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North Korea Calls U.N. Sanctions Declaration of War; Florida Police Investigate Turnpike Murders; Controversy Over Exporting Babies

Aired October 17, 2006 - 15:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Don Lemon.

North Korea calls sanctions an act of war. Secretary of State Rice heads to the region. Are sanctions the answer? Will North Korea act again?

PHILLIPS: The violence in Iraq outside Baghdad -- what do the U.S. troops do in the Iraqi heartland? CNN's Arwa Damon with a rare look at the danger U.S. troops face.

LEMON: And the controversial Madonna adoption -- Madonna answers her critics.

And a snapshot of East Africa -- why are there almost a million children without parents?

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Putting teeth into a U.N. resolution, and hoping North Korea doesn't bite back -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is visiting four Asian nations, urging them to enforce the anti-nuclear sanctions against Pyongyang. Thousands of people lit up that city today to celebrate the 80th anniversary of a communist group.

Meantime, fears are growing that North Korea's response to international pressure could go beyond words.

Our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, has the very latest for us -- Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, you know, there is a saying in the intelligence community: Tell us what you know. Tell us what you think. And make clear which is which.

Here is what the U.S. knows. They know that there is activity at a number of suspected nuclear test sites in North Korea, including some activity at the same site where the U.S. has now confirmed that North Korea set off a nuclear device, although perhaps not an entirely successful one, a week ago.

They have observed some movement and the building of some small structures, which could be anything from storage sheds, to some sort of effort to conceal what is going on at the site.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld today said the -- the whole question of whether North Korea will test a second nuclear device is, in his words, speculation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We won't know until something happens, but there have been -- there has been speculation about that in the press, that -- some of it is very general, that one -- we have seen them do things in multiples, rather than singles. And, of course, very recently, they fired off some missiles, and six or eight, as I recall, shorter-range, and then the Taepodong-2. There is speculation that they may want to do something additional. There's also speculation they may not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCINTYRE: And, asked if that speculation was speculation in the media or among experts in the intelligence community, Rumsfeld smiled and said, let's just call it speculation.

But when he says they do things in multiples, what he means is, often, when a country is testing nuclear weapons, they will conduct a series of tests to make sure that they have that capability. And there's some speculation, again, that North Korea may not have felt it has legitimately joined the nuclear club with a test that was somewhat of a fizzle. And they may feel a -- a compunction to do another test to show that they do, in fact, have this capability, especially if they want to try to sell that technology to somebody else, which, by the way, is the U.S.' biggest fear.

LEMON: All right...

MCINTYRE: Don.

LEMON: ... Jamie McIntyre, thank you for that.

PHILLIPS: Well, there's a reason Kim Jong Il wants to keep the world ignorant of North Korea, and vice versa, and it has nothing to do with nukes.

Life for ordinary North Koreans is hard, but it's paradise compared to life for some North Koreans.

CNN's Dan Rivers met two unlikely friends who managed to escape.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In many ways, Kang Chol Hwan now has a perfect life: a loving wife, a healthy baby boy, and lots of friends. But this land of plenty and comfort is a world way from his own famished childhood. He spent a decade in one of North Korea's labor camps.

He reflects on how different things will be for his own 1-year- old son, Tusong (ph).

KANG CHOL HWAN, NORTH KOREAN PRISONER (through translator): If I were in North Korea, the future of my son would be miserable. I'm so glad that my offspring will have a life here. Babies cannot survive there. There were times when newborn babies were brought into the camps, but they all died.

RIVERS: Kang thinks there are up to six main camps still operating, imprisoning some 200,000 people. They're based on Soviet- style gulags, where prisoners are forced into punishing hard labor for years.

Much of Kang's childhood was devoid of the love and fun his son now enjoys.

KANG (through translator): It was total hell. It was like Auschwitz. We were forced to work, eating only corn and salt. We were starving. It was a very hard life, with cold weather and regular beatings.

RIVERS: And the reason for his imprisonment? His family's alleged Japanese sympathies, guilt by association, spanning three generations.

But Kim Jong Il government has consistently denied the camps even exist.

