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CNN Live Sunday

Powerball Ticket Won in Nebraska; Is the Government Prepared for a Disaster? Security Questioned in Controversial Ports Sale; Mardi Gras Celebrations in Full Swing; Getting Across the Border; Tragic Landslide in Philippines

Aired February 19, 2006 - 16:00   ET

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

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN GULF COAST CORRESPONDENT: No easy going for drivers across the South and Midwest with hazardous icy conditions. From fender benders to real pile-ups, it's drive at your own risk. We'll have a live weather report coming up.
So there is one big Powerball winner, but dozens of other people are hundreds of thousands of dollars richer, too. Who are those lucky winners?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's fun for people to come out and enjoy Mardi Gras. They all ought to come out and enjoy. They might not have another one after this year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROESGEN: And they have come out for the party, but for many it's a case of laughing to keep from crying. We'll take you live to the carnival celebration in New Orleans.

Plus are FEMA and the Homeland Security Department ready for this country's next natural disaster or terror attack? Are they even on the same page? You'll hear from both sides of a critical issue coming up.

Welcome to CNN LIVE SUNDAY. I'm Susan Roesgen, filling in for Fredricka Whitfield. We'll have those stories and more after this check of the headlines.

A wintry mix creates havoc in Dallas. Our television affiliate KDAF says there's been more than 500 accidents on the icy roads in that city alone since midnight. Freezing temperatures are causing problems elsewhere and we'll show you where the worst is coming up.

Ten dead, the U.S. military confirms eight Marines and two Air Force personnel died in the helicopter crash off the coast of Djibouti in Africa. The two choppers went down during a training mission on Friday. Two other crew members were rescued.

Safe or poorly protected? An Arab company takeover of operations at six American ports is fueling debate over the risk it may pose to national security. We'll have more on the controversy and reaction ahead in a live report. Deplorable acts of thuggery, that's what the U.S. embassy in Indonesia is causing this violent protest sparked by the Prophet Mohammed cartoons. Muslims angered by those cartoons pelted the embassy with rocks, tomatoes and eggs, but their attempts to break through the gate were stopped.

Well a dollar and a dream. That's all it took for one lucky person to win a record $365 million Powerball jackpot. The person smiling is the owner of the convenience store who gets a cut of the action too. The single winning ticket was bought in Nebraska. And we'll take you live to Nebraska just ahead.

We begin with a big weekend in the Big Easy. It's Mardi Gras time down in New Orleans, but you know, for all the parades and the plastic beads, the reminders of Hurricane Katrina are everywhere and so are questions about the government's response.

The head of Homeland Security is speaking out today about what went wrong, but all week CNN has reported on a glaring example of the disconnect between Homeland Security and FEMA, the agency it oversees.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROESGEN: Welcome to Hope, Arkansas, a small town with a huge problem. These are 11,000 mobile homes FEMA has parked in Hope, more mobile homes than the town has people. But no one's living in these mobile homes. They're 450 miles from the Gulf Coast.

And Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu says FEMA just can't get it right.

SEN. MARY LANDRIEU (D), LOUISIANA: Well, it's another example, Susan, of the mismatch in planning that has gone on. And it really is, again, to the point, that, even on FEMA's best day, they're not suited to manage this catastrophe.

ROESGEN: On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, released a report criticizing FEMA for buying so many mobile homes and allowing many in Arkansas to sink.

RICHARD SKINNER, HOMELAND SECURITY INSPECTOR GENERAL: Since they were not properly stored, as you can see from this second picture, the homes are sinking in the mud, and their frames are bending from sitting on trailers with no support. Insofar as many of these homes fell to meet FEMA specification requirements or FEMA has no qualified pre-arranged site location to place them, they may have to be disposed of.

ROESGEN: But FEMA chief David Paulison told CNN Tuesday that the mobile homes have not been damaged.

