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American Morning
Auto Workers Deal; Missing Madeleine; Warren Jeffs Guilty Verdict; Truth Or Lies?
Aired September 26, 2007 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news. A deal between auto workers and General Motors.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RON GETTELFINGER, UAW PRESIDENT: We're pleased to announce that at 3:05 a.m. this morning, we've reached a tentative agreement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: A new photo and a new question. Is this Madeleine McCann? Hear what the family thinks this morning.
And inside job or fall guy?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The employee has what appears to be an explosive device strapped to his chest.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: A bank worker says he was kidnapped, rigged with a bomb and forced to rob his bank. A suspect or a victim, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
A bizarre case and eerily similar to one we saw a couple of years back.
Good morning. Thanks very much for joining us on this AMERICAN MORNING. It's Wednesday, September the 26th. From Washington D.C., I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Hi John.
And I'm Kiran Chetry here in New York.
And also intriguing is the possibility that that picture resembles Madeleine McCann, the missing girl who was taken in Portugal. We're going to have much more on that. But first, we begin with some breaking news.
The first auto strike in a generation is over this morning. General Motors and the United Auto Workers union announcing a deal just a couple of hours ago. It ends the two day long strike against GM. Ali Velshi joins us now. He was there. He was at the Powertrain plant.
And you have new details about what's in it both for GM, as well as the auto workers.
Hi, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran.
This has just broken a couple of hours ago. General Motors and the United Auto Workers, as you said, agreeing to a deal. The heart of this is that transferring of the pension benefits over to the union for them to manage. This still has to be ratified. But here's what Ron Gettelfinger, the president of the United Auto Workers, had to say about this a little while ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RON GETTELFINGER, UAW PRESIDENT: A lot of hard work has gone into it and we successfully resolved a lot of difficult issues. This bargaining committee gave it their all under the leadership of Vice President Cal Rapson and his staff. We feel very good about this tentative agreement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Now, Kiran, as you know, a lot of those workers didn't expect they were going on strike in the first place on Monday and that's what they were telling us when we were out at the picket lines in Michigan yesterday.
Here's what has to happen. The workers are also going to get some lump sum payments. The details of this agreement will come out. It is then going to have to be presented to the workers to vote on. That's why they're calling it a tentative deal. But our understanding is that the workers who didn't want to be on strike in the first place will most likely ratify this deal.
Then the deal goes to Ford or Chrysler, we don't know which one yet, and they will try and hammer out a similar deal with one of those companies. And then finally the remaining company, after which all of the major North American auto makers will have a contract with their workers.
So it's not totally the end game yet, but it looks like we're getting there.
CHETRY: All right, Ali Velshi, we'll check in with you a little bit later for more details. Thanks.
VELSHI: OK.
CHETRY: John.
ROBERTS: Developing right now, the search for Madeleine McCann. Authorities say that they are looking at a picture of the little girl, or a little girl that looks a lot like her. Take a look for yourself. Here's the photo. A Spanish couple says they took it about a month ago while they were on vacation in Morocco. It shows a local woman carrying a child on her back.
Now here's a side-by-side comparison. The photo of the little girl on this Moroccan woman's back look somewhat similar to pictures that we have seen before of Madeleine McCann. It could be proof that the missing four-year-old is still alive, if it's the real thing. And, by the way, it's not the first supposed sighting of Madeleine McCann in Morocco.
Joining us on the telephone now from Bath, England, is Clarence Mitchell. He is the spokesman for Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann.
And this photo that we see here, Interpol apparently looking at it now, Mr. Mitchell. How much hope does it give the parents that Madeleine may still, in fact, be alive?
CLARENCE MITCHELL, MCCANN SPOKESMAN: That's right, John, good morning.
Yes, this clearly is possibly significant. It does, as you say, look like her. It is a digital image. It doesn't suffer expansion very well. You lose a lot of detail if you enlarge it. And that is why technical experts, with the police, are now analyzing this material and they are keeping Gerry and Kate McCann fully informed, of course.
As you say, there have been previous sightings. All of them well-intentioned reportings of her. But in each case, they have come to nothing. So Gerry and Kate have now developed a policy of not really commenting on any of these, no matter how positive they seem, until they get definitive information from the correct authorities. That is the police. They are looking at it and we are waiting to hear just what their findings are in due course.
ROBERTS: Mr. Mitchell, is it much of a stress to think that she could have somehow found her way to Morocco? I mean what's the proximity? What's the ease of transport between where she was in Portugal and where she might be, if this picture is in fact her, in Morocco?
