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American Morning

Sucking Up the Oil: BO Puts Mile-Long Tube into Gulf Gusher: Volcano Disrupts Air Travel; Volcano's Blast of Ash: Where Cloud is Heading; Spotting Terrorists in Training; The Case Against Shahzad; Chaos in Bangkok Streets; Romney Boyhood Home Destroyed

Aired May 17, 2010 - 06:00   ET

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


JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: A good Monday morning to you and thanks for joining us on the Most News in the Morning. It is the 17th of May. I'm John Roberts.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Carol Costello in for Kiran Chetry. Where is Kiran this morning? She's just --

ROBERTS: I'm not my TV wife's keeper.

COSTELLO: Hard man.

ROBERTS: She has another husband who takes care of that on the weekend.

COSTELLO: That's right. He needs to worry about her this morning. Here are the big stories we'll be telling you about in the next 15 minutes.

It looks like it's working. Finally, BP's temporary fix to the growing disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. A mile-long tube now sucking oil up to a ship on the surface. But is it just a band-aid on a gushing wound? We're keeping them honest this morning.

ROBERTS: A new plume of volcanic ash from Iceland bringing new travel troubles to Europe. Cancellations are piling up major airports in Ireland, Scotland and Amsterdam all forced to shut down leaving passengers stranded. But one country that closed its airports has now reopened its airspace.

COSTELLO: And brand-new for you this morning only on CNN. The e-mails from the accused Times Square bomber revealing anger over Muslims being killed overseas as he was here getting his MBA in America.

And the amFIX blog is up and running. Join us for a live conversation. Just go to CNN.com/amFIX. We'll be interested to see what you think of this Monday morning.

ROBERTS: But first, oh, and it's been a long time coming. Finally some good news in the effort to stop the growing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It has been poisoning the environment and paralyzing the fishing industry for close to a month now, 28 days and counting. BP says on the third try engineers were finally able to insert a pipe into the leaking well, the source of most of the oil that's been gushing in the gulf.

Our Ed Lavandera is live for us in New Orleans. Looks like the third time was the charm for this, Ed. But the big question, how effective is it going to be?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's the question, and ultimately about whether or not this is successful. It is the one slimmer of good news that BP and really everyone watching this disaster has had since the explosion almost four weeks ago. So BP announcing yesterday that midnight Saturday going into Sunday they had inserted that insertion tube into the riser where the majority of the oil leak was coming from. And they had started off siphoning off oil and natural gas and bringing that to a vessel on the water surface. The big question though is how much of it is coming up through those tubes as we speak.

BP officials say they still can't estimate how much of the oil is being siphoned off, so really how much of a success this is is still up in the air. BP says it will take a day or so to really get a sense of that. They're doing it very slowly right now. The concern is if they open up the valves too much to really start sucking up a great deal of oil and natural gas that the tubes could become clogged and essentially just ruining the progress that they had been able to make so far.

But all of this is to prepare for another method of stopping the oil flow here that could happen within the week, which is a method called top kill. It's essentially throwing a bunch of junk in there to kind of get the pressure down, and then BP says that they will start sending what they call mud -- a process known as mud kill, jamming that oil well with so much mud it essentially stops the flow. But we're still a week away from that. BP officials kind of talk about what all of that means yesterday afternoon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KENT WELLS, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, BP: Our anticipation is that we will pump the kill mud into the well. If we can get sufficient kill mud to go down against the flow, we'll be able to kill the well in that manner. If too much of the kill mud goes up the well along with the flow, then that's when we'll attempt the junk shot which we have been testing for one and a half weeks on shore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: And, John, of course, government officials saying that the progress that was made with the insertion tube is only a part of the solution. This is not the ultimate solution. And of course, BP officials say they're still going ahead with that other -- the relief wells that are being dug alongside the well where this disaster happened. But we're still several months away from ultimate progress on that -- John. ROBERTS: Ed, there are also reports that the oil that we're seeing on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico is just the tip of the iceberg, that the plume is much worse under water?

LAVANDERA: Oh, yes, you know, we've been talking about that for several weeks. But now there are researchers that have been watching this closely and they're starting to tell us that there are these giant plumes of oil underneath the surface of the water, stuff that we cannot see on the water surface. And there's even some reports out now that perhaps some of that oil is making its way into the current system that could bring it toward the Florida Keys. Obviously that is something that researchers will continue to work on this coming week and we hope to learn a lot more about what kind of damage is going on underneath the surface of the water that we can't see.

ROBERTS: All those coral reefs in the keys, that would certainly be a bad thing if oil got in there.

Ed Lavandera for us this morning. Ed, thanks so much. We'll check back with you a little bit later on.

And coming up at our next hour, we're going to talk with Doug Suttles. He's BP's chief operating officer fro exploration and production. How much oil are they really capturing with this insertion pipe, and when will we stop hearing about temporary fixes?

