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American Morning
Casey Anthony Murder Trial; New Claims Against Strauss-Kahn; Prince William and Catherine in Canada; Suspected Drug Lord Arrested; The General-Turned-Rebel
Aired July 05, 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: I'm Christine Romans.
Casey Anthony's fate is now in the hands of the jury. Today is day two of deliberations. The prosecution painting a dark picture, calling Casey a pathological liar with everything to gain they say by the death of little Caylee.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Ali Velshi.
New accusations of sexual assault against Dominique Strauss-Kahn and now, the former IMF chief is filing a counter claim against his accuser.
We're live in Paris with the latest on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(MUSIC)
ROMANS: And good morning, everybody. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. It is Tuesday, July 5th.
After all the fireworks, everyone's getting up bright and early this morning to get back to a shortened week. Kiran Chetry is off, though, today, enjoying another day of her holiday.
VELSHI: Lots of people working. Congress is in session.
And jury deliberations resume this morning in the Casey Anthony murder trial. The jury failed to reach a verdict after nearly six hours of deliberations yesterday. But first, prosecutors delivered their final blow during closing arguments calling Casey a, quote, "pathological liar" and questioning who had the most to gain by Caylee Anthony's death.
David Mattingly joins us live from Orlando -- David.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Ali.
The prosecution had the last word yesterday before the case went to the jury and they made it count.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Anthony said he would trade places with his daughter in a second. MATTINGLY (voice-over): Just minutes before this sad and tragic case was put in the hands of the jury, it looked like Casey Anthony had heard enough. The prosecution painted her as a party girl whose child got in the way and had to go. Not as the defense claims a loving mother whose little girl accidentally drowned in the family pool.
JEFF ASHTON, ASSISTANT STATE ATTORNEY: Just no conceivable reason why anybody would put duct tape on the face of a dead child. I said it before. People don't -- people don't make accidents look like murder. That's absurd.
MATTINGLY: In closing arguments, prosecutors used their strongest language yet, calling Anthony a pathological liar and playing this recorded phone conversation where Casey effortlessly lies to a friend about a nanny kidnapping Caylee.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
FRIEND: They said that the person that you dropped Caylee with doesn't even exist.
CASEY ANTHONY, DEFENDANT: Because, oh look, they can't find her in the Florida database. She's not just from Florida. If they would actually listen to anything that I would have said to them, they would have had their leads, they maybe could have tracked her down. They haven't listened to a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) thing that I have said.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: The final blow, leaving the jury with these suspicious images, Casey Anthony living it up in the spotlight of a hot body contest and brandishing a new tattoo declaring "the beautiful life," all in the weeks after her daughter Caylee had disappeared.
LINDA BURDICK, ASSISTANT STATE ATTORNEY: Whose life was better? That's the only question you need to answer -- in considering why Caylee Marie Anthony was left on the side of the road, dead.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MATTINGLY: That was probably just one of many questions the jury now has, and we're looking at them coming back and getting back to work today in a little over two hours -- Ali.
VELSHI: All right. David, give us a sense of they got the case yesterday. They spent some time deliberating and they're coming back today. How much time have they already deliberated for?
MATTINGLY: They got in a half day yesterday. They're looking at a full day today. The judge making sure they're going to have breaks for lunch. They come in at 8:30 and then they break before dinner, very civilized hours for this jury. But everyone watching them, wanting to know when they might be able to make a decision.
VELSHI: All right. We're going to keep an eye on that with you, David. Thanks very much -- David Mattingly in Orlando. Obviously, the whole country and some around the world is watching this case.
ROMANS: And even now we don't know very much about these jurors. But what we do know, we're sort of starting to scrutinize, you know, where they do work. They spent a lot of time now deliberating who are -- what are their backgrounds, and how is that likely to influence what's happening behind the scenes that we can't see in that jury room. So, very fascinating stuff.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: All right. A high-ranking drug lord taken down. Officials call it a triumph for the Mexican government. Police arrested alleged cartel leader Jesus Enrique Rejon Aguilar on Sunday. Mexican authorities say he's the founding member of the Zetas. That is a powerful and very dangerous criminal organization.
He's suspected in the murder of ICE agent Jamie Zapata back in February. Zapata was shot to death while traveling in an armored van to Mexico City. Rejon is also being investigated for the deaths of dozens of South and Central American migrants.
VELSHI: An update on a story that we broke here yesterday morning. At least one American is dead and as many as eight people are still missing after a tourist boat capsized off the coast of Mexico's Baja peninsula. Between 43 and 44 people were on board the boat when it ran into some bad weather Sunday. It capsized and then sank.
The U.S. Coast Guard has joined the Mexican navy in the search effort.
