Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Sunday

Suicide Bombers Drive Car Into Funeral Procession In Najaf; Tips On Researching Legitimate Health Information On Internet

Aired December 19, 2004 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: A brazen attack in broad daylight, just one of three deadly attacks aimed at making sure bullets, not ballots, rule Iraq.
You're surfing the Internet looking for medical advice, how can you be so sure that you're getting good information? Our medical expert will help set you straight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two months salary too much to pay for something that lasts forever?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Uhm, no. Not if you love the girl enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: As simple as that. The story of how diamonds became a girl's best friend.

Hello and welcome to CNN SUNDAY. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. All that and more after a check of these headlines.

A deadly day in Iraq. Violence has killed 71 people across the country. We'll have two reports coming up in a minute.

A security beef-up in Washington, President Bush's inauguration next month will be the tightest in inaugural history. Police plan to search everyone of the tens of thousands of people expected to line the parade route.

And a huge car pile-up in Ohio closes portions of Interstate 80. So far, no deaths have been reported, but many people were injured. The chain reaction crash near the Pennsylvania border involved as many as 70 cars. Snow and ice are being blamed for that accident.

We begin with Iraq, and the question of whether bombs and bullets will win out over ballots. Suicide bombers killed almost 70 people and wounded dozens in two of Iraq's holiest cities. An election official and his bodyguards were ambushed and shot in Baghdad, and insurgents abducted 10 Iraqi workers. The upsurge in violence comes before Iraq holds its first Democratic elections scheduled for next month.

We go first to our Karl Penhaul with the latest on the bloodshed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As mourners wound through Najaf to bury a tribal leader, a car bomb rips through the funeral procession. Carnage close to the shrine of the Imam Ali, the holiest site for Iraq's Shi'a majority.

Scores lay dead and wounded. In the chaos, survivors scrap through wreckage for others who may still be alive.

Najaf hospitals were overwhelmed, and some casualties were taken to neighboring cities.

Security officials say Najaf's police chief and the provincial governor were in the crowd, but survived unscathed.

Just two hours earlier, another lethal car bomb rocked Najaf's Karbala (ph) about 50 miles away. The second deadly blast there in four days. The target in Karbala, the main bus station, close to two other revered Shi'a shrines.

The walking wounded stagger off. The dead and maimed, ferried away in ambulances.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, (through translator): They are taking any opportunity to strike. As you see, this place was crowded. As many people are coming from Baghdad and from all over Iraq, so they took advantage of these crowds.

PENHAUL: Najaf was the scene of heavy fighting between the Shi'a, Medhi army militia and U.S. forces in July. And in Karbala in March, a wave of explosions killed more than 170.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Sunday's blasts. Security officials suggest the bombers may have been Sunni radicals looking to stoke sectarian strife ahead of the January elections, but a Shia leader said the attackers may have been renegade tribal factions from within the Shi'a community.

Bloodshed, too, in Baghdad, on Haifa street, a few blocks from the green zone, center of the U.S. and Iraqi administrations. Police say insurgents dragged a senior election official and two bodyguards from their car, made them kneel in the street and shot them execution style.

(on camera): Iraqi and U.S. authorities have been warning that insurgents could step up violence ahead of the January elections. That campaign already has many Iraqis asking how many deaths will democracy cost? Karl Penhaul, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Iraqi civilians taken hostage. This video shows seven of ten Iraqis abducted in Iraq. They're employees of a Washington-based company that provides security, transportation and translation services. Militants are reportedly threatening to kill them if the company doesn't leave Iraq. Now more on the brazen killings in Baghdad. The very public execution-style shooting of a senior Iraqi election official and his bodyguards is seen as a message meant to intimidate Iraqis. Our Suzanne Kelly-Simons has the story. But first, a warning, some of the images in this piece may not be suitable for all viewers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE KELLY-SIMONS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a bold attack early in the morning, on Baghdad's Haifa street. The Associated Press says a stringer captured a killing of a senior election official and two of his bodyguards. Insurgents pulled them from their car, dragged them into the street, forced them to the ground and executed them.

The brazeness of the attack, just 6 weeks before scheduled elections is clear. The insurgents don't bother to cover their faces. Instead, killing their victims in the middle of a busy street for all to see.

This image, believed to be captured just moments before the man lying down is shot. While another of the attackers walks to the man kneeling on the street behind, to shoot him in the back of the head. A third man was killed the same way.

AP cites an official from the independent electoral commission saying two other workers in the car managed to escape the crowd of some 30 insurgents. Locals call this street Little Fallujah, because of continuous violent attacks.

U.S. officials have been warning of a possible escalation of insurgent attacks as the election draws near. This latest, and very public execution, testimony of the insurgents' own campaign to scare Iraqis away from the polls. Suzanne Kelly-Simons, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: The rise of violence in Iraq comes on the same day "Time" magazine released the name of its person of the year, President George W. Bush. It's the second time he's been chosen for that honor.

The president is seen as a polarizing figure in the U.S. and around the world, particularly because of the war. The magazine credits Mr. Bush with reshaping the rules of politics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN DICKERSON, TIME MAGAZINE: What Bush did two years ago when he was thinking about this campaign, was he said I'm going to do it differently than other presidents who have done this before. And that's part of why he was picked. He rewrote the rules in a lot of ways. And that will effect both the way he goes forward in the next four years and other politicians are going to run for office. So, it's in part the way he ran, and the way he went against those normal rules of politics that he's the man of the year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And Time's managing editor says Mr. Bush has changed dramatically since becoming president and that he is much more resolute.

Donald Rumsfeld plans to put his John Hancock an condolence letters to families of U.S. troops killed in Iraq. The move comes amid criticism for his not doing so in the past. The U.S. defense secretary was also under fire on the Sunday talk shows. Our Elaine Quijano is at the White House with details on that -- Elaine.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you Fredricka.

That's right, this issue was made public first in an article in the armed forces newspaper, "Stars and Stripes." And Secretary Rumsfeld released a statment about this, an excerpt of which reads quote, "I wrote and approved the now more than 1,000 letters sent to family members and next of kin of each of the servicemen and women killed in military action. While I have not individually signed each one, in the interest of ensuring expeditious contact with grieving family members, I have directed that in the future I sign each letter."

Now that admission has outraged some family members of military personnel who say that it's unconsionable that the secretary would not take a moment to sign the letters. And today this news drew sharp rebukes from lawmakers, including some of the secretary's long-time critics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK HAGEL, (R) NEBRASKA: That's the least that we could expect out of the secretary of defense, is having some personal attention paid by him. The president, I understand signs personal letters, each letter to the family member, the president signs. If the president of the United States can find time to do that, why can't the secretary of defense? I think it is reflective of his management, his style, his substance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Now a White House official declined to comment, specifically about this Secretary Rumsfeld and the signing of those condolence letters. But earlier today White House chief of staff Andy Card was asked about the more general criticisms of Secretary Rumsfeld not only by Democrats, but more recently from fellow Republicans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDY CARD, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Secretary Rumsfeld is doing a spectacular job and the president has great confidence in him. He's helping to lead our troops as they meet an awesome responsibility to protect us, and to bring freedom to others. But he's also transforming the military, and any time do you that, there are controversies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Now, despite the criticisms, Democrats are not going so far as to call for Rumsfeld to resign. In fact, one top Democrat saying that he believes a change at the top at the Pentagon wouldn't do anything. He believes, Fredricka, that a change in policy is really what's going to make a difference -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And Elaine, is the White House commenting on whether they issued a directive to Rumsfeld to sign these notes personally, or if that was a decision he made on his own volition?

QUIJANO: They won't comment, they don't even want to go there, really. What they will say is that President Bush does sign his own letters that go out to the family members of the fallen, but they don't want to comment on this situation surrounding Secretary Rumsfeld.

WHITFIELD: Elaine Quijano at the White House, thank you.

QUIJANO: A Kansas woman is accused of a gruesome crime against a pregnant woman. We'll hear how she explained a new baby to those who know her.

Plus, the dangers of turning to the Internet for medical advice. Find out which Web sites you can trust.

And later, amazing photographs capturing disappearing rites of passage in Africa. We'll show you some of that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A pregnant Missouri woman strangled and her baby stolen. Now the woman accused of the crime faces a court appearance. Police say Lisa Montgomery has already confessed. Meantime people in her Kansas town of Melbourne say she had showed off the infant girl as her own. Montgomery's pastor says it was all a bit odd.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE WHEATLEY, PASTOR: She was pretty small. And I commented to her about it. I asked her if she was due, when she was due. And she said she was due in December. And I said well you're kind of small to be having a to baby that soon. And she said, I always have small babies. And so, I just let it go at that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Montgomery attended the First Church of God. And took the baby to visit the pastor. He describes the infant as beautiful.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHEATLEY: We got the hold the baby and just love on it. And she sat there and just watched us and commented about the delivery and about how her water broke. And my wife asked her where she had it. And she said she had it at the birthing center in Topeka.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The baby has been recovered and is said to be in good shape. Montgomery appears in a federal court tomorrow.

