Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Closer to Replacing Leaky Cap; Haiti: Tent Cities on Private Property; Spain/Netherlands: Round 2
Aired July 12, 2010 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICHARD LUI, CNN ANCHOR: All right. A new hour, a new "Rundown."
After 84 days of oil gushing into the Gulf, a temporary solution could be very close. And we're looking at the disaster from every angle and drilling down on the details to see what is happening.
Plus, scientists compare it to discovering a whole new world. We're getting our first pictures of a massive asteroid that could be as old as the solar system itself.
Also for you, I'm going to revisit the Gulf disaster in my "XYZ," looking back on this roller-coaster ride of the past 84 days and looking ahead to a very uncertain future.
OK. Let's get started for you first in the Gulf, where we're looking at the very latest and the containment cap, this newest containment cap that they have tried to put in a mile underneath the sea, supposedly going to be the most encouraging news from the spill site after the last 84 days.
These are 12 different routers we're watching. Some of them are active, some aren't. I want to show you the one on the lower right- hand side.
That's the top of this new spool, this big adapter that they were able to put in, in the last 24 hours. You're looking at 65,000 barrels coming out of the oil.
And then if we could move a little bit up here to this perforated area, this could be the top of what we believe to be the lowering tool as they bring on down this new cap. It's supposedly perforated like that. So these are some of the pictures that we're watching, the video that's coming in from BP, because this is possible.
It could, over the period of time, this week, mean that they're able to stop the oil using this. Possibly.
Now, BP says the work, though, to install this new cap is ahead of schedule. That's good news. It could be in place sometime today if everything comes to pass.
Oil has been gushing freely, as I mentioned, over the last 48 hours as they remove that old containment cap and put on this new one. But they say once the new tighter-fitting cap which is sort of like a small BOP within itself, once that's in place, it could contain most, if not all, of the oil that is spewing out of the broken wellhead. Some of the animations here showing what they are going through at this moment, as well as the coming day.
Now, this is all welcome news, if this were to come to pass, moving in on this animation, moving that new cap on. That's what we're watching for, because there's 35,000 to 60,000 barrels a day spewing out. So with this on, it could mitigate that.
But even if it works, it's not a final fix. Let's go to Thad Allen, the top government man on this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADM. THAD ALLEN (RET.), NATIONAL INCIDENT COMMANDER: What we're talking about now is containing the oil. That's far different than actually killing the well and plugging it with cement. We will need to do that ultimately, but this will significantly improve our situation regarding the amount of oil coming to the surface while we finish the relief wells, which are the final solution.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LUI: All right. Speaking of those relief wells, BP announcing today that the first one is now within five feet. That's what we're hearing. That's very, very close. And just 30 feet above the hoped- for-intersection point. You see that down there.
That point is only about this wide. It's going to be tough though to hit that. If you can imagine the distance from the surface, 18,000 feet underneath the sea, that will be difficult. They said it could take two or three or four different tries before they'll be able to hit that head on.
Now, they hope to be able to pump mud and concrete once they do hit it right on to try to kill that main well by the end of the month, hopefully stopping the leak for good.
Now, another positive development to tell you about today, the huge oil collection ship Helix Producer, what they're calling the Helix Producer, should be on the job later this afternoon, what you see right here. After a couple of setbacks from Sunday, it should be able to collect up to 25,000 barrels of oil a day once it's fully operational.
It's also key to the mitigation strategy when they look at the hurricane season coming forward. This Helix Producer which will be attached to a floating riser that sits underneath the sea, which can be moved and put back in, in those extreme situations when you talk about hurricane action.
Now, with all the containment equipment in place, BP says it should be able to collect 60,000 to 80,000 barrels a day. Of note here, hey, that's more than the amount thought to be leaking, according to the estimates. And a couple of other important developments for you to watch. The National Oil Spill Commission is meeting for the first time today. And we've learned the Obama administration is also announcing revised rules today banning deepwater offshore drilling.
Ed Lavandera is live in New Orleans following the very latest on what is happening in this.
What have you got for us?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now we're watching closely the information on that containment cap that you've been talking about. And essentially, as Admiral Thad Allen says, they believe that this could go one of two ways -- either that containment cap moves into place, and presuming that everything goes and continues to work according to plan, that that would either cap off and there would be no more oil flow -- we're probably at least 48 hours away from knowing whether or not that indeed will be the case. Or if it does continue to work, and some flow continues to come out, that they would move these vessels into place on the surface of the water that you've been talking about as well, Richard, that would help collect that. So we'll see if that works.
