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Man Says He Killed Etan Patz; Mali Plunges into Chaos; Zimmerman Changed Opinion of Police; Vice President Biden's Popularity Problem; David Letterman Talks Politics; Egyptians Choose A President; IBM Bans Employees From Using Siri; Poisoned Afghan Girls Hospitalized

Aired May 24, 2012 - 12:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Suzanne Malveaux. I want to get right to it.

Hurricane Bud is getting stronger as it makes its way to the northwestern coast of Mexico. Now a category 2 storm with sustained winds almost 105 miles per hour, Bud is expected to gain more strength and begin to weaken tonight. It is the second named storm of the east Pacific hurricane season.

As for the Atlantic, officials just announced today they are expecting 9 to 15 named storms this year with 4 to 8 of them becoming hurricanes.

Singer Elton John is out of a Los Angeles hospital following treatment for a serious respiratory infection. He developed the condition last weekend while performing in Vegas. John has canceled tonight's performance and two more weekend shows. We're going to continue to follow his progress, bring any updates. We certainly hope he's OK.

It's a case that changed the way we look for missing children. Right now, the police are questioning the suspect in a 1979 disappearance of Etan Patz. The 6-year-old, he vanished while walking to the school bus stop by himself for the first time. The case attracted national attention, helped set off a movement focused on missing children.

Susan Candiotti, she's outside the Manhattan district attorney's office. That is where police are now questioning a man who claims he had some role in this case.

Susan, what do we know about this guy?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Hi, Suzanne. We don't know too much about this man other than he was picked up on Wednesday in New Jersey being questioned at this time by investigators looking at the Etan Patz case.

This is a man who we are told was on the radar of police decades ago but is now according to sources coming to their attention again because of the recent search a few months back when authorities went in to search the basement and an area about a block away from where Etan Patz lived. That search turned up nothing but they did questioned a number of people at that time and this man's name, according to sources, kept coming up again and again.

So authorities went back to talk with him one more time, and this man, according to sources, claims that he killed Etan Patz.

Authorities, of course, are now trying to sort this all out, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Do they think this is creditable? Or do they believe him?

CANDIOTTI: I'm sorry, Suzanne. Apparently, we've got have a bad connection. I'm unable to hear what you're saying.

But I can tell you that this is a case, of course, that has captivated New Yorkers in particular for decades and decades. When this boy disappeared, everyone took stock of their children and watched them far more carefully. So that is why everyone, of course, in every missing child case people worry, but this one has really captured the attention not only of New Yorkers but the country as a whole.

When authorities were searching that area in SoHo a few months back, they brought in cadaver dogs because they seemed to pick up a scent, but the leads turned up nothing at the time. However, authorities quietly have continued to work behind the scenes and that led them to this man, and he is now in custody and being questioned, and we are told by police that they may be releasing more details about this later in the day.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly saying this man has implicated himself in the death of Etan Patz.

MALVEAUX: All right. So, Susan Candiotti, thank you very much.

Most of us, of course, can't even imagine what the parents have suffered through all this year and the emotional roller coaster that they have experienced now that that police are following up a new leads.

Marc Klaas, well, he knows. He knows firsthand what parents have been through. His 12-year-old daughter Polly was snatched from the bedroom during a slumber party and then killed. As a result of the tragedy, he became an advocate for children's issues. He's joining us from San Francisco.

First of all, thank you so much for speaking with us again. You are truly an advocate and somebody that can shed so the light on this. First of all, can you imagine and can you even describe what the Patz family must be going through right now?

MARC KLAAS, FATHER OF POLLY KLAAS: Well, Suzanne, you described it as an emotional roller coaster. But even the highs are really alluding to the fact that maybe they have resolved the case, found the body, or arrested somebody. So it's not like you're going from any kind of ecstasy to any depth of misery. You really kind of begin at the bottom and then there's gradations of that.

They've been in a limbo for 33 years now, and they deserve some peace. They deserve to know what happened to their child, and one would hope that now that this announcement has been made that there's something really to it.

MALVEAUX: Do you think that the police, that the investigators, that everybody who has looked at this case, do you think that they are doing enough for this family?

