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Striped College Football Field; Rising Temps, Rising Prices; 2012 Drought One Of The Worst; History Making Heat Wave; Corn Prices Surging; Survey: Gas Prices Slide Ending; Battle Over Bain, Taxes, Outsourcing; Romney: Obama Attacks Are "Dishonest"; Obama Hits Romney On Tax Reform Plan; Clinton In Israel Talks Iran, Egypt; Clinton's Motorcade Pelted In Egypt; Americans Still Head Captive In Egypt; Penn State: No Decision On Paterno Statue; Ford Recalls 8,000 Escapes; Report: Possible Heathrow Security Breaches; Big Influx Ahead Of Olympics; Syrian Insider Defects to Qatar; China to U.S. Lawmakers, Think Globally; Madonna Swastika Controversy; NASA's New Mission to Mars; World's Toughest Foot Race
Aired July 16, 2012 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM begins right now.
Good morning to you. Happy Monday. I'm Carol Costello. Just ahead in the NEWSROOM, it's back. The heat that is, the thermometer hitting 100 degrees again this week in a lot of places in the United States. And the rising temperatures could soon mean rising prices at the grocery store.
China responds, the fight over the U.S. Olympic teams' uniforms getting more intense this morning. The country's state news agency calling Senator Harry Reid out saying he's violating the Olympic spirit.
After Reid said that Chinese made uniforms should be burned. China asked if Reid will burn his Chinese made appliances, clothes, and Blackberry.
Seven minutes of terror. That's what NASA's newest mission to Mars faces in just a couple of weeks. And success hangs on a series of unbelievable acrobatic maneuvers above the red planet.
But we begin this hour with the weather. This year's drought is one of the worst recorded in U.S. history in 2012 now being compared to the dust bowl during the great depression.
The first six months of 2012 go down as the hottest ever on record. That's plus severe droughts have prompted the Agriculture Department to declare a disaster in 26 states.
Alison Kosik is looking at how this is impacting our wallets. But let's start with meteorologist, Alexandra Steel. Is it going to be as bad as it was like a couple weeks ago?
ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, we have a couple problems going on. We're in an incredible drought. So much of the country is, and drought begets drought and the heat begets heat.
So we get into the cycle. Here's a look at the current U.S. drought monitor and usually when we look at this, you see a patch in Texas or isolated area.
But to see the breadth and depth of the entire country filled with some sort of exceptional, the darker reds are the more intense drought, but even the lighter yellows, just dry and moderate.
So you can see how much of the country is in some sort of drought and it's only further deepening. Now, this drought thus far ranks in the top ten in the past 100 years to give you a little perspective.
And 54.6 percent of the country is in a drought. That's more than even in 1936. That was 54.4 percent. So you can see what we've got is such an incredible drought that is only worsening because what we're seeing are the incredible conditions of continued dry conditions and intense heat.
Now, looking at the drought as you mentioned and versus the dust bowl of the '30s, there are few different things that's not comparing apple to oranges in a few regards.
The use of land and farming practices has come a long way since the '30s. So modern agriculture does everything they can to mitigate any of these impacts, erosion control and even drought resistant crops, hybrid crops.
So doing what they can to minimize what we could possibly and did see in the '30s. But I know this isn't the prettiest map in the world, but what is the most important about this, this is looking at from the summer, of course, we have been so dry up until now.
But now, looking forward, what's the prognosis, what can we see looking out at computer models. Will we continue to be dry? This is the problem.
Look at through September. You can see how dry the country is. As bad as it is, it will only get exacerbated by the lack of moisture in the ground, coming from the sky, whatever the case may be.
So drought conditions will only get worse because what we're looking at is a very dry season looking forward -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, thanks, Alexandra.
Of course, this drought has already has already an effect on our wallets at the grocery store. Joining me now is Alison Kosik to tell us more about that angle of the story.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is about corn. Let's talk a little bit about corn and not just corn on the cob. So let's think about corn. It's like stocks or oil or gold, it also trades on the open market in the form of futures contract. Now over the past month, Carol, prices of corn have gone up more than 40 percent because of those extreme drought conditions in the Midwest. Even wheat and soybean prices may be also be affected as this drought drags on.
