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Walker's Win And What It Means; Pakistanis Reject Vaccines; Risking A Church; Tire Runs Away In Florida; Europe Rallies To Save Eurozone; Minister Pays Price for Supporting Gay Marriage; Fight Over Morning After Pill; NASDAQ to Pay Out for Facebook Debacle; Sheryl Crow Announces She Has Brain Tumor
Aired June 06, 2012 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Suzanne Malveaux. I want to get right to it. Two things we are watching in Afghanistan right now. One is a U.S. Army helicopter that went down today killing both crew members on board. Military officials believe it was shot down from the ground. More details when we get them.
Also today, two separate suicide bombers hit a crowded market in Kandahar. At least 22 people were killed. It happened near a NATO airfield.
And back in the U.S., jury selection has resumed in the child rape trial of Jerry Sandusky. Now, you may recall, he's a former Penn State assistant football coach accused of sexually abusing 10 boys for more than a decade. Nine jurors have already been chosen. Attorneys are asking them about their ties to Penn State and the charity for underprivileged children that Sandusky founded.
Republican Scott Walker keeping his job as governor of Wisconsin.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The only governor elected twice in one term!
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MALVEAUX: Walker defeated Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett in a recall race that, of course, has implications for the presidential election. What does it mean in November? Of course, it depends on who you ask. Dana Bash joins us live from Milwaukee. And Dana, I know you have been talking to a lot of folks, Republicans saying this is a preview of things to come. How is this playing out where you are?
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, let's look at the numbers, because they really do tell an interesting and maybe perplexing story about what this could mean for November. First of all, how Scott Walker really did here. Obviously he won. He won by 53 percent of the vote according to our exit polls. But look at the numbers, the same polls, of what voters here in Wisconsin think of the presidential race. In that, President Obama is pretty far ahead of Mitt Romney, 51 percent to 44 percent. So why the discrepancy? I think first answer to that question is this is historically a purple state, Wisconsin. But in the presidential races, it has gone Democratic, as you and I were talking about yesterday, since Ronald Reagan, since 1984. Statewide had has been trending more Republican and this could tell that story. I -- we actually were talking to some voters this morning at a local diner, and the answer is that people really are ticket splitters. They are independent voters. We talked to one man, for example, who said he voted for Barrett, and he plans to vote for Mitt Romney. That's the answer. The question is how the parties will seize on this and try to change the narrative.
MALVEAUX: And Dana, in talking to folks, how do they bridge this divide? How do the people there get over this tremendous split and also really this fascinating and very unique but emotional crisis, experience that they had from this whole recall vote?
BASH: It is not going to be easy. Emotions are so raw. It's really an understatement. The divide is really palpable here in Wisconsin. But looking ahead to November, Suzanne, on the Republican side, you have a national chairman who happens to have already just been -- he's from Wisconsin and just been the state chair here, so they are very much hoping that the resources that they put in here, the infrastructure, is going to matter in November. In fact, I talked to the RNC chair last night at walker headquarters. Listen to what he said.
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BASH: What parts of this race do you think is a true test for what happens in November?
REINCE PRIEBUS, CHAIR, RNC: First of all, I think the ground game is a good test, and I think messaging is a good test. This messaging is the same as November. I mean, it -- should we limit the government spending to what we can afford? Yes or no? And that's what Scott Walker did and he led on that issue. That's the same thing Barack Obama is going to have to answer to in November. That's why it's important.
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BASH: So, that -- you heard, that is very much their message on the Republican side here in Wisconsin and across the country. You know, the open question is whether or not that is going to continue to play when emotions or maybe if emotions do die down here over the very, very divisive governor, and that is Scott Walker.
MALVEAUX: All right. Dana, everybody is going to be watching what happens in Wisconsin. Obviously purple, as you said, a very good description for Wisconsin. Thanks again.
Vaccinations, a normal part of growing up for most kids in the U.S., but in Pakistan thousands of children are rejecting free polio vaccines. Their parents fear that health workers are CI -- CIA spies, rather, and as Reza say -- explains concerns can be traced to the raid on Osama Bin Laden.
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REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is 17-month-old Ekra (ph), and she'll probably never be able to walk on her own. Doctors say she'll probably spend the rest of her life paralyzed, a victim of polio.
