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CNN Saturday Morning News
Deputy Shot, Judge Stabbed at Courthouse; Kofi Annan Meets with Syria's Al-Assad; Flight Attendant Disrupts Flight; Sites Track Shoppers' Behavior; Kansas Holds GOP Presidential Caucus; Interview with Ron Paul; Protecting Your Privacy Online; Apple Unveils New iPad
Aired March 10, 2012 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CNN ANNOUNCER: From CNN's World Headquarters bringing you news and analysis from across the nation and around the globe. Live from Studio 7 this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
KAYE: From the CNN Center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. It's 11:00 a.m. in the East, 8:00 a.m. in the West.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Randi Kaye. Here's what's happening now.
As rockets pound the cities of Syria a high level diplomatic mission is underway to try to halt the bloodshed.
Also --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not responsible for this plane crashing. And that's when everybody started freaking out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: A flight attendant threatens to crash on an American Airlines flight. We'll talk to a passenger who shot this video.
And check out this new video showing a tornado striking Kentucky. Look at that roof blowing right off. It was part of the killer storms that hit the nation last weekend leaving a huge path of destruction.
New violence in Syria is overshadowing high-stakes diplomatic efforts to stop the country's bloodshed. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad sat down with former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan in Damascus today but even as they talked of peace, activists say tanks and artillery pounder more Syrian cities.
CNN's senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson is watching developments from neighboring Beirut, Lebanon. Nic we've talk about this. Syrian state-run TV is actually calling today's talks positive. Do you see any progress here?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Certainly not on the ground. The killings continue, particularly there were tanks moving into the northern city of Idlib today and 19 people are according to activists killed, 16 of them in -- in an ambush according to those activists in the north of the country. They said that 60 members of the Free Syrian Army were ambushed. The killings are going on in other parts of the country, shelling in the city of Homs.
And what's been interesting about what state media has said is as quoted Bashar Al-Assad as saying that -- that he will do everything successful to bring a solution to the situation in the country, but then he -- the state media goes on to quote him as saying that there needs to be a careful analysis, a careful study of what's happening in the country, which flies in the face of what many people and activists certainly would consider common sense because, of course, President Assad knows full well what's going on in the country.
He's also said, according to state media, that there can be no political dialogue, which is what Kofi Annan is pushing for, while there are still terrorists in the country. Kofi Annan also met with some opposition groups and according to the opposition groups that he's met with, they have agreed that there can be no dialogue, no political dialogue until there's an end to the bloodshed. So right now it sounds like an impasse.
KAYE: Yes. And why do you think the regime, Nic, is actually intensifying its assault now? I mean look at the timing here.
ROBERTSON: Well, there are a lot of activists who will say look, all this international intervention is a complete waste of time. Bashar Al-Assad won't do anything to change his course. Certainly many Western diplomats who spend a lot of time in Damascus believe that Assad is just committed to a course, a military course to put down this popular uprising and he won't stop until it's finished.
So -- and the activists say whenever people like Kofi Annan and Valerie Amos, the U.N.'s chief, humanitarian chief visit the city, this just gives him -- visit Damascus and Assad this just gives Assad more time to continue with this military crackdown.
And why is he pushing in the north because most activists believe this is really the last place where the Free Syrian Army, the military component of the opposition has any sort of strength that's close to the border with Turkey to the north and they can resupply to a certain degree from there.
So it seems that he's using, an activists will say, Assad is using these meetings as cover just to complete as much of his military action as quickly as possible -- Randi.
KAYE: And residents in Idlib and activists that we spoke with have told us that the military is surrounding that city, and that's pretty significant, right? The build-up in that city?
ROBERTSON: It is. And we've seen this build-up really increase over the last few days. And the death toll increased. This is one of the ways you know when we're not there inside Syria, it's so hard to know precisely what's going on, but you can really begin to understand, particularly somewhere like Idlib when we get the reports of shelling and it increases and increases over a number of days. The death toll there has increased an increased over the past few days and today those activists there in that city are saying that the city is surrounded. It's under siege. That they can't get in and out of their homes, that there's shooting and shelling going on. The people are too afraid to move from their -- from their houses.
This is exactly what was happening in the city of Homs in the district of Baba Amro that eventually the Syrian forces were able to crash, so the people of Idlib now know that that potentially awaits their fate there in that northern city right now -- Randi.
KAYE: Nic Robertson, thank you very much, reporting for us this morning.
