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Egypt's 'March of Millions'; Jihad Jane Changes Plea to Guilty; Philadelphia Police Arrest Last Suspect in Teen Bullying Attack; What Role Should the U.S. Play in Egypt?; Chicago Bracing For Big Storm; Oil Prices At Two Year High; Report: Mubarak Won't Run Again; Detecting Melanoma With Ease; Charlotte, North Carolina to Host 2012 Democratic National Convention; Risk Factors of Winter Storms
Aired February 01, 2011 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Great to see you, great to have you in the same newsroom. We're looking forward to spending lots of time with you, Suzanne Malveaux.
All right. I'm Ali Velshi and we are following some big stories, two big stories, for you right now. This is the first one, it is weather. A blizzard. Warnings in eight states. Travel coming to a standstill. A huge storm blanketing a very, very big part of the country. We've got you covered with a team of reporters and meteorologists.
And the other big story you know about, a march of millions in Egypt. It continues into the night. It is now 8:00 p.m. in Egypt. What is next for that country? Well, let's get to the storms first. As storms go, the one now menacing roughly three-quarters of the nation has it all. It is big, it's got size. Check this out. Twenty-five hundred miles of weather ranging from bad to, in some cases, life- threatening. And that is not my term, that's a term being used by the National Weather Service.
The storm, also, has strength. Blizzards are forecast, under way or forecast in eight states. And it's got variety. You may see knee- deep snow, you may see inch-thick ice, you may hear thunder, there's a risk of tornados, there's freezing rain, it's got everything.
Super Bowl travel plans are an early casualty. Dallas Fort Worth Airport had to close today for two and a half hours because of ice. It has since managed to clear one of seven runways but that is after more than 800 outbound flights were cancelled.
More than a thousand flights are cancelled in Chicago, a hub airport. Nothing much happening there, yet, but just wait. There could be two feet of snow on these streets by early tomorrow. Even for Chicago, that would easily be one of the top three snowstorms on record.
And pity St. Louis, truly the gateway to winter misery. It's due for snow and sleet and freezing rain. A foot of new snow expected north of the city. Heavy ice to the south. The St. Louis mayor is stranded in New Mexico, by the way, which also got snow.
For "Two at the Top," I want to bring in two of my CNN colleagues, one of whom is watching the storm from a safe distance, the other one isn't. CNN meteorologist and severe weather expert, Chad Myers, is with me here in the studio, but look at Ed.
Ed Lavandera, nothing really bothers this guy. He's seen it all. He's in Oklahoma City. It's one of four states already under a state of emergency. Ed, again, you don't make a big deal out of much. How bad is it there?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Ali, I like to tell friends that, you know, we live down in Texas for a reason, because winter lasts about four or five minutes and this is much longer than any kind -- any kind of winter we ever expected. You know, what's really hard, right now, Ali, is the wind. And it is just absolutely punishing. You know, I've got to turn my back this way because the wind is coming out of this direction. But you turn this way and in a matter of seconds you just feel your face, kind of, tighten up and start to, kind of, feel like it's -- like it's frozen. And that's, really, the major problem.
You can see, here, on the streets of downtown Oklahoma City, it is extremely quiet. State officials are saying, look, we're trying -- we're starting to plow some roads and trying to clear some roads, but they can't keep up with the amount of snowfall that has fallen here since midnight. But they do say that in the next few hours, the snowfall will begin to taper off and they'll be able to catch up with that. But that wind is what's really going to continue to be a problem. The threat of trees being knocked over, power lines getting knocked over.
Just look down this way, this is down toward the Bricktown area, just off of downtown Oklahoma City. And here a couple of times we get a break in the wind where you can actually see those flags. Just look how incredibly fast those flags are getting whipped around. It really gives you a sense of just how punishing and how brutal the wind is here. Blizzard conditions, in many parts of the state, as these wind gusts have gone over 35 miles an hour. But even the steady gusts of, like, 20 to 25 miles an hour can be extremely punishing after some time.
And, then, we've seen in places around Tulsa, in a casino up near there, there was a partial roof collapse. And, then, there's also been many reports and we have -- I think we have pictures of it, of emergency vehicles getting stuck in the roadways, ambulances and police. Believe it or not, many people were stranded, we're told by emergency officials with the Oklahoma emergency board, saying that drivers have been stuck and stranded on the roadways, and, in some cases, the national guard had to be used to help motorists that had been stranded. Very dangerous situation out there.
VELSHI: Six hundred national guard officers being deployed in Oklahoma. What a storm. We'll stay on top of it with you. And let's bring it over here to Chad, who's with me. This is really -- it's massive. I mean, as we followed this thing. I mean, to be in Oklahoma City and Dallas, where Ed normally lives, all the way up to the Midwest.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And it's going to Ontario, and it will be in Vermont and New Hampshire, tomorrow. So, this is a long and quick-moving storm. We've already had some reports of 14 inches of snow around Joplin, Missouri, 12 inches in Tulsa. That 12 inch snowfall total was on the top of that casino, and that weight of the snow -- and it's still snowing.
