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CNN Saturday Morning News

Flooding Leads to Misery in N.C.; Obama Aims To Excite Young Voters; North Dakota Largely Escapes Economic Downturn; East Coast Cleaning Up After Floodwaters Recede; 14 Militants Reported Killed After U.S. Drone Strikes in Pakistan; Men Granted Time Off For Breast Feeding Rights?

Aired October 02, 2010 - 06:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Good SATURDAY MORNING.

Today is cleanup day. And they will be cleaning up for some time all up and down the East Coast after nasty weather hit many places and left at least eight people dead. We will take you there, and also let you know if there's any more nasty weather on the way.

Plus, President Obama calls another world leader to offer an apology. But not for something he did. For something that was done some 70 years ago. We'll tell you who he called and why.

Hello to you all. From the CNN Center, this is your CNN SATURDAY MORNING for this October the 2nd. Glad you could be here. I'm T.J. Holmes.

Let me tell you what else we've got coming for you over the next 90 minutes.

Fathers given the same breast-feeding rights as mothers. Sound a bit crazy to you? We will tell you where a court has ruled to allow dads to leave work for an hour or even reduce their work day by a half-hour during the first nine months of a child's birth.

Also, it's Saturday. A lot of people might be trying to do some work around the house. Well, you need to watch out, because more than half a million home-improvement books published by a particular company are being recalled because of technical errors. And if you follow their instructions, you could be putting your family and your home at risk of fire and electrical shock. We'll explain.

Also, a school-age boy being teased about his weight. So his family goes on a food revolution, changing their own eating habits. It proved life-changing, and now the entire family is doing a whole lot better.

But let me get you back to what I was - told you about at the very top of this show. A large storm system flooded several states, killed at least eight people. Philadelphia and much of the eastern and central Pennsylvania were deluged by rainfall early yesterday. State troopers say a woman died after driving into floodwaters near a creek in Philadelphia. A 72-year-old woman was also trapped for more than eight hours in her car northwest of Philadelphia before she was able to escape.

Also, floods killed seven people in North Carolina. Among them, four people whose care hydroplaned into a ditch filled with water in Washington County.

Nowhere was the misery more evident than in Windsor. That's a town that was 80 percent underwater. About 175 people have been rescued from rising floodwaters since Thursday night. Officials say many people can't get back into their homes, and many of the businesses in the city are still underwater.

Also, floodwaters making life difficult in other parts of North Carolina as well. Vanceboro in particular. Several homes in and around downtown underwater. The water was as high as street signs in some places. You can see it here. Several families had to be evacuated. But many were fortunate enough to get some of their valuables off the boat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOBBY HAKER, RESIDENT OF VANCEBORO: (INAUDIBLE) and getting their stuff out. And we try to help them all we can. But it's - it's real - it's real bad back that way. I feel like water's probably 16 feet deep in the deepest part, and it looks like to me it's still coming up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Meanwhile, in Raleigh, North Carolina, an assisted- living community evacuated as well from dangerous floodwaters. But WRAL's Adam Owens says it's what was in the water that had officials actually concerned.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ADAM OWENS, WRAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The last of the evacuations happened in the dark. A home with nearly 50 residents. Most are Alzheimer patients from Windsor House, an assisted-living community.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: En route back to you all with three victims and three rescuers.

OWENS: People stranded by rising floodwaters called 911 for help. Crews are sent out to pick them up.

This was the moment 80-year-old Mamie White's boat finally came in.

MAMIE WHITE, RESIDENT: But I'm scared of water. But anyway, I'm glad I'm here.

OWENS: Rescuers say these waters are dangerous.

CHARLES TRIPP, GREENVILLE FIRE & RESCUE: Hazardous materials, gasoline, diesel fuel, sewage in the water. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's just rising. Rising, rising up.

OWENS: When the waters did not stop moving in on the bed and breakfast Dawn Sagotti (ph) was staying at, she decided to leave. On the boat ride to safety, she passed homes and cars gone or nearly gone.

