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American Morning: Wake Up Call
Brother of Afghan President Killed; Former NFL Player Killed; Julian Assange Extradition Appeal
Aired July 12, 2011 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. It is Tuesday, July the 12th. This is your A.M.: WAKE-UP CALL.
I'm Ali Velshi, joining you live this morning from New York.
Let's start with breaking news in Afghanistan. The half-brother of this country's president was shot in killed in Kandahar. Apparently, Ahmed Wali Karzai, his own guard, gunned him down in his house while he was entertaining friends.
Now, this Karzai was a powerful council chief and pretty controversial guy. His name has been linked to drug dealing. Now, that is something he denied. But one U.S. diplomatic cable that turned up on WikiLeaks said he was widely known to be corrupt and narcotics trafficker.
President Hamid Karzai said, quote, "Every Afghan family has suffered. I hope one day, these sufferings end."
Now, back here in the U.S., top Democrats and Republicans plan to meet again this afternoon, making it the third day of negotiations over the debt ceiling. Now, they've been asked to bring their ideas on how to close a $600 billion gap between spending cuts and other savings that Republicans want. Long and short of it, there's no deal yet, just a brick wall.
We like Jay Leno's take on the whole debate. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GIRL: No, I said no.
BOY: I said no first!
GIRL: I said no first!
BOY: No, I said no first!
GIRL: I said no first!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Question is, which one is the Democrat? Which one was the Republican?
President Obama even alluded to childhood to describe where this debate stands.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We might as well do it now, pull off the Band-Aid, eat our peas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Well, these peas are better than Brussels sprouts or peas or a debt clock like that one here in New York that is out of control, needs two lines to just show you how big our debt is. We'll have more on that through the course of the show.
Here's a story that you'll hear about today: Julian Assange, Mr. WikiLeaks, probably the most famous whistle-blower on the planet, his court appeal begins in London.
This has to do with putting classified government documents and cables and videos on the Internet. This has to do with sex accusations in Sweden. Assange denies them. He's tried to avoid extradition, that's what this appeal is all about. His lawyers are afraid if he gets extradited to Sweden, Sweden will extradite him to the United States on these leaking charges.
Take a look at the surveillance video with me. It's from Bourbon Street, in the heart of the French Quarter in New Orleans. You see a guy in a black shirt and ball cap shooting right there on the street. You can see people scrambling out of the way. This guy on the right of your screen, two bystanders got hit, they survived. Police are hoping the video is going to help lead them to the gunman.
There was another shooting on Bourbon Street about 24 hours earlier, a police officer was shot and killed. I'm sorry -- a police officer shot and killed an armed man who had been scuffling with bouncers at a club.
Well, it looks like a new weapons reporting plan is going to happen. It would require gun dealers in four states all of them on the Mexican border, to report sales of high powered rifles. We're talking about California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. The idea is to keep the weapons way from Mexican drug cartels. The U.S. government is moving forward with the plan, the NRA, the National Rifle Association says it is illegal and is planning to file a lawsuit.
All right. We've got two Carolinas, a pair of Virginias and a couple of Dakotas. So, why not a couple of Californias?
The Riverside County supervisor plans to propose the idea today. He wants a bunch of southern counties in California to secede and form a separate state of South Carolina -- South California. This is a byproduct of frustration over the state's budget woes. Governor Jerry Brown is not a fan of this. He says the idea is, in his words, supremely ridiculous.
How much money has the recession sucked out of you? An economist at the San Francisco Federal Reserve did some math and he came up with a figure. Ready for this? Seventy-three hundred bucks. That's how much money he thinks you've lost since the recession hit in 2007.
Think of all the stuff on Craigslist that you could have bought with that. It's an average obviously.
Here's a way to save money on your MBA. The University of Iowa Business School is offering a full ride for the best tweet. That's right. The tweet is basically your application. If yours is the best one, you get a $37,000 scholarship.
Not a bad return on a 140 characters or fewer. Remember you don't have to fill it.
Time to check out how the world's money is doing. Kristie Lu Stout is live from Hong Kong.
Kristie, give us some knowledge about what's going on right now in world markets.
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hey there, Ali.
Well, let's start in Europe. All major European markets are currently trading down.
Arrows were all red all across Asia today. In fact, the Nikkei closed down 1.4 percent. We see the big financials, Mitsubishi, Mizuho, they're falling between 1.5 percent and 2 percent.
And the Bank of Japan also lowered its fiscal year growth forecast for the county, from 0.6 percent to 0.4 percent. Now, that is due to the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the country back in March.
Now, here in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng led regional losses with a fall of more than 0.3 percent. On Monday, Moody's raised red flags on the accounting practices of dozens of mainland Chinese companies. Many investors dumped their holdings. So, in the Chinese (INAUDIBLE), the Shanghai composite fell 1.7 percent, over losses in the banking and property sectors.
