getting beat up. john said they are never going to say i'm smart. you can't be smart, rich and good looking and rich and good looking aren't going anywhere. >> between end up on that. coming up tomorrow, the original karate kid will join us. also my exclusive interview with sir richard branson as we take a swim with the whale sharks in mexico. that's all tomorrow. "cnn newsroom" with carol costello begins right now. see you tomorrow. >> hi, soledad. happening right now in the newsroom, security scare. olympics days away, new reports this morning of security lapses at london's heathrow airport. are inexperienced guards putting our athletes in danger? we are live in london. china responds the fight over the u.s. olympics team calling senator harry reid out saying he's violating the olympics spirit after he said at china's uniform should be burned. china asks if he will burn his chinese-made appliances, clothes

and blackberries. and what are they thinking? ultra marathon, 135 miles long in death valley. it is being called the world's toughest footrace. runners starting right now on a two-day run through hell. the average temperature in death valley, 116 degrees. not a crash but tacks, of all things, slowing down the tour de france. someone threw tacks on the road in front of the cyclists. who does had a? "newsroom" begins right now. good monday morning to you. i'm carol costello. thank you so much for being here with us this morning. the battle over bain, taxes, outsourcing and whether president obama should apologize gets hot they are morning. the president will be in cincinnati later today and expected to bash romney over tax breaks for big business. but romney is already on the offensive. appearing on republican friendly

"fox & friends" this morning. >> the president has only one thing going. that is constant attacks on me. you know, they are dishonest and misdirected. i think the american people recognize that kind of politics as something of the past. it may work in chicago but it is not going to work across america. >> except the attacks on romney seem to be sticking. even some republicans wonder why mr. romney won't release more of his tax returns. after all, they say, they would show whether romney headed bain capital after 1999 when some of the companies bain invested in sent jobs overseas. let's bring in our political editor paul steinhauser to talk more about this. good morning, paul. >> good morning, carol. >> romney is holding firm? no more tax returns? >> yeah. romney is holding firm on that. you just played a clip from that interview on "fox & friends." take a listen to what he said on taxes. >> john mccain ran for president and released two years of tax returns. john kerry ran for president. his wife, who has hundreds of

million of dollars, she never released her tax returns. somehow this wasn't an issue. the obama people keep wanting more and more and more. more things to pick through, more things for that your opposition research to try to make a mountain out of and distort and to be dishonest about. we are going put out two years of tax returns and put out one already. as soon as the most recent year is complete, we will put that out. >> this came up back in the primaries. remember in january during the heat of the battle for the republican presidential nomination. at that time mitt romney did put out his 2010 tax returns. he put out an estimate for 2011. but the opposition then and obama campaign now point out while mitt romney's father, when he was running for president in 1968, put out 12 years of tax returns. listen, battle over taxes. battle over bain capital. that's the private equity firm that mitt romney co-founded and has been accused by the obama campaign. and back in the primaries as well by his opponents then of sending jobs overseas. these are heated battles. this campaign turned from negative to really nasty.

mitt romney in that round robin of interviews the other day asked for an apology from the obama camp for saying maybe mitt romney had -- broke the law by misreporting what he left -- when he left bain capital. is the president going to apologize? take a listen to what he said. >> no, between won't be apologizing. sometimes these games are played during political campaigns. i understand what the issue is here. mr. romney claims that he's mr. fix it for the economy. because of the -- his business experience. i think voters entirely legitimately want to know what exactly was that business experience. >> what do you think? we have 3 1/2 more months of this. more heated than it is already? >> i think you are right about that. it will get more heated. the sad thing is no one is talking about their vision for the economy. they are just busy attacking each other. >> over the economy. exact. >> i over the economy. with no plan. paul steinhauser, many thanks.

live in washington this mornings morning. secretary of state hillary clinton is wrapping up a two-leak long trip to asia and middle east with a stop in israel. clinton is talking to leaders about syria, iran and other issues. while also bringing a message of solidarity. >> it is a time of uncertainty but also of opportunity. it is a chance to advance our shared goals of security, stability, peace, and democracy. along with prosperity for the millions of people in this region who have yet to see a better future. >> before heading to israel, clinton met with egypt's new president, mohammed morsi, and urged him to assert his authority. she also said that the united states was not in the business of taking sides. and that message was not welcomed by everyone. on sunday her motorcade was pelted with tomatoes and shoes

as she left the newly reopened u.s. consulate. they channeled monica, monica, monica in an attempt to insult her. let's bring in zain verjee. really? they chanted monica? >> yes, really. monica lewinsky instead of saying hillary, hillary, hillary, it was monica, monica, monica, monica. this was a moment where protesters gathered outside the u.s. consulate the secretary was opening in alexandria. egypt expressing their anger. basically they are mad because they think that the u.s. is taking sides and trying to influence the outcome of egyptian politics. yes, they threw tomatoes. shoes which is really a sign of disrespect in that region. so that's -- that's the significance throwing something like that at the motorcade. the thing is the motorcade is -- she was actually in, the car was around the corner. what happened was officials came outside after street ceremony and they only managed to pelt

one egyptian official in the face. but nonetheless, you know, a significant point to know and underscore the u.s. not popular in egypt today. >> you covered the state department and hillary clinton for many years. i just wondered what do you think -- the hillary clinton even care that this happened? >> well, grabbed the wrong headlines, that's for sure. not something the state department wants to get because there was really serious issues here, fragile economy issues of the transfer of power. you know. still a major power stggle going on between the muslim brotherhood and the military in egypt. that's still no constitution and no parliament and no government in the state department wants the secretary to be seen as discussing those topics and instead here we are talking about tomatoes, shoes and water bottles being thrown. no, it is not the kind of headline she wants. she was carrying a serious message from egypt to israel to talk about what was going on. >> zain verjee, live in london

for thus morning. this morning, families of two americans kidnapped in egypt are waiting for word on their fate. egyptian authorities are still trying to negotiate with the man holding the two americans and their egyptian guide. pastor michael lewis and lisa alphonse were abducted. their kidnappers are demanding the release of his uncle from an egyptian jail. his son spoke to cnn earlier this morning. >> story that i heard from my mom, everything happened so quickly, so -- he even -- i remember her clearly telling me on the friday that one of her concerns were that he didn't even have shoes on when they took him off the bus. he did -- he doesn't have any of the medication he takes. i don't know of anything about a seizure. >> pastor lewis is diabetic. this is the third kidnapping of

americans in egypt since february. security questions are mount thing morning with the start of the london games. olympic games now less than two weeks away. reports today of terror us is partly cloudies are getting into london unchecked. one senior british official blames inexperienced security official. he's personally aware of three suspects on britain's watch list being allowed into the country this month. joining me now from london, dan rivers. dan, how concerned should we be with our american athletes going over there? >> well, i think that this may have been a little bit blown out of proportion. these reports were coming from a british newspaper, "the observer." i spoke to the home office. they are insist tent thenis not case. no known terrorists have come into the country as badly trained staff filling in on the frontlines of heathrow airport checking passports. they did confirm that -- some