One analyst said it would take at about six to 12 months before we really see the high prices hit our grocery stores. It could all -- food companies often try to hedge those costs and not pass them it on to consumers.
Consumer spending as you know is already pretty weak. People may not respond very well to these price hikes. I, in fact, talked to Ken Powell.
He is the CEO of General Mills, a company that uses a lot of corn in its product. He said he's trying to keep it from getting to consumers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEN POWELL, CEO, GENERAL MILLS: We know that the market is gyrating a bit on corn right now. It's that time of year where every week there's a different piece of news. But we haven't seen anything that would make us materially change our expectations for our broad market basket inflation next year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: So, don't expect any dramatic change in prices. Despite the rises that we've already been seeing -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Well, be patient and hope for the best. Alison Kosik, thanks so much.
The long gas price line that began in April may be nearing an end. Analysts found even though gas prices fell about 7 cents a gallon over the last three weeks, prices may be bottoming out.
They cite trends in the price of crude and the summer driving season. They may have a point. The latest Lundeberg survey found gas prices did not budge. They still cost in average $3.39 per gallon.
Turning now to the White House campaign, the battle over Bain, taxes, outsourcing, and whether President Obama should apologize, gets hotter this morning.
The president will be in Cincinnati later today and he's expected to bash Romney over tax breaks for big business. But Romney is already on the offensive, appearing on Republican friendly, "Fox and Friends" this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The president on the other hand has only one thing going and that is constant attacks on me. You know, they're dishonest. They're misdirected, and I think the American people recognize that kind of politics as something of the past. It may work in Chicago, but it's not going to work across America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: But while Mitt Romney waits for an apology that's not coming, his campaign is gearing up for a new line of attack on the president. Jim Acosta is covering that angle for us. Good morning, Jim.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Morning, Carol. That's right. The Romney campaign did sort of forecast where they're going this week and the word is Solyndra.
They put out a new web video earlier this morning that talks about the energy company that went bankrupt down in California after getting energy loans from the stimulus.
The Romney campaign likes to point out that there are people who were connected to Solyndra who got -- that gave campaign contributions to President Obama and so the Romney campaign is going back to that.
They also had a conference call with reporters earlier this morning and talked about this, described the whole Solyndra matter as Chicago style politics.
But Carol, I have to tell you, very interesting to watch, strategically, what both campaigns have been doing in the last 48 to 72 hours.
You know, the Obama campaign came out with a web video over the weekend that featured Mitt Romney singing "America the Beautiful" and showing images of the Cayman Islands and Bermuda, et cetera.
Well, this morning, in that new Solyndra ad, that web video that the Romney campaign put out, it the features President Obama singing.
So I think once both campaigns have gotten into making fun of each other's singing voices, we're officially in the sandbox, Carol, this morning.
COSTELLO: Man, you're not kidding. I just feel actually the Obama ad. I haven't seen the Romney ad, but it has to do with outsourcing jobs, too?
ACOSTA: Well, I think what the Obama cam campaign has been saying is they're going to go after Mitt Romney on outsourcing. That's something that we expect the president to talk about at an event later on today in Cincinnati.
Interesting to note, Carol, about that event that the president is holding in Cincinnati, Rob Portman, who is pretty high, everybody in Washington thinks on Mitt Romney's presidential selection list, is going to be giving a response to the president's event there in Cincinnati.
Portman will be -- you know, he also be talking about the president's record, of course, and so it's interesting to see Rob Portman sort of coming out and being used in this very, you know, high profile capacity in responding to the president.
So the president is going to be going after Mitt Romney on outsourcing. They're not letting up on that line of attack, and Mitt Romney's campaign, they are going back to this whole line of attack on Solyndra.
Honestly, I think if anybody is going to change the narrative this week, I think it could be Mitt Romney. There are some rumblings coming out that perhaps he might name his vice presidential candidate this week.
