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International Medical Aid Workers Executed in Afghanistan; Elena Kagan Confirmed to Supreme Court; Floods Devastate Pakistan; Smoke From Wildfires Cover Moscow; Americans Not Saving Enough for Retirement; Fidel Castro Makes Official Appearance; Serial Stabber Loose in Flint, Michigan; Former American Citizen New Al Qaeda Leader; New Solution Can Make Use Of Discarded Cigarette Butts

Aired August 07, 2010 - 14:00   ET

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

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Elena Kagan has just joined the highest court on the land. Her Supreme Court swearing in just a few moments ago. We'll take you back to that moment in just a few minutes.

The next chapter in the immigration debate may play out in Utah. A live report from the CNN election express is coming up at 3:00 p.m. Eastern.

And then at 4:00 this afternoon, millions of students are back at school playing sports in the searing summer heat. We'll tell you how to keep your star athletes safe.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM where the news unfolds live on this Saturday, August 7th. I'm Jim Acosta sitting in for Fredricka Whitfield.

And just a few moments ago, history was made at the nation's highest court. Elena Kagan was sworn in as the newest justice just moments ago.

And we want to turn to our Supreme Court producer Bill Mears to talk about this. Bill is joining us live in Washington. And, Bill, let's set this up by taking a look at this moment that just happened a few moments ago. It was certainly a moment for history.

BILL MEARS, SUPREME COURT PRODUCER: It was. She took the judicial oath, a 62-word oath that officially made her the 112th justice on the Supreme Court. Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath. Four of her new colleagues were on hand -- Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Clarence Thomas, and Sonia Sotomayor, who was named to the bench last year.

And there was John Paul Stevens, the man Kagan replaces, who's 90 years old and retired earlier this year.

ACOSTA: And this is something that we don't see, too, very often, correct, inside the Supreme Court? Is this something that in the past has been sort of closed doors, or are we seeing something new for the first time?

MEARS: This is only the second time that we've had cameras inside the Supreme Court when a judicial oath was taken. Prior ceremonies were conducted at the White House. But the past they've been done here at the court.

ACOSTA: OK.

ELENA KAGAN, SUPREME COURT ASSOCIATE JUSTICE: I, Elena Kagan, do solemnly swear.

JOHN ROBERTS, SUPREME COURT CHIEF JUSTICE: That will administer justice without respect to persons.

KAGAN: That will administer justice without respect to persons.

ROBERTS: And do equal right to the poor and to the rich.

KAGAN: And do equal right to the poor and to the rich.

ROBERTS: And that I will faithfully and impartially.

KAGAN: And that I will faithfully and impartially.

ROBERTS: Discharge and perform.

KAGAN: Discharge and perform.

ROBERTS: All the duties incumbent upon me.

KAGAN: All of the duties incumbent upon me.

ROBERTS: As associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

KAGAN: As associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

ROBERTS: Under the constitution and laws of the United States.

KAGAN: Under the constitution and laws of the United States.

ROBERTS: So help me god.

KAGAN: So help me god.

Congratulations.

(APPLAUSE)

ACOSTA: Doesn't get very boisterous inside the Supreme Court that often, does it, Bill? That's an interesting moment.

MEARS: Yes -- 70 friends and colleagues there to welcome her onto the court. It's a ceremony that's the last step for this process, a month-long process that concluded a tiring selection process, week-long confirmation hearings in the Senate, and now this final step. It's a pretty easy one, just taking the oath of office. ACOSTA: Probably the easiest step so far for Elena Kagan. And, Bill, what do you think the significance is of her selection for the Supreme Court, and what kind of impact do you think she's going to have on the high court over the course of the, you know, next several years?

MEARS: Well, she becomes the third woman on the current court, fourth woman overall on the Supreme Court, so that's a little bit of history being made. She's also only 50 years old. She'll be the youngest member of the court.

And her influence could last for decades depending on how long she decides to stay on the court. It's a lifetime position. Can't kick her off the court. She can be there as long as she wants. But she has --

ACOSTA: Sorry. Go ahead, Bill.

MEARS: So she has the possibility of having years and years of influence. Right now the court has a shaky five-four conservative majority. So it's unclear what kind of impact she's going to have initially to be able to persuade some of those conservative members to come over to her side on cases that are important to her.