When the other kids play, she cries because she wants to play with them. But she can't even move, Ekra's mother says. And here is what make this is tragedy worse. Doctors say she could have lived a normal healthy life if someone would have given her a polio vaccine that costs less than $1 soon after she was born.
One of the worst black marks on Pakistan is that it's still one of three countries that has yet to eradicate polio, a virus that attacks the nerves and leaves you paralyzed. The other two countries, Afghanistan and Nigeria. Last year, the U.N. reported 198 polio cases in Pakistan. 30 percent of the world's cases were here. This week aid groups and local health officials making another push to reduce the numbers, going door to door offering free vaccines.
In recent years they made progress, they say, vaccinating millions but then came the raid on the Bin Laden compound and reports that Pakistani doctor, Tequila Fredy (ph), was part of a CIA fake free vaccination campaign. The plan was to get into Bin Laden's compound, make sure he was there. The scheme didn't work. The doctor went to jail accused of spying for the U.S. The media chasing after any story linked to Osama Bin Laden reported on the doctor's alleged links with the CIA.
But here is what didn't make many headlines. Health officials here say all those Bin Laden reports hurt the polio campaign. Many Pakistanis here deeply conservative, already suspicious of strangers coming into their homes, now thought the vaccination campaign was part of some sort of foreign spy plot.
Alum Zeb (ph), a father of two says he rejected free polio drops for his children. The U.S. pays for these campaigns to destroy Muslims and make them slaves, he told us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That incident of doctor Tequila Freedy, it affect our polio program, not only our polio program, but the rest of the health-related activity.
SAYAH: Health officials here say thousands of Pakistani families have yet to vaccinate their children without good reason. But with help of local religious leaders and aggressive awareness campaigns, they're making progress, they say, convincing more families the free vaccine can save them a lifetime of hardship and pain. Children like Ekra and her family endure every day. We're trying our best, her mother says. We've left her in god's hands. Reza Sayah, CNN, Naushera, Pakistan.
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MALVEAUX (voice-over): Here is what we're working on for this hour.
No garbage pickup or mail delivery. Is that where Greece is headed? The country is running out of money and time.
Plus --
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This little light of mine.
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MALVEAUX: The music is strong but the pews are empty. A minister's support for same-sex marriage cost him his congregation. Now, he's only got a few days to raise enough money to keep the church doors open.
Then, a bump in the road. That's how Sheryl Crow describes the stunning announcement that she has a brain tumor.
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MALVEAUX: To a story that has many twists and turns. Earlier this week, a tire flew off an 18-wheeler in Florida, became a remarkable journey here. Luckily, nobody was seriously hurt but CNN's Jeanne Moos only to be aware when the rubber hits more than the road.
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We another tire of watching runaway tires whether it be a bus tire on the loose or a car tire that almost takes out a guy preoccupied with his phone who belatedly runs for his life after the tire shattered a window and bounced around a computer repair shop. But this truck driver's lost tire --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, they blow, you know?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. Oh, it blew?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
MOOS: Puts the freak in freak accident. William Harvey lost his tire on Interstate 75 in Ocala, Florida. The tire went off the overpass onto another highway below smashing this car. The driver was badly shaken up but escaped major injuries. Meanwhile, the escaped tire kept rolling to the nearby Ramada Inn where it barged in a partially open door to a conference room where Bob Hurst was just heading for the refreshment table for some cookies.
BOB HURST: All after sudden, one of the members said, look out. Right at that point, something large and black came right by my side, scratched against my leg and messed up my pants.
MOOS: The refreshments were pretty much obliterated. In the immortal words of tire review, runaway truck tire checks into hotel conference room.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (via telephone): Good morning. Thank you for calling Ramada Inn.
MOOS (on camera): Hi, could I make a reservation for a runaway truck tire?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, one moment.
MOOS (voice-over): It was a steamy stay for this truck tire.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The tire flipped over and was smoking like crazy.
MOOS: But if you want to know what a smoking hot tire looks like, check out this one that came bouncing into a car leadership and crashed into a parked car. This woman has an appliance store in Las Vegas, had a close encounter with a tire gone wild.
