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Israel Accepts Cease-Fire Agreement With Palestinian Factions, Cheney Meets With Saudi's King Abdullah, B.U. Students Organize Whites-Only Scholarship

Aired November 25, 2006 - 17:00   ET

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

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Whites-only. Some students at Boston University try to make a statement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really just trying to point out the absurdity of the whole notion of race-based scholarships. Hope people will consider that, and not write us off as racists or anything of that sort.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: I'll be talking to him in this hour.

Plus, questions over an alleged police shooting in New York. A groom is killed on his wedding day and now a community wants answers.

This is the CNN NEWSROOM and I'm Carol Lin.

Let's first catch you up on the headlines.

A groom dead in New York after allegedly being shot by police, two of his friends wounded. The three were leaving a bachelor party when witnesses say authorities opened fire. We'll have more in a live report in nine minutes.

Now it was a quieter day in Baghdad, which is probably from banning vehicle traffic after two straight days of mayhem. U.S. and Iraqi officials say their forces killed dozens of insurgents north of the capital.

British health officials are investigating whether the poisoning of former Russian spy means other people might be at risk at well. Traces of radiation have turned up at a London hotel and a sushi bar, both visited by the man before he died on Thursday.

And the vice president touched down in Saudi Arabia to meet with the king for several hours. And then Cheney boarded his plane and headed home. The talks apparently dealt with the rumblings throughout Middle East, including Iraq.

We'll start with that trip the vice president made to meet with the king of Saudi Arabia. To fill us in, live from the Saudi capital, CNN's Nic Robertson.

Nic, do you have any idea what was the urgency of this meeting?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INT'L. CORRESPONDENT, CNN NEWSROOM: We don't, Carol. The vice president's office has been very, very quiet. They have not raised expectations, they have not laid out an agenda for this meeting. They said the vice president was only coming here to talk about issues that had happened in the Middle East, that are of mutual concern to Saudi Arabia and the United States.

But the vice president spent barely eight hours on the ground in the country he was greeted when he got off his aircraft. He had perhaps just a couple of hours meeting late in the afternoon with King Abdullah, then went immediately to the airport.

No other meetings. Got on his plane and left to go back to Washington. Now we have understood from a Saudi advisor, who has been close to the planning for these talks, he has said that what concerns Saudi Arabia, at this time, is growing Iranian influence in Iraq, growing Iranian influence by the use of Syria, as well, in rearming Hezbollah in Lebanon, undermining the Western-backed government of Lebanon. These issues of course, the Saudis, believe of mutual concern to the United States.

The Saudis have also said they are very concerned about the possibility of U.S. troops pulling out of Iraq. They believe that if that happens, then the violence in Iraq would get worse, could spill over into Saudi Arabia. We have had no official indication of what has come out of this meeting here. I have no feedback from Saudi official so far.

The very fact, though, that Dick Cheney came here for a three- hour meeting with the king, and then left again, there is a big concern in this region that perhaps the United States is setting up its allies at this time for some bad news on Iraq, in the near future. Again, that's all speculation in this region at the moment, Carol.

LIN: But if it was the vice president coming to ask for something, where does the Saudi royal family have influence? These problems?

ROBERTSON: Well, the Saudi royal family is, of course, Sunni Muslims. They do have a lot of influence throughout region. They are a very rich country, they have a lot of influence in Lebanon, they have a lot of influence in other areas in the Middle East. And in particular, for the United States, they have influence with the Sunni community and the Sunni tribes in Iraq.

One of the problems in Iraq right now is that the Sunni tribes are no longer as powerful as they used to be. They're leaderships have been stripped away, replaced by insurgents. But Saudi Arabia is still believed to be able to exercise some influence over the Sunni community in Iraq, perhaps to be able to persuade them to accept a lesser deal this time than they might otherwise want to accept.

What can Saudi Arabia contribute in the way of troops into Iraq? It doesn't seem likely that Saudi Arabia, unilaterally, would put its own troops into Iraq to try and stabilize it at this time. That would in many people's eyes here just heighten the volatility. But for Saudi Arabia, anything that they can do in partnership with the United States to limit what they see as growing Iranian influence inside Iraq, they will work together with the United States to do that -- Carol.

