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American Morning

Deal Still Not Reached In Debt Ceiling Negotiations; Atlantis Touches Down for Last Time; Investigations Continue Into Newspaper Phone Hacking Scandal; Target Syrian Activists in U.S.; Afghan Female Pilots Training in U.S.; U.K. Hacking Investigation Widens; Final Shuttle Voyage Complete; Space Shuttle Now History; Yosemite Deaths; California Windsurfer Rescued; Shark Attack; New Mammogram Guidelines

Aired July 21, 2011 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Touchdown. It was a textbook landing for Space Shuttle Atlantis, closing the book on the shuttle era.

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news, a phone hacking investigation now going beyond Rupert Murdoch's media empire. What other newspapers may have crossed the line?

CHETRY: Fifty, not 40? A women's health group is now saying yearly breast screening should start a decade earlier, meaning 40, not 50, to save lives and catch cancer sooner.

VELSHI: And a boat with a brain, a robot on the water that doesn't need any human help -- the Navy's newest sci-fi weapon to keep our shores safe on this AMERICAN MORNING.

CHETRY: Good morning to you. It is Thursday, July 21. You are taking a look live outside of our studios here in New York City. You can even tell by the shot.

VELSHI: It is hot, muggy. It's hot all over the country. Very few places in the country are not hot. You have fringes on the west, north, and southwest coast.

CHETRY: Right. This is health -- this is actual lay big health --

VELSHI: This is a health issue now.

CHETRY: Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. We're going to follow that for you. I'm Kiran Chetry.

VELSHI: Christine is off. I'm Ali Velshi. A lot going on this morning. Let's get right to it.

Breaking news in the U.K. phone hacking scandal. CNN has learned British police are expanding their investigation and going beyond Rupert Murdoch's "news of the world" tabloid to include many other newspapers.

CHETRY: That's been confirmed by the British information commissioners' office. Richard Greene is live for news London this morning. So when we say beyond "News of the World," is it also beyond news corp.?

RICHARD GREENE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Kiran. What we are finding out is that the investigation is now spreading basically across all the major British newspapers. So far the investigation is focused on one particular private investigator who was working for "News of the World". They are now looking into a second private investigator and we find he had something like 300 journalist clients at a whole bunch of different newspapers.

VELSHI: What -- do we have specifics as to what we think they have done? Or is it that they are expanding their investigation because they have some clues it may be more widespread than the Rupert Murdoch papers?

GREENE: Well, in fact, we know that the illegal obtaining of information is more widespread than that. There was a report of five years ago that the information commissioner, the guy in charge of data protection in the U.K., did a big report into a specific private investigator, laid out a chart, there is a list of all the papers that were involved, how many journalists, how many stories were involved. And the police are now saying they want the information commissioner's files on that private investigator as well.

CHETRY: Is this just tabloids? Are we talking the mainstream straight papers as well? I mean, I know there is a huge competition --

GREENE: The upmarket tabloids?

CHETRY: Sorry?

GREENE: The upmarket tabloids. The upmarket papers?

CHETRY: Yes. Just --

GREENE: Overwhelmingly the ones listed are the tabloids. These are mostly what the British called the "red tops" and you have garish stories on the front page and stories about royals and celebrities. But this private investigator did work for a couple of the highbrow papers as well. That doesn't necessarily -- he obtained illegal information. There is no question about that. Some of the papers are saying, look, there is a public interest defense. There was a reason we need this. It was in the public interest. It wasn't just, you know, royals or just some celebrity divorce. There is a genuine public interest.

So we don't know exactly why all of the papers sought the information they were seeking. It is mostly the tabloids, but it is not only tabloids.

VELSHI: Richard, thanks very much. We will keep following it. Richard Greene for us in London.

CHETRY: We heard David Cameron, the prime minister, yesterday. He talked about promising major changes the way the regulations are concerning the media in the U.K. VELSHI: Yes. Some of the issues regulation and some is it just -- what was illegal that was done. Lot more. This story keeps on getting bigger and chewier every day.

CHETRY: Absolutely. Well, it is the last time we will ever see this, the final voyage of the space shuttle program is now complete.

