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American Morning
Egypt's "Day of Anger"; Charlie Sheen's "Wild Night"; Art Of The Bet; Egypt's Day of Anger; What Kids Crave
Aired January 28, 2011 - 07:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning once again, everyone. It's Friday, January 28th. If you're waking up right now, good morning for the first time. I'm Kate Bolduan. Thanks for joining us.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you, all. I'm T.J. Holmes. So glad you could be here with us. We have got a lot happening including breaking news, but another story. Certainly, going to have you talking this morning out of Pennsylvania. A high school there is going backwards, some would say. They're trying out a plan to segregate students, but the idea here is to help them out and even boost test scores. Is this a good idea?
BOLDUAN: Good question.
Did you count out Rambo? Well, you shouldn't have. Rahm Emmanuel still has a shot at his dream job now officially back in the race for Chicago mayor, the decision that kept his campaign alive, ahead.
HOLMES: And he is guaranteed $12 million this coming baseball season, but he told his bosses "I don't deserve it," and he's walking away. We'll explain this story coming up.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
BOLDUAN: First some breaking news, we want to get to right now for you. It is erupting right now. Egypt, a critical ally in the Arab world for the U.S. is on the brink. There is brand-new video coming in from all over the country as thousands of people are already pouring into the streets today.
In particular, Suez, let's show you just a couple of the pictures we are getting in. For Suez, there are unconfirmed reports there that police have shot some 20 people. We are looking into that and not been able to confirm it yet, but those are some of the reports that are coming in. Also, Alexandria, demonstrators there throwing rocks through clouds of tear gas that are being fired at them by the police. Also the city of Cairo on lockdown right now.
Internet service has been shut down. Cell phone service had been shut down as well. People having a hard time communicating. What you're seeing here now is a live picture in Cairo. This is the one coming to us from state-run Nile TV there. It switched there. But you're seeing an idea.
Again, we are getting brand-new pictures minute-by-minute. Our Fred Pleitgen is there, as well as -- some other correspondents as well. But I'm going to stay with this picture here for just a second in that.
Again, we are seeing brand-new pictures. Literally, it feels like every minute of people running through the streets. We are seeing a lot of people actually outnumbering the police there on the streets.
Now, several different areas just across the country where this is happening, but people are on the streets.
Let me remind you what this is about. People are demanding more from their government. Some are calling on the President Hosni Mubarak to step down. They want better economic conditions. They are accusing the government of being corrupt for so many years.
But take a look at this. These are the clashes expected, Kate, to go more and more throughout the day as people get out of their Friday prayers. We are expecting many people to spill out into the streets and that's what's happening in the past several hours.
BOLDUAN: One thing I found so interesting that we heard from Nic Robertson, he's in Alexandria where, again, big protests are breaking out and have been ongoing. One thing we heard from him is that he saw from his eyes on the ground -- he saw older men working with younger men; younger men maybe throwing rocks at the police, at the security services that were there, but the older men telling them to put down the rocks, to not get violent -- almost coming to kind of an awkward truce with the police.
So, some very interesting developments, but we're definitely seeing it ramping up today. They told us that it would, but we're definitely seeing that happen throughout the country. We talk a lot about Cairo, the capital city, but this is happening throughout the country.
HOLMES: And we talk about the Internet service being shutdown. But, now, it's gone beyond that, if you will.
I believe we are back to this live picture of state-run Nile TV. It's kind of gone beyond the Internet, trying to shut down the Internet or Twitter or Facebook. We're just beyond that now. The word has got out. No matter who is sitting at a computer trying to get the word out, it still takes a motivated individual to go out there and organize and be willing and sometime sacrifice their own personal safety, to go out there and let their voice be heard.
Another live picture we're showing here. And you see the police force -- and for most of the pictures we have been seeing, the police are certainly outnumbered by the protesters. And even though they are out in force here, as you see the police are, they're -- in some cases -- not much of a match for the large number of protesters we are seeing.
For the most part, yes, you do see passion, you do see anger, but not a whole lot of violence necessary on behalf of the protesters. We're not getting those reports from our people on the ground but there have been some smaller clashes.
I'm told our Fred Pleitgen, do we still have him?
BOLDUAN: I think it's Ben Wedeman.
HOLMES: It's Ben Wedeman now -- Ben Wedeman.
Ben, hello to you once again. If you can, tell us what you are seeing now as this gets later into the day, and I certainly want you to recall for our viewers what happened to you and your crew as you were down there and got into a clash yourself with some of the police force.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Basically, right now, I can smell the tear gas. It's coming from the road behind me. There are hundreds of people on a main bridge over the Nile. Hundreds of security forces trying to stop them.
