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American Morning: Wake Up Call
New Sanctions Against Iran's Quds Force; BlackBerry Outage Spreads; Celebrities Hacked, Man Charged; Bank Responds To Online Petition; Domestic Violence: A Crime Again
Aired October 13, 2011 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: New developments in the assassination terror plot involving Iran. The U.S. Treasury Department is taking action today. Lawmakers meet on the issue.
The FBI busts a man in Florida for hacking into the e-mail accounts of celebrities and dozens of other people. Investigators say he was able to figure out people's secret passwords.
Big apologies after another major BlackBerry service outage. This morning, we're finding out more about what went wrong.
Good morning to you. It is Thursday, October 13th. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL.
I'm Carol Costello, joining you live this morning from New York.
The U.S. is urging other countries to cut ties with Iran for what it calls the terror plot, targeting Saudi Arabia's ambassador in Washington. The Treasury Department has slapped new sanctions against Iran's Quds force. The government describes a money trail starting within that Iranian organization.
But former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge says think bigger.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM RIDGE, FMR. HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: It's a monstrous leap of faith. It's incredulous to think that someone in the Quds force would be operating unilaterally in independent either of the ayatollah himself or Ahmadinejad. I mean, quite -- clearly that, is a force under the control of the hierarchy of the mullahs within Iran. So, I just can't imagine that anybody has been authorized to operate independently of that leadership.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Senator Joe Lieberman tells CNN a military response should be considered, saying, "This kind of behavior by Iran cannot go un-responded to. The president as commander-in-chief, our allies, including the Saudis who were the target here, have a lot of options that are both overt and covert. In my opinion, there has to be a response," that's, end quote, from Senator Joe Lieberman.
And, by the way, a Senate hearing today will discuss current sanctions against Iran.
A major surprise on day two in the trial against the accused underwear bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. He pleaded guilty to all charges against him. His legal adviser Anthony Chambers spoke outside the courthouse.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY CHAMBERS, ABDULMUTALLAB LEGAL ADVISER: It's a situation where he just simply reflected upon what had occurred and what he thought was the best decision. There's nothing in particular that caused this to happen. It clearly was not opening any piece of evidence by one witness. It's a decision that was against the advice of counsel but his decision that he chose to make and he believed to be the right thing to do today based upon his own feelings.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The Nigerian native tried to detonate an explosive device on the Detroit-bound flight on Christmas Day in 2009. He said he did it to avenge the death of innocent Muslims.
A man suspected of going on a killing spree at a southern California beauty salon is in custody this morning. He's identified as 42-year-old Scott Dekraai. Investigators say he was taken into custody without incident but now trying to figure out a motive. Wednesday's rampage left eight people dead and a ninth person in critical condition.
A warning for the "Occupy Wall Street" protesters and it's coming from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
The protesters have been using New York's Zuccotti Park to hold their anti-Wall Street demonstrations for the past four weeks. During his visit to the park yesterday, the mayor said the park would be cleaned on Friday and cautioned the protesters to obey the rules. At a news conference, the mayor talked about the legality of holding the protests in a public park.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (I), NEW YORK CITY: We believe the law says that they, because of the terms of the Zuccotti Park was created, we don't know that we could force them out if we wanted to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Political news this morning, Herman Cain is now leading the pack. That's according to an NBC News/"Wall Street Journal" poll. Cain is the first choice among 27 percent of Republican voters. It's a four-point lead over Mitt Romney. Rick Perry comes in third. We're going to talk more about this new poll in our Political Ticker in about 10 minutes.
The important thing to remember about this poll, it was taken before Tuesday's debate. We'll talk more about that later, as I said.
Shocking video out of Florida. A 70-year-old bus monitor is caught on camera beating and biting a 14-year-old student.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DRIVER: Yvonne, he didn't mean to do that!
STUDENT: Let the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) go of me!
DRIVER: He didn't mean to do it!
BRANCH: Yes, he did!
DRIVER: No, he didn't! He was just --
(EXPLETIVE DELETED)
DRIVER: Yvonne!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: This happened back in June.
The Polk County state attorney's office just released the security video. It all started when the 14-year-old threw a much smaller student over the seat, hitting the bus monitor in the face and chest. The bus monitor now faces child abuse charges.
Let's head to Atlanta and Rob Marciano.
I'm sorry, that story led into you, Rob. That was terrible.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Violence. Violence this morning.
COSTELLO: Wow.
MARCIANO: Listen, we'll do a little weather and then show you a more life giving story at the end of the weather cast.
