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Sex Scandal Forces Penn State Coach to Retire; Herman Cain Rejects Latest Harassment Allegations; IAEA: Iran Developing Nuclear Bombs; Berlusconi To Step Down; Rapper Heavy D Dies; Nancy Grace Cut from DWTS; Cuba To Allow Buying & Selling of Home
Aired November 09, 2011 - 11:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour. I'm Suzanne Malveaux. I want to get you up to speed. Penn State football coach, Joe Paterno, is going to retire at the end of the season. He's going to leave after 46 years. His legacy blemished by child molestation charges against his former assistant, Jerry Sandusky.
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(SHOUTING)
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MALVEAUX: Penn State, dozens of Penn State students rallied outside Coach Paterno's home -- that happened last night -- hoping to save his job.
Well, on Friday, the Penn State board of trustees is going to set up a special committee to investigation Sandusky. And prosecutors say he molested eight boys.
Paterno is not accused of anything illegal, but he went to university officials, not to police, in 2002, when a witness told him he saw Sandusky sodomize a child in the athletes' showers. In a statement today, Paterno called the situation tragic and says in hindsight, he wishes he had done more.
Well, Herman Cain takes part in a Republican debate. That's tonight. It's supposed to be about the economy, but Cain can't seem to get away from the allegations of sexual harassment.
In a news conference, he denied the latest accusations, insisted again he never harassed anybody.
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HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The fact is, these anonymous allegations are false, and now the Democrat machine in America has brought forth a troubled woman to make false accusations, statements, many of which exceed common sense. And they certainly exceed the standards of decency in America.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MALVEAUX: Another of Herman Cain's accusers has come forward, and she says she wants to meet with the other women who have made other accusations against Cain. Karen Kraushaar is one of the women who filed a complaint against Cain at the National Restaurant Association, and her attorney says that there were multiple incidents of harassment. But, again, Cain denies that.
Greece's prime minister says he's going to resign shortly. That suggests that George Papandreou has reached a deal with the opposition on the makeup of a new government, one led by a new prime minister. So, Papandreou has been locked now in negotiations for days to ensure Greece's new leaders back Europe's bailout requirements.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi may be the other shoe to drop. The billionaire businessman, he has said that he'd resign after parliament agreed to a budget, but that's not going to happen until December.
All the uncertainty forced the stock markets to go down. Italy's key borrowing rate, up. Italian bonds, now well above the 7 percent level that eventually forced the other eurozone countries to seek bailouts.
Well, the political and economic turmoil in Italy, it is affecting your money. Stocks are down sharply today. The Dow plunging 290 points in early trading. Right now it is down 221 points.
We're going to keep you updated on the markets throughout the day.
Voters in Mississippi have said no to a measure that would have outlawed abortion and many forms of birth control. The Personhood Amendment to the state's constitution would have defined life as starting at conception.
An opponent said that was too vague.
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FELICIA BROWN-WILLIAMS, MISSISSIPPI FOR HEALTHY FAMILIES CAMPAIGN: I think voters rejected a measure that they understood to be dangerous and that they understood to be bad for women and families in Mississippi.
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LES RILEY, PERSONHOOD MISSISSIPPI: We're not conceding because we did our duty. We have --
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MALVEAUX: NBA owners are telling players, take it or leave it. They are demanding that players accept a roughly 50-50 revenue split, or they say the next offer is going to be worse.
So the deadline to accept the deal is just hours from now. So, if the issue isn't settled, the NBA lockout could drag on, more games could be canceled. The players union says, no way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEREK FISHER, NBPA PRESIDENT: Our orders are clear. Right now, the current offer that is on the table from the NBA is not one that we can accept. Our orders are also clear that we're willing to continue to negotiate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: A sex abuse scandal at Penn State has cost a college football legend his job. Joe Paterno announced today he's going to retire at the end of the season. His former assistant, Jerry Sandusky, is charged with molesting eight boys, some on campus.
A grand jury report says that Paterno was told about one incident and went to his superiors, but never called police. In a statement today, Paterno concedes he should have done more.
Mark Brennan, he has covered Penn State football for more than 20 years. His blog is FightonState.com. He's joining us from State College, Pennsylvania. And Mike Pesca is a correspondent for National Public Radio, and he is in New York.
So, Mark, I want to start off with you, first of all. Joe Paterno, stepping down. He's out.
Is that the right way that the university handled this?
