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WikiLeaks Founder Accused of Rape and Molestation; U.S. Troops Leave Iraq in Preparation for Change of Mission; President and Family Vacation in Martha's Vineyard; Women Go Topless in Social Protest; Workers Dissatisfied With Jobs in Present Economic Environment

Aired August 21, 2010 - 10:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello there, everybody. Welcome back to the CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

Top of the hour here now, and we are following a breaking story we've been keeping a close eye on this morning.

An unexpected development involving the editor and founder of the whistle-blowing Web site WikiLeaks.

Swedish prosecutors now say that Julian Assange faces charges of rape and molestation. Assange is an online -- a response he put out a short time ago, says the charges have no basis. Accusations, though, according to prosecutors, are based on two separate reports to police.

I talked earlier with someone from the prosecutor's office this morning, said this information is still new to them even early in the investigation, but, in fact, they have now issued an arrest warrant, if you will. He's arrested in absentia as they call it, meaning facing these charges and they are awaiting now to talk to him before they can move on to the next formal step.

Also, prosecutors say they do not know where he is right now. That is not surprising. That is, for the most part, how he rolls. You usually don't know where he is. He pops up all over the place, all over the world literally, because of this WikiLeaks site that made him the target, the target of the Pentagon as well. Pentagon officials are trying to find a way to stop him from leaking as much information as he has over time.

He has sparked the latest major controversy just a short time ago by releasing some 76,000 pages of classified documents in relation to the Iraq war, the Afghanistan war. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mike Mullen has said possibly Julian Assange has blood on his hands, because some of this classified information getting out could have gotten into the hands ever the enemy in Afghanistan or Iraq.

Also the Defense Department head, Robert Gates, the defense secretary, has said, in fact, they have possibly had to change their tactics on the ground, change war strategies because of some of this information that has been leaked out.

The posting of the 76,000 document, the latest dump we saw from WikiLeaks, has been called the biggest leak since the Pentagon papers about Vietnam were released.

So this is a man who has been on the radar and in the news for his WikiLeaks site, but today facing a different kind of charge and threat right now. Again, he is facing accusations that, in fact, he has raped and molested two different people in Sweden, but right now arrested in absentia as they call it in Sweden. Still, they would have to talk to him before they can move on to the next phase of this particular investigation.

Let's bring in now former FBI assistant director Thomas Fuentes. We appreciate you hopping on the line with us. Things work a little differently in Sweden than people are used to hearing about here in the U.S. justice system, but now the trick is going to be trying to catch up with him wherever he is. How difficult of a task do Swedish officials have ahead of them trying to get him to talk to them?

THOMAS FUENTES, FORMER FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Well, T.J., it's important to note that the investigation is still not complete. So they have not actually place add formal charge in both of these rape allegations. They want to talk to him as part of their investigation. So they've issued warrants, basically they do want to speak to him. They are looking for him.

The case is not fully completed on their part, and they've said so on the prosecutors press meet yesterday.

HOLMES: What do they have to do now to try to track him down? Will they need help? Like I said, he's usually all over the place, pops up around the world. So what is their challenge now in just trying to track him down?

FUENTES: Their next step will to probably solicit the support of Interpol, and they'll issue their statement to Interpol headquarters in France, the general secretariat there, and request that notices be published worldwide stating that they are looking for him and would like to speak to him in furtherance of the investigation.

Now, at this point, if the charges have not been fully placed, they're not probably going to be able to extradite him back. So they're going to be seeking his cooperation as far as participating in an interview to discuss the allegations.

If he does not cooperate, and they locate him, do not get his cooperation, then they may go ahead and attempt to place the formal charges absent discussing it with him.

HOLMES: How does this process work? Give us a little insight. You can be arrested in absentia there in Sweden. Tell us how that process works, and once they do talk to him, they only have so much time before they are then either going to have to charge him or let him go?

FUENTES: Well, first of all, I'm sure he's well aware they've issued statements on the twitter. He has acknowledged he's aware they want to talk to him, and his side is that he's innocent. The question is, whether he cooperating in terms of allowing an interview. He may agree that somewhere else other than Sweden, being afraid of having arrest placed there, but that's the first step.

If he fails to cooperate with that, then the Swedish authorities can go ahead and they can attempt to have charges placed against him and try to have him extradited back to Sweden on those charges. If they can do that, they'll have to probably publish what's called Interpol red note, where they provide their case and the basis, the facts of the case, to the legal department in France.

