Return to Transcripts main page

Erin Burnett Outfront

Suspected Killer May Be Armed With Explosives; Florida Teen Accused Of Trying To Join Al Qaeda; Al Qaeda's "Teleconference"; Dr. Gupta Changes Mind On Marijuana; Is Snowden Safe in Russia?

Aired August 08, 2013 - 19:00   ET

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

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST, OUTFRONT: "OUTFRONT" next, breaking news in the manhunt for a suspect cops say has a 16-year-old girl with him. Now explosives may be involved.

And yesterday, we heard about a so-called conference call held by al-Qaeda. That didn't quite add up. But tonight, a Special Report. How the terrorist group actually communicates explained "OUTFRONT."

And Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains why he totally and utterly changed his mind on weed.

Let's go "OUTFRONT."

Good evening, everyone. I'm Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight, I want to begin with a breaking news, a major development in the nationwide search for 16-year-old Hannah Anderson and her suspected kidnapper James DiMaggio. The San Diego County Sheriff's Department tells CNN that they feared DiMaggio is armed with improvised explosives and may have rigged his abandoned car with them.

OUTFRONT tonight, Paul Vercammen in San Diego. Paul, I know you have been covering this. You were talking to the San Diego Police Department today and were able to break the news on these improvised devices. What more do you know?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, let me tell you this. This case has a sense of urgency and that is even been heightened because they are very, very concerned about DiMaggio and let's listen, and this notion of him having homemade bombs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAN CALDWELL, PIO, SAN DIEGO COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: We believe that he may be in possession of kind of improvised explosives. Working on the theory that he abandoned the car, we think there is a possibility the car could be rigged. We want to put out there for civilian safety, officer safety, if you see this car, do not approach it. Call law enforcement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: And as they also said to me, they are also warning law enforcement officers because this car could d be booby trapped with those homemade bombs -- Erin.

BURNETT: Paul, do they have a sense at this point as to Hannah, whether she's with him, her condition or is that just a huge question mark at this moment?

VERCAMMEN: Well, that's hanging in the air. If there is one place it might be hanging in the air it would be the extreme northeast corner of California because they did have two reported sightings, both yesterday, one in Rural California, the other across the border in Lake Oregon.

I spoke with the sheriff in California. He said an 18-year-old maid spotted a vehicle that she believed belonged to that suspect, DiMaggio. They are checking the lead out. They say there might be holes in it. They haven't had a car sighting since the reports yesterday. That would be the focus that was on Highway 395. That highway would lead all the way to the Canadian border -- Erin.

BURNETT: Canadian border. This is now an international situation as well. Paul Vercammen, thank you very much. Paul, as I said, breaking that news on the possibility here of bombs being associated now with this manhunt.

I want to bring in Ray Lopez. He is joining me on the phone. Ray is a former of the FBI Bomb Squad. Now Ray, given that, how much you know about this situation, what can you tell me is the most important thing at this moment if indeed this guy has rigged some sort of explosive devices and he has with him this hostage of a 16-year-old girl?

RAY LOPEZ, RETIRED FBI AGENT (via telephone): Good evening, Erin. I think it's interesting the critical part. He now has explosives and now this has become kind of dynamic with respect to now you have a vehicle potentially with explosives. We don't know the situation. If he abandoned the vehicle at any point now you have a suspect out the there with explosives that could potentially wire a house, wire a campground or do several other things with explosives to make it difficult for law enforcement and very dangerous not only for law enforcement and for the public to be around.

BURNETT: And of course, I want to emphasize for those of you not familiar with the details of the story that this man, DiMaggio, who they believe has this 16-year-old girl hostage, also is suspected in burning down his home with the girl's mother and younger brother inside of it. They are both at this point are considered to be dead. This is a horrific situation.

Now when our Paul Vercammen, Ray, had a chance to speak with the San Diego Sheriff's Department he also asked where they might be. It's pretty amazing in this day and age with the technology we have that they don't know. These kind of manhunts can happen. Here's how she answered the question about where he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CALDWELL: Another thing we wanted to emphasize to the public today is that he enjoyed being outside, camping and hiking. There is a possibility he could be hunkered down in a rural area anywhere up and down the state, the northwest, Canada, Mexico. Anyone out there now enjoying hiking, camping. Please look for this car. Please look for these faces. If you see anything, don't take action on your own, call 911.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Ray, does it surprise you that they don't seem to have any idea where he is?

