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Afghanistan's Most Wanted; Underground, Undercover; When The Tornado Struck; The Next Space Shuttle; Gas Prices Continue Run-up; Palace Guard Calls Kate A Cow; An Eruption of Gunfire and Death in Syria
Aired April 25, 2011 - 12:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, Suzanne. Thank you.
Afghanistan's most wanted. More than 470 inmates from the Taliban wing of a prison in Kandahar. Today they're free to rejoin the war after a jail break the government is calling a disaster and blaming on prison security. If it sounds like a movie, well, it has been. The prisoners slipped out through a tunnel their comrades had spent five months digging from the outside. It took four and a half hours to get everybody out and hours more for guards to notice anyone was even missing.
All right, take a look. Here is the hole. There you see it. All right? Just imagine crawling through that thing in the dead of night for the length of three football fields. Now reports to vary on exactly how long the tunnel is, but it looks to be no more than two feet in diameter, if you take a good look at it there.
CNN's Nick Patton Walsh is following what's now a manhunt from his post in Kabul and joins me now for "Two at the Top." Nick, I understand a few escapees have been recaptured but the vast majority have disappeared. What are you hearing from your sources?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (live): Absolutely. One government spokesperson down in Kandahar is saying that as far as they understand, 24 people have been recaptured from these 488 escapees and two of them have been shot dead by police. Now, you have to take a perspective on this to see how this would have panned out. Very organized.
When they emerged from the tunnel at the other end, we're hearing of minibuses being used to whisk them away, some escaping on foot. So, I think, really, authorities have quick a job on their hands trying to get ahead, I think, of what seems to be quite a sophisticated long-planned operation -- Randi.
KAYE: And for the Taliban, really, this is not only a logistical success but really a PR triumph, too. What more can you tell us about that?
PATON WALSH: Well, absolutely. I mean, it seems this morning that, frankly, the Taliban broke the news. They put out a press release in which they went into explicit detail about they had been digging for five month, the tunnel was 320 meters long, how 106 of their commanders had escaped with these other insurgents. So, very much a PR victory for them and a key time in the south of this country.
Remember, Kandahar is exactly where President Obama sent the surge of U.S. troops to try and shore up support for the Afghan government here in the Taliban's heartland. And right now, just ahead of the coming months, known as fighting season here where violence tends to pick up, we have hundreds of insurgents now back out there in the population and I'm sure there are a number of NATO officials concerned that the role they may take in the insurgency -- Randi?
KAYE: And with the Taliban taking credit, does the government suspect that possibly some of these prison guards were in on it?
PATON WALSH: These questions have been, frankly, ringing loudly since this first began. I mean, how can you possibly have a five- month escape operation which ends as you saw. Look at the ends of those holes of the tunnel, there's concrete there. There must have been some kind of noise made when people finally emerged from underground the tunnel up into the prison.
Questions being asked, were the prison guards in on this, how much did the authorities know? A lot of the time I think people are concerned the Taliban have their own gathering area, space to co-exist in this these jails, they're considered, often, a recruiting ground for this insurgency. So, those questions will be -- being asked very, very seriously in Kandahar at the moment -- Randi.
KAYE: Nick Paton Walsh working his sources for us in Kabul, Afghanistan. Nick, thank you.
And my colleague, Gary Tuchman, knows a thing or two about tunnels. He's reported on drug smuggling tunnels under the U.S., Mexico border and joins me now to share his insights. Hi there, Gary.
GARY TUCHMAN, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Randi.
KAYE: First of all, tell us a little bit about -- because you've been inside these tunnels. What -- tell us about the engineering of them.
TUCHMAN: First where Afghan outlaws are certainly not the only outlaws to build tunnels. Mexican outlaws do it all the time and the engineering is intricate. One tunnel that I spent time in was in San Diego County going into Baja, Mexico, Norte. And it was a tunnel that was very narrow like the one we are talking about in Afghanistan where you had to crawl through it, but there was lighting, there was air conditioning. And it was all designed to bring drugs through.
KAYE: Pretty sophisticated.
TUCHMAN: Sophisticated and one question a lot of people have is how do they spend time building tunnels in the middle of a populated area? And it takes a long time because they don't use equipment that's quite as loud, they use softer equipment. But it's amazing that they're able to do this for months at a time, build tunnels despite the huge population of people around.
KAYE: Well, it brings to mind the movie "The Shawshank Redemption" really, I mean, because he dug it out with a little, you know, butter knife or something that he had made in his cell in that movie, Tim Robbins. But I mean, this is -- these guys do it without anybody hearing a sound.
