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Ed McMahon Died at Age 86; Investigators Looking for a Cause After Two Metro Trains Collide in D.C.; The Guardian Council Ruled Out Annulling the Election Results as Protests Continue Throughout Iran
Aired June 23, 2009 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEBORAH HERSMAN, NATL. TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: I can tell you that it is a scene of real devastation down there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Two trains collide on a Washington metro line. Today investigators are looking for a cause. And we are live at the scene.
New threat to protesters in Iran. The regime says it will set an example of those it detains.
And governors, get away. South Carolina's chief executive disappears without even telling his wife. We'll tell you where he wound up.
It is Tuesday, June 23rd. I'm Heidi Collins and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
This morning, Ed McMahon is dead at the age of 86. McMahon's publicist says America's favorite side kick was surrounded by loved ones at the end. He died in Los Angeles just after midnight.
CNN's Brooke Anderson has more now on Ed McMahon we all got to know and love during his more than five decades in our living rooms.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED MCMAHON, TV HOST: Here's Johnny!
BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For 30 years, Ed McMahon was a fixture in American households as Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show" side kick. In that role, he played announcer and Carson's set-up man.
MCMAHON: I hold in my hand the last envelope.
ANDERSON: He was a loyal source of laughs. And always knew his place.
MCMAHON: You had to know how to do that, how to be the second banana. To be in when you needed to be, out when you weren't needed. ANDERSON: McMahon got his start in radio and in the early 1950s hosted a number of TV shows in Philadelphia. His long association with Carson began in the late '50s culminating with their final "Tonight Show" together in 1992.
JOHNNY CARSON, HOST, "TONIGHT SHOW": I want to thank the gentleman who shared this stage with me for 30 years, Mr. Ed McMahon.
ANDERSON: Even before Carson retired, McMahon had branched out with his own ventures, among them, hosting "Star Search." He co- hosted "TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes with Dick Clark."
MCMAHON: We got a lot of things planned tonight.
ANDERSON: While always genial on air, McMahon's personal life was not as charmed. He went through two divorces and in 2002 he sued after toxic mold was found in his house.
In 2007, he broke his neck in a fall leading to more lawsuits. With all of the money he had earned over a lucrative career, it came as stunning news in 2008 that a lender had started foreclosure proceedings on his house.
MCMAHON: You spend more money than you make, you know what happens. And it can happen. You know, like a couple of divorces flown in, a few things like that, and you know, things happen.
ANDERSON: Notoriety from his mortgage problems did lead to some commercial opportunities, including a 2009 Super Bowl ad.
MCMAHON: Now's the time to send your unwanted gold for cash.
ANDERSON: McMahon will forever be remembered for his work in late night which earned him a place in television history alongside Johnny Carson.
CARSON: Who did you take to high school prom?
MCMAHON: Madeline Mason (ph).
CARSON: You remember?
MCMAHON: Got to her before you did.
All of a sudden you did 30 years and you kind of look back and you see this monument you created. And I helped put in some of those stones with him. It's wonderful.
ANDERSON: Brooke Anderson, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: You can post your thoughts and memories of Ed McMahon on our blog. Just go to CNN.com/newsroom and click on my picture.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's still going on. I still can't believe it. I still can't believe it. I saw the terror in the folks' face in the back of the train here as they were beating on the windows trying to get out of the cars.
Once the paramedics -- some got down there, they opened up some of the cars, and assisted some folks, and they just pretty much just plowed right out of there one after another.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: The death toll rises and questions, of course, linger. What could have caused this crash? And could it actually happen in a major metro area near you? We're talking about that this morning.
Also CNN's Jeanne Meserve is in Washington for us. She's looking more at the body count and also for clues as to what may have gone wrong there.
Then to Iran. Our Ivan Watson has been monitoring the turmoil there. He'll be joining us to talk a little bit more about the government and an announcement it's going to be making. Protesters, meanwhile, are making their plans, as well.
It is Washington's most deadly subway crash. Seven people confirmed dead now. And investigators want to know how this could have been prevented. Was it a failure of man or machine that caused one train to plow into the back of another?
It happened during the evening rush hour. The trains have pulled out of the Takoma Park station, and were headed toward the Fort Totten station.
CNN's Jeanne Meserve joining us now with the very latest. So, Jeanne, what are we able to learn from officials there this morning? I know there was a press conference, of course.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There was. Heidi, this is very much still a recovery operation. I was over on the bridge, which is over the crash scene just a few moments ago and you can see that they brought in a very tall crane and they'll be taking off the pieces of wreckage one by one, sort of deconstructing the sandwich, as it were.