CNN's Arwa Damon and her team were actually inside the besieged Syrian city of Homs. It's one of the most dangerous places in Syria right now. And you can join us tomorrow night as Arwa gives us an eye- opening account. It's a CNN special "72 Hours Under Fire" that's tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
And now to Gaza where Palestinian medical officials say Israeli rockets killed at least 15 Palestinians, 22 people were injured in this series of attacks. Israeli forces say they are targeting people who are part of a terror infrastructure and they say that they're responding to several Palestinian rocket strikes in southern Israeli communities.
One of the men killed has been identified as a Hamas military leader.
In Moscow thousands of people turned out to protest against the man who will be their new president. Vladimir Putin won his third term as President last weekend but the opposition says that the vote was rigged. Military police and security officers are keeping a close watch on the demonstrations. Putin will be inaugurated as president in May.
Scary and confusing, that's how one passenger describes what happened onboard an American Airlines flight in Dallas yesterday. As the plane was taxiing down the runway, a flight attendant grabbed the loud speaker and went into a tirade saying that the plane was going to crash. Passengers and a crew member restrained her.
Earlier one of the passengers told me how it all happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAURIE GRABE, IREPORTER: I was very concerned. All that was going through my mind was, please do not let this plane get in the air.
KAYE: So then other flight attendants and passengers have to restrain her? Could you see that as it was going on?
GRABE: Yes. I was just behind first class, as you can see from the video. I think the other flight attendants were a little confused as to what to do. Obviously they knew this woman and were probably very upset about what was going on.
KAYE: What did we not see on your video? Was there anything that you can tell us that was taking place onboard?
GRABE: Not really other than all the passengers were quite confused as to what was going on and obviously concerned about getting in the air. We didn't hear from the captain, which I don't think they can hear what's going on in the back. But we had no assurance that things were going to be OK, and not until the police came, you know, and escorted us back.
KAYE: And so what did the pilots say after that or what did the other flight attendant says to you and all of the passengers?
GRABE: I did speak to a flight attendant as she went by and asked her what was going on. And she looked fearful and said she didn't know and was trying to -- you know, went back up and was trying to talk to the woman and -- and then came back again. And the next time somebody went up there, they started an altercation with her and that's when the other passengers came up and helped restrain her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: All right. So you thought shopping online was cheaper and easier. Easier, yes, cheaper, no, not always. I'll tell you why you may be paying more when you shop on your favorite Web sites. Just keep it here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: So are you one of those people who shop online a lot? If you are let me warn you that some Web site are actually tracking you're every move and adjusting their prices accordingly. It's called behavioral pricing. I spoke to financial analyst Clyde Anderson and tech columnist and digital marketer Allen Gannett earlier to find out exactly how this works.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLYDE ANDERSON, FINANCIAL ANALYST: They're really looking to see -- they discriminate basically on what you're buying online. They track you to determine exactly what you're buying. So your behaviors online will determine how much they charge you for certain goods or services.
KAYE: And so this has been going for what? For some time?
ANDERSON: For some time. I mean, really a lot of the technology was used to look at your competitor, to see what your competitors were charging and make sure that you were charging accordingly or maybe beating their prices so you can track the competition.
Now they're really tracking you more so it's really developing. In 2012 it's becoming huge.
KAYE: It's very "Big Brother-ish".
ANDERSON: Yes.
KAYE: Yes. Allen, let me bring you in here. You believe that this behavioral pricing online is in its infant stage, why is that and where do you see it going over the next few years?
ALLEN GANNETT, TECHNOLOGY COLUMNIST: So over the last few years we've seen two real trends emerge. On the one hand we're seeing all this data being stored about you online database. So who you are, your demographics, what you do online, what do you tweet. And this is being repackaged and sold to advertisers so they can better target attitude.
At the same time like Clyde said, companies are trying to get really, really smart. About how do we optimize our prices online and it's going to become really tempting over the next few years to take all this data we have about you and data banks and uses to better price your product.
So for example let's say you've been tweeting about excited you are to go on a trip to Miami and soak up the sun. They're going to know you're willing to pay more money for a trip to Miami.
KAYE: And also, I mean so whatever -- I mean, are you telling me that I shouldn't like anything or anything on Facebook as well? I mean is that an example of how these companies can be tracking you?
GANNETT: Sure. So it's definitely a possible way it can happen. But it's still very nascent, right. So we're not sure how it's going to develop. I mean, last weekend I saw a really interesting example of actually the good side of this. Where Clout, which is a start-up which analyzes how influential you are on social media, partnered with Gilt, an electronic shopping site and gave you discounts for how influential you were on social media. So it really cuts both ways.
KAYE: So -- so Clyde do you think, I mean, should we question every price we see?
