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Troops Leave Iraqi Cities, Shift to Afghanistan; Probe of Jackson's Death Continues; Ousted Honduran President to Speak to U.N.; FDA Questions Safety of Acetaminophen; GM Seeks Bankruptcy Exit; Iran's Election Declared Valid; Have A Blast & Stay Safe; Michael Jackson's Estate; New Haven 20 Wins; Russia Bans Casinos
Aired June 30, 2009 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: First, this hour, a turning point in Iran. Six years and three months after the U.S. invasion, American troops are out of Iraq's major cities, leaving Iraqi forces in charge of security. We have CNN's Michael Ware in Baghdad, and our Barbara Starr's at the Pentagon for us. Michael, let's start with you. How are Iraqis handling this milestone?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the initial outpouring has been one of celebration, jubilation, celebrations in parks, formal ceremonies. Clearly being marked on state TV. A front that's been marking the countdown to the handover. TV anchors in Iraqi flags.
However, all of this sense of joy has been underpinned by a natural sense of apprehension. The Iraqis know how fragile their security forces are. And if ever they needed a reminder, it's some tragedy to report that just a few hours ago, at dusk here in Iraq, another car bombing has gone off, this time in the northern city of Kirkuk. It detonated in a crowded marketplace. And reports we're getting from Kurdish officials is that so far, the death toll stands at 25 and that as many as 54 people have been wounded. What we're being told is that many of them are women and children because the bomber has struck, as we've seen so many times before, at the peak shopping period in the center of a crowded market.
HARRIS: And Michael, we have tried as best we could to get a view of life for Iraqis in their cities. I'm just curious, given all your time there, how are things changing on the ground for people who live in Iraq's major cities?
WARE: Well, there's two things I'd say first offhand. One is the absence now of U.S. troops.
We've seen this occurring throughout the year as brigade after infantry brigade has been pulled back to prearranged or pre-approved bases outside of the major cities and towns. These are bases that have been chosen by the Iraqi government and by Washington.
The other change is that, in relative terms -- as I said, we just had a bombing in a northern city. We've already had a double roadside bombing here in Baghdad that only wounded four civilians. But in terms of Iraq, relatively speaking, that has been a form of stability. So, we're seeing some return to life. Certainly from my last trip, many months ago, to this trip now, there's a different air in the city. People are moving about more than they used to. There is some greater sense of freedom.
Some of the blast walls have come down, but there's still Iraqi checkpoints aplenty, army, police, national police. But the Americans have stepped way, way back. Things are starting to loosen up, but it's all against the backdrop of an ongoing al Qaeda in Iraq-inspired bombing campaign.
HARRIS: All right. Michael Ware in Baghdad for us.
Pretty visual stuff there, Michael. Appreciate it. Thank you.
Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon for us.
And Barbara, I'm just sort of curious, what does the U.S. pullback mean from the Pentagon's perspective?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Tony, as Michael was just saying, U.S. troops pulling back, that's the big catchphrase today. But a little bit earlier today, General Ray Ordierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, had a televised press conference back to here with the Pentagon press corps, and he was asked this very critical question -- just how far back are the U.S. troops out of the cities? Because, of course, there still are some in the cities providing backup.
And General Odierno is holding his cards very close to his vest. He will not say how many U.S. troops remain in the urban areas.
We want you to listen to a very lengthy exchange he had with the press corps.
HARRIS: OK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: If you're going to be so transparent, why can't you tell us how many trainers or mentors are in the cities?
GEN. RAY ODIERNO, COMMANDER, MULTINATIONAL FORCE, IRAQ: Because it would be inaccurate, because I don't know exactly how many are in the cities. We -- it varies day to day based on the mission.
QUESTION: You must have a ballpark.
ODIERNO: I don't know how many times you want -- how many times you want me to say that? I don't know.
What I'm telling you is, it's training and advising teams that remain in Baghdad. And it will be different every single day.
And we've worked very closely, locally, with the commanders to figure this out. And it will be different tomorrow than it is today. And that's why I don't want to say a number, because it will be inaccurate.
You'll (ph) get to second-guess what I say. If I say a number today, it will be different tomorrow, and it will be different the next day. What I'm telling you is, it's significantly lower than it has been so far.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: So, General Odierno getting a little testy there with the Pentagon press corps.
HARRIS: Yes.
STARR: But look, what he's fundamentally saying is there will be U.S. troops available in the cities. Their job? To train, to mentor, to advise.
And the question that a lot of people have, however, is what if there's a security problem in the cities? What if there is a massive bombing in Baghdad and Iraqi forces simply can't handle what's happening? There will be U.S. forces that they can call upon, but right now, today, the U.S. doesn't want to say how many forces that really encompasses -- Tony.
