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U.S. Economy Slowing Down; U.S. Marine Arrested in Killing of Pregnant Comrade; Hillary Clinton Aiming to be Anti-War Candidate; Cheap Thrills at a Gas Station in North Carolina
Aired April 11, 2008 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Betty Nguyen in for Heidi Collins.
HARRIS: You will see events come into the NEWSROOM live on this Friday morning, April 11th.
Here's what's on the rundown.
NGUYEN: Stuck at the airport. American Airlines grounding hundreds more flights today.
HARRIS: A Marine wanted for murder, captured in Mexico. Live this hour, the victim's mother.
NGUYEN: And they made this tape, police say, just to put it on the Internet. Eight teenagers in court today. It's in the NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: And news just in this morning. G.E., one of the world's biggest companies comes in with earnings that disappoint sending its shares tumbling in pre-market trading.
Ali Velshi with us, "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Ali, this probably portends a rocky start for the Dow this morning.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it absolutely does, Tony. And you know, we don't -- we're in the middle of earnings season, we don't tend to talk too much about stock earnings, but we are going to tell you when important things happen. The earning season for G.E., that is the money that they brought in between January and the end of March, the first quarter of this year, and it is disappointing. Six percent lower than it was in the same quarter last year and G.E. is saying it is -- its financial services and particularly the business that it does in the United States.
Like most of the companies -- the big companies that trade in America -- more than half of G.E.'s revenues come from overseas. So it says that part of the business is good. But it's so dependent on the U.S. economy that it says not only this quarter, the whole year is going to be tough. Now as a result, Tony, you said that is affecting the stock of G.E. in pre-market trading. We're still 30 minutes away from the open of the stock market. But G.E. shares are way down ahead as a result. And many people who have 401Ks or IRAs will General Electric stock in those 401Ks or IRAs.
HARRIS: What are we looking at as a start? Double-digit losses, perhaps triple-digit losses as a start?
VELSHI: At least triple. I think the Dow is going to open more than 100 points lower as a result of this and largely as a result of this because it wasn't doing that beforehand.
HARRIS: Yes.
VELSHI: So I think you're going to see a loss into the triple digits in about half an hour. And we'll keep an eye on.
HARRIS: We will be watching and I know you will as well.
VELSHI: Yes.
HARRIS: Ali Velshi, "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Ali, appreciate it, thanks.
VELSHI: OK.
NGUYEN: Well, from the markets to those trouble in the skies. Flyer anger growing worse today as American Airlines takes another 570 flights off the board. Add up the week's chaos and thousands of flights canceled, a quarter million passengers stranded.
And one more U.S. airliner files for bankruptcy.
You know most of Americans' trouble with -- are the result of FAA mandated inspections on the wiring on the MD-80 jets.
And our chief technology correspondent Miles O'Brien is in New York. He joins us now live.
I want to ask you this, Miles, how long is this going to take to straighten it all out?
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CHIEF TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Well, the airlines say right now, Betty, it will take until the end of business tomorrow, Saturday, before they straighten it all out. But they readily admit the choke point is not their mechanics. It takes them between two and six hours to go through -- look at these wiring bundles, make sure all the work is done properly, depending on how much work needs to be done, two to six hours.
The choke point, though, is the FAA, the inspectors have to kind of sign off and put these birds back in the sky. If everything goes according to plan, American should be back to normal by the close of business on Saturday. In the meantime, it's just chaos. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice over): It's a bundle of problems for American Airlines and a warren of woes for thousands of its grounded and increasingly grouchy customers.
UNIDENTIFIED PASSENGER: Somebody needs to help us so that we can get out of here.
O'BRIEN: American mechanics have their heads buried in those MD- 80 wheel wells for the second time now trying to comply to the letter of the law with a federal mandate to straighten out potential problems with some high voltage wires that are oh so near to a fuel tank.
GERARD J. ARPEY, CEO, AMERICAN AIRLINES: We obviously failed to complete this airworthiness directives to the precise standards set by the FAA and I take full personal responsibility for that.
O'BRIEN: The American CEO Gerard Arpey told reporters it's all his fault and he regrets the inconvenience it has caused his customers. But that wasn't the end of the mea culpa on this day of chaos and cancellations.
On Capitol Hill, senators focus their ire on the FAA's safety boss.
SEN. JOHN ROCKEFELLER (D), SUBCOMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: You're responsible but you don't have to take responsibility. You don't have to be accountable. You are responsible. But you don't have to be accountable.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am accountable, sir.
ROCKEFELLER: Well, if you're accountable, you should have been howling in my office and Kay Bailey Hutchison's office sometime ago.
