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Boehner Holds Call with Republicans; Battling Online Theft; Worried Sick; Death Count Now 92 in Norway; Amy Winehouse is Dead
Aired July 23, 2011 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFILED, CNN ANCHOR: Recovery crews are still searching for several people missing since yesterday's shooting rampage on that Norwegian island. At least 85 people were killed. It happened at a summer camp attended mostly by young people. Police say at least four people are unaccounted for.
And the shooting happened shortly after a massive car bomb went off in central Oslo, 20 miles away. That explosion killed at least seven people, the search continues today for more victims in the rubble of the destroyed buildings.
Young survivors of the massacre are determined to stay strong.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OTZAR FAGERHEIM, SURVIVOR: We don't want to be silenced, we're going to continue to struggle and we're going to continue doing what we do. We want to make the world a better place and we want to continue with our politics, we want to show them that they're not going to shoot us to silence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And stay right there. We're live from Norway with the very latest in just one minute.
Breaking news now out of London, confirmation that multiple Grammy- award winning singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse is dead. Police in London today responded to a call about a woman found deceased at the singer's apartment. The woman in question was Amy Winehouse. She was declared dead at the scene.
Alan Duke is on the phone with us right now. He's a CNN entertainment producer, so Alan, any more now on the details surrounding her death?
ALAN DUKE, CNN ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCER: Well, in the last hour we have gotten official confirmation from her publicist who says that she has died, issuing a statement to CNN. Note nothing about what she died from, what killed her is unexplained, according to London officials earlier in the investigation. It was only at 4:00 Saturday afternoon in London, at her apartment when her body was found. So it's still very, very early. Of course, it was two months ago that she was released from a British rehabilitation program, something her publicist said she entered in order to prepare for her European tour. That European 12-city tour ended abruptly after her performance in Belgrade, Serbia where fans booed her off the stage after she slurred lines and forgot lyrics, a very disastrous performance the last time we saw her on stage.
WHITFIELD: What have her people or family members been saying about her attempts for rehabilitation of substance abuse, even after being in that rehab facility?
DUKE: Well, you know, officially, her publicist has issued statements, for example, when her - when she went into rehab saying she was just getting tuned up for this concert tour and then they said that they cancelled to give her time to take whatever time it was necessary to get her things in order for her tour. And interestingly, apparently today, just this morning, they posted another similar statement on her Web site.
But her parents have been much more direct and outspoken in 2009, said that if she doesn't get on the road to recovery, she would be on the road to destruction and they have been trying to get help for her, but she's been in and out of rehab, in fact arrested and in jail at times, but she just for some reason it just never happened and of course, we know how difficult those struggles are, we see it with celebrities all the time where they struggle with substance abuse and they just were not able to get through their demons.
At age 27, by the way, she was the same age as Janice Joplin, Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison, musical legends when they died.
WHITFIELD: Alan Duke, thanks so much for your perspective on that. Entertainment producer with CNN.
More breaking news to share with you, CNN confirming this just minutes ago, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General John Shalikashvili he has died. He was the top military adviser for President Bill Clinton from 1993 until 1997. He died today at an Army hospital in Tacoma, Washington, from complications following a stroke. General John Shalikashvili was 75.
And now to the latest developments on the debt negotiations in Washington. The White House is taking Congress to task saying it should stop, "playing reckless political games with our economy." President Barack Obama held a special meeting today with congressional leaders, House Speaker John Boehner was there right next to President Obama and those official photos now coming out.
Yesterday Boehner ended talks over tax issues, then released this statement saying "As I said last night, over this weekend, Congress will forge a responsible path forward. House and Senate leaders will be working to find a bipartisan solution to significantly reduce Washington spending and preserve the full fate and credit of the United States."
And for the latest on the negotiations, watch "State of the Union" tomorrow, Candy Crowley's guest will be U.S. Treasury secretary Tim Geithner who has been at the center of the talks from the beginning, this taking place tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. Eastern with Candy. About 4,000 FAA workers could be furloughed today. Congress adjourned last night without reauthorizing funding for the agency. Essential staff like air traffic controllers will remain on the job, but FAA engineers and construction workers are among those facing furloughs, the government will lose about $200 million a week in airline taxes.
And more than two dozen people have now died due to the heat in Philadelphia Friday, a packed crowd ignored the heat and turned out for the Phillies baseball game. 29 people had to be treated for heat-related illness and some had to be taken from the ballpark in stretchers. By the fourth inning, people started packing it in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a shame because (INAUDIBLE) pitching. Great game, he really is, but the heat is just too brutal in there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: How brutal in Philly? On Friday, the temperature hit 100 degrees before 10:00 in the morning.
