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Stopping The Leaks In Japan; Syrian President Blames Conspirators; Wisconsin Judge Halts Union Law; Killer Whale Comes Back; Nine Patients Die In Alabama Hospitals; United And Continental Merger; Arming Libya's Rebels; The Great Moonbuggy Race; Obama Discusses Nobel Prize

Aired March 30, 2011 - 13:00   ET

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

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Attack, retreat, repeat, maybe not an ideal strategy, but for nuclear experts in Japan and self-styled freedom fighters in Libya, it is the only strategy they have. And the fortunes of both are changing almost by the minute.

We're beginning this hour in Japan where radiation levels in the sea water outside the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant have hit a new high. More than 3,000 times the legal limit. It appears some of the water being pumped and sprayed on the damaged reactors to try to keep them cool may actually now be running into the ocean.

Back on land, the International Atomic Energy Agency reports high radiation levels 25 miles from the plant outside Japan's evacuation zone. The U.S. and other countries set a much wider zone for their people.

And while it may be obvious, today it is official, four of the six Daiichi reactors are beyond repair, never to be used again. That's the word from Tokyo Electric Power Company whose president is now said to be hospitalized with stress and fatigue. For its part, 19 days into this catastrophe, Japan's government is ordering immediate safety upgrades at all of the country's remaining nuclear power sites.

The power company's president is far from the only TEPCO worker who's suffering. This week, the world has gotten its first real glimpse into the day-to-day existence of plant employees and other experts who are risking their lives to save others.

My colleague, Martin Savidge, joins me now from Tokyo where it is now past 2:00 a.m. Thursday.

Martin, these workers are dealing with such awful conditions. What can you tell us?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this really was a shock when the information came out about the conditions under which they're working. I mean, first you -- well, you have to keep in mind that they're dealing with extreme levels of radiation, now, they're working under very stressful conditions and they often have to crawl through very dark and very difficult areas where there's been a great deal of destruction. OK, so that's their life on the job, but then we find their life off the job is almost just as dire, very stark (ph). Apparently, their breakfast is 30 crackers and some vegetable juice. Dinner is something that's pre-prepared, maybe out of a can or something like an MRE. They work three days on, one day off, they sleep together in a building one kilometer away, on the floor, laying on mats, in stairwells or any place they can find space.

I mean, it really was disturbing to many Japanese people to hear people that they consider heroes to be living such a lifestyle. It was felt that if these people are putting their lives on the line, at least TEPCO could do the most to deliver the best quality of life for them. So, many people were quite shocked about the whole matter.

KAYE: Yes.

SAVIDGE: Meanwhile, let me point out some other things that are going on. There was a protest today, Randi, very rare in Japan to see this, but it was outside of TEPCO headquarters, and they were about 80 people and they're quite angry at the company, most have lost complete trust with them. Here's what one protester had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYOTA SONO, PROTESTER (through translator): Because the government doesn't want to take responsibility for this incident, they are only giving minimal amount of information.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: And the chairman also spoke at a news conference today, he admits that TEPCO has done a pretty bad job when it comes to communicating. Here's his sound.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TSUNEHISA KATSUMATA, CEO, TEPCO (through translator): We are very sorry for causing troubles and concerns to the international community, and we are making efforts to get more updates out to people overseas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: So, Randi, usually in Japanese society, people are pretty conservative, don't speak out a lot. That is changing in a hurry and there is a lot of anger and frustration with TEPCO right now.

KAYE: And, Marty, I want to ask you about these e-mails that are -- that have come out, one from a plant worker who apparently lost his parents in the tsunami, what more can you tell us about those? Because these are the guys that are really -- they're trying to save lives.

SAVIDGE: Well, and you're right, I mean what we can often forget is that Japan is dealing with a monumental natural disaster, the earthquake and tsunami, and many of those workers were not immune to the impact. They have lost family members, some of them have lost their homes.

KAYE: Let me just interrupt you for a second because I wanted to read that e-mail from the -- from one of those plant workers. It says my parents were washed away by the tsunami and I still don't know where they are, so Marty, you can take it from there.

SAVIDGE: Well, just imagine trying to deal with that grief, trying to deal with that unbelievable loss and at the same time you realize that many people in your country are relying on you to do the best that you can under horrific circumstances to try to prevent a third disaster from happening. And I am constantly reminding myself that I cannot think of any circumstance or any nation that has had to deal with so much all at one time as they are trying to do here.

KAYE: Yes, we certainly have to give them credit for that. All right, Marty Savidge for us in Tokyo. Thank you, Marty.