Back to you, Ali.
VELSHI: Kristie, we're in the second quarter earnings season. Always a good gauge of how companies are doing. We've got good news from Alcoa and some really bad news from Cisco.
STOUT: That's right. Alcoa is being considered a bellwether. Strong Q2 revenues for Alcoa, the aluminum earned $364 million or 32 cents per year and its CEO Klaus Kleinfeld said this, quote, "Although the economic recovery is uneven, the overall outlook for Alcoa and for aluminum remains positive."
But what is next for Dunkin' Donuts? Now, its parent company, Dunkin' Brands, plans to raise as much as $461 million in the upcoming IPO. Dunkin' Brands is not saying when the stock might start trading. But when it does, it will trade on the NASDAQ, the ticker symbol will be DNKN. And, finally, there are reports out there, a lot of talk, about deep job cuts at Cisco Systems. Our Sources are saying that Cisco plans to shed as many as 10,000 jobs. That's about 14 percent of its workforce. Now, Cisco has seen its main business slow in recent years, thanks to a lot of competition -- Ali.
VELSHI: Kristie, I'm from Canada, as you know, where we have Tim Horton's Donuts and I could never really get over how substandard Dunkin's their operations were and there's really been a sea change or so. They've got a lot more offerings, a lot more choices, not surprising that they're now looking at this IPO. It's definitely becoming a substantially better run company than it used to be.
Speaking about food, Kristie, hold on for this one. A restaurant owner in Pennsylvania is banning kids under 6 starting this weekend, he says they're too noisy and they disturb other customers. They don't know how to moderate their volume.
Some parents -- as you can imagine, Kristie -- are upset but the owner says he is confident that most of his patrons will support the new rule. I'm not a fan of banning kids, Kristie, even on airplanes. I mean, I fly a lot.
STOUT: No.
VELSHI: Kids cry, that's what they do. That's what kids do. Why do you want to be serious like us and quiet?
STOUT: That's right. Exactly. You're a dad. I'm a mom. We understand this.
There should be a no rude people rule in restaurants. I mean, it doesn't matter if you're 6 or 16 or 60. If you're misbehaving, you should be out. But no kids rule, that's a little bit unfriendly.
VELSHI: That's going to lose some customers. I won't be at that restaurant.
Kristie, good to see you. We'll check in with you a little later in the show. Kristie Lu Stout from our bureau in Hong Kong.
Let's go live now to Rob Marciano who's in the weather center in Atlanta.
Good morning, Rob. Good to see you back. What are we looking at in terms of flight delays?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, typical summer weather, Ali. And, of course, we've got that big heat wave that continues across the midsection of the country. But around, there's going to be pockets of thunderstorms that may slow your travel down, specifically in places like Charlotte, St. Louis and Kansas City. They're in the heart of heat wave.
Denver and parts of eastern Colorado really seen their fair share of thunderstorms the past couple of days, some of them rough. Low clouds and definitely cooler in San Francisco and on the windy side.
Here's your heat wave, heat advisories and excessive heat warnings are posted for places like Wichita, Kansas City, St. Louis, back to Louisville and through Memphis and Nashville as well. Temperatures will feel like well up and over 110 degrees, 115 degrees. So, dangerous levels of heat and humidity today and the cool front that will cool some folks off will only get so far South -- and that means that folks who live in the Deep South will continue to be hazy, hot and humid.
Be careful what you say about Dunkin' Donuts there, Ali. People who are up at this hour in the morning lining up for the double --
VELSHI: I love it these days. I love it these days. It took a long time. Dunkin was a substandard little doughnut operation. Now, they're moving.
Hey, Rob, last check -- still saw about a quarter million people out power in Chicago, is things getting better?
MARCIANO: Yes, rough weather yesterday. We had gusty winds -- at one point, almost 900,000 people without power. ComEd reporting now just under a half a million, so they had a lot of damaged equipment from the storms and they say it's going to take several days for some of those spots. So, just be patient.
I know, folks without power aren't really watching right now, but hold tough there, if you're a neighbor of theirs, tell them to hold tough.
VELSHI: They're tough. They're tough in Chicago.
Rob, I'll check in with you a little later. Rob Marciano, in our weather center.
All right. A stun gun turns up on a JetBlue flight. How did it get there? We'll fill you in on the investigation on the other side.
But, first, time for the quote of the day. This one was a tweet. Can you guess who tweeted this? Quote, "It is too early to predict that Tim Pawlenty will not be a popular Halloween costume." Who said it? Plus, Pawlenty's response on the other side.
It's 10 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: "One of the Boys" by Katy Perry, endless string of number one hits for that artist. Thirteen minutes after the hour.
