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An Entrepreneur At Nine; Obama's National Security Team; Palin Coy About Presidential Run; President Remembers Fallen Heroes; Joplin Searches for More Victims; Gas Drops on Memorial Day; Dinner Plate Replaces Food Pyramid; Honoring Heroes with Service; Germany Dumping Nuclear Power; Too Little Time Off; Sarah Palin Takes Bus Tour, Media Follows

Aired May 30, 2011 - 13:00   ET

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

JOE JOHNS, CNN ANCHOR: She's riding, rolling, tweeting, teasing, but is Sarah Palin running? The former Alaska governor and GOP running mate is spending her Memorial Day on a bus tour bound for New England, presumably, we think, New Hampshire. I say presumably because her SarahPAC Web site isn't saying where she's going to stop until after she has been there. She turned up this morning at the National Archives, in her words, "highlighting America's foundation" and contemplating a run for president in 2012.

Yesterday Palin hit the streets with Rolling Thunder, the motorcycle rally honoring America's MIAs and POWs. But we think she'll be in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania later today. And that is where my colleague Jim Acosta has already turned up.

Jim, Palin has used the word "foundation" a lot this weekend. And there is a question, of course, as to whether she is laying the foundation for a presidential run. What are you hearing?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, we're not hearing a whole lot, to be quite honest with you, Joe, because that is the game that they are playing right now inside the Palin staff. It is sort of a game of "catch me if you can," "follow the bouncing bus." some are calling this "the Palin mystery bus tour."

And I think some of that is by design. They want to generate some buzz and media attention obviously. And the former Alaska governor is doing a lot of that on this Memorial Day, hitting the National Archives this morning, then heading to Mt. Vernon. From what we understand, she may hit another historic site in between there and Gettysburg, but all of this is all in sort of a state of flux.

But -- and not to mention the fact that her potential presidential campaign could be in a state of flux. Reporters asked her earlier this morning what are her intentions and she gave a very interesting response, Joe. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sarah!

SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER ALASKAN GOVERNOR: Hi there! UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think you could beat Obama in 2012, Sarah?

PALIN: Oh, I think that any Republican candidate is very, very electable. I think Americans are ready for a true change, change to get our country back on the right track.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Does that mean you're interested in running? Are you going to run?

PALIN: You know, we're still kind of contemplating that.

(CROSSTALK)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Yes, the key words there, she is "contemplating that." And I can tell you if she is going to contemplate it, there are a lot of folks out here in Pennsylvania right now who would be very supportive of that, Joe. We are hours away from her potential arrival out here at Gettysburg. And there's already a pretty decent crowd gathering.

And we talked to a few of the folks in this crowd and they would like to see her make this run. It is no surprise, as you know, Joe, in some of the recent polling that has been done, the Gallup folks did one just last week, a national survey that took into consideration that Donald Trump is not running for president, that Mike Huckabee at the moment not running for president, and Sarah Palin showed a respectable second in that polling.

Obviously she and her staff see that at this point and they could capitalize on what could be a very big opportunity all this week. She is getting all of the attention. She is sucking up all of the oxygen out of this race right now -- Joe.

JOHNS: Yes, well, you know we have a poll that we've taken and it is pretty clear that she is bunched right up there at the top with several others, including Rudy Giuliani, who is also not in the race. So doing pretty well for a person who has not declared pretty much anything. This is a very atypical campaign apparatus, I'm sorry, if you will.

Do you think that anybody else could get this kind of mileage out of so little organization?

ACOSTA: I don't think so, Joe. I think this is vintage Palin. And that is why you have folks John McCain, her former running mate. And we all remember there were some tense moments between her staff and John McCain's staff during this 2008 presidential campaign. But he has maintained pretty good relations with the former Alaska governor.

He was on one of the Sunday talk shows yesterday saying that he thinks she could run and win and beat President Obama in a potential 2012 field. You had folks like Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, saying yesterday on one of the other Sunday talk shows that, hey, you know, the Obama White House can celebrate and do touchdown dances all they want at this point at the prospect of Sarah Palin getting into this race, but remember 1980, the Carter staff, the Carter folks were very optimistic, very happy to see Ronald Reagan running against them and they paid the price come November of that year.

So she is not to be underestimated at this point. She can certainly make a lot of noise in this campaign, and she seems to be doing that right now -- Joe.