OK, so, 12 inches and if they have another six to go, on some of these other buildings, they may -- when it rains, the water runs off, you don't feel that weight on top of a building, but when the snow just stays there -- Oklahoma City right up I-44, right to St. Louis, but we're talking about the teeth of this thing right through parts of Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, and parts of Oklahoma. And, then, there's the ice from St. Louis back down here. This would be Lake of the Ozarks area, ice. And that's the issue, right now, when you get a half an inch of ice on the wind -- on the trees, all of a sudden, the winds blowing 50, those trees are going to come down and those trees are going to bring down power lines.
Right now, in Denver, it's eight below zero.
VELSHI: Wow.
MYERS: The wind chill is 30 degrees below zero. So, all of this cold air is coming. You lose power for, literally, a couple of hours, your -- the temperature in your home is going to go down to freezing, easy. Quickly, down to freezing. So, when you have power, when you go out, you need to make those plans, what do we do? If the power goes out, where do I go? Where's the warm shelter?
I know we have something moving through New York City.
VELSHI: Yes, the folks in New York have been telling me about this. They're worried about tomorrow.
MYERS: Yes, this is just the beginning, here. I think I still have --I had New York City up here. We could even go back to it. It's router 808, for the control room. It's -- basically, it's just -- it's just Columbus Circle, and it looks fine, because there's raindrops on the window. The problem is it's 30 degrees. So, what happens with rain in 30, it freezes. Tonight, when that sun sets, every single car, that's out there right now, it's going to be slip sliding away. And, especially, with ice storm warnings up into Westchester and the northern counties of the tri-state. That's where it's going to be bad.
VELSHI: Yes, well, we've got a lot of flight cancellations. We're on top of that. About 4,000 at last count?
MYERS: And road cancellations. And, I know, there's not such a thing but what do you do with 12 inches of snow on the freeway and you're trying to get there and you're half out of gas? Don't travel today.
VELSHI: You can't get there by air, can't get there by road, just stay home. Enjoy it. All right, Chad, and many of our correspondents and crews are going to stay on top of the storm all day, and until it ends, really, and until we get to clear up some of this stuff.
Before we turn, I want to tell you about a special White House briefing happening in the next hour. The head of FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, will join Robert Gibbs to talk about Washington's response to the blizzards, ice and bitter cold. That is at 2:30 Eastern. You'll see it here, live, on CNN. I know, some people might think we're making a lot out of there, but I have heard there are 100 million people in the path of these storms, so we are going to stay on top of this and let you know what you need to know.
Our other major story, the people -- the revolt in Egypt. Huge rallies under way in Cairo and other cities. What's being called, a march of millions. It's the latest effort to force President Hosni Mubarak from power since the protests started a week ago today.
In Washington, more signs of an apparent rapidly changing consensus among top policy makers. Senator John Kerry, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee calling on President Mubarak to step down. That is today's "Sound Effect."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), CHAIRMAN, FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: Make clear that neither he, nor his son, will be candidates for re- election, or for election, in the next elections and to go even further, to move to put together a caretaker governance, over these next months, working with the Army, working with the civil society, in order to avoid violence and help to transition Egypt to the future that its people want and that it deserves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Today's massive demonstrations. Look at that, just look at these pictures. They have been peaceful, festive, in fact. Many of those taking part singing and chanting. These pictures, by the way, are of Cairo's Tahrir Square. That translates into liberation square. CNN's Ivan Watson is there in that crowd. He says, this is by far the largest protest to date. We'll stay on top of this story for you, as well, as we have been for the last several days.
But some other stories that we're following. The Pennsylvania woman known as Jihad Jane is due in federal court in about an hour. The lawyer says she has changed her mind about fighting the charges against her and will change her plea to guilty. Jane, her real name, Colleen LaRose, was, allegedly, part of a plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist who had upset some Muslims with his drawings of the prophet Mohammed. She's facing life in prison, if convicted, no word on whether she's, now, cooperating with the government against some alleged co-conspirators.
Police, in a Philadelphia suburb, have just arrested their last suspect in a seven-on-one teen bullying attack. A 13-year-old boy was just trying to walk home from school. He's tackled -- look at this. He's tackled, dragged, kicked, punched, hung upside down from a tree, chased down after he falls out of the tree, then hung by his coat on a metal fence. And, somehow, he only suffered minor injuries. One of the group recorded the whole thing on his cell phone and that video made its way to police. Six of the suspects were taken from high school, yesterday, in handcuffs. The seventh one is absent -- was absent. They are all -- the suspects all between 13 and 17 years old. They're expected to face juvenile charges, including aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping and terroristic threats. There will be much more on this story in our 4:00 p.m. Eastern hour when the boy who was beaten and his mom join Brooke Baldwin, live.
