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American Morning

Cracks in 3 Additional Southwest Airlines Planes; Scramble to Stop Radioactive Material Pouring into the Pacific Ocean; Fierce Fighting in Libya; President Obama Launches his Re-election Campaign; All Quiet on the GOP Side; Security Breach Exposes E-Mails; Threat of Campus Sex Assaults Violence on the Rise in Ivory Coast; Severe Weather Across the Country

Aired April 04, 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: Good Monday morning to you. I'm Kiran Chetry.

A lot happening overnight. We're getting you caught up this morning. First, inspectors have found cracks in three more Southwest Airlines planes. This is similar it to those that caused the roof of a Boeing 737 to rip open in mid-flight Friday. Emergency inspections now mean delays and cancellations today for Southwest passengers.

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Ali Velshi. The scramble to stop radioactive material pouring into the Pacific Ocean in Japan. Two days, two failed attempts now. Late word of a desperation move.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Christine Romans. A lot happening in Libya. Fighting is fierce right now. Rebel troops forced to retreat after a bloody ambush in al Brega that goes on as we speak, as the U.S. agrees to extend its role in coalition air strikes for yet another day on this AMERICAN MORNING.

CHETRY: And good morning to you. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING on this Monday. It is the 4th of April.

Good to see you this morning, guys.

VELSHI: Good morning to both of you. We're just hearing and we're going to be to Ben Wedeman in just moments from now. Heavy action in Libya, a lot more fighting going on that we're going to want to tell you about.

ROMANS: That's right. So we'll get him in just a second. But first, Southwest Airlines canceling another 100 flights today as inspections continue on its fleet of Boeing 737 300s. Southwest says, quote, "Small subsurface cracks have been found in three more planes."

The inspections were prompted by a mid-air scare Friday on a flight from Phoenix to Sacramento, when a five-foot section of the roof ripped open at 35,000 feet. The plane made an emergency landing at a military base in Yuma, Arizona, and passengers relived those terrifying moments in the sky.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like an explosion, at least, but all of a sudden there's a big sun roof in the middle of the plane, big old hole, see daylight running through it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All of a sudden the oxygen masks dropped and everyone was just trying to get the mask on and it was scary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: NTSB investigators found evidence of structural fatigue and widespread cracking in the plane's fuselage, despite the fact it underwent a major inspection just last year. Southwest canceled hundreds of flights over the weekend because of the emergency inspections.

VELSHI: Let's go to Libya where the U.S. has agreed to a NATO request and will continue participating in coalition air strikes against Libya for another day.

Let me just give you a sense of this right now. The red areas are those which are in opposition control, the green are in government control. There's Tripoli, that's the government headquarters; this is Benghazi, the opposition headquarters.

But there's been heavy fighting in al Brega and Misrata. First of all, let me show you what's going on in al Brega. We've got reports coming in right now, intensifying fighting between Moammar Gadhafi's troops and the oil town of al Brega. The fighting was intensifying here with rebel leaders saying they have got to get new armaments.

And, according to witnesses in Misrata, let me show you where that is, that's over here, Misrata, has been -- let me show you that video. Pro-government forces shelled a medical clinic yesterday killing one person and wounding 15 others. Hundreds of people injured in Misrata have now been picked up by a hospital ship. You can see it here. They're going to be taken to Turkey for treatment. Misrata's port remains under rebel control.

Now finally, I want it to show you British diplomats, they're on the ground in Libya meeting with opposition leaders but no decision has been made by NATO yet about possibly arming them.

I told you that we've got fighting in this Brega area. Let's go there right now, Ben Wedeman standing by for us.

What's going on in Brega?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Ali. In Brega, the town itself, seems to still be under the control of Gadhafi's forces.

We were able to get to the outskirts of that town and things were relatively quiet, then we heard some loud explosions. It was an artillery barrage, had hit the ground then run into our car, drive about two or three miles up the road to get out of the range of the artillery and within minutes, more artillery rounds came in. This one landed about 200 yards from our car. We went to a third location, a few miles up the road, and more artillery came in.

So we're not in our fourth location, and, of course, not only us, are pulling back, also the rebel fighters who tend to be very sort of quick whenever there's any sort of explosion nearby, they rush back in a panic as well. So it appears that Gadhafi's forces still very much in control, very much able to continue to fire artillery at the opposition forces.