DAVID HAWK, HUMAN RIGHTS CONSULTANT: It's the worst of the worst.

RIVERS: Human rights expert David Hawk has collected detailed information on the camps.

HAWK: They're dumping grounds for people who are deemed to have bad -- bad ideas.

RIVERS (on camera): Kang Chol Hwan knows many defectors who come to Seoul from North Korea. But what's remarkable about this encounter is that his friend was actually a prison guard at one of Kim Jong Il's brutal gulag camps.

AHN MYONG CHOL, FORMER NORTH KOREAN CAMP GUARD (through translator): I was told in special classes that the prisoners are very bad people, and I had to control them. Now, when I remember those times, I feel so sorry, even though I didn't do it on purpose.

When I first joined the army, I thought they were human beings. But, the more I got indoctrinated, it got more natural to kill or beat them.

RIVERS: Do you find it difficult to forgive him, because he was a guard in the camps?

KANG (through translator): It's not personal. Even though he was a guard, he escaped from North Korea, and opposed Kim Jong Il. He was the first guard who told the truth about the camps. He's a hero. A person like me should appreciate him.

RIVERS (voice over): Such incredible forgiveness, after years of tyranny, is breathtaking. Once this former guard and prisoner were enemies in Kim Jong Il's horrific camps. Now they're friends, united by their awful shared experience.

Dan Rivers, CNN, Seoul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Tough talk becomes the law of the land.

Today, President Bush signed a bill that sets the stage for the trial of captured al Qaeda suspects, including the accused mastermind of the 9/11 attack. The bill allows military commissions that the Supreme Court struck down. It also permits CIA interrogations, while banning certain forms of torture.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This bill complies with both the spirit and the letter of our international obligations. As I have said before, the United States does not torture. It's against our laws and it's against our values.

By allowing the CIA program to go forward, this bill is preserving a tool that has saved American lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: The first terror trials before military commissions could begin in about two months.

Now more on that new law -- it sets tough standards for interrogating and prosecuting terror suspects, including so-called high-value al Qaeda suspects linked to 9/11. It's called the Military Commissions Act.

Among other things, it permits the U.S. to gather information from captured suspects. It also establishes military commissions for trials of detainees deemed enemy combatants. It prohibits those combatants from invoking the Geneva Conventions during trials. It also authorizes a death sentence or life in prison for those found guilty.

PHILLIPS: Well, guns, bombs, improvised devices, a vast arsenal of weapons that Iraqis use on one another, and insurgents use on coalition troops -- now a major effort to get those weapons out of circulation.

CNN's Arwa Damon is embedded with the soldiers of Operation Commando Hunter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In the 150 meter of road and land behind me, about 400 feet, U.S. forces have uncovered seven weapons caches. Those include mortar rounds, as well as roadside bomb, IED- making material.

Also, they have uncovered some weapons. These, though, are fairly small caches for what they have found in this area. These are the fields and farmlands just south of the capital, Baghdad, outside of Yusufiyah. They have not seen a U.S. presence in at least two years.

Now the soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division have pushed in an operation which began about two weeks ago called Operation Commando Hunter. This is an incredibly painstaking process, combing through every inch of this territory. But it has paid off.

In the time that they have been here, they say they have uncovered 100 weapons caches, they say enough material to make at least 1,000 roadside bombs, plus, anti-aircraft machine guns, sniper rifles with scopes, some state-of-the-art weapons. but some other weapons they're uncovering have been put crudely together, but those still are highly effective.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just TNT cut up. It has got some propellants inside. Kind of use it like a Molotov cocktail, light it, throw it.

DAMON: But this has come at a cost to U.S. troops operating here. They have had four soldiers killed in action, at least another 20 wounded.

But they say it is a sacrifice that has been worth it. Already, they are seeing the population, most of whom had fled, start to trickle back. And they say that a large part of securing Baghdad means securing these fields and farmlands.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Yusufiyah, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Now bandaged and bloodied -- in Rome this morning, a subway train rammed a stopped train at rush hour, killing at least one person. More than 100 people are hurt. And authorities are still investigating whether it was human error or a mechanical problem, but some passengers say the driver of the moving train appeared to run a red light.