MIKE PESCA, NPR: Sorry, was that to me?
MALVEAUX: Yes. Mark?
PESCA: I'm Mike.
MALVEAUX: Oh, Mike, I'm sorry.
MARK BRENNAN, FIGHTONSTATE.COM: Oh, I'm sorry.
MALVEAUX: Go ahead. If you'll take the question.
BRENNAN: I'll take that question. I'm more than happy to take that question.
You know, is this the right thing? Yes, absolutely. Joe Paterno has always said if he becomes a distraction to this program, that he would step away.
Obviously, he became a huge distraction. I think he realized that. I think he realized the magnitude of what went down and finally decided to step away. I think he did the right thing. The question now is, are they going to allow him to retire at the end of the season or are they going to try to get him out sooner?
MALVEAUX: And your Web site, I understand, Penn State football's Web site, has been blowing up, getting lots of traffic here. What are most people saying here?
Are they behind -- are they supporting these guys? Do they believe the charges? Do they believe Sandusky is innocent? Do they believe the coach didn't really know very much?
BRENNAN: I think -- you know, the majority of people are shocked. They're dismayed. They're disgusted by these things.
If you read the reports, the grand jury reports, everybody is riled up about that. And they're really wondering how this was allowed to happen at Penn State. So, most people are not giving the benefit of the doubt.
It's interesting, though, that the students seem to be rallying behind Joe Paterno. They've been at his house, as everybody has seen on TV, that sort of thing. But people are very angry about this situation, and a lot of Penn State fans, longtime Penn State, fans are viewing this as a darkest day in Penn State football history.
MALVEAUX: Mark, I guess the game must go on, this big game with Nebraska. Is that still happening? And I understand that the players, they have been banned from speaking to the media.
BRENNAN: No. Well, actually, they lifted the ban today.
MALVEAUX: Oh, they did?
BRENNAN: After Joe Paterno talked to the team -- yes, it was a tearful meeting from what we understand. The players talked about it.
We were able to talk to the players coming out of the last football building where they had their team meeting. And Joe Paterno broke the news to them.
The players said Joe Paterno was crying, many of the players were having trouble. They were so emotional. You could tell that they had been crying.
This is a guy who is an icon to them, a father figure to them, and is obviously very difficult. I don't know how they're going to zero in on this game at Beaver Stadium against Nebraska. They claim they're going to be able to do it. It's going to be difficult.
MALVEAUX: All right. I want to go to Mike here.
Mike, this is obviously a huge story in sports. And some are questioning whether this whole culture of big college sports, athletics, where you have athletes, coaches, these programs that bring in millions of dollars, whether or not they all get a pass, right, on these kinds of things, whether it's failing grades, bad behavior.
How do you think this fits into that larger sports culture?
PESCA: The problem with college football, if there is a problem -- and I think even any observer would say that something bad is going on here -- mostly has to do with the fact that there is free labor. Sure, players get scholarships, but mostly 19-year-olds and 20-year- olds providing free labor and colleges making billions of dollars in revenue.
So, that when any scandal surfaces, and it deals with a street agent, or it deals with players engaging in academic chicanery, or it deals with even teams practicing more than they're allowed to, like we saw at the University of Michigan, other colleges talk to their compliance officers, do sort of a gut check, and say, is that happening here? Let's not at least not get caught. And hopefully, you'd think they'd say let's change things.
I don't think colleges at all think about pedophilia, and they probably shouldn't. But as you say, the reason that this might have to do with a larger culture is that coaches have been so enabled and emboldened, that someone like Jerry Sandusky can get away with this for so long, and someone like Joe Paterno, who, if you put it in perspective, Joe Paterno has been at Penn State longer than Queen Elizabeth has been queen of England, longer than Fidel Castro was president of Cuba. He's been coach there longer than any pope, longer than any Supreme Court Justice.
We use words like "institution" for people with half his tenure. And that this could happen to someone like Joe Paterno perhaps really shows how important the -- perhaps over-important -- the position of head coach has become in America.
MALVEAUX: Does it surprise you at all that the athletic and university officials may have not reacted more strongly to these accusations, even, perhaps, swept it under the rug?
PESCA: It seems shocking from the remove that we have, which is just from a human perspective, a person on staff witnessed not a molestation, or something that had some sort of gray area, he witnessed a child rape. In fact, Frank Noonan, who's a 30-year veteran of the FBI and is in Pennsylvania law enforcement, said he has never seen an example where someone was an eyewitness to this kind of horrific crime and it didn't go further.
