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Music Royalty Gather In Nola; Armed Standoff Ends, Body Found In Bunker; Judge Evaluating Zimmerman Bond; New Rules For Secret Service; Panetta: U.S. Safer With Bin Laden Dead; McCain Blasts Obama Campaign Ad; Romney Enters Big League Of Politics
Aired April 28, 2012 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: In Washington State, an armed standoff is over. The suspect's body found inside a fortified underground bunker. Police say Peter Keller killed his wife and teenage daughter almost a week ago then he holed himself up in a bunker he spent eight years building.
Last hour, I talked with Sergeant Cindi West how the standoff finally ended.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CINDI WEST, KING COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE (via telephone): About 9:15, our SWAT team used an explosive to breach the roof of the bunker. That enabled them to get enough of a view where they could see him.
They tell us that they saw a body. They were able to get in there and find this person that appears, we believe it's Keller, it appears as though he's been dead for some time.
KOSIK: What did it look like inside that bunker? What was in there?
WEST: Well, we haven't actually been able to go in and do a really thorough search at this point. We still believe that there's possibly booby traps and maybe explosives, but because his mentality, and we want it to be safe to enter.
So our bomb disposal unit will be slowly taking their time to go in and clear the bunker before we'll be actually going in to do a good search.
KOSIK: Are you aware of any exits built into this bunker?
WEST: From what I understand, he had a main entrance and then an -- appears to be a -- some type of an escape or back door.
KOSIK: Can you, maybe, talk about, maybe, the dimensions of it? How large is this thing? How deep does it run?
WEST: Well, I'm told it's about 20 feet in length and possibly three tiered. Looks like there's a main level a couple other levels that go out into the mountain side. So it's pretty elaborate.
He's been working on it, to our knowledge, since 2004. We have photographs from 2004 to present date showing various stages of construction.
And you know, as you probably know from yesterday, we attempted to breach it many times using tear gas and different items, and had difficulty. So it was fortified heavily.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: And West told me there was a handgun found next to Keller's body, but at this point, she says police don't know what his motives were.
A Florida judge is considering what to do about $200,000 in donations collected by George Zimmerman. Zimmerman is facing a second-degree murder trial for the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
The prosecutors have asked the judge to raise the amount of Zimmerman's bond because of donations made to his web site. The bond was originally set at $150,000. Zimmerman paid $15,000 in cash to get out this week, $5,000 of that came from the web site donations.
The Secret Service now has a new code of conduct coming in the wake of the prostitution scandal in Colombia. The new rules say that agents on assignments in other countries have to act like they are still in the United States.
Also, they're forbidden from having anyone else in their room. They will now have -- also have a list of places they have to stay away from and they aren't allowed to drink alcohol within 10 hours of reporting for duty.
Meantime, sources with knowledge of the Colombia investigation tells CNN that Arthur Huntington is the agent at the center of the scandal. He's the one who had the pay dispute with an escort that brought the whole story to light. Huntington we are told has left the agency.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says there's no question the U.S. is safer with Osama Bin Laden dead. But he insists there's no silver bullet to completely eliminate al Qaeda's threat.
Panetta was CIA director when Bin Laden was killed by U.S. Navy SEALs almost one year ago today. He wasn't with the president and other top officials who nervously watched the raid play out from the White House.
Panetta was at the CIA Operations Center and he says there were several nerve-racking moments before he got word the mission was a success.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEON PANETTA, DEFENSE SECRETARY: They said that they had KIA withdrawn and confirmed that in fact it had happened. So that was the moment when we knew that all of the work that had been done was -- was paying off.
I think the one thing all of us feel pretty good about that we're involved in this operation is that as a result of what we did, America is safer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Republican Senator John McCain is blasting President Obama for a new election ad that questions whether Mitt Romney would have ordered the raid on Bin Laden's compound.
In a written statement issued by the Republican National Committee, McCain said Obama should be ashamed of himself for turning Bin Laden's killing into a, quote, "cheap political attack ad."
McCain says the president is performing a shameless end zone dance to help himself get re-elected.