LIN: Nic Robertson, live via broadband in Riyadh. Thank you very much.

Now to the situation in Iraq. It does seem to be a less violent day in Baghdad, but that's only compared to Thursday and Friday when waves of attacks left hundreds of people dead and prompted another curfew. Here's CNN's Arwa Damon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT, CNN NEWSROOM (voice-over): In this U.S. military video shot on Friday, you see what the military says are the last two of six rockets fired from Baghdad's Shia Sadr City, into a Sunni Adamia (ph). The helicopter locks on to its target and fires, destroying the rocket system. The U.S. stepping in with its military superiority to try to violence Iraqis say their government is either unable, or unwilling, to prevent.

In the wake of Thursday's devastating bombing in Sadr City that left at least 200 Shia dead, stories of retaliatory attacks taking place despite a government lockdown spread through the capital like wildfire.

(on camera): Traffic would normally be backed up at this intersection. The government imposed curfew meant to curb retaliatory violence is keeping most people at home. But it's not stopping the killing.

(voice-over): Few dared venture out, but one man who did, says Iraq's political forces are behind the violence.

"These militias belong to the government, not to us," Mohammed Taleb explains. "I am a poor person, struggling to support my children. Do you think I would carry my weapon and ask who was Sunni or Shia and kill people?"

He adds, "These days it is each man for himself," as he walks away clutching his eight-year-old son's hand.

Confined indoors, 11-year-old Badir (ph) plays a video game called the Gulf War, of an earlier era of Iraq's war-torn history.

His father, Ryad Al Ani, one of Baghdad's dwindling educated class, repeats what we just heard outside. That what's described as sectarian violence is fundamentally a political problem.

RIYAD AL ANI, BAGHDAD RESIDENT: There is a disagreement among all the political entities. These political entities have their own militias. Each political entity has its own militia. So during the daytime they talk, and they disagree and agree, and this and that, but later on they really use their militias to serve their purposes. DAMON: He insists the violence is breeding a hatred Iraq never knew before.

AL ANI: Well, I tell my son that this is temporary situation, that people who have disagreement among themselves, and we normally don't have this in our culture, in our society.

DAMON: But it is the normal that his son is growing up with. Arwa Damon, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: We also want to take you to the scene of a fierce battle in Afghanistan between British and Taliban forces, which is captured on videotape.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(GUNFIRE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa! [ bleep ]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sniper fire coming down, mate!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: RPG in coming!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: It is so real, so real. This is the Helmand (ph) Province in southern Afghanistan. Coalition forces have been fighting a resurgence of Taliban militants across the region.

And winter in Afghanistan may be slowing down the Taliban fighters, but coalition forces are already bracing for spring Taliban offensive. Our Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr is traveling with the top U.S. commander in the region.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT, CNN NEWSROOM (on camera): Winter has already come to these mountains of Afghanistan and the bitter cold means that in some areas, attacks by the Taliban are dropping off, at least for now. But the top commander is expressing his concerns about Al Qaeda activity across the border in Pakistan.

GEN. JOHN ABIZAID, CMDR., U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: The Pakistanis have done a great deal, especially in the areas away from the mountains, to get after Al Qaeda, capture their operatives, and make it difficult for them to conduct operations.

That having been said, there is no doubt that in this region there is a safe haven on the Pakistani side of the boarder that needs continued work in cooperation with NATO forces.

STARR (on camera): Here in Afghanistan commanders expect that 2006 will wind up with more than 100 suicide bomb attacks in this country, a tactic that had not been seen until recent years. Indeed, commanders here tell us that that in the last three months they have broken up six suicide bomb cells here in Afghanistan. The bombs that they are seeing here are still fairly rudimentary though some of them have grown to be larger in size than they have seen in the past.

Still, as commanders say attacks are dropping off with the winter weather. They are already preparing to see a spring offensive by the Taliban. Barbara Starr, CNN, Bagram, Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Coming up tonight at 7:00 Eastern, "This Week At War" and in the spotlight in that program, dangers of living in Iraq, for both civilians and the military. CNN's John Roberts hosts "This Week At War" at 7:00 Eastern.

