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American Morning
Gadhafi Attacks Rebels; Oil Prices Spike Again; Wisconsin Budget Battle Continues; Gadhafi Speaking Live; Apple's Important iPad Test; Libyan Refugee Crisis; Christian Dior's Galliano Fired
Aired March 02, 2011 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: On this AMERICAN MORNING, there's a fresh round of violence erupting in Libya. Pro-Gadhafi forces bombing a town 500 miles east of Tripoli, seizing it back from anti-government rebels who planned to formally ask America for military help today.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: All this unrest spiking oil prices yet again. Every day it's costing you more to fill up your car, to heat your home and it's leaving a lot of experts and analysts wondering if America's economy and the recovery is about to crumble because of this.
VELSHI: And a potential Republican candidate for the White House in 2012 claims he -- President Obama was raised in Kenya. His aides say he simply misspoke. We'll let you hear what Mike Huckabee told a New York radio station so you can decide for yourself.
CHETRY: And a TSA agent busted for allegedly helping a drug trafficker get through an airport security checkpoint. We've been hearing about incidents like this a lot lately. We're going to break down what exactly happened.
VELSHI: All of that is ahead.
CHETRY: On AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Breaking news out of Libya this morning.
CHETRY: That's right. Moammar Gadhafi cracking down on rebels and launching a major counteroffensive against a key city.
VELSHI: Plus, Wisconsin's governor not backing down. He unveils his controversial budget proposal in a showdown that could have implications across the country.
CHETRY: And Apple set to unveil the iPad 2. But the battle over computer tablets is heating up because other companies are out with their versions, as well. What everyone wants to know, will Steve Jobs make an appearance today on this AMERICAN MORNING.
It's 6:00. Thanks so much for joining us here in New York this morning, on this Wednesday, the 2nd of March. I'm Kiran Chetry. VELSHI: And I'm Ali Velshi. We're going to lose your attention because of this new iPad launch. We already know how much you like your existing iPad.
CHETRY: Right. And I was just going to say, congratulations this morning, mine is now obsolete.
VELSHI: We'll be having an interview on that later on in the show. I will have no part in it because Kiran made it very clearly that's her gig.
All right. We do have important developments out of Libya we were telling you about. Moammar Gadhafi is not going down without a fight. In fact, it's questionable whether he's going down at all.
Right now, violence is erupting in eastern Libya 500 miles from Tripoli. Witnesses say the town of Ajdabiya was under the control of rebel forces until just a few hours ago when pro-Gadhafi troops staged air strikes and seized it back. The town is home to a large oil refinery.
Now, later today, a formal request for military help is expected to come from opposition forces in the rebel-controlled city of Benghazi. They don't want our help on the ground, but they plan to formally ask America to declare Libya a no-fly zone and to assist with air strikes and weapons.
Right now, the Obama administration is considering cutting all diplomat ties with Libya, but there's a lot of resistance to lending military assistance to the anti-Gadhafi forces. Meanwhile, the United Nations has booted Libya off its Human Rights Council.
CHETRY: And as we mentioned, Moammar Gadhafi appears to be launching an offensive against rebel-held cities. Ben Wedeman joins us live on the phone in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi this morning.
And, Ben, sort of just paint the picture for our viewers this morning. What is the latest right now? What's going on with this offensive?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): OK. What we understand from witnesses living in this area is that there was an attempt by forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi to retake the town of Al-Brega. Al-Brega is their very large refinery and natural processing plant. We've been told that Gadhafi forces briefly had control of the city, but were subsequently driven out by local forces, which are fairly disorganized, but they're obviously very eager to put up a fight because they realize that if Colonel Gadhafi reestablishes control in this area that it could be a very grave development.
There were air strikes on the town of Ajdabiya, more specifically on an ammunitions dump in that area that had previously been the target for air strikes by the Libyan air force. Now we are on our way to that area now. We've seen that the opposition forces are sending reinforcements, including anti-aircraft mounted on pickup trucks. Obviously this is a serious development because this area, by and large, is firmly under the control of the opposition forces that clearly the forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi are trying to test the perimeter, so to speak.
CHETRY: And I have another question just about who this rebel -- this rebel group is. You know, what are they made up of? And how armed are they? I mean, how much power do they actually have to fight a Gadhafi regime?
WEDEMAN: No military experience. And soldiers and security forces, policemen who --
CHETRY: All right, our transmission with Ben, of course, is a little bit dicey because of where he is right now in this eastern city of Benghazi where the rebel forces are currently holding on to their ground. But again, what could be shaping up to be a difficult civil war.
VELSHI: Right. This is a real transition from what we saw in Tunisia, what we saw in Egypt, and what we saw in Bahrain where it was protesters against the government with the military on the side or at least on the government's side. Here we've got armed rebels now and an armed government fighting against each other. It is a very serious development and it explains why we're seeing a spike in oil prices, why we're seeing real international concern about what's going on in Libya. Very different situation than what we've seen so far.