ANDERSON: Well, I think you should. I mean, just as you're in a store, you were looking at prices, you compare prices and one price maybe different when you're logging on from one computer versus another computer now. So that's what you really got to look at. I mean, the whole thing comes down and data is so key right now.
And so he who holds the gold makes the rules. And right now the gold is the data and in this case they're setting the prices.
KAYE: Yes so Allen, I mean, I find this whole thing kind of creepy actually. I mean is this sort of similar to or the same thing when you -- say I surf for -- I do an Internet search for -- I'm looking to buy a couch or something and then on my next page I'm looking at somebody else but all of a sudden there's an ad for a furniture store. I mean is that the same type of tracking that's going on?
GANNETT: Absolutely. This is cookie-based tracking, right? So they are looking at how you interacted online. And then taking information and target ads to you better and now we're going to start seeing that being used for pricing. So if you're looking at couches a lot and you look at a competitor site, they're going to take that information in and decide how to price you based on that.
KAYE: And Allen, is there any way for a consumer to know that they're being tracked?
GANNETT: Yes. So there's a lot of resources including browser extensions which can show you what cookies are tracking you right now. If people want to check you out there's one by Mozilla Firefox that will show you what cookies are tracking your behavior and where they're sending that information.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: And now to politics, voters are gathering at caucus site in Kansas right now in a hotly-contested race for the Republican presidential nomination; 40 delegates are up for grabs.
Our political reporter Shannon Travis joins us now form Overland Park. And Shannon, I see you have Ron Paul with you.
SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: That's right. That's right, Dr. Paul is here. Hotly contested indeed this Kansas caucus here Randi. And as you just mentioned look who showed up Dr. Paul here at this caucus site.
Dr. Paul I just want to talk a minute about how you feel your chances are today in this Kansas Caucus?
DR. RON PAUL (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well if last night is any indication, it looks very good because we were at the University of Kansas and it had an overflow crowd of about 2,600; a lot of enthusiasm, the enthusiasm with young people persists and it keeps growing. And the people I've talked to so far in two caucuses this morning the reception has been very good.
TRAVIS: As you know, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich have essentially skipped Kansas looking ahead to Alabama and Mississippi on Tuesday. You and Rick Santorum are actively competing here. But a lot of people that I have been talking to are saying that this is Santorum's race to win. What's your reaction to that?
PAUL: Well, it's everybody's race to win. I'm sure even though Romney is not here, he's hoping, you know, always for the best. I think we all do that. But I -- I never it's do or die for anything. Everybody's still in the race, there's no declared winner so I think we're all going to keep doing what we're doing, maximizing our chances to get more delegates. And we feel good about that.
TRAVIS: And you've certainly been doing that across the different contests this political season but you haven't actually won a contest yet. So what's the strategy to actually convert the enthusiasm that we see at a lot of your rallies into an actual contest?
PAUL: You know, what's interesting before the primaries we won a whole lot of straw votes, they don't count. They don't. But these straw votes aren't the real issue either. It's winning the delegates. And there are several states already, although the delegate process is still ongoing, that we're going to win, you know, the majority of the delegates.
But it is true. We'd be doing better if we could win some of these straw votes, and that's what we'll continue to do. But I feel very good about the support and the enthusiasm and we're going to continue.
TRAVIS: And what's next on the calendar for you in terms of focus in terms of contests?
PAUL: Well, it's going to be the same thing. Going to the places where they do have caucuses. And today, of course, we're in Kansas and well as Missouri. So that's my immediate plan.
TRAVIS: Good luck, Dr. Paul.
PAUL: Thanks a lot.
TRAVIS: OK. Thanks so much.
Randi, back do you. There you go. Dr. Paul saying that he's hopeful about his chances today in these Kansas contests -- Randi.
KAYE: And he's really just focusing on the caucus states, right? He likes sort of the one on one with the people there.
TRAVIS: One more time, Randi.
KAYE: He really seems to be focusing on the caucus states as you were talking about that with him. He seems to like the one on one with the people there?
TRAVIS: Yes, Yes. And Dr. Paul, you've talked a lot about focusing on the caucus states instead of the primaries. Explain again your strategy behind that.
PAUL: Well,. that's where we have the best opportunity to pick up the delegates because it's not winner take all. For instance, Florida exactly the opposite. You had to have a lot of money to campaign across the state and the person who gets the majority -- if they get the 51 percent, they get every single vote. So that is more difficult.
We have trouble competing with Wall Street money, and we get a significant amount of money, but we get it from small donors, so there's certain areas that we can't compete as well. So we have to go to the areas that we think is more productive and that is true. Most of the time they're smaller states with caucuses.