Behind this building, several pounds of black smoke coming up on one of the major thoroughfares of Cairo. And everywhere you look, (INAUDIBLE) of main roads, there are demonstrations going on.
Now, the interior ministry, as it did the other day, said it would not tolerate demonstrations. But we are seeing they are using violence everywhere to put them down. And I can tell you, most of the protesters are not violent. They may throw rocks back after awhile. But, by and large, the violence is coming from the state.
Now, to get to what happened to us, we were right off the (INAUDIBLE), the main square of Cairo, between a group of protesters who were running away from the police. As a group of plain clothes policemen --
BOLDUAN: Do we have you, Ben? Ben, are you still there?
No. I think we lost Ben. A lot is going on. We'll make sure that we get back with him.
But you see what he was describing, there seems to be a real ramping up of the tension of the protests. But as Ben very well pointed out, not everyone is getting violent, but it can be a small faction of violence that can really set off a protest.
But we are watching this on the ground. A lot going on as you can tell throughout the country of Egypt. Very important to be watching abroad, as well as here at home. We will bring more to you throughout the hour.
Let me get to this: there is some good news that we should turn to this morning.
HOLMES: Yes.
BOLDUAN: Concerning the health of former South African President Nelson Mandela. He is being discharged. Very good news from a Johannesburg hospital. The country surgeon general says Mandela was admitted Wednesday with an acute respiratory infection.
The 92-year-old will now receive treatment at home. And doctors say Mandela is in good spirits, doing well, and there's no need to panic about his health. A big question about that when people heard he was going to the hospital.
HOLMES: And you remember Rahm Emanuel -- he gave up what many thought was the second most popular job in the White House, as chief of staff to President Obama -- gave that job up so he could go back and do his dream job in Chicago. He wanted to be mayor of his hometown.
Well, after he was kicked off a ballot because of a residency requirement. He is now being put back on the ballot and can run again after the Supreme Court ruled, yes, in fact, he is eligible to run. Rahm Emanuel says, let the folks decide.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAHM EMANUEL, CHICAGO MAYORAL CANDIDATE: As I said from the beginning, I think that the voters deserve the right to make the choice of who should be mayor and I think what the Supreme Court said was in short, basically, in short, that the voters will make the decision who should be mayor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: In dispute here was whether or not he met a residency requirement that he had to live in Chicago a year before the election. Of course, he spent so much time at the White House where he was working, but it appears the Supreme Court has cleared the way. Early voting starts in that race on Monday.
I want to turn to a story that's going to have you talking -- school experimenting with segregation. A Pennsylvania high school, this is a voluntary mentoring program they are calling it, but McCaskey East High School in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, they separate the students essentially in the home room every morning. So, about six minutes a day, they separate them by race and gender. The teacher who pitched this idea says research proves this kind of idea has merit.
Well, what about the students?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
DOMINIQUE MILLER, MCCASKEY JUNIOR: Well, at first, I was against it 100 percent. You know, I was against it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why?
MILLER: Because I kind of agree with other people, they thought it was going segregate the school. That's how I felt too. But, now, actually, the home rooms are collided, the male home rooms, and you hear them speak and hear what they're talking about and it's not just six minutes every day, it's kind of like you realize what this is really about.
ANGELA TILGHMAN, MCCASKEY H.S. TEACHER: I specifically looked at research that focused on African-Americans, what was best for their academic needs. I proposed the idea to run an African-American male and female home room to the principals and he was on board with it.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
HOLMES: As you're kind of hearing there, the idea there is to put students in a class with someone who looks like them. That way, that could inspire them to achieve a little more. The principal is defending the program and says, we'll see how it works, but it just start at the end of the last year.
BOLDUAN: Let's check back in about that.
Let's also check in with Rob Marciano. He's in the extreme weather center watching the weather headlines.
Hey, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, guys.
I got some numbers for you of interest. I know it's been a snowy winter for a lot of folks. Here is how it shapes up for a few cities. Philadelphia is seeing 36.9 inches so far. That's way above normal. New York City way above normal, Boston, everybody is way above normal.
As a matter of fact, if we get another inch of snow across Central Park in the next couple of days, we'll set the all-time monthly record for snowfall.
Temperatures today are on the teens and 20s to start. So, a little bit of melting yesterday afternoon. It will cause some slick spots today on the roadways. Certainly this morning, some black ice and you're seeing just a little bit of more snow coming into New York, Philly, D.C., and Boston -- just a little bit.