However, these people deal with adults, 18-year-olds who come to campus are adults. They're not trained in recognizing the signs of pedophilia.
And I talked with an expert named Robert Shupe (ph) who teaches at Kansas State, and he says, "We all think because we're good people we'd know how to deal with a sexual predator, or we would know what to do when confronted by it." That's not necessarily the case, and I do think it's telling that the reason that charges were brought against Sandusky was that Central Mountain High School, a high school, good civil servants there who were trained in how to recognize pedophilia, they turned it over to the police. That got the ball rolling on the Penn State part of the investigation.
MALVEAUX: Yes.
I want to bring up one other quick issue, if I may, because a lot of people are asking this question, whether or not it would have been different, right, if this was involving, say, a 10-year-old girl, that the fact that this was all men involved and that these were boys involved, that this was kind of handled in the way it was? What do you make of that?
PESCA: I think that men actually think of themselves as fathers, and that's why it's so disturbing. Joe Paterno has sons. The assistant coach who first saw it called his dad. He is a son.
So there have been sex scandals in sports. There was a recent sex scandal with USA swimming, and that dealt with female swimmers. We don't know. It's a hypothetical.
But I think it's, if anything, just as shocking and horrific and hard to understand why nothing happened at Penn State.
MALVEAUX: All right.
Mike, Mark, thank you very much for your perspective. We really appreciate that.
Here's a rundown of some of the stories that we're covering in the next hour.
First, presidential candidate Herman Cain has put allegations of sexual harassment aside to prepare for tonight's debate in Michigan. We're going to have a preview.
And angry students hit the streets of London in protest. We're going to tell you why and how police are responding.
Then, a new report says that Iran's nuclear program, a lot more ambitious than previously thought. We have got some details on that.
Also, we have the pictures of Earth's close call -- this is amazing -- with an asteroid the size of an aircraft carrier.
And later, rapper Heavy D dies at age 44. We're going to look at his contributions to the music world.
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MALVEAUX: Presidential candidate Herman Cain is supposed to talk about the economy, right, in a Republican debate tonight, but Cain can't seem to get away from the subject of sexual harassment. Another of his accusers has now gone public.
But in a news conference, Cain adamantly denied all the allegations against him. And as for dropping out of the race, he says don't bet on it.
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HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are not going to allow Washington or politics to deny me the opportunity to represent this great nation. And as far as these accusations causing me to back off and maybe withdraw from this presidential primary race, ain't going to happen, because I'm doing this for the American people, and for the children and the grandchildren. And I will not be deterred by false, anonymous, incorrect accusations.
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MALVEAUX: Joe Johns, following all the latest developments from Washington.
So, Joe, Herman Cain, this issue does not seem to be going away for him. He now has a debate this evening.
How does he manage that? And what kind of questions do we think he's going to be faced with tonight?
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: You know, the truth of it is, he would love to get off of this. He certainly would love to get off of this and start talking again about his 9-9-9 plan, or whatever, but the truth is, it could still come up, it could be on people's minds.
On the other side of the equation, Suzanne, you know as well as I do, this is in Michigan, where there are a lot of concerns about the economy, about jobs. People probably want to talk to him about, for example, the automobile bailout, which is a big deal in a place like Michigan.
So we'll see. In all likelihood, we'll see a debate that certainly has a lot of questions about jobs and the economy, but wouldn't be surprised at all to hear him answering a question or two about it.
MALVEAUX: And how big a problem is this? Another of Cain's accusers coming forward, says she wants to meet with the other women. What do we know about some sort of arrangement or plan to have four, all four of the accusers, be in the same place at the same time, making charges against this candidate?
JOHNS: Right. Well, if it happens, it's pretty clear, at least to us here at CNN, that it's not going to happen today. You're talking about Karen Kraushaar. She's the one who floated that idea.
She works in the government, worked at the National Restaurant Association back in the day when Herman Cain was there. She says she got a $46,000 settlement for sexual harassment after she complained about Cain's behavior.
Just went public. She's called him a lot of things. She suggested he was a monster, but she's also been sort of called on to discuss the fact that besides the Cain complaint, she filed a workplace complaint against a completely different employer, the Immigration & Naturalization Service, which is the job she went to after she left the National Restaurant Association. She says this thing at the INS was about trying to get some workplace accommodations because she'd been in a debilitating car accident, and that the second complaint didn't have anything to do with harassment.
