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CNN Live Saturday

Deadly Mudslide In The Philippines; Winter's Wrath In Northeast; White House Moves On; Love Across Borders; New Saddam Tapes

Aired February 18, 2006 - 18:00   ET

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

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Today Hamas took control of the Palestinian parliament. Tomorrow, Israel plans to consider sanctions against the Palestinians. Israeli officials are looking at barring Palestinian workers, sealing off Gaza again, and stopping any Gaza development projects Israel is working on.
And will you be the next Powerball multimillionaire. Well, probably not, but a lot of people are plunking down their dollars in high hopes. The jack pot is a record $365 million. The drawing is tonight at 11:00 Eastern.

Those are the headlines. And this is our top story.

In the Philippines, rescue teams have found more than 90 survivors, but few signs of hope for the hundreds still missing. Now practically every structure in a remote village on the island of Leyte was destroyed by a mudslide. The disaster followed two straight weeks of rain and more storms are in the forecast.

Now only three of the 300 houses are not covered in mud. In some areas, though, the mud is up to 50 feet deep. Most of the 1,800 people in the village are feared dead. The Red Cross reports that just 96 survivors have been accounted for. The official death toll now stands at 56. But that number is expected to rise much, much higher. CNN's Hugh Riminton has more from the scene of this disaster.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HUGH RIMINTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): When a village is annihilated, take pity on the survivors. Asesa Mandara (ph) was out of town when the landslide hit. She's just found her sister, dead. Her parents, four nieces and nephews and her own six-year-old daughter are lost in the mud.

ASESA MANDARA, (through translator): I'm confused. I'm lost. I don't know what to do. I lost my family.

RIMINTON: Through a long and bitter day, rescue efforts continue, despite pauses for more downpours and ominous rumblings from the earth. But today, no one came out alive.

So few of those who were in the village at the time of the landslide have yet been found. With every new body that is fallen (ph) here to this permeative opening (ph) and morgue, family members crowd in in the hope that their worst fears will not be real. But sometimes they are. Juan Garcia (ph) was away from home working. He has just identified his wife and three-year-old daughter. His three other children are missing.

JUAN GARCIA, (through translator): My wife is gone. My children are gone. Now I'm alone.

RIMINTON: Despite it all, reports that signs of life have been detected at the village school where 240 children were buried.

MARIUS CORPUS, UNDERSECRETARY FOR INTERNAL AFFAIRS: Just this afternoon I got some reports that there were some knocking noises from beneath the rubble. And I wish we had the equipment right now.

RIMINTON: Mountain rescue experts confirm the possibility.

GOV. ROSETTE LERIAS, SOUTHERN LEYTE PROVINCE: It's possible that the heavy -- the rocks just passed by the building. And it's possible that what is on top of the building are just -- is just soil.

RIMINTON: As the search resumes with new purpose, officials have appealed for more specialist equipment and helicopters to bias roads now almost impassible. The fear of more mud avalanches saw the people of a dozen other villages crowding into the nearest main town. The evacuees finding comfort in the numbers.

Hugh Riminton, CNN, Southern Leyte, The Philippines.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: The U.S. military says all 12 crew members are accounted for in the crash of two marine helicopters off the coast of Africa. But it's still unclear how many marines survived. We do know this. Two CH-53 helicopters crashed Friday off the coast of Djibouti in eastern Africa. The military there says no indication there of hostile fire. Now two crew members were rescued not long after the crash. They are in stable condition. The Pentagon has not disclosed the status of the other 10 marines.

All right. A cold snap in the nation's bread basket. Seven inches of snow overnight in Indiana caused a few interstate accidents. This one near South Bend. Now talk about cold. This is the eastern shore of Lake Eerie. Look at that. A wall of ice. It glazed over after last night's storm whipped up lake water all over Hamburg, New York. Now in some parts of upstate New York, the temperatures nose dived from about 60 degrees to below freezing in the space of just a few hours. Hayward, Wisconsin, recorded a bitter 26 below zero this morning. Beckoning bundled up sleders to take advantage of the perfect downhill conditions.

But it's not all fun and winter games in the northeast. To upstate New York where people are accustomed to fridge Februarys. But last night's storm was especially rough. Kelly McPherson from our Syracuse affiliate WSYR is in Cicero, New York, looking ahead to a second night without electricity.