Of course, there could be other setbacks, as you well know. We've seen almost over the last three months, there have been a series of setbacks, and some of these ideas have worked better than others. So it's very cautiously optimistic. It sounds like BP officials are saying that they are pleased with the way things are moving.
One of the other things that we're looking at, Richard, also here in New Orleans is the national commission established by President Obama to investigate the cause of this explosion and this oil leak, and also to set up to help prevent this from happening again in the future. The commission is holding one of its first meetings here in the New Orleans area, and in the first couple of hours, the fireworks and the sparks were flying already with members of the board and people, again, voicing their anger at BP, and also the federal response and federal officials who are handling this cleanup as well.
Take a listen to what happened here this morning with a heckler and the commission.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do we have security to escort this person out please?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have no right to be investigating crimes of their own making. I'll say that again. With "Revolution Newspaper," it's a capitalist oil spill. BP and the government have been looking at for their own interests.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: We understand that gentleman was escorted out of that commission hearing. So, again, many people continue to watch closely what is going on here, Richard, and that anger, even though this has been going on for almost three months, the anger and the frustration has yet to subside -- Richard.
LUI: Yes. Really, that one heckler, that protester, questioned the objectively of the panel itself as it goes forward, which is going to be one of the questions, obviously, when you do have a multi- membered commission looking at what is a very controversial issue.
Ed Lavandera live in New Orleans, where that is happening at the moment.
Thank you very much for the very latest.
All right. Let's head over now to Chad Myers, who is watching weather for us, as well as what is happening underneath the sea.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Let's get right down to it, because I can get three-dimensional on you here, and this is what's happening now.
Oil still spewing out. We've stopped the oil, let's just say, for the picture's sake, the old cap goes away. The new cap is not a sucking mechanism.
LUI: Right.
MYERS: It's a stopping mechanism. When this new layer comes down on here, they cut that bad-looking thing off. You know, the oil was coming out --
LUI: It was scraggly.
MYERS: -- it was scraggly looking. It was bent.
LUI: They cut it off, right, with that saw.
MYERS: Right. Well, where they cut it off, it's now gone. They unbolted it. That piece is gone.
They bolted a new piece on here with a much better-looking flange. That flange is now straight enough and hard enough to get a new -- basically a blowout preventer on top of this stack, a blowout preventer.
They can spin it around. There are three different places that this thing will shoot, bang, bang, bang. It will shoot these layers, this knives into this oil and it will stop it from coming out all together. That's what this is going to do, compared to that old thing that was just meant there to suck out the oil that was coming out.
LUI: Right.
MYERS: This is completely different. This has nothing to do with that old containment cap, OK, let's get as much as we can. This thing could put an end to this thing. In three days, it could be over.
LUI: And this, Chad, I mean, they thought about this idea from day one. But it took some time --
MYERS: They've been working on it for 84 days.
LUI: That's right, 84 days. And a lot of these solutions, we need to remember, it takes time. It's in parallel, just like the relief well, as we're talking about.
Now, I thought really interesting what you brought up was about this device, these three rams you're talking about.
MYERS: Correct.
LUI: Basically, it's the same here as underneath here, but much smaller.
MYERS: The same rams that didn't work the first time.
LUI: Well, we hope they work, yes.
MYERS: We hope they work this time. Obviously, there was a pressure issue down here.
Some hydraulic line wasn't tight enough. Whatever the pressure problem was, the rams didn't go through the pipe, didn't stop the oil last time.
So now they built another one of these, put it on top, and they're going to try to ram it again. They're going to try to stop it for good.
Now, if it doesn't work, they can still put a pipe up here and collect what's coming out. But that could be the end of all this.
LUI: All right. Chad Myers, great breakdown in terms of what's happening at this moment.
MYERS: Right.
LUI: A lot of people betting on this to work. Appreciate it.
All right. We are watching now six months later, after that devastating earthquake in Haiti, we have an update on what's happening there today.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LUI: All right. Six months later, and hardly any progress. The people in Haiti are stuck in mounds of rubble with little shelter a half-year after one of the deadliest earthquakes in its history.
Now, the January 12th quake killed some 230,000 people. It injured about 300,000 more. And then all you have to do is look at these pictures right behind me, and it gives you a sense of the lack of progress.
Pictures from Haiti now (sic), as you can see, and then we also have pictures from now. And if you can actually see a difference there, many folks can't, because there hasn't been a lot of progress. Hundreds of displaced families now living in makeshift tent cities along busy roads. Only 28,000 of the 1.5 million Haitians left homeless by the quake have moved into new homes as of today.
Let's go to CNN's Ivan Watson, who's live from Port-au-Prince with the very latest for us.
And Ivan, all these people are homeless, but now, because they're looking for places to stay, they are on certain owners' pieces of land. And those landowners may not be happy.
IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's true, Richard. There's a big complication here, and that is dispute over property.
A lot of the titles to property disappeared, were destroyed in the earthquake when government buildings and homes went down. On top of that, you have the additional complication of 1.5 million homeless people in camps that sprang up overnight, many of these either on government land or on private property. And some of these people are at risk of being kicked off the land, kicked out of these squalid tents, because landowners want their land back.
Take a look at this report, Richard.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WATSON (voice-over): Haitians exercising in the steamy Caribbean heat trying to keep shape in a gym that's located just footsteps away from a camp city full of homeless.
Vladimir Saint Louis is the owner of this struggling sports complex.
(on camera): How many people live here today?
VLADIMIR SAINT LOUIS, OWNER, HENFRASA SPORTS CENTER: There's about 7,000 people here.
WATSON: On your soccer field?
SAINT LOUIS: Correct.
WATSON: This is your land, though, right here?
SAINT LOUIS: This is literally -- yes. This is the 400 meter track and this is the soccer field. This is my land. This is still part of the same property you came into.
WATSON (voice-over): Saint Louis says thousands of desperate people climbed over broken walls and started camping out here the night after the earthquake. (on camera): Are people living on the tennis courts?
SAINT LOUIS: Sometimes. Now that the World Cup is -- yes, they play soccer here now.
WATSON (voice-over): But now, six months later, there is no government plan in place to resettle these desperate people. Saint Louis says the squatters have cost him more than 50 percent of his business.
SAINT LOUIS: Well, the government is certainly not taking the responsibility that they must. You know? Because we're now almost mid-July, and this is not the only campsite in Port-au-Prince.
WATSON: Six months after the earthquake, an estimated 1.5 million people are living in other squalid camps like this. The conditions are hot, filthy and dangerous if a hurricane strikes.
Twenty-year-old Lucien Frantz shows us the shelter he built for his mother and two sisters.
LUCIEN FRANTZ, CAMP RESIDENT: I'm living in a bad position.
WATSON: He says the plastic roof does not keep out the rain.
FRANTZ: The wind got out of hand (ph). The wind is falling on everybody.
WATSON (on camera): It comes in?
FRANTZ: Yes.
WATSON: Yes?
FRANTZ: It comes in.
WATSON (voice-over): As hard as this is, life may soon get worse. A judge recently showed up to inform the camp's 1,000 residents that the owner of his land wants them to leave his property.
"They asked us to leave, but we don't have anywhere else to go," says Lucien's mother. We're waiting for the authorities to tell us what to do. In some cases, land owners have taken matters into their own hands, pushing people off their land.
(on camera): How many people were living here?
EMMANUEL AUGUSTE, CAMP VOLUNTEER: It was -- 52 families.
WATSON: Fifty-two?
AUGUSTE: Fifty-two.
WATSON: And where are they now?
AUGUSTE: They're -- they go around -- they go to other camps. WATSON (voice-over): Aide workers say they are increasingly being called in to mediate land disputes.
IMOGEN WALL, UNITED NATIONS HUMANITARIAN SPOKESPERSON: UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is public land this camp is on. But a lot of camps that people just set up the day after the quake, it's on private land, or it's in buildings such as schools which need to start functioning again. And landowners, in order to get their businesses starting again, often -- you know, they need access to their property.
WATSON: The government says it's still working on a plan for resettlement of Haiti's armies of homeless. In the meantime, property owner Vladimir Saint Louis can only watch as the camp on his soccer field becomes more and more permanent.
(on camera): You have a barber shop here.
SAINT LOUIS: Oh, my God. This is only -- this is not even half of it.
There's a barber shop. There's a beauty parlor. There's a cyber cafe. There's a hotel.
One of those is a hotel. People come and stay for a night. Pay per hour, pay per night. I swear to God.
WATSON (voice-over): It may be a long, long time before Vladimir Saint Louis gets his land back.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATSON: Now, Richard, to complicate things even more, the Haitian government says it needs land to be able to resettle the homeless people. And to do that, it has to buy land. And the Haitian government says it's still waiting for funds from the international community so that they can have the budget to go ahead and do this -- Richard.
LUI: You know, Ivan, let's talk about that money, because obviously that's so important, to have progress not only in purchasing land, but also building utilities again, also more tents.
What is the holdup with some of the billions of dollars that we hear that are just waiting to help that country?
WATSON: That's a very good question, and one that residents of these squalid camps have been asking me. It's put the government here on the defensive.
