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Targeting Christian Militia; Suicide Attacks on Russian Subway

Aired March 29, 2010 - 10:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hundreds of people rallying in Los Angeles in support of Cuban political prisoners and the ladies in white. Some of those women activists beaten by civilians during one of their demonstrations in Havana last week. Sunday marked the 7th anniversary of black spring, when the Cuban government locked up 75 human rights advocates and independent journalists.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy visiting the U.S. this morning. He is speaking this hour at Columbia University right here in New York. Later on, he's meeting with United Nations secretary General Ban-ki Moon. And tomorrow, President Obama welcome the President to the White House.

And we're keeping tabs on the status of former first lady Barbara Bush. She's been in a Houston hospital since Saturday undergoing routine tests. A spokesperson said that Mrs. Bush had not been feeling well for about a week but described the hospitalization as not serious at all.

Well, it's battening down and getting really serious in south Florida. A tornado watch under way. And cleaning up in North Carolina where as many as eight funnel clouds were reported yesterday with a band of severe thunderstorms that rolled in and ripped up homes, trees and in one case gave one driver a "Wizard of Oz" ride.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It actually picked my car up which is this heavy Cadillac and lifted it into the air. It turned around almost twice before it dropped back on the ground. I was about three foot in the air, I guess. And the houses down here come apart. There's cars and buses down here. Houses that's gone. Telephone poles torn out. It looks like a combat zone to tell you the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: (INAUDIBLE) of the storm damage (INAUDIBLE) upward of a hundred miles long. The National Weather Service has yet to determine any of the reports as confirmed tornado touchdowns. Let's head straight to Rob Marciano. He is tracking this for us. Hey, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Kyra. It was like a 150-mile stretch of real estate really where these storms rattled through. The i-85 corridor on now the energy has moved down to the south. We got a number of tornado warnings posted this morning for parts of south Florida. The one that we spoke about last half hour that was heading towards through Hampstead towards Coral Gables and through Miami. They allowed that warning to expire. So the cell did weaken a little bit but certainly gusty winds, and lightning and hail all possible with this thing that's rolling now, right across South Beach.

So not the best of beach days, certainly for (INAUDIBLE). Here's what it looks like from our affiliate camera, WSVN. Just nothing but nastiness there across the bay in Miami. Heavy rain and certainly some dark clouds in the offing. The watch itself, the tornado watch, meaning that conditions are favorable for tornadoes to develop. That's the one in effect for the next hour. And we still have pulses of convection that continue to come in off the gulf of Mexico.

So unlike a lot of tornado watches that they kind of overdo how long it's going to be in effect, this one they may even extend it. I don't know. There is another pulse of energy coming across just south of Naples and Marco Island is going to head across Alligator alley.

All right. What happened in the Carolinas now shifting to the coastline and it's going from a severe weather event to more of a low pressure ocean storm. And that's going to ride up the eastern seaboard and bring heavy, heavy rain and some winds tonight through parts of the I-95 corridor from Philly, up to Jersey and through New York, and all the way up to Boston as well.

And this is an area, Kyra, that is saturated already from the rains they have seen this month. Over twice the amount of rain they should see for the month of March they have seen so far. They will get another half foot potentially on top of that. So that's going to be an issue as is what's coming across the northwest and the west coast.

Don't forget our friends who are waking up on this on the west coast. Very strong storm from San Francisco up through Seattle. High winds and heavy mountain snow expected for those folks. We'll update you with the travel situation. There's definitely some airport delays right now. We'll talk more about that in the next weather (INAUDIBLE).

PHILLIPS: OK. Sounds good. Thanks, Rob.

MARCIANO: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Let's go to Afghanistan now. Talk about going back and forth in less than 36 hours. Well, that's what President Obama did. He touched down in the states about an hour ago after a surprise trip to the war zone. He visited with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and they pledged to keep the partnership going between the countries. Then he ditched the suit jacket for a bomber jacket and talked to about 2,000 trips at Bagram Air Base.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There is no visit that I considered more important than this visit I'm making right now. Because I have no greater honor than serving as your commander- in-chief. And it is a privilege to look out and see the extraordinary efforts of America's sons and daughters here in Afghanistan.