CHETRY: Yes, absolutely. And we will continue to cover it this morning. Coming in about 30 minutes, another big story developing out of this as the humanitarian crisis that's growing along the border of Tunisia as tens of thousands of refugees are trying to flee Libya because of the unrest. We're going to be checking in with Arwa Damon coming up at 6:30
VELSHI: And the chaos in Libya is rattling investors here in the U.S. As we just discussed, oil prices keep on spiking up another 2.7 percent yesterday. Take a look at this.
This is just from yesterday. This is the increase in oil closing at just under $100 a barrel here in the United States. It was higher than that last week, but it has been in that area for a while. As a result of that, take a look at what happened in stock markets.
The Dow took a big hit, down 168 points. We also heard from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke who expressed concern about the economic recovery if the price of oil keeps climbing.
CHETRY: Also, Democrats south of the border in Wisconsin still staying away in Illinois. And the governor of Wisconsin unveiling his new state budget, which includes cuts to schools and local municipalities. And the protests, meanwhile, continue at the capitol.
The governor's plan to cut compensation and collective bargaining rights for union workers still leading to a stalemate. Fourteen Democratic senators that left the state are still there, making sure that this does not get passed. CNN's David Mattingly is live in Madison, Wisconsin.
I mean, any movement on either side? Is there any hope of resolving this? Or are we just seeing more of the same today, David?
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kiran, we're approaching the two-week mark of that day when 14 Democratic senators fled to the state of Illinois essentially going into political exile to shut down this political process. And so far, no movement seen on either side. In fact, the governor coming out last night laying out his budget proposals being very clear saying the state of Wisconsin is broke and they have to do some very big changes to the way the state handles its books and handles its spending in order to get out of the red by the year 2013. He says that he is confident, though, expressing some confidence that they will be able to continue in spite of this stalemate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. SCOTT WALKER (R), WISCONSIN: I've been asked a lot over the past few weeks what happens next. Well, I'm an optimist. I believe that after our budget repair bill passes, tempers will cool, and we'll find a way to continue to work together, to help grow our economy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: But right now, that stalemate apparently still ongoing. The Democratic senators I spoke to yesterday after watching the government -- the governor's speech, they were saying that they are not willing to budge just yet. Everything comes down to that collective bargaining issue. They say the governor does not need to remove many of the rights that the union workers now have who are working for the state. They say as long as that is on the table, that they will remain in Illinois. There has been some talks with Republicans in the Senate. There is some optimism being expressed that something will be worked out. But at this point, the stalemate continues. Something here, Kiran, is going to have to give. The big dramatic question is who will it be?
CHETRY: All right. Well, David Mattingly, still as you said the two- week mark and no movement. Thanks so much.
Coming up at 7:10 Eastern, we're going to be speaking with two state senators. We talked to them before on both sides of the standoff. Has anything changed? Is there any common ground? Wisconsin Republican Glenn Grothman and also Democrat Jon Erpenbach, who again has been out of the state in Illinois for the past two weeks.
VELSHI: We'll hear from them and see what the next steps are in Illinois because other states are watching this very carefully. Let's take a look at a couple of other states in crisis right now. A similar crisis, California and Rhode Island.
Now, in California, more than 400 teachers in San Francisco could lose their jobs at the end of this school year. Just how many may get laid off? What we won't know until the summer. The city school district stands to lose an additional $27 million in state funding. And that's on top of the $113 million that the district has already lost.
Meantime, on the other side, Rhode Island, the Providence teachers' union is fighting back against a plan to fire all of the city's public school teachers. The union has filed an unfair labor practices complaint against the school board. It's in response to the Providence mayor's decision to fire more than 1,900 teachers because of a $40 million school budget deficit. The mayor has said many of those teachers will be hired back but he needs to fire them all in order to have the freedom to hire them back. The union plans to hold a solidarity rally at Providence city hall today.
CHETRY: Well, we have some extreme weather to tell you about as well. Crews in Florida, as we know yesterday, were struggling with that huge wildfire. Now they're trying to get two wildfires under control. They've burned 18,000 acres in two counties. And it's all along the east coast of Florida there. A busy part of I-95, which is threatened by the flames has now been reopened. But, officials say that they may have to close that stretch of highway again today. The flames are only 25 percent contained and at least one home was destroyed. Entire neighborhoods may still be in jeopardy as the winds shift.
In Texas, fires that were burning through a football field every minute are now slowing down. Twenty-one fires remain about 50 percent contained. Seventy-eight homes burned down since Sunday. Officials say that smoke from one fire caused a car accident, a deadly car accident.
In Indiana, water pouring out of windows, businesses flooded as rivers overflow across the Midwest. At least five inches of rain fell Monday. And that is on top of all of the melting snow and ice.
VELSHI: All right. A lot of this is the effect of weather that we've had so far. The melting snow and ice, the flooding, these fires and dry conditions. What can we expect today? Rob Marciano in the extreme weather center for us now.
