tv CNN Newsroom CNN July 9, 2009 9:00am-10:59am EDT
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is as long has your program. >> as long as our program and longer than some baseball games, right? >> especially american league baseball games. >> let us know if you take up the hobby. >> i will let you know. you're welcome to keep the gloves on the rest of the day. you know how the city is in the summer. >> richard, thanks so much. we'll give the gloves back. they're for the school. >> i want to keep mine. >> for the kids, joe. thanks so much for being with us this morning. we'll be right back here tomorrow. cnn.com/amfix. >> and here in "cnn newsroom" with heidi collins. horror at an illinois cemetery, dozens of bodies dug up and dumped in mass graves. all of this just to resell burial plots. and happening right now, state health officials in washington for a swine flu summit. how prepared are they to protect you this fall? and where is all of that stimulus money going?
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we find states aren't building much, they're plugging the budget holes instead. it is thursday, july 9th, i'm heidi collins, you are in the "cnn newsroom." breaking news to tell you about this morning, bombings in both iraq and afghanistan. in fact, when you look at this, a massive blast in afghanistan left a huge, huge crater, 25 civilians and police were killed when a truck packed with explosives detonated right near the afghan capital. the latest on that. and also, 43 people killed in separate cities in iraq. back to back bombings, the target there, a counterterrorism official. these attacks happening just a few days after u.s. forces pulled out of iraqi cities. we're going to have more on that violence coming up right here in the "cnn newsroom." meanwhile, cia secrets kept from congress. some house democrats say cia director leon panetta admitted the agency lied to lawmakers for the past eight years. a reference to that classified
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admission posted on the congresswoman's website. cnn congressional correspondent brianna keilar live with more on this. you got a copy of that letter from house democrats. how does it read? >> reporter: yeah, this is the letter right here, heidi. now, what we've learned here is that two weeks ago, cia director panetta came before congress, he test -- came before members of the house intelligence committee, and he testified before them. what did he say? it is revealed in this letter and it says in part, this is a letter sent to panetta. it says in part, recently you testified that you have determined the top cia officials have concealed significant actions from congress from 2001 to this week. meaning late in june. i spoke with congresswoman whose website this was posted on. here's what she said. >> the executive branch had the responsibility to keep the
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congress fully informed and in a timely fashion. so this is, this is very, very serious. to have withheld information. we cannot have secret operations going on without being informed. >> reporter: so democrats here raising the question, who is holding the cia accountable if congress doesn't have the proper information? this is very significant, heidi, but it's even more significant because of a partisan battle going on right now on capitol hill over what the cia has told and has not told congress in recent years. >> yeah. i mean, there is quite a battle, in fact. it all started a while back with something house speaker nancy pelosi said back in may, i think it was. >> reporter: yeah, may 15th, house speaker nancy pelosi essentially accused the cia of lying to her in classified intelligence briefings she received in 2002, a briefing about harsh interrogation
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tactics used on terrorist suspects. tactics like waterboarding. well in a strongly-worded statement after that, cia director panetta came out and said it is not the cia's practice or policy to mislead congress. and so because of that, we should say keeping in mind here, heidi, though, because a lot of this is classified, you can't draw the connection that what speaker pelosi is talking about, what her allegations were about being misled, but that information in particular was part of what the cia director is talking about. but at the same time, it leaves an open question, and because of that, heidi, you've got republicans saying these are just democrats who are going to bat for speaker pelosi. >> i'm wondering how a lot of this classified information regarding testimony and so forth got on the congresswoman's website to begin with. but i guess that's a separate issue. >> reporter: well, that's a separate issue. but they keep the language vague and don't get into the classified details. >> all right. brianna keilar, sure do appreciate that. and also this morning, big players welcoming some smaller
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players. now the world's leading industrialized nation's opening the doors to five developing countries. president obama is leading the major economies forum at the g-8 summit. the major focus global warming. it is part of his week long overseas trip. cnn white house correspondent ed henry is joining us now from italy with more. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, heidi. as you said the president is going to be chairing this very important meeting this morning, an expanded meeting because it goes beyond the g8 countries, like brazil and india who have a key role. but critics are charging the president's ideas and his push so far here at the summit has come up short. president obama may be in italy for his first g8 summit, but he's trying to stay focussed on a pressing concern back home, the still ailing u.s. economy. mr. obama quickly joined the other leading industrialized nations in reaffirming their commitment to restoring growth
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in global markets. and he's vowing to help tighten financial regulations. >> we discussed the importance of europe and the united states raising standards on financial institutions to ensure that a crisis like the one that's taken place will never happen again. >> reporter: the president is also trying to move aggressively to deal with another potential crisis, climate change. he helped lead the group to support a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions among developed countries. an 80% cut by 2050. >> this is a significant step forward in that the g8, this is the first time the g8 has published this sort of data on where countries are with regard to their prior commitments. >> reporter: but the declaration has no enforcement mechanisms, the white house officials hope it provides momentum for real change. the president also wants to use the g8 to gain momentum for his effort to stop iran and north korea from obtaining nuclear weapons. >> it's very important for the
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world community. to speak to countries like iran and north korea and encourage them to take a path that does not result in a nuclear arms race in places like the middle east. >> reporter: italian prime minister moved the summit to the city to highlight devastation from an april earthquake. people still living without homes here are playing off mr. obama's campaign slogan. yes, we can. by telling the world, yes, we camp. >> reporter: now president obama met this morning with the president of brazil, one of the key developing countries not signing on to these greenhouse gas cuts and that's why some of these environmentalists around the world are saying, look, this is a real missed opportunity by the g8 leaders because it doesn't have enough teeth in it in terms of dealing with climate change. white house leaders are saying at least getting the leaders on board gives some momentum for that big, big environmental
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conference in cope haguen this december. >> thank you, ed. breaking news we need to get to this morning. out of iran, reports of clashes on the streets on a day dedicated to protest. reza sayah from the iran desk. what's going on? >> tensions escalating in the streets of tehran. of course, we hadn't seen wide scale protests for about a week and a half. and that's changing and changing quickly this morning. this all started happening about an hour ago. there was a lot of buzz on the internet that there was going to be mass protests in the streets of tehran today to commemorate a ten-year anniversary for the student protest back in 1999. we were monitoring things here at the iran desk. things were quiet about an hour and a half ago and then people started moving in to revolution square in tehran. there was lots of security forces, and within the past hour, we can confirm reports of clashes between some of those security forces and protests there who are trying to gather.
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just getting off the phone with someone who is reporting one person, at least, injured after a clash with a security force. they're reporting an injury to the facial area, according to this source they were trying to convince the security forces were trying to convince this man to get into an ambulance, but he refused. other reports are coming in telling us that people are trying to gather, but security forces there, many of them on motorcycles dispersing the crowds in revolution square and in front of tehran university, of course, the scene of that student protest ten years ago that resulted in a deadly crackdown. we hadn't seen protests from the opposition movement over the past week and a half. lots of buzz they would come out today and it looks like at least some, we're estimating about 100 in the square, some in front of tehran university. >> keep us posted, reza, i hear the phones going crazy. so let us know if we need to get back to you.