VELSHI: Atlantis flawlessly touched down at the Kennedy Space Center about an hour ago. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Landing gear down and locked. Main gear touched down. Partly now deploying the drag chute. Ferguson rotating the nose gear down to the deck. Nose gear touched down. Having fired the imagination of a generation, a ship like no other, its place in history secured, the space shuttle pulls into port for the last time, its voyage at an end.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After serving well for over 30 years, it has come to a final stop.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We thank you. And we will take this opportunity to congratulate you, Atlantis, as well as thousands of passengers and individuals across this great space-faring nation. We truly empowered this incredible spacecraft which for three decades has inspired millions around the globe. Job well done, America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: And let's bring in John Zarrella, who watched it live from Kennedy Space Center. Good morning, John.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Ali and Kiran. You know, right now there is a live picture from the Johnson Space Center that we are looking at where Tony Ceccacci, the flight director, just congratulated the team there for a job well done. There were hugs all around. There were some flowers sitting on tables there, certainly a moment both here and in Houston where, you know, the realization is now finally setting in for all of these people that the 30 year program, the shuttle program, is at an end. It is over.

The orbiter Atlantis still sitting out there on the runway here. It will be towed over to the orbiter processing facility, called the OPF, just a little while from now. The astronauts have already gotten off. We are still waiting for Commander Ferguson and the other members of the crew, Hurley, the pilot Doug Hurley, also to come out, perhaps say a few words.

And then later this morning the vehicle again being towed over to the orbiter processing facility where thousands of the workers who spent so many hours on the vehicle -- there you can see it close up there -- they will have an opportunity to go out and walk around it one last time before it is brought inside the hangar and it is -- some of the critical engines taken out, critical parts are taken out, and it made museum ready. And in about two years, it will enter its new home just a few miles from here at the Kennedy Space Center visitor complex. There a beautiful shot of sunrise over early sunrise here over Florida and the vehicle there sitting there still at the edge of the runway. Kiran, Ali?

VELSHI: All right, John, thanks very much. It is a moment we are not going to get to watch again. John Zarrella at the Kennedy Space Center.

All right, this morning there's real concern that even a compromise deal to raise the debt ceiling may not make it through the House. The country runs out of power to borrow money in just 12 days. And we are just one day from the president's self-imposed deadline to get something passed so it has time to move the legislation through congress.

Brianna Keilar live at the White House for us. Brianna, what is it looking like today?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ali and Kiran, we know there were meetings yesterday between President Obama and Democrats and Republicans separately. And the fact of the matter is they came out of those meetings and there was no significant progress to report, and the clock is ticking here.

A slight change -- the White House saying yesterday really and this the is the first time indicating the president is open to a stopgap measure something that would raise the debt ceiling sort of -- for really just a knew days, though, because remember before he had said he wouldn't sign a 30, 60, 90, 180-day extension, that the U.S. doesn't, you know, do things piecemeal like that. But really this is a sign things are running out, that time is running out, the White House has taken the deadline seriously.

The caveat here, important to recognize, is that the president's willingness to have this really short-term few day stopgap measure is contingent, the White House has said, on there being some sort of larger framework on a deficit reduction package, that this would really just be a few days to allow Congress and the White House to get the paperwork in order. So there would have to be a deal in place.

But the idea right now after these meetings is that still, as I said, very little progress. And in order to get very big deal we are talking about a lot of moving parts here, as we have, guys, tax increases, Democrats want, perhaps tax reform, entitlement reform, and of course massive spending cuts.

VELSHI: All right, Brianna, thanks very much. Brianna Keilar at the White House.

CHETRY: Our other top story this morning is this extreme heat across the country turning deadly. CNN learning at least 22 deaths have now been blamed on the stifling heat gripping this nation. Right now more than 140 million people in at least 30 states are suffering under 90 to triple digit temperatures, and forecasters say the extreme heat is expected to remain in place across much of the east coast throughout the weekend. (WEATHER BREAK)

VELSHI: Still to come this morning, government of Syrian President Bashar al Assad reportedly keeping Syrian activists in this country, in the United States, under surveillance.

CHETRY: Also, check this boat out. It has a mind of its own. It is unmanned, and the Navy thinks it may be able to outsmart potential terrorists. We are going to show you how it works. It's 11 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: There are growing concerns this morning about the threat to Syrian activists living here in the United States.