Take a listen to what these Haitians have to say about that issue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EMMANUEL AUGUSTE, CAMP RESIDENT: Where does this money go? Where does this money go? Because the people still live like that and they don't distribute food, they don't give nothing. Where is (INAUDIBLE) money go out?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEAN-MAX BELLERIVE, HAITIAN PRIME MINISTER: Now all those people are in your face, in front of your cameras, and there's a lot of frustration. But that frustration is coming 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, 50 years of non-development.
You're not going to solve that in six months or one year. It's a long run, and I believe that most of Haitians understand that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: The Haitian government saying it has inherited decades of bad governance. It is also complaining that only 10 percent of the more than $5 billion pledged at a United Nations conference in March to help the Haitian government, only 10 percent of that money has actually been handed over so far -- Richard.
LUI: Ivan, a real quick one here. I just listened to your reports and what you've been saying so far. I can't put my mind or my arms around 1.5 million people that you say are living in extreme squalid conditions.
What you showed us, is that the worst? And what does this smell like? What are some of the sensory intakes that you've had in doing these reports?
WATSON: Well, to put it into context, Richard, that's about one in nine Haitians. One out of nine people in the entire country that are living like this, homeless.
Now, one of the camps that we visited, it was awful. There had just been a rainstorm in the middle of the day. There was mud in the pathways between those shelters. Water had been running into these people's homes.
We've had some aid workers telling us that these people who are living like this are sleep-deprived. They can't sleep through the night because of the mosquitoes, the heat and the filth in their shelters.
LUI: All right. Ivan Watson, thank you so much.
Six months in, watching the latest on how they're doing at this milestone. Still need some help, as we are hearing.
Anderson Cooper, by the way, is in Haiti as well. Tonight he goes one-on-one with former president Bill Clinton, the U.S. envoy to Haiti and co-chairman of the Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission. That's tonight at 10:00 Eastern on "AC 360."
All right. You could easily have predicted a food fight when the ambassadors from Spain and the Netherlands sat down to a post-World Cup breakfast today. Joining or separating the two was our Richard Quest.
We'll give you a seat at that table.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LUI: I want to tell you about two countries that had never won the World Cup. Facing off in the final game yesterday, Spain and the Netherlands, and both wanted it badly. That's an understatement. And Spain -- and they won it barely.
Today, it is round two. Ambassadors from those countries sitting down to breakfast with our own Richard Quest in London.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARLES CASAJUANA, SPANISH AMBASSADOR TO U.K.: It's a stimulus package in itself. We are sure that this will raise the morale in the country. This will boost -- this generates the kind of enthusiasm we need.
We are sure that this will increase the attraction of Spanish branding, Spanish brands in the world, the Spanish exports. We know that -- well, this is a world event and it has an enormous impact on the economy.
Some economists say that it could have an impact of about two points of the GNP, even more --
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's good news.
CASAJUANA: -- which is very good news. We need it.
QUEST: You need it.
CASAJUANA: We all need it.
QUEST: Is there a risk that it might have a bad effect in the Netherlands?
PIM WALDECK, NETHERLANDS AMBASSADOR TO U.K.: No. I think the result will be the same also. I reckon (ph) 0.1 percent extra in the GDP. And the extra money geared by the whole tournament has been enormous.
QUEST: Let's talk about Europe generally at this point, because Europe, at the moment, is very much locked into the this battle over what happens next in the economy of this great project, the eurozone, the growth versus austerity, as more and more countries are going down the path of austerity.
Is this a good time for Europe?
WALDECK: I think that what one sometimes forgets is that since the crisis came, Europe has done a lot to get its act together to face the crisis. And people are very -- how shall I say? They are very -- they have no patience and they want to see immediate results.
But, for instance, in the European Union, if you talk about the European Union, we have to get around with 27 countries to decide what we have to do. And if you look back, that has been done in quite a reasonable short time.
CASAJUANA: I think my impression is that sometimes people underestimate the determination of European leaders to move on, to strengthen European cooperation. Of course, it's not easy because, as the ambassador said, we have 27, we have to agree. But where there's a will, there's a way. And there's a strong determination by most -- all European leaders.
QUEST: They've done a pretty shocking job, the leaders. Yes, I'm reminded of Churchill talking about the United States, to do the right thing after all other options have been exhausted or have been tried. If we look back at the way the crisis -- yes, we got to the right result, but only after we'd always been brought to the brink of calamity.
WALDECK: Yes, but there also has been the fact in the history of the European Union --
QUEST: But just saying that, that's a pretty damning indictment of --
(CROSSTALK)
WALDECK: No, no, no.
CASAJUANA: But all countries were. The world economy was on the brink of the abyss before. And while some countries were bolder, the United States was bold in reacting, some European economies, too, it took perhaps a bit longer for the European Union. That's normal. We need to bring --
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: No, Ambassador. Maybe we need to be bolder.
