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American Morning
State Department Investigating Israel; Appeals for Release of Captured Journalists in Gaza; Karr in Colorado
Aired August 25, 2006 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Devastating tornadoes sweep through the Midwest. One person's dead, dozens of others now homeless.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: More tornadoes today possible up there, but all eyes on what will be upgraded to Ernesto rather shortly. Tropical Depression number five, it is forecast it will be a hurricane and in the Gulf of Mexico in the beginning of next week.
Pay attention to this.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ed Lavandera in Boulder, Colorado.
John Mark Karr is waking up this morning in solitary confinement, but what happens next?
I'll explain coming up.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Kathleen Koch at Reagan National Airport.
Passengers are finding that tough new security rules have a silver lining. I'll have that story coming up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: I brought you all here today to tell you that you will be a part of the very first class of the Oprah Winfrey...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: A dream come true for young girls in South Africa as Oprah gives them the opportunity of a lifetime.
This story ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
O'BRIEN: Oh, I love that shot where they are all hugging and smiling. Jumping up and down. That's so great.
Welcome back, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
HARRIS: And good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris, in for Miles O'Brien.
O'BRIEN: We start this morning with some new questions about Israeli air attacks in southern Lebanon. A report in "The New York Times" says the State Department is looking into whether Israel broke an agreement with the United States on the use of American-made cluster bombs.
CNN's Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon with more.
Hey, Barbara. Good morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.
Not a lot of information on this story. Washington officials just barely beginning to react to it.
The question, of course, is whether Israel violated any agreement it had with the U.S. when it purchased cluster aerial bombs from the U.S. and whether those bombs were used in the Lebanon conflict and used inappropriately. No one confirming those details reported in "The New York Times," but a State Department spokesman saying a short time ago, "We heard the allegations that these munitions were used and we are seeking more information."
The Israeli Defense Force, for their part, saying, "All the weapons and munitions used by the IDF are legal under international law and their use conforms with international standards."
The question here, of course, is whether in fact that is the case. These weapons have a very wide area of dispersal, essentially. They are sub-munitions. They -- they deploy over a very wide area, indiscriminately killing military or civilian targets in their way. And when the U.S. sells weapons overseas, of course, there are always stipulations that those weapons must be used against valid military targets.
So a lot of questions here about whether it was U.S. aerial bombs or whether the IDF used them, and whether the IDF used them inappropriately against civilian areas -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.
Barbara, thanks.
Meanwhile, an international force for southern Lebanon appears to be coming together, finally. France says it is going to commit 2,000 troops instead of the 200 as it originally planned. French engineers are bringing equipment ashore as we speak. France is also saying it's now willing to lead the international force.
Still up in the air, though, is the exact size of the force. France's president says 15,000 troops is "excessive" -- and that's a quote.
HARRIS: And this morning, new appeals for the release of two journalists kidnapped in Gaza. The Muslim American Society says it will send a delegation to Gaza. Plus, the Reverend Jesse Jackson leaves for the region later today to help try to free the men. CNN's Chris Lawrence is live in Jerusalem.
Chris, good morning.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony.
Just within the last few minutes our sources in Gaza said there are "encouraging signs" regarding the work to release both FOX News correspondent Steve Centanni and cameraman Olaf Wiig.
A few hours ago I spoke with the spokesman for the interior ministry, Khaled Abu Halal (ph). He told me there are no direct negotiations. But there are communications with various Palestinian sides working to try to get both journalists released -- Tony.
HARRIS: Chris Lawrence for us in Jerusalem.
Chris, appreciate it. Thank you.
O'BRIEN: JonBenet Ramsey murder suspect John Mark Karr is back near the scene of the crime. Karr was flown to Colorado from California yesterday afternoon. He is now in a Boulder county jail, will most likely face a judge early next week.
CNN's Ed Lavendera is live for us in Boulder this morning.
Hey, Ed. Good morning.
LAVANDERA: Good morning, Soledad.
Well, we're expecting to hear from the court at some point today some more details about what is expected to happen next in terms of court appearances and that sort of thing, but every indication we got from the sheriff here last night is that he did not expect that John Mark Karr would make his first court appearance until Monday.
John Mark Karr swiftly brought in here to the Boulder County jail yesterday in a small caravan of secured vehicles, a three-hour plane ride from California. He was booked and his -- another mug shot taken of John Mark Karr.
