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Dharun Ravi Out Of Jail; Fires In Colorado; New Fastest Growing Is Immigrant Group; Jerry Sandusky Trial; Microsoft Unveils Tablet Computer; CBS: Sandusky To Testify In His Own Defense; Syrian Man Cries For His Home; Opposition Uniting To Topple Assad; Rabbi: One in Five Kids Molested

Aired June 19, 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: Dharun Ravi, the former Rutger student convicted of spying on his gay roommate is out of jail. He has completed his full 30-day sentence. The former roommate, Tyler Clementi, killed himself by jumping off a New York bridge in 2010 after learning Ravi had secretly recorded Clementi's private encounters.

More than 1700 firefighters are now battling a giant wild fire in Colorado. They have contained only half of it. The fire has been burning now for more than a week. It has destroyed many people's homes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CINDY CECCHINELLI: It is like a punch in the stomach. I mean, I just remember balling, I'm pretty sure it's not going to be there. It's going to be black sticks. We have our lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: You might think that Hispanics are the fastest growing immigrant group in the country but you'd be wrong. A new Pew study finds Asians have surpassed them. At last count, Asians make up 36 percent of new immigrants and compared to 31 percent for Hispanics. Ten years ago, Asians made up 19 percent of new immigrants, so the number has almost doubled in just a decade.

I'm going to bring in Deborah Feyerick who's been looking at the numbers and she joins us from New York. And Deb, explain to us, because some are surprised by the numbers, a lot of people were talking in our morning meeting about what this means politically, what it means economically. Asian immigration way up, although it still only makes up 5 percent of the U.S. population. Explain this to us.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's about five or six percent. What we're talking about is a record 18.2 million Asian- Americans in the United States. Three or four adults were born abroad. And they came from dozens of countries in the far east, southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent. The shift really occurs over the last decade. In 2005, you see the number of Hispanic immigrants dropping while the number of Asian immigrants begins to go up sharply. Four years later, in about 2009, Asians become the largest immigrant group, a trend that is continuing. Now a huge differentiator in all of this, and this goes to your question, is education level, 61 percent of Asian-American adults coming to the United States already have at least a bachelor's degree. And they're more likely than other immigrant groups to be sponsored and get a green card through an employer rather than sponsorship through a family member which is how it usually happens.

And when you look at the age group, 25 and older, 49 percent of Asian-Americans have a bachelor's degree, and that's compared to about 28 percent for other immigrants. Asian-Americans are also -- they're making more. They're making a lot more money. The median income, $66,000 compared to about $49,800, and that's a $16,000 difference. So, once they arrive, they're able to find those jobs that pay them well. So, they're educated, they're well off. Guess what? It also appears that they're apparently happier than most of the U.S. Population. This Pew research center study found that they place more value than other American immigrants on marriage, parenthood and success. So, it's all really part of this package -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Do they talk at all about illegal immigration at all, the Pew study?

FEYERICK: You know, they interviewed -- they interviewed about 3,500 people, all of them were here legally. So, they don't really talk about the numbers who are coming in, for example, who might be slipping over the border, who may be coming in by illegal methods. This is the group that they were talking about, and this is -- they were talking about how they got here basically.

MALVEAUX: All right, Deborah Feyerick. Thank you, Deb.

So, how does this fast-growing Asian immigrant group lean politically? Could it effect the upcoming election? I want to bring in Mark Preston from Washington to talk a little bit about it. So Mark, do we know if Asian-Americans are leaning Democrat, Republican, how they might actually position themselves in this election?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well Suzanne, when we look at the numbers that have just come out from Pew, and we're able to match them up against the exit polls from 2008 when President Obama defeated John McCain, it does show, in fact, that Asian-Americans are more likely to lean Democrat or are Democrats in their own right. This is interesting because when they first started looking at these numbers, back in 1992 and of course in 1996, Asian-Americans tended to vote Republican but by the time 2000 came around we saw the shift and they became more Democratic.

Now, there's one thing that Pew says in their survey is that Asian-Americans tend to favor bigger government than the general population. So, that could be one reason why they're supportive. And also, overall, they have a higher favorability rating for President Obama than the general public -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: I understand as well, there's a new poll that you've got out that's showing many Americans actually agree with the president's decision to allow hundreds of thousands of young illegal immigrants to actually stay in the United States. What do we know?

