Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Radioactive Radiation from Japan Detected in U.S.; First Airstrikes Aid Rebels in Libya; NCAA's Improbable Four; Radiation Spike at Japan Nuke Plant; Vanishing Debit Card Rewards; Libyan Woman's Rape Claim
Aired March 28, 2011 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Right now on this AMERICAN MORNING, radioactive iodine is spreading in the ocean near Japan's Daiichi nuclear power plant. And one of the reactors inside this facility is heating up threatening to release more contamination. Meanwhile, low levels of radiation from the plant are now being detected 6,500 miles away in the rainwater in Massachusetts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Scary stuff. Rebels also gaining ground on Moammar Gadhafi. NATO says it will now take over the entire military operation in Libya. And at least a lot of Americans want to know exactly what the role of the U.S. will be now.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: And from the first four all the way to the final four, Virginia Commonwealth continues to shock the basketball world, knocking off number one seed, Kansas, to set up a wild celebration back home in Virginia.
ROMANS: Plus, Kate Middleton picks out the royal wedding cake. That's all ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: A lot of news happening overnight in Libya, Japan, and right here at home. I'm Kiran Chetry. We want to get you up to date right now.
In Japan, new concerns at one of the damaged nuclear reactors and now word that radiation is spilling into the ocean.
VELSHI: And it's moving in the air. I'm Ali Velshi. Here in the United States, another state detecting radiation from Fukushima. This one is on the east coast. We'll tell you how high the radiation levels are and how it could have possibly been spread here.
ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. In Libya, the no-fly zone in place. Rebels make steady progress towards Tripoli. While here at home, President Obama prepares to make his case why Libya matters to us.
A lot going on. Let's get started. AMERICAN MORNING begins right now.
CHETRY: So we do have that lot going on, but the head scratcher today is the final four. You've got two schools.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: Very unlikely schools making it into the finals, VCU and Butler.
VELSHI: And it's not a competition unless there are upsets. We've had some upsets although somebody pointed out the other day, one of our producers, you can't keep calling Butler an upset when it keeps doing it.
ROMANS: That's right. That's right.
Let's stick with the top stories this morning on Japan. A lot of people waking up this morning and wondering what's going on with the radiation disaster in Japan.
And another tsunami scare there. A 6.1 magnitude earthquake off Japan's northeast coast last night triggered a tsunami warning. But this time, the waves never came. Thousands of people are still reeling, of course, from that March 11th disaster.
CHETRY: And there is new footage surfacing on YouTube of the sheer destructive force of that tsunami. It's some of the most graphic video yet. Take a look at the pictures. They were taken March 11th.
This is in the city of Kesennuma, Japan. Kesennuma isn't there anymore. The entire city was washed away by the tsunami's waves in just 10 minutes.
VELSHI: At the Daiichi nuclear power station in Fukushima, the situation may be growing more unstable. Radioactive iodine contamination is spreading in the sea near the plant. It's registering more than 1,800 times the normal levels. And after first denying it, nuclear safety officials in Japan now concede that contaminated water is spilling directly into the ocean.
Inside the Daiichi station, there are a host of problems so complex and so dangerous that the world's chief nuclear inspector from the International Atomic Energy agency says Japan is, quote, "still far from the end of the accident." Right now, the temperature is rising inside reactor number one at the site. The heat spike is a signal that the nuclear fuel rods are overheating. And that could lead to the release of more radiation.
Now, the Tokyo Power Company, TEPCO, confirms that there are 19 workers who have been exposed to more than 100 millisieverts of radiation. Now 100 millisieverts is the legal limit allowed for plant employees. Remember, the average American is exposed to about three to five millisieverts a year. We're talking about 100. And that's higher than the number in the reactor number two where radioactive water continues to pool. Contamination levels there are 330 times the dose that an average person in a developed country receives in a year. Workers are trying to remove the radioactive water, but plant officials concede, they've got no place to put it -- Christine. ROMANS: Ali, it's 6,500 from Fukushima, Japan, to Massachusetts -- 6,500 miles -- and that's how far radioactive fallout from the Daiichi plant has traveled. Very low levels of radioiodine 131 have been detected in the rainwater in Massachusetts. But state public health officials insist there is no cause for concern.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN AUERBACH, COMMISSIONER, MASSACHUSETTS DEPT. OF PUBLIC HEALTH: We want to make clear that there is no health impact. None of the cities and towns rely on rainwater as the primary source of water. So that's why we're so comfortable in saying that the drinking water supplies throughout the state are completely safe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Repeated tests on the state's drinking water are planned over the next several days just as a precaution.
