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American Morning
World Leaders Meet in D.C. For Nuclear Conference; New Lexus Too Dangerous to Buy?; Conan O'Brien to Move to Cable; The China Price
Aired April 13, 2010 - 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: Good morning and thanks so much for joining us on the Most News in the Morning on this Tuesday, 13th of April. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us. We have a lot of big stories we're breaking down in the next 15 minutes.
First, a warning if you're in the market for a car. "Consumer Reports Magazine" with an unusual move saying that the new Lexus GX 460, the 2010 version, poses a safety risk. They say that their tests uncovered a problem considered so serious that the group is urging consumers not to buy this luxury SUV model. They're also calling on Toyota, the parent company of Lexus, to fix the problem quickly.
ROBERTS: Hard truth and some progress as day two of a nuclear summit in Washington gets underway. One country has agreed to get rid of its highly enriched uranium stockpile. We're live at the White House with the details this morning.
CHETRY: And new evidence could fire up an age-old debate. A recent study finds that toddlers who are spanked are 50 percent more likely to be violent by the time they're five years old. Researchers say it's the first time that they were able to control factors like how aggressive a child was to begin with.
Coming up, the coauthor of a study on time-outs versus spanking and whether it's too late to turn back.
Our live blog, by the way, is up and running. We would love to hear from you. Do you spank your kids? Are you against it? What do you think? Tell us about it, CNN.com/amfix. We'll be reading your comments throughout the show.
ROBERTS: First up this hour, a luxury SUV that may be prone to rollovers that could send Toyota into another tailspin this morning. "Consumer Reports" magazine putting out a warning about the 2010 model Lexus GX 460, calling it a safety risk and urging consumers not to buy it.
CHETRY: It's been actually nine years since this nonprofit group came down so hard on a single vehicle. Our Christine Romans is tracking the developments for us. Another troubling chapter for Toyota, which is the parent company of Lexus, but what are they saying about this 2010 model?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: They're saying don't buy this car. And they're saying if you have it right now, be especially careful if you're on an onramp or exit ramp. They're concerned this car could go out of control if you need to maneuver quickly while making a turn.
This is the 2010 Lexus GX 460. They found -- they accidentally found rollover risks during turns when they were testing this vehicle. Four different engineers tried. And then they got another vehicle to make sure that it wasn't an isolated incident with that car, and they found that, indeed, this car had problems with electronic stability control.
This is the computerized system that organizes and controls the brakes and the acceleration. This is a computerized system that is really cut down the number of single vehicle accidents because it's helped to right the vehicles a little bit. But there's a problem with this one.
John, you did a fascinating interview last hour. You were talking to someone from "Consumer Reports" who says we didn't go out looking for this in particular. We found it, and then kept testing. And it was very clear that this was a car that is not safe to drive. Don't buy it. Very rare from "Consumer Reports" to make that designation.
ROBERTS: They were saying this happens under one particular condition, and that's if you're coming into a curve, and many people do this, because the curve suddenly tightens up. You say oh, I'm going a little fast. You let your foot off the accelerator which Ken Linkov from Consumer Reports was explaining, frontloads the weight on the vehicle, lightens up the back end, and it spins out.
ROMANS: That's absolutely right. They're very concerned about that. They tried it on two different vehicles.
They say -- I want to point out that Toyota and Lexus have not responded to this yet. We do not know what the company is saying quite yet about this. But what they're saying -- right, they're saying oh, boy. The Consumer Report says if you have this car, take it to the dealer and demand, demand that you want a company fix for this.
CHETRY: All right, they're talking about a 2010 model. Interesting, because you said that the prior models have not been affected.
ROMANS: That's right.
CHETRY: Christine, thank you.
ROMANS: Sure.
CHETRY: Well, securing the bomb, world leaders meeting in Washington today. It is day two of the nuclear summit addressing what President Obama calls the biggest single threat to global security -- nuclear terrorism.
Things got off to a pretty positive start with the former Soviet republic nation promising to get rid of material that Al Qaeda would do anything to get.
Also on the sidelines, there were talks between President Obama and China's president about the way that the world could end up dealing with Iran. Suzanne Malveaux is live at the White House this morning. And they're talking about sanctions and increased pressure on Iran. They need China onboard.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Kiran. And what we saw yesterday was that this summit got started with a welcoming dinner. They hadn't even started the opening session and already the president is optimistic. He is really somewhat encouraged by what he is seeing from some of the other world leaders, the sidebar meetings that he's had with at least ten of them.
One of them is a former Soviet republic, that is Ukraine, where they announced a breakthrough agreement here. They said that they would go ahead and set aside some of the dangerous nuclear materials to be secured. I want you to take a listen to Robert Gibbs. Here's how he put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Ukraine announced a landmark decision to get rid of all of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium by the time of the next nuclear security summit in 2012.
