Transcripts For CNN American Morning 20110629

welcome back to "american morning." it is wednesday, june 29th. i'm christine romans. the clock is ticking on the debt ceiling. this is getting more dangerous by the minute, quite literally, but we'll be following that for you this morning. >> and find out why that's relevant to people here. looks like a greece issue but it's important. >> but first we have information on this brazen attack that took place at one of the most remarkable hotels in kabul, afghanistan. staged at the intercontinental hotel in kabul. they were attacked -- they stormed the hotel, armed with guns and grenades and embattled afghan and nato foeses for hours. a hotel guest who heard the fighting told cnn he was terrified. >> none of us thought we were going to make it. actually i wrote my little will according to islamic law from the little i know. i put it in my pocket just in case. and i said if anything happens, i hope -- i want all my property donated according to islamic law and any charity. this is the extent of what i'm sure everybody was thinking. especially when the last explosion went off on my floor, right under me. >> afghan president hamid karzai says that the attack will not interrupt the security shift from international troops to afghan. >> this brought to mind the mumbai attack, sustained long term bombing, shooting, firefighters. that gentleman i think he's the same one, he said he wrote his will while he was in his room. >> officials had to go room to room afterward to see what kind of damage and make sure people were okay. it was just -- >> they had gotten all the terrorists. >> it does raise questions and we will talk about this later in the show with experts on security issues how they prevent this and when you talk about eight suicide bombers coordinated how they were able to get in. >> the worst kind because it's not some big event, it's something that can be replicated whether lone wolves or small groups. also want to talk about greece. financially strapped greece decision day on a plan to cut spending and raise taxes. these are live pictures just ahead of the vote expected in about an hour. right now thousands of people are again protesting in the streets of athens and tightened the belt once, austerity means they have to do it again. reports of utter chaos again today. protesters throwing stones, riot police fighting back with tear gas. a scene playing out much like it did yesterday when even our cnn crew was roughed up. >> as you can see there's quite a lot of fighting now going on between protesters and -- we're being forced out of the way. because it's really kicking off around that corner. a fire burning in the building. the protesters by the way, are on day two now of a 48-hour strike. in egypt, violent clashes between police and protesters. police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse a crowd of about 1,000 demonstrators there. they gathered to remember victims of the uprising that drove egyptian president mubarak from power. five protesters were injured. a wildfire out of control in new mexico at the edge of the los alamos nuclear laboratory which is a nuclear science facility. officials are stepping up security measures. strong winds fam fanning the flames within miles of the lab's 30,000 barrels of nuclear waste containing plutonium. reynolds wolf joins us live from los alamos, new mexico. >> on the surface it would seem very serious. lab director charles mcmillan says the materials you're referring to are at this time secure. it's also considered very low radioactive material so that is certainly some good news. the fires came very close. in fact within several miles. but lab officials insist that it's in a very safe location, very little in terms of foliage so the fire has little opportunity to get close to it. we're talking about a facility that is about 40 square miles. the southern end of the facility they're referring to has been, of course, touched by the fire. the western fringes of the laboratory facility have been threatened by the fire and as weather conditions really look kind of host still over the next several days, we can see the flames continue to spread. trust me, they have been roaring. the fires have been a very aggressive one since sunday. some 60,000 acres, 60,000 acres of ponderosa pine and mixed confer gone up in smoke. plenty of foliage in the hillsides for the fire to continue to feed. they believe this fire which started on private property, actually began by a power line, just dropping, hitting some of the grasses, and, of course, then everything went up. i can tell you that, obviously, people have been affected by it too. here in this town of los alamos, you had anywhere from 10,000 to 12,000 that evacuated. those evacuations started on monday. as you come back to me for a moment, i have john behind the camera, john, if we can pan down the street and show people what's happening here. ali, as you can imagine the rest of america can see, not much. thick smoke in the area. we've seen some command vehicles go by and occasional news cpolie car. the evacuation that took place was orderly, not a single fender-bender, but they have a lot of people out there that are terrified as to what they may come back to in the next several days and possibly weeks. people wondering are their homes still going to be here. it's not just in this part of arizona, ali. we've got fires that have popped up not just across parts of new mexico but, of course, over the region, across the state line into arizona. we've got three major wildfires. they hope to have one pretty much under control by today, but still, it's going to be very difficult with the weather conditions we're going to see over the next several days. by next week, as rob marciano will tell you, we expect the moisture to come back and a better chance of rain. let's pitch it back to you. >> i'm sorry. i see you have a bandana to help when the smoke is out there. stay safe. we'll catch up with you later and check in with rob about the weather forecast coming up. >> meanwhile in nebraska, federal regulators say that two nuclear plants threatened by floodwaters from the missouri river are safe. it's welcome news. a watchdog group for the nuclear power industry visited the fort calhoun plant yesterday. officials say the facility is still safe. the plant has been off-line since april for refueling. it was not up and generating power. we will watch the story and bring you the latest developments. another dramatic day in the casey anthony murder trial. casey's family members back on the stand and disturbing testimony from the meter reader who discovered little caylee's remains. >> the real bomb shell happened after the jury left the courtroom from casey's former fiance. carol costello joins us live from orlando. first of all the testimony from roy kronk was pretty surprising, the meter reader, but also perhaps most surprising was the testimony the jury never heard. >> jury never heard from casey anthony's former fiance as you say, his name is jesse grund. the judge chased the jury out of the room to determine whether the testimony was admissible in court. jesse grund testified that casey anthony told him that her brother lee used to stare at her at night while she was sleeping and at one time even touched her inappropriately. that would point to the alleged sexual abuse charges she has pinned on her brother. the reason the judge may not allow this testimony is because it's hearsay. courts like testimony such as this that come right from the source. that means casey anthony would have to tell the court she saw her brother at night and that he touched her inappropriately. we don't think that jesse grund's testimony will be allowed to be heard in front of the jury. the other emotional testimony of the day, as you said, was from this meter reader, his name roy kronk. he's the one that found casey anthony's body in that wooded area down the street from the anthony home. he found it in december. he called 911 three times. a sheriff's deputy came out to investigate. didn't find anything. even chewed kronk out. he said he threw up his hands and forget about it until he went back to the same site three months later, spotted the same bag in the wooded area. this time he went to investigate. he picked up the bag and he noticed a tiny skull on the ground. listen to what happened next. >> i was looking at it from behind and i still didn't think it was real. so i very gently took it and put it into the right eye socket and i gently pivoted it up and looked down and realized what it was and set it down as gently as i could and went up and called my area supervisor. >> now, defense attorneys were trying to paint roy kronk, i'm going to quote here from their opening arguments, as a morally bankrupt person who took caylee's body and hid it in the woods. that apparently was the three month discrepancy that i talked about. most legal experts don't believe the defense proved that but they do think what this testimony did prove is that the body was tampered with. you know there's all this argument over this duct tape that was supposedly used to kill caylee anthony, placed over the nose and mouth of the child to suffocate her. if kronk picked up the skull, picked up the bag he could have dislodged that duct tape and who knew what that duct tape was used for. testimony does continue today, everyone. we think we're going to hear from a grief counselor who's going to try to explain casey anthony's behavior after her child disappeared and then this trial will probably wrap up in the next day or two, at least that's what the judge is hoping. >> definitely a far cry to say a morally bankrupt human to somebody on the stand saying i called the cops three times, which was backed up by other facts. that's a tough day for the defense in my opinion. >> yeah. and his son, roy kronk's son, might take the stand because the defense wants to prove that his father called him and it told him, you know, he was going to be famous because he found this body and was going to collect some money. so we'll see what happens today. >> carol, thanks. a glimmer of good news for those of you thinking about selling your house. prices up slightly, first time prices have gone up in nine months. the biggest gains in the 20 city s&p case-shiller survey were seen in the washington area, seattle and atlanta. this news is fueling a rally on wall street. the dow up 145 points yesterday. as you can see the nasdaq and s&p 500 also up. and french finance minister christine lagarde the new head of the international monetary fund. she follows dominique strauss-kahn who was arrested last month on assault charges. president obama will hold a news conference in the white house east room this morning and it comes as the president gets involved in talks about raising the nation's debt ceiling as his war powers are being challenged in congress over libya and a week after he announced the troop draw down in afghanistan. this will be his first full news conference in almost four months, see it live 11:30 eastern at cnn and on-line at cnn.com/live. to tiger woods now. he has signed his first endorsement deal since his sex scandal first broke. he was dropped by companies like gillette, gator aid, at&t. a japanese company has picked him up to puv a cream for muscle cream. the first ads will debut this first. "sports illustrated" ranked tiger as the top u.s. earning ath lease of 2010 despite the troubles on and off the course. something that caught all of our attention this morning. had she lived princess diana would have celebrated her 50th birthday on friday. >> wow. >> the people's princess is gracing the cover "news week" but not in the way you might expect. it's an age projected photo of diana, strolling alongside her son william's new bride catherine middleton. >> and two other pictures, one with an i phone imposed in her hand and another a re-tweet, if diana was alive she would be on twitter and retweeting dally llama. our question of the day. is the photo shop diana cover a tribute or tacky. cnn.com/am. we'll read some of your thoughts later in the morning. coming up on "american morning," scary moments for the crew of the international space station. what caused the astronauts to head for cover. is soft! hard! soft! hard! 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[♪...] >> male announcer: now, for a limited time, your companion flies free, plus save up to 65%. call 1-800-sandals. conditions apply. a dangerously close call, space debris on a collision course with the space station. six astronauts forced to take cover in escape capsules yesterday. russia reports the debris came within 820 feet. by the time it was spotted officials say it was too late to maneuver around it. luckily the debris passed by without any problems. nasa is investigating. >> i'm not that keen going into space but i hear it because of the junk flying around, how much junk there is and if it's coming towards you what your options are. they had to get ready to -- >> emergency capsule. obviously they train for that. >> you see this thing coming, going around it like star wars. >> a commodore 64 flying by from the 1970s, the old space junk. >> it really does paint an interesting picture. but nasa is also preparing, by the way, for its grand finale, "atlantis" set to launch july 8th, final flight for nasa's space shuttle program. >> final one. >> this is it. >> i'm going. >> every time i think about it. >> every time i watch one of these take off and land i get goose bumps. to think it's the last one. >> on a 12-day journey delivering spare parts and supplies to the international space station. nasa will rely, as we said, on russian shuttles. the soyuz, to be able to send astronauts into space and bring them back. we have a commercial space program hoping to i guess fill that gap within three years. >> that's right. a lot of it testing has been done, test flights have been done, and i'll be there. >> that's going to be great. >> we'll be there every step of the way as nasa prepares. i'm not going to be on the space shuttle, just near it. >> down with john zarrella eating popcorn and crying. >> space case yes, astronaut no. >> you can catch beyond "atlantis" the next frontier, a cnn special investigation should be cool, airs sunday night at 8:00 eastern. >> back to the brazen terror attack staged by taliban militants on the intercontinental hotel in kabul, afghanistan, eight sue said attackers, ten others were killed. the attackers stormed the hotel armed with guns and grenades. they battled afghan and nato forces for hours, leaving the hotel in flames. reminiscent sant of the attacks in mumbai. jerome starkey is following developments, live in kabul. tell us where we stand right now, jerome. >> well, the building has been cleared, but you can see behind me, the damage is very evident and the fifth floor, there was an explosion towards the end of the battle this morning which set the building ablaze. afghan security forces believe 8 taliban militants crept up through the woods behind me on the slopes of the hill underneath the intercontinental hotel to bypass the two police checkpoints which guard the only road in and out of this hotel. it was an audacious attack. the first suicide bomber detonating his vest in the lobby. five of his accomplices storming their way on to the roof of the building. it wasn't really over until long after 3:00 a.m. this morning. indeed, by the time the sun rose here in kabul, nato, special forces and afghan commandos were still searching through the building, looking for survivors, looking for victims, but wary, there may have been insurgents hiding out in the 200 room hotel. >> and we think they've cleared that now? they've got everybody out who they think was either an insurgent or potential victim? >> certainly they have cleared the hotel now. the fighting has stopped and the fire has been brought under control. the real question now is that nato is trying to paint this operation to clear the building as a success for the afghan commandos. that the response to the attack, they say, was led by an afghan special force s unit. the question on many people's minds here what is this means for transition. it was only when nato special forces arrived in their helicopters and snipers could shoot on to the roof of the building, killing the remaining five insurgents, five hours after they first arrived, that the battle was finally brought under control. >> jerome, thanks very much for the report. we'll stay with it. ahead on "american morning," the venezuela government says rumors of president hugo chavez's poor health are greatly exage crated and new video shows chavez for the first time since having surgery. >> castro, chavez. >> track suits. >> just getting back from it. i'm not sure if that was staged to make them look athletic as they do. >> flipped the bird to another driver and ticketed by police rather than the driver who was breaking traffic laws, he claimed the cops violated his rights and he's taking it to court. it's 22 minutes past the hour. and blur my vision. my eye doctor said there's great news for people with astigmatism. acuvue® oasys for astigmatism. he said it's the only lens of its kind designed to realign naturally with every blink and created with hydraclear® plus. i'm seeing more clearly, crisply, comfortably, all day long. now life doesn't have to be a blur. 