All right. And this is not what Chicago needed as a break from the heat wave. Powerful storms pounded the city, cooling things down yes but flash floods covered roads and highways, nearly seven inches fell at O'Hare Airport causing flight delays and cancellations.
And a solemn moving ceremony today as a relic from the September 11 attack gets a permanent home. This intersecting steel beam known as the World Trade Center cross was lowered into the September 11th memorial and museum. The 17-foot cross was recovered near the towers after the attack. The museum is scheduled to open next year.
All right. Now, back to Norway, this is late in the evening on the day following that country's deadliest terror attack in decades. CNN's Michael Holmes is outside Oslo where people are still in shock from that bombing and then the shooting rampage that took place. Michael, what more can you tell us?
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred, the hotel behind me has been turned into sort of a community center, if you like. A lot of the parents of those victims of the shootings that happened on that island just a couple of miles from where I stand now have been here. Some of them have been reunited with their kids here. There have been counselors there on staff here who have been helping these people try to come to terms really with something that's impossible to come to terms with, really when you think about it.
85 people killed by this one gunman, most of them children. This went on for an hour and a half, the shooting would stop and then it would start again. The kids telling horrific stories of hiding under the bodies of other people, other children (INAUDIBLE). One young lad saying he saw at least three of his friends shot down before his eyes and he begged for his own life and he did survive. We have a couple of kids - they came out here and actually talked to the media. They wanted to. They came out and met with the media. Let me just play one of their accounts of what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some people or a lot of people are alive, a few of them are still missing.
HOLMES: Was he shooting at the people in the water?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
HOLMES: Around you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was on the boat but he was shooting on the boat as well.
HOLMES: How long did it go on for?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not sure, maybe about an hour.
HOLMES: And was anyone trying to stop him? Was there anybody there trying to help?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, the police came and all the locals came from the boats, their boats, picking up swimmers. They were really helpful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Great sounds of heroism, some very brave kids recounting the horror of what went on and some pretty bright people around there too. You heard her talking there about them being on boats, some people went on boats to get those kids out of the water. There's still four kids missing and the police divers have been out there looking, sadly for their bodies in the water.
Also visiting here today, the king and queen of Norway, the prime minister, at least two other cabinet members coming here to meet with these families, very close knit country. This is a country, Fred, where you could get a government minister walking down the street and you could go up and grab his lunch. There's not a lot of protection, that sort of thing, security that you see in the United States.
WHITFIELD: All right. Michael Holmes, thanks so much for that update, terribly sad there.
The life of a computer hacker, stealing personal and professional secrets, and the steps that you can take to avoid becoming a target.
No rain, no water, no food. That's what tens of thousands of families are facing in Somalia, so what's preventing aid from getting in to those who need it most?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Stories of human crisis are flooding out of the horn of Africa. Right now, nearly 11 million people there are in desperate need of food, water and a safe place to sleep. This woman right there is one of them. She's a herder but lost all of her livestock months ago to the drought and now she's barely surviving. She feeds her infant son wild berries and dirty water. The water makes him sick. His twin sister died of hunger in May and this is just one of the many stories of the suffering coming out of region.
CNN's Jean Ferguson is in Mogadishu where hunger is driving thousands back to the war torn city that they fled.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEAN FERGUSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A new horror reached the streets of Mogadishu. Hunger. These people fled the civil war here in Somalia's capital city and now they're back, desperate for food and water.
Huma (INAUDIBLE)'s husband died of starvation. She said she traveled 400 kilometers to get here in a desperate bid to keep her children alive.
My car was blocked by a panicked group of women trying to get some food. Please help us, this woman shouts, I am sick. But there is little help for the thousands who come here, the weak transitional federal government controls only part of the capital and has been fighting the Al Qaeda linked group Al Shabab for years. Al Shabab controls most of central and southern Somalia. Still aid agencies are wary of the risks of working in this dangerous country, leaving these people trapped, too weak and poor to make it to the U.N. camps in neighboring Kenya.
So they come here to the capital in search of help.
(on camera): Tens of thousands of Somalis arrived in Mogadishu just in the last few days. But despite that, this remains one of the hardest places in the world to get food aid to.
(voice-over): This is a very dangerous country. As a foreign reporter, I could only be on the streets for a few moments at a time before driving away, as the threat of kidnapping is very real. The Saudi based Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the OIC, hopes to persuade more aid agencies to come in under their umbrella.
Al Shabab is more willing to allow the Islamic territories to distribute aid in their area. A delegation from the OIC visited Mogadishu on Wednesday to bring food and discussed bridging the aid gap. The U.N. says this war-torn country needs an extra $300 million in the next two months and the president made this plea.