And a former first daughter steps out from her pop's position on same- sex marriage. Barbara Bush, one of the president's -- President George W's twins, appears in a new video for the human rights campaign. It's part of their New Yorkers For Marriage Equality Movement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARBARA BUSH, DAUGHTER OF FORMER PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: New York is about fairness and equality, and everyone should have the right to marry the person that they love. Join us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Barbara's sister, Jenna, is moving to New York. No word on her official stance on gay marriage.
And that monstrous snowstorm bears down on the Midwest and beyond. What to do, what to expect, how it might wreck your travel plans. We'll bring it all to you right after this.
Plus, we want you to weigh in on Egypt. Here's the question. What role, if any, do you think the U.S. should play in what is happening in Egypt right now? Here's how you can reach me. Head to my blog, CNN.com/Ali, or hit up my Facebook or Twitter pages. We'll show that to you a few times this show, and we will bring your responses to this show later on. We're taking a break. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: More, now, on our top story. Check out this storm, it's incredible. It's bearing down on the Midwest, right now, but it starts in the southwest of the country and goes all the way to the northeast through the Midwest. A hundred million people in its path, at some point. It is powerful and massive. Twenty-five hundred miles. Airlines have already cancelled, at last check about 4,000 flights. I'll give you more on that in just a minute.
But, first, to downtown Chicago. Not a place we normally go for winter weather, because if you're from Chicago, you're used to winter weather. You're used to snow, and you're used to cold. So why are we there? CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano is there to show you how big a deal this is going to get. Looks like nothing right now, Rob, but they are bracing for one of the biggest storms Chicago has ever seen.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: They're bracing, they're singing in the streets. I don't know if you can hear this, but there they are. I mean, they're going absolutely batty (ph). All right? This is what happens when you people -- bring people from southern California into the bitter cold. They just -- they don't know what to do. They're just -- anything to keep warm.
So, there you go. We've got a city that's bustling with tourists, and we've got a city that's bustling with commerce. You know, this is Chicago, right? It's everybody's kind of town.
This is Michigan Avenue, which is up and running today. You're right, no big deal today, although it is biting cold. Wind chills are definitely in the single numbers. It is snowing. Not really accumulating right now, but we do expect that to begin later on this afternoon. Blizzard warnings up for -- beginning at 3:00 today to 3:00 p.m. tomorrow.
And, you know, to put this into perspective, there's only a handful of times since we've been keeping records where you get snowfall amounts in excess of a foot, in excess of 16 inches. And we think we're going to easily get that with this system. So this is going to go down as a historic event.
What are they doing to prepare? All right, guys, be safe out there. What are they doing to prepare? They've got about 400 trucks, sanitation trucks, that are equipped with snow plows obviously standing. They've already pretreated the roadways. Also, activated about 500 national guardsmen. Troops here and also in Missouri. Boy, they're about to get hammered in Missouri. They've already gotten peppered in Oklahoma. And all that is coming this way and intensifying as it does so.
So, you mentioned how large this storm is, Ali, and it certainly is just that but it's also very powerful and it runs the gamut as far as weather is concerned. Even for the hearty Midwesterners of Chicago, I think they're going to have a hard time dealing with this come this time tomorrow.
VELSHI: Yes. Right, and as you said, it's snow and there's wind. It's a whole bunch of that kind of stuff. All right, we'll stay on top of it. Obviously one of our best out there in Chicago.
Rob, we'll check in with you.
Let's look at all the travel problems that this storm is causing. CNN's all-platform journalist Chris Welch is covering developments for us at Chicago's O'Hare Airport. One of the busiest travel hubs on the continent, in the world.
Chris, what's it looking like over there?
CHRIS WELCH, CNN ALL-PLATFORM JOURNALIST: Ali, I'm standing outside the United Airlines terminal here at Chicago's O'Hare Airport. I'm going to ask my photojournalist, Jonathan, to give you a better look. Take a look at the street side, the curbside check-in here at the United terminal. It looks like just about any other typical day. Maybe a fewer -- a fewer cars right now than there have been in the past few minutes. But we're going to go inside because -- woops, almost tripped over this. Sorry about that. We're going to go inside because this airport right now, employees and other folks here at the airport say, you know what, this looks like just about any other Tuesday just about now. And we're going to go to the big board and find the cancellations. Let me show you what we're looking at here. Just about any other Tuesday you'll have lines like this here. But right now we've got cancellations and they keep coming.