And to Libya now where forces who are trying to topple Moammar Gadhafi say the front line is fluid, and that may be the understatement of the week. Their back and forth sweep along eastern Libyan coastline is once more moving away under fire from territory held by Gadhafi.

Here's the math that we showed you just 48 hours ago. A rapid push from the unofficial rebel capitol of Benghazi to the outskirts of Gadhafi's home town, Sirte. Here's the landscapes today, take a look at how it's changed. Regime forces once more on the offensive driving the rebels back, by some accounts, past the town of Al Brega. More ground may have actually changed hands in the time it took me to give this update.

That raises the question of how much the U.S. and 15 other nations are willing or able to do to give the Libyan rebels a fighting chance? Do we even know who those rebels are? I'll put these question to terrorism expert Peter Bergen at the bottom of the hour. He joins me about 25 minutes from now, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

In Syria, president Bashar Al Assad is digging in showing no signs he's about to give in to the protesters. Following violent clashes in Daraa and Latakia in recent days. Al Assad addressed the nation from Damascus today. He never mentioned lifting the state of emergency as many hoped he would. Instead, he acknowledged his government failed to meet the needs of Syrians, but he blamed the uprising on a conspiracy by enemies. His defiant speech comes a day after his cabinet resigned.

This was the reaction shortly after his speech, you can see those crowds there. As Al Assad left parliament, got into his car, huge protest, you can see a woman approaching there in the crowd, she's waving her hand and then the car is being swarmed. The woman's intentions not immediately clear and still at this hour, in fact, unclear.

The showdown for union rights for state employees is playing out in a number of states. First, it was Wisconsin. Now, Ohio is one step closer to limiting collective bargaining rights of its public employees. The bill that would affect 350,000 public workers heads to the full House for a vote today. This comes after a committee added measures that make the bill even tougher for union workers.

Back in Wisconsin where a similar law has already passed, a judge is once again blocking it from going into effect, for now, while the courts consider whether the legislative procedures were properly followed.

Remember the killer whale involved in the death of its trainer at SeaWorld Orlando? Well, that whale is now back in the park's big show, starting today. Last year, the 12,000-pound killer whale, Tillicum, pulled senior trainer, Dawn Brancheau, under the water after he had grabbed her pony tail. An autopsy showed she died of drowning and traumatic injuries to her body.

This is new video from today of the killer whale in the show. SeaWorld was fined $75,000, you may recall, for three safety violations. According to our affiliate WESH, SeaWorld has made safety upgrades since the incident. Park officials say they feel it's important for the killer whale's physical, social, and even mental enrichment for him to participate in this show.

And we want to know what you think about this. Should the killer whale be back in the public show? Join the conversation on our blog, CNN.com/Ali. And you can also post on Ali's Facebook and Twitter pages, along with my Facebook and Twitter as well. We really want to know what you think and we'll share your comments later in the show.

All right, got to take a quick break, but we want to tell you about these contaminated IV bags suspected in the death of nine patients at several Alabama hospitals. How did it happen and what's to keep it from happening again? Keep it here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Alabama health officials are trying to determine what role a bacterial outbreak played in the death of nine patients. They say the bacteria spread through contaminated IV bags, those bags have since been recalled.

To tell us more, Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here, good to see you.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Same to you.

KAYE: So, how could this happen? That's what anyone watching this wants to know.

COHEN: Right, everyone is trying to figure that out right now, that's the million dollar question. But there are so many different ways that an IV bag could get contaminated. Maybe someone who was working with it didn't wash their hands, maybe the equipment it was being manufactured on was dirty, maybe the raw ingredients for this stuff was contaminated, and they just don't know.

KAYE: Have they definitely tied these deaths, these nine deaths and I know there are others who are still sick, but the nine deaths, have they been absolutely tied to the outbreak? COHEN: You know, epidemiologists just don't like words like absolutely or definitely, because these people by definition were quite ill to begin with. I mean, they were getting all of their nutrition via IV, so they were pretty sick. So, it is possible that something else killed them and not the bacteria? That's possible, but when you have nine people, all of whom got the same brand of the same product and they all died pretty soon thereafter and they found the bacteria in the patient and in the bag, that says a lot.

KAYE: Yes, we know the bags have been recalled, they're out of the mix, but are other patients still at risk?

COHEN: No, other patients are not at risk because they figured out these bags are contaminated, they've got them out of hospitals, they hadn't been distributed to any more hospitals, they were all recalled so it's all good now.

KAYE: So, for all the people who go to a hospital, I mean, an IV is just part of the plan, it's an automatic.