Interpol's lawyers review that package and determine if the charges have enough basis, enough probable cause to go ahead and agree that Sweden has a strong enough case to at least merit the arrest in any country that Interpol -- any of the 188 member countries and that upon arrest Sweden will initiate extradition.

I think Sweden's not going to want to do that yet, because they're probably -- they don't have enough facts to probably support of red notice. They don't want to have him arrested and not have legal proficiency to extradite him back from whatever countries he's in back to Sweden.

HOLMES: One last question, Thomas, if you can help us understand this arrest in absentia. What that means? Is it possible they don't have much information as all right now besides two people just coming forward?

Again, we're used to the legal system here in the U.S. you're used to people having some kind of evidence before arrests are made and certainly before charge, but an arrest in absentia -- does that mean they have a whole lot right now?

FUENTES: No. And that sounds like an oxymoron. If you arrest somebody they need to be present to be taken into custody. You can place charges in absentia. They may have the legal system allowing an actual prosecution and conviction in absentia. But he's either under arrest or he's not, and that requires his physical body being taken into custody someplace.

HOLMES: All right, again, former FBI assistant director Thomas Fuentes, we certainly appreciate having your expertise this morning, helping us though what sounds like could be a long international legal process, but just getting underway now. We appreciate you Thomas Fuentes this morning, thanks so much.

FUENTES: Thank you.

HOLMES: Josh Levs coming in now. Again, WikiLeaks, you've been hearing the name an awful lot to our viewers over the past several weeks and months, but Julian Assange, maybe not so familiar with that name. Josh giving us a look at this site and this man.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I have that and a brand new statement.

First of all, to pick up where you left off with Thomas. We do know that it sounds nonsensical to say someone's arrested in absentia in specific jurisdictions in Sweden and elsewhere. But I know that in general those things exist sometimes because there are certain things law enforcement is not allowed to do until arrested.

So sometimes they say we couldn't get you, arrested you in absentia and allows them to begin some process. We'll keep an eye on processes that can only happen after arrest.

New news right now just popped up, official statements from WikiLeaks itself. I'll ask Scotty, our photographer to zoom in on this. It just popped up. The words are tiny on your screen. I'd read it.

Its' about these allegations. It says "Today we've been made aware of rape allegations made against Julian Assange, founder of this project and one of our spokespeople. We are deeply concerned about the seriousness of these allegations. We the people behind WikiLeaks think highly of Julian and he has our full support.

While Julian is focuses on his defenses and clearing his name WikiLeaks will continue its regular operations."

Now, let me jump over to something bigger you will be able to see. This is the last statement from Julian Assange himself. It came out about an hour ago, I think a little bit ago this morning. "The charges are without basis, and they're issued at this moment is deeply disturbing." So that's his last word here.

You're hearing a lot of stuff about WikiLeaks all of a sudden, and I think most people don't quite understand the basics of what it is. Let me talk you through that. Let me have video here.

What WikiLeaks is, what it does, it publishes and comments on leaked documents that alleges government or corporate misconduct. It's a nonprofit. It's not run by one guy. It's run by what we call the CNN.com a loose band of tech savvy volunteers.

Julian is the man in charge, the founder. At an event run by the group TED, broadcast online by them, he talked how the group operates. I want you to hear this chunk of the interview, because he specifically talks about legal reasons in Sweden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIAN ASSANGE, WIKILEAKS FOUNDER: We have, as far as we can tell, classical whistle-blowers and we had a number of ways for them to get information to us. So we used the state-of-the-art encryption, the internet, legal jurisdictions like Sweden and Belgium to take, to enact those legal protections, we'd get information in the mail. The regular postal mail, encrypted or not.

We read it like a regular news organization format, which sometimes is something quite hard to do when you're talking about giant databases of information, release it to the public. And then defend ourselves against the inevitable legal and political attacks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: There you go. All right, there's more you can hear on CNN.com. He is an elusive guy, lives part time in Sweden, and just days ago told a Swedish newspaper he'd been in Sweden because he wanted a safe place to go after the controversy over the leak of documents related to the war in Afghanistan.

