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Idaho Girl's Ordeal; Reporters Face Jail in Fight Over Sources; Mother Teresa's AIDS Hospice Lives On

Aired July 06, 2005 - 10:30   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning in central Scotland, protesters gathered again at the road leading to the G-8 Summit. Earlier, several police officers were injured and several protesters were arrested. Thousands of anarchists and anti-globalization activists have converged on the area, where the leaders of the world's richest nations are meeting.
Bright flames lit the sky in Southern California. Several fires in the region have burned more than 1,500 acres. Helicopter crews are making water drops to impede one fast-moving brush fire. 1,200 children have been evacuated from camp grounds in the face of another fire.

James Stockdale is probably best remembered on this day after his death for his failed political bid as Ross Perot's vice presidential running mate. But his military legacy may best endure. Stockdale spent seven and a half years as a North Vietnamese prisoner of war and suffered extensive torture rather than cooperate with his interrogators. The Navy fighter pilot received 26 combat decorations, including the Medal of Honor.

Get the rain gear ready for our next story, Tropical Storm Cindy. Her winds have died down since coming ashore, but heavy rains have caused some flooding in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Motorists in Alabama are being advised to drive very carefully. The storm has also knocked out power to a quarter million homes and businesses in Louisiana.

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KAGAN: We move West now. The man accused of kidnapping 8-year- old Shasta Groene and her brother could face the death penalty if convicted. And now some gruesome details are coming out about the girl's six-week ordeal. CNN's Sean Callebs is covering the story in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Sean, hello.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.

Indeed, this is information that came out in probable cause hearing before the judge and, really, it details some of the most critically important information that 8-year-old Shasta Groene provided investigators. And not surprisingly, the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office tried to have the judge in the case seal this document. The judge said it was public record and chose not to.

Some of the information in there, it puts Joseph Duncan at the crime scene at the time that the triple murders were committed here Coeur d'Alene. It goes on to say that Shasta says that she and her brother Dylan were taken from the house by Duncan. He was the only one in the house at that time. And later, they were transferred into the red jeep we've heard so much about. Later, the two children were taken to two campsites, at least two campsites, where they were molested by Duncan, according to information that Shasta gave investigators.

Now, Shasta remains in a hospital. Authorities here say that she is doing remarkably well, considering everything she has been through. And that is a sentiment echoed by the child's grandmother.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DARLENE MARIE TORRES, SHASTA'S GRANDMOTHER: I'm sure she's going to have her moments and her times, but for the most part, she just wants to be around us for the love. And we would never question her anyway, about anything. If she wants to talk about something, we would always be there for her. But mostly just to love her and show her that she can play and be a kid again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLEBS: Well, had his first appearance in court yesterday, appearing video hookup before the judge. He was wearing a brightly colored prison jumpsuit. He was also shackled at the time. He is facing two counts of first degree kidnapping with intent to commit rape. In Idaho, that is a crime that could carry the death penalty.

Meanwhile, in western Montana, about 95 miles from where we are, we know federal officials have wrapped up work on the crime scene there. That's where they said they found what they believed to be human remains. Those remains have been taken to an FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia. The Groene family says they have been told by investigators that authorities believe that 9-year-old Dylan is dead; however, they say they are holding out hope Dylan is still alive until formal identification of those remains. And Daryn, the authorities say it could be at least another 24, 48 hours before we know about the DNA information on those remains.

KAGAN: It's just so horrific what these children allegedly went through. Sean Callebs in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, thank you for that report.

To Kansas, confessed BTK Killer Dennis Rader is already facing prison for his crimes. Now, at least one family has filed a lawsuit against him. The wrongful death class action suit was filed on behalf of Marine Hedges' family. Rader confessed to killing her in 1985. The family's attorney says they aren't seeking any money, but the suit would stop Rader from profiting from his crimes. Other victims' families are considering whether to join the lawsuit as well.

Let's take a look at other stories making news coast to coast.

This may not be the best family business. Oklahoma City police have arrested a couple and their 13-year-old son in connection with a bank robbery. Witnesses say they saw the man walk into a building a few blocks from the bank he had just robbed. Police found the man in a laundromat bathroom. There's no word on how the teenager was allegedly involved.

Officials at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo say a gorilla attack was due to human error. A gorilla bit a 32-year-old intern on the back Tuesday, inflicting a minor wound. Zoo officials aren't saying just who was to blame, but they are discussing disciplinary action. The attack is the second on a Lincoln park zookeeper in less than a year.

The FAA's investigating the death of two sky divers in New Jersey. The 23-year-old woman and 33-year-old man died after colliding in midair. Their parachutes got tangled up after the jump from the plane. Each victim had logged more than a thousand jumps.

