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Thousands Protest in Iraq; More than 300 Graves Disturbed in Chicago; Swim Club Turns Away Minority Kids; Global Warming, Economy the Hot Topics at G-8; Garbage Strike in Second Week in Toronto; President Obama's Approval Rate Decreasing; People of All Ages Protesting in Iran; Vaccinations for Swine Flu Likely Available in October; Where is the Stimulus Package Money Going?

Aired July 09, 2009 - 13:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: All right. It's time for me to go. We are pushing forward now with the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM. My homage to the man, the vested look, Ali Velshi is next.

ALI VELSHI, HOST: Tony, you're rocking that vest. Thank you so much.

We have a packed hour for you. You need to stay tuned and listen this. We've got news out of Chicago, out of Philadelphia. I'm Ali Velshi, sitting in for Kyra Phillips. We are at the Iran desk. We have news out of Tehran. Let's go straight to Reza Sayah, who's following this for us.

Reza, what have you got?

REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Haven't seen protests in the streets of Tehran for about 11 days. That changed today. Protests, demonstrations and clashes. New video coming in to the Iran desk being posted on the Internet. We emphasize we can't confirm the location and the date of this picture, but it does match what our eyewitnesses are saying on the ground. You can see demonstrators there. Some burned trash bins.

Also today some new video coming in. This is protesters on Kardash (ph) Street, right north of Revolution Square, where this protest started. Let's give you some perspective where this all started.

This is a map of where the protests started, about 8 a.m. Eastern Time, 5 p.m. local time. The protesters met with a bunch of security forces, thousands of them, according to eyewitnesses.

HARRIS: Yes.

SAYAH: They dispersed, and now what we're hearing over the past hour, pockets of protesters in side streets, Kardash (ph) Street, where you saw the video. And we can show you some video from earlier today coming in to the Iran desk that actually shows some of the clashes. Some protesters meeting with security officers, some burned trash bins. A lot of people anticipating this. They'd warned, the government had warned, don't come out. Some people... VELSHI: But let's be clear, this is -- this is separate and apart from the election protests. I mean, they might be some of the same people, but we have still people protesting the election results. And now we've got this protest on the tenth anniversary of the student protest that took place a decade ago.

SAYAH: It's safe to say the opposition movement views this opportunity, this ten-year anniversary, to come out and protest the vote.

VELSHI: Right.

SAYAH: We haven't seen any chants, commemorating, if you will, the ten-year anniversary.

VELSHI: I see, OK.

SAYAH: These are -- and some of the chants are getting aggressive. We've always heard "God is great." Today in some of these videos, we're hearing "death to the dictator. Death to Khamenei, the supreme leader." A new one today, "Hey, government that pulled off the coup, resign, resign." So getting aggressive; some pointed chants targeting the government.

VELSHI: Reza, you have seen this develop from the beginning. It seemed that the protest movement had weakened a little bit as the government cracked down. To hear chants like this, does this mean that there's new blood in the protests, that there's something happening, that they're not afraid of those paramilitary gangs beating them and doing the things that they were doing?

SAYAH: It's safe to say this -- these are the hardcore -- these are the hardcore protesters. I mean, I think overall, the aggressive security crackdown scared off most people. A lot of people pointed to this day and said, this is going to be a barometer if this thing is alive.

Opposition leaders over the week had come out. They'd been making statements on their Web sites. The question was, where was the opposition movement, their supporters? And this is an indication that at least some of them are out and about. We should emphasize, these demonstrations today, nowhere near the sizes of what we saw in previous weeks.

VELSHI: Right.

SAYAH: I would estimate, based on what our eyewitnesses are saying, 3,000 to 4,000 people in this particular vicinity.

VELSHI: Now, we've got still a virtual media blackout there, so the video that you're getting is still what we would call amateur video. We don't...

SAYAH: It is amateur video. We're talking to eyewitnesses on the ground. Also we're monitoring Twitter. And some of what we're seeing on Twitter does match some of what we're hearing from our eyewitnesses and video.

VELSHI: Yes.

SAYAH: Beating protesters, Engalab (ph). That's Revolution Square and Banax (ph) Square. "Necessary, preserve the revolution." Over here, "police arrested a girl."

VELSHI: Yes, but that's -- we were getting information...

SAYAH: Again, we can't confirm these tweets, but they do match, they do coincide with some of the videos that we're seeing.

VELSHI: OK. So, you've got a -- you've got a good picture of what's going on inside Iran, but these demonstrations are actually going on outside of Iran, as well.

There are rallies planned in a number of major cities, New York, Los Angeles, Washington, Toronto, Munich, just to name a few. Reza and CNN's Iran desk are watching these developments inside and outside of Iran.

I want to take you to another story now, here in the United States. It is truly a fascinating and macabre story that's been developing today. It's in Chicago. Take a look at this: 300 grave sites, possibly 300 grave sites, have been desecrated. Why? They've actually had the graves pulled out.

