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David Cameron Questioned in U.K. Parliament; Cameron Addresses House of Commons; Debt Talks Expected to Resume; Taliban Denies Omar's Death, Blames Hacking; 16 Arrests in Hacking Investigation; FBI Targets Hacking Groups; $55 Million or No School; Misleading Menus
Aired July 20, 2011 - 06:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: It's top of the hour now. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING, the special coverage of the debate going on -- it's not a debate, but questions being asked of the British Prime Minister, David Cameron. We're looking at Parliament. David Cameron standing up now to respond to allegations by the leader of the opposition, Ed Miliband. Let's listen.
DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: -- conspiracy theories that's not rising to the level of events.
(SHOUTS)
DAVID CAMERON: Most of that was just a tissue of totally -- I'm trying to answer every point. First of all, let me thank him for what he said about recalling parliament. That is right. Let me thank him about what he said about Lord Levinson (ph). I think he will do a good job. Let me thank him what he said about the panel, which we sent the names to his office this morning.
I have to say on most of the other questions I feel he wrote the questions before he heard my statement today.
(SHOUTS)
DAVID CAMERON: He asks about the issue of BSkyB. The cabinet secretary has said there was no breach of the ministerial code. You heard -- you heard the evidence of Rebecca Wade yesterday saying there was not one single inappropriate conversation.
And when it comes to setting out meeting with News Corporation I've set out every single meeting since last election.
(SHOUTS)
DAVID CAMERON: So the right honorable gentleman published a list this morning, but it does not go back to the last election.
(SHOUTS)
DAVID CAMERON: And indeed, when are we going to see the transparency from Tony Blair and from Gordon Brown.
(SHOUTS) DAVID CAMERON: Second, second, second issue -- the second issue, his questions about Andy Coulson.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Order. The House is getting overexcited again. I'm glad it's now calmed down. We want to listen to what the prime minister has to say.
DAVID CAMERON: And he asked questions about Andy Coulson. Let me remind him of this point. No one has raised question about his conduct at Number 10 Downing Street. And let's just make this point. There's only today one party leader with News International executive with a cloud in his head sitting in his office.
(SHOUTS)
DAVID CAMERON: Third question, the questions he raises about my chief of staff Edward Llewellyn. Is he honestly saying when it comes to this issue of the proposed meeting with John Yates, is the leader of the opposition suggesting that he knows better than the chairman of the home affairs select committee, than the cabinet secretary, than John Yates, than Paul Stephenson, than all these people, including Jeremy Haywood, who by the way worked diligently for Tony Blair and Gordon Brown -- is he saying all those people are wrong and he is right? I think that shows a staggering lack of judgment.
Let me just answer the question about Sir Paul's resignation. I know it is inconvenient for the right honorable gentleman, but Sir Paul Stephenson set out the reasons for his resignation yesterday in detailed evidence and explained how the situation was so different to the situation in Number 10 Downing Street.
Most of the questions he asked, I had already answered. The role of the chief of staff answered, the parallels of the metropolitan police answered, the role of Mr. Wallace answered.
On closeness to media groups let's be clear what we heard yesterday. Rupert Murdoch said, and I quote, "The politician I was closest to was Gordon Brown."
(SHOUTS)
DAVID CAMERON: And let us just remember who was the advisor when Gordon Brown was the chancellor.
(SHOUTS)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to hear the answers given by their own prime minister, the prime minister.
DAVID CAMERON: And let us just remember, Mr. Speaker, who was the advisor to Gordon Brown when he was the chancellor, the right honorable gentleman.
(SHOUTS)
DAVID CAMERON: On the issue of the action we have taken, let us remember during the last parliament reports of the information commissioner ignored, reports of the select committee ignored, the failure of the police investigation ignored. We now know exactly which party was, if you like, the slumber party, and it is the party opposite.
(SHOUTS)
DAVID CAMERON: Everyone -- frankly, Mr. Speaker, everyone can see exactly what he is doing, an attempt to play this for narrow party advantage. The problem has been taking place over many years. The problem is for both our main parties, and the problem is one that the public expects us to stop playing with but to rise to the occasion and deal with it for the good of the country.
(SHOUTS)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Order. Mr. David Davis.
DAVID DAVIS, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT: Under the previous labor government, when my right old friend the member from Ashford David Green was arrested by the metropolitan police, the prime minister and home secretary were not notified of the details of that investigation. At that time the Labour front insisted the matter of ministerial propriety that they were not told.
Is it not therefore the case that not only has Mr. Ed Llewellyn not gone wrong, he's done exactly what a public should do and to say otherwise is hypocrisy?
(SHOUTS)
DAVID CAMERON: My right honorable friend makes a very good point. I think when you read the exchange of emails and you see what Edward Llewellyn said, you see that it was cleared in advance by Jeremy Haywood. It was absolutely right. We don't live in a country, thank god, where the prime minister orders who should be arrested and who shouldn't be.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Alan Johnson.