Today's quote, one of the day, is a tweet sent out late night by comedian Conan O'Brien, poking fun at Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty about being unexciting on the campaign trail saying, quote, "Is it too early to predict that Tim Pawlenty will not be a popular Halloween costume?" Well, a couple hours later, Pawlenty tweeted back, quote, "Wait until I unveil my team Coco wig, then everyone will want a costume. It might even deliver Iowa for me." A little political humor.
All right. Two planes collide midair in a narrow Alaskan mountain pass and they both land safely, you heard me right. No one was hurt. Investigators say the pilots didn't see each other until the very last second on Sunday, one skimmed the top of the other, then they both landed with little damage.
Wow. Hear that? That's a sigh of relief from all 13 people on board the two planes.
There are certain things you expect to find in the seat back pocket of a plane, the emergency manual, leftover magazines, SkyMall catalogue, but a stun gun isn't one of them. And that's exactly what a JetBlue crew found on Friday in Newark. It looked something like this. The FBI is joining the investigation into how it happened. The flight originated in Boston but made several stops throughout the day.
Well, it's the journey, not the destination, right? Meet Tom Stuker. He's first person to ever hit the 10 million mile mark in United's mileage plus program. Stuker joined the program back in 1982. Since then, he's hit all 50 states, logged 200 trips to Australia, and taken 60 honeymoons with his wife, same wife.
The automotive industry consultant hit the milestone over the weekend. I'll be talking to him later at 8:20 Eastern on "AMERICAN MORNING."
Kia cars are flying off the lot. The South Korean automaker saw a 17 percent jump in global sales last month compared to June of 2010. And in North America the bump was bigger, sales were up 38 percent compared to the year before
In America, if you didn't notice, is becoming a smartphone nation. More than one in three adults now owns one of the devices. That's according to a new Pew Poll. A lot of multitasking going on and on the go web surfing. In fact, 87 percent of users access the Internet from their phone, a majority logging on at least once a day.
By the way, the poll says the most popular mobile platform is the Droid, followed by iPhone and then BlackBerry.
All that smartphone use is bound to drain the battery. So, now, Americans have the option to charge up with solar power. The Samsung Replenish is the first phone available in the United States with a solar battery panel. Sprint says an hour in direct sunlight can translate into as much as 20 minutes of talk time. That is fascinating. I like that idea.
In this morning's punch line is all about the Octomom haters which made our own Anderson Cooper's "Ridiculist."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
ANDERSON COOPER, "ANDERSON COOPER 360": Octomom is 14 times more concerned about the future than the rest of us. Oh, yes, wrap your mom around that little nugget. Octomom is a hero in my book and her kids are angels. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you potty train eight 2 1/2 years old?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm in the process.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you do it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They've been -- I'm busy just go. (INAUDIBLE) you just do it. The girls are almost potty trained. But since they're already been in preschool. So, now when I'm working, I'm able to work during the day or personally train people when they're in school.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let me ask Amera (ph) a question. Amera, oh, I'm going to ask them. OK, good, there was a light back there --
COOPER: Was that David Gregory picking up poop? It don't see what the big deal is. It's really not that difficult to keep toddlers happy and quiet. For instance, when I met Nancy Grace's kids I thought things went while.
NANCY GRACE, HLN HOST: I want to do whatever makes them happy. Oh, she goes.
COOPER: Uh-oh.
GRACE: Anderson, what did you do to him?
COOPER: I didn't do anything. I swear all I did was hand the kid a piece of paper.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
VELSHI: All right. Time now for your political ticker with Tim Farley, host of "Morning Briefing" on Sirius XM POTUS, live from Washington.
Good morning, Tim.
It looks like the death panel is going to be discussed again. Remember those death panels that we were talking about during the summer of discontent on health care?
TIM FARLEY, HOST, "MORNING BRIEFING" SIRIUS XM POTUS: Exactly, and you just did the story on the smartphones, don't think iPad is something new from Apple. It's the Independent Payment Advisory Board and the Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius is in front of the Senate Budget Committee today to explain what this 15- member panel will do to keep the costs down and she insists, and I talked to her the other day about this, this is not about rationing care. It is about finding the best cost and alternatives moving forward.
Some Democrats are pushing back against this. We'll see how her testimony goes against today.
VELSHI: Oh, my God, you just made a congressional thing into an iPad, Independent Payment Advisory, whatever you said.
FARLEY: Board, right.
VELSHI: PAB.
Let's talk about the debt talks that are going on. It'd be the third day in the row, third straight day for congressional leaders and the president. What's going to happen?
FARLEY: Well, this is the octomob, I guess. This is the eight leaders from the House and Senate who will be speaking with the president once again this afternoon. They just don't seem to be able to find a way beyond the entitlements that Democrats don't want to touch and the taxes that Republicans don't want to add and the president says he won't sign a 30, 60 or 90-day extension of the debt ceiling. However, he did say yesterday we all have to eat our peas and get this done so maybe that's something that's on the menu this afternoon in the meeting.
