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Cab Driver Attacked in Hate Crime; New Orleans Businesses Recovering; First-Time Jobless Claims Dip; Economic Impacts of Food Recalls Explained; Tips on Battling Bedbugs Shared; A Look at Food Safety; Jimmy Carter Visits North Korea; Kim Jong-Il Makes Unexpected Trip to China; Carter's Trip to North Korea; Bides, Bees & Ants Teach Business; Work Out, Save the Earth

Aired August 26, 2010 - 13:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Ali Velshi.

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Tony, have a great afternoon. Thanks, buddy.

Here's what I've got on the rundown. I'm going to talk to the man who helped send former president Jimmy Carter on a rescue mission into North Korea. He says he had a much larger purpose in mind.

Plus, sleep tight, and don't let those bug -- bedbugs bite. Well, you might not sleep tight once I tell you exactly where those bedbugs are.

And I'm going to talk to you about the birds and the bees. It's not what you think, though. I'll show you how birds, bees and ants can keep you from bugging out or flying off the handle at work.

But we begin this hour, with a despicable crime and an unlikely suspect in the shadows of the New York mosque debate. A Bangladeshi- born New York taxi driver is recovering now from knife wounds to his neck, face and hands. A 21-year-old New York film student is charged with attempted murder, assault and aggravated harassment, all with the designation, hate crime.

The attack happened Tuesday evening as Ahmed Sharif, a cab driver, was starting his shift. Michael Enright was his first fare. Now, according to Sharif, Enright was friendly enough, asking where Sharif was from, whether he was a Muslim, whether he was fasting during Ramadan.

Then a few moments later, allegedly, the young man reached up from the back seat with a knife, and he started slashing. Sharif was able to hail a cop, who arrested Enright and got Sharif to a hospital. And that brings us to an event that is due to start any minute now at New York's City Hall.

Ahmed Sharif, the cab driver, and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg will appeal for an end to anti-Muslim bigotry and worse. Now, amid all the turmoil over the plans to build the Park 51 Islamic Center and Mosque two blocks from Ground Zero, this has developed. CNN's Deborah Feyerick is following all of this, as she has been. She's at our bureau in New York. As we wait for this -- this event to begin, Deborah, tell us, set the stage here; tell us what's developed.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, one thing we have to be very careful about is there has been a lot of sort of hate speech and anti-Islam rhetoric. Whether it is -- whether this particular incident was triggered because of the mosque or because of that hate speech, all of that is under investigation right now.

What we know about this young man, he was a 21-year-old film student, as you mentioned. He spent five weeks in Afghanistan in the spring, returning after what somebody called very intense experience. He was talking to soldiers on the front lines, sort of seeing the war through their eyes.

Now ironically, he was working with a nonprofit group dedicated to peace, dedicated to making the dialogue between Muslims and non- Muslims and people of all different races and cultures and religions, sort of bridging the differences to promote peace. It's that group that actually helped him get and sponsor this trip to Afghanistan.

The big question: what caused Michael Enright to snap? What did he perhaps see in Afghanistan that caused him to act out on this particular New York cabbie? Was he watching something, for example, on television or reading something about the mosque controversy potentially that triggered this intense reaction? Or was it something he saw when he was in the theater of war?

All of that right now, Ali, is under investigation, and they're sort of trying to put the pieces together.

VELSHI: Yes.

FEYERICK: Again, we have to be very careful to see whether this is an isolated incident or whether, in fact, this is part of something much larger.

VELSHI: And this is -- this is the interesting part. This group, Intersections International, is that this guy worked for an organization that was promoting peace and diversity. They had given us a statement. Let me just read that for our viewers.

FEYERICK: OK.

VELSHI: This is from Intersections International: "We are saddened that the person charged with this crime, Michael Enright, has been a volunteer with Intersections for the past year. Mike's work with us was generous and responsible. He shared our vision for a diverse and peaceful world. This unfathomable incident is profoundly sad on many levels."

So this is -- makes this thing profoundly puzzling.

FEYERICK: Well, that's exactly right. You just don't know what influences young people. The executive director also really did mention that he understood that, listen, five weeks in Afghanistan, it may seem like a short time. But boy, during those five weeks, you see a lot of things.

Now, maybe it's a coincidence. But when the alleged stabber basically began this attack, he said something to the effect of, he said something about a checkpoint, for example. And he issued an Islamic greeting. So they're trying to figure out exactly what this is all about.

But there is something that is undeniable, as you know, as you've been watching, and that is sort of this rise in hate speech. And FBI agents are very concerned --

VELSHI: Right.

FEYERICK: -- that, in fact, we may see a larger wave of incidents. So --

VELSHI: Right. We don't --

FEYERICK: -- it's all sort of under investigation.

