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Broward County, Florida, Schools on Lockdown; Students Protest Tuition Hike in London; Little Love Lost at the G-20; Hot Off The Political Ticker; Entertainment News

Aired November 10, 2010 - 11:59   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Stephanie, I'm sorry I hustled you back to your seat and we've got to end this because I've got to get everyone to Pembroke Pines, Florida, where we're getting an update on the lockdown of the schools in Broward County.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

CAPT. DAN RAFOSKY, PEMBROKE PINES FLORIDA POLICE: That e-mail was from the person who we believe is the threat. He indicated in his e-mail that something big will happen at a government building, maybe a post office, maybe even a school.

As of this time we have no confirmation as to the identity of a specific person. We're following up numerous leads as we speak. All agencies in Broward County have been updated as to this information, and we will update you on that information as our case progresses.

There's a public information rumor control hotline that's been set up. The number is 954-GET-INFO. That's 954-GET-INFO. The public can call in to that number and receive information as we make it available. I must emphasize at this time that all of the children in the schools in Pembroke Pines and, to my information, throughout Broward County, are safe at this time. They're very well protected and there's no credible threat.

The schools are all on lockdown as a precaution. That limits the movement of students in the schools and keeps the environment more safe.

Later today, the school board will be releasing information concerning today's school dismissal.

QUESTION: Captain, was this call made by the wife to the radio station initially?

RAKOFSKY: That's our information, yes.

QUESTION: So there was an e-mail and there was a call. Were you able to find -- so you were not able to find where this person resides?

RAKOFSKY: We're following that up right now, and as soon as we can find that out we're going to have --

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Any indication why the wife would call a radio station first and not authorities?

RAKOFSKY: We believe that the --

QUESTION: That is correct, right? She called the radio station?

RAKOFSKY: -- the wife called the radio station, the radio station let us know. I believe the wife is trying to influence the radio station to influence her husband to not do anything.

QUESTION: Which radio station was it?

RAKOFSKY: We're not releasing that at this time.

QUESTION: Can you go over the initial scenario again? We were having some audio problems.

RAKOFSKY: Sure. Initially, we received information on a threat from a local radio station indicating that a woman had called in this morning saying that her husband was going to respond to a school in Pembroke Pines and start shooting.

QUESTION: And obviously, you took that seriously.

RAKOFSKY: We took that very seriously. All of the schools went to lockdown in the city of Pembroke Pines, and officers -- extra officers were sent to all the schools to help protect that school.

QUESTION: Why is has the blanket lockdown been extended to all the schools in Broward County?

RAKOFSKY: That was a decision made by the school board, and probably had something to do with the non-specific information. You know, the first information we got confined the information to Pembroke Pines, but when the -- when we saw the e-mail and it mentioned Broward County, they chose to act on that.

QUESTION: How long will this lockdown continue for?

RAKOFSKY: That's undecided as of now, but it will continue as long as it needs to, to make sure that all the students are safe.

QUESTION: Isn't it easily traceable, an e-mail address?

RAKOFSKY: We are working on -- every possible resource working on that right now.

QUESTION: Are you in touch with this woman, Captain?

RAKOFSKY: We are not.

QUESTION: Do you know who the woman is?

RAKOFSKY: We are not at this time. We are trying to make contact right now.

QUESTION: So what do you think the radio station could have done to influence her husband? What was that thought process?

RAKOFSKY: I have no idea.

QUESTION: She was thinking if they said something on the radio, it would straighten her husband out or something?

RAKOFSKY: That's what we think.

QUESTION: So you no idea if the husband is some kind of wacko or anything like that?

RAKOFSKY: I don't know.

QUESTION: What about the e-mail?

RAKOFSKY: Just what I had already mentioned.

QUESTION: Has the FBI or other federal authorities been notified --

RAKOFSKY: They've all been notified. We're working with state, local and federal authorities to bring this to a very quick close, if possible.

Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Folks, guys, we're going to give periodic updates. So if you want to hang around, we'll try and get to you like every 30 --

HARRIS: OK. So let's do our best to recap what we know on this story.

Maybe 20 minutes ago, we began to report this story of 17 schools in Pembroke, Florida, that -- Pembroke Pines, Florida, that had been put on lockdown because of what was described as a credible threat. We have more details now.

