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CNN Live Today

Surveying Tornado Damage; Bush in Asia; Forbidden Love?

Aired November 16, 2005 - 10:59   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: A former curator at the J. Paul Getty Museum appeared in a Rome court today on charges of receiving stolen artifacts. Marion True denies the charges which follow a decade-long investigation. The Getty Museum in Los Angeles returned three disputed works to Italy just last week, but Italian officials want another 39 disputed treasures acquired True returned. Prosecutors believe the artifacts were illegally excavated or stolen and later required by the Getty.
The sad aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The official body search in New Orleans ended weeks ago. So why now are residents coming home to still find the bodies of loved ones?

Plus, Tibetan monks have practiced it for centuries. Now a new study out says meditation can make you brainier. We'll tell you how.

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

A report is raising concerns about the cargo that travels on many passenger planes. The Government Accountability Office says only a small percentage of cargo is inspected. The report calls on the Transportation Security Administration to develop a better screening system.

President Bush challenges China to expand freedom and praises Taiwan as a democratic Chinese society. Mr. Bush made the remarks during a speech in Japan, where he met with his closest Asian ally, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. The president has now arrived in South Korea for Asian-Pacific Economic Summit.

We're getting reports of the first human cases of bird flu in China. The state-run news agency says China health ministry is reporting three human cases, but the World Health Organization has confirmed only two cases. One of them was a female poultry worker who died from the lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu.

The woman accused of being the "Cell Phone Bandit" was in court this morning. A judge ordered Candice Rose Martinez held without bond until her next court appearance scheduled for January 4. According to an affidavit, Martinez has admitted to robbing four banks in suburban Washington. Surveillance photos show a female robber casually chatting on a cell phone.

Good morning again and welcome to CNN LIVE TODAY.

It is 10:00 a.m. in Nashville, Tennessee; 7:00 p.m. in Baghdad; and it's already 1:00 a.m. tomorrow in Kyoto, Japan.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Fredricka Whitfield, in for Daryn Kagan this morning.

We begin with the aftermath of a ferocious storm system. It spawned as many as 35 tornadoes in five states. At least two deaths are blamed on the storms. The system that produced the severe weather is moving over the East Coast now this morning.

And residents from the Deep South to the Midwest are picking up the pieces after cleaning up the damage. We'll show you some of the destruction in a moment.

And meteorologist Bonnie Schneider is tracking where the storms hit and what's in the forecast for today.

Let's check in right now with Bonnie.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: Well, at one point the line of severe storms stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes. Tennessee was one of the states hit hard by the storms, as you saw in Bonnie's report.

CNN's Rick Sanchez has been out surveying the damage in Clarksville, Tennessee, and he filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You can hear them in the background. This is what's left for so many people here in Tennessee who have lost their homes, like the family who was living in this home.

This is a mobile home, if you can believe it, or what's left of it. It's just a pile of debris at this point, but they're going through it, trying to see if they can recover what's left of their belongings at this point.

What's interesting about this story is that this mobile home was actually at one point all the way up here on this foundation. I'll show you exactly where it is.

There's the foundation for the home. That's where it ended up. And the reason for that is that there are so many hills in this part of Tennessee that many of the cars, many of the trucks, and even in one case a school bus that was hit by the tornado, started rolling down the hill.

In this particular case, though, it's an even more amazing story, because as this trailer home started rolling down the hill, there was somebody inside of it, a 15-year-old girl who was all alone at the time. Her parents were trying to get home from work.

It was about 5:30. She found herself at the bottom of the hill inside that debris. And somehow, miraculously, she was able to get herself out, went to a neighbor's house and then called her parents.

It's an amazing story. There are many like hers out here in this area around Tennessee and Kentucky. And officials are now getting into the area, and they're going to spend most of the day trying to assist these people to get their lives back together again.

The other thing that they're doing is, they're trying to make sure nobody else gets hurt. Oftentimes in emergencies like this, most of the injuries and some of the fatalities take place after the storm goes by when people come out and try and fix things.