COHEN: Right, right.

KAYE: So, is there anything that we can do?

COHEN: You know, you know that I want people to be empowered patients, I talk about it all the time, I literally wrote the book on it.

KAYE: Yes, right.

COHEN: But I will tell you that in this situation, you are stuck. I mean, someone has put an IV in you so that bacteria are coursing through your veins and there's really nothing -- there's really nothing you can do. There's very little you could do to try to stop this or notice it.

KAYE: Yes, I mean, this isn't something that you can just go in and ask questions about or make sure somebody washes their hands. I mean, it's not necessarily going to save you from something like this.

COHEN: Even if you asked the nurse if they were hanging the bag, I mean what are you going to say? Gee, is that bag sterile?

KAYE: Who would even think of that?

COHEN: Right. That's right, and the nurse will say yes, because the bags are supposed to be sterile and almost all the time they are. I mean, what's happened here in Alabama is extremely unusual. So, most of the time it does go right.

KAYE: Well, let's hope that it remains unusual.

COHEN: Yes, hopeful (ph).

KAYE: Elizabeth, thank you and good to see you. If you have a bottle of Tylenol 8-hour extended release caplets in your medicine cabinet, well you may need to toss those bottles. Thirty thousand bottles are being recalled because of consumer complaints about a musty, moldy smell. It's the latest recall for Johnson & Johnson's McNeil division which pulled millions of products from shelves last year over similar complaints.

United Airlines and Continental Airlines merged in a giant $3.2 billion deal that has created the world's largest airlines. Well, flyers are waiting to see how this will affect ticket costs, of course, plus frequent flyer points and even where they can fly.

Richard Quest sat down with Continental's CEO, Jeffery Smisek, today.

Richard, I'm anxious to hear about this interview, but let's start with the business side of things. Will airline employees be losing jobs because of the merger?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the new United, the merged Continental and United, they say that they've already announced the most job losses and layoffs that they'll be and they tend to be in back office staff at headquarters in Chicago and in Houston. The two headquarters of the various individual airlines.

And, Randy, they say the reason there probably won't be further layoffs of pilots, flight attendants, gate agents, all the people who really make the airline work on a daily basis is because there wasn't much overlap of the route structures. And Jeff Smisek says that that's one reason why.

But here's an interesting thing. Jeff Smisek, the CEO of the new United, does admit that United will be shrinking it's domestic U.S. network because, he says, the focus in the future is going to be on international coverage.

KAYE: Oh, so folks in the --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFERY SMISEK, CEO, CONTINENTAL AIRLINES INC.: Well, the domestic U.S. is a very difficult place to make money. Low barriers to entry, high barriers to exit, brutal regulation and over taxation. So it's very hard to make money domestically. And that's why our growth has been international.

Even this year, as we've -- we were originally going to grow between 1 and 2 percent this year. And because of high fuel prices, we've brought that back to flat. But even there, that flat is comprised of shrinking the domestic systems and growing the international systems.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Now, Randi, this is fascinating because this tells us that the United Airlines -- the Continental United merger, the airlines in the United States, over time, is going to start to look very different. It's got these massive hubs, Chicago, Washington, Houston, Newark, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, but they're going to be geared to funneling out to the rest of the world.

KAYE: So did he say anything about the frequent flyer miles? That's what I want to know.

QUEST: Ah, tell me about it. Look, he did admit that between them, United and Continental have as many members in their program as the population of France. And, no, he didn't say anything about -- all he would tell me, frankly, was that it -- the flyers are going to like it.

But I can tell you, because I read the blogs, Randi, flyers are desperate to know what it's about, what it's going to look like.

KAYE: Of course.

QUEST: He did -- absolutely. He did, however, have a serious warning for his competition who might think that they're going to get one over on the new United.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SMISEK: I think they fear us, and they should. The fact is, not only are we the largest, but we will be the leading airline. I mean we're very focused on customer service and that's why I'm so focused on the culture of the new company. When we're done with this integration, in about 18 months, and we've got that all behind us, we're going to be a potent competitive force. And they are very scared of us, and they should be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Oh. And, you know, it's not every day you have a chief executive who sits opposite you and says, we're going to be a potent force, they're going to be afraid and they should be.

KAYE: He scared me with that comment.

But let me ask you this. I mean so they're going to be the largest airline now. Does that necessarily mean they're going to be the best airline? I mean do we know? Bigger doesn't always translate to better.

