optimism at this stage. as we know, it's only early days. >> there's a big disconnect between what the people in greece are feeling about the fact that they'll face higher taxes and some government cutbacks, those are the live pictures we're looking at and what the rest of the world, including the rest of europe is looking for, and that for those as taurt get the bailout. anna coran, thanks for covering this today. we will see you back tomorrow morning. anna in hong kong. "american morning" starts right now. good morning. great to see you on this "american morning." i'm kiran chetry. there's a lot happening. we want to get you caught up. floodwaters from the rising missouri river getting dangerously close to two nuclear plants in nebraska. officials say they've taken protective measures to prevent a disaster like the one at the fukushima daiichi plant in japan. >> i'm christine romans. now we know what brought that casey anthony trial to an abrupt halt, but what's behind this defense motion questioning

whether anthony is mentally fit to continue. >> i'm ali velshi. gabrielle giffords making her first public appearance in houston. we'll tell you where she was and what her staff is saying on this "american morning." good morning. great to see you on this tuesday. it is june 28th. we start, though, with some very bad news when it comes to the weather. >> that's right. we're talking about some flooding in the midwest. floodwaters near two nebraska nuclear plants in nebraska, both sit along the swollen missouri river. the nuclear regulatory commission insists the fort calhoun plant and the the cooper nuclear power station, 80 miles away, are not in any immediate danger. just hours ago cnn's brian todd toured the fort calhoun facility. he joins us live now. brian, what did they tell you? what did you see? they gave you some pretty good access. >> they did, christine.

the access was very good. we just emerged from there a couple hours ago and be what officials here are insisting even though this is a missouri rivers floodwaters at bay they insist they are winning that battle, that the floodwaters have not breached the buildings where the reactor core and spent fuel rods are housed and they showed us evidence of that. we got to go inside and see some of the key buildings where those facilities are. when you see the facility all around, it looks pretty dire. the floodwaters have pretty much inundated this place but they have been able to construct sand berms and aqua berms around this place to keep the floodwaters out of the crucial buildings here. now one thing that they are really keeping a close eye on are the transformers that power the pumps that cool the water that basically cool the reactor core and the spent fuel rods. those transformers are working. they had to go off the power grid temporarily but they're back on the power grid. there is water all around those

transformers and they're keeping a close eye on that. i spoke to the ceo of this nuclear power plant with the inevitable comparison of a catastrophic event about three months ago. >> people see floodwater all around. they think oh, no, it's another fukushima. is it another fukushima? >> no, it is not another fukushima. the main difference is the rapid flooding that occurred at fukushima. this was a predicted event to a degree from the corps of engineers. the floodwaters at fort calhoun are outside the plant. there's no water inside the plant. the reactor is covered with water, the spent fuel is covered with water which we want it to be, it's intentional. the floodwaters are outside of fort calhoun, not inside. >> reporter: now, it's worth noting that it was about two years ago that officials from the federal nuclear regulatory commission actually cited this facility for not being ready for an event like this. they said they needed to improve their safety measures to get ready for something like this. the federal officials were here

over the past couple of days and toured this place as well and gave them a pretty good rating as far as how they're handling this right now. this is a fluid situation. the waters are surrounding this area. and it's a real battle to keep these floodwaters at bay right now. they're keeping a close eye on the electrical switch yard, the transformers to make sure they can run on the power grid. key, key development there. if any of that is compromised they're not going to be able to necessarily, you know, have the power on the grid to cool down, run those pumps that would circulate the water that would cool down the reactor core and spent fuel rods that can go on generator power if that fails but they're keeping a close eye on that, christine. >> brian todd at fort calhoun nuclear power facility there, thanks. >> in other places it's fires. a raging wildfire is on the move and coming dangerously close to the los alamos national laboratory in new mexico. more than 10,000 people were forced to leave their homes in the area. the facilities are shut down for

a second day and right now officials say that all of the hazardous material of the national lab is protected. there's great news, congresswoman gabrielle giffords making her first public appearance since being shot in the head in january. she appeared at a nasa awards ceremony last night at the space center in houston. she didn't speak publicly but did get together with staff. these are pictures released a couple weeks ago by her office. we don't have pictures from last night's event but giffords spokesman says it's clear that her physical strength and her cognitive and verbal abilities are improving. what was remarkable, apparently she stood up out of her wheelchair and gave her husband mark kelly a kiss. >> nasa took pictures, deciding whether they're going to release them or not. >> we may know why the judge in the casey anthony murder trial abruptly recessed the court on saturday. the defense filed a motion to determine if casey anthony is mentally competent to continue in that trial. two psychologists and a

psychiatrist determined she is. >> there's testimony at the trial expected to end this week and a big question, will casey anthony herself take the stand in her own defense? cnn's martin savidge is live at the courthouse in orlando. this has been the big question and nobody knows for sure at this point. are we any closer to any guesses as to whether or not she will actually take the stand? >> at this point, kiran, i think most people are saying she probably will not take the stand, that's the educated opinion of many of the experts down here. it simply would be too risky for the defense, too many hard questions would be coming from the prosecution and at this point it would be wise that she not take the stand. however, to say it would be wise, it's not necessarily strategy somebody follows. it's up to the defense and that's what keeps many people tuned in here is to find out if casey is going to take the stand. regarding the issue of competency, this was a huge bombshell that was released on all of us yesterday morning. it began as you say on saturday when you kind of had this mystery motion by the defense

team. the judge made a point saying we're going to work through all day saturday we need to make a lot of progress, and quickly saturday, bam, it comes to a stand still. nobody knew why. a lot of speculation. as it turns out the defense team was now beginning to wonder about casey anthony's mental competency and say that was based upon something she said to them. remember friday was an emotional day in testimony and apparently she said something to her attorneys that gave them the feeling maybe mentally she was becoming unglued. the experts looked at her over the weekend. filed their reports. the judge looked at the reports and this what is the judge said yesterday. >> based upon the reports that the court has reviewed, the court will find that the defendant is competent to continue to proceed. >> reporter: and that's judge belvin perry right there. many of us wanted to know what was in the reports, what exactly did the psychiatrist and two psychologists determine about casey anthony.

the judge said that those reports are going to be sealed and nobody is going to see them. so, that's how it all came to an end and the testimony resumed yesterday and it was a very long day, went actually the longest day of the trial so far. >> martin, we understand a new witness has been ordered by the court to testify, the meter reader. >> right. roy krunk. i mean if you followed this story, you know that krunk is key in both sides here. this is the man who reportedly found casey anthony's body, reported it on i believe december 11th of 2008 and he led police to her remains. huge break in the case. the defense is focused on him, saying that they believe that he actually might have been somehow manipulating her body, moving it around implying he was doing so to take advantage of a $250,000 reward, which he never actually got which is why the prosecution says that's a crazy theory. it's going to be a big, big day. >> all right.

martin savidge, thank you. happening right now, huge protest, mass walkout in greece. 48-hour general strike. it's shutting down government offices, banks, ferries, train services, schools, hospitals. basically private and public unions are protesting tomorrow's vote on tax hikes and spending cuts. the so-called austerity measures that greece needs to undertake to secure its second international bailout. the world expects that greece does this. europe is expecting it to happen. it's a condition of the bailout. a lot of people are unhappy about this. libyans are celebrating the news that dictator moammar gadhafi is now officially a wanted man. the arrest warrant issued by the international criminal court, we told you about it on the show yesterday, was welcomed by opposition rebels in misrata. gadhafi is accused of crimes against humanity for attacking libyan civilians. the white house says the warrant is another sign that gadhafi has lost his validity. the libyan government, though,

dismissed the move and rejected the court's authority. a california college student is suing clothing giant abercrombie and fitch claiming she was fired because she refused to remove her head scarf. she was told she could wear her ha jab while working at hollister, but a visiting district manager said the head scarf was not allowed during work hours and when she refused to take it off because of religious reasons she was fired over the phone. abercrombie released a statement saying they are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all individuals regardless of their race or ethnicity. coming up later, 8:25, we'll speak with hani khan of the shock of being fired by abercrombie and fitch. her lawyer also joins us. she is suing the company. >> our question of the day, should a muslim worker be fired for refusing to take off a head scarf for religious reasons. >> send us an e-mail, tweet, tell us on facebook. we've tweeted it so you can

respond. we'll read your comments throughout the morning. since 2006, there won't be a williams in the women's quarter finals at whimble son. serena and venus were elimited in the fourth round. serena was beaten in three sets by marion bartoli and france and venus lost to pir rin cova. the williams' sisters won nine of the last 11 titles. the top seeded men's player rafael nadal suffered a foot injury leaving questions about his health for the quarterfinal match and prince william and his bride were watching the action from the royal box at cen trey court. >> i couldn't believe it when i saw it in an e-mail they had been knocked out. that was incredible. >> since 2006 that there will not be a williams. >> i wonder about their parents. who do you console first? >> i know. >> all right. coming up on "american morning," the legal and political drama of former illinois governor rod blagojevich is over. the verdict is in. the jury's final decision. trouble for team herman

cain. two key staffers jumping ship and one was his only guy in a critical state. >> michele bachmann jumping into the presidential race, off to a fast start but she slipped up yesterday, perhaps mixing up john wayne with serial killer john wayne gacy. it's 12 minutes past the hour.

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the verdict is in for former illinois governor rod blagojevich. he is guilty. >> that's right. convicted of 17 of 20 public corruption charges, including trying to sell president obama's senate seat. the conclusion to his long running legal battle, his first trial ended last year with the jury deadlocked on most charges. ted rowlands joins us live from chicago with more. he was shocked. his wife slumped in her chair against her brother, shocked at these 17 convictions. >> yeah. it was really a dramatic scene in the courtroom. a packed courtroom yesterday. the former governor sat there, and he appeared stunned. he basically stared straight at the jury. he was trying to make eye

contact with some of the jurors, but none of the jurors would look anywhere close to him as the guilty verdicts came one after another. you mentioned his wife, she was in the front row, she dropped back into her brother's arms. and both of them were very stunned. jurors afterwards talked to the media. one juror said we wanted to find him not guilty. he was a likable guy, keep in mind he took the stand for days in this trial. they say they liked him, they wanted to find him not guilty but the evidence was there and they had no other choice. here is rod blagojevich after the verdict of guilty was read 17 times against him at the federal courthouse. take a listen. >> patti and i are, obviously, very disappointed in the outcome. i frankly am stunned. there's not much left to say, other than we want to get home to our little girls and talk to them and explain things to them and then try to sort things out. and i'm sure we'll be seeing you guys again.

