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CNN Live Today

Iran's Nuclear Plans; Homeless Beatings; Renovating Your Home Tips

Aired January 13, 2006 - 10:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Earlier we brought you a story of a young lady who grew up without the benefit of a mom and dad. She did it on her own. There's a Web site you can go to, if you know someone in a similar circumstance, that can help. It's called studentsrisingabove.org. We wanted to give you that again so you'd have it.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: All right.

Daryn, sorry, we kind of went into your time with that, but we figured it was a good cause.

Daryn, good to see you. Happy Friday to you.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: To you too. You guys have a lovely weekend in New York City.

MILES O'BRIEN: We will.

KAGAN: All right. We'll go ahead and get started here. And we'll do that by looking at the White House. Germany's new chancellor visiting the U.S. for the first time since taking office. We saw these pictures just a few minutes ago. She's at the White House right now for a meeting with President Bush. They're talking about Iraq. Another issue that's heating up this morning, Iran's nuclear ambitions. We'll have extensive coverage on CNN LIVE TODAY.

First, though, a check of what else is happening with other stories happening "Now in the News."

U.S. military officials in Iraq say it appears hostile fire is to blame for the crash of a helicopter near Mosul but the military can't yet confirm the incident. Wire service reports say the chopper came down a few hours ago. Witnesses told Reuters they saw gunmen fire on the helicopter. The Associated Press reports that both pilots were seriously injured and evacuated. We'll follow the story and we will bring you the latest.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon remains in critical and stable condition. That report coming in just in the last hour from a Jerusalem hospital. No further update is expected until after the Jewish Sabbath ends as sundown tomorrow. One of Mr. Sharon's doctor says any recovery from the cerebral hemorrhage could take months.

Firefighters in New Orleans have been battling this fire through the night. It's a massive pile -- well, basically of junk. It's debris and wreckage left from Hurricane Katrina. That means in this big pile there's stuff like stoves and refrigerators and hot water heaters. As you can see, a helicopter being used to aid in the firefighting efforts in the lower ninth ward.

In Maryland, lawmakers there have approved a bill that would force Wal-Mart to pay more on employee healthcare or be hit with higher state taxes. Yesterday's vote overrode Governor Robert Ehrlich's veto. Supporters of the bill suggested that Wal-Mart was dumping employees into the state's Medicaid system. Opponents say the new law will hurt business.

It is Friday. Friday the 13th, in fact. Good morning, everyone. I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN Center in Atlanta.

We're going to start this hour in Iran, which is issuing new threats today over its nuclear program, further stoking international anger and concern. Tehran says if the U.N. Security Council heeds to calls to intervene, it will abruptly end some of the cooperation with inspectors. That means it could pursue some of its nuclear ambitions in secrecy, a development that many world leaders see as potentially dangerous. Our chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, has spoken to Iranian officials in Tehran and filed this report.

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CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): They reiterate that they are going to restart what they call nuclear research and that they are not going to gauge in any large scale or commercial style enrichment programs. They say research is their right under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty that right, they say, is nonnegotiable.

The foreign minister has also said, though, that if Iran is referred to the United Nations Security Council, as the west is saying that it will do, then Iran has a law which would obligate it to end cooperation with the European countries. For instance, things that could potentially entail snap inspections and the like. Iran, however, says that it will continue its relationship with the IAEA. That no law here requires it to pull out its relationship with that U.N. nuclear watchdog.

Yesterday when we sat down for an exclusive interview of the head of Iran's nuclear file, the head of the Iranian national security council, he told us again that they only wanted to do nuclear research, that they were not engaged in enrichment, and that they would not be diverting any nuclear material to any kind of weapons program.

ALI LARIJANI, IRANIAN NUCLEAR NEGOTIATOR, (through translator): If anyone wants to go towards making weapons, they're not going to go about it this way. Because under the supervision and cameras of the IAEA, no one is going to produce weapons. We have already declared that our intention is to do nuclear research. It has nothing to do with enrichment. You know the issue of enrichment is for the production of nuclear fuel. Research is a different issue. Based on Article 3 of the IAEA charter and Article 4 of the NPT, all countries can conduct nuclear research and, indeed, other countries must help them with this research.

