Needles Found In Food On Delta Flight; Romney To Announce VP Pick?; Obama Slams Romney On Outsourcing; Cousin Claims Zimmerman Molested Her; Gunfire Kills Two At Toronto Barbecue; Three New Sandusky Accusers
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.</s>ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Zoraida Sambolin. It is 6 a.m. in the east. Also coming up this morning, decision day for the FDA on a brand new diet drug. We'll talk with our Elizabeth Cohen about whether Qnexa really works.</s>BERMAN: And how was relationship with humanity and the universe?</s>SAMBOLIN: Great.</s>BERMAN: Well, it could even better. We're going to talk to the man who can do it, Deepak Chopra coming up. He will explore these relationships and also how he's using the internet.</s>SAMBOLIN: I'm looking forward to that actually. I could use some advice there. But first this morning, we have our top stories for you. The FBI and international authorities are working to find out how sewing needles ended up in four sandwiches on Delta Airlines flights. The needles were found on four separate flights. Take a look at that there. That's the arrow pointing to them, all traveling from Amsterdam to the United States. Officials say one passenger was injured by that needle, but declined medical treatment. Federal agents have launched a criminal investigation now. CNN's Sandra Endo is live with the very latest. And Sandra, what have they uncovered so far?</s>SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Zoraida, a full blown investigation is under way and the FBI and local authorities in the Netherlands are trying to find out how the needles got into those sandwiches in the first place. A Delta spokesperson said the needles were found in sandwiches on flights from Amsterdam to Minneapolis, Seattle and two flights to Atlanta. Two of the needles were found by passengers and one was discovered by an air marshal. When Delta found out about the needles in the food, the airline said it notified all 18 flights from Amsterdam to stop serving the sandwiches. Here's what one passenger who got one of the contaminated sandwiches said when he spoke to affiliate, KTSP.</s>DR. JACK DROGT, PASSENGER WHO FOUND NEEDLE IN SANDWICH: I bit down on it so that I wasn't biting down on the sharp side, but on the flat side. It could have been a bad injury orally, but had I taken a big swallow and swallowed that down, I'd have a needle inside, that would be very concerning to me.</s>ENDO: Gate Gourmet is the company, which provided the sandwiches to Delta and a spokesperson for that company says the sandwiches were prepared in Amsterdam. In a statement, she goes on to say, this is a terribly upsetting situation. First and foremost, it's the safety of the traveling public. There's nothing more important to us at all than the safety of the passengers and crews. So the Transportation Security Administration is also saying it's looking closely into this investigation as to what happened as well as a security protocols being conducted by the air carrier and the airport authorities -- Zoraida.</s>SAMBOLIN: OK, so the company that makes these sandwiches says it also provides food to other airlines, so is there a concern now on other flights as well?</s>ENDO: Well, Gate Gourmet says it's fully cooperating with the FBI and local authorities in the Netherlands and it's conducting its own full scale investigation. Now the company says it does provide food to other airlines, but have received no other reports or complaints.</s>SAMBOLIN: That's kind of scary here this morning. CNN's Sandra Endo, thank you very much.</s>BERMAN: All right, can you feel the buzz? Can you feel the anticipation? It must be the veepstakes. Mitt Romney, is he about to pick his vice president? A top campaign adviser says it could happen this week, which would be very, very early or not this week. That clears things up. Some analysts say this is really about shifting focus from discussion on his record at Bain and also his personal finances. Our Peter Hamby from CNN joins us live now from the Washington D.C. Bureau. Peter, what would be the shift in attention? Why would Romney be doing that? What's the calendar tell us right now about by why he would do it now versus later?</s>PETER HAMBY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, well, I mean, first of all, John, you're right. There's a ton of buzz right now. You know, the buzz for Tim Pawlenty or Rob Portman is deafening, who thought I would ever say that. But yes, Romney, if he does pick a running mate now would have somebody he could tag team the country with. They could go to different cities around the country, command media attention and raise money. But, you know, do they get this media pop too early? Actually I was e-mailing with some Republicans yesterday about why -- you know, what you would get by naming a running mate this early as opposed to around the convention. Alex Castellanos, a Republican strategist, actually e-mailed me and he said, you don't run one of your best secret plays to win in the second quarter. Everything will be a 100 times more important later. Patience obi wan is what he told me. Basically saying that use the VP pick later in the fall when people are really paying attention to the campaign to really generate a lot of media attention. But the Romney campaign as you mentioned right now might want to change the subject from this constant fuselage of attacks from the Obama campaign about Bain Capital, his record there, and his tax returns. Romney is only releasing two years of tax returns.</s>BERMAN: It is the biggest weapon you have in and the campaign would be shocking to see it this early. As you said though, these attacks on Bain and taxes are deafening. And there is a new one that we're reporting just this morning and has to do with the swing states that all campaigns are targeting right now.