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Foxconn Gives Workers 30 Percent Raises; Former Illinois Governor Goes on Trial; Boy, 2, Addicted to Cigarettes
Aired June 03, 2010 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Here's what we're working on for you this Thursday morning.
Forty-five days now into the gulf spill. And BP takes a couple of steps back. Now the diamond saw just couldn't cut it. How many more backup plans does the company have?
And three days now after that Mediterranean raid and the fallout is still spilling. More drama could be ahead. Another ship full of aid for Gaza is headed to that area.
And same Dutchman, different mystery. The man linked to an American teen's disappearance now wanted for another woman's death. The manhunt is on.
But first, it is day 45 now of that oil crisis in the Gulf of Mexico. And BP, we could say, tweaking its plans as to how to stem the flow, how to contain all that leaking oil from that underwater geyser.
The company is now officially abandoning that massive diamond wire saw to cleanly cut the broken pipe. Instead what are they doing? They're going to have to grab some giant shears to cut it.
That, of course, will leave a more jagged edge. And that's significant because crews now have to use a different kind of cap on the ruptured well. Remember they wanted to use that custom-fit cap. Now they can't. And even if this maneuver succeeds, the looser sale will allow more oil to escape.
And keep in mind, as we've been reminding you, the flow of the oil cannot be completely contained for at least two more months until August when those relief wells are finally drilled.
Meanwhile the public outrage over the story really building even more momentum. And starting today, there's going to be this grassroots campaign. They're calling it "Seize BP." It is planning protests in more than 50 cities nationwide.
And so now we want to walk you through the process to explain why exactly we haven't had many repairs that have worked. And I want to show some of the challenges ahead. So follow me because I want to talk to Josh Levs.
Josh. JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
BALDWIN: Now I know we watched yesterday. And they had kind of a glitch with the saw. Now they're officially abandoning what we thought would be this --
LEVS: Yes.
BALDWIN: -- perfect, precise cut, right?
LEVS: Well, everybody hoped. Yes.
BALDWIN: Well, we hoped.
LEVS: And now --
BALDWIN: And the hope is gone.
LEVS: And what's new is old now. It's like if BP started at letter A with the first attempt at a solution, right, and we've gone up to letter J, it's like now we're jumping back to letter D. Because what they're talking about using now --
BALDWIN: Yes.
LEVS: -- is actually something that's sitting on the ocean floor because they were going to use it a few weeks ago.
BALDWIN: The top hat.
LEVS: And then decided not to.
Let's do this. Let's go one step at a time. I'll show you what was supposed to happen yesterday.
BALDWIN: OK.
LEVS: Let's go first to the animation so you get the pretty images of what BP was aiming for. Now the goal here was to get these pieces removed that were so important so that they could ultimately create a really smooth stub.
And then what you would have seen at the stub, you can see some oil gushes out right there. This LMRP cap, right, Brooke, was supposed to come down and was supposed to fit smoothly because they were hoping the diamond wire cutter was to --
BALDWIN: That's the significant part.
LEVS: Exactly.
BALDWIN: Because that was going to the make that perfect cup.
LEVS: Perfect cut.
BALDWIN: It's a custom-fit cap. LEVS: Right.
BALDWIN: And now forget it.
LEVS: Didn't happen. Didn't happen. So now what we have is some video from yesterday. The diamond wire cut got stuck, right? The diamond wire saw got stuck. And there's all sorts of reasons that it may have gotten stuck.
Keep in mind what it's trying to slice through. It's slicing through an incredibly thick, heavy pipe that's designed to guide oil. Also a pipe into which they had already shoved a bunch of stuff, right? They had sent in junk. They had also sent in this stuff called kill mud.
BALDWIN: The kill mud.
LEVS: So they were already making it even harder on themselves to do this new fix by trying the previous things.
BALDWIN: OK.
LEVS: So what we are at now is how do you get a cap on if you can't get that smooth cut? This is what brings us back to something called top hat that we were actually talking about way back on May 12th.
BALDWIN: A similar kind of cap.
LEVS: Right. A kind of cap that they were going to put on.
BALDWIN: So they didn't.
LEVS: They didn't put it on. We have some animation here of what top hat was supposed to be at the first place so we could take a look here.
BALDWIN: OK. So the idea for top hat in the first place was let's get a containment device on top of where all this oil is gushing from. And what you're looking at here, what you're seeing is what BP sent out at the time May 12th.
It was going to come down to where that riser pipe was. It was supposed to then fit on top of where all that oil was gushing. It was supposed to guide some oil up to the surface and was supposed to pump in methanol to get rid of these ice-like hydrate crystals that caused all these problems.