Kelly, what are people doing?

KELLY MCPHERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: People are freezing in their homes. Not just outside like we are right now. The homes behind me here on Colonial Drive in Cicero have been without power since 9:00 in the morning yesterday. And they're resorting to all sorts of things to keep warm inside.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So they abandoned this job and left us here to freeze. It's less than 40 degrees in our house. I have an elderly mother. There's elderly people across the street.

MCPHERSON, (voice over): Like Margaret and Daniel Mix (ph) who are staying bundled up to bear the cold inside their house.

DANIEL MIX: My wife has called several times and they keep saying, unless it's an emergency, please try to keep the line free.

MCPHERSON: They knew yesterday's storm knocked out the power as soon as they woke up.

MARGARET MIX: I dressed very fast. I got out of those P.J.s in a hurry and got dressed.

MCPHERSON: Next door, Gerald Diger (ph) hooked up a generator to run his heat. Only the necessary circuits are turned on. And as the street waits, people living here have one message for the utility crews.

MARGARET MIX: Well, just hurry up. You know. Where are you?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCPHERSON: Well, it seems they got her message. If you can look behind me, there are some crews from National Grid, which is the local utility company here. They are working on the wires. However, there still is no power in these homes. And the people we spoke to are still bundled up like you saw them in the tape there and they'll be sleeping inside these cold homes waiting for the power to come back on.

Carol.

LIN: Kelly, I can't imagine. All right. Stay warm out there. Kelly McPherson.

MCPHERSON: Thanks.

LIN: All right. Well, we've got our own meteorologist, Monica McNeal, checking on conditions out there.

Monica, do those folks, you know, do they look like they're going to be in the freeze, the deep freeze for a few more days.

(WEATHER REPORT) LIN: All right. The White House would no doubt welcome a winter storm over that media storm that clobbered the executive branch this week. Now it whipped up Sunday with news of Vice President Cheney's shotgun mishap. Well, Cheney made his first public appearance yesterday. The first since he accidentally shot his bird-hunting companion in Texas. It was the same day Harry Whittington left the hospital. Black and blue, but on his feet and looking fit despite a trying few days. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux reports on a White House eager to move on.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX: Vice President Dick Cheney on friendly ground before the Wyoming State Legislature where he once interned. A safe place to acknowledge the man he accidentally shot nearly a week ago.

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's a wonderful experience to be greeted with such warmth by the leaders of our great state. That's especially true when you've had a very long week. Thankfully, Harry Whittington is on the mend and doing very well.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I'm moving on.

MALVEAUX: After nearly a week of trying to change the subject from Cheney's hunting accident to other issues, Mr. Bush went to Tampa, Florida, to get a briefing on the war on terror and to sell his agenda.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Removing Saddam Hussein has made America safer and the world a better place.

MALVEAUX: Taking questions from the audience, he was showered with praise.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think our country's blessed to have you as our president.

BUSH: Thank you.

MALVEAUX: And then asked how he was coping with Cheney's hunting accident dominating the news.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you keep it together?

BUSH: Well, I appreciate that. That's a loaded question. I keep it in perspective. There's a lot of noise in Washington.

MALVEAUX: The president adeptly turned the focus back to the war on Terror.

BUSH: 9/11 changed my thinking. So my focus is there.

MALVEAUX: And then observed it would be best to say nothing about Cheney's hunting accident.

BUSH: And, first, I'm wise enough not to fall on your trap because there are some keen reporters paying attention to every word I'm saying.

MALVEAUX: Next week, President Bush focuses on promoting his energy policy when he travels to Colorado, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Well live on CNN tomorrow, a man who's not been shy about criticizing the White House handling of the Cheney accident. Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer. He'll be on CNN's "Reliable Sources" tomorrow morning at 10:00 Eastern.

In the Middle East, the militant group Hamas takes power. Shanon Cook has that story and others making news around the world.

Shannon.

SHANON COOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol. Thanks very much.

The newly-elected members of Hamas have taken their seats in the Palestinian parliament. They were sworn in today in a ceremony. Hamas won a majority of the seats in the last election. The militant group controls 74 of 132 seats. After today's ceremony, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged Hamas to pursue peace with Israel but Hamas immediately rejected that call saying that it will not negotiate with Israel.