After a deadly day in Hama, Syria, government tanks are now reportedly lining up on the outskirts of that city. According to an opposition member and human rights group, three people were killed in clashes with security forces yesterday. More than two dozen activists rounded up in predawn raids. We're being told up to 1,000 young Syrians have taken up positions around the eastern Syrian city, hoping to protect citizens who live there.
VELSHI: And just days after a New York court released him from house arrest, former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss- Kahn now faces more accusations and possibly charges this time in France.
ROMANS: Right. Our senior international correspondent Jim Bittermann is live in Paris.
So, Jim, what's the latest? As it looks like the case here against him is not as solid as it once was, now you got these allegations resurfacing in France.
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're allegations only, Christine and Ali. In fact, there had been no charges laid.
And what's happened is a lawyer for Tristane Banon, a 32-year-old writer here, says she will file a complaint with the prosecutor's office in Paris later on today. That complaint will be taken under advisement from the prosecutor and he can decide whether or not there's enough evidence to proceed with any kind of formal charges.
Now, he's going to have to decide that it's attempted rape, because if it's sexual aggression, sexual assault, the fact is that's beyond the statute of limitations. But if it's attempted rape, it's still within the statute of limitations.
This all relates to an incident took place eight years ago back in 2003. And Ms. Banon says that back then, she was a young writer, young journalist. She went in to interview Strauss-Kahn and that he attacked her in a near empty apartment. She managed to struggle free.
In any case, the details of that are going to be very difficult this far on for either her lawyer or the prosecutor to provide evidence for and I think one of the things we've seen already is that the lawyers have now filed a counter suit against her for defamation because they feel that she can't prove what she is saying actually took place -- Christine, Ali.
ROMANS: Jim, what does this mean for Strauss-Kahn and the political reputation inside that country? Because it looked like it was in tatters a few weeks ago and then there were those talking about, well, if the charges were dropped in this country --
VELSHI: Could he run for president?
ROMANS: Could he run for president and could he have a renaissance? What does this mean for that?
BITTERMANN: I guess it's just further proof that politics, in politics, a week is like an eternity. The fact is things have changed here a lot. That he, a lot of people in the socialist side, his party, they're saying basically that he should come back and try to run.
However, the general population doesn't feel that way if you believe the opinion polls. There's one that came out this morning that said 54 percent of the French would not like to see him run for president.
So, he still has kind of a reputation problem and it's unclear how the socialists are going to handle this. They're supposed to have a primary soon to elect their candidate and it depends on how Strauss- Kahn does on the charges in New York and what happens with this case here.
But it's not inconceivable that he could still become presidential candidate. But like I say, opinion polls are not in his favor.
VELSHI: Jim, thanks very much. Jim Bittermann, joining us in Paris.
ROMANS: OK. And the woman who's replacing Dominique Strauss-Kahn at the International Monetary Fund, she's beginning her very first day today. The former French finance minister, Christine Lagarde, is the first woman to run IMF. She'll serve a five-year term. VELSHI: Also new this morning, members of Congress are back at work to work on a possible debt ceiling deal and with that August 2nd deadline quickly approaching, the White House is warning of dire consequences if the debt ceiling isn't raised. There's word Republicans might be willing to embrace a temporary deal, it would give the government enough money continue paying its bills for a few more months.
I have to tell you, Christine, they just got to fix this. This temporary deal business is very frustrating to people.
ROMANS: But no deal is more frustrating than temporary deal.
VELSHI: That's absolutely true.
ROMANS: The whole debt ceiling nuttiness, I mean, what -- and the August 2nd deadline, you really have to fix this before then.
VELSHI: Right. Because this is actually this legislation. This is not just one of those things you could just say you're doing.
ROMANS: Right. There are bills to pay on August 2nd.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: All right. A U.S. Forest Service bus carrying nine firefighters, it's crashed in Palmdale, California. This happened last night. CNN affiliate KTLA reporting all nine firefighters -- they sustained injuries. Three of them trapped in the vehicle. Medical evaluation helicopters were called to the scene.
The crash happened just outside the Angeles National Forest. The cause of that crash is still unknown.
VELSHI: The governor of Montana wants answers. He's calling for more to be done in the Yellowstone River oil cleanup. ExxonMobil reports at least 200 workers on site. Nearly 42,000 gallons of oil leaked into the water after a pipeline cracked on Friday. High waters and fast currents hampered the cleanup.
ROMANS: Well, we did hear that they said they hope that the water and fast currents would break up the oil. But if you live along there, you're worried about where that oil is going.
VELSHI: Where that oil is going to, they got boom and it's -- oil spills are a mess.
ROMANS: Yes.
All right. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is vowing to beat cancer after making an unexpected return home to his country. Chavez just spent a month in Cuba. He's had a cancerous tumor removed. He admits it.