And when they take a level off, emergency medical personnel, firefighters will go in to see if there is anybody who was caught in that wreckage. The death toll, confirmed death toll at this point in time stands at seven, but the fire chief told me this morning that it's anybody's guess how many people may be entombed in that wreckage.
They're hoping by 5:00 this afternoon to actually have a firmer number for us. Meanwhile, the investigation is underway. As you mentioned, one train was still when a second train came up behind it, rammed into it, The front car going up over the back end of the first train. That first train did have some recorders on it, and it was a newer version train, but there are significant questions about that second train that rammed into it. Here's a little bit of what the NTSB had to say this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HERSMAN: Made recommendations in 2006 about the crashworthiness of the 1,000 series cars. We've recommended to WMATA to either retrofit those cars or to phase them out of the fleet. They have not been able to do that, and our recommendation was not addressed. So it has been closed in an unacceptable status.
We have also made recommendations in the past about recorders and recommended that they equip all of their fleet with recorders, with event recorders. Again, that has not taken place on some of the older series of cars that WMATA was expecting to phase out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: Now, NTSB investigators are looking at a lot of other things, as well. They're looking at tracks, they're looking at signals, they're looking at the computerized system, which at rush hour should have been operating these trains and of course, they'll be looking at the possibility of operator error. But no conclusions yet as to what may have caused the crash.
COLLINS: Yes, understood.
MESERVE: Heidi, back to you.
COLLINS: Understood, Jeanne. I just wonder, though, from the press conference and from the spokesperson from the NTSB that we just heard, it sounds like this could be quite a process to be hearing more about recommendations NTSB is making and then the metro line not taking those recommendations, yes?
MESERVE: Yes, it's going to be interesting to see how this one plays out. Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority, that WMATA that you heard referred to...
COLLINS: Right.
MESERVE: ... hasn't yet provided us with their side of the argument on this. But the NTSB says pretty clearly we made the recommendations on the radios, on retrofitting or phasing them out, it didn't happen. It didn't happen. Now whether or not that was a causal factor here, we -- it seems dubious -- but it would perhaps have had something to do with the crash worthiness, how well these cars might have withstood the crash.
COLLINS: Sure. Sure, obviously a lot more investigation to be done there at a very tough recovery effort, as well.
All right, Jeanne Meserve on the scene for us this morning. Jeanne, thank you. Quickly now, a rundown of Washington's subway system. The Metro is the second largest rail system in the U.S. and the fifth largest bus system. The rail and bus serves a population of 3.5 million passengers. Last year, more than 215 million rode on the rail, 133 million took the buses. The route includes trips from D.C. to Maryland and Virginia.
Passengers aboard the second train say their afternoon commute was peacefully chugging along and then they felt a slight bump and the world was thrown into violence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JASMINE GARSO, TRAIN CRASH SURVIVOR: I was on the train that was moving. And all of a sudden as we approached my station in D.C., it was like nothing I've ever felt before. It was like we hit a concrete wall. And almost immediately I fell off my seat. Another person, I don't know who, flew off their seat. And the lights went off and smoke started filling the train cart, the metro cart.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Here's another angle now of the crash shot by a CNN iReporter. As you can see the second train hit with such force it literally plowed right under the first train.
We will continue to watch the story, of course, for you all day long here on CNN.
Meanwhile, turning to Iran's disputed election now where the government is giving its strongest signal yet. It will not order a new vote.
Here's what we know. The Guardian Council has ruled out the possibility of annulling the election results, saying irregularities were reported before the balloting not during or after.
Iranian state-run media reports President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be sworn into a second term sometime between July 26th and August 19th. And a top Iranian judicial official said a special court has been set up to deal with detained protesters.
Government restrictions on international media reporting from Iran remain in place. But we are still working to bring you the very latest news from the country, of course. CNN's Ivan Watson is at our Iran desk this morning.
What are we able to get out of there this morning?
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Heidi, the media crackdown continues in Iran. The "Washington Times" reporter working in Tehran, a man named Iason Athanasiadis, if I pronounced it correctly, he's a Greek-British man, has been arrested according to the Culture Ministry.
