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American Morning

A Look at the Bin Laden Tapes; The Killing of Al Qaeda; Security Scares on Three Flights; Stranded Canadian Woman Survives After 49 Days; Mississippi Rising; The New CNNMoney.com; Average College Senior Debt: $22,900; Some Airports Cheaper Than Others; Did Pakistan Protect Bin Laden?

Aired May 09, 2011 - 06:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING, a release of the bin Laden tapes, showing a side of the Al Qaeda chief we've never seen before. What the U.S. is finding out about the world's most wanted terrorist after his death.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And they're waiting for disaster along the Mississippi. The river is still rising. Cresting is still days away and floodwaters are already destroying parts of Memphis with thousands more further to the south right in harm's way this morning.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Two imams dressed in traditional Islamic garb kicked off a flight in Tennessee. And even after they cleared security again, they weren't allowed back on. We're asking you this morning, did the pilot go too far?

VELSHI: And a woman found alive in Nevada after being stranded for 49 days. That's all next on this AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: I'm Ali Velshi. The bin Laden tapes released showing a side of the terrorist the world has never seen. What U.S. intelligence officials say the new evidence reveals about the creator of Al Qaeda.

CHETRY: I'm Kiran Chetry. It was a scary Mother's Day weekend for passengers on three different flights. One passenger trying to charge the cockpit, another trying to open the exit door and on a third flight a threatening note.

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. Forty-nine days alone and stranded on a desolate road in Nevada. Now the rescue of a Canadian woman. Her doctors saying it's a miracle she's alive. We'll tell you how she survived.

VELSHI: Good morning and welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. It is Monday, May 9th. What a weekend. The story about these passengers removed from the plane, the things that are happening on planes.

ROMANS: That's right.

VELSHI: Busy weekend for travel. ROMANS: And we'll see the very latest on this Canadian woman who survived 49 days living in her van and venturing out during the day for water.

CHETRY: I know.

ROMANS: An amazing story of survival and we'll tell you the latest on that.

CHETRY: And suddenly things are not looking as good as the search continues for her husband who left the vehicle to try to get help.

ROMANS: That's right.

VELSHI: That's right.

CHETRY: Up first though, Osama bin Laden unmasked. This is the video that everyone is talking about, seized from the Al Qaeda chief's compound and released by the Obama administration showing us a side of the terrorist that we've never seen before.

ROMANS: The 9/11 mastermind seen huddled in front of a television watching news broadcasts of himself. U.S. intelligence officials painting a portrait of bin Laden as a vain man who is obsessed with his own image on the television screen.

VELSHI: Barbara Starr is live in Washington this morning.

Barbara, they're calling the evidence taken from bin Laden's compound the single largest collection of terrorist material ever seized.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Good morning. Enough material they say to fill a small college library. These tapes were shown to reporters over the weekend. It must be remembered they are heavily edited by the U.S. government just a few snippets, no sound. But about that intelligence haul that they got along with this, thumb drives, more tapes, videos, DVDs, handwritten documents, U.S. officials are saying it is a treasure trove and that it all goes to show, they say, that Osama bin Laden, while he looked huddled in front of a TV, was controlling Al Qaeda, that he didn't just have that big picture ideological control, that he was involved in the plotting, the planning, the tactical, the operational control of the Al Qaeda network and that's what they're looking at right now, all the evidence. Can they match any of what they took to plots, plans? How did he get the information he had, his directions out to his operatives in the field? Could it have really only been done through a courier carrying a thumb drive or are there other people out there that are part of the bin Laden network that they need to move against it, that they need to roll up?

CHETRY: The big question right now, reports that they want to interview three of bin Laden's widows, that they want to interrogate them, see if they can find out any information and they're meeting resistance from Pakistan in that effort. What's the latest?

STARR: Well, of course, inside Pakistan this is so sensitive, because still, the Pakistani government reeling from the notion that the U.S. military staged an assault basically invaded their air space and their country to get bin Laden with no notice and no cooperation. The U.S. just went in and did it. I mean, clearly, what we are seeing now, is out in public, what we have all been led to believe over the months and years. The United States government does not trust Pakistan, didn't trust them enough to tell them anything about this and wants to talk to everyone involved to see what they know about what went on in that compound, what bin Laden was up to, who he may have been communicating with on the outside.

CHETRY: All right. Barbara Starr for us with new information this morning, thanks.

ROMANS: Meanwhile, President Obama's ramping up the pressure on Pakistan this morning. In a "60 Minutes" interview that aired last night, the president said bin Laden likely had some kind of support network inside Pakistan, a support network that allowed him to live there undetected. He says both the U.S. and Pakistan should investigate. As for Al Qaeda, the president says it's time to go for the kill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We got the opportunity, I think, to really finally defeat at least Al Qaeda in that border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan. That doesn't mean that we will defeat terrorism, but it does mean we've got a chance, I think, to really deliver a fatal blow to this organization if we follow too aggressively in the months to come.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Ed Henry is live at the White House.