The threat that led to the lockdown of the Pembroke Pines schools was actually phoned into a local radio station, and then there was a subsequent e-mail threat that led officials to extend the lockdown to all of the schools in Broward County. And that's a pretty sizeable number there. Let's see, over 257,000 students, 230 traditional schools, and 69 charter schools a part of that extended lockdown.

Our Rich Brooks (sic) is working this story for us right now, and we're going to get Rich on the phone as soon -- Rich Phillips, I'm sorry. Rich Phillips is in Florida, one of our CNN producers, and we're going to get Rich on the line as soon as we can to get to more of the really salient points of that news conference in just a couple minutes right here on the CNN NEWSROOM. OK. It is getting, shall I say, curiouser and curiouser. A lot more guesses, but still no answers as to what crossed the skies in southern California on Monday. A mistaken missile?

The Defense Department has no reports of any launch, but experts are now weighing in on what it's not. Are you following me here?

Josh Levs has more details -- Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What do you think, Tony? Missile? Plane? Missile?

HARRIS: I think some kind of -- I don't know.

LEVS: I'm about to play you some sound from two different experts that we've talked to. One of them says that it's absolutely obviously a plane, and the other one says it's absolutely obviously not.

HARRIS: Oh my.

LEVS: Let's first get back to the video so I can talk to you about what everyone's talking about. What you keep hearing is that it could actually be an optical illusion --

HARRIS: Yes.

LEVS: -- a contrail. And I know a lot of people don't understand that. It's kind of like a Rorschach test to be able to se this.

The idea here is this -- if instead of taking off from the ground and shooting up to the sky, if, instead, it's actually flying toward you, and it leaves this condensation trail, contrail, behind it, over time that condensation broadens out a little bit, gets a little thicker. The farther back you go, the thicker that line would be. But to our eye, when we see a thicker line, we think it means closer to the ground.

So, the idea that this optical illusion is that the plane is actually coming closer toward you as the line gets smaller. You know when you're standing on the ground, you look off to the horizon, it feels like the Earth is flat and the sky goes down. So what you really would be seeing is something farther away coming toward you.

That's what we keep hearing about, this idea of an optical illusion, a contrail. A lot of experts think that's what it is.

Here is one of them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN PIKE, DEFENSE EXPERT: The vehicle hit (ph), the tip of the contrail, is moving far too slowly to be a rocket. Since the contrail is eliminated by the sunset, you're able to see hundreds of miles of it all the way to the horizon. This creates an optical illusion that it was fired out of the ocean a few dozen miles away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: All right. But I spoke with another expert who's a professor at MIT, who -- he studies these things and he teaches about them. He says there's no way this is an airplane. He has a very different idea.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THEODORE POSTOL, MIT PROFESSOR, SCIENCE, TECH & NATIONAL SECURITY: It certainly appears to be a missile that was shot into the air. The video appears to be tracking the object after what looks like a separation between two rocket stages.

There's a later part of the video that has a bright point of light followed by a very dilute contrail, not nearly as intense as the contrail at lower altitude. That's typical also for a rocket motor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: So we're hearing everything. And he also says if it's an airplane, why can't U.S. officials just say which one it was?

We have records of aircraft, especially in this post-9/11 world. We know where major aircraft are taking place. We're supposed to when they're taking off. And we're just getting no answers from the government, from all these different departments of the government. No answers.

We are hearing from some of you. Here's how you can weigh in. We're talking about it on Facebook and Twitter and at the blog. I'm at JoshLevsCNN.

I'll tell you, Tony, a lot of people with a lot of theories. We are still awaiting the hard, concrete facts here. Two things -- one, what is this thing? And two, why doesn't the government seem to know?

HARRIS: Yes. After hearing both of those possible explanations, now I really want to know. Now I'm really curious.

LEVS: There you go. It could be either one.

HARRIS: All right, Josh. Appreciate it. Thank you.

LEVS: All right.

HARRIS: Let's get back to our lead story now. CNN producer Rich Phillips is on the phone with me now. He's reporting on that school lockdown in Pembroke County, Florida.

And Rich, the news conference just wrapped up. And my understanding is that the first threat was actually phoned into a local radio station, the threat of violence. RICH PHILLIPS, CNN SR. PRODUCER: Yes, that's right, Tony. This is one that we're all kind of scratching our heads over, including the police, quite frankly, because the way this started was around 8:40 this morning, where the wife of a man called a radio station and told the radio station that her husband was going to go to a Pembroke Pines school and start shooting.

Now, she didn't call 911, she didn't call the police. She called the radio station.