AMANPOUR: Now that is the crux of Iran's position. It says that all countries under these international treaties have the right to this kind of research, for peaceful nuclear processes which he says Iran does intend to do, pursue a peaceful nuclear program. So again they're saying their right to nuclear research is nonnegotiable they are not going to step back on that. That they stay that they hope that they can continue talks and negotiations in a way to resolve this issue, as he said to us yesterday, in a win-win situation for both sides.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Christiane Amanpour reporting to us from Iran.

Now that is also the leading topic this hour at the White House. That's where President Bush is meeting with Germany's new leader. Chancellor Angela Merkel says that Iran's latest nuclear activities have, in her words, crossed the red line. Our Elaine Quijano is at the White House to tell us all about it.

Elaine, hello.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.

That's right. And the issue of Iran sure to be topic one, as you mentioned, as President Bush sits down this morning with Germany's new chancellor, Angela Merkel. She is that country's first female chancellor and also the first German chancellor who grew up in what was communist East Germany.

Now, their meeting comes at a time when Britain, France, and Germany, the so-called EU three countries, say their talks with Iran over its nuclear ambitions have reached a dead end. They recommend Iran be referred to the U.N. Security Council. And yesterday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and this morning the White House reiterating that it strongly supports the EU Three.

Of course, Iran has insists that it is conducting research only for peaceful purposes. Nevertheless, European leaders clearly banding together, including Germany, along side the United States to send Iran a message, that its behavior is not acceptable.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Elaine Quijano, our White House correspondent at the White House this morning. Thank you, Elaine.

And you can stay with CNN for the latest developments in this very important story. We'll have live coverage of next hour's joint Bush-Merkel news conference now scheduled for 11:25 Eastern, 8:25 Pacific.

Live on Capitol Hill at this hour, the Senate Judiciary Committee hears from its final witnesses on Supreme Court Nominee Samuel Alito. The federal judge finished his own testimony yesterday after facing about 700 questions over a total of 18 hours. A committee vote was scheduled for Tuesday. Democrats, though, talking about a possible delay. Barring any new developments, Alito appears poised for confirmation.

so from those fireworks on Capitol Hill to the fire danger on the southern plains. Grass fires again flaring up in Oklahoma today. High winds have pushed the flames across part of the state destroyed at least 20 homes and forcing evacuation as well. Just yesterday about a dozen fires swept across nearly 20,000 acres. There have been no injuries reported.

Well, they have weather on their mind there in the plains, as well as across the country. Chad Myers is here with us to talk about that.

Hi, Chad.

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KAGAN: OK, remember this, the latest weather news, including the forecast for your own particular city, is just a mere mouse click away. Visit our continually updated Web site at cnn.com/weather.

Caught on tape, a police officer in the cross-hairs. Take a look. The story behind the shooting after cop and the latest on her condition just ahead.

Also, the homeless under attack in one south Florida city. A string of incidents, one of them deadly, in just a matter of hours.

Plus, hear which cities are the meanest according to an advocacy group for the homeless.

And the family's car stolen with a toddler in his car seat. Why a cell phone company let valuable time slip away without helping police.

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KAGAN: Just in case you think you're having a bad day at work. Check this out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been shot!

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KAGAN: That's video of two Cincinnati police officers making a routine traffic stop. They suddenly found themselves in a furious gun battle. The gunman's bullet grazed an officers cheek and went through the front of her hat. The suspect was identified as 18-year-old Dante Person (ph). One of the officers shot him in the leg but he managed to flee anyway to a nearby house. That's where he was arrested. The chief of police says Person had a long juvenile record.

In Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, police are seeking the public's help in identifying the attacker of several homeless men in the downtown area. One incident was recorded by this security camera at Florida Atlanta University. One of the three victims who was killed -- one was killed and two were seriously hurt. Our John Zarrella joins us live now. He's in Miami with the latest.

John, hello.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.

Well, I don't know how you explain this one. It's just unfathomable what happened here. But police are looking for up to four young men in these three beating attacks on homeless people in the Ft. Lauderdale area. Now all three beatings took place very close to one another.

