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Strategy in Afghanistan; Credit Card Help; 10 Riskiest Foods

Aired October 06, 2009 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Some stories happening right now. They prayed for God to heal their 11-year-old daughter. Now Dale and Lailanie Newman (ph) will be sentenced for killing her. They each face up to 25 years in prison. They daughter died from undiagnosed diabetes. The Newmans relied on faith healing and refused to get medical help.

The Dalai Lama in Washington this week, but any meeting with President Obama will have to wait until after the president's trip to Beijing next month. China sees the Dalai Lama as a political troublemaker intent on separating Tibet from Chinese rule, call it diplomatic sensitivity. The Obama administration wants Chinese support for its foreign policy economic and environmental goals.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want the American people to understand that we have a clear and focused goal to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan. And to prevent their return to either country in the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: President Obama speaking about the need to keep pressure on the militants in a terror war battle front. Today, the best way to apply that pressure under discussion at the White House. The high level talks come after new violence in a remote region where eight U.S. soldiers died over the weekend.

CNN's Dan Lothian joining us now from the White House with more on today's news. So, Dan, it seems like everybody certainly has an opinion about what to do on Afghanistan and a lot of the issue that's coming to play is the timing of it all. How much time do they have to be deciding?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right. And you know, the administration saying that the president is still a number of weeks away from making a decision on whether or not to send in more troops to Afghanistan but what the president wants to do until he makes that decision is to get as much input not only from members of Congress but also some of his top advisers and national security advisers.

And we saw that last week, the president met with top generals and members of the cabinet and other advisers inside the situation room. Well, today more than 30 members of Congress have been invited here to the White House to sit down and talk with the president about the issue in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Senate majority leader Harry Reid, Republican leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have been invited to attend this meeting.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says that the president plans to walk these members of Congress through where the administration currently is in terms of decisions or options for Afghanistan and Gibbs saying that this is a critical meeting because as these other advisers have been brought up to speed or their ideas have been listened to, it's also critical that Congress gets a say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There's no doubt that particularly on funding it's not going to happen unless or until congress signs off. I think the president wants to hear from Democrats and Republicans, from members of the Senate and the House, on what their viewpoints are as it relates to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Obviously they're an important part of this and the president wants to hear from them.

LOTHIAN: That debate is going on behind closed doors but here at the White House outside of the White House yesterday we heard the loud voices of opposition to the war in Afghanistan and also what has been going on in Iraq and Cindy Sheehan whose son was killed in Iraq in 2004 spoke to the group. More than 60 people were arrested and clearly what they want this administration to know is that they don't want to see additional troops sent to Afghanistan.

Don't want to see an American presence there and wants to see the U.S. pulled out of Iraq completely. So this is something that this administration know doubt is paying attention to. The public climate of a lot of people across the country not wanting the U.S. to be in Afghanistan. Heidi -

COLLINS: All right. Dan Lothian reporting for us from the White House today. Certainly a discussion that are taking place. And even before today's White House meeting, we are getting a signal from the Pentagon about U.S. troop commitment.

In an interview with CNN, Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the U.S. is not leaving Afghanistan in the foreseeable future. CNN's Barbara Starr has more now from the interview with Gates.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERT GATES, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: They now have the opportunity to defeat a second superpower which more than anything would empower their message and the opportunity to recruit, to fund raise, and to plan operations.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The secretary of Defense making it clear the U.S. will maintain a strong presence in a region that he calls the epicenter of jihad.

GATES: We are not leaving Afghanistan. STARR: General Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan says he needs more boots on the ground if the U.S. is serious about stopping the Taliban and terrorism. It's a critical decision, one that has to be made by a deliberate president according to secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: It is difficult enough to deal with the challenges emanating from Afghanistan and Pakistan and the continuing threat from al Qaeda but to do it when there is so much pressure to make a snap decision, never to ask the hard questions, is really counterproductive.

STARR: Secretary Clinton insisting any strategy in Afghanistan must include developing Afghanistan economically and socially.

CLINTON: It is kind of a chicken and egg issue. We want to focus on development but in order to operate in many of the places in Afghanistan, you have to have a level of security.