I think we're still looking at Tehran right now, but we're going to show you what's going on in Chicago in just a moment. We've got a story of grave sites.

Now, listen to this, this is an old cemetery. Grave sites have been dug up, and those plots have been sold to other people. The money has been pocketed. There are four people under arrest. That is the picture we're seeing from the grave site in Chicago.

Let's go to Cheryl Jackson, who's at the grave site. She's following this story for us.

Cheryl, what on earth is going on?

CHERYL JACKSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we have one office manager and three grave diggers charged with felony dismemberment of a human body. And if you look in here, you see these people? These people have family members buried in this graveyard, and they've come to see if their family member is one of the people who have been dug up out of the grave and someone else buried there instead.

Now, if you -- at the very end of the graveyard, there's piles and piles of the vaults where people have been just tossed out. We could actually see bones. Police say they've stepped over bones and teeth and everything in the graveyard. It was a very sloppy mess. You know, it's not something that was even hidden very well at all. They say bodies of babies from under grave sites, grandmothers.

We met one woman who had maybe 12 or 13 family members here. She listed her mother, her father, a couple of her sisters and her granddaughter. We don't know what happened with her. But another woman came out and told us, "My brother's not here."

VELSHI: Wow.

C. JACKSON: So, her question to us was what do you do when you can't find your brother?

VELSHI: Wow. And this story is developing right now. There are people at the cemetery. I guess they're investigating. They're doing some digging. What is happening? What do you do when you can't find your brother? What are they doing about this?

C. JACKSON: Well, right now, we have police in here, and we are told that FBI from all over the world is coming in to investigate. They're going to have imaging equipment. And the big deal is it's not just these piles of bones and the vaults and, you know, all the other stuff in the back of the cemetery. What they're afraid of now is that some people have been buried on top of other people.

VELSHI: Wow.

C. JACKSON: That's going to be harder to determine. So, this is an investigation that's going to take weeks.

VELSHI: Diana Washington's body is buried there. Emmett Till was the 14-year-old African-American who was buried at this cemetery, but after having been -- been lynched in Mississippi. We will be talking to his cousin a little later in this show to see what has happened to his remains and what's going on.

Cheryl, thank you very much. You'll stay on top of this for us. We will stay on top of this story. Quite a shocking story.

All right, let's leave Chicago for a moment. Let's go to Philadelphia now. Another shocking story. This one is tough to believe, but we are still getting information about it, so we're not quite sure what the details are.

Here's how it started. This is what we first learned. A day camp in Chicago contracted with a private -- I'm sorry, in Philadelphia, contracted with a private club to use its swimming pool for 65 of its students. And guess what: of those 65 students, they were all minorities.

The club where they contracted to use the pool, well, the members of that club are mostly white. The kids go to the club for the first time to use the pool. And they say, some of the kids say, that they heard racial comments.

Next thing, there were reports that members had complained to the club president, and the club members, the day camp members, were asked to leave.

This is a developing story. There are a few sides to this. So, we're going to try and figure out. One U.S. senator is planning an investigation into this. Our national correspondent, Susan Candiotti, is reporting is following this developing story. She's on the phone right now in Philadelphia.

Susan, what have you got?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the latest is that we understand from the Human Rights Commission for the state of Pennsylvania that they have now received a formal complaint from one of the parents' families -- the families of one of the children that attempted to swim at that club, in particular. And they said that they are going to now, therefore, begin to look into what exactly did happen at the swim club.

In the meantime, as you heard, Senator Arlen Specter, evidently, is also planning to look into what -- exactly what happened here.

When a CNN producer attempted to talk with the man who was the director of the swim club, we were told that he had no comment, and we were asked to leave the premises.

In the meantime, another man, who claimed to CNN that he was the one who originally made the complaint, he denied that race had anything to do with it, and instead talked about an overcrowding situation at the club. So, these are all the questions that will have to be sorted out.

In the end, there is a bit of a happy ending, regardless of what happened, for the children here. Another school in Philadelphia called Gerard College, when they heard about what happened, the admissions director told me, quote, she was appalled, and they immediately offered the day-care center children to come over to their facilities here and allow them to swim here, for their delight, this summer -- Ali.

VELSHI: All right. Susan, you are going to get through, you're going to wade through all this and try and figure out what's true and what's not. But let me just introduce some of the things that I've heard, and you tell whether this makes sense.

The member of the club who said he was the one who complained to the director when these kids first arrived, said that the complaints centered around, as you say, overcrowding, and because there were other day camps that were also -- that had also paid to use this swim- club facilities, so they just didn't want any of these -- these kids around during prime swimming time. Is this something you've heard?

CANDIOTTI: That is what -- yes, that's what we're also hearing, as well. That is what this man is claiming. Naturally, these are the things that we're going to be looking into.