And this follows a report by the Paris-based media watchdog reporter Sans Frontieres, which says 23 Iranian journalists have been arrested since June 14th from four different cities around the country. Many of them taken from their homes late at night making it, according to reporter Sans Frontieres, quote, "the world's largest prison for journalists."
And as you mentioned, the Guardian Council deciding that the election on June 12th that triggered this crisis, that there is no possibility of an annulment to take place. This even after three of the opposition candidates have accused the government of rigging those elections.
Again, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to be sworn in between July 26th and August 19th. He's the incumbent president and the official winner of the election. Meanwhile, in the Iranian parliament, parliament members have summoned the interior minister to complain to him, to ask him why these night raids are happening in people's homes by security forces and why there was a raid on Tehran University, which has been criticized in Iran.
Lawmakers accused the interior minister of, quote, "lacking crisis management in the last weeks consecutive days of nationwide turmoil."
And let me bring you to a piece of video now. This is coming from the southeastern city of Kerman. We don't know exactly when it was shot. This comes from YouTube, but it is video of a protest taking place. The reason why this is important is, Heidi, because we've also seen evidence of protests taking place in several other cities outside of Tehran. Isfahan, Tabriz, Shiraz.
COLLINS: Right.
WATSON: In the northwest, the southwest -- that shows that this problem is bigger than just in the Iranian capital, Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, Ivan, we sure do appreciate that. And we will continue to get these stories coming into us the best that we can and try to offer the information out just as it comes in here.
Ivan Watson for us over at the Iran desk. Thanks so much, Ivan.
The latest tweets about Iran. People all over the world are using Twitter to share their views and information. In fact our Josh Levs is following it now minute by minute. This has really been pretty incredible, Josh.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Incredible. I was -- actually was looking at some numbers that I'm going to be showing you later this hour. It is incredible the way people are using Twitter.
You know, as you said, one of the things they're doing is sharing their views. We have an example here. One of the latest twits that we just picked up, where it says, "My heart goes out to the Iranian people." A lot of people with messages like that.
Others are using it to call for action. Let's look at the next one that just came through. This one talked about, "show support for democracy in Iran by adding a green overlay to your Twitter avatar." I know some strange words in there. We're going to tell you what it all means, what people are doing online to express their views today and the call for action.
If you see something important on Twitter you want us to take a look at, here's how you can reach me. Look at this graphic. Twitter.com/JoshlevsCNN. Point it out to us. Let us know where you think we should be taking a look, what's the most significant.
And Heidi, in a matter of minutes, we'll be here with the absolute latest twits for you.
COLLINS: Great. Very good. All right, Josh. Thank you.
President Obama ready to talk about Iran today. Reacting to the dramatic events of the past two days in his first Rose Garden news conference coming up.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And I'm CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras. It is hot out there from Minnesota to Mississippi. Everybody's sweating today. Find out when and if there will be a break in the heat and the latest on severe storms. It's coming up next with your forecast.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: We are just a little more than three hours from President Obama's first Rose Garden news conference. The president is expected to start with statements on health care and Iran and then he'll take some questions.
CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is joining us live with more on this for this morning.
So, Suzanne, the president's statements on Iran have been pretty measured until now. Do we expect his tone to change this morning?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We expect that he's going to say similar things that he said before, but he is going to be rather, I think, forceful about it when he talks about the need to protect those who are demonstrating on the streets.
But he is also going to reaffirm that he believes it's up to the Iranian people to determine their future here that they're not necessarily going to get caught up in the internal affairs of Iran. But, yes, we are going to hear some empathetic words from the president.
Under a lot of pressure here from some folks, Republicans as well as some analysts who believe he should -- used much stronger language in talking about these demonstrations and perhaps the elections themselves.
Robert Gibbs, the press secretary, was pushed on this morning about whether or not the president will change his message. I want you to take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It's not for us to get involved in this. This is a debate in Iran by Iranians about their next leadership. Many in Iran and many in the regime would like to remove any of the protesters and the reformers and put the United States government in their place. That's a battle that they've had and won for many years inside of Iran.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Heidi, I really think the bigger question aside from whether or not he's using tough enough language here is what is the United States going to do moving forward when he talks about tough diplomacy with Iran, when he talks about nuclear talks?
How is it that this president is going to speak with Ahmadinejad when it's all said and done? He is the leader. Speak with him with any kind of credibility...
COLLINS: Right.
MALVEAUX: ... if Ahmadinejad himself is not considered a legitimate leader among the Iranian people. That is the real challenge for this president.