We, right here, are following a developing story out of New York, a groom was allegedly shot dead by police on what would have been his wedding day. We'll have a live report straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

And 100s of crosses line a hillside in California. The display is intended to be a memorial for U.S. troops killed in Iraq, but it is causing quite a commotion.

And if you're at least 25 percent white, then this scholarship could be for you. The story -- and, yes, the controversy in about 30 minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: We've got news just in to the CNN Center. The Associated Press is reporting that there is now a cease-fire agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

According to a spokesman who told the Associated Press that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has confirmed the cease-fire saying that he has come to an agreement with all the Palestinian factions to stop firing rockets into Israel.

All right. The five-month military offensive by the Israelis was to try to stop that rocket fire from coming in to its nation state.

We'll have more on this developing story in this hour.

In the meantime, we want to take you to a controversial story out of New York. The Reverend Al Sharpton will hold a prayer vigil and rally tomorrow for a New York city man allegedly shot and killed by police on his wedding day. Two other men were wounded.

Witnesses say it happened after men left a bachelor party in Queens. CNN's Mary Snow has the latest.

Mary, any idea of what happened? We've heard as many as 40 shots were fired. MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT, CNN NEWSROOM: Carol, at this hour there are still more questions than answers. It's been roughly 12 hours after the shooting. Just what happened is still unclear. The New York City Police Department, as yet, has not released any information. A spokesman will only say that the shooting is under investigation.

This is what we do know. A groom-to-be, who was supposed to get married this afternoon, is dead. Two of his friends are injured. One is reported in critical condition, the other this stable condition. Witnesses and relatives say the men were at strip club in Queens for a bachelor party. They apparently left in a car. Witnesses say the car collided with an unmarked police van. Witnesses then say that is when police opened fire.

Witnesses report at least 20 gunshots being fired. There were reports, there were also dozens of evidence markings at the scene surrounding two damages vehicle.

One person who did speak publicly today was the Reverend Al Sharpton. He said the victims were not armed, and he is demanding answers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. AL SHARPTON, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: If, in fact, there were no life extenuating circumstances, then what was the cause of these multiple shots that have already resulted in one death? This family deserves answers, and deserves justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Now Sharpton says he visited the victims' families at their request. Again, the chief spokesman for the NYPD is declining to provide any other details as yet, saying that the department will be releasing a statement at some point -- Carol.

LIN: Mary, did they indicate that there was some kind of police investigation going on at that time? Maybe this was a case of wrong place, wrong time?

SNOW: That is a very good question. But, Carol, they aren't even confirming that that vehicle was an unmarked police van. So really there are so many questions that are left unanswered at this point.

LIN: And so many questions that that family desperately needs answers for.

Mary Snow, thank you.

We also have other news "Across America" now. The mother of two missing boys in northern Minnesota is pleading for help to find them. Four-year-old Tristan White and his two-year-old brother Avery Stately vanished Wednesday from their yard in Red Lake, Minnesota. The FBI is offering a $20,000 reward.

A first court appearance today in Miami for a man carrying a toy gun that looked very real, and forced the evacuation of "The Miami Herald" building yesterday. Fifty-year-old Jose Verela (ph) is a freelance cartoonist who apparently had issues with the Spanish language paper. He surrendered to police after peaceful negotiations.

And Volvo is recalling thousands of cars from the 1999-2000 model years. The cars have electronic speed control modules that can get stuck. And limit the car's speed to between 10 and 30 miles per hour. Volvo dealers will install software upgrades to correct the problem.

The Kremlin says they didn't do it, at least not this time. But the former USSR has dispatched detractors in the past. That means they've killed them in the past. A report from Moscow on the way.

And a new Boston University scholarship, non-whites need not apply. Think some people have a problem with that? Oh, yes. We're going to explain.

But first, did you know that you're a close cousin to some pretty odd-looking animals? We are speaking genetically -- and some amazing new research aims to harness the power of the salamander for human benefit. Here's CNN Miles O'Brien with today's "Welcome to the Future."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My body and all my organs inside are the same as anybody's else's. I just look a little bit different on the outside.