PRES. SHEIKH SHARIF SHEIKH AHMED, SOMALIA (through translator): The situation is very severe and the conditions are very harsh. We are requesting that the international community assist those in Somalis, those within Somalia and the borders. We urgently request quick help.
FERGUSON: But for many Somalis, aid may come too late especially for starving children. Amina (ph) is six months old and suffering from severe malnutrition. Next to her is Backo (ph), a two year boy too weak to stand and the queue grows longer and longer everyday as the desperate come to the capital in search of help.
Jane Ferguson, CNN, Mogadishu, Somalia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And you can make a difference and help the starving people of Somalia, go to "Impact your World" page on our Web site at CNN.com and there you'll find links to aid groups and in depth information about the famine in Somalia.
In other news now around the world, another weekend of loud, angry and violent demonstrations across Syria. Massive crowds of anti- government protesters poured into the streets in several cities yesterday marching and chanting and clashing with riot police. This crowd is in Hama. They are demanding the overthrow of the president and at least six people were reportedly killed in clashes Friday.
And we're watching for more news to emerge from Iran where media outlets we're reporting the shooting death of a nuclear scientist today. More details as we get them.
And this weekend is not giving us a break, not giving anyone a break from the heat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm about to melt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: After the break, find out how long this extreme heat is going to stick around.
And for anyone who's wanting to know what's the next big thing in pop culture? Well, we'll take you to what's billed as the biggest and the most exciting even of the year.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Goats are now roaming and grazing in parts of Boise, Idaho, with the foothills there, the city hired the goats to eat noxious weeds in a 680-acre reserves. The weeds choke out the native plants if left alone. The herd has moved through the hill with temporary fences and is expected to graze for about a week.
All right. Well it's a good thing they have those weeds because in many other parts of the country, the problem is drought and though everything, all kinds of vegetation, crops, et cetera, are dying.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. It is actually the extremely serious situation especially across the state of Texas right now, a lot of the southern tier of the U.S. dealing with those droughts. Other areas, though, getting so much rain. We got some video I think we want to show you out of Miami. WHITFIELD: Too much rain.
JERAS: Yes, quite the lightning storm.
WHITFIELD: We don't have it? No. All right. We don't have it, maybe next hour.
JERAS: So let's focus on that heat then, because this will continue to be a huge issue in the upcoming days. Take a look at the heat index, the temperature your body feels across the country right now. Lots of triple digits out there and these are dangerous levels so we're in those hours right now where we see that peak heat of the day and a lot of people are like, well, it's July, should we be all that worried about it? You should.
And there are a couple of reasons why a lot of it is because this is a very long duration event. The dew points or the amount of moisture that's in the air is extremely high which brings that heat index up a little bit higher and we have had more than 30 heat related deaths already across the U.S. and I promise you that number is going to continue to go up. So take it easy, a lot of times you don't detect some of those signs as you start to feel a little dehydrated or start to feel a little sick in the heat.
All right. Some things you can do to help survive that heat wave. Drink more water than you normally would, don't wait until you're thirsty. Somebody once told me and I don't know if this true enough but somebody told me you take your body weight and you divide it by half and that's the number of ounces of water you should drink in a day.
WHITFIELD: Wow! That's a lot.
JERAS: That's a huge amount. But that, you know, under extreme conditions like this.
Avoid liquids of high sugar, it tends to go (INAUDIBLE) if there are high sugar.
WHITFIELD: That's not hydrating at all.
JERAS: Caffeine too. Yes, caffeine tends to dehydrate you. Take cool showers and baths. It's going to help cool you down and avoid the direct sunlight. So make sure you stay in the shade. There is some heat relief in the northeast by tomorrow, a cold front is going to go through here but in exchange we're going to see some showers and thunderstorms. So be aware that some of those maybe severe. That's the latest update on the heat wave.
Fredricka is going to be back in the NEWSROOM after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right. Superheroes and super fans converge in San Diego this weekend, at Comic Con. You know why? That shines the spotlight on what's new and what's next in pop culture. More than 100,000 ticket holders rubbing elbows with celebrities and getting a sneak peak of what's in the works in Hollywood.
And of course it's a great excuse to wear a fabulous costume, which brings us to our movie critics. Which one is wearing the fabulous costume? You guessed Grae Drake and Matt Atchity who are joining us in Comic Con. Grae and Matt, all right. Big weekend. Oh, that is so cute. Matt, come on now, what happened?
MATT ATCHITY, MOVIE CRITIC, ROTTENTOMATOES.COM: This is my "Magnum P.I." costume.
WHITFIELD: Oh! OK. Just checking.