Shortly thereafter, the police received an e-mail from they believe a man, who said to them in this e-mail -- again, to the radio station -- that "something big" was going to happen. And right now that's all police have to go on right now.

They've contacted the FBI, state and local authorities. Everybody's working this really hard, and the end result in this is a massive, massive shutdown --

HARRIS: Right.

PHILLIPS: -- or lockdown of literally the sixth largest school district in the country. And we're not just talking about a handful of schools, one or two, like we often do during the course of our news coverage.

HARRIS: Right. Right.

PHILLIPS: We're talking about 231 schools, 69 charter schools. And, Tony, this affects over 250,000 students right now.

So this is not your run-of-the-mill school lockdown by any stretch of the imagination. They're taking this seriously. And they hope to be able to brief us and update us with more as the day goes along.

HARRIS: Well, we may not know the answer to this next question yet, but, Rich, what's the process here when you lock down that many schools? We see this on a more isolated basis, where you have to go and completely sweep and check out a particular school that's been placed on lockdown.

That process now has to be played out over and across all of the schools in this county?

PHILLIPS: You know, the short answer, Tony, is yes.

HARRIS: Wow.

PHILLIPS: There are -- there is a police presence, we're told, at every school in the county. Again, we're talking about 300 schools, plus administrative offices. So this is not a small undertaking we're talking about.

HARRIS: That's amazing. And it started out as a phone threat, a phoned-in threat to a local radio station, and then an e-mail threat. All right, Rich. As you get more information, just give us a holler. We'll get you back on the air as quickly as possible.

Rich Phillips for us.

A student protest gets way out of hand today in London. We'll roll in some of the pictures of it.

CNN's Atika Shubert joining me now.

Atika, walk us through this. What actually happened? We understand that this started out as a peaceful protest of about 40,000 students over tuition fees going up considerably, and then things kind of went to hell.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. This was essentially a peaceful protest about tuition fees basically tripling. People used to pay $5,000 for tuition. Well, the government has taken the cap off that, and now universities can charge almost as much as $15,000 for tuition. So that was just too much for a lot of students.

So about 40,000 of them took to the streets. Mostly peaceful protests, but then it ended up with this, basically. A few of the protests got very violent and angry.

They tried to smash into the office for the government -- for the Conservative Party headquarters here. And what you're seeing here now is the last of the protesters essentially being pushed out of the building.

As you can see, riot police are trying to move people back and out of the way, trying to get more control of the situation. And, frankly, what the protesters have done is they have taken over this entire plaza, lighting bonfires, vandalizing.

You can see that they smashed right through the plate glass windows there, lighting firecrackers. They even managed to get into the building, get on top of the roof, and were throwing down fire extinguishers.

So it was really quite a chaotic scene here. But police do seem to have more control of the situation now.

And the question is, what is the government going to do about it? What is the message they're going to take from this? And, you know, is it going to change anything?

HARRIS: And, Atika, for a while there was a lot of hand-wringing because there just didn't seem to be in place a plan to handle the protests, and particularly as it started to grow in size. And I'm talking about a police presence.

SHUBERT: Well, this is the thing. There was a very minimal police protest at first. There's some question as to whether or not they simply underestimated -- HARRIS: Yes. Yes.

HARRIS: -- the amount of protesters that were going to be here today.

I know that when they first broke into the building here, there were hardly any police. In fact, there was one security guard that was there with a walkie-talkie trying to control the situation.

That does seem to have changed. A number of police obviously are here trying to push people out. But a lot of questions are going to be asked about, where were the police earlier?

HARRIS: Wow. It was pretty chaotic earlier. All right.

Atika Shubert for us.

Atika, good to see you. Thank you.

We have yet another breaking story we're learning about right now.

Susan Candiotti joins us on the phone with more information about that package bomb found almost two weeks ago at East Midlands Airport in England.

Susan, what are you learning?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Tony.

Well, we're learning today from a senior U.S. counterterrorism official telling CNN that that package bomb that was found, as you indicated, a good 12 years (sic) ago at East Midlands Airport in England was set to explode some six hours after it was found. Now, you'll remember, Tony, that last week, it was revealed that it was only about 17 minutes from exploding.

That information being released by senior officials in the U.K. However, this is new information coming out after authorities had more time to look over that PETN bomb that was contained in that parcel package, you'll recall --

HARRIS: Right.