A lot of that boat traffic passed the Heritage House restaurant. But owner Johnny Piece knows no one will be stopping here for barbecue for awhile. He watched water walk up the walls.

JOHNNY PIERCE, FLOOD VICTIM: It didn't take long. About an hour, it was up about 20 inches.

OWENS: He estimates the damage at $200,000. And he thinks it'll take as many as three months to put it all back together.

PIERCE: You know, who expected this without a hurricane?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: All right. Reynolds Wolf in here with me now.

Reynolds, the pictures unbelievable. We see - I mean, after disasters and flooding, oftentimes. But those are just something else.

How long before that water kind of goes away?

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We're going to see improvements today. With every second that passes, the water's going to drop. But then, as the water recedes, that means the cleanup really gets under way.

But we had a couple of components that came together that made this a very, very bad situation. We had the remnants of a tropical system combined with a frontal boundary. And the two of them together gave us some really rough stuff.

Let me show you exactly what I'm talking about in terms of some precipitation and the rainfall amounts. T.J. and to our friends across America, take a look at this. In Wilmington, North Carolina, you had nearly two feet of rainfall. Two feet of rainfall that fell in - in a very quick time since 8 a.m. on Tuesday. Some of the rainfall in Norfolk nearly a foot.

But again, much of that actually - again, if you look at the whole of that up and down the coast, that was since Tuesday. But the bulk of this precipitation in Norfolk fell in just about a day's time. So certainly some - some rough times, to say the least.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HOLMES: Well, also, in Mexico, they're having flooding issues as well. The government there has declared 15 more communities as disaster areas. That's up to 35 now. Veracruz inundated with about six and a half feet of water in some places. Thousands of people have been forced to evacuate. A lot of this flooding stems from that tropical depression, Matthew, and other weather systems that dumped all this rain over eastern and southern Mexico.

Going to take a turn to politics here in just a moment. The midterm elections 31 days away now. Concern that some of the president's biggest supporters won't show up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEATHER SMITH, PRESIDENT, ROCK THE VOTE: It's like you go out on a really first date, right? And - and it was awesome. And you sat there and waited for the text message back. And two years later, it comes, and you think to yourself, 'Where have you been?'

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: That was awfully personal there, but she was trying to make an analogy related to politics. We will get into that and talk about the president's youth vote and how that could be in jeopardy.

Before we go to a break though - hey, got a little quiz for you this morning. Is it too early? Is that brain working? Well, we're going to try to get a little stretch this morning.

A survey just came out about reading in the digital age. It was conducted by two education-research companies, Scholastic and Harrison Group. One of the questions they asked to the parents: How many parents out there believe that their children actually handle far more information than they did? What do you think? Fifty-three percent; 65 percent; or 84 percent of parents say that the kids actually handle more information?

Have that answer for you right after the break. It's eight minutes past the hour on your CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, welcome back.

Just before the break, we asked this question: How many parents out there think their children have to handle far more information than they had to? We had 53 percent; 65 percent; 84 percent?

Well, you probably guessed this one. The answer: 84 percent of parents believe the obvious difference is the massive amount of digital information and images transmitted over the Internet.

Well, a key player at the White House is gone. Why would somebody give up the job that many call the second-most-powerful job in government besides being president.

We're talking about the job of chief of staff. Well, the president's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, has stepped down. We saw this happen yesterday. It was already widely reported, so no surprises. And certainly not going to be a surprise when he decides - and he comes out and announces he's running for mayor of Chicago. That's something he's always said is his dream job. So he's believed to be putting his ducks in a row to get ready for a run in Chicago.

Now, the president yesterday called Rahm Emanuel's leaving "a bittersweet day," adding he counted on Rahm Emanuel's energy, his enthusiasm and commitment to get the job done. Emanuel, of course, has a reputation as being one of the toughest guys in the White House. Kind of some salty language at times as well.

But did he leave out the salty language yesterday in his goodbye?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAHM EMANUEL, FMR. WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: My grandfather came to this country for opportunity. They came here for a better life for their children. My mother marched with Martin Luther King because she believed that none of us is truly free until all of us are.