GRAE DRAKE, MOVIE CRITIC: Hotter than Tom Selleck.
WHITFIELD: I like it. I like it. And then, of course, you know, we got Tinker bell, right? Did I guess right? I got it right, right?
DRAKE: That's right. In all my winged glory.
WHITFIELD: I love it. OK. All right. So what's going on out there? You guys are having way too much fun being able to dress up and (INAUDIBLE) the scene for us in front of that CNN Express bus. That's the part that's confusing me. Go ahead.
ATCHITY: Well, we're here at Comic-Con. There's, you know, over 100,000 people coming through here for the weekend. What started out as just a few thousand people talking about comic books every year has now turned into - like you said, one of the biggest pop culture events of the year. Some big news coming from some of the Hollywood panels that are here.
We've heard that Robert Rodriguez has announced that there will be a Sin City 2. He's also announced sequels to "Machete," including "Machete in Space," which will be a lot of fun.
DRAKE: It's going to be incredible but it's not just movies, which is what makes it so fun. There's also some TV news, which Matt was really excited about.
ATCHITY: The (INAUDIBLE) game panel that happened a couple of days ago was really big and in fact, there was a huge line for that, hundreds of people waiting to get in. That show's really taken off and really the core audience is here at the convention and you know, Hollywood and the networks really used the convention to kind of get the word out with the super fans and it kind of trickles out and it helps bring interest out.
DRAKE: And we got to see Peter (INAUDIBLE) here, so we're on a TV and a movie level. We're both nearly nerded out.
ATCHITY: Exactly.
WHITFIELD: You're always so into it.
OK. Let's talk movie because we've got one and that's a big one that goes perfectly with this whole Comic Con thing. We're talking "Captain America." All right. Here's a quick little clip from the movie, "Captain America."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about this one?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, that's just a prototype.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What it's made of?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) it's stronger than steel and a third of the weight. It's completely vibration absorbent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How come it's not standard issue?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's the rarest metal on earth.
What you're holding there. That's all we've got.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're quite finished with this talk? I'm sure the captain has some unfinished business.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right. That will work. All right, Magnum, I mean Matt, what are that you are thoughts on this?
ATCHITY: I liked this movie a lot. I think it was a lot of fun. It drags a little bit in the middle, I thought. It gets a little montage heavy, but for the most part, I really enjoyed this movie. Chris Evans makes a great "Captain America."
DRAKE: Yes, he does.
ATCHITY: And you've got a fantastic supporting cast here, Stanley Tucci, Tommy Lee Jones really brings a lot more to the part than is really written there. It's definitely a good movie to see, do it all like superheroes, really enjoyed this. I gave it a B. I thought it was really good.
WHITFIELD: all right.
DRAKE: I actually disagree because I think that the movie didn't drag at all and it is in fact like a superhero movie much like "Indiana Jones" and stuff that we remember being really awesome from when we were younger and (INAUDIBLE) condoning the use of steroids in a weird symbolic way. I think Chris Evans has finally found the movie that's going to make him a superstar. This movie was incredible and totally gets an "A" from Tinker Bell.
WHITFIELD: Oh, an "A" from Tinker Bell, a "B" from "Magnum P.I." very impressive. So for the most part (INAUDIBLE)
ATCHITY: Tinker Bell is a softy, what can I say?
DRAKE: Yes, she's - Tinker Bell has a thing for you know, pectoral muscles and biceps.
WHITFIELD: Well, let's se if Tinker Bell's little magic dust, you know, will hit all the fans out there and make this one a big hit.
All right. Matt Atchity and Grae Drake, thanks so much. Always great to see you guys, and you know, enjoy - I mean to say you're already enjoying Comic Con so continue to enjoy.
ATCHITY: Exactly.
WHITFIELD: Can't do much.
DRAKE: Wish you were here.
WHITFIELD: Me, too. I don't know what kind of costume I would come up with, but you know, next time I would plan a little bit.
See you next time.
DRAKE: We'll catch you up with (INAUDIBLE)
WHITFIELD: OK. Hook me up. All right. Thanks so much.