Moving onto Europe now. Italy's reforms minister has resigned. He went on state television wearing a t-shirt that displayed controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad and that's blamed for igniting deadly riots outside the Italian consulate in Libya. At least 11 people were killed in those riots Friday. And also, we've learned that Nigeria has seen its first violent protest over caricatures depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Authorities say rioters there killed at least 16 people and burned 11 Christian churches.

Also in Nigeria, militants have abducted nine workers employed by a U.S. oil firm. Three of the hostages are American. One is British. The abductors claimed responsibility in an e-mail. They call themselves The Movement for the Emancipated of the Niger Delta. The group says it's fighting for more local control of oil wealth.

All right. Switching gears a little now. Sunny Rio de Janeiro in Brazil is getting a dose of satisfaction. The Rolling Stones are playing a free concert on Copacabana Beach. It's the first time they've performed for free in Brazil. About 2 million people are expected to attend. And that's going to fill half of the beach. And, Carol, The Stones have played Brazil a few times and Mick Jagger actually has a six-year-old son in Brazil, the result of a fling that he had with a model and TV hostess there.

LIN: OK. So daddy's going to be on set.

Two million people. I don't even know how they could see the stage. But is that really the biggest concert ever? COOK: Well, they're certainly billing it as the biggest concert of all time. However, they're going to be hard pressed to beat a concert in the same place by Rod Stewart back in 1994 on New Year's Eve. Apparently that concert drew about 3.4 million. So popular place for a free concert, isn't it?

LIN: Yes. Rio's the place to be. All right. Thanks, Shanon.

COOK: Thanks, Carol.

LIN: Caught on tape, Saddam Hussein talks WMDs in newly-discovered audio tapes. Was he really planning an attack against America. That's ahead.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And the first of eight days of celebrations marking Mardi Gras under way here in New Orleans. We'll take you to the parade and we'll hear what residents had to say about it in this year after Katrina. I'm Sean Callebs. We'll have that coming up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the most natural questions in the world is, what's going to happen to me, doc?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Looking into the future. Do you want to know when you are going to die? Well now you might be able to. You're watching CNN LIVE SATURDAY. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Two men described a potential domestic terrorists are in custody after 15 years on the run. Brothers Geoffrey and Gregory Rose were arrested in New Mexico Friday. U.S. marshalls say they found weapons, about 200 pounds of explosives and marijuana plants. Helmets and bullet resistant vests were also stored on the property. Officials call the Rose brothers survivalists who lined themselves with white supremacists and anti-government organizations. They have been on the federal wanted list since 1991.

And one border town in Arizona has a dirty little secret. Several border patrol agents there have been indicted. Their alleged crime, romancing undocumented women trying to enter the United States. CNN's Kareen Wynter has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): On the borderline in Arizona, a thin but heavily-guarded frontier between poverty and opportunity. A magnet for immigrants dreaming of jobs, a better life. But this Mexican woman found something else on the other side of the line.

MARIA TERRAZAS, DATED BORDER PATROL AGENT: Yes, it was love. WYNTER: A budding romance with a federal official. A border patrol agent. Maria Terrazas says the agent in the border town of Douglas, Arizona, was unaware of her illegal immigration status until six months into their relationship.

Did it ever cross your mind, I'm not here legally, he could get in trouble? The whole repercussion?

TERRAZAS: Yes, because -- yes, I tell him, you know, we have to finish it because I don't want you to have problems. I don't want you to lose your job.

PAUL CHARLTON, U.S. ATTORNEY, ARIZONA DIST.: There is a risk involved in ignoring the law. And especially ignoring the law post-9/11 as it relates to who is coming into our country.

WYNTER: The U.S. attorney in Arizona, Paul Charlton, says, that it a state that accounts for more than half the illegal immigrants detained, agents can't expect to be above the law.

CHARLTON: Much of this information that we learn about comes from the public. People who see the hypocrisy in agents who are, during the daytime, enforcing the law. And in the evenings, going home to live a violation of that law. People should be allowed to fall in love. And my point is, that there's a process. A legal process that's in place.

