columbia. that's why we are reporting from outside. there are major developments involving cell phones, information that you need to know from the world health organization about the possible danger of cell phone use and cancer. stand by. elizabeth cohen has a full report. we're also watching bin laden and the black money trail. new information coming in on money and bin laden. stand by for that as well. we'll have the latest on anthony weiner, the congressman from new york. our own dana bash is following up on this story. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." but we begin with major developments involving cell phone use and you. information that you need to know right now. the world health organization for the first time has raised a serious possibility of a link between cell phone use and cancer. here's our report. what did this world health organization report conclude? >> the who concluded that cell phone are a possible carcinogen for humans. this is a really big deal. we've never had a group this large, this prestigious that said that there may be a link between cell phones and cancer. this now puts cell phones into a category with several other things. the who says that, for example, lead is a possible carcinogen and engine exhaust is also and chloroform. that gives us an idea of how seriously they are taking us. >> should we all be freaking out? we all use cell phones. >> one of the things that i worry about is that people are going to hear me and freak out and feel that they are toxic and shouldn't be using them and that's not the conclusion that experts want people to come from. one cell phone conversation is not going to give you cancer. this risk is something that is accumulated over a period of, you know, months and years of using your cell phone over and over again. so that is not the conclusion. you shouldn't freak out. first of all, if you spent a lot of time with the cell phone next to your head, that's done. it's over. and but don't drop your phone. it's not going to kill you. >> so moving forward, what do we do? >> that's the other reason not to freak out, wolf. there is something that you can do. i'm happy to say that what you can do is not do this. holding the cell phone to your head. the radiation is going into your head. use a headset. that way you plug the headset into your phone and then you can hold your phone at a distance so that the radiation gets emitted into the air instead of into your head. it reduces it by a huge amount. >> i use one of those blue tooth ear pieces. is that safe? >> absolutely. that reduces the radiation by a huge amount as well. there's been a discussion about which is better a. wired headset or a bluetooth but the bottom line is, using a blue tooth or wired ear piece is way better than holding it to your head. >> what does that mean to the cell phones out there? >> i think the ftc may tell cell phone companies, can you figure out a way to make your cell phones emit less radiation? we got in touch with a group that makes cell phones and this is what they say. this classification from the who does not mean that cell phones cause cancer. the w.h.o. finding is based on limits evidence. so that's the response from the cell phone industry. >> bottom line, if you have a cell phone, put it on speaker if you can do that if you don't have a headset or something like that which is obviously so much better. thanks so much. >> yes. there is something that we can do. thanks. >> we're all going to try to do it. elizabeth, thank you very much. the worst thing you can do is hold it up to your ear all the time. good advice. appreciate it. now to the uprising in syria. including a reversal by president bashar al assad. saying that he will grant amnesty for protesters arrested for various alleged crimes. the same protesters that were called terrorists. arwa is covering thl and is live from beirut. potentially a significant development but a lot of people are taking it with a huge grain of salt. >> reporter: that's right, wolf. there most certainly is a lot of skepticism surrounding this so-called amnesty that was initially announced on state-owned television and then there was an elaboration on the news agency. this is not necessarily an amnesty in that it's not a decree and more of a reduction in individuals prison terms. those that received a life sentence, for example, would be imprisoned for 20 years. those who received the death sentence would see that reduced to serving out a life sentence. many people, though, are saying that this is merely a superficial mood, that it falls into the same pattern that we have been seeing, where on the one hand they appear to be making concessions but on the other hand they do continue to employ the same, brutal tactics. wolf? >> is there any sense that what bashar al assad is doing is going to make an impact on the protesters? they seem so determined to try to get their way. >> reporter: they are determined, wolf. as each day goes by, they grow even more determined. what we have been seeing since the onset is that this was an up rising that began in asking for reforms and has now ended up asking for the removal of the regime. activists are grieving this so-called amnesty, saying that this is just a move to try to temporarily apiece them, perhaps a move to buy itself some more time. activists are adamant at this stage that there are only two possible outcomes for this uprising in syria. that is that the regime step down and the other, they are telling us that he will have to militarily crush the opposition. activists repeatedly talking about how this is not a regime that they believe is capable of reform. they continue to point to the fact that on the one hand the regime continues to promise reforms. remember, assad did lift the emergency law over a month ago but at the same time that has not led to any sort of different behavior when it comes to how the regime is dealing with the demonstrators. the regime continues to call the demonstrators terrorists, saying that it is simply targeting armed groups fueled by out size sources and are intent on destabilizing it, wolf. >> arwa, thank you. we're doing the best we can under the circumstances. later here in "the situation room" i'll get a full briefing from a professor of the john hopkins university. into meanwhile, another