And one senior administration official said they believe that the talks -- nuclear talks -- are on ice until they figure out what's going on on the ground. How have things fundamentally changed inside of that country?
So that's one of the things that, obviously, he's going to be talking about. The other big thing is North Korea and the challenge from that country, as well, Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes, very well. And also health care. We think we're going to hear a little bit about health care reform, as well?
MALVEAUX: Health care. There's a huge debate in Congress over which plan is actually going to survive when it's all said and done. Whether or not there'll be a government-run insurance plan as an alternative to some private plans.
That is something President Obama has been pushing for but may have to be put on the back burner because there are some in Congress who say this is too expensive, we don't this is going to work. You don't have enough support, Mr. President.
COLLINS: Yes.
MALVEAUX: So all of that on his plate including the economy, as well, Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes, all that. All right. Suzanne Malveaux, in front of the White House for us this morning, getting ready for the press conference coming your way. CNN will have live coverage of it. Rose Garden news conference scheduled to get under way 12:30 Eastern this afternoon.
South Carolina governor Mark Sanford has resurfaced. His staff put an end to the mystery late yesterday saying Sanford is hiking along the Appalachian trails. The governor had been missing since Thursday. Even his wife says she had no idea where he was.
The lieutenant governor and the governor of security detail also did not know where Sanford had gone, which left some in the state wondering who was in charge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN O'CONNOR, POLITICAL REPORTER, THE STATE: Obviously Lieutenant Governor Bauer was very concerned yesterday. He was making it an issue. It's kind of unclear what happens in an emergency.
The state constitution says that the lieutenant governor has the authority to act and to take the governor's authority if there is an emergency, but it doesn't define what an emergency is. So we don't know what would've happened.
As for what the public is saying, I mean, the reaction is across the board here. I mean, at first yesterday folks were concerned about his safety, yet a lot of folks who were just outraged that the governor could disappear, and then you have folks who, you know, are making a joke about it.
And you know, that this is kind of a long line of things that have -- issues that have become news items with the governor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Sanford's staff says the governor was clearing his head after the tough legislative session. They didn't say, however, where exactly he is along the 2,200 mile Appalachian trail which stretches from Georgia to Maine.
We'll keep our eye on that story, too.
Mexico bracing for a brush with a possible hurricane now. It's already pouring in places popular with tourists. We have the latest on the storm and what's in store for where you live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Well, unfortunately, as you know by now Ed McMahon, Johnny Carson's sidekick, has died. He was 86 years old. And so this morning, we are talking a little bit more about that and some of the memories that you might have after watching him for all of those years on the "Tonight Show."
Go ahead and go to our blog if you would. CNNnewsroom.com and just go ahead and let us know what you think about this. Add your comments here, click on my name Heidi, and you can let us know a little bit more about what you thought of Ed McMahon and his life.
We'll be back right here in the CNN NEWSROOM in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: People are on alert from Acapulco to Puerto Vallarta this morning. Tropical storm Andres is bearing down on Mexico's Pacific Coast. Look at that. Could be a hurricane before much longer, too. Residents and tourists are urged now to stay indoors. Jacqui Jeras is standing by with more on this. Yes, I mean, that doesn't look very good.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: All right. Jacqui, we'll check in a little bit later on. At least we're wearing yellow, trying to keep everybody happy.
JERAS: I know. It's sunny today, right? People, stay sunny.
COLLINS: That's right. Yes, a little too hot, though. All right, we'll talk to you later, Jacqui. Thanks.
What do you think about what's happening in Iran? A lot of you are sharing your opinions with us and we will share some of them with you coming up in just a moment right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Heidi Collins.
COLLINS: On Wall Street, the Dow tumbled more than 200 points yesterday after the World Bank cut its outlook for the global economy. Today we get a snapshot of how the U.S. economy is fairing.
Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange with a little bit of a preview of that.
I don't know what to say. We've got to know globally what's going on. And that really, really hit things hard yesterday.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, and it came amid, Heidi, as the opening bell sounds, a changing sentiment on Wall Street. You know, we'd already seen it last week loud and clear. In fact, the blue chips have fallen 5 percent in the last six trading sessions amid concerns that stock prices have simply jumped ahead of reality.
We still have a deep recession, unemployment is expected to rise, consumer demand is expected to remain tepid. It's expected to be a long slot. Futures, however, pointed to some modest gains at the open. We're seeing mix in the first few seconds of trading.
