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Smoke Spotted at Japan Nuclear Plant; Coalition Forces Pound Libya Gadhafi Compound; Blockbuster Wireless Deal for AT&T; Operation Odyssey Dawn and the U.S. Role in Libya; Top Cities to Find Job; New Concerns in Japan
Aired March 21, 2011 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: On this AMERICAN MORNING, Libya's air defenses are crippled and a building in one of Moammar Gadhafi's compounds severely damaged following a weekend of sea and air attacks by coalition forces. Everyone, though, wondering this morning what will the Libyan dictator do now.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: In Japan, new signs of danger at a nuclear plant. Smoke rising from a reactor, workers pulled out, and new concerns about radiation and Japan's food supply.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: And March Madness living up to its name. Two more big East powerhouses bite the dust while upstarts Butler, Marquette and Virginia Commonwealth move on leaving millions of brackets busted.
CHETRY: That's right unless you didn't go the safe route, right?
Also, the top cities in America to find a good paying job. We'll tell you on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: A lot happening around the world right here at home, as well. Let's get you caught up.
The U.S. and its allies pounding Libya for a third day; 120 cruise missiles and counting. Is this going to be enough to keep Moammar Gadhafi from attacking his own people?
CHETRY: We're also following the latest in Japan where a new nuclear crisis is unfolding this morning. rising from a reactor. Workers evacuated. And now there are new concerns about radiation in the food supply.
ROMANS: And here at home, a major cell phone merger. The number two carrier now poised to become number one. What this means to you. Let's get started. AMERICAN MORNING begins right now.
VELSHI: Good morning, everybody. I'm Ali Velshi.
ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It's Monday, March 21st.
CHETRY: Yes, I'm Kiran Chetry. It's great to see all of you this morning. We're following two big stories again, but major developments from where we left off on Friday.
ROMANS: That's right. Absolutely.
All right. We begin with breaking news out of Japan though, right?
VELSHI: Well, there is smoke spotted coming from a damaged nuclear reactor. Engineers are struggling there to prevent a meltdown after a devastating earthquake and tsunami earlier this month. Let's get right to Anna Coren. She's live in Tokyo.
Anna, I understand reactor number three at that Fukushima Daiichi plant has now been evacuated. What's going on there?
ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right, Ali. They thought they were getting a handle on the situation, that it was now stable until about 4:00 p.m. this afternoon. And that is when they saw gray smoke coming from reactor three. Of course, that is the reactor that has been a huge problem for Japanese authorities here. That is where they think there are low levels of water in that pool that houses those spent fuel rods. So when that smoke came at 4:00 p.m. this afternoon, it only took about 15 minutes before they decided they needed to get the workers out of there straight away into another building.
There are some 430 workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. We don't know how many were involved in reactor three. And we don't have any reports of, you know, severe exposure to radiation or injuries. We are working to get those details. But we do know that that evacuation took place. And this is -- this is while, you know, they're trying to desperately restore power. They're got power up to two of those reactors, but the other four, they've got the cables down. But those cooling systems are yet to get up and functioning, Ali.
VELSHI: And I want to ask you about the food scares now. That is something that's developing. They're finding tainted food further away from the reactor than they had expected to, and water.
COREN: That's exactly right. The World Health Organization is saying it's far more serious than what they -- what they thought. Basically spinach and milk, that's where they've located high levels of radiation in both those products. So a ban has been placed on those products in the region that is close to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
As far as water goes, high levels of iodine have been found in drinking water around that plant. And authorities have banned or I should say refrained people from drinking that water. They say, however, that they can still use it to bathe in, but people should take precautions, Ali.
VELSHI: Anna, thanks very much. We'll stay on top of this with you.
More in Japan right now. An incredible rescue caught on tape. After nine days trapped underneath rubble, an 80-year-old woman and her 16- year-old grandson were found alive. Rescuers heard the cries of the teenager. He and his grandmother were trapped in their kitchen after the earthquake and they survived by wrapping themselves in towels, eating yogurt, and drinking water.
CHETRY: Amazing.
Well, now to the latest in Libya where coalition forces are bombarding Gadhafi's forces. The weekend assault so fierce that Moammar Gadhafi's air defense system is all but crippled this morning.
Here's the latest. Since Saturday, a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles have pounded Libya hitting key Gadhafi defense installations as well as dictator's residential compound. Libyan troops fought back. You can see them launching anti-aircraft fire at coalition aircraft. But none were hit. It appears a coalition cruise missile found this target.
What you're looking at is what's left of a building inside Gadhafi's presidential compound in Tripoli. There's no word whether he was inside at the time. The U.S. is insisting that Gadhafi himself was not a target. Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson had a chance to see that damage firsthand.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What the lady is saying there is she's saying this is the proof, this is the proof. They're holding bits of what look like and what I've seen -- from what I've seen before, look like pieces of a cruise missile. It's hard for us to confirm exactly what sort of weapon or missile this might be. It's also hard for us to confirm anything that we're being told about what this building was being used for. But certainly the people who we have been with here have just gone inside the building. This lady pulling out more bits of debris. What she's saying is look at this. For them, this is proof this building was struck by some kind of a missile.
