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American Morning

Dow Hits 10,000; Man Released from Prison in Japan for Trying to Kidnap Own Children; Public Option Next Debate for Health Care Reform; Tobacco Companies Color Code Cigarettes; Near-Death Experience

Aired October 15, 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: That brings us now to the top of the hour. It's Thursday, Friday eve. Your Friday because you're actually off tomorrow. It's October the 15th. Thanks for joining us in the Most News in the Morning. I'm John Roberts.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. And I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us. Here are the stories we're going to be breaking down for you in the next 15 minutes.

First, we're talking about your money making a bit of a comeback this morning. The Dow Jones reclaims an old stake. Remember that 10,000 mark? Consider this, since the March 9th, free fall, the Dow is now up 53 percent. So will this rally hold and what does it mean for your investments? Our CNN money team is standing by.

ROBERTS: A Tennessee dad in a bitter custody battle has just been freed from a prison in Japan. Kidnapping charges against him have been dropped.

Christopher Savoie spent two and a half weeks behind bars in Japan after traveling more than 7,000 miles to try to get his kids back from his ex-wife. Late breaking developments in a live report from Tokyo just ahead.

CHETRY: "Cheating Death" -- a high school football ref collapses. Cardiac arrest right on the field. He had no heartbeat for nearly three minutes. We'll see what he tells Dr. Sanjay Gupta he saw as he started to slip away to the other side. His emotional interview is coming up.

First though, the big story this morning. It's a milestone for the Dow and for your investments. Cheers on Wall Street after a rebound brought the market back above 10,000, the highest it's been all year.

It's not just the blue chips giving the economic recovery a vote of confidence. There were a lot of green arrows this morning. The tech heavy Nasdaq, the broader S&P also rallying.

And what does it mean for your money and for the economy in general? Our Christine Romans is minding your business this morning and she is here to break it down for us.

So a psychological mark in a way, but it's way better than we were six months ago.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You're absolutely right. And it is a psychological mark -- 10,000 just because the Dow closed at 10,015 doesn't mean today your life is different, right, especially if you face a job loss or you face the loss of your home.

But what it does tell us is that it really tells us that a lot of people are starting to think the worst is behind us, that we survived, the economy survived, we're going to move ahead here, and we'll get beyond this point eventually. And so that's what markets are telling us.

I want to show you what happened since March. The Dow up 53 percent, the S&P up 61 percent, the NASDAQ up 71 percent. What about the all-time highs, though? That's a powerful rally. That's an epic rally, Kiran.

But since the all-time highs, the Dow is still down 29 percent. The S&P is still down 30 percent, the NASDAQ down even worse.

So you might be looking at this and say, wait a second, I have to save more money for my kids' college. I still can't retire, and that's very, very true.

So I want to be clear and put into perspective exactly what this rally means overall. And it is incredibly psychological. If you're invested in this market, Kiran, it might not mean anything to you. If you are invested in this market, you know that you are cutting back losses from the last couple years.

CHETRY: The other question is people say what do I do with my money right now? Did I already miss -- if I was too timid and thinking about getting in the market, did I miss it, or is there room for growth?

ROMANS: There's a lot of soul searching about what to do right now, because you would hate to have missed all of this, got hit in the last couple of years, and then get in just now just as this wall of money pulls back and people start to take their profits as we say in the market.

We just don't know. We're trying to get through this earnings season and see what these companies are telling us. We'll hear more from Goldman Sachs and Citigroup and these big banks, how healthy are they.

Yesterday the reason the stock market jumped above 10,000 was because J.P. Morgan had great quarter, $3.6 billion in earnings.

What does it mean for you? The thing that means for most people right now is the president wants to extend some of the stimulus elements to people, like a $250 one-time payment for seniors who won't see a cost of living increase next year.

I think that piece of news probably matters to more people right now than a psychological number of Dow 10,000. CHETRY: I hear what you're saying. Well, $250, though, while it will help in the time that you get it, it's not the same as a cost of living increase.

ROMANS: That's true, and it's not a lot. But there are a lot of elements in the stimulus that are going to start to expire, these provisions will start to expire, and they are also talking about extending the home buyer tax credit and the like.

There's a feeling they -- there's a feeling in Washington they want to keep money moving because it's still a fragile economy.

CHETRY: Christine, thanks.

ROMANS: Sure.

CHETRY: John.

ROBERTS: Of course, the government has been doling out all kinds of money to try to stimulate the economy. There's this new thing for seniors, there is the $787 billion stimulus program, and that's being tracked where that money is going on www.recovery.gov.

And they have a map here on the Web site which has been updated in a very interesting way. You used to be able to go in on a state level and find out overall in the state where the money was being spent. So far they have spent $238 billion spent.

But here's a new feature -- you can actually go in now on a zip code level. Let's put in for example Lansing, Michigan. Remember we talked to Burt Benaro, the mayor of Lansing, Michigan.

And if you tap on these dots here -- this takes a second to come up because the map is being problematic this morning -- Michigan Department of Human Services got $90 million here. You can check on some of the other things in the area.