Ed, the president is talking about delivering that fatal blow against Al Qaeda. What does he mean?

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Christine. It means keeping the heat up basically, trying to make sure the U.S. does not rest on its laurels now. And that's why we saw late last week some more drone strikes particularly in Yemen. They want to go after the number two, the number three, all of the top Al Qaeda officials that have survived Osama bin Laden. So I think this is a big deal. You now have the president of the United States, you know, basically saying we could now go in for the kill, that this is not just one small bump in a war on terror, that this is a big victory that could mean delivering that fatal blow.

Also significant on Friday, the defense secretary, Robert Gates, said that this could be a game changer in terms of the situation in Afghanistan. What does he mean by that?

Well, in July, we have what the president has been calling a pivot, a turning point, if you will, when he's going to start bringing some U.S. troops home. For the defense secretary who's a very cautious person, to come out and say this could now be a game changer, it suggests maybe the administration is looking at bringing home more troops than they originally thought because with bin Laden wiped out, maybe now the U.S. can bring home more troops, Christine.

VELSHI: Ed, there have been a lot of speculation obviously since the capture of bin Laden about what kind of help he had from within Pakistan. The president in the "60 Minutes" interview making specific reference to it. Did he offer any proof or is he speculating?

HENRY: Well, what he said was that we're going to be investigating this very closely and we're pressing the Pakistani officials to do their own investigations. Here's where I think there's a game change, if you will, to use that phrase once again, which is that in the past, the Pakistani government would say we're shocked, shocked that gambling is going on, as if this were a scene out of "Casablanca" when as Barbara Starr was pointing out we've known that it appears their government, at least their intelligence service has been harboring some of these terrorists, maybe not bin Laden himself but other terrorists. Now the difference maker may be that the intelligence that Barbara was talking about that the U.S. got out of bin Laden's compound, there were e-mails, there were hard drives. There could be within that contacts that bin Laden had with various Pakistani officials. So once again, the Pakistani government says we don't know anything about this, there may now for the first time be some solid evidence that would force the Pakistanis to come clean now.

VELSHI: Ed, good to see you this morning. Thanks for staying on top of this morning. Ed Henry at the White House.

CHETRY: So, of course, Pakistan is weighing in all of this as well.

VELSHI: Yes.

CHETRY: The ambassador to the United States is insisting that it would make no sense for his country to provide cover for Osama bin Laden. Husain Haqqani says that if investigators find out someone in the Pakistani government was involved in protecting bin Laden, quote, "heads will roll." He also said that he believes radical elements in his country could have been helping bin Laden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMB. HUSAIN HAQQANI, PAKISTANI AMBASSADOR TO U.S.: Any member of the Pakistani government, the Pakistani military or the Pakistani intelligence service knew where Osama bin Laden was, we would have taken action. Osama bin Laden's presence in Pakistan, it was not to Pakistan's advantage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Meantime, Pakistan's prime minister Yousaf (ph) Raza Gilani is expected to meet with his country's parliament today and they will be discussing the U.S. operation that killed bin Laden.

VELSHI: Two congressmen from New York think at least some of the $25 million bounty on Osama bin Laden's head should go to the victims of 9/11 and their families. The idea was announced yesterday at a news conference at Ground Zero. Congressman Anthony Weiner and Jerrold Nadler calling on the Justice Department to consider using the reward money to fund organizations that provide health care and other resources to victims directly impacted by the terrorist attack.

CHETRY: All right. Well, with the nation still on heightened alert after the death of Osama bin Laden, there were some scary moments over the weekend on three flights yesterday. Take a look.

The TSA says an unruly passenger headed for the cockpit door. This was on American Airlines flight from Chicago to San Francisco. Flight attendants and passengers actually helped take that person down. The flight did make it to San Francisco and he was arrested.

And on another plane a continental flight from Houston to Chicago was forced to land in St. Louis after witnesses say a guy went for the exits. Passengers also jumped in there and they say that he put up quite a fight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hear a scream from the stewardess and I see her fly across the thing. And this -- so I go running and I see this guy with his hands on the door, these two guys trying to hold him. The guy was a bull. What I did I just jumped on his back, put him in the choke.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I also have to say that Americans are not going down like that anymore. The men were all up and out in a minute getting him subdued.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: That's pretty amazing. That plane landed safely, made it to Chicago, only about an hour late. And the Delta flight from Detroit to San Diego was also diverted yesterday after a flight attendant found a suspicious note in the bathroom. The TSA says that flight also landed safely in Albuquerque. They did a security sweep of the plane and turned up nothing.

