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CNN Live Today
Lebanese Prime Minister and His Government Resign
Aired February 28, 2005 - 11:30 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.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: We're right around the midpoint of this hour. We welcome you back. I'm Rick Sanchez.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Daryn Kagan. Here's what's happening now in the news.
How about this ring-up at a department store, an $11 billion buy. Federated Department Store is buying its rival May Department Stores. That deal would create about 1,000 stores among them. Federated now owns Bloomingdale's and Macy's. and among May's stores are Lord and Taylor and Marshall Field's.
In Iraq, at least 125 people are dead after the deadliest single insurgent attack on Iraqis since the beginning of the U.S.-led invasion. Officials say a suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle through a crowded market in Hillah. That is south of Baghdad. More than 150 people are hurt.
And in New York, former WorldCom chief Bernie Ebbers is expected to take the stand today. Lawyers say Ebbers will testify in his own defense. Ebbers is accused of orchestrated an $11 billion accounting fraud, driving WorldCom into the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. Ebbers denies all the charges against him.
And in California, Greg Biffle (ph) battled his way to a NASCAR win. Biffle won the Nextel and Auto Club 500 on Sunday after nearly falling a lap behind and coming back from 30th place in the race. Biffle's win netted him $288,000.
SANCHEZ: We bring you the very latest now on a story that we here at CNN have been continuing to develop for you on the apprehension of the man suspected of being the BTK killer. His name is Dennis Rader. And there have been some questions regarding how police were able to make the arrest. There have been some information -- some information, I should say, that the daughter of this man actually provided police with DNA. Now, that's information that apparently had come from the family's pastor, according to some reporters. It is perhaps because of those comments and those reports from the press and the media that police, in the form of the police chief there in Wichita, not long ago, held a news conference and had this to say. This is Norman Williams at a news conference just moments ago. We'll turning around the sounds. We're going to let you take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Since the arrest of BTK, speculations, inaccurate information, as well as irresponsible information has been disseminated throughout the community by some local, national media organizations. This type of assumptions and speculations have and will continue to complicate an already complex investigation.
In addition, inaccurate information does a disservice to the families, the friends, as well as the community. The BTK investigation has and will continue to be guided by the United States Constitution, and what that is that we adhere to the due process of the law. This case will not be tried in the media, but rather in a court of law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: That's Chief Williams admonishing reporters for some of the reports that have been coming out.
We should tell you, by the way, you can join us tonight. We are going to have a special edition of CNN's "NEWSNIGHT." Aaron Brown is going to host "CATCHING BTK." It's beginning at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, 7:00 Pacific, right here on CNN.
KAGAN: To world news now, more noisy protests in Beirut against Syria's role in Lebanon. Thousands of people jammed the central square of the Lebanese capital today. They want the Syrian-backed government to resign, and they want Syrian troops out of their country. Protesters feel that Syria had a role in this month's assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister.
Israel is blaming a Syrian-based group for a suicide attack at a Tel Aviv nightclub. The blast on Friday night killed five people. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says the Palestinians are also to blame for not taking vigorous action against terrorists. Israel's plan to transfer control of some West Bank towns to the Palestinians has now been frozen because of that attack.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is flying to London today for a meeting on the Middle East. The conference will focus on ways to strengthen the new Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas. Delegations from 30 nations will attend. Israel will not be there. The U.S. will pressure rich Arab states to back the Palestinians with cash. They need money for rebuilding their basic infrastructure and security service.
SANCHEZ: The Vatican updated the pope's condition this morning. He's eating regularly, according to reports, now able to sit up in a chair, for a while at least. John Paul appeared briefly at the hospital window Sunday. He had throat surgery last week to help with his breathing. The Vatican said that the pope has started exercises to improve his breathing and his vocalization. Still, though, he is not able to speak correctly.
KAGAN: And now we move on with our world wrap, more international news for you. A United Nations conference on women's rights opens today. The meeting may get bogged down over the abortion issue. The Bush administration is demanding that conference date that women are not guaranteed the right to abortion. This week's conference is a follow up to the one held in Beijing in 1995.
Britain's Prince Charles made a brief stop in the tsunami zone today. Charles told victims in Sri Lanka, a former British colony, he was terribly upset by the devastation. The giant wave killed more than 30,000 people on the island nation.
And for the third straight night in Australia, teenagers set fires and taunted police with molotov cocktails in a poor Sydney neighborhood. They're upset over the deaths of two boys. Authorities say they died when the stolen car they were driving crashed during a high-speed police chase.