And the technology never works the way you want it to work. There we go. Believe me, it works better on your computer. City of Lansing, Michigan got 1.192 million.

A lot of these are grants to government agencies. There are also a lot of grants to the arts. Here's an interesting one we found here in Lansing. Johnny Rockets, the restaurant chain, got $96,000. You can look at the awards that break it down to eight small businesses which were unable to obtain financing in the private marketplace.

So if you are interested in following the dollar and where your tax dollars are going, where the $787 billion stimulus is being spent, www.recovery.gov. You can have a whole lot of fun with that -- Kiran?

CHETRY: Maybe if we ate more Johnny Rocket's milkshakes and hamburgers we'd all be right out of any type of economic trouble.

ROBERTS: The Center for Optimal Health, $269,000. There are some interesting ones. Even medical offices -- doctors are getting some of the money, Kiran. So you can check it all out here.

CHETRY: It's very interesting to check out where your money is going locally. It's pretty cool. Thanks, John.

New this morning, an American father jailed in Japan for trying to bring his kids home is now a free man. Christopher Savoie was released from jail about three hours ago. He's the Tennessee dad that we've been following who has been in a bitter custody battle with his ex-wife that took him 7,000 miles from home and got him locked up for more than two weeks on kidnapping charges.

We now go to Tokyo where our Kyung Lah is live. And do we know where Christopher Savoie is right now and what the conditions of his release might be?

KYUNG LAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We don't know exactly where he is right now. We have spoken to some of his friends in Japan who say that he's relieved. He's happy to be out. He's been through quite an ordeal and is anxious to return to the United States.

As far as the conditions of the release, Kiran, we understand from the prosecutor's office that Savoie cannot have any contact with his children, stating exactly that he has promised not to take his children back to the United States in this manner.

Now, all of this dates back to a bitter custody dispute. Christopher Savoie's ex-wife Noriko is a Japanese citizen. She took the two children, eight year old Isaac and six year Rebecca here to Japan. When she did not return them, she was considered the abductor.

A U.S. court then gave Savoie sole custody of the two children. But under Japanese law, the ex wife is the one who has sole custody.

Savoie came here almost three weeks ago and tried to bring the children back to the United States, but he was stopped by Japanese police, arrested for attempted child kidnapping.

We have spoken to Noriko's mother, this is the grandmother of the two children, who says, "I cannot make any comment on this for the sake of my grandchildren."

But again, Christopher Savoie anxious to return to the United States. He's expected from what we understand from his friends here in Japan, Kiran, to try to get back as quickly as possible.

And then of course he still has the long custody fight ahead of him. But at least he's out of jail. That's certainly a relief I'm sure for his family.

Kyung Lah for us this morning. Thanks so much.

And stay with us, because we have much more on this developing story. In the next hour we'll be speaking with Christopher's wife, Amy. We're going to get her reaction to his release and what their plans are about whether or not they'll continue this fight, because but by all accounts when your children are taken by an ex to Japan it is very, very rare that you get them back.

ROBERTS: You can imagine what he's going through, as well.

Eight minutes after the hour. And also new this morning, talk show host Rush Limbaugh will not get chance to be part owner of the NFL's St. Louis Rams. A group bidding for the team has dropped Limbaugh as a partner, saying his involvement became a "complication and distraction."

Limbaugh's comments on race have drawn criticism from African- American players and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

CHETRY: Now two of the biggest U.S. airlines are now facing high fines for potentially flying unsafe planes. The Federal Aviation Administration is proposing fines of $5.4 million for U.S. Airways and nearly $4 million for United.

They are accused of flying jets on hundreds of occasions that violated FAA safety rules or that the airlines own maintenance standards were violated. Both airlines have 30 days to respond.

ROBERTS: You've given so much to Twitter. What you had for dinner, the sunset was almost identical to the same sunset that you posted last night and will be identical to the one you post this evening.

Now the social media network is giving back, and here's to that. The people at Twitter are making their own wine due out next summer. It's $20 a bottle with $5 going to jail.

CHETRY: For $20 a bottle, it better be good.

ROBERTS: I'm sure it is. But the $5 to charity is a good thing.

The public option in health care, where does it sit? Does it live or does it die? Well, the biggest proponent of a public option actually wants a whole single payer system for American health care. Congressman Anthony Weiner joins us coming up in just a moment to talk about where the public option might stand.

It's now 10 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

And right now in Washington lawmakers are hard at work trying to keep the ball rolling on health care reform. The next big hurdle, the so-called public option, the government run insurer to compete with private plans and, as President Obama once said, to "keep them honest."

There are five proposals on the table right now in both Houses of Congress. The one passed on Tuesday is the only plan that does not have a public option. Joining us now from Capitol Hill is one Democratic lawmaker pushing hard for the public option, New York Congressman Anthony Weiner. Congressman Weiner, good to see you this morning. Big protests from liberal Democrats and unions over the bill passed out of the Senate Finance Committee the other day, the so-called Baucus bill.