PRESTON: Yes. So, this is a new Bloomberg poll that has come out, and certainly welcome news for the Obama administration. I have to say it's probably not a surprise for them, because before President Obama made this announcement, I would be shocked if they did not put their own private poll to find out if, in fact, it would be embraced by the public. But this new Bloomberg poll shows that 64 percent are supportive of President Obama's decision to relax the immigration rules when it comes to young children who are brought here to the United States while only 30 percent disagree with it. So, pretty good numbers for President Obama on this issue. But, again, a surprise for us maybe, I don't think a surprise for the administration this morning.

MALVEAUX: Yes, they're pretty good at their internal polling there, Mark. Let's talk a little bit about house speaker, John Boehner. He actually weighed in, made some comments about the president's immigration policy. Let's play that first.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: I think the president's announcement on immigration is -- it puts everyone in a difficult position. I think we all have concerns for those who are caught in this trap, who through no fault of their own, are here, but the president's actions are going to make it much more difficult for us to work in a bipartisan way to get to a permanent solution. You know, it was the president himself who said the last couple of years that he couldn't do this. And so, the question remains whether he's violating the constitution. But let's go back --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: How is that playing out from your vantage point, Mark?

PRESTON: Well, I think we have to look at it in two ways. You know, one, President Obama has been accused of politicizing the whole issue by coming out and making this announcement less than six months before election day. A lot of people, certainly Republicans, think he did so to really try to convince Hispanics, Latinos, that he's on their side.

But you know, as Mr. Boehner just says right there, the question is did he potentially gum up the works on Capitol Hill for some grand compromise on the issue? I think it's fair to say that he's partially right, that in fact it does make it more difficult for something to get done on Capitol Hill. But the fact of the matter was, was it really going to get done in the next five months? And I don't think much of anything is going to get done here in Washington over the next five months, Suzanne. It's certainly going to be a potent issue leading up to the election day but certainly well after that as well.

MALVEAUX: Yes, you've got that right, not much being done there. All right, thank you, Mark. Good to see you. PRESTON: Thank you.

MALVEAUX: You can read more about Asians eclipsing Latinos as the fastest growing immigrant group in America, just go to CNN.com, slash, census.

And here's what we're working on for this hour.

(voice-over): A T.V. interview Jerry Sandusky gave months ago could end up in his child molestation trial causing big problems for the defense. We'll play it for you.

Allegations of a child sex abuse cover-up in Brooklyn's ultra orthodox Jewish community and the rabbi fighting to bring it to light.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You believe that one out of five children in your community have been molested?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. We believe that. We know that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: And they're called the dirty dozen, a list of fruits and vegetables that have the most pesticide on them. What's on this year's list and how you can limit your exposure.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: The child molestation trial of Jerry Sandusky is moving quickly. So quickly that the defense could rest his case in the next couple of days. But the defense may have a new challenge to deal with. The previously unreleased portion of the former Penn State assistant football coach's interview with NBC News' anchor, Bob Costas, has now surfaced. It is raising some questions, so I want you to take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB COSTAS, NEWS ANCHOR, NBC: So, it's entirely possible that you could have helped young boy, A, in some way that was not objectionable while horribly taking advantage of young boy B, C, D, and E, isn't that possible?

JERRY SANDUSKY, FORMER PENN STATE ASSISTANT FOOTBALL COACH (via telephone): Well, you might think that. I don't know. In terms of my relationship with so many, many young people, I would -- I would guess that there were many young people who would come forward -- many more young people who would come forward and say that my methods and what I had done for them made a very positive impact on their life. And I didn't go around seeking out every young person for sexual needs that I've helped. There are many that I didn't have -- I hardly had any contact with who I have helped in many, many ways.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MALVEAUX: Susan Candiotti has been in court today. And that is quite fascinating when you listen to that tape, because you could read into it so many different ways. Prosecutors, are they going to be able to introduce the portion of that interview that we haven't seen before?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. NBC announced that it had been subpoenaed by prosecutors in this case for the unedited version of their interview, which included this clip. Now, it may have limited possibilities to be introduced as evidence. That's because it would probably, according to experts, only be allowed to be introduced during a state's rebuttal case if the defense gives them an opening to do so. What might that be? It might be, for example, if Jerry Sandusky himself takes the stand. Then they can ask him about this tape, or if there were some other tape or other admission that is introduced into evidence. So, we don't know yet whether that will be played for jurors.