HARRIS: All right. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us.
Barbara, appreciate it. Thank you.
You know, many of the American soldiers and Marines in Iraq may eventually end up redeployed to Afghanistan.
CNN's Atia Abawi has been talking with troops who have already made that shift.
Atia, good to see you, as always.
What' the biggest difference these troops see between Kabul and Baghdad?
ATIA ABAWI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, we spoke to some of these troops who have been to both wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they're saying that the biggest differences that they're already seeing is the terrain and the culture. Afghanistan has one of the most treacherous terrains in the world, and we have to remember that any kind of real infrastructure stopped in 1979 when the Soviets invaded.
So, the soldiers will be dealing with that. And they also have to deal with Afghans. Nowhere in Afghanistan, from province to province, will you find the same Afghans. City to city, they're all different. So, they're going to have to be dealing with those differences everywhere that they go.
Let's listen to what one U.S. soldier told us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CPL. MATTHEW SKAPIWSKY, U.S. ARMY: The difference between the desert and the mountains, it's totally different for us. It's harder for us to do our job here just due to the terrain. The culture difference, it's like night and day compared to Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABAWI: Tony, when we went out on patrol with these U.S. soldiers, we witnessed the terrain, the tough time they're having with that terrain. These big MRAP vehicles that we were riding along with them got stuck in the mud or in a creek at least three times. It just shows the primitive dirt roads that they're dealing with, the tiny creeks, the small alleyways that they have to fit through -- Tony.
HARRIS: Yes. And Atia, one more quick one. Where in Afghanistan, what parts of the country, are many of the soldiers from Iraq heading to?
ABAWI: They're actually going to be moving down south in these border areas with Pakistan. Primarily in Helmand and Kandahar areas. That's the places that we've already seen British and Canadian troops, and they've been waiting for these reinforcements -- Tony.
HARRIS: All right. Atia Abawi for us.
Atia, as always, good to see you. Thank you.
And according to our CNN/Opinion Research poll, nearly three- fourths of Americans favor the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq's cities. However, the plan calls for U.S. forces to remain in other parts of the country. More than half of those asked expect violence inside the cities will increase now that the troops have moved out.
So, what do you think about the pullback? Just go to my blog at CNN.com/newsroom. And if you would, just leave us a comment.
A child, the only known survivor after a Yemen airline's Airbus A-310 crashed into the Indian Ocean. One hundred fifty-three people were aboard. The plane left Yemen and was on approach for Comoros, an island nation off the coast of Africa.
Witnesses say the pilot banked violently shortly before landing due to incredibly strong winds. The plane hit the water eight miles offshore. Both French and Comoros officials raised questions about the airline and the plane. The jet had been banned from French airspace because of safety violations. The Comoros official calls the Yemen Airlines a flying cattle truck.
Michael Jackson has yet to be buried, but his parents are already making moves to take over the estate and get custody of his three children. Meanwhile, the coroner's office was back in Jackson's house looking for clues to his death.
Our Richard Quest is following developments in Encino, California.
Good to see you, Richard.
What is the latest on the investigation? We know a lot of attention is being paid to the medications removed from the home Jackson was renting.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And that, indeed, is where the investigation lies at the morning. An enormous number of rumor and speculation about what those medications may or may not have been that the investigators took away, but frankly, Tony, no hard facts at the moment that we can report. And that's why we need to keep it right at the moment, straight down the middle as to what we know versus just what the rumor is.
The surprising part of all of that was that the investigators, the -- did the police and the coroner's office -- did go back to that rented house. Because, remember, they'd already told us at the weekend that that house was not a crime scene, that they'd finished with it, and it had been handed back to the family. The investigators did say, however, that it was not unusual to have to return to a scene like that, if you like.
And we can only surmise, and this is where we start, unfortunate, the reason why they went back is perhaps of something that they found in the autopsy report. They seem to know what they were going for. They went back, and they took away several medications.
But as I say, that's just about the extent of what is reportable as hard and decent facts.
HARRIS: Yes. And Richard, what can you tell us about what the Jackson family is doing in these immediate days?
QUEST: Yes. Now, that is the interesting part about the legal bit, because what we know is that Katherine Jackson has now been made the temporary guardian of Michael's children, the three of them.
What we don't know, of course, and we won't know until August the 3rd, when the next majoring hearing, or the first big hearing is held, is whether there's any custody battle. Whether anybody else, for example, Debbie Rowe, the mother of two them, comes along and actually tries to claim joint custody, partial custody of the children with the Jackson family.