But there's heavier amounts back through Pittsburgh and down through Charleston, trying to get over the Appalachians and will have a hard time doing that. But I think probably get some showers, maybe a dusting, maybe half an inch, maybe an inch. Another storm is behind that one. That's weak as well.
Southern half of the country slowly warming up and starting to feel -- well, at least more normal, I would say. I wouldn't say above average or spring-like, but at least feeling more like the end of January as opposed to something colder than that. Back to you guys.
HOLMES: Rob, we appreciate you this morning, buddy. Thanks so much.
BOLDUAN: Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: All right, guys.
BOLDUAN: We have some new tape or new pictures -- new live pictures from Cairo, from Egypt. We're watching that story and we'll have much more on that and the ongoing protests and the clashes there coming up after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, 11 minutes past the hour here on this AMERICAN MORNING.
We are following this breaking news situation and it has been developing minute-by-minute here this morning. You're seeing some of the latest pictures, right in the middle of that screen, some new pictures you're seeing -- that is Mohamed ElBaradei. He is the opposition leader, if you will. This is one that people are pointing to. He has been a voice for really quite some time that there should be democratic change in Egypt.
These are new pictures we are seeing of him. He went for a noon prayers today like so many did on this Friday there in Egypt. He is being warned now by police not to leave. We don't know exactly what that could mean.
They told him not to leave for his own safety, telling him not to leave, under threat of arrest, we don't know. But he is being warned not to leave. So many protesters have guaranteed outside that mosque where he has gone to prayer. Again, that was a taped picture.
Here are other pictures we can bring you as well. The streets are starting to fill up. We have been watching this for the past several hours. We knew so many would be going for prayers and then spilling out into the streets. That's exactly what's happening.
Have been some clashes, some tear gas going out, some rocks being thrown as well. But for the most part, you see passion. You see anger as well. But, for the most part, these have been peaceful.
One of our reporters, Ben Wedeman, he and his crew were roughed up but police who are trying to take -- keep them from getting pictures of a particular area of protests.
But, Kate, we started this morning, a couple of hours ago. And we were expecting this to ramp up through the day. They called it a day of anger and it looks like just what was expected to happen is starting to happen at least.
Was that the picture there of a water going into the crowd? That was one we were told we were going to see?
But we're seeing again, new pictures, seems like every single minute coming in. We'll continue to update you as we get this on this breaking story.
BOLDUAN: Following that and a lot of other stories this morning.
An ex-reporter will meet the press, if you will. Jay Carney is replacing Robert Gibbs as White House press secretary, a big job he's taking on. He's currently Vice President Joe Biden's communication director and a former Washington bureau chief for "TIME" magazine.
HOLMES: Also, Jon Stewart -- yes, that Jon Stewart -- has a new gig. He has been appointed to the 9/11 Museum board. The president of the National September 11th Memorial Museum says it's important to have him there because, you know what, he has been a passionate advocate for the 9/11 workers and he could also play a key role in fundraising for the memorial.
BOLDUAN: And we'll turn to a very interesting story. If this even surprises you, actor Charlie Sheen, well, he's at it again, or he was hospitalized, we're told, after a reported 36-hour bender and just like the last time, something like this happened, his reps are saying it's a medical condition.
Alina Cho is joining us with all of the details.
Alina, please! What is going on with this?
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's been suggested that it was actually a funny television moment on his show that triggered a hernia injury. But, anyway, there are a lot of details spilling out, as you might imagine.
HOLMES: He just laughed -- he was laughing so hard that he hurt himself?
CHO: That is one theory, yes.
But, Kate, as you suggested, this is sadly a case of deja vu. Charlie Sheen was rushed to the emergency room at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center yesterday morning. He is in stable condition at the moment.
His spokesman told CNN, quote, "Charlie has had a hernia condition for some time. And I was told by the person who made the 911 call that it was hernia related and that he had severe stomach pains. Since the person is not a doctor, I chose not to provide a diagnosis, except to say he was suffering from severe stomach pain."
Now, some of the more salacious details about what happened are coming to us courtesy of TMZ. Now, one of the most outrageous is that Sheen had a briefcase full of cocaine delivered to his home, and he was in the midst of a raging party that went on for more than a day with five women just before he went to the hospital. Now, TMZ is also reporting that at least one of the women was a 22-year-old porn star.
It's something Sheen sadly is known for. His problems have been well documented. Just listen to his co-star on the CBS hit series "Two And A Half Men," Jon Cryer joking about it just this week on Conan O'Brien. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON CRYER, ACTOR, "TWO AND A HALF MEN": The stuff you hear is just unbelievable. I mean, like, I'm checking TMZ as I do every day to know if I have to go to work at all. And there is--
(LAUGHTER)
CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST: Hey, yes. I was there once myself. Yes.