VELSHI: Yes.

CANDIOTTI: Swinging back around to talk to the director of the swim club. We also understand that he may be fired or may be asked to resign as a result of this. But these are all the things that we have to get direct confirmation of. VELSHI: And part of the thing that we're going to be trying to get direct confirmation of is comments that have been made to other media organizations by the director of the swim club, and a word he used, and it may have been intentional, it may have been unintentional, just a bad choice of words.

But he felt that the presence of the kids from the day care, of which they were black and Hispanic, was changing the "complexion: of the club. That's -- those are the words that sort of started this firestorm.

CANDIOTTI: The words were -- that were reported to have been used were "atmosphere" and "complexion." so, again, all that will have to be sorted out.

VELSHI: OK. Well, it's going to be -- there's going to be a lot of attention on this to see whether, in 2009, children were turned away because of the color of their skin, or whether it was a matter of the fact that these were people who had paid to be members of a swim club and all of a sudden were surrounded by a whole lot of kids in prime swimming time.

Susan Candiotti will stay on that story for us. And we will not drop that story. We'll find out what the truth is, one way or the another. Susan, thank you very much.

All right. Let's talk about Steve McNair. He was a -- he had a glorious career but met an inglorious end. Family, friends and fans are left to reconcile the two. Closure was apparently pretty easy for the cops, but not everyone else.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: OK. The most important thing to an economic recovery is jobs. And we just got a new snapshot of the jobs picture. The signals are mixed, but if you are out of work or you know someone who is, five fields that are adding jobs right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: G-8, day two, what are those extremely powerful men and women up to in L'Aquila, Italy? Well, today they're talking about currency, basically an agreement not to let the value of their money drop against each other in order to gain a competitive advantage in this recession. Kind of a "think globally" attitude.

And speaking of the globe, global warming is a hot topic. But it's not all just fancy peeps and world leaders. Look at this picture. Look at what we can see in this picture. Take the picture.

Paula Newton is live in L'Aquila with -- there she is. See, it's not just fancy people -- Paula.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ali, yes. All right. You were discussing lots of things. IMF was briefing us on some of those currency details. Very significant for a global recovery here. The problem is the president was forced today to actually say they did not get to where they wanted to be on climate change, and that's been a very, very big problem here during this entire meeting.

I mean, it's really a battle now between the developed countries and the developing countries. The developing countries saying, "Look, unless you guys agree to cut a lot more than you're going to cut, we're just not going to sign onto this, not just let."

Now, take a listen to President Obama just a few moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Each of our nations comes to the table with different needs, different priorities, different levels of development. And the developing nations have real and understandable concerns about the role they will play in this efforts. They want to make sure that they do not have to sacrifice their aspirations for development and higher living standards.

Yet, with most of the growth in projected emissions coming from these countries, their active participation is a prerequisite.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: You know, again, President Obama acknowledging, look, he didn't get the progress that he wanted from this meeting and environment groups saying that he's to blame, that he really should have shown more leadership -- Ali.

VELSHI: And of course, they are distracted from that leadership in some cases because there really are two stories going on there. One is the environment story that they're trying to come to terms on, and the other one is the economic, the global economic story, which, again, doesn't have universal agreement as to what countries should do to try and get us out of this recession.

NEWTON: Well, Ali, we've been talking a lot about this so-called exit strategy. We've been talking a lot about whether the first stimulus is working, how long it takes to work, whether a second stimulus is needed. Look, haunting this G-8 summit, all along, has been the economy.

VELSHI: Right.

NEWTON: And leaders are not convinced that we're out of the woods yet, and that's been a big problem. You know, it's a big problem linked to climate change. These countries are saying, look...

VELSHI: Right.

NEWTON: ... we're not going to agree to drastic reductions in emissions, things that will hurt our industries, if our industries are on their knees right now. And that's why we really haven't gotten anywhere on the summit so far. VELSHI: Yes. A big issue about -- for people concerned about the environment is it doesn't take a back seat while we're in this recession.

Paula, thanks very much for joining us. Paula Newton with the global story.

Let's go to CNN deputy political director, Paul Steinhauser. He's got the local color. He's in D.C. And when I mean local color, I mean local to Americans, what's going on over there that needs to be of concern to the president back home.

Hey, Paul.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hey, Ali. How are you? You know, you're -- you're absolutely right. It's all about the stimulus today right here in Washington, D.C., and across the country, no doubt about that.

VELSHI: Let's talk about what's going on with respect to some numbers. We've got some brand-new numbers about how strong this administration is.

STEINHAUSER: Yes, take a look from this. This is from CNN/The Opinion Research Corporation. We polled across the country. Brand- new numbers we popped out today. And you can see, well, that's probably one of your things, Ali. That's not one of my numbers.