Right now we've got at least, oh, I'd say, what does that look like to you, way more than 50 percent. Probably more than 70 percent of the flights cancelled or significantly delayed. Several folks at the airport right now who have come down here. Their flights have been cancelled either last night or today or for tomorrow and they're doing whatever they can to get something rescheduled. At this point, a lot of them are saying, we don't know when we're going to get out of here. It could be a few extra nights of hotels. But they're keeping their fingers crossed that things will look up.
VELSHI: All right, thanks for that, Chris. We'll stay on top of it.
Remember what Chad Myers said, that while -- in a lot of the Midwest, flights are cancelled. Your option is not to take the road because of the amount of snow that's there. So if you have travel plans, keep in mind, these hub closures and delays affect everybody all across the country. You might be somewhere where there isn't any kind of bad weather and your flight plans might be delayed. So, please, just check ahead.
All right let's check -- go back to that other story that we're following, the other big story, Egypt. The uprising in Egypt has sent oil prices to a two-year high. Now, is this jump justified and what's going to happen with oil prices? I'll tell you on the other side.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Egypt is the most populist and one of the most important countries in the Arab world. And ever since this unrest broke out, there has been rapid speculation as to what it is going to do to the supply and ultimately the price of oil, ultimately the price you pay at the pump for gasoline.
So I want to cut through all the speculation, go to Abu Dhabi where CNN's Leone Lakhani is standing by with an explanation of what Egypt has to do with oil production in the world and what the implications of this continued unrest are for the price of oil.
Leone, you've studied this. Tell me what you're finding.
LEONE LAKHANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ali, you know, any kind of disruption to the oil supplies in the Middle East tends to rattle the markets and that's because so much of the world's oil reserves are based right here in the Middle East. Now, there was a lot of talk about how the oil flowing out of the Sumed pipeline, and that's a pipeline that goes from the Mediterranean -- I'm sorry, from the Gulf to the Mediterranean, and how that oil supply is going to be affecting the prices.
Now, in reality, only about 2 percent of global oil supplies actually flow through that pipeline. And most of the Gulf oil actually flows east out of the Strait of Hormuz. Now that itself is a choke point because that's a very narrow passageway in a volatile neighborhood. It's a very -- it has to be secured because of potential piracy attacks around the Horn of Africa. Now, because of all this potential disruption to the oil supplies, both through the Suez Canal and through the east at the Strait of Hormuz, it does rattle the markets a little bit because of what could happen if the supplies were disrupted.
VELSHI: Leone, let's talk about the Strait for Hormuz for a moment. Most of the oil that Egypt produces is for domestic consumption, but that there is oil that goes through, as you said, the Suez. Let's talk about the oil that goes east, though. It goes through where you are, places like that, for refining purposes.
Iran has always said that it controls that Strait of Hormuz. A very narrow passage through -- from which supertankers can go through. The United States has always said that Iraq disrupts it, it will get involved. So that's been a hot point for a long time. Does this activity in Egypt make Iran more important and does it make the Strait of Hormuz more important?
LAKHANI: The reason the Strait of Hormuz would be important, like you say, Ali, is if for any reason the Suez Canal is disrupted. Because, at the moment, Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, would be exporting its oil out of the Strait of Hormuz.
Now, if anything happens to the Strait of Hormuz, it would shift its focus to its Red Sea port, which would be around the Suez Canal, around Egypt. So, therefore, yes, it does become more important because any oil that's disrupted from one side would go out the other side. So that, I think, is what potentially really rattled the markets.
Now, the Strait of Hormuz is quite secure because of a huge, huge coalition forces that secure it. There's many, many different ships and countries that do try to secure that route. But nearly half of the world's oil supplies flow through that passageway, so it is quite crucial, Ali, as you mentioned.
VELSHI: And the bottom line is, with all this unrest for the last few days, we have simply seen a little bit of an uptick in the price of oil, but it hasn't been the type of uptick that would suggest to you that the world is fearful that supply coming out of the Middle East is going to somehow drop.
LAKHANI: Not at the moment because at the moment, Ali, there's plenty of supply in the market. Now the OPEC ministers have repeatedly said there's plenty of supply in the markets. And the reason the prices are going up is more due to speculation, not demand and supply.
VELSHI: Right. LAKHANI: Now, if for any reason there was a prolonged disruption to the supply, then, of course, the OPEC ministers could step in and add supply to the market. There's plenty of spare capacity amongst these OPEC producers. But for the time being, there's no need, according to these ministers, to add any more new supply to the markets.
VELSHI: And, of course, if this popular unrest spreads to real oil exporting nations, you and I are going to have to have another chat about this.
Leone, excellent explanation. Thanks very much.
Leone Lakhani joining us from Abu Dhabi.
