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Colorado And Minnesota Are Next; Violence In Syria; The Struggle of Syrians; Missing Woman's Husband Torches Home With Children Inside; The Controversy Behind Your iPhone; Why Aren't These Jobs In The U.S.?; Ford Fumes Over Chevy Ad; GM Shoots For $10 Billion Profit; Almost Buried Alive; Tensions Between U.S. And Egypt

Aired February 06, 2012 - 14:00   ET

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

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I'm Michael Holmes. I'm in for Brooke today. And let's catch you up now on everything making news this hour. "Rapid Fire." Let's go.

And the United States has shut down its embassy in Damascus, Syria, pulled its remaining staff out of the country. The State Department says it has repeatedly asked for Syria's help to protect the embassy from attack. No response. Syria is experiencing major violence, of course, as the Syria people try to overthrow their leadership.

Well, the bodies of a man and two children are being pulled from that home there outside of Tacoma, Washington. Police say Josh Powell set fire to the house, killing himself and his sons, Braden and Charlie. Powell was a suspect in the 2009 disappear of his wife Susan. His relatives, needless to say, are stunned.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIRK GRAVES, JOSH POWELL'S BROTHER-IN-LAW: We're in shock. We are simply -- it's beyond belief. We had suspicions of various things Josh was capable of, but I, for one, didn't think he was capable of this. I think this proves it. I think this is his admission of guilt and he just couldn't handle it anymore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: A new poll from ABC and "The Washington Post" shows President Obama beating Mitt Romney in a hypothetical match-up. Obama leads his potential opponent by six points. In a similar poll, Obama leads former House Speaker Newt Gingrich by 11 points.

A powerful magnitude 6.8-point quake rocked the Philippine island of Negros. It hit just before noon today. At least 12 people reportedly killed, including two schoolgirls who died when walls collapsed on them. That area still dealing with strong aftershocks. Probably will for some time to come.

Crowds of angry parents gathering outside a Los Angeles elementary school this morning, concerned about the arrest of two teachers accused of abusing students.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are not to commit lewd acts. Putting roaches in the faces of our students.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Thirty-year-old teacher Mark Berndt is accused of taking bondage photographs of more than two dozen students. The school will be closed tomorrow and Wednesday as investigations continue.

An online showdown for Netflix. Verizon and Redbox teaming up to launch an online video streaming service later this year. They are promising instant downloads available on TV, smartphones, tablets, as well as access to DVDs through Redbox's 28,000 kiosks nationwide.

At least six people are dead after a factory collapsed in Pakistan. A frantic search on the way to find dozens of people still believed to be trapped in the rubble. So far, eight people have been rescued. Police say a total of 63 were inside when a boiler exploded. That was the cause of the whole thing. The factory made veterinary medicine.

In court today, the case of a grandmother killed by an alligator. The 83-year-old was walking in a gated community near Savannah, Georgia in October 2007 when she was attacked. Her family told the Georgia Supreme Court, the homeowners association and the golf club there knew about this gator, did warn anybody though. The landowners, for their part, say they're not responsible for wild animals that happen to wander onto the property.

Police arrested country music star Randy Travis overnight for public intoxication. The arrest report in Denton County, Texas, says officers found Travis in a vehicle in front of a Baptist church with an open bottle of wine and smelling of alcohol. He was held for a few hours and cited for a misdemeanor.

And the Super Bowl winning New York Giants arrived home victoriously from their trip to Indianapolis. Water cannons leaving (ph) their plane just a few moments ago at the New York Airport. (INAUDIBLE).

And, coming up this hour on CNN, horrific violence continues in Syria. It is getting worse. We've got men, women, children all being killed. Just today, more than 50 killed by what the Syrian regime called armed terrorist groups. Opposition groups say it was government troops doing the killing.

Plus, the controversy over Apple products being made by a Chinese company that is seeing a rash of employee suicides. We're not just talking about Apple, though, here.

And, absolutely incredible video. Check this out. A snowboarder caught in an avalanche. Later this hour, we'll talk to that woman. Yes, she was saved by that -- from that massive snow wall by a new piece of safety equipment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: OK, forget money and happiness. Of all the promises in this book, I think that the claims about -- I don't think that's the right thing to do.