MITCHELL: Well, indeed, if it is her, it is quite possible because north Africa is only a short ferry ride away from southern Spain. If she had been abducted from Portugal, as we believe, driven across the Spanish border to a ferry port, the ferry can only take about half an hour. The Mediterranean there is very narrow. And it is quite possible that she could have been taken by an abductor, for whatever reason, and brought to north Africa.
This is one of the reasons why we were keen to visit there back in June when I was with the couple, helping them on behalf of the British government. And when we went there, we met with senior Moroccan police chiefs and they assured us, because of their extensive police network in Morocco, that if she was alive and in Morocco, they would find her. Since then, as you've said, there have been a number of other sightings and now this photograph. Taken together, it's encouraging, but we wait to see what the police make of it.
ROBERTS: And just one other point on this, Mr. Mitchell. As you mention, it was a digital photo. We know that digital photos can be doctored quite easily. What's your confidence level in the authenticity of this photograph?
MITCHELL: Well, that's exactly why it's with the experts and not with myself or anyone else is looking at this. We are confident that the woman who took it has submitted it to the police in good faith. She believes that it was her. It stands up to an initial assessment as possibly being significant. But once that technical work is done, we will know for sure if it's a genuine picture or not.
And then the question is, if it is genuine, is it Madeleine. And, if so, where is she now? She's still out there. We believe she's still alive. This possibly, possibly could be the link that leads us to her in the long run.
ROBERTS: All right. A possible significant development this morning in the search for missing Madeleine McCann.
Clarence Mitchell, the family spokesperson for the McCanns, thanks for being with us this morning on the telephone from Bath, England.
Kiran.
CHETRY: You want to hope and pray that it's her. It just seems so unbelievable. We'll have more on that throughout the day as well.
Also, there is some new information about this mystery at sea. All of it centers on a chartered fishing boat, the Joe Cool. Well, this morning, the two men who hired that boat were found floating in a life raft. They're now facing federal charges. One of them, a former Wal-Mart employee accused of stealing $92,000 from a store in Arkansas. The other suspect is charged with lying to federal agents. Rescuers now expanding their search for the missing crew.
There are some new leads this morning in the search for millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett. The Air Force is saying that images on radar and satellite are helping piece together what could be his flight path. An expansive area around Nevada. Searchers plan to comb a rugged area near Death Valley by air and also on foot this weekend.
And they're watching for more trouble in the Gulf of Mexico. Our Rob Marciano says this, the thirteenth tropical depression of the season, could become a named storm. If it is a named storm it would become Lorenzo later today. We're going to talk more about that with Rob in just a moment.
John.
ROBERTS: A consumer alert, Kiran, to tell you about this morning involving ground beef. Certain Topps brand hamburgers might be contaminated with E. Coli. At least six people have gotten sick in several northeastern states. The recall covers frozen quarter pound hamburgers in package of 20. It they are marked with a sell by date of June 22nd and July 23rd. Each package has the establishment number est 9748, inside the USDA mark of inspection. They were distributed nationwide.
A bizarre bank robbery in Hollywood, Florida. Very similar to the Pennsylvania pizza bomber case. A bank worker is saying two men kidnapped him, strapped a bomb to his chest and then drove him to the bank's drive-up window. Next, they demanded cash and threatened to detonate the bomb if the teller didn't hand it over. They then took the money and left the bank employee there. The bomb squad managed to remove the device here, unlike the one in Pennsylvania, and blew it up. Police say that it may take days to determine if it really was a bomb and they have questions about the employee's story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're just at this point now where we have an opportunity to do an extensive interview of the bank employee to see if, in fact, number one, is this legit? Is this all a hoax? Is he truly a victim? Did he somehow, some way participate in this alleged bank robbery that apparently, you know, procured an enormous amount of money.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: No one was hurt in the bank robbery. The other two men are still at large this morning.
The guilty plea of Senator Larry Craig could be overturned in a Minnesota courtroom today. Craig will not attend the hearing but says he wants to retract the plea because he panicked and accepted it without talking to a lawyer first. Craig pled to a disorderly conduct charge after he was caught in a sex sting, allegedly making sexual overtures toward an undercover cop at a Minneapolis airport bathroom.
Another showdown this morning in Myanmar between hundreds of Buddhist monks and police. Officers fired warning shots and used tear gas to break up anti-government protests. About 300 monks and activists were arrested after defying a government order to stay out of politics. CNN's Dan Rivers has made his way into Myanmar. We're going to go to him in our next half hour for an on-the-scene update.
Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Well, it's time now to check in with our AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents for other stories new this morning. The jurors are speaking out about their decision to find polygamist leader Warren Jeffs guilty. Alina Cho has been following this from the national update desk.