So my main job here today is to say thank you on behalf of the entire American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: The president also met with General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of allied troops in Afghanistan. So Americans are actually getting more optimistic about the war in Afghanistan. That's according to a new CNN Opinion Research poll. 55 percent now think that things are going well there. That's a huge 23 point jump from November. And the overall opinion is split almost down the middle. 48 percent are in favor of the war, 49 percent against it. That's the first time opposition has dropped below 50 percent in more than a year.

Militias in the midwest? Yes, it made our heads turn also. At least seven people are in custody after a series of FBI raids in a rugged part of Michigan as well as in Ohio and Indiana. Any moment now we should know what exactly they were looking for. Our affiliate in Detroit says the raid in Michigan centered on a property where suspected members of a Christian militia are living. One of those arrests was in Hammond, Indiana.

And we're told the agents are targeting a Christian militia by the name of Hutari. CNN national correspondent Susan Candiotti here now. She's got her notes. She's marking things down. You just got the charges, right?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right.

PHILLIPS: Let's go. Unravel it.

CANDIOTTI: Well, all right. This turns out to be a grand jury indictment against a group that we were talking about all morning long. This group has been identified as a militia that appears to be based in Michigan and is called Hutari. And we'll get more about that in a moment.

Let's lay out what the charges are. We had heard that at least seven people had been arrested. Nine people are named in this federal indictment just unsealed by a grand jury and the prosecutor's office in Detroit. There appear to be four charges involved in this conspiracy and they are talking about a group they said that ultimately is described by the government as an anti-government extremist group that, according to this document, advocates violence against local, state and federal law enforcement officers.

And this material says that they were planning since 2008 to come up to advocate violence, to carry out attacks by at some point luring in police officers if they could. If I may, this is kind of interesting what they say right here. To lure government officials, to prompt some sort of response by them by carrying out some kind of action. And then they are discussing possible violence that includes killing a member of law enforcement after perhaps a traffic stop, this says. And then it says killing them or their family at home, creating an ambush that may involve a fake 9-11 call to get them to respond and then they could continue along these lines.

PHILLIPS: So all of this is to create a buzz to generate attention for the group called Hutari.

CANDIOTTI: Exactly. Exactly. But they are also talking about using attempted weapons of mass destruction. That's one of the charges. And by that they are specifically talking about explosive mines that they would use to throw against law enforcement officers, their vehicles, and undescribed targets of some kind. They don't mention it per se in here.

PHILLIPS: Now -- we're looking actually at the web site right now. You actually told us about it so we have been taking a look at this. What do we now about this web site. What's on the web site? Do we know anything else? It looks like they define Hutari as a Christian warrior. Do we know if the FBI has been following them for a long period of time? How did they find out about this organization?

CANDIOTTI: Well, we'll continue to learn more about that as we go through this document. But we do know at the very least they have been looking at them for at least a couple of years. It mentions 2008 that they have been around this group. And so they could have been looking at them for that length of time. It shows this web site. It shows people in uniform. Their faces are covered. At times you see them using weapons. It also shows at various times there's an insignia that shown on there that shows a cross as well as some spears running across the bottom of it, crisscross. And there's been music running underneath this as well. There, you can hear the music underneath there.

We also had some quotes that we saw on there that we talked about previously. I don't have it handy, but they talked about carrying out some sort of an attack or at it goes along with their theme. Here's the quote here. "We believe that one day as prophecy says there will be an anti-Christ and all Christians must know this and prepare just as Christ commanded.

So the thing is now clearly we need to find out more about this group, who belongs to it. These are certain members that have been identified by the government as being members of this group.

PHILLIPS: These nine people that were named in the suit. OK.

CANDIOTTI: Exactly.

PHILLIPS: OK.

CANDIOTTI: So they are appearing in court at this hour, making their first appearance.

PHILLIPS: All right. Keep us updated. It's definitely fascinating. You think of the Midwest as you know, good values, good people. You don't expect something like this out there. Thanks, Susan.

CANDIOTTI: You're welcome.

PHILLIPS: Well, you have health insurance and now you have questions. We're going to look at the charges to your benefits if you get insurance through your employer.