O'BRIEN: Lawmakers are angry the FAA lowered the boom on American only after a House committee brought to light serious inspection lapses at Southwest Airlines. The inspection and maintenance brouhaha and the ensuing travel horror stories are rekindling calls for an airline passenger bill of rights.
SEN. FRANK LAUTENBERG (D), NEW JERSEY: The bottom line is this, passengers have rights and airlines have obligations. And we have an obligation to make sure that we have an FAA that functions effectively.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Now here's an important point, Betty, through all of these inspections, re-inspections, the work that has been done and redone and redone again, American mechanics have not found a single chafed wire. The worry was those wires would chafe, potentially causing a spark near to the fuel tank. And not a single one of the wires had any problems associated with chafing. So what we're talking about here is a lot of inconvenience for thousands of passengers over technical compliance, specific minutiae kind of compliance to an airworthiness directive.
NGUYEN: Well -- and it makes you wonder is this really a safety issue?
O'BRIEN: Well, you know, if they had seen chafing in those wires, you could certainly say ground this fleet and let's fix this and get this done. But in this case, maybe it was a draconian response because the pendulum is swung back in response to what happened at Southwest Airlines. Maybe that's what's we're seeing here.
Having said all that, airworthiness directives are etched in stone, they are the letter of the law. You can't fly an airplane if you don't comply with them to the tee. That's what we're seeing here right now.
NGUYEN: And the million dollar question, which I'm sure it is...
HARRIS: More than a million.
NGUYEN: How much is this costing American Airlines?
O'BRIEN: Well, they haven't put an exact number on it. Tens of millions was the number that the CEO mentioned. He's checking in to see if there's loss of business insurance that might apply in here. He doesn't know just yet. He did say this, that this airline in very difficult times has done a pretty good job shedding a lot of its debt and is actually in a fairly good shape to weather this storm. But boy, it is a perfect storm out there for the airlines right now.
NGUYEN: And on a weekend no less. You're going to have some unhappy passengers.
OK. Miles, thank you.
HARRIS: Boy, and another airliner in trouble. Frontier Airlines filing for bankruptcy saying it has a cash flow problem. The Denver- based carrier promising business as usual while it shores up its finances. Frontier says passengers will still fly and employees still have jobs.
It has been a rough month so far for the airline industry. Frontier Airlines this week and last week, three other U.S. carriers, Skybus, ATA and Aloha, all went belly up and shut down. Champion's gone, too. Higher fuel costs taking their toll. Southwest, Delta and Midwest Airlines have also been dealing with headaches caused by the same safety inspections now plaguing American.
All right. Keep watching CNN. Our money team has you covered whether it's job, debt, housing, savings, getting your flight to wherever you're going this weekend. Join us for a special report. It is called "ISSUE #1, THE ECONOMY" all this week noon, Eastern, only on CNN. NGUYEN: And the manhunt, it ends south of the border. Mexican police arrest U.S. Marine Corporal Cesar Laurean. Now he's accused of killing a fellow Marine who was eight months pregnant.
CNN's Harris Whitbeck in Jacksonville, North Carolina. That's where authorities have begun efforts to bring him back for trial.
But Harris, that might take some time.
HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Betty, authorities here say that they certainly do expect Cesar Laurean to spend quite sometime in the county jail behind me as he awaits a trial. But that they might take some time as you see.
Laurean is currently in the custody of federal law enforcement officials in Mexico City and he is awaiting an extradition process. It is not clear yet whether he will actually try to fight that extradition. If he does fight it, some lawyers say it could be one, possibly two years before he is brought back to the United States.
However, after Laurean was detained yesterday evening in Michoacan state about three and a half hours drive from Mexico City, he was asked by a local reporter what he wanted to do next and what he thought he could do next, and his answer was, it seemed like there aren't many options left anyway. So it might very well be that he might not try to fight that extradition.
Again, law enforcement here says it is time that he comes back to the U.S. to face the music.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. RICK SUTHERLAND, ONSLOW CO. SHERIFF'S OFFICE: A couple of weeks ago we developed some information that allowed us to generate some new leads. And the FBI began closing in geographically on where they thought that he might be. And just this week, we were able to really focus our resources on one specific area of the country. And then earlier yesterday evening, authorities were able to take him into custody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITBECK: And the scenario around that incident where he was detained, apparently there was a local anti-kidnapping task force working a checkpoint in this town, in Michoacan state, and apparently that's when they saw him. They asked him for his ID. He gave a positive ID and that's when he was taken into custody -- Betty?