It was that release of these documents that sparked major controversy. WikiLeaks posted about 76,000 pages of documents related to the war. Here is what Julian Assange said about the decision to publish some of what WikiLeaks was given.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASSANGE: This material doesn't just reveal occasional abuse of military, of course, as U.S. military reporting on all sorts of abuse by the Taliban, suicide bombers and IEDs going off, and so on. So it does describe the abuses by both sides in this war, and that's how people can really understand what is actually going on and whether they choose to support it or not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: Military officials say that the leak could help the enemy, could give the enemy critical information about battlefield operations. The last thing they want to see is that kind of information released.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADM. MIKE MULLEN, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: Mr. Assange can say whatever he like about the greater good he thinks he and his source are doing, but the truth is, they might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: All right, so there's just a little bit of a look at the background there. Those two quotes covered in July. So what we're looking for today, what Julian Assange himself says in addition to the earlier tweet about these accusations now and what happens legally, and ultimately, T.J., if he's arrested.

HOLMES: Josh, thank you. We'll follow it here at CNN.

It's 11 past the hour now. Coming up, the president is on another vacation right now, a late summer vacation in Martha's Vineyard with the family. We'll be checking in with our Dan Lothian, who's in Martha's Vineyard as well. It's 12 minutes past the hour. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, when the last American combat soldier leaves Iraq, many Iraqis left behind are wondering what happens next? Our Arwa Damon has been joining us throughout the morning from Baghdad. Arwa, hello to you once again.

The news of the last comeback brigade this week was greeted one way here in the U.S., a lot of people relieved that the soldiers were coming home in essence. How is it being greeted there in Iraq?

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, T.J., it's really not being marked at all. I mean, Iraqis have been aware that the U.S. military's been drawing down for quite some time now. And, remember, the U.S. pulled out of Iraqi cities and towns well over a year ago. So Iraqis aren't seeing them, weren't seeing them as frequently as they used to.

A lot of Iraqis do feel to a certain degree as if the U.S. is just packing up, moving out. This is a war that neither the public nor the administration really wants to deal with. And that is concerning. It's concerning because they do still in terms of financial, economic development still want U.S. support, but also because their own future remains so unclear and so uncertain.

This Iraq that is being left behind is by no means safe or stable, especially not for the Iraqi people. They speak with the U.S. military and they say they do feel they're confident that the Iraqi security forces with this residuals for of 50,000 Americans are capable of maintaining the current levels of violence. And for the Americans that seems to be acceptable.

But we're still talking about 300, 400 Iraqis being killed in acts of violence. And so for the Iraqi people, it's really not OK. And especially recently we've seen an increase in violence with employee, people we're talking to be coming and saying it's not safe. Baghdad is not safe. It's getting worse and we're scared.

HOLMES: That is something to hear. You were telling that story a little earlier. Certainly those folk whose have been covering that war for sometime have a good perspective about it.

But to our viewers here and in the U.S. who did see that news, quote, "The last combat brigade coming out," there are 50,000, at least, left behind and will be there for some time. To say they're not combat brigades is a little misleading. Explain that, if you will.

DAMON: It is misleading, T.J. Look, the U.S. troops here, the 50,000 left behind, they are combat-ready soldiers. They are being packaged differently. Their mission is different, but that doesn't change the fact that they're combat troops.

Yes, they're going to be in more of an advice and assist role. Their mission will be to train the Iraqi security forces as opposed to, for example, patrolling the streets, conducting unilateral raids, conducting the types of missions we were seeing them conducting in the past.

But at the end of the day, they're still combat soldiers operating in a war zone. It's not as if come September 1st when the mission becomes "operation New Dawn" the U.S. military will cast aside it's guns and it's flak jackets.

HOLMES: All right, Arwa Damon, always good to hear from you. You've been covering that war literally from the beginning. Arwa, we appreciate you this morning. Thanks so much.

And the last of the U.S. combat troops out of Iraq we're told to mark the occasion, the Fourth Stryker brigade held what's called casing the colors, the ceremony in Camp Virginia in Kuwait.

About 460 U.S. service members took part in the unit's colors, the flags, dipped and folded to be shipped back to Ft. Lewis in Washington State, the Fort Lewis-McChord.

It's 17 past the hour. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: It's 18 minutes past the hour.

(WEATHER BREAK)

HOLMES: Yes, because there are some 500 million eggs out there now folks, that area being recalled. That's about, what, an egg and a half for almost every single American? All of us, one of these eggs, probably have one in your refrigerator. But again, half a billion.

The latest recall we're seeing is from a farm in Iowa, some 170 million just from this particular farm here. They distribute eggs in at least 14 states.