The presidential race is entering a whole new phase now that Mitt Romney has assumed the role of presumptive Republican nominee. He now goes head-to-head with President Obama a much different computation than he's of faced before. Here's CNN national political correspondent Jim Acosta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hours before Mitt Romney met with college students in Ohio for an event on financial aid --
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As an English major, your options are you better go graduate school, all right?
ACOSTA: Democratic operatives were e-mailing out to reporters this link, recovery.gov web site showing Romney's choice for a campus setting, had received $80,000 in stimulus money for what else, financial aid.
It was another reminder of the difficult task ahead for Romney and taking on an incumbent president with a whip-smart political team.
Though build as official visit, Mr. Obama's campaign-style stops to hammer the Republicans on student loans earlier this week not only got the jump on Romney, but seemed to be getting under the skin of House Speaker John Boehner.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: People want to politicize this, because it's an election year. But, my God, do we have to fight about everything?
ACOSTA: Former White House adviser and CNN political contributor David Gergen says Romney is in for a whole new ball game.
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, listen, he's been playing under the AAA league against some opponents on the Republican side.
Now he's moved up to the major leagues because he's got to learn to hit major league pitching now. It's been surprising how rapidly they've come out and they want to keep him on the defensive and especially on the Bin Laden stuff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One thing George Bush said was right. The president is the decider in chief.
ACOSTA: Consider Bill Clinton's comments on the killing of Osama Bin Laden in the new Obama re-election ad.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: He took the harder and the more honorable path and the one that produced, in my opinion, the best result.
ACOSTA: It was a continuation of the carpet bombing from Vice President Joe Biden.
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We can't say for certain what Governor Romney would have done.
ACOSTA: All of a sudden, it's as if Mr. Obama is turning around Hillary Clinton's old 3:00 a.m. question and aiming it at Romney.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What makes Barack Obama happy? Newt Gingrich's baggage. Newt hat more baggage than the airlines.
ACOSTA: Presumptive GOP nominee and allies at the pro-Romney "Super PAC" aren't dealing with baggage. As the new ad from Karl Rove's "Super PAC" puts it, the Republican mission this year is taking down a celebrity president.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: There was also a sense of frustration in a memo released by Romney campaign manager, Matt Rhodes who compared the president's re- election team to a lawn sprinkler, quote, "spewing out attacks in seemingly random directions hoping to get somebody wet." By the looks of it, the Obama campaign is nowhere near running out of water. Jim Acosta, CNN, Washington.
KOSIK: Many call it the nerd prom, but don't expect to see people with pocket protectors and calculators here at the Annual White House Correspondents' Dinner, strictly a-list, players from Washington and Hollywood.
Comedian Jimmy Kimmel is hosting the event. He says that you can expect to hear some jokes about the scandal that's rocked the Secret Service.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY KIMMEL, COMEDIAN: Obviously, the Secret Service thing is something I'm going to talk about, but not necessarily going to do 30 jokes about it. Probably stop at about 22.
We're in the White House. I've never been in the White House before. Probably will never be asked back either, but it's really very cool, actually.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: And tune into CNN tonight. We're going to have live coverage of the dinner beginning at 9:30 Eastern.
A dark day in U.S. history. The Rodney King riots. Witnesses have a hard time still believing this happened in south L.A.
And we have a conversation with a Brazilian woman who is suing the U.S. embassy claiming that members of its security team threw her from a van and ran over her. Her story in a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: Some new stories from around the globe now.
More than 30 people killed in fighting across Syria. That's according to opposition activists who say 12 of those people died in suburbs around Damascus. Just yesterday, a suicide bomber killed nine people near a mosque in Damascus. Most of them were Syrian military members.
Other news, a Chinese human rights activist who escaped house arrest is reportedly under American protection today. Chen Guangchang was convicted several years ago of leading protests against the Chinese government.
He went missing last weekend. A fellow activist says Chen is now safe at the U.S. embassy in Beijing. No comment from American diplomats or Chinese officials.
A U.S. Marine presence on Okinawa is about to be cut in half. The 9,000 Marines and their families will transfer off the Japanese island, most of them to either Guam or Hawaii. It's a drawdown plan agreed on by both the U.S. and Japanese militaries.
And an active volcano was again throwing ash and rocks into the sky near Mexico City. About 25 million people live in the shadow of the mountain they call "El Popo." No evacuations yet, but emergency authorities are closely monitoring activity in and around the volcano.