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reza sayah this morning. on to this now, a crime even police are having a hard time stomaching. the bodies of at least 100 people dug up from their graves and dumped. workers at one cemetery accused of reselling plots and pocketing the profits. well, parts of the nation getting a little bit of a cool down, but other places getting a warm-up, including austin, texas, with a high of 106. we'll give you an idea of what to expect for the rest of the day and the rest of your workweek.
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the h1n1 flu otherwise known as the swine flu. right now top government health officials are at an important summit in washington talking about the spread of the flu and what can be done to limit the danger. you see kathleen sebelius there. cnn medical correspondent elizabeth cohen is here to talk more about this. what's the deal? it's back?
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>> well, it never went away. >> okay. >> you think about it that way it never went away. the fear is that when the regular flu season picks up in the fall, that swine flu will take off and be and spread even more than it has already. so right now, leaders from across the country are on this big meeting, representative from every state to talk about, all right, guys, what's the plan? what are we going to do? will there be a vaccine available? who should get it? how will we deliver? what should we expect? they're looking at the southern hemisphere, because they're in their flu season now to see if there are any hints about what's going to happen here. they need to sort of -- they're hoping to sort of figure it all out before the flu season hits in the fall. >> okay. so back to keeping it all in perspective as you have done such a great job with for us. how deadly is this virus? >> you know what? it's not nearly as deadly as people feared at the beginning. and so i think when you take a look at these numbers, i think it'll explain it nicely. there have been an estimated 1 million cases of swine flu, h1n1
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'09 in this country and 170 deaths. now obviously it's not good that 170 people have died, but that is not a gigantic death rate. people are not, you know, it's a disease that spreads very fast, however, for most people it is a relatively mild illness. and i think that's an important thing to remember. >> i think it's very important. exactly. but people also wondering about a vaccine on this. we've been talking about some progress there and now what? >> yes, there has been progress and they're doing studies right now and they're evaluating different vaccines. there's been a lot of talk having one ready for the fall. but we haven't heard anybody say yep, it's a done deal, but that certainly has been what they've been preparing for, what they've been hoping for, and then the question becomes who gets it? and do you actually, do you want to get a vaccine for a disease that isn't all that deadly? it's a little bit tricky. but here's what we heard this morning on american morning. >> we're moving toward the likelihood of a specific vaccine
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for h1n1 where testing the virus strains now, preparing the production lines, beginning clinical trials, what we need to make sure as we have an effective vaccine, one that combats this particular virus, but also that we have a safe vaccine. we know the right dose, we know the targeted population. >> and as you can imagine, heidi, they're moving with, you know, they want to be sure. remember 1976 when they vaccinated against swine flu, it did not end well. they want to make sure that the vaccine doesn't cause more harm than it helps. >> well, we'll stay on top of it. definitely. appreciate it. elizabeth cohen this morning. thanks. i want to head over to the severe weather center now where reynolds wolf is stand big to talk about yet again about the heat across the country. >> yeah, we had a little bit of everything. heat, cooldowns in parts of the country, and even rough weather. and here's proof positive, this video from ottawa, kansas, take a look at this.
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and you see the damage possibly caused by either tornadoes, straight-line winds, plenty of it in the jay hawk state. and parts of the state could see some rough weather again today. you see right now this person just a -- well, a short while ago had a nice house, right now the roofs are gone. you saw the video on the highways, the trucks just being knocked over by the straight-line winds or possible tornadoes. could see some of that rough stuff as i mentioned later on today. here in atlanta, take a look at this shot we have for you in the magic wall. skies outside looking pretty gloomy for the time being. a lot of cloud cover out there and there's a reason for it. a bit of a stationary front that is lingering over parts of the southeast. and you look at it here, the area of low pressure is going to give us cloud cover, a chance for scattered showers and storms. that in mind, we could have delays later on today, atlanta, tampa, orlando, back into boston, san francisco, could give you about 15 to 30 minute delay, and minneapolis could see
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thunderstorms popping up into the afternoon, also into the western half of the great lakes. that is a look at your forecast. heidi, back to you. >> we'll check in later on. thank you. a massive explosion in afghanistan, an overturned truck used as a trap. we're hearing children may have been caught in the deadly blast. we speak rpms so you can zip by other cars. but we also speak mpgs so you can fly by gas stations. in fact, we speak mpgs so fluently, we can say one more thing. the new ford fusion is the most-fuel-efficient midsize sedan in america. and that's something no one else can say. we speak the 2010 ford fusion. get in... and drive one.
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dumped at the back of a cemetery in a chicago suburb. they say the bodies were dug up out of graves so those graves could be resold to unsuspecting families. fbi forensic investigators are expected to begin working there today. at least four people are now in custody. the sheriff says as many as 100 bodies were dumped and their headstones scattered. we talked earlier on cnn's american morning. >> it's so upsetting, unsettling that somebody would be doing these types of things. but we walked around here for the last week and each step you take, you're finding more remains, more bones at different locations. and we don't even have our arms completely around the magnitude of this yet. >> we will have much more on this story coming up next hour, including more from the sheriff's department chaplain, he's going to be telling us about what's being done to assist the families in all of
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this. really an incredible story, an awful one, in fact. and we'd love to hear more about what you think about it. our blog, we'd love to hear more about what you think should happen here. and just how it makes you feel because we've been hearing an awful lot about it and not sure what is going to happen to the families of these folks. so once again, cnn.com/heidi. you can go there and post your comments. we'll share some of them with you later on in the show. :::#
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security right now after a number of sites were knocked offline by a sophisticated cyber attack. the so-called denial of service attack hit public websites. investigators are looking into whether they're connected to similar attacks against government computers in south korea. an official there says a new attack was launched this morning. the white house, department of transportation, and treasury were among the targets. the new york stock exchange and nasdaq were also affected. a massive blast rocks central afghanistan at least 25 people are dead. the associated press reports more than a dozen of those victims are school children. the blast near the capital kabul is among the latest attack. barbara starr with the latest. >> reporter: good morning to you, heidi, there is some video coming from this area in afghanistan showing the aftermath of this huge blast by all accounts it took place in some sort of truck carrying lumber that exploded.
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nobody really sure what kind of bomb this actually was. 25 people killed, including 21 afghan civilians, we're told four policemen, a number of them nearby school children. this took place in an area called logar province, south of kabul the capital. this is an area where there's a good deal of insurgent activity for more than a year. and because it's near a main highway, this is a place, an area u.s. forces have been keeping their eye on because the concern had been that the taliban, the insurgents would use this highway, this route as a route into kabul to launch attacks in the city there. so a lot of concern about this area just the latest. it has been a very deadly week in afghanistan. >> it sure has. we know you're watching it closely for us too. more coffins arriving at dover air force base yesterday. tell us a little bit more about the fallen troops if you can.
