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American Morning
Secretary Gates in Asia; Your Zodiac Sign About to Change?; Sainthood for John Paul II; JFK Presidential Library Goes On-Line; Birth of a Nation; Dolphin Smarts
Aired January 14, 2011 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. Glad you're with us on this AMERICAN MORNING. Friday, January 14th. I'm Kiran Chetry.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes. Also ahead for you this hour, it's a very popular, if not cheesy pick-up line. What's your sign? But don't be offended if she doesn't know. They might be changing. The zodiac signs, yes, you might have gone asleep a Leo like I did but woke up something else. Astronomers say there's a 13th sign instead of just the 12. Our Jason Carroll will explain this. We'll let you know if yours switched.
CHETRY: Also bidding on getting bumped. Delta is letting you name your price if you get bumped from a flight. You are supposed to get some money back, right. You can actually bargain to get the best deal. Christine Romans will explain more about this program.
HOLMES: But pp first, we want to start in Arizona. There has been a break in that investigation. The FBI has recovered a black bag. You heard so much about it, the mysterious black bag. You are seeing pictures here, exclusive video from CNN.
The bag was found, it's being loaded here as you see into an SUV. Now it's going to be looked at and apparently inside was ammunition that's been linked to the shooting. Ted Rowlands live in Tucson this morning. Ted, what are they hoping to learn from this bag?
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's unclear, T.J., we do know that there was ammunition. There were receipts. According to a source close to the investigation, there were other items in this black bag. And if you recall, this was the bag that Jared Loughner's father said he saw his son carrying hours before the shooting rampage last Saturday.
Loughner's father said he tried to tuck to his son about the bag. They got in a scuffle -- not a physical scuffle, but an argument, and his son left. And that's the last time he saw his son. The FBI has been looking for this bag for days. They found it yesterday. Here are details on where they found it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. CHRIS NANOS, PIMA COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: The fire department received a call that an individual in the 4400 block of Soledad reported to us that he had a black bag that was turned over to him by a young man who lives in the neighborhood. That young man reportedly found the bag in the wash nearby.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROWLANDS: And the FBI now has that bag and it is being analyzed. It could, depending on what else is in that bag and how much ammunition is in that bag, T.J., obviously go more to the mindset of this suspected shooter in the hours before the shooting rampage Saturday.
HOLMES: And, Ted, some strange stuff we're learning about this shooter online.
ROWLANDS: Yes, every day we seem to be getting more bits of information, more pieces of this puzzle sort of forming the mind-set of Jared Loughner. Some online musings if you will and postings are very bizarre that have come out.
"The Wall Street Journal" has attributed in excess 1600 postings in an online gaming forum. This is one of these private networks of online gamers that have come together. Apparently over the months before the -- leading up to the shooting, Loughner posted some very bizarre, suggestive topics, discussion topics, including, what do you think it would be like to be in jail? There are some of them are very disturbing, talking about rape, and even murder.
The FBI, obviously, and they have indicated this, are looking into all of Jared Loughner's online action leading up to this murder. They could be more pieces to this puzzle.
Ted Rowlands for us in Tucson. Ted, we appreciate you.
CHETRY: A miracle in Tucson this morning. Gabrielle Giffords, the congresswoman, is making remarkable strides in her recovery. Doctors admit they are amazed, in some cases saying it's a miracle. The latest is she was able to sit up in bed with help and she has movement in both legs and was able to dangle them off the bed. These are huge strides given what happened to her just six days ago.
Meantime, the next big milestone will be to remove her breathing tube. That could happen today. And perhaps the most encouraging news, her eyes are able to track movement. This is another critical sign of awareness. This is what her neurosurgeon says about why it's so significant.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. MICHAEL LEMOLE, NEUROSURGEON: We have seen the eyes begin to track. So think about it. When you first wake up in the morning you are blurry eyed and the eyes aren't focused. Then the eyes come together and start to focus. We're just seeing those signs and her trying to track her gaze to wherever she wants to look. Again, it reflects on a level of alertness.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CHETRY: It also took doctors only 38 minutes to get Congresswoman Giffords from the front door of the emergency room to the operating room table last Saturday. And some people say that what has happened since is really nothing short of a miracle. Others credit the great medical care, and maybe it's a bit of both.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta had a chance to talk exclusively to the doctors that were involved in her care. He actually got to visit the critical care area where she was and talked to one of the first doctors to see her when she was wheeled in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. RANDALL FRIESE, CRITICAL CARE SURGEON: And the first thing I did was walked in the room. Some things were occurring. And I think I said this before, but my first response was I grabbed her hand, leaned in to her and said, Miss Giffords, you are in the hospital. We're going to care for you. Please squeeze my hand. And she did.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I mean, is she -- does she have a wrap on her head? Can you see the wounds at this point? So you have some idea what the obvious wounds are, but you look at the rest of the body to make sure, for example, she doesn't have another gunshot wound, right?