Reporter Kevin Murphy is covering the story for the Kansas City Star. And he is on the phone with us from Kansas city, Missouri.

All right. Kevin, glad you're able to be with us.

KEVIN MURPHY, KANSAS CITY STAR (via telephone): Sure.

WHITFIELD: Let's talk about the town where this crime allegedly occurred: in Skidmore, Missouri. People there have expressed shock, yet at the same time in recent years they have encountered a number of gruesome crimes taking place there, right?

MURPHY: That's correct.

WHITFIELD: What are people there saying about what they've been through?

MURPHY: Well, a lot of them are, of course, shocked about this one. But I think they're starting to get bewildered and maybe even a bit numb by what's happened in their community in the last few years. They are, to a degree, fearful. A lot of them don't want to use last names when reporters talk to them and they're gettin a little bit skittish over all, so.

WHITFIELD; They're fearful of any kind of repercussions? What do you mean?

MURPHY: Well, I don't know. It just seems, other reporters have said this, too, that they are unwilling to give their last names. A lot of them maybe feel like the town is snake bitten, they don't want people to know they live there or what. I'm not sure. But it's a strange situation up there. They've a run of lot of bad luck.

WHITFIELD: Of some of the folks you've been talking to in Skidmore, any of them talking about recalling some of the other more recent crimes, including, apparently, there was a murder involving a boyfriend and girlfriend, a boyfriend allegedly stomped the girlfriend to death, are they recalling some of these horrible images of recent crimes as a result of this one that's just taken place last week?

MURPHY: Yes, they are. They sort of a why us response you get up there. One of the crimes is still unsolved, a 20-year-old man disappeared in 2001, and they think he was murdered. They haven't seen any sign of him yet. The other girl stomped in 2000, the town bully killed on the streets in 1981. Nobody would come forward and say who did that.

WHITFIELD: And in the meantime, looking forward now, I understand that the business Web site for the Stinnett family has been inundated with a number of condolences, et cetera, that being happyhavenfarms.com. What have you learned about the reaction there?

MURPHY: I guess it has been overwhelming. Most of the condolences are posted on a picture of her, I think, of her and the dog. And it was, in fact, a picture of her and a dog that, I think, first alerted Miss Montgomery that she was pregnant sometime back, she said, or this dog was expecting in September, and I'm expecting January 18, so some speculation is that's how the word got out that she was pregnant.

WHITFIELD; And Bobbi Jo Stinett was a dog breeder. And ran that dog breeding business.

Any idea about whether funeral arrangements are being made now? What a difficult time of conflict for the family. Here, they are celebrating the survival of Victoria Jo, the baby, and at the same time, now having to make arrangements for the burial of Bobbi Jo.

MURPHY: Hard to comprehend. As far as we know, those haven't been made yet. Most of the family, I understand, is at the hospital in Topeka. And they probably haven't thought to make funeral arrangments yet. But we haven't gotten any word of that yet.

WHITFIELD: Kevin Murphy, thanks for joining us on the telephone from the Kansas city Star newspaper.

Well here now is a look at other stories making news across America. A Florida vacation turns tragic for two British families. Three people, including a husband and wife, died when their mini van ran into a gas tanker truck on a central Florida highway. Four children in the van were seriously injured.

Lawyers for Scott Peterson are looking for financial help to keep investigating that case. A Web site, petersoninvestigation.com, says Peterson was unjustly convicted of killing his wife and unborn child. And asks for donations to help pay for private investigators.

And Missy Jenkins, remember her? Well, she graduated from Murray State University in Kentucky this weekend. Jenkins was one of the students shot by Michael Carneal at a Kentucky high school back in 1997. She lost the use of her legs because of the shooting. Four other students were wounded, three were killed.

Jenkins says she now wants to work with troubled kids like Carneal to help prevent others from doing what he did.

And if you're still looking for the perfect holiday gift, here is an idea. Ahead, a look at the diamond industry, and how it's mastered the art of advertising.

But first, we've all surfed the web looking for medical information on occasion, but how do you know which sites are trustworthy? We list some guidelines coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: Pfizer is keeping Celebrex on the market, even while acknowledging a trial in which the arthritis drug more than doubled, and in some cases more than tripled, the risk of heart attack. Pfizer CEO says doctors should know the health risk before prescripting Celebrex. Merck, the maker of the competitor drug Vioxx, has recalled that pain medication.

Well, it's tempting to seek health information on the Internet. And easy to forget anyone can put anything on the world wide web. Dr. Bill Lloyd is a professor at the University of California Davis Medical Center. And he's in Sacramento with some advice about surfing the Web for your health. Good to see you, Dr. Lloyd.

DR. BILL LLOYD, UC DAVIS: Hi, Fredricka. This is the new kind of research mouse.

WHITFIELD: Yeah. It's familiar. Most folks kind of reach for the mouse just in case they learn something about a new treatment or an ailment, et cetera. What's the best strategy to use it?

LLOYD: Well, the best strategy is always to check with your doctor first, because that's where you're going to get the current up- to-date information. But many people can't wait to see the doctor so they'll head to the keyboard.

Here's a list of some important things you should do any time you're looking for health information on the Web. First thing, check the source. Look for that address. It should end with something like edu or org, that suggests that it's an organization truly dedicated to your health.

Check the credentials of the people contributing to the Web page, other doctors, nurses and other health professionals. Is it original content or are they simply copying from somebody else? Does the Web site respect your privacy or do they want to know a lot of information about you, including your diagnosis and your insurer? And Fredricka, scan the references in any Web site to find out if this is truly legitimate, reviewed information that will be helpful to you and your family. And lastly, always check for advertisements. Certainly Web sites have to be able to stay in business, and it costs them money, but what are they doing with these advertisements?

WHITFIELD: Now what about those health Web sites that do advertise?

LLOYD: Well, some advertisements simply provide a revenue stream for the organization that's sharing that important information, but others are using it to market. You always want to know, will this Web site permit me to make an online purchase right there? If you can buy the treatment on that site, then run away and go look elsewhere.

Be careful if you see testimonials, whether it's from doctors or patients or researchers that this is the next big thing. Always be suspicious if you hear the word cure mentioned. If you see the C word, there's probably something wrong afoot. And what about Web sites that mention there's no downside whatsoever? That means there's no complications, no side effects. Again, in the real world, there's always risk and benefit. Make sure the treatments that you're thinking of clearly outline the possible downside.

WHITFIELD: And so if you do learn about a new treatment or a drug, What is the best way to do the research on that?

LLOYD: Oh, you mean about like checking what you've seen on this Web site and finding out if it's legit? Well, use the Internet. Go do some more searching. Does that drug or that treatment pop up on other Web sites? Go to reliable places like the National Library of Medicine or the National Institutes of Health. If they're not talking about it, then it's probably not legitimate mainstream medicine.

And again, you can always ask your doctor. That's why we have a printer. And you can certainly print these different articles and bring them in to show your doctor.

WHITFIELD: And so you print all of that stuff out, you've got a litany of questions, you go to your doctor. Are most doctors receptive to all of this, or does that make them a little combative that they've got to defend their best prescription for you?

LLOYD: Having practiced for 20 years, I'm used to patients coming in with little clips of paper from the newspaper or magazine. Now they come in with reams of paper from the printers.

Remember, a lot of doctors use the Internet as well, so they're already familiar with gathering information that way. Most doctors are open to patients that want to participate in their care. And if you find your doctor's a little too defensive, a little too unwilling to talk about the information that you've brought in, then you might think about taking your case to another provider.

WHITFIELD: I had a feeling you were going to say that.

All right, well it's always good to have an educated consumer, or patient.

LLOYD: Have a wonderful holiday.

WHITFIELD: Dr. Bill Lloyd, you as well. Thanks so much.

Well next, Project: Bioshield.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The whole program is so badly thought out and unthought out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: A government plan to protect the civilian population against anthrax. Why critics and Gulf War veterans say it's dangerous and may be unnecessary.

And later, two women inspired by the beauty of Africa share their experiences and photographs in a new book.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, I'm Rob Marciano in the CNN Weather Center. It's time for your cold and flu report.

Not too bad according to the CDC. A lot of green on the map, but that's just sporadic activity. Look at the purple it's a little bit more increased, localized officially. And the Florida and Kentucky area looking for regional activity as far as cold and flu report being reported by the CDC.

Widespread now for New York State.