QUEST: Yes, and I think that that's one of the things that Smisek is very much aware of, biggest doesn't mean best. And coming from the Continental side, which perhaps had a very good reputation for customer service, certainly from the old days of bankruptcy through, I think he knows it has to offer something above and beyond.

Now, between promise and practice, between theory and reality, there will be many slips. And he admits that. But Randi, frankly, to look at the way they are putting together these two giant airlines to create this behemoth is really quite interesting.

KAYE: I'm sure it is and we'll keep an eye on it. Thank you, Richard. Great to see you. Be sure to join Christine Romans for "Your Bottom Line" each Saturday morning at 9:30 Eastern. And don't miss "Your Money" with Ali Velshi Saturday's at 1:00 p.m. Eastern and Sundays at 3:00.

President Obama says the U.S. may help armed rebels in Libya, but does the administration even know who the rebels are? Ed Henry is going to break it all down for us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back. Twenty-four minutes past the hour.

A shift in strategy among the coalition enforcing Libya's no-fly zone. The White House is now saying that it could possibly provide weapons to the rebel fighters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm not ruling it out. But I'm also not ruling it in. We're still making an assessment, partly about what Gadhafi's forces are going to be doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Ed Henry joins me now from the White House.

Ed, you know, we seem to be getting a couple of different messages, one from the White House, one from the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, about arming the rebels. Do we even know who the rebels are? Does the administration know?

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well it depends on who you talk to, you're right, Randi. I mean the president, in some of those interviews yesterday, was basically saying that he had gotten pretty specific. He said some of these rebels are doctors, lawyers or basically professionals who decided to join, you know, with some of their friends of various neighborhoods, villages, and just step forward and try to form a new government, stand up to Colonel Gadhafi. And that essentially these are professionals who are stepping up. But then Secretary Clinton said in London that we don't really know who they are and we've got to be careful and we've got to do some more digging.

Now, obviously, I'm sure the president, if he had another five seconds in that sound bite, would want to add that they're going to do some more checking, but he seemed to be suggesting that we know more about the rebels than the secretary of state suggested. And that certainly tells us that inside the administration they still do not have a clear idea exactly how much we can trust these rebels.

KAYE: Sure. And then you think about possibly arming them and maybe even training them. Maybe training might be required.

HENRY: Yes.

KAYE: So it would be good to get a handle on exactly who they are or at least one clear message.

Let me ask you about the president's speech on Monday. Did it help the American people or Congress, for that matter, better understand the course of action in Libya, do you think?

HENRY: Well, it does seem to have at least given him a little bit of breathing room from Capitol Hill. You certainly had a lot of Democrats coming out over the last day or two who had previously been a lot more skeptical of this mission saying, OK, the president gave us a rationale for why he got the U.S. involved. But I think the second part of that equation is, they're still waiting on The Hill for more details about how he's going to get the U.S. out.

And you'll notice that in the president's remarks on Monday night, he was very careful not to get into those details, perhaps because they're still trying to figure all of that out and he wants to be very careful to make sure it was not a "mission accomplished" speech, even though he was saying that parts of the mission had been accomplished. You don't want to set a bar that suggests, look, we're done here. This is pretty much, you know, we'll be out in a week, we'll be out in a month. He doesn't know exactly how long it's going to take and that's why he's being careful.

And when you mentioned the rebels being trained, that is another key issue. Even if the U.S. were to arm these rebels, number one, would they be properly trained to use these sophisticated weapons? How long would that take? And, number two, would this be outside the bounds of a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing military force in the first place? It was one thing to have a no-fly zone to try to protect civilians as the U.N. said it would be OK. But arming the rebels? Does that take it a step beyond the U.N. resolution? That's a whole other question.

KAYE: Yes. And if we did have to train them or if the rebels had to be trained, would that be part of the U.S. mission? Is that the United States' job or is that part of the rest of the coalition to do that? Who knows, right? They're not clearing that up.

HENRY: A good question because the president has stressed -- you're right, the president has stressed over and over, the U.S. is no long in a lead role. That we're sort of pulling back. Well, if all of a sudden the U.S. needs to step up and start training these rebels, that is what you would suggest a lead role, not a backup role. So all these questions are making it that much more complicated.

KAYE: All right. Well, Ed Henry, I know you answered them as best you can. We certainly appreciate that. Thank you.

HENRY: Good to see you, Randi.

KAYE: Next, it wasn't quite "Alice In Wonderland," but almost. You won't believe what happened to one Florida woman in her own backyard. Her dramatic 911 call, right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Coming up on half past the hour. Let's get caught up on the latest headlines and some stories you may have missed.