FRIESE: That's part of the trauma work-up and evaluation. You never assume just what you see is all that is present. So I saw the severe head injury. I saw some blood loss. Her eyes were closed. She had a blackened right eye and swollen right eye, and she was grunting a little bit. I got the impression she was trying to communicate but was being frustrated by the fact she could not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: We're going to check in with Sanjay in about an hour and a half. He'll join us with more on the steps in this recovery process.
HOLMES: Six minutes past the hour. Time for Congress to get back to work next week. As you know, everything was put on hold this week after the shooting in Tucson. What was on the agenda for this week, they are expecting to vote on a repeal of health care reform. Well, they are going to take it up again next week, possibly on Tuesday. And the GOP says a vote could come next Wednesday.
CHETRY: Nearly 500 people have died because of flooding in Brazil. And the pictures are heartbreaking to see. Cameras captured this dramatic rescue of a woman north of Rio de Janeiro. She makes a desperate leap into the rushing water with one hand on a rescue rope the other trying to keep hold of her dog.
The dog, unfortunately, is not able to -- she's not able to keep hold of her dog. And there she is. You can see her screaming, holding on to the rope. And she was pulled to safety, thank goodness. You can tell she's distraught in that picture. She was trying to hold on to her dog and was unable to. HOLMES: There are 500 folks there. The president of the country saying a lot of the blame may be should be on people being allowed to build their homes in places where they really shouldn't. And kind some of lax zoning laws there contributed to this. So probably see some changes there over the years.
We'll turn to another picture to show you, this one out of Italy. And Mt. Etna just wants the world to know it's still alive and kicking. Europe's most active volcano roared back to life, the first eruptions since 1992. Always, always interesting, fascinating photos to see a volcano erupt.
CHETRY: Well, Bob Dole is out of the hospital this morning. The former GOP presidential candidate who had been at Walter Reed medical center in Washington since last week suffering with a high fever and an infection. He has now been given a clean bill of health. He's 87 years old. He says he's feeling a lot better and he's going to go back to work today.
HOLMES: Amazing. Amazing, 87 years old.
Also, mayor, we're going to hold you to this. Atlanta's mayor says the city will be ready to host the NFL playoff game. Of course, they got a lot of snow in Atlanta, a lot of ice there as well. They'll be ready, not necessarily because they'll be playing outside. They are playing it the Georgia dome. The thing is, it's hard to get around downtown, that area where a lot of the activity is going to be this weekend.
He is promising they'll get all of the snow off the roads and the sidewalks. Also the Hawks are playing downtown, so a busy weekend downtown. He says they'll have it ready to go.
CHETRY: Is he going to get any help from mother nature, that's the question.
(WEATHER BREAK)
HOLMES: How many of you have been in this position. I am this position every single time I fly. You get to the gate and hear this announcement that says "Your flight is oversold. Would anybody be willing to give up their seat?"
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Do you say yes?
HOLMES: I never say yes.
ROMANS: What is your price? What would you take?
HOLMES: It would have to be a ton of cash, because they offer a free round-trip ticket. Some people have flexible dates and they'll go take that. I don't usually have that.
ROMANS: Doesn't it irritate you that they oversell the planes like that? This has become the way you get on a plane. It happens over and over. Oh, we're overbooked. Make an announcement when you aren't overbooked. I'd like to be on that flight.
Here I am complaining about the airlines. Hello, business travelers. And you know who you are. You have all been talking about this Delta announcement that it's going to allow you to bid up front for how much you would take to be bumped off of an oversold flight. You could even do this at home in the convenience of your pajamas before you even go to the airport.
CHETRY: This is smarter. Aren't you more likely to get somebody to do that if they aren't already at the airport, ready to go, gone through security?
ROMANS: Someone who is flexible, checking in on their flight and they say I'll put in -- on the blog for delta, they even put $200 as their example. You know, how much would you be worth? You've been bumped. You stay home. You go on a different flight. Take a $200 cash voucher.
Is this a good idea? I asked Mark Orwall in travel and leisure, and he had a counterintuitive answer. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK ORWOLL, TRAVEL AND LEISURE: A lot of people might say I wouldn't mind getting a $200 flight voucher for a future flight because I have some flexibility. But you don't have the negotiating power. You can't ask them for a meal voucher while you are waiting. What if the next flight they get you on gets canceled? Are they going to put you on a hotel?