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>> reporter: some extraordinary pictures yesterday at dover air force base by delaware. the remains of several u.s. troops killed in afghanistan earlier this week returned to the united states, returned to their families in these very dignified ceremonies. there you saw the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff admiral mike mullen who made a trip from washington up to dover to be there to greet the families and pay his respects. these are pictures that we don't often get to see, but now coverage is allowed for the media. so these pictures can be brought to all americans. heidi? >> cnn pentagon correspondent, barbara starr for us this morning, thanks, barbara. tracking the money now. states getting federal dollars for economic recovery. find out how they're spending it. who can give you the financial advice you need? where will you find the stability and resources to keep you ahead of this rapidly evolving world? these are tough questions.
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to wall street now, stocks are set for a higher start after the dow up a little bit, 14 points yesterday. the focus this morning shifts to a pair of new readings from tremendous ta retail sectors. a look ahead to today's action. >> good morning, heidi. we're looking at a modestly higher open helped by better than expected news on the jobs front along with the first major report of the second quarter earnings season. alcoa clocked in with a loss of more than $450 million after the close of trading yesterday, still the aluminum giant was able to top wall street's estimates. it shares in the pre-market were jumping 7%. meanwhile, first time jobless claims fell sharply, finally sitting below the 600,000 mark. that's encouraging. we haven't seen that since january. however, continuing claims
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climbed to a new record of nearly 6.9 million. and as the opening bell rings, the nation's retailers are reporting weak sales for june hurt by that rainy weather and general consumer gloom. even discounters reported declines, costco sales slid by 6% last month, jc penney, target, macy's also reported sales fell from a year ago. don't want to buy bathing suits when it feels like april. >> i never want to buy a bathing suit. are you kidding? >> i recycle mine year after year. >> that's impressive. anyway -- >> we digress. what we're seeing in the first minute of trading, the dow the nasdaq, s&p higher. did you see who was ringing the opening bell, on the occasion of its 100th anniversary, the naacp the largest and oldest civil rights organization. happy anniversary to you. >> very good. susan lisovicz, we will check
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back later on thank you. >> you're welcome. so where's the money? where are the jobs? a new report finds financially strapped states are using their part of the economic recovery money to plug gaps and stay afloat instead of doing long-term projects. our christine romans in new york with more on this. what is in this report? that's not really what they were supposed to be doing with the money, right? >> no, you're right but it's because they have to. of the $29 billion that they've received so far from their share of the stimulus that they're using it literally to fill holes in their books and not necessarily to start new projects. a lot of this money is education and health care spending, heidi, most of it to reimburse them for medicaid. 63% going into the state is for that, there's a state fiscal stabilization fund, 6% for highways and 18% for other programs. when you take a look at this. the money meant to build schools, expand childhood education, but in many cases used to prevent layoffs. in some cases one school district, for example, being
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able to keep 2,000 teachers. that's not building a new program, that's maintaining the programs you have. in terms of the highway part of this, some of these states are quickly trying to use the money to fill patches and roads and do repairs and alike because they don't have to do big assessments, they can hire people right away. instead of building new roads or doing new projects, they're doing maintenance projects, that will create jobs in the near term. some of the stimulus money has been untouched because they're waiting for more federal guidelines for bureaucratic reasons quite frankly and there are strings attached to some of this money and in many cases these states, heidi, need the money right now just to fill the holes from the deteriorating state budget. >> yeah, it's really incredible. the administration said the stimulus would help save jobs too but we're having a hard time learning how many have been saved or created for that matter. >> and let me say that the government has said, the administration has said that they have been able to save 150,000 jobs and that they're hoping they're on track to save
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maybe 750,000 jobs by the end of the summer. it's very hard to verify how many jobs have been saved or created. and here's one of the reasons. using a formula, and it is for every $92,000 of stimulus money spent, that creates one job. that's a formula and some of the critics would say -- >> where do they get that? >> that's the formula they're using. the white house economists have been using to try to figure out how many jobs will be created. it's an estimate and i keep saying we don't have a list of the names of the people that got those jobs, but we do have administration officials and people around the country, you're seeing these projects as they're getting started. this gao report interestingly said the state funding part is ahead of schedule, they are getting it out of the door. but on the other side, it's not being used for what six months ago they'll thought it would be used for. some of these states fighting for survival, trying to maintain, trying to keep teachers on staff so they're not necessarily expanding programs, fixing schools, building schools in many cases they're just
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trying to keep the status quo or stop the bleeding. >> all right. what about the romans' numeral today? >> 2.3 million. has to do with the jobs part of the story. this is why politically this starts to get to be a big part. this is the number of jobs lost since the stimulus bill was signed. so we were told that stimulus bill was going to help save jobs, it was going to help slow the bleeding, that's how many jobs have been lost since it was signed. the administration point of view is it would be worse without the stimulus and that the jobs being lost has actually slowed, but critics would say, it's still an awful lot of jobs being lost and it's pretty difficult to say how many exactly have been saved. >> yeah. well, i know you guys are digging hard and trying to get those numbers for us. sure do appreciate it. thanks, christine. >> you're welcome. quickly now want to get this breaking news out to you that we are just getting and learning here in the "cnn newsroom." our reza sayah over at the iran desk because reza, i understand
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we're learning more about a lot of people, maybe in the thousands right now that are gathered in tehran to mark this anniversary, the 1999 protest. >> yeah, heidi, things really heating up in the streets of tehran. the clouds were in the hundreds according to our observers about a couple of hours ago. now they say between 2,000 or 3,000 people, and we can confirm at least five clashes between security forces and protestors. let's tell you where this is happening, this is happening in revolution square, which is right here, very close to tehran university. this is a protest to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of another protest ten years ago. crack down killed several students that were supposed to gather here and also protest the vote of the government had said don't come out or there will be a crackdown and that's exactly what's happening. of course, we don't have the ability to show you pictures from there because of the international media is banned, but a lot of the things that
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we're confirming from observers on the ground coincide with what we're seeing on twitter. here you see a bunch of activity on twitter, here's one person saying helicopters and armored persons are making things worse. here's another thing, armored person making things worse. people moving towards or revolution square. so we hadn't seen these types of clashes about a week and a half right now because of the government crackdown, there was a lot of internet chatter that because of this ten-year anniversary, people would use this opportunity to come out and protest the elections. it looks like it's happening again, at least five clashes we can confirm between security forces and protestors, heidi. >> all right, reza, again, let us know if we need to come back to you. thank you. u.s. marines facing off against the taliban digging in for battle. working to chase off insurgents and capture the confidence of local leaders.