COSTELLO: The ash cloud from that volcano in Iceland is casting another disruptive shadow over international air travel. Right now, strong winds are pushing the clouds southeast across Ireland and the U.K. Over the weekend airports in Ireland, Scotland and England had to close down. But just hours ago, London's Heathrow Airport reopened.

Our Sasha Herriman is live at Heathrow this morning and there must be joy there right now, Sasha, or at least a modicum of happiness.

SASHA HERRIMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think you can safely say that. Yes, a lot of happy people that their flights can actually get off the ground. So from 7:00 a.m. local time, this airport opened behind me, Heathrow is open. Also another one of the busiest airports is Gatwick Airport, that opened. But despite the fact they're open, there are severe restrictions or certain restrictions in place. Because, of course, there are no fly zones across much of the U.K., talking about Scotland and also Wales, also across in Ireland. No fly zones. That, of course, impacts on any traffic coming and going from this airport here.

So a lot of happy people that flights can go but nothing is certain. We don't how long this is going to last. It could be impacting further into this week. We know that last time the disruptions lasted about a week. It cost the airline industry around about $3.2 billion and there were 100,000 flights overall that were grounded, kind of stalled, affecting 10 million people. So a huge impact could still be felt this time around depending whether that ash cloud goes -- Carol. COSTELLO: And British Airways, I mean, they're facing a strike two, so these are not good times for them.

HERRIMAN: No, not at all. I mean, they're also facing a battle on another front, not just the ash clouds. But basically they've just come out of two years of record losses and now they are in a possibility of some kind of strike action. We've had strikes with British Airways in the recent past. They could be facing strike action again tomorrow. This has to do with a disgruntled airline staff, cabin crew who want better paying conditions. Now, British Airways are going to court tomorrow to try and stop this flight taking place tomorrow because they face about a month of strikes. So not looking good for BA. Back to you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Sasha, thanks.

ROBERTS: Let's get the latest now on where that cloud of ash is heading. Our Rob Marciano is back in the extreme weather center this morning after a couple of weeks along the Gulf Coast. And, you know, you see a big plume of ash over the U.K. and Ireland and, you know, the top part of France and some other countries. How long is it going to last, Rob?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, we're waiting for a change in the wind. That's not going to be a couple of days. But the problem with this ash cloud is that it's up where the jets fly again. So for a while there, it wasn't interrupting quite as vigorously. We had the ash kind of staying below jet low. So in the 10,000 to 15,000 foot level, now it's back at the 25,000 and in some cases 30,000 foot level. So that is one of the problems.

Here it is on the Google Earth map to give you an idea of the extent of the (INAUDIBLE). Well into Great Britain and then down into parts of northern France and Belgium. So that's where it is right now. As far as where it's going and the wind patterns are concerned, this is the deal. Everything is driving from north to south. But as this pattern begins to shift, as the ridge begins to shift a little bit farther to the east, we should get into a more westerly and even southwesterly flow. But in the next couple of days, we have this northerly flow and we have that volcano erupting, so that is going to continue to be a bit of an issue.

Stateside we're going to have issues in the mid-Atlantic with the heavy rain, potentially some flooding. We'll talk more about that, John and Carol, in about 30 or 40 minutes. We'll see you then.

COSTELLO: The northeast is looking great and selfishly I'm saying yes.

ROBERTS: At least for today, tomorrow not so much.

COSTELLO: I only think one day at a time.

ROBERTS: There you go. That's a good way to go.

COSTELLO: Thanks. ROBERTS: Thanks, Rob.

COSTELLO: Other stories new this morning. A Rhode Island high school that fired all of its teachers earlier this year because of poor student performance is rehiring them. The Central Falls teachers will be allowed to return without having to reapply for their jobs. They'll have to work a longer school day, provide more after school tutoring and accept a new evaluation system.

ROBERTS: The crew of the space shuttle Atlantis is getting ready for the first of three spacewalks planned for this mission. The first one is slated to start about 8:15 this morning. So if all goes as planned, you will see that later right here on AMERICAN MORNING. The shuttle docked with the International Space Station yesterday.

COSTELLO: Something else for parents to worry about this morning. A new health study suggests pesticides may actually contribute to attention deficit disorder in children. Researchers found a strong link between hyperactivity disorder in kids and exposure to a common pesticide used on fruits and vegetables. We're digging deeper on the story with senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. And that will come your way at the 7:00 hour.

ROBERTS: Yes, and one of the chemicals that they think could be the culprit is malathion (ph), which is sprayed extensively in places like South Florida to control mosquitoes. You know, (INAUDIBLE) body spray. Yes.

COSTELLO: And used something quickly. Celery and blueberries.

ROBERTS: Yes.

COSTELLO: Things you want your kids to eat.

ROBERTS: I ate a lot of that when I was a kid, which explains a lot.

COSTELLO: It certainly is.

ROBERTS: If the research holds true.