NGUYEN: Do you have any idea exactly what he's been up to these past few months? I understand he's just kind of been living off the land.
WHITBECK: Literally that's what he said. He said that he had been living in open spaces, sleeping, he basically told a reporter that he sleep whenever night fell and he was picking fruit, avocados, off trees to eat. A local reporter who spoke to him last night told me by phone that he looked very tired, he looked very thin. He has a scraggly beard as you can see in the pictures. So she said he definitely look like somebody who'd been living out in the open for quite sometime.
NGUYEN: All right. CNN's Harris Whitbeck, joining us live from North Carolina.
Harris, thank you.
A pregnant Marine murdered and her accused killer finally caught in Mexico. We're going to talk live with Maria Lauterbach's mother in the NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: Boy, let's talk about all of this weather. The last couple of days, certainly since the beginning of the week and before, as I think about it, thunderstorms, tornadoes, even a blizzard. Extreme weather pounds the nation's midsection.
With more on tap today, we'll get to Rob in just a moment here. Storms caused flooding in Oklahoma, Missouri. In Logan County, Oklahoma an elderly man was rescued from on top of his pick-up truck. OK, and two people died in weather-related car accidents. In Missouri, three to four inches of rain fell in just a few hours. Flooding closed parts of almost 200 roads, Betty. At least 100 homes and other businesses in Texas were damaged.
A gas field worker lost an arm when a possible tornado struck. There were several reports of tornadoes across the region including Illinois and Arkansas, and it looks like more, boy, winter-like conditions in Denver. Up to 13 inches of snow fell in the Colorado Mountains yesterday. Portions of the Northern Plains could get up to a foot of snow in today's blizzard.
NGUYEN: All right. It is April and we're still talking blizzard weather.
Rob Marciano, what is going on?
HARRIS: Spring in name only.
NGUYEN: Yes.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: Going to check and find out how those folks in Arkansas, in particular, are doing. You're right, Rob. It has been tough, tough...
MARCIANO: Yes.
NGUYEN: It sure has.
HARRIS: ...for those folks again.
Thanks, Rob. MARCIANO: All right.
NGUYEN: All right. Eight Florida teenagers, they should be in school. Instead, they're in a Florida courtroom today for this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED TEENAGER: OK, I'll leave.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: It's a widely viewed videotape beating of another teenage girl, one of their classmates. The prosecutor says the six girls and two boys will be tried as adults. They face charges of kidnapping, battery and witness tampering. The youngest is just 14 years old and you don't see it here, but police say at one point, the victim is not unconscious and her head is slammed against a wall. Police say the teens made the tape because they wanted a video to post on the Internet.
You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
And coming up, fill her up for less than five bucks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've just been in about five minutes. I've been here long.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How long are you willing to wait?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to wait until I get some.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody's hoping to get those gas because gas is hot and this is a blessing from the Lord up above. We need gas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Hey, amen to that. 35 cents for a gallon of gas? What?
HARRIS: Love it. Love it.
NGUYEN: Flash backs to the '60s in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: At the bottom of the hour, we're going to hear from Maria Lauterbach's mom. Does this arrest help ease the heartbreak? Stay with us.
Well, the presidential candidates putting their focus on crime and the economy today. Hillary Clinton expected to outline a $4 billion a year anti-crime plan. Her remarks next hour in Philadelphia.
Now, the plan is aimed at reducing the number of ex-cons who return to jail and helping communities hire more police.
Barack Obama is calling for shareholders to have a say in how much company executives get paid. Obama presents his ideas on his campaign swing through Indiana today.
And John McCain reversing course on help for homeowners caught in the mortgage crisis. He's also calling for a revamp of unemployment benefits. McCain campaigns in Texas today.
Well, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, they are facing hard questions on faith and politics, Campbell Brown leads a CNN special event, "THE COMPASSION FORUM," Sunday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, only on CNN, this is your home for politics.
HARRIS: In the war zone now, U.S. air strikes kill a dozen suspected insurgents. Those strikes in Baghdad and Basra over the last 24 hours. And the U.S. military says Iraqi soldiers have found a grave with 33 bodies at a house south of Baghdad. They think the bodies may have been there for more than a year.
Also word today from Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's office, a top aide to al-Sadr has been killed, gun-downed today in Najaf.
Mortars and rocket strikes in the international zone in Baghdad all week long. We have some extraordinary new Defense Department video just in.
Let's get you to Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.