We did hear an airplane overhead about an hour ago, but no sign whatsoever of any coalition airstrikes in this area, despite the fact it is a very clear and sunny day with barely a cloud in the sky, Ali.

VELSHI: Ben, I just want to show our viewers here, you can see the town of Sirte, where Gadhafi was born, government controlled.

Then to the east of that, bin Jawad, government controlled.

Then, Ras Lanuf, just east of that, government controlled.

Brega where you are, under government control with fighting that we're seeing here.

After that to Ajdabiya and then the rebel-controlled headquarters, if you will, of Benghazi.

Are we to read into this the government is making significant advancements east of the country, the area they didn't control in the beginning of this fight?

WEDEMAN: Well, it appears that they don't plan on moving -- they don't appear to be moving any further east of Brega. Brega, of course, as well as Ras Lanuf, are the sites of some very important oil refineries.

Beyond that, if they move too much along the road, they'll become exposed to possible coalition air strikes. Certainly they have been able to push the rebels back all the way to here, with relatively -- with ease. They're -- because they're so disorganized, they're so undisciplined, that as soon as they run into any kind of resistance or fire power from the Gadhafi forces, these opposition troops just run away.

VELSHI: All right. Ben, thanks very much. We'll stay on top of this with you.

Just to point out what we're talking about, you'll notice that most of the population in Libya is along the coastline like this, much of this area here is desert. But this region over here around Ras Lanuf is where most of the oil fields are and most of the oil pipelines head to Ras Lanuf and this area, which is why Ben is making the point that the government isn't, perhaps, looking to move up to here into this occupied region, the part that's occupied by the rebels.

We'll stay on top of this for you. Kiran.

CHETRY: All right. Well, efforts to plug a leak at Japan's severely damaged nuclear reactor fail again this morning. And now Japan says it has no choice but to dump more than 11,000 tons of radioactive water into the Pacific on purpose.

They're doing this to prevent water even with higher levels of radiation from getting out. The utility companies says that a second effort to plug the leak in the reactor did not work over the weekend and here's a new look at where the water is gushing out. Tokyo Electric says that it may wrap all six of the plant's reactors in some sort of giant tarp to try to keep the radiation from spreading. They're also installing a silt fence along a damaged seawall surrounding the plant to stop radioactive material from seeping out.

Meantime, the Japanese and U.S. militaries are right now launching a much more intense search for the missing. Twenty-five thousand troops are out searching for bodies. Right now more than 12,000 people are confirmed dead, but there are nearly 16,000 people still missing. Almost a month now since an earthquake and tsunami leveled the coast.

The Japanese Red Cross has collected more than $1 billion designed to go to those in desperate need of relief, but the government says that none of it has reached the victims yet. This prompted the chief cabinet secretary to call for the process to be accelerated. A lot of frustrated survivors are already saying Japan's government is paying too much attention to the nuclear crisis and not enough attention to the humanitarian disaster.

Meanwhile, deadly demonstrations in Afghanistan after a fundamentalist pastor in Florida burned the Koran. One person was killed yesterday, more than a dozen others were injured in Kandahar. So far, 20 people have died in the last few days in these violent demonstrations. Some NATO and U.S. officials are taking a stand on the burning of the Muslim holy book, including the top military leader in Afghanistan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, ISAF COMMANDER: The action of an individual in the United States who burned a holy Koran, that action was hateful, it was intolerant and it was extremely disrespectful. And again, we condemn it in the strongest manner possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Afghan President Hamid Karzai wants to make it official asking, quote, "That the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives and the U.S. President condemn this action in very clear words to the public."

CHETRY: Some extreme weather over the weekend, dangerous storms, in fact, right now moving through the Midwest. High winds, tearing the roof off of a school. This happened in Oklahoma, about 70 miles northeast of Tulsa. Not a school day, thank goodness. No kids were around and no one was hurt. But you can just see from that demolition how strong this wind was. The cafeteria and a couple classrooms were damaged and, of course, they're not going to be able to have classes today because of it. People also will be on the lookout for tornadoes across the region this morning. ROMANS: Last year's Deepwater horizon explosion killed 11 people. It's caused what's been called the worst U.S. oil spill in history. So why is the company celebrating the surprising safety claims from this company, coming up.

CHETRY: Also President Obama prepares to announce -- actually he just did. He launched his presidential bid on his web site. His potential Republican challengers, though, are still silent on the sidelines. Why aren't they jumping in yet? Jim Acosta's going to be here to explain why there hasn't been a single GOP who officially has tossed the hat in the 2012 race.

