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Internet Iraq Air Strike Video Sparks Controversy; Amphibian Species Dying Off in Alarming Numbers
Aired October 16, 2004 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: And here is a look at stories "Now in the News." The candidates made a beeline for battle ground states this weekend. President Bush is taking part in three rallies planned today in Florida. A state crucial to his re-election. Polls show the race in Florida is a virtual dead heat. As for the Democratic challenger John Kerry, he is focusing on Ohio today. A CNN electoral analysis concludes Ohio has shifted into the Kerry column this past week. Reports from both campaigns in the next hour on CNN.
Five Christian churches in four Baghdad neighborhoods were damaged by blasts. Soldiers say homemade bombs were used but no casualties are reported. The violence comes at the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The National Annenberg Election Survey looks at what members of the military and families think about the war in Iraq. Sixty three percent approve of the way President Bush is handling Iraq. But 62 percent thought the Bush administration underestimated the number of troops needed to keep the peace in Iraq.
Here in the United States near Wittier, California more than two dozen freight cars some carrying chemicals went off the track this morning forcing the evacuation of 25 to 30 homes. No injuries have been reported. But at least one home has been damaged. No word yet on the cause of the derailment.
Engineering designs drawn backward might have contributed to the crash landing of a NASA spacecraft last month. An investigating board says switches to detect the ship's re-entry into the earth's atmosphere were improperly oriented. Genesis was returning to Earth with solar particle samples when it smashed into the desert in the Utah.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WALLACE: I'm Kelly Wallace in Washington. More news at the bottom of the hour. NEXT@CNN begins right now. Keeping you informed CNN the most trusted name in news.
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, I'm Daniel Sieberg. Today on NEXT@CNN, video from inside the cockpit of a fighter plane over Iraq gives a chilling glimpse of what really happens in combat.
Also the American West is gasping in the grasp of a severe drought. Will people in the west of the country take an economic hit?
And a new concert hall gives a special acoustic technology to create the perfect venue for jazz. All that and more on NEXT.
A cockpit video that's been circulating for months on the Internet provides a rare window on anti-insurgent operations in Iraq. Showing a deadly air strike against a group of people. Now U.S. military officials insist the attack was a legitimate strike on hostile forces in Falluja. CNN's senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre has the story. Please be aware that some viewers may find the video disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Saturday, April 10th, capped a bloody week in Falluja. Hundreds of Iraqis were killed by U.S. Marines who were still pushing into the insurgent stronghold, even as members of Iraq's governing council were negotiating a cease-fire.
U.S. Air Force F-16s dropped more bombs in support of the Marine offensive that Saturday than on any day that week. A cockpit video of one such engagement never officially released has circulated on the Internet for months. CNN has confirmed it's authentic. The 53-second clip provides a look at how the U.S. uses what it calls precision air strikes in urban areas to support ground operations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got numerous individuals on the ground. You want me to take those out?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take them out.
MCINTYRE: According to a U.S. military account he ordered to take them out is from a forward air controller on the ground with the Marines whose job is to confirm the targets are hostile before calling in the bombs. The original target was said to be a nearby building where marines have been trading fire with the insurgents before they allegedly fled into the street.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ten seconds.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger.
MCINTYRE: The U.S. says the ground controller could see the situation before he cleared the pilot to drop a 500-pound bomb.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Impact.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, dude.
MCINTYRE: Experts who reviewed the tape at CNN's request say whether the strike was legitimate hinges entirely on whether the controller was right.
JAMES CARAFANO, MILITARY LAW ANALYST: The challenge there is from the guy with his eye on the target, it's his responsibility to identify the target to the aircraft.
LT. GEN. ROBERT GARD, U.S. ARMY (RET): My first reaction to it was, I wondered where the air controller was and whether he could identify that as a group of insurgents or whether he was somewhere remote from that area and didn't know for sure.
MCINTYRE: In an interview with Channel 4 Television in the U.K., a doctor who said he was at the hospital in Falluja in April claimed the dead were innocent civilians. At the time fierce fighting across Falluja was filling the local hospital with numerous casualties, including women and children.
Some wonder whether it's logical for insurgents to move in a large group that would make them vulnerable to air strikes.
