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Search for Missing 'Cult'; Sarah Shourd Back Home; Igor Closes in on Bermuda

Aired September 19, 2010 - 14:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: America's pastime. The resilience of baseball, its players, and the foibles of both, while filmmaker Ken Burns goes back to the ballpark. This hour, a look at "The Tenth Inning."

And in our 4:00 p.m. Eastern hour, it's a worldwide problem, human trafficking, how a Mexican girl was lured to the United States and forced into prostitution.

And at 5:00 p.m. Eastern, healthy eating on a strict budget. Dr. Sanjay Gupta gets advice from a famous French chef.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Our top story, an urgent search is under way in southern California right now. Eight children are among the missing of a cult-like group. What makes this so urgent is California authorities fear the group may have been planning a mass suicide.

Steve Whitmore is the spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. He's joining me right now on the phone.

So give me an idea why this is so alarming. What evidence have you located that this group might be doing something that would imperil everyone's lives?

STEVE WHITMORE, SPOKESPERSON, LOS ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: That's a very good question, and I'll certainly answer that.

The first thing I want to say is that no crime has been committed. Now, why is that significant? If, indeed there is the off chance that any of this group is listening to you or viewing your program, that nobody is in trouble. Please, just alert the authorities that you're safe and sound.

Now, to answer your question, there were belongings found. There were cell phones, important documents. There were notes that were written that were talking about -- that could lead people to think that perhaps that they were going to an afterlife.

There were notes that talked about meeting Jesus, talking about deceased relatives, soon to meet up. I'm paraphrasing, of course. This is not an incantation of what exactly they said. But in essence, the feeling was this needs to be addressed and it needs to be addressed right now. At about 1:45 yesterday, they were reported missing by two gentlemen, and those gentlemen told us that their wives, one of their wives especially, may, in fact, be under the influence of this cult-like group leader. So they were concerned. And we are right now searching.

It's Palmdale, which is in northern Los Angeles County. It's a massive geographic challenge. We have people on horseback, we have people in the air. We have our major crimes bureau tracking down leads.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: So I think we're looking at the image of one of the people who reportedly is with this group based on what you say, a family's description, saying they were a little concerned that she and others may be in trouble.

WHITMORE: Yes, that's true. They came and said that they may be under the influence of this cult-like group leader and there may be some problems ahead.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: OK. So, Steve, I'm wondering, too, this group, reportedly they were in a prayer meeting earlier yesterday morning, correct? And from there, they, what, got into a couple of vans and then took off?

Now, where were these notes located that you're speaking of?

WHITMORE: Yes, they were in a purse, a large container purse that one of the -- the husband of the wife -- the wife left the purse with the husband and asked for the husband, if you will, to pray over the purse. The husband became curious, looked inside the purse.

When these belongings, cash, notes and cell phones, were discovered, that happened early in the morning. They came, reported it to us, and we began the search.

WHITFIELD: OK. And how large is your search? How do you know the distance, the radius in which to look?

WHITMORE: Well, it's a grid that search and rescue -- and because of L.A. County's diverse geography, we're certainly abreast of it and we're certainly skilled in doing this. But it is a large geographic area. So, you start from point A, from where it begins, homes, neighborhoods, residents, and work outward. And that's exactly what's going on right now.

WHITFIELD: Description of vehicles, anything like that that you're putting out for the public's help?

WHITMORE: Yes. There's a white Toyota, there's a minivan, a Villager. There's a Toyota Tundra truck which is silver. And all of that is available.

If anybody locates or sees the vehicles, sees this group or these individuals, contact the authorities immediately.

WHITFIELD: All right. Very fascinating, the search for five adults and eight children in the vehicles you described --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITMORE: One more thing, if I may. The children are ages between 3 and 17.

WHITFIELD: All right.

WHITMORE: So please contact authorities. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much.

Steve Whitmore of L.A. County Sheriff's Department.

Again, a white Toyota, a minivan -- I know very vague descriptions -- and a Toyota Tundra truck. All of these vehicles possibly together as they look for these 13 individuals.

We'll keep you updated on that.

Meantime, to politics now. And former senior Bush adviser Karl Rove wants an explanation about a candidate's comments about witchcraft. Of course he's not the only one waiting to hear Delaware Senate hopeful Christine O'Donnell's explanation about her comments made on a television show back in 1999 that she dabbled in witchcraft when she was younger.