VELSHI: And they came because they wanted to hear from a guy who allegedly hosts three-day drug fueled porn parties. What they got was a bore fest. The reviews are in for Charlie Sheen's comedy tour and the changes he's making to it are making it more interesting.

It is 10 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: A little less than a year after the BP oil spill in the Gulf, the company wants to start drilling again. There's a report by the "New York Times" saying that BP is now asking to continue work at 10 existing Deepwater production and development wells in July. In exchange, the company would agree to stricter safety standards and supervision. Last year's explosion caused more than 200 million gallons of oil to spill into the Gulf waters.

Meantime owners of the Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded and killed 10 workers say that 2010 was their best year in safety performance. In fact, the company's top executives are being awarded big bonuses for it. An S.E.C. filing says Transocean's' CEO got a $374,000 bonus in 2010, raising his base salary to $1.1 million.

Just in to CNN this morning, President Obama has officially launched his 2012 re-election campaign. He released a video that Democratic sources say will be e-mailed or sent by text messages to his supporters.

We're told the president could file papers with the Federal Election Commission a bit later this week, and what you're looking at right now is video from that ad he launched on the web - Ali.

VELSHI: The question is, all we've been hearing about is all these different Republicans who want to run for 2012. Who is going to actually step up on the Republican side and take the president on? We know who the likely frontrunners are. Up until now, however, the frontrunners have been laying pretty low.

Jim Acosta, live in Washington. Jim, the 2012 Election, now officially -

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right.

VELSHI: -- I guess under way, that we've got the Democratic candidate. No surprises there. But, the reality is, this kind of does up the ante for the Republicans. What's going on on the Republican side?

ACOSTA: It absolutely does, Ali. President Obama's campaign for re- election sent out the e-mail today, saying they are filing their election papers today. They put out that web video, as you mentioned just a few moments ago. All this is going to ramp up the pressure, and much has been made of the fact, as you said, Ali, that no major GOP candidate has officially jumped into the race.

The political experts will tell you - and we talked to a few - that many of these potential campaigns on the Republican side are already ramping up and plotting strategy, including ways to deal with their own liabilities.

The last thing that you want at this point is to get started on the wrong foot.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, boy. What a guy.

ACOSTA (voice-over): There are right ways and wrong ways to deal with candidate liabilities. Take the state health care plan signed into law by Mitt Romney when he was governor of Massachusetts back in 2006. It wasn't much of an issue during Romney's first run for the White House in 2008, but now, many Republicans see RomneyCare as the model for ObamaCare.

KEVIN MADDEN, 2008 ROMNEY CAMPAIGN SPOKESMAN: There's no doubt that it's going to be a challenge. Every single candidate in this race has something in their record that they're going to have to explain to a Republican electorate.

ACOSTA (on camera): Do you think he understands that?

MADDEN: I do. I think, absolutely.

ACOSTA (voice-over): Because Romney understands it, his former spokesman Kevin Madden believes the ex-governor can overcome it in his widely expected campaign encore.

MADDEN: I think any candidate who goes into a prospective presidential campaign thinking that they're not going to have any problems as far as they're not - they're not going to have to explain their record, that their record is going to fit perfectly with every single voter in that particular state's electorate, you know, I think that is, obviously, that's a - that's a fool's folly.

ACOSTA (on camera): Is that how you deal with it? You get it out?

TERRY MCAULIFFE, FORMER DNC CHAIRMAN: Sure, you get - oh, absolutely. If - if you've got a vulnerability which you think is going to be a weakness on your side, you want to get it out as soon as possible, deal with it and then move on from there. I'm puzzled, bewildered that they have waited so long to get into this race. ACOSTA (voice-over): While former DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe says speed is important, so is credibility noting, Newt Gingrich's stumbles in a recent interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network on the subject of his personal life.

NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: There's no question that at times in my life, partially driven by - by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked far too hard and that things happened in my life that were not appropriate.

MCAULIFFE: I think if you want an absolute - the worst case scenario is the way Newt Gingrich put it out, blaming the problems he had in his marriage on he was working hard for his country. I'm - that became a laughing stock.

ACOSTA: And that's where message discipline comes in.

A few knew that lesson better than Bill Clinton. In 1992, then candidate Clinton tried to make the election about tomorrow, not his private past.

