Transcripts For CNN Amanpour 20100516 : vimarsana.com

next day, the lebanese made the biggest ever dish of flaffall. maybe the israelis need to spend less time worrying about iran and more time in the kitchen worrying about the lebanese. thanks for being part of my program. i will see you next week. . crews in the gulf of mexico say they have successfully inserted a mile-long tube into that ruptured oil pipe. and it s primary week in kentucky and arkansas. how angry are the voters? you re in the cnn newsroom where the news unfolds live today. we begin with breaking news from the gulf of mexico. crews trying to stop the oil leak say they have successfully inserted a tube into that leaking oil pipe. it s not a major breakthrough in and of itself, but it is some progress. cnn s david matingly is standing by in new orleans. this is the first step forward, fredricka, where we can actually say that the amount of oil leaking into the gulf of mexico could be slowing down. what bp tells us is that last night they successfully inserted that tube that they were going to use to siphon that oil up to a containment vessel on the surface. during the testing, that became dislodged. they said that was a disappointment, but they were able to successfully reinsert that tube. it s not clear if that tube is operational at this moment, but they were successfully able to test this and make sure that the theory that they have does work. so we re waiting to find out soon if this is working right now. if it is truly pumping oil out of the pipe and into the waiting containment vessel. if so, that is a big step forward in keeping more oil from spilling into the gulf of mexico. so, david, how much can that containment ship actually hold? well, it holds thousands and thousands of barrels of oil. what we re looking at right now, the big question is, how much of that oil leaking out of the pipe are they actually going to be able to contain? they ve said that it will contain some of that oil that s leaking into the gulf of mexico. in the past, when they were trying that big containment dome that failed, they were hoping to collect 80% to 85% of the oil that s leaking. but with this insertion tube, they haven t given us a figure yet and they weren t giving us a figure during that entire operation. that s one of the big questions now. okay, you ve had some success, is it operational and just how much of this oil that s leaking into the gulf are you actually able to collect? all right, david mattingly, thanks so much, and hopefully we ll hear some of the answers to some of those questions at 2:30 eastern time. we understand bp has scheduled a news conference for that hour, just under 30 minutes from now. we ll carry it live as it happens. all right. weather, well, it s not cooperating with the efforts in the gulf today. let s get right to karen maginnis in the weather center. it is nasty! when we talk about rain, that downpour along the louisiana coast, we mean it in a big way. yes, and those rainfall rates can be between 1 and 2 inches per hour. and what we re looking at right now, a pretty good squall line moving right across the gulf coast region. and this deluge has produced a flood advisory in a number of these areas. winds today, along the coast, you have to remember, they shift throughout the day, land breeze, sea breeze, but generally the winds have been trending from the south and southeast. however, this frontal system is not going to move a whole lot over the next several days. we ll start to see the winds shift as an area of high pressure over the atlantic shifts a little bit more as well. so those winds are going to be more out of the west-southwest over the next 24 to 48 hours, but they ll be a little bit lighter. so it looks like, fred, we re expecting maybe with that more westward shift that it could push it a little bit further over towards the mississippi side, but the winds aren t going to be as strong, but we re also looking at the in the next three to four days, those winds will be out of the northeast, pushing it away from the coast. so that would be the good news. okay, good. thanks so much, karen maginnis. appreciate it. well, some celebrities, by the way, are lending their talents to help the fishing industry that is threatened by this oil spill. they re actually holding a benefit concert in new orleans today. and in about ten minutes, we ll take you there live and hear from big sam s funky nation and why they have gotten involved. meantime, it s been another deadly day of anti-government protests in thailand. at least seven people were killed in clashes between troops and protesters in the capital of bangkok. a towering column of black smoke rose over the city as protesters set fire to tires. the government says a crackdown will continue despite protesters calls for u.n. media mediated-talks. four days of street battles have killed 30 people. the obama administration is watching developments closely, because thailand is a key u.s. ally. days of violent protests have left parts of bangkok looking like a war zone. what you see here are protesters attacking a thai army truck and pulling soldiers into the streets and beating them. we re not sure where or when this actually happened, but it is a dramatic indication that this is not always a one-sided battle. more now on the conflict from cnn s dan rivers in bangkok. reporter: this used to be one of the main routes into bangkok. now it s one of the most dangerous. here the protesters are mostly armed with slingshots and fireworks. so they re throwing these firecrackers out on to the street, which made exceptionally loud bangs like that. they sound