Let's talk about Syria. This is the major story of the day. Things going from bad to worse in Syria. The U.S. says it's becoming so bad they put up the shutters at the U.S. embassy. They're pulling out all of the staff.

Yes, that was the announcement today from the State Department in response to the ever-escalating chaos in Syria. All services at the embassy in Damascus are being suspended, staffers are being withdrawn for safety reasons.

OK, you can hear the desperation there in the voices of those Syrians as they try to get out of the way of the bombings today. A warning, some of the images we're about to show you graphic and disturbing. There are images of children with war wounds. It shows you how blind security forces are as they are shelling neighborhoods. The death toll just today, one monitoring group says 56. And since March, when the civil unrest all began, well, the United Nations says it's more than 6,000. Opposition groups say it is more than that. I can't confirm those numbers, of course, or the images -- the origin of those images, because the Syrian government continues to limit journalists access to that country.

CNN's Arwa Damon has more on today's devastation and why the United Nations is not stepping in at this point.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "What did we do for you to treat us like this," this little girl asks, her head bandaged after injuries to her eyes. We can't tell if she's been prompted to speak out against the Assad regime, but the pain and misery emanating from Syria is echoed in various videos posted to YouTube.

DANNY, ACTIVIST IN HOMS, SYRIA: There have been bombing my (ph) house with mortar bombs and tank shells for the last --

DAMON: Danny, an activist that CNN has regularly been in touch with, knows it only too well.

DANNY: I saw really horrible things I've never seen in my life. Kids in the hospital. A kid with his whole jaw gone. A little girl, a kid, she's four years old, she's dead. Her sister is six years old. She lost her left eye. And her mother's in intensive care.

DAMON: No one has been spared the violence that reached unprecedented levels just as the U.N. debated and failed to unite on Syria over the weekend.

The vetoes by Russia and China, of what was already a watered-down version of a resolution condemning the violence, seemed to have emboldened the regime, although the Syrian government denies the crackdown.

These are chaotic scenes from a field hospital in Homs, said to have been hit by rocket or mortar fire. The doctor, hysterical, as he moves through the injured pointing to a man who's legs have to be amputated, he says. And another, who they were unable to save.

This clip was posted from the town of Rastan (ph), just outside of Homs. A little girl lies in a hospital bed saying she is scared. Scared of needles and scared for Hasan (ph), lying in the bed next to her.

DANNY: You don't know if the rocket is going to come in your living room or in your kitchen. Everybody's becoming used to death here. Blood in the streets. People think our blood is just like water.

DAMON: Many of the videos are simply too graphic to show. This clip, also from Homs. A child whose leg has been blown off.

No matter how Syria plays out, the suffering will be felt for decades to come.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Arwa Damon is in Beirut, Lebanon, and has been to Syria many times.

Arwa, let's talk about the violence today and what the locals there are saying about the political situation. Russia, China rejecting this draft resolution.

DAMON: Well, the Russians and the Chinese are basically saying that they do want to see an end to the violence, that they couldn't support the text of this resolution, believing that it further complicated (ph) and confused the situation on the ground.

The veto by both these nations has not just enraged the international community and those that were supporting the resolution, like the United States, but has also filled the activists with a bitter sense of even more despair and disgust. Because as so many of them have pointed out, as long as there is just talk and debate on the one hand at the United Nations, they are continuing to die every single day in dire conditions.

Conditions that are so unimaginable, many of them are struggling to put it into words. Even that young man who you heard from in that story there saying that he believes that he has only seen a fraction of what is actually taking place in Syria. So it just gives you an idea of the scale and the magnitude of the devastation that is happening there. And at this point in time, Michael, there seems to be absolutely no resolution to the issue.

HOLMES: Yes, and, of course, what happens now? I mean Russia and China have their own self-interest at play here when it comes to the region. Meanwhile, as you say, people are dying at an incredible rate. It's getting worse. This is sort of random shelling, almost, in Homs. You know, I'm curious how organized the free Syrian army is now, the opposition forces. How capable are they of striking back?

DAMON: Well, they most certainly are not capable of posing the government forces any sort of a significant threat. They don't have the numbers. They don't have the weapons. The free Syrian army, which is made up, if you'll remember, mostly of military defectors and civilians who have joined their ranks, they're mostly armed with AK- 47s, rocket-propelled grenades and they have managed to get their hands on a few tanks here and there. But they are absolutely no match for the full might of the Syrian security apparatus.