Rob, what's on the -- what's on the agenda today weather wise?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: A couple of things. First of all, relatively quiet weather, or dry weather, I should say. And that's good news obviously for the folks who are battling the floods. We have still flood warnings that are posted from the Western Great Lakes all the way about halfway down the Mississippi.
Other item up for business is this cold front that's sliding across the Great Lakes and you will see a marked cool down in places like Chicago today. New York is going to be real nice, probably break 50 degrees, but tomorrow is when you get your shot of cold air.
And then the third piece of business we have to take care of is this storm slamming into the West Coast, a strong one affecting everybody from San Diego up through Seattle. And high winds, especially across Oregon and Washington and heavy snows in through the sierras. In between, relative calm and quiet. We will take that for sure. Temperatures as they are typically in the month of March are kind of all over the place. Anywhere from 59 degrees in D.C. to 16 in Minneapolis.
Enjoy the warm air today, guys, because it's going to get a little chilly.
CHETRY: Yes. And the winds are going to blow back in. I can't believe Indiana, five inches of rain since Monday. That's amazing.
MARCIANO: And it was just really -- really slim layer of it. Or a piece of real estate really across central and southern Indiana getting into a little bit of Ohio. But it was one spot really that got it and they're paying the price in the form of some flooding.
VELSHI: Rob, we'll check in with you in a bit. Thanks very much. Rob Marciano in our extreme weather center
All right. Did he just misspeak? Or did he mean to say what he said? Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas and a possible presidential candidate in 2012 tells a New York radio station that President Obama's views differ from most Americans, why? Because he was raised in Kenya. You'll hear it for yourself.
CHETRY: Also, Apple's expected to unveil the latest version of its iPad. Find out why many say the gadget-maker has a lot riding on today.
VELSHI: And actor Charlie Sheen has joined the Twitter verse. So what more could he possibly have to say? Find out.
It is 12 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: And the weather in - where is that? Indianapolis?
CHETRY: I think - I would go - I would go Washington, D.C.
VELSHI: Oh, that's (INAUDIBLE) again.
CHETRY: Yes.
VELSHI: Washington, D.C.
All right. You know, it's not just - we're not doing this for the weather, although that looks remarkable. Beautiful sunset - sunrise in - in Washington.
Sunset on the federal budget, though, if they don't get something done pretty soon. The Senate is expected to follow the lead of the House, however, to keep the government open. They're going to approve a stop-gap spending bill that keeps the government running for another two weeks.
Remember, it was supposed to expire Friday night. This will get - get going for another two weeks.
The measure cuts spending in the budget by some $4 billion. The next part for Republicans and Democrats, though, is going to be much, much, much harder. That's negotiating an agreement on what to spend for the rest of the year, the reason we don't have a budget agreement. And, take that, Nancy Pelosi. With Republicans now in control of the House, Styrofoam cups have reappeared in cafeterias throughout the capitol. Non-recyclable Styrofoam cups were replaced with environmentally-friendly biodegradable cups back in 2007, a pivotal element of then-Speaker Pelosi's Green the Capitol initiative.
Why would they reverse that, Kiran?
CHETRY: It's very, very odd.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: I don't know.
Newt Gingrich has his eye on the White House in 2012, but he was actually coming out with a bit of a clarification over what exactly it meant. The former House Speaker is expected to make an announcement tomorrow that he's forming an organization to explore a run for the Republican nomination.
You see you have to (INAUDIBLE), in many ways.
VELSHI: I love it. Yes. I love it.
CHETRY: His top aides insist this is not an official declaration that he's a candidate for president. That's why they have an exploratory committee.
VELSHI: Right.
CHETRY: But they do admit privately that they expect him to run.
VELSHI: I'm forming an exploratory committee for what I'm going to have for lunch.
Comments from another potential Republican candidate for the 2012 presidency are raising a lot of eyebrows this morning. This one got a lot of attention, Mike Huckabee. All right, he ran last time. He was former Governor of Arkansas.
He claims that President Obama's view of the world differs from those of most Americans. Why? Because he was raised in Kenya.
But the president wasn't raised in Kenya. He was actually raised in Hawaii and Indonesia.
Listen to the comments Huckabee made yesterday in an interview with a New York radio station.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
MIKE HUCKABEE (R), FORMER ARKANSAS GOVERNOR: I would love to know more, but what I know is troubling enough. And one thing that I do know is - is, having grown up in Kenya, his view of the Brits, for example, very different than - than the average American.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
VELSHI: Now, he's currently (ph) a FOX News host. This is a guy who's had a great deal of experience in front of people, speaking, campaigning as a new guy. He's not given to misspeaking. You know, we don't really hear a lot about Huckabee saying things and then retracting them, not meaning what he says.
A spokesman says the former Arkansas governor, however, did simply misspeak and that he really meant to say Indonesia instead of Kenya.