like gunshots, but they re just exceptionally loud fireworks. we think the army s up the street here. here both protesters and residents are pinned down inside streets. militant factions dressed in black are trying to locate army positions. the army has sniper teams, a spotter and a soldier using an m-16 with a telescopic sight to pick their target. the army is supposed to only shoot armed terrorists posing a threat, but many other innocent people are also getting hit, like this volunteer killed trying to help the injured. it s not clear who pulled the trigger. in some places, the army is outflanked. we seek cover as the soldiers come under attack. that s getting louder. an army ambulance rushes to the wounded as the exchange of gunfire continues. the government says these pictures handed out last month proves there are armed elements among the protesters trying foment a silver war. but inside the red shirt protest area, their leaders insist they are peaceful and unarmed. so you re saying there are no weapons in here? no, no! reporter: there are backchannel negotiations going on with the government, moderates here hoping for a cease-fire. so we would like to ask the u.n. present peacekeeping force immediately, within 24 hours, to stop the thai army now. reporter: that was rejected by the government, which blames the red shirts for the violence. there s a lawyer representing aust the ousted prime minister wants a legal inquiry into the shootings. people need to be made to account for the assassinations and the illegality of the attack on these people who are here. reporter: the government claims to have sealed off this protest site, but food is still getting in. and in a nearby supermarket, long queues as everyone, including foreigners, stock up. it seems like there s a bit of panic buying. like a hurricane, buying in the states. you don t know if the stores are going to be open tomorrow. reporter: beyond the perimeter of the protest area, the violence and anarchy is spreading. and thailand s image as a holiday paradise is going up in spoke. dan rivers, cnn, bangkok. and now back in this country, they re calling it a ray of relief for the gulf. amid the fear and anxiety about that massive oil leak, coastal residents have something to smile about today. we ll hear from big sam s funky nation, just one of the performers at a benefit concert all day long and into the evening in new orleans. sfx: coin drop want to hear how more families are saving money, saving time and saving for the future? it s regions lifegreen checking and savings. these accounts come with a personal savings review, up to a $250 annual savings account bonus, and free online and mobile banking for simple and safe banking anytime, anywhere. just drop by or visit regions.com/open to open your accounts, and get into the rhythm of saving. reons it s time to expect more. well, it s good music for a good cause. an all-star cast of musicians is taking to the stage in new orleans today, raising money to help relief efforts for wetlands and for businesses in the gulf threatened by that massive oil spill. big sam with big sam s funky nation is one of the performers donating his time. good to see you! hey, how you doing? i m doing great. so you ll be performing today. you are joining a long list of performers, anyone from lenny kravitz to john legend. what s this mean to you to be participating in this gulf aid? it means a lot for me to participate in this gulf aid. you know, we re all here in new orleans, trying to, you know, get to the bottom of this and, you know, stop the oil spill, trying to raise money so all of us musicians, you know, came together, you know, donating our time pretty much so we could raise money to get to the bottom of this, you know? so how did this come about? did you hear this might be this effort? was this the result of a lot of musicians getting together? you are a new orleans native son there. was this a conversation that many artists there had and said, we want to do something? well, the gulf relief foundation, like, came up with a poster for a few musicians and from there it just went bananas after that. because all of us realize this is a threat to our culture and our lifestyle, so, you know, we all wanted to donate our services. so the gulf coast foundation made it all happen, definitely. you re a familiar face in so many festivals that take place not just in new orleans and louisiana, but across the country. is performing during today s concert going to be a little different? um, i don t think so. everybody s still going to come out, they re going to party, they re going to have a good time, everybody s going to eat and drink and everything. the only thing is, everything that the only difference is, everything that you re going today is going towards a better cause. going to a good cause. that s kind of what i wonder, if you feel like if the energy is different, if you feel like your motivation is different. you part your heart into the music a little differently knowing that this is hopefully going to help people whose industries are directly affected by that gulf spill. right, definitely. i mean, and of course i m all my emotions are going to be, like, you know, it s going to be harder and i m going to be more motivated to play and perform and, you know, more people want to just like, you know, come out and do what they know, but, you know, i think everybody s going to bring their, you know, 100%. and everybody coming in is going to party and all the band is going to get down as well. so we definitely want to rock tonight. well, i think folks feel that s going to be guaranteed, that you ll give