And be sure to tune in to "Your bottom Line" each Saturday morning at 9:30 Eastern with Christine Romans. "Your Money" airs Saturday at 1:00 p.m. Eastern and Sundays at 3:00. Lots of details about things having to do with your money this week in particular. The new jobs report is coming out for January and we can tell you a lot about how that affect you.
OK, it's 24 minutes after the hour. Let's check the developing stories that we're watching right now.
Look at that. A paralyzing winter storm is crushing the nation's midsection. The weather service has issued warnings in 30 states so far. Heavy snows and ice have already prompted emergency declarations in four states with more than a thousand National Guard troops being mobilized. Be sure to stay with CNN throughout the day for updates on this storm.
The U.S. State Department now ordering non -- all non-emergency staff and their families out of Egypt. These are U.S. employees. It's part of an expanded travel warning tied to the ongoing demonstrations. President Obama is also calling Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other top security advisers to the White House for a meeting on Egypt this afternoon. Today, large groups of protesters descended on central locations as part of the march of millions to demand the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
And Charlotte, North Carolina, will host the 2012 Democratic National Convention. The city beat out Cleveland, St. Louis and Minneapolis. It will be the Democrat's first southern convention since 1988 in Atlanta. 2008 was in Denver. President Obama carried North Carolina in the 2008 election, but by a slim margin. The Republican 2012 convention, by the way, will be in Tampa, Florida.
And the White House is riding the fence on Egypt, but that hasn't stopped others in the Democratic Party from jumping into the fray with both feet. Will they force President Obama's hand? Ed Henry's got the inside scoop in the -- with the "Stakeout" coming up on the other side of the break. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right. That is Oklahoma City you're looking at courtesy of KOCO, our affiliate. You see that flag? See how that wind is whipping around? So you've got snow and you've got real wind. We went to see Ed Lavandera there shortly -- a little while ago. There wasn't a lot of snow. But when it comes down, people are getting whipped around. This is a storm that reaches 2,500 miles.
Let's go to the White House now. You are -- we are going to have a press conference in about one hour from now at the White House with Craig Fugate, the FEMA head. He's going to be there with Robert Gibbs. They're going to talk about all the preparations underway because this is such a massive storm. A hundred million people in the path, and some airports and some major roads, all of which are being affected by this. So it's affecting travel, it's affecting business and it's affecting people's safety. I'm going to be talking to Sanjay about that very shortly. There are some real dangers to this storm.
A week ago, President Obama addressed the nation to say the emphasis from his office was going to be jobs. But then the uprising in Egypt and yesterday's decision by a Florida judge to throw out health care reform have changed the conversation. Let's bring in senior White House correspondent Ed Henry right now, as we do every day at this time, for the "Stakeout."
A lot on the White House's plate today, Ed.
ED HENRY CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, Ali, you're right. It seems to be that every time the president says he wants to pivot back to job, as he did last week in the State of the Union, it seems like practically every time, going back to last year when the oil spill came up, health care obviously something he chose to do. Now you've got Egypt. And it just shows how no matter how much in a White House you want to try to set the agenda, sometimes the agenda sets itself. Sometimes there are things that just pop up, you can't ignore.
And, in fact, that's why we've got some new information just reported by my colleagues Jill Dougherty and Alise Lavin (ph) over the State Department saying that Secretary of State Clinton has now been called over here at about 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time for a meeting with the president, other cabinet secretaries, other senior national security advisors and whatnot, to figure out the situation in Egypt, what the U.S. response needs to be moving forward.
And so you can see because of those protests in the street just reaching such a large proportion now, that more and more pressure is ratcheting on this White House to do something.
VELSHI: Ed, give me the range of opinion of the people advising or close to or influential with the president on the Egypt matter. Who do we think he's likely to listen to? Because they're -- across the board all weekend there have been people saying we have got to support the protesters in a Democratic movement in Egypt. And others saying Egypt has been a remarkably stalwart ally to the United States and the fight on terror and we can't throw Mubarak out with the bath water.
Where are we going with this? HENRY: It seems like the pendulum has been shifting ever so slightly each day away from Mubarak and more towards the protesters. Though they're being very careful to make sure that pendulum doesn't swing too wildly, too quickly.
But I think look no further than what senator John Kerry said in this op-ed this morning in the "New York Times," and he said this at a hearing a short time ago on the Hill about how he thinks it's time for Mubarak to go.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), CHAIRMAN, SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: It is imperative that he address the nation and announce with grace and leadership his understanding of the expression that his people are making and of their aspirations, and to embrace them fully, and to make clear that neither he nor his son will be candidates for re- election or for election in the next elections.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: Now, Senator Kerry first said this, by the way, on "JOHN KING USA" Friday night, very early in this whole crisis.
And his staff is telling CNN, look, these are his own words, the White House didn't tell him to say this. But you know that as the Senate Foreign Relations Chairman, John Kerry is somebody who's going to be careful about what he says.
