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Kidnappers Release Two American Tourists; Syrian TV: 500 Prisoners Freed; Dragon Spacecraft Splashdown Next Hour; Historic SpaceX Mission Launches New Era; Gunman's Brother: "It's No Surprise"; Instant Chaos: Truck Plows Into Bar; Mixed Signals On Recovery; Youngest Speller Stumbles; Sesame Street Live At Guantanamo; Holder To Churches: Voting Right Threatened; Poverty And Politics; NYC Wants to Ban Big Sugary Drinks; A Royal Grandmother

Aired May 31, 2012 - 10:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Jeff. Next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

And good morning to you. I'm Carol Costello. Just ahead in the NEWSROOM, we are learning new information on a developing story. Two Americans kidnapped in Egypt overnight just released. Details on how U.S. officials were able to help set them free.

Some of the world's most dangerous terror suspects are detained in Guantanamo Bay. This morning, we're learning why they sometimes have felt like they lived on Sesame Street.

Unbelievable pictures from a happy hour that took a horrifying turn. A truck plows right into the middle of that bar, pinning customers. Amazingly no one killed.

Now more on a story that's been developing all morning in Egypt. Kidnappers have now released their two American hostages. The Americans were on their way to a vacation resort in the Sinai region when Bedouins snatched them from their car.

CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Cairo. So Ben, everyone's safe now?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Carol, everyone is safe at this point. What we've been told by senior officials in the southern Sinai is that they are in police custody. They have been taken to a hotel.

Earlier, we had spoken to a Bedouin sheikh who had been in contact with the kidnappers and he assured us that they were being treated well, they weren't being harmed.

In fact, they were being treated in his words in a friendly way. This does underscore the fact that when kidnappings have taken place in the Sinai before, the people are held, treated fairly well.

They were these two young Americans in their early 30s, were hold only for about 24 hours and they are now safe and have been released and are in police custody -- Carol. COSTELLO: Ben Wedeman reporting live from Cairo this morning.

Now to Syria, state television there says the regime has freed 500 anti-government protesters, but President Assad's forces reportedly are attacking the town of Houla again with rockets and mortars.

Opposition activists say the shellings started right after U.N. observers left town. Houla was the site of that massacre last week that left more than 100 Syrians dead, most of them women and children.

Syria says it's looking into the attack and will finish their investigation this week. The government denies that its forces were responsible.

The private spacecraft called "Dragon" should be back on earth in the next hour, just about 11:00 Eastern Time. Its mission at the International Space Station will end with a big splash in the Pacific Ocean.

It launches a new era for the commercial space industry. The final frontier isn't about NASA anymore. Aviation and regulation correspondent Lizzie O'Leary joins me now to tell us about what's happening now in space.

LIZZIE O'LEARY, CNN AVIATION AND REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, "Dragon" is starting its return home. It's not going to be quite back down in an hour, but it will begin that de-orbit flight. That means getting out of orbit and back down into the atmosphere, heading toward its splash down off the coast of California.

It's going to splash down about 500 miles west of Baja and that's what's starting to happen now. It successfully unhooked from the International Space Station. Remember this is such an important thing in part because it is this first commercial cargo flight.

And in part because so far this is the only cargo capsule that has the ability to go up to the space station and then come back. The Russian Soyuz capsule can do that with people, but the cargo capsules have been designed to burn up in flight once they are headed back down to the earth.

So this is really a game changer, both on the private space flight front and on the ability to bring things back from the space station -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Interesting. They can reuse the thing, right?

O'LEARY: Well, the idea is to do that. I mean, this is all kind of, as you know, with a lot of space, it's trial and error. So they are trying to figure out how this works.

This will splash down, frankly, in a way that's reminiscent of those mercury capsules in the beginning of the space race. In the future, Spacex wants to be able to actually land them on the ground and sort of move toward more of that model.

In the future they also want to be able to send astronauts up there. This is slow, it's trial and error. They've got more in the works and there's another company in Virginia that is trying to do this too.

They both have contracts with NASA for these flights as NASA, you know, turns its attention to other things, going deeper into space, heading towards Mars.

COSTELLO: Lizzie O'Leary reporting live for us from Washington.