And the other thing is this -- if you are involuntarily bumped, the Department of Transportation requires the airline pay you as much as $800. So a lot of people don't know that. So they are underbidding themselves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: He says don't put in anything less than $900. OK. So maybe people underbid you for a couple of flights. By the third flight you might get a hit.
Also Delta is offering trip vouchers. He says, you know, insist for cash. Here's some other tricks for you that I put together that I feel like every traveler should know. Farecompare.com, they've done this study. Buy your ticket on a Tuesday afternoon at about 3:00. You'll get the best fares.
Travel on Wednesdays. Don't check a bag. That's pretty easy, but don't check a bag. And you can save the $15 or $25. And you are entitled up to $800, not in every case, but up to $800 if you are involuntarily bumped. And ask questions. Ask about your options. Ask for more stuff.
CHETRY: One question, can you find out if you agree to get bumped, can you find out where you would be bumped to or is it just arbitrary? ROMANS: They are supposed to get you on the next flight. But when you do all of that on the front end, make sure you find out what flight you'll be on after that.
You want to be bumped for as much money, as close as possible in to when you were going to leave. I am sure there will be people who know how to figure out how to game the system. But Delta wouldn't do it if it didn't make them money. They'll save all of that hullabaloo at the front gate, all of the manpower if they can handle this before you leave your house. It's good for them. On their blog they suggest $200 if you, say, put in $200. Mark and others say put in way more than that.
(LAUGHTER)
You said the whole air travel experience is so hellish, right?
HOLMES: It is for the most part. Maybe this will help us out, a lot of folks. I'll bid an insane amount of money if that ever comes up. Thank you, Christine.
Still coming up, a lot of people are really into these zodiac signs. People date based on it. But sometimes it doesn't work. There might be a good reason for it, because you are not really Pisces and he's not really Aquarius. Your signs may be changing because the universe is? We'll explain, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Fifteen minutes past the hour. The U.S. defense secretary is wrapping up a pretty important trip right now. It's a five-day trip to Asia. And on the agenda, focus on North Korea and, of course, its nuclear might. And also China's growing military might. There's a question there about who exactly is in charge? The president or the military?
We want to turn to our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.
Barbara, good morning to you. This is a critical trip. Explain to our viewers just why this one was so important?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, T.J., look at it this way. The Chinese leader, President Hu is on his way to Washington in a few days for meetings with President Obama. China, a growing financial and economic powerhouse in the world, the last thing anyone wants to see is any military instability.
Secretary Gates expressing a little bit of concern about the fact there seems to be a disconnect between Chinese leaders and the military over their billions of dollars of modernization programs in their weapons. What is exactly going on? And once he got to Japan, he started talking about the need to keep U.S. forces in the region, not just for the typical North Korean threat because of concern about what China may be up to. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY: To deal with this century's security challenges, a critical component will remain the forward presence of U.S. military forces in Japan. Without such a presence, North Korea's military provocations could be even more outrageous, or worse. China might behave more assertively towards its neighbors.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: So expressing some concern about how China is going to behave in Asia and what is the concern? Pardon me. We have these photos now of the J-20, China's new fifth generation stealth fighter, very advanced technology if it all works. Just one of the programs they're working on. They're also building an aircraft carrier. They're building new missiles, submarines. Just about everything you can think of. And what is China doing with all of these weapons? What are their plans? Their plans are to be a military powerhouse in the region as well as that economic and financial power. And that is the concern -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Barbara Starr, we appreciate you, as always, this morning. Thanks so much.
STARR: Sure.
CHETRY: Well, the Kennedy years come to life all over again. There's a brand new way to experience JFK's White House. We'll explain coming up.
HOLMES: Also, dolphins. Pretty smart, right? But just how smart are they? They are being put to the test. Our John Zarrella coming up this morning with an "A.M. Original."
It's 19 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Twenty-two minutes past the hour now. The address for the White House is --
CHETRY: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, sir.
HOLMES: Maybe not. It might be 1600 Unconstitutional Avenue.
CHETRY: That has a good ring to it.
HOLMES: It does. It's not.
CHETRY: Let's change that.
HOLMES: That is not. But there it is. Of course, 1600. But some folks in D.C. now, they are getting together, maybe start a little petition here or a movement to try to rename Pennsylvania Avenue.
Now it wouldn't officially be changed. Let me make sure I say that. But this would be a bit of a protest if you will. They would have other signs to go right under the Pennsylvania Avenue signs. They're trying to get a message out here. They're trying to protest the lack of statehood. They don't have a representative up from D.C. in Congress. The suggestions, like I just said, "Unconstitutional Avenue" is one. Another one, "No Vote Street."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
HOLMES: No, doesn't work for you.
All right. "Statehood Way."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's better.
HOLMES: That's not so bad. That's not so bad.
CHETRY: Good luck to them.