KLAAS: I don't know what the contact is between the family and the authorities, but I do know that they deserve to be treated with respect, and they deserve to be treated with dignity, and that this is hopefully a real lead that is going to give them the resolution that they need and not just some other tangent that is being reeled out for public consumption.

MALVEAUX: What advice, what would you say to the Patz parents? What would you say to them who are going through this very difficult time just waiting?

KLAAS: My prayers are with them, that the whole country is watching to see what happens here, and I only hope that they get the peace that they deserve because it really is an emotional limbo that one gets stuck in not knowing. It's always better to know what happened to your child regardless of what that means than to be stuck in this emotional roller coaster that extends year after year after decade.

MALVEAUX: It was months, literally months, before your child was missing and then discovered dead, and that must have been so hard for your family. Is this something that this family can overcome or do they need that closure? Do they need to find her in order to move on?

KLAAS: Oh, you need closure. You absolutely need closure. You need to know -- and I'm watching Sierra LaMar's family here in California right now, going through exactly what Etan's parents are going through, although in a much more condensed style.

They've arrested somebody for murdering their child, yet they have no weapon. They have no history of violence. They don't know how she was murdered. They have no remains.

So what do you do? You hang on by a thread. You grab what you can and hope that this will resolve itself well. Well, Etan's family is in a different place because the best resolution they can hope for is that the case is finally solved and they know in their minds that their son is at peace.

MALVEAUX: You are -- the case of your daughter, Polly, really brought national attention to the issue of missing children and clearly Etan Patz, who is the first child on a milk carton to be described as missing Haas really change the way we look at missing children. What still needs to be done in your opinion to protect kids? To make sure that these kids --

KLAAS: So much. There's so much. I mean, there's been so much done in the last 19 years since I have been involved in this, but I'm in a situation as I just mentioned here in northern California with a family that's exactly where my family was at that point. Listen, we need to ensure that today's kids don't become tomorrow's predators, so we need to invest in those kids.

But similarly once we identify somebody who is of a psychopathic nature, somebody who commits crime without conscience or has a predilection for sex with kids, we have to take these individuals and remove them from society so that they can't continue their aberrant behavior, because what we see, Suzanne, is that we see these kinds of crimes escalate over time, and what might start out as looking at little boy's underwear in a catalog could escalate into something much more sinister over the course of time if steps are not taken to stop it.

MALVEAUX: All right. Marc Klaas, thank you so much. We really appreciate it.

Here is what we're working on for this hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX (voice-over): They broke into his office and beat him up. We're talking about the president of Mali. I'll talk to a candidate who says he can turn the country around.

And before he pulled the trigger, he wrote a letter to the police that could put a new twist on the Trayvon Martin case.

And then Mitt Romney puts a hard number on what he says he could do to create jobs.

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We get the unemployment rate down to 6 percent or perhaps a little lower.

MALVEAUX: But how does he plan to make good on it?

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: This week, democracy is sweeping across Egypt for the first time in centuries. Now, voters there are picking a president. The election so far appears to be going without major problems, but in another country, the opposite is true. There is chaos instead of democracy.

What are we talking about? We're talking about Mali. It's in West Africa. And here's what happened.

Just eight weeks ago, army soldiers overthrew the president, took control of the country, and then installed their own leader. Well, this week a mob of protesters broke into the presidential palace, beat up the interim president so badly he's now in a hospital in France.

Mali, it's safe to say, is a mess. There's no leadership. The population is furious. Now, we learn a possible safe haven for al Qaeda.

In just a minute, I'm going to talk to a man who wants to be the neck president of Mali.

But first, I want to bring in Michael Holmes to talk a little bit about this. And, Michael, first of all, I mean, imagine, right? I mean, just take it here. If thugs and terrorists broke into the White House, dragged President Obama out, beat him up, and he had to go to the hospital and they're all hanging out on the North Lawn. That is what happened.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: It shows what they're doing now. They are all hanging out in the palace.

MALVEAUX: That's what happened in Mali. Tell us what is going on there.

HOLMES: Well, you know, what you have there was -- there's that photograph. That's what the protesters are doing now, just chilling out in palace. What you had was a model of development and democracy for 20 years in West Africa and now you have essentially a power vacuum.