A former Brazilian prostitute is suing the U.S. embassy. She claims that members of its security team threw her from a van and ran over her. She and her lawyer sat down with CNN in Brazil to tell their side of the story to our Shasta Darlington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The photos slow a broken collarbone and what appeared to be tire marks across her abdomen. Romilda Aparecida Ferreira uses these pictures to tell her story.
Ferreira says she worked for three years as a call girl and as a stripper at the nightclub, Apples in Brasilia. On December 29th, she and three co-workers left the club with a group of Americans from the U.S. embassy security team. We had drinks, chatted and then each set a price, she says. In Brazil, prostitution is legal. The police report says the men, three Marines and one embassy employee, called for an embassy van and driver to pick them up.
(on camera): But the lengthy police report has contradictory accounts about what happened next. After they left the strip club in the van, Ferreira said she was violently thrown out of the car by one of the Marines after she argued with the Brazilian driver.
Other witnesses say she was rudely forced out. Now, the Marine says she simply stepped out of the car and injured herself trying to get back in.
(voice-over): Everyone agrees the van took off while she was holding on to the door handle. That's when it dragged me and ripped the skin all my leg, she says. I let go and then the back tire drove over me, literally right over me.
According to the police report, the van stopped and then other women got out. Then with the embassy staffers inside, the van drove off leaving Ferreira in the road.
This week in Brasilia, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the men were disciplined.
PANETTA: They are no longer in this country. They were reduced in rank, and they were severely punished for that behavior. I have no tolerance for that kind of conduct. Not here or anyplace in the world.
DARLINGTON: Questions about prostitution made for awkward moments at the U.S. State Department briefing.
VICTORIA NULAND, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESWOMAN: Members of the foreign service are prohibited from engaging in notoriously disgraceful conduct, which includes frequenting prostitutes and engaging in public or promiscuous sexual relations or engaging in sexual active they could open the employee up to the on the of blackmail, coercion or improper influence.
So the degree to which any employee requires investigation, that's the standard that they're held to, and what a subject to be talking about on bringing your kid to work day.
DARLINGTON: Ferreira says she's no longer working as a prostitute. She says she turned down an offer of $2,000 from the embassy for medical expenses, because it wasn't enough for a broken collarbone, three broken ribs and a punctured lung.
Meanwhile, her attorney is preparing a civil suit. It's not a question of money. It's a question of honor and reputation, he says. If money will make them suffer and recognize how much pain they've caused, then let it be money.
Machado says Brazilian prosecutors are considering criminal charges against the Americans including assault. But since the men are no longer in the country, it's not clear whether they would of face trial in Brazil. Shasta Darlington, CNN, Brasilia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: The New Orleans Jazz Festival not only survived Katrina, but it's thriving. We'll take to you meet the creator of one of the country's best parties, just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: A stray pup called "Cactus Jack" has a new home. Take a look at this little guy. He was found last week stuck in a cactus of all places covered in spines. Someone rescued the 8-week-old yorky terrier after hearing him cry.
The Good Samaritan pulled out a bucket full of spines. So many people fell in love the story and wanted to adopt him. The Arizona Humane Society had to hold a lottery to pick his new family. The lucky winner was Sara Messerschmidt. She said she was touched by "Cactus Jack" story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARA MESSERSCHMIDT, NEW OWNER: This story just was heart wrenching, heartbreaking, but the thing that drew my heart to it was the fact that he just kept wagging his tail.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: And his new owner is now debating whether or not to change his name.
A dolphin stuck in shallow water is still stuck. Take a look at Huntington Beach, California. Animal experts are hoping this full- grown common dolphin will eventually find its own way back to open water.
It swam through a whole in a tidal gate yesterday into a narrow channel and couldn't find a way out. It stayed there through the night. We just spoke to a marine biologist on the phone and he told us they're not planning to intervene and just wait and see what happens.
This biologist expects the dolphin will eventually figure out how to get back out through the gate and back into deep water. Jacqui Jeras, I know you've been on phone with somebody about this. I understand high tide will help the dolphin get out of that position.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, that's my understanding. You want a little more depth to that water to help guide him out there and find the even deeper waters eventually and high tide, just about 5:30 Pacific Time.