WYNTER: Agents have the option of deporting their lover or legalizing their immigration status. A lengthy process. For young, single men recruited to patrol this remote area, the temptations are considerable.

This fence is the only thing separating the U.S. from Mexico. Here in Douglas, Arizona, with the population around 17,000, some say it's inevitable for border patrol agents, both on duty and off, to run into undocumented women.

Ephraim Cruz was a senior border patrol agent. Now he faces felony charges for transporting and harboring an illegal immigrant, Maria Terrazas. He gave her a ride across the border one night.

EPHRAIM CRUZ, SUSPENDED BORDER PATROL AGENT: She's dated several agents. She's been at least in a supervisor's home. So why wouldn't I think anything other than, you know, her belonging in the community?

WYNTER: Cruz says he was prosecuted because he filed complaints about what he calls abuse of detained immigrants in Douglas. Maria Terrazas avoided deportation by legalizing her residency. Terrazas says there are still agents in Douglas who have relationships with illegal immigrants despite the legal risks.

Kareen Wynter, CNN, Douglas, Arizona.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: In this hour, you will hear Saddam Hussein on these newly- acquired audio tapes talking about America under attack and weapons of mass destruction. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: In other news across America. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol blames icy road conditions for a tour bus crash this afternoon. An eight-year-old boy and a woman were killed and dozens were injured.

In Tuscaloosa, Alabama, fire destroys a warehouse where Christian- themed clothing was made. Authorities are not sure yet whether it's connected to the string of church fires across the state. The Friday night blaze was only hours after a fire at a Methodist ministry at the University of Alabama.

In Phoenix, police find a stolen SUV with canisters of an unknown substance in the back. They tried using a robot. Members of the bomb squad were called in then but no explosives were found.

And doctors are optimistic about the recovery of an injured Iraqi girl. The three-year-old underwent surgery yesterday in Orlando, Florida. Surgeons removed shrapnel from her abdomen and eyes. She was injured last May when her home was hit by a tank round during a U.S. military operation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ALI AVIANIAN, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: I performed (ph) this excellent regarding the abdominal problem and I hope that the eye situation will improve more and more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: The girl's two brothers and a cousin were killed in that incident.

Now those newly-surfaced audio tapes of Saddam Hussein were publicly released today. Analysts have been listening to about 12 hours. And so far, no surprises about Saddam or weapons of mass destruction. CNN National Security Correspondent David Ensor has more details though.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Saddam Hussein.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): All day Arabic translators in both Washington and Atlanta went through 12 hours of tape for CNN listening to Saddam Hussein and his ministers. The tapes were made public by a private group which said they came from U.S. sources. CIA officials confirmed the tapes are indeed genuine.

CHARLES DUELFER, ANALYST: He had a practice of recording many of his meetings.

ENSOR: In one ominous exchange, Saddam Hussein predicts weapons of mass destruction will one day be used against the United States. SADDAM HUSSEIN, (through translator): Terrorism is coming. I told Americans a long time before August 2nd and told the British as well, I think. I think Hamid was there keeping the meeting minutes with one of them. That in the future there will be terrorism with weapons of mass destruction. What would prevent this technology from developing and people from smuggling it? And all of this before the stories of smuggling.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, (through translator): Sir, you mean germ warfare?

HUSSEIN: Before that, in 1989, I told them, in the future, what would prevent a booby-trapped car causing a nuclear explosion in Washington, or a germ or a chemical one?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, the germ, any biologist can make a bottle at home.

HUSSEIN: This is coming. This story is coming. But not from Iraq.

DUELFER: A lot of people pointed to the coming risk of weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of terrorists. What is perhaps unique about Saddam's perspective on this, is that he understands that if something like that were to happen, he would be blamed for if.

ENSOR: On many of the tapes, his aids make clear to Saddam Hussein, even if their weapons are destroyed, the know how will remain.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, (through translator): No matter what equipment they take away from us, we will still have our brains and our spirits. They are only depriving us of time. That's it.

ENSOR: For his part, Saddam Hussein repeatedly makes clear he plans to try to wait out the U.N. weapons inspectors and the sanctions and then to rebuild his weapons of mass destruction.

HUSSEIN: They will get tired and soon will reach that phase.