First off, some video coming into us out of Mexico, talked about hurricane Jova yesterday. This is the video, the satellite nonetheless. You see it disappear quite rapidly, but tremendous amount of rain with this. Over a foot of rain in many spots, and this is what you get.
If you've been in this part of the west coast, in Mexico, you know the hills go up in a hurry. So, flash flooding with a foot of rain is not out of the question. You get some torrents of water coming through that particular city. It's still raining there and still raining in the mountains. The winds have since died down.
All right. Here is the satellite picture as mentioned. There you see it disappearing as far as the infrared satellite imageries go. A little bit closer to home, the eastern half of the country, eastern third, maybe eastern Mississippi is where we'll see the most unsettled weather today. West of there, it would be windy and some cases hot across part of the desert southwest.
Two spots of rain this morning. The big cities, Chicago, slicing back through St. Louisville and New York City up through Boston, this is relatively light stuff but will continue to be unsettled throughout the day. And that will cause some travel delays in the New York metro hubs and in Chicago as well, potentially seeing over an hour delay if both of those spots. Boston, Philadelphia to a lesser extent, and Atlanta and Charlotte also seeing showers that may lead to some delays.
Still mild side, though, 69 in New York and 67 degrees in Chicago. It will be 64 degrees up there in Minneapolis.
All right. Missouri, you know, a lot of people have twins these days. Well, a couple in Missouri, carol, had twins. But had one of the babies on October 1st in one city, in Bellevue. And apparently, the baby number two was not ready to come into the world. So they stopped momma's contractions and let her go home for a couple days, I guess.
On October 6th, five days later, Carol, the next baby was born in a completely different city in another hospital. Both are said to be doing relatively well. But looks to me like they're on the small side. So maybe they came a little bit early.
COSTELLO: Ooh! Actually, that's good for them because they'll have their own birthday.
MARCIANO: Yes, they won't -- yes, they won't be so same person, I guess. Yes, they get to celebrate two different days, two different birthdays, two different separate sets of friends.
COSTELLO: Yes.
MARCIANO: I never thought about that, you know? It could be cool to have a twin brother or sister, but yes, you'd have to share your birthday. Almost like having your birthday on Christmas.
COSTELLO: That's true.
MARCIANO: I always felt bad for those kids.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: I'm sure it will be fine for them.
Thank you, Rob. We appreciate it.
MARCIANO: See you, Carol.
COSTELLO: The "Occupy Wall Street" movement has taken off across the country which means jokes about it are popping up everywhere.
Here is Jimmy Kimmels's take on the protests.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
JIMMY KIMMEL, COMEDIAN: These protests have been going on for quite some time and they're starting to become a burden on local businesses in the area. But there is a notable exception -- one business which has managed to find a way to actually make some money on all this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This holiday season, give a loved one a unique, memorable gift that will last a lifetime. Now for the first ever, you can name a Wall Street occupier after that special someone on your gift list, introducing the international Wall Street occupier registry. The international Wall Street occupier registry has a limited number of occupiers available for naming. For just $54.99, we'll select a unique occupier and tattoo the name of your loved one on his or her arm.
Your special someone will receive a full color photo of their personal occupier, along with certificates of authenticity. And if and when the occupier gets arrested, your loved one's name will appear on the police blotter.
Call 1-800-720-0622 to reserve your occupier now. Don't be a douche, call today.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
COSTELLO: Just that last line got me. Don't be -- you heard it.
When BlackBerry goes down, you feel lost. No, you feel really, really angry. Millions of customers around the world lost service and they want it back, like now. What's being done to get you back online? We'll have that just ahead.
But, first, here's today's "Quote of the Day." This is the quote, "If you could get another ultra-rich American to publish their returns along with mine, that would be very useful to the tax dialogue and intelligent reform," end quote.
Can you guess who said that? We'll have the answer for you in a couple minutes, right after a short break.
It's nine minute past.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It is 11 past the hour. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL.
Today's "Quote of the Day," this is the quote, "If you could get other ultra-rich Americans to publish their tax returns along with mine that, that would be very useful to tax dialogue and intelligent reform," end quote.
You might have guessed this one. That was all part of what was in the letter that billionaire investor Warren Buffett sent to Republican Congressman Tim Huelskamp. This is all part of his campaign, Buffett's campaign rather, to get Congress to raise taxes on the uber rich. Buffett also revealed that his adjusted gross income last year was $62.9 million. His federal income tax bill was nearly $7 million.
Another black eye for the company that makes BlackBerrys. Millions of BlackBerry users across the globe have seen their service disrupted this week. And now, the problem has spread to the United States.