SANCHEZ: It is a worldwide anti-smoking treaty to try and get kids to stop smoking. It's been passed by over 50 countries. Is the United States among them?
KAGAN: And autism, why the different methods of treatment are causing controversy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Health officials in Vietnam are reporting another death from bird flu. The 69-year-old man is a 47th victim of the outbreak in Asia. Experts warn that the bird flu could trigger a global influenza pandemic. They're concerned it could mutate into a form that can pass between humans.
Worldwide anti-smoking treaty in force. That went into effect yesterday. The treaty is designed to turn children against smoking and help adults kick the habit through strong warnings and bans on advertising. More than 50 countries have ratified the pack with the World Health Organization. WHO officials say the tobacco industry is lobbying to restrict the number of countries applying the treaty. The U.S. has signed up but has not sent it to the Senate for ratification.
SANCHEZ: For parents of an autistic child, it is a frightening and a frustrating diagnosis. And the search for answers often adds to, well, even more frustration. In our "Daily Dose" of health news, senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta examines two sides of the controversial treatment.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is 3-year-old Joshua.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We sort of just waited because -- and I think it's because we didn't want it to be this. You know? I think deep down inside, neither one of us wanted it to be the diagnosis of autism.
GUPTA: And like many parents, Michael and Shirley Nichols (ph) wondered if they waited too long. Just one week ago, Joshua was diagnosed. The signs had been there for sometime.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Even the smallest tasks of I need to change my diaper, I'm hungry, he would not communicate with us. So we constantly had to be aware of what his needs were.
GUPTA: And now Josh and his parents entered the strange world of autism with an impossible number of questions and hardly any answers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is that?
I think that it's very frustrating because there's no one person telling you what to do. There's no...
GUPTA (on camera): Lots of different things you're hearing?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lots of different things, everywhere we went.
GUPTA (voice-over): Everywhere they went, they got different advice on how best to take care of their son.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is for young children with autism.
GUPTA: Dr. Wayne Fisher (ph) has dedicated his life to autism and works at the prestigious Marcus (ph) Institute.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've seen no instances personally or in the literature where there's evidence that it works.
GUPTA (on camera): Yet people are still doing it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Correct.
GUPTA (voice-over): We asked him about facilitated communication or F.C., where a trained therapist helps an autistic person by holding their arms as they learn to use a typing device. He is convinced that the facilitator, not the child, was actually controlling the typing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we presented it to the therapist but not to the child, the child answered correctly. When we presented it to both of them, the child answered correctly. But when only the child saw the question or the stimulus, the answer did not make sense and did not correspond to the question.
GUPTA: But there are two sides. Sue Reuben (ph) knows for a fact that FC taught her to communicate. She is the author of the new documentary, "Autism is a World," which was co-produced by CNN's documentary unit and will air on the network in May. Sue's film, which has been nominated for an Academy Award, has helped reopen the debate.
(on camera): Facilitated communication first used in the United States around 1990 and was wildly hailed as a miracle therapy. It took just years, though, for the theories to be discredited and now even the American Psychological Society strongly cautions doctors that the practice is controversial and unproven.
(voice-over): But not unproven to Jamie Burke (ph), who as a young boy could not talk or communicate at all. But through a therapist using F.C., Jamie began to type. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You may be thinking.
GUPTA: And at age 12, he began to speak, reading aloud what he had typed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The offer of the...
GUPTA: Now Jamie types on his own, with a little help, but Jamie insists the words are his own.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... the typing. You may be thinking that, but I am the author of the typing.
GUPTA: His parents say they can now talk to their once-silent son.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It just opened up a whole new world.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We saw him so totally differently. I mean, you just -- that phone call to me when they said, yes, he, indeed, is recognizing letters, yes, he indeed, can type.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Understand.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He came home that day and you just -- approached him as a totally different person.
GUPTA: Dr. Fisher and many others insist F.C. doesn't work, despite success stories like Sue and Jamie.
(on camera): There's some extraordinary examples of people who seem to have benefited tremendously from facilitated communication. How do you explain that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't explain that.
GUPTA (voice-over): But for those like Joshua and his parents...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's no one road, one path. It's, well, you can try this or you can look into this. And for us, we just want to help him.
GUPTA: The search for answers continues.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: And of course, for your "Daily Dose" of health news online, all you've got to do is log on to our Web site. You'll find the latest medical stories, some special reports and a health library. The address, as you may know, is cnn.com/health.