LOPEZ: No, not at all. I think he's got a head start on law enforcement. They are working -- several hours if not days behind this incident. So they are playing catch-up now. The amber alert is a wonderful tool out there for all the right reasons. I think eventually he will be caught and brought to justice. The critical point now is keeping the public safe and keeping law enforcement safe as they approach this vehicle and the subject if he's out of the vehicle.

BURNETT: All right, thank you very much. Ray Lopez, as we said, an FBI expert on dealing with these situations when explosives could be involved. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 800,000 kids are reported missing each year in this country, about 2,000 a day. The Justice Department says teenage girls like 16-year-old Hannah Anderson are the most vulnerable.

I want to bring Dr. Jennifer Hartstein, a clinical psychologist to talk about this. A quarter of all kidnappings are by perpetrated by an acquaintance. This man was some sort of friend with this girl's mother. There are questions about his relationships with the girl. Whether there was something untoward in that. Three-quarters of the time victims are girls. Why is this?

DR. JENNIFER HARTSTEIN, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, you know, girls are more vulnerable than boys generally. They are relationship- based, focused on that. Especially if an older man is giving them some attention they will get lured in by that. They are going to think it's interesting and great. They will feel cool and excited about it. Then the adult will play on that because of the vulnerability, the lack of knowledge. They get played. They really get hurt.

BURNETT: What do you think the motivator is in this case? There's been speculation. I want to emphasize that he could have had some relationship or obsession sexually with the 16-year-old. It might not be that, right?

HARTSTEIN: It might not be that. We really have no idea. It's all speculation. He could have had a sexual interest in her. Maybe he's holding her as collateral. Would we be as interested if he didn't have a 16-year-old girl in his hands? Would it just be another awful situation in California? Does he have a sexual interest in her? There are so many what ifs at play here that we just don't know. We know they had a close relationship. Why choose her and not the brother? There is no way to know that. BURNETT: We can just hope we will know it and there will be an ending with the girl being alive. Dr. Hartstein, thank you very much.

Still OUTFRONT, a Florida teen and why cops say he was about to join a terrorist group and kill Americans. Then, how does al Qaeda communicate? A crucial question and we have an OUTFRONT investigation.

Later, tonight a move to change the name of the NFL team in our nation's capital. Is the nickname Redskins racist? We take you then to Tennessee where flood waters are rising to epic levels tonight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Our second story OUTFRONT, tonight, a Florida teenager tries to join al Qaeda. This is the case prosecutors are making against 19-year-old Shelton Bell. He appeared in federal court for the first time today to face the terror-related charges against him.

David Mattingly is OUTFRONT covering this. David, I mean, it's sort of, we know now that we have the story about the Tsarnaev brothers and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev the same age. It's something a lot of people may take more seriously than they would have a few months ago. What do you know about this 19-year-old and what he was trying to do?

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we know is that Shelton Bell is now the latest young American to be accused of trying to join up with a terrorist organization and getting involved in terrorist activities. Specifically the federal indictment accuses him of conspiring and attempting to provide material support to terrorists. According to that federal indictment, Bell had plans to go to Yemen late last year.

He actually got on a plane, flew to Israel, wasn't able to get into the country there. He ended up flying to Turkey and then also to Jordan, but it was not clear in that document if he was actually able to get into Yemen where he allegedly had plans to join up with a terrorist organize station and get involved in some kind of a violent armed activity.

Before he left the indictment says he was able to recruit a minor to join with him in going over there. They say he videotaped firearms training he conducted. He was also undergoing physical training to join the Jihad and he actually conducted a raid on a cemetery near his home, this happened Fourth of July last year, according to the indictment.

He went in and conducted vandalism to religious statues there. He videotaped this and was allegedly planning to use it that to recruit others to go with him to the Middle East -- Erin.

BURNETT: David, I'm also curious. You know, now that we have the information about what the government is watching and what the government should be allowed to watch, right. When you look at the Tsarnaev brothers, if the government had seen him on the Jihad websites perhaps they could have stopped them. Do you have any idea from the information you have at this point how this teenager who looks all American in the picture we are putting on the screen converted? Decided to become a terrorist and try to join al Qaeda?

MATTINGLY: Well, a Jacksonville paper quotes his mother saying that he simply converted to Islam. There are quotes from a spokesman for a mosque there in the Jacksonville area saying that there were red flags thrown up last year. He started wearing traditional clothing to the mosque and talking to young people about violent activities. Red flags such that they ended up contacting the FBI.