international financial figure now stands accused of sexually assaulting a luxury hotel maid. deborah is working the story for us. we're told the chairman of the former head of the egyptian bank in egypt is now under arrest. police say he sexually abused a staffer at the pierre hotel in new york a woman came into his room toll drop off tissues that he had requested and this comes two weeks after the head of the international monetary fund was accused of raping a housekeeper. what specific information, in addition to that, deborah, do you have? >> well, what is so start belg about this is how quickly it has happened again after the incident involving the former head of the imf, dominique strauss-kahn. but this guest, staying at a five-star hotel, called down to housekeeping asking for a box of tissues. when the housekeeper arrived, she handed him the box of tissues and not sure why she entered the room but that's when mr. omar closed the door behind her and the alleged molestation occurred. the incident was reported to a manager on duty, this happening sunday evening. however, we are told that in fact the night manager said that the woman who reported it the following day which she did and that's when police were called. all of that under investigation. because clearly if there was any forensic evidence, it could have been compromised because of the time delay. six hours is when the incident allegedly happened. police did not arrive until 11:00 the next morning. all of that under the investigation. the pierre hotel says it supports the investigation. it is doing what it can to help. but, again, this happening so closely after the late -- after the last incident. mr. omar is scheduled to be arraigned and the charges against him expected to include sexual abuse, unlawful imprisonment, and forceful touching and harassment. a lot to digest there with all of this happening and why now is always the question, especially with all of the press that mr. strauss-kahn received. wolf? >> do we know why they waited to report this incident, you said 24 hours? >> it seems to be that the night manager on duty simply put it in the log and that the woman was to come back the next day. she's a 44-year-old woman. that's what she did. we were told by the hotel that that manager who gave those instructions, well, he has been suspended, wolf. >> deborah on the scene for us, let's bring in mary snow. the union representing these hotel workers is asking for more security. what is going on? >> the union also citing that lapse in the reporting time now asking for more training, more training for what to do when an incident like this is reported but they have asked the pierre hotel to equip workers with an electronic device that would alert security once you push it. the hotel is looking to buy these kinds of devices for their workers a state lawmaker has also suggested that all employees be equipped with this and saying that it is something that they are looking into. a number of security and safety measures are being under consideration. anthony is a security consultant to the hotels, and here's what he told us. >> approximately a dozen a year are reported to us. and they -- >> from across the country? >> from across the united states. and they range from exposing one self, the guest ex posting one self to the maid, to touching, to propositioning, to sexual assault itself is a reasonably rare report. approximately twice a year. in our estimation. however, we believe that's severely underreported. >> and he said that he believes it's severely underreported because the hotel housekeepers are immigrant, hard workers, and afraid to come forward and he believes that's one of the reasons why they don't come forward and we spoke to a former hotel worker who was a hotel housekeeper and is now a union organizer. she told us she really wasn't so surprised, unfortunately, by these reported incidents and that while she had been working at a hotel for more than a decade, she and other workers felt that they really couldn't come forward and report these incidents. wolf? >> mary snow with the latest on this case and a trend that seems to be developing. thanks, mary. thanks very much. congressman anthony weiner is trying to downplay a lewd photo briefly placed on his twitter account account. dana bash is standing by on capitol hill. also, home prices that were on the rebound take a turn for the worse. we're taking a closer look at what is driving them down. and find out why charges have been refiled against the alleged conspirators behind the 9/11 attacks. stay with us. you're in "the situation room." 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[ male announcer ] ducati knows it's better for xerox to manage their global publications. so they can focus on building amazing bikes. with xerox, you're ready for real business. producing products that save on fuel and emissions like ecopia tires... even making parts for solar panels that harness the sun's energy... working on social activities like clean up programs on beaches in many locations... and regional replanting activities that will help make a better world for all of us. ♪ one team. one planet bridgestone. ♪ ♪ [ 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. jack cafferty is here with the cafferty file. jack? >> you'll recall bin laden is dead now and we're still fighting and dying in afghanistan. the u.s. death toll recently went past the benchmark of 1500. in a speech of september 2009, president obama announced that he would begin the withdraw of troops in july 2011. now we are all waiting to hear this plan. the pressure is mounting from unlikely places. house democrats are backing more vocal on afghanistan and pushing for an accelerated withdrawal plan and want the president to go after a settlement with all interested and that compares to the approval rating of 48% of nonmilitary americans who approve of the performance in office. we're still in iraq. we were told we would be in libya for a matter of couple of days, remember? that was more than two months ago. afghanistan has never been conquered. the russians gave up after 2 1/2 years. the karzai government is a joke. it's uneffective and a joke. the schools in afghanistan teach young children how to hate the united states. the population cannot read but teach their kids how to hate our guts. when it comes to the war in afghanistan, how much is enough? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile and post a comment on my blog. wolf? >> jack, thank you. pesky prank or something more? democratic congressman anthony weiner of new york has now hired an attorney after a lewd photo briefly appeared on his twitter account. said that his account was hacked and that someone sent it to a 21-year-old college student under his name and that the media have better things to do with its time. listen to this. >> i'm going to return to working on stories that i care about. this is a distraction and i'm not going to let it distract me. >> he may have a tough time getting the media to back away. jeffrey toobin is standing by live in new york. some of the issues fueling this controversy is his refusal to answer certain questions. how much of a problem is that? >> i think frankly the whole thing is a pretty minor problem. regardless of who did this, i think -- i don't know what happened here but this is a fairly small tempis, as far as i can tell. >> some people are saying if your twitter account was hacked by someone sending lewd photos, the least you could do is notify the police that you've got a problem to make sure that it doesn't happen again. apparently he didn't do either of those things. >> he didn't do those things but frankly there is no obligation on a public figure or even a private figure to seek out an investigation of a single possible hack, a possible frank. anthony weiner is looking at this as a politician as well as a potential victim or perpetrator of something wrong and i think at this point all he wants is to make this thing go away and an investigation would simply extend it further. i cannot imagine anyone bringing charges under any circumstances whether weiner sent this, whether someone else sent it. it seems like it was a funny story at first for him. he's no longer seeing the humor in it. i think he wants to make it go away so an investigation would just he can tend it. >> is it a crime for someone to break into your twitter kaccoun, hack it, and send a lewd photo? >> you know, i think that is an interesting legal question at the frontier of social media and criminal law that has not really been settled at all. i don't believe there has ever been a prosecution but it may fit within some definitions of wire fraud. if the government were to prosecute someone for basically stealing someone's twitter identity, i am certain they would take a more dramatic case than this, someone that did it multiple times. i cannot expect any agency opening a full flej investigation over a single lewd but not obscene tweet. if it's something that federal prosecutors with the full range of american crimes would get involved in. >> jeffrey toobin, thanks very much. later in "the situation room," dana bash, our senior congressional correspondent is going to have new information. meanwhile, a tour bus veers off i-95 in virginia and flips over. now four passengers are dead and dozen more are injured. what investigators think caused this tragic accident. stay with us. you're in "the situation room." ♪ ♪ membership rewards points from american express. they're a social currency with endless possibilities. president obama makes his pick for the commerce department. brooke baldwin is monitoring that and some of the other top stories in "the situation room" right now. what is going on, brooke? >> wolf, let's begin with that. president obama has nominated john bryson as his new commerce secretary. could have a tough time getting confirmed. republicans have threatened to hold up confirmation until trade agreements wi agreements and says that lawmakers he wants to extend job restraining first. and ratko mladic was extradited after losing his appeal. he's accused of atrocities in bosnia's civil war includes a massacre in which bosnia and muslim boys, some 8,000 were killed. and look at these pictures. investigators blame driver fatigue for the deadly crash of a tour bus on busy i-95 in virginia today. four passengers were killed when the sky express bus just veered off the road. you can see it's overturned. dozens of riders are hospitalized with injuries. police say charges against the driver are pending. wolf, back out to you. >> yeah, we lost power and a big chunk of washington, d.c. that's where we are broadcasting from right now outside. hopefully that power will be coming back. we don't know why power has gone down in major chunks of the nation's capital. brooke, thank you very much. new numbers on the number of people missing after the tornado that ravaged joplin, missouri. casey wian? >> i'm coming to you from los angeles. there is good news from the battered community. the department of safety saying that the number of unaccounted for people has now been reduced to ten. if you remember, that number started out as high as 1500 in the days after the tornado. just thursday of last week there was still over 200 people identified as missing. they have now got that number down to ten. so that is some welcome news for the residents of that community. the death poll, however, still stands at around 140 people. there are 146 sets of human remains that they have found. they don't know because of the severity of that tornado and the damage that it did to those bodies, whether some of those remains may in fact be duplicate. i want to report that a search and rescue operation continues to be under way there. it's kind of amazing that after this tornado struck this community and leveled a third of the structures. they are still going through that rubble and searching for potential victims. they have gone through most of the community five times now and they are preparing to conduct a sixth go around with dogs and volunteers trying to find whom -- whoever may be buried under that rubble. 7,000 people volunteered, officially have volunteered to help in joplin and they think that there are thousands more that have not registered. lots of people from around the country helping out there. >> that always happens. imagine if your home lost 70% of its value in five years. that's a reality for some homeowners. we're taking a closer look right now into this story. why is this going on? 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