GATES: Because of our inability and the inability frankly of our allies to put enough troops into Afghanistan, the Taliban do have the momentum right now it seems.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Barbara Starr joining us now live from the Pentagon. And Barbara, we've talked to you about this. Hearing the defense secretary say those words, I'm not sure that anyone would be surprised really but to hear him actually say it really puts sort of a dot on the i.

STARR: The Taliban have the momentum, Heidi. That's what he's saying. The military has long calculated for the past several months that the Taliban exert considerable influence over about 30 percent of Afghanistan. There have been a lot of talk about the perception of momentum but now the secretary is saying they have the momentum. That's pretty stark.

And you heard him say right at the beginning that if the Taliban got that victory it would be the second time making that failed reference to the Soviets leaving in defeat several years ago that militants had gotten victory in Afghanistan. This is obviously not something that he wants to see happen.

Sources in the Pentagon telling us that the secretary is becoming more comfortable with the notion that more troops may be headed to the war zone. Heidi.

COLLINS: Understood. We, of course, will follow this story very closely here. Barbara Starr, thank you.

STARR: Defense Secretary Gates and secretary of state Hillary Clinton will talk about challenges the U.S. faces overseas not just in Afghanistan but also in Iran and the global war on terror. So join us today for a special edition of "AMANPOUR." CNN's Christiane Amanpour hosts "Power and Persuasion," coming your way at 3:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

A somber homecoming this morning for U.S. troops who made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan. The coffins of at least four of the eight soldiers arrived in a weekend attack in Nuristan province are arriving at Dover Air Force base in Delaware. Those soldiers are Sgt. Joshua Kirk of South Portland, Maine, Spc. Michael Scusa of Villas, New Jersey, Spc. Christopher Griffin of Kincheloe, Michigan and Pfc. Kevin Thomson of Reno, Nevada. This picture taken of Thomson was provided to us by his family. Today's dignified transfer ceremony may also include other fallen service members.

A quick check of the Big Board right now. We can see looking pretty good. Up triple digits, I should say. About 115 points or so to the positive. Dow Jones industrial average resting at 9,714. You see there, we'll talk more about those numbers in a moment.

Meanwhile, here's a story that could soon land in your mailbox. Credit card companies are racing a government deadline and jacking up rates and payments while they still can. For some struggling families the difference can add up to hundreds of dollars a month. Christine Romans joining us now to explain.

Yes, when you open up that mail and you see that wasn't the rate you were aware of, it kind of causes you a little bit of panic.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You know, people get angry and irate because they thought they had a deal with the credit card company. They thought they were going to get a low interest rate credit card to try to consolidate all of their debt, try to dig themselves out of a hole and then suddenly they find out that their interest rates are going up or their minimum payments are going up or the credit card company is cutting their credit line.

This is happening for millions and millions of people. And "Consumer Reports" says that so many people are so irate that about a third of people with credit cards have been closing accounts. They've been paying them off. They're just so angry, they're trying to get out from under their credit card commitments but for many people, Heidi, they don't have the money to pay off these credit cards right now. And so they're really stuck especially as unemployment rises.

So let's talk about the three groups of credit card debt here. "Consumer Reports" breaks it down into kind of three groups. There are 54 percent of us, Heidi, more than half who pay off our balances in full each month. That's the piece of the pie you want to be in. There are 13 percent though who carry a billion over $10,000 and 33 percent who carry balances up to $10,000.

That smaller slice there of those people, there's a big chunk of those who if they didn't have a credit card they would not be able to survive financially over the next six months, according to "Consumer Reports." So those people are in a real bind. If you are carrying a balance, "Consumer Reports" has this advice for you. You got to keep your debt as low as possible. I know, it sounds hard. I mean, that's your best defense. You're borrowing money for someone who is charging you emergency loan prices because of this economic environment. You've got to keep your debt as low as possible. You should consider a card from a credit union or a community bank and if you don't carry a balance but you're still unhappy with the credit card industry or your particular credit card, "Consumer Reports" says you can switch to another card.

COLLINS: Yes.

ROMANS: You can check cardratings.com, fatwallet.com, other Internet sites. You can look at consumerreports.org. They got some fascinating strategies for how to dig out from underneath this debt because that's the bottom line, Heidi. And I want to be clear about this. People who are carrying $10,000 plus in credit card debt, you have to examine why you have all that credit card debt. Sometimes it's because somebody had a small business and they're putting a lot of the small business stuff on their credit card. They have a medical issue so they're living on credit cards.

