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American Morning
Enforcing a "No-Fly" Zone; Drifting Radiation Fears; Google's Person Finder; Libya Declares Immediate Cease-Fire
Aired March 18, 2011 - 07:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: All right. A dramatic turn in Libya's civil war. The U.N. approving all necessary measures to stop Moammar Gadhafi's rampage. France and Britain say they are ready to move.
And commercial aircraft over Libya has now been suspended. We'll have much more on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Good morning to you. Thanks so much for being with us. It's 8:00 on this Friday morning, March 18th. I'm Kiran Chetry.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christine Romans.
Britain, France and the U.S. scrambling this morning to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya and stop Moammar Gadhafi after the U.N. security council authors, quote, "all necessary measures to prevent the slaughter of civilians."
CHETRY: And the French are now promising swift action this morning, but it has been quiet at the White House where there is concern about just how long this mission in Libya might take and the price it may exact.
James Rubin is with us this morning. He's a former assistant secretary of state and now executive editor of the "Bloomberg View," overseeing editorials put up by the Bloomberg news service.
Welcome again, thanks so much for being with us.
So, we hear some pretty strong language coming from Britain and France this morning. I mean, Britain actually saying that they have planes in place but they are ready to move. I guess, where does the United States fall in this, in deciding whether or not that they are going to launch any attack on Libya today?
JAMES RUBIN, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, "BLOOMBERG VIEW": Well, I agree. It's been fairly quiet at the White House. If the United States is about to conduct military operations in Libya, air strikes against Libyan forces approaching Benghazi or air attacks against Libyan planes, it's very unusual for the White House, the president, not to begin preparing the American people for the use of military power. It's very unusual.
I think what's going on here is the administration is trying to determine how large a role they need to play militarily. Clearly, one thing they may -- a point they made all along was that they wanted to see international support. They wanted to see Arab League involvement. They wanted to see as much involvement of other countries as possible.
We've got all of that now. We've got U.N. resolution, Arab League support, the British and French are now talking about conducting this operation.
The hard part here is on the one hand, you want as many countries as possible participating because of -- for political reasons. It makes it absolutely clear if it wasn't already that the United States is not intervening in another country's affairs, the whole world wants it.
On the other hand, it's American forces and perhaps British and French and NATO forces are the best military in the world and we want the best forces conducting this operation to minimize risk to pilots and to maximize the chance of having it succeed.
And so, you have this tension between the desire to have other countries participate and the U.S. capabilities. I don't think they've resolved that tension yet and that's why we're not hearing so much.
ROMANS: And the resolution makes certain that it goes -- designed to go as far as occupation and there have been some concerns with some of our allies about not going too far.
What does this do for Gadhafi? What does -- what does he do now? Certainly, he doesn't want to go to Benghazi and slaughter his own civilians, as he promised to do earlier this week.
RUBIN: Well, yes. I mean, it was chilling to hear Gadhafi saying no mercy to these people just 24 hours ago. And now, we're already hearing talks about ceasefire and him providing humanitarian aid.
So, it shows you what can happen through international action, how dramatic effect you can have on the situation on the ground. My guess is that he will not now attack Benghazi, that he will try to play the international community, see whether he can distract it through other actions, see whether we get distracted by the other developments in the world in Japan and other parts of the world.
And so, we're in one of those situations where, to some extent, the trigger for further developments in terms of U.S. or British or French military action may be what Gadhafi decides, rather than what we decide.
CHETRY: Right. So, you seem to think that if he doesn't make a move, if he doesn't actually go in there and start attacking in Benghazi, we're not going to be launching attacks --
RUBIN: It doesn't appear that way. Again, I'm not -- I don't have inside knowledge on this. It just doesn't appear the nation in America is being prepared for a substantial military operation which is what Gates, the secretary of defense, said would be required here.
And so, if Gadhafi does move on Benghazi, I think all you've been hearing will come together and there will be an operation in the absence of him flying his planes, flying his helicopters in violation of the no-fly zone
ROMANS: Right.
RUBIN: -- or attacking, I don't know where we are. I admit, it's a bit of a puzzle.
ROMANS: All right. Jamie Rubin, thank you so much for being that perspective.
RUBIN: Thank you.
ROMANS: We were wondering what goes inside the State Department and the White House about what they do next and what they are waiting to see what Gadhafi does before they move.
CHETRY: All right. Well, we have some extraordinary pictures now out of Japan -- the sheer force of the tsunami that hit one week ago. This is shot that were shot from inside a car traveling on the road. You start to see that wall of water on the right hand side, the tsunami coming crashing ashore, a rainbow in the middle of the picture, and then the driver underwater.
The driver said he had no choice. He had to keep on going. And within seconds, he says he was actually floating on top of a seven-foot wave. Again, he survived somehow. He was able to get out of his car and was able to actually salvage the video that he shot.