Then women strapped with explosives, killing dozens of people in Russia. Prime Minister Putin vowing to destroy the terror leaders. Also --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm saddened that we hadn't done a better job as a church in protecting the young. But it hasn't shaken my faith in the whole institution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Testing the faithful, reaction from one parish where the Catholic sex abuse scandal really hit home.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Homeless in America -- you can find them in big cities and small towns, but you will also find wildly different numbers on just how many there really are. Today the Census Bureau launches a new initiative and it could be the first step toward finding answers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Security stepped up in the New York subway system this morning. Also in D.C. both just precaution in the wake of deadly terror attacks in Moscow. Russian state security says two female suicide bombers carried out these attacks. The blast timed perfectly to strike two subway systems during rush hour. 38 people dead, more than 60 injured. Attacks like these are nothing new. Subway systems including Moscow have been attacked before. This morning Chechen rebels are claiming this one.

President Obama is promising solidarity and his prayers for the Russian people. Here's part of the White House statement. "The American people stand united with the people of Russia in opposition to violent extremism and heinous terrorist attacks that demonstrate such disregard for human life."

More now from CNN international correspondent Matthew Chance.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there hasn't been an attack like this in Moscow for well over six years. Moscovites must have felt that they were insulated from the insurgency that's been raging in the north (INAUDIBLE) region with separatist fighters battling against the government.

But it seems that they are not because there have been two devastating explosions ripping through the heart of this capital. The metro station, is first here at Lubyanka, very close to the Kremlin, right under the headquarters of the former KGB, the current security services. The perpetrators of this attack sending a very clear message that they can strike not just at the heart of the capital but also at the heart of the security services in this country.

At 8:00 local time, the bomb in the metro station in Lubyanka exploded killing at least 23 people, injuring at least 20 or 30 others, according to emergency workers here. The site has now been cleared. Forensic teams are on the ground trying to gather whatever evidence they can to build a better picture of how this kind of an attack could have happened.

Just 30 minutes later at the height of rush hour, another attack, this time at a metro called Park Kultury, not very far from here on the same metro line, very packed with commuters, being detonated again killing at least 12 people, injuring about 20.

Now, no claim of responsibility has been made for these attacks. We had some earlier information, which proved to be incorrect, but the authorities here in Russia are pointing the finger of blame, very clearly at rebels from the north Caucasus region. Here's what the head of the Russian security services had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Our preliminary assessment is that this act of terror was committed by a terrorist group from the north Caucasus region. We consider this the more likely scenario based on investigations conducted at the site of the blast.

Evidence taken from fragments of the suicide bombers' bodies found at the blast, according to our preliminary findings, indicate that the bombers were from the north Caucasus region.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHANCE: What concerns now about what will happen later on in the day and indeed over the coming days. Just because there's been two suicide bombers detonating their explosives this morning, it does not mean that there may not be more attacks in the days, in the hours or in the weeks ahead.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.

PHILLIPS: So who are those suspected separatist attackers? We're going to take a look at the independence movement in Chechnya (ph) and some of the terror tactics they've used against Russia. That's coming up in about 20 minutes.

Health care reforms, we all have questions. CNN has the answers. Five minutes from now, you know what that means. Insurance through your employer? We're going to talk about our in box, how full it is and hopefully get some answers to your e-mails that have been swamping folks at that time health care desk. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Stealing your good name and credit, both potentially wrecked. Identity thieves working overtime to get your information. Millions of people caught up in new fraud cases. They're OK in an emergency.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Turning to health care desk now that the health care bill is law, what the heck does that mean if you get insurance through your jobs? A lot of people want to know. CNN Money.com's Poppy Harlow with more. So here's the question that everybody wants to know. Is it going to cost me more money?

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: I think bottom line, probably. There is no clear-cut answer to that, but most likely and the reason is a lot of deductibles and a lot of what was in effect and is in effect now won't become open enrollment next year. Kyra, what we're looking out folks is if you -- talk about dependent coverage, right? You usually fall off your parents' insurance when you graduate from high school and certainly by the time you turn 21. That is now changing.

