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Freed Terrorist Outlives Prognosis; Businesses Losing Productivity for World Cup; Woman Still Fighting E-Coli from Tainted Cookie Dough; Queen to Visit U.S.

Aired July 05, 2010 - 13:00   ET

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

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: Tony, thanks. I'll be in for Ali most of this week. Here's what I've got on the rundown.

Remember Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, convicted in the Lockerbie bombing. One of the worst terror attacks ever. He was supposed to be dead by now and that prompted his freedom. But he's very much alive and that's prompting outrage.

Plus, what do you get when you cross an amateur scientist and a homemade nuclear reactor? We're all going to find out.

And also, Her Majesty is coming to Manhattan, the queen on her way. We'll get a preview from our king of all things British, Richard Quest.

But we are going to start in the U.K. In fact, plenty of people on both sides of the pond pretty ticked off that the Lockerbie bomber is still alive and kicking. He was convicted in the plot that killed 270 people. Abdul Baset al-Megrahi was sentenced to life in Scotland. He was then freed last summer, remember, on the grounds of a compassionate release. We were told then he was going to be executed by terminal cancer before the end of the year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KENNY MACASKILL, SCOTTISH JUSTICE SECRETARY: He is a dying man. He didn't show compassion to the victims, American or Scottish. That does not mean that we should lower ourselves, debase ourselves or abandon our values. He was justly convicted, but we are allowing him some mercy to return home to die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Yes, that was last year. He didn't die. He's still alive, and his family is living with him in Libya.

There are reports this week that his prostate cancer has spread throughout the rest of his body. But even so, he has far outlived the three-month prognosis that won his freedom. And now a cancer specialist who evaluated al-Megrahi and helped him get free sees things a new way.

In an interview with the "Sunday Times of London," Dr. Karol Sikora talked about the Libyan officials who sought him out for an opinion. He says, quote, "It was clear that the three months was what they were aiming for. Three months was the critical point. On the balance of probabilities, I felt I could sort of justify that. There was a 50 percent chance he would die in three months, but also a 50 percent chance that he would live longer."

The doctor admitting al-Megrahi could potentially live years longer, maybe as much as 20 years longer, he tells "The Times." None of the info publicized at the time of his actual release.

Clearly, the families of many victims of Pan Am 103 furious about this, but the Scottish government standing by its decision to release him. They say they were merely going by the medical advice that they were given, the same advice now apparently called into question by that key adviser, Dr. Sikora himself.

There is tropical weather brewing that could stir things up in the Gulf. And just about everywhere else. And the Gulf, though, Chad, is where so much is concerned, because it doesn't really need to be a huge tropical storm.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Correct.

GRIFFIN: To stop the oil -- attempts to stop the oil leak.

MYERS: Right. And there's so much oil now in the Gulf of Mexico. It really -- the winds are going to push it around. And that's what's going on here. This is the brand-new NOAA deepwater horizon BP daily oil assessment impact. You can go online and find this yourself, as well.

But the oil is all here, touching now the shoreline of Louisiana, which would be here. Here's Mississippi, Alabama, and then there's Florida. So Florida kind of in the clear. There is no wind from the south into the Florida area, especially Pensacola and Panama City and Destin. But the wind is all here from the southeast to the northwest, all pushing this glob of oil back here into the bayous of Louisiana and Mississippi and eventually into Alabama.

Another story today is the tropicalness of the tropical weather. It might just feel tropical, even though you're not in the tropics. Look at this. Look at 97 in New York city now. Get rid of that: 94 in Philadelphia, 95 at this hour in D.C. And that's not adding in how muggy it is. You know, when you talk about this heat index or this feels like temperature or the misery index, and it's -- it feels hotter than that, and it's going to feel hotter than that. We had the Peach Tree Road race here in Atlanta yesterday.

GRIFFIN: It was not bad.

MYERS: It was 6 degrees cooler in Atlanta, which is supposed to be Hot-lanta. Don't tell anybody it's not that hot here, because everyone will want to move here, and then all the housing prices will go up.

GRIFFIN: Yes. You and I both know it is hot here. MYERS: Not that hot: 98 tomorrow in New York City, 93 on Wednesday. And the problem again here is when the temperatures in the morning don't go down below 70 something, that means the air is full of humidity. You walk outside in the morning and you just feel like all of a sudden something hit you in the face and it's a wall of water, because that's how muggy and how full of air, how full of water air is, all across the northeast.

And it cools down a little bit. So finally by Friday, we get a break. But people are off work, maybe you want to watch out for these brownouts. I noticed my air conditioning kind of fluttering on and off yesterday a little bit, because the power wasn't in full bloom at times. So we could see some of these random brownouts when you have to keep everything cool.