All right. Tracking computer hackers, a look at what it takes to take down those who leak your personal and professional secrets.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: The death toll on the rise in Norway, 92 people now dead from yesterday's car bombing in Oslo and shooting rampage that followed. Recovery crews are still searching the waters around an island where a gunman opened fire on children attending a summer camp.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's important that we stay together and keep strong. We can't let a coward like that stop us. Because going on to an island with only youth and killing them and they have no way to escape, that's a cowardless act.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Police do have a suspect in custody, a 32-year-old man described in Norwegian media reports as a right wing Christian fundamentalist.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
WHITFIELD: And multiple Grammy award winning singer songwriter Amy Winehouse is dead. Confirmation arrived at CNN just in the last hour. Police found the singer's body inside her home in London after getting an emergency phone call. Winehouse was famous for her image of a hard drinking woman with more than one battle with drugs. A little while ago I talked to HLN's Dr. Drew Pinsky and he said a cycle of addiction is extremely hard to break and harder still for celebrities.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
DR. DREW PINSKY, HLN HOST (via telephone): When an opiate addict goes into treatment, opiate addiction takes months to years to treat. And one of the most serious risks in my experience to that recovery for celebrities and particularly musicians is they return to their career, they return to the road far too prematurely and it's absolutely predictable what will happen.
The fact is, you know, it's funny, saying people look at these - these stories and go, oh, addiction treatment doesn't work. The crazy thing about addiction is part of the disease is the disturbance of thinking, where the addict themselves convinces themselves they don't need to listen to or to what they're being told to do. And if they simply do the recovery process on a daily basis, just simply do it. They will be fine just the way a diabetic is fine if they take their insulin three times a day.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And tune in to "Dr. Drew" this Monday evening, 9:00 Eastern. He is going to address the sudden and tragic death of Amy Winehouse, why and how it happened, that's Monday evening, 9:00 Eastern Time.
All right. Now, to the latest development in the debt negotiations in Washington, President Barack Obama held a special meeting today with Congressional leaders. It was a short meeting, all of 50 minutes or so. So what if anything was accomplished.
Congressional Correspondent Kate Bolduan joins us now from Washington. What more are you learning, Kate?
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's really - when you think about it, the dramatic breakdown that we saw of the negotiations just last night. And then you have this meeting between the two men who seem visibly angry towards each other in their dueling press conferences last night, House Speaker Boehner and President Obama, back in the room together at the White House with other leaders, Democratic and Republican leaders this morning. But coming out of this meeting, some interesting information that we're getting. In the meeting we're told that there was a discussion of the urgency defining a path forward. And the president that we wanted them back in there and he wanted them to explain how - how they're going to avoid - help the country avoid default.
Well, we're now learning that Speaker Boehner held a press conference at 2:00 with - with House members, more rank and file members, if you will, and in that call, according to an aid familiar with that call. Speaker Boehner said that he and other leaders are trying towards working towards a package of $3 to $4 trillion in spending cuts that will come in two parts. Basically two votes, if you will, possibly on the debt ceiling and that he's working towards that, but it's not clear if there is - if the Democrats involved in these negotiations, Fredericka, have signed on to it quite yet. One example here is that White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, he released a statement after the meeting at the White House, again reiterating the president's opposition to any short-term extension. And I'll read to you what he said in part. He says, "As the current situation makes clear, it would be irresponsible to put our country and economy at risk again in just a short, few - a few short months with another battle over raising the debt ceiling." Congress should refrain - in his words - from playing reckless political games with our economy. So it seems like it might be a hard sell having two votes, if you will, on another package of some kind to spending cuts.
But we know that Speaker Boehner apparently is pushing - pushing forward with something on this. He told the members on the call that he was hoping to have something to show them, for members to review in the next 24 hours, basically tomorrow in order for them to be able to roll out some kind of plan come Monday so they can get the legislative ball rolling - Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Kate Bolduan, thanks so much on Capitol Hill. I appreciate that update.
BOLDUAN: Of course.
WHITFIELD: And for the latest on the negotiations, watch "STATE OF THE UNION" tomorrow. Candy Crowley's guest will be U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, who had been at the center of the talks from the beginning. 9:00 A.M. Eastern on Sunday morning.
About 4,000 FAA workers could be furloughed today. Congress adjourned last night without re-authorizing funding for the agency. Essential staff like air traffic controllers will remain on the job, but FAA engineers and construction workers are among those facing furloughs. The government will also lose about $200 million a week in airline passes.
NFL players are spending the weekend looking over proposed labor and revenue sharing plan that will end the four-month lockout. League owners have already appealed - approved, rather, the deal. They have set a Tuesday deadline for players to do the same in order to preserve the full regular season.
A lot of important personal information is floating out there in cyberspace, leaving many companies vulnerable to the underworld of computer hacking. Susan Candiotti talked to one man who could be called a detective in the world of computer hacking.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Computers can hold all kinds of personal and professional secrets, from bank account passwords to sensitive business e-mails. But every minute of every day, those secrets can be targets of so-called cyber generals who can link computers to act like soldiers and illegal network calls a botnet.