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[ male announcer ] learn more at acuvue.com. an accident doesn't have to slow you down. introducing better car replacement, available only with liberty mutual auto insurance. if your car is totaled, we give you the money for a car one model year newer. to learn more, visit us today. responsibility. what's your policy? 25 minutes after the hour. minding your business this morning. the dow jumped 145 points yesterday riding good news on housing prices. a report on mortgages come out in less than an hour and that could affect premarket trading. protesters hitting the streets of athenss on day two of the general strike. investors watching parliament closely as a vote on tax increases and spending cuts is expected to start soon. the proposed five-year austerity package needs to be pushed through for greece to receive more funds from the european union and avoid default. president obama will hold a news conference today and could address mounting pressure about the federal budget. one washington think tank reports the u.s. treasury will not be able to pay about $35 billion of its monthly bills if lawmakers fail to raise the debt creeling in time. social security checks, medicare payments and federal worker and military paychecks are all at risk. bank of america is close to a settlement with professional investors over sour mortgages packed and sold before the housing bubble burst. according to several published reports this morning. the deal is reportedly worth $8.5 billion. bank of america stock is up more than 2% in premarket trading this morning on the news of these reports. more reports fueling talk of a tech bubble today. zynga could be the next company to file for an initial public offering. the game maker could file as early as today in a value of $20 billion. that doubles the price tag of the start-up which made on-line games like farmville and others that are played on facebook. to offset high gas prices walmart is announcing a program offering ten cents off a gallon of gas at its gas stations when you shop using the store's gift and credit cards. the deal available in 18 states and ends in september. grocery store chain stop and shop began a similar program in the northeast back in april. "american morning" back after the break with a live report from greece where thousands of protesters are taking to the streets this morning. 27 minutes after the hour. what do you got? restrained driver... sir, can you hear me? just hold the bag. we need a portable x-ray, please! [ nurse ] i'm a nurse. i believe in the power of science and medicine. but i'm also human. and i believe in stacking the deck. when an investment lacks discipline, it's never this obvious. introducing investment discipline etfs from russell. visit russelletfs.com r a prospectus, containing the investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and other information. read and consider it carefully before investing. we're crossing the half hour right now. time to take a look at our top stories this morning. afghan authorities have completed a search of the intercontinental hotel in kabul in the wake of a brazen and sustained terror attack. eight suicide bombers were killed by afghan and nato forces. ten others, eight civilians and two police officers also died. a wildfire moving closer to the los alamos laboratory in new mexico, some experts have new concerns this morning after strong winds pushed the flames dangerously close to more than 20,000 barrels of nuclear waste on that property. lab officials, though, they say they have taken the proper precautions and are maintaining this morning there is no immediate threat but the lab remains shut down. key testimony in the casey anthony murder trial. the meter reader who discovered caylee's remains took the stand, describing the day that he found those remains as quote horrific meanwhile, casey's former fiance spoke just after the jury left the courtroom. the judge decided to block his testimony alleging or saying that it was hearsay after he described casey telling him that her brother lee once stood over her while she was sleeping. athens on edge as the cash strapped greek government prepares to vote on a new plan to cut spending again and raise taxes again. already thousands of people are in the streets on one side you have protesters and on the other riot police standing by with tear gas. >> richard guest is live in athens this morning. richard, how are things looking in the streets of athens because we're getting very, very close to this vote in parliament? >> and they're not looking that good, ali. in the last five minutes, the police have been firing the stun grenades and the tear gas, trying to push the protesters back further. best that i let you see for yourself and get out of the way. i'll talk over the pictures that you're looking at. the protesters are moving forward against the line of police, just by the parliament, ali. what happens is, as they rush towards the fence, they start throwing large pieces of marble. and that's exactly what happens. the stun grenades go off. the tear gas gets thrown in which will start blowing over into this particular direction. ali, that's the situation. the debate itself in parliament behind me, that is due to finish in the next hour or so, ali, and then mps will vote. it will be tight, but most if you like educated opinions suggest, the government will get its way and it will pass. >> it's christine here. the government will get its way and pass it. that will, of course, not the be the people's way. we've already been here before. what do we think or know if they pass this, if the government can actually collect those taxes? it can actually enforce this austerity? >> once again, christine, you managed to put your finger on the $64 billion euro question. another of the stun grenades going off behind me. not only do they have to pass today's legislation, christine, over the next 48 hours, they have to pass a variety of enabling legislation to make it happen. and then it has to happen. now, i think first thing's first. if they get it through today, that will at least release the money from the government from the europeans and the imf so there will be no default. i think that's the immediate crisis over. then everybody can start working out, bail out number two, how much and whether that needs to be put into place. the tear gas now, truly wafting across the square here in athens. >> richard, keep a close eye on it for us. we'll check in with you constantly as it develops. obviously a massive reaction outside to when that bill passes so keep close contact with us. we're going to want to watch that carefully. the world's eyes are on the square right now. what were you saying, richard? >> thank you. i was just about to say, no one can really know when this vote happens, how the reaction will be. will it be an inevitability of it going through fizzle it out or send it into uproar. time will tell. we'll know in a few hours. >> richard quest and a number of members of the cnn team are at that square, central square in athens. >> hugo chavez, sighted on tv, the country's venezuela president appearing on state television in his trademark track suit with former cuban leader fidel castro wearing athletic wear. the meeting officials say took place in havana. first video of chavez since he had emergency surgery three weeks ago. the government wanted to dispel rumors of his deteriorating health. there were rumors circulating. these two guys look like the picture of life and health just before their run. >> or after. >> or a pick up game. the fbi now reportedly trying to find out who was responsible for the grave mix-ups at arlington national cemetery. "the washington post" is reporting an investigation has been under way for six months looking into this. a senate report found that cemetery had either lost track or mishandled more than 6,000 sets of remains of military heros, many of them may be lost forever. a court hearing set for jared loughner, the accused gunman that killed six people including a young girl and wounded congresswoman gabrielle giffords in the tucson massacre in january. his lawyers want to stop doctors from giving him mind altering drugs to treat his skit fren na and make him competent to stand trial. his lawyers say that violates his rights. former boston irish mob boss whitey bulger in court yesterday in his jail jumpsuit telling the feds, don't be a rat. he wants a judge to clamp down on leaks from federal agents about his case saying it's keeping him from getting a fair trial. he was the inspiration for jack's character in "the departed." he was a fugitive for 16 years and facing charges in 19 mob related murders. if you haven't done it you probably thought about flipping off a driver who cut you off a or made some other stupid maneuver in traffic. that's what happened to a guy in missouri. steven flipped the bird to a driver who forced his way into an already jammed intersection as the lights turned red. minutes later, police were ticketing him for the gesture. >> the arm was there, and like i said, not proud, but i showed my displeasure of them blocking the intersection, so it's like, let's see the person that breaks the two laws walks and the person who kind of doing their first amendment free speech right thing gets the ticket. >> so as you can tell, he claims it's a violation of his free speech, plans to tell it to a judge at a court appearance in august. do you react to bad drivers? >> i do, but i don't flip the bird. >> i -- >> i don't do that but a lot of -- >> what heck are you thinking type thing. >> if someone is crazy enough to break the law, you never know if they're crazy enough to do something else. >> cars one time and i heard the older one say what a jerk and i went -- definitely heard that from me. i don't say anything anymore and i don't flip the bird. >> don't know if he should have got a ticket for it, but whatever. >> my prediction that gets dropped. >> the luckiest guy in the world doesn't get the ticket for breaking two traffic laws. sarah palin the movie star, not sarah palin the candidate in iowa. a new documentary about her political career hits the big screen. how it ends may be a mystery. >> we are watching greece this morning, athens. you see it's still a site of clashes between protesters and police there as greece gets ready for a key vote in parliament. it needs more belt tightening in an already austerity weary nation. how it affects you at home. 38 minutes past the hour. "the undefeated." 41 minutes past the hour. it's created more buzz than some hollywood blockbusters, a new and pretty flattering documentary about sarah palin's political career and debuted in iowa. the location and timing with president obama in the state on the same day, not an accident as she continues to flirt with her own presidential run. our joe johns is live for us in beautiful pella, iowa, this morning. how did the premier go? >> this is really a summer soap opera, isn't it? not the documentary, but whether or not she's going to run. i can tell you i was sitting inside this theater, the movie is like an hour and 59 minutes or something like that. and all the way through the movie, while you heard this story about her life, her rise in politics, there were people inside who actually thought that by the end of the movie she's going to make some kind of announcement about her presidential intentions. it, of course, did not happen. and when we talk to people later, some people felt it was a little bit unsatisfying and for others it was just about right. let's listen to some of the comments from people who actually saw the movie. >> i think that now in this time period, especially because everything and all the heat she's taken, i do not think that right now would be the correct time for her to run. however, there's definitely other things that i think she would succeed in and just being a rallying point for the tea party movement, the republican movement, i know the -- basically the conservative side. however, i do not see her as a running candidate for the 2012 election. >> if she ain't running, this is the greatest trick play in the history of trick plays, man. she's running. and she's going to win. >> but she didn't say that. and so the mystery continues. a little bit of a cliffhanger here in pella, iowa, guys. >> i love what her daughter bristol said. let's listen to what she said about her -- >> we don't have what the daughter said. >> i lost audio, but you're asking about what bristol palin said? and yeah, she -- apparently went on tv and said sarah palin has actually made up her mind as to whether she was going to run, but didn't say what the decision was. so we got to ask sarah palin about that and let's just listen to the sound bite. >> bristol is a smart and independent and strong young woman. listen to her. you know what i told bristol when i heard that, i said bristol, what we say on the fishing boat stays on the fishing boat. you don't need to be announcing anything. >> reporter: not las vegas, but the fishing boat. so there you go. we still don't know and sarah palin's not talking at least for now. she certainly sounded as though she hasn't ruled out the possibility of running and i guess that just gives us more room to chase her all around and try to figure out what she's going to do. >> the good news, she's not going anywhere other people aren't going. >> joe johns, thank you. the question is, what happens on the fishing boat staying on the fishing boat. >> she said fishin' boat. >> definitely -- >> what was said on the fishin' boat is what i want to know. did she say i'm running? she didn't say that the kid's not telling the truth. >> and it would have been too perfect at the end of the documentary she comes up, i'm declaring my candidacy today. that didn't happen. >> michele bachmann, who has declared her candidacy is not only running for president but she's dancing. from bachmann's visit to south carolina yesterday. she and her husband showing off the moves doing south carolina state dance, the shag to elvis's "promise land." did you know she had a state dance? >> i sent you an e-mail of all the state dances. >> you did? >> square dance, polka in many states. >> they've been married for three decades. >> i hadn't seen him before. >> she's been married 25 years. they have a lot of kids, five kids and 23 they have fostered over the years. >> she told kiran the most they had at home was nine children at a time. >> and she said it was fun. but it time blurs -- one day when our kids grow up say it was fun too. >> the first tropical, named tropical storm of the season is churning right now off the coast of mexico. rob marciano is in the extreme weather center for us. any danger of this hitting land, rob? that. >> it's going to hit mexico, that's for sure. does some of the moisture get up into the u.s. where it's badly needed. not a whole lot. it's across the southwestern corner of the gulf of mexico and the bay of campeche, about 300 miles to the east of tampico. a little less than that actually. heading that way. it will be there, make landfall by tomorrow morning and we don't expect it to become much more than, you know, a lower to mid-grade tropical storm. this shouldn't become a hurricane. delays in new york today because of wind. tampa and miami, miami seen a wet month. salt lake city, wind as well and san francisco, some rainfall. this is very, very late in the season to see rain in san francisco and they got record-breaking amounts of it yesterday. there's that storm that's coming in across the intermountain west. the heat will continue and build across parts of the central plains. meanwhile, not so bad across the northeast from chicago back to new york. that front finally through the area and that's going to create more comfortable conditions. extreme and critical fire danger across parts of the southwest including parties of nevada. not so much for new mexico but some of the winds on the increase through tomorrow. the smoke is going to be an issue obviously out there for the firefighters with minimal containment on that. 101 degrees expected in dallas today, 91 in memphis, and 81 degrees, not so shabby, up there in new york. guys, back up to you. >> thanks, rob. >> rob, good to see you. thank you, my friend. >> 47 minutes past the hour. ahead on "american morning," why frank sinatra could never make it in the big leagues. a major league slugger says his blue eyes are the reason he can't buy a hit in the daytime. wait until you see the creeping looking solution. >> let's take a look at what's going on in greece. nearing the parliamentary vote there, which is, obviously, being protested in the streets for a second day. see tear gas canisters, police jostling with protesters. we have live coverage on the ground and we will be back to greece momentarily. we're keeping our eye on this story. it's 47 minutes after the hour. the state of maine is home to some of the world's best lobster fishing. bringing in more than 90 million pounds a year. what's left behind is a lot of waste. >> there are some shells that go into composts. most go to landfill. >> reporter: researchers at the university of maine have come up with a way to put it to use. and it sounds like a hit. you can't hear the difference, but this ball is made of recycled lobster shells. >> it's a dynamic exciting combination. lobsters and golf. >> reporter: it started in the kitchen, but was perfected in the university's labs. >> what we really did was take the concept and reduce it to practice, make a product out of it. had to look like a golf ball, perform like a real golf ball as much as possible. >> reporter: except this one is 100% biodegradable. >> studies done with projections from 100 to 1,000 years for a golf ball to break down in the ocean. >> the ball breaks down in the ocean in about two weeks and could be used on driving ranges or cruiseships. >> we're taking something that used to go to the landfill and it now has value. >> reporter: the balls are being hand made in the lab, but the university of maine is working on plans to get them into mass production and into the water soon. gary tuchman, cnn. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] with amazing innovation, driven by relentless competition, wireless puts the world at your command. ♪ wireless puts the world at your command. a vacation on a budget with expedia. make it work. booking a flight by itself is an uh-oh. see if we can "stitch" together a better deal. that's a hint, antoine. ooh! see what anandra did? booking your flight and hotel at the same time gets you prices hotels and airlines won't let expedia show separately. book it. major wow factor! where you book matters. expedia. it's 50 minutes past the hour. a look at your headlines this morning. afghan president hamid karzai condemning the attack by taliban militants on kabul's hotel intercontinental. eight suicide bombers killed by afghan and nato forces. eight civilians and two police officers died. karzai says these sorts of attacks will not disrupt the handover of security from international troops to afghan forces. in greece we're standing by for a vote expected to take place any minute on the government's plan to cut spending and raise taxes. these austerity measures are drawing tens of thousands of protesters into the streets of athens. the new mexico wildfire is on the move, burning within miles of the los alamos national laboratory. a nuclear science facility. some experts there are concerned about more than 16,000 barrels of nuclear waste on the property. but lab officials say all hazardous material is protected. the casey anthony murder trial resumes today. the meter reader who discovered caylee's remains testified yesterday describing that day as horrific and the judge blocked testimony from casey's former fiance. california lawmakers sending a new budget to governor jerry brown. the plan drafted by democrats and the governor cuts the state's $26 billion deficit to $5 billion. it includes massive cuts to health and human services, education, and the court system. and tiger woods landing his first endorsement deal since his sex scandal broke. japanese muscle balm, the first tv ad for the product featuring tiger will debut this friday. you're caught up on the day's headlines. "american morning" back right after this. more tear gas happening in the streets of athens. this is right in the main square outside of the parliament building in athens. you can see police moving in on protesters. we are near hours away from a vote in parliament that is not going over well with the greek people but is absolutely necessary in order for greece to secure its second bailout. but it's going to mean a lot of pain for the greek people. it's going to mean an increase in taxes, mean people paying taxes that weren't paying taxes in the first place and lot of cut jobs. this. >> this is a two-day general strike set to continue into this morning. three unions planning marches. what we're seeing here also is the more extreme protesting going on and actual clashes we're witnessing here live between police and the protesters. we'll continue to follow this as there's a lot of concern. tear gas being fired right there. >> a full fight breaking out between police and protesters. >> the economy of greece is about the size if i'm not mistaken of washington state in the u.s. why are global markets concerned about this? look the debt of greece is opened by european banks. it's insured by lots of different banks too. >> look at that. >> interconnected global system in this country. >> a fight between police and protester in the square. the police using their batons. we haven't seen as much of this in the last couple days. things are heating up in the last couple of minutes. a full team of people, by the way, on the ground in greece. we've got diana magna, richard guest, they're watching all of this going on? what has been going on, this one-two dance between protesters throwing things, police firing off per discussion grenades. now you're having a more heated reaction and looks as though it's fighting within the groups of protesters as well. >> like they were trying to get them back off of that street there. you see another protester knocked to the ground. riot police. you see the crowd. this is disturbing to watch. you see somebody looked like he had a stick or pole as well hitting police. a dangerous situation and a volatile one as you said, ali, a couple hours away from the vote. >> the issue, the parliament cannot get the bailout that it needs to keep the government going if they don't take these drastic measures and you can see the anger in the streets of greece from people who say don't take those measures. talk about a rock and a hard place. parliament's got to pass this. richard quest was telling us moments ago as he's watching this from a balcony overlooking the scene it's unclear what's going to happen when the bill passes in parl mn. it's going to be a tight vote. does that diffuse the energy in the streets or make things worse? things are definitely adding. there's richard right there watching it for us. let's take a break and we'll stay on top of this and come right back to it. a warm, super-s strawberry toaster strudel yeah but now i have nothing to eat sure you do. hey! you can have the pop tart! pillsbury toaster strudel. the one kids want to eat ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] and just like that, it's here. a new chance for all of us: people, companies, communities to face the challenges yesterday left behind and the ones tomorrow will bring. prudential. bring your challenges. personal pricing now on brakes. tell us what you want to pay. we do our best to make that work. deal! my money. my choice. my meineke. breaking news now. we're following this morning out of athens where the greek parliament is expected within the hour -- next hour or two to vote on emergency measures in an effort to save the economy, but workers, protesters, anarchists, others taking to the streets. this is a decision that could send shock waves around the globe on this "american morning." >> the issue is that greece has to undertake these reforms. >> that's right. >> to get a european bailout. they've got to pass this in parliament, pass, enabling legislation which will lead the european un yoen to make a decision on sunday about its second bailout. these are preconditions. the problem is, the people of greece are uneasy with this. it will cause them to pay taxes they haven't been paying, cause them to work longer. second time greece has gone through this, and it's getting violent in the streets. >> the parlment must do what it must do to win support from the european union, going against what the people on the street want. it's going to determine the financial future of greece and have a major effect on the economic recovery here in the u.s. as well because the system is completely intertwined and people want to make sure that greece does not default and spiral downward. at any moment greece is expected to vote on desperate measures to save that country from financial ruin. live pictures inside the parliament right now, against the backdrop of violent protests, violent demonstrations in athens and that's where our richard quest is standing by. what's the latest there? >> well, in the last ten minutes, excuse me, in the last ten minutes things have taken a turn for the worse and it's not immediately clear why the riot police suddenly decided to push the crowd further back and fire volley after volley of tear gas and pepper spray which is not just wafting across central and downtown athens. let me show you the pictures. the crowd has been pushed relentlessly back from that wall. you can see the riot police now moving into place and what's happened is, that the people have just been pushed further and further back into the crowd. over here you can see some orange dye. i'm not sure you can see it now. now they're firing orange dye canisters, huge amounts of tear gas, and over by the stairs there, if i can see the stairs in the middle, which is just pushing the crowd even further back. what the object is -- what the object is isn't clear, ali and christine, because the crowds will just move back into place. even if they do get these people out from around the parliament building they still have several thousand stuck in the middle of the square. so a deteriorating situation as the politicians get ready to vote themselves and it's looking likely, guys, that this will pass or be by a small majority. >> what's the latest on when it's going to happen or when it's likely based on what you can see and what you are hearing, what is likely to happen outside of parliament once that happens? does the decision defuse the energy in that square or get people more riled up? >> that, of course, is the question. and frankly, we won't know until it happens. the anger monk the two groups of people, excuse me. you've got to watch which way the flags are blowing because that shows you which way the tear gas is going. it's coming in my direction. once the vote takes place, ali, the anger is so deep seated, that there will certainly be the trade unionists, the legitimate protesters, who will be furious and may well take to the streets. but there is a hard core of anarchists, let me give you one example. when the fighting started i looked down and i saw one guy, he took off his shirt, put on a black shirt, gas mask, gloves and he got a baton and went in to fight and that's the call causing all this trouble at the moment. i think what the police are trying to do, is prepare as best they can for when that vote happens. they want people as far away as possible and if i look over, ali, i think we are going to have to pause here. the tear gas is coming full right up here to where -- >> get out of that and get cover and back to us as soon as you see any new developments there. richard quest and diana magna is there, a full team covering the story. >> the issue for our crews on the balcony. yesterday one of our crews was roughed up as things got heated. we're covering it as closely as we can. want to switch gears, a brazen and coordinated terror attack in kabul, afghanistan. officials say taliban militants stormed the hotel building, armed with guns, grenades, wearing suicide vests. some blew themselves up. eight suicide bombers were killed in that battle with afghan and nato forces. eight civilians and two police officers also died. one of the hotel guests telling cnn he could hear the gunfire from his room. >> i was on the fourth floor up in my room. i had just come back from dinner and the lights are out so it's pitch-black dark and we just heard gunshots sporadically and then some explosions from here and there. then the thing that i think i'm sure made everybody scared was that the explosions seemed to be getting closer and closer and closer. eventually i heard gunshots, it sounded like it was on my floor. >> the smoke could still be seen rising at daybreak from kabul's famous