KAGAN: Traveling in a time of terrorism, are Americans taking the government's advice on where and where not to go? We have the answer to that question. It might surprise you. Details just ahead in our "Getaways" segment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: We're getting breaking news now out of Lebanon that the prime minister there is resigning. This in the wake of a lot of unrest in that country. It was about two weeks ago that the former prime minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated and since then, there's been a lot of attention both from within Lebanon and a lot of pressure on the government that has been backed by Syria. And Syrian troops there. There have been a call worldwide for Syrian troops to pull out of Lebanon and also pressure on this government to resign.
There have been a number of protests, as well, in the streets of Lebanon, for that same thing. So getting word today that some of that pressure beginning to take effect and the current prime minister of Lebanon saying he is going to step down. A lot more on this just ahead. A developing story out of Beirut.
SANCHEZ: There is no question that that is one of the trouble spots in the world. That is why we do this segment on some places that many Americans choose not to travel to just because of that. Traveling in the age of terrorism.
"Conde Nast Traveler" has polled its readers -- it's a magazine -- on this topic. And Wendy Perrin is the magazine's consumer news editor. She's joining us now at the Time Warner Center in New York this morning to bring us the latest on this. Now, interestingly enough, what you found in your poll is that Americans are not necessarily afraid anymore, at least as afraid as they were right after 9/11.
WENDY PERRIN, "CONDE NAST TRAVELER": No, absolutely not. Our readers, actually, their fears have been fading. They weren't particularly scared after 9/11, I mean, they kept traveling, but they -- in fact, what we found in our poll is that -- because we asked back in, you know, two years ago, are you willing to go to Bali? Are you willing to go Kenya? Are you willing to go, you know, a lot of these countries that have had with terrorist incidents, and they are much more willing to go today than they were two years ago.
SANCHEZ: Is it safe to say, though, that your readers are not exactly representative of Americans in general, because they're more perhaps like the Chardonnay sippers, they travel at least once or twice a year?
PERRIN: They certainly do. I mean, in fact, on average, the subscribers who took this poll take 2.8 international trips every year. So, yes, they do travel a lot internationally, and they don't tend to be, you know, as fearful as many Americans might be.
SANCHEZ: Well, it's interesting, you know, because the state department puts out for all Americans the list of countries they think Americans should be very cautious in traveling to. Certainly we're not going to read them all, but there they are. Starts with the Ivory Coast, goes all the way down through countries you'd expect, like Iran and Lebanon, which Daryn was just talking about moments ago, all the way through to Colombia with the problem they have there with the FARC. Many of your readers, though, when asked about this said, they think that politics has as much to do with compiling this list as anything else?
PERRIN: That's right. In fact, when it comes to State Department warnings, our readers think that politics plays a much bigger role than classified intelligence does. Basically, they think these warnings are more political spin than reality.
SANCHEZ: That's amazing. Wendy Perrin, we thank you. We do have some other news that we're following from one of those places that you and I were just talking, so we're going to cut the interview short. We thank you for being with us.
PERRIN: You're welcome.
KAGAN: And we are focusing on Lebanon, a big development coming out. The pro-Syrian prime minister there, Omar Karami, going on national television today and saying he is going to resign. This is latest development taking place in a series of events that began about two weeks ago when the former prime minister, Rafik Hariri, was assassinated in a car-bomb incident. Since that time, world attention has focused on this tiny country of Lebanon, and the involvement of Syria and Syrian-backed troops occupying that country.
These are live pictures you're seeing from Beirut. Thousands of people have taken to the streets, demanding Syria get out of Lebanon. The government that was in place at the time was Syrian-backed. And giving into that pressure, Omar Karami, the current prime minister, saying he will resign. Went on television and announced, a quote here. He says, "(INAUDIBLE) the government will not be a hurdle in front of those who want the good for this country. I declare the resignation of the government that I had they honor to head. May god preserve Lebanon." So Omar Karami, the current prime minister, saying he will step down.
SANCHEZ: And of course, one of the questions that remains, is what will this lead to in terms of some of the troops that are there in Lebanon? They say there are as many as 16,000 there literally, 16,000 Syrian troops in Lebanon. Many of the Lebanese are not at all happy with that arrangement. One wonders if the next move will be to see the deployment or see the removal of some of those troops.