LEMON: Does a mass murder in Florida have roots in Texas? The latest on the case and the Brownsville connection -- that's ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: Investigators in the House page scandal now looking past Mark Foley to other Capitol allegations. That's coming up from the NEWSROOM, as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Let's get straight to the newsroom -- T.J. Holmes working details on two developing stories.

What's up?

T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

We are going to start, first, with this -- this Amber Alert that we have been talking about in Kentucky. We now know that police have issued a warrant, a kidnapping warrant, for the mother of this child, Saige Terrell, 10-month-old baby boy, who has gone missing.

What has happened -- or what did happen is that police found the body of the social worker who was caring for that child at a home where the social worker had taken the child, for the mother to come visit the child. That is 33-year-old Renee Terrell, who does not have custody of her child. According to police, he -- he was taken away because of neglect on behalf of that mother.

But police believe that 33-year-old Renee Terrell and her boyfriend, 23-year-old Christopher Luttrell, are with the child, 10- month-old Saige Terrell. They believe they are possibly in the social worker's white station wagon, with Kentucky plates 675-DRV. They are keeping an eye out right now for that vehicle -- but, again, the child, 10-month-old Saige Terrell.

Police say he actually is developmentally disabled, has a scratch on the right side of his face, and a rug burn on the back of his neck. But they are keeping their eyes out for him right now.

This is a story that has kind of been developing really all day. We have had our eyes on it. And we are going to continue to keep -- keep track of that one and bring you all those updates -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right.

What is the latest on the train derailment in San Antonio?

HOLMES: Well, this is -- this story here, the -- the pictures we saw, we are going to get those up for you, but just wild pictures here.

We saw at least 15 cars off the track here. This train derailment we're looking at near San -- San Antonio, Texas, what we know is that no one was injured, according to authorities there. But you can see, one of those cars jumped the tracks and actually went into a home. You can see, and right there, at the top of the screen.

Authorities are -- actually say that two houses were hit by cars there, and pretty much destroyed by a couple of these cars. These -- the train was carrying paper products and auto parts, nothing really dangerous, hazardous on the train, thank goodness.

But my goodness. Look at that. All those -- at least 15 of those things went off the track. Haven't exactly nailed down why this happened, what made that train get off the track, but just a mess there, going through a neighborhood. And all those jumped off. And some of them went -- as you can imagine, went awry, and went in all different directions. And a couple of them really bullseyed in on a -- on a couple of houses there -- but, again, no one hurt in this situation.

We are still working that, trying to get as many details, trying to find -- possibly find out exactly what made that train do what you see it did right there, but just a mess. They are going to be cleaning up, and a -- a lot more answers to get on that. And, like we say, we're looking for those answers for you.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, T.J.

LEMON: Unbelievable pictures there.

We go now to the Mark Foley page scandal. It is just the tip of the iceberg on Capitol Hill. Michigan Democrat Dale Kildee says the House Page Board is now discussing other allegations of improper conduct involving teenage pages. Kildee won't say whether the claims involve Republicans or Democrats, lawmakers or other staff members, just that they don't involve Foley.

Kildee is also irked that House Republicans didn't tell him there were questions about Foley before the scandal went public.

Congressman Foley's resignation leaves a cliffhanger in his home district. He was favored to win reelection before the scandal. But a new poll by Research 2000 shows the Democratic challenger is now ahead. Forty-eight percent of likely voters in the 16th District of Florida say they would vote for Tim Mahoney if the election were held today. Forty-one percent would back Joe Negron, the Republican candidate for -- who is running in Foley's place. Eleven percent are undecided.

For whatever reason, the page scandal doesn't seem to be a decisive factor. Seventy-two percent say Foley's resignation has no effect on whether they're more likely to vote for a Democrat or Republican candidates.

Now, as we head into the midterm elections, stay up to date with the CNN Political Ticker. The daily service gives you an inside view of the day's political stories. See for yourself at CNN.com/ticker.