VELSHI: We're not all puzzled about the fact that the motivation here, whatever you want to call it, may have had something to do with the fact that this guy has some issue with the fact the cab driver is Muslim. The issue has to do with whether this is his experience elsewhere or it's got to do with this mosque controversy.

Obviously, the mayor of New York, who has been very vocal and steadfast in his views about the mosque since this controversy erupted, believes it is connected, believes that there is some wave of anti-Muslim sentiment spreading through New York and possibly the country.

FEYERICK: Absolutely. And I think that's really the fundamental issue, which is this sort of rise in what many experts that I've been speaking to are calling Islamophobia, or calling a rise in hate speech. So it is part of a larger picture.

Somebody -- I went to a press conference yesterday, and somebody said this sort of smacks of, "Oh, sure, you can build your mosque anywhere, just as long as it's not in my back yard."

VELSHI: Right.

FEYERICK: It's -- so there is something that's creeping into the national discourse, that could be very, very dangerous and experts say undermine national security, because it's increasing hatred. It's increasing the way certain American-Muslims are being regarded. And that is a dangerous issue.

VELSHI: Now one of the things that the mayor has been clear on is he has said, as there has been a move toward a discussion of a compromise and maybe moving the location of that mosque, maybe building it somewhere else, the mayor has come out and said that is very clearly, in his view, not going to solve this problem or make the underlying issue go away.

FEYERICK: Well, that's exactly right. The question is how far is far enough?

VELSHI: Right.

FEYERICK: This is Manhattan; this is Lower Manhattan. And it's interesting. I was just down at the site, just more -- a little bit over an hour ago. I was speaking to the architect who's creating this beautiful memorial to 9/11 victims.

But what's interesting is when I looked down to see where the mosque was being built -- you see it right there. It's about two blocks away. There's no way you have a visual of it of down from the actual footprint of the World Trade Center. You cannot see it. You're going to have to work -- walk a certain distance to get there.

So it's not, you know -- we, a lot of folks, you know, sometimes us included, are calling it the Ground Zero mosque. Really what it is, is it's an Islamic center with a prayer space. So there's a lot of different nuances.

VELSHI: Right.

FEYERICK: And I think it's one of those things you have to look at very quickly.

VELSHI: Deborah, thanks very much for being with us. We'll keep an eye on this -- on this situation. And -- and we'll get back to you. Deborah Feyerick in New York.

We're also watching for that press conference about to begin between -- with Ahmed Sharif, the cab driver, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg in New York. It will address the mosque issue and the issue of hatred that might be growing in New York.

Now let me show you a picture of New Orleans, Bourbon Street, five years after Katrina. The hurricane hasn't been the only setback, as we know. We head to the heart of the French Quarter to see how New Orleans businesses are faring these days. Don Lemon is with us live when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: All right. Let's head down to New Orleans, the heart of the French Quarter, Don Lemon and a couple of mango daiquiris, I understand. Is that what's above your head there, Don? It looks to be --

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: It's mango daiquiris. As a matter of fact, you know what, Ali? Let's go inside.

VELSHI: All right.

LEMON: This is a daiquiri shop, and of course, you know, it's big business down on Bourbon Street, down in the French Quarter. We'll walk through here. I'm going to give you a little bit of tour of what's happening here, Ali, because I know you're the business guy. So you want to talk a little business. And let's do that.

Hey, show them down the street here. Look how busy it is down ion the French Quarter. And what people want here is for all of this activity that you see, Ali, they want it to spread well beyond Bourbon Street, where we're standing, well beyond the French Quarter. This is busy and packed. They suffered a bit of a blow after the oil spill. They said they were, you know, coming back.

I want to go -- this guy's always standing outside. This is the owner of Oceana.

Hey, Moe, how are you doing? Moe Bader. Good to see you.

MOE BADER, OWNER, OCEANA: Good to see you.

LEMON: So --

VELSHI: Say hi to Moe. I know Moe. I've eaten in his restaurant.

BADER: It's still a big struggle, Don.

LEMON: Ali says he knows you. He's eaten at your restaurant. We all have eaten here. This is kind of our hang out. You've got to get a shrine, a wall of shame here.

BADER: A wall of fame. Everybody comes down for the crab cakes. they love it. The crab cakes and the grilled oysters. This is what we're known for.

LEMON: Let's walk around here and talk about it. This is Oceana's, right here on the corner of Conti and Bourbon. How has it been for the -- walk with me, Moe. How has it been for the past five years?

BADER: It's been real difficult, Don. As you know, Katrina came and put us out of business. When Katrina hit, we had about 40 employees. Overnight they had no jobs, no place to stay, and everything else. And we came back, and the city still had to recover. We're not even close to where we were before Katrina.

LEMON: And what about, what about, you know your cohorts around here, the business owners, how are they doing? The daiquiri shops, the jazz funeral over there, all of that, the Beer Best, how is it doing?