hotel. hamid karzai is condemning that attack. a reporter from "the sunday times" newspaper is live in kabul. what do we know at this time? we know they have accounted for everyone in the hotel. we know the fighting and the fire are over. what's happening now? >> the fire is out, the building has been secured, but that was sounds far easier than, in fact, it was. there are 200 bedrooms in hoets tell behind me and it took afghan commandos and nato special forces more than five hours, first to fight their way through the building to clear it. of the eight it taliban suicide bombers who had stormed the building and five of them who ran on to the roof. it was only when a nato helicopter equipped with snipers arrived on the scene after 3:00 a.m. this morning, that they were able to pick off those gunmen on the roof and finally the afghan commandos with their nato mentors were able to maneuver through the building checking every single room not only for survivors, guests who had been hiding in their room, we heard how terrifying it must have been to be in there as the explosions tore through the building, corridors filled with smoke, but they were looking for remnants of the suicide squad. they didn't know how many people had come in and they were concerned there may have been more hiding out. they were right. it was some time before 8:00 this morning when the last suicide bomber detonated his vest and it was that explosion which triggered the fire on the fifth floor which has charred the building black. you can see the damage on the building behind me. >> jerome starkey in kabul, afghanistan, thank you so much for that. meantime here at home in nebraska, federal regulators this morning say two nuclear plants threatened by floodwaters from the missouri river are safe. a watchdog group for the nuclear power industry visited the fort calhoun plant yesterday. officials say that the facility is still safe. the plant's been off-line since april for refueling. it's not been up and generating power since then. and now to the fires in new mexico inching critically closer this morning to a major nuclear facility. the blaze is already prompting the evacuation of 10,000 los alamos residents and now the flames are within miles of the los alamos national laboratory. it's a nuclear science facility. reynolds wolf is live from los alamos, new mexico. the situation, obviously, very serious, but what is the main concern today? >> the biggest concern today is really the unknown of what the weather is going to bring, where the flames may spread. certainly huge concern here in los alamos at the laboratory facility itself. we've been talking over this big issue this morning having to do with the radioactive material. you've heard about that we had, of course, the lab director charles mcmillan, mentioned to us that the radioactive materials they've been storing there for many years are secured, in a safe spot. fire did come within several miles of that part of the facility, but thankfully that radioactive material is kind of on a slab, sort of a parking lot kind of area, away from a lot of the vegetation, from the foliage, so it's difficult for the fire to get to it. we're told those materials are secure. that was a big, big certainly concern for many people. i can tell you in this area in los alamos, you can hardly see a car. we saw one that came by a few seconds ago. one of the first we've seen in nearly an hour. this area was evacuated back on monday, kiran, and i'll tell you it was a very, very orderly thing. there wasn't a single fender-bender, not a single problem, but 10,000 to 12,000 people moved out. the big concern they're going to have is what they might deal with, what they might be fating in the next several days and weeks as the flames continue to spread. >> it sounds scary to say flames inching closer to perhaps the plutonium contaminated material, but can you paint the picture of how likely that is and how far we are away from that actually happening? >> well, according to the research facility, they say it's highly unlikely that it ever will happen because it is away from the foliage, it is away from any kind of plant material that could provide fuel for those fires. as a secondary measure, they've mentioned this is in a clear area, in a spot almost like if you will on a like a kind of a parking lot sort of facility. they also have flame retardant they can put on some of the waste if needed to help ward off the flames. they insist that everything is secure for the time being. >> all right. reynolds wolf for us at los alamos, we'll check in with you later. thanks so much. >> a lot of news going on this morning. we're covering greece, the wildfires. we're also covering the casey anthony trial. sunny hostin former prosecutor, great friend of our show, will be with us next for the latest on the casey anthony trial. there was some major developments yesterday and we're still waiting to see whether we're going to see casey on the stand. it's 11 minutes after the hour. 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[ male announcer ] new bengay cold therapy. the same technology used by physical therapists. welcome back to "american morning." a dramatic day in the casey anthony murder trial. disturbing testimony from the meter reader roy kronk who discovered little caylee's remains. he described that horrific day. >> held the bag out. after like the third shake the contents of the bag shifted and i looked down at my feet and that's when i discovered the skull, basically at my feet. >> all right. cnn lead contributor sunny hostin here with us this morning. the defense said they were going to paint this guy as morally bankrupt, trying to profit from all of this. did they do that? >> i don't think they got that. they needed a home run and i would like to say they sort of got a bunt. they said morally bankrupt individual and they made such a big deal out of it in opening statements and i know when he got on the witness stand the jury sort of leaned forward, they were riveted and it fizzled out. i don't think he appeared to be a morally bankrupt individual. >> he sold the photo. >> he got $15,000 from abc, $10,000 from crime line. certainly the circumstances around his discovery of the remains were curious. he called 911 three times in august. >> is that his fault he called 911 three times or the police fault for not showing up? if you get a call that says i think i found a human skull and sort of ignored -- >> no follow-up. when someone did follow-up the police officer apparently tried to get up the embankment and slid down and fell and berated him for 30 minutes for wasting his time and that police officer has been suspended. you're right. the circumstances around the 911 calls are explainable and then he found the skull in december, yet again in the same place where other searchers have been searching. it's still curious but i don't think the defense got as far as they needed to do. >> what are they trying to do? they're trying to say -- >> this is interesting. they're trying to say he somehow got ahold of caylee's remains, kept them and then dumped them in, you know, in the forest. >> to gain fame and fortune. >> fame and fortune. >> the only good thing this does do for the defense, unfortunately, it basically brings up the reasonable doubt that those remains were not tampered with. when you're talking about the duct tape and prosecution theory duct tape was around her face -- >> they had points there. when roy crank found her remains he used his meter reader stick and put it in the eye socket and moved things around. i think the defense is going to argue the duct tape was moved and the instrument of murder for the prosecution's theory. i think that in and of itself was good for the defense, but other than that lot of fizz. >> what about the testimony that the jury didn't hear yesterday? >> they didn't hear jesse grund's testimony. there was a proffer outside of the jury's presence. the judge is determining whether or not that information is going to come in. he testified that casey anthony told him years ago that lee anthony sexually abused her. >> her brother. >> her brother. tried to touch her. and she didn't want caylee around lee. >> the former fiance, the guy testifying. >> that's significant evidence. she has said all along not only lee anthony abused her, her father abused her. >> he they didn't let the jury hear it. >> they think it's hearsay and i tend to agree. the jury may not hear it. it's an out of court statemented after in court to prove the truth of it and i don't know that that's going to come in. >> good to see you. this may be the last week of this trial and we still may see casey anthony on the stand. here's what's all new this morning. the fbi now reportedly trying to find out who is responsible for grave mix-ups at arlington national cemetery. "the washington post" says an investigation has been under way for six months. a senate report found that cemetery had lost track of or mishandled more than 6,000 sets of remains of military heros. many of them may be lost forever. >> check your medicine cabinets especially if you haven't cleaned it out in a while. johnson & johnson is recalling 61,000 bottles of tylenol over a moldy musty odor. >> isn't this an old story? >> this is a new story. j&j has had so many recalls over the past year. the company says the odor may be linked to a chemical preservative that could cause minor gastro sbes al problems. the bottles made back in february 2009 but still may be out there. >> people hang on to the stuff for a long time. a southwest airlines pilot is apologizing to his colleagues. you heard the rant i'm sure. this was caught over the microphone back in march. where he made fun of gay, overweight and older flight attendants or in his words gays, grannies and grandes and singled out houston flight attendants as the ugliest group of them all. captain james taylor wrote a letter saying, quote, i deeply regret the derogatory remarks i made and hurt i caused and i would like to extend a special apology to all flight attendants and especially those of houston. i hope you will allow me to maintain a working relationship with all of you to provide me an opportunity to extend an individual personal apology to each one of you whenever we fly together. >> when you got a layover in houston may want to go back to his hotel early. >> that letter takes away all of the stings of the nasty things he said, not. >> this was a microphone internal, wasn't heard by passengers. >> right. air traffic control. >> other pilots yeah. >> other people heard it. wow. enough people heard it he's in trouble. no crying in first class on malaysia airlines if you're a baby. you can't be a baby in first class in malaysia airlines. they are banning them on their long haul 747 flights to places like sydney, london and amsterdam. the ceo says there were too many complaints of first class passengers who spent big money and couldn't sleep because of screaming infants. still have babies, on the overseas flights, they have three classes, have a baby in business class, coach. >> but the parents of the babies spend big money to be in first class. >> i travel a lot on planes. i don't have an issue. i have been kept up by crying babies. babies cry. >> you're very sweet. 99% of people do not agree with you. >> and i don't travel with babies. >> you can deal with a crying baby from houston to chicago, but i don't know about, you know, all the way to malaysia. >> when my -- >> crying babies stop crying sometimes. >> sometimes. >> my father-in-law hears a baby crying he says that's the sound of america singing. >> nice. >> isn't that sweet. let's go to the sound of rob marciano giving us the weather for the morning. 19 mind after the hour. >> i don't know what kind of financial bracket you guys are in, but i get upgraded to first class but never paid for first class. >> sweet. >> feel a little differently there, you know. >> that's nice. is that what it sounds like up here, crying babies. >> good morning, guys. flying down to mexico be aware, tam picchu, hit with a tropical storm, arlene in the bay of campeche. southern parts of the gulf of mexico but heading due west, a little flooding with this not going to strengthen much more than tropical storm status at this stage of the game. some of this moisture we're hoping gets caught up in the monsoon and gets dumped into the areas dealing with the fires. doesn't look like a lot of that is going to happen but we're certainly hoping that may make a dent in this extreme drought and extreme fire danger, the call again today for much of the southwest. the heat will be building back up across the parts of the southern plains. you've seen a little front finally go through the northeast and clear things out just a little bit. there's the heat building across parts of the plains. extreme heat watch in effect for this area. up right through saturday morning. new york wind, salt lake city, wind, and late seasonal rainfall across san francisco. 65 degrees for the high temperature there. 81 in new york. nice. 80 degrees expected in chicago. guys, i'll talk to you guys later. first class, get out and enjoy it. ear plugs, always travel with the ear plags. >> totally right. thank you. >> hard to hear the movie though. >> that's true. that's true. hard to hear the businessman snoring. >> in first class you see more with the noise canceling head phones. >> that drowns out anything. >> even your own crying baby. >> hard to sleep with those. "nieooek" new coverry, thiss the subject of great controversy this morning and our question of the day. is this diana cover a tribute or tacky. >> we've gotten a lot of lot of responses. 90% of the ones i'm getting on twitter say tacky, tacky, horrible, tacky, tacky, is much too kind of a word. harsher word. >> tina brown issued a statement saying she wanted to bring to life the memory of diana in an image that reflects time. most of the people don't like it. >> e-mails, tweets, tell us on facebook. more of your thoughts later on in the show. protein! really? 25 grams of protein. what do we have? all four of us, together? 24. he's low fat, too, and has 5 grams of sugars. i'll believe it when i--- [ both ] oooooh... what's shakin'? [ female announcer ] as you get older, protein is an important part of staying active and strong. new ensure high protein... fifty percent of your daily value of protein. low fat and five grams of sugars. see? he's a good egg. [ major nutrition ] new ensure high protein. ensure! nutrition in charge! 