CRYER: Exactly. You know the feeling.
(LAUGHTER)
CRYER: At any rate, there was a story. They found Charlie's car, which, at that point, was not yet a Maiboc but was another pricey car at the bottom of a cliff. So, you're thinking, wow. Sure hope Charlie is OK.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
CRYER: And he comes into work, and it's like, hey, Charlie, how is it going, man? And you're checking for scratches because my mind come up with this whole thing that he'd crashed the car and then clawed his way back up the cliff.
O'BRIEN: Sure. Yes.
CRYER: But he said, well -- I said how you doing, man? He said I'm doing OK, except that somebody stole my car and ran it off a cliff last night. And normally, you would not believe that from somebody.
O'BRIEN: Yes. That just sounds like such -- yes.
CRYER: But from Charlie Sheen, you believe that!
(LAUGHTER)
CRYER: Because that happened to him!
O'BRIEN: It did happen.
CRYER: Twice!
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: You know, there is no question that Charlie Sheen is one of the most well-known Hollywood bad boys. He's also the highest paid actor on television right now. Earning a reported $1.25 million per episode for his role in "Two and a Half Men." Of course, the question is what is his future at CBS?
CBS expressed some concern about Charlie Sheen, as you might imagine, about a month ago and some comments to TV critics. They've not yet released a statement about this latest incident, but, you know, a lot of questions about that. You know, that show is very -- is top rated.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Still doing well.
CHO: He's paid very, very well. It is very popular, but you know, the question is how much bad publicity can the network take? We shall see.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: We don't make light of any serious condition or any hospitalization.
CHO: No, and absolutely. And listen there, a lot of people who are concerned about his condition. This is not the first time and, you know, a lot of people saying this may be a cry out for help, and we'll see what happens.
HOLMES: More to come. Alina Cho, we appreciate you as always this morning. Thanks.
BOLDUAN: Another story. How young is too young for makeup? Retail giant, Wal-Mart, is adding a new range of makeup to its shelves, aimed at young children. We'll speak to a family psychotherapist a little later this morning to talk about that.
HOLMES: And also, a bit of video that you're just going to have to see. A gorilla standing up and walking just like a man.
BOLDUAN: Oh, boy.
HOLMES: Eighteen minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: OK. You might be afraid. Kate was just mentioning. You might be afraid to see this. This is some freaky stuff here. Twenty-one minutes past the hour. But this is a "Planet of the Apes" moment. All right. Take a look at it. A gorilla, apparently, has just learned to stand right up and walk around just like a human being. Are you seeing this?
BOLDUAN: Our executive producer --he said the best line. He's like it looks like he kind of looks at everybody and says, all right, guys, I'm off to work.
HOLMES: Look at this! Look at this! This is at a British animal park. This is a 21-year-old silverback, but they say he actually learned to do this when he needed to carry handfuls of food. So, he needed to be able to do it, and he figured it out on his own. But can you imagine just seeing that walking down the street on the sidewalk in New York?
BOLDUAN: All right. You've taken it too far now.
HOLMES: Sorry. BOLDUAN: All right. And this might pass for, I guess, trash talking in the art world. Yes, they have trash talking. You know why? Art museum and the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh are each wagering an impressionist painting on the Super Bowl outcome. You can believe it. The bet is serious and substantial. If the Packers win, the Carnegie gets a very rare work by Gustav Caillebotte. If the Steelers win, Milwaukee gets an equally rare Renoir to gloat over. Priceless.
HOLMES: No prices attached to them. They're worth that much. Is that right?
BOLDUAN: I mean, I'll take a Renoir any day.
HOLMES: Would you take 12 million if your boss came it off the video right now?
BOLDUAN: Let me think about that. Yes.
HOLMES: Do you think you deserve that?
BOLDUAN: I mean --
HOLMES: You are Kate Bolduan.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: Someone is turning that money down, and we are talking about a pro-athlete. You talk about millionaires and greedy and into themselves. Well, this is Kansas City royal pitcher, Gil Meche. He's 32 years old. And rather than taking more money from his team, he's quitting and he's saying he's doing that because he hasn't earned that money. He has been plagued by injury since he signed a five-year $55 million deal with them in 2007. He said he's not a hero, just doing the right thing.
And let me give you a quote from him. He says, "It's just me getting back to a point in my life where I'm comfortable. Making that amount of money from a team that's already given me over $40 million for my life and for my kids, it just wasn't the right thing to do and no regrets." He says I want to get back to what I remember as a kid the way of life here in Louisiana. You can call this admirable, if you want to. I am not.