TUCHMAN: Right. There's also another kind of tunnel that we've spent time in Mexico, and those are sewer tunnels. And those tunnels can be used to transport drugs and they don't have to be constructed, they're literally part of the sewer system.
And in Texas, you go into the sewer near a fried chicken shop and you come out near a topless place in Mexico, and they're able to transport drugs through that, too.
So, it's sewer tunnels and tunnels they construct. But there's no shortage of tunnels for outlaws.
KAYE: Right. I think about, though, this is - you know, they said it's several football fields long possibly. I mean how claustrophobic must that be? We've seen video of you inside these tunnels, and we've certainly seen video of Anderson Cooper working his way through these tunnels.
TUCHMAN: Right.
KAYE: I would imagine they're pretty claustrophobic.
TUCHMAN: For us they're claustrophobic because we're journalists and trying to be the good guys.
KAYE: Yes, drug smugglers.
TUCHMAN: But the bad guys, when you're talking about lots of money, they don't care how claustrophobic it is. If they can get through that and make money and not get caught, that's all they care about.
KAYE: And is there anything there that a community or prison or border can do to defend itself something against like this?
TUCHMAN: Well, I know that custom and border agents in the United States keep a close eye on what's being built but they can't keep an eye on everything. I mean, these guys are so motivated in Mexico, there's so much money involved, there's lots of projects going on at any time, the border agents, here, acknowledge that.
KAYE: All right, Gary Tuchman, great to have you here with your insight.
TUCHMAN: Thanks, Randi.
KAYE: Thank you. See you a little bit later on, actually, in the show. If you happen to be flying into or out of St. Louis on Friday night, you don't need video to keep the memory alive. For the rest of us, no video could fully convey the experience, but this one, well, it comes pretty darn close. It is today's "Sound Effect."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. This isn't good. We're going to be here all night.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: Talk about close calls. The tornado those people were running from did serious damage at Lambert-St. Louis Airport but amazingly no one was killed. Here's another a look from a security camera. Four airlines have had to temporarily relocate but the airport is planning to fly 90 percent of its normal Monday schedule.
Well, we are now just days away from the next space shuttle launch. We have details on the attendance of injured Arizona representative Gabby Giffords and the President of the United States. Also, details on what the next U.S. spacecraft just might look like. Keep it here.
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KAYE: Welcome back. We are now just a few days away from the final launch of the space shuttle "Endeavour." "Endeavour" is the youngest space shuttle in the fleet, it first launched back in 1992 as a replacement to the "challenger" space shuttle, it took 10 years to build.
Friday's 3:47 p.m. Eastern time launch will be a star-studded event, I'm sure. Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords will attend the launch, she was shot in the head, you may recall, at a town hall event in Tuscon in January. Her husband is Mark Kelly. He will command the space shuttle "Endeavour" in its final mission. He and the other five astronauts are scheduled to arrive at Kennedy Space Center tomorrow.
We have also learned President Barack Obama and his family will attend the launch Friday afternoon.
After the launch, the president will give a commencement speech at Miami Dade College.
So, this is the final space shuttle launch for "Endeavour," the final space shuttle launch ever is set for June. So, the question is, what will the next spacecraft look like?
Well, here to walk us through it is our very own space expert, John Zarrella, he joins us live from our Miami bureau. John, great to see you. Let's start with this "Dragon" spacecraft with SpaceX, what should we know about that?
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Dragon is Elon Musk as the multi-millionaire, founder of PayPal, and his capsule "Dragon" has already flown, in fact, he already has a contract with NASA to fly cargo to the international space station. And he tells us that he would be ready -- his dragon capsule, would be ready to carry up to seven astronauts to the international space station three years after he actually got a contract to build it, and that is in Washington, D.C.
I caught up with him a couple of months ago where his "Dragon" was on display after it made a successful orbit of the earth which was the first time that a commercial company had ever successfully orbited a capsule around the earth and landed it safely back in the water in the Pacific Ocean. So, he seems to be the furthest along in being ready to put astronauts into the international space station.
KAYE: And what about this -- the "Dream Chaser" from Sierra Nevada Corporation?
ZARRELLA: Yes, Sierra Nevada has a vehicle called the "Dream Chaser," and it also is going to carry seven passengers. They were awarded about $80 million from NASA in this last go-around of awards. They were one of the four companies that -- including SpaceX, Boeing and Blue Origin who got money to continue developing their capsule. The "Dream Chaser" is going to blast off from earth and then it will come back on its own. There's a look at it there, and it's kind of -- going to look sort of like a space shuttle, and it will be able to glide back in and land on a runway just like the space shuttle is able to do. So, another one of those fascinating 21st century vehicles.