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but first, no matter what your age, excessive exposure to the sun can lead to cancer. our chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta has tips on protecting your skin. >> reporter: armed with spf 70 sun block and a at, she is going outside to walk her dog. she's not taking chances anymore. for years she lived in the sun, growing up in florida, she was always at the beach where she was outdoors. >> i was actually 40 hours a week out in the sun monday through friday. >> reporter: as she got older, it caught up with her. now in her 40s, she's been diagnosed with all three types of skin cancer, including a spot she found on her arm. >> i thought i was too young to have it. i didn't know anything about it, i knew it was malignant, it could be very serious. >> reporter: skin cancer begins to develop in our younger years, too much sun exposure can cause burning, which destroys our skin cells, that damage can lead to
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skin cancer as we get older. >> in your 20s going to your 30s, you're accumulating all of these sunburns, all of these mutations in your skin cells, and a lot of these changes don't start to express themselves until you're 30, 40, 50. >> reporter: first step toward cancer-free skin, never go outside without sun block no matter what season of the year it is. >> at least spf 15, make sure it has like a broad band uva and uvb protection. >> reporter: and if you love the outdoors, avoid certain hours of the day. >> the times you should avoid the sun is almost like from 12:00 to like 3:00, especially if you're going to the beach. >> reporter: if you think you're too pasty to go to the beach, try the new tanning products instead of the bed. tanning beds can cause skin cancer in younger people. >> it's concentrated ultraviolet radiation, almost like a skin cancer effect, some have a combination so it almost accelerates that total uv
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it has now been more than a week since u.s. marines stormed into southern afghanistan, about 4,000 have taken up positions in many taliban strongholds. there this morning embedded with u.s. troops. she's joining us now on the phone from helmand province. tell us the latest if you could. >> reporter: well, heidi, we did go out to the district yesterday with larry nicholson. this is a district where taliban has had control for the past three years. they haven't seen many coalition forces, they have left, the villagers did not adapt to the coalition forces to the afghan government. this uz with a sign and a symbol. they brought the governor to the
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province for the first time to this district to raise the flag of afghanistan and to talk to the villagers and tell them they're here to stay this time, to help them build institutions and to build trust with the u.s. forces as well as the coalition forces and general nicholson also told us that they are still facing little resistance from the taliban and that's because they came in very quickly and they came in strong. the taliban were not prepared. but he also reminded us that this is only the -- and that means the taliban are going to be preparing for attacks, they won't go down quietly and the marines, he says will be prepared for that. heidi? >> very good, we are going to continue to check in with you. embedded with some of the u.s. troops there. live from afghanistan this morning, thanks atia. officials in western china say ethnic unrest is under control today. this coming on the heels of a major security clampdown. ethnic violence erupted in the
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capital city on sunday. 156 people are now dead. cnn was in the area yesterday. he said things are getting back to normal. >> there is a sense of normalcy because the government has taken extraordinary measures. they poured in a lot of thousands of troops, some heavily armed and they're now deplored in major intersections. they've also used the media. for example, today's front page here is it shows tiny baby right beside the soldiers, saying that they welcome the arrival of the soldiers. trying to basically tell the people that they are in charge and they have control of the situation and the police and the army troops will be here to keep public safety. >> once again, giving us a little bit of information on what is happening there. i want to get some more perspective too on what's been going on in china. joining me now is shawn roberts
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at george washington university. thanks for being with us. what exactly is at the heart of this ethnic unrest? >> well, there's been years of tensions, but in particular the last decade has really established conditions in xianyang, the economic development, increased political repression, and increased immigration. >> in fact, you have studied this area so extensively, i know that you even speak the language, you say you are surprised a major clash like this hasn't happened a lot sooner? >> yeah, that's right. i think the tensions have been ongoing for centuries, actually, and given what's been happening in the last decade in china, it's really surprising that something like this has not happened earlier. >> the economic development,
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which you mentioned is certainly an issue. can you elaborate just a bit. what are they truly facing on a day-to-day basis? >> it's a particularly interesting issue, heidi. because the chinese government, for example, feels that this should preclude for being dissatisfied. many aren't finding that to be the case and they feel somewhat excluded from the development that's going on in the region. >> in fact, you've actually compared this area that we're talking about to sort of the wild, wild west in america, like in the 1800s or so. what makes this region so attractive? >> well, it's attractive to chinese coming from central china because there's a lot of economic opportunity in the region. there's a lot of natural resources, oil, and probably even more importantly, it's the gateway to markets in the former soviet union and also the
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location of pipelines that come from the former soviet union carrying oil and gas, which are critical to china's development right now. >> absolutely. well, we've been hearing, we've just heard from our correspondent, tensions seem to be coming down just a bit. things getting a little bit more under control. but what should the chinese government do now to deal with this as effectively as they can? >> well, really, i think what would best deal with the situation would be if they engaged the population and not just those high up in the communist party, but really engage the communities around xinjiang on developments and their livelihoods. there's a lot of developments, i think could be breached by that. i also think it's somewhat unrealistic to see the chinese government that it would do that in the near future. >> all right, well we will continue to follow this story. so appreciate the history lesson, if you will.
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the coast guard is searching again today for five people aboard a small plane that went down off florida's gulf coast. searchers found a two-mile debris field yesterday shortly after the plane crashed west of ft. richie. officials say the twin engine cessna was flying from mckinney, texas, to tampa when it reported turbulence. a lot going on in the next hour of "newsroom." paula newton now in italy. hi, there, paula. >> hi, there. here at the g-8 summit, they want president obama to do more on climate change. that's at the top of the hour. >> i'm poppy harlow in new york. some environmentalists say it's too little and too late.
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more on that at the top of the hour. >> i'm susan lisovicz at the new york stock exchange. rain and retail, they're related when it comes to bathing suit sales. >> i cannot wait. thanks so much, ladies, we'll check back with you in a little while. more on a story so hard to believe. more than 100 graves destroyed and we'll take you to sh chicago-area cemetery where it all happened.
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nashville police now saying what many speculated. the killing of mcnair was a murder/suicide. police say sahel kzemi was planning to end her life. david mattingly has more now on the investigation. >> reporter: nfl quarterback steve mcnair was behind one of the biggest moments in super bowl history falling a few yards short of taking the tennessee titans to victory. nine years later fans still loved him. but in private mcnair was taking
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a serious and unexpected risk. a married man with children, mcnair was seeing 20-year-old shel. these pictures of the couple snapped recently by tmz. her family said the relationship was going for more than five months and she was confident that mcnair was divorcing his wife and they would soon live together but early saturday that ended with a 911 call from a friend of mcnair's. >> tell me what happened. >> i have no idea, sir. >> i received a phone call, that there was injured parties inside this apartment. >> male or female? >> two. there's two people. >> reporter: that call came from a building not too far away from titan stadium and police arrived to find the couple dead. mcnair shot twice in the head and twice in the chest. police now say it was a clear case of murder/suicide and that mcnair may have been asleep and
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did not know it was coming. police describe her as a young woman in turmoil reeling from financial pressures and complaining to her friends that her personal life was a mess and she should end is. ear early thursday morning she was arrested for dui and she bought a .9 millimeter handgun. >> she believed mcnair was involved with another woman and that, too, participated in her state of mind, we think. >> reporter: nashville said they share their findings with mrs. mcnair. this kind of image of mcnair sadeneds fans where they gather where they knew him as a competitor and philanth ropist. >> i'm fortunate to walk away in this game, you know, on my own two feet and to realize that family is very important. >> reporter: that was just 16
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months ago. former nfl runningback eddie george says the man who was murdered was not the steve mcnair he has known since 1996. >> underneath it all lee was in search of filing a void. >> reporter: his old friend was having a crisis of his own, maybe struggling with life after football. >> what people fail to realize, when you make a transition away from a game, emotionally, physically, mentally, spiritually, you go through something, you change. and you're constantly searching for something. >> reporter: and in nashville, fans now search for ways to celebrate the life of a star athlete who brought them many fond memories while mourning his scandalist death. david mattingly, cnn, nashville. and checking other stories happening right now. michael jackson's death being described as a wake-up call to the nation about prescription drug abuse. the government drug control policy chief discussed on cbs a
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short time ago parents are key to discussing the use of prescription drugs. a critical health summit going on in washington right now. health and human services secretary catherine sebelius who you see there said some doses of a vaccine should be available by mid-october. 170 people have died from swine flu in the united states. some of opakistan's 2 million displaced people may be headed home as early as next week. they were forced from their homes into camp when pakistan's military launched an offensive against taliban fighters. pakistan prime minister now says basic services are restored and people can return to their towns july 13th. my mom, she's been buried here since 2004 and, actually, this is kind of a surprise because i was just here a couple weeks ago to just visit.