The FBI came to the mosque, took statements from a variety of people. Strangely enough it wasn't the FBI who initially picked him up. This young man was actually picked up by the county sheriff's office on charges not related to terrorism. This had to do with grand theft and fraud charges. He couldn't make bail. He was sitting in the county jail waiting for the federal authorities to wrap up their investigation, go to the grand jury and come out with the indictment.

BURNETT: All right, David Mattingly, thank you.

And now our third story, OUTFRONT, al Qaeda's teleconference. So you may remember, last night, we told you about a conference call of sorts between 20 al Qaeda leaders. The call that was supposedly responsible for the current unprecedented terror alert around the world. According to the "Daily Beast," the call was intercepted, which prompted this terror alert. The idea of a conference call between al Qaeda's leaders sounded odd.

It flies in the face of what we know about the way al Qaeda operates and communicates. You know, Bin Laden would never touch a phone, right? So we spoke with the reporter who broke the story here on OUTFRONT and here's what Eli Lake explained.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELI LAKE, "THE DAILY BEAST": I would say that it was not a telephone conference call in that sense. It was a remote conference where are people are in. It is something like a teleconference.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Something like a teleconference. All right, so we wanted to find out exactly what that means. How does al Qaeda talk? We wanted to figure it out. Tom Foreman did it. He has an OUTFRONT investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When al Qaeda leaders in far flung corners of the earth need to talk with each other they don't pick up the phone. Security analysts say they jump on the internet using a complicated chain of computer connections.

(on camera): Although no one knows for sure, this is how they believe it works. The parties meet in a private internet chat room where they are extremely cautious. Even shrouding their written communications with each other in encryption software making it difficult to read what anyone is saying in one of the short meetings.

Beyond that, they may even send deputies in a sense to conduct the conversations so at any given moment none of the leaders can be connected to each other or to whatever is being orchestrated. It goes even further. Instructions from top al Qaeda operatives are believed to sometimes be sent by trusted couriers to internet cafes where they log on to public computers where they encrypt the message and send it through an e-mail account set up specifically for that one message and no other. Minutes later the whole trail disappears.

(voice-over): Some security analysts say this combination of technology, social media sites and internet anonymity is the backbone of terrorist communications, Laith Alkhouri, Flashpoint Global Partners says it works well.

LAITH ALKHOURI, SENIOR ANALYST, FLASHPOINT GLOBAL PARTNERS: I think they allow such groups to flourish. They certainly give the means for possible lone wolves to communicate with actual group. Offer themselves as potential terrorists.

FOREMAN: Need proof? Prosecutors say the men accused of the Boston bombings used Jihadi web sites for inspiration and bomb building advice. Security analysts say Anwar Al-Awlawki exchanged e- mails with the accused Fort Hood shooting, Nidal Hasan and Khalid Sheikh Mohamed is believed to have used a Hotmail account.

ALKHOURI: Al Qaeda started with one web site a decade ago. Today, we have at least a dozen al Qaeda web forums that host thousands of individuals.

FOREMAN: A few years back when the hunt for Osama Bin laden was still raging, some intelligence forces believed al Qaeda was even developing its own intranet that was electronically hidden behind Jihadi web sites and accessible to only a few people. Whether they succeed or such a system still exists like much of the communication structure remains shrouded in mystery. For OUTFRONT, Tom Foreman, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: Of course the great irony using so much American innovation to try to destroy America. OUTFRONT next, why Dr. Sanjay Gupta changed his mind on weed. A total about-face and he is here to explain why.

And then are you driving a compact car that failed a major crash test? We have the alarming results tonight OUTFRONT.

And a double play. He made the catch, but what he did next was the true score.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Our fourth story, OUTFRONT, Dr. Sanjay Gupta changes his mind on weed. Twenty states now allow medical marijuana. Washington, D.C. is opening its first dispensary and the medical community seems to be changing its mind on pot. But, you know, not everybody is. A lot are ardently and adamantly against it. There is a dramatic turnaround for Dr. Gupta who just four years ago wrote an article for "Time" magazine titled "Why I would vote no on pot." Then he decided to look again.

In a ground breaking documentary airing this Sunday on CNN and in it, Dr. Gupta explains why he changed his mind and he is OUTFRONT tonight. Now Sanjay, the FDA says marijuana is harmful, right? We know that. Mayor Bloomberg in New York was quoted as saying "Medical marijuana is the greatest hoax of all time."