When I was six years old I stepped on a downed power line. As a result, I lost my left leg and both of my arms. I basically had to learn how to do everything over again. I now wear a C-leg, which stands for computer leg. Even with that, there is still frustrations and limitations with it. It is just never going to be as good as having your own.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, CNN NEWSROOM (on camera): But what if Elizabeth could have her own limbs? In response to the hundreds of troops returning home from Iraq as amputees, the U.S. government is spending millions on research that could change their lives in ways we never imagined.

(voice-over): Believe it or not, all humans carry the genes needed to re-grow body parts. But for some reason, those genes get switched off at birth.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How can we reset that switch so that the body thinks its job is to regrow a body part rather than to simply form scar tissue to heal the wound?

O'BRIEN: University of Pittsburgh professor, Doctor Steven Battalack (ph), and a team of scientists from across the country are working to answer this question.

They are studying regenerative species like salamanders to figure out specific sequence of events that makes the re-growth process occur so it can be mimicked in humans. If successful, Battalack (ph) says the future possibilities are endless.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we can understand how to send the right stimulus, the right initiating signal to make the body believe it needs to regrow, rather than to heal, I think the chances of us identifying those signals for virtually any tissues or organ, a kidney, a liver, a heart, are just around the corner from that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Polonium 210, that is the radioactive substance found coursing through the body of slain former spy Alexander Litvinenko. Now traces of radiation were found at his home and at a restaurant where he ate before getting sick. Scotland Yard is retracing his final steps. The story has so dominated headlines in England the British ambassador is pressuring Russian police for answers.

Litvinenko blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin days before he died. Moscow has a history of putting hits on its enemies. But was the former KGB agent, turned Kremlin critic, seen as one of them? Our Ryan Chilcote goes looking for some answers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT, CNN NEWSROOM (voice-over): This fall Russia's president was forced to deny accusations that he ordered the assassination of a critic.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translator): I hope the British authorities won't fuel any groundless political scandals that have nothing to do with reality.

CHILCOTE: The Kremlin freely admits to killing its opponents abroad in Soviet days. One of the more notable hits? Leon Trotsky, who broke with Stalin, got a pick ax in the head in Mexico in 1940. The last one acknowledged by the Kremlin, Stephan Bandera (ph), the Ukrainian nationalist, who was sprayed with poison in Germany in 1959.

A spokesman for Russia's spy agency, granting a rare interview, tells me the Kremlin's agents abandoned that practice half a century ago. And wouldn't even consider such a move for someone as insignificant as Alexander Litvinenko.

SERGEI IVANOV, SPOKESMAN, RUSSIAN FOREIGN INTEL.: We had nothing to do with it, because we have no reason to do it. That's simple.

CHILCOTE (on camera): And no reason because he was -- a no body?

IVANOV: He was a no body.

CHILCOTE: Litvinenko was among a growing number of Kremlin critics to wind up dead, disfigured, or otherwise disposed of. Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist and fierce Putin critic, was shot dead in Moscow last month. Russian agents were convicted of blowing up Chechen separatist leader Zilhemyan Yandrabiev (ph), in the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar three years ago; and claimed responsibility for the recent poisoning death of an Arab militant in the breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya.

Add to these, a long list of Kremlin opponents who have ended up behind bars or have fled the country. And the mysterious poisoning of disfigured Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko, all of this has Russia an image problem. This, says former long-time KGB spy, Stanislav Lekarev, makes the Kremlin an unlikely suspect in this latest killing. Lekarev says it is more likely Russia's being set up.

STANISLAV LEKAREV, KGP VETERAN: I'm 80 percent sure that this was planned by the people who don't like Russia, who hate Russia, who want to change the regime in Russia.

CHILCOTE (on camera): When Litvinenko fled Moscow people stopped talking about him and his fierce criticism of the Russian president. Perhaps ironically now with the allegations that the Kremlin may be behind his death, the people that work in the building behind me now fully expect to hear a lot more talk about him. Ryan Chilcote, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: And we have just learned more on this developing story out of the Middle East. CNN has confirmed that the Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Olmert has agreed to this cease-fire with the Palestinians. The cease-fire agreement in Gaza to take effect tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m. Now earlier today a Palestinian spokesman told CNN that Palestinian factions had agreed to stop fighting, and would make an offer to Israel through President Mahmoud Abbas.