Family members of the shooting suspect in Seattle say it's no surprise. Andrew Stawicki tells the "Seattle Times" that his brother had anger and mental problems.

Police say he killed himself after killing four people in a Seattle coffee house and then carjacking and killing a mother of two. Now police are investigating how Stawicki got a hold of two guns.

And our affiliate reports there's speculation Stawicki targeted customers at the cafe where he had been kicked out several times in the past few weeks.

OK, here's proof how your world can change in the blink of an eye. You see these bar patrons in Minnesota enjoying their drinks and talking to each other. They have no idea what's about to happen.

My goodness, out of nowhere a truck plows through the wall, instant chaos. Several people ended up in the hospital, two have serious injuries. Police say the driver of the truck apparently had a diabetic reaction and lost control of her vehicle.

The colleagues of a controversial Tennessee mosque up in the air. The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro says construction will continue despite a judge's ruling.

The judge said a planning commission did not give enough public notice for the project. The Islamic Center says it will reapply for a permit. Mosque leaders say they are being discriminated against because of their faith.

New numbers on the state of the economy this morning, and they aren't painting a great picture. Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange. OK, tell us fast.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: All right, so it looks like the economy, Carol, kind of tapped on the brakes in the first three months of this year, but look on the bright side it's not a negative number.

At the same time, it's just not as positive as we want to see. So what we're talking about here is economic growth as I said in the first three months of this year. This is the government's second reading.

And what it showed is that the economy grew at a 1.9 percent rate. That's weaker than the 2.2 percent that was estimated a month ago. There are a couple reasons, big reasons, for the slow down.

For one, people just didn't spend as much money as previously thought. Also, the government, it's really cut down on its spending at a pretty good clip as well.

You know what it is, it's more evidence this is a bumpy recovery and it's a big pullback from the 3 percent growth we saw in the last three months of last year.

Now, 3 percent is at the least of where we need to be to see the job market really pick up. But analysts are kind of optimistic at this point.

They expect to see a little bit more improvement in the second quarter, but guess what, Carol, we've got that big wild card called Europe. So a lot of uncertainty there that can have a big impact right here in the U.S. -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So let's focus on jobs. So employers were hiring this month, just not as much as expected?

KOSIK: Yes. You know what's interesting, is that's really becoming a theme. You know, private employers, we've learned lately, they've been adding more than 100,000 jobs for several months now, but the thing is it's just not enough.

We're seeing that trend continue this month. Payroll processor ADP said there was a gain of 133,000 jobs this month. Everybody had expected more.

And this report is actually the appetizer to what's coming up tomorrow, the official government jobs report, and that accounts for both private and public jobs.

Now the expectation for Friday is that we'll see a gain of 155,000 jobs that were added last month. Now while it sounds like it could be a big gain the truth of the matter is we really need to see about double that and over a sustained period to really begin to chip away at the millions of people who are out of work -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Alison Kosik, live at the New York Stock Exchange.

Now to the youngest human spellchecker in U.S. history. Lori Anne Madison is the youngest competitor ever at the National Spelling Bee. She's 6 years old and she's nailing words like this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Dirigible. d-i-r-i-g-i-b-l-e. Dirigible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: She's so cute. Dirigible, you know how to spell that, right? Lori almost made the semifinals, but this pesky noun got in her way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Ingluvies. E-n-g-l-u-v-i-e-s. Ingluvies.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That is incorrect.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ingluvies is i-n-g-l-u-v-i-e-s.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: She's still a good sport and even got some high fives from fellow competitors and you get the feeling there are more bees in her future.

It's probably the last place you'd expect to find big bird, snuffloppagus, and the rest of the "Sesame Street" gang, but they are taking center stage at Guantanamo Bay. I'll tell you why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It's 12 minutes past the hour. Checking our top stories now, a little more than 90 minutes ago kidnappers in Egypt released two American tourists.

The tourists, both of them men, are now safe and on their way to a hotel. The gunmen kidnapped them this morning driving through Egypt's Sinai region.

The gunmen demanded the release of a man arrested yesterday on drug charges. Not clear if that man was released as part of the deal with Egyptian security forces.