ROMANS: All right, 49 days stranded in a remote area of Nevada. Now a rescue many people are calling a miracle. Canadian Rita Chretien found alive in her van on Friday after surviving only on trail mix and melting snow. Her husband, though, Albert, is still missing. The couple took the scenic route on a trip to Las Vegas in March. Their car became stuck on a muddy road at the Nevada border. Chretien's husband went to get help. The couple's family is thrilled at this rescue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LORRAINE HOVING, ALBERT CHRETIEN'S SISTER: For Mother's Day we want to walk in and we want to look at Rita and hold her and hug her. I'll probably cry just seeing Rita, knowing that she survived 7 1/2 weeks in a van and how long to hope for all that time. Probably words will not come and probably tears will come and lots of hugs and kisses.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Forty-nine days. And you were seeing surveillance video of them at a convenience store before they were lost. Chretien was in good condition when she was found. Doctors say she may be strong enough to leave the hospital in a few days. And, of course, the search goes on for her husband who has been missing for weeks.

VELSHI: Yes. So it's half a success and the other half we don't know yet.

ROMANS: That's right.

VELSHI: It's still very trying for the family.

Hey, what you're paying for gas at the pump is starting to reflect that drop in oil prices that we saw last week. According to AAA, the national average for gallon of regular gasoline is now $3.96 a gallon. It's a fourth straight day that gas prices have dropped.

CHETRY: All right. There will be no three-peat. The Dallas Mavericks completed the sweep last night defeating the defending champs, L.A. Lakers, in a record fashion. The Mavs shot the lights out hitting a playoff record 23 pointers. It was 122-86. Lakers coach Phil Jackson saying that he coached his last game, so not exactly going out on a high note, but really, I mean, he's the winningest coach.

VELSHI: Yes.

CHETRY: Won 11 NBA titles, six with Chicago and five with L.A. So, I mean, he had a good run. But his run is done.

ROMANS: All right. OK. The Mississippi River, a bulge of water moving downriver and could result in the worst flooding since 1937. We're live in Memphis.

VELSHI: I just saw in the Memphis news that they're saying that normally at Memphis it's half a mile wide. It's now three miles wide.

ROMANS: Wow.

VELSHI: We're going to talk about that when we come back.

Also, the class of 2011 the most indebted ever. We'll tell you about that if you've got a student who's coming out of school.

We'll be right back. It's 12 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: We've been following the slow disaster that is the flooding of the Mississippi. The water just keeps rising, and this week, states that lie along the southern part of the Mississippi River are bracing yet again for record flood levels. I mean, this is just a look at what one neighborhood looks like. We want to show you the numbers, though. In parts of Memphis, Tennessee, they're already flooded. Right now, the river is at what they call major flood levels, currently standing at 47.64 feet. However, when it crests tomorrow it's expected to already rise to 48 feet, that's just shy of the previous record set more than 70 years ago. In fact, lawmakers went door to door trying to warn people to get out before it's too late.

So let's head a little bit further down the Mississippi. Vicksburg right now, in Mississippi, the crest will then push south into the Delta Region where flooding is expected to break records dating back more than 80 years. In Vicksburg right now, the river level currently 51.9. However, in just four days when it's expected to crest it's going to be cresting at 55.6 feet.

Then, floodwaters are going to be rushing even further south into Louisiana, Baton Rouge, this is a huge hot spot. The river is already at a major flood level. This is at about 40 feet right now down here in Louisiana. But by Friday, the city is anticipating that it's going to get up to 44 feet and expected to rise even more. That would break a record that was set in 1927.

So this, again, Christine, is a tragedy that we just keep seeing unfold as these river levels continue to rise, not cresting until next week.

ROMANS: All right. Thanks, Kiran.

You know, some Memphis streets near the river are already under water and the National Weather Service says the river may not fall below flood stage until June.

VELSHI: That's - that's hard to believe, because it's the 9th of May.

ROMANS: Yes.

VELSHI: But there I think they're saying.

David Mattingly live for us in Memphis this morning. David, what's the situation there?

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you were talking about those streets down by the river that have been flooded. This is one of them. But the City of Memphis is relatively high and dry. We've been watching this flood just inch up by the hour over the past few days. The city today might finally allow itself to exhale after holding its breath for so long, because we're only looking at about another six inches to come up here in Memphis.

The biggest problems have been in some of the outlying areas around the city, not here on the river actually. That's because tributaries, rivers around Memphis that normally empty into the Mississippi, that water has nowhere to go when this river is up so high. So we've seen entire neighborhoods, a couple of trailer parks, some homes that have been caught in that water. So today we have three to 400 people in shelters here in Memphis. But for right now, everyone watching this water and being somewhat assured that everything is going to be OK because this water has been doing exactly what they thought it would do and the levees that they depend on appear to be strong. Officials today or yesterday coming out saying that these levees are going to hold. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COL. VERNIE L. REICHLING, MEMPHIS DISTRICT COMMANDER: Under seepage is - is expected in this - during these river conditions, but is of nothing of concern to us at this point. We will continue to monitor these levees and flood vaults very carefully, but at - at this point there is nothing that we are concerned about and there is no potential possibility of any failures on the Mississippi River levees.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: And they're going to be watching those levees for quite some time because this water took days to get here, now it's going to take weeks to leave. It's probably not going to climb back into its banks here until sometime as you were saying earlier in June, which is something that people here have not had to deal with in generations - Ali.