Chavez spoke from the balcony of his presidential palace yesterday, saying he's been strictly supervised by his doctors. He's eating well. He's exercising.
Venezuela celebrates its bicentennial today.
VELSHI: And to show that he was exercising, he was wearing exercise wear every time we saw him in the pictures in Cuba.
ROMANS: And his revolution red beret.
VELSHI: He's back in his uniform.
Twenty thousand calories in 10 minutes. So many hot dogs they were literally coming out of his nose.
ROMANS: Ugh!
VELSHI: Yes. Joey Chestnut scarfed down to win his fifth consecutive --
ROMANS: I'm not going to look.
VELSHI: -- fifth consecutive Nathan's famous hotdog eating contest on Coney Island.
It was not a personal best for him, by the way. He still won by nine dogs, but that is not the end of the story, Christine.
ROMANS: There was a little controversy yesterday. Takeru Kobayashi staged his own renegade hot dog eating exhibition at a roof top bar in Manhattan yesterday. He ate 69 dogs and buns, which would have been a world record. But he's in a contract dispute with major league eating.
VELSHI: Back to Brooklyn, the women may have really stolen the show. They had their own eat-off for the first time. No surprise. Tiny Sonja "Black Widow" Thomas won the first ever pink Pepto belt, just 40 dogs.
I'm a big hot dog lover, but I can't imagine that. How many do you think you could eat? If you're hungry and you really like them. They're not the biggest dogs.
ROMANS: Personally, I have had three.
VELSHI: I can do better than three.
ROMANS: Really?
VELSHI: I can definitely do better than three. I was thinking six or seven.
ROMANS: We'll have a little showdown after the show.
VELSHI: All right. Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, a grisly discovery in an Indiana creek. Police waiting to see if it sheds some light on the disappearance of a college coed Lauren Spierer. We'll explain when we come back. ROMANS: Also, civil war re-enactors in a battle not with the Confederates, instead with Mother Nature. Why they got the shock of their life.
VELSHI: And Prince William and Catherine wowing the crowds in Canada. We'll tell you what the royal couple is up to today as American awaits their arrival in California later this week.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: An autopsy set for today on a woman's body found in an Indiana creek. Police are trying to determine if it may be the missing college student Lauren Spierer. She was last seen leaving a sports car after a night out with friends in June. Dozens of searches and tips have turned up no new leads.
ROMANS: And the Secret Service is now investigating that apparent hacking of FOXNews.com's Twitter feed for political news. Someone used the site yesterday to falsely announce that President Obama had been killed. FOX is also asking Twitter for a detailed investigation.
VELSHI: Well, they're called - they're being called NASA's final four. Astronauts Chris Ferguson, Doug Hurley, Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim ready to lift off Friday for the final shuttle mission. It will be a cargo run to the International Space Station. The crew arrived yesterday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in two T-38 training jets.
Stay with CNN for live coverage this Friday, July 8th. The launch is expected at 11:26 A.M. I'm looking for that thing on the right side of the screen right here. Is it going to happen? Oh, already happened, apparently. I missed it. I love that little launching rocket.
ROMANS: I know yesterday we did, we keep calling for it like drunk with power. But do it again.
VELSHI: The space shuttle "Atlantis" takes off for the very last time. It will be the last shuttle mission ever. There we go. Look at that.
ROMANS: Love it.
VELSHI: Sweet.
ROMANS: I know. It would be - go ahead.
VELSHI: I'm going to be there.
ROMANS: I know. I know.
VELSHI: It's going to be fun.
ROMANS: I know. It will be a lot of fun. We can't wait to watch it.
We get - you know, it's one era in space travel ending, another set to begin. You know, it's the race to commercialize space and the space industry. And with wealthy entrepreneurs like Virgin Galactic's Richard Branson scrambling to make space travel an option for the general public, well, anybody who can afford to pay, that is.
VELSHI: Yes. Well, there's space travel and then there's the cargo -
ROMANS: Right.
VELSHI: -- you know, and commercialization of space, it's going to - we're going to talk more about that in the next hour of AMERICAN MORNING. But at least through our question of the day, should the federal government get out of the business of space exploration? Send us an e-mail -
ROMANS: Send us an e-mail.
VELSHI: -- a tweet. Tell us on Facebook. We'll read your thoughts throughout the morning.
ROMANS: All right.
Prince William and Catherine are in Yellowknife, Canada this morning continuing their North American tour. The newlywed royals have a very busy schedule including a game of street hockey with local kids today.
VELSHI: Very Canadian thing to do. Yesterday, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge thrilled thousands of admirers in Canada's smallest province Prince Edward Island.