JAMES CARVILLE, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: As then candidate Clinton, or Governor Clinton, would say, I want to make this election about you and your life and - and not me and - and my problems. They want to take the election away from you and make it about me, I'm not going to let them do that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: In the end, winning is the best disinfectant, right? The candidates who capture those early contests in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina next year just might be able to put their baggage away for a while, at least until the next general election.

And, Ali, make no mistake, all of these potential Republican candidates this morning are watching -

VELSHI: Sure.

ACOSTA: -- what the president is doing on this website, with this web video, and saying OK, guys, how do we get - how do we get this thing going?

VELSHI: No surprises, but it does kick it off.

Jim, good to see you.

ACOSTA: That's right.

VELSHI: Thanks very much.

And, by the way, Jim said, "winning," which -

CHETRY: Yes.

VELSHI: -- which segues very nicely into - ROMANS: Right. OK, file this under, "not winning." Charlie Sheen fans booing and blasting Charlie Sheen's stand-up comedy debut in Detroit. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AUDIENCE: Boo!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Some fans who paid as much as $125 for their ticket, they yelled refund. Others simply left. It turns out you have to do more than just show up to please a crowd.

CHETRY: Why is this not surprising?

CHETRY: I know. But he - he may have pulled off a little bit of a comeback in Chicago, a nice ovation as he got off the bus before show number two.

A full review from our Kareen Wynter later on this morning.

VELSHI: What - what do people want -

(CROSSTALK)

CHETRY: I don't know. They -

VELSHI: $125.

ROMANS: You got it all for free already, right?

VELSHI: Right.

ROMANS: I mean, the way I look at it, why would you pay to go see him?

VELSHI: What could he possibly tell me there that I haven't heard?

ROMANS: He spilled it all for free. I mean, I -

CHETRY: This was supposed to be a comedy show.

VELSHI: Right.

CHETRY: I don't know. It's not surprising that it didn't go so well.

VELSHI: It didn't work out so well.

CHETRY: Maybe he'll tweak it.

VELSHI: Yes.

CHETRY: "Spider-Man's" had many revisions.

Coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING, be on the lookout for spam. Your e-mail address may have been exposed in a massive security breach. We're "Minding Your Business." Carmen's going to be here with more details on that.

VELSHI: Twenty minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: You want to be on the lookout this morning for e-mails from a number of companies you trust that could be asking for personal information.

ROMANS: (INAUDIBLE) a bunch -

VELSHI: I got a bunch of e-mails from companies saying their e-mail addresses have been breached and - and watch out for this exact thing.

This is a big deal. I mean, I've had more warnings this weekend than I've ever had.

CARMEN WONG-ULRICH, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: This is a very big deal, and I actually do business with a lot of folks, too, affected by this. So you might get some funny e-mails today.

There's been an extensive security breach on Friday at the nation's largest e-mail marketing company, Epsilon. Epsilon manages seven of "Fortune's" top 10 American companies. That's more than 2,500 clients.

Now, here's what information has been compromised, and this is a statement from Epsilon, "The information that was obtained was limited to e-mail addresses and/or customer names only."

Now, here's some of the companies that have been affected - CitiGroup, JPMorgan Chase, Capital One, Walgreens, Best Buy, as well on that list TiVo, Home Shopping Network and Kroger.

Now, here's what happens. Your e-mail contact information is used for phishing. This is when you get e-mails from companies looking for personal information such as social security numbers, birth dates. Do not respond if you get e-mails like this and do not click on these links, especially for the banks. Banks will never send you an e-mail asking for your personal information. If you have a question, go directly to that company's website and contact customer service there.

VELSHI: Right, or call them specifically.

ULRICH: Yes.

VELSHI: Don't - don't deal with it -

ULRICH: Specifically and directly. Don't respond.

ROMANS: And you'll hear - you'll hear some of the companies kind of trying to downplay it, saying it was only your e-mail address and your name. There was no - there was no secure information. Not your credit card number, not your social security number, but for phishers, they just want your name and your e-mail.

ULRICH: That's all they need.

ROMANS: It's all they need.

ULRICH: All you have to do sometimes is just click. The virus is in your computer. It takes and strips all that information -

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: OK. That's good to know.

ULRICH: -- off your computer. That's what phishing does. That's why you don't want to click on anything inside an e-mail.