them a good show. do you kind of feel, you know, as the native son of new orleans that, boy, new orleans and this whole coastal area has been through it, from katrina to now even this morning, there s a lot of flooding taking place in new orleans. how resilient do you feel, like people have to be, that you continue to be tested all the time? i mean, very resilient. i almost didn t make it because even outside of my house was flooded this morning, you know? but, you know, i just, i made it through it, you know, it s cool. you just got to be strong. it s not for the weak and the faint of heart. you ve got to be strong to live in this city, because we deal with a lot of adversity. you ve got to be strong to deal with it. but to deal with katrina and things after that and, you know, losing loved ones and things like that and then, you know, now we have the oil spill happening. it s a lot to have to deal with, you know, but you just have to be strong, you have to be strong to deal with it. here you are on this day, trying to get all the water off your own home and then you re going to take to the stage momentarily and put on a great show and help in this benefit for the people along the coast. exactly. big sam of the funky nation, thanks so much and have a great performance today. have a good time. thank you. thank you so much. and of course, if you want to help in the effort, go to cnn.com/impact and there you ll find a host of locations to try to do your part to help out people there in the gulf. all right, u.s. and iraqi forces killed their leaders during a dangerous raid last month. what al qaeda is doing today that could impact the insurgency in iraq. [ male announcer ] how can rice production in india affect wheat output in the u.s., the shipping industry in norway, and the rubber industry in south america? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex global economy. it s just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment objectives, risks, fees, expenses, and other information to read and consider carefully before investing. a look at our top stories right now. clashes between somali forces and islamist insurgents in mogadishu have left at least 20 people dead. most of the victims are civilians caught in the shelling when a market in the capital was hit by mortar fire. dozens of others were wounded. the government wants the militants to impose a stricter form of islamic law. and supreme court nominee elena kagan should expect some tough questioning in her confirmation hear, but republican leaders say it s unlikely that she ll face a filibuster. the white house asked that kagan s records during her time in the clinton administration be released so that more will be known about her. kagan is solicitor general, but she has never been a judge. and in clearwater, florida, a small plane crashed into a house today. all six people in the house escaped injury and none of the three people on the plane suffered serious injuries either. pretty amazing stuff. all right. now to iraq, where al qaeda is moving to replace some of its leaders killed in a u.s./iraqi raid. the group announced today that the leadership slots left vacant after last month s attack have been filled. so what does this mean for the insurgency? our frederik pleitgen is in baghdad. fred, what does the change of leadership mean for the insurgency, if anything at all? reporter: well, it actually is quite instasignificant. what they have done is they have announced a new leader and a new document. the islamic state of iraq is an umbrella organization under which al qaeda of iraq falls adas well. and on friday they announced an administrator of war. these announcements come almost a month after the u.s. and iraqi forces killed two senior al qaeda leaders. and that s really raised questions here in this country about the organization s capabilities to replenish their ranks after strikes like this. back in the days, you would see al qaeda when some of their leaders were killed, replaced those within a couple of days. now it s taken almost a month and that raises questions about how capable are they of recruiting people. what we ve seen from al qaeda in iraq, statements they ve made that they say that iraq has some dark and very blood-soaked days ahead of it. so they re announcing, basically, a new campaign of violence here in this country. if you look back at the past week, it has been a very deadly one here in this country. we saw some massive attacks on friday. throughout the weeks, there were attacks. the deadly happening on monday when some 85 people were killed in seemingly coordinated attacks here across this country. so it does appear, even though there were some massive blows to al qaeda and iraq in the past couple of weeks that this organization is still very capable of launching some very deadly and also coordinated attacks here in this country, fredricka. so, fred, what does this mean when you re talking about a country that s still in this political swirl of uncertainty, is this country particularly vulnerable right now? reporter: well, i would think it is. there still is a lot of uncertainty, you saw elections in this country in march and still iraqis don t know who their next prime minister is going to be. nuri al maliki started a recount of votes here in baghdad and the results of that came in on friday. and today we re hearing that there was, in fact, no voter fraud whatsoever. and the results are staying exactly the same they were before, with awad allawi getting most of the votes. right now you have nuri al maliki forming a massive shiite bloc, and bring iing into the m. there is a lot of political