Barbara, good morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Tony. We'll get to that video in just one second. But as you say, more rocket and mortar strikes in Baghdad today. They've been going on for days and -- you know, aside from the obvious, why is the U.S. military so concerned? Because they are seeing these strikes be increasingly accurate. They are with, the U.S. believes, Iranian made weapons very recently shipped into Iraq and they believe insurgents are getting their training -- pardon me, from weapons shipped in from Iran -- and they believe insurgents are getting that training from these accurate firings from trainers coming from Iran.
So let's look at the video that the Defense Department has just released. This is a strike yesterday in Sadr City against six insurgents. A U.S. military unmanned drone is flying overhead. Look at what it can see on the street there. Six insurgents that the U.S. military says are carrying these types of weapons. Rocket-propelled grenade launchers, mortar tubes, the kinds of weapons that the U.S. says the insurgent have been setting up in the Shia stronghold in Sadr City and firing into the international zone.
Tragically many Iraqis have been killed and even U.S. servicemen have been killed. The drone continues to fly over the street looking for its target, lining up the hellfire missile. Of course, the pilot is at another location flying this unmanned drone essentially with a joystick, if you will. And in a minute, you will see the black flash of the hellfire missile that goes against these insurgents that the U.S. military says are setting up another one of these attacks.
It's quite a thing to see it from the air...
HARRIS: Yes.
STARR: ...and see how precise these weapons can be, Tony.
HARRIS: Wow. That is something. OK, Barbara Starr, I need a moment with that one. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us.
Barbara, thank you.
STARR: Certainly.
NGUYEN: Well, there are new clues in a two-year-old mumps mystery. So what happened? Well, our medical correspondent takes a look right here in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, federal health experts are asking how did it happen? Two years ago, the worst mumps outbreak in 20 years right here in the U.S.
So here with a closer look is CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.
I think when people hear this, you know, the first thing that comes to mind is, my child has to be routinely vaccinated for this. I mean you have to get that vaccination, don't you?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right.
NGUYEN: OK.
COHEN: Nearly all kids in this country are vaccinated against the mumps. So that's why health officials say, well, this vaccine worked great for decades.
NGUYEN: Right.
COHEN: Why all of a sudden in 2006, there's this huge outbreak and some smaller ones that around the same time. And they think what it might have to do with is that in England, a lot of people are just saying no to the mumps vaccine.
NGUYEN: Refusing it?
COHEN: Refusing it because they're scared that it will make their kids autistic. And so 70,000 people got mumps in England that around this time around, 2004 and 2006, and of course, germs know no national boundaries, came over to the United States and they think that's what's responsible for a lot of these mumps outbreaks. And so what...
NGUYEN: But is there a link? I mean they refused it because they thought it may, you know, aid in their child getting autism? Is there a link between them?
COHEN: Right. As we know, there are a lot of concern among parents that there's a link between vaccines and autism. Experts will tell you that that is not true and the kids should get vaccinated, and that maybe -- you know, there's a lot of talk about the Hannah Poling case this week. A lot of talk about maybe for a tiny number of children it's a concern. But the recommendations still are that kids should get vaccinated and when they don't, some experts will tell you, this is what happens, you get -- people get sick.
And so let's take a look at what happened in this big mumps outbreak in 2006.
NGUYEN: Yes.
COHEN: A lot of people got sick. In fact 6,584 people were infected in 40 different states, 85 people ended up in the hospital. Luckily, there were no deaths. But again, in England where a lot of people are refusing to take the measles-mumps-Rubella vaccine, 70,000 people sick from mumps.
NGUYEN: That's amazing. OK, but that was in England, but it was two years ago when we had the worst outbreak here in the U.S. I mean, so how did that spark? I mean we just have people flying over or...
COHEN: Sure. I mean germs travel worldwide.
NGUYEN: OK.
COHEN: They don't need a passport.
NGUYEN: Yes. Good point there. So what can we do to prevent another outbreak? I mean you can't tell the folks in England you have to get it because we don't to get it here in the United States.
COHEN: Right. Well, there is some discussion that -- especially given relatively low vaccination (INAUDIBLE) in other parts of the world, that we need a better vaccine, because the problem is you can vaccinate your kid. But there is still a chance that vaccine is not going to work. So maybe we need a better vaccine and maybe they need to give more boosters to children as they get older. Maybe we need to add a third booster to the boosters that are already there. That's just in the talking stages. No one's actually doing that right now.
NGUYEN: Yes. Because the alternative is getting the mumps and that is not a pretty sight.
COHEN: Right. That could be deadly in of itself. Right. It's not fun.
NGUYEN: All right, Elizabeth. Thank you.
COHEN: OK. Thanks.