So that's the kind of thing that will come up with not just her, but other women, as they come forward and state their concerns about Herman Cain -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right. So we'll see how he handles all of this tonight at the debate. Very interesting.
Thanks, Joe.
Conservatives taking it on the chin at the ballot box. Some big issues they supported, they went down in defeat across the country yesterday.
The most-watched elections were in four states: Mississippi, Ohio, Arizona, and Georgia. So what happened in Mississippi?
Voters rejected a measure that would have defined life as starting at conception. It would have made abortion and many forms of birth control illegal. Critics said it was just too vague.
Now, this is what happened in Ohio. Voters repealed a law that limited the collective bargaining rights of public workers.
In Arizona, the state's tough immigration law that stirred up so much anger, well, that was not on the ballot. But the senator who wrote it was, and he lost his job.
And Georgia voters -- most cities and towns in the Atlanta area gave the go-ahead for Sunday alcohol sales.
In Britain's capital, angry college students were in the streets today to protest education cuts and higher fees. In some cases, fees are three times higher than they've been.
As the students rallied, thousands of police were on hand just in case things got out of hand. CNN's Atika Shubert reports from London.
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ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this was one of the potential flash points that police were concerned about, because this is right in the heart of the financial center for London. But as you can see, protesters passed by without incident, about 4,000 or so student demonstrators in all.
Police didn't want to take any chances, though, so they put about 4,000 police on the street. And this is one reason why they didn't want to take any chances. Right here is the London Stock Exchange, and, of course, this was the target for those protesters a few weeks ago that were part of the Occupy London Stock Exchange movement. They've actually camped out now in front of St. Paul's Cathedral. But there was some concern about the protests today, whether they would join up with those protesters, whether there could be the potential for some disorder there. Police, as I said, didn't want to take any chances, and really made sure to put out these extra barricades, made sure to get out the riot police, and even said at one point that, if necessary, they would use plastic bullets.
Clearly, however, the protest has gone peacefully, and there has been no need for that.
Atika Shubert, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Is Iran building an atomic bomb? Well, a disturbing new report is out now from the nuclear watchdog group IAEA. World leaders are worried about that. We're going to have a live report from the State Department.
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MALVEAUX: A nuclear bomb in the hands of Iran -- well, world powers are determined to prevent that nightmare scenario from becoming a reality. So you can imagine their alarm when the world's nuclear watchdog group, the International Atomic Energy Agency, releases a report saying it has serious concerns that Iran may be developing nuclear weapons.
Our CNN foreign affairs correspondent, Jill Dougherty, she is joining us live from the State Department.
So, Jill, we have known for quite some time that Iran has always said that this nuclear program is for civilian purposes. So, this new report, what does it say? How close are they to actually building a bomb?
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think the best way, Suzanne, to describe what this report says is it took information, data, of course some intelligence data, from 10 countries that are members of the IAEA. That's the watchdog agency for the U.N.
And they essentially describe what a country has to do in order to be build a nuclear bomb. And then they analyze the activities that Iran has been carrying out and say, basically, they are consistent with trying to build a nuclear bomb. Now, they get into things like triggering devices, the materials that they've been testing, actual computer modeling, some very specific information and data that we haven't really seen in one place before.
Now, do they say they have the bomb? No. The IAEA does not say, doesn't go that far, to say that Iran actually has a bomb, or that, you know, how quickly they could do it. But all of this material really does indicate, as you put it, a very high level of concern.
MALVEAUX: So what's been the reaction from the administration and other world leaders?
DOUGHERTY: Well, I think the strongest -- in fact, we just got this about half an hour, an hour ago from France, and France is saying this is extremely worrisome. And they are calling for sanctions of unprecedented proportions, is the way they put it. They want to really slam the Iranians.
Of course, you know, we've heard about sanctions for a long time, but the debate here in the United States now is to go further than they've ever gone, which is to hit the central bank of Iran. That would be very serious, it could destabilizing economically, but some supporters on Capitol Hill want to do that.
Of course, there's been some talk and debate, pretty public, coming from Israel about taking military action. That, of course, would be extraordinarily serious. Nobody specifically is saying that that would happen, but it's part of the debate right now.