Ukraine intends to remove a substantial part of the stocks this year. Ukraine will convert its civil nuclear research facilities to operate with low enriched uranium fuel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: You may recall in 1994 that Ukraine decided that it would go ahead and abandon, give up the nuclear weapons that it inherited from the Soviet Union when the Soviet Union collapsed. That was considered a move forward. This also is considered a significant move forward.
We've heard from Canada also followed suit. Stephen Harper, the leader of Canada saying they, too, would hand over the nuclear materials to the United States to secure by 2018.
And then one of those sidebar meetings that was critical that we told you to look out for yesterday, President Obama and China's leader Hu Jintao, both of them emerging from that meeting and their aides saying that there was some progress towards working towards possibly, Kiran, sanctioning Iran if it doesn't cooperate with the international community in giving up the nuclear ambitions.
Don't want to overplay this or oversell it, but, clearly, China's in a position as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, it could veto the sanctions. We're not hearing that from the Chinese now. They are starting to soften their language. And so the United States officials are very encouraged by that. Kiran?
CHETRY: It's interesting. You spoke about that. There are so many other concerns going on between China and the United States with trade and concerns about the currency, et cetera. So how far it is between China being at the table to talk about it and actually agreeing eventually to sign on to sanctions?
MALVEAUX: That's a very good question, because at this point we don't know how far along they are. We know that it's progress. We know that both sides are encouraged by this. We know there is tension between the United States and the Chinese and the Obama administration and that that somewhat is softening.
But in the weeks ahead, there the U.N. Security Council is going to meet and they're going to have those five permanent members sit down and discuss in earnest whether or not this is going to happen, those sanctions are going to happen with Iran. We know China is going to be one of the members at the table.
And so far they are not as defiant as they were before, somewhat more encouraging that they're willing to cooperate. But, still, there's a long way to go before they decide that, yes, that's what they are going to do.
CHETRY: Suzanne Malveaux for us this morning at the White House, thank you.
Also coming up in about 25 minutes, we're going to be talking to David Albright, former U.N. weapons inspector, who has a new book out about the black market for nukes. He'll talk about how big of a threat and which nations could be at most risk.
ROBERTS: Also new this morning, investigators are trying to determine what caused a Navy training jet to crash 80 miles north of Atlanta. Three people onboard the jet were killed. One is still missing. No one on the ground was injured. The crash did spark a small wildfire.
CHETRY: Overnight recovery crews in West Virginia removed the last of the bodies from the Upper Big Branch mine -- 29 people last week died in the worst mining disaster in the nation in 40 years. Federal investigators were waiting for all of the bodies to be recovered before heading underground to begin their investigation.
ROBERTS: No charges for Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. A judge says there was not enough evidence to prosecute him for an alleged sexual assault at a Georgia nightclub last month. He may, though, still face punishment by the National Football League.
CHETRY: The DOW is on a roll. For the first time since September of 2008, it will open this morning above 11,000. Investors anticipating solid first quarter earnings and also a loan agreement for cash-strapped Greece. They think both of those helped push the DOW up eight points yesterday. ROBERTS: Get in, get out as quickly as you can. McDonald's may be synonymous with quick. But the fast food chain now wants you to linger just a little bit. The company is in the midst of remodeling its restaurants to add lounge chairs, televisions, and also free Wi- Fi.
Experts say the chain hopes the changes will help them better compete with Starbucks. You'll see people hanging around in McDonald's and tapping away on the laptop.
CHETRY: Yes, it's great. City McDonald's in New York City are interesting to look at. But --
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: What exactly does that mean?
CHETRY: When I was doing a story --
ROBERTS: Let's try to decipher what you just said. In other words, you want to get in there and get out as quickly as possible.
CHETRY: They have these huge chairs. I mean they had like loungers. It looked like they had a little bar area set up.
ROBERTS: You like the Playland.
CHETRY: Yes, of course. It's so much fun to be greeted by Ronald every day.
(LAUGHTER)
Anyway --
ROBERTS: Nice to be greeted by McDonald's in New York.
CHETRY: Come see it some time. The oldest McDonald's ever is in Times Square.
Spring is in the air and so is the pollen. If you're sneezing, you know a particularly rough year is ahead of you. And 120 is considered high on the pollen count. Last week in North Carolina, the pollen count was more than 3,000.
ROBERTS: Yes. All that water has to go some. I guess it's being soaked up by the trees. It's time to procreate.
CHETRY: He's talking about the trees, not you yet.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: He knows a lot about. That he's in Atlanta this morning.
(WEATHER BREAK) CHETRY: Coming up in three minutes, a late-night guessing game is over. Conan O'Brien is back to television. Alino Cho tells us where Conan is going to end up and when you'll be seeing him on TV.
ROBERTS: And "China Rising," from the fish on your dinner table to the clothes on your back. We're taking a look at how China is changing the American business model and what it means for American workers.