JOHNS: Touchdown dances, that's a pretty good way of putting it. Thanks so much, Jim Acosta in Gettysburg, and we'll be watching you.

So tonight on "JOHN KING USA," John King is aboard the CNN Express, he's following Sarah Palin around. And if anybody can figure out whether she's inching closer to a run, it will be him. "JOHN KING USA" tonight, 7:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.

President Obama is leading the nation's tributes to fallen service members. Something all presidents do on Memorial Day. It is a tradition but he's also making some major changes in military leadership, as you may have seen right here live on CNN. The commander-in-chief today introduced his picks for chairman and vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and chief of staff of the Army.

The man to the president's immediate left is Army General Martin Dempsey, who the president wants to replace the retiring chairman, Mike Mullen. It was just last month that Dempsey became army chief of staff. So he wasn't considered the favorite for the top job. All the nominees require Senate confirmation, of course, which the president says he hopes will happen as swiftly as possible.

From the Rose Garden, Mr. Obama traveled right across the river to Arlington National Cemetery where he places the traditional wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns. He also paid a visit to Section 60, which is a part of the cemetery reserved primarily for troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As a matter of fact, now I want to turn our attention to Afghanistan where an Afghan soldier shot and killed a NATO soldier today. NATO's International Security Assistance Force says the shooting death in southern Afghanistan is still under investigation. Two more ISAF soldiers died in eastern Afghanistan in a separate attack when an improvised bomb exploded.

These attacks come a day after ANTO apologized for an air strike that killed nine civilians, mostly women and children, in the Helmand province.

In Serbia, Ratko Mladic's lawyer is requesting that the former Bosnian Serb general be reexamined by a team of specialists. Mladic's lawyer says the 69-year-old former commander is not healthy enough to face charges of genocide at the International Criminal Tribunal at The Hague. The chief prosecutor denies that Mladic is in poor health, saying he has been lively and joking since taken into custody. Mladic was captured last week after hiding for more than 15 years. He's accused of overseeing the massacre of nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys in 1995.

Prince William and his new wife Catherine Duchess of Cambridge are heading Stateside next month for their first royal tour. Details of their 11-day North America trip just came out today. According to People, the royal couple will spend most of their time in Canada before flying to Los Angeles on July 8th where they will promote "Britain to Hollywood."

Online hackers have pirated the PBS Web site. The hackers posted a false story claiming the rapper Tupac Shakur, who died almost 15 years ago, is still alive and living in New Zealand, of all places. The group also posted what it said were journalist passwords, log-in information for the PBS series "Frontline," and other sensitive information about its PBS stations. The hackers claim they hacked PBS's servers after being "less than impressed" with the network's documentary "Wikisecrets." PBS acknowledged the hack today but declined to comment any further.

They haven't given up searching for victims in Joplin, Missouri, more than a week after the tornado. We'll bring you up to date and check on whether any more storms are on the way.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: More than a week after Joplin, Missouri's, tornado disaster, dozens of people are still missing. The confirmed death toll is 142 with 43 people still unaccounted for. The city observed a moment of silence last night at 5:41 Central time, one week to the minute after the twister hit.

Earlier yesterday President Obama toured the devastation and spoke at a memorial service for the victims. He promised help as the city rebuilds.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're not going anywhere. The cameras may leave. The spotlight may shift. But we will be with you every step of the way until Joplin is restored and this community is back on its feet. We're not going anywhere!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Severe storms hit the Midwest yesterday, 450 flights were canceled at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. High winds tore off roofs and knocked down trees in Michigan, cutting power to thousands of customers. Let's bring in meteorologist Chad Myers.

You know, it is like a broken record right now. More expected today?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: But finally, the jet-stream has moved to the north where it should be now. It shouldn't have been all the way down in Joplin last week. It should have been on up in Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota. And today that's where the severe weather is because that's where finally the jet-stream has shifted.

Did you notice it got warmer here the past couple of weeks?

JOHNS: Absolutely.

MYERS: Two weeks ago people were going, where's summer? It was 68 degrees in Atlanta and obviously we lost our "Hot-lanta," you know, which we didn't get. But now, boy, it is all back. The jet-stream has moved to the north and, yessiree, temperatures have gone up.