Moody's maintaining the U.S.'s top AAA credit rating. That's a relief. At the top of the hour we get the latest numbers on existing home sales. They're expected to rise nearly 3 percent in May. The Federal Reserve in focus. It will once again take up the issue of the economy at a two-day policy setting meeting that starts today. Interest rates, of course, well, they're near zero, they're expected to remain there. Investors will be looking to see what the Fed says in a statement that comes up tomorrow.
More government money, meanwhile, flowing into the auto industry. This time it's part of a $25 billion loan program Congress created to help automakers retool their factories to make more fuel efficient vehicles. Ford, Tesla Motors and Nissan will reportedly be the first beneficiaries of that program.
MySpace is cutting 300 international jobs and closing at least four offices. Last week the company said it would cut nearly 30 percent of its U.S. workforce. MySpace recently lost the title world's biggest social networking site to its rival Facebook.
And in the first minute of trading, yes, we're seeing a mixed bag. The Dow down slightly, the NASDAQ meanwhile is up about the same amount, by about seven points.
Heidi, we'll see you in a little bit.
COLLINS: All right. Sounds good. Susan, thank you.
In Washington, investigators are on the scene of the deadliest subway crash in the city's history. At least seven people are dead when one Metrorail train plowed into the back of another. The pictures there just astounding.
It happened around 5:00 yesterday afternoon during rush hour in northeast Washington. At least 76 people were taken to area hospitals.
Earlier on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING," a former NTSB official discussed what investigators are looking for now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: This is third crash in 15 years in the D.C. metro system. Is that a high rate of accidents for one transit system?
PETER GOELZ, FMR. NTSB MANAGING DIRECTOR: It's not particularly high, but what's terribly frustrating about many of these rail accidents is that they are entirely preventable. That the investigation shows that there's -- there are things that the organization or the individual operators should have done or could have done that could have prevented these accidents.
And you've touched on two of them. One is there's an automatic train control system. Was it operating or was it turned off? Was the engineer in control? What was she doing? And secondly, the question is, the crashworthiness of these cars. Were the collision posts strengthened enough to divert the energy?
You know, the physics of a train crash are awfully brutal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Also, the NTSB spokeswoman revealed earlier this morning in a press conference that it did recommend these trains be retrofitted or phased out of the fleet. So we're going to continue to follow that story. We'll have more information coming up at the top of the next hour.
You're looking at amateur video now of opposition activists in Iran, pulling down metal barricades. The pictures from a Tehran rally yesterday. No rallies are planned for today. And this amateur video also from Monday shows protesters being attacked by baton wielding security officers.
Iran's state media reports at least 17 people have been killed in the unrest that began 10 days ago.
The Iranian government giving its strongest signal yet. It will not order a new vote. Here's what we know at this point. The Guardian Council has ruled out the possibility of annulling the election results saying irregularities were reported before the balloting, not during or after.
The Iranian state-run media reports Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be sworn into a second term sometime between July 26th and August 19th. And a top Iranian judicial official says a special court has been set up to deal with detained protesters.
Our Iran desk has been tracking the ongoing protests and the government response just as best as we can.
CNN's Ivan Watson is joining us now with an update.
Ivan, good morning once again.
WATSON: Good morning, Heidi. The European governments have stepped up their criticism of Iran. We've got the governments of France and Finland have summoned the Iranian ambassadors in their capital cities.
The French Foreign Ministry saying to condemn the brutal repression of protesters that have left many people dead.
Now moving on, I've gotten some e-mails from some activists who participated in last week's demonstrations. One of them saying he was very demoralized that there is a lack of leadership right now and that it was simply too hard to stand up to the security forces that have been rather effective at trying to disperse protesters when they try to gather downtown.
However, this is in Tehran and in other cities around the country, waves of protests of arrest at night, as well, of key activists, opposition figures, journalists, and critics of the Iranian government. However, there are signs of a debate or some kind of a power struggle within the ruling elite. The "New York Times" reporting this week that the son of a key power broker in Iran, Hashemi Rafsanjani, his son said that this power broker is trying to organize some kind of clerical revolt against Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
This is a big deal and this is shaking the foundations of the 30- year-old Iranian regime. The Islamic Republic of Iran.
Other things are shaking the foundations of this government. We're getting other signs that people are very unhappy and showing their defiance. I want to show you a piece of video that has come off the Internet.
This was a woman walking down the street. We figured out it is Tehran from the street sign, from the license plates on the cars here. It may not look like much, but this is a big deal. This woman walking down the street, Heidi. Her hair is not covered. You can see she wearing a...