He has been resting in solitary confinement here throughout the night, but we know that before he went to bed he spent three hours meeting with an attorney, a public defender here in Boulder, who emerged from that meeting and told CNN last night that he had been asked by John Karr to be represented by the Colorado Public Defenders Office, which is a little bit confusing, because if you have been paying close attention, you've probably heard a lot about two attorneys in California who say they are representing him as well.
So we'll probably spend part of the day today clearing up just exactly who his attorney is going to be as they move forward in this case. And, of course, in terms of evidence, the D.A.'s office saying yesterday afternoon that they still had no comments about what is going on with the investigation. We do know that John Mark Karr's name only surfaced, according to the D.A.'s office, five days before he was arrested last week in Thailand. So it is still a very early investigation, and perhaps that is why it took a little while to get him here. And we understand that investigators are still working quite feverishly to build the case against him, trying to prove or disprove whether or not he is the person that killed JonBenet Ramsey 10 years ago -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Ed Lavandera in Boulder this morning.
Ed, thanks -- Tony.
HARRIS: A prominent military school in South Carolina has done a survey on sexual assaults on campus, and the results surprising to some female graduates of the Citadel.
CNN's David Mattingly joins us live from Charleston.
David, good morning.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony.
Sexual contact between cadets at the Citadel has always been prohibited on and off campus. That is a long-running policy. But now 10 years after the first female cadets appear on campus, the university is taking steps in a very public way to deal with the issue of sexual assault.
There are just 118 female cadets on campus out of a student body of 2,000. Out of that 118, one out of five females say that they have experienced in the four years of college here some form of sexual assault. And that's a very broad definition here, including everything from rape up through unwanted touching and unwanted kissing.
So it's a very broad definition. But the rate that they have experienced that is five times greater than the male counterparts.
And they also found that seven out of 10 of the females have been sexually harassed. That's a rate four times greater than their male counterparts here.
The university president said the only way to go about this is to talk about it a lot, and they started by going in a very public way, releasing the findings of their study.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GEN. JOHN ROSA, CITADEL PRESIDENT: ... of this country holds us to a higher standard. And where we find ourselves is not the standard we want to be. So to do nothing and to not attack this problem head would simply not be an option.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: And one of the things they are going to be doing, they are going to be talking about it a lot here. The cadets when they first come in at this time of the school year, they're going to have a very long orientation session. They're going to be discussing topics of sexual harassment and sexual assault. And in case any of them in their entire four years has any questions, they all have carry -- take a look at this -- they all have to have in their possession somewhere this 30-something page document from the school explaining everything about this issue, what it is, what they should do, how they should act, how they should not act, and what to do in case of someone gets out of line.
One of the big problems they are trying to address here is reporting the crime. Of the women who say they were sexually assaulted while here at the campus, less than a third ever reported that. So the campus authorities are try very hard to make sure that that number goes down dramatically as well -- Tony.
HARRIS: OK. CNN's David Mattingly for us.
David, thank you.
O'BRIEN: Emergency crews in South Dakota are cleaning up after some pretty wild weather. Several tornadoes hit the central part of the state last night. A tornado chaser -- look at this -- caught these images from his car.
The local fire chief said he could see the twister plucking cornstalks right out of the cornfield. The storms destroyed some homes. No reports, though, of any major injuries.
In southern Minnesota, the governor plans to tour the towns that were hit hardest by last night's series of tornadoes.
Boyd Huppert of our affiliate KARE has more for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOYD HUPPERT, REPORTER, KARE (voice over): No one should have to deal with this once in a lifetime.
So what do you even say to Doug Lukes (ph)?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We moved here from St. Peter after a tornado blew us out of there.
HUPPERT: One house destroyed nine years ago in St. Peter. Now a second in Nicolett.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is about a 20 by 15 foot family room, carpeted, all refinished.
HUPPERT: Perhaps the cruelest of several swipes taken tonight by the storm.
SONJA SHAY, WITNESSED TORNADO: The pressure was very high. Very high. Instant headache, and our ears popped. Just that fast, it was gone. HUPPERT: Sonja Shay stood in front of the pickup she drove to work this morning but won't be driving home. The daycare provider had just two kids left in her care when the storm bore down.
(on camera): Were the kids scared?
SHAY: No. The kids weren't. The adults were.