HOLMES: Yes.
CHETRY: All right. And good luck. They're going to need it.
Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton says he's ready for the NFL. He's decided to skip his senior year at Auburn. He's entering the NFL draft. And the announcement comes just days after Newton, of course, led Auburn in the national championship. His Tigers beating Oregon's Ducks, 22-19, to finish a perfect 14-0 season. Cap it off with not only a multimillion-dollar guaranteed contract. What could be better?
HOLMES: Nobody is sure exactly where he's going to go. Some saying he's not the best quarterback necessarily, but he's just a great athlete. He's a great athlete. He could play any position, a couple of positions in the NFL. We shall see.
"Spiderman," you want to see this on Broadway?
CHETRY: Yes, I'd like to see it because of all the hype.
HOLMES: Keep waiting. It's not opening just yet.
CHETRY: Maybe we can go next Christmas.
HOLMES: Next Christmas. Maybe it will be open by then. It has been delayed. It's opening for a fifth time now. It's been pushed back to March 15th. It was scheduled to open December 21st. Now, they say now they're trying to fine tune some aspects of the show, make sure the ending is just right and the storyline is perfect. Some people who saw some of the previews complained, ah, they didn't really follow that second act. They don't know what's going on. But you remember it's had all kinds of problems. Most expensive show on Broadway ever and also four performers have been injured during rehearsals and some of the previews.
CHETRY: Yes. So they still have a ways to go.
HOLMES: Oh, yes. CHETRY: And each and every week they delay, that's millions.
Well, listen up all you horoscope readers out there. Turns out, well, there's some controversy this morning about whether you are the sign you think you are.
HOLMES: Some people are really into their signs. They date based on this, even quite frankly. Everybody has been talking about this. But what we have here are some astronomers saying that the earth's axis has shifted. The signs that most people follow could possibly be a month off. So Jason, am I still a Leo this morning?
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Probably not.
HOLMES: Probably not.
CARROLL: If you listened -- if you listened to what --
HOLMES: Yes.
CARROLL: If you listen to what some of these folks are saying, probably not. I mean, and I know how you feel. I was a Virgo yesterday. Today I am a Leo.
CHETRY: Right. And I was a Virgo yesterday. And today I'm a Leo. This is weird.
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: (INAUDIBLE) Leo now.
CARROLL: Everyone is a Leo now.
HOLMES: OK.
CARROLL: OK.
CHETRY: There's just one sign. They've streamlined. Budget cuts.
CARROLL: Let's explain it for the folks out there so they have a better sense of what's going on out there. You know, whether or not you believe in this, it's probably a good bet that most people out there know what their sign is. But perhaps, according to what I've been saying, not anymore.
According to astronomers at the Minnesota Planetarium Society, the astrological chart, most are familiar with, isn't exactly accurate because it doesn't account for how the earth's position has changed over thousands of years. The zodiac, as we know, is based on a Babylonian chart created 3,000 years ago. Astronomers recalculated the dates taking into account the earth's position in relation to the sun. So here's how the new chart looks.
Let's take a look. Find where you are there. Look at some of the dates. You can see the dates have changed slightly for some. And also you see that there are now 13 signs. Scientists have restored the sign Ophiuchus. The ancients originally had that sign. You see it's highlighted there between Scorpio and Sagittarius. Again, the ancients had that sign before but they dropped it because they no longer wanted 13 signs. They decided 12 was best.
The whole thing has created quite a stir, as you can imagine. The astronomer which released the findings said this in response. He said, "In science we deal with a long tradition of fact-based investigation. We are not in the business of interpreting the purported relation between the position of planets and human affairs."
Well, the people who do deal with the human affairs of astrology say that, hold on, they've known about this for years. Susan Miller is the creator of the popular Web site astrologyzone.com.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUSAN MILLER, ASTROLOGYZONE.COM: Please don't believe the hype. This is not a new concept. This is not a new discovery. It's something astrologers have been looking at for years and years and years. It's not a new concept. Please believe that. And we have had time to test this and it doesn't work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Doesn't work. That's what she says. Miller says many astrologists have already tried using the updated chart which, again, accounts for the earth's changed position but she says the general consensus is that the readings were just not accurate. So, look at both maybe.
CHETRY: And if you're going to go get an actual reading, just hopefully they'll factor in a few things.
CARROLL: Or just ignore it all.
CHETRY: Right. Ignore it all or just keep reading the same one or just read all of them and pick which one you like.
CARROLL: I like that one.
CHETRY: Jason Carroll for us this morning, thanks.
HOLMES: Thank you, Jason.