So that top hat was supposed to fit like that. But for some reason BP dropped it at the time. They tried to -- they decided a tube instead. So that thing, the top hat, has been sitting there on the ocean floor. We have video of it. It's been sitting on the ocean floor since May 12th. And they have to use it.
BALDWIN: Now hang on a second.
LEVS: Yes, go ahead.
BALDWIN: And you may not know it.
LEVS: Yes.
BALDWIN: But how do we know -- if it's been on the ocean floor that long, how do we know there aren't those ice crystals already inside?
LEVS: Well, they have searched it with those robotic cameras.
BALDWIN: OK.
LEVS: So they've been looking at it big time throughout all this. Keep in mind, they have so many of these robotic cameras. I mean they're massive and expensive but BP has a ton of them. And so they've been looking around there.
Based on what they know, there weren't those ice-like hydrate crystals there. And I'm told we're looking at live pictures --
BALDWIN: Live.
LEVS: -- right now of what's going on today. And what we're seeing today after all this -- we're giving you the setup -- the goal now is just what Brooke said, is to use hydraulic shears, not the diamond wire cutter.
BALDWIN: These big 20-feet long by 10-feet width shears --
LEVS: That's right.
BALDWIN: -- that will not make the perfect cut?
LEVS: That's right. So they're going to try to make a cut at all. And then they're going to try and put top hat on top of that.
BALDWIN: OK.
LEVS: In the hopes that that top had thing that's still sitting there will fit well enough on top of the rougher cut that they get --
BALDWIN: OK.
BALDWIN: -- that will then guide the oil up to the surface, guide some methanol down, in the hope that it will at least help contain some of that oil so it's not gushing out into the water. That's the goal now. The rougher cut, the rougher object called the top hat, putting in on top and hopes that it fits.
BALDWIN: Then let's talk quickly just in-game here.
LEVS: Right.
BALDWIN: We're all looking at August. There's two relief wells. They've got to go 18 feet down. And all of this -- this is all the rock -- is what's taking them this long. Right?
LEVS: Yes. Let's show everyone this right here. So the goal -- the reason we hear August and BP's exact words are it's not a matter of if the flow will be stopped, it's a matter of when.
BALDWIN: OK.
LEVS: OK. Because they say this is the ultimate solution here. What you need is to create two wells. Because if you think about it, there's a well right now that's pumping up all this oil. And if you can create two other wells, then it won't be there pushing it up.
It's not as simple as it sounds because first they have to build this which means going down 18,000 feet. Last numbers I have from BP, one was about 12,000, the other one was about 8,000.
So they have a long way to go. But the other trick to this is even after they're built -- and they are aiming for August -- what they're going to have to do at that point is grab this special liquid that pushes oil out of the current well and into the other wells.
So it doesn't just automatically flow. They're going to have to build these then push the oil over there, and hope that it stays. All ultimately hoping that they have a solution then. In the meantime, they're going to continue to try these things underground to contain the oil.
BALDWIN: OK.
LEVS: All right.
BALDWIN: You did a nice job. Lots of steps. We're all keeping a track of it.
LEVS: Do our best here.
BALDWIN: Day 45, our viewers are appreciative. I got a lot of Tweets on this. So, Josh, thank you so much.
LEVS: Thank you.
BALDWIN: Again, a reminder, we should be hearing from Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen right around 100:15 this morning. We should have an update on that cutting process.
Meantime, a published report says BP CEO Tony Hayward is now admitting glaring mistakes into handling -- its handling of the oil spill. In fact, take a look at this. This is from "The Financial Times" and they're quoting Hayward as saying that. "It is entirely fair to criticize the company's preparations for just such a disaster."
The "Times" also quotes him as saying, "What is undoubtedly true is that we did not have the tools you would want in your tool kit."
Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, as I mentioned, scheduled to hold that news conference 10:15 roughly. He was running 15 minutes late yesterday. Could be running late today, 10:15 Eastern, 7:15 Pacific. We'll bring it to you live as soon as we see him.
Meantime, you've been hearing this talk about all these different underwater maneuvers, right? And they're kind of comparing this to underwater heart surgery. But keep in mind, this has never been done before. This is about a mile under water.
But we're about to look now -- to keep with that metaphor, we're about to look at the scalpels. The remote operated vehicles, the ROVs, that are controlled from high above.
And CNN's Rob Marciano actually got to test drive some of the equipment and talk to the company that makes them. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOB CHRIST, PRESIDENT, SEATREPID: You have a camera here, a camera here, a couple of lights.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): There's been lots of lights and cameras catching the action at the site of the leaking well.
