Gas and Oil Prices Spike; Gadhafi Losing Libya; Ex-Libyan Official Says Gadhafi Ordered Bombing of Pan Am 10; "The People Are in Control
HOLMES: Good morning. We are getting dramatic new video, showing the power of that earthquake in New Zealand. Meanwhile, there are concerns that time may be running out to find survivors.</s>CHETRY: His standoff against unions has been the focus of a national debate. Now Wisconsin's governor finds himself the target of a telephone prank and reveals one plan that he considered to break the stalemate.</s>HOLMES: And would you say this is a case of an employer going too far. The boss, your potential boss, asking for your Facebook username and password to check you out. This happened to one man. But it could also happen to you, on this AMERICAN MORNING. And top of the hour here on this Thursday morning, Thursday, February 24th. Glad you're right here. I'm T.J. Holmes.</s>CHETRY: I'm Kiran Chetry. It is the news that unfortunately will cost you more this morning. Gas and oil prices surging on the mere threat of supply interruptions in the Middle East and North Africa. Right now, oil prices are above $100 a barrel. And gas prices also up about two cents overnight. Our Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business" this morning. A lot of concerns, obviously because of Libya.</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Sure.</s>CHETRY: But then other questions about larger instability, Saudi Arabia, and what may happen if that's the case.</s>ROMANS: I mean, this is the where the stuff that drives the global economy comes there. When you have deep political unrest there, of course, it causes a lot of concerns. You've got oil above $100 a barrel for the first time in a couple of years. Yesterday, you can see what began over the past three weeks as steadily climbing oil prices turned into an outright oil spike. And there are calls for oil prices to continue to move higher, as we get more and more details about Libyan production being shut down and Libyan supplies starting to slow in some places. There's a lot of -- I'm going to be tell you, to be honest with you. A lot of the oil companies they're saying they're not quite sure what the situation is. It's a little chaotic. They do know that less oil is coming to the refineries and coming to the market and that's what they're very concerned about. Why is Libya so important? We've talked about how it's the largest proven reserves in Africa, but it's the third largest African oil producer, yes. But when any drop of oil isn't coming to market, it's something that you can feel because we produce a certain amount of oil every day in this world and we consume every last drop of it. The tad supplies are that tight. Also, Libya producers light sweet crude. It's a grade of oil that is processed, refined in Europe and used right away. For European recipients of this oil have to go and find other supplies, it starts to get a little difficult. It probably means that Italy and other countries are going to be competing with the U.S. for Algerian and Nigerian oil. Nigerian oil is eight percent of American oil imports. Algerian oil is four percent of American imports. So, again, it's important the type of crude you guys. It's important what's coming to the market. How big the disruption is, how chaotic the situation is. You're watching the headlines from Libya. It's clear, it's clear that this thing is just only beginning and that is the big concern. You know, Libya -- Libya is a member of OPEC. There are a lot of other countries that are providing crude oil. OPEC members say they will raise production if they need to make sure that there's enough oil on the market. But certainly, investors are concerned about this. This will mean higher prices most likely for you at the gas tank. No question about it. This is where the headlines matter to what you're putting in your gas tank.</s>CHETRY: We'll be watching this with you all day, Christine. Thank you so much.</s>HOLMES: Thank you, Christine.</s>CHETRY: We want to bring you up to date on other developments in Libya, where piece by piece, city by city, this 40-plus year of Moammar Gadhafi is clearly crumbling. Reports say that protesters are now in control of the Libyan city of Misrata. That is the third largest city in Libya behind Tripoli and Benghazi. Reports also say that the city of Zentan (ph) has fallen and that there are getting closer and closer to the capital. In Benghazi where this uprising started, they're celebrating. Ben Wedeman, the first western journalist to report from inside Libya was right in the middle of those celebrations. Take a look.</s>BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We arrived in the mid-afternoon and we showed up sort of at the center of town where there were thousands of people already demonstrating. When they saw -- excuse me -- when they saw us arrive, they just exploded with cheers and clapping, people saying "thank you, thank you" in English, throwing candy and dates inside the car. The only thing I can really think of or I thought of at the time was, it was like being the first American soldier in a jeep driving into Paris after the fall in 1944.</s>CHETRY: It could end up being Gadhafi's last stand. In this video which was posted on Facebook, you can hear tracer fire being shot into the air. The streets there reportedly being controlled by thugs with machetes and guns. And right now, hundreds of Americans are still waiting to leave Libya. Their ferry was scheduled to take them from Tripoli to Malta 22 hours ago, but rough seas put those evacuation plans on hold. State Department spokesman PJ Crowley tweeting that all American citizens are safe on board and that the ferry will leave when the weather permits.</s>HOLMES: And demonstrators remain defiant despite Gadhafi's orders to shoot civilians and reports that hired thugs are carrying out the crackdown. We are getting some new video, apparently shown rose of dead Libyan soldiers. We are going to show you this. Need to warn you it is disturbing, but we're just showing what is happening there, some of the reports coming out. Now these soldiers appear to have their hands bound behind their backs. The person who took this video and posted it on YouTube claim these are, in fact, Libyan soldiers who were executed for refusing to fire on unarmed civilians. We have been unable to independently confirm what you're seeing here. Meanwhile, Libya's ex-justice minister claiming that Gadhafi personally ordered the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 and he says he has proof, even though he's not saying exactly what that proof is. You'll remember that Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was the only man convicted in the bombing over Lockerbie and he was sentenced to life in prison but then granted a compassionate release by Scotland on the ground that he was suffering from prostate cancer and would soon die. That was in summer of 2009 he was released. He is still alive today. And last night, our Anderson Cooper spoke to Brian Flynn, whose brother was killed in that Pan Am flight.