And to take it a little further than the simple coup. The military was annoyed that the government wasn't giving them enough resources to fight rebels in the north of the country. While all this is going on in the capital, the rebels in the north seized vast swaths of area and they split the country basically north and south and declared an independent state.

MALVEAUX: Who are these guys, the ones who are now sitting in the presidential palace, the equivalent of the White House?

HOLMES: They're civilians. They're protesters. The main concern is the rebels in the north of the country. Now, while all this is going on, they seized power in the north.

It's a medley of different rebel groups and criminal groups as well.

MALVEAUX: Is there a link to al Qaeda?

HOLMES: There is, and this is the problem.

They have been, and this is rebel force, if you like, has been infiltrated by an arm of al Qaeda. We talk a lot about al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. This is al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which is just a geographical term more than anything.

Now, they have basically hijacked what the rebels wanted to do, which is just independence and turned it into a religious and Islamist uprising. They have instituted Sharia law. You can't play football anymore in a football mad country, you can't watch television, women have to dress heads to toe, cover up, can't leave the house, all that of stuff that goes along with that.

MALVEAUX: Should the U.S. be worried? Should it be concerned about what happens in Mali?

HOLMES: Yes, they should. They should on a humanitarian level for a start. But they also should because here is another example of al Qaeda hitching onto the dissent of local problems and incorporating themselves into the fight, seizing territory.

And what you've got here is the risk of it spreading. You've already got al Qaeda now in Mali. We've got al Qaeda in Yemen. There are elements of it in Algeria, which is next door. Niger, which is next door. This is what some analysts are calling an arc of instability.

MALVEAUX: What is next for Mali? I understand that they are at least are trying to form a government, they are trying to get elections and the future there. They might actually get some sort of leadership. But it's going to be very difficult.

HOLMES: Well, the problem is now, yes, they do hope to do that and ECOWAS, the regional sort of grouping, if you like, of African nations there. They are trying to force the president back (ph) -- the army seems OK to do that. Now, you've got the north being held by Islamist rebels including al Qaeda. So, even if you get that stable government in the capital, they've got to go sort out the north which is a problem.

Again, you've got this spread of al Qaeda, this footprint of al Qaeda throughout many countries with porous borders and weak central government.

MALVEAUX: All right. Michael, thank you.

HOLMES: I'm glad you tackled this one. It's important.

MALVEAUX: It was alarming, actually, when you read about it, when you see the pictures, and you realize what's taking place there.

HOLMES: And what it means bang, bang, bang, bang.

MALVEAUX: It has repercussions throughout the whole region.

HOLMES: Indeed, right to here.

MALVEAUX: All right. Thank you, Michael. Appreciate it.

Joining us to talk about all this is a man who wants to be the president of Mali. That's right. Yeah Samake, he was in Mali. He went to the U.S. to get his master's degree. He is now back in Mali.

He built schools. He was elected mayor there. Now he wants to take leadership of the country.

So, Mr. Samake, thank you for joining us. Really good to see you.

First of all, with all due respect, tell us why on earth would you want to take on this job?

YEAH SAMAKE, MALIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, the love of one's country. When we love our country, we're willing to take risks. We're willing to take on challenges to contribute to the process of freeing our people from the grip of underdevelopment, and that is what brought me into this and my desire to serve the people of Mali.

MALVEAUX: Can you explain to us what is taking place in your country? The pictures are disturbing, they're alarming, and to see the fact that there is a group that can actually go into the presidential palace and beat up the president? It's just unbelievable.

SAMAKE: It is unbelievable. We are in shock. This happened I can say in the last few months. Mutinous soldiers were able to break into the presidential palace leading the president to resign, and recently the protesters were able to get into the presidential palace. We are very outraged about this because it takes -- it tells us that even the highest office in the country is not protected.

So Mali is in serious problem. We need to fix it, and we need to make sure that security is granted first and foremost to our institutions.

And we learn about this and we condemn this act with the last vigor because we do not want this to repeat again.

MALVEAUX: Sure.

SAMAKE: And we call upon the government to investigate and make sure that those who were leading this manifestation be punished severely.