CHETRY: The FBI recently met with Syrian Americans to discuss this potential danger. CNN foreign affairs correspondent Jill Dougherty is following developments live at the State Department. So the tentacles I guess you could say are reaching further than you would have thought when it comes to fears of a crackdown.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: At least you know those are the allegations, because we of course have been following all of those demonstrations in Syria. But there are demonstrations taking place here in the United States by Syrians and also Syrian Americans. And some of them have been alleging that personnel from the embassy, the Syrian embassy here in Washington, have been going to those demonstrations and taking photographs and then harassing the families back in Syria.

Now the State Department, in fact, says it has seen reports to that effect about this surveillance by embassy personnel and also they have -- they said that they are investigating those allegations that the families are having retribution against them. And in fact, they called in the Syrian ambassador and discussed this issue.

Now we spoke with a man, his name is Radwan Ziadeh. He's a Mideast expert. He's a professor here temporarily at George Washington University. And he says he went to a demonstration and then the embassy invited him in. And here's what he said happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RADWAN ZIADEH, SYRIAN HUMAN RIGHTS ADVISER: I went to the embassy and I was surprised that two persons inside the terrorists taking pictures of me inside the embassy. I don't know why. But for sure this -- to be actually part of a full report -- submitted to the CNN intelligence in Damascus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOUGHERTY: So Syrian intelligence, as he put it but he cannot prove that allegation that those photographs actually were given to Syrian intelligence. However, Kiran, as you were mentioning, the FBI has been talking with activists, Syrian activists here, in Washington, D.C., area. The FBI, according to a source that told CNN, has been expressing concern about their welfare offering suggestions about how to protect their welfare and also continues to look into this.

Meanwhile, Mr. Ziadeh says that he's very worried about his family. He still has two brothers, two sisters, and a mother back in Syria.

And then finally, I spoke with a Syrian source who said look, I can't confirm or deny that any of these photographing missions were under way. But he did point out that these demonstrations are actually on Facebook, they're on YouTube, and you can actually access them. So in other words, he's saying prove it.

VELSHI: All right. Jill, thanks very much for that. Jill Dougherty from the State Department. Very interesting development that they're now looking at Syrian activists here in the United States.

OK, take a look at this. The U.S. Navy's newest weapon in the fight against terrorism. It's called an unmanned surface vessel, a USV. It's a boat with a brain. It's not controlled by humans. It has a rotating laser that canvasses the water. The technology in the unmanned surface vessel was also used by NASA in its mars rover. Very interesting.

CHETRY: Also, we want to show you something that's pretty cool. It's a new, I guess, way to get information that's really neat. It's the iPad, of course, but you can see streaming live news. I just clicked the iPad icon. Hold on. It's coming up. I see it now.

VELSHI: Yes.

CHETRY: You want to start with a flourish. All right. There we go. There we go.

So you go to the iPad app and you hit live TV here in the corner. AMERICAN MORNING is the show that's on. Of course, right now live. And boom, it streams live.

VELSHI: Yes.

CHETRY: A small little delay but it's amazing. This also works for Headline News and they're both available at CNN.com/video. And you can get it on the CNN app, the iPad, or the iPhone and the new streaming services also available to the 50 million people who subscribe to certain cable providers so you can check it out. Head to our Web site to see if your cable company is one of them.

That's kind of surreal, isn't it? See it right here, anywhere.

VELSHI: It's interesting how we've done this demo two or three times. They never let me do it. It's always you.

CHETRY: You want to do it?

VELSHI: Now, you're just really good. Does everybody -- everybody knows -- all our viewers know you are the iPad champ here.

CHETRY: I can't put it down.

VELSHI: It's really good.

CHETRY: You're the BlackBerry champ. So we had a contest actually to see --

VELSHI: A whole other story which we'll get into here.

All right. Still to come this morning, four young Afghan women making history. Training to become pilots in Afghanistan's military here in the United States. We'll have their remarkable story when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Twenty-two minutes after the hour. MB this morning. U.S. stock markets closed pretty flat yesterday and stock futures trading lower this morning as investors remain concerned over the stall in the debt talks in Washington. Potential market movers today, new jobless claims numbers coming out in about an hour from now.