VELSHI: We'll get to that. That was what you call a deep tease, Paul. I want people to stay tuned so they know what that graphic is. But we'll talk about your graphics now.

STEINHAUSER: Yes. You know, overall Americans, according to our brand-new poll numbers, they think this president -- they like this president very much. But on some specific things you're seeing a little bit of deterioration overall.

The president he is inspiring, when it comes to Americans, he is inspiring confidence, and that is very important. Nearly 3 out of 4 Americans say that the president is inspiring them. And that is very important because this president, you need that kind of clout if you want to get things done here in Washington.

But, when you look at some other specifics, whether he's a strong leader, whether he's got a solid plan for country, we're starting to see, Ali, some deterioration in our brand-new poll numbers, and that could be troubling for the president if they continue.

But, right now, overall, the poll numbers are still pretty strong, which will allow this man, this president, to get things done right now.

VELSHI: Are those poll numbers strong enough? I have my doubts about this. Are they strong enough if this administration goes back and says, we need another stimulus package? STEINHAUSER: Right now, maybe. But I -- you know, that's going to be a tall order. We just heard Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, today say, "You know what? Maybe not right away on another stimulus. Let's let the current stimulus work."

Ali, today, the vice president, he was out in Ohio earlier today. He was touting this stimulus package, and Republicans have really been attacking the stimulus this week. It's been a real political food fight over the stimulus.

Ohio was really interesting, Ali, because the president's poll numbers on the economy have been dipping in Ohio. That's a state that's really facing some tough economic times. This fight is very interesting. The Republicans say the stimulus is not doing the trick. Unemployment as we know up to 9.5 percent.

And Ali, you told me, you taught me that unemployment is a lagging indicator.

VELSHI: Yes.

STEINHAUSER: So that can be a problem next year if unemployment remains high double digits next year.

VELSHI: Right.

STEINHAUSER: That could be a big problem in the election.

VELSHI: Which means the economy on other fronts could actually be improving. But you consider -- you continue to see bad numbers on unemployment, because it reflects what has happened in the past. That's a problem if you're trying to get your popularity numbers more solid.

STEINHAUSER: Exactly, we've got some major elections in the fall of 2010, Ali.

VELSHI: All right. You pointed out Ohio. Ohio is a manufacturing state largely. It is one that has suffered along with the auto industry, so it could be that there are people there who were really hoping that a new administration would somehow solve those problems. But as we see, those auto problems continue. And you know, all of these politics are local to you and your job and your property value.

STEINHAUSER: You got it. And the administration is saying it takes time, and they're pointing towards the third quarter of this year. They say the stimulus, it takes time; things will change. Republicans are saying just the opposite, Ali.

VELSHI: All right. You're on it. Paul Steinhauser, CNN's deputy -- deputy political director. Great to talk to you, as always, Paul.

Paul was talking about jobs. Listen, we got the weekly jobless numbers. This is not the monthly unemployment report, but every -- every week we get numbers that indicate how many people lost their jobs or filed for unemployment in the previous week.

We are now at a record number of people who are claiming unemployment insurance. But the number, the actual number of people, who filed for unemployment benefits last week was lower than a lot of economists had expected. So, mixed news, because it's still more than half a million people for the first time, going to the unemployment office to get their check. That is just -- there could be no good in that news. The only good is it's not 600,000 or 700,000 jobs.

Here are the top five fastest-growing jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They are job groups.

The first one: network systems and data communications. The time of job you can get with a bachelor's degree. This is important if you're thinking about changing careers, you're out of a job, or you know someone who is.

Personal and home health aides. We know that health care is a growing field. You can become a personal and home health aide with just on-the-job training. The pay is not good, but you can get into the field.

Computer software engineers, a minimum of a bachelor's degree. Veterinary technologists, you need an associate's degree as a minimum with them. But that's a growing industry.

The last one worries me a little bit: personal financial advisors, because I don't think you should be going into personal financial advisor just because they have the bachelor's degree. That's a field where you might actually want some experience.

But bottom line is, those are growing fields if you're thinking about a new job.

All right, call it stench and the city. Trash, piling up in Toronto, my hometown, after garbage collectors walked off the job. We've got Toronto's mayor live, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: All right. Last summer we had high gas prices and then we got a recession. So, the word "staycation" has been in the headlines for over a year. Now it's in the dictionary, too.

Merriam-Webster has just announced almost 100 new additions. Staycation is a vacation that is spent at home or nearby. Also sticking close to home, the locavore, someone who tries to eat foods that are grown or raised locally, and that's been prompted by fears about contamination in food.

Check this out, shawarma. It's a pita sandwich, of sliced lamb or sometimes chicken and veggies. Delicious. I don't know why it took it so long to get into the dictionary.