uncertainty here in this country. when you see the violence, you see these coordinated al qaeda attacks across this country, that is something that could further destabilize the place. right now it might not be doing that, but with the political uncertainty, certainly, there are a lot of iraqis who are looking at this in a very, very worried manner. and that, of course, could, in effect have influence on what the u.s. does in this place. right now we re still hearing from the u.s. military, they re going to stick by their withdrawal plans, but they are keeping a very worried eye on the political process and on this violence as well, fredricka. fred pleitgen, thanks so much from baghdad. appreciate that. back in this country, job losses, foreclosures, so many americans have seen their credit suffer. a financial expert has tips on living well with a bad credit score. and a lost job can sometimes mean an entire career change. we introduce you to some men who are steering a new job path. some lunch. you hungry? 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(door crashes in) (broadview alarm) (gasp and scream) go! go! go! go! go! go! (phone rings) hello? this is mark with broadview security. is everything okay? no. someone just tried to break in. i m sending help right now. thank you. (announcer) brink s home security is now broadview security. call now to install the standard system for just $99. the proven technology of a broadview security system delivers rapid response from highly trained professionals, 24 hours a day. call now to get the $99 installation, plus a second keypad installed free. and, you could save up to 20% on your homeowner s insurance. call now - and get the system installed for just $99. broadview security for your home or business - the next generation of brink s home security. call now. all right, whether it s buying a home or car, getting insured, or applying for a job, your credit score matters and more americans are seeing their score take a dive. last year alone, 1.4 million americans filed for bankruptcy. a 32% jump from 2008. jeff williams writes about personal finance and he talks about his own experience with bankruptcy in a book he co-authored titled living well with bad credit. he joins us now from cincinnati. sadly, too many people are dealing with this, that their credit score has plunged significantly, but they still need to either buy a car, buy a house, move on. how do you do that? good question. everybody s situation is different, and i m not saying that there s any one way to do it, but a lot of it, at first, is just getting past the idea that you ve got bad credit. i mean, in other words, not letting it define you. it s a score. it s not representative of who you are. and like, you know, what goes down, in this case, can go up. so so you are being judged when you try to get a loan or you apply for something, in these days, even if you re trying to get a job, there s a little bit of checking, you know, on your finances, how you ve handled things. so how do you overcome this? you co-authored this book with chris ballesh, trying to make the point you can have bad credit, but life isn t over. so what s the first step how do you get past that first challenge you mentioned, but how do you move on from there? this is a good time to actually have bad credit. i would rather have bad credit now in 2010 rather than back in what?! i m saying, rather back in 1990, because everybody right now is facing this. we all understand this. getting the jobs, for instance, the recruiters i talk to, they admit, fully, it can be a factor, but if i mean, certainly, if you re going after a job that 50 other people could get, you know, and they look at your history and they see that you ve got, you know, problems, then, of course they can use that to weed you out, but if you re going after a job that really it s only you and another person and you re really, you know, qualified for it, then, no, it s not, you know, it s not as much of a factor as we might think, at least that s what i ve been told. okay. so convince me of that. you get past the stigma, your hope is an employer or no one is going to judge you on that, but how do you live? how do you try to get a car loan if your credit score is very low? i mean, do you get as specific as that, as to certain steps that you need to take to try to dress things up, so to speak? well, sure. for starters, like getting a car, and it kind of depends, after a bankruptcy, for instance, it s actually often easier to get a car then what you have bad credit why?! because if it s after bankruptcy, all of your debts or most of them are probably gone. so that they know that you can actually, you know, pay for that car. when you re in like $30,000 in debt you know, sure, you re hanging on to it and maybe you re making some payments, but they can do math. and they re like, you re not going to be able to do this. in my case, i did go through bankruptcy and i had to buy a car probably three or four months later. and i certainly didn t want to and it wasn t something i was really proud of, but my car broke down on the freeway and i pulled into some garage and they declared a debt and we needed to buy a new car. and there are finance groups out there that will work with you. okay. because that bankruptcy filing, that sticks with you for about seven years. i would think that that would kind of lock up all of your credit potential. you say no. sure, even ten years. but the main thing is, is the history in the sense, you can have really lousy credit but say the last two years or even six months you ve been paying and making the payments, then