Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
New U.S. Troops Entering Afghanistan; President Obama's Housing Plan; GM & Chrysler Push to Save American Car Industry; New Details on Cause of Flight 3407 Crash; A Possible Cure for the Common Cold?; Weighing Chris Brown's Apology
Aired February 17, 2009 - 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: Top of the hour now, it's 30 seconds after the top of the hour and developing overnight. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton playing hardball with North Korea, warning the nuclear nation, do not fire that missile.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: Our goal remains the same, a denuclearized North Korea, with the kind of complete and verifiable inspections that will put to rest questions about whether or not they have the capacity to make nuclear weapons.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: U.S. intelligence suggests North Korea may be getting ready to test-fire a long range missile capable of hitting the United States. Secretary Clinton's warning to Pyongyang comes during a stop in Tokyo, her first diplomatic mission for President Obama.
Fresh U.S. troops already serving in the danger zones in Afghanistan. A military spokesman tells the "Associated Press" that 3,000 additional soldiers are already in the field and seeing combat. Their mission is to secure two violent provinces near the capital of Kabul.
President Obama putting your money and his political capital on the line today. He'll sign the intensely debated economic recovery package in Denver where he accepted his party's nomination. The $787 billion investment in the future that the White House says could save or create more than three million jobs, but it's only part of the administration's plan to tackle the worst economy and unemployment in decades.
Topping the agenda this morning, help for America's homeowners. Take a look at this. Right now across the United States, about 1.5 million foreclosed homes, according to Realty Track. Arizona has been particularly hard-hit with more than 4,500 homes repossessed just last month. That's why after signing the economic stimulus today in Denver, the president is heading to Phoenix. There he will unveil his plan to attack the housing crisis.
Last night, personal finance expert Suze Orman sat down with Larry King trying to find a silver lining in all the chaos. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": You see anything encouraging?
SUZE ORMAN, PERSONAL FINANCE EXPERT: Yes. Here's what I see encouraging. The stimulus got passed. He has a plan. We now have to give him our support to make this plan help everybody.
I wish everybody would stop saying it is dire, including the president. Stop telling everybody that it's dire, it's this, it's that. We have a plan. Let's see what we can do. Let's deal with the housing crisis now as well. And if we could just keep doing this, little by little we're going to get through it.
Is it going to be easy? No, but we will eventually get through it. We need time, though, Larry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Our Jim Acosta is in Washington and he has a preview of President Obama's housing plan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): School bus driver and mother of two, Minta Garcia got the letter every homeowner dreads, your mortgage is in jeopardy of going into foreclosure.
MINTA GARCIA, DISTRESSED HOMEOWNER: We're going to be losing the house. We're going to lose everything.
ACOSTA (on camera): You think you're going to lose everything?
GARCIA: Yes.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Her message to the president...
GARCIA: Stop with the foreclosure.
ACOSTA (on camera): Stop the foreclosures?
GARCIA: Yes. Right now, because if people are losing houses, losing jobs, what are we going to do?
ACOSTA (voice-over): The White House says its housing plan will be one leg of a multi-legged stool that includes the stimulus and fixing the banks, with more legs to come to prop up the ailing economy.
TIMOTHY GEITHNER, TREASURY SECRETARY: This crisis in housing has had devastating consequences, and our government should have moved more forcefully to help contain the damage.
ACOSTA: Expected to cost $50 billion to $100 billion, the housing plan targets foreclosures by modifying loans for troubled borrowers. Some economists question whether the plan is big enough.
PETER MORICI, ECONOMIST, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: We are likely looking at a trillion dollars in mortgage losses before this is all over, and putting $50 billion or $100 billion in is not going to solve the problem.
ACOSTA: Like countless other Americans, Garcia admits she and her husband bought more house than they could afford, but she says the lender made the purchase all too easy. Now her mortgage is worth more than her house.
(on camera): How much was the house when you bought it?
GARCIA: Eight hundred.
ACOSTA: Eight hundred thousand dollars?. And how much is the house worth?
GARCIA: Right now, it's like $675,000 on the market.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Foreclosure experts say America's home buying culture must change the president's plan to work.
PHILLIP ROBINSON, FORECLOSURE ATTORNEY: We lived in a culture in the last ten years where mortgage originators said that you could use your house as a credit card to pay off your cars, to pay your credit card bills. Well, that doesn't exist anymore.
Jim Acosta, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Not only did they say that, they actually encouraged it. I remember feeling, am I missing the boat here? It seems like everyone is encouraging to take out a home equity loan whether you've asked for one or not.
ROBERTS: I don't know how many times I got offered the same thing.
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: And you know, I took once. I did it, used it for a little bit, paid it right off and just said it's nice to know that it's there but I'm not going to use it.
CHETRY: Right. Really unfortunately became the norm.