Cleanup now under way in North Carolina after remnants of Tropical Storm Beryl spawned a tornado that damaged 60 homes. The National Weather Service says a twister touched down on the outer banks. No one was hurt. Despite losing strength after making landfall Monday in Florida, Beryl still created powerful winds and strong surf.

People who say they were hurt by femaldahide in FEMA trailers set up after Hurricane Katrina are likely to get a check. Companies that made the trailers agreed to a $40 million settlement. Final approval might not happen until September.

I know Elmo and the gang bring back fond memories of your wonderful childhood, but what if you heard this for hours and hours and hours.

OK, if you had to listen to that hours and hours you would probably say it was torture, right? Reportedly that's what it is because it happened at Guantanamo Bay, of all places.

Let's bring in Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence. Chris, even the man who composes "Sesame Street's" music was surprised to hear what was happening at Guantanamo. Here's his reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER CERF, COMPOSER FOR SESAME STREET: My first reaction this can't possibly be true. This is just too crazy. And it was absurd but it didn't like the idea that I was helping break down prisoners. But it was much worse when I heard later that they were actually using the music in Guantanamo.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Did it work, Chris?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, that depends, Carol. You know, this was apparently something that went on years ago. I don't think this was an Al Jazeera film commissioned about torture.

I don't think they're saying it's still going on, but they're documenting that went on in the past. They talked to former prisoners at Guantanamo and they also talked to some of the former military guards who had worked there.

I think it just goes to show you that it's not so much what you hear, and we have heard reports that hard rock, heavy metal music had been used in cases like this.

These are relatively, you know, sing song kind of songs. I mean I first heard "Sesame Street" 30-something years ago and it's still engrained in my head. Can you tell me how to get --

It's something that we all remember, and so it's not so much what you're hearing, but the repetitive nature of hearing it over and over and over and over again. I think a lot of parents have always joked for years that, you know, it feels like torture when their kids just listen to these songs over and over and over again.

But this really is saying that some of these prisoners were forced to listen to songs for hours and hours, for days on end -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Does that constitute torture, though?

LAWRENCE: If you look at what's been found by some of the people who have looked at this, it depends. There was a judge appointed by the Bush administration who found that a prisoner was tortured at Guantanamo Bay.

And that even though the techniques that the U.S. agents were using were authorized, they were used in such an aggressive, persistent manner that it became torture so in other words, what they did was authorized, but using it over and over to the extent that it was that judge found it had become torture.

COSTELLO: Chris Lawrence, reporting live for us this morning, thanks.

LAWRENCE: Yes. COSTELLO: Now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. The question for you, how far should we go to fight obesity?

New York City is sending out the soda police. That's right. In a move to curb obesity, Mayor Bloomberg plans to ban sugary drinks over 16 ounces in restaurants, in movie theatres and street carts. It's part of a long campaign to fight the fat.

But that apparently did not shock people into drinking diet sod soda. According to the City's Health Department more than half of New York's adults are obese or overweight, so goodbye super sized sugary sodas.

Mayor Bloomberg has already banned smoking in vaunts and parks and wanted the government to prohibit food stamp purchases of sugary soda like it does with tobacco and alcohol.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the government to make the decision that should not include something else that the experts all tell you is very detrimental to your health, that is contributing to the number one public health issue remaining in this city and in this country that's getting worse. It's not unreasonable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: New York City Beverage Association says the city's attack on soft drinks is way over the top mainly because Americans are drinking less of it anyway.

What about banning those huge candy bars or giant hot fudge sundaes? No word yet from the mayor's office. So the talk back question for you today, how far should we go to fight obesity? Facebook.com/carolcnn. I'll read your comments later this hour.

Also coming up, Tavis Smiley and Cornell West join us in our studios. I'll talk with them about their new book and a controversy surrounding the attorney general's address to African- American ministers and what he calls a new threat to voting rights.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Attorney General Eric Holder pulled no punches. He told a council of African-American ministers the sacred right to vote is under assault and they, as church leaders, should educate their parishioners about new laws meant to keep them from voting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: My travels across this country, I've heard a consistent drum beat of concern from citizens who often for the first time in their lives now have reason to believe that we are failing to live up to one of our nation's most noble ideals and that some of the achievements that define the civil rights movement, now hang, again, in the balance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And with that, Holder started another partisan war with some conservatives charging he's using his office to get black voters to the polls to get his boss, Barack Obama, re-elected.