We are going to stay on this story, and as we get more details, we're going to continue to bring it to right here. You're watching CNN. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Yes, we will. As we're following this developing story taking place in Lebanon. A huge development in that the prime minister of Lebanon, Omar Karami, going on national television, announcing he will resign. This is the latest development taking place since the last two weeks, when the former prime minister, Rafik Hariri, was assassinated in a car-bombing incident. Our senior affairs editor Octavia Nasr is here to talk about this development. We knew things were moving. I don't think we knew things were moving this quickly.
OCTAVIA NASR, CNN SR. INTL. AFFAIRS EDITOR: Right. I don't think anyone expected for the government to resign that quickly.
You're looking here at a live picture, I believe, taken from the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation. We've been monitoring the situation since yesterday. It's been over 24 hour that these demonstrations have taken place. You have heard words about the power of the people. People called this day historic day in Lebanon, because the Lebanese were not able to demonstrate like this since independence, back in the '40s.
Things culminated to the point where the parliament was having its opening session at 11:30 Eastern Time. As soon as it opened, the prime minister came to the podium. He started his speech, talking about responsibility, talking about the assassination of Hariri, saying he was the martyr of Lebanon and all the Lebanese. So even from the beginning of that speech, we could sense that a resignation was on the way. And sure enough, his last words were that he didn't want his government to be a stumbling block for peace, and he said we -- I ask for my government to resign, I submit the resignation right now.
You're looking at a live picture. Of course Beirut is seven hours ahead of us, so it's almost 7:00 there. You're looking at some very key figures of the opposition in Lebanon, and you're seeing all these flags.
When the demonstrations started in Lebanon, it was very interesting, because people brought in all kinds of flags, representing their ethnic background, their religion, their affiliation, and the opposition asked for everybody to carry just the Lebanese flag, so that this opposition comes across strong and powerful, and that's exactly what happened all day. They've been singing the national anthem, singing songs for the army. It's been a pretty big day for the Lebanese.
KAGAN: Let's go back and look at how this developed so quickly. About two weeks ago, the former prime minister, Rafik Hariri, somebody who was in favor of the Syrians getting out of Lebanon, was assassinated. Whoever it is who targeted him could have no idea it was a match to a powder keg to get the Syrians out of this country. It had the exact opposite effect.
NASR: Perhaps. It depends on who you ask. You know, there are people who say that Syria has nothing to gain from the assassination of Hariri. They would be like political suicide. Others who say there's nobody but Syria to blame for this.
But I think the U.S. position on this was very interesting, sort of in the middle, because the U.S. said, if Syria is the main power broker in Lebanon and the assassination of someone of this magnitude takes place, then Syria is not doing its role, which is to keep the peace and keep the stability, and therefore the U.S. has asked Syria to pull out of Lebanon immediately.
Now the opposition, when you look at these pictures here, the opposition wanted a few things. They said they wanted an investigation into who killed Hariri and why. They also wanted the government to resign.
Now from the beginning, the government was saying that they're not going to resign. So today's developments are very interesting, because you have to wonder, and of course the prime minister who just resigned, Karami, said that he's not resigning out of pressure. He said it's not the pressure, that's what he said.
But you have to look at these pictures here and wonder how much this pressure, not just the U.S. pressure, but this people's pressure, had to do with this resignation. But definitely it's a huge day for Lebanon. Now of course it's a big win for the opposition. Those who are pro-Syria must be now rethinking their strategy, they're probably thinking about what the next step is going to be.
KAGAN: What is the next step? What happens?
NASR: Well, the good news about Lebanon is that it's an established country. It has an army, it has a police force, it has an infrastructure, so the country is not going to be thrown into chaos at this point.
With all that said, there is the potential of this country, you know, going through some kind of turmoil, you know, car bombs, terrorist acts. That's always a possibility in the Middle East.
But what's going to happen right now is that the opposition is going to have to step in and build a government and take control. I think what they did in the last week or so, they built a very strong opposition. They brought people over from Druids (ph) to Sunni to Shiite and Christians together. So the next step is to put a government in place and take the country out of this situation, this sort of chaos.
KAGAN: Octavia Nasr, thank you so much. We'll hear much more from you and also from Beirut just ahead. '
Once again, the current prime minister of Lebanon, Omar Karami, stepping down in light of recent developments.
SANCHEZ: We're seeing the pictures there in Lebanon, but one wonders what the reaction's going to be in Damascus, in Washington, certainly the reaction in the Middle East as well, where this has an affect.