(On camera): This is what they are using to saw that pipe, to hopefully put that cap on successfully.
CHRIST: Correct. What you have on these vehicles that are operating offshore right now is two manipulators, and it was called the power pack. A tooling pack.
MARCIANO (voice-over): Submersible ROVs or remotely operated vehicles are doing the grunt work at the bottom of the Deep Water Horizon site. Not far away in Robert, Louisiana, SeaTrepid Enterprises services on man-subs. Bob Christ gives me a quick lesson as a small ROV is dropped into his test pool.
CHRIST: This turns left. This turns right. This goes forward. This goes backwards.
MARCIANO (on camera): All right.
CHRIST: So you have a rotation of the camera here, you see. It goes 360 degrees. OK. Have a seat and have a test drive.
MARCIANO: All right. Is it in the middle of the pool? Because this could get ugly.
(Voice-over): It's remarkably difficult like driving a car on ice.
CHRIST: You're up against the back wall.
MARCIANO (on camera): All right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, up against the wall. MARCIANO: Up against the wall so don't go backwards.
(Voice-over): Yes, let's move forward to a bigger sub, similar to the ones working the BP well. Mike O'Brian guides me through the more advanced gadgets.
MIKE O'BRIAN, SEATREPID: You're heading which is what this on screen is the compass rose with the numeric as well as the standard and then your pitch and roll are underneath.
MARCIANO: And I get a chance to see how the robotic arms work.
O'BRIAN: You know the hardest part about doing manipulator work, you're looking at a 2D screen in a 3D work.
MARCIANO (on camera): Yes, I really don't know how close to the bottom I am.
O'BRIAN: Exactly.
MARCIANO (voice-over): Typically, three men work this ROV in the ocean. One driving, one working the arms and a navigator. My simple task is position the sub to grab on to an anchor at the bottom of the pool.
(On camera): All right. Am I close a manipulator? I'm too low.
O'BRIAN: Come up a little bit closer.
MARCIANO: I'm too high.
(Voice-over): This ROV cost about two million bucks. One wrong move could be a costly mistake. Mike's advice to the guys trying to cut and cap the well?
O'BRIAN: Just get the job done one at a time. Small steps, baby steps. Think too much, we're going to have trouble.
MARCIANO (on camera): No mastermind plugging the well.
O'BRIAN: Yes. It's not your job. Your job is to fly the sub.
MARCIANO (voice-over): Rob Marciano, CNN, Robert, Louisiana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: All right, so far, Louisiana has suffered the brunt of the oil spill. But this may surprise you. Listen to this. The state's governor is now asking the federal government to lift its moratorium of offshore drilling.
Governor Bobby Jindal says his state is already reeling from the worst economic crisis in decades. In fact, he wrote a letter to President Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and here is what he wrote. Quote, "The last thing we need is to enact public policies that will certainly destroy thousands of existing jobs while preventing the creation of thousands more."
He also says that state economic officials estimate that the shutdown will cost somewhere in the ballpark of 3,000 to 6,000 jobs just within the next few weeks and, the governor says, the same experts say that more than 10,000 Louisiana jobs would disappear within a matter of months.
Also, I want to share this programming note with you tonight. CNN's Larry King has an exclusive interview with President Obama. So from the oil spill to economic turmoil to battling two wars, President Obama will be sharing his thoughts with Larry King tonight live, of course. That is tonight 9:00 p.m. Eastern.
He was once considered a suspect in the disappearance of an Alabama teen in Aruba. Now Jordan Van Der Sloot being hunted in connection with a killing in Peru.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras. Thunderstorms more like the rule rather than the exception today. They'll be moving over the oil spill. We'll talk about what that could do to it coming up in your forecast.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: The former suspect in Natalee Holloway's disappearance is now a suspect in the killing of a young woman in Peru. Holloway -- you remember the story -- she was the Alabama teen who went missing on the island of Aruba whose body was never found.
Well, now, Joran Van Der Sloot who was the center of that investigation is the prime suspect in this murder case now underway in Peru.
Here with that is CNN's Rafael Romo.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SR. LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR (voice-over): Stephany Flores had gone out with several female friends in Lima, the capital of Peru, this past Saturday night according to her family.
Race car driver Ricardo Flores, father of the 21-year-old, says the group wound up at the casino known as Atlantic in the wee hours of the morning. That's where she met Joran Van Der Sloot.