Note Holder did not tell pastors to tell their parishioners who to vote for, only how to help voters decipher new strict, voter I.D. laws.

Joining me now Cornell West and Tavis Smiley, they're in Atlanta to promote their new book "The Rich and the Rest of Us, A Poverty Manifesto." Thank you so much for being with me today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good to be here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: So let's talk about this -- the Congressional Black Caucus hosted this meeting of black ministers and Eric Holder was speaking. Some conservative say that was improper.

Why was the U.S. attorney general there? I mean, he's supposed to be nonpartisan. He's supposed to be the top office enforcer in the land, why was he there?

TAVIS SMILEY, HOST, "TAVIS SMILEY" ON PBS: Because he is the top enforcer in the land and because he is in a nonpartisan position and because voting is a nonpartisan issue.

If the attorney general of the United States isn't going to protect the right of every citizen to have access to voting without being intimidated, without being tricked out of their exercise of that vote, then what is he or she going to do?

He absolutely should have been there. He said absolutely what he should have said. This is much ado about nothing. This is the right politicizing the issue. Here's the bottom line, this issue is a nonissue.

There is no evidence anywhere in the country that voter fraud is rampant from California to the Carolinas. This is about Republicans. This is about the right, doing the exact opposite.

Trying to create an issue to keep African-Americans, to intimidate them from exercising their precious right and the attorney general ought to protect the right of any Americans.

COSTELLO: But they would say what's the big deal? You show a picture I.D. at a polling place, what's the big I.D.? We all have driver's licenses. What's the big deal?

CORNEL WEST, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: We know there's a long history of very clever tactics to try to ensure that black people don't gain access to the right to vote. As Tavis said, this is a universal issue. He's defending rule of law. He's right. He's defending the rights of all Americans. He's right, but we know on the ground in practice --

COSTELLO: Why isn't he talking to a group of white priests and pastors too?

WEST: If there were a long history of white priests being treated in that way and white persons, he would be there because he's defending rule of law. I agree with him and the Obama administration.

In our text, we're talking about poor people, about Americans of all colors. We are talking about unnecessary social misery and we're talking about an unjust system that tilts towards the rich and wealthy and too many working and poor people are falling between the cracks.

COSTELLO: Do those voter I.D. laws apply to the voters you've talked to across the country? Do they have picture I.D.s?

SMILEY: That's who these laws are suspended to hit disproportionately, the poor, the weak, the vulnerable, those who feel Dr. King famously said back in the day, that black folk in the south could not vote.

Black folk in the north had nothing for which to vote and in many ways this is eerily reminiscent of that era. That there are so many Americans, namely poor Americans, who don't really see a distinction between the parties, what's in it for them and politicians want to exploit that.

Because they think the poor does not vote they're always under attack and under assault. We say budgets are moral documents and into these budgets we see being debated in Washington the poor are on the ones whose backs these are being balanced.

The bottom line is you can't talk in this campaign about the middle class as Republicans and Democrats for the white house want to do, speaking to the angst of the middle class. The new poor are the former middle class, so we can't have another campaign this time without talking about poverty.

COSTELLO: Well, so far, and I know the campaigns I guess won't start in earnest until the Republican National Convention, but I really haven't heard either candidate talking about the poor. They talk a lot about the middle class, but I don't hear the word poor.

WEST: We heard brother Mitt Romney say something about the poor that was not too elevating or encouraging. We heard Barack Obama talk about the poor in terms of what his programs have done.

Our argument is neither party is really hit the issue of poverty in the way it in which it ought in terms of massive investment in jobs, education, housing. Treat the poor the way we treat investment bankers.

COSTELLO: So you say the poor traditionally don't vote. Why should they mention the poor then? They're in it to win an election, right?

SMILEY: That's the point. It's not that poor people don't vote. Many poor Americans do vote. They don't see how the process is benefiting them, number one.

The point I was making when we talk about the middle class a moment ago, if the new poor are the former middle class we know they vote because that's who we play to on the campaign trail.

And when you're middle class and you've done everything right, gone to school, you've worked at a job, and through no fault of your own, you've lost your home, you've lost that job, you've lost your 401(k), lost your savings, this ain't a black or brown issue.