CHETRY: Well, if you take a trip back to Camelot, you never have to leave your couch now. Coming up, the Kennedy White House goes digital.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We're at the bottom of the hour here now on this AMERICAN MORNING. Thank you for being here with us. We'll give you a look at some of the stories that are making headlines, including sainthood, now a step closer.
Pope John Paul II, another step. We had our Vatican analyst here, John Allen, earlier. Now what step did he say this was?
CHETRY: Beatification.
HOLMES: All right.
CHETRY: So this is step three.
HOLMES: Step three.
CHETRY: Canonization takes place next. So we had one proven miracle. We have to prove one more. They are doing this big beatification ceremony on the month of his birthday.
HOLMES: All right. So another step closer. That's why I handed it over to her. She was talking to John Allen earlier. There you have it.
CHETRY: All right. Well, of course, we'll be following that beloved figure, Pope John Paul II.
Well, the Environmental Protection Agency is pulling the plug on one of the nation's largest mountain top removal mining projects. The EPA says that arch coal's spruce number one mine in West Virginia would have created 110 million cubic yards of waste. Environmentalists are hailing this decision. They say it's historic. Mining officials say it is chilling. And that it will cost the region $250 million as well as 250 high paying jobs.
HOLMES: So everybody was on the lookout for this mysterious black bag reportedly to be with the Arizona alleged shooter. Well, it has been found. You are seeing pictures from the scene where it was found. The FBI will now take that in its possession and go over this thing for evidence. But according to police, ammunition found inside that black bag does, in fact, match the ammunition from the shooting scene.
CHETRY: Doctors are calling the recovery of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords miraculous. They say that she's opened her eyes and she can track movements around her and objects around her. It's an encouraging sign that she is increasingly more aware of her surrounding. Giffords is also sitting up with help and able to move her legs. Doctors say that they may try to seat her in a chair and also remove her breathing tube today.
HOLMES: You know the words "ask not what your country can do for you." Those words forever a part of history since President John F. Kennedy's inauguration some 50 years ago this month.
CHETRY: That's right. In the interest and the mystique surrounding the presidency is still strong today. And now the story behind that famous address as well as other tales from Camelot, come alive in a new and modern way. And our Mary Snow is here with a look at this. Hi, Mary.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. This was really fascinating. If you get a second, check it out. The Kennedy Library is online. It's the first digitized on-line presidential archive. And it coincides with the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy's inauguration, which will be marked next week.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PRES. JOHN F. KENNEDY, FMR. U.S. PRESIDENT: And so my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.
SNOW (voice-over): It is one of President John F. Kennedy's most famous quotes. But before he delivered his inaugural address on January 20th, 1961, his draft read, ask not what your country is going to do for you. An aide and speechwriter Ted Sorensen sent this Western Union telegram to historians and politicians seeking suggestions. They are among hundreds of thousands of documents, videos and recordings put online by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation led by the late president's daughter, Caroline.
CAROLINE KENNEDY, DAUGHTER OF PRES. JOHN F. KENNEDY: His time is becoming part of history, not living memory. And we need to reach across the generations in new ways.
SNOW: Where historians once had to physically go to archives and seek out items one by one, history is now a click away. This is a phone call recorded between President Kennedy and former President Dwight Eisenhower discussing the Cuban missile crisis.
KENNEDY: General, what if the Soviet Union, Khrushchev, announces tomorrow, which I think he will, that if we attack Cuba that there's going to be a nuclear war. And what is your judgment as to the chances they'll fire these things off if we invade Cuba?
DWIGHT EISENHOWER, FMR. U.S. PRESIDENT: Oh, I don't think they will.
KENNEDY: You don't believe they will?
SNOW: As the two men end their conversation, some surprising levity.
EISENHOWER: I want to keep my own people very alert.
KENNEDY: Hang on tight. Thanks a lot, general.
SNOW: Documents during the crisis even show the president's doodles with the words decisions and warheads. Included with them, a personal one. Daughter Caroline writing her name. One presidential historian says a new generation will be introduced to Kennedy.
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, HISTORY PROFESSOR, RICE UNIVERSITY: There's a reason the Kennedy Library has gone forward with this. They think it makes their guy look better, and it does because any time you are listening to a president ask all these bright questions about a crisis, worried about nuclear war, worried about the prestige of America and you are getting to hear them and you are young and it's putting you in the White House. (END VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW: Douglas Brinkley says he expects all presidential libraries will try to replicate what the Kennedy Library is doing. He thinks it will happen within the next decade.
HOLMES: Again, like you said, this is a process. This took quite some time to get all this together and get it online.
SNOW: It took several years and I think four companies were involved in doing this. It was really excessive. And it's not complete yet. They'll still be adding hundreds of thousands of documents.
CHETRY: Great. We'll check it out. Mary Snow, thank you so much.