And what we have been saying, and what activists have been saying is taking place is that since late Friday night, early Saturday morning Syria time, government forces have gone into certain areas of Homs in the Damascus suburbs, really areas that have become the epicenter of clashes between the free Syrian army and government forces. And according to what activists are describing, it seems like the Syrian government is literally trying to flatten these areas, stamp out the free Syrian army and any voice of descent once and for all.

While we have this division on the international stage, while we have various significant global powerhouses unable to come to a united front on this Syria issue, well, that only served to embolden the regime. And so the tragedy of it all is that, Michael, it seems like the status quo that we have been seeing grow more violent by the day, is only going to be the trend in the days, and who knows how much longer in the weeks to come.

HOLMES: Arwa Damon, who was recently in Syria. Arwa, as always, thanks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're asking for help. We're asking for you help. (INAUDIBLE) four hours now, they're going to kill us all. We don't have (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And that is just one glimpse of the desperation Syrians are facing. Let's turn now to Andy Carvin, who is senior strategist at NPR and who's been reporting on Syria.

Andy, you know, you've seen following, I know, the Twitter-sphere as well and we're getting a lot of information out of Syria via social media. What have you been hearing? What sort of stories? The stuff that I've been hearing talking to Arwa has been just heartbreaking.

ANDY CARVIN, SENIOR STRATEGIST, NPR: Well, what you essentially see is a non-stop stream of butchery. And I can't think of another way to describe it. It's that horrific. Over the last 10, 12 months covering this, you get used to seeing a certain number of video each day. But it's ramped up to a point over the last 72 hours and I haven't seen anything like this since the very worst during the Libya civil war. It's -- there's so many more civilian injuries, a lot more women and children getting hurt. And there are no basements in Homs and some of these other cities, and so literally they have no place to hide.

HOLMES: You know, let's face it, I think there's a lot of self- interest in the region. The Russians, for example, 10 percent of their arm sales go to Syria. They've got a base there. They've got a lot of interest in not having the Syrian regime fall. But what are the Syrians themselves saying? A lot of them have literally used the words green light. By Russia and China not signing on to what was really a pretty mild U.N. resolution, they feel that the regime has been given the green light to go on. And let's remember, it's 30 years since Assad's dad did the same thing in Hama (ph).

CARVIN: I think green light is definitely one of the words you hear. The other one is a abandonment. Time and time again, every single day for the last three or four days, I've heard Syrians through Twitter and YouTube and other mechanisms saying that they feel like they've been completely abandoned by the international community.

You actually can feel them screaming in despair in their tweets, which you wouldn't think is possible, but by writing in all capital letters, it's amazing how much emotion can come through and the heartbreak that gets experienced from it. There's just no other way of looking at it. These people feel like the world has let them down and they don't know what to do at this point.

HOLMES: Yes, and, of course, you know it's impossible really to put yourself there, but the -- this is a bombardment that is every minute of every day almost. The life there, what are they telling you about life there? I was talking to somebody in Homs last week and they were telling me that it's just hard to get food, let alone medicine.

CARVIN: Every moment could be their last. There have been reports out of there that 200 to 300 shells are falling on a daily basis. If you add that up over the course of a day, you really don't have an opportunity to sneak out safely without -- with a guarantee of get back alive. And so there's no real place to hide. And there are neighborhoods that have already been a abandoned. People are trying to find shelter as best they can. But the fact that you can go into certain parts of Homs and find absolutely no one definitely suggests that the -- the impact that the government is trying to have has been successful so far in those parts of the city.

HOLMES: Yes, no wonder they feel abandoned. Andy, thanks. Andy Carvin there.

CARVIN: Thanks for having me.

HOLMES: All right. And now this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just knew that if there was anyone in there, they didn't survive. You could tell that instantly from what we saw. I can't imagine anyone killing their children. I just -- that's beyond anything I can imagine someone doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: An explosion rocks a home with a father and his two kids inside. This is the same case where the mother disappeared two years ago. Coming up next, we have new details about an e-mail sent from the father right before that explosion happened. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Welcome back, everyone.