CHETRY: All right. Well, again, giving - you know, giving fodder to this whole notion, the questions about the president -
VELSHI: Right.
CHETRY: -- and, you know, is he one of us? And that is -
VELSHI: Or is he another?
CHETRY: Yes. So, again, he said that it was - he misspoke.
Meantime, all eyes on Apple this morning. The company is expected to unveil the latest version of its iPad, and we're going to find out why today's announcement could not only be an important test for Apple but for some of the other companies trying to get in on the tablet game.
VELSHI: Right. There are a lot of them. And - and, of course, as you mentioned earlier, Steve Jobs, we do not know whether we will see him today or not. That's a - that's a lot of speculation as well.
If you think talking and texting while you're driving is bad, just wait until you hear that one in five drivers - what one in five drivers are now doing behind the wheel. I'll tell you on the other side of the break.
It is 19 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right. We - breaking news right now. You are listening to the voice, we believe, of Moammar Gadhafi, in a room in Tripoli. He's holding a - a scrum (ph), a press conference of sort. You can see reporters and - appear to be - well, there appears to be a lot of people gathered around.
He doesn't seem to be talking just yet. I'm asking for some clarification from our producers.
CHETRY: Yes, well, they're saying that - they're saying that there are pro-Gadhafi supporters in the room, as well, who have also been sort of, you know, voicing their (INAUDIBLE) - their support.
VELSHI: What is happening here, there are a bunch of people gathering -
CHETRY: They're clapping, dancing, and - and voicing their support for Gadhafi. But, again, he was speaking - at least, he has been speaking -
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: -- in this room and he invited the press to hear it.
VELSHI: All right. So we've - we've got that. As soon as we get some of what he was saying - this is being brought to us by Libyan TV. As soon as we get some of that turned around, we'll bring it to you, tell you what Moammar Gadhafi is saying.
The latest news here is that overnight Gadhafi forces were said to be taking back a city about 500 miles east of Tripoli, using aircraft fire, claiming it back from - from rebels who had taken control of that city.
CHETRY: Right.
VELSHI: So there'd been a lot of activity overnight in Libya.
CHETRY: And - and this just crossed a second ago, some of the reporting on this, according to Reuters at least, is that Moammar Gadhafi is saying that his forces now control both the airport and sea port of the town you mentioned, El Brega. He's trying to come out and contradict rebel accounts that they were able to put off this attack.
VELSHI: All right. We'll continue to give you coverage on that. We've got our reporters live in Libya for you.
CHETRY: Meantime, there's a new study out showing that talking and texting is certainly not the only distraction when it comes to driving. According to State Farm Insurance, nearly 20 percent of people admit that they surf the web on a cell phone behind the wheel at least once a week.
Now, most drivers say they only access the Internet when they were stopped either at a light or stopped in traffic.
VELSHI: Now, that - that does scare me. There can be a whole lot of unnecessary accidents because of that.
I - I have to say, I - my phone's not off when I drive. I'm trying to really curb -
CHETRY: Right.
VELSHI: -- the habit of doing anything -
CHETRY: What I try to do is put it in my bag and zip it and have it -
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: -- in the back, so it's not even - it's not even a temptation.
VELSHI: What haven't we talked about this morning? There's something we haven't talked about that we've been talking about. Charlie Sheen.
CHETRY: That's right.
VELSHI: Charlie Sheen. He's been in the media spotlight a lot lately, and now, if you need more Charlie Sheen than you've been getting in the last few days, because so many of you are complaining that you haven't heard enough from him - Twitter.
You're looking at a live shot of his Twitter page.
CHETRY: I'm actually surprised he hasn't been on this before, but he just -
VELSHI: Right. He just - (INAUDIBLE) he'd done everybody's TV shows, and now he's got - he's got 600,000 followers already. He's been on this thing for - about 36 hours he's been on Twitter.
CHETRY: Unbelievable.
VELSHI: Six hundred thousand followers.
Here are some of his tweets.
CHETRY: Right. Some of them. This picture with one of his so-called goddesses, along with a message, "Winning. Choose your vice." What, are they holding up milk or something? Hopefully.
Also, he tweeted - chocolate milk.
VELSHI: Clear with me who the goddesses are?
CHETRY: These are - this is a group of - a group of ladies that live with him.
VELSHI: I see.
CHETRY: "My sons are fine. My path is now clear. Defeat is not an option." And that last tweet may have something to do with reports that police actually removed the actor's twin sons, young children - they're actually babies, who are in his home.
Now, police are denying any involvement, but, again, the fact that there - there were reports that his sons were in the home with him through all of this is also a little bit disturbing.
VELSHI: So now that he's tweeting, do we have to talk about him less?
CHETRY: Yes.
VELSHI: He can talk for himself.
CHETRY: You can just read for yourself on the Tweeter-verse.
VELSHI: This story brought to you by Kiran. Apple's got a lot riding on today. Later today it's expected to unveil its latest iPad. Cue the iPad.
CHETRY: This is not the new one.