CHETRY: An amazing first-hand look from our Nic Robertson.
Meantime, the U.S. played the lead role in Operation Odyssey Dawn as it's called over the weekend. It's not expected to last that long. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is insisting that responsibility will be handed to the French or British shortly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We expected in a matter of days to be able to turn over the primary responsibility to others. We will continue to support the coalition, where we'll be a member of the coalition. We will have a military role in the coalition, but we will not have the preeminent role.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: And despite the heavy military action in Libya, President Obama went ahead with a planned trip to Brazil. In a speech there, he mentioned what was going on in the Middle East.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But for our two nations, for the United States and Brazil, two nations who have struggled over many generations to perfect our own democracies, the United States and Brazil know that the future of the Arab world will be determined by its people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: And yesterday on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION," Connecticut Senate Joe Lieberman blasted the president for waiting too long to act.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN (I), CONNECTICUT: Gadhafi had so much of an advantage in terms of logistics, commanding control weapons that time helped him every day while the world refused to make a decision. I think earlier on, maybe a no-fly zone could have done it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Just coming up at eight minutes, we're going to be joined by James Rubin, former assistant secretary of state. We're going to ask him how the military operation in Libya is likely to play out and whether it will succeed in taking out Moammar Gadhafi and what Libya may look like a year from now. It's interesting because Admiral Mike Mullen of the Joint chiefs said Gadhafi could actually stay.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: And that could be a successful mission in the eyes of the government. It could be a successful mission if Gadhafi in the end somehow remains in power. So there are a lot of different scenarios.
VELSHI: There's definitely -- there are -- this is one of those situations that looks very much like every time the U.S. gets into a conflict, there are a whole lot of scenarios that we haven't got answers to yet. Hopefully Jamie Rubin can shed some light on some of those.
ROMANS: Right.
Another big story we're following this morning. A blockbuster deal on the wireless industry. One that could affect everyone with a mobile phone.
AT&T buying T-Mobile from its German owners for an estimated $39 billion in cash and stock. The deal still needs federal approval but it would bring AT&T 34 million new customers giving that company a big boost in its rivalry with Verizon. AT&T with almost 27 percent of the market. Add T-Mobile's 12 percent of the market. That makes AT&T number one overtaking Verizon's 31 percent.
The good news for you, high speed mobile broadband service will likely improve in terms of quality and coverage. The bad news for you, the cost of that service probably won't come down any time soon. Why? Well, there's less competition as Verizon and AT&T will control about three quarters of the market. And, you know, we watched for 20 years as they unraveled Ma Bell (ph) 25 years.
VELSHI: Right, right.
ROMANS: And now the pieces keep coming back together.
VELSHI: That's right.
ROMANS: That's why federal regulators take a very close look at all this.
CHETRY: But I want to know one thing -- will my calls continue to drop out every time I get on the west side highway? Never fails with AT&T.
VELSHI: In theory -- in theory, the service should get better.
ROMANS: That's right.
VELSHI: The issue is whether the cost is going to get any better.
We have severe weather causing big problems for the west coast. Heavy rain, high surf all along California. Reynolds Wolf for us in the extreme weather center.
Good morning to you, Reynolds.
ROMANS: Good morning.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, guys. I wish I could say the weather situation now in the Golden State was going to be a bit better. That is not going to be the case.
Let's go right to the video and tell you the story that we have. And, of course, it's going to be rain at times, very heavy with that rain. And you're going to see the video in mere seconds with the possibility of seeing quite a bit of it.
Big flood threats are going to exist for parts of Southern California and portions of the central coast through this evening. Now what we can also anticipate is the possibility of dealing with not only rainfall, but even some heavy snowfall in the highest elevations of the coastal range back into the San Gabriels.
You could see some snowfall that could be anywhere from one to maybe even three feet at times coupled with some strong wind gusts. Sierra Nevada not quite as much, in terms of the heavy snowfall, anywhere from one to two feet. And in terms of that snow, it's also not just limited to the west, but also to parts of the northeast. In fact, you can see the plain as day on radar. A lot of that snowfall popping up in parts of New York State, back to the Keystone State of Pennsylvania, also into Vermont and New Hampshire where we currently have winter storm warnings that will be in effect through Tuesday, anywhere from five to nine inches of snowfall.
Guys, we're officially into spring now, but still it seems like winter will never ever end. But trust me, summer is around the corner.
CHETRY: And snow and sleet in northern Pennsylvania?
WOLF: Oh, yes.
CHETRY: And New York, I don't get it.
WOLF: Got to love it.
VELSHI: It's still March. I'm prepared to take any of this through March.
ROMANS: I know but it's been such a terrible January and February.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: We needed some relief, Velshi. We needed some relief.
All right. Thanks, Reynolds.
VELSHI: All right. We'll check in with you again, Reynolds. Thanks very much.