Here is what she said on the show "Politically Incorrect" with Bill Maher back at the time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE O'DONNELL (R), DELAWARE SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: I dabbled into witchcraft. I never joined a coven. But I did --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait a minute. You were a witch?

BILL MAHER, HOST, "POLITICALLY INCORRECT": Yes, she was a witch.

O'DONNELL: I didn't join a coven. I didn't join a coven. Let's get this straight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait a minute. I love this. You were a witch. You're going, "Halloween's bad."

O'DONNELL: I was a witch.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, wait a minute. How could you be a witch?

O'DONNELL: But that's exactly why, because I dabbled into witchcraft. I hung around people who were doing these things.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Having fun? O'DONNELL: I'm not making this stuff up. I know what they told me they do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, what do they do?

O'DONNELL: And one of my dates -- one of my dates, my first date --

(CROSSTALK)

MAHER: Wait. I want to hear about this.

O'DONNELL: One of my first dates with a witch was on a satanic altar, and I didn't know it. And there was a little blood there and stuff like that.

MAHER: That was a date?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your first date was on a satanic altar?

O'DONNELL: Yes, I know. We went to a movie, and then, like, had a little midnight picnic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Again, that was Christine O'Donnell on an appearance in 1999. But recently, Maher aired the clip on his HBO show. CNN reached out to O'Donnell's camp. We've received no comment. O'Donnell swept to victory in Delaware's Republican Senate primary just last week with backing from the Tea Party movement.

Rove said her victory did little good for the party. Appearing on "Fox News Sunday" today, he said she can't ignore her witchcraft comment. Meantime, she canceled her scheduled appearances on at last two Sunday talk shows today.

All right. After more than a year in an Iranian prison, Sarah Shourd is home in the United States. She arrived this morning at Dulles Airport, outside Washington, and she is scheduled to speak to the media in New York in just about one hour from now.

CNN's Susan Candiotti joins us live now.

Susan, what a journey she has had.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, a long one after spending more than 13 months in an Iranian prison.

Here is what we do know, Fred.

We will be hearing from Sarah Shourd for the very first time since she arrived on U.S. soil. Of course, she's only been here for a few hours, but nevertheless, we will getting her thoughts about that, and also probably a bit about what it is like to leave behind her companions, her fiance, Shane Bauer, and Josh Fattal, who remain in prison in Iran. We do know that she is not going to be taking any questions. At least that's what we're being told. However, the mothers of Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal will be answering questions after Sarah makes her comments.

Of course, freedom for her came with a price. She had to leave behind her companions, of course. And also, her mother says she is leaving with a serious potential health problem because her daughter found a lump in one of her breasts. There is also another kind of price: $500,000 in bail was paid in order to get her released from that Iranian prison.

We do believe that she is going to be sticking to a prepared statement much like she did in Oman on Saturday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH SHOURD, FREED AMERICAN HIKER: Your country, with the first breath of my freedom, the sweet smell of sandalwood, and the chance to stand by the ocean listening to the waves. I think the good, hospitable people of Oman for your support and ask you to please, please extend your prayers to my fiance Shane and my friend Josh. Insha Allah (ph), they will soon be free.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: Which in Arabic means, "God willing, they will be freed."

Now, the timing of her arrival and release may or may not be accidental. In terms of the timing of the start this week's of the U.N.'s General Assembly, there might be demonstrations to urge a humanitarian release of Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal -- Fred.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Hurricane Igor is hours from Bermuda, but big waves and hurricane-force gusts are already there. This is what it looked like along the coast of Warwick Parish when iReporter Debbee May was filming there. Beautiful images.

But right now our Reynolds Wolf is braving the elements in Elbow Beach.

Oh, boy. It is pretty nasty. When is landfall, or are you experiencing those outer bands right now?

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're dealing with the outer bands. In fact, we started dealing with some of those just last night, Fredricka.

I'm here with CNN photojournalist Steve Sorek (ph). And from what you can see, the swaying palm trees behind me, down there in the distance, where visibility has been reduced down to about a quarter of a mile due to the heavy rainfall coming in from Igor, you can just barely make out Elbow Beach. Conditions are going to get worse. The center of the storm still about 140 miles from this exact location. But as you mentioned, it looks like the bands have been coming through.