staff have been brought in to cope with the extra demand. retired police officers, staff and so on. they were very insistent all of the normal checks are being carried out. also, the independent inspector of the uk board of forces completely independent of the government has also agreed that all of the requisite checks are being done on passports and they are absolutely certain that no known terrorists have slipped through the they as a result of border staff not checking passports properly. but it does underline just the sensitive nature of hunger at the moment in the lead-up to the olympics less than two weeks away. combined with that we had all this controversy here about private security from g4s as well not being able to supply enough guards to guard the olympic stadiums. >> that's disturbing to many americans. they actually had to call in military personnel because they couldn't find enough private

security to protect the athletes. >> yes. this is the story of -- private security firm g4s which was supposed to initially provide 2,000 private security guards to -- check tickets and check your bag as you walk into the stadium. that figure was then up to 10,000 guards last december. the home secretary was about to -- answer urgent questions at the house of commons in -- in about an hour. basically said last wednesday, she was told this firm suddenly decided it couldn't provide those 10,000 guards. having until that point reassured them they could. the reason being they got some glitch in their computer software which means the vetting and accreditation of all of these extra stafhas been slowed down as has the training. they simply have finally admitted that -- you know, simply can't do this in the time frame allowed. that's why the government says they have stepped in and put 3,500 soldiers in their place as

well as police as well-being brought in to fill the gap where the -- that's being left by this private security firm basically dropping the ball. >> dan rivers reporting live from london. olympic uniform game gets more interesting this morning. china's fighting back. you know the story. u.s. olympic team uniforms made by ralph lauren, the ones that were made in china. the chinese government is now slamming american lawmakers for their outrage over the uniforms. in a statement from the official news agency, the chinese government says, quote, the olympic spirit, which has nothing to do with politics, chants mutual understanding and fair play, so tagging the uniforms with politics by those u.s. politicians exposes narrow nationalism and ignorance, and violates the olympic spirit. you may recall senate majority leader harry reid was particularly outspoken, his objection to the uniforms. here he is on thursday. >> i am so upset that i think

the olympic committee should be ashamed of themselves. i think they should be embarrassed. i you this they should take all of the uniforms and put them in a big pile and burn them and start all over again. >> china responded to that with this question. quote, will reid burn his blackberry, all of his home appliances and half of his wardrobe because those were made in china? we reached out to senator reid's office for a response. we are still waiting. in the meantime, since we are talking about uniforms and where they were made, we wondered what china's uniforms look like. well, there they are. "the new york times" is reporting the team is outfitted by fila, world's largest sportswear company. the president of hong kong, hong kong olympic committee, is actually unsure of where the uniforms were made. pit was originally an italian company, now has south korean owners. florida will scrub the voting roles now that it is getting access to a homeland security database on

non-citizens. what that could mean come election day.

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checking the top stories. was it 91999 or woot? democrats keep hammering gop presidential candidate mitt romney on exactly when he left bain capital. and the obama campaign is rejecting republican demands for an apology. democrats have suggested romney may have committed a felony if he didn't accurately reflect the time of his country. a senior adviser says romney retroactively retired from bain after starting his work with the 2002 salt lake city olympics. in the wake of the jerry sandusky child abuse scandal, many people have been asking if the joe paterno statue will be taken down. there are reports suggesting that it might be removed from outside of beaver stadium. no decision has been made. in money news, ford recalls more than 8,000 escape compact suvs over an issue potentially affects the brake pedal. it says misposition carpet pad

could reduce space around the pedal. recall affects 2013 models made between march and june of this year. after months of haggling there election officials will have access to the homeland security citizen database. what's that, you ask. is the list of resident non-citizens compile bid homeland security and florida's governor rick scott says it will ensure no illegals vote. john zarrella is in miami to break down what that means. good morning, john. >> good morning. we know a couple of months back the state of florida started cleansing the voter roles and initial lay huge furor because it looked leak there may be thousands of people the state was going after. people were actually being identified who were legitimate citizens and they were being told look, you have to respond within 30 days. or you are going to be pulled from the voter roles. it caused a huge flack. the state system wasn't very

accurate. it 'twas bottom line. the state said we have to have this federal database. as you pointed out, after weeks and weeks of haggling, the federal government, department of homeland security, has finally agreed to give florida access to this database. now, this morning, an hour ago, governor rick scott was on with soledad and talked about how this is all going to work. >> what we do is we provide information to our local supervised elections, 67 per county. we will give them names that people -- that -- appears would not be u.s. citizens. might be on the voter roles. go through the due process. what happens is you -- you send them a notice by mall. if they don't respond, put tonight the paper. and then if they don't respond, they are taken off the voter role. when the election happens, this happened to me, you go in and you are not on the voter roles. in my case i think it is 2006 they said i passed away. you get to vote provisionally.

>> some of the local supervisors elections before this was announced had said that they were not going to go ahead and do anything based on the information they were given in the past. the governor added he assumed that these supervisors of elections would now go along with whatever names are given to them and then go back and double-check, triple check. see if those people are really on the voter roles. if or if they are -- they are not u.s. citizens. and, of course, as you know, carol, many other states are looking very, very closely and were to see how all of this shakes out because they, too, have asked for and won access to that federal database. so this could have some very interesting romney indications leading up to the november elections. >> sure could. john zarrella reporting live from miami. when it comes to the olympics and our uniforms, are we playing fair when it comes to china? that's a tricky question.

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back on one of the big stories of the day. the question for you this morning -- how far should we go to limit products from china? you heard the uproar over those chinese-made uniforms for u.s. athletes. well, china is fighting back. the chinese news agency says that the u.s. politicians, like harrreid are being hypocritical and irresponsible by wanting to burn the uniforms because, it says, after all, american politicians surely wear and use chinese-made products. quote, the olympic spirit has nothing to do with politics so tagging the uniform with politics exposes narrow nationalism and ignorance and violates the original olympic spirit. end quote. truth is, when it comes to the olympics, though, politics is often the spiler. remember the massacre of israeli athletes in munich? the u.s. and soviets' boycotts. six democratic senators plan to introduce the team usa made in america act of 2012 to make sure that our uniforms are made here.

lot of americans are cheering that idea. and that's creating lots of fodder for the hot topic of the moment in 2012. both romney and obama are accusing the other of outsourcing jobs to china. mutt romney has vowed if elected to get tough. >> what do you do about china? how do you deal with this? on day one of my administration, i would designate china as a currency manipulator. >> back to the olympics. what about the olympic ideals of international inclusiveness in good will? good luck with that. right? how far should we go to limit products from china? facebook.com/carolcnn. i will read your comments later this hour. visa and mastercard settle an antitrust lawsuit for more than $7 billion. guess what. you may be picking up some of that tab. the medicare debate continues in washington...