(SHOUTS)
ALAN JOHNSON, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT: The secretary made a statement on Monday over 1,000 words. But the two words "Neil" and "Wallace" weren't mentioned. She, like me, was unaware of his appointment. But we weren't in a situation where Neil Wallace's best buddy was working for us. The prime minister was. Did he know that Neil Wallace was giving advice to the metropolitan police?
DAVID CAMERON: No, I didn't know that. I didn't know that. And as I said in relation to the work he did for Andy Coulson, I was unaware of that. And I think this is an important point because one of the issues is the transparency and information that there was about Neil Wallace and the metropolitan police. The one thing everyone has to say about Number 10 Downing Street, there was no hiding the fact that we had employed Andy Coulson. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Simon Hughes.
SIMON HUGHES, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT: Mr. Speaker, I join the prime minister in paying tribute to Sir Paul Stephenson and thank him for the announcements that he has made. But will he now explicitly say that he accepts that all governments from this one back for over 20 years have been far too close to the media giants in this country, that that has to end, which means no more back door visits to Number 10, and that we should be able to have not just site of party political papers but if necessary cabinet papers, and the recommendations of the information commissioner and others should be implemented to increase criminal penalties for illegality immediately?
DAVID CAMERON: First of all, I accept the point he makes about transparency. What I set out not just meetings if you like that are business meetings, official meetings with media executives and proprietors, but also private meetings as well.
And in relation of the meeting I held with Rupert Murdoch, the fact is not whether he came in through the back door or the front, but was it declared in the proper way. And yes it was. In the old days the only way you found out if someone met with Rupert Murdoch was waiting for Alistair Campbell's diaries.
(LAUGHTER)
DAVID CAMERON: So in our case we have been very transparent about this. It goes all the way back to the election. It includes both private and official meetings. It includes meetings whether they were at Checkers or Number 10 Downing Street. And I think we need to go further in this regard. And I think this should be the new standard. And I say to the right honorable gentleman who has published the information up to when he became leader of the Labour Party, why can't we see right back to the general election?
(SHOUTS)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Jack Straw.
JACK STRAW, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT: Mr. Speaker, when the prime minister read of the extensive investigation in the "New York Times" on the 1st of September of last year, what was his reaction to that, and what did he do?
DAVID CAMERON: The question I ask myself all the way through is that new information that Andy Coulson knew about hacking at "News of the World". I couldn't be clearer about this. If it turns out he knew about that hacking he would have lied to a select committee, he would have lied to the police, he would have lied to a court of law, and he would have lied to me.
Now I made the decision to employ him in good faith because of the assurances he gave me. There was no information in that article that would lead me to change my mind about those assurances. But if it turns out --
(SHOUTS)
DAVID CAMERON: As I said, I couldn't be clearer. If it turns out that he knew -- if it turns out that he knew about the hackings, then that would be a matter of huge regret, a matter of great apology, a disgrace that he only worked in government but also, vitally, something that would be subject to criminal prosecutions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. John Whittingdale.
(SHOUTS)
VELSHI: OK, we're going to continue to follow this. We're going to put it back in a corner for a second while we just tell you what is going on if you're joining us. This is a special session of parliament where David Cameron, the prime minister, is taking questions from members of his own party, but mostly from members of the opposition. And a lot of this is revolving around this name of Andy Coulson.
CHETRY: Right. And just to get our viewers up to speed on exactly who this is -- this person has emerged as a very controversial figure, Andy Coulson, at the heart of this hacking scandal. He worked for David Cameron. He was actually his media communications chief for a time.
VELSHI: But what was important is what he did before that.
CHETRY: Right. And before that he was the editor of the "News of the World" from 2003 to 2007. In 2007 is the year when some of these hacking arrests, jail time came to light. He insisted at the time that it was one rogue reporter. He was questioned in 2009 and in 2010 before members of parliament testified that he believed it was the work of a rogue reporter and there were other questions about him not knowing.
VELSHI: It has since come out that it was more than one reporter. Now the issue is how far did it go? And the question you bring up a lot is trying to understand this relationship between the media and politicians and the police, and it's a very sort of convoluted relationship. And the prime minister is being asked a lot of questions.
Let's bring in somebody who knows a lot about this. Paul La Monica is the author of the book "Inside Rupert's Brain." He's a friend of ours. He's the assistant managing editor over at CNNMoney.com. Paul, just connect the tissue for us for viewers. We heard Rupert Murdoch's testimony. We saw Rebekah Brooks resign and then get arrested. How does this all connect?
PAUL LA MONICA, AUTHOR, "INSIDE RUPERT'S BRAIN": What's really amazing it just shows how interconnected British politics and the media is. And it's to an extent that we have really expected.
What was really astonish is Murdoch in his testimony claiming that he was somewhat ignorant of what was going on at the tabloids. It was all the responsibility of Rebekah Brooks, maybe the Dow Jones CEO who was at news international before taking over Dow Jones. It doesn't ring true with people in the media world because we all know Murdoch loves the newspaper business and he is notorious for being in close contact with editors at the tabloids about stories and editorial judgment.