CHETRY: Several states have now detected low-level radiation in the environment, and the Daiichi power plant is the likely source.
We have our Reynolds Wolf joining us now. So it's important to note that even though it's detected, it's not a harm, right, for humans right now. But how does the contamination travel so quickly?
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's actually pretty simply. I mean, think about when you have wildfires in Southern California. You know, we see the wildfires. You see the smoke beginning to go up and building up into the high levels of the atmosphere. Then it appears to disappear.
Well, the smoke really isn't disappearing. It's getting caught in upper level winds and being cast out. And sometimes you've got a big enough wildfire in Southern California, you can find microscopic particles of that smoke in parts of, say, the east coast, sometimes all the way over in Europe if the fires and winds are strong enough.
Same rule applies with this. You simply have -- let's get over towards Japan right in this area where you have the plant, of course, you know, some of that radioactive material. You basically have some strong upper level winds that actually transport that into parts of Canada, back over towards the U.S., and many other places. And before all is said and done, I would not be surprised if you could find even tiny trace amounts of this making its way all the way over to Europe. But I have to tell you, this is very, very harmless. This is not a very big deal. In fact, if you're walking out to your car in bright sunlight, chances are you might be exposed to more radiation in that than you would by these microscopic particles making their way across the globe.
Let's kick it back to you.
CHETRY: All right, Reynolds. Thanks for the explainer. It does, of course, still, you know, make you think twice when you hear about it.
WOLF: Absolutely.
CHETRY: But hearing it's harmless, of course, is good. Thanks so much.
Well, in just a few minutes, we're going to be talking more about all of this with a disaster expert, Professor Cham Dallas, about containment efforts in Japan. He led numerous expeditions into some of the most contaminated areas of Chernobyl.
VELSHI: To Libya now, and rebels getting closer to Moammar Gadhafi's doorstep this morning, gaining ground with the help of new coalition air strikes. NATO now says it will take over the entire military mission there, not just the no-fly zone. So far the U.S. has supplied nearly all the firepower according to Pentagon figures. The U.S. military has launched all but seven of the tomahawk cruise missiles fired in the mission. Only two have been launched in the past 24 hours. The U.S. has also flown more than half of the strike sorties over Libya. Eighty-eight bombing runs remain in the past 24 hours.
ROMANS: It's clear now that coalition airstrikes have shifted the momentum in Libya. The opposition reversing losses and retaking two key oil ports in a matter of 20 hours. Before the first bombs were dropped, the rebels were brutally forced back to their home base of Benghazi. This weekend, they pushed west retaking the critical oil terminals in Ras Lanuf and in the city of Brega. And for the first time, airstrikes have reportedly targeted Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte, the next major city on the highway towards the capital of Tripoli. Rebel forces telling CNN, they expect a long and bloody battle there. Arwa Damon is on the front lines with the rebels as they march west.
ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Word here on the western outskirts of the oil town of Brega, yet another location. Now it would seem firmly in control of opposition fighters. They say thanks to those airstrikes that took out Gadhafi's positions outside of Ajdabiya, clearing the road for them to continue on their march westward.
This here is the gate to Ras Lanuf, heavily damaged and fighting. However, this was caused we're being told, by the initial battles that took place between Gadhafi's troops and opposition fighters. The fighters telling us that when they came through here on this day, they encountered no resistance whatsoever. In fact, there was no sign of Gadhafi's military. Both Brega and Ras Lanuf very critical, not just to the opposition, but also to Gadhafi's government. And it is evident why as we look over here at the Ras Lanuf oil refinery.
ROMANS: That's our Arwa Damon reporting with the rebels.
President Obama will explain his Libya strategy tonight in a national address. He's expected to speak at 7:30 Eastern. CNN's live coverage begins at 7:00.
CHETRY: And Libya just one of the many hot spots we're focusing on this morning. Syria also bracing for more violent protests after a bloody weekend of fighting there. Witnesses say that security forces opened fire on a crowd wounding several people in the city of Latakia (ph) over the weekend. This after 24 people were reportedly killed during protests in the country. Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad is expected to address the nation within the next couple of days. Syria is expected to lift emergency law, which has been in place nearly 50 years and allows the government to arrest anyone it thinks is a threat to security.
VELSHI: And in Yemen, clashes really showing what's at stake for the U.S. there. Security forces are battling Al Qaeda as the president there tries to cling to power. Officials said seven Yemeni soldiers and three Al Qaeda members were killed in an attack in a military checkpoint. The nation's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, says he's ready to step down. Protesters pelted a big screen with their shoes as it was showing an interview with him. That is the ultimate insult in the Arab world. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is warning that his resignation could pose a real problem for the U.S. effort to fight terror.