RICARDO FLORES, VICTIM'S FATHER: (Speaking in foreign language)
GRAPHICS: My arrived at the casino at 2:36 in the morning. This young man showed up at 2:01. They were sitting down at the same table. My daughter spoke English and they were having a conversation in English. And they stayed there until 5:16 in the morning.
ROMO: Peruvian police say the couple went to Van Der Sloot's hotel room after leaving the casino, the same hotel room where the young woman's body was found Wednesday morning with multiple stab wounds.
Authorities are now calling the 22-year-old Dutch national a suspect in the killing of Stephany Flores.
GEN. CESAR GUARDIA, PERUVIAN CRIMINAL POLICE CHIEF (Through Translator): We have several pieces of incriminating evidence. We have the testimony of a female employee of the hotel who says she saw this foreign national entering his room -- room 309 -- along with the victim on May 30th at 5:00 in the morning. He left four hours later.
ROMO: Joran Van Der Sloot was arrested in 2005 in connection with the murder of Natalee Holloway in Aruba. He was released but arrested again two years later. He was not charged because of lack of evidence. Her body was never found.
Van Der Sloot's attorney Joseph Tacopina told CNN it's too early to jump to conclusions. If history teaches us any lesson from the Van Der Sloot-Holloway case, he said, is that there have been too many false facts that have been leaked and rumors that have been proven untrue.
Ricardo Flores, the Peruvian victim's father, sent a message to the family of Natalee Holloway.
FLORES: (Speaking in foreign language)
GRAPHICS: I would like to tell the family of the girl who was killed in Aruba that this time Van der Sloot is not going to walk free because we're going to make every effort to catch him so that he pays for what he did.
ROMO (on camera): Police say Van Der Sloot may have fled by land to Chile where authorities have launched a manhunt. Interpol agents are also involved.
Raphael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: An American citizen killed during Monday's pre-dawn. A violent raid on board a flotilla trying to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. Turkish officials have now confirmed that one of those nine victims Ricardo Juan (ph) has dual citizenship in both the U.S. at Turkey.
They other victims, we're told, all Turkish nationals and now Hamas is refusing to let supplies from that flotilla reach the people of Gaza because the shipment has passed through Israeli hands.
Again that's what Hamas is saying. But activists, they are trying again. There was another aid ship. It's called the MV Rachel Corrie. It's expected to reach the waters off of Gaza either tomorrow or Saturday. On board this ship, 550 tons of cement, medical equipment, educational materials, even toys. The Israeli military has already said, though, any ship refusing to stop because of that blockade could be attacked. This comes as many in the international community are calling for an end to that blockade.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BAN KI-MOON, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: In recent months I have consistently urged the government of Israel at the highest levels, including during my visit in March, to lift this blockade and allow the United Nations and other humanitarian relief supplies into Gaza. If this had been done so, this tragedy would have been avoided.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Israel says it needs the blockade for national security and to prevent any benefit to Hamas which rules Gaza. But Hamas won't recognize Israel's right to exist, renounce earlier violence or accept previous agreements between Israel and the Palestinian authority.
We are hearing now big, big storms could be heading to the gulf. And you know that could possibly impact that massive oil cleanup.
Jacqui Jeras, you were talking yesterday about now everything shifting possibly eastward. I think it was the Governor Charlie Crist of Florida saying 1-2 days we could be seeing that oil over there.
JERAS: Yes, tomorrow even.
BALDWIN: Wow.
JERAS: The official forecast from NOAA. In fact I'll just pull this up right off the bat and show that to you, Brooke.
(WEATHER REPORT)
BALDWIN: Yikes. Hundred degrees. I'm not ready for it. Not ready for it.
Jacqui, thank you.
The Maytag repairman about to get very busy. Why? The company is recalling about 1.7 million dish washers because of a fire hazard. We'll tell you what brands are covered and how to get yours fixed.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Yes, you hear the song? It was a mistake. A historic mistake this morning everyone is talking about this bad call that denied a young baseball pitcher a perfect game in a spot in this sports' long history. And guess what the ump even admits that he blew this call.
Let me put this in perspective for you. Only 20 pitchers have thrown a perfect game. Keep in mind, baseball dates back a little while like to 1880. So perfect game, if you're not totally baseball hip, let me explain. Perfect game means the pitcher gets all 27 batters out.
So you have nine innings, three up at bat, nine times seven -- nine times three, 27. Right? So three up, three down, nine innings, no one gets to base.
All right. I want to show you first here what happened. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ground ball, right side. Cabrera will cut it off. Galarraga turns. He's out. No, he's safe. He is safe. He is safe at first base.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So you hear the guy saying he was out, no, no, no, he was safe. This is Detroit's Armando Galarraga. So he is the pitcher. He has 26 batters out. He needed one more for the perfect game. OK?
