Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

House Dems Say Panetta Admitted CIA Lies; Obama Chairs G-8 Global Warming Meeting; Thousands Protest in Iran; Officials Fear Resurgence of Flu Virus; Blast Rocks Central Afghanistan; States Using Stimulus Money to Stay Afloat; Preventing Skin Cancer; Marines Taking Control of Taliban Strongholds; Ethnic Tensions Calmer in China; McNair's Death Determined Murder-Suicide

Aired July 09, 2009 - 09:00   ET

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

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Horror at an Illinois cemetery. Dozens of bodies dug up and dumped in mass graves. All of this just to re-sell burial plots.

And happening right now, state health officials in Washington for a swine flu summit. How prepared are they to protect you this fall?

And where is all that stimulus money going? We find states aren't really building very much. They're just plugging the budget holes instead.

It is Thursday, July 9th. Hi, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Breaking news to tell you about this morning. Bombings in both Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, when you look at this, a massive blast in Afghanistan left a huge, huge crater. Twenty-five civilians and police were killed when a truck packed with explosives detonated right near the Afghan capital. We'll have the very latest on that.

And also, 43 people killed in separate cities in Iraq. Back to back bombings, the target there, a counterterrorism official. Now these attacks happening just a few days after U.S. forces pulled out of Iraqi cities. We're going to have more on that violence coming up right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Meanwhile, CIA secrets kept from Congress. Some House Democrats say CIA director Leon Panetta admitted the agency lied to lawmakers for the past eight years. A reference to that classified admission posted on the congresswoman's Web site.

CNN congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar joining us now live from Capitol Hill with more on this.

So, Brianna, you actually got a copy of that letter from House Democrats. How does it read?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is the letter right here, Heidi. Now, what we've learned here is that two weeks ago, CIA director Panetta came before Congress, he -- came before members of the House Intelligence Committee, and he testified before them. What did he say? It is revealed in this letter and it says, in part, this is a letter sent to Panetta after his testimony. It says in part, "Recently, you testified that you have determined that top CIA officials have concealed significant actions from Congress from 2001 to this week." Meaning late in June.

I just spoke with Congresswoman Anna Eshoo whose Web site this was posted on. Here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ANNA G. ESHOO (D), CALIFORNIA: The executive branch has a responsibility, under the National Security Act, to keep the Congress fully informed and in a timely fashion. So this is -- this is very, very serious, to have withheld information. We cannot have secret operations going on without being informed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: So, Democrats here raising the question, who is holding the CIA accountable if Congress doesn't have the proper information?

This is very significant, Heidi, but it's even more significant because of a partisan battle going on right now on Capitol Hill over what the CIA has told and has not told Congress in recent years.

COLLINS: Yes. I mean, there is quite a battle, in fact. It all started a while back with something House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said back in May, I think it was.

KEILAR: Yes, May 15th, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi essentially accused the CIA of lying to her in classified intelligence briefings she received in 2002, a briefing about harsh interrogation tactics used on terrorist suspects. Tactics like waterboarding.

Well, in a strongly worded statement after that, CIA director Panetta came out and said it is not the CIA's practice or policy to mislead Congress.

COLLINS: Right.

KEILAR: And so because of that -- we should say, keeping in mind here, Heidi, though, because a lot of this is classified, you can't draw the connection that what Speaker Pelosi is talking about, what her allegations were about being misled, that that information in particular was part of what the CIA director is talking about.

But at the same time, it leaves an open question, and because of that, Heidi, you've got Republicans saying that these are just Democrats who are going to bat for Speaker Pelosi.

COLLINS: I'm just wondering how a lot of this classified information regarding testimony and so forth got on the congresswoman's Web site to begin with. But I guess that's a separate issue.

KEILAR: Well, and that's a separate issue.

COLLINS: Brianna -- go ahead.

KEILAR: Yes, but they keep the language vague and they don't get into the classified details.

COLLINS: OK. All right. Brianna Keilar, following a complicated story for us. Sure do appreciate that.

And also this morning, big players welcoming some smaller players. Now the world's leading industrialized nations opening the doors to five developing countries. President Obama is leading the major economies forum at the G-8 summit. The main focus here, global warming.

The president's summit stop is part of his weeklong overseas trip. And CNN senior White House correspondent Ed Henry is joining us now from L'Aquila, Italy with more.

