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CNN Live Today

American Hostage in Iraq; Cost of War in Dollars; Rice Confirmation Debate

Aired January 25, 2005 - 11:00   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We have new pictures of an American who's being held hostage in Iraq. Also, a statement from his former wife.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, the hearing for Condoleezza Rice. We'll go live to Capitol Hill.

The second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY begins right now. And here's a look at what's happening "Now in the News."

A newly released video shows an American taken hostage in Iraq last year pleading for his life. But the tape sheds no light on the fate of 56-year-old Roy Hallums. He and five others were taken captive in an armed attack last November. We'll go live to Baghdad for the latest in about two minutes.

President Bush is poised to ask Congress for more money to pay for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Congressional sources say the president wants around $80 billion more. An announcement on the exact amount of the request could come as early as today. Our White House correspondent will have details just ahead.

Happening now on Capitol Hill, round three of the Rice debate. The Senate is meeting to consider Condoleezza Rice's nomination for secretary of state. She is expected to confirm when senators vote tomorrow. But for now, the Bush administration policy in Iraq is likely to dominate the discussion. We'll have a live update in just a few minutes.

This morning, federal agents are questioning a pilot and four suspected illegal immigrants after forcing their plane to land in Texas overnight. Police in San Antonio say the four immigrants are Chinese. According to media reports, Homeland Security officials are investigating a possible smuggling operation involving Chinese nationals.

And it is 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast, and 8:00 a.m. in the West. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Tony Harris, in for Rick Sanchez.

KAGAN: And good morning once again. I'm Daryn Kagan.

Let's get started this hour with an American hostage in Iraq. Roy Hallums makes a desperate plea on videotape today. All the while, the barrel of a gun is just inches from his head.

Chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour is in Baghdad with the latest -- Christiane.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, this video was released in Baghdad today. And it's not clear why it was released today.

We understand that Roy Hallums had been taken November 1. So that is nearly three months ago. And not a whole lot had been heard since then.

But on this video, he is, as you say, sitting there with a barrel of a gun to his head. He pleads for help to save his life. He says unless he gets help it will mean "definite death."

He says he's been taken by an Iraqi resistance group. But that is about as much as we know. There are no other details at the moment.

We understand the U.S. embassy and other officials have been in touch over the period during which he's been held hostage. They've been in touch with his family, but we don't know whether there are any particular efforts going on to get him freed.

Of course, the U.S. administration, like so many governments around the world, says that it does not negotiate with terrorists. But in many instances, whether it's not quite clear who has taken this man, some of these groups are the terrorist insurgent groups, and others are criminal gangs who take people for ransom and for kidnappings. And we have understood that some money has been paid in the past for some of these other foreign nationals that have been taken, but we simply don't know the full details about the situation of Roy Hallums. Just that this tape has now been released -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Well, some might think, Christiane, that this has to do with the timing of this weekend's elections. Let's talk a little bit about that and the security involved. Have the actual polling places been announced? Or are they trying to keep that quiet so that people can't plan -- insurgents can't plan attacks on the polling places?

AMANPOUR: Well, in the areas that we've been to in Baghdad -- and I was in Tikrit a couple of days ago -- the U.S. military up there was making plans to secure polling stations. And most of them will be schools, we're told, but had not yet said exactly which ones.

I mean, we saw them, but we weren't allowed really to broadcast that. And they hadn't yet gone into their full security operation around it, because they won't do that until just a few hours before the polls open. But there have been training and rehearsing with Iraqi security forces who will take the lead in the security operation on election day. And everybody, of course, is really just hoping for the best.

KAGAN: Christiane Amanpour reporting live from Baghdad. Thank you.

More now on Roy Hallums. His family lives in southern California. His daughter has set up a Web site with information about her father and his ordeal. The address is royhallums.4T.com. Until today, Hallums' situation has received little attention in the media, even as his loved ones begged for his return over the holidays.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN HALLUMS, HALLUMS' FMR. WIFE: The main thing that the family wanted to say was that, pray for his safety and his -- his return, and that he's being treated well and humanely. And to please let him come home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Later on CNN LIVE TODAY, I'm going to talk with an expert about what he sees in the Hallums' videotape. That's coming up at the half-hour.

HARRIS: Now the cost of war in dollars. President Bush is expected to soon ask American taxpayers to write another big check to pay for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is at the White House.

Good morning, Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Tony.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan earlier today saying that the president was willing to spend whatever it took to support the troops. He would not give the dollar figure. But we have gotten that from congressional and administration sources, saying that later today, the Office of Management and Budget will announce that they are seeking an additional $80 billion in new funding.

That for military operations this year in Iraq and Afghanistan. That makes the total cost for both of these conflicts almost $300 billion to date.

Now, Democrats have long complained they believe the White House has not been forthcoming in releasing the true cost of the war on terror. It is very likely that this announcement today will, of course, cause many other questions, as well as even controversy over just where taxpayers' dollars are going.

We've already heard from a number of prominent Democrats who have spoken out against this. One of them in particular, Democrat Senator Barbara Boxer, who says, of course, while they may support the president in supporting the troops, they want to know what the exit strategy is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D), CALIFORNIA: Is he going to lay out a way to use that money to train the troops in Iraq so that the Iraqis themselves can defend themselves, so that we can go home? Is he going to use some of those funds to help give better benefits to our military who are serving over there and who come home. You know, I need to see the bottom line.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Tony, it is not likely we're going to get the bottom line today to many of those questions. We do expect, however, to get some more details from the Office of Management and Budget.

At 1:00, they're going to hold a background briefing to give us some details on that supplemental. Then in about two weeks from now, the White House will formally unveil its 2006 -- fiscal 2006 budget. It is very likely that there's going to be a battle and soon.

HARRIS: Oh, boy, you're right about that. Suzanne Malveaux at the White House. Suzanne, thank you.

And get late news about Iraq any time you're away from your television. Log onto CNN.com/Iraq 24 hours a day and follow this weekend's election online and on CNN television.

KAGAN: All right. Right now, the Senate is debating Condoleezza Rice's nomination to be the next secretary of state. Our congressional correspondent, Ed Henry, is on Capitol Hill with details on that.

Ed, good morning.

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning again, Daryn.

That's right. The Democrats' decision to slow down the confirmation of Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state is a mix of substance and symbolism. Symbolically, Democrats like Barbara Boxer and Edward Kennedy want to show very early on in the second term -- of President Bush's second term that they are not going to be a rubber stamp for his agenda on the symbolic front. And also, substantively, they say they have sharp policy differences.

As you can see, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Richard Lugar on the Senate floor right now. He's one of the Republicans defending this nomination. A lot of Republicans, almost all Republicans, of course, but also Democrats as well.

A lot of Democrats supporting this nomination. We're hearing from some Democrats like Boxer, like Edward Kennedy, who are taking some jabs, offering some jabs at Condi Rice. You saw that last week at the hearings, but also now on the floor during nine hours of debate.

Edward Kennedy will be giving a speech in just a few moments. We've gotten an early look at that speech. And in that he will say that Iraq so far has been a catastrophic failure. He calls it a "continuing quagmire." That's a direct quote from Edward Kennedy.

And he's saying, because of that, he believes Dr. Rice should not get elevation, should not get a promotion from national security adviser to secretary of state. But as I mentioned, there are even more Democrats, though, like Joe Lieberman, who are saying they will support the nomination. Just a few moments ago, Joe Lieberman said this will be an historic confirmation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D), CONNECTICUT: No one believes that this president chose this nominee for secretary of state for reasons of gender or race. No one here will vote for her in this Senate for reasons of gender or race. But the fact is that Dr. Condoleezza Rice is an African-American woman. And I think in addition to every other standard by which we judge and respond to this nomination, we should celebrate the fact that when she is confirmed another barrier will be broken in American life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: And Daryn, you can bet that during the Senate floor debate throughout the afternoon, the morning and afternoon, this price tag for the war in Iraq and as well as Afghanistan will be a big topic of debate. Democrats raising a lot of questions about that cost. But you can also bet that a lot of Republicans will be joining Democrats like Joe Lieberman in defending Dr. Rice -- Daryn.