VELSHI: Did you coin the octomob for the eight congressional leaders?
FARLEY: I just made it up.
VELSHI: That is excellent. You get credit for that.
Tim, good to see you.
FARLEY: Well, thank you.
VELSHI: Thank you, my friend. Enjoy your show. Tim Farley is the host of "Morning Briefing" on Sirius XM POTUS radio.
We know former President Clinton gets paid for his speaking appearance. He's a good speaker, he should get page. Wait until you hear just how much he has collected since leaving the White House. Even I was surprised by this.
But, first, on your way to the office this morning, you may want to stop by your favorite bakery or grocery store or bodega and pick up some pecan pie to share with your co-workers. That's because National Pecan Pie Day, definitely a favorite treat for many Americans.
Nineteen minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Twenty-two minutes after the hour.
Here are three things you need to have on your radar today:
President Obama will meet with congressional leaders at 3:45 this afternoon for the third straight day of talks about increasing the debt ceiling.
The president will award the Medal of Honor to Army Ranger this afternoon at 2:00 p.m. Sergeant First Class Leroy Petri lost his right hand tossing a grenade to fellow soldiers. He served two tours of duty in Iraq, and six in Afghanistan.
And the astronauts aboard the International Space Station will begin a spacewalk at 8:44 Eastern Time this morning. Spacewalk is expected to last about 6 1/2 hours.
All right. Have you checked out Google Plus yet? It's how do you describe it? It's Google's in your face answer to Facebook basically. The tech community likes it, just one problem, it tastes a bit spammy. Google admits it's been spamming users by accident, the company just says it's growing (INAUDIBLE).
Right now, Google Plus has about 4.5 million users, according to one analyst. I'm not one of them, by the way. I didn't get an invitation. I sort of got one, but didn't seem to work.
So, if anybody out there has one, please invite me to Google Plus.
Facebook has about 750 million members, just to give you a sense of scope.
But check this out, the most popular person on Google Plus right now, the one with the most followers, Mark Zuckerberg, Mr. Facebook himself.
And guess what the second most popular social network is in the United States right now? It's LinkedIn. In fact, just past MySpace in Web traffic numbers -- get this -- U.S. traffic to MySpace is now half of what it was in June of last year. I'm getting more LinkedIn invitations from people. So, I'm getting the sense it's being used a lot more than it was.
All right. We got some news about Netflix as well. Its fortunes could be changing radically. Movie studios want more money for their content, for their material, for the movies. So, next year, Netflix might end up paying nearly $2 billion for streaming content that it paid only $180 million for last year.
So, the big question is: how is that going to be passed on to you? Some say it's going to be passed on in terms of higher fees, higher costs for movies. My view is that nobody actually needs movies all that much.
Let's go around the world with Zain Verjee, someone who's never got tired to watch movies. She's live in London, and she's following drama right now out of Afghanistan. Let's put it that way.
The half-brother of the country's president shot and killed in his own home possibly by his own bodyguard? What do you know about this?
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: That's the information that we're getting -- bodyguard killed him with an AK-47, and he died of bullet wounds to the head and chest as well. He was at his home in Kandahar.
Ali, this is a significant incident, this guy was a very powerful guy in Kandahar. He basically controlled the region for his brother, the president, Hamid Karzai.
I was talking to Nic Robertson. He's been to Kandahar a lot. And he said that just nobody would say a bad thing against this guy because he was so feared. He was also accused of dealing drugs and fueling the drug raid that really created a lot of problems for Hamid Karzai.
The reason this matters to the U.S. because they held their nose in spite of this guy's links to drugs because they needed him and needed his control of the area in order to fight the Taliban and push ahead with their offensive. So, it is a blow to the U.S. by his death.
VELSHI: All right. The other story happening where you are is rocking the world. This is the "News of the World" scandal getting bigger now, some --
VERJEE: Gosh.
VELSHI: -- police are questioned by lawmakers today.
VERJEE: There are really serious allegations here, Ali, against the police for corruption and for accepting payoffs for tips and information. What's happening today is that senior police officers are going to be questioned by members of parliament. So, what they want to know is why didn't the police uncover all this information of the hacking that was going on at "News of the World"?
I mean, there were only oh 4,000 cases or so that have now come to light. So, they want answers to that, and they want to know whether Scotland Yard deliberately did not investigate because they just wanted to keep good relationships with the media and news international.
So, really tough questions for the police. Their reputation has been really damaged in this. What they're arguing, Ali, is they're saying, look, you know, there were legal restrictions at the time, and also, they had to focus on other things, like terrorism and they were putting their resources there. There are a lot of questions and they're going to have some pretty tough ones to answer today.
VELSHI: Yes. This has certainly captured the world's attention. Zain, we'll check in with you in a little while. Good to see you as always.
Our own Zain Verjee in London.