SNOW: Sure.
CHETRY: Well, world leaders right now are arriving in Washington to remember diplomat, Richard Holbrooke, the top U.S. envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. As we know, he passed away. And a memorial service will be held this afternoon at the Kennedy Center.
CNN will be carrying portions of it beginning at 3:00 p.m. Eastern. Holbrooke died in December after getting surgery to repair a damaged aorta. President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will be attending today's service.
HOLMES: And Pakistan's President Zardari will also be attending today's service, also going to be meeting with President Obama at the White House. The two leaders expected to discuss efforts to combat terrorism as well as discuss economic reforms.
CHETRY: And secretary of State Hillary Clinton will give what's being billed as a major address on U.S.-China relations. The speech comes just a week before Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit. And of course, CNN will bring you that address when it happens.
HOLMES: Also, a country is on the verge of being created this week. Did you know that? It's one of the most important stories going on in the world that maybe you haven't really heard about.
Nicholas Kristof, a columnist for "The New York Times" joining us live here in studio. That's next. It's 35 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. 38 minutes past the hour now. It may be the most important story going on in the world right now that you aren't talking about. What we're talking about here is a country on the verge of being created. The birth of a new country. We're talking about Sudan. What you heard about this country in northeast Africa over the past several years has for the most part been negative.
You've heard about the civil war that's taken place there over decades. Millions of people killed. Well, now there's an independence vote that's been going on that could really bring a new day to this region. You may have heard about this story, possibly, because two familiar faces are involved. One of them being former President Carter. The other being one-time former sexiest man alive, George Clooney.
Let me bring in now Nicholas Kristof, a "New York Times" columnist, who has done a lot of reporting on Sudan, in that region. We appreciate you being here.
NICHOLAS KRISTOF, "THE NEW YORK TIMES" COLUMNIST: My pleasure.
HOLMES: Let me start with this, you are in line at the grocery store. Somebody behind you says there, "hey there, Mr. Kristof, why should I be paying attention to what's happening in Sudan." In the moments you have right there in that line with that person, in the grocery store, what would you say to answer that question?
KRISTOF: I guess my elevator pitch would two-fold. First of all, Sudan and especially south Sudan, does produce oil. You know, that oil is part of the international economy. We care about that oil. But the other thing I'd say is we not only have interests. We also have values. Two million people died in the last north/south war. Hundreds of thousands more died at a genocide in Darfur. That touches us. We are humans. We are part of the same fabric. And because of international engagement, we manage to avert a new war in south Sudan, at least so far. Touch wood. No wood to touch.
HOLMES: I get you.
KRISTOF: But it really is a triumph, an example that sometimes with the modest amount of diplomacy you can avert a war or genocide.
HOLMES: Did we avert it too late in some ways? This was going on for decades. We're talking about two million people in this civil war. But did the U.S. or the rest of the world, in your opinion, not do enough to get us to this moment sooner?
KRISTOF: Yes, I think that is entirely fair. Southern Sudanese were dying for 50 years. Two million people just in the last iteration of that war. Another million or more in the first iteration. And should we have done more earlier? Absolutely. But that said, it really looked as if we were about to collapse into a new war.
And right now, it looks as if the engagement of the U.S., Europe, China, African countries, for now appears to have averted that.
And it's right before you and I went on, you used the word "amazing." This is an amazing moment. Why are not enough people and maybe you see it differently, it doesn't seem like enough people, certainly here in the U.S. and it's so far away and most people probably can't find Sudan on the map. They know about the Darfur region. They know about George Clooney going over there. Maybe President Carter. But aren't enough people here paying enough attention and calling this an amazing moment as well? KRISTOF: Well, I suppose part of it is the way we in the news media cover the world. We cover planes that crash. Not planes that take off. And right now in southern Sudan you have a plane, a country about to take off. And, boy, it's nice to have that in the shot right now.
HOLMES: I was in the United Republic of Tanzania in 2008 and spoke to the president, Jakaya Kikwete, and I asked him kind of that same question. Do you think people in the U.S. and the western world don't care enough about Africa? He looked at me dead in the eye and said make them care. And you just kind of hit on that. How do we make them care as we move forward and talk more about the planes that are taking off?
KRISTOF: I think that it is important for us in the news media to have more of attention on some of the humanitarian and development issues. I mean, eastern Congo right now is the most lethal war since World War II. It's gotten fewer column inches, less television time than per 100,000 bodies in any other war around. But I also think we can't just cover Africa as a series of humanitarian disasters. There are also a lot of countries that are actually doing pretty well that are enjoying remarkable economic growth. And that has to be part of our coverage as well.