GARD: The only questionable thing is whether or not well- disciplined and competent insurgents would pour out of a building on to a wide street without any cover. On the other hand, we do know that there are a number of insurgents who are trained who out of anger or frustration have taken up arms and it's quite possible that they were insurgents.
MCINTYRE (on camera): Even the most precise air strikes can result in unintended civilian casualties, but the U.S. military insists this strike was by the book and carefully followed rules designed to minimize the risk of innocent lives.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIEBERG: All right changing gears now. And the changing of the guard is under way on the international space station. Only Thursday a Soyuz rocket roared off the launch pad at the Russian space center. Carrying two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut they will replace the crew that has been on the space station for the past six months. The new crew is scheduled to stay until April. Their work will include experiments on possible vaccines against AIDS.
In recent weeks we've seen giant steps for mankind, aimed at opening up space travel to tourist. But is it really going to happen? Miles O'Brien takes a look at the prospects and the potential perils of space tourism.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Shooting for the stars. After years of talk about space for the rest of us, the idea may finally be taking flight. The heavens may soon be open for business.
DICK RUTAN, AVIATION ANALYST: Space domain for man space flight is no longer the domain of a huge democracy. Spending billions of dollars. We can do it privately.
O'BRIEN: And that is more than just an ideal promised. In a hangar at a small airport in California's bleak Mojave Desert, engineer Burt Rutan and a small team designed and built a spaceship for civilians that has now briefly crossed the threshold of space 100 kilometers up, three times. BURT RUTAN, SPACESHIPONE DESIGNER: We think the most significant thing is what we did in June. Was to show that a private company without any NASA help, without any government money at all can go out and actually fly a manned space flight.
O'BRIEN: The idea has sparked the imagination of wide-eyed daredevils, dreamers and would-be entrepreneurs for years.
RICK TUMLINSON, SPACE FRONTIER: Keep in mind this is not something that just happened at the snap of a finger. The momentum has built up and we're really now starting to see things start to happen. It's really an exciting time.
O'BRIEN: Rutan got there for all of $25 million or about 1/20 the cost of a single flight of NASA's space shuttle. Is the U.S. Space Agency embarrassed? Apparently not.
SEAN O'KEEFE, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: This is exactly the way it's supposed to work. I mean NASA knocks down all the technology hurdles and we've accomplished that objective. Now you got some entrepreneurs who are taking that experience and making it accessible for all of us.
O'BRIEN: Many of the entrepreneurs fueling this nation's industry came of age during the Moon race went on to make their fortunes in computers and are now returning to a childhood dream.
JIM BENSON: A lot of us, my age who had a lot of hopes and dreams back in the Apollo era were disappointed for many years and now is the time before we get too old.
O'BRIEN: Rutan's effort was financed by another child of the space age, Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Paul Allen.
PAUL ALLEN, SPACESHIPONE FUNDER: A few years down the road when space tourism is available for everyone, it's going to be amazing and it is going to make that momentum increase even more.
O'BRIEN: But why now? More than 40 years after the first men flew in space? Well, for one thing, there was a big incentive. The richest prize in aviation history, the $10 million X-Prize, offered to the first civilian team to fly a three-seat craft to space and back twice in as many weeks. It was the brainchild of one those wild-eyed dreamers Peter Diamandis.
PETER DIAMANDIS, X-PRIZE PRESIDENT: We're out to try and create the sort of the personal space light revolution the same way that Apple created the personal computer revolution.
O'BRIEN: He realized there were two things that spurred innovation in aviation. Warfare and cash prizes. Charles Lindbergh flew the Atlantic in 1927 in pursuit of the $25,000 Orteig prize.
ERIK LINDBERGH, X-PRIZE BOARD: Before my grandfather flew the Atlantic pilots were known as dare devils and flying fools and barnstormers and after he flew, they were known as pilots and passengers. O'BRIEN: And maybe, just maybe, history will serve as a model here. In the midst of Burt Rutan's successful pursuit of the X-Prize he announced a huge coup. Sir Richard Branson, of Virgin fame, has commissioned Rutan to build a craft that will carry as many as seven paying passengers to space. Perhaps as soon as three years from now.