Both my parents raised me to give something back to the country and the community that has given us so much. And I want to thank you for the opportunity to repay, in a small portion, of the blessings this country has given my family.

I give you my word that even as I leave the White House, I will never leave that spirit of service behind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, you see Rahm Emanuel there. Really known as being a really, really, really tough guy around the White House, getting a little joked up in saying his goodbye at least, heading back to Chicago. Again, widely believed he's going to be trying to run for mayor of that town.

Meanwhile, the president named his deputy chief of staff, Pete Rouse, to take over for Emanuel for now. This is considered an interim basis. But still, Pete Rouse is considered to be a front-runner for the job when the president finally does appoint someone permanently.

Well, young voters, of course, played a - a crucial role in getting President Obama elected. And starting next week, the White House is going to be pushing hard to get them energized again, believing they can make a difference in the midterm elections.

But CNN White House correspondent Dan Lothian says two years makes a big difference.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This hip, energy-filled, loud-music-craving crowd is once again feeling the love from President Obama.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Hello, Wisconsin!

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE) LOTHIAN: This week, a massive rally at the University of Wisconsin; a conference call with college journalists, and a 40-and- under DNC event to pump them up for the midterm elections.

OBAMA: The biggest mistake we could make is to let impatience or frustration lead to apathy and indifference. Because that guarantees the other side wins.

LOTHIAN: But some of those frustrated young voters wondered why it took a midterm election to get the president's undivided attention again.

SMITH: It's like you go out on a really first date, right? And - and it was awesome. And you sat there and waited for the text message back. And two years later, it comes, and you think to yourself, 'Where have you been?'

And you still go out with them a second time, but maybe this time, there's a little more skepticism. There's a - it's a little less sexy.

LOTHIAN: The sales job was much easier during the presidential campaign, when young people like then-college student Matt Miller were flush with hope and enthusiasm.

MATT MILLER, YOUNG VOTER: He seemed very passionate and energetic

LOTHIAN: During an Obama rally at his University of Maryland campus in 2008, Miller, who was studying to enter the medical profession, thought the future looked bright.

But two years later, he's working a part-time job outside of his field in a still-struggling economy.

And so many promises, he says, are stuck on Capitol Hill.

MILLER: I personally voted for Obama hoping that he would help alleviate some of those situations, but it -- it almost seems that - that the - the partisanship battles are -- are increasing in intensity within Congress and a lot of progress is being halted because of that.

LOTHIAN: Heather Smith, president of Rock the Vote, says while some people might be cynical, most are optimistic.

Matt Miller isn't ready to throw out the Democrats despite his frustration.

MILLER: I'm not feeling as strongly as I was before about the current administration. But to say the same, I think, on the other side of the aisle, it's only getting more extreme, away from the direction that I - I want to go as a voter.

LOTHIAN (on camera): A new Gallup poll shows Democrats are making some gains among those 18 to 29, up nine points from last august, but down slightly from earlier in the summer. The big hope for Democrats is that they can get these young voters excited, and that they'll end up going to the polls on Election Day.

Dan Lothian, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Well, we have heard an awful lot the past couple years even about as - what's going wrong with our economy. But it turns out there are some places where people were actually making more money during the recession.

Josh with those answers for us. Good morning, Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, good morning to you, T.J.

And I'm going to kind of copy something we did earlier. We got a little quiz here, because this, to me - it came out this week. It's striking.

Name the one state and the one major city in which incomes have actually gone up during this recession. There's only one - one state, one major city has seen incomes rise in this recession.

I'll have the answers for you right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Seventeen minutes past the hour now here on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

We were asking you - what do you think? What place could possibly have been making more money during this recession? It is possible that someone is.

Josh Levs has the answer to this particular city, particular state where this is going on - Josh.

LEVS: Yes. Hey there, T.J. This just came out this week, new information from the Census Bureau.