European officials gathering for an emergency meeting in Brussels this morning. Top of the agenda, the debt crisis in Greece and how to prevent financial problems there from spreading to other countries in Europe like Italy and Spain. Morgan Stanley just reported its earnings for the last quarter and they beat expectations. Pepsi just reported 45 minutes ago that its earnings were in line with what Wall Street was expecting. AT&T, Nokia, United, Continental, US Airways, all expected to report their earnings soon this morning. Later, Microsoft will report its earnings after the closing bell this afternoon.

Big news in the health care sector. Express Scripts is buying Medco in a $20 billion merger agreement making this one of the largest deals ever in the health care services industry. The Federal Reserve slapping Wells Fargo with an $85 million fine. The bank is accused of falsifying loan applications and pushing customers with good credit into expensive mortgages when they actually qualified for better rates. Wells Fargo agreed to pay the fine but did not admit to any wrongdoing.

AMERICAN MORNING right back after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Twenty-six minutes past the hour. They don't look like culture warriors, but four young Afghan women are breaking the mold. They're training to become female pilots in Afghanistan's air force.

VELSHI: Right. And they're training in Texas. CNN's Ed Lavandera has more on their history-making mission.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (voice-over): The passion and dreams of these four women easily cuts through their broken English.

LT. SOURYA SALEH, AFGHANISTAN ARMY: We are going to open the door for our ladies in Afghanistan. It's a big deal for us to open these door for the others that the other ladies that have dreams but they can't do it. We want to show them.

LAVANDERA: These ladies are lieutenants in the Afghanistan military. They've come to the United States to study English at the Defense Language Institute at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. But it's their dreams of piloting helicopters that could help change the future of women in their homeland.

COL. HOWARD JONES, U.S. AIR FORCE, DEFENSE LANGUAGE INSTITUTE: These young ladies are pathfinders, trailblazers. And as such, they are subject to the criticism, the antagonism of those that don't want to see this particular path piled.

LAVANDERA: The soldiers say they're prepared for the scrutiny and are confident.

LT. MARY SHARIFZADA, AFGHANISTAN ARMY: We're going to show the women of -- especially the women of Afghanistan that don't afraid anything. If you want -- if you want to do something, you can do it. Just believe in yourself that you can do it.

LAVANDERA: But back home, these women are still battling cultural chauvinism. Men who believe women have no place in the military.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you feel like you have the support of men in your country?

LT. MASOOMA HUSSAINI, AGHANISTAN ARMY: We have some examples that (INAUDIBLE) that came and maybe some of them think that it's not good that we are here.

LAVANDERA: One of the women's English instructors says these future pilots want to redefine the role of women in Afghan culture.

CHRISTINE WHITTEMORE, DEFENSE LANGUAGE INSTITUTE: They look at this as they're opening the door for a lot of other women in their country. And they're also changing the image and perhaps the international image of the Afghan women. They understand the importance of this.

LAVANDERA (on camera): These four Afghan women will spend anywhere between six to eight months here in San Antonio at Lackland Air Force Base where they'll be mastering the English language, learning the intricacies of military jargon. And then from here, they'll move to Alabama where they'll train with the U.S. Army and learn how to be helicopter pilots.

(voice-over): These four women wouldn't be the first female pilots in Afghanistan. There is one there now. Captain Latifa Nabizada (ph). She became a pilot more than 20 years ago. But it's clear the Afghan military is still adjusting to women in its ranks. This pilot and mother has to bring her child to work.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She comes with me every day. One day I'd like to see child care in the air force.

LAVANDERA: She won't be alone anymore in bringing a woman's touch to the Afghan military as these four new ladies prepare to blaze new trails in the skies over their homeland. Ed Lavandera, CNN, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: All right. Top stories right now.

Atlantis is home. The shuttle flawlessly touched down at the Kennedy Space Center this morning. It was beautiful. The final shuttle mission is now complete. It's the end of the line for the shuttle, though, and the thousands of people who helped put that orbiter in space. Atlantis, now retired, will stay at Kennedy Space Center to be put on display.