Look at the record heat from Macon, Georgia, yesterday, to Naples, Florida. Macon was 98. Columbus, Georgia, was 96. Even Jackson, Kentucky.

Here's severe weather for critical fire weather today. There will be severe weather farther to the north. Look at this, 41-mile-per-hour wind there in Amarillo. And we had all those fires yesterday, if you weren't with us.

There will be severe weather today. And let me draw it out for you. It is going to be in an area bounded by North Dakota, South Dakota, parts of Nebraska and Kansas, maybe even up into the high country here of Denver, Colorado, and Cheyenne. But they will be those storms that you can see them for a long way coming.

The most severe weather should be out here in the plains where the humidity is there. Humidity will bump into each other, that humidity, that cold air, warm air will bump right through here and we could even see some tornadoes on the ground.

Joe, the good news is here, towns in Nebraska and also South Dakota, Kansas, are farther apart than let's say Tuscaloosa and Birmingham. So if we do get a big tornado, it may miss all of those big towns.

JOHNS: Yes, just don't give me another week like last week. That was pretty nasty.

MYERS: I understand.

JOHNS: You bet. Thanks, Chad.

MYERS: Yeoman's work out there.

JOHNS: You got it.

In two minutes we're going to bring you one of the most interesting teenagers I think you'll ever meet. A 15-year-old who was running a successful company and using her power to help orphans in Haiti. Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: If you're like a lot of people, can you probably say your folks were always proud of you and your achievements. But when you were in high school, were you the CEO of your own company? My next guest may put all of us to shame. Fifteen-year-old Leanna Archer started an all- natural hair care line when she was just nine years old. Now she's pulling in more than $100,000 a year. She joins me from New York. Thanks for joining us, Leanna.

LEANNA ARCHER, OWNER AND FOUNDER, LEANNA'S INC.: Thank you for having me.

JOHNS: What you've done is absolutely amazing. Yes, tell me a little bit about your company and what you do.

ARCHER: I own a hair and body care product company. And I have a line of about 14 products. And I pretty much have been running this company for the past six years.

JOHNS: So you got started by, what, taking an old recipe from your grandmother and expanding it out? Tell me that story.

ARCHER: Well, my great grandmother used to make a hair pomade that she concocted, I guess you could say, in Haiti. And it's been passed down from generation to generation. And growing up, people in my community wanted to use the same products that I was using. So then I made it available for them.

JOHNS: Got it. Now, tell me, for other entrepreneurs that would like to be successful, can you give them any advice? How do you get started and how do you keep it going?

ARCHER: Well, I can honestly say that a great support system is definitely helpful. I have the support of my friends and family. And I would -- a lot of people ask me mostly, have I ever -- did I need money to start the company. And the answer is no. I just provided the community with samples of the product and when they liked it enough, they came to me and provided me with the money to get a business license and to recreate the product.

JOHNS: Now I can imagine there are a lot of parents out there like myself and one of the things they're wondering is, how do I get my kid to do the kind of thing you've done? Can you give me an idea of what parents can do to, number one, help things like this get started by their kids, and also encourage it?

ARCHER: Well, I would say the most important thing a parent can do is to really stick by their kid and support their dreams 100 percent. The common saying in America is, you can do anything when you set your mind to it. And parents always tell their children that. I think that they should actually follow through with that slogan and, you know, dreams are wild but they're wild enough to come true.

JOHNS: Follow-through. That's always important in starting a business.

Now, you started a foundation in Haiti. It's an educational foundation. A little bit about that.

ARCHER: I started a foundation in Haiti in 2008 when I went to Haiti for the first time. I'm currently working with a group of about 150 children. And my main goal is to overall build a school. But right now I'm just focusing on providing them with food, shelter, and an education. JOHNS: Leanna Archer in New York, great work. Keep it up. And we will be following you as you go along your career.

Be sure to join --

ARCHER: Thank you.

JOHNS: Thank you much.

Be sure to join Christine Romans for "YOUR BOTTOM LINE" each Saturday morning at 9:30 Eastern. And don't miss "YOUR $$$$$" with Ali Velshi Saturdays at 1:00 p.m. Eastern and Sundays at 3:00.