CHETRY: And then, how do you differentiate? I mean, if you do banking, let's say, with Citibank or Bank of America, whether it's a legit e-mail, because they sometimes do send you banking alerts, or just one of the -

ULRICH: (INAUDIBLE) I'll get my online statements -

CHETRY: Right.

ULRICH: -- an alert, just don't open it. Go directly to the website of the bank and go through there -

VELSHI: And get your statement that way.

ULRICH: -- and get your statement that way or deal with the information, or call up and call customer service if it's something important.

VELSHI: Yes.

ROMANS: Really look at that web address, because even a couple of characters -

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: You can see, wait a minute -

VELSHI: Right.

ROMANS: -- that's not exactly -

ULRICH: Exactly.

ROMANS: Citibanks.com, with an "S" is not where I usually get an e- mail from.

ULRICH: Right. Be careful.

VELSHI: Good advice. Thank you, Carmen.

ULRICH: Thank you. ROMANS: Up next on AMERICAN MORNING, it doesn't matter how prestigious the school, most share a dark secret, and today the Obama administration is hoping to change that. We'll explain.

VELSHI: And if you're planning to fly Southwest today, pack your patience. Another 100 flights have been canceled. Subsurface cracks were found in three more 737s. We're going to talk with a former FAA chief of staff just ahead and tell you whether any other airlines fly the same plane that had these problems.

It's 26 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.

A shocking reality in our nation's schools, reports of sexual assault. The Department of Education estimates nearly 20 percent of college women are victims of that, crimes that are often underreported. The Obama administration is now trying to change that.

Our Jason Carroll joins us live with this. It's amazing how underreported it is.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I think a lot of people when they hear those numbers are pretty shocked. But what these guys are trying to do is they're trying to get at the culture that exists surrounding this.

You know, despite the best intentions of high schools and universities, young women continue to be sexually assaulted at disturbing rates. So today, for the first time, Vice President Joe Biden and Education Secretary Arne Duncan are issuing guidelines to U.S. public schools on how to deal with sexual violence.

Education officials sent letters outlining the guidelines to 25,000 school superintendents, administrators and college presidents. They're being reminded they are required under federal civil rights laws to follow the guidelines. The goal is to help schools improve prevention and how they respond to allegations of sexual assault.

Statistics show one in five women in college are victims of sexual assault - one in five - and in the nation's public high schools, over 4,000 reports of sexual assaults a year.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSSLYN ALI, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF CIVIL RIGHTS, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION: We want to make sure that proper procedures are in place. We want to make sure that women understand their rights. We want to make sure that faculty are there to respond quickly and appropriately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Well, some of the guidelines include every school must adopt and publish procedures for victims to file sexual assault complaints. If a sexual assault has happened and the victim or the victim's parents do not want to take action, the school must still investigate. Also, a criminal investigation by police does not relieve a school of its own investigation duties.

The Department of Education expects schools to comply, but if they don't, federal officials will take action.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALI: We will use all of the tools at our disposal that includes referring them to the Department of Justice. It includes going through our own adjudicatory hearing process. And this could result in the termination, withdrawal or conditioning of federal funds.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: So, some real consequences there. The Department of Education hopes this new initiative will help change the culture surrounding sexual violence. They say these types of crimes are grossly underreported and they say much of that has to do with victims feeling ashamed or feeling schools will not protect them if they do report a sexual assault.

ROMANS: So, how can they do it differently this time? This is something we've been talking about for 25 years.

CARROLL: Right. You know, and the numbers don't seem to be getting any better. But they're hoping right now, if they put this out there, and it has teeth -- once again, if schools don't comply, you know, you could end up lose something federal dollars. VELSHI: All right. Jason, thank you.

CARROLL: All right.

ROMANS: It's 31 minutes past the hour. Time for this morning's top stories:

Southwest Airlines canceling about 100 more flights today. Emergency inspections have turned up cracks in three more Boeing 737s. This after a five-foot hole ripped open a Southwest Airlines jet over Arizona last week.

The White House has agreed to NATO request and will continue participating in coalition airstrikes against Libya today. Over the weekend, the fighting intensified between rebel forces and Moammar Gadhafi's troops. A bloody ambush sent the opposition retreating east of the oil town of al Brega on Sunday. Rebel leaders say they need to rearm.

Radioactive water still gushing into the ocean. Workers now on plan C to plug the hole at one of Japan's badly damaged nuclear reactors. The first two attempts failed over the weekend.

