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Florida Police Search For Missing Baby; Three Hikers Missing on Oregon's Mount Hood; Racism in America; Various Groups Unite in Iran to Deny Holocaust

Aired December 12, 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. I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Don Lemon.

British police in a race against -- against crime. Five women turn up dead. Can cops stop a suspected serial killer?

PHILLIPS: How does race color our opinions? Paula Zahn live this hour previewing her special on racism in America.

LEMON: They will be walking on air or stratosphere -- shuttle astronauts stepping out in space. We will be watching.

You're live right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

New parents wait for word on their missing infant. You're looking at a live shot there of a press conference we're expecting. But this may be more than a kidnapping. It may be payback. We're expecting a briefing from Fort Myers, Florida -- live coverage in the NEWSROOM once it begins.

PHILLIPS: Dozen of Iraqis were trying to make a living, and it cost them their lives -- more bombs, more death in Baghdad. And U.S. casualties are still growing.

Our Nic Robertson is there -- Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, we have just learned that three Marines were killed in combat yesterday in the volatile Al Anbar Province, west of Baghdad. Another soldier died in Al Anbar died of non-combat-related circumstances. And, also, one soldier died yesterday from a non-hostile incident.

We also have now learned of a growing death toll in that attack this morning in Baghdad -- a massive suicide car bomb driven into a market at 7:00 in the morning, where people were trying to find work. According to the police, the car bomber, the suicide car bomber, called some of the day workers over to his vehicle.

Then, as they came over, when he told them that he had work, he detonated 200 kilograms, about 450 pounds, of explosives in that vehicle. We now know 71 people have been killed. The death toll has gone up. But we do understand from police in Baghdad that, of the 220 or so people injured, 65 have been released from hospital, but 155 people are still in five different hospitals in Baghdad receiving treatment right now -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Nic Robertson, live from Baghdad.

LEMON: Devastation in Baghdad, consultation in Washington -- President Bush pushes on with his listening tour, and pushes back his announcement of a new war strategy.

Let's go right to the White House, where the president huddled with a high-ranking Iraqi.

CNN's Elaine Quijano is there -- Elaine.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Don.

President Bush did sit down earlier this afternoon with an Iraqi vice president, a Sunni, for consultations, to hear his input on the situation in Iraq. But the president was also clearly trying to send an unmistakable message by holding up this Iraqi vice president of an example of how he believes the political will does exist in Iraq to achieve success there.

Now, the vice president, the Iraqi vice president, Tariq al- Hashemi, actually lost a brother and sister in sectarian fighting in Iraq. President Bush today praised his courage. And, at a time when the president is under intense political pressure to change strategy in Iraq, he sought to reassure this vice president that the U.S. continues to support the Iraqis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our objective is to help the Iraqi government deal with the extremists and killers, and support the vast majority of Iraqis who are reasonable people who want peace.

And, so, Mr. Vice President, I mentioned to you today, and to the Iraqi people, is, we want to help you. We want to help your government be effective. We want your government to live up to its words and ideals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Now, meantime, earlier today, President Bush took part in a secure video teleconference with his top military commanders in Iraq and the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad.

Among those who attended with the president at the Washington end of things were his outgoing defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, as well as the man who will replace him, Dr. Robert Gates. He, of course, is not due to be sworn in until Monday.

Now, tomorrow, more consultations for the president -- he is heading to the Pentagon. And also today, Don, we learned, as you noted, that the White House is now saying, President Bush is not expected to announce any changes to his Iraq policy until the new year -- that, of course, a change from what we had been hearing, that the president had hoped to make some sort of speech before Christmas.

Now, why the change? Well, we are told by White House Press Secretary Tony Snow that, essentially, the president had some questions that he wanted to explore more fully, some very complicated questions that he has been asking of his top military commanders and senior diplomats -- Don.

LEMON: Elaine Quijano, thank you.

PHILLIPS: A newborn is missing. His parents are shattered -- kidnapper still on the loose, except this heartrending from Fort Myers, Florida, may be more than a kidnapping.

Let's go live to the briefing.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

HILTON DANIELS, FORT MYERS, FLORIDA, POLICE CHIEF: ... needed to totally resolve this matter and return baby Bryan to the family.