Well, a short while ago, once again, Israel announced it had accepted. An Israeli air strike in Gaza today, though, killed a Palestinian militant and wounded the three other people. This fighting has been going on for the last five months.

Also, controversy over a home-made memorial to the nation's war dead. Why some people want these crosses taken down.

And also ahead, some Boston University students wanted to start a debate. Well, mission accomplished, you might say. Campus outrage over scholarships for white students only.

But first, since 1927 "Time" editors have named the person of the year. One of the contenders this year Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il. The title is given to the person who, for better or worse, has the greatest impact on the year's events. Does Kim Jong-Il fit the bill? You be the judge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The atom blast heard round the world. North Korea stunned the international community by testing its first nuclear device. North Korea's Kim Jong-Il is a candidate for "Time" magazine's Person of the Year. ROMESH RATNESAR, WORLD EDITOR, "TIME": The testing of a nuclear weapon by North Korea, in some ways was the single biggest news event; if you could point to just one event. Because not only is that a major disruption of the balance of power in Asia, but it also, I think, has kind of crystallized this larger danger that the world faces from nuclear proliferation.

The real concern with Kim Jong-Il is not so much that he would ever use a nuclear weapon, but that as the head of a really desperate, poor, starving country, he would be tempted to sell some of the technology needed to develop a weapon to other states that are interested, or even to terrorist groups.

ADI IGNATIUS, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, "TIME": He has continually tied pretty much every other nation in the world in knots, as countries from the U.S. to China to Japan to South Korea, try to figure out how to contain the North Korean threat.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: And now more on the escalating violence in Iraq. For a second straight day funerals were held for some of the scores of Iraqis killed during sectarian attacks in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City Thursday. A curfew put in place after that massacre is keeping Baghdad relatively quiet today. One person was killed and dozens wounded in several mortar attacks.

Now, north of the capital U.S. and Iraqi forces carried out several raids. Military officials say at least 80 insurgents and an Iraqi civilian were killed. And a bomb making factory was destroyed.

Now, back here in the United States, a memorial to troops killed in the war is being erected in a small California town, but not everyone there is happy with the display. Reporting from Lafayette, California, CNN's Kareen Wynter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's causing quite a commotion in this otherwise quiet suburban town of Lafayette, California. Drivers and pedestrians along this busy roadway can't help but stare.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's a pretty stark political statement.

WYNTER: even those traveling into the city by train are mesmerized by the view. Hundreds of crosses line the sprawling hillside in the middle of the city, a clearly marked memorial for U.S. troops killed in Iraq since the start of the war.

LOUISE CLARK, PROPERTY OWNER: These markers do have meaning for people. They're more than pieces of wood with paint on them.

WYNTER: Louise Clark, her husband, and some volunteers constructed this monument along five acres of their own property. Since Veterans Day they've erected more than 400 hand-made wood crosses, and they're just getting started.

(on camera): It's not meant as a political statement, Clark says, but rather as a patriotic acknowledgement of the lives being sacrificed in America's latest war.

CLARK: We felt how could we sit back and do nothing? We felt we had to do something.

WYNTER (voice-over): Clark's husband, Johnson, is a retired World War II Navy veteran. She says back then they both made sacrifices for their country.

CLARK: We had gas rationing. We had meat rationing, sugar rationing every day. We knew that we were at war. Every day we gave up something. With this war, nobody gives up anything except 2,800 who give up their lives.

WYNTER: The Clarks are now engaged in a very public fight with the city. Lafayette Mayor Ivor Samson wants the sign modified or removed because of its large size.

IVOR SAMSON, LAFAYETTE MAYOR: We've got to be very, very careful to balance people's right of freedom of speech and protected first amendment rights, but at the same time to enforce the city's signage ordinances.

WYNTER: The Clarks claim this is just a convenient execution since some find the memorial politically offensive.

SAMSON: That's absolute nonsense. If the sign said, you know, "Julie, marry me," we would be concerned about that. It is simply the size of the sign and not the content.