MALVEAUX: Mr. Samake, who is running the country right now? Is there anybody who is in charge?

SAMAKE: Yes. We have a prime minister with full power who is in charge of the country now that the interim president is in Paris recovering from the beating of the mobs.

MALVEAUX: OK.

SAMAKE: But I had the opportunity meeting with the prime minister this morning, and we discussed his plan for Mali. He is very optimistic. Certainly, we believe that Mali deserves better governance. And together, we're calling and trying to educate and synthesize Malian that we need to come together --

MALVEAUX: Yes.

SAMAKE: -- at this time, a challenge, because every democracy, ever successful democracy goes through some challenges in their history and Mali is facing a big one right now. It takes a collective effort, all of the Malians for us to get out of this. That's why --

MALVEAUX: Sure.

SAMAKE: -- I give my support to the prime minister and I believe that Mali can surmount this difficult time.

MALVEAUX: If you become president, clearly security is going to be a number one issue in your country. How is it you will take on these militant groups who are now connected to al Qaeda?

SAMAKE: Well, first of all, the rebel groups who are Malians need to be separated from the al Qaeda and we need to make sure that they do not rely on the support of al Qaeda as a form of survival. We need to make sure that the whole country as a whole develop that people do not need external forces anymore to provide schools, to provide clean drinking water, to provide hospitals.

We need to make sure that everyone in this country wherever you are, south, east, and west, you understand that the government will make sure that we provide an environment where every Malian can thrive under normal circumstances without having to rely on terrorist groups.

MALVEAUX: OK. And when are the elections being held? I know you're in limbo right now, but when will you actually get a shot at the office?

SAMAKE: The election is scheduled for a year according to ECOWAS and I do believe we should give as much time as necessary to make sure that Mali can rebuild itself and prepare for a more transparent elections in the months to come.

MALVEAUX: And, Mr. Samake, real quickly here, you're running for president. You see what's happened to the first president, now the interim president. Are you worried for your safety at all?

SAMAKE: No, I'm not. We have to provide -- as a leader the whole issue in Mali be it the north or the security issue I believe is an issue of leadership.

MALVEAUX: OK.

SAMAKE: Just like in many places in Africa leadership is an issue. I will provide leadership that will focus on making sure that first and foremost, every Malian, including our institutions, are safe and secure.

MALVEAUX: All right. Mr. Samake thank you so much for joining us. I really appreciate it. All the best to you. Good luck in this very difficult situation that you're facing in your country right now. Thank you.

SAMAKE: Thank you so much.

MALVEAUX: He shot and killed an unarmed teenager, but an e-mail he sent to police before any of that happened is putting a new spin on the Trayvon Martin case.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Details emerging today about George Zimmerman's changing opinion of the Sanford, Florida Police Department. Zimmerman is the neighborhood watch volunteer charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of the unarmed teen Trayvon Martin.

Well, Zimmerman says he rode along with police back in January 2011 and he described some of their actions as disgusting. Months later, he praised the department's professionalism.

David Mattingly is following this story.

And, David, it's a little confusing, but what is this relationship that he has with the police department, and why does he have a relationship with the police department in the first place?

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's start with January of last year. That's when this change of heart has its roots. We're looking at him at a public meeting where he's very critical of the police department there for their handling of a case in which a black homeless man was beaten up.

He was outspoken. He accused the police chief at that time, Brian Tooley, of an illegal cover-up. He accused him of having corruption within his department.

And then he talks about this ride along that he took with a particular police officer. We are hearing the audio from that meeting, so that's why we're talking about it today. Let's listen to what he had to say at that meeting.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

GEORGE ZIMMERMAN: I also have had the opportunity to take ride- alongs with the city of Sanford Police Department and what I saw was disgusting. The officer showed me his favorite hiding spot for taking naps, and explained to me that he doesn't carry a long gun in his vehicle because in his words anything that requires a long gun requires a lot of paperwork and you're going to find me as far away from it. He took two lunch breaks and attended a going away party for one of his fellow officers.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Now, why would they pick an officer like that to take someone who wants to become a police this route for a ride-along raises all sorts of questions. But you hear George Zimmerman being extremely critical of the Sanford Police Department about their lack of professionalism, and what he's talking about as corruption and an illegal cover-up there.