Resetting national security. President Obama picks the final members of his new team. Our Ed Henry is going to be along in a few minutes with more on the changes and what they're going to mean at the White House.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: President Obama is putting the final touches on his new national security team, announcing his choice for Joint Chiefs chairman today to replace Admiral Mike Mullen. CNN's senior White House correspondent Ed Henry joins us at this time every day.

And, Ed, tell us a little bit about the president's choice and what sounds like the musical chairs over there at the White House.

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think you're right, Joe. I mean, it's interesting, General Dempsey is the person, as Army chief of staff now. He's going to be moving up if confirmed by the Senate to be Joint Chiefs chairman. It's a significant job. This is the president's top military advisor. Then you have Admiral Winnefeld, who would be his vice chairman. And Then General Ray Odierno. A familiar face. Has been sort of one of the leading commanders there on the ground for the Iraq war for so long, would become Army Chief of Staff. So some of that shuffling you mentioned.

And a broader shuffle going on because let's not forget, in June, Defense Secretary Robert Gates is going to be stepping down. Leon Panetta moving over from the CIA to run the Pentagon if he's confirmed by the Senate, as expected. And so I think the bottom line, it really comes down to one word, and that's continuity. I mean Iraq is largely wound down, by Afghanistan, we've still got about 100,000 U.S. troops there. And so this president is moving some of the chairs, as you say, but it's really some familiar faces and he wants to keep as much continuity as possible.

I think the other angle to keep an eye on is, look, General Odierno has a son who served overseas in the last couple years, lost his arm. And, you know, General Dempsey has three children, all of whom have served in the military. So, on this day, of all days, rather remarkable. These are not just folks, you know, in high command who don't really know what it's like out in the field. They've had children serving very recently in harm's way, Joe.

JOHNS: Well, that's just about the biggest personal investment you can possibly make.

HENRY: You're absolutely right.

JOHNS: Yes.

On another note, the president was talking about the weather. How hot it is there. And a little rough right now compared to overseas?

HENRY: Well, Joe, you've been a grunt like the rest of us out here in the field in Washington, swampy weather.

JOHNS: Yes, I have.

HENRY: Now you're in a cushy studio with the air conditioning on.

JOHNS: Stop it!

HENRY: No, I'm just teasing you.

I ran into Bo, the dog, a few minutes ago. He was running around here for a walk. He looks like he needs a haircut. He looks a little bit warm. And he ran into one of the Secret Service (INAUDIBLE) security areas out here because they got air conditioning in there. So I put that on Twitter --

JOHNS: Really?

HENRY: Because I think Bo is a pretty smart dog.

JOHNS: Yes.

HENRY: He knows that Washington gets pretty stifling. And he might as well --

JOHNS: He's too hot. All that fur.

HENRY: If you can get indoors this time of year in Washington or Atlanta, do it. And Bo's no dope.

JOHNS: So, are you a little bit jet lagged after flying all over the place with the president last week?

HENRY: Yes, a little bit. And, you know, it was a pretty quick trip. I mean, it's always exciting to travel with the president. And you know that. But it was four countries in about six days. So, it's not like we ever got to stay in any one place for very much time. And so when you just do that, bam, bam, bam, when you get back, it's a little bit jarring.

JOHNS: Yes, so the one story of the whole last week, of course, was in Joplin, Missouri, and all the tornado damage there.

HENRY: Yes.

JOHNS: People are wondering about the federal response to this disaster. Do we have a feel as to whether the president laid out a clear plan or was it just sort of a very large picture and somebody else is going to fill it in?

HENRY: Yes, well that's a good question. We're going to see how that plays out over the next couple days. I mean certainly he was under some pressure because of that European trip that you mentioned. It was a week ago Sunday that those tornadoes hit in Missouri. Bad timing for the president in the sense politically he was about to get on Air Force One to go over to Europe just as all that played out. And so he's definitely had some critics in the blogosphere saying, why didn't he cut the European trip short, et cetera.

As soon as he got back though, he got back late Sunday, he was just as jet lagged as the rest of us. And Sunday early he headed right to Missouri. He spoke at that memorial service. And I think based on the reaction we saw him get from that crowd, if there were any hard feelings about him taking a while to get there, I think they've been smoothed over because he got a lot of standing ovations and warm responses, number one. And, number two, I think, frankly, in a situation like this, when tragedy strikes, people think about politics a lot further down the chain of command there. They're more concerned about making sure that they recover as quickly as they can. It's a really desperate situation there.