CHETRY: So there's a lot of questions yesterday put to Rupert Murdoch as well as his son whether they intentionally didn't know, quote-unquote, that they were really turning a blind eye to some of this, which they deny.
But the interesting thing is when you take a look and you say if this was the United States of America, we can't fathom that President Obama or any president would be sitting there answering questions from the speaker of the House or others about his involvement in media. It's a totally different relationship. And David Cameron is trying to defend himself that he did not have a cozy relationship, and also that Andy Coulson, who was his media chief of staff, didn't do anything inappropriate when he was at 10 Downing Street. How threatened would a politician like David Cameron be over these ties?
LA MONICA: I think it's a very troubling development, the fact that you have the sitting prime minister being alleged to have someone close to him in contact with the Murdochs. Obviously as you mentioned, not just in contact but a News Corp employee of such a high level.
This is something that it's understandable why there is this major uproar in the U.K. about this and whether or not this is something that Cameron can weather I guess remains to be seen. But clearly this scandal is not going away any time soon despite the Murdochs hearing yesterday protesting that they didn't really know what was going on.
VELSHI: As much as we're look at differences between how things go in Britain and how things go here, it is not uncommon anywhere in the world including the United States for ex-journalists to become members of the communications or press staff of politicians.
What's the, if there were a smoking gun what would it be? We know this guy worked for News Corporation and he was an editor and then worked for the president. Is it folly that people are trying to connect the fact that he had two jobs that might have been in conflict, or could there be something to this?
LA MONICA: I don't think it's folly. I think the key question though is going to whether or not there really is a smoke gun, if you will, or a paper trail that directly connects Rupert and James Murdoch to this scandal. I think that's really what is needed to bring them down or force more pressure on them to step aside at News Corp.
Barring that, I think the worst they will be accused is probably like you mentioned, turning a blind eye. Maybe not directly encouraging this behavior, but overlooking it and kind of knowing it was going on and hoping it just didn't touch them directly.
CHETRY: It appears the other question is about the judgment of Prime Minister Cameron. There are allegations there were warnings, don't hire Coulson before he did, and he chose to do that. That seemed to be what the Labour Party, the opposition party were hammering him about this morning.
But that aside, the other question has to do with the way that this entire cozy operation seems to take place in Britain. David Cameron was pledging some major changes in the way that the media operates. Are we looking at changes in journalism in general because of this "News of the World" and News Corp scandal?
LA MONICA: I think it's very possible. The mere fact that the British government was able to exert enough pressure on News Corp that News Corp pulled out of its deal to buy BSkyB, that they've got a broadcaster there, is pretty telling. That's something Murdoch coveted. So it would not shock me if there are more regulations put in place. Parliament and its various committees will look a lot more closely at some of these cozy relationships.
This isn't new with Cameron. As he spoke, he accused Brown and Blair. When you look at Rupert Murdoch, I mean, his close ties to the British government go all the way back to Margaret Thatcher. This is by no means a new development.
VELSHI: And they're not just with the conservative government.
Let me just bring you up to speed. We are talking about Andy Coulson. You'll hear his name as we continue to cover this. He is central to this U.K. phone hacking scandal because of this.
Here's some background. As Kiran said, he resigned as editor of "News of the World" in January of 2007 after a reporter and private detective were jailed for the hacking -- for hacking the voice mail of the royal household staff.
CHETRY: And then he denied being aware of any wrongdoing at the paper. He was then hired to become the Conservative Party's director of communications. That was in the summer of 2010. Back in 2009, he spoke before parliament telling a committee that he believed the phone tapping was the work of a single rogue reporter. Since then, there have been various reporting in the "New York Times" in September 2010. He talked about the fact that there were many who said this practice was actually widespread at "News of the World" and that police interviewed Coulson over allegations that perhaps he encouraged it. So again, he has not been charged in this situation.
VELSHI: Right.
CHETRY: There are still a lot of questions and still the possibility that there will be more arrests.
VELSHI: All right. We're going to continue to monitor this. Paul La Monica, thanks very much.
LA MONICA: Thank you.
VELSHI: Paul (INAUDIBLE) is very close with CNNMoney.com. We're going to keep on dropping in to see what's going on in parliament. We're also monitoring several other stories out there today.
Still to come this morning, the stifling heat wave that some of you have already left the house are feeling. There's some broiling going on in the Midwest. It's spreading east. Jacqui Jeras is in the weather center to tell us where it is headed.
And a long arm of the law catching up with a group of suspected hackers. Details on who they are and what they are accused of.
CHETRY: Also, a budget fight now literally holding students back. School may not start because of $55 million that the district wants the city to pay. We're going to have more on how that could possibly happen.
It's 17 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: All right. Looking at Chicago this morning where it is pretty nice right now, 78 degrees. That's not as good as it's going to get today. Sunny and going up to 90.
VELSHI: Ouch.
CHETRY: Take a jump in the lake.