As Kiran was saying, it's called Operation Odyssey dawn in Libya. Coalition forces taking out most of Libya's air defenses already. It could end up being the long drawn-out conflict. That's the question on everyone's mind. We're going to ask former Assistant Secretary of State James Rubin right after this.
ROMANS: Some old fears, you guys, resurfaced at the gulf over the weekend. More trouble from the BP oil spill, perhaps? We have the official word from the Coast Guard coming up.
CHETRY: Also, why America's ever expanding middles could be changing our commute. We'll tell you about the new rules for bus riders. What now? You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Thirteen minutes past the hour. When we left on Friday, we were talking about Gadhafi saying there was a cease-fire. Clearly a lot changed over the weekend. So today, we're updating you on what happened now.
Three days into Operation Odyssey Dawn as it's called, the coalition attacks on Libya producing over 120 cruise missile strikes. A bombing campaign from the air leaving Moammar Gadhafi's military capabilities severely degraded. So what is next? And how quickly can the U.S. and its allies accomplish the mission?
Joining us is James Rubin, former assistant secretary of state and now executive editor of "The Bloomberg View," overseeing editorials put out by the "Bloomberg News" service.
Thanks so much for being with us this morning.
JAMES RUBIN, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, "THE BLOOMBERG VIEW": Good morning.
CHETRY: So not a surprise that this happened, but the timing is interesting. The president was actually in Brazil over the weekend and then he's heading to Chile today. What message does that send that the president isn't here while a major assault is taking place on a Middle Eastern country?
RUBIN: Well, I think there are two factors here. First of all, I don't think he should have canceled his trip. It was long set up. It's been in the works for a very long time. Latin America is important to us. Brazil is a huge, huge country. One of the advantages of modern technologies and modern capabilities is the president can move around the world and still be commander in chief.
Secondly, I think it is fair to say that the president has not done a lot of talking to the American people about the use of force. He made a brief statement on Friday in the afternoon. He had a couple of comments over the weekend, but I don't think he fully prepared the American people for America's long-term involvement - excuse me - in Libya. And I think the - probably in the coming days, they're going to have to find a way for the president to really lay out our national interests, why they're vital, what the risks are if Gadhafi stays in power -
CHETRY: Right.
RUBIN: -- and how long we're committed to this operation.
ROMANS: Well, you say it could potentially be a long-term commitment. But over the weekend, it felt as though all of the - all of the verbage from the administration was days not weeks, or weeks not months.
And Admiral Mike Mullen on the Sunday talk shows yesterday, he - he said one outcome here could be that Gadhafi stays. Would it be a successful mission in your mind if Gadhafi ends up staying in power?
RUBIN: I think it depends on the circumstances. If Gadhafi is boxed in inside Tripoli, if the bulk of the country is in the hands of these rebels, if his air force is grounded, if his capabilities to operate are fully eliminated, I don't think it's the end of the world to have Gadhafi in power. But that's a hard-nose realist view.
I think the world will regard something has gone wrong if after extensive involvement of the United States, of Europe, of the Arab League, of American and British and French military power, if Gadhafi's able to broadcast his defiance to the world. And that's one of the -
CHETRY: Right.
RUBIN: -- tough spots we're in.
VELSHI: You know, one of the things that we're looking at here. You just mentioned the president's ability or inability to tell people about what America's interests are here. America's interests are relatively limited in Libya. The conversation that we've seen over the weekend was the convincing of the president that this is humanitarian. This was about Gadhafi attacking his own people. What long-term argument could there be for the U.S. and Libya?
RUBIN: Well, I think that conversation is now gone. Because having attacked Libya, having conducted an air raid on his compound, having seen Gadhafi's reaction, I think we now have an angry as President Reagan used to call them, "Mad Dog of the Middle East."
And so, this is someone who financed and operated an attack on an American civilian airliner, Pan Am 103 was supposed to land here in New York, killed hundreds of people. This is someone who was building nuclear weapons. So we know he has the capability and the history to conduct very dangerous operations. In short, it is now in our national security interest to prevent him from retaliating in this way.
CHETRY: So - so it is a nuance thing then. There are other elements that factor in. Because there were some Op Ed this weekend that said, well, why aren't we in Bahrain, of it's about, you know, the humanitarian? I mean, there was 100 protesters unarmed said to be killed in Bahrain. Why aren't we in other places where attacks are happening or dictators are suppressing their people?
RUBIN: Well, there is always some level of double standard in American foreign policy. I served in government during a time we used force against the Serbs in Europe to save the Albanians in Kosovo. And people said, well, why did you do that and not Africa saving Rwandans or Somalia or other places?
So there's always going to be some level of double standard because we can't do everything. But just because we can't do everything it doesn't mean that we shouldn't do what we can at a relatively low cost to prevent what would have been this week on your show and all the other shows a report about a massacre occurring inside -
CHETRY: In Benghazi.
RUBIN: -- in Benghazi. So there is, you know, a limit to what America can do. And as far as the analogy to Bahrain, it's been made, you're absolutely right, but I don't think it's a fair analogy. Bahrain is a very, very different place than Libya. And Gadhafi really is a uniquely dastardly figure in the international community.