DAVID PAULISON, ACTING DIRECTOR, FEMA: The mobile homes are fine, there's no one mobile home that's been damaged. They're going to be usable. Mobile homes last a long time, 15, 20 years so we are going to use them. I don't know where the information came from that the inspector general got because somebody gave him bad information.

ROESGEN (on camera): I'll hitch a ride in your back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure, OK. Just be careful because the road is bumpy and we don't want you bouncing out of the back.

ROESGEN (voice-over): On Wednesday, FEMA allowed CNN to see the mobile homes on the FEMA lot. In a two-hour driving and walking tour, we saw dozens of mobile homes but nowhere near the full 11,000.

And it was hard to tell from our vantage point what was going on with the mobile homes. FEMA managers at the site say the largest ones, about 1,600 of them, are sagging under their own weight, and workers were bringing in jacks to prop them up.

But FEMA denies that the mobile homes might not be usable.

(on camera): If your opinion are these so badly damaged that they might have to be destroyed?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are no damaged trailers here, none.

ROESGEN: Why aren't they moving then?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You need to talk to somebody else there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROESGEN: Well by the end of the week, Richard Skinner, the Homeland Security inspector general had begun qualifying his remarks that the mobile homes might have to be disposed of. Skinner told CNN on Thursday that his bigger concern now is making sure the mobile homes are properly stored. But you know, bottom line, not one of those mobile homes has left that lot to go to someone who needs one.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is vowing that those mobile homes will not go to waste. He says some will be used during this year's hurricane season and he tells CNN's Wolf Blitzer that Katrina was a wakeup call for his department.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: First of all, there was a failure to have real clear information at our disposal. There was a real lack of situational awareness. We didn't have the capabilities on the ground to give us real time, accurate assessments of the physical condition of the city.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: But you knew that for days that this hurricane was coming towards New Orleans.

CHERTOFF: Wolf, putting these capabilities together is not a matter of putting them together in a few days. It's a matter of planning and preparing for months.

BLITZER: But there had been these table top exercises. There was this fictional Hurricane Pam a year earlier in which they basically outlined all of these dire consequences that nobody seems to have paid any attention to.

CHERTOFF: Well, I'm not excusing the fact that planning and preparedness was not where it should be. We've known for 20 years about this hurricane, this possibility of this kind of hurricane. So, all during the '90s and, you know, for the first half of this decade, we had opportunities to get evacuation plans in place, better communications in place.

But rather than look backward, my obligation now is to make sure we do a lot of the work we need to do between now and June 1.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROESGEN: And June 1st of course is the start of the hurricane season. Secretary Chertoff says FEMA is already better prepared to respond to the next major storm. But how prepared is the country really for another disaster? Hurricanes, of course, aren't the only threat. We also have to worry about a major earthquake or god forbid another terrorist attack.

Joining us to talk about this issue is CNN security analyst Clark Ervin. He's a former inspector general for the Department Homeland Security. And John Copenhaver joins me here on set. He's a former FEMA regional director.

Clark, I'd like to start with you. What is the disconnect between Homeland Security and FEMA? How is it that we could have all of those mobile homes up in Arkansas and we have the inspector general for DHS saying they're sinking, they might have to be destroyed and then you have FEMA saying no, no, no they're not sinking, they're just fine. Where does this disconnect happen?

CLARK KENT ERVIN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Well I think it's just another example of what we saw in Katrina, namely, a denial of reality. We saw before our eyes during the course of the inspector general's testimony that at least some and apparently many of those trailers were in fact sinking in the mud and yet we see a denial on the department's part.

There really needs to be a coming to grips with reality here and as you pointed out, we just have a few short months to go before the next hurricane season begins.

Furthermore, I'm concerned because as you also pointed out, there could well be god forbid a terrorist attack and we certainly won't have any warning of that. Much of what we would need to prepare to respond for a terrorist attack is the same in the event of a natural disaster.

ROESGEN: Well Clark, is this a FEMA problem or a Homeland Security problem? Do we take FEMA back out of Homeland Security? Wasn't it absorbed by the DHS after 9/11?