A very unique perspective of the fury of Mother Nature.
ROMANS: This morning, a new and heightened security level for the situation at the Fukushima nuclear plant. It's now a level five, with a seven being the most severe. Crews desperately trying to cool the spent fuel pools on reactor number three. They've made little impact at this point in time.
Nissan will scan its vehicles made in Japan for any signs of radiation contamination to reassure the public and G.M. now suspending production next week at a Louisiana plant after Japan's disaster made it impossible for G.M. to get some needed parts. The plant makes the Chevy Colorado and the G.M. Canyon -- GMC Canyon.
CHETRY: One Oscar-winning actress writing a big check to help Japan's earthquake and tsunami relief. The Red Cross says Sandra Bullock donated $1 million. It's the largest celebrity donation it has received since the disaster. She donated the same amount during the earthquake in Haiti and has also been strong supporter of rebuilding New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Also, Lady Gaga is pitching in. She's selling a $5 wristband she's designed online. It says, "We pray for Japan" in English and in Japanese. Also, Blink 182 and Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda also selling teachers with the proceeds going to benefit the relief fund. Katy Perry says that the glow sticks you buy at her concerts will do the same.
And even Charlie Sheen getting in on it. He is donating a dollar from each ticket sold for his nationwide tour to help.
ROMANS: It was a long journey for the Mercury Messenger spacecraft, but the six and a half year from trip to Mercury paid off, Kiran, last night. NASA spacecraft became the first man-made object orbit Mercury. That's the solar system's closest planet to the sun. Other spacecrafts, including the Mercury Messenger, have performed fly-bys before, but none of them have ever owner orbited a distant plant.
CHETRY: Amazing. It's hard to believe. Well, take a few moments to peek in the heavens this weekend. The moon will be bigger and brighter than ever.
Here's why: It will be a full moon tomorrow night and scientists say it will be a rare "Super Perigee" moon, OK? That's the biggest one we've seen in 20 years. It's because of how close it is. The last time the moon was this close to the earth was in 1993.
My 5-year-old daughter is extremely excited about this. She either loves astronomy or it's a ruse to stay up later and get to see the moon.
ROMANS: That sounds like a precocious -- definitely a girl. Definitely a girl.
Jennifer Delgado is in the extreme weather center.
Hi, Jennifer.
JENNIFER DELGADO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Christine. Hi, Kiran.
Well, it looks like when you're going to be out there watching it with your daughter, actually, the weather should be pretty nice for tomorrow. We're talking clear skies.
But, right now, we're dealing with some rain. You can see that moving through the plains as well as you can see the southern parts of South Dakota. We are dealing with just a little bit of wintry mix and that snow coming to an end through parts of Colorado.
So, we are dealing with just a little bit of snow there. But up towards the Northeast, as well as New England, conditions are getting much better. You can see that rain really dying down very quickly over the last several hours, (INAUDIBLE) Maine. And we'll continue to see that improvement as we go throughout the morning.
Temperatures right now are looking really good, 40s and 50s out there. You can see, we have some 60s through parts of Pennsylvania; Washington, D.C. right now at 51 degrees. But, really, things are going to be not so bad temperature-wise.
However, we are going to see some windy conditions this afternoon. And we're expecting some delays. You can see from Boston, as well as for New York City metro airports, we could see about a delay over an hour due to the wind and then for Philadelphia potentially up to about a 60-minute delay.
And now, let's get to all the good news. The temperatures down towards the South, as well as the Southeast and up towards the mid- Atlantic, responding nicely to a nice southerly flow -- a ridge of high pressure that's building in. But look at those numbers down there in the '80s. We're talking about record-breaking highs potentially today.
Now, Kiran, as well as, Christine, we're going to talk a little bit more about the potential for spring flooding coming up in just a short while.
Let's send it back over to you two.
CHETRY: All right. Jennifer, thanks so much.
DELGADO: You're welcome.
ROMANS: Now, if you want your morning coffee good to the last drop, you're going to have to pay a little more for it. Maxwell House is raising its prices for the fourth time in the past year. Yes, the cost of everything is going up. We're watching your money.
CHETRY: Also, there is so much to be done to help the thousands devastated by the earthquake in Japan and tsunami. Coming up: Dr. Sanjay Gupta gives us a look at the challenges faced by the victims and also those trying to help them.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: With all of the things you have to worry about as a parent of young kids, this is one that you hope to never hear. That's why a lot of people were shocked when they heard that emergency crews had to be called to a .D.C elementary school this week because five students, 8 to 9 year old, took cocaine.
This happened at the Thomas Elementary School where students between nine and eight, four were hospitalized as a precaution. All of them OK after being checked out by medical staff. But according to the school, a fourth grader brought the cocaine to the school and shared it with classmates and some of them snorted it and others took it orally.