KAGAN: The Ed Henry question of the hour is, explain the politics behind this. Some of the same Democrats we will hear attack Dr. Rice will also then go ahead and vote for her.

HENRY: That's right. We saw that last week at the confirmation hearings with Joe Biden, for example, Chris Dodd as well, two Democrats who said they have very serious, deep concerns about this nomination. But the bottom line is, is that some of these Democrats want to try to get this second term for President Bush off on the right foot.

Obviously, we've seen some partisanship already break out. But some of these Democrats are saying they want to try to give the president a little bit of a bipartisan push. They want to raise questions about his policies in Iraq, but they want to let him put his team in place -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Ed Henry on Capitol Hill. Thank you.

HENRY: Thank you.

HARRIS: Well, in case you missed the early morning announcement, there were some surprises among the Academy Award nominations. We'll have the highlights.

KAGAN: Also, scientists and government ministers in Europe are raising red flags. They say Earth may be nearing the point of no return with some environmental problems.

HARRIS: And in the aftermath of the tsunami, some disturbing stories. Hear about the evil that some men do when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (STOCK MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And here's what's on the docket today in our "Legal Briefs." Players and fans involved in a brawl during an NBA game in November are due in court today. A judge has ordered five Indiana Pacers players and four Detroit Pistons fans to attend a pretrial conference set to begin in about two hours. They face misdemeanor charges. One fan charged with a felony was due in court this morning.

A trial gets under way in Massachusetts for a high-profile figure in the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal. Opening statements were set to begin this morning in the case of defrocked priest Paul Shanley. The alleged victim accuses Shanley of raping him repeatedly in the 1980s, beginning when he was just six years old.

In Miami, testimony resumes in a civil suit stemming from the Elian Gonzalez case. He's the Cuban boy, you'll remember, who survived a ship wreck nearly five years ago and landed in a legal tug of war. The plaintiffs say they were injured or traumatized when federal agents seized the boy from his Miami relatives to return him to his father in Cuba. Thirteen people are seeking up to $250,000 each.

The parents of a comatose Florida woman are urging her husband to file for divorce and end the long-running legal battle. Terry Schiavo's parents are fighting to keep her husband from removing her feeding tube. She says -- or he says she never wanted to be kept alive with machines. The case goes back to Florida circuit court on Friday after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to intervene.

Legal news any time you want it at cnn.com/law. And you can also sign up for breaking-news e-mail alerts when you stop by our Web site.

KAGAN: And now to southern Asia, where firefighters say they're running out of water as they battle a blaze in the tsunami-battered city of Banda Aceh. The fire stretches almost two miles. Banda Aceh was devastated by the tsunami last month's tsunami, and the area is still littered with debris.

Crews are trying to clear it before it catches fire. Officials think the fire could have been caused by local residents burning garbage.

Residents try to recover and rebuild their lives. There is another disturbing problem to contend with. That is the looting of damaged homes and even stealing from the dead.

CNN's Satinder Bindra has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This amateur video captures the savagery that followed the tsunami, two men get busy robbing a dead woman. What's even worse, they come to blows over their spoils.

A local cameraman filming these pictures says the incident has scarred him forever and was even more difficult to watch than the horror of the tsunami itself. "I wanted to stop filming, "he says "to drop my camera and to stop that madness."

(UNINTELLIGIBLE) footage helped police identify and capture the two men. Both are now in custody. They've been questioned and could face charges of theft.

Police report widespread looting of damaged homes and property following the tsunami. This girl lost her parents and her home, then she was sexually assaulted by one of her own relatives. She's now in an abused children's home.

This 18-year-old lost nine members of her family. Then she was raped.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have identified the suspect, but he's still at large. We are conducting investigations and will see that the suspect is arrested and sent before court very early.

BINDRA: Another family refusing to believe their missing child was dead put an advertisement in the local papers. They did get calls. One man repeatedly asked for money.

Faced with so much calamity and grief, tens of thousands of Sri Lankans are doing all they can to help. Police say only a small number are indulging in what they call shameful behavior.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At a time of national crisis, this is -- I'm sure they are sick in mind. They suffer from various mental diseases.

BINDRA: The tsunami damaged at least one high-security jail. Dozens of Sri Lanka's most hardened criminals escaped and are still believed to be at large.

(on camera): Over the past few days, angry citizens are starting to take the law into their own hands. Several suspected thieves have been beaten to pulp by mobs. And police say one man believed to have robbed a corpse was stabbed to death.

Satinder Bindra, CNN, Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: More than two months after his kidnapping, a video surfaces of an American hostage who appears to be pleading for his life. We'll have an update on that story.

KAGAN: And with the election in Iraq just days away, we're going to check the pulse of the people, hear whether they plan to visit the polls and the difference they believe it could make.

You're watching CNN LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: One expert calls it an ecological time bomb. Global warming is the focus of a new report which warns of widespread drought, crop failure and rising sea levels. That is if leaders of industrialized nations do not act.

Here's Lawrence McGinty of Britain's ITV News.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE MCGINTY, REPORTER, ITV NEWS (voice-over): Scientists say it's happening faster and faster. And unless politicians get their act together quickly, it will be too late to stop it.

The imminence and serious threat is, of course, global warming. And today, ex-minister Steven Byers (ph), co-chairman of an international task force on climate change, issued some of the starkest warnings yet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Climate change is a real threat to our planet. And it's not 50 or 100 years off. In my lifetime, in the next 10 to 20 years, if we don't take steps now, then we will be paying a very high price. Our planet will not be able to sustain the severe weather conditions if they continue along their present path.

MCGINTY: Byers (ph) wants to knock heads together among the advanced countries of the G8. He wants them to switch to renewable energy. He wants them to set up a climate group, including China, which is rapidly industrializing. And he wants a target to keep global warming under 2 degrees C.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over 2 degrees Centigrade its clear that a number of climatic phenomena begin to accelerate to such a point that we will no longer be able to adapt to some of those consequences.

MCGINTY (on camera): If the government and MPs see this report as slightly alarmist, they're going to be even more shocked late they are week. Then we're expecting a scientific report which says that global warming could be twice as severe as the worst previous predictions.

Lawrence McGinty, ITV News at Westminster.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Weather has been a big topic for much of the week.

HARRIS: Look, I was here over the weekend...

KAGAN: Yes.

HARRIS: ... when it rolled into the Northeast. It was ridiculous.

And Dave Hennen, I trust that this next bout of snow is not going to be as bad as what we had over the weekend. DAVE HENNEN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No, definitely not, Tony.

HARRIS: OK.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: Thank you for that.

We'll also talk about this morning's Academy Award nominations. Some surprises as to who is in, who is out. You're going to hear which movies and performers made the cut, which didn't.

HARRIS: We'll take a break and come back with that right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Let's take a look at what's happening "Now in the News."

An American contractor seized in Baghdad in November turned up on video today. Roy Hallums pleads for help from Arab leaders but criticizes President Bush. Hallums appeared to be reading from a prepared text.

The ACLU says that abuse of Iraqi and Afghan prisoners may be more widespread than it has -- has been acknowledged. The group obtained government documents that it says suggests the Army failed to look into many allegations. They include claims of electric shock, sodomy and severe beatings.

The Senate is discussing Condoleezza Rice's nomination of -- to be secretary of state. I think -- is that -- is that a live picture we're looking at there? Democrats -- it is not a live picture. It is tape of Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader.

Democrats force a day-long debate and are using the time to rake the administration on the Iraq war. Rice's nomination is expected to be approved tomorrow.