This beating recorded at a university campus, Florida Atlantic University. That man survived the attack. The second beating took place not long after at a church. That man outside of a church. That man also survived.

The third beating attack against 45-year-old Norris Gaynor took place on a park bench not far from where these other two attacks took place. That man, unfortunately, passed away from the extent of his injuries. Police are saying that they really want these guys because these crimes are just unimaginable.

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DET. KATHERINE COLLINS, FT. LAUDERDALE POLICE DEPT.: It's a terrible crime. It should -- it needs to -- we need to find these people. They need to be held responsible for their actions. And with the community's help, we believe we can find these people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZARRELLA: Now they're already getting, police are, some community help. Many advocates for the homeless were out last night. These crimes took place in the early morning hours Thursday night. They were out last night urging the homeless to seek shelter, get indoors. And police in Ft. Lauderdale were handing out flyers also encouraging them to find shelter and also another flyer that had pictures of the two individuals. Those pictures taken from that surveillance video. So a man hunt underway in Ft. Lauderdale today for at least two, possibly four young men who have terrorized and brutalized three homeless people in Ft. Lauderdale.

Daryn.

KAGAN: John Zarrella, live from South Florida, thank you.

And there's this for you. If you're homeless, you might want to avoid the mean streets of Sarasota, Florida. Not that far away. On the other coast. The two homeless advocate groups list the 20 worse cities for homeless treatment. Sarasota banned sleeping outside overnight without permission on public or private property.

The rest of the five top cities meanest to the homeless are Lawrence, Kansas, Little Rock, Arkansas, Atlanta and Las Vegas. Rounding out the top 10, Dallas, Houston, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Santa Monica and Flagstaff, Arizona. According to the reports, homelessness is up across the country. An estimated 3.5 million are homeless at one time or another.

Well, never mind those statistics says the mayor of Los Angeles. Major Antonio Villaraigosa calls his city the country's homeless capital. A report by the L.A. Homeless Services Authority estimates that more than 82,000 people were homeless in Los Angeles County on any given night last year.

A crackdown on crime is yielding results in major city across the country. That's what federal officials are saying at least. We are told that gun related homicide in 15 high crime cities have dropped sharply in the last two years. Officials are crediting a program designed to get what they call the worst of the worst off the street. The city's showing the best record of improvement from the previous year include Greensboro, North Carolina, where homicides dropped 77 percent. Philadelphia had a 75 percent decline in homicides, followed by Chattanooga, Tennessee, Pittsburgh, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Tampa, Florida.

A man comes into a police station wanting to know why his face was on television. And now he faces murder charges. Police had leased videotape showing Michael Hamelin (ph) using a stolen credit card. That card belonged to murdered reporter David Rosenbaum. Police say Hamelin confessed to the killing. Rosenbaum was beaten near his Washington home last week. There is a memorial service on Capitol Hill this morning for "The New York Times" reporter.

And this just in to CNN. We have more information on the U.S. military. Officials in Iraq saying they have more information about this helicopter crash. Now they're saying there were two pilots who indeed were aboard that crash and the military now confirming that both of those pilots have been killed. Witnesses had told Reuters that they saw a gunman fire on the helicopters. So it's unclear at this point if this crash near Mosul and the death of these two pilots was a result of the crash or if the men were fired upon after the crash as well. We'll continue to follow the story and bring you the latest. But once again, two American pilots dead after the crash of a military helicopter near Mosul in Iraq.

Well, it wasn't a gun that a Minnesota man is accused of using to assault a police officer, a bailiff and a prosecutor. Ahead on CNN LIVE TODAY, what was on this man's hands that allegedly made those three public officers sick?

Plus, is your home in need of a makeover? Gerri Willis is here to do that for us.

Hey, Ger.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Daryn, good to see you. Hey, if you tried to renovate your house last year and couldn't even get a contractor on the phone, this could be your year. We've got renovation tips up next.