VELSHI: Kiran's got the iPad.
CHETRY: It's the old one.
VELSHI: And my great friend Christine Romans is back with us -
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hello.
VELSHI: -- and she has the news on this.
ROMANS: I do.
CHETRY: Yes. So this thing's obsolete, basically?
ROMANS: No. Well, no. (INAUDIBLE) I think the new one's going to be slimmer, it's going to be faster, it might have a camera, front-facing camera. Some people are saying it'll have a front and a back camera -
VELSHI: Well, basically one of the biggest complaint about it, that it doesn't have a camera.
ROMANS: That's right. So -
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: -- 1:00 Eastern time, we're going to - I know. I like mine too.
At 1:00 Eastern time, we're going to learn more about what the new iPad looks like. But this - this is a game changer. The iPad has been a game changer in the computer world.
They've sold 14.8 million of these things in just less than a year -
VELSHI: Wow.
ROMANS: -- and it's about $9.6 billion worth of products, about 12 percent of Apple's revenue.
You guys, this comes out to about 2,300 iPads are sold every hour. So this is - this is something that has been a - a big driver for Apple.
But there's a lot of competition now because there are 102 tablets on the market. So, yes, Apple has the first, but they did a very good job with the first one. Now, they're going to have to do - they're going to have to show that they are better than all of those other tablets that are either on sale or in development.
CHETRY: So I got mine -
VELSHI: But, you know, to keep better -
CHETRY: I was just going to say, I got this August 26, 2010, and it's now obsolete. This is - and the annoying thing is they're telling you to hold on because by Christmas -
VELSHI: There'll be another one.
CHETRY: -- they may have a third version.
VELSHI: Well, you know, better is - isn't - with music players, there were - there were other ones that were cheaper and played more music and held more stuff.
CHETRY: Right.
VELSHI: But the ease of use of what Apple does still gets them a lot of customers.
ROMANS: It's true. And one of the big questions now about Steve Jobs, who is on a medical leave from there, are people going to be more or less likely to buy products from Apple because Steve Jobs is not at the forefront anymore. And if he were to be out for an extended period of time, what kind of a driving force is he at this company? What's going to be their next iPad?
It's interesting, there is a survey that shows that 80 percent of people say they would - they would not stop buying anything -
VELSHI: Sure.
ROMANS: -- from Apple because he's out. Well, you look at 2006, that was a different story, really.
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: I mean, there were more people who were - thought he was much more of an iconic driver of the company. So this company is - is - it's really showing its chops in terms of - you know, I don't mean to sound like an, you know, an Apple -
VELSHI: No, but I've been an Apple denier for a - a long time -
CHETRY: Me, too.
VELSHI: -- but ultimately they really have shown that they are trend makers.
ROMANS: Trend makers, but there's a lot of competition now, 102 other - other tablets. They're going to have to show that they can - that they're the first mover and they can keep that first spot.
CHETRY: We're - we're actually going to be showcasing some of the other tablets, as well, and talk a little bit more about the new version of the iPad a little bit later on the show.
But one thing I find that's interesting, and you remember this, people scoffed at this when it first came out and said, what exactly is this supposed to be? I already have a BlackBerry or I already have an -
VELSHI: It replaces nothing. I still maintain that it replaces nothing.
CHETRY: Yes, but it has - it has quickly replaced, in some cases, newspapers, the Kindle, you know, or the e - the readers.
VELSHI: Bah, humbug.
CHETRY: And, in some cases, you don't really need to bring your laptop. I've not - I don't have to bring my laptop anymore to work.
VELSHI: It's - it's not as easy to read on this as it is on the Kindle. It's harder on your eyes, and it's bigger. I'm just saying.
ROMANS: I hear you.
VELSHI: I have one, but I'm - I'm -
CHETRY: But the numbers don't lie. And how many did you say - 14 million they sold.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: Oh yes, 2,300 every single hour are sold to this company. So, that's just - I mean, when you're talking numbers like that, there's something about it that is resonating with consumers.
VELSHI: There's no question about that. I - this company continues to amaze me.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: But you continue to amaze me too. Great to see you.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: Great to see you, too.
VELSHI: I'm still a BlackBerry user.
Great to see you, and thanks for filling in for me at Atlanta.
ROMANS: You're welcome, and I'll be back for you in about half an hour.
VELSHI: Very good. All right. Christine Romans.
CHETRY: Well, a growing crisis on the Libyan border. We are talking about the unrest. We just heard, of course, live from Moammar Gadhafi, as well.
But, meantime, people are trying to flee the country in great numbers. That relief effort can't keep up.
We're live on the border with Tunisia, ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VELSHI: We're looking at New York. Live pictures right now. The sun coming up, 33 degrees outside. I didn't feel that cold when I came in this morning. It's going to get up to 50 today. Beautiful day in the city.
CHETRY: Yes, I love that. Unfortunately, then, we're going to be down to 22 again tonight as the winds blow in. It seems like any time we get a nice day, it quickly changes.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: But that's been the crazy winter we've seen.