We'll have more on that visit next from our Max - or more on that - do we want more on that visit now? Let's do it right now. Max Foster in Canada with more on what's going on.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Ali and Christine, this tour's been very successful for the royal couple and it's a new type of royal couple I think that we're seeing here. Very interactive, very informal. And the crowds, for example, here in Prince Edward Island absolutely loved it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER (voice-over): The Duke and Duchess hit Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island.
(on camera): How was it? Was it worth it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was very exciting. He was so - he was so personable and charming.
FOSTER: What did you talk about?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I had my iPad in my face and he said that he's seen a lot lately they're the new toy. And I said I'm sorry for being rude and shook his hand and he was very nice about it.
FOSTER: What did you guys speak about? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This - the camera just kind of following. He said aren't they the most interesting things to have and they just keep following you like you just want to capture every picture. Yes. And I'm still shaking. This is so is exciting.
FOSTER (voice-over): William then took to the skies, a search and rescue pilot by profession, he was keen to meet up with his Canadian counterparts. They're famous for this risky maneuver - an emergency helicopter landing on water. Palisades, no doubt, holding their breath.
And then the couple took to the water together, each in their own dragon boat. They are a sporty and competitive couple. So the winner was dutifully satisfied.
Then to the beach. This area is famous for seafood, sand sculptures and smudging, a traditional welcoming ceremony.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: And the tour continues today in the Northwestern Territories, the couple wanted to experience the Canadian great outdoors as they call it and they're going to go up there and they're going to sit around the campfire with local people, amongst teepees. They're going to meet lots of young people. That's a continuing theme of this tour, meeting young people. This is the next generation of British royals.
And also, Catherine is going to experience some local cross, very keen on trips we're told to experience local arts and crafts. She's an - she's an artist herself. She enjoys photography, for example.
Ali and Christine, this tour continues successfully.
ROMANS: And you know, finally, I think we're talking about her dress, her hair, her clothes. I mean -
VELSHI: Now, you see him -
ROMANS: He lands a helicopter.
VELSHI: -- landing a helicopter.
ROMANS: He speaks French. He's talking with the locals. He kind of looks like kind of a stud.
VELSHI: Like if you ask - if you go out - if you go out on the street and you ask all sort of thing about the Duchess, people will have all sorts of things to say about her. If you ask things about the Duke - I don't know. He's the prince.
ROMANS: But he's looking cool, right?
VELSHI: Looking cool. He's doing some cool stuff.
ROMANS: I mean, the helicopter landing does a lot for your cool factor. VELSHI: Things are going over well there.
We're going to talk about things that aren't going over well - and nothing to do with this particular couple, but it got to do with the fact there's some people who don't like the royalty and think it's out of date and they don't think that Canada should be subject to it. So we're getting a bit of close eye to that story.
ROMANS: It is kind of interesting they were swooning about the - the Duke and Duchess exactly one day after the celebration of 1776.
VELSHI: That's right.
ROMANS: In this country where we renounce the Duke and Duchess and all that - that they stand for.
VELSHI: You know, one of the other things that's big in this country is the reenactments on the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.
ROMANS: That's right. You know, here's - listen to this. Lucky to be alive. A lightning strike at a camp of Civil War reenactors sends five to the hospital in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. This happened during severe storms on Sunday. Officials say the lightning hit a tent pole in the confederate artillery area. The actors recall some terrifying moments.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I felt everything, like - like I was being electrocuted, you know, going through my body.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was just unbearable. I mean, I lost the hearing in my right ear for a while.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was so scared and all I could - all I could do was scream.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Everyone thankfully, though, is expected to be OK.
VELSHI: You know, in this business we hear enough about this, whether it's soccer players or what, people on big fields when there are storms, doesn't - it should maybe people should start thinking about this as more obvious. I certainly don't. I don't think, oh, well, there's a storm. I'm in a field.
ROMANS: I think the risk is still very low, though. I mean -
VELSHI: Oh, it's still low but - I don't want to be part of that.
ROMANS: OK.
VELSHI: You know? Although I do like the reenactments.
Coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING, a statue of a famous American president is now gracing the streets of London. Details on that straight ahead.
ROMANS: Does the Constitution guarantee you a right, a right to pornography. One inmate thinks so.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Markets look like they're headed for a flat open. Investors are waiting for new economic data on factory orders for May. Those figures come out at 10 A.M. Eastern Time.
Republicans and Democrats going head to head today on Capitol Hill over raising the nation's debt ceiling. If lawmakers cannot reach an agreement and push through legislation by August 2nd, the Treasury Department says it simply wouldn't be able to borrow money to pay all of its bills.
And the woman who's replacing Dominique Strauss-Kahn at the International Monetary Fund is beginning her first day today. Former French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, she is the first woman to run the IMF. She is slated to serve a five-year term.
