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue and you'll see that.
COLLINS: All right. Just giving you a little bit of flavor of the Democratic response, if you will, to some of the items that the president touched on earlier today in his press conference. Listening in Rahm Emmanuel. He is the Democratic caucus chairman, talking about some of the comments that the president was saying. The clock is ticking on Congress and they have several things to work on. So the response there from Rahm Emmanuel.
Meanwhile, we need more. Defense Secretary Robert Gates getting the message today from his Afghan counterpart. Gates meeting U.S. military and Afghan government officials in Afghanistan today. Both telling him about the need for additional equipment and trainers to help with the security situation. Afghan and western officials say this has been the most violent year in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. That violence seen today when a suicide car bomber targeted a NATO convoy in Kabul. The attack came not long after Gates had passed along the same road. NATO says 22 civilian were wounded by the blast.
Victoria's Secret, dirty secret? Is a sweatshop supplying the company's sexy clothes?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: So you pay your credit card bills on time and yet your rate still goes up. It happens all the time and Congress isn't happy about it. Stephanie Elam is at the New York Stock Exchange with the very latest on this.
Good morning to you, Stephanie.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi.
Yes, Americans are now saddled with $900 billion in credit card debt. If you break it down, that's $2,200 a household. And as the housing situation continues to deteriorate, more people are using their credit cards. Also, although some are paying on time, the credit card companies, since they're worried about these mounting losses, are hiking interest rates, which could push people further into debt. Customers say they also were not given appropriate notice of the hike. So that's kind of sneaky. And it's a trend that has caught the attention of Congress.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. NORM COLEMAN, (R) MINNESOTA: Folks out there are actually feeling ambushed. They feel like they're not getting sufficient notice of interest rate increases and credit card companies need to do a better job here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ELAM: Now critics of the credit card industry say these practices are at best confusing, and at worst abusive, especially if people aren't getting notice that they're going to start paying more for their credit card debt.
Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes. Well, what's the solution to the problem if, in fact, there is a problem?
ELAM: Well, right now, Senate Democrats want to ban what they say are excessive fees. And they are hoping hearings like the one today will expose what the credit card companies are doing and basically shame them into better behavior, while also raising awareness among consumers.
Meanwhile, the credit card companies say they are within their rights to raise rates the same way other businesses raise prices. They say credit is more expensive and so is the cost of risk. But in the face of some of this criticism, some banks have curtailed their practices and improved the way they communicate with customers.
Now fears of a deepening credit crunch are among the factors sending stocks lower today. J.P. Morgan . . .
COLLINS: Sorry. Go right ahead. Go ahead, Stephanie.
ELAM: Oh, OK. J.P. Morgan says trouble in the debt market could hurt the large security firms, which are trading lower as we go into the afternoon hours here on the East Coast.
Let's go ahead and take a look at the numbers on the big board. The Dow Industrials off 40 points, 13,273. It's off about a third of a percent there. The Nasdaq dropping 12 points, off about half a percent at 2,624. So we'll keep our eyes on it and see how it's going here.
I was looking at us in a split screen, Heidi. We kind of look like Christmas.
COLLINS: Yes, I know, the red and green thing. Let's focus on that.
ELAM: Yes, exactly.
COLLINS: Good news coming up. Yes, all right. Thanks so much, Stephanie. Nice to see you.
ELAM: Good to see you too.
COLLINS: Making the grade in math and science. Where do American kids rank? Well not so high according to some new tests results just out today. A standardized test was given to 15-year-olds in 30 industrialized countries last year. The average score for U.S. students placed them 17th in science and 24th in math. Finland's 15- year-olds took a top spot in science. Student's in Finland, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong were top performers in Math.
Well, slaving away to make lingerie? A supplier for Victoria's Secret accused of sweatshop labor. CNN's Jim Acosta has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): The National Labor Committee provided CNN with these photos of the Decay (ph) Garment Factory in Jordan, where workers claim they are pushed to put in a hundred hour as week cranking out Victoria's Secret lingerie for just 75 cent an hour, with no overtime.
CHARLES KERNAGHAN, NATIONAL LABOR COMMITTEE: I think the American people would be shocked.
ACOSTA: According to National Labor Committee Director Charles Kernaghan, employees who tried to protest their conditions lost more than just their jobs.
KERNAGHAN: Management's response was, was to have six of the workers imprisoned who had organized the protest.
ACOSTA: Victoria's Secret declined the request for an interview but released this statement saying the company is investigating the allegation. "We are taking this issue very seriously," the company said, "and since the moment we learned of the report have had a team investigating the concerns." Our attempts to reach the Decay Garment Company were unsuccessful. In the meantime, the Jordanian government also started its own inquiry.
MERISSA KHURMA, EMBASSY OF JORDAN: The ministry of labor has commissioned an independent third party to look into the specific case.
ACOSTA: This is not the first allegation of sweatshop labor to surface in Jordan. Earlier this year, the National Labor Committee obtained this video of another factory in Jordan, not related to Victoria's Secret, where workers have made similar claims of abuse. Some in Congress say it may be time to begin imposing fines on American companies that profit off of the exploitation of cheap labor overseas.
SEN. BYRON DORGAN, (D) NORTH DAKOTA: I think if most people found this happening at the end of their block, they'd walk down to the end of the block and say, you can't abuse people this way.
ACOSTA: Jim Acosta, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Making a fast get away. Hop to it. Running after a roo in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A mystery of nature this morning. What set off a 450- pound Bengal tiger? It mauled a man who was cleaning its cage. It happened at a California animal sanctuary run by actress Tippy Hedrin (ph), star of "The Hitchcocks," "The Birds." She called the mauling a terrible shock. The 40-year-old worker is said to be in critical but stable condition.