(on camera): Now, imagine you're trying to change a tire when a runaway tire comes whizzing by. That's what happened on this bridge in Baytown, Texas as a motorist changed a flat. A 20 pound wheel almost took out the officer. It scuffed his gun, ripped his holster, but the sergeant was unharmed. It's as if tires are out to get us. The serial killer tire in the cult comedy, rubber.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what our killer looks like.
MOOS (voice-over): It kills people with its psychic powers, so tread carefully.
(on camera): Help.
(voice-over): Jeanne Moos, CNN.
(on camera): Some retread.
(voice-over): New York.
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MALVEAUX: All right. We talk a lot about the debt crisis in Europe on this program. Financial troubles, of course, impacting us here as well in the United States. Greece really a mess right now economically. It's unclear whether or not it's even going to be the first country ever to leave the Eurozone. People are pulling out their Euros out of the banks by the billions in Greece and Spain. They are looking for some place safer to park what is left of their life savings.
I want to bring in Richard Quest from London to talk a little bit about this. Richard, we'll talk about Greece later but tell us about what's happening in Spain. A major bank in Spain asking for a bailout?
RICHARD QUEST, HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": Yes. The major bank in Spain, (INAUDIBLE), we know this for some time, they have asked for 19 billion Euros in all. Substantially, what has happened to these Spanish banks is not so unfamiliar to those of you in California and southern Florida and large parts of the U.S. that have been affected by dramatically reduced housing prices and apartment prices. It's just the same in Spain where there was an orgy of overbuilding. And now, of course, people can't pay. There are foreclosures. In many cases, not just foreclosures, these properties are just empty, vast amounts. But what it means for the banks is they're having to write off all their debts and all this property they've got on. That has created huge capital holes in their balance sheets, and they need money.
MALVEAUX: Right.
QUEST: Now, this is not -- sorry, this is not Greece. They can get the money. The -- there are ways they can fill the holes. The question is hold your nose, jump in at the deep end, at what point are you going to ask?
MALVEAUX: Yes, and everybody's holding their nose these days, Richard. Tell us a little bit about this new banking union that the EU is planning, that this large union, could it possibly rescue what we are talking about, the entire Eurozone?
QUEST: Imagine if the United States didn't have the FDIC or it didn't have the Treasury, it didn't have the central banking regulation of the Fed. And even though you've got state banking regulators, the Feds couldn't step in and do something if they need to. That's the situation in Europe, in the Eurozone. And what everybody is now saying is, hang on, we need a central core authority that can tap them on the shoulder and say, the game's up, close down, or hand over your assets or sell yourself. Think about what happened in 2008 and '09 the way the Treasury and the Fed did gunshot marriages of many of the investment banks in the U.S. That's what's need in Europe. The commission and the council has put forward proposals. Expect there to be a fight as national regulators say they can still do the job.
MALVEAUX: That's a big fight, Richard, and I know that there's some talk now, and you tell us if this is exaggerated or not, but there is talk now, when you talk about Greece, the possibility that garbage is not going to be collected, the mail is not going to be delivered, people are not going to get their social services if they go down this economic path that they are down now. Is that true?
QUEST: If there are two -- it's a classic dilemma. Two equally unappealing options. Continue the austerity and hope that the economy turns around and things get better on a more competitive economy. That's the route they're taking at the moment. Or go the other way, the very risky way, go for broke. Leave the Eurozone, see a collapse of the economy, have a devaluation, take the pain on the chin, and see what happens then.
Now, those, we are here at the moment. They're already well and truly down the austerity path. But on the election on June the 17th, this one will once again come into focus. If Greece does decide to go it alone, does decide to rip up the agreements, they can expect limited, if any, help from their European partners. And that's when the real crisis happens.
MALVEAUX: Just weeks away, June 17th, right?
QUEST: June the 17th. I will be in Athens for that second run of the election. They already had one (INAUDIBLE) for the election. You and I, no doubt, will talk then.
MALVEAUX: Absolutely. And we'll talk with you before then, too. All right, Richard, thank you, as always.
QUEST: Very welcome. Thank you.
MALVEAUX: She scored a big interview with Syria's president and then Barbara Walter tried to get a job for the president's aide. The controversy around her decision.
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MALVEAUX: A minister in Minneapolis has paid a heavy price for supporting gay marriage. He voted in favor of same-sex marriage seven years ago. Today, he has lost nearly his entire congregation. David Mattingly has his story.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): This little light of mine.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Grace Community United Church of Christ in St. Paul, Minnesota, has seen better days. The empty pews, signs of a congregation shattered by a single issue.