BADER: You look at that. I mean, this is a big part of Bourbon Street that has only two customers. You have a bar right here that is actually closed, because there's no business during the day. I mean, this is Bourbon Street. And you probably can count on one hand how many people you see walking on the street.

VELSHI: But this looks busier than it's been. I've been here a lot. You know, I've said this. It's going to be a drinking game, Lemon grew up around here. But you know, you -- this is the first time that I've been back that you actually see recovery; you actually see New Orleans rising, so it's getting better. But the oil spill certainly didn't help.

BADER: It is getting better slowly but surely. Super Bowl Sunday really helped us a lot when the Saints won. Because it was a wakeup call for the people and the country saying, "Oh, my God, New Orleans opened for business." So we did see a big boost after Super Bowl Sunday. And then we got hit by the oil spill, and that really destroyed a lot of things.

LEMON: So listen, I can talk to you all day and Ali can talk to you all day, of course, Ali, a big fan of your restaurant, as well, everyone at CNN.

But you know, Ali, he's saying it is -- there is growth. And this is the, I am told, this is the slowest time of the year, between the Essence Festival, which we cover here, and the Southern Decadence, which happens this coming weekend. This is the slowest time of the year. Slowly recovering. They need more cohesion, and they need to diversify their businesses.

And they need to get the message out, really, that New Orleans is thriving, and they're here and open for business, Ali.

VELSHI: All right. And you're going to be there for a few days, right, Don? You're going to be there through the weekend?

LEMON: I'm going to be here. I'm going to be anchoring my shows this weekend. I have a couple more packages, a couple more stories that's going to release later in the week; one that's called "Who Dat Nation."

VELSHI: Yes.

LEMON: We're going to talk about the Saints. And then I'm going to spend a week here on vacation when I'm done on Sunday, so I'm going to be here for a while.

VELSHI: We'll be watching. We'll be checking in with you.

LEMON: I'll be covering New Orleans and everything that goes along with it.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Good seeing you.

VELSHI: He always takes care of us. Thanks very much. Thanks to Moe, and we'll check in with you later, Don, thanks.

LEMON: Thank you.

VELSHI: All right, Moe.

BADER: All right, Ali. See you. VELSHI: All right. Big food recalls. Boy, just -- every time I think of New Orleans, I think of food. But this week when you think about food, you're thinking about recalls, about eggs and meat. It affects jobs, people. It affects money. We're going to look at how much money has gone into these recalls, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: A lot of economic reports. This is a very heavy economic week. The rest of your life is heavy with the economy, but it's what you feel. This week we've got some numbers.

We showed you that new housing and existing housing sales have dropped compared to last year. We got numbers for July. It always takes about a month to calculate the numbers.

Now we have numbers, which we get every week, of the number of people who filed for unemployment benefits for the first time last week. They're always a week after it happens. Let me show you what the number was: 473,000 people filed for unemployment benefits for the first time last week.

Now that's higher than it should be. Much higher than it should be. If the number were around 300,000, we'd all feel comfortable. But if it were around 300,000, our unemployment rate would be much lower than it is right now.

The number of people who are on unemployment claims right now, the total number of claims, 4,456,000. The bottom line is higher than it should be, but it's actually good news; it's lower than we thought it was going to be.

I want to give you a picture of where things are improving both around the country and over the past year. That's -- 509,000 was what it was last November. That was one week where we had 509,000 people filing for unemployment benefits. And you can see, it's been choppy all through the year. But you see a big drop a couple of months ago. And as we reported two weeks ago or so, it was back up to 500,000. That's what's got people worried. That number should be going down all the way.

You can see there, we're still sort of at the high end of where we've been all year. So that's why we're worried about this.

Let's look at the country as a whole. Those states that are in green saw a drop in claims. You can see a heavy concentration there around the Midwest and the northeast; in Florida, in Texas and California. And you can see an increase in the Midwest. So that's -- that's part of the issue that we're looking at. It's not the same across the country. But better number than we were expecting.

Now let's turn to something that's on a lot of people's minds: food recalls. From eggs to deli meat, we've seen some big ones in the last couple of weeks. CNN has been looking into this from all the angles, and one of the angles is the cost behind these things. You're going to end up paying more for those things that are recalled. But how does it actually end up costing you? Stephanie Elam in New York with the breakdown on this -- Stephanie.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Ali.

Yes, you know what? You hear about the egg recall right now. It's too soon to say how much of an impact it's going to have on that industry. But analysts do expect that demand will come back pretty quickly. I mean, everyone uses eggs in so many things, but that's not always the case.

Think back to 2006. Remember that E. coli outbreak?

VELSHI: Yes.

ELAM: It was about bagged spinach? That was a big one. Well, it cost the industry more than $350 million. One year later, sales are still down 20 percent and have yet to completely recover.

Food illnesses have also slammed some restaurant chains. Think back to Taco Bell. They had an E. coli outbreak in 2006, same year, and it was traced to tainted produce. Well, its sales sank in the following months, and initial losses were estimated at 20 million bucks.