ERVIN: It was absorbed by DHS after DHS was created in response to 9/11 in '03, I am one of those who don't think that the issue here is structural. I think if you had the same leadership of FEMA, and the same relative lack of resources in FEMA, and FEMA were a stand alone entity reporting directly to the president, I think you would have had the same result.

You know, we in Washington sometimes think that the solutions to problems is organizational. I think what we need instead is to take FEMA and make it work. It needs more resources and it needs leadership that knows how to respond to both natural disasters and terrorist incidents.

ROESGEN: Well again Clark, I've got sitting with me here on set in Atlanta, John Copenhaver, a former FEMA regional director. Do you think FEMA should be set up on its own now, taken away from the Department of Homeland Security?

JOHN COPENHAVER, DISASTER RECOVERY INSTITUTE: Yes, I do, Susan. I believe that FEMA at this point in time needs to be a cabinet-level agency reporting directly to the president. I would agree with Clark in the fact that the leadership issue is clear that there needs to be experienced capable leadership of FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security. But that's only part of the problem.

ROESGEN: Yes, you know, what I'm hearing on the ground is Louisiana is so much red tape, so many rules, this and that and I know Congress sets the rules ultimately. But how would removing FEMA from Homeland Security actually make it work better?

COPENHAVER: Well it would certainly make it work better in terms of the response. The quickness of the response, the ability to go straight to the president to make sure that the full array of federal resources are arrayed so that they can get to the disaster area so that when they need to take in military convoys, for instance, to transport supplies or to bring people out of an area, that it can be done much more quickly.

If you want to look at the way that FEMA used to be back six years ago, I think that's a pretty good model.

ROESGEN: Is that really the answer, though? Why is the response to this disaster, why has it been so slow, so inadequate, so seemingly insensitive to the people who need help?

COPENHAVER: It's a combination of leadership problems, problems with command and control at each level: local state, and federal, as well as structural issues.

ROESGEN: How about leadership issues within FEMA?

COPENHAVER: Absolutely leadership issues within FEMA. I think that that was one of the critical problems. I think that the ability to make sure that the resources of the government were brought to bear, an understanding of the situation of the need to respond very quickly, the need to make sure that you had military resources that could get into the city, that could help people in the city and take food and supplies down there quickly. That was a problem, and we saw that very clearly.

ROESGEN: Let's bring Clark back in on this. Clark, you know, we're talking about the response to a natural disaster, though it may be found to be a man-made disaster with the levees, we're not sure what exactly happened yet. How do we respond to the next terrorist attack and are we better able to respond to that than to say the next hurricane or even bird flu that might be out there?

ERVIN: No, I think if anything, it's really the opposite. I think we'd be less well-prepared to respond to it because after all, there is unlikely to be any warning of a terrorist attack whereas there was plenty of warning of this kind of catastrophic natural disaster.

And if I could just hearken back, I think the best evidence that taking FEMA out and having the FEMA director report directly to the president is not the solution here. Michael Brown, by his own testimony, did just that. He bypassed the secretary. He did talk directly to the president and the White House and not withstanding that, we still saw the same slow and chaotic and ineffective response.

So it's not a structural issue solely. We need, as I say, leadership, not just at FEMA but throughout the department that knows what it's doing and we need adequate resources because basically there may be a few exceptions, but you need essentially the same things to respond to a terrorist attack as you do to a natural disaster of catastrophic dimension.

ROESGEN: Well Clark, where do we go from here? I mean, we're looking at a situation that is unresolved. We're looking at tens of thousands of people who feel that they are bonified citizens of this country and yet they don't feel that they're getting the federal response that they should be getting. How do we make things better right now, whether FEMA stays within the Department of Homeland Security or not?

ERVIN: Well, I think we need to hold the leaders of the Department of Homeland Security and the administration to account. I think the House report is very significant. Partisanship was cast aside and the fingers were pointed where they should be.