Now, there are a lot of numbers you need to check out on the particular carton to make sure that you don't have recalled eggs. We've put a link to that. On TJholmesCNN@facebook.com. Go there. We have it there for you to list out, check the particular dates on those cartons to let you know where it came from, when it was made, and if you need to throw them out.

Well, would you quit your job if you were unhappy, right now, in this economy? Some workers are opting to do just that despite the economy. Workplace stress is stacking up. Just see one JetBlue flight attendant if you don't believe me. It's 21 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Taking a look at some of the stories making headlines here on this "CNN Saturday Morning." The editor and founder of the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks facing a warrant for his arrest on accusations of rape and molestation. He responded on his website's twitter page saying the charges have no basis.

Also, a ceremony last night at Camp Virginia in northern Kuwait marking the end of the U.S. combat mission for these soldiers in Iraq, 50,000, of course, U.S. service members still remaining behind for an advisory role for the Iraqis.

Also the "New York Times" reporting the New York state department reached a $42 million settlement with a private security firm formerly known as Blackwater. The agreement relates to hundreds of alleged violations and spares the company from possible criminal charges. Blackwater is now going by a new name, Z Services, and still works as a private contractor.

President Obama and his family spending a week-long vacation in Martha's Vineyard. It's the president's second time on the island off the coast of Massachusetts. Our White House correspondent has made the trip as well. Dan Lothian is working, however.

Dan, the president, it seems like, presidential vacations, at least with this president, an he's not the first, but they have sparked a bit of controversy, it seems?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: They really do, you know, and the president obvious when he goes on vacation tries to get a little rest and relaxation. But whenever you talk about presidential vacations, there's always someone who's going to be critical.

Let's rewind just a bit. When the first family went up to Maine recently just for a short trip, they were criticized for not going to the Gulf, to go and sort of show the nation that even though there's this cleanup going on, that things are moving forward, that it's safe to go to the Gulf.

So they then put in a short vacation recently to Florida to go to the Gulf. The president goes into the water. They're criticized for not spending enough time on the ground there.

Then they come here to Martha's Vineyard and there are those who say, listen, why are they vacationing in such an elite place? When, in fact, you know, while there are a lot of rich people here, a lot of expensive homes, this is a place where there are a lot of working- class people who don't make a lot of money.

But nonetheless, it sort of gives an aura of Martha's Vineyard where the hoity-toity people hang out. So whenever the president goes on vacation, there's always someone who's grog to throw stones whether a Republican or a Democrat.

HOLMES: "Hoity-toity," we don't get you to say that enough on TV, actually, Dan.

(LAUGHTER)

LOTHIAN: Send me to Martha's Vineyard and that comes out.

HOLMES: How is the president? How is he spending his time? Are they saying out of sight, trying to stay away from cameras sometimes during his vacations?

LOTHIAN: They do for the most part stay out of sight. That's what we saw last year. This year again we saw the president yesterday when he ventured just a few days down from here to a book shop with the first daughters. He went in, bought some reading material, even stopped for a few seconds to sign some autographs as well.

And then they took off, and later on the president did go and play a round of golf, although we did not get pictures of that. And then in the evening, the first lady and the first daughters went out for some ice cream. That's typically what we will see over the next few days here on Martha's Vineyard, they'll be doing events and some may be on camera. Some we'll hear about after the fact.

The bottom line, though, while the president is trying to get work and relaxation, still doing work, getting daily national security briefings as well and national security briefing. So for the president, it's a working vacation.

HOLMES: All right, Dan Lothian for us, with the hoity-toity people, as he puts it, in Martha's Vineyard.

(LAUGHTER)

Dan, good to see you, buddy. We'll talk to you again soon.

LOTHIAN: OK, take care.

HOLMES: We are going to turn to one of our heroes we want to tell you about now. We're going to take you to Africa where more than 60,000 people drown each year. This week's "hero" saving lives by building bridges that help Kenyans cross dangerous rivers. Every day Harmon Parker connects thousands with life-changing resources.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PARKER: What strike me about this place is the beauty and the feeling of being insignificant. Life for people here is very difficult, very secluded. The beauty of this place also becomes dangerous because of these mountains when it rains.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via translator): My father came to the market in the morning. He was with my mother. On the way back in the evening they found the river was flooded. They drowned.

PARKER: I've worked all over Kenya. Every community has the same story -- crocodiles and hippos, and loved ones lost. When it floods, the people really suffer, not being able to get across to the clinic or the market, or to their school.