Nine minutes after the hour and still to come on the Most News in the Morning. Newly uncovered e-mails show another side to accused Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And good morning everyone. It is 6:12 Eastern Time. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

It's our first look inside the head of the suspected Times Square bomber. It's pretty fascinating. CNN has obtained two e-mails that Faisal Shahzad wrote, one in 2006 and the other just last year. They refer to attacks on Muslims overseas and mentioned the now infamous cartoon depicting Muhammad published in Denmark that sparked all those riots across the Muslim world. We're going to be taking a closer look at those e-mails in our next hour.

ROBERTS: But first, it could be like gold in the fight against homegrown terror. Community watch in a Pakistani-American community.

COSTELLO: The neighbors involved say they're embarrassed by the attempted Times Square plot and tired of getting all the bad press because of a few bad apples. Susan Candiotti has a closer look at them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Convenience store owner Nain Collad (ph) is among a group of Pakistani-Americans at Connecticut who took it personally when accused terrorist, Faisal Shahzad, allegedly tried to blow up a car in Times Square.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the first thing that came out of my mouth, hopefully this is not another idiot or somebody from Pakistan.

CANDIOTTI: But it was. Like them, the suspect is a Pakistani- American who also lived in Connecticut. A new citizen who law enforcement sources say became radicalized despite living what appeared to be the American dream.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know why they feel this is so attractive to them because this lifestyle is a heavenly lifestyle.

CANDIOTTI: Nain Collad (ph) is fighting back. He's joining about 100 fellow Pakistani-Americans in Connecticut who answered a call from a local physician to start a new grassroots effort to help police identify potential troublemakers.

DR. SAUD ANWAR, FOUNDER OF AMERICAN MUSLIM PEACE INITIATIVE: The tragic event on May 1st has been a rude awakening for us as a community. No tragedy should go by without learning from that.

CANDIOTTI: Dr. Saud Anwar is president of a Pakistani-American advocacy group and founder of the American Muslim Peace Initiative. His audience included businessmen, homemakers and students.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will fight this to the end.

CANDIOTTI: Yet it's hard to overcome the built-in distrust some Pakistani-Americans may feel towards authorities when casting suspicion on someone in their own community.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need them to feel comfortable, to reach out to the FBI, the local police, when they see those first indicators, if you will.

CANDIOTTI: Indicators Dr. Anwar says like looking for anyone who may show signs of becoming radicalized.

ANWAR: We are free to have our own political ideologies. But if somebody starts to suggest an indirect or direct manner that they are going to start to become more violent at some point, those are some signs that we need to look at.

CANDIOTTI: Law enforcement sources say Shahzad told investigators he felt America had demonized Islam.

KHALID (ph): If you don't like America or Western society, please stay where you're at. Don't come here.

CANDIOTTI: Back at his convenience store, Naeem Khalid (ph) says he hopes others will join him.

KHALID (ph): Some will call you a snitch, but my strong belief, it's better to be safe than sorry.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: And (INAUDIBLE) what some call an embarrassment to the Pakistani-American community -- John and Carol.

COSTELLO: Thanks, Susan.

It's been two weeks since the Times Square suspect Faisal Shahzad was arrested at JFK, but he still hasn't appeared in court. Allan Chernoff breaks down the case in 15 minutes to tell us why this is on the Most News in the Morning.

ROBERTS: But still to come on the Most News in the Morning, more Americans, guess what, are paying off their debts than ever before. Christine Romans, "Minding Your Business" and she's here with a preview.

She almost couldn't get this out. She had some good news this morning and suddenly lost her voice, but we think we've got it back again.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I was choking up on it because the American consumer, the U.S. population is becoming more credit-worthy. We are paying down our debts --

ROBERTS: Say it ain't so.

ROMANS: -- in record numbers and, in fact, credit scores are rising because you have been paying off so much of your debt. Also, because the banks have been reeling in so much of your credit limit and cutting credit cards.

We'll get to all of that in two minutes. Don't go away.

COSTELLO: It's funny what can happen when the banks don't loan you money anymore.

ROMANS: Right.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Christine Romans here, "Minding Your Business" this morning, and surprise -- surprised us, as Carol was saying just before we went to the break, when banks stopped lending money, people stopped going in debt.

COSTELLO: I know. It's amazing when that happens.

ROMANS: We stopped applying for credit cards and we started paying them down when we can, and a lot of people are very, very nervous about what's happened over the past couple of years. There are new -- new data from the folks at Equifax who ran this all for us about exactly what your credit-worthiness looks like, and Americans are becoming more credit-worthy.

They are shedding debt, a lot of debt, over the past couple of years, since --

ROBERTS: That's -- that's almost un-American.

ROMANS: Sometimes. So (ph) October of 2008 we paid off $626 billion worth of debt. We've either paid it off or it has been settled by the banks because we couldn't pay it off. Also, our home mortgage debt burden is down 5 percent. On credit cards, we have paid down or shed 12 percent.