HUPPERT (voice over): A few miles outside of Nicolett, the Ashawa town hall is destroyed, as were a garage, a barn, and two machine sheds on Hazel Bach's (ph) farm. As she headed to the basement, windows blew in, in her home.
I went down in the basement and I heard glass. So I didn't dare come up until it was over with.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There ain't much left here.
HUPPERT: What do you say, except you're sorry it happened, again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There ain't nothing you can say. It happens. The good lord wanted it, he took it. You can't do nothing about that. The only thing you can do is pick up the pieces.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: That was Boyd Huppert from our affiliate KARE.
Let's get right to the forecast and Chad.
Oh, gosh, you've got to feel for those folks, Chad.
MYERS: We talked about how that threat was there yesterday.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Chad.
Coming up this morning, frustrated by all those security changes at the airport? There is a silver lining. We'll explain just ahead.
HARRIS: Also, another huge recall involving laptop computer batteries. This time it's Apple.
Are more recalls on the way?
Plus, this...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WINFREY: I look in their faces and I see my own. The girls who came from a background just like my own.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Oprah Winfrey explains why she is pouring millions of dollars into South Africa to transform young lives.
It's a story you're going to see only on CNN. It's ahead.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: If you're taking a flight this weekend you might be surprised just how fast you move through security lines. More travelers are checking their baggage ever since that alleged London terror plot. But what you might not expect is the long wait once you get there.
CNN's Kathleen Koch is at Reagan National Airport this morning.
Good morning, Kathleen.
KOCH: Good morning, Soledad.
And this is truly a good news-bad news story, because -- because of the security rules, air travelers are finding that they are speeding through parts of their trip but trudging through others.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KOCH (voice over): The initial results of the new rules were easy to see: more people checking luggage, more lines at the counters, more work for the airlines.
JOHN MEENAN, AIR TRANSPORT ASSOC.: It's put some additional stresses on the system. It's obviously meant some overtime for baggage handlers.
KOCH: But travelers quickly started noticing something else: faster security lines...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This morning I got -- not long at all.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Haven't gone through...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Haven't gone through security yet, but it looks like it shouldn't be too bad this time of day.
KOCH: ... faster border and deplaning.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Definitely much more speedier, you don't have to fight for overhead space. People aren't as cranky. It's very nice.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's not as many people standing in the aisles. It's easier to -- faster getting off the plane.
KOCH: Airlines say it's all having a ripple effect.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are moving through the lines very quickly, moving on to airplanes very quickly, and as a result the system is running on time or even a little bit ahead of schedule.
KOCH: On time arrivals at 24 of the nation's top 30 airports have improved the last two weeks over July. There has been some concern the government's screening system would be strained trying to handle the nearly 25 percent increase in checked bags, but the Transportation Security Administration insists the level of security has not been compromised.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, right now we are able to manage the load very well.
KOCH: So, despite initial frustration with the security changes, passengers and the system at large seem to be adjusting.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Actually, it hasn't been bad at all. We were -- I was anticipating the worst and long lines, and so far I've been pleasantly surprised.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOCH: Airlines only randomly monitor the delays at the end of your trip at the luggage carousel, but with the airlines handling roughly 25 percent more bags, the anecdotal evidence is that there is a slight increase in the time that you'll wait there -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Kathleen Koch for us this morning at Reagan National.
Thanks, Kathleen -- Tony.
KOCH: You bet.
HARRIS: And coming up, first Dell, now Apple. We'll tell you about the latest laptop battery recall and see if more recalls are on the way.
Plus, the primetime Emmys will be handed out Sunday, but critics say the most deserving shows and stars aren't even nominated. We'll look at the controversy.
That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: First Dell, now Apple -- 1.8 million more laptop computers batteries are being recalled because they could overheat and catch fire. The lithium-ion batteries are used in Apple's 12-inch iBook G4, and in both the 12 and 15-inch Powerbook G4.
Joining us from Los Angeles, Xeni Jardin, co-editor of Boingboing.net.
Love the name -- love your name.
XENI JARDIN, CO-EDITOR, BOINGBOING.NET.: Well, thank you.
HARRIS: Love the title of your site. Good to see you this morning.
JARDIN: Thank you, Tony.
HARRIS: Hey, I've got to ask you, Dell last week, Apple this week. What's the problem with these batteries?