PHILLIPS: Exporting babies, importing controversy, when the new parent is a celebrity -- that story straight ahead from the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Tee time in China -- not T-E-A, the stuff you drink. We mean T-E-E, as in golf. That's what I'm talking about.

A university in Southeast China is requiring its law and business students to take golf lessons. It seems, in China, as in the rest of the world, business deals are often clinched on the golf course. That is true. And Xiamen University doesn't want its graduates handicapped by lack of fairway finesse.

You also learn if someone is patient, a cheater, friendly, gets mad.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Well, it looks like we may have to wait just a little longer to take another crack the Dow 12000 mark.

Susan Lisovicz joins us live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange with the latest.

Susan, a lot of golfers on that floor.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: And I bet you would beat them all.

(LAUGHTER)

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, I'm not a golfer, Kyra.

(LAUGHTER)

LISOVICZ: I know you are a tremendous golfer.

And, you know, lots of women actually get into the sport, just so that they can level the playing field, get access to all the information that is dispensed on the golf course.

The information on the trading floor is that the Dow is coming back. The blue chips were down 93 points at their low -- down only 21 points, which means you would have to have about a 40-point -- you would have to get about 40 points more in order to get Dow 12000. You know what I'm saying. The Dow is off of its low for the session.

In any case, you typically get this kind of resistance when you're in unchartered territory, lots of data barraging the market today. We have lots of earnings report. Half of the S&P 500 is reporting this week.

And a big wholesale inflation report that, on the surface, looks good, because of a big drop in energy prices, but core inflation, which is a more stable number, actually increased more than expected. And that was one of the culprits for the sell-off that we saw at the open today -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, now, you mentioned that producer prices dropped because of energy costs.

What are gas prices doing now?

LISOVICZ: Well, gas prices are at their lowest levels of the year. And that is terrific.

In fact, let's see. We're looking at, nationwide, $2.26 a gallon for an average of self-serve regular. That is not bad, considering what we saw of $3 and more just a few months ago, 50 cents lower than a year ago -- prices, Kyra, down more than 80 cents a gallon since the start of August.

And Missouri, the Show Me State, set to become the first state to cross back below the $2 gallon level -- and oil prices, by the way, closed today lower by about a buck, so, that is good as well.

And that is the latest from Wall Street -- more CNN NEWSROOM right after this.

LEMON: All right. Don't go anywhere. We still got one...

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: A family of four gunned down Friday on the side of Florida's Turnpike -- the investigation now stretches all the way to Texas.

CNN's Susan Candiotti is in Miami with the very latest for us -- Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Are investigators, Don, any closer to a killer or any closer to a motive of who killed this young family of four and abandoned their bodies on the side of the Florida Turnpike?

As you indicated, one of things that investigators from Saint Lucie County, Florida, is doing, is -- has -- they have sent a couple of detectives to Brownsville, Texas, to work with authorities there to interview the family of the Escobedos, the mother, the father, the two little boys, talk to their friends, talk to people who might have worked with, for example, Ms. Escobedo, who worked part-time at a department store there -- the father, evidently, was self-employed, and worked on restoring or fixing up used cars -- to see whatever they can find that might possibly lead them to some more background on what made the family move from Texas to Florida.

The family themselves, according to police, said -- who were there -- were surprised to -- to learn that this young family decided to move to Palm Beach County, Florida, back in June.

And we can also tell you that autopsies were completed by day's end yesterday. Those results have not yet been released. And their bodies will be released, however, to the family for burial in Texas, probably later this week.

There is a news conference coming up in just a few minutes. We do not have the capability -- in fact, the sheriff's office does not want anyone to cover it live. However, as soon as that tape becomes available, we will tell it around and tell you more about what they have to say about their investigation.

For example, what, if anything, have they found, any kind of clues in the jeep that they recovered? That was the family's car that was driven, drove them to their death. The police have ruled out a carjacking in this case. The police have said they believe the killer was in that vehicle with the family when they were made to drive off the side of the road on the Florida Turnpike. The family was made to get out of the car, according to police, and they were each shot multiple times. Then, the killer, police say, got back into that Jeep Cherokee and continued to drive south. About 70 miles south of that crime scene is where the Jeep Cherokee was found yesterday.