ROMANS: All right. Jaime Rubin, thank you so much for joining us -
RUBIN: Thank you.
ROMANS: -- and giving us your perspective (INAUDIBLE).
RUBIN: Thanks.
CHETRY: It's been great to have you walking us through all this. Thanks.
VELSHI: OK. This news just in. There is smoke coming out of Reactor Two at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant in Japan. Reactor Two was the one thought to be most easy to get under control. This is the one that workers have been trying to connect an electric cable to in order to get that cooling system back into place.
Earlier today, we knew there was smoke coming out of Reactor Three, which is why we just reported to you about 15 minutes ago, that there have been new evacuations of the area. But now, we understand there is more smoke coming out of Reactor Two. So active problems at two reactors now at the Fukushima Daiichi Plant.
There was some sense that this was coming under control, and we now have new news of more problems.
ROMANS: We'd thought that we're starting the week with some progress. They were starting to get power back -
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: -- to three of these reactors and the hope with power supply they'd be able do more cooling. I thought we were starting finally after always moving backwards for a week, but now this new smoke.
CHETRY: Yes. And it seems there must be - there may be some problems in terms of the actual infrastructure being damaged at a couple of those.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: They were able to get the water supply back to the ones, five and six, I guess, that weren't (INAUDIBLE) the biggest problem.
VELSHI: Those seem to be OK for now.
ROMANS: Yes. They're stable.
CHETRY: But this is troubling news for sure as they try to get a handle on the situation.
VELSHI: And as Anna Coren was reporting, it is now affecting the food supply in a much larger range than expected. We'll keep you posted on that.
CHETRY: Well, if you can't find a job, maybe you're looking in the wrong place. We'll tell you the best cities to find a job and whether or not you're willing to relocate.
VELSHI: And following the lead of other presidential hopefuls, Sarah Palin touches down in Israel. Details of what could end up being a key part of her 2012 bid.
It is 20 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Gas prices, up nearly 7 cents a gallon in the past two weeks even though oil prices went down at the same time. Experts aren't ready to say what U.S. Military action in Libya is going to do to the cost of gasoline. They still blame overall spikes on unrest in North Africa and the Middle East.
San Francisco, by the way, has the highest average right now at $4 a gallon. It's normally Hawaii that has a higher price there.
But Stephanie Elam is - you know, she spends a lot of time in San Francisco. All right. Well, you want to catch a bus -
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I'm here, by the way, in case you didn't know.
VELSHI: Yes. That's why I was referring Stephanie. Good to see you here. That went over like a lead balloon (ph).
CHETRY: You're going to love this next story, Stephanie.
ELAM: Yes.
VELSHI: If you want to catch a bus -
ELAM: I just - I just flew in from California right now, so I'm all spirit.
VELSHI: Right. In fact, we're going to see you getting off this bus in a second now.
If you want to catch a bus to avoid the high gas prices, it might be harder to do as the Federal Transit Authority looks to set new weight limits that could mean fewer riders allowed on at once. The FTA says people are just more portly now. Why is everybody staring at me?
ROMANS: Because you said Stephanie's going to have to pay attention to this one.
VELSHI: No, no, no. I was just - unrelated story. People are getting bigger, right?
CHETRY: Yes.
ELAM: This is sounding great.
VELSHI: And they want to change the average weight per passenger from 150 to 175 pounds. The agency says many riders are actually over 200 pounds.
CHETRY: I felt like - yes. They had it - they had it wildly underestimated it. Remember, this morning, you said, I can't remember the last time I've seen a 150-pound guy just walking around, right?
VELSHI: I think people - I think most people are - most guys weigh more than 150 pounds.
ROMANS: Yes, I think so.
VELSHI: Yes. ROMANS: Let's talk about the job situation. That's why our dear friend Stephanie is here to talk about the employment situation slowly starting to improve.
But there's a new Forbes list about the best places to get a job. And look, if you're looking for a town that's going to be that nice place to live, raise your family, and get a job, Forbes has a great list.
ELAM: Well, it's not just about the job. They really want to find a place where it's a good place to live, where the cost of living is good.
ROMANS: Let me guess, New York City is on the top of the list.
ELAM: Yes. In somebody's mind, I'm sure it is. But not on - not on this Forbes list that we're looking at. In fact, at the top of the list you'll find is Minneapolis. The city there just doing really well as far as unemployment is concerned, the unemployment rate is 6.5 percent. It's the lowest of the cities that are on the list here. The unemployment level there has dropped from December, 2009 to December, 2010, which shows that a strong market is actually even getting better there.
They've got a lot of different companies. As I said, they've got health services. They've got financial services, retail, manufacturing. And that diverse pool of jobs is what makes it really good for people to find jobs and the cost of living there is also really good. Crime rate is low. You also see the poverty rate is low. So that's helping out Minneapolis.
If you take a look at the other cities that are on the list, we've got Austin, Texas, where Ali Velshi just was.
VELSHI: It's a beautiful place.
ROMANS: That's a great town.
VELSHI: Yes.