Officials are not sure how much of the drug the kids actually ingested but the kid who brought the cocaine is now facing criminal charges.
ROMANS: An elementary school named after the president is closing its door. Barack Obama Elementary School in Asbury Park, New Jersey, will shut its doors July 1st. Officials blamed low academic achievement and declining enrolment. Students there will relocate to two other schools in the area.
CHETRY: Speaking of the president, he is trying to calm the country's rising radiation fears with a cloud drifting from Japan that many people say -- most experts say by the time, it gets here, it will be negligible. But it's still a concern. People are afraid.
The president says that harmful levels of radiation are not expected in the States. There are more than a hundred radiation detection devices across the country, but there has yet to be a reading that shows elevated levels.
Now, some drugstores in California, though, say that they are running out of potassium iodide, which people may take in emergency situations to stave off the harmful effects of this type of radiation. Health experts say there is no need for it, and warn against the dangerous side effects.
ROMANS: Some people returning to the U.S. from Japan have already been tested -- and what are they finding?
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins from us Tokyo now.
We know that some flights have been tested -- people who have been in the region trying to just make sure if there is any radiation exposure. And so far, Sanjay, no widespread concern here.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, it's -- this is a change in the field protocol for the customs and border control people. They are doing radiological testing.
My understanding is that passengers are getting tested as well, although they may not even know that they're getting tested because they have pretty sophisticated screening equipment. Radiological testing has been done for some time on planes, on cargo, even mail. Passengers are getting tested.
Like I said, this is a bit of a change in the overall field protocol. But they haven't found any harmful levels, as you mentioned, you know, yet. And they don't really expect to. So, they say, you know, this is sort of out of abundance of caution.
But I -- you know, even when we go home eventually, I imagine that we will get tested in some way just to check and see what kind of radiation levels you're seeing.
ROMANS: I know that Nissan is testing some of its cars that they are exporting. I mean, you can imagine that all kinds of -- we know that we have these testing abilities at all of the American ports, I guess, because we know that the crisis is concentrated there in Japan, it makes it easier for their protocol to -- you know, to target different flights. And yesterday, Dallas-Ft. Worth, there were some flights that were tested.
Overall, what we're hearing, right, Sanjay, is there's radioactivity very near to the plant, but outside of that zone, everything seems OK right now, correct?
GUPTA: Yes. I think that's a fair assessment. You know, they've had some pretty high spikes within the plant and, you know, we've talked about the numbers which don't mean a lot to most people, but they measure this in millisieverts -- and the millisieverts per hour is really the way that they measure this. And what they have found is even with the spikes, even with the highest levels within the plant, they haven't approached the level of causing an impact on human health.
Now, obviously, there's still a lot of anxiety about this. They got this big evacuation zone around the plants, but the point is correct, that, you know, if you take that levels, you know, very close to the plant and then you start to move it further and further away as it disperses, the numbers are going to fall down. The potent see, the activity of this radiological particles and material will start to decrease.
So, even within Japan, even outside that evac zone, it shouldn't have an impact on human health. And certainly, if there is a plume, right now, here, it might be actually heading toward the Arctic Circle, but if it ever did cross over into North America, the level should be so low as to almost be negligible.
CHETRY: What about the fact that the prime minister again today is quoted of saying that the situation at the plant remains, quote, "very grave." That it still appears that they haven't been able to get a handle on this?
GUPTA: Yes. I listened to that, as well. I was listening to that press conference closely. He was asked a question specifically about the transparency of officials toward the people of Japan, and he said, look, we've been as transparent as possible, and I'll say again that the situation remains grave. I think what he's eluding to is not under control yet. This whole idea of needing to cool down these both spent rods as well as the active rods that has not been accomplished.
They've been able to get some successes over the last 12 hours. I'd say more so than over the last week, successes in the form of getting a power line now to one of the reactors and making sure that some of the spent rod ponds or pools are getting more filled of water. You see some of the steam, some of the condensation coming off indicating that there is water there, but it's not under control. Until they have some sort of reliable cooling system, this is going to be an ongoing issue.
And as you mentioned earlier, this has ultimately upgraded to a level five, meaning that this is a nuclear accident that they expect will have widespread concerns. It doesn't mean that people are going to get sick from it, but it does mean that the radioactive particles that we've been talking about are expected not just to be localized to the plant and the immediately surrounding areas.
CHETRY: All right. Sanjay Gupta this morning from Tokyo, thanks so much.
ROMANS: Up next, technology meets humanity. How Google is helping people search for loved ones missing in Japan.
CHETRY: Also, saving great teachers. Coming up a little later, we're speaking with controversial education advocate, Michelle Rhee, about a new plan out there. Will it make a difference in our education system? It's 18 minutes pas the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: In Japan, throughout the shelters, there are posters and lists and questions from people, have you seen my sister? I am here. Please tell my parents if you find out. Everyone is trying to connect somehow through posters and lists and at the shelter. Fascinating use of technology to try to put people together.