Meantime, 32 minutes past the hour, time for the top stories.
And the political standoff continues in Wisconsin. Can you believe it's been two weeks since this all happened? The state's governor on top of trying to get that one budget bill out there is introducing a new budget that cuts $1.5 billion of schools and local government. That spending plan is contingent on passing the measure that would end collective bargaining for most public and employee unions. The state Senate can't vote on it, though, until the 14 Democrats return to the capitol, something they are still refusing to do.
VELSHI: An interesting story, I posted this on my Twitter board this morning, got a lot of response to it. The assassin who gunned down Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 will appear before a parole board in California today. Two psychologists insist that Sirhan Sirhan no longer poses a threat to society.
He's now 66 years old. He served nearly 43 years in prison. This will be his 14th parole hearing that he's attended since the beginning of his life sentence.
CHETRY: Wow.
Libyan Moammar Gadhafi is fighting back. We're showing you live pictures right now where he is actually holding court -- I guess you could say -- at the national celebration in Tripoli. He's surrounded by supporters. This is inside of a hall in Tripoli where he continued to insist that he holds on to power, telling the people you will remain great.
Now, his troops meantime used air strikes to try to seize back the eastern town of Ajdabiyah this morning. It's been under control of anti-government forces until just a few hours ago. Significant because it is home to a large oil refinery. Later today, rebel leaders plan to formally ask the U.S. to declare Libya a no-fly zone and they also want help with air strikes and weapons.
VELSHI: Now, right now, two U.S. warships are making their way to the Mediterranean. "Reuters" is reporting that the USS Kearsarge and the USS Ponce entered the Suez Canal a short time ago.
Take a look at this. The Suez Canal, you can see where the red dot is, that's the Suez Canal. That's how you get into the Mediterranean. They're headed toward Libya. They've got to go all the way past Egypt. So, they're not -- it's imminent that they're going to get there.
Let me tell you a bit about those ships. They are amphibious warships -- at least the Kearsarge is an amphibious warship. It has on it -- it can transport troops, tanks, trucks, cargo, artillery, things like that. It's got a huge deck, about 13,000 square feet, can also land helicopters and carry helicopters. It carries anti-aircraft missiles and missile decoy launchers if it's attack. It's also got a 600-bed hospital.
So, it's a very, very useful ship to have in the area. It's a Wasp Class amphibious ship.
The other ship, the USS Ponce, a bigger ship, is also carrying similar material and equipment.
The violence in Libya is turning into a crisis on its borders. Tens of thousands of people, some with all of their possessions on them, on their backs are trying to escape pro-Gadhafi forces into Egypt -- out of Egypt and into Tunisia. These are two countries that dealing with their own instability -- already, a massive backup of refugees. Food and water are running out. It's especially bad on Libya's western border with Tunisia.
Tunisian authorities are warning people may be bottled up there for weeks.
Arwa Damon is live for us on the Libya-Tunisia border.
Arwa, what's it looking like there? What is the situation on the ground?
ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, Ali, we're at the Jazebah (ph) border crossing that is not the main border crossing that refugees have been using. It is however 60 kilometers away from a small town of Nalut, that, in fact, had been in opposition hands for a few days. This specific border crossing saw the Libyan military deserted for around a week before they came in and took it back on Monday -- a hard core source of pro-Gadhafi military. We are hearing some people on the ground here.
Nalut itself still remains in the hands of the opposition. However, we have also been hearing reports that military loyal to Gadhafi moved in around that town, and that has raised great fears amongst the residents that the military is going to try to launch some sort of a counterattack. We've been hearing reports that residents have been trying to beef up their defenses, setting up barricades, really trying to dig in.
We've seen a small trickle of refugees coming across here. Mostly foreign workers from Egypt to Bangladesh, some from South Korea, as well. Many of them saying that they have to flee the violence. As they were coming through, they said they had to navigate a number of pro-Gadhafi checkpoints manned either by the military or by civilians. A number of them said they had to make payments, bribes to get through. They all have their cell phones taken off them. Really a treacherous journey.
What we saw yesterday when we were up north was a much greater influx of refugees and it is really there where the United Nations is saying that there is already a humanitarian crisis underway. One that they fear could turn into a humanitarian catastrophe, Ali.
VELSHI: Arwa, what is in place in order to deal with this? Tunisia's got its own issues right now. We know that the ships, the Ponce and the Kearsarge, are headed there. But it's a 600-bed hospital. What exactly can they do to get food and water and treatment to these people who will need it?
DAMON: Well, Ali, that's really what this very dire situation is all about. And a number of Tunisians that we have been speaking to have really been lamenting and quite angry about the fact that international aid has been so slow in coming. Really up until the last few days, it has been largely the Tunisian military, the local population rallying together, collecting food, things like bread, water, basic medical supplies to try to alleviate some of the refugees suffering. The military set up a number of tents.