First, to Libya, where anti-Gadhafi forces are losing ground following advances they made just days before. Rebels say the front line is proving to be fluid as Gadhafi's forces are driving them back with punishing firepower. Government fighters are intensifying their strikes in Misrata and are now pushing east from Bin Jawad to Ras Lanuf.

You can see rebels retreating from Ras Lanuf, which is a key oil port. But the opposition is not confirming they have lost the city of Gadhafi. Gadhafi's forces are escalating their attacks as NATO prepares to take command of the U.N.-backed military mission in Libya.

In Syria, protesters are furious taking to the streets of Daraa and Latakia after the president addressed the nation from Damascus today. President Bashar al Assad delivered a defiant speech a day after his cabinet resigned. The state of emergency that many hoped he would lift remains in place in Syria. Al Assad did acknowledge his government failed to meet the needs of Syrians, but he blamed the uprising on a conspiracy by enemies.

Workers at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant are struggling to keep the reactors cool and prevent radioactive water from leaking into the Pacific. But tests are now showing the ocean water near the plant is extremely radioactive. Japan's nuclear agency found radioactive iodine 3,000 times the normal levels. These levels are the highest seen since the tsunami knocked out the plant's cooling system more than two weeks ago. The agency says they don't believe there is an immediate threat to marine life.

Well, in the meantime, Tokyo electric says its president was hospitalized for fatigue and stress and will need treatment for several days.

Health investigators are looking into the deaths of nine hospital patients in Alabama. All were given an I.V. contaminated with bacteria. Ten others patients got the iv and are reportedly not doing well. A Birmingham company sold the bad I.V. bags to six hospitals which have now all been recalled.

Imagine standing in your backyard and then suddenly this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm in the ground!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're in the ground?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Somebody help me. Oh, god, I'm stuck in here. I'm in a hole.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, I understand you're in a hole. Where are you at?

(END VIDEO CLIP) KAYE: That was Carla Chapman screaming for help, maybe even her life, when she found herself being swallowed by a sink hole. Luckily she had her cell phone and was safely rescued, and believe it or not, this is not the first time this has happened to this woman. In fact this is the second sink hole that's opened up and swallowed her up in her own backyard. Her insurance denies there is a sink hole problem at her home and Chapman is suing the insurance company.

Should the U.S. provide weapons to the Libyan rebels and does al Qaeda have links to the opposition? Serious questions facing the Obama administration right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: The Libyan rebels on the retreat once again. And as the civil war drags on, one key question takes on greater urgency. Should the United States provide weapons to the forces fighting to overthrow Moammar Gadhafi? Adding to the complexity of it all, growing concern that al Qaeda may have links to the Libyan opposition. On top of it all, there appears to be some disagreement on just what Obama officials know about the rebels.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: First of all, I think it's important to note that the people that we've met with have been fully vetted. So we have a clear sense of who they are and so far they're saying the right things and most of them are professionals, lawyers, doctors, people who appear to be credible.

HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: We do not have specific information about specific individuals from any organization who are part of this, but of course we're still getting to know those who are leading the transitional national council and that will be a process that continues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: All right, so if the president and his secretary of state have a different take on the Libyan rebels, does the administration really know enough about them to provide them with weapons?

Joining us to talk about this CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen.

Peter, thanks for being with us.

What do you think? Should the U.S. arm the rebels?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, lucky I don't have to answer that question being a journalist in the sense that that's a policymaker's question.

But, you know, I mean certainly I talked to senior U.S. intelligence officials who say that the precise makeup of the Libyan rebels in eastern Libya is not very clear to the U.S. government. There are all sorts of obvious reasons for that, Randi. The United States didn't have diplomatic relations with Libya for decades and Gadhafi, of course, ran a totalitarian regime so it was pretty hard to find out who the dissidents were and what motivated them.

The concern that the NATO supreme commander raised about glimmers of al Qaeda and the opposition in Libya, I think, comes from basically two data points. One, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, a group that was once allied to al Qaeda, which has now rejected al Qaeda's ideology, several hundred of their Libyan Islamic fighting groups were released from prison by Gadhafi and some of them ended up with the opposition according to members of our group. Additionally we've seen in al Qaeda in Iraq recruited quite a number of foreign fighters from Libya to be suicide attackers in Iraq.

KAYE: Yes, I mean, I think that's a big concern because I think a lot of folks are wondering, might we see a repeat of Iraq in Libya, where the radicals took control of Gadhafi, where they might take control if Gadhafi is overthrown.