VELSHI: Yes. That Midwest heat is moving east. Let's go to Jacqui Jeras. She's in the weather center for us.
Jacqui, what's it looking like?
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's looking brutal, actually, unfortunately. You know, Chicago, you just showed, by the way, they had some thunderstorms that rumbled on through and while you might think yes, thunderstorms that's going to provide a little heat relief? Well, it's just temporary because now all that moisture has been added into the atmosphere so that heat index is really going to start to soar. And that area today, in fact, the heat index in Chicago right now 80 degrees. It's 88. That's the temperature your body feels in Minneapolis. So when you wake up to that wet bath, that early in the day, it's just extremely uncomfortable and really downright dangerous.
The best thing I can tell you, today is the last day of the heat across the upper Midwest. It's still going to hold across the southern plain states but it's going to start most eastward. We're still going to be feeling heat indices between about 100 and 120 degrees. Many suburbs of the twin cities too, by the way, got up to about 100 to 124 degrees for a heat index. So that is just downright dangerous.
All right. The heat is on the move. It is heading towards the east. And all these advisories you see in effect, these are excessive heat watches, meaning get ready because this stuff is on the way. We're talking about tomorrow lasting into the early part of the weekend for the northeast, but it's going to hold on to the mid- Atlantic. So places like Baltimore and Washington, D.C. expected into the early part of the weekend.
Thunderstorms across parts of the southeast might be severe in the upper Midwest but overall it's just hot and muggy and dry out there, guys.
Rough summer. Rough July.
VELSHI: Yes. No kidding.
All right. Jacqui, thanks for that. We'll check in with you a little later.
JERAS: OK.
CHETRY: Expect to be a rough winter too, right?
VELSHI: It's weather.
CHETRY: We had spring too for about a week.
VELSHI: Have to really give some thought to changing my wardrobe.
CHETRY: Yes, and the best is just not happening.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: Still to come this morning, it is the world's biggest tech company but it's growing like a startup. We're going to tell you about Apple's rock star earnings performance coming up.
VELSHI: And our question of the day. I'm glad we're back to this. We want to know what your favorite fast food guilty pleasure is. Boy, we are getting fantastic emails, tweets, postings on our blog and on Facebook. Keep them coming. We're reading your comments throughout the morning and getting hungry.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Twenty-four minutes after the hour. "Minding Your Business" now.
Breaking news, American Airlines just announced it's ordering $37 billion worth of planes. That is the biggest deal ever for a plane order. The order will be split between Boeing and airbus for narrow body planes.
This just in. The number of mortgage applications increased last week from the week before. Mortgage rates are back down to their lowest levels of the year because of turmoil in financial markets.
The Dow jumped about 200 points yesterday making it the best day the year for blue chip stocks. Markets got a boost from good news out of the debt ceiling talks in Washington. Strong housing data and corporate earnings reports also pushed stocks higher. Apple breaking records with its earnings report. The company announced profits doubled in the last quarter. The stocks also surged over $400 a share in afterhours trading. Twenty million iPhones were sold last quarter. That's a new record.
More big earnings report on tap today. Altria which owns tobacco giant Philip Morris investment company, BlackRock and United Technologies, all reporting earnings in the next few hours before markets open. American Express, eBay and Intel report their earnings after the closing bell this afternoon.
Well, investors apparently liked News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch's testimony in front of U.K. parliament members yesterday because the company's shares surged five percent. The Murdoch family still lost about $750 million in company stockholdings since the scandal broke.
Don't forget for the very latest news about your money, check out the all-new CNNmoney.com. AMERICAN MORNING back after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: OK. It is 29 minutes after the hour. Time for this morning's top stories. There are many of them.
British Prime Minister David Cameron appearing right now before parliament in the U.K. phone hacking hearing. He's up every minute or so after a question -- after repeated questions from the opposition. These are live pictures from inside the House of Commons. Cameron says he'll apologize for hiring former "News of the World" executive Andy Coulson if it is proven that Coulson lied to him about the hacking practices at the "News of the World." Listen to some of the back and forth moments ago between Cameron and Labour Party leader Ed Miliband.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID CAMERON: We now have a well led police investigation which will examine criminal behavior by the media and corruption in the police. We've set up a wide ranging and independent judicial inquiry under Lord Justice Leveson to establish what went wrong, why, and what we need to do to ensure it never happens again.
ED MILIBAND, OPPOSITION LEADER: He was warned and he preferred to ignore the warning so that the country can have the leadership we need. Why doesn't he do more? Why doesn't he do more than give a half apology and provide the full apology now for hiring Mr. Coulson and bringing him into the heart of Downing Street.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: We will continue to monitor that. Meantime here in the U.S. urgent talks on how to slash spending. Congressional leaders are meeting today and talks come a day after the House pass a cut, cap and balance plan largely a symbolic measure. It moves on to the Senate, but it is not expected to pass the Senate. VELSHI: The Taliban accuses the U.S. of hacking in to its cell phones and sending out fake text messages announcing the death of Mullah Omar, it's leader. Taliban officials insist the reclusive leader is alive and well.