This is Americans of all races, colors, creeds are being demonized by this process. Corporate greed is impinging on the rights of too many Americans. It's not just the poor, the perennially poor we're talking about. We're talking the middle class being impacted by this and they do vote.

COSTELLO: OK, so final word, what would you like to hear from let's say Mitt Romney?

WEST: Well, he would have to undergo a fundamental spiritual and moral transformation. He would have to say I'm going to treat poor and working people the same way I treat investment bankers and those who are on paying capital --

COSTELLO: He does.

WEST: He's wrong. We know that argument is unpersuasive. We want to hear Barack Obama say I want to treat poor and working people in the same way we treated investment bankers on Wall Street. Both parties are tried to Wall Street. It's Obama ends up being much better than Mitt Romney.

COSTELLO: Nothing has changed since 2008? You have been on the road a long time.

SMILEY: In 2008 --

COSTELLO: Talking about this.

SMILEY: Very quickly in 2008 in the three debates between McCain and Obama the word poor or poverty didn't come up one time. It didn't get debated four years ago.

Fast forward four years, one out two of Americans is in or near poverty, 150 million of us are struggling with poverty in this country. That's what happens when you ignore issues that ought to be higher up on the American conversation.

COSTELLO: Tavis, Cornell, thank you so much for being here.

It's the so-called war on women over at least in voters' minds. A new poll kind of makes you think so, but a new ad attacking Mitt Romney makes you wonder. Our "Political Buzz" panel weighs in next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Thirty-one minutes past the hour. Checking our "Top Stories" now.

The city of Seattle still searching for answers after a gunman kills five people in two separate shootings before taking his own life. Police say a sixth victim remains in critical condition but is not expected to survive.

Dharun Ravi the former Rutgers student who was found guilty of spying on and intimidating his gay roommate reports to jail today. Ravi was given a 30 day sentence, 300 hours of community service and a fine of more than $11,000.

And a little more than an hour from now the Dragon Space capsule is expected to splash down in the Pacific Ocean. During its historic nine-day mission the spacecraft delivered food, supplies and equipment to the International Space Station. It's the first private space capsule to dock at that station.

"Political Buzz" is your rapid fire look at the best political topics of the day. Three questions, 30 seconds on the clock. Playing with us today: CNN contributor Will Cain, he leans right; and Pete Dominick who hosts a political show on Sirius XM Radio, he leans left. Welcome gentlemen.

PETE DOMINICK, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Good morning. First question, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund has endorsed President Obama and has put out a "Romney is anti-woman" ad. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When Mitt Romney says --

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Planned Parenthood -- going to get rid of that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Romney is saying he'll deny women birth control and cancer screenings they depend on. When Romney says --

ROMNEY: Do I believe Supreme Court should overturn Roe versus Wade? Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's saying he'll deny women a right to make their medical decisions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: But an ABC News/Washington Post poll shows Romney is up 13 points in personal popularity, all of Romney's gains have come among women.

So the question: does this prove the war on women is over in voters' minds? Pete?

DOMINICK: No. No, not at all. I mean, by definition if you're anti-Planned Parenthood you're anti-woman. I mean, if you're anti- abortion or anti-choice then you should be for Planned Parenthood. They prevent more abortions than any other organization in the world.

But Mitt Romney still wants to ban abortion, he wants to defund Planned Parenthood, get rid of plan B, he want to cut Medicaid which covers insurance for one in three pregnant women. He wants to reform Medicare and -- and that's going to really hurt older women who are disproportionately poor older women, two-thirds of which need this. Not to mention what he would do to public education, K through 12 teachers, over 70 percent of which are women. I've got many more stats.

COSTELLO: Time is up, I know. Will?

WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, let me show you something. This doesn't prove the war on women never existed, it never existed regardless of what we play or what we try to prove or disprove it with. It just wasn't there. What this does prove is that women were capable of seeing the BS and not seeing -- not buying into this war on women nonsense.

It's really kind of insulting when you think about it to women to suggest that they can't see the issues underlying these debates. To simplify things and say, you know, Mitt Romney, he doesn't want to make certain businesses provide contraception for free to its employees means he would deny access to birth control to women? Or that he's opposed to Planned Parenthood means he'd deny them the ability to make their own medical decisions. This oversimplification is so insulting to women.