HOLMES: We have been engaged in certainly the accord in 2005 and now getting to this referendum, this vote that's happening. Our viewers - they have been voting all week. And essentially, southern Sudan is voting, and they will vote to secede, essentially create their own country. Will this give hope that maybe other regions in particular Palestinian territories, Israel, can work this out as well?
KRISTOF: I think that there will be, among a lot of places, particularly in Africa, Ogaden, for example, in Ethiopia, Somali land in Somalia, they will say "Well, the southern Sudanese are getting their own country. You know, maybe we can be next." I think that may be realistic in the case of Somali land. I think it's probably not realistic elsewhere. And I don't think there is going to be much of an impact on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
HOLMES: Does it give us hope, though, that places can figure it out? But can we not afford to allow them to figure it out on their own. This has been going on for so long. It took a lot of lives lost. We're talking about millions of people, that's hard to even fathom in this day and age, had to die to get to this point.
KRISTOF: For me, one of the lessons is that conflict is often so much easier and cheaper to prevent if you get in early rather than if you wait for it to happen and then try to deal with it in the aftermath. This is a case where we got in before the vote. We had international engagement. We put pressure on all parties. And as a result, people are not being massacred right now in southern Sudan, otherwise I think they would have been.
HOLMES: All right. A mad dash for that oil as well?
KRISTOF: There is going to be - China is, in particular, is working on that.
HOLMES: All right. Nicholas Kristof, we appreciate you. Really this is - like you said, we're not talking about it enough sometimes in the media. It might not be in the forefront on the minds of a lot of people in America. But sometimes, we still need to cover these important stories.
KRISTOF: Well, thank you. I'm glad you shined the light today.
HOLMES: Thank you so much for being here with us. Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. We're following some breaking news right now just in to CNN.
According to Italian prosecutors, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is under investigation for engaging in prostitution with a teenage nightclub dancer. Berlusconi was asked to appear in court to answer to these allegations that he paid a young woman for sex and then helped secure her release from police custody back in May. Berlusconi's office, so far, has no comment.
We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we're following the weather. Down south, they are trying to get the temperatures above freezing in time for a big playoff game taking place in Atlanta. We're going to take a look at that coming up.
And out west, a totally different story. Bonnie Schneider joins us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Look at Atlanta this morning. Bonnie Schneider says a lot of the snow is melting, thank goodness. But that there's still some patches of ice out there. Eighteen degrees, though. Later, it's going to be a high of 42.
HOLMES: Just hoping the runway is clear for my plane to land.
Bonnie Schneider is joining us once again.
Hello to you, Bonnie. It's nice to be talking to you. We're not necessarily talking about another storm about to hit somebody.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's true. And I'm glad, T.J., that you are flying back to Atlanta today because if you were coming in earlier in the week, you'd probably still be in New York.
HOLMES: OK.
SCHNEIDER: Yes, a lot of ice out there. We are looking at cold numbers this morning. Right now, it is 20 degrees in Atlanta, Georgia. It's 21 in Jackson, Mississippi.
So, the ice is melting during the day but then refreezing at night. It won't be until we get to this afternoon that we see a lot more melting. And since we had some yesterday, I think we'll be in much better shape as we approach the weekend, which is really good news.
But how about even better news. The weather pattern is finally changing. I'm happy to report. As high pressure slides to the East, the South will benefit.
By the time we get to Monday and especially Tuesday, we'll see more warm air coming up as this high slides eastward. We'll get the back side of it, more of a southerly flow.
What that means is high temperatures will be in the 50s across the places that are in the 20s this morning. So, the high temperatures will get above normal at the beginning of the week. Not so for the Northeast, as you shovel out into New England. The temperatures, 19 degrees in Boston. It's a very cold 19 in the city in New York and 18 in Philadelphia.
But to the North, as you look toward western Massachusetts, up towards Connecticut and even into New Hampshire, we saw incredible snowfall totals. And you're still shoveling out. It's cold enough for everything to stick and stay that way for a while. So, watch out for heavy snow.
Still shoveling out of Savoy, Massachusetts, 32.8 inches of snow on the ground. Lesser amounts for New York, you know, you got about nine, a little over 9 inches of snow. But still, it was a sizable storm indeed.
All right. As we take a look at the map, we're watching also for wet weather to come into the Pacific Northwest. We've had rain and two landslides yesterday in western Washington state. Unfortunately, the pattern that's coming through shows a series of storms coming up from the up from the central Pacific. That warm, moist air with the threat of rain for this part of country not just today and tomorrow, but really, the flood watches persist straight through Sunday. So, that's going to be a concern as we go into the weekend. All the low clouds and wet weather affects your air travel.