The first obvious change is going to be the dependent coverage goes until you are 26 now. So you have kids who graduated from college or they're looking for a job. They can be on your insurance. And if you have insurance through your employer, that's going to cost. You're employer probably is going to pass it on down to. Another change that could also cost companies in there for you is that there is no more lifetime maximum limit on coverage.

So apparently, your employer probably caps your benefits at $1 million or $2 million. Now most of us don't need that but this new the law says if you have a catastrophic accident or a serious illness and your cost of health care goes above that, they cannot capitalize. They have to continue to pay for you. . So, Kyra, what it appears is that companies will have to pay more. We saw it this year with our insurance plans. They get more and more expensive. So yes, it will probably cost the average person more.

PHILLIPS: Just really quickly on the cap. I don't know if you remember the story that we told last week about the little baby --

HARLOW: Ten-day-old baby. Yes.

PHILLIPS: Right. Who is already at $1 million because of surgery on the brain and everything. And the parents are completely freaked out because they're thinking she's going to have tons of surgeries and basically the insurance company is saying, sorry, the baby is not going to have any insurance. But we are fighting that. We covered that story. We're going to actually have a follow up tomorrow. It looks like the insurance company may work something out.

HARLOW: Look what happens when you bring those stories to light and people hear what's going on. PHILLIPS: Because, you know, bottom line we all pay insurance for so many years. And you look at a 10-day-old baby and it's like, no, you have to --

HARLOW: Most people don't use any of the insurance that they pay for really. They don't use it.

PHILLIPS: (INAUDIBLE) if you want to put it there. Speaking of money, so I see Poppy bringing this credit card. Oh, you're buying lunch.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: Obviously not ibuprofen because we can't use our benefit card for that.

HARLOW: It's much more important. We all have this little card. I put a few hundred bucks on it a year. People that have families put a lot more on it. You used to be able to buy Advil, aspirin, Robitussin, whatever you want over-the-counter with these tax-free. You put that money every year in a flexible spending account.

Now you can't to that, you can't buy over-the-counter medicine, folks, unless you got a doctor's note. Who gets a doctor's note to go buy aspirin. So you do that anymore. You should pay attention to that. And also the limit, what you can contribute to this account is now going to be capped at $2,500 a year. That doesn't start until 2013. But you know, I was just talking to my producer, Kyra. And she puts in $5,000 a year. People that have families put in a lot of money and now you can't. Now you got to put in just up to $2,500.

An example that "Consumer Reports" has is someone in the 28 percent tax bracket, a little higher income, 28 percent tax bracket, they're going to lost their tax break, worth about $700 a year. So, I think, bottom line, people are going to pay more, but people that don't have any insurance are going to get it as a result. And it's that give and take, it's that give and take that we're seeing but our employers are going to pay more. So we're going to pay more.

PHILLIPS: All right. Poppy, thanks. We appreciate you bringing these to us. And now we've got more coming up this week.

HARLOW: You got it.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Poppy. And as you can imagine, we have been getting buried under an avalanche of your health care questions. Poppy along with everybody else is trying to sift through the pile, answer them to the best of our ability. Well, today, manning our health care desk is Ken Thorpe. He joined us last week.

You may remember he's the chairman of the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. Good to see you, Ken. And I want to get in as many questions in here as possible. So I'm going to go right to it. OK?

KEN THORPE, CHAIRMAN, ROLLINS SCHOLL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, EMORY UNIVERSITY: OK.

PHILLIPS: OK, great. Here we go. This one comes from Camille. "I have insurance through my job, but it's a plan that we all hate. Will I have the option of switching to a better plan without paying a ton more?

THORPE: Well, if you work for a smaller company, let's say under a hundred, when the health insurance exchange has come into play in 2014, you could switch and buy coverage through those exchanges which will give you a broad choice of health plans. Some with higher cost sharing and some with very, very low cost sharing. And even if you work for a bigger company you can get a voucher from your employer to basically take that dollar that the employer was contributing for your coverage and again take it through the exchanges. So there will be a lot of options for most employees in this country.

PHILLIPS: OK. That's good news. Samuel wants to know "for those of us with medical conditions that are without jobs or health insurance, what constitutes or qualifies us to the, "critical pool"? And how soon can we see any sort of assistance?