We also know that because they are the guardians, they've now claimed a state administration. Whether or not there is a will in existence is the big issue. Apparently, there are rumors that there were one or two earlier wills, but everybody here is focused on one later will that is rumored to exist but so far has not been seen.
Tony, upon that hinges the hundreds of millions of dollars that will lie in the Jackson estate. There can be little doubt, Tony, the money belongs to the children. The question is, who administers it on their behalf for the foreseeable future?
HARRIS: Yes.
Richard Quest for us in Encino, California.
Richard, appreciate it. Thank you.
And long lines outside the Apollo Theater. Right now fans waiting to pay tribute to Michael Jackson. In just a couple of hours they will be allowed in, 600 at a time, to lay flowers and memorabilia on the stage where Jackson performed as a child.
Reverend Al Sharpton is expected to lead a moment of silence at the theater at 5:26 Eastern Time. That's about the time that we found out that Jackson had died.
Be sure to tune in tonight for "ANDERSON COOPER 360." Anderson will be live from Los Angeles gathering all the latest information on the Michael Jackson death investigation. That's "AC 360" at 10:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.
Actress Farrah Fawcett will be laid to rest this afternoon. Friends will gather at a Los Angeles church for the invitation-only funeral set to begin in about 45 minutes. Fawcett died of cancer last week. She was 62.
The deposed president of Honduras appeals the United Nations. The latest on Manuel Zelaya's effort to return to power.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Honduras's deposed president is scheduled to speak to the U.N. General Assembly within the hour. He's just arrived at the U.N. and is expected to ask the U.N. to help put him back in power.
Manuel Zelaya was ousted in a military coup in Honduras' capital on Sunday. The coup has sparked street clashes, leaving dozens of people injured. The pictures are just so dramatic.
Foreign affairs correspondent Jill Dougherty joins us from the State Department with the latest.
And Jill, let me just ask it this way -- what is the deposed president hoping for in this appeal to the United Nations?
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, he figures that he is in the right, that he is the democratically elected president of Honduras, and that he deserves to be back running the country.
Now, the people who carried out what's being described as a coup say that they're in the right, that the president broke the constitution, acted illegally because he, in essence, wanted to stay in power longer than he should. So, that's where we are right now.
But you do physically have the president in New York. He'll make that plea. But I'll tell you, Tony, it's a very fast-moving situation.
We just heard from one of our correspondents in New York that the World Bank is freezing fund transfers to Honduras until this situation is resolved. But the whole idea, now, that the United States and the OAS, the Organization of the American States, are working on is to try to get Zelaya back.
How do you do that? Well, you work out a deal. And you work out a deal with the people who are running the country at this point. But what kind of a deal and how it would work is where it's really complex.
HARRIS: OK, Jill. We will continue to follow developments, and we will wait to hear from President Zelaya shortly.
Hundreds of rescuers are right now frantically searching for survivors after a freight train derailment and explosion in Italy. At least 12 people have been killed in the small seaside town of Viareggio. The town was filled with liquid petroleum when it crashed into a residential neighborhood, setting fire to a large area. Many were killed as they slept in their homes. Dozens of survivors were hospitalized with severe burns.
Two high school sweethearts killed in last week's D.C. Metro train collision are being remembered this hour. Their funeral at Arlington National Cemetery is being held for retired Major General David Wherley Jr., and his wife Ann.
The couple was coming up on their 40th anniversary. Wherley was a retired commanding general of the D.C. National Guard. His wife worked as a mortgage broker.
The funeral services are also being held today for 23-year-old Lavanda King. She was on her way to pick up her two children from daycare when the train crash occurred.
The investigation into the crash is still ongoing.
The FDA is taking a closer look at the side-effects of over-the- counter medications. How this could change what you're taking to ease those aches and pains.
Coming up next in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: NyQuil, TheraFlu, Midol, could you do without them? You might have to. Just a few painkillers an FDA advisory committee could yank off the market and out of our lives.
Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now to walk us through this.
What's the problem here with these products? Very popular products.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Very -- right, people use these and rely on these all the time. There isn't really a problem with the products, per se. They contain acetaminophen, which is what Tylenol is.
HARRIS: That's the active ingredient.
COHEN: That's -- well, in those, the products you just named, it's one of the active ingredients. It is the active ingredient in Tylenol. That's what Tylenol is, acetaminophen.
The problem with acetaminophen is that too much of it can cause liver failure. And the problem is that if you're taking Tylenol, and you're taking TheraFlu, or something like that, you're probably getting more acetaminophen than you think.