24 1/2 minutes after the hour. the business headlines. the dow rose about 1.2%, more than 148 points on good news of housing prices. the nasdaq and s&p 500 made gains. protesters at this hour clashing with police on the streets of athens. it's day two of a general strike there. lawmakers in athens have just started voting on tax increases and spending cuts. you're looking at live pictures of the debate and voting going on right now in parliament. they need to secure more money from the european union to avoid a default. u.s. stocks are poised to follow gains in world markets on optimism the austerity vote increase would pass. this just in, bank of america announcing an $8.5 billion settlement, $8.5 billion settlement with professional investors over sour mortgages packaged up and sold before the housing bubble burst. bank of america stock is up more than 2% in premarket trading, riding those reports. president obama will hold a news conference later today and could address mounting pressure about the federal budget. one washington think tank reports the u.s. treasury will not be able to pay about $35 billion of its monthly bills if lawmakers fail to raise the debt ceiling on time. social security checks, medicare payments, federal worker, military paychecks are all at risk. there simply isn't enough money without borrowing to run the government we have now. also on capitol hill, republicans and democrats agree to reinstate funding to american workers who lose their jobs to outsourcing. a big win for the obama administration. debate over the trade adjustment assistance program which expired back in february has tied up free trade negotiations now for months. more reports fueling talks of a tech bubble today. zynga could be the next company to file for an initial public offering. "the wall street journal" reporting they could file as early as today at a value of maybe $20 billion. that doubles the price tag of the start-up which makes on-line games like you know it, farmville and many others played on facebook. all right. don't forget for the latest news about your money, check out the all new cnnmoney.com. "american morning" will be right back right after this break. tioh expedia. make it work. booking a flight by itself is an uh-oh. see if we can "stitch" together a better deal. that's a hint, antoine. ooh! see what anandra did? booking your flight and hotel at the same time gets you prices hotels and airlines won't let expedia show separately. book it. major wow factor! where you book matters. expedia. you're gonna have the hottest car on the block. [ airplane engine rumbles ] show me the carfax. yeah, show me the carfax. we...we ran out. what? just show me the carfax. before you buy a used car, get a carfax vehicle history report. see accidents and service reported to carfax and a price based on the car's history. free, at thousands of reputable dealers. just say, show me the carfax. crossing the half hour this morning. welcome back to "american morning." a new denial coming from the syrian government it's targeting anti-government protesters. the regime is still insisting to cnn that it is only attacking armed groups. but protesters who again took to the streets last night, are telling a very different story. cnn is the only u.s. television network in syria. our hala gorani joins us live from damascus this morning. you had a chance to catch up with a u.s. congressman who's on a fact-finding mission there as well? >> dennis cue sin nifrp the congressman from ohio, i ran into him in the lobby of a hotel before his visit was publicized. you can imagine my surprise when i saw him standing there with his wife elizabeth. i asked him what he was doing in syria. he said he met with president bashar al assad for three hours. the next day he briefed reporters on what was said and there was some controversy in the united states over this trip, that it was legitimizing a regime, a regime that is still cracking down on its citizens according to activists, more than 1,300 people have been killed in this country by various accounts since mid-march. so i asked him how he responded to that criticism and what he was doing in syria, what he hopes to achieve. this is what he said. listen. >> hear what they had to say. i think it's really important that people were involved in making policy hear from both sides. >> all right. i also asked him then about this controversy regarding his visit. he got some bad press, to be honest, in the united states and he said i'm here to listen to all sides. i also met with [ inaudible ] but i asked him if he met with opponents that represent demonstrators in the streets and he met with those opponents he was able to contact and that presumably did not include all opponents. there was a dissidents meeting in damascus a few days ago and many of those who have been out on the streets, those who represent them abroad, say those who met in damascus do not speak for them. so that is really kind of the picture here regarding dennis kucinich's visit, as well as what's going on in the capital. all the while, demonstrations are continuing across the country, kiran. >> pressure certainly still on. hala gorani for us this morning, thanks so much. back to breaking news in greece. the vote to tighten that country's economic belt for a second time has reportedly been delayed. we're not sure for how long. it was supposed to take place some time around now as you can see pictures in parliament, there is still debate under way. now outside parliament, outside the greek parliament, police have been using tear gas in the last hour to keep thousands of protesters back. you're looking at live pictures of it now. all morning there's been this back and forth between protesters and police. what has happened in the last hour is police have pushed the protesters some distance, trying to create a perimeter around the parliament building so if the news comes out that the vote has gone through, something that has to happen for greece to get its bailout, police are hoping to be able to control what's going on. i'm not sure whether these are live or earlier. this is from earlier, a scuffle, one many we had seen between police and protesters getting violent. a general strike going on for two days, unclear as to whether the people getting into scuffles with police are part of the unions on strike or protesters or anarchists, depending on who you listen to, could be any of that group. we'll continue to follow that story for you and bring you an update as soon as that vote goes through. breaking this morning, karzai is condemning the attack on the intercontinental hotel that killed ten and the attackers. nato and afghan troops engaged in a nearly four hour standoff. all eight were killed. new information about the role that afghan forces played in securing the hotel. cnn's barbara starr is following the developments, live at the pentagon. barbara, initially we were hearing that this was hailed as a success for afghan forces. but ultimately we're hearing until nato forces showed up they weren't able to get this situation under control? >> ali, nato, isaf forces are making the case this morning, this was led by afghan forces, the afghan minister of the interior was on scene, the kabul police was on scene. they are saying nato did not save the day, that the afghans really led the way. that said, we have some new information about the role that isaf, the role coalition forces did play. there was, in fact, an isaf special forces advisory team on-site at the hotel, assisting with all of this, advising the afghans on how to proceed. there was, we now can confirm, a u.s. military blackhawk that overflew the hotel with a sniper team on board. that sniper team came from another country. they have not disclosing, but it was a u.s. military blackhawk that flew over the hotel at night. that sniper team shooting at at least six insurgents on the roof. what we also know is that a u.s. military predator, an unmanned drone flew over the hotel as the attack was unfolding providing critical intelligence about what was going on so the afghan and nato forces, isaf forces could put the whole picture together and develop the counterattack. as we look at this the morning after, it was essentially isaf and nato that were dealing with the situation on the roof as the afghan forces moved into the hotel and drove the attackers up to the roof, essentially leaving them no place to go but make no mistake, this was one of the most serious situations in kabul in some time. ali? >> generally speaking to the bravely and capability of the afghan forces but saying it was nato technology that helped close that deal. >> absolutely. >> interesting analysis on it. barbara, thanks very much for that. we'll continue to check in as this develops. later this morning, president obama holds his first formal news conference since he joined efforts to break the stalemate over raising america's debt ceiling and with the august 2nd deadline looming, quickly approaching, the president will again meet with senate leaders today. democratic senate dick durbin meeting with part of the leadership. he joins me live from washington. good morning. the president's influence in this debate, how important is it and how dug in are both sides? what we see from where we're sitting are republicans who refuse to raise taxes and democrats who refuse to make the deep, deep, deep cuts you to make if you're not raising taxes. how do we move these two sides closer? >> i thought we were moving closer last week and then the republican leader eric cantor of virginia walked out of the vice president's negotiations and said i'm going to give this to the president now and the speaker. they better take over. we're into a new round of negotiations. i was on the deficit commission and we need to put everything, everything on the table. let's sit down like grownups and get this resolved. if we let this debt ceiling expire, it will be catastrophic to the american economy and the global economy and we'll be faced with a prospect of deciding whether to pay social security recipients in august or our troops in the field. >> right. >> we never want to be in that position. >> the first wednesday of the month in august, if the debt ceiling isn't raised, the treash treasury secretary has to decide which bills to pay. about a $20 billion shortfall. you will have a huge payment that needs to go to senior citizens, all these things you mentioned as well, troops in the field. interest on america's debt. our understanding is the treasury secretary would pay the interest on the debt first, if you default our bills skyrocket because we have to pay higher interest rates. every dollar america spends 38 cents is borrowed. you and your colleagues have to use your best political skills ever to fix the longer term problem and address the short-term problem. can you do it? >> we can do it and we have a road map. the bowl simpson commission would reduce our national debt by $4 trillion over a ten-year period of time and we would take it from spending cuts number one, on both the security and nonsecurity side, we take it for increased revenue, by taking some of what i consider to be indefensible deductions and credits in our tax code and reducing them. >> the republicans are firm, that's why eric cantor walked out last week, they do not want anything that smells like raising a tax. >> but you see, that kind of a position means we're not serious about deficit reduction. there are two ways to reduce the deficit, cut spending, increase revenue. we have to do both if we're serious. if we wan to continue to posture for the next election to take positions that may be popular with our base constituency we're not going to meet the needs of america. that's what the bowles simpson commission told us, i believe it. >> is it possible to have a short-term bandage. some senate leaders and white house have been kind of shy on this, but could you try to push through something shorter term, address it again, but at least get -- i think you called it a down payment on this subject so we don't default or don't run up against that debt ceiling again in the beginning of august? >> there are two guiding principle on capitol hill and washington and that is, never do today what you can put off until tomorrow and when in doubt, split the difference. we've got to get beyond it. we have a serious financial crisis. listen to the news you're reporting from greece and portugal and ireland. we are borrowing i think it's a little more than 38 cents for every dollar we spend. if we are serious about getting this economy on track we have to be serious as legislatures. it means congressman cantor and others have to face the reality that we need to sit down in a room and face revenue as democrats have to face entitlements. >> republicans will say the reason we're borrowing 38 cents of every dollar because democrats have been spending too much money. >> well i can tell you this, on january 1st this year, 9,000 americans turned the age 65. january 22nd another 9,000. and every single day since and the next 19 years the baby boomers who have paid faithfully into social security and medicare are arriving for their benefits. to say we're going to spend more to help them of course we are. it was a promise and contract made. let's do it by saving money, by reducing spending and moving us toward a balance that we need for our economy to prosper. >> you'll be meeting with the president and other colleagues later this afternoon after that press conference, we will be awaiting to see what kind of progress you can make. thank you so much, sir. >> thanks, christine. coming up on "american morning," we are going to hear from the other side, senator kaye bailey hutchinson joins us as the pressure mounts as the debt talks continue in washington. what are republicans prepared to do? 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[ major nutrition ] new ensure high protein. ensure! nutrition in charge! 44 minutes past the hour. the pressure is on, the deadline is around the corner but lawmakers cannot agree on the nares's debt. joining us now to weigh in on the budget talks, senator kay bailey hutchinson of texas. >> thank you, kiran. >> before the break we heard from senator dick durkin, your colleague, he said everything is on the table, it has to be, and members of congress need to sit down and act like grownups. he's upset the gang of six talks broke up after eric cantor said there was really nowhere to go with this. is there room for agreement on this issue? >> oh, yes, there's definitely room for agreement. i think we all realize that a $14 trillion debt is unsustainable. and we need to go forward with a plan, a reform, of the way we spend, which is why the balanced budget amendment is going to be introduced today that will put a cap on spending of 18% of our gross domestic product. that will put us on a glide path to never have this situation again. >> so democrats are saying that it needs to be trying to find new sources of revenue in addition to some cutting of spending. of course republicans want to see much more cutting than revenue growth in the form of taxes. but i want to ask you about what you think of some of these specifics. democrats want to end oil subsidies, get rid of a tax break for corporate jets, limit writeoffs if you make more than $500,000 a year. are you opposed? >> i think some of those things like corporate jets, i mean, i don't think anyone would argue with not doing expensing for corporate jets, but when you talk about oil subsidies, oil and gas doesn't get anything that every business doesn't get. you deduct your expenses. why should oil and gas be singled out? especially in a time when we need more sources of energy to bring the costs down. why would you single out one industry. that's -- that is what we don't understand. why would we raise taxes on employers at a time when we have a 9% unemployment rate in this country? we want to create jobs. we want to encourage business to hire people. >> let me just say one thing, democrats would say, the reason that you single out that industry is because they are one of the most profitable and you would raise $72 billion over five years if you did eliminate that tax break. >> why would you single out an industry because they do well? right now, the democrats with their leadership have put the big oil companies in a different category from the little oil producers, the independents. because they