So, of course, investigators have been going over it, looking for fingerprints, looking for signs of blood, hair, clothing fibers, anything at all that might lead them for clue -- to clues about the killer -- Don.

LEMON: Susan, first, investigators were talking a lot, holding press conferences several times a day. It doesn't seem to be happening much anymore, does it?

CANDIOTTI: They're very tight-lipped about what is happening now. They won't discuss much of anything.

For example, we tried to find out whether they are through going through the surveillance tapes from the toll booth plazas on the Florida Turnpike to see whether they saw the jeep. But they would not even reveal whether they were through looking at all of those tapes, which accounted for about 500 hours worth of material. Let's see what they have to say this afternoon.

LEMON: Mmm-hmm. And let's hope that quiet means they are finding something.

Thank you very much, Susan.

PHILLIPS: Well, Hawaiians trying to get their footing today, after the big shakedown.

CNN's Chris Lawrence surveys the quake damage.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was the biggest jolt to the Big Island in more than 20 years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yikes.

LAWRENCE: Alex Magu (ph) couldn't believe what the quake did to his school. Falling ceilings forced the principal to keep it closed on Wednesday.

OLAF JORGENSON, PRINCIPAL: It's definitely literally and figuratively shaken us up, but we're coming through.

LAWRENCE: Students are still dealing with the emotional aftershock of the quake, which hit Sunday morning when most were home.

MICHAEL SPETICH, STUDENT: And then I was kind of scared that the roof would fall on us because it was kind of starting to crack.

LAWRENCE: No one was hurt or killed. No major buildings collapsed. The quake measured 6.7 magnitude. But it hit 24 miles below the surface. Compare that to 1994's North Ridge, California earthquake, which was less than 12 miles down.

(on camera): You can see where this road splintered, buckled and then just gave way. A few feet more, at say, a busier time of day, and it literally could have collapsed this entire lane of traffic.

VITA FLEMING, RESIDENT: Everything in our home came crashing down.

LAWRENCE: The home next to Vita Fleming survived the shaking, but a power line snapped and set the house on fire. Fleming screamed at her neighbor to get out.

FLEMING: She came running out right through the fire, fell flat on her face. It was amazing.

LAWRENCE: Crews are still inspecting roads and bridges for structural damage. But folks who live here realize it's those violent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that actually created the beauty of the Big Island.

Chris Lawrence, CNN, Kona.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Jacqui Jeras, watching the situation in Hawaii. Jacqui, what is the latest?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, we just got word in in the last hour. There was a mini-quake, a micro-quake, actually, as we call it, 2.6 magnitude and this happened about 60 miles west, northwest of Hilow (ph) area, so this was on the Big Island again. Of course, no reports of damage. And in fact, with a quake that small, likely nobody felt it, 2.6 magnitude, probably one of the aftershocks from this quake.

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Well, another state was rattled by an earthquake, kind of. It was nowhere near as serious as Hawaii's quake on Sunday. But a magnitude 2.6 earthquake shook central north Carolina early this morning. It was classified as a micro-quake. The epicenter was just outside of Winston-Salem, and police got a lot of calls. One caller said it felt like a large boom that lasted a couple of seconds. No reports of injuries or damage.

LEMON: Another developing story. Let's head the NEWSROOM.

T.J. Holmes, what do you have for us, sir?

HOLMES: Yes, Don, this story has been really updating all day. Now the Amber alert we've been telling you about from Kentucky. Ten month-old Sage Terrell (ph) has gone missing. Well, now police are saying that have a sighting reported of the mother, the child and possibly the mother's boyfriend, who police are all looking for at this point.

What happened here, as we've been reporting all morning is that the social worker who was caring for that child, and who had gone to meet with the mother so the mother could visit with the child at a home. That social worker was later found dead at the home and then the child, the mother and the mother's boyfriend are now missing.