Should you or someone else you know have any information that may be important to this case, please contact the case investigators at 877-667-1296. Now, we have also added an e-mail address, which is tipline@fmpolice.com.

The case investigators would like to, once again, thank the public for their continued assistance to this growing investigation.

Questions.

QUESTION: Chief, how many new leads have you gotten since that early evening hours of Friday, specifically in relation to human smuggling and trafficking?

DANIELS: I am unable to answer that question at this time. That's -- our investigative leads are totaled from the beginning to the end, so, to -- I'm not answering your question because I don't want to answer it, but we total the leads. We don't separate them.

QUESTION: Chief, Saturday, you announced, I guess, there was a human smuggling element in this investigation. What makes you so confident of that?

DANIELS: From the investigation, from the very beginning to the investigation today, investigative leads have led us to that conclusion at this point. But we're -- we're still investigating the point that a baby is missing. The human smuggling is a motive. What we're looking for is baby Bryan.

QUESTION: Chief, are the parents being investigated right now in any way (OFF-MIKE) you rule that out?

DANIELS: No, I cannot rule that out. And I cannot say yes to that, because that's -- and I'm not misinterpreting your question.

What I'm trying to tell you is that we are talking to the family about possible leads. They are cooperating with us. So, to say they're anything other than that, that's all I can say.

QUESTION: Do you think the $21,000 will bring the baby forward if this smuggling is what happened?

DANIELS: Well, we certainly hope so. I mean, that's a lot of money. And there's -- a lot of agencies have came together to provide quite a sum of money for this.

So, we're -- we're always hopeful for any tip at this time.

QUESTION: If it doesn't over the next couple days, what's next?

DANIELS: Well, we're following the investigative leads. The investigation is not stalled. We have not stopped. We have not slowed down. So, we are continuing the investigation, following up on the leads that we have and the tips that we hope will come in, because of the diligence of the media. You're getting this information out.

As you know, we were -- we were on "America's Most Wanted" this past Saturday night. And, from your effort and from "America's Most Wanted" effort, we are receiving a lot of good tips. And that is what we're following up on.

A question over here?

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: ... organizations and agencies are working together in cooperation (OFF-MIKE)

DANIELS: I'm sorry. I didn't hear you.

PHILLIPS: Police Chief Hilton Daniels there in Fort Myers, Florida -- the search for baby Bryan.

We can tell you, it's a missing month-old boy who Fort Myers police say was kidnapped, possibly to settle a debt. The parents owed money to a smuggling ring that actually brought them illegally to the U.S. But the parents are coming forward, saying, hey, they don't believe that the smugglers took the baby.

This is the couple right here -- police just saying that they have set up a tip line, 877-667-1296. And they believe that it was a woman driving an SUV that took off with that month-old baby, baby Bryan.

Let's go to John Zarrella now. He has got more on the investigation and the background.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Maria Dos Santos wants her son back. On December 1, she says 1-month-old Bryan was taken from her at knife point. This is a sketch of the woman police are now looking for. Maria says the woman stopped to ask her and a friend for directions, and took off with her baby son, Bryan. She thinks it's a kidnapping, but police think it's worse than that.

HILTON DANIELS, FORT MYERS, FLORIDA, POLICE CHIEF: We want to make sure that the people of Fort Myers and Lee County know that we're not experiencing a female that is driving around the county looking to kidnap babies. This is a human trafficking motive.

ZARRELLA: Police won't elaborate but say they believe the baby was taken as payment of a debt the parents owed a human smuggling ring.

(on camera): Maria Dos Santos doesn't believe it, but she and the baby's father told a Fort Myers newspaper they owed several hundred dollars to so-called coyotes, human smugglers who brought them into the U.S. from Brazil about a year ago.

(voice-over): The newspaper also says the couple refused to say more because they're afraid.

Kidnappings as retribution are rare, but immigration attorney Marisol Zequeira says she wouldn't be surprised if that's what happened here.

MARISOL ZEQUEIRA, IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY: It's not unusual is the extortion and the length to which these people who are true criminals are going to go to get their pound of flesh out of these people. That's not unusual.