CHETRY: At 7:40, the 200 million scent receptors in their noses, these guys are able to sniff out trouble. We're going to see how a very specialized security team is working to keep Amtrak customers safe.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
There is big news this morning in late night. Conan O'Brien is going to return to television. It's going in the fall. Alina Cho is working the story for us. He got the boot from "The Tonight Show" in January, lots of speculation since about where he's going to land. Tell us.
CHETRY: Is he going to be a part of our family?
ROBERTS: Does everybody have to bring him presents?
CHETRY: I don't think so. We can go in together on a welcome gift.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right.
You remember, guys, a lot of people thought that Conan would be going to FOX. Many thought it was a foregone conclusion. But in a move that surprised nearly everyone, Conan announced he is going to cable. The show will be on TBS. That's part of turner broadcasting, the same company that owns CNN. The show will launch in November at 11:00 p.m.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT. In a move that surprised nearly everyone, Conan announced he is going to cable. The show will be on TBS. It's part of turner broadcasting, the same company that owns CNN. The show will launch in November at 11:00 p.m. It is still unnamed. It will air four days a week, not five, Monday through Thursday.
We also know that Conan will stay in Los Angeles and he will own the show, too. Now that ownership stake is believed to be a big reason why Conan made the jump to TBS in the first place. But Conan on cable? Well, he joked about it in a statement he released saying, quote, "in three months I've gone from network television to Twitter to performing live in theaters and now I'm headed to basic cable. My plan is working perfectly." TV critics say if you think about it, Conan on cable really is a perfect fit.
BILL CARTER, MEDIA REPORTER, NY TIMES: I think he'll have a much more free and open style than he did. You know, "The Tonight Show" he had to try to tailor it to a mass audience, which he really wasn't getting. He was getting, you know, about two million less than Leno would gotten. So here is my core audience, I'm going to speak to them. I'm going to be as wild and crazy and creative as I can be.
CHO: Speaking of Jay Leno. His ratings we've learned are up 50 percent over what Conan was pulling. There's a caveat here. Leno's audience is also about ten years older than Conan's and remember, it's the younger viewers that the advertisers really covet. The kind of viewers guys that generally flock to stations like comedy central. Remember, it's worth pointing out that Conan at 11:00 p.m. will be going head-to-head with John Stewart.
KIRAN CHETRY: That's why we have the DVR. Pick one or the other and tape the other one for later.
CHO: That's right.
JOHN ROBERTS: You know, Conan really built up a following, you know, protest web sites popped up when --
CHO: Team Coco.
ROBERTS: NBC, Team Coco, that whole thing. Are any of networks commenting on his move over there?
CHO: No. It may be no surprise, none of them are commenting. Guys, neither are his competitors, really. Remember though, it did get pretty ugly towards the end. As a reminder, we thought it would be fun of Conan attacking his former employer, NBC. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just coming to work in the morning now has gotten really uncomfortable. Morons incompetent morons these people are morons la-di-di.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: He ultimately, remember, got a $32 million settlement. He agreed to stay off the air until September.
CHETRY: I guess they figure they don't have to say anything after that $32 million. Well, Conan, as we know, could technically return in September. They're holding off. He's not coming in until November. Why is that?
CHO: Well, it's because of baseball. TBS carries the major league baseball playoffs. Remember, those -- that's in October, right? So the thinking is that there's no reason why they should launch Conan's show in September, preempt it for a month in October for the playoffs and then bring it back in November.
And they also think that playoffs are a good time to promote Conan's show. So, we'll have to wait and see. A lot of people saying they're glad he's back on television. A little bit of a surprise he's on TBS, but we're certainly glad he's part of our family.
ROBERTS: Yes, absolutely. It's good to have him here. We'll have to go together and buy him a little present. You know, the one thing that is happening as a result of Conan coming here is George Lopez's show is bumped back on hour.
CHETRY: That's right. You know what is really interesting, I was reading the blogs. Lopez's show is called "Lopez Tonight." he goes until midnight. A lot of people are saying on the blogs saying, you know, Conan, you're doing -- you're doing to George Lopez exactly what Jay Leno did to you. You're bumping George Lopez back an hour. Of course, Lopez says, I can think of no better lead in to have than Conan O'Brien.
ROBERTS: So what does George Lopez think about all of this? We'll find out tonight. He's going to be on "Larry King Live" on CNN. We'll ask him what he thinks about the deal. Nineteen minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Business morning memos and e-mails released by a Senate panel showed that executives at Washington Mutual created what they called a "mortgage time bomb" before the bank collapsed. The document showing that executives knew about the risks that some of the company were taking. Washington Mutual was the biggest bank to fail in U.S. history. Former executives will be grilled by lawmakers on Capitol Hill in about two hours.