KAYE: Yes, that one looks especially cool. Tell me about --
ZARRELLA: Yes.
KAYE: Tell me about Boeing. Also, Boeing has a leg in this race.
ZARRELLA: Yes, they've got a vehicle called the CST-100, and it's very much like a capsule, just very similar to the Elon Musk vehicle that are both very similar to overstuffed Apollo vehicles, so to speak. And it, too, would be ready to fly around 2015, is what the company says. And it, too, would be able to carry seven astronauts to the international space station.
It seems as if all these companies are gearing up to be able to carry seven which is, of course, what the space shuttle has been able to carry. And it's a good number, it gives them a lot of flexibility for bringing people up, bringing people back from the space station.
KAYE: And finally, before we let you go, what about the "Blue Origin" spacecraft?
ZARRELLA: They've got a vehicle that they've kind of dubbed somebody called "The New Shepherd," and it's -- they've also developed a launch abort system that they're working on and NASA gave them money for that as well. And this "New Shepard" (ph) is a vehicle that, you know, will also take off on top of a rocket and then land back on earth. So, it's another one, and again, all four of these commercial crew development money from NASA, some $270 million, to go ahead and continue developing these spacecraft that ultimately are going to be -- one or two of them will be the replacement for the space shuttle because, of course, as we know and as you mentioned, come the end of June, early July perhaps, that's it, no more space shuttles, the last one will fly.
KAYE: Well, it's good to see, thought, at least there are other options and the program will continue.
ZARRELLA: Yes, hopefully. Hopefully there will be other options.
KAYE: you're right. All right, I'm being positive here. OK, John. Thank you.
ZARRELLA: Sure.
KAYE: And you will be able to see the shuttle launch live here on CNN this Friday at 3:47 p.m. Eastern time, that's 12:47 Pacific.
Also, our own Dr. Sanjay Gupta is doing a very great -- it's just a fantastic special, next weekend on Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. It's called "Saving Gabby." It airs May 8th at 7 p.m. Eastern time. You certainly don't miss that.
Gas prices kept on rising over the weekend so when will they peak? One expert says maybe they already have. We'll tell you more after the break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Americans are back to work today after the holiday weekend. The big topic of discussion, aside from the royal wedding, is the price of gasoline. Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange with a look at where prices stand today and where they might be headed.
Hi there, Alison.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Randi.
You know, you can almost hear that collective groan of people who are filling up their tanks at their gas stations. You know, and why not, we are going through sticker shock when we do. AAA says drivers today are paying an average of $3.86 a gallon. Gas prices have been climbing for 34 days in a row already. And during that time, gas has soared by almost 32 cents a gallon. That's almost a penny a day.
A separate survey by Lundberg has Chicago drivers paying the most in the continental U.S. at $4.27 a gallon. There's even one station in Orlando, Florida, Randi, it's charging $5.69 for regular. But that one, you know, you have to wonder, it's right before you kind of drop the rental car off and head to the airport. So you have to wonder what's going on at that gas station, Randi.
KAYE: Yes, those are for the people who are saying, oops, darn, I forgot to fill up and then they have to pay that price.
Listen, a lot of people, though, are wondering just how long this can continue. I mean we're getting into the summer driving season. So can we really see this run-up going on?
KOSIK: You know, anything could happen because the average price of gas, Randi, it's just 25 cents shy of the all-time high of $4.11 that was hit in July of 2008. And then we're hearing, you know, some people say that $5 a gallon is a good possibility. But Trilby Lundberg, she's the analyst who compiles this Lundberg survey about gas prices, she's a bit more optimistic here. She says that prices may actually peak before the summer driving season. In fact, they may even be peaking right now. And that's because of the rise of crude oil prices may have actually slowed a bit. And the recent rise is gas has really been this kind of catch-up game from earlier rises in oil. And that's why we may see a slowing -- as we see this slowing rise of oil prices, we could see gas prices come down ever so slightly, Randi.
KAYE: All right, Alison Kosik, thank you. Nice to see you.
And 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. That's Saturdays at 1:00 p.m. Eastern and Sundays at 3:00.
Time right now, 19 minutes past the hour. Let's get you caught up with our top stories.
In Afghanistan, the search is on for more than 470 escaped inmates. Officials say they escaped from a Kandahar prison through a nearly 1,050-long tunnel dug by the Taliban. This was the second mass escape from the prison which houses some of the country's most dangerous Taliban prisoners.
