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Winter Storms hit Northeast; President Obama's Approval Rating on Upward Swing; Sarah Palin Responds to Criticism on FOX News; Steve Jobs Taking Leave of Absence; Health Care Repeal Debate Begins; Evander Holyfield Live; "Baby Doc" Duvalier Returns to Haiti; Chinese President to Meet with Obama in Washington Today; Congresswoman Giffords Making Amazing Progress

Aired January 18, 2011 - 07:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): A boost in the poll numbers. New numbers out this morning showing President Obama seeing a dramatic jump in his approval ratings. Also, Sarah Palin in her own words and on the crosshairs of controversy. Her first response ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY (on-camera): Good morning. It is 7:00. Thanks for being with us this morning. It's Tuesday, January 18th. I'm Kiran Chetry.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes. Coming up this hour, Steve Jobs. You know the man, you know the company, and you know the products. Markets open in 2 1/2 hours, and we'll see what kind of a setback for Apple we could have now that he's announced he is going to be taking another medical leave. This could affect your 401(k).

CHETRY: Also, we're going to be speaking with boxing legend, Evander Holyfield. He joins us live. 48 years old, fighting boxers for decades, and fighting boxers decades younger. This Saturday, he's going for his sixth world heavyweight title.

HOLMES: First this hour, we are talking about weather once again. Another week, another new storm, but this one is different from the rest. And its effects are going to be felt up and down the East Coast today. We're talking about snow and sleet in some places. Ice is going to be widespread in some other places as well this morning.

CHETRY: This will be the fourth, and we know you've been counting if you have to drive in it, the fourth major winter storm of the season affecting travel today. Jacqui Jeras is in the severe weather center. Commute is a little hairy if you're driving in some of these place, but also air travel could be a big problem today.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it's already causing problems out there. Multiple accidents in cities like Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City right now. We already have some delays at the airports as well. Everybody that's east of the Mississippi River can expect to have some travel delays of some sort today due to the weather.

The biggest problem with this system is that it's been producing some freezing rain. Granted, it's been light but you have seen as much as a tenth of an inch in place like Philadelphia. That glazes roadways with that ice and also makes it difficult for airplanes to take off.

Let's talk about some of those delays that we have a ground stop right now in Newark. That's a Continental only by the way right now. Washington Dulles has a ground stop until 7:30 and Philadelphia looking at delays of over an hour.

We'll also probably have some cancellations. The freezing rain situation should improve as we head after the noon hour but we'll still see rain and low clouds. That's enough to keep you socked in and keep the airports very busy. Also delays expected by the way in places like Chicago and Detroit and Atlanta.

CHETRY: Wow, it looks like -- as you said, delays and cancellations will be piling up. Check ahead if you're flying today. Jacqui, thanks so much.

And not just on the east coast we're dealing with weather issues. A lot of people in the Pacific Northwest are suffering this morning. Some stranded in western Washington, still dealing with heavy rains that sent water spilling over the banks of several rivers over the past several days. In fact, one death is being blamed on that stormy weather.

HOLMES: A similar problem is happening in Oregon where emergency teams are now going door to door to check on people. They say up to 250 people have been either stranded or forced out of their homes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My wife is ready to move right now. I don't know if you notice, but you can hear the boulders rolling and it sounds like a bowling alley.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We hunker down for the next time because I'm sure without any protection here there will be a next time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And those boulders and things you heard about in the northwest, they've been dealing with landslides causing problems. You heard them explain it sounds like a bowling alley.

CHETRY: Developing this morning, reports of a new terror threat involving our neighbor to the north. Here's what we know right now. There's a story in the "Asia Times" reporting that dozens of Canadians are in Pakistan and that they are being trained by Al Qaeda to launch attacks in Canada.

The paper says that this came from a, quote, "sell-placed Taliban source" and that the men are learning to connect with networks in North America and to use every day materials like sugar and basic chemicals to make powerful explosives. We're going to be digging deeper on this and at 8:00 eastern we'll speak to our national security contributor Fran Townsend for more details about this threat.

HOLMES: New year, no poll, new mojo for President Obama. We have exclusive CNN Opinion Research poll numbers to share with you now. We're just getting and you see there the president's approval rating is at 53 percent. That is significant some would say because it's up five points since last month.

Bring in our Ed Henry at the White House for us. Ed, good morning to you. Big deal, five points?

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Sure. For this president, he's been struggling for a long time. And when you look behind the numbers it's clear from the CNN Opinion Research Corporation poll that it was just taken in the last few days, so this is maybe a little bit of a bump for the president coming out of his handling of that tragedy in Tucson.