CANDIOTTI: -- that was being shipped from Yemen originally, a UPS package in this case, that was stopped in England. They looked it over not once, but twice. And on the second inspection, that is when they discovered that there were explosives inside that printer cartridge.

Now, what's significant about this information is that it raises furthermore questions as to where the bomb was supposed to go off --

HARRIS: Yes. Yes.

CANDIOTTI: -- on the ground, in the plane. Now, this seems to indicate, given the time differences here, and the time it would take to fly from the U.K. to where the package was addressed in Chicago, authorities believe more and more that this was set to blow up the plane, as opposed to arriving in Chicago.

However, the question is still -- there are too many uncertainties here as to whether it would have gone off over the water or on approach to the United States, or immediately after landing. A lot of questions still surrounding this because we don't know precisely how long it would have taken for that plane to take off if it hadn't been delayed by inspection after inspection.

HARRIS: Exactly.

OK. Susan Candiotti for us with new information.

Susan, appreciate it. Thank you.

Jurors hear more testimony today from Elizabeth Smart about what she calls her nine months in hell.

We're live on that after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Jurors hear more testimony today from Elizabeth Smart about what she calls -- quoting now -- "my nine months in hell."

Smart was snatched from her bedroom in 2002 and held captive for nine months. She testifies for a third day in the trial of her accused kidnapper, Brian David Mitchell.

Correspondent Jean Casarez of "In Session" on our sister network, truTV, is covering the trial in Salt Lake City.

Jean, good to se you, as always.

Hey, I've got to tell you, this is -- well, I don't have to tell you. You know this for yourself. You're in the courtroom. This is really tough testimony. And I'm wondering, from your vantage point, how has Elizabeth Smart held up during her testimony?

JEAN CASAREZ, CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION," TRUTV: You know, I have seen a change in her personality just today. I want to tell you, she just stepped off the witness stand. Her testimony, minutes ago. It just ended.

But I saw a much more defiant Elizabeth Smart today, a bit sarcastic, some anger I heard from on the stand today. The other days she has been very quiet, but yet very pensive and very thoughtful, with very explicit answers.

You know, when I entered the courtroom today, I want to tell you also that they were taking Brian David Mitchell out of the courtroom at the moment I was entering because he sings all the time. And the judge tells him, "You have a constitutional right to be present, but if you sing I have to remove you." So there were six plainclothes agents that were around him in a huddle as they were walking down the courtroom hall. He was handcuffed to the back. He went into a room, and that is where he watches the trial.

But Elizabeth Smart today, on direct testimony, I think the government prosecutor was trying to anticipate the cross-examination by saying he was so into religion, but when did he ever help people? He never helped people. When did he give money to people? He never gave money to people in need.

At that Salvation Army dinner, did he help serve food to people? Did he help people there? "No, he didn't do anything. He was selfish. He was just into himself," she said.

Then, on cross-examination, just minutes ago -- it was a short cross-examination by the defense -- the defense attorney says to her, you know, "I remember you said that he was a light sleeper and that's why you didn't try to escape." So he's trying to show that maybe she wasn't held against her will.

HARRIS: Wow.

CASAREZ: Elizabeth said to him on the stand -- she said, "You know, I'm so glad you mentioned that, because back, last November, at the competency hearing, you refreshed my memory about him being a light sleeper. He was a light sleeper. He would get up. He'd go to the bathroom. He'd bounce. And maybe he would pray."

HARRIS: Wow.

Jean, so is Elizabeth Smart -- is she done? Is her testimony complete, direct and cross? Is she done?

CASAREZ: Yes. We never dreamed that the cross-examination would be so short. But the federal prosecutor was very gentle because this is the surviving victim.

And so there was not extensive cross-examination, just a few points. And now we're at break, but we'll be on to the next witness.

But remember, she always could be called again by the defense, as a defense witness. And you never know. A rebuttal case, she could be called again also.

HARRIS: And one more quick one for you. What kind of portrait of Brian David Mitchell is -- has emerged from Elizabeth Smart's testimony?

CASAREZ: Someone that was into sex and into alcohol on a daily basis. Someone that was only interested in themselves.

And she talked today as if she was preaching to the jury, and she said, "There is a God, and God is good. And God would never have someone kidnap me out of my own bed and take me and put me through what he did and what my parents went through. God would never do that."

HARRIS: Wow.

Jean Casarez. That is some powerful stuff.

Jean, appreciate it. Thank you.