Ed, good morning to you.

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. As you said, the president is going to be chairing this very important meeting this morning, an expanded meeting because it goes beyond the G-8 countries. Other countries like Brazil and India, who have a key role in trying to deal with climate change.

But environmentalist critics are charging the president's ideas and his push so far here at the summit has come up short.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HENRY (voice-over): President Obama may be in Italy for his first G-8 summit, but he's trying to stay focused on a pressing concern back home, the still ailing U.S. economy.

Mr. Obama quickly joined the other leading industrialized nations in reaffirming their commitment to restoring growth in global markets. And he's vowing to help tighten financial regulations.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We discussed the importance of Europe and the United States raising standards on financial institutions to ensure that a crisis like the one that's taken place will never happen again.

HENRY: The president is also trying to move aggressively to deal with another potential crisis, climate change. He helped lead the group to support a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions among developed countries. An 80 percent cut by 2050.

MIKE FROMAN, DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: This is a significant step forward in that the G8, this is the first time the G8 has published this sort of data on where countries are with regard to their prior commitments.

HENRY: But the declaration has no enforcement mechanisms, the White House officials hope it provides momentum for real change.

The president also wants to use the G8 to gain momentum for his effort to stop Iran and North Korea from obtaining nuclear weapons.

OBAMA: It's very important for the world community to speak to countries like Iran and North Korea and encourage them to take a path that does not result in a nuclear arms race in places like the Middle East.

HENRY: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi moved the summit to the city of L'Aquila to highlight devastation from an April earthquake. People still living without homes here are playing off Mr. Obama's campaign slogan, "Yes, we can," by telling the world, "Yes, we camp."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HENRY: Now President Obama met this morning with President Lula of Brazil, one of the key developing countries not signing on to these greenhouse gas cuts and that's why some of these environmentalists around the world are saying, look, this is a real missed opportunity by these G8 leaders because it doesn't have enough teeth in it...

COLLINS: Yes.

HENRY: ... in terms of dealing with climate change. What White House officials are saying is look, at least getting the G8 leaders on board gives some momentum for that big, big environmental conference in Copenhagen this December, Heidi.

COLLINS: OK. Well, we'll be watching for that as well. Ed Henry for us, live from Italy this morning. Thank you, Ed.

Breaking news we need to get to now. Out of Iran this morning, reports of clashes in the streets on a day dedicated to protest.

CNN's Reza Sayah is joining us now from CNN's Iran desk.

All right, so what's going on here, Reza?

REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Heidi, tensions escalating in the streets of Tehran. Of course, we hadn't seen wide-scale protests and clashes for about a week and a half. And that's changing, and changing quickly this morning.

This all started happening about an hour ago. There was a lot of buzz on the Internet that there was going to be mass protests in the streets of Tehran today to commemorate a 10-year anniversary for the student protest back in 1999.

We were monitoring things here at the Iran desk. Things were quiet about an hour and a half ago, and then people started moving in to Revolution Square in Tehran. There was lots of security forces, and within the past hour, we can confirm reports of clashes between some of those security forces and protests there who are trying to gather. Just getting off the phone with someone who is reporting one person, at least, injured after a clash with a security force. They're reporting an injury to the facial area, according to this source. They were trying to convince -- some security forces were trying to convince this man to get into an ambulance, but he refused.

Other reports are coming in telling us that people are trying to gather, but security forces there, many of them on motorcycles dispersing the crowds in Enghelab or Revolution Square and in front of Tehran University, of course, the scene of that student protest 10 years ago that resulted in a deadly crackdown.

Again, we hadn't seen protests from the opposition movement over the past week and a half. Lots of buzz that they would come out today and it looks like at least some, we're estimating about 100 in Enghelab Square, some in front of Tehran University.

COLLINS: All right. Well, keep us posted, Reza. I hear all the phones going crazy. I know you guys are checking in with all of your sources there. So let us know if we need to get back to you.

SAYAH: Will do.

COLLINS: Sure do appreciate it. Reza Sayah over at our Iran desk this morning.

On to this now, a crime even police are having a hard time stomaching. The bodies of at least 100 people dug up from their graves and dumped. Workers at one cemetery accused of reselling plots and pocketing the profits.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, parts of the nation getting a little bit of a cool down, but other places getting a warm- up, including Austin, Texas, with a high yesterday of 106.