JOHNS: A desperate situation, absolutely. Thanks so much, Ed Henry at the White House.

HENRY: Good seeing you, Joe.

JOHNS: Good seeing you.

So, this is the key to a healthy diet, right? Throw away everything you know about the food pyramid. Seriously. We'll explain why in just about 60 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: Let's catch up on the latest headlines and some stories you may have missed.

Sarah Palin may be on a national bus tour, but she's remaining coy about whether she intends to put her name in the hat for a presidential bid. The former Alaska governor said she's still, quote, "kind of contemplating" a run. Palin's "One Nation" bus tour kick off Sunday with a stop at the Rolling Thunder Bike Rally on the National Mall. She's scheduled to make stops at historic sites in New England in the next few days. In the next hour we'll take a step back and examine the media's obsession with Palin and her polarizing effect. You won't want to miss that discussion.

Today, President Barack Obama led the nation in honoring the servicemen and women who gave their lives for our freedom and security. The President laid a wreath at the Arlington National Cemetery's Tomb of the Unknowns saying, "We owe a debt to our fallen heroes that we can never fully repay."

(START VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is a day that has meaning for all Americans, including me. It's one of my highest honors. It is my most solemn responsibility as President to serve as Commander in Chief of one of the finest fighting forces the world has ever known.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: President Obama visited Arlington's Section 60, the burial area primarily for soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In Joplin, Missouri, the number of people unaccounted for from the tornado has fallen to 43. The number killed remains at 142. President Obama visited the town on Sunday observing the 13-mile path of destruction left by the tornado a week earlier. Workers are still searching through the rubble for more remains.

As you hitch up the car for your Memorial Day road trip, you'll find some relief at the gas pump. The average price for a gallon of gas is $3.79. According to Triple A, that's a five-cent drop from last week and 14-cent drop from a month ago. Not bad, right?

In medical news today, get ready to say good-bye to the food pyramid, the guide we used to eat for the last two decades. Well, we didn't used to eat it anyway. The Obama Administration is proposing a simple plate shaped symbol that's divided into the basic food groups. The food plate will be unveiled Thursday and is made to give you a fast and easy reminder of what a healthy diet looks like.

Remembering our fallen heroes. We'll tell you what some veterans and their families are doing to honor America's fighting men and women all year round. Coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: America is remembering its war dead with solemn ceremonies today. But there are also ways to honor America's fallen heroes year round. Eric Greitens is a Navy S.E.A.L. and the CEO of a nonprofit organization called "The Mission Continues." Ryan Manion is the sister of a fallen marine and Executive Director of the Travis Manion Foundation and she is on the phone with us.

First a little background. Eric, you served with Ryan's brother, Travis, in Iraq. We were just talking about this on the phone a second ago. Tell me when you served with him and sort of the story of his life in war.

ERIC GREITENS, NAVY SEAL.: So I was serving with Travis Manion in Iraq in the Spring of 2007. And in March of 2007, my unit was hit by a suicide truck bomb in Fallujah. That day I went to the rooftop of the building that had been hit, and Travis had run all the way across the compound with a couple of Marines behind him and he was the first person who came to my aid that day.

Later when a quick reaction force came in, they told me I had to go to the Fallujah Surgical Hospital. As I was leaving the building, I turned to Travis and I said, "Hey, Travis, you got it?." He said, "Yeah, I got your back, Sir." I left, I went to the hospital and that was the last thing that Travis ever said to me because just a couple of weeks later, Travis gave his life defending his fellow Marines in Iraq in Fallujah.

JOHNS: All right. Looking at a picture there of Travis and his sister. Ryan, you're on the phone with us now. Tell us how you and Eric started working together.

RYAN MANION, SISTER OF FALLEN HERO (on the phone): Well, Eric came to our house shortly after Travis was killed in Iraq and we spent a lot of time with him as a family. My mother and father and husband. And you know, I think we all left that meeting with a sense of doing something more. What can we do to honor Travis' sacrifice. Eric went off and started the Mission Continues. We went off and started the Travis Manion Foundation. And from that we started working together. Eric with the wounded and disabled veterans, and us with families of our fallen heroes. And pairing them up and letting them go and do service and do service in these fallen heroes' names.