ROBERTS: Also new this morning, a new report that the federal deficit is down by 8 percent for the first half of 2010 over last year. "The Washington Post" talked with senior White House officials who say the deficit for January to June this year is about $300 billion less than originally projected.
CHETRY: And there are new reports out this morning saying there are other names on President Obama's Supreme Court short list. Judge Sidney Thomas of Montana, one of about ten judges being considered. Thomas serves on the 9th U.S. Court of Appeals, the largest of America's appeal courts.
ROBERTS: A Chinese tanker that went off course and slammed into the great barrier reef off the coast of Australia is off the reef now. Crews have successfully pulled the ship away from the coral. It caused damage so severe that it could take marine life two decades to recover. A top marine scientist says the coal carrier left a scar nearly two miles long on the world's biggest coral reef.
CHETRY: What a shame. A new study finds spanking children more than twice a month at 3 years old can make them 50 percent more likely to be defiant or lash out at others by the time they turn 5. Researchers looked at several determining factors including how aggressive kids were to begin with. Experts are saying that they think that time-outs are a much better alternative to corporal punishment.
Another reminder, go to our live blog. We want to know what you have to say about spanking. Do you think it works or works against you? Tell us about it. Cnn.com/amfix.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: It's 26 minutes past the hour. Your top stories just four minutes away. An "A.M. Original," something you'll see only on American Morning and a shift in the way that U.S. companies do business is under way.
ROBERTS: From dinner staples like seafood, clothing, technology, more U.S. companies are opting for the made in China label. That is making life here less expensive. Our Christine Romans joins us now with our week-long special report "China Rising: Opportunity or Threat"?
CHETRY: This has been going on for years. In many cases, some industries have completely changed how they've done business over the last 12 years or so. To see how China's powerful economy affects everything you do, everything you touch, look to further than your dinner plate.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT(voice-over): This is Alaska soul, caught and frozen in the baring sea and unloaded in Alaska's Dutch harbor and from here --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most of the fish goes to China.
ROMANS: Where Bill Orr, President of Signature Seafood, says his catch is cleaned and filleted quicker and cheaper in Chinese workshops like this than in the U.S.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The companies around the world, but most of them have fish sent to China and further processed into fillets or portions or have sauces added or breaded, packaged and sent back to Europe, United States and South America.
ROMANS (on-camera): That's right, chances are the fish you order at a restaurant like this travelled some 14,000 miles. How is that even possible? Because China's economic miracle of cheap labor and a government subsidized industrial base has changed everything, even the economics at your dinner plate.
(voice-over): U.S. seafood exports to China were $82 million back in 1996. Today it's $597 million. How much of that comes back to the U.S. is impossible to know in this new globalized world. From fish to textiles to steel to technology, China's rise is testing American business models. Just ask Google. It searched for a new market in China in 2006 but decided China's way of doing business wasn't for them.
GORDON CHANG, AUTHOR "THE COMING COLLAPSE OF CHINA": We hoped for a more open China, it didn't happen. Censorship got worse during this period. Chinese government's hacking program got worse. And so Google said, no. No more.
ROMANS: Moving its Chinese search engine to Hongkong just last month.
ROBERT KAPP, CHINA TRADE AND BUSINESS CONSULTANT: I think Google's case is a special case. Most companies in china, auto companies, grain companies, banks, law firms, manufacturers of electronics and so forth do not face the dilemmas that Google in particular faced.
ROMANS: But could be a lure of China's potential market and its cheap manufacturing base be fading? Tough new rules are starting to restrict foreign companies of all kinds, which worries some China watchers.
DAN SLANE, U.S.-CHINA ECONOMIC AND SECURITY REVIEW COMMISSION: The situation is changing dramatically and China is switching over from a free market economy to a totally government controlled economy.
ROMANS: And that has Congress howling for tariffs on goods imported from China to help correct what it sees as an unfair advantage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to give tough medicine. We're going to say we're going to impose the same penalty on you that will equal the advantage you gain from manipulating the currency if you don't change.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we went out and slapped 30 percent tariff on Chinese goods because we're going to punish the Chinese and if it was passed in full to the person on 28,000 trying to put t-shirts on his kids, it would cause a lot of damage.
ROMANS (voice-over): Would Americans be willing to pay more for goods made in China if it means more jobs would stay in America? That in a nutshell is the debate. For now Bill Orr says unless the economics change, he'll keep sending his work to China to keep things competitive.
This doesn't seem practical on the face of it to be able to send your product to China, to be processed and then back to the United States. If we needed to do it ashore, we think the cost is probably 20, 25 percent higher.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: For years while jobs were growing in this country, consumers enjoyed those cheaper import prices without much thought to how they were possible. With nearly 10 percent unemployment, the Obama administration is pushing back against China's currency and its industrial policies that many say favor Chinese exports.