There is the beautiful shutdown. Momentarily, you will see that chute deploy. There it is. That was beautiful.

CHETRY: Yes. Flawless landing. Nice.

All right. Well, almost half of the country will be sizzling under triple digits today. There are heat watches, warnings and advisories covering more than 30 states. And it's not just uncomfortable. It is downright dangerous. The National Weather Service says that the heat may be responsible for at least 22 deaths.

VELSHI: New development in the U.K. phone hacking scandal. British police are expanding their investigation. They're going beyond Rupert Murdoch's "News of the World" tabloid to include many other newspapers. This is according to the British Information Commissioner's Office.

CHETRY: We are also getting reports that Scotland Yard is beefing up its team of investigators working the case as well.

Atika Shubert is live in London for us this morning with new details. Hi, Atika.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi. Well, we have always known there is the possibility this investigation could go further. We have now been able to confirm that. The Information Commission says that they handed over details to the police of another private investigator that was illegally harvesting information and then selling it on to newspapers, newspapers that are not "News International" newspapers.

Among the top newspapers, according to the Information Commission, "The Daily Mail," "The Daily Mirror," for example, those are not "News International" papers and it does seem now that they, too, may be included as part of this ongoing police investigation.

Now one of the interesting things is this is not necessarily phone hacking. This could be something called blagging, which is essentially impersonating somebody to try and get personal information about them.

That is illegal here and also according to the Information Commission, corruption. This would be mean payouts basically to get that sort of information illegally. So the details are still coming in, but it does seem this investigation is expanding significantly.

CHETRY: Some of this -- as we talked about, has been either years or perhaps months in the making. But is it being accelerated and widened because of all of the publicity surrounding the "News International" scandal?

SHUBERT: Most certainly. There is a lot of public demand and public scrutiny now on the police to find out just how far the British tabloids went in getting the kinds of scoops that they are famous for.

And there's always been a lot of talk that perhaps it is not just one newspaper but, in fact, industry wide and certainly this recent case from the Information Commission seem to suggest it is not just one paper, but across the industry.

VELSHI: Atika, thanks very much. We will check back in with you a little later.

Let's go over to NASA. Chris Ferguson, the commander of space shuttle "Atlantis" is speaking now at Kennedy Space Center.

CHRIS FERGUSON, COMMANDER, SPACE SHUTTLE "ATLANTIS": -- in a museum now along with the other three orbiters for generations that will come after us, to admire and appreciate.

And hopefully I want that picture of a young 6-year-old boy looking up at a space shuttle in a museum and say, you know, daddy, I want to do something like that when I grow up or I want our country to do fantastic things like this for the continued future.

If we set those steps right now, and they con with that next generation of space explorers, then I consider our job here complete. So again, on behalf of the crew, thank you so much for the time and attention and for the folks at KSE, thank you for this fantastic vehicle.

It performed absolutely wonderfully, not a glitch and it is just as pristine at it was. I hope on that a day that we took it. Barring maybe a door to the WCS, which opened up a little bit on entry, but everything is wonderful. The vehicle is great. Thank you very much.

VELSHI: That was the commander, Chris Ferguson. He must be excited except for the fact that they came back to a country that's hotter than the environmental -- atmospheric entry that they went through. CHETRY: We're struggling under a heat wave right now. It is a huge day for them. A huge day for NASA, but also a lot of questions about what happens next and when. John Zarrella is live again for us at Kennedy Space Center. Hi, John.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there. It is amazing. You look at the four of them standing there. You know, Commander Ferguson and Doug Hurley, the pilot, Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim, the two mission specialist.

You know, they spent 12 days in space. There they are. They are walking around like it is no big deal. You know, an hour and a half after the vehicle landed. They got off. They were, of course, met by Charlie Baldin, the NASA administrator.

Mike Linebach, the launch director was out there. A lot of glad handing. They walked underneath the vehicle and inspected the vehicle. Shook a lot of hands. Got a lot of hugs. Getting a lot of pictures taken right now as we can see.

And there's that wide shot of the vehicle against the blue sky here in the early morning blue sky in Florida. But it is a tremendous moment and as you heard, Chris Ferguson talking about how, you know, here you had -- he said at the beginning of his remarks that, you know, his dream was flying in space. That he hoped that all of the thousands of other people as you see him walking away there.