NGUYEN: Well, a new health concern is emerging in Wisconsin. And parents, well, they're not taking any chances. They're getting their kids vaccinated after two new cases of highly contagious measles have been confirmed in the Milwaukee area.
Measles can result in severe complications including encephalitis, pneumonia and death.
HARRIS: In the line of fire on Capitol Hill and making their mark this week. The top American commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, and U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, they spent two days giving Senate and House committees their assessment of the war.
Crocker says the U.S. is prepared for talks with Iran and Iraq. Petraeus warns the political and military progress in Iraq remains fragile and reversible.
ANNOUNCER: Live breaking news, unfolding developments, see for yourself in the CNN NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: And coming up on the half hour -- good Friday to you, everyone. Welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.
NGUYEN: And I'm Betty Nguyen.
There's trouble in the skies to tell you about. Flier anger is growing worse as American Airlines takes another 575 flights off the board. Adding up the week's chaos, thousands of flights have been canceled. A quarter of a million passengers, they've been stranded. And one more U.S. airliner files for bankruptcy.
HARRIS: OK. We're getting close to the opening bell. We wanted to bring Ali Velshi back because this is going to be a rocky day.
After some gains yesterday, kind of an up-and-down week, Ali. The news from G.E. not good and pointing to a down start to the day.
VELSHI: Yes, what we'll see in April is the earnings reports for companies that...
HARRIS: That's right. First quarter.
VELSHI: ...what they got from -- yes, first quarter, January to the end of March. And you know, with the hundreds and thousands of companies that are reporting, we don't tell you about all of them.
HARRIS: Yes.
VELSHI: But G.E. is one of the biggest companies in the world. You probably have it in your portfolio and it is going to be down quite severely this morning and as a result so is the rest of the Dow. Well more than 100 points at the open.
General Electric says that it didn't make as much money this first quarter as it did the last one. It's taking a big hit because it's big in financial services. The U.S. economy is slowing down. There's your opening bell. It's says it's going to have a rough rest of the year as a result. And even though most of its money and its revenue comes from overseas, the U.S. downturn and the financial services downturn is hurting that stock a lot. So for those of you with General Electric in your portfolios, you're going to feel that heat. General Electric says that it didn't make as much money this first quarter as it did the last one. It's taking a bit hit because it's big in the financial services.
The U.S. Economy is slowing down. There's your opening bell. It's says it's going to have a rough rest of the year as a result. And even though most of its money and its revenue come from overseas, the U.S. downturn and the financial services downturn is hurting that stock a lot.
So for those of you with General Electric in portfolios, you're going to feel that hit. And for those of you who follow the stock market, we're about to see that hit as the DOW starts...
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: You know, it's interesting, Ali, we think of GE -- most of us do, as being a big turbine company. And you know, we forget sometimes that they're also into financials as well.
VELSHI: In fact, they still are a big turbine company. But they're such a major industrial company and such a conglomerate. They're in pretty much everything. Financial services, energy, lighting, all sorts of industry. So it's a big, big company but the financial services has been -- and by the way, television.
HARRIS: That's right.
VELSHI: It's been so lucrative for so long that it's become a big part of General Electric's business. And now we're seeing the DOW down about 90 points really within less than a minute of trading. I think you're going to see that going down as a result. The stock market generally, because it's a big part of the market.
HARRIS: Well, Ali, we thought we might get a boost of the market today. Not only from GE, posting positive earnings for the first quarter. Well, that's clearly not going to happen. But we also thought we might get some news that would be helpful to the market in terms of some kind of deal announcement from Delta and Northwest. I don't know where that is but it's been up and down, on and off again for months.
VELSHI: And yet, we just keep on getting more news about American Airlines. One of the things about earning season is, you know, on the daily basis, what we think we're going to get versus what we get is going to make the market change.
So I'd like to say that people over this few weeks don't be too worried about the major shifts in the market, because you know, you'll get a bad day and you'll get a good day. But when we are going to have that kind of a drop at the open, you know, you and I like to share that information with our viewers. We're down about 125 points right now.
HARRIS: Where's the number? I want to see the board. We don't have a shot -- where's that trusty shot of the big board?
VELSHI: I've got it here on my computer. But it's not 125 right now. I think about 130 is probably where -- there's 126 in the corner of this screen. So, we'll keep you posted.
HARRIS: All right. Appreciate it, Ali. Thanks.