Now coming up, we'll give you an idea of what you can expect for the rest of the day and into the rest of your workweek. That's straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: The H1N1 flu, otherwise known as the swine flu. Right now, top government health officials are at an important summit in Washington talking about the spread of the flu and what can be done to limit the danger.

You see Kathleen Sebelius there.

CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is right here with me to talk a little bit more about this.

All right. So what's the deal? It's back?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's -- well, it never went away.

COLLINS: OK.

COHEN: You can think about it that way. It never went away. And the fear is, is that when the regular flu season picks up in the fall, that swine flu will take off and be -- and spread even more than it has already.

So, right now, leaders from across the country are on this big meeting, there's a representative from every state to talk about, all right, guys, what's the plan? What are we going to do? Will there be a vaccine available? And who should get it? How are we going to deliver this vaccine? What should we expect?

They're looking at the southern hemisphere because they're in their flu season now to see if there are any hints about what's going to happen here. They need to sort of -- they're hoping to sort of figure it all out before the flu season hits in the fall.

COLLINS: OK. So, back to keeping it all in perspective as you have done such a great job with for us.

COHEN: Thank you.

COLLINS: How deadly is this virus?

COHEN: You know what? It's not nearly as deadly as people feared at the beginning. And so I think when you take a look at these numbers, I think it'll explain it nicely. There have been an estimated one million cases of swine flu, H1N1 '09, in this country and 170 deaths.

Now, obviously, it's not good that 170 people have died, but that is not a gigantic death rate. People are not, you know, it's a disease that spreads very fast, however, for most people it is a relatively mild illness. And I think that's an important thing to remember.

COLLINS: I think it's very important. Exactly. But people also wondering about a vaccine on this. We've been talking about some progress there and now what?

COHEN: Yes, there has been progress, and they're doing studies right now, and they're evaluating different vaccines. There's been a lot of talk about hopefully having a vaccine ready for the fall. But we haven't heard anyone say yes, that's it. It's a done deal, we will definitely have one in the fall.

But that's certainly has been what they've been preparing for, what they've been hoping for, and then the question becomes who gets it? And do you actually -- do you want to get a vaccine for a disease that isn't all that deadly?

It's a little bit tricky. But here's what we heard this morning on "AMERICAN MORNING."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: We're moving toward the likelihood of a specific vaccine for H1N1. We're testing the virus strains now, preparing the production lines, beginning clinical trials, what we need to make sure as we have an effective vaccine, one that actually combats this particular virus, but also that we have a safe vaccine. We know the right dose, we know the targeted population.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: And as you can imagine, Heidi, they're moving with -- you know, they want to be sure. Remember in 1976 when they vaccinated against swine flu, it was not a happy story.

COLLINS: That's right.

COHEN: It did not end well. So, they want to make sure that they're not -- that the vaccine doesn't cause more harm than it helps.

COLLINS: Of course. All right. Well, we'll stay on top of it. Definitely. Appreciate it. Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen this morning. Thanks.

COHEN: Thanks.

COLLINS: I want to head over to the severe weather center now, where Reynolds Wolf is standing by to talk yet again about all of the heat across the country.

Hey there, Reynolds.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: All right. Very good. Reynolds, we'll check in a little later on. Thank you.

WOLF: You bet.

COLLINS: A massive explosion in Afghanistan, an overturned truck used as a trap. We're hearing children may have been caught in the deadly blast.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: A heartbreaking story out of Illinois to tell you about. Investigators there are sifting through the remains of people dumped at the back of a cemetery in a Chicago suburb. They say the bodies were dug up out of graves so those graves could then be resold to unsuspecting families.

FBI forensic investigators are expected to begin working there today. At least four people are now in custody. The sheriff says as many as 100 bodies were dumped and their headstones scattered.

He talked earlier on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF TOM DART, COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS: It's so upsetting, unsettling that somebody would be doing these types of things. But we have walked around here for the last week, and each step you take, you're finding more remains, more bones at different locations. And we don't even have our arms completely around the magnitude of this yet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: We will have much more on this story coming up next hour, including more from the Sheriff's Department chaplain. He's going to be telling us about what's being done to assist the families in all of this.