ENSOR: U.S. intelligence officials say the 12 hours of recordings are just the tip of the iceberg. That hundreds of hours of recordings of Saddam Hussein and his aides are in U.S. hands and thousands of pages of documents, many of them yet to be translated.

But the man who looked for WMD in Iraq for the CIA says he expects nothing to emerge to change the view that despite what the Bush administration believed before the war, by the time coalition forces invaded Iraq, there were no usable weapons of mass destruction in the country and no programs to produce them.

DUELFER: There are no surprises in those tapes that bear on weapons of mass destruction.

ENSOR: Still, by recording many of his meetings, Saddam Hussein gave historians a gold mine that is just beginning to be exploited.

David Ensor, CNN, Washington. (END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Still ahead. They are making a comeback. New Orleans is gearing up for Mardi Gras. Parades began there today. But not everyone is happy about it.

Plus, another story about coming back. CNN's Kathleen Koch returns to her home in Mississippi hoping to salvage what once existed. She joins me live next.

ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And the countdown is on, Carol. The $365 million jackpot. That record jackpot. That drawing in just under five hours. And there are hundreds of people here in Connecticut and thousands across the country still trying to get those last-minute tickets. I'm Adaora Udoji. We'll have that story from Connecticut coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Now in the news. Heavy rain, deep mud. The threat of a typhoon. All are making it harder to search for mudslide victims on Leipei Island in the Philippines. More than 50 bodies have been found. But more than 900 people are missing.

And three Americans working for an oil company in Nigeria are among the foreign workers who have been abducted. Militants have recently been attacking oil and gas pipelines in the African country.

Well fist it was the wind. And then frigid temperatures gripping the Northeast. The deaths of at least four people are blamed on the wind storm which has also knocked out power to thousands.

And in Torino, American speed skater Shani Davis makes Olympic history. Davis takes the gold medal in the 1,000 meters finishing in one minute and 8.89 seconds. He is the first black person to win an individual event in the Winter Olympics.

The party has started in New Orleans. The 150 year-long tradition of Mardi Gras is giving people a break from cleaning up after Hurricane Katrina. They don't plan for as many parades as usual, but you can still expect a lot of people in the streets. Including Sean Callebs. Sean what are you expecting tonight?

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the parade made its way through here in the past few hours. I can imagine Bourbon Street and the French Quarter just now springing to life. It's going to be that way for some time to come. Really over eight days in the coming few days you are going the see just all kinds of parades through this area.

And you're right. The people who put these parades on. The city. Everybody had to sit back and scale down this year's event. In fact there was a lot of discussion whether indeed it should go on at all.

The routes are shorter. And basically they are carving their way through the one area of the city that really didn't get flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Earlier you see the parade coming down St. Charles avenue. They are going to eventually make their way to Canal Street. The heart of the city.

Skies did threaten but in the end only beads rained down. Should the city have had the parade? Is this the right thing? Do people need Mardi Gras in this area? We talked to a lot of people this area. And to a person we got the same answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: I think it's tradition for the city. And I think it's important to continue. Traditions that are so deeply rooted. I think people need it. I know a lot of people are going through so much and it's a nice distraction. It's nice to keep the traditions up because I think that's important to people's hopes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLEBS: Yes, people's hope indeed. The areas all over this area, in New Orleans, the city is pretty much come back to life in a lot of ways. With 500,000 people before the hurricane that came through the area. Now fewer than 250,000 have come back.

But what we hear from most is is this isn't just a big party for tourists to come in. It's also a cultural gathering for so many people in this area. Parts of Louisiana. Parts of Mississippi who come here to see their families, their friends. That is being scaled back this year.

Certainly some disappointment for a lot of people. But considering the overtime for authorities if the parades would have been as long as in the past it would have been very difficult to rationalize. And also with the reduced population in the city. It's not going to bring in the billion dollars it had in years past. Maybe $300 million. Now about 27,000 hotel rooms. And a lot of those, as you go imagine, still filled with emergency personnel.

LIN: Thank you very much.

Well every week we like to bring you the more personal stories from the front line. And today, we are going to return you to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. It's a place most people had never heard of before of Hurricane Katrina. But here's what's different about this story.