The only exception for the category of consumer debt is student loans. Student loans are up some 50 percent, both in the number --

ROBERTS: Because parents can't afford can't afford to send them to college anymore.

ROMANS: Right, because they're paying down their debt, because their houses is worth less and the like.

So the average credit -- consumer credit score now, according to the folks at Equifax, is about 704, which is actually up. And what these -- what these credit experts there say is that more people are moving toward the low risk side of the spectrum as opposed to the high risk side of the spectrum.

And how do you move a credit score? By paying down big amounts of debt quickly, and that's what people are doing.

Well, one of -- one of the reasons is because the banks are pulling -- you know, they've -- they've -- there are 100 million fewer credit cards now. They have -- if you -- when you hear -- let's say that banks are pulling their credit limits and, you know, offering fewer credit cards, it's astounding how much they've pulled it (INAUDIBLE).

COSTELLO: Well, I was just going to ask you, is this a sign of a change in behavior, of permanent change or is this just being done out of necessity?

ROMANS: It's both. It's both. There's a lot of necessity there. There really is. Because a lot of people had way too much debt and they had to get out -- they had to start digging out of this debt.

ROBERTS: Got a "Numeral"? ROMANS: I do. The numeral is --

ROBERTS: A "Romans' Numeral."

ROMANS: -- $24,775.

ROBERTS: Average debt that people are carrying?

ROMANS: Yes, national average consumer debt. That's according to Experian.

ROBERTS: Per person? Per person?

ROMANS: Per person. Yes.

ROBERTS: Oh, per person. Really.

ROMANS: Yes. So, I mean, that's everything. That's -- that's everything. And --

ROBERTS: Soup to nuts.

ROMANS: Soup to nuts. But I thought it was so interesting that everything except for student debt we are trying to dig ourselves out of it.

We still -- don't -- don't get me wrong, we still have a lot of problems in terms of too much debt, but we are -- according to the folks at Equifax, we are moving in the right direction.

ROBERTS: So proud of everyone out there. Well -- well done. Way to go.

Thanks. Christine Romans "Minding Your Business" this morning.

Up next, former Red Sox Curt Schilling and his wife talk about raising a son with Aspergers Syndrome. Shonda Schillings has written about their experience and they are sharing that story with other families who may be dealing with a similar disorder. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Twenty-five minutes after the hour now. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

Time for an "A.M. Original", something that you'll only see only here on AMERICAN MORNING. Shonda and Curt Schilling, and most baseball fans think big game pitcher, bloody sock, future Hall of Famer. OK, Yankee fans might go for one of the seven words that George Carlin said he can't say on TV.

COSTELLO: Never too early to diss the Yankees, is it?

Anyway, Curt Schilling is now retired, and he's back in the spotlight for a different reason. His wife Shonda has written a story of their life since their son Grant was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome back in 2007. It's called "The Best Kind of Different."

Max Kellerman is here. It says here you are the newly-minted CNN contributor to AMERICAN MORNING. So we have made you, and you're here to talk about Curt Schilling.

MAX KELLERMAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Just stamped the hand of a Yankees fan, by the way.

COSTELLO: Oh, get out.

KELLERMAN: So this was a great first assignment for me.

Yes, Curt Schilling, a notorious Yankees killer. His -- his -- the interesting thing about Curt and Shonda Schilling is, and especially the way Shonda depicts the family in the book. It's this beautiful American family, but it's beautiful partly because it's not perfect. It's imperfect, warts and all. And it -- so it feels like everyone's family.

And as -- as -- as they -- as she describes events, they find that their son has Aspergers Syndrome, which was on the autism spectrum disorder. Basically it's a form of high functioning autism. And she goes into great detail about how they coped with this.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLERMAN (on camera): What made Curt Schilling such a great big game pitcher?

CURT SCHILLING, FORMER REX SOX PITCHER: Oh, wow. I played on really good teams.

I -- I always looked at October as -- I embraced October and I was excited about October. I knew -- in my heart, I knew I wasn't ever going to fail in October, and I think that they gave me an advantage at times, and I played on great teams.

KELLERMAN: You almost never did, and I hate you for that so much.

C. SCHILLING: I don't feel bad about that. Yes.

KELLERMAN: I hate you, Curt Schilling, I --

Shonda, you wrote in the book that there -- he had an ability to focus to the exclusion of everything else.

SHONDA SCHILLING, AUTHOR, "THE BEST KIND OF DIFFERENT": Well, I think that when Curt's locked in on something, a lot of people with ADD -- and I know that because I have a houseful of it, they can research, they can understand, they can really focus in and -- and master whatever they're doing. And I -- I definitely believe that that's why and how he has always been as good as he was. KELLERMAN: And that ability to focus, that made you -- because you were -- he was a great big game -- I mean, you know, you were one of best pitchers every year in either league. And then the bigger the game, the record shows, the better you pitched.

But that's a blessing and a curse, right? Because professionally it allowed you to provide for your family. What did it do to you personally?