It's interesting to hear their take on why they decided the way they did, Alina.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's absolutely right, Kiran. Five jurors spoke out. It didn't take long. The jury got the case on Friday and by yesterday afternoon the verdict was in, Warren Jeffs guilty of being an accomplice to rape. And he could now face life in prison.
Now jurors spoke exclusively to Anderson Cooper last night. One describes Jeffs' reaction when the verdict was read.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEIRDRE SHAW, JEFFS TRIAL JUROR: He was very calm. A lot calmer than I would have been. He didn't really show much facial expression at all. Almost like a sedative look. He was -- no smile, no scowls, nothing. Just very calm, straight faced the whole time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Jeffs, a polygamist sect leaders and a man followers called a prophet, was charged with coercing a then 4-year-old-girl into marrying her cousin and then instructing them to have sex. Now jurors said the emotional testimony of the victim, who's now 21, was key. And that victim, Elissa Wall, talked to reporters after the verdict.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELISSA WALL, VICTIM: When I was young, my mother taught me that evil flourishes when good men do nothing. This has not been easy for us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Now Jeffs is being held in a jail appropriate called Purgatory. He'll be sentenced on November 20th. And it's not over yet, Kiran. With the Utah trial over, Jeffs now faces additional charges in Arizona.
CHETRY: All right, Alina Cho, thank you very much.
Our Rob Marciano is at the CNN weather desk. He's tracking extreme weather. And we're looking toward the Gulf of Mexico where there could be another named storm in the Atlantic.
Hi, Rob.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: Home sales see the biggest drop in 16 years. That tops your "Quick Hits" now. The number of existing homes sold dropped for the sixth straight month in August. The number of homes for sale in the United States now at an all-time high. Some people think that the effect could linger into the next year and even effect consumer spending soon.
America's public school students are doing significantly better in math, but improvement in reading is only marginal. That's according to the results of a national assessment test that was given to fourth and eighth grade students across the country this year. The results also indicate only an incremental bit of progress in narrowing the achievement gap between white and minority students. That, as you may remember, was the basic goal of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, enacted back in 2002.
A piece of Elton John's art collection could have the singer in trouble. We'll tell you why the picture was pulled from a gallery.
And Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and Joe Biden, is what they're saying fact or fiction? We're warming up the truth-o-meter and we'll put their statements from the campaign trail to the test, next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Some of the most compelling shots of the morning we put together to show you now. The first, survivors of a bridge collapse in Vietnam. They're still searching for them today, but officials say that this came down during construction. Thirty-four people were killed and dozens of others were injured or trapped.
Well, this is certainly a disturbing billboard if you were driving down the street and had a chance to see it. It is an anti- anorexia campaign. It features a French actress just 67 pounds. She's modeling for a new ad campaign to draw attention to anorexia and to help stop it in Italy. Her name, Isabelle Caro. The photographer who took the photos specializes in shocking campaigns, accusing the fashion industry of promoting an unhealthy image of beauty. Again, she's just 67 pounds.
And how about this one? Maybe they should have taken a closer look at the blueprints. These Navy barracks in Coronado, California, may look fine from the ground. But when you take a look from above, it looks like a swastika. The buildings have been up since the 1960s, but Google Earth is now revealing the aerial view that has some people raising their eyebrows. The Navy has now decided to masking the obvious swastika image with some landscaping and construction. Hopefully you'll like the end result. You'll be paying for it. It's going to be costing taxpayers $600,000.
John.
ROBERTS: Oops.
Hillary Clinton gaining ground in the crucial New Hampshire primary. A new CNN/WMUR poll of Democratic primary voters shows Hillary with 43 percent of the vote now. That compares to 20 percent for Barack Obama. A huge improvement since July.
But voters still say that Obama is more likable than Clinton and John Edwards as well. But when it comes to getting things done, Hillary Clinton wins out again as the candidate most likely to bring about change.
Which candidates have been telling the truth on the campaign trail and which ones are fibbing? Bill Adair is the Washington bureau chief of the "St. Petersburg Times." He's also the editor of politifact.com. One of our favorite people and favorite websites. We turn to him for the truth behind what the candidates say. He joins me here in Washington.
Bill, good to see you. Quickly, refresh our viewers on what the truth-o-meter is all about.
BILL ADAIR, "ST. PETERSBURG TIMES": The truth-o-meter measures the accuracy of what the candidates are saying. We go from true, to half true, to false and then we have our worst setting is pants on fire.
ROBERTS: Well, let's see if we've got any pants on fire this morning.