We are following developments on those bombs disguised as toner cartridges shipped on planes. An update in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Got to tell you, he lost both his legs in combat, but Iraq War veteran Dale Beatty did not lose his drive to serve his country. The Purple Heart recipient now helps to run a group that modifies homes for disabled military men and women.

Photojournalist Jay McMichael was there as Beatty and his team from Purple Heart Homes went to work.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STAFF SGT. DALE BEATTY (RET.), IRAQ WAR VETERAN: I'm Staff Sergeant Dale Beatty, retired, from North Carolina. Playing drums with my band today, Southern Fried. Hopefully, we're going to rock these other bands off the stage.

A big part of getting back to living is doing (ph) therapy. I had to start playing drums again because I'd done that before.

Purple Heart Homes is a 501(c)(3) public charity founded by John Gallina and myself. And we are 100 percent veteran owned and operated. We're both combat-wounded veterans.

Today we're out here for a Vietnam veteran, Kevin Smith, who is looking at some decreased mobility.

KEVIN SMITH, VIETNAM WAR VETERAN: I've had 14 surgeries on my right knee, with three total knee replacements. I've had eight operations on my elbow, with two total elbow replacements. I've had three back operations, with steel plates and rods put in my back.

BEATTY: What we're doing here is building him an accessible ramp and a nice deck where he can get into his house. Coming down from his driveway, he has steps with no handrails, and he's probably looking at being in a wheelchair very soon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard about the project. I asked if anybody had volunteered for the landscaping, and the answer was no. So I volunteered.

BEATTY: This is probably about, I'd say, 60 hours of volunteer labor to get us to this point.

This is my office right here. Steve Jobs would like that, wouldn't he?

Most of our calls are really not veterans looking for something to be done for them, but veterans that want to say, hey, I want to contribute my time or effort, or my business specialty to what you guys are doing.

SMITH: Dale Beatty's a true hero. And to see the sacrifices that he's made for our country, and then turn around and say thank you, and to help other people that are not as fortunate as some, it's overwhelming.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: That's tough. You can catch more of these stories all week here on the CNN NEWSROOM. And tune in Saturday at 3:00 p.m. Eastern for a one-hour special. You can also visit CNN.com/veterans.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: You know, Hershey Kisses aren't going anywhere, but the 100-year-old factory that made all of that, that chocolate love, is closing its doors. Factory workers signed off on the deal despite hundreds of their own likely losing their jobs. CNNmoney.com's Poppy Harlow explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM (voice-over): Built around Milton Hershey's chocolate company more than a century ago, there is perhaps no company town in America as iconic as Hershey, Pennsylvania.

ANNOUNCER: Here's a job I'd go for. Kiss inspector.

HARLOW: But as it often goes in places like this, many jobs that built this town have been shipped out.

(on camera): How did you feel the day that you were told your plant was closing and you'd lose a little under half of your colleagues? What was the first thought that came to your mind, everyone?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sick.

HARLOW: Sick?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wanted to cry.

HARLOW: You wanted to cry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The manufacturing jobs don't exist anymore. And to this generation now, a $10 an hour job is a good job. It shouldn't be like that.

HARLOW (voice-over): The company has been shedding hundreds of jobs here since it began a major restructuring in 2007. And now, 500 to 600 more local jobs are being cut. But in June, union workers voted overwhelmingly in favor of those job cuts, approving a contract that will end production at Hershey's original factory and leave hundreds of their fellow union members out of work. In return, Hershey committed to staying in the town and will spend up to $300 million to modernize its newer plant there. It was vote yes, union members say, or see Hershey pack up and leave.

(on camera): How many of you in here voted yes?

MIKE GARRISON, HERSHEY EMPLOYEE & UNION MEMBER: It was either take it and lose this much or don't take it and lose it all. That's what it came down to.

HARLOW (voice-over): Of this group, Laurie Duikert is the most likely to lose her job because of a lack of seniority.

(on camera): How are you feeling?

LAURIE DIECHERT, HERSHEY EMPLOYEE & UNION MEMBER: Scared. You don't know what you're going to do.

HARLOW (voice-over): State assemblyman John Payne worked at the Hershey plant for 30 years.

JOHN PAYNE (R), PENNSYLVANIA GENERAL ASSEMBLYMAN: And if that facility would have gone to New York or Virginia or, worse yet, out of the United States, we'd have lost all those jobs. And not only would we have lost the jobs for today, there would be no jobs 20 years from now.