BERGEN: I mean, yes, it's a legitimate concern. Al Qaeda thrives in failing, failed states and civil wars. We've seen that in Somalia where there's a pretty strong al Qaeda affiliate there, Al Shabaab, that controls a good deal of territory. We saw that, as you say, Randi, in Iraq where al Qaeda, in fact, not only provoked the civil war, but took a, you know, killed thousands of Iraqis during the course of that civil war. So it's a legitimate concern.

That said, it's hard to imagine somebody that would be worse than Gadhafi and the opposition in Libya is clearly made up, as the president said, not only of Islamists militants but also professionals and others and ordinary people.

And in a sense, I think you have CNN and news organizations in eastern Libya have really a better sense of what's going on because they're there on the ground and our reporters there, I think, I don't think have seen, sort of large numbers of people waving flags of Osama bin Laden or the like. And none of the protests in the Arab world seem to be motivated by bin Laden's ideas --

KAYE: Yes, but you do know -- you know how al Qaeda works and if you have President Obama saying that these people are being vetted, they're mostly professionals, doctors, lawyers, I mean, is there really any way for the administration to vet them?

I mean, how does al Qaeda work? How would they get in?

BERGEN: Well, they're seeking opportunistically to get in anywhere they can. I mean, whether it's in Yemen or Libya or other countries. But, you know, the revolutionaries in these countries are just not asking the Taliban-style regimes, they're not mouthing al Qaeda's venomous anti-Western rhetoric. They're not motivated by his ideas. They're motivated by the fact that they've been oppressed for a long time, they have poor economic prospects they have. Many of them are very young and are sort of Facebook revolutionaries.

So, you know, of course when it's a legitimate concern, particularly if you're flying blind as we are in Libya. We're not flying blind in places like Egypt, where after all we've had a strong relationship with the Mubarak regime and a good sense of Egyptian civil society that goes back decades. But in countries like Egypt, I think it's reasonable to be appropriately skeptical and careful.

KAYE: Right. But Peter, I can't let you go without asking this. If the U.S. does arm the Libyan rebels, is there a precedent where the U.S. provided weapons to a rebel group, has it ever worked?

BERGEN: Well the most obvious one, Randi, is providing weapons and money to the Afghan mujahedeen who overthrew the Soviets in Afghanistan and partly brought an end to the Cold War. But, of course, some of the people that we armed there (INAUDIBLE), for instance, who's one of the leaders of one of the Taliban militias, is fighting the United States and its allies in Afghanistan today. So that's kind of a cautionary tale.

KAYE: Yes, it certainly is. All right. Peter Bergen, always appreciate your insight on this story.

Thanks for joining us.

BERGEN: Thank you, Randi.

KAYE: Time right now is about 1:40, time for a check of our top stories.

In Syria, a defiant President Bashar al Assad today blamed conspirators for the country's political unrest that's killed dozens of anti-government protesters and he offered no concessions to demonstrators who are demanding broad reform , including lifting of nearly 50 years of emergency laws.

The Japanese government today ordered an immediate safety upgrades at all nuclear power plants in the country. And the owner of the earthquake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says that tomorrow workers will begin spraying liquid aimed at preventing the disbursal of nuclear particles in and around the facility.

In Detroit, an announcement is expected today on which 45 public schools will be converted to charter schools. It's part of a plan to reduce the number of school closings in the district. Schools to be selected are ones with low academic performance and low or declining enrollment. The plan aims to close 70 schools in a bid to erase the $327 million deficit.

The bicycle has been around for ages and is still one of the best ways to get around without a car. In today's Edge of Discovery, Dan Simon introduces us to a bike that's not only portable, but also puts a whole new spin in how you ride it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It fits in the trunk of a car, unfolds in seconds and has you cruising with stairs from everyone around. It is called the Yike Bike. Grant Ryan is the New Zealand inventor whose aim was to reinvent the bicycle. This one requires no pedals.

GRANT RYAN, YIKE BIKE: Obviously it looks a little different than a normal bike. But there's nothing inherently natural about this. This is what we're used to.

So you've got a nice, upright riding position, your hands just naturally lay down here. You've got an accelerator here. You've got a brake here.

SIMON: Inspired by the Segway, Ryan wanted to make it electric, only lighter and faster. It weighs 20 pounds and zips along at 14 miles an hour.

(on camera): The bike goes six miles on a single charge so it's really ideal for going those short distances. And as you can hear, it makes a little bit of noise which is there on purpose to let cars and pedestrians know of your presence.