OK. Our first statement made by Mitt Romney, August the 14th. He said about Mayor Giuliani, "he made New York City what's known as a 'sanctuary city,' where illegal aliens were allowed to come. And he instructed the leaders of the city not to enforce the law, not to immigration law." And the truth-o-meter says?
ADAIR: Half true. We found this to be really misleading, although he was correct that Giuliani had embraced the policy where the city workers didn't ask people their immigration status.
ROBERTS: Why misleading?
ADAIR: We found it was misleading because to call it a sanctuary implies some sort of safe haven for immigrants, and it really wasn't. The feds could still enforce immigration law in New York.
ROBERTS: And it was also the feds job to enforce immigration law, not local (INAUDIBLE).
ADAIR: Exactly. It's not a city responsibility.
ROBERTS: All right. OK.
Second statement. In response to that, Jim Dyke, Giuliani campaign spokesman, on August 14th said, "Romney failed to take action against three 'sanctuary cities" in Massachusetts." And the truth-o- meter says?
ADAIR: Mostly true. It was a little more accurate than what he had said about Giuliani. But still, the point that Giuliani was making was supposed to be that Romney was soft on immigration. And you really can't judge that. Governors, just as you said with city workers, are not responsible to enforce immigration law and so we gave it a mostly true.
ROBERTS: All right. Let's go to the Democratic side. Joe Biden, in a campaign ad that aired on September the 14th, take a quick look at this and then we'll ask you about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: All I could think of was, the parents waiting at the other end. We must end this war in a way that doesn't require us to send their grandchild back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: OK. So the statement in there that we want to put the truth-o-meter on is, "Joe Biden is the only candidate with a plan to get us out of Iraq and keep us out." What did you find?
ADAIR: Half true. He deserves credit because he came up with a very detailed plan early. But to say that he is the only candidate with a plan is just not true, and so we gave it a half true.
ROBERTS: All right. And here's the last one. September 19th. Rudy Giuliani, when he was over in London bragged, "I'm probably one of the four or five best known Americans in the world." And the truth-o-meter said?
ADAIR: Pants on fire! We had a hard time measuring this and so did some others in the blogosphere, Onecat (ph) and some others had a lot of fun with it. But what we did, we did Google hits, which was the most scientific way we could find. And Rudy was not even close to the top. Ahead of him were, as you might expect, Bill Clinton, George Bush, Dick Cheney and even Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. So Rudy gets a pants on fire for that one.
ROBERTS: All right. Bill, it's always great to see you, always good to roll out the truth-o-meter. We'll bring you back. We'll do it again real soon.
ADAIR: Thanks a lot, John.
ROBERTS: Thanks.
Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, another Hollywood star arrested for DUI topping your "Quick Hits." Kiefer Sutherland, who plays Jack Bauer on "24," was pulled over in west Hollywood yesterday. He failed a sobriety test. Sutherland posted a $25,000 bail. He'll be in court next month. Last night Sutherland was honored by the Canadian Actor's Union. He did not mention his arrest.
And a 33-year-old man is in jail this morning after setting a high speed record in London. Police recently clocked Tim Brady doing 172 miles an hour in his black Porsche. No one's ever been stopped for going that fast. Again, 172 miles per hour on a road, not a track. The wild ride will also cost Brady his job. It turns out the Porsche belonged to his boss and he took it without permission. That was a joy ride.
Well, sodas are out of the school, but there's a new drink that's now at the center of worries about children. Should a new drink that some people call an energy drink, some people say it's great to help you after sports, actually be banned? We're going to talk about it. Also, a piece of artwork that's owned by Elton John seized by British police. We're going to tell you what's wrong with the picture. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty-five minutes now after the hour. A fresh challenge to i-Tunes tops your "Quick Hits" now. Amazon has launched Amazon MP3. Each song costs between 89 and 99 cents. No software to stop you from copying songs. And you can play them on any MP3 player, including an i-Pod.
Native Americans are getting a shoe designed just for them. The Nike Air Native N7 is made for the distinctive foot shape of American Indians. It will be sold to tribal wellness programs and schools at wholesale prices.
A swimmer with down syndrome swam across (INAUDIBLE) Lake Tahoe yesterday. The goal was to raise money and awareness for the genetic disorder. The nine mile swim across Like Tahoe took 29-year-old Karen Gaffney a little more than six hours. Gaffney has already concurred the English Channel and the escape from Alcatraz swim across San Francisco Bay. Used to being in the water. What a great athlete. That's terrific.
CHETRY: Right here.
ROBERTS: Yes. Hey, Kiran.