And let me show you what they're talking about here. So incomes have gone down during this recession in 34 states. And in pretty much all the rest of them, they've stayed flat. Except one. One state has seen incomes rise in this recession. It's a pretty big jump.

North Dakota. Go to North Dakota. The only state in the nation where incomes have gone up. In fact, they've gone up a pretty good amount - 5 percent. That's from 2008 to 2009. The figures that just came out this week.

So why North Dakota? What are they doing right?

Well, our John King was there last year, spoke with some folks. Here's what one said. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Because of the industry that's here, are you shielded from some of the national dynamics sometimes?

JOHN STRATMAN, WORKS IN INSURANCE: Well, certainly the economy here is more influenced by agriculture than any other single source. While there's manufacturing here, it's not to the extent of - of a Michigan or an Ohio. And agriculture continues to roll on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: Hmm. Good for North Dakota.

Now, some of it is the agriculture. But labor experts also point to this diverse range of industries there: Oil, mining, health care, forestry, hunting and fishing. And state officials say they really haven't been focusing on these industries that have big booms. They've really been a lot more steady over the past decade. So North Dakota, the one state there.

Now, back to me. The one city - what we did here at CNN was we took all these metro areas, and we looked at these figures. The top 52 metro areas in this country, incomes have fallen in 51 of 52. One big exception. The one city where incomes have gone up? San Antonio, Texas. They didn't drop. They went up slight; half of 1 percent. But still, while everyone else was going down, they're going up.

So why San Antonio? What are they doing right?

Well, we have reported that this city has made a lot of great strides in diversifying its economy. They've got tourism, biomedical, financial services. It's a center of higher education. Major military center - 75,000 service members there. Jobs have been available. Costs have stayed relatively low.

People have been moving to San Antonio, where costs are low. And they've been able to get jobs and housing.

So a little piece of good news right there. The one city that seems to be sailing along much better than everyone else in this one respect.

I got the whole list posted for you at my Facebook and Twitter pages, joshlevscnn. You can see how every city, how every state are doing, how your area has been impacted specifically in this economy.

But T.J., you know, we talk national trends very often. It is nice to stop and look at a couple places that have been sailing along pretty well. Maybe there are some lessons for all the rest of us there.

HOLMES: Yes, out of 49 (sic). We'll take that --

LEVS: We'll take it. HOLMES: -- at this point even.

LEVS: Better than zero.

HOLMES: All right. Thank you. Thank you, Josh.

LEVS: See you.

HOLMES: Well, a lot of people out there, on the weekends, you like to do-it-yourself around the house. You don't want to hire some contractor. You can get it done by yourself? What's the motto of one of those stores? You can do it. We can help.

Well, if you try to do it on your own this weekend, you might set your house on fire. I will explain. There are some books out there that are giving wrong instructions to some of those do-it-yourselfers. A major recall on books. Tell you about.

Twenty past the hour. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, about 25 minutes past the hour here on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Give you a look at some of the stories that are making headlines.

A passenger train in Indonesia rammed into the rear of another one that was sitting on the tracks, and at least 34 have been killed. A whole lot more injured. These are some of the first pictures we are getting out of there.

Rescue workers now trying to reach the injured, trying to get them to the hospital. They're using cranes to try to lift away some of these large pieces of mangled train. A railway spokesman says there will be many more victims.

Turn to California now, where the governor there, Arnold Schwarzenegger, says his financially troubled state has reached a deal on the budget. We don't have the details just yet, but the state was facing a $19 billion deficit. The governor says he will make all the details public on Wednesday, and then they'll have to vote on it on Thursday.

California missed its July 1 budget deadline, which is not really something that's rare for the state. But it caused all kinds of problems, as always. Had to furlough thousands of workers and considered sending out IOUs instead of paychecks to many more.

Also, a story I've been telling you about this morning. Oxmoor House Publishers recalling half a million home-improvement books. They contain errors in technical diagrams in wiring instructions. And if you follow the instructions that are in there, you could have a problem. Could pose an electrical-shock or fire hazard.