JARDIN: So what they have in common is that they were both made apparently by a specific manufacturing plant, a Sony manufacturing plant overseas. And what I'm hearing is that all the problems result from contamination in the manufacturing process. Some little particles of metal that get inside the battery when it's not produced right, and that can cause actually a short circuit between the positive and negatively-charged parts of the cell, and things can get overheated from there. Sometimes even fires.
HARRIS: I'm going to be confused by the end of this segment, I'm sure.
JARDIN: Oh, sorry.
HARRIS: Xeni, is there any difference between last week's recall and this week's recall?
JARDIN: Well, this one is the second biggest consumer product recall in history. And last week's was the biggest.
But, yes, we are talking about the same kinds of batteries, both made by Sony. This time, Apple computers affected. And news is spreading quickly. We already have lots of people signing up for the exchange program. So that's good news.
HARRIS: Does this affect the new product in stores now?
JARDIN: No.
HARRIS: Oh, good. OK.
JARDIN: So if you walk into an Apple store today, none of the products that are on sale there are affected by the recall.
HARRIS: So, Xeni, can you explain to me why it appears that Sony isn't being more proactive about this and getting out ahead of this and maybe recalling more of these batteries?
JARDIN: Well, the manufacturers feel like they've -- they've contained the risk at this point. Sony has changed procedures at its manufacturing plants, and the sense there, their take on it, is that the risk is contained at this point.
HARRIS: You know what? I'm not a tech savvy guy. That's Miles O'Brien. He usually sits here. But I've got to ask you, I'm on some of these sites and I'm getting some advice on the fixes here. Folks are saying things like register your computer, read tech news Web sites to keep up to date on this, and keep an eye -- I don't have time.
Is any of this helpful?
JARDIN: It is helpful. If you do register your product, then if Apple or Dell or any other manufacturer wants to alert you of a problem, they know how to reach you. So that's good.
Maybe another more practical piece of advice is, if you see smoke coming out of the back of the your laptop, run.
(LAUGHTER)
HARRIS: That makes sense to me.
JARDIN: Yes.
HARRIS: How much of a hassle is it for most folks to get a replacement battery, to go through the process?
JARDIN: You know, not so much. A few weeks ago Apple initiated another performance-related battery recall. I happened to be affected by that one.
I sent in my old battery and within a few days I had the new one in. So this is becoming old hat for computer manufacturers now. And the replacement process seems to be increasingly seamless.
HARRIS: Xeni, Xeni, Xeni, what about -- we're talking about laptop batteries now. Could we be talking about cell phone batteries, PDA batteries, watch batteries in the future here?
JARDIN: They are everywhere, aren't they?
HARRIS: Yes.
JARDIN: Well, the specific manufacturing problem here involved laptop batteries. So it's possible.
I mean, this isn't going to be every battery ever made has this problem. We're talking about one manufacturing plant. So keep an eye out, but for now, this does seem to be contained.
HARRIS: And maybe just a bit of a broader question here. We are asking -- are we asking too much of these batteries? We know that chips are amazing and they can do all of these things and carry out all of these functions for us, but are we asking -- are the batteries able to keep up?
JARDIN: Well, you could say there's no such thing as a free lunch with -- with engineering. And this is one of the most interesting engineering questions that scientists have now, is to how -- how to pack more power into smaller spaces safely. So, you know, if you're a young person looking into science, this is an interesting place to go.
HARRIS: Xeni, good to se you. Thanks for your time.
JARDIN: My pleasure. HARRIS: Yes.
Xeni Jardin is the co-editor of BoingBoing.net. Sort of take my time and say that.
Thanks for joining us.
JARDIN: Thank you.
HARRIS: And if you're unsure if your Apple is one of those affected, go to apple.com for a complete list of the batteries in question.
O'BRIEN: She said just step away and run.
HARRIS: Run. Run fast.
O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, a little girl kidnapped, held captive. Eight years later, police say they have found her. How will she ever recover from this ordeal? We're going to take a closer look this morning.
And Oprah uses her millions to make a big difference in South Africa. She explains how she is delivering on an old promise ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Opening bell just about to ring on Wall Street this morning. They are clapping ahead of time, as they always do.
HARRIS: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Oh, it's 20 seconds away.
You know, do you know that they go ahead and they motion for them to start clapping?
HARRIS: No they don't.
O'BRIEN: Yes, Andy Serwer...
HARRIS: They prompt them to clap?
O'BRIEN: ... says they prompt them to clap ahead of time so that it looks cheery.