Well, also breaking this morning, the Obama Administration putting billions more bailout dollars on the line. General Motors expected to receive today the third installment of a loan that President Bush had promised before leaving office.
The $4 billion payment comes as GM and Chrysler try to convince Washington that they can pay us back and that the American car industry is worth saving. Stephanie Elam is "Minding Your Business" this morning with more on what they're going to hope to show.
Hi there.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi there.
Well, let's take a look at how much money GM and Chrysler have already received so far. You know, if you take a look at GM, they've gotten $13.4 billion. Chrysler getting $4 billion so far.
Now we know GM is going to get this extra $4 billion here. But in the beginning of this plan, when they first went to Congress, they said hey, you know what? Jim (ph) would say I like $18 billion for us to be viable through 2010. At that point, Chrysler asked for $7 billion. So the big question today when they come out and they show for them this day of reckoning of what they need, the big question is how much more money are they going to ask for?
A lot of people think it's going to be more than the $34 billion they originally asked for. So that's what we're going to be looking for here are details on that. Also it's become really clear based on a lot of that Nancy Pelosi and Barney Frank sent to these leaders, they want to know some big things. They want to know fuel efficiency. They want to know if you're going to make sure that benefits are going to be safe for retirees. There's a lot of questions that they want answered about what's going to go forward with these plans.
CHETRY: All right. Stephanie Elam, they got a lot of work to do, right?
ELAM: Oh, there's a lot of work and it's not going to be done. And if you're wondering about Ford, I should just mention, Ford did tell us that we think we'll be OK without taxpayer money.
CHETRY: Right.
ELAM: So we should be OK, but they did ask for a $9 billion line of credit just in case things get worse. So, we're basically focusing on Chrysler and GM today.
CHETRY: All right. Stephanie, thanks so much.
ROBERTS: New this morning, Hillary Clinton's Senate replacement has moved the guns from underneath her bed. New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand had told "Newsday" that she kept them there for protection and that she has the right to do so, but the reports said that the guns were not loaded. Gillibrand and her husband have two children. Her pro-gun stance was a reason that some fellow Democrats were not happy with Gillibrand's appointment.
Olympic champion Michael Phelps off the hook this morning. A South Carolina sheriff says there is not enough evidence to file criminal charges against him for the now infamous bong hit photo. Phelps is speaking out again this morning, saying he doesn't need to be arrested to know that he screwed up. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL PHELPS, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: I'm happy with having this thing sort of rest a little bit. You know, I realize that I have made a mistake and a bad judgment, and I guess this is something that I need to learn from, I will learn from and have learned from.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: And the Bronx Zoo moves to Tampa today. Alex Rodriguez will hold a news conference at Yankee spring training for the first time since admitting that he took performance-enhancing drugs 2001 to 2003. A-Rod still hasn't said what he took or who supplied it. He's expected to be surrounded by supportive teammates.
CHETRY: Bristol Palin, daughter of Alaska's governor, Sarah Palin, is speaking out. Sitting down with FOX News, the new teen mom says she wants to be an advocate for preventing teen pregnancy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRISTOL PALIN, GOV. SARAH PALIN'S DAUGHTER: Everyone should just wait ten years. It's so much easier if you're married and if you have a house and career. And it's just so much easier.
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: What do your parents say about teen pregnancy?
PALIN: It's not something to strive for, I guess. It's just, I don't know. I'm not the first person that it's happened to and I'm not going to be the last. But I don't know, I'd love to be an advocate to prevent teen pregnancy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: And the interview soon had a third generation Palin when Governor Sarah Palin showed up with her grandson. The governor says that her daughter's situation shows that this can happen to any family.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOVERNOR SARAH PALIN (R), ALASKA: A little surprise. Let me put it this way and this is -- I think Bristol is kind of an example of truly it can happen to anybody.
Bristol is a great athlete, great student, great aspirations that she had for herself, plans, that didn't include a baby, of course, but it did happen to her, and now, again, less than ideal circumstances, so we make the most of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: And Bristol also says that abstinence-only education is not realistic, and it's interesting because her mother supported abstinence-only education. ROBERTS: That was a big issue at first too.
CHETRY: That's right.
ELAM: Well, I mean, you've already seen the diversions between mother and daughter already, right? So I guess so it's not totally a surprise that they don't agree on that.
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: There's going to be some interesting conversation around the dinner table I would expect as a result of that interview. All right.
CHETRY: That's right. He's also not getting married right away to her.
ROBERTS: I thought they were getting married this summer.
ELAM: I thought so too. Yes.
CHETRY: And -- but she says he's a real hands-on dad so wish them the best, though it's not going to be easy.
ROBERTS: The plans, they keep on changing.
ELAM: Yes. Well, having the family there helps.
ROBERTS: Well, still ahead, a 200-pound pet chimpanzee goes on the attack. A woman is left fighting for her life this morning. What in the world set that chimp off?