CHETRY: Yes. Now, Google is making a difference trying to take all of that information and get it to one place where it can get out to people. Jason Carroll has been following this, this desperate search for loved ones. More than 10,000 people still considered missing in Japan.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And this resource that we're about to tell you about, great for people who are trying to find their loved ones there, and it's really all about a new device that Google has come up. It's called Person Finder. It's basically Google's version of an online message board. Anyone can post questions asking for information about a missing person in Japan and that person can then, in turn, answer back.
Now, we're going to show you how it works. All you have to do is go to Google's main page, click on resources related to the crisis in Japan, then scroll to find the Person Finder box, and either click on "I am looking for someone" or "I have information about someone."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JASON TANZ, SENIOR EDITOR, WIRED MAGAZINE: At any point, if I hear about somebody, I can add that information to the database, and then, hours later or weeks later, someone who happens to be searching for that can find that information.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Well, the idea for Google's Person Finder came about after another major disaster, the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Google wanted to help people reach each other, and their engineers came up with the idea for the people searching website. Tech observers say Haiti talk Google the importance of getting their site up quickly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID GOLDMAN, CNNMONEY.COM: After they developed the Person Finder for the Haiti earthquake, it took 72 hours to get that live, but with this Japan Person Finder, it took just one hour to get that done. So, it really shows how they've been able to develop the process and really tweak it so that they can get this done very, very fast. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Well, Google finder or Person Finder has gotten some really powerful results. So far, Google is tracking more than 318,000 records such as this one about Samantha Harrison and says, "Sam, called from AFB, 6:45 a.m. ET, and she is OK. Kids are OK." You can also check out this one from Mark Smith saying, "Mark, I saw you're OK. This is great news. Hang in there. We're all sending our best wishes to you trying to call, et cetera. Let us know if you need anything."
Now, there is one drawback to the Google site. Google does not verify who's posting the information and when I checked online, there were some complaints about people who were posting inaccurate updates. So, if you do receive information about a loved one or a -- what you should do is try to follow-up with a government, you know, entity to make sure that what you're seeing there on the Person Finder is actually accurate information.
ROMANS: It's a start and trying to get connected and figure out --
CARROLL: It is a start. And you guys were mentioning, you know, before about the shelters. Another interesting point to this is, you know, when you go to these shelters in Japan, you sign your name up. And so, on Person Finder, there's also a way to access that information, as well.
CHETRY: They're using that cell phone camera and uploading it. It's amazing.
CARROLL: It is a start. It was also used in New Zealand during the earthquake there. So, you know, as this sort of goes on and there's another disaster, you know, they'll improve on this as well, but at least, it's some resource for people out there who are desperately trying to get in touch with loved ones.
ROMANS: All right. Jason Carroll, interesting stuff on Google helping out connecting people. Thanks.
CHETRY: Thanks, Jason.
Well, stopping Gadhafi, commercial flights have now been suspended over Libya, and air strikes against Gadhafi could begin at any time. We're live in Libya, next.
ROMANS: Plus, coffee, toilet paper, diapers, getting more expensive. It's not just your gas prices. What else? Carmen Wong Ulrich is watching your money, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: If you want your morning coffee good for the last drop, get ready to pony for little more for it. Maxwell House raising prices. Carmen Wong Ulrich has got the details. She is watching your money this morning. She's watching your money come right out of your pocket this morning.
CARMEN WONG ULRICH, PERSONAL FINANCE EXPERT: Goodness!
ROMANS: Because it's not just the coffee, right? It's everything.
ULRICH: No, it's not. It's everything, but this is my elixir of life.
CHETRY: I know.
ULRICH: And it's getting so much more costly. Kraft Food has raised its prices on Maxwell House and Yuban Ground Coffee by 22 percent. Instant coffee, up 10 percent, but in general, overall, coffee is up. Ground coffee up 70 cents a pound and instant coffee up around 6 cents an ounce. Well, why is this? Some culprits or several bad South American crops, high demand were all drinking more and more coffee and transport, those gas prices.
And rising cotton prices attributed to crop trouble, too, and rising energy costs are busting our -- wait for it -- behind budget. The cost of Kimberly-Clark's diapers and wipes in June going up 3 percent and 27 percent (ph), and their toilet paper lines Cottonelle and Scott are going to go up 7 percent. So, at least, we have a warning here. So, stockpile up now!
But you got to, overall, watch your grocery budgets. Corn is up for the year, 52 percent. Sugar up 60 percent, beef 7 percent and dairy and eggs are up as well. You got to be real savvy grocery shopper these days.
CHETRY: Try to buy in bulk, if you can. I mean, these humongous, humongous coffee cans.