Japan says it has no choice but to dump more than 11,000 tons of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean on purpose to prevent water in the reactor with even higher levels of radiation from leaking out. VELSHI: Well, that's a bad alternative.

All right. As we mentioned, more cracks have been found in Southwest Airlines planes. More flight cancellations are in store for passengers today. The airline has been conducting emergency inspections of its 737-300 fleet after a gaping hole opened up on the roof of a Southwest plane in mid-flight at altitude last week. The plane was able to land safely, but the accident has renewed concerns about the structural integrity of those Boeing 737-300s.

That's the plane in particular that this happened to. You can see that gash on the roof there, just to the left of the wing. How big it is.

Joining us from Washington, former FAA chief of staff, Michael Goldfarb.

Michael, thank you for being with us. This is --

MICHAEL GOLDFARB, FMR. FAA CHIEF OF STAFF: My pleasure, Ali.

VELSHI: This is a flier's worst nightmare. It, usually, when it happens in a movie, ends up way worse than this. It ends up with people -- and it's happened before in real life -- being sucked out of the hole, a massive decompression. In this case, these fliers seemed to be very lucky. The pilot got it down to a lower altitude and landed this plane without any serious injuries.

GOLDFARB: Amazingly so. You're referring to the Aloha crash in 1988

VELSHI: Yes.

GOLDFARB: -- when a flight attendant was actually sucked out of that aircraft. The good news is these planes are now on the ground. The bad news is that the inspection regiment used probably wouldn't have picked up the kind of cracks that the NTSB is now saying they found.

So, I anticipate there's going to be more planes found, more flights grounded, as they look more closely using ultrasound or what's called Eddy current, which is just a better way to detect these minute, microscopic cracks.

VELSHI: Let's talk about the planes we're talking about here -- 737 generally is the most widely used sort of short, medium haul flight plane here in the United States. These particular versions of them, the 737-300, are used mostly by Southwest. I understand U.S. Airways has a few of them as well.

Is this anything specific to the model or is it the age of the planes?

GOLDFARB: Well, it's a couple things. Boeing stopped producing them in the 1990s. So, they're old by definition. Southwest has 288 of them. There's about 900 worldwide.

And the 737-300 is especially subject to the constant short hauls. The short hauls pressurized, depressurize, I forget, I think it was 37,000 cycles -- a lot of cycles on this particular aircraft. So, with that number of cycles and the constant landing and takeoff, the planes are subject to metal fatigue.

It wouldn't be a problem if the inspection oversight was good. We've had some problems with Southwest. They've been fined by the FAA for lax oversight. They had some problems with their repair stations.

But the bigger problem, I think the board is addressing this, is the technology used today to look for these cracks is not necessarily going to find them. That's why the FAA in November issued a new rule basically saying let's put these planes out of service. They have service limits within five years. Let's get them out of the fleet because we can't properly maintain them with today's technology.

VELSHI: OK. So, it's not necessarily age. It's -- when you say they pressurize and depressurize every time a plane takes off, it has to pressurize, which sort of balloons it out a little bit and then it depressurizes and the balloon loses air as it were.

GOLDFARB: Right.

VELSHI: And there is technology and there has been for a long time to determine the fatigue. And we're really talking about the fatigue on the rivets. It's not like a sheet of metal just gets fatigued, it's that part that's riveted.

But it's expensive, is that what it is? That you can't ultrasound a plane because it's expensive to do that?

GOLDFARB: Think of ultrasounds being expensive in daily life for medical reasons. It's expensive. It's been an evolving technology. And I think -- my guess is the board is going to mandate it. The board is probably -- if they find more aircraft, and I believe they will, I think the board will recommend to the FAA that it become the practice for these older planes. I believe Boeing is issuing a service bulletin worldwide asking all carriers that run these aircraft to check them and I believe the FAA will become even more aggressive in this regard.

So, for passengers, they can probably take a breath. The planes are on the ground.

VELSHI: Right.

GOLDFARB: The problem is, when they go back in service, Ali, do we have the ongoing procedures to find these cracks over the next several years before they're retired.

VELSHI: Right. And the fact is, if these ones are on the ground, but there are other planes that may have plane fatigue, I guess I would be happier as a guy who flies several times a week, to know that planes are getting these ultrasounds. But I should then expect that my fare is going to go up because the airlines are going to pass that on to me, the cost of doing that.