Consumers did eventually head back to the Bell, but it's not alone. You had the same story at Jack in the Box. It was 1993 where they had an E. coli outbreak at the burger chain, and it led to the deaths of four children. The company lost $138 million in the two following years.

But if there is a silver lining to such an upsetting story, it's that Jack in the Box took responsibility, implemented major food safety programs, and became a model for other companies. And today its sales are more than $2 billion a year.

But you know, not all companies survive, Ali. Hallmark meat packing company, it was linked to the largest beef recall in U.S. history. It went out of business in early 2008. It could not withstand what happened there.

VELSHI: All right. So this is something we --the other thing is, of course, I've seen increases, reported increases in the price of eggs, because obviously, half a billion eggs have been taken off the market. So that means we're going to pay more for some of the food in the short run.

ELAM: Yes, you know, we're going to pay more, and that has often happened. But the one thing I think we should really point out, though, Ali, is that overall, the food that we eat in the United States of America is really safe.

VELSHI: Yes.

ELAM: This is not happening all the time. But it was worth investigating what happens from a business standpoint when they things happen.

VELSHI: Yes. All right, Stephanie. Good to see you. Thanks very much. Stephanie Elam in New York.

We're going to continue to follow all of these developments with respect to food and safety. If you want to hear more about this, by the way, and all of these issues affecting your money, tune in to "YOUR $$$$$," Saturdays at 1 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

Listen, comebacks are usually a good thing, right? Not when you're talking about bedbugs. A big comeback in America. A pest control expert joins me live from the state with the worst infestation, coming up next. Brace yourselves.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: All I've got to say is, eww. As you know, I spend a lot of time in New York, and as I went back last week, it was amidst reports of newfound outbreaks of bedbugs in the city. What I didn't realize is that this isn't just happening in New York; it's happening across the country. Let me just tell you about this.

Bedbugs had been largely eradicated after World War II. There was a real -- lot of developments in pest control and things like that. And we didn't have all these bedbugs. But researchers say that the infestation is increasing in America and worldwide. And I'm going to talk to you about this.

These are the cities with the highest rates of infestation there. New York is the top of the list, then Philadelphia. After that Detroit. These are busy cities. No. 4, Cincinnati, Chicago, Denver, Columbus, Dayton, Washington and Los Angeles. But look at that -- look at that concentration on the East Coast and in the middle of the country. You've got Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus, which makes Ohio an important place for bedbugs. And we're going to talk about that in just a second.

In New York City alone, you dial 311, if it's not an emergency but you want to talk to a city official. You dial 311. In the year between last June and this June, 13,000 bedbug complaints. And yes, it's a problem. We want to talk about all of this.

I'm joined now by Chris Brunridge. He's the Terminix regional manager, and he's joining me from Cleveland, Ohio. He says Terminix is receiving up to 125 calls a day throughout Ohio.

Chris, welcome to the show. I understand you've been with Terminix for 22 years, and you didn't deal with bedbugs until about a year, a year and a half ago.

CHRIS BRUNRIDGE, TERMINIX REGIONAL MANAGER: You know, I didn't. I mean, 22 years ago when I started, you rarely ever heard of a bedbug call, and today it's just -- it consumes so much of our time.

VELSHI: OK. Let's talk about this. Because the one thing people ask me about when we report on this, on TV is, are they not just in beds? Because we've heard about them in offices and department stores and places like that. Let's break that myth down right now. Bedbugs are not just about beds?

BRUNRIDGE: No. They'll get in sofas. They'll get in dressers. They'll get in chairs. They'll get in phones, TV sets. I mean, they will, they'll take up harborage anywhere.

VELSHI: All right. Let's talk about what you're supposed to do, first of all. If you are in one of these cities, once somebody tells you there's bedbugs, I noticed when I was in New York, I just kept scratching, itching. I kept thinking there was a bug. You're thinking about it all the time.

BRUNRIDGE: Right.

VELSHI: That's not really going to help you. What is it you're supposed to do, let's say, in your house or when you travel to avoid, or to figure out whether you've got bedbugs and avoid getting an infestation?

BRUNRIDGE: Well, if you're going to stay in a hotel room, make sure that you're inspecting the bed very carefully. You know, look behind the headboard, look in the corners of the mattresses, make sure that you're not putting your luggage on the bed. Do not put your clothes inside the dresser. Hang your clothes up. Put it on the luggage rack. Keep it as far away from the bed and off the floors as you can.

Once you do go home, make sure that you're putting your items in the garage, in a basement. Do not bring your suitcase back into the house until you can have some time to really take a good detailed look at your luggage to make sure you're not bringing these guys back inside the house.

VELSHI: What gets -- what actually gets rid of them, if you think you've got bedbugs or you know you've got bedbugs?