And Microsoft founder Bill Gates is donating $750 million. The money will be used to immunize children in developing countries.

Keeping you informed, CNN is the most trusted name in news.

HARRIS: In our CNN "Security Watch" this morning, a new study out could ground a plan to protect commercial airliners from missile attacks, at least for now. CNN's Lindsey Arent is tracking the story. She's joining us now from Washington.

Good morning, Lindsey.

LINDSEY ARENT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Tony.

Now the RAND Corporation's 64-page study confirms what the U.S. government has known for a very long time, that terrorists like al Qaeda and others have both the motives and equipment to attack commercial U.S. aircraft with shoulder-fired missiles.

Now there's been one notable attempt to down a plane using these missiles, also known as man portable air defense systems, or man-PADS. Now that happened back in 2003 when terrorists with ties to al Qaeda fired two missiles at an Israeli plane taking off from a Kenya airport. They missed that time, but very soon after, homeland security officials invested some $6 million to look at plans to put anti-missile systems on American airplanes.

The question here is whether or not it makes sense to install these antimissile defense systems on the nation's civilian jetliners. And according to the RAND study, right now is not the time. The main reason, the study cites, is simply the high price tag. The study found it would cost about $11 billion to install these systems on the nation's 6,800 commercial airplanes, and $2.1 billion per year to run it.

Now at the same time, the report found that a single successful missile attack could also have some devastating costs for the nation's aviation industry. We're talking about a downed aircraft which could cost up to $1 billion, $3 billion more if the aviation's flight systems were shut down for a week, and then $12 billion more over several months if passengers were simply too scared to fly.

So despite the costs from a missile attack, which could potentially cripple the airline industry, the study still recommends the government should hold off on installing these anti-missile defense systems until the operating and installation costs can simply be brought down, and I recently spoke to the study's author, Tony, who says one potential solution to this problem is just to increase funding for Transportation Security, from the $4.4 billion right now the government spends.

HARRIS: A lot of competition for the money out there. Lindsey, we appreciate it. Thank you.

ARENT: Sure.

HARRIS: CNN's security watch keeps you up to date on safety. Stay tuned day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

KAGAN: I want to go ahead right now talk more about the American hostage being held in Iraq. A videotape of Roy Hallums surfaced today. He is pleading for his life with a gun held at his head. Jim Walsh is with the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University, joining me from Boston.

Jim, always good to get your take on these matters.

JIM WALSH, BELFER CENTER, HARVARD UNIV.: Well, hello from snowy Boston.

KAGAN: Glad you could dig your way in to our studio.

Roy Hallums has been held captive since, we believe, November 1st, yet this is the first videotape we are seeing of him. Do you think that that would be tying with the elections this weekend?

WALSH: Well, I think that's the right question to ask, Daryn, who is the audience here? Is it Iraqis going to the polls, or is it someone else? I'm inclined to think that the audience is really Americans, because he's an American hostage, and we don't know what impact an American hostage would have on Iraqis.

And I think the second audience here is probably Arab leaders. Remember, as you pointed out in earlier broadcasts this morning, one of the curious things about this tape is the reference to Moammar Gadhafi, the leader of Libya. And so I'm guessing that this video's audience is really U.S., the electorate, the people who are here, trying to cause consternation and worry about our policy in Iraq, and also Arab leaders.

KAGAN: Well, and let's get to that point. He makes -- there are no demands on this tape. They're not asking for anything. He is critical of President Bush, but of course, as you can see, when you look at the videotape, the man has a gun to his head. So you have to take with a grain of salt anything he's being asked to say.

But it is curious that he asks for the help not just of Arab leaders, but as you pointed out, of Moammar Gadhafi, the leader of Libya. Of all the Arab leaders, why Gadhafi?

WALSH: Well, I think that's the most telling part of the tape. What it tells me, or what I'm guessing or speculating about here, is the folks who captured, who abducted this gentleman, are not the jihadist types, they are not the al Qaeda types, the Zarqawi types. They're more likely to be Baathists, or criminals or some other group. Why do I say that? Well, Moammar Gadhafi is not a jihadist, he's not an Islamic extremist; he's a what we would call a secular nationalist, sort of like Saddam was, or in an earlier generation Nasr of Egypt. He's an army colonel who took power. He's not a religious leader.

So it seems to me that if this group is invoking Gadhafi's name, trying to get him involved, they're more likely to be ex-Baathists or nonreligious terrorists, rather than the religious terrorists we've been a lot of.

KAGAN: So you don't think necessarily that this is tied in to -- well, it might be tied in some ways to the election taking place this weekend, but not really trying to go toward the people who might or might not vote inside Iraq?

WALSH: Well, you know, you never know what's in the mind of these folks who are doing this, and I think earlier you raised an interesting point, that it comes out now. Why now as opposed to a month earlier or a month later.

And so obviously the big event this week is the election. So it may be that they're trying to influence the election. I wonder about the logic of it, though. Why is it that an American hostage would have an impact on an Iraqi voter? But they may be simply pulling out all the stops. We know that they've been preparing all sorts after tacks, the attacks have been escalating, the seriousness of the attacks has been increasing, so maybe this is just one more thing they're throwing into the sink, to try to make people nervous and to disrupt the election.

KAGAN: Of course if we're going to try to make this about logic, that will be a very short conversation indeed.

WALSH: Yes, indeed.

KAGAN: Jim Walsh from Harvard University. Jim, thank you.

WALSH: Thank you, Daryn.

HARRIS: Now if you're following Dr. Sanjay Gupta's "New You" participant, stay tuned. We'll have a first week checkup with the Reverend Leigh Ann in a moment.

And how would you feel about having to pay for those grocery bags? That's a proposal at one major U.S. city. We're going to talk about that, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Four weeks, one day, of sweating, guessing, betting and a lot of marketing. Nominations for the 77th Academy Award were announced just about three hours ago. The contenders, please. For best picture, we have "The Aviator," "Finding Neverland," "Million Dollar Baby," the biopic "Ray" and "Sideways."

For best actor, Don Cheadle for "Hotel Rwanda," Johnny Depp for "Finding Neverland," Leonardo Dicaprio in "The Aviator," Clint Eastwood in "Million Dollar Baby," and Jamie Foxx, one of two nominations for him as Ray Charles in the film "Ray."

For best actress it is Annette Bening for "Being Julia," Catalina Sandino Moreno in "Maria Full of Grace," Imelda Staunton for "Vera Drake," Hillary Swank comes out swinging in "Million Dollar Baby," and Kate Winslet rounding it out in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."

While the good movies get all the razzle-dazzle, the bad ones get razzed.

Here's is Christina Park from CNN.com.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINA PARK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Remember when your mom said if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. Well, the heck with that. This isn't the Oscars. It's 25th Annual Razzie Awards. And CNN.com is your official date.

Now first we have a gallery where you can feast your eyes on Hollywood's worst this year, including nominations for worst movie, actor and actress. According to razzie.com, that is, don't blame us. Now just click on over to CNN.com/entertainment to see who made this year's hall of shame. And if you're still haunted by memories of "Gigli," and who isn't, we've also created a fun gallery of razzies from the last five years. Bet you've been victimized by at least one of these movies. From newer flicks like Madonna's "Swept Away" to old school bombs like "Freddie Got Fingered," CNN.com/entertainment will have plenty of razzy material to make you cringe.

Reporting from the dot-com desk, I'm Christina Park.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Our "New You Revolution" has begun. The five participants are on a quest to replace some bad habits with some new, healthier ones. Senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta gives us a progress report on how one woman is doing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And inhale. And she goes down!

LEIGH ANN RAYNOR, "NEW YOU" PARTICIPANT: I did that well, don't you think?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): She's the reverend. She's almost 50, and she's ready to make a "New You Revolution."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lift the hips up.