All right. Talk ain't cheap, you know that, particularly not cheap for Bill Clinton. In the last 10 years, he's earned more than $75 million just from paid speaking events. Not books, not other things, paid speaking events, almost half of that came from speeches in 13 other countries. Looks to me he's getting about half a million dollars a speech.
If you're eating your morning cheerios, you may want to put down your spoon for a second. A new strain of the klap (ph) is emerging, it's called super gonorrhea, and it's not easy to treat. I'm going to tell you about it after the break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Good morning. It is Tuesday, July the 12th. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. I'm Ali Velshi joining you live this morning from New York. It is 30 minutes after the hour.
Let's start with the news that broke overnight in Afghanistan. The half-brother of that country's president was shot and killed in Kandahar. Apparently, Ahmed Wali Karzai's own guard gunned him down in his house while he was entertaining friends. Now, this Karzai was a controversial. It's him in the middle. His name has been linked to drug dealing and that is something he has denied, but one U.S. diplomatic cable that turned up on WikiLeaks said he was widely known to be a corrupt and a big narcotics trafficker.
A sealed jail house video of Casey Anthony considered highly inflammatory maybe released. It apparently shows her reacting to news reports that a child's body had been found near her parents' home. An "Orlando Sentinel" article from 2009 says that in the tape, Casey Anthony doubles over and starts to hyperventilate. A judge sealed the video two years ago saying it could ruin Anthony's chances at a fair trial, but now, an Orlando TV station is asking the court to release it.
Well, the clap is getting harder to treat. Scientists have discovered a gonorrhea superbug in Japan that's resistant to all forms of antibiotics normally used to treat the STD. Antibiotics have easily wiped out the infection since the 1940s, but doctors say the bug is mutating to survive the medicine. They say it's still too early to tell if it's become widespread.
And a best-selling presidential historian who has appeared on CNN is accused of trying to steal millions of dollars' worth of artifacts. This is Barry Landau, just a few months ago, showing off some historical items from White House Christmases. He's rubbed elbows with president. He's served on an augural committees, and now, he's now an accused thief.
Baltimore Police say Landau and another men tried to take dozens of documents from the Maryland Historical Society. Paper signed by Lincoln inaugural ball invitations, monument commemorations and more. Officials say Landau signed many of the documents out. They were found in the lockers towards the other suspect, Jason Savedoff, at the key.
Two NASA flight engineers are getting ready for the last spacewalk of the shuttle era. It's going to take about six enough hours. They've got three goals, getting a broken pump from outside the International Space Station and stowing it in the shuttle "Atlantis," retrieving a science experiment from the bay and then deploying another one.
And if you think a solar panel has to be bulky and mounted on the top of your house, think again. MIT researchers have shown how solar panels can be printed on cheap materials as thin as newspapers. This video shows the voltage on a meter changes as the solar panel paper is repeatedly folded. Think of the possibilities, homes with solar panel window shades, wallpaper, plastics, you name it.
Well, let's talk about how your money is looking this morning. Let's go to my friend, Joya Dass. She's at the NASDAQ market site for us. Joya, investors spooked again on Monday, more by the debt crisis in Europe than what's going on here and still reeling from Friday's grim jobs report. We got earnings going on now. What's happening this morning?
JOYA DASS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, gosh, what can we say, it's an umbrella effect that's been persisting for months now, just the uncertainty that's in the air. And part of the reason why small business owners actually aren't going to be hiring as of next year. There's new survey that just came out yesterday, and the futures markets, well, Ali, it's more of the same, still pointing lower.
VELSHI: Let's talk about the small businesses in an economy like ours. We really are turning to small businesses for some hope in terms of hiring. What's the problem on the horizon?
DASS: And the first question you got to ask is like why do we even care? And the reason is because small businesses, at least, in the last 15 years have provided a good chunk of the private sector jobs. So, if they're not adding to the head count about two-thirds of the small business owners that were surveyed say that they're not going to be adding to the head count next year, that's not looking very good.
So, what are some of the other things folks are worried about? Well, they're worried about what's going on in Washington. A lot of the small business owners just wish that they would just get out of the way, figure out what's going on with the deficit, figure out what's going on with the debt ceiling and make it happen.
VELSHI: All right. Joya Dass, good to see you this morning. It's been a long time since I've worked with you, but it's a real pleasure to have you back.
DASS: Yes.
VELSHI: That's right. All right. Ever wonder what happens when those TV cars get too close to the cyclists at the Tour de France? Not pretty. Take a look at that.
And before we go, Apple predicts the average user will download 83 apps this year, a significant increase compared to last year. Can you guess the average number of apps downloaded in 2010? Was it 31, 75, or 51? The answer right after the break. It is 34 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Did I mention to you that it's National Pecan Pie Day? Welcome back. Janet Jackson to bring you back in. Thirty-eight minutes after the hour. Today's get smart question of the day. Guess the average number of apps downloaded in 2010. Was it 31 apps, 75 apps, 51 apps the average user? The answer, by the way, is 51 apps, predicted to be up to 83 apps. Apple says people are willing to pay more for each one of them.