Hope you're feeling well today. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Checking stories now in the news, Iraqi officials say at least 51 people died after a suicide car bomber drove into a funeral procession in Najaf today. Hospital officials say some 90 people were wounded.

Meanwhile, at least 16 people died in a separate car bombing in the city of Karbala.

A national survey says gas prices have fallen a dime in the past two weeks. The average price of self-serve regular is now $1.83 a gallon. That makes a 21-cent price drop over the last eight weeks.

President Bush is "Time" magazine's "person of the year." The magazine's editors say they chose him for reshaping the rules of politics. Mr. Bush joins six other presidents who have been named "person of the year" twice. Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.

Now to Iran. Egyptian President Mubarak says it would be a catastrophic mistake if the U.S. attacked Iran to destroy its nuclear program. Mubarak warns such a move would unleash violence on a scale the world has never seen. Is it realistic to think that the standoff over Iran's nuclear program could go that far? Here is our senior political analyst Bill Schneider.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST (voice over): Iran could become the new Iraq, but what w a difference. There was a huge debate over whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Many governments already believe Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. European countries have made a deal. Iran says it will temporarily suspend uranium enrichment in return for European economic and technological aid. The U.S. says the deal doesn't go far enough.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We want to see action by Iran on at agreement they reached. It's a first step toward ultimately an end to their nuclear weapons programs.

SCHNEIDER: The U.S. says Iran has a hidden agenda.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: For 18 years they've been hiding parts of the program.

SCHNEIDER: But experts say the U.S. may have a hidden agenda as well.

KEN POLLACK, CNN ANALYST: They would like to try to topple or force from power somehow the Iranian government and therefore end all of the different problems that the United States has with Iran.

SCHNEIDER: That's regime change, like in Iraq. After all, President Bush put both countries on his axis of evil. Which may explain why Iran would want nuclear weapons.

POLLACK: They seem to want the nuclear weapons principally for deterrents, to protect themselves for attacks against us.

SCHNEIDER: That suggests a new deal, Iran gives up its weapons inhibitions and in return the U.S guarantees Iran's security.

ROBIN WRIGHT, WASHINGTON POST: The United States is such an internal part of the whole issue of security which is the very reason that Iran is trying to develop a nuclear capability.

SCHNEIDER: Such a deal would require the U.S. to give up its objective of regime change in Iran, which would not be easy in the first place.

BRENT SCOWCROFT, FMR. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: I don't think we have a reasonable military option.

SCHNEIDER: The White House hopes that pressure on Iran will force it to become more Democratic, like Iraq. On the other hand, next month's election in Iraq could produce a Shiite government, strongly influenced by religious leaders. So instead of Iran looking for like Iraq, Iraq could look more like Iran.

SCHNEIDER (on camera): When President Bush visits Europe in February, he will find leaders of other countries eager to put the Iraq controversy behind them, and worried that Iran could turn into another Iraq. Bill Schneider, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: A published report says the Pentagon is secretly planning a stronger military role in intelligence collecting operations. The CIA has traditional run. "The New York Times" quotes defense department officials are saying the move on to CIA turf includes would include missions aimed at terrorist groups and those involved in weapons for liberation. President Bush signed Sweeping Intelligence Reform Legislation on Friday.

Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

The government is creating a national stockpile of a new anthrax vaccine to be available for civilian use by 2007. But critics say such a vaccine might not only be dangerous, but also unnecessary. Here's Tom Foreman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EDDIE NORMAN, FMR. ARMY SGT: I went from, you know, one of the most fittest soldiers in the army, I mean 300 p.t. gold stream awards to just nothing, in a matter of, in a matter of a year, just nothing.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A veteran of both Gulf Wars, Eddie Norman believes the army's anthrax vaccine physically destroyed him.

NORMAN: I was so swollen up at the time that, I mean, I couldn't, you couldn't even touch my body.

FOREMAN: Norman was given the complete series of eight shots of the vaccine before deploying to the Gulf in 2000. He says his immediate reactions to the shots were so severe, he was flown home for treatment.

NORMAN: I mean serious, serious pain that, I don't think, it's really hard for somebody to imagine if they had actually experienced this pain. You know, shaking, you know, in the nighttime, uncontrollable shaking.

FOREMAN: The final diagnosis by his doctors, Eddie Norman had a muscular disorder called Fibromyalgia.

NORMAN: They say they suspected it to be the anthrax vaccine.

FOREMAN: Despite thousands of documents and complaints like that of Eddie Norman, the government is developing a new vaccine. In July, a new law passed, Project Bioshield, with a price tag of $5.6 billion. It will create a national stockpile of the new anthrax vaccine for the civilian population. Doctor David Ozonoff is an expert in infectious diseases and public health at Boston University.

DAVID OZONOFF, BOSTON PUBLIC HEALTH DEPT: The whole program is so badly thought out and un-thought out.

FOREMAN: For more than a decade, troops deployed to the Persian Gulf were required to take Biothrax, the only existing anthrax vaccine. But the Veteran's Administration has documented more than 1,000 cases of servicemen and women who blame Biothrax for a whole range of serious illnesses.

CHRISTINA KUTZ, FMR. SR AIRMAN: 2003 was probably the worst year for me. I couldn't eat anything. I was throwing up constantly.

FOREMAN: Former senior airman Cristina Kutz returned from Iraq in April, 2003, knowing that she still had to complete the series of anthrax shots. KUTZ: There was no way I could say no, because I didn't want to get court-martialed and, I couldn't see -- I like the military. I love my job. I just couldn't do it.

FOREMAN: But after her fourth injection in July, Kutz was told me developed an intestinal ailment known as Crone's disease. She was given a waiver from further vaccinations. David Ozonoff believe it's the vaccine's effectiveness that also makes it so harmful.

OZONOFF: Some of the antibodies that are manufactured against those organisms also work against parts of your own body.

FOREMAN: Col. John Grabenstein heads up the army's vaccine agency.

COL. JOHN GRABENSTEIN, ARMY VACCINE AGENCY: The debate's been settled, after we took 18 human safety studies to the National Academy of Sciences, the country's best scientists, and they reached the convolution, after over a year and a half of considering the matter that the anthrax vaccine is as safe as other vaccines.

FOREMAN: But in November, a federal district court in Washington D.C. ruled otherwise, citing hundreds of complaints like those of Eddie Norman and Cristina Kutz. The court sent it back to the FDA for a reexamination and halted mandatory inoculations. Now as port of Project Bioshield the government has awarded a contract worth more than $1 billion to a small pharmaceutical company called VaxGen. It will manufacture 75 million doses of the new vaccine by 2007 for civilian use.

OZONOFF: There is no scenario that you can imagine that you would ever need that many. So I don't know what the thinking was there or if there was any thinking.

FOREMAN: Dr. Lance Gordon is VaxGen's CEO.

DR. LANCE GORDAN, CEO, VAXGEN: The driving issue from the government was the need to get the product into inventory in the quickest possible time with the highest probability of success.

FOREMAN (on camera): A clause impending bioshield legislation allows for fast tracking the anthrax vaccine. The new vaccine will be ready in 2007, but it will be untested and unlicensed by the Food and Drug Administration.

OZONOFF: But until there is that kind of public health emergency, I don't know why you would short circuit the necessary safeguards.

FOREMAN (voice over): Critics say the project amounts to an improper government subsidy, a windfall for VaxGen, a company with some serious missteps in its recent past. In 2003, VaxGen withdrew its AIDS vaccines after faulty test results were discovered. Last August, VaxGen was delisted from the Nasdaq after its accounting practices were questioned by the SEC. Despite that, the government gave VaxGen the Bioshield contract. GORDON: I believe that their judgment was that we were the most reliable company having a product available to meet the urgent need. Something I'm very proud of.

FOREMAN: But under the pending Bioshield legislation, VaxGen and other manufacturers cannot be held liable for illnesses caused by the new vaccine, and whether or not the drug works, many experts question whether it is needed at all. It is very difficult to fashion a weapon of mass destruction out of anthrax.

OZONOFF: Only a handful of people know the secrets to weaponizing anthrax. It's very, very hard to do.

FOREMAN: And inhaled anthrax can be treated with antibiotics, all of which amounts to a seriously flawed program, says Ozonoff.

OZONOFF: If you wanted to beef up public health in this country, you sure wouldn't do it this way. You'd sort of like, trying to, you know, make Tang by inventing the space program.

FOREMAN: VaxGen vows its new anthrax vaccine will be better than the old one, though its potential for serious side effects remains unknown.

GORDON: The safety, as already largely established, but again, you know, we're not going to challenge humans with anthrax and potentially kill them to test the vaccine.

FOREMAN: In the meantime, two months short of retirement, Eddie Norman is struggling with the effects of the current vaccine.