MALVEAUX: It certainly is very serious, that level of discussion. Thank you, Jill. Appreciate it.
The United Nations says that it estimates 3,500 Syrians now have been killed in a crackdown on anti-government protesters. So, most of the pictures that we show you are from the Internet. And that is because Syria doesn't allow outside reporters in to actually see what is going on.
The only way in is to actually sneak in. And that is what journalist Ramita Navai did. She and her photographer, they pretended to be a married couple on vacation. They spent two weeks in Syria with protesters filming a new PBS documentary.
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ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "AC 360": How were you able to get into Syria?
RAMITA NAVAI, PBS "FRONTLINE" REPORTER: We got tourist visas. We were really lucky. Lots of journalists have been turned down. And we got lucky.
COOPER: You capture a lot on video that's really extraordinary, because, really, the only images we've been able to get out of Syria are the cell phone camera images which protesters have been taking. You were actually in a house, and nearby houses were being raided by militia. I want to play some of that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NAVAI: (INAUDIBLE), so we're putting the camera away.
(voice-over): We hid our camera, but used a cell phone to film. I could hear the screams from next door as the militia raided the house. A mother was pleading with them not to take her son.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COOPER: I mean, it really gives you a sense of the fear that people live in every day. What is it like for dissidents there? What is it like for the protesters?
NAVAI: They live as fugitives. They live on the run. Many of them haven't seen their families for months and months. And they live going from safe house to safe house on the run.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: The "Frontline" documentary can be seen on your local PBS station.
So, if you're watching TV, or listening to the radio around 2:00 Eastern today, you're going to hear this: "This is a test. This is only a test."
For the first time ever, the government now is holding a nationwide test of the emergency alert system. So you've probably seen those warnings before, but they were only put out locally.
Officials at FEMA and the FCC, they are saying that this test is going to last for 30 seconds. It's going to air on every broadcast, cable, satellite TV station, and radio station.
So, tough days for the markets and your money. We're going to go live to the New York Stock Exchange to find out what is dragging the markets down today.
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MALVEAUX: Here's a rundown of some of the stories we're working on. Next, what we learned when a giant asteroid the size of an aircraft carrier flew by earth yesterday.
Then the men who kept a secret deep underwater during the Cold War. Meet a nuclear submarine's veteran crew.
And later, the Coast Guard makes an unusual food drop on a deserted island.
Tough day for the stock markets here in the U.S. and around the world today. I want to bring in our own Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange.
So, Alison, help us understand this. European markets are now closed. How did they finish the day? How are things looking here?
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPODENT: Oh, it's been tough all around, Suzanne. The sell-off is actually circling the globe. Exchanges in London, Paris and Frankfurt lost two percent. Similar story here. Taking a look at the Dow, NASDAQ, S&P all down more than two percent as well. The Dow, as you see, down 255 points.
Here at the NYSE, for every one stock rising, there are nine stocks falling. Shows you just how much of a brutal day it is. So, what's worrying the markets? Italy. Italy is taking the spotlight away from Greece because Italy's debt crisis is getting worse. Just look at their bond market. Their ten-year bond yield hitting a record high topping 7 percent. And this is how governments raise money in the first place. They issue bonds to raise money. But the problem with Italy now is no one wants to buy Italy's bonds. So, what it has to do is has to pay a higher interest rate. This is leaving everybody to wonder, will Italy be the next country to need a bailout? And that is what is worrying the markets today. Suzanne?
MALVUEAX: So Alison, when Italy's leader, Silvio Berlusconi, said he's going to step down yesterday, the markets actually rallied. So, why isn't it helping out today?
KOSIK: Exactly. You know, the thinking yesterday was that Berlusconi's resignation would lead to all these big fiscal changes. But today, reality actually set in. People realizing, hey, there's really no quick fix for a debt crisis that's this big.
You look at Italy's issues compared to Greece, they are much bigger. Italy is Europe's third biggest economy. Its debt load is six times bigger than Greece's debt.
Also, I think reality setting in as well that Berlusconi's resignation is not going to do anything to help Italy's economy grow faster. What you're going to see is this long-term instability kind of setting into the market here. The reality check going on today, and you can see it play out right in the numbers with the Dow falling 252 points. Suzanne?
MALVEUAX: All right. Alison Kosik, thank you.
Well, earth gets a lucky break. A big piece of rock has passed between the planet and the moon. We're going to find out just how close it was.