COSTELLO: Ok. Ok well, you got a little extra time because Pete did.

Ok second question, the Republican veep race is on. Ohio Senator Rob Portman is on his way to Israel to meet with Benjamin Netanyahu and Florida Senator Marco Rubio made a quick trip to Guantanamo Bay Cuba on a solo fact-finding mission.

Instant international cred, the question -- seriously? Will?

CAIN: Look, let's start with this, we'll call it the -- the Sarah Palin fallacy, that who is the vice presidential nominee actually matters. Americans just don't look at who they're going to vote for President and say you know what, I don't really love the first guy but his backup, boy that's somebody I can get behind and then make their decision.

The vice presidential nominee just isn't that important. You know, and the truth is, take a guy like Rob Portman. You know, whether or not he's visiting with Netanyahu isn't going to be that determinative of whether or not he gets the VP nod he doesn't seem to carry Ohio. His influence in carrying Ohio for Romney doesn't seem to be there. That is the problem. COSTELLO: Ouch, ouch -- Pete?

DOMINICK: Well, I disagree with my very good friend, Will Cain and his beautiful hair. I mean, Americans do care. You're a heartbeat away from the President, but it is about cred and we're picking on Republicans because they're running here for this. But I can see Rob Portman in Israel, right, you know he's going to say, King Bibi is going to say, who are you? I'm the junior senator from Ohio. Why are you here? I'm here for a photo op. Can you hold up this sign saying Florida voters, vote for me and Republican Mitt Romney?

I mean, it's -- I don't know if it's the VP race or the "Amazing Race".

COSTELLO: Oh, point taken.

Ok. Your "Buzzer Beater" now 20 seconds each. Third question, "Fox and Friends" aired a four-minute ad attacking Barack Obama, complete with ominous music and dreary stats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We don't have a silver bullet when it comes to gas prices.

Exxon is making $40 billion a year and we're paying $3.50 for gas.

We can't just drill our way to lower gas prices.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The American people are demanding a solution to high gas prices.

OBAMA: You've seen how quickly the price of gas is going up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our hats off to Chris White.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Yes. It looked like a Romney campaign ad, but it was actually produced by Fox News. Even the conservative Web site Hot Air was critical. Ed Morrissey writing "If anyone wanted to look for evidence that the overall Fox News organization intends to campaign against Obama rather than cover the campaign, this video would be difficult to refute as evidence for that claim". Fox management says the ad aired without their knowledge and was not approved.

But the question for both of you -- is Fox News Mitt Romney's best friend? Pete?

DOMINICK: Well, does Fox News own an NFL team or a NASCAR team? I mean I think they're -- they we're always going to pull for the anti-Obama candidate. I don't know that they're friends.

But this ad, I mean Carol, can you imagine somebody on your team producing this ad and you guys seeing this and running this. I mean, now the only time you know when -- when Fox is going to a commercial, is when it's like a diabetes or an erectile dysfunction commercial because you can't tell what's a commercial and what's Fox News which is daily making Americans more dumb.

COSTELLO: Will?

CAIN: I agree with Ed Morrissey from Hot Air totally on this. I think the natural inclination of a lot of conservatives would be, well you know what other news networks they're biased you know so -- so if Fox is doing something like this, it's tit for tat. But that's -- that's -- you shouldn't be doing that. The point is if you can criticize some news networks for showing some bias then you should criticize every news network for being showing some bias and this does not look good.

(CROSSTALK)

DOMINICK: Doesn't there have to be against like FEC or FCC rules, though, I mean, isn't there -- isn't there some legal infraction I would imagine?

CAIN: I was saying he puts me into the legal expert box and I feel very uncomfortable.

DOMINICK: You look like a lawyer. I apologize.

COSTELLO: Who has beautiful hair.

DOMINICK: Carol you know --

CAIN: Going to law school does not give you the answers, Pete. It lets you know how to find the answers.

DOMINICK: Hey, you're a lawyer.

COSTELLO: Ok, fight amongst yourselves. Time is up. Thanks for playing today.

DOMINICK: Right. Thanks Carol.