</s>BRIAN FLYNN, BROTHER KILLED ON PAN AMERICAN MORNING. 103: I realized for two decades we've been saying that Gadhafi is illegitimate, that he's a brutal dictator, and any efforts to normalize relations or in the case of the U.K. to free, fraudulently free Megrahi from prison, every time we do something like that, we have blood on our hands today, because you've seen that, in fact, that that regime that we legitimatized, we even fortified it by establishing closer relations with them, they're in fact brutalizing their people today. And I think we're partly responsible for that.</s>CHETRY: Well, President Obama is condemning the brutal response from the Gadhafi regime. It is the first time that he's spoken publicly about this since the uprising started.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The suffering and bloodshed is outrageous and it is unacceptable. So are threats and orders to shoot peaceful protesters and further punish the people of Libya. These actions violate international norms and every standard of common decency. This violence must stop.</s>CHETRY: Well, the president also said he's dispatching Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Geneva for international talks aimed at stopping the violence. The White House says that it took so long for the president to speak because of concerns about the safety of Americans in Libya.</s>HOLMES: A major reversal on gay marriage from the Obama administration. The president has now ordered the Justice Department to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act in court. You'll remember this is the 1996 law that says that marriage is between one man and one woman. Justice has been defending it in court the past two years, but now says the law is indefensible and unconstitutional. It's important to note here, though, that the law will continue to be enforced. It's still on the books. President Obama did stop short of personally endorsing gay marriage. His press secretary came out yesterday and said that the president is still, quote, "grappling with his views on the issue."</s>CHETRY: Civil unions though are now officially legal in the state of Hawaii. Governor Neil Abercrombie signed the bill yesterday. The new law will take effect the first of next year. And it extends the same rights to gay couples that spouses in a marriage have. Hawaii joins six other states in the District of Columbia in recognizing civil unions.</s>HOLMES: As we take a look at some other things happening around the country, take a look at this. A pet store. Look inside. A woman was trying to park at that pet store in Dallas. Hit the wrong pedal. Was trying, of course, hit the brake, hit the gas. Went right through. And the SUV through that store. And it's all caught on surveillance video. Everybody, of course, shocked inside. But the good news is, nobody was hurt.</s>CHETRY: I never understand how that happens, though.</s>HOLMES: Me neither.</s>CHETRY: I mean, if you're going to park, aren't you breaking already if you're going to park?</s>HOLMES: It happens too often.</s>CHETRY: Do you zoom in to a space and then slam the brake on?</s>HOLMES: Maybe she's on the phone doing some other thing. Who knows what happens.</s>CHETRY: Wow. All right. Well, a little over an hour from now, the Space Shuttle Discovery will fuel up for the final time. Discovery blasts off on a supply mission to the International Space Station at 4:50 p.m. It's the first of three scheduled flights before the aging shuttle fleet is retired. In an exclusive interview with NASA, with CNN NASA chief, Charles Bolden says that will be the end of America's space missions for a while.</s>CHARLES BOLDEN, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: What is not acceptable is the fact that the most powerful nation in the world, the United States of America, finds itself in a situation that we didn't do the proper planning to have a vehicle in place to replace shuttle when it lands its last landing.</s>CHETRY: Bolden continued on saying that Russian Soyuz capsules will have to supply the space station until commercial spacecraft can do the job.</s>HOLMES: Well, 10 minutes past the hour, let's turn to our Reynolds Wolf, keeping an eye on the weather for us just off the top here. Reynolds, good morning. And is the weather going to cooperate, it appears, for this launch later today?</s>REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's going to cooperate very well for the launch today. The way it looks is fine. But for other people who are trying to have their own launch around the country, you might have a few wrinkles, especially in parts of the southeast, the Midwest and out in the --- Pacific Northwest is going to be just insane. Let's begin first and foremost what we have right in front of us. Then we've got some scattered showers that are developing across parts of the Tennessee valley, some snowfall in upstate, Pennsylvania even into parts of New York. But the rain that they're watching this morning, the primary threat we're going to see from this is going to be some flash flooding, especially in western Tennessee and western Kentucky. Or friends who may be turning in from Paducah this morning, be prepared. Out west, as we wrap things up, the big story is not rain, but rather snow. In some spots we have the winter storm watches, warnings. They're scattered all throughout the west. Right along the coast, we can see anywhere from three to seven inches of snowfall. In the mountains, possibly above a foot in many places. So out west you can expect some delays in Seattle, in Portland, in San Francisco, and, of course, in Nashville this morning expect the delays to stack up there as well. Guys, you get a full plate to talk about. Plus the severe weather potential for the southeast. We're going to touch on that in just a few. Yes, let's send it back to you guys.</s>HOLMES: All right, Reynolds. Looking forward to you shortly.</s>CHETRY: I thought you were going to get exact on us, but no it's --</s>WOLF: Hey, we're always -- we always keep it loose here. There you go.</s>CHETRY: Thanks, Reynolds. Well, coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, we have a new look at the earthquake in New Zealand, as it happened, through the lens of a surveillance camera.</s>HOLMES: Also, this morning, Wisconsin's governor falls for a prank caller. He thought it was one of his supporters. It turned out to be a journalist, and it took 20 minutes of a phone call before anybody realized something might have been up.</s>CHETRY: Also, would you give up your Facebook password to get a job? One state agency is taking a background check to a whole new level. It's 12 minutes past the hour.