ELAM: I really, really want to go one day. I've never been and I really, really want to go.
CHETRY: I've never heard (INAUDIBLE). Everyone wants Austin.
ELAM: I want to check it out. But Austin, it's, again, low cost of living. A lot of different companies there. There's a lot of universities. University of Texas is there. And so therefore, you can always find a diverse pool of candidates to come and work for your company.
And also Silicon Valley is expensive. I know that because I grew up there. And so a lot of people are moving to Austin because they can have their - it's a good place to work, get this type people and do that there (ph).
Rounding out the list, Salt Lake City, Boston, which as we know, has a ton of universities there, a lot of schools there, different kinds of industries. And Milwaukee rounding out the top five.
ROMANS: Wow. Pretty interesting.
VELSHI: You're a big fan of Milwaukee, aren't you?
ROMANS: I am. Milwaukee, Minneapolis. I like the Midwestern towns.
VELSHI: Yes, yes.
CHETRY: I don't know if I could do the average temperature in January, four below zero?
VELSHI: (INAUDIBLE).
ELAM: Well, don't they have like the sky bridges that you can just get around anywhere?
ROMANS: Yes. It's a very livable city in the winter time. Is it a drivable city in the winter time? That's another story. But, you know, in the summer, it's great too because you're so close to the lake country (ph). I mean, it's beautiful.
ELAM: People who go up there love it completely and never leave. Yes, and they don't leave. That's true.
ROMANS: All right.
VELSHI: Stephanie, good to see you. I was just making a segue, by the way, the whole bus thing, because the fact that you travel a lot. We're talking about gas price and then the bus came up. I didn't really know we were headed into -
ELAM: I've actually tried like, you know -
VELSHI: I didn't know we were headed into a weight discussion.
ELAM: I tried to slim down. I've been really working on it.
CHETRY: He knows you're under 150. Don't worry about it.
VELSHI: I'm never going to live that conversation down.
ELAM: No, no. That is going to be on the top of the list for a while, even with my jet lag, driving from L.A. (INAUDIBLE).
ROMANS: Yes. That's the top for Ali Velshi (ph), really.
VELSHI: Yes. That was good.
CHETRY: Speaking of baby, Stephanie, you're going to like this one, too. OK.
ELAM: This one's for real.
CHETRY: This one's for real.
A 5 and a half month-old baby named Emerson is the latest web sensation. And, you know, you love the (INAUDIBLE) -
VELSHI: I love laughing babies.
CHETRY: -- laughing baby. This baby also went from absolute terror to absolute delight after her mom blows her nose. Check it out.
ELAM: Just watched this on the plane.
CHETRY: That lady blows her nose like me.
VELSHI: Does he react every time the mom blows the nose?
CHETRY: Yes. She must be really sick. That's a lot of blowing. But, yes, he's having a blast.
VELSHI: We're not the only ones who like this?
CHETRY: No.
ROMANS: Seven million.
CHETRY: Seven million YouTube views so far. Of course, that reminds us of Ali's favorite baby.
VELSHI: That's one of my favorites.
CHETRY: The one tickled by the sound of the tearing of the paper.
ROMANS: Was that a job rejection?
CHETRY: Yes, it was a job rejection. But to lighten the mood behind the scene on set, I tear paper and Ali do the exact same way.
VELSHI: (INAUDIBLE). It works every single time.
ROMANS: And you have about as much hair.
VELSHI: All right. Well, it's good to have a little levity, because we've got a lot of serious news this morning.
CHETRY: Yes. Three days of coalition attacks on Libya. Moammar Gadhafi's defense is crippled. The heart of his presidential compound reduced to rubble. But where is the elusive dictator and what may be his next move?
VELSHI: Also coming up, how engineers in Japan hope to use concrete to try to prevent a nuclear meltdown. We've just had news of smoke coming from Reactor Two at Fukushima Daiichi. And we already know the smoke coming out of Reactor Number Three. So we'll be on top of that for you, as well.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
ROMANS: It's Monday, March 21st. Good morning. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING, everybody.
VELSHI: Good morning, Christine. Good to see you.
Good morning, Kiran.
CHETRY: The 21st of March, right? We're moving along. Tomorrow, it's officially spring.
ROMANS: Spring.
CHETRY: It won't feel like for several more months.
VELSHI: Yes. Weren't you just saying there's snow and sleet in northern New Jersey?
CHETRY: Yes, just a little bit of snow in northern New Jersey, and in the Poconos. I mean, what is going on?
VELSHI: Yes, high winds in California.
CHETRY: Yes. Well, we're going to bring you up-to-date on your top stories right now.
Coalition forces bombarding Libya over the weekend, crippling Moammar Gadhafi's air defenses and severely damaging the heart of the dictator's compound. The U.S. says that Gadhafi himself was not a target but his residence was because it also serves as a military installation. Defense Chief Robert Gates says that while the U.S. is currently taking a lead role in Operation Odyssey Dawn, that role will be handed over to the British or French within days.