GRIFFIN: What about the storm down in the Gulf, the Caribbean? Are you guys following that yet? In terms of how this might affect...

MYERS: Yes, there's nothing there, really, you know. There's a potential for a storm, about a 40 percent chance of a storm that's down here near Cancun that could travel to the same place that the other one did. This also could travel up into the Gulf of Mexico.

The problem is, the reason why we're so skittish all the time that there's a storm that possibly could happen is because the water is so warm. The water is 4 degrees warmer than it should be this time of year. That just means that not only are we putting 91 octane in, but we're putting like -- we're putting 104 octane in our car now.

And you step on the gas and these hurricanes or tropical systems can really go quickly. They can go from nothing to a Category 1 in maybe 24 hours with that much potential energy in the atmosphere.

GRIFFIN: All right.

MYERS: There you go. We're watching it for you.

GRIFFIN: Chad, thanks a lot. Hey, have you called in sick because you want to watch the World Cup?

MYERS: No.

GRIFFIN: A lot of people have. I know you're out there.

So when we come back, we're going to tell you just how much people are calling in sick or maybe watching it on the side. And how much that's costing the boss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Christine Roman is in New York, minding our business, and a lot of that business has to do with world sport, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it does. You know, a surprising number from Nielsen, the TV tracking people. And they've been watching the eye balls who have been watching the World Cup. And they say more than 99 million -- 99 million Americans have tuned in, Drew, for at least six minutes of a game. That already surpasses the 2006 numbers.

And it was some big matches to come up with. So you could see even bigger numbers by the time it's over.

The top markets for watching, English language markets, Miami, New York and Washington, D.C.

I want to take a look at the productivity here. You know, what does this mean, all these eye balls watching the World Cup?

GRIFFIN: I know.

ROMANS: I don't know about you, Drew, but I've heard it in our newsroom, the big roar every time there's some kind of an important goal. And I'll tell you, about $121 million, according to one estimate, lost in the U.S. in productivity. But compare that with, for example, the United Kingdom. Look at that. You can still see that the U.S. dramatically lags in the World Cup economics of lost productivity.

And I want to take also look at World Cup fever and what it means in terms of that lost productivity elsewhere in the world. Sixty percent requesting days off. Twenty-six percent, a quarter of the people around the world who work, taking some time off work. Seventeen percent either coming in early or leaving early. And 3 percent of them bold enough to just call out sick. So they can go and watch their favorite teams.

GRIFFIN: You know, I've seen people watching...

ROMANS: Ninety-nine million, quite a surprise.

GRIFFIN: I've seen people watching in airports, a Costco in front of the TVs. But you know, soccer is one game that you can watch and get work done at the same time, because as a passive observer, nothing is happening. So how are they rating this? Are they rating this by how many people actually just don't show up for work during the matches?

ROMANS: That's funny. I thought what was funny was the Nielsen number that they were watching, how many people had watched at least six minutes of the game. Now, I've watched six minutes of the game, but only because other people are watching it, and I kind of walk by and stand there and see what all of the fuss is about and get the thumbnail sketch of why everyone seemed to like this team or that team. But six minutes.

GRIFFIN: Six minutes can cover the highlights for about four games as far as I'm concerned.

While I've got you here, let me ask you just real quickly about -- I know I'm putting you on the spot, but the markets for the rest of the week.

ROMANS: Sure. Do it.

GRIFFIN: Anything big happening, or are the traders taking their vacations and taking their lumps?

ROMANS: Well, there's -- taking their lumps, yes. I mean, I can tell you today the market is not going to close lower, because the market is closed today. But it's been ugly. I mean, pretty much since April, you've had markets going lower, and we'll be watching very closely for any -- you know, the two debates here are whether we're going to have a slow recovery or we're going to have a double dip recession. And that would be a very bad and ugly thing, the latter of the two.

So every single piece of economic news and every kind of new piece of data is measured for where it fits in that camp. So either slow recovery or double dip recession. You know, those are not two great choices.

GRIFFIN: Is it fair to say, though, that in the last month there has been no recovery? That whatever recovery has been happening has been flat-lined?

ROMANS: No. I would say there's a recovery and the recovery has been slow and has not been shared by everybody. I mean, you've got 45.5 percent of the people who are out of work, Drew, are out of work for six months or longer. That really concerns economists. It really does. Because the longer you're out of work, the harder it is to get back in.