It looks also from the latest forecast that the center of the storm is going to push just to the west of Bermuda. That in mind, though, we're going to be hit with the strongest parts, that northeast corner of the storm, which is going to bring some of the heaviest rainfall, some pounding surf. At the same time, some strongest winds.

Winds here about the 60 to 65 mile an hour range at times. What we're dealing now, maybe 20, 30, maybe a 40-mile-per-hour gust.

We have gusts at the airport though that have been reported much higher. So I'll tell you, it's been an amazing day.

Now, getting around the island has been very tough. They've closed down the causeway, many of the roads have been shut down. However, we had a chance to get out and explore, and this is what we found.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF: Here in Bermuda, we're feeling the effects of the storm. It's hard to believe we've been following this hurricane since September 8th off the coast of Africa. It's cut its way across the Atlantic, getting closer to Bermuda, and now the outer bands, the strongest winds, the heaviest waves are right here on the doorstep of this island.

I'm coming to you from Astwood Cove, Bermuda. This area is getting jack hammered by Hurricane Igor here in Bermuda. And I'll tell you, the strong part (ph) of the storm is yet to come.

We've been pounded by some heavy rainfall, some immense waves that keep battering the shoreline. The wind has been very strong at times, tropical storm force, with some hurricane-force gusts that have been coming on shore.

If we pan over just a little bit you can see just the sheer power of these things pounding up against the rocks. It doesn't matter which direction you go. It's really a sight to see, white caps as far as you can go in the horizon. And, of course, closer to shore, you see all that foam.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF: Understandably, the city of Hamilton is a ghost town. Take a look at this video.

You can see the streets fairly empty, save for a few people and a motorcycle here or there. There are a few cars out on the street, just a few sightseers. Many of them have returned home, understandably so, and about 6,000 of them without power.

The island is home to roughly 67,000. As the evening wears on, we're going to see this storm get closer and stronger. Winds are going to be coming in, and with that we're going to deal with more power outages.

The storm is expected to pass as we get into the evening hours and into tomorrow. And I can tell you that once it moves away, as we get into Monday, getting into Tuesday, things will slowly get back to normal. And then, Fredricka, the cleanup begins.

Let's send it back to you in Atlanta.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Reynolds Wolf. Appreciate that, as folks there in Bermuda brace for Igor.

All right. Young girls in trouble. They are being taken advantage of by adults, and many of them end up for sale on the Internet.

CNN's Amber Lyon takes a look at the staggering numbers and introduces us to one mother who is dealing with the reality of her daughter's disappearance.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMBER LYON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK. So where are we headed right now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going upstairs to her bedroom. She's a normal 12-year-old -- Hannah Montana, the Jonas Brothers.

LYON: Do you sleep in her bed at night?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do, just so I can feel -- basically have that connection.

LYON (voice-over): A mother's anguish. Her 12-year-old daughter lured away by a pimp on her way home from school in April. She's then sold for sex on Craigslist before the site closed its adult services section. She's also trafficked on another Web site, backpage.com.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A friend of mine told me to look on Craigslist, and it almost blew my mind. I really didn't believe what I saw. She was there with a wig on. She had on a purple negligee.

LYON (on camera): Your 12-year-old daughter?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. And the other one was just her rear end. I mean, she was bent over.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody wants to know when you look at a Web site and you see a list of prostitutes, how many of them are children?

ERNIE ALLEN, NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN: Nobody knows what the real numbers are.

LYON (voice-over): Back in June, we asked Craigslist to estimate the number of potentially underage trafficking victims in its adult services ad. Their answer: "effectively zero."

ERNIE ALLEN, NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN: That's not true. We have been able to find, locate, and return home 54 missing kids on Craigslist. Now, that is a tiny fraction of what the total scope of the problem is. We found 12 kids on Backpage.

LYON: The national Center for Missing and Exploited Children gave us current missing child posters, all being sold for sex.

(on camera): There are 52 missing persons posters behind me representing 52 girls, all under age 18, all missing right now -- Christina, Monica, Rachel. And The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children says all 52 of these girls are being sex trafficked. Erica, Ashley, Nicole. The vast majority of them being sold on the Internet.