There's a lot in this poll where the American people are saying that they feel the president is strong on leadership qualities and strong on handling of crisis and strong on sort of articulating his vision to the American people on issues like this.

And let's not forget also what preceded the tragedy in Tucson, the fact that this president had some big victories in that lame duck session of Congress in late December and came out in the new year with a resolution to work more with Republicans and follow-up on that. He's had a lot of big staff moves like bringing in a new chief of staff who is committed to working with Republicans.

And now he has a big opportunity next week to follow all of that up with a state of the union address where White House aides say he's going to try to build on his speech in Tucson to say he's serious about trying to lower the temperature on this rhetoric and getting beyond that to actually work with Republicans on moving forward on economic legislation, trade legislation, you name it.

HOLMES: And President Obama sitting down with president Hu of China. What's on the table, what's the number one thing on the table?

HENRY: I think clearly this president wants to focus on the economy. I remember being in Seoul with President Obama in November right after that shellacking in the midterms. His standing was weak. He got nowhere with President Hu. That's the last time they met at the G-20 summit.

Now this president, as we noted, has a little bit strength in hand. He wants to push President Hu on reforming the Chinese currency, on trying to fix some of these trade imbalances and get China to invest more money in the U.S. That could mean more U.S. jobs.

But finally he also wants to talk about human rights and push the Chinese on that as well. The challenge for this president though is that President Hu is expected to step down in 2012. He's thinking about his legacy. And what helps his legacy back home is to stand tough against the Americans and not give in on some of these issues like trade or human rights.

So I think it's really going to be more about airing some of these big issues but not necessarily coming up with some big deal here.

Ed Henry, our chief White House correspondent. Ed, good to see you as always. Appreciate the update.

CHETRY: She's smiling. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords' husband says she was able to touch his face. Doctors say this is significant. And even more amazing, they say she could be discharged within weeks or potentially days to begin rehab.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is she registering any emotion on her face? Is she smiling or anything?

DR. RANDY FRIESE, TRAUMA SURGEON, TUCSON UMC: Occasionally. Her husband has told me that he's seen it. I wasn't there. Mark told me that he thought he may have seen a smile. We're all very optimistic. So we could be wrong, but we all want to see the best. Sometimes we see what we want to see. But if he says she's smiling, I buy it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Coming up in about 35 minutes, we'll talk to Sanjay Gupta to discuss the medical significance of that and those movements, the road ahead for Congresswoman Giffords.

HOLMES: Something else has been a part of this story now. Certainly not the most important thing, but there's an obscure Arizona law getting attention, and some say it threatens Giffords' job. Now she's making the recovery as we know. But nobody really knows and nobody is guessing that she'll be back to work in three months.

But there's an Arizona statute that says, and let me quote it to you, "An office shall be deemed vacant from and after the occurrence of any of the following events --" again, quote, "absence from the state by the person holding the office without permission of the legislature beyond the period of three consecutive months."

Now, some people starting to pay attention to that a bit. But the Arizona governor has come out and said it's not even worth talking about right now. She says it's too early and entirely disrespectful to discuss, and plenty others out there believe there's no way that they would allow her to actually put this statute in place and she would lose her job certainly given everyone's hearts and minds on Gabrielle Giffords right now.

CHETRY: Meantime, her husband says he knows his wife has a long road ahead of her but Mark Kelly says he's encouraged by Giffords remarkable progress. He did an interview with Diane Sawyer and he said his wife is smiling at him, and that's not all.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KELLY: She stuck her hand up on the side of my face this morning and I leaned over and then she spent ten minutes giving me -- this is so typical of her. She's in the ICU, you know, gone through this traumatic injury, and she spent ten minutes giving me a neck message.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Kelly was asked if he would be willing to meet with the parents of suspected shooter Jared Loughner. He wrote, "I'd probably see them. I don't think it's their fault. It's not the parents' fault. I'd like to think I'm a somewhat forgiving person, and they have to be hurting in this situation as much as anybody."

HOLMES: Someone else has been a part of this story, and that is Sarah Palin. She's now speaking out for the first time in an interview since the shooting.

You'll remember that since that shooting she has come under a lot of criticism and a lot of debate over the bitter partisan rhetoric and also for that map you are seeing. This was put out during the 2010 campaign. It was an ad depicting Congresswoman Giffords' district with crosshairs over it, essentially saying these are the districts we're targeting.