For example, what you see here are power lines. What you see here is a device that's used to mark it so that people know it's there, especially if they are live wires.

From what we understand, these aren't live anymore. But this is the kind of situation that officials are concerned about. They say there's a lot of this here, a lot of power lines down, a lot of trees down, and it could cause problems throughout the day in parts of Kentucky and Tennessee.

Rick Sanchez. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And we'll have more coverage of this severe weather system throughout the day.

Meantime, President Bush is in South Korea this morning. He'll hold talks with the country's president in a few hours ahead of the trade summit. Earlier in Japan, Mr. Bush pressed China on democracy.

Senior Asia Correspondent Mike Chinoy reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE CHINOY, CNN SR. ASIA CORRESPONDENT: Before heading off to South Korea and the APEC Summit, President Bush delivered a major address in Kyoto, Japan. It's theme, the need to expand freedom around the world, and especially in this part of the world. The target of the speech, China, and its communist rulers.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As China reforms its economy, its leaders are finding that once the door to freedom is opened even a crack, it cannot be closed. As the people of China grow in prosperity, their demands for political freedom will grow as well.

CHINOY: The president held out Japan and China's arch-rival, Taiwan, as models of freedom and democracy, which he urged Beijing to follow. That prompted a sharp reaction from the Chinese foreign minister, who accused the president of interfering in China's internal affairs with the reference to Taiwan. China, of course, claims Taiwan as one of its own provinces.

On Thursday, President Bush will be holding a meeting with South Korea's president, Ro Roh Moo-hyun. High on the agenda there, the North Korean nuclear crisis and the state of the U.S.-South Korean alliance.

Then it will be down to business at the APEC summit, 21 leaders of nations and economies on both sides of the Pacific. The discussion focusing on trade issues, security and terrorism, and on growing concerns about the possibility of an avian flu pandemic.

BUSH: We now face a new and potentially more deadly threat from avian flu, which has infected bird populations across Asia and elsewhere. I'm glad to see that governments around the region are already taking steps to prevent avian flu from becoming a pandemic.

CHINOY: To underscore the seriousness of this threat, China announced its first three human threats of bird flu. And Beijing announced plans to vaccinate the country's entire stock of poultry against the disease. That's more than five billion chickens, ducks and geese.

Mike Chinoy, CNN, Busan, South Korea.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: In today's "Security Watch," a new report from the Government Accountability Office warns that air cargo is still vulnerable to terrorist attacks because most airplane freight is not screened. The GAO says the Transportation Security Administration needs to improve air cargo security.

The TSA is defending its record. It says it has established a strong layered system of security, but it recognizes the need to do more.

And three people are accused of plotting to pass sensitive naval information to China. The information relates to efforts to make U.S. warships quieter. The federal indictment claims a 65-year-old engineer was a California defense contractor, as well as his wife and his brother. All three are charged with acting as unregistered foreign agents, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

CNN "Security Watch" keeps you up to date on safety. Stay tuned day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

In other news this morning, we're learning more about a double killing in Pennsylvania and the relationship between two teenagers at the center of the case.

CNN's Allan Chernoff has details now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Accused killer David Ludwig, handcuffed and shackled, returning to eastern Pennsylvania. Minutes later he arrived at Lancaster County Court.

(on camera): Inside, an 18-year-old who looked like an average kid in an orange-and-white jumpsuit politely answered the judge yes, sir, when told the arraignment was not the determination of guilt. Then the charges. Two counts of homicide, one count of kidnapping, and one count of reckless endangerment.

(voice-over): Judge Dan Garrett sent Ludwig to prison to await a pretrial hearing next week.

DONALD TATARO, LANCASTER CO. PA. D.A.: The district justice established no bail would be set, because this is a case that will potentially call for a maximum sentence of life in prison or death.