You've got to figure out how to get that credit card debt down because if not, it's like that old saying you owe your soul to the company store. It's impossible to get ahead especially when they're raising the rates now and legally they can do it. I mean, they can do it. They're the ones lending the money and they're trying to get ahead of all of these new rules that are going into effect. A couple of people in Congress want to push up those new rules that take effect in February maybe to December and try to ease the pain. Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. We'll be watching that, too. Everybody is very aware of this one, I think.

ROMANS: Oh, yes.

COLLINS: Christine Romans in New York. Thanks, Christine.

Well, the holiday shopping is approaching but retailers may not have a lot to celebrate. The National Retail Federation predicts a one percent decline in total sales for November and December combined. A key measure of sales fell in September compared to the same month one year ago. That's the 13th month in a row to see a decline compared to the year before. So far the most optimistic outlooks show sales will match last year's lackluster number.

Well, the weather is cooling down which means it's almost time to turn on the heat but you may end up paying less to stay warm in your home.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: With temperatures cooling it's time to start budgeting for those winter heating bills and there's some good news this year. You might be getting a break. CNN Money.com Poppy Harlow is in New York with more on this. Poppy, heating costs are going to fall.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Yes, they are, Heidi. You know, oil prices are way down. The energy department saying the average bill this winter is going to be about $960. It sounds like a lot but it's eight percent less than you paid last winter. But how much you save is going to depend on what kind of fuel you use. Take a look there.

COLLINS: Right.

HARLOW: If you use natural gas to heat your home, you're a big winner this winter. You're going to save almost 12 percent. It's going to be about $105 in savings this winter for those natural gas users. Heating oil and electricity users both down about two percent. But these are just estimates, right? This all depends on that actual bill and how big is your house, how cold is it outside and how efficient is your heating system, Heidi? But a little bit of a break for folks.

COLLINS: Yes. Last year, I know, a record number of people applied for help to pay for those heating bills last year. What's the outlook for this year?

HARLOW: Yes, this is sort of the flip side of the coin. Not good. We've got much higher unemployment this winter than we did last winter. That means millions of Americans are going to need assistance. They're going to need help paying those bills. For the first time we could see another record, believe it or not, last year 7.5 million Americans had to get assistance to just heat their homes.

This year what officials are telling us, Heidi, is it could top or reach nine million. They're already seeing an increase already in the number of people applying for assistance. $5 billion in federal aid has been set aside to help folks pay their bills. We could see those program administrators go back to Congress and ask for more if that money runs out.

COLLINS: All right. So how exactly do you get help if you need it?

HARLOW: Ask early, right? Because you want to get that first chunk of money before it runs out. You can call, you can e-mail. Take a look at these numbers. You can call 1-866-674-6327. Or you can e-mail energy@ncat.org. What they'll do is put you in touch with your local office in your state, in your town for assistance.

The eligibility differs state by state. In general when you're looking at a family of four, you have to make around or less than $35,000 or $40,000 a year in order to qualify for that. Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. Very good. Appreciate it. A little bit of good news for a change. Poppy Harlow. Thank you.

Jacqui Jeras joining us now from the severe weather center. You're wearing like white. Does that mean snow in the Rockies?

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The lighting must be bad because it's not white.

COLLINS: Light blue snow.

JERAS: Flakes maybe, it's kind of gray.

COLLINS: Really.

JERAS: Whatever. Yes. The turtleneck, the cowl neck. Break out the winter gear. I'm telling you.

COLLINS: Sounds like it.

JERAS: Yes, you know, it's chilly across most of the lower 48 right now. But take a look at these pictures, hey, out of Wyoming. Oh, yes, winter is here, my friends. This is out of Fremont County where they had over a foot of snow. But hey, they're having fun, right. They got a snowman right there. You had record snowfall in Billings yesterday. 4.6 inches of snow. We're even getting a few showers right now into parts of the Dakotas.

Well, what's going on here? If you think it's chilly today, wait until you see what we got coming for the weekend. Because we've got some big changes. This is our forecast for the weekend into early next week. Our jet stream takes a dip on down toward the south and what that does is just opens the door to the arctic and allows all that cool air to filter on in. So we'll see a series of cold fronts drop on through and that purple color that you see there, those are temperatures well below freezing.