HARRIS: So they have the effect that everyone is happy, get the day off to...
O'BRIEN: Exactly. And then, a couple of seconds later, the bell rings, sort of like this...
HARRIS: Yes. Beautiful.
O'BRIEN: ... and look how happy and cheery they look. The Dow Jones Industrials average opens at 11,304. That's up more than six points yesterday. Welcome back, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning everyone. I'm Tony Harris in for Miles O'Brien. Let's take you to the newsroom now, Carol Costello is there with a check of the morning headlines. Carol good morning?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning Tony, good morning to all of you. Afghan's president Hamid Karzai calling for an investigation into a deadly raid that U.S. forces claim targeted Al Qaeda members. A statement from Karzai's office says he's calling for an inquiry and is saddened by the incident. Afghan police say civilians not Al Qaeda members were killed. The U.S. military said the raid took place yesterday in eastern Afghanistan.
The man who says he was with JonBenet Ramsey the night she died spent his first night in a Colorado jail. John Mark Karr was transferred from Los Angeles to Boulder, Colorado. Right now he's being held in solitary confinement. Today Karr is expected to find out when his first court appearance in Colorado will be.
Northwest Airlines goes to court today to head off a flight attendants' strike. Workers are threatening sporadic walk-outs if they don't get a better contract. Northwest opposed a new contract last month after negotiations failed.
Minnesota's governor plans to tour storm-damaged areas of the state today. Take a look. These are some of the fierce tornadoes that ripped through southern Minnesota last night. A lot of cleanup there today, no doubt. One person killed when a tornado hit a house about 80 miles south of Minneapolis. Several others were hurt in the storms.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Huge relief for a family in Austria. Natascha Kampusch was 10 years old when she disappeared back in 1998 and just this week police say a young woman turned up claiming she had been held captive, and they are certain now that it is Natascha. She is now 18 years old. The man who allegedly kidnapped her killed himself just hours after she escaped. Police say the girl is talkative, seems calm, seems in good health. How are the emotional scars though going to heal? Joining us this morning in Raleigh, North Carolina, Dr. Sharon Cooper, she's with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. It's nice to see you Dr. Cooper, thanks for talking with us.
DR. SHARON COOPER, NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING & EXPLOITED CHILDREN: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: It's such a bizarre story. I mean the details, literally each one gets more and more odd. But the investigators report that this young lady seems to be in good physical condition. And also sounds like she's in good mental condition, too. She's chatting, talking about her experiences, seems very calm, sleeping well. Does that surprise you?
COOPER: It is somewhat surprising but this is a child who has been victimized for many years. And she may very well have accommodated to the environment that she was imprisoned in.
O'BRIEN: It seems that, from what we know, and it's kind of early in this investigation, obviously, that she was allowed out to do chores and to do some gardening, they talked about as well. And I always wonder, you've heard other cases like this, too, where the captives are sometimes in positions where they could run and scream and get away and get help. Why don't they?
COOPER: Well, the most common reason that kidnapped children don't take that step is because they have been intimidated to believe that the well-being of their family rests upon their cooperating with the offender. They are usually told that if they try to escape their family will be killed. So they tend to accommodate to the environment and do the best that they can.
O'BRIEN: There was one officer that they quoted in media reports that said, she believed that the girl had been sexually assaulted but the way she put it was, but didn't realize it. Is it kind of brainwashing that she's describing?
COOPER: No, I don't think it's brainwashing, I think it's more associated with something called disassociation, where children are able to separate the memory of victimization through sexual abuse from their everyday life. And disassociation can cause long-term problem for the kids once those memories start to resurface.
O'BRIEN: I know you have worked on high profile cases in some ways similar to this one. Is there, can a person who has been held like this in -- and sadly several cases that we know people were held underground or captive in little cellars as this girl apparently was. Can they really ever integrate back into normal society?
COOPER: I think that a lot will depend upon the child's development. Remember that she was taken when she was only 10 years of age. And her brain was still in a state of development. We know that the brain's not completely mature until you're nearly 22 years of age. And the presence of humiliation, isolation and deprivation we know can lead to this issue of Stockholm Syndrome where kids or adults begin to become loyal to their captives. The additional factor that this person committed suicide shortly after her escape can lead to guilt and self-blame for this young woman, which may go on to cause her long-term psychological problems.