JOHNS: Eric, expand on that a little bit for me, will you? Both your organizations get veterans involved in community projects. How does this work?

GREITENS: So, Joe, the big idea is that the greatest way that we can honor fallen service members is by actually living their values. These are men and women who served and sacrificed for us and the greatest thing that we can do to really honor them is to continue that spirit of service and of sacrifice.

So today, for example, I was just at a Missouri veteran's home and we had over 40 volunteers come out, active duty service members, veterans, civilians, who came out all to do service work together. By doing that we make sure that the memory of our fallen service members lives on. What we do at the Mission Continues is that we help wounded and disabled veterans to continue their service when they've come home into our communities. And we partner with the Travis Manion Foundation so that we do that service in honor of fallen service members.

We find it means a tremendous amount to the wounded veteran and a tremendous amount to the family of the fallen service member who now sees that the legacy of their son or daughter or husband or wife lives on.

JOHNS: Now, Ryan, so often when we get to Memorial Day and people think of it as the unofficial start of Summer, it is all about barbecue and beer. But we don't talk, I think, enough about what Memorial Day means to the families of the fallen. Can you sort of describe that for me from your perspective?

MANION: I think from my perspective -- and I can speak for several gold star families, that overriding message of never forgetting rings so true. But I think it's more than that. I think it is more than just looking at a name on the wall. It's going out and learning the stories of these young men and women who have given their lives for our country. Because they were incredible individuals who so many of them share the same traits of character and leadership and I think it is important for us as citizens of this country to go out and to learn their stories and to find out about these American heroes.

JOHNS: Ryan Manion and Eric Greitens, thank you so much for taking a little bit of time to talk to us on Memorial Day and wish you all of the best.

MANION: Thank you.

GREITENS: Thank you Joe.

JOHNS: Tracking your time off. A lot of Americans don't get nearly enough vacation time, but the U.S. is not the worst offender. We'll take a look at who lags way behind in time -- next.

(COMMERICAL BREAK)

JOHNS: Time for "Globe Trekking" now and a huge decision by the German Government. They're getting away from nuclear power totally by the year 2022. Germany actually shut down several of the oldest reactors in the wake of the disaster at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant. Now they decided to leave those closed for good and will accelerate the shutdown of the rest of their 17 reactors. Here's the plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NORBERT ROTTGEN, GERMAN FEDERAL ENERGY MINISTER (via translator): After long consultations, the coalition has come to a decision in the matter of energy policy and the energy transition concerning the shutting down of atomic energy. The decision looks like this -- the seven older nuclear power plants that are subject to the moratorium and the nuclear plant Krumel will not go back online. A second group of six nuclear reactors will go offline at the end of 2021 at the latest. The three newest nuclear power plants will go offline in 2022 at the latest.

(END VIDEO CILP)

JOHNS: That was the German Energy Minister. They say they will rely on alternative sources of energy like solar and wind power. Germany has more than 20,000 wind turbines already in place. The U.S. is actually the world's leading wind power producer. Germany is number two. But they are a few ticks down on the list of nuclear nations. Here is the list. There are 443 reactors worldwide. The U.S. has the majority of the nuclear reactors with 104. France is second and Japan is third. Germany ranks ninth.

The U.S. has been dubbed the no-vacation nation because of the lack of time off afforded by employers. On average, American workers get two to three weeks off a year. That compares to many European nations like Germany, that mandate at least four weeks of vacation time every year. You think you have it bad? Our Paula Hancocks and Kyung Lah take a look at a couple of countries that make Americans look like slackers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the image that the world has of the Japanese worker -- serious, buttoned up, and a very hard worker.

I'm Kyung Lah, Tokyo. Well, guess what, everybody? That stereotype is true. According to Japan's Government, the average Japanese worker gets 18 paid holidays a year. But half, 50 percent of those workers, take only eight of those 18 days. That's less than half of their paid vacation.

The reason why, there is this long standing notion in corporate Japan that if you take all of your vacation days you are lazy. You are considered a better employee if you leave those vacation days on the table. Little wonder that there is a legal term here in Japan called kuroshi, which means death by overwork.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Paula Hancocks in Seoul. South Koreans are one of the hardest working people in the world. To be considered a workaholic here is almost like a badge of honor. According to recent figures from the OECD, in 2009 South Koreans worked an average 52-hour work week. That's compared to a 34-hour work week in the United States.