CASAJUANA: Well, yes, but we need to be bold 27 member states together. And that's perhaps the difficulty.
WALDECK: And it's not only Europe that has to be bolder. It's all the other players in the world economy that have to be bold as well.
Europe normally grows in crisis. It's very strange, but it does.
Don't forget that in the early '80s, European adventure was almost dead. And then out of the blue came (INAUDIBLE), he took us out of the mud and brought Europe again forward. I have the impression that at some time, there will grow something out of this crisis which is good for the common good in Europe.
QUEST: Were you surprised that your team got as far as it did? WALDECK: Yes. I started to believe in the whole thing when we beat Brazil.
QUEST: Ambassador, were you surprised?
CASAJUANA: I was not. No, I was not surprised. We expected our team to perform well, but you cannot count winning the World Cup.
QUEST: And finally, economically, since it's the economic World Cup, if we are sitting here this time next year, would you expect things to be looking much better for Spain?
CASAJUANA: Yes. I'm sure the Spanish economy will be doing much better in one year's time.
QUEST: How about you, Ambassador?
WALDECK: Yes, we will pick up our troubles and get on our bike and pedal.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LUI: OK. Of course, in the Netherlands, they like to bike. And in Spain, they have a double-digit right now unemployment rate. So they both hope things to get better because of Spain winning over the weekend.
Viva Espana. You'll get used to hearing that.
I don't know about your weekend, by the way, and what your plans are, but one spacecraft had a blind date with a huge asteroid on Saturday. And the big rock could be from the birth of our solar system.
It's a cool story. We'll tell you about it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LUI: All right, we're, of course, watching today "Off the Radar." We've got Chad Myers. Just now, we were just talking about this new rock...
MYERS: Yes.
LUI: ... that they found floating around in the solar system. But there's some significance to this rock because it never quite made -- well, shall we say, planet status, right?
MYERS: Well, it's only 80 miles long.
LUI: Right. Right.
MYERS: Yes. And it's just a bunch of -- it's a 4.5 billion- year-old pockmarked rock with no name -- Lutetia. But there it is. The European Space Agency sent this probe out, called the Rosetta, back in '04. Did a lot of things, been out there spinning around, been out there sending all kinds of images back from Mars and things -- data...
LUI: As it flew by.
MYERS: And now, you said blind date. We have not had really any date with this Lutetia...
LUI: Right
MYERS: ... this -- this thing. The asteroid looked like this. We'll go through the animation. As this thing flew by -- here it came -- this was only a one-minute fly-by. But they have all of these pictures coming in, these images that came back from Rosetta as it went by. Now, it didn't look like much as it went by because, you know, you're adding a lot of pictures all at one time.
So what's the deal? Why do we care? Well, here's -- let me -- I'm going to get rid of this for a second.
LUI: All right.
MYERS: I'm going to bring this right -- not too far. I'm going to bring this right back on. Here's what it -- here's what Rosetta has done. As it left the Earth, it went around and around and farther -- got swung out, and now it's all the way back out here to 7 -- 7 is this fly-by with Lutetia. That's not its main voyage. This is just kind of a fly-by to see what this thing looked like. This is actually going all the way to a comet, to land on a comet four years from now. So we're just kind of -- this is just bonus time. This is -- you know -- you know, the -- they have bonus time in soccer?
LUI: Exactly.
MYERS: This is bonus time in soccer. Now, you know, this is just me, but doesn't this look like an eye and a nose, and they cut the mouth off so that we couldn't really see it?
(LAUGHTER)
MYERS: I mean, it does -- this is...
LUI: Maybe it's a face.
MYERS: It's a face out in space!
LUI: A face out in something.
MYERS: Let's zoom in here. You can see what -- the pockmarks that we're seeing here -- one, two, three and four -- are quite amazing when you zoom right down, and even scars that are lines from this thing flying through space for so very long. What's cool about it?
LUI: Yes.
MYERS: It probably came from our solar system 4.5 billion years ago, never ran into the Earth. Never ran into Mars. Never ran into Jupiter. Never ran into the sun. It's just out there all by itself, and it could be part of the origin of this solar system that we are in right now.
LUI: Because of all the movies that have been coming out, any possibility of this hitting anything else?
MYERS: I have already called -- I've already called LA, and Bruce Willis is on standby.
(LAUGHTER)
MYERS: But there's no threat right now that he has to go out there and save us.
LUI: All right, so Lutetia's out there, ladies and gentlemen. And thanks to Chad, we are OK.
MYERS: We're fine.