That we're part of the great tradition and as part of the shuttle program that he was honored to be a part of and took them when he flew into space, a tremendous moment for the crew. You know, you wonder, Ali, you know, and you wonder -- what it is going to be like, how history is going to remember them. Ali, Kiran --

VELSHI: Yes. It is a good question. The other good question, you know this as well as I do, I'm getting -- been in a Twitter argument for a couple of hours with a guy who is saying --

CHETRY: Only in commercial breaks.

VELSHI: Ali Velshi is talking about the death of the space program, which we didn't say. We said it is the end of the shuttle program. Someone slap that little putz.

But let's just put some clarity to this, John disregarding that whether or not I'm a little putz. There are people who are saying what is actually next? This guy is saying -- Warren has been tweeting me saying there's the Juneau.

There's the grail. There's the Mars rover. There's this project to get people into an asteroid. But bottom line is -- there are real legitimate questions. There are really people losing their jobs because there isn't a viable program.

ZARRELLI: Yes, it is very similar to what happened after "Apollo." I mean, almost identical to what happened. Thousands of people lost their jobs we forget right after the "Apollo" program ended. There's going to be something like 2,300 people laid off here tomorrow as we look at the astronaut bus pulling away.

Because the next program that NASA is going to try and accomplish is to go to deep space. That's going to be years from now. So in the interim, the slants are going to be taking U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station.

Then commercial companies will take over, taking the astronauts to the International Space Station. Then NASA will eventually go ahead and -- manned missions, perhaps the asteroids, perhaps Mars, and -- what we are -- what your friend there was talking about were those unmanned missions.

You have the Juno mission to Jupiter coming up. You've got the grail mission that's going to the moon coming up and then the big one, MSL, Mars Science Laboratory, which is the size of a Volkswagen and that's going to be a huge, huge mission, a robotic mission, to the Martian surface.

So there is a lot going on in the robotic end of the business, NASA's business for years to come, for the next several years. Then slowly but surely NASA promises that it is going to start the first test flights of its new heavy lift rocket about 2016.

So things have not come to a stop at the space agency. Certainly they are winding down for now because of the shuttle program's ending, but at some point hopefully it will all start to crank back up again. Ali, Kiran --

CHETRY: All right, very interesting stuff. Of course, there's always the political right wing back and forth about the funding for NASA with the long-term plan is for our space exploration --

VELSHI: Even though we are in a tough economic situation, there's always been people saying why do we spend our money on space versus those who say why don't we spend more? So do you think warren is right? Do you think I should get smacked for that?

CHETRY: I don't think you should get smacked, and I certainly don't think you are a putz.

VELSHI: Thanks.

CHETRY: It is not as nearly as exciting, the notion of us sending men and women or astronauts into space versus some of the other things that --

VELSHI: Thanks for saying I'm not a putz.

CHETRY: You're welcome. It's 38 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: It's 41 minutes past the hour. A tragic situation in Yosemite Park. Three young people who were posing for pictures near water fall were swept away. The three hikers are missing and presumed dead. Witnesses say the victims ignored warnings and then crossed over a guardrail to get close to the edge. It was the popular mist trail that leads to that water fall. It has been reopened. It was closed after the accident as rescuers con to search for the victims.

VELSHI: A California wind surfer was rescued after spending more than 12 hours stranded in San Francisco Bay. A Coast Guard rescue swimmer found the 62-year-old woman clinging to her board. She's now in stable condition at a local hospital.

CHETRY: And a 6-year-old girl is recovering from a scary shark attack that happened on North Carolina's outer banks. Authorities say she was bitten on her right leg and foot while playing in a shallow -- in shallow waters on Ocracoke Island.

Her condition has been upgraded and she was listed as critical. Now she's upgraded to good. No other swimmers were injured and the incident did not is shut down any of the area beaches.

VELSHI: Just how tall is Mt. Everest? I thought that was settled. But the government of Nepal has announced plans to re- measure Everest to end a long running dispute with China over the exact of the world's highest peak.