</s>HAMBY: That's right. Romney is going to be in Irwin, Pennsylvania, that's just outside of Pittsburgh, white working class voters are who he's targeting today. But the Obama campaign is not letting him get -- command the day. Look at this really, really tough new ad that they just released this hour in Pennsylvania only. Take a listen.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tax havens, offshore accounts, carried interest. Mitt Romney has used every trick in the book. Romney admits that over the last two years he's paid less than 15 percent in taxes on $43 million in income. Makes you wonder if some years he paid any taxes at all. We don't know because Romney has released just one full year of his tax returns and won't release anything before 2010.</s>MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know what, I put out as much as we're going to put out.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is Mitt Romney hiding?</s>HAMBY: That's a really bare knuckle ad from the Obama campaign. It just goes to show you, John, they are not afraid to take the gloves off against mitt Romney and they haven't been for a year. That's the first time they've gone straight at Mitt Romney's tax returns and his pension for secrecy in one of their TV ads.</s>BERMAN: The Romney team not at all happy that we continue to focus on this either. One adviser told me last night about the taxes, all they could do was go sigh. Peter Hamby, CNN, thanks very much for joining us from</s>D.C. HAMBY: Thanks.</s>SAMBOLIN: It is 6 minutes past the hour. It sparked deadly wildfires and fears of food shortage. Now word that the nation's most severe drought in decade is spreading, more than half of the continental United States is now in some stage of drought. And most of the rest of the country is really close to it as well. That's according to a report from the National Climatic Data Center in Ashville, North Carolina. It is the largest area of land affected by drought since the 1950s.</s>BERMAN: George Zimmerman's attorney and the Trayvon Martin family are reacting to a new stunning twist in this trial. A female witness in the case, only identified as witness number nine is accusing Zimmerman of molesting her when they were both children. The accusations released yesterday in an audiotape from the state's attorney's office.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It started when I was six. He's -- he's about almost two years older than I am. He would reach under the blankets and try to do things and I would try to push him off, but he was bigger and stronger and older.</s>BERMAN: She also said Zimmerman and his family flat out said they didn't like black people unless they acted like white people. Zimmerman's attorney, Mark O'Mara has identified the woman as Zimmerman's cousin. Last night, he told Piers Morgan the allegations would not be admissible in court, but may still affect the search for truth in the Trayvon Martin shooting.</s>MARK O'MARA, GEORGE ZIMMERMAN'S ATTORNEY: These allegations, which George contends are untrue. Now we need to spend our resources and time rebutting them. And actually put in a difficult if not delicate position of deciding how much we attack the source of this story or just leave it be and move on to what really counts.</s>BERMAN: An attorney for Trayvon Martin's family issued a statement saying that the woman's testimony should be included in the evidence. Benjamin Crump saying witness number nine would be a rebuttal witness, very similar to that in the Sandusky trial showing that George Zimmerman has a history of violence and manipulation. Zimmerman's mentality, he says, is very relevant to this trial.</s>SAMBOLIN: A bloody night in the east end of Toronto. Two young people killed and 19 others wounded when gunfire broke out at an outdoor barbecue. A 3-year-old child is among those injured. Toronto's police chief said this is the most serious crime of its kind ever to hit his city.</s>BILL BLAIR, TORONTO POLICE CHIEF: Tonight's event is unprecedented. Today's event I think is shocking to every Torontonian. It will be shocking to all of Canada. Because of the number of people that injured, the level of violence is something we have never experienced.</s>SAMBOLIN: Police have a person of interest in custody, but are looking for more suspects now.</s>BERMAN: Now he says he's not a hero, but if he's not a hero, I have no idea who he is because check this out. He saved a little girl's life. This is cell phone video taken by a New York City neighbor. It shows a 7-year-old jumping up and down on the air conditioner before falling three stories that's when Steven Saint Bernard, a New York City bus driver raised underneath, you can see him there, making the catch, helping break the fall in the bushes below and she survived without a scratch. Not a scratch. The little girl is said to be autistic. Police have been looking in it as they say they are not going to charge the parents for any negligence or anything else. Everyone just thrilled that this man is in fact a hero and catches really well.</s>SAMBOLIN: Yes, you know, I was reading more about the story. He said that he was hoping that he could save her. He was so worried about her. He actually sustained a torn tendon in his shoulder.</s>BERMAN: Really?</s>SAMBOLIN: Yes, but otherwise he's fine. He said the entire time he was thinking about his 7-year-old girl. His little girl calls him a hero.</s>BERMAN: And so do</s>I. SAMBOLIN: Drop some pounds by popping a pill. Coming up, with a brand-new weight loss drug just hours away from FDA approval, we ask, does it really work and is it safe?