TRAVIS: OK. Again, thank you Dr. Paul. Good luck to that.
PAUL: You're welcome.
TRAVIS: Randi, back to you.
KAYE: All right. Shannon Travis and our thanks to Dr. Paul as well. Thank you both.
And a program note for you at home. Join Fredricka Whitfield every Sunday afternoon at 4:00 Eastern for a special hour dedicated to the presidential contenders in the 2012 election.
And we'll return to behavioral pricing and how you can protect yourself, right after the break.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Before the break we were talking about something called behavioral pricing; that's where companies and retailers track where you shop and what you buy online and then they adjust their prices accordingly. But is there a way that you can protect yourself? Financial analyst Clyde Anderson had these tips when we spoke earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLYDE ANDERSON, FINANCIAL ANALYST: They're going to know what computer you're on. They're going to be looking to see if this computer goes to this Web site all the time. We kind of got an idea of what they like and now we know what to charge them for certain things.
And also the cookies. You can disable cookies on your computer where you don't want the cookies to track you. So, we leave these little bread crumbs everywhere we go when we're on the Internet. If you want to remove those, you can definitely do that. That's another way to protect it.
KAYE: Now, we are getting into a whole another thing -- the cookie removal, I don't know. All I know about cookies are the kind that I eat.
ANDERSON: Cookies are big.
KAYE: So, maybe it's a good idea when you're going to do your shopping, shop on somebody else's computer.
ANDERSON: Yes, exactly. And maybe try one computer and then try another computer and see if the price is different.
KAYE: So, what about possibly maybe signing -- maybe not signing in.
ANDERSON: Yes, don't sign in all the time. Immediately, you know, we get this thing and affinity (ph) that where membership is big, we like to log in sometimes. We'll go ahead, we'll sign into these sites to see what special privileges we're getting. But they're always not special. And so, we want to make sure.
Maybe just go in and search around before you actually go in to sign and actually make the purchase. And also, do comparative shopping. You know, shop at different Web sites to see what they're offering from prices and see how competitive they are before you go ahead and commit to making that purchase.
KAYE: But no matter what we're doing, the companies aren't going to stop trying to track us. ANDERSON: No, it's going to grow. No, it's going to grow. I mean think about it, again, this is big business. These are multi-million dollar companies. We spent $161 billion online last year.
And so companies want a piece of that. They want to know how they can tap into it. The way to tap into it is know what's inside of your mind, to see exactly what are you going to do next and what are you willing to pay for it.
KAYE: But you and I talked about this. I mean, this really is price discrimination.
ANDERSON: Yes. Yes. It definitely is.
KAYE: And there's no other way to look at it.
ANDERSON: It definitely is. And we talked about the whole idea that also, it's been going on even outside of being online. When you think about a museum, they may charge a different price to a student versus someone that's a non-student. Now, we just take it online.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: Two years after the first one hit the market Apple is rolling out yet another iPad. So what exactly is different about this one and does it really live up to all that hype? I'll talk about it with Mario Armstrong next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: If you are a big Apple fan, you probably can't wait to get your hands on the new iPad. It goes on sale next Friday, but you probably already knew that.
HLN's digital lifestyle expert, Mario Armstrong is in Austin, Texas, where the South by Southwest festival is taking place and I spoke with him about what you can expect.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIO ARMSTRONG, HLN DIGITAL LIFESTYLE EXPERT: We all know some of the things that have come out about it, some of the more obvious things. The four times the resolution over top of the current iPad, the fact that it will have a faster processor, it will have better cameras, it will have 4G connectivity which means you'll be able to download movies and other things off the Internet super fast.
So it's a major advancement really on the display. You can also shoot for the first time video in 10 ADP, so full HD. But the biggest thing that's really changed, Randi, is the software within it. You can now edit photos on it, create your own story books with photos, you can edit movies. And my favorite feature is something called Jam Band where you can actually have four different iPads each playing a different instrument but all being synced together to create your own song or create your own musing.
KAYE: As Apple is dropping the price on the iPad 2, so what kind of impact do you thing that's going to have?
ARMSTRONG: Yes. Well, that's going to have a huge impact. I'm holding three different tablets right here: the iPad, the Amazon Kindle, the HP which has died -- this one is no longer out in the market so you can put that away. The Blackberry is on the ropes; they're fighting for sustainability. And the iPad still remains to be the top leader.
So the iPad 2 has been reduced now to $349 which is a really good price. I think it's still a recommended buy if you're thinking about a tablet. My biggest complaint with Apple stuff is that it's just too expensive for most folks. So if we can get access to technology at a little bit reduced rate, I think it's a good thing.