VELSHI: All right. David, we're going to keep on touch - in touch with you, obviously, all through the morning and this week. The crest as you said expected tomorrow now in Memphis?

MATTINGLY: That's right. Originally, they were saying Wednesday, but they moved it up a day, it's going to crest just where they thought it would, but it's going to come a day earlier, sometime tomorrow. So the next 24 hours, another six inches or less and that's going to be the peak of this historic flood here in Memphis. And then, from then, it's just going to be a waiting game, watching this water slowly, slowly start to recede.

ROMANS: David Mattingly in Memphis.

And, you know, flooding really just zaps everything out of the community.

VELSHI: Sure. Yes.

ROMANS: And all this time trying to fight it.

CHETRY: The crest - the crest, but, I mean -

(CROSSTALK)

CHETRY: -- the bottom line is for weeks, you know, I mean, what's one or two inches if your homes are already destroyed. You know, that's - that's sort of a significant historical water mark.

VELSHI: Yes.

CHETRY: Man. It's just a tragedy. VELSHI: (INAUDIBLE).

ROMANS: Hard to get to work. Everything is just so difficult.

VELSHI: We're going to -

ROMANS: Talk about it lasting all the way through June. That's real tough.

VELSHI: We'll speak to the -

ROMANS: Your heart goes out to those folks.

VELSHI: -- the mayor of Memphis very shortly as well -

ROMANS: Yes.

VELSHI: -- and get a sense of - of what kind of damage is being done over there.

Also up ahead, you know that one percent of millionaires in this country pay zero income tax. We're going to tell you how that ends up happening when we come back.

ROMANS: Also, Apple taking a bite out of Google in terms of brand recognition. I'm going to tell you more about the world's most valuable brand right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Well, it's time now for "Minding Your Business." I want to show you a great story that's on Money.com. This is where we get so much of our information when we report business to you.

This is a great story about millionaires and their no tax club. This is about millionaires, people who earned more than a million dollars, who owed no income tax in 2010. There are about 4,000 millionaires - 4,000 or one percent of those people, who earned more than a million dollars. I shouldn't call them millionaires. They're people who earned more than a million dollars.

You go to CNNMoney.com, there's a great story by my friend, Jeanne Sahadi, who's written about this, how is it that people who earned more than $1 million didn't pay taxes in 2010?

There are a couple of reasons. One is, they may have had big portfolios - big investment portfolios which lost a lot of money in the 2008 crisis. And while the stock market came back in 2009 and 2010, when you have big losses in the - in the stock market, you can only write off so many of them per year, so much money per year. So they may for some years be able to write off some of their losses.

The other thing is, some of them may be retired or self-employed, maybe they donated a lot of money to charity. Basically, the rich benefit from a lot of tax breaks that the rest of us don't all get. However, in all, nearly a half of all households in the United States, about 69 million households, paid no tax at all in 2010. The vast majority of those people, however, are low income.

Remember, though, a lot of people say, you should boost taxes on the rich and it's very understandable to - to think that you may want people who earn a million dollars or more to pay taxes. That aside, there simply aren't enough of them to actually eliminate our debt and deficit problems even if you did.

Still, lot of opinions as to whether they should or shouldn't. You can find the story on the newly redesigned Money.com.

A couple of things I want to show you about the site. It really is very helpful. Like the CNN.com site, the Money.com site also has a most popular stories gauge, so you can see what people are reading. In fact, right now the millionaires who owe no federal income tax is the most popular story on - on Money.com. Oil price collapse pays off for one speculator is also another interesting story, someone who's been betting against the markets.

You can also look ahead to stocks. You can check out the markets on this site. It will give you all sorts of information about where markets are and futures.

And here's another thing I want to show so many of you, including Kiran, who likes to use her iPad a lot, there's a tablet view. So if you're working off a tablet like an iPad, you can get this tablet view. But the great thing about this new site is you can use this tablet view even on your PC. So the story I was just telling you about, the no tax millionaire club, you can just go to the tax - the tablet view and - and view it there, plus the story about the oil collapse.

So brand new launch of Money.com. Hope you enjoy it. We use it a lot to get you the money stories that matter to you - Kiran.

CHETRY: Yes. They got a lot of interesting features as well.

VELSHI: Yes.

CHETRY: Good stuff. Ali, thanks.

Well, the class of 2011 will graduate with more debt than any students that have come before them. According to the "Wall Street Journal" when you add up the loans that parents have to take out to finance their kid's college education, and then also the loans that the students take out themselves, the average senior this year will owe $22,900. Boom. That's what you owe upon graduation.