ROMANS: Fill up the pantry.
ULRICH: I don't want old coffee, though. That's the one thing I'll pay a little.
CHETRY: I know. It's tough, but, you know, we got to get a job starting the potty-training.
ROMANS: I know.
ULRICH: My 4-year-old, she's done.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: 50 cents a pull-up, that starts to kill you.
CHETRY: I know.
ULRICH: It's a lot.
ROMANS: All right. Carmen Wong Ulrich. Thank you, Carmen.
ULRICH: Thank you, ladies.
ROMANS: Top stories now. Danger rising around Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant. The country's nuclear energy -- nuclear agency, rather, has now raised the severity rating to a level 5. Officials say that means a situation that could have, quote, "wider consequences." Level five is the same as the Three-Mile Island nuclear power plant event back in 1979.
CHETRY: And the president is trying to calm the country's rising radiation fears calling for increased nuclear safety as well. He spoke about it yesterday at the oval office. Here's a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to be very clear. We do not expect harmful levels of radiation to reach the United States, whether it's the west coast, Hawaii, Alaska, or U.S. territories in the Pacific. Let me repeat that. We do not expect harmful levels of radiation to reach the west coast, Hawaii, Alaska, or U.S. territories in the Pacific.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Health experts say the radiation from the Fukushima nuclear plant will dissipate over the vast ocean between the U.S. and japan. If it is even detected at all, it would be in small, non- harmful amounts.
ROMANS: And the world is mobilizing this morning to stop Moammar Gadhafi. The U.N. Security Council has authorized all necessary measures to stop the slaughter of Libyan civilians. The U.S., Britain and France scrambling right now to enforce a no-fly zone over this North African nation while the dictator promises to show the opposition no mercy.
And all commercial air traffic in the air has now been shut down over Libya this morning, paving the way for any airstrikes that would happen. But Moammar Gadhafi's son is insisting that the Libyan government is not afraid of any attack by western forces.
ROMANS: He says the U.S. decision to enforce a no-fly zone may destroy his country, not save it. Senior International Nic Robertson is live in Tripoli this morning. Nic, what is the latest on the ground there about the U.N. resolution and what Gadhafi's response may be?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we have been told and we have heard that the family is all together, that they are -- the sons and the father are all together, that they united in this.
I'm also told -- this may worry some people -- that there is, quote-unquote, "a lot of denial going on there." They really didn't expect this -- the U.N. resolution to get passed. We are waiting right now for the foreign minister here to give a press conference. It's not clear what he'll say. Last night, the deputy foreign minister said that the country would move towards a ceasefire as demanded by the United States but said it might take some time. He also said he didn't think airstrikes would come soon but wouldn't say what the country was doing to prepare for them. Hopefully, we might learn a little bit more just shortly.
ROMANS: What have they said about Benghazi the area, Jamie Rubin, former state department official, told us this is what the international community was trying to prevent, a slaughter on Benghazi. What about Gadhafi's intentions toward that rebel stronghold?
ROBERTSON: Right now, he has strong forces positioned in a city around the city about a hundred miles away at Ajdabiaya. And he hasn't taken control of that city. Is he going to try and take military control there before pushing forces towards Benghazi? It's difficult to imagine how he does that with the U.N. sanctions. But does he still intend to do that? Is that why we are hearing the ceasefire may take some time to put into place?
But what we did hear from one of his sons lasted night that Gadhafi said he would change his tactics around Benghazi and put the army around the city, that they won't go into the city and government only send in police and special forces.
But what Gadhafi said on television a couple of hours earlier was that the rebels should put down their weapons. If they put down their weapons they would be treated properly and wouldn't be prosecuted. And he went on to say that if they don't put down their weapons, that's it. Essentially, the government would fight them to the last man.
That equation now seems to have changed. But we haven't heard the new game plan, if you will, from the Libyan leader. Maybe that's something we will get from the foreign minister now.
ROMANS: Nic Robertson in Tripoli, thanks.
The U.S. Senate has approved a short-term spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. The measure keeps the federal government running three more weeks. Lawmakers say this will be the last temporary fix. We have heard that before, haven't we?
CHETRY: Yes, we have.
ROMANS: Endless temporary fixes to this problem. Congress must agree to a spending package to run through the end of September.
CHETRY: Still very far apart on the agreement there.
The Obamas are headed to a five-day trip to Latin America. The first family leaves tonight and are stopping in Brazil before heading to Chili and El Salvador. President Obama is meeting with leaders in each of the countries to discuss trade and the global economy. Michelle and the girls will be coming, too. They will be enjoying their break. The kids are off from school for their spring break so they will have a very unique opportunity to visit an exciting part of the world.
ROMANS: And a strategic visit because China has made huge inroads in our neighbor, and so many people say Washington needs to have a bigger and more important focus on our very own backyard.