Last night she spoke to FOX News and she defended the use of this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH PALIN, (R) FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: The graphic that was used was crosshairs targeting the different districts. And that's not original. Democrats have been using it for years. And for many, many years maps in political races have been used to target certain districts that people would feel that they can get into those districts and find someone who they believe would represent the constituents' will better than incumbent. And that is what this map represented.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: This was her first interview, but you remember in this video you see here this was something she put out on her Facebook page, an eight-minute statement she made about it. In it she used the term "blood libel." A lot of people find that to be a slur against Jews. It means being falsely accused of having blood on your hands. She also defended her use of the word "blood libel" in her interview last night, saying it was an appropriate use of that phrase.

CHETRY: Also this morning, he's an instrumental force in the music industry, the cell phone business, and also creating the computer tablet. We're talking about Steve Jobs.

The news broke here on "AMERICAN MORNING" yesterday that he asked and been granted a leave of absence for health reasons, and that has many people wondering about the company's future without him.

Christine Romans is "Minding your Business" this morning. Again, all eyes will be on the opening bell to see whether or not it hits Apple stock. But what is the buzz in the business world about Steve Jobs leave of absence?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: The buzz right now -- obviously this is health related absence. The stock has done well after initial pullbacks. He had pancreatic cancer a few years ago and a liver transplant. And the company very brief statement yesterday, but we know there are ups and downs after you had a liver transplant and he's apparently on one of those downs.

I want to show you the stock. The stock has had basically nothing but ups underneath Steve Jobs' leadership as he has really transformed technology and the way consumers use music and information. That's what the stock was doing when he underwent surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in 2004. The stock price was $14.89. Then by January 14th 2009, he announced a medical leave at that time and stock was up to $85 a share.

And at that time there was a dip because people thought could this company do well without his stewardship while he was undergoing his own medical issues? When he returned to work the stock was at $142 a share. It had risen 65 percent. Tim Cook a top executive had taken over his duties at the company at that time given a nice multimillion dollar bonus for pushing things through and pushing things ahead so well during that time.

The stock now is about $348 a share. When you look at what Wall Street experts think is the possibility for this stock, they really have optimistic views, all of the way up to $450, one of the highest price targets there. The reason is this company continues to change the way we use all different kinds of media.

We'll get this afternoon Apple's most recent earnings report. Last quarter they sold 11,000 iPads a day. It's ridiculous. We're going to see -- one of the things people are scrutinizing is how long will he be out? He didn't name Tim Cook as interim CEO. And very end of the statement he gave yesterday he said "I love this company." Not very often you hear a CEO say "I love this company." So a lot of Apple fans are saying he could be gone for longer perhaps.

HOLMES: Nobody likes uncertainty.

ROMANS: That's exactly right, T.J.

HOLMES: Christine, we appreciate you, as always. Talk to you again shortly.

ROMANS: Thank you.

CHETRY: Also ahead on "AMERICAN MORNING," he's 48 years old, but he's a five-time heavyweight champion. And Evander Holyfield says he's ready to get his sixth belt in his latest bout Saturday. And Evander Holyfield is going to be joining us live.

HOLMES: Also, two major airlines are raising their fares. We'll tell you how much more you'll be paying and at which airline. It's 12 minutes past the hour. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, the effort gets under way today on Capitol Hill to try to repeal the historic health care reform legislation. Debate starts today. They're expecting to vote tomorrow. And on the heels of that we are getting new reports, a new report from the government coming out and saying that as many as half of all Americans under the age of 65 have a pre-existing condition. That would be about 129 million people. That report was released today to "The Washington Post." Conditions range from things like cancer and heart disease to things like asthma and even high blood pressure.

CHETRY: Republicans are dismissing those numbers as PR and they're beginning their debate on trying to repeal health care reform today. Brianna Keilar joins us live from Capitol Hill now with more on the move.

So they are going forward with this. Again, it's likely to pass the House but then what?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, likely to come up against opposition in the Senate. Really never see the light of day in the Senate. And, of course, President Obama is the president. This was his initiative. It's not expected to get by him. But here's how the week is going to play out in the House.

Debate today. This is where the words are going to start. We're going to be watching very carefully this afternoon, 2:00 p.m. Eastern. Tomorrow is going to be that repeal vote. And then Thursday you're going to see another vote that's instructing committees to start drafting legislation that would replace health care reform that would be repealed. But again, Kiran, bottom line this isn't expected to get anywhere and this sort of Plan B for House Republicans is to then try to maybe defund certain parts of health care reform but an outright repeal obviously looking very unlikely.