RICHARD BRANSON, VIRGIN GALACTIC FOUNDER: Initially, the tickets will not be cheap. Something like $170,000. But our pledge is that we'll reinvest any profits we make in trying to bring the price of tickets down.
O'BRIEN: And while the price might make most of us choke, it is, relatively speaking, a bargain. The only two space tourists in history paid about $20 million to fly with the Russians to the International Space Station. In the meantime, astronaut wannabes lacking stratus spiritually deep pockets can buy a smaller piece of the action.
X-Prize found Diamandis is also principal in a company selling $300,000 rides on a specially modified 727 that flies a roller coaster pattern offering 30-second doses of weightlessness, just like planes used to train the real astronauts. He figured there would be about two flights booked in the first month. So far he's got 20. Perhaps that is proof there is pent up demand for the experience of leaving the planet. And then a new kind of space race is upon us. For the competition is among rival companies, not adversarial governments.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIEBERG: Well stay with news that's kind of out of this world. You are probably familiar with seti@home. That is the project that lets home computer users search for extra terrestrial intelligence. Scientists at UC Berkley set the program so the enormous task of processing data from space could be shared by home computers. Then they are not doing anything else.
An estimated half million people are helping. In full disclosure, I have it on my computer as well. Last week it cost one of them his job. Charles Smith, a computer programmer with the state of Ohio was running the SETI software on his work computer at night and on the weekends. He was fired. And the director of his department was quoted as saying that Smith was searching for intelligence in outer space because he lacked it himself. You might get some argument on that one.
ANNOUNCER: When we come back -- a new study presents disturbing evidence that greenhouse gas levels are rising faster and faster.
And later in the show, current events now turn into video games in a matter of weeks.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SIEBERG: A new study says frogs; toads and salamanders are in trouble. Their numbers are dropping dramatically, and while a lot of people consider these critters a little creepy, the report is not a reason to celebrate.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SIEBERG (voice-over): A study out this week from Conservation International finds the worldwide population of amphibians is in grave decline.
SIMON STUART, CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL: There are 5,743 amphibian species in the world and 32.5 percent of those are threatened with extinction. That's a huge percentage compared with any other group of species we've looked at.
SIEBERG: The studies published in the latest issue of the "Journal Science" not only is one-third of all amphibians under inmate threat say researchers, but at least 122 species have gone extinct since 1980.
STUART: It looks like within a century; within 100 years we've lost several tens of thousands of years worth of extinctions in amphibians if they had been going at a typical rate in the fossil record. So there's an enormous increase in the rate of extinction in amphibians at the moment.
SIEBERG: Our comparison the study finds 12 percent of birds and 23 percent of mammals are threatened. But the scientists pay particular attention to amphibian health calling the creatures canaries in the coal mine for other species, including humans. Amphibian decline may be a warning that our natural environment is going south.
STUART: There's considerable evidence that this is due to new diseases and to global changes in the environment. And our fear is that if this can affect amphibians so dramatically then how long is it before it starts affecting other groups of species and eventually humans as well.
So amphibians are an early warning if you like. What could be more dangerous times ahead?
SIEBERG (on camera): While some amphibians are declining because of over harvesting, loss of habitat and pollution, there's growing evidence that a highly infectious fungal disease is killing off our froggy friends. So scientists are currently trying to find a way to combat this infection in the wild.
Well a United Nations conference on trade and endangered species has wrapped up a two-week meeting in Bangkok, Thailand. Among the actions taken the great white shark will come under international protection. Trading shark fins, and jaws and other body parts will be strictly regulated and whales will continue to be protected. Japan where whale meat is a delicacy has proposed easing restrictions on trading minke whales. The convention voted down the idea. The conference also rejected a request from Namibia to sell 4,400 pounds of elephant ivory per year from its stockpiles.
Other nations felt that would increase poaching.
All right new figures for the level of carbon dioxide in Earths atmosphere have risen dramatically. Over the past couple of years and that have scientists even more worried about the burning of fossil fuels. A big source of CO2. Carbon dioxide is a major cause of global warming. Jim Boulden has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM BOULDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice): This idyllic setting in Hawaii is considered an idea place to measure of how much carbon dioxide the industrialized world is spewing into the atmosphere. American scientists now say they have reported a sharp rise in CO2 concentrates in the Hawaiian air. And though it's not clear what has caused the rise, carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels continue to alarm many scientists.