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>> families are now left to wonder where in is my loved one. police in one chicago suburb are investigating an alleged scheme to resell grave plots. investigators say they found bones tossed into unmarked graves in the back of a cemetery. the headstones from those graves were just thrown on the ground. at least four people are in custody right now. earlier on cnn's "american morning" the sheriff talked about the remains and what they're doing to try to identify them. those in and out of the ground. >> we're bringing high-tech machines to make sure that nothing has been tampered with. we have thermal imaging efforts that will be on site here soon and we'll double check everybody's. this is an incredibly historic cemetery for the african-american community and as well as the notables, regular
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family members everywhere. children, grandparents, when you look at some of the grave stones that we come across that have been dumped throughout the cemetery and had been hidden, you see grave stones of babies and grave stones of wives parents, heart breaking stuff. >> it's also a tough task for investigators checking graves, but it is devastating for the families who have loved ones there. later on we'll talk with reverend steve chaplajones. we are talking about this story on our blog, as well, this morning. go to cnn.com/heidi and you can post your thoughts there and, of course, we'll share them with you later on in the broadcast. tracking the money and the jobs. vice president joe biden on the road today talking about the progress of the president's economic recovery plan and we are going to continue to follow
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that story coming out of cincinnati, ohio, where biden will begin talking later this hour and then he'll be off to new york. well, this all comes as republican lawmakers rip into the obama administration. they say the stimulus package is not working and they accuse the white house of overstating the ability of the package to create jobs. more on that now from cnn's kate baldwin. >> reporter: even as the obama administration touts the jobs being created by spending -- >> we're starting to see some real progress. >> reporter: unemployment soared to 3.9% and republicans say the stimulus isn't working and wednesday they pounced. >> i think that we need to justify how much money we're spending and where are the jobs and where have they been preserved and i think that we have major credibility crisis. >> the president is quoted is
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saying that the stimulus has done its job. is that true or not true? >> we believe the impact has the effect. >> reporter: he said the stimulus plan is slowing the economic freefall. neighbors said 150,000 jobs were created or saved. >> it's a work in progress, but a steady progress. >> reporter: but the government accountability office said of the $29 billion delivered to hard-hit states so far, most have gone to paid medicaid costs and balance budgets and avoid layoffs. at the same time, vermont's chief recovery officer said funds for big job-producing investments like broad band and the electric smart grid are still caught in the stimulus pipeline. >> the frustration has been that the money hasn't come out and we kept hearing later and later dates. >> reporter: states are ready and waiting.
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>> no funds, no projects. no projects, no jobs. >> reporter: also in the hearing, robert neighbors seem to indirectly criticize states for making what he called unwise choices to simply use stimulus money to balance their budgets. the administration has said actual stimulus spending will peak in 2010. kate baldwin, cnn, washington. so, where is the money? in the next half hour we'll show you how much of the recovery package money is being used where you live. we'll break it down for you. saving the planet. on the agenda at the g-8 summit, president obama is leading a forum on climate change with some non-g8 nations. paula newton is joining us live. paula, good morning to you. >> good morning, heidi. i just had a look at the draft declaration and what's missing is an actual target to cut those
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emissions by 2050. they were hoping that industrialized nations would cut by 50%. that's a lot, heidi. they'll try to come to a consensus by the end of the year. that's a lot more than the environmental groups were hoping for going into this meeting and some being quite harsh. listen to bill radford from green peace for a moment. >> easy to listen to bush who denied the science. president oobalm aa accepts the science and accepts this is a big problem and doing nothing to lead on the issue. i don't know what's worse, not believing in it and not doing anything or knowing how worse the problem is and not doing anything. >> they're not mincing words on this. president obama is still hard at work at this. if they give it to the end of the year, they can come up with hard numbers to really root for
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with both the industrialized countries and emerging countries. not too sure they are the ones with the problems or should clean up the problem. and, heidi, i said i was going to tell you about some hoops, but i did say yesterday that they had one of these makeshift basketball courts. white house officials saying that, indeed, that president obama played horse yesterday. >> who did he play with? >> i don't remember that from my school days. >> he played with his body man. mr. love. the guy he usually plays with. it was right before dinner and he did blow off some steam. i'm told he might take to the hoops again today. >> i was hoping for a little three on three, the different world leaders. i mean that would have been a cool photo-op, right? >> we now started a rumor here. george cluny is going to tour the earthquake ruins here with
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barbara bruins here in a little while. he always wanted to play and shoot some hoops with president obama. we suggested it to some white house people and i'm not sure it is going to happen. >> you let us know if that occurs. paula newton, thanks so much. we appreciate that live from italy this morning. more on climate change in today's energy fix segment. the two reasons why developing nations are against cutting emissions. more now on a story that we brought you at the top of the hour. police in one chicago suburb are investigating alleged scheme to resell grave plots. a tough task for investigators checking the graves, but devastating for the families who have loved ones buried there because these bodies have been dug up and the headstones have apparently been smashed and moved to the back portion of this land. need to talk more about it with the sheriff of cook county and reverend steve jones from the cook county sheriff's office, as
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well. they're joining me now live from alsip, illinois. i know you have been answering a lot of questions about it. what is the latest in the investigation? what have you been able to learn in all of this? >> we have four people that are charged right now with class act official offensechise is the most serious in the state which is the most serious in the state for dismemberring of bodies. we're anticipating the fbi any moment now who will come in and assist us with some of the escoivation and investigation side of all this. >> how did you learn about this and investigators learn about this? if i understand correctly, this has been going on for quite some time. >> it appears this was going on in the neighborhood of four years. >> four years. that's pretty incredible, isn't it?