NORMAN: I got pain all through here now, but I got to work, you know? You know, I have to. If I don't work, then my family is out on the streets.

FOREMAN: And Cristina Kutz's hopes of going back to the army are fading.

KUTZ: I'll probably never be able to go back in, unless they misdiagnosed me or a miracle.

FOREMAN: Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Well two women spent years capturing the faces of Africa on film. Up next, we'll speak with them and show you some of their extraordinary pieces of work.

And later on, how the diamond industry uses marketing to build a mystique around its products.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: For almost two decades, Angela Fisher and Carol Beckwith have worked on various books and documentaries about the people of Africa. Their latest book is "Faces of Africa." Thirty years of photography, Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher join us now live from London to talk about it. Good to see both of you, ladies.

ANGELA FISHER, PHOTOGRAPHER, "FACES OF AFRICA:" Good evening.

CAROL BECKWITH, PHOTOGRAPHER, "FACES OF AFRICA:" Good evening.

WHITFIELD: Well you all are no strangers to the various awards you've received on previous projects for highlighting the beauties and the traditions in Africa. What were you trying to accomplish this time in this compilation of 30 years?

FISHER: We've been trying to record the ceremonies and rituals that occur from birth to death across the continent before they vanish. In fact, during the 30 years that we have recorded Africa, 15 percent of what we photograph is in "Faces of Africa" today, no longer exists.

WHITFIELD: For example, Carol, what are some of those things?

BECKWITH: One of the groups we're particularly attached to are the Dinca people of southern Sudan, who have very beautiful and moving and extremely human rituals. The Dinca have been victims of a civil war in Sudan and 2.5 million Dinca people have been killed, and the traditions that we've recorded no longer exist.

WHITFIELD: Angela, let's talk about access. Particularly like the Massai, mostly in Kenya, are very private about allowing strangers and particularly women, to be able to witness certain types of rituals. How is it that you were able to win their trust and really get into their circle to get some of these pictures? Angela?

FISHER: Well, being women makes it very easy for us, compared to men. The reason is that the first time you go into a group like the Massai, you usually meet the elders, and you're received as outsiders, and really, as seen as outsiders and can go into the male group. Then again, because we're female we can, after awhile, learn and become part of the female group, which is something that men can never do.

So we would attend both men and women's ceremonies and we would return to a group time after time, until eventually, they really trusted us, and even let us see ceremonies that each other's sex didn't see. So we've seen more about Massai then any one Massai woman or man has.

BECKWITH: And one of the most touching experiences we had as women, one of the most touching experiences as women has been when we left the Wadabi people in Deshir (ph). The Chief Macow (ph) came after us and scooped up sand from our foot prints and put it into a leather talisman over his heart. Saying to us, "if I wear your footsteps over my heart, I know that you'll both return to me one day." And we've been back 12 times since.

WHITFIELD: Wow! How remarkable. Just a moment ago, we saw some moving video, and then there were also some still images of the Wadabi tribesmen that we saw there. If you can talk a little bit more about this unique charm dance took place for the women.

BECKWITH: After harvest, the Wadabi men come together in the edge of the Sahara Desert and perform extraordinary charm and beauty dances. You see three dancers, they are in front of 500 women who are scrutinizing their every move, the beauty of their eyes and teeth, in order to pick husbands, boyfriends, and lovers, and the man in the middle was the winner because he was able to hold one eye still and roll the other in and out, which entirely captivated his female judges.

WHITFIELD: He stood out for certain. And Angela, in southwest Ethiopia, another way of attracting women was sort of the body painting of the men, and you got these images, but explain, it came with a price, didn't it?

FISHER: Yes, this is one of our most surprising stories. This is Murdeed, a Soima, just painted his face in order to attract women during the courtship season. We stayed with a Soima for five weeks and at the end of the day, we said to him, who was our closest friend, I said what do you think the Soima group would like as a farewell and a thank you present from us both. And he didn't hesitate, he looked at us both straight in the eye and he said, we'd all like to see your breasts.

Carol and I were a little taken aback. We thought, oh, boy, here we go, and then we thought, well, this is a fair enough request, because the Sarma women are naked from the waist upwards and we had been fully covered for the whole five weeks. We took him in privacy into a hut, and to the count of three, we raised our t-shirts like this and then he leapt his hand over his mouth and raced outside, stood on a tree stump and delivered a speech to 300 villages that lasted 11 minutes. If you want to know what the speech said, you really have to read the book.

WHITFIELD: And I've started to read it. It's a beautiful book, "Faces of Africa: 30 years of Photography." Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher. Beautiful work, I've been following your work since the early '80s when you first came out with "Africa Adorned." And this too is a beautiful Christmas gift. Nice coffee table book. Thanks so much ladies for joining us from London.

BECKWITH: Thanks so much.

FISHER: Thanks very much.

WHITFIELD: All right in just over an hour from now, more "CNN Live Sunday." Carol Lin will be hosting and she is here now with a preview.

CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Some beautiful images.

WHITFIELD: Beautiful images.

LIN: All right coming up at 6:00 tonight we'll be giving an update on the BTK killer, it is a serial killer out in Kansas, named himself BTK for buying torture kill, his method. He was silent for 25 years. Suddenly this past spring sending messages through the media about tantalizing clues of whether he may strike again.

In fact, something recently was found delivered to a local newspaper, personal effects of one of the most recent victims. So lots of questions. I'm going to be talking with a veteran FBI agent. Also talking about the possibility of Civil War in Iraq and how that is going to influence the elections coming up in January.

WHITFIELD: Some say it's already happening.

LIN: Yes, already happening and our military intelligence analyst has been talking to his sources on the ground. He has been predicting this for a long time on our program and he has got more to say about that subject tonight at 10:00.

WHITFIELD: All right , looking forward to that, both at 6:00 and 10:00 tonight. Carol thanks so much.

Well a diamond lasts forever, right? But should its slogan last forever as well? Up next, the story behind the marketing strategy that gets men to lay down a big chunk of their salary for a piece of jewelry. Women as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well, few things last forever, but one of them may be the most successful marketing slogan of all-time. Here's CNN's Ali Velshi.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's not just the diamonds that last forever. This slogan has been around since 1947. It's part of a campaign of memorable, and effective one-liners. Backed up by an expensive marketing approach that has at least some men saying I will. Two months' salary too much pay for something that lasts forever?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Um, no. Not if you love the girl enough.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Money is not an object to me when I'm making someone feel good and on top of that, something that's lasts for forever for a two-month's salary you work until you die.

VELSHI: Money can't buy endorsements like that or can it? How about a couple of hundred million-dollars a year? Paid for by the Diamond Trading Company, it is part of the legendary diamond giant DeBeers.

KAREN BENEZRA, EDITOR: Fairly significant from the stand point of spending $200 million a year worldwide, but compare that to McDonald's, compare that to Coca-Cola, a drop in the bucket.

VELSHI: A drop in the bucket? More like Chinese water torture. That same message year after year after year, and it all started at the NWayre building in Philadelphia, that was the ad company for DeBeers. Copy editor Frances Garity worked late one night to come up with the perfect slogan for them.

LINDA KAPLAN THALER, AD EXECUTIVE: She could not come up with a line, she wanted it to be something bold and beautiful and something that would go on for eternity, like diamonds, and she fell asleep, and when she woke up, in her handwriting was the line "a diamond is forever."

VELSHI: Linda Kaplan Thaler runs the ad company in New York that took over NWayre a few years ago. She says when you buy a diamond, you buy mystique.

THALER: You don't have one for Ruby's, or sapphires and emeralds are they are far more precious gems, they're rare, they are resilient and they are beautiful. But nobody says, my god, I hope my husband gets me a ruby for Christmas.

VELSHI: And the mastery? Telling men exactly how much to spend on a diamond engagement ring. The average American man ties the knot for the first time at the age of 27. The average 27-year-old American man makes about $30,000 a year. So if the average American guy believes the ads, he needs to find a $5,000 ring, and he needs it to look good.

And that is why any day, any time of year you'll find men jamming the stalls of the diamond district here in Manhattan looking for this, the perfect diamond. This is a place because of its bustle and congestion thought to offer a better deal than the fancy boutiques. In the end of message that the men get when they're here is the same, it's worth it. She's worth it. After all, forever say long time. Like the ad says, there are only two things that last longer than time. Love is one of them, and can you guess what the other one is? Ali Velshi, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: That's going to do it for us. "Next@CNN" is straight ahead. Here is Daniel Seiberg with a preview.

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ahead on "Next@CNN", a food shortage on the International Space Station puts the crew on a diet.

And a technology that's helping a paralyzed toddler communicate with the blink of an eye.