SGT. DAVID BURSTIN, INDIANA STATE POLICE: And the limited exposure that I had of David Ludwig, he just seemed very cool, matter of fact, and does not seem to be distressed about anything that has happened thus far.

CHERNOFF: This is not the David Ludwig friends and neighbors thought they knew.

Twenty-one-year-old Tiffany Bomberger said she'd been friends with David for eight years. They met at activities arranged by the local Christian Home School Association.

TIFFANY BOMBERGER, LUDWIG'S FRIEND: I was floored. I didn't -- I didn't know he could do something like that, because he's a great guy.

CHERNOFF: Ludwig, friends and neighbors say, also met Kara Borden through the home-schooling group.

BOMBERGER: We had a coed basketball team that they were both on and soccer team that they were both on. And I knew they were friends. I knew they hung out a lot.

CHERNOFF: And Tiffany says it was clear a relationship had developed.

Friends of both families say the parents, particularly Kara's, did not approve.

It is not clear just how much the parents knew. In an affidavit, detectives report a close friend of Ludwig's described it as a secret, intimate relationship of a sexual nature, saying they often communicated flirtatious messages and exchanged inappropriate images of one another via various electronic media, to include their computer systems and cell phones.

On his personal Web page, Ludwig has no reference to his 14-year- old girlfriend. He cites his areas of expertise: computers, volleyball, getting in trouble. And there is a link to pictures of Ludwig wielding a sword. Kara Borden, on her Web site, cites her interests is Jesus, church, my youth group.

CHIEF RICHARD GARPIOLI, WARWICK TOWNSHIP POLICE: She is a victim right now, and she will stay a victim, unless I hear otherwise.

CHERNOFF: Kara Borden returned separately to Pennsylvania. Police say tonight she is with family.

Allan Chernoff, CNN, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And this just in. According to The Associated Press, the Senate Banking Committee has approved of that man right then -- there, Ben Bernanke, as the replacement of Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve. And now the nomination goes on to the full Senate for final approval.

Meantime, new allegations of abuse in Iraq, but these latest claims do not involve U.S. troops. We'll have details straight ahead.

Plus, bird flu fears. Is stocking up on Tamiflu a good idea? We'll hear from an expert.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. More now on the story just breaking now. Ben Bernanke has now been nominated by the Senate Banking Committee as the next Federal Reserve chairman, taking the place of Alan Greenspan. That vote then, of course, goes on to the full Senate.

Kathleen Hays is in New York and Wall Street.

Give us an idea, Kathleen, how the expectation was rather high that there would be approval at least from the committee and possibly the full Senate when it comes to that. What are the rumblings on Wall Street?

KATHLEEN HAYS, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Fred.

Ben Bernanke is considered a top choice by most people on Wall Street. Remember, he already served as a Federal Reserve governor. He was considered one of the people who really was a trend-maker, somebody who was really helping to guide the latest thinking at the Fed with Alan Greenspan's approval, of course.

Then he went to the Council of Economic Advisers. This was viewed as President Bush's time to let Ben Bernanke show that he could work with the administration, that he could get some political experience, he could get experience outside the Fed, so if he passed Bush's muster, they could send him back to the Federal Reserve to replace Alan Greenspan, who is stepping down January 31.

Again, a well-respected academic, a man who is considered very bright and very capable. Wall Street definitely approves.

No reaction in the market yet. Stocks pretty flat. And that's in spite of news showing that inflation remains tame.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

HAYS: That's the latest from Wall Street, Fred. I believe I'm sending it back to you now. WHITFIELD: All right. Indeed. Thanks so much, Kathleen.

All right. Want to show you some new videotape. A mother who has been getting the attention of the nation, as well as the attention of President Bush because of her protests against the Iraq war, you're looking at pictures of her right now of her arriving in court.

Why in court? Because she's facing charges of protesting outside the White House without a permit.