CHETRY: Also known for pricey lattes, bistro sandwiches, Starbucks is trying to save you some bucks by adding an instant cup of Jo. We're going to tell why some coffee connoisseurs are a bit skeptical.
ROBERTS: Instant Starbucks? It just doesn't seem right.
And long thought to be the holy grail of medicine, doctors may be close to finding a cure for the common cold. We'll tell you how.
It's 10 and a half minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It is 12 minutes after the hour. Let's fast forward to see what stories will be making news later on today.
More than a quarter of major U.S. television stations will shut down their analog broadcast signals today. That means no more rabbit ear antennas. Last week, Congress moved the mandatory switch to June the 12th, but many broadcasters are still sticking to the original date saying that's when we planned to do it and we're going to do it.
President Obama heads to Denver, Colorado, today. First up, he and Vice President Biden will be given a tour of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Then at 2:05 Eastern, he'll sign the $787 billion economic stimulus package into law.
And at 6:30 p.m. Eastern, Barry Bonds expected in court for the hearing and lead up to his federal trial. The home run record holder is charged with ten counts of perjury and one count of obstruction, telling a grand jury he never used performance-enhancing drugs. And we must say that even though she was sprinting across the screen, she's never used them either -- Kiran.
CHETRY: I'm so sorry. You got to watch. This is a live and active studio at every moment.
Anyhow, federal officials are still pouring over clues this morning trying to figure out what caused Friday's deadly commuter plane crash outside of Buffalo. We're now learning some new details about the last seconds on board.
Our Allan Chernoff is live in Clarence Center, New York, this morning, with more details for us.
Good morning, Allan.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran. Those final seconds must have been absolutely terrifying.
In those final seconds, the nose of the plane dipped up then violently down. The wings rolled to the left and then flipped all the way to the right past vertical. What possibly could have caused that? Well, investigators haven't ruled anything out but experts are focusing on the combination of icing and the fact that the plane was on autopilot as it approached the airport.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF (voice-over): In only 26 seconds, Flight 3407 fell out of the sky, twisting and rolling uncontrollably until it flopped on a single home, six miles from the Buffalo Niagara Airport. It happened so suddenly that the pilot approaching the airport on autopilot appears to have had little chance of preventing the aircraft from stalling.
GREGORY FEITH, FORMER NTSB INVESTIGATOR: If the autopilot is flying the airplane, by the time the autopilot turns off or disengages, now the airplane is in an unusual latitude and the pilot has to try and do so many mental gymnastics, things like trying to figure out what the position of the airplane is and what the appropriate corrective action is. And at a low altitude, that is just not possible for successful recovery.
CHERNOFF: Flying on autopilot is standard operating procedure in most conditions, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. And the flight manual for the aircraft, the Bombardier Q400 turboprop, says, "Autopilot may be used in icing conditions with the exception of severe icing conditions." Weather conditions last Thursday night were light to moderate icing near Buffalo. Experts say, though, it's possible for an aircraft to encounter patches of heavier ice. Even though the pilot had the deicer on for most of the flight, aviation experts say with the autopilot engaged, the crew may not have been aware of exactly how much ice had built up on the wings or the tail.
PUNEET SINGLA, ASST. PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO: You don't have a very good view of the wing of the aircraft. He cannot look outside and see whether there is ice or not. There is no camera installed to give him a view of the wing.
CHERNOFF: He has to rely on his own manual field.
SINGLA: Yes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF: It will be many months before the National Transportation Safety Board comes to a conclusive explanation of what exactly caused that crash, but leading the list of possibilities is the combination of icing and the use of the autopilot -- Kiran.
CHETRY: And that's the thing that's so, you know, unbelievable, is that just moments after, right, it was within 30 minutes there was another plane that left right from Newark and went through that same area and landed safely with the same plane at Buffalo.
CHERNOFF: Absolutely, and there were plenty of other planes that passed through the air space. The weather conditions were for only light to moderate icing, but experts say it's possible that a plane can pass through a little patch where there is very severe icing, and that's certainly one of the possibilities here.
CHETRY: All right. They keep digging for answers still. Allan Chernoff this morning for us in Clarence Center, thanks -- John?
ROBERTS: A celebrity chimp goes after police and leaves a woman clinging to life. A community left wondering what went wrong.
Plus with the price of oil down, Americans driving less. Why in the heck is the price of gasoline going up? We'll ask the former chief of Shell Oil, just ahead.
Seventeen minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Top videos right now on CNN.com, most popular a 13- year-old sex offender? Six boys in Massachusetts are in big trouble for "sexting." A 13-year-old boy took a partially nude cell phone picture of his girlfriend and messaged it to his friends. All six boys involved could face felony child pornography charges.