And they're worried that, you know, Laksh Rashiman (ph) was on our weekend show, Ali and my weekend show, "YOUR $$$$$." And he said that he thinks we won't even make up all the jobs we lost until the next recession somewhere later in the decade, you know, that some of these jobs aren't coming back. That's something that's a real problem for policy makers, economists, and for the rest of us as we try to figure out how to find your place in the American labor market.

GRIFFIN: Yes. And reaching back in history to see how this was jump-started.

ROMANS: Yes.

GRIFFIN: That's not good history that was made back then. So we'll all see how this navigates. Christine, thank you so much. Christine Romans in New York. And a reminder, as she said, Christine, along with our own Ali Velshi, on "YOUR $$$$$" Saturdays at 1 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Eastern.

Remember this one: last year's Toll House Cookie Dough recall. The recall is over, but the suffering is not. More after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: It was more than a year ago Nestle issued a recall of cookie dough for possible e-coli contamination. Sixty-six reports of illness spread across 28 states. Chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta got an exclusive interview with a woman who is still recovering from that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Linda Rivera was living the good life. A mother, wife, a special ed assistant. Linda has happy and healthy. But all that changed in May of 2009.

LINDA RIVERA, VICTIM OF E-COLI CONTAMINATION: I felt like I had that cold. The flu, something like that.

GUPTA: In fact, Linda got so sick, her husband took her to the emergency room. There she was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome and sent home. But the thing is, she didn't get any better.

RICHARD RIVERA, HUSBAND OF LINDA: And I asked her if she was OK, and she said, "No, if I have to go through this one more day, I'll die." So we took her in.

GUPTA: The doctors told her she had contracted e-coli OH157. That's a dangerous food-borne illness that can attack organs. The e- coli had settled into her colon, and doctors now had to remove it. A few days later, Linda was told what gave her e-coli.

L. RIVERA: Our attorney called us and said that it was cookie dough. I usually use the big tub, make lots of cookies at one time. Just a couple of bites, that's all it took.

BILL MARLER, RIVERA'S ATTORNEY: The reality is that about 60 to 65 percent of everybody who buys these products admits that they eat it raw. Seventy-six thousand people get e-coli 0571h-7 every year. Between 50 and 100 deaths every year. So in the scheme of bugs, it's -- it's a relatively low number. But it's a really nasty, nasty bug.

GUPTA: For a whole year, Linda had lots of problems. Her kidneys shut down. She couldn't walk or talk. She went into cardiac arrest three times. She was almost given her last rites, but she never gave up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, for 15 minutes.

GUPTA: Now at a rehab hospital in San Francisco, Linda is learning to live again.

DR. PHILLIP O'KEEFE, CALIFORNIA PACIFIC MEDICAL CENTER: Her ability to deal with the pain and problems that she still has have really been heroic.

GUPTA: Her husband, Richard, is right there with her. Says he wouldn't wish this on anyone.

R. RIVERA: For any family to have to go through this, I mean, it just -- it does scare your life away. Linda is probably the most giving and cheerful and optimistic woman you'll ever meet. And she gave and gave and gave. And to see what this has done to her just tore me apart.

GUPTA: Linda is not going to give up. She says she has a lot to live for.

L. RIVERA: I don't want this horrible disease to win. So -- and I want the rest of the world to know about it. They need to know. Don't take the chance with it. It's not worth it. You give up your life, you lose everything.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: All from a piece of cookie dough.

Sanjay reports that Linda's husband says that she is improving little by little. He figures at best she's going to be in rehab for another six to eight months, and then she'll go home and do outpatient rehab. She's going to require a nurse's care for some time to come.

A look at our top stories now begins with an update on the Gulf oil disaster. Then there's been at least a temporary setback in efforts to remove oil from the Gulf. They tested that high-capacity skimmer ship, the A Whale, over the weekend. Officials now say the tests were inconclusive because of rough seas. BP says it spent more than $3 billion fighting the disaster so far.

There's a new tropical disturbance forming in the Gulf, but forecasters like our own Chad Myers say it's unlikely to affect the clean-up.

And air ambulance crash in west Texas earlier today, killing five people. The Cessna 421 went down one mile south of the town of Alpine. A patient, a family member, two nurses and the pilot all died. No word yet on what caused that crash.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has reached the last stop on her tour of five Eastern European nations. She arrived in Georgia today. She planned to discuss regional peace and stability. Georgia fought a short war with Russia just two years ago.

Well, if it could get messy for some of you heading home after the long holiday weekend, Chad Myers has the travel forecast if you're on the road. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Chad Myers here with a hot look at the weather. And Chad, I can't help but think of all those people who are going to be holding their little daisies, all dressed up in their suits and dresses, waiting for the queen to come tomorrow in New York City, sweltering. Right? Sweltering.