BOLDUAN: It is admirable. Anyway.
So, up next, the girl scouts are kicking out some cookies. Yes, they are. Is your favorite Girl Scout cookie going away or are they keeping that around?
HOLMES: Also, this morning, it is the moment you can always remember exactly where you were when you found out that the "Challenger" shuttle disaster had happened. As you know, that was just -- it is 25 years ago now. How did this change the country? We are live from the Kennedy Space Center. BOLDUAN: And plus, the very latest from Cairo. We've been watching it this morning. The clashes and the protests happening right now. We'll have all that coming up after a break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: The song brings back some memories there, Pety? Our director. Very serious. Tough guy. He's just over here dancing and bobbing to that song.
And girl scout cookies. Maybe, this will take you back as well. Everybody loves their particular Girl Scout cookies. Your favorite being?
BOLDUAN: Shortbread.
HOLMES: Shortbread. All right. Shortbread is sticking around, but a lot of other cookies are going away. They are downsizing, getting rid of some cookies maybe you never heard of. Some varieties called the U Berry Munch.
BOLDUAN: The U Berry Munch crowd is going to be very upset that you're saying you've never heard of them.
HOLMES: OK. Maybe, a small crowd, though. Also, we have the sugar-free chocolate chip cookies, they're may be going away as well. What they're doing here is trying to save some money and maybe make some more money. Sales have been going down over the past couple of years, at least, and they're just trying to, you know, focus on the ones that everybody loves, and maybe, get the numbers back up.
They make some $700 million a year for selling cookies. So, the brands you love are going to stick around. And there they are. Don't worry, folks. Your thin mints, your Caramel deLites, your tagalongs, your Do-Si-Dos, your shortbread, your lemon creams, they're all going to be right there.
BOLDUAN: Their delivery is priceless. A lot of folks out there this morning are finding their credit card rates near record highs. Our Stephanie Elam is "Minding Your Business" and joins us now. Stephanie, I thought Congress took this on.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a whole -- yes, they did. But here's the thing. They made it so that they can't actually affect the interest rates of credit cards that are already out there, but if you're a new person to go and get a credit card, this small little detail, especially, if your credit score isn't that good, and that's what we're talking about today. Interest rates being at record highs. The average rate that you're going to see right now about 14.72 percent.
But take a look at this, some people out there, hello, 59.9 percent for your interest rate on your credit card. That is if you have bad credit. So, if you take a look at what they're doing here. Banks have lost some of their revenue streams because of the card out. They can't go out and just raise your rate. They have to explain it to you and give you a time frame of when this is going to happen.
So, they're looking to make back some of that revenue by doing this. Also, bad news on top of all that is that these rates could actually stay this way for a while because there's no change on the horizon. It's been introduced as far as Congress is concerned to change this so that there'd be a cap at, say, 15 percent. Nothing's happened yet.
So the worse your credit score is, the higher your rate is going to be. So get that credit score and check it every year. I say it all the time. It's very important. Even a job will take a look at your credit score so keep it in mind.
HOLMES: Stephanie, thanks so much.
We are at the bottom of the hour here now. A breaking story this morning, out of Egypt, all parts of Egypt, cities all around that country are seeing this, what they are calling a "day of anger." Protesters letting their voices be heard, wanting their government to know that they want more. They want better, better economic conditions. They want no more corruption in their government.
And many are calling for President Hosni Mubarak to go. We are expecting to see more and more of these protests and more people in the street as they day went on. People were getting out from Friday prayers, and that is exactly what is happening. It seems like we are getting new pictures every few minutes here. You can see how large the crowds are starting to get.
BOLDUAN: And Mohamed ElBaradei, the former chief of the U.S. nuclear watchdog. He is there now and word he is being help up inside a mosque near downtown Cairo and being warned not to leave that mosque. He came back to his country to march with the demonstrators and wants President Mubarak to step down.
HOLMES: Meanwhile, this puts the United States in a very delicate position, trying to support a stable government while also trying to support the rights and freedoms of a populous that is angry with that government. Vice president Joe Biden sounding off on it last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Violence isn't appropriate, and people have a right to protest and so -- we think that, I hope, president Mubarak is going to respond to some of the legitimate concerns being raised.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: Internet access cut off, text messaging disrupted, cell phone service disabled, a lot of going on there, and it's all part of an Egypt erupting this morning as we have been talking about, leaving social media as the key to communication, the little communication there is right now. HOLMES: We have Mohammed Jamjoom monitoring this for us, live from our international desk in Atlanta. Mohammed, you have been watching this for a while. It was striking how little was starting to come out but over the past several hours are we starting to see less and less?
MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, T.J. Even though the internet has been blocked in Egypt, the fact of the matter is you could say that the people that were organizing this through social media the last few days were successful because people are out on the streets and protesting.
Let me walk you through a couple of key sites. Here is one of the main ways people knew to come out on the streets today. Facebook pages like this one asking people to go out and demonstrate today for this day of anger. The last post for this was actually on Wednesday, yet people still out on the streets today.
Now, what you're seeing primarily as far as Twitter goes right now you're seeing mainstream media people on the ground being able to tweet occasionally. Our Ben Wedeman who is there and reporting from Cairo, he tweeted a short while ago, "plain clothed policemen in Tahrir Square attacked CNN crew, breaking and steal camera, violent oppression of protesters everywhere.
But you're not seeing a lot of people tweeting before, actual Egyptians out on the streets being able to tweet, although they are trying alternative means to do so. One of the ways is through the use of an app on android phones. This apps has been e-mailed to a lot of people in the region showing people trying to utilize social media to get the word out still, even though the internet is blocked, trying to show them how to get around the internet block.
So even though the Egyptian government has been successful in stopping the internet and quieting a lot of people using social media the last several days, nevertheless people are trying to get out in the streets and demonstrate today.
HOLMES: Mohammed Jamjoom, we appreciate you keeping a close eye on things for us this morning. We'll check in with you again.
BOLDUAN: And it seems hard to believe, but it's been 25 years since the shuttle Challenger exploded over Florida 73 seconds after liftoff.
HOLMES: This video is still so hard to watch.
BOLDUAN: So difficult.
HOLMES: It is really so ingrained in many of our memories because just about all of us remember where we were and what we were doing when this happened. It went from being a proud moment for everyone to watch this and the crew go up, a crew that included a school teacher that everyone was so excited to see have this opportunity. We lost seven astronauts that day. NASA is now marking the anniversary with a ceremony. Our John Zarrella is at Kennedy Space Center. John, I say this is a moment everybody can remember where exactly they were, and you certainly remember where you were.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, T.J., very well. You know, it was a bitter, bitter cold morning here reporting for CNN. And we were standing down by the countdown clock, all of us, it was tradition, all of the journalists went down there before launch time.
And the launch had been delayed periodically through the morning because of the extreme cold weather. It was the cold combined with a faulty joint in the solid rocket booster that caused the explosion 73 seconds after liftoff.
This morning in about a half an hour at the Kennedy Space Center there will be a memorial service not honoring just the seven astronauts who lost their lives in Challenger but February 1st marks the Columbia anniversary, and yesterday was the anniversary of the Apollo one fire. So this is a real difficult time of the year for NASA, obviously, with the great loss of life over the period of the last 40 some years.
You know, we had an opportunity earlier this week to go to a school, a fifth grade class in Arlington, Virginia. It's kind of special there, because there is a teacher, Michaela Pond who teaches there, fifth grade. And she has a real bond with Christa McAuliffe. She was in Christa's school, the same school where Christa taught. She was in the Sunday school where Christa taught, and she babysat Christa McAuliffe's kids. And she became a teacher because of what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELA POND, TEACHER: I don't think we lost as much as we've gained. And I feel strongly about that. I think 25 years later, we have schools named after her and Challenger center where kids are doing hands-on science and wonderful things. That wouldn't have happened if that tragedy didn't occur.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZARRELLA: Now Steven McAuliffe, Christa's husband, issued a statement yesterday on behalf of himself and the children, saying he was grateful for the continued outpouring, the remembrance 25 years later, that people still hold very close to their hearts what happened a quarter of a century ago to the seven astronauts, Scobee, Smith, McNair, Onizuka, Jarvis, Resnik, and of course the first teacher in space, Christa McAuliffe. T.J., Kate?
BOLDUAN: Thanks so much, John, right there from Kennedy Space Center for us. Talk to you soon.
It is 37 minutes after the hour. We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: We want to clarify a story we brought you yesterday about a line of makeup for young girls to be sold at Wal-Mart next month. We said Wal-Mart didn't reply to our question for a comment, but in an unfortunate office miscommunication on our part, Wal-Mart did respond, and we want to get you that statement.
In a statement Wal-Mart says that the makeup is for tweens, saying, quote, "The GO Girl line was developed in partnership with our customers to give parents a healthier, age-appropriate option for their tween girls who ask about wearing makeup." Tween girls are commonly defined as girls between 10 and 12, sometimes as young as eight. And Wal-Mart also says that the makeup targets a certain life stage as oppose to do a specific age range of girls.