Why is it unacceptable to you?

REP. ANTHONY WEINER, (D) NEW YORK: Because it fails on a fundamental level, and that is to provide competition and choice for consumers who are looking for health insurance.

It's a relatively easy thing to do is to provide people subsidies to go buy insurance, but if the insurance companies do what they traditionally have done and what they promise to do in the future, which is keep raising rates, you need to have the public option not only to save money in the bill but to provide true competition.

ROBERTS: In an interview with New York magazine earlier this week, you said the Baucus bill is "effectively dead." What was the basis for that claim?

WEINER: It simply doesn't have the vote to pass in the House of Representatives. I'm not even sure it has the votes to pass in the Senate. I estimate that they might lose as many as 100 votes if they leave out a public option.

I recently launched a Web site, countdowntohealthcare.com, where I asked people to sign up to put pressure on some of my more moderate colleagues, and 30,000 people, many of them from red states, have said that they want a public option.

I think it's where the sentiment is going, but it's also where the votes are in the House and I think in the Senate.

ROBERTS: The next phase of this in the Senate is going to be to try to reconcile the bills that came out of the Senate Finance Committee and the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

Senator Olympia Snowe from Maine is turning out to be a real power broker in this, and she has suggested that maybe there's potential for a trigger for a public option. You write legislation that says if the health insurance industry doesn't bring enough uninsured people by a certain time, then you go for a public option.

Would that be satisfactory to you?

WEINER: There's already effectively a trigger in all of the bills in that none of them go into effect until 2013. And we already were put on notice by the health care industry in a report that you covered on your show, the industry says they'll raise rates by as much as 111 percent.

They cry out for the same thing frankly I'm saying, which is that they don't have competition, nothing will keep them honest. I think that we've had 40 years of a trigger mechanism to see how the health insurance industry is going to deal with things. And every day 17,000 Americans lose insurance because they can't afford it. So we pretty know what will happen.

ROBERTS: You know what criticism is, Congressman, that a public option would undercut private insurance companies and drive some of them out of business.

As a result of that, because maybe employers or employees or self-employed people would like to go for less expensive health insurance. They will go into the public plan, and every year more and more people will get caught up into the private plan until such time as it's the only thing left and s covered by what would essentially be a single payer system.

What's your argument against those criticisms?

WEINER: Well, let me say two things. First of all, the public option is not nearly as powerful as those critics like to think. Neither you nor I will be able to sign up for the public option because we have health insurance through our workplace.

But secondly, I'll say this, it's a strange argument that they're making to say they don't have competition for us because the competitors might get chosen by consumers. It's true that a public plan is structured like Medicare is with low overhead, no need to get profits, no need to do a lot of advertising, that's what competition is all about. If the health insurance industry says you know what, we're going to have to reduce our profits and overhead from 30 percent to maybe 10 percent, that's exactly where the savings are going to come from.

ROBERTS: What you said there about how you and I will not be able to get into the public plan under any circumstances because we already have insurance, can you guarantee someone like me or the other people who work here at CNN would not get caught up in a public option at some point because perhaps our employer says hey, it's much cheaper than the insurance we have now or our insurer went out of business. Can you guarantee that that won't happen?

WEINER: Oh, absolutely not. I can't guarantee that between now and the enactment date of the bill your insurer won't drop you or frankly, a lot of people watching the show may lose their insurance. That's what's going on. Every single year insurance rates are going up by about $1,000. But what I can say...

ROBERTS: What I was asking about, though, was if there is a public option out there. I'm not talking about immediately. But can you guarantee that more and more people won't get dumped into a public option because their employers decide to go ahead and opt for that?

WEINER: Nobody gets dumped into a public option. No employer can choose the public option. Only an individual can under the bill sort of being contemplated, and it's only for the group of those that are uninsured. But one thing I can't guarantee you that you're not going to lose your insurance.

People have been losing their insurance at the rate of 17,000 a day because they simply can't afford it. And what we're trying to say is if people wind to find themselves without insurance and they want to shop, they have an option. Not a requirement, an option to choose the public plan. And people say well, we can't give them that option because it might be less expensive and better quality, that's an argument against competition. I need we need competition in this bill.

ROBERTS: Now, and I know that this is a hypothetical, but if this goes through the entire process, comes out of conference and the final bill does not contain a public option, will you vote against it?

WEINER: Well, that's what I'm asking people to weigh in on on countdowntohealth.com. But I can tell you something, if it doesn't have something in it that contains costs and frankly, I haven't seen a mechanism besides the public option that does that, I don't see any way that I can vote for it and frankly I would not be alone. It would not get the votes to carry in the House of Representatives and not only that, it won't be successful. The bill will not contain costs unless we have it.

ROBERTS: Congressman Anthony Weiner, good to talk to you this morning. Thanks for coming in.

WEINER: My pleasure, thanks.

ROBERTS: Kiran.

CHETRY: Well, we know that throughout the years there have been more and more regulations on cigarette makers when it comes to advertising. Well, now, there's yet another change.