HARDY GREEN, AUTHOR, "THE COMPANY TOWN": The idea that this company might leave the community altogether is scary not only to the people who work there but to everybody else who know indirectly that their lives -- their livelihoods depend upon this company.

HARLOW: That may be. But unlike many other so-called company towns across America, Hershey, Pennsylvania has a future. With or without its namesake company. The medical center is now the largest employer, and the amusement park attracts thousands of tourists a year.

PAYNE: I actually think we're a stronger community today than we were 40 years ago, where we put all of our money into -- all of our eggs into one basket and depended on just the chocolate factory.

MIKE HINKLE, HERSHEY EMPLOYEE & UNION MEMBER: I'm hoping years from now, when you're retired, I'm retired, that somebody else will get employed here in Hershey because we did the right thing by keeping the plant here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: And talk about a difficult decision, Tony. No one has to decide that their fellow colleagues will be laid off. We tried time and time again to talk to Hershey. They wouldn't let us in the factory. They wouldn't talk to us on camera. I will read you the statement they gave us. They said, "The project will help ensure the long-term competitiveness of the Hershey company." They went on to say that their "old factory can't be modernized to meet the manufacturing needs of a 21st century business."

But a very, very difficult time, but this is the reality for so many, Tony, of these American company towns that were built around one company a hundred years ago.

HARRIS: And the other reality is you had better diversify --

HARLOW: Yes.

HARRIS: -- your opportunities in your towns so that you're not, boy, really under the gun when one of these towns goes through a difficult time and has to restructure and jobs are lost.

Amazing stuff. Good story. Poppy, appreciate it. Thank you. Good to see you.

Breaking news. Riots in London. Peaceful protests turn violent. We will tell you what students there are so angry about.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: President Obama is preparing to face the fire at the G-20 summit in South Korea. Several leaders think the U.S. policy is sinking other economies. Huh. CNN's Christine Romans is in New York to help with us this story. I've got a couple of questions for you and a couple of questions only, Ms. Christine Romans.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSNIESS CORRESPONDENT: Sure.

HARRIS: Germany and China are a couple of countries running surpluses right now.

ROMANS: Yep.

HARRIS: The U.S. and UK, for example, running deficits.

So, what is the president's posture at the G-20 in the face of the criticism he's receiving over Fed policies? Does the president say look, in the final analysis you can buy more of our stuff, you countries with surpluses, or we can buy less of yours and then let's see what happens with those tidy little surpluses you're running up?

ROMANS: That's the conversation I think they'd like to be having, global imbalances. Right?

HARRIS: Yes.

ROMANS: For a year, we've been listening to Timothy Geithner, the Treasury Secretary, and the president talking about global imbalances. What that means the U.S. needs to buy less from overseas, needs to export more, Europe needs to invest more, and China needs to develop its domestic consumer. China needs to buy more stuff.

But that's not the conversation they're having, Tony. The conversation they're having is the U.S. on the defensive because of quantitative easing. The Fed rushing in and putting $600 billion of money into the system. A lot of our friends and allies and our, I would say, you know, challenging, our competitors in the world are a little concerned about that. That's what the story is this time.

HARRIS: What do you think comes of this discussion? I mean, should we be on the defensive? And what's our pushback?

ROMANS: Well, a year ago at the G-20 in Pittsburgh, the whole story was how we were going to speak with one voice, these 20 countries.

HARRIS: Yes, I remember that, yes.

ROMANS: The bricks. Brazil, Russia, India, China, the U.S., the UK, Europe. We were going to speak with one voice, and together we'd all ride the --

HARRIS: Yes.

ROMANS: -- recovery and the global economy together.

Well, we're not together. There's discord here. And I've been talking to people this morning who've been following this very closely. And they're saying, you know, look, they're trying to repair these relationships so we don't move toward a trade war or a currency war where everyone's trying to devalue their currency to help their exports, and then no one wins and the economy is no better off globally. So, they're really trying to repair this, looking at things globally instead of country by country. And they feel as though -- they feel as though they've taken a step back from last year in many cases.

HARRIS: So, you've teed me up. Could we, given this climate that you've just described, could we essentially have a trade war? Could, for example, Congress slap a tariff on Chinese goods coming into this country and look, with our economy struggling, millions out of work, we've got a Republican House coming in. Could that House be looking at ways to get manufacturing going in this country and getting more of our goods sold here and overseas?