BRUNRIDGE: Well, I mean, these -- these insects you cannot treat alone. You need to have a reputable company, such as Terminix, come into your home and do an analysis and then provide treatment. It's almost impossible to get rid of these by yourself.

VELSHI: How do you do -- how do you do the analysis? Is it visual, or do you have dogs or special lights? What do you do?

BRUNRIDGE: No, no dogs; a good flashlight and just do a visual inspection. We do a lot of the detail as far as taking the beds apart, pulling out dresser drawers, looking in any little crack we can find, in the bedroom and around the house to try to find their harborage so we can pinpoint where we need to do our applications.

VELSHI: OK. You told us -- you give us some really good advice for travelers, and I'm always traveling, so I was -- I'm always nervous about this. Because I think I can control my home environment, but I don't know what I can do elsewhere.

Let's talk about homeowners. What are you supposed to do to check whether you have bedbugs and to deal with them in your home? BRUNRIDGE: If you feel that you have bedbugs, I mean, the first you're going to see the insects. They look like a small apple seed, you know, around the corner of your bed. If you see anything at all that you even think is a bedbug, like I said, call a professional exterminator out to give you his expert opinion, to make sure exactly what you have so you get the right identification.

VELSHI: I live in New York where it was, I don't think it is any more, it was very popular to leave your furniture you wanted do get rid of on the curb. It would be gone within a couple of hours, because somebody would know that you -- you know, you drive around; you pick it up. I've heard that's a no-no now.

BRUNRIDGE: Right. Absolutely. You want to be careful with bringing furniture into your house on consignment. A lot of people like to go to yard sales and bring clothing or furniture back in. Just inspect it very, very closely before you bring anything inside your house. Anything.

VELSHI: A wrap for your mattress, is that handy?

BRUNRIDGE: Mattress encasements are excellent. We provide those to our customers that have -- are having a problem. It really helps you from needing to throw away that mattress, if you do have an infested mattress. So yes, they are excellent.

VELSHI: Chris, good to talk to you. Thanks very much for joining us. Chris Brunridge is with Terminix in Cleveland, Ohio. Thanks for being with us.

BRUNRIDGE: Thanks for having me.

VELSHI: Don't let those bedbugs bite. Now I don't want to disturb your lunch. In case I didn't gross you out enough. Take a look at that sandwich you're eating. Do you know where the lettuce came from? I'm going to show you in the "Great American Eatocracy," when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Let's face it, a lot of news stories affect relatively small numbers of people, but everybody eats. So everybody cares or should care about the safety of the food that we're consuming. In light of that monumental egg recall, we're taking a special look today at food safety. We call it Eatocracy.

And that brings me to CNN's Dan Simon who is out standing in his field. He's out standing in someone else's field in California, a lettuce field, actually.

Dan, that's some furious lettuce-picking going on around you.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Hey, Ali, I'm having a little hard time hearing you. But we are in the thick of it. We are in Salinas Valley California, and I have to tell you, the kind of work we do - nothing compared to what these guys do. They are here all day long.

This is the salad bowl of the world. Chances are that when you go to the grocery store and get that bag of lettuce, it's coming from the fields here in Salinas Valley, California. This is green leaf lettuce, Ali. Just wash this off, put some dressing on it and you are ready to go.

This area had a disaster - there's no other way to put it - back in 2006. You had spinach that was tainted with e. Coli. You had hundreds of people across the country who got ill. A couple of people died. And really, the entire leafy green industry, as they call it, suffered as a result of it.

Well, they made some changes since then. A year later, in 2007, Ali, they came up with this thing called the LGMA, this is the Leafy Green Marketing Agreement. What they did is for the first time, they allowed government auditors to come in the field and inspect what they're doing. They had no government oversight out here. It didn't make any sense. You know, when you looked at what happened in 2006, with the spinach issue, there was no government oversight. Well, they changed that.

The industry came together and said, let's come up with some regulations that we all follow and let's make the food supply safer. They figure out a way to do that. And they feel that they've done it with this organization called the LGMA.

Let's bring out farmer Jess Quinlan of Sabor Farms. This is his field we're on.

And this notion, Jess, of the LGMA. Explain what that is and why you feel that this product is safer more than ever?

JESS QUINLAN, SABOR FARMS: Well first of all, the Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement has provided a universal standard for us growers to follow. And that we know what we need to do now. And also, we have -- everybody is trained on food safety. It doesn't matter if it's the person harvesting the product or the owner or the president of the company, an irrigator, a tractor driver. Everybody knows that food safety is the number one priority now. And as you mentioned, we now have USDA-trained inspectors who are coming through and verifying our good agricultural practices.

SIMON: Ali, we don't want to get run over here, we're going to move back a little bit.