You're just going to be working to pay that down for the next several years. That's eight percent more than a year ago, though experts say that in the long run, you know - and you guys, we talk about this back and forth, is it worth it. Does the - is that investment, does it pay off? And the answer is still yes.

VELSHI: Yes.

ROMANS: If - if you consider it good debt, it's the kind of debt that can pay off, I mean, the government a few years ago ran some statistics, they found the return on this investment is something like 11 or 13 percent year after year after year.

VELSHI: Yes.

ROMANS: So that you get a return on investment if you stay in school, get a major that someone is going to pay you for the job you're going to work and - and you're smart about it.

VELSHI: Yes.

CHETRY: You listen to me (INAUDIBLE).

VELSHI: I - I think we're all in agreement about this one. But it's a hard pill to swallow especially in tough times when you can't necessarily afford it.

ROMANS: All right. Apple is ending Google's four-year run as the world's most valuable brand. According to a new BrandZ ranking, thanks to the success of the iPad and iPhone, Apple has an estimated value of more than $153 billion. Facebook also making its first appearance on this brand list, ranking 35 with an estimated value of $70 billion.

VELSHI: All right. A story that we're asking you about, two Tennessee imams, heading ironically to an Islamophobia Conference were kicked off a flight out of North Carolina based on the way they looked. You can see them here. The airline says they weren't doing anything wrong, but they were kicked off because the pilot said they were making people uncomfortable. We want to know -

ROMANS: Is it true they cleared security -

VELSHI: Yes.

ROMANS: -- and then were still not allowed back on the flight?

VELSHI: Cleared a second time, still weren't allowed on there. So we'll talk about that when we come back.

It's 28 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Good morning. It's 32 minutes after the hour, time for this morning's top stories.

Videotapes seized in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden show that terrorist watching himself on television. You see it right here. U.S. officials calling bin Laden vain and obsessed with his world image.

ROMANS: He could use some cord management, too.

VELSHI: Yes, that's true. It is messy.

CHETRY: Or a headboard or some wall art.

Well, a Canadian couple missing for seven weeks but a miraculous rescue. Rita Chretien (ph) was found in her van in a remote road in Nevada Friday. She survived on trail mix. I think she had a little bit of beef jerky in the car. Melting show, she'd go out and collect it, let the sun melt it and then drink it. Chretien's car got stuck in the mud and her husband Albert walked to find help. He, unfortunately, is still missing.

ROMANS: Hundreds of people on the run this morning in Memphis from the surging Mississippi. It's expected to crest near a record level tomorrow. It could be the worst flood you guys since 1937.

VELSHI: That's incredible.

Bonnie Schneider watching this very closely for us in the extreme weather center.

Good morning, Bonnie. Tell us what you -- what you're seeing.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, Ali -- good morning to all of you.

What we're looking at right now, we're talking about the river cresting tomorrow. Notice it will take it 14 feet above flood stage. And even though the crest hasn't occurred, we're already seeing tremendous flooding across the city of Memphis.

Take a look at some pictures of what it's like to be driving and find the roads are flooded. You can see the water is very high. It's a murky brown color, unfortunately, and it's very dangerous. This is the last thing you want to do is try to cross any water covered roadway, because even six inches of water can dislodge your vehicle. And, actually, most flood deaths do occur in cars.

So, the flood plan is opening the gates for the Bonnet Carre Spillway, and that will be later on this morning. It should alleviate some pressure, but remember, this is a very fast-moving current of water -- 2 million cubic feet per second. So, one second, the water could fill a 44-foot stadium, in just one second. So, that's how it fast it's moving.

When you look at the Mississippi, it doesn't necessarily look like it's moving that fast. The last time this happened, April 29th, 2008.

Here's the spillway. So, the spillway is open here, so the water can flow into Lake Pontchartrain. So, it does alleviate the pressure. But that may not be enough.

In fact, there's another plan that if the Morganza Spillway is opened, seven parishes could be covered with five to 25 feet of water. This will be the deepest water in St. Francisville. Five feet in Houma, which is in the southeastern extreme parishes of Louisiana and Morgan City are all going to be affected.

So, opening the flood ways will help matters, but as you can see, it's a little further to the west. So, this is something that may occur as early as Thursday. So, we're going to be watching each pattern.

And, incidentally, if all three of these things have happened with the levee blasted open and both of these spillways opened, it will be the first time ever all three measures were taken to prevent major flooding across Louisiana and Mississippi.

VELSHI: All right. Bonnie, thanks very much. We'll stay on top of this with you. Bonnie Schneider at our extreme weather center.

ROMANS: OK. She made headlines around the world back in March when she ran into a hotel full of journalists in Tripoli and told reporters she had been beaten and raped by Moammar Gadhafi's men.