ACOSTA: And she's shown her verbal prowess over the confirmation process. I remember when Lindsey Graham, the senator from South Carolina, asked her where she was on Christmas Day, and she said, like any good Jew, she was at a Chinese restaurant.

And a lot of people on the left are hoping that Elena Kagan will be sort of that counterweight to Antonin Scalia, who is seen as very much, you know, a very, you know, aggressive, competitive jurist on the high court, and they're hoping that perhaps she'll be able to go toe to toe with him.

I guess can you take us a little bit inside the politics, inside, you know, what we might see on the Supreme Court between some of these jurists over the coming months?

MEARS: A lot are hoping she will become reliable liberal vote on the left, but also a lot of concern because she's never been a judge before, and that lack of judicial experience worries people on the right and the left. They worry that lack of judicial experience leaves her something of an open book in what kind of judge she's going to be.

You build your influence on the Supreme Court over years. You earned the respect of your colleagues. You gain that seniority. You learn the ins and outs, the nuances of that place. And that takes time. It's going to be particularly hard for somebody who's never been a judge before.

She's going to have a large learning curve in her ability to kind of get up to speed, and to learn the mechanics of working with these strong-willed, very intelligent colleagues is going to be a challenge for her. ACOSTA: Very interesting. And that's a great point, Bill. Our Supreme Court producer Bill Mears, who always follows these nominations and the process that follows, and this was a very interesting process, I have to say, for this particular nomination. So thanks for watching it to the very end there. She's on the Supreme Court now, Elena Kagan sworn in just a few moments ago. Bill Mears, thank you.

Back to the Gulf. Static kill is complete, so will BP continue that drilling on the relief well? They say that will happen tomorrow. It's basically an insurance policy to permanently seal the well and guarantee it won't leak again.

And the oil giant is trying to defuse another issue today, trying to plug another issue. Will it drill for oil in the same reservoir in the gulf one more time?

Let's bring in our Reynolds Wolf on Pensacola Beach. And, you know, this is something that I think Doug Suttles probably didn't mean to turn into such a big issue, but as soon as he said it during that press conference, that, well, there's a possibility, there's so much oil out there, we might go back out there, I mean, I imagine people on the gulf coast just about, you know -- their jaws dropped on that one.

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I would think definitely. I would say, Jim, that's a pretty fair assessment. There were probably a lot of people were probably leery when they heard that statement.

But I'd say there's up to $4 billion worth of oil. If they don't get it, someone will at some point. As you mentioned, BP's number-one objective is to continue the clean-up, the rehabilitation of the gulf coast.

And some of that is going to be with that relief well that is going to continue to dig still about 100 feet to get to the source where they can make the next big step, which is not of course the static kill, but it's called the bottom kill.

When they dig that final bit, which is going to start, resume on Sunday, possibly last all the way until this Friday, Friday the 13th -- that's right. Then they're going to inject the combination of both mud and cement into the well and hopefully kill it off all together. But it has been a long-term process.

I tell you, though, Jim, here at this spot in Pensacola, conditions are beautiful, the sun is out, the water is beautiful, iridescent blue, no sign of oil. They haven't had oil here in weeks and weeks. It's great here.

But I tell you, they have still many problems with the oil certainly in parts of southeast Louisiana where they're still inundated with all kinds of tar balls, thicker patches of oil, certainly bad news for many of the ecosystems in that part of the world.

ACOSTA: And so the folks down in the panhandle where you are must be at least gratified by the fact that the static kill was a pretty big success and the threat of oil washing ashore there for the time being appears to be over. And now they just need to get that tourism industry back on its feet, which will be no easy task, I imagine.

WOLF: Oh, you're absolutely right, Jim. Funny you mentioned the oil. As the oil has been fading off these shores, hard to find, people have been streaming right back in, many of the hotels full. This one we're staying in was filled to capacity, was last night, is today. They have a wedding scheduled for today.

But they've mixed out on the peak part of the season, you know, with the Fourth of July weekend, so tremendous, and other times where they would normally have a full rush of people, some of those places only half filled or a quarter full. So again, it's a great weekend, a busy one, but they certainly missed out on some of the busier times of the season, no question.

ACOSTA: Reynolds Wolf live in Pensacola Beach, thanks, Reynolds, appreciate it.

There are reports some residents are fleeing Moscow at this hour. A thick smog has cloaked the Russian capital, spiking carbon monoxide levels to dangerous heights. Pollutant and smoke from ferocious wildfires outside the city are creating a toxic cloud.