Oh, look at this. Here comes some kids helping.

The very first bridge I built I saw how it could change lives and transform communities. So I carried on, and I love what I do.

My name is Harmon Parker and I build bridges to transform people's lives.

The community has to initiate the project. They have to participate and make some sort of financial contribution. I don't know how many goats I have in this region, but they always give me a goat. I've spent half my life in a tent. I've had malaria seven or eight times, and it's hard, and it takes a lot of determination.

The bridge is a beautiful metaphor for many things. I feel I'm privileged to do what I'm doing. Destined to help people and I've driven by that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Harmon's work has brought 45 foot bridges to remote places in Kenya, improving the lives of tens of thousands of people. To watch the residents of one village dedicate his last project or to help Harmon out, go to CNNheroes.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right, more now on a breaking story we've been following this morning about the editor and founder of the whistle- blower website WikiLeaks. Swedish prosecutors now say it has issued an arrest in absentia after Julian Assange was accused of rape and molestation.

In the hour there is a statement now posted on the WikiLeaks blog, and it says, quote, "On Saturday, 21st of August, we have been made aware of rape allegations made against Julian Assange, founder of this project, and one of our spokespeople.

We are deeply concerned about the seriousness of these allegations. We the people behind WikiLeaks think highly of Julian, and he has our full support.

While Julian is focusing on his defenses and clearing his name, WikiLeaks will continue its regular operations."

Our Atika Shubert is on the phone from Florence, Italy. She has interviewed Julian Assange in the past. Tika, we've been talking about these charges this morning. Put into perspective and remind viewers just how significant a thorn in the side of the Pentagon this man has been.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He is a very significant thorn in the side. This is the guy who has been personally singled out by Admiral Mike Mullen and by Secretary Robert Gates as having blood on his hands. Because of the release of these documents, stating that they would have to change their war strategy in Afghanistan because of this incredible leak, in fact, tens of thousands of documents by Julian Assange and WikiLeaks.

Having said that, the Pentagon has tried to get these documents back from Assange. They've tried legal measures, but frankly, Julian Assange and WikiLeaks don't seem to have done anything legally wrong. They simply put these documents out. They haven't seem to -- for now, there's no proof they illegally obtained these documents.

So while they were expecting legal challenges relating to the documents, this is an entirely unexpected development for Julian Assange. He's referred to it in his twitter postings as a "dirty trick." Clearly now, you can see by the blog posting, WikiLeaks is now taking this very seriously. They're not able to brush this aside.

Julian Assange has denied the allegations. That came from a twitter posting he put out. But we'll have to see where the allegations go to and where Julian Assange is. Swedish prosecutor's office say they have not been able to reach him.

HOLMES: One more thing here to you. What do we know about these incidents? Apparently it was two incidents, but how much do we know about who was bringing these particular allegations against him?

SHUBERT: Well, the prosecutor's office will not confirm the details. They saying there are two allegations, one of rape and one of molestation.

The local newspaper, local media, are saying it's a case of two women bringing these charges in two separate incidents. Again, that's local media. We have not been able to independently confirm that with the prosecutor's office. So we don't know the exact details of this coming out.

It is important to note that Assange has not been formally charged yet because they have not been able to contact him. These charges have come out in absentia. They don't know where he is. We don't know if he's even in Sweden anymore. He could be literally anywhere in the world.

HOLMES: All right, Atika Shubert, we appreciate you, thank you.

It's 37 minutes past the hour now, following that story of the founder of WikiLeaks now facing charges in Sweden of rape and molestation. We'll continue to follow that, quick break right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right, 39 minutes past the hour. Celebrating earlier, Reynolds back, haven't been in the studio for a while. He's been doing good work in the Gulf. But now it's time for girl talk.

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It seems strange.

HOLMES: It seems odd.

WOLF: It does. I think we're both multifaceted people, probably trying to do girl stuff, you know -- I don't think we're equipped.

HOLMES: We need some help. So we're going to bring in literally the frisky girl. Her name is Amelia Parry. She is the editor of thefrisky.com. She is here to help us out. Tell me first, why the name "frisky girl." Why did you pick that for yourself?

AMELIA PARRY, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, "THEFRISKY.COM": I didn't pick it for myself. I picked it for the Web site. It's thefrisky.com.

HOLMES: I didn't want people to jump to conclusions about you, Amelia. Reynolds and I are here to get you to help us go through a couple of topics. The first here is a big protest. It's a topless protest today. And this is happening in nine cities across the country?