She has gotten a lot of attention because she has been leading this protest against the war against President Bush, right now outside the federal court because her 24-year-old son, Casey, was killed in Iraq. And now she is going to court, federal court there, facing the charges of protesting outside the White House without a permit.

However, in addition to facing up to these charges in court, she says she still has plans to lead her protest outside the Crawford ranch next week, during Thanksgiving week, in front of the -- what's called the western White House. That, again, was Cindy Sheehan.

We're going to take a short break and we'll be back with more of CNN LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Come December 1, FEMA will no longer pay hotel bills for most hurricane evacuees. Fifty-three thousand people still don't have permanent-type housing. FEMA hopes the deadline spurs them to rent a mobile home, travel trailer, or an apartment.

Evacuees in Louisiana and Mississippi have a little bit longer to find a place. That's because those states see a housing shortage. The government has spent more than $250 million on hotels.

Louisiana ended its official search for Katrina's dead some six weeks ago. Since then, many residents have returned to devastated homes, only to find the bodies of loved ones.

More than 100 corpses have been discovered since early October. And apparently a lot of people are still looking for folks who are unaccounted for.

CNN Correspondent Rusty Dornin is in New Orleans.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Susie Eaton worried her mother, Viola, might have been stuck inside her house in the Ninth Ward when Hurricane Katrina hit. Eaton, who lives in Florida, received a death certificate for the wrong person. Upset, she tried, but couldn't get answers from officials in New Orleans.

She ended up calling CNN and told us about her worst fears.

SUSIE EATON, MOTHER MISSING: My feelings are that my mother may be still in the house and she was not able to get out in time before the -- before the levee broke.

DORNIN: We volunteered to go to her mother's house to see what we could find.

(on camera): This is what's left of the block where Susie Eaton's mother lived. We have no idea exactly where the house was. But we did have the address. And we found her mailbox. When we called Eaton, she said she was thankful to know that much, but still wonders what happened to her mother.

(voice-over): Two blocks from where Viola Eaton's house once stood, cadaver dogs continue to search underneath the piles of rubble.

The official search-and-rescue effort was called off October 3, but there was such a backlash, crews resumed searching demolished neighborhoods. They have cleared areas zip code by zip code.

There was no joy for Paul Murphy in this homecoming. When he walked into his house in New Orleans' Ninth Ward last month for the first time since Katrina, it was shock and anger.

PAUL MURPHY, FOUND GRANDMOTHER'S BODY: So, I'm thinking that, OK, I was going to come and salvage a few pictures or something. And I walk in here. I found my grandma on the floor dead.

DORNIN: Since November 1, 10 bodies have been found in the ruins of the Ninth Ward. The last area, known as the Lower Ninth, will open to residents December 1. Coroner Frank Minyard worries about what people will find.

(on camera): You're fully expecting that more bodies will come in once they open the Ninth Ward?

FRANK MINYARD, ORLEANS PARISH CORONER: Yes. And I think it's -- it's going to come in for a good while. There's so much rubbish around that they might find people in the rubbish.

DORNIN (voice-over): They already have. And there are still many bodies left unidentified and unclaimed.

MINYARD: We have 150 autopsies left to do, all on unidentified people. Hopefully, that -- that will help us identify that person, if we can find a pacemaker or an artificial hip or something. Then we're into DNA.

DORNIN: Susan Eaton asked if she could send a DNA sample and was told DNA samples were not being accepted. Nearly 80 days after Katrina, not one DNA test has been done.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Rusty Dornin in New Orleans there.

Authorities are searching St. Bernard Parish for bodies as well. Twenty-five to 30 people are said to be unaccounted for in that deluged suburban parish. The fight against bird flu. People around the world are stocking up on the drug Tamiflu. But is that a mistake? We'll find out. What an expert has to say about that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: China is reporting its first human case of bird flu. The state-run news agency says China's health ministry cites three cases of avian flu in two provinces. But the World Health Organization says it has only been able to confirm two cases. One was a female poultry worker who died, the other a 9-year-old boy who survived.