CHETRY: And so, again, the question is if there really isn't a chance of it becoming law, why take this symbolic measure right now? Why try to move this forward in the House?

KEILAR: You asked Republicans that and they'll say on the campaign trail we promised to do this and we're delivering on a promise. Obviously, they're trying to send a message. But also some Republicans say, you know, this isn't the end of it. This is just the beginning. For instance, listen to what Congressman Steve King of Iowa said on AMERICAN MORNING last hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. STEVE KING (R), IOWA: We first have to pass a repeal in the House with a new Republican majority and then shut off the funding to implement or enforce Obamacare in our appropriations bills throughout 2011 and 2012. Then, 2012, we elect a president who hopefully runs on the platform among them being to sign the repeal of Obamacare. I expect and actually my scenario is the new president standing at the West Portico of the Capitol, January 20th, 2013, taking the oath of office and then signing the repeal right there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Congressman King certainly taking a long view of things there, Kiran. But I think the bottom line is this is just the beginning for Republicans.

CHETRY: All right. And we'll see who's sitting where as well, because we asked that of the congressman this morning, Congressman Steve King. He said it's hard enough to find a seat.

KEILAR: For the State of the Union.

CHETRY: Yes, for the State of the Union. Exactly.

KEILAR: Yes.

CHETRY: We'll be watching on that one. Thanks so much, Brianna.

HOLMES: Also coming up, we told you about a change to the privacy policy that Facebook was making. Now they're going to change back? We'll try to make this out.

CHETRY: Also, he is still fighting at 48 years old. Evander Holyfield set to get ready for his next heavyweight bout. It is this weekend. And he joins us to talk about it in the studio, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Twenty-one minutes past the hour. He is one of the greatest fighters of all-time, a five-time heavyweight champion. And at the age of 48, there is still no quit in Evander Holyfield. He's climbing back into the ring this Saturday night. He's going to be going up against Sherman "Tank" Williams at the Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs in West Virginia. And he's here this morning to talk to us about it.

Evander Holyfield, great to see you. Thanks for being with us.

EVANDER HOLYFIELD, 5-TIME HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION: Thank you.

CHETRY: So, some are asking why go back in the ring. 48 years old. You've proven yourself time and time again. Why go back?

HOLYFIELD: I have a goal. My goal ever since 1992 to be the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world again and yet reaching. The only reason you don't reach goals is because you quit.

CHETRY: And what have you been doing to physically prepare yourself but also mentally prepare yourself to get back in the ring?

HOLYFIELD: Well, you know, big thing I just stay active. The most important thing is you stay sharp by sparring. And I spar a lot and I've trained a lot.

CHETRY: I mean, you look like you're in great shape. What about the speed? Does that slow down as you get a little older?

HOLYFIELD: Well, not really. It just -- you just you don't recover as fast. You know, so when things happen recovering time is not as fast as it used to be.

CHETRY: What are some things that you find differently about training now and working out now that you're a little older?

HOLYFIELD: Well, you know, you're wiser. You don't make as many mistakes, but you don't recover either. So, you know, if you work too hard, you take a little bit more time to recover.

CHETRY: You know, you said that you had a health scare back in the '90s. Right? The doctors told you that you shouldn't fight anymore because you may have had a heart problem and then you found out that wasn't the case.

HOLYFIELD: It wasn't the case. The fact of the matter that it's a mistake on their part. I was overhydrated and I was given too much medication, so that would cause me to have the problem. But I've recovered.

CHETRY: And do you feel stronger than before than let's say the last time that you went in the ring?

HOLYFIELD: I wouldn't say strong as before, but I'm wiser. And I'm sure that I would do better.

CHETRY: What do you think of your opponent? He's 38. So it's not like he's, you know, two decades younger than you. What do you think about taking him on?

HOLYFIELD: Well, you know, it's not so much I think about my opponent. I just pretty much think about myself all that I can do and the mistakes I don't need to make. If I don't make the mistakes, I win.

CHETRY: Yes. I mean, it's going to be a good fight. I know a lot of people are watching. It's on pay-per-view on Saturday, right?

HOLYFIELD: Yes.

CHETRY: And what else have you been up to? I know that you had your big run on "Dancing with the Stars." People loved seeing you on that. What else have you been up to?

HOLYFIELD: Well, you know, I'm into my foundation helping people, inspire them to reach their goal. If you don't quit, you always reach your goal.

CHETRY: That's right. Well, that's -- and you're going to go for it. I mean, any trepidation at all. Are you nervous at all for your health going into the ring?