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a $7 billion settlement between retailers and credit card companies means you could pay more every time you swipe that card. alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange. let me get this straight. the credit card companies are being punished and so are we. >> you got it. that's in a nutshell. isn't that lovely? i know. i'm with you on this. keep in mind, though, if this is approved it would be the biggest antitrust settlement ever. a judge still has to give his or her okay on this. what it does is settles the big dispute that's been going on with 7 million u.s. retailers and credit card companies. what happened was these retailers claimed that visa and mastercard fix these swipe fees and that's a processing fee they charge retailers on each trance action. what they say happened is they

didn't allow those retailers to pass that cost on to us. on to consumers. the retailers claimed that was illegal collusion. visa and mastercard are settling the charges out of court. yes, the retailers won but guess what the consumers, we are going to lose a bit of money each time we use our credit cards. we are seeing how this all rolls downhill. retailers are going to be passing these swipe fees on to us. it will be more expensive for us to use your credit card versus cash. >> i was just looking at those little boys helping ring the opening bell this morning. they are innocent yet. there they are. >> learning about money so early. >> they do. they do. no. that's -- not great muss for consume others the credit card company. what about how things are looking on wall street this morning? i see we are in negative territory. >> stocks are opening lower. this is after a huge run-up from friday where we saw triple dink it gain on the dow. citigroup, next biggest bank to

report that reported this morning. jpmorgan report order friday, citigroup beat wall street's expectations on profit. revenue fell a bit short. we also got a report on retail sales. we found out retail sales fell a half a percent in june. this is the third in in a row now. if you look deep in that report you see that gas prices are down but with all the -- little bit of extra cash people have in their pockets from those lower gas prices, consumers are either paying down debt or putting it into savings. they are not spending as much. while it is good they are saving and paying down debt, not helping the economy. wall street is not feeling good about that. reason, one of the reasons you are seeing stocks open in the red. >> and we heard that song and dance before. alison kosik live at the new york stock exchange. 31 minutes past the hour. i'm carol costello. stories we are following now in the newsroom, egyptian authorities are preparing for another round of negotiations try to free two kidnapped american tourists and their egyptian guide. they said the captives,

including boston pastor louie are unharmed and well fed. the kidnappers demanding the release of a jailed uncle. the president of florida a&m university stepping down today. he just resigned after the family of a band student who died in a hazing accident filed a lawsuit against the university. the campaign is hot, hot, hot. except when it comes to an actual vision as in hey, presidential candidates. how will you fix our economy? instead mr. obama is calling on mr. romney to release his tax returns and mr. romney is accusing mr. obama of paying off political donors. political cronyism, don't you know. that means that you may elect a president based on whose nasty campaign worked best. let's discuss. l.c. leans left and will cain, cnn contributor who leans right. welcome to both of you. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> good morning. i will ask you about the vision thing. and i will start with you, will. when do you think the vision

thing will emerge? >> you know what i think it already has. first of all, i do implement the fact that -- we had this debate over whether mitt romney left bain or let his influence wane before or after 1999, was it there in 2001 and 2002. because the entire implication for the debate is if some jobs were outsourced under bain and under mitt romney, then that's always bad. the truth is that that's a rational ponce to economic indicators. we are not debating why the situation in the united states. why the economic climate of the united states might be conducive to outsourcing. that's the debate. how do you manage an economy and what kind of effect does it have on jobs? i do think that the vision thing has emerged and i think between the two guys, underlying a lot of -- even some of the superficial attacks you can see a vision of maybe protectionism versus free economics and you see visions of how they would handle economies and hopefully one that's somewhat of a recession, sluggish situation. >> mitt romney is not talking

about his time much as governor of massachusetts. and house record there. and president obama is not talking much about the state of the economy now since, of course, we have 8.2% unemployment rate. so maybe these candidates can't talk about a vision thing because their vision thing hasn't worked in the past. >> you know, first of all, i think it is unfair to say they haven't talked about visions because -- while you may not hear a locht sound bites from television or radio, what you can do, go to the websites and take a look at what they want to do for the country. their vision is out there but it is up to us as the american voters to do more digging. with that being said, in september of 2011, p obama did unveil, you know, his americans job act and in october it was voted down. then going forward, we were told that we were going to have discussions about which pieces of the act of the bill we can actually implement to help the economy. and that hasn't happened. it has been a stalemate there. i think it is because of this

campaign has been going on. i know everybody wants to get down to helping the american people. american public. i think there have been plans out there. dunce p seem like they are getting traction because we are sidetracked trying to win the white house. neither party is interested in helping the american peop. >> well, i don't know if you can actually deny that because what today, romney's campaign is going to release new attack ads. attacking obama for cronyism, you know, political donors. obama will do anything for them. you know. if they pay money into his campaign. then mr. obama is going to be in cincinnati and he will continue talking about, you know, tax break for big businesses and probably bain will come up as well. >> yeah. okay. listen. i agree that often -- in political attack ads or sound bite politics and spin, we don't feel like we get the underlying message. we zintd the debate they are trying to mass -- because they are trying to mask it. that's not always the case. i think it is cronyism ad, cronyism line the romney camp will put out, i think there is a

legitimate question here. it doesn't have to be one always nefarious implications. if the government is going to be involved in directing various areas of the economy, in this case, energy, you have to ask what goes into places lake solyndra or light squared and why is that connected possibly to campaign donors? i don't think that it is an ill legitimate thing to be discussing. >> it may not be -- >> for mitt romney to be bringing it up, though. i mean, he -- does not want to have that conversation. i mean, if -- if you -- >> why? >> his own campaign in massachusetts. his own campaign in massachusetts, you know, once -- everything was said and done, he made off everyone else on the staff except his son. except for its his son. how do you keep your own kid on? the one person you keep on staff is your own son. if he wants to have this conversation about cronyism and nepotism it will unveil a lot of things he may not want the public to be talking about. >> last word, will? >> that's a stretch. but i think that -- everything

worth -- i think that -- the theme under everything we are talking about here is hidden beneath some of the spin. you can actually see visions of the economy, how they would handle it, and i think that, therefore, we get a bit -- maybe silver lining? i don't know. >> that's looking at the glass half full. thanks so much. this might be the ultimate ultra marathon. can you imagine 135 miles through death valley, california? nearly 100 runners doing that right now. [ female announcer ] the power to become a better investor has gone mobile. with features like scanning a barcode to get detailed stock quotes to voice recognition. e-trade leads the way in wherever, whenever investing. download the ultimate in mobile investing apps, free, at e-trade.