DAVID KING, U.K. GOVT. SCIENTIFIC ADVISER: The most worrying factor is that we're seeing a regular increase in carbon dioxide emissions, which is very substantial.
BOULDEN: The amount of CO2 in the air has been rising steadily over Hawaii since measuring began in 1958. Throughout the 1960s, the annual rise was less than one part per million. By the 1990s, the average annual increase of CO2 in the air had doubled. But starting in 2002, it has risen over two parts per million for two straight years.
Skeptics say a rise in CO2 emissions will not automatically have detrimental effects on the environment. In U.S. President George W. Bush has rejected calls for mandatory cuts in emissions in the developed world, citing adverse economic impact, though much of Europe is calling for cuts in admissions.
CHARLIE KROWICKI (ph), GREENPEACE: Europe is much more progressive than certainly the North America. The trouble is, if only the Europeans remain progressive on this issue, we're not going to solve the problem. America and the United States particularly have to get back into the game.
BOULDEN: And while many companies have been criticized for coming late to the climate change debate, one industry is buying into global warming. Insurance companies are raising premiums for flood insurance, worried that water levels will rise along with the levels of CO2 emissions.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Coming up finding a car mechanic you can trust is hard enough. How about if Congress got involved in fixing your car?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SIEBERG: Computers are supposed to make things easier, right? Not when it comes to fixing a car. If you are an independent repair shop. Neighborhood garages complain that they are losing a lot of business to dealers. Who have ready access to computer diagnostic information? The dispute has even made it to the halls of Congress. Sean Callebs reports. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the saying goes, you don't have to be a rocket scientist.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Take a right in 100 yards.
CALLEBS: But when it comes to repairing today's computer laden cars, a little extra knowledge wouldn't hurt.
CHRISTIAN HASSEL, TECHNICIAN: It's got 30 distinct systems and all of these different computers are communicating with each other.
CALLEBS: But non-dealer repair shops everything from the mom and pop outfit to large chains like NAPA, AutoZone and Jiffy Lube say carmakers aren't playing fair. They contend, as cars get more complex to repair dealers keep vital information about computer diagnostics to themselves, freezing out mechanics not in the family.
MICHAEL FOX: If we can't scan your system because of the fact that we don't know -- we don't have the technology to scan your system, you have no choice but to take it back to the dealer. That's the bottom line.
CALLEBS: Carmakers say the information is out there. Two years ago car companies and the largest group of independent garages reached an accord that allowed Internet access to all the information mechanics need. But independent garages say it's too complex to navigate easily and costly to purchase diagnostic equipment and tools.
Congress is considering weighing in. Debating a measure called The Right To Repair Act that would give the Federal Trade Commission repair information oversight.
MICHAEL STANTON, ALLIANCE OF AUTOMOBILE MANUEL: There is absolutely no question that the vehicles have become much more complex.
CALLEBS: The automotive industry says it's much ado about nothing. It says the real issue is independent garages need to spend more time and money training mechanics.
STANTON: It's in our best interest that vehicles are repaired safely and economically to make our customers happy.
CALLEBS: Independent garages employ about 5 million people. The coalition for auto repair quality said its members are losing as much as 15 percent of their business.
SANDY BASS, CARE: Not only are consumers being locked out and the small business being locked out, but the economy is going to have a large sucking sound because we will have to lay people off. We will not be able to keep people employed.
CALLEBS (on camera): Despite demands from such organizations like as AAA, it's not expected Congress will take any action on The Right To Repair issue.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Coming up in our next half hour -- a severe drought has parched the western U.S. for years. Does it affect what you pay to put food on the table?
And the rescued Saint Bernards of the Swiss Alps get their pink slips, replaced by 21st Century technology.
Those stories and a lot more are coming up right after a break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALLACE: Good afternoon I'm Kelly Wallace in Washington. More of NEXT@CNN, but first a check of stories now in the news.