On an app to make you smarter about stuff, here's a guy who needs no apps to make him smarter, CNN senior political editor, Mark Preston, has got the "Political Ticker" for us right now. He's on the phone from Washington. Mark, good to talk to you my friend. Listen, yesterday, President Obama making his speech, hinted that it's not just the GOP getting pressure from tea party and fiscal conservatives on their debt negotiations. The president, himself, is facing some heat from his side.
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR (via telephone): Yes he is, Ali. You know, we spend so much time talking about how the tea party is really influential in these debt ceiling negotiations. Well, liberals are up in arms right now because President Obama, Ali, is talking about reforming the big entitlement programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. They're not necessarily part of the debt talk negotiations because President Obama says that they're issued that have to be dealt with.
Republicans do want to deal with them. President Obama says we have to do them as one big package. Well, the liberals are up in arms about this. I think, one group called the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Ali, and as of this morning, 189,000 people have signed on to this online pledge where they are saying they will withhold financial support for President Obama's re-election and also refuse to volunteer for his campaign if he makes any changes to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security and may suggest, at this point right now, Ali, that those 189,000 people are worth this, two million volunteer hours and more than $11 million in contributions.
So, we're seeing all of these interest groups on both sides trying to exert pressure, trying to influence these debt ceiling negotiations.
VELSHI: And the reality is that the answer probably lies in the middle of groups on either side. Mark Preston, good to see you this morning -- good to hear from you this morning, at least. Mark Preston, our senior political editor. It is 40 minutes after the hour.
Here are three things that you should have on your radar today.
President Obama will meet with Congressional leaders at 3:45 eastern this afternoon for the third straight day of talks about the debt ceiling. Plus, the president will award the Medal of Honor to an army ranger this afternoon at two o'clock. Sergeant First Class Leroy Petry lost his right hand tossing the grenade away from fellow soldiers. He served two tours of duty in Iraq and six in Afghanistan.
And, the astronauts aboard the International Space Station will begin a spacewalk at 8:44 eastern time this morning. The spacewalk is expected to last about six and a half hours.
Well, the family of a former NFL player says deputies shot and killed him for no reason. Former Cincinnati Bengals running back, David Turner, was coming out of a Bakersfield convenience store early Sunday when deputies stopped him for allegedly buying alcohol for minors. There was a fight, and the deputies opened fire killing Turner. The sheriff's department has offered no comment.
Daniel Hernandez will be throwing out the first pitch at tonight's major league all-star game in Phoenix. That's him on the right of your screen. Hernandez is the intern in Congresswoman Gabby Giffords; office who gave her first aid after she was shot in January. He is credited by many with helping to save her life.
More on the all-star game. Let's go to Pablo Torre, reporter for "Sports Illustrated" live from New York. What's a deal, Pablo, with the record number of MLB all-star, 83 players in all?
PABLO TORRE, REPORTER, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED: Yes, Ali. I think you and I may still be getting a call about playing third base for the American league in a couple of hours. You know, this year is a mind blowing number of all-stars, and it's actually up to 84 now or one in every nine full-time players, and we get to that number, because 16 different players named to the roster have dropped out due to injury, due to fatigue, and also due to a desire to keep their vacation plans as in the case of our hometown Ace CC Sabathia who wanted to go to the Bahamas.
And he had that scheduled and wanted to keep on going. So, he's headed there instead of Arizona, and that's all somewhat insulting, of course, because this is meant as much as an honor it is for the players --
VELSHI: All right. Looks like we lost Pablo. All right. Pablo's gone. We'll check in on him later. We'll talk more about the all- star game.
Hey, before we go, you may remember on this day in history, in 1979, Chicago White Sox fans dealt disco a death blow, public black lash against the genre reached its peak with thousands of fans crowding Comiskey Park for the infamous disco demolition night. Bad night in history. Forty-three minutes after the hour. We'll coming right back.
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VELSHI: All right, still eating that pie. Good morning. It's Tuesday, July 12th. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. I'm Ali Velshi joining you live this morning from New York. Forty-five minutes after the hour.
Let's start with that news that broke overnight in pak -- in Afghanistan. The half-brother of that country's president was shot and killed in Kandahar. Now, apparently, Ahmed Wali Karzai, the man you see here, his own guard gunned him down in his house while he was entertaining friends. Now, this Karzai was one controversial figure.
His name has been linked to drug dealing, something that he's denied. One U.S. diplomatic cable that turned up on WikiLeaks said he was widely known to be corrupt and to be a narcotics trafficker.