Critics say at the expense of millions of American jobs. President Hu Jintao says this week the country will not yield to external pressure on these things but we know that the president brought up these things in his meeting with Hu Jintao just yesterday.
ROBERTS: Yes, the currency manipulation is a big piece of the puzzle here.
ROMANS: It is. And so are the rules, the new laws in China that favor Chinese companies and Chinese trademarks and many big international companies say "wait a minute, we have cross border research and development. We have been trying to integrate China into our global strategy." If the Chinese are going to start clamping down, what is that going to mean for companies that aren't Chinese and they're worried about the direction -- business is worried about the direction of where things are going in China right now.
CHETRY: It's interesting. Because they were the ones saying that the United States was protectionist.
ROMANS: That's right.
CHETRY: So there you have it.
ROBERTS: Good piece this morning.
CHETRY: Yes. Never look at my fried fish the same, unfortunately. Thanks, Christine.
Thirty-one minutes past the hour. Time for a look at your top stories this morning.
More trouble for Toyota, the parent company of Lexus. "Consumer Reports" issuing a rare "don't buy" warning for the 2010 Lexus GX 460. Their tests on the new luxury SUV uncovered severe rollover risks during turns and electric stability control issues. They're also calling Toyota to fix the problem with the Lexus model quickly.
ROBERTS: In holding off of that, European vacation. Well, if the dollar forecasts is true, you will be getting a lot more bang for your back overseas in the next year. Market strategists predict a rise in U.S. interest rates will boost the dollar against the euro, dropping the euro to $1.32 by June, $1.27 by September. And if you're not going to Europe until next March, look at this. The buck could be worth or the euro could only be worth $1.25 U.S.. So things are getting better.
CHETRY: And a summit to think about the unthinkable. President Obama's nuclear security conference that wraps up today in Washington. It brought leaders from 47 different countries and the focus, keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of rogue nations like Iran and terrorist groups like Al Qaeda. Two positive developments so far, China agreeing to work with the U.S. possibly on sanctions against Iran. Also the Ukraine promising to get rid of nuclear bomb- making materials.
ROBERTS: David Albright is a former United Nations weapons inspector who has written extensively about the illicit nuclear weapons trade in his new book "Pedaling Peril." He joins us now from Washington. David, great to see you this morning.
DAVID ALBRIGHT, FORMER U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Good to be here.
ROBERTS: So what do you make of this announcement by Ukraine that by the time of the next meeting on nuclear proliferation in 2012 it will have gotten rid of all of its stockpiles and highly enriches uranium?
ALBRIGHT: It's very important. I mean it's been a request by the United States and other nations for Ukraine to do this for years. And so it's a very good sign that they finally did. Because there is just too much highly enriched uranium out in the world. And it's totally unnecessary as a civil nuclear fuel.
And so it's very important for countries to phase out their use of this material and to send it back to countries that can protect it much better. And also get rid of it. I mean, there is a way to get rid of highly-enriched uranium. And it's important to do so.
CHETRY: You know, the other headline that came out of this was China agreeing, I guess, to work in some way with the United States on possible Iranian sanctions even though their foreign ministry said dialogue, they still believe that the best way to handle it. But what's your assessment of how big of a step forward this could this be on Iran?
ALBRIGHT: It's very important. Obama has had the chance to meet with the leader of China. I mean, it's -- China is a key player in this. It's resisted imposing sanctions on Iran. And so a good side benefit of this nuclear summit is for Obama to be able to make the case personally that Iran is really not complying with its obligations under the U.N. security council resolutions and it's time for pressure. And so hopefully Obama was convincing and China will start to play ball.
ROBERTS: We mentioned at the top of this, David, in your new book "Pedaling Peril," you're really sort of tracing the threat of terrorists getting their hands on nuclear materials, if not a nuclear bomb already constructed. The president says the biggest threat to the United States is terrorists getting their hands on components for a nuclear weapon. National Security Brennan says Al Qaeda has been working for 15 years to try to get one of these things. How great is the threat? And in your research, how diligently is Al Qaeda searching for the components for a nuclear bomb?
ALBRIGHT: Well, all the evidence supports that Al Qaeda is looking to try to gather the capabilities to make a nuclear weapon. It's not easy to do. But they're learning. I mean the issue calls periodically 2009 calls to Pakistani scientists, you know, give us -- help us get nuclear secrets. So they're doing the things that one would need to do to get nuclear weapons, get help from those who know, start looking around for loose nukes to be look into black markets, can you buy it?
That's why this summit is so important is that we do need to secure the nuclear explosive materials much better. And it has to be done internationally. It's a little bit like bank security.
CHETRY: Right.
ALBRIGHT: Al Qaeda is looking for the security at the weakest bank. It's important that all countries increase the security over these materials.
CHETRY: You also talked about the importance of intelligence sharing, this information pipeline of where this may be happening and how all countries need to take part in that, as you said. But where do you see the biggest threats? What nations could be, I guess, the most vulnerable to terrorists being able to get their hands on loose nukes?