Also, take a look at this amazing video. This driver on the run from police. He seems boxed in. And look at that, runs up behind a police SUV, kicks it into the guardrail until he finally spins out, slams up against the guardrail. Police as you can see as they jump out of the car here. And we're going to have that picture, watch this.
OK, out of the car! Ah, not too happy about the way that he was conducting himself.
And still one of the most popular videos on CNN.com, the blazing object seen streaking across the Texas sky over the weekend. People running for their lives.
No, actually, that was a marathon race. Still to be unidentified, still identified, yet to be identified, after ruling out satellite debris, some officials are saying the fireball might be a meteor. Good guess. Those are your most popular videos this morning.
CHETRY: All right. Well, a woman is in serious condition this morning after she was mauled by her friend's 200-pound pet chimpanzee, not at a zoo or animal sanctuary, it was her friend's home in a quiet Connecticut town.
Take a look. This is Travis. Now this is a picture of Travis from a few years back. He actually starr ed in some movies and was supposed to be a great, fun, friendly part of the neighborhood, but this attack changed everything. It ended up touching off a rampage that ended when police say they were forced to kill the animal.
Jason Carroll is here now with more on exactly what happened. Such a bizarre story, such a disturbing story and really, if you talk to people that knew this woman, very unexpected.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very unexpected because a lot of people in the neighborhood apparently knew this chimp, knew his disposition, completely unexpected. This chimp was actually a house pet and was a regular in its neighborhood, by all accounts, a friendly animal that had appeared in TV commercials.
This is Travis. Take a look, just from about five years ago, after he was involved in a separate incident. We're going to have more on that in just a minute.
First, what happened yesterday. This all unfolded in the upscale community of Stamford, Connecticut. Police say 55-year-old Charla Nash was coming to visit her friend, the chimp's long time owner. That's when the animal apparently used a key to somehow get out of the house and suddenly attack mauling Nash as she tried to get out of her car. The chimp's owner, Sandra Harold, fought off her pet by stabbing it with a kitchen knife in a desperate effort to save her friend's life.
Police quickly showed up and had to shoot the animal, after it opened the door of a squad car and cornered an officer. The chimp later died. The 15-year-old, 200-pound primate was well-known in the neighborhood community, especially to police, who actually had a history with Travis. In 2003, the chimp escaped from his owner's car and ran through the streets. What's unclear is why his owner was allowed to keep the animal in her home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The law has been tightened up in recent years, but from what we understand, this woman can own the chimpanzee because she owned it long before that law and it was kind of grandfathered in her ownership of the chimpanzee.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Owner Sandra Harold says the chimp was not violent and was well-trained. He could use the toilet by himself, dressed himself and even drank wine from a glass. And neighbors were used to seeing him all the time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take him out for walks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you think?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cool, I mean, to see something like that up here it's awesome to see it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Not so awesome anymore. What provoked the attack? Police theorized medication Travis had been taking for Lyme disease could have had an adverse affect on him. The victim, Charla Nash, still remains in critical condition. You know at the end of the day, people may have well intentions but these are wild animals.
CHETRY: That's right.
CARROLL: And they can be very, very dangerous and very powerful.
CHETRY: People unfortunately have dogs that can turn on them. You know, this is a 200-pound chimpanzee. Apparently the reason she called her friend over, the owner is 70 years old, she was really no match for trying to get him in the house, get back in the house.
CARROLL: Two hundred pounds, yes.
CHETRY: So she asked for some help. And they also said this woman knew the chimp very well but that she had a different hairstyle that day which may have made the chimpanzee think she was a stranger.
CARROLL: Maybe.
You know I'm from California, we live in sort of -- you know, some parts of it were rural where people had, you know, exotic pets and things like that. And you know, we were always told stay away, even though that, you know, these people would claim well-trained, well-trained. Wild animal, you can never be too sure.
ROBERTS: A wild animal is just that, right?
CARROLL: Wild.
ROBERTS: Wild. There you go.
Thanks, Jason.
CHETRY: Thanks.
CARROLL: All right.
ROBERTS: With the economy in dire straits, is your morning coffee habit putting a strain on your wallet. Well now, Starbucks is offering a quick cup on the cheap. Details ahead.
And R&B star Chris Brown apologized, but will it be enough to regain his clean-cut image? We'll take a look at his chances and what else he has to do.
It's 25 minutes now after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the "Most News in the Morning." As you head out to work this morning, the average price for a gallon of regular is just under $2 a gallon. It's actually down half a penny since we started talking about the high price of gas a couple of days ago. But in the middle of a recession with the price of oil down, why is the price at the pump heading up?
Well, joining me now to talk more about this is the former president of Shell Oil, now an energy activist, John Hofmeister. He's in Houston this morning.
John, it's great to see you. So, people are looking at the price of gasoline and they see that since December 30th, the price of a gallon is up 22 percent while at the same time the price of a barrel of light sweet crude oil is down 16 percent. They're saying why is gas going up when oil is going the other way?