Really an incredible story, an awful one, in fact. And we'd love to hear more about what you think about it. So what we've done is put the story, at least the synopsis of it, on to our Web site here, our blog, I should say.

We'd love to hear more about what you think should happen here. And just how it makes you feel because we've been hearing an awful lot about it and not sure what is going to happen to the families of these folks.

So, once again, CNN.com/heidi. You can go there and post your comments. We sure do welcome there. We'll share some of them with you a little bit later in the show.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: Live breaking news, unfolding developments, see for yourself in the CNN NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Government agencies are taking a closer look at Web site security right now after a number of sites were knocked offline by a sophisticated cyber attack. The so-called "denial of service" attack hit public Web sites.

Investigators are looking into whether the attacks are connected to similar attacks against government computers in South Korea. An official there says a new attack was launched this morning.

The White House, Department of Transportation, and Treasury were among the targets. The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq were also affected.

A massive blast rocks central Afghanistan. At least 25 people are dead. The Associated Press reports more than a dozen of those victims are schoolchildren. The blast near the capital Kabul is just the latest terror attack.

CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is joining us now with the very latest here.

Barbara, good morning. BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Heidi. There is some video coming from this area in Afghanistan showing the aftermath of this huge blast. By all accounts it took place in some sort of truck carrying lumber that exploded.

Nobody really sure what kind of bomb this actually was. Twenty- five people killed, including 21 Afghan civilians, we are told, four policemen, a number of them nearby schoolchildren. This took place in an area called Logar Province, which is just south of Kabul, the capital, near a main road.

This is an area where there's been a good deal of Taliban and insurgent activity for more than a year. And because it's near a main highway, this is a place, an area U.S. forces have been keeping their eye on because the concern had been that the Taliban, the insurgents would use this highway, this route as a route into Kabul to launch attacks in the city there.

So, a lot of concern about this area. Just the latest. It has been a very deadly week in Afghanistan, Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes, it sure has. We know you're watching it closely for us, too. Also, Barbara, more coffins arriving at Dover Air Force Base yesterday. Tell us a little bit more about the fallen troops if you can.

STARR: Some extraordinary pictures yesterday at Dover Air Force Base in -- by Delaware. The remains of several U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan earlier this week returned to the United States, returned to their families in these very dignified ceremonies.

There you saw the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, who made a trip from here in Washington up to Dover to be there to greet the families and to pay his respects. These are pictures that we don't often get to see, but now coverage is allowed for the media. So these pictures can be brought to all Americans. Heidi?

COLLINS: CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr for us this morning. Thanks, Barbara.

Tracking the money now. States getting federal dollars for economic recovery. Let's find out how they're spending it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: To Wall Street now. Stocks are set for a higher start after the Dow inched up just a little bit, 14 points yesterday. The focus this morning shifts to a pair of new readings from the retail and employment sectors.

Susan Lisovicz is joining us now from the New York Stock Exchange with a look ahead to all the day's action.

Hi there, Susan. SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. We're looking at a modestly higher open helped by some better-than-expected news on the jobs front along with the first major report of the second quarter earnings season.

Alcoa clocked in with a loss of more than $450 million after the close of trading yesterday. Still, the aluminum giant was able to top Wall Street's estimates. Its shares in the pre-market were jumping 7 percent.

Meanwhile, first-time jobless claims fell sharply, finally sitting below the 600,000 mark. That's encouraging. We haven't seen that since January. However, continuing claims climbed to a new record of nearly 6.9 million.

And as the opening bell rings, the nation's retailers are reporting weak sales for June hurt by that rainy weather and general consumer gloom. Even discounters reported declines. Costco sales slid by 6 percent last month, JCPenney, Target, Macy's also reported that sales fell from a year ago.

Don't want to buy bathing suits when it feels like April.

COLLINS: I never want to buy a bathing suit. Are you kidding?

LISOVICZ: That too. I recycle mine year after year.

(LAUGHTER)

COLLINS: Well, that's actually impressive.

LISOVICZ: All right.

COLLINS: Anyway, we digress.

LISOVICZ: We digress. What we're seeing in the first minute of trading, the Dow, the Nasdaq, S&P higher. Did you see who was ringing the opening bell, Heidi? The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People on the occasion of its 100th anniversary. The NAACP is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization.

Happy anniversary to you - Heidi.