RAYNOR: That's as far as my hip goes, sweetie. I'm finding muscles I had forgotten I had.

GUPTA: No surprise to her that she isn't as limber as she used to be.

RAYNOR: It's difficult because I'm one of the most competitive people I know.

GUPTA: But she does have a key ingredient: determination.

(on camera): So, how are you feeling?

RAYNOR: I feel great.

GUPTA: Yes? No problems at all? Not overdoing it?

RAYNOR: No.

GUPTA (voice over): It's important, because six months ago she had successful heart surgery. Now she watches closely for warning signs.

RAYNOR: Chest pains, dizziness, shortness of breath, because other than that, your only warning sign is sudden cardiac death. GUPTA: So we're going slow. No more than three miles an hour for now and some mild resistance training. Of course, hand in hand with the exercise comes diet. So we took Leigh Ann and the others to cooking school.

(on camera): Where do you hope to be eight weeks from now?

RAYNOR: Eight weeks from now, I hope to have learned some cooking techniques.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you cook your own food, it's always going to taste better and going to be -- it is!

GUPTA: Have you tasted her cooking?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you?

GUPTA: No.

(voice over): But Leigh Ann surprised even herself by cooking her first meal ever for someone else. She made chicken, and along with some healthy mac and cheese and a salad, this meal is filling, and just 500 calories.

With exercise, diet and good old-fashioned willpower, the reverend is well on her way.

RAYNOR: Wish me luck. I'm going to work at it.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, for the "New You Revolution."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

And next week Dr. Gupta will bring us up-to-date on Harold Fricker, who says he's addicted to running, but he's also addicted to food. So is he starting to break his bad habits? He checks in for a check-up with Dr. Gupta. And if you would like to follow the progress of all the "New You" participants, logon to cnn.com/revolution.

KAGAN: And right now, I want to go to the floor of the U.S. Senate, Senator Ted Kennedy, as they talk about Condoleezza Rice for the next secretary of state.

SEN. TED KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: ... the national security that developed to justify the rationale for war. And it's been a catastrophic failure, a continuing quagmire. In these circumstances, she should not be promoted to secretary of state.

There is a critical question about accountability. Dr. Rice was a principal architect and advocate in the decision to go to war in Iraq at a time when our mission in Afghanistan was not complete and Osama bin Laden was a continuing threat because of our failure to track him down. In the Armed Services Committee before the war, generals advised against the rush to war. But Dr. Rice and others in the administration pressed forward, anyway, despite the clear warnings. Dr. Rice was the first in the administration to invoke the terrifying image of a nuclear holocaust to justify the need to go to war in Iraq. On September 9th, 2002, as Congress was first considering the resolution to authorize the war, Dr. Rice said, we don't want this smoking gun to become a mushroom cloud. In fact, as we now know, there was significant disagreement in the intelligence community that Iraq had a nuclear weapons program. But Dr. Rice spoke instead about a consensus in the intelligence community, that the infamous aluminum tubes were for the development of nuclear weapons.

And on the eve of the war, many of us argued that inspectors should be given a chance to do their job and that America should share information to facilitate their work. In a March 6, 2000 letter to Senator Levin, Dr. Rice assured the Congress that the United Nation inspectors had been briefed on every high or medium-priority weapons of mass destruction, missile and UAB-related site the U.S. intelligence community has identified. In fact, we had not done so. Dr. Rice was plain wrong.

The intelligent committee report on the pre-war intelligence concluded pronouncement, public pronouncements by the administration that the Central Intelligence Agency had shared information on all high and moderate priorities suspect sites with the United Nations inspector were factually incorrect. That's at page 418 of the intelligence report.

Had Dr. Rice and others in the administration shared all the information, it might have changed the course of history. We might have discovered that there were no weapons of mass destruction. The rush to war might have been stopped. We would have stayed focused on the real threat, kept faith with our allies and would be safer today.

America is in deep trouble in Iraq today because of our misguided policy and the quagmire is very real. Nearly 1,400 of our finest men and women in uniform have been killed and more than 10,000 have been wounded. We now know that Saddam had no nuclear weapons, had no weapons of mass destruction of any kind, that the war has not made America safer from the threat of al Qaeda. Instead, as the National Intelligence Council recently stated, the war has made Iraq a breeding ground for terrorism that previously did not exist.

As a result, the war has made us less secure, not more secure. It has increased support for al Qaeda, made America more hated in the world, made it much harder to win the real war against terrorism, the war against al Qaeda.

KAGAN: We've been listening in to the U.S. Senate, Senator Ted Kennedy. This is nine and half hours of debate on Condoleezza Rice being confirmed as the next secretary of state of the United States. As I said, nine and a half hours of debate.

Before you think we just put on the liberal senators, it's a long day. We will put on conservative Republican senators as the afternoon goes on. By the way, Ted Kennedy has already said he plans not to vote for Condoleezza Rice, but her confirmation is expected to take place when the vote happens tomorrow. We have a lot more here on CNN LIVE TODAY, including the grocery bags we get at that market. Are you willing to pay for them? We'll talk about that just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Paper or plastic? Either one could cost you in San Francisco. The city's commission on the environment is expected to ask the city to approve a proposal to charge shoppers for their grocery bags. The cost, 17 cents per bag. Supporters say it would reduce the waste of extra bags, help pay for the damage they cause to the city.

HARRIS: That's cutting into the money I'm making on Wall Street today.

KAGAN: Maybe. Paper or plastic, Susan Lisovicz?

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

HARRIS: Well, you know, you've heard from dozens of friends about their memories of the late Johnny Carson. Well, now you're going to hear from perhaps one of his closest friends.

KAGAN: Larry King spoke with Ed McMahon last night in his first primetime interview. You're going to hear what Ed McMahon has to say about the famous line "one more time" when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Prayers and words of praise continue to pour in from fans of the late Johnny Carson, the legendary comedian who died at the age of 79 on Sunday is being mourned by the lives he touched.

KAGAN: Some of them say they owe their careers to him. Current "Tonight Show" host, Jay Leno, says Carson was simply the best. While Carson's longtime sidekick Ed McMahon used a familiar line to say good-bye.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": You know, I was thinking about what I could say about Johnny Carson. I kept trying to search for something new that hadn't been said before. And after a couple of hours I realized that was impossible. Maybe that was the greatest thing about Johnny.

Imagine getting to the end of your life and there's no compliment you haven't been paid. Johnny had that special quality of grace, charm and dignity in the public arena. He was an incredibly polite man. And when you were invited into his house, this show, you knew you were an honored guest.

Before he became host of "The Tonight Show," he was host of a show called "Who Do You Trust," which was a perfect title for a show starring Johnny Carson, because the truth is, we trusted Johnny. We trusted him to make us laugh, to entertain us, to speak to us with what was truly an American voice.

What made Johnny such a unique talent was for 30 years he was hip but he was smart enough not to be so hip that next year he was out of style.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": All right, we can't leave the show without having you do it one more time.

ED MCMAHON, CARSON'S "TONIGHT SHOW" SIDEKICK: All right. I'm going to do it for the angels.

KING: For the angels.

MCMAHON: Right. And now, here's Johnny!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Done so well. Be sure to watch "LARRY KING LIVE" tonight, the husband of Debra Lafave, a teacher accused of having an affair with her 14-year-old student will be Larry's guest. Talk about a big switch from last night to tonight. But that will be 9:00 p.m. Eastern on right here on CNN.

HARRIS: Let's get a final check of weather across the nation now with Dave Hennen in the weather center.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: That's going to do it for us. Thanks for sitting in. Appreciate your time and your help.

HARRIS: Thank you, thank you, Daryn.

KAGAN: For Tony Harris, I'm Daryn Kagan. Wolf Blitzer takes over from Washington, D.C.