Meteorologist Karen Maginnis is tracking this for us. The fires have been unbelievable, Karen.

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: They have been unrelenting, a combination of wildfires as well as peat fires. We don't hear in the United States about peat fires, but they're underground and very, very difficult to control.

We have a Google earth that shows you some of the fire signatures. Here is Moscow, a city of about 10 million people. If you can imagine that every one of those residents feels as if, or their lungs are consuming the equivalent of about two packs of cigarettes per day. There are anywhere between five and ten times the safe levels in the atmosphere.

Here you can see people wearing the masks over their face, which is probably the wise thing to do, but even wiser they're saying stay indoors. But this is a very large city -- 600 fires burning across Russia.

I'll also point out other cities, which is about 300 or 400 miles to the east-northeast of Moscow. There is a nuclear facility there. And they're not exactly saying just how close the fires are coming, but nonetheless you can see the heat signatures all around Moscow.

Just a couple of weeks ago they were saying there were about 67 fires and about 240,000 firefighters that were spread out across the country to put these fires out. They've been so devastating.

And at various times the airport has been open. At various times it's been closed just because visibility is so bad. If you can imagine the particulates in the atmosphere, and we know from Iceland and the volcano there that particulate matter in the atmosphere can wreak havoc on jet aircraft engines.

This has really been a devastating blow for Moscow during the summer months as the temperature has climbed, Jim, in some cases to over 100 degrees.

ACOSTA: Really?

MAGINNIS: Generally it's been in the upper 30s, which is hovering in the upper 90s to around 100 degrees. And they are saying no relief in sight, no chance of rain, but the temperatures expected to remain this way at least in the foreseeable future.

ACOSTA: And that's one part of the world where you don't think about 100-degree temperatures.

MAGINNIS: Exactly, not at all. A typical high would be around 76 degrees. We'll talk about our heat coming up.

ACOSTA: Sounds good, appreciate it, thanks.

ACOSTA: Desperately waiting for help. Millions of people in Pakistan just trying to keep their heads above water, unbelievable stuff here. Their villages washed away by floods. Coming up, we'll see how they're trying to survive.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Turning now to Afghanistan, where there's been a deadly attack on an international aid group. Six Americans were among ten aid workers shot to death after an ambush. They were on a mission to provide medical care when they were attacked.

CNN's foreign affairs correspondent Jill Dougherty is live with us in Kabul, Afghanistan. Hello, Jill.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Jim.

OK, so here's what we know at this point. These aid workers, ten of them who were killed, worked for an organization called the International Assistance Mission. That is a humanitarian organization, provides basically medical care in Afghanistan, has been doing it since 1966.

And they were traveling in a group that had actually 12 people in it. So we know six Americans, one German, one British citizen, two Afghans were killed. That is ten. And then there were two other Afghans who were allowed to go free.

The story that we heard this morning, the report, was that one of them had actually said a prayer from the Koran as they were being attacked and he was allowed to go free. But there are two who were allowed to go free. The Taliban very quickly claimed responsibility for this. They said, among other things on their website, that these medical workers were spies, that they were spying on the Taliban, that they wanted to take them alive, and then they had to kill them.

The police chief in that area is saying that they were methodically shot to death. So we have several different versions. But there is also the idea that perhaps this began as a robbery and then the Taliban wanted to take responsibility.

As time goes on, we're going to have investigations and certainly hope to find out the ultimate reason for this.

And, Jim, also, you know, some of the details of the people who were on this mission and who are presumed to have been killed -- nothing officially has been determined in terms of names and people who died because the bodies have to be shipped and they have to be identified officially.

But one is believed to be Karen Wu, Dr. Karen Wu. She was a specialist in women and children's health, and she actually had a blog in which she talked about going into this very me remote area. And one of the things she said, and I think we may have a graphic on this, she said "This expedition will require a lot of physical and mental resolve and will not be without risk, but ultimately I believe the provision of medical treatment is of fundamental importance and that the effort is worth it in order to assist those who need it most." And that's from Dr. Karen Wu.

The chief -- the top of the team leader was Tom Little. He's an American. He has not been identified definitely as one person who died, but he was on that team, and apparently all of them, at least the Americans, did perish. Jim?