You have looked at the evidence and you were in that camp. You agreed. You looked at the evidence. I remember a few weeks ago you said I have a documentary coming up and I think the government is reprehensible for not allowing pot.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm surprised by both Mayor Bloomberg's comment s and by how long the government has been keeping this position about classifying marijuana as one of the most dangerous substances out there. Mayor Bloomberg does a good job usually looking at the science. Let me assure him and others there is now science out there.

I will tell you part of the issue, Erin, when we were talking the other night is that if you go look at the medical journals right now and look at medical marijuana, some 20,000 papers will pop up. But the vast majority, more than 90 percent are looking -- designed to look at the harm of marijuana. Very few are looking at the benefit.

It paints a very distorted picture. One that I think is very misleading. I think we have all been misled. I have apologized for my own role in misleading people as well. It is a distorted picture. I searched further. I looked outside the country. I looked in smaller labs, listened to patients.

he loud course of legitimate patients I linked in with malingers looking to get high. Once you look beyond that you recognize that this is a substance that can have significant medical value. It should not be a schedule 1 substance. It has medical value. It's part of the reason I changed my mind on this.

BURNETT: Which is pretty incredible, of course, Schedule 1, the most dangerous heroin is in there and heroin use is surging in this country. I know this is a strange question. But I have to ask you now that you have changed your mind on this. You spent the past year researching marijuana. Have you tried it?

GUPTA: Right. I tried it in the past. Honestly. Maybe ironically, I don't know. I didn't particularly care for it. It made me paranoid, edgy.

BURNETT: Classic type a reaction, they say.

GUPTA: How about you?

BURNETT: I haven't because I'm afraid of that. GUPTA: Even more Type A than you already are, right.

BURNETT: You have tried it, all right. Thank you very much, Sanjay. We appreciate it, of course, the doctor is always honest. You have to see the documentary. It's amazing. Going through the patients, doctors, everything. His documentary "Weed" Sunday at 8:00 Eastern on CNN.

OUTFRONT still to come, NSA leaker Edward Snowden. Is he as safe as he thinks he is? One person who knows a lot thinks no. His life could be at risk.

And flooding strikes the Midwest, where a baby is rescued. And meet the new Powerball multi, multimillionaire.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Welcome back to the second half of OUTFRONT, where we start with stories where we focus on reporting from the front lines. I want to begin with the judge in the Major Nidal Hasan case. He rejected an appeal from the attorneys asking to drop out of the case because Hasan wants to receive the death penalty. They were told they had to sit there and represent him anyway.

The judge is chalking it up to a disagreement about strategy. Jag Attorney Greg Renke said it is the attorney's ethical duty to assist Hasan as much as they can, but ultimately at this point, he is the one leading his own defense. He has made that choice, he is cross-examining people himself.

Had these attorneys been representing him from the start, he says Hasan's defense would be a lot more vigorous.

Well, two friend s of Boston marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were charged by a federal grand jury today of obstructing justice and conspiracy. Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev are accused of removing Tsarnaev's belongings from his dorm room after they got a text from him after the bombing saying, take what's there. According to the indictment, they threw the items in a dumpster, that included Tsarnaev's laptop and a backpack containing Vaseline, a thumb drive and fireworks, all possibly used in constructing a bomb. If convicted, they face 25 years in prison.

And now an OUTFRONT update on the story of Rehtaeh Parsons. You may remember us talking about her. A 17-year-old Canadian girl allegedly driven to suicide because of bullying on the Internet. We learned that two people have been arrested in connection with her case and are being question tonight by investigators. Rehtaeh's mother told us in April that her daughter had been gang raped and a photo of the incident was texted to her classmates and that pushed her to take her own life.

And even though Paul White of Minnesota was 350 times more likely to be hit by lightning in a given year than win the lottery, you know what, lightning may never strike twice but look at this. He won a third of Wednesday's half a billion dollar Powerball jackpot, $448 million. He came forward today saying there may be a party or a vacation in his future, but he's not sure because it's too surreal. As we reported yesterday, the odds of winning Powerball is one in 175 million dollar, million, I'm sorry. Those are the odds.

Two other winners, though, in New Jersey -- both in New Jersey -- have yet to come forward.

Well, Mother Nature is plaguing parts of this country tonight. In the Midwest, one person has been killed trying to cross a bridge in torrential flooding. Rescue teams have been wading through treacherous waters to save others caught in the floods including a baby who was saved and taken to higher ground. You see the baby there.