So a closer look. Here he goes to first. So by the way, this is the pitcher. He's covering first. Clearly shows his foot on base before the runner gets to first. So, if I can, let me just show this to you. Nope, let me try this. Here we go. Foot on the base, the guy doesn't get to the base.
So the ump even says -- the ump who makes the call says he's safe, but Galarraga can only smile and the rest of his teammates now, they're in disbelief over this thing. His coach even comes out to argue the call. But it doesn't change the ump's mind.
Once again, guys, let's roll it one more time. Scotty, can we roll it? Let me just go to the sound.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARMANDO GALARRAGA, DETROIT TIGERS PITCHER: I give a lot of credit to the guy telling me, hey, I need to talk to you, because I really say I'm sorry. And that don't happen. You don't see an umpire tell after the game and say, hey, let me tell you, I'm sorry. It is not happening really.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: OK. So after the game, watch -- the ump watched the replay. He in fact admitted his mistake. He said it was the biggest call of his career. He actually personally apologized to Galarraga who was gracious about it. In fact you just heard him.
And now I want to talk to CNN contributor, Max Kellerman, this morning.
And, Max, OK. So obviously, Galarraga. I think we're all safe in saying he got robbed. Right? I mean this was supposed to be this perfect game. My question to you is, given everything that happened, can this decision be reversed so Galarraga can get his perfect game and this can go down in baseball history?
MAX KELLERMAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It's unlikely that it would be reversed, not impossible.
BALDWIN: Wow.
KELLERMAN: Bud Selig, the commissioner of baseball, you can say a lot of bad things about him. And I have actually. He's made controversial decisions in the past but he shows that he is not scared to make a controversial decision.
He stopped an all-star game and called it a tie when it was in extra innings and he was worried about the health of the American and national league pitching staff. He then -- to correct that decision because there was a big outcry, there's no ties in baseball. Then decided that the winner of the all-star game -- traditionally just an exhibition -- would decide who had home field in the World Series.
If the American League won the all-star game, the American League team would have home field in the World Series. He ushered in the era of wild cards which people, purists in the game, were very upset with it at first.
Almost everyone agrees it was a good decision now. So Bud Selig as commissioner, whatever you think about him --
BALDWIN: Yes.
KELLERMAN: -- has had the courage to make up popular decisions in the past. It's not out of the question that he would reverse this. But it is unlikely.
BALDWIN: So it's not out of the question but it is unlikely. Let me ask you in terms of, I guess, fallout from this bad call. Let's go there. This bad call. What are we hearing from other players, other managers in the wake of this?
KELLERMAN: The most interesting thing to me about this is here Jim Joyce, a respected umpire, blows the game, blows the call and blows the perfect game but did, in the moment, what he felt was his ethical responsibility.
He did the right thing to his way of thinking. He thought that the runner was safe. So he said safe. This is very interesting because in Don Larson, one of the other 20 perfect games in history -- Don Larson for the New York Yankees in 1956 -- pitched a perfect game in the World Series.
The umpire, Babe Pinelli, called the last pitch of that game which was clearly a ball, and Babe Pinelli knew it. He called it a strike because he felt the batter -- it was close enough that the batter had an obligation to swing given the circumstances.
BALDWIN: OK.
KELLERMAN: Babe Pinelli went back to the locker room and cried after that game because he knew he failed his ethical responsibility. Here we have -- a perfect game was preserved by a failed ethical responsibility of an umpire. Here we have a perfect game that was ruined.
And even though it was a blown call, the umpire did what he thought ethically was right. And even more interesting, Steven J. Gould, the great evolutionary biologist, the great late Steven J Gould, big baseball fan and kind of a moral philosopher, wrote an article about that World Series game in 1956 years later, and I believe the title was "Is Truth Spot Or Circumstance?" And he decided, it was actually circumstance, not spot that there was a bigger idea here. The circumstances Dick Kate that if it was close, the batter should have swung. And many people would say here, whatever Jim Joyce thought his direct ethical, narrow ethical responsibility was here, the larger circumstance was, come on, dude, if it's that close, give it to the pitcher.
BALDWIN: I know because not only would it have been Galarraga's first perfect game, but this would have been the first time in baseball history, correct me if I'm wrong, that we had had three perfect games in one season. Right, Max? KELLERMAN: There's never been two perfect games in a season.
BALDWIN: Wow.
KELLERMAN: And that's another -- it's like why is that? Why all of a sudden are we getting all these perfect games? And I think there is an answer to that too actually.