ROMANS: Also new this morning, a scary Sunday for an elderly man in the San Francisco Bay Area suburb. Police say he went outside to get his newspaper in his driveway when a device hidden inside the paper exploded in his hands. He was rushed to a hospital, but is expected to be OK. Nearly a dozen nearby homes were evacuated. Police and bomb-sniffing dogs combed the neighborhood, but no other explosives were found.
CHETRY: A week-long Disney cruise may have come to an end, but the search for its missing crew member continues. The ship "Wonder" docked in L.A. yesterday, and the parents of British woman Rebecca Coriam were waiting at port to meet with investigators. She disappeared Tuesday off of Mexico's Pacific Coast. Ship warning coastal searches turned up no signs of the youth program worker.
VELSHI: And a new job for former White House Press Secretary Robert Gates (ph)? Maybe. The "New York Times" reporting Facebook wants --
What's that?
CHETRY: Gibbs. Robert Gibbs.
VELSHI: I'm sorry, Robert Gibbs. That's Robert Gibbs. Robert Gates is the defense secretary. "New York Times" reporting Facebook wants Gibbs to manage the company's communications, although no formal offer has been made yet. Facebook officials say it could be the largest offering in its history. The social empire is valued at $60 billion. Gibbs left the White House in February after two years on the job.
Nice catch, guys.
CHETRY: You know if it was Gates.
VELSHI: I only do one major person, get one major person wrong a week.
ROMANS: The picture of Robert Gibbs --
VELSHI: I made the vice president the president last week, which he didn't mind.
CHETRY: I thought if it was Gates, I mean, they'd have to just -- it would be a whole new company. You know, no more casual Fridays, forget that.
Well, going to the final four, once again, a Cinderella story. Virginia Commonwealth continued its improbable run through the NCAA tournament beating Kansas, 71-61 Thursday, earning a trip to Houston. Kansas was the last remaining number one seed in the tournament, so it's been a bracket buster as they call it. VCU's victory set off a wild celebration on campus.
Well, Virginia Commonwealth will meet last year's Cinderella squad Butler. In one semifinal, Butler beat Florida on Saturday. Also on Sunday, Kentucky punched its ticket to the finals for beating North Carolina 76-69 and it's Kentucky's first final four appearance since 1998. But when they were there, they won. They'll now meet UConn who defeated Arizona. So the final four matchup set for Saturday in Houston. You have Kentucky and UConn, VCU and Butler. And then the winners meet one week from tonight in the national championships.
VELSHI: I'm going to be there in Houston.
CHETRY: Oh, cool, to see the game?
VELSHI: No. I'm actually there for something entirely unrelated. But I'm sure I'll soak up some of the energy.
CHETRY: Yes, that'll be fun.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: All right. Next up on AMERICAN MORNING, efforts to contain radiation at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant suffer another setback. We're going to talk with a nuclear expert about the danger here with this nuclear crisis if it spreads.
VELSHI: And passing the buck again. Banks are forced to play by new rules. Some of them are taking more perks away from you to make up for it. We'll tell you specifically what's going away at your bank.
CHETRY: And we don't know who they are, but we know they're all millionaires several times over. Seven New York State employees will share the $319 million prize in the mega million lottery jackpot. So guys, our office pool, didn't work this time, but clearly it works.
ROMANS: Yes.
CHETRY: Thirteen minutes past the hour.
ROMANS: I'm a big fan of the office pool.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: As work crews try desperately to contain Japan's nuclear crisis, it was 32 years ago today America was hit with its worst nuclear crisis at Three Mile Island, about 10 miles south of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
A valve that got stuck in the open position allowed coolant to escape from the core. Small amounts of radiation escaped from the plants. No one was injured, but the accident had a crushing impact on the industry. Not one nuclear plant has been built in America since that accident, Kiran.
CHETRY: Christine, thanks.
And this morning, there are some new warnings about dangerous radiation levels around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Plant in Japan. Temperatures are rising in one of the reactors and radioactive water is now spilling into the ocean. So what does it mean for the containment efforts?
Joining us from Atlanta, Professor Cham Dallas, a Nuclear Energy and Disaster expert at the University of Georgia. In fact, he also led expeditions into some of the most contaminated areas of Chernobyl. Welcome to the program. Thanks so much for being with us this morning.
CHAM DALLAS, NUCLEAR ENERGY AND DISASTER EXPERT, UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA: Good to be here, Kiran.
CHETRY: So I'm just going to run down a couple of the latest problems that have been reported out of these reactors, and you can tell me what in your mind they - they mean. First of all, the rising temperatures in Reactor One.