Let's head to Hong Kong and Kristie Lu Stout.
My BlackBerry service was down most of the day yesterday. But it appears to be back now. Is that true with all customers?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: There is some progress in some areas because the maker of the BlackBerry is in damage control mode. Research in Motion is still struggling to restore BlackBerry service in much of the world. And the issue, as you mentioned, Carol, it has spread into North America.
Now, an update from the company's Web site announced a significant increase in service levels in Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa. And more modest progress there in the U.S. and in Canada.
Now, Stephen Bates, he is the managing director of RIM in U.K. and Ireland, he says the company is frantically working on a fix.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN BATES, MANAGING DIRECTOR, RIM FOR U.K. & IRELAND: At this stage, we understand the frustration our customers have because BlackBerry is used as a communication vehicle for people to connect with their friends, their family and work colleagues. So, we understand the importance of that system working in real time.
And we do see some improvements. We have seen a marked improvement in the service (ph) of both business and consumer e-mail through our systems. And we still don't think we're out of the woods yet. And our team is working and is going to continue working night and day until we get to that resolution point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STOUT: Not out of the woods yet. Now, RIM shares are already down some 60 percent this year. And expected to see more downward pressure on Friday with the launch of the Apple iPhone 4S. Back to you.
COSTELLO: I smell the purchases of many, many more iPhones, just saying.
Let's talk about -- what? Go ahead.
STOUT: Oh, sorry. Well, anyway, again, got a really good next story to tell you about.
About NASA exploring balloons for space travel. And this one is straight out of a Jules Verne novel. NASA is testing balloons for space exploration.
Now, how exactly would they be used? Well, potential projects include a suborbital spacecraft and a probe that would float through Saturn's moon atmosphere. Now, a trip to Saturn would require a balloon that can withstand temperatures of around negative 292 degrees Fahrenheit.
And they're testing these next generation balloons with an Oregon-based company. It's called Near Space Corp in a World War II era blimp hangar. Just consider a lab with a little history. Cool history.
Back to you, Carol.
COSTELLO: That is a cool story and a much more positive story than the BlackBerry story was.
Kristie Lu Stout, thanks as always, live from Hong Kong.
Who will eventually come out on top for the Republican race for the White House? Mitt Romney has been holding steady. But Herman Cain continues to surge to the top in a brand new poll. What does it all mean?
It's 13 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Sixteen minutes past the hour.
Comedians are still joking about the GOP debate from Tuesday night. Jay Leno takes issue with the music choices.
Here's your punch line.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
JAY LENO, COMEDIAN: You have noticed during the debates the more boring the candidates are the more dramatic and exciting the music is? Here's the music -- this is the actual music from last night's debate. Listen to it.
(MUSIC)
LENO: Now see? For that kind of music, this is what the candidates should look like.
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
COSTELLO: That was really funny.
Hi, Tim Farley.
It's time for our Political Ticker with Tim Farley, host of "Morning Briefing" on Sirius POTUS.
TIM FARLEY, SIRIUS POTUS: Where's my sword? I left it here somewhere.
COSTELLO: Yes. Where's your loin cloth? That's what I want to know?
FARLEY: We're not going to get into. Thank you very much.
COSTELLO: OK. That's probably good.
Let's talk about this instead. President Obama's senior campaign strategist David Axelrod is going after the Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, calling him a flip-flopper. But he does stop short of labeling Romney as the presumptive nominee.
CNN contributor Ari Fleischer and former Bush secretary Ari Fleisher, he calls the move about by the Obama administration an interesting new development.
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARI FLEISCHER, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: When you're a president and you can't run on what you've done, you attack anybody you can find. And I think they're trying to undermine whoever the eventual Republican nominee is going to be.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I actually recall not -- right about this time in 2003 when President Bush was running for re-election, they telegraphed a strategy in which they would go after the Democratic nominee.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Oh, so which line of thought do we believe, Tim Farley?
FARLEY: Well, you know, this is sort of like watching that movie "War Games," where all of a sudden, at the end, a different strategies pop up on the screen and there's mutually assured destruction in either case. I don't think that will happen here.
Look, this is a long boxing match. It's anyone who watches boxing will tell you, it's the jabs and the body blows that work until you get to eventually the knockout punch. It does seem that this does signal, if I could use that analogy and beat it to death, that they're trying -- that they are telegraphing their punches. They are thinking that Mitt Romney is going to be the one they have to beat.