The "New York Times" is reporting that this morning. That to me is the only narrative game changer that could potentially come out this week -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Maybe that's why Rob Portman is being featured so prominently. We'll see.
ACOSTA: We'll see.
COSTELLO: Jim Acosta, thank you.
Let's talk a little bit more about President Obama's speech in Ohio today. He's supposedly going to launch a strike on Mitt Romney's tax reform plan claiming it will cost hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs.
Dan Lothian is at the White House to tell us that part of the story. Good morning.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. And you know, the Obama campaign has been now for the last few weeks focused on this whole issue of tax fairness and the president again will be pushing that in Cincinnati, Ohio today.
Again, trying to frame it as Mitt Romney's policies will only hurt the U.S. economy. So according to the Obama campaign, the president will be highlighting a new report that shows some 800,000 jobs could be created overseas because of Romney support for eliminating taxes on foreign incomes of American companies.
Of course, this is something that the Romney campaign is just pushing back vehemently on even before the president utters his first remarks in a statement saying that it's a dishonest attack meant to distract from his own record of failure.
But you'll continue to hear this push of tax fairness from the Obama campaign because they believe that this is something that really resonates with the voters.
In addition to that in the state of Ohio, you'll hear the president also talk about what his administration has done to help the auto industry.
The auto bailout and what that has done to turn the economy around and this continued push to extend the U.S. -- rather the Bush tax cuts, which the president says will benefit those middle class Americans.
COSTELLO: Dan Lothian reporting live for us from the White House.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is wrapping up a nearly two week trip to Asia and the Middle East with a stop in Israel. Clinton is talking with Israeli leaders about Iran, Egypt, and other issues while also bringing a message of solidarity. Secretary Clinton travels back to Washington tomorrow.
Before heading to Israel, Mrs. Clinton met with Egypt's new president, Mohammed Morsi, and urged him to assert his authority, but that was not welcomed by everyone.
On Sunday, Secretary Clinton's motorcade was pelted with tomatoes and shoes as she left a newly reopened consulate. Protesters also chanted Monica, Monica in an attempt to insult her.
This morning, two families are awaiting word of loved ones kidnapped in Egypt. Egyptian authorities are still trying to negotiate with the man who kidnapped the Reverent Michel Louis and Lisa Alphonse along with their Egyptian tour guide.
Louis' son, Jean spoke to CNN earlier this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REVEREND JEAN LOUIS, SON OF KIDNAPPED PASTOR MICHEL LOUIS: The story that I heard from my mom, everything happened so quickly, so even she -- I remember her clearly telling me on Friday that one of her concerns were that he didn't even have shoes on when they took them off the bus. So he doesn't have any of the natural medications he takes. I don't know of anything about seizure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The Reverend Louis has diabetes. The kidnapping of Americans is the third in the Sinai Peninsula since February.
Just how tight is security for the Olympic games? On the heels of personnel shortages, we are hearing some alarming things. We're going to take you to London.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It's 15 minutes past the hour. Checking our top stories now, was it 1999 or was it 2002? Democrats keep hammering GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on exactly when he left Bain Capital. And the Obama campaign is rejecting Republican demands for an apology. Democrats have suggested Romney may have committed a felony if filings did not accurately reflect his time at the company as in when he left.
A senior Romney adviser now says Romney retroactively retired from Bain after starting his work for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.
Penn State says no decision has been made on removing the Joe Paterno statue. Some have been calling for the statue to be taken down in the wake of a Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal. There were even reports suggesting it might be removed from outside of Beaver Stadium.
In money news, Ford recalls more than 8,000 Escape Compact SUV's over an issue that potentially affects the brake pedal. It says mispositioned carpet padding could reduce space around the pedal. The recall affects 2013 models made between March and June of this year.
Security questions are mounting this morning with the start of the Olympic Games in London now less than two weeks away. Reports today that terror suspects are getting into London unchecked.