MALVEAUX: Do we know at all if Sandusky's lawyer actually has any regrets or any second thoughts about allowing his client to speak and have this kind of extensive interview?

CANDIOTTI: Well, if he does have any regrets, he hasn't said so. But then again, there has been a gag order in this case, and so he really hasn't been saying much of anything lately in terms of directly commenting on this case and where things stand. But clearly, today was a pretty good day for the defense -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And what about Jerry Sandusky himself and his wife, Dottie, are they actually expected to testify? Do we have any idea?

CANDIOTTI: Well, we do know that Dottie Sandusky, just before the lunch recess, came into the courthouse and before now she was only here on the opening day just for jury instructions and then left. That would mean that they're keeping her out so that she isn't tainted by anything she might have heard previously. We do have an indication from a source that she will be testifying at some point and likely be, at the very least, narrating multi-media presentation talking about her adopted children.

MALVEAEUX: And we've also heard, very interestingly enough, our own CNN contributor Sara Ganim has been subpoenaed by the defense today. Can you tell us why?

CANDIOTTI: Well, it's unclear. Although Sara did explain to me that she also asked the defense attorney's whether it is likely she will be called and whether she can remain in the court room and they told her it was unlikely she would be called, certainly gave that indication that she could remain in the courtroom. But certainly, she has done Pulitzer prize winning work on this story and has talked to a lot of sources, a lot of investigators, so it's entirely possible they might try to find out from her, for example, who told you this and who told you that? Now, as a reporter, she can cite what's called a shield law and say that she won't divulge her sources, and that shield law is pretty strong in the state of Pennsylvania as I'm told.

MALVEAUX: All right. Thank you very much, appreciate it.

A new battle is being waged in the war between Microsoft and Apple. Microsoft is out with its new tablet. Will it put a dent in the iPad's success?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Communications went out at the last minute. The event started in secrecy and then all was revealed on Monday. Microsoft finally unveiled its tablet computer called "Surface."

The software company is making hardware again. I want to bring in John Abell. He is a columnist for Reuter's "MediaFile." John, tell us a little bit about this. Is it a well-designed pc? Is it another iPad copy cat? What do we know?

JOHN ABELL, COLUMNIST, REUTERS MEDIAFILE: Well, yes. Tablet is I think stretching the definition of tablet. We're early in the tablet era. Let's give them a pass on that. But it really is sort of an ultra light notebook.

I think the fairest comparison, I have to say I wasn't in L.A., I didn't get to touch the thing. From what I've seen, the fairest comparison is to the Apples Mac Book Air.

The very, very thin computer that has the flash drive and some ports, USBs, stuff like that, and a keyboard. Not as cool and nifty as the surface will have. In my opinion tablets don't have keyboards that you have to sort of attach to them.

MALVEAUX: Tell us a little bit about some of the features that make it kind of unique.

ABELL: Well, it is going to run Windows, which is going to be interesting to see. Apart from that, the features are pretty similar to what we've seen from the Microsoft partners' try. It's going to have some ports. It's going to have speakers.

It's going to have two cameras. It's going to have a high resolution display although we don't know how high resolution display. It will be able to stream stuff. So it's really not inventing something new. It's tapping into a vein, which we liked very much but in sort of a new kind of way.

MALVEAUX: Tell us a little bit about this business of making hardware. It's not really easy. You have Hewlett-Packard who tried it with a Touch Pad tablet and Research in Motion had the Blackberry Playbook. How does Microsoft actually succeed in this?

ABELL: Well, it's design. You can make anything. You can make anything that anybody can dream up. It's design. So Apple has done very, very well with their design team headed by Johnny Ive. Very careful about what they do and don't do.

The other hardware makers, you know, not so much. The interesting thing is that although Apple is clearly the leader with 90 percent market share and Samsung I think is second with a tiny fraction, almost in third place, almost in second place, rather, are the Kindle and the Nook tablet.