Does it make a difference though when people are still buying cigarettes? Jason Carroll takes a look.

It's 18 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. You know, there is no such thing as a cigarette that's good for you. We all know that. Tobacco companies are not allowed to put low tar or even light on packaging anymore.

ROBERTS: But they are allowed to market their brands with colors which are sending up some new smoke signals that you need to be aware. Our Jason Carroll joins us now with that.

Good morning.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Colors and they've changed their wording just a little bit. You know, from the tobacco company's point of view, they've gone far enough. They switched their labels to be in compliance with the new law but one study shows they may need to go even further if consumers are to be protected.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL (voice-over): Light, ultra-light, low tar. Soon you won't find them on cigarettes anymore. Federal regulators banned the use of those terms saying cigarette companies were selling smokers on the idea one type of cigarette might be healthier.

The American Cancer Society says light cigarettes are just as harmful as regular cigarettes. Now, cigarette companies are rolling out updated branding with names like "blue" and "silver." But is it the same old smoke and mirrors? Some researchers say yes.

DAVID HAMMOND, UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO AT CANADA: The new descriptors which will be allowed under the new legislation are having the same misleading deceptive effect as the old ones that will be banned.

CARROLL: Canadian researchers did test showing people the new wording on similar packaging. In one sample, 83 percent rated "silver" cigarettes as delivering less tar than the brand labeled "full flavor."

HAMMOND: If we put the word "silver" on the pack, if we put the word "white," if we put the word "smooth," they were just as likely to think that that brand was less harmful.

CARROLL: We did our own unscientific experiment and showed people two packs of Pall Malls, one red the other blue. And asked which one, if any, they thought was healthier?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I could see blue being the lighter one of the two.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Blue is like water. The red is like fire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Red is more severe like code red is more severe than I don't know. Does it make any sense?

CARROLL: It makes sense to marketing experts when you consider before the new legislation passed, Pall Mall blues were labeled Pall Mall lights.

MARIAN SALZMAN, PRESIDENT, EURO RSCG PUBLIC RELATIONS: Color is a fabulous way to keep sending the message home fabulous, wonderful, I want it now. It's going to satiate a need I have. So I think it's fabulous messaging and really lousy for society.

CARROLL: Researchers from the Canadian study say cigarette companies should be banned from using certain words and colors to which the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, maker of Pall Mall cigarettes told CNN this is really a common sense issue. There are hundreds of brands and styles of cigarettes on the market. Consumers need a way to distinguish what brand and style they want to purchase."

(END VIDEOTAPE) CARROLL: Well, R.J. Reynolds also told CNN that their new packaging is designed to adhere to the new law. The law passed back in June mandates all tobacco companies be in compliance by June of next year, but there is one more hurdle it must clear. The tobacco industry has filed suit against the federal government to try and block the ban on labeling cigarettes light or mild.

I think those people who want to crack down on cigarettes would ultimately like to see one color, perhaps white for all cigarettes.

ROBERTS: Or no cigarettes.

CARROLL: Or no cigarettes, exactly.

ROBERTS: Jason Carroll for us this morning. Jason, thanks so much.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta continues the series "Cheating Death." Today he talks to a football coach. There he is. He dropped dead on the field. He's a referee that day.

CHETRY: He's a ref -- yes.

ROBERTS: He dropped dead on the field. Didn't have a heartbeat for three whole minutes. What he saw when he was going as he thought to the other side. It's an emotional interview coming up. Stay with us.

Twenty-four and a half minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: It's 27 minutes past the hour right now. Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, 50-mile-an-hour winds. Almost eight inches of snow. A major storm marching up the east coast. Rob Marciano is tracking the forecast for us in just five minutes -- John.

ROBERTS: You heard of the term "near death experience." Imagine having an actual death experience and then coming back to tell the story.

That's what happened to a high school football referee. He collapsed in cardiac arrest on the field just flat out on the ground. He had no heartbeat for nearly three minutes. See what he tells our Dr. Sanjay Gupta he saw as he slipped away to the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How you doing, guys?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It was right here. September 14th, 2002, about a minute into the third quarter and Bob Schriever, the referee, was suddenly down. The fans, the players, the television audience were about to be in for a shocking sight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my goodness. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my goodness.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A referee has just collapsed on the field. He actually...

GUPTA (voice-over): For this 65-year-old Bob Schriever, that video is sometimes still difficult to watch. And you're suddenly down.

BOB SCHRIEVER, SUDDEN CARDIAC ARREST SURVIVOR: I'm down. I'm dead.

GUPTA: What did you experience? Did you have pain?

SCHRIEVER: Nothing. Nothing.

GUPTA: Shriver was in cardiac arrest on this very field during a high school football game. A team trainer armed with the school's brand new AED, or automated external defibrillator, shocked him back to life.

SCHRIEVER: That's scary.

GUPTA: Shriver was choking up as he showed me the video that day. And then he started to talk about what he remembered.

(on camera): What were you experiencing when everyone was seeing this?