CHETRY: Also a potential break in a major hacking investigation that's under way here in the U.S. The FBI arresting at least 16 people for alleged cyber attacks.
VELSHI: Now most of thought to be connected to the notorious hacking group "Anonymous," which you will remember attacked Paypal and other credit card Web sites.
Susan Candiotti is following this story and joins me live with more. These are challenging stories when you're tracking a group called "Anonymous."
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. Well, and one could argue that they are not so anonymous any more. The feds have had their eyes on them for a long, long time.
So yesterday they spread out, the FBI did, nationwide. Nine states, including the District of Columbia as well, even Europe there were five arrests. So 16 people picked up, all allegedly connected to this group "Anonymous."
They used names like Toxic and Reaper. Going online, getting others involved allegedly to provide or create a denial of service where you overwhelm a computer system for a firm, a company, overwhelm to it the degree that they can't with incoming mail that they can't do anything, virtually they are shut down.
So this group, "Anonymous," is known for not only as you said attacks on Paypal and Visa, whatever, but they were also taking revenge for people who were mistreating. They thought Julian Assange after that big document dump of all the classified documents of Wikileaks last December.
That's when they allegedly went to town going after all these other computer companies as well. So the FBI feels they made a big dent in this group. Hopefully taking them out of service, but we know how cyber security, how important it is and how many break ins they have been. We hear about these almost on a daily basis.
VELSHI: It's unclear whether -- I mean, there were 16 arrests, but it's unclear whether a hacking organization is more effective with a lots more people. I mean, some of them and most effective hacks have been conducted with a very small group of people.
CHETRY: You can't go around arresting -- I mean, you know, it's hard to understand how this put a dent in it. I mean, it seems like it's very difficult.
CANDIOTTI: Well, certainly they know how to get supporters and oftentimes advertise what they do. Look they brag about it. That's what they did. Look you can go to this Web site and see what we did and you carry on from there. So you got more people involved.
VELSHI: One of their latest brags although we haven't seen it surface is that they hacked into Rebekah Brooks, the former CEO who just resigned from "News of the World" and they said they would release those. We haven't seen anything.
CHETRY: Right, that was two days ago that they made that claim.
CANDIOTTI: There are a lot of claims. We haven't seen any evidence of it as yet. I mean, that's possible, but, again, these people are so spread out there's a lot of factors, a lot of fiction. You have to sort through all.
VELSHI: So are you a member of "Anonymous"? Do we know? I mean, like you said, this loose affiliation of hackers --
CHETRY: He wasn't asking you in particular.
CANDIOTTI: I'm not a member, no.
VELSHI: I mean, in other words, is there much of a structure to this at the FBI knows of. They found 16 people, but we don't know --
CANDIOTTI: Well, I think that's one of those questions that a lot of people would like to know the answer to. They are trying to sort through that and so are we. Bottom line is who knows at this point.
CHETRY: All right, Susan Candiotti for us on this story. Thanks so much. We want to dig a little deeper right now on this. Joining us for more on these hacking groups and why there such a threat, is David Aitel.
He is the president and CEO of the security group Immunity and David also has experience working as a computer scientist at the NSA. Thanks so much for being with us this morning.
DAVID AITEL, PRESIDENT & CEO, IMMUNITY INC.: Thanks for having me.
CHETRY: So we talk about the arrest of 14 people arrested and other raids likely to be conducted. How big of a dent does this put in this hacking scandal or just the whole hacking incidents that we've seen of late?
AITEL: Well, that remains to be seen. Obviously, you know, these are probably people that may or may not have been up in the hierarchy if there even is a hierarchy.
Some of them are as young as 16. You may not realistically think of them as super hackers, but there are some skilled individuals in this crew and some of them may now be behind bars, which indicate that the FBI is doing it's job.
CHETRY: It is interesting. The FBI seems to be needing to play a catch up game. I mean, there's clearly not enough people in our government as there are hackers as they are trying to crack down. But the interesting question is what is the motivation behind anonymous. They seem to be taking a political stand with the Paypal situation, right, because "Anonymous" and this other group called "Lulzsec," they seem to be wanting to prove a point, anger over Julian Assange's arrest.
AITEL: Well, I think as you may find with many 16-year-olds, there's a lot of rationalization going on and they'll now claim that they are the forefront of the anti-sect movement, which realistically these days is a bunch of teenagers running around with back ticks and search boxes.
But, you know, the motivations behind them probably are shared by a large group of people and even if it's slightly above creating mischief, you know the fact that there's so many of them, they've been able to make such a big impact.
I mean, Sony is claiming they did $150 million worth of damage. Obviously, they took down senate.gov servers. They've taken down HP Gary. There have been quite a few things that they've done including most recently "Lulzsec" came out yesterday with "The Sun" hack as you mentioned.
CHETRY: They hacked into "The Sun" newspaper owned by the Murdoch corporation to post a false story, right, that Rupert Murdoch was found dead.