COLLINS: Very good. All right. Susan Lisovicz, we will check back later on. Thank you.

LISOVICZ: You're welcome.

COLLINS: So, where's the money? Where are the jobs? A new report finds financially strapped states are using their part of the economic recovery money to plug gaps and stay afloat instead of doing long-term projects.

Our Christine Romans in New York now with more on this.

So, Christine, what exactly is in this report? That's not really what they were supposed to be doing with the money, right?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: No, you're right, but it's because they have to. These states are saying of the $29 billion that they've received so far from their share of the stimulus that they're using it literally to fill holes in their books and not necessarily to start new projects.

A lot of this money is education and health care spending, Heidi. Most of it actually that's gone out the door is to reimburse some for Medicaid. 63 percent of the stimulus money going to the state is for that. There's a state fiscal stabilization fund, 13 percent. Six percent for highways and 18 percent for other programs.

When you take a look at this, the states, the money meant to build schools, expand early childhood education, but in many cases, it's used to prevent layoffs. In some cases, one school district, for example, being able to keep 2,000 teachers other than lay them off. That's not building a new program. That's just maintaining the programs you have.

In terms of the highway part of this, some of these states are quickly trying to use the money to fill patches and roads, to do pavement repairs and alike, because they don't have to do big environmental assessments. There's not a lot of bureaucracy. They can hire people right away. So, instead of building new roads or doing new projects, they're doing maintenance projects, projects that are going to create jobs in the very near term.

Some of the stimulus money has been untouched, because they're waiting for more federal guidelines about just for bureaucratic reasons quite frankly. And because there are strings attached to some of this money. And in many cases, these states, Heidi, they need the money right now just to fill the holes from the deteriorating state budgets.

COLLINS: Yes, it's really incredible. The administration said the stimulus would help save jobs, too, but we're having a very hard time learning how many have been saved or created for that matter.

ROMANS: And let me say that the government has said, the administration has said that they have been able to save 150,000 jobs and that they're hoping they're on track to save maybe 750,000 jobs by the end of the summer.

It's very hard to verify how many jobs have been saved or created. And here's one of the reasons. They're using a formula. And the formula is for every $92,000 of stimulus money spent, that creates one job. That's the formula. And some of the critics would say --

COLLINS: Where do they get that?

ROMANS: That's the formula that they're using. That the economists, who study this had been using -- the White House economists have been using to try to figure out how many jobs are going to be created. So it's really an estimate quite frankly. And I keep saying we don't have a list of the names of the people who got those jobs, but we do have administration officials and people who are going around the country, and they're -- you know, you're seeing these projects as they're getting started.

This GAO report, Heidi, interestingly said the state part of the funding is a little bit ahead of schedule, that they are getting it out of the door. But the other side of that is in some cases it's not being used for what six months ago, five months ago they'll thought it would be used for. This is, some of these states fighting for survival, trying to maintain some of these programs, trying to keep teachers on staff. They're not necessarily expanding programs, fixing schools, building schools in many cases. They're just trying to keep the status quo or stop the bleeding.

COLLINS: All right. What about the Romans Numeral today?

ROMANS: The Romans' Numeral is 2.3 million. It has to do with the job part of the story, Heidi. And this is why politically this starts to get to be such a big part.

This is the number of jobs that have been lost since the stimulus bill was signed. So we were told that stimulus bill was going to help save jobs. It was going to help slow the bleeding. That's how many jobs have been lost since it was signed. The administration point of view is that it would be worse without the stimulus and that the jobs being lost has actually slowed, but critics would say, it's still an awful lot of jobs being lost and it's pretty difficult to say how many exactly have been saved in all of this, Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes. All right. Well, I know you guys are digging hard and trying to get those numbers for us. Sure do appreciate it.

ROMANS: Sure.

COLLINS: Christine Romans with the CNN Money Team. Thanks, Christine.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

COLLINS: Quickly now, we want to get this breaking news out to you that we are just getting and learning here in the CNN NEWSROOM. Our Reza Sayah is actually over at the Iran desk because, Reza, I understand that we are learning more about a lot of people, maybe in the thousands right now that are gathered in Tehran to mark this anniversary, the 1999 protest.

SAYAH: Yes, Heidi. Things really heating up in the streets of Tehran. The crowds were in the hundreds according to our observers about a couple of hours ago. Now they say it's between 2,000 or 3,000 people. And we can confirm at least five clashes between security forces and protesters.