These are made by -- these are manufactured by content companies. So it's a matter of figuring out what your customers need and designing something, which works well and then you can make anything you want.

MALVEAUX: It's amazing how they try to convince us that whatever we have, we need something else. We don't have enough. John, nice to see you.

ABELL: We don't.

MALVEAUX: Well, some of us. Some of us have enough, I think. Don't you think?

ABELL: Well, some of us do. Not all of us though.

MALVEAUX: All right, John, good to see you.

There are allegations of widespread sex abuse cover-up at an ultraorthodox Jewish community. One rabbi, he is speaking out and others are not saying a word.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sir, can I ask you a quick question. I'm with CNN.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

TUCHMAN: We're doing a story about the community. I'm with CNN. We're doing a story about the community.

(voice-over): And when they do talk, you are likely to hear something like this.

(on camera): Do you think child molestations happen in this neighborhood?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

TUCHMAN: Not at all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: We're getting some breaking news here. CBS News is actually reporting that Jerry Sandusky, he is the former Penn State assistant football coach, is actually going to take the stand as one of the last witnesses for his defense here. Now Sandusky is on trial, you may recall, for 51 counts related to accusations of abusing ten boys over a 15-year period. This is a former Penn State defense coordinator. He has denied the charges, of course, that has rocked the Penn State community.

This could have a big impact on how this all plays out. We are getting this information now. Obviously, we're trying to confirm it ourselves independently. But CBS News is reporting now that Jerry Sandusky will take the stand in his defense.

Small U.S. military outpost in Southern Afghanistan was breached today. U.S. officials say that eight insurgents somehow got inside the security perimeter. A firefight then erupted and seven of the insurgents were killed, one was wounded.

We're told that several American troops were also wounded. Officials say these insurgents might have had the help from Afghan security personnel.

Elderly man is shown here crying as he looks at the damage to his house. This is Syria, the devastated city of Homs. This is where he is.

The man's place was allegedly destroyed in a rocket attack by government troops. Several Syrian opposition groups, they are now uniting. They are announcing a joint action committee to consolidate activities to oust Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

The porn actor accused of killing and dismembering a student is now back in Canada. Luka Magnotta will appear in court in about an hour. He is believed to be responsible for the death of this man.

Now police alleged that Magnotta mailed some of Lin's body parts to Canadian politicians. They also believed he filmed the gruesome murder and posted the video online.

A 6-year-old girl arrested in Arizona. She remains in custody. She is suspected of illegally entering the country. Now the little girl was not with her parents. She's not in jail. But it was Arizona's Office of Refugee Resettlement.

Also a rabbi says he is receiving death threats now for making child sex abuse allegations public. He's an orthodox Jew in New York. He says in his community as many as one in five kids is molested. Gary Tuchman has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN (voice-over): The ultraorthodox are a small percentage of Jews as a whole. But Brooklyn, New York, with tens of thousands of ultraorthodox Jews is the largest such population outside of Israel. One of them is Rabbi Nochem Rosenberg.

(on camera): So your Judaism is as strong as ever?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it is. TUCHMAN (voice-over): But Rabbi Rosenberg is troubled.

(on camera): You're saying that you believe one out of five children in your community has been molested?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. We believe that. We know that.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Allegations of a widespread sex abuse cover-up in this community has led Rabbi Rosenberg to launch a hotline for victims and their families.

But if you think everyone would be thanking him for his effort, you'd be wrong. He's now subjected to things like this. Posters plastered around the community with his face on a snake with the words corrupt trader spelled out in Hebrew. Also --

(on camera): So you say you received death threats because of this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Death threats on daily basis.

TUCHMAN: The ultraorthodox Jewish world is very insular. In many way, life is lived like it was many centuries ago. Back then, there was deep distrust of the outside world and that's the case today.

The problem with cutting yourself off from people like police is child molesters and other scoundrels often take advantage.

(voice-over): Because of the distrust of outsiders, people in this community generally report alleged crimes to religious authorities not to police and will almost never talk to a stranger on camera.

(on camera): Sir, can I ask you a quick question? I'm with CNN. We're doing a story about the community. If there's a crime -- I'm with CNN. We're doing a story about the community.