Delicious enough, possibly, to draw a flash mob, which is a group of people who are summoned by text or e-mail or tweets to a certain spot at a certain time to take part in a specific activity, like black -- blast reggaeton. Reggaeton, which is music that originated in Puerto Rico. It blends rap, Latin, and other Caribbean rhythm that you can put our iPod.

You want to see the other new entries, head to my [SIC] hyphen "W" dot com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY DEAL, IREPORTER: They're overflowing. Garbage cans are springing up everywhere in the city of Toronto. There's an example.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: That's our iReporter Jimmy, sending in some video that he titled "Toronto Stinks."

Normally, it's lovely, but right now, they are 2 1/2 weeks into a strike by garbage collectors and thousands of other city employees. Negotiations are said to be at a standstill.

Let's go right to somebody who would know about the status of those negotiations, what the problems are when a big city has a garbage strike. Toronto Mayor David Miller joins me now.

Mayor, thanks for being with us. How are things in Toronto? What's it like?

DAVID MILLER, TORONTO MAYOR: Well, good afternoon, Ali. It's actually much better than people would think from that clip. Torontonians have responded tremendously.

It's not just a garbage strike, as you know. Children's services, camps, pools are closed. And people have been terrific. We had our pride celebrations a couple weeks ago, and it was superb. We've got special events. We've got the Honda Indy this weekend, Just for Laughs. And, you know, despite the fact we have 30,000 people on strike, the city is coping very, very well.

VELSHI: All right. I was talking to my dad a little earlier. They live in Toronto, my mom and dad. They were saying that they take their garbage, and they take it to a designated spot. There are picketers there. They give them a flyer, which my dad sent me, and he described sort of what the workers are looking for.

And it says at the bottom, "Please contact the mayor and your city counselor and tell them to do, what it takes to settle the strike." What's it going to take to settle the strike?

MILLER: So, you're contacting me on behalf of your parents, I guess?

VELSHI: Right. MILLER: Well, we -- the city is employing a labor relations committee that gave some instructions, met yesterday, gave some instructions to our negotiators. And, you know, I think there's a deal to be reached.

I mean, we're like every city in North America. The recession has hurt us. In our case, our welfare costs are up significantly, but we're not proposing to lay off people. We're just asking people to accept that this year in the current economic climate is not a year for significant pay increases. That's -- that's our position.

And we want to be fair to the workers. These people deliver terrific services. But it has to be affordable to the city. And in my view, there's a deal to be reached, and we can go on being the terrific city of Toronto that people admire from inside Toronto and outside.

VELSHI: You know, we were doing some research into garbage -- you know, garbage collection strikes across North America, and there tend to be some common problems that come up: concerns about health, rodent problems. My dad did say that at the dumps he's seen a lot of raccoons. Obviously, rats can be a problem. Tourism in a place like Toronto in summer, the cleanup costs.

What are you concerned about on that front? I mean, how long can this go on before you start seeing those kinds of problems?

MILLER: Well, actually, we're managing the garbage very, very well. As you said, we've got temporary dump sites. They're overseen by inspections, by our medical officer of health. And we take appropriate measures to deal with rodents.

My biggest concern, of course, is all the children's services, particularly children from poorer neighborhoods who don't have a choice. In the summer they should have their programs, and they should be available.

In terms of tourism, the city is buzzing. We've got the Dead Sea Scrolls. We have a new art gallery of Ontario, that had a wonderful renovation by Gehry. And we have an opera house that has the best sound in the world.

So despite all these challenges, it's actually a great time to visit Toronto. There's lots happening. There's festivals every weekend. And one of the great things is the local small businesses. When they run their festivals, they're getting out and cleaning up the city. And, you know, in some places it looks terrific.

VELSHI: Now, my folks are also telling me that a lot of the parks are being used for garbage. Is that taking away from people's ability to use those parks, particularly tourists who are headed that way, to enjoy the parks?

MILLER: Well, I don't think tourists would actually know this -- the temporary site...

(AUDIO GAP)

VELSHI: All right. Clearly somebody who didn't agree with his position on garbage got to our lines. No, that was just a technical difficulty.

We've got some new developments coming in from Iran. I'm going to head over now to the Iran desk, so join us right after the break, and I will tell you what those are. Reza Sayah and the Iran team are working on some new stuff that we're getting in. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: All right. A lot going on all over the world. We're happening to stay on top of it, particularly the developments in Iran, because we have a desk here. This is the Iran Desk, where our team despite the fact that it may not seem like as much of the news as something else, is on top of it.

Reza, you are on top of some new developments now coming in from Tehran.

SAYAH: Some new video coming into the Iran Desk. It's about 10:00 p.m. local time over there. Some of the protests are kind of ending so people coming home, posting these videos online. Before we run to this video, I want to point to this man right here. And this gives you an idea of the cross-section of people that come to these protests.

VELSHI: He looks older than the student protesters.

SAYAH: He does. And let's go ahead and run it for you.