All right, education now. She's an outspoken and controversial education advocate who has closed schools and fired teachers. Up next how Michelle Rhee thinks we should save our schools.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Good morning Central Park. It's going to be a nice day there in New York City for a run around the reservoir if you're not hard at work or in school.
Talk about a sobering wake-up for America's education system. In a recent standardized education test, 15-year-olds in the United States lagged far behind students in comparison of 34 countries, finishing 14th in reading and 17th in science and 25th in math. The McGraw-Hill Research Foundation decided to come up with ideas to get us back on top.
Joining us live from Sacramento, California, this morning to break down the recommendations is Michelle Rhee, former D.C. school chancellor and founder of Students First. Michelle, welcome to the program. The top recommendation here was that we have got to be valuing and putting more emphasis on the teacher in the classroom. What did you find? Why is that such a pivotal key to this and what should we do?
MICHELLE RHEE, FORMER WASHINGTON D.C. SCHOOL CHANCELLOR: Well, this is something that every parent knows, that how happy your child is going to school every morning as a direct correlation to the quality of the teacher that they have in the classroom.
And the research bears this out. The research says that the difference between having a highly effective teacher in the classroom and having an ineffective teacher in the classroom, you know, means everything for kids. So that is why we really have to focus on making sure that we are putting in place structures that recognize and reward the best teachers that we have and that for the ineffective ones we are either quickly, you know, developing them or moving them out of the profession.
ROMANS: You talk about raising the status of the profession. In Finland, only one in 10 actually qualifies for entering the profession. How do we raise the status of this profession?
RHEE: Well, I think we have to, first, you know, put in place practices that ensure that we are going to attract and retain the best people in it. And when we have a lockstep pay schedule that says it doesn't matter if you are doing great things for kids or your kids are actually moving backwards we pay you the exact same amount of money depending on how many years of experience you have, that is not the kind of culture that attracts a high achiever. When we have a profession that says we don't care how great you are, if you are the last person to be hired into this system you're going to be the first one fired in a layoff, that does not, overall, create the kind of culture that high achieving people want to go into. So we have to start by changing the culture of the profession.
ROMANS: You're going to have trouble with unions on this, because unions are worried about administrators just getting rid of teachers willy-nilly for budget reasons. They worry about the fact if you take away tenure or some of the protections that they give to teachers that somehow that is going to make it a less attractive profession and won't elevate the profession.
How do you respond to some of that? That is the union conventional wisdom. How do you respond to that?
RHEE: I respond to that by saying that, you know, I don't think that what the union leadership is saying actually represents what most rank and file teachers that I talk to who are really effective say. The ones I'm talking to are saying, we're OK with accountability. We want to take responsibility over what is happening in the classroom.
There is not a group of people who dislike ineffective teachers more than effective teachers. It drives effective teachers crazy when they are working hard every day. They are knocking it out for kids and they have got someone in the classroom next to them who is not doing those things because it makes their job harder.
ROMANS: What we need to do is evaluate teacher, have an evaluation process is better for teachers so we know how to value the effect of teachers and how to train and maybe develop teachers who are less effective in the classroom, also how to use our money better.
This report points out the U.S. and Luxembourg spend the most per student, and yet they are in the middle of the pack when it comes to rankings. Michelle, you and I talked about this before. We spend twice as much per student today than in the 1970s yet haven't moved anywhere in terms of rankings. So how do we use our money better?
RHEE: Well, we have to look on what our return on investment is and we have to stop spending billions of dollars on things that aren't working for kids. So for example, in this country, we spend billions of dollars a year on paying for the masters degrees for teachers when, in fact, the research is very clear that there is no correlation between having a master's degree and having better outcomes for kids.
Now we are in the tough budget times and budgets are being slashed all over the country we have to say to ourselves does that investment of dollars make sense or should we put them in the classroom in a different way that impacts kids' outcomes.
ROMANS: We look at the international lists. We are all obsessed with the international lists. The U.S. has its own challenges and we should -- in this country, we should be concerned about the gap between the good districts and the not so good districts and not be so concerned about the rest of the world. But that being said, talented teachers in the top performing countries are funneled toward the worst performing schools. Do we need to think about getting our best teachers in the worst performing schools?
RHEE: First of all, Christine, I do think we have to think about our international competition much more than the domestic competition, because when our kids grow up, when a kid in Sacramento grows up, they are not going be competing for jobs against kids in Memphis or in Philadelphia. They are going to be competing for jobs against kids in India and China. So we absolutely have to be thinking about the international comparisons 100 percent.
So I really do think that we have got to focus, right now, on, you know, how do we make our kids competitive.
ROMANS: Michelle Rhee, thank you for joining us. Nice to see you. Thanks so much.
RHEE: Thanks.