There are 17 different titles that are being recalled in all. All are out of print right now, but you might still find them on store shelves. If you have one of these books, you can return it to Oxmoor for a refund. We're going to try to get this link up to you so you can see exactly which books there are.

But again, this is a safety hazard, a fire hazard. So you certainly need that information.

Well, in Chile, those 33 miners we have been keeping up with for the past month or so now, they've been stuck down half a mile - for two months, I should say, now. And this morning, there's a major new development to tell you about. We might actually know when they're finally coming out of there. I'll have that for you.

Also, always good to say good morning to my good friend Reynolds Wolf, keeping an eye on things.

Not going to be anything as nasty as we've been seeing the past couple of days.

WOLF: (INAUDIBLE), tough guy. It looks like it's going to be a much better day weatherwise. But the cleanup is going to begin for a lot of people along the Eastern Seaboard, as the combination of a tropical system and a frontal boundary that brought widespread flooding.

And the tropics are still pretty active. We're going to give you an update coming up in just a few moments.

You're watching CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Come back. Really. We'll see you in a little bit. Please.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Welcome back, everybody, to this CNN SATURDAY MORNING. I'm T.J. Holmes. Glad you could be with us this morning.

Meshawn (ph), this - this camera right here, right? All right. Getting me squared away.

We have a lot to talk about. Reynolds is standing by here. We're going to get to him about the weather. But you have been seeing this up and down the Eastern Seaboard the past couple of day. They are cleaning up, cleaning out today. It's going to be a weekend of clean-up.

Let's take you to some of these pictures here. Philadelphia, much of the eastern central Pennsylvania. They got hit with a lot of rainfall yesterday. State troopers said a woman actually died after driving to a swollen creek in Philadelphia. Also a 72-year old woman was also trapped for more than eight hours in her car, northwest of Philadelphia, before she was able to escape.

Turn to North Carolina. They probably got the brunt of it here. Seven people, seven people dead there in weather-related incidents, including four whose car hydroplaned into a ditch in Washington County. Nowhere the misery more evident than the pictures you are going to be seeing here out of Windsor, downtown Windsor. That is a town that about 80 percent of it was under water; 175 people had to be rescued from rising flood waters since Thursday night, there.

Officials say many people won't be able to get back into their homes for some time because the city is under water. Also, in North Carolina, Vanceboro, another town, just look at these pictures. Water as high as street signs in some places, several homes, in and around downtown Vanceboro, under water. Families had to evacuate. They were able to get out. You can see people carrying lamps, there, grabbing anything they could to hop on some of those boats to be rescued. They got a few things out.

Like you said, Reynolds, the water is going to recede fairly quickly, then the next phase of clean-up begins.

WOLF,: Absolutely. Much of this is flash flooding and if you are wondering what flash flooding is, it is really self-explanatory. It has to do with the flash or speed of how the water rises quickly. One thing you don't see, it really doesn't meet the eye when you look at it.

It's one of the big issues you have with flooding is contamination, especially in city areas. Where you have the water, it builds up. Sewage backs up, pops up to the surface and gets everywhere. You have widespread contamination. A lot of the furniture that is in people's houses, they have been inundated with water, it has to be thrown out. Mold is a huge issue after the fact.

There's a clean-up that may take not just days, possibly weeks or maybe even longer. Certainly rough. They need a break, they are going to get it today.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WOLF: Speaking of Kansas City, and speaking southward into Dallas. Dallas, especially, T.J., later on we're going to talk about a college football forecast. We have the Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners playing today.

A lot of great games, a lot of fans wondering what kind of football weather they can expect. Can't help you with the scores, but the forecast, we have a pretty good handle on.

HOLMES: You are right. It's a very big day, probably the biggest one we have seen so far.

WOLF: Absolutely.

HOLMES: We have the Stanford-Oregon game. The Alabama-Florida game, Texas-Oklahoma.

WOLF: Line them up, man. It's good stuff.