As we go through the day, we'll look for delays in Seattle and in San Francisco -- and in Detroit, you are getting a little bit of snow right now. Here's that snow sliding across Michigan at this hour. So, out for some light snow showers. It's moving into Cleveland, as well. And some scattered lake-effect snow showers for western New York, parts of Pennsylvania and a little bit of light snow for Pittsburgh at this hour -- T.J., Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Thanks so much, Bonnie.
Well, there is a lot coming up in the next hour of AMERICAN MORNING, by the way, including a pretty surreal moment that took place in the White House briefing room yesterday when a reporter from Russia asked a question of Robert Gibbs and they sort of went toe-to-toe, visible reaction actually in the press room. So, we're going to show you that exchange.
Also, Lady Gaga about to upgrade from (INAUDIBLE), I guess you can say
HOLMES: That's not the dress, though.
CHETRY: Yes, that's the meat dress.
HOLMES: Oh, that is the one? OK. Yes. There will be an upgrade. We will let you know how much money she stands to earn this year.
CHETRY: Yes. Go Lady Gaga. Maybe she can afford real clothes.
HOLMES: Oh. That thing was pretty expensive. Someone did a mock of one of these and it cost $100,000 or something like that.
CHETRY: Yuck.
OK. Well, how smart are dolphins? We know they're pretty smart, right? Well, when they blindfolded them, they put them to a new test and some fascinating results.
John Zarrella is going to be telling us all about that coming up.
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CHETRY: Phil, he has his dolphin blue shirt on today.
HOLMES: Yes, and there's a good reason for that -- dolphins. You wouldn't imagine that you, anybody, can actually imitate what someone is doing without actually seeing them doing it. Follow me here? Dolphins can actually do this. Smart little animals here.
CHETRY: We know that they have very interesting senses.
HOLMES: Yes.
CHETRY: And that they're quite smart for the animal world. Well, they perform tricks in the pool. But researchers in Florida are now saying that dolphins may have even more smarts than we thought, and they're putting it to the test.
Here's John Zarrella with an A.M. original.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Say hello to Tanner.
EMILY GUARINO, TANNER'S TRAINER: Hi, buddy. Look who's here. Good morning. Hi, handsome.
ZARRELLA: The 8-year-old bottlenose dolphin is not only a good-looking dude, he's also really smart.
GUARINO: All right, Tanner. Let's show them what echo location looks like.
ZARRELLA: Trainer Emily Guarino throws a ring in the water with cups over his eyes so he can't see. Tanner using his echo location, his underwater sonar, finds and retrieves the ring. That's pretty cool, right? Well, at the Dolphin Research Center in the Florida Keys, scientists have found dolphins' smarts --
GUARINO: Really blew us away.
ZARRELLA: Go way beyond ring retrieval.
GUARINO: Monkey see, monkey do, that's a myth. It's turn out that the best animal best able to imitate other than humans is the dolphin.
ZARRELLA: For their study, Tanner was paired with another dolphin here, it's Kibby (ph). The trainer gives Tanner the hand gesture that means imitate and then covers both Tanner's eyes. Kibby is signaled to do a specific behavior. Kibby waves his tail, Tanner imitates him perfectly.
GUARINO: Wow! You got it! That was it. Give me 10. All right.
ZARRELLA: The behaviors are all pre-taught, like splashing the water or running the lagoon.
GUARINO: Beautiful.
ZARRELLA: But with his blindfolded, Tanner has no idea which behavior Kibby is doing. How did Tanner do it? Maybe his sonar or he's picking the characteristic sound made by the behavior.
(on camera): Researchers and trainers specifically chose behaviors that were safe for Tanner. For instance, they didn't want him jumping out of the water while he was wearing the eye cups.
(voice-over): Researchers say the dolphins' cognitive ability to understand what it means to imitate and then carry it out is amazing.
KELLY JAAKKOLA, DIR. OF RESEARCH, DOLPHIN RESEARCH CTR.: That shows a kind of problem solving flexibility that we haven't seen anywhere else.
ZARRELLA: During the actual research project, Tanner imitated the behaviors successfully more than 58 percent of the time, ruling out luck or chance.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kibby brought a rock.
GUARINO: Oh, so did Tanner.
ZARRELLA: John Zarrella, CNN, Grassy Key in the Florida Keys.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Awesome.
CHETRY: Ever swim with a dolphin?
HOLMES: I have not.
CHETRY: It's fun.
HOLMES: You just do this ever so often?
CHETRY: No. I mean, no, if you go on an excursion in Mexico, you can do that. I know environmentalists don't like it, you know, some animal rights people don't like it. But it's really cool.
HOLMES: Yes, she is at KiranChetryCNN on Twitter.
CHETRY: Yes. I know. I know. Thanks, T.J.
HOLMES: Quick break. Your top stories right after this.
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