Meantime, the Coast Guard says the sheen found off Louisiana shores yesterday is not oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill. Tests show trace amounts of oil and grease. The dark substance is believed to be sediment, which was washed down the Mississippi by dredging and high water. There are some local residents who say they still believe it is the result of that massive oil spill.
Looking to beef up her foreign policy resume, Sarah Palin is in Jerusalem now to meet with Israeli leaders today. Palin says she looks forward to discussing key issues with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The former Alaska governor also stopped in India over the weekend. She says she has yet to decide whether she'll make a run for the White House in 2012.
VELSHI: Well, the struggle to cool down reactors at a nuclear power plant battered by an earthquake and a tsunami in Japan continues on multiple fronts this morning.
Let's start with Fukushima Daiichi's reactor number four today. Workers here are being trained to spray a mixture of mortar and water into the reactor. The idea is there's an exposed -- there are exposed rods there, spent fuel rods, and they are trying this last-ditch effort, similar to what was done after the 1986 meltdown at Chernobyl in the former Soviet Union. Also, fire engines continue to pour water on reactor number four. Number three, this is a problem, 1,100 tons of water sprayed on that reactor to cool it down Sunday into this morning, but now, gray smoke this morning has been seen billowing from it. And workers were evacuated from that area. Engineers also monitoring a build-up in pressure in number three's containment vessel. They're going to decide to release hydrogen gas to prevent an explosion.
Now, let me just tell you about nuclear reactor number two. Also spotted a short time ago: smoke at reactor two. Power has been restored to.
This is the one they spent the weekend attaching a cable. Engineers were hopeful about restoring the reactor's cooling system since they had electricity attached to it. But, first, they've got to replace equipment damaged by the quake and tsunami. We're about to get a report on what the situation is at reactor two.
And then there's reactor one -- engineers hope to have power up and running at reactor one very shortly. Three and four, they're hoping for to get their cooling engines back up in time. There are also reactors five and six -- those seem to be under control.
Let's get more on the situation at reactors two and three, and what could be a big setback to efforts to prevent more radiation from getting into the atmosphere.
Anna Coren is live for us in Tokyo.
Anna, what's the latest that you have?
COREN: Ali, we've been working the phones trying to get confirmation on new reports that smoke is coming from reactor two. TEPCO, the power company that owns the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, will not confirm that. They say there's only smoke coming from reactor three.
Now, that occurred at about 4:00 p.m. this afternoon. Fifteen minutes later, all the workers inside reactor three were evacuated to a main building. We know there are some 430 workers on the site.
I don't know how many were actually involved in the reactor three, but we -- we do know that they -- as soon as they saw that smoke, they got out.
Now, the problem, Ali, is that they just don't know what this smoke actually is. And that is -- that really is what is alarming. I mean, you can only -- you know, assume it may contain radioactive material. And that is obviously causing fear, not only among officials and workers who are, you know, working tirelessly to try and contain this situation, but also among those people who live, you know, close by to this nuclear plant in Fukushima, Ali.
VELSHI: Anna, tell us about the food concerns. Officials in Japan said that they have found higher than acceptable levels of radiation in food further away from the reactor than they would have expected to. COREN: That's exactly right. The World Health Organization has actually come out and said that the situation is more serious than what they first thought.
Higher radiation levels were found in both spinach and milk, close to Fukushima. And so, as a result, they have banned the sale and shipments of both those products.
And iodine is another problem in drinking water. High levels of iodine were also found in drinking water around Fukushima. So, as a result, authorities are telling people to not to drink it, to refrain from doing that. And however, they say that you can still use it to bathe in.
So, getting mixed reports there, Ali. But certainly, we would tell people to err on the side of caution.
VELSHI: Yes. I have to tell you, if somebody told me that the water was too radiated to drink but I'm OK to bathe in it, I'd hold off. Anna, thanks very much. We'll get back to you with your great reporting from Tokyo.
And coming up at 7:30 Eastern, about an hour from now, senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is going to have more over Japan's -- concerns over Japan's food supply and whether the radioactive risks are going to be a factor here in the United States. People just -- it's -- I've rarely come across a topic that has people so concerned all over the world.
CHETRY: Right, because it's insidious, tasteless, odorless. You can't know and it's terrifying.
VELSHI: Right. Yes.
CHETRY: And there hasn't really been a lot said. There haven't been a lot of definitive information coming from officials about what really is going on.
VELSHI: What dangers exist elsewhere. That's right.
ROMANS: Meanwhile, we're watching violence during the most important presidential elections in Haiti's history. Even singer Wyclef Jean was grazed by a bullet. What happened and how he's doing this morning?
CHETRY: Also, coming up: Prince William hints at where the royal couple may be deciding to take their honeymoon. Here's a hint: it's a place where you would probably absolutely love the scuba diving.
Thirty-eight minutes past the hour.
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ROMANS: Election day violence in Haiti. Two people were shot and killed as people cast their votes in a crucial presidential runoff yesterday. Voters chose between two candidates, a former first lady and a singer. Results of the runoff will be released on April 16th.