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MALVUEAX: Okay. So, in space terms, it was actually a pretty close call. An asteroid the size of an aircraft carrier zipping by earth. Chad, to explain all of this. What did we learn?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEORLOGIST: Is this the movie you're talking about? Is this Bruce Willis kind of going up there to push it away?
MALVUEAX: It kind of sounds like that.
MYERS: Sure does. Closer than the moon. An aircraft carrier flying by.
MALVUEAX: It's huge. What did you see? What do we know?
MYERS: We have some pictures. MALVUEAX: Really?
MYERS: Yes. The satellites and some of the telescopes got really good images of these. They want to know what exactly it looked like.
This here that we're looking at is actually what was a problem. This is not the video of the asteroid. This --
MALVUEAX: Ah, there it is!
MYERS: That's what it looked like. How cool is that? That's a great image.
Here's what we're talking about. This is a secondary thing that happened in Russia. Did you hear about this satellite that didn't make it all the way to space?
MALVUEAX: What happened?
MYERS: It has nothing to do with this asteroid zipping by. But this unfortunate Russian satellite took off trying to put a Mars rover into launch orbit, sending it to Mars in 2013. Didn't make it. And now it's sitting up there for something else to fall down at us.
MALVUEAX: You're kidding.
MYERS: How about this? I mean, they have three days to figure it out. Can they get it? The second launch module did not go. So you have the first stage, second stage. The second stage didn't fire so didn't make it out of earth orbit. It's not going to Mars. It's sitting up there with all this toxic fuel in it, waiting to fall back to space -- fall back to earth.
MALVUEAX: What is likely to happen with that?
MYERS: If it falls back, they may have to blow it up with all of this toxic fuel still on it. U.S. did that back in 2008. They blew one up before the toxic fuel came down. This is a mess. This is the fourth time Russia has tried to go to Mars (INAUDIBLE).
MALVUEAX: Not able to pull it off. Tell us about the asteroid. Tell us a little bit about the asteroid.
MYERS: Yes, we kind of got that video back up there.
(LAUGHTER)
MALVUEAX: Tell us a little about the asteroid.
MYERS: What they were really looking for the color of the asteroid, bouncing images off - bouncing spectrometers off of it trying to figure out, what is it really made of. Is it just a rock, could it just be like the moon? Could this thing been stuck in our orbit forever going around and around and around? But it didn't It had so much velocity, going very fast. MALVUEAX: And those are fascinating pictures. You were actually able to see so much of it. It was so close.
MYERS: It was close. It was so close. But they knew for a fact it was not going to hit earth. They watched the trajectory. They planned this all out. Kepler has these mathematician equations that he put out. And they knew it wasn't going to hit. This is the closest one we've had in a very long time. Probably othing closer for 20 years.
MALVUEAX: Another 20. OK. It's good for those who caught it yesterday.
MYERS: Except those ones we don't about. And there are things flying out there we haven't seen yet. Space is a big place.
MALVUEAX: All right. Thank you, Chad.
MYERS: You're welcome.
MALVUEAX: Really appreciate it.
Well, they ran secret, dangerous missions below the ocean surface during the Cold War. You're about to meet crew members who waited silently for orders they hoped would never come. Putting "Veterans in Focus," we climb aboard an American nuclear submarine.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not a natural thing to submerge a ship in water.
ALFRED CHARETTE, U.S. NAVY (ret.): The mission of a submarine is not to give itself away. To remain undetected. We didn't want to make any kind of a noise that a fish didn't make.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of the submariners, when they go to sea, they're in harm's way.
CHARETTE: Basically on patrol for 60 days at a clip, submerged all the time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Had to learn my job and learn my job well so I could keep myself and my shipmates alive and healthy.
EDWIN "BUD" ATKINS, U.S. NAVY (ret.): My life depended on my other shipmate. And it didn't matter whether they were seamen or a captain.
CHARETTE: You were on the SSM 571, the world's first nuclear powered submarine. I was onboard for four years, 1957 to 1961.
When I was onboard I was a sonar supervisor. Couple pieces of equipment in there are the same ones I operated.
I think the political climate at the time was one of tension between us the and the USSR.
We could be in the harbor and nobody would know we were there. We could be along the coast and nobody would know we were there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our adversaries knew we were out there and they couldn't find us. That's what the Cold War was about.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just hope that every time we went to battle stations that it was a drill because we all knew if it was not a drill, home would be in pieces.