(voice-over): And when they do talk, you're likely to hear something like this.

(on camera): Do you think child molestations happen in this neighborhood?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

TUCHMAN: Not at all?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not at all.

TUCHMAN: So when you hear about things like that happening, you don't think they're true?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's not true.

TUCHMAN: Do you think people are making it up?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. In this neighborhood, cannot happen.

TUCHMAN: Why do you think that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Never happen.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Don't tell that to Pearl Engelman, a faithful member of the community who says her son, Joel, one of her seven children, was molested by a school official starting when he was 8 years old.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It pains me terribly.

TUCHMAN: She and her husband never knew about it while it was going on. She told leaders in the community when she found out. But for the most part she says it was kept quiet. Almost 20 years later, it's almost too late to go to police. The statute of limitations has expired.

PEARL ENGELMAN: The cover-up is what devastates me because we're not the kind of people to cover this up. We stand for the truth. We stand for, for justice.

TUCHMAN: Her son, now 27, has left the community. So has this man, Luzer Twersky, who says he was molested for years by a tutor.

(on camera): And you were how old?

LUZER TWERSKY, MOLESTATION VICTIM: I was nine.

TUCHMAN: And he was how old?

TWERSKY: Probably in his late 20s, mid 20s.

TUCHMAN: That's the man who molested you?

TWERSKY: Yes.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): One would presume that Brooklyn's district attorney and his chief of sex crimes would be all over these allegations and, indeed, they say they are.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Any time we have a single case, it's very serious to us.

CHARLES HYNES, BROOKLYN DISTRICT ATTORNEY: They know exactly what I'm doing when I'm prosecuting people from their community. They know the people we send to jail.

TUCHMAN: But disturbingly, the people you met in the story, as well as others, believe 22-year-veteran D.A., Charles Hynes, is part of the problem. They say this Catholic D.A. protects suspected ultra orthodox Jewish molesters so he can stay in office.

NUCHEM ROSENBERG, RABBI & BROOKLYN RESIDENT: When the rabbis say vote for Charles Hynes, there will be nobody here that will not vote for Charles Hynes. PEARL ENGELMAN, SAYS SON WAS MOLESTED: He cares about his election. He cares about staying as district attorney. He doesn't care about the victims.

TUCHMAN: There is anger that Charles Hynes does not release names of suspected molesters in the ultra orthodox community. Releasing suspect's names is standard procedure at prosecutors' offices all over the United States.

(on camera): Your position is that you don't release the names of accused orthodox Jewish suspects?

HYNES: Correct.

TUCHMAN: And why is that?

HYNES: Because in releasing the names, within days magically they find the name of the victim and then the intimidation starts. By the way --

(CROSSTALK)

TUCHMAN: Do you do that with any other communities?

HYNES: No. If the Amish people were living here, I suppose I would have the same the practice.

(CROSSTALK)

TUCHMAN: But the Roman Catholic Church?

HYNES: There has never been any allegations about intimidation by priests.

TUCHMAN: Don't you see that you could be see that you're trying to curry favor with a very important bloc voting for you?

HYNES: And my answer is I show an odd way of showing my gratitude with all of the cases I have brought.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): The D.A. says, over the last three years, he's been able to substantially increase arrests after starting a special program to reach out to victims and convince them to talk to outside authorities.

Pearl Engelman doesn't believe much of what the D.A. says, but notably admits she, too, did not tell the police when she found out her son had been molested.

ENGELMAN: It didn't even enter my mind.

TUCHMAN (on camera): How come?

ENGELMAN: You don't go to the police. We take -- we take care of things in the community itself.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Taking care of the community at the expense, it seems, of the victims.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: You may have a job, but many workers are underpaid, underemployed, barely making ends meet. The hidden truth about the job market. And imagine doing half the work for the same amount of pay. We will tell you which group of government workers is being outted as the least productive.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: You think Congress isn't getting much done, you're right. A new CNN analysis shows that legislators are putting in the same number of hours as past Congresses but only getting half the work done, and they're getting paid the same. Of the thousands of measures introduced, only 132 passed both houses. One of five of those was to name a post office. That's right. Both parties are getting the blame.