So, you would assume that vacations would be very precious. But not so. According to government figures last year, almost half of all vacation days were simply not taken. Forty-eight percent of days off were worked through. Now one of the reasons for this could be that it is quite a hierarchical society. It is frowned upon to actually arrive at work after your boss or to leave work before your boss, and even if your work is done, it is considered a good idea to stay and be seen to stay so that you can get ahead.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: For more on vacation time around the world and the United States designation as a no-vacation nation, check out CNN.com/travel.

It is now 45 minutes after the hour. Time to check our top stories.

An apparent major blow today to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. CNN has learned that eight army generals have defected and are now in Italy. Gadhafi's military has been battling opposition forces for weeks. The opposition has said there can't be a peace agreement in place as long as Gadhafi is in place.

Jim Tressel has resigned as head coach of the Ohio State University football program, according to a school press release. Ohio State fined him $250,000 in March and suspended him after learning he failed to acknowledge that some of his players may have violated NCAA rules. Assistant coach Luke Fickle will serve as interim coach next season.

The National Weather Service confirms a tornado touched down in southern Michigan Sunday. Strong storms in the state have left thousands without power into today. Battle Creek, Michigan may have been the hardest hit with downed trees and damaged homes.

Singer Sean Kingston is now in intensive care at a Miami hospital following a jet ski accident yesterday. Kingston's spokesman says he's been stabilized. The singer and a woman passenger were injured as they went under a bridge on the jet ski.

After 11 days parked at the International Space Station, Endeavour is on its way home. The shuttle departed the space station late last night and is scheduled to land early Wednesday morning at the Florida space port. This is Endeavour's 25th and final flight. Just one space shuttle flight remains.

My next guest may prove that the pen is mightier than the sword but probably not the pen you are thinking of. There they are, right there. Their invention, a diagnostic test in the form of a Magic Marker pen could help save millions of lives every year. We're talking about the George -- actually the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. We're going to go to them after a short break.

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JOHNS: Everyday on this show, we do a segment called "The Big I." It's all about big-news ideas, innovations and solutions to big problems.

And in today's "Big I," we want to talk to a group of Johns Hopkins graduates who are hoping to save millions of lives every year. They invented what is basically a one-dollar pen that could screen up to 400 pregnant women for postnatal disease. According to the United Nations Population Fund, everyday more than 1,000 women die of pregnancy-related complications and thousands more suffer from debilitating conditions. And so this is a very simple, very innovative idea that frankly could be a game changer in developing countries.

And here to tell us all about it are two of the inventors, Sean Monagle and Mary O'Grady. They join us live from Baltimore, Maryland. First, Sean, will you give us a little bit more idea of how this invention works, how a pen or something that looks like a pen can save lives.

SEAN MONAGLE, GRADUATE, JOHNS HOPKINS ENGINEERING: Yes. So, the problem is that current methods to screen for these conditions in pregnant women are too expensive. So, what we've developed is this pen that Mary has here, and what we can do is we can give this pen to community health workers in developing countries that travel village to village.

Now, they can use our pen to mark on a paper. This is our protein pen, which can screen for a condition called preeclampsia. Now, the community health worker can use this pen to make a mark on the piece of paper, and that mark will be yellow. She can then give the piece of paper to a pregnant woman, and she can urinate on it like a pregnancy test. And if the yellow mark turns blue, that indicates she has a protein in her urine, which is a major symptom of preeclampsia. And that's a sign that she needs to seek help at a health clinic or a hospital.

Right now, this pen costs about a dollar to make, and we estimate we can get up to 400 tests out of it, so we are looking at a cost well under one cent per test.

JOHNS: So, what got you started with this idea? What inspired you to make this?

MONAGLE: So, it actually started off as a senior design project about three years ago. I worked with a separate team of undergraduates. We worked with a nonprofit organization called Jhpiego. They're an affiliate of Johns Hopkins; they're active in about 50 different countries worldwide.

But we were working on a test to screen for preeclampsia, which is where we came up with the idea of protein screening test using a pen. We have been able to work with Jhpiego, not only through the development of the pen, but also to help conduct field studies last fall. And we are continuing to schedule more field studies in the coming months. So, they have been a great, great help.