Officials say the main airport in St. Louis will operate at 90 percent capacity today, less than three days after a powerful tornado tore through the facility causing considerable damage. Preliminary estimates show the tornado hit with winds between 111 and 165 miles per hour.
Kids rule at the White House today. It's the annual Easter Egg Roll. A tradition dating back to 1878. Thirty thousand people from all 50 states are there. The event's theme this year is the promotion of health and wellness in children. How fun for them.
Well, the soon to be princess, Kate Middleton, seems to be easing into her new role. But with the royal wedding just days away, not everyone is impressed. One palace guard isn't holding back. His outrageous comments next.
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KAYE: Prince William and Kate are just days away from their wedding, but there's some controversy brewing over Will and Kate's big day right now. It involves a Buckingham Palace guard who was expected to be in the royal wedding parade. The guard was pulled off of his royal wedding duties after posting some pretty offensive things on his Facebook page, including comments about Kate. Facebook took his page down, but CNN saw the comments before the page was removed.
So let's go straight to Richard Quest who joins me now from London.
Hi there, Richard. What more can you tell us about these comments and this palace guard?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, he was a member of the Scots Guards that were going to be lining the route and part of the military bands, part of many hundreds of military personnel that will be involved. And he said on his Facebook page some extremely offensive things. Not only about Catherine Middleton. About Middleton, he said that she, a couple of days last Friday, she and Prince William had driven past him while he was on duty and she had looked the other way and he called her a "stupid stuck up cow," along with several other things that, frankly, I can't say on a family network like ours.
He's listed "causing trouble" and "casually breaking the law" as some of his past-times on his Facebook page, along with several --
KAYE: He sounds like a lovely person.
QUEST: Charming. The sort of person you want guarding you on your wedding day. And if you look at the pictures of him when he had his guns -- he's got so many guns in his hand, that he can't actually fit anything else just about in the picture. But worst of all, he then goes on to say in his comments that he couldn't get any more guns because he had, quote, "too many Paki's scalps in it already." Pakis being Pakistanis.
Now that, between (INAUDIBLE), Randi, it is his comments about the Pakistanis and some other comments he made about the Jewish comments, that's what's really done for him on this. The charges of racism.
KAYE: And wasn't the Paki word, that was actually the same word that Prince Harry had to apologize for a while back, correct?
QUEST: Absolutely. And in Prince Harry's case, it was said, if you can say it, affectionately to somebody who knew -- who he knew wouldn't be offended by the phrase. This was downright offensive in all its extreme.
The ministry of defense is quite open about this. I don't think they would have been very happy to keep him on the route and part of the wedding procession because of his comments about Middleton. It's not exactly pleasant to say that about somebody you're about to go and celebrate and guard during their wedding. But it was the racist comments allegedly against the Pakistani community and against the Jewish community, that is what finally, if you like, put him out of the parade. And I suspect, once the investigation is over and that the dust dies down, he'll be in for some very serious trouble.
KAYE: And getting back to what he said about Kate. I won't -- I'm not going to repeat the comment because it's just downright cruel. But was there any indication that he had actually ever met her? QUEST: No. No. He'd seen her. He guarded her. He was in a car. I mean, you know, I can hear our viewers saying, well, come on, tell us what he said! We're all men and women of the world. It wasn't the most crudest and offensive in the world, but it certainly was such, you don't call the next -- the wedding of the year, the wedding of the century, you don't call that woman a stuck up cow because she didn't wave back and who does she think she is better than us and a couple of other gratuitous insults thrown in. This is exactly the sort of thing the military doesn't want on a week when they are going to show the very best that the British military has in pomp and ceremony.
KAYE: Yes, that's definitely not going to get you a good job referral coming from the future queen after those comments.
QUEST: No.
KAYE: Richard Quest, thank you. Always a pleasure.
QUEST: Thank you.
KAYE: Well, we are just days away. And you can join Richard, Anderson Cooper, Piers Morgan, Kiran Chetry and Cat Deeley as they bring you every unforgettable moment of the royal wedding. CNN's coverage of the big day starts Friday at 4:00 a.m. Eastern Time. You can watch it, you can DVR it, but be sure to participate with us.
After a quick break, obese teens have a high medical risk. You may already know that. But a new study finds some surprising results of other risky behaviors. Up next, we'll have all the details.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Just about 30 minutes past the hour. Let's get you caught up on some of the stories you may have missed.
At least 470 inmates escaped from an Afghan prison today. The prisoners managed to escape through a tunnel that Taliban members claim they dug into the prison. The Taliban says it took five months to dig the tunnel. It stretched at least 1,000 feet. So far we're hearing police have recaptured only about two dozen escapees.