MYERS: We were just looking at what the record temperature for today is in New York City. And the record is 101. What time is it? It's 1 p.m. It's already 97.

GRIFFIN: Wow.

MYERS: Yes. Tomorrow will be 1 degree warmer than that.

GRIFFIN: Nice.

MYERS: So by 1 p.m. tomorrow, that will say 98. What do you think the queen wears when it's 98 and a heat index of 105?

GRIFFIN: A bead of sweat, I imagine.

MYERS: A little royal bead.

GRIFFIN: You certainly don't put the crown jewels on your head, I guess; that's for sure.

MYERS: Eighty-six in Boston. And I'm also thinking this, and this is why we were kind of touching on travel. You might want to have your car in as good of cool shape as you can, because there will be traffic jams up and down -- you know I-75, I-95, I-85. What the turnpike is going to look like, you know, what the Parkway is going to look like. Cars are going to be stopped everywhere.

And you don't want to be sitting there and all of a sudden you see steam rolling out front of your hood. So whatever you need to do to make sure that that doesn't happen, make sure your car is ready to go with, I don't know, the coolant, whatever you might want to have to do with it.

I love it when the New York cab drivers have their hoods popped open, you know, because they don't go very fast anyway. It's not like the hood is going to fly in their face, but it's like a little bit of extra -- a little extra lubrication.

GRIFFIN: And they don't run the A.C. until you get in, either.

MYERS: Or usually it's broken. There's 98 for tomorrow from New York City. How about that one? Ninety-eight. And the morning low temperature of 78. Of so it doesn't even cool down. You don't even get to open up the windows and say, "Ahh, feel that nice, cool air."

You're talking some about this tropical system, too. I want to kind of get to this. I want to put an end to this, basically, for at least for a couple hours. This is the tropical system that they have been talking about.

GRIFFIN: Ah, well, that's going to hit land and die.

MYERS: Well, that's like -- that's one thunderstorm, OK? This is the one -- the Caribbean sea is the one that has some potential. As this develops, you can even see a little bit of a spin here. And as that develops, and if that gets into the Gulf of Mexico, this water is hot. It's about as hot as it's going get. Maybe a couple more weeks before it peaks out.

But so that means that the energy is as big as it's ever going to get there. So we have this map here of what could happen. The computers are running. The hurricane center not too worried about it just yet. But the weather service is saying, "Hey, this thing down here in the Caribbean could travel," and if it does, again, it's one of those western storms. Remember what happened last time with a western storm? What happened? The wind does this. And the wind does this. And the wind has been doing this for weeks now, blowing this oil -- that's the brown -- right there. Of that's the indication of where the oil is, blowing it back into Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana. Blowing it quickly there, not allowing it to get days and days or weeks and weeks of in the water time to evaporate and become a tar ball. It's actually getting on shore as oil. And that's dangerous. And that's what the animals and the plants don't want.

GRIFFIN: All right. Chad Myers with two things we don't want. Oil...

MHYERS: And a hot queen.

GRIFFIN: Well, as we said, the heat wave isn't the only thing taking New York by storm this week. The queen on her way. And our guru of all things British, Richard Quest, is on his way, right here. Stay around.

(CROSSL

GRIFFIN: We're at the half hour. Let's get you caught up on the headlines.

Day 77 of this oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Test runs of the massive "a whale" oil skimming ship have proven inconclusive so far, due to choppy seas, we're told. The shipping company hopes calmer waters in the next few days will allow for better testing.

Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele facing more fallout after comments he made about the Afghan war at a Connecticut fund- raiser last week. Some fellow Republicans are calling on him to step down after he suggested the war is unwinnable, and that it's a war of President Obama's choosing. But GOP Congressman Ron Paul is supporting Steele, saying he's guiding the party in the right direction.

A key meeting tomorrow at the White House. President Obama will sit down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The White House says Mr. Obama is looking to bring some momentum to the mideast peace process, but previous meetings haven't yielded much progress.

Now we're going to talk about the queen. You know it's been three years since her last visit to New York City, to America. And since New York city -- we're going to bring Richard Quest to fill us in. She hasn't been there since 1976. So Richard Quest, who is there in advance of his queen, is going to tell us.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

GRIFFIN: What is she doing there?

QUEST: Well, Drew, it's easily understandable. I promise you. The statistics concerning the queen and her visits to the United States. Actually, she was in the states three years ago, at Jamestown, for celebrations there. Of but in terms of New York city, you've got to go back to 1976 for the bicentennial celebrations. And before that, to 1957 which is when she addressed the United Nations.