This is the area we're talking about near Huntington Beach, California. Just to put it in perspective for you. Here's Los Angeles right up here. Here's Long Beach up there and that's where Huntington Beach is. I'll tell you it's tough to follow really cute dogs and dolphins.
KOSIK: Yes, right.
JERAS: All right, let's talk weather wise and what's going on in terms of thunderstorms because this is a going to be a big issue now as we head into late afternoon and early evening hours.
A severe thunderstorm watch was just issued for parts of Missouri and into Central Illinois. This includes the St. Louis metro area. We've got some nasty thunderstorms just off to your west right there. A severe thunderstorm warning for Warren, Montgomery and Lincoln counties.
And I think large hail will be our biggest threat with these storms. We could see two to three inches in diameter with these guys and this kind of right crossing the I-70 corridor. So St. Louis, be aware. This is just off to your west and we'll be watching more active weather and be moving in.
If you have dinner plans, evening plans, lightning, you don't want to stay outside with that. All right, the northeast, most of what we're seeing here is what we call "Virgo." OK, so what you're seeing on the radar is actually not hitting the ground.
It's evaporating before it every reaches the ground, but the chances of rain increasing tonight. So if you have dinner plans in D.C., Baltimore up towards Philadelphia, you want to bring the umbrella with you as we'll see some scattered showers.
But nothing really severe expected there. Man, it's going to be a cold, wet rain. Look at the temperatures in the northeast and by contrast, look at those warm 80s on down to the south. It's really the haves and have knots when it comes to temperatures in the east this weekend.
Tonight, you know, it's a snuggle night. Down into the 20s and low 30s around the freezing mark. So we do have freeze and frost advisories in effect. Lows down there of 32 in Albany, stayng warmer in the big cities, however and that's the story through the weekend, Alison. Front stalled, the same area seeing storms, same areas getting the cold.
KOSIK: All right, winter's not over yet. Thanks, Jacqui.
And as I mentioned earlier, Fredricka Whitfield is on assignment this weekend and what an assignment she has. She's at the New Orleans Jazz Festival, one of the city's institutions, an institution that did not stumble after Katrina.
This is her conversation with Quint Davis, the festival's creator.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
QUINT DAVIS, CREATOR, NEW ORLEANS JAZZ FESTIVAL: I got the best job in New Orleans if not the best job in the world, but I am, you know, three generations, South Louisiana, a small DNA person and to be able to love all of this music and love the culture and the food, and become part of this big amalgamation is just a blessing. It's just fantastic.
WHITFIELD: Even after Katrina, that did not put the brakes on the festival. You come back year after year almost as if nothing has of happened. What's the ingredients? From the people? The musicians?
DAVIS: It wasn't as if nothing happened because we were in a situation here with no sewage, no running water, no electricity, no phones, and every roof was blown off.
And we had -- people were so dedicated to making -- one of the first things that happened. It was against all odds. And I asked the lieutenant governor, now the mayor, what if we can't do this? He said, not having jazz fest is not an option.
WHITFIELD: Not an option. So what is it? There is no hesitation among the big headliners to say I want to be a part of the jazz fest. What is it about the experience, from the musicians' point of view, the fans' point of view? What happens out here that makes people want to come and then come back?
DAVIS: Magic. We look for the perfect vibes. In New Orleans, you know, music's not entertainment. It's a force that drives something in your soul. It's not something to sit back and listen to and it's inside of you.
Now, when people come here from outside, they get that, and you get all of these happy people out here who are great music fans and have great energy for the music.
Well, live music, there's nothing like it, because you're experiencing the creation of art. From the artist, firsthand, and then your exchange with the artist becomes part of the artist.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: And Fredricka Whitfield has more from the New Orleans Jazz Festival on Sunday. She's talking to the soul queen of New Orleans, Irma Thomas and piano player Chuck Lavell who's toured with the "Rolling Stones" and is an avid environmentalist.
Are you up all night? There's more to worry about than those dark circles under your eyes. I'll tell you about a serious health risk from a common sleep disorder.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: Are you tossing and turning at night? A few sleepless nights could signal something much worse is going on. A new study shows people who suffer from sleep apnea, increased risk for a stroke.
