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Historic Video Call Made from Everest; American Woman Killed in Syria; Asteroid with Its Own Moon Passing Earth; CEO: I Ate at McDonald's, Lost 20 Lbs.

Aired May 31, 2013 - 10:30   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We're going to jump out of this but as you can see, President Obama appealing really to Congress to act to stop interest rates on some student loans from rising to 6.8 percent. Right now, they are 3.4 percent. If those college student loan rates rise, it will affect seven million college students. We'll see if Congress takes the bait and acts.

We're going to take a quick break. We'll be back with much more in the NEWSROOM.

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COSTELLO: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for being with us. It's time to check our "Top Stories" at 33 minutes past the hour.

Authorities in eastern Texas searched this home on Thursday and they're interviewing a person inside that house in connection with three letters believed to contain the poison ricin. The letters were postmarked in Shreveport, Louisiana and sent to President Obama and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and to a gun control group in Washington. An official tells CNN the letters read in part "You will have to kill me and my family before you get my guns."

And new video, first seen on CNN, of the Boston bombing suspects working out at a gym 72 hours before the attack -- Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his brother Dzhokhar were seen jumping rope with a friend and shadow boxing. Hopefully, we'll have that video come up for you soon. The gym manager says Tamerlan had recently shaved off his religious beard. Experts say physical training could be a part of jihadi preparation for an attack.

An Arizona mother is free this morning after Mexican authorities dropped drug charges against her. Yanira Maldonado's attorney says security camera footage showed his client could not possibly have boarded a bus with 12-pounds of marijuana. Maldonado spoke earlier with CNN affiliate KNXD and she said "She isn't angry."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YANIRA MALDONADO, FREED FROM MEXICAN JAIL: I love Mexico. My family is still there. So Mexico is not Mexico (inaudible), so it's a few people who, you know, do this to me and probably to other people, who knows? You know, so, I probably will go back. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Maldonado also thanked the news media for calling attention to her story.

Wait until you see this. A two passenger airplane pokes out of the roof of an apartment building in Herndon, Virginia. And remarkably, there were only minor injuries among the two people on board that plane. One person inside the apartment was injured but -- but only had minor injuries.

The witness says the pilot actually stumbled out of the wreckage. He's inside the apartment now. And he said to the stunned residents, "I think we hit your apartment." A crane was eventually brought in. And it removed the plane.

Sources tell CNN affiliate WJLA the plane was coming in from Philadelphia and it ran out of fuel.

Now to a second crash in Washington State. Investigators are trying to determine how this small plane crashed into a home about an hour outside of Seattle on Thursday. Amazingly, the two men on board were not badly hurt. No one inside the home was -- no one inside the home was at home at the time of the crash. The pilot says he was trying to avoid a rain squall when the plane went down.

Imagine you made it all the way to the top of Mount Everest. You're excited about what you've just done and even more excited that you did it all for charity. Daniel -- Daniel Hughes knows that joy. And he took out his smartphone to take pictures. And that's when he got into trouble.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANIEL HUGHES, MOUNTAINEER: It's a special day indeed for two reasons. One because of the red nose, this is the highest ever. When I stick it onto my face and then (inaudible) it's the highest ever red nose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Well all that red nose is a symbol for the British Charity Comic Relief. But Hughes didn't make history as I said he actually broke the law in Nepal. According to government there, it is illegal to make a live telecast from the mountain top without first obtaining a costly permit. And now Hughes could be banned from climbing Everest for ten years and blocked from even entering the country for five years.

Daniel Hughes joins us now. Daniel welcome.

HUGHES: Hi, good morning.

COSTELLO: So first of all, tell us about your excitement. You get to the top of Mount Everest and that be the first thing I would do I would pull out smartphone and I want to take pictures. HUGHES: Absolutely. I have been on a journey for the last two and a half years, basically, training for that moment. I just say I'm trying to raise a million pounds for the U.K. charity. It's called Everest Million Campaign with One red Nose -- one million people, one pound each.

And as you may have seen in that video the red nose is an iconic symbol. And basically, I'm trying to help children and people in poverty across the world. And all I was trying to do is to try and share my journey (inaudible) smartphone. And from my point of view, we've spoken to the government in January. Unfortunately, they didn't get back to us. We wrote to two different people. We have permits for all their gear. And I'm just a -- I'm just a person trying to share -- share my journey for EverestMillion.com.

So as far as we were concerned, like hundreds of other people at Base Camp, I was just sharing my journey by a video call. So it's not as if I was alone in terms of making video calls.

COSTELLO: Well you're not exactly making a movie out of your smartphone footage, right? You were just taking it to show people you'd done it and to raise money. It was on the BBC and that's a good way to do it, right?