Now the good news is the department has announced some steps the other day, for example, a 21st century business-like logistics capability so we know where food and water and other supplies are. They also announced that they're going to set up a cadre of experienced professionals, about 1,500 or so who can be deployed quickly. That's the good news.

The bad news is, of course, all of this should have been in place long before Katrina and it shouldn't have taken us Katrina in order to do this. That said, at least these steps are moving in the right direction.

We've got about three months to get this right and I hope that the combination of congressional attention and media attention will be such that the department will do what it needs to do in order to get the job done.

ROESGEN: Hey, I can assure you, Clark, that CNN is all over it. Thank you so much Clark Ervin and John Copenhaver for joining us here to talk about it.

ERVIN: Thank you.

COPENHAVER: Thank you.

ROESGEN: You bet. We also want to remind you that coming up tonight, we have a very special "CNN PRESENTS." Kathleen Koch's personal report, "Saving my Town." CNN correspondent Kathleen Koch returns to her own hometown as it struggles to recover from Hurricane Katrina -- virtually blow away but determined to rebuild. You've got to see this report on "CNN PRESENTS" tonight at 8:00 Eastern.

Outrage in Congress and in some big cities. The U.S. government approves a deal to hand over operations at U.S. ports to an Arab company, based in a country that some say has links to the 9/11 terror attacks.

And from port security to border security, could some of those protecting the nation's borders by day be breaking the law by night?

JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jonathan Freed in Lincoln, Nebraska. I am live in the convenience store where the $365 million Powerball ticket was bought on Friday. I will have more after the break.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MONICA MCNEAL, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm meteorologist Monica McNeal in the CNN Weather Center with a look at your cold and flu report. Looks like as we transition through winter, the flu season has really picked up. Regional activity is throughout the upper Great Lakes, across the Midwest, down across Arkansas, back into Louisiana and then as we take a look at the widespread activity, it's really picked up across all of Texas, South Carolina, down into Florida, and even across the Northeast. So it looks like as we progress through winter, so does the flu season.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROESGEN: In today's "Security Watch," terror-proofing American ports, it's a goal that some say is being compromised by a controversial decision by the Bush administration. For that story, we go live to Washington and CNN White House correspondent Elaine Quijano. Elaine?

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon to you, Susan. That's right, Democrats and even some Republicans are expressing concern about this decision. Today, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff strongly defended the Bush administration's decision that will allow six American ports to be run by a state-owned Dubai company.

Now the contract will turn over significant port operations in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Miami and New Orleans. Critics argue the move could make Americans more vulnerable. They note, among other things, that one of the 9/11 hijackers was from the UAE and they warn another attack on the U.S. could happen if the company, Dubai Ports World, is infiltrated by terrorists.

But the Bush administration says that the government's classified review of those issues before approving such deals is a thorough process and officials say there are safeguards to ensure the American people are protected.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHERTOFF: We examined the transaction. We look at what the nature of the threat is. If necessary we build in conditions or requirements that, for extra security that have to be met in order to make sure that there isn't a compromise to national security.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: But some lawmakers say that those reassurances are not enough and they want the deal stopped.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: Today, we are calling for the first time on President Bush to personally intervene and block this contract. We cannot leave it to a committee that operates in the dark of night. We cannot accept the words "trust us." That happened before with horrible consequences. We cannot allow this contract to go forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Now, even some Republicans, including Senator Lindsey Graham, are critical of this deal. Today he called the administration's decision, quote "unbelievably tone-deaf politically." And while critics question the UAE's record in the war on terrorism, the Bush administration calls the United Arab Emirates a strong partner in the campaign against terrorism. Susan?

ROESGEN: Hey, Elaine, you know, why Dubai? Have you heard of any other companies that were considered for this deal? Any American companies?

QUIJANO: That's a good question. At this point we don't have any particular guidance on that but certainly this is something that lawmakers on Capitol Hill are moving to stop, not just this particular deal but down the road as well.

In fact, it was just last week that Senator Hillary Clinton talked about proposing legislation to essentially stop this sort of thing from happening again. Now we understand that is a movement that's gaining momentum. Look for not just Democrats but Republicans to be speaking out about this in the days to come.