ACOSTA: Jill, it sounds like they were doing some very important work out there, and it's just terribly tragic that they paid for it with their lives. And so we appreciate you following that story for us. Our Jill Dougherty in Afghanistan live for us, very early hours in Afghanistan so, we appreciate that. Thank you, Jill.

Devastating floods have killed hundreds and forced millions from their homes in Pakistan. Villages have literally been wiped off the map, and as our Reza Sayah reports, the residents are trying to save what they can before more monsoons hit.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In the heartland of Pakistan, they fought to save their livelihood. In the village on Chachran Sharif, people depend on livestock for a living. So when rising floodwaters buried part of their village, they packed their animals on boats and headed across a lake that wasn't there just a week ago.

"These animals fight you," said Mohammed Actor (ph), "but I had to take it if I wanted to save them." This is Pakistan's newest disaster zone, southern Punjab province and northern Sim. Monsoon rains have pounded this region, breaking the banks of the nearby Indus river, adding more pressure are the northern floodwaters from earlier this week flowing south.

Thousands of villages are now underwater, officials say, those who live there, homeless.

"Our homes are gone," said Mohammed. "Nothing is left.

SAYAH (on camera): This is Imam Bath. He's 80 years old. He says he lost his home in the floods, and for the past five days this is where he's stayed. He's taken two cots and made it into a roof. He says he's had one meal today, a bowl of rice. That's it. He's here with his six family members, and he's one of thousands of people who have lost their homes in this village.

SAYAH (voice-over): Villagers here say one private aid group finally arrived a day earlier, but the rice they handed out didn't last long. Here, too, there's growing anger over the government's perceived slow response and President's Asif Ali Zardari's trip to Europe.

MUHAMMAD ARSHAD, DISPLACED BY FLOODS: The president, the prime minister, where they are? We have elected them, and now where they are? They have promised with us, we will give you all the help that we will give you, rescue, and now where they are? Our president in France, in London?

SAYAH: With more monsoon rains in the forecast, many left the area. Others waited, exhausted and anxious. "We can't do anything right now," said Mohammed. "We're poor people, and we need help." But for many here the worst may have yet to come.

Reza Sayah, CNN, Chachran Sharif, Pakistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And now to Cuba. Fidel Castro is back in the spotlight today, the former Cuban leader speaking at the national assembly today. It's the first time he's attended since his poor health forced him to turn over the presidency to his brother, Raul.

Our Shasta Darlington joins us live now from Havana, Cuba. And Shasta, it's so good to see you. Tell us, this was very interesting seeing Fidel Castro in those green fatigues. A lot of Americans may be wondering, is this a return of the old Fidel?

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, I think that's a question that a lot of people will be asking. The speech was important for so many different reasons. Not only was this his first time addressing the national assembly, it was the first time in four years he's occupied any kind of official position.

He was back in the assembly, he was wearing his fatigues, and what he was talking about was nuclear war. He was not talking about domestic issues. He was imploring the United States not to bring us to the brink of nuclear war with Iran and North Korea, something that he really believes could happen.

He says only the United States has the power to prevent it. Let's take a listen to some of the things he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CASTRO (via translator): In this serious situation, President Barack Obama is the one who would have to give the order for this widely anticipated attack, following the orders of the giant empire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DARLINGTON: Now, there were some other interesting details here that will no doubt have people talking, and that's Fidel Castro did not sit in his traditional seat right next to Raul Castro, who now occupies the presidency. And for those who believe that there's a rift between the two brothers, that would certainly fuel speculation. They didn't sit next to each other, we didn't even see them greet each other.

But for those who argue what Fidel Castro wants to show is that he's not trying to take the reins of power, not trying to resume the presidency, and that's why he's taken a different seat, that will be evidence for them. These different opinions I'm sure will play out over coming days and we'll get an earful from both sides, Jim.

ACOSTA: Shasta, do you think there's enough here for Americans within the U.S. government, whether it be the Obama administration or in the Congress, who would like to see a normalization of relations between the U.S. and Cuba? Should they see this as potentially being an obstacle to that potential normalization down the road, or is this justify Fidel trying to show every once in a while he can still be that old Fidel?

DARLINGTON: Well, Jim, I think so far Fidel Castro really has not gotten involved in domestic issues. And what we did see just last week was the president Raul Castro announcing a few more small economic reforms, and prior to that much more important beginning the biggest release of political prisoners in a decade.