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[ female announcer ] the travelocity guarantee. from the price to the room to the trip you'll never roam alone. welcome back. the heat is back. hot weather returns for many parts of the country this week. but how is this for hot? temperatures soaring into the triple digits. death valley, california, check out the high temperature. that would be 110 degrees. just the right temperature to run a 135-mile marathon. can i not believe people actually do this. alexandra steele joins us now. i don't know how they survive. >> you know, it is unbelievable the extreme nature of this. how bad is this? bad weather. so aptally named. it is bad about two fronts. it is about elevation and excessive heat. let's talk a little bit about the elevation and let me give you a google map and show you what we are talking about and where this is. it all begins at bad weather

death valley, california. this morning. 282 feet below sea level and ends wednesday morning. have you 48 hours to complete it. that's it. mt. whitney, elevation over 8,000 feet. you are running 135 miles, covering three mountain ranges, for a total of 13,000 feet assent. that's just one aspect. that's the elevation. say you handle that. we have the heat to contend with. the average temperature there is 104. you can see today, tomorrow, wednesday, 110 to 112. but often it gets to -- >> but it is a dry heat. >> so yoond dry heat. 120s is common there. how and what does 120 degree heat feel like? well, paraffin wax melts, candle melts at 120. if you order a raw steak, that's 1 is 30 degrees only. and if you have bath water that's 120, it scalds you and can damage your human tissue. >> look at those people -- i

just can't understand how you would stay hydrated through all that. how long will it take them to run, good ones, 135 miles? >> who does it? nonsmoker probably. coect? okay. so 94 invited guests are running. and they have -- average age is unbelievable. it is 45. >> because older people are better at long distances. i know that now. >> when you are awesome. the average age is 45. 19 countries, 24 u.s. states. and you know, i was reading a blog of one of the guys who was no 45. he was older. he takes his bike, puts it into a sauna and bikes 100 miles in a sauna. a sauna is 150 to 180 degrees. you know, signs say ten minutes max and get out. >> station airy bike. >> stationary bike. yeah. can you imagine? just to kind of get fit for the whole thing. >> how else could you do it? i guess they have 48 hours to

finish and if you don't fin initial 48 hours you are done. >> that's right. you are done. and the record, a woman actually in 2010, an american woman, had the record 26 hours. the man, brazilian guy, 22 hours. couple of years before that. >> kudos to them. >> can you believe had a? >> i can't. thanks. >> you are welcome. maybe next year you will do it. we could do it together. >> i don't think so. let's talk about table tennis. the 16-year-old calls warren buffett uncle warren. now she is competing for uncle sam in the london games. we will profile this table tennis wiz kid. it's hard to see opportunity in today's challenging environment. unless you have the right perspective. bny mellon wealth management has the vision and experience to look beyond the obvious. we'll uncover opportunities, find hidden risk,

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when you hi in the summer olympics you probably think the big sports like swimming and diving and the 400 meter dash.

probably don't think of table tennis. well, that sport has been in the olympics since 19 8 and the united states has yet to win a medal. as rob marciano reports, aria is out to change that. >> school is out. and while other teenagers may play a little ping pong this summer, 16-year-old ariel has a much different summer vacation plan. she is going to the olympics. shing will represent the u.s. in women's table tennis in london. her firs attempt at olympic glory. >> when i made the olympic team i felt so lucky. going the olympics is about representing your country about the flag that -- you know, you are holding up. so when i go to the olympics, i am going to fight for every point and i'm going to try until the very, very end because i want to bring home a medal for my country. >> ariel started playing table tennis at 7. early on in her career she came to be a notable fan. warren buffett. >> i met uncle warren when i was 9 years old. it was his 57th birthday party.

as a gift one of his friends said to give him a table tennis lesson from a local coach. the local coach, it would be funny if there was just this little girl that came and also played and that little girl just happened to be me. he has been really nice. so supportive and he has given me a lot of advice p. >> ariel's journey to london hasn't been without sacrifice. a junior in high school every day she wakes up at 7:00 a.m. to practice before school. after morning classes, her dad picks her up for lunch and a quick nap in the car on her way to another round of practice. would sessions each two to three hours. finally returning home for dinner, of course homework before bed. >> i really do try to balance my academics and table tennis because in the u.s. it is really hard to become professional player and make a living out of it. i want to go to stanford university. it has always been my dream. >> reporter: even with all the added responsibility and pressure ariel still is 16-year-old at heart. she has some teenage-style

expectation. >> i'm excited to stay in the olympic village with so many other athletes. i want on to meet michael phelps and get a picture with him. that would be amazing. >> reporter: rob marciano, cnn reporting. >> that would be amazing. good luck. imagine two of music's greatest legends jam together and somebody pull it is plug. they turn the microphonesoff. talk about angry fans. energy is being produced to power our lives. while energy development comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing generations of cleaner-burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self-contained well systems. and, using state-of-the-art monitoring technologies, rigorous practices help ensure our operations are safe and clean for our communities and the environment. we're america's natural gas.

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♪ born in the usa ♪ born in the usa >> so, bruce springsteen gazing over the crowd of thousands at london's hyde park and he said, i gotta tell yowl, i have been trying to do this for 50 years. this being joined onstage bine paul mccarty.

imagine springness and mccartney jaming and then the unspeakable happens. because of a local curfew, the sound was cut on springsteen and mccartney before they could finish their jam section. could you think of a more angry crowd. in that crowd, someone fwho worked for cnn, richard greene. you were at the concert when the plug was pulled. please describe the reaction? >> well, carol, i mean, mage this. you're in hyde park. one of london's biggest parks, hosting london's biggest summer festival. tens of thousands of people, fent,000, 80,000 people, and springsteen has been playing for three hours. played all of his hits and you have a crowd singing along to the lyrics. they know all of the words to every song. he played born in the usa, born to run, dancing in the dark, and he's clearly going. we're thinking how is he going to top this, and he brings out paul mccartney. this guys have never played

before. we're never going to see anything like this in our lives and they launch into "i saw her standing there" and the crowd goes wild. and they start playing "twist and shout" and we're twiszing and shouting, and i'm thinking how is he going to top this because he was clearly not finishing. they're twisting and southing and suddenly, it goes silent. we're singing along and he's going -- and you know, he moves from one microphone to another. he things he has a problem with his mike. at some point, they realize someone had gone and switched off the sound system that's broadcasting bruce springsteen and paul mccartney in this unbelievable -- >> who was that person? >> well, there have been some finger pointing as you would expect. westminster city counsel is the local authority where the concert is taking place and it looks like a lot of fingers are pointed at him. the concert organizer said we

had a license to go until a certain time. when that time came up to keep our license, we had to switch the sound off. >> come on. >> the city counsel is saying, as you can imagine, the crowd was actually pretty cool about it. there was sort of a lot of confusion in the sense of like, i can't believe they're really doing this. then we drifted away. but springsteen's guitarist, stevie van zant was a legend, and he went on twitter and said cops may be the only individuals on earth who might not want to hear mun one more from springsteen and mccartney. we're sort of -- we would agree with him on that. we could have managed another 15 or 20 minutes without disturbing the neighbors. >> at least you got to experience some of it. thank you so much for talking to us. >> i did get the momento. >> oh, we tried to get him to wear the t-shirt, but he refused. you look very professional.