ALBRIGHT: Intelligence sharing is critical. And there hasn't been enough of it between the United States and Russia, between the United States and China. We need to know where those in a sense the vulnerabilities are. I mean, they don't have to be made public, of course. But we need to know so we can fix them. I mean, we tend to look around and say Pakistan is a problem.
Because of their past practices of leaking and selling or proliferating nuclear technologies. Russia traditionally has been focused upon. Because it has so much nuclear explosive material and it's had problems. But China's also a problem. And partly just because we don't know what's going on. India also. Plus, one that issue that isn't talked about very much is there is a lot of separated plutonium in international commerce. It is being used as a nuclear fuel.
And the amounts in commerce are expected to go way up over the next 10 years. And those transports that separate plutonium can be vulnerable. And it's very important to dramatically increase the security over that material. If people are going to go down that route of using very dangerous nuclear explosive materials to fuel nuclear reactors.
ROBERTS: All right. And do you think, David, that this summit, we're in day two of it, is going to result in anything concrete? I mean, we did see the Ukrainian announcement. But is this going to have any teeth in terms of trying to hang on to that nuclear material or get it some place safe?
ALBRIGHT: Yes, I think so. This is a very technical subject. And having world leaders come together and elevate its importance and talk about it is a significant accomplishment. And what is expected to happen in this conference is that there will be agreement to do concrete steps. There will be general principles agreed upon. And then countries are going to promise to do very concrete actions like what Ukraine did.
Plus, we're expecting this afternoon a series of announcements from countries about what they're going to do. And so we'll stay tuned. One to watch for in particular is what the United States is going to do. What is Russia going to do? I mean they have, particularly the United States has the money to help a lot of countries improve their security.
ROBERTS: We'll be watching it closely. David Albright, thanks for joining us this morning. Always good to see you.
ALBRIGHT: Well, thank you.
CHETRY: Thanks, David.
Well, still ahead, a new study could fire up an age-old debate, to spank or not spank your kid? Well, in 20 minutes we're going to talk about the results of a new study. And also get your comments, a lot of people weighing in this morning, cnn.com/amfix. Join the conversation. 39 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
ROBERTS: Recently the transportation industry security screening procedures have been under intense scrutiny by the federal government. But Amtrak believes it is using something both effective and affordable and boy is it cute, too. And our CNN security watcher, Jeanne Meserve takes a look at Amtrak's army of specialists, highly trained to sniff out dangerous explosives.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I introduce you to my next best friend, Capone, the next generation in explosives detection.
(voice-over): A dog's nose samples the air many times a second. This dog sniffs it for explosives. Zita is what's called a vapor wake dog, trained to pick up the scent of explosives in the air despite crowds, cross currents and other smells in Washington D.C.'s Union Station.
Her nose can (INAUDIBLE) TATP, TNT and other explosives in a huge space even though a person carrying them may have passed by as much as 15 minutes earlier. The head of Amtrak's canine program compares these animals to a top athlete.
CAPTAIN WILLIAM PARKER, AMTRAK POLICE K-9 PROGRAM: Michael Jordan. And the reason why I say that is because Michael Jordan is one of the best basketball players of all time. And these vapor wake dogs I put in the same category.
MESERVE: Only one or two percent of puppies from Auburn University breeding program have what it takes to be a vapor wake dog.
JEANNE BROCK, MANAGER, AUBURN UNIV.: They hunt and hunt and hunt and won't come back without it. MESERVE: They're introduced at an early age to slippery surfaces and a variety of environments before being sent to prisons in Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi where inmates begin training the dogs to use their noses. Back at the auburn facility, older dogs are conditioned on a souped up golf cart to handle the rigors of their future jobs.
They recognize about a dozen explosives and can be trained to find additional ones in just a day or two. I take a backpack containing explosives into a building to test a dog. I walk, sit, and walk some more.
(on camera): So now I'm going to hide this backpack full of smokeless powder right here.
(voice-over): A minute later, Ranger still in the early stages of training, tracks the explosives scent right to the source.
DR. ROB GILLETTE, AUBURN UNIV. SCHOOL OF VETERINARY MEDICINE: There are certain chef that's smell a pot of stew and they say that is oregano or that's this type of spice. A dog walks into it and smells the whole thing and says that's C4.
MESERVE: The U.S. Capitol Police are just starting to use vapor wake dogs. They've already augmented security at sporting events and other large gatherings but Amtrak has embraced them despite the $20,000 price tag per dog. The rail carrier believes that in a high risk, ever changing transit environment, the dogs have advantages over machines even though they can only work for about 90 minutes at a stretch.
JOHN PEARCE, AUBURN UNIVERSITY, CANINE DETECTION INSTITUTE: There is nothing like a dog as far as mobility, as far as how quickly it can detect explosives and take us to the source of it. And the cost is basically less than any type of technology out there.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Well, fascinating stuff.