Now, I guess the feeling is 53 years on, it's time for her to address the U.B. again. And that is why Her Majesty will be here as head of the common wealth of 54 countries, leader of 16 nations or head of state of 16 nations. The queen will be addressing the United Nations. I'm told that her short 15-minute speech will deal with leadership issues, and deal with the problems and the challenges facing that world body.

So, Drew, it's a long time since she has been at the U.N., but she's back.

GRIFFIN: Did they ask her to come back? I'm wondering if they need her leadership abilities there.

QUEST: The palace -- you've put your finger on an interesting question there. The palace say the secretary general invited the queen to make the address. What's not clear is whether the queen or the palace sort of sought the invitation. Did they sort of scout it out?

And in any event, at 84 years old, the queen is doing many things like this and what is seen as being -- not exactly her reign drawing to a close, because she is a fit and healthy woman and she travels and keeps a schedule that would put the rest of us in a chair. But the queen is -- has basically been invited. She is giving this address and it is a milestone in her life of exemplary service.

GRIFFIN: So it would be interpreted by me as a farewell tour while she is still looking good?

QUEST: You are most unkind.

GRIFFIN: Well, I'm asking.

QUEST: Well, no. I mean, you know, three years ago, when I covered the queen in Jamestown, when she was there, we said this would be her last trip to the United States. People have said that her nine-day trip to Canada is her last trip as queen of Canada.

And the fact is, the queen loves nothing more than doing these visits when she can, and getting out and about. I believe that it would be perhaps reasonable to say she won't make many more trips to the United States. But certainly Canada will be well on the agenda.

GRIFFIN: All right. We're probably over the next couple of days, all of New York will be talking about, do we kiss her hand, do we bow, do this, that, anything else? No, no, no. I want to ask you, where else is she going she's going to the U.N. and will talk about leadership, but where else is she going? Is she taking in a Yankees game?

QUEST: I was going give you the dos and don'ts. GRIFFIN: I don't care about the dos and don'ts, Richard. I just want to know where else she is going.

QUEST: Well, the -- the trip takes a solemn tone after that. She goes to Ground Zero, where she will spend half an hour paying her respects at the World Trade Center site. She will then meet relatives and families of those 67 British families that -- people who lost their lives on 9/11.

Before going back to the airport, and then heading home to the United Kingdom. The visit, the time in New York, will be less than 12 hours. And interestingly, from the best of my research, it doesn't seem that she has ever actually ever spent the night in the big apple.

GRIFFIN: Well, that should say something. OK, well, that's very nice of her and, you know, a shout out to the queen for meeting with those victims' families and also visiting that site, especially during this week of Independence Day.

So I'm getting in my ear that the crew wants to hear the dos and the don'ts so if you will, please.

QUEST: Yes.

GRIFFIN: Richard Quest tell us if I happen to bump into the queen in the next 12 hours, what shall I do?

QUEST: If you happen to bump into the queen, we'll all be in deep trouble, certainly. That will be cause for deep concern all around. But if you are one of the people who are fortunate, first of all, there is no obligation to bow either for a Brit or an American.

If you do decide to bow, none of this bowing from the waist like they do with the Japanese, just a simple nod from the head. She will offer her hand, you give her your hand. She will do the squeezing. Don't pump her hand as if you've just been -- gone to the ball game and your team has just won.

The reason? It's nothing to do with etiquette. It's all to do with practicalities. She shakes thousands of hands a month. Her hand would look like this if everybody gave her a bone cruncher.

GRIFFIN: Very good. Richard Quest, live in New York, to cover the visit of the queen, which we only get every other four or five decades. Well, thank you so much, Richard, for joining us. Take care.

Well, the new general in charge of the war in Afghanistan, David Petraeus, now commanding all U.S. and NATA troops in the fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda. We're going globe trekking to the Afghan capital right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Time to go globe trekking now to a place we have been many times before. Kabul, Afghanistan. That's where General David Petraeus takes command of the long and brutal war.

Petraeus now in charge of all the U.S. forces and NATO forces in the country. Difficult mission. Trying to defeat both the Taliban, get rid of al Qaeda. Here is part of what he had to say about his new mission at the ceremony, which was yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GENERAL DAVID PETRAEUS, COMMANDER, U.S. FORCES AFGHANISTAN: After years of war, we have arrived at a critical moment. We must demonstrate to the Afghan people and to the world that al Qaeda and its network of extremist allies will not be allowed to once again establish sanctuaries in Afghanistan from which they can launch attacks on the Afghan people and on freedom-loving nations around world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: All of this came with Petraeus being in charge of this after that interview in a news magazine in which General McChrystal, who was doing this bit of the war really had some nasty things to say about President Obama's staff and how the war was being run out of the White House. Petraeus now is commanding the army that -- and General McChrystal's job. He was McChrystal's boss just a couple of weeks ago.