But then that begins to change. That police chief goes. Bill Lee comes in, and during that tenure is when Zimmerman starts to get very active with the neighborhood watch program in his neighborhood. He starts to have a lot of interaction with the community volunteer coordinator from the Sanford Police Department.

He's very impressed with her, likes the results they're getting in his neighborhood. He sends an e-mail to now Police Chief Bill Lee where he says, I have high hopes for and restored faith in your administration and the Sanford Police Department in its entirety.

So you see a big turnaround here. George Zimmerman now saying, you're doing a good job. Less than a year before, he was saying the opposite.

MALVEAUX: So, why is this important in the case?

MATTINGLY: We're seeing inside his head his opinion of the Sanford Police Department. At times, there have been people saying he had a close relationship with that police department. That's one thing we're not seeing here. We're not seeing anything in this new material that tells us how the Sanford Police Department feels about George Zimmerman.

We're seeing a young man who is interested in becoming a police officer, who is very outspoken, very comfortable with giving the police department his opinion, and having a change of heart and a change of opinion of how they're doing their job over the course of a year.

MALVEAUX: There's some people who believe because he had a close relationship with the police, that there was some sort of cover- up or that that had occurred after -- or that was one of the reasons why he wasn't initially arrested.

MATTINGLY: That has been talked about, that's been speculated about. But, again, with this new material we're not seeing anything about what the Sanford Police Department thinks of George Zimmerman. We're only seeing his opinion changing over that period of eight months from when he thought there was corruption there to a point where he thought that he had confidence in how the department was being run.

MALVEAUX: Fascinating. All right. David, thank you. Good to see you in person.

MATTINGLY: Thank you.

MALVEAUX: Mitt Romney talking in hard numbers about dropping the unemployment rate, so why is he so confident? What's his plan? We're going to take a closer look at his comments.

And don't forget, you can watch CNN live on your computer while you're at home. Head to CNN.com/TV.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MALVEAUX: Vice President Biden has a popularity problem. Mitt Romney gives us another look at what his first day as president would be like. These are just some of the stories on our political radar this hour.

I want to bring in Political editor, Paul Steinhauser in D.C. to talk a little bit about this. Paul, let's first of all talk about the number two spot on the ticket.

Vice President Biden, not popular in some places, popular in others, but the important swing states, here is what a new poll shows. This new "USA Today"/Gallup poll showing that 40 percent of registered voters in 12 swing states, they have a favorable view of Biden, but 54 percent have an unfavorable view.

So they've been putting the vice president out there. They believe he is going to help with some of the working class folks. Is he a liability in some places however?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: You know, this poll is really interesting because, Suzanne, his numbers have been dipping no doubt about that, nationally and in those battleground states that you just showed according to Gallup and they've been tracking this for a while.

You know, part of this is almost natural, right? Vice President Biden has been on the campaign trail a lot, a lot more than the president over the last six months to a year. Plus, a vice president's role, running mate's role is very different than the top of the ticket.

Because he's supposed to be, Biden is supposed to be more the attack dog to go after Mitt Romney. That's what he's been doing, and that's kind of almost natural for his favorable numbers to go down a little bit because he's been taking that political role.

I just got off the phone with the re-elect out in Chicago, the Obama re-election team. I talked to a top official out there. He said, no, not at all worried or concerned about Vice President Biden.

He said that he thought Vice President Biden had been doing a very good job in the campaign trail and he pointed out three states in particular, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan. You have seen the vice president there a lot lately, Suzanne.

And you asked Democratic strategists, they say, yes, Vice President Biden can really help in these working class blue collar areas that maybe you won't see President Obama visit as much and Pennsylvania and especially Ohio and Michigan, three very important states in that battle for the White House -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: He can also get pretty fired up, which is I guess a compliment really to President Obama's cool, calm and cool. You have the vice president jumping up and down and screaming lately.