COLLINS: Yes.
WATSON: A pretty slinky dress with a slit up the side. In Iran, women are forbidden to show their hair. They have to cover their bodies according to law. And in fact, in courts, they have fewer rights than men. They count as only as 1/3 of a man according to court testimonies.
This woman walking down the street and one of the drivers saying "Lady, has the revolution begun already?" Very interesting video. Show of defiance.
Now let me bring us to our colleague, my colleague, Josh Levs. He's been following minute to minute what's going on on Twitter.
LEVS: That's right, yes, Ivan paved the way, thank you very much for that. I'll tell you what's really interesting here. And you, Heidi, you know this as well, because of the media crackdown that Ivan has been reporting on, more and more people all over the world are turning to Twitter and other social networks to share information.
What I want to do is give you a good cross section of what's showing up on Twitter, the kinds of twits that are out there. Let's go straight to this first example. I want you to see this. We have it as a graphic for you. This one says, "People of Iran don't give up, freedom is not free, justice will prevail."
The second one, I think, is a good example of what Twitter lingo is like. I'm going to read it to you out loud. "People in Iran are fighting for what they believe in. When was the last time you did that?" Clearly people outside Iran talking about what's going on there.
Now the third one is a good example of something else I've been telling you about. Take a look at this. It says, "Stop all work and travel with friends and family toward Tehran Bazaar every day at 9:00 a.m."
Now here's why I want to show you this one. Because of that media crackdown, as I said, more and more people turning to social networks, we cannot guarantee every piece of information if there's really something happening at that given time. But because of it, more and more people are saying that.
And we're not showing any Twitter names because we don't want to endanger anyone inside Iran.
Finally, I really like this one because what this shows you, need translation of this video, I have seen hundreds like this. People posting videos that do appear to be from inside Iran. We -- as you know Ivan, we go through a long process before putting them on air, vet them.
People post these videos and then they say, hey, I need someone to translate this for me. Trying to get information directly from Farsi speakers out there. And Heidi, that is a good cross section of the big picture here. People turning to Twitter, all those during the last two minutes, just grab them, threw them in the graphics for you.
The idea here is that we want you to get a sense of what people are saying on Twitter and the kinds of angles that kind of Twitter is playing, the role it's playing here.
COLLINS: Yes. Do we have any sense, though, Josh, of how many people around the world are actually using Twitter?
LEVS: You know what? I just post something up. Let's zoom in on the touch screen behind me. I want to see this computer. This is Alexa.com which uses -- which aggregates and follows the kind of traffic that goes on online.
Look at this. This is a chart going back from January of how much people use Twitter. This is -- all the last week, you can see the spike here. And if you look over here, percent of global Internet users who visit Twitter, 2.3 percent. Now that might not sound -- let's move over a little bit so we can see that number, there you go. 2.3 percent.
It might not sound huge, but if you stop and think about how many people all over the world are using the Internet, they're saying that more than 2 percent, close to 2.5 percent, are using Twitter, that's a massive number. And as you saw from that chart there it has spiked huge time. Partly because of the Iran elections. In addition to more and more people just catching on to what is now a big wave worldwide, Heidi.
COLLINS: All right. Josh Levs watching it all for us. Thanks so much, Josh.
LEVS: Thanks, Heidi.
COLLINS: Appreciate it. We couldn't bring you the full story without CNN iReporters, of course, in the middle of the protest. Take a look at this. This was one of the first protests at the University of Tehran after the election. The iReporter does not want to be identified for fear of being arrested and charged with treason. Yet the protests continue.
Here now demonstrators run as Iran's volunteer paramilitary group goes after them. And everywhere it seems there are police. These photos sent to us by another brave iReporter.
We will continue to bring those images to you as we get them into the CNN NEWSROOM.
A popular R&B singer faces music for assaulting his girlfriend. What's next for Chris Brown?
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COLLINS: Unfortunately, we began the show this morning with the death of Ed McMahon. I'm sure you remember him very well as Johnny Carson's side kick, the man who pioneered "Here's Johnny." Unfortunately he died and he was 86 years old and had an extensive career.
So in light of that, we want to bring in Joan Rivers who is standing by now to talk a little bit more about Ed McMahon and the memories that she may have.
Joan, if you can hear me, love to...
JOAN RIVERS, COMEDIAN (via phone): I can hear you perfectly.