The Food and Drug Administration very concerned about this. Take a look at the results of this study that the Food and Drug Administration did from 1990 to 1998.
There were 56,000 emergency room visits because of acetaminophen poisoning, 26,000 hospitalizations during that eight-year period. And per year, 458 overdose deaths because of acetaminophen.
So, an FDA committee is meeting right now to decide what to do. And it is possible that they may take these combination products, the ones that have acetaminophen and other stuff, off the shelves. It's possible.
HARRIS: That is possible.
COHEN: It's possible.
HARRIS: Well, what about Tylenol? You're not going to pull Tylenol off the shelves.
COHEN: Tylenol is not on the chopping block because it is only acetaminophen. That's all it is. And I think the thinking there is that people know that they are taking it. You're taking it, that's all it is. People don't realize that things like, let's say, Midol have acetaminophen, as well as other stuff in it.
HARRIS: OK. All right, Elizabeth. Thanks for keeping us posted on this.
COHEN: OK.
HARRIS: Our Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.
General Motors is facing a pivotal bankruptcy hearing today. CNN's Poppy Harlow spoke exclusively with GM's CEO, Fritz Henderson, about what could be next for the company.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: OK. Once again, we want to draw your attention to our CNNMoney.com Web site. What a terrific site that is.
What's the story? "Dumbest moments in business" -- yes -- in parenthesis, "(so far)." Our money team does a terrific job at CNNMoney.com. If you want the latest news, financial news and analysis, that's your one-stop shop there, CNNMoney.com.
Let's swing you to Wall Street now. Just about three hours into the trading day.
As you can see, whoa, a pretty big, mighty sell-off here. We're in triple-digit territory here. The Dow, as you can see, is down 120 points. The Nasdaq, at last check, was down 17.
We will follow the numbers throughout the day with Susan Lisovicz, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
You know, it is a -- look, let's face it, it is a big day in court for General Motors. The automaker faces a key bankruptcy hearing. But will everything go according to plan?
CNNMoney.com's Poppy Harlow has the breakdown from New York.
And look, Poppy, a lot on the line beginning today for GM and its employees.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Oh, a lot on the line for GM executives...
HARRIS: That's right.
HARLOW: ... and us, the U.S. taxpayer. Millions of us, we're shareholders now. And, of course, those thousands of GM employees that are left with the company.
Today, General Motors tries to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It all really rests on what happens in bankruptcy court right here in Manhattan today.
The company asking a judge to approve the sale of its best assets to a new company, the new GM. It will be debt free and mostly owned by the U.S. government. But the plan still faces lots of obstacles from bondholders, from state officials, from smaller unions.
Those are roadblocks, Tony, that could slow GM's hope for a quick exit from bankruptcy. But is the company no longer facing that possibility of complete liquidation?
We asked the CEO of GM, Fritz Henderson, when I sat down with him one-on-one in Detroit at GM headquarters. Take a listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRITZ HENDERSON, CEO, GM: If the bankruptcy process doesn't go successfully, yes, but we have every confidence that the bankruptcy is going to go, it's going to go successfully. We have the support of the Treasury both through the bankruptcy, as well as the exit financings in place. We're very confident that could be done, but absent that transaction, that would be the outcome. We would have run out of cash. So -- but I think today, Poppy, we're very confident we'll get that job done. The new General Motors will come out and will be there, and that eventuality will not occur.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: All right, he says it will not occur, Tony. But if it does, you can just imagine what that would mean for the state of Michigan.
The governor of Michigan, Jennifer Granholm, told us that the biggest possible roadblock to recovery for that state -- which, by the way, Detroit has the highest unemployment rate in the nation right now -- would be, Tony, a liquidation of one of the big three. So we're watching this trial very carefully, and I want to point you to the home page of CNNMoney.com, where we have the interview -- Tony.
HARRIS: Terrific. All right, Poppy. Appreciate it. Thank you.
HARLOW: Sure.
HARRIS: Now that American troops have left Iraq's major cities, Iraqi forces are in charge of day-to-day security. It is a major test for them. Their success or failure may speed or delay a full U.S. withdrawal.
Let's talk to a CNN correspondent who spent several years covering Iraq and the war for this network. Arwa Damon is now reporting from Indonesia.
Arwa, thank you for your time.
She's actually joining us from Jakarta, where it is late evening.
Thanks, Arwa.
What does this day, dubbed Sovereignty Day, mean, in your estimation, for the Iraqis?
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, I really think it depends on who you're talking to and exactly what you're asking, and how they choose to define "sovereignty," per se. I think for some Iraqis, they'll look at it and say, OK, so the Americans are handing full control over to the Iraqi government. But at the same time, how truly reliable is this government?