O'BRIEN: Some of the details that we know. The room was nine feet approximately by 12 feet littered, crowded with books they said. Some word that maybe he had been teaching her math and how to read and things like that. When you hear those details, what do you make of that?
COOPER: It sounds as if this individual had some degree of nurturing desires with respect to this child. However, she was still deprived of peers, of same age children. And when you have a child who is in that type of environment, they will frequently have impairment of their social skills, their self-help skills, their general knowledge and education, and most importantly their emotional responsiveness.
O'BRIEN: The reunion with the family. We saw the mother being interviewed and she was crying and she was so -- happy, doesn't even come close to describing how this woman felt. She said I always believed that she was alive. I always thought my daughter was alive. What's the family's role in kind of making everybody healthy again?
COOPER: I think it's very important for the family to recognize that this child is at very high risk for psychological outcome problems and most families want to put it behind us. But that is a mistake typically. It's important for them to pursue mental health services for their daughter and to make sure that she can become the well rounded person that she has the potential to be.
O'BRIEN: What a bizarre story but with a happy, happy ending for this -- you know not little girl now, young woman, 18-year-old who escaped, got out and got away and ran for help and made herself known. It's great news. Dr. Sharon Cooper, nice to see you, thanks for talking with us.
COOPER: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Dr. Cooper's with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Appreciate it. Tony?
HARRIS: And coming up, Oprah Winfrey's mission to transform young lives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OPRAH WINFREY: It is a complete full circle moment in my life. It is -- I feel like it's what I was really born to do.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Oprah explains why she's making a $40 million investment in the children of South Africa. It's a story you'll see only on CNN. Plus this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Brooke Anderson in Hollywood. Did the Emmys get it right this year? Criticism over the new voting process and where are the big names? Will viewers watch? We'll take a look at the controversy coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Talk show host Oprah Winfrey is making a dream come true for hundreds of South African girls. She's giving them a chance at a free education and making a mark on their lives forever. That's why Oprah is our making their mark newsmaker this week. CNN's Jeff Koinange of the first class and it's a story you'll see only here on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 12-year-old Palessa(ph) and her 13-year-old cousin Lebohang(ph) live in this three-roomed house along with four other family members in Soweto, one of Johannesburg's sprawling townships. They've heard U.S. talk show host Oprah Winfrey is in town and she's looking for a few good girls to be part of her new project. What they don't know is that Oprah's about to pay them a visit. Word spreads fast about Oprah's presence in Soweto and the visit is no longer top secret. After all, this is Oprah. Oprah has been coming to South Africa for the past several years, determined to fulfill a promise she made to former president Nelson Mandela or Madeva to most here.
OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: So I said to Madeva, I would like to build a school and I would like to commit $10 million. This was five years ago. And he said, yes.
KOINANGE: And just like that the two broke ground for a girl's school just outside Johannesburg in what began as a $10 million project. It's since grown to $40 million and counting.
(on camera): Less than four years later this is the result, the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls. Set on more than 50 acres of land, it houses more than two dozen buildings and Oprah says she was personally involved in the design and layout of most of them.
WINFREY: The dream for me was to create a school that I would most want to attend. So from the very beginning I sat down with architects and I said, we have to have a library in the fireplace so that the girls can, it can be a place of learning as well as living for them. We have to have a theater because this is a school for leaders and in order to be a leader you have to have a voice. In order to have a voice you need oration. So the idea for the school came about based on what I felt would be an honor for the African girls.
KOINANGE (voice-over): And all this for free. Free uniforms, free books, free meals. Everything is free at Oprah's school, which brings us back to Soweto and Palessa and Lebohang's house. Lebohang's mother died of AIDS nearly two years ago. Palessa's mother and grandmother now help feed five hungry mouths. But Oprah sees potential here, the right ingredients for leadership in her leadership academy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The future awaits you.
WINFREY: The future awaits you, I agree. I think your future awaits you. Your future is so bright it burns my eyes. Yeah, that's how bright your future is.
KOINANGE: Palessa's mother is overwhelmed by Oprah's philanthropy. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was thinking that angels are white and they have wings and you only see angels in heaven. So now I can see we are living in this world with angels. Oprah, you are an angel. Angel from God, I believe in that.
KOINANGE: And outside the word had spread like wild fire. The Oprah Fan Club had instantly multiplied. Oprah insisted on personally interviewing all the prospective students from schools around the country. Her requirements were simple, the girls had to have better than average grades and they had to come from under privileged homes, much like she did.