(on camera): What is a botnet? KARIM HIJAZI, CEO, UNVEILLANCE: Just think of it as an actual computer network that's been sort of ad hoc put together by a group of criminals or someone with malintent.
CANDIOTTI: And who are the people doing this?
HIJAZI: You know, it ranges everything from kids just playing around to really professional cyber criminals.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Karim Hijazi's company Unveillance tracks those illegal botnet networks. Companies hire him to see whether their computers are being tapped. You might call him a hacker tracker.
(on camera): Karim, how does an attack start?
HIJAZI: A hacker typically infects a bunch of computers are out in corporate environments with a piece of Malware or software viruses that ultimately feed information back to the connect (ph) control servers.
CANDIOTTI: So once that tech starts, the information is going back to the control center?
HIJAZI: That's right.
CANDIOTTI: And then next map shows how widespread this is.
HIJAZI: Right. This is an hour-long snapshot and it's sort of an afternoon of Unveillance where we see botnets actually (INAUDIBLE) information out the Connect control servers.
CANDIOTTI: Look at all those dots.
HIJAZI: Millions of them.
CANDIOTTI: How many are we talking about at any given time?
HIJAZI: Tens of millions if not hundreds of millions.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Hijazi's success exposing botnets drew the attention of one hacker group that wanted to steal his work.
HIJAZI: They were trying to extort us for botnet intelligence.
CANDIOTTI: The alleged extortionists are LulzSec, and offshoot of the hacker group Anonymous that grabbed headlines recently after the FBI arrested 14 members.
(on camera): And what did they say they would do if you didn't comply with their demands?
HIJAZI: They claimed they had information on us. They've gotten a hold of some of our e-mails and they were going to release them if we don't comply.
CANDIOTTI: And what was that like?
HIJAZI: You're - you're sort of in a ransom situation.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Incredibly, the demands were documented in e- mails. In excerpts, the hackers say, quote, "Your company isn't important to us, but it's clearly very important to you, if you take over a big botnet, we want insider info on it." Hijazi called the language juvenile.
HIJAZI: It did indicate the age group that we're dealing with.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): But that doesn't necessarily mean they can't do damage.
HIJAZI: It doesn't mean they can harm us, absolutely. It's like a baby with a gun.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Karim Hijazi immediately called the FBI. Eventually the hackers backed off after publicizing some of his e- mails. So far no one's been caught and the hacker tracker is back to exposing botnets.
Susan Candiotti, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And worrying yourself sick instead of calling the doctor, more and more people search the web for medical answers. A closer look at the danger of web advise, sometimes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: It's an old problem with a new twist, hypochondriacs now turning cyberchondriacs, those who worry excessively about a medical condition and turn to the web for answers, that's the subject of our weekly look at how to get healthy and stay healthy.
Healthy Living expert Dr. Bill Lloyd joins us now from Chicago. So Dr. Bill, tell us a litte bit more about this cyberchondria?
DR. BILL LLOYD, HEALTHY LIVING EXPERT: Well, it's an enormous problem because people are focused on chronic illnesses that really aren't present. And so it's a new twist because back in the day people would just keep a, you know, a "Readers Digest" around the house or a medical book when - when they thought they had symptoms they would just check on it and they would - would think that it was a big problem.
But now with the Internet, you can get online and find out about all kinds of diseases, if you go to a medical website that has a symptom checker, you call talk yourself into all kinds of problems.
WHITFIELD: So is it a case of people, you know, they've had a conversation with their doctors. Doctor is trying to figure out you may have this and then someone goes to the web or is it people are replacing their doctors with the web? LLOYD: Yes. I think most of it happens before they see their doctor, and that's the big part of the problem, they're trying to diagnose themselves. So any time anybody has a health concern, whether it's a new diagnosis or maybe a new symptom, there's a couple of important rules you need to know about when you're roaming around the World Wide Web for health info.
First rule is stay close to home. And by that, I mean, ask your doctors. Doc, do you have your own website? Or maybe your local hospital has their own website. Trust the major academic institutions like the Mayo Clinic or the Cleveland Clinic. You're going to find peer reviewed evidence online when you stay with those trusted sources. And other trusted content providers and you'll get the bottom of their home page, you can see where this information came from.
And Fredericka, remember, if you ever see anything that looks like advertising within the text of a web page for medical information, click away because they have nothing of information for you except a purchase in your future.
WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness.
So, are there some people who are more prone to becoming kind of these, you know, cyberchondriacs?
LLOYD: Yes. They've done a lot of research about this and it's a behavioral problem, and people that had trauma early in life, may have been victims of abuse, or people who are very rich, people who are very poor, or children who were abused or unloved, or children who are spoiled or over loved, these are the kinds of people that may be more prone to this behavioral problem where they get anxiety about being worried about health conditions that really don't exist.