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KAGAN: The markets have been open about 53 minutes. Let's go and check in and see how Wall Street's doing. Well, kind of a blah Friday. You can see the Dow is down just over five points. Going between five and six. The Nasdaq also in negative territory. It is down just over two points.

Well, since you go ahead and welcome us into your home, let's go ahead and take a look around. The kitchen there, is it looking a little dated. Maybe you've been thinking about redoing that bathroom. It turns out it's a great time for home remodeling. But before you hire the person who's going to do that, you have to check out today's "Top Five Tips." Our Personal Finance Editor Gerri Willis is here with that.

Hi, Gerri.

WILLIS: Hey, Daryn. Good to see you.

You know, the thing about this year, is that there has been a ton of spending in the last couple of years. 2005, check it out, the numbers here, $150 billion spent by homeowners last year. It was actually down from the previous year. Interest rates are rising. Fewer homeowners may actually be spending money on renovation.

So what does that mean for you? It's a great year to do it because finally, finally, finally, contractors will be picking up their phone. They're going to realize that they're going to have to compete for your business. So it's a good time to actually be thinking about making renovations.

KAGAN: When you think what you're going to do, are you trying to figure out, well, if I sell my house, this is what's going to have the most value?

WILLIS: I think it's important to know what the return is. But if you only listen to those numbers, the only things you'd ever renovate are your kitchen and your bath because that's where the highest return comes from. You've also got to consider what your family needs. It's important to know if you need extra space for that growing family to know how to do that and to get the right contractor in to take care of that.

KAGAN: And you want to look around your own neighborhood, don't you?

WILLIS: Well, you know, it's important to know what amenities homes in your neighborhood have. If everybody has a deck and you don't have a deck, it's time to get a deck. The rule of thumb here is, don't push your home's value past 25 percent of its current home price. Just a rule of thumb. But, keep in mind here, that you want to keep up with the trends. Not the fads, but the trends. So remember harvest gold appliances and trash compactors?

KAGAN: Love those.

WILLIS: Those are out. You've got to find something new. You've got to find a trend that works for the long haul and not something that's just popular right now. So that when you're selling that house five years from now, everybody thinks, that's so 2005.

KAGAN: Yes. Trash compactors are out?

WILLIS: Yes.

KAGAN: Who knew. I guess you did.

You're hiring a contractor. There's a checklist you should go down.

WILLIS: Yes, you really want to interview as many people as you can. And here's the key, don't just interview the people that the contractor has done work for. Go see the work. Go see the work done by people like the carpenters, the subcontractors, the plumbers who are doing work for that general contractor. It's important to know how well they do their work as well because, let's face it, most general contractors come with a whole list of sub-specialists that they're going to use on your house. So interview them, interview their clients and make sure you understand exactly what kind of job they can do.

KAGAN: And, Gerri, finally, what are some good places you can go to find out what's the newest and the best?

WILLIS: Well, the newest and the best, you definitely want to go to the National Association of Home Builders Web site. They have a great Web site that will help you hook into people who know the latest and greatest ideas. One thing that's hot right now is renovations for the elderly. Let's face it, baby boomers are getting older. Many of them are going to want to make changes in their houses so they can live in it in retirement. Wider hallways are a big thing. Handrails everywhere. Go to the National Association of Home Builders. They'll give you some great ideas on how to make that happen.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Sounds fabulous. Gerri, we'll see you in "Open House."

WILLIS: That's right, "Open House," Saturday, 9:00 in the morning. Get up with us. Have a cup of coffee and listen to some great ideas on energy tax savings, renovate right and getting the best contractor.

KAGAN: We'll be doing that. Thank you.

WILLIS: Thank you. KAGAN: Here in the southeast, parts of the southeast getting pounded today with some severe weather. Chad Myers is watching the storms path in the CNN Weather Center. We'll get the very latest from him ahead.

Also ahead, five months after Hurricane Katrina, there still are not enough trailers in one Louisiana parish to aid those who are homeless. And that (ph) we're going to tell you how FEMA is responding to a new round of criticism.

And we're gearing up for the Golden Globe Awards with a look at TV's most powerful women. We're live from Wisteria Lane when CNN LIVE TODAY returns.

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