One senior British official blames inexperienced security personnel. The official adds he's personally aware of three suspects on Britain's watch list being allowed into the country this month.
Joining me now is Dan Rivers. He is outside the Houses of Parliaments. So Dan, how concerned should we be about our American athletes?
DAN RIVERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, the home office here is playing this down, saying while they admit that yes, there are some people on the U.K. border front line who don't normally man the passport desk.
That they are doing all the checks that they should be. That this has been independently verified by John Vine, who is an independent inspector.
He's satisfied that these guys are doing everything they should be. There are mixture of border force staff who have retired or retired policemen who have been drafted in.
They've said that every passport desk at Heathrow and other airports are manned to reduce cues and they just flatly deny that any terror suspects have been allowed to slip through the net by sort of bungling staff here.
Just plainly claiming that claim in the observer newspaper yesterday is just wrong. But they do admit that they have got staff checking passports who don't normally do that.
So, you know, there is a grain to this story of truth, they say, but they flatly deny that terror suspects are being allowed to walk into Britain.
COSTELLO: So other security issues in Britain. There was this private security company that was going to provide security for the Olympic Games. They couldn't find enough people to do it, so Britain was forced to call in the military.
RIVERS: Absolutely. It was not so much that they couldn't find enough people to do it, but there had been a major software malfunction in the programs they had been using to recruit, train, and send information to these people.
And they're basically saying they can't guarantee that the 10,000 guards who were going to be in place around the Olympic venues were going to turn up and be there at the right place at the right time.
Because of that, the government has now stepped in to provide 3,500 soldiers to fulfill some of the gaps left by this private security firm, G4S. Highly embarrassing for them, their share prices have been hammered.
The home secretary is due to answer questions in the House of Parliament behind me within the next hour about exactly what has gone wrong here, all very embarrassing less than two weeks before the opening ceremony.
COSTELLO: Dan Rivers reporting live from London this morning.
Another kind of shocking surprise this weekend in London not as serious as that one though. Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney on stage together.
Yes, you hear them booing in the crowd, you won't believe how this ends. Because of a local curfew, the sound was cut on Springsteen and McCartney before they could finish their jam session. The microphones were turned off. That's when they left the stage.
When it comes to the Olympics and our uniforms, are we playing fair when it comes to China? Part of our talkback question for the day.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. The question for you this morning, how far should we go to limit products from China?
You've heard the uproar over those Chinese made uniforms for U.S. athletes. Well, China is fighting back. The Chinese news agency says U.S. politicians like Harry Reid are being hypocritical and irresponsible by wanting to burn the uniforms.
Because it says after all, American politicians surely wear and use Chinese made products and quote, "The Olympic spirit has nothing to do with politics. So tagging the uniforms with politics exposes narrow nationalism and ignorance and violates the original Olympic spirit," end quote.
The truth is though when it comes to the Olympics, politics has often been a spoiler. Remember the massacre of Israeli athletes or the U.S. and Soviet boycotts.
Now six Democratic senators plan to introduce the Team USA Made in America act of 2012 to make sure our uniforms are made here. A lot of Americans are cheering that idea.
And that's creating a lot of fodder for the hot topic of the moment in 2012. Both Romney and Obama are accusing the other of outsourcing jobs there. Mitt Romney has vowed if elected to get tough with china.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: What do you do about China? How do you deal with its cheating? On day one of my administration, I would designate China as a currency manipulator.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Back to the Olympics, what about those Olympic uniforms. What about them? Facebook.com/carolcnn. How far should we go to limit products from China? Your responses later this hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Just about 30 minutes past the hour. Good morning to you. I'm Carol Costello. Stories we're following in the NEWSROOM, Egyptian intelligence officers are meeting with the man who kidnapped two Americans and their translator in Egypt.
Bedouin Sheeks have said the hostages including Boston Pastor Michel Louis are unharmed and well fed. But an Egyptian official says the hostages seemed to be in a state of shock and fatigue. The kidnapper demanding the release of a jailed uncle.