WYNTER (on camera): Residents in this quaint northern California town say their community isn't used to controversy. But this memorial has caused some division between those who support the crosses and others who want them removed all together.

(voice-over): Like Irene Anderson who calls the memorial an "eye sore."

IRENE ANDERSON, LAFAYETTE RESIDENT: We look at it every day and just shake our heads that it's just too big and it isn't what this community is used to.

WYNTER: Still, many neighbors have left flowers and messages at the site honoring the fallen.

CLARK: Somebody put this "2,876 we miss you."

WYNTER: Clark says she won't some planting crosses but feels she'll soon run out of room on this rolling hillside as the number of war dead grows.

Kareen Wynter, CNN, Lafayette, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: There's another controversy broiling at Boston University. Take a look at these students. One on left says, "Hey, how about a whites-only scholarship?" The one on the right says, "Hmm, not so fast." We're going to be talking to these two very smart students about this very controversial issue coming up right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: They're bombarded with images on TV, movies and magazines of super thin models touted as the ideal. Well, such ads can distort a teen's esteem about their own body, but parents can help counter the mixed messages. Our senior medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta shows us how.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Kathy Kaysen and 17-year-old Molly Kaysen have a tight mother/daughter relationship. They talk about everything from school, to shopping, to prom. And also more sensitive subjects like weight and dieting.

MOLLY KAYSEN, DIET-CONSCIOUS TEENAGER: Probably back in the sixth and seventh grade when I did have -- go through my phase where I thought I was too overweight and would barely be eating enough for, like one meal, and that would be my day. And I think that was my drastic time.

KATHY KAYSEN, MOTHER: I think it's just all around them. Advertising and they just want to have that perfect body which is so thin and, you know, it's not healthy.

GUPTA: Turns out Molly is not alone. Many teenagers feel intense pressure from what they see in media and advertising and from their peers to be thin. If you're a parent who has a teenager who's obese or struggling with weight issues, how do you approach the subject without hurting their self-esteem? Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, author of "I'm Like, So Fat" has interviewed thousands of teenagers and offers up this insight.

PROF DIANNE NEUMARK-SZTAINER, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: My advice to parents is to talk less and do more. We spend so much time talking about dieting and weight. Not very effective, and what we can do can make a bigger difference.

GUPTA: She says parents should listen to how they talk about weight. Their words are powerful and they should be positive.

NEUMARK-SZTAINER: You get dressed in the morning, do you say something like, "Do you think I look fat in these pants?" Or do you say, "Oh, I like the way I look." Those kinds of messages can be very, very strong for a teenage daughter who's growing up and looking at her mother.

GUPTA: So here's some specific things she says parents can do to help their teenagers: Focus less on weight and more on health, encourage self-esteem rather than looks, buy healthier foods and snacks, get active, workout together, buy a family membership to a gym.

Molly and her mother have created a healthy lifestyle and they say dieting doesn't fit into their lives.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: All right, we've had a developing story in this hour. A cease-fire that has been declared between the Palestinians and the Israelis after five months of fighting in Gaza. Joining me on the telephone right now is the spokesperson for the prime minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert, her name is Mari Eisin.

Miss Eisin, good to have you. Tell us what this cease-fire actually means.

MARI EISIN, SPOKESPERSON, ISRAELI PRES. OLMERT: Well, this evening chairman Abbas phoned the prime minister and told him that he had the agreement of all the Palestinian factions' for a complete cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. The cease-fire is supposed to include the end of rocket fires, of suicide bombers, of tunneling, of all of the different aspects of violence that we've seen coming out of the Gaza Strip, not only over the last five months, but really over the last few years.

LIN: Well, Miss Eisin, what guarantees does this cease-fire actually offer that the rocket attacks will stop?

EISIN: Well, the chairman himself initiated the phone call with the prime minister, telling him that he had the agreements of all the Palestinian factions. We think that there's the possibility of a hope here for both the Palestinians and for some quiet and stability in this area surrounding the Gaza Strip where Israel is deployed. And what we hope here is that the violence itself will stop and that we'll able to see a little bit of peace and quiet in an around the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian factions have been fighting against Israel incessantly and we really think that by the stopping there will be the chance for some peace and quiet.