it becomes less important as time goes on. even like five years later, you know, it s still on your record, you know, like a bankruptcy, but it s less of a factor. yeah. okay. but certainly, if it s been a month, a month ago you declared bankruptcy, in most cases,, you know but a car, surprisingly, as i said, it s actually a lot easier. okay! geoff williams, thanks so much, living well with bad credit. appreciate that. hopefully that will give a lot of folks hope if their credit scores or credit ratings have gone down. appreciate that. in our series, sign of the times, jobs and focus, cnn photojournalist introduces us to some creative ways people are making ends meet. bob crowley in our boston bureau introduces us to a couple of men who think their future is on the road and are learning how to drive a truck. tractor-trailer training trains for class a and b and cdl licenses. it looks easy, but believe me, the first time i did, it wasn t. i got laid off from a job i had worked 12 years ago. that was 2 1/2 years ago. i ve been out of work since. i had the opportunity to come to school, get my cdl for class a tractor driving and this is where i m at. wave been seeing people coming from a lot of different industries, and obviously, making that big transition to something completely different as an adult is difficult. getting in a tractor-trailer for the first time was a little scary. might have a little jump when you first take off. i just had to be retrained on something else. because the market i was in, they don t want older guys. it s all about the cones and alignment. i ve been out of work since november. i am not collecting, i am living off of my savings. and i feel pretty comfortable that i should be able to get a fairly decent job and support my family and my house and not lose my house. it s a job that s always going to be there. everything that goes out on the road needs a truck to bring it to grocery stores, pick up from warehouses, it s all got to go on a truck. the job i was working at for 12 years for me was a career job. i expected to stay there for my entire life, retire from the company. a little bit to the right. you ve got to do what you have to, especially in this economy, to be able to put the food on the table, keep the roof over the head. all right. their livelihoods put on hold by the gulf oil leak. now gulf fishermen say they ve been hit by another major blow. their story after this. [ male announcer ] how can rice production in india affect wheat output in the u.s., the shipping industry in norway, and the rubber industry in south america? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex global economy. it s just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment objectives, risks, fees, expenses, and other information to read and consider carefully before investing. checking our top stories. at least 20 people were killed in somalia today. somali government forces have been fighting an al qaeda affiliate and shells landed in a mogadishu market. seven more deaths are reported in bangkok, thailand, as well today, raising the death toll since thursday to 31. government forces have battling red shirt protesters and the government today expanded its state of emergency decree to cover five more provinces. and bp oil says it has successfully inserted a mile-long tube into that ruptured pipeline in the gulf of mexico. they re hoping to divert some of the gushing oil to a ship on the water s surface. all right. back now to a little bit more on the oil spill, halted fishing in most of the gulf, that you know. well, now the people who fish there for a living have another complaint. evan anderson reports from our affiliate, wvue. reporter: hundreds of fishermen line up at the government complex in st. bernard to get paid for their first few days of working out in the gulf. sounds like good news in the wake of this disaster, the parish is cutting checks on behalf of bp because these guys are helping to keep the oil at bay. but for some i m frustrated. frustrated about everything that s going on with the fishermen and the way that really, i m the frustrated with the way they re handling it. they want to get you frustrated and that s the way they ve got these fishermen. reporter: some feel like there s no consistent process of compensation or selection of who can go out and get to work. i got friends that don t even they won t even look at me because i went to work. yeah, because you re constantly worrying. you know, we ve got bills to pay like everyone else. you know when your check s coming in. i don t even know if i m going to get anymore work, because they re going to start rotating these boats and if they don t rotate them right, i ll never get back on that list. reporter: fishermen now at each other s throats, some on the rotation, others left out. it s just come to the point where either you know people or you don t know people. if you know the right people, you re working. if not, it s not going to happen. reporter: those who have been using their own boats, putting out boom and repositioning and realigning boom already out have mixed frustrations. the whole deal about being a fishermen, you re free, get to do as you want, come and go as you please. now they re making us jump through hoops to do this, you know, you re going to have to take a physical, going to have to take a drug test. reporter: fishermen who now feel like they re on a minimum wage salary. what they paid me for three days work i made in a day fishing. all of us were. it s just no way to live. it s a lot of, like i said, sleepless nights. you go to bed not knowing what you re doing the next