Hi, Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Daryn. Thanks very much to you, thanks, Tony, as well.

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 January 25, 2005 - 11:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We have new pictures of an American who's being held hostage in Iraq. Also, a statement from his former wife.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, the hearing for Condoleezza Rice. We'll go live to Capitol Hill.

The second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY begins right now. And here's a look at what's happening "Now in the News."

A newly released video shows an American taken hostage in Iraq last year pleading for his life. But the tape sheds no light on the fate of 56-year-old Roy Hallums. He and five others were taken captive in an armed attack last November. We'll go live to Baghdad for the latest in about two minutes.

President Bush is poised to ask Congress for more money to pay for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Congressional sources say the president wants around $80 billion more. An announcement on the exact amount of the request could come as early as today. Our White House correspondent will have details just ahead.

Happening now on Capitol Hill, round three of the Rice debate. The Senate is meeting to consider Condoleezza Rice's nomination for secretary of state. She is expected to confirm when senators vote tomorrow. But for now, the Bush administration policy in Iraq is likely to dominate the discussion. We'll have a live update in just a few minutes.

This morning, federal agents are questioning a pilot and four suspected illegal immigrants after forcing their plane to land in Texas overnight. Police in San Antonio say the four immigrants are Chinese. According to media reports, Homeland Security officials are investigating a possible smuggling operation involving Chinese nationals.

And it is 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast, and 8:00 a.m. in the West. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Tony Harris, in for Rick Sanchez.

KAGAN: And good morning once again. I'm Daryn Kagan.

Let's get started this hour with an American hostage in Iraq. Roy Hallums makes a desperate plea on videotape today. All the while, the barrel of a gun is just inches from his head.

Chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour is in Baghdad with the latest -- Christiane.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, this video was released in Baghdad today. And it's not clear why it was released today.

We understand that Roy Hallums had been taken November 1. So that is nearly three months ago. And not a whole lot had been heard since then.

But on this video, he is, as you say, sitting there with a barrel of a gun to his head. He pleads for help to save his life. He says unless he gets help it will mean "definite death."

He says he's been taken by an Iraqi resistance group. But that is about as much as we know. There are no other details at the moment.

We understand the U.S. embassy and other officials have been in touch over the period during which he's been held hostage. They've been in touch with his family, but we don't know whether there are any particular efforts going on to get him freed.

Of course, the U.S. administration, like so many governments around the world, says that it does not negotiate with terrorists. But in many instances, whether it's not quite clear who has taken this man, some of these groups are the terrorist insurgent groups, and others are criminal gangs who take people for ransom and for kidnappings. And we have understood that some money has been paid in the past for some of these other foreign nationals that have been taken, but we simply don't know the full details about the situation of Roy Hallums. Just that this tape has now been released -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Well, some might think, Christiane, that this has to do with the timing of this weekend's elections. Let's talk a little bit about that and the security involved. Have the actual polling places been announced? Or are they trying to keep that quiet so that people can't plan -- insurgents can't plan attacks on the polling places?

AMANPOUR: Well, in the areas that we've been to in Baghdad -- and I was in Tikrit a couple of days ago -- the U.S. military up there was making plans to secure polling stations. And most of them will be schools, we're told, but had not yet said exactly which ones.

I mean, we saw them, but we weren't allowed really to broadcast that. And they hadn't yet gone into their full security operation around it, because they won't do that until just a few hours before the polls open. But there have been training and rehearsing with Iraqi security forces who will take the lead in the security operation on election day. And everybody, of course, is really just hoping for the best.

KAGAN: Christiane Amanpour reporting live from Baghdad. Thank you.

More now on Roy Hallums. His family lives in southern California. His daughter has set up a Web site with information about her father and his ordeal. The address is royhallums.4T.com. Until today, Hallums' situation has received little attention in the media, even as his loved ones begged for his return over the holidays.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN HALLUMS, HALLUMS' FMR. WIFE: The main thing that the family wanted to say was that, pray for his safety and his -- his return, and that he's being treated well and humanely. And to please let him come home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Later on CNN LIVE TODAY, I'm going to talk with an expert about what he sees in the Hallums' videotape. That's coming up at the half-hour.

HARRIS: Now the cost of war in dollars. President Bush is expected to soon ask American taxpayers to write another big check to pay for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is at the White House.

Good morning, Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Tony.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan earlier today saying that the president was willing to spend whatever it took to support the troops. He would not give the dollar figure. But we have gotten that from congressional and administration sources, saying that later today, the Office of Management and Budget will announce that they are seeking an additional $80 billion in new funding.

That for military operations this year in Iraq and Afghanistan. That makes the total cost for both of these conflicts almost $300 billion to date.

Now, Democrats have long complained they believe the White House has not been forthcoming in releasing the true cost of the war on terror. It is very likely that this announcement today will, of course, cause many other questions, as well as even controversy over just where taxpayers' dollars are going.

We've already heard from a number of prominent Democrats who have spoken out against this. One of them in particular, Democrat Senator Barbara Boxer, who says, of course, while they may support the president in supporting the troops, they want to know what the exit strategy is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D), CALIFORNIA: Is he going to lay out a way to use that money to train the troops in Iraq so that the Iraqis themselves can defend themselves, so that we can go home? Is he going to use some of those funds to help give better benefits to our military who are serving over there and who come home. You know, I need to see the bottom line.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Tony, it is not likely we're going to get the bottom line today to many of those questions. We do expect, however, to get some more details from the Office of Management and Budget.

At 1:00, they're going to hold a background briefing to give us some details on that supplemental. Then in about two weeks from now, the White House will formally unveil its 2006 -- fiscal 2006 budget. It is very likely that there's going to be a battle and soon.

HARRIS: Oh, boy, you're right about that. Suzanne Malveaux at the White House. Suzanne, thank you.

And get late news about Iraq any time you're away from your television. Log onto CNN.com/Iraq 24 hours a day and follow this weekend's election online and on CNN television.

KAGAN: All right. Right now, the Senate is debating Condoleezza Rice's nomination to be the next secretary of state. Our congressional correspondent, Ed Henry, is on Capitol Hill with details on that.

Ed, good morning.

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning again, Daryn.

That's right. The Democrats' decision to slow down the confirmation of Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state is a mix of substance and symbolism. Symbolically, Democrats like Barbara Boxer and Edward Kennedy want to show very early on in the second term -- of President Bush's second term that they are not going to be a rubber stamp for his agenda on the symbolic front. And also, substantively, they say they have sharp policy differences.

As you can see, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Richard Lugar on the Senate floor right now. He's one of the Republicans defending this nomination. A lot of Republicans, almost all Republicans, of course, but also Democrats as well.

A lot of Democrats supporting this nomination. We're hearing from some Democrats like Boxer, like Edward Kennedy, who are taking some jabs, offering some jabs at Condi Rice. You saw that last week at the hearings, but also now on the floor during nine hours of debate.

Edward Kennedy will be giving a speech in just a few moments. We've gotten an early look at that speech. And in that he will say that Iraq so far has been a catastrophic failure. He calls it a "continuing quagmire." That's a direct quote from Edward Kennedy.

And he's saying, because of that, he believes Dr. Rice should not get elevation, should not get a promotion from national security adviser to secretary of state. But as I mentioned, there are even more Democrats, though, like Joe Lieberman, who are saying they will support the nomination. Just a few moments ago, Joe Lieberman said this will be an historic confirmation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D), CONNECTICUT: No one believes that this president chose this nominee for secretary of state for reasons of gender or race. No one here will vote for her in this Senate for reasons of gender or race. But the fact is that Dr. Condoleezza Rice is an African-American woman. And I think in addition to every other standard by which we judge and respond to this nomination, we should celebrate the fact that when she is confirmed another barrier will be broken in American life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: And Daryn, you can bet that during the Senate floor debate throughout the afternoon, the morning and afternoon, this price tag for the war in Iraq and as well as Afghanistan will be a big topic of debate. Democrats raising a lot of questions about that cost. But you can also bet that a lot of Republicans will be joining Democrats like Joe Lieberman in defending Dr. Rice -- Daryn.