ROBERTS: You know, you go to places like Penn Station in New York and you see these little things that are roaring away 24 hours a day, sort of, you know, taking in the environment to --
CHETRY: Right.
ROBERTS: -- to measure to see if there's any explosive residue out there or spores or anything biological or chemical. You get that whole --
CHETRY: I know.
ROBERTS: -- the same thing on four paws right there and it's mobile and dead accurate, too. That's pretty good.
CHETRY: Yes, and -- and at Penn Station, you also do see the police sometimes walking around with the German Shepherds and they're doing, you know, similar things, but these dogs are amazing. She said they can be trained to sniff out a new scent or explosive within an hour.
ROBERTS: It's pretty cool.
CHETRY: It is.
ROBERTS: Boy are they cute, too. Just -- you know, there's nothing cuter, there's no shot that's cuter than a dog putting its nose up to its owners.
CHETRY: Especially a puppy.
Forty-five minutes past the hour right now. Rob's going to be along. He's going to have your morning travel forecast for you right after the break.
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CHETRY: Forty-seven minutes past the hour. This is usually the time when I sing, but I'll spare you.
ROBERTS: I didn't know that. I didn't know that (ph), but I will from now on. Now, why aren't you singing this morning?
CHETRY: No, I -- if there's music, I'll sometimes, you know, lip sync.
ROBERTS: Conan O'Brien was singing.
CHETRY: Yes, and he's great at it. But he had a little harmonica, a little tuner to -- what did they say again? What did he say?
ROBERTS: Morons, nothing but morons.
CHETRY: See? And, with that, we check in with Rob Marciano in Atlanta.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Oh, that's a horrible transition.
CHETRY: Oh, God! How could you (ph) do that?
MARCIANO: I was just going to say, Kiran, you know, I've got about 70, 80 seconds for my weather cast. It's pretty quiet out (ph). I'd be happy to give you 30 to -- to sing your favorite tune.
CHETRY: I think John's had a -- John's a much better voice.
MARCIANO: That was a nice hum there.
All right, guys, just a little bit of rain moving to the south and east. This is going to try to get into D.C. I think it's going to have some success. Lesser success in Philly and New York, maybe some sprinkles in the Big Apple. But, actually, Philly, Baltimore and D.C., you'll get some light rain later on this morning, heavier rain right now falling in parts of Northeastern Ohio, Cleveland, back through Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania. Detroit seeing a little bit as well.
This is all fighting a strong ridge, which is going to win the battle, I think, long term here. Strong trough out here, meaning cool air and the potential for seeing some thunderstorms that could become severe later on this afternoon across parts of the Plains.
We did have -- well, you'll have the heat that's building up across parts of Iowa, Colorado, Kansas, temperatures yesterday in the 70s and 80s for some record-breaking highs. And the winds are going to be ripping up across the Plains and the front range of the Rockies, so winds gusting 50, 60 miles an hour and maybe some severe weather there and a little bit of delays at the airports.
Temps will be in the 50s and 60s northeast, 70s and 80s down across the south. If that's not enough to make you sing or hum a tune, I don't know what is.
John and Kiran, back to you. Thankfully for Kiran, I'm out of time.
CHETRY: Yes, exactly. The cameras wouldn't break now, the lenses.
All right, thanks, Rob.
ROBERTS: We've got 49 minutes after the hour. We'll be back right after this. Stay with us.
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ROBERTS: Fifty-two minutes after the hour.
Spanking is most certainly a hot button issue. Many parents still believe in it. The American Academy of Pediatrics does not. But a new study showed that spanking your kids may not only be ineffective, it can also backfire.
CHETRY: Researchers at Tulane University did a study where they found that children who were spanked frequently at three years old were 50 percent more likely to become aggressive by the age of five.
Joining us from New Orleans to talk about this is Catherine Taylor. She co-authored the study that was published in the "Journal of Pediatrics." Thanks for being with us this morning.
CATHERINE A. TAYLOR, PHD., TULANE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND TROPICAL MEDICINE: Thanks for having me.
CHETRY: So just give us a few details about this. You say that children who were spanked frequently at the age of three, by the time they were five were shown to be more aggressive in many of their dealings. Explain what -- how do you define the spanking and also the aggressive behavior.
TAYLOR: Sure. Well, first of all, we analyzed data from about 2500 mothers, and we were able to compare reports from three different groups of mothers. So we looked at mothers who reported that they had never spanked in the month prior to the interview, mothers who said they had spanked one or two times in the month before, and then those mothers that said they had spanked even more frequently than that in the month prior to the interview.
And what we found is, as you said, that those mothers that had spanked more frequently, or the children of those mothers that had been spanked more frequently at age three, had much higher odds, 50 percent higher odds of being aggressive by the time they were age five.