But it's one of the things that made a lot of sense, to have for the first time, some regulation here, in the fields, have some universal standards for everybody to follow. And there really hasn't been a major incident since that major spinach recall a few years ago. And as you can see, the guys here on the field getting the job done. And you know, we wanted to highlight an example of where there's been a positive change in the last couple of years. And this seems to be that.

VELSHI: Dan, thanks very much for that. It's remarkable watching the speed at which these guys go. Important what you said right off the top, though, that perhaps some of your best safety will come from making sure you wash your greens before you put them into your salad bowl. But that is fascinating.

Dan Simon, good to see you. Thanks very much for being with us.

A former president is now on a rescue mission in hostile territory. There's a key international political motive for Jimmy Carter's trip and it involves nuclear weapons. Details, when we go Globe Trekking on the other side of the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: A handful of countries in the world that are always intriguing to us. And one of them is North Korea, especially right now.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is on a trip to North Korea trying to win the freedom of a Boston resident, an American who was sentenced to eight years in North Korea for allegedly crossing into North Korea from China.

Now President Carter's trip to North Korea comes at a very interesting time because there are reports that the Korean leader, Kim Jong-Il might be in china with his third son, and his heir apparent. We were very clear on the fact that President Carter's people told us this was not an official government trip. There are no government representatives from the United States going on it. He apparently is not carrying any messages from the U.S. government.

But I've got a man here who arranged that trip. He can tell us why the trip is happening and whether it's simply about the freedom of an American citizen or there's something more at it.

He is Dr. Han Park. He's a professor of International Affairs at the University of Georgia.

Professor, good to see you, thank you for being here with us.

DR. HAN PARK, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA: Thank you for having me.

VELSHI: Tell me what this trip is about.

Is it about the rescue of this American or is it something bigger than that?

PARK: I think it's something bigger than that. It's about peace-making. Jimmy Carter is a man of peace, proven man. And the friction or hostility between U.S. and North Korea, since the sinking of the South Korean vessel has escalated to a point where no one can predict what's going to happen.

And Korea is the most militarily-fortified spot in the world, arguably. So Jimmy Carter evidently wanted to do something about that. And I helped arrange the trip, persuaded North Korea to invite him, so forth.

But now Kim Jong-Il evidently, we don't have an independently confirmed --

VELSHI: Apparently he slipped over -that's what they're saying. He slipped into China.

What would he be doing there?

PARK: If he went to Beijing, it's going to be hard for him to come back, to have a substantive meeting with Jimmy Carter. If Jimmy Carter had the chance to meet with him before their departure, that there was a small window of opportunity. But most likely he went to Jilin, just across the border --

VELSHI: Right. And that's in China.

PARK: Exactly, in China. But his father and his son's grandfather, Kim Il-Sung, the founder of the country, had headquartered his independent movement, revolutionary campaign and all that. So it's very important to instill to the young person that he's coming from that family. So especially in view of the fact that they have a party convention this coming -- leadership convention. So given that, I think it's important for the father and son to go to the grandfather and make sure that you come from that family.

VELSHI: What is the issue that is going to help break this tension? I mean Jimmy Carter may be trying to do it. It is clear that he's not doing it on behalf of the U.S. government. Obviously he's having some discussions that he would want to communicate with the U.S. government, if anything comes of it.

PARK: Yes, everything centers on the nuclear conundrum.

VELSHI: Yes.

PARK: Now Jimmy Carter I'm sure, will try to persuade North Koreans to give up their nuclear ambition. But North Korea will tell Jimmy Carter, we're willing to do that only if our security is assured. And they -- I'm sure they will discuss what constitutes the acceptable security guarantee.

VELSHI: You're one of very few people who has contact with the North Koreans.

PARK: Right.

VELSHI: What is their general view of it? Because we conceive of the North Koreans as entirely isolationist and belligerent and depending on who you speak to, the incarnation of evil. How far away are we from being able to do something with the North Koreans?

PARK: I think we are very far. North Korea wants to improve relations with the United States. Their economy is in shambles. They try to make international loans and so forth, without American cooperation it's going to be very difficult. So their number one foreign policy priority is to improve relations with the United States.

So what we have problem with is misunderstanding. The fact that North Korea wants a security assurance to give up what they consider to be the only deterrence, that is nuclear weapons, to expect that is very unrealistic. So I think we have to do something about their security issues.

VELSHI: Is -- and Secretary Clinton has been really the forefront of this discussion, these discussions with North and South Korea. Is this administration's approach right? Is it correct, in your opinion?

PARK: I think we don't seem to have independent foreign policy toward North Korea under the Obama administration. We're continuing the Bush administration's hostile policy. So it is important it reexamine the whole matter, given the military environment there.

VELSHI: So you think it might be useful to -- I don't know if the right word is soften the position or be less hostile? Sort of go into it with a little more openness as opposed to taking a very, very firm hand?