Now, Mt. Everest spans the border of two countries. China says it should be measured by the height of its rock. Nepal says it should be measured by the snow height, which is about 13 feet higher. So the official height is designated as 29,029 feet. Nepal wants it to be higher.

CHETRY: We will see what happens. Obviously, it is indisputable it is the tallest peak.

VELSHI: That's correct. That's not part of the discussion.

CHETRY: Well, new headlines this morning as well. There's been a lot of confusing advice for women about when you should start getting regular mammograms. We have new revised guidelines just out. Elizabeth Cohen is going to break it down for us.

VELSHI: Pet frogs could be poisoning your kids. How these little guys spread illness in children. It's 43 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Forty-five minutes past the hour. A look at your morning headlines.

A new development in the U.K. phone hacking scandal. British police are now expanding the investigation going beyond Rupert Murdoch's News International, to include many other newspapers. That's according to British Information Commissioner's Office.

Space shuttle Atlantis has landed at Kennedy Space Center. The final shuttle mission is complete. NASA is saying the spacecraft has fired the imagination of a generation and vows tht America will not stop exploring.

More than 30 states right now are under heat watches, warnings, and advisories. Triple digit temperatures are expected to last through Saturday. Officials say the heat may be to blame for at least 22 deaths.

There's a new terror warning going out to state and local law enforcement concerning private sector utilities in the U.S. Homeland security officials say there's no specific intelligence but recent incidents highlight the ongoing threat to utility infrastructure.

And the TSA rolling out new software designed to make airport body scans less revealing. It produces a more generic body image, they say, instead of seeing right through your clothes. TSA officials say the change address it is privacy concerns of passengers without compromising safety.

The rapidly approaching deadline to raise the debt ceiling is now just 12 days away this morning. President Obama says that he's hopeful that Democrats and Republicans will be able to reach an agreement by the August 2nd deadline.

Stock futures down this morning. Investors remain concerned over stalls in the debt talks in Washington. Potential market mover today: new jobless claims numbers which come out in about 45 minutes.

And another breakup for Tiger Woods. He's parting way was his longtime caddie Steve Williams. Woods made that announcement on his Web site saying, quote, "It's time for a change." Williams posted a response on his Web site saying, quote, "After 13 years of loyal service, needless to say, this came as a shock."

Well, you are caught up the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING is back right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Beautiful yet somehow -- somewhat cloudy Atlanta, Georgia. Seventy-four degrees right now. Expect what you normally expect on a hot summer afternoon. Thunderstorms later, 91 degrees in Atlanta.

CHETRY: Well, keeping the kids away from frogs, that warning coming from the Centers for Disease Control. They are telling parents to keep kids away from frogs and their habitats because they could become infected with salmonella.

Last year, at least 241 people in the U.S. were infected by African dwarf frogs and more than two-thirds of them were under the age of 10.

You know, when you are little, you catch a frog -- it's the most exciting thing. You carry the frog around. Little kids probably don't wash their hands.

You never done this?

VELSHI: I grew up in the city. I didn't have nothing to do with frogs.

CHETRY: It's the most exciting thing. You found a little frog, you held it for a while and it then let it go. You got to wash your hands.

VELSHI: Perhaps you did. OK. Bottom line is if you are inclined to behave like Kiran did as a child -- be careful, wash your hands and don't eat the frogs.

The taller you are, the higher risk of your getting cancer. That's according to a study published in the British Medical journal, "Lancet." That's interesting. One-point-three million middle aged women in Britain were studied between 1996 and 2001. It's a big study.

Researchers found the cancer risk rose by 16 for every four-inch increase in height -- important to say there's no explanation as to why. So, it's a correlation of sorts.

CHETRY: Sometimes they do a correlation as opposed to a cause.

VELSHI: Right. We don't know what the cause is. Interesting story, though.

CHETRY: Most doctors agree that mammograms can save lives. They don't always agree, though, about who should get them and when they should start getting them. Now, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is suggesting that women over 40 should get screened every year.

VELSHI: Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us from Atlanta with the details.

Explain the age change to us, Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Ali, some people would say they should have made this change quite a while ago. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists used to say women over 40 should get a mammogram either every year or every other. And now, they are saying every year. They say there's mounting evidence that women who are, you know, relatively young, in their 40s, that those cancers grow quickly and so, you want to catch them every year.