It has been a bloody 24 hours in Iraq for the U.S. military. At least four American troops have died in separate attacks. One was killed in Mosul, the other three in Qaim. There have also been attacks on at least five Christian churches in Baghdad. The violence comes at the start of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.
Israeli's deadly campaign against Palestinian militants have come to an end in Gaza. Israeli troops and tanks withdrew from the area last night after a 17-day campaign. At least 110 Palestinians, making it the bloodiest Israeli offensive in northern Gaza in four years of fighting.
September 11th, quote, "cannot be the day liberty perished." That from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The court issued a unanimous ruling that the fear of terrorism is not a sufficient reason to search protesters. The case involves a protest to be held next month at the School of the Americas.
And the Food and Drug Administration says none of the influenza vaccine produced by a company lab in England is any good. The FDA says it cannot vouch for the safety of up to 46 million flu shots produced by the Chiron Corporation. So what should happen to happen to health workers who give flu shots to healthy people? Some states have decided to levy fines. CNN LIVE SATURDAY has that story coming up at 4 p.m. Eastern.
I'm Kelly Wallace in Washington. More news at the top of the hour. NEXT@CNN continues right now.
Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.
SIEBERG: Welcome back to NEXT@CNN. Well, federal forecasters say drought is likely to continue through the winter in the Midwest to the northern plains and Pacific Northwest. So what does the long-term dry spell mean for supplies and prices at the grocery store? Jacqui Jeras reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERT YOUNG, AMERICAN FARM BUREAU FEDERATION: Pray for rain is really about their main option at this stage of the game.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): It doesn't take a meteorologist to tell you that it's dry out West. A quick look at the parched land and falling water tables is all the evidence you need. From Montana to southern California, drought-damaged land has severely impacted growing crops and grazing livestock. But economists say, a water shortage out West doesn't necessarily mean a supply shortage or higher prices in the grocery store.
KEITH COLLINS, USDA: From a national perspective, consumers really are not going to see any disruption of crop supplies this year. But they are seeing a disruption of beef supplies and they're seeing that at the retail supermarket.
JERAS: Experts say that although some crops like wheat are grown in the West, most of the staple foods, like corn and soybeans, are primarily grown in the Midwest, a region that, so far, has not seen the level of drought felt out West. Also, despite severe drought, most large Western farms have water rights that assure their ability to irrigate crops. So the major impact, say economists, is being felt by cattle ranchers.
COLLINS: It's been an event for cattle producers. It's affected range land, pastureland, hayland. We have five Western states where the condition of the pastures, through most of the summer, has been 50 percent poor or very poor or worse, and that's pretty unusual.
JERAS: Many regions are so severe that some states have opened up conservation land for emergency grazing. According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, beginning in the late '90s, the dryness coupled with low cattle prices has prompted many to Western livestock producers to slaughter some and stop breeding more cattle. But, even with the market surplus, beef prices remain strong as low-carb dieters and fast-food lovers gobble up the available supply.
YOUNG: They have just a very strong demand for beef and meat products, animal protein products, that have kind of lifted that entire sector, yet the supply side has not been able to come back as rapidly to meet that kind of growing demand.
JERAS: Experts note, that a sustained drought could eventually see consumer demands for beef exceed the available supply. And if that occurs, even higher prices would result. Economists at the USDA say that although the meat department has been getting a bit pricey, it's more stable over in the produce department, in part, because imports help keep the shelves in American stores stocked year round. According to a USDA report, about 11 percent of produce and animal products in U.S. supermarkets come from overseas. A figure expected to rise with consumer demand for more off-season produce all year.
So the Western drought aside, experts say the American public needn't worry about spikes to food prices occurring overnight. As those in the food business wait to see what Mother Nature has in store.
(END VIDEOTAPE) SIEBERG: OK. Time now to look at some of the e-mails you've been sending us. And a lot of viewers wrote to us last week because they wanted to check out the Web site for the book "100 Suns," featuring Michael Light's photographs of nuclear bomb tests. We had said there'd be a link on our Web site, but a technical glitch knocked it off. However, it is there now and now you really can get there from our Web site at cnn.com/next.
We also got a lot of response to our story on plans by the state of Maryland to resume bear hunting for the first time in more than 50 years.