However, it was an error on our part to say that the cosmetics were also designed to prevent aging, but we still had the question this morning, we ask it again, of how early is too early?
And that is why we have Karol Ward, a psychotherapist who works with parents and families joining us here. Karol, we are talking about blush, mascara, body mist. The company says this is an option, just an option for parents to consider. But it begs the question, is there a too young, or how young is too young?
KAROL WARD, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: The word that jumps out at me is "option." How do we find out about options? Options are brought to our attention through advertising and marketing. So it's not like you're going to stumble into a store and say, this is an interesting option. This is a whole line of cosmetics and makeup care targeted for tweens.
I think it's a young age for children to be considering wearing mascara, using a skin care line between eight and 12.
BOLDUAN: This always begs the question at the same time. Wal- Mart is kind of talking about that. While this is an option and I think I should point out this tween makeup is apparently a $24 million a year business so there is money to be made in this.
WARD: Totally.
BOLDUAN: But is this also partly a situation of, you know, a parent can be a parent and should be a parent and just say no if it's too young?
WARD: Yes, but how much can parents take these days? We keep saying to the parent you hold the line. We're going to keep piling on more and more things, but you hold the line.
And I think the focus now needs to go outwardly. How about reducing the pressure outside inside of asking parents to absorb more or even kids to absorb more? They are bombarded. Parents are in my practice saying my kids are bombarded from the moment they walk out the door, and then I have to handle that. So let's give both parents and children a break by working from the outside in. BOLDUAN: You talk about the break and the pressures that people are dealing with, and maybe just the latest example is like the controversy over the MTV show "Skins," maybe too young and people saying it nearing child pornography. Does this speak to a larger issue the line between childhood and adulthood slipping more and more?
WARD: Totally. So look at childhood. It's a time of innocence, a time of exploring and now it's all getting blended together and it causes a ripple effect.
So then you have parents saying, oh, my gosh, to these shows that are coming out depicting teen life going, this can't be possible. But there is this ripple effect. When you start eight- year-olds having their skincare line are being pushed to wear makeup, they are now being pushed into early teenage adulthood choices, and I think it's too much pressure and it's happening to early.
BOLDUAN: Parents and families have so much to deal with.
WARD: So much.
BOLDUAN: Karol Ward, thank you very much. We never have too much time.
WARD: My pleasure.
HOLMES: All right, we are keeping an eye on fast-moving snowstorms in the Midwest, also in the northeast. But the rest of the country has a different Friday forecast to be thinking about. Our Rob Marciano is coming up next. It's a quarter of the top of the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: It is a developing situation in Egypt. Take a look at some of the latest video we're getting: authorities trying to disperse crowds who have gathered outside of a mosque where the primary opposition leader went for prayers today.
We saw this happen throughout the day and again, here it is. For the most part, these have been peaceful, but there have been little outbreaks of violence. If I can, can I listen to this?
Again, you're just hearing the chants of the crowds. And you just -- you -- you're seeing the passion and the anger which has been built up for decades. Many people now calling for the President Hosni Mubarak, who has been in place for 30 years, to step down.
Now these people have been gathering throughout the day. We're expecting more protests; the Day of Anger as it's called, but just some of the latest video we are getting out of Egypt in particular Cairo. But these protests are happening all over the country.
BOLDUAN: Yes throughout the country. And we're following that.
But let's also get -- get a quick check of this morning's weather. We know you care about, I care about it. Rob Marciano is in the Extreme Severe Weather Center. What do you have Rob?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: A couple of more systems guys but these look much, much weaker than what we've endure in the past day and a half.
Check it out in the map, they are both skirting across the upper Midwest and western Great Lakes. Southern half of the country actually looking pretty sweet and temperatures will warm up south of the Mason-Dixon. But temperatures are -- are certainly cold, cold enough for snow from Michigan back through parts of eastern Ohio and western PA, including Pittsburgh and the I-95 corridor has temps below freezing and even though we saw a little bit of melting yesterday afternoon, that stuff has refrozen and I'm sure there are some slick spots so be aware if you're traveling this morning. It could be on the slippery side.
All right, let's talk about these two systems. Both are -- Alberta Clippers, they come out of Alberta, Canada. A pretty dry place, they move quickly so we call them clippers. And that's good news because that means that the snow won't pile up terribly quickly and they might even weaken as they come over the Appalachians.
So one shot of it today and then another shot of it weakly over the weekend. We may get another inch or two of snow. If so, that will break a record, but nonetheless it will bring in more cold air and next week it doesn't look to be a picnic either come Tuesday or Wednesday.