Let's tell you where this is happening. This is happening in Revolution Square, which is right here, very close to Tehran University. And this is a protest to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of another student protest 10 years ago. Government crackdown killed several students there. They were supposed to gather here and also protest the vote. The government had said don't come out or there will be a crackdown, and that's exactly what's happening.

Of course, we don't have the ability to show you pictures from there because of the international media is banned. But a lot of the things that we're confirming from observers on the ground coincide with what we're seeing on Twitter.

Here you see a bunch of activity on Twitter. Here's one person saying helicopters and armored persons are making things worse. Again, here's another one, armored person making things worse. Enqelab people moving in a stream towards Enqelab or Revolution Square. So, we haven't seen these types of clashes for about a week and a half right now...

COLLINS: Right.

SAYAH: ... because of the government crackdown. There was a lot of Internet shatter that because of this 10-year anniversary, people would use this opportunity to come out and protest the elections. It looks like it's happening again. At least five clashes, we can confirm between security forces and protesters - Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. Reza, again, let us know if we need to come back to you. I know you guys are watching this as closely as possible. Thank you.

U.S. Marines facing off against the Taliban, digging in for battle, working to chase off insurgents and capture the confidence of local leaders.

But, first, to this -- no matter what you're age, excessive exposure to the sun can lead to cancer. Our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has some tips on protecting your skin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Armed with SPF 70 sunblock and a hat, Stephanie White is going outside to walk her dog. She is not taking chances anymore.

For years, Stephanie lived in the sun. Growing up in Florida, she was always at the beach or she was outdoors.

STEPHANIE WHITE, SKIN CANCER PATIENT: I was actually 40 hours a week out in the sun Monday through Friday.

GUPTA: As she got older, her years of sun exposure caught up with her. Now in her 40s, she's been diagnosed with all three types of skin cancer, including a melanoma spot she found on her arm.

WHITE: I thought I was too young to have melanoma skin cancer. I didn't know anything about melanoma. I knew that it was malignant. I knew that it could be very serious.

GUPTA: Skin cancer actually begins develop in our younger years. Too much sun exposure can cause burning, which destroys our skin's cells. That damage can lead to skin cancer as we get older.

DR. GEORGE VERGHESE, DERMATOLOGIST: In your 20s or in your 30s, you're accumulating these sun burns, all these mutations in your skin cells -- and a lot of these changes don't start to express themselves until you're 30, 40, 50.

GUPTA: First step towards cancer-free skin? Never go outside without sunblock. No matter what season of the year it is.

VERGHESE: At least SPF 15, and make sure it has a like a broadband UVA and UVB protection.

GUPTA: And if you love the outdoors, try to avoid certain hours of the day.

VERGHESE: The times that you should actually avoid the sun is almost like from 12:00 to like 3:00 p.m., especially if you're going to a beach.

GUPTA: If you think you're too pasty to hit the beach, try the new tanning products instead of a tanning bed. Studies have shown tanning beds can cause skin cancer in younger people.

VERGHESE: It's concentrated ultraviolet radiation. It's almost like the skin cancer effect, somehow a combination. So, it almost accelerates that total UV radiation that you're getting so people, you know, manifest these skin cancers at much younger age.

GUPTA: And as you get older, continue these habits. But add one more -- know your body. The only way to catch skin cancer early is to look for abnormal moles or spots.

Stephanie White knows every mark on her body. And when they begin to change, she sees her dermatologist. Knowing her skin, she says, is what saved her life.

For 30, 40, 50, I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Heidi Collins.

COLLINS: It has now been more than a week since U.S. Marines stormed into southern Afghanistan. About 4,000 have taken up positions in many Taliban strongholds.

All right. Atia Abawi is actually there this morning, embedded with U.S. troops. She's joining us now on the phone from Helmand Province.

Atia, tell us the latest if you could.

ATIA ABAWI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, Heidi, we did go out to Fanashin (ph) District yesterday with Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson. This is a district where Taliban has had control for the past three years. They haven't seen many coalition forces when they have seen them. They have left. The villagers did not adapt to the coalition forces to the Afghan government.