LUI: Brand-new finding, though. Thank you very much, Chad.
MYERS: Yes.
LUI: "Off the Radar."
The aging revolutionary Fidel Castro is who we're talking about. He's expected to appear on Cuban television today. And we're going "Globe Trekking" to Havana to find out what he's talking about, and why now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LUI: OK, time for "Globe Trekking" right now. We'll take you to Uganda first, where the capital there of Kampala is what we're going to focus on, explosions ripping through some venues where people were watching the final World Cup match over the weekend. What we're understanding -- the latest information is 74 people are now confirmed dead. That number was growing this morning. Dozens are also wounded. A Somali Islamic militant group with links to al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for this.
The U.S. embassy says at least one U.S. citizen was among those killed. Several other U.S. citizens were wounded. The American apparently worked for Invisible Children. That's a California-based aid group that helps child soldiers. A possible motive for this attack, Ugandan soldiers are part of the African Union peacekeeping forces that are in Somalia right now. But a very troubling World Cup day for them.
OK, now let's take you over to Havana, Cuba, where we expect to hear from the aging revolutionary -- yes, we're talking about former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, emerging from seclusion. And today he's expected to make his first major public appearance in years on Cuban TV. This follows the government's announcement of the largest release of Cuban political prisoners in more than a decade. Joining us now -- we'll take you live to Havana, where CNN's David Ariosto is there. Many people here, David, even wondered if he's alive. And now we hear reports that he has concerns about Iran and the United States in a nuclear war. What do we expect to hear from him?
DAVID ARIOSTO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that is the million- dollar question right now. Fidel Castro over the weekend had written in a column of his that he -- he's predicting or is warning against a potential war between Iran and the United States over activities of nuclear activities within that country.
Now, this is not uncommon for former Cuban president Fidel Castro. He is -- since leaving power in 2006 due to intestinal surgery and ceding power to his younger brother, Raul, he has reemerged on the scene several times, writing columns and blogs on -- occasionally on almost a weekly basis, some indications are just the -- the decision to comment on the latest news, to show that he's still timely, still very much a part of the political apparatus here in Cuba.
But the timing of this is very interesting. Like you said, this comes on the heels of one of the largest prisoner releases in over a decade. In 1998, Pope John Paul II's visit prompted hundreds of prisoner -- political prisoner releases. Just last week, 52 political prisoners are set to be released. That would be the remainder of a group of 75 jailed dissidents that were arrested in 2003 following a government crackdown on political opposition, which has many people wondering here whether this represents a change in policy toward the way that Cuba treats its political prisoners.
Another tidbit of news, Cuba's Roman Catholic church just announced today, just a few hours ago, that it's raising the number -- that it expects to be released in the coming hours and coming days up to 20. A group of those prisoners will be sent to Spain sometime tomorrow afternoon. And this represents a difference. We're looking at a Cuba that is hard to decipher at this point, Fidel coming out with his column, and now appearing on live television this evening, and Raul behind a policy shift in the way it treats its political prisoners.
LUI: Yes, and the backdrop here, the context, David, really is, we've seen decades of Fidel Castro. He has been called the ultimate brinksman, the ultimate negotiator, and certainly a very good marketer. What he does today -- if he does come on TV, everybody will be watching. But within that context, we understand this is not necessarily out of character for him. Thank you so much, the latest there from Havana, Cuba, David Ariosto on Fidel Castro.
A young man traveling across the U.S., oh, on roller blades. His mission here, to rebuild schools in Haiti. We've got his inspiring story. That's next on "Mission Possible."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LUI: All right, that's Jimmy Buffett belting out some tunes for victims of the gulf oil disaster. A lot of people having a good time down there, thousands turning out in Gulf Shores, Alabama, for the free concert. You know, Buffett, a native of Gulf Shores, put on the show to draw people to Alabama's beaches. Other free concerts are being held in a bid to keep the struggling local economy running there.
Checking our top stories for you right now. We could see some significant progress today. BP's broken wellhead. It's day 84 of the gulf oil disaster. They've got robots working hard at the moment, installing a better, tighter collection cap on the well top today. It might be able to contain the gusher. And if not, an oil collection ship on site is also finally going to be ready to go to help withdraw and get more oil.
Russia's president says Iran is getting closer to being able to build nuclear weapons, Dmitri Medvedev's comments coming at a meeting of Russian ambassadors today. Russia is a long-time ally of Iran and is even helping build a nuclear power plant there. But last month, Moscow did sign onto new U.N. sanctions against Tehran, which still refuses to suspend activities crucial for nuclear power and nuclear weapons.