ZARRELLA: Immigration agents say they have made more than 5,000 arrests since 2003. Zequeira says tighter enforcement has made illegal immigrants more desperate and more vulnerable.

ZEQUEIRA: Their desperation makes them very easy prey to these people. So it is an increasing problem.

ZARRELLA: This desperate human smuggling often ends tragically. In the nation's worst case, 19 illegal immigrants died after being crammed into a tractor-trailer found in Texas. In the Florida Keys in July, the Coast Guard ended up in this high-speed chase with smugglers in an overloaded boat. Thirty-one Cuban migrants were on board. One died of head injuries.

But Maria Dos Santos cares about only getting her son back.

MARIA DOS SANTOS, BABY BRYAN'S MOTHER (through translator): Please, please return my baby. I keep looking outside my window to see if my baby is going to arrive.

ZARRELLA: She says she's heard nothing, and hopes the next car that passes by will bring back baby Bryan.

John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE) LEMON: Well, hopes on high on Oregon's Mount Hood, where the weather is better, and searchers have fanned out -- fanned out again for three missing climbers. The men haven't been heard from since cell phone call on Sunday.

Kelly James told his family his friends he had been hurt near the peak, and his friends had turned back to get help. They helped themselves by leaving a note in their car explaining what route they would take if they ran into trouble.

It's a good idea, except that trail is a hard one, especially in a blizzard like the one that stalled the search yesterday.

PHILLIPS: A desperate search comes to a heartbreaking end. A South Carolina couple that went missing on a road trip to New York, they have been found dead inside their car. We will have the details.

LEMON: Plus: What has skin got to do with it? Plenty. Just ahead, Paula Zahn joins us in the NEWSROOM to preview her special program, "Skin Deep: Racism in America." It airs tonight on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Tonight on "PAULA ZAHN NOW": a full hour on a subject that is a lot more than skin deep in America. We're talking about racism.

Ever heard of a sundown town? Well, that's a place where, not so long ago, African-Americans didn't dare venture out at night.

CNN's Keith Oppenheim traveled to a Texas town that had that sorry reputation to see whether minds and hearts have changed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Take a ride to Vidor, Texas, and you will find a town that looks like many others in America. But, just below the surface, you will soon find this small city of 11,000 people carries a dark past.

They were trying to live down something from 40 to 50 years ago.

OPPENHEIM: Forty to 50 years ago, Vidor had a reputation as a sundown town, where it was said African-Americans were warned not to be caught after dark.

Charles Jones lives in Beaumont, the bigger city 10 minutes from Vidor. He told us, when he was 19, a Vidor policeman intimidated him and his friends when their car broke down at night.

CHARLES JONES, BEAUMONT, TEXAS: He said: "Well, let me tell you something. You boys better hurry up and get out of here, because I'm going to go to that next exit and come down and come back around, and you would better be gone."

OPPENHEIM: Vidor also had a reputation as a haven for the Ku Klux Klan. To this day, many African-Americans in the area keep their distance from Vidor.

WALTER DIGGLES, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DEEP EAST TEXAS COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS: They think that that's a racist town, and, when you go through Vidor, you better be very careful. And most blacks still refuse to stop.

OPPENHEIM (on camera): Is this a racist community?

BEAMON MINTON, ORANGE COUNTY, TEXAS, COMMISSIONER: Definitely not.

OPPENHEIM (voice over): Orange County commissioner Beamon Minton and Vidor mayor Joe Hopkins spoke to me about perceptions of Vidor.

MAYOR JOE HOPKINS, VIDOR, TEXAS: The vast majority of our citizens are not racist, would welcome anybody here who's a good solid citizen.

MINTON: We don't have a Klan. We haven't had a Klan here in about 30 years.

OPPENHEIM: Several Vidor residents told me they would welcome blacks, as did this woman. Then she added:

PEGGY FRUGE, RESIDENT OF VIDOR, TEXAS: I don't mind being friends with them, you know, talking and stuff like that. But, as far as mingling and eating with them and all that kind of stuff, I mean, that's where I draw the line.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: You can see Keith's full report tonight on a special edition of "PAULA ZAHN NOW," "Skin Deep: Racism in America."