Take a look.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

ROMANS: Now, Eman al-Obeidy is out of Libya and she's sharing another surreal story about her escape from that country. Al-Obeidy told CNN that she was able to smuggle herself across the border into Tunisia on Thursday with the help of a defecting military officer and his family.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMAN AL-OBEIDY, ALLEGES SHE WAS RAPED BY GADHAFI LOYALISTS (through translator): We left very normally, of course. I was wearing -- bring me that. It's a traditional tribal headwear, a maziria (ph), which was given to me by my friend's mother. I was wearing it, and indeed, you can't see anything apart from my one eye.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: She's now in the protective custody of European diplomats as she decides her future.

CHETRY: She looks remarkably better.

VELSHI: Yes.

CHETRY: I mean, you really saw, you know, a desperate woman completely unsure of what to do. And she took a chance. She could have been killed. And instead, she's made it to hopefully relative safety.

VELSHI: Yes.

CHETRY: All right. Well, two American hikers who have been locked up in Iran for a long time finally go on trial this week. Outcome, of course, is still uncertain over Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal. They're accused of spying. They've been sitting in a jail since 2009. And if convicted, they could face the death penalty.

Officials in the U.S. have made repeated calls for their release. You may remember, the third hiker, Sarah Shourd, she was released for medical reasons back in September, $500,000 bail. She served 14 months in prison and recently made the decision she'd earlier felt she might go back to stand trial and she's admitting she's suffering from PTSD and says that's not going to be possible.

ROMANS: Talk about irony, two imams headed to Charlotte, North Carolina, for a weekend conference on Islamophobia, that's the fear of Islam, they were forced off their flight in Tennessee. They were both dressed in traditional Muslim clothes when the plane was told to return to the gate after taxiing the runway. A lawyer says the men passed multiple security clearances but the pilot refused to fly with them on board.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MO IDIBILI, IMAMS' ATTORNEY: The only reason the pilot has cited is that some of the passengers didn't feel comfortable. But when the passengers were asked whether anybody felt uncomfortable none of them indicated they were.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The men were put on another flight. They arrived a few hours later. Atlantic Southeast Airlines released a statement saying it apologizes for any inconvenience but it takes security very seriously.

VELSHI: And yet, they couldn't identify what, if anything, these men were doing to create this kind of issue.

ROMANS: They were going to a conference on Islamophobia.

(CROSSTALK)

CHETRY: -- security breach. They take security interesting. So, it will be interesting. See? We posed it as our question, you guys, CNN.com/AM. We'd love for you to weigh in, Twitter, Facebook or our blog.

Meanwhile, efforts to saved beach whales in Florida paying off in some circumstances. We talked about that high number of beachings taking place. Well, there have been countless volunteers trying to help these animals get back in the water.

ROMANS: And coming to grips with autism and how widespread it is. A new study could have huge implications on autism research. Coming up, we'll tell you why some researchers believe autism is much, much more common than we realize.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Two beached whales were rescued off the Florida Keys. They've now been released back into the ocean. Close to two dozen whales were found stranded in shallow waters last week, 14 unfortunately died. Five are still recovering. The two whales that were released are said to be doing well now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB BRUMBAUGH, VOLUNTEER: It's a pretty good feeling actually to see two of them get a second chance like that. DR. CHRIS DOLD, SEAWORLD: I love seeing, hopefully, positive outcome like this for animals, because, you know, it just charges everyone's spirits.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: They don't know why the whales became stranded. We see this all the time.

VELSHI: Yes.

ROMANS: You know, you see a whole bunch of whales together. Dolphins sometimes, too, become stranded. No one really knows exactly why it happened to so many at the same time. But some of them are now free and doing well.

CHETRY: All right. Good news.

Well, autism may be far more common than suggested by earlier research, at least according to one new study. The study was done in South Korea and it found one in 38 children has some form of autism. Researchers used a new approach looking at a sample of the entire population.

Now, the results could haven effect on research here in the United States as well. Previous studies tended to focus on children in special education classes or those who had been diagnosed with language or learning difficulties. The new findings could mean many children all over the world are going undiagnosed and untreated.

Right now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates here in the United States that one in 110 American children has some form of autism.

VELSHI: That's a big difference.

ROMANS: Now, we're diagnosing it more symptoms than we used to. Even like 15 or 20 years ago, autism had a strict kind of diagnosis. Now, there's an autism spectrum.

VELSHI: Right.

ROMANS: And that spectrum can have a wide range of different difficulties that children are facing.

VELSHI: But that spectrum, it starts to include other things at the ranges which are causing some people to think that anything that is -- that is wrong with anybody is diagnosed as autism.

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: They don't say wrong, though.

VELSHI: There are some people who say it needs to be treated as -- I mean, there are two schools of thoughts. Some people say it's nothing wrong. It's the -- it is a spectrum and others say it's a disease and needs to be treated as such. If you don't allow it to be called wrong, then you don't treat it.