STEINHAUSER: Very different styles. No doubt about that. MALVEAUX: Mitt Romney has got a new campaign ad out called day one, part two. Another take on what he do the first day in office. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What would a Romney presidency be like? Day one, President Romney announces deficit reductions ending the Obama era of big government, helping secure our kids' futures. President Romney stands up to China on trade and demands they play by the rules. President Romney begins repealing job killing regulations that are costing the economy billions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: All right, so, Paul, there's always a lot of this excitement, right? The first days of the Obama administration, he was signing executive orders left and right. I mean, it seems like you can get a lot done in the first week.

But sometimes not so realistic here, that ad, how would you rate that ad there in terms of can he really accomplish those things in the first week, in the first couple weeks of the presidency?

STEINHAUSER: It's a great point. You were there in the Obama White House those first couple days when you were covering the White House. You saw the president sign a lot of things into law, but you're right. There is a little bit of a liability here.

This is the second of two ads. This one started running this morning in a lot of battleground states. The first ad, well, that they talked about day one, talked about Mitt Romney on his first day in office would pass the controversial Keystone pipeline and he would start to move to repeal what they call, of course, Obama care, the national health care law.

So what's the liability? Well, what happens if Mitt Romney wins election and then he doesn't actually do a lot of these things in the first day or two? He may be called on the carpet on this.

The other thing that's interesting about these ads is the Romney campaign is touting how these are positive ads, not attacking the president, talking about what Mitt Romney would do, what his agenda is. But you listen to the ads and there are a lot of jabs at the president, Obama care, you know, regulations that are hurting business.

So it is interesting. They're calling it a positive ad, but in some ways it's very negative and it's an attack ad against the president.

MALVEAUX: Another promise that Romney is making is this idea that he's going to get unemployment down to 6 percent in the first four years, but a lot of money experts, including our own Christine Romans says that's probably already going to happen anyway whether or not he is president. Does he run the risk of looking like he's going to be a little disingenuous here?

STEINHAUSER: Yes, some people are pointing that out. You are seeing a lot of buzz on social networks, Twitter and on Facebook. A lot of people are saying that, yes, the experts already say, guess what? It is going to be down to 6 percent by 2016, which would be the end of a first term if Mitt Romney is elected in November.

That is a good point. The key here though is jobs, jobs, jobs. Suzanne, Mitt Romney's main task here as he runs for the White House is he says he can do a better job creating jobs than President Barack Obama.

That's why I think they highlighted the 6 percent. It was part of a plan also they put out late last year, late I think in September about getting the unemployment rate down to 5.9 percent.

Take a look at this. The economy, it is the most important issue on the minds of Americans. This is an ABC/"Washington Post" poll. You can see right here when it comes to your vote for president, 52 percent say the economy and jobs.

So who do Americans think is doing a better job or can do a better job on jobs and the economy? Well, take a look at the next number here. They appear divided when it comes to the economy.

You can see the president and Mitt Romney pretty much divided, same thing with creating jobs. You're going to hear a lot more about this between now and November 6th -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Absolutely. All right, Paul, good to see you. Thank you.

Comedians, talk show hosts, they are in a tough spots sometimes when it comes to playing politics. So do you beat up on the Democrats, the Republicans equally in the monologue? David Letterman, he talks with Regis Philbin who was filling in for our own Piers Morgan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You see, over the years talk show hosts have not gotten involved in politics because they fear --

DAVID LETTERMAN, TALK SHOW HOST: It's all different now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- that if one portion of your audience is a Republican or Democrat, they don't like what you're saying, they're going to tune you out.

LETTERMAN: That's right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Doesn't bother you.

LETTERMAN: Well, I know what your point is, and I have been guilty of appearing to be playing partisan politics. However, I'd just like to say for the record I am a registered independent. You go where the material takes you.

Poor Bill Clinton, no president that I'm aware of got hammered harder than President Bill Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky situation. We beat up on him. We still use him as a reference.

And then we were desperate, we thought, well, this was so easy and then we got George Bush and within a matter of days we realized our prayers have been answered, he's just as good in terms of material.