Paula joins me now from New York with more on this.

Hi, Paula.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Don. Good to see you.

LEMON: Good to see you as well.

ZAHN: Thank you.

LEMON: Very interesting. And I commend you for doing this, because it's something that people get a little bit nervous about talking about.

But there's -- you also do something fascinating here. It's an online test, where professors from Harvard and UVA and the University of Washington devise a test that you can go and do at home and see if you're biased or not? What is this test all about?

ZAHN: And, in fact, anybody who is watching us today can access us by going to CNN.com/Paula, and they can take the test. It only will take 10 minutes of your time. And the idea behind the test was to give corporations across the country a way to measure whether we have subtle or not-so-subtle biases on the job. It also affects, potentially, the way corporations hire people.

And we will watch nine volunteers take the test. And, for the most part, these college grads are kids who have grown up in very tolerant environments, either whether their parents are very open, or they grew up in integrated communities.

And you will be shocked by what they have to say about the results of the tests, how they see themselves, and, as open as they are, the kind of prejudices they are very honest about harboring, which is borne out in some poll findings that we will share with the audience tonight as well.

LEMON: Yes, it's amazing. I would ask you what else you found out, but we want people to tune in to see.

And, again, that is CNN.com/Paula, where you can go and access that.

What else can we expect tonight, Paula?

ZAHN: Well, it's really interesting, Don. I know you did that terrific interview with Barack Obama a couple weeks ago.

And, at a time when America is considering him as a potential candidate for the presidency -- and I'm going to share a poll with you right now -- we posed the question: Are you ready to vote for a black president? And 65 percent of the whites polled said, yes, America is ready. Fifty-four percent of blacks say yes -- striking that the number of whites, of course, exceeds the number of blacks who have confidence that America would really stand behind a black candidate.

But then contrast that with this poll finding, when we asked the question whether they felt racial bias in the country was a serious problem. Eighty-four percent of blacks said yes, 66 percent of whites.

And we're not talking about the racism that was in evidence in abundance 30, 40 years ago. We're talking about a much more subtle kind, not that Michael Richards kind of rant, which actually sparked us into doing this special, but far more subtle ways, in how discrimination plays out, and how potential homebuyers are basically steered to black neighborhoods vs. white neighborhoods, how operators sometimes listen to someone's accent, and they sort of infer from that one's economic status.

There are a whole range of ways these biases, subtle and not so subtle, show up.

LEMON: Very interesting. I know that I will be tuning in.

Paula Zahn, thank you so much for joining us. We will be tuning... ZAHN: And can I do one more plug?

LEMON: Oh, absolutely.

ZAHN: We have got the Reverend Al Sharpton. We have two revs joining us tonight...

LEMON: Right.

ZAHN: ... Reverend Jesse Jackson and Reverend Al Sharpton. And I'm sure they will have some very pointed things to say about where this dialogue is today in America.

LEMON: And you know what? I'm going off script a little bit, but, talking to both those guys, they say, sometimes, we get so politically correct, we're afraid to talk about these issues, when the best thing to do is just to talk about it and get it out there.

ZAHN: And that's what we're going to do tonight.

LEMON: Absolutely. Look forward to it, Paula.

ZAHN: Thanks for having me.

LEMON: You don't want to miss Paula Zahn -- of course -- you don't want to miss Paula Zahn's special, "Skin Deep: Racism in America." That's tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, only here on CNN.

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead: entertainment news with A.J. Hammer of "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT."

Hey, A.J.

A.J. HAMMER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Kyra.

A pair of young Hollywood starlets are partying a little too hard. And Hollywood's hottest couple reveal how their romance blossomed. All that is ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, just call her wrong-way Richie -- more details on Nicole Richie's DUI arrest early yesterday.

Entertainment correspondent A.J. Hammer joins me from New York.

A.J., I just have to tell you, the discussion, wrong-way Richie, got us talking about Wrong Way Corrigan. I thought it was the football player that ran the wrong way.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: But we Googled it. It's the pilot that flew the wrong way.

HAMMER: Right. PHILLIPS: Some Google history here.