>> reporter: prosecutors later said this sent a very clear message that corruption would not be tolerated in the state of illinois. 11 women and one man on that jury, took them ten days to come to the conclusion. blagojevich is 54 years old. if you look at the charges that he has been found guilty on, wire fraud, 20 years, extortion 20 years, extortion/conspiracy 20 years, solicitation of a bribe, five years, this is in addition to lying to the fbi, he was found guilty the first time around here, another five years, he clearly is looking at spending a considerable amount of the rest of his life behind bars. >> and that's the question, right? they're still determining that. is there any chance this could run concurrent and he could be out or is he looking at dying in prison? >> well, i doubt -- no, he wouldn't be dying in prison but referenced he has two little girls, a 7 and 13-year-old. he is going to be missing an extended portion of their lives as they grow up. even the lowest minimum

guidelines and he serves concurrently, he's looking, you know, unless this judge departs from the federal guidelines, he's looking at probably 15, 20 years. >> all right. i was hearing they were saying he could technically spend up -- he could be sentenced to 300 years in prison if you take the charges but i guess that's highly unlikely. >> absolutely. probably more in the middle. two top staffers for gop candidate herman cain have resigned. one was the director of his campaign in new hampshire, the critical first primary state. a spokeswoman for his campaign denied the team is in any trouble saying it's already hired a new point man in new hampshire. >> sarah palin the movie hitting theaters today. not in hollywood but in iowa. the former alaska governor expected to be there for a premier of a documentary about her political career called daiich"the undefeated." the timie ining adding to the b

that she could jump into the political race. president obama talking up manufacturing in america. he will visit a factory that makes aluminum parts for the aerospace industry. the white house insists the visit is about the economy and jobs and not politics. minnesota congresswoman michele bachmann jumping into the race for president, declared her candidacy in her birth place, waterloo, iowa. hammered on big government and president obama saying spending was way out -- spending our way out of a recession has not worked. in an interview, though, after the speech, she slipped up a bit with a reference to another famous person in her birth place. >> what i want them to know is, just like john wayne was from waterloo, iowa, that's the kind of spirit i have too. >> it looks like she got her john wayne confused. john wayne the acting legend is from 150 miles away. john gacy that raped and killed 33 men and boy, did live in

waterloo before it began. john wayne's parents did live in waterloo although he never did. >> it would be easier if they didn't push back on stuff like that. just say it's a mistake. >> people from waterloo take him as a hometown guy because his parents were there. >> john wayne spirit. >> john wayne. >> okay. come on. >> no lore in -- >> does anybody believe that? she made a mistake and say she made a mistake. we shouldn't make excuses for her. >> john wayne gacy lived there, that's not where the killing spree happened. >> i agree. >> it's a misspeak. but they should say it. >> it is unfortunate. she had no idea john wayne gacy -- >> what i really meant was the earth was sort of flat once before it was round. >> before they rounded it -- >> rounded it out. >> we talk about this too. in every statement you say once in the presidential field and in the spotlight is -- >> if you don't want that to happen tonight run for president. she says a lot of things that require clarifications so, you know, that's -- >> we're going to ask her about

a few coming up at 7:30 eastern, speaking to candidate michele bachmann. what's her strategy for being more than a one state wonder pulling high in iowa, not the case in new hampshire where she is today. we're going to talk to her about that. >> take a look at the weather and see what kind of delays we're expecting. we're going to get rain across the country. rob marciano is for us, in the extreme weather center. good morning. >> good morning. kind of like politicians, meteorologists and weather men we learn quickly that it's -- you can't make everybody happy, kiss a lot of babies and such and do a lot of back pedalling after a bad forecast that's for sure. couple areas of thunderstorms. severe thunderstorm watch for the tennessee valley. one cluster heading into northern arkansas and another into nashville now. those are two areas we're watching. that watch in effect until noon local time. delays at the airports at d.c. at new york, philadelphia, as well. and atlanta. and some low clouds out there in san francisco too. the heat is the other big story. 112 in tucson, oklahoma city 103 and that heat is not going to

help the fire situation certainly and the one that's approaching rapidly to los alamos. temperatures in texas will easily get over 100 degrees again today. 102 in dallas, 88 degrees in atlanta and 82 degrees expected in new york city. we're also watching something down in the gulf of mexico at this point, guys, no threat of hitting the united states. back to you. >> you said it was going to rain yesterday, rob, and it didn't rain. >> i said there was a chance of rain in some spots. see that's how that works. >> that's like saying futures are pointing higher but we can't tell you how the stock market is going to close. >> the notorious irish mob boss james whitey bulger is talking. what he told the feds about his trips to vegas and tijuana during his 16 years on the run. well-being. we're all striving for it. purina cat chow helps you nurture it in your cat with a full family of excellent nutrition

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investors on edge as protesters hit the streets in greece. policymakers meet today to debate new tax hikes and spending cuts, critical to securing another bailout from the european union. workers starting a two-day general strike this morning. a vote on the next managing director of the international monetary fund expected later today. french finance minister christine la guard gaining the most support. dominique strauss-kahn resigned over attempted sexual salt charges. a cup called one plus v is seeking damages from google over anti-competitive behavior. the french company says this is the biggest claim of its kind against the search inagain so far. google refusing to comment saying the company has just received this complaint. wall street buzzing over what some are calling the holy grail of ipos, facebook. investment fund gsv jumped about 40% yesterday after the announcement that company had

purchased a stake in facebook and valued facebook at $70 billion. and a fresh survey by a pugh internet research says ownership of e-reader, amazon readers and barnes & noble nook doubled in the past few months. who's buying these? hispanic adults, college graduates and adults younger than 65. "american morning" will be right back after the break with an exclusive report, live from inside syria where this morning, there are new signs of a violent crackdown. it's 27 minutes after the hour. i will send this to shelley. yeah. and i can have a proposal to you within half an hour. we're a small business. with 27 of us always in the field, we have to stay connected. we use verizon tablets, smartphones. we're more responsive. there are no delays. delays cost money. with verizon, we do things quicker and more effectively.

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31 minutes after the hour. bring you up to speed with the top stories we're following at cnn. officials at one of nebraska's two nuclear power plants say they're 100% confident, their words, that the protective measures they've taken will keep the missouri river from damaging the plant and creating a danger to the public. >> arizona congress woman giffords gabrielle making her first public apparent since being shot in january. she attended an awards ceremony in houston with her husband astronaut mark kelly. we don't have pictures from the event. but we have the pictures giffords' office gave to us a couple weeks ago. she smiled, waved to the crowd and gave her husband mark kelly receiving an award a kiss. the testimony in the casey anthony murder trial set to resume. two psychologists and

psychiatrist examined anthony over the weekend at her attorneys' request. she found her competent to stand trial and to assist in her own defense. speaking of launching a defense, it was surprise testimony in the appeal that's going on right now for amanda knox, the american student that's been convicted of a murder in italy back in 2007. rudy guede took the stand and there he denied claims ha he told a fellow prisoner knox and her then boyfriend were not part of the murder. a big blow to the defense. the appeal may depend heavily on forensics. knox's attorneys are hoping a dna report on the murder weapon due thursday will help her case. now to the unrest in syria where security forces have been conducting a bloody campaign against anti-government protesters, but syrian government officials, they tell a very different story. >> an adviser to the president bashar al assad says they're not targeting peaceful protesters. she spoke exclusively to cnn's

hala gorani. cnn the only tv based network in syria and hala joins us live from damascus. what did the government tell you about who they're targeting? >> well, from the beginning they've had this narrative, that these are not peaceful demonstrators, that they're armed gangs terrorizing civilians. today something interesting happened with the presidential adviser here in syria. she said that she acknowledges now that there are peaceful protesters. it seems as though this regime is trying to send a different message to the world, perhaps even internally, that they are understanding that some of their citizens have legitimate grievances. the question, however, is, whether or not they will listen to those grievances and respond in a positive manner. i asked her, i said look, i said the world wants to know why are security forces in this country targeting peaceful demonstrators? there have been almost 1,300

deaths in the three plus months of uprisings we've seen in this country. this is what she answered. >> i'm not targeting demonstrators. i think peaceful demonstrators have made their point and they're making their points today. we have no problem with that. i think this is a complex problem. you have peaceful demonstrators but you have exbe treemists who are using demonstrations to incite violence in syria. this is our biggest challenge at the moment. from the beginning, the president has spoke two months ago and said that they have legitimate grievances and there are peaceful demonstrators but i think we are not reaching the international media. that was our major weakness early. >> but there are peaceful demonstrators. now you acknowledge it. but they are still being targeted. we're still seeing violence. why do security forces continue to target them? >> well the security forces are

there to -- they are not there for peaceful demonstrators. last friday in many cities like hamas, security and the police forces were not there at all. what we are trying to do, to test every possible way that will put an end to violence or will show us where the violence exactly is coming from. we have no problem with peaceful demonstrators. we have no problem with their grievances. i feel they will be addressing all issues that were requested. >> reporter: well, cnn is accompanied by government minders. ali and christine, here when filming out on the streets we asked her why that was, why we are not allowed to unilaterally and independently report out of this country? we were told if you sign a piece of paper you take responsibility for your own security in syria you can shoot anywhere you want. it's a wait and see situation as far as our reporting goes in

syria right now. back to you. >> hala, am i hearing her say, the presidential adviser, that their weakness is bad pr in the international -- international news gathering and not the tactics of the government and regime itself? >> that's what they're saying. they're saying our message didn't come across in the early days of this uprising. now international crews, some, hand-selected crews are allowed into the country and they're able to communicate their message. you have to take what is said by her against the backdrop of what continues to happen on the various streets in the country, christine. on friday 20 people at least were killed in demonstrations and protesters and activists in this country are too afraid to come to us on camera to tell us their story. they say they're afraid of being arrested. so while all this is going on publicly, behind the scenes, from demonstrators and on the streets of syria, there is still, according to activists a

crackdown that is ongoing. >> that is not pr. that is a crackdown. thank you so much, hala. amazing reporting from there. new this morning the former head of the irish mob in boston, real life guy from "the departed" will be back in court this afternoon. court filings show james whitey bulger has been chatty. he admitted to the fbi he made several trips to vegas to play the slots during his 16 years on the lamb and one of the most wanted men in the country bragged he traveled to tijuana to get his medication and came back using fake i.d.s. that's gutsy. he is facing charges in 19 mob related murders. in syria and now to yemen, cnn exclusive live from yemen, a country in chaos and a leader still missing in action. it's 37 minutes past the hour. (rambling phone conversation)

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yemen is a country in chaos right now with the president who was injured in an attack on the palace, he's recovering in another country. in fact president saleh was expected to make an appearance yesterday. he never showed.

cnn is the only u.s. based tv network in yemen right now. our senior international correspondent nic robertson is in the capital of sanaa on the phone right now. what is the situation in yemen right now? it has been slowly coming apart at the seams for weeks and then the president was injured. what's happened since? >> since the president left the country to saudi arabia to get treatment there's been a sort of uneasy calm over the capital san sanaa. there are two protests going on here. there's the anti-government protests, by far the largest protest and a small pro-government protest today. people are marching, this anti-government protesters, descended on a square. it is very peaceful. it's a small city, very much like people in ta fir square in cairo. they call it king square here. today security is up, it's high, it's been heightened in the capital because of the anti-government supporters are going on the march. what else is happening here, the price of gas is going up.

there are massive fuel lines at the gas stations. people park there cars there for days because there's a shortage for gas. hospitals are being forced to close, they say, because they're running out of electricity, running out of fuel to run their generators. the price of fuel is going up. the situation is very tense, it is unstable because the president refuses to step down and people are telling us here, anti-government opposition opponents here are telling us this can only go on for another couple weeks. if this continues as it is now, then there will be much wider spread than there is right now, ali. >> nic robertson for us this morning from the capital of sanaa, you see those amazing pictures again, the only western television station operating out of there, thanks so much. iran announcing it has built its first ballistic missile silos as it began a new round of military exercise. iranian tv reporting the silos are capable of launching long-range missiles. some western experts say they may be capable of hitting targets 800 miles away.

the range could cover nearly the entire middle east. it's 42 minutes after the hour. just ahead on "american morning," it's how much of your personal information is floating around the internet. there are very specific ways to protect your privacy. we'll talk to you about passwords and talk to you about facebook, very specifically. parents, you want to tune in. you'll learn something for your kids. >> or yourself. >> some of the pre-show notes. >> one california city considering a unique way to end animal cruelty. we'll explain that to you. 43 minutes after the hour.