WHITFIELD: Are you telling people to just simply log off or just find a more responsible way in which to manage, you know, your questions and not going too far?
LLOYD: Yes. I think what's important here is, this kind of hypochondriasis needs to be managed, like you said, not cured. It's resistant to reassurance. When a doctor says, oh, it's nothing. Don't worry about it. The first thing the patient is going to do if they're a hypochondriac is worry even more and they're going to go back to the web. So it's more about coping skills.
And so you teach individuals that are worried about their health, behavior modification therapy, you help them to understand the triggers that get them worrying about. Does this cough means something serious is coming along? Is this belly pain something that's more dangerous? And by using behavioral management therapy, you can be able to help your patients cope with their hypochondriacal behavior rather than trying to cure them of it. You simply want to get to them through education.
WHITFIELD: So are there things that maybe even the medical community or maybe even doctors can do to kind of help their patients not become this?
LLOYD: You bet there is. You bet there is. Because hypochondriacs come and go out of doctors offices all the time and the doctors will only have a few moments with their patients, they don't think about the diagnosis, they don't think about this is a patient that needs help. So, yes, doctors need to ask questions and when they are presented with a patient, even though it's a brief visit with unusual complaints or persistent complaints and they don't find anything on the tests, on the x-rays or the lab studies, you stop the process right there. You stop the process right there and say, are you a little bit worried about this? Maybe we should talk about what your concerns are and identify where the anxiety is, relieve the anxiety and you'll have a much more successful course in coping with being a hypochondriac.
WHITFIELD: Wow. All right. Dr. Bill Lloyd, thanks so much for helping us live healthy.
LLOYD: We'll talk again soon.
WHITFIELD: All right.
Or perhaps you're looking for a promotion and you want to impress your boss, well, here are a few tips on that. Number one, have a positive attitude, everyone likes a ray of sunshine. And number two, get to work on time or early. Number three, don't be too personal, leave the drama at home and do not address it at work. Two more tips right after this.
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WHITFIELD: All right. So before the break, we gave you some tips from the Associated Content, not from me, but from them, on how to convince your boss that you deserve a promotion. Two more tips now.
Number four, adding to the list, complete task quickly. And lastly, number five, bring sweet treats like homemade cookies and cakes. So we're talking bribery now? That's hilarious. Well, sweet treats like that always work for me.
Politics update. We're keeping an eye on all the latest headline at the CNNPolitics.com desk. Here's what's crossing right now.
President Barack Obama met with Congressional leaders for about an hour this morning to discuss the debt limit. The United States could default on its debt unless Congress raises the ceiling by August 2nd. No word of any immediate breakthrough.
And Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney won a 25 percent of the vote in a straw poll yesterday at a GOP gathering in Ohio. Tim Pawlenty came in second with 16 percent and still no word on whether Texas Governor Rick Perry will seek the Republican presidential nomination. But a new CNN ORC Survey of Republicans and Independents shows that he could be a strong contender. Perry, by the way, came in second just with 14 percent of the support, just two points behind frontrunner Mitt Romney. And for the latest political news you know exactly where to go, CNNPolitics.com.
All right. Much more of the NEWSROOM straight ahead with Don Lemon just a few minutes away. I know you're sad.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Oh.
WHITFIELD: A lot of people are very sad with the passing of Amy Winehouse.
LEMON: Amy Winehouse.
WHITFIELD: And it's probably you, you're the one who got me hip to her -
LEMON: Yes.
WHITFIELD: -- a few years ago when she kind of first burst on the U.S. scene.
LEMON: You know why?
WHITFIELD: It is sad.
LEMON: Because out of all that you hear about pop divas and without auto tune and a bunch of computers and people helping them out, they don't have any talent, really, except to get up there and perform. She had a natural talent, a voice that was just amazing, old school.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
LEMON: And sadly, let's hope she's not remembered for this. Remember this performance?
Well, that's not the one I'm talking about. The one I was talking about -
WHITFIELD: But you absolutely remember her for that.
LEMON: Yes. Let's hope she's remembered for that, but it's supposed to be a performance of her a couple of weeks ago in Belgrade when she got onstage and she was staggering around -
WHITFIELD: That.
LEMON: -- and she couldn't sing.
WHITFIELD: She forgot the words.
LEMON: She forgot the words. And took her shoes off and she was throwing the mike around. And, you know, we don't know exactly what it is, but she's had some bad times, she's videotaped on camera with a heated pipe, we don't know what it was. And, you know, there were photographs of her all around, drunk and what have you. Yes.