KAYE: So it sounds like you're saying that there aren't really any strong challengers then still on the market for Apple. Still dominant.
ARMSTRONG: No. And we want that. We want competition in the marketplace. People want other devices that can really challenge it. Look. The bottom line is they set the bar super high. They got it right out of the gate. They were first. And it's been very hard for others to really catch up.
And if you're thinking about what do I do with my old technology if I'm going to buy a new one?
KAYE: Yes. I'm one of those people.
ARMSTRONG: Oh, you are.
KAYE: I bought the one.
ARMSTRONG: What kind of iPad -- you have the one. So you have a first generation. So we did a little research and we looked up your first generation iPad, 64 gig on WiFi. If you go to gazelle.com you can send in your device and they will send you a check. I like gazelle number one because they're trusted, certified, they do good with the technology and they give you good value.
Randi, you can get $135 for your iPad1 and apply that money to a newer tablet which I think is big.
KAYE: All right. I'm writing it down, Gazelle.com. Got it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: A courthouse shooting in Washington State. We'll bring you the details when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is trying to stop the slaughter in Syria. He met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus. But so far, no slowing the violence. Opposition activists say at least 31 people were killed today.
Seventy million people around the world have now seen these images. They're from the documentary "Kony 2012" which details the atrocities committed by the notorious Ugandan warlord, Joseph Kony. A San Diego- based non-profit group is using the Internet to try and help capture him. Kony is one of the world's most wanted men. U.S. forces joined the hunt for him in Africa last fall.
In Washington State officers are hunting for a man who shot a police officer and then stabbed a judge. It all happened inside a county courthouse. Police say the suspect is Michael Thomas. The judge who was stabbed talked with our affiliate KOMO.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUDGE DAVE EDWARDS, STABBED IN THE NECK BY SUSPECT: When I went to assist the deputy, she had a weapon (INAUDIBLE), and a knife or something, and he was stabbing at her.
(INAUDIBLE) cut away from the deputy and went pop, pop, and turned and looked at me and then he ran out the front door of the courthouse with the gun in his hand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: The judge and the officer will be OK. The police still don't have a clear motive though for those attacks.
Is the struggling U.S. economy finally turning the corner? Well, it depends on who you ask. The latest job numbers show employers added 227,000 jobs in February, but that didn't change the unemployment rate which stands at 8.3 percent. So what should we make of this mixed bag? A short time ago that asked that question to CNN political contributor and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona and Republican analyst Lenny McAllister.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIA CARDONA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: The trend is good right now. The numbers are moving in the right direction. There were more jobs created in this last jobs report than economists had anticipated. And that's always a good thing. More than 70,000 jobs were actually created also in the last -- past two months, and so those jobs reports were redone to show those new jobs.
But the fact of the matter is, and the president is the first one to say it, that we are still not out of the woods until every person who is looking for a job can find one. We have to continue to work towards making sure that we create jobs. That we continue on that economic growth path.
We have passed the 20th straight month of private sector job creation, so that is certainly another great number. But we know that more needs to be done. The unemployment rate didn't go down because more people looked at the jobs market and saw that the trends were positive and jumped back in.
So that actually is a good thing. But Republicans need to be careful not to be talking down the economy, and to make sure that their tone and their tenor matches what Americans want to hear, which is positive news, positive growth, making sure that we all are working together to continue that positive news and positive growth.
KAYE: Lenny, want to respond?
LENNY MCALLISTER, REPUBLICAN ANALYST: Well, Americans want the truth and Democrats have been doing a very good job of saying that going sideways is actually moving up in the right direction. Spending power is down. We have the lowest amount of labor force participation since 1984.
Joe Montana in 1984 was a Super Bowl-winning quarterback, not a spokesperson for Skechers at that point in time. If you look at the unemployment rate for African-Americans, it has gone up by 0.5 percentage point.
And you look at things such as gas prices and the type of jobs that we're getting. Yes, we're getting some manufacturing jobs, but construction jobs, the very jobs that the stimulus package money was supposed to be going into, went down again this month.
So we're talking about this being a cause for celebration for President Obama. This is a cause for trepidation for not only the administration but for Americans. Let's see where we go first and foremost rather than celebrating staying the same exact way.
Only in this administration can you see status quo being celebrated as success. And it's very dangerous if this is a new standard for American exceptionalism.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: Coming next, startling new images from that devastating tornado in Kentucky.