We go now to Baghdad. Vice President Biden is there urging Iraqi leaders to put aside their differences, and form a new government. He held talks with Allawi and Prime Minister Nori Al Maliki.

Allawi's party nearly won the most seats over Al Maliki's party in parliamentary elections four months ago. Two men bickering over who should lead the new government. Regardless of the outcome, Biden says the U.S. drawdown of 50,000 American troops by September 1 would not be affected.

Right now, there are 77,000-plus U.S. troops in Iraq. Suicide bombings and killings continue. In fact, a couple of rockets tossed into the green zone while Biden was visiting.

Well, this may be one of the biggest ideas yet. Amateur scientist has installed a nuclear reactor at a warehouse in Brooklyn and you might not believe what his done with it. We can tell you about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Here's a look at the top stories this hour, day 77 of the oil disaster. There's been a temporary setback. Rough waters in the gulf hindered tests of that massive oil skimmer. Authorities are hoping calmer weather over the next few days will get them to run a more conclusive test. Right now, they say inconclusive weather it works or not.

U.S. drug enforcement agents helped out their counterparts in Ecuador in a big way. The two groups seized a submarine specifically built by drug traffickers to transport massive amounts of cocaine. It's now being held near the Ecuador/Columbia border, one person in custody.

And a heat wave of historic proportions may strike some northeastern states. Actually, it already is. Temperatures reaching triple digits could trigger a dangerous situation, according to weather officials. Tuesday's supposed to be the hottest, so be careful. Drink plenty of liquids and stay in if you can.

The big I. Talk about a big idea. An amateur scientist has built a fusion reactor in Brooklyn. He's hoping to develop a cheap source of energy. CNN's Carol Costello has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A warehouse in Brooklyn. Inside a dream that if realized could change everything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can hear it sounds like a jet engine.

COSTELLO: This is Mark Suppes, a web designer for Gucci by day, an amateur science junky or fusionist, by night.

MARK SUPPES, AMATEUR NUCLEAR PHYSICIST: You can hear it kind of getting higher and higher and anticipation is building. Are you excited?

COSTELLO (on camera): I am excited!

SUPPES: OK.

COSTELLO (voice-over): Suppes has built a nuclear fusion reactor, a machine he hopes one day will imitate the sun's power and power our world.

(on camera): So what is the hope? What is the goal?

SUPPES: The hope and the goal are that this will lead to a viable energy technology that will one day replace coal and oil.

COSTELLO (voice-over): Suppes' dream is not new. Nuclear fusion has long been considered the holy grail of energy production. Atoms are forcibly joined, releasing energy. Produce enough and you get Suppes' dream.

The problem, even the world's most brilliant trained scientists haven't figured out how to do it in a way that it creates more energy than it consumes.

(on camera): Professor, meet Mark.

(voice-over): Professor Bob Park admires Suppes' passion. But says his reactor is primitive compared to the sophisticated, gigantic reactors physicists use now. Still --

PROFESSOR ROBERT PARK, PHYSICIST, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: There is always that possibility that he might come up with some little trick that nobody else has thought of.

COSTELLO (on camera): You can figure it out.

SUPPES: I mean, I'm not saying that I can figure it out necessarily, but I think I can be done and I think that I can be instrumental in doing it.

COSTELLO (voice-over): Suppes has spent $37,000 of his own money and two years of his life to create this nuclear fusion reactor.

SUPPES: The first step is we suck all the air out of chamber.

COSTELLO: He bought the mechanical parts on eBay. As for the necessary ingredients like the isotope element deuterium.

(on camera): But where do you buy it?

SUPPES: There's a company called Matheson Trigas in New Jersey.

COSTELLO: So you bought the deuterium in New Jersey?

SUPPES: Yes. They FedEx it over.

COSTELLO (voice-over): After a series of steps, Suppes makes fusion. He says it happens inside that tube, with the glowing purple star.

(on camera): Some people might just imagine, you know, Jerry Lewis in the lab, you know, the crazy scientist. Is that who you are?

SUPPES: Minus the hair.

COSTELLO: Suppes just might be a little crazy, but he is passionate about changing the world.

(on camera): And so how would you like to go down in the history books?