JOHN HOFMEISTER, FORMER PRESIDENT, SHELL OIL: It does seem strange, doesn't it, because you usually think as the crude price goes up the gas price goes up and vice versa. But I think what's happened and it happens every year, John, this time of year refineries go into turnaround mode. Every couple of years a refinery has to shut down completely.
So what's happened is a lot of the refining companies are taking their turnarounds but in addition some refineries went down after Ike and Gustav hurricanes this year, and they really haven't come back up because overall there is less demand for gasoline. But now we've seen to have reached an equilibrium.
If you look at numbers, we're only producing up at about 80 percent, 81 percent capacity, whereas a year ago we were probably at 92, 93 percent of capacity so there's less supply in the marketplace of finished product.
ROBERTS: But are some of these refineries also looking at the market and saying gosh, gasoline is $1.60 a gallon, we're not going to make a whole bunch of money if it's selling at this so let's just cut back on production then the price of gas will go up, make it a little more profitable for us?
HOFMEISTER: Yes, that's happening in some cases. Some refineries are only efficient if they run flat out, but there are a variety of refineries that can produce less and that's what's happening. There's less demand so there's less supply.
ROBERTS: OK. So the price of gasoline down $1.60, $1.70 a gallon, was seen by many people as almost a recession bonus. People who are hurting so terribly financially were at least able to continue to afford to put gas in their car. Do the refineries to the oil companies not get it? Do they not look at people hurting and say, you know, let's not raise the price of gas here?
HOFMEISTER: Well, the most important part of being a company is to be profitable. We see what happens when companies are not profitable, they get bailed out. So if companies can't make profit, then they're not going to reinvest and everybody loses in the end and the taxpayers have to pay the bill. So I think the margin in refining is generally pretty tight, so even at $1.90 or $1.95, the crude price also is only a reflection of a certain kind of crude.
So the low crude price, west Texas crude, if you're buying Brent crude or you're buying crude from other parts of the world, it's not at that $36, $37. It could be at $44, $48.
ROBERTS: The stimulus package is being signed into law today by President Obama in Denver. It includes $13 billion for wind, energy, other renewables.
You and I had a conversation a couple of days before the inauguration, which you suggested that President Obama, he was then president-elect, doesn't quite get it on the energy front. What did you mean by that and what doesn't he get?
HOFMEISTER: Well, there's nothing wrong with spending money on wind and solar. Because we need that energy and it's clean energy. But that only represents, John, about three percent of the nation's energy supply. Meanwhile the 95 plus percent of the nation's energy infrastructure also needs tremendous investment.
For example, 600 coal plants, more than half of them are over 35 years old, and they're approaching the end of their normal life cycle. 102 nuclear plants, half of them are reaching the end of their commissioning period. So while we're, it's fine to go produce more wind and more solar energy, we should do that. Let's go to the 95 plus percent base of the energy infrastructure and put time and also put time and attention into refreshing that. ROBERTS: Do you think that he'll get with that idea or do you think he's so focused on renewables that that part of it may actually lapse?
HOFMEISTER: Well, I think of course, the president is leading the whole nation and so we welcome the change that he represents, but Secretary Chu gets it.
ROBERTS: OK.
HOFMEISTER: Secretary Chu and the Energy Department knows exactly. I listened to his testimony, I thought it was good testimony and I think he's going to try to help make the right things happen.
ROBERTS: We'll see which way it goes. John Hofmeister, Citizens for Affordable Energy. It's good to see you this morning. Thanks for joining us.
HOFMEISTER: Thank you.
ROBERTS: OK.
CHETRY: It's 31 1/2 minutes after the hour. A look at our top stories now.
Twenty thousand jobs are in jeopardy with California broke and on the brink. Lawmakers are just one vote away from passing a budget plan but could not cut a deal by last night's deadline. It prompted Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to make good on a previous promise to start sending out layoff notices to state workers today. Now under the state's process it would take months for anyone to actually be laid off.
It's cyber warfare, there's a new report out this morning saying that government computers are at greater risk than ever before. Federal records showing attacks were up 40 percent in 2008. It includes networks for the Department of Defense, state and Homeland Security. The Director of National Intelligence last week warned Congress that nations like Russia and China are using cyberspace to spy on the United States.
And the Postmaster General reportedly getting the Wall Street CEO treatment that has so many on Main Street irate. A report in this morning's "Washington Times" says John Potter made $800,000 in pay, perks and bonuses last year. That's more than double President Obama's salary.
Potter is the guy who recently warned that the postal service is in such financial straits that it may have to cut back on deliveries, specifically a talk of possibly having to eliminate Saturday deliveries because of the dire financial situation.