ROESGEN: OK, we'll see what happens. Thank you, Elaine.

QUIJANO: Now to another security issue, keeping illegal immigrants out of the country. Some border agents on the Arizona/Mexican line are doing that while they're on the job. But when they clock out, they have a change of heart. Reporting from the border town of Douglas, Arizona, here's CNN's Kareen Wynter.

(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.

(on camera): 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 (voice-over): 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.

(on camera): 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.

(voice-over): 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)

ROESGEN: And be sure to stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

Well are you ready to beg for beads? It is Mardi Gras time in New Orleans. And even Hurricane Katrina isn't keeping some locals and tourists from going to the dogs at the big party in the Big Easy.

Place your bets, the wheels are spinning again in Harrah's Casino in New Orleans. Will it be a jackpot for the city?

And even if the temperature is slowly rising, conditions on the roads in the Midwest and South are still a mess. Driving on ice, no easy task.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROESGEN: Well, the only hurricane people are talking about in New Orleans today is the kind you drink. The carnival season, you know, is in full swing and CNN's Chris Lawrence is right in the middle of the party. Chris?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Susan, there's just an incredible amount of energy here right here in the French Quarter. This is the Barkus Parade.

You know, not the kind of energy you find in the drunken revelry on Bourbon Street. These are families and a lot of people who live here, bringing their dogs out, 14th year for the Barkus Parade.

You can just see, even if you're not in the parade, people have just been bringing all kinds of dogs. We've seen everything from pugs to shepherds, any kind of dog you could think of. And there's a serious aspect to this parade as well, because they collect a lot of fees from registration and ball profits, things like that. They're going to donate those to animal welfare groups.

So you know, there was a lot of human suffering after Hurricane Katrina hit, a lot of animals in this area also suffered. This parade will do a lot to help some of those animals.

Slightly different scene across town in St. Bernard Parish. That area had massive property damage. Most of the families who lived there have been relocated. Well the Knights of Nemesis had planned to stage their first parade in St. Bernard Parish this year. Unfortunately, it came after Katrina. But that did not stop them.

Today took a somewhat sparse crowd. They did hold that parade. They were hoping that residents who evacuated and had not returned would have a good reason to come back, if even for just a day. And there were about 15 floats, and it's the only parade that will be rolling through St. Bernard Parish during this carnival season.

And again, here we are back here in the French Quarter, again, you can see everybody's been throwing beads, the kids are having a great time. There's so much good energy here right now in the French Quarter. Talked to one man who had his dog and he was walking through. He said "I just cannot believe how far we've come in six months." He said, "A long way to go, but you know, we've come a long way in six months." Susan?

ROESGEN: Only in New Orleans do we put miniature costumes on our dogs, Chris.

LAWRENCE: Yes.

ROESGEN: All right, thanks, have fun out there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NINITA JONES, HARRAH'S EMPLOYEE: To give back to New Orleans is great and Harrah's was the perfect reason to do that, get back to work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROESGEN: Harrah's Casino is open again. And partiers aren't the only ones celebrating. The reopening is putting back to work more than 1,200 employees. Still, that's only about half of the number of people who work there before Katrina.

Somewhere in Nebraska, somebody must be seriously thinking about skipping work tomorrow, and for the rest of the year. That's because he or she holds the sole winning ticket for that record $$365 million jackpot. But 42 other people all around the country may also be thinking about playing hooky because they each hit all five numbers earning them $667,000 a piece. Jonathan Freed joins us now from Lincoln, Nebraska where the big winning ticket was bought and somehow I think Jonathan you wouldn't be standing there either if you were the one had won this.

FREED: Susan you set me up. This is what this live shot would look like if I had won. You ready? It would kind of look like that, but I didn't win, so I'm here and at 3:09 p.m., on Friday afternoon, at that register right back there, somebody walked in here and bought a ticket that is now worth $365 million. You don't get to say that very often, $1 million for every day of the year. After taxes Susan that is going to come down to about $124 million, and if you take it one lump sum, it's $177 million.