We've got white girls here, black girls here, Hispanic girls, Asian girls. The youngest girl on this wall went missing when she was 13 years old. A lot of these have something in common. She may be in the company of an adult male. Over here, Christina may be in the company of an adult male. In this case, that adult male is most likely the pimp.

(voice-over): A group based in Georgia called The Future not a Past commissioned a study. They were focusing on the men who try to buy sex online with underage girls.

KAFFIE MCCULLOUGH, A FUTURE NOT A PAST: We wanted to know, what's the scope of this problem in Georgia? And to me, the results were staggering -- 7,200 men a month buying sex from adolescent girls. It just took my breath away.

LYON: There's no legal obligation for Web sites to report ads that might involve underage prostitution. Backpage.com told CNN the site includes links to help users notify The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children if they identify potential abuses. And back in 2008, Craigslist promised to, quote, "work tirelessly in tandem with key non-profits" and agreed to report ads to The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children when they seemed to involve adolescents.

But in a period of 15 months, Craigslist only reported 132 ads. That's 132 out of more than 700,000 adult services ads that it rejected. Ads that could have provided vital leads about children being bought and sold.

And that 12-year-old girl we told you about at the beginning, by chance she called home just as we were speaking with her mother.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You should be home with your family, with your friends, with the people that love you.

LYON: The first time they'd spoken in the two weeks since the little girl had vanished. Police rescued the 12-year-old girl and arrested a 42-year-old man and charged him with human trafficking. One girl rescued out of thousands.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you doing? Just please, step away.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: That was Amber Lyon reporting.

September is Stop Human Trafficking Month. And coming up later today, we'll have more on this growing problem and we'll see how girls are being tricked into coming to the U.S. from other countries and being forced into selling sex. That's straight ahead in our 4:00 Eastern hour.

And American baseball in the 21st century.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE TENTH INNING")

PEDRO MARTINEZ, PITCHER: First of all, I'm confident. And I know people misjudge that. People might say he's cocky. I'm fearless, intense. Some people might say, "He's mean."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. That's a clip from a new television documentary called "The Tenth Inning." Filmmaker Ken Burns picks up where his earlier documentary about the national pastime left off, and he'll talk to us about this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Who doesn't love baseball? Don't you remember watching that nine-episode baseball documentary on public television? Well, believe it or not, that was 16 years ago, and a lot has happened since then.

Later this month, filmmaker Ken Burns will bring us up to date with a sequel "The Tenth Inning." Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE TENTH INNING")

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): For the land of the free and the home of the brave

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): As the tumultuous 20th century drew to a close and a new millennium began, the game of baseball, now more than 150 years old, remained remarkably unchanged.

(END VIDEO CLIP, "THE TENTH INNING")

WHITFIELD: Ken Burns joining us now from New York. Good to see you.

KEN BURNS, FILMMAKER: Nice to see you.

WHITFIELD: You're becoming kind of our resident documentarian that we love to have.

(LAUGHTER)

BURNS: Thanks for having me back. WHITFIELD: Well, this is beautiful, "The Tenth Inning," whether are you a baseball fan or not. And if you're not, you're going to become one after watching this series.

So what it was that you wanted to address that you didn't in your first series?

BURNS: Well, you would think that nine episodes, nine innings, 18.5 hours would be enough, but the last bit of action we described in that series was the '92 World Series. We came out in '94, in September, fully expecting to see a pennant race and looking forward to the post- season, and there was a strike.

And so what's happened is that the last two decades, the '90s and the '00s, have been among the most consequential not only in American history, but in our national pastime, which we think reflects the country as a whole. So you've got the strike, you have the steroid scandal, you have the resilience of the game, you have inter-league play, the wild card, the rise of Latin players -- those were kids playing in the Dominican Republic in bare feet with 2 x 2s and balls made out of rags wrapped with cord. I mean, incredible love of the game.

And so Lynn Novak (ph), who was the co-producer with me originally, and I went back and said, you know, we've got to bring this up to date. As much as it sort of looks at the dirty laundry, the steroids scandal, the good news is the game is never stronger, never better. And we think we've given fans of the game and people, as you say, who aren't fans a reason to get back to the game, to continue to love it, and to put the steroids scandal into perspective.

WHITFIELD: And you really do delve into the relationship, whether it's the relationship between the fan and the game, the fan and the players, but also the players and their family members, whether it's Bobby Bonds, that relationship -- Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonds, or whether it's the relationship between a player and his vulnerabilities to alcohol, to even drugs.