LIN: So, as of 6:00 a.m. Local Time, the wire reports say here Israel will stop operations and begin withdrawal from Gaza Statement at the same time. Give us the definition what that means, complete withdrawal, no military presence along the Gaza Strip border.

EISIN: Well, Carol, remember that September 2005, just a little over a year ago, all of the Israeli troops, all of Israelis were entirely out of the Gaza Strip and when we did that, September 2005, we had hoped that the Gaza Strip would prosper.

And what's happened since then has been the export of a lot of violence from the Gaza Strip with this ceasefire, we will hope for the same thing that we hoped for last year, meaning that all of the Israeli troops will withdraw from our operations, the stopping of all Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip and the complete cessation of violence by the Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip. I want to be up front -- this is only the Gaza Strip and this does not include the West Bank.

LIN: All right. Mari Eisin, spokesperson for the Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel, thank you very much. This is a developing story, it just broke this hour and we'll be following developments as they happen.

EISIN: All right, also coming up, we've promised you this controversial debate out of Boston University -- a scholarship for whites only. What's behind this announcement and has anybody taken up any offers? I'm going to be talking with the man whose idea it was and also the vice president of the college Democrats to see what else students are saying about this idea. Will it really work?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: People are living longer and are able to stay active in their golden years. With that in mind, aircraft manufacturer Boeing is working to make air travel easier for the elderly.

VICKI CURTIS, BOEING SENIOR ENGINEER: The goal of the experience aging project was to teach the younger engineers by turning them older, and then having them on an airplane flight.

SIEBERG: Engineers wore suits that simulate what it is like to walk in the shoes of an older person. Things like poor vision, back pain, and flexibility problems.

CALSEE ROBB, BOEING ENGINEER: It's harder to walk, it's harder to carry things, it's harder to see where you're going.

CURTIS: The project was pretty much an awareness for the engineers that things are going to need to change.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: It's being called insensitive and offensive, a $250 scholarship for white students only. College Republicans at Boston University are behind it saying they're just trying to make a point. CNN's Mary Snow reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The idea was to provoke controversy at Boston University, and that goal has been met. B.U.'s college Republicans are sponsoring a scholarship for white students only. The aid is $250, a sum of the college GOP will pay out themselves to make a point.

JOSEPH MROSZCZYK, B.U. COLLEGE REPUBLICANS: What we're really just trying to point out the absurdity of the whole notion of race- based scholarships and we hope people will consider that and not write us off as racists or white supremacists or anything of that sort.

SNOW: But the way the group brought attention to the issue is under fire.

RONALD RICHARDSON, B.U. AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDIES DIR: It is silly and it has created a divisiveness among some of the students were annoyed at this. All the more reason for us to sit down and talk.

SNOW: The dean criticized the student group saying their scholarship goes against the goal of increase diversity at school where over 50 percent of the students are white. The Massachusetts GOP criticized its charter college group calling their move "offensive." But the head of the college Republicans says he had to use what he calls "guerrilla tactics."

MROSZCZYK: The best way to get college Republicans out there and start the discussion is to do something controversial, to use satire and college Republicans use this across the country to break through liberalism that's on campus, especially Boston University.

SNOW: But others say scholarships are not a political issue and there is a reason for affirmative action.

RICHARDSON: I think that I can understand their feelings. But I see no other way in order to redress problems that were caused by racial discrimination, decades and decades of racial discrimination that followed upon centuries of slavery.

SNOW (on camera): One thing this whites-only scholarship idea has accomplished is dialogue. Professor Richardson of the African- American Studies Department is inviting college Republicans to come in and talk.

Mary Snow, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Race-based scholarship program at Boston University causing that controversy, it is reserved for Caucasians and there's the rub. So joining me from Boston is Joseph Mroszczyk, he is president of the B.U. College Republicans, that's the group offering the scholarships. And also joining me is Joshua Gee, vice president of the B.U. College Democrats who opposes them.

Welcome to both of you. Joe, let me begin with you. Why do you think, in the first place, there are race-based scholarships?