The U.N. came in two days ago and began erecting their own tent city to try to deal with the influx of refugees. They're planning to eventually be able to house some 12,000 refugees. But (INAUDIBLE) expected that in a single day now they're receiving around 14,000 refugees. It comes nowhere near to dealing with the scope and gravity of the problem here. And that is why there are such great concerns.
What we were hearing from U.N. and other officials is that only 30 percent of the refugees that are coming across the border into Tunisia are actually being re-evacuated back to their respective home countries. So, the pile-up of people looking for shelter, food, the basics, is growing to proportions that Tunisia cannot handle at this point, Ali.
VELSHI: Arwa Damon on the Tunisia-Libya border -- thanks very much. We'll stay on top of this with you -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Here's an interesting part of a story that we want to bring you today about some of the big names in the music industry taking heat over these huge paydays that they got from the Gadhafi regime. We found this out from leaked State Department documents showing that Beyonce as well as Usher were both paid $1 million to perform for Gadhafi's son in St. Barts, that was back on New Year's Eve in 2009. Now, Mariah Carey did the same show the year before.
And now, at least one singer, Nelly Furtado, says she's giving Gadhafi's money away. Nelly Furtado tweeted that she received $1 million from the Gadhafi clan back in 2007 to perform for 45 minutes and she will donate that cash to charity -- Ali.
VELSHI: All right. Coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING: A pilot program on the Rutgers University campus will let students choose the gender of their dorm mates. We'll tell you what's behind the new housing plan.
And the anti-Semitic rant that just got the top fashion designer at Christian Dior fired.
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CHETRY: Breaking news this morning. We want to show you these pictures that are coming to us from Libyan state television where Moammar Gadhafi is speaking right now in a hall in front of supporters, insisting that he's still in control, pretty much. It's a rambling, you know, talk that he's giving. And sometimes it was punctuated with them cheering and clapping for him.
But, again, he sort of -- seems wanted to come out and insist that he's still does hold power given that rebels in some key cities have said that they've taken control.
VELSHI: But overnight, there were some developments where a city about 500 miles east of Tripoli came under government attack. The government is saying that they have seized that city back from rebels.
That is unconfirmed. Rebels are denying that's the case. But there do seem to have been violent developments overnight.
Things that are pushing this further and further into much more clearly a civil war where there is an armed insurrection. There are armed rebels versus the government using its own force against its own people.
CHETRY: Right. And now that armed -- those armed rebels asking for help from the international community, as well, when it comes to trying to defend against the regime.
VELSHI: There should be a formal request this afternoon, by the way, from the opposition to the U.S. to declare Libya a no-supply zone and to help with air support against the government.
CHETRY: So, we'll keep following the developments this morning. There are many coming from Libya.
Meantime, a TSA worker is under arrest this morning. The employee, 43-year-old Minnetta Walker, is accused of escorting drug traffickers through security check points and onboard flights at Buffalo Niagara International Airport. Authorities say they've been investigating Walker since last summer and she was arrested yesterday along with a suspected drug dealer at the airport.
VELSHI: Following the suicide of a gay student earlier this year, Rutgers University will introduce gender neutral housing giving male and female students the option of living together. Twenty to 30 students will be part of a pilot program beginning in the fall.
It's believed to be in response to the death of freshman Tyler Clementi. You'll remember this. He jumped off a bridge after that videotaped sexual encounter was posted online by his roommate. More than 50 other universities have gender-neutral housing. And still to come this morning: Rob's going to have this morning's travel forecast. That's coming up right after the break.
CHETRY: And this anti-Semitic rant that just got the top fashion designer at Christian Dior fired. Ali Cho has more details on what happened with John Galliano.
Forty-five minutes past the hour.
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VELSHI: It's 47 minutes after the hour. Let's get a quick check of this morning's weather headlines from none other than Rob Marciano in the Extreme Weather Center. Rob, what do you got for us today? Anything that's going to cause -- we've had some busy, exciting mornings. What have you got for us?
MARCIANO: Nothing more exciting than that dramatic intro, I think.
CHETRY: Right. Exactly. We should quit while we're ahead.
MARCIANO: You, sir, should be up for an Oscar. What we're looking at is nothing drastic across the eastern 2/3 in the country as far as storms go right now. That's the good news. Bad news is damage is done as far as how much rain this area, most of the Western Great Lakes has seen and all the way down to the mid-south on top of a pretty decent snow pack.
Pictures from Indiana showing just this a number of rivers up and over their flood stage and have yet to crest, including some of the bigger ones, the Ohio River, parts of the Mississippi River, and all the way up to the Illinois River, as well, and some of these rivers won't crest until Friday or Saturday night. So, slow go of it. And this will be an ongoing story, I'm afraid to say, throughout the spring.