SCHRIEVER: It's very peaceful. It's very serene and it's extremely, extremely bright. I mean, it is bright. And I was -- I saw a place that I was supposed to go. I saw that halo, and someone was saying go towards the halo.

GUPTA (voice-over): He says he was dead for two minutes and 40 seconds.

(on camera): So this is the first time Bob has been back here. He just visited the place where he had a sudden cardiac arrest for the first time since it happened. He's going to toss the coin. Something he hasn't done in a while.

SCHRIEVER: What do you call it? He's called tails. It's a head, you want to toss. Your choice.

GUPTA (voice-over): But what happened on this field still haunts him.

(on camera): How often do you think about it?

SCHRIEVER: I think about that every morning when I wake up first thing. During the day I don't know how many times and every night before I fall asleep.

GUPTA: Wow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: You know, I think a lot of people have probably heard about automated external defibrillators, AEDs, or this little shock things, John and Kiran. But they're everywhere. They're in your building, for example, on every floor and they are so simple to use.

You literally open up the box like this and immediately starts having instructions, voice instructions as to what exactly to do starting off with calling 911 first, exactly where to place the pads. The pads actually measure the heart rhythm and if it needs a shock, the heart needs a shock, it goes ahead and delivers it.

They are very easy to use and obviously in the case of Bob Schriever, this thing clearly saved his life. He was down. He was in cardiac arrest. His heart wasn't working. And a defibrillator brought him back. It's happening all over the country and all over the world. And hopefully a lot of you out there watching will educate yourselves as well. John and Kiran, Back to you.

ROBERTS: Dr. Sanjay Gupta for us this morning. Doc, thanks so much.

CHETRY: That is amazing.

ROBERTS: They have saved a lot of lives.

CHETRY: They do. As he said, make it so easy. They walk you through the entire thing.

ROBERTS: You know, I was talking to Sanjay, too, about this idea of going to the light and where the light comes from and why so many people see it and I mean, there are obviously different explanations for it. Potential scientific explanation is as the area of your brain that is responsible for sight starts to lose oxygen, your vision actually starts to go white. And it's a function of losing blood supplies, as opposed to anything else. But there are other people who believe that, you know, it's being called to the other side.

CHETRY: And then Sanjay talks about this as well, there are people who say they see themselves hovering over their own bodies and that they actually see deceased relatives. I mean, it is - the whole thing is fascinating.

ROBERTS: It really is. You could spend a long time looking into it. Dr. Gupta spends an awful lot of time looking into people who have cheated death over the years. Don't miss this prime time special, CNN presents "ANOTHER DAY: CHEATING DEATH" this Saturday and Sunday, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

Crossing the bottom of the hour now and here are this morning's top stories.

A stunning come back for the Dow. The index sitting now above the 10,000 mark when the opening bell sounds in about two hours. Since early March it's up 53 percent. Investors keeping a close eye on earnings reports today from Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and IBM.

CHETRY: And President Obama is heading to New Orleans today. It will be his first visit since taking office. The White House says he is keeping a campaign promise to make Gulf coast recovery a priority. There are some Hurricane Katrina victims who say the president's four- hour tour will be too little too late.

ROBERTS: And four bloody highly coordinated attacks on police in Pakistan overnight. Militants storming three separate law enforcement buildings in the eastern City of Lahore before a car bomber leveled a police station in the western province of Kahad. At least 36 police and civilians were killed.

And this just into CNN. Police say there's been a large explosion in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar. Reza Sayah is live in Islamabad, the capital city, for us this morning. Reza, any idea who is behind these attacks and why now so many?

REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it has been an incredible day of violence here in Pakistan, John. Five militant attacks starting at 9:00 a.m., about 5:30 p.m. in the evening now. We just confirmed another one. A lot of information to cover. Let's go over it quickly.

The first one 9:00 a.m., a suicide attacker targeting a police station. Officials say he rammed his vehicle into the police station in the district of Kohat, killing 11 people. Three of them police officials. Kohat has been a district plagued by militants because it sits right next to Pakistan's tribal region, along the Afghan border. This is a region Washington calls an epicenter of jihad and a safe haven for al Qaeda.

30 minutes later we go to eastern Pakistan, the cultural hub of this country. Three almost simultaneous attacks targeting police facility in the city of Lahore. You had at least 12 militants armed penetrating these police facilities. These weren't suicide attackers who blew themselves up. These were armed and apparently trained militants who engaged and took on security forces by the time it was done, by the time three separate standoffs were done, more than a dozen police officials were killed as well as one civilian.

And then as we told you before about 30 minutes ago, an explosion according to police officials in the city of Peshawar, this is the capital of the northwest frontier province. We have seen a lot of violence over the past couple of years in Pakistan. I don't remember seeing this many apparently coordinated attacks in such a short amount of time, the cycle of silence continues here in Pakistan, John.

ROBERTS: Reza Sayah for us this morning, from Islamabad. Reza, thanks.