In southern California meanwhile, high winds are at the back of a very fast moving wildfire, prompting mandatory evacuations outside of Los Angeles. The fire grew from 300 acres to 6,000 in three hours. Now, right now, it's only 10 percent contained.

Our fifth story OUTFRONT, fighting for death benefits. So, 19 firefighters tragically perished in that massive wildfire that engulfed a small town in Arizona in late June. Now, instead of getting their city's full support, some of their families say they are being denied benefits. At least one widow says Prescott, Arizona, has turned its back on her.

Casey Wian has this OUTFRONT investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ten days after 19 Prescott, Arizona, Hotshot firefighters died protecting their city, Mayor Marlin Kuykendall poke directly to their grieving widows and children.

MAYOR MARLIN KUYKENDALL, PRESCOTT, ARIZONA: We will be here to support you. I hope that my words and that our continued support of you for years to come will bring you comfort.

WIAN: But comfort is not what many of the survivors are feeling. They are angry with the mayor and other city officials because they feel they have turned their backs on them. The biggest issue, the city's refusal to pay full death benefits to the families of those who are classified as seasonal firefighters instead of full-time firefighters.

JULIANNE ASHCRAFT, FIREFIGHTER'S WIDOW: The city officials that I myself have had some -- thank you -- some run-ins with that were unprofessional and rude. The mayor is the ring leader as far as I'm concerned. He has been horrific.

WIAN: The mayor, speaking out to CNN, is standing by his city's decision.

KUYKENDALL: It always hurts. I have been here almost 50 years. We are going to make sure the city performs on every agreement that we had with these workers. Some of them had different agreements than others.

WIAN: Julianne Ashcraft maintains her husband Andrew had the responsibilities, pay and workload of a full-time firefighter, and that the city has an obligation to pay full benefits so she can care for their four children.

The mayor says each family will receive $328,000 in federal payments along with Social Security, worker's compensation and college tuition benefits, plus private donations.

KUYKENDALL: The money raising events -- and we have had many here and they've been going on all over the country -- has now exceeded $10 million to be divided among 19. So, it's not as if we are taking food out of baby's mouth.

WIAN: The widows say it is not the money. It's the way they have been treated.

ASHCRAFT: I mentioned to the HR department that my husband did work full time, you know, that my kids and I sent him off to work 12 months a year for the city of Prescott. And her response to me was that it must be a marriage issue, that perhaps we had bad communication in our marriage, that's why I did not understand his employment status.

WIAN: Amanda Marsh (voice-over), the widow of one of only six firefighters eligible for full benefits was cut off when trying to speak to the city council about re staffing the Hotshots to replace the firefighters who were lost.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you for considering bringing the crew back on, because it was my husband's dream. So, thank you very much.

WIAN: A city spokesman concedes officials could have done a better job communicating with firefighter families.

(on camera): Both sides support legislation proposed by the speaker of Arizona's statehouse that would retroactively provide full survivor benefits to those left behind by the 19 brave firefighters who died protecting this city from a devastating wildfire.

For OUTFRONT, I'm Casey Wian, Prescott, Arizona.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: Now, our sixth story OUTFRONT: Is Edward Snowden really safe in Russia? Because one expert says he should watch his back meaning literally.

Susan Candiotti is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): NSA leaker Edward Snowden better watch his back or some say he could suffer the same fate as former CIA defector Edward Lee Howard. ROBERT STONE, FILMMAKER: His usefulness might not last forever.

CANDIOTTI: Filmmaker Robert Stone wrote an open letter to Snowden in "The Wall Street Journal", comparing Snowden's case to Edward Lee Howard's, the only CIA employee to defect to the Soviet Union.

In this video posted on YouTube, Howard's defection is described, as CNN has reported, Howard was trained as a spy to be stationed in Moscow and fully briefed on Russian spies. But he was forced to resign after failing a lie detector test before being sent to the Soviet Union. Howard moved to New Mexico in 1983 and, expert s say, plotted his revenge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He contacted the Soviet consulate in Washington and said, you know, I'm a CIA officer. I have secrets. I know what we do in Moscow. I'm available.

CANDIOTTI: Howard eventually made it to Russia in 1986 and gets asylum. The FBI says Howard's info to the Russians resulted in the execution of a scientist. When American producer Stone met Howard in 1993, he was living in a Russian home in the country side but wanted out.