ROBERTS: And Catherine, you also --
TAYLOR: And we define spanking --
ROBERTS: Go ahead.
TAYLOR: Yes. Go ahead. Sorry.
ROBERTS: Your --
TAYLOR: And I was just going to say, we -- we simply asked them about whether or not they had spanked.
And then, in terms of aggression, the way we looked at this is we asked about, you know, how often, how argumentative the kids were, how -- if they were unusually loud, if they were cruel, if they bullied, teasing, those kinds -- those sorts of behaviors for a five year old.
ROBERTS: And you also found that there were some other negative side effects beyond aggressive behavior -- and I'm sorry I jumped in there. Just tell us too --
TAYLOR: Oh, that's OK.
ROBERTS: -- how you defined spanking.
TAYLOR: We did -- we simply asked if they had spanked the child for any sort of misbehaving or acting up in the prior month and how frequently they did that.
And, I think, for the second part of your question, one of the key parts of the study is that we were able to control for a bunch of other factors. So some of the critiques in prior work has been, well, you know, there could be a lot of other things explaining this link between corporal punishment or spanking and later aggression.
We were actually able to control for the child's initial level of aggression as well as a lot of other parenting risk factors. CHETRY: That's one of the things that I wanted to ask you about, because your study was exclusive to spanking, and -- you know, I mean, I guess that could range from a -- a swat on the behind to, you know, a longer type of, you know, session of hitting, but what about other physical roughness, like parents who might not spank but, you know, they yell at their child, their child is, you know, yanked out of a situation when they're doing something that's now correct or when they're misbehaving, perhaps they're set down strongly in a situation.
I mean, are these also actions that lead to aggressive behavior?
TAYLOR: Well, in this particular study, what we did is we focused especially on spanking, because, as you both cited, there -- it's been so -- you know, a lot of people have been really having questions about is spanking itself actually something that can lead to aggression or other negative outcomes for children?
So a really key part of the study is that we controlled for a lot of those other things that you mentioned. We actually controlled for some more severe types of acts that can be done against children, like shaking them, pinching them, hitting them with an object.
And we also controlled for other parenting risk factors, like whether the mom was depressed, very stressed, had used alcohol or other substances, and -- and also for other acts of aggression in the family.
ROBERTS: You know, Catherine, it's hard to get a clear idea of how many parents spank their children. Surveys have shown it's anywhere between 35 to 90 percent, which is a huge range.
But what's really telling is that a recent survey found that 72 percent of parents say, hey, it's OK to do it. So if -- if there are all these negative side effects, why are so many parents still doing it?
TAYLOR: Yes. Well, it's a really good question, because what's interesting is that the study actually isn't saying anything that's very new. There's actually been a lot of research that's been done on this topic, and I really want to encourage parents. I know parents are going to have questions about this.
I want to encourage parents to go on line and look up the report on physical punishments. This is actually a report that summarizes a lot of the evidence based on this topic, and what's really important for parents to know is that this document has been endorsed by dozens of professional organizations that care about the health and well- being of children and wanting children to thrive --
CHETRY: (INAUDIBLE) -- and I do -- we did link up the study, by the way, because I think it's important for people to look at it.
TAYLOR: Oh, good.
CHETRY: But one thing that I want to ask you, though, is a lot of parents have written in to us, saying, so what's the discipline? These days, kids think they -- kids think they can get away with anything.
Some people say time-outs don't necessarily work for them and, in this study, you cited spanking being ineffective in some ways that actually, you know, controlling behavior. So what is the -- what is a parent to do to correct bad behavior in a child without physical violence?
TAYLOR: Yes. Well, I think that it's really important for parents to know that children need safe, nurturing and stable relationships and very clear guidance and discipline. So I want to make sure parents understand, we're definitely not saying that children don't need discipline.
Parents -- children need discipline and it's -- I really, strongly encourage parents to speak with a professional, a child development professional, that they trust, such as the pediatrician, about alternatives to spanking. There's all kinds of nonphysical, positive types of discipline out there.
You mentioned time-out. Time-out is one that actually, if it's used correctly, if parents are taught to use it correctly and consistently, it can actually be very effective. You know, teaching parents how to engage in promoting positive or -- you know, positive reinforcement and rewarding positive behavior is extremely important.
So I strongly encourage parents to talk to a pediatrician or, again, a child development expert that they trust, or go to healthychildren.org by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
CHETRY: All right.
Well, Catherine, we want to thank you so much for being with us this morning. Catherine Taylor from Tulane University School of Public Health. Thanks.
TAYLOR: Thanks so much for having me.
CHETRY: A lot of talk out there, a lot of strong opinions on spanking as well, and we want to hear yours. So join our conversation at cnn.com/amfix.
ROBERTS: Top stories coming your way in just a couple of minutes. Stay with us.
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