THORPE: Well, I think this is one of the good news of the reform effort is that within the next 90 days there will be a national high risk pool available for individuals if they meet two conditions. One is that they have to be uninsured for six months. And second, you just simply have to have a pre-existing condition like asthma, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, asthma, diabetes. Look for that within the next 90 days.

PHILLIPS: This coming from Michelle, is there a definition of whom companies will be required to offer health insurance to? I can see many companies dropping people to part-time status to avoid being required to offer them health insurance.

THORPE: Well, in 2014, Kyra, if you're an employer that has 50 or more workers, defined as full-time workers, working 30 hours or more and even part-time workers. If you have two 15-hour part time worker, that's one full-time worker. They will either have to offer insurance or pay a penalty. For that employer of 50, the penalty would be about $40,000 if they don't offer coverage. Obviously, if they do offer coverage, they will have to contribute towards the cost of the premium.

PHILLIPS: All right. One more. Sound all right?

THORPE: Oh, absolutely.

PHILLIPS: OK. Here we go -- this is coming from Jay "Will permanent residents and illegal immigrants be included in this medical coverage?" We actually have had a number of people asking that question.

THORPE: Well, that's a good question. U.S. citizens and legal residents will be covered. If you're an illegal immigrant, you're not covered through this health care plan. You can't really even buy coverage with your own money through the plan. So it's just focusing on U.S. citizens and legal residents.

PHILLIPS: Ken Thorpe, chairman of the Rollins Public Health School at Emory University. We'll talk to you again, hopefully this week. Thanks, Ken.

THORPE: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: All right. The Catholic church is being challenged and the faithful are speaking out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Deadly attacks in Moscow this morning. The latest in a fight to break away. Separatists using explosives to add the exclamation point.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Last couple weeks have been testy for the Catholic faithful. Pope Benedict has been criticized for his handling of priests who abused kids. So, he reached out to the young people on Palm Sunday.

Diana Magnay is in Rome. So, Diana, we know the pope issued a long letter apologizing for this. But what's he telling the young people that are very shaken by this scandal?

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: His message to young people, which he actually published ahead of World Youth Day, which it was on Palm Sunday, was not to fear the call to the priesthood.

But we went down to St. Peter's Square yesterday to meet some of the thousands of young people who traveled really from all corners of the world to come see the pope and hear him speak. Here's what some had to say about whether the scandal has actually shaken their faith.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAGNAY (voice-over): Rome's Boy Scouts are put to work in the early hours of Palm Sunday, handing out palm fronds to the faithful. An expression of faith in itself for this young believer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): For us scouts, faith is a lifestyle. We live following and believing the Lord's word.

MAGNAY: David (INAUDIBLE) and his girlfriend came all the way from Mexico to celebrate palm Sunday mass at the Vatican. I asked him what Catholicism means for him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our culture, like one big family. Like, a lot of people who are so close to religion. To be here, to see the pope, it's -- like I said, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

MAGNAY: Fourteen-year-old Mike is here from the Philippines with his sister. (on camera): There is a big scandal involving the church right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

MAGNAY: Does that worry you, shake your faith? do you feel different about the church?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. I figure it's not the religion. It's the people who were teaching it who are wrong.

MAGNAY: Mike's dad feels differently.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a huge disappointment. For me personally, it's driven me away certainly from the Catholic church per se, not away from the precepts of living a good life, but from the institution of the Church.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, it doesn't shake my faith at all. You know, we all have our weaknesses. We all have our struggles in life.

MAGNAY (voice-over): The Vatican is certainly struggling to calm a tidal wave of abuse allegations. Perhaps what an instruction made in the homily to ignore the chatter of prevailing opinions was referring to.

But most young people didn't come to calm a crisis in their faith.

POPE BENEDICT XVI: I greet all (INAUDIBLE), especially the young people present celebrating the 25th World Youth Day.

MAGNAY: It was to hear the pope address them nation by nation, to celebrate mass in St. Peter's Square, to stand by rather than turn away from the church in what they say is its hour of need.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe that now we must stay together all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And pray a lot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pray a lot, yes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MAGNAY: It was interesting, Kyra, that it was actually only a father, an older person than all the younger people there prepared to say that not just was he disappointed in the church, but that he was disappointed in the pope. Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So, did the pope himself make reference to the scandal in detail?