And more than 20 of those have already been released and flown into exile, and we expect even more people will be released in coming weeks. And those are the kinds of messages that it appears the government wants to send to the United States -- we're playing ball.

Fidel Castro's appearances no doubt are diversions, but so far they really haven't sent the message that the plan is changing, that these prisoners won't be released or that the economic reforms won't happen, Jim.

ACOSTA: And this doesn't mean that Fidel, just very quickly, does not mean Fidel Castro is back in charge in Cuba, just in case anybody's curious about this. It doesn't mean we're seeing any kind of change in power there. DARLINGTON: Definitely not so far, Jim, but some people will say what we are seeing are small steps towards that. I personally think so far we haven't seen any concrete evidence of that, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Shasta Darlington joining us live in Havana, Cuba. Thanks so much, Shasta. Good to see you.

Many Americans are on track to run out of money just years after retiring. Just ahead, key strategies to make your money last a lifetime.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: For a lot of you out there, retirement may be decades away, but planning for it shouldn't be. A new report says millions of Americans will run out of money if they don't change their ways. I'll put myself in that category. Even your healthy 401(k) may not be enough.

To talk about all this, joining us live from Chicago, retirement expert Mark Miller. And Mark, thanks for joining us. We appreciate it. You know --

MARK MILLER, JOURNALIST: Thank you, Jim.

ACOSTA: You know, this is a really important issue because we're in the middle of this great recession, right. We're all worried about living paycheck to paycheck, all worried about how to make ends meet in the here and now.

And I'm guessing, just pulling this out of the hat here, but I'm guessing that a lot of us aren't thinking about tomorrow more than ever before.

MILLER: That's probably the case, because more and more people are living, you know, hand to mouth, as you say. But what the research is showing is that a lot of Americans are on track to run out of money for basic expenses as soon as perhaps ten years after retirement.

So one of the key things that I write about and I address this in my current book, "The Hard Times Guide to Retirement Security," is how do you think about recalibrating, because security and retirement is really all about that long stretch of time. It's -- we're living longer as Americans, which is great news. The challenge is how are you going to finance that retirement, which is going to last longer.

ACOSTA: And I always thought, you know, in the last several months, we were hearing reports that Americans were saving more than ever before, the savings rate is up, good news for all of us. But I'm guessing you're saying that's still not enough.

MILLER: Well, a big factor is the almost complete disappearance in the private sector of the traditional pension, the idea that when you retired you got a benefit, a check that came every month. We've gone from maybe an 80 percent of companies that used to do that to maybe 20 percent.

ACOSTA: Right.

MILLER: And that has really had a major, major impact. On the other side, we've gone more to the 401(k) style of saving, and the evidence of that over -- we've got three decades of experience with it now, and what we see is that it's not really working out. Most people -- the average that Americans have saved in a 401(k) is only about $60,000.

ACOSTA: That's a great point.

MILLER: That's not going to take anyone very far.

ACOSTA: That's a great point because. And if you consider the fact that, I mean, look at all those people who were banking on their 401(k) to take them into retirement and then we take this major hit in the stock market, but yet at the same time you talk to the fortune 500 companies, these big companies out there, General Motors, Ford among them, we can't afford these expensive, you know, retirement packages anymore.

MILLER: Right.

ACOSTA: So what do we do?

MILLER: Right. So we've had this more self-directed approach, and it just hasn't played out. I think what it points to really in a very big way is the importance of Social Security, which, of course, is in the news right now.

I think what it points to really in a very big way is the importance of Social Security, which, of course, is in the news right now. But Social Security for most Americans is going to be maybe 40 percent of income in retirement. From my perspective, it's going to be really important to preserve and even enhance Social Security --

ACOSTA: Make it a better program.

MILLER: -- because we are going to be running up gens a wall here as this research shows, if we don't do that. We shouldn't be talking about cutting Social Security. We should be talking about enhancing it, in my view.

ACOSTA: And enhancing in what ways? Because you heard former President Bush talking about privatizing Social Security and he got pilloried for that.

MILLER: Right.

ACOSTA: But what about a Social Security program that preserved the current system but also allowed younger people to set more money aside so, you know, they do have something down the road?

MILLER: Well, you know, right now the discussion right now is about cutting benefits. You're hearing people in Washington say, well, we'll raise the retirement age, again. We did that once in 1983, where in the middle of a gradual transition of what's called the full retirement age from 65 to 67.