day. never thought i d be in a crowd of people waiting on a paycheck. reporter: in chalmette, evan anderson. in an editorial, he claims bp is hiring fewer than 10% of the fishermen, leaving the other 90% unemployed. roberts called bp s efforts window dressing. well, it looks like the paper trail of the u.s. supreme court nominee elena kagan will be getting even longer. the white house has asked the national archives to release 160,000 pages of documents covering kagan s four years in the clinton white house. republicans said they needed those records to decide whether kagan should be confirmed. she has never been a judge, so there are no judicial decisions which to evaluate. this week, three states will be holding primary elections, all of them on tuesday, and it could be a bad day for incumbents and the party leaders. pennsylvania senator arlen specter, who switched from the republican party to the democratic party, is fighting to retain his seat. he is being challenged for the democratic nomination by representative joe sestak, who says specter only switched parties to save his job. in kentucky, two republicans are battling to replace retiring senator jim bunning. kentucky s other senator, minority leader mitch mcconnell has endorsed trey grayson and rand paul, the son of congressman ron paul is said to have support from tea party activists. and then on to arkansas, where incumbent senator blanche lincoln is being challenged for the democratic nomination by lieutenant governor bill halter. liberals are unhappy with lincoln because she voted against the health care bill. we ll, of course, take a closer look at tuesday s primary during the 4:00 p.m. eastern hour of the newsroom. we ll be talking with cnn deputy political director paul steinhauser, who will be joining us from kentucky. and are you planning on upgrading your cell phone? what can you do to make sure the information on the one that you want to throw away doesn t fall into the wrong hands? we ve got some tips. what s around the corner is one of life s great questions. and while it can never be fully answered, it helps to have a financial partner like northern trust. by gaining a keen understanding of your financial needs, we re able to tailor a plan using a full suite. of sophisticated investment strategies and solutions. so whatever s around the corner can be faced with confidence. northern trust. look ahead with us at northerntrust.com. okay. it always happens. you buy a cell phone and another one comes on the market that s supposed to be even better. and when it s time to switch, what do you actually do with your old one? throw it away? donate it? and what about all that information that s on it? well, this week i talked with tech expert katie linendal about this and she says it s the real reason so many of us hang on to so many old phones. they re letting them sit in junk drawers for years, because we re so paranoid about all our information getting out there, you don t want to donate that phone and someone ends up with all your contacts, all of your e-mails and all of your information. so it is a one-stop shop. go to the website, re-cellular.com, type in your make and model number, and if you don t know what model phone you have, pop up that back battery cover, it will tell you right there right next to that bar code. super easy. type in your make and model number and type in your e-mail address and in moments, recellular.com will send you step-by-step instructions on how to delete all of the data on your cell phone. so it goes through and really prompts you through. it should be really easy. really easy. how do you make sure it s really all gone? this is the big thing. a lot of people are just taking it into the phone stores, which they re totally capable of erasing all your data, but we have seen far too many examples of refurbished phones go out there with people s contacts and e-mails and photos and videos still on their phone. you have to use this website to make sure all of your data is really written off. some folks want to perhaps cash in their phone, that old phone, you know, get it exchanged for cash. there s a place in which to do that. gazelle.com. how does it work? gazelle a finally gaining popularity. no matter what kind of phone or electronic you have, you type that into gazelle g.com and they ll give you an offer. they even pay for your postage. but also flipswap.com is another option. they can give you a bid, free postage or you can donate it to your favorite charity or cash it in for retail cash so you can trade up and get a bigger model. for flipswap, every phone that you donate, they plant a tree, which is kind of cool and environmentally friendly. so really take advantage, of being green, doing the right thing, but also getting some cash along the way. why not? there s another way of being green, earth911.com. in what way? exactly. earth911 is a great another stop because it s a way to recycle any of those gadgets. and also the gadgets that are kind of tricky and you have no idea where to dispose of, hit up earth911.com, no matter how convoluted it is of an electronic, they ll show you a location where you can drop it off. lots of options. katy linendoll, making us smoer smarter. and in case you didn t have a pen handy, here are two of those sites, recellular.com, earth911.com and you can find all the web pages posted on my blog at cnn.com. there s another opportunity to get all the information. all right. a living legacy for a loved one whoiz d who has died. we ll tell you about a program that allows loved ones to bury their loved ones at sea. save - mpler to with regions lifegreen checkg and savings