>> thank you, carol. >> thanks, richard. we asked you to talk back on one of the stories of the day, the question this morning, how far would we go to limit products from china. >> we have to accept we're a global economy. will harry reid ban iphones and apple because most of their devices are from china. >> get tough with china. i'm going to get tough with my bank and not pay the fees they impose on me. and this from corey, free markets allow us to trade openly with all nations. it's economic isolationism. keep the conversation going. facebook.com/carolcnn. while yout catching a movie. [ growls ] lucky for me, your friends showed up with this awesome bone. hey! you guys are great. and if you got your home insurance where you got your cut rate car insurance, it might not replace all this. [ electricity crackling ] [ gasping ]

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tour de france organizers are asking police to investigate possible sabotage.

30 riders gave flat tires. the stage leader followed the rule of etkwt, getting the others to slow down until the riders caught back up to the pack. washington nationals rookie bryce harper pointing his bat in the direction of the miami marlins dugout. boy, did that set off ozzie guillen. in the first inning, he had complained that pine tar was too high on his bat, so he switched bats for his plate appearance. did guillen feel the rookie was showing him up? what he did was unprofessional said the manager. >> belleville illinois will field their first football team this fall. check out the field. gray and maroon stripes. those are the cool colors. they become the fourth college football team to play football games on a nongreen field. that's your look at sports this morning. >> the next hour of cnn newsroom begins right now. >> good morning to you. happy monday. i'm carol costello. just ahead in the newsroom, it's

back. the heat that is, the th thermometer hitting 100 degrees again this week in a lot of places in the united states. and the rising temperatures could soon mean rising prices at the grocery store. >> china responds, the fight over the olympic uniforms getting more intense this morning. the state news agency calling harry reid out saying he's violating the olympic spirit after reid said that chinese made uniforms should be pirned. he asked if chinese will burn their chinacy made appliances, clothing, and blackberry. >> seven minutes of terror is what the mission to mars faces and it hangs on the unbelievable acrobatic maneuvers above the red planet. >> we begin with the weather. this year, the drought is one of the worst recorded in u.s. history. 2012 now being compared to the dust bowl in the great depression. the first six months of 2012 go down at the hottest ever on

record. that plus severe droughts have prompted the agriculture department to declare a disaster in 26 states. allison is looking at how this is impacting our wallets. let's start with meteorologist alexandra steel. is it going to be as bad as it was a couple weeks ago? >> we have a couple problems going on. we're in an incredible drought. so much of the country is, and drought begets drought and heat begets heat. we get into a siegal. here's a look at the current u.s. monitor. you see a patch in texas or isolated area. to see the breadth and depth of the entire country filled with some sort of exceptional, the darker reds are the more intense drought, but even the lighter yellows, dry and moderate. you can see how much of the country is in some sort of drought. and it's only further deepening. now, this drought thus far ranks in the top ten in the past 100 years to give you a little perspective. and 54.6% of the country is in a

drought. that's more than even in 1936. that was 54.4%. you can see what we've got is such an incredible drought that is only worsening because what we're seeing are the incredible conditions of continued dry conditions and intense heat. now, looking at the drought as you mentioned and versus the dust bowl of the '30s, it's not comparing apple to oranges in a few regards. the use of land and farming practices have come a long way since the '30s. modern agriculture does everything they can to mitigate these impacts, erosion control, drought resistant crops, doing what they can to minimize what we could see in the '30s. this isn't the prettiest map in the world, but what is the most important about this, this is looking at from the summer, of course, we have been so dry up until now, now, looking forward, what can we see looking at computer models.

will we doyne to be dry? this is the problem, through september, you can see how dry the country is. as bad as it is, it will only get exacerbated by the lack of moisture in the ground, coming from the sky, whatever the case may be. so drought conditions will only get worse because what we're looking at is a very dry season looking forward. >> thanks, alexandra. of course, this drought has already had an affect on our wallets at the grocery store. joining me now, allison kosk to tell us more about that angle of the story. >> this is about corn. let's talk about corn and not just corn on the cob. let's think about corn. it's lock stocks or oil, it also trades on the open market. over the past month, prices have gone up more than 40% because of the extreme drought conditions in the midwest. even wheat and soybean prices may be effected. one analyst said it would take six to 12 months before the

prices hit the grocery stores. they often try to hedge the costs and not pass them on to consumer. consumer spending is already pretty weak. people may not respond well to the price hikes. i talked to the ceo of general mills, a company that used a lot of corn in their product. he said he's trying to keep it from getting to consumers. >> we know that the market is gyrating a bit on corn rig now. it's that time of year where every week there's a different piece of news. but we haven't seen anything that would make us materially change our expectations for our broad market basket inflation next year. >> so, don't expect any dramatic change in prices. despite the rises we may have been seeing. >> be patient and hope for the best. thanks so much. >> the long gas price line that began in april may be nearing an end. even though gas prices fell about 7 cents a gallon over the last three weeks, prices may be

bottoming out. they cite prices in crude and the summer driving season. prices did not bung. they still cost in average $3.39 per gallon. turning now to the white house campaign, the battle over bain, taxes, outsourcing, and whether president obama should apologize gets hotter this morning. the president will be in cincinnati later today and he's expected to bash romney over tax breaks for big business. romney is already on the offensive, appearing on fox and friends this morning. >> the president on the other hand has one thing going, that is constant attacks on me. they're mishonest, misdirected, and the american people recognize that politics as something of the past. it may work in chicago, but it's not going to work across america. >> while mitt romney waits for an apology that's not coming, his campaign is gearing up for a new line of attack on the

president. jim acosta is covering that angle for us. good morning, jim. >> morning, carol. that's right. the romney campaign did sort of forecast where they're going this week, and the word is sulind raw. they put out a new web video this morning that talks about the energy company that went bankrupt after getting energy loans, the romney campaign likes to point out there are people who were connected that gave campaign contributions to president obama, so the romney campaign is going back to that. they also had a conference call with reporters earlier and talked about this, described the whole matter as chicago style politics. but carol, i have to tell you, very interesting to watch, strategically, what both campaigns have been doing the lax 48 to 72 hours. the obama campaign came out with a web video over the weekend that featured mitt romney singing "america the beautiful" and showing images of the cayman islands and bermuda. this morning in the new solindra