CHETRY: Well, it is shaping up to be a nasty few days across the northeast. Forecasts say that wind gusts could hit 40 to 50 miles per hour. There's also the possibility of flooding along the coast at high tide and some parts of New York and Pennsylvania could actually see eight inches of snow in the next 24 hours. Our Rob Marciano is tracking things from the extreme weather center. Is it coming early? It feels like it's coming early this year, winter.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, you know that a number of weather events have happened in the last couple of weeks seemed to be unusually early for this time of year. And that certainly has been the case. And I think this storm that's heading up the eastern seaboard depending on how much snow it dumps in certain spots will be unusual for sure. It's going to kind of combine with what's heading towards the northeast right now.

Chicago in through Nashville, you're seeing a little bit of rainfall but this pales in comparison, I think, to what is going to happen as things begin to wind up here across parts of New York. Right now, you're seeing cool rain. It's definitely chilly enough. Four to 12 inches of snow possible northwestern Pennsylvania. The Allegheny plateau here does go up in elevation in some spots well over 2,000 feet. And that's where the bulk of this snow is going to fall.

The problem with getting snow this time of year, it's often pretty wet because it is barely cold enough to snow and then you still have foliage on the trees so that really weighs down those branches. The leaves catch that snow so we're talking about damaging snowstorm because of that. And the folks in Buffalo certainly understand the impact of that just a couple of years ago. It is getting cold enough or getting cold enough for that.

Temperatures today will only in the 40s. So that certainly is giving you a hint of things to come. Today a combination of things. This area of low pressure will produce some severe weather and wet weather across the southeast. A chunk of energy coming down from the north. It will kind of combine with this area of low pressure. This time of year, they tend to begin to gain strength and that's going to be the issue, I think going forward.

Good news for folks out west after a rainy day yesterday. Not quite as bad as feared about an inch and a half of rainfall across parts of Los Angeles and the good news, I guess, aside from the muddy cleanup in spots out west is that relieved at least a little bit of the drought. Get ready for the storm. It should be a doozy. Rain and wind along the coastal sections from New York to Boston as well beginning tomorrow. John and Kiran.

CHETRY: All right. It is coming early. Thanks, Rob.

MARCIANO: All righty.

CHETRY: Still ahead, we're going to be talking to Amy Savoie. Her husband, Christopher, went to Japan after his ex-wife took their two children and ended up in jail there. Got word this morning he is set to be released but what is next? She's going to join with us more. 36 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROBERTS: Thirty-nine minutes after the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. New this morning, a new report card from the Department of Education shows that fourth and eight graders in Massachusetts are at the head of the class when it comes to math skills. It's not all good news though for the first time since 1990, fourth graders nationwide showed no improvement in the math test.

Well, it turns out that there is an FM radio inside the iPhone. Apple is reportedly ready to turn it on. Sources say the new application will allow you to listen and pause live radio. One reason for the delay in releasing it, sources say that Apple is still working out a way for you to instantly purchase songs you have been listening to on the radio.

And price wasn't right for the "Boston Globe," "The New York Times" saying it will not sell the newspaper after all. "The Times" have been seeking a buyer for the 137-year-old paper but in a memo to "Globe" employees yesterday "The Times" said the Boston paper had significantly improved its financial footing.

CHETRY: Well, all of us were surprised this morning when we heard it in the NEWSROOM that an American father whose story we've been covering is now free from a Japanese jail this morning.

Christopher Savoie was arrested and put behind bars after trying to get his children back. His ex-wife took them to Japan this summer violating the custody agreement and never brought them back.

Under Japanese law though, she did nothing wrong. To talk more about this, I'm joined by Christopher's wife, Amy. And Amy, thanks for being with us this morning. I'm sure a tremendous relief for you to know that he is being freed from jail. When did you find out the news?

AMY SAVOIE, WIFE OF CHRISTOPHER SAVOIE: I found out this morning. At around 3:00 in the morning I received a phone call from him.

CHETRY: What did he tell you?

SAVOIE: He said that he was out and I was just really happy to hear his voice.

CHETRY: Yes, and they actually dropped the charges against him, correct?

SAVOIE: I don't know. He and I haven't been able to discuss the specifics of the intricacies of what's happening. He's still with his lawyers right now. But he is out of jail.

CHETRY: And you said that he sounded - from your short conversation - very eager understandably to get back here to the United States.

SAVOIE: Very eager. Specifically to get home to Tennessee and also to visit Rhode Island where we're both from just to see the water and just to be home.

CHETRY: Yes, I'm sure it's been an extremely traumatic situation. In some ways though, it lands you guys back at square one, right? I mean, this is not any type of resolution in terms of custody, in terms of him being able to see Rebecca and Isaac again, right?

SAVOIE: Right. You know, I'm receiving a lot of phone calls from press and they are all very excited for us that he's been released and you know, the elation lasted for a few minutes and now we're back to square one where there's no closure. You know, we don't have Isaac and Rebecca in a situation from which they were taken.