HUGHES: Absolutely and the sole reason why I climbed Everest was -- was to raise money for charity. Three years ago, Everest wasn't even in my horizon if you can call it that. So I have been on this journey trying to raise a million pounds. So if anyone out there who can help me I'm trying to get $2 off a million people so EverestMillion.com is where you need to go to help me and most importantly help the children, which I'm trying to help.

COSTELLO: You are a fabulous spokesperson. So tell me, when Nepal, when the government of Nepal called you, what did they say and are you still trying to fight the charges?

HUGHES: Well it's an interesting one, actually. Yes they haven't actually directly got in contact with me. Even though on my Web site, there is a big button there saying contact like CNN did. So they haven't -- they haven't physically gotten in contact with me. They have been speaking to the climbing company and -- and as far -- as far as we're concerned, we were literally just doing a video call all for charity purposes, and actually the charity which I am trying to help.

They have three projects in Nepal. So actually all the exposure is -- is actually helping the people in Nepal. So it's unfortunate, really.

COSTELLO: I know -- I really love that. But still, you are a mountaineer. This is what you do for a living. If you're blocked from entering Nepal, I mean that must hurt?

HUGHES: Well actually it's been an interesting one and actually mountaineering isn't actually my full-time job. I do actually have a full time job, I've got a wife. All this stuff which I have been doing, I have been doing in my spare time. So -- so actually, I do have a normal job. I am looking forward to going back in a couple of weeks actually. It's been -- it's been a long burn two years trying to raise this money. So it's unfortunate. It's not something which I ever envision, it's really, it's not something I would like to be in this position.

And -- but as far as I'm concerned, it's all about raising the million pounds. And I need everyone to go to EverestMillion.com to -- to really help me smash that target.

COSTELLO: Ok and we're glad to help. Daniel Hughes, thank you so much for joining us this morning.

HUGHES: Thank you and it's been an honor speaking to you. Thank you.

COSTELLO: Great. For more information on Daniel's charity again you can go to Everestmillion.com.

Up next in the NEWSROOM, an American woman killed fighting alongside Syrian rebels. What drove this Michigan woman to sacrifice her life for Syria?

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COSTELLO: A 33-year-old Flint, Michigan woman is dead, reportedly killed while fighting alongside Syrian rebels. Nicole Mansfield's passport and driver's license were shown on Syrian TV along with the identification of a British woman.

Nick Paton Walsh joins us live now. What else have you discovered about this Nicole Mansfield, why would she do this?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We don't know a lot, really. What we do know is what Syrian state TV is saying that they found her ambushed, in fact, her in a Volkswagen along with what appears to be a British man, showing grisly pictures of their bodies and the passport of the British man and her driving license and American passport, along with ammunition. State TV saying this is all a part of foreign- fuelled insurgency they're fighting. They suggest that terrorists from outside are coming to Syria to foment this particular unrest.

We don't know much more from Syrian state TV apart from that. We do know from the grandmother of Nicole Mansfield, Carol, saying that she converted to the Islamic faith about three to five years ago, appears to have not spoken to her grandmother for about six to eight months.

We don't know how she became to be inside Syria. And the grandmother did also reference a trip she made to Dubai for quite religious reasons in the last three to five years which appears to have ended slightly more quickly than had been anticipated.

But the real mystery here is how she ended up to be there. A whole variety of reason, Carol, as to how many foreigners have ended up on the Syrian battlefields.

COSTELLO: and the government is now somehow now using her? WALSH: That tends to be what the Syrian state TV does when it comes across instances like this, seizing upon this one example as a suggestion they're really not fighting a repressed and unhappy Syrian population, they're instead fighting an array of outsider extremist was have come into Syria to foment problems.

I mean there are a variety of reasons why we see foreigners coming in. There have been, for example, recently a British doctor killed who went into Idlib simply to deliver medical aid. We've seen Libyans come in, who want to assist fellow Muslims in their revolution.

We have seen al Qaeda-linked extremists, some from Iraq, some of them part of a group called an al-Nusra front being described by the United States a terror organization. A whole different panoply of people who have gone to Syria to try and assist the rebels. Of course, the government says they are all just terrorists -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Nick Paton -- thanks Nick -- Nick Paton Walsh reporting live.

We are back in the NEWSROOM in a minute.

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COSTELLO: An asteroid will whiz by Earth this afternoon with its own moon in tow. I'm telling you, this thing is huge. This asteroid is nine cruise ships wide. Its moon is gigantic, too. That's the white dot you see there. Scientists call that moon, quote, a city killer.