Mitt Romney is steadfast in his pledge to release only two years of his personal income tax returns after Democrats and some Republicans amped up the pressure this weekend.
Romney made a point to say previous Republican presidential contender, John McCain released only two years of his returns. Romney also said Democrat John Kerry's wife who has hundreds of millions of dollars never released her tax return during his campaign.
London's Heathrow airport bracing for its first big Olympic influx that expects 237,000 people to fly in or out today. That's about 25 percent more than a normal day. The airport said the arrivals will include 335 athletes, the London games begin a week from Friday.
A Syrian government insider for 34 years finally says he has had enough. Former Syrian ambassador in Iraq Nawaf Al-Fares worked as one of President Bashar Al-Assad's trusted lieutenants.
But in a stunning turn of events, he defected to Qatar because of the unrelenting bloodshed and he blames Assad for the ongoing violence.
Ivan Watson is following all of these developments from Istanbul. Ivan, let's begin with the intense fighting in Damascus. The Red Cross just came out and said the violence in Syria amounts to a civil war.
IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. The ICRS's lawyers basically calling it a, quote, "non-international armed conflict," which is legalese, Carol, for civil war.
Now I think many Damascus, many Syrian residents with the death toll at more than 15,000 in the last 16 months would already argue that they already entered civil war stages months ago and there are strong signs that the Syrian government can no longer hold on to the capital Damascus the way it could months ago.
I'm going to direct you on a map to the neighborhood in the center of the city Medan (ph). That is where there's been fierce fighting for several days now. We had live streams over the Internet from rebel cameras inside of rebels engaged in what seems like fierce gun battles in that neighborhood of Medan (ph) today.
Residents telling us there was gunfire yesterday before the electricity went out in central Damascus and also videos emerging of activists actually setting up road blocks on the main highway running in and out of Damascus, blocking traffic, showing just how difficult it is right now for the Syrian central government to even control its capital city now. It does look like the circle is tightening around the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
COSTELLO: Ok Ivan let's talk about the man who defected to Qatar. He talked about a link between Bashar al-Assad and al Qaeda. Can you explain for us more?
WATSON: Well, that's right. Few people might know about this better than this man. Nawaf al-Fares who was Syria's first ambassador to Baghdad in more than 20 years. He took the position in 2008.
Now, he says he saw how the Syrian government was basically funneling al Qaeda fighters, Jihadi militants through Syria, across the border to Iraq, during the U.S. occupation of Iraq, and we know how terribly that turned out with thousands and thousands of people killed and he is accusing the Syrian central government of basically having an alliance with -- with al Qaeda. And that totally turns around the Syrian government's claim that the Syrian rebels are al Qaeda militants.
I asked him in this exclusive interview with the U.S. news network what he thinks about the mentality right now of the Syrian president and his inner circle. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) NAWAF AL-FARES, FORMER SYRIAN AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ (through translator): I serve the Syrian regime for 34 years. I was among those at the top of the Syrian regime. But what happened in the last year during the holy revolution, all of the killing, the massacres, the refugees and the declaration of war by Bashar al Assad against the Syria people stopped any kind of hope towards reform or real change which had been promised previously by Bashar al Assad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: That's right, that's not exactly the excerpt of the interview that we wanted to play for you. Another startling accusation that Nawaf al-Fares made was he claimed that the brother- in-law of Syrian president Bashar al Assad a man named Assef Shawkat actually ran an al Qaeda in Iraq safe haven in a Syrian village right next to the Iraqi border that was hit by U.S. Special Forces and helicopter gunships in October of 2008.
In fact, he said he claimed he talked to Assef Shawkat who is in that camp an hour after U.S. Forces hit the camp and killed at least eight people. It was a major diplomatic incident in 2008. And certainly that kind of information will make this man Nawaf al-Fares the highest ranking Syrian defector to publicly break with the regime thus far. That will make him a very desirable asset for Western intelligence agencies to talk to -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Ivan Watson reporting live for us this morning.