Susan.

ROESGEN: Those are some big numbers. I still see a bunch of people in that convenience store behind you. I would think lightning doesn't strike twice, I would go someplace else to get lucky, buying a lotto ticket or someplace else. I don't think I'd go to the same place.

FREED: That's the question we've been asking everybody here. Some people are saying no, they're seeing this U-Stop, which is where we are, it is a gas station, convenience store just outside of downtown Lincoln some say no this is going to be the luckiest U-Stop in the country or it may seem that way for awhile. Others are saying not so sure. Maybe the lightning has already struck.

The winner though Susan got to tell you has got six months to come forward. So they have awhile if they want to collect themselves and as the lottery corporation here is advising people, talk to an attorney, talk to your accountant, talk to your bank manager, talk to your family, because your life is going to change, not just your own, but for your immediate family around you as well, and get everybody prepared before you come forward.

ROESGEN: Develop a new identity; try to join the federal witness program, whatever you need to do to hide from people.

FREED: That's right.

ROESGEN: Isn't it true Jonathan that the owners of that convenience store they got a $50,000 cut for selling the winning ticket?

FREED: They did and I'll tell you a story about that. Because they understand as most people do that you get 1 percent of the take. So they told me for the first 30 minutes, they thought that they were worth $3.6 million and they read the fine print, it's 1 percent, but it's up to cap that $50,000. They're still happy. Who wouldn't be happy if you didn't have $50 grand yesterday and someone's handing you for that check today or in the future.

ROESGEN: Thank you, Jonathan. Have fun out there.

FREED: Thank you.

ROESGEN: More than 1,800 people live in this rural community in the Philippines, and about half of them are still missing, possibly buried beneath tons of mud.

Plus the weather is causing huge problems here in the U.S. from traffic jams to accidents. The ice is making driving conditions extremely dangerous.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROESGEN: Looking at some stories now in the news, several lawmakers are questioning a government deal that gives management of six major U.S. ports to a company based in the United Arab Emirates. The Bush administration says the UAE is an ally in the war on terror, but some lawmakers fear that this small gulf nation is not free of terrorist ties.

The Pentagon now confirms that eight marines and two air force service members were killed in the crash of two transport helicopters. It happened Friday off the coast of Djibouti in Africa, during a training mission. Officials say two other crewmembers were rescued.

Rescue crews on the Philippine island of Leyte are holding out little hope that any more survivors will be found after a massive mudslide. One hundred feet of mud covers a village elementary school, 246 children and 7 teachers are believed to have been in that building when the landslide hit on Friday.

The outrage has not yet subsided over the cartoons showing the Prophet Mohammed. In Indonesia today there was this, hundreds of Muslims setting fires to American flags outside the American Embassy. They tried to break through the gates, didn't get through. The embassy staff is calling the attacks thuggery.

Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says the Palestinian authority has effectively become a "terrorist authority" with the recent parliamentary victory of Hamas. Israel says it will have no contact with any government Hamas is a part of and that it will immediately stop the transfer of funds to the Palestinian authority.

People in many parts of the U.S. are getting an unusually harsh dose of winter weather these days. Texas drivers found themselves slipping and sliding with freezing rain. Hundreds of accidents were reported all across Texas. A light snowfall and single digit temperatures made things messy also in Indiana. Drivers following each other too closely triggered a series of crashes on the Indiana toll road including a dozen car pile-ups that sent several people to the hospital.

Another sleepless night for the power crews across the northeast. High winds have left about 200,000 homes without any power, from New York to Maine. Plus cold weather descending from coast to coast, including the heartland, parts of Illinois shivering through subzero temperature this weekend, while icy roads are blamed for this crash of a charter bus in Oklahoma, a 28-year-old woman and an 8 year old boy were killed.

Winter has also returned to southern California, just days after the temperatures there were in the mid 80s. Light snow is falling at some higher elevations.