In 2002, Russia said the defector died in a mysterious drunken fall.

STONE: He just died of falling down drunk down stairs. It didn't seem credible to me.

CANDIOTTI: Former CIA officer Robert Baer agrees the CIA and FBI remain skeptical to this day.

ROBERT BAER, FORMER CIA OFFICER: There is certainly suspicion inside the CIA and FBI that Edward Lee Howard had his neck broken by the KGB. He was an alcoholic. He was causing a lot of problems for the KGB. They had every reason to get rid of him.

CANDIOTTI: And perhaps as Stone puts it, Howard, quote, "was likely a casualty of the Cold War finally warming over. Ed's death re solved the problem to each country's satisfaction."

For now, Snowden may look relaxed. What lies in his future? Former CIA analyst Robert Baer predicts a rocky road.

BAER: They're going to keep him under full control. He can't leave the country without their permission. And I don't think they'll ever trust him. The Russians have never trusted a defector ever.

CANDIOTTI: As for Stone, who sees a possible parallel to Snowden's future, the advice is simple.

STONE: To Mr. Snowden, I'd say just -- you know what, keep your entrepreneurial mind applied and don't cross your -- the givers of your asylum.

CANDIOTTI: For OUTFRONT, Susan Candiotti, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: Pretty interesting possible horrific ending, huh?

Money and power tonight, crash test failure. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has put 12 compact cars through a new crash test which test it is front corners of the vehicle. So, six of the 12 cars scored marginal or poor ratings. Kia's Forte and Soul and Nissan Sentra scored the worst. The highest went to the Honda Civic and American Dodge Dart.

Stocks snapped a three-day losing streak, all three posting modest gains to the averages. And we also got data on the number of people applying for unemployment benefits for the first time. Now, the number did rise. But the number I want to look at is the four- week number. It's just an average over the past month. That's a more important and significant number. It's actually at the lowest level since November of 2007, which was well before the entire financial crisis.

And that's good news. Data like that could help get the U.S.'s top credit rating back. It's been 733 days since we lost it.

OUTFRONT up next, a horrible acid attack on two women thrown by a man riding on a motorcycle. We have that story.

And then, is this finally the push that forces Washington Redskins to change their name? Is it racist?

And we take you to one of the most lovely places in the world, an absolutely fabulous hotel overlooking the water. Can you tell where we are right now? We'll tell you where we are and why there is a problem.

And tonight's shout-out, a great catch by a fan. So, this fan was attending a Minor League Baseball game. Caught a homerun ball. You see the ball come out. Hitting the wall face first -- oh! Makes the catch. He bounced back apparently unharmed.

A shout-out to the fan not for the catch but for what he did after. Because after that h got up and gave the ball to a little girl standing behind him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: We're back with tonight's "Outer Circle" where we reach out to sources around the world. And tonight, we go to Zanzibar, Tanzania, where two female tourists are recovering from an acid attack. Eyewitnesses say that two men in motorcycles were driving by, threw the acid on the women's faces, chests and hands.

I asked our Nima Elbagir how the women are doing tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Erin, the two 18- year-olds have been given the all-clear to travel and head back home to the U.K. this evening. The two who had been volunteering with a local charity had actually been due to finish their stint in two days' time. But that was, of course, before unidentified men traveling on a motor bike splashed acid on their chests, their faces and their hands.

No group has claimed responsibility to this attack, but it does come against the backdrop of growing anti-Western sentiment. The young women are expected to head straight to hospital on their arrival in the U.K. tomorrow morning, Erin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Nima, thank you. That's horrific.

I want to check in with Wolf Blitzer. He's in for Anderson Cooper with a look at what's coming up on "A.C. 360."

Hello, Wolf. Good to see you again.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Always good to see you, Erin. Thanks very much.

Just ahead on "360": manhunt. An urgent search under way right now across multiple states for this man, James DiMaggio. Police think he may be holding 16-year-old Hannah Anderson.

But there also is a new fear that he may have rigged his car with explosives. We're going to talk about that, what it's like to have your child snatched. Joining us, John Walsh whose son Adam was abducted.

Also ahead, unanswered questions in Miami now. Police fired more than a hundred shots at a reckless driver, killing him after he had stopped h his car. So, what happened that night? It's been nearly two years. Investigators still haven't released their findings.

Those stories and tonight's "RidicuList" all at the top of the hour -- Erin.

All right. Wolf, we'll see you in just a few minutes.