WHITFIELD: Well thanks so much for joining us. Back with the headlines right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired December 19, 2004 - 16:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: A brazen attack in broad daylight, just one of three deadly attacks aimed at making sure bullets, not ballots, rule Iraq.
You're surfing the Internet looking for medical advice, how can you be so sure that you're getting good information? Our medical expert will help set you straight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two months salary too much to pay for something that lasts forever?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Uhm, no. Not if you love the girl enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: As simple as that. The story of how diamonds became a girl's best friend.

Hello and welcome to CNN SUNDAY. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. All that and more after a check of these headlines.

A deadly day in Iraq. Violence has killed 71 people across the country. We'll have two reports coming up in a minute.

A security beef-up in Washington, President Bush's inauguration next month will be the tightest in inaugural history. Police plan to search everyone of the tens of thousands of people expected to line the parade route.

And a huge car pile-up in Ohio closes portions of Interstate 80. So far, no deaths have been reported, but many people were injured. The chain reaction crash near the Pennsylvania border involved as many as 70 cars. Snow and ice are being blamed for that accident.

We begin with Iraq, and the question of whether bombs and bullets will win out over ballots. Suicide bombers killed almost 70 people and wounded dozens in two of Iraq's holiest cities. An election official and his bodyguards were ambushed and shot in Baghdad, and insurgents abducted 10 Iraqi workers. The upsurge in violence comes before Iraq holds its first Democratic elections scheduled for next month.

We go first to our Karl Penhaul with the latest on the bloodshed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As mourners wound through Najaf to bury a tribal leader, a car bomb rips through the funeral procession. Carnage close to the shrine of the Imam Ali, the holiest site for Iraq's Shi'a majority.

Scores lay dead and wounded. In the chaos, survivors scrap through wreckage for others who may still be alive.

Najaf hospitals were overwhelmed, and some casualties were taken to neighboring cities.

Security officials say Najaf's police chief and the provincial governor were in the crowd, but survived unscathed.

Just two hours earlier, another lethal car bomb rocked Najaf's Karbala (ph) about 50 miles away. The second deadly blast there in four days. The target in Karbala, the main bus station, close to two other revered Shi'a shrines.

The walking wounded stagger off. The dead and maimed, ferried away in ambulances.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, (through translator): They are taking any opportunity to strike. As you see, this place was crowded. As many people are coming from Baghdad and from all over Iraq, so they took advantage of these crowds.

PENHAUL: Najaf was the scene of heavy fighting between the Shi'a, Medhi army militia and U.S. forces in July. And in Karbala in March, a wave of explosions killed more than 170.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Sunday's blasts. Security officials suggest the bombers may have been Sunni radicals looking to stoke sectarian strife ahead of the January elections, but a Shia leader said the attackers may have been renegade tribal factions from within the Shi'a community.

Bloodshed, too, in Baghdad, on Haifa street, a few blocks from the green zone, center of the U.S. and Iraqi administrations. Police say insurgents dragged a senior election official and two bodyguards from their car, made them kneel in the street and shot them execution style.

(on camera): Iraqi and U.S. authorities have been warning that insurgents could step up violence ahead of the January elections. That campaign already has many Iraqis asking how many deaths will democracy cost? Karl Penhaul, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Iraqi civilians taken hostage. This video shows seven of ten Iraqis abducted in Iraq. They're employees of a Washington-based company that provides security, transportation and translation services. Militants are reportedly threatening to kill them if the company doesn't leave Iraq. Now more on the brazen killings in Baghdad. The very public execution-style shooting of a senior Iraqi election official and his bodyguards is seen as a message meant to intimidate Iraqis. Our Suzanne Kelly-Simons has the story. But first, a warning, some of the images in this piece may not be suitable for all viewers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE KELLY-SIMONS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a bold attack early in the morning, on Baghdad's Haifa street. The Associated Press says a stringer captured a killing of a senior election official and two of his bodyguards. Insurgents pulled them from their car, dragged them into the street, forced them to the ground and executed them.

The brazeness of the attack, just 6 weeks before scheduled elections is clear. The insurgents don't bother to cover their faces. Instead, killing their victims in the middle of a busy street for all to see.

This image, believed to be captured just moments before the man lying down is shot. While another of the attackers walks to the man kneeling on the street behind, to shoot him in the back of the head. A third man was killed the same way.

AP cites an official from the independent electoral commission saying two other workers in the car managed to escape the crowd of some 30 insurgents. Locals call this street Little Fallujah, because of continuous violent attacks.

U.S. officials have been warning of a possible escalation of insurgent attacks as the election draws near. This latest, and very public execution, testimony of the insurgents' own campaign to scare Iraqis away from the polls. Suzanne Kelly-Simons, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: The rise of violence in Iraq comes on the same day "Time" magazine released the name of its person of the year, President George W. Bush. It's the second time he's been chosen for that honor.

The president is seen as a polarizing figure in the U.S. and around the world, particularly because of the war. The magazine credits Mr. Bush with reshaping the rules of politics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN DICKERSON, TIME MAGAZINE: What Bush did two years ago when he was thinking about this campaign, was he said I'm going to do it differently than other presidents who have done this before. And that's part of why he was picked. He rewrote the rules in a lot of ways. And that will effect both the way he goes forward in the next four years and other politicians are going to run for office. So, it's in part the way he ran, and the way he went against those normal rules of politics that he's the man of the year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And Time's managing editor says Mr. Bush has changed dramatically since becoming president and that he is much more resolute.

Donald Rumsfeld plans to put his John Hancock an condolence letters to families of U.S. troops killed in Iraq. The move comes amid criticism for his not doing so in the past. The U.S. defense secretary was also under fire on the Sunday talk shows. Our Elaine Quijano is at the White House with details on that -- Elaine.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you Fredricka.

That's right, this issue was made public first in an article in the armed forces newspaper, "Stars and Stripes." And Secretary Rumsfeld released a statment about this, an excerpt of which reads quote, "I wrote and approved the now more than 1,000 letters sent to family members and next of kin of each of the servicemen and women killed in military action. While I have not individually signed each one, in the interest of ensuring expeditious contact with grieving family members, I have directed that in the future I sign each letter."

Now that admission has outraged some family members of military personnel who say that it's unconsionable that the secretary would not take a moment to sign the letters. And today this news drew sharp rebukes from lawmakers, including some of the secretary's long-time critics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK HAGEL, (R) NEBRASKA: That's the least that we could expect out of the secretary of defense, is having some personal attention paid by him. The president, I understand signs personal letters, each letter to the family member, the president signs. If the president of the United States can find time to do that, why can't the secretary of defense? I think it is reflective of his management, his style, his substance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Now a White House official declined to comment, specifically about this Secretary Rumsfeld and the signing of those condolence letters. But earlier today White House chief of staff Andy Card was asked about the more general criticisms of Secretary Rumsfeld not only by Democrats, but more recently from fellow Republicans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDY CARD, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Secretary Rumsfeld is doing a spectacular job and the president has great confidence in him. He's helping to lead our troops as they meet an awesome responsibility to protect us, and to bring freedom to others. But he's also transforming the military, and any time do you that, there are controversies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Now, despite the criticisms, Democrats are not going so far as to call for Rumsfeld to resign. In fact, one top Democrat saying that he believes a change at the top at the Pentagon wouldn't do anything. He believes, Fredricka, that a change in policy is really what's going to make a difference -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And Elaine, is the White House commenting on whether they issued a directive to Rumsfeld to sign these notes personally, or if that was a decision he made on his own volition?

QUIJANO: They won't comment, they don't even want to go there, really. What they will say is that President Bush does sign his own letters that go out to the family members of the fallen, but they don't want to comment on this situation surrounding Secretary Rumsfeld.

WHITFIELD: Elaine Quijano at the White House, thank you.

QUIJANO: A Kansas woman is accused of a gruesome crime against a pregnant woman. We'll hear how she explained a new baby to those who know her.

Plus, the dangers of turning to the Internet for medical advice. Find out which Web sites you can trust.

And later, amazing photographs capturing disappearing rites of passage in Africa. We'll show you some of that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A pregnant Missouri woman strangled and her baby stolen. Now the woman accused of the crime faces a court appearance. Police say Lisa Montgomery has already confessed. Meantime people in her Kansas town of Melbourne say she had showed off the infant girl as her own. Montgomery's pastor says it was all a bit odd.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE WHEATLEY, PASTOR: She was pretty small. And I commented to her about it. I asked her if she was due, when she was due. And she said she was due in December. And I said well you're kind of small to be having a to baby that soon. And she said, I always have small babies. And so, I just let it go at that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Montgomery attended the First Church of God. And took the baby to visit the pastor. He describes the infant as beautiful.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHEATLEY: We got the hold the baby and just love on it. And she sat there and just watched us and commented about the delivery and about how her water broke. And my wife asked her where she had it. And she said she had it at the birthing center in Topeka.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The baby has been recovered and is said to be in good shape. Montgomery appears in a federal court tomorrow.