COLLINS: Perfect. Tell us a little bit more about your relationship with Ed McMahon and what we should be thinking about today on this sad day. A lot of people really going to miss him.
RIVERS: Well, I think we should be thinking that somebody should have saved his house for him. After somebody dies, who gives a damn? You know the man was having his house taken away and going into bankruptcy, and if everybody that's doing so boo-hoo-hoo today sent him a dollar, he would have a better old age.
But I remember him with affection and I remember with him very solid whenever I hosted the show, which I did for many years. He was always there, and always when you needed him. He was a rock, a real rock. And I think he invented the form of the second banana.
COLLINS: Yes. That's true. And you know, as I go through some of the career highlights here. I mean he really seemed to be a very current man. I mean he didn't just do the "Tonight Show" as you well know. I mean there was "Star Search," there were "TV Bloopers and Practical Jokes." He was a guy that could really laugh at himself, too. Is that true?
RIVERS: Well, he was -- you know, he went beyond the "Tonight Show" and had his own, which was very nice, identity. And America liked him very much. He was a good guy, he was the neighbor.
And he also is a great American success story. He started out on the board walk in Atlantic City, you know, chopping vegetables and selling kind of like funny choppers.
(LAUGHTER)
COLLINS: That's right. Tell us your favorite memory, Joan, of Ed McMahon.
RIVERS: My favorite memory of him was after I left the Carson show to do my own show at FOX. Carson vilified me and was just evil and put out -- no one is allowed to talk, allegedly all this kind of stuff.
And Ed McMahon always -- whenever he would come in a restaurant or see me anywhere, would make it his business to come over and say hello. And that was going against, quote, unquote, "the boss' orders." And I always had such a warm feeling in my heart for him because of that.
COLLINS: Well, we sure do appreciate your time and your memories of Ed McMahon. Joan Rivers, actress and comedian, joining us today to remember Ed McMahon who died at the age of 86.
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COLLINS: Time for some of the top stories making headlines on Capitol Hill today. Health care reform, a top priority for Washington lawmakers. Let's take you there live, in fact, happening right now.
The House Energy Health Care Reform Committee holding a hearing on health care reform proposals. President Obama expected to outline more details from his reform package when he holds a news conference in the Rose Garden this afternoon. Coming your way 12:30 Eastern.
We are also getting new pictures from the moon this morning. Two NASA probes reached the moon's orbit a few hours ago. Actually launched them last week. One of them the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is getting ready to begin mapping the surface.
Now NASA says this mission is the first step in finding a good place to live on the moon. The other probes, the LCROSS, is making a fly by right now. That's where these pictures are coming from. The LCROSS probe will continue its orbit until October, then it'll slam into a crater on the moon's surface. So we'll be watching for that.
Good news for American auto makers. They're getting better. New quality ratings are out now saying U.S. companies are building better cars, but they still lag behind many of their foreign competitors.
CNN's Stephanie Elam is joining us now from New York with a little bit more on this.
So, Stephanie, what do these new ratings really mean especially now in light of everything that's going on with the American carmakers?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: There's no doubt about it, Heidi. This is good news for the U.S. automakers. Even if there is still room for them to improve, this definitely show that they're going in the right direction. And this is coming from J.D. Power and Associates and this is their 2009 initial quality study.
Now in the study, GM, Chrysler and Ford improved their initial quality by an average of 10 percent from last year. That's up from 8 percent the year before and study grades automakers on a number of problems per 100 vehicles.
So you can see there. GM and Chrysler up 11 percent from last year. Ford improved by 7 percent. And the other thing to note here is that Cadillac placed third versus 10th place last year and that also is a big difference there and, really, when you take a look at the gap between the foreign-made cars and the domestic-made cars it really has narrowed.
And just to give you an example here, last year the gap was 10 problems per 100 vehicles and this year it's six problems per 100 vehicles. So it's getting smaller and it's showing that the U.S. automakers are doing their part to make it a little bit better here as far as the quality of their cars.
COLLINS: OK. Well, what are some of the best performing brands?
ELAM: Oh let's take a look at those. Some may surprise you and some may not.
COLLINS: OK.
ELAM: But let's show you a chart here because we do have some to show you. Lexus came in with an 84 and basically what this is is that of the 37 brands that they take a look, 12 ranked above the industry average of 108 problems per 100 vehicles.