KAGAN: The Ed Henry question of the hour is, explain the politics behind this. Some of the same Democrats we will hear attack Dr. Rice will also then go ahead and vote for her.

HENRY: That's right. We saw that last week at the confirmation hearings with Joe Biden, for example, Chris Dodd as well, two Democrats who said they have very serious, deep concerns about this nomination. But the bottom line is, is that some of these Democrats want to try to get this second term for President Bush off on the right foot.

Obviously, we've seen some partisanship already break out. But some of these Democrats are saying they want to try to give the president a little bit of a bipartisan push. They want to raise questions about his policies in Iraq, but they want to let him put his team in place -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Ed Henry on Capitol Hill. Thank you.

HENRY: Thank you.

HARRIS: Well, in case you missed the early morning announcement, there were some surprises among the Academy Award nominations. We'll have the highlights.

KAGAN: Also, scientists and government ministers in Europe are raising red flags. They say Earth may be nearing the point of no return with some environmental problems.

HARRIS: And in the aftermath of the tsunami, some disturbing stories. Hear about the evil that some men do when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (STOCK MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And here's what's on the docket today in our "Legal Briefs." Players and fans involved in a brawl during an NBA game in November are due in court today. A judge has ordered five Indiana Pacers players and four Detroit Pistons fans to attend a pretrial conference set to begin in about two hours. They face misdemeanor charges. One fan charged with a felony was due in court this morning.

A trial gets under way in Massachusetts for a high-profile figure in the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal. Opening statements were set to begin this morning in the case of defrocked priest Paul Shanley. The alleged victim accuses Shanley of raping him repeatedly in the 1980s, beginning when he was just six years old.

In Miami, testimony resumes in a civil suit stemming from the Elian Gonzalez case. He's the Cuban boy, you'll remember, who survived a ship wreck nearly five years ago and landed in a legal tug of war. The plaintiffs say they were injured or traumatized when federal agents seized the boy from his Miami relatives to return him to his father in Cuba. Thirteen people are seeking up to $250,000 each.

The parents of a comatose Florida woman are urging her husband to file for divorce and end the long-running legal battle. Terry Schiavo's parents are fighting to keep her husband from removing her feeding tube. She says -- or he says she never wanted to be kept alive with machines. The case goes back to Florida circuit court on Friday after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to intervene.

Legal news any time you want it at cnn.com/law. And you can also sign up for breaking-news e-mail alerts when you stop by our Web site.

KAGAN: And now to southern Asia, where firefighters say they're running out of water as they battle a blaze in the tsunami-battered city of Banda Aceh. The fire stretches almost two miles. Banda Aceh was devastated by the tsunami last month's tsunami, and the area is still littered with debris.

Crews are trying to clear it before it catches fire. Officials think the fire could have been caused by local residents burning garbage.

Residents try to recover and rebuild their lives. There is another disturbing problem to contend with. That is the looting of damaged homes and even stealing from the dead.

CNN's Satinder Bindra has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This amateur video captures the savagery that followed the tsunami, two men get busy robbing a dead woman. What's even worse, they come to blows over their spoils.

A local cameraman filming these pictures says the incident has scarred him forever and was even more difficult to watch than the horror of the tsunami itself. "I wanted to stop filming, "he says "to drop my camera and to stop that madness."

(UNINTELLIGIBLE) footage helped police identify and capture the two men. Both are now in custody. They've been questioned and could face charges of theft.

Police report widespread looting of damaged homes and property following the tsunami. This girl lost her parents and her home, then she was sexually assaulted by one of her own relatives. She's now in an abused children's home.

This 18-year-old lost nine members of her family. Then she was raped.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have identified the suspect, but he's still at large. We are conducting investigations and will see that the suspect is arrested and sent before court very early.

BINDRA: Another family refusing to believe their missing child was dead put an advertisement in the local papers. They did get calls. One man repeatedly asked for money.

Faced with so much calamity and grief, tens of thousands of Sri Lankans are doing all they can to help. Police say only a small number are indulging in what they call shameful behavior.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At a time of national crisis, this is -- I'm sure they are sick in mind. They suffer from various mental diseases.

BINDRA: The tsunami damaged at least one high-security jail. Dozens of Sri Lanka's most hardened criminals escaped and are still believed to be at large.

(on camera): Over the past few days, angry citizens are starting to take the law into their own hands. Several suspected thieves have been beaten to pulp by mobs. And police say one man believed to have robbed a corpse was stabbed to death.

Satinder Bindra, CNN, Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: More than two months after his kidnapping, a video surfaces of an American hostage who appears to be pleading for his life. We'll have an update on that story.

KAGAN: And with the election in Iraq just days away, we're going to check the pulse of the people, hear whether they plan to visit the polls and the difference they believe it could make.

You're watching CNN LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: One expert calls it an ecological time bomb. Global warming is the focus of a new report which warns of widespread drought, crop failure and rising sea levels. That is if leaders of industrialized nations do not act.

Here's Lawrence McGinty of Britain's ITV News.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE MCGINTY, REPORTER, ITV NEWS (voice-over): Scientists say it's happening faster and faster. And unless politicians get their act together quickly, it will be too late to stop it.

The imminence and serious threat is, of course, global warming. And today, ex-minister Steven Byers (ph), co-chairman of an international task force on climate change, issued some of the starkest warnings yet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Climate change is a real threat to our planet. And it's not 50 or 100 years off. In my lifetime, in the next 10 to 20 years, if we don't take steps now, then we will be paying a very high price. Our planet will not be able to sustain the severe weather conditions if they continue along their present path.

MCGINTY: Byers (ph) wants to knock heads together among the advanced countries of the G8. He wants them to switch to renewable energy. He wants them to set up a climate group, including China, which is rapidly industrializing. And he wants a target to keep global warming under 2 degrees C.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over 2 degrees Centigrade its clear that a number of climatic phenomena begin to accelerate to such a point that we will no longer be able to adapt to some of those consequences.

MCGINTY (on camera): If the government and MPs see this report as slightly alarmist, they're going to be even more shocked late they are week. Then we're expecting a scientific report which says that global warming could be twice as severe as the worst previous predictions.

Lawrence McGinty, ITV News at Westminster.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Weather has been a big topic for much of the week.

HARRIS: Look, I was here over the weekend...

KAGAN: Yes.

HARRIS: ... when it rolled into the Northeast. It was ridiculous.

And Dave Hennen, I trust that this next bout of snow is not going to be as bad as what we had over the weekend. DAVE HENNEN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No, definitely not, Tony.

HARRIS: OK.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: Thank you for that.

We'll also talk about this morning's Academy Award nominations. Some surprises as to who is in, who is out. You're going to hear which movies and performers made the cut, which didn't.

HARRIS: We'll take a break and come back with that right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Let's take a look at what's happening "Now in the News."

An American contractor seized in Baghdad in November turned up on video today. Roy Hallums pleads for help from Arab leaders but criticizes President Bush. Hallums appeared to be reading from a prepared text.

The ACLU says that abuse of Iraqi and Afghan prisoners may be more widespread than it has -- has been acknowledged. The group obtained government documents that it says suggests the Army failed to look into many allegations. They include claims of electric shock, sodomy and severe beatings.

The Senate is discussing Condoleezza Rice's nomination of -- to be secretary of state. I think -- is that -- is that a live picture we're looking at there? Democrats -- it is not a live picture. It is tape of Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader.

Democrats force a day-long debate and are using the time to rake the administration on the Iraq war. Rice's nomination is expected to be approved tomorrow.