Colonel Moammar Gadhafi is still alive after NATO missile slammed into his compound for the second time early this morning. Here you can see the damage at the presidential compound where one building was completely flattened. Witnesses say they heard loud explosions every five minutes over the weekend. Sources tell CNN that these air strikes appear to be the heaviest by NATO in the last few weeks.
An Idaho miner was found dead underground after an exhaustive rescue attempt. Twelve-year veteran Larry Mareck was working in the Lucky Friday silver mine in northern Idaho when it collapsed nine days ago. Larry was working underground with his brother, Mike, who managed to escape unharmed. The mine owners are investigating that cave-in.
Hot temperatures, dry conditions and high winds ignited 17 new wildfires in Texas over the weekend. A 10,000-acre ranch west of Ft. Worth, Texas was also scorched. The owners of the ranch say they lost 15 percent of their herd and nearly all of the grazing land. Firefighters are still working to contain the largest fires in the state. The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for Texas residents to avoid the use of open flames and any activities that could generate sparks.
Extremely obese teens share the same exposure to drugs, alcohol and smoking as their peers, it turns out. Researchers compared 410 extremely obese high school students with almost 9,000 of their peers who had healthy weight and found similarities for high-risk behavior. However, the most surprising result involved sexual behavior. The new study in the Journal of Pediatrics suggests that extremely obese female teens were more likely to be sexually active under the influence of substances.
Airline pilots at the controls. But are they getting enough sleep before taking to the skies? We'll go in depth, next
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KAYE: This week, CNN is going in depth to bring you more on air traffic, out of control. Recent problems with air traffic controllers have been well documented. We've heard of controllers sleeping on the job or watching movies instead of watching planes. But that's just part of the airline safety story. What about the pilots and crew? The NTSB is holding discussions today on pilot fatigue.
Mary Schiavo is a former inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transportation and currently and attorney whose firm specializes in airline safety cases.
Mary, great to see you.
How important would you say it is that new rules on pilot fatigue get approved?
MARY SCHIAVO, FORMER INSPECTOR GENERAL, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION: Pretty unlikely. They have been trying to pass these rules literally for 20-plus years. The closest they came was probably back in 1995, while he was inspector general, but the industry opposed them and the FAA eventually withdrew them. So it doesn't bode well but if they can do it, it is a major accomplishment.
KAYE: But you do believe it's critical?
SCHIAVO: It is absolutely critical, especially since a lot of the pilot rules have been in place for 20 or 30 years. And we have learned an awful lot about the human body's response to fatigue and what someone can and can't do. But these rules have been in place for so many years that they don't really take into account the effect of fatigue on somebody performing such a critical job as flying a plane full of passengers.
KAYE: I know that pilot fatigue certainly became a very big issue after the crash of the Colgan Air flight 340 in Buffalo, in 2009. I covered that story. It was a horrible story. The co-pilot had traveled across the country the night before, I recall. Then she grabbed some shut-eye in the pilot lounge. Yet, still not a single new rule has been put in place and it's been more than two years. I mean I find that alarming.
SCHIAVO: Well, it is alarming. It's very disappointing, because right after the accident happened there were a lot of promises made. And, of course, the NTSB had looked into the problem once again and they looked at it many times. But all the NTSB can do is ask. They don't have powers to actually force the FAA to take any action.
And it is going to take an act of Congress most likely to force the FAA to act because literally, I can think of 10 times they've had these new rules up for rule making, which is when the FAA puts up a new regulation and they have taken them down every time in response to industry pressure.
So, even small things would help. Like increasing the amount of rest time that a pilot must have between duty days or between flights. Right now for example, if you're stuck in traffic, you can work as long as 14 to 16 hours even though the regs say you have to have eight hours of rest. You can extend that duty time. So just adding an hour or two would help, because by the time you get to the hotel and check in, you don't have eight hours.
KAYE: Right.
SCHIAVO: So that's why these are so crucial.
KAYE: And now I want to do -- I do want to get to the controllers. I mean, new rules for them say that nine hours is the minimum between shifts, up from eight.
Is that good enough for you for the air traffic controllers?
SCHIAVO: That does something very good. Very clever. Because what controllers could do in the past is put two shifts in one day. They could work their eight-hour shift, get their eight hours off and work another eight-hour shift and then have a four-day work week so they could compress their five days of work into four.