GOLDFARB: Well, two things on -- two things on cost. I mean, first, for passengers to have to go on the web and now check the number of cycles and when the last repair, that doesn't instill confidence. There has to be confidence that these planes can fly.

Ironically, we have budget week in Washington -- the FAA budget has been cut $4 billion. Those funds, some of which go to the aviation safety inspectors.

I would imagine that most people on that flight that had that terrifying experience, if you would ask them, would you support fully funding the FAA for its critical safety functions? I think there would be unanimous consent. Perhaps, Congress could do the same.

VELSHI: Right. This, of course, is the problem with the budget, right? Everybody's got something they want done, but I agree with you on that one.

Michael, thank you for being with us. Michael Goldfarb is a former chief of staff of the FAA.

GOLDFARB: My pleasure.

CHETRY: Well, still ahead, it's a war that you don't hear a lot about in a nation where two men are claiming they're the rightful leader and hundreds of people are dying because of it. Up next: why the uprising in Ivory Coast matters to the United States.

ROMANS: And the science expert that's sparking a huge debate. We'll tell you about the cows that are producing -- wait for it -- human breast milk.

VELSHI: It's 38 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: It seems, every week, we're talking about more legal headaches for Italy's leader. The trial now of Silvio Berlusconi, the first hearing in this trial, begins Wednesday. Thirty-three women are expected to testify about these erotic parties that he hosted allegedly. The 74-year-old prime minister faces allegations that he paid for sex with a girl who was underage at the time. He's also accused of abusing power to get the girl out of police custody.

ROMANS: With the conflict in Libya, the nuclear crisis in Japan dominating the international headlines these days, not much attention has been focused on the bloody war unfolding in Ivory Coast. Two men claim to be president of the West African nation and fighting between the two factions has been escalating -- excuse me.

Zain Verjee is live in London.

Zain, we understand French peacekeepers have taken control of the airport in the city of Abidjan this morning.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's correct. People in Abidjan are bracing themselves. One rebel leader has said that they're gathering their forces outside the city of Abidjan and they're waiting to go in with a major offensive.

We're also hearing reports that the people are just trapped in their houses. They have no food, no water, no electricity. There's looting going on. The streets are totally deserted.

All of this comes down to a power struggle. On the one hand, there was a guy who was the president, Laurent Gbagbo, and he lost the election and he just refuses to leave. On the other side, there's a guy called Alassane Ouattara who is the rightful winner and he says this is mine.

There's been lots of diplomacy, lots of negotiations, nothing worked. So, they're going in with the guns.

ROMANS: Yes. And this is basically two people who will not back down and then their supporters as well.

VERJEE: Yes.

ROMANS: Laurent Gbagbo refusing to leave after the November election he lost. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called on him to step down. Why does -- why does the United States concerned about this at this point? It's a former French colony and there's an awful lot else going on in the world. Why is the U.S. focusing in now on Ivory Coast?

VERJEE: It's a big economic reason. Ivory Coast is the world's biggest exporter of cocoa and something like a third of the production of cocoa comes from the Ivory Coast. And because of all this fighting, it's come to a total standstill.

So, what's happened is that the price of cocoa has gone up and it affects an individual in the United States, specifically, because if you're going to buy chocolate, it's going to be more expensive. So, if Ali is going to buy his wife a box of chocolates for Easter, it will hit your bottom line.

But it's also a serious security situation in a part of Africa that the U.S. has always been concerned about.

ROMANS: Right. And certainly, a moral issue I'm sure for the United States as well, not just, you know -- I mean, frankly --

VERJEE: Yes.

ROMANS: -- the price of chocolate --

VELSHI: Has been going up for a while.

ROMANS: has been going up for a long time. So, now, when you got a thousand -- up to perhaps a thousand people dead, it starts to really become a big concern for everyone.

VERJEE: Yes.

ROMANS: All right. Zain Verjee -- thanks, Zain. You can watch Zain every morning at 5:00 Eastern on "WORLD ONE," right here on CNN.

VELSHI: All right. Check this out: milk from a cow that is equal to human breast milk in quality of the nutrients there.

Scientists in China say they have created milk from dairy cows that has the same immunity boosting protection that's found in a woman's breast milk. They injected genes into the DNA of about 300 whole stem embryos and then implanted them into surrogate cows. The lead researcher says the genetically modified milk tastes stronger than usual but hopes to sell it in supermarkets.

CHETRY: It's amazing if they can do this.

VELSHI: Yes.