This with a sign and a symbol. They brought the governor of Helmand Province for the first time to this district to raise the flag of Afghanistan and to talk to the villagers, to tell them that they're here to stay this time, but they're here to help them build institutions and to build trust with the U.S. forces as well as the coalition forces. And General Nicholson also told us that they are still facing little resistance from the Taliban, and that's because they came in very quickly and they came in strong.

The Taliban were not prepared. But he also reminded us that this is only the six of the operation today. And that means that the Taliban are going to be preparing for attacks. They won't go down quietly. And the Marines, he says, will be prepared for that - Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. Very good. We are going to continue to check in with you.

Atia Abawi, who is actually embedded with some of the U.S. troops there, live from Afghanistan this morning.

Thanks, Atia.

Officials in western China say ethnic unrest is under control today. This coming on the heels of a major security clampdown in the Xinjiang Region. Ethnic violence erupted in the capital city of Urumqi on Sunday. 156 people are now dead. CNN's Jaime Florcruz was in the area yesterday. He said things are getting back to normal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAIME FLORCRUZ, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: There is a sense of normalcy because the government has taken extraordinary measures. They poured in a lot of thousands of troops, some heavily armed and they're now deplored in major intersections. They've also used the media.

For example, today's front page here is it shows tiny baby right beside the soldiers seemingly saying that they welcome the arrival of the soldiers. Trying to basically tell the people that they are in charge and they have control of the situation, and the police and the army troops will be here to keep public safety.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Once again, our Jaime Florcruz giving us a little bit of information on what is happening there.

I want to get some more perspective, too, on what's been going on in China.

Joining me now is Sean Roberts. He is the director of the International Developments Studies Program at George Washington University.

Thanks for being with us, Sean. What exactly is at the heart of this ethnic unrest?

SEAN ROBERTS, DIRECTOR OF THE INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS STUDIES PROGRAM, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: Well, there's been years of tensions between Han Chinese and Uighurs. But in particular the last decade has really established conditions in Xinjiang that have amplified this tension. The economic development, increased political repression of Uighurs and increased in migration of Han Chinese.

COLLINS: In fact, I mean, you have studied this area so extensively. I know that you even speak the language. You say you are surprised a major clash like this hasn't happened a lot sooner?

ROBERTS: Yes, that's right. I mean, I think that the tensions between Han Chinese and Uighurs have been ongoing for centuries, actually. And given what's been happening in the last decade in China, it's really surprising that something like this has not happened earlier.

COLLINS: I mean, the economic development, which you already mentioned is certainly an issue.

Can you elaborate just a bit? What are they truly facing on a day-to-day basis?

ROBERTS: Yes. Well, it's a particularly interesting issue, Heidi, because the Chinese government, for example, feels that this should preclude Uighurs from becoming dissatisfied with the situation. They think that economic development would obviously translate into a better life, but many Uighurs aren't finding that to be the case and they feel somewhat excluded from the development that's going on in the region.

COLLINS: In fact, you've actually compared this area that we're talking about to sort of the Wild, Wild West in America, like in the 1800s or so.

What makes this region so attractive?

ROBERTS: Well, it's attractive to Han Chinese coming from central China because there's a lot of economic opportunity in the region. There's a lot of natural resources, oil, and probably even more importantly, it's the gateway to markets in the former Soviet Union. And it's also the location of pipelines that come from the former Soviet Union carrying oil and gas, which are critical to China's development right now.

COLLINS: Absolutely. Well, we've been hearing, and we've just heard from our correspondent, Jaime Florcruz, the tension seem to be coming down just a bit. Things getting a little bit more under control. But what should the Chinese government do now to deal with this as effectively as they can?

ROBERTS: Well, really, I think what would best deal with the situation would be if they engaged the Uighurs population and not just those Uighurs' high up in the communist party, but really engage Uighurs communities around Xinjiang on the issue of development and their livelihoods.

There's a lot of issues I think that could be breached by that. But I also think that it's somewhat unrealistic to see the Chinese government given its present modus operandi that it would do that in the near future.

COLLINS: All right. Well, we will continue to follow this story. So appreciate the history lesson, if you will.

Sean Roberts coming to us from George Washington University.

Thanks so much, Sean.

ROBERTS: Thank you very much, Heidi.