CHARETTE: I think we're probably a unique bunch of guys who think that we're better than everybody else.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Special, special fraternity.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it's so different than any other service.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Fascinating report.
A set of men rescued from a deserted island. The U.S. Coast Guard swooped in first with an all-important food drop to feed those guys. Find out who gave those guys a lift home.
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MALVEUAX: Check out these stories from across the country. Officials say a lightning strike apparently caused this fire near Fort Worth, Texas. It damaged and destroyed several tanks at a plant. Fortunately no one was hurt.
David Crosby and Graham Nash. They brought a bit of Woodstock to the Occupy Wall Street protesters in New York. The duo performed a couple of their iconic protest songs and led a chant of "no more war."
Well, first came the food drop, then came the rescue boat. Seven people now safe after being found on a deserted island in the Pacific. The U.S. Coast Guard video shows a Hercules airplane crew dropping supplies to these guys two days after they went missing. Then an Australian navy vessel took them home.
In Italy, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is now on his way out, but he wiggled out of some tight spots over his long career. Our Jeanne Moos reports.
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Close to calling it quits? Say it ain't so, Silvio. If Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi leaves, who's going to get caught on camera telling offensive jokes?
Who else is going to call President Obama suntanned? Even when he stops talking, there's never a dull moment with Berlusconi. What other world leader inspires list after list of his worst gaffes. Rate the biggest blunder. Put his top ten to music.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie.
MOOS: Gaffes like the time Berlusconi arrived at a summit with his cell phone plastered to his ear, leaving his hostess, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, on hold. True, he was trying to iron out a summit sticking point with Turkey's prime minister, but he looked like a turkey talking and talking and talking while Chancellor Merkel greeted other leaders and waited. After about eight and a half minutes, she gave up and left.
Then there was the recorded phone conversation in which Berlusconi allegedly called Merkel, well, we can't even begin to say it on TV.
MOOS (on camera): The two words that will be forever associated with Berlusconi are actually one word --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bunga-bunga parties.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bunga-bunga.
STEPHEN COLBERT, "THE COLBERT REPORT": Bunga-bunga
MOOS (voice-over): This is a masked parody of a bunga-bunga party. Parties featuring women like the poetically named "Ruby the heart stealer." Parties so hot --
GEORGE CLOONEY, ACTOR: His bunga-bunga party.
MOOS: That even George Clooney bailed.
CLOONEY: It became a very different kind of evening than anyone thought. I -- it was like, I have to go. Oh, where you going? It's going it be a party. I'm like, no, no, I've got to go.
MOOS (on camera): Berlusconi's dirty old man image is such that he even gets blamed for pranks he didn't pull.
MOOS (voice-over): For instance, this comes from a film farce featuring an actor portraying Berlusconi, yet it circulates on the web as if it's the real thing.
DAVID LETTERMAN, "THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": You know who else is in town? Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. So, good luck getting a hooker.
MOOS: But even when Berlusconi gets tripped up, he still manages to land on his feet.
Jeanne Moos, CNN --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): And that's amore.
MOOS: New York. (END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Rapper Heavy D, who brought smiles to millions of fans who grew up in the '80s and '90s, such as myself, has died. We're going to tell you about his life and what we know about his death.
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MALVEAUX: One of hip hop's most popular artists of the '80s and '90s died yesterday. We all knew him as Heavy D. Well, his real name was Dwight Arrington Myers. This is one of his biggest hit "Now That We Found Love." I want to bring in "Showbiz Tonight's" A.J. Hammer for some details.
You know, A.J., he was only 44 years old. Do we know what happened?
A.J. HAMMER, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": Well, what we do know, Suzanne, is that Heavy D collapsed at his home in Beverly Hills on Tuesday morning. He was taken to a hospital in Los Angeles and died a short time later. The cause of his death has not been determined yet. I'm sure they're working to ascertain that.
But so many people are just so sad and in such shock this afternoon. Fans and artists alike. And that's particularly because Heavy D has been working on a new album. So he's been making a lot of public appearances recently and he's been out there talking about it. He was such a well liked guy. In fact, he performed at the Michael Jackson tribute concert and the B.E.T. Awards just recently.
His career goes all the way back to 1987. We all knew his group, Heavy D and The Boys. He was called the overweight lover, that's how he referred to himself. He had hits with The Boys like "The Overweight Lovers in the House," "Got Me Waiting," The O'Jays remake that we were just playing a moment ago. And he even recorded songs with both Janet and Michael Jackson.