45 minutes past the hour. a look at your headlines. despite the floodwaters that have surrounded two nuclear plants in nebraska, officials say the plants are not in any immediate danger. the fort calhoun reactor which is near omaha has been idle since april. the cooper nuclear power station remains several feet above the rising missouri river. a wildfire burning within miles of the los alamos national lab in new mexico, the nation's nuclear weapons research facility shut down for a second day. officials at the lab say that all radioactive and hazardous materials are protected. more than 10,000 residents have been told to get out. much of greece paralyzed this morning by a 48-hour strike. greece's transportation systems, banks, schools and hospitals all shut down. protesters who are right now gathering in athens are upset over budget and benefit cuts needed to ensure a second

international bailout. and testimony resumes this morning in the casey anthony murder trial. the judge revealing in court that anthony underwent a psychological evaluation over the weekend at the request of her attorneys. she was found competent to stand trial. former illinois governor rod blagojevich convicted of 17 corruption charges, including trying to sell president obama's old senate seat. he was acquitted on one count of bribery. the jury deadlocked on two counts of attempted extortion. the most serious of the counts he was convicted of carry penalties of up to 20 years in prison. and arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords making a public appearance in houston where she attended a nasa function with her husband astronaut kelly. her staff saying it's clear the congresswoman's strength and cognitive abilities are improving. you're caught up on the day's headlines. "american morning" is back after a quick break.

unless you stay -- unless you stay off facebook entirely, you can't stop people from finding your profile or seeing pictures of you, but there is a way you can at least make it harder for them to search you out if you want to. joining us now, my good friend mario armstrong host of sirius xm's mario spin. some people don't care, they put all their stuff on facebook. >> right. that's fine. >> i want you to show our viewers four settings they can use for themselves or maybe their kids that will help maintain a little bit of privacy on facebook. let's start with -- show me the first thing. >> you log into your account and you get to your privacy settings page which is what we see here

and the thing is you want to customize the settings. don't go with the facebook defaults. >> okay. >> that's where a lot go wrong off the bat. >> all right. >> once inside, you want to be able to look at the different settings you have here. scroll up just a little bit there, we'll be able to -- >> let me do that for you. >> one of the things i want us to pay attention to off the bat is this include me in people here now after i check in. >> okay. >> here's the example. you can see by default it's enablep. facebook don't give us the option. if you want to opt out of that you encheck it. >> okay. the people here, you want to disable that. >> that shows up when you check in to places, people can see you're at that location. >> you've got another setting that you want to -- where do you want me to go? >> above it. places you check into. let's scroll down. here you go. things other share. okay. you want to get in friend cans eally cool for some folk coffee shop and say my buddy ali is here i'm on facebook i can check you in mf my

ie settings, select one and hit disabled and okay and now you're clear. >> all right. we're going to put this on our website so people can see it. another one. >> yes. >> which deals with your phone number. >> absolutely. in your contact information f you use your mobile device a phone number will be here. we have it change that phone number, you would customize that so it could only be seen by you. by default your phone number, mobile phone number could be seen give the keys to my house. phone number, is should you or e family and identity theft. yoer things quick for these hackers to get to or people that want your identity. >> another one you talk about. suggest photos of me to friends. >> yes. >> y want that cut out because it's facial recognition. >> that's right. and so that's right here. suggest photos of me. >> things other share. >> just photos of me to friends. >> it's automatically enabled. disable this. this is an okay feature.

it's about photo tagging inside of facebook. photo tagging is about when you upload an image, that's ali in that photo, let me tag him and you're made aware of that. now, once i do that once the software knows that's ali in all 50 of those tos and will suggest you. some people may want that because it saves time. other people may not want that suggestion of them to show up. >> that's a decision you have to make. another big one. you -- it's important to talk to your family and friends about what your expectations are because they might be different. some people may want this stuff going on. i may not. >> that's right. >> how does that conversation go? >> you don't want to get the fisticuffs with your family. are we going to let each other know before we post anything on-line of -- especially photos and things damaging to us, but in general before we post anything about each other on-line make a commitment we'll call or text and say are you okay with this image or this. in facebook land, everything goes up first, then you're

alerted about it and then you have to remove it. be more proactive. >> once a picture is up there somebody can grab it and do something with it. this is an important conversation to talk to the kids friends so they can say i'm not into you tagging me or putting pictures of me. can you ask me before you put anything up. that's a great way to prevent stuff from happening. these privacy concerns we have and then the safety concerns that kids have. you don't want things with the school's name. >> no. because -- >> here i am at wednesday's soccer practice. >> little bits of information can be pulled together, your mascot, time zone these things people can find out and next thing you know they have a profile about you. >> 30 seconds on what to do if this there's stuff you don't want about you. >> take control of your own image. secondly, is you can go to places like spokeo and go on-line and search your name to see where information shows up about you. these are people based searchs. >> real one. we searched barack obama. gives you his address, 1200

pennsylvania avenue. >> ethnicity, what the household income is of that area, map to that location. sensitive but publicly available information. look at companies like reputation calm. these are companies that offer free services but pay services to not only remove information, but make sure the information is accurate about you. >> and alerts, we'll talk about that more. talk about passwords how to choose the perfect password. good to see you here. mario armstrong, we'll talk more about internet privacy later in the show. >> i always feel smarter and safer too. i'm going to check that out. san francisco tossing around the idea to ban the sale of all pets. yes. that includes dogs, cats, hamsters even fish. "the los angeles times" reports the city's animal control commission says this will help overcrowding in shelters, a way to end impulse buying from pet stores. going green? and almost au natural. they called this the naked bike ride in lisbon, portugal.

well, i mean a little bit of clothing going on. thankfully, no one we saw went full monte. a little uncomfortable i'm sure. >> at least he's wearing a top hat. bikinis, shorts, briefs, the ride to draw attention to the need to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy. >> did you say booty shorts? >> put a lot of money on the fact that christine has never said booty shorts. >> feels kind of -- booty shorts. >> a controversy about clothing in california where a woman is suing ab crom by and fitch, says the they fired her when she refused to remove a hijab. >> should a muslim worker be fired for refusing to take off a head scarf for religious reasons. >> donna moody writes on facebook,.

>> rose on facebook says, no one should be fired for covering their head. however i have seen many workers that should be fired for not covering their bodies. >> true. >> back on twitter. . >> that's right. keep your comments coming. send us an e-mail, tweet, tell us on facebook and we'll be reading more of them coming up in the 7:00 hour. coming up next, we will speak to presidential candidate michele bachmann. she is pulling really high in iowa, now in new hampshire. another primary state where she's lagging behind. news made about some of the gaffes, can she keep up her momentum in iowa. we'll talk to her about it. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] and just like that, it's here. a new chance for all of us:

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personal pricing now on brakes. tell us what you want to pay. we do our best to make that work. deal! my money. my choice. my meineke. the latest twist in the casey anthony murder trial. her own defense team raising questions about anthony's mental state. what's behind the move and will they put casey anthony on the witness stand? lot of new questions on this "american morning." good morning. welcome to "american morning." it is tuesday, june 28th. very busy day. we're following a lot of things

including weather, some things at nuclear plants and more things developing in the casey anthony murder trial. >> and a mystery solved. we know why now the judge presiding over the casey anthony trial suddenly halted the proceedings over the weekend. turns out the defense questioned whether anthony was mentally competent to remain on trial and a trio of psychologists were called in to examine her. >> based upon the reports that court has reviewed, the court will find that the defendant is competent to continue to proceed. >> so what was behind that defense move and will we see casey anthony's testimony? sunny hostin joins us, federal prosecutors and legal contributor for "in session" on trutv. welcome, by the way. >> thank you. >> you said you believe she should testify. do you still believe she will testify? >> she has to testify. i think the defense put her on the witness stand with their opening statements. who's going to testify that

caylee anthony drowned an accidental death, that george anthony was abusing casey anthony and that's why for 31 days she partied and her daughter didn't drown. who can testify to that? as an attorney when you make these promises to a jury in opening statements you better keep those promises. if not they're going to hold it against you. i think she still has to testify. obviously something came up because they filed this motion. >> is this -- is the prefunkry, do you file the motions because you get to the end of trial and you have to take every -- >> never happens. i've never seen it happen. i've been prosecuting cases, an attorney i guess about 20 years now, and i've never seen it happen in the middle of a trial. usually these competency issues come up before trial. we've seen it with jared loughner, philip garrido. if you look at the motion and i have a copy of it here, they said based on privileged communications between casey

anthony and her counsel they reasonably believe miss anthony is not competent to aid in her defense. what does that mean? it's show time. she has to testify. the defense is going to complete its examination they say wednesday or thursday. they may be prepping her for her testimony and all of a sudden things don't seem night saying this isn't going to work. >> and they're questioning her competency. >> some of the pictures from the court yesterday, she's smiling, she looks kind of -- >> smiling casey. >> what is this about? how does that play with the jury? >> i think it's crazy like a fox. we did see all of these smiles. she's never been this animated. but she didn't do this in front of the jury, christine. >> she didn't? >> didn't do it in front of the jury. we're wondering what's going on. >> we see a lot more than they actually see. >> yes. we see a lot more. >> the question about that. they didn't ask casey a ton of questions and didn't sort of depose her before this? you're saying this is different, this possibly prepping to put her on the stand. >> you prep your witness from

beginning to end. i mean you check in with your witness as an attorney. i'm sure they've been questioning her, checking with her, but over the weekend, is usually when attorneys start prepping, especially if you're going to go on the witness stand and all of a sudden, it seemed to me they're thinking oh, no, something is wrong, something is amiss. three psychologists, not one, not two, but three of them, you know, made recommendations to this court. >> what would they be prepping her. >> asking her questions. >> you ask your witness questions, you want to make sure that their story remains the same. >> right. >> you tell them, usually tell them -- which is a problem. tell the truth. tell me what happened. let's go over it again. and perhaps -- of course i'm just speculating, i wasn't in the room with them, perhaps the story has changed. >> if the story has changed, does the defense have an obligation to say to the judge, wait a minute, we may not think she's innocent anymore? >> you don't do that as an attorney because there's attorney/client privilege. you can still defend someone even if you do not believe that

they are innocent. however, you can't put someone on the witness stand that you know is going to perjurer themselves. some attorneys find themselves in difficult situations. i still think she has to testify unless the defense is going to change its theory midway through. >> it's all going to play out. >> we will know. >> sunny, good to see you, with "in session" and former federal prosecute jeer verdict in, by the way, former illinois governor rod blagojevich, he's guilty. been convicted on 17 of 20 public corruption charges, including trying to sell president obama's senate seat. a conclusion to a long-running legal battle. his jury deadlocked on most of the charges. this time just deadlocked on a few. ted rowlands joins us live from chicago with more. the most surprising thing out of this was the reaction from blagojevich and his wife. >> yeah. inside the courtroom it was very dramatic when the jury's verdicts were being read, guilty, guilty, one after another, blagojevich was trying to catch the attention of at