JOHNS: Now, Mary, tell me how long you had to work on this to get it to this stage. And -

MARY O'GRADY, GRADUATE, JOHNS HOPKINS ENGINEERING: Sure.

JOHNS: -- either of you sort of give us an idea how long it is going to take to actually get it on the market.

O'GRADY: So, as Sean was saying that the protein pen began a couple of years ago, so it is furthest in development. And actually Jhpiego has plans to take it into field testing this summer. The other pens that we have, and it's a kit of seven different tests -- each of the tests are in different stages of development right now.

We started last fall after traveling to three different countries: India, Tanzania and Nepal through our program at Johns Hopkins called the Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design. And we went to these countries to get a better idea of the human factors and design criteria that we need in order to develop technologies for developing countries so they are adopted and used in the countries.

So, we started about in the fall, and each of the tests are at different stages, whether they are just changing the threshold levels or whether they are more early stage.

JOHNS: So -

O'GRADY: But we expect a couple will be going out in the end of this year and next year as well.

MONAGLE: Yes, the protein screening test, which is the furthest developed -- if all of our testing this summer goes well, we hope we can probably start mass production at the end of this year or early next year. JOHNS: Great. All right. Thank you so much. Sean Monagle and Mary O'Grady in Baltimore, we appreciate it, and we will be watching to see the progress of your innovation.

O'GRADY: Thank you.

MONAGLE: Thank you very much.

JOHNS: For more about these folks, check out our blog at CNN.com/ali. Want to know what innovative ideas we will look at tomorrow? You'll need to tune in and see. As always, same "Big I" time, same "Big I" channel.

Sarah Palin back on the road with a campaign-style bus tour, but she says it is not what it looks like. So, what does her former running mate say about her political future? That's ahead in our "Political Update."

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JOHNS: Time now for a CNN "Political Update," and Mitch Daniels talking about the campaign that did not happen. CNN senior political editor Mark Preston joins me now live from Washington.

Hey, Mark. What are we hearing from Mitch Daniels? So, I guess that he has already said he is not getting in. What more does he have to say?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, you know, Joe, maybe you can put this into "would have, could have and may be should have" category. Just yesterday on ABC's "this Week," Mitch Daniels was asked, do you think you could have beaten President Obama had you decided to run for president? Mitch Daniels said, you know, I do think I could have done so.

But he went on to reiterate why he decided not to run, Joe, and he said that it really was his family who persuaded him not to. As far as his daughters go, he said that really, it came down to them. He said at time when they are looking to build their own lives and start their own families, this would have been a disruption.

You know, in many ways, Joe, you have to give Daniels some credit for being a good father, right? You know, deciding that his family really did weigh in on what he was going to do, and as you know, here in Washington, that doesn't happen a whole lot.

JOHNS: Absolutely. It is very true and it is pretty clear that people were going to start digging around in his past, and might have not been a fatal blow to any presidential campaign, but embarrassing and kind of unpleasant to deal with.

And now - yes. Go ahead.

PRESTON: No, I was going to say no doubt. Especially, and we should just add to that, you know, he was married to his wife. They got divorced and they got remarried, so as you are talking about at the luridness of it.

JOHNS: Other little stuff, you know. And as Sarah Palin works her way up the East Coast on her bus tour, John McCain has weighed in a little bit, has he not? Some interesting comments from him?

PRESTON: He has, Joe. You know, look, John McCain can be credited with really catapulting Sarah Palin on the national scene. On Fox News yesterday, he says that he thinks that Sarah Palin could beat President Obama if she becomes the Republican nominee in 2012. He says he does not know what she is going to do, though what was interesting is that John McCain said he hasn't seen anyone attacked as much as Sarah Palin has been over the past couple of years. So, some interesting words from John McCain, as Sarah Palin, Joe, as you have been pointing out throughout the day, is making her way up the East Coast on this campaign bus tour.

JOHNS: It's really interesting. She's such a polarizing figure in a lot of ways. You almost kind of wonder why. Why is there such a strong reaction to Sarah Palin on both sides?

Mark is going to be back in the next hour to talk more about Palin's political future. And we're going to sort of dissect Palin's appeal to the masses, both good and bad, so stay tuned for that.