By requiring nine hours between shifts, that will no longer be possible so that extra hour can make a really big difference, and plus go further to guarantee you get eight hours of sleep, because for controllers I think it is vitally important that they're there to do the job. And now that that Congress has put a second controller under Secretary LaHood for all towers, controllers won't be working alone anymore --
KAYE: Do you think that's enough then? You think the towers are fully staffed? That's enough for you?
SCHIAVO: Well, they are fully staffed now. Now some places like JFK in New York, there's a shortage of controllers so they do have to pull extra shifts. But the FAA at this point is able to keep the towers staffed but they do have to be hiring. There's a continuous retirement going on right now, a lot of retirees. And so they do have to keep the hiring up. But right now the towers are staffed.
KAYE: All right, Mary Schiavo, we will leave it there.
Thank you so much. Appreciate your time today.
SCHIAVO: Thank you.
KAYE: A bevy of Republican hopefuls are up against their Republican timetable. So who's ready to commit? Your CNN political update is next.
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KAYE: Time now for a CNN political update and decision time is just about here for some possible Republican candidates. Joining me now from Washington is Wolf Blitzer, anchor of "THE SITUATION ROOM."
Hi, Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Hi, Randi.
You remember four years ago at this time there were dozens of candidates running for president of the United States. I remember some of those early debates. Right now there are a few in the exploratory committee mode, but more are expected on the Republican side right now.
Haley Barbour has suggested that by the end of this month he will be ready to decide whether to go forward. There are signs he will in fact go forward.
Donald Trump, he says by the end of May after the season is over for "celebrity apprentice," he'll make up his mind. But he says he a's very, very serious. Don't be surprised, he says, if he runs.
Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, she says if she runs she'll form an exploratory committee in June.
Tim Pawlenty, he's already formed an exploratory committee. Later this spring he says he'll decide whether to run. But he's got that exploratory committee.
Newt Gingrich, he's exploring right now whether to form an exploratory committee. He says he's serious about doing so.
Mitt Romney, he's created that exploratory committee already. He'll announce in the coming months whether he's going to go forward. All indication are Mitt Romney will.
Somebody who's on the fence right now, the Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels. He says he remains muddled in his decision making process as whether or not to run. He told "The Washington Post," "I don't want to leave a misimpression. If we get in, we will go all out. We know a little about how to do that. So reluctance or hesitation about running doesn't mean we would be a reluctant candidate if we got there." So Mitch Daniels still on the fence right now. A lot of people are waiting to see if, in fact, he does run.
Rick Santorum who apparently is running, he's created that exploratory committee. He's going forward with this process. He does acknowledge now that a vote as a U.S. Senator back in 2003 that he cast was a mistake, a vote in favor of the Medicare prescription drug benefit for seniors. He says the mistake was wrong providing a universal benefit and not paying for it at the time it's very expensive as you know for U.S. taxpayers to go -- it's a popular program but it's very expensive and given the budget deficit problems right now, he says that vote was a mistake.
So presidential politics very much in everyone's mind right now here in Washington. On the Democratic side, Randi, as you know, the president of the United States is running. He's formed his re- election committee already. It doesn't look at least right now that any serious Democrat wants to challenge him for the party's nomination -- Randi.
KAYE: All right, Wolf. We'll see you today at 5:00 p.m. Eastern for "THE SITUATION ROOM."
Thank you.
And your next update from the Best Political Team on Television is just one hour away.
In Syria, an eruption of gunfire and death. Thousands of security forces crackdown on anti-government protesters in the southern city of to Daraa and other areas. Witnesses say troops fired indiscriminately, in some cases shooting into homes as the people slept. Unconfirmed reports say at least seven civilians were killed. Witnesses also say numerous people were arrested. The government blamed the violence on armed criminal groups saying they killed 12 martyrs.
The White House condemned the violence and says it's considering sanctions against Syria. And Britain and three other countries are calling on the U.N. Security Council to condemn the attacks on civilians.
Turning now to Asia. A young woman risks her life fleeing North Korea in hopes of freedom in neighboring China. Instead of freedom she's forced into a nightmare world of slavery. Just one victim of China's slavery gulag.
Stan Grant has the story, part of CNN's yearlong Freedom Project aimed at helping to end modern day slavery.
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STAN GRANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Stan Grant in Beijing. I've been covering stories about slavery, about kidnappings, about women being forced into prostitution for some years now, from the Thailand- Myanmar border, to China and the border with North Korea. And it was there a few years ago I met a lady we can identify only as Miss Kim.
Now, she escaped that repressive regime in North Korea, fled across the river into China. But it was then that her real horrors just began. Have a look at this.
(voice-over): If I die, I die, she says. if I survive, I survive.