DALLAS: Well, that is a concern. The number one thing they have to continue to do is keep water around those reactor cores. And any time there's a rising temperature, that means they're having some difficulty cooling those reactors. If there's not going to be any more melting down of those reactor cores, they're going to have to keep water circulating and keep those temperatures down.
CHETRY: Right. And it's interesting because they say that they actually had one of the trade groups in Japan say that it seemed to be that they were dealing with perhaps at least some meltdown or some problem with the core in Reactor One. Is that reversible?
DALLAS: Actually, there's only one way. It usually goes down. You can stop it and keep it, you know, at a - at a steady level, but you don't recover that reactor core. Whatever's melted has melted. And what they have to focus on now is not getting any more melting down.
CHETRY: And then what about these high elevations? The radiation, 100,000 times normal level at Reactor Two and 10,000 times the normal level of radiation at Reactor Three. Altogether, what does this indicate when it comes to their efforts to try to stop any - any more problems at those two reactors?
DALLAS: Well, that's unfortunately, a deteriorating situation. They're starting to get levels now 1,000 millisieverts an hour is one of them that have been reported that are dangerous, that are immediately dangerous to the life and health of individuals that are exposed to that.
And - but fortunately, that's in the reactor area, not outside and not in Tokyo or even in the area in Fukushima Province. But in the reactor area itself, that's - that's concerning to me. We're starting to see levels now that are dangerous to reactor workers if they're in those contaminated areas.
CHETRY: And then, of course, the other area of concern is what's happening around the plant. Radioactivity in the sea water around it tested at about 1,800 times the normal level over the weekend. They were quick to point out this is not an area that is fished for seafood. But the sea water contamination, does it pose a threat to human health?
DALLAS: Well, I am very concerned to see it finally getting there. I'm not surprised. Frankly, I've been expecting it. But I was hoping they would be able to contain it and keep it from going in the ocean.
These levels right now are not immediately dangerous to humans. The problem is, is it's there. It's gotten out into the ocean. Of course, these Fukushima reactor complexes right on the ocean. It's right on the coast. And it's concerning to me that they were not able to keep it out.
Hopefully, they'll be able to keep the levels from going higher. If they have a release of radioactive water, if they can't contain the radioactive water that they're getting out of reactors and the reason (ph) to cool it - it gets in the ocean, that's a concern. Because it - once those radionuclides (ph) get down into the sediments, they're there forever essentially.
CHETRY: Oh, man. Well, it sounds like they're still having a lot of challenges trying to get a handle on this.
I want to thank you for giving us your expertise on it, Professor Cham Dallas. Thanks so much for joining us this morning.
DALLAS: Thank you, Kiran.
CHETRY: Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, banks may be cutting your perks as they face the cost of new laws. Cash back, maybe miles. We'll tell you what exactly rewards you might be losing.
VELSHI: And so-called super bugs are cropping up across the country. Its breeding ground is the hospital. We're going to explain.
It's 20 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
I don't know if you guys know this, Harry Coover has died.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, that's terrible.
VELSHI: Who is Harry Coover you ask? Important guy. He invented Superglue and it turns out he got the idea purely by accident while doing work on gun sights and jet canopies that were resistant to strong impact.
Last year, President Obama -
CHETRY: Gun sights and jet canopies -
VELSHI: Yes. There's a gun sights, you know, the sight of the gun has -
Anyway, President Obama, you can see him there, he awarded Coover the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. Superglue first hit the market back in - any ideas? Roughly?
CHETRY: Oh, let's go with the '50s.
VELSHI: '58 - 1958. Very good. I would have - I would have actually guessed the '70s.
Harry Coover died over the weekend at his home in Tennessee. He was 94 years old.
ROMANS: That's cool. Innovation is so great. And when you look at inventions like that that have endured - and endured literally and figuratively.
VELSHI: I mean, we don't - we don't think of that as innovation, but when you look at like things like that -
ROMANS: Sure.
VELSHI: -- it really did help.
ROMANS: Right. More big banks getting set to cancel their debit card rewards programs.
Carmen Wong Ulrich is here "Minding Your Business." We knew it was coming. We knew it was coming.
CARMEN WONG ULRICH, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Do you guys have debit rewards?
ROMANS: I do.
ULRICH: Do you, Ali?
VELSHI: I don't.
CHETRY: I don't either.
ULRICH: Neither do I, but a lot of you do - a lot. Actually, debit cards are the number one way to pay. And over 70 percent of folks who use debit cards have debit rewards. Well, they are going bye-bye. CNNMoney reports that big banks are set to cancel the debit rewards programs. Here's who is in line. Wells Fargo and Wachovia will end their debit rewards for new customers by April 15th. JPMorgan Chase making a lot of changes lately by July 19th, no more rewards for existing customers. And SunTrust, no rewards for new customers as of April 15th around tax day, and all current customers, your rewards will expire on January 1st of 2012.