Highs today: 35 in New York, it will be 53 degrees in Atlanta, 73 in Dallas -- the southern half certainly warming up nicely -- and 65 in Denver. It's pretty nice as well.
Kate, T.J., have a great weekend. Back up to you.
BOLDUAN: Thanks Rob.
HOLMES: All right, we appreciate your Rob. Thanks so much.
BOLDUAN: Have a good weekend.
MARCIANO: Ok.
BOLDUAN: So what do you want to talk about? French fries maybe?
HOLMES: Why not?
BOLDUAN: They work fast, apparently. Up next, the clear changes -- it's the changes that you can see in your body when you eat French fries and other delicious snacks within 30 minutes. That's mean.
HOLMES: Also we got a no-brainer coming up. What can you guess are the favorite foods that preschoolers crave? I'll have the answer for you. Eleven minutes past -- 11 minutes to the top of the hour here now. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: Yes, thanks to our hard-working crew there in the control room.
We're getting close to the top of the hour here now. A salty food and snacks -- you know you do not need a study to tell you they are not good for you. However --
(CROSS TALK)
BOLDUAN: I wish we had a study that told you it was good for you. Sorry.
HOLMES: Oh that would be a great study, would it not?
BOLDUAN: But I digress.
HOLMES: Yes. But hey, but this one tells you something you didn't know. It's that potato chips and French fries things like that can actually damage your heart. Well, duh. But it can actually happen 30 minutes after you eat them. The researchers say just in that short time, they can actually see a clear change in your arteries. So it doesn't take long.
You think no, this is not going to hurt me until down the road, years down the road. No, it happens almost immediately.
BOLDUAN: It's very sad. It makes me very sad.
So what may I ask that do preschoolers crave? A study says kids between three and five have very big cravings for food high in salt, sugar and fat and they already know fast food and junk food brand names on sight. Researchers blame repeated -- repeated --
(CROSS TALK)
HOLMES: Exposure.
BOLDUAN: -- exposure to those foods at home and at school.
HOLMES: And that's the problem. If you start a kid early on eating broccoli they'll grow to love it and they will like it later in life. But they get exposed to this stuff early on that's the problem and that's why they love it.
BOLDUAN: I truly believe my parents fed me broccoli from a young age and I still don't like it. So --
HOLMES: Well, it's seven minutes to the top of the hour.
BOLDUAN: -- take your theory --
HOLMES: We're going to -- we're going to get this girl something to eat. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BOLDUAN: (INAUDIBLE) straight to some videos. These are some of the most recent videos that we've gotten in from the protest, the ongoing protests in Cairo as well as throughout the country; big protest also in Alexandria. But you see here, this is some of the most recent video that we have.
This is from Cairo and you can see riot police using water cannons trying to push back protesters. It's really taken on -- the tension is growing. You can surely clearly see that there are clashes between the police and the protesters.
This has been developing throughout the day. We've been watching and we have people on the ground and watching it very closely as now communication is becoming very tough and the tension is rising.
So as we're talking about today in Egypt, riot police are trying to quell protesters who say they want more and are demanding more from their government. It's a phenomenon happening in many places around the world today.
HOLMES: And today's CNN Hero cross the border between Israel and Palestine. Does it five days a week to promote peace and save lives. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When my daughter's health isn't normal, I go to the hospital five times a week for her dialysis.
We don't have treatment at all here.
YUVAL ROTH, COMMUNITY CRUSADER: In Palestine, healthcare is very expensive. It's not accessible. It's a big difference between the life here and one minute away.
My name is Yuval Roth. We transport sick Palestinians from the occupied territory into the Israeli hospitals. If they should take a taxi, it will cost them a lot of money. They can't afford it.
He was murdered by Hamas people. That caused me to do something. Not in terms of revenge but to look for way for a reconciliation and peace.
Right now we are about 200 volunteers and we transport from Israeli side at the checkpoint at least five days a week.
It's a very exciting moment when you see improvement. Fill me a lot of happiness. The price of the conflict is a lot more than the price of making peace.
Regardless of political or religious, I think that we are all human beings.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: Who do you know who is making a very big difference in your neighborhood? Tell us about them. Head to our AMERICAN MORNING blog at CNN.com/am to nominate them.
HOLMES: Well, that is going to wrap it up for Kate and I. Kate it's good to have you here with us this week. Kate will be back with us at the beginning of next week as well for a couple of days.
BOLDUAN: Yes.
HOLMES: So, looking forward to that. But thank you for being with us here on this AMERICAN MORNING.
For now we need to hand it down to Atlanta and the "CNN NEWSROOM" and our Kyra Phillips picking up the coverage for us from there. Hello there, Kyra.