(on camera): Picture this. A woman afraid comes down to the river's edge under cover of darkness. She knows she must make it from there, North Korea, across to this side, China.
(voice-over): In the darkness she is seized by people poachers waiting to kidnap women crossing the border. They are sold to the highest bidder as wives or maids.
Miss Kim was once planning to marry. She was pregnant but forced into an abortion. She says her husband dumped her when she became sick.
(on camera): Well, what became of Miss Kim? I really can't tell you. She is one of the potentially tens of thousands of women each year who are sold into slavery or forced to work as sex slaves. It also happens to the mentally ill or the tens of millions of migrant workers who flood across China every year. Some of them forced to work in appalling conditions, hour after hour for little or no pay, effectively as slaves. They've also been rescued on occasion. It is something the government has to be vigilant about.
Slavery is not a new issue to China. It dates back thousands of years. It wasn't until the early part of the 20th century that it was actually outlawed. But as we've seen with the case of Miss Kim and others, that is just riveted underground.
(END VIDEOTAP)
KAYE: To find out more about the CNN Freedom Project, be sure to check out our Web page at CNN.com/freedom.
All right, we have all been there. Right? Stuck in traffic. And there are apps to help get us out of those jams. But let's face it, that up-to-the-minute info often comes in too late. So, what if you could avoid jams before it's too late. Well, guess what? There may just be an app for that. Yes. So, you know all that red stuff which shows you where the really gnarly traffic is? Well, you might actually be able to predict it with this new app. We'll explain in our "Big I," next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Time now for our "Big I," where we talk about big new ideas and innovations. Here's a headache a lot of us deal with daily. How was the traffic on your way in to work today? Well, many of us tend to rely on these, the traffic applications. Our smartphones have them. There are dozens of helpful traffic applications like this one. Looks like traffic heading into Atlanta right now is pretty bad, by the way. Or many of us have of course, the GPS navigation system. Both of these can help us get around those traffic pile-ups.
But the problem is, these show us where the traffic jams were maybe five minutes ago or so. By the time you avoid one jam, you get stuck in another one with other drivers also looking to avoid that same mess. But what if there was a way to predict traffic jams and warn us about future traffic before we even hit the road? Well, there may just be an app for that, too.
That is where the IBM Smarter Traveler Program comes in. And joining me now from Stanford, California from IMB is John Day, leading the charge to develop this app. John, this sounds pretty cool, but I have to ask, how does an app predict future traffic before it even happens?
JOHN DAY, RESEARCH MANAGER, IMB ALMADEN RESEARCH: Randi, thanks. Great introduction.
The IBM Smarter Traveler project was designed very specifically to give individual travelers a customized travel prediction, travel forecasting tool specific to their routes and with the information delivered to them before they actually leave their home. That was the objective.
When you look at the traffic and the issues around it, it is really a giant data problem. And that kind of problem is the sort of thing IBM loves to tackle. We use similar techniques in doing early fraud techniques with banks and other entities. We have lots of applications to go at it, and this is a very similar kind of space.
KAYE: So, when the people receive alerts, are they customized? Does it give you alternate routes to avoid the traffic that you are mixed up in?
DAY: So, perfect question. Thank you.
The way we built it was in three components. The first, which learns where your particular travels are typically and when. The second is our traffic analytics prediction engine. That takes - ingests -- all of the traffic sensor data from an entire region like the Bay Area and produces predictions for 30, 40 minutes out on what the traffic will look like based on historical data. And then the third part, of course, is in delivering the customized, as you described, information to the individual traveler for their particular route.
KAYE: And I know that your employees have actually been testing the app out around Northern California, around San Francisco. How accurate has it been for them?
DAY: Yes, the traffic prediction engine has gotten very high marks in multiple applications around the world. And in San Jose where we have been testing it, the results have been equally good and one of the things we are reviewing right now with the partners is how to do an analysis of how well it is done. But the early indications are very, very accurate. KAYE: All right. John Day, we will leave it there. Thank you so much for the information on the IBM Smarter Travel app. Looking forward to it.
DAY: Thanks very much.
KAYE: Meanwhile, we have some breaking news. We want to get right to our Chad Meyrs who has a tornado warning for us in Tennessee. Chad, what can you tell us?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Just to the southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, in Germantown, Collierville, Hack's Cross. That is the area there that we're seeing a small little spin-up. You're not talking about big tornadoes, not talking about 200-mile-per-hour tornadoes that we saw in St. Louis, but just enough of a spin-up that if you see this spin, you could actually get some damage with winds 80, 90, 100 miles per hour in one little squall. Almost like more like a dust devil more than anything else.