Now, what's happened already with your debit? We know this is an ongoing saga. Well, ATM fees have been hiked by as much as $5 if you're a non-customer, and banks have threatened to limit debit card transactions. We've heard that from Chase from $50 to $100.
And why is all this happening? Well, the Fed is looking to limit the fee per swipe, which is paid by vendors to 12 cents a swipe. The current average - around two to three percent of transactions closer to 44 cents. Now, merchants say that swipe fees cost them around $20 billion in profit a year. While banks say that new reform is going to be lost billions of dollars of profit for them and, of course, the American consumer is caught in the middle.
CHETRY: So, what about the credit card? So you're talking about debit. What about credit cards? They're still hanging on their rewards (INAUDIBLE)?
ULRICH: Credit cards are hanging on - hanging on to their rewards. Because the key here is that the reform that the Fed is looking at doing right now is that swipe fee and it is debit cards. And we saw Debit Card Reform tied to the Card Act.
ROMANS: Right.
ULRICH: To the Credit Card Act. So they're getting hit - we got - they got hit on the customer end in terms of debit cards, now the vendors are looking to have that pull back a bit.
ROMANS: All right.
CHETRY: Enjoy the rewards while you can.
ULRICH: Yes. Come on. Cash them out now.
CHETRY: Thanks, Carmen.
ROMANS: Thanks, Carmen.
ULRICH: Thank you.
CHETRY: Well, America's newest mega millionaires could come forward and claim their prize today. It was an office pool.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: We know they were in Albany - the Albany area in New York.
One winning ticket was sold in Friday's Mega Millions drawing, seven New York State workers are said to be splitting -
ROMANS: Woo-hoo.
CHETRY: -- the $319 million jackpot, which would make the owner of the store in Albany that sold the winning ticket very happy, as well. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE HUTCHINS, STORE OWNER: It's great that somebody that comes into this - and hopefully it's a regular customer. And maybe even a group of people from, you know, an office around here. That would be nice too that it could be shared amongst a number of people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: $319 million. It is the largest sole-winning jackpot ticket ever sold in New York.
Again, after taxes they always add that up. You know, if they take the lump sum and then Uncle Sam gets a bunch, blah, blah, blah. I think they get $18 million each.
VELSHI: It's always - never worry about what you didn't get.
CHETRY: $18 million each. That was awesome.
VELSHI: Looking forward to meeting those people.
Well, radiation is spreading into ocean around the crippled Daiichi Nuclear Plant - Power Plant in Japan. And now, low level contamination is registering in the rain water in Massachusetts. We're going to tell you what the state's health officials are saying about that discovery.
ROMANS: She made headlines by storming into a Tripoli Hotel to tell reporters she was brutally raped by Gadhafi's security forces. She was silenced and dragged out. Where is she now? Nic Robertson has the update from Tripoli.
Twenty-seven minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Good morning.
It is 30 minutes after the hour on this Monday, March the 28th -- time for this morning's top stories.
Radioactive iodine is spreading into the sea near Japan's crippled Daiichi nuclear power plant. It is registering more than 1,800 times the normal level. Inside the facility, the temperature is rising in the number one reactor, and that's a sign that the nuclear fuel rods are overheating. In reactor number two, radioactive water is still pooling, workers are trying to remove it, but plant officials say it has no place to go -- they have no place to store it. Very low levels of radio iodine 131 have been detected in the rain water in Massachusetts. Japan's crippled nuclear reactor is considered the likely source. They can match up the isotopes in them to find out where it comes from.
State public health officials insist there is no cause for concern. Repeated tests on the state's drinking water are planned over the next several days just as a precaution.
And rebels are on the move and moving fast in Libya, brand new air strikes paving the way for the opposition to retake two key oil cities, Ras Lanuf and Brega. And for the first time, airstrikes have reportedly targeted Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte.
CHETRY: Well, her story is making headlines around the world this morning and it's one the Libyan government has been trying hard to keep a lid on. A woman desperately barging into a Tripoli hotel room to tell reporters she was brutally attacked and raped by Libyan security forces.
Here's a look.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
CHETRY: Well, the woman was then manhandled by government officials, even waiters and waitresses helped drag her out of the building and then took her into custody. Now, Libya claims the woman has been set free and that she is with her family.