C. SCHILLING: Well, I -- I -- we joke about it a little bit, but I think I have some Asperger-like qualities myself. And socially it makes it uncomfortable and awkward at times.

I was blessed and fortunate to marry the right woman. I had a woman who -- and have a woman who gave everything of herself in our family, to raise the kids while I pitched.

KELLERMAN: That must have been difficult for you, considering, culturally, to make the decision to be a homemaker --

S. SCHILLING: Right.

KELLERMAN: -- and not have a career outside of the house, your relationship with your children and how they're being raised reflects the kind of job you're doing in certain ways.

S. SCHILLING: Right.

KELLERMAN: How did you feel about Grant's behavior in public when the Asperger's was showing up before you knew what it was?

S. SCHILLING: I was embarrassed. I felt like a failure. I mean, it was the one job I held closest to me and I wasn't doing a good job of it, and, you know, the things that he did were often seen as behavioral problems.

So when we were out in public and I would -- I swear to you, everywhere we went, everybody knew his name. It was because we were always going Grant, Grant, Grant, Grant, you know, trying to stay ahead of him before he did something that wasn't malicious, but it was jumping in the pool and splashing everybody.

KELLERMAN: Curt, you -- you wrote in the introduction, I'm pretty sure it was, that for you baseball was twenty-four-seven, 365, to the point where you're in the car with Grant, your son with Asperger's, and he says "Dad, you're not listening to me." Why weren't you listening to him?

C. SCHILLING: I was thinking about -- like a lot of times -- I was thinking about -- I'll never forget it. I was thinking about Vladimir (INAUDIBLE), and how I wanted to change my approach in the upcoming year because I felt like my stuff was going to be changing. And it was going to be tougher to get him (ph) out. And that's how I thought about everything.

KELLERMAN: You weren't a power pitcher the way you were when you were young, but you were still a very good starting pitcher in the Major Leagues, OK? You were coming back from an injury. Who says you couldn't make a successful comeback in baseball? But you didn't, and you just announced it on your Web site. You didn't get this whole farewell tour. How do you feel about the way it all ended for you?

C. SCHILLING: Oh, I'm fine. It ended the way I wanted to end, and when I wanted to end. I can pitch better than I pitched in '07. I knew that. And the day I knew I could pitch again, the first thing that came into my mind was, "I don't ever want to do this again."

KELLERMAN: Why?

SCHILLING: I was done. I can remember that spring, I was at the Cub Scouts sleepover on the USS Massachusetts and I was sleeping on the bottom bunk of a four-bunk rack and I have about three inches above my face and son was sleeping above me. And it was about 2:00 in the morning and he woke me up for the seventh time. And I kind of laughed and rolled over and said, I would have been in spring training at this time. And the first thing that popped in my head was, there's no place in the world I'd rather be than here right now. And I was -- I was totally at peace with it and have been ever since.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KELLERMAN: You see this recurring theme, the movie searching for Bobby Fischer, right? Among the best in the world at almost anything, you find this kind of obsessive personality, that, you know, success to the exclusion of all things in order to exceed on that level. But it seems as though -- this story has -- this one -- has a happy ending.

ROBERTS: And when they finally discover family, if they do discover it, they can't believe they missed it all that time and it becomes the most important thing, if not the only thing.

COSTELLO: Well, then he had the defining moment. I mean, usually, you just don't know. You always wonder. But he seems very sure in his decision and that's great.

KELLERMAN: Yes, the family dynamic and we'll show some more of this a little later -- the family dynamic is interesting because Schilling was a great big game pitcher, as I mentioned. He's the guy you wanted on your side to decide one game for the fate of the universe, because he was so good under pressure. But the best pressure player in that family may be Shonda, as will be revealed later on.

ROBERTS: All right. Looking forward to it.

COSTELLO: Oh, boy, at 8:24.

(CROSSTALK)

KELLERMAN: How's that for a tease.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Max.

ROBERTS: Thanks.

Well, we're crossing the half hour now and our top stories this morning.

Deep sea plumbing, B.P.'s temporary fix appears to be working at least a bit this morning, according to the oil company, that is. B.P. engineers inserted a mile-long tube into a leaking pipe at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico and began siphoning some of the oil to a rig at the surface. It is the first step in the right direction in close to a month since that rig blew up.

COSTELLO: Ash from the volcano is clouding the skies over northern Europe again. It's forcing several countries to suspend air traveling, including Ireland, Scotland and Amsterdam. London's Heathrow Airport is closed overnight but has now reopened, although flights are delayed as you might expect. Scientists say it's unlikely the eruptions will end anytime soon.

ROBERTS: And the evolution from a financial analyst to a suspected terrorist. CNN obtaining e-mails that the accused Times Square bomber wrote angry about Muslims being killed overseas and the infamous newspaper cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

COSTELLO: In the meantime, the feds say Shahzad has been doing a lot of talking since he was arrested, willingly giving all kinds of information to federal investigators.