And then there's also the reality that there are still 130,000 American troops on Iraqi soil. Of course, they have much less authority to operate within the country. They are under the full command, to a certain degree, of the Iraqi authorities themselves. But at what point does the nation become truly sovereign?
And then, when this nation does become sovereign, at what point do its people turn around and say, we have our own country and it's a country that we can actually believe in? And I think that's also a very big question.
HARRIS: Let me try this one on you, Arwa. I asked this question of Michael Ware. If an American asked you, what has really been accomplished in Iraq, when you take into account that no Iraqi weapons of mass destruction were ever found, no ties between Saddam Hussein and the people responsible for 9/11 was found. The Iraqis are clearly still struggling to make progress on oil laws, plenty of territorial disputes to be resolved. How would you answer that question, what has really been accomplished in Iraq?
DAMON: You know, Tony, I think that is such a difficult question. Again, I think it goes back to who you're talking to. And, you know, in my time in Iraq, I've asked a number of Iraqi colleagues, friends, people who we've met exactly how they are going to look back on this war. And, quite frankly, it's too soon to tell. We don't know what's been accomplished because we don't know what Iraq is eventually going to look like.
It is still at such an uncertain stage. The future is still so uncertain. There are some Iraqis we will talk to who will say, you know what, no matter what we went through over the last six years, no matter how much we've lost, at least it's better than the days of Saddam Hussein.
And there are those that will tell you that, well, do you know what, you've only removed one dictator. One form of suppression of the Iraqi people and basically replaced it with another. They'll look towards the current Iraqi government and they will say that is a predominantly Shia government. It's the Shia version of Saddam Hussein, only this time the puppet strings are being pulled by Iran. So, it depends on who you're asking.
HARRIS: Yes.
DAMON: It depends on, you know, how they're going to define success and accomplishments. And a lot of people will tell you, well we just don't know because we don't know what's going to happen next.
HARRIS: What's your view of this? Can the Iraqi security forces handle the job of keep the people safe and rooting out those who would launch new rounds of sectarian violence?
DAMON: Alone, entirely alone, I would say at this stage, no, not yet. I mean, we're talking about trying to build up an Iraqi force pretty much from scratch, that is going to have to face a type of enemy that, quite frankly, has proven to be challenging, to say the least, to the U.S. military. So we're talking about needing to train a security force basically up to American standards. The quality of the U.S. soldier and marine that is out there, if not even better to be able to truly clamp down on the violence.
And then there's also the reality that this isn't a war that's going to be solved militarily. You can go out there and root out as many insurgents as you want. But until you root out the true causes of the insurgency, not much is going to change. So politics play into it. Economics play into it. Education plays into it. And let's bear in mind, though, that the U.S. isn't going anywhere just yet. There are still going to be 130,000 troops on Iraqi soil after this day for the foreseeable future. So the Iraqis are still going to have that to fall back on.
HARRIS: That's right. Arwa Damon for us. Arwa spent years reporting, boy, during the hot war and everything, in Iraq from our Baghdad bureau. Arwa Damon, it's good to see you. She's reporting now live from Jakarta, Indonesia.
DAMON: Thank you.
HARRIS: And checking the NEWSROOM blog now, we asked for your thoughts on the U.S. troops pulling out of Iraq's cities. J says, "It's time for Iraqis to take their country back. It may not be a perfect environment for them, but it is totally up to them politically to fix their own country."
John says, "I am convinced that as long as the Iraqi army thinks we are waiting in the wings to come back to their aid, the motivation to succeed is dramatically diminished. These soldiers don't have the same motivation as the bombers, terrorists, et cetera."
And June said, "We shouldn't have invaded. But having done so, we are responsible for the consequences of our actions. I've been opposed to our leaving because of the chaos we created and the chaos which would ensue upon our departure. However, it does seem endless and, ultimately, Iraqis have to take responsibility for their own country."
Thank you so much.
Iran's disputed election has been officially validated. Government officials say they investigated and recounted but found no tangible irregularities. Live now to CNN's Reza Sayah at the Iran desk.
That decision comes as no surprise, Reza.
REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Government officials in Iran say they found no irregularities. They say in some parts of Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad actually gained some votes. That may surprise some people. But the overall results of this partial recount certainly don't. The partial recount conducted on Monday. The Guardian Council, Iran's top legislative body, now certifying, finalizing the election results.
Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi had rejected the notion of a partial recount because he's indicated that he simply doesn't have any confidence in the election results. And there's some members of the opposition that have suggested taking this matter to lawmakers, to parliament. Well, today the spokesperson for the Guardian Council shut the door on that idea as well. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Well, what relates to the election, that's over. The Guardian Council is the source of decision-making and alas, it has the last say.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAYAH: The elections are over, but things will continue for that man, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He is re-elected, according to the government. His term will begin on July 26th, with a swearing-in ceremony led by Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. The Guardian Council also saying today that no more -- no more complaints from candidates. They haven't revealed the official results of the partial recount, but today the spokesperson for the Guardian Council said the difference between the partial recount and the original vote were so negligible, so small, that they weren't even worth mentioning. Those are his words, Tony.
HARRIS: Yes. OK, Reza Sayah for us at our Iran desk.
Reza, good to see you. Thank you.
Extreme heat is sweeping several parts of the country. CNN's Chad Myers joins us next.
And saying safe but still having a blast. Getting ready for the Fourth of July.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: How long have they been doing this? I bet Chad knows. Your annual reminder. You see what fireworks can do to a watermelon, OK. So be careful. It's that stark warning from -- yowza (ph), from the Consumer Products Safety Commission, ahead of the July 4th weekend. Now last year there were seven fireworks related deaths and some 7,000 emergency room visits. Why do people continue to do this and get hurt? All right, a couple of tips from the commission.
Never allow your children, particularly young children, to play with or ignite fireworks. That makes sense. All of this makes sense. Sprinklers burn at temperatures of about 2,000 degrees, hot enough to melt some metals. And never try to relight or pick up fireworks that have not fully functioned, those duds, because they may go off in your hands when you pick them up.
And, Chad, am I right, it feels like they've been doing this for 30 years, sending out this warning, and still we get people who don't heed the warning and end up hurt and losing digits and everything else.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I don't even know where you buy that stuff.
HARRIS: Where do you -- yes, yes.
MYERS: You know, if you buy fireworks in Georgia, they go about this high and they go, ssss, and they're done. And that's it. Oh, that was $6. Wow, great.
HARRIS: What a thrill that was! MYERS: What a thrill that was. Now you can drive to other states and get other things but not things that I know of that were going to blow up that. Obviously they are available or they wouldn't be showing you this stuff.
HARRIS: Absolutely.
MYERS: And those sparklers, I think I still have a scar from grabbing a sparkler when I was a kid.
HARRIS: And then you learned, right, and you didn't -- right.
MYERS: Well, yes, but that's not the point really because . . .
HARRIS: Oh, OK. Gotcha.
MYERS: Tony, it is hot across parts of the country. Still hot in Austin. The tenth day in a row over 100 degrees there. That's a new record. San Antonio was 104 and Houston there, you were at 102.
It is cooler across the Northeast today. Significant cool down across the Northeast as the cold air has been wrapping around a low pressure. Little dip in the jet stream. That's all it is.
But, look, hey, there's New York City, there's Albany, Schenectady, all the way over to Bardonia (ph). This area right here could see some severe weather today. That's just part of the hot air here, cold air here, and we could see the potential for some severe weather across parts of the Northeast. Highs only in the 60s and 70s across the upper Great Lakes. Still, though, very hot across Texas -- 94, Houston, 91, Dallas.
Now, this is not nearly as hot as it has been. We have dropped the temperatures by at least five degrees in many areas. Not a warm day at all in parts of Florida. The rain is coming down heavily. Could even see some flooding, have some very heavy rain showers heading into the Orlando, Kissimmee area. You could probably even see some ponding on the roadways there and some showers in Texas where they are loving this.
HARRIS: Yes.
MYERS: Tony, for days I had areas with red and orange and purple here.
HARRIS: Yes.
MYERS: Extreme heat warnings all the way up to Minnesota. Today, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11 counties, that's it in Texas, 11 counties going to get over 105 degrees for a heat index. Not that that's a picnic, but we're not talking a thousand counties, like all the way up to Canada, like we had a couple days ago.
HARRIS: Exactly.
MYERS: So, it's better.
HARRIS: We'll take the relief.
MYERS: Yes.
HARRIS: Absolutely. All right, Chad, thank you, sir.
MYERS: You got it.
HARRIS: Michael Jackson, he led a life of endless talent and apparent torment, and evidently there are similar contradictions in death. An entertainer who earned hundreds of million of dollars was drowned in a sea of debt. We get the details from CNN's Gary Tuchman.
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GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A person with intimate knowledge of Michael Jackson's finances is very blunt, telling CNN the situation was just mayhem. The estimate, that at the time of his death, the king of pop was roughly $400 million in debt. The 50 London concerts that were scheduled were going to bring in tens of millions of dollars for Michael Jackson. But that was only a fraction of the entertainer's debt.