So it may appear to people that we have a slant one way or the other, but if a guy, you know, drops his dog or a guy straps his dog to the roof of his car or if a guy gets a shoe thrown at him, well, this is where the material is going to be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: You can watch the full interview with David Letterman with Regis Philbin hosting for "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT" on Tuesday, May 29th at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

They have been waiting 5,000 years to have their voices heard. So what do the Egyptian people want their future to look like? We're going to take you to Cairo to find out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Day two of Egypt's historic presidential election. Polling places saw big voter turnout, high enthusiasm, very few reports of trouble or intimidation. People are picking one of 13 candidates on the ballot and our Hala Gorani, she is there in Cairo.

HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Suzanne, it's the second and final day of voting, and round one of Egypt's presidential elections. Still very much on people's minds that this is a historic and significant event for their country, more than 15 months after the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

Now, polling stations were crowded in the morning. There was a bit of a lull in the afternoon when it got hot for people and some of them took their lunch break.

But we understand that polling stations are going to keep their doors open one more hour in the evening as they did yesterday to accommodate the large number of voters.

Now, there are no reliable polls in this country so it's very hard to tell who the frontrunner is. We're seeing several widely different estimates, but essentially there are a handful of top candidates, two Islamists, and two former regime members.

One of them who was a foreign affairs minister under Hosni Mubarak and then served about a decade as secretary-general of the Arab league.

Many voters here are saying that they want security to come back to their country. They want also the economy to get better because it has in some cases crashed such as the tourism sector since the uprising.

However, there are still big unresolved questions. What will the role of the president be? So big question marks as far as the future of the country, but voters you will hear still very much excited on this second day of voting for the first round -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Thank you, Hala.

He ran for president but now he's waiting on the most important vote of his life. We're going to have the latest on the John Edwards' trial as the jury weighs the case against him.

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MALVEAUX: Nuclear talks with Iran have taken an unexpected turn. Iran's top negotiator and diplomats from six world powers, including the U.S., they're actually extending the talks in Baghdad for a second day. Officials are tight-lipped about the reason for the extension, but a European official says progress is being made. Western nations, they are worried about nuclear weapons being developed and they want Iran to stop enrichment of uranium. Iran is trying to get economic sanctions lifted.

In Kittery, Maine, a sigh of relief now that a fire on a nuclear submarine is out. Firefighters battled that fire on the USS Miami for hours. Seven people were hurt. Officials say that the sub's reactor was not operating at the time and was not affected. It wasn't clear what actually started that fire, but an investigation is underway.

The jury in John Edwards' corruption trial is reviewing the evidence for a fifth day now while Edwards, you can bet he's probably sweating it out waiting for the verdict. The former presidential candidate allegedly used almost a million dollars from two wealthy donors to keep a secret that eventually doomed his presidential bid. His affair with Rielle Hunter and the baby they had together.

Former Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her husband had some inspiring words for the audience at an awards ceremony. The couple was given the Medal of Valor last night in Beverly Hills for their resilience after the assassination attempt on Giffords. She was shot while meeting with people in her district early last year. Giffords left Congress in January to keep working on her recovery. Giffords' husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, says his wife inspires him every day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK KELLY, ASTRONAUT: Often as she heads off to therapy each morning, her last words to me, after she gets in the car, is what?

GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, FORMER CONGRESSWOMAN: Fight, fight, fight. Fight, fight, fight.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MALVEAUX: That's nice.

Two candidates are running for Giffords' House seat in a special election set for June 12th.

So, a little voice on your iPhone helps you with pretty much everything, but you have to hold on for a minute. Siri more of a chatter box than you ever imagined.

This Sunday on "The Next List," she is the Indiana Jones of outer space.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I tell my students on day one, a picture is worth a thousand words, a satellite image is worth $1 million. My name is Sara Parkhack (ph) and I am a professor of archaeology. I'm an Egyptologist. I'm a remote sensing (ph) specialist and I'm a space archaeologist.

Imagery is powerful. Imagery is evocative. Satellite imagery much more so because it is from space and it allows us to get this perspective that we don't have otherwise. And when you add on top of that the ability to see a little bit differently, all of a sudden you have an amazing scientific tool.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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MALVEAUX: It's an iPhone users best friend. You can ask Siri to do something, like dial your mom. Consider it done.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it going to be chilly in San Francisco this weekend?