ROBERTS: It's already been 14 days since he was taken into custody. He has still not seen the inside of a courtroom.

Our Allan Chernoff has got more for us this morning in this "A.M. Original."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The clock began ticking Monday night, May 3rd at 11:45 p.m. --

(on camera): -- when Faisal Shahzad was arrested here at terminal four of JFK Airport. Customs and Border Patrol agents pulled Shahzad off an Emirates plane that was about to depart for Dubai. The U.S. Attorney's Office said Shahzad would appear before a judge the next day.

(voice-over): Early the next morning, media was staked out hoping to see the alleged Times Square bombing at the U.S. courthouse. They kept waiting and waiting for Shahzad's appearance, called a presentment before Judge Kevin Fox.

(on camera): But as reporters were waiting, federal agents were making progress interrogating Shahzad, even after reading him his Miranda rights to remain silent and consult an attorney. And by the end of the day, the U.S. attorney was doing an about-face. There would be no court appearance for Shahzad that day.

BILL BURCK, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: I don't know of another this has happened. I haven't heard of another time that this has happened.

CHERNOFF (voice-over): "In all criminal prosecution, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speeding and public trial begins," the Sixth Amendment. Shahzad is a U.S. citizen. Are his rights being violated? Not at all -- according to a Manhattan's U.S. attorney.

PREET BHARARA, U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF N.Y.: He has waived his right to a speedy presentment and he's waived that right every day and has done so voluntarily.

CHERNOFF: That criminal procedure, experts say, is easing the ay for prosecutors to gain valuable information from Shahzad, since there's no court order detention for him.

(on camera): Defendants waiting in an initial court appearance are often held here at the Metropolitan Correctional Center which is right across the street from the U.S. courthouse.

But former prosecutors and veteran defense attorneys say it's unlikely that Shahzad is staying here. They say the government is almost certainly providing him with much more comfortable accommodations.

Is it likely they've got him in some hotel?

JAMES COHEN, PROFESSOR, FORDHAM UNIV. SCHOOL OF LAW: I'll bet they have him in a hotel. Again, I can't give you the specific name of the hotel because I don't know. But they do have him that hotel. He's in a room. He's probably not alone in a room. There will be an agent there 24/7.

CHERNOFF (voice-over): Former agents tell CNN they have kept defendants in drug and terror cases at well-guarded hotels outside of Manhattan, even a kind of safe house is a possibility. The FBI says only Shahzad is in a secure location.

Shahzad does have the right at any time to say he wants to appear before a judge. But if he doesn't, the U.S. attorney says he'll keep Shahzad out of court as he has been for 14 days and counting as long as he's useful.

BHARARA: At such time that he ceases to continue to cooperate or we've gotten all of the information that is necessary to do our job in protecting the public, he'll be brought to court.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHERNOFF: So, what does Shahzad have to gain by appearing before a judge? Well, attorneys say not much. There's no way he's getting bail, they argue. So, as long as he's inclined, he might as well cooperate with prosecutors. They eventually could provide a letter to the judge detailing his cooperation, which theoretically could reduce his sentence if he is convicted.

ROBERTS: So, do we know if Shahzad has even been assigned an attorney at this point?

CHERNOFF: We don't know but it's a great question and it is a question that lawyers are debating very much. Some lawyers say, well, why would they want to provide him an attorney? But there's very good reason for them to provide him an attorney and they can do that under the Criminal Justice Act or the federal defenders office. They just provide somebody who is paid.

And what -- the safety here, the idea of having a lawyer is that, well, the judge then can say, "All right, there's no way this has been coerced out of you. You've gotten some legal advice. There's no way it's been coerced." That is a safety for the government. And that's why it would make sense for them to provide him with an attorney.

COSTELLO: Well, he doesn't care about a speedy trial. Why would he care about having a lawyer? Maybe he himself waived his right to an attorney?

CHERNOFF: It's possible. But the government can just say, hey, you know, this will be provided for you and then he has the right to say, oh, I don't care what the guy says.

ROBERTS: Yes.

CHERNOFF: But it would be a safe outlet for the government. It protects them when they do go to court.

COSTELLO: Interesting.

ROBERTS: Allan, thanks so much. Great report.

COSTELLO: Coming up on the Most News in the Morning: violence continues to escalate in Thailand and the death toll is rising. We're going to take you live to Bangkok -- next.

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ROBERTS: Twenty minutes now until the top of the hour.

Bangkok, Thailand, is in chaos right now after officials announce the death of an anti-government rebel leader. Riots and random gun battles are raging in the streets. Businesses, schools and nine international embassies all shut down.

Let's go live to Bangkok this morning where Sara Sidner is our eyes and ears in the capital.

And what has sparked this latest upsurge in the violence, Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It seems to be that the government announced a crackdown that was supposed to happen about an hour and a half ago -- although we haven't seen evidence of that. But the government basically is saying that the protesters must leave the area by late afternoon and that they would be arrested and could be jailed, though we haven't seen that happening just yet.