ROMANS: That's a good point.

CHETRY: But there's also another whole theory, some people say that there's not going to be more money put to it unless some of these previously, you know, nebulous sort of behavioral issues are not put on the spectrum. They say the more diagnoses, technically, the more chance of getting funding. So, that's a whole other controversial --

ROMANS: If you believe the CDC numbers, one in 110 children in United States --

VELSHI: It's still a lot.

ROMANS: -- that's -- you know somebody in your family, a cousin, it's neighbor.

CHETRY: Higher for boys, too. It's one in 96, I believe, for boys.

ROMANS: And this is a big education issue, you know? So, this is not going away. All the new research is very -- gobbled up with great attention.

VELSHI: Let's go to the other side of the world now. Bloody weekend of violence in Egyptian capital -- Egypt's Muslims and Christians have been clashing in Cairo. At least a dozen people have been killed, a church badly burned and rioting overnight.

Zain Verjee is live in London this morning with the latest developments there.

Zain, good morning.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you guys.

You know, how did all of this start? Well, government officials are saying that there were rumors that a Christian woman had converted to Islam and then was being held in a church against her own will.

Take a look at some of the violence and clashes that triggered in Cairo. You can see there were demonstrations and fighting between Coptic Christians as well as Salafi Muslims. It turned so violent, about 12 people killed, more than 230 people injured.

Now, the government is saying that they are going to deal with this with an iron hand. There have been a bunch of arrests. But, you know, this is really important, guys, because it underscores the weakness of the military government. Many people would say that under Hosni Mubarak, you had the police out there and you weren't seeing this kind of sectarian clashes between Muslims and Christians. Sure, they didn't like each other, there was a lot of tension, but exploiting the opportunity here seems to be what some people say are happening.

CHETRY: Just explain for people, in terms of religious tolerance, what are the challenges right now in Egypt? VERJEE: Well, it's a very difficult situation because you have a country in flux. You have the military government that is trying to keep things running smoothly. But then you've got elements within the country that are trying to take advantage of the situation and to exploit it.

There've always been tensions between the two sides. We've got about 80 million people living in Egypt and about 9 percent or so are Christians (ph). They kind of base their teachings on the apostle Mark, and they split with the main branch of Christianity back in the fifth century. So, these guys feel really discriminated against, and they have often been the target of sectarian attacks.

And then you have another group called the Salafi Muslims. Now, these are people, the kind of look back to the early days of Islam, and they want to emulate that. You've got a peaceful element of that, but you've also got Salafi jihadists who are violent, and they believe in imposing Shariah law, and they believe in more of a violent brand of Islam, and that's the clash and the danger that you're seeing now.

VELSHI: All right. Zain, thanks very much.

Zain Verjee, you can watch her every morning at 5:00 a.m. Eastern on "WORLD ONE" right here on CNN.

CHETRY: Thanks, Zain.

ROMANS: All right. If you're looking for a cheap airfare, it's not just the airline or the day of the week that matters, the airport you're flying out of can also cause your ticket price to climb. According to the Transportation Statistics Bureau, Newark Airport is the most expensive airport for domestic flights. The average ticket from Newark costs 461 bucks. That's $125 more than the national average.

For the airport with the cheapest flights, just head to our south, to Atlantic City International Airport, there, the average ticket costs $156, not counting how much you lost at the casinos.

(LAUGHTER)

VELSHI: And I really want to just head two hours to another airport.

(LAUGHTER)

VELSHI: Yes, but -- you know, the rise of smaller airlines has helped this because they often go to a smaller airport, and Milwaukee is thought of as an alternative to Chicago, and it's two hours.

ROMANS: It is. And then, car fare from Milwaukee to Chicago will set you back the difference in the ticket. So, you know, plan carefully.

CHETRY: Still ahead, Monroe mania. Several items from Marilyn Monroe sold for record prices at an auction in Beverly Hills over the weekend. One of the biggest surprises was the black cocktail dress that she wore back in 1958. There it is. It sold for $348,000. ROMANS: Wow.

CHETRY: Other highlights include a bathing suit. There it is.

ROMANS: That's the bathing suit?

VELSHI: Oh, come on.

CHETRY: Wait, that's not the bathing suit.

ROMANS: No, before that.

VELSHI: No, that's not --

ROMANS: That looks like a cocktail dress.

VELSHI: That's a Brazira (ph) liner that you just saw.

CHETRY: What used to be a bathing suit back in the day is now a cocktail dress.

ROMANS: Right.

CHETRY: Anyway, that thing went for $48,000. That undergarment, by the way, that coneful-shaped (ph) bra --

VELSHI: Right.

CHETRY: That could also be used as a weapon, I guess, in tough circumstances, that went for --

VELSHI: $6,800.

CHETRY: $6,800.

ROMANS: For a bra. Wow.