CHETRY: Wow. Congratulations to her. And she was so thrilled that she was able to do that. Pretty impressive, by the way.
ROBERTS: Yes, absolutely.
CHETRY: Hey, here's another story coming up that you can't miss. You know, we talked about the massive toy recall. Twenty million toys recalled. But why are they still in your home? Our Greg Hunter is going to be taking a look at that, John.
ROBERTS: Yes, it's a real problem. You know, these toy companies can say, get those things off of the shelves. You know, if you've got them at home, return them or whatever. But it takes a lot more awareness than what we've seen so far to make sure that all of those lead contaminated toys are gone. We'll check in with Greg, see what he's found out.
Those stories when AMERICAN MORNING returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Pretty picture this morning coming to us from WDIV, our affiliate in Detroit, Michigan, where it is 70 degrees right now. Cloudy. Some scattered storms set to come in the afternoon. And the high will stick around say in the low 70s today in Detroit.
It is Wednesday, September 26th. Thanks for being with us. I'm Kiran Chetry in New York.
And, John, I'm sure they're thrilled the end of the first strike in three decades, two-day-long strike over now.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: I was going to say, one storm coming, another storm dissipates at the same time. Good morning to you, I'm John Roberts in Washington D.C.
This morning, here last night, hosting a charity event for the community anti-drug coalitions of America. Raised more than $1 million so it was all a success.
CHETRY: That was wonderful. Even though you are in D.C., we miss you but you'll be back tomorrow.
News out of Detroit that General Motors and the United Auto Workers union announced a couple of hours ago that they have reached a deal. They had worked through the night to try to get to some sort of agreement and ends a two day long strike against General Motors.
Ali Velshi joins us with more on the deal. He's been following it.
You were out in Michigan yesterday and had a chance to talk to both sides.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS ANALYST: Good morning, Kiran. We were trying to figure out what was going on. A lot of the strikers themselves were a little confused Monday morning when they did walk off the job. There wasn't a sense they were that far apart and they were able to get back to the table and come out with the deal.
Here's what Ron Gettelfinger had to say a few hours ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RON GETTELFINGER, PRESIDENT, UNITED AUTO WORKERS: At 3:05 a.m. this morning, we reached a tentative agreement with General Motors Corporation, pending ratification by our membership. We are recessing the strike effective at 4:00 a.m. this morning, and we will be prepared to go in to ratification meetings, hopefully by the end of this week.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: So that means they're ending the strike. The pickets are coming down. General Motors told us they expect by second shift, sometime midday eastern time they'll have everybody back up and running. The union, this is what we're hearing might be the case, the union is going to control that retiree health care trust fund t will be funded by the company. That covers 340,000 ex employees and their spouses. This is fortunate for anybody in America part of a union where there are retirement funding problems. Union workers will also get lump sum payments.
The strike is in recess until the workers vote on this, which should be this weekend. Also on Thursday we understand the United Auto Workers also pick their next negotiating target which will be ford or Chrysler but a contract that they achieved will usually be used as a president tern for the next contract, usually it's a very similar contract that the other two car makers get. Kiran?
CHETRY: All right, Ali, thanks.
ROBERTS: It looks a lot like Madeleine. The search for Madeleine McCann, authorities are looking at a picture of a little girl that looks a lot like Madeleine. Take a look for yourself. It was taken by a Spanish couple about a month ago on vacation in Morocco. Shows a local woman carrying a child on her back with blonde hair.
The McCann's have been through this before but earlier on "AMERICAN MORNING" a family spokesman said it's possible that could be Madeleine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCANN FAMILY SPOKESMAN: It is quite possible that she could have been taken by an abductor, for whatever reason and brought to North Africa.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Experts are now looking at the picture but there is reason to be skeptical. There have been several sightings of Madeleine, alleged sightings of Madeleine since she vanished in May in Morocco and other countries as well.
CHETRY: The spokesman earlier said it's a short ferry ride, boat ride from Portugal to Morocco.
President Bush is in New York today, he attended a dignitary film dinner at the United Nations last night, praising Ban Ki Moon for his first year as leadership as secretary-general.
Iran's president sticking by his agreement that there are not any homosexuals in his country. A reporter asked him if he could elaborate on the comment he made that drew a bunch of laughs at Columbia University.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER (through translation): You mentioned there is no such phenomenon in Iran as homosexuality. Could you elaborate on that? I know a few myself.
MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, PRESIDENT OF IRAN (through translation): Seriously, I don't know of any. Homosexuality, I don't know where it is. Give me an address so we are also aware of what happens in Iran.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: That's the first time he seemed a little bit a loss for words. Ahmadinejad on Monday called homosexuality a "phenomenon" that doesn't happen in Iran. Some human rights groups say that hundreds of gay people have been executed in that country -- John?