And the discussion now pushing it from 67 to 70, which sounds a very reasonable because people plan to work longer. I'm a big advocate of work longer. There's a lot of good reasons for it. But just pushing that retirement age up to 70, what it amounts to is a gigantic benefit cut.

They're also talking about changes in things like the cost of living, the annual inflation adjustments in Social Security, which is one of the most valuable components in Social Security.

So the first step I think is to stop talking about cutting benefits as they are. And there are a lot of interesting ideas out there about ways to bolster benefits, particularly for very low-income people. The lower-income brackets rely on Social Security for three- quarters or more of income. When you go into middle class, upper middle class, that's where it's less of an important component.

But I think we're going to have to find ways to just bolster the program. And there have to be ways to preserve the --

ACOSTA: Is there any chance of that happening, very quickly, Mark? It is the third rail of politics. It's a potent election issue.

MILLER: Right. Well, we're going to have a recommendation from the president's deficit commission later this year, and then there's going to be a lot of discussion around this idea of now cutting benefits, and it's going to be a very heated discussion.

I think it's important to separate it from the discussion of budget deficits because frankly Social Security has nothing to do with the budget deficit. It actually is a program that runs at $2.5 trillion surplus at this point, so why would we be talking about sacrificing it to the deficit, I can't fathom.

ACOSTA: Mark Miller gave us a lot to chew on. We can talk about this issue all day, but unfortunately we can't. So thanks for joining us this afternoon from the great state of Chicago.

MILLER: Thank you very much.

ACOSTA: Appreciate it.

Flint, Michigan, may have a knife-wielding serial killer on its hands. That's right. Police are investigating 13 stabbings that resulted in five deaths. All but one of the 13 victims is African- American. The attacks began in May, and police are getting a pretty clear picture of the perpetrator.

Take a look at the sketch Michigan police just released this, just coming down to us. The suspect is described as being a white male in his late 20s or 30s. He's described as having a muscular build and around six feet tall. Surviving victims have described him as wearing a baseball cap.

Let's bring Lori Dougovito. She's a reporter with our Michigan affiliate WJRT. She joins us on the phone. And what are police saying about these attacks? Is this a serial killer who is targeting men based on their race?

LORI DOUGOVITO, WJRT REPORTER: Police have not used the word "serial killer." they're just calling this guy a "stabbing suspect" at this point. And they intend to bring in forensic profilers to figure out if there's a motivation here.

As you said, all but one of these victims African-American males. So he does appears to be targeting smaller-framed black males. But one is a 49-year-old white male. We did in fact speak with him.

ACOSTA: And we did get that sketch just a few moments ago. I guess we can put that up on screen. It's always important when police put out a sketch, and there it is right there. You can see wearing a baseball cap, possibly a mustache or a goatee there, described as six feet tall, white, muscular build.

Anything more we know about this guy at this point, Lori?

DOUGOVITO: No, nothing really at this point. You can see he appears to have some sort of earring or stud. They want you to take a look at that. Like you said, the mustache and the goatee, muscular. That surviving suspect, two, described him as a big white guy.

Police believe that he's acting alone, maybe in a vehicle, at some point just walks up and starts stabbing. But the connection here is that there are a number of stabbings. You know, it's not just once apparently, they're stabbed several times and then left for dead.

ACOSTA: Well, Lori Dougovito, a reporter with our affiliate WJRT out of Michigan, we appreciate your time. Thanks for filling us in on that unfolding story. Good talking to you. Thank you.

DOUGOVITO: Thank you.

ACOSTA: Well, he lived in the U.S. for years. Now FBI agents say he has gone underground, making a name for himself within Al Qaeda. His mother says it's all a lie.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: CNN is uncovering new details about a man who authorities believe is plotting attacks for Al Qaeda. They say he spends much of his life in the U.S. now he seems to have vanished. Our Susan Candiotti spoke with his mother and the FBI about the case.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The FBI says after he left America, Shukri Jumah started off as an Al Qaeda dishwasher, doing menial task at training camps. But it believes he's much more than a dishwasher now. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just like any other business, he would be equated with a chief of operations.

CANDIOTTI: Investigators have revealed to CNN they believe Shukri Jumah is now directing Al Qaeda's overseas operations.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): How dangerous is he?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He may not be somebody that's going to come into the United States to conduct the attack. But what makes him more dangerous is he's out there plotting the attacks and recruiting people to actively do that.