And when I say Hawaii, you probably think sun, beach, tanning. Not this. Details of the hail and damage in Hawaii.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Meteorologist Tom Sater from CNN INTERNATIONAL is keeping an eye on your weekend weather for you. He's in the weather center.
Tom, you have some new west Kentucky tornado pictures, I hear.
TOM SATER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We do. It's devastating. We all have seen the outbreak. Every time we see these videos, we just sit in awe of Mother Nature. But this last one, it's a doozy.
(WEATHER REPORT)
SATER: But take look at these violent pictures. These pictures come in from a pharmacy, this is surveillance video. The storming is moving west to east, left to right across your screen. We're on the southern end of this. We are nowhere near the center of the vortex. But yet watch the debris and the strength of the winds howling around this EF-3 tornado with a width three-quarters of a mile wide.
At one point it did become a mile wide, but we are nowhere near the center of the vortex. You can see the debris follow the center vortex, as mentioned, left to right across the screen, being uplifted into the air. The devastation is unbelievable.
Watch this garage door get blown in at almost 200 miles per hour and you wonder how the death toll stayed as low as it did. In West Liberty, Kentucky, six fatalities from this tornado alone on a total of 11, with a 95-mile-long path well into West Virginia. Just unbelievable.
We have more extreme weather. We come back to the weather maps and it is Hawaii. The islands of Hawaii. If you know anybody who has been vacationing there, it has not been fun in the sun. This conveyor belt of storms have just been inundating all the islands.
They've had reports of water spouts that have been moving on land. They've had reports of not just pea-sized hail, but large hail. And devastating amounts of rainfall.
This is Kauai here. And we're going to show you more on that in a minute. But here's some video for you. How about hail damage? Typically, sure, they get marble-sized hail or even pea-sized hail. But how about state record hail? Baseball size? Three-inch in diameter hail. It has never been seen before as far as the locals say. This most likely will go down in the record books. It will be studied by future meteorologists just like the tornado outbreak in the Ohio Valley.
So that goes hand in hand with this radar. Let me show you this. Hanalei is in the island of Kauai. In the last two days, not 4 or 5 inches, or 7 or 8 or 9, 46 inches of rainfall. That's right, 46.
For you international viewers, that's 1.17 meters. Nobody measures rainfall in meters. Sorry if I have to go metric on you if I'm INTERNATIONAL. But you can see the total. We're getting a little bit of rainfall here and there, but, again, totals will continue for the next week. Maybe not 46. But this area of low pressure just off the island of Kauai here is going to continue and spin.
So if you know anyone who's going to be vacationing this week, make sure you call and tell them to pack their wet suits for the entire family, maybe throw in a deck of cards.
I want to leave you with this too, because don't forget tonight, before you go to bed or if you're up with that turkey sandwich, we do spring forward. We lose an hour, all the clocks. Don't forget the watches too. We spring forward, lose an hour. I know, Randi, even though you don't need your beauty sleep, there are several of us Americans that could be having a case of the grumpies in the morning.
KAYE: Oh, well, I hope not. If you're up, hey, you might as well turn on CNN. We'll be here, right?
SATER: That's right. We will. KAYE: Of course. Hey, Tom, can you believe that tomorrow is the first anniversary, the one-year anniversary of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami?
SATER: And talk about video. I don't think anyone has seen video like that tsunami.
KAYE: No, no, we'll never forget that. But thank you very much, Tom.
Japan is getting ready, as we said, to mark the first anniversary of a historic earthquake that triggered a double disaster. A year ago tomorrow, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake jolted northeastern Japan, triggering this monster tsunami.
The gigantic waves destroyed everything in their path. Entire communities washed away, nearly 16,000 people were killed. The quake also triggered the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. Towns near the Fukushima nuclear plant were abandoned and virtually have gone untouched.
An author who snuck into the power plant says the dangers are still very real.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): "Stop lying," he says.
(on camera): What is this lie that you're talking about?
(voice-over): "There's no way you won't be radioactively contaminated if you work at the nuclear plant," Suzuki says.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: Builders are going even more high tech to help protect homes from earthquakes. Earlier CNN's Nadia Bilchik filled me in on this new technology and another five-star quality innovation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: The Air Danshin Company has come up with the most incredible innovative technique of having giant airbags in the foundation of a home. And I want to explain to you exactly how it works. It's a kind of four-step process.
So first what will happen is there will be a sensor in the foundation of the building. And the sensor will actually be activated by the earthquake. The second will be that the sensor then activates a large air compressor that forces air into the home's foundation like a large airbag or balloon.
Step three, the home will then levitate. Randi, it will be three centimeters up. So what will happen is the actual home won't be in touch with the earthquake on the ground.