And now, our 7th story OUTFRONT: rename the Redskins. That's the message at least from "Slate." It's an online magazine. It announced today that it's no longer going to use the name Redskins when referring to Washington's NFL team. They say it's not only tacky and dated, but an insult to Native Americans, saying it, quote, "reflects an admirable willingness to acknowledge others who once were barely visible to the dominant culture and to recognize that's something that may seem innocent to you may be painful to others.

So, is time for a name change?

Syndicated radio host Michael Medved joins us, along with commentator L.Z. Granderson, and Mediaite's Joe Concha. Joe, you're sitting with me, so let me start with you.

Does "Slate" have a point? I mean, I have to say, I grew up a couple of hours southeast of Washington. The Redskins was my team. You grew up like that. You don't always think about -- you don't think about these things necessarily.

Does "Slate" have a point though that it can be harmful to others? Time to change.

JOE CONCHA, MEDIAITE: The fans and you were a fan. The fans down the D.C. area, 8 in 10 in a "Washington Post" poll say, don't change the name. These are people that buy jerseys. These are the people that buy tickets.

Daniel Snyder paid $800 million for this team 15 years ago. He has the right to say whether it should be called the Redskins or not.

If the fans are voting they're saying don't touch a thing.

BURNETT: So, L.Z., Joe has an interesting point about Dan Snyder who bought the team. He's making the point it was worth a billion dollars. It's one very valuable franchise. Dan Snyder says he's never going to change the name and the commissioner of the NFL, Roger Goodell, wrote a letter back in June to lawmakers and he said, "For the team's millions of fans and customers who represent one of the most ethnically and geographically diverse fan bases the name is a unifying force which stands for strength, courage, pride and respect."

Political correctness is good. Political correctness gone wild is bad. Is this that?

L.Z. GRANDERSON, SENIOR WRITER, ESPN: Absolutely not. This isn't about political correctness. This is about morality. You know, he talked about fans respecting the history and the NFL embracing the history of that name.

And, you know, they always seem to stop at the players. They never really stop at the -- you know, how the name came about. The owner of the Washington team was an avowed racist. His NFL team was the last team to become integrated. He had to be forced to do so by the NFL commissioner as well as the Kennedy administration.

So, when you think about the fact that you know this name came from the fact that they used to skin Native Americans and refer to the pelt as redskins and the man who picked the name is a racist, I don't know how you can be proud of that heritage in its entirety.

BURNETT: Michael, what do you say?

MICHAEL MEDVED, RADIO HOST: Well, look, I am a big supporter of the Cleveland Indians, the Atlanta Braves or even the Kansas City Chiefs because those are reputable kinds of names. They don't have a judgment to them. They don't have an edge to them.

But the term "redskins" has an insulting edge. I don't see why Dan Snyder wouldn't change it. The problem that he would have and it should be his choice absolutely. He paid the money. But the problem he would have is what do you call the Washington team? You can't call them the senators because that would imply a team that never gets the ball down the field. It's just stuck perpetually at the line of scrimmage. And somehow I don't think that the "battling bureaucrats" is going are do it either, for a Washington team.

CONCHA: And, Michael, I don't know where you stop, right? You know, in other words, maybe we should talk about changing the New York Jets and their name because jets cause pollution, and pollution causes global warming --

(CROSSTALK)

CONCHA: Well, no, no, L.Z., the Vikings and the Raiders, they used to kill just for fun, they had blood on their hands. Why don't we change the Vikings and Redskins also?

Seventy high schools in this country have Redskins as their name. Are you going to pay for the change in uniforms when athletic programs --

GRANDERSON: That's what it is about. That's ultimately what it is about.

BURNETT: Go ahead, L.Z. Sorry -- I mean you, Michael?

GRANDERSON: I'm sorry.

MEDVED: Yes, no. Look, it is about dollars and cents but the fact is that if Dan Snyder, seriously, I don't think there are any Redskins fans who won't come to his games if he changes the name of the team. I mean, seriously, to insist that somehow this is not an insult -- I mean, you wouldn't have the Detroit black skins. That wouldn't be permitted. You wouldn't appreciate the San Francisco yellow skins.

It's meant as an insult that is really based upon skin color and really, we should -- ultimately they're going to change the name. We might as well do it cheerfully.

CONCHA: L.Z. --

BURNETT: Joe, go ahead. And we'll have final word, L.Z.