For CNN's Kathleen Koch, it was home. Kathleen joins me now from Washington with a preview of tonight's CNN PRESENTS.

Kathleen, tell me about how this assignment came about for you.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: What happened is basically a couple weeks after the hurricane when I came back to Washington, the president of CNN, John Klein, who said you know, I know you have this personal connection to the town. I know you grew up there. Let's turn this into an amazing documentary. Why don't you take us back. Track your town over the next six months and tell us some of the stories and what happened there.

LIN: And what did you find?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: I'm getting ready to go over to the bay

KOCH: Okay? Is this the main shelter here? I never thought I'd see the day when my high school was a shelterer. This is a perfect place. Perfect thing to turn into a shelter. The building is standing. That's my high school. This is incredible.

Are they bringing you food and water?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Somebody had some gas so they went down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was climbing from rooftop to rooftop it was around 30 feet high. It was just horrifying. I've never gone through anything like this in my entire life.

Stay safe. That's hard. It's hard to even recognize this place. There was a road here. You can see it goes into the sand. And then just disappears. That's the beach road. If you follow it on around you'll get to downtown Bay St. Louis to where we had our ice cream parlor that my family ran while I was in high school. Did you guys see any Kurdisans (ph), or any Van Shultz (ph)?

Have you seen them?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've seen them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, thank God! you're OK. Our homes are destroyed, but we're OK. We're alive.

Well, my brother's in Ocean Springs. But he and his wife and their four kids. She's ahead of the ICU unit. So they took them all there but I haven't been able to see them because phones don't work. I think they are all locked in there. They won't let anyone in our out.

Our ice cream parlor is over here. Let me see if I can get to it.

KOCH: This was the sunshine ice cream parlor. There's just nothing left here. I was going to say this is the house on South Beach Boulevard where I lived. But it's not a house anymore. This was the living room over here. My brother's room was back here. The place we grew up in. So many wonderful years. Is gone. I'm going to bring a brick back for each member of the family. Okay, one for each. Bricks are memories. Good memories.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: So that's just a sampling of what will be in our documentary tonight. But what you'll see a lot more of when you tune in at 8:00 and also 8:00 tomorrow night. You'll see stories of the people in town. People who I knew. People who I grew up with and how they've really been struggling over the last six months to try to put their lives back together.

To try to get their insurance companies to pay for some of the damage to their homes. A lot of people didn't have flood insurance. So it's been a real struggle. But it'll be, it's a really good show tonight. I think it will bring people some very important perspective into the suffering that's going on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in particular.

LIN: Kathleen, I think of you as that, you know, stoic solid Washington-based correspondent. I talk to you from the White House lawn. From the Pentagon briefing room. What was it look for you to really be the vehicle for the viewer? To take them through this painful rebuilding process. And even the search for people that you once knew?

KOCH: It was very difficult. What the network wanted that day. The network said we want something different. We want you to take us back to your town in the way that no one else can. It would be really very difficult to just put a microphone on someone else and say do this.

As painful as it was and as difficult as it was, wearing the microphone, having the camera there, helped me keep myself together because I was working.

But it was a very tough day. Again, I was looking for friends. Looking for neighbors. And sadly, it turned out that one of them who I was not able to find was later found dead in the rubble of his home. And that's probably been the toughest thing for me is just dealing with the fact. That there's some things we could do. Some people we could help. But obviously some things that we couldn't. And that was very tough.

LIN: You know, I would fathom that the people who spoke with you were talking to a hometown girl, you know? And really felt compelled to tell their stories in such a way that would drive the point home of what these people were going through. So I bet it was, you know, a great experience for people to at least be heard. And what a great vehicle you've been for them, Kathleen. We're going to look forward to seeing your report tonight.

Now you can see Kathleen's complete report about Bay St. Louis, Mississippi later tonight on an all new "CNN PRESENTS: Saving My Town, The Fight For Bay St. Louis begins at 8:00 eastern. And you get another chance to watch it Sunday night at 8:00 Eastern as well.

Now, if it were possible to know when you were going to die, would you want to know? Believe it or not there is a new test out there that might tell you. We're going to show you, next.