PARRY: Yes. The idea is to sort of demystify toplessness. If men can go topless on the streets why can't women? Of course, toplessness for women has come to be associated with sexuality, but the fact of the matter is that's sort of a social contrast.

So this group sees itself aligned with women's suffering, for example. So you guys wouldn't mind.

HOLMES: No, no, but is that the best idea? Would you think most women would agree with that sentiment? That they should be allowed -- I'm just asking, we don't know. Please, help us.

PARRY: I think in theory some women would agree. Not they would necessarily walk out on to the street and strip off their top and say they're making a protest.

WOLF: It's a liberating thing. It has to be. Look at the map behind us, you see the states shaded in yellow where the protests are going to be. That's a heck of a lot of places.

PARRY: Yes. There -- there are certain places in the United States where it is legal for women to be topless, but, you know, it's not one of those things you actually really see. I live in New York but I'm not going to run out and talk off my top because I can.

WOLF: OK, freedom for the sake of freedom.

I have another one for you. You might have heard this story -- a lot of people criticizing the miss universe pageant, some of the contestants posing topless. Not really, they do have body paint. What are your thoughts on this controversy? We're Dying to hear what you've got to say.

PARRY: I think it's interesting that people are so shocked. I think people need to remember that there's little that doesn't objectify women in beauty pageants. They weren't exactly, you know -- these women aren't being judged on how great they look in body paint or who showed the most skin. They were able to opt out if they wanted to, and those women that did participate were able to choose which shots were included in the promotion.

And to me this is no different than, say, the swimsuit portion of the competition, which absolutely does judge women on how great they look barely clothed.

WOLF: Would you go that route, the paint route? I imagine it would lower dry clean costs substantially. Come in spray painted, get rid of the clothes.

HOLMES: You said they're tastefully done, and it's not meant to objectify women. So why is it a controversy? Why were some people getting upset about those?

PARRY: To tell you the truth, I really don't understand. I think if you are the type of person who thinks beauty pageants are this fantastically empowering thing for women and you support the swimsuit portion, which judges women based on how great they look barely clothed, I don't see why you would be so upset with them promoting the competition in a way in which they're also barely clothed. At least they have some rather lovely body paint artistically painted on them.

WOLF: Amelia, that was amazing.

PARRY: I don't get it. I'm not bothered.

WOLF: Good stuff. Thanks for joining us. A very enlightening morning. We learned about body paints, learned about the topless weekend, which is always a great thing, but would you really be topless with the paint? Maybe hook up with the topless people and they can all be happy. It's like, you know, peanut butter and chocolate. Put them together a great dessert.

Is it time for me to go back to the weather center?

HOLMES: I'm glad we brought her in.

WOLF: Good stuff.

HOLMES: Reynolds, we appreciate you.

But some folks out there, coming up here next. You've heard a lot of horror stories about unemployment right now. But it's not a picnic either for some people who actually do have jobs. We're looking at new survey that says as many as 40 percent of professional workers are unhappy and they plan to jump ship.

It's 44 past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER BREAK)

HOLMES: Swedish authorities want to talk to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange now facing allegations of rape and molestation. On his website's twitter page Assange denies the accusation molestation. A message on the WikiLeaks blog says the organization is "deeply concerned" about the allegation, but at the same time fully supports Assange.

Also, folding up the flag, making it official -- a ceremony last night in northern Kuwait marks a symbolic end to the U.S. combat mission for these troops, but 50,000, of course, U.S. service members still remain in a non-combat security capacity in Iraq.

Also, the egg recall keeps growing here in the U.S. Now more than half a billion eggs recalled because of a salmonella scare.

A lot of people are unhappy with their job be, and plan on doing something about it. They plan on quitting. We'll have the results of a new survey, but are people really going to quit in this economic environment? Quick break. We're right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: About nine minutes to the top of the hour now. It is an employer's market these days. It appears some companies are taking full advantage of that. So much so that some top performers in the employment sector may have had and are planning to move on. A new survey finds as many as 40 percent of U.S. professionals are considering quitting their jobs after the summer.

Emily Bennington is co-author of "Effective Immediately -- How to fit in, stand out, and move up at your first real job." Thank you for being here. And seriously, can anybody afford to quit their job right now? Sure, you might like to, but in this environment, is everybody really quitting?