HOLMES: Reynolds and I will probably have red eyes tomorrow morning. We have to stay up and watch the games.

Reynolds we appreciate you, buddy. We'll check with you here in a second. Also coming up, we told you about an apology the president made to another world leader. But not for something he did, but something that took place some 60 years ago. We'll tell you exactly what that is.

Before we go to break though, got another question for you to think about. See if you can get the answer to this one right. This is another question from that new reading survey I was telling you about.

Can you answer this? What percentage of girls, ages 6-17, think reading for fun is very important? You say, 25 percent of girls, 62 percent of girls, or 90 percent ? We'll have that answer when we get back. It's 35 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Welcome back at 37 past the hour here on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

Before the break, we asked you, what percentage of girls, age 6- 17, think reading is important? What do you think, 25, 62, or 90 percent? Well, it's actually 62 percent of girls think that reading for fun is very important. However, when you asked the boys in the same age group, only 39 percent of them think reading for fun is important.

I want to turn to some information we are just getting in out of Pakistan. We have seen, kind of contentious events taking place between the U.S. and Pakistan. Pakistan is an important player, and important ally in the war in Afghanistan. But part of the relationship has been strained by these U.S. drone attacks that have been taking place as the U.S. targets militants along the Afghan/Pakistan border.

Now, we are getting word of another U.S. drone attack has killed several more militants. Again, this is in Pakistan. We want to turn to Fred Pleitgen to give us updates on what we are seeing.

Tell us about this latest one, if you can, Fred. Start with this latest drone attack, then we'll go back to the history of what we have seen the past couple days.

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: OK, yes, T.J., we just got some new information just a couple of minutes ago. There were actually two drone strikes that happened earlier today, both of them killing several militants.

In all, 14 suspected militants were killed in these two drone strikes. Each of them involved two missiles being shot. One of them was on a vehicle. The other one was on a compound. And both of these strikes happened in the North Waziristan area of Pakistan.

As you know, it's where most of the drone strikes are taking place right now because that is a place where Pakistani military can't really go to flesh out the militants. So that is where the U.S. is concentrating its drone strikes. So, again, two further drone strikes, each of them involving two missiles; apparently 14 suspected militants killed in these drone strikes, T.J.

HOLMES: And Fredrick, tell us as well, again it's back and forth. I talked to you about this yesterday as well. Pakistan is not too happy with the U.S. because of another strike a couple of days ago. They actually cut off one of the important roads to get supplies into Afghanistan for NATO soldiers, for U.S. soldiers, as well.

Where are we on that back and forth? Any hopes of getting that supply line open, again?

PLEITGEN: The Pakistanis are saying that the supply line, which is a route for NATO convoys that go into Afghanistan, via the town of Peshawar, remains closed. They say at this point they hope to open it at some point in the near future. And they are not exactly sure when, and of course, this dates back to an American alleged helicopter incursion into Pakistani territory, where three Pakistani soldiers were killed.

I can tell you earlier this morning, I traveled that road. I traveled that convoy road all the way to the town of Peshawar. Right now, what has happened is a lot of the convoys, that were in waiting along those roads, have been pushed back into depots.

Because it is simply too dangerous for those convoys to remain on the roads. They are in no way even near the border a lot of them. Some of them are actually still waiting on the border. But a lot of them actually pulled off the roads into depots because right now they are not going anywhere.

Diplomats on both sides, of course, are still trying to get that situation in order and hoping to resolve it quickly. However, right now, through the main road, no NATO convoys, no supplies going to the American troops in Afghanistan via Pakistan, T.J.

HOLMES: Fredrick, one more thing before I let you go. Any idea, just yet, of who the U.S. might have been targeting with these drone attacks? Just in general a group of militants or sometimes they often do go after some high-profile militants?

PLEITGEN: Well, they have been targeting some very high-profile Taliban and also Al Qaeda militants quite recently. They killed what they say is the main Al Qaeda commander for Afghanistan and Pakistan in this region recently. We have confirmed that both with the U.S., as well as the with the Pakistani military.