And they've got to do some work because the push is going to be to try to portray him as a flip-flopper and all these other kinds of things. Meanwhile, they have to run against their own record which is the biggest challenge for this administration, regardless of who have the Republican nominee is. But it does seem more and more they're leaning that way.
And it's not just the White House, by the way, Carol. The DNC, Democratic National Committee, has already sent out e-mails specifically to Michigan voters to talk about Mitt Romney because they see him as somebody who will be competing in the Michigan primary. And so, the message is spreading right now. It does seem that they're looking at Mitt as the man.
COSTELLO: With everybody pushing the primaries up, too, maybe they have to act sooner. I don't know. It's just strange. New Hampshire's primary could be on December 6th.
FARLEY: Yes. Well, if they think Mitt Romney is going to be the one who is going to emerge victorious, regardless of how the primary schedule works out, they're looking long ball and they're seeing that Romney is the man. So, they need the death of 1,000 cuts starting with the cuts right now.
COSTELLO: Yes. But you want to weaken them as soon as possible. You know, at least in the voter's mind.
Let's talk about Herman Cain because in this new "Wall Street Journal" poll, he leads the pack. One caveat to that poll, of course, it was taken before the Republican debate on Tuesday. But still, he's ahead of Mitt Romney in this poll.
FARLEY: Well, he had a pretty good debate on Tuesday, too. So, you wouldn't see the numbers drop anyway.
This is a national poll. And that's important to remember. It's also important to remember that people don't win nominations by winning national polls. They win it state by state.
Herman Cain has not done much in Iowa. You'll remember also that when Mike Huckabee who eventually won Iowa came out with his candidacy in 2008, he was pushing something called a fair tax.
The 9-9-9 tax and spending plan that Herman Cain came out with doesn't sell very well among a lot of conservatives. That may be proved to be part of his undoing. It is simple. It's easy to understand. They like his positive, upbeat message.
And they like the fact that he's not Mitt Romney. I think that's one of the key parts of this, Carol, is that it's more of a problem for Mitt Romney which shows that he hasn't sold anybody yet. While the Democrats are saying he's the inevitable candidate, and Republicans may think he is, but they're not really excited about that now.
COSTELLO: I think Roger Simon from "Politico" put it best. He said Republicans' hearts are with Herman Cain and their brains are with Mitt Romney. So, we'll see how it works out.
Thank you very much, Tim Farley, as always -- Tim Farley, host of "Morning Briefing" on Sirius POTUS Radio.
A four-hour fire fight, one of Gadhafi's sons captured. That's the word coming out of Libya, as rebels try to take full control of the loyalist's last stronghold. More details on that for you, straight ahead.
It's 21 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Twenty-four minutes past the hour. Welcome back.
Rebels say they have captured one of Gadhafi's sons. But haven't we heard that before?
Let's head around the world with Monita Rajpal. She's live in London.
So, is this true or not true? Has the transitional council -- does it have one of Moammar Gadhafi's sons in its control?
MONITA RAJPAL, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: I guess the answer for that right now, Carol, is we don't know. Word came Wednesday that after four-hour firefight in the battleground of Sirte, one of Moammar Gadhafi's sons had been captured. Mutassim Gadhafi was Libya's national security adviser. And under his father's regime, he had a prominent role in the military and security forces.
Now, some reports suggest he was directing operations in Sirte, that's Moammar Gadhafi's hometown. While others say he didn't really have a formal role.
Now, initially, the National Transitional Council who we're quoting field commanders in Sirte say Mutassim Gadhafi, along with a number of aides, were captured and were then taken to Benghazi, the eastern part of Libya. But then, later, a spokesman again for the NTC in Benghazi said that as far as they were concerned, there is no confirmation that Mutassim Gadhafi has been captured.
Now, as you said, this happened before. About a month ago, the International Criminal Court had reported that another of Colonel Gadhafi's son had been arrested in Tripoli. But shortly afterwards, Saif al-Islam was then seen by reporters.
So, at this point, there's no word on any of the Gadhafis' whereabouts -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Including the big one, Moammar Gadhafi himself. He's still out there somewhere. But no one knows where.
OK. Let's move on to this other story because it's pretty fascinating. It involves pirates and a message in a bottle.
RAJPAL: Yes, I keep hearing Sting's song in my head right now. This is a story that is about more details about his rescue operation that took place in the waters off Somalia early this week. An Italian ship, a picture of which you can see here, with 23 crew onboard, was hijacked by pirates who destroyed the ship's communications system.
The captain of the Monte Cristo then activated what rescuers would describe as the best maritime practices. Essentially, the crew barricaded themselves in the engine room after throwing a message overboard in a bottle. They also put up a cardboard sign to let rescuers know where they were.