But along the line east now of the town of Memphis, Germantown would be right about there. But as the storm continues to rotate off to the east, could put this small tornado on the ground for a little while.
Also a couple more what we call appendages or kind of hooks that can put out some small tornadoes as well on the east side. We call it -- weather geeks would call them like a gust-nado. Because they are coming out of the gusty part of the storm, not so much a super cell tornado. But nonetheless, doesn't matter. If it is in your neighborhood, it's ruining your day one way or the other. Watch out for that kind of damage. Watch out for storms as they approach today.
KAYE: All right. Thank you, Chad.
MYERS: You're welcome.
KAYE: The controversy over where President Obama was born is flaring up again. Our Gary Tuchman went to Hawaii to look for the truth. And he will join me next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: It is the claim that just won't seem to go away: the assertion that President Obama wasn't born in the United States. Real estate mogul Donald Trump, a possible candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, recently gave the rumor new life with demands to see the president's birth certificate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, CEO, THE TRUMP ORGANIZATION: I feel strongly about the fact that Barack Obama should give his birth certificate, not a certificate of live birth which is nothing. Which is absolutely nothing.
(END VIDEO CLIP) KAYE: A CNN/Opinion Research poll conducted about a month-and-a- half ago suggests that only 46 percent of Americans, less than half, believe that the president was definitely born in this country. A quarter of all Americans said he probably or definitely was not born here.
CNN national correspondent Gary Tuchman has been investigating, and he will air his findings tonight on "ANDERSON COOPER 360." That's at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, but we are lucky to have you here with a preview. You went to Hawaii to get us the truth.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We went to Hawaii to get the truth. The story has legs. You know, Donald Trump, the top of the Republican list right now. Different states want to pass birther bills.
And what we have found in our methodical investigation that there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that Barack Obama was born outside of the United States. Meaning zero evidence. The people who most public are doing it for the most part for political reasons or to make money from books.
What we found is ample evidence that Barack Obaam was born in the state of Hawaii. More than we though. We found evidence that Barack Obama probably doesn't know about. For example, we have talked to a Republican, a prominent Republican in Hawaii. He was a member of the cabinet of the last Republican governor. She has seen the original birth certificate. She went into the vault. Under Hawaiian state law she had a right to see it because she had to make a news conference about it. And she said that it proves beyond a doubt that he was born in the state of Hawaii. Was her first on-camera interview with us.
Also, we should point out, you just heard Donald Trump say that certificate of live birth means nothing. He's totally wrong about that. And in our story, you will see that Donald Trump - really, he's a brilliant man. I have talked to him many times, but he has absolutely no idea what he is talking about when it comes to the certificate of live birth.
KAYE: And he sent investigators there to get the truth. And we sent you! So you got the truth for us. But you mention this original birth certificate. Why doesn't the president just release the original? I mean, you have people seeing it and telling us about it, telling you about it. Why not just put it out there?
TUCHMAN: If this was the original birth certificate and I had it with me and I held it up, would a certain segment of the viewers believe it was original? No. The Obama White House believes that doubters will keep on doubting. But it goes to the point I make about what Donald Trump says about the certificate of live birth. One of the things we'll establish in the story is that if Barack Obama is not a citizen of Hawaii officially with the certificate of live birth that he has shown, then what it means is that millions of Hawaiians are also not citizens. And we'll explain that also.
KAYE: So, just tell me, is this going to put an end to this full rumor that possibly he was not born in the United States?
TUCHMAN: Our modest opinion is -
KAYE: Definitively?
TUCHMAN: Our modest opinion is, for open-minded viewers, this will put a rest to the rumor that Barack Obama was definitively born in the state Hawaii, the 50th state of the United States of America.
KAYE: And you will in a sense prove that tonight?
TUCHMAN: That is what we are trying to do, yes.
KAYE: Did you happen to run into any of Donald Trump's investigators?
TUCHMAN: That is a funny point. We actually had people come up to us when they saw we were investigating in a government office. "Are you one of Donald Trump's investigators?" someone said to me. And I said, "No, we are investigating the story for CNN." We can tell you, we have talked to most of the key players. Every key player we could find. None of the key players have seen any hint of Donald Trump's investigators if indeed they are in the state of Hawaii.
KAYE: I am very curious if we'll hear from Donald Trump tomorrow, possibly even the White House after your story airs tonight. Gary, great work. Thank you.
And you can see Gary Tuchman's full report tonight on "ANDERSON COOPER 360" tonight. That airs at 10:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. That sounds like a great story.