Well, new this morning, fresh U.S. troops entering the war zone in Afghanistan, it's a place where roadside bombings and suicide attacks are soaring, as President Obama is deciding whether or not to double the fighting force there. A call that could come within days. CNN's Barbara Starr joins us live from the Pentagon.
Now we got a couple different bits of information about this, Robert Gibbs, the spokesperson for President Obama, saying that it wouldn't be longer than weeks, but Secretary Gates seemed to indicate that it would be days before we found out more.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: You're absolutely right, Kiran. We've been talking about this here, you know, every day it seems like. But the decision they say about troops for Afghanistan could come at any time.
Listen to what the White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs had to say about it yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The administration continues its review of our policies related to Afghanistan and I would expect that the president's decision could come shortly, without laying out a firm timetable of when exactly that might be.
So where do things stand right now? You know commanders have wanted four additional brigades, about another 30,000 troops. One brigade already there, that was all decided during the Bush administration, but when you look at the map, you see where the fighting has picked up south of Kabul, also besides those provinces, out in the east and down south, the Taliban consolidating their position every day. So getting these troops there is becoming more and more critical.
The envoy, Richard Holbrook just back from the region this week but the strategy review isn't done yet and what a lot of officials are saying is the military, the White House are wanting to see the strategy completed because it's critical. The fundamental questions being looked at right now, what is the strategy in Afghanistan, what is the goal? How will you know when the mission is accomplished? But the bottom line, of course, for the troops on the ground, they need more help and they need it quick -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Barbara Starr for us this morning, at the Pentagon. Thank you.
ROBERTS: In this economy who can spare the cash for a $4.00 cup of coffee. Find out what Starbucks is doing to keep you hooked.
It's 35 minutes now after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: The song that almost feels like that morning cup of coffee. Well, you might need a grande latte to start out your day or maybe adopia or maybe an americano or something like that but the price of a cup of coffee at some of these boutique stores often gets a little bit high and in a recession who can afford expensive coffee? So Starbucks is trying to do something about it. And our Carol Costello joins us outside the Starbucks this morning in our nation's capital.
What are they doing, Carol?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know here at Starbucks, you can go in and get your favorite coffee for what, $4.95; don't they call it "Fourbucks"? Or you can go right across the street to the Dunkin' Donuts and get a cheaper cup of coffee. That's been one of Starbucks biggest problems.
So as the CEO of the company says it's time for relentless innovation and that means instant coffee.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Grannin au com latte.
COSTELLO (voice-over): Starbucks made its money on fancy expensive brew. But that was then, this seems to be now.
ANNOUNCER: Not a powder, not a grind, but millions of tiny flavor buds of real coffee, ready to burst instantly into that famous Maxwell House flavor.
COSTELLO: No, Starbucks isn't turning to Maxwell House but to its own brand of instant coffee. The companies execs insist will replicate the taste of Starbucks coffee, a three pack of instant will cost you $2.95, who to dunk it. A grande you can make at home in an instant for a buck. Some customers are intrigued.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean I would be more likely to buy it but probably wouldn't still buy it.
COSTELLO: Note I said intrigued, not sold on the idea. On a blog site that's critical of the coffee seller, starbucksgossip.com, they weren't even intrigued saying things like "I wanna cry now" and "there are no words." And they say the new coffee is unlikely to attract younger customers hip to new things or even older customers hip to new things.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I roast and brew my own coffee at home so I could probably do a better job.
COSTELLO: You don't want to do it at home yourself?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No way. Reminds me of Sanka.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like the old Sanka.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The coffee for folks who love good coffee, outstandingly good coffee.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It sounds very cheap.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's cheap. COSTELLO: But some marketing experts are not discounting the idea, saying if Starbucks instant coffee is tasty, fast and cheap it just might be a hit. A hit the company sorely needs. First quarter profits were down more than 60 percent and the instant coffee market is a $17 billion business.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In going with instant, they're trying to get into a bigger market and by going into a bigger market, they can try to rebuild sales which have been slipping significantly.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tall latte.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Grande macchiatto.
COSTELLO: For now, most of you will have to be content with your old favorite. The new instant Starbucks will only be available in a few cities, unless, of course, it catches on.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And you know what, John, it just might catch on. You know, full disclosure here, I love Starbucks coffee. I can't wait to taste instant to see what it tastes like. Because Howard Schultz, you know, the chief guy of Starbucks, says it replicates exactly the taste of a cup of Starbucks coffee, and of course, there will be samples in all of the stores and that will happen very soon.
ROBERTS: But here's the question I have. If you want instant coffee, why go any further than your kitchen? I just...
COSTELLO: You can buy the instant coffee in Starbucks and take it home and make it and you know, if you have an active lifestyle you can make the coffee in an instant.
ROBERTS: All right. There you go.
COSTELLO: That's the idea, and it's cheap.
ROBERTS: OK. Carol Costello for us this morning. Carol, thanks so much.