The crew were freed by troops operating under NATO's Operation Ocean Shield. It was made by U.S. and British troops along with the Italian military. Eleven pirates surrendered and are now in NATO custody.
The question that I still have is, how did they find that bottle in the ocean?
COSTELLO: I was going to ask you. It's a big ocean. It's a little bottle. But I guess -- I don't know, they had some great forces with them. The force was with them.
RAJPAL: Yes.
COSTELLO: I don't know.
Monita Rajpal, thanks so much, live in London this morning.
A hacking case targeting some of Hollywood's elite. A Florida man accused of hacking the computers of celebrities and then posting some very private things online. You will hear from him just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Good morning you to. It is Thursday, October 13th. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. I'm Carol Costello joining you live from New York. It is 30 minutes past the hour.
This morning, we're hearing from the Florida man accused of hacking into some Hollywood celeb cell phones. The feds say Christopher Chaney hacked into computer accounts and other devices of more than 50 people, including actress Scarlet Johansson and singer Christina Aguilera.
Investigators say he uploaded nude photos of some of the victims online. Cheney tells our affiliate WAWS what started out as a curiosity soon turned into a strong addiction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, what would you do with the information you found in those e-mails? CHRISTOPHER CHANEY, HACKING SUSPECT: It's nothing. I mean it was almost like reading a completely uncensored blog. I mean, I wasn't saving archives of e-mails to maybe blackmail someone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Cheney is charged with 26 counts, and he faces a maximum of 121 years in prison if he is convicted.
A petition with 200,000 signatures on it got Bank of America's attention, but that may be all. A bank executive personally called 22-year-old Molly Katchpole this week. As we told you last week, Molly is the one who launched the online petition after Bank of America said it would charge debit card users a $5 fee.
Well, the Bank of America executive told Molly he understands customers' frustration, but he says, cancelling the fee would be, quote, "premature."
The justice department is going to court seeking information about last year's massive gulf oil spill. The target, Transocean, the company that drilled the well that failed, gushing oil into the gulf for months. Government lawyers say Transocean has failed to answer subpoenas for information about the disaster.
Transocean says the board asking for it doesn't have the authority to investigate. And that's why they're so slow with these things.
Today, in the Dr. Conrad Murray trial, the defense will get its chance to cross-examine a sleep expert who says Propofol has no therapeutic value in treating insomnia. He says to use for that purpose is beyond comprehension. A cardiologist also took the stand yesterday.
He said Michael Jackson would still be alive if Dr. Murray hadn't waited so long to call 911. In a taped police interview played in court, Dr. Murray said he only tried to help Jackson.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. CONRAD MURRAY, DEFENDANT: I mean, I loved Mr. Jackson. He was my friend. And he opened up to me in different ways. And I wanted to help him as much as I can.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: As for the defense, it is now dropping its theory that Jackson may have orally ingested, you know, swallowed the Propofol blamed for killing him.
In Topeka, Kansas, the county prosecutor now says his office will resume prosecuting domestic abuse cases though with little money and less staff. The move comes one day after the Topeka City Council facing a budget crisis of its own voted to repeal the city's misdemeanor domestic battery law making it in effect legal to abuse your spouse in Topeka. About 30 suspects have gone unprosecuted since the standoff began a month ago.
A new report says the United States remained largely unprepared for a large-scale bioterrorism attack or a deadly disease outbreak. The U.S. got a failing grade for its ability to handle a large scale event like the global epidemic depicted in the movie, "Contagion." It also got Ds across the board for its ability to develop and quickly approve medical counter measures such as vaccines.
If you paid nearly $7 million in income taxes, would say you paid your fair share? Warren Buffett says, he didn't. He says that's not enough. He reveals his tax records just ahead. Thirty-four minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Welcome back. It's 35 minutes past the house.
A state capital files for bankruptcy? You'd expect that these days if you'd be right. Let's head to Christine Romans. She's live here with me in New York. So, Christine, I'm not even surprised by this, and that's the saddest part.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, there are other cities this happened, too. I mean, you've seen cities going into hundred millions of dollars in debt. And why? Well, in this case, this is a higher rate of poverty than other cities in the area. So, as the economy is really taking a hit, that means the cities had to do an awful lot more for its residents. Also, you just have this idea of foreclosed homes that are pot (ph) marking certain areas.
That's a big expense for cities as they have to have, you know, police and firefighters to board them up. They have to take care of some of these abandoned (ph) properties or at least control them, and lost revenue from the recession. No question. So, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, we've also seen big budget problems in cities like Central Falls, Rhode Island.