WHITFIELD: But remarkable, just 27.
LEMON: Twenty-seven years old. And, you know, it's interesting, we're going to be talking about that, because there's this phenomenon that they're calling the 27th curse they call it or the Power of the 27 Club, whatever 27 Club.
WHITFIELD: Incredible.
LEMON: And they - they wonder in Hollywood -
WHITFIELD: Janis Joplin.
LEMON: Janis Joplin, there you go. Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, and Brian Jones, and now Amy Winehouse. We don't know the exact cause with Amy Winehouse. But they wonder what it is. Is it a phenomenon or is it lore? We're going to discuss that.
Then a case right here in Metro Atlanta, Fredricka. Unbeleivable. This woman, this is really hard to believe, a woman whose son was killed as they crossed the street may have to serve more time in prison than the driver who struck and killed her 4-year-old son. And we should note that they're not using a crosswalk. The driver pleads guilty. He serves six months, but then the mom could be facing up to three years in prison.
What's going on? We're going to find out in our "Legal Matters" segment tonight. And then we're going to go to Comic-Con. I don't know what it is. My teens are trying to explain it.
WHITFIELD: What do you mean you don't know what it is?
LEMON: I don't really - I kind of know what it is. I'm not sure if I get it.
WHITFIELD: Comic-Con?
LEMON: But it's - well, anyway.
WHITFIELD: Well, you can see it right there, the video is very -
LEMON: All right.
WHITFIELD: -- it's self-explanatory, you know, comic books and, you know, the heroes from and movies and people dress up. So what you're saying is you don't get it.
LEMON: Yes.
WHITFIELD: That's what it is. You know what it is. You just don't get it. Somebody help him get it.
LEMON: Mark Campbell -- Luke Skywalker is going to do it.
WHITFIELD: OK.
LEMON: Bye. They're telling me to get out of here. WHITFIELD: We'll see you. OK.
LEMON: Bye, Fred. Thank you. (INAUDIBLE).
WHITFIELD: A little bit more from the NEWSROOM on my end, right after this. Don is next. All right.
Here we go. Well, actually, a little bit more -
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WHITFIELD: They say it is hot across the country really is an understatement. Jacqui Jeras in the Weather Center now. What - how do we up the ante on that? It's more than just hot.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, it is.
WHITFIELD: It's brutal.
JERAS: It's brutal. It's dangerous. It's deadly. People have been dying, the number of visits to hospital rooms have been increased because people are getting ill because of it. I mean, even the temperature doesn't have to be 100 degrees for it to be a problem for you.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
JERAS: We've got so much moisture in the area, and you condense that into an urban area like New York City, like Philadelphia, like Washington, D.C., and it really becomes a dangerous situation. The air quality is really poor, too.
We have a number of records. Yesterday alone we had more than 400 records that were broken and it's not daytime temperatures that were being broken, it was the overnight temperatures, they're higher than they've ever been, so there's no relief 24 hours a day around the clock. It's just uncomfortable.
So take it easy out there. We're in the worst of it. It feels like 100 in Hartford; New York City feels like 100; 104 in Philadelphia; 109 in Baltimore. You had a record high there yesterday and 108 degrees is the temperature that your body feels in the Washington, D.C. area right now. And there you can see where the advisories are in effect.
The best thing I can tell you is that some relief is on the way. You're already experiencing across the Upper Midwest and the northeast is going to get a break by tomorrow, but it still going to hold on in the mid-Atlantic and the southeast and it's still going to hold on across the Southern Plains states.
Now, some of that relief is coming in the form of showers and thunderstorms. We've had a lot of that across the Upper Midwest for today. Chicago, in particular, has been hit very hard. They had storms all morning long. Record rainfall that caused quite a bit of flooding, so people had to be rescued. We still had flood warnings in effect until 9:00 tonight. There were a bunch of flights that were cancelled at the airport, more than 100 of them, Fredericka.
WHITFIELD: Oh, boy.
JERAS: And they actually took the snowplows at O'Hare to clear up the runways from the water. There you can see it.
WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh. That's incredible.
JERAS: So, yes, it's just incredible to get.
WHITFIELD: That's a lot of rain.
JERAS: More than a month's worth of rain in just a couple of hours.
WHITFIELD: Gosh. All that water, you just had nowhere to go. All right. Jacqui, thanks so much. I know you'll be working throughout the evening to update us on this severe situation.
JERAS: Oh, yes.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much.
All right. I'm Fredericka Whitfield. See you again tomorrow, beginning 2:00 Eastern Time. Right now, time for more of the NEWSROOM with my colleague, Don Lemon, who cannot wait to learn more about Comic-Con.
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