And six months ago, that huge earthquake hit Haiti, killing some 230,000 people. U.N. agencies working there have issued a six-month report on the disaster response, and they say that Haiti's needs are still immense, with shelter for displaced Haitians the biggest and most crucial challenge at the moment.
All right, every day at this time, we do a segment called "Mission Possible." This is all about people coming up with some solutions to a seemingly impossible situation. That's just what the young man in this picture that you see right here -- we're talking about Chris Lomen. He's a 22-year-old who graduated from college this spring, and instead of jumping into the job market or going to grad school, he decided he was going to go roller-braiding -- roller- blading, rather, across the country in a bid to try to raise $100,000 to rebuild schools in Haiti.
Now, Chris joins us now from Quincy, Illinois, with his support man, Chris Hamby. You guys are coming to us via Skype.
Let me start with you, Chris, on the right. You're wearing the yellow jersey at the moment. Evidently, you are quite a roller- blader. Why are you doing this?
CHRIS LOMEN, ROLLER-BLADER: Well, it's mostly because of the needs there. (INAUDIBLE) seeing some of the most extreme poverty this world has to offer. And you know, I just -- I believe in education. I think that that's what's going to help Haiti in the long run. We help the kids now, it'll be good for them (INAUDIBLE) good for the country.
LUI: So how far have you made it so far, Chris, in your trek? I understand that you've raised about $3,000. You want to raise $100,000. You've got a ways to go. LOMEN: Yes, we do. Miles-wise, we've skated about 450 miles. So that's been pretty successful. (INAUDIBLE) so far, but still a long, long way to go. We've got another 2-and-a-half, 3 months to go.
LUI: (INAUDIBLE) talk about your support man. And obviously, we're getting a little bit of feedback on our Skype, but we're going to keep on going. Chris Hamby, as you've been working with your roller-blader -- and you're his support man -- have you seen him get tired? Is he holding up strong? Is he doing well?
CHRIS HAMBY, ROAD SUPPORT: He's doing a great job. He'll go some days about 50 miles a day. The only thing (INAUDIBLE) it's a lot of people out there just kind of honk at him or yell at him, call him names. But every once in a while, there's that one person that comes by and just gives him a thumbs-up and tells him to keep going. And I just -- it really keeps the trip going (INAUDIBLE) doing this for the right reasons.
LUI: Hey, Chris and Chris, if you guys could just take your cell phone off of speakerphone for me, just talk to me on the phone like that -- yes -- and I think we'll get rid of some of that feedback that we're getting at the moment.
So when you do achieve that number of $100,000, what do you hope that this money will be used for? What's your objective? Are you going to take that money to Haiti yourself?
LOMEN: I'm donating the money that we raise to (INAUDIBLE) International. They are an organization that's been in Haiti for a long time. They have about 90 schools there, and 20 of them got destroyed in Port-au-Prince in the earthquake. So that's who we're raising money on behalf of. And their mission is -- it's long-term, sustainable change and not just short-term fixes.
LUI: All right, now, Chris Hamby, your support man -- I don't know if you can hand that phone over to him. Evidently, it's not working, guys. You know how technology is. We're still getting a little bit of feedback, but we're getting the most important thing, and that's your ideas. Tell me about the T-shirt you're wearing right there. It says "Rolling to Rebuild." Have you had any sort of problems as you've been rolling along?
HAMBY: Not really. (INAUDIBLE) really kind. Every morning, I just kind of call churches locally and ask them, Hey, do you have a place to stay? And a lot of times, like, instantly, you'll just get feedback, just, Hey, yes, come stay at my house. Even if it doesn't work, we've gone to hotels (INAUDIBLE) we went up to their hotel desk one day and, like, Hey, we don't have any place to stay, can we stay here? And they feed us and give us all kinds of support and send us on our way to the next town. So we've really had a lot of support (INAUDIBLE) around us.
LUI: Yes, that point that you make there, Chris, that people have been supporting you along your way, taking them into homes -- you get to eat a lot of great food across this country. You'll have a lot to write about, both of you. Chris and Chris, thank you for visiting with us today. "Mission Possible" -- go do it. We hope success for both of you as you try to reach that mark of $100,000 moving forward, "Rolling to Rebuild."
Just moments from now, President Obama meets with his counterpart from the Dominican Republic, and it might not be the warmest of meetings, evidently. We'll tell you why straight ahead. Plus, we'll bring you both leaders' comments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LUI: OK, we've got a live picture of the White House right behind me. Just moments from now, we expect President Obama to meet with the president of the Dominican Republic. That's Leonel Fernandez. Most of the meeting is closed to the media, though, and that's because the two countries have some fence-mending to do.