least one of these jurors, but i was watching the jurors and they were not looking anywhere near him as the verdicts were read. his wife patti was in the front row. hout the entire process.to the e in fact, when leave the dy up. pa. she sort ofir, o viously disgusted with 11 wom this conclusion. the bottin illinois is staring at some significant jail time. take a listen to blagojevich after the guilty verdicts were rendered against him. >> patti and i, obviously, are very disappointed in the outcome. i frankly am stunned. there's not much left to say, other than we want to get home to our little girls and talk to them and explain things to them and then try to sort things out. and i'm sure we'll be seeing you guys again. >> reporter: he mentioned his little girls. he has a 7 and a 13-year-old. even if the judge in this case goes with the minimum

guidelines, blagojevich is looking at missing most of those girls' years growing up in his house. he is out on bond right now, so he is home with his family until the sentencing. there's a sentencing conference hearing scheduled for august. he's expected to be sentenced some time this fall. he is home during that period of time. ali, but the bottom line is, he will be going to jail for an extended period of time unless something dramatic happens in this case with the sentencing process. >> if there's a case where you can expect dramatic things to happen this might be it. don't leave chicago too fast. ted rowlands on that case in chicago. congresswoman gabrielle giffords made her first public appearance since she was shot in january. she appeared at a nasa awards ceremony last night at the space center in houston. so far we don't have pictures of the event, open these pictures that were released last week. she did not speak bubically but she did get together with staff and report shed stood up from her wheelchair and waved to the

crowd. a win for video game makers, the supreme court in a 7-2 ruling struck down a california law that would have banned the sale of violent video games to children. the law was called an infringement on first amendment rights. the state maintains it has a legal obligation to protect children. and two top staffers this morning for gop candidate herman cain have resigned. one was the director of his campaign in new hampshire. the critical first primary state. cain is a businessman and former head of god father's pizza. a spokeswoman for the campaign denied team cain is in trouble and saying it already hired a new point man in new hampshire. >> sarah palin the movie hits theaters not in hollywood but in iowa. the former alaska governor is expected to be there for a premier of the documentary about her political career called "the undefeated." the timing and location only adding to the buzz she could jump into the presidential race. president obama also touching down in iowa today. there's a lot of people in that state, right? early primary state, hear a lot

about it this time of year. talking up manufacturing. he'll be visiting a factory in bettendorf, christine romans' hometown. >> one of the four quad citys. >> big alcoa plant. very big employer. the white house insists today's visit is about the economy and jobs, not about politics. minnesota congresswoman michele bachmann officially jumping into the republican race for president, declaring her candidacy in a town she was born, waterloo, iowa. hammered away on big government and president obama saying spending our way out of the recession has not worked. but, in an interview after the speech she slipped up a bit on a reference to her birth place. >> what i want them to know is, just like john wayne was from waterloo, iowa, that's kind of spirit i have too. >> now, this is a big discussion about what she was referring to. john wayne, isn't from iowa. his parents were. john wayne is from winterset,

iowa, about three hours away. there is a john wayne from waterloo, iowa, serial killer john wayne gacy who raped and killed 33 men and boys, lived in waterloo before his killing spree began. the bachmann campaign pushed back saying the actor john wayne's parents did live in waterloo. he never did. so that was probably what the mistake was. >> everyone tries to claim john wayne and ronald reagan, both of whom born and raised in the midwest as their hometown heros. i mean whatever. >> coming up at 7:30, we'll speak to candidate michele bachmann. how does they plan to be more than just spoiler in this race. the floodwaters from the missouri river dangerously close to two nuclear plants in nebraska. brian todd managed to tour one of those stations and will join us live. >> a wildfire moves closer to a government nuclear laboratory in new mexico. officials taking drastic measures to keep the nearby town safe.

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the people who operate two

nuclear power plants in nebraska insist they're safe and say the power stations are ready to handle whatever the missouri floodwaters bring. cnn's brian todd toured one of the threatened nuclear power plants and joins us live from fort calhoun, nebraska. everyone is on high alert because of what happened to fukushima, it's got us looking at what the defenses are for our own nuclear power plants against mother nature. >> that's right, christine. if you look at the vis souls from this place the comparisons are inevitable. floodwaters around a nuclear power plant. we'll show you some of those right now. our photo journalist mark will zoom in to that area where you can see the floodwaters really kind of engulfing this entire area here. the comparisons to fukushima are inevitable, but officials here insist this is not another fukushima, insist the reactor core is safe, spent fuel rods are safe, they're dry. one thing they're keeping a close eye on is the network of power transformers. those are surrounded by water.

they keep pumping water away from these transformers that run the pumps. those pumps circulate the cool water inside to cool down the reactor core and spent fuel rods. they say the power transformers are working fine, on the power grid, but they are surrounded by water and pumping the floodwater away from those power transformers to make sure they still are running. this plant has been off-line since april for a refueling operation so it's not functioning to power the homes around here, but it's that reactor core and the spent fuel rods that have to continually be cooled down. those power transformers are what run the pumps that cool it and those are surrounded by water and keeping a close eye on those, christine. >> thank you, brian n nebraska. a waging wildfire on the move and coming dangerously close to the los alamos national lab in new mexico. more than 10,000 people in los alamos have been forced to flee their homes. the facilities are shut down for a second straight day. and right now officials say that hazardous material is protected, but of course they're keeping a

close eye on the situation. reminder that so much of what we're facing right now in terms of disaster relief is all because of mother nature. fire, flood, nuclear power plants, nuclear lab in los alamos, very important. >> let's see what mother nature has in store for us this morning. rob marciano in the extreme weather center in atlanta. good morning. >> good morning. still hot and dry here across the desert southwest. we're not getting much of the monsoon that would typically start to crank up this time of year. we're not even getting higher levels of humidity. that's not helping the fire situation out here. the one that's approaching los alamos, that still zero percent containment and well over 40,000 acres burned with that. here's where the fire threat is today. it's actually not in new mexico right now. it's back toward the west where the winds will be whipping up a little bit. extremely dry in las vegas. yesterday they had a record-breaking dry air, if you can believe that, with temperatures over 100 and dew points well below zero meaning

there's absolutely zero moisture in the air. high temperatures in texas today are going be too extremely hot again. yesterday's record high temperatures in tucson, 112, tulsa 106, oklahoma city 103, little rock up to 98 and even in most of colorado they saw record high temperature as well. some severe thunderstorms right now are breaking out across parts of the tennessee valley. the slow moving front will push to the east, create delays from new york to philly to d.c. once it passes through, temperatures will cool down from 82 degrees in new york city to maybe the upper 70s by the time the end of the week rolls around. guys, back up to you in new york. >> thank you, rob. a california college student is suing abercrombie and fitch, claiming she was fired for not removing her head scarf. hani khan was told she could wear her hijab working at hollister owned by abercrombie and fitch as long as they were in company colors. a visiting district manager said the head scarf was not allowed and when she refused to remove

it because of religious reasons she said she was fired over the phone. abercrombie released a statement saying they're committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all individuals regardless of race, religion or ethnicity. >> apparently not. >> that's what they said in their statement. we've reached out to them last night and hopefully maybe we'll hear more about this case in particular, because she's suing, maybe not. but -- >> too busy spraying that cologne through their pumps and pumping the music and you can't see the -- >> flashlight. we are so old, aren't we? >> some things i'm old fashioned about. i don't think it's a well run company but they make a lot of money. we are going to talk to hani khan about the shock of being fired by abercrombie and fitch and her lawyer will join us with more details on this lawsuit. >> brings us to our question of the day. should a muslim worker be fired for refusing to take off a head scarf for religious reasons. we want to hear what you have to say about it. >> send us an e-mail, tweet or facebook. we're getting comments and we were a' going to read them

throughout the morning. >> ahead on "american morning," latinos living in some of the poorest border towns want no part of the u.s. census. ed lavandera takes us inside one of these neighborhoods as we go in depth to finding america. ♪

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21 minutes after the hour. minding your business. u.s. stock futures are down following a big rally yesterday that was fueled by tech shares. the dow, nasdaq and s&p 500 all made gains to kickstart the week. let's hope we can finish that way. investors on edge as protesters clash with police outside parliament in athens this morning. policymakers are meeting in parliament to debate new tax hikes and spending cuts. it's a critical step towards

securing a second bailout from the european union. workers are starting a two-day general strike in the streets of athens. >> a vote on the next managing director of the international monetary fund is expected later today. french finance minister christine laguard is gaining the most support. dominique strauss-kahn resigned over attempted rape charges in may. a new lawsuit to be filed in paris today. one plus v is seeking damaging from google over anti-competitive behavior. the french company says this is the biggest claim of its kind against the search giant so far. google is refusing to comment saying they've received the complaint. california is reaching a budget deal. jerry brown conceding defeat on his tax extension proposal. the new budget proposes $14.6 million in cuts. two weeks past the deadline by voters to come to an agreement or forfeit their pay. check out the new cnnmoney.com.

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beautiful picture this morning of houston, texas. right now it's fair, it's 77 degrees. a little bit later, though, it is jumping up another 20 degrees, high of 97 in houston today stand up and be counted for latinos living in makeshift areas along the u.s./mexico border, the response is simple, no thanks. >> it's a problem. u.s. census takers trying to correct. ed lavandera visited one of those along the southern border in texas just before the 2010

census was conducted. >> it's part of our cnn in-depth look at defining america. ed is live in the cologne ya of greensville, texas. explain why they don't want to take part? >> well, it's an interesting experience, living in these colonias, found along the texas border. it's probably some of the most poorest conditions you'll find in this country. many of these neighborhoods they don't have running water, they don't have sewage and a lot of places just barely hanging on. i like to describe it on the fringe of america. i'm going to take you on an eye-opening journey into one of the poorest neighborhoods in america. this the san carlos colonias along the texas/mexico border. walk through here and you'll feel like you're stepping into another world. it's a cluster of homes carved out of the most undesirable property along the southern u.s. border, in texas it's estimated some 400,000 people live like 14-year-old anna.