Police are calling the mother, 33 year-old Renee Terrell, you just saw in that picture with her child, calling her a suspect in the homicide and also her boyfriend, whose name is Christopher Lutrell, calling him a suspect as well.

But they're saying, police, that they got a report of a possible sighting of this group. The mother, the boyfriend and the child in Smithborough (ph), Illinois. Now Smithborough, Illinois is about 150 plus miles or so northwest of Henderson, Kentucky, where the child was last seen and where the murder took place. But a possible sighting, police believe they are in the station wagon that does belong to the social worker.

We want to once again give that description of that vehicle. It's a white station wagon with Kentucky plates, 675 DRV. But police do believe there has been a sighting of the child, the mother and the mother's boyfriend in Smithborough, Illinois, again, a little outside of Henderson.

So, again, this is story that's really been updating all day. Police are desperate to get this child back to safety. They really don't know what is going on, but certainly with a homicide they're dealing with on their hands, and the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the child, they really do want to find the mother, child and the boyfriend, but, again, believe there was a sighting in Smithborough.

This story, no doubt, will continue to update, and we'll continue to bring you those updates -- guys.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, T.J.

HOLMES: Thank you.

LEMON: She's not a resident, but the government decides that's immaterial. Madonna gets temporary custody of a little boy from Malawi. Details of what happens next in the CNN NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: Plus, paying the price, and not just a slap on the wrist. Penalties of the football game. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Are you ready for Foot-brawl? This one between the University of Miami and Florida International led to 31 players disciplined, among them, two FIU players kicked off the team entirely. What's wrong with these boys? The rest will do community service.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DON STROCK, FLORIDA INTL. UNIV. COACH: Football is an emotional game but there is also a line that you can't cross and I think it's obvious that some of our players crossed that line.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: That's right. Vince Lombardi would never stand for this. The fallout hit the T.V. crew. One of the announcers, former Miami player LeMark Thomas (ph) was fired for cheering Miami on during the fight.

LEMON: I guess you can say this is a developing story because Madonna is firing back at critics of her attempt to adopt a little boy from Malawi. Human rights groups have accused Malawi's government of illegally fast-tracking the process. Well, today in an a-mail, Madonna writes, "We have gone about procedure according to the law like anyone who else adopts a child. Reports to the contrary are totally inaccurate."

The one year-old David has been brought to London, where Madonna and her family live. That's him there, under the gray sweatshirt. The singer says she's been granted temporary custody for an 18-month evaluation period.

PHILLIPS: Adoptions is Africa, children are becoming one of the continent's biggest exports and one its biggest controversies when celebrities get involved. CNN's Jeff Koinange looks beyond the spotlight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN AFRICA CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Twelve- year-old Koketso Motshoane is just one of 48 million orphans in Africa. She has five other siblings scattered across various orphanages, whom she gets to see just once a year. She has never heard of Madonna, but says she would gladly jump at the chance of being adopted by anyone willing to give her a home.

KOKETSO MOTSHOANE, AFRICAN ORPHAN: I would feel happy.

KOINANGE (on camera): Tell me why.

MOTSHOANE: Because I have no mother. Yes, that's why.

KOINANGE: Koketso lives in this Johannesburg orphanage, along with 58 other children between ages 12 weeks and 21 years old.

(voice-over): It's run by Gail Johnson, a white South African who has adopted this 5-year-old Tabo (ph). She found Tabo (ph) in an abandoned warehouse five years ago on Christmas morning, after her first adopted child died of AIDS.

Regardless of race, she believes she has the right to offer the best care any mother can give to children abandoned or orphaned.

GAIL JOHNSON, ADOPTIVE PARENT: It's going to freak me to give him up. But, if there's a young couple who want him, or a black couple who want him, I -- I will hand him over. There was no one. And, after him living with me for -- nine -- a year, in fact, there was no ways I would give him up. I was not going to give him up to a child care facility.

KOINANGE: Gail says there are too many abandoned children across the African continent who are in desperate need of a good home, and she doesn't see what the big deal is about celebrities coming to Africa to adopt.