Dr. Sujatha Reddy is a physician at Premiere Care for women in Atlanta. Welcome. Tell us more about sleep apnea. DR. SUJATHA REDDY, PREMIER CARE FOR WOMEN: Yes. The sleep apnea is a very interesting condition, it's very common. Where I see it in my practice, women come in, waking up at night, I'm not sleeping well.
The first things I ask them is does your husband snore? Because that's a common symptom of sleep apnea and it's usually the spouse that's going to let us know what's going on with sleep apnea.
So some other symptoms of sleep apnea are going to be loud snoring, almost people had like a choking or gurgling sound. Often they'll wake themselves up because their brain literally senses they're not getting enough oxygen and they have to wake up and wake up feeling tired, possibly have a headache.
What actually is happening in obstructive sleep apnea is the tissue in the back of our throat when we go to sleep kind of relaxes, falls backwards blocking the airwaves when you try inhale no oxygen gets through.
Your brain senses that and literally will wake you up. You never get a deep sleep, but makes it will make you take a breath.
KOSIK: Well, how does sleep apnea increase the risk of having a stroke, which is very disturbing?
REDDY: It is disturbing. We've known that for a while. This research out of Bailer College of Medicine kind of gave us the reasons why. Sleep apnea can increase risk for heart disease, stroke, obesity and even diabetes.
But in the animal model that they discovered, they showed that the actual sleep apnea, not enough oxygen makes blood vessels in the brain and in this case, it wasn't nice, not work properly and not enough blood is getting to the brain thereby probably the reason for increasing your risk of stroke.
KOSIK: So what's the treatment for sleep apnea then?
REDDY: So some of the treatments are actually very simple. You know, there are things like losing weight because being overweight is a risk factor. Quitting smoking. Smoking is a risk factor.
A lot of people know this. If you just roll your partner on their side, sometimes they'll stop snoring because the tissues come off the back of their throat. Those tissues move away and they get enough oxygen.
This is exciting for me. I'm a robotics surgeon. They're using the Da Vinci robot that we've used in the abdomen to do sleep apnea surgery. So surgeries actually come a long way for sleep apnea.
The main thing, get diagnosed. Make sure if you have a partner or feel it's a problem get tested. Once you do, there's a breathing machine you can try called a CPAP machine. There are treatments and that may protect you from stroke and heart disease.
KOSIK: How do you know if it's just snoring verse something more serious like sleep apnea? I mean, some people just snore?
REDDY: You are correct. Likely loud snoring, really significant snoring, also a choking and gurgling sound that's more significant. But the best way is to get tested. Have a sleep study.
KOSIK: OK, Dr. Reddy, thanks so much.
REDDY: Thank you.
KOSIK: The Rodney King riots, 20 years ago tomorrow. The memories still haunts those who were there. Coming up, CNN photographers and producers remember the day South L.A. burned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: Top stories this hour.
Dozens of people killed today in fighting across Syria. Opposition activists say at least 31 people died, many of them in Damascus where street fighting is rare. A suicide bomber killed nine people near a Damascus mosque yesterday.
A police standoff near Seattle is over. Investigators say they found a body inside an underground bunker and believe the body is that of this man, Peter Keller, and that he been dead for some time. He's suspected of killing his wife and daughter.
And an outfielder for the Detroit Tigers is charged with a hate crime after reportedly getting into a fight with a man outside a New York hotel.
CNN's affiliate WABC says Delman Young say accused of yelling anti- Semitic remarks during the altercation. Young released a statement apologizing to the Tigers and his fans.
This weekend, we mark a dark chapter in U.S. race relations. Twenty years ago tomorrow, much of South Los Angeles erupted into fire, violence and mayhem after four white police officer were acquitted in the Rodney King videotaped beating.
Here's an account of the day from CNN photographers and producers who were there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We, the jury in the above entitled action find the defendant not guilty of the crime of officer unnecessarily assaulting or beating any person.
CHUCK CONDER, CNN PRODUCER: I think most of this us in the news media thought there was going to about guilty verdict and certainly did not occur to me widespread violence.