COSTELLO: Bruce Springsteen takes a dig at bankers and stands up for the every man. What the Boss had to say about getting through hard times?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Bruce Springsteen lashes out at bankers and financiers. The Boss pulled no punches during a concert in Germany. "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" host A.J. Hammer has what he said.

Yes. Well, Carol, there's this report out from Reuters about Springsteen's appearance last night in Berlin that says he was lashing out at bankers. But you know, he's actually been targeting bankers for a while now. He just kicked off a European tour for his new album "Wrecking Ball" which has been called his angriest album. And you can see that in songs on the album like, "We Take Care of Our Own", for instance; "Rocky Brown" and in "Death to My Hometown" he actually rips greedy thieves and robber barons.

Another song called "Jack of all Trades" has him singing "the banker man gets fatter, the working man gets thin". And the song "Shackled and Drawn" he sings, "it's still fat and easy up on Banker's Hill, up on Banker's Hill the party's going strong; down here below, we are shackled and drawn."

So yes, Carol, the Boss is angry again, but he's really doing what he's always done in his music, trying to step up for the little guy.

COSTELLO: Ok. Let's talk about Justin Bieber. And I just realize that Bruce Springsteen could be Justin Bieber's grandfather.

HAMMER: Yes. I actually think you're about right. The Bieber fever is off the charts, I have to say. According to Bieber's manager crowds were so crazy that a concert in Oslo almost had to be canceled, Carol. Police there were threatening to declare a state of emergency. It was a free concert yesterday in Oslo and apparently it drew so many fans from all across Europe to the Norwegian capital that the local authorities weren't at all prepared for what was going down. The situation, obviously, could have gotten very ugly. Thankfully it did not. Peace was maintained. The concert outside the Norwegian Opera House ended up happening.

And you will be able to see and feel like you're a part of all the craziness because the show was filmed for NBC. It's going to be broadcast as part of a special called "Justin Bieber Believe: All around the world". And Carol you can watch that from the comfort of your living room, no crowds included on June 21st. Unless you have a bunch of people over.

COSTELLO: I can't wait for my bid at Bieber fever.

HAMMER: Re-enact the madness, yes. Invite over 1,000 friends.

COSTELLO: Thank you A.J.

Want everything on everything breaking in the entertainment world, A.J. has it tonight on "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" at 11:00 Eastern on HLN.

Soon, you may not be able to buy those super-sized Slurpees and sodas. We'll tell you which city is trying to make them illegal.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: 46 minutes past the hour. Checking our top stories now.

Two American tourists kidnapped hours ago in Egypt have been released. The gunmen kidnapped them this morning while they were driving through Egypt's Sinai region. The gunmen demanded the release of a man arrested yesterday on drug charges. It's not clear if that man was released as part of a deal with Egyptian security forces.

Cleanup now under way in North Carolina after remnants of tropical storm Beryl spawned a tornado that damaged 60 homes. The National Weather Service says a twister touched down in the Outer Banks. No one hurt. Despite losing strength after making landfall in Florida, Beryl still created powerful winds and high surf.

People who say they were hurt by formaldehyde in FEMA trailers set up after Hurricane Katrina are likely to get a check. Companies that made the trailers have agreed to a nearly $43 million settlement, about 60,000 people could get some of that money. Final approval might not happen until September.

Now, to a controversy brewing in New York this morning. Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to ban the sale of large sodas and other sugary drinks at all city restaurants, movie theaters and ballparks and lots of other places. Alina Cho has more on this story. It was my "Talk Back" question and got a lot of reaction to it I must say.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm sure. I'm sure, Carol. Good morning. You know, we're talking about 20,000 establishments in New York City. It would be the first time in this country that this would happen. And it isn't the first time that Mayor Bloomberg has been out front on the issue of health and fighting obesity.

You'll remember, that Mayor Mike championed the ban on smoking in restaurants, a ban on artificial trans-fats and now, he wants to ban sugary drinks like sodas that come in bottles or cups larger than 16 ounces. This is 20 ounces here. So this would be banned if this goes through. The ban would include all New York City restaurants, food carts, and any other establishment that receives a letter grade for food service in the city. That's something New Yorkers are very familiar with.