CHETRY: I mean, especially in parts of the world where, you know, nutrition is so key for the young kids and for the babies. But that's -- I mean, will people do it? I mean, we talked about genetically modified salmon, right? And people said, oh, God, there's no way I would eat that.

ROMANS: Right.

CHETRY: We'll see if this will take.

Meanwhile, tornado season is heating up across the nation's mid- section. Rob Marciano is going to be along to talk more about the watches and warnings out there. He has our travel forecast coming up.

ROMANS: Haven't finished your taxes? Here's a little incentive: some parents are getting a five-figure tax refund. Are you one of them? Well, I don't know.

CHETRY: That's how I feel, too.

ROMANS: Details are coming up.

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CHETRY: Welcome back. We have a severe weather to talk about this weekend and continuing on into Monday morning.

VELSHI: Still?

CHETRY: Yes. We thought it was done, but no.

(WEATHER REPORT)

VELSHI: All right, this morning's top stories minutes away.

Also, I love this, these bomb shelters, a boom in bomb shelters. I don't love why there is one. But people are spending a lot of money getting ready for the end times.

Do you have a panic room?

ROMANS: Thirty-eight thousand dollars to build -- that's a 900 ton arc. Someone's actually building an arc. I'm not kidding.

VELSHI: That might be overdoing it a bit.

ROMANS: Yes.

VELSHI: But you might want to know somebody who has one, just in case things go wrong. We'll take a look at the big business of Armageddon on the other side.

CHETRY: Yes, see? I would almost rather just leave the world, rather than being the only one left bobbing in a 90-ton arc.

Anyway, a lesson in loyalty from a family pet. A toddler wandered away and his dog never left his side, keeping him warm and safe on a cold night.

VELSHI: Fifty-one minutes after the hour.

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CHETRY: Fifty-four minutes past the hour.

Not many look forward to tax season but if you're lucky, you're getting a refund. In fact, one family in North Carolina got a very unexpected windfall, more than $50,000 cash back thanks to a new tax reform measure.

Poppy Harlow takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jo-jo (ph), get up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been an adventure every single day because one day you come home from school and it's just you and your mom here and then the next day, you come home from school and it's three extra kids. You're like hi.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM (voice-over): North Carolina natives Thelma and David Ward raised six kids their own, they fostered more than 100 children but some they couldn't let go.

HARLOW (on camera): You adopted six kids.

THELMA WARD, PARENTS: Yes, ma'am.

HARLOW: Why?

WARD: Because they didn't have a permanent home.

DAVID WARD, PARENTS: And there was nowhere for them to go.

HARLOW (voice-over): The Wards budget carefully on a modest income, but they were never banking on this.

T. WARD. The proof right here.

HARLOW (on camera): Total savings, how much?

T. WARD: Fifty-four thousand, two hundred and ninety two dollars.

HARLOW: Oh, my goodness.

T. WARD: Oh, my goodness.

HARLOW: In one year.

T. WARD: In one year.

HARLOW (voice-over): Believe it or not that's their tax refund, which even shocked their tax preparer.

DARLENE CRABTREE, H&R BLOCK: $54,000 is as much money as some families make in an entire year.

HARLOW: And it's all thanks to a little-known cause in the Affordable Care Act, part of health care reform.

(on camera): This is the first year since the adoption tax credit was created that families who adopt can get up to roughly $13,000 in cash for each child they bring into their home. And this really helps lower income families like the Wards, People that don't really make enough money to have a big tax liability, so a tax credit just doesn't really help them.

What was it like when you got the phone call saying you're getting $54,000 back?

Is that what you did?

P. WARD: That's what she did.

T. WARD: Jesus. Lord, I thank you. High five, high five, high five, high five.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is something they really need. It's always been we got to pay this, this is next, this is next, this child needs this, this child needs that. A family this big, you can't let anything slide by. So for them to have a chance to breathe and say OK, you can breathe for a moment, just rest. I think it's good for them.

HARLOW: And what are you going to do for yourselves?

T. WARD: Just see my kids smile, that's all I need. Money comes, money goes. But we're all we got.

HARLOW (voice-over: In Smithfield, North Carolina, Poppy Harlow, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: It's nice when people doing the right thing get rewarded.

VELSHI: Right.

ROMANS: And they did it for the right reasons and then boom, tax man.

CHETRY: Good for them.

ROMANS: Top stories coming up, right after this break.

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