Reporter Kevin Murphy is covering the story for the Kansas City Star. And he is on the phone with us from Kansas city, Missouri.

All right. Kevin, glad you're able to be with us.

KEVIN MURPHY, KANSAS CITY STAR (via telephone): Sure.

WHITFIELD: Let's talk about the town where this crime allegedly occurred: in Skidmore, Missouri. People there have expressed shock, yet at the same time in recent years they have encountered a number of gruesome crimes taking place there, right?

MURPHY: That's correct.

WHITFIELD: What are people there saying about what they've been through?

MURPHY: Well, a lot of them are, of course, shocked about this one. But I think they're starting to get bewildered and maybe even a bit numb by what's happened in their community in the last few years. They are, to a degree, fearful. A lot of them don't want to use last names when reporters talk to them and they're gettin a little bit skittish over all, so.

WHITFIELD; They're fearful of any kind of repercussions? What do you mean?

MURPHY: Well, I don't know. It just seems, other reporters have said this, too, that they are unwilling to give their last names. A lot of them maybe feel like the town is snake bitten, they don't want people to know they live there or what. I'm not sure. But it's a strange situation up there. They've a run of lot of bad luck.

WHITFIELD: Of some of the folks you've been talking to in Skidmore, any of them talking about recalling some of the other more recent crimes, including, apparently, there was a murder involving a boyfriend and girlfriend, a boyfriend allegedly stomped the girlfriend to death, are they recalling some of these horrible images of recent crimes as a result of this one that's just taken place last week?

MURPHY: Yes, they are. They sort of a why us response you get up there. One of the crimes is still unsolved, a 20-year-old man disappeared in 2001, and they think he was murdered. They haven't seen any sign of him yet. The other girl stomped in 2000, the town bully killed on the streets in 1981. Nobody would come forward and say who did that.

WHITFIELD: And in the meantime, looking forward now, I understand that the business Web site for the Stinnett family has been inundated with a number of condolences, et cetera, that being happyhavenfarms.com. What have you learned about the reaction there?

MURPHY: I guess it has been overwhelming. Most of the condolences are posted on a picture of her, I think, of her and the dog. And it was, in fact, a picture of her and a dog that, I think, first alerted Miss Montgomery that she was pregnant sometime back, she said, or this dog was expecting in September, and I'm expecting January 18, so some speculation is that's how the word got out that she was pregnant.

WHITFIELD; And Bobbi Jo Stinett was a dog breeder. And ran that dog breeding business.

Any idea about whether funeral arrangements are being made now? What a difficult time of conflict for the family. Here, they are celebrating the survival of Victoria Jo, the baby, and at the same time, now having to make arrangements for the burial of Bobbi Jo.

MURPHY: Hard to comprehend. As far as we know, those haven't been made yet. Most of the family, I understand, is at the hospital in Topeka. And they probably haven't thought to make funeral arrangments yet. But we haven't gotten any word of that yet.

WHITFIELD: Kevin Murphy, thanks for joining us on the telephone from the Kansas city Star newspaper.

Well here now is a look at other stories making news across America. A Florida vacation turns tragic for two British families. Three people, including a husband and wife, died when their mini van ran into a gas tanker truck on a central Florida highway. Four children in the van were seriously injured.

Lawyers for Scott Peterson are looking for financial help to keep investigating that case. A Web site, petersoninvestigation.com, says Peterson was unjustly convicted of killing his wife and unborn child. And asks for donations to help pay for private investigators.

And Missy Jenkins, remember her? Well, she graduated from Murray State University in Kentucky this weekend. Jenkins was one of the students shot by Michael Carneal at a Kentucky high school back in 1997. She lost the use of her legs because of the shooting. Four other students were wounded, three were killed.

Jenkins says she now wants to work with troubled kids like Carneal to help prevent others from doing what he did.

And if you're still looking for the perfect holiday gift, here is an idea. Ahead, a look at the diamond industry, and how it's mastered the art of advertising.

But first, we've all surfed the web looking for medical information on occasion, but how do you know which sites are trustworthy? We list some guidelines coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: Pfizer is keeping Celebrex on the market, even while acknowledging a trial in which the arthritis drug more than doubled, and in some cases more than tripled, the risk of heart attack. Pfizer CEO says doctors should know the health risk before prescripting Celebrex. Merck, the maker of the competitor drug Vioxx, has recalled that pain medication.

Well, it's tempting to seek health information on the Internet. And easy to forget anyone can put anything on the world wide web. Dr. Bill Lloyd is a professor at the University of California Davis Medical Center. And he's in Sacramento with some advice about surfing the Web for your health. Good to see you, Dr. Lloyd.

DR. BILL LLOYD, UC DAVIS: Hi, Fredricka. This is the new kind of research mouse.

WHITFIELD: Yeah. It's familiar. Most folks kind of reach for the mouse just in case they learn something about a new treatment or an ailment, et cetera. What's the best strategy to use it?

LLOYD: Well, the best strategy is always to check with your doctor first, because that's where you're going to get the current up- to-date information. But many people can't wait to see the doctor so they'll head to the keyboard.

Here's a list of some important things you should do any time you're looking for health information on the Web. First thing, check the source. Look for that address. It should end with something like edu or org, that suggests that it's an organization truly dedicated to your health.

Check the credentials of the people contributing to the Web page, other doctors, nurses and other health professionals. Is it original content or are they simply copying from somebody else? Does the Web site respect your privacy or do they want to know a lot of information about you, including your diagnosis and your insurer? And Fredricka, scan the references in any Web site to find out if this is truly legitimate, reviewed information that will be helpful to you and your family. And lastly, always check for advertisements. Certainly Web sites have to be able to stay in business, and it costs them money, but what are they doing with these advertisements?

WHITFIELD: Now what about those health Web sites that do advertise?

LLOYD: Well, some advertisements simply provide a revenue stream for the organization that's sharing that important information, but others are using it to market. You always want to know, will this Web site permit me to make an online purchase right there? If you can buy the treatment on that site, then run away and go look elsewhere.

Be careful if you see testimonials, whether it's from doctors or patients or researchers that this is the next big thing. Always be suspicious if you hear the word cure mentioned. If you see the C word, there's probably something wrong afoot. And what about Web sites that mention there's no downside whatsoever? That means there's no complications, no side effects. Again, in the real world, there's always risk and benefit. Make sure the treatments that you're thinking of clearly outline the possible downside.

WHITFIELD: And so if you do learn about a new treatment or a drug, What is the best way to do the research on that?

LLOYD: Oh, you mean about like checking what you've seen on this Web site and finding out if it's legit? Well, use the Internet. Go do some more searching. Does that drug or that treatment pop up on other Web sites? Go to reliable places like the National Library of Medicine or the National Institutes of Health. If they're not talking about it, then it's probably not legitimate mainstream medicine.

And again, you can always ask your doctor. That's why we have a printer. And you can certainly print these different articles and bring them in to show your doctor.

WHITFIELD: And so you print all of that stuff out, you've got a litany of questions, you go to your doctor. Are most doctors receptive to all of this, or does that make them a little combative that they've got to defend their best prescription for you?

LLOYD: Having practiced for 20 years, I'm used to patients coming in with little clips of paper from the newspaper or magazine. Now they come in with reams of paper from the printers.

Remember, a lot of doctors use the Internet as well, so they're already familiar with gathering information that way. Most doctors are open to patients that want to participate in their care. And if you find your doctor's a little too defensive, a little too unwilling to talk about the information that you've brought in, then you might think about taking your case to another provider.

WHITFIELD: I had a feeling you were going to say that.

All right, well it's always good to have an educated consumer, or patient.

LLOYD: Have a wonderful holiday.

WHITFIELD: Dr. Bill Lloyd, you as well. Thanks so much.

Well next, Project: Bioshield.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The whole program is so badly thought out and unthought out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: A government plan to protect the civilian population against anthrax. Why critics and Gulf War veterans say it's dangerous and may be unnecessary.

And later, two women inspired by the beauty of Africa share their experiences and photographs in a new book.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, I'm Rob Marciano in the CNN Weather Center. It's time for your cold and flu report.

Not too bad according to the CDC. A lot of green on the map, but that's just sporadic activity. Look at the purple it's a little bit more increased, localized officially. And the Florida and Kentucky area looking for regional activity as far as cold and flu report being reported by the CDC.

Widespread now for New York State.