It's 42 minutes now after the hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS (voice-over): Sneezing, coughing, the common cold, topping everyone's list for annoying illnesses. Dr. Sanjay Gupta with what may be a medical break-through. A pill for the common cold.
You're watching the Most News in the Morning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: That's Chris Brown, reigning king of R&B lately and he's apologizing, saying he's sorry and seeking counseling after he allegedly attacked his girlfriend, pop star Rihanna, but is the apology enough to rescue his career?
Lola Ogunnaike takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LOLA OGUNNAIKE, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Chris Brown was one of music's most wholesome pop acts, an adorable teenager with dimples, a smooth falsetto in killer dance moves. He sold millions of albums and just won the "People's" choice awards for favorite male singer.
But Brown's career hit a sour note last week he was arrested following an alleged attacked against a woman sources have identified as his girlfriend, R&B superstar, Rihanna.
KEVIN POWELL, AUTHOR "THE BLACK MALE HANDBOOK": I think Chris has gotten a very serious wake up call, you know, if you engage in that behavior, it doesn't matter you who are. You're going to get penalized for it and your career is going to be threatened as we've seen with the endorsements being taken away.
OGUNNAIKE: (inaudible) his commercials. Some radio stations pulled him from their playlist, even Elmo is apparently done with Brown.
CHRIS BROWN, R&B SINGER: Elmo come take a walk with me -
OGUNNAIKE: According to "Entertainment Weekly" Sesame Street has decided to stop airing rebroadcasts of Brown's popular 2007 appearance. After a week of silence, Brown issued a public apology Sunday. He did not admit to anything and said he can not discuss what has been reported about his case "until the legal issues are resolved." He added "words cannot begin to express how sorry and saddened I am over what transpired. I am seeking the counseling of my pastor, my mother and other loved ones and I am committed with god's help to emerging a better person." Will this mea culpa make a difference or is Chris Brown's career over?
OVE HAXTHAUSEN, BRANDING EXPERT: He was very clean, accomplished, young, you know, is very exciting, and now it's ugly.
OGUNNAIKE (on-camera): How do you go about fixing that if you tarnished the brand?
HAXTHAUSEN: He's already seeking you know some sort of counseling and obviously forgiveness is something that's important, and I think it's something that is part of our culture. So depending on exactly how he handles this and he's obviously already quite young still, perhaps there's a way out of it.
OGUNNAIKE: Brown is free on bond, pending a March 5th court date, following his arrest on suspicion of making criminal threats. Rihanna has declined to comment on the case. What advice would you give Chris Brown about getting past this? POWELL: It's really important that you know, at this point, he spend as much time not only with his loved ones but also with a therapist but really a lot of time with himself. I actually think the worst thing he can do is dive himself back into work. I think he's got to do some serious thinking, like what kind of man do I want to be?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: And Lola Ogunnaike joins us right now.
We haven't heard from Rihanna but her father spoke to "People."
OGUNNAIKE: Yes, he spoke to people.com and he told people.com that his daughter is bruised but she'll be OK. And he also tells "People" that "if it were me, I'd move on." So clearly he's ready for his daughter to leave Chris Brown alone.
CHETRY: And they're still going forward with these charges for now.
OGUNNAIKE: Correct, he's due back in court March 5th.
CHETRY: All right. Lola, thank you.
OGUNNAIKE: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Sharing photos online, your daughter's wedding, your baby's baptism, who owns the photos if you post them on Facebook. The company is in the hot seat and defending itself today.
And he's taken on the Bush Administration, the healthcare industry, and guns. Now film maker Michael Moore has Wall Street firmly in his sights. Fat cats, beware.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
This time of year we often wish for something doctors have called impossible. A cure for the common cold, but, now, new cutting edge science could put a cure within reach. We're paging our Dr. Gupta for more.
Sanjay, I thought it was impossible to cure the common cold.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, I mean, out of the advances that we've made probably in medicine this has been a particularly tough nut to crack. No question about it. But I think the premise is this, John., in order to beat this, you got to better understand exactly what scientists are working on.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): You're looking at the human rhino virus. You probably know it as the common cold. For decades, scientists have tried to find a cure to this that infect billions of people worldwide every year.
DR. STEPHEN LIGGETT, UNIV. OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: If we step back and look at the public health costs in terms of suffering and dollars, this is not a small player. We calculated somewhere between $60 and $100 billion in costs including unnecessary antibiotics and loss of work and school days.
GUPTA: The problem is the common cold is pretty complex. Made up of at least 99 different viral strains. It can cause different symptoms in different people. But now after years of using the latest in DNA technology, researchers from the University of Maryland and the University of Wisconsin-Madison say they have taken the first step in treating the common cold by mapping its entire genome.
LIGGETT: At least now, we have an understanding of which virus one might have.