BALDWIN: OK. Max Kellerman, got to go -- yes, go ahead, quickly, what's the answer?
KELLERMAN: OK. Good. The answer is that, you know, there's an article in "The Science Times" years ago about gazelle's that are outrunning their predators by more than they needed to. You know, in other words, pre-usually outruns their predators by just enough. Why are they outdistancing themselves by so much, and I think the article was entitled chasing ghosts or something to that effect. That they were being chased by sabertooth tigers once upon a time. Saber tooth tigers died out. They were still that fast.
Coming out of this steroids era in baseball where hitters where steroids really helped hitters disproportionately to pitchers, pitchers had to adapt to these saber tooth tigers coming at them. They're not there as much anymore. The pitchers, meanwhile, have adopted and gotten better and are more able to get these guys out. Never two in the season. This would have been the third.
BALDWIN: It would have been the third, would have been the first. All right. Max Kellerman, interesting perspective there. A lot of outrage on that. Thank you.
So, we're asking you, what do you think should happen here? I mean, do you think that the baseball commissioner should step in, overturn that perfectly bad call and give the pitcher his perfect game or are the rules the rules? We want to know what you think. Go to our blog, CNN.com/Kyra. Tell us what to think. We will read some of your answers on air in the next hour. Stay right there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: And the opening bell just moments ago. There it goes. It has been a rough few weeks on Wall Street. We haven't actually seen the Dow posted back to back gain more than a month. Felicia Taylor following that for us at the New York Stock Exchange. And Felicia, we got pretty decent rally yesterday, right? The Dow gaining more than 200 points. Might we see a repeat. Good morning.
FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's hope so.
Good morning, Brooke. We're definitely off to a good start, but as we know, things could change by the end of the day, but nevertheless, we have had an upswing, so far, in the five minutes of the session so far. In the past few days though, we have had major moves in the final hour of trade, but for now, benign reports on the Labor Department are helping things.
New jobless claims fell for the second straight week, a sign that layoffs are slowing down. 453,000 people joined the unemployment line last week. And we also had a separate report from payroll processing from ADP showing that employers added 55,000 jobs last month.
But however, it is time to say goodbye to the Mercury brand. Ford is going to stop making the vehicle by the end of this year, naturally, because of declining sales. The automaker, however, is planning to expand its Lincoln and Ford brands to make up for lost revenue. Mercury, by the way, is 71 years old and was designed by Henry Ford's son, Edsel.
Let's take a look exactly where the market stands right now. The Dow Industrial is gaining 36 points, that's the gain of about third of 1 percent. The Nasdaq is up by 2/5 of 1 percent.
Brooke, back to you.
BALDWIN: Felicia, thank you. Like that job creation news.
You probably have a dishwasher, right? And check the tag here if it's a Maytag dishwasher running right now. You might want to shut it off. Why? About 1.7 million made between February 2006 and April of this year are being recalled because of a fire hazard.
Brands being recalled include Maytag, Amana, Jenn-Air, Admiral, Magic Chef, Performa by Maytag and Crosley brands with certain serial numbers. Where do you find the serial numbers? They're on a label near the left side of the door. So, to check your serial number, go to www.repair.maytag.com.
And, maybe, hopefully, more money will mean fewer suicides. Foxconn, that factory in Southern China, we told you about earlier this week, where those young workers make iPhones and iPads, they're now giving workers a 30 percent raise. Right now, they make about $130 a month.
At least ten workers of Foxconn have killed themselves. Critics say the result is because of high pressure, abusive managers, and a sense of isolation driving them to suicides. A company says it's trying to improve working conditions inside that plant. The head of Apple also coming forward, Steve Jobs, defending Foxconn saying, no, it is not a sweatshop.
And a crew is on a mission to Mars without leaving Earth. The flight you see is simulated but six people living in very tight quarters for a year and a half is very real.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: The mission to Mars is underway, but the capsule is still on the ground. CNN Zain Verjee reports the simulated flight could lead to some fiery emotions.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, it's one small step for man and one even smaller step for six guys on an earthly mission to the red planet.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VERJEE (voice-over): They're boldly going nowhere. This is a Mars mission on Earth. Scientists want to see how these six men will deal with living in a windowless capsule for 1.5 years, enough time for a round trip ticket to the red planet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not a jail. It's a program, an experiment.
VERJEE: But it will be a grueling dress rehearsal at a Moscow facility.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We really want to simulate the true mission to Mars with all its challenges, living and working in extreme environments.