VELSHI: All right. Forty-eight minutes after the hour. Illinois State University, what do you, guys, think about circuses? Do you like circuses?

ROMANS: I like the circuses.

CHETRY: I'm partial to acrobats. I love --

VELSHI: I think they got them. There are circus -- they've got students performing as circus people. I don't know what you call them. We're going to take you behind the scenes. It's a school sponsored program to make circus performers out of students.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Fifty minutes past the hour right now. I want to get you caught up on the day's headlines.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CHETRY (voice-over): President Obama claiming that Bin Laden likely had some kind of support network inside of Pakistan. The president saying both the U.S. and Pakistan should investigate and that now is the time to deliver the fatal blow against al Qaeda.

Danger downstream. Hundreds of people now on the run this morning along the banks of the Mississippi. The river is expected to get higher than it ever has before in places like Memphis.

A missing Canadian woman found alive after surviving 49 days in her car on a remote road in Nevada. Rita Chretien (ph) and her husband, Albert, were traveling to a trade expo in Las Vegas. Their van got stuck in the mud when they tried to take a scenic route. He went to get help and is still missing.

And it's the relief you've been waiting to hear. Oil analysts predicting gas prices could fall by as much as 75 cents by the summer. AAA also reporting the national average for a gallon of regular is down to $3.96 a gallon.

The Dallas Mavericks complete the sweep. The Mavs knock the Los Angeles Lakers out of the playoffs last night ending their chances for a threepete. L.A. coach, Phil Jackson, also announcing it's his last game.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY (on-camera): And you're caught up on today's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING is back in 60 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: I like this story. I was talking about earlier. I didn't really do a good job of expressing it. I'm going to --

CHETRY: The circus.

VELSHI: The circus.

CHETRY: All right. Take another stab at it.

VELSHI: Think about college traditions, OK? There all sorts of them. Some people join fraternities, some join teams, very few join the circus.

CHETRY: Oh, no. If this was available in my day, I would have done it in a hot second. I mean, the acrobatic part.

ROMANS: These student acrobats have been wowing audiences for decades. Our Ted Rowlands brings you all the high-flying college action.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is our identity going to become more external than it has been internal? TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sarah Bowden is a sophomore at Illinois State University.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Boys and girls, children of all ages.

ROWLANDS: She is also a circus performer.

Sarah is part of Illinois State Gamma Phi Circus, a school sponsored circus team that dates back to 1929. That's the oldest of two college circus programs in the country, the other is at Florida State.

SARAH BOWDEN, CIRCUS PERFORMER: So, this is the basic way to get up and do a little of your loop (ph).

ROWLANDS: Sarah was a gymnast in high school, but like most of her teammates had no circus experience.

What do your parents think of all this?

BOWDEN: My parents are really supportive. You know, the minute I joined the circus, they're like what, you joined the circus?

MARCUS ALOUAN, CIRCUS DIRECTOR: I think anyone of us who has ever come to Gamma Phi Circus has had that conversation with their parents where they trying to explain that it's still a part of the university, it's -- but it's something in addition to going to classes.

ROWLANDS: Marcus Alouan, a former student at Illinois State and circus performer, is now the director of the circus program.

ALOUAN: For the most part, we look for somebody who's strong, hardworking, and coachable.

ROWLANDS: And doesn't have a fear of heights?

ALOUAN: That certainly helps, although, actually, we have a lot of people who seek us out because they want to overcome that.

ROWLANDS: Senior Nena Woo broke her arm in a trapeze fall says after graduating, she wants to join a professional circus.

NENA WOO, CIRCUS PERFORMER: I'm graduating with a degree in public relations. If I can do that with a circus company or somewhere in entertainment, I'd love to do that.

ROWLANDS: The circus team has about 75 members. They don't compete, but they do perform every spring, dating back more than 80 years, Gamma Phi Circus puts on a series of shows at the university. This was Sarah's first performance.

BOWDEN: Not in a million years did I think I'd be in a circus. So, I am so happy that I did it, though.

ROWLANDS: Ted Rowlands, CNN, Normal, Illinois.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CHETRY: All right.

ROMANS: I majored in high wire in college.

CHETRY: Love it. I know.

(LAUGHTER)

CHETRY: The acrobatic part is crazy. Good for them.

Two Muslim leaders, they were forced off of a North Carolina bound flight. They were imams. They were dressed in their full Islamic attire. The pilot requested some extra screening for them.

VELSHI: Which they passed.

CHETRY: Yes, but then, apparently, that so wasn't enough, because they weren't allowed back on the flight. So, the reasoning was that other passengers felt uncomfortable. We want to hear your thoughts on this. Should pilots be able to remove passengers because of their appearance? You can e-mail us, tweet us, or go to our blog, find us on Facebook, and we'll be reading some of your comments later on in the show.

VELSHI: And our top stories are ahead. It is 56 minutes after the hour. We'll be right back.

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