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 February 28, 2005 - 11:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: We're right around the midpoint of this hour. We welcome you back. I'm Rick Sanchez.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Daryn Kagan. Here's what's happening now in the news.
How about this ring-up at a department store, an $11 billion buy. Federated Department Store is buying its rival May Department Stores. That deal would create about 1,000 stores among them. Federated now owns Bloomingdale's and Macy's. and among May's stores are Lord and Taylor and Marshall Field's.
In Iraq, at least 125 people are dead after the deadliest single insurgent attack on Iraqis since the beginning of the U.S.-led invasion. Officials say a suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle through a crowded market in Hillah. That is south of Baghdad. More than 150 people are hurt.
And in New York, former WorldCom chief Bernie Ebbers is expected to take the stand today. Lawyers say Ebbers will testify in his own defense. Ebbers is accused of orchestrated an $11 billion accounting fraud, driving WorldCom into the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. Ebbers denies all the charges against him.
And in California, Greg Biffle (ph) battled his way to a NASCAR win. Biffle won the Nextel and Auto Club 500 on Sunday after nearly falling a lap behind and coming back from 30th place in the race. Biffle's win netted him $288,000.
SANCHEZ: We bring you the very latest now on a story that we here at CNN have been continuing to develop for you on the apprehension of the man suspected of being the BTK killer. His name is Dennis Rader. And there have been some questions regarding how police were able to make the arrest. There have been some information -- some information, I should say, that the daughter of this man actually provided police with DNA. Now, that's information that apparently had come from the family's pastor, according to some reporters. It is perhaps because of those comments and those reports from the press and the media that police, in the form of the police chief there in Wichita, not long ago, held a news conference and had this to say. This is Norman Williams at a news conference just moments ago. We'll turning around the sounds. We're going to let you take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Since the arrest of BTK, speculations, inaccurate information, as well as irresponsible information has been disseminated throughout the community by some local, national media organizations. This type of assumptions and speculations have and will continue to complicate an already complex investigation.
In addition, inaccurate information does a disservice to the families, the friends, as well as the community. The BTK investigation has and will continue to be guided by the United States Constitution, and what that is that we adhere to the due process of the law. This case will not be tried in the media, but rather in a court of law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: That's Chief Williams admonishing reporters for some of the reports that have been coming out.
We should tell you, by the way, you can join us tonight. We are going to have a special edition of CNN's "NEWSNIGHT." Aaron Brown is going to host "CATCHING BTK." It's beginning at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, 7:00 Pacific, right here on CNN.
KAGAN: To world news now, more noisy protests in Beirut against Syria's role in Lebanon. Thousands of people jammed the central square of the Lebanese capital today. They want the Syrian-backed government to resign, and they want Syrian troops out of their country. Protesters feel that Syria had a role in this month's assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister.
Israel is blaming a Syrian-based group for a suicide attack at a Tel Aviv nightclub. The blast on Friday night killed five people. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says the Palestinians are also to blame for not taking vigorous action against terrorists. Israel's plan to transfer control of some West Bank towns to the Palestinians has now been frozen because of that attack.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is flying to London today for a meeting on the Middle East. The conference will focus on ways to strengthen the new Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas. Delegations from 30 nations will attend. Israel will not be there. The U.S. will pressure rich Arab states to back the Palestinians with cash. They need money for rebuilding their basic infrastructure and security service.
SANCHEZ: The Vatican updated the pope's condition this morning. He's eating regularly, according to reports, now able to sit up in a chair, for a while at least. John Paul appeared briefly at the hospital window Sunday. He had throat surgery last week to help with his breathing. The Vatican said that the pope has started exercises to improve his breathing and his vocalization. Still, though, he is not able to speak correctly.
KAGAN: And now we move on with our world wrap, more international news for you. A United Nations conference on women's rights opens today. The meeting may get bogged down over the abortion issue. The Bush administration is demanding that conference date that women are not guaranteed the right to abortion. This week's conference is a follow up to the one held in Beijing in 1995.
Britain's Prince Charles made a brief stop in the tsunami zone today. Charles told victims in Sri Lanka, a former British colony, he was terribly upset by the devastation. The giant wave killed more than 30,000 people on the island nation.
And for the third straight night in Australia, teenagers set fires and taunted police with molotov cocktails in a poor Sydney neighborhood. They're upset over the deaths of two boys. Authorities say they died when the stolen car they were driving crashed during a high-speed police chase.