So who is President Leonel Fernandez? Well, he's 57 years old. He's a lawyer and considered a reformer. He'll be in office another two years. Fernandez also leads the Dominican Liberation Party. He's also looking to improve the relations with the United States, but he and his country have also recognized the communist government of Cuba, which is also in the news today. Plus, Fernandez has cozied up to Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, also of interest, no doubt.
But one thing Washington is happy about. The Dominican Republic has played an important role in helping to reach the earthquake victims in Haiti, sure to be a major topic of today's presidential sit-down.
Now, six months after the deadly quake, Haiti is still a long way from recovery, despite billions of dollars in aid pledged from across the globe. One in nine 9 Haitians -- that is a staggering statistic -- they do not have a permanent home. That means that 1.5 million people are still living in tent cities across the capital of Port-au- Prince, which is still virtually in ruins -- very little progress there.
And the clean-up barely has begun across Haiti. Even the damage to the presidential palace has not been fixed as of yet. Now, relief agencies blame disorganization and a lack of government leadership. The streets of Port-au-Prince are still littered with debris. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAT JONES, INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE: We still have a lot of rubble on the ground, and what we're most concerned with, with the hurricane season coming on, is finding a safe and sustainable place for people to go and live for the next few months. There's still a lot of people living in the plastic sheeting and the shelter that's not going to survive the hurricane season. And there's also a lot of people who need to be moved to somewhere to outside of Port-au-Prince.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LUI: All right, we'll soon hear what comes out of today's presidential meeting. President Obama and President Fernandez are expected to talk to reporters next hour. And of course, once we get that information, we'll have it right here on CNN.
"Wordplay" -- one of my favorite segments -- that's coming up, with the gulf oil disaster in the headlines again providing the word of the day for us. We'll tackle that new term. You want to stick around for that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LUI: Oh, the terms we have learned lately because what's happening in the gulf! We got "top hat," "junk shot," "coffer dam," just some of them that we've learned in that whole new vocabulary in the last 84 days.
Today in "Wordplay," we're going to get another jargon-y term taken straight from the gulf oil disaster and response. Have you heard our headlines about this "capping stack"? Well, this is BP's latest attempt to choke off its busted wellhead. It's a mile down on that gulf sea floor, as you know, and the company's reporting some progress, actually.
Basically, this capping stack -- as you take a look right here -- is what we're -- is at issue. It's a better, tighter containment unit with the potential to stop the oil flow entirely. Now, if not, it's at least going to be able to siphon up more of the oil that's coming out of that leaking BOP. Underwater robots are at this moment maneuvering this thing into position today to try to get straight on. This is when they were looking at it above sea as they were practicing in this picture.
And at last report, it was just a couple hundred feet from touchdown. Now, this thing is big. It's 150,000 pounds of metal. It's over 10, 12 feet tall. So it could take up to a week to install properly. And according to clean-up officials, it'll provide the most accurate data yet on the oil flow rate. It's basically like a small BOP.
Now, day 84 of the oil gulf disaster, as I was mentioning, we've come a long way. We've got a long way to go. And we'll look at that, where we're at, in my "XYZ."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LUI: All right, time for the "XYZ" of it. Day one, day 16, day 45 -- well, today is day 84. And when we start counting the gulf oil disaster, we simply just want to stop counting. So let me dispense with the numbers for just a moment and try to put this disaster and the fight to stop it in a little bit of perspective.
We've all watched technical fumbling and technical prowess, as well, a mile under the sea in the Gulf of Mexico. Well, today, hopefully, we are closer to a temporary fix. Some believe this new sealing cap that BP is installing is just that, a way of sealing off the well. It is sort of a mini blowout preventer, another faucet valve placed on top of the faucet valve that is already broken. Now, they've been working on this thing since the start of the disaster. meanwhile, there's talk of BP selling assets, selling parts of its company and looking to borrow cash. Lawsuits and future revenue are what the company could be worried about at this moment.
But you know, we're worried about the people in the U.S. and abroad who could lose jobs, precious jobs. How bad does it look for BP at the moment? Well, if it all stays the same at the cash register for them, this company would continue to pump out some $15 billion in profit each year. And if the estimates in of possible damages and costs come to pass, that could hurt cash flow big-time.
Our concern is today and tomorrow, though, and the next day, too, with another attempt to reduce the polluting oil streaming into the gulf at the moment, with the scope of the damage growing. So today, look at that cap. It has the potential to shut in the well, as they say, stopping any more oil from coming out. And then there is the relief wells, hopefully, the permanent solution in all of this. All of this giving us some hope. But today, on this 84th day, most would say, too late.
That's my "XYZ." Time for "RICK'S LIST."