SUPPES: I want to go down as the progenitor of the fusion era.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Suppes' next step, raising hundred $200 million to $400 million to build a bigger reactor, the kind you need to solve a scientific problem that no trained physicist has managed to do in 50 years. Carol Costello, CNN, Washington.

GRIFFIN: Well, is he crazy, is he passionate? There he is. We'll talk to him right after the break. This guy could be the Thomas Edison of fusion.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: The big I. Just before the break, Carol Costello introduced us to Mark Suppes, an amateur scientist who has put together a nuclear reactor at a warehouse in Brooklyn.

He joins us now live from our studios in New York and you know, Mark, first things first. You design web sites for Gucci?

SUPPES: That's correct.

GRIFFIN: So, you know, where do you cross paths with nuclear fusion? I mean, how did you get into this?

SUPPES: I've been an entrepreneur for almost 10 years now and I've done a lot of web start-ups and a lot of technology, and very comfortable looking at a problem and identifying an opportunity.

GRIFFIN: And so you're sitting around, looking at a problem like how can I put together a nuclear reactor in this warehouse and solve the energy crisis?

SUPPES: I would say it was more like I was between start-ups and I saw this video that Busar gave and I was so inspired and it looked like such a winning solution to the energy problem, a real way for fusion to work.

GRIFFIN: Who --

SUPPES: And become a real energy solution.

GRIFFIN: You looked at a film of this or a video of this by whom?

SUPPES: Doctor Busard is the man who invented this technology that I'm trying to build now. And Busard was a famous physicist, and he worked under a Navy contract for years and years.

GRIFFIN: And so you're kind of picking up on his work, where he left off?

SUPPES: That's exactly right. About a month after he introduced his work to the world, with this video, he passed on. And so somebody has to sort of lead the charge, I feel like.

GRIFFIN: I know it's not easy, but it seems like it has been somewhat easy for you. You have picked up the material on eBay, you buy the product, I guess, that you need to make this fusion in some New Jersey -- another New Jersey warehouse, right? And then you get this little glow. Now, does that glow mean anything? Are you actually creating energy that you can use at this time?

SUPPES: The device I've built so far is just first step towards a long journey. That device will never produce break-even fusion, and by that I mean producing more energy than it consumes.

But the device that I'm trying to build, and that we're going to build next, the but the reactor holds that promise, if we can build it at the right size, according to his calculations, it should be a break-even reactor. GRIFFIN: Do you consider yourself just a guy who's doing this as a hobby? I mentioned Thomas Edison. There are other guys that have started out in garages and warehouses, like Boeing, I mean, are you looking towards that type of future for yourself to become an energy giant, pushing us past fossil fuels?

SUPPES: Absolutely. This is not a hobby for me. This is what I want to do with my life. I see working on this at least for the next 10 years.

GRIFFIN: And where are you going to build - first of all, you have to get the money -- a lot of money, right, how much?

SUPPES: That's right, yes. Well, to start with, I don't need that much money. To start with, we could make do with $100,000 to $1 million. But eventually to build the full-size machine, I'm going to need $200 million and then to commercialize it probably another $200 million.

GRIFFIN: How big is the full size machine? Where do you put it and how do you get permitted for all this stuff?

SUPPES: The full-size machine would be about three meters. The core of it would be three meters in diameter and it would be quite large. It would be about the size of a coal-burning power plant. Where you put it, those are questions to be asked a little further down the road, probably somewhere in New Mexico.

GRIFFIN: Yes and now whenever we talk about nuclear energy, there's nuclear waste, there's radioactive material, correct? There's potential dangers involved. Should your neighbors in Brooklyn be worried about what you're doing?

SUPPES: Well, the first thing that needs to be cleared up is the distinction between fission and fusion. When people hear the word nuclear, they usually think of fission, which is what we have today, the current nuclear reactor technology and nuclear weapons.

That's not what I'm doing. I'm doing fusion. Across the board, fusion is much safer. Specifically the project I'm working on is not dangerous at all outside of the laboratory. It is dangerous inside the laboratory. So for myself and the other researchers, we have to be very careful, mostly because of high-voltage electricity.

GRIFFIN: OK, so if this is such a great idea and we already had a Navy scientist working on this, who dropped the ball? Why did it stop and why do you think others aren't pursuing this equally as passionate as you?

SUPPES: Well, the funny thing is that they didn't drop the ball and they haven't stopped. Busard's original team has been refunded and they are continuing their research in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The problem is that all of the research is secret and behind closed doors. And so what I'm hoping to do is by doing an open source project, bringing this process of discovery to the public and showing the public what it takes to do original science and to kind of move forward. Very exciting I think to show the process of this.