PARK: Absolutely. And Jimmy Carter's trip there hopefully will alleviate some tension because he's a good listener, he will come and convey to the president and the decision-makers in Washington and as well as public, if he so chooses.

So somewhat he may contribute to easing the tension through better understanding of North Korean situation.

VELSHI: All right. Well professor, we will continue to try to understand it ourselves.

Dr. Han Park is professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia. Thank you for being with us.

PARK: Thank you for having me.

VELSHI: Two hundred and fifty innocent people, between them they spent more than 3,100 years behind bars. We'll going to take a look at wrongful convictions in this country next in "Crime & Consequence."

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VELSHI: Let me give you a look at some top stories that we're following at CNN.

Two more egg brands have been added to the nationwide egg recall, this does not add to the total number of eggs being recalled. If you want to see if your brand is on there, go to eggsafety.org, check out all the brands and make sure yours -- the ones in your fridge are not from one of those brands.

In Pakistan, officials have urged 500,000 people to evacuate in the southeastern part of the country because of more possible flooding. Adding to the problem is a forecast of rain for the next 24 hours. A huge chunk of Pakistan, as you know, has been inundated.

And as we just discussed, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il is reportedly traveling through China with his youngest son who is believed to be his heir apparent. Neither North Korea nor China will confirm these reports.

Well, time for some "Crime & Consequence." Yesterday, we looked at the Troy Davis case, the Georgia death row inmate's latest appeal denied by a federal judge this week. Well a lot of prisoners say they're innocent, he was one of them. Whether that was true or not for Davis, wrongful convictions are a fact of life in this country and that is our focus today.

Listen to this, quote, "Anyone who understands the justice system knows innocent people are convicted every day," end quote. That's not from some bleeding heart liberal or some defense attorney or even some cop show. It's from a retired Florida Supreme Court judge and it's pretty scary.

According to the Innocence Project, across the United States, 258 people have been convicted of crimes and then exonerated through DNA testing and that is just through DNA testing. Many crimes don't have DNA evidence involved. Hundreds more convictions have been overturned through other means.

By far, the single-biggest contributor to wrongful convictions is bad IDs by victims, by witnesses or both. That covers good faith testimony where somebody is just mistaken, it also covers perjury where people go out of their way to lie about something.

To put a face on this for you, Michael Anthony Greene -- he was released from a Texas prison about three weeks ago, I think, after 27 years behind bars for a rape he didn't commit. Greene has already got a job on the outside. He's accepted a paralegal position with the Innocence Project of Texas working on quote, "getting more innocent dudes out."

All right, let's talk about the birds and the bees now. It's not what you think. The birds and the bees and the ants can crank your business into high gear. I'll explain it to you on the other side.

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VELSHI: Man, I love that movie, "A Bug's Life." And it seems entirely fictional that an ant would have this degree of organizational, but believe it or not, it's true.

In today's "Big 'I'" -- and we do this every day, a big idea that could change our world -- our idea is coming from the world of bugs. Well, bird, bees but ants. Let me talk about ants right now. They are much smarter and more productive than you might think.

Is it just me or have we talking about bugs a lot in this show? We were talking about bed bugs earlier. OK, let me tell you what I'm talking about here. Leaf-cutting ants in central Texas. I didn't know that ants divide into jobs like this, but there are leaf-cutting ant colonies and they create an assembly line of workers to farm a fungus. I don't know whether they sell the fungus later or what they do, but let me just describe to you how it happens.

The biggest ants in the group do what you just saw on TV, they take pieces of leaves back to the nest, if that's what you call it. Once there, a slightly smaller group of ants -- I mean, group of slightly smaller ants cut the leaves into smaller pieces, basically.

Then a third group of ants, also slightly smaller, chew up the pieces and shape them into pellets little pellets with a little bit of ant spit. And then a fourth group of ants, yet smaller than the ones before it, plant fungus into the pulpy group of pellets and finally, the littlest ants remove the unwanted spores into the fungus, and that's how the fungus grows out of a leaf.

According to Peter Miller's book, called "The Smart Swarm," a leaf-cutting colony of ants can harvest -- get this -- half a ton of vegetation a year. So why am I telling you this? Because apparently we can learn something from how these ants work and smart businesses are already doing so.

Let's talk to Peter Miller right now, the author of "A Smart Swarm." He's also, by the way, a senior editor with "National Geographic" magazine.

Peter, this was our effort at trying to explain this. I know we probably oversimplified it, was that generally on target?

PETER MILLER, AUTHOR, "A SMART SWARM": That was a great job, Ali.

VELSHI: All right, let's talk about this.

Neat as it is and great as it is to watch in a movie, what does this do for us? What lessons do we learn from ant behavior or swarm behavior, I guess?

MILLER: Well, you know, the ants have been evolving these strategies to deal with an uncertain environment for 140 million years. What we can learn from them is strategies to deal with the unpredictable.