And he's not going to go out on a limb and say it's time for Mubarak to go unless he at least felt at some point in his gut, that there are people in this administration who feel the same way, may not be saying it publicly yet. But he's not going to go out on a limb as this key ally of the president, Ali. It goes without saying.
VELSHI: All right. The president's going to have a jobs report on Friday so he's going to be forced to have some discussion on jobs. Maybe it'll be a good jobs report, who knows. But at this point they're going to be focusing their attention -- at least for the next couple days on this.
This health care ruling from Florida, sort of derail things?
HENRY: Well, you know, it's yet another reminder of how between now and 2012 the president can try to set the table anyway he wants on jobs and issues like that. And the health care issue is far from gone. It's going to keep coming back.
It's now essentially 2-2. You've had two lower courts rule in the president's favor that the reform is constitutional. Two now saying no, it's not. It's going to play a little Ping-Pong, if you will. But eventually likely to go to the U.S. Supreme Court. And there are some legal experts saying it will probably go to the Supreme Court in the summer of 2012, just a few months before that election. So that is telling you that health care is going to be front and center, whether or not the White House wants it to be.
VELSHI: Ed, good to see you as always. I missed you. I was off for a few days, but we're back in the game. Good to see you.
HENRY: Good to see you.
VELSHI: All right. Ed Henry, our senior White House correspondent with the Stakeout.
All right. Got some breaking news from Egypt, the topic we were just discussing. Reuters is reporting that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will give a speech today, Tuesday.
Now, it is just past 8:30 in the evening in Cairo. People are still assembled for this march of -- so-called march of millions in the main square, Tahrir Square in Cairo. We've got many teams on the ground. We're checking this information out to find out where President Mubarak is going to speak. We will report the developments to you as they happen.
The news, according to Reuters, is that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is going to speak tonight. And it is now tonight in Cairo.
All right, that gigantic winter storm burying much of the country is not just dangerous, it could be deadly. One hundred million people being affected by this because it's a big, big storm. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to tell us what we have to watch out for next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Happening now. More than 30 states are under winter storm or blizzard warnings right now. Airlines have cancelled thousands of flights. The colossal storm we've been warned about for days is burying the central plains and Midwest right now and it's pushing northeastward. The National Weather Service calls it a life- threatening storm and I'm going to tell you a little about that in a moment with Sanjay.
In Egypt right now, the other big story we are following, the largest crowds by far since anti-government protests began a week ago. They're jamming Cairo's main square, Tahrir Square, Liberty Square. Reuters is now reporting that President Mubarak will speak sometime tonight. Now it's 8:30 at night right now in Cairo, so we're expecting that to not be too long from now.
Meantime, the U.S. State Department is now ordering non-emergency U.S. government personnel and their family members to leave Egypt. President Obama has called his national security team to the White House this afternoon to discuss the situation.
And the U.S. Justice Department says it will appeal yesterday's federal court ruling that struck down the health care reform law. President Obama signed it last March. Yesterday, a federal judge in Florida ruled it oversteps the Constitution by requiring students -- citizens, I'm sorry, to buy health insurance.
And, as we just mentioned, this massive storm moving across the country is being called life-threatening. In fact, in less than an hour from now, the head of FEMA is going to be at the White House to discuss what it is doing to help people prepare and protect themselves. But what exactly are the dangers? We've seen winter before, we've seen storms.
Well, here to run us through the risks is chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
Sanjay, what a pleasure to see you.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Great to be here, thanks.
VELSHI: First of all, this is a huge storm. There are some places where it'll be snow and people are used to getting snow and they'll handle it. They'll just stay home.
GUPTA: Right.
VELSHI: A lot of places are not used to this one foot, or foot and a half, or two feet of snow. So there are some new dangers for people they need to consider.
GUPTA: Individuals, in particular. Obviously cities and how they handle it is an issue you've been talked about. But individuals who aren't used to the potentials risks of hypothermia, both in terms of how severe or how quickly it can come on, really need to pay attention to this.
Even in cool conditions, 40 degrees or so, if you're outside a long period of time or you get wet, you could be at risk of hypothermia. Your body temperature drops below 90 degrees. So just an eight degree drop. If, in these colder temperatures it obviously can come on much more quickly, even within 15 minutes. So you're trying to walk from your car to your office. You're not properly dressed.
VELSHI: Right.
GUPTA: You get wet, step in a puddle or something, you can start to develop some symptoms of hypothermia.
VELSHI: Right.
GUPTA: One of the big symptoms that develops quickly is your lack of judgment. Or you just become a little less cognizant of what's going on, you make bad decisions, your hypothermia gets worse. So, you really just got to plan that it's going to be cold and that you could become hypothermic.
VELSHI: And as Chad says, the power might go out. So your house temperature might go down. So you might think you're just at home but be prepared to be warm wherever you are.