The antiviral drug Tamiflu is an important weapon in the fight against a possible human pandemic of bird flu. On CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING," Soledad O'Brien talked with infectious disease specialist Dr. Anne Moscona about how the drug would be used.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: What to do if, in fact, as predicted, bird flu spreads not only across China, but across the world? Dr. Anne Moscona is an infectious disease specialist, and she joins us this morning with more on the drug Tamiflu.

How effective has Tamiflu been shown in humans to fight bird flu?

DR. ANNE MOSCONA, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST: Well, we know most about Tamiflu in terms of its abilities to prevent and to cure regular seasonal flu. We are just beginning to learn about how it works against bird flu, because there have been so few human cases and we haven't had a chance to really investigate what treatment does, what doses are really most effective, and how to best to go about using Tamiflu in the cases of bird flu.

We do have reason to believe that it will be effective. However, that it may need to be used at higher doses and for longer periods of time than we use it for seasonal flu.

O'BRIEN: One thing we know for certain is that there is not enough Tamiflu to go around if there should be some kind of outbreak among humans of bird flu.

MOSCONA: That's absolutely true, and that's one of the reasons why our government and other governments are working very hard to increase the supply of influenza drugs.

O'BRIEN: Why shouldn't people run out and stock up as much Tamiflu as they possibly can?

MOSCONA: Well, it's understandable that people would really want to do that, but there are a few problems with doing that.

First of all, people would need to recognize when what they have is influenza and when it's something else, and only take Tamiflu in a case of influenza. People would need to know the correct dose, the correct timing, because if people start to use this drug prematurely, too early, inappropriately, at the wrong dose or share it with family members, we could get into a situation where we're encouraging the influenza virus to become resistant to Tamiflu.

O'BRIEN: But isn't there an argument that says, well, you know, a little bit of Tamiflu is better than none at all?

MOSCONA: Actually, a little bit could be a lot worse than none at all, because what we could do is encourage that influenza to learn how to resist this drug. And then we'll be left with absolutely no weapons against it.

O'BRIEN: Suppose there is an outbreak. How would you advise that it be handled? And how would they mete out the Tamiflu?

MOSCONA: These are plans that are being worked on really urgently now by our government and other governments. The best hope that we have and the most effective use of Tamiflu would be to identify outbreaks and quickly surround those outbreaks with rings of quarantine, with rings of Tamiflu, to prevent the outbreak from spreading and turning into a pandemic. So that would be the most effective use of Tamiflu. And we need to mobilize our Tamiflu supply so that we could do that.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: You've got some advice for what people can do. And I want to kind of run through some of your tips. The first thing you say is, it's back to hygiene. Use good hygiene always. Do you really thinking that watching your hands and, you know, and just having general good hygiene is going to help prevent bird flu?

MOSCONA: Absolutely. Hand washing is the number one most important way to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses. The things that people know, for example, staying out of crowded places, staying away from sneezing, sneezing into your arm. But, honestly, hand washing is number one.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: That's interesting. You're right, people sort of forget that one.

MOSCONA: Yes.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: But then your other advice is, have a plan if there's a crisis. Have a crisis plan. Well, OK, what's my crisis plan? What should it be?

MOSCONA: Well, you need to know who you're going to contact if you feel that you have symptoms. If you want to know whether bird flu is out there, if you want to know what to do, you have to have a plan for yourself and your family. Who are you going to contact? Where are you going to get medical advice? Identify a source. And then be prepared to go to that source when you have your questions.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: You give the advice, don't smoke. Why not?

MOSCONA: Well, this is very important. Every respiratory infection is worse in somebody who smokes or in somebody who's exposed to second-hand smoke. Second-hand smoke or smoking just makes you more vulnerable to worse disease in your lungs. So if you're worried about bird flu, this would be a great time to either stop smoking or make sure that you're not exposed and your loved ones are not exposed to second-hand smoke.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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