Hope you're feeling well today. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Checking stories now in the news, Iraqi officials say at least 51 people died after a suicide car bomber drove into a funeral procession in Najaf today. Hospital officials say some 90 people were wounded.

Meanwhile, at least 16 people died in a separate car bombing in the city of Karbala.

A national survey says gas prices have fallen a dime in the past two weeks. The average price of self-serve regular is now $1.83 a gallon. That makes a 21-cent price drop over the last eight weeks.

President Bush is "Time" magazine's "person of the year." The magazine's editors say they chose him for reshaping the rules of politics. Mr. Bush joins six other presidents who have been named "person of the year" twice. Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.

Now to Iran. Egyptian President Mubarak says it would be a catastrophic mistake if the U.S. attacked Iran to destroy its nuclear program. Mubarak warns such a move would unleash violence on a scale the world has never seen. Is it realistic to think that the standoff over Iran's nuclear program could go that far? Here is our senior political analyst Bill Schneider.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST (voice over): Iran could become the new Iraq, but what w a difference. There was a huge debate over whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Many governments already believe Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. European countries have made a deal. Iran says it will temporarily suspend uranium enrichment in return for European economic and technological aid. The U.S. says the deal doesn't go far enough.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We want to see action by Iran on at agreement they reached. It's a first step toward ultimately an end to their nuclear weapons programs.

SCHNEIDER: The U.S. says Iran has a hidden agenda.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: For 18 years they've been hiding parts of the program.

SCHNEIDER: But experts say the U.S. may have a hidden agenda as well.

KEN POLLACK, CNN ANALYST: They would like to try to topple or force from power somehow the Iranian government and therefore end all of the different problems that the United States has with Iran.

SCHNEIDER: That's regime change, like in Iraq. After all, President Bush put both countries on his axis of evil. Which may explain why Iran would want nuclear weapons.

POLLACK: They seem to want the nuclear weapons principally for deterrents, to protect themselves for attacks against us.

SCHNEIDER: That suggests a new deal, Iran gives up its weapons inhibitions and in return the U.S guarantees Iran's security.

ROBIN WRIGHT, WASHINGTON POST: The United States is such an internal part of the whole issue of security which is the very reason that Iran is trying to develop a nuclear capability.

SCHNEIDER: Such a deal would require the U.S. to give up its objective of regime change in Iran, which would not be easy in the first place.

BRENT SCOWCROFT, FMR. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: I don't think we have a reasonable military option.

SCHNEIDER: The White House hopes that pressure on Iran will force it to become more Democratic, like Iraq. On the other hand, next month's election in Iraq could produce a Shiite government, strongly influenced by religious leaders. So instead of Iran looking for like Iraq, Iraq could look more like Iran.

SCHNEIDER (on camera): When President Bush visits Europe in February, he will find leaders of other countries eager to put the Iraq controversy behind them, and worried that Iran could turn into another Iraq. Bill Schneider, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: A published report says the Pentagon is secretly planning a stronger military role in intelligence collecting operations. The CIA has traditional run. "The New York Times" quotes defense department officials are saying the move on to CIA turf includes would include missions aimed at terrorist groups and those involved in weapons for liberation. President Bush signed Sweeping Intelligence Reform Legislation on Friday.

Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

The government is creating a national stockpile of a new anthrax vaccine to be available for civilian use by 2007. But critics say such a vaccine might not only be dangerous, but also unnecessary. Here's Tom Foreman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EDDIE NORMAN, FMR. ARMY SGT: I went from, you know, one of the most fittest soldiers in the army, I mean 300 p.t. gold stream awards to just nothing, in a matter of, in a matter of a year, just nothing.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A veteran of both Gulf Wars, Eddie Norman believes the army's anthrax vaccine physically destroyed him.

NORMAN: I was so swollen up at the time that, I mean, I couldn't, you couldn't even touch my body.

FOREMAN: Norman was given the complete series of eight shots of the vaccine before deploying to the Gulf in 2000. He says his immediate reactions to the shots were so severe, he was flown home for treatment.

NORMAN: I mean serious, serious pain that, I don't think, it's really hard for somebody to imagine if they had actually experienced this pain. You know, shaking, you know, in the nighttime, uncontrollable shaking.

FOREMAN: The final diagnosis by his doctors, Eddie Norman had a muscular disorder called Fibromyalgia.

NORMAN: They say they suspected it to be the anthrax vaccine.

FOREMAN: Despite thousands of documents and complaints like that of Eddie Norman, the government is developing a new vaccine. In July, a new law passed, Project Bioshield, with a price tag of $5.6 billion. It will create a national stockpile of the new anthrax vaccine for the civilian population. Doctor David Ozonoff is an expert in infectious diseases and public health at Boston University.

DAVID OZONOFF, BOSTON PUBLIC HEALTH DEPT: The whole program is so badly thought out and un-thought out.

FOREMAN: For more than a decade, troops deployed to the Persian Gulf were required to take Biothrax, the only existing anthrax vaccine. But the Veteran's Administration has documented more than 1,000 cases of servicemen and women who blame Biothrax for a whole range of serious illnesses.

CHRISTINA KUTZ, FMR. SR AIRMAN: 2003 was probably the worst year for me. I couldn't eat anything. I was throwing up constantly.

FOREMAN: Former senior airman Cristina Kutz returned from Iraq in April, 2003, knowing that she still had to complete the series of anthrax shots. KUTZ: There was no way I could say no, because I didn't want to get court-martialed and, I couldn't see -- I like the military. I love my job. I just couldn't do it.

FOREMAN: But after her fourth injection in July, Kutz was told me developed an intestinal ailment known as Crone's disease. She was given a waiver from further vaccinations. David Ozonoff believe it's the vaccine's effectiveness that also makes it so harmful.

OZONOFF: Some of the antibodies that are manufactured against those organisms also work against parts of your own body.

FOREMAN: Col. John Grabenstein heads up the army's vaccine agency.

COL. JOHN GRABENSTEIN, ARMY VACCINE AGENCY: The debate's been settled, after we took 18 human safety studies to the National Academy of Sciences, the country's best scientists, and they reached the convolution, after over a year and a half of considering the matter that the anthrax vaccine is as safe as other vaccines.

FOREMAN: But in November, a federal district court in Washington D.C. ruled otherwise, citing hundreds of complaints like those of Eddie Norman and Cristina Kutz. The court sent it back to the FDA for a reexamination and halted mandatory inoculations. Now as port of Project Bioshield the government has awarded a contract worth more than $1 billion to a small pharmaceutical company called VaxGen. It will manufacture 75 million doses of the new vaccine by 2007 for civilian use.

OZONOFF: There is no scenario that you can imagine that you would ever need that many. So I don't know what the thinking was there or if there was any thinking.

FOREMAN: Dr. Lance Gordon is VaxGen's CEO.

DR. LANCE GORDAN, CEO, VAXGEN: The driving issue from the government was the need to get the product into inventory in the quickest possible time with the highest probability of success.

FOREMAN (on camera): A clause impending bioshield legislation allows for fast tracking the anthrax vaccine. The new vaccine will be ready in 2007, but it will be untested and unlicensed by the Food and Drug Administration.

OZONOFF: But until there is that kind of public health emergency, I don't know why you would short circuit the necessary safeguards.

FOREMAN (voice over): Critics say the project amounts to an improper government subsidy, a windfall for VaxGen, a company with some serious missteps in its recent past. In 2003, VaxGen withdrew its AIDS vaccines after faulty test results were discovered. Last August, VaxGen was delisted from the Nasdaq after its accounting practices were questioned by the SEC. Despite that, the government gave VaxGen the Bioshield contract. GORDON: I believe that their judgment was that we were the most reliable company having a product available to meet the urgent need. Something I'm very proud of.

FOREMAN: But under the pending Bioshield legislation, VaxGen and other manufacturers cannot be held liable for illnesses caused by the new vaccine, and whether or not the drug works, many experts question whether it is needed at all. It is very difficult to fashion a weapon of mass destruction out of anthrax.

OZONOFF: Only a handful of people know the secrets to weaponizing anthrax. It's very, very hard to do.

FOREMAN: And inhaled anthrax can be treated with antibiotics, all of which amounts to a seriously flawed program, says Ozonoff.

OZONOFF: If you wanted to beef up public health in this country, you sure wouldn't do it this way. You'd sort of like, trying to, you know, make Tang by inventing the space program.

FOREMAN: VaxGen vows its new anthrax vaccine will be better than the old one, though its potential for serious side effects remains unknown.

GORDON: The safety, as already largely established, but again, you know, we're not going to challenge humans with anthrax and potentially kill them to test the vaccine.

FOREMAN: In the meantime, two months short of retirement, Eddie Norman is struggling with the effects of the current vaccine.