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>> the whole thing is amazing. when you see the site and you get the gravity of the expanse that we're talking about and the bones that are laying everywhere, you can see where it's not -- amazing that more people didn't know about it, for starters. when you see some of the volts broken open and laying around, it's difficult to understand that. someone did come forward and they called the owners, the owners were concerned with financials. they contacted us about four, five weeks ago and we opened up what we thought was a financial investigation and then it turned into this. >> unbelievable. reverend, i see you shaking your head there. i understand that you were brought into this investigation pretty early on, right? >> well, as soon as the sheriff realized that we're talking desecration of graves, the spiritual side of this, i'm one of the chaplains for the cook county sheriffs and if this is
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just so unbelievable because of the gravity of people's loved ones being disturbed, the final resting place being disturbed and he felt that it was a need for not only the clergy to be involved, but he also brought the funeral home owners and directors so that they could be aware of what was going on because this is, this is devastating. this is a landmark in chicago. this is our neighborhood cemetery and to think of your loved ones remains being disturbed is just unconscionable. >> i am glad that you are there. i do wonder what your role has been. have you had to go out and tell family members about this story? >> well, you know, i'll let steve speak to that, but reverend jones have been driving loved ones to the grave sites and he's been phenomenal. >> we, you know, our pastoral duties is to give pastoral care.
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in this instance, all we can do is be a help. my role has been basically we went out and we blessed the site, did a temporary committal of the body, so the body so when they go to the final resting place they can be recommitted. those things had to happen, as well as now the families are coming out. they need assistance. they need reassurance and they need comforting and that's our job. that's pastoral care and that's what we're here for. >> we were just showing some video of you doing that and blessing the area, once again. what was the reaction, reverend, some some of these families? >> well, everybody thinks, when you put somebody to rest, that part of your life is kind of finished at that piece, but now to have somebody come and disturb that part of it, it's really, everyone's in an uproar.
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the familieses are just really hurt and it brings fresh pain. when you think it's finished, it brings the fresh pain like it just happened again. that's what i'm hearing a lot of the families say. this has brought it all back. to deal with bereavement, it's just not an easy task. >> very sad story, obviously. sheriff, before we let you go, remind us, again, the previous owners of this cemetery, we should be clear, were apparently the ones involved in this and the current owners are the ones who noticed all of this going on and saying, wait a minute, this is not right, obviously. >> yeah. there's an element of it, too, when you have ownership, which is not unusual, that is not on site that the ownerships are spread throughout the country, they weren't physically here seeing this, so, this was going on unbeknownst to them. when you really walk through the scheme that was put together you
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can see where it is pretty easy to see how they could hide a lot of this from people because, frankly, there were not new graves being dug so you weren't seeing your property numbers decreasing. it was a well thought out scheme by people and, heidi, the difficult thing is talking to these folks here today. it's heartbreaking. they're crying and telling us about the uncertainty of their loved ones. the woman came back from her grave site and the head stone is gone and she has to sit and worry if her loved one was one of the ones. we can't give her a quick answer on that. >> what will happen to those in custody right snow. >> a bond hearing going to be conducted here in a few hours in cook county and that will determine their fate prior to the trial and the trial will proceed from there. >> to the two of you, we appreciate the story and also to the comfort that you are able to
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provide whatever possible to the families in all of this. sheriff of cook county tom dart and the chaplain for the cook county reverend steve jones right there. thank you very much. protesters on the streets of tehran today clashing with militia members. the demonstration coming on the student uprising anniversary ten years ago. we're not able to report from iran because of iranian government restrictions but reza sayah is following developments. >> it's been a couple weeks, but now it looks like things are back and things starting to heat up in downtown iran and things are getting ugly. about 2,000 to 3,000 protesters are trying to gather in a main square in downtown tehran. there to meet them, a few thousand security forces and that's usually a recipe for some violence and that's exactly what
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we're seeing at this hour. cnn can confirm at least five clashes between security forces and protesters and let's go ahead and tell you exactly where this is happening. this is happening at revolution square, exactly over there where is near tehran university. the scene of another protest that led to another deadly government protest and they're protesting these recent elections and here's some things coming to the iran desk within the past couple hours. reports beating protesters and one observer said he saw a man in his 30s with his bloody face being encouraged to get in an ambulance but he was refusing. gunshots and there could be tear gas canisters being fired off to get people to disperse. we're also getting reports of people wiping their eyes. again, another indication of tear gas. on a couple of occasions i got
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on the phone with two of our observers on the ground and i could clearly hear very loud chants of god is great and death to the dictator. and, again, after a two-week lull, this is the first time at least some people, couple thousand people have come out. again international media, including cnn, not allowed to be on the scene. what's interesting is some of the information we're confirming coincides with the activity on twitter. take a look at what we're seeing on twitter. a few tweets coming in recently with people moving towards tehran university. this one says revolution square packed with people, beating on people in this one, militia dispersing protesters. we are always monitoring iranian tv, state-funded tv and we can show a couple of them. no sign of any coverage of the activity going on right now in downtown tehran. but after a couple weeks, heidi,
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it looks like at least some protesters are back on the streets. >> interesting. what is that they're showing over there on the state-run television? >> on the state run, it's black and white, it looks like possibly a history program. that is state-funded tv and there you see the english language tv, which looks like an interview with a professor. but no sign of the activity going on right now at resolution square. >> we'll come back to you, if we need to do that. meanwhile a parents' nightmare. kids becoming a victim of school bullying or even worse than that. so serious these days lawmakers on capitol hill are trying to get involved.
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every parent want and expect schools to be safe places for their children. children are sometimes bullied and that leads to something worse. the mother of an 11-year-old boy who committed suicide told congress that bullying has to stop. cnn's mary snow with the story. >> reporter: with picture of her son nearby, she told lawmakers about the day in april, she says, will always haunt her. >> i found him hanging by an extension cord tied around his neck. he was 11 years old. >> reporter: carl was a boy scout, liked playing sports and went to church. but his mother said he was bullied at a springfield,
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massachusetts, school by kids who called him guy and even threatening to kill him. she spoke regularly with school officials, but it didn't help. she said she's not alone. >> since my son died i met the mother of another 11-year-old boy who was being seriously bullied and killed himself. now, i know there are others. this has got to stop. >> reporter: she is calling for better training for teachers and supports a house bill for school to have policies to deal with bullying. it affects roughly 32% of students. bullying is nothing new, so why has it gotten so severe. steve rich whose organization promotes character education in schools is that families have changed dramatically. >> what self-control is and kids today aren't necessarily raised in a family environment where those principals are being taught or instilled in them or being modeled in them.
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>> reporter: with kids afraid to stand up to bullies, the problem is not going to go away on its own. >> if this happened to me, this can happen to anybody in the united states because i was a concerned, involved, caring parent and that's why i continue to do this so that no other parent has to go through what i'm going through right now. >> reporter: to get a sense of how widespread this is, 41 states have legislation addressing bullying and 25 states have or are working on bills just to address cyberbullying. mary snow, cnn, new york. >> glad to hear congress is getting in on the ablth hoping to curve school bullying. carolyn mccarthy chaired yesterday's hearing. representative mccarthy, we just heard in the piece there by our correspondent that there's going to be some better training for teachers and policies developed to help the schools deal with bullying.