A new report says pay for top American executives, well, that pay is back on the rise, nearing pre-recession levels. That's according to a study by Equilar for "The New York Times." The median pay for big company executives last year, $10.8 million, that's a 23 percent gain from 2009.
Many companies reportedly adding surcharges, though, to help insurance coverage for employees who smoke. Macy's, PepsiCo, publishers CGI, all companies doing this. Even some like Union Pacific and Scott Miracle-Gro, they are flat out refusing to hire smokers.
Just in time for BLT season, bacon prices expected to sizzle this summer. A tight hog population pushing bacon prices, other pork product prices are all higher. Hot temperatures are also hurting supplies. That drives up prices.
AMERICAN MORNING will be right back after this break with a CNN exclusive. Nic Robertson talks to a Yemen rebel general.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Thirty minutes after the hour. That means it's time for this morning's top stories.
Jury deliberations are set to resume in the Casey Anthony murder trial. Jurors failing to reach a verdict after nearly six hours yesterday. But, first, the prosecution had their last words calling Casey Anthony, quote, "a pathological liar" and saying that she had the most to benefit from Caylee's death.
ROMANS: All right. Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn could be facing more allegations of sexual assault. A 32-year-old French woman is expected to file a criminal complaint today, accusing Strauss-Kahn of trying to rape her eight years ago. Strauss-Kahn has filed his own complaint, accusing that woman of making false declarations.
VELSHI: Well, it could be a big blow to Mexico's drug cartel. Officials arrested alleged Zetas leader Jesus Enrique Rejon Aguilar on Sunday. He's also a suspect in the shooting death of American ICE agent Jamie Zapata back in February. Authorities are calling his capture a triumph for the Mexican government.
ROMANS: Yemen, meanwhile, stuck in a bloody stalemate with no quick solution in sight. President Ali Abdullah Saleh now in Saudi Arabia and severely wounded. His power base, crumbling. And his former top commander who defected to the rebels may be the only man in the country with the power to end the chaos.
Nic Robertson sat down for an exclusive interview with the general.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Opposition banners call for peace: No for civil war. But reality is, Yemen is at a stalemate, a nation teetering on the brink of chaos.
New government demands President Saleh remain in power until a replacement is elected fly in the face of an already signed deal he step down. What happens next depends much on arguably the country's second most powerful man.
(on camera): We're going into General Ali Mohsen's compound now. It's like an army base. In fact, it used to be an army base. You have the military vehicles up here. All the soldiers on duty in uniform.
(voice-over): He switched from army to opposition three months ago.
(on camera): General Ali Muhsen is still effectively the commander of the first army division. He took the whole division with him when he deserted the president.
(voice-over): Overnight, Muhsen brought muscle to the cause for peaceful reform. Now, the opposition does nothing without his approval. And he's rejecting talks to keep the president in power.
ALI MUHSEN SALEH AL-AHMER, NWMR & 1ST AD COMMANDER (through translator): This is a principle that we must follow because there are agreements that sides have signed, and it is compulsory that all sides agree on the specifics, not change the points.
ROBERTSON (on camera): The government loyalists say they won't shift their position either. They'll wait for the opposition to crack first. Put the pressure on the opposition to feel that if they don't sign up, then they'll be the ones responsible for the starting a civil war.
(voice-over): In an interview with CNN, Yemen's vice president made news, saying he has the power while the president is in Saudi Arabia recovering from an assassination attempt to cut a deal. The General Muhsen doubts it.
(on camera): The vice president has said that he has full power the negotiate and he can sign any document but the president is out of the country, he's sick, he's incapacitated. So, why can't you just do a deal with the vice president?
MUHSEN: Our brother, the vice president, is wise. And all respect him. But in truth, he does not act with full authority as president of the republic of Yemen.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Both sides claim war can be avoided and appeared deadlocked all because the President Saleh refuses to budge.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON: Well, there's a huge amount at stake here, not just a civil war, not just fighting breaking out in the capital, but where we are in the south of the country right now, we're less than an hour's drive from a province that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has taken control of. They've got control and influence in other areas in the south here.
So while you have these politicians arguing it out in the capital, in the south of the country here, al Qaeda is taking advantage. And Western diplomats we talked to are very concerned. They're saying al Qaeda is doing something it's never done before, taking control and hold of towns and villages, not just hit and run attacks, and setting up their own administrations. And that's what they're doing less than an hour from here and we have been in hospitals in this city and the south, and seen some of the wounded, hundreds of wounded civilians from that confrontation and conflict right now -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Nic Robertson, who's on the ground there in Yemen -- thanks, Nic.
Also new this morning, take a look at this video from southwest China. Mudslides taking out roads, buildings and anything else in its path. Right now, eight people are still missing after the mud hit a dormitory building at a chemical plant Sunday.