You remember that one. Boise County, Idaho, Jefferson County, Alabama, all of these places either facing bankruptcy, have declared bankruptcy, or somehow managed to avoid it and are now emerging from it. Here is the issue for a lot of these places. When they have to cut their budgets, it's something that you feel immediately, because this is the government that is closest to you, right?
I mean this is -- this is the firefighters, these are the people on the front lines, the people who respond when you pick up the phone and call the city. So, that's why it really shows how the recession has come right down and hit some of these towns very, very difficult.
COSTELLO: Yes. Let's talk about Warren Buffett. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact he made, what, $62 million last year?
ROMANS: Yes. Well, Warren Buffett, I mean, remember, he's one of the world's richest men, and he's someone who is a very careful investor, a very careful businessman who has earned seriously earned his business chops over many, many years of investing. So, in the year 2010, what did he earn? He told Congress in a letter detailing exactly what his earnings were, his total income, $62.9 million.
His taxable income, $39.8 million. He paid $15,000 in payroll taxes. That's the cap, of course. His federal tax bill was about $6.9 million. So, that's what Warren Buffett, himself, sent in to the government coffers. That equals about a 17.4 percent tax rate on his taxable income. So, 17.4 percent was his tax rate. Of course, you know the tax brackets, Carol, are much, much higher than that.
And that's one thing that Warren Buffett has said again and again. That it isn't fair that he paid 17.4 percent when the secretary, for example, is paying in the 30s. Just not fair. So, that's how he plays into the whole debate about is it fair, the fair share that the share that the rich are paying in their taxes? He says, no. And that's Congress, of course, debating that.
COSTELLO: Yes. And that controversy goes on. Christine Romans, thanks. I'll join you in just a bit.
ROMANS: Sure.
COSTELLO: GOP candidate, Herman Cain, surges to the top of a new poll. He's hot. We'll break it down for you next. It's 38 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Good morning. It's 40 minutes past the hour.
Herman Cain is leading the pack. That's according to an NBC News/"Wall Street Journal" poll. He is the first choice, Cain is, among 27 percent of Republican voters. It's a four-point lead over rival, Mitt Romney. Rick Perry comes in third.
In what's being called a major win for American workers and businesses, Congress has passed free trade deals with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea. The White House Republicans and big business groups called the deal job creators claiming it will spur $13 billion in new exports each year.
But union groups say there's no proof that trade deals were delivered tens of thousands of new jobs. They also say the deals don't do enough to protect workers' rights in those nations. President Obama will welcome the South Korean president, by the way, to the White House tonight for a state visit.
Attorney General Eric Holder is among several top justice department officials named in a Congressional subpoena. Investigators are requiring information about a controversial program called "Operation Fast and Furious." The program which allowed the illegal sales of guns believed to be destined for Mexican drug cartels came under fire after weapons found at a Mexican and American murder scenes were traced back to the program.
BlackBerry outages frustrating millions of users across the globe. What's being done to make sure we stay online? We're talking to one of the men in charge. That's just ahead.
But first, one year ago today, the 33 Chilean miners were rescued after being trapped underground for more than two months. That rescue operation took 22 hours. It's 42 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Good morning you to. It is Thursday, October 13th. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. I'm Carol Costello joining you live this morning from New York. It's 44 minutes past the hour.
Serious outages for BlackBerry users affecting people on five different continents. So, let head round the world with Erin McLaughlin. She is live from -- near the RIM Headquarters in Slough, England. Erin, this is affecting a lot of people for days now. Are these outages finally over?
ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, some good news for BlackBerry users across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Research in Motion telling this morning that there has been some significant improvements within their network this morning. As of 6:00 a.m., British standard time, BlackBerry users have a full range of services here in Europe including e-mail, including BlackBerry messaging, as well as browsing.
Now, throughout the night, executives had been working here in the building just behind me to resolve this issue. And they are saying that they're cautiously optimistic about their progress, Carol.
COSTELLO: So, do we know what's behind all of this? What's behind the outages?
MCLAUGHLIN: Well, yes, Carol. This is an infrastructure problem that happened in what they call a core switch here in Europe. It's a place where most of the data flows through the network here in Europe. And that core switch went out last night. Stephen Bates, the managing director here for the UK, talked to us a little bit about the problem.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN BATES, RIM'S UK MANAGING DIRECTOR: The root cause behind this messaging and browsing delay is in the core switching systems within the RIM infrastructure. Typically, within the RIM infrastructure, we do have a lot of backup systems to provide that resiliency. And in the case of the switching systems, that backup has not worked as we had expected.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCLAUGHLIN: Now, that backup led to a backlog of e-mails and different data points going through this network which Research in Motion responded to by slowing the network to deal with the backlog of information. And as a result, we saw the effects spread through Africa, South America, and then, yesterday morning, North America. But hopefully, Carol, the situation is now under control.