HOLYFIELD: Well, my health is my health. You know, I'm all right. I wouldn't get in -- you know, I've been doing this for -- I'm been doing it for 40 years. And so, I'm good at what I do. And just like anybody else, you find one thing to be good at, eventually you can be even better.

CHETRY: Well, we wish you the best of luck. It's going to be quite a matchup. 8:00, right? 8:00 on Saturday night? Pay-per-view?

HOLYFIELD: Yes.

CHETRY: Evander Holyfield, great to see you. And good luck to you.

HOLYFIELD: Thank you.

CHETRY: We're going to take a quick break, T.J. We'll be right back.

HOLMES: All right.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Coming up on the bottom of the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. Glad you're here with us. And a live picture of the nation's capital where they're getting back to business today. First order of business is actually trying to take up a repeal of the health care reform bill. They're getting under way with a debate on that today. Expecting a vote tomorrow. And then after that who knows. But they are getting started back to work after taking a week off last week in respect for the victims of the shooting out in Tucson, Arizona.

But again, welcome back to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes.

CHETRY: I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us. A look at the top stories now.

And a big boost in the polls. We have a new CNN/Opinion Research poll that came out just an hour and a half ago showing 53 percent approve of President Obama's job performance. That's a five-point jump than when we last did this polling back in December. Also an 11-point jump since September. The latest poll was taken just after the Tucson shootings.

HOLMES: And I know what you're thinking. It doesn't cost you enough for your flight ticket, does it? Well, it's going to cost a little more now. Christine Romans sitting next to me just cringing here.

Delta and United are the two that are going to be hiking their fares on their domestic flights. So when it comes to Delta, it's going to increase some $20 for a round trip ticket. United prices are going to up about $10 per round trip.

CHETRY: Well, you pull in, you plug in and you shop. A growing number of retail outlets across the country are installing charging stations to accommodate owners of electric vehicles. Some charge for the service at the Mall of America. For example, it's three bucks an hour. But at many other locations, it is free. So if you have one of those new cars, they're starting to accommodate you a little bit more in many places. HOLMES: We'll turn to Haiti now, where people are still scratching their heads trying to figure out why "Baby Doc" is back. He is the former dictator of Haiti, returned after some 25 years in exile is drawing a lot of criticism. Also drawing some protests from Haitian- Americans in Miami. They remember what life was like under his regime.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEAN-ROBERT LAFORTUNE, CHAIR, HAITIAN-AMERICAN JUSTICE COALITION: Those of us who grew up in the era of the dictatorship, we still remember those nights. We still remember those shootings. The presence of "Baby Doc" Duvalier in Haiti doesn't bring good news.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Everybody waiting for "Baby Doc" to explain his reasons. Supposed to be having another scheduled, at least, press conference after one was canceled already. Our John Zarrella live for us in Port-au-Prince this morning.

John, how is he being received and do we think we're actually going to see him come out and address reporters and answer some of these questions?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I've been down here enough times over the last 25 years, T.J., that you never know really what to expect. We certainly think that at 10:00 a.m. this morning, there will be a press conference. We believe it will be "Baby Doc" Duvalier who will speak and explain why he came down here.

The reason we've been given so far is he finally had seen enough of these horrible images of Haiti after the earthquake and decided that he absolutely had to be here to be with the people here and to see how they were feeling and to talk with them. That's the reason we were given by a close friend of his yesterday. We hope to get answers from him a little later this morning.

Now, on another front a lot of things could be moving very fluid here today. There are people - apparently a meeting with sources telling us a meeting last night perhaps involving some government officials where they are trying to figure out what they can do or what action can they take against Duvalier. Could they arrest him? Could they file a criminal complaint against him?

So we expect that there may be some movement on that front. The question, T.J., is Duvalier says he's only here two or three days. If they do file a criminal complaint and someone does file a criminal complaint against him, will that get filed in time before he takes off and leaves the country again if he leaves the country, T.J..

HOLMES: All right. A lot of ifs right now. We'll see. 10:00 press conference could be a couple of hours from now. John Zarrella, we appreciate you. We'll check in again.

CHETRY: Also just in this morning, Facebook appearing to backtrack on its latest plan to give application developers access to your address and phone number.