VELSHI: Bye, bye.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the world watches the election crisis in Zimbabwe. And we're going to be talking to a journalist who had a rare chance to talk with Zimbabwe's embattled president.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
NGUYEN: I loved her. That from a U.S. marine shortly after being arrested in the killing of his pregnant comrade. Marine corporeal Cesar Laurean was nabbed at a road block in Mexico last night.
Police say he didn't put up a fight. They say he claimed to have spent the last three months sleeping in avocado grows and eating the fruit. Prosecutors in North Carolina, though, want Laurean brought back to face a murder charges.
And the remains of fellow marine, Maria Lauterbach, were found in his backyard back in January. She had accused him of raping her. Lauterbach was eight months pregnant at the time and prosecutors have not said if Laurean was the father.
So a pregnant marine murdered. Well, her accused killer finally caught in Mexico. We are going to talk with Maria Lauterbach's mother in the NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: All right, let's get with -- well, look at the map. Rob Marciano now.
And again, Rob, if you'll bring us up to date and up to speed on what's behind you there. Pretty troubling site there.
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: Well, when the weather does become the news, you can remember to send us your I-reports. Here's what you do. You go to cnn.com and click on I-report or type ireport@cnn.com into your cell phone. But remember, stay safe.
HARRIS: Two weeks since elections in Zimbabwe. Still, no official results. Now this from a government spokesman long ruling leader, Robert Mugabe, will not attend a key weekend meeting aimed at resolving the crisis.
Live from London now, journalist James Makawa of The Africa Channel. He had a rare and lengthy interview with the Zimbabwean president.
Boy, James, great to see you. JAMES MAKAWA, THE AFRICA CHANNEL: Good to see you again, Tony.
HARRIS: It's been a while my friend. James, a quick sound bite from your interview with Mugabe. At this moment, you're identifying the problems in the country and you are asking Mugabe to acknowledge the hard work ahead and then a question for you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAKAWA: To bring the country from where it is right now is probably going to be the fight of your life, would you say not?
PRES. ROBERT MUGABE, ZIMBABWE: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: James, James, he says no? No, he says. Is this a man who is delusional? Is this a man in denial or is this a man desperately trying to hang on to power? What's going on here?
MAKAWA: Well, Mugabe is definitely wanting to hang on to power. He led the liberation struggle along with Joshua Nkomo and he feels that it is his right to lead that land that he helped liberate.
But at the same time, too, he is -- he is calculating, he is one of the last strong men that exists out there. And he is not going to go quietly, make no mistake about it.
HARRIS: Why not? I mean, isn't the choice for Mugabe pretty clear here? He's basically acknowledged that he's lost the election here. The choices are to clear the way for a runoff or to offer up a concession speech and pass the baton to Morgan Tsvangirai. Aren't those the options?
MAKAWA: Well, those are the options but, you know, Mugabe is not going to go quietly. And he's also going to continue to play his cards very close to the vest. Because even with asking him, you know, the question, isn't this the political fight of his life?
And he just passes it off as if I'm asking him a powder-puff question. But here is a country that is on its knees. The economy has collapsed. You know, we've got 200,000 percent inflation rate and 80 percent of the people are out of work and going hungry. Does that matter to him? Does he have a conscience? Only he knows. Only he knows.
HARRIS: James, another -- a bit of the interview and in this, you're talking to him about the future of the country. The legacy of the country. Here's what he has to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MUGABE: It's a long march of the nation and it cannot be done by Robert Mugabe. Robert Mugabe will have done is played these parts and tomorrow he will be out of the way. Zimbabwe should remain our country together. But the country of the united people. (END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: James, what's going to happen here ultimately?
MAKAWA: Well, what's going to happen here ultimately is that I understand that this meeting that was supposed to happen in Lusaka is he's not going to attend. Let's not forget one thing. Mugabe is the elder statesman who went to war.
Now, whether it's the president and this is nothing against the presidents of the countries in the Sadic (ph) nations. From, you know, from Kikwete (ph) all the way through Timbeki (ph) through Wanawasa (ph) in Zambia these are kids to Mugabe. He's the one -- he's the intellectual that winds up in the room. He's the big elephant, the big gorilla that tells these guys where to get off.
(CROSSTALK)
HARRIS: James, I know this is your country of birth. But is it the statesman thing to do at this point to step off the stage? My goodness. He is 84 years old. Yes, he's viewed as a liberator, but there are also some problems associated with the Mugabe rule. Let's be honest about it.
MAKAWA: Well, absolutely. Is it the statesman thing to do? Yes. But what has this got to do with statesmanship in his mind?