So we think we'll have a hard frost across parts of the upper Midwest, and we could be flirting with that freezing mark as far south as, you know, the Deep South, Mississippi, Alabama, and into Georgia. Today, we're on the chilly side certainly. High temperature only 47 degrees in Viking country, 64 in Kansas City, only 69 in Atlanta.

We're kind of cool out west, too, 56 degrees. You can see there into Salt Lake City. Now, this is really windy behind our frontal system today where all that cool air is and out ahead of it, we've got some strong thunderstorms. The threat of severe weather from Texas through the Mississippi valley comes into play late this afternoon and this evening. But we do have some severe thunderstorms that have been rumbling across Oklahoma and moving into Arkansas at this hour. The main threat there will be large hail - Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. And we are not going to talk about the Vikings-Packers game.

JERAS: We are not going to talk about it because I haven't watched the whole game. Only half.

COLLINS: I still can't believe that.

JERAS: But you're happy today, so I know what happened.

COLLINS: I'm happy and would have been wearing purple if it hadn't been at the dry cleaner. That's all I'll say. I don't want to give it away.

JERAS: All right.

COLLINS: All right. Jacqui, thanks.

Check your fridge. In just a few minutes we're going to tell you about what one group calls the 10 most dangerous foods. Stick around for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Checking our top stories now.

A former Yale University lab technician charged with murdering a graduate student is in court this hour. Raymond Clark reportedly will plead not guilty accused of strangling Annie Le and hiding her body in a medical lab building. She was found five days later on what was supposed to be her wedding day.

David Letterman says he's committed to working on his marriage but admit he has his work cut out for him. Last night the host of CBS's late show delivered an on-air apology to his wife. Days earlier he revealed he had affairs with women who worked on his show in the past. A CBS producer is accused of trying to blackmail him over that.

It will be tomorrow before some senators can have their say on health care reform. The Senate Finance Committee was expected to vote today on their multibillion dollar overhaul package but it is still waiting for the final figures. That bill calls for co-ops and not a public option and if approved it has to be reconciled with another Senate bill which does include a public option.

Do you like ice cream? How about eggs? Lettuce? Tuna? The Center for Science in the Public Interest is busy again. This time pointing out some of your favorite foods that can make you very sick. Elizabeth Cohen is here now to talk a little bit more about this. Elizabeth, what exactly did this group find?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, what they did is they put together a lot of the outbreaks that you and I have talked about on your show many times. There are E. coli outbreaks, Salmonella outbreaks. Let's look at two of the big ones. They named 10. Let's look at two of the big ones.

First of all, leafy greens was number one. They said there were 365 outbreaks leading to 13,658 illnesses. Here's another big one. CSPO said that tuna led to 268 outbreaks and 2,341 illnesses. Now, I think it's important to sort of put this into some context. Let's look at food-borne illness in the United states. When you look at all cases of food-borne illness, you're talking about 76 million cases a year.

325,000 hospitalizations a year. And 5,000 deaths each year. So people think of food poisoning as like, oh, you just get a tummy ache and you feel bad but food poisoning can kill you.

COLLINS: Yes. What about responses from the actual industry though?

COHEN: Yes, we have reached out to every, all of these 10 industries and asked them for some responses. And so here are two of them for the ones that we just mentioned.

The National Fishery folks who represent the people who put fish on our plates says "CSPI fails to properly highlight the fact that it is not talking about canned tuna. Consumers should take this report with a grain of salt." And also we got a response from the Produce Marketing Association. Those are folks who make leafy greens "it is never in the consumer's best interest to scare them away from the very foods that we should all be making more of."

I think it's important to point out that these food folks pointed out that there are different ways to crunch numbers. And so you can look at - you can have just one outbreak and have lots of illnesses. That's different than having lots of illnesses and many outbreaks. So I think it's important to keep that in mind.

COLLINS: Absolutely. Now, there will be people who will see this and be nervous about things that they're doing wrong in their own kitchens.

COHEN: That's right. And so there are a couple of things you can do. I mean, some of these cases of food-borne illness were preventable. People could have prevented them in their own kitchen. Not all but some of them. So here are some things to remember.

Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold. Cook meat, poultry and eggs thoroughly. Use different dishes and utensils for raw and cooked foods. Don't like you're your fork in a raw piece of chicken and then put that fork in a salad. Bad news. Also, wash hands before and after preparing food. Doing those things can go a long way towards keeping your foot safe.

COLLINS: Absolutely. All right. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you. Appreciate that.

The president has a message for his advisers about Afghanistan. Speak up behind closed doors and keep quiet in public.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: The president opening the floor to top lawmakers on Afghanistan. This afternoon's White House meeting comes after the president has directed aides to keep their guidance on the mission in house. CNN's Ed Henry has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): While the president publicly continued to try and break the deadlock over health reform, in private, tensions seemed to be growing over what to do about Afghanistan as top advisers to the president hint they would prefer to hear less public campaigning from General Stanley McChrystal.

GATES: It is imperative that all of us taking part in these deliberations, civilians and military alike, provide the best advice to the president candidly but privately. HENRY: A top adviser to the president confided to CNN the president has privately instructed aides to be -- quote -- "as vocal as you can in private and as mum as you can in public."

But General McChrystal is taking a much different approach. He gave a speech in London late last week that appeared to pressure the president to back his plan for up to 40,000 more U.S. troops to be sent to Afghanistan.

GENERAL STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL, U.S. COMMANDER IN AFGHANISTAN: Waiting does not prolong a favorable outcome. This effort will not remain winnable indefinitely.

HENRY: Irritating the president's national security adviser, retired General Jim Jones.

GEN. JIM JONES (RET), NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER-DESIGNATE: Ideally, it's better for military advice to come up through the chain of command.

HENRY: But White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs repeatedly says there's no tension.

(on camera): Why is one person out there campaigning for just one plan?

ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Because the general made an assessment and we're going through a series of decisions, including that assessment.

HENRY (voice-over): Tension is building with anti-war protesters like Cindy Sheehan, who chained themselves to the White House gates to protest the war in Afghanistan.

CINDY SHEEHAN, MOTHER OF KILLED U.S. SOLDIER: He's been in office long enough to start making positive changes and in the direction that his supporters want him to make those changes.

HENRY: But Gibbs revealed that in his private meetings, the president has already shot down the possibility of the U.S. pulling out of the war.

GIBBS: The president was exceedingly clear that no part of the conversation involved was leaving Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HENRY: I'm also hearing that people here at the White House are getting a lot of heat from members of Congress demanding to know where the general has not yet testified on Capitol Hill, even though he's had time to do that speech in London and give an interview to "60 Minutes." One of many reasons why the president is expected to get an earful here Tuesday when he hosts a meeting with leaders in both parties to discuss strategy in Afghanistan.

Ed Henry, CNN, the White House. COLLINS: Two members of the Obama administration are talking about shaping strategy for Afghanistan. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in an exclusive interview with CNN's Christine Amanpour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GATES: The president indicated very explicitly at the end of March that we would revisit the strategy after the election in Afghanistan.

Now, at least a couple of things have happened. One is the new commander has done an assessment and found the situation that in Afghanistan that is more serious than we anticipated when the decisions were made in March.

So, that's one thing to take into account. The other is clearly a flawed election in Afghanistan that's complicated the picture for us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE OF THE UNITED STATES: I think what we're going through in asking ourselves, OK, we know what the goal is. Is what we're doing most likely to achieve that goal? Would a decisive and intelligent commander in chief would do. So, we're going come up with what we think is the best approach, but the goal remains the same.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: You can hear more from Secretary Gates and Secretary of State Clinton today on a special edition of "AMANPOUR." CNN's Christiane Amanpour host "Power and Persuasion." Coming your way 3:00 p.m. Eastern here on CNN.

The Taliban says they were behind yesterday's deadly attack in Pakistan. A suicide bomber killed five aid workers inside a United Nations agency that distributes food to the poor. Taliban said that U.N. and other aid agencies are, quote, "not working in the interest of Muslims." The Taliban's statement says it will not target Muslim relief agencies. The U.N. has temporarily closed its offices in Pakistan.

In business news now, a growing number of apartment units are empty these days. That's a major problem for landlords, but for renters, it means good deals are easier to find. Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange now with a look at which cities have the biggest declines.