MAGNAY: He didn't specifically refer to it, no. But he did say in his homily that Jesus taught his followers to not listen to the chatter of prevailing opinion, he said. That's been widely interpreted as a reference to what the Vatican has been calling in the last few days "a smear campaign," a relentless campaign of attacks on the part of the media. Kyra?

PHILLIPS: We'll continue to follow it. That's for sure. Thanks, Diana.

Stealing your good name and credit. Both potentially reft (ph). Identity thieves working overtime to get your information. Millions of people caught up in a new fraud case.

And a tornado on a tear, ripping through the Southeast, taking aim at mobile homes all along the way.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Names, addresses, Social Security numbers, all stolen. A new case of identity theft puts three million Americans at risk.

Stephanie Elam in New York with the details. Stephanie, who exactly is in danger? Because we have definitely heard this story before.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Oh, right. I know. This is not the first time it's happened, Kyra. This is one of those scary situations where you're like, I didn't do anything wrong. How does this happen?

I can tell you that this is something that was affecting people with student loans. That's who could have been hit here. A thief stole personal information from Educational Credit Management, a company in Minnesota. The info is on 3.3 million people. That's what was taken here.

Some people are calling it the biggest breach of student loan information ever. And Kyra, it was done the old fashioned way. Not a super high-tech way. There were no computer hackers. In fact, someone just snagged a portable device with all the information on it and just walked away with it. It had names, addresses, birthdays and worse, the all important Social Security number as well. It's really mind-boggling that they could walk away like that.

PHILLIPS: You know, a lot of us -- I mean, talk about how easy it is. It's also easy to throw stuff in the trash and not really think about all the things on our documents, on the mail. We definitely should get the shredders on a regular basis --

ELAM: Shred, shred, shred.

PHILLIPS: Yes, exactly. Our middle name. What do we do if it happens to us? For these people that got their information stolen, what should be the next step?

ELAM: Right. So, the people who should have been affected or who may have been affected, Educational Credit Management is going to send letters to those people. You can go to ecmc.org for more information on the situation. The most important thing to do, though, is if you think you could have been affected, is to watch your credit. So far there have been no reports of misuse, but it doesn't hurt to be safe here. You don't want to be sorry. The company is giving anyone affected free credit monitoring services through Experion (ph), but you have to sign up for it. So, if you think you have business with the company, watch out for the letter in the mail to do it.

And like you said, Kyra, the most important thing you can do is shred. I was shredding for an hour last night. I practice what I preach here.

On Wall Street, stocks are getting a boost from another upbeat economic report. Consumer spending picked up a bit last month, and the Dow Industrials, well, they are going a little bit higher. Up 38 points to 10,888. And NASDAQ is higher by 11 at 2,406. We'll keep eyes on it throughout the day to see if the Kyra rally will hold on throughout the day.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Steph.

Definitely not the way you want to end your trip. A bomb threat forced a cruise ship to make an unscheduled stop four miles from port. Investigators searched and found nothing and allowed the ship to dock at Port Canaveral, Florida, just in time for passengers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're trying to fly home and we're hoping we can make our flight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're just glad to go home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: One passenger was arrested for allegedly making that threat.

A million dollars a month. That's the amount expected to be tossed out at the divorce hearing today for the McCourts. Billionaire Frank McCourt owns the Los Angeles Dodgers. His wife, Jamie, was the CEO before getting fired in October. The L.A. Times says the $1 million is for temporary support during the divorce, but Frank McCourt doesn't think she could get a dime. She also wants $9 million right now to pay for her attorneys.

Teenaged girls gone wild. The automotive episode. Police in Santa Fe, New Mexico, say a 14-year-old girl and friends led lawmen on a high speed chase, all of it caught right here on the police cruiser's dash cam. The driver blew through red lights, parking lots, even doing the old one-way, wrong way against traffic. Didn't work. The driver and all her B.F.Fs all got a complimentary ride to juvie.

NCAA final four set. A lot of your brackets probably busted after some big upsets. Cinderella team Butler will play Michigan State Saturday. That's also when West Virginia takes on Duke. The winners play next Monday for the national championship.