CHETRY: We are following some breaking developments, some new news coming from Libya. We're getting word that Libya has decided on, quote, "an immediate ceasefire," this according to Libyan's foreign minister. Of course, it comes on the heels of the U.N. Security Council agreeing to a no-fly zone over Libya which essentially allows the international community to take all necessary measures to protect civilians from Gadhafi's brutal crackdown.
So again, Libya deciding to halt all military operations in order, at least according to their foreign minister, to protect civilians. Of course, all of this coming on the heels of the no-fly zone plus some very public pronouncements both from France and Britain that it is prepared that planes are, you know, at the ready and they are prepared to strike, if need be, to protect the civilians of Libya.
Again, this news just breaking right now, the word is coming from the foreign minister. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back we're going to have some more analysis on the breaking news in Libya.
We'll be right back.
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CHETRY: Taking a look at Atlanta this morning. Atlanta is going to be sunny. At least right now it's sunny and 50; a little bit later it's going up to a high of 80. Just one of the many cities enjoying a bit of a reprieve from some of the yucky weather.
ROMANS: Out of the freeze (ph) -- Jennifer Delgado right? Is this what it is, all about?
JENNIFER DELGADO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
CHETRY: Hi Jennifer. DELGADO: Hi there, you're right. It's all about beautiful weather and it's hard to believe I'm actually still in the studio. When you saw the live shot outside today, it is simply going to be a beautiful afternoon.
Now, I want to point out to you looking at the radar, things have really died down towards the northeast. We're going to see those clouds giving way to a good amount of sunshine for areas including the plains and notice for Colorado still dealing with some clouds as well as some rain.
But really that's going to be coming to an end and the weather is going to be improving. However, I want to point out to you we do still have flood warnings as well as watches in place from the northern plains all the way down to parts of the Midwest and this is because of course, we've been seeing those temperatures warm up and we've actually have been dealing with some rain over the last several days. And that is leading to snow melt.
Now, I want to go to this graphic right here and this going to give you an idea what potentially we can expect as we go through the next several weeks for the spring season. And this is coming to you from NOAA. And this is their forecast. Anywhere you're seeing in red, this is where we're going to see the high risk for potential flooding along those rivers.
You can see that includes parts of the Missouri river as well as the Mississippi river and the Erie in red, we're talking about eastern Pennsylvania, southeastern New York, as well as New Jersey. This is going to be the -- really the problem area predicted (ph). But it looks like potentially 50 percent of the U.S. could be dealing with some type of flooding this year.
Today high temperatures spectacular; we're talking about the 80s down towards the south as well as the mid-Atlantic. Back over to you guys. Have a great weekend.
ROMANS: You too.
CHETRY: Thanks Jennifer.
DELGADO: Bye.
CHETRY: Well, we're following breaking news out of Libya right now at 10 minutes until the top of the hour. Libya's foreign minister declaring now an immediate cease-fire. We have our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson live in Tripoli this morning. Clearly a response, of course, to the ratcheting up of tensions and the passage of the no-fly zone through the Security Council of the U.N., but what exactly does this cease-fire mean?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it means that the government seems to be recognizing and responding to the U.N. Security Council resolution. The foreign minister said that the country does accept the terms of the resolution because it is a signatory to the U.N. and therefore, they will abide by this new resolution 1973.
An immediate cease-fire is what the foreign minister said. That seems to be an advancement on what the deputy foreign minister said last night which was that it might take a little while to put in place the ceasefire. But it seems to be a very clear message.
The foreign minister saying all military operations will cease and then he went beyond to address the points on the resolution which talked about protecting civilians.
He said the government would protect civilians, would provide humanitarian aid and would respect their human rights but he did go on to criticize the international community and he said he thought that the resolution and the country thinks that the resolution that uses the threat of force against Libya, which is something he said he sees the signs of preparation for that use of force against Libya. He said that is wrong.
Of course, what actually happens on the ground is going to be another matter when the deputy foreign minister talked last night. He said he couldn't answer for what the army is doing. So although we've heard from the foreign minister here, I think a lot of people are going to want to know what actually happens on the ground and that's something we don't have access to at the moment -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Right, the question seems to be that the foreign minister speaks to -- for Gadhafi and is all of this in some ways just buying a little bit of time knowing that France and Britain have said that they even have planes in place and that they could launch attacks. Is this just a mere ruse or at least attempt to buy some time?
ROBERTSON: Well, certainly seasoned -- seasoned observers of the Gadhafi regime will certainly look at this and it will come to mind immediately that this could just be the government buying time, that it's basically throwing its hands up in the air and saying we'll do as you say, we'll treat the people right and there's plenty of evidence that they haven't been doing that recently even though they've said they were.
Would treat people right and will stop the battle even though we've had reports coming in from one town not far from Tripoli about 100 or so miles in Mesrata where people there have told us that the -- that the army is preparing a big military operation there. We can't confirm that.