who do you live here with? >> my mom and little sister. >> the three of you live here? >> yeah. >> wow. >> we had one bed. i used to sleep on the floor. >> you slept on the floor. >> yeah. >> she and her family are moving into a new house for $200 a month it's not much better. >> this is the house they're moving into, 264 square feet. there's going to be five people living here, three brothers and sisters, two small children, and they're still working on the house as we speak here. they've been painting and this is the area that is of most concern, big hole in the ceiling and it's been leaking water since we've been here. follow me inside here. this is what passes as a bathroom. the owners aren't sure that the septic tank or sewage system here works. >> reporter: the roads aren't paved, no air conditioning or heat, and finding water is a daily quest. >> so this is life in the colonias. jumping into the back of this pick-up truck and the man is going to take us to the water

pump to fill up his tank and then start driving the neighborhood streets here and fill up barrels of water for people. >> reporter: most of the people who live here make under $10,000 a year. finding work wherever they can. you would think the farthest thing from their minds would be the 2010 census count. but anna says the census sparks fear. >> i just think they're scared. >> you think they're scared? >> i think so. >> why do you think they're scared? >> i don't know. i don't know. because mostly people are immigrants here. so yeah. >> reporter: they don't trust them? >> i don't think they do. >> reporter: the census director traveled here himself to try to build some trust. many in this group have relatives living here illegally. he tried to assure them that the census is not about deporting immigrants. the benefits of participating in the census are quite large. we return as a country over $400 billion a year to local areas, neighborhoods like this, cities

and states, dependent on census counts. if you get counted, you get your fair share of that money. >> reporter: and now census takers believe that their efforts to get into these colonias and do a better job counting that perhaps led to the increase in the number of latino population here in the state of texas. that stands now at 37% of the state's population is of latino heritage. so quite a a drastic change that this state is undergoing and this in depth, the defining america series, will focus on texas all week long. >> all right. ed, thanks very much for that. good reporting on that. that's an interesting concept. some people don't want to be counted and may be counting them gets them more benefit in the end. >> a lot of people come from countries, right when the government is knocking on your door you don't answer. >> you don't want to be around. >> that's a cultural concern that census takers have had to

battle. >> a lot of people who aren't from another place say i don't want to be on a list. >> top stories, out of control wildfire burning within miles of los alamos laboratory in new mexico. more than 10,000 people forced to leave their homes. the facilities are shut down for the second day. right now officials say all hazardous material is protected. floodwaters from the missouri river threaten two nuclear power plants in nebraska. officials managing those plants say they're winning the battle with mother nature. they say protective measures will keep the water away from critical structures and prevent a disaster on the scale of the fukushima daiichi plant in japan. they say they're not even comparable. congresswoman gabrielle giffords reportedly standing up and waving to an audience at a nasa award ceremony for her husband mark kelly. so far pictures have not been released but it was giffords first public appearance since being shot back in january.

live pictures from the streets of athens. these protests ef we've been watching are heating up. you can see people throwing things, scuffles with police. these protests have been under way for several hours, part of a 48-hour general strike in greece. you can see what appears to be smoke canister, could be tear gas, parliament at the moment debating austerity measures. new tax hikes and spending cuts. something that europe has insisted happen in greece for that country to get its second bailout or risk defaulting something that could paralyze greece and europe's economy. the problem is, the people in greece are not happy with this. they're going to see their government benefits cut, working ages -- >> minimum wage workers will see a new tax. even the lowest income workers will have to pay more to the government. you have air traffic controllers on strike and four-hour increments, doctors, taxi drivers.

>> schools, ferries, trains. >> people in the streets. people aren't working and still angry about the situation in greece. >> keeping a close eye on this. a 48-hour strike that began in greece time this morning. overnight, we are expecting a vote from the greek parliament, tomorrow probably morning our time. they are calling a strike until that vote is over. this is a difficult situation for greece and for europe. >> it's 32 minutes past the hour. congresswoman michele bachmann from minnesota officially jumped into the republican race for president. she declared her candidacy yesterday where she was born in waterloo, iowa and off to a fast start. she was virtually tied with mitt romney in a des moines register poll. joining us from manchester new hampshire is congresswoman michele bachmann. great to see you again, congresswoman. nice numbers in iowa. when we look at new hampshire you're polling at just about 4%. how do you get on the radar in that key primary state where things are different compared to iowa? hi, kiran. we're here in new hampshire, been here multiple times. i'll be doing a house party a

little later today and then we'll be on our way for a bus tour through south carolina and back to iowa. we've seen an explosion of interest in our campaign at michele bachmann.com. our new expanded presidential website and on facebook and twitter, so we're excited about the growth. again, we just got into the race yesterday and according to national polls, they're finding that we are second in the race, which we're very excited about, and so as we continue to expand our message, a very positive forward looking change, i think we're going to see greater and greater results and we've been very well received here in new hampshire. >> so you officially announced yesterday. really there are two story lines about you out there right now. one is that you shot on to the national stage, a lot of supporters in the tea party, the other is you're prone to misstatements and politicofact.com, a check facting website examined 26 statements you made and found only one to be fully true and 18

to be false. several of them relating to your criticism of president obama. did you mean to make false statements intentionally or were you just misspeaking? >> well, of course they were just misspeaking and that happens. people can make mistakes and i wish i could be perfect every time i say something, but i can't. but one thing people know about me, is that i'm a substantive, serious person and i have a very strong background. i'm a former federal tax litigation attorney and i've spent considerable time in the u.s. federal tax court, as well as being a successful small business owner. one thing i am is a businesswoman. i've got good sense on how to turn the economy around and create jobs. that's the number one issue in our economy. i want to bring that sensibility together with a small town common sense good values that i learned growing up in waterloo, iowa, and in minnesota, i want to take -- i've take than voice to the halls of congress very successfully. now i want to take that voice

into the white house where it hasn't been heard for a long time. i think that's why people are excited. >> i'm not doubting that you're serious or smart at all, but are these misstatements becoming a distraction and how do you move on from them? >> well you know, not really. people are most concerned about my economic message of positive change in the economy. we are going on the wrong track and people are concerned that their children won't do as well as they have. so people want to know, is there a person that i can trust who does know how to turn the economy, who can get me better wages and a better job? i understand how to do that. i've done that successfully before. people want someone who can do that. they see president obama has failed us and president obama said himself in february of 2009, if he can't turn the economy around by the third year of his presidency, that he should be a one term president. i agree with him. i think he should be a one-term president and i think i can bring that expertise that level

of knowledge to be able to turn the economy around that's exactly what i'm going to do. >> i know that you are saying people want to focus on those things and i hear you, but people are focusing op the fact that you said john wayne was from waterloo when john wayne gacy the serial killer lived there for a time. you know instead of talking about the economic message people are picking up on a gaffe. >> well, again, john wayne's parents first home was in waterloo, iowa, and he was from iowa, and, of course the main point that i was making, are the sensibilities of john wayne which is patriotism, love of country, standing up for our nation, that positive enthusiasm is what america is all about and that's, of course, my main point. >> i want to ask you about what chris wallace said, he asked you if you were a flake and you handled it pretty well in my opinion. you kept your composure. i know he's apologized. you have since said in subsequent interviews you're a

serious person, you said it to me right now. do you think it's harder to prove you're serious because you're a woman? >> you know, i think that people just need to know what a person's background is. and i'm introducing myself to the american people so they can know that i have a strong academic scholarly background but i have a real life background, where my husband and i who came from low, middle income families worked our way through college, worked our way for everything that we have, and we are able to succeed in our business and raise a successful family with our 23 foster children, our five biological children. we started a charter school for at risk children. >> i want to ask you about that as well. as mother i marvel at the fact that you raised five kids, i'm busy juggling two, on top of that 23 foster children. you've said that to me before and i find that remarkable as a mother i often wonder how did you make that work? for example, how long did they live with you and were they all there around the same time or did you just have a lot of

foster children over the years? >> we had a lot of foster children over the years, kiran. what we did is we had as many as four foster children at a time and then our five biological. the greatest number we had were nine children. and it was a wonderful experience i think for us, for them, and we're so grateful that we could do it. they're really great kids. i encourage people to become foster parents and consider becoming foster parents. >> it was great to talk to you this morning, congresswoman michele bachmann. from manchester, new hampshire, officially kicking off your campaign yesterday, thanks for your time this morning. >> thanks. we'll do it again soon. >> want to jump back to the live pictures? greece. telling you about that earlier. 48-hour strike going on. general strike in greece. the parliament is trying to work out a five-year budget and a deal so that it can qualify for another european union bailout. this is going to mean more painful concessions from everyday working people in

greece and they are hot. they are angry about it. we were seeing some flames earlier. you can see some damage in the streets from the protesters. again, this is sort of mounting all morning snow seems people are gathering and then dispersed by police. we saw some smoke earlier, fire as you said, unclear whether it was a tree or flag or something. i will tell you the effect it's having at the moment, not having too much effect on markets. markets in germany trading in london, they're basically flat. mostly the world expects that parliament is going to do what parliament needs to do. this is tape from a little earlier. you can see how it got a little crazy in the streets. the problem is the greek people don't want parliament to do what the world wants them to do and this is where you're seeing this play out. >> at its simplest, this is a story of a country living beyond its means for a long time. retirement age is going to have to be raised. workers are going to have to take pay cuts or freezes in the public sector.

people will have to pay taxes. >> it's a low percentage of people in greece pay taxes. >> only a few hundred people pay taxes on a swimming pool. >> i want to show you what's going on. live pictures. people bringing this what looks like an umbrella into the street and -- >> for protection from the tear gas or police, perhaps. we're showing you what is going on right now. there are thousands, what appear to be tens of thousands of people in the streets at the moment. we're seeing a side shot of what's going on. people throwing things. >> saw him walk past that, using as protection, sort of -- >> making gestures. >> that was an international gesture. >> mask on his face. you see people trying to use that overturned umbrella as a barrier running there throwing things. almost taunting the police and going back. >> we've been here before. greece this year, you remember, we've been talking about this, six months ago talking about greece and you've heard about

suddenly in the vernacular of our own economics, personal economics is pigs, portugal, ireland, italy, greece and spain. >> countries that have problems. >> budget issues. the european union, euro, the alliance of countries that share the common currency, they're all very concerned about how well europe is staying together amid all of this and amid these problems. >> here we go. we have more -- something being fired. you see smoke in the street. and again, as christine pointed out earlier, the reason this matters to you, we're hearing more live fire of some sort in the streets of athens, people are moving towards something. >> the reason why markets are watching this nervously is because traders and investors and fund managers have your money market funds can be invested in european banks which are invested and exposed to greek debt. so greece getting its debt under control, this is something that -- all of the global

markets are interconnected. >> greece doesn't have a choice. people protesting and you see it from the street view which we literally are seeing right now f you're struggling and don't have money you're upset. on the wider view, on the 10,000 view, greece doesn't have a choice. get this in line or you won't get money to try to continue functioning. >> which is kind of why world markets are not reacting to this at the moment because they know the people inside parliament at the moment don't have a choice. they've got to pass this bill by tomorrow night and what the people are doing in athens is doing everything possible to say if you do this, you are politically finished. but at this point they're either politically finished or economically finished. >> the size of the economy is about the size of washington state, oregon if you look at it that way. the u.s. and greece are not even comparable on that level. more like a u.s. state. however, budget hawks look at this and say, very long term in the u.s., this is why countries have to get their debt situations under control because it's painful and you can't force these changes on people quickly.

you have to make sure that you tell graph out how people are going to tighten the belt so you don't have strict austerity like this so quickly because it can lead to this. >> to diane magna there. we see the smoke from, perhaps, tear gas as we see these protesters and police confront each other on the streets of athens. >> well, that's a [ inaudible ] by riot police at protesters for the last 40 minutes or so. we were just in the midst of it. protesters are extremely aggressive against cameras. they saw my cameraman filming and ran up to him, kicked him, kicked the camera and there is a huge anger here at these austerity measurements. going to push through probably in a vote tomorrow and why people have come out on to the streets. interestingly the number of people who came out to this general strike today, were

actually quite limited. numbering in the few thousand. that hasn't stopped the anarchists from pretty much throwing rocks and missiles at the police who responded in turn with tear gas. that kind of aggression is still going on around all the streets around constitution square, which is, of course, the square upon which the parliament sits where they are right now debating this very, very unpopular austerity program. >> tell us, what would change for greek citizens if this new austerity plan is in place? what exactly happens that they're upset about? >> basically what happens is that people who have already suffered big pension cuts, big wage cuts, many people who have lost jobs, that situation will be aggravated further. taxes have already gone up in the past year they've had this

first austerity program. taxes are going to get hiked again. wages are going to get cut again. in the public sector 10% of jobs are gone already and another 20% are set to go. apart from that there's a huge privatization program that people are angry about. all the people in the public sector who fear that if their companies get bought up, their jobs will go, so that is why people are coming out to protest. they say we've had enough austerity over the past year. we actually can't take any more and these are measures imposed by the imf, by the eu be. they have banners up calling them thieves, and they are, as you can see, this is just an expression of rage at the prospect of further austerity. >> this camera on the left of our screen is your camera. that's exactly what you are seeing from where you are. we have been following these protests for some time. we saw some protests and strikes on the 15th of june. this is unlike anything we have

seen before in greece or anywhere else in europe. this is taking it to an entirely new level. >> well, this is certainly very violent, but i was here this time last year and when the first round of austerity measures were pushed through, and there was a similar amount of violence on the streets, but with more general protesters. this time last week, there was another general strike and as you said there was far less rioting than we've seen now. it's difficult to gauge, you know, at this stage when we're only sort of 45 minutes in, whether it's going to be bigger than those examples i've just cited. certainly from having been in the crowd this time around, i have never seen such aggression against our camera and cameras in general on the streets of greece and i have experienced here.