BURNS: Well, we live in a media culture and we're saturated 24/7, as you know better than me, with information. And yet, too often this is sort of a binary response. It's good or bad, it's black or white, it's red state, it's blue state, whatever it is. And we forget to select for the complications.

So, we felt that Barry Bonds, one of the poster boys of the steroids scandal, is still one of the greatest people ever to play baseball, and maybe among the greatest ever. I mean, certainly of the last 20 years, he's the best player.

So let's delve into it and find out the kind of person that makes these choices. Not to excuse it, but to complicate it. When you know more, it's always better, and that's what we wanted to do with every aspect. Not just the strike and steroids, but all the good stuff in the game as well -- Atlanta's remarkable rise with their trio of pitchers, Glavine and Maddux and Smoltz; Joe Torre being able to tame the Bronx Zoo; the homerun contest; where these Latin players come from; 9/11, and how baseball played a role in helping the country come back; the Red Sox remarkable come-from-behind victory in 2004; and dozens of other stories that aren't just about baseball. This is the greatest game that's ever been invented.

People don't go up and down the field like a hockey rink or a basketball court or soccer field or football field. There is an amazing poetry to this game and it's the longest game in our history.

And we just wanted to come back and sort of say and then the story goes on.

WHITFIELD: And among the voices in this poetry as you put it, you've got some notable, you know, names, whether they -- in the sports world or entertainment world.

Chris Rock, you've got Bob Costas, Keith Olbermann, all of them have added to this narrative of what baseball is, and the temptations.

Let's take a listen to how one kind of simplifies, for lack of a better word, simplifies what the temptation of steroids all about for a player in major league baseball?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's my belief that if the means existed in the '20s, that Babe and his friends would have jumped in both feet and so would Mays and Mantle in the people in the '50s.

If you're looking at that and saying to yourself, I'm 35. I'm making $3 million a year as a backup infielder for the San Diego Padres, and if I take this stuff, I can play another five years and make another $15 million for my family and for the rest of my life, why would you not do it?

You would have done anything to get to the big leagues before, you will do anything to stay in the big leagues now. I think that's both very human and also very true of anyone with the kind of personality who gets to the top of an athletic profession.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: I heard that, just as anybody would hear that. It is so powerful. It's simple -

BURNS: Yes.

WHITFIELD: -- and you totally get it at that point.

BURNS: Yes, these are choices. Difficult choices that were taking place in every single locker room and now as we look at it. You know, we live in a pharmacological culture.

You know, we give our kids pills to do better in school. We take pills to do better in the bedroom or to go to sleep or to wake up and suddenly we're shocked, shocked when our best players take it.

Again, not to excuse it, but to understand the kind of way in which the culture influences baseball and baseball influences the culture. We think that by giving you more information, you can understand.

And the good news is, the steroid scandal is over. The 50-home run season is a rarity again, and it only disrupted home run totals and lengthen pitcher's careers. Nobody hit 400. Nobody had a 56-game hitting streak. No pitcher won 30 or 35 or 40 games in a season.

So a lot of the essential things, a 300-hitter means the same thing to my daughter, Olivia, as it does to my great, great grandfather Abraham Burns who fought in the civil war.

And there's nothing, Fredricka, in American life that you can say that about so baseball is still that -- that comforting presence in our lives.

WHITFIELD: Wow, and you know, Ken, something else that really struck me too, not that, you know, anyone wants to excuse it and say it's OK, when you talk about cheating and sportsmanship.

You talk about a lot of beautiful highlights in the sport of baseball, but one of the low lights, the cheating. But, you know, an interesting line, your narrator says, you can still go to the hall of fame despite, quote, "doctoring the ball."

So if this was so ingrained in baseball then what's the big deal particularly right now with Yankee's Derek Jeter and the baseball bat, I mean, is that really so ingrained? Can you bring that to this current situation?

BURNS: Yes, we do, indeed. Yes, of course you can and that's a really good point. I mean the steroids are qualitatively and quantitatively more so set the steroids aside. That's really cheating.

But all through the history of the game, we love the lovable Rogues like Derek Jeter who's pretending putting on the Academy Award winning performance that it hit his hand, and not the bat. When the replay clearly showed that and he was wonderful in that.