COSTELLO: I hope so and so do hundreds of thousands of others. Erin McLaughlin reporting live for us this morning. Thanks so much.
The United States is urging other countries to cut ties with Iran for what it calls a terror plot targeting Saudi Arabia's ambassador in Washington. The treasury department has slapped new sanctions against Iran's Qods force. The government describes a money trail starting within that Iranian organization, but former homeland security secretary, Tom Ridge, says think bigger.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM RIDGE, FMR HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: It's a monstrous leap of faith. It's incredulous to think that someone that Qods force would be operating unilaterally independent either of the ayatollah himself or Ahmadinejad. I mean, quite clearly, that is a force under the control of the hierarchy of the mullahs within Iran. So, I just can't imagine that anybody's been authorized to operate independently of that leadership.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Sen. Joe Lieberman tells CNN a military response should be considered saying, "this kind of behavior by Iran cannot go unresponded to. The president, as commander in chief, our allies, including the Saudis who are the target here, have a lot of options that are both overt and covert. In my opinion, there has to be a response." That from Sen. Joe Lieberman.
A Senate hearing today will take place, and they'll discuss current sanctions against Iran.
A major surprise on day two of the trial against the accused underwear bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. He pleaded guilty to all charges against him. His legal adviser, Anthony Chambers, spoke outside the courthouse.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY CHAMBERS, DEFENDANT'S LEGAL ADVISER: It's a situation where he just simply reflected upon what had occurred and what he thought was the best decision. There's nothing in particular that caused this to happen. It clearly was not opening or any piece of evidence by one witness.
It's a decision that was against the advice of counsel, but it's a decision he chose to make, and he believed to be the right thing to do today based upon his own feelings.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The Nigerian native tried to detonate an explosive device on a Detroit-bound flight on Christmas Day in 2009. He said he did it to avenge the death of innocent Muslims.
Investigators are trying out to determine how two Amtrak trains collided overnight in Oakland, California. There are reports one of the trains was stationary at the time unloading passengers. Another train, then, ran into that one in what's being called a slow-speed crash. CNN affiliate, KGO, says as many as 18 people have been hurt.
Shocking video out of Florida. A 70-year-old bus monitor caught on camera beating and biting a 14-year-old student.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yvonne, he didn't mean to do that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) go of me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He didn't mean to do it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, he did.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, he didn't. He was just --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yvonne.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Wow. This happened back in June. The Polk County State attorney's office just released this security video. It all started when the 14-year-old threw a much smaller student over a seat hitting the bus monitor in the face and chest. The monitor now faces child abuse charges.
Quick glance at sports now. Quarterback, Cam Newton, can move forward with no scandal hanging over his head. The NCAA has ended its year-long investigation into the Auburn University football program. It said on an allegation that Auburn paid money to recruit Newton, now a budding star in the NFL. Investigators found no evidence of that.
And they say everything's bigger in Texas including the drama that the Rangers, Nelson Cruz, hit a three-run home run in the top of the 11th inning to lead Texas over Detroit in the American League championship series. Texas now leads that series three games to one, but, Rob Marciano, there is still time for the Detroit Tigers.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: There is. You know, you've had your back against the wall before as far as the Tigers are concerned. We'll see what happens. But Cruz, that guy is clutch, man. He always comes through.
COSTELLO: It's just unbelievable.
MARCIANO: Yes.
COSTELLO: You couldn't expect Jose Valverde to be perfect, you know, all season and then postseason.
MARCIANO: No. He looks a little -- looks a little tired, actually. I think he's ready for a Christmas break. (LAUGHTER)
MARCIANO: Anyway, best of luck to both teams. It's a feel good story even though I'm a Yankee fan. For either team, (INAUDIBLE) and the Rangers, and of course, Detroit and all that bug guy going on.
All right. Let's do a little bit of -- let's go to Mexico. All right? Hurricane Jova is churning there. He's done (ph). It came onshore as a Category 2 yesterday. A tremendous amount of flooding. We had rainfall over a foot of rain in a lot of these spots. And there you see the result of it. Torrents have been coming down in Manzanillo. And it really officially made landfall pretty far south of Manzanillo.