And here's a good argument why. Watch.

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CHO: Doesn't that look good, Carol? A man drinking a tall glass of fat. If you're reading along it says drinking one can of soda a day can make you ten pounds fatter a year. Don't drink yourself fat. You see the screen there. The suggestion is to drink water, seltzer, or low-fat milk instead.

Now, the ban, we should mention, would not affect diet sodas, fruit juices, dairy-based drinks or alcoholic beverages and it would not apply to grocery or convenient stores. If you're boiling it all down, it appears that the ban will affect mostly places where you can actually order food. The idea, of course, being, Carol, eat your calories, don't drink them.

COSTELLO: Ok. So I'm wondering something though, Alina. I mean, could this apply to some types of coffee drinks? Is our Venti Starbucks mocha in trouble?

CHO: It depends. You know, we actually just got an explainer on this because I'm sure a lot of people are asking, Carol, what about coffee drinks? Well, the proposal will limit the sale of large coffee drinks with excessive sugar, if -- this is a big if -- if the drink is composed less than 50 percent milk.

So for example, a large coffee with several shots of caramel syrup will likely be banned while that large frozen latte with a lot of milk, probably won't. It's all a little bit confusing, which is why the mayor will be holding a news conference at noon Eastern today -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And I know you'll be watching. Alina Cho --

CHO: I will.

COSTELLO: Thanks so much.

CHO: You bet.

COSTELLO: We asked you to weigh in on this topic. It's our "Talk Back" question of the day. How far should we go to fight obesity? Facebook.com/Carolcnn. Your responses next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: To the world she's the Queen of England, a monarch celebrating 60 years on the throne. But to some of the people closest to her she is a beloved grandmother.

Max Foster has more on a side of Queen Elizabeth that most of us will never see.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's normal to see royals on a walkabout but it was the Queen who popularized this type of royal mingling and she knows the next generation will modernize things in their own way.

Elizabeth II is keen to pass advice on to the next generation. Here you see her giving tips to the Duchess of Cambridge on a tour of Lester in central England. A royal source tells me, they have a warm relationship.

But the Queen didn't interfere with Kate and William's wedding last year. In fact, she advised them to do it their way. The only thing she did insist on was the uniform. She and William have always been close.

CONSTANTINE II OF GREECE, PRINCE WILLIAM'S GODFATHER: I think it's very close. Very close and he sees her very often and they discuss things. I know he loves doing that, which is quite understandable. And she's very forthcoming to them.

FOSTER: Has she been a mentor to him?

CONSTANTINE II: Yes. I think she always finds time. She will never say no. If she can't because she's busy she'll let you know and you find another time. But she's always there. FOSTER: Harry is also close to his grandmother. During his tour of Jamaica in March, the younger prince spoke on behalf of all her grandchildren.

PRINCE HARRY, U.K.: She combines all her virtues as a leader and as a head of state with those of being a wonderful, caring, grandmother to whom we, her grandchildren are utterly devoted.

FOSTER: And the grandchildren are also close, coming together in a crisis, such as when they went to visit Prince Philip when he was recovering from a heart operation in December. Princess Anne's daughter Zara shares the Queen's love of horses which keeps them close.

But Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie famous for their hats, said it best, when they revealed the Queen was known to them simply as Granny.

Max Foster, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And you can watch the celebrations marking 60 years of Queen Elizabeth's reign here on CNN. Our coverage begins Sunday morning at 11:00 Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: We asked you to "Talk Back" on one of the big stories of the day. The question for you this morning, how far should we go to fight obesity?

This from Roger, "So what if New York City bans sugary drinks over 16 ounces? Anyone who wants more soda will just buy multiple 16 ounce sugary drinks. This is just another typical restriction of freedom."

This from Becca, "All those good intentions, it takes a way our right to choose. When government takes away our right to choose, it becomes a dictatorship."

This from Awa, "I'm an African on my maiden visit to the United States. Why have Americans welcomed obesity as a way of life? If parents fail to play their role as role models then the government should step in."

Facebook.com/Carolcnn if you would like to continue the conversation. And thanks, as always, for your comments. We got a lot of great ones today. Thank you.

I'm Carol Costello. Thank you for joining me today. "CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Kyra Phillips.