And Gaylord Perry and Whitey Ford have used the gesture in the hall of fame and we know they gunked up the ball. This is a game in which you steal bases. There's always people trying to get an edge.

What we felt in the steroids era is that it crossed the line and the thing is, is that since the beginning of the national game in the mid 19th Century, people have been saying -- we had a quote from a guy in 1858, named Pete O'Brien said, "you know, they don't play baseball the way they used to when I was a kid."

And so he was worried about people being paid to play baseball and then we've had gambling scandals. We've had amphetamines. We kept African-Americans out of the game.

So if you want to attach asterisks, which I don't agree with to the steroids scandal, you have to attach them to every other era of the game.

WHITFIELD: Well, that's incredible. Well, no one makes a documentary like you. Ken Burns, thanks so much. We appreciate you for taking the time out to talk about "The Tenth Inning." Appreciate it.

BURNS: My pleasure. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Of course, it airs September 28th and 29th on PBS. Check your local listings.

All right, Guinness World Record fans, there are some wacky new entries we want tell you all about. One of them involves this feisty Jack Russell Terrier. Aren't all Jack Russells kind of feisty?

And looking for someone ugly to date? We'll have just the place for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: OK. The people who keep track of all these interesting and sometimes kind of weird lists just have released the Guinness World Record 2011 edition. It has some pretty whacky entries. That's the good stuff we kind of look forward to.

That's where Josh Levs comes in. We count own you for the whacky, the stuff to make us laugh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is my like dessert. I look forward to doing this show because I get to pick the most fun stuff.

All right, so one thing on here, the animal at least likely to be named Fluffy. Longest snake in the world. Take a look at the picture. That is one python.

WHITFIELD: No.

LEVS: Look at the thing. It's a reticulated python from the Columbus Zoo in Powell, Ohio. It is 24 feet long, 7.3 meters long, one snake.

WHITFIELD: That's huge. My God.

LEVS: What's fluffy about it? I don't see the fluffy.

WHITFIELD: That's the name? That's hilarious.

LEVS: I love it. Something more likely to be named Fluffy, you were saying before the break, this little Jack Russell terrier.

WHITFIELD: Yes, that's what I've been expecting.

LEVS: See, that's what you are thinking to be name Fluffy.

WHITFIELD: Even though, you know, it's not really a good name for a terrier.

LEVS: Take a look at this terrier. This terrier named Anastasia, in California, in the book for popping 100 balloons in the fastest time by a dog 44.49 seconds. They'll add a record for anything. Apparently when Anastasia sees a balloon in public, she goes wild and likes to pop all of them.

WHITFIELD: I'm sure that can be misinterpreted. Mad dog, mad dog! They have a lot of energy.

LEVS: They do and apparently, there's now a record for popping balloons if you're a terrier.

WHITFIELD: Is that a category that was created for this one? Because surely there was not a previous record that this dog broke? That has to be a one-time thing.

LEVS: Well, now there will be competition. Everyone with a terrier with a terrier will try to beat it. It's a thing. This is pretty cool. This is also one you wouldn't think would be in there. The oldest acrobatic salsa dancer in the world, take a look at her. This is a grandmother named Patty Jones.

WHITFIELD: Go, mama.

LEVS: From Star Bridge in England who scooped the title, 76. She has a retirement home in Spain and she apparently has been on an Argentinean show on dancing. Soon to be a great grandma now in the Guinness Book of World Record.

WHITFIELD: She's amazing. Go! 76.

LEVS: Go, grandma.

WHITFIELD: Brilliant.

LEVS: I'm so proud of her. I put the whole list on Facebook and Twitter. You can see all the record yourself maybe you'll be inspired. Maybe you want to break one of them.

WHITFIELD: And fast and you said acrobatic salsa.

LEVS: Acrobatic salsa, yes, 76 years old about to be a great grandmother.

WHITFIELD: Forget the tango. That's a little too mellow for me. I go for the acrobatic stuff.

LEVS: You didn't know you would be inspired by one of these wacky wild records, didn't you?

WHITFIELD: I am inspired by her. Maybe not the terrier, but I am inspired by her.

LEVS: Well, I'm flying to Ohio to meet Fluffy.

WHITFIELD: OK, there you go. That's a good source of inspiration too. All right, Josh, appreciate it. Thanks. Good to see.