So we were just about thinking about March and better weather, but we still got this cold weather, right, Monica? MCNEAL: We definitely still have this cold weather and it's going to stick around for at least the next 24 hours. But there is good news Susan in the near future, we are going to talk about that in just a moment.

Below normal temperature will continue over the Rio Grande Valley tonight and a winter weather advisory does continue until about 6:00 p.m. Right now it's 30 degrees in Dallas. You've got 37 in Austin, that's good news for Austin because that's where nearly 200 accidents were reported this morning, so now you're finally above freezing. Good news for you. 39 degrees down in San Antonio, and 36 degrees in Houston where the all-star basketball game is. You need to bundle up there.

AS we take a look at radar and show you what's going on, you can certainly see the frozen precipitation, the freezing rain that continues to hammer parts of Oklahoma City. Now this mixture will continue to lift off to the north and east. As we get into the overnight hours things should finally start to taper off for you there in Oklahoma City but you still will be dealing with the black ice and the very, very frigid temperatures.

A plume of moisture continues to stream in from the south and west and that storm system that moved through Oklahoma will be St. Louis's problem and will continue to move up toward the north and east tomorrow. High pressure is anchored just across the Ohio River Valley so that's going to continue to bring that very, very cold air that's been dominating most of the nation. We're going to be dealing with that throughout the night.

But the good news is things are going to warm up and they warmed up just a little bit today, taking a look at the wind chills across the north and east. Yesterday they were minus, we were below zero but today, we're feeling a little bit better, feels like 20 degrees right now in New York. Feels like 17 in Philadelphia. Lake effect snow is taking place across parts of Buffalo and to the upstate portion of New York. If you're looking for somewhere warm to go, head down to Miami, 79 degrees and 56 degrees in Los Angeles, looking a little bit better for tomorrow, 50 in metro Atlanta and 32 in Chicago.

Susan.

ROESGEN: Hey I'm on that plane to Miami.

MCNEAL: Hey buy me a ticket, too.

ROESGEN: We have to ditch these turtlenecks and get out of here.

MCNEAL: You're right.

ROESGEN: Thanks Monica.

Elsewhere in the news today, 72 people are now confirmed dead in that landslide that wiped out a village in the Philippines. Hundreds of people are still missing and the focus of a desperate rescue mission among acres of rubble and boulders and mud. CNN's Hugh Riminton reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HUGH RIMINTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. marines have arrived an advanced group of 30 men flying to the mountain face. The stated aim still to find survivors.

JEFF O'DONNELL, U.S. MARINE CORPS: There's been some indications there still may be some people that may be alive, some movement so we're going to get over there try and help out with the Filipinos as much as we can to try and start digging.

RIMINTON: But the mountain has given up no living soul since the day of the disaster. And even American tech might is of little use for the task ahead.

EDWARD RUSHING, U.S. MARINE CORPS: What that means for us is heavy equipment is a no-go as of right now because it rains daily, so our excavation is going to have to be in other terms.

RIMINTON: Shovels, men?

RUSHING: Yes, sir.

RIMINTON: To walk in this debris it's very difficult not to be pessimistic of the possibility of finding anyone alive underneath all of this. It is simply awe inspiring, the force that was generated as that mountainside behind cascaded down here onto the river flats, taking this village away, even in the least dangerous parts of this landslide there are pots of quicksand, you sink immediately up to your waist. It's the most difficult task imaginable for searches, even though they still say they can still find people alive some where underneath this morass.

The dangerous, pain-staking work is done mainly by Filipinos. All human life is dwarfed in this arena death. The focus is at the school where sounds of tapping were reported where 240 children disappeared. But specialists listening equipment has heard nothing, nor can the dogs smell life or even death, where the school was. It now lies 28 meters, almost 100 feet under mud, rocks and rubble.

TED ESGUERRA, MOUNTAIN RESCUE SPECIALIST: The chances of survival are so nil because it's a loose soil. It has no pores, therefore oxygen is impossible in this kind of situation.