REV. OLIVER WHITE, GRACE COMMUNITY CHURCH OF CHRIST: Categorically they said, I cannot be a part of a church that accepts same-sex marriage.
MATTINGLY: Reverend Oliver White voted in favor of accepting same-sex marriage at the 2005 national meeting of the United Church of Christ. The vote was historic. The fallout, immediate. White lost two-thirds of his predominantly African-American congregation.
WHITE: They thought I was a heretic. That I was not leading them to Christ.
MATTINGLY (on camera): What have you learned about attitudes out there that you didn't know before?
WHITE: That we are more fundamentally religious than I ever dreamed.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Seven years later, White's congregation still has not come back. I was invited to watch what could be the last service before the church closes its doors for good. What I saw was a far cry from the days when the seats were full.
MATTINGLY (on camera): When services started just a few minutes ago, there were only about 20 people in the pews. A few people have come in since then. But more than half of the people attending today are visitors.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): The church is now in financial ruin. The few members that still remain say they couldn't overcome a stigma.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is hush-hush. You don't talk about it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you're gay, you're wrong. And it is very much -- very prevalent in the black church that you do not talk about it.
WHITE: I would not have just kept it to myself as to make sure that I don't rock the boat, no. I can't do that. I won't do that. It's not me.
MATTINGLY (on camera): Do you pray about this a lot?
WHITE: Every day.
MATTINGLY: What do you pray for right now?
WHITE: $200,000.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): $200,000. That's what White says will keep his church afloat. But he has just a few days left to raise it.
WHITE: $2.
MATTINGLY (on camera): $2.
WHITE: Yes.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Little miracles arrive in the mail every day. Donations, along with words of encouragement, and at times temptation.
MATTINGLY (on camera): This man was going to pay all your bills?
WHITE: Yes.
MATTINGLY: All your worries would be gone?
WHITE: All my worries would be gone.
MATTINGLY: All you had to do was what?
WHITE: Renounce. Renounce what I have been saying and come back to God, as he said.
MATTINGLY: Did you think about it?
WHITE: Well, maybe for one-tenth of a second.
MATTINGLY: (voice-over): Better to be a heretic in the eyes of many of his fellow Christians than, he says, to preach what he believes is a lie.
David Mattingly, CNN, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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MALVEAUX: A new CNN poll shows that Americans have significantly changed their attitudes about the gay community. Sixty percent of Americans polled now say they have a close friend or family member who's gay. Back in 2010, only 49 percent of Americans said that. And in the '90s, most Americans said they did not know anyone close to them who was gay.
These pink pills, they're at the center of a new battle between anti- abortion and abortion rights activists. The so-called morning after pills, also called plan "b," used to prevent pregnancy after sex, comes with a printed label describing how they work. Well, the labels say that the pills may work by blocking fertilized eggs from implanting in a woman's uterus. Well, based on that definition, anti- abortion advocates want them banned from coverage in the president's health care plan. Now an investigation by "The New York Times" has found that those labels don't reflect what the current science shows. "New York Times" reporter Pam Belluck joins us now.
And, Pam, first of all, explain to us what this discovery is about. How do these pills actually work if you look at the science?
PAM BELLUCK, REPORTER, "NEW YORK TIMES": Right. Well, what the science is showing is that what these pills do is they block or delay ovulation. So that's the release of the egg from the ovary that occurs before a fertilized egg is -- before an egg is joined with the sperm to form a fertilized egg. So what that means is that, according to the evidence out there and to the scientific studies that have been done, there's no evidence that these pills work after that point. And so there's no evidence that they work to block that fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus. And that is the issue that anti-apportion advocates are concerned about.
MALVEAUX: And so the bottom line is these labels are wrong then, is that right? Do we understand that?
BELLUCK: Yes, they don't reflect what the current science shows. And, in fact, they don't really reflect what the science showed at the time when the labels were created. There really was never any evidence that indicated that these pills might block implantation.
MALVEAUX: In light of that fact then, the debate obviously between life begins, anti-abortion activists saying that it begins at conception, the science now saying that this is something that it doesn't necessarily happen. I mean, do you think folks will feel differently about "plan b"?