Nonetheless, this is what the result was. And the storm itself is pretty much fizzled out into the mountain, you see there. It loose frank -- relatively quickly, but these are the totals. And, in many cases, well up and over a foot.
All right. Check out a little bit further north, north of the Baja and across the southwest corner of the U.S. Santa Ana winds blowing in California, 105 yesterday. Long beach got all the way up to 102. It's going to be another steamy day out there with the off shore winds. But everywhere east of the Mississippi is where we'll see unsettled weather.
Two pulses of rain, one of which is slowly marching towards Chicago land and Milwaukee. And the other is kind of scattered across the northeast from New York to Boston. So, that will cause some delays at the airport, especially in New York City metros and Chicago, to a lesser extent, in Boston and Philadelphia.
Temperatures still mild. And obviously, the record breaking temperatures will continue across the southwest. About 69 in New York and 67 degrees in Chicago for October. That's pretty good. All right. All the time we have right now, Carol. I'll see you in just a few minutes.
COSTELLO: OK. Well, thanks for the temperatures. They're great. Thank you, Rob.
MARCIANO: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: Still ahead, we now know which banks are increasing their fees, but we found some that actually are not increasing their fees. We'll have details on that just ahead.
But first, let's take a look at the word of the day. That would be hackerazzi. Find out what it means and why you need to know about it after this break. It's 52 minutes -- just turn to 53 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It is four minutes until the top of the hour. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. Today's word of the day, hackerazzi. What does it mean, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. Hackerazzi is used to describe people who hack into celebrities e-mail accounts. The FBI's L.A. office is using the word in case involving a 35-year-old Florida man. He's accused of hacking into e-mail accounts and other devices belonging to more than 50 people, including actress, Scarlet Johansson, and singer, Christina Aguilera. Now, you know.
Republican presidential candidate, Michelle Bachmann, took on Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan in the GOP debate on Tuesday night, and now, comedians are taking on Michelle Bachmann. Here's your punch line.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN: She took on Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan. Here -- look at this.
REP. MICHELE BACHMANN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You're never going to get rid of it. And one thing I would say is, when you take the 9-9-9 plan and you turn it up side down, I think the devil's in the details.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to respond. We've given you several chances to respond. We'll come back.
HERMAN CAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That's right.
JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE: Michele Bachmann who pointed out that if you flip the numbers 9-9-9 up side down it turns into 6-6-6, the mark of the devil. She did. She really -- see, that's what I look for in the president. The ability to imagine what would happen if you flip things up side down.
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Let's go to another man who knows a lot about numbers. Carter Evans, he's live in the NASDAQ Market -- oh, that David Letterman thing was funny.
CARTER EVANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I know. I feel up side down with the numbers here recently.
COSTELLO: Yes.
EVANS: Today, it could be an interesting day. We've got earnings coming out from JPMorgan Chase before the bell. Google after the bell. It's also Thursday. So, we get those weekly unemployment numbers. Let's go ahead and check out futures. Currently mixed. Dow futures down 28. NASDAQ up 2.5. S&P 500 down abut five.
The FTSE in London, the Dax in Germany, both edging lower in early trade about one percent right now.
COSTELLO: So, what's making headlines on CNNMoney.com?
EVANS: OK. Everybody is complaining about bank fees, right? There is a great feature on CNNMoney.com about seven banks that are still awesome. These banks do not charge you any fees. In fact, in many cases, they pay double the interest of the big banks. And, if you get charged any fees any other banks, they will pay you back.
So, when you go use someone else's ATM, they actually put that money back into your account. And Carol, you know, I had this personal dispute with my bank over these few fees. So, I ended up closing my accounts. One of the reasons was the interest was so low. I want to show you what they sent me. This is the left over interest. Take a look. You got it there?
COSTELLO: I can't see it because I have a tiny monitor. What does it say so I can laugh?
EVANS: One cent.
(LAUGHTER)
EVANS: One cent. And it cost them a postage stamp to send this thing to me.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Oh, no.
EVANS: It just goes to show where priorities are.
COSTELLO: OK. Going back to those seven banks that, you know, don't charge fees, how can they possibly make a profit?
EVANS: Well, here's the thing. They have no overhead. They have no brick-and-mortar stores. Most of these are internet bank, and they don't have all that overhead of having to play employees, having to pay rent, electricity all that stuff.
So, they can afford it. The rest of the small banks are credit unions and small neighborhood banks. And they don't need to show these returns to shareholders.
COSTELLO: Thank you for that information. It's very interesting and intriguing. Carter Evans, thanks as always.
"AMERICAN MORNING" continues right now.