GREGG CANES, CNN PHOTOJOURNALIST: That first night was fury. It was a community rising up and going -- we're pissed, and you're not going to get away with it. No justice, no peace. CONDER: I can sort of understand the rage and anger that caused that to explode, but what I couldn't understand was how it kept going day after day after day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fires on every side.
DAMIR LORETIC, CNN PHOTOJOURNALIST: As you're driving through south central, it was -- it was unreal. It was surreal.
DAVE RUST, CNN PHOTOJOURNALIST: In a war zone you're more prepared. You go over, you have the gear you need, bullet-proof vests and you're prepared. This happened so quickly.
CANES: As unprepared as we were, it seems that the LAPD was even more unprepared.
RUST: The first thing we encountered people lining the streets all over the area bouncing Coke cans off the car. Anything they could get their hands on.
LORETIC: Then you would hear gunshots and there was one video that -- that they just entered my mind. It was an auto shop, and you just hear this barrage of gunfire.
TOM LARSON, CNN PHOTOJOURNALIST: The crowd was really hot and really angry. The Los Angeles Police Department had come out in full riot gear, and set up a line, and somebody got an American flag and instantly the crowd, everybody grabbed a piece of that American flag and started tugging on it.
As they tipped over the kiosk and threw a piece of burning flag, I think, into it, one of the people in the crowd happened to be wearing a t-shirt with a huge peace sign on it and he threw his arms up in victory as the kiosk was knocked over.
RUST: We headed off it -- through out of four corners of the intersection were on fire. I put my tripod up in the middle of the street and started shooting images of the burning buildings all around. While I did that one little kid started doing figure-eights on a bicycle in front of the flames like nothing was happening around him.
CONDER: We shot the firemen a little bit. When he looked around for the kid he was gone. I've always wondered who was that kid. What was his story? Where is he now?
TRACI TAMURA, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Kind of a standoff, if you will. This electronics store, and the owners and I think some of his friends were trying to stave off all of the looters. We hear this pop, pop, pop. And I mean, at first you're not quite sure.
Then I'm thinking -- this is gunshots. We dropped down behind the cement wall in the parking lot, and my heart was racing. It was terrifying.
CANES: It was a liquor store was being looted, and I'm leaning out the van window, and I'm shooting, and the one guy sees us. And he says to me -- he does this -- because the window is open, the cameras out and the I'm like, God, I know what's coming, and I roll up the window and all freaking hell breaks loose.
LORETIC: I interviewed a police officer who had his shield on and said it was just like remembering Vietnam and there were tears in his eyes. I still remember the image of just the smoke-filled sky. You know, with the palm trees in the foreground.
LARSON: Yes. It just made me feel like there was something really seriously changing.
CONDER: For so many people, that was just an enormous tragedy. So many shop owners and store owners lost everything. You know, their place was burned down. Their merchandise was looted. Some people were killed. I mean, it was not a good situation.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: Pretty dramatic testimony in the John Edwards corruption trial. Edwards' former aide, Andrew Young, says he feared for his life. Our legal guys weigh in on this case later.
And if you're an iPhone user, let me ask you this, have you gotten really frustrated with the voice activated assistant, Siri? Up next, we got some tips to get the most out of the new iPhone feature.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: Apple shares shot up more than 9 percent this week and sales of the iPhone, yes, they've got a lot to do with that. Apple announced it sold 35 million new iPhones in the last quarter.
And one of the features a lot of people have been talking about is the voice-activated virtual assistant called "Siri." Our technology expert, Marc Saltzman, he wrote the book, the new book, "Siri for Dummies" that came out this week to help people master it.
He joins us now live via Skype from Toronto with some tips for Siri. Hi, Marc.
MARC SALTZMAN, SYNDICATED TECHNOLOGY WRITER: Hi, Alison. Good afternoon.
KOSIK: Good afternoon to you. Let's go ahead and start with the smart way, Siri can help, you know, remind us what we might forget.
SALTZMAN: Sure. So a lot of iPhone 4S users probably know that you can easily set a reminder using Siri. You just hold down the home button and say, you know, remind me to pick up the kids from school add 10:00 a.m.