Police outside of Tacoma, Washington, are stunned. They say Josh Powell set fire to his own home, killing himself and his two sons. His last words in an e-mail to his attorney read simply this, "I'm sorry. Goodbye." Powell was a suspect in his wife Susan's disappearance in Utah back in 2009. He'd lost custody of his sons, and Powell's brother-in-law says that may have been the last straw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIRK GRAVES, JOSH POWELL'S BROTHER-IN-LAW: For him it was just a real embarrassment that he didn't have his boys back with him. I've never really felt like Josh had a lot of love for his boys, he just had a whole lot of possessiveness of his boys. And this was more than he could handle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Thelma Gutierrez is standing outside what remains of the home, which was smoldering up until recently.

Thelma, how's the family doing? What's the latest here on this investigation?

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Michael, I can tell you that, as you can imagine, the family is absolutely inconsolable. This was such a horrific loss. Not only did they lose their daughter Susan, but Chuck and Judy Cox also lost their two grandchildren. So this has been a terrible, terrible shock for them.

Through their attorney, Anne Bremner, they did ask for privacy. They also asked for prayers. And they told her that they had feared that this day would come. So this was something in the back of their minds. And they were just about to have custody of those children. So you can just imagine the heartache that they're feeling right now, Michael.

HOLMES: You know, we mentioned in the intro to this that he had lost custody of his boys. There was meant to be a supervised visit. That's how this all unfolded. Why had he lost custody?

GUTIERREZ: He had lost custody because he was living with his father at one point. The boys were also living with their grandfather, Steven Powell. And Steven Powell, back in September of 2011, Michael, was arrested on 14 counts of possessing child pornography and also voyeurism. And so a judge took custody away from Josh Powell and placed those children with Susan Powell's parents, who lives here in Washington as well.

HOLMES: You -- I understand we're getting more information about this all the time. And, of course, there's something about a voicemail from Josh Powell to his cousin. GUTIERREZ: Yes. He has apparently sent out two e-mails, as far as we can tell, two text messages right before that house blew up. One of the messages went to his attorney, where he said, goodbye and I'm sorry. The other went to his cousin in Texas. And it was a voicemail text message which said, "this is Josh. I'm calling to say goodbye. I'm not able to go on anymore. I'm sorry to everyone." And shortly after that here in Washington, that home blew up with the children inside.

Michael.

HOLMES: Thelma Gutierrez, thanks so much.

What a disturbing story.

OK, up next, the trouble with American companies outsourcing to Chinese manufacturers like the controversial Foxconn.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know what one of their solutions were? Well, we should put up more nets so that people can't jump off their buildings. We should have more psychiatrists to help advise people. And, oh, we should have more medical services to help the people who get hurt doing this. Instead of talking about, what's wrong with a country that has no labor rights.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, reason one, why are they so controversial. They are reported to overworked and underpay their employees. And reason why the company gets so much business? Well, it makes quality electronics for us cheap.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, do you know the name Foxconn? Maybe you don't, but you probably could be gripping one of its products right now. I've got one right next to me right here. The old iPhone. Foxconn is the overseas manufacturer that puts together Apple's iPhone, as well as many other devices, from brands like Amazon, Hewlett-Packard, Dell. But Foxconn, which employs more than a million workers in China is under fire for what some employees describe as a slave driving type style, 24 hour work days, six days a week, low pay. One Chinese worker who makes Apple products talked to CNN about the company. She doesn't want to reveal her identity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Do they care about us? I don't know. At least I'm not getting any of that care.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, in response, Foxconn says it works hard to provide a safe and positive working environment and it has made tremendous progress. Apple says this, quote, "We care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain. We insist that our suppliers provide safe working conditions, treat workers with dignity and respect and use environmentally responsible manufacturing processes wherever Apple wherever products are made."

It goes on to say, our suppliers must live up to these requirements if they want to keep doing business with Apple. Well, Apple also just joined the Fair Labor Association, one of the few companies that has.

It's seen as a real plus for them to have done that. This controversy though overseas gives rise to one here in the United States, why China is getting all of that manufacturing business. CNN's Jim Clancy takes a look at how "Made in the USA" gets in the way of profits.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We're advised that no matter where you're doing business around the globe, the factory floor is in China. As outsourcing and relocations continue a pace, Europe and the U.S. are bleeding jobs. Politicians say, they want it reversed.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We have a huge opportunity at this moment to bring manufacturing back. My message to business leaders is simple. Ask yourselves what you can do to bring jobs back to your country.