BELLUCK: It's really hard to say. Obviously this is a political debate that has other dimensions beyond this. The anti-abortion advocates that I spoke with for the story said that some of them said they would be relieved if, in fact, this was the case, but they weren't really persuaded that the science shows what most of the leading scientists say it does show. So I think, you know, there's still some skepticism on the part of anti-abortion advocates and we'll have to see. One thing that might really help move the debate is if the FDA does decide to change the labels, because what is on the FDA label really drives a lot of the other information that's out there. It drives what's on, for example, the Mayo Clinic website or the NIH medical website. And so the fact that these things are sort of stated out there, that is something that anti-abortion advocates point to and say, well, look, it says it right there on the label.
MALVEAUX: All right. And give us the big picture here in light of this. Obviously there's debate over the "plan b," those pills there. Is this really significant for them, for the anti-abortion group? Do they feel like this is very important or is this just a part of it?
BELLUCK: I think it's an important part of it. I think that this is one factor in the abortion debate. These are pills that have been -- they're increasingly used. Something like 12 million women used them in the last year I believe. So there are a lot of people affected. And it also -- it's not only the actual issue of the pills, but, as you mentioned, it relates to these other political issues out there. So the Obama health care law, for example, would provide coverage for all forms of contraception, including emergency contraception. And if these pills are -- you know, can affect --
MALVEAUX: Right.
BELLUCK: Implantation and therefore, you know, violate what anti- abortion advocates consider to be, you know, essentially causing abortion, then that's an important issue.
MALVEAUX: All right. Pam, thank you so much. We appreciate your reporting.
All right, if you enjoy eating the McRib sandwich from McDonald's, not it's even easier to swallow. The company is getting rid of those tiny cages for animals.
Don't forget, You can watch CNN live on your computer while you're at work. Head to cnn.com/tv.
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MALVEAUX: McDonald's is now rethinking how it gets the pork for its McRib and other items in their sandwiches. The fast-food giant not the only one making this move.
"Eatocracy" editor, Kat Kinsman, is joining us.
Kat, talk about this. First, what kind of changes are we talking about? This is gestation cages?
KAT KINSMAN, CNN EATOCRACY EDITOR: Sure. Since February you've probably heard the word gestation crate or gestational crate pop up in the news a whole lot. What it means is that McDonald's and Burger King and various supermarket chains are phasing out the use -- they're working with producers who are phasing out the use of these crates, which are seen by people on the pork board as being a scientifically sound method of animal husbandry and animal rising, but people on the animal rights front find to be cruel in their usage.
MALVEAUX: Tell us about that. What is the difference here?
KINSMAN: So I got the chance to speak with animal scientist, Temple Grandon, last night, and she compared the experience for a sow -- there are 5.9 million breeding sows across the U.S., and 60 percent to 70 percent of them are kept in these crates, which are two feet wide and seven feet long. She was saying the experience is like being in a first-class airline seat where you can maybe flop over on your side and food is brought to you, but you can't turn around or have any sort of quality of life. That's really sort of a disturbing thing to think about. Again, while the pork industry is standing by their checklist of animal welfare points, I mean, you really have to consider the well-being of an animal. Would you really enjoy being in a place you couldn't turn around at all.
MALVEAUX: McDonald's is not the only company doing this, right?
KINSMAN: Far from it. And it's actually a really seismic step for the industry. This is going to cost pork producers a certain amount of money as they change over, but sort of corporate responsibility policies for companies like Burger King, Safeway, Kroger, Wendy's -- they're working really closely with the pig producers because the public stepped up and said, we really actually care about how our pork is raised. And the producers are really going to have to step in line.
MALVEAUX: Do we know, Kat, if they're going to pass on that expense to the consumers, to folks who are actually buying these McRib sandwiches and other kind of things?
KINSMAN: I haven't been able to get a straight answer on that. It's definitely going to cost money. Who is going to shoulder that, whether it's going to be the producers, whether it's going to be the consumers, it's not clear. But any time I have done polling, people would be willing to pay a certain amount more if it meant better food for themselves and knowing they weren't doing this to another living creature.
MALVEAUX: Do we know, Kate, first of all, is this the same as free range in terms of how they're raised?