But this gives you an idea of the cross-section of people that come out. It's not just young people. It's families. That man was holding what appears to be his companion's hand.

We had protesters started about 5:00 p.m. They went to Revolution Square, and they were met there by security forces, and they were dispersed. And what you're looking at what appears to be a side street. You're hearing a chant it says:

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

That means "Iranians with honor, let's support one another." And that's a chant we've heard throughout these demonstrations. But we haven't seen these types of protests for a couple of weeks now because of that aggressive crackdown.

VELSHI: Tell me how -- just for our viewers who don't know how you work here. You've got a team of people who can listen to the language. They can determine accents. They can look at the landscape and see if this really is where it purports to be from.

Can you get any sense of -- do you get a sense that this is new, then?

SAYAH: It is. And we'll tell you why. First of all, it's a big challenge because of the ban on the international media.

VELSHI: Right.

SAYAH: What we have is eyewitnesses on the ground. Observers on the ground. We talk to them. They confirm what's happening.

VELSHI: I see.

SAYAH: What we do is, then what we do is we look at video. We can't confirm where this is from, but we do know we've never seen it before. We monitor all video coming out of there. We haven't seen this. What we do know is it does match eyewitness accounts and we go with it. It is very challenging because of the ban on the international media.

VELSHI: And the massive information that comes in to you. Because what I know is that you have a lot of people e-mailing you, sending you video and telling you this happened, this happened and you don't go and take it to TV until you have an ability to corroborate or ability to authenticate in some fashion.

SAYAH: Certainly not. Not only e-mails but Twitters, as well. There's a lot of people that want to push this movement, so they tend to exaggerate and what we have to do --

VELSHI: Right.

SAYAH: -- is confirm events that are happening. There are events happening. There are protests happening. But we go on air with it if one of our eyewitnesses over there on the ground confirms it.

VELSHI: All right. Johnny, I just want you to show everybody who is around here. Because the idea here is that while some of you -- I'm sorry, Robert -- if you don't know what's going on in Iran, we should tell you, we have a desk of people who are constantly, constantly working on this stuff. So, we are monitoring everything.

Reza, thanks very much. We will continue to check in with you.

SAYAH: No problem.

VELSHI: If you get new stuff let us know.

SAYAH: You got it.

VELSHI: All right. We're also following things developing in Afghanistan. Take a look at this. At least 25 people killed when a truck rigged with explosives detonated in a province near Kabul. Most of those people who were killed were civilians, including students on their way to school. Now authorities at first thought the attack was aimed at NATO troops, but now they say that apparently wasn't the case. The Taliban is denying that it was behind the bomb.

Also let's take it over to Iraq. A surge in violence just days after American troops have pulled out of the major cities there. CNN's Michael Ware is with us now from Baghdad -- Michael.

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Ali, look, what I have to say is that this isn't an uptick or a surge in violence. This is part of a long-running, sustained campaign.

What we've heard today in the last 24 hours, is that at least 61 Iraqis, mostly civilians, have been slaughtered in suicide bombings, other sorts of bombings, and other attacks.

Now, the most spectacular, as the word is used in military parlance, occurred at about 7:30 a.m. local time or thereabouts up in the northern city of Tal Afa (ph). 35 people were killed according to government officials when there was a coordinated double suicide bombing operation. The first one went in, targeting what we're told was a counterterrorism official. Then as rescuers surged in, a very common tactic, the second suicide bomber struck.

Elsewhere, in the capital of Baghdad, around about the same time, early morning, seven people were killed in a Shia stronghold of Sadr City. When a bomb detonated there. Last evening, within the 24 hours, another suicide bomber killed two at the wedding of a police officer.

So, this has been ongoing. And let's -- let's remember, the Iraqis are now in command. But this was also happening under U.S. command just 10 days ago. The last week of a --

VELSHI: So, I just want to ask you this -- Michael, let me ask you this.

WARE: Yes.

VELSHI: On the banner underneath you, it says surge of violence in Iraq. And your first words were, it's not a surge. So what you're saying is it's --

WARE: It's not, it's not. Yes, this is the nature of Iraq. People's eyes may be turned away. People may think the troops have left. Indeed people say that to me. We still have soldiers there? Soldiers tell me that folks are going back home, oh, we've still got troops in Iraq. Yes, you do. And there's still a war here.

Now, it's being run by the Iraqis. But these bombings happen frequently. It's like an almost regular tempo, particularly on a Thursday, for some reason. So this is in no way is an isolated incident.

VELSHI: OK. All right. Well, that's why it's good to have you there because you can keep your pulse on it. It does appear, I think, when we see it sometimes to an untrained eye that that appears to be a surge related to U.S. troops coming out.

Thanks for clearing it up that it is sort of more of the same. But Michael, thank you very much.

Michael Ware, for us in Baghdad.