CLANCY: Apple's late founder, Steve Jobs, met with President Obama last year and put it bluntly. American manufacturing jobs are not coming back, workplace wisdom. When it comes to profits, patriotism cannot compete.

Corporations contend it's not all about profits, either. Experts say the U.S. doesn't train enough people for mid-level jobs, those between a high school diploma and a college degree. Many manufacturers have concluded that Asian workers, supply chains and assembly lines are faster and better.

U.S. labor organizations counter the Chinese government is funding the infrastructure and exploiting its workers to lure in foreign corporations. Apple has been embarrassed that one of its assembly operations in China has become notorious for worker suicides.

BOB BAUGH, AFL-CIO INDUSTRIAL UNION COUNCIL DIRECTOR: Do you know what one of the solutions were? Well, we should put up more nets so people can't jump off their buildings.

We should have more psychiatrists to help advice people and we should have more medical services to help people who get hurt doing this, instead of talking about what's wrong with the country that has no labor unions. I mean, people died in this country to stop that behavior.

CLANCY: Apple, the most valuable company in the U.S. outsources and doesn't apologize. Directly or indirectly, Apple employs 700,000 people overseas and just 20,000 in the U.S.

U.S. workers do get to deliver the products to home and store shelves. Apple products to inspire parallel innovations by American entrepreneurs who profit from them. Apple's prominence in the market place and U.S. unemployment has made the company a target for election year politics.

RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're competing for jobs that China wants to take away from us. But we have to have a competitive environment for America.

CLANCY: It's a familiar theme. Bring back the jobs, but the embarrassing fact is that the U.S. has no strategy.

BAUGH: Frankly, it's up to the government, it's up to us as a country to have a strategy. It's up to us as a country to talk with our employers and say, you have some obligations here, you know? You actually do business in this country.

CLANCY: In the past two years, the U.S. has gained more than 330,000 manufacturing jobs. Experts credit a rising cost in China, a weaken dollar and rock bottom interest rates. No, it isn't a strategy, it's market forces. America will just have to settle for that. Jim Clancy, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: So did you see the apocalypse commercial last night during the Super Bowl, the one based on the mind calendar that track ad where Chevrolet takes a bit of a slap at Ford?

Well, Ford got a little angry about that, but they'll be laughing all the way to the bank. We're going to check it out. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, the Super Bowl ads lit a fire under Ford. The automaker is fuming at a spot by its rival Chevrolet. Alison Kosik is live for us at the New York Stock Exchange. Good to see you again, Alison. Ford and Chevy, a little punch up, aren't they?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Michael. Yes, you know what, this reminds me of it's kind of like two boys duking it out on the school playground. This time, though, the argument is over who makes the most dependable pickup truck?

So this whole tip, it started with GM's Super Bowl ad for its Chevy Silverado that was played last night. There was a whole Mayan apocalypse. Several trucks survived. All happened to be Chevy Silverado and then comes sort of the right hook to Ford. Listen to the commercial from here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They didn't drive the longest-lasting, most dependable truck on the road. They drove a Ford.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: OK, so what this implies, Michael, is that Ford trucks just were not tough enough to make it through the apocalypse. Now what Ford did is, they went ahead and called up Chevrolet and said, don't run this spot during the Super Bowl because Ford says it makes the most dependable truck.

But GM said, no way, we paid $3 million to make this commercial. We are going to air it during the Super Bowl, and voila, it did -- Michael.

HOLMES: I just love the fact that they're fighting over whose truck is going to survive the apocalypse. Who cares by then? The gas stations will blow up so you'll never be able to fill it up. Who cares about driving the most dependable?

KOSIK: This is the funniest part. This has really turned out -- we kind of fact check this. Now this is all semantics. Ford says it's the only brand with more trucks on the road with more than 250,000 miles because Ford measures by miles.

GM measures by age and says its cars last more years. But according to consumer reports, Michael, the Nissan Titan, the Toyota Tundra, they're more dependable than both Ford and GM. So while Ford and GM are duking it out, the other two are saying, what idiots -- Michael.

HOLMES: You're right. It's school yard. Let it go. We're all going to be dead, anyway. As long as we're talking about Chevrolet, there is some encouraging news about the parent company, a bit of a turnaround since the bailout. Tell us about that.