VERJEE: Scientists will monitor stress, fatigue, and fitness. The crew will also do simulated space walks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The three of the six crews goes out on the soil, basically, in space suits and that's all the some experiments out there.
VERJEE: The three Russians, two Europeans, and one Chinese national make up the team. They've been practicing for a year and say they're up to it. The Russian team members are taking tips from previous crews who took classical music and books like war and peace to pass the time.
They'll be able to surf the internet and talk to the space agency's control room via radio link with a built-in delay of up to 20 minutes, just like if they were calling from Mars, but there are fears cabin fever could trigger fireworks.
LUCY BERESFORD, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: Boredom is going to be the key problem. And out of boredom, unfortunately, comes possibly a lot of other slightly more disturbing issues like anxiety, depression, and perhaps, even conflict.
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VERJEE: The crew knows it's tough, but after 520 days, will they even still be talking to each other? Only time and space will tell -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: Unbelievable. Can you imagine? Zain, thank you.
Let's get you with the latest on now day 45 in the effort to clean up all that Gulf oil from the spill. Here's the latest, not a whole lot of progress on capping that oil under water. We've got the latest attempt at cutting off the damaged pipe with that diamond wire saw because they're not using that. They're using these big sheers and will not be as precise, so they can't use quite as custom-fit a cap. They'll be use the top hat. Administration actually ordering now BP to pay for Louisiana's plan to build those walls of sand. That's what Governor Bobby Jindal has been hoping for. The feds have closed now more than one-third of the Gulf to fishing.
And the next showdown over Israel's naval blockade of Gaza could come as early as tomorrow. This Irish-owned ship filled with humanitarian aid now sailing to Gaza, and among the nine people who were killed in Monday's pre-dawn incident in the Mediterranean included a Turkish-American.
And President Obama will be meeting with the governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, at the White House. They will be talking about her state's new tough immigration law. Protesters plan to demonstrate outside the White House gates. In fact, the justice department, we're hearing, is also considering a legal challenge into that new law.
He is accused of trying to sell President Obama's old senate seat and a whole lot more. Now, the corruption trial of former Illinois governor is set to get under way. We are taking you live to Chicago.
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BALDWIN: The corruption trial for former Illinois Governor, Rod Blagojevich, is getting underway next hour with the jury's selection. And he faces 24 different counts here, including a scheme to sell or trade President Obama's old Senate seat for his own personal gain.
CNN's Ted Rowlands reports.
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TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The former Governor of Illinois known for his mop-headed hair cut and questionable political antics begins the fight of his life today standing trial at Chicago on federal corruption charges. It's the moment Rod Blagojevich has anxiously awaited for 18 months.
ROD BLAGOJEVICH, FORMER ILLINOIS GOVERNOR: I'm really excited about getting started. I can't wait. I don't view this as a grim duty as much as I do as an opportunity to get the truth out, clear my name, prove my innocence, show the people of Illinois I didn't let them down. I was an honest governor and that these federal prosecutors have abused their powers.
ROWLANDS: The government will use extensive wiretap conversations in its effort to show that Blagojevich tried to line his pockets by selling an appointment to the Senate seat held by Barack Obama until he was elected President.
PATRICK FITZGERALD, U.S. ATTORNEY: The governor's own words describing the senate seat. Quote, "It is a bleeping valuable thing. The thing you just don't give it way for nothing".
ROWLANDS: FBI agents arrested Blagojevich in December of 2008 when he was still governor. From that point on, he has denied any suggestion of wrongdoing.
BLAGOJEVICH: I will fight. I will fight. I will fight. Until I take my last breath.
ROWLANDS: Blagojevich appointed Roland Burris to the Obama senate seat creating a whole new buzz when the newly-named senator repeatedly changed his story about his contact with the governor before he was chosen.
And then, there is Tony Rezko, the governor's one-time adviser and political fund-raiser who is convicted on charges he used his influence to benefit himself and his associates. He is now said to be cooperating with the Feds and could provide crucial evidence for the government's case.
In the year and a half since his arrest, Rod Blagojevich not only lost his job but became a political outcast and a comic punch line. He also got his own radio talk show, wrote a book and went on tour appearing on the David Letterman show to read a top ten list of questions he asked himself before agreeing to be a contestant on NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice" show.
BLAGOJEVICH: Will my hair get along with Trump's hair?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, there you go.
ROWLANDS: That gig ended when Donald Trump told him, "You're fired."
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BALDWIN: Very funny.
Ted Rowlands is out there for us in Chicago. And Ted, I've seen the note (ph) now, two pretty big names confirmed for White House officials in terms of being subpoenaed here to testify in the trial. Tell us who they are?