GUPTA: And the lights may go out. You may not find your clothing. All of that sort of stuff.
VELSHI: Frostbite.
GUPTA: Obviously exposed limbs. So you wear a great jacket, a scarf, all that sort of stuff, but your ears are exposed, your fingers are exposed. This is common sense stuff, but people forget. They forget for their kids and they forget for the elderly, as well, in particular. You got to make sure people are bundled up and don't have exposed in particular limbs, ears, around the face.
VELSHI: Another thing that comes at you and you may not know it's coming, carbon monoxide poisoning.
GUPTA: The same thing Chad's been talking about. Your power goes out, you rely on one of these grills, one of these heaters or something like that. You're too close it, you don't have proper ventilation. And again, the thing about all these things we're talking about is that a lot of times the first symptoms it causes makes your judgment impaired.
VELSHI: Right. You don't know what it is that's happening to you.
GUPTA: Right.
VELSHI: You're just tired or you're feeling less --
GUPTA: You don't have the wherewithal to turn it off, to open the ventilation, to cover yourself up. So that's one of the biggest points. That's why the planning ahead is so crucial.
VELSHI: OK, Sanjay. Good to see you, as always. Thanks very much.
GUPTA: Stay warm.
VELSHI: And, by the way, there's all these things associated with tripping and falling. So just please be careful.
All right. A sea of humanity is filling the streets of Cairo's Liberation Square. U.S. issues a new travel warning for Egypt. I'm going to get you a live report of everything that's going on in that part of the country and why it matters to you. Coming up next.
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VELSHI: Breaking news concerning Egypt right now.
Network Al Arabiya has said that it has reports that President Mubarak, who is expected to speak shortly in Cairo, will not run for the presidency again. This is coming from Al Arabiya, which says that President Mubarak is saying he will not run again to the presidency.
Other reports coming out from the same reporting, at Al Arabiya, says he plans to meet the demands of protesters before the end of his presidential term. There are a number of demands, that a protestors, a loose coalition of protesters are demanding, including that the military enforce the constitution, that parliamentary-appointed committees are dissolved and that elections are held.
So Al Arabiya is reporting now that President Mubarak will not run again. We do not have this information confirmed. We are working to get it confirmed right now. We have teams ground in Egypt. In fact, let's tell you what's going on right now.
In Washington, first of all, we are told that President Obama is meeting today at the White House with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and his top national security advisers. The obvious topic is the rapidly changing situation in Egypt.
The State Department today ordered all non-emergency American government personnel and family members to leave Egypt as quickly as they can safely do so.
And then this just in from Reuters, they are reporting that President Mubarak will speak tonight. It is tonight, it's 8:46 in the evening in Cairo. We are waiting to see when he will speak. We'll bring you information on that as soon as we have it.
In Cairo today, meanwhile, there's been a massive turnout of anti- government protesters. These are the remarkable scenes, protesters as far as the eye can see demanding that President Mubarak step aside. Yet, not forgetting their duty to pray. That's what unfolded earlier today in Cairo's Liberation Square, Tahrir Square. They're praying there.
There he is, Ivan Watson. He has been following this story very closely. He is there now, it is nighttime in Tahrir Square.
Ivan, first of all, what is the situation in Tahrir Square right now? Are there still people there?
IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We're going to zoom in on some of the crowd there, the flag-waving crowd that are -- you know, it's like a rock concert down there with people chanting, again, against Hosni Mubarak, calling for his resignation.
It's very interesting this report coming from Al Arabiya News Network and we'll work hard to try to confirm this. We have to be careful, lots of rumors running around Egypt right now, in part because the telecommunications system is such a mess right now, the internet is down right now.
And if in fact the Egyptian president, who's been dubbed by some, the "Last Pharaoh of Egypt" because he's been in power almost 30 years, if he says he will not run again in this year's upcoming election, that will be a big deal. That has been a big source of speculation, Ali, over the course of the past year or two. There's been some speculation that he might try to put his son, Gamal, up, which would be a deeply unpopular move, certainly among these demonstrators here.
Let's just take a listen to what some of the people we have been talking to have had to say here at this historic gathering, the largest protest of its kind here in Egypt since more than a week of demonstrations have begun. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Leave Egypt, Mubarak. We've reached the downfall of Egypt. We've hit rock bottom so honestly leave, get the hell out of here and leave. You're a murder. You killed your people. You're using your enemy against your people, so leave.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So sharp, so sharp, he has to be afraid because right now -- I think a couple of more days it's going to be his neck. So he has to be aware of this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: That's just a sense, Ali, of the frustration here.
Interesting that the newly appointed finance minister here has made an announcement that he's going to try to give compensation to people who have suffered unemployment as a result of a week of disruptions of the normal working day here. Some government officials estimating that the cost to the Egyptian economy over the past week will be more than a billion dollars -- Ali.