Unemployment has remained stubbornly high, around 8 percent nationally. But there's a hidden side to the job market for those who do get jobs. A lot of this work is really not all that great. Many workers are finding that lower pay, not enough hours becoming pretty much the norm.

Alison Kosik is in New York. She joins us.

Alison, talk about this new reality for folks getting back in the job market, what they're faced with.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they're facing some real tough conditions. You said it right, it really is, Suzanne, becoming a tough new reality. There aren't many signs of it getting better.

14.8 percent of the work force is unemployed or what's considered underemployed. Believe it or not, it's better than last year, which that percentage was sitting at 15.8 percent. But, you know what, it amounts to 22 million people who are considered underemployed. When we talk about those who are under employed, this includes people who are out of work, people who are working part time and want to work full time, or people who are working and need better wages, need higher wages. The underemployment rate is really considered the real unemployment rate. So although we say it's 8.2 percent, the real unemployment rate is really 14.8 percent.

Any way you cut it, finding a job is tough. The longer you're out of would be, the harder it gets. There's a study from San Francisco Fed that really lays it out. Look at this. After one month of unemployment, the chance of finding a new job is 30 percent. After a year years, it falls to 10 percent. Here's why. Some people may be coming from industries that have been permanently downsized. Others may have outdated skills or employers are reluctant to hire somebody who's been unemployed for too long. They're wondering, gee, why is it taking you so long to find a job -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: It is tough all around. You have wages, you have jobs that are stagnating here. Then, you have the prices going up in some areas, right?

KOSIK: Oh, yes. You know, that is exactly why it feels so tough to people who are under employed or even the people fully employed but haven't seen our wages go up in forever. That's, as we seen, the prices of three important things rising. For one, college tuition, up 15 percent from a year ago on average. Health care costs are up more than 5 percent from a year ago. You can't forget food. The cost of food that you pay for every day is up almost 3 percent compared to last year. So, of course, all of that makes it much harder to pay for if people aren't making the kind of money that they used to make -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: How are the markets showing today?

KOSIK: Markets are rallying. Dow is up 156 points. NASDAQ up 44. We got some mixed economic news on the housing front, finding that building permits -- that's an indication of future building, that went up. Housing starts, that's kind of breaking ground on new homes, that fell. So you have a mixed picture on housing. But while you're seeing the market rally, the Fed is in the middle of a two-day policy meeting and investors are betting or hoping that the Fed may introduce some sort of new stimulus into the economy -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: Alison, thank you.

Do you every use online customer review comments, you know they can make a difference in whether or not you get a lemon or a good deal? Now you can check out credit card companies. There's a new online database of consumer complaints that went live today. The web site created by the Financial Protection Bureau. It will also show you how the bank or card issuer handles a complaint. The site won't release any information about who lodged that complaint.

Apple a day supposed to keep the doctor away, but it is at the top of the dirty dozen list. We'll tell you what other fruits and veggies you need to watch out for and how to eat them safely.

Don't forget, you can watch CNN live on your computer while you're at work. Head to CNN.com/tv.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: parents always telling your kids to eat your fruits and veggies. But a new report out today may have you thinking twice about that saying, an apple a day keeps the doctor away. EWG, a Washington-based environmental group, has put out its dirty dozen list of foods that contain dangerous levels of pesticides.

Elizabeth Cohen is here to talk to you about all of this.

And I love the fact that we have all of this right here. We can talk about it all. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Isn't it beautiful?

MALVEAUX: I know. We started off with apples because, wow. Apples close to the top of the list.

COHEN: Number one on the list.

MALVEAUX: You're kidding.

COHEN: I know.

MALVEAUX: Why?

COHEN: Apples are great. I eat them all the time and give them to my kids. What they did is, this group went to FDA data -- there's measurements of pesticides on produce, on washed produce. After produce is washed, how much pesticides, and apples were number one. and then number two and number three were celery and sweet bell peppers. So number two right here and number three right here.

MALVEAUX: How do they come up with this list in the first place?

COHEN: They look to the FDA's own data. They looked at how much pesticide is on produce and took that data and turned it into the dirty dozen list.

MALVEAUX: Why are some more dangerous than others? Why the apple?