Christine Romans is "Minding your Business" this morning. This news just crossing, again a bit of a black eye, PR wise, for Facebook when it comes to privacy which they've been hammered about for a long time.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You know, they've been hammered again and again about this ever changing privacy regime over there at Facebook and then these things still happen. So there was a developer blog for Facebook that quietly last week announced it would allow applications to have your phone number and your address, some of these applications when you click allow and it wasn't released in a press release. It wasn't released to Facebook users in a way they could understand the context of how this would be used and it was such an outcry about it that at 2:30 in the morning last night, Facebook said "OK, stop. We're not going to do that for now until we communicate better how this is going to work."

But bottom line here is that if you click allow, the little box that says allow, Facebook can share your information with applications. Your information like your phone number and your address. There was a statement you saw for yourself but you know, over the weekend it was such an outcry that Facebook had to stop doing this. But the criticism has been steady and consistent. That you don't know what is being shared.

You don't have control over what's being shared of your personal information when you are using these applications on Facebook. Facebook specifically said we have rules. We have the applications -

CHETRY: What this does - what this fuels is this feeling among Facebook users that why is it always up to us to discover that our privacy is potentially being breached? Why is always up to us to discover and this just feeds into the whole argument of a little bit of a sneaky bait and switch with some of these sites like Facebook.

ROMANS: I think the take away from us, I mean, if you look at a story like this is that when you click that little button that says allow because you want to do some quiz about your best friend from high school who you haven't talked to in 20 years, you know, be prepared that that application is going to be able to see your phone number and your address and all these other information about you and that application, in some cases, we have seen then that information has been sold to third parties. So there's no such thing as privacy online. I think that's the bottom line here. There's really no such thing as privacy online. You are responsible for protecting yourself. And when you go on these social media - social media, by the way is meant to share as much information to widest variety of people there is.

(CROSSTALK)

CHETRY: Some of it now is that your digital imprint or online imprint maybe in some cases do share credit card information with a certain site. But because everything is merging, you are left wondering, OK, because they have my credit card number does this mean Facebook? ROMANS: Exactly. And that's why we feel as though even when we allow our information to be shared in certain places we're not really confident that that is where it stops -

CHETRY: Right.

ROMANS: That it's out of our control. Facebook really suffering a black eye over this middle of the night, dark of the night changing its policy.

HOLMES: (INAUDIBLE) you don't have any privacy online period.

ROMANS: I know. (INAUDIBLE)

HOLMES: Christine, we appreciate you as always.

CHETRY: Thanks, Christine.

Well, do you remember this quote, this famous quote? Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life.

HOLMES: Love it.

CHETRY: Dean Wormer told that to Bluto in "Animal House." A new study now shows that close to half of students are totally wasting their first two years in college. They had to do a study - no, I'm kidding. But this is on the front page of "USA Today" this morning. The report says that after two years in college, 45 percent of students showed no significant learning gains either because they spent too much time socializing or sleeping. Perhaps only nine percent of time working and going to class and only seven percent actually studying.

ROMANS: At $24,000 a year in student debt, that's an expensive way to spend two years.

CHETRY: Well, you're saying you learn important social skills.

ROMANS: At 24 grand a year. Ouch.

HOLMES: It was cheaper when I went to school. I don't feel so bad.

ROMANS: I went to a state school.

HOLMES: As well did I. It was cheaper then. It all worked out.

All right. It's 35 minutes past the hour. Coming up this morning, another week, another winter storm but this one got a new twist on this one. Our Jacqui Jeras is going to be along to explain what you need to know about this latest system and how it's going to affect you.

CHETRY: Also, Congressman Giffords said to have smiled at her husband. And why doctors believe that as well as some of the other leaps that she has been making in her recovery are so significant. We're going to talk more about that, coming up. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: 38 minutes past the hour. Welcome back to this "American Morning." I'll tell you about a developing story in Iraq where a suicide bombing there has killed at least 50 people, another 150 wounded. You're seeing some of the first images we're getting off out of the scene. This happened in Tikrit which is about 100 miles north of Baghdad, the hometown of Saddam Hussein. This was at a police recruiting center where people were gathered trying to get jobs. The bomber detonated a vest with explosives and the blast triggered a big fire at a nearby gas station. Kiran.

CHETRY: T.J., thanks. Well, the leaders of the world's two economic superpowers are set to face off this week and the stakes couldn't be higher not just for China but for America as well and for you, your job, your paycheck. China's President Hu Jintao arrives in Washington today for an official state visit. So will it mark the beginning of stronger ties or perhaps the unraveling of an already strained relationship?

Joining us with more this morning is Jamie Metzl, the executive vice president of the Asia Society and also former State Department and National Security Council adviser. Thank you so much for joining us this morning.