KINSMAN: This is the opposite of free range. In free range, which is a nebulous term -- it just means they're not caged and able to have some sort of access to an outside area, these animals are kept very deliberately in this tiny -- except when they're in a farrowing pen. They spend all of their productive lives giving birth to piglets and being kept in one of these crates. So, you know, they might give birth to four or five different litters and they have -- you know, I guess the key is three months, three weeks, three days to gestate a pig. From the time they're in a breeding age, they're in a pen this size for most of their lives until they're brought to the sausage factory. MALVEAUX: Finally, Kat, when does this happen? Does this happen right away?
KINSMAN: It's being phased out over the course of probably the next 10 to 20 years. Basically, the most economical solution for the farmers is going to be -- as Temple Grandon was telling me, anything made of metal wears out eventually, and so as these things are ending their natural point of use, they'll be replaced with this -- with basically group housing, which is another system. They're not going to be penned in. They'll be able to move.
MALVEAUX: All right.
KINSMAN: It's got its own set of problems but it's better than what we have.
MALVEAUX: Kat Kinsman, thank you so much.
KINSMAN: Thank you.
MALVEAUX: Kat, good to see you, as always.
Barbara Walters making news but not for in-depth reporting or exclusive interviews. She's being criticized for using her influence to help an aide of Syrian President Bashar al Assad find a job here in the U.S. Walters has now apologized for what she calls a conflict. She says in a statement, quote, "In the aftermath, Miss Jaafari returned to the U.S. and contacted me looking for a job. I told her that was a conflict of interest and that we would not hire her. I did offer to mention her to contacts at another media organization and in academia. Though she didn't get a job or into school, in retrospect, I realize that this created a conflict and I regret that."
Joining from Washington, host of CNN's "Reliable Sources," Howie Kurtz.
Howard, it was surprising to hear this.
HOWARD KURTZ, HOST, CNN RELIABLE SOURCES: This is a world-class embarrassment for Barbara Walters. I have a huge amount of respect for her but I think she realizes how badly she screwed up.
There's a reason why this is such a big deal. You have Barbara Walters, on the one hand, just seeming to do a favor for somebody she had gotten to know, the daughter of the Syrian ambassador, help her out. The news organization she referred to was CNN. She tried to help her get an internship with the "Piers Morgan" program and also help her with an application to Columbia University. But we're talking about Syria, which is conducting a campaign of violence against its own citizens in what's turned into a civil war.
Secondly, this woman, Ajeraside (ph) Jaafari, helped Barbara Walters get an interview last December with Assad. And the efforts to help her land an internship or college application help started immediately after that interview aired on ABC. MALVEAUX: So, Howard, we also learned, which was surprising, that she's 82 years old, a feat in and of itself in this business. Does this look like an isolated incident or do we know more? Are people looking into more?
KURTZ: Well, look, it's a stain for Barbara Walter's reputation but it's something of an isolated incident. I can't think of another instance in her career, in her long and illustrious career -- as you mentioned she's 82 -- where she has had this kind of embarrassment. She's had a lot of success in landing these exclusive interviews with world leaders as well as launching her very successful talk show, "The View."
Look, the problem with this, from an appearance point of view, at the very least, is this looks like a bit of a quid pro quo. This woman was close to Assad, the daughter of the ambassador, helps her arrange the interview, and the next day, they're on e-mail talking about helping her, Barbara Walters helping her to either get into an Ivy League school or land a media internship. And the woman is saying, Jaafari is saying things to her like, I feel like your daughter and I will pick up some jewelry for you. I mean, it seems like a very close relationship, all of which makes Walters seem a little too cozy with somebody who is, after all, part of a pretty brutal regime.
MALVEAUX: Howard, do we expect any other statements from Ms. Walters or perhaps on her own show to explain any further?
KURTZ: You know, I think a good thing for Barbara Walters to do would be to address it on her own show and tell her viewers, in her own words, why she did this and why she thinks it was a mistake. On the other hand, it's kind of read like a damage-control statement where she hopes she wouldn't have to talk about it anymore, but we'll have to wait and see whether she feels the need. Like I said, I guess, it depends on how much publicity and how much criticism there is whether she feels the need to go in front of the television camera and address this directly.
MALVEAUX: All right. Howie Kurtz. Thank you very much, Howie.
KURTZ: Thanks.