Let's go around the world to Pakistan now. Fresh reports about the steps that the U.S. took to track down Osama Bin Laden. The CIA reportedly ran a phony vaccination project in Abbottabad, all part of a plan to gather DNA to figure out if the Bin Laden family was actually there, and the Pakistani doctor suspected of running the operation is now being detained. Reza Sayah is live in Islamabad for us. Reza, what do you know about this?
REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Pakistani intelligence source tells us that, indeed, his doctor has been arrested. It's not clear if he's going to (INAUDIBLE) so a very intricate plot by the CIA to confirm that Bin Laden was living and hiding out in Abbottabad. These are fascinating details. The intelligence source tells us that this doctor staged a fake vaccination campaign, and he was advertising free shots and free vaccinations for the kids in Abbottabad.
The British paper, "The Guardian," is reporting that he hired two nurses who went around house to house and the plan was to get to The Bin Laden kids, extract some blood or use the syringes to match their DNA with Bin Laden's sister's DNA who died in Boston last year. In deed today, we spoke with residents of Abbottabad, and six of them, (INAUDIBLE) all around in April from house to house offering free vaccinations. We hadn't been able to verify if they got in to the Bin Laden compound. (INAUDIBLE)
VELSHI: All right. Unfortunately, we're having some problems today with our transmissions. We'll check in with Reza a little bit later.
Let me bring you back here to the U.S. for some news that we're following here.
Top Democrats and Republicans plan to meet again this afternoon for the third straight day of negotiations over the debt ceiling. Now, they've been asked to bring their ideas on how to close what we're hearing is a $600 billion gap between spending cuts that are already there and other savings that Republicans want. The long and the short of it, there's no deal yet, just a brick wall, kind of like the way Jay Leno's show handled the whole debate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED KID: I said no!
UNIDENTIFIED KID: I said no first!
UNIDENTIFIED KID: I said no first!
UNIDENTIFIED KID: No, I said no first!
UNIDENTIFIED KID: I said no first!
UNIDENTIFIED KID: Be quiet!
UNIDENTIFIED KID: You be quiet!
UNIDENTIFIED KID: You be quiet now!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: The question is, which one is the Democrat, which one is the Republican? President Obama even alluded to childhood to describe what they have to do to settle this debate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARAK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We might as well do it now, pull off the Band-Aid, eat our peas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: The meeting, by the way, today's meeting is set for 3:45 p.m. eastern. Maybe, we'll see then who decides to eat their peas.
Here's another story you'll hear a lot about today. Julian Assange, Mr. WikiLeaks, probably the most famous whistleblower on the planet, his court appeal should be underway in London. It has nothing to do with putting classified government information on the internet. It has to do with sex accusations in Sweden which Assange denies.
He's trying to avoid extradition. That's what the appeal is all about. His lawyers are afraid that Sweden would extradite to him to the United States to face accusations that are related to WikiLeaks.
Two planes collide in midair in a narrow Alaskan mountain pass, and then, they land safely. They'll be (ph) right. No one was hurt. Investigators say the pilots didn't see each other until the very last second. One skimmed the top of the other, and they both landed with little damage. A sigh of relief from all 13 people on board.
Speaking of planes, there are certain things you expect to find in the seat back pocket of a plane, the emergency manual, leftover magazines, sky mall catalogues, but a stun gun isn't one of them. That's what a JetBlue crew found Friday in Newark. Look like this. Now, the FBI is joining the investigation into how it happened. The flight originated in Boston but made several stops throughout the day.
Well, it's a journey, not the destination, right? Meet Tom Stuker. He's the first ever -- the first person to ever hit the 10 million- mile mark in United's Mileage Plus Program. Stuker joined the program back in 1982. Since then, he's hit all 50 states, logged 200 trips to Australia, taken 60honeymoons with his wife. The automotive industry consultant hit the milestone over the weekend. We'll be talking to him later at 8:20 a.m. on "American Morning."
All right. Look at the map of the United States. We got a couple of Carolinas, a pair of Virginias, and a matching set of Dakotas. So, why not two Californias? The Riverside County supervisor plans to propose the idea today. He wants a bunch of southern counties to secede and form the state of South Carolina. L.A., by the way, is not invited into that mix. This is a byproduct of frustration over the state's budget woes. Governor Jerry Brown calls the idea supremely ridiculous.
Let go to Rob Marciano live from Atlanta. Any flight delays out there to anywhere including the state of South California?
MARCIANO: Well, Northern California, I supposed, where San Francisco will see some low clouds and fog. You know, there's a huge difference as we know culturally between North California and South California. So, I'm surprised it's been this long for someone which is upset (ph). Denver, you'll see thunderstorms that will create some delays as well.
The heat and humidity is going to be the other big story today. Record breaking in some spots and dangerously hot in others from Dallas through Oklahoma, and some of these areas, they've seen a 100- degree plus days for well over a week now and not including humidity, but D.C. 101 degrees there, and again, that doesn't include humidity. So, try to stay cool some way, somehow out there. We're in the thick of it now. We're in the middle of July. It's tough to stay on the chilly side, that's for sure.