for business. you ll enjoy free online and mobile banking. and with regions quick deposit, you can deposit checks right from your desk. drop by and get started with a business financial review through a regions cashcor analysis. it s how business gets into the rhym of saving. regions it s time to expect more. all right. some airports in ireland and the uk are closed right now because of that ash, that ash is so persistent. all from that volcano, still in iceland. karen maginnis, what a mess! it is a mess. and it has been for weeks and weeks. off and on, the volcano erupts, it calms down, erupts again. just in time for that summer travel to europe, right? exactly. and that could carry on for who knows how long. the last big eruption that occurred here in the 80s, it lasted for the better part of a year. so we re looking at varying amounts of ash a possibility, because it is showing signs of being a very chronic event. and especially for the uk, this has been the problem. i want to show you what s going on. there s an area of low pressure here, pretty much situated between iceland and the united kingdom. now, the winds associated with this area of low pressure, they re just kind of dipping down across the uk. now, not as far south as the major airports. heathrow and gatwick, two major airports, the busiest airports in all of europe. but tomorrow may be a different story. tuesday could see the same problem. going into wednesday, we think that a lot of this ash is really just going to filter out of the atmosphere. it s going to dip a little bit further to the south. we think maybe this northern coast of france could be affected. also into the netherlands as well. so if you have travel plans there, if you have relatives that happen to be going back and forth across the pond, that s one thing to be worried about. all right. here we go. this is the ash as we think that it s going to look in the next 24 hours or so. but we ve got our own problems along the gulf coast, trying to have a benefit, but big thunderstorms rumbling around. now, you know about the spill, we ve been talking about it for weeks now. they are looking at an eruption of severe thunderstorms, not just for today, but into the night as well. but the winds are coming up, generally from the south. the wave heights are between 3 feet and 5 feet. they re going to be shifting around over the next several days. and fred, what we re looking at are winds coming up from the gulf, gradually shifting around, and then blowing offshore by the middle of next week. so that might be good news for the gulf coast residents. all right. thanks so much, karen, let s hope so. all right. well, as that oil spill threatens the shoreline, it s already putting the alread already-fragile ecosystem below the surface at great risk. there s a program going on aimed at rejuvenating sea life through artificial reefs. reefs made of concrete mixed with human ashes. a whole new take on burial at sea. we followed three families as they laid their loved ones to rest off the waters of sarasota, florida. making a new reef out there. my husband. he passed away in november of 2008 and he loved fishing and when i found this online, i knew this was perfect for him. dad said he wanted to be in the ocean. a memorial reef for john, joseph sbooel jr. this is the reef for my dad. he would have loved it. absolutely. each family has a memorial reef out there that s already cast, has a plaque on it. just cap that off. what we ll do today is take a little bit of concrete, take the molds in buckets and we ll add a little bit of remains. and once i m done with that, you can start putting shells. we developed that in the early 90s. we were scuba divers and wanted to do something to help save the reefs. my father came over and said, when i pass away, i want to be cremated and i want you to take my remains and put them in those artificial reefs you build. these are some teeth he found in the river. couldn t think of anything else he would never want to have a tombstone in a graveyard where someone would go to see him. he d much rather look over the ocean and think of him. we found out that she was terminally ill. we discovered the eternal reefs program and we decided that it was the sort of thing that we all wanted to be involved in. we dashed by the store, grabbed eight bouquets of roses or of flowers, and decided to leave those flowers in the reef for the placement and it just absolutely made it. and then rising up and floating, more beautiful than i ve ever see seen. i love my wife very much and i look forward to joining her some day in the same way. we re placing mike where he was happiest and most comfortable and so i think it s the best tribute we can do for him. anyone that knew him, that i ve told about this, they just instantly though, this is exactly where he belongs. and surprisingly enough, it is already hugely popular. something else that we re going to be bringing your way, perhaps you have a question for cnn founder ted turner. this is a new segment that will become a regular, face to face with fredricka, sit-down interviews with recognizable people who have made impacts in the communities, in the world, for that matter, in the case of ted turner. it starts may 22nd, that sbruf with the cnn founder. so this is where you come in. you can actually send me a question that you ve been dying to ask to ted turner. send your questions to my blog at cnn.com/fredricka or facebook and i ll actually pose some of your questions to ted turner and you ll get a chance to hear his responses may 22nd. thanks so much for joining us. i m fredricka whitfield at the cnn center in atlanta.