VELSHI: Las Vegas firefighters saving the lives of two men caught by rising floodwater Sunday night. The first person was a man in his 60s. The second was a 30-year-old man who had to be pulled from a flood channel.
ROMANS: Jacqui Jeras is in the extreme weather center for us, about 36 minutes after the hour.
Good morning, Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, good morning, guys.
Yes, rough start to the monsoon season across parts of the Southwest and we'll see more of pop-up showers and thundershowers throughout the day today, including Las Vegas and across parts of Arizona. But the real action this morning focused in on the Upper Midwest where we have showers and thundershowers, not severe at this time, but really heavy downpours and a lot of lightning, including you in Minneapolis-St. Paul, stretching down toward the Sioux Falls area.
We may see severe thunderstorms later on today in, say, places like Des Moines, extending down towards Omaha, Nebraska, and then pop-up showers and thunderstorms into the Southeast. Kind of hit and miss variety that you may or may not get it at your house.
The heat continues across the Southern states, 96 in Houston, with 102 in Dallas. But feeling really nice in Minneapolis, in Chicago, where temperatures are in the middle to upper 80s.
And, Ali Velshi, I'm paying attention. You started with the shirt and then the vest and now I see the jacket on this morning.
VELSHI: Yes. It is -- I'm progressively getting dressed as the morning goes on.
JERAS: Is that a daily thing for you?
VELSHI: Check in later. I will have a parka on.
JERAS: Can't wait.
VELSHI: Jacqui, good to see you.
Hey, we got some new pictures just coming in. A fireworks barge on fire in the Charles River in Boston. Look at that. It's part of the city's Fourth of July fireworks show last night. Not clear how it started or if anyone is hurt. We're going to keep our eye on that and trying to get more information. But that is still on fire in the Charles River.
ROMANS: All right. Baseball legend Roger Clemens expected in court this morning. Jury selection will begin tomorrow. It could end with one of the greatest pitchers in history going to prison. He's accused of lying under oath before a congressional committee when he said he never used steroids or human growth hormones. Clemens' former trainer and a former teammate with the Yankees and Astros, Andy Petite, are expected to testify in the case.
VELSHI: A statue of Ronald Reagan now graces London. The 10-foot $1 million bronze statue of America's 40th president was unveiled yesterday outside the U.S. embassy. Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher paid tribute in a written statement, calling Reagan a true leader for our times.
ROMANS: Got a big French lady of New York harbor, why not having --
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: All right. Move over "Sex and the City." There's a new group of 30-somethings taking over the big screen. "Bridesmaids." Now, the top-grossing R-rated female comedy has raked in more than 152 million bucks. (INAUDIBLE) just keeps going strong.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: The film follows a group of women as they get ready for their friend's wedding. It's a real run to "Hangover."
VELSHI: I haven't seen it. Have you seen it?
ROMANS: I haven't seen it, too. But everyone keeps saying that it's very funny.
VELSHI: Everybody's -- part of popular culture now and I'll have missed that. Not out on DVD yet.
ROMANS: No.
VELSHI: All right. He's fighting for his right to porn. An inmate in a jail outside Detroit who has entered a guilty plea to a bank robbery is suing over his lack of access to porn. He's calling it cruel and unusual punishment. He wrote that he's suffering from severe sexual discomfort, stimulatory irritation -- those are quotes, by the way -- and says that they're denying his right to sexual reproduction. Not sure how that works.
Here's how the sheriff responded.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF ANTHONY WICKERSHAM, MACOMB COUNTY, MICHIGAN: We haven't had it here. There's no need for it. He's not going to get it, you know, from this sheriff. You know, we have, you know, female officers, female inmates, female staff that works in this facility. And there's no place for it here in our county jail.
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VELSHI: For your information, judges dismissed at least three of his lawsuits in the past calling them frivolous. But he may get lucky when he's sentenced since state prison allows "Playboy" and "Penthouse." Not just the county jail that he's in now.
ROMAN: Just checking. He entered a guilty plea for bank robbery, right?
VELSHI: That's what I heard.
ROMANS: That's the whole point of going -- isn't that the whole point of being incarcerated?
VELSHI: Something is taken away?
ROMANS: You're being punished. You're being incarcerated.
VELSHI: Something is taken away from you? Yes. The ACLU is not getting involved in this one.
ROMANS: All right. A warning for women who like to sit around when they're not at work. That sedentary lifestyle is exposing you to serious health risks. Details of a new study on this, next.
VELSHI: And the National Football League and its players return to the table today, training camp in jeopardy if they don't do something fast and the fans are getting worried. What everyone from Joe six- pack to the president is saying.
Thirty-nine minutes after the hour.