HARRIS: Well, I'm wondering. I mean, isn't it -- don't you think it's the right -- I'm asking you. I mean, you had the opportunity to sit down with him. You posed the question of -- sure, isn't it the right thing to do. The election results seem to indicate he's acknowledged that he has not the winner, clearly. Isn't it the right thing to do for the country to step off the stage and allow new leadership to take over and guide the country?
MAKAWA: Absolutely, Tony. But that's why we have elections. And that's why, you know, winners and losers come to the forefront and you do something that's in the best interest of the nation.
What's going on right now is an absolute disgrace. It is a disgrace to Zimbabweans. It's a disgrace to Africans. It's a disgrace to the world. I mean, due process as far as counting these votes -- we're not talking about Nigeria here, where there are 150 million people.
We're talking about a country less than $12 million people. So that's why we have these elections, and Zimbabwe I must point out, has never missed an election since 1980. But because things got so tight, this time, who know what's going to happen?
HARRIS: Wow. All right, James Makawa, great to talk to you, my friend. It's been a while and let's do it again. Keep us posted on what's going on in your mother country. Thank you, man.
MAKAWA: Thank you very much, Tony.
HARRIS: And still to come, Hillary Clinton aiming to be the anti-war candidate. Is it too little too late?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: To politics now. Hillary Clinton criticizing the president on Iraq and trying to blunt gains by Barack Obama. Here's CNN's Suzanne Malveaux, part of the Best Political Team on Television.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In an effort to convince voters she's the anti-war candidate, Senator Clinton blasted President Bush, who earlier in the day ordered to halt withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq after July, so his top commander could assess conditions on the ground.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In the wake of the failed objectives that were laid out to be met by the surge, what is the exit strategy in Iraq?
MALVEAUX: Clinton praised Mr. Bush's decision to reduce soldiers' combat tours by three months, but portrayed the change as too little, too late.
CLINTON: I do want to commend President Bush for cutting the length of deployments from 15 to 12 months, but it is deeply unfortunate that the president only made this change when the strain he placed on our military forces absolutely required it.
MALVEAUX: Wednesday night, Senator Clinton asserted it's not too little or too late for her to still win the Democratic nomination. At a fund-raising concert with Elton John, she borrowed a line from one of his greatest hits declaring...
CLINTON: I'm still standing.
MALVEAUX: Leaving New York City $2.5 million richer from the event, she was back on the trail in Pennsylvania. Her encore here in Pittsburgh is aimed at wooing women -- the working class, and those worried over the war. But her job is getting tougher.
A new survey of three polls compiled by CNN shows Barack Obama is closing in on her lead. Now, just a 4 percent gap between the two. 46 percent supporting Clinton, 42 percent for Obama and 12 percent undecided.
(on camera): The Clinton campaign is emphasizing the positives saying that the senator picked up three superdelegates in the last 36 hours and that she's increasing her offices in Indiana, North Carolina and Oregon. Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama facing hard questions on faith and politics. CNN's Campbell Brown leads a special event, "THE COMPASSION FORUM." That's Sunday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern only on CNN. Your home for politics. HARRIS: Did something fishy happen during the vice president's recent fishing trip?
NGUYEN: I don't know. You'll have to see for yourself, because reflections from a photo that people are buzzing about all over the web.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Thousands of police, countless concerns, Argentina is mobilizing a massive police presence for its running of the Olympic torch today. Publicly, officials are building the torch run as an upbeat street fiesta but there is no denying the anti-China protests that have dug the earlier legs of it journey.
Human rights activist force Olympic organizers to abandon plans and alter routes in France, England and of course here in the United States and San Francisco. Now, if you'd like to see the complete Olympic torch relay route, check out a cnn.com special report "COUNTDOWN OLYMPICS 2008." There you will find an interactive guide. That's at cnn.com/Olympics.
NGUYEN: All right. So we want you to check this out. It's a picture of Vice President Dick Cheney, because it has become an Internet sensation. And Internet correspondent, Veronica De La Cruz, has been checking out the blogs this morning.
I don't know. I see several different things in the picture.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: You do?
NGUYEN: I do.
DE LA CRUZ: All right. Well, let's go ahead and take a look. Let me just tell you this, Betty, if you Google those words right now, Dick Cheney, sunglasses, that's going to give you about 130,000 hits and it's because of this photo. Check it out.
The blogs on fire with a speculation over this image reflected in his VP's sunglasses. I don't know. What is it? Is it a naked woman? Is it a...
NGUYEN: We need a tighter shot so you can see exactly what that is.
DE LA CRUZ: OK, you're right.
NGUYEN: There you go.