Peter, in Silver Spring, Maryland writes: "The upcoming bear hunt in Maryland has nothing to do with nuisance bears and everything to do with giving hunters a trophy hunt."
William in Kalamazoo, Michigan writes: "A recreational bear hunt will not target specific "problem" bears and will not address any bear/human conflicts." And he adds, "Solutions already exist to resolve bear/human conflicts in a non-lethal manner...such as removing food and trash that attracts bears, installing electric fencing around crops and beehives, and using aversive conditioning to teach bears to behave."
And Debbie in Bel Air Maryland writes: "This bear hunt is not wanted by the majority of the people living in Maryland."
Some very impassioned letters. And thanks to everyone who wrote. Now, we'd like to hear from you on some other stories, as well. We can't answer every e-mail on the air, but we do read them all. This is the actual e-mail box where we get them and you can write to us at next@cnn.com.
ANNOUNCER: Coming up, dogs that can sniff out the bouquet of bills: How Columbia battles crime.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SIEBERG: Dogs and their sensitive noses already play important roles in law enforcement from tracking down fugitives to sniffing out drugs. Well, now dogs are helping police in Colombia by zeroing in on the scent of suspicious cash. Karl Penhaul reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Small, full of bounce, with a keen nose for dirty money. Meet Colombian police dog Nana (ph). She's sniffing luggage (UNINTELLIGIBLE) wads of dollars in euros, earnings from international drug deals being smuggled back to Colombia.
"All that cash comes back to finance the narco trafficking industry in Colombia," he says "to pay for hit men, to pay workers, to reproduce drugs or to buy the chemicals," he says.
Nana (ph), a Fox Terrier, and Nix (ph), a Golden Labrador, are two of the newest weapons in the war on drugs. Since teaming up with police at Bogota Airport in May, Nana (ph) alone has sniffed out more than 550,000 contraband dollars.
"At first she was just a novelty, and nobody believed she would get results. But when she sniffed out her first stash, everybody changed their attitude," he says.
This customs agent asked passengers if they're carrying more than $10,000. That's the maximum amount passengers can bring in under stringent new currency import laws that took effect in mid-August. Police and customs agents say they've found cash smuggled in everything from false-bottomed suitcases to hollowed pencils. Last year police found $1.2 million in a secondhand TV.
"The criminals modus operandi is very diverse and they're constantly innovating," he says. "But we're constancy innovating too, that's why we have these dollar sniffing dogs," he says.
(on camera): In a few moments from now, flights are scheduled to arrive from Panama and Mexico City. Police categorize those flights as high-risk. That means a high possibility that some of the passengers onboard could be trying to smuggle in dollars.
(voice-over): Back in action on the rotating belt, even a canine secret weapon can have a problem with some of those big bags. Now every dog has its day, and today the honors go to Nix (ph). She sniffed out a stash of euros in this passenger's shoes.
Euros, dollars and pounds, grand total more than $33,000 worth of cash. The passenger says it's not drug money, but savings from his job as a janitor in London. He'll have to prove his story to customs, or risk losing it.
For the dollar-sniffing dogs, Nana (ph) and Nix (ph), it's back to the kennels. They'll be hot on the money trail again manana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIEBERG: Well, across the Atlantic, another bunch of working dogs won't have much to do manana. The Saint Bernards that rescue people in the Swiss Alps are being put out to pasture. Andrew Kerry reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDREW KERRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They are one of the quintessential symbols of the Swiss Alps, the burley, but reliable Saint Bernard. Named after the monks who first bred them back in the 1600s, the dog are said to have saved more than 2,000 lives.
BROTHER FREDRIC, SAINT BERNARD HOSPICE (through translator): Even if there was two or three meters of fresh snow, they were able to make a trace in the snow and allow the travelers to find their way. They were also able to find travelers lost in the mountains and also in the avalanches.
KERRY: Their ability to hear an avalanche high up in the mountains was just one part of the dog's mystique. But not all the stories about them were true. The brandy barrels to revive stricken climbers was actually the invention of artists in the 19th Century, but it was a myth that stuck. Nowadays, rescue work is carried out by helicopter and more highly equipped teams. And with the need of the dogs diminished, the dwindling number of monks that look after them say they have to let them go.