JOHNSON: Bottom line, if someone wants to, and it's sincere, and it's not a -- a publicity stunt, or whatever, why not? If you look at Angelina Jolie and -- and Brad Pitt, he's adopted her two little ones that she adopted prior to having her baby born in Namibia. Now, that's sincerity, as far as I'm concerned.

KOINANGE: But some child welfare activists are up in arms when it comes to celebrities canvassing the continent, in search of abandoned and orphaned babies.

LYNNE CAWOOD, CHILDLIFE: You know, the whole issue of intercultural adoption, either, you know, a white child in a black family or a black child in a white family, is a very controversial one, because, very often, children's identities get formed by -- within their family. And when children identify themselves as -- as different from their biological families, that's an issue that that child has to grapple with and come to terms with. And it has to be handled really sensitively.

KOINANGE: But Gail Johnson insists, the alternative is bleak, because the number of children in Africa losing parents to AIDS is growing, and adoption, though a last resort, is the only viable alternative.

JOHNSON: I get quite a lump when I try and visualize a little one going to bed with nothing. And I can't. It hurts too much, because it's wrong.

KOINANGE: It's something that anyone, even the critics, can agree on.

CAWOOD: We would rather have a good home overseas than no home in Africa.

KOINANGE: As AIDS continues to wreak havoc and decimate families across the continent, the number of orphans will no doubt continue to rise, giving way to more celebrities seeking more adoptions in what's becoming one of Africa's fastest growing exports. Jeff Koinange, CNN, Johannesburg.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: No clear answers in any of this.

All right, they're having punch and cake at the Census Bureau today. The U.S. population has reached 300 million and it will look a lot different when the next milestone comes. We'll have some startling statistics coming up.

PHILLIPS: And a wedding? Oh, it's priceless, but this cake? Well, that's going to cost you. A big bite of bling straight ahead from the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Wait until you check this out. It wasn't your typical turnout for a politician signing his new book on the American political system. Look at that. But when Illinois Senator Barack Obama shocks up anywhere lately, he gets the rock star treatment. Today he is in Chicago signing his book, "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream." It's been a good week for Barack Obama. He was flashed on the cover of "Time" magazine this week with the headline "Why Barack Obama Could Be the Next President."

PHILLIPS: It's official, 300 million people actually more call America home. A lot has changed since the U.S. reached the 200 million mark just a mere four decades ago. And when we hit 400 million, well, things will be different still. CNN's Alina Cho takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Amelian (ph) Vail is just two-months-old, wide-eyed and full of life, he's the future of America. But the world around him has not yet caught up.

MARJORIE VAIL, MOTHER OF INTERRACIAL CHILD: I mean, I wanted Social Security to change something for him and they didn't even have an other box, you know? And I'm like, well, what do I choose? He's both.

CHO: Marjorie Vail is Amelian's (ph) mother. Her family is from Haiti. Her husband Roman is from Russia. Their baby could be the poster child for the next generation.

(on camera): America is on the verge of becoming a majority of minorities. Around the time the U.S. population reaches 400 million, the year will be 2043 and the face of America will be drastically different.

(voice-over): The U.S. Census Bureau says by 2050, the non- Latino White population will dwindle to a bare majority, 50.1 percent down from 69 percent in 2000.

During the same time, the black population will double and the Asian, Latino and mixed race population each will triple. Where will they go? The Census Bureau says many will flee the nation's midsection and settle in the west and the south.

DR. GARY ORFIELD, HARD UNIVERSITY: It could be a change that makes us a much richer country, a much more globally competent, much more able to deal with various languages and cultures, or it could be a change that divides us. CHO: Harvard University race relations expert Gary Orfield says if the U.S. wants to remain a superpower, it must do more to educate everyone, and that, he says, will help the next generation thrive in better jobs. Orfield says also it's important to remember the past and to face the future without fear.

ORFIELD: When the Irish came, they were seen as the doom of American civilization. When the Italians came, people said they were going to corrupt everything. These folks who are coming are coming for exactly the same reason our grandfathers and great grandfathers came, and really have the same dream and really want to be part of the same society.

CHO: A society with a completely different look.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everyone's just kind of like, yes, mix it up all up. You know, let's take away the line.