think that big oil makes too much. well big oil is a company that we want to be successful, we want their employers -- employees to make money, we want a pension plan. i mean. >> why would we single out -- >> are you in favor of some of the plans, some of the proposals that say look, let's just end all the loopholes, have a flat across-the-board corporate tax break and forget all of the other loopholes and tack breakt breaks and see how that goes. >> i would love it. if it is low and you know our corporate tax rate is among the highest in the world, if we had a low corporate tax rate, no deduck shuns, everyone is treated the same. >> economic experts point out we say we have the highest, but that in actuality, people don't actually pay it. g companies like ge that end up paying nothing. >> that's because they're doing business overseas, it's more cost effective for them to do business overseas. if we could repatriate that money and tax it at a reasonable rate, i think we would have a lot more manufacturing and a lot more jobs in america. >> let's get back to the debt ceiling. we have this august 2nd deadline around the corner. the treasury is warning it runs out of money to pay its bills and the bipartisan policy center is predicting if you fail to raise that ceiling treasury would have to cut 44% of federal spending to prevent a default. what bills should not get paid in your opinion? >> i think that we do need to send the signal that we're not going to raise the debt ceiling unless there is reform in spending. otherwise, we'll be in this same position in six months. we cannot do that. >> you believe that this is chicken little? that they're saying that really, this is not as bad, being described as potentially opening the door to chaos, that world markets that are markets will plunge, you don't buy any of that? >> i think the markets should take the signal that we are going to hold out for real reform and not have this excessive debt which is bringing down some countries in europe and could happen to us as well, we're on a spending binge that is unsustainable. i don't think that we should do anything on the debt ceiling without the reform that will show we are not going to get in this position again. we cannot have inflation which will happen if we don't cover our expenses and show that we're going -- >> when we come down to the wire on august 3rd, what bills don't get paid first? >> well, i think you pay the interest on the debt so that you do keep your integrity in the market. you pay social security. you pay the people in the military out there on the front lines fighting for our freedom. you do the things that are essential and this is where i think the administration will be tested. if they won't make an agreement that will have spending reforms, if they start doing the "chicken little" thing not paying social security recipients or people in our military or interest on our debt and instead choose to cut the things that will hurt the most but not the things that they could cut responsibly, that's going to be the test that they're not serious. >> i got you. i know you've come forward with an interesting plan, laid out specifically about social security and solutions for that. i know it's getting the round on youtube and so we're going to link it up so people can check out your plan as well. thank you for your time. senator kaye bailey hutchinson, thanks for us this morning. >> thank you, kiran. live pictures we are watching from los alamos in new mexico. a nuclear laboratory is there. fire threatening this facility. we are told the nuclear materials 16,000 of nuclear contaminated waste material is secure, it is away from foliage and the like that could burn. live pictures from toat of the fire moving in on this facility. we are going to continue to monitor this for you and talk about the safety of the situation there and what they are doing to secure that material, but, clearly, the whole place has been evacuated. >> reynolds wolf is there and said right now it's not threatened and several measures in place that the flames are not burning near it but it wants you eerie to think this is how close the flames are getting to it. we have teams live in greece and lawmakers still debating very, very tough measures that are needed to save that country. country from financial ruins, but as you can see, live pictures in the streets. continuing protests and clashes with police. we will be live with that when we come back. also your question of the day this morning is "newsweek" diana at 50 cover where they have photo shopped her in there with her daughter-in-law she has never met. is this a tribute to the princess or is this tacky? e-mail us and read some comments after the break. princess diana would have turned 50 on friday. the people's princess is now gracing the cover of "newsweek" magazine. the picture is really, frankly, creeping some people out. >> it is is a age predicted photo and she is strolling along catherine, the daughter-in-law she never knew and tina brown of "newsweek" if she were alive today what would she be like now? zain verjee has more on the controversy over there and she is live in london. i did a double-take this morning when i saw that. creepy is a good word but a little disturbing to see that. >> that would be the general consensus what we are seeing. people don't think it's brilliant and the majority of people think it's a little bit of tacky and a little bit creepy but you know what? it is grabbing the attention of so many people around the world, as well as here. if you open up "newsweek" magazine, tina brown has written a piece there, and talks about things like if diana was alive today, she would have remarried twice and she would have had more than 10 million followers on twitter. it also goes on and cite "newsweek" to say comparing the fashion senses between diana and kate, there is a fake facebook page, guys, of princess diana and another doctored picture in there of her holding a white iphone. you know, it is causing a lot of outrage. what we did is contacted "newsweek" magazine just to kind of get their take on the effect it's having and tina brown, the editor and chief of "newsweek" wrote this. we wanted to bring the memory of diana alive in a vivid image that transcends time, and reflected my piece. it's all she wanted to say. the backlash is big udebits getting the attention. >> sure is. thank you, zain. >> we have been asking you about our question of the day. is this tribute or tacky? here is what i got from twitter. it says it's a tribute. i'd like to think diana and kate would have liked each other. >> also we heard from 24 in my mind on twitter. that cover is just so horrible. elevated the national enqier to scholarly journal. >> if the work had been done well, maybe people wouldn't be so upset but as it is, the pickets look disturbing. >> can i put in my two cents? >> yeah. >> i wasn't bornled by it. i like the idea that tina brown is talking about what diana would have been like today, whether she would have been tweeting and what she would have been doing. the picture of the two of them together definitely makes you think for a second. >> the article is very interesting. >> yeah. >> because she is such a figure that her -- the interest in her continues on, even though she has passed away. so i get that. the photo shot picture, what she would tweet the dalai lama. >> don't judge an article by its cover. >> keep your tweets coming. we will read more of your thoughts late in the program. things are erupting in greece as workers fill the streets. they are fighting with police. tear gas is flying. europe's economy is hanging in the balance right now. by the way, if things don't go well in greece, it's going to affect you right here. we're live in middle of it and bring you up-to-speed on the other side. ♪ we believe doing the right thing never goes unnoticed. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? i'm christine romans. breaking news this morning. greece tightening its belt again, sparking chaos on the streets of athens. an important vote happening right now to secure a major international bailout. protesters right now dodging tear gas canisters. we are live in athens with the very latest. >> i'm kiran chetry. kabul's most luxury famous hotel, the target of a terror attack. ten people killed. the taliban claiming responsibility. eight attackers also killed. most in a four-hour standoff with nato police and with afghan troops, as well as nato troops. >> i'm ali velshi. a southwest airlines pilot apologizing for a bash fest nen flight attendants calling them an endless stream of gays and grannies and grandes. the conversation they weren't supposed to hear in the cockpit but they did on this "american morning." good morning, it's wednesday, june 29th. i can't wait to hear from the apology from the southwest airlines pilot. i don't know if it will undo what did he but there you go. we start, first, with the situation growing more tense on the streets of annualenthens. the government is trying to save that country's economy and protect the global recovery as well. so on one side, you have protesters and, on the other, riot police, who have been firing tear gas to keep the thousands of demonstrators back. >> the new measures, if they are passed and they are expected to, means higher taxes and less pay for some workers and fewer government benefits, fewer government jobs, early retirement and less vacation and -- and later retirement is what i meant. cuts that people on the street who you're looking at insist are just too much. our richard quest is live in athens. you'll see him now. you saw him earlier. i believe he is wearing goggles now because the tear gas that is being sprayed -- being shot out in the square is reaching him. richard, give us the situation. >> reporter: yes. i apologize for the goggles but, frankly, you can just talk about talk with the tear gas but the sheer amount of tear gas, pepper spray that is lofting around this place makes it impossible because everything is fired at ground level, if the wind is blowing toward us, which it is, end up just about where we are. so apologies, for the lack of drama of it. it's difficult to say where the protesters are hoping to regroup now. ali, they seem to be regrouping on that side of the square. on this side where i am, the police have had a constrained and continued attack against the protesters, pushing them back, and that is why we have had so much tear gas sprayed just around where i am at the moment. in the parliament building behind me, in parliament, the debate is continuing. it's 3:00 in the afternoon here, ali. we thought that it would be over by now. but it's still going on. >> all right. richard, the thing, i guess, we are all looking for, we have a world that understands this has to happen, these measures have to pass, and a greek population who feels differently about this. when this passes, as it is likely to do, although it may be close, what is the reaction expected to be outside of parliament? >> reporter: well, i think i could probably just about remove these now, which would be a little bit easier. the reaction out here is the unknown. whether it just fizzles out, once the fait accompli of a vote is clear, or whether it's escalated to something far more serious. i was just talking to our producer here who is a student of these riots and has watched them over a year they have been taking place and she says what we are seeing here today is, by far, the worst that they have seen. it's consistent, it's determined, and the fact the tear gas going off again, it's likely to continue. when the vote takes place, i would suggest all bets are off, whether this becomes the litmus test for the protesters to go into overdrive. >> richard, christine here. senator kay bailey hutchison just told kiran look what is happening in the streets of athens and dick durbin talking about it too. they are watching what is happening there. it is at the core of a story that lived beyond its means and now has on get things -- get things back into balance. >> reporter: that's basically it. i mean, greece has to learn to live within its means. if you ask the protesters, they will shout abuse of goldman sachs, barclays, all of the banks that lent money in the good times. the more i they say, the more reasoned protesters and the anarchists will destroy the city, all they are here for. but the more reasoned protesters say what they want is a credible plan to reduce greece's debts, and that means banks taking haircuts, cutting the debts, cutting the loans. that, of course, is a default in the words of the financial community and that creates the bigger problems. so you have this catch-22. how does greece move forward without moving back? >> richard, we will stay on top of this with you. that vote is expected at some point this afternoon. your time this morning, our time. >> reporter: sure. the deadly terror attack on kabul's landmark international continental hotel. the fire is out and everyone is accounted for now following a sustained and deadly assault by suicide bombers. the militants stormed the hotel armed with guns and grenades. >> when it was all over, eight attackers were killed along with ten civilians. the taliban claimed responsibility. >> joining us on the phone is major russly bradley and wrote a book called "the lions of kandahar, the story of a fight against all odds." major, we had you with us here yesterday. thanks for joining us. you were talking about all of the progress made there. we were asking you about the security challenges, given the fact that the drawdown by u.s. troops is beginning. can you just give us your perspective on what possibly happened here at one of the most well-known hotels in kabul? >> hey, good morning, guys. thank you for having me again. i think what you have to understand is the attack in kabul at the hotel intercontinental is an example of the taliban folks and on, urban terrorism. the bottom line is this incident is not a sign or an indicator of anything that is politically driven. this is -- this is nothing more than a typical act by a terrorist organization and at the end of the day, you know, this is all of the taliban have to offer to the afghan people in the world. >> major bradley, a reminder, without a nato helicopter and without nato as they are called mentors to the afghan police, this wouldn't have ended. that's when it ended. it ended with intervention from nato. the people who are watching transition and how smoothly the transition is going, they are worried that without that help and those mentors, that the afghans are more helpless to these kind of attacks. what do you say to that? >> i think you know, as we discussed yesterday, i think you know, it is an example of the afghan national security forces making some significant security steps forward and expanding their capability but you're absolutely correct, we are still very much in an advisory role. we provided for the stickler operation and we provided spoke some significant logistical support, aviation support and i think these things will continue until we can build up, like we talked about yesterday, some of those capabilities, logistical capabilities within their military and takes a long time to train a helicopter pilot or, you know, a predator-drone pilot. >> we want to thank you for your take this morning. major bradley, always great to talk to you. thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you very much. no specific