A getaway. Police in hot pursuit but it was a 'roo on the lam in this Texas neighborhood. A police dash cam got it on tape. Officers chased the 60-pound kangaroo for about 15 minutes -- see him there. He's fast -- before they got a hold of him. The roo had escaped from a veterinarians yard, as they do.
A Massachusetts teenager home alone asleep, get a rude awakening. He say a man broke into his home, but it was the suspect who got the real eye opener. Dan Hausle of affiliate WHDH reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN HAUSLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Jake Jackson's (ph) day off took an unexpected turn when a burglar broke into his house, even rifling through the 17-year-old bedroom without noticing the sleeping teen there under a pile of covers.
JACK JACKSON, HOME ALONE: I looked and I saw this guy. And he just said something about taking the TV. So that's when I heard him go back downstairs that's when I called 911.
CALLER: I'm upstairs. They're downstairs.
DISPATCHER: They're in the house with you now?
CALLER: Yes.
DISPATCHER: Stay on the line, sir.
HAUSLE: For 10 to 15 minutes, Jake stayed on the line, hiding under the covers while police rushed to his house.
DISPATCHER: Did they break in while you were in the house, sir?
CALLER: They didn't know I was here. I'm in the upstairs bedroom. In the hall.
DISPATCHER: You know what, why don't we keep you quiet. Your door shut?
CALLER: Yes.
DISPATCHER: OK.
JACKSON: I could hear like the guy walking around downstairs and it was a little nerve-racking thinking that he might come back upstairs.
HAUSLE: But police napped 47-year-old Raymond Lauren (ph) trying to load the family's 52-inch TV into his car, backed up into the Jackson's garage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm impressed. I think he handled himself well. Even afterwards he was calm and he realized that, you know, he was lucky but he did a good job today. JACKSON: I mean you hear about robberies all the time, but I never expected it to happen to me, happen at my house, especially while I was there.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: A lot of people have harrowing tales from their days in driver's ed, too, but you truly have to feel for this guy or gal. A car marked student driver crashed into a building in Houston. But not just any building. It was the Public Safety Department. And the car hit right at the driver's license office. Nobody was hurt and we don't actually know who was behind the wheel, whether it was a student driver or not. But if you put the piece together, you kind of got to think, maybe they shouldn't have their license.
Actor Brad Pitt's latest project is taking him far from the glamour of Hollywood. He's launching a program in New Orleans lower Ninth Ward called "Make It Right." The goal is to build affordable, environmentally friendly homes in place of ones destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. He's pledged $5 million of his own money.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRAD PITT, ACTOR: The plan here is to start with 150 homes. One hundred and fifty homes that follow the criteria that I mentioned before. To do -- to build those 150 homes, I need the help of the American people. We need the help of the American people. We need to all join together to do this.
But the point is, it is possible. And we can make this happen. In fact we can get families in homes by next summer. We can move this quickly. It's ready to go. I just need that help.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Brad Pitt will talk about "Make It Right," the project, and more on CNN's "Larry King Live." That will be 9:00 Eastern tomorrow night.
Iran nuclear threat. A new intelligence report may hold hopeful signs. "Your World Today" is just a few minutes away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Want to take a moment to get back to the weather story of the day. At least on the West Coast anyway. We're looking at some pictures of Veronio (ph), Oregon. This is in the West Coast Mountain Range. And, boy, oh boy, are they dealing with some serious flooding there. In fact, in this area alone, about 200 people are in the Red Cross shelters and they are obviously waiting for supplies to come in. The little town is virtually been cut off to most vehicles because of mud slides and high water. Obviously no one can get out, either, by the looks of those pictures. Rob Marciano has been following this story all morning long. In fact, this area now under a state of emergency, as well as some other areas in the state of Washington. So, again, we are watching this throughout the day here on CNN. "CNN Heroes" all star tribute is just two days away now. In a live, global broadcast this Thursday we'll honor six people selected from among 7,000 nominations of heroes in 93 different countries. As part of our countdown to the tribute, we've been profiling the 18 finalists. The woman you're about to meet was nominated for our "Defending the Planet" category. She's found a way to save lives with five gallon buckets.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we're ready.
FLORENCE CASSASSUCE: My name is Florence Cassassuce and I invent a water purifier for the developing world.
It all started at UC-Berkeley where I was doing my masters. We founded a group called Engineers Without Frontiers and our first project was hearing (INAUDIBLE). We always were interested in knowing the water quality in the rural areas.
In 50 percent of the wells, the water had been in contact with either human or animal excrement. That means half of the family have water that can give them diarrhea in the best case and cholera or typhoid or hepatis in the worst case. And I was really convincing by the end of the year we knew we wanted to invent something to help the families.
We wanted to invent something for $20 or $30 that one family could afford and saying, look, we need a UV (ph) system inside a bucket, compact, affordable, very simple for a family to use.
This particular model is designed knowing that to guarantee the efficiency of the UV bucket, the fact that it's really going to purify the water, we needed those channels so that the water spends 30 seconds under the UV lamp.
We always organize like the distribution events in the villages as a one-day event. We take a few samples of the water, discuss the water quality in the village. We decide, as a strategy, we're going to have to work with the kids right from the beginning because they're very good at going back to their house and saying, hey, I used a UV bucket in the school. Mom, you know you got to use it also at the house.
The children we know from the statistics of the school that half of the kids cannot go to school at some time of the year, you know, just because they have some instance of diarrheal infection.
I think I want to help all the people that have less than me all around the world. So if I can give the UV bucket to every family in the developing world, that would be like great achievement.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: CNN (INAUDIBLE) the ordinary people doing extraordinary things, Thursday night, 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. CNN NEWSROOM continues one hour from now. "Your World Today" is up next with news happening across the globe and here at home.
I'm Heidi Collins. I'll see you tomorrow.
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