Wyclef Jean was grazed by a bullet in Haiti this weekend.
VELSHI: He's not the singer you're talking about.
ROMANS: He is not the singer, a different singer. The musician was treated on Sunday at a hospital in Port-au-Prince. A spokesperson said he is doing well.
You can see his hand there on the video. He says the bullet grazed his hand after he stepped out of a car. Wyclef Jean would not say if he thought he was the target. The native Haitian is in the country helping the presidential campaign of the Michel Martelly.
VELSHI: Who is the singer.
ROMANS: Who is the singer.
CHETRY: Wow! That's right. I mean, he's lucky he got grazed. I mean, he could have been hit worse.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: Also new this morning, Prince William and Kate Middleton -- you know, everything they say or do or hint about their wedding is huge news. Well, now, it's the honeymoon and where they might actually go.
Zain Verjee is with us from London this morning.
You know that whenever you go to the local crowd, you want to make them good. So, he was down in Australia. Do you think they're really going there for the honeymoon, Zain?
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, g' day, mate. They just might, you know, guys.
He was there on an official visit, but he dropped quite a few hints, saying that, you know what, maybe they'll go to Australia for the honeymoon. He said that maybe we'll have a honeymoon here, just maybe.
Australians were thrilled about this. He gave an interview to a local journalist and said, "I love scuba diving. I've always wanted to dive the barrier reef." He said the weather's a lot better here, too -- and I can vouch for that being here in London.
So, he's there on an official visit, but he dropped a mega-hint about Australia.
VELSHI: Zain, they are asking -- the royal couple is asking people. I don't know if this is in lieu of gifts or not, but to make donations to charities?
VERJEE: Yes. I mean, what do you get them anyway, right? Right, Ali? So, they are -- they're asking for charitable donations. But there's an interesting focus here.
You know, Kate Middleton is asking for guests to give donations to a charity that is anti-bullying, because you know, when she was in school, she was apparently bullied a lot around about when she was 13 years old and her parents actually took her out of her school here and took her to another one simply because of that reason. She ended up doing really well and everything, but it's obviously stuck. So, they're asking their 1,900 guests to give to that charity or a few others they support like child bereavement fund or a fund for terminally kids.
And I like this one, save the rhino in Kenya.
CHETRY: Well, that's nice. Nobody -- you're right. It is. What do you get the royal couple? And they're making a little easier for you. You can make your monetary donation and you're actually doing something good at the same time.
VERJEE: Yes.
ROMANS: Hey, Zain, it's a pretty strict protocol when these two are together. I mean, what is the royal protocol for engaged people?
VERJEE: Yes. You know, there are so many proper protocols to follow. I just dug up a couple. But one of the things they need to watch out for is that they cannot kiss in public.
VELSHI: Really?
VERJEE: At least not until their wedding day. Yes, no smooching. And they also can't hold hands.
VELSHI: Wow!
ROMANS: Do they live together?
VERJEE: And they can't do too much hand touching.
CHETRY: They do.
ROMANS: But they do live together, right, Zain?
(CROSSTALK)
VERJEE: Well, they see a lot of each other. They don't officially do. It does, but, you know, this is -- you know, now, look, I talked to a body language expert. You'll be happy to know that I did that and they said when they're together they're still very affectionate and have this wind screen wiper wave, which is the fact that they have this open palm and they wave like this and not like this, and they relate to each other like that. Anyway, no smooching --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: We don't have any problems, we're allowed to hold hands on camera. CHETRY: Yes. But we're not engaged -- anymore.
VELSHI: To each other.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: Thank you, Zain.
You can watch Zain every morning at 5:00 a.m. on "WORLD ONE," right here on CNN.
And we're going to have complete coverage of the royal wedding also right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Still to come this morning, the northeast is waking up to some severe weather. Reynolds Wolf will have this morning's travel forecast right after the break.
ROMANS: And did you, guys see this? A spectacular sight in the sky this weekend.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: Unbelievable. Why they're calling Saturday's full moon a "super moon."
VELSHI: That was outstanding.
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VELSHI: All right. Look at that. That is the sun rising over -- is that a foggy Manhattan or is that smudges on the camera?
ROMANS: I don't know.
VELSHI: It doesn't look even enough to be fog.
ROMANS: It definitely looks like something out of a Batman movie.
VELSHI: We're going to send somebody up there in the --
ROMANS: No, no. I know who we can ask. We can ask somebody who's going to know what that is. His name is Reynolds Wolf, and he's actually --
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I know it's 39 degrees. I can't see that from the camera, but I know it's 39 degrees in New York City. It's going to go up to 52, but it's so smudgy, I can't even tell you that's for sure New York City.
ROMANS: Yes. There's snow in the northeast, actually. Now, we have the 52 is a good thing. Reynolds Wolf is in the Extreme Weather Center in Atlanta. He can tell us. What was that, Reynolds?
VELSHI: A dirty camera? Or is that fog?
WOLF: I think you're both right. I do have to agree with Ali to some extent. There's probably a little bit of smudginess up there. I mean, just to be honest with you. Not that smudgy that happens to be some kind of meteorological phenomenon.