or credible information at home but fbi and homeland security both issuing a warning for people to remain vej li vigilant holiday season. in nebraska, federal regulators two nuclear plants threatened from the floodwaters is safe this morning. a group visited that ft. calhoun plant yesterday and the officials say the facility is still safe. the plant has been off line since april for refueling and not up and generating power. we will watch this story as it develops and bring you the latest. the wildfires in new mexico are on the move and dangerously close to the los al moss nuclear facility there. officials say all hazardous material are protected and the lab remains shut down. firefighters are scrambling to sustain the fire but the weather is not on their side. chief doug tucker will join us at 8:30 for an update on that. president obama for allowing the government to borrow more money. right now, an august 2nd deadline to raise the debt ceiling. >> earlier on "american morning," we had a chance to speak to both a republican and democrat senators about what is needed to move these talks forward. >> i'll tell you what i believe. we need to put everything, under line everything on the table. let's sit down like grown-ups and get this resolved. if we let this debt ceiling expire, it will be catastrophic to the american economy and the global economy. >> there's definitely room for agreement. i think we all realize that a 14 trillion dollar debt is unsustainable. and we need to go forward with a plan, a reform of the way we spend, which is why the balanced budget amendment is going to be introduced today. >> again, today, president obama is expect to meet with senate leaders including senator durbin who you just heard from. when president obama hoeds his news conference at the white house, 11:30 a.m. eastern and cnn will carry that live. a southwest airlines pilot is now apologizing to his colleagues for a cockpit rant that went out over the microphone back in march. captain james taylor is his name. you might recall his rant where he made vicious fun of gay, overweight, and older flight attendants and singled out houston flight attendants as, quote, the ugliest group of them all. let's listen. >> i was away for this. how did he -- he's still in his job? >> he entertained diversity training and flight attendants union were fighting that and were upset he wasn't removed from his job. and here is what james taylor says. southwest, again, said that he it suspended him and then he took a diversity class and was reinstated. >> by the looks of that, the diversity class really worked. he's a new person. >> totally new person, that's right. keep on the flying theme. no babies on board. which airline is batting babies from first class cabins? tell you on the other side. blue eyes are thought desirable to treat in some circles but not in baseball. the curse of the blue-eyed batter. we have amazing video you may not have seen before. 11 minutes past the hour. oh, we call it the bundler. let's say you need home and auto insurance. you give us your information once, online... [ whirring and beeping ] [ ding! ] and we give you a discount on both. sort of like two in one. how did you guys think of that? it just came to us. what? bundling and saving made easy. now, that's progressive. call or click today. 15 minutes past the hour. key testimony in the murleds trial of case f casey anthony. her former fiance took the stand after the jury left the courtroom and after the jury was gone, he told the courtroom that casey told him that her brother watched her while she was sleeping and that he groped her. the judge blocked him from testifying for the jury, calling it, quote, hearsay. in the meantime, meter reader roy kronk who discovered caylee's remains describes that horrific day. >> held the bag out. after like the third shake, the contents of the bag shifted and i looked down at my feet and that's when i discovered the skull was basically at my feet. >> he also recounted telling police on more than one occasion, three 911 calls made about possibly discovering the remains, the human remains. >> it was months later -- >> months later and a tropical storm later in the area before her remains were found. he picked up the bag and the contents moved. that is good for the defense in they are trying to argue that her remains were possibly tampered with. whitey bulger accusing the feds of leaking information to the press. he was in court yesterday and saying he is kept from getting a fair trial. he was a fugitive for 16 years and facing charges in 19 mob-related murders. a texas hotel shut down because of falling glass. happened at the w austin hotel. balconies fallen three times. panels this week crashed onto the ground and onto parked cars. earlier this month panels rains on the pool injuring two swimmers. they are working to replace all of the cal bonne balcony glass now at that hotel. passengers in first class saying i spent a lot of money on this and i can't sleep because a baby is yelling next to me so babies are not allowed i didn't more on first class on the long 747 flights to long places like sydney and amsterdam. >> you can keep your baby in coach. >> will somebody take care of the baby while you're up in first class? >> no. nailing a date down. nasa is ready for its grand finale. "atlantis" is schett to launch on july 8th. the final mission of the space program barring any delays. a 12-day journey delivering supplies to the international space station. once it comes home, american astronauts will hitch a ride for a little while on russian spacecraft and then russian spacecraft will than shuttling people and cargo to the international space station. >> don't miss "beyond "atlantis" the next frontier." >> rob marciano is in the extreme weather center for us right now. the sun was amazing. i think you are showing us the solar flares? >> you want to get to that? >> yes. >> this satellite was launched in february and look at this flare. there is arc of magnesium and solar energy in outer space. the size of the earth probably a hundred earths could fit within that arc. so a hundred earth just completely toasted if we were close enough to experience that event. >> wow! >> we have been in a solar minimum now and coming out of that. we should get into increased solar activity. there are some studies say we may be into some lesser amounts of solar activity but the next 10 to 11 years, we should see more action and amazing pickets from the solar dynamic observatory which would launch in peb. talk about satellites that point down to earth now. orbit about 22,000 miles and they look down and they see things like this which is tropical storm arlene. 175 miles east and making its way tonight or tomorrow morning as low or mid-range tropical storm. we could use the rain getting up to the monsoon. doesn't look a lot will do so. fire threats new mexico and colorado and arizona and fire danger is high there and heat rebuilding across parts of the midsecti midsection. cool and comfortable area across the northeast. we will see mild delays, i think, this afternoon. temperatures in the lower 80s from chicago to new york. lower 90s from atlanta to lower 100s in dallas. guys, back up to you. >> thank you. >> you bet. the red sox had the curse of the bambino. the cubs had the curse of the billy goat. now one major slugger says he is suffering from the curse of the blue eyes. reigning american league mvp josh hamilton is blaming his baby blues for his slump in day games. >> his batting average is over .250 points lower when the sun is out. blue or light colored eyes aren't as good at filterings the sun's glare. his solution? on saturday, he wore special contact lenses that that make him make his eyes appear red. for the record, did it help? he was over 4 with four strikeouts. >> why would that be different from wearing sunglasses? >> the glare. >> i don't know. >> got you. sounds like a good excuse for while you're batting so poorly! >> ouch! at last check, facebook's mark zuckerberg had a net worth of $13.5 billion. the new numbers and, go, did they jump. why twitter's cofounders are leaving. 21 minutes after the hour. there was a 93% increase in cyber attacks. in financial transactions... on devices... in social interactions... and applications in the cloud. some companies are worried. some, not so much. thanks to a network that secures it all and knows what to keep in, and what to keep out. outsmart the threats. see how at cisco.com cisco. it's 24 minutes after the hour. "minding your business" this morning. you're looking at live pictures right now of the greek prime minister speaking to parliament. he is inside the building and outside protesters are clashing with police on the streets of athens today. day two of a general strike there. lawmakers in athens are debating tax increases and spending cuts. these big cuts that they need to secure more money from the european union and avoid a debt default. a vote on the five-year austerity package is expected any moment. check on the markets. u.s. stocks poised to follow gains on optimism the austerity vote in greece will pass. right now the futures are all slightly in premarket trading. bank of america announces an 8.5 billion settlement with investors over bad mortgages that were packaged up and sold before the housing bubble burst. good news for bank of america its stock is up 5% from premarket trading this morning. tiger woods landing first endorsement deal since his sex scandal broke. japanese muscle balm. the first tv ads for the product featuring tiger woods will debut this friday. three of the cofounders of twitter are jumping ship to work on a new start-up they announced yesterday. where else? online. the trio helped launch that. five years ago. google plus is the latest move by that giant to tap into social media and billed as a competitor to facebook. you can video chat on this. mark zuckerberg now makes more than the google guys. the magazine says zuckerberg is now worth $18 billion. that after the wall street maneuvering this week and google guys are only worth about $17.5 billion. too bad. the magazine cover if princess diana were alive today. 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[ female announcer ] new from neutrogena naturals. when an investment lacks discipline, it's never this obvious. introducing investment discipline etfs from russell. visit russelletfs.com r a prospectus, containing the investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and other information. read and consider it carefully before investing. woohoo! yes! ♪ it was the best day ♪ it was the best day yeah! ♪ it was the best day ♪ because of you [echoing] we make a great pair. huh? progressive and the great outdoors. we make a great pair. right, totally. uh... that's what i was thinking. hmm. covering the things that make the outdoors great. now that's progressive. call or click today. >> it is half past the hour right now. we are taking a look at pictures in the streets of athens this morning. in greece, lawmakers are still debating this highly unpopular plan among the population there to cut spending and to raise taxes. this vote was actually supposed to happen in the last hour. the vote has been delayed as discussion continues and debate continues, but, meanwhile, outside of the greek parliament, police have been using tear gas to try to keep the thousands of protesters back. in egypt, dozens of protesters and police injured in clashes in cairo's tafhir square. they gathered to remember those who were killed in the country's revolution earlier in the spring. afghan president hamid karzai condemning the brazen attack on a hotel. afghan troops engaged in a standoff. karzai said their attempt will not succeed. u.s. troops draw down in afghanistan next month, some are questioning whether the military mission there can ever be considered a success. our next guests devote much of their time to rebuilding afghanistan. one of them, joan herring was portrayed by julia roberts in the movie "charlie wilson's war." >> as a member of the committee did you think that the southeast yet union invaded afghanistan? >> i believe my government was aware but wonder if they were thinking about doing anything about it other than boycotting the olympics which i think you'll agree was a ponce to the immigration threat we have faced since the cuban military crisis. >> joan herring is the author of the upcoming book "diplomacy in diamonds." with her is a volunteer who served in afghanistan as a naval commander and not speaking on behalf of the navy today. they are both in washington. welcome to both of you, doug and joanne. joanne, tell us in the simplest terms what these charities are trying to achieve in afghanistan. >> for the afghans to take care of themselves so fight their own battles and bring our commanders like doug home. the way we are doing it, ali, it takes five things. if you're hungry and the water is polluted, you can't fight and they are hungry and the water is polluted, so we are having organizations that are nonprofits that have been doing this for at least seven years successfully to work together and to simultaneously achieve all of the things that are necessary to strengthen the afghan people so that it doesn't become a terrorist training camp again. also how do we get an afghan army? 80% of them are illiterate, but we can have a man battle ready and reading in six months and train the women and children, of course, to take care of the village. then they have to have health care. it's polio and malaria capital of the world. it takes 50 cent sugar cube for polio. it takes $1.50 mosquito net for malaria. a woman dies every 45 minutes in childbirth. it costs a hundred dollars a month for midwife trained to help them. we can do this by utilizing these organizations that have already known how to do it, but they have to do it at the same time. that's what has never been done before. they have to have all five things, food, water, health care, jobs. >> doug, in fact, you did this in your spare time while you were on a one-year tour in afghanistan. you started a model village based on the stuff that joanne is telling us ps taking it out of a world of ideal and making it practical. tell us how this works out. >> i was there last christmas and visiting family in texas and read an article in the "houston chronicle" that outlined joanne's concept of a model village an realized the other volunteer work i have been doing in afghanistan, this fell in line with the ideals we were working and striving towards. when i got back to afghanistan, i talked with the folks i was working with and we decided that it was something that we could take on as a side project and i was able to work, you know, with the blessing of the -- my commander from my unit to work on my free time to pursue this and so between the three or four of us that were on our team, we were able to put together or select a village and put together a package that is going to, hopefully, make this -- make it a success. >> joanne, obviously, you and doug know about the military. you're an expert of this. you've understood military and military work in afghanistan for decades. but let's talk about something else that you think is key to success there. it is farmers and crops and soybeans. explain this. >> well, they are taking over the poppy fields and the soybeans you see provide the protein that the people need to have and also the women desperately need the protein to produce healthy