JAMIE METZL, EXECUTIVE V.P., ASIA SOCIETY: My pleasure.

CHETRY: So just in a nutshell, the significance of this state visit, of these two leaders getting together to discuss a variety of issues today.

METZL: This is a really big deal. President Obama came to power in his first year in office in 2009, he went to China. His trip was a disaster. After that U.S.-China relations started to deteriorate significantly. Over the last year there have been all kinds of friction. China has been very aggressive with its neighbors laying claim to the entire South China Sea. We had the problems in South Korea where the north attacked the south two times and China did very little to reign them in.

Iran is moving forward towards nuclear weapons and China hasn't done enough many would say to help address that. And so there are big problems and on top of that the economic issues of currency valuation, imbalances in the trade relationship and intellectual property protection. And so President Hu is coming to town. There are all of these big issues on the table. If it's as disastrous as Obama's trip was in 2009, that's going to be very costly for this critically important relationship.

CHETRY: So first of all in a nutshell, why do we need to - why is it in the best interest of America to bolster these relationships and also to come to these agreements as you talked about with certain issues like North Korea and also the currency and the trade imbalance.

METZL: It's absolutely critical for our future. China is the second most important country in the world. Any major issue that the United States or the world faces in the 21st century will need to be addressed by China and the United States working together. That doesn't mean that the United States needs to accept whatever China does. And I think we've seen this in the last couple of weeks where different cabinet members have been speaking very forcefully about what the United States will expect from China and Chinese leaders the same.

And so our two countries really need to come together and iron out agreements on specific issues and then we need implementation. You can have all of the feel good meetings in the world. But if there aren't specific actions taken by both the United States and China but I would say particularly China, then this relationship will continue to deteriorate in a very dangerous way.

CHETRY: We talked about our debt, talked about raising the debt ceiling and we talked about deficit spending and how much we owe China.

METZL: Yes.

CHETRY: What did they have at stake here? I mean, what did they need from us?

METZL: Well, people say that China doesn't need anything from the United States but that's absolutely wrong. China's growth has happened entirely within a U.S. led international system. All of China's trade, external trade, is protected by the open seas that are protected by the United States Navy. And so China needs to do a lot more to help the United States, to guarantee the kind of open international system that the United States has guaranteed over the last six and a half decades. They need our markets. They need our global leadership.

CHETRY: Right.

METZL: But the problem is China is emerging so rapidly that on one hand -

CHETRY: I find this interesting. You were in the Clinton White House in the 1990s, I mean, the Clinton administration about this issue. Did we take our eye off the ball or did this come as a surprise the rapid rise of China?

METZL: I think it came as a surprise. I mean everybody knew that China was going to rise. It's such a big country. The people are so talented. It went through a very, very low period for the last maybe couple of hundred years. So it was almost inevitable that at some point China would begin to get its act together. But nobody thought 10, 20 years ago that China was going to rise as rapidly as it did and then the financial crisis hit and all of a sudden, China which looked like a distance player -

CHETRY: Right.

METZL: Now is looking like a much more important international actor and the challenge is because of this, the size and scale and scope of China, now any system that China doesn't join, it will undermine. That's what we're seeing with nuclear proliferation, with human rights, with all sorts of things.

CHETRY: It is important to remember that our GDP is nearly 15 trillion. And theirs is 5.7 trillion but still quite significant.

METZL: Look at growth rates. 10 percent.

(CROSSTALK)

CHETRY: China certainly is putting on the steam. So we'll see how the meetings go. But certainly very critical. Thanks for breaking it down for us. Jamie Metzl, great to see you this morning. T.J.?

HOLMES: Well, Kiran, there are some concerns about Steve Jobs' health and that translates to concerns about the health of Apple, his company.

Also this morning, it's another week, of course, we got another winter storm. This one too is going to wreak havoc on some of your travel plans. It's 44 minutes past the hour.

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HOLMES: Forty-six minutes past the hour. Welcome back to this AMERICAN MORNING.

Giving you a look at stories we're keeping a close eye on, including health of former Vice President Dick Cheney. He is opening up now about his heart surgery he had last July, granting his first interview. And in that interview he showed off a heart pump that he had implanted last summer. At this point he says he's undecided on whether or not he'll have a heart transplant.

CHETRY: Nine days after she was shot, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords continues to amaze doctors with her progress. They're now talking about the possibility that she could be leaving the hospital, discharged, perhaps, within days. Obviously she'd need a lot of long- term recovery at a rehab facility. But her husband also says that she's smiling at him and touching his face.