>> are they making arrests and has anybody been wounded? >> this i haven't been able to check at this stage. i know that there are 5,000 riot police out on the streets. i haven't seen with my own eyes any casualties at this stage. so this is something that we are, obviously, going to have to check with police and this is quite early on in this demonstration and this riot. it's interesting, the camera pans down to the left, you can see a line of protesters essentially trying to stop this rioting from pushing back. you know, a line saying look, this is where the rioting must stop. we're trying to maintain the peace. they're being pushed back now. it doesn't seem to be helping. tear gas canisters on the street being kicked around by people dressed in black. some of them presumably, sort of self-declared anarchists who are fairly prevalent here in athens

and some of them, regular protesters. >> these are remarkable. >> firing from riot police. i can't actually see. >> we're looking at your camera and seeing the riot police in the street. we saw some sort of a fire, somebody threw something, may have been a molotov cocktail. one of the things we've been discussing here, the greek parliament has no choice, the government has acknowledged what it has to do and it is difficult and they are debating it and by the end of tomorrow expectations around the world and certainly markets is that the greek parliament will come through with these austerity measures, tax hikes, privatization, the tax increases, the wage cuts, the job cuts. clearly these demonstrators are hoping to intimidate parliamentarians into doing something else. is there any indication that it could work? in other words, could this have some effect on the debates going on in parliament? could they say we can't do this, the people don't want us to do this?

>> well, i think that it's fair to say that the people in that parliament building are well aware of the strength of anger on the streets of athens. whether it's from what they're seeing right now or from the demonstrations, the scale of demonstrations they've seen in the past few days, but this morning, i was actually speaking to one member of parliament, that's the ruling party, who said he is very much considering going against his party's wishes in the vote tomorrow, precisely because he feels that the eu is trying to blackmail greece and there is far more room for negotiation here. he said, you know, there is no way, whatever europe says, that they are going to forsake euro debt for this. however much europe says this is your only option, you must vote it through. i cannot imagine that -- should that not happen, they won't have

something up their sleeve. you can see the tear gas is rising up in the square. the fight going on in front of my eyes here. the tear gas pretty much blinding us up on this balcony position. >> in the streets, i mean, if you have to avert your eyes or move away, please do so for your own safety. you have different unions in the street and public and private sector and usual groups that tend to come to these sorts of events. people who, you know, protest for the sake of protesting but you have citizens also very concerned about what is happening. government offices, schools, courts are all closed. air traffic controllers periodically stopping work today. >> every few hours. >> you have the air system, the travel system has been disrupted. teachers. hospitals are working on skeleton staffs but there are doctors, nurses and hospital crews who have also abiding by this 48-hour strike as well. so the country has come to a halt essentially.

>> she said it's too early to tell from her vantage point, she has not seen any casualties, any injuries or denials because of this. but, of course, pictures are dramatic and has not seen to date as much aggression toward the camera crews who are there. we will take a break. we will check back in what is going on right now as protesters take to the streets of athens, greece. (rambling phone conversation)

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here are your morning headlines. we are following breakings in out of greece this morning. protests heating up in athens right now. police firing tear gas on demonstrators. they are rallying in constitution square and protest ago debate going on right now in parliament about more tax hikes and spending cuts. we will stay on top of that for you. check on premarket trading. u.s. stock futures are down amid concerns over greece and its debt and what will happen if they don't make the fixes they need to make. new housing numbers out of a survey coming out could move markets. the white house says president obama believes a significant dealing on raising the debt ceiling is possible and congress has until august nd to

raise america's debt limit or america won't be able to pay all of its bills. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] and just like that, it's here. a new chance for all of us: people, companies, communities to face the challenges yesterday left behind and the ones tomorrow will bring. prudential. bring your challenges.

a california college student is suing amber krom abercrombie and fish. a visiting district manager saw the head scarf and said it was not allowed during work hours and when she refused to take it off, she was fired. >> in half an hour, we will talk to hanni kahn about what she calls the shock of being fired by abercrombie and fitch. >> should a worker be fired for refusing to take off a head scarf for religious reasons. baseball is my religion but i'm

not allowed to wear a baseball cap. company policy is company policy. if she was fired for being a muslim, that is wrong. >> benny writes the more i look into it, the more i believe that hollister handled the situation incorrectly. >> steve says jobs are sparse. i would wear a clown suit if it paid the bills. >> we will get more comments coming up in the next hour. we will take a break.

breaking news. greece gripped by protests are now turning violent as we speak. police firing tear gas to try to break up the crowds angry over propoped budget and tax hikes. we are live in athens with breaking developments. i'm kiran chetry. tracking a nuclear power plants in two states threatened this morning by flood and fire. we will have the latest. i'm ali velshi. michele bachmann is on a roll and launching her campaign and today competing for headlines with sarah palin. is there room in this race for both of them on this "american morning." ♪ good morning! it is tuesday, june 28th. a lot going on this afternoon in greece, this morning, here in the u.s. >> we start with breaking news out of athens. police there are firing tear gas

and trying to disperse angry protesters who have been lobbying petrobombs and other things on the streets in athens. >> a debate in parliament about tax hikes, spending cuts and job losses and things like that. diana is watching the scene from a balcony. give us the latest. it is heating up. >> reporter: hi, ali. actually, since i last spoke to you, you can now hear the music. there have been people amongst the regular demonstrators if you can call them that, saying don't let these people ruin were on day and don't let them take over our day, referencing the anarchist whose are really the ones throwing stones and molotov cocktails at police. they are a different group from the regular people who have come out here to demonstrate against austerity measures that are being debated in the parliament

and in the last five minutes, we have seen a bit of a lull in the violence but it was certainly, ali, pretty extreme, you know? it was just under an hour's worth of real rioting in all of the streets around the square, around 56,000 riot police out on duty firing tear gas into the crowds as they threw rocks, molotov cocktails back at police. a lot of firecrackers and a lot of bangs. you can see down there, people are now playing music in the streets to try and sort of alleviate the tension in the air and, you know, just hearing calls from people that they ruin our day is indicative of the fact it is a minority that who are leading the kind of violence on the streets today. >> i know you've got a lot of reporting to do with cnn international. we will let you go and continue that and check back in with you

as this develops. >> we will keep watching the pictures as we see this happening. what is going on inside of parliament will determine what happens in this country. >> diana pointed out this has been a year of protests. we have seen them in libya, syria, and tunisia and europe. >> this is different. >> she is pointing out there maybe differences what the people of greece feel and the particular group who is throwing the petrobombs are. another developing story. los alamos national all about tore home of a accelerator and nuclear material, obviously, a very crucial place. today, a wildfire continues to burn alarmingly close to this government lab. >> people have been forced to leave their homes and lab is shut down for the second day. right now, officials say all hazardous material is protected. also today, two nuclear

fasts in nek under siege from the foloodwaters. >> reporter: people see flood water all around and think it's another fukushima. is it? >> no, it is not another fukushima. the main differences is the rapid flooding that occurred at fukushi fukushima. this was a predicted event to a degree from the corps of engineers. the floodwaters are outside the plant and no water is inside the plant. the reactor is covered with borated water and so is the fuel rods. that is where it should be. the floodwaters on outside of ft. calhoun and not inside. >> the plant has been offline since april for refueling. the tas denying it forced a 95-year-old woman with cancer to remove her adult diaper before boarding a flight in florida. the woman's daughter told cnn that agents would not let them

board unless that adult shield was inspected. it was their idea to take it off in the bathroom so they could make their flight. the tsa is still defending the actions of its screeners saying they acted professional rb gabrielgab re. gabrielle giffords has made her first public appearance. we have pictures her office gave us a week ago. she was at a national ceremony in houston. she did not speak publicly but she did get together with staff and reported by our affiliates she stood up from her wheelchair and waved and gave her husband a kiss. two top staffers have resigned. one was the director of a campaign in new hampshire. cain is a businessman. the former head of godfather's pizza. he polled well in the south carolina debate. a spokeswoman denied team cain

is in trouble and already hired a new manager for the cain campaign. >> michele bachmann tried to say the actor john wayne was from her hometown when really john wayne gassey was the one who spent time in waterloo. recently i asked her about her recent string of gaffes. are they becoming a sdracketion a distraction and how do you move on from that? >> not really. people are concerned about my economic message of positive change in the economy. we are going on the wrong track and people are concerned that their children won't do as well as they have, so people want to know, is there a person that i could trust who does know how to turn the economy? they see president obama has failed us. >> bachmann will be in new hampshire today where she is not polling as well as she is in iowa. >> she is officially out of

sarah palin's shadow. palin in iowa today about a documentary about her life and political career. here is clip from it. >> she was a ceo of 25,000 employees. >> of all the 50 governors in the united states, she was sitting at the desk as one of the most powerful and she wasn't afraid to use those powers. >> of course, the timing and location are only adding to the buzz that sarah palin could jump into the presidential race. here to talk about a democratic strategist is jennifer and eric. welcome to both of you. good to see you. let's go back to michele bachman. eric, would you have even thought this possible that michele bachmann is in some places poling as a real contender to win the republican nomination? >> no. i don't think any republican really would have a year ago. a lot of people are saying michele bachmann who? but what she is doing in iowa i think the tim pawlenty and herman cain contain have to be

nervous. she is sitting up to be the romney candidate and nobody thought she would be. >> jennifer, she talked to kiran a few moments ago about the mis-speaks she has as she calls them. she says her voters don't care about that and they care about who can fix the number one problem and that is the economy. do you think that is true? >> i think the iowa voters care about gaffes. she a little more buttoned up than she used to be but yesterday we saw she is gaffe prone and iowa is a real marathon and she is doing well now and clearly very talented but very conservative and she is gaffe-prone. i would certainly not even write off people like tim pawlenty at this point. as obama showed you keep your head down, you do your work and one-on-one retailing in iowa and you can really get ahead and make a difference there. so i wouldn't, you know, i don't know that this is is hers to

lose at this point. >> ali, i have to interject right here. >> yeah. >> i heard this report and heard the interview and dwelling on these things. i have this on my ipad and pulled these up. the first five on the page one is barely true. she was citing a media report. she was citeding a press article on the second one and the third one they say was false but they said they weren't looking at her contacts but look at her actual words and when you looked at her context she got it right. if we say she is gaffe prone, it's the media's fault. >> we can kind of agree she has been more gaffe-prone than anybody else in the race. >> man! no, ali, i would disagree with that as well. on thursday, for example, the president of the united states actually said he gave the medal of honor who was alive when the soldier wasn't alive and he had to apologize.