babies. they have been at war for 30 years and not strong enough, but within one year, ali, we can change the whole face of afghanistan with very little money. in fact, we can do a village of 15,000 people for less than it takes to keep a commander in the field or a soldier in the field for one year. and we can do this! we can do it! but it's as hard as making madonna pope. >> the soybeans, you are helping them cultivate it. the idea you're trying to get people off of growing opium and selling that to the taliban and instead grow soybeans. is there enough of a market to make that viable? >> ali, they want to. even people are leaving the taliban to come out of the hills to do it. they want to do it. they just haven't had the resources to plant anything but poppi poppies. you see, if you start at the top and give them money to a government agency, it doesn't filter down to the people. if you go bottom up with the people getting the money and having somebody to train them, then the villagers and the leaders will raise themselves out of poverty and strengthen themselves. my whole dream is to bring our boys home and i made this speech to them, our soldiers and our girls, of course, forgive me, in the field and they -- 3,000 of them stood up and said we love you, joanne! you might have a tape of that. because they know, having been there, that the afghans will fight, they will fight for themselves, but they need help to do it. and we need the money to do it. my website is joanneherring.com. if anybody wants to help us, we would love to have you. remember, what we are doing is not something that hasn't been proved. these organizations that are doing it have been doing it for seven years successfully. >> we have been talking about this for a couple of days now, economic rebuilding in afghanistan as the answer to supplement the great military work that's being done by people like douglas ryan and others. joanne, thanks very much. joanne king herring and douglas ryan of the marshall charities. >> thank you. scrambling to protect a nuclear lab from fire. raging fire in new mexico. we will talk to the fire chief about the challenges of protecting nuclear material next. recommended most by dermatologists. neutrogena®, with technologies like helioplex... it provides the highest average spf and unsurpassed uva protection. neutrogena®. get the best. carol. fiber makes me sad. oh common. and how can you talk to me about fiber while you are eating a candy bar? 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[ male announcer ] fiber beyond recognition. fiber one. we're looking at live pictures right now from two different locations. one on the left is the parliament in greece and the other, on the rye, is the rioting in the streets of athens as this debate continues and the desperation grows. >> looks like voting has actually begun. if i'm reading this correctly, it appears they are tallying votes. looks like the vote, which has been delayed is under way at this point. there is still activity in the street. hard to gauge whether it's better or worse than it's been. it was definitely re vuf today earlier with direct clashes with protesters and police but then they created a bigger perimeter. >> you can see the haze of the tear gas still over the crowd as well as they are waiting to find out the outcome of that vote. these are live pictures. it is as the banner says, decision day in greece. five-year austerity plan. they will have to come up with billions of dollars and it's going to come out of the pockets of the greek people. the bailout money quite frankly, come out of the money of other yurps and why such an important issue for the entire place. >> what we are seeing right now, we are seeing more protesters than we saw earlier but it looks a little bit calmer than what we saw earlier. i mean, yesterday, we saw literally news trucks on fire. today, we witnessed tear gas being fired, as well as clubbing. >> clubbing and fighting between protesters and police. >> it looks a little bit calmer right now. it could be the snapshot we are seeing there and you're still hearing the tear gas being fired. it's a country and nation on edge as they await this vote. also you can't predict, as richard quest said, what will happen on the streets after the vote comes. >> you can imagine in a close vote with all of these politicians knowing what is going on outside. i have no political future left if i go against everybody. we are awaiting this and as soon as we get this vote, we will bring that to you and we will bring you the reaction from the streets of athens. at the moment, stock markets are betting the austerity plan will pass and greece will do to get the bailout they need. >> these are difficult decisions that countries have to make when they have been living beyond their means too long. obviously, this country is much smaller than the united states, about the size of washington, but hawks in this country look what is happening on the streets of greece saying if we don't get our own act together here and do things gradually and wisely. >> could we confront this. i think we probably won't, but that is what some people are bringing up. we switch gears to wildfires in new mexico. inching critically closer to a blaze of a nuclear facility. prompting the evacuation of 10,000 los alamos residents and fierce winds spreading these flames. joining us now from los alamos is fire chief doug tucker. thank you for joining us. i know you have so much hard work to do. tell us. you have managed to -- the fire is everyoncroaching on the faci. you have taken extensive precautions to it make sure there is not any issues at the nuclear lab. >> we feel comfortable the material is secure and fire will not get to it. >> what kinds of precautions have you taken? >> first, a whole layer process and the lab takes great strains to contain that material and deep that material safe. on any given day, it's safe. right now, it's all locked up and really no issue. the area it's in is well protected and there is no wildland next to that area. >> we know that area g is where there are 10,000 waste containers above ground, 6,000 below ground. there are 55-gallon drums and referred to as waste containers. you tell us the fire is not threatening area g. it's within, you know, two miles away? >> that's right. the fires have been two miles and also there is another layer of protection there sitting on blacktop and drums can take some heat. they just have some waste in them. it's not high level rad waste and we believe we can protect them and foam them if they catch fire. they have vents in them and they will vent with a hepa filter and no release of any toxic materials. >> you have them on asphalt, blacktop and no foliage or organic material around them that can ignite there. the hope there. what is the wind, the weather and where the flames are going and how much control you have over it. >> well, we have no control over the weather. >> i mean, over the fire. you know what i mean. >> okay. over -- the weather is a major player in this fire because it's going to decide which way the fire decides to go. the winds have been pretty heavy. today, it should be fairly mild. we have little humidity. the weather is working with us right now. the winds out of the south, southwest and, yesterday, actually pushing the fire back on itself until late last night when it started running the ridges. we are looking for a great day in which we can go in and put some more anchors in and feeling pretty good at the south of the laboratory. we have a small spot fire that hit the laboratory two days ago. about one acre and quickly able to get on that and eliminate that. we still have the potential of spotting on to the lab and the town site. >> it's interesting. a big fire, i think in 2000, right? it turned through a lot of the area. what have you learned and what kind of precautions from previous fires so close to the facility and how much better prepared do you think you are? >> we have had ten years to prepare since 2000 the sierra grande fire. we did a lot of investigation. we took a look at the area g you are talking about and yesterday they were mitigating and removing fine fuels and flashy fuels from around the area. so what we have learned is if we have buildings that have a protectional area, an area we can can get in and get our firefighters out safely, we can protect those buildings. we have done a lot of mitigation. the lab has spent millions of dollars protecting that facility from wildfire. >> thank you so much for joining us, chief doug tucker from the los alamos fire department. bet of luck to you as you fight that blaze. thank you. >> thank you. >> 46 minutes affair the how are you. t we have both? [ male announcer ] old el paso. hard and soft tacos. ♪ feed your fiesta. . live pickets and breaking news out of athens this morning. a vote is under way right now. you see that on the left side of your screen. that is in greece's parliament. the government's plan to cut spending and raise taxes, a huge issue. on the right, you see the fallout. some of the protests have happened all day and the last 48 hours. it has drawn thousands of protesters in the streets of athens. futures in market up on optimism that the austerity vote in greece will, indeed pass. the dow and nasdaq and s&p 500 are all up in premarket trading. karzai condemning the brazen attack on a hotel that killed four people. nato and afghan troops engaged in a four-hour standoff and eight attackers killed. the kabul attack will likely be address inside president obama's news conference at 11:30 a.m. and cnn will carry it live. a court hearing set for jared loughner. today, his lawyers want to stop doctors from giving him mind-altering drugs to treat his schizophrenia and arguing it violates his rights. hurricane season is here and tropical storm arlene now becomes the first named storl of the season. it's expected to hit northeastern mexico as early as tonight. you're caught on today's headlines. ♪ that is beautiful! that is new york city. right now, 72 degrees. the weather report says partly cloudy but i'm going to call it partly sunny. >> you know about the weather. >> it was going up to 80. that's kind of a perfect little window. 72 now going up to 80 and partly sunny. >> i hate to burst your bubble. the humidity is ridiculous. when we were coming in, did you notice there was steam on the windows entering the building? >> but cooler than a lot of places right now. princess diana would have turned 50 on friday. zain verjee is live in london with more on the controversy over tlich over there. >> we are talking about the cover of "newsweek." >> yes. putting her next to her daughter-in-law. >> reporter: people are saying it's creepy and tasteless and some people are saying it's grabbing headlines and it wasn't such a bad idea. look at the cover and let viewers decide for themselves. you can see it's kind of a casual stroll down the street with princess diana and kate middleton there. when you read the article in "newsweek" magazine, it also actually has a fashion face-off between princess diana and kate middleton and showing what what their styles were. it also has a fake princess diana facebook page and also digitally modified, another photograph that shows her carrying an iphone. the article goes on to say if she was alive she would have remarried twice and she would have had more than 10 million twitter followers. so, yeah, it grabs the headlines but i didn't really like seeing that, to be honest. what did you think? >> alternate history things always kind of creep me out. what would have happened if jfk were still alive. >> i didn't mind the article. a thoughtful article by tina brown. they aged her digitally and put her head on another -- but that is not even her dress. they removed the head of somebody else and put her head on t right? i don't think that was her dress. >> tripped out. >> maybe it was her dress. zain, was it? >> reporter: i'm not sure if it was her dress to be honest. a lot of the chatter around our newsrooms, she was an icon. we just had the royal wedding. what would it be like for prince harry to look at this. everyone was asking on wedding day what if diana was here, you know? it's a pity. so it's just like tugs on everybody's, i guess, emotional heart strings a little bit on that one because she was such an icon for all of us. >> it certainly has all of us talking about it. tina brown, the editor, said it was meant to -- >> shakes things up. >> exactly. go ahead. >> reporter: sorry. we did call "newsweek" and tina brown did issue a statement and basically said we wanted to bring the memory of diana alive in a vivid image that transcends time and reflected my piece. that is what they are saying to all of the criticism today. >> our question of the day. >> why did they have to digitally age her. >> oh, stop. our question of the day, as you said. here is what some have said about "newsweek" with princess diana on it. who has got this? oh, got it. this is diane. sorry. a little slow this morning. i was, am a diana fan so i thought it was fun to see what she might have looked like. are there more newsworthy subjects to cover? absolutely. i think diana would have loved kate. >> sue writes poor kate. already compared to diana at every turn and now this? let's give kate a break and let diana rest in peace. >> peter says not so much tacky as maybe irrelevant and inane. is it "newsweek" or newsweak? >> a lot of critics said all of this is irrelevant including the royal wedding. ratings say they loved the coverage of. in a world the bad news is going on all the time, people love the fact the royal wedding gave them something positive. tacky but i don't know if it's irrelevant. >> we will take a break. otato c. now no one will want to steal the deliciousness. with a variety of tastes and textures, only chex mix is a bag of interesting. oh, just booked a summer vaycay. ooo. sounds pricey? nah, with the hotels.com summer sale, you can find awesome deals for places nearby. interesting... wow, i'm blown away. you look great. hotels.com summer sale, save up to 30%. and get a free kindle. hotels.com. be smart. book smart. looking at live pictures from athens, greece. on the left side of your screen, you can see parliament where voting is under way whether the government will pass very strict, strict measures to qualify for a european bailout. on the right, you see people in the streets not happy about what their elected officials are about to do. >> this voting got a late start. it's said to be -- it may up to an hour. a recorded vote so not sure where we are in the voting just now. we know while it's expected to pass, it is expected to be very, very close and those protests on the outside may be influencing some of the members of parliament or as they call them deputies inside the chamber there. but the bottom line is if they don't pass the austerity measures, regardless of what that crowd of people on the right side of your screen are thinking, if they don't pass the austerity vote, they don't get the bailout or another set of bailouts on sunday by the european union. that could not only affect greece's economy but have affect on you in the united states on the money markets and how the credit freezes begin. >> it appears the bond market thinks it will pass, it seems the stock markets all futures pointing up on the optimism while it's tight, it will go through. a different story on the

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