SIRI: Not too cold.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: But IBM says Siri's voice recognition service is a security problem and has banned its employees from using it. Alison Kosik joining us from the New York Stock Exchange.

Alison, you could look at your phone and you could ask Siri, why do you think IBM thinks you're a security problem? She has not answered me yet.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Because -- well, Siri will say, because I can't keep a secret.

MALVEAUX: Exactly.

KOSIK: Because -- although this one's not talking back to me. But here's what happens when you give that command into the phone. What happens with that information is that it's zapped all the way to a data center in North Carolina where the words are interpreted and then sent back. Now, Apple does not specify how long the information is kept or who has access to it, which is exactly why IBM leaves Siri at the door. It will not allow employees to use Siri on their gadgets when they walk into the building for work.

Now, there is an Apple user agreement, which I'm sure nobody reads, so I'll show you the portion here that addresses this. It says, "all of this data is used to help Siri and dictation understand you better and recognize what you say. It is not linked to other data that Apple may have from your use of other Apple services."

But, clearly, IBM not taking any chances with company information. The company does admit it is being conservative, but that is the nature of the business when you've got all these company's secrets and IBM saying no way, leave Siri out of it.

MALVEAUX: All right. So if you've got an iPhone with Siri, should you be concerned about security or privacy? I mean how is this any different than like Google or another search engine, which actually might also store our data, right?

KOSIK: Yes. And think about everything we do on FaceBook and what we put out there on Twitter. You know, one thing to keep in mind with Siri, though, is that you can use Siri to write e-mails or write text messages. So some of the data that Siri collects can really be very personal. Actually, back in March, the ACLU issued a warning about Siri saying that "Apple's Siri personal assistant isn't just working for us, it's working full-time for Apple too by sending lots of our personal voice and user information to Apple to stockpile in its databases." I know that sounds a little outlandish, but this is where the ACLU is thinking.

But as you said, you know what, it's not much different from everything else that we do online. Google actually, if you remember, it came under fire for the way it uses and stores our search data. Google wound up responding by making our search results anonymous after nine months. So Google's sort of addressing that. But you know what, if you're worried about what Siri is kind of doing with your information, turn her off. You can always turn her off.

MALVEAUX: That is true. You can always just turn all this stuff off, right, Alison?

KOSIK: I know, but easier said than done.

MALVEAUX: You're the only person. Everybody else has it on.

KOSIK: I know. I know. I could never.

MALVEAUX: OK. Thanks, Alison.

Traveling with kids, right, pretty tricky to say the least. One perk, you're able to board the flight early to get settled in. But some airlines are actually ending that practice. We're going to tell you which ones.

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MALVEAUX: Dozens of Afghan girls remain in a hospital a day after they were poisoned in their classes with some kind of spray. Taliban militants are suspected of carrying out this attack. Here's our own CNN's Nick Paton Walsh.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): To Afghanistan's most extreme conservatives like the Taliban, girls going to school is so offensive, they'll do anything to stop it, including poison school girls. Students went into class at the BB Hajero (ph) girls school in northern Takhar province and noticed a powerful smell. They began to fall ill. In panic, 125 girls were rushed to hospital. There, headaches and dizziness set in and 40 of the girls requiring longer treatment.

DR. HABIBULLAH ROSTAQI, HOSPITAL DIRECTOR (through translator): A number of girls, age from 15 to 18, were brought from a school to hospital today. Generally they are not in critical condition. We are looking after them, but let's see what happens later. We understand so far from the situation that they are mostly traumatized.

WALSH: Amid the distress here, a growing fear that even in the once peaceful north, hardliners can strike at will. Police have sent blood samples from the poisoned girls to Kabul for analysis to work out what the poison is, but they already know who to blame.

KHALILULLAH ASEER, SPOKESMAN, TAKHAR POLICE (through translator): Actually, the Afghan people know that the terrorists and the Taliban are doing these things to threaten girls and stop them from going to school. That's something we and the people believe. Now we are implementing democracy in Afghanistan and we want girls to be educated, but the government's enemies don't want this.

WALSH: This has happened elsewhere before and in this province only a few months ago. Fear, a powerful weapon, but not powerful enough yet to stop these girls from wanting to learn.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Kabul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)