SANCHEZ: It is a worldwide anti-smoking treaty to try and get kids to stop smoking. It's been passed by over 50 countries. Is the United States among them?
KAGAN: And autism, why the different methods of treatment are causing controversy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Health officials in Vietnam are reporting another death from bird flu. The 69-year-old man is a 47th victim of the outbreak in Asia. Experts warn that the bird flu could trigger a global influenza pandemic. They're concerned it could mutate into a form that can pass between humans.
Worldwide anti-smoking treaty in force. That went into effect yesterday. The treaty is designed to turn children against smoking and help adults kick the habit through strong warnings and bans on advertising. More than 50 countries have ratified the pack with the World Health Organization. WHO officials say the tobacco industry is lobbying to restrict the number of countries applying the treaty. The U.S. has signed up but has not sent it to the Senate for ratification.
SANCHEZ: For parents of an autistic child, it is a frightening and a frustrating diagnosis. And the search for answers often adds to, well, even more frustration. In our "Daily Dose" of health news, senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta examines two sides of the controversial treatment.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is 3-year-old Joshua.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We sort of just waited because -- and I think it's because we didn't want it to be this. You know? I think deep down inside, neither one of us wanted it to be the diagnosis of autism.
GUPTA: And like many parents, Michael and Shirley Nichols (ph) wondered if they waited too long. Just one week ago, Joshua was diagnosed. The signs had been there for sometime.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Even the smallest tasks of I need to change my diaper, I'm hungry, he would not communicate with us. So we constantly had to be aware of what his needs were.
GUPTA: And now Josh and his parents entered the strange world of autism with an impossible number of questions and hardly any answers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is that?
I think that it's very frustrating because there's no one person telling you what to do. There's no...
GUPTA (on camera): Lots of different things you're hearing?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lots of different things, everywhere we went.
GUPTA (voice-over): Everywhere they went, they got different advice on how best to take care of their son.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is for young children with autism.
GUPTA: Dr. Wayne Fisher (ph) has dedicated his life to autism and works at the prestigious Marcus (ph) Institute.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've seen no instances personally or in the literature where there's evidence that it works.
GUPTA (on camera): Yet people are still doing it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Correct.
GUPTA (voice-over): We asked him about facilitated communication or F.C., where a trained therapist helps an autistic person by holding their arms as they learn to use a typing device. He is convinced that the facilitator, not the child, was actually controlling the typing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we presented it to the therapist but not to the child, the child answered correctly. When we presented it to both of them, the child answered correctly. But when only the child saw the question or the stimulus, the answer did not make sense and did not correspond to the question.
GUPTA: But there are two sides. Sue Reuben (ph) knows for a fact that FC taught her to communicate. She is the author of the new documentary, "Autism is a World," which was co-produced by CNN's documentary unit and will air on the network in May. Sue's film, which has been nominated for an Academy Award, has helped reopen the debate.
(on camera): Facilitated communication first used in the United States around 1990 and was wildly hailed as a miracle therapy. It took just years, though, for the theories to be discredited and now even the American Psychological Society strongly cautions doctors that the practice is controversial and unproven.
(voice-over): But not unproven to Jamie Burke (ph), who as a young boy could not talk or communicate at all. But through a therapist using F.C., Jamie began to type. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You may be thinking.
GUPTA: And at age 12, he began to speak, reading aloud what he had typed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The offer of the...
GUPTA: Now Jamie types on his own, with a little help, but Jamie insists the words are his own.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... the typing. You may be thinking that, but I am the author of the typing.
GUPTA: His parents say they can now talk to their once-silent son.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It just opened up a whole new world.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We saw him so totally differently. I mean, you just -- that phone call to me when they said, yes, he, indeed, is recognizing letters, yes, he indeed, can type.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Understand.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He came home that day and you just -- approached him as a totally different person.
GUPTA: Dr. Fisher and many others insist F.C. doesn't work, despite success stories like Sue and Jamie.
(on camera): There's some extraordinary examples of people who seem to have benefited tremendously from facilitated communication. How do you explain that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't explain that.
GUPTA (voice-over): But for those like Joshua and his parents...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's no one road, one path. It's, well, you can try this or you can look into this. And for us, we just want to help him.
GUPTA: The search for answers continues.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: And of course, for your "Daily Dose" of health news online, all you've got to do is log on to our Web site. You'll find the latest medical stories, some special reports and a health library. The address, as you may know, is cnn.com/health.