i can't find us dwelling on the statements from the president. just on michele bachmann and sarah palin. >> you are conservative, eric. she is conservative. guess what? mitt romney, questions about whether he is a committed conservative. questions about jon huntsman and tim pawpawlenty. she is a dyed in the wool conservative. >> she is. i wonder why everyone is dwelling on the gaffes she had when what she did is cite media reports that were wrong. >> you say the game of gotcha and i hear you here but some of the things are outright misstatements that politifact checked. they do it along party lines. listen. she said that president obama released all of the oil in the strategic oil preserves at a time when gas prices and oil issues are a huge thing. that's a very, very large mischaracterization. here at least i believe about 4%, not all of our strategic oil

preserve so you can understand when people say things like that they have to be held to account. >> you're right. i saw the interview. it was clear from her context that -- >> jennifer, go ahead. >> i think the real concern for her ultimately is she said another network this morning, she considered the minimum wage a regulation we need to take a look at and said before she thought it was having a minimum wage was holding back job growth. she thinks we need to wean people off social security. >> is that good for her or bad for her, jennifer? >> that would be good for her in some parts of iowa but, ultimately, i don't think the person who has that view is electable as the president of the united states. as much as i would like to face somebody that conservative in the general election, i don't think we will. i think the republicans will end up nominating someone else. >> if she is that conservative and sticks that to that is good or bad for republicans winning the presidential election?

>> i think good. i know some moderate democrats say we need to be like the democrats. you saw it in '94 and 2000 and 2010. >> eric, thanks so much. eric ericsson is a cnn contributor and jennifer palmieri, good to talk to you as well. she is a democratic strategy i- >> it is just getting interesting. >> one thing michele bachmann achieved and we are talking about her. >> she is getting attention and questioned about things that -- i'm sure as she said she didn't mean to mis-speak. people aren't perfect and make mis take. that is the conversation instead of what do you want to see happen? >> people want to see somebody who has the wherewithal to fix the economy. that is what this will come down to in this election for all of those candidates in the field. >> who can harness some hope?

i've only heard the president hasn't done a good job and america is not as good as it was a generation ago. >> jon huntsman said all you see in china is this rah, rah, we're going to be the best and all you see in america these days is how terrible things are. china is overstated and america is understated at the moment. >> who will harness that and inspire. casey anthony found competent to resume with her murder trial and a big witness may take the stand today. new developments on that next. a california woman is suing abercrombie and fish. akising the store of firing her because she refused to remove her head scarf. >> hackers on the attack. we are now going to give you something you can do to protect yourself. straight ahead, mario armstrong with specifics on how to make an unhackable password. [ male announcer ] this...is the network -- a network of possibilities. in here, the planned combination

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ten pipe bombs found in a truck after the driver wrecked it in louisiana. police say the truck hit a guardrail and flipped into a

drainage ditch yesterday morning. no one else was around at the time. authorities reportedly ignited the bombs in a nearby field after the crash and said they could have done some pretty significant damage. the driver was air-lifted to the hospital and police do expect to file charges but they still have to finish the investigation and figure out what he had planned to do with those. >> they are fireworks and pipe bombs. strange. >> that is right e. testimony set to resume today in the casey anthony murder trial, actually, within the hour. a key witness could take the stand today. the meter reader you may have heard a lot about if you're been following the trial. roy kronk discovers the remains of caylee. casey anthony was found to be mentally fit to stand trial, rejecting a motion by the defense that questioned her competence. >> based upon the reports that the court has reviewed, the court will find that the defendant is competent to continue to proceed.

>> those reports, by the way, by three psychologists remain sealed. interestingly, our legal analyst sunny hostin leads her to believe there was questioning going on. >> prepping. >> prepping and deposing her for the stand and a red flag was raised about her mental ability. >> yeah. >> at that point. a big game for video game makers. supreme court in a 7-2 ruling struck down a california law that would have banned the sale of violent voideo game on children. the state of california maintains it has a legal obligation to protect children. the supreme court disagreed. rob marciano is in the extreme weather center. >> storms rumbling through the tennessee valley. a couple of thunderstorms watches posted and this one just issued for parts of mississippi and southern arkansas. these two clusters of thunderstorms have had a history

of producing not only some heavy rain, but some gusty winds and damage with these as they roll off towards the south and east. this front is pushing off slowly to the east. the northern part will get to drier and somewhat cooler air behind it but not so much for the southwest which is going to continue to be hot including the southern plains. drought in texas making things worse. temperatures will easily get up and over a hundred degrees today as it did yesterday. tucson, 112, tulsa 106. oklahoma city 103. record high temperatures. the new york metros low clouds. slight delays and d.c. thunderstorms and atlanta and low clouds expected in san francisco with a high out there of 65! chilly in the bay this time of the year. 82 in new york for a chance of rain and 80 degrees with dry weather expected in chicago. >> rob marciano, thanks. this is the first pitch by the coolest one thrown last

night in the padres game. take a look. >> wow! >> that's pretty amazing! >> it was a performance from circumstan circumstance cirquz de solea. this is the shot caught in mid air. over the mound. >> look at that! >> rob, that's impressive. >> not only is he an acrobat, he can play baseball. >> that's incredible. following breaking news right now. greece is gripped by protests that have in the last hour or so turned violent. these are pictures from greece. we will bring you the latest next. (rambling phone conversati)

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23 minutes after the hour. "minding your business" this morning. we have been following breaking news. calm beginning to return to the streets in athens. these are live pictures here of violence that erupted 30 minutes ago as greek police fired tear gas on the demonstrators. greece is paralyzed bay 48-hour strike. its transportation system, banks, schools, hospitals shut down. hospitals on a skeleton staff. protesters are upset over budget cuts and tax hikes needed to nab a second international bailout. a check in on premarket trading in the u.s. stock futures are down slightly right now amid the concerns about greece and its debt problems. in a few minutes we will have more housing numbers, a consumer

confidence survey coming out later this morning that could move markets in the u.s. wall street buzzing over what some call facebook. investment juned capital shares jumped about 40% yesterday following announcement it had purchased a stake in facebook and that stake values facebook at about $70 billion. up next the muslim woman suing abercrombie and fitch after she was fired because she wouldn't remove her head scarf. "american morning" back after the break.

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♪ 28 past of the hour. abercrombie and fitch is not known for its modern evident itty but now sued by a young woman who california who claims she was fired after she refused

to remove her head scarf. abercrombie released a statement. hanni kahn disagrees after what happened to her and joins us from sacramento with her attorney. thanks for both of you for being with us this morning. >> good morning. >> good morning, kiran. >> thanks for getting up, by the way, i know it's 5:30 out there. hanni, let me ask you about your employment history with them. when you first went to get the job, you were wearing your head scarf and told it was fine as long as they were in company colors? yeah. when i went in for my interview with the assistant manager. he saw my head scarf and said it would be navy, white or gray and it would be fine. >> what happened? what went wrong? >> the district manager came in after i had been working there since october 2009 and came in in february 2010 and didn't like

the fact that i was wearing a head scarf and called me in for a meeting and then i was contacted by corporate who let me know that i would no longer be working there. >> what did they say when they called you into that meeting? they gave you a choice? you need to decide whether or not you're comfortable removing the head scarf at work, is that what they said to you? >> they asked me if i would be able to come into work and take my head scarf off, work and then put it back on after i left work hours and i told them that wasn't acceptable, that it was a part of my religion and i wasn't going to do that. >> mrs. oldgene, let me ask you a question of questions about the suit here. >> sure. >> legally, what are you guys arguing? >> well, so federal civil rights law, as well as california state civil rights law, require that employers provide reasonable accommodation for religious practices of their employees. and by failing to engage miss

kahn in any sort of accommodation process, that, in and of itself, violated civil rights laws. on top of that, they are also required as part of a providing reasonable accommodation, as long as there is no undue burdened, they are supposed to make that accommodation. as her working there, as hani working there four months showed there was no undue burden on abercrombie and fitch for the four months she was there, so them requiring her to remove it or lose her job also discriminates on her based on her religion. we are looking for abercrombie and fitch to amend their look policy so they will make reasonable accommodations for employees because of their religious practices. >> abercrombie and fitch has sometimes a controversy with their ads. why can't they dictate what

their people wear? >> i think they can certainly tell employees what colors to wear but that fundamentally, we, as americans, sort of value the diversity that exists within this country and generally are tolerant of people regardless of their religion and they are not above the law. >> hani, why is it so important to wear a head scarf? why is it an important part of your religion and what does it symbolize? >> it symbolizes modesty. it's just a symbol of modesty for us. >> did you have any reservations about working for abercrombie and fitch because of that? i mean, they have been in the news before for some of their racy catalogs and some of their racy ad campaigns and also for some of the clothing that they sell that probably would be considered the opposite of modest. >> that wasn't a factor for me. what i was looking at was a fun

environment where my friends were also working, so that's what i was primarily looking at. it was just a fun environment to be in. >> this has got to be a very difficult and embarrassing situation for you, because you said that you've worn a head scarf since you were in kindergarten, there has never been a problem and never singled out and you're fired from a job, not because of your performance but because of what you're wearing. what was that like? >> i've been wearing it, like you said, i've been wearing it since kindergarten and not a problem even after 9/11. for it to come up when i was 19 was out of the ram done and not ordinary. i was shocked and surprised. >> we did reach out to aber chrome bee. we are waiting to hear more specifically about your case. in the meantime, keep us posted how this lawsuit goes and thank you for your time this morning. >> we will do. thank you, kiran. >> thank you. >> we want to know what you

think. should somebody, because of their religion, a muslim worker, be fired for taking off a head scarf for religious reason. that is our question of the day. we will read some of your thoughts later in the show. developing this morning, tear gas being fired on demonstrators who have taken to the streets in athens, greece. they are protesting budget cuts and tax hikes need to do ensure a second international bailout. today's protest kicked off a 48-hour strike. the country's transportation system, banks, schools, all of that has been shut down today. you can see what is going on down the streets in athens. we will follow it all day on cnn. a wildfire burning near los alamos laboratory in new mexico. more than 10 thousand people in los alamos has been force to do leave their homes. the lab shut down for a second day. officials say all hazardous material at the lab is protected. floodwaters from the missouri river continue to threaten two nuclear power plants in nebraska. officials managing the plant say they are winning the battle with