All right. Spring-like weather across the northeast today. Temperatures starting out in the 30s, but notice behind this front, temperatures are dropping in places like Detroit, places like Chicago, places like Milwaukee, and that cold blast just to remind you that we're actually still officially in winter. That'll be coming through Chicago today into the northeast tomorrow. Big storm from Seattle all the way down to San Diego today.
Rain in the valley, snow in the mountains, probably a foot or better across the higher Sierra Nevadas with snow levels that at about 6,000 feet. Winds, as well. There's a hurricane-force wind warning just off the coastlines of Oregon and Washington. Might see some delays in Seattle and San Francisco because of that. Dry New York, but it will be breezy at times, pretty warm southwesterly wind, as a matter of fact, and that may slow down some travel in the usual spots, but the southeast, relatively quiet today.
You know, the weather's not really going to help or hurt the fire situation in Texas and in Florida. Sixty-eight degrees for the high temperature in Atlanta. It will be 32. You got 16 in Minneapolis, still winter, 52 degrees in New York City. Enjoy that. It gets much colder tomorrow.
VELSHI: Yes. We'll enjoy it for a few more days.
CHETRY: One day, it's true.
VELSHI: Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: All right, guys.
CHETRY: This morning's top stories just minutes away including selling sex on Facebook. You know, for so long, the emphasis was on craigslist and whether or not they were doing enough to police (ph) their site. How about Facebook? A new trend in the world's oldest profession. How prostitutes are finding clients on social networking sites.
VELSHI: And breast milk for sale on the internet. Perfectly legal, but is it safe? We'll talk about that, too.
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CHETRY: Well, an end of an era at the French fashion house, Christian Dior. John Galliano, Dior's chief designer, was fired after a shocking anti-Semitic rant.
VELSHI: Now, Galliano was arrested in a Paris bar last week. Alina Cho is tracking the latest developments for us. What a story.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, it's an incredible story, and people who watch fashion say it's one of the biggest stories in fashion history. You know, John Galliano has long been fashion's bad boy, considered a genius in the industry, but also a designer with a dark side. One who has long fought demon like drinking. People who know him say there were some warning signs.
His right hand on the creative side died recently in the pressure of creating more than a dozen collections a year was immense, but nobody, not even his closest friends could've predicted this.
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CHO (voice-over): His collections wowed the fashion world, and John Galliano had his own signature style. But the designer showman's biggest spectacle to date is this.
JOHN GALLIANO, DESIGNER: I love Hitler. People are like you would be dead today. Your mothers, your forefathers would be (EXPLETIVE DELETED) gassed and (EXPLETIVE DELETED) dead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Do you have a problem, huh?
GALLIANO: With you? You are ugly.
CHO: Britain's "Sun" newspaper said the incident happened in October at a trendy Paris cafe , the same cafe where Galliano just last week was arrested for allegedly making similar racist comments. Through a lawyer, he's denied the charges, but once the tape emerged, Christian Dior took steps to fire him.
JAMES FALLON, EDITOR, WOMEN'S WEAR DAILY: John Galliano was slightly the Charlie Sheen of the fashion world. So, it's like, what do you do?
CHO: Christian Dior is owned by the world's largest luxury conglomerate, LVMH.
FALLON: Looking at the design talent they simply have in-house, it's the New York Yankees in a way. I mean, they have a strong bench. You know, Mark Jacobs, Ricardo Tisci.
CHO: Ricardo Tisci, who some called the front-runner to replace Galliano, designed Cate Blanchett's gown at the Oscars. Nicole Kidman and Sharon Stone, both were Dior, but the company's newest face, Natalie Portman, did not.
FALLON: It's probably one of the biggest stories in fashion history, I would say. This kind of fall from grace is extremely rare in this business.
CHO: Can he recover?
FALLON: It would be surprising.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO (on-camera): Natalie Portman, by the way, who is Jewish released a statement saying she is deeply shocked and disgusted by the video and, quote, "I will not be associated with Mr. Galliano in any way." But, what about the house of Dior? The Christian Dior Show which guy is always a highlight. One of the biggest highlights of Paris fashion week will go on as planned on Friday. I mean, the reality is the clothes have been made.
VELSHI: Right.
CHO: And it is a big business. The clothes, with or without Galliano, will sell. It is a billion dollar brand. And, of course, the hottest game, a parlor game in fashion right now is who will take the job. Who will take over Dior?
CHETRY: It's also interesting, Alina, because there were a lot of things they'd be willing to excuse, but the anti-Semitic rant that was --
VELSHI: And the degree to which. It wasn't something that you might say was misinterpreted, I didn't mean to say this. It was highly specific in what he said.
CHO: That's absolutely right. And listen, I mean, the reality is this incident -- the latest incident during which he was arrested last week, that could've ended up being a he said/she said situation, could have been dragged out in court, but once "The Sun" newspaper got ahold of this video of the separate incident in October, everyone knew in fashion that this would be his end.
VELSHI: All right. Alina, great to see you. Thanks.
CHO: Great to see you.
CHETRY: Take a quick break. Your top stories coming up in two minutes.
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