And sure enough, tomorrow at 10:00 a.m., you'll see a reminder that says pick up the kids from school. But you might not know you can not only asset reminder by time, but by location. You can say something like this -- remind me to call mom when I leave here. And so when you leave the area that you're in, Siri will say, don't forget to call mom. So it knows that you're leaving this little area that you're in because your iPhone is -- it says here, which phone number do you want to call mom?
So it knows its location aware. So you can even say, remind me to call mom when I get home. And because it knows where home is because of your address book, you will not get reminded until you pull into your driveway. That's how smart Siri is.
KOSIK: OK, so most -- pretty much everybody uses Siri to find local businesses, but go ahead and give us a refresher course. You know, give us an example.
SALTZMAN: Sure, so if you're running out of gas, for example, you can simply press the home button and say ask Siri, find me a gas station. Without, you know, specifying what city you're in, she, in North America, Siri's voice is a female. She will find you a nearby gas station based on your location.
But you can also, if you're traveling somewhere, also you can say, find me a new a good Japanese restaurant in Miami. What Siri will do is pull up restaurants in the Miami area, and show them based on ratings so here.
So you get the idea. So you can do that for multiple cities. So it's a really, really great trick.
KOSIK: All right, so Siri can also dictate our e-mails and our text messages, but I mean, really, how accurate is it?
SALTZMAN: It's very accurate. So, Siri -- Apple licenses the technology from Nuance, which is the -- these are the dragon naturally speaking folks.
But what a lot of people you don't know is when you're dictating an e- mail, you can specify the person you want to send it to, the subject line and the body of the e-mail all in one fell swoop.
For example, e-mail my wife about the party and say, don't forget to pick up a bottle of wine. Thanks. So it's going to know that my wife is Kelly. It's going to put in the subject line, party and then in the body of it.
So, here -- it shows you what it says. Don't forget to pick up the bottle of wine for this evening. So very smart you can do that in one voicemail, if you will.
KOSIK: OK, so even though Siri wasn't designed to work with Facebook or Twitter, you found a way to do it. Didn't you?
SALTZMAN: This is one of my favorite tricks. So all you need to do is set up the text messaging option for Facebook and Twitter, both offer it.
So if you want to tweet a message or update your status on Facebook, you can do that by simply texting for Facebook. You text the word hello to 32665.
For Twitter, you text the word "start," to 40404 and if you're in Canada, it's 2112. Once you do that, you simply add that to your address book, call it Facebook, call it Twitter then you can press the home button and tell Siri to tweet something on your mind without you having to type it out manually.
KOSIK: I like that because I like to tweet. OK, I've got one final question. I know that you can still have fun with Siri. Give me a few examples?
SALTZMAN: So a lot of our viewers are probably aware that you can ask Siri to give you, tell you the meaning of life. You can flirt with Siri. You can ask her --
KOSIK: Flirt? Flirt with her? Let's see what happens.
SALTZMAN: This is a funny one. You can say, Hi, Siri. Guess what? And she'll have a number of different answers for you. Right now in she's going to say -- what's she's going to say here.
OK. She just said hi. She could say -- you've won the lottery, or she could say, you must have just got a new iPhone. Let me guess, you just became the president of the United States. Ask Siri, guess what? You're going to get a different answer every time.
KOSIK: Interesting, well, you know what? Maybe you'll convince me enough to actually get an iPhone. I'm still stuck with my Blackberry. Marc Saltzman, thanks so much for your time.
SALTZMAN: Thanks, Alison.
KOSIK: And for more high-tech ideas and reviews, just go to cnn.com/tech and look for gaming and gadgets tab or follow Marc Saltzman on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
A brave woman puts her life on the line. We'll take you to Haiti and introduce to you a CNN hero and her mission.
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KOSIK: "CNN Heroes" is a chance for us to bring you incredible stories of people overcoming hardships to help others. This week, we're introducing you to a woman who's facing death threats because she's trying to stop the violent rapes of women, children, even babies.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two years after the earthquake the situation is still the same. The people are still under the tents. They don't have electricity. There is no security where they sleep. They are getting raped.
In Haiti, things are very difficult. Before the earthquake, there were rapes happening. Now, I can say it is total disorder. Adults are not spared. Mothers are not spared, even babies are not spared. My name is Malia Vila Apalap. I am a victim of sexual violence.