AITEL: Well, you live by the sword, you die by the sword as you may see, but certainly they've had a major impact and it's quite odd to see anything from, you know, the British parliament talking about it to the secretary of state talking about it to a 16-year-old getting arrested in the mist of London. It's definitely a very interesting time.
CHETRY: It is interesting because, I mean, in some cases it makes consumers arguably question the safety of their information. I mean, the Sony, Visa, Mastercard, the Paypal situation. When you're looking at things like AT&T and also the CIA public Web site, it seems that these hackers are proving a point that no one is safe. Is that true?
AITEL: That's exactly true, no one is safe. The FBI is pointing out that the hackers aren't safe either and then you go back and forth for a while.
I think the reality is no one knows who will end on the upside of this. But what we do know is that your average job, you know, your average consumer here is at risk of all your information being lost.
CHETRY: And so is there anything you can do to protect yourself if you're, you know, in this global digital world? You have your credit card, you know, numbers out there. You do are you online banking. You pay for things online. How do you protect yourself or can you? AITEL: I think in a modern world, the individual has to live as if they have no secrets. And that's unfortunately not the case for most people including I'm sure myself. The corporations that we see we always advise them to spend as much on security as they have on user interface design and graphics and for most of them that's not true either as Sony is learning to their discomfort.
CHETRY: All right, well, it's very interesting. We'll see where this goes. David Aitel, the president and CEO of Immunity. Thanks so much for joining us.
AITEL: Thank you.
VELSHI: All right, coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING, 22,000 workers have been without a paycheck in Minnesota because of that government shutdown may soon be heading back to work. We'll have details.
CHETRY: A $55 million, pay up or we're not having school. First day of school is on hold in one big city as a fight between a school district and the city continues.
VELSHI: We got live pictures, the conversation continues in the British House of Commons with members of parliament grilling Prime Minister David Cameron about how much he knew about this man named Andy Colson who he hired as his communications chief. Andy Colson used to be the editor of the "News of the World". The discussion continues. We'll bring you up to speed when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right, Minnesota's government poised to re-open for business. Lawmakers worked through the night, finally agreed on a budget plan. The state's Governor Mark Dayton is expected to sign the deal today putting an end to the shutdown, which began on July 1st.
CHETRY: The first of nine Wisconsin lawmakers who fled the state to fight the governor's collective bargaining deal have survived a recall election. Democratic Senator David Hanson easily defeated his Republican challenger. The other eight lawmakers all face recalls in the next month and that could alter the balance of power in the state senate.
VELSHI: Very interesting story going on in Memphis, Tennessee, another budget fight. This time it's kids caught in the middle. The Memphis School Board voted to delay the start of the school year until the district gets $55 million it says that the city owes it.
Some parents said it's time to hold the city accountable, but only -- the only board member who voted no said you can't ask the city for money that it doesn't have. Here's both sides.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Someone has to assume responsibility for the education of the children in the city of Memphis, and I don't think the city council can be exempt from that responsibility.
MARTAVIUS JONES, VOTED "NO" ON POSTPONING SCHOOL: I'm all in support of us having assurances and money in the bank, but I think that 55 was just an unreasonable amount to expect at this particular time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Hard to sort of keep track of what's going on there, but the fact is the city -- I mean, most places you don't see it this way where there's a fight between the actual school board and the city over the check. The city council saying we don't have $55 million to give you right now.
CHETRY: What is the school district supposed to do? They needed to operate and if so, what are they going to do. What happens to these kids? How do paychecks get covered? We'll continue to follow that.
VELSHI: They said they had to lay off some people already.
CHETRY: All right, well, wedding photographers can be pricey, so why not let town take care of. The 50-year-old Tammy Lee Hinton, that unfortunately is the wedding picture she'll be known for.
She was arrested in Michigan on Saturday. It was her wedding day. She posed for the mug shot in her wedding dress. She was reportedly wanted on two-year-old identity theft charges. Now, she's a runaway bride. The press reporting that she paid her bond and then didn't show up for a Monday court.
VELSHI: Well, that would make it unique like if I walked into somebody's house and looked on their -- that's unique because I think weddings are like babies, all the pictures look the same.
CHETRY: You think all babies look the same?
VELSHI: I think most babies look that same.
CHETRY: They look like you for a little while.
VELSHI: It's kind of ageless, isn't it? Coming up ahead on "AM House Call" are some fast food restaurants misinforming customers about the calories they are about to consume. Don't miss senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen's special report on this. We're very, very interested in what she has to say.
CHETRY: And judging from our e-mail, viewers are not misinformed at all. You know what your eating is a guilty pleasure and you love it. We wanted to ask, what is your favorite fast food guilty pleasure? Send us an e-mail or tweet or let us know on Facebook.
VELSHI: Some great responses.
CHETRY: I need to move to certain places. I haven't had fried Okra in years. Apparently, it's a southern thing. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Forty-five minutes fast hour.