EMILY BENNINGTON, CO-AUTHOR, "EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY": There's certainly a lot of unhappy employees out there, isn't there? I think this study as well as the whole Steven Slater JetBlue incident are canaries in the coalmine to the larger issues, which are employees are stressed out.

And a lot of this stems from the fact when we entered the recession businesses obviously let a lot of many employees go, and the even though we seem to be coming out on the other side of that a little bit, businesses are still nervous. So they're not rehiring that staff.

And so what's happening is that the people who are left have found themselves doing the work of two or more people, and it is stressful. And so we shouldn't be surprised when they snap.

HOLMES: Emily, are we getting to the point that it's possible the employers might be maxed out in what you can get from your employees right now?

BENNINGTON: Oh, I'm not -- I'm not sure about that, but in terms of people who are unhappy in their careers, I do think -- I work a lot with young graduates, and what I'm finding is that they want to enter the workforce and they want meaning in their careers. They don't just want a job.

So it's a tough market right now, but I don't think businesses have maxed out what they can get from their employees, no way.

HOLMES: So they might try get the work of four or five workers out of us down the road. Do you find there is a gap as well in the ages? Like some younger people might be more willing to quit than maybe the older generation of workers?

BENNINGTON: No, not at all. But like I mentioned before, they are looking for meaningful careers, not just a job. So they have very high expectations from the workforce.

And so when you're in a situation like that, of course, you're going to be disappointed at times. But the trick is to try and find a career that is meaningful to you, but to meet your obligations in the meantime.

HOLMES: Do you find that a lot of people -- would people dare quit their job before they have another job? Are people so unhappy they're even doing that in some circumstance?

BENNINGTON: That certainly is not a very good strategy for the long term. Again, I think what we've seen with the Steven Slater incident is that you can do something that seems very highly satisfactory in a short term but may be a long-term bad move for your career.

HOLMES: And you mentioned Steven Slater, of course, with JetBlue. You mentioned him a moment ago. Did you find out, what impact has he had, I guess, into how people feel about their jobs right now? I mean is it simply a story people will talk about, oh, I would have done that, or can that serve as some sort of inspiration, some sick, twisted inspiration for other people, if you will, looking to get out of their job?

BENNINGTON: What's interesting about Steven Slater is that he actually did what the rest of us only dream about. I don't think there's a person out there who hasn't wanted to cuss out their boss and grab a couple beers and slide down the back. But most of us have a little bit more self-control than that.

But I do think that everyone should pay attention to Steven Slater's Facebook page, which now has something like over 200,000 members, and really look at the comments to get a sense of the collective frustration that he has tapped into.

HOLMES: All right. It is an interesting idea right now, Emily Bennington to try to quit in these economic times. Like you said, a lot of people looking for meaning right now in their jobs. Well, hopefully we all find it, if we haven't already. Emily, good to have you with us this morning. We appreciate it.

BENNINGTON: Thank you.

HOLMES: Quick break. And coming up, the founder of the whistleblower website WikiLeaks facing some serious charges in Sweden, but not to leaking classified military documents. We'll have a live report just ahead. Stay here.

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HOLMES: All right, talking about your money now. A lot of people have been getting hit with credit card fees for a long time. Some help is finally on the way to you. I talked to our Stephanie Elam, one of our business correspondents, about the new changes in the credit card rules that could save you some cash.

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STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: The government is really trying to help consumers out here with all of the changes with the credit card industry has been accused of abusing. Now there's going to be some changes.

This week, a whole new batch of rules go into effect. And let me give you some of the highlights. First of all, those astronomical late fees are now history. Those fees are going to limited to $25, and it can't be more than your minimum payment.

There is one exception. If you've had another late payment in the past six months the fee can be as much as $35. Also, you can only be charged one penalty fee per billing cycle. So they can't keep charging you a new late fee every day.

Also, there's no more fees if you don't use your credit card often enough. Some people are getting fees because they just -- it was inactive too long.

The other new thing to tell you about, let's say you have your interest rate go up, and credit card company, now it's mandatory for them, they have to tell you why. If your rate has been raised since January of 2009, the bank has to go back and make sure that this higher rate is justified, and on top of it, they have to do it every six months from now on with every rate hike.

And if the issue was then decided it's inappropriate, they have to cut your APR within 45 days.

But there is one catch, T.J., I should point out, remember it's the bank here that's deciding. And there's no magic formula. So that may not happen as often but this is definitely a change to benefit consumers.