NORMAN: I got pain all through here now, but I got to work, you know? You know, I have to. If I don't work, then my family is out on the streets.

FOREMAN: And Cristina Kutz's hopes of going back to the army are fading.

KUTZ: I'll probably never be able to go back in, unless they misdiagnosed me or a miracle.

FOREMAN: Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Well two women spent years capturing the faces of Africa on film. Up next, we'll speak with them and show you some of their extraordinary pieces of work.

And later on, how the diamond industry uses marketing to build a mystique around its products.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: For almost two decades, Angela Fisher and Carol Beckwith have worked on various books and documentaries about the people of Africa. Their latest book is "Faces of Africa." Thirty years of photography, Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher join us now live from London to talk about it. Good to see both of you, ladies.

ANGELA FISHER, PHOTOGRAPHER, "FACES OF AFRICA:" Good evening.

CAROL BECKWITH, PHOTOGRAPHER, "FACES OF AFRICA:" Good evening.

WHITFIELD: Well you all are no strangers to the various awards you've received on previous projects for highlighting the beauties and the traditions in Africa. What were you trying to accomplish this time in this compilation of 30 years?

FISHER: We've been trying to record the ceremonies and rituals that occur from birth to death across the continent before they vanish. In fact, during the 30 years that we have recorded Africa, 15 percent of what we photograph is in "Faces of Africa" today, no longer exists.

WHITFIELD: For example, Carol, what are some of those things?

BECKWITH: One of the groups we're particularly attached to are the Dinca people of southern Sudan, who have very beautiful and moving and extremely human rituals. The Dinca have been victims of a civil war in Sudan and 2.5 million Dinca people have been killed, and the traditions that we've recorded no longer exist.

WHITFIELD: Angela, let's talk about access. Particularly like the Massai, mostly in Kenya, are very private about allowing strangers and particularly women, to be able to witness certain types of rituals. How is it that you were able to win their trust and really get into their circle to get some of these pictures? Angela?

FISHER: Well, being women makes it very easy for us, compared to men. The reason is that the first time you go into a group like the Massai, you usually meet the elders, and you're received as outsiders, and really, as seen as outsiders and can go into the male group. Then again, because we're female we can, after awhile, learn and become part of the female group, which is something that men can never do.

So we would attend both men and women's ceremonies and we would return to a group time after time, until eventually, they really trusted us, and even let us see ceremonies that each other's sex didn't see. So we've seen more about Massai then any one Massai woman or man has.

BECKWITH: And one of the most touching experiences we had as women, one of the most touching experiences as women has been when we left the Wadabi people in Deshir (ph). The Chief Macow (ph) came after us and scooped up sand from our foot prints and put it into a leather talisman over his heart. Saying to us, "if I wear your footsteps over my heart, I know that you'll both return to me one day." And we've been back 12 times since.

WHITFIELD: Wow! How remarkable. Just a moment ago, we saw some moving video, and then there were also some still images of the Wadabi tribesmen that we saw there. If you can talk a little bit more about this unique charm dance took place for the women.

BECKWITH: After harvest, the Wadabi men come together in the edge of the Sahara Desert and perform extraordinary charm and beauty dances. You see three dancers, they are in front of 500 women who are scrutinizing their every move, the beauty of their eyes and teeth, in order to pick husbands, boyfriends, and lovers, and the man in the middle was the winner because he was able to hold one eye still and roll the other in and out, which entirely captivated his female judges.

WHITFIELD: He stood out for certain. And Angela, in southwest Ethiopia, another way of attracting women was sort of the body painting of the men, and you got these images, but explain, it came with a price, didn't it?

FISHER: Yes, this is one of our most surprising stories. This is Murdeed, a Soima, just painted his face in order to attract women during the courtship season. We stayed with a Soima for five weeks and at the end of the day, we said to him, who was our closest friend, I said what do you think the Soima group would like as a farewell and a thank you present from us both. And he didn't hesitate, he looked at us both straight in the eye and he said, we'd all like to see your breasts.

Carol and I were a little taken aback. We thought, oh, boy, here we go, and then we thought, well, this is a fair enough request, because the Sarma women are naked from the waist upwards and we had been fully covered for the whole five weeks. We took him in privacy into a hut, and to the count of three, we raised our t-shirts like this and then he leapt his hand over his mouth and raced outside, stood on a tree stump and delivered a speech to 300 villages that lasted 11 minutes. If you want to know what the speech said, you really have to read the book.

WHITFIELD: And I've started to read it. It's a beautiful book, "Faces of Africa: 30 years of Photography." Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher. Beautiful work, I've been following your work since the early '80s when you first came out with "Africa Adorned." And this too is a beautiful Christmas gift. Nice coffee table book. Thanks so much ladies for joining us from London.

BECKWITH: Thanks so much.

FISHER: Thanks very much.

WHITFIELD: All right in just over an hour from now, more "CNN Live Sunday." Carol Lin will be hosting and she is here now with a preview.

CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Some beautiful images.

WHITFIELD: Beautiful images.

LIN: All right coming up at 6:00 tonight we'll be giving an update on the BTK killer, it is a serial killer out in Kansas, named himself BTK for buying torture kill, his method. He was silent for 25 years. Suddenly this past spring sending messages through the media about tantalizing clues of whether he may strike again.

In fact, something recently was found delivered to a local newspaper, personal effects of one of the most recent victims. So lots of questions. I'm going to be talking with a veteran FBI agent. Also talking about the possibility of Civil War in Iraq and how that is going to influence the elections coming up in January.

WHITFIELD: Some say it's already happening.

LIN: Yes, already happening and our military intelligence analyst has been talking to his sources on the ground. He has been predicting this for a long time on our program and he has got more to say about that subject tonight at 10:00.

WHITFIELD: All right , looking forward to that, both at 6:00 and 10:00 tonight. Carol thanks so much.

Well a diamond lasts forever, right? But should its slogan last forever as well? Up next, the story behind the marketing strategy that gets men to lay down a big chunk of their salary for a piece of jewelry. Women as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well, few things last forever, but one of them may be the most successful marketing slogan of all-time. Here's CNN's Ali Velshi.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's not just the diamonds that last forever. This slogan has been around since 1947. It's part of a campaign of memorable, and effective one-liners. Backed up by an expensive marketing approach that has at least some men saying I will. Two months' salary too much pay for something that lasts forever?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Um, no. Not if you love the girl enough.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Money is not an object to me when I'm making someone feel good and on top of that, something that's lasts for forever for a two-month's salary you work until you die.

VELSHI: Money can't buy endorsements like that or can it? How about a couple of hundred million-dollars a year? Paid for by the Diamond Trading Company, it is part of the legendary diamond giant DeBeers.

KAREN BENEZRA, EDITOR: Fairly significant from the stand point of spending $200 million a year worldwide, but compare that to McDonald's, compare that to Coca-Cola, a drop in the bucket.

VELSHI: A drop in the bucket? More like Chinese water torture. That same message year after year after year, and it all started at the NWayre building in Philadelphia, that was the ad company for DeBeers. Copy editor Frances Garity worked late one night to come up with the perfect slogan for them.

LINDA KAPLAN THALER, AD EXECUTIVE: She could not come up with a line, she wanted it to be something bold and beautiful and something that would go on for eternity, like diamonds, and she fell asleep, and when she woke up, in her handwriting was the line "a diamond is forever."

VELSHI: Linda Kaplan Thaler runs the ad company in New York that took over NWayre a few years ago. She says when you buy a diamond, you buy mystique.

THALER: You don't have one for Ruby's, or sapphires and emeralds are they are far more precious gems, they're rare, they are resilient and they are beautiful. But nobody says, my god, I hope my husband gets me a ruby for Christmas.

VELSHI: And the mastery? Telling men exactly how much to spend on a diamond engagement ring. The average American man ties the knot for the first time at the age of 27. The average 27-year-old American man makes about $30,000 a year. So if the average American guy believes the ads, he needs to find a $5,000 ring, and he needs it to look good.

And that is why any day, any time of year you'll find men jamming the stalls of the diamond district here in Manhattan looking for this, the perfect diamond. This is a place because of its bustle and congestion thought to offer a better deal than the fancy boutiques. In the end of message that the men get when they're here is the same, it's worth it. She's worth it. After all, forever say long time. Like the ad says, there are only two things that last longer than time. Love is one of them, and can you guess what the other one is? Ali Velshi, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: That's going to do it for us. "Next@CNN" is straight ahead. Here is Daniel Seiberg with a preview.

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ahead on "Next@CNN", a food shortage on the International Space Station puts the crew on a diet.

And a technology that's helping a paralyzed toddler communicate with the blink of an eye.

WHITFIELD: Well thanks so much for joining us. Back with the headlines right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com