MALVEAUX: Good day on Wall Street. We'll go live to the New York Stock Exchange, find out what is driving up the numbers.
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MALVEAUX: The gurus of Google are warning web surfers to be on the lookout for hackers. The Web Everything Service is programming a message to pop up when it looks like your Google account has been compromised. The concern traces back to China, where users believe the government is peeking in on their online activities. Now, Google's advice, make sure your passwords are strong.
I want to go to the New York Stock Exchange. Alison Kosik, got some breaking news here. I understand NASDAQ, to pay out some $40 million when it comes to the Facebook debacle. Tell us about it.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. We're finally getting sop answers from NASDAQ after Facebook's very, very messy IPO. What NASDAQ is doing is laying out a plan for how it's going to make up for that really messed up IPO. The company says it's going to be paying out $40 million to compensate some financial firms that were in the middle of this. This is going to come in the form of a combination of cash and trading discounts.
Before this happens, the SEC still has to approve it. And what's interesting is it's not really clear whether the $40 million is going to satisfy all of these investors who lost money. They're estimating their losses are closer to $10 million, so not so sure if they're going to be happy about this $40 million. You remember what happened, that big technical glitch. Many traders didn't see orders executed until much later. They didn't know where they stood on their positions for a long time. It caused a lot of firms to loose a lot of money. The NASDAQ is saying those technical problems have been remedied.
Shares of Facebook are up 1 percent today. But if you look at since they went public, they're down more than 32 percent from when they launched on May 18th. Would you believe that shares for Facebook have fallen eight of the 12 trading days it's been on the market? Not a really good showing.
MALVEAUX: Do they know who is actually going to get this money, the payout?
KOSIK: That's what -- well, there are going to be requirements that these institutional investors have to meet as far as what they bought the price at, whether they were stuck holding the bag, not knowing their positions. There are several requirements. The NASDAQ is not just going to hand out this money to these firms. They will have to show they actually lost money in these trades --
MALVEAUX: All right.
KOSIK: -- because of the NASDAQ.
MALVEAUX: Thank you, Alison. Appreciate it.
KOSIK: Sure.
MALVEAUX: Space shuttle "Enterprise," damaged on the way to its new home in Manhattan. We'll tell you what happened.
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MALVEAUX: Space shuttle "Enterprise" hit a snag on the way to its new home in Manhattan. A sudden gust of wind caused the shuttle to shift and scrape a wooden barrier in New York's Jamaica Bay. The damage was only cosmetic and the "Enterprise" now being hoisted onto the deck of the Intrepid Air and Space Museum. A prison guard who was being held hostage by inmates at a maximum-security prison in South Carolina is now free. Inmates attacked the guard while he was helping a nurse pass out medicine last night. The nurse was also held hostage but was able to escape. The guard went to the hospital to be treated for injuries.
Science fiction author, Ray Bradbury, has died. He was the imagination behind such classic books as "Fahrenheit 451," "The Martian Chronicles," and "Something Wicked This Way Comes." Bradbury's books and some 600 short stories predicted the coming of the automatic teller machines and live broadcasts of fugitive car chases. He wrote the screen play of John Huston's classic film adaptation of "Moby Dick." His publisher says Bradbury died peacefully last night in his home in Los Angeles. He was 91.
First Lady Michelle Obama finding humor in the battle over good eating. Last night, Mrs. Obama was on David Letterman's "Late Show" to tell some veggie tales.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN: Number two.
MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: The White House tool shed contains shovels, trowels, and weed whacker one.
(LAUGHTER)
LETTERMAN: Weed whacker one. Weed whacker one.
(APPLAUSE)
LETTERMAN: And the number-one fun fact about gardening.
OBAMA: With enough care and effort, you can grow your own Barack-oli.
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
MALVEAUX: All right. Kind of funny.
It's a once-in-a-lifetime event, but if you missed it, we have great pictures for you of Venus in front of the sun.
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MALVEAUX: If you missed it, you're going to have to wait a century to see another. It took six hours, 40 minutes for the shadow of Venus to pass in front of the sun. Gives you a rare perspective of just how huge the sun is.
Chad Myers to talk about this rare event.
Yes, you're not going to be able to see it. You can't wait that long.