BROTHER FREDRIC (through translator): They need a lot of time and energy. We are only four monks and one additional servant, so we are only five making up the religious community here. We feel we should devote more time to people who need it, people in our hospice.
KERRY: The last remaining Saint Bernard's are now up for sale. But any prospective buyer must agree to return them to the monastery every summer. For the dogs and the generations to follow, are still in demand in the mountains. Not by climbers in trouble, but by tourists.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIEBERG: Well, tourists at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia, can look forward to seeing a baby koala who had a narrow escape from disaster. Little Corey, just seven months old, had to be taken out of his mother's pouch a month ago when she got sick and couldn't take care of him. He was malnourished and dehydrated. A human surrogate mother raise him, feeding him twice an hour, at first. Now Corey has put on weight and is starting to eat eucalyptus leaves. His mother is recovering too. And zoo officials plan to reunite them in the koala exhibit once they are both healthy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Still ahead, it's been a long time since jazz moved out of smoky clubs and into the mainstream. Now it's getting its own specially built multimillion-dollar concert hall.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SIEBERG: Imagine wireless communication that uses light waves instead of radio waves to send data. But, you don't have to imagine it. It's real, and it was on display at one of the world's largest technology shows held recently in Japan. Atika Shubert got a demonstration.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is an exhibit for Visible Light Communications. What exactly is that? Well, it's probably easier to show than to explain. But briefly, it's the receiving and sending of data through light waves. Hard to imagine? Well, watch this.
These headphones are equipped with visible light receivers reading data off of light waves. Behind me, musicians are playing a song. You can't hear them because it's being transmitted over light. In order to hear them you have to use these headphones and you'll be able to hear not just the music, but each individual instrument. Let's snap these on.
Outside of the light you, still can't hear anything. But step into the blue light and you hear the guitarist. Step into the green light you get the bass. Step into the red light you get the keyboardist. If you want to hear them all together you combine all the light and that will give you the entire song under white light. And that's Visible Light Communications.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIEBERG: All right, some more music for you now. In Manhattan, the Time-Warner center houses more than just CNN's New York operations. The renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center program is moving of there this coming week. It's the first facility designed just for jazz, and Maria Hinojosa got a preview.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jazz has a new home, a $128 million new home. Behind the glass wall of this gleaming new tower lies the realization of a dream of Jazz at Lincoln Center and its artistic director, Wynton Marsalis, who calls this place simply the "House of Swing."
WYNTON MARSALIS, JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: This building affords us the opportunity to further our mission of collaboration and integration with all of the arts through the spirit of jazz.
HINOJOSA: The new jazz space will have three performance venues. The 1200-seat Rose Theater, home to the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, can transform into a space that can accommodate opera and dance.
The Alan Room, which seats about 600, combines the sound of jazz with a magnificent skyline view. And the smallest, Dizzy's Club Coca- Cola ,offers a more intimate setting for nightly jazz performances. There's never been a facility this large built just for the sound of jazz. Before it was finished, we got a peek at just what exactly that means.
SAM, BERKOW (ph), ACOUSTICIANS: It's very, very important to Wynton and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra that the room have what they call "vroom," that the sound envelop people, that they feel involved. It should never be there are musicians that are playing. It should be that I'm experiencing an performance.
HINOJOSA: Sam Berkow is one of the project's leading acousticians.
BERKOW: There are only three things you can do. You can absorb sound, you can redirect sound, and you can scatter sound. In this room, we do all three.
HINOJOSA: One of the first challenges, how to deal with this spectacular, but acoustically unfriendly glass wall. BERKOW: The sound that hits the glass wall will be directed up into the ceiling and the ceiling has two types of acoustical treatment. It has treatment designed to absorb sound and treatment designed to scatter sound. This particular surface provides a very efficient scattering of sounds in the vocal region. And so in recording studios and in concert halls, it's very nice because you don't get those strong reflections of sounds coming -- echoing back. Rather the sound is spread over a much larger angle.
HINOJOSA: Keeping the sound of jazz in and the noise of New York City out, let acousticians to another novel idea: Creating a free- standing theater within a larger building, a box within a box.