So how did this happen? Only seven years ago, "Forbes" magazine said he was worth $350 million. In part that was fueled by an extremely shrewd investment Jackson made two decades earlier.
ETHAN SMITH, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": He bought a company called ATV Music Publishing, which held, among other things, the copy rights to 251 Beatles songs.
TUCHMAN: He spent about $47 million for the copy rights. And some say they may be worth more than $1 billion now. Although Jackson sold half of it to Sony in 1995 to drum up cash. But up until his death, he was bringing in several millions dollars a year in royalties and other fees from his own music. We talked with this man, Charles Koppelman, who was a financial consultant for Jackson between 2001 and 2004.
CHARLES KOPPELMAN, JACKSON'S FORMER BUSINESS ADVISER: We all know what an incredible artist he was, but he also was a unique businessman to make the decisions, and they were his, to identify assets and acquire them over the years. His Achilles' heel, unfortunately, was his personal finances.
TUCHMAN: And that's putting it mildly. A person with knowledge of the current financial situation says Jackson was spending $2 million a month on what he called BS. Over the years, Jackson bought the Neverland Ranch near Santa Barbara for just shy of $20 million. He spent many millions more on amenities and maintenance.
And then he spent staggering amounts of money on legal challenges including $20 million to settle a child molestation lawsuit. A decade later, after spending millions in legal fee he was acquitted in another child molestation case. Despite all that, his former financial consultant said Jackson was in OK financial shape as recently as 2004.
KOPPELMAN: We took about two months or so and we were able to restructure all of his various loans, et cetera. We did that. And that was efficient and effective.
TUCHMAN: But Jackson kept spending and spending. And the pop star who made so much money in his career churned through unimaginable amounts of it. With his death, his assets are still there, including his Beatles right, but his spending is not.
KOPPELMAN: His untimely death, as sad as it is, and it is sad, you know, to some extent, there's a possibility that his children and his family will now be able to figure out how to maintain those assets for them all.
TUCHMAN: And if that happens, it's a most pitiful way for it to occur.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Another reminder for you to tune in tonight for "Anderson Cooper 360." Anderson will be live from Los Angeles, gathering all the latest information on the Michael Jackson death investigation. That's "AC360" at 10:00 Eastern right here on CNN.
The Supreme Court has overturned a highly visible case previously heard by court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. Will the high court's decision have any impact on her nomination?
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HARRIS: New video of this parking garage collapse in Atlanta. A story that broke yesterday about this time. Emergency workers are using dogs and listening devices to search through the rubble today. Amazingly -- wow, look at these pictures -- no injuries reported so far and no one's reported missing. Dozens of cars as you can see here, were crushed when four stories collapsed on top of each other. Just pancaking one another. CNN has learned the firm that oversaw the deck's construction was fined earlier this month in the collapse of a walkway at Atlanta's Botanical Gardens. Man, what a mess.
The U.S. Supreme Court sides with the firefighters known as the New Haven 20. It was a divisive case testing the bounds of affirmative action. Mary Snow has details from the ruling.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was worth it. Every minute of it, right, guys?
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The so-called New Haven 20 celebrated the Supreme Court ruling in their favor. Lead plaintiff Frank Ricci (ph) says he feels vindicated for suing the city for discrimination after he was denied a promotion. The city ditched the results of an exam for captains and lieutenants because no African-Americans would have been promoted.
FRANK RICCI: This is just proof positive that people should be treated as individuals and not statistics. And that won out at the Supreme Court today.
SNOW: The city said it threw out the results for fear of being sued by minorities. But in a 5-4 decision, Justice Anthony Kennedy said the "fear of litigation alone cannot justify an employer's reliance on race to the detriment of individuals who passed the examinations and qualified for promotions."
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a dissenter who called the court's majority ruling troubling, adding, "relying so heavily on pencil-and-paper exams to select firefighters is a dubious practice."
New Haven's mayor says he can understand firefighters on both sides of this issue. But, he adds . . .
MAYOR JOHN DESTEFANO, NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT: It's a continual erosion of civil rights law by this Supreme Court.
SNOW: The city viewed the test as flawed after they had already been conducted. A group of minority firefighters advocated using a system that would take into effect life and communication skills, not just written tests, and it considers the high court's ruling a big blow.
LT. GARY TINNEY, PRESIDENT, FIREBIRD SOCIETY: It's going to set us back 45 years, the decision, in the hiring practice.
SNOW: Ben Vargas is the lone Hispanic member of the New Haven 20. How does he respond to those who say the test wasn't fair?