Hi, there, Susan. This is kind of a double edge sword here.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No question about it. Bad for landlords, great for renters. The national apartment vacancy rate, Heidi, stands at nearly 8 percent, and that is a 23-year high. For renters, of course, a better deal because nationally rents are down nearly 3 percent. Over 12 months -- that amounts to nearly a thousand dollars.

Where have we seen the biggest rent drops over the last year? Well, you'll notice, four out of the five top cities or areas are in California. All places with big rental markets, heavy job losses and lots of foreclosed homes like San Jose, California, New York City. You're still paying an arm and a leg to get a shoebox, but we have seen rents drop here.

Also for renters, lots of incentives now, like one or two months rent free. No broker fees. Rent reductions for current tenants. My producer, Amanda, tells me one of her friends got a free built-in closet just to move in.

COLLINS: Whoa!

LISOVICZ: I don't know, Heidi, we like our closet space.

COLLINS: Oh, yeah. And it can never be big enough or free enough. We do keep hearing that the housing market is seeming to stabilize a little bit. Why isn't the rental market turning around, too?

LISOVICZ: That's a good question. But you have to remember that some renters, some high-quality renters are buying. Another reason, big problem in the housing market and in the rental market is a glut of inventory. Some unsold condo units are being turned into rentals.

Finally, another thing. The unemployment rate is higher for those under 35 years old, and that group is most likely to rent. What are we seeing with them? They're moving back in with mom and dad and with roommates, and they're trying to conserve their cash. We are probably going to see the vacancy rate for apartments rise if the jobless rate rises as well.

Also, another thing we're seeing rise today, the stock market triple digit rally for the second day in a row. Dow right now up 112 points. NASDAQ, S&P 500, each up more than one percent, too, Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes. Looks pretty good, at least right now. All right, Susan. Thank you.

LISOVICZ: You're welcome.

COLLINS: Manila looking for relief as it struggles to recover from devastating floods. But help is not coming easy and now the government is under fire.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COLLINS: Checking our top stories now. A custody hearing set today for a Tennessee newborn kidnapped last week from his Nashville home. The baby was found safe in Alabama three days after he was taken. An Alabama woman is in jail facing a federal kidnapping charge, but the Associated Press reports there are allegations a family member was arranging to sell the boy. Police are not commenting on that report.

North Korea hints it might be ready to negotiate. China be and North Korea have just ended three days of talks. China says Kim Jong- il indicated he might be willing to participate in bilateral talks with the United States and may even return to six-party talks over its nuclear program.

In southern California, fire crews say the weather has helped get firefighters get the upper hand on the blaze in San Bernardino County. They say mild winds and cooler temperatures have helped them contain about 30 percent of the so-called sheep fire. About 7,500 acres have burned since Saturday.

Let's take a moment to get over to Jacqui Jeras in the Severe Weather Center. Hi there, Jacqui.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: All right. Very good. I'll talk with you shortly, Jacqui, about you-know-what.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's right.

COLLINS: The Philippines trying to return to normal after devastating floods there. Millions of homes in Manila were overwhelmed by water and mud. People are getting angry as they grow frustrated with the recovery process. Our Eunice Yoon tells us many blame the government for doing too little too late.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EUNICE YOON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ten days after the Typhoon Ketsana flooded the Philippines, rancid water welcomes Jojo Gadista to his home. Gadista shows us how high the water got during the storm, forcing him to elevate all of his belongings.

He says three days passed before his family received any relief.

JOJO GADISTA, FLOOD VICTIM: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

YOON: When the government helps, he says, it's too late.

It's a common complaint in this poor neighborhood around Laguna Debai (ph), a lake in the capital of Manila. The government says 2 million residents here live in partially submerged homes. They use tractors, boats and makeshift barges to move around the standing floodwaters that submerged once was Main Street. Now, garbage is clogging up the city's antiquated drainage and sewage systems. The aging development bank says Manila generates 6,700 tons of trash a day. Much of the waste is dumped on the streets by citizens or illegally in waterways.

(on camera): Children have been playing in this filthy water for days. Health officials now fear an outbreak of disease.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

YOON (voice-over): All the children have diarrhea right now, he says. I don't know how to fix the situation.

The government has come under fire for its handling of the disaster. Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro is in charge of relief.

(off camera): There are a lot of your people still living in sewage water. How long do you expect them to live like this?