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how will all of that look? what exactly is better training and what exactly are the policies? >> i think better training is, obviously, winning over the respect of the students because the students know, believe me, who's getting bullied and we've actually gone over that line. the students also know who's doing the bullying over the internet. so, we need to work and make sure that the teachers are actually trained and the superintendent and the principals so that they can deal with this. one of the things, we all grew up with knowing some of the kids who were being bullied and, unfortunately, it has gotten worse today. no one is standing up for it. it used to be a little bit, i remember bullying certainly in my younger years, but, you know, it stopped at a certain age. now, we're seeing it, unfortunately, number one starting at a much younger age and going all the way through high school and into adulthood. so, it's not good. so, what we need to do is
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concentrate on it and i have to tell you, talking to either children in grade schools, junior high and high schools, they know a lot more on what's going on and they also believe that the data that we're actually collecting to see how this bullying is, more violence in the schools. we haven't even touched the tip of the iceberg on what we're going to find out. >> i would imagine a lot of the kids are afraid to talk about it and i imagine schools don't want to talk about it very much and it doesn't make them look very good. you're a nurse for 30 years, i imagine you see some of the bumps and bruises that this bullying could cause. you say it is getting worse. talk to us a little bit more about the whole realm of the internet because it seems to me that the bullying that a lot of us put up with or the teasing, if you will, whatever you want to call it when we're in school is one thing and now we have the internet, the twitters, the facebooks all that.
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these conversations happen after the kids leave school. how do we deal with that? >> as you mentioned earlier in the piece, a lot of the states looking at the cyberinternet, the bullying that's going on. this is also where parents need to get involved on what they need to know and what their child is doing on the computer. we keep saying that over and over and over again the parents need to know what's going on with the facebook. but, as you know, one person could start a rumor, unfortunately, about another person and let's say it's a young lady and before you know it, it's all over the school or it could be all over the county where she lives. that's a lot of pressure for a kid. i don't even know if we as politicians can take that kind of pressure and here you are dealing with a young child and, to be very honest with you, a lot of them going through those years anyhow have thoughts of suicide because it is tough
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being through the 13 to the early teens. they don't have enough self-confidence. >> let the kids do the research for school on the computers and otherwise keep them off. there's a lot to handle out there and a lot of responsibility has to be put on the parents, as well as the schools. an issue that we continue to talk about and i know we could talk more here, but, unfortunately, we have run out of time. representative carolyn mccarthy out of new york this morning talking about bullying today. sure do appreciate your time. >> thank you for the interest in the subject. we keep hearing about all the stimulus money, as well, that is going from washington to the states. but how much is your area getting? we'll show you how you can find out.
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word this morning of a vaccine for the h1n1. that news coming out of the flu summit going on in washington right now. health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius announced a new vaccine will be ready by october. in an effort to get ready for flu season this fall. >> we want to be ready for the fall, so we're bringing together governors and their top health to use these summer months to plan for a fall vaccine campaign and look at hospital capacity and be prepared for a more serious flu that may return in the fall months. >> 170 people in the united states have died from the h1n1 flu. with all that stimulus
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president obama is at the g-8 summit. right now the president is co-chairing a session on economy change and it includes five nations that are not a part of the g-8. they account for 80% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. today's session follows a pledge by g-8 leaders who seek huge cuts in emissions, but emerging nations are not exactly onboard with the targets. progress on climate change is mixed. cnnmoney.com poppy harlow has
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our energy fix this morning. morning, poppy. what can you tell us about this? >> the g-8 nations agreeing to cut greenhouse gas emissions across the board by 80%, but the goal is a far ways out. they're also pledging to prevent world temperatures from rising by more than 2 degree celsius or 6.3% fahrenheit. u.s. scientists say if it rises more than that, it will be disastrous for the planet. this is the first time the g-8 set a temperature ceiling before. there are environmentalists who are up in arms and they are disappointed. yesterday greenpeace showed us how disappointed they were putting that big, big banner up on mt. rushmore saying america honors leaders, not politicians. stop global warming. they're arguing 2050 is way too
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far away. we need more aggressive short-term goals. these goals are just meaningless, heidi. also if you don't get developing countries on board like china and india, big industrial countries and that does not look like it will happen today at the major economy forum where 17 countries are coming together including china and india and no carbon emission cuts is expected today. >> i could hardly see that tiny banner, poppy. talk to us about the key sticking points here. >> they can't agree who should do more and when. these united nations saying they're not responsible and they don't need to do as much as the u.s., the developed nations. they say we have to cut more aggressively in the short term. the case in point here, the climate bill that just passed the house and that aims to reduce emissions 17% by 2020. but countries like china and india, they want to see the
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emissions cut by 25% to 45%, not just 17%. another issue and it all comes down to money. developing nations like china make a ton of money off their exports from the factories that spout out greenhouse gases. so, it comes down to those sticking points, tough to battle through them, heidi. >> that will be quite a sticking point, i would imagine. poppy har low with our energy fix today. thank you, poppy. >> you're welcome. the president is in italy, vice president joe biden is on the road drumming up support for the economic recovery plan. live pictures from cincinnati. biden will visit a site where federal stimulus money could convert an abandoned building into apartments and commercial space. after cincinnati, he heads on to new york. curious about how much stimulus money your area is getting and how it's being spent. our josh levs has it all right at his fingertips.
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convenient. >> i like that, heidi. two major websites to tell you about. a lot of people get them confused. even people inside the white house have gotten these confused. they will get you the information you need going on in your area. let's zoom right in. i want you to see the basic idea right here. this is recovery.gov. the white house continuously update this with more information. investments by state. what you're able to do is highlight any state. south dakota you can see there, $950 million, good big picture, but check out this. in a lot of ways it is better, recovery.org. from a private group which is a group that tries to work to provide businesses with better access to stimulus projects and what you can do here is click on any state at all, let's go to texas here. and it gives you every single county in the entire state and how much money every county is getting from the stimulus. here's what i did today, reached out to people on twitter and
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facebook. okay, the first people to send me the counties you live in, we'll use yours as examples. you can see it's pink now and jefferson county, alabama. you can see right there. 30 projects valued at $65 million total. let's get to a couple more here. you have this one here from south carolina, lexington, nine projects valued add $49 million. i think we have time for more one more here. over in texas, dallas county, $104 million and i'll toss in one more because on facebook we heard someone asking about new york and new york right there, just over $1 billion. all of this, every single county is listed at recovery.org and, heidi, really good way to find out what's going on right near you. >> good break down there, josh, appreciate that. a heartbreaking story out of illinois. investigators there are sifting through the remains of people
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dumped at the back of a cemetery in a chicago suburb. they say the bodies were dug up out of graves, so those graves could be resold to unsuspecting families. fbi forensic investigators are expected to begin working there today. all right, so, we are talking about this very disturbing story on our blog this morning, getting a lot of responses. we want to go ahead and read some of your comments right now here for you. go to cnn.com/heidi and you can find us on the blog. first of all, this one from ashley. having just buried my grandmother yesterday hearing word of this atrocity is beyond upsetting. these grave robbers never lost someone dear to them or they would recognize a significance of having a place that is peaceful and solemn. these people should spend at least one year in jail for each body that is found. one more for you here now from todd, it's horrible, obviously, but what i can't understand is, they didn't stop to think that
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sooner or later one of the family would visit the cemetery to see their loved ones and not find their grave stone. very strange. i know i visit my mother's gravesite to put flowers on birthdays and others do the same. we did learn from some of the investigators that they were going to these gravesites that were not visited very often. they were saying they were pretty calculated in what they were doing. we'll continue to follow the blog right here. back to this breaking news now out of iran. protesters are in the streets of tehran at this moment clashing with melissa members. the demonstration coming on the tenth anniversary of an uprise pg 7. >> this is the focus of the protesters and the revolution square. they gathered here and they
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tried to gather here, a few thousand of them a couple hours ago there to meet them a few thousand security forces. based on what we're hearing from our observers over the past 30 ominutes, the security forces have been successful through some violence and brutal force in dispersing the gathering here. now, what we're hearing the protesters going to the side streets and based on what our observers say, there have been some clashes. i spoke to one person who said they're seeing at least four or five instances where security forces and members of the progovernment militia have attacked people with batons. also getting a lot of activity on twitter that coincides with the information we're getting from our observers. one tweet saying scattered people reorganizing, after they have been dispersed and scattered people reorganized and continue walking and shouting, don't be afraid. we are together. this is a chant that we've heard
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over and over again over the past few weeks. here's another tweet. this is another main square in iran and people gathered and security forces attacked violently with everything people scattered. what we're seeing on twitter coinciding with what our observers have been telling us has been a couple weeks where we haven't seen these types of clashes between security forces and protesters because of that crackdown. today, government officials had warned people if they would come out there would be a crackdown and that's what we're seeing, security forces clashing with protesters. >> reza, let us know if we need to come back to you as you get more information into the iran desk. we'll be right back in just a moment. you could end up taking 4 times the number... of pills compared to aleve. choose aleve and you could start taking fewer pills. just 2 aleve have the strength... to relieve arthritis pain all day.