I am on a mission to eradicate this issue so that other Haitian women do not fall victim. We do awareness in the camps. We were working in 22 camps after the earthquake. Now we are trying to work in others.
We tell people to come out of silence. Do not be afraid to say that you have been victimized. We offer psychological and legal support. We have a call center. We accompany the victim to the hospital.
And we have a safe house program. For me, the first thing is justice that I want. I was a victim, and I did not find justice. But I know I will get it for other women that are victims. We have to fight so we can say what was said in the past, this is a great nation. There will be a change.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: And remember, all "CNN Heroes" are picked from your suggestions. Send your ideas to cnnheroes.com and nominate your hero.
Just ahead on the CNN political ticker, John McCain and Sarah Palin might have shared a presidential ticket once, but now they're finding themselves on opposite sides of a political fight.
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KOSIK: Hot off the political ticker, President Obama is promoting his new plan to protect military vets against schools that use misleading recruiting practices.
In his weekly address, the president said some for-profit colleges take advantage of this by pressuring them to enrol. He says his new plan provide vets with information about their educational options and how to pay for them.
The Republicans focus their weekly address on the federal budget. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan criticized President Obama and Democrats in the Senate for not passing a budget in several years.
And Senator John McCain and former Governor Sarah Palin shared the Republican presidential ticket in 2008, but today, they're divided on Indiana's Republican Senate race. McCain is backing incumbent Senator Richard Lugar and Palin is supporting State Treasurer, Richard Murdoch.
John Edwards' former aide said he was scared for his life. Our legal guys weigh on the dramatic testimony in the John Edwards corruption trial coming up next.
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KOSIK: Some really compelling testimony in the John Edwards corruption trial from the prosecution's star witness, Edwards' former aide, Andrew Young.
Young testified he felt threatened by Edwards and feared for his life. So let's go ahead and bring in our legal guys to weigh in on this. Avery Friedman, a civil rights attorney and law professor is in Washington, and Richard Herman, a New York criminal defense attorney and law professor joins us from Miami.
What do you think of this latest revelation about being up against a billionaire and millionaires and he felt threatened?
AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Well, I think the truth is that Abbey Lowell, who has been representing John Edwards, handled it perfectly.
We're looking at Andy Young, Andy Young as a person, who is cold hearted, he is untruthful. Believe it or not, I think at this juncture, you have a guy more unlikable than John Edwards himself.
So I think the prosecution's key witness right now is trying to make a point, but I don't think the jury likes him. I think the prosecution is going to have a very, very difficult time making his case, proving campaign violations.
I think this is simply a personal matter of John Edwards trying to hide what was going on from a much smarter wife, Elizabeth Edwards.
KOSIK: Richard, does that mean the prosecution's star witness is fizzling out fast and there goes the case?
RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I really don't think so. As we say in New York, with all due respect, Avery, you know, when the government stands up in their summation and says, listen, Andrew Young, this was the man, John Edwards went to bed with.
This was man he wanted as his right hand person in his campaign. This is the man who would tell you the truth about John Edwards, and the issue of whether this was used to influence the election or used to cover up the affair and the pregnancy, doesn't covering up the affair and pregnancy, wouldn't that have an impact on the election had it been disclosed?
I think John Edwards is in big trouble. I think that this witness made his point, and I think that the prosecution is still standing very strong in a case against a man who cheated on his wife with a mistress while his wife was dying of cancer, and tried to withhold it from her and the public.
FRIEDMAN: That's personal. Richard, that's personal. That has nothing to do with campaign financing.
HERMAN: It has everything to do with a vote by a jury.
KOSIK: Avery, let me jump in here, Avery, and ask you this, do you think that Edwards is doing to take the stand. I think everyone wants to hear from him. Do you feel confident that he's going to take the stand? HERMAN: Not, Alison, in a million years. He has way too much -- Richard is going to agree with me. There's not a chance you're going to see John Edwards on the stand. He's going to have some other very strong supporting witnesses.
I think it gets down to the question of whether or not the jury says he was trying to hide this from a much smarter wife, Elizabeth. This has nothing to do with campaign finance. This is an untested theory. I think the prosecution at this point is going to have problems.
KOSIK: And you can catch our legal guys every Saturday at noon Eastern.