ROWLANDS: Well, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and senior adviser, Valerie Jarrett both have been subpoenaed. Now, whether they will be compelled to testify or if they'll testify, we don't know. The Blagojevich team has sent out that subpoena.
They also tried to subpoena President Obama but that was quashed by a district court judge here in Chicago. The bottom line here Brooke, is this is going to be grand theater. It's expected to last about four months. You're going to have political people coming in; people that worked for Blagojevich, coming in and testifying on him.
Hundreds of minutes of audio tape that will be played, a surveillance audio and you have Blagojevich, who has vowed that he absolutely will take the stand in his own defense. And he says he is eager to do it. And there are a lot of people eager to see what he says on that witness stand.
Again, four months. It starts today with jury trial -- with jury selection. You could see all the media here anxiously awaiting the former governor's arrival here at the federal building in Chicago.
Yes, I think we could get us into that grand theater Ted, with all the photographers and the reporters and all kind of passing back and forth behind you. We'll be watching along with you, Ted Rowlands.
Thanks for joining us from Chicago this morning.
And it is unthinkable. Have you seen this video? It's pretty much gone viral now.
I'm talking about this 2-year-old smoker who is so addicted to nicotine, he vomits when he cannot get a cigarette. A video of him puffing away -- as I said a viral on the Internet. More on that story next on CNN NEWSROOM.
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BALDWIN: Chances are you have seen the shocking video on the Internet. I'm talking about the 2-year-old Indonesian boy just puffing away on cigarettes. And he is now the poster child for a much bigger problem in that country.
Here with the story, CNN's Arwa Damon.
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ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At just 2 years old, Aldi smokes an average of 40 cigarettes a day. He's from a fishing village on the island of Sumatra. His addiction accepted and considered entertaining.
Seto Mulyadi, the chairman for the country's National Commission for Child Protection says Aldi is a victim of his environment.
"Smoking has been a part of our culture for so long it isn't perceived as being hazardous," Mulyadi explains. Mulyadi met Aldi in Jakarta where his mother had taken him to seek help with his addiction.
"When I first saw Aldi I saw him as a very bright, self- sufficient, confident kid," he tells us. Mulyadi says Aldi just needs distractions to take his mind off smoking and that responsibility would lie with his mother.
"She seemed to regret that her child had grown so addicted to cigarettes," he says. But he adds, "The family's motivation to get Aldi to stop seems to stem more from the financial cost of the habit, around $4 a day than from the risk to Aldi's health.
We briefly caught up with Aldi and his mother Diana at the airport flanked by a local TV crew.
"He's crying because he wants a cigarette," his mother tells us. Showing us his scars, Diana says Aldi throws violent tantrums and vomits when he can't smoke.
"After I gave birth, I quit," Diana who smoked throughout her pregnancy says, "I don't remember how he started, but one day we went to the market and suddenly he had a cigarette in his hand."
While we were interviewing Aldi, this man taunted him with a cigarette. He told us he thinks it's fine for kids to smoke, that he was just playing around with Aldi.
Aldi is not an isolated case. A few months ago, this video of a 4-year-old Indonesian boy smoking was posted online. This child also came to the attention of the National Commission for Child Protection. He went into rehab and is now smoke-free. The commission says the problem isn't just ignorance of the dangers of smoking, it's compounded by aggressive advertising by tobacco companies. Meanwhile, 168 nations have signed on to a treaty for calling for health warnings and other anti-smoking measures.
Indonesia is the only country in Asia Pacific not to ratify the World Health Organization's framework on tobacco control. Legislation has been in parliament for years. When we called to ask about the delay, the spokesman for the Ministry of Health simply said, "We're still discussing it."
Based on a study the commission conducted between 2001 and 2007, the number of children smoking between the ages 5 and 9 jumped 400 percent. That's tens of thousands of cases.
"This is just the tip of the iceberg," Mulyadi says. "The number of child smokers are not only increasing, but they're getting younger as well."
Aldi's mother says she's going to try to make him cut down and eventually quit just as she and her husband has done. Meanwhile the commission will continue to monitor his case, but the commission's chairman says it's up to everyone to stop this phenomenon. Inaction, he warns would not only be a violation of the children's human rights. It's tantamount to genocide.
Arwa Damon, CNN, Jakarta.
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BALDWIN: There are no words, are there?
Coming up next hour, oil cleanup crews in the Gulf say they've worked weeks on the slimy muck and mess without being paid. They want BP, you know, to pay up. You'll want to hear what they have to say.
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