The protesters for their part said, we're not going anywhere. For the most part, those are down in the protest area are refusing to leave.

A little bit after that announcement was made, we suddenly started hearing again more sounds of gunshots, more sounds of blasts in some of these streets, where really it's been turned into a battle zone between the Red Shirts -- anti-government protesters who really want the government to be dissolved -- and the Thai military on the other end. Both back and forth these battles have been going on.

This morning, though, was very, very violent, lots of loud bangs overnight and then early into the morning. Then it was silent for a while, now it's ratcheted back up again, John.

ROBERTS: You know, we've seen them firing off rockets and Molotov cocktails being thrown, tires being lit on fire, gunfire back and forth. What's the situation on the streets right now?

SIDNER: We went down to the area -- there's a street called Rama 4, really a large thoroughfare. And what we saw today was absolutely nothing. It was clean. The residents had gotten out of there for the most part.

But you could still hear the distinct sound of gunshots every few minutes and the loud blasts from what appear to be a firecracker. I mean, some people were holding them, they're not showing us what they were -- firecrackers linked together that make a loud boom. People were also using slingshots as well.

So, mostly, it seems like in some of the areas where most of the violence has happened, that it's only the protesters now and the Thai government. But we have seen some video from outside of this so- called "protest zone." And there are residents coming out and they are starting to get quite agitated, asking for the government and prime minister to step down.

So, when something flares up in one area and then calms down, it seems to flare up somewhere else, even outside of the protest zone -- John.

ROBERTS: Sara Sidner for us in Bangkok this morning -- Sara, thanks so much for that report -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Six-forty-two Eastern Time, Rob will have the morning's travel forecast for you right after the break.

And -- in just about 10 minutes, it's a tough job but somebody has to do it. John Zarrella with a look at the Florida hotel's tanning butler -- because there's nothing like a total stranger applying tanning lotion to your hot, naked body.

We'll be right back.

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ROBERTS: Good morning, New York City where it's very nice right now, sunny and 55 degrees. Later on today, a little bit of increasing cloud but mostly sunny, high of 71. Tonight, though, expecting some rain that will continue on through tomorrow.

COSTELLO: We'll just have to enjoy the weather while it lasts, right?

ROBERTS: Exactly.

COSTELLO: Happy Monday to you.

ROBERTS: One day at a time.

COSTELLO: Exactly. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Mitt Romney's boyhood home on Detroit could not escape the wrecking ball. It's being leveled as part of the mayor's grand demolition plan, demolishing thousands abandoned and vacant homes to reflect the city's shrinking population.

ROBERTS: That's quite a boyhood home, isn't it?

COSTELLO: I know. Isn't it sad that that beautiful house being torn down? I mean, it's sad to see it being torn down, but Mitt Romney says he understands. He's even sadder to see what's happening to the city of Detroit, but they're fixing things.

ROBERTS: Shrinking the size of the city, expanding green space, maybe even putting some, you know, inner city farms in there.

COSTELLO: Urban farming is the way to go now.

ROBERTS: Yes.

COSTELLO: I mean, it really is -- it's the trend that's happening all over the country. It's pretty cool, actually.

ROBERTS: It's really interesting to see.

COSTELLO: Healthy food and -- I'm excited about it. I don't know why --

ROBERTS: You can go to Detroit to do all of the shopping. Some good news from Michigan. Miss Michigan, a 24-year-old Arab-American was crowned Miss USA last night at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. Rima Fakih (INAUDIBLE) is originally from Lebanon. She moved to the states as a baby living in New York until 2003. Second place, by the way, went to Miss Oklahoma.

COSTELLO: It's a good thing she was taking part in the pageant because hail the size of grapefruit has pounded part of Oklahoma City on Sunday with shattered windows and sliced through lawn furniture and damaged countless homes and businesses across the city. Twenty-one people were hurt from being hit by those giant balls of hail. That's insane.

ROBERTS: Smashing all kinds of windows, denting roofs. Wow. Softball sized hail. That's pretty amazing.

COSTELLO: Yes, I mean, hey.

ROBERTS: Let's get a check of this morning's weather headlines. Rob Marciano is in Weather Center. He's in Atlanta for us this morning. And Rob, nobody down in those parts remembers ever seeing hail that big.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: No, the size of it certainly obviously making it dangerous and to see if that widespread. Unbelievable stuff there. It is severe weather season, certainly, tornadoes and hail always a possibility this time of year. We will see it again today, but it will side a little bit farther back to the south and west. So, most of Oklahoma shouldn't see much in the way of grapefruit sized hail again. It's going to be terrifying for sure. There will be cross parts of West Texas and also across parts of mid (ph) Atlantic. These are the two spots that we think we'll see some rough weather, and a weaker storm coming into parts of the west coast.