HAMMER: Yes. Well, now there's a Hollywood starlet who is going to have to live with the new nickname. So...

(LAUGHTER)

HAMMER: We will just put that in...

PHILLIPS: It's the next wrong way. It's part three.

HAMMER: Next. We will put that into the vernacular immediately, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Thank you.

HAMMER: It really is tough being a starlet in Hollywood these days.

And "The Simple Life" star Nicole Richie knows all about it right now. She was busted with a DUI early yesterday morning. And, today, authorities are, in fact, accusing her of driving in the wrong direction on the freeway.

The highway patrol released two 911 calls from motorists reporting seeing an SUV entering the off-ramp to the merge onto the highway. Well, when police found the stopped vehicle, it was Richie behind the wheel.

After she failed the field sobriety test, the actress admitted to smoking pot and taking the painkiller Vicodin. She was released on her own recognizance. She's due back in court in February.

Now, Richie's attorney, Howard Weitzman, tells "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" -- quote -- "This is a difficult time for Nicole, but she is prepared to accept whatever responsibility is appropriate. She intends to continue with her career, and will deal with any other issues that need to be addressed."

Running in the same circles as Richie, and also known for being on that party circuit, is Lindsay Lohan. This skinny starlet revealed to "People" magazine that she hasn't had a drink in a week, which I figure is a pretty good thing, since she is only 20 years old.

The actress says that she has been in AA for a year now, and feels better not indulging. She also claims she doesn't drink when she goes to clubs, only when she's with friends at home.

Now, Kyra, this past July, you may remember, Lohan was treated for exhaustion and dehydration, after she collapsed on the movie set of "Georgia Rule." So, it's good to see at least she is attempting to get some kind of assistance.

PHILLIPS: What is up with these troubled starlets?

They have so much... (CROSSTALK)

HAMMER: There's a lot of pressure, a lot of pressure.

(CROSSTALK)

HAMMER: Yes. And they're role models to so many. So, it's too bad when we see stuff like this happening.

PHILLIPS: All right, well, the real story about how Brangelina became one is revealed in the January issue of "Vogue" magazine?

HAMMER: Yes, what a kickoff of the year for this magazine, an interview with Academy Award winner Angelina Jolie.

And, in this interview, she is talking for the very first time publicly about how she and Brad Pitt became a pair. Now, as many people had suspected, they did meet on the set of the thriller "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," but they remained just very good friends, until Pitt announced his separation from Jennifer Aniston back in January of '05.

Jolie told "Vogue" that the two spent a lot of time talking. They realized they both wanted the same things in life. But it was her son Maddox who really sealed the deal, because, out of the blue, he called Pitt dad.

We are going to be seeing Maddox's mom in the thriller "The Good Shepherd." It will be in theaters on Friday, December 22.

And, tonight, on "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT," we will have much more on when Angie met Brad. We are going to take you deeper into what Angelina Jolie is saying about her relationship with Brad Pitt and how it all started. We will have the startling and intimate details on TV's most provocative entertainment news show, which, of course, is "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT." And we will see you at 11:00 p.m. Eastern on Headline Prime.

PHILLIPS: All right, A.J., good to see you.

HAMMER: You, too, Kyra.

LEMON: The search is back on for three hikers stranded somewhere on Oregon's Mount Hood. We're tracking the latest developments on that.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Developing story.

Betty Nguyen, what do you know?

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: This is a really nasty crash that we want to tell you about. It is about a hour north of Tampa, Florida. We're going to show you some pictures from it. A bus has had an accident with another vehicle and rolled over. Look at that, and the damage there on the side of the freeway.

This is I-75 southbound. Again, this is an hour north of Tampa, Florida, in Sumter County where a bus has rolled over. See if you look at the top right-hand corner of your screen, you can see that white car there that looks like it was the vehicle that either ran into the bus or was hit by the bus.

And we understand on the side of this bus, it says Westminster Shores. Now, I was looking at their Web site behind me on the computer and it looks like that might possibly be a retirement community. Not sure just yet.

But I can tell you, Don, that three people have been airlifted to local hospitals. That is not a good sign. Others are injured as well. So as we wait to determine exactly how critical these injuries might be, what we do know is that a number of them did need to be airlifted to local hospitals.