In France, Madonna she's being threatened with a lawsuit. It involves, oh, politics and a swastika.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: You know the flap over U.S. Olympic opening ceremony uniforms. The Ralph Lauren style, made in China and Americans making an outcry over them. Well, the Chinese are now responding with their own message for Senator Harry Reid. Alina Cho is here with that part of the story. Good morning Alina.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there Carol, good morning to you. Olympic uniform gate as it's now being called is getting even hotter this morning. You said it and you know the story. The U.S. Olympic team uniforms made by Ralph Lauren that were actually made in China. Well, as you said, now the Chinese government is weighing in and they're slamming members of Congress for their outrage over the uniforms.
In fact, in a statement from its official news agency, the Chinese government says, quote, "The Olympic spirit which has nothing to do with politics, chants mutual understanding and fair play, so tagging the uniforms with politics by those U.S. politicians exposes narrow nationalism and ignorance and violates the Olympic spirit."
Now, you may recall just last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was particularly outspoken in his objection to the uniforms. Here he is on Thursday. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HARY REID (D), MAJORITY LEADER: I am so upset that I think the Olympic Committee should be ashamed of themselves. I think they should be embarrassed. I think they should take the uniforms, put them in a pile and burn them. And start all over again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Well, China responded to that with this question. "Will Reid burn his Blackberry, all his home appliances and half his wardrobe because those were made in China?"
Interesting point.
We've reach out to Senator Reid's office this morning and we're still waiting for a response. Meantime, since we were talking about uniforms and where they were made, we wondered what China's uniforms look like.
Well, the Chinese team we should mention is outfitted by Lee Ming, that's the label founded by a former Olympic Gymnast. But Hong Kong's athletes, according to the "New York Times," are being outfitted by Fila. You are looking at them there. Fila by the way, the world's largest sports company. The "Times" ask that the president of the Hong Kong Olympic community -- Carol unsure where the uniforms were made. Fila originally an Italian company, now has South Korean owners.
As for the U.S. Olympic uniforms, well it is unlikely at this point of course that they'll be burned and remade as Harry Reid wants since the opening ceremonies are July 29th, but Ralph Lauren I'm sure you saw this issue a statement saying the U.S. Olympic uniforms for 2014, the winter Olympics in Russia will be made right here in the U.S. of A.
And one more thing, in case you missed it, and I'm sure you heard, just because this is all getting so political, six Democratic senators said that they do plan to introduce legislation insuring that the ceremonial uniforms of the United States are made here in the USA just to make it all official.
COSTELLO: I'm just intrigued that China's uniforms might not have been made in China.
CHO: The other thing, I have to tell you, is because people knew I was covering this story, a lot of people -- I know you had mentioned the berets and there being some controversy maybe over whether people like the berets. You know, as many people said to me, you know, I don't know if I like the berets as they did about them being made in China.
COSTELLO: I think I'm with those people --
CHO: Anyway.
COSTELLO: It looks like they're flight attendants.
CHO: Perhaps. That's one way of looking at it. That's one way of looking at it.
COSTELLO: And the controversy rolls on.
CHO: I happen to like them.
COSTELLO: I know you do. I kind of don't, though, I must admit.
Alina Cho, thanks so much.
CHO: You bet.
COSTELLO: Seems like everyone has an opinion on the economy, including that man. Learn (ph) what President George W. Bush is doing to showcase his ideas about improving our economy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: You know Madonna loves controversy, but a politician with a swastika painted on her forehead? That's what Madonna showed at her concert. The French, at least some of them, are not so happy. In fact Madonna might be slapped with a big, old lawsuit.
Entertainment correspondent, Kareen Wynter, live in Los Angeles with more. Good morning.
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDNET: Hi, Carol.
She's in trouble again. A little bit of hot water. Madonna -- she's in trouble with a French political party after a controversial image appeared at her concert. The French far-right leaning National Front Party is threatening, Carol, as you mentioned to sue the Material Girl over a video she showed at her concert -- this was a concert on Saturday, which included the party's leader Marine Le Pen with a swastika superimposed on her forehead. Yes.