GUPTA: By assembling the results into what they call a family tree, scientists can see how the virus strains are related and more importantly what their differences are.
So what does this all mean for you and me? Well plenty. By putting the genome puzzle pieces together, researchers say drug companies may be able to develop new treatments that could weaken the virus before it can spread.
LIGGETT: Our mindset right now is to consider more along the antiviral drug treatment rather than vaccine, but always keep an open mind to the new technologies of vaccine development.
GUPTA: Investigators are so optimistic about their findings, they predict a development of new drugs within the next two to five years. They hope one day, soon, this and this will be a thing of the past.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: So a little insight here, John. You know, you have 99 different strains. The real key for scientists is to try and find common elements to all those strains. In the end, it may not just be a single pill that affords the common cold but a series of pills to try and combat all those various strains.
ROBERTS: Maybe some sort of common weakness throughout the strains.
GUPTA: That's right.
ROBERTS: Sanjay, good to see you this morning. Thanks so much.
GUPTA: Thanks, John.
ROBERTS: Fifty-four minutes now after the hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY (voice-over): Fat cats beware. Look who is on Wall Street.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a perfect topic for Michael Moore.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sure he'll kill these guys. That's what he does best.
CHETRY: Michael Moore's new target.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wouldn't let him in my office.
CHETRY: Plus, our experts on the question you want answered now. Will the stimulus work?
You're watching the Most News in the Morning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
We first brought you this yesterday on AMERICAN MORNING. News of a dangerous collision at sea. Two submarines both holding nuclear weapons, one British, one French, slammed into each other deep in the Atlantic. The shocking story is leaving many asking how could such a thing happen and even though this being called just an accident, what about the worst case scenario.
Joining me now is international security analyst Jim Walsh. Jim, great to have you with us this morning.
JIM WALSH, INTERNATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Good morning.
CHETRY: They are calling this highly unusual, a one in a million in fact that two subs would be in the same place at the same time. But also that with their extremely advanced sonar equipment, they wouldn't notice each other until they actually hit. What is your sense of how this happened?
WALSH: Well, if you're the captain of a submarine, job one is not to be detected. You're trying to hide. Not being detected by anyone, even your own allies. And so you're hiding in places in the ocean. There are places that are good to hide and places that not so good to hide and all of a sudden, the ones trying to hide are hiding in places that are good to hide and they don't want to be detected so they end up running into each on other.
CHETRY: All right. Let's just take a look at the screen right now of the two subs that we're talking about. One of them is a French sub 450 feet long. The British sub was close to 500 feet. They were both armed with 16 nuclear warhead missiles. And you know, an anti- nuclear group is calling the incident a nightmare of the highest order. Explain what could have happened had this collision been more than just at least at this point, you know, it looks like a superficial accident in terms of damage. WALSH: Yes, I think there's some misperceptions here. There are definitely nuclear weapons dangers associated with submarines but it's not that they are going to spontaneously detonate. In fact, in the history - the U.S., for example, has lost a nuclear weapon off a ship, off a plane that fell into the ocean and was never recovered.
Once that nuclear weapon or airplane or whatever falls into the ocean goes to the bottom of the ocean, the chances of it detonating are very, very small, but there are nuclear weapons dangers here and most of them are in play before the sub ever hits the water. The fuel for these nuclear-powered submarines is the same sort of material a terrorist could use to build a nuclear weapon.
The material you make for the nuclear weapons, the nuclear scientists use to build the weapons, these are all things that could be used by other countries or terrorists for their own nuclear purposes. So there are dangers here -
CHETRY: Right.
WALSH: But most are dangers that happens before the sub hits the water. Once it hits the water, it's more of an environmental danger than a danger of a nuclear weapon blowing off at sea.
CHETRY: Exactly. Poisoning the crew, spreading radioactive waste for miles across the Atlantic. That is a bad situation there. How is this regulated? I mean is there any international regulation?
WALSH: Absolutely not. These are primarily military affairs and countries, governments do not allow their militaries to be regulated. Now there's some effort within NATO, for example, NATO allies to coordinate, to try to tell each other I'm going to be in this zone, please don't come over here, we're going to be over in the other zone, but there are lots - not lots, there are four countries that have nuclear submarines out there and the Chinese are not going to tell the Russians where theirs are. We're not going to tell the Russians.
So there is going to be a danger that some of these are going to collide and cause an environmental disaster as well as the problems with the Russians whose fleet was in decline. And as you remember, Kiran, they've had several nuclear accidents at sea.
CHETRY: Yes. The loss of all those submariners was a real tragic event for Russia as well. All right. Well, we're glad we brought you on just to shed some more light on this story because it certainly is fascinating. Jim Walsh, international security analyst. Thanks so much.
WALSH: Thank you.
CHETRY: John.
ROBERTS: Crossing the top of the hour now.