Plus, you and your doctor. What you need to know could save your life.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LIN: As the saying goes, the only things you can bank on in life are death and taxes. Not much you can do about taxes, but now there may be a way to predict when you are going to die. CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): How would you like to look into a crystal ball and know how long you have to live? Well, authors of a new test published in this week's "Journal of the American Medical Association" say they can predict with astonishing accuracy the chances you'll die in the next four years. It is just a matter of answering 12 simple questions.

(on camera): So you want to take a test to find out your likelihood of dying in the next four years?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Sounds like fun.

COHEN (voice-over): We gave the test to Jeff (ph), Roy (ph) and Carolyn (ph) while they had lunch today.

(on camera): Has your doctor ever told that you have diabetes or high blood sugar?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

COHEN: No. OK, you get zero points, that's good because points are bad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

COHEN: You want zero.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like golf.

COHEN: It's like golf, exactly.

(voice-over): Roy got two points for this question.

(on camera): Because of a health or memory problem, do you have any difficulty managing your money, such as paying your bills and keeping track of expenses?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sometimes I do.

COHEN: If you have a hard time pushing a chair across the room, that's one point. If you have difficulty walking several blocks, that's two points right there. And being male will get you two points. Sorry.

Doctors at the V.A. Medical Center in San Francisco thought a quiz like this would be useful.

DR. SEI LEE, VETERANS AFFAIRS MEDICAL CENTER: One of the most natural questions in the world is what's going to happen to me, doc? And unfortunately I found myself reluctant to answer that because I wasn't sure. And I didn't want to be wrong.

COHEN (voice-over): So they ask the 12 questions of nearly 20,000 people over the age of 50, followed them for four years and found it worked with 81 percent accuracy. So how did our people do?

(on camera): So Roy, you have a 15 percent chance of dying sometime in the next four years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's pretty high. That's pretty slim odds, though, isn't it?

COHEN: Yes, 15 percent, that's not bad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's very good.

COHEN (voice-over): As for Carolyn...

(on camera): Well, you know what, Carolyn, you got zero points. You don't even register.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So I'm not going to die within the next four years.

COHEN: You have a less than four percent chance of dying in the next four years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, good.

(voice-over): Jeff smokes and is male. But even so, the study claims his chances of dying soon were less than four percent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's good, I'm going to go celebrate tonight then.

COHEN (on camera): By drinking and smoking, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drinking and smoking and red meat, that kind of thing.

COHEN (voice-over): Of course, that's not the message the study authors want to give. They want this study to help people figure out how long they have to live and how they could live even longer.

Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Well you shouldn't have to go to medical school to understand what your doctor is saying. But that sometimes seems to be the case. When David Newman faced a life-threatening tumor, he found it wasn't easy to get straight answers from doctors. So he's written a book about his experience in hopes it will help you and your doctor communicate even better. David, good to have you.

DAVID NEWMAN, "TALKING WITH DOCTORS": Hi, how are you?

LIN: Back in 1999 you were told that you had a life-threatening malignant tumor in your brain?

NEWMAN: Actually, it was within a millimeter of the brain stem, which controls involuntary functions like breathing and also right by the carotid artery that carries blood to the brain.

LIN: Did they gave you a fatal diagnosis?

NEWMAN: In light of what's preceded your interview here, one doctor did tell me that I had a 10 percent chance. I likely had a 10 percent chance of surviving two years. In other words, I could die imminently.

LIN: And clearly that's not the case. Because we are happy to have you here. So in writing this back, what did you want to get across about your experience?

NEWMAN: I think most importantly was what it's like consulting with doctors in a life threatening situation. What a patient can expect. You know, there were so many things that shocked and surprised me during the course. I went through a period of about five or six weeks. I consulted with over 20 doctors. And there was an awful lot of miscommunication. Doctors who failed to collaborate with their colleagues. Doctors who, in some ways, said things that were misleading.

LIN: And directly contradicting each other in your case?

NEWMAN: And even contradicting themselves sometimes.

LIN: So how do you know where to find these opinions and where to go for a second and third and fourth opinion? You had so many opinions. How do you know who to believe?

NEWMAN: Right. Well that's what the book is about. What to -- how you develop a sense of trust. How you can develop a sense of working to two develop a sense of clarity in regard to what you are being told.

LIN: And how do you do that? I mean how were you able to determine which doctor's opinion was best for you?