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ROMANS: OK. I start the day personally sitting for three hours, so this is a really important piece of evidence this morning that a sedentary lifestyle can shorten your life. A study published in Britain found women who sit for long periods of time are a lot more likely to develop deadly blood clots in their lungs. Researchers tracking at least 17,000 women over 18 years, and those who spent, OK, 41 hours or more a week sitting when they weren't at work were twice as likely to develop a potentially life threatening pulmonary embolism.
VELSHI: Wow.
ROMANS: Forty-one hours of sitting when you're not at work is a risk factor.
VELSHI: Not doing anything, you should be able to sit. That's good. I mean, I'm wondering whether it's same for men.
ROMANS: Well, it's just a study of women. There you go.
VELSHI: OK. A new study of Canada finds kids from urban areas and low-income homes are more likely to walk or ride their bikes to school and psychical activity is helping them maintain a healthier weight. But researchers found once kids reach the age of 10, they are more likely to take the bus or get rides to school. The study concludes that most children are not meeting physical activity guide lines.
ROMANS: Bottom line, just move.
VELSHI: Just move. It sounds like they're both leading in the same direction.
ROMANS: Just move, America.
It's that time of year when football fans already start talking training camp. But they're still no deal, no deal between the NFL owners and players.
VELSHI: Now that could change this week. The league and its locked out players are set to talk face to face in New York this week. The fans are beginning to worry that the game on the field is going to suffer if they don't worry something out this week.
Here's Joe Johns.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We're nearly four months into the NFL lockout and still no deal in place as owners and players argue over how to split up over $9 billion in annual revenue.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Greed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's ridiculous.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pathetic.
JOHNS: To say fans are getting testy would be putting it mildly. James Brown, a nationally known NFL sportscaster, offers his take.
JAMES BROWN, CBS SPORTS: I would like to think that prudent heads will prevail in coming up with something that effectively is a win-win situation and doesn't alienate your fan base.
When you look at folks who are dealing with day to day issues, being cut back to 80 percent and 90 percent of their workweek, and 90 percent and 80 percent of their pay and more, or others losing their jobs, home foreclosures, one has to be very sensitive to that.
JOHNS: President Obama is already on the record saying, work it out, and he did it with a little tone in his voice.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For an industry that's making $9 billion a year in revenue, they can figure out how to divide it up in a sensible way, and be true to their fans who are the ones who obviously allow for all the money that they're making. So, my expectation and hope is, is that they will resolve it without me intervening because it turns out I've got a lot of other stuff to do.
JOHNS: Owners say the economic model has changed and that there's a need to restructure, but with the average career span of a player at about six years, players are reluctant. Fans we talked to tend to side with the players, but they also say get a deal done already.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a business, and they can come to a win-win situation. I don't think it has to be a win-lose. I really don't.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think actually both sides should just end it and get back to what they do.
JOHNS: As for the product on the field --
JAMES BROWN, CBS SPORTS: I think absolutely the product will suffer if, in fact, training camps are delayed in a very significant fashion, and certainly, one of the biggest concerns are injuries.
JOHNS (on-camera): If a deal isn't reached soon, training camps, preseason games and the regular season would be in jeopardy, and stadiums like this one would go empty, meaning, less revenue, which is something nobody wants to see happen.
Joe Johns, CNN, Landover, Maryland.
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VELSHI: All right. Forty-six minutes after the hour. Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, an actress with a perfect manicure inspires a multi- million dollar business. We'll tell you who is dubbed the god mother of Vietnamese nail salons.
ROMANS: Hmmm. And a true bird's eye view. A sea gull takes off with a camera.
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: Wait until you hear how the guy got his camera back.
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VELSHI: Forty-eight minutes past the hour. Here's a look at your headlines.
Back to work for jurors on the Casey Anthony murder trial. They failed to reach a verdict after nearly six hours of deliberations yesterday. Earlier, the prosecution wrapped up their closing arguments calling Casey a pathological liar.
New trouble for former IMF chief, Dominique Strauss-Kahn. He could face new sex assault charges in France. French writer, Tristane Banon, says Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her eight years ago. Strauss- Khan has filed his own complaint accusing Banon of making false declarations.
An alleged high-ranking drug lord arrest in Mexico. Police captured Jesus Enrique Rejon Aguilar on Sunday. He's suspected in the shooting death of American ICE agent in, Jamie Zapata, back in February.
An autopsy is set for today on the woman's body discovered in an Indiana creek. Police are trying to determine if it may be missing college student, Lauren Spierer. She was last seen in June.
The senate back at work this morning to resume talks about a bill that would raise the government's debt ceiling. The House reconvenes tomorrow.
Three days and counting before the duke and duchess of Cambridge arrive in California. They're in Yellowknife, Canada today. Yesterday, the newly wed royals thrilled thousands of admirers in Canada's smallest province, Prince Edward Island.