Here's a look at your headlines this morning:
David Cameron facing some tough accusation in the U.K. phone hacking scandal. The prime minister says he will apologize for hiring former "News of the World" executive Andy Coulson if it's proven that Coulson lied to him about the alleged practices at the tabloid.
A 26-year-old man has been arrested for hitting Rupert Murdoch with a shaving cream pie while the News Corp chairman testified at yesterday's parliamentary hearing. The hacker is identified as Jonathan May-Bowles of Windsor, according to Scotland Yard.
Congressional leaders are expected to meet today for a new round of debt talks. The meeting comes just a day after the House pass ad bill that would put strict caps on future government spending and also make it tougher to raise taxes. That bill is expected to die in the Senate.
Taliban officials say that reports of Mullah Omar's death are greatly exaggerated. In fact, they accuse the U.S. of hacking into its cell phones and sending out fake text messages announcing their leader is dead.
The FBI arresting at least 16 alleged computer hackers, most are thought to be part of the group Anonymous. That group claims to have hacked PayPal and a number of credit card Web sites.
It was literally the biggest thing in basketball, NBA basketball star Yao Ming announcing his early retirement this morning in a news conference from China. He drew millions of new fans to the NBA from around the world. He played eight seasons in the league, but he missed 250 games due to injuries.
You're caught in day's headlines.
AMERICAN MORNING is back in just 60 seconds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: It's not a vest, it's a girdle.
It's no secret that America is getting bigger every year. Chain restaurant know that our taste buds crave high-fat, high-sodium, high- calorie meals and they continue to cater to it.
CHETRY: Right. Some of them are just ridiculous. The Center for Science and the Public Interest has come out with their annual extreme eating award. And this really highlights some of the unhealthiest dishes that restaurants have on their menu. So, we wanted to show you a few.
Not picking on anyone in particular, but let's start with Applebee's.
VELSHI: We're just letting the numbers speak for themselves.
CHETRY: They have -- OK, let's get to Applebee's here. They have what's called the provolone stuffed meat balls with fettuccini. Here you see them. How good do they sound?
Fifteen hundred twenty calories, 43 grams of saturated fat, two days worth of sodium at 3,700 milligrams.
VELSHI: Oh my!
CHETRY: And that's in one meal.
VELSHI: A lot of salt.
CHETRY: Yes.
VELSHI: All right. If you don't eat all that, for two days, you're OK.
Look at Denny's. The fried cheese melt doesn't look all that harmful. But, basically, it's four deep fried mozzarella cheese sticks inside a grilled cheese with a side of fries for 1,260 calories, 21 grams of saturated fat and 30,000 milligrams worth of sodium.
CHETRY: That's right. And you can't just blame the food. Actually, we are drinking a lot of calories as well. I mean, you know, fries and a shake from a reason, right?
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: Well, this is "Gotta Have It" PB&C shake from Coldstone Creamery. It has -- and this is the drink -- 2,010 calories. That's a full day's worth for guys.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: Sixty-eight grams of saturated fat, which is three days' worth of fat as well.
VELSHI: Yes. Most women, people your size can't be taking 2,000 calories a day.
CHETRY: Unless we are training for a triathlon, yes.
VELSHI: And I like a good steak. Morton's. Let's take a look at the porterhouse steak with mashed potatoes and creamed spinach, which I wouldn't think --
CHETRY: That's what you get when you go to a steakhouse.
VELSHI: That's what you get, right? Twenty-five hundred and seventy calories, 85 grams of saturated. And that's four days, by the way, worth of saturated fat, four day -- 2,980 milligrams of sodium.
CHETRY: Al right. My stomach is literally grumbling right now. I know that's bad.
VELSHI: Keep your thoughts coming in to us, by the way. We've asked of what your guilty pleasure is. Change your name if you don't want to tell your wife or husband what you like.
Fat-filled calorie dishes like that on the menu. You hope the calorie counts that some restaurants in some states provide would be correct but a new study finds that those calorie counts themselves, the ones that are posted are actually often wrong.
CHETRY: Right.
Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us live from the CNN Center in Atlanta.
So, you can't always believe what you read. That old adage seems to apply here.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's true. I'm about to go to a restaurant that I know has nutritional information on their Web site. And I go on the Web site to find out how many calories are in the dish that I want to order. Well, it turns out that those numbers may not be so accurate.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COHEN (voice-over): Lorien Urban is on a secret mission and it has to do with what is in this bag. She's a nutrition researcher and restaurants don't know she's checking up on them.
Back in her lab at Tufts University, Urban grinds up the food, turns it into a powder, and analyzes it to find out how many calories there are.
LORIEN URBAN, RESEARCHER, TUFTS UNIVERSITY: The sample we are going to take needs to be a representative sample of the entire dish.
COHEN: She he found that one in five restaurant dishes has at least a hundred calories more than what the restaurant says it does. That means when you look on the restaurant's Web site, you can't always believe what you read.
SUSAN ROBERTS, RESEARCHER, TUFTS UNIVERSITY: One food had more than a thousand calories more than it was supposed to. More than a thousand more! It was just shocking.