It was very interesting and I think perhaps very telling that there was a senior government official on hand, a very senior government official on hand at the end of that press conference and he quite literally told the foreign minister that's it, you've said what you're going to say, you're not taking any questions, that's the end of the press conference.
I think that was very, very telling too. There's not -- we're not going to get any additional detail on that right now from senior officials here -- Kiran. CHETRY: Nic Robertson for us in Tripoli, thank you.
ROMANS: Let's bring James Rubin back, he's on the phone now, he's a former assistant Secretary of State and now the executive editor of the Bloomberg View, overseeing editorials put out by the Bloomberg News service.
We're talking to you this morning, Jamie about what -- what is the next move for Gadhafi and now we know he is saying there will be an immediate cease-fire. He says Libya takes great interests in protecting civilians. Of course, there is a U.N. resolution because the rest of the world doesn't think he takes great interest in protecting civilians.
What -- what do you make of this move by Libya now?
RUBIN (via telephone): Earlier this morning, we were talking about how the momentum has now shifted and, in many ways, the Gadhafi regime holds certain cards because they can dictate the timing of events. And sure enough, an hour later, the Gadhafi regime is trying to put a screeching halt to international preparations to use military force against the Libyan forces and calling for an immediate and full cease-fire.
They are meeting the terms -- partial terms of the resolution. And since the international system does have a strong legal (INAUDIBLE) here, I would expect that in Europe and elsewhere, there will now be a slowdown in any -- to use military force.
The good news is the people of Benghazi have probably been saved as a result of this resolution because just 24 hours ago, they were facing a massive assault and Gadhafi was saying he would give them no mercy. But now we're in a situation where we're going to have to have verification and some mechanism is going to have to be found to see whether indeed there is a cease-fire, whether civilians are protected.
And we're into the kind of dynamic that many of your viewers may be familiar with from the years of the Iraq conflict where a dictator is able to dictate the timing of events with the international community by making statements and probably doing most of the things he promises but not all of them and it's going to be very, very tricky, the international diplomacy here.
ROMANS: What does it mean for what many by all accounts is a weakened opposition to Gadhafi? So if he doesn't advance or annihilate Benghazi at this point, does this allow the rebel commanders to redouble their efforts or is this the beginning of a long drawn-out wait for Gadhafi to either be removed from power or to redouble his efforts to retake complete control of his country?
RUBIN: Well, I do think that it will give the rebels in Benghazi time to muster international assistance in the form of non-military aid and in the form of perhaps military aid as well. There will be questions as to whether the arms embargo applied by a previous U.N. resolution apply to them. So all of these things are going to emerge over the coming days, but disaster was averted. I think we should be clear on that. And I think that enormous amount of credit goes to the European countries like Britain and France, who are often criticized here in America, for taking the lead here and getting this resolution passed and showing the willingness to use force. And they have put a stop to the defensive that could have been a disaster for Benghazi.
CHETRY: Right. I want to ask you about this as well. And this is an uncanny six degrees of separation that Jamie Rubin is married to Christiane Amanpour, ABC anchor and correspondent, a former colleague of ours. According to the -- "The New York Times" she had an interview with Gadhafi's son, Seif, who says, that he will be releasing these four "The New York Times" journalists.
We've talked a lot about this story. They have been missing since Tuesday, apparently captured by forces there. Seif Gadhafi saying he will release them on Friday in an interview with Christiane Amanpour. So now this sounds like the second move toward trying to --
ROMAN: Appease the U.S. --
CHETRY: -- concede or appease, yes, a little bit in terms of what is going on. This runs very counter to the harsh language we heard from Gadhafi just two days ago.
RUBIN: Exactly right. The son and the father were talking about how they were coming to Benghazi and no mercy would be shown and people, if they leave the city, would face the justice -- the region which meant possible death of thousands of people. Now the diplomatic face is being put forward, the cease-fire and release of journalists.
Look. For the journalists, I think it's very good that the international attention was paid and the Libyan regime found them. They were probably in hands of some of Gadhafi's forces and they figured out who they were and now we can appear to be putting on their best face. So I think we are going to see a mix of these things in the coming days and it's going to be very murky. But, again, I can't say enough based on where we were heading 24 hours ago. This is good news.
CHETRY: All right. Jamie Rubin, thank you so much.
RUBIN: Thank you.
ROMANS: It was great to talk to you. So, yes, again, according to "the New York Times" their four journalists will be released today. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.
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CHETRY: So, we had a busy three hours --
ROMANS: That's true.
CHETRY: -- and a busy week, following the latest developments out of Japan and Libya. And now we'll continue of course.
We hope you have a wonderful weekend. We'll see you Monday.
ROMAN: "CNN NEWSROOM with Carol Costello starts right now. Good morning Carol.