ad, the features president obama singing. so i think once both campaigns have gotten into making fun of each other's singing voices, we're officially in the sandbox, carol, this morning. >> you're not kidding. i just feel the obama kad, i haven't seen the romney ad, but it has to do with outsourcing jobs, too? >> well, i think what the obama ca campaign has been saying is they're going to go after mitt romney on outsourcing. that's something we expect the president to talk about at an eventilator on today in cincinnati. interesting to note, about nat event that the president is hosting in senate tay, rob po portman, who is high, everyone in washington thinks, on mitt romney's presidential selection list, is going to be giving a response to the president's event in cincinnati. he will also be talking about the president's record, of

course, and so it's interesting to see rob portman coming out and being used in this very high profile capacity in responding to the president. so the president is going to be going after mitt romney on outsourcing. they're not letting up on that line of attack, and mitt romney campaign are going back to this whole line of attack on solindra. if anybody is going to change the narrative this week, it could be mitt romney. there are some rumblings coming out that perhaps he might name his vice presidential candidate this week, the "new york times" is reporting that this morning. that to me is the only narrative game changer that could come out this week. >> maybe that's why rob portman is being featured so prominently. we'll see. >> let's talk more about president obama's speech in ohio today. he's supposedly going to launch a strike on mitt romney's tax reform plan saying it will cost hundreds of thousands of u.s. jobs. dan lothian is at the house to tell us that part of the sorie. >> good morning, the obama

campaign has been now for the last few weeks focused on tax fairness and the president again will be pushing that in cincinnati, ohio, trying to frame it as mitt romney policies will only hurt the u.s. economy. so according to the obama campaign, the president will be highlighting a new report that shows some 800,000 jobs could be created overseas because of romney support for eliminated taxes on american companies. this is something that the romney campaign is pushing back vehemently on even before the president utters his first remarks saying it's a dishonest ataturk but you'll continue to hear this push of tax fairness because they believe it's something that resonates with the voters. in addition to that in the state of ohio, you'll hear the president talk about what his administration has done to help the auto industry, the auto bailout and what that has done

to turn the economy around and this continued push to extend the u.s. -- rather the bush tax cuts which the benefit says will benefit middle class americans. >> secretary of state hillary clinton is wrapping up a nearly two week trip to asia with a stop to israel. she's talking to israeli leaders about iran, egypt, and other issues while also bringing a message of solidarity. she travels back to washington tomorrow. before heading to israel, mrs. clinton met with egypt's new president, mohommorsi, and urged him to assert his authority, but that was not welcome by everyone. on sunday, secretary clinton's motorcade was pelted with tomatoes and shoes as she left a newly reopened consulate. protesters also chanted monica, monica in an attempt to insult her. >> egyptian authorities are

trying to negotiate with the man who kidnapped two women along with their tour guide. we spoke to cnn earlier this morning. >> the story i heard from my mom, everything happened so quickly, so even she, i remember clearly telling me on friday that one of her concerns were that he didn't even have shoes on when they took them off the bus. so he doesn't have any of the natural medications he takes. i don't know of anything about seizure. >> the reverendouis has diabetes. the kidnapping of americans is the third in the sinai peninsula since february. >> just how tight is security for the olympic games? on the heels of personnel shortages, we're hearing some alarming things. we're going to take you to london. a party? [ music plays, record skips ]

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capital. and the obama campaign is rejecting republican demands for an apology. democrats have suggested romney may have committed a felony if filings did not accurately reflect his time at the company as in which he left. a senior adviser said he retroactively refitired after starting his work with the 2002 salt lake city olympics. >> penn state said no decision has been made on removing the joe paterno statue. some have called for the statue to be taken down. there were even reports suggesting it might be removed from outside beaver stadium. >> more than 8,000 escape compact suv's recalled after an issue that may affect the brake pedal. the position of the carpet padding could reduce space around the pedal. it affects 2013 models made between march and june of this year. >> security questions are mounting this morning with the start of the olympic games in

london now less than two weeks away. rors that terror suspects are getting into london unchecked. one senior british official blames inexperienced security personnel. the official adds he's personally aware of three suspects on britain's watch list being allowed into the country this month. joining me now is dan rivers. dan, how concerned should we be about our american athletes? >> well, i mean, the home office here is playing this down, saying while they admit that yes, there are some people on the uk border front line who don't normally man the passport desk, that they are doing all the checks that shea should be, that this has been independently verified by john vine, who is an independent inspector. he's satisfied with these guys doing everything they should be. there are mixed border force staff who have retired or retired policemen who have been drafted in.

they said that every passport desk at heathrow and other airports are manned to reduce cues and they deny that any terror suspects have been allowed to slip by by the staff here, plainly claiming that claim in the observer newspaper yesterday is just wrong. but they do admit that they have got staff checking passports who don't normally do that. there is a grain to this story of truth, they say, but they flatly defly that terror suspects are being allowed to walk into britain. >> other security issues in britain. a private security company that was going to provide security for the olympic games. they couldn't find enough people to do it, so britain was forced to call in the military. >> absolutely. it was not so much that they couldn't find enough people to do it, but there had been a major software malfunction in the programs they had been using

to recruit, train, and send information to these people, and they're basically saying they can't guarantee that the 10,000 guards who were going to be in place around the olympic venues were fweg to turn up and be there at the right place at the right time. because of that, the government has stepped in to provide 3,500 soldiers to fulfill some of the gaps left by this private security firm, g-4 a. their share prices have been hammered. they're due to answer questions in the house of parliament behind me in the next hour about what has gob wrong here. all very embarrassing less than two weeks before the opening ceremony. >> dan rivers live from london this morning. another shocking surprise this week in london. not as serious as this one. bruce springsteen and paul mccartney on stage together.

yeah, you hear them booing in the crowd, you won't believe how this ends. because of a local curfew, the sound was cut on springsteen and mccartney before they could finish their jam session. the microphones were turned off. that's when they left the stage. >> when it comes to the olympics and oun uniforms, are we playing fair when it comes to china? part of our talkback question for the day. you can call them anytime you feel like saving money. it don't matter, day or night. use your computer, your smartphone, your tablet, whatever. the point is, you have options. oh, how convenient. hey. crab cakes, what are you looking at? geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

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now is your chance to talk back on one tof the big stories of the day. how far should we go to limit products from china? you've heard the uproar over the chinese made uniforms for u.s. athletes. well, china is fighting back. the chinese news agency says u.s. politicians are being hypocritical and irresponsible by wanting to burn the uniforms because it says after all, american politicians surely wear and use chinese made products and quote, the olympic spirit has nothing to do with politics. so tagging the uniforms with politics exposes narrow

nationalism and ignorance and violates the original olympic spirit. end quote. when it comes to olympics, politics has often been a spoiler. remember the massacre of israeli athletes or the u.s. and soviet boycott. six democratic senators plan to introduce the team usa made in america act of 2012 to make sure our uniforms are made here. a lot of americans are cheering that idea and that's creating a lot of fodder for the hot topic of the moment in 2012, romney and obama are accusing the other of outsourcing jobs there. mitt romney has vowed if elected to get tough with china. >> what do you do about china? how do you deal? on day one of my administration, i would designate china as a currency manipulator. >> back to the olympics, what about those olympic uniforms. what about them? facebook.com/carolcnn.