All right, Microsoft's new web browser and a video game that's breaking sales records and creating plenty of buzz in the tech world. We'll tell you why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: OK. There's a new entry in the niche dating market. Who knew? Uglysmucks.com. joins the likes of bald men and those who admire them.

Winelovers meet.com or music mates. You going to get the idea. Ugly smucks is a dating site for people who consider themselves unattractive. It's the brainchild of a Canadian who wants to meet others just like himself.

Let's take a look at "Tech Time" because that what's time it is right now. We're taking a look at several new products that could change how you work and play online.

Joining us right now via Skype from Toronto, high-tech guru Marc Saltzman. All right, Mark. Good to see you. So let's start off with the Microsoft's new web browser, Internet Explorer 9.

MARC SALTZMAN, SYNDICATED TECHNOLOGY WRITER: Sure, speaking of ugly Canadians, of course, I love the --

WHITFIELD: Cutie pie Canadian. How about that?

SALTZMAN: OK, onto our tech news of the week. Let's get our geek on. I'll put the glasses on with the tape of the middle. Yes, Internet Explorer 9 debuted on Wednesday in San Francisco.

I was at the Microsoft event. So this is, you know, Microsoft's attempt to regain some of that lost market share to the likes of Firefox, Chrome and Safari.

First thing is that, it's much, much faster. It's first commercially available web browser that taps into your computer's hardware. It actually uses hardware acceleration or your graphics scarred to speed up performance.

Secondly, now you have the ability to pin websites to your task bar at the bottom of Windows so for example, CNN.com. If you drag and drop the web site onto the task bar, not only does it give you one- click access to CNN, but you can right mouse click and choose what section you want to go to.

As opposed to opening up the browser then going to CNN.com and so on and the third thing is because it uses HTML 5, a standard of programming language that there's really a nice aesthetics.

For example, the new Bing search site now has video playing in the background if you like, instead of a static picture so a lot of bells and whistles. The only catch is that you need to be riding either Windows Vista or Windows 7 to download the free Internet Explorer 9. You can go tobeautyoftheweb.com.

WHITFIELD: OK, and let's talk about Twitter. It has added new features to make it a little bit more high-def.

SALTZMAN: Right so if you're one of the 160 million Twitter users or tweeters, there are a few new features unveiled this week. Much anticipated features.

One of them is a right pane, a navigation window on the right side of the screen that gives you information such as, you know, who you follow, who follows you, your favorites, and perhaps more importantly, now media is embedded in that window.

Previously if you received a picture or let's say a YouTube video via Twitter, when you clicked on it, it opened up another web site and you had to go to YouTube.

So now it's all embedded in that window, which is clever and there's a few other bells and whistles. Another is the ability to see a tweeting or chat window just simply by scrolling down instead of having to click next or more so some new stuff for Twitter users.

WHITFIELD: Very fun stuff. All right, keeping it fresh, cutie pie Canadian, Marc Saltzman, appreciate that.

SALTZMAN: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Good to see you. All right, we're hoping to hear from the American hiker who is now back home on U.S. soil after her year-long ordeal in Iran. A live update coming up next.

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WHITFIELD: Time for a "CNN Equals Politics" update. We're keeping an eye on all the latest headlines on the CNN.com Political Ticker. Here is what's crossing right now.

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski says she was a victim of a smear campaign by the Tea Party Movement. She lost the Republican Senate primary to political newcomer Joe Miller. Miller was backed by the Tea Party Express. Murkowski says the group influenced the outcome with campaign lies and fabrications.

South Carolina's Jim DeMint says he is having a positive effect on the Republican's chances of regaining control of the Senate. DeMint has made headlines by breaking with party leaders to support candidates backed by the Tea Party Movement.

He directed money to Christine O'Donnell's campaign in Delaware. DeMint says that there is important new energy behind the upstart candidates.

And President Obama says the time for action is now for Americans to mobilize ahead of the midterm elections. He spoke at the Congressional Black Caucus' annual awards gala last night. He also said he needs lawmakers to help to invigorate constituencies to support Democrats in tough races.

Now, let's get the latest on Sarah Shourd's return to the United States. The American hiker held in Iran for more than a year arrived at Washington's Dulles Airport early this morning. She is scheduled to make a statement in New York in just a few minutes. Let's go to CNN national correspondent Susan Candiotti who joins us live. Susan --

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fred. The plan is for Sarah Shourd and her mother to make prepared comments and then actually to leave the room. So whether they will change that plan, we don't yet know.