ROBERTS: Here's an interesting scene caught on tape, mom and big sister literally take matters into their own hands on a school bus. The woman slapped a 13-year-old boy who allegedly punched her son the day before. Take a look at this.
You also saw there that her 15-year-old daughter got in a couple of shots before the driver kicked them off of the bus. Police in St. Petersburg, Florida, say they are each facing a charge of battery.
A battle over free speech and where to draw the line on a college campus. Over a one-line editorial in a Colorado state newspaper that read "taser this, Bush." Today the paper's editor will defend himself before the school's communications board. He told us Monday on "AMERICAN MORNING" that the paper was trying to spark a dialogue on campus and highlight the importance of free speech.
A piece of art owned by Elton John was seized by police in England because it might be child porn. The photograph shows two young girls, one with her legs uncrossed. The image was to be on display in a gallery but police removed it before that exhibit opened.
CHETRY: You probably had a bottle of Gatorade or Powerade. Did you ever think of it as junk food? It has a lot of sugars. Some advocates say it is junk food and want to ban the sale of the drinks in schools. On average the drinks have about half the calories of soda, still a large amount of sugar and as much as three times the sodium. People say that sodium could end up causing high blood pressure in kids, a bill that could include the ban is working its way through Congress.
This morning kicks off a three-day conference in New York, convened by former president Bill Clinton called the Clinton Global Initiative and what it does is brings together world leaders, CEOs, even actors and their goal is to help solve some of the more pressing global problems.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here to tell us more about it.
You're going to be talking to some of the people that are part of this. Explain briefly what it is.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is how the former president has chose on it spend his time, convening about 1,000 world leaders in business, people who are celebrities, religious leaders, all sorts of different leaders to try to bring about global change. That's the mandate. This is the third year now, started in 2005, that he has done this sort of thing and every year it's been here in New York you have all sorts of participants. This year everybody from Ted Turner to Tony Morrison, Angelina Jolie, Desmond Tutu, they'll be talking with solution makers and put them in the same room as implementers. A couple examples how this might work, what made sense to me, for example if you had a good treatment for HIV-AIDS, you had good cocktails but couldn't get them to the people who need them the most or affordable price, how do you negotiate with the pharmaceutical companies and put them on the hands of the people on the ground in the countries and get them to some of these hard-to-access places. You got the medications, you have the people who can get them there, you've got to bring them together. That's what a lot of this initiative is all about. It's expensive but a lot of people are willing to put up the money for it.
CHETRY: Clean drinking water, you know what to do. How do you get it into that particular village? They have chipped away though at some of these problems finding clean energy sources, making sure kids get preventative vaccines.
GUPTA: I was fascinated by the idea you could put monetary amounts in some of this stuff. How much would it cost to bring about significant climate change in the world, how much would it cost to alleviate poverty? People will say .7 percent of GDP of every industrialized nation, contribute that, poverty will be gone in the world.
Things like that, you hear the broad, sweeping statements. Some of it is sort of backed nuptial data. As far as CGI particularly, people give money, I think you're required to give about $15,000 to become a member of CGI and they raise about, I think the number was around $10 billion from lots of different philanthropists from around the world.
CHETRY: They say they've gotten commitments of $100 billion. The interesting thing is if you commit and don't follow through, you're not invited back. That happened for a couple of years
GUPTA: It does happen, and one of the things I attended, that you are given a commitment card and you have to write down something and it can be money but also be in terms of time or specific activities. You turn that in, and they do follow up with you in terms of what specifically you're going to do.
CHETRY: It will be interesting, we'll look at some of the actual accomplishments they have made and later you'll speak with Ted Turner.
GUPTA: He's probably one of the most well-known philanthropists. We'll talk about children's health, what is going on in the world of children's health. I'll tell you what CGI is doing.
CHETRY: See you in a couple of minutes. Thanks, Sanjay.
GUPTA: Thanks, Kiran.
CHETRY: Thursday we open up Sanjay's mailbox, he answers your questions you've written about in some the medical stories we cover. If you have a question, go to cnn.com/am, that's "AMERICAN MORNING's" home page and send us an e-mail and Sanjay will answer them here on "AMERICAN MORNING" every Thursday. ROBERTS: We're watching a tropical depression off of Mexico's Gulf Coast, where is it now and will it be the next named tropical storm? We're live in the CNN Weather Center.
And millions of toys recalled, but the danger is not over for your family. Greg Hunter is looking out for you, ahead on "AMERICAN MORNING."