VELSHI: All right, Ivan, we'll stay on top of this and of course we'll follow these reports, Al Arabiya saying that President Hosni Mubarak is prepared to say -- announce tonight that he is not running again and Reuters reports that he will be making a speech tonight. It is ten to nine at night in Cairo right now. Ivan and the rest of our team will follow both of those stories for you and we'll bring you any updates as they become available.
In today's "Big I," we're looking at a device that scientists are hoping will save millions of lives. Detecting melanoma, the most lethal form of skin cancer, relies on nothing more than the human eye. Dermatologists eyeballing moles and making the difficult decision on which ones warrant a biopsy, and you know that's complicated to do.
But look at this new tool developed at the British Columbia Cancer Agency with Verisante Technology Incorporated. Well, that could change all of this. Using the Verisante Aura Doctors may soon be able to catch melanoma by shining a ray of light over it.
To tell us more about this is Thomas Braun, he's the CEO of Verisante Technology joining us from Vancouver.
Thomas, thanks very much for this.
First of all, for people not familiar with how you determine melanoma, generally speaking it's determined because something has shown up and you're not used to it being there. Often it's missed because people may have other marks or moles or hair on their body and weren't able to detect the mole.
So generally speaking, you have to figure it out, you have take a biopsy, you have to test it and then find out that there's cancer. This skip a few of these steps. THOMAS BRAUN, CEO, VERISANTE TECHNOLOGY, INC.: Absolutely. With this device, we're scanning 21 biomarkers in about half a second, and we can see things that the human eye can't see.
VELSHI: What's the accuracy of this? I know you've done some testing on it.
BRAUN: The preliminary results were published in 2008 on the first 274 lesions scanned and biopsied. Out of 34 melanomas, the device detected all 34.
VELSHI: Wow. So it was 100 percent of those biopsied that were cancerous.
BRAUN: Correct. Based on the preliminary results, the device was 100 percent accurate for melanoma.
VELSHI: OK. Is this approved for use yet or is it going to be approved?
BRAUN: We expect to be approved later this year in Canada and Europe, and in 2013 in the United States.
VELSHI: What's the effect of this going to be? I assume it costs something. What does that unit cost? Who's likely to buy it and what's the ultimate effect? I assume anybody who can afford it, any hospital or doctor or clinic that can afford it, or any dermatologist, would buy one of those to save lives and save money.
BRAUN: Absolutely. It's going to save lives and it's going to save money.
We're aiming for a cost of about $30,000 for the doctors and to start with we think that dermatologists will be the people who buy it.
VELSHI: We hear about false positives a lot. Is there a danger that this device will miss a mole that turns out to have melanoma?
BRAUN: There's always that chance. As you collect more data, we may eventually miss a melanoma. There's also human error that's involved; the device had has to be used correctly.
But right now, based on just a visual exam, doctors have a sensitivity or an accuracy of anywhere between 16 percent and 69 percent depending on whether they're a GP or board certified dermatologist. So even if we're not 100 percent, if you're close to 100 percent you're still improving the situation dramatically (INAUDIBLE).
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Sure.
Thomas, good to talk to you. This is great technology.
BRAUN: Thank you very much.
VELSHI: We'll follow its commercialization with interest.
Thomas Braun, the chief executive officer of Verisante Technology.
If you want to hear more about this technology or if you want to pitch us a "Big I" that you think should be covered, go right to my blog, CNN.com/Ali. We do this every day.
All right, the Democrats have decided where they'll hold their national convention. The winner is -- well, hold on for a minute. I'm going to let Mark Preston tell you on the other side ever the break.
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VELSHI: All right, it's time now for a CNN Political Update. Our senior political editor Mark Preston has just learned where next year's Democratic National Convention will be.
Mark, there were several cities were competing. Who's the winner?
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Big news for charlotte, North Carolina, Ali, one of four cities that came down to the final choice. Democrats just a few hours ago chose Charlotte, North Carolina.
Cities that did not do well, Ali, St. Louis did not win out, Cleveland did not win out, and Minneapolis did not win out. In fact, the mayor of St. Louis has some choice words for Democrats and said that he thinks that the decision was made because of electoral reasons and the fact of the matter is John McCain won Missouri back in 2008; President Obama won North Carolina in 2008.
So big news for charlotte economically. It could mean upwards of $160 million. That's what they suggested is the economic impact on Denver, which hosted the 2008 convention -- Ali.
VELSHI: All right, Mark, good to see you. Thanks very much.
Mark Preston. Your next Political Update from "The Best Political Team on Television" just one hour away.
We're taking a break. I'm going to bring you up to speed on the big story today, the weather that's going on across the country. Stay with us.
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