Don't know exactly what caused this crash but, as you can see, it is blocking some of the traffic there, although they were able to get some of the debris to the side of the road.

But just a nasty, nasty accident, about an hour north of Tampa, Florida, in Sumter County. This is I-75 southbound, where, as you can see, a bus has taken just a wrongful turn there in an accident and rolled over, an accident involving this bus and a car that is out of the frame right now.

So we'll stay on top of it, Don, and bring you the latest, especially as we get more information on the injuries involved in this accident.

LEMON: Just horrible judging from those pictures. And we certainly hope the folks are OK.

Betty, thank you.

NGUYEN: Sure.

LEMON: Well, they set out from South Carolina planning to visit their family in New York. That was last Thursday. Today, we know why Wayne and Diane Guay never made it.

Our Jason Carroll reports from New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Family tells us this morning that they are just devastated. It was a very difficult night for them last night. Late yesterday, the family finally got word that the search for the couple had ended.

Police discovered Diane and Wayne's white Mazda submerged near Rocky Mountain, North Carolina late yesterday. The couple's car apparently had swerved off an interstate and into a swamp. They had left early Thursday morning from their Myrtle Beach, South Carolina home up Interstate 95 bound to visit family here in New York, a 12- hour drive they've taken many times.

Family members were active in the search, passing out flyers and checking with hospitals, even paying for the helicopter that eventually spotted the couple's car. South Carolina police say they checked by patrol vehicles and helicopter the routes the Guays may have driven.

But at this point, family say they're trying to come to terms with what has happened.

DANIEL RODRIGUEZ, COUPLE'S SON-IN-LAW: Everybody is pretty devastated. You know, it's been a long night for everybody. And Jessica is pretty bad. So we had some help last night, some friends and family just to comfort her and us. And just had to lay down finally for a little while and just, you know, watch over her and stuff like that. Now I'm just trying to make preparations today to see what time we're leaving to go down.

CARROLL: The family does not believe foul play was involved. Obviously, an investigation is still under way.

Also this morning, the family says they've finally explained to the Guay's five year-old granddaughter why the couple would not be coming home for the holidays.

Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: The good news: searchers think the three missing climbers could be in decent shape somewhere on Mt. Hood in Oregon if they find shelter. The bad news: serious storms on the way.

Earlier we talked to a member of the Portland Mountain Rescue Team who says that teams need to make the most of this break in the weather right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEVE ROLLINS, PORTLAND MOUNTAIN RESCUE: The weather has improved a little bit today, so we're still having problems with the avalanche hazard. But we're searching to the best of the ability. Our hands are still kind of tied by Mother Nature.

PHILLIPS (voice-over): Now, this cell phone call that came through from Kelly James, he said that he had been hurt near the peak. Do we know what kind of injury?

ROLLINS: I don't believe we have any information on the type of injury other than he was wet and cold. And obviously hypothermia is a concern.

PHILLIPS: So, knowing the conditions right now up where he is -- where they could possibly be and where maybe Kelly called from, if that was able to be tracked, they obviously had the right clothes. They did have equipment. What are their chances of surviving in these conditions?

ROLLINS: You know, it's really hard to say. It just depends if they were wet or if they were able to stay dry. We don't know exactly what kind of equipment they had with them. If they had good survival gear, they could certainly still be alive. But if they're getting wet and in a storm, depending on how good their shelter is, certainly, it's concerning.

PHILLIPS: How experienced are these guys, Hall, Cook, and James?

ROLLINS: We understand that they're all very experienced climbers. They've apparently climbed all over the world, they have ice climbing experience. So that's definitely in their favor. And as rescuers, we're obviously trying to be as optimistic as possible. And so, you know, we're hoping that that experience allows them to survive through these conditions.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, the three climbers' families have arrived at the search command center. We're going to keep you posted on whatever happens.