KAYE: It's a cushion. BILCHIK: Like a cushion, exactly. And step four, the person in the home will let out the valve, and the home will stabilize.
KAYE: So how many homes can this be used in?
BILCHIK: Right now it's arrived in 88 homes, but they are looking to put it eventually into larger buildings.
KAYE: Oh, so buildings and offices maybe.
BILCHIK: Buildings and offices.
KAYE: You need a lot of giant airbags.
BILCHIK: A lot of giant airbags. But isn't it fascinating? Out of a devastation or crisis can come such innovation.
But talking about innovation, I have to take you to China.
KAYE: Yes. I want to hear about this. This is a hotel that was built in just a matter of days, really in about a month or so.
BILCHIK: Exactly, 30 stories in 30 days, which, as you said, is about 360 hours. And incredibly, it is a five-star hotel.
KAYE: Look at this. Time lapse. This is great.
BILCHIK: The video you're watching went viral and it had millions of viewers, because it was so extraordinary that a building could take place and manage to be built so quickly. And the reason is that 93 percent of the components were actually pre-made.
KAYE: So they were...
(CROSSTALK)
KAYE: They got jump on it, I guess.
BILCHIK: They did. But it has got a swimming pool. It has got a gym. It even has a helicopter pad.
KAYE: That's amazing. And so those are some pretty great features. But how much did it cost? I mean, obviously didn't incur probably much overtime because these guys got it done pretty quickly.
BILCHIK: Well, never mind made in China cheaper, it's made in China faster. But around $70 million. So relatively inexpensive. And we're not looking at a huge hotel. I mean, it's not the size of a Las Vegas hotel. It's more like a Best Western or Days Inn in terms of actual width, but 30 stories, 30 days, from a company known as Broad Sustainable Building.
And it's a company that has been very innovative, and apparently earthquake-resistant and eco-friendly.
(END VIDEOTAPE) KAYE: Well, we all know cancer is a killer disease, but there are ways to beat it. We'll tell you about a new organization that is telling young people how they can do it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Let's take a look now at a few stories making news across country. We'll start in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE (voice-over): It's not every day you see a low-speed bus chase barreling down the interstate. Police say they're not sure why the 28-year-old suspect decided to take a school bus for a joy ride, but it wasn't his first bus. It was the second.
The suspect allegedly stole another bus that was found in a ditch near the original lot. The driver eventually ran over several spike strips before the tires blew out, but the police had to shoot the suspect in order to bring him down. He's expected to live.
A 5-year-old girl in Houston, Texas, probably won't forget this birthday. A Chuck E. Cheese worker called police Thursday night about an abandoned child left in the restaurant. The girl's mother did report her missing, but not until the next morning.
INVESTIGATOR JEFF MINK, BRAZORIA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: The mother called 911 when she realized the child was missing.
KAYE: Police say the mother of 10 was upset. Meanwhile, the child has been placed in the custody of Child Protection Services.
Spotted in San Diego, former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn cruising down the Coronado Boardwalk on a couple of three- wheeled scooters called a Trikke. They even invited the president of the California-based company to join them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When a president asks you to go for a ride, a Trikke ride, wouldn't you say yes?
KAYE: The Carters are in town raising support for the Carter Foundation, a non-profit organization that fights health care problems.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: NEWSROOM continues at the top of the hour with Fredricka Whitfield.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. Good to see you. Welcome to the weekend.
KAYE: Thank you very much.
WHITFIELD: It's going to be fun getting a chance to chat with you every morning now as opposed to us, you know, ships crossing... KAYE: Passing in the hallways.
WHITFIELD: ... every now and then during the weekday, so fantastic, congratulations.
KAYE: Thank you very much. We'll catch up every time this hour on Saturdays.
WHITFIELD: We'll talk about all kinds of interesting things.
KAYE: What do you have coming up?
WHITFIELD: Well, you just mentioned you went to the movies recently so you have a pretty good idea just how expensive it is to the go to the movies. You've got the ticket prices, and then you've got popcorn -- well, you have to do the popcorn and you've got to do a soda and all the candy and stuff that goes along with it.
Well, apparently it's costing so much money that there's a class action suit now being imposed against AMC theaters...
KAYE: You're kidding.
WHITFIELD: Yes, saying you are gouging the movie-goers. So just where will this case go? Is this free enterprise or is this indeed a violation of some sort of consumer protection, you know, rights?
KAYE: That's amazing.
WHITFIELD: Yes. And then a lot of couples these days are cohabitating, living together, but our financial expert, Karen Lee, says you may have committed to one another, but have you committed to what she believes is one of the most important agreements in which to have? And that is a will.