You probably have a bracket going on in your office. Maybe you don't want to talk about it. All right. We'll tell you about our show's bracket. Even though his K.U. team was bounced early, producer Eddie Williams III in his first. Hmm. Kind of rolls with your producing skills, Eddie. He's followed by writer Bev Jermaine, doing better than her alma mater UNC.

And next, our EP, Lisa Merando -- giving me a whoo hoo in the ear. Based on her picks of cities she'd like to visit. Writer and baseball guru -- oh, Doug, did you write this? He got help from his 1-year-old son, Mikey. Good enough for fourth.

Meteorologist Rob Marciano should stick with hockey stories. And rounding out the group, writer Ed Perry. I still love you, Ed. Even if you're in last place.

Terrorists or freedom fighters? Separatists strike a deadly blow against Russia, taking aim at the Russian people to make a point. A message they've written in blood many times before.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Women strapped with explosives killing dozens of people in Moscow's crowded subway system. Russian state security says two female suicide bombers carried out the attacks. More than 30 people dead. More than 60 injured. The blast timed perfectly to strike two subway systems during rush hour.

Now, Russian president Dimitri Medvedev has ordered heightened security for public transit. People there are angry but also afraid to even get back on the train.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It's disgusting. I don't know who did it and what they wanted. Life is so short. How could people commit such terrible acts?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel scared. I'll have to walk to get to work because there is no way I'm going by metro.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do feel a bit scared now to go by metro. I'm worried for my family, my loved ones. We use the metro every day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Chechen separatists claiming responsibility for this morning's terrorist attacks. And it's not the first time they've struck like this. Remember the Beston (ph) school attack? How about the Moscow Theater stand-off?

Joining me to talk more about the history of the purpose behind the attacks, from the Carnegie Moscow Center. Why don't we start with talking about what fuels this Chechen hatred and anger toward the Russians? Then we'll sort of unravel it from there.

MASHA LIPMAN, CARNEGIE MOSCOW CENTER: Well, first of all, I don't think it's fair to ascribe it to Chechens alone. We are talking about north caucasuses (ph). And this was what the head of the Russian Federal Security Service said this morning, that these explosions today are most likely linked to North Caucuses. A territory with several regions -- we call them republics. All of which have lots of problems. Already radical Islam being one of those. The population there is predominantly Islamic.

Of course, Chechnya was the scene of two wars, one in the '90s and one in early 2000s. And since the war was over there, North Caucasuses in bigger terms, not just Chechnya, began to destabilize. And there are especially two regions there (INAUDIBLE) which have become the sites where reports of subversive attacks, of kidnappings, of assassinations, have come on a routine basis in recent months.

PHILLIPS: And -- we have told this story before in different parts of the world. It comes down to a fight for independence. And then, as you mentioned, there is violence that's triggered on a number of realms, including the extremist part, as you mentioned, the Arab connection. But why doesn't Russia want to give Chechnya independence? Is there just a lack of trust because of this type of violence that hasn't stopped?

LIPMAN: Well, in fact, secessionism is no longer an issue, not even in Chechnya. It was an issue indeed in the early '90s, which is why they fought the first war. But since then, this has long stopped being an issue. In fact, all the regions in North Caucasuses, all those republics have pro-Moscow governments that depend for their funding on Moscow. Those are very poor territories that are not sustainable economically without allocations from Moscow.

But first and foremost, the governments there are pro-Moscow, not just leaders, but governments as a whole. So, we are not talking about secessionism. In fact, if we go back to the '90s, there was a period between the wars when Chechnya was, for all practical purposes, independent. However, it turned out to be a totally not viable state.

So, by the time the second war began, it was no longer about secessionism. And people in Chechnya do not seek independence from Russia. This is not to say there are not people there who want to take revenge of Russia over the past wars in Chechnya or indeed over use of force in other republics. We're talking about extremists who were pushed away from the foreground because, again, governments there are pro-Moscow. But these groups exist and the pro-Moscow leaders prove incapable to keep things under control.

PHILLIPS: And of course, there's the Chechen's movement, a group called the Black Widows. We talked about the female suicide bombers.