Isaac and Rebecca had a very, very happy situation here in Tennessee. They were very well adjusted kids. They did very well in school. They enjoyed their family life. They went to Japanese school in Tennessee. There was a Japanese church in Tennessee. They went to U.S. schools in Tennessee. They have people who love them here. And it was very great place for them to be raised. It's traumatic for them.

CHETRY: I'm sure it is, Amy. And I'm sure it's traumatic for both of you as well. I know you have not had time to sort of decompress and sort through this. You're still waiting to even see Christopher. But what is your gut telling but about whether or not you're going to continue it and how you're going to continue this custody fight to be able to see Isaac and Rebecca?

SAVOIE: Well, I think the focus for us will be, you know, we'll basically become spokespersons I suppose for so many of these families and what this has allowed to happen is that many families have contacted us and we've kind of provided a voice for their suffering and I've received so many phone calls. Someone from Britain whose lost his child in Japan. Someone from Canada. Other people in the U.S. and we've heard so many heartbreaking stories.

And it lands me back to the middle of where we were in August where I said there's - I don't know how a father or a mother can find any closure in these types of situations knowing that your child was taken from an unhappy situation and basically now they have to be faced with the reality that their father is essentially dead to them. No child wants their father to die.

CHETRY: No. And when you talk about being the spokesperson and when you talk about other people, explain for those who are not familiar with how this works, if your ex goes to Japan, how many times in those types of cases have the children ever come back to the United States?

SAVOIE: Zero. The United States has never been successful in retrieving a child who had been taken illegally to Japan. There's one instance of a boy, I believe he was 15 at the time, he escaped from Japan and came back to the United States to be with his father.

CHETRY: You know - and we're looking at pictures of now Christopher's ex-wife and, you know, I - I've been thinking about your case a lot. It just - I really, you know, feel for you guys. And I was just wondering, do you have any hope that, you know, that you could reach some sort of agreement, just human to human, mother to mother that she would understand, that you guys deserve to see your kids and work something out so that they can visit the States and - and at least partially live with you guys?

SAVOIE: I don't think so. I don't think so. Actions speak louder than words, and for social workers and for the court she would say of course the children need their father. I know that. I know that. But I think it was just a sound bite.

She didn't value the children's love for their father. She found it to be very threatening. It was very annoying to her that Christopher wanted to play baseball, and when he suggested music lessons for Rebecca, she wasn't going to get on board with that.

So, it's a shame. It's a shame. There are two parents who love these children, and one of them has just been just cast aside. He doesn't have any value, and it's pretty much in line with things that he was told during the marriage. You know, he's just a paycheck. So now she's got the money, now she's got the kids and it's very sad. It's so sad for those children.

Our family has been completely disrupted. My children - there are a lot of issues that we're going to need to address when Christopher comes home, how to go forward. As far as I know there's no sort of, you know, group therapy sessions for families that have to deal with the fact that their children are now essentially dead to them, but in fact they're not dead. They're miles away, halfway around the planet.

And a lot of times the children are told, well, your father is dead. It's not a thing (INAUDIBLE) they're told your father is dead or your father is a bad person. Your father is a terrible person. And it takes many years, a lot of times, for those children to overcome that poison...

CHETRY: Right.

SAVOIE: ... that psychological poisoning, and maybe when they're 32 they kind of realize, well, let me go see if my dad really is as terrible as my mom always said.

CHETRY: Right. Well, you know, I know it's against the odds for you guys. Hopefully, though, there's some resolution here and hopefully at least you talking about it has brought some attention and - and perhaps maybe some pressure on the respective governments to maybe try to see if anything can be worked out in a lot of these cases.

Amy Savoie, good luck, and I'm glad...

SAVOIE: Thank you.

CHETRY: ... that your husband at least is coming home to you. Thanks for being with us this morning. SAVOIE: Thank you very much. Thank you.

CHETRY: Forty-eight minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Nine minutes now to the top of the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

California's first lady says she's sorry for breaking the law. Maria Shriver was caught on a - on camera, talking on a big old cell phone while she was driving. Shriver plans to donate the telephone to charity.

Our Jeanne Moos now with her take on the handset hijinx.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When the governor of California's wife...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No more (ph) on the cell phone, Maria.

MOOS: ... got nabbed by TMZ on camera, many of us felt a twinge of guilt, drop that phone.

MOOS (on camera): Well, what - what do you think of Maria Shriver getting nabbed talking on the phone while driving?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Damn (ph) - Well, since I just got caught myself, I guess it's kind of silly and - and it's not right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You should always use a Bluetooth. She's a nice lady, the governor's a good guy, but it's a shame that she's breaking his law.

MOOS (voice-over): The one banning handheld cell phone use while driving that governor Schwarzenegger signed into law. Back then, he threatened to follow his two daughters of driving age.

GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA: I will find out if you raise your hand up there and hold your phone to your ear, and then the car will be gone.

MOOS: Instead, his wife is caught holding the phone and since the governor has promised there's going to be swift action, will the threat to his daughters apply to his wife?

SCHWARZENEGGER: The car will be gone and the cell phone will be gone.