Nic Robertson was there. He joins us from Tripoli. Just astounding to see that entire thing happen right in front of all of the cameras and then what happened next is even more amazing.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, the government's been completely inconsistent on the case of this woman. And first saying she was insane and being taken to the hospital, and then saying, no, she was sane and safe and well at a police headquarters pressing charges. The government's been trying to stifle her and keep her shut up. There's a smear campaign on state television.
And even the government spokesman here -- although her family says that she is a lawyer or student, a legal -- a student studying law here in the city, the government is trying to tar her and make her out to be a prostitute. And I challenged the government spokesman on that. And this is what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, Nic?
ROBERTSON: Her family has described her as a law student. You have been on the record yourself describing her as a prostitute.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nic, could we not discuss her -- no, no, listen, Nic -- Nic, Nic, could we please? This is a very -- Nic, please, could we just to respect her, her daughter, her family, to respect -- this is a very conservative society. Could we not expose her in public, please? Could we let -- I mean, what do you care about, Nic, OK? Not to embarrass me as I'm standing on the stand.
What you care about, Nic -- OK, listen, if I said something, I said what I knew. I don't want to repeat anything I said. I'm not withdrawing from what I said. I'm saying I don't want to make it even more known, even more public.
This is a criminal case. This woman has a family. We need to protect her privacy, her daughter's rights when she grows up. We need to make this as a criminal case -- as legal a case as possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: Well, the government is trying to discredit her so nobody takes her seriously. Of course, the international community hears what she is saying now because she was brave enough to come to the hotel. But there's still a lot of concern about where she is. The government says she's been released to her family and her family are saying they don't know where she still is at the moment, Kiran.
CHETRY: So, that's something that you guys are still looking into. Meanwhile, it was also quite telling, right, that when that happened at the hotel, that there were actual waiters and waitresses, it seems, hotel staffers then almost turn police, assisting the Libyan officials in trying to get her out of the hotel. That was a strange turn of events, as well.
ROBERTSON: Oh, it was incredible. One of the waitressing staff pulled a knife on her and accused her of being a traitor because she was daring to speak out against the regime. This is the first time we've seen a Libyan brave enough to go on camera and speak about the regime in negative terms.
The government here tries to portray everything as being everyone supporting the government. And this was the first time we were seeing anything different. And the way the government-minders here brutally, brutally tried to keep her quiet.
They took -- snatched CNN's camera away from our cameraman, Khalil Abdullah (ph). They not only snatched it away, they systematically broke it up. One government official pulled a gun.
And this was a real show of the kind of government force and brutality that all the opposition people here -- and the people in the city who are too afraid to speak out. This is what they privately tell us about. This is why they say they're afraid of this regime.
And for the first time, we were able to see that as the government turned up the brutality to silence this woman who only wanted to speak out against the brutality she'd received from the regime, Kiran.
CHETRY: Very, very interesting turn of events. Perhaps a turning point. We'll continue to follow her story with you, Nic. Thanks so much. ROMANS: Back at home, five Republicans all seriously eyeing White House bids, making their case in Iowa. Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, businessman Herman Cain, former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, all courting conservatives in the state over the weekend.
Newt Gingrich is acknowledging his own extramarital affairs will be an issue in the coming campaign. On "FOX News Sunday," he has asked about his involvement in the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton and whether he should be throwing stones.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS: The very same time you were leading that charge, you were having an affair. Isn't that hypocrisy?
NEWT GINGRICH (R), FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: No, look, obviously, it's complex and, obviously, I wasn't doing things to be proud of. The question I raised was very simple: should the president of the United States be above the law? Now, I don't think the president of the United States can be above the law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Gingrich has been married three times.
VELSHI: Well, she blazed a trail in American politics, Geraldine Ferraro, the first female vice presidential candidate from a major political party. She died Saturday at the age of 75. And the tributes are pouring in this morning.
Our Don Lemon spoke to Madeleine Albright, the first woman to serve as secretary of state, about Ferraro's life and legacy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MADELEINE ALBRIGHT, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I have never met anybody that was such a fighter for the future, for her children and grandchildren, and for America. That's what she was about. She was a feisty fighter and a path breaker and nothing will ever be the same in American politics once she stepped up on the stage at the San Francisco convention and said, "I'm Geraldine Ferraro and I'm running for vice president of the United States."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Walter Mondale, who picked Ferraro as her running mate in 1984, called her a gutsy pioneer.
ROMANS: She was asked on an interview, I think, on "Meet on Press" at the time by the interviewer, he said, "Could you press the button for a nuclear attack?" And she said, "I would do whatever it takes to keep America safe." And later on she said, "You know, a man would not be asked that question. No one has ever asked a man if he could do that."