HOLMES: Well, did you even know there's still video stores out there? Yes, Blockbuster apparently still exists, but a lot of you all may not know it because a new study says movie rental kiosks like Redbox -- these you see in some of your stores -- grocery stores sometimes, they beat out the actual stores last year for rentals. However, places like Netflix, those kind of services online still beat out both. They own about 41 percent of the market.

CHETRY: The Cheesecake Factory. That brings back some great memories. The place that brought us the 1,600 calorie fried mac and cheese. Yum, look at that. Wow, those ribs look good, too. And 900 calorie Snickers cheesecake. Well, they now have a line of skinny cocktails. The chain is offering its five most popular drinks with half the calories. Margaritas and mojitos that usually add up to 300 calories will be cut to 150. HOLMES: Sixteen hundred mac and cheese, you've got to make up the calories somewhere.

CHETRY: Exactly. I'll have a 1,600 calorie mac and cheese and a Diet Coke. I'm watching my weight.

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CHETRY: Well a report this morning that Canadians are training with al Qaeda to come back and attack. We're going to be speaking to Fran Townsend, former national security adviser for former President Bush about the threat and what it means the way we hunt down potential terrorists.

HOLMES: And we have a new update it seems like every day about the condition of Gabrielle Giffords. But you're not going to believe what she has done now. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta coming up to tell us why it's significant.

It's 51 minutes past the hour.

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HOLMES: Well, at just about seven minutes to the top of the hour. The remarkable recovery continues for Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. We keep getting an update, it seems like every day, of something else remarkable that has happened, and indeed, we've gotten another new update.

Let me bring in our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta for me in Atlanta.

Sanjay, good to see you. And just tell me --

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

HOLMES: -- how you take the news to hear that she reportedly smiled at her husband, but also gave him a bit of a back massage for 10 minutes.

Explain these developments to me.

GUPTA: Well, you know, when I talked to Mark Kelly, her husband, the other day, he had told me that she had reached out with her hand and he was joking with me and said, at first, he thought she was going to strangle him sort of jokingly across the neck, but then reached up and rubbed his face.

You know, the thing about it is, we've talked about the fact that she can follow commands. We've talked about the fact that she has spontaneous, purposeful movements, you know, adjusting her gown. And now, sort of this, at least giving some idea that maybe she has recognition and awareness, as well as to what's going on around her, who's around her, which obviously, very significant.

Hearing a command, following it, that's important. But be able to recognize somebody, even have a familiar gesture shows that she has some recognition of that person and remembrance of who that person is, as well.

HOLMES: Yes. You talk about recognition there. I guess you could recognize that somebody is familiar to you is in the room.

But can she actually, at this point, see, do we know? And we know she just had surgery on one of her eyes.

GUPTA: Right. We don't know if she can see or not. That involves some pretty detailed testing which ideally you'd like the person to respond back to you as well verbally, so you have them -- you're checking their vision and they can tell you certain things in terms of their field of vision, as well as how acute, what their acuity vision is, as well.

We heard she had surgery on her eye. And let me just show you if I can for a second, T.J., we know that there was an injury to the left side of her skull over here. And I think it surprised some people that, in fact, it was her right eye that had some damage, really in the bone surrounding her eye over here.

What we know is that when the bullet hit, there was so much pressure that it sort of caused this area to buckle in a bit. And as a result, this bone over here was broken. And, T.J., if you will, for a second, just take your finger and put it on your eyebrow above your right eye for a second .

Do you feel the bone there?

HOLMES: Oh, yes.

GUPTA: That's the orbital rim, the superior orbital rim. That's the same bone as right here. So they actually make an incision through the eyebrow and go into that bone there and then sort of take out any bone fragments that might be pushing on the eye, lift that bone up, and then just put a plate across there like this.

HOLMES: Wow.

GUPTA: That's sort of how they do that. It's a pretty commonly done operation, sort of reestablishes that orbital rim and takes the pressure off of her eye.

That's the operation she had. It took about a couple of hours, they said, to do that and she seems to have tolerated that operation just fine, back to the state of awareness and cognition that she was before the surgery.

HOLMES: It is remarkable. I know you spent time with the doctors, spent time with her husband out there, as well. You continue to give us great update and perspective and expertise. We're glad we have you.

Sanjay, we appreciate you as always, buddy. Thanks so much. We'll be talking soon. GUPTA: Anytime, T.J. Take care.

HOLMES: All right. Quick break here on this AMERICAN MORNING. Your top stories coming up after a quick break. Don't go anywhere.

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