GRIFFIN: Has the group done any kind of reach out to you? Are they interested in what you're coming up with, the group that's already doing this in New Mexico?

SUPPES: They know about my project. I think to the degree that they can reach out to me, they have. But they have restrictions on what they can say and do.

GRIFFIN: All right, Mark Suppes, from New York. Remember the name folks. He may be the guy that gets us out of these fossil fuels. Thanks, Mark. Appreciate it.

The World Cup's closing in on its final games and the world is watching. We're bringing you to South Africa that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Finally, the World Cup in its last week. There are four teams left down from the original 32. Tomorrow, two of the final four, the Netherlands and Uruguay play. Isha Sesay joins me from Johannesburg. You've been there since the whole thing began. What was that like five years ago or something now. It just seems like it's going on forever.

ISHA SESAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Something like that.

GRIFFIN: You still having a good time?

SESAY: Yes. Yes, I'm still having a good time and yes, it is still cold, Drew. We are having fun and this tournament is really kicking into gear now that we've reached the semifinal stage.

You're right, Uruguay will take on the Netherlands tomorrow. And then of course, there will be Spain meeting Germany in the other semifinal. Well, let's talk about Uruguay and Netherlands. This is a very intriguing tie group. What you basically have is Uruguay, the country that won the first-ever World Cup back in 1930, taking on the Netherlands, a country which many consider to be the best team to have never, ever won the World Cup.

Uruguay used to be football powerhouse that seems like a distant memory these days, but really these are two intriguing (inaudible) looking to prove a point. In terms of the Netherlands, they've won their five World Cup matches so far. They won their eight matches in qualifying to get here to South Africa. So they're looking pretty strong it has to be said.

Uruguay definitely considers to be the underdogs in all of this. They do have some very impressive attacking players, strikers in the form of Diego (Forland). His strike partner (Luis Suarez) will not be present because he got a red card for handling the ball during, of course, the final match with Gana. That he's suspended for the match.

But this is a very intriguing match. Uruguay having won their last seven World Cup matches, Drew.

GRIFFIN: And the overall pick, because you have Germany and Spain to go. Is it going to be Germany/Uruguay, do you think?

SESAY: You know what? I'm going to go with Germany/Netherlands, I have to say. I think Netherlands' strength and depth. They've got some great players. This is a team, which in the past whenever they got to World Cup or big tournaments, what you'd hear, there's been so much infighting in the Dutch team.

It was really known for its disharmony. They have a new coach. He has done great things. He's a great communicator. Now you hear about them playing as a team. I really think that strength and depth and the fact they have great players playing in top leagues around the world, that will overpower Uruguay.

GRIFFIN: You're a news reporter. Let's talk a little bit of news here. Ghana was the last African nation to get kicked out before that, Nigeria gets booted and that that didn't make the president very happy in Nigeria. He basically, what, banned the team for two years?

SESAY: Yes, absolutely. He was very, very unhappy. The Nigerian national side is referred to as the Super Eagles. Of the bad performances, they tend to renamed them the Super Chickens, to give you some kind of perspective. No, they made back home. They got just one point out of three matches. It was a dismal performance.

And the president basically said, you know what, I'm going to suspend you for two years so you can get your house in order. But FIFA has very strict rules, there can be no political interference. FIFA gave them a deadline of 6:00 p.m. local time today that this threat of a ban must be overturned.

Just a short time ago, we got a press release from the presidency of Nigeria. What we have now is this -- the president of Nigeria will review the ban. It has not been overturned. It has not been revoked. It is in review. Effectively what that means is it hangs over the heads of the national team and the National Football Federation, which has pledged to the president they will get their house in order.

They will disband the national team and they'll basically do everything it takes to build Nigeria's football up from the grassroots. Is it enough from FIFA? I mean it's not completely off the table, but at least, you know, Nigeria can say, we haven't banned the national soccer team, Drew.

GRIFFIN: Really quickly for our domestic audience, does this happen quite a bit where politics gets in the way of sport?

SESAY: You know, I think a lot of national footballing federations abide by FIFA's rules. And even if they have strong feelings, it hasn't been escalated to this point. It's worth pointing out to our domestic viewers that the French, as I'm sure you're aware because you've been following this World Cup so closely -

GRIFFIN: Yes, very closely.

SESAY: The French left this World Cup - very closely. They left under a cloud of embarrassment and also they basically, I supposed, self-combusted during this tournament. Now the French President Nicholas Sarkozy has said that --