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ROBERTS: Coming up to 43 minutes after the hour. We are following breaking news out of Myanmar, the showdown between Buddhist protesters and security forces. We are getting our first reports of violence as thousands hit the streets of the capital city, formerly known as Rangoon. This is the latest video. One protester was shot and killed this morning and a flood really of unconfirmed reports about protesters either being shot or beaten.
CNN's Dan Rivers is trying to make his way to Myanmar from Thailand.
What are you hearing from where you are on the ground there, Dan?
DAN RIVERS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well certainly we're hearing that there have been violent clashes. We're hearing that the police, riot police have fired tear gas at the crowds.
We are getting pictures coming in to us at CNN of injured monk s, one showing a monk that looks like he's been injured in the leg, we have a report of one monk being shot dead although we haven't confirmed that ourselves.
You can see the mountains of Myanmar behind me. We've been over the border into a small provincial town. There's no sign of any protests here. This is a pretty remote area. Certainly everyone is aware of what's going on in the capital. The capital is shut off to western journalists. It's difficult to find out what's going on. The latest information this hour is that the protests are beginning to come to an end for the day as night falls here.
ROBERTS: Remind us what this is all about and is it expected to make any kind of a difference?
RIVERS: This started about a protest of increased fuel prices and ended as a direct challenge to the military government. The army brutally represses any form of free speech or demands for democracy. That's what these people want. They want democracy. The woman that's won the election back in 1990, they want her to be released from house arrest, and they want full and fair elections. They want freedom in short, something we all take for granted in the west, something they've been denied here almost half a century.
ROBERTS: Dan Rivers along the Thai-Myanmar border. We'll check in with you later on, thanks.
CHETRY: It's 45 minutes past the hour. Rob Marciano is continuing to track weather for us, including the 13th tropical depression that could become a named storm in the Atlantic.
Hi, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Kiran. This is tropical depression number 13 in the Gulf of Mexico. So that always has us worried. It's far south, center of it is right about there, not going anywhere and if it's going to go anywhere, it looks like the way the weather pattern is shaping up, it will probably drift even farther away from the U.S.
The official forecast drifts it slowly into the coastline of Mexico as we head closer toward the weekend, as a tropical storm. So we'll still watch that but it looks like at the moment it's not going to threaten the United States.
There's a disturbance in the Bahamas that's going to bring heavy rain to south Florida and the next 48 hours this forecast precipitation model showing rainfall along this front, which is pushing into some serious warm air.
I don't have to tell you this, Cincinnati, Ohio, 93, Indianapolis, 92, Ft. Wayne -- these are record-high temperatures. Mid 80s into New York City yesterday. Today 86, 87 degrees, at least 15 degrees above average so enjoy that's left of summer to are this first week of fall. Kiran, back up to you.
CHETRY: Rob, thanks so much.
The toys are doing a little bit of talking here. We talked about the massive toy recall. Millions of potentially dangerous toys and some of them are still in homes across America.
Greg Hunter, you've been looking into this for us.
GREG HUNTER, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: All of the stores have two things in common, they're you will recalled. Once they make it into your home they rarely come out. When with we come back on "AMERICAN MORNING," we'll tell you how to protect your kids.
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ROBERTS: News in the morning here on CNN. "Quick Hits" now. New York police are investigating a large amount of swastikas, flyers with hate messages left on some cars in a neighborhood as well.
It will be business as usual on campus at the University of Wisconsin at Madison today. Authorities spent the night looking for a man they say was suicidal in trying to provoke a shootout with police. This morning they say the man is only a danger to himself, not the community. They know who he is. They just don't know yet where he is -- Kiran?
CHETRY: This year alone the government has announced more than 59 different toy recalls, involving 20 million toys with defects from of course dangerous amounts of lead paint to loose magnets that could cause injury or in some cases, even death. Authorities though say that a lot of these recalled toys are still out there.
Greg Hunter is here, he brought with him a lot of the recalled toys or even a sampling. You can't even begin to figure out why they're still out there.
Hi, Greg.
HUNTER: This is just part of the 20 million toys that have been recalled. The sad thing, sometimes they did a good job getting them off the shelves but once they make it home, these make a lot of racquet. Very few toys come out of the house.
Here's how you can protect yourself.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTER (voice-over): Eric Salsedo, Illinois State inspector is trying to keep unsafe toys way from kids. His job? Making sure the public knows about recall.
LISA MADIGAN, ILLINOIS ATTORNEY GENERAL: It could be prominently displayed and posted so when you walk in the store or go to the toy shelf that information is there for to you read.