(voice-over): The Yike Bike made out of high-tech carbon fiber which accounts for its steep $3,600 price. It's got anti-skids brakes and lights that are on all the time. It's unclear if the Yike will be a success, but if you're looking to attract attention, you won't go wrong. Dan Simon, CNN San Francisco.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Cool. So while we're on the subject of transportation, sort of, some competitors on their way to the great moon buggy race are taking a big detour and a giant leap right there, right into our studio. Yes, we'll give you a sneak peek at the moon buggy next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Big space news today from NASA, this week, we received our first picture from a spacecraft orbiting a planet Mercury.

Take a look. This picture was taken by NASA's messenger spacecraft. Messenger took more than 300 images of the planet closest to the sun. NASA is expected to post more pictures on its website in the next 30 minutes or so, so keep watching that one.

Also, it's hoping for a miracle of sorts, the Mars Rover Spirit hasn't been heard from in a year. It got stuck in the sands of the planet Mars back in 2009. They were hoping the solar-powered vehicle would be able to get itself unstuck, but it's not looking so good. If they don't hear from the rover in the next month or so, NASA is going to scale back on Spirit and focus on its twin, Opportunity.

Also, this year marks 40 years since we rumbled across the surface of the moon in a moonbuggy. These are pictures from 1971 when astronauts used the vehicle to collect moon surface samples.

Every year, NASA holds the Great Moonbuggy Race. In honor of our trips to the moon, college and high school kids from around the world, well they build moon buggies, they bring them to Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama to race on a course that simulates the harsh, rocky surface of the moon. NASA has held the Great Moonbuggy Race for the last 18 years.

And here live in the studio, well, we have one of the moonbuggy race teams. How cool is this? We're so happy you guys are with us.

Roxanna Bahani is here, you're a student at Huntsville Center for Technology, and Hunter Fleckner is here as well, he's a student there. And Tim White, you are their advisor, and Dr. Frank Six is here as well, and you were the originator of the Moonbuggy Race. So this is pretty cool.

Roxanna, let's start with you. Maybe we could open up your moonbuggy so we can get a look at this. But sort of tell us how it works, if you can, the two of you.

Tell us how it works.

ROXANNA BAHANI, STUDENT, HUNTSVILLE CENTER FOR TECHNOLOGY: It works a lot like a bike.

KAYE: Can we open it as you were telling us?

BAHANI: Sure.

KAYE: So it works like a bike.

BAHANI: Yes, we pull and open it up.

KAYE: OK, so you sit there and you guys designed this?

BAHANI: Yes. Our school designed it.

KAYE: And the school built it?

BAHANI: Yes.

KAYE: All of you, OK.

And so you ride it like that. This thing looks pretty heavy, but it breaks down, it looks pretty tight. You were able to bring it up to our studio.

And the race is this weekend, right, the competition?

BAHANI: Yes, Friday and Saturday.

KAYE: So I want to ask you, because you have to -- it's supposed to simulate sort of the moon's surface, right? So what's it like to ride in this thing?

HUNTER FLECKNER, STUDENT, HUNTSVILLE CENTER FOR TECHNOLOGY: It's like kind of when you're riding a bike and you're going through like dirty, kind of muddy areas and it's real bumpy, it's just like that, except the bumps are a lot larger.

(LAUGHTER)

FLECKNER: So you're going up in there quite higher than you would on a normal bicycle.

KAYE: These are some pretty sturdy tires it looks like.

Tim, if you would, tell us a little bit about how this whole project came to be, because this is a whole school-wide effort it sounds like?

TIM WHITE, HUNTSVILLE CENTER FOR TECHNOLOGY: It really is.

KAYE: You seem pretty proud of your students.

WHITE: I am. I'm very proud of them. And it's a school-wide project, like you said, and that's one of the greatest things about it. It pulls our whole school together and they get to meet people from industry as well as college and high school students from all over the world.

KAYE: Pretty cool.

I know it's a lot of fun, Dr. Six. I mean, you're originator of it, but it's also -- there's got to be a lesson here, right?

DR. FRANK SIX, SPACE SCIENCE OFFICE, MSFC: Well, the lesson is that they get to do hands-on engineering, which they don't get in the classroom. So we have got 80 teams coming, 15 of them from foreign countries. It's just a real hoot. It's something to behold.

KAYE: How fast does this thing go?

SIX: Well, I would say probably 25, 30 miles an hour on a straight.

KAYE: Really?

SIX: Yes.

KAYE: Wow, I would like to see this on the streets outside CNN maybe.

What was the inspiration for you as the creator?