LEMON: Weather conditions obviously playing a major factor in that search, Rob Marciano. Tell us all about that and the other weather.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LEMON: Shades of Jack the Ripper in Eastern England. Five women found murdered in 10 days, all thought to be prostitutes. The latest on the grisly case just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: So is a serial killer on the loose in England? Police are investigating the deaths of three women in Ipswich so far this month when they found two more bodies today. They've yet to be identified, but police believe they're the remains of two missing prostitutes. The other victims also reportedly were sex workers. Now police are warning all prostitutes to get off the streets and urging all women not to travel alone. They suspect there is a single killer, but there may be more than one.

LEMON: In death, as in life. Augusto Pinochet is beloved and despised in Chile. Tears mixed with boos today at the former dictator's military funeral in Santiago. Chile's defense minister was loudly cheered because of the government's refusal to grant a state funeral.

Supporters believe Pinochet saved the country from communism by toppling an elected Marxist president. Critics blame him for the deaths of thousands during his hard-line regime. Pinochet died Sunday at 91 while under house arrest. Relatives say he asked to be cremated because he feared his tomb would be desecrated. PHILLIPS: Former Ku Klux Klan leaders, some ultra-Orthodox Jews, various discredited academics united this week in Iran in denial of the Holocaust.

CNN's Carol Costello reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's at it again. The in your face president of Iran is once again provoking the ire of his arch enemies in the west. Today's eye jab, a conference reviewing the veracity of the Holocaust.

Its headliner, David Duke, a former American Klansman turned politician who spent time in jail for tax evasion. Duke is there to add his wisdom on how, quote, "Images of a Holocaust against Jews are used to justify and promote a terrible war against Iran that would constitute new Holocaust."

The Holocaust is not a new thing for the Iranian president, who delights in attacking everything Israel. Here is this fall at the United Nations.

MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, PRESIDENT, IRAN (through translator): These Zionists, I want to tell you, are not Jews. That's the biggest deception we have ever faced. Zionists are Zionists, period, but they are not Jews, they are not Christians, and they are not Muslims. They are a power group, a power party.

COSTELLO: Or for Duke, who visited Syria last year and said.

DAVID DUKE, FORMER KU KLUX KLAN LEADER: It hurts my heart to tell you that part of my country is occupied by Zionists just as part of your country, the Golan Heights is occupied by Zionists.

COSTELLO: The Iranian president also held a contest in Tehran for the best Holocaust cartoon. But this latest conference comes just as the Iraq Study Group is telling the United States that dialogue with Iran's government is unavoidable.

LEE HAMILTON, IRAQ STUDY GROUP: Syria and Iran have very great influence over events within Iraq, particularly Iran. But also Syria. And I just don't think you can avoid that.

COSTELLO: Is this the Iranian president's way of saying no thanks?

HADI SEMATI, THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: It is this defiant, self-confidence, empowered notion that if you stand up to the Americans and to the west they will actually accept you better and they do not realize again, they don't know the impact of these characters and how they are perceived in the U.S. public opinion.

COSTELLO: As if there wasn't enough tension already over Iran's nuclear program. GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If they would like to engage the United States that they've got to verifiably suspend their enrichment program.

COSTELLO: In Tehran, the conference is being sold as an exchange of ideas.

MANOUCHEHR MOTTAKI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): The aim of this conference is not to confirm or deny the Holocaust. Its main aim is to create an opportunity for thinkers.

COSTELLO: Ideas like this one, voiced by one of the rare rabbis against Zionism.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Zionists are taking this terrible horrific, tragedy that happened by Jews and they're using it to further their rebellion against God.

COSTELLO: Carol Costello, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Now Interpol is in the mix. The international policy agency has joined the hunt for whoever poisoned a former Russian agent in London and perhaps poisoned others as well. So far the investigation into the death of Alexander Litvinenko has involved British and Russian intelligence and the FBI.

They focused their efforts on London, where the former spy and outspoken Kremlin critic felt ill and died of exposure to the radioactive isotope Polonium-210. The trail has led to Hamburg, Germany and Moscow, where some of Litvinenko's contacts had traveled from to meet with him. Traces of the poison have been found in places they stayed.

PHILLIPS: You could call it this old space station. Astronauts get ready to step out of space shuttle Discovery and get to work on a much-needed addition. More on a high-level construction project with our own Miles O'Brien, who is always on some type of break up in space. Smile, wave, behave yourself. We'll be right back.