OK, let's bring you back to the United States now. A group of people, family friends, community, bidding farewell to a football hero they loved, and at the same time they are trying to come to terms with the other life that he led. The life they apparently knew nothing about.

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VELSHI: Vaccinations to fight swine flu will probably begin in mid-October. That word today from a flu summit that's under way in Washington. The health and human services secretary Kathleen Sebelius says no decision has been made, but she says the people first in line will likely be school-aged children and those with chronic conditions like, asthma, pregnant women, the elderly and health workers. The H1- N1 virus which first appeared in Mexico is still spreading. It's killed more than 440 people around the world, and some say -- experts say -- it could be even stronger in the fall.

New York health officials are changing some rules on plastic surgery. If you were planning to schedule a quick procedure like liposuction or tummy tuck at your doctor's office, you're going to want to listen to this.

Joining me now, CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. I didn't know you could schedule a quick tummy tuck or liposuction. But apparently --

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Isn't that incredible? You can! Many of them actually are done in doctors' offices. And what that means is that that doctor doesn't have to have privileges at a hospital.

VELSHI: Interesting.

COHEN: So any doctor -- so for example OBGYNs are doing liposuction. And the question is, are all of those doctors really trained? Do they really know what they're doing because bad things can happen in things like a liposuction or a tummy tuck.

So, what the state of New York has said is, look, if you want to do these kinds of procedures in your office, you need to be accredited by one of the three organizations that accredits doctors to do these procedures. And they're hoping that that'll cut down on some of the risks.

VELSHI: What are some of the problems that have occurred?

COHEN: There are no great numbers. Like, I can't say there are definitely this number of people that have died or have become ill. But there have certainly been high-profile cases.

For example, in 2007, Dawnda West, the mother of rap star, Kanye West, she died when she going under the knife. And also, do you remember in 2004, Olivia Goldsmith, she wrote "The First Wives' Club." She died having a chin tuck. VELSHI: Wow.

COHEN: And so there are some thoughts that really, if you're going to do these in a doctors' office, you want to make sure that your doctor really knows what he's doing.

VELSHI: All right. Now, New York seems to be sort of on some places in health developments, a bit cutting edge.

Is this something we're going to start to see elsewhere in the country?

COHEN: They are a bit cutting edge, along with Florida and California, which have done similar things in the past. And yes, there are some thoughts that other states may now follow suit.

Because you know, many doctors have told me, look, if your doctor is not accredited to do a liposuction in a hospital, if a hospital won't let them do it, why are you doing with him in a doctor's office? Not a great idea.

VELSHI: All right. I love your Empowered Patient column.

What are you writing about this week?

COHEN: We're writing about this week is hospital-acquired infections. This is another thing a lot of people don't know.

VELSHI: Wow. Big deal, right?

COHEN: It's a very big deal. That 99,000 people die every year from infections they get in the hospital. They come in OK and then they get infections. So, we're going to talk all about that in our Empowered Patient column. That's at CNNhealth.com. Again, CNNhealth.com. You can take a look right now.

VELSHI: All right, Elizabeth. Good to see you.

Thank you.

COHEN: OK. Thanks.

VELSHI: All right. Finally after weeks of silence, she called. An American journalist behind bars in probably the most reclusive country on the planet. We've got that story.

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VELSHI: All right. Weeks went by, not a word. Now, finally, a phone call from Laura Ling. She is one of two U.S. journalists locked up in a North Korean prison. Her sister, Lisa, who's a CNN contributor said she got the call on Tuesday night. She couldn't tell how her sister was doing, but she was at least happy to hear her voice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LISA LING, LAURA LING'S SISTER: A tremendous relief to hear Laura's voice last night. It's only -- it was only the first time I had heard her voice in weeks. And she said, look, you know, we violated North Korean law and we need our government to help us. You know, we are sorry for everything that has happened, but now we need diplomacy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Laura Ling and Euna Lee were sentenced in June to 12 months in prison -- 12 years in prison, I'm sorry. North Korean officials said that they entered the country illegally in an attempt on smear the government. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that the United States is trying to get them released on humanitarian grounds.

VELSHI: Now, we're just getting started in the NEWSROOM. Pushing forward to the next hour, an historic cemetery turns into a horror scene. Bodies dumped, plots sold, the cash pocketed. A civil rights icon is buried there. We'll talk to one of his relatives.

Plus, he urged Mexicans to take a stand against drugs and gangs. Now an American activist becomes a victim of the violence that he fought against.

Well, here's a talker for you. 76-year-old woman says she feels threatened by a wild animal in her yard. Scared it's going to leap up and bite her head off. So, she beats it over the head with a shovel, kills it, and puts it in the trash. OK, get ready -- the wild savage beast she killed -- it was a fawn, a baby deer. She shoveled Bambi to death. Now she's facing an animal abuse charge after her stories about the shoveling didn't quite add up.