After that, the mothers of Sarah's two companions, her fiance Shane Bower and Josh Fattal will take questions from reporters here. So whether Sarah will stray from her prepared comments, we don't yet know.

A short time ago, she did arrive at the hotel and CNN was able to capture a very poignant moment as she walked into the hotel, holding hands with her mother and with the other two mothers as well. She made no comments as she walked by.

Now, in her statement, we'll have to see whether she will continue to be very cautious and not comment on the fate of Shane Bower and Josh Fattal. But we're wondering, will she talk about her treatment in prison?

Will she address that all exactly what happened before all three were arrested as they were hiking near that border in Iran? And exactly what she saw and she heard in her more than 13 months in an Iranian prison? We'll soon find out the answers to all of those questions at the top of the hour -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Susan. We'll look forward to that. In the meantime, we're going be checking in with our Jacqui Jeras coming up as well. We're going to look at the workweek in weather and see how Hurricane Igor is doing as well right after this.

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WHITFIELD: All right, President Barack Obama is praising a milestone in the Gulf oil disaster. The Makonda Well is officially dead.

Federal officials announced today, the well been cemented shut and the government's point man for the disaster, Thad Allen, says that means the well no longer poses a threat to the Gulf. This comes almost five months after the explosion that unleashed the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

All right, Jacqui Jeras is in the Weather Center, hard to believe after all this time, finally maybe some resolution to that end of the problem.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I think that will make a whole lot of people happy today, won't it? WHITFIELD: Anything else that will make people happy?

JERAS: Nervous. You know, there's a lot of good weather across the U.S., but as you know, we don't do good weather. We do extreme weather here in the CNN Weather Center.

WHITFIELD: Let's see what's happening at hurricane headquarters.

JERAS: We don't call it the hurricane headquarters for nothing. All right, we'll start out with our hurricane. That's what's going on today. This is really huge, huge storm. There you can see Igor, producing 85-mile-per-hour winds now. This is a category 1 hurricane.

We've done a fair amount of weakening in the last 24 hours and that's some great news. But this is still a huge storm and certainly impacting Bermuda. We've been seeing tropical storm force winds pretty much all day long already.

And we're going to continue to see those, and the hurricane- force winds can really arrive any time. We had a few gusts, but the sustained hurricane-force winds will be arriving shortly.

Here's the forecast track and based on everything that I've seen, best estimate, you know, it's not a sure thing. We're still talking about later on today. But best estimate, I think it will stay just to the west of Bermuda. They're still going to get lashed with those winds and the waves have just been incredible.

And here is one of the things I've been looking at to give you an idea. This is from the Bermuda weather service. Thanks to them for letting us use their radar and take a look at what's going on over in this area. I think that's the center of circulation. Bermuda is over here, and the storm is moving north.

Those are signs I like to see. Signs I don't like to see, I'll take a trip to Taiwan. Take a look at these pictures that we have for you. This was a Typhoon Bonape, struck Taiwan earlier this morning, winds about 120 miles per hour, more than three feet of rain has been reported in parts of Taiwan. Just incredible system and that's moving northward now and heading up towards China. We'll continue to track that system as well.

WHITFIELD: Violent storms.

JERAS: Yes, scary stuff, three feet of rain.

WHITFIELD: Extraordinary stuff.

JERAS: Amazing.

WHITFIELD: That's very extreme. All right, thank you so much, Jacqui.

JERAS: Sure.

WHITFIELD: OK. They are off, 67 balloons floating high above St. Louis, Missouri. You are looking at the 38th Annual Great Forest Park balloon race. This year, winds kept the pilots from straying too far from the park. Organizers say nearly 150,000 people turned out to watch. Nice day for that.

Sarah Shourd is scheduled to make a statement to reporters at any moment now. In fact it is happening right now in New York. She is being introduced there. She's just arrived back from Iran by way of Oman and then Dubai and then to Washington Dulles Airport this morning and now to New York.

We saw some pictures earlier where she was walking in the hallway with her mother as well as the mothers of the other two Americans who continue to be held in Iran. We'll take a short break in a couple of minutes, and we'll return to New York on Sarah Shourd's statements, right after this.