If you are traveling today, Atlanta, Charlotte, you'll see some delays because of rain and low clouds. Wind in Chicago maybe 30 to 60-minute delays and Los Angeles and San Francisco with that storm coming on board. All right. Here's a rain shield with that mid Atlantic system back to Cleveland and Pittsburgh in through D.C., it's slowly marching up the I-95 Corridor. I think it will be have some success of that, but it probably won't get to New York until late in the day or later on tonight.

The heaviest rains are going to be down across parts of Richmond, Virginia, where we could see some flooding back through Charlotte. Heaviest rains in Atlanta right now have moved off to the south and east and back further towards the west sliding down the I-49 Corridor through Central Louisiana, pretty rough thunderstorms here. This probably has some hail, although, they probably aren't the size of grapefruit thankfully. They'll be heading into New Orleans later on today, 86 of the high in big city (ph) and 72 degrees for you guys up there in New York. John and Carol, back up to you.

ROBERTS: Rob, thanks so much.

This morning's top stories are just minutes away, including a look into the mind of a suspected terrorist. We'll show you the accused Times Square bomber's spiral into extremism through his own e- mails.

COSTELLO: And a new cloud rising making (ph) new delays on the horizon. The Iceland volcano costing people more time in the airlines more money.

ROBERTS: Plus, trading in diapers for an M-16. A mother's gut- wrenching goodbye to her baby girl before heading off to basic training. A soldier story ahead. All of that beginning at the top of the hour. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Fifty-four minutes after the hour. And here's a dream job for all you smooth talkers out there. Imagine getting paid to rub lotion on bikini clad women.

COSTELLO: Isn't that a form of prostitution?

ROBERTS: Depends on how far the application of the sunscreen goes.

COSTELLO: At least see the news that rubbing where there would have been bad (ph). This is a real story, I just can't believe it. There's this luxury hotel in Miami Beach. It actually has someone on the payroll who's sole responsibility is to lather up guests. John Zarrella, of all people, hit the beach to find out what it takes to be the world's only tanning butler.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When you hear hands on job, this one beats all. it is literally just that, hands on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you mind if I just apply a little bit here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

ZARRELLA: It is literally just that. Hands-on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. SPF 8 already. Here we go.

ZARRELLA: Zach Gilbert has what a lot of folks would say is the perfect job. He's a tanning butler. Yes, you heard me, a tanning butler at the Ritz-Carlton on south beach.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From the world's only tanning butler here.

ZARRELLA: Where else but south beach would you expect to find a guy in shorts walking around with a pouch filled with tanning products, spritzing, and rubbing lotion on the guests.

ZARRELLA (on-camera): So, you'd invite him back?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure, if my husband is OK with it.

ZARRELLA: And you're outside, I mean, this is your office?

ZACH GILBERT, FILL-IN TANNING BUTLER: It is. It's a great setting and the complaints are minimal.

ZARRELLA (voice-over): So, what could possibly be the problem? Zach has another job at the hotel. He was just standing in while the rits looked for a new permanent butler. The last one got some modeling gig and took off. To fill the SPF void, the rits held a casting call.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If we were guests, how would you approach us?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Definitely I say that you are looking very beautiful today.

LORI LAQUATRA, TRAINING BUTLER JUDGE: We're looking for great personality. We're looking for someone who can interact with the guests.

ZARRELLA: And someone who just maybe knows what the acronym stands for.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, what exactly an SPF means?

ZARRELLA: Holding a handful of applicants showed up at the first audition, only one, Luz Gallego, had any experience.

LUZ GALLEGO, TRAINING BUTLER APPLICANT: I have done this kind of job before, but instead of using tanning cloths (ph), I have used mud.

ZARRELLA: Mud?

GALLEGO: On people. Yes.

ZARRELLA: Mud?

GALLEGO: Yes.

ZARRELLA: That would block out the sun, wouldn't it?

GALLEGO: People love it.

ZARRELLA: The judges settled on a college student from Miami. He'll make $20 an hour plus tips. And our boy, Zach --

GILBERT: Good afternoon, ladies. How are you today?

ZARRELLA: He went back to his old job of waiter at the restaurant. Why? I haven't a clue.

John Zarrella, CNN, Miami Beach.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: Now, you have some rather strong feelings about this, shall we say a somewhat visural (ph) reaction.

COSTELLO: I just find it sort of disgusting. I don't know. Just it's sort of a strange man wondering on the beach, hey, want to rub some tanning oil on me.

ROBERTS: He may be the only official tanning butler, but there certainly are lots of unofficial ones. I mean, you go down to most islands, and if you're a woman trying to get a tan, somebody will come along and say, do you want me to rub this on you? It only works if I put it on.

COSTELLO: I think, though, I'd be depressed if I had to pay them $20 to do it. I don't know. It's a confusing issue for me. Let's just put it that way. Shall we move on to our top stories and tell people they're coming your way right after the break?

ROBERTS: Stay with us. More to come.

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