And here's the thing, Suzanne. He was really known as one of the truly good guys in the business. He had a sweet sense of fun. In fact, on his Twitter page, his slogan was, I have relentless optimism. His final tweet, Monday from Heavy D, "be inspired." So, Suzanne, he certainly will be missed.
MALVEAUX: Wow. Yes, I love Heavy D. I'm just a big Heavy D fan.
Tell us a little bit about another one of our fans there, Nancy Grace. Our colleague at HLN. "Dancing With the Stars." So she didn't make it to the finals. She did a great job. What happened last night?
HAMMER: Great job. Great job. Yes, this is sad news of a different kind today. Nancy voted off "Dancing With the Stars" last night. She did very well in the entire competition overall. I mean she finished in fifth place. It is a grueling competition.
But, again, on Monday night, she walked away with the lowest scores from the judges. Obviously it wasn't enough from the participating audience calling in and voting to bring her through to next week.
But we spoke with her. In fact, I just spoke with Nancy a few minutes ago, Suzanne. And she -- yes, she's disappointed. She's bummed out. But she's very thankful and she waned (ph) philosophical about what a great example she thinks she has now set for her twins who really got to see her mom setting her mind to something totally out of her element and being able to accomplish it.
So, yes, we're sad for Nancy, but we're really happy for her, too.
MALVEAUX: Yes.
HAMMER: We really give her a lot of credit for stepping outside the box there and doing something entirely different.
MALVEAUX: Yes. I'm really proud of her, actually. It was really pretty cool to watch her.
All right, A.J., thanks. We appreciate it.
You can get more on "Showbiz" news with A.J. Hammer on HLN. That is tonight at 11:00 Eastern.
Now we also want to take a quick check of the markets. The political and economic turmoil in Italy affecting your money. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is vowing to step down. It hasn't done much to calm investor fears about the country's debt problems and the fears are rippling outward now. Global stocks are down sharply today. The Dow Jones down 246 points. We're going to keep you updated on the markets throughout the day.
For the first time in half a century, Cubans now will finally be allowed to buy and sell property. Legal restrictions that are going to end tomorrow. We're going to get some reaction.
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MALVEAUX: Owning your home, not being able to sell it is one thing, but not being allowed to actually sell it is something altogether. For the past 50 years, it has been illegal for people in Cuba to buy or sell homes. Well, tomorrow, that's changing. A new law is going to allow property sales with just a few restrictions. Our Shasta Darlington reports from Havana.
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SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Olivia and her sister have shared his house since childhood, and still do now that they're married with kids. Grown kids of their own. After all, they didn't have much choice. Here in Cuba, you may own your home, but you're not allowed to sell it.
"We're happy here," she says. "The problem is the kids. They're now in their 20s and they want their own rooms. They want privacy." Olivia's family has started the long and bureaucratic process of a house swap. They'll trade their large home for property of equal value. In this case, two smaller apartments. The only thing allowed under Cuban law.
Until now. State media has announced that a new law permitting the sale of real estate will be enacted on November 10th. Owners will need a simple notary stamp and, of course, pay taxes. Part of a major overhaul of the creeking economy by President Raul Castro.
DARLINGTON (on camera): This is an island with 11 million people and yet there's a housing shortage of almost half a million homes. And the houses that do exist are often decrepit.
DARLINGTON (voice-over): It's not unusual to find three or even four generations crammed into a small apartment. Or divorced couples under the same roof. In Havana, Cubans come to this improvised real estate market when they want to move. Pen and paper in hand, they mingle with other homeowners looking for a trade. Although it's illegal, plenty of money is paid under the table. And as many as half a dozen properties can be involved in each tangled swap.
Ancle (ph) is a middle man helping buyers meet sellers. "In Cuba, we know how to live within the law and outside the law," he says. "That isn't going to change." But Tudasa (ph), who wants to find a bigger place, says new legislation would be welcome. "It will help get rid of all the bureaucracy," she says.
Restrictions will apply. Cubans will only be allowed to own one home and Cuban-Americans are welcome to send cash but can't hold the deed.
Shasta Darlington, CNN, Havana.
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MALVEAUX: CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Fredricka Whitfield.
Hey, Fred.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello to you. Have a great day, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: You too.