KOSIK: Yes, so the "Wall Street Journal" is actually saying that GM has this goal now, Michael, to make $10 billion a year, and this is a big deal because GM, you have to remember, was bankrupt less than three years ago. But now GM is kind of on its way.

It's going to be reporting its earnings next week with the expectation that it will clock in at $8 billion profit for 2011. You know, once upon a time that was almost unthinkable. You think about 2009, GM got a $50 billion bailout. There were thousands of layoffs.

Well, now there's this big turnaround. The bailout is paid off, GM is rehiring. It's reopening old plants. Its sales are even picking up in North America. GM is also doing very well in China.

GM has actually been the top seller there for years. Now this $10 billion goal is a pretty lofty goal, but even if GM doesn't make it to that $10 billion mark, I would say it's definitely a turnaround for the U.S. auto industry -- Michael.

HOLMES: Yes, that Clint Eastwood ad, the flag waving, and all that -- it's an Italian company, actually.

KOSIK: Right, it actually brought a tear to my producer's eye that commercial, I have to say.

HOLMES: Brought a tear to (inaudible) eyes as well. Good to see you, Alison Kosik. I always love to chat with you.

KOSIK: Yes.

HOLMES: All right, thousands of women signing up for ninja training.

Up next, the rise of martial arts training in Iran, and a woman saved from being trapped in an avalanche. The whole thing caught on tape after this quick break.

We'll show you the piece of emergency equipment they say saved her life, pretty cool video. Wait around for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Welcome back. I'm Michael Holmes in for Brooke. Take a second to watch this video with us. Quite amazing. You see this snowboarder making her way down the slopes when an avalanche comes tearing down behind her.

The mountain almost buried her alive. I said almost. The funny thing is she's not being buried by the snow, is she? No, she deployed an airbag that shoots out behind her back. Apparently, it helps you float on the top of the snow, built for just this sort of thing.

She makes it out to safety, is perfectly OK. In fact, we're going to talk to her next hour. So do stick around for that. Quite amazing.

All right, ninja training -- yes, I said ninja training for thousands of women in Iran. Press TV giving access to some of the women in training. This is video of one of the practice sessions taking place.

More than 3,000 Iranian women reportedly signed up for ninja training to become a ninja. I know you'd be asking this, the women practicing the art here of Ninjitsu. This is a huge deal, actually.

In the past Iranian women were discouraged of practicing sports of any kind. According to the Atlantic, women in Iran face many hurdles. They had trouble getting funding for doing this. They even faced severe punishment if they didn't keep to strict rules while they qualified for the Olympics back in 2007.

Nineteen Americans facing prosecution in Egypt. Up next, find out why they're being held and what is being done to free them.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: The alliance between the United States and Egypt tethering today. Egypt's military rulers under siege from the street have announced that they are going to try 19 Americans, including the son of Transportation Secretary, Ray Lahood. Elise Labott is standing by for us at the State Department. Elise, for folks who don't that, these people are being held or stopped from leaving for quite a while now, just outline the charges again and the reaction from Washington.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT PRODUCER: Well, Michael, basically about 19 Americans and some people from some other countries are being charged with taking illegal foreign funding, being a group that's not registered.

And we're talking about some U.S. groups like the IRI, International Republican Institute, NDI, promoting democracy in Egypt. And as you said, Sam Lahood, the son of Ray Lahood, is one of those Americans who is not able to leave the country.

Now they haven't been officially notified, but as you said, there been an announcement that there's an investigation that is going to be charged.

What we hear is that the prosecutor has been recommended to investigate these charges, not officially charged yet. Let's hear what White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said today about these charges.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Now we continue to communicate at all levels with the Egyptian government, our grave concerns regarding the crackdown against NGOs in Europe.

We have underscored how serious these actions are. We said clearly these actions could have consequences with our relationship including regarding our assistance programs. So we'll continue to work with the Egyptians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LABOTT: Now this is the rub, Michael. The U.S. really wants to work with this new Egyptian government. The Egyptian military has said it plans to hand over to its new government led by the Muslim Brotherhood.

There is a lot of U.S. assistance at stake and also billions of dollars in support by the IMF that the U.S. would have to sign off on. Egyptian economy is in shambles right now.

The U.S. is really put in a dilemma. They want to assist Egypt, but they can't under these circumstance and you've heard a lot of pressure on the Hill from lawmakers for the Obama administration to cut that assistance.