COHEN: It's not clear. There is one rule of thumb, when something has -- when you eat the whole thing, you're more likely to get pesticides. Imagine that being sprayed. When you eat an apple, it's not like the banana. Pesticides might get sprayed but then you peel that banana.

MALVEAUX: What's the cleanest? Do we have anything that's good?

COHEN: Yes, we have the cleanest. The cleanest ones are onions. This is the cleanest. Then next, sweet corn. And then next, pineapple.

(CROSSTALK)

COHEN: Those were number one, two, three for the cleanest. You'll notice, you don't bite into a pineapple, right? You don't do this. You're cutting into it. If there are pesticides on here, you're not eating them.

MALVEAUX: What should you do? How do you protect yourself from -- I mean, everybody loves a good apple.

COHEN: Exactly. What you want to do is if this is a concern for you, if this is a priority for you, you don't want to eat pesticides or give them to your kids, buy organic. It costs more. Sometimes you have to search for it. But it's really pretty simple, just eat organic. If you go to CNN.com/empoweredpatient, we'll give you the whole dozen list, not just the top three.

MALVEAUX: What's the low down on pesticides? Why are they so dangerous?

COHEN: There's no definitive study that says pesticides cause this. There have been some studies that show that there might be a link between kids who eat a lot of pesticides and kids who have neurological and behavioral problems later.

I'll tell you that the Produce Manufacturing Association, when they see these dirty dozen lists, they point out that it's not scientific. That's their claim. They said it's not scientific. They also say just because -- I'm going to try to quote this. They say, "The mere presence of pesticide residue on food does not mean that they are harmful." They say, just because there are pesticides doesn't mean the pesticides are harmful. That's coming from the folks who market produce.

MALVEAUX: How do you actually wash the fruit? How do you make sure that this is OK?

COHEN: Well, there's been a lot of back and forth, and how much does it seep in, and can you really wash it off? These FDA measurements are based on produce that has been washed. That tells you it was washed and there was still pesticides on it.

MALVEAUX: Should you actually buy a product or anything? Some people I know they use chlorine or vinegar.

COHEN: Those products claim that they do a better job than just plain old water. I'm not sure it's been definitively shown that that's true. If you want to avoid pesticides, buy produce that's made without the use of pesticides. It's pretty simple.

MALVEAUX: Pretty simple. Are there any folks that are more vulnerable when it comes to pesticides, they are more impacted by pesticides?

COHEN: Yes. Children, it's thought, are more impacted by sort of environmental chemicals in general. They're smaller. Their tissues are developing. And pregnant women. Children and pregnant women are thought to be more vulnerable to any sort of outside chemical like this.

MALVEAUX: Still OK to grab the apple?

COHEN: It is OK to grab the apple. But I think we all ought to be -- just realize what we're doing. There may be pesticides on that apple. The people who make the apple say, don't worry, pesticides doesn't mean it's going to hurt you. Other people say, yes, pesticides are problematic, buy organic. You, as the consumer, have to decide.

MALVEAUX: We're going to eat the onions and apples.

(LAUGHTER) COHEN: Cook them first. That would be my advice.

MALVEAUX: Pineapple. Love them all.

Elizabeth, thank you.

COHEN: Thank you.

MALVEAUX: High-stakes maneuvers on the seas. A British insurance company tries to stop a Russian ship from reaching Syria. We'll tell you where that ship is headed now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: A ship said to be carrying attack helicopters and munitions to Syria has been turned around now. It's going back to Russia. Confirmation came to us a short while ago from Britain's foreign secretary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM HAGUE, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: I'm pleased the ship that was reported to be carrying arms to Syria has turned back towards apparently towards Russia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: The ship had stopped off the Scottish coast after a British company withdrew the ship's insurance coverage.

Barbara Starr, she's at the Pentagon. She's joining us here.

Barbara, I understand the international community had to turn to this private insurance company to prevent this weapons ship reaching Syria. Tell us about it.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, they did, Suzanne, because there's a European Union embargo against shipping weapons to Syria. This ship was ensured in Europe. They could use that and get the insurance withdrawn.