And she felt that was one of those things she had to prove she was tough and prove that she was just as tough as men were.
CHETRY: And I mean, now, I mean, as Madeleine Albright said, she paved the way. I remember reading her autobiography. And when you read, I mean, she was the first -- she could have been our vice president. So, it was a very exciting time.
She also was told. I mean, she's always beat the odds. She was told that she probably only had weeks or months to live when she was diagnosed with that cancer, you know, more than a decade ago.
ROMANS: Cokie Roberts also this weekend was reminiscing about her, saying that when she was in the white suit, the small woman up on the stage, the place was electrified when she said that she was going to be the vice presidential nominee, and that all of the women in the press corps, just for a moment -- they are dispassionate observers, of course, in the political process -- but just for that moment, they kind of looked at each other, squeezed hands as if, "Wow, we're seeing history here," and then moved on, you know, as political reporters do. But definitely a trail blazer, no question.
VELSHI: Geraldine Ferraro, at 75 years old, young to lose her.
All right. We are 39 minutes after the hour. We're going to be back in just a moment. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Forty-two minutes past the hour right now. The count down's on to the royal wedding and Prince William and bride to-be Kate are breaking with some traditions. One, they'll have two cakes. The prince has an unusual request.
Our Zain Verjee is in London with all of the wedding latest.
So, I would have two cakes too if my first option was a fruitcake, which is apparently what they all do.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is kind of a break with tradition, because in this country they only ever have one. But what's happened is Prince William has said, I want a groom's cake. So, that's what's happening.
He's asked for his favorite, which is a biscuit with chocolate cake as a secret recipe that Buckingham Palace is sending over to the person making the cakes. So, we don't have any more details on that. But he has asked for it.
The other as you say is the official cake. It's a three-tiered fruitcake, and each tier will apparently have a different theme and there'll be edible plants on it. Things like an English rose, a Welsh daffodil, and Irish flower is one and a Scottish one, too. That's his favorite chocolate, apparently. But we won't get to know what the recipe will be.
ROMANS: A fruitcake. I don't think wedding fruitcake -- I'm having -- (CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: It's a special fruitcake.
VELSHI: I like it.
CHETRY: She's already making it -- this baker is already preparing it now and we're a month out.
VELSHI: Yes, steep and booze (ph), that's the point. You can make it as long ahead as you want to, isn't that the case, Zain?
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: It's preserved.
VERJEE: Yes, it's certainly the case. Isn't that what you had at your wedding?
VELSHI: Moving on.
VERJEE: Booze at your wedding? Or the booze-steeped cake?
VELSHI: Yes, that's right. One of the two.
Prince William, he survived his bachelor party. What was it all about?
VELSHI: Well, you know what they say. What happens in the U.K. stays in the U.K., right? And it was kind of this low-key thing. They all were at a country house in Norfolk, which is a little bit outside of London. And there were only about 20 or so of his closest friends and they basically hung out of this lovely country estate. There are no details as to what happened at the party.
But, you know, a lot of people thought that, you know, Prince Harry would organize this wild pub-crawling, bar-hopping London scene. And then it was leaked that he organized a weekend of water skiing, but because they found out about it, they ended up doing something low key.
CHETRY: No pictures of what goes on in the country house. That's probably the smart way to go.
ROMANS: It doesn't sound like the movie "Hangover" at all. No Mike Tyson, no tiger, no missing groom.
CHETRY: Well, that could well happen. But it was a country house.
VELSHI: We're never going to find out.
ROMANS: All right. Zain Verjee, thanks, Zain.
You can watch Zain every morning at 5:00 a.m. on "WORLD ONE," right here on CNN.
VELSHI: And AMERICAN MORNING will have complete coverage of the royal wedding brought to you in part by Kiran.
CHETRY: That's right.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: You can win a trip to London to cover the excitement of the royal wedding if you'd like to go with Kiran and the CNN crew. If you think you're the ideal royal wedding reporter, submit your iReport at iReport.com/RoyalWedding. The contest lasts until April 10th.
Good luck, everybody.
CHETRY: Yes, I submitted my iReport, so I'm going.
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: Well, also new this morning, boy, you're A.M. House Call has many people fearing what's going on with the super bug. First it hit southern California. It's called CRKP. You remember MRSA, as well. That was another one of those super bugs. Health officials say that it is a bacteria that is resistant to antibiotics.
A study found more than 350 cases in L.A. County hospitals and nursing homes. It's unclear how many were fatal, but 35 other states have also reported this superbug. Officials says that most patients infected are already very sick and often use catheters or respirators. CRKP can cause kidney damage, as with a lot of these superbugs.