Two reporters could be ordered to jail this afternoon for refusing to divulge their sources. A judge is holding a hearing for "Time" magazine's Matthew Cooper and Judith Miller of "The New York Times." The case surrounds the outing of a CIA officer.

CNN's Bob Franken is covering today's hearing and he joins us now from Washington. Bob, good morning.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. As it has so many times in the past, the drama in Washington shifts to the U.S. District Courthouse, downtown Washington, D.C. This is going to be for a battle between the traditions of journalism and the demands of the legal system.

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BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Matt Cooper's bosses at "TIME" magazine had already turned over the documents, including his notes and e-mails, over his objections. But the prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, insists on papers filed with the court that's not enough, Cooper must also testify or face jail.

As for Judith Miller, her employer, "The New York Times," has not budged, and neither has she. And she, too, faces the prospect of incarceration after the court hearing.

Fitzgerald also opposed requests from the reporters for the judge to impose house arrest, if he does sentence them, instead of prison. All of this because somebody blew Valerie Plame's cover, which might have been illegal. Plame, we now know, was an undercover CIA operative.

She is also the wife of Joe Wilson. Wilson was the former diplomat who was charging the administration that put out misleading information about Iraq's nuclear efforts.

Columnist Robert Novak reported the information, citing administration sources. Miller did not. Cooper wrote about it in "TIME," after the Novak column appeared. "TIME," by the way, is owned by Time Warner, which also owns CNN. Fitzgerald was named a special investigator to find out who leaked the information and whether it was illegal. The records "TIME" magazine turned over show that Cooper spoke in that critical week of July 2003 to Karl Rove, now the White House Deputy Chief of Staff.

Rove's lawyer insists his client did not give out any confidential information on Valerie Plame. The attorney goes on to say he has been assured that Rove is not a suspect.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN: Whatever happens to Cooper and Miller, many in the media worry that all reporters will have as a result of this case a much more difficult time getting information from anonymous sources whose anonymity, Daryn, they might not be able to promise.

KAGAN: All right, Bob Franken in Washington D.C., thank you.

Caring for those in their hour of need. You're going to meet the sisters who work in the African AIDS hospice started by Mother Teresa. It's a story you'll see only here on CNN.

Plus, a new look is coming to a McDonald's counter near you when CNN LIVE TODAY returns.

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KAGAN: Live pictures from Gleneagles, Scotland. Just beyond those trees, a helicopter landed carrying President Bush. He is just arriving at Gleneagles on the eve of the G-8 Summit. President Bush there to meet with the leaders of seven other nations, the richest nations in the world, as well as the European Union leaders.

Let's go ahead and take a look at the G-8 agenda. The leaders will discuss the issue of global warming. The U.S. is the only G-8 country that has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol on curbing greenhouse emissions. President Bush is also calling on rich nations to reduce farm subsidies that put poorer countries at a disadvantage in world trade.

And the centerpiece issue is, of course, relieving Africa's crushing poverty. That crisis can be measured not only in debt, but in death as well. A lack of money has allowed AIDS to flourish on the continent, and nowhere is it more bleak than in Ethiopia, where 2,300 people die of the disease each week.

CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour takes you inside a hospice that was established by the late Mother Teresa to provide comfort where there often is no hope.

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CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is where poverty ends. With a tap on the head, the dying are summoned, lifted to their feet and ushered through the door. Inside, a calm, peaceful place where the sisters of the Missionaries of Charity, the order founded by the late Mother Theresa, minister to the sick.

Here, patients lie two to a bed. Most too weak to stand. Many move nothing but their eyes.

Sister Benedicta oversees the hospital here in the Ethiopian capitol Addis Ababa.

You've been here for 15 years. Did you think it would get better? Did you think that you would still keep seeing these kind of skeletal women, patients?

SISTER BENEDICTA: I have seen them when I came to Ethiopia because of the civil war and farming. But now still I see them. And they are I think more -- at a whole more because of HIV/AIDS.

AMANPOUR: Six hundred adults are here. 90 percent of them are infected with the AIDS virus. And every day brings three, four or even five deaths.

How long is she going to survive do you think?

BENEDICTA: One week, two weeks.

AMANPOUR: Most of the hospice cannot be cured. Only soothed in their final days.

BENEDICTA: They would not come to this home, not 1,000 would come to this home if they would find a better place. If they would find a place where somebody will take care of them, feed them, wash them, care for them, be with them. Often it is only just to be with the person until the end.

You and me, when we die, what do we need? We need somebody to be there.