HOLMES: Yes, I mean, you're not talking peanuts, either. It's $1.3 billion in military aid from the United States to Egypt. That's a pretty decent size stick, but the military rules at the moment.

There is a sense that they're trying to sort of act tough given that the parliamentary elections were won by Islamist and they don't want to be seen as being too ally to the U.S. But they certainly want the money.

LABOTT: And you've seen the Muslim Brotherhood kind of walking at both ways. On one hand, they're not condemning this action by the military or the courts, and at the same time, they're begging the United States not to drop this assistance.

Certainly, the Muslim Brotherhood really has to deliver on the promises that it made to the Egyptian people and it needs that money, but at the same time there's been this kind of uneasy relationship with the west, especially the United States.

So it doesn't want to seem as being too much in the pocket of the U.S. So it's really going to be a careful bounce right now. U.S. officials saying they're hoping that either the charges will be dropped or these Americans could be charged with something very small and be allowed to leave the country.

But right now, it's a gamble. They just don't know. The administration might be forced to this point to cut that assistance. In the meantime, some of those Americans not all of them, just a small handful are held up at the embassy because they don't want to face prosecution.

HOLMES: Yes, good context. Elise, thanks. Elise Labott there at state.

Well, it is the start of the week, and that can only mean one thing. Brooke Baldwin has a new artist to share with you on "Music Monday."

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A long time ago I took banjos.

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HOLMES: Ben Sollee. He picks, he grins, he strums all on a cello. Sometimes, he even rides a bike as one does. I'll explain, next.

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HOLMES: If you think cello players are only to be found in a symphony orchestra, well, look no further than Ben Sollee. He'll change your mind that's for sure with his brand of soul and funk. He shares his unique style now with Brooke Baldwin in today's "Music Monday."

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BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: How does the boy from Kentucky pick up the cello? Shouldn't you be fiddling or on a banjo or mandolin?

BEN SOLLEE, MUSICIAN: You can fiddle on anything, but I picked up the cello in public schools in fourth grade. Got this whole thing started in the utility closet of a gym. I love the cello because it made all these different sounds basically.

I studied classically because that's the kind of music you study on the cello, but I also played with blues bands and bluegrass bands. I played all these different instruments and all their styles and techniques just kind of got sucked in to the cello.

Whether we're talking about rock, R&B, or we're talking Brahms, or you know, music from the picking opera, like all these stuff is cello, which really imitates the human voice in a pretty amazing way. It can do all those different sounds.

The first thing about a cello, it's just a huge, super resonating thing. Put your hand right there. It's like really, really, resonate. You can make base notes and all those scratching sounds like you were talking about with the deejay, they're all just beautiful sounds if you want to imitate vocal stuff.

A lot of time I'll imitate banjos because I grew up around them. You know, they can sound like them and you can also sound like a mandolin or you can use three-finger techniques that you'll see lots of bass players use.

BALDWIN: Were you born with this?

SOLLEE: Nope. Not a chance.

BALDWIN: What's the best thing someone said to you after a show?

SOLLEE: When I close my eyes, it didn't even sound like a cello or, when I close my eyes, I heard a cello sometimes, or a banjo or a harp. I like it when people -- it breaks into people's imaginations.

BALDWIN: What did you call it, a ditch the van tour?

SOLLEE: Yes. We do some music tours by bicycle.

BALDWIN: Why?

SOLLEE: To be more community oriented. A lot of people see us on bicycles and they ask us, wow, that's a really greenway to tour, it's sustainable. It's not really about that, it's about enforcing limitation on us on the road.

BALDWIN: And are these guys on bikes, too?

SOLLEE: Yes. The whole band is on a bike. The drummer put his drums on a trailer behind his bike. Our tour manager, Katie Vincet, hauls all the merch behind hers, up the cello on a long frame bicycle called an extracycle.

BALDWIN: So you're biking with your cello?

SOLLEE: Yes. Everything is on the bicycles.

BALDWIN: So if somebody sees a guy in glasses biking with a cello, what should they do? SOLLEE: They should slow down, first of all, maybe give us a nice little wave --

BALDWIN: And come to the show.

SOLLEE: -- and come to the show.

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HOLMES: And you can see more of Brooke's "Music Monday" interviews online just go to cnn.com/brooke. I know that one, I think.