GILBERT TEODORO, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE, PHILLIPINES: Well, they estimate if the water is receding at the same level as it does now, probably until Christmas time.

YOON: Do you think that's acceptable?

TEODORO: Definitely not. It's why we have to work to try to dredge things and try to clean up.

YOON (voice-over): But back near the lake, the garbage and tempers are rising. Hundreds of people are gathering on this bridge. They were told more supplies would be handed out here at 10 in the morning. It's now almost 4:00. Some have been waiting all night.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Until now, we're waiting here. Nobody is coming.

YOON: Yet in one of the nearby streets, a truckload of goods arrives. These packets of canned food and rice are not from the government but wealthy private citizens. Businessmen and lawyers who couldn't stand idly by.

(off camera): Why not evacuate those people and get them out of that situation?

TEODORO: We do. We do. But there's a challenge for them evacuating. They really will not leave their most valuable worldly possessions.

YOON: Are you worried these people will get sick or even die?

TEODORO: We are. We are worried. But when given a choice, there are evacuation centers but they opt not to.

YOON: Gadista says he and his community shouldn't be blamed for staying. Public housing is not readily available in this country.

GADISTA: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

This is where our livelihood is, he says. We can't leave this place. Instead, they wait and wait.

Eunice Yoon, CNN, Manila.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: The deadly appeal of street gangs in some neighborhoods. They are part of a vicious cycle. We'll tell you about a college professor who is taking them on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: OK, we need to talk about this. Jacqui and I are from Minnesota. She didn't want to talk about this because apparently she hasn't seen the game. But we would be remiss if we did not include this. A lot of people are talking about it. Monday night football. Vikings-Packers.

Of course, Farve used to play for the Packers. I was just wondering how often did he have to remind himself who to throw to when he was out there. "Throw to purple. Throw to purple."

JERAS: Just pass to Adrian Peterson. That's all you have to do. He'll run it in.

COLLINS: Turns out, he connected for three touchdown passes, as I'm sure most of you heard by now.

JERAS: I haven't heard the score. Don't tell me the score.

COLLINS: Really?

JERAS: Are you really going say the score?

COLLINS: No, I won't.

JERAS: I'll plug my ears on the screen.

COLLINS: Close your eyes. Why didn't you watch?

JERAS: I watched the first half. I stayed up until 10:00. I had to get up at 3:00 a.m. this morning.

COLLINS: You should have napped. I'm telling you, you should have napped and watched. Look, here's the deal. First of all, yes, the Vikings won which is always a huge deal for us. He's also the first NFL quarterback to defeat every single solitary NFL team. All 32 of them.

JERAS: Really?

COLLINS: The only one he hadn't defeated was, of course, the Green Bay Packers because he played there for, like 300 years.

JERAS: And now he has! That's fantastic.

You know, number four jersey? Number one selling NFL jersey out there right now.

COLLINS: I am shocked. He'll be 40 next week, this guy, yes?

JERAS: I know!

COLLINS: Love it. You know, Brett Farve, when I told you I didn't like you? I take it all back. This is th second time I've taken it back.

JERAS: I know. I felt the same way.

COLLINS: All right, look. They're playing right behind us. You have already seen that part. OK. Go home and watch it.

JERAS: It's still 14-7 to me.

COLLINS: Yes. Very good. All right, Jacqui. Thanks.

In many poor neighborhoods, youth gangs are part of a cycle of life and, unfortunately, death. One college professor is trying to break that cycle with a program called Safe Latinos. CNN's Elaine Quijano has the story now .

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Langley Park, Maryland, just outside Washington. Some 16,000 people live here in less than a square mile, most of them Latino immigrants. By day, families enjoy neighborhood barbecues like this one, but at night, the neighborhood turns. Police say the notorious Los Angeles gang MS-13 and others hold sway over the community, scaring most people into staying off the streets.

JULIANNI ARIAS, 17 YEARS OLD (through translator): They're very bad. To guard their territory, they don't care what they do. For me, I don't like to walk around there.

QUIJANO: Seventeen-year-old Julianni Arias and her 15-year-old sister, Arianni, came to Langley Park from the Dominican Republic two years ago. They learned quickly.

J. ARIAS (through translator): It's like the worst part of Maryland. Sometimes people are like, OK, you're Latino, you're in a gang. You're involved in bad stuff. Yes, we live here, but just because we do doesn't mean we're all like that.