COHEN: Urban and her colleague Susan Roberts wrote up their findings in this week's journal of the American Medical Association.
ROBERTS: It's enormous. It's enormous. It shouldn't happen.
COHEN: Several restaurants had dishes with a calorie count in the lab that was higher than what was on the restaurant's Website, including Chipotle Mexican Grill where a burrito bowl had 249 more calories. The chicken and gnocchi soup from Olive Garden had 246 more calories. And a chicken dish from Boston Market, 215 more calories.
ROBERTS: I think restaurants have got a lot to answer for here.
COHEN: The National Restaurant Association points out on average, the calorie counts given by the restaurants are accurate. Chipotle and Olive Garden told us their dishes are hand prepared and cooked from scratch, which means calories may vary.
Boston Market questioned the accuracy of the Tufts research.
Roberts says those extra calories may add up.
ROBERTS: If you have 100 calories more than you think every day, just 100 calories, that's something like 10 to 15 pounds of extra weight you've gained over the course of the year.
COHEN: Ten to 15 pounds, and unless you had a lab, you would never know why.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COHEN: So, the advice here from the researchers that I talked to, three words: on the side. When you're ordering these dishes, ask for things like cheese or dressing on the side and that way you can control the calories.
CHETRY: Good advice.
VELSHI: Yes, not that I would! I mean, my wife does that all the time. I still eat all of it!
CHETRY: She puts all the bad stuff on the side and Ali eats them.
VELSHI: Well, I get her side and mine!
Listen. So, there are places around the U.S. where it's required for these calorie counts. A lot of people might be watching us saying it doesn't happen in my states. Oregon, Vermont, Connecticut and California and in cities -- you get in New York City and Philadelphia, some counties in New York and other places. I know Susan was saying some places in Florida.
CHETRY: Right. And then, also, you can go online anywhere and find the calorie counts posted but you have to dig a little more.
COHEN: I do. I do. I do.
VELSHI: OK. I know you two do!
CHETRY: Just to figure out some stuff. But, I mean, I have a daughter with food allergies, so I have to look at every single possible thing.
But why are there such huge discrepancies with what they are posting and what this research group analyzed in terms of how many calories, fat, salt content in these foods?
COHEN: Right. You know, the restaurant sort of explained it correctly. These are all handmade. And so, for example, take a look at -- this is a salad from Outback Steakhouse. This is a side salad and it had 659 more calories than it was supposed to according to the information on the Web site.
And the reason why is probably that the person who made it, you know, probably threw on some extra bakin' bits and blue cheese. I don't know if you can see it there. Or maybe -- we got this takeout. Maybe if you're eating there, they shake on a little bit more blue cheese.
And all it takes is just another handful of bacon crumbs or another shake of the blue cheese and, you know, you really changed the calorie content of that dish.
VELSHI: Wow! That's -- what -- how many calories did that have?
COHEN: Six hundred and fifty-nine. I mean, that's a lot.
VELSHI: I suspect that you don't get that out of a single full meal that you eat?
COHEN: Oh, me?
VELSHI: Yes.
COHEN: Yes, probably not because it would put me to sleep. I mean, that's a lot of food.
CHETRY: You're right.
VELSHI: Wow!
CHETRY: Elizabeth Cohen, we'll tell people they can head to CNN.com/health to find out more about. But very interesting stuff. Thanks.
COHEN: Thanks.
VELSHI: It does make me make choices. If I see that's 600 calories and I see 400. To me, it's all fast food so I'll probably take the 400.
By the way, that brings us to our question of the day: What is your fast food guilty pleasure?
CHETRY: We got a lot of good ones. Matthew on Facebook, "Fried clam strips. Lots of tartar sauce." I'm with you on that one.
VELSHI: Laurie at Facebook says, "I try to stay away from fast food but when I splurge, it's got to be Chick-fil-A. Definitely one of my favorites."
CHETRY: I got Kung Fu-candy writing, "Double quarter pounder, large fries and six-piece McNnuggets and sweet tea from McDonald's, don't judge me!"
VELSHI: Well, the double quarter pounder is good because you get twice as much meat but not as much bread.
CHETRY: All right. So, you get a half-pounder there.
VELSHI: And Courtney Laydon who is anchor, by the way, morning anchor at FOX 43 in central Pennsylvania says, "Nothing beats In-N-Out burger. Extra crispy fries -- yum! They really need to make their way to the East Coast." It's almost like my first stop when I land in California.
CHETRY: I know.
VELSHI: Get the GPS and find the closest In-N-Out burger.
CHETRY: We also got fried okra. We have a vanilla frostie. We have a whopper. I mean, we have multiple slices of good pizza and the bloomin onion.
VELSHI: And we have another hour to get your comments. So, keep your comments coming. Send us an e-mail us, a tweet, or tell us on Facebook. We'll read more of your comments a little later in the morning.
We got a little sidetracked because of that British parliament stuff, but trust me -- nothing is going to keep us away from the fast food.
AMERICAN MORNING is back after the break.
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