The example you just gave of the leaf-cutters is a terrific example, probably one of the most amazing examples of coordination and teamwork in an ant colony. But what we can learn from specific ant behaviors is how to maximize the efficiency of factories using similar principles, or as they've done in a company in Texas that I visited, how to optimize their factory production to save themselves millions of dollars a year.

VELSHI: I understand one of the anecdotes you've got is Southwest Airlines having used this to teach themselves something about passenger behavior when they're loading planes or when they're seating.

MILLER: Exactly. Southwest was facing this question of whether to go to an unreserved system. For 30 or 40 years they used the same sort of first come, first serve pick the seat you want system, and they wanted to know what would happen if they went to a reserved system like everybody used.

So they asked one of their analysts to figure out how long it would take to do it that way. And he looked at the system and he said well, you know, what have we got here? We've got a lot of individuals trying to cram into a tight space and they have to interact with one another and figure out what they want depending on what other people want. This is a biological problem.

So he went and said I'm going to create a simulation using ant- like creatures, ant-like computer programmers. And he wrote a program that had the ants boarding the 737 and then looking for a spot to sit. And he ran it over and over and over again, thousands of times, and found out that the system that they were using was a little bit slower than the one that -- the maximum they could use, but not enough to change their ways.

VELSHI: So whenever you see a swarm of bugs you think, boy, they seem to be coordinated. They don't seem haphazard and bumping into each other, so we've been able to use that. But it's not just businesses, the CIA and Department of Defense are into this swarm theory.

MILLER: Yes, that's right. They realized after 9/11 that there was a lot of information that was being kept in silos, and a group of young analysts in the intelligence community wanted to create a platform that they could share information with one another as it came in, rather than to wait until each different division would put a stamp on it and say this is the finished intelligence.

So they created a platform that was really a lot like what we call Wikipedia. It was an online place where the intelligence agencies could load up information in real time, and they call it Intelipedia. And it includes all of the different kinds of tools that think of as being user-generated like in Web 2.0, YouTube for videos and Wikipedia-like format for the intelligence gathering and blogs.

And what they found out was that it was a very resilient and resourceful way for agents to keep track of one another as information came in.

VELSHI: Interesting. All right, there there's lots more of this in the book, and I appreciate you coming and sharing this with us. Very interesting stuff.

Peter Miller is the author of "The Smart Swarm," he's the senior editor with "National Geographic" magazine. For more on this, go to my blog, CNN.com/Ali, we'll link you to Peter Miller's website, or go buy his book, it's actually a really interesting read.

It's one simple thing that could help save the planet and help your waistline. We'll take you to a gym that's all about fitness and creating a little bit of clean energy coming up next.

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VELSHI: Would you work out a little bit longer if you knew you were doing something great for the environment? There's a gym in Oregon that's helping people burn the fat while they create clean energy. All-platform journalist Patrick Oppmann takes us on a tour.

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PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN ALL-PLATFORM JOURNALIST (voice-over): A free concert lights up the evening in Portland, Oregon, running in part on human power.

ADAM BOESEL, THE GREEN MICROGYM: Basically, the band is going to be playing and we're going to be creating electricity and that electricity is going to get used by the band. So we're helping power the band.

OPPMANN: Adam Boesel lends the bikes and legwork to promote his business, this gym that uses customer workouts to create clean energy.

BOESEL: I'm making 40 watts, but if I then speed up and work harder again, I'm back up to 100 watts. So how much energy I put in is how much electricity I make.

OPPMANN: A former trainer, Boesel wanted to open an environmentally-friendly gym, but he didn't know that would mean becoming an inventor.

BOESEL: My plan was to find these products and buy them and be good to go. But what I just found was that there wasn't anything that quite fit my needs, so I had to figure it out on my own.

OPPMANN: The machines create clean energy and savings. Boesel says his electric bill is down 60 percent and his gym is 85 percent more efficient than other gyms the same size.

A workout with a smaller carbon footprint at a smaller gym may not be for everyone.

BOESEL: If you want basketball courts and swimming pools and hundreds of different kinds of machines, and a wasteful facility and trainers trying to sell you stuff all the time, then you should go to a big gym.

OPPMANN: But people working out here don't seem to mind.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're going to work out -- I try to anyway -- so you might as well do something extra useful at the same time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because you look at what it's doing for this building, and you're like so concentrated on your watts. Man, I'm powering so much in this place.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think a lot of people have probably thought about it before, like a hamster running in a wheel. Like, oh, why don't we harness this? I know very few people have ever done anything about it.

OPPMANN: Boesel said the concept is catching on with offers to franchise and sell the green machines to hotel gyms.

BOESEL: Somebody like me is a really good example. I had the idea, I tried it, it worked. And now we just have to refine it and get it to the point where it's usable in all of the equipment.

OPPMANN: So that someday everyone will be able to have a workout that's good for them and the planet.

Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Portland.

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