CHO: Amelian's (ph) parents are proud to have blurred the line. The future of America has never looked so good.

Alina Cho, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And you can see more of Alina Cho's reports on "AMERICAN MORNING". Start your morning off right, with Soledad and Miles, 6:00 a.m. Eastern, every morning.

LEMON: She showed the world how brave an eight year-old can be. Now Bindi Irwin, daughter of the late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, carries on his animal-loving legacy. She's scheduled to host a wildlife program Discovery Kids Network called "Bindi: The Jungle Girl". It's due to air next year.

(INAUDIBLE) Bindi gave a moving speech at her father's public memorial. Steve Irwin died after spiked in the chest by a stingray. He'll be seen in taped segments on the Bindi show.

PHILLIPS: Here is a cake with an awful lot of icing, if you know what I mean. Looks pretty normal until you get up close. All that glitters isn't gold but diamonds, baby. The cake put together for a special bridal show on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. That should be a clue to the price. You ready? Twenty million dollars. You're not even supposed to eat it. What's the point? That's what I say. What is the point?

LEMON: You're supposed to wear it. That's the cake you wear.

PHILLIPS: You know that's a publicity stunt. I don't know why we ran that story. Maybe because it was so shocking.

All right. Closing bell and a wrap of action on Wall Street straight ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Recently, we decided we were going to run a feature on crazy rock world records, and we decided to set one of our own, hence, this guy over here suggested most miserable 24 hours of his life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: A man listens to a song over and over and over again, and not just any song, but the one voted worst song ever. We'll hit the high notes right here in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Time now to check in with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

PHILLIPS: He's standing by in the sit room to tell us what's coming up at the top of the hour.

Hey Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hi guys. Thanks very much.

We're exactly three weeks to election day. We're live in the state that could determine which party controls the U.S. Senate.

Also, Massachusetts Republican Governor Mitt Romney is considering a run for the White House. I'll ask him about same sex marriage, embryonic stem cell research and why some critics are questioning his religion.

And the nuclear arms race. With North Korea's recent test, we'll take a closer look at how fast other nations in the region could build up their own arsenals. Could it be a matter of only a few months before they build a nuclear bomb?

All that coming up, right here in the SITUATION ROOM -- Kyra, Don.

LEMON: Wolf, don't go anywhere, cause we want...

PHILLIPS: We actually cued your favorite song for you.

LEMON: This was a big hit when you were in high school.

BLITZER: All right, I'm listening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFERSON STARSHIP: We built this... We built this city on rock and roll. We built this city...

(END AUDIO CLIP)

LEMON: Remember this?

BLITZER: I do remember that song. A great song.

LEMON: Were you in high school?

BLITZER: I may have been in elementary school. I may not have been born yet. Who knows.

PHILLIPS: Wolf Blitzer, you're the hippest man in network television.

LEMON: That's right.

PHILLIPS: All right. This is for you, Wolfy.

LEMON: 1985, "We Built This City," it's by Starship. Imagine hearing it 324 times, 324 times in a row. The man in that booth that you just saw.

BLITZER: He's got way too much free time on his hands. Way too much.

PHILLIPS: And now he's gone absolutely insane, so he'll probably ask us for a job.

BLITZER: Yes.

LEMON: Yes. But he did it for 24 consecutive hours.

BLITZER: This guy needs to get a life.

LEMON: We won't let you do it. We'll let you go because we know you got a lot to get ready for.

PHILLIPS: Wolf has a life. Thanks, Wolf.

LEMON: "Blender Magazine" wanted to set a world record, so this is what it considers the worst song ever recorded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONAH WEINER, "BLENDER MAGAZINE": It's kind of like a classic barroom argument, what's the worst song of all time. So we were sitting around in our office, trying to come up with the worst song of all time, e-mailed our contributors. The results were all in, added them up. It was "We Built This City" by Jefferson Starship. A truly horrible song for many, many reasons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, the Guinness people, by the way, declined to sanction this event. I wonder why.

Time now to check with Ali Velshi in New York.

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