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): The breakthrough came when FBI counterterrorism agent Brian le Blanc linked Shukri Jumah to the thwarted New York subway suicide mission last fall, the biggest post- 9/11 terror investigation. Najibullah Zazi And Sareed Ahmed admit they planned to blow themselves up using homemade bombs. Prosecutors say it was Shukri Jumah who called the shots probably from somewhere along the Afghan/Pakistan border.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): What did Zazi say that he told him to do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Adnan was the one that convinced the three of them to come back to the United States and conduct the attack here.

CANDIOTTI: He told him, you go there and you blow up the subways?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

CANDIOTTI: There are a lot of people that are saying now that he's involved in evil things, planning attacks on the United States. Can you imagine this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. That is not my son. My son is not violent person. He is very kind, generous.

CANDIOTTI: In her only televised interview since her son was indicted in the New York plot, Shukri Jumah's mother insists he's incapable of doing harm.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What you call it, the scapegoat.

CANDIOTTI: The eldest son of a Saudi imam, Shukri Jumah came to America as a young child. His mother shared exclusively this beloved photo of the two of them.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): In the late '90s, he worked several odd jobs, including selling used cars. His family said that's how he paid for courses including chemistry and computers at this small college in south Florida. He even took classes to speak better English.

Well, a few years later, when the FBI began looking for Shukri Jumah, his English professor remembered videotaping him at one of those classes and turned over the tape to the FBI. The FBI says that professor's actions proved crucial to their investigation some six years later.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): On a hunch, le Blanc asked agents to show ha video of him to would be bomber Zazi.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From that video he was able to make an identification.

CANDIOTTI: On 9/11, his mother, who doesn't want to be named, says he called home for the last time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He called me and said did you hear what happened, so on, so on. They said they put it on the Muslims. I said yes. I tell him do not come, and do not come, because they are all against the Muslim people. And he was arguing with me. He say no, I didn't do nothing. I will come. Don't worry about it.

CANDIOTTI: Shukri Jumah's mother adamantly denies her son is directing Al Qaeda attacks. But when I asked about the admitted Times Square car bomber, she said this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sometime you have to do something very alarming for the people to wake up. It's not because you hate them or you want to destroy them or you want to hurt them.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): Is there anything that you would tell your son about what he should do or not do?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. I don't have nothing to tell him. He have his own guide and his own heart.

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): for the FBI it's all about staying one step ahead. Where will Al Qaeda and Shukri Jumah strike next?

CANDIOTTI (on camera): What do you think he's doing now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's definitely focused on attacking the United States and other western countries.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): Shukri Jumah's meteoric rise in Al Qaeda's ranks may be thanks to both talent and luck. Two of his high- level colleagues were killed in U.S. drone attacks.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: We want to go back now to that story in Afghanistan of those aid workers who were killed there in the last 24 hours. And joining us now from our London bureau is Firuz Rahimi. He is a friend of Karen Woo, who is believed to be one of the victims in that attack. He is also the co-founder of Bridge Afghanistan.

And Firuz, we want to thank you for your time, and our condolences on the loss of your friend. What can you tell us about Karen Woo? FIRUZ RAHIMI, FRIEND OF DR. KAREN WOO: She was a fantastic human being, and she was very dedicated to the cause of Afghanistan, and she left a comfortable life in London to go to Afghanistan to do something and use her profession to help those who don't have any access to the basic health care in very remote areas.

ACOSTA: And what kind of work was she doing there? She was essentially providing, you just mentioned, medical care in remotes part of Afghanistan? Was this her first time over there? Had she been doing this for years? You know, the folk who go and do this sort of work are often very experienced, and I imagine she's in that category.

RAHIMI: Well, she has been in Afghanistan for a number of times since last year. She's based in Afghanistan and working with one of the health care organizations. And she did fundraising for the last trip in Kabul and also in London in order to buy some medical equipments and also medical -- medicines to take to the northeast where people don't have any access to the health care system.

And of course she knew all about Afghanistan. She loved the people and their country, and she wanted to work. And of course she knew what she would have faced in Afghanistan about all the rest in the country.

ACOSTA: Right, the risks were no mystery to her, obviously. And it's the importance of that good work that, you know, drove her to be out there, I imagine.