VELSHI: Right.
WOLF: But still, a 100 percent chance that happen today. Hey, in New York, expect the rain, but a little bit farther to your north, that would be the Catskills, you can expect some snowfall some place anywhere from five to nine inches. Out to the west, it's a different story. In California, it is all rain and take a look at some of these rainfall totals, Gibraltar Dam, easy for me to say, 11.37 inches.
Anyway, sort of rainfall, so in Cachuma Reservoir on the Central Coast. Same deal in Rose Valley, even San Marcos pass, getting very closer over 10 inches of rainfall. That's a look at the numbers. Let's take a look at some of the video that we have from out towards the west, and it is just a blurry picture, no question about it. The rain coming down. You can see in many places, we have a little bit of some flash flooding.
There's some damage that we have. Some of the rainfall coming down from the hillsides. The wind has also been very brutal, anywhere from 30 to 45-mile-an-hour gusts. Some gust actually approaching 60 miles an hour in the highest elevations. In the high elevations, you can expect not just rain as we go back to the weather computer that we have for you here. We're going to have another issue up into the mountains. Snowfall.
Some places in San Gabriel could see one to three feet of snowfall. Anyone making that drive up to parts of the Grapevine in L.A. certainly be advised of that. The snow could be very heavy also in parts of the Sierra Nevada, one to two inches of snowfall -- rather one to two feet of snowfall. Not quite as heavy in parts of the northeast. You see the snow not only in parts of New York and into, say, Massachusetts back into Connecticut, even New Hampshire and Vermont.
We're going to see that rainfall from Buffalo southward near Pittsburgh and just the north of the nation's capital in Washington. How is this going to affect your travel? Right now, what we're going to see is, certainly, some rough conditions, the roads, parts of 95. You might have some issues also over towards 81, but for people traveling in terms of your air travel, expected delays, some delays in New York.
In fact, all of your major airports, perhaps even into Boston. Out west, take your pick, L.A., SFO, could have some backups there, too, into the afternoon. Back to you, guys.
ROMANS: All right. Reynolds Wolf, thank you.
WOLF: You bet.
CHETRY: Thanks so much. OK. So, what do you use? AT&T, Verizon, T- Mobile?
ROMANS: I have Verizon.
CHETRY: I have AT&T.
VELSHI: I have both.
ROMANS: Oh, Velshi.
CHETRY: Pretty soon you'll have all three because --
VELSHI: This is the problem, right? When you have to get redundancies because you're not entirely sure.
CHETRY: Exactly. Exactly. There is going to be a new cell phone giant. AT&T bought T-Mobile. It's a $39 billion deal, and it makes it now the largest provider.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: Verizon now in second place. So, what does it mean for your bill, for your service? Will there be a T-Mobile iPhone? We'll have more on that story.
ROMANS: Will the government let it happen, too?
VELSHI: And of course, iPads, cell phones, laptops, many gadgets we can't live with anymore. How are the supply of those things being affected by the disaster in Japan? More than you might think. We're going to discuss that right after the break.
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CHETRY: This is that time of year where guys just sit on the couch all day and night watching their games, right?
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: And watching their games and watching their brackets.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: Do you participate?
VELSHI: I've got a bracket. I don't follow it, but I don't know even know if my bracket's been busted.
CHETRY: Yes. There were a lot of upsets this weekend. It's the first weekend of March madness, and it's complete. And now, we're down to what they know as the sweet 16. Not the one that cost parents ridiculous amounts of money.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: This is where you try to win money. CHETRY: Right. Exactly. The big surprise in the Big East performing like the big least, and I say this because we were watching Syracuse. My husband's an alum, and he was very unhappy with them getting bounced. Notre Dame also. I know a lot of my friends were bummed about that. Out of the record, 11 teams in the big games (ph), only two big east teams remain. That's Connecticut and upstart Marquette.
VELSHI: Wow.
CHETRY: Also advancing into the sweet 16, Butler. They knocked off top Seeded Pit. That was my pick for (INAUDIBLE). NCAA Blue Bloods North Carolina and Duke, as always, can be counted on to advance.
ROMANS: If you were watching basketball, you might have been going out watching this amazing event, the super moon.
VELSHI: I was staring at the moon on Saturday night.
ROMANS: It was awesome.
VELSHI: It was unbelievable.
CHETRY: It was awesome, and you have to admit it (ph).
ROMANS: There was a full moon on Saturday. They're calling it the super moon. Look at that because it was the largest full moon in 18 years. These are some incredible pictures from our i-Reporters. Thanks, everybody for sending those in.
CHETRY: Look at that.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: It was unobstructed, and the way I saw it, it looked like it was 18 times brighter than a normal. It was clear, white, and brighter. Beautiful.
CHETRY: The way was rising it behind the trees. It's amazing. Took the kids, they loved it. It was awesome.
VELSHI: All right. We're continuing on. It's a busy, busy morning. We had news out of Japan, news out of Libya. New news that you need to understand. Top stories coming your way right after this break.
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