VELSHI: All right. They'll be talking about this in Music City for years. The great career and the scandalous end of Steve McNair.

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(WEATHER REPORT)

VELSHI: The Steve McNair case is closed as far as metro police in Nashville are concerned. But for his friends and his fans and his family, closure might be a long way away. They're trying to re reconcile a glorious career with an inglorious end.

Here's CNN's David Mattingly.

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.

OPERATOR: Tell me what happened?

CALLER: I have no idea, sir.

OPERATOR: OK.

CALLER: I received a phone call that there were injured parties inside this apartment.

OPERATOR: Is it male or female?

CALLER: Two, there are two people.

MATTINGLY (on camera): That call came from this condo in a building not too far away from Titan's Stadium. Police arrived to find the couple dead. McNair had 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 described 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 SEPAS, 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 Titans' home stadium where they knew him as a competitor and philanthropist. He spoke of his family at his retirement.

STEVE MCNAIR, FORMER NFL QUARTERBACK: This is the blessing that now that I'm fortunate to walk away from this game 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 that 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 the 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)

VELSHI: All right. There's a public visitation today at a Nashville funeral home and a more private service tonight. Fans may also pay their respects at the Titan's LP Field where McNair brought them to their feet so many times.

The stimulus package making the summer hotter than it normally is in D.C. The administration is defending it. The politicians are fighting over it. The president's ratings might be slipping because of it. And a government report says some states are spending it for the short term and they're not looking ahead.

Here is CNN's political editor Mark Preston to make sense of it all for us.

Mark, you know, it could be so many things. It could be that it's not enough time that this stimulus package has been given. It could be that it's not enough money. It could be it's not spent the right way. What do I know?

You are the expert. Tell us what you know.

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, I'll tell you what, Ali, you know, this is all about jobs. This is something that you talk about every day on our airwaves. But really this is all about politics, this is all about the 2010 mid--term elections.

Republicans right now, Ali, sense some blood in the water. You know, people are upset. There's been a lot of money that's gone out the door, Ali, but there hasn't been a whole lot of return. We've seen Vice President Biden just this morning in Ohio, talking this up. I was just on a telephone call with the House Minority Leader John Boehner. He was talking about how Democrats don't have their act together on this. And of course there's a lot of talk about a second stimulus package. And in fact, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi addressed that today.

Let's hear what she had to say.

((BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), HOUSE SPEAKER: I'm committed to the first stimulus. I don't think it's been given all the time to work. This third quarter is a big quarter for the stimulus. I think that people will begin to see more of the results. The question is always open as to what the administration may recommend to us. But right now, I believe that we have much more to gain from seeing through the first stimulus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PRESTON: And of course, Ali, you know, there's been a lot of talk about the stimulus package. Would we see another here in Washington, D.C.? It really is a political liability right now for Democrats. Most certainly, they don't want to talk about a second stimulus package, certainly, conservative Democrats don't want to talk about a second package, Ali, when they really haven't seen the first one.

VELSHI: And Mark, you've -- and one of the things about you and your reporting is you talk to people outside of the circle, outside of the beltway.

I wonder what appetite there is in the public for more government money to be spent. There are more people now concerned about the mounting debt, interest rates, inflation and things like that. I just wonder whether or not there be any. The president would have to use a lot of his currency to do that and the president's currency is weakening a little bit, according to our most recent polling.

PRESTON: Yes, absolutely, Ali. If you do look at our most recent polling, you will see he is slipping in some very key categories.

You know, Barack Obama still does poll very favorably when people talk about him, just the fact that he's a leader. But on his specific policies, we have seen some slippage on that.

But you're absolutely right, people outside of the beltway are saying, look, you are spending lots of money. My neighbor just lost their job. Where is the money going? Is it going down a hole?

And of course his currency is weakening. There is no question about that. He's put a lot into the stimulus package, he's put a lot into the Detroit revival. He's talked about rebuilding the whole housing community. And, of course, the fact is, he's dealing with health care right now -- Ali.

VELSHI: Mark, tell me one thing. For those of us who don't follow it as closely, is the decrease in the president's numbers, is that normal for this time that he's been in office, is it abnormal, is he stronger than normal? How do you compare it?

PRESTON: You know, Ali, given everything that he has done in such a short period of time, I think that he is actually doing OK when you look at his overall approval rating. He is doing very well nationally.

I will tell you, in Ohio, where he is seeing some slippage, just on the issue of economy, he has slipped under 50 percent. So, we are starting to see slippage in some key states, but the fact of the matter is, he has bitten off a lot and he still is above 50 percent, well above 50 percent. So I think he's doing OK right now. VELSHI: Mark, it's always good to see you. A lot of folks don't know you, and I spent some good time on that CNN Express riding around the country. So always a pleasure to see you.

PRESTON: Thanks, Ali.

VELSHI: Mark Preston.