DAMIAN DORIN (ph), ACOUSTICIAN: This is the base building, the Columbus Center Tower structure, and this is the box of the Rose Hall only, and this separation gap runs completely around the perimeter of the whole room and underneath it, there are large rubber pads that actually support the entire room.
HINOJOSA (on camera): So, essentially you've created a sound barrier between the outside world and the jazz world.
DORIN: Well, the outside world actually has a whole bunch of subway lines running underneath the building. So, this separation prevents the vibration from the subway getting into this inner box and actually reradiating sound into the room.
HINOJOSA (voice-over): So the only horns heard in this room won't be from cars, but from the real thing.
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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Coming up, presidential candidates aren't just showing up in swing states these days. They're appearing in video games, too.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SIEBERG: You know, we've all heard about people who were saved from some terrible fate by their dog or even their cat. But, how about being saved by your shirt? Well, it could happen with technology launch this week by researchers in Singapore. The shirt, which is really more like a vest, has sensors that detect sudden movement and impact. So, if the wearer falls down, for example, the shirt sends an alarm to a computer or cell phone.
Now, inventors hope it will enable people prone to falls, like the elderly, to get help quickly.
Well, some video game makers like to build the news of the day into their games, and the turn-around time can be as little as a few weeks. One of the latest games based on the headlines takes players back to the Vietnam War-era to fight alongside a young John Kerry. Jeanne Moos reports.
BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm John Kerry...
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When John Kerry the candidate said...
KERRY: ... reporting for duty.
MOOS: ...little did the former Vietnam vet know he'd soon be a war game.
And where else would he fight but aboard swift boats.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right to 'em! Right to 'em! UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Turning into the attack.
MOOS: Talk about swift. It takes a mere three weeks for a company called Kuma\War to rip a battle out of the headlines and turn it into a video game.
ANNOUNCER: You are the 4th Infantry Division capturing Saddam. You are the 10th Mountain Division hunting al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
MOOS: And now you can be alongside Lieutenant Kerry as he chases down the enemy and shoots it.
The scenario is based on a mission that resulted in a Silver Star for Kerry. The game maker used books, naval documents and a swift boat historian to ensure accuracy. No matter which side of the swift boat brouhaha you're on, the game can always be improvised.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ah, I'm out of bullets, oh, no!
MOOS: And accidents can happen.
(on camera): I just shot Kerry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do not shoot the candidate.
MOOS (voice-over): Kuma\War's CEO says they contacted the Kerry campaign.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They said that Mr. Kerry doesn't play video games.
MOOS: But this is the thinking man's video game. One minute you've see Falluja on the news. The next thing you know, you're shooting insurgents.
Kuma\War charges 10 bucks a month and every month releases several new missions on its Web site. The Kerry mission is the latest.
MOOS (on camera): And where's the enemy?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There right in front of you.
MOOS: Who's that person?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's kind of how it works with the enemy. They're the last thing you see.
I tried to board a moving swift boat, which is never a good policy.
MOOS (voice-over): Be in Lieutenant Kerry's boots as he's crawling through the mud, taking aim. Hey, the war game is not so different from the political campaign.
(END VIDEOTAPE).
SIEBERG: Finally, take a look at the newest racing sport coming out of Cayuga County, New York. It features self-proclaimed rednecks racing around a track on souped-up riding lawnmower. It's called, you might have guessed, "Grasscar." The vehicles go 30 miles an hour or more. There are no seatbelts and no roll bars. And the racers aren't just doing it for the thrill. Each race benefits a cause. This particular contest collected money for a local woman with cancer. In two seasons the racers have raised $20,000 for various causes. Just wish they'd drop by my place. My lawn is out of control.
All right, that's all the time we have for now. But, here's what's coming up next week: Scary creatures lurk in the waters of Florida's Everglades and we're not just talking about alligators. In fact, there are predators swimming around that are bigger than gators. We'll tell you how they got there.
That's coming up on NEXT.
Until then, let's hear from you. You can send us an e-mail at next@cnn.com and don't forget to check out our Web site, that's at cnn.com/next.
Thanks so much for joining us, for all of us on the sci-tech beat, I'm Daniel Sieberg, we'll see you next time.
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