Even if you're not married, but you're living together...
KAYE: You should still have a will.
WHITFIELD: ... you should still have a will. She's going to go through what types of wills you need to consider and how do you get started.
KAYE: Very interesting.
WHITFIELD: Yes, very important financial advice.
KAYE: And something at 4:00 on the jobs.
WHITFIELD: Yes. That's right. We know 227,000 jobs were added, so what comes with jobs is a job interview. So are you doing the right thing post-interview? Sometimes this is how you kind of seal the deal for that interview. It's not just the letter that you're going to mail or email but there are some other things you might want to consider. Lifestyle coach Deborah Shigley will be along with us in the 4:00 Eastern hour: five things you ought to do after your interview to kind of seal the deal, get that job.
KAYE: Those are five critical things.
WHITFIELD: That's right.
KAYE: 4:00 p.m.
WHITFIELD: That's right, 4:00. So make a date throughout the day.
KAYE: All right. Or set your DVR.
WHITFIELD: Everyone has hung out with you all morning, hang out with me now throughout the day.
KAYE: What else do you have to do?
WHITFIELD: There you go.
KAYE: We're CNN, we're always here. Nice to see you.
WHITFIELD: Good to see you too.
KAYE: Thank you.
Well, still ahead, we all hate cancer, of course, but what's making celebrities like Ke$ha and millions of others say "F Cancer." We'll explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: The American Cancer Society says half of all men and one-third of all women in the U.S. will develop cancer during their lifetimes. And a group called "F Cancer" is hoping to change the way the world perceives the disease. I spoke to the organization's founder and Yael Cohen president earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
YAEL COHEN, FOUNDER & PRESIDENT, "F CANCER": So we're focused on activating Gen-Y to engage their parents about the early detection of cancer.
KAYE: And you're targeting the Gen-Y group with this campaign. I mean, why do you think it's so important to get the attention of this group in particular?
COHEN: You know, I think that we're a generation that's left out of this huge conversation. We're not talked about cancer because we're not in the highest risk demographic and we certainly aren't the large donors.
But if you want to create a paradigm shift and really change how a generation and society thinks about cancer from something you wait to get and pray there's a cure to something you're actively looking for and finding what is most curable, you have to go to the youth.
We're the ones with the time, energy, and tools to really make this change.
KAYE: And it sounds like you're getting some pretty good support. I know that you've enlisted some big-name celebrities to encourage children to have the cancer talk, if you will. Let's take a listen to one of these celebrities.
KE$HA, SINGER: I think it's only fair that our parents need to listen to us. Cancer is very real and I think it's time that we sit them down and talk to them about cancer.
KAYE: So take me through the cancer talk. I mean, what exactly happens during the cancer talk?
COHEN: The idea for the cancer talk was that since day one, we've asked kids to talk to their parents about cancer. And, you know, a few of them came back and said, oh, that's awkward. How do you start that conversation? And so we sat around our boardroom table and tried to think of the most awkward conversations any of us had ever had.
And pretty unanimously it was the sex talk. And so we built a campaign around it. The idea being that your parents sat you down for the sex talk because they loved you and they cared about you and they wanted to keep you safe, not because they particularly wanted to talk to you about sex.
And now it's our turn to sit our parents down for the cancer talk. It's time to make sure that our parents are being safe about cancer.
KAYE: So this is really about awareness and education, right?
COHEN: Exactly. It's about talk -- you know, finding out about your family history, your risk factors, the earliest warning signs, and making sure that at its simplest your parents are getting their annual diagnostics.
KAYE: And what has been the reaction from parents? I'm just curious.
COHEN: We've had great reaction actually. The campaign started with the videos that you just saw that was about 15 or 20 celebrity videos that served as the hook for the kids that told a funny or embarrassing or awkward story.
And then there was a voicemail component which was a repurposed political platform actually that sent a voicemail to the parents that was customized, based on some questions the children answered online, and it said nothing about cancer.
It basically said, your child has something really important to talk to you about tonight, make some time, and it set a time. So Thursday, at 7:00 p.m. And so we got a lot of parents come back and say, oh, I thought my kid was pregnant or expelled, which was really funny.
But it means they had the talk because they wanted to know what their kid wanted to talk to them about. So it was a really positive response at the end.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: Thank you so much for watching, everyone. CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Fredricka Whitfield.
WHITFIELD: All right. Good to see you and try to get a little nap in or something today. That will be all right and you'll be fresh again in the morning.
KAYE: All right. You have a good day as well.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Randi.