COLLINS: She told her friends her life was out of control and she should just end it. Police talk about the woman they now say killed a former NFL star and then herself.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: The Coast Guard is searching again today for five people aboard a small plane that went down off Florida's Gulf Coast. Searchers found a two-mile debris field yesterday shortly after the plane crashed west of Fort Ritchie. Officials say the twin engine Cessna was flying from McKinney, Texas, to Tampa when it reported turbulence.

There is a lot going on in the next hour of the NEWSROOM, and CNN crews are in placed to break it all down for you.

Let's begin with Paula Newton now in Italy.

Hi, there, Paula.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there. Here at the G-8 summit, environmental groups want President Obama to do more on climate change. And I'll tell you who's shooting hoops here. That's all at the top of the hour - Heidi.

(CROSSTALK)

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: I'm Poppy Harlow in New York. The G-8 tackle climate change as Paula said. Some environmentalists, Heidi, are saying it's just too little and it's too late. We'll have more on that at the top of the hour.

LISOVICZ: And I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange. I'll be talking about rain and retail. They're related when it comes to bathing suit sales, Heidi.

COLLINS: I cannot wait.

All right. Thanks so much, ladies. We'll check back with all of you in a little while.

Also more on a story so hard to believe. More than 100 graves destroyed. The remains dumped. We'll take you to the historic Chicago-area cemetery where it all happened.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Nashville police now saying what many had speculated. The killing of former NFL quarterback Steve McNair was a murder- suicide. The married McNair and his girlfriend were found shot to death in a condo on Saturday. Police say Sahel Kazemi had been planning to end her life.

CNN's David Mattingly has more now on the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): NFL quarterback Steve McNair was behind one of the biggest moments in Super Bowl history falling just a few yards short of taking the Tennessee Titans to victory in 2000. And nine years later, fans in Nashville still loved him, knowing him to be generous and approachable in public.

But in private, McNair was taking a serious and unexpected risk. A married man with children, McNair was seeing 20-year-old Sahel Kazemi. These pictures of the couple snapped recently by TMZ.

Her family said the relationship had been going for more than five months and that she was confident McNair was divorcing his wife and they would soon live together. But early Saturday that ended with this 911 call from a friend of McNair's.

911 OPERATOR: Tell me what happened.

CALLER: I have no idea, sir.

911 OPERATOR: OK.

CALLER: I received a phone call.

911 OPERATOR: Uh-huh.

CALLER: That there was injured parties inside this apartment.

911 OPERATOR: Male or female?

CALLER: Two, there's two people.

MATTINGLY (on camera): That call came from this condo and a building not too far away from Titan Stadium. Police arrived to find the couple dead. McNair had been Shot twice in the head and twice in the chest. Police now say it was a clear case of murder-suicide, and that McNair may have been asleep and did not know it was coming.

(voice-over): Police describe Kazemi as a young woman in turmoil, reeling from financial pressures, complaining to her friends that her personal life was a mess and that she should end it.

Early Thursday morning she was arrested for DUI. That evening, police say she bought a nine millimeter handgun.

CHIEF RONAL SERPAS, METRO NASHVILLE POLICE: We also have reason to believe that Kazemi recently learned before this day that she believed McNair was involved with another woman and that, too, participated in her state of mind, we think.

MATTINGLY: Nashville police say they share their findings with Mrs. McNair. They did not know if she was aware of the relationship.

This kind of image of McNair saddens fans who gather at the Titan's home stadium where they knew him as a competitor and philanthropist. He spoke of his family at his retirement.

STEVE MCNAIR, NFL QUARTERBACK: This is the blessing that now -- that I'm fortunate to walk away in this game, you know, on my own two feet and to realize that family is very important.

MATTINGLY: That was just 16 months ago.

Former NFL running back Eddie George tells me the man who was murdered was not the Steve McNair he had known since 1996.

EDDIE GEORGE, FORMER NFL RUNNING BACK: Underneath it all, he was in search of filling a void.

MATTINGLY: George believes his old friend was having a crisis of his own, maybe struggling with life after football.

GEORGE: What people fail to realize is that, when you make a transition away from a game, emotionally, physically, mentally, spiritually, you go through something. You change. And you're constantly searching for something.

MATTINGLY: And in Nashville, fans now search for ways to celebrate the life of a star athlete who brought them many fond memories while mourning his scandalous death.

David Mattingly, CNN, Nashville.

(END VIDEOTAPE)