You're caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING back right after this.
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ROMANS: All right. An actress and an activist armed with charisma and apparently great manicure.
VELSHI: Tippi Hedren mentored Vietnamese refugees in 1970s and helped pave the way for a multi-billion dollar business. Nail salons. Kareen Wynter reports.
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KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's probably the last thing audiences noticed in Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds," actress, Tippi Hedren's nails. Who would have thought the screen legend's lustrous manicures would help inspire a $6 billion nail industry with the legion of Vietnamese like Thuan Le?
THUAN LE, MANICURIST: She gave me so much hope.
WYNTER: In 1975, after the fall of Saigon, Le and her family fled Vietnam and appeared in this local paper after ending up at a California refugee village with nothing. Hedren involved in the refuge crisis at the time became a mentor to Le and 19 other women with poor English skills but who wanted to work. One thing caught their eye.
LE: One day, we look at the nail. We said, the nails look so beautiful.
TIPPI HEDREN, ACTRESS/ACTIVIST: They loved my fingernails. So, I thought, I'm going to bring my manicurist. She came up once a week and gave them a lesson. They would all practice on each other. They'd practice on me.
WYNTER: An idea was hatched. Hedren convinced a beauty school to train them for free. Le and the others got licensed and started doing business. Some of those families opened their own salons, building their American dream one coat at a time.
HEDREN: When other Vietnamese would enter the country, they learned about this manicuring business, and it's become huge.
WYNTER: Today, 40 percent of manicurists in the U.S. are Vietnamese- Americans. In California, it's 80 percent. Tam Nguyen runs Advance Beauty College gear to Vietnamese students.
TAM NGUYEN, PRES., ADVANCE BEAUTY COLLEGE: Today, we tribute a lot to the actress, Tippi Hedren. In fact, she's been called the god mother of the Vietnamese-American nail industry. Everything she did back in 1975 created and paved the path for what I do now.
WYNTER: Nguyen is following in the footsteps of his parents who fled Vietnam in 1975. Three years later, they opened their own salon and then launched beauty schools. His parent's inspiration? Their high school friend, Thuan Le, the manicurist who received a helping hand from a Hollywood star.
LE: She gave us love, courage. She shows us the future. She makes us feel like we can make it.
WYNTER: Kareen Wynter, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: What an awesome and unexpected piece.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: Really interesting.
All right. How's this for a bird's eye view?
VELSHI: Love this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey! Hey!
ROMANS (voice-over): Wow. That's a sea gull with also the filmmaker's video camera while he was in Cannes, France. He said he had to climb up a castle wall to get it back. The original video already has closed to two million hits on YouTube in over a week. If you've ever seen a sea gull in action, they'll pick up just about anything.
VELSHI (voice-over): How big was the camera the sea gull was able to --
ROMANS: I saw a sea gull on the Statue of Liberty ferry, actually, pull an entire hot dog and the bun out of the woman's hand and fly away with it.
VELSHI: This is great. This is a great piece of video.
ROMANS: I love it.
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VELSHI (on-camera): All right.
ROMANS (on-camera): There you go.
VELSHI: One era in space travel is about to end, and a new one is about to begin. The race to commercialized space is on. Wealthy entrepreneurs like Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson scrambling to make space travel an option for the general public. Pardon me.
ROMANS: In the next hour in AMERICAN MORNING, and it's going to lead to our question of the day this morning, everyone. Should the federal government get out of the business of space exploration?
VELSHI: We've got somebody response.
ROMANS: Yes. Here's one response. "With the federal government at the helm, space exploration remains not for profit. I like that. Knowledge should be the motive in space, not profit."
VELSHI: Kyle says, "No. We've made great research and discoveries with it. Without it, we won't learn beyond our atmosphere. We need to stay in space exploration." ROMANS: And Robert Farnham on Facebook says, "I think the U.S. government should get out of the business of space travel as soon as all the other governments around the world do." And they're not. They're getting into it, aren't they?
VELSHI: "Well, it needs to be scaled back in proportion with the deficit and debt problems. And there are some people who say space exploration is one of those things that sort of keeps America exceptional."
In fairness, we should say, the government's not really getting out of the business in space exploration, they're getting on the business of shuttling people do and from orbit and the international space station. That's the part that's becoming commercialized. In theory, NASA is going to be doing more stuff.
ROMANS: We'll see what that all is. If you want to hear your thoughts, send us an e-mail, a tweet, tell us on Facebook or read your comments throughout the program.
VELSHI: Just ahead this hour, verdict watch. The jury reconvenes in 90 minutes in the Casey Anthony murder trial. Her life literally on the line. We'll ask the experts where jurors may not see eye-to-eye.
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