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just about 30 minutes past the hour. good morning to you. i'm carol costello. stories we're following, egyptian intelligence officers are meeting with the man who kidnapped two americans and their translator in egypt. he said the hostages including boston pastor michelle louis are fed and unharmed. but the hostages seem to be in a state of shock and fatigue. the kidnapping demanding the reese of a jailed uncle. >> mitt romney is steadfast in his pledge to release only two years of his personal income tax returns after people amped up pressure, he made a point to say previous republican presidential contender john mccain released only two years of his returns.

he also said democrat john kerry's wife who has hundreds of millions of dollars never released her tax return during his campaign. >> london's heathrow airport bracing for its first big olympic influx. that's about 25% more than a normal day. the airport said the arrivals of 335 athletes, the london games begin a week from friday. >> a syrian government insider for 34 years finally says he has had enough. former syrian ambassador has worked as one of bashar al assad's treasured lieutenants, but he defektded to qatar because of the unrelenting bloodshed and he blames assad for the ongoing violence. we're following all of this from istanbul. let's begin with the intense fighting in damascus. the red cross said the violence in syria amountso a civil war.

>> that's right. the icrc's lawyers basically calling it a, quote, noninternational armed conflict which is legaleese for civil war. many syrian residents with the dth toll at more than 15,000 would argue they entered civil war stages months ago and there are strong signs that the syrian government can no longer hold on to the capital demast ks the way it could months ago. i'm going to direct you on a mpb to a neighborhood in the center of the city. that's where there's been fierce fighting for several days now. we had live streams over the internet from rebel cameras inside of rebels engaged in what seems like fierce gun battles in that neighborhood today. residents telling us there was gunfire yesterday before the electricity went out in central damasc

damascus, and also videos erging of activists setting up road blocks on the main highway in and out of damascus, blocking traffic, showing just how difficult it is right now for the syrian central government to even control its capital city now. it does look like the circle is tightening around the regime of syrian president bashar al assad. >> let's talk about the man who defected to qatar. he talked about a link between bashar al assad and al qaeda. can you explain for us more? >> that's right. few people might know about this better than this man. he was syria's first ambassador to baghdad in more than 20 years. he took the position in 2008. now, he says he saw how the syrian government was basically funneling al qaeda fighters, jihadi militants through syria, across the border to iraq,

during the u.s. occupation of iraq, and we know how terribly that turned out with thousands and thousands of people killed and he is accusing the syrian central government of basically having an alliance with al qaeda. and that totally turns around the syrian government's claim that the syrian rebels are al qaeda militants. i asked him in this exclusive interview with the u.s. news network what he thinks about the mentality right now of the syrian president and his inner circle. take a listen. >> i serve the syrian regime for 34 years. i was among those at the top of the syrian regime. but what happened in the last year during the holy resolution, all of the killing, am massacres, the refugees and the declaration of war by bashar al assad stopped any hope for reform or real change which had been promisedprie previously by

bashar al assad. >> that's right, that's not exactly the excerpt of the interview we wanted to play for you. another startling accusation that he made was he claimed that the brother-in-law of syrian president bashar al assad actually ran an al qaeda in iraq safe haven in a syrian village right next to the iraqi border that was hit by u.s. special forces and helicopter gun ships in october of 2008. in fact, he said he claimed he talked to the man who was in that camp an hour after u.s. forces hit the camp and killed at least eight people. it was a major diplomatic incident in 2008. and certainly that kind of information will make this man the highest ranking syrian defector to publicly break with the regime thus far, that will make him a very desirable asset

for western intelligence agencies to talk to. carol. >> ivan watson reporting live for us this morning. in france, madonna is being threatened with a lawsuit. it involves, oh, politics and a swastika. and crowd cheering sfx: sounds of marching band and crowd cheering so, i'm walking down the street, sfx: sounds of marching band and crowd cheering just you know walking, sfx: sounds of marching bandnd and crowd cheering and i found myself in the middle of this paradeeet, sfx: sounds of marching band and crowd cheering honoring america's troops. sfx: sounds of marching bandnd and crowd cheering which is actually in tquite fitting becauseadeeet, sfx: sounds of marching band and crowd cheering geico has been serving e military for over 75 years. aawh no, look, i know this is about the troops and not about me. right, but i don't look like that. who can i write a letter to about this? geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. then don't get nickle and dimed by high cost investments and annoying account fees. at e-trade, our free easy-to-use online tools and experienced retirement specialists can help you build a personalized plan. and with our no annual fee iras

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they're slamming members of congress for their outrage over the uniforms. in fact, in a statement from its official news agency, the chinese government says, quote, the olympic spirit which has nothing to do with politics, chants mutual understanding and fair play, so tagging the uniforms with politics by those u.s. politicians exposes narrow nationalism and ignorance and violated the olympic spirit. now, you may recall just last week, senate majority leader harry reid was particularly outspoken in his objection to the uniforms. here he is on thursday. >> i am so upset that i think the olympic committee should be ashamed of themselves. think they should be embarrassed. they should take the uniforms, put them in a pile and burn them. >> china responded to that with this. will reid burn his blackberry, all his home appliances and half his wardrobe was tloez were made

in china? interesting point. we reach out to senator reid's office this morning and we're still waiting for a response. meantime, since we were talking about uniforms and where they are made, we wondered what china's uniforms look like. it's made by lee ming, but hong kong's athletes, according to the "new york times," are being o outfitted by feela. feel fila the world's largest sports community. originally an italian company, now has south korean owners. as for the u.s. olympic uniforms, it's unlikely at this point they'll be burned and remade as harry reid wants since the opening ceremonies are july 29th, but ralph lauren did issue a statement saying the u.s. olympic uniforms for 2014 in

russia will be made right here in the u.s. of a. and one more thing, in case you missed it, and i'm sure you heard, just because this is all getting so political, six democratic senators said they do plan to introduce legislation insuring that the sayceremonial uniforms of the united states are made here in the australia just to make it all official. >> i'm just intrigued that china's uniforms might not have been made in china. the other thing, i have to tell you, is because people knew i was covering this story, a lot of people, i know you had mentioned the buerets and there being controversy over whether people like the berets. people said i don't know if they like the berets as they did about them being made in china. >> it looks like they're flight attendants. >> perhaps. that's one way of looking at it.

that's one way of looking at it. >> and the controversy rolls on. >> i happen to like them. >> i know you do. i kind of don't, though, i must admit. thanks so much. >> you bet. >> seems like everyone has an opinion on the economy, including that man. what george w. bush is doing to showcase his ideas about improving our economy. our current dividend tax rate will expire this year, sending taxes through the roof and hindering economic recovery.