Joining us from Los Angeles is Bill Nye, "The Science Guy." He is also CEO of the Planetary Society. Good morning.

BILL NYE, "THE SCIENCE GUY": Good morning. Good morning.

COSTELLO: I can wait to talk about this. Because when you hear things like "city killer" or a similar asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs, it makes you a little nervous. So please calm us down.

NYE: Well, I mean you should be very calm about this asteroid, a 1998 QE-2. But we are the first humans as far as I know that could do something about an asteroid that had our name on it. As we like to say, we live in a cosmic shooting gallery. If you look at the surface of the moon, there are a lot of craters. If you look carefully at the surface of the Earth, there are a lot of craters. So we don't ever want to get hit by one of these things. So it would be a great thing if the United States, if NASA got very motivated about this and we worked with our colleagues around the world to develop a system.

This would be some sort of spacecraft that could deflect an asteroid, but the first step in all this is detecting them. And you see how even with our best instruments, this image is still blurry and the moon is squished in the Doppler access as it said. So this is all we could do better with this if we worked at it.

COSTELLO: And it's important, because we all remember the meteor that hit Russia but a few folks out there don't remember. I want to remind you. Here's the sonic boom.

Ok. So that was really scary. And that asteroid was much smaller and it broke apart as it entered the Earth's atmosphere. Scientists actually did not see that one coming so why can they see this latest one and why didn't they see that one?

NYE: Well, that one was estimates are varied but it was about 14- metres across, barely from the home plate to the pitching mound. But this asteroid is almost -- let's see it's 2 point -- so it's 3 kilometers across. It's, you know, well over a mile, a mile and a half across. So it's a much bigger thing. You can see it. And see it with radar.

So what we are hoping to do today about -- let's see, it's I guess 5:00 p.m. Eastern, 2:00 p.m. Pacific time, it will come close enough for people with telescopes who are very skilled will be able to get a better look at it.

This thing is one of hundreds of thousands of these objects that are about the same distance from the sun as we are. Many of them cross the Earth's orbit. We hardly know about -- we hardly know a very small percentage of them. So it's an opportunity for space agencies and amateur astronomers around the world to work together to perhaps and I'm not kidding, save the world. We save the world for us humans.

COSTELLO: I'm with you. I'm with you. But no danger of it hitting Earth this time at least. Bill Nye, "The Science Guy."

NYE: Not this one. No, this one is going to miss. Yes.

COSTELLO: That's right. Thank goodness. Thanks, Bill Nye, "The Science Guy."

NYE: Thank you.

Coming up in the NEWSROOM, Mickey D's CEO says come on and eat that big Mac. Just work it off with a few jumping jacks. That's what he did. We'll share his McDiet.

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COSTELLO: How about losing weight on the McDiet, Big Mac and some deep fried fries, throw in some exercise and voila, you are pound lighter. McDonald's CEO Don Thompson told analysts at a conference this week, he lost 20 pounds that way in the past year. Alison Kosik is here to tell me if she believes him.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, all I can believe is what I heard and from the transcript that I read as well from that conference that happened in New York this week. The catch here is that Don Thompson began exercising again. Also, we don't know specifically what he's eating from McDonald's every day. So listen for yourself. Listen to what he said at this conference when he was responding to a question about healthier foods. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DON THOMPSON, CEO, MCDONALD'S: I eat at McDonald's every day, every single day. In the last year or so I'm down to about 20-some pounds, I'm sharing my personal stuff now. So how are you down, don? What did you do? You know what; I didn't change eating at McDonald's every day. I got my butt up and started working out again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: Well, good for him. And now he goes on to say that all of us have to make personal choices. Thompson says he had stopped working out when he took over as CEO. But now he's gotten right back into it -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, we know what happened to Morgan Spurlock, need I remind you? Didn't work out so well for him. Although, McDonald's does serve salads, maybe he's eating a McDonald salad.

KOSIK: Who knows? I mean, you know, when you read through the transcripts of that conference you see that he eats a variety of McDonald's foods. And you know, as CEO, Don Thompson, he hasn't shied away from these questions about obesity that have come up.

At this annual meeting -- at the company's annual meeting, he actually defended McDonald's. But they have made changes to the menu, they've got more salads, and smoothies and wraps, plus has added apple slices to its kids meals. Thompson also said yesterday that he recognizes that the company may have to some extent have a social responsibility to provide more fruits and vegetables for kids, but also says we are not the parents of everyone else's child.

COSTELLO: I've got to go.

KOSIK: Carol.

COSTELLO: Thank you Alison. I'm Carol Costello, thanks for joining me. "CNN NEWSROOM" continues after a break.

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