I guess -- I mean, can you tell us, Firuz, did she say anything to you in recent days? Did she say anything to her friends? I believe this is video of her that we're showing on screen now. Did she say anything to you or her other friends or people that she knew about -- whether or not there were some risks out there that they were concerned about?

RAHIMI: Well, I went with her in Afghanistan last November. We went there to do a health care documentary. And since then she committed herself in Afghanistan. Obviously exactly on that night when she was packing her bags and going, I spoke to her, and she was very excited.

And obviously she spoke about the physical and also psychological things that she was facing on that trip because it's quite a remote area and she was very looking forward to it. Of course she knew about the risks because Afghanistan is a place you cannot expect anything because it's a hostile situation and anything can happen. And she was fully aware of the situation in the country.

And bear in mind she took these risks and was in the country because she wanted to help. And she'd never been ignoring of the fact that the situation is very hostile. She was very looking forward, going there and helping out the people there.

ACOSTA: Well, Firuz Rahimi, we appreciate your time, appreciate your input on the loss of Dr. Karen Woo. We just had some video that we believed to be of the doctor. Obviously, this was on one of her trips getting out to Afghanistan. It looked like she was loading up some supplies, talking about some of her work over there.

And, you know, if it weren't for folks like this, the job in Afghanistan for the United States, for the allies over there would be that much more difficult, I imagine. And so that is a terrible loss that was suffered out there with that attack on those aid workers. And Firuz, Rahimi, we appreciate your time. Thank you, sir.

Keeping the sidewalks clean -- one visionary is trying to turn all of those discarded cigarettes into something useful. We'll show you how coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Take a look as you walk down many streets you'll probably see a cigarette butt. Some new ideas could help make this common trash a valuable commodity. Gary Tuchman has the story in today's "Edge of Discovery."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Blake Burich spends weeks working in his garage. The project? He's trying to put the unsightly problem of discarded cigarette butts to good use.

BLAKE BURICH, PATENT HOLDER: One bounced off my windshield while I was driving. There's got to be something we can do with these. It's just a huge problem

TUCHMAN: Burich collects the butts, peels away the paper and tobacco and mixes what's left of the filter with a homemade solvent.

BURICH: The process is very brief. From beginning to end it would take about 15 minutes at the most.

TUCHMAN: After the material soaks, Burich says the silly-putty- like substance can be used to protect against corrosion or reinforce materials like the pipes in your house.

And Burich isn't the only one hoping to see more green along the streets. New York Assemblyman Mike Dendekker has introduced a bill proposing a cigarette recycling program for his state.

MICHAEL DENDEKKER, NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY: I think it's about time we got responsible on this particular issue and try to work to find a worldwide recycling solution.

TUCHMAN: The bill is only in the beginning stages now but could require deposits on cigarettes similar to a bottle deposit.

Gary Tuchman, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Well, here's a question you probably have not considered -- why did the turtle cross the road? A better question, how did he avoid getting flattened like a pancake? We'll have this story and more in our "Water Cooler" segment. That is coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: All right, time to jump in the water Cooler. And first, holy water cooler, Batman, Teddy the pug's sounds a lot like the caped crusaders' TV song. Listen carefully.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(BARKING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: OK. That's haunting. Adam West, who was batman in the 1960s TV series, by the way, we should mention, he thinks the singing pug is a real knee slapper. He has even put it on his website. And, you know, you can just watch that all day, but we won't because that's annoying.

(LAUGHTER)

And talk about a turtle on the edge of something very precarious here. Yes. No sighting of the hare, just the tortoise. Flood waters left this poor little fellow hanging over the curb of a busy Boston road. And after tumbling, he started to, yes, inch his way across the road.

I don't know who is videotaping this, but, I mean, maybe they could have gone there and helped the guy out? Anyway, that's a different story. Alert drivers screeched to a halt. Eventually the turtle was rescued and returned to the river. And -- which is good.

A surprising new study about love and marriage despite a substantial divorce rate in the United States. A new Marist poll shows, get this, 95 percent of Americans believe they married the right person. Who would have thunk it? But only 66 percent of them believe in the notion of soul-mates.

Southerners and people making less than $50,000 a year according to this poll were more likely to believe in soul-mates. So there you have it.

And that's quite the water cooler when you've got turtles and pugs and marriage polls. So there you go.

Now time to go to a place that is so focused on clean living even playing pinball could land you in jail. Talk about a jolt. That's coming up.

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