HUNTER: Illinois is one of the few states that has a law, giving the attorney general the power to enforce toy recalls. Still, there are compliance problems like at this Kmart.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thomas the Train, you know, these have to be posted so customers --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Visible?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's my first day here.
HUNTER: Kmart told CNN "Kmart takes our customer safety very seriously. We plan to remind all of our stores the requirement to post all CPSC recall notices."
Attorney General Lisa Madigan says her team is stepping in where the Federal Consumer Safety Products Commission falls short.
MADIGAN: We find it's spotty in terms of compliance with the recalls.
HUNTER: These toys with magnets were recalled in 2006. Madigan's team took them off the shelf. The magnets are so powerful if swallowed they can stick together and block a child's intestines.
Two years ago, Seattle mom Penny Sweet's son, Kenny, decided after swallowing the same type of toy magnet.
PENNY SWEET, MOTHER OF KENNY: I don't want this to happen to another child or parent and have to live through this, this type of thing. This has been awful.
HUNTER: Madigan wants the CPSC to do more.
MADIGAN: They're under funded and understaffed but at times seem uninterested.
HUNTER: The CPSC keeps problem products off store shelves but says few consumers actually return them after a recall. It urges consumers to sign up for recall alerts on their website. Ultimately, parents are the last line of defense.
JULIE VALLESE, CSPC DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS: The best way to protect yourself is to do an inventory of your home, to go onto our website, and to compare what's in your home against the recall notices that are on our website.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTER: According to the CPSC, they've been recalling toys by the millions for years. It's just gotten more attention because the amount is slightly higher hand in years past and Mattel was involved in China and that whole deal but the CPSC says they've recalled millions of toys in 2004, 2002 thou 5 and 2006 and the sad thing s most of the toys once they get into your home stay in your home.
CHETRY: I'm trying to think how realistic it is for a parent to go through it. You can see on this toy, this is a little truck made in China, these tiny little letters to match that up against the website with all of the toys in your house, you can understand why people still have them in their homes.
HUNTER: It's a daunting job. Some of the toy also have lead paint and some model numbers won't. Go on to cnn.com/americanmorning and we put the toy recalls going back to the '70s so you can brows through and see if you have any of those toys that are still in your home. There you go.
CHETRY: Thanks for looking out for us, Greg. We appreciate it.
ROBERTS: I have to get out my old Lincoln Logs.
A scare at a school in Washington D.C. tops your "Quick Hits". Someone released something similar to tear gas or pepper spray in the school. Fourteen students were treated for throat irritation, later released from the hospital. No one was seriously hurt. The school is expected to be open again for class this is morning.
For the first time in 29 years someone is looking to build a new nuclear power plant in the United States. A company filed paperwork to build the plant in south Texas and it cost more than $5 billion and served 2 million homes. Still going to be awhile before they break ground. The approval process could take two years, but that might be quicker than in the past. Many environmentalists have dropped their opposition to nuclear power.
And even for L.A., it was an odd sight. A house stranded on the side of the road. But this house finally could be on the move.
Guilty as charged, a man worshipped by thousands is now an accomplice to child rape. Reaction from a person who lived under his oppression, ahead on "AMERICAN MORNING."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Los Angeles, that house stranded on the side of a highway finally moved last night. The owner ran into -- well, let's call it a few problems when he tried to move it from the coast to inland. He took the wrong route, lost some tires and then the house was knocked off of the tractor trailer when it hit an overpass. It sat there for about a week, was quickly covered in graffiti. There's something he's not going to forget for awhile.
Story in our next half our, Buffalo Bills Kevin Everett couple of weeks ago suffered the terrible neck fracture, looked for awhile like he was going to be a quadriplegic. Things are looking up these days.
CHETRY: They really are. Sanjay Gupta has a model that he's going to be showing us that he has right here on the set, he'll show us where this injury took place and what doctors were able to do and also his prognosis, as well as another NFL player also having to be carried off of the field because of another injury to his back. We'll have much more on this when "AMERICAN MORNING" continues.
The next hour starts right now.
ROBERTS: Breaking news.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GETTELFINGER: Production will resume this afternoon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Breaking down the just brokered deal between auto workers and GM.
Spitting image.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCANN FAMILY SPOKESMAN: It appears to look very like Madeleine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The shocking new picture appears to show Madeleine McCann. Could she still be alive?
And the video you can't forget. What really happened the night she got tasered, over and over? Hear her side of the story when she joins us live on this "AMERICAN MORNING."
A lot of breaking news on this "AMERICAN MORNING." We will break it down, tell you what it all means. Thanks very much for joining us. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com