ROMANS: It's interesting. Because the House already, the current House of Representatives already passed a bill, and it hasn't gone to the Senate, and many people think the administration is trying hard to keep it from going to the Senate and they're using the World Trade Organization instead to try to alleviate what they think are some concerns with the Chinese on leveling the playing field and the like.

But you're right. When you have this many people out of work in this country, domestic priorities for all of these countries -- domestic priorities start to trump, you know, the happy diplomatic glad-handing from G-20 meetings, quite frankly. And Tony, there are numbers today that I think are really important numbers. Look, the most recent month that we have census data, the United States sold $7 billion worth of products to China. We bought $35 billion worth of products from China. That's a really big disparity.

HARRIS: Come on.

ROMANS: These are the kinds of disparities, Tony, that were evident before the crisis, and some say these global imbalances are a big cause of the crisis. And they're still there.

HARRIS: Yes. Let's see what comes out of this. I'm really interested. Christine, appreciate it. Thanks for your help on this story.

ROMANS: Sure.

HARRIS: And a couple of other top stories we're following for you. Breaking news. Riots in London. Peaceful protests turn violent when students angry over a spike in tuition fees broke into the Millbank Tower headquarters for the Conservative Party. The group set fires, smashed windows, and clashed with riot police. It appears they've now been forced from the building.

And in Broward County, Florida, a story we've been following for you this morning, all schools are in lockdown. All schools in the county after police say they received a report from a woman who said her husband intended to fire gunshots at a school. Broward County has 231 traditional schools and centers and 69 charter schools all locked down right now. We will keep you updated on this situation.

And regarding that mysterious cloud plume over southern California, a Pentagon official says no evidence exists to suggest that streaks in the sky were anything else other than a condensation trail from an aircraft. Some said the contrails, which were visible Monday evening, looked like a rocket launch but was quote, "no threat to the U.S. homeland." That's according to spokesman Colonel Dave Lapin.

Women in politics. A surprising result from the midterm elections. We'll explain why this is not the year of the woman.

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HARRIS: You know, we mentioned women breaking records in Congress this year, but that doesn't make 2010 the year of the woman. Dana Bash, part of "The Best Political Team On Television," joining us now from Capitol Hill with this story.

And, Dana, is it true that after the midterm elections we have fewer women in Congress?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It very well could be. There are a few races that are outstanding and that could bring the level of women, the overall level of women in Congress, lower than before. But no matter what, for the first time in three decades, Tony, the number of women in Congress will not rise. Which is actually really stunning considering the fact that you do have the highest number of Republican women coming into the House. We're going to see eight freshmen, maybe nine, depending on an outstanding race there.

But what happened is that we did have a huge number of women in general running in primaries, 262. Tony, that is far more than ever before. But most of them didn't win. And we're not really sure why. I've talked to a couple of academics who say that they're going to study this in their research.

And what is interesting, though, beyond the overall number is also the dearth that we are going to see in leadership going forward. Especially in the new House Republican majority. We're going to see only -- one woman is going to be fifth down if you count the speaker in leadership. That's all. And we're only going to see one female chairwoman for the powerful Foreign Affairs Committee. And that's all. It's very different from what we are seeing now.

HARRIS: Well, could this have an impact on issues and legislation moving forward?

BASH: You know, I talked to several female lawmakers, both those coming in and those who are currently serving, for the story that I did for cnn.com. And most of them said the answer is yes. One quick story. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz told me about legislation she pushed to have some new regulations over swimming pools. Safety at swimming pools. She said, look, it's not that men were against that, it's just that I'm a woman with young children and people came to me and said, please push that. That's one example on substance. But it's also symbolic, Tony.

People I talked to for this story said, remember, the population of this country is 51 percent women, 17 percent of the Congress only is female. And we, the country that we live in, ranks 90th in the world when you're talking about women serving in national legislature. So it is pretty far behind. It's just fascinating to find these statistics.

HARRIS: Boy, I would have never have guessed that.

Dana Bash for us.

Dana, good to see you. Thank you.

BASH: Thank you, Tony.

HARRIS: Yes, good to see you.

And, of course, your next political update coming up in one hour. And for the latest political news, just go to cnnpolitics.com.

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HARRIS: OK. Entertainment headlines are focusing on dancing darling Bristol Palin. And on the flip side, the man who keeps putting his foot in his mouth is in court today. Mel Gibson has a hearing. Brooke Anderson, co-host of "Showbiz Tonight" on HLN joining us from Los Angeles with details.

Hi, Brooke.