(LAUGHTER)
It's the next generation --
(CROSSTALK)
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's 105 years from now. If you're 5 years old, and you get really good health medical insurance, then you can maybe see it when you're 110 but, by then, you're eyes won't be good enough to see it.
(LAUGHTER)
It was very cool. I was watching it on NASA TV at home. That dot, though, is only one-one thousandth the size of the sun. That has something to do with the distance away and all that other kind of stuff, but it was a very cool sight. People were asking me -- at the beginning it was at the bottom of the sun then it was at the top of the sun, how did it get there. Yes, it did go across, but because you have to understand what NASA was showing you, sometimes telescopes show you the act opposite, the flip side.
MALVEAUX: Oh, that explains it.
MYERS: Then they flipped it back. I don't know if they did it digitally.
(CROSSTALK)
MYERS: Where is this thing? Did it come in from the left, from the right? But there it is. That is the silhouette of Venus with the amazing-looking sun behind it.
I think I learned more and enjoyed looking at the sun more than the dot because the pictures are coming out of the sun. You don't get to see them all the time.
MALVEAUX: Why is it so rare? Why was this thing so rare?
MYERS: It's three-dimensional space. You have all of these things flying around the sun. You know, the rarest one, believe it or not, is the transit of Mars. You know why?
MALVEAUX: Why?
MYERS: Because Mars is outside of us. Mars will never transit between the sun and us.
MALVEAUX: Oh. MYERS: We'll never see a transit of Mars. We'll never see a transit of Saturn or Pluto, because they're outside. They're not between us and the sun.
It's rare because you have three-dimensional space, all these things flying different speeds, they are not on the same plane and they only come together once in a while. The transit of mercury happens every eight years. That's a little bit faster. But the dot is, like, 10 times smaller than the dot we had yesterday.
MALVEAUX: And what about the U.S. spy agency?
MYERS: Oh, did you hear that?
MALVEAUX: Yes. They gave NASA a little gift.
MYERS: I was on ZITE yesterday. If you haven't sighed up for ZITE, Z-I-T-E -- I love it. You can program anything you want it to search for. And I searched science yesterday and we found out that the DOD has -- you know, the NASA has other things that they have in storage that that they don't even know about. Here's one of the pictures of the Hubble. We've been taken pictures of the Hubble forever. Now there are two new spy satellites that were supposed to be looking down at the ground. They said, here, NASA, you can have those. You can turn them up and look at space. They're 100 times more powerful than Hubble.
MALVEAUX: All right. Got to leave it there, Chad.
MYERS: All right. I get too excited.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
MALVEAUX: It is one of Sheryl Crow's biggest songs yet, one night on stage, she forgot the lyrics to "Soak Up the Sun." That led to a shocking diagnosis for the Grammy winner.
(SINGING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Stunning announcement from singer, Sheryl Crow. She says she has a brain tumor.
Senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, gives us the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, spoke to Sheryl Crow and she says this benign brain tumor is just, quote, "a bump in the road."
I know it seems very strange, but they're not doing surgery. They're not taking it out. This is actually a very well-accepted method of dealing with these tumors called meningiomas. If they're not very big and if they're not growing very fast, sometimes they're just left, if they're not causing any problems. Her rep says that she feels fine and doesn't have any symptoms.
Now, there was this much publicized event where Sheryl Crow forgot the lyrics to one of her own songs. And there's been a lot of talk about it, so let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SINGING)
SHERYL CROW, SINGER: Oh, what's the words?
(CHEERING)
CROW: It's live. I'm 50, what can I say?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN: Sanjay Gupta and Sheryl Crow talked about this. She said her doctor said the tumor had nothing to do with that momentary lapse. That just happens to people. That she has two little children, she's working hard, people just sometimes forget things.
It's important to note, the tumor isn't actually in her brain, it's between the lining of the brain and the skull. So that's important to note. Sanjay said it's not anywhere where it would affect her memory.
Now, many of us remember that Sheryl Crow is a breast cancer survivor. There are studies showing that breast cancer survivors do have an increased chance of getting these meningiomas later in life. However, some studies have shown it's not true. If it is true, it may be because there are hormones involved in both meningiomas and in breast cancer.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: We wish her the very best, Sheryl Crow.
CNN NEWSROOM continues now with Kate Bolduan.
Hey, Kate.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey there, Suzanne. Thank you.