AMANPOUR: We're standing in the women's ward, haven for the most desperately ill.

BENEDICTA: They have come when it is actually in their very, very end stage. They come if they're really cannot move anymore step on the ground. They have their children they leave on the street. They have their houses, their villages in mind. So they come really when it is in the end stage.

FRANCESCA CHURCH: I've always wanted to work with Mother Theresa and to work with the poor.

AMANPOUR: Francesca Church is 18-years old and far from her London home.

CHURCH: ...the family if you're on the television. And you sit in the comfort of your sitting room. And it's -- and there's no way in which you can actually smell the smells and really touch the people and really actually feel what it's like.

AMANPOUR: It's an intense experience for someone so young. How do you cope?

CHURCH: Faith is the only way that I can cope. And I came here and I think that's one -- that's my one strength is that I know that when these people go, that they're going to God.

That's being (INAUDIBLE) here is that you come into this room. And these people are dying. And there's nothing you can do. You can just love them and do the very best you can, so -- to make sure that their last moments that they thought that there was someone there.

AMANPOUR: Anthony Wall is a 20-year old premed student from Southern California.

ANTHONY WALL, PREMED STUDENT: A lot of these people, they're going to die. And either they die on the street or they die with somebody giving them love and care.

AMANPOUR: His own experience has not been without risk.

WALL: I was trying to flush out an IV. And I got -- blood got into my eye. For about a day, I was thinking, you know, I could get HIV. And that's obviously a danger and a risk that I came willing to take.

AMANPOUR: Luckily, Anthony's OK. He tested negative for HIV.

Here where the sick line up for what little medicine is available, where incense billows in crowded rooms, death is part of everyday life. But hope still endures.

BENEDICTA: There's even a certain serenity in them. And death is a relief or death is a release does not mean a resignation. It means there is something better than what I had here. These people teach us what is heaven, you know?

AMANPOUR: So do these people. The more than 500 children who live at the mission. They were either abandoned by their poverty stricken parents or orphaned by AIDS. Police find them on the streets and bring them here into the sister's care. About half of them are HIV positive.

But others are healthy. They look towards a bright future beyond these walls and beyond the extreme poverty of Ethiopia, hoping they may soon be adopted abroad.

Christiane Amanpour, CNN, with the Missionaries of Charity, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Ethiopia and much of Africa will very much be on the minds of the leaders of the G-8 as the G-8 Summit is about to get under way in Gleneagles, Scotland. These pictures taken just a few minutes ago while we were watching Christian's story, President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush arriving at Gleneagles. A little bit of a drizzle happening there.

Aid to Africa will be at the top of the agenda, as well as global climate issues. President Bush and Mrs. Bush arriving from Denmark. Much more ahead on the summit and President Bush. This by the way, his 59th birthday.

Also still to come on CNN LIVE TODAY, Detroit's carmakers are jumping on the discount bandwagon. What are they offering and will it hurt the company's bottom line? CNN LIVE TODAY continues in a moment.

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KAGAN: They're calling it a "McMake-over." McDonald's wants a top notch designer to come up with hip new uniforms for its employees. Fashion frontman Sean "P. Diddy" Combs and Tommy Hilfiger are said to be top choices for the job. The fast food giant says it wants uniforms that workers will want to wear outside the restaurant. McDonald's has had some success with menu make-overs in the past. We'll see how they do when they comes to fashion.

It's one of the most dangerous drugs in America and people are able to make it in their own homes. We'll show you the war that law enforcement officials are waging against crystal meth.

And he's out in front of the Tour de France, but can Lance keep ahead of the crowd? The second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY begins after this break.

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VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN.COM CORRESPONDENT: Get your resume ready. If you're searching for a job this summer, CNN.com has a few helpful tips. It's not a bad time to be looking for a job. According to careerbuilder.com, expectations for hiring in the coming months are encouraging. The U.S. has added nearly one million jobs so far this year and 75 percent of hiring managers say their organizations have increased their staff over the last six months to expand operations, support new launches, improve customer service and drive more revenue.

So where should you be looking to apply? Typically, summertime opportunities point in the direction of retail, hospitality, food service, landscaping or construction. Temp jobs are another way to go as employers manage gaps from vacationing employees.

Is the U.S. workforce happy? A Career Builder survey found one in five say they are not satisfied with their current positions and are concerned about compensation, work load, and the ability to balance work and personal life.

For more tips on career building, check the archives at CNN.com/us. There you will find tips on finding your dream job, earning what you're worth and rules for summer work wear.

Happy hunting from the dot-com news desk. I'm Veronica De La Cruz.

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