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reynolds wolf is standing by to talk to us about more storms in the plains. >> had our part yesterday in kansas, we have some video that shows the rough stuff that we had in parts of kansas. here is the video showing you widespread damage in ottawa, kansas. nothing confirmed just yet, but enough damage on roofs and people waking up this morning and, wow, what a mess they have to clean up. there's a chance they could see more of this activity today, but looks like it will be farther north. let me show you. go back to the weather wall and you can see right up in the northern part of the great plains and then back into the western half of the great lakes, we have this boundary that is sweeping from west to east and as it does so, it will interact
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with some moisture feeding up way from the gulf of mexico and that combine would the daytime heating that will cause the atmosphere to really destabilize. into the afternoon hours, you'll see, again, the cloud cover pick up and chance of showers, clouds and tornados and damaging hail and at the same time, expect a lot of delays in that part of the world. in the southeast, scattered showers a possibility with that area of low pressure and proof is in the pudding. if you look outside atlanta, cloud cover all due from that frontal boundary and we could use that in the parts of the southeast and not only that chance of rain, but cooler temperatures because 83 is our expected high today. trust me, you happen to be in the southeast, you get the highs in the low 80s, that's always a good thing. back in texas, 100 degrees the high and record highs in austin up to 106. 106 also in lubbock and 103 in midland. same story for oodessa and be
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prepared because it could happen again today. let's send it back to you, heidi. >> i used to live in lubbock. 106. >> good day for ice cream. >> no kidding. reynolds, thank you. another scorcher all the way around in texas today. people in houston being asked to conserve electricity it will be so hot. that means setting thermostats to 80 degrees or higher. close your blinds, drapes, keep the sun out. that's what officials there are telling residents. meanwhile a memorial service planned for tonight for former nfl quarterback steve mcnair. mcnair was killed in what police now say was a murder/suicide. a friend of mcnair's called police early saturday after the bodies were found. >> tell me what happened. >> i have no idea, sir. >> okay. >> i received a phone call that there was injured parties inside
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this apartment. >> male or female? >> two, there's two people. >> police say mcnair was shot by his 20-year-old girlfriend. they said she told friends her life was a mess that she planned to end it all. >> based upon the appearance of the crime scene, evidence collected, autopsy findings, laboratory results and an incredible amount of work by our investigative team, there's no doubt we believe now at this time that mcnair was seated on the sofa and likely was asleep and we believe that kazemi shot him in the right temple and then shot him twice in the chest and then shot him a final time in the left temple. kazemi then positioned herself next to him on the sofa and shot herself once in the right temple and then expired. >> the tennessee itans held a
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connected to local drug lords. a brother of one of themes have is a nationally known anti-crime activist. trying to broker peace in hondur honduras. representatives from both sides are sitting down on both sides but there will be no negotiations with the new government. more on those meetings and the protests by zelaya's supporters. >> a change in tactics. on wednesday thousands of protesters blocked one of the main highways leading in and out of the capital and they were pushing their calls for mr. zelaya to be returned to power. protests are continuing even though there is some sign of a breakthrough on the political front. on thursday is due to meet with representatives from mr.
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zelaya's government. those talks mediated by the costa rican president. now, he's a veteran negotiator, but he'll have his work cut out for him. mr. mitch letta has said he's ready to talk, but not prepared to return mr. zelaya to power. mr. zelaya is prepared to talk, but not prepared to give up his aspirations to reclaim his presidency. karl penhaul, cnn. a serious lack of security. congress hears about bombs being built in the bathroom at ten federal buildings. now they're looking at what could be done to avoid a repeat performance. %%%%%%%%%%
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updating you on a story we first told you about yesterday here in the cnn newsroom. an investigation found a serious lack of security at some federal buildings across the country. in ten of them, undercover investigators were able to get bomb components past the guards and put them together in a bathroom. cnn's brian todd has more. >> reporter: a jolting blast in the trunk of a sedan. the detonator for this was smuggled into u.s. government buildings that were supposed to have security levels just below the white house. an undercover agent from the government accountability office. sneaking bomb components past security at a federal building. the investigators were able to
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take the components into bathrooms and other yare yuz, assemble the bombs and walk freely around government buildings with the bombs in briefcases. we spoke to the official who oversaw the investigation. is some of these components could they be considered normal items like a screwdriver that they might not say, wait, stop that. >> a number of items that might have been normal kind of things and a number of things were not normal that the public had any business bringing into a federal building. >> reporter: he couldn't say what those components were, but investigators were able to pull off these stings at ten government buildings in four cities. they including lawmakers' office and connected to the justice department and even the department of homeland security the office that oversees security at the same building. poor management by the federal
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protective service of security guards like this one sleeping. the head of the protective service says this. >> we are coming up with some fairly, i think aggressive, i don't think fairly, i think very aggressive means to address these problems and, in particular, training of our contract security guards. literally going back out to retrain them. >> reporter: gary says they also increased the number of inspections at guard posts, but he also says they have only 600 inspectors responsible for checking 9,000 government buildings. brian todd, cnn, washington. i'm heidi collins, "cnn newsroom" continues with tony harris. >> good morning, everyone. it is thursday, july 9th. here are the top stories. the government's health care fix. who pays? democrats consider an income tax surcharge
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