DE LA CRUZ: There you go. So let's go ahead and take a closer look. What is this? Why is he smiling? Is it a naked woman? I mean, the picture was snapped while Cheney was fly fishing on Snake River in Idaho. And it was taken by White House photographer, David Bohrer. It was originally posted on the White House's official Web site with a series of photo as stated. Spokeswomen, Meagan Mitchell, from the vice president's office has said, Betty, "Clearly the picture shows a hand casting a fly fishing rod."
Is that what you see?
NGUYEN: I think I can see that. A little bit. But I see how it kind of looks like a naked woman, too.
DE LA CRUZ: Maybe like the knuckles on the rod. I mean, can you see the hand holding the fishing rod.
HARRIS: That's a pretty weird naked woman.
NGUYEN: Kind of looks like (INAUDIBLE) but she has no hair. I don't know, it's just weird.
HARRIS: It's not a naked woman I'd want to meet.
NGUYEN: An alien -- naked alien, maybe that's what it is. I don't know. OK, well, a lot of user...
(CROSSTALK)
DE LA CRUZ: And naked alien women fly fisher maybe.
NGUYEN: Perhaps. But you know, as a White House is saying, look, it's just a hand. But are people really buying into that? I mean, what are you hearing online? Because I'm sure there's lots of theories out there.
DE LA CRUZ: Well, just like we are right now. People obviously having a lot of fun with this on the web. There's a site out there dedicated to sport photography. It's called sportshooter.com. And Jason from North Carolina writes "Naked women?? That explains his problem."
And the a post on a "Chicago Tribune" blog. One reader writes, "The photo is clearly a picture of Hillary working her final chapter of the kitchen sink strategy."
NGUYEN: Oh, my goodness.
DE LA CRUZ: And then in a thread on mcclatchydc.com, another funny post about the images. "It is obviously the Virgin Mary or the State of Illinois."
Do you guys remember that one? The cornflake being sold on (INAUDIBLE) Illinois.
HARRIS: Oh, yes. Yes, that's right.
DE LA CRUZ: Right? Also, you can logon to AOL right now. Their political blog, it's called the Political Machine. They're having people cast their votes and they're asking, is it a hot babe in a bathing suit? Is it an alien? Or you can vote that's not Dick Cheney, or it is Dick Cheney but the image has been photoshopped.
HARRIS: Oh, there you go.
NGUYEN: Here's a thing. You know what, we'll probably never know because people are going to continue with their own theories.
DE LA CRUZ: Maybe it's Lynn.
NGUYEN: Are you saying Lynn's naked?
DE LA CRUZ: No, I didn't say Lynn's take it off. I just said maybe...
NGUYEN: What are you saying?
(CROSSTALK)
HARRIS: We've clearly gone too far with this.
NGUYEN: Way too far with this. All right, Veronica, as always, it's been fun, thanks.
DE LA CRUZ: Have a great weekend.
NGUYEN: You, too.
HARRIS: The thrill of cheap gas can sound like this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody come up here to get them some gas because gas is high and this is a blessing from the lord up above because we need the gas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Hallelujah.
NGUYEN: Amen to that.
HARRIS: Come on. How does 35 cents a gallon sound to you?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, up, up and away, yet another record for those gas prices. AAA now reporting the national average for a gallon of regular unleaded, more than $3.36. Now, a month ago, it was $3.24. And last year at this time, you were paying oh -- those are the days, an average of $2.80 a gallon.
HARRIS: This might be a fun (INAUDIBLE) of the morning.
NGUYEN: OK.
HARRIS: All right. Cheap thrills at a gas station in North Carolina. Customer filling up for 35 cents a gallon. Kim Gebbia with affiliate WECT covering all the madness.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KIM GEBBIA, WECT REPORTER (voice-over): Excited to be pumping gas? Don't let this sign fool you.
You'd be dancing too if you could get gas for 35-cents a gallon. The going rate at this Wilmington gas station.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And she said you need a gas, I was like, yes. She was like girl, go down to B-P Off 17th Street, they've got gas for 33-cent a gallon but we found it was 35 cent a gallon.
GEBBIA: Phone calls and texts about the $3 per gallon discount led to long lines, traffic gridlock and some impatient pumpers at the B-P Kangaroo Off 17th Street.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) five minutes. I've been here long.
GEBBIA: How long are you willing to wait?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to wait till I get some.
GEBBIA: What some gas-getters are calling a gift from God is all happening at Pump Four. A glitch by one of the station employees allowed this woman to fill up her Chevy for under 5 dollars.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: $4.74.
GEBBIA: For a full tank of gas?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For a full tank of gas.
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