mother nature. they say protective measures will keep water away from critical structures and prevent a disaster on the scale of the fukushima daiichi plant in japan. all right. the man tapped to take over the top u.s. commander in afghanistan is backing the size and pace of president obama's troop drawndown. lieutenant general john allen will face the armed committee today. joining us now to give us more of the take from the ground, what it's like when you're actually there trying to help. major rusty bradley, a u.s. special operations soldier. he is also the author of a new book "lions kandahar." major, thanks so much for being with us this morning. >> nice to see you. >> when we debate policy about afghanistan, what is the one thing in your mind that you think people may be need to understand a little bit better about our fight there and about the country? >> i think, first of all, we are

making a significant amount of progress and i think a lot of times that story not being told. these people want and need our help, which is significant. it takes about six people to support every ground combat soldier. you got people that have to bring in water, food, fuel, rations. you've got that, helicopter mechanics, otherwise, helicopters don't fly. so it takes a large network to make what we do possible. >> what is the progress? you say there's been progress. what has been the progress that you have seen? >> let me give you an example. four years ago, when we fought this ballots, it's a place called panua and the birth place of the taliban. we were in a bizarre where we had a significant firefight which is a large market area. >> uh-huh. >> i worked on this last rotation, i worked in that very same area. the first time i drove through there, school had just let out. there were 300 afghan kids in

their little uniforms running through the streets of the bizarre. women were shopping with their children without their husbands. shops were opening. new shops had been built. there was commerce in a place where we had fought probably the largest unknown battle in afghanistan. so to me that was -- >> you bring an interesting point up. when we see images we see blown-out buildings and nobody living there. we hear from so many people if there is is work and jobs, and whatever they plant and whatever they sell and do pays more than what the taliban will pay them to do, commerce and business and the economy will really change hearts and souls in afghanistan? >> that's absolutely correct. and things are flourishing there and there are certain areas where the afghans have taken over control. the afghans will tell you very quickly that they understand we are not there to conquer them and it's a new revelation to them because everybody else that ever has tried -- >> our chris lawrence and others who are there on the ground have

said that those afghan soldiers are not ready, they are not the same kind of warrior that the u.s. soldiers are. and that in many cases, they feel like a lot of the investment we're making in the people in afghanistan won't be returned as soon as we are gone. >> they have significant challenges. you got to remember, most of these people have no occasionally level whatsoever, not even a third grade education. we are not only training them to be soldiers but establish security across the country. there's some very bad areas that still needs a lot of work. >> this is our nation's longest war there. this is going on past ten years. we're doing a lot of, i guess, nation building as opposed to counterterror and people asking why are we doing this and can we afford the sacrifice of so many like you and those who haven't come back alive to continue it. >> i think it is our strategic interests.

i mean, we need -- we need partners like the afghanis. they are extremely loyal people and hard-working people and to be able to have partners in that part of the world who are so desperate that when somebody comes to you and says here is my child, she's burned, will you help me? and then you -- you do that for them, that's normally what we are going to do, but that amount of compassion resonates through them and it's really taken a grassroots sort of approach where we live in the villages with the people and now, they are starting to look at the insurgency from a perspective of why are you here? you don't help us. you're not bringing anything to the table. the americans build roads and schools. and, yes, there is fighting that es going on, but at the end of the day, they are -- they really get it. >> book is called "lions of kandahar." major bradley, thanks for joining us. >> thank you for having me. hackers on the attack.

every day stealing your information and sense of security and money. we seem to be hearing about it all the time. i got answers for you and solutions to protect yourself. we will teach you how to build a hacking proof password up next. 39 minutes after the hour. [ nurse ] i'm a hospice nurse. britta olsen is my patient. i spend long hours with her checking her heart rate, administering her medication, and just making her comfortable. one night britta told me about a tradition in denmark, "when a person dies," she said, "someone must open the window so the soul can depart." i smiled and squeezed her hand. "not tonight, britta. not tonight." ♪ not tonight." an accident doesn't have to slow you down.

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♪ >> look at that picture above new york city. the cloud says rain to me. 76 and partly cloudy and a few sun rays peeking through. 82 later on today. guess what? it's summertime. thunderstorms will be in new york. you can't do anything about thunderstorms but use an umbrella. you can protect yourself from hackers, however. you may not think sop. mario armstrong is the host of sirius xm digital spin. you will help us build a password and protect yourself from hackers. let's talk about this. what do you do? >> first and foremost the longer the better. 12 characters. >> hard for me. high my hard drive is full! >> you are running out of space in there! 12 characters. what you're going to do is built

it as a sentence. talk about that. georgia institute of tech researchers found eight character password can be cracked in two hours. >> using software? >> right. use them two hours. 12 character, 17,444 years. >> a big difference. >> major difference. >> i can't come up with 12 characters. you got ideas. >> make it easy for yourself and build a password from a sentence. at 5:00 p.m. i like playing basketball with two friends. notice numbers in there. use upper and lower case and numbers and symbols. you have to go beyond the 26 letters in the alphabet. >> a little asterisk there to separate it. >> i like playing basketball with two friends. a little exclamation point. remember something you like saying all the time. you want to mix it up, upper and

lower case. >> you mix it up and makes it hard to hack. >> talk about the cloud. a big deal storing stuff not on your flash drive or portable device but in the ether. not a cloud but somebody's server. >> someone else computer so taking your hard drive from your computer or the external and putting it up on the internet and saying multiple devices, a laptop, a tablet, a phone can get to the programs and files through the internet. >> we hear people saying i don't want to use a cloud. it's the way of the future and end up happening to protect yourself. >> password protect the files before you upload them to the site. many people don't know they have that level of encryption in their own computers. if they get access doesn't matter. they have to crack the password on that file. number two, save the sensitive files on your local machine on an external hard drive, don't put everything up there you don't want soon. >> pickets and music and videos. >> but not tax forms.

>> until we understand how this works save it locally. >> the whole promise of the cloud is security. we have already seen breaches. >> >> protect the file and save important stuff locally and protect the device. >> the actual device. if someone gets ahold of my cell phone i have something called sugar sync. if they get that they tap the icon for the app and drop my files. the authentication is done on the device. if i lose my phone i need a password so you don't know how to get into it. >> mix it up! change it! >> you don't get 12 characters for that but make it something good. let's talk about key logging. this one is shocking! tell me what this means. >> it's software that runs on your computer you don't know and is hidden and can capture from every key stroke you strike to every website you visit. >> who is putting this on? malicious? >> so it's legal software. >> yeah? >> so if someone, obviously, maybe you're in a bad relationship and they want to track you if they have access to

your computer they can install it or get it installed remotely from an e-mail attachment. any files with the.exe extension, don't click on those! that will run a program! >> you have taken a log of somebody's activity? what is worse once i installed it on my wife's computer it it can send me an e-mail the frequency i want. this is a report i get from her computer showing me all of her usage. >> wow. >> this is showing me all of her usage in outlook. time, date stamped and what she talked about and what the actual message was. >> wow! this is all detailed stuff! >> very detailed. >> these are all e-mails. >> all e-mails and later on here, i start to see some areas where she was connecting to sales force and she had it to log in and i could see what her password was! >> wow. you can get anything you need here. >> how do i prevent this from happening? >> you don't know it's running is the hard thing about it. you have to use maybe something like spy reveal or some of these web sites that can help he reas

a rule key log. you use software to fight software to try to see if you have it on your -- >> if i'm googling to find out software? >> revealing key logging or key logging software. look at services like spy reveal and others to help reveal that. >> your wife knows you're doing this? >> she does. >> you just disclosed on tv it you were spying on your wife's website! see you, my friend. >> that's not the way to do it. >> it's not. morning headlines are up next!

. u.s. treasury secretary timoth

geithner endorsed french foreign minister for the monetary fund. a vote by the imf board is expected today. former imf chief dominique strauss-kahn arrested in may with sex charges. los alamos national laboratory in new mexico shut down for a second day now. officials at the lab say all radioactive and hazardous material are being protected. more than 10,000 residents told to get out. federal regulators say nebraska's two nuclear plants are safe as they battle rising floodwaters from the missouri

river. both plants sit along the missouri river. ft. calhoun inundated with water after a gateway gave way. gabrielle giffords attended a function with her husband. clear the congresswoman's strength and cognitive abilities are improving. u.s. stock futures trading down slightly almost flat really, amid concerns over greece and its debt. waiting for new housing numbers out in a few minutes and a consumer confidence survey coming out later this morning and that could direct markets in the united states. you're caught on today's headlines. ♪

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pittsburgh steelers and a leading colleague of our friend dr. sanjay gupta. >> when his life took a turn for the worse, doctor maroon got hooked on exercise. sanjay has his story in this morning's "human factor." >> reporter: dr. joseph maroon remembers the exact moment his life fell apart. >> i had a major personal train wreck. within the course of a week, my father died, a marriage that was rocky ended, and i didn't have any reserve. i had to quit neurosurgery. >> reporter: death, divorce, depression, all of it happened in a matter of tas. days. >> my mental proving was gone. >> reporter: rock bottom? >> i hit bottom. >> reporter: the crisis was so bad, dr. maroon contemplated suicide, but then came the opportunity. >> there was a phone call from a banker friend in wheeling, west virginia, who, i think, took pity on me and said, joe, let's go for a run.

>> reporter: your first sfons? >> my first, are you crazy? >> reporter: but he did go for that run. and he felt something go click. >> it was the first night that i slept in about four or five months. >> reporter: is that right? just getting a little bit of exercise then? >> four times around, i slept. >> reporter: in fact, he was running so much, he developed an overuse injury. so dr. maroon started to bike and then swim and slowly his depression began to fade. >> i started to feel strong again and was able to get back to neurosurgery, get back to my life. >> reporter: that's when he heard about triathlons. back then, it was a new sport, still in its infancy, but he was hooked after his first race. >> reporter: you have done how many triathlons now? >> i've done 70 triathlons and seven ironman distance races. >> reporter: we came out today. i didn't know if i would be able to keep up with dr. maroon. although we have been exercising, still not sure!

how much of this improvement in your life would you attribute to the fact that you really incorporated exercise into it? >> i just -- i know i wouldn't be here today if it weren't the case. it really saved me. you're going to be on the king q highway. >> reporter: dr. sanjay gupta, cnn, denver.

wow. >> 2 minutes before the top of

the hour. dramatic video in from athens, greece, right now. a live truck possibly from a news crew and thick black smoke after what appeared to be a crash there. the city has been gripped by protests that have turned violent as they protest austerity measures, budget cuts and layoffs, et cetera. >> clearly, that is a television truck or satellite truck on fire. our diana magnad told us one of her camera crews had been hit and attacked by the crowds. unclear who is all in there. we know in those crowds are several different unions and we know, according to diana, anarchists and troublemakers. this is not the cnn truck. this is not our crew here but we know there have been some attacks on the media. police have been firing tear gas trying to break up the crowds. >> diana rah reporting some attempts by the protests to say let's not let this thing be taken over by those who are

being a little bit more violent. unclear who is doing it's a two-day strike. >> demonstrators are upset and been through this, right? for the first bailout. now another bailout because the first belt tightening was not enough. today's protests a part of a 48-hour strike. >> started this morning. parliamentary vote is tomorrow afternoon their me