These are those cars that we're talking about. Lexus came in with an 84, Porsche with a 90, Cadillac 91, the only U.S. car in the top five, and Hyundai with a 95 there, I'm sorry, and Honda with a 99.
So, if you're curious, on the other side, the bottom two, that would the Land Rover with 150 problems per 100 cars and the Mini, 165 problems per 100 cars that they said there.
And the other thing to point out here, Heidi, is that J.D. Power says, you know, whatever is going on with them financially, all of the...
COLLINS: Yes.
ELAM: ... the headlines that we've been seeing, that doesn't co- relate to the quality, and a lot of the design plans have been put for these cars a couple of years ago so we may see an issue in a couple of years. But hopefully that won't happen. But they're saying you can't look at their financial situation. We are just focusing on quality and that has improved.
COLLINS: Yes. I mean, some people would argue, of course, that's how they got to where they are, so obviously, a whole lot of controversy surrounding.
ELAM: Well, it's all --- right. And it's all about getting people to look at their cars and not think U.S. cars are not made as well as foreign cars and that's a battle that they've had here and hopefully this will help them.
COLLINS: Certainly. All right. Stephanie Elam, thanks so much.
ELAM: Sure.
COLLINS: There's an awful lot going on this morning, as usual, in the CNN NEWSROOM. And our crews are in place to bring it all to you. Let's go and get a sneak peek now beginning with Jeanne Meserve in Washington this morning.
Jeanne, hi, once again.
MESERVE: Heidi, this was the worst accident in the history of Washington's Metropolitan Transit Authority. The investigation continues and so does the recovery. All of the story at the top of the hour.
WATSON: I'm Ivan Watson at CNN's Iran desk. Iran's Guardian Council rules out any possibility of annulling those controversial president election -- presidential elections on June 12th.
Also a reporter for "The Washington Times" arrested by Iranian authorities in Tehran. More at the top of the hour.
LISOVICZ: And I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange. Some employers say they will reverse those hiring and salary freezes, I'll tell you when.
Heidi, I'll have more on that in the next hour.
COLLINS: All right. Very good. Thanks so much, guys. Sure do appreciate that. And to Jeanne Meserve's point, we are also following very closely this morning the accident that happened in Washington, D.C. We have a little bit of sound that has just come in from the mayor there, Mayor Adrian Fenty.
Let's go ahead and listen to that now.
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MAYOR ADRIAN FENTY, WASHINGTON: We wanted to take another tour of the scene. If you take this tour and see the wreckage that we just saw, it really just brings home what an awful tragedy this was. There literally were bodies trapped within that compressed space and the size of the train now is about one-third of what it started out before this accident. And it is in a very small area where there were at least three bodies and it was those three bodies added to the four that were pulled out yesterday. They got us to the seven. At 5:00 today, we're going to come back together. We'll know about the count of bodies that have been taken off and then the fire department will have wrapped up their rescue process and we'll be able to give you a final number.
It's very likely that the number will increase between now and then, but the chief medical examiner's office, the fire department, the police department, the FBI, all have to work together, unfortunately, literally, to match body parts and make sure we've got identifications.
I want to just continue to thank everyone. Between the briefing and now, I had an opportunity to...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: We once again giving you some sound that has just come in to us here in the CNN NEWSROOM. That is the mayor of Washington, D.C., Adrian Fenty, saying that this has been an incredibly difficult recovery operation. And quite a tragedy with this metro train accident that happened late yesterday afternoon.
At this point, there are seven people dead. You heard him say there that it's possible that those numbers may change.
We'll stay on top of it for you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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COLLINS: Here are some of the other stories we're watching right now.
Iranian's Guardian Council says they will not order a new vote despite all the protest rallies going on in Tehran. We'll have much more on Iran coming up in the next hour.
Also, President Obama expected to talk about Iran this morning, excuse me, this afternoon. It'll be 12:30 Eastern Time where he's going to be in the Rose Garden holding a press conference and we will bring that to you live when it happens.
A false alarm for search crews looking for flight data recorders from Air France flight 447. A French official says earlier reports that crews heard the signals those pings we've talking about in the Atlantic were not true. The batteries in the two recorders only last 30 days so there's only a week left now before they fall silent.
Your chances come to get new insight into President Richard Nixon's time in office. About 150 hours of audiotape and 30,000 documents are released by the Nixon Presidential Library about an hour ago. They detailed discussions in early 1973, including President Nixon reacting to the Vietnam War, the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, and the first trial for the Watergate burglars.