MROSZCZYK: I think the argument that I've most heard is that these scholarships help increase diversity on campus. But to us, diversity, especially on a college campus should be diversity of ideas and not diversity of skin color. To me, a college is best served when you have a lot of people that have come together with various ideas, various opinions and that's best served with diversity of ideas rather than having diversity of skin colors.

LIN: Well, why don't you think diversity of ideas comes with diversity of skin colors?

MROSZCZYK: I don't think just because someone is one-quarter Hispanic decent or one-quarter African-American descent that they're necessarily bringing anything different to the table that a white student would bring. I mean, just because one -- somebody's one- quarter Hispanic, I don't think they're presenting some sort of unique idea to the university. And I think diversity ideas comes with all races and all ethnicities.

SNOW: And you think one-quarter is actually the minimum standard for some of these scholarships?

MROSZCZYK: Well it is. At Boston University with the National Hispanic Recognition Program Scholarship, recipients need to be at least one-quarter Hispanic in order to receive this scholarship.

SNOW: So, Josh, what has been the reaction on campus?

JOSHUA GEE, V.P. B.U. COLLEGE DEMOCRATS: Reaction on campus has not been big as reaction nationally, really. Most people I talk to think it's silly and kind of just want to ignore it.

SNOW: Silly and ignore, as in a publicity stunt?

GEE: You could say that.

SNOW: You think. So, not so controversial on campus then.

GEE: At least not to people I've talked to. I can't -- I mean, Boston University has 30,000 kids. Obviously haven't talked to all of them.

SNOW: Well, Joe, have you had any applicants?

MROSZCZYK: Before this whole national media attention we didn't have any applicants. We also have a few weeks left, and we understand the sensitivity of the issue, and if someone does apply for it they're essentially endorsing what we are doing. So, we understand that, and hope some people will come out and apply for the scholarship. We're giving away $250.

SNOW: Well, maybe they're not applying because it's not so much that they don't understand it, or if they don't want to be associated with it is because the implication it's racist.

MROSZCZYK: Well, that's what some people think. But our argument is that it's not racist. But it would be equally as racist to give out scholarships to Hispanic students. So, some people may say that this is racist, you know, we encourage them to look at other race-based programs and see whether those are racist or not.

LIN: So, why do you think white people need help?

MROSZCZYK: We don't. We're in no way advocating for a white scholarship at Boston University or at any other institution around the country. What we're merely trying to is point out the absurdity of race-based scholarships, race-based preferences in all of Boston University and America itself. But we're in no way are we advocating for a white scholarship at Boston University. We think no scholarships should have race as component of them.

LIN: Well, then there's a confusion about what it is that you're offering, or at least what you're -- the bid are you're trying to get for publicity for your point. I mean, is it a whites-only scholarship or not?

MROSZCZYK: Oh, it certainly is. But we're not -- by doing this we're not advocating for a white scholarship at Boston University. We are advocating for the removal of all scholarships that include race as a component at B.U. And by doing this, we're sort of pointing out how ridiculous it is to give out a scholarship based on race. That's our main point. Our main point is not give out white scholarship at B.U.

LIN: So Josh, do you think this is going to affect how scholarships are handed out?

GEE: I doubt it. We're talking about a $250 check. We're not talking about something that I think is going to move the earth. Scholarships are going to go out and this university gives out hundreds for a variety of things and I don't see this having a major effect on it.

LIN: Do you find it ironic that I'm talking to two Caucasian young men about this?

GEE: I didn't want to bring that up, but that is apparently the discussion we're having, is two upper-middle class white kids talking about race in America.

LIN: All right, well if 50 percent of the campus is causation, we're trying to explore here what the other 50 percent may be. But pleasure to have both of you, Josh, Joe.

GEE: Thank you very much.

LIN: All right least you're part of the political process.

MROSZCZYK: Thank you.

LIN: And that's more than, I think, 60 percent of this country can say at election time.

All right, there's still much more ahead on CNN.

Up next, LOU DOBBS THIS WEEK this week with a look at chaos in the Middle East and the deadly week in Iraq.

Plus, the threat of Syria, Iran, and Iraq forming alliances. From the CNN center in Atlanta, I'm Carol Lin. The latest on today's top stories in about three minutes and then, LOU DOBBS THIS WEEK.

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