WINFREY: I look in their faces I see my own. The girls who came from a background just like my own. I was raised by a grandmother, no running water, no electricity, but yet because of a sense of education and learning I was able to become who I am. And I want to do the same for these girls and so I think there's no better place than Africa because a sense of need, the sense of value for education and appreciation for it could not be greater.
KOINANGE: And in true Oprah fashion, she invited all the finalists to what was supposed to be an informal get together and dropped this bombshell.
WINFREY: I brought you all here today to tell you that you will be a part of the very first class of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy. And just like that, 150 young lives were transformed in an instant. What does this mean, this moment right now, what does it mean?
WINFREY: It is a complete full circle moment in my life. It is -- I feel like it's what I was really born to do. And that's what all of that fame and attention and money was for. It feels like the complete circle of my life.
KOINANGE: As for cousins Lebohang and Palessa --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm overwhelmed. I don't know what to say. I'm that happy, I'm just waiting for next year.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm just waiting for that date.
KOINANGE: It seems that date can't come soon enough for South Africa's best and the brightest here, an all expenses paid top class education. And all because one woman wanted to help out an old man.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALES: We love you, Oprah.
KOINANGE: Jeff Koinange, CNN, Johannesburg.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Oh my God, those cousins, are they not the cutest girls you've ever seen?
HARRIS: They're adorable. O'BRIEN: That's so great, good for her.
HARRIS: And although 150 girls were picked to attend the school, it will eventually hold classes for 450 girls.
O'BRIEN: Oh that is so great. Let's get right to Daryn Kagan, "CNN LIVE TODAY" is coming up next. Hey Daryn, good morning.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Can we just rerun that over and over again, where the girls find out they're going to the school.
O'BRIEN: How cute were they? I can't wait for school to start.
KAGAN: Actually, we're going to show the story again later on my show so stick around because you can watch it over and over again.
Also coming up, live coverage from New Orleans this Friday morning, days before the Katrina anniversary, engineers reveal possible ways to keep this tragic scene from ever happening again. You'll see their briefing live. Also happening in Louisiana, a white school bus driver accused by parents, did he force the black children to sit in the back? And this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A matter of the heart would have us build back where we were but the matter of the mind tells us that it's time to go to a higher location and a safer location.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: We're going to visit with one Episcopal church in Gulfport, Mississippi, they are rebuilding. This is what it looked like a year ago. They are ready to break ground two and a half miles in, in Gulfport, it is a story that many churches along the gulf coast share from over the last year. That's coming up. Back to you.
O'BRIEN: A lot of those churches getting help from regular folks who have just been packing up and volunteering and helping them gut and clean up and then rebuild their churches. It's a great story. All right Daryn, thanks, we'll see you then.
Ahead this morning, the continuing controversy over the nominees for this Sunday's Emmy awards. Were the most deserving shows and most deserving stars nominated? Some people are saying maybe not. That's up next on AMERICAN MORNING, we're back in a moment.
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O'BRIEN: In this morning's "AM Pop" the prime time Emmy awards are supposed to showcase television's best in show. This year a new nominating procedure though was designed to give a little Emmy love to those in the years past that might have been overlooked. CNN's Brooke Anderson tells us the new system may be a lost cause.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They will never do it this way again, this doesn't work.
ANDERSON (voice-over): On the eve of the Emmy's the talk is usually about who is going to win. But this year the focus is on something else. How a change in the voting procedure turned the awards into a case of missing persons. Worthy series and performers left out of the running. Critics including TV Guide's Mary Murphy say it's all the fault of new rules that put a committee in charge of whittling down the contenders.
MARY MURPHY, SENIOR WRITER, TV GUIDE: I think it backfired on the TV academy. There is no reason that some of the most talented people and the best shows on television shouldn't have been nominated for an Emmy this year. And "Lost" is the number one example.
ANDERSON: Last year's Emmy winning drama "Lost" didn't even get a nomination. Neither did "Desperate Housewives" for best comedy a top contender last year. The show's main stars were snubbed, too. And while "House" earned a best drama nomination, star Hugh Lorie(ph) was left. Call it a medical mystery.
MURPHY: Without Hugh Lorie there would be no "House", was not nominated. Go figure.
ANDERSON: Perhaps most surprising of all, "The Sopranos" James Gandolfini and Edie Falco won't be competing Sunday. In the absence of those mainstays, who stands to take home the gold?