BROOKE ANDERSON, HOST, HLN'S "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": Hi there, Tony.

Yes, America voted and Bristol Palin, Sarah Palin's daughter, once again squeaked by on "Dancing With The Stars," despite being dead last in the judges' scores. Instead, NFL star Kurt Warner said bye-bye on last night's week eight live elimination show. "Showbiz Tonight," of course, was right there backstage, again, with Bristol Palin and her partner, Marc Ballas. And, Tony, they are really trying to beat back all those critics who say that they should have been banished. Watch what they told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK BALLAS, COMPETITOR, "DANCING WITH THE STARS": You know, we're working really hard. We're working as hard as everybody else. So I feel like we deserve to be here. You know, just because we're at the bottom of the leader board, doesn't mean we're not working our asses off. So we're really happy to be here.

BRISTOL PALIN, COMPETITOR, "DANCING WITH THE STARS": Yes, definitely grateful and blessed and thankful for our fans out there that continue to vote for us and just excited to keep moving forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Yes, congratulations to them. So this means that Bristol now moves forward to the semifinal round. She will compete against Disney star Kyle Massey, R&B singer Brandy, and also actress Jennifer Grey.

And, Tony, I've got to tell you, she is really defying expectations. Yes, she has improved dramatically with her dancing. At times she is earning heaps of praise from the judges. But it's that public vote that is critical that is really keeping her afloat. Bristol, obviously, has her own fans, but her mother, Sarah, has a lot of fans too who are apparently supporting Bristol Palin as well. Regardless, Bristol should be extremely proud of herself. It's impressive how far she's gotten.

HARRIS: Yes, yes, yes, I would have to agree with you.

Let's turn to this Mel Gibson story. Brooke, he is back in court today. What is the update with his ex-girlfriend?

ANDERSON: All right. Well, yes, we've just gotten word, Tony, from our CNN wire reporter, Alan Duke, who is on site, that Mel Gibson and his ex, Oksana Grigorieva, have just arrived for a closed-door hearing at a downtown L.A. courthouse. They arrived separately, of course. This all is about their contentious child custody dispute. This is reportedly Mel Gibson's first courtroom appearance in this custody battle. He and Oksana share custody of their one-year-old daughter, Lucia. They split up in April and since then, as we know, they have been trading angry, explosive accusations with each other. Oksana is alleging domestic violence. Mel is claiming that Oksana tried to extort him. But, Tony, neither one has been charged at this point with anything, but we certainly will keep you updated on developments in that.

HARRIS: Yes, appreciate that.

All right, remind everyone of when they can watch your big show, Brooke.

ANDERSON: All right, "Showbiz Tonight" is on at 5:00 p.m. live Eastern. We're on HLN. And, of course, we're back every night at 11:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific. We hope you check it out.

HARRIS: Yes, Brooke. See you tomorrow. Thank you.

ANDERSON: All right. Bye.

HARRIS: The random moment of the day up to its old tricks. Surely by now you've seen the most successful fake-out in middle school football history, right? This video has gotten almost 6 million hits on YouTube. Then there is the trick play that wins a booby prize.

OK. So here's what we have here. A North Carolina high school player does back flips, right, behind the line of scrimmage during a play. He and the coach got tossed out of a game. The player was supposed to be in motion for a two-point conversion attempt, but the refs apparently thought back flips were too much motion. Your random moment, on a Wednesday.

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HARRIS: A robber's big mistake, as we say good-bye. He underestimates a man in a wheelchair. Check this out. Larry Skopnik practically lunges out of his wheelchair to grab the robber around his torso, right? Skopnik is pulled out of the chair, but he keeps a really tight grip on the man. Let me just watch this video here with you. Skopnik refuses to accept the title that he's being branded with. You know, the title of hero. But the clerk says that's exactly what he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CINDY GREWALL, STORE CLERK: The operator's telling me, she said, let him go. She said he could harm somebody. I said, why would I let him go when I have five good citizens out here trying to help me out.

LARRY SKOPNIK, STOPPED ROBBERY: Just because -- I don't even think of myself as a disabled soul. You know, just because I'm in a chair doesn't mean I can't stand up and do what's right, even though I can't stand up. It's all about doing the right thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Well, that is something. Look at that. Skopnik lost the use of his legs 10 years ago in a television accident.

All right, it is time to go. There's the man right over my shoulder. CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Ali Velshi.

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: You have a fantastic day.

HARRIS: Yes, you too, sir.