So, really, you know, there has been so much back-and-forth about mammograms. I feel terrible in some ways we keep telling women different things. But I think now, the word is out -- the minute you turn 40, a mammogram every year. It's very simple.

CHETRY: Because there was a huge outcry last year when the recommendation was 50 and people were saying, I wouldn't be alive today if I waited until 50. Early detection is the key. Also, what about the frequency? Meaning, if you get your first baseline mammogram at 40, you have to go back at 41?

COHEN: Yes. The recommendation is to go every year. So, you should be starting at 40 and going, you know, every year until then. I should say that women who have a family history of breast cancer, they might even want to start earlier. So, you should talk to your doctor about that.

VELSHI: What do we know about how many men, what proportion of women get mammograms? I mean, we've certainly been hearing about mammograms whether it's conflicting information or not for a long time.

COHEN: You know, Ali, this is really the interesting and unfortunate part is that one out of three women who should be getting regular mammograms aren't. I mean, that's one out of three. That's a really high number.

Maybe it's because of all of these confusing back and forth numbers. Maybe it's because they don't have insurance. Who knows? But one in three is a high number.

So, if you want to read more about why you should get your annual mammogram, you can read my colleague Val Willingham's blog. It's great and has all of the details, CNN.com/thechart.

CHETRY: And I just want to add one other thing. I know a few women unfortunately who have -- who caught -- or were diagnosed with a very virulent type of cancer, triple negative cancer and they seem to hit women in their 30s or younger. I mean, is there -- and don't know if family history or anything determines that, but they seem to be very early on, way before you'd be recommended to get a mammogram. What do you do in that case?

COHEN: Right. That's a very good point which is that even women who are under 40, they should be getting clinical breast exams, which means that the doctor, the nurse practitioner examines your breast.

So, even if you're under 40, you should still be going to your gynecologist and you should still be asking your gynecologist to examine your breasts. And those exams are really quite effective.

CHETRY: All right. Thanks, Elizabeth.

COHEN: Thanks.

CHETRY: Just how far would you to see that hotel guests get a good night sleep, and that those that snore re punished. Well, the Crowne Plaza Hotel chain has introduced snore patrols and snore-proof rooms in dozens of their hotels. Snore monitors patrol the hauls.

You said this was not exactly -- didn't seem to be very practical given if you are somebody who snores and somebody wakes you up?

VELSHI: Yes. They're going to knock on the door? I say, huh? And I'm going to answer the door and the guy will say you're snoring too loudly. I will say, oh, sorry, and I'm going back to sleep and snore. So, unless a snore patrol guy sits there in my room, I don't think it's very useful.

CHETRY: Snore patrol also known as the wife, right?

VELSHI: Of course.

CHETRY: All right. Well, anyway, they say they are going to have -- install anti-snoring pillows, white noise machines. I mean, Crowne Plaza is going all out.

VELSHI: Snore absorbent headboards. I mean, this is funny.

So, we wanted to know. This caused us to ask you what's your funniest hotel experience? Our question of the day. And we are getting some fantastic responses.

CHETRY: Yes. And let me just say that we can only do the G- rated ones. You're having a lot of fun in your hotel rooms. But

VELSHI: We'll talk about them.

CHETRY: Karen on our blog writes, "Was in New York City at the Hilton on 6th Avenue, ordered room service for breakfast. When the food arrived, the gentleman literally set the carpet and his pants on fire by spilling the gel fuel used to keep the food warm. It was scary at the time but I find humor in it now."

VELSHI: Scott writes on our blog, I really like this one. "We made hot roast beef and cheddar subs at 4:00 a.m. with the standard La Quinta ironing board and iron. We even toasted the bread with the iron. It was great."

CHETRY: Jonx13 on Twitter, "When I called the room of the guys partying loud late into the night, at 6:30 a.m. and said, time to wake up, suckers."

VELSHI: And Brian on Facebook says, "I always check the dresser drawers to make sure and I didn't find anything. What did I find? Three adult magazines. No, I didn't ouch them. But I did go wash my hands."

CHETRY: Top stories after the break.

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