Let me get quickly to what's the real news in the Pentagon in the last few minutes. There's been an announcement that the U.S. now understands Russia, separate from this ship you're talking about, is sending three amphibious warships to Syria.

I want you to listen quickly to what the Pentagon spokesman had to say about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON SPOKESMAN: The Russian military is preparing to dispatch some vessels. We think it's about three, with supplies and perhaps personnel, to their base there. We have no indication that these vessels and that material is being sent to Syria for any other purpose than that which the Russian military has acknowledged itself, that it's for resupply and protection needs they have there at that facility. It --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: The Russians have not acknowledged any of this yet, but the Pentagon is saying it has the information that the Russians are preparing to send the ships.

So you might ask yourself, how would the U.S. know this. U.S. satellites conduct surveillance over Russian ports. They get the imagery of where these ships are and what is being loaded onto them. It's not quite the Cold War but it's clearly a bit of a spy game, a bit of the U.S. military telling the Russian military, we know what you're up to -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: Barbara, what does this mean? What is the significance? I listen to this and think, wow, you have one ship that's coming back and Russia is sending three other ships. Is the Pentagon worried or concerned? Is this considered to be an act of defiance?

STARR: At the moment, the Pentagon is taking the Russians at their word, so to speak, for all of this. The Russians have said, if any ships were to go, they would strictly be for re-supply of what they consider a vital military facility that they have at Tartus in Syria. That's a port the Russians want to keep access open to in the Mediterranean in Middle East despite the rising violence. The U.S., for the moment, believes the Russians and that everything they are seeing is strictly loading up for Russian self-defense at that location in Syria.

But, look, it's serious. It's something that the U.S. is keep keeping its eye on clearly around the clock -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: You've been following another breaking story about this U.S. outpost in Afghanistan that was breached. Tell us about what you've learned.

STARR: Ye, another difficult piece of news here. A U.S. military outpost in southern Afghanistan earlier today was breached by insurgents. Insurgents got inside the wire at this small outpost in southern Afghanistan. Our understanding is, no coalition forces killed, thank goodness. Some wounded when it was all over. Eight insurgents got inside. They believe that they killed one and wounded and -- pardon me -- that they killed seven and wounded one. An investigation clearly under way to find out how insurgents were able to breach a U.S. security perimeter in Afghanistan -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: Barbara Starr, a lot of stories out of the Pentagon today.

Thank you, Barbara

STARR: Sure.

MALVEAUX: Obesity hurting everybody. Americans are not the only ones with the big weight problem. I'll tell you how America weighs in against other countries.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: How heavy are we? Americans not the only ones with a big weight problem. A new report says obesity is hurting everybody. Researchers at the London School of Hygiene found that globally our weight together around the planet equals 316 million tons. That's about 17 million tons overweight. Researchers say this is not just a health problem but a political and economic issue.

Earlier I spoke with Ian Roberts, professor of epidemiology and public health at the London School. He says Americans have the highest obesity rates but he doesn't just blame them for the problem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IAN ROBERTS, PROFESSOR OF EPIDEMIOLOGY AND PUBLIC HEALTH, LONDON SCHOOL: The U.S. unfortunately is out in the lead. It's one of the fattest countries on earth. Most other countries in the world are going heavy in your direction.

The problem is if all of the world have the same body mass index, that's the fatness distribution, as the USA, that would be like having an extra billion people on earth in terms of mass or the food intake of -- extra food intake that would feed half a billion people.

The media typically portray fatness as a personal failing, slothful glutens. But it's a political issue. When you have a country like the United States where more than half the population is overweight or obese, that's a serious issue you really have to tackle.

MALVEAUX: When you say it's a political issue, what do you mean by that?

ROBERTS: Well, I mean the media portray fatness as a personal failing. It says, it's your fault. You're eating too much and moving too little. Actually, when the whole population is eating too much and eating too little then that means something is wrong structurally that you have to fix. Maybe the opportunities for human movement are so few in the United States. For example, you're very car dependent. The opportunities for ordinary every day walking and cycling quite sparse. Also, you really put on the big portions. These are structure issues. You have to change them --

(CROSSTALK)

MALVEAUX: Sure.

ROBERTS: -- by legislation, and you can.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: I'm going to go for a run.

CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Brooke Baldwin.