The image is part of a video montage showing several current and deposed world leaders projected onto a giant screen during the song "Nobody Knows Me". And after the image of Le Pen, well, it fades into a picture of Adolf Hitler. The spokesperson for the said the images are an insult and draw a terrible link between the party and an ideology they reject.
And Carol, I may not be an expert on French politics, but being compared to a Nazi doesn't generally help you anywhere at the polls. Madonna's camp responded to the threat by telling CNN the show has been the same since it started in Tel Aviv in may. Her reps didn't comment any further.
Madonna again, always has people talking, Carol. In this case, fuming; they're fighting mad here.
COSTELLO: Ok. Let's move on to Sylvester Stallone's son. Any word on what might have caused Sage's death? WYNTER: Well, you know the cause of death for 36-year-old Sage Stallone is still a mystery despite the autopsy being complete. It was just performed yesterday on Sunday, Carol.
L.A. County coroners, they're are waiting for the toxicology results to come back. They say it can take up to six weeks. Stallone's famous dad is said to be heartbroken over this. Sylvester Stallone's rep released a statement saying he's devastated and grief stricken over the sudden loss of his son, Sage Stallone. His compassion and thoughts are with Sage's mother, Sasha.
Sage was a very talented and wonderful young man. His loss will be felt forever. Sage Stallone's attorney told Los Angeles TV station KNBC that he was engaged to be married and was actually working Carol, on various film projects at the time of his death -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Kareen Wynter, many things.
You want information on everything breaking in the entertainment world? Check out "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" at 11:00 Eastern on HLN.
Sounds like the stuff movies are made of. A mission to Mars that hinges on one crazy landing, seven minutes of terror, and you will not believe what has to happen for this rover to safely land.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Seven minutes of terror. That's what NASA's newest Mars rover, the size of a small car, faces in the coming weeks. It's a mission to Mars that faces a series of unbelievable maneuvers above the Red Planet. Sounds a little like -- actually, sounds a lot like science fiction.
John Zarrella joins us live from Florida. So John, NASA is talking about these seven minutes of terror today. Explain that for us.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, Carol, in fact, it is seven minutes of terror if you're a NASA engineer. What it is, is Curiosity is just a few weeks from entering the atmosphere of the Red Planet in what could be an historic NASA Mars mission.
What is going to happen is this lander is going to come through the atmosphere at about 13,000 miles an hour. And perform maneuvers that they have never attempted before in order to get Curiosity to a very precise landing spot. The parachutes are going to deploy, to slow the vehicle down, but it's only going to slow it down to about 200 miles per hour. They have to slow it down further, so what do they do then. Then they jettison the parachute and they fire these rockets on the Curiosity lander.
The vehicle -- the entire vehicle then moves off to the side, reorients itself to the planet's surface and then these giant tethers drop almost like a crane, as you can see in the animation there, and then the entire vehicle will safely land at a spot called the gale crater on Mars. If it all works.
So that is seven minutes of terror because they have never done it before.
COSTELLO: All that happens in seven minutes?
ZARRELLA: Seven minutes.
COSTELLO: So essentially, this is like a mobile laboratory. If it survives the landing and everything goes to plan, what will we learn?
COSTELLO: Well, NASA is hoping that this vehicle, this rover, which has the ability never before have we had this ability, to actually drill into rocks on the surface, to dig up these rocks and these little samples that it collects, put them in mobile laboratories on the spacecraft itself and analyze this in hopes of detecting not life itself, but some of the building blocks of life -- carbon, water, things that in the past on Mars may well have supported life then, perhaps still do.
COSTELLO: Ok, I'm going to keep my fingers crossed.
ZARRELLA: Yes.
COSTELLO: John Zarrella. Thank you so much.
ZARRELLA: Sure.
COSTELLO: The heat is back on. You know back here on earth, hot weather returns for many of us all over the country.
But how's this for hot? Temperatures soaring into the triple digits in Death Valley, California. Check it out. High temperature, 110 degrees. Just the right conditions to run a 135-mile marathon. Yes, there's a marathon going on in Death Valley.