I still remember the advice you gave me one time, Christine. You did this story about how easy it is to catch, you know, various things like that at hospitals. And you said just try everything you cannot to get an IV.
ROMANS: That's right -- just -- I mean, the numbers are actually really shocking. If you -- you've got to stay healthy if you can, but if you are in a hospital situation, ask twice, ask three times, did you wash your hands? Please don't be offended. Did you wash your hands? And make sure that all of the catheters, anything like that is sterile. And just keep asking.
VELSHI: All right. Good advice.
Keep this in mind, you're only as old as you feel. A new study takes a look at when men and women begin to feel quote, "Over the Hill." For men, I was surprised, 58-years-old, OK?
ROMANS: And women?
VELSHI: Twenty-nine.
ROMANS: No.
VELSHI: Women started to feel over the hill at 29. I'm not even sure I believe this, because I happen to know a number of women over the age of 29, who do not strike me anywhere close to approaching the hill. CHETRY: You know why I think they do? It's because it's the whole reproductive years. People start to say your biological time clock is ticking so then you start to --
ROMANS: It's gray hair, too, I think. Did they say it had something to do with gray hair, too, right? Women when they first get gray hair, they start to feel old.
VELSHI: And, of course, bald guys don't get gray hair, so I don't feel old. I'll start to feel over the hill about 90 or so.
CHETRY: Yes, exactly.
ROMANS: All right. Still to come this morning, storms in the southeast are going to clear out later today. That's the good news for you. Reynolds is going to drop by with this morning's travel forecast after the break.
CHETRY: And this is something you don't want to hear, especially if you're afraid of snakes. They're missing a cobra. That's right. It's an animal that can kill a person in 15 minutes.
VELSHI: But I've heard you're not supposed to worry.
CHETRY: But don't worry. Yes. Well, zoo keepers don't know where he is right now. He's a deadly Egyptian cobra and he's missing from a zoo. Hopefully not near you. Forty-seven minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Wow. Look at New York.
Kiran, what's the temperature like today?
CHETRY: It's only 27 right now. And welcome to spring, right? Freezing.
VELSHI: It did feel a little cold when I got out this morning.
CHETRY: And windy on top of it. But anyways, it's going to go up to a balmy 43 a little bit later, so just hold on to your hat.
VELSHI: OK. Forty-nine, fifty minutes after the hour.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROMANS: All right, the morning's top stories just minutes away including, is your dream school the right school for you? With high school kids across the country waiting to find out whether they got into college, well, there's another big decision next. That's how to pay for it once you find out where you're going. Paying for your college education the smart way. That's coming up.
VELSHI: That's the fun story of the morning.
Kiran, on the other hand, has the fearful story of the morning. CHETRY: You saw that sign? We're sorry but the reptile house is closed. Why? Well, because --
VELSHI: Because the reptile's gone.
CHETRY: But they say don't worry. We'll explain coming up.
Fifty-one minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Good morning, everyone. If you are not fully awake, wake up now. If you are listening to me with sleepy eyes, just listen to this story, OK? Slithering away. The reptile house at the Bronx Zoo is closed as zoo keepers look for a deadly Egyptian cobra that got away.
CHETRY: Oh, don't editorialize. How do you know it's deadly? It hasn't killed anyone yet.
VELSHI: An Egyptian cobra got away. They say it's about 20 inches long and they say it didn't get out of the building. Of course, they can't tell us where it is. But they're pretty sure it didn't get out of the building. There's nothing to worry about. People at the zoo didn't seem too panicked about it.
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's kind of crazy. We just got here, I just found out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As long as they keep looking for it, and you know, keep people safe, have some kind of response team in case it shows up somewhere else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: That's kind of crazy, she says. Yes, it's kind of crazy, there's a cobra on the loose.
CHETRY: Yes, but I -- listen, this is the bottom line. They prey on small mammals, toads, lizards and other snakes so you're fine.
VELSHI: Toes? Did you say toes?
ROMANS: So we could use some of these in New York.
CHETRY: Toads.
VELSHI: Oh, toads.
CHETRY: So, you're OK. They're not going after you.
VELSHI: Toes. It's like, I don't want a snake nibbling on my toes. By the way, it's the most commonly found snake -- commonly found cobra -- this Egyptian cobra -- in North America.
ROMANS: North Africa.
VELSHI: In north Africa. Oh, good --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Wildlife officials say its venom is so deadly that it can kill a full-grown elephant in three hours --
ROMANS: But those aren't its natural prey.
VELSHI: -- or a human in 15 minutes. But, don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. It's fine, everything's under control.
CHETRY: We're going to take a quick break. Three minutes until the top of the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