KAGAN: Traveling in a time of terrorism, are Americans taking the government's advice on where and where not to go? We have the answer to that question. It might surprise you. Details just ahead in our "Getaways" segment.
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KAGAN: We're getting breaking news now out of Lebanon that the prime minister there is resigning. This in the wake of a lot of unrest in that country. It was about two weeks ago that the former prime minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated and since then, there's been a lot of attention both from within Lebanon and a lot of pressure on the government that has been backed by Syria. And Syrian troops there. There have been a call worldwide for Syrian troops to pull out of Lebanon and also pressure on this government to resign.
There have been a number of protests, as well, in the streets of Lebanon, for that same thing. So getting word today that some of that pressure beginning to take effect and the current prime minister of Lebanon saying he is going to step down. A lot more on this just ahead. A developing story out of Beirut.
SANCHEZ: There is no question that that is one of the trouble spots in the world. That is why we do this segment on some places that many Americans choose not to travel to just because of that. Traveling in the age of terrorism.
"Conde Nast Traveler" has polled its readers -- it's a magazine -- on this topic. And Wendy Perrin is the magazine's consumer news editor. She's joining us now at the Time Warner Center in New York this morning to bring us the latest on this. Now, interestingly enough, what you found in your poll is that Americans are not necessarily afraid anymore, at least as afraid as they were right after 9/11.
WENDY PERRIN, "CONDE NAST TRAVELER": No, absolutely not. Our readers, actually, their fears have been fading. They weren't particularly scared after 9/11, I mean, they kept traveling, but they -- in fact, what we found in our poll is that -- because we asked back in, you know, two years ago, are you willing to go to Bali? Are you willing to go Kenya? Are you willing to go, you know, a lot of these countries that have had with terrorist incidents, and they are much more willing to go today than they were two years ago.
SANCHEZ: Is it safe to say, though, that your readers are not exactly representative of Americans in general, because they're more perhaps like the Chardonnay sippers, they travel at least once or twice a year?
PERRIN: They certainly do. I mean, in fact, on average, the subscribers who took this poll take 2.8 international trips every year. So, yes, they do travel a lot internationally, and they don't tend to be, you know, as fearful as many Americans might be.
SANCHEZ: Well, it's interesting, you know, because the state department puts out for all Americans the list of countries they think Americans should be very cautious in traveling to. Certainly we're not going to read them all, but there they are. Starts with the Ivory Coast, goes all the way down through countries you'd expect, like Iran and Lebanon, which Daryn was just talking about moments ago, all the way through to Colombia with the problem they have there with the FARC. Many of your readers, though, when asked about this said, they think that politics has as much to do with compiling this list as anything else?
PERRIN: That's right. In fact, when it comes to State Department warnings, our readers think that politics plays a much bigger role than classified intelligence does. Basically, they think these warnings are more political spin than reality.
SANCHEZ: That's amazing. Wendy Perrin, we thank you. We do have some other news that we're following from one of those places that you and I were just talking, so we're going to cut the interview short. We thank you for being with us.
PERRIN: You're welcome.
KAGAN: And we are focusing on Lebanon, a big development coming out. The pro-Syrian prime minister there, Omar Karami, going on national television today and saying he is going to resign. This is latest development taking place in a series of events that began about two weeks ago when the former prime minister, Rafik Hariri, was assassinated in a car-bomb incident. Since that time, world attention has focused on this tiny country of Lebanon, and the involvement of Syria and Syrian-backed troops occupying that country.
These are live pictures you're seeing from Beirut. Thousands of people have taken to the streets, demanding Syria get out of Lebanon. The government that was in place at the time was Syrian-backed. And giving into that pressure, Omar Karami, the current prime minister, saying he will resign. Went on television and announced, a quote here. He says, "(INAUDIBLE) the government will not be a hurdle in front of those who want the good for this country. I declare the resignation of the government that I had they honor to head. May god preserve Lebanon." So Omar Karami, the current prime minister, saying he will step down.
SANCHEZ: And of course, one of the questions that remains, is what will this lead to in terms of some of the troops that are there in Lebanon? They say there are as many as 16,000 there literally, 16,000 Syrian troops in Lebanon. Many of the Lebanese are not at all happy with that arrangement. One wonders if the next move will be to see the deployment or see the removal of some of those troops.
We are going to stay on this story, and as we get more details, we're going to continue to bring it to right here. You're watching CNN. Stay with us.