Also, of course, some of these drone strikes were apparently related to that alleged terror plot that was supposed to take place in Europe. The other thing that the U.S. has been telling us quite recently is that frankly, they have been better intelligence, both from there on the ground sources as well as from their technical sources. Better imaging on drones. They have high-powered balloons that travel very high in the air and have very high-powered cameras. They are able to get much better, much more precise also information for these drone strikes. That's why we have seen a massive increase recently. Much larger than any month that we have seen before, T.J.

HOLMES: Frederick Pleitgen for us in Islamabad. We appreciate you as always. Thank you so much.

I want to turn now to Chile where there's some fresh hope for maybe a faster rescue of those 33 miners who have been trapped for some time now. This capsule you are seeing here is being tested. It could be their ride to the surface. The men have been trapped 2,300 feet below ground since August 5th. Early on the mining company predicted it could take until Christmas to get them out, but -

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURENCE GOLBORNE, CHILEAN MINE MINISTER: Well, after some advances that have been established and after we have passed through certain zones, that were geologically speaking, complicated, we can foresee another way that maybe we can have this rescue process in the second half of the month of October.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: So, what he was saying, one of the officials there, now, they believe they could have these guys out, start bringing them out sometime in the next two weeks even. They predicted somewhere between October 15 and October 30. So, ahead of schedule.

Again, the cave in, since that cave in the miners have been surviving on supplies funneled down to them, food, water, other things they need. But also they are getting things like cigarettes. The guys have been taken care of, for the most part, getting everything they need.

Also a chilling experiment is now bringing formal apology from the United States to Guatemala. Just after World War II, U.S. researchers knowingly infected Guatemalan subjects with sexually transmitted diseases. They were trying to test penicillin. President Obama, you see him here in the picture, he was phoning the president of Guatemala, Friday, offering profound apologies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (via Spanish translator, via English translator): The news totally took me by surprise. We had not heard about such actions before. Never. We will launch a thorough investigation, led by an independent U.S./Guatemalan commission to get the truth.

This afternoon, I had a long conversation with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She, too, offered her apologies and expressed her shame the United States committed such atrocities back then.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Hundreds of Guatemala intentionally infected. It included prisoners, prostitutes, soldiers and also the mentally ill. Coming up, oftentimes when you are hearing about equal rights between the sexes, you often hear about women trying to get the same rights as men. We'll tell you where men are trying to get the same right as women. The right I'm talking about? The right to breastfeed. We'll explain that one to you, coming up. It's 44 minutes past the hour.

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HOLMES: All right, 44 minutes past the hour now.

I'm going to pass along some information now. I'm going to go ahead and share it with the viewers. Eddie and Tanisha, my folks back in the booth, go ahead and share this information we are getting in about a second reported tape from Osama bin Laden.

We just got word yesterday of one reported message from him. They are always hard to authenticate. But, again, a second audio message we are getting now. So this would be back-to-back days we are getting messages. The messages have surfaced on the Internet. This one very much similar to the one we heard yesterday in that he is urging Muslims to support flood victims in Pakistan.

Again, he sounded, awfully-again, by the translation we are getting, from this purported tape from bin Laden, sounds more like a diplomat, someone actually coming out urging people to help the people of Pakistan now.

Now, please, when I say sounding like a diplomat, please don't take that to mean, that I'm putting him in those kind of circles. I'm just saying the kind of message he's putting out is not one necessarily of hate or violence, if you will, but urging people to support the people of Pakistan and the devastating flooding there.

CNN has yet to be able to verify the authenticity of that tape. The one yesterday as well. But these things often come out. I just want to share this with you as well. We are looking more into that.

I want to move to a story I was telling you about right before the commercial break. Here in the U.S. new fathers, just like new mothers, they are allowed to take time off after the birth of their child. It is a right they have under what is called the Family Leave Act.

But Spain taking this a step further. New fathers also get breastfeeding leave. Yes. It gives them the same right as women to take time during the day for breastfeeding. Our Editorial Producer Nadia Bilchik always brings us something interesting. Here is another one.