Alexandra Steele joins us now to tell us about the crazy people.
ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You're like back on earth. These people are other worldly.
COSTELLO: Are they?
STEELE: 135 miles in 120 degree heat. So it started this morning, this Badwater Ultra Marathon. There's really two things that make it so-called bad -- right -- or extreme. Of course, it's the elevation and the extreme temperatures.
Let me show you this Google map and show you the elevation. It began this morning at Badwater in Death Valley, California, of course. The infamous Death Valley which is 282 feet below sea level. It will end in 48 hours, from whence it began -- that's your time limit -- at Mt. Whitney, the elevation there 8,360 feet.
So they're running 135 miles. It covers, Carol, three mountain ranges, a total of 13,000 feet ascent. That's a little problematic area number one.
Number two, the temperature. The average temperature there is 104. Not out of the question to get to 120. For the next three days, you can see between 110 and 112. And you know, it would easily hit 120. What does 120 feel like? Give you a little perspective. Paraffin wax, a candle, can melt at 120. A rare steak is only 130, and bath water at 120 will scald you and do damage to human tissue.
COSTELLO: Wow. So I just --
STEELE: Who would do this?
COSTELLO: who would do this and how do you train for it?
STEELE: Well, the latter I'm not sure. Not in heels, not if you're smoking, I suppose. There are 95, you have to be invited. So we weren't on the invite list. Oddly enough, or you would say, I totally get it, the average age of these 95 participants is 45 years old. So when you get older, you want to (inaudible) it and make it happen.
COSTELLO: Well, your body is better able to run long distances. So I guess that's why all the people are --
STEELE: Well, when I get older, I'll have to see if that works out like that. 19 countries and 24 states, but this is a funny story. The blog of one of the guys who was not 45, he was much older, he is on a stationary bicycle in a sauna which is 150 to 180 degrees for 100 miles, just kind of preparing. Just one day.
COSTELLO: We'll see if it works if he wins.
STEELE: Eating protein bars would that help?
COSTELLO: I think maybe gallons and gallons and gallons of liquid.
STEELE: And you see them all and they're wearing white. And one thing, you think they're like naked, not good to be naked or barely nothing because you need the clothes to protect your skin. I mean not like -- you know --
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Thanks Alexandra.
Even if you're not in Death Valley, you can easily get a sun burn. So many people slather layer upon layer of sunscreen, but what if you're still getting burned through all of that? The solution may not be what you put on your skin but what you put in your belly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know we can protect our skin from the sun just by eating the right food? Yes, it's true. Some foods are what we call photo protective. And one that I think is great for summer is watermelon.
Watermelon contains high amounts of antioxidants that act as natural and anti-inflammatories and can help us prevent sun burn. In addition to watermelon, tomatoes, a fabulous anti-oxidant called Lutein concentrates in our skin and gives us photo protection.
Another is cocoa. Yes, it's hard to believe something like chocolate can protect our skin. Chocolate contains another powerful anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory called flavanols. And if you have that little square of chocolate before you go out in the sun, you're actually doing yourself some good.
A little bit of the right food can protect us from the sun for summer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: We asked you to "Talk Back" on one of the stories of the day. The talk back question: how far should we go to limit products from China.
This from Linda, "As far as I'm concerned, no Chinese made products period. How many products have we gotten from that are inferior or make us sick? Think about it, a lot."
This from Douglas, "Our wealthy investors are telling entrepreneurs to move production overseas to lower cost and increase revenue. When we decide to go to a cheaper labor for our Olympic Team uniforms it's an outrage. Shame on us."
And this from Bill, "what we need is a level trading field, Carol. No president has ever delivered on this, and until we have equal trade, our economy will be in the tank."
Thanks for your responses. Facebook.com/Carolcnn if you would like to continue the conversation.
And thank you for joining me this morning. I'm Carol Costello.
"CNN NEWSROOM" continues right now with Poppy Harlow.