And Microsoft founder Bill Gates is donating $750 million. The money will be used to immunize children in developing countries.

Keeping you informed, CNN is the most trusted name in news.

HARRIS: In our CNN "Security Watch" this morning, a new study out could ground a plan to protect commercial airliners from missile attacks, at least for now. CNN's Lindsey Arent is tracking the story. She's joining us now from Washington.

Good morning, Lindsey.

LINDSEY ARENT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Tony.

Now the RAND Corporation's 64-page study confirms what the U.S. government has known for a very long time, that terrorists like al Qaeda and others have both the motives and equipment to attack commercial U.S. aircraft with shoulder-fired missiles.

Now there's been one notable attempt to down a plane using these missiles, also known as man portable air defense systems, or man-PADS. Now that happened back in 2003 when terrorists with ties to al Qaeda fired two missiles at an Israeli plane taking off from a Kenya airport. They missed that time, but very soon after, homeland security officials invested some $6 million to look at plans to put anti-missile systems on American airplanes.

The question here is whether or not it makes sense to install these antimissile defense systems on the nation's civilian jetliners. And according to the RAND study, right now is not the time. The main reason, the study cites, is simply the high price tag. The study found it would cost about $11 billion to install these systems on the nation's 6,800 commercial airplanes, and $2.1 billion per year to run it.

Now at the same time, the report found that a single successful missile attack could also have some devastating costs for the nation's aviation industry. We're talking about a downed aircraft which could cost up to $1 billion, $3 billion more if the aviation's flight systems were shut down for a week, and then $12 billion more over several months if passengers were simply too scared to fly.

So despite the costs from a missile attack, which could potentially cripple the airline industry, the study still recommends the government should hold off on installing these anti-missile defense systems until the operating and installation costs can simply be brought down, and I recently spoke to the study's author, Tony, who says one potential solution to this problem is just to increase funding for Transportation Security, from the $4.4 billion right now the government spends.

HARRIS: A lot of competition for the money out there. Lindsey, we appreciate it. Thank you.

ARENT: Sure.

HARRIS: CNN's security watch keeps you up to date on safety. Stay tuned day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

KAGAN: I want to go ahead right now talk more about the American hostage being held in Iraq. A videotape of Roy Hallums surfaced today. He is pleading for his life with a gun held at his head. Jim Walsh is with the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University, joining me from Boston.

Jim, always good to get your take on these matters.

JIM WALSH, BELFER CENTER, HARVARD UNIV.: Well, hello from snowy Boston.

KAGAN: Glad you could dig your way in to our studio.

Roy Hallums has been held captive since, we believe, November 1st, yet this is the first videotape we are seeing of him. Do you think that that would be tying with the elections this weekend?

WALSH: Well, I think that's the right question to ask, Daryn, who is the audience here? Is it Iraqis going to the polls, or is it someone else? I'm inclined to think that the audience is really Americans, because he's an American hostage, and we don't know what impact an American hostage would have on Iraqis.

And I think the second audience here is probably Arab leaders. Remember, as you pointed out in earlier broadcasts this morning, one of the curious things about this tape is the reference to Moammar Gadhafi, the leader of Libya. And so I'm guessing that this video's audience is really U.S., the electorate, the people who are here, trying to cause consternation and worry about our policy in Iraq, and also Arab leaders.

KAGAN: Well, and let's get to that point. He makes -- there are no demands on this tape. They're not asking for anything. He is critical of President Bush, but of course, as you can see, when you look at the videotape, the man has a gun to his head. So you have to take with a grain of salt anything he's being asked to say.

But it is curious that he asks for the help not just of Arab leaders, but as you pointed out, of Moammar Gadhafi, the leader of Libya. Of all the Arab leaders, why Gadhafi?

WALSH: Well, I think that's the most telling part of the tape. What it tells me, or what I'm guessing or speculating about here, is the folks who captured, who abducted this gentleman, are not the jihadist types, they are not the al Qaeda types, the Zarqawi types. They're more likely to be Baathists, or criminals or some other group. Why do I say that? Well, Moammar Gadhafi is not a jihadist, he's not an Islamic extremist; he's a what we would call a secular nationalist, sort of like Saddam was, or in an earlier generation Nasr of Egypt. He's an army colonel who took power. He's not a religious leader.

So it seems to me that if this group is invoking Gadhafi's name, trying to get him involved, they're more likely to be ex-Baathists or nonreligious terrorists, rather than the religious terrorists we've been a lot of.

KAGAN: So you don't think necessarily that this is tied in to -- well, it might be tied in some ways to the election taking place this weekend, but not really trying to go toward the people who might or might not vote inside Iraq?

WALSH: Well, you know, you never know what's in the mind of these folks who are doing this, and I think earlier you raised an interesting point, that it comes out now. Why now as opposed to a month earlier or a month later.

And so obviously the big event this week is the election. So it may be that they're trying to influence the election. I wonder about the logic of it, though. Why is it that an American hostage would have an impact on an Iraqi voter? But they may be simply pulling out all the stops. We know that they've been preparing all sorts after tacks, the attacks have been escalating, the seriousness of the attacks has been increasing, so maybe this is just one more thing they're throwing into the sink, to try to make people nervous and to disrupt the election.

KAGAN: Of course if we're going to try to make this about logic, that will be a very short conversation indeed.

WALSH: Yes, indeed.

KAGAN: Jim Walsh from Harvard University. Jim, thank you.

WALSH: Thank you, Daryn.

HARRIS: Now if you're following Dr. Sanjay Gupta's "New You" participant, stay tuned. We'll have a first week checkup with the Reverend Leigh Ann in a moment.

And how would you feel about having to pay for those grocery bags? That's a proposal at one major U.S. city. We're going to talk about that, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Four weeks, one day, of sweating, guessing, betting and a lot of marketing. Nominations for the 77th Academy Award were announced just about three hours ago. The contenders, please. For best picture, we have "The Aviator," "Finding Neverland," "Million Dollar Baby," the biopic "Ray" and "Sideways."

For best actor, Don Cheadle for "Hotel Rwanda," Johnny Depp for "Finding Neverland," Leonardo Dicaprio in "The Aviator," Clint Eastwood in "Million Dollar Baby," and Jamie Foxx, one of two nominations for him as Ray Charles in the film "Ray."

For best actress it is Annette Bening for "Being Julia," Catalina Sandino Moreno in "Maria Full of Grace," Imelda Staunton for "Vera Drake," Hillary Swank comes out swinging in "Million Dollar Baby," and Kate Winslet rounding it out in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."

While the good movies get all the razzle-dazzle, the bad ones get razzed.

Here's is Christina Park from CNN.com.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINA PARK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Remember when your mom said if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. Well, the heck with that. This isn't the Oscars. It's 25th Annual Razzie Awards. And CNN.com is your official date.

Now first we have a gallery where you can feast your eyes on Hollywood's worst this year, including nominations for worst movie, actor and actress. According to razzie.com, that is, don't blame us. Now just click on over to CNN.com/entertainment to see who made this year's hall of shame. And if you're still haunted by memories of "Gigli," and who isn't, we've also created a fun gallery of razzies from the last five years. Bet you've been victimized by at least one of these movies. From newer flicks like Madonna's "Swept Away" to old school bombs like "Freddie Got Fingered," CNN.com/entertainment will have plenty of razzy material to make you cringe.

Reporting from the dot-com desk, I'm Christina Park.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Our "New You Revolution" has begun. The five participants are on a quest to replace some bad habits with some new, healthier ones. Senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta gives us a progress report on how one woman is doing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And inhale. And she goes down!

LEIGH ANN RAYNOR, "NEW YOU" PARTICIPANT: I did that well, don't you think?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): She's the reverend. She's almost 50, and she's ready to make a "New You Revolution."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lift the hips up.