But we're going to have to leave it there. We will continue this discussion. It's definitely not the end of the story. We appreciate your time today, Masha.

They were just having a quiet dinner at a restaurant. Then a tornado hit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was in the dining room. We just told them, come on, let's go in the freezer. We got in the freezer and they said, we have to start praying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: The amazing story coming straight up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right. What's up with the tornadoes, tornado warnings, extreme weather, Rob?

(WEATHER REPORT)

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's the latest from here, Kyra. Back to you.

PHILLIPS: All right, Rob. Appreciate it.

Break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: There seems to be a Starbucks on almost every corner, but the company's top man looks beyond the profits for what he says is a business with a purpose. Next hour, you'll see his exclusive interview with Poppy Harlow.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: We have been telling you about the arrests of several members of a Christian militia group. Just a short time ago, the charges were unsealed in a Detroit courtroom.

Susan Candiotti joins me once again with the details of these arrests. Now it looks like nine guys were actually named, right? What do we know about them?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the breakdown is this. Six people arrested out of Michigan, two from Ohio and one in Indiana. According to this indictment, they are saying the group called Hutaree is described as a right-wing Christian militia group. They say they considered local, state and law enforcement authorities as "the brotherhood," and they considered them as the enemy and they wanted to engage them in battle.

Here's the scenario that the government says they were involved with. They planned to kill a law enforcement officer as part of this conspiracy, and then that would prompt a funeral to take place. Then the members of this group would then target the additional people who would show up to the funeral by using explosive devices, homemade bombs, this kind of thing. And they would attack even more law enforcement officers.

Now, the people involved involves a couple, the couple's two sons and other people as well. They say the leader of the group they identified as a David Stone is alleged to have used the Internet to look up how to make these explosive devices. And then he would e-mail the diagrams to someone that the government says he thought could help make this device. That could indicate that perhaps there was an inside operation going on, perhaps an informant. It is unclear at this time.

But then, the leader of the group sent others out to pick up the ingredients to make these homemade bombs. So, we know they appeared in court today and that this would have been their first appearance. Ultimately, ultimately, they would face, because of these explosive devices, which are considered weapons of mass destruction, potentially life in prison, if convicted.

PHILLIPS: You know, for such a long time we have been talking about extremist groups popping up here in the United States tied to 9/11 and --

CANDIOTTI: Even farther back, the Oklahoma City bombing.

PHILLIPS: Recently, I mean, it's been -- had a Middle Eastern tie to the U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now all of a sudden, out of the blue in the Midwest, if you look at the video, all these white men dressed in fatigues playing music and talking about their mission. I mean, what --

CANDIOTTI: In fact, they considered there to be an anti-Christ in their midst, and they wanted to --

PHILLIPS: Right. We haven't seen one of these in a long time.

CANDIOTTI: We haven't. But there are groups that study this, organizations that study this, including the Southern Poverty Law Center. And they put out a study fairly recently. And they said there's been a real resurgence in these groups --

PHILLIPS: Do we know why?

CANDIOTTI: -- three hundred and sixty that they counted.

Yes. Well, they're saying one reason is because of the sort of rebirth of an anti-immigrant fervor. And then, still, others are convinced that the government, once again, as they did many years ago, at least 10 years ago, 15 years ago, trying to take over things. And so it's the "us versus them" mentality.

PHILLIPS: So we have to not only worry about al Qaeda overseas, now we have to worry about our own people in the U.S. with weapons of mass destruction as well.

CANDIOTTI: It's a problem, obviously. And according to prosecutors and the FBI, this group was planning to take out whatever grievances they had against federal, local and state law enforcement. PHILLIPS: We'll still follow it with you, Susan. I appreciate it.

And Tony Harris coming up.

And I guess we're going to start right now, Tony. I didn't realize we're at the top of the hour, my friend. Sorry about that.

HARRIS: Because you've been rocking and rolling.

PHILLIPS: Susan Candiotti with all these interesting details. I want to talk even more. I'm sure you're going to cover the story as well.

HARRIS: Absolutely. You have been handling the news.

Kyra, have a great day. Thank you so much.

PHILLIPS: All right. Thanks.