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you know madonna loves controversy, but a politician with a swastika painted on her forehead. that's what madonna showed at her concert. the french, at least some of them, are not happy. madonna may be slapped with a lawsuit. we're live in los angeles with more. good morning. >> hi, carol. she's in trouble again. a little bit of hot water. madonna is in trouble with a french political party after a controversial image appeared at her concert. they're threatening tosue the material girl after a video she showed at her concert on saturday, which included the party's leader with a swastika superimposed on her forehead. yes. the image is part of a video

montage showing several current and opposed world leaders projectedont a giant screen, and after the image appears, it fades into a picture of adolf hitler. the spokes person said the images are an insult and draw a terrible link between the party and an ideology they reject, and i may not be an expert on french politics, but being compared to a french nazi doesn't help you at the polls. she responded to the threat by telling cnn the show has been the same since it started in tel aviv in may. her reps didn't comment further. she always has people talking in this case, fuming. fighting back here. >> let's move on to sylvester stallone tfs son. any word on what might have caused sage's death? >> well, you know the cause of death for 36-year-old sage stallone is still a mystery despite the autopsy being complete. it was performed on sunday.

l.a. county coroners are waiting for the toxicology to come back. stallone tfs famous dad is said to be heart broken over this. they released a statement saying he's devastated and grief stricken over the sudden loss of his son, sage stallone, his compassion and thoughts are with his mother, sasha. he was a talent and wonderful young man. his loss will be felt forever. sage stallone's attorney told knbc he was engaged to be married and was working on various film projects at the time of his death. >> many thanks. you want information on everything breaking in the entertainment world, check out "showbiz tonight" tonight. sounds like the stuff movies are made of. a mission to mars that hinged on one crazy landing seven minutes of terror, and you will not believe what has to happen for this rover to safely land. [ cellphone rings ]

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seven minutes of terror. that's what nasa's newest mars rover, the size of a small car, faces in the coming weeks. it's a mission to mars that faces a series of unbelievable maneuvers above the red planet. sounds a little like -- actually, sounds a lot like science fiction. john joins us live from florida. nasa is talking about these seven minutes of terror today. explain that for us. >> you know, carol, in fact, it is seven minutes of terror if you're a nasa engineer. what it is is curiosity is just a few weeks from entering the atmosphere of the red planet. in what could be an historic nasa mars mission. what is going to happen is this lander is going to come through the atmosphere at about 13,000 miles an hour. and perform maneuvers that they have never attempted before in order to get curiosity to a very

precise landing spot. the parachutes are going to deploy, to slow the vehicle down, but it's only going to slow it down to about 200 miles per hour. they have to slow it down further, so what do they do then the they jettison the parachute and fire these rockets on the "curiosity" lander. the entire vehicle then moves off to the side, reorients itself to the planet's surface and then these giant tetherings drops almost like a crane, as you can see in the animation there, and then the entire vehicle will safely land at a spot called the gale crater on mars. if it all works. so that is seven minutes of terror because they have never done it before. >> all that happens in seven minutes? >> seven minutes. >> so essentially, this is like a mobile laboratory. if it survives the landing and everything goes to plan, what will be learn? >> well, nasa is hoping that

this vehicle, this rover, which has the ability never before have we had this ability, to acchaej drill into rocks on the surface, to dig up these rocks and these little samples that it collects, put them in mobile laboratories on the spacecraft itself and analyze it in hopes of detecting not life itself, but some of the building blocks of life, carbon, water, things that in the past on mars may well have supported life then, perhaps still do. >> okay, i'm going to keep my fingers crossed. john zarrella. thank you so much. >> sure. >> the heat is back on. you know back here on earth, hot weather returns for many of us all over the country. temperatures soaring into the triple digits in death valley, california. check it out. high temperature, 110 degrees. just the right conditions to run a 135-mile marathon.

there's a marathon in death valley. alexandra joins us to tell us about the crazy people. >> you're like back on earth. they're other worldly. 135 miles in 120 degree heat. so it started this morning, this badwater ultra marathon. there are two things that make it so bad or extreme. the elevation and the extreme temperatures. let me show you the google map and show you the elevation. it began this water in badwater in death valley, which is 282 feet below sea level. it will end in 48 hours, at mt. whitney, the elevation, 8,360 feet. they're running 135 miles. it covers three mountain raranges, a total of 13,000 feet assent. that's a little problematic area number one. number two, the temperature. the average temperature there is 104. not out of the question to get to 120. for the next three days, you can

see between 110 and 112, and you know, it would easily hit 120. what does 120 feel like? give you a little perspective. paraffin wax, a candle, melts at 120. a rare steak is only 130, and bath water at 120 will scald you and do damage to human tissue. >> wow, who would do this and how do you train for it? >> well, the latter i'm not sure. not in heels, not if you're spo smoki smoking, i suppose. there are 95, you have to be invited. oddly enough, or you would say, i totally get it, the average age of these 95 participants is 45 years old. so when you get older, you want to make it happen. >> your body is better able to run long distances. i guess that's why. >> i have to see if that works out like that. 19 countries in 24 states, but this is a funny story. the blog of one of the guys who was not 45, he was much older, he is on a stationary bicycle in

a sauna which is 150 to 180 degrees for 100 miles, just kind of preparing. just one day. >> eating protein bars would that help? >> i think gallons and gallons of water. >> one thing, naked, not good to be naked or barely nothing because you need the clothes to protect your skin. >> even if you're not in death valley, you can easily get a sun burn. so many people slather layer upon layer of sunscreen, but what if you're still getting burned through all of that? the solution may not be what you put on your skin but what you put in your belly. >> you know, we can protect your s skin from the sun by eating the right food. some foods are photo detective. one that is great for summer is watermelon. it contains antioxidants that can help us prevent sun burn.

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talkback on one of the stories of the day. the talkback question, how far should we go to limit products from china. as far as i'm concerned, no chinese made products period. how many products have we gotten that are inferior or make us sick? think about it, a lot. >> this from douglas, our wealthy investors are telling entrepreneurs to move production over seas to lower cost and increase revenue. shame on us. >> and this from bill, what we need is a level trading field, carol. no president has ever delivered on this, and until we have equal trade, our economy will be in the tank. thanks for your responses. facebook.com/carolcnn if you would like to continue the conversation, and thank you for joining me this morning.