MURPHY: I would go with "24", I think it's the year for 24.
ANDERSON: She's also picking "24's" Kiefer Sutherland to win best actor in a drama. On the comedy side the odds on favorite is "The Office".
MURPHY: It just consistently got better week after week after week.
ANDERSON: Star Steve Carell is the heavy favorite to win best actor in a comedy. Comedy actress is a toss up, but some critics give Julie Louis-Dreyfus the edge for "The New Adventures of Old Christine." Without Edie Falco in the drama race, that award could go to Kyra Sedgwick for the TNT series, "The Closer."
MURPHY: This is the role of a lifetime from Kyra Sedgwick.
ANDERSON: Another lingering question will anyone be watching the Emmys? It's been moved up this year to a time when audiences may be busy vacationing.
MURPHY: My forecast for the ratings, cloudy.
ANDERSON: Brooke Anderson, CNN, Hollywood.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: The Emmy awards hosted by Conan O'Brien airs Sunday night at 7:00 p.m. eastern on NBC.
HARRIS: So the founders of Hewlett-Packard, ok, take a cross country trip and end up at one of their company's rivals. That and an early look at trading. Jennifer Westhoven is here "Minding your Business" this morning. Jennifer good morning.
JENNIFER WESTHOVEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, do you want to start with business first or these guys?
HARRIS: You pick it, you pick it, it's Friday, come on.
WESTHOVEN: Bad news first, right, that's the stock market unfortunately. Well we have two things that haven't been looking so great for stocks today. There's the Dow off by 16 points, 11,288. That's not bad right, that's barely a loss at all. But what markets might be keeping their eye on today is the price of oil because it's been pointing higher on two concerns here, one that is close to home which is that depression that looks like it could become a tropical storm in the Caribbean, and you know after last year there's a lot of concern what it could do to the oil rigs and the platforms down in the Gulf of Mexico. But also far away Nigeria, you know that of course a big oil producer and the violence there has been getting worse. Recently unions have said maybe the workers shouldn't be there. Well now three workers have gone missing. So the output from Nigeria has gone down as it gets -- the situation there just gets a little more frightening and potentially violent. So, that has oil prices up a bit. That can be a depressant on stocks. So to counter that, we'll go to this HP story.
HARRIS: Yeah, ok.
WESTHOVEN: So this artist comes up with this idea, he makes these cut-out posters of these pioneers in the technology world, including Hewlett and Packard, the original guys who founded Hewlett- Packard. He set them all up on the east coast and then people -- he put these pictures out with instructions so people would pick them up, put them in their cars, drive them to the next spot and they would essentially, making their way west. And by the time they got all the way out to California, they were all done. He was trying to sell them off. Well he wanted to sell the picture of the Packard for $6,000 or however much, but HP didn't want to pay it.
HARRIS: They didn't want to pay it?
WESTHOVEN: No.
O'BRIEN: $6,000 for an artistic rendering of your founder, you wouldn't pay it.
WESTHOVEN: Guess who bought it?
HARRIS: Who did?
WESTHOVEN: Sun Microsystems.
HARRIS: No. O'BRIEN: Their rival, happy to pay.
WESTHOVEN: A little bit of a tweak there.
HARRIS: Absolutely.
O'BRIEN: What are they doing with it?
WESTHOVEN: They're putting it around. You know they're just having fun with it. They are not defacing it or anything.
O'BRIEN: That was kind of my question. Thank you, Jennifer.
HARRIS: Thanks Jennifer.
O'BRIEN: Ahead at the top of the hour, John Mark Karr in Colorado now facing charges. New CNN exclusive videotape from Boulder, Colorado to share with you. More AMERICAN MORNING right after this short break.
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O'BRIEN: And that is it. We are out of time. Tony thank you so much for helping us out.
HARRIS: Big fun, thank you for the invite. Thanks for leaving the light on, always will be back.
O'BRIEN: Let's get right to Daryn Kagan.
KAGAN: Have they giving you a key yet Tony?
HARRIS: Not yet, not yet. Soledad?
O'BRIEN: I've got a key somewhere, guys, give the guy a key.
KAGAN: We'll leave the door open for you.
HARRIS: There you go.
KAGAN: You guys have a great weekend, Tony we'll see you back here in a few days.
HARRIS: You got it, take care.
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