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KAGAN: Yes, we will. As we're following this developing story taking place in Lebanon. A huge development in that the prime minister of Lebanon, Omar Karami, going on national television, announcing he will resign. This is the latest development taking place since the last two weeks, when the former prime minister, Rafik Hariri, was assassinated in a car-bombing incident. Our senior affairs editor Octavia Nasr is here to talk about this development. We knew things were moving. I don't think we knew things were moving this quickly.
OCTAVIA NASR, CNN SR. INTL. AFFAIRS EDITOR: Right. I don't think anyone expected for the government to resign that quickly.
You're looking here at a live picture, I believe, taken from the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation. We've been monitoring the situation since yesterday. It's been over 24 hour that these demonstrations have taken place. You have heard words about the power of the people. People called this day historic day in Lebanon, because the Lebanese were not able to demonstrate like this since independence, back in the '40s.
Things culminated to the point where the parliament was having its opening session at 11:30 Eastern Time. As soon as it opened, the prime minister came to the podium. He started his speech, talking about responsibility, talking about the assassination of Hariri, saying he was the martyr of Lebanon and all the Lebanese. So even from the beginning of that speech, we could sense that a resignation was on the way. And sure enough, his last words were that he didn't want his government to be a stumbling block for peace, and he said we -- I ask for my government to resign, I submit the resignation right now.
You're looking at a live picture. Of course Beirut is seven hours ahead of us, so it's almost 7:00 there. You're looking at some very key figures of the opposition in Lebanon, and you're seeing all these flags.
When the demonstrations started in Lebanon, it was very interesting, because people brought in all kinds of flags, representing their ethnic background, their religion, their affiliation, and the opposition asked for everybody to carry just the Lebanese flag, so that this opposition comes across strong and powerful, and that's exactly what happened all day. They've been singing the national anthem, singing songs for the army. It's been a pretty big day for the Lebanese.
KAGAN: Let's go back and look at how this developed so quickly. About two weeks ago, the former prime minister, Rafik Hariri, somebody who was in favor of the Syrians getting out of Lebanon, was assassinated. Whoever it is who targeted him could have no idea it was a match to a powder keg to get the Syrians out of this country. It had the exact opposite effect.
NASR: Perhaps. It depends on who you ask. You know, there are people who say that Syria has nothing to gain from the assassination of Hariri. They would be like political suicide. Others who say there's nobody but Syria to blame for this.
But I think the U.S. position on this was very interesting, sort of in the middle, because the U.S. said, if Syria is the main power broker in Lebanon and the assassination of someone of this magnitude takes place, then Syria is not doing its role, which is to keep the peace and keep the stability, and therefore the U.S. has asked Syria to pull out of Lebanon immediately.
Now the opposition, when you look at these pictures here, the opposition wanted a few things. They said they wanted an investigation into who killed Hariri and why. They also wanted the government to resign.
Now from the beginning, the government was saying that they're not going to resign. So today's developments are very interesting, because you have to wonder, and of course the prime minister who just resigned, Karami, said that he's not resigning out of pressure. He said it's not the pressure, that's what he said.
But you have to look at these pictures here and wonder how much this pressure, not just the U.S. pressure, but this people's pressure, had to do with this resignation. But definitely it's a huge day for Lebanon. Now of course it's a big win for the opposition. Those who are pro-Syria must be now rethinking their strategy, they're probably thinking about what the next step is going to be.
KAGAN: What is the next step? What happens?
NASR: Well, the good news about Lebanon is that it's an established country. It has an army, it has a police force, it has an infrastructure, so the country is not going to be thrown into chaos at this point.
With all that said, there is the potential of this country, you know, going through some kind of turmoil, you know, car bombs, terrorist acts. That's always a possibility in the Middle East.
But what's going to happen right now is that the opposition is going to have to step in and build a government and take control. I think what they did in the last week or so, they built a very strong opposition. They brought people over from Druids (ph) to Sunni to Shiite and Christians together. So the next step is to put a government in place and take the country out of this situation, this sort of chaos.
KAGAN: Octavia Nasr, thank you so much. We'll hear much more from you and also from Beirut just ahead. '
Once again, the current prime minister of Lebanon, Omar Karami, stepping down in light of recent developments.
SANCHEZ: We're seeing the pictures there in Lebanon, but one wonders what the reaction's going to be in Damascus, in Washington, certainly the reaction in the Middle East as well, where this has an affect.
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