BEN VARGAS, NEW HAVEN FIREFIGHTER: What I say to them is, study hard because we won this, and this was not only for us, but it was for them as well. For the entire country, not only in the fire service and the police service and all public service, because this is going to help everyone out.
SNOW (on camera): The court made almost no mention of the previous ruling in this case by a federal appeals court, written by Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor. The justices did not criticize her for not issuing a full opinion in the case. That's something her critics are now doing.
Mary Snow, CNN, New Haven, Connecticut.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Well, could the reversal come back to haunt Judge Sotomayor in her confirmation hearings? Legal issues aside, the debate is taking place in the political arena. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMAL SIMMONS, PRESIDENT, NEW FUTURE COMMUNICATIONS: I'm sure the Republicans will try to make this an issue. It will be to their detriment, though, when they do because the problem for the Republicans here is, how do you oppose someone as qualified as justice -- Judge Sotomayor. Someone who's spent 11 years on the appeals court, six years in the district court before that. She's ruled over hundreds of cases, 450 as a district court judge, over 150 as an appeals court judge. She's been a big-city prosecutor. When you add all that up, it's not the kind of person you really want to oppose. They will try to take a case like this, which is not that abnormal to be reversed, and try to make this into a bigger political issue.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR, "AMERICAN MORNING": So what do you do, Leslie, about this, or what do Republicans do about this because there are plenty of judges in the United States at the applet level that could overturn it to the Supreme Court. It's just -- it's kind of a matter of timing in this case.
LESLIE SANCHEZ, CO-CHAIR, HISPANIC ALLIANCE FOR PROSPERITY INSTITUTE: Well, sure. In the case here you have seven cases, five have been reversed. I think what's interesting is not only the brevity of her opinions, but also the lack of substance in them, which gives a lot of people a lot of reasons to question. Combine that with her statements on identity politics and you have a combination for some very heated confirmation hearings.
I don't agree with Jamal in the sense that you should just give this very qualified jurist a pass. She needs to be vetted in the most serious way. She says a lot of things that cause people to pause. And I think with respect to that, this is another example of her decisions being reversed and her -- even Justice Ginsburg in this case, disagreed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Sotomayor's confirmation hearings are scheduled to begin July 13th.
More news involving South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford's affair. Well, it turns out the governor didn't exactly tell the whole truth, according to the Associated Press. The AP says during a lengthy interview, Sanford confessed to seven rendezvous with his Argentine mistress dating back to 2001, including some overnight stays with her in New York. Last week Sanford said he had only been with her four times, that was during the last year, and he never admitted seeing her in the United States.
Russian authorities are gambling on a ban on casinos in their biggest cities to solve a lot of problems. Are they ready for their own version of Las Vegas in the desert?
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HARRIS: Kicking the casinos out. Russia is banning gambling in certain areas in an effort to stop addiction. But it's not without its risks. CNN's Matthew Chance has more from Moscow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They've become dazzling icons of post-Soviet Russia. The capital's glitzy casinos and gaming halls summed up this country's rapid embrace of capitalism.
But it's all about to change. Casino gambling in Russia is effectively being banned. Already the neon lights are being taken down. The Kremlin determined to save its people from widespread gambling addiction, what it's called the perils of blackjack and one- armed bandits.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): This law was created with the intent to better the social environment for the Russian public. It is for their own good.
CHANCE: The idea is to move casinos out of town, limiting them to four designated gambling zones across this vast country. Removing casinos from the cities and bringing investments to neglected regions in the provinces.
CHANCE (on camera): Sounds like a reasonable idea. It certainly worked in Las Vegas after all. Problem is, though, that none of Russia's casino cities have ever been built. And the Russian gambling industry, which employs hundreds of thousands of people in casinos like these across the country, is up in arms.
So what would be the consequences of all these casinos being closed down before alternative venues have been opened up?
SAMOIL BINDER, ASSOCIATION FOR GAMBLING DEVELOPMENT (through translator): The government will lose $2 billion of tax revenue annually from its budget. Three hundred and fifty thousand people will be thrown out on the street. Underground, illegal gambling facilities will rise with criminal backing. Our research shows that 65 percent of our customers will continue to gamble, whether it's illegal or not.
CHANCE (voice-over): In neighboring Ukraine, similar laws have also been passed, sparking angry protests by casino workers suddenly made unemployed.
ILYA, FORMER CASINO WORKER (through translator): There are not allowing us to work. I was fired after our company was shut down. Now I have no salary. But I still need to feed my family.
CHANCE: And with unemployment in Russia already soaring, the effects of the globe crisis, Russia's campaign against an industry that employs so many may prove an unwise gamble. Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Kyra Phillips.