NEWMAN: It takes time. You know, I think you have to be patient.

LIN: But what does that mean? Because when you are sick and you are desperate and you are being told that you might die, how do you know who to believe? Because in one case, a doctor, a surgeon was one of the doctors, primary doctors who saved your life. He operated on you. But there was another doctor who said that guy would operate on anybody. How did you make that decision?

NEWMAN: Well, I think your earlier question about seeking multiple opinions. After I had met with many doctor, I had a fairly good idea of what the benefits and risks of any particular course of action was.

It was only through getting multiple opinions. I cast a net as widely as I could.

LIN: So what sorts of questions should you ask?

NEWMAN: I think there's a basic question in regarding to what the risks and benefits of any particular course of action is. Or what are the alternatives? But I think it's not so much what a particular question as be willing to ask, you know, the third, the ninth, the sixteenth question if necessary.

You have the right to inquire. You have a right as a patient to expect a certain amount of clarity. And I think it requires an immense amount of perseverance. So it's not just any particular question. So much as developing a sense that you are engaged in that process that can lead to a consensus.

LIN: Right. Because we take a look at your family photos. I mean you have three young kids and a wife. And all these people counting on you, David, and you were trying to get some clear answers. And you did. And you are alive today. So we are so happy to see the smiles on your family's faces.

NEWMAN: Thank you very much.

LIN: Thanks so much, David.

Well the chances are small. But the jackpot's jumbo. Will someone be $365 million richer tonight?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: A lot of people have been waiting in line today. They all want a chance at the biggest jackpot in U.S. Lottery history, $365 million. Now Powerball fever has spread across 28 states and the District of Columbia. That includes Greenwich, Connecticut, where our Adaora Udoji is standing by. Adaora, have you bought your tickets yet?

ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We did buy our tickets, Carol. And we are hopeful. That includes me, my entire team, our cameraman, Danny, and our producer, Brian, and our sound man, Miguel along with hundreds of thousands of other people here in Connecticut. Some of them have been buying their tickets here at Zen's which is owned by our friend here, Peter Sheth.

Peter, what time did you open the doors this morning and were there people already in line in.

PETER SHETH, STORE OWNER: We opened about 6:00 a.m. And there were about 40 or 50 people waiting in line.

UDOJI: What's the day been like in how busy have you been is in

SHETH: It's been constantly busy like this. UDOJI: How many tickets have you sold today?

SHETH: Oh, about 20,000.

UDOJI: 20,000. Well you are still making money, anyway?

SHETH: Not really. We don't do other business. This is just Lottery sales today.

UDOJI: What does your gut tell you? Do you think you are going to sell the winning ticket today?

SHETH: My gut feeling is that I think nobody is going to win tonight.

UDOJI: I don't think anybody wants to hear that one, Peter. Somebody's got to win that $365 million.

SHETH: Somebody's going to win next time.

UDOJI: You think next time?

SHETH: I think so.

UDOJI: Yes, but isn't that also in your best interest, too? To keep selling more and more tickets?

SHETH: It is in my best interest but i have a feeling it's not going to win tonight.

UDOJI: Oh, excellent. Listen. Thanks very much, Peter. I have to tell you Carol. I kind of hope he's not right. And I'm hoping he sells the winning ticket here in Connecticut. As you said. There are 28 states and the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands also selling tickets for this record-breaking $365 million Powerball jackpot. And that is a cash value of somewhere around $177 million. Carol, what do you think? Could you live on that?

LIN: I think I could scrape by. But I want to know who is holding your ticket? Is it you, the correspondent, or the photographer or the sound man?

UDOJI: Everyone is holding their own ticket.

LIN: Typical journalist. Thanks Adaora. She's going to be with us throughout the night.

More ahead on CNN tonight. Up next at 7:00 eastern "ON THE STORY." And then at 8:00, "CNN PRESENTS: Saving My Town, The Fight for Bay St. Louis." And at 9:00, Larry King. Tonight, hear from family members of those passengers who fought back before flight 93 crashed on 9/11.

I'll be back at 10:00 eastern tonight. Airport security. Should air marshals go through the same security measures as passengers? Believe it or not, they don't. A check of the hour's headlines next. And then "ON THE STORY."

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