CONCHA: One more point. You know, Doug Williams was the first black quarterback to play in a Super Bowl. He's also now only black quarterback to ever win a Super Bowl.

When I think about the heritage of the Redskins, I can't go back to the '30s and I take L.Z. obviously to his research and his word that he probably was a racist, but when I think of the Redskins, I think of George Allen (ph), the (INAUDIBLE), most of all, I think of Doug Williams, the only black quarterback to ever win a Super Bowl. Modern history is what I care about, not what some guy did back in the '30s and what kind of person he was. BURNETT: Final word to you, L.Z.

GRANDERSON: Well, you know, it's very convenient to be able to dismiss it that way, but if you actually about, as I said before, where this name came from. No one is saying you should dismiss the franchise's history. But you're looking at the name. You're looking where that name came from.

And for you to marginalize and jokingly talk about why not eliminate the Jets, when we know there was genocide commented and to continue to have the capital of the United States have a team with a racial slur as the mascot's nickname, it's not about political correctness. It's about morality and it just seems to be immoral to continue to do that.

CONCHA: Also not what the fans want, L.Z., as well. Eight in 10 say don't change it.

GRANDERSON: I'm sure if black people, if they were put to a vote, black people would still be out in the field. So, let's not talk about morality put up to a vote.

CONCHA: Like Darrell Green for the Redskins --

MEDVED: The basic point is if people don't like the name, they can stop buying the Redskins gear and they can stop going to the games and maybe some people will.

BURNETT: You can make the point that way.

All right. Well, thanks very much to all three of you and, of course, to our viewers. Please let us know what you think and take to Twitter.

Well, as you know, every night, we take a look outside the day's top stories for what we call the OUTFRONT "Outtake". And tonight, we want to take you to a place called Benidorm. You may not have heard it, but it is the most popular beach resort in Europe. It is the birthplace of packaged tourism according to British reviewers. This Spanish town attracts millions of tourists every year, mostly European. It's a huge city with the most skyscrapers per capita in the world. No joke. It looks like Rio, doesn't it? I haven't heard of it until today.

Since the 1990s, Benidorm's population of skyline have exploded, which is the problem. The real estate crash in Europe took a huge toll on the city and crushed it. But the Spanish town refuses to give up. A skyscraper got them into the mess and the skyscraper by gosh is going to get them out.

It's called the in tempo skyscraper and it was designed as a symbol of hope and prosperity, something to show the rest of the world Benidorm is back. It's 94 percent complete tonight. It is big and -- well, I don't know. It's either garish or beautiful, depending on your view. But it's exactly what Benidorm wants to attract tourist. There's just one problem, they forgot the elevator. According to the Spanish newspaper, the In Tempo skyscraper was supposed to be 20 stories tall. Hubris took over though and the designers added 27 stories. So, it's get to 47 and they forgot to leave enough room for the extra elevator equipment needed for the new height. So there is a 47-story building that is only accessible by stairs.

Now, this is a problem for anyone. But in Benidorm, the majority of tourists to visit are older and they don't like to carry up their bags up one flight of stairs, let alone 47. This appears to be a disaster, unless, of course, it's a brilliant economic plan and Benidorm host to boost unemployment with Spanish Sherpas.

So, which is it Spain, a really bad job creation plan or just mass Spanish incompetence?

OUTFRONT next, should there be no more zoos?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Big news out of Washington tonight: two Sumatran tiger cubs were born at the national zoo. They are endangered. They were born on Monday and since their birth, their mother has been seen constantly nursing and grooming them.

Here is a webcam video, which is amazing. We were watching it today. It made us feel pretty lucky to have access to this.

But then we saw this story, Costa Rica, known for its incredible biodiversity, is closing its zoos because cages are bad for animals. Costa Rica's minister of the environment says the decision was based on a childhood experience. He said, "One day, we took the parrot out to the patio and a flock of wild parrots passed. And the parrot went with them. We fed them with food and affection, all these things that we as humans thought she liked, and when she had a chance, she left."

She after all is wild and wants to be with her own kind.

I always thought zoos were important, inspiring children to respect animals. But after reading the Costa Rica story, I'm not sure. The quarters the tiger cubs are kept in are very small. Some animals in the zoo seem lonely and forlorn. It feels absolutely wrong to cage them. It feels like a Stone Age thing.

We want to know what you think. Should America close its zoos? Let us know at Twitter @ErinBurnett and @OutFrontCNN.

"A.C. 360" starts now.