RIMINTON: It is treacherous when it is dry. It is a potential death trap each time is rains. The doctor says offering hope now is just being cruel to the families.

ESGUERRA: I would like to say, say prayers for the families. That they have passed.

RIMINTON: We met Juan Garcia Saturday when he was identifying the body of his wife; his four children are still missing. Now he is part of the rescue effort, acting as a guide.

JUAN GARCIA (Translator): Today for the first time, I accept that there is just no hope. The mud is too deep. It's painful.

RIMINTON: He is one of the few people who knew this village intimately, who is still alive today.

Hugh Riminton, CNN, the Philippines.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROESGEN: Just ahead, Saddam Hussein in power in Iraq. Are the experts learning anything new about the former dictator from newly released audiotapes?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID BURKE, INVENTOR, FLAVOR SPRAYS: Food is one of those things where, you know, there's really no rules.

ANNOUNCER: A world winning chef David Burke has always loved to push the envelope on experimentation. His top rated restaurants; cookbooks and gourmet inventions have made him one of the most respected entrepreneurs in the food community. Burke's newest innovation combines culinary flair with a healthy twist in his line of flavor sprays.

BURKE: We have the Memphis barbecue sauce that doesn't have the sugar, but it has the flavor. Look at the glaze it gives it. Take this and you spray bacon on it. I didn't double the fat but I got the flavor.

ANNOUNCER: Flavor sprays are food enhancer. While they contain some artificial ingredients they have no calories, carbs or fat, only a sweet or savory zing.

BURKE: It's almost a must. So many people are concerned with health, nutrition, and digestion.

ANNOUNCER: "Time" Magazine recognized the flavor sprays as one of the top inventions of 2005. There are currently 30 flavors, ranging from hot and sour to root beer float. Nothing is off limits.

BURKE: It's marshmallow, we are making martinis with marshmallow flavors, and we are making martinis with birthday cake. I love creating beautiful food, love creating high end stuff but this stuff is really kind of my new baby and it's helpful to people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROESGEN: Saddam Hussein talking about weapons of mass destruction on tape. It is quite a find, but what do the recordings of the former Iraqi leader and his inner circle actually prove? David Ensor has the details.

(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 tapes 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, FORMER CIA WEAPONS INSPECTOR: 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.

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

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

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.

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 Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

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

David Ensor, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROESGEN: Well he is red hot on the ice. Speed skater Shani Davis grabbed the gold and sped his way into the Olympic record books. More about a major milestone from the Torino Olympic Games.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROESGEN: The medals, mostly gold, that's what it really comes down to in the Olympics and here is the current count. The U.S. and Germany are tied with seven gold medals each. Germany has the most medals overall with 18. Norway has 16, and the U.S. and Russia each have 13 total.

U.S. speed skater Shani Davis is still celebrating his historic win. Davis took the gold in the 1,000-meter race yesterday, becoming the first ever African-American to win an individual gold in winter Olympic history.

Some stories making news across America. In southern California, an escaped prisoner is back in custody, after a massive manhunt last night. The police say the prisoner used his handcuffs to try to strangle a guard, who was transporting him. The guard crashed the car and the prisoner got away. The police eventually found him hiding in someone's garage. The guard is OK but he's in the hospital in stable condition.

Just because NASA is putting the brakes on the space shuttle "Atlantis" it doesn't mean it's a total loss. NASA has decided to retire it but will take it into the chop shop to make extra parts for the shuttle "Discovery" and "Endeavor" in the final years of the shuttle program.

In Florida this mother if you can see her there on the store surveillance tape took a trip to Wal-Mart to get a few things for her baby's birth and then she wound up giving birth to the baby right there in the store. She went into labor, gave birth, mother and baby are OK.

CNN LIVE SUNDAY continues after a quick break. Those hundreds of mobile homes sitting empty in Arkansas. Why aren't they being used at a time when so many Katrina victims still don't have a place to call home? We will give you the latest in the next hour, so stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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