MOOS: Hey, look who's talking. Arnold caused havoc talking on the phone while driving in "Twins".

DANNY DEVITO, ACTOR: I want you to take your foot off the gas, apply it to the brake. SCHWARZENEGGER: You got it!

MOOS: At least Maria stayed on four wheels and hands-free technology has its own drawbacks.

SKYLER STONE, ACTOR: Yes, I'm on my new Bluetooth, man. Liberating, dude! You get so much done while you're just driving.

Who's up? Cubs or Cardinals? Of course, they are. Chicago sucks.

MOOS: Maria Shriver's cell phone use was the talk of "The View". Go (ph) online, the view that had some LOL related to the size of her phone, "Ginormous," "That's a monstrosity!" "Reminded us of old movies."

CHARLIE SHEEN, ACTOR: This is your wake-up call, pal.

EDWARD NORTON, ACTOR: Yes, we did. We won.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sorry, I've got to answer that.

MOOS: At least the newer, little phones are easier to hide.

MOOS (on camera): Weren't you going to use your phone there just now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Me?

MOOS: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you guilty of driving while talking on your cell phone?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I'm guilty, but did you have to take my picture?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm guilty.

MOOS: Did you see Maria Shriver got nabbed on her cell phone, in her car?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, but I'm just walking.

MOOS: Yes, yes. No, you're OK.

MOOS (voice-over): But she's not.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: That poor guy. Did they change the law? I'm just - I'm walking here.

It's 54 minutes after the hour. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Doctors and nurses here in New York state are facing an ultimatum from the government, get both the flu shot and the swine flu vaccine or get fired.

CHETRY: Some of the nurses are saying that officials are going too far and she's actually taking the state to court over it.

Our Susan Candiotti has been tracking the story for us this morning. So the nurses, one of their arguments is that how do they have a case? They don't have the authority - the New York Health Commissioner - to - to actually issue this type of demand in the first place.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, he says he does, because he compares it to look, I can order a vaccines (ph) for measles and rubella, so this is the same kind of thing and it's really important and we can't ignore the threat of swine flu or of flu getting out of hand.

So, in the meantime, a New York State nursing group says the state has no right to force them to get vaccinated when flu and H1N1 shots aren't mandatory for everyone else. So, a nurse is suing, but a New York State judge is deciding to wait at least another week before making a ruling.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): At a hospital in Upstate New York, Nurse Sue Field was told get flu shots or else.

SUE FIELD, REGISTERED NURSE: If we did not comply with this mandate of receiving the H1N1 vaccine and the seasonal flu vaccine that we would be terminated from our employment.

CANDIOTTI: New York is the only state forcing hospital health care workers to get vaccinated, even private doctors who make hospital rounds.

DR. RICHARD DAINES, NEW YORK STATE HEALTH COMMISSIONER: When patients go to a hospital, they ought to have that - that expectation that the hospital and the workers have done everything they can to make it safe for them.

CANDIOTTI: Nurse Field is suing, arguing New York is overreaching. She's not against vaccines in general, but says hospital nurses already take extraordinary precautions to guard against viruses. And still others say they aren't convinced the vaccine has been fully tested. And then there's this argument.

FIELD: I have an issue with the government mandating me to get these vaccines and telling me that if I don't comply then I don't have a job. CANDIOTTI: New York State Nurses Association is backing her up, saying "The State Emergency Regulation is unwarranted in the absence of a declared emergency." Her attorney points to the Centers for Disease Control and President Obama. Neither is calling for mandatory hospital vaccinations.

PATRICIA FINN, ATTORNEY: If President Obama recommends a voluntary swine flu injection, I really don't see where the commissioner of health has the authority to mandate this particular group. It's arbitrary and capricious, we believe.

CANDIOTTI: But New York's health boss says his state may be leading the way to a national policy.

DAINES: We do things (ph) that a state or local level, prove that they're safe and effective and practical, and then they're adopted nationally.

CANDIOTTI: Nurse Field says, not so fast.

FIELD: Seasonal flu and H1N1 this year, what will the government then have the right to say they want to inject us with next year?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: But others, including New York Civil Liberties Union, are also suing over mandatory shots, arguing they violate a constitutional right of health care workers to control their very own bodies.

The thing is this, New York state's health commissioner says if you leave it up to health care workers in particular to get shots, only about 40 to 50 percent of them do, and he said we just can't afford the risk right now. But the health care workers and nurses in particular are saying, look, we want the right to decide. We want the right to choose.

CHETRY: It's interesting to see how it shakes out. But this year, I mean, just anecdotally speaking, a lot more people seem to be getting the seasonal flu shot because of swine flu concerns and because of how much we've been talking about it.

CANDIOTTI: That's true anecdotally, but, you know, in reality, how many more people will be protected by - will not get the flu unless they get the vaccine? And there's just too much of a worry on the part of the New York state health commissioner, and he's saying, you know, we may be the only state now, but let's wait and see whether other states follow suit.

CHETRY: All right. Susan Candiotti for us this morning. Thanks.