QUIJANO: The Arias sisters steer clear of gangs.

J. ARIAS (through translator): I had a classmate at school. He wasn't a gang-banger, but they killed him anyway, just because he crossed into the wrong turf.

QUIJANO: The sisters have found refuge in a program called "Safer Latinos," started by college professor Mark Edberg who studied immigrants and youth violence.

MARK EDBERG, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: The idea is to prevent factors in the community that contribute to violence.

QUIJANO: What's different, he says, is it takes on the problem from all angles, providing support and security, involving the families, school, and community.

EDBERG: One of the things that we hear a lot from youth that are in gangs are, you know, I joined the gang because the gang has my back. We try to understand what is it that we need to put in place in the community so that the community has their back.

QUIJANO: Like helping intimidated parents overcome language barriers with school officials, to keep better tabs on their kids' attendance, GED programs to help teens earn their high school diplomas, and activities like this neighborhood barbecue and a summer art program to keep kids and parents from feeling isolated.

For the Arias sisters, the program has also provided something even more valuable - hope.

ARIANNI ARIAS, 15 YEARS OLD (through translator): There are no limits. You can make your dreams come true in life -- anything you set your mind on.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Later this month, only on CNN. "LATINO IN AMERICA." a comprehensive look at how Latinos are changing America, reshaping politics, business, churches, schools and neighborhoods. "LATINO IN AMERICA." See it right here on CNN.

President Obama had something in common with his predecessor, George W. Bush. Anti-war protestors camp out on his doorstep.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Like former president George W. Bush, President Obama is hearing the battle cry of anti-war protesters as the U.S. remains committed to two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our Jim Acosta reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA (voice-over): This was no tea party.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hate the wars.

ACOSTA: The swarms of noisy protesters outside the White House were giving President Obama an earful on the war in Afghanistan.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Does that look very different from the Bush regime?

ACOSTA: Are you disappointed? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A little bit.

ACOSTA: Protesters Blaine Young (ph) and his wife were once enthusiastic Obama voters who flew all the way from Denver for the inauguration.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If he escalates the war, I'll be deeply disappointed.

ACOSTA: For years, anti-war demonstrators would pull these moves on the previous man in the Oval Office. Once cheered for his opposition to the war in Iraq, Mr. Obama is finding his own catch phrases turn against him with signs saying, "yes, we can get out of Afghanistan."

MADEA BENJAMIN, CODE PINK: We had great hopes and we feel that those hopes have been dashed.

ACOSTA: But anti-war movement veteran Madea Benjamin concedes then-candidate Obama's position on Afghanistan was clear.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Make no mistake, we're confronting an urgent crisis in Afghanistan and we have to act. That's why I sent at least two or three additional brigades to Afghanistan.

ACOSTA: But didn't he talk about it as being the good war during the campaign?

BENJAMIN: You know, some of us thought maybe - maybe that's what he felt he had to do to get himself elected, but we thought he was a level-headed level-headed person.

ACOSTA: These days they're pinning their hopes on sympathetic senators.

SEN. CARL LEVIN (D), MICHIGAN: I would not commit to more combat troops at this time. There's a lot of other things that need to be done to show resolve. What we need a surge of is Afghan troops.

CINDY SHEEHAN, ANTI-WAR PROTESTER: We will actively and courageously protest against wars.

ACOSTA: Now Cindy Sheehan, the controversial mother of a fallen soldier who made a name for herself camping out in front of President Bush's home in Crawford, Texas, is, on Mr. Obama's doorstep.

What is the president supposed to do? I mean, bring...

SHEEHAN: He's supposed to...

ACOSTA: ... the troops home, end that war?

SHEEHAN: He's supposed to -- that's what we demanded when Bush was president. That's what we're demanding now Obama's president.

ACOSTA: The White House response? No way.

ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I don't think we have the option to leave. I think that's -- that's quite clear.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Those anti-war protestors were well aware of the debate going on inside the White House over what to do in Afghanistan, which is why many of them are praising vice president Biden, who's suggesting a smaller American footprint in Afghanistan.

Jim Acosta, CNN, Washington.

COLLINS: I'm Heidi Collins. CNN NEWSROOM continues with Tony Harris.