SIX: Well, in '94, it was the 25th anniversary of landing on the moon, and so they thought, well, we need to have an LRV, a lunar landing vehicle, type of display, and we put it together and the rules haven't changed that much in 17 years. So this is the 18th running of the buggies.

KAYE: Is it comfortable? Can I have a seat in there?

BAHANI: Sure.

KAYE: Let me pop you out of there, and see if I -- I wore pants especially for today so I -- see what this feels like. I know Hunter really doesn't want me to be his partner, though, right? I have no experience in the moonbuggy.

FLECKNER: It'll be interesting.

KAYE: This is kind of uncomfortable with your legs up so high, but this is really cool.

BAHANI: There's gears right here.

KAYE: There's no gas pedal, huh?

BAHANI: No.

(LAUGHTER)

BAHANI: You are the gas pedal.

KAYE: So do you want to be an astronaut or what? What do you want to do in your life after a project like this?

BAHANI: Well, I'm actually in health care, I'm in a health care class, but it's a really good experience for leadership and you get to work with a team and you make a lot of new friends.

KAYE: And, Hunter, what about you? I'm going to give Roxanna her seat back, cause I don't think I can sit there very long. What about you? What do you want to do?

FLECKNER: Well, the class I take is industrial maintenance, and I was thinking about becoming a master electrician and then getting my industrial maintenance certificate, work at like some sort of plant.

KAYE: Well, listen, if you take this thing for a spin around the studio, we have a lot of expensive equipment around here, so be careful.

FLECKNER: All right.

KAYE: All right. Hunter, Roxanna, thank you all so much. Tim White, Dr. Frank Six, this is really cool, we really appreciate you making the trip and bringing it here.

SIX: You bet. Thank you.

KAYE: Cool stuff.

Of course, to check out the Great Moonbuggy Race online, head to our blog, CNN.com/Ali. We'll also link you up to the NASA Mars Rover page and the Mercury expedition page so you will get your fill there.

A brand new poll puts the Tea Party in the same company as the Democratic and Republican Parties. We'll explain what that's all about after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Time now for "CNN Political Update." Senior political analyst Gloria Borger joins me from Washington.

Hi, Gloria. The president was talking energy today.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hey, Randi.

Yes, he was. And you know, he was and he made a little joke about himself also while he was doing that. Because you remember there were a lot of questions raised back in 2009 when President Obama won the Noble Peace Prize. He was in the middle of his Afghanistan review, was ordering more troops into Afghanistan. A lot of folks didn't feel that he had done enough, quite frankly, to merit the prize.

Well, today the president made a little fun of himself in that energy speech at Georgetown University. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That's why I've asked Secretary Chu, my energy secretary, to work with other agencies, the natural gas industry, states and environmental experts to improve the safety of this process. And Chu's the right guy to do this. He has a Noble Prize in physics. He actually deserved his Noble Prize.

(LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BORGER: So, Randi, that's getting a bit of attention. And clearly, the president still feels a little bit of tension on that.

KAYE: Yes.

BORGER: He spoke with CNN Espanol about the notion that you can be a commander in chief in wartime and still win the Noble Peace Prize.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I think the American people don't see any contradiction in somebody who cares about peace also wanting to make sure that people aren't butchered because of a dictator who wants to cling to power.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BORGER: So there is that fine line that President Obama walks and will continue to walk.

There's another political note today as we watch the budget fight that is shaping up to be something on Capitol Hill. We took a poll about the Tea Party and how popular the Tea Party is nationally because, of course, as you know, Randi, it's been a huge part of the debate on Capitol Hill.

Let's take a look at our poll, because the numbers show that the Tea Party is growing less popular. Thirty-two percent in the poll say they have a favorable view of the Tea Party at the moment and 47 percent have an unfavorable view. That's kind of what the national political parties have. And today on the floor, Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, warned House Republicans and said, don't let the Tea Party folks run your budget negotiations because they're not real popular. You can see that in our poll.

KAYE: We sure can. That may be some good advice from Harry Reid.

All right, Gloria, thank you.

BORGER: Yes.

KAYE: Your next update from 'the Best Political Team on Television" is just one hour away.

Coming up next, we're showing you a must-see viral video. Two twins have a heated conversation about, well, nothing. Wouldn't you love to know what they're saying?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: You are going to love this next story. People have claimed that twins have their own secret language, and the two babies in this viral video are certainly talking up a storm about something. It actually sounds a lot like our show's morning editorial meeting. Hmm, imagine that.

Take a listen.

(VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: So funny. Well, they seem to be talking about a missing sock or something, but we're sure they've gotten it squared away once this conversation ends.