VELSHI: I want to ask you something. You weather guys know a lot about everywhere including area codes. Anheuser-Busch is trying to trademark the area code. The idea is to make beers with certain cities with area codes in the name. So, in Chicago, you get 312 Urban Wheat Ale. It's a beer that's already sold by a company in Chicago that was taken over by Anheuser-Busch. So, that's 312.
They've applied for 15 more area codes, 215 Philly, 202 for Washington, and haven't applied for something in New York. No, no 212. What do you think of the idea? I think it's kind of neat. Local beer with a local area code.
MARCIANO: I think they're stealing it from a brew here in Georgia called Sweetwater 420, although, I think the 420 has nothing to do with an area code.
VELSHI: I'll tell you, the problem with area codes on beers is it going to contribute to a lot of drunk dialing.
(LAUGHTER)
MARCIANO: You're right about that. It's a disclaimer.
VELSHI: You start drunk dialing locals when you visit a place. Rob, good to see you. We'll check in with you a little later.
Hey, before we go, today's word of the day is planking. If you don't know what planking means, we're going to tell you after the break. If you do know what it means, you've got to see the video and pictures of Richard Simmons partaking in the planking. Fifty-three minutes after the hour.
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VELSHI: It is 56 minutes after the hour. Now, back to the word of the day. It's planking. We pulled the definition from tech-o- pedia.com. Planking is a game where a participant lies face down in unusual locations, keeping the hands along the body and the feet outstretch. Here's a picture of it. It's Richard Simmons planking. It's a bit disturbing, but it explained what planking is. At some point, I'll talk to my producers and find out why it is planking is our word of the day, but if anybody brings it up, you'll know what it is.
Here are three things you need to have on your radar today.
President Obama will meet with Congressional leaders at 3:45 eastern this afternoon for the third straight day of talks about the debt ceiling.
Plus, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is hosting the Women in Finance Investment Symposium this morning at 8:30 a.m. in D.C. It's a series of panel discussion recognizing women who have risen to leadership roles in investment and what it means for economic growth in America.
And the astronauts aboard the International Space Station will begin a spacewalk at 8:44 eastern time this morning. The spacewalk is expected to last about six and a half hours.
Time now for a quick check on how the world's money is doing. Kristie Lu Stout live in our Hong Kong bureau. Kristie, what do you know?
STOUT: Hey there, Ali. European markets are in the red so far this day. The arrows were all red all across Asia today. The Nikkei closed down 1.4 percent. The bank of Japan also lowered its fiscal year growth forecast for the country, and thanks to the quake and tsunami that devastated the country back in March.
VELSHI: Kristie, we are into second quarter earnings right now. We got some good earnings from Alcoa. We got some bad stuff from Cisco. What are you following?
STOUT: OK. A lot to get to is through different company's ups and down. We'll start first with Alcoa. It's key to earning's speed expectations. The aluminum maker, it reported earnings that beat the street of about $364 million, but what is the outlook for Dunkin' Donuts. Well, its parent company, Dunkin' Brands, plans to raise as much as $461 million in upcoming IPO, and finally, about CISCO, there were reports out there of some major job cuts for the company. Sources are saying that Cisco plans to cut as many as 10,000 jobs as Cisco's main business slow in recent years. Back to you, Ali.
VELSHI: It's gaining on some fronts, Cisco, particularly, a consumer business and its tele presence. Dunkin Donuts definitely seeing making penetrating in the new areas around here. There's one nearby. We're seeing a lot of people drinking Dunkin. Do you have Dunkin in Hong Kong?
STOUT: No, we don't, but it is in Asia. It's in (ph) South Korea, and of course, when they do this IPO, they're going to pay on their debt and also expand internationally. They're looking at Northeast Asia as well as the Middle East.
VELSHI: All right. Kristie Lu Stout, great to see you, as always. Thanks so much. The former California governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, is apparently ready to return to the big screen. That's according to several media reports out this morning. He'll star in "The Last Stand," it's a western by South Korean director, Kim Ji Wun. They're hoping to shoot this year. It will be Schwarzenegger's first significant role since "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" in 2003. He put his Hollywood return on hold after scandal broke about a son that he fathered with his former housekeeper.
And in this morning's punch line, it's all about the octomom haters which made our own Anderson Cooper's ridiculist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: octomom is 14 times more concerned about the future than the rest of us. Oh, yes. Wrap your mind around that little nugget. Octomom is a hero in my book, and her kids are angels.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Potty train's 2 1/2-year-olds.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How did you do it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You just go.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You just do it. The girls are almost potty trained, but since January, they've been in preschool. So, now that I'm working, I'm able to work during the day or personally train people when they're in school.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: American Morning continues right now.