I want to make this clear. The guys aren't taking time off and actually taking the child and breastfeeding. Men can't do that. That is not what we're saying. They are getting the time.

NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITOR PRODUCER: They are getting the time. They are getting the bonding time. So European Union court in Luxemburg has basically granted men the same time off. For the first nine months a working mother is allowed to take half an hour twice during the day to go and breastfeed or leave work half an hour early.

So a Petro Alvarez in Spain, got very upset because his partner was a stay at home mom and he wasn't given the same rights. In fact, she was a self-employed mom.

So what happened was he contested the law saying why, if my wife stays at home, am I then not allowed the right. Because husbands could get the right, or fathers of the children, if their wife was -

HOLMES: Worked.

BILCHIK: Employed full time. So, here Petro Alvarez contests the law. And now what is happening in Spain, you are allowed to apply to get the same breastfeeding time off as your partner, and that critical time.

What is the court saying? They are saying that men bond with their babies as much as women, mothers and fathers, in that first six to nine months. They call it the infant parent bonding time. The skin-to-skin contact is so critical in the mental and physical development of the child. HOLMES: Do the men have to actually, in some form or fashion, prove they are actually spending that time with the child?

BILCHIK: Now, that is interesting.

HOLMES: Or can they just go to the bar?

BILCHIK: Exactly. Well, one hopes. Because they have to apply for it. One hopes that if they go to the trouble of applying for this extra half hour, twice during the day, and half an hour early, that they do in fact spend time with the children. But, we don't know. Would it be quantifiable in any way? It remains to be seen.

HOLMES: Could-is it possible, I mean is there anything similar to that, here? In the U.S. We know men get the family leave, they get that time off.

BILCHIK: Interestingly enough, one of the commentaries said, you know, if men in the U.S. got it would they be spending the time in the bar?

HOLMES: We know what American men would be doing.

BILCHIK: We don't know. Let's say it is specific. Because I hope a man like you, T.J., I can be assured that you would be spending bonding time with that baby.

(LAUGHTER)

This made me research. Psychoanalysts really talk about that initial period, that period of skin-to-skin bonding. And we know that in orphanages when babies don't get that touching, that cuddling, and a father may not be breastfeeding, well, he cannot breastfeed, but using the bottle and feeding the baby there is still that skin-to-skin contact. So what the court, the European Court really, is saying that men and women are equal in the bonding. Mothers and fathers have an equal role to play.

HOLMES: Unjustified discrimination, is what the court called it.

Nadia, interesting story. We are keeping an eye on it this week. You have another one. We are going to talk to you again a little later this morning.

BILCHIK: We are going to Australia.

HOLMES: Going to Australia. I love this story. You have coming up about some weddings having to be-

BILCHIK: Postponed, yes, because-well, we'll tell you about it around 8:30.

HOLMES: A lot of weddings having to be postponed. Nadia, always a pleasure. Always goods stuff.

Also coming up, we have been talking about the major flooding we have been dealing with here along the East Coast. You see some flooding there. It's not on the East Coast of the U.S. Mexico dealing with some major flooding issues as well; entire neighborhoods are sitting in floodwaters. Some of this water goes up to rooftops. We'll take you there, folks. We are just about nine minutes to the top of the hour.

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HOLMES: We're getting close to the top of the hour now. I'll give you a look at the stories taking place. A flood emergency in Mexico, authorities there say as many as 100,000 people have been affected by days of rain spawned by Tropical Storm Matthew. Mexico now designating 35 municipalities and towns as disaster areas.

Incoming Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan begins her new job on Monday. Yesterday she was formerly sworn in. It is the fourth time in five years Chief Justice John Roberts is seeing a new jurist on the bench of the nation's highest court.

The U.S. military helping in the search now for two Americans who went missing during a balloon race over Europe early on Wednesday. The race organizers say they lost radar contact with them as their balloon ran into rough weather. Their chances for survival are now considered unlikely.

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