RAYNOR: That's as far as my hip goes, sweetie. I'm finding muscles I had forgotten I had.

GUPTA: No surprise to her that she isn't as limber as she used to be.

RAYNOR: It's difficult because I'm one of the most competitive people I know.

GUPTA: But she does have a key ingredient: determination.

(on camera): So, how are you feeling?

RAYNOR: I feel great.

GUPTA: Yes? No problems at all? Not overdoing it?

RAYNOR: No.

GUPTA (voice over): It's important, because six months ago she had successful heart surgery. Now she watches closely for warning signs.

RAYNOR: Chest pains, dizziness, shortness of breath, because other than that, your only warning sign is sudden cardiac death. GUPTA: So we're going slow. No more than three miles an hour for now and some mild resistance training. Of course, hand in hand with the exercise comes diet. So we took Leigh Ann and the others to cooking school.

(on camera): Where do you hope to be eight weeks from now?

RAYNOR: Eight weeks from now, I hope to have learned some cooking techniques.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you cook your own food, it's always going to taste better and going to be -- it is!

GUPTA: Have you tasted her cooking?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you?

GUPTA: No.

(voice over): But Leigh Ann surprised even herself by cooking her first meal ever for someone else. She made chicken, and along with some healthy mac and cheese and a salad, this meal is filling, and just 500 calories.

With exercise, diet and good old-fashioned willpower, the reverend is well on her way.

RAYNOR: Wish me luck. I'm going to work at it.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, for the "New You Revolution."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

And next week Dr. Gupta will bring us up-to-date on Harold Fricker, who says he's addicted to running, but he's also addicted to food. So is he starting to break his bad habits? He checks in for a check-up with Dr. Gupta. And if you would like to follow the progress of all the "New You" participants, logon to cnn.com/revolution.

KAGAN: And right now, I want to go to the floor of the U.S. Senate, Senator Ted Kennedy, as they talk about Condoleezza Rice for the next secretary of state.

SEN. TED KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: ... the national security that developed to justify the rationale for war. And it's been a catastrophic failure, a continuing quagmire. In these circumstances, she should not be promoted to secretary of state.

There is a critical question about accountability. Dr. Rice was a principal architect and advocate in the decision to go to war in Iraq at a time when our mission in Afghanistan was not complete and Osama bin Laden was a continuing threat because of our failure to track him down. In the Armed Services Committee before the war, generals advised against the rush to war. But Dr. Rice and others in the administration pressed forward, anyway, despite the clear warnings. Dr. Rice was the first in the administration to invoke the terrifying image of a nuclear holocaust to justify the need to go to war in Iraq. On September 9th, 2002, as Congress was first considering the resolution to authorize the war, Dr. Rice said, we don't want this smoking gun to become a mushroom cloud. In fact, as we now know, there was significant disagreement in the intelligence community that Iraq had a nuclear weapons program. But Dr. Rice spoke instead about a consensus in the intelligence community, that the infamous aluminum tubes were for the development of nuclear weapons.

And on the eve of the war, many of us argued that inspectors should be given a chance to do their job and that America should share information to facilitate their work. In a March 6, 2000 letter to Senator Levin, Dr. Rice assured the Congress that the United Nation inspectors had been briefed on every high or medium-priority weapons of mass destruction, missile and UAB-related site the U.S. intelligence community has identified. In fact, we had not done so. Dr. Rice was plain wrong.

The intelligent committee report on the pre-war intelligence concluded pronouncement, public pronouncements by the administration that the Central Intelligence Agency had shared information on all high and moderate priorities suspect sites with the United Nations inspector were factually incorrect. That's at page 418 of the intelligence report.

Had Dr. Rice and others in the administration shared all the information, it might have changed the course of history. We might have discovered that there were no weapons of mass destruction. The rush to war might have been stopped. We would have stayed focused on the real threat, kept faith with our allies and would be safer today.

America is in deep trouble in Iraq today because of our misguided policy and the quagmire is very real. Nearly 1,400 of our finest men and women in uniform have been killed and more than 10,000 have been wounded. We now know that Saddam had no nuclear weapons, had no weapons of mass destruction of any kind, that the war has not made America safer from the threat of al Qaeda. Instead, as the National Intelligence Council recently stated, the war has made Iraq a breeding ground for terrorism that previously did not exist.

As a result, the war has made us less secure, not more secure. It has increased support for al Qaeda, made America more hated in the world, made it much harder to win the real war against terrorism, the war against al Qaeda.

KAGAN: We've been listening in to the U.S. Senate, Senator Ted Kennedy. This is nine and half hours of debate on Condoleezza Rice being confirmed as the next secretary of state of the United States. As I said, nine and a half hours of debate.

Before you think we just put on the liberal senators, it's a long day. We will put on conservative Republican senators as the afternoon goes on. By the way, Ted Kennedy has already said he plans not to vote for Condoleezza Rice, but her confirmation is expected to take place when the vote happens tomorrow. We have a lot more here on CNN LIVE TODAY, including the grocery bags we get at that market. Are you willing to pay for them? We'll talk about that just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Paper or plastic? Either one could cost you in San Francisco. The city's commission on the environment is expected to ask the city to approve a proposal to charge shoppers for their grocery bags. The cost, 17 cents per bag. Supporters say it would reduce the waste of extra bags, help pay for the damage they cause to the city.

HARRIS: That's cutting into the money I'm making on Wall Street today.

KAGAN: Maybe. Paper or plastic, Susan Lisovicz?

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

HARRIS: Well, you know, you've heard from dozens of friends about their memories of the late Johnny Carson. Well, now you're going to hear from perhaps one of his closest friends.

KAGAN: Larry King spoke with Ed McMahon last night in his first primetime interview. You're going to hear what Ed McMahon has to say about the famous line "one more time" when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Prayers and words of praise continue to pour in from fans of the late Johnny Carson, the legendary comedian who died at the age of 79 on Sunday is being mourned by the lives he touched.

KAGAN: Some of them say they owe their careers to him. Current "Tonight Show" host, Jay Leno, says Carson was simply the best. While Carson's longtime sidekick Ed McMahon used a familiar line to say good-bye.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": You know, I was thinking about what I could say about Johnny Carson. I kept trying to search for something new that hadn't been said before. And after a couple of hours I realized that was impossible. Maybe that was the greatest thing about Johnny.

Imagine getting to the end of your life and there's no compliment you haven't been paid. Johnny had that special quality of grace, charm and dignity in the public arena. He was an incredibly polite man. And when you were invited into his house, this show, you knew you were an honored guest.

Before he became host of "The Tonight Show," he was host of a show called "Who Do You Trust," which was a perfect title for a show starring Johnny Carson, because the truth is, we trusted Johnny. We trusted him to make us laugh, to entertain us, to speak to us with what was truly an American voice.

What made Johnny such a unique talent was for 30 years he was hip but he was smart enough not to be so hip that next year he was out of style.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": All right, we can't leave the show without having you do it one more time.

ED MCMAHON, CARSON'S "TONIGHT SHOW" SIDEKICK: All right. I'm going to do it for the angels.

KING: For the angels.

MCMAHON: Right. And now, here's Johnny!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Done so well. Be sure to watch "LARRY KING LIVE" tonight, the husband of Debra Lafave, a teacher accused of having an affair with her 14-year-old student will be Larry's guest. Talk about a big switch from last night to tonight. But that will be 9:00 p.m. Eastern on right here on CNN.

HARRIS: Let's get a final check of weather across the nation now with Dave Hennen in the weather center.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: That's going to do it for us. Thanks for sitting in. Appreciate your time and your help.

HARRIS: Thank you, thank you, Daryn.

KAGAN: For Tony Harris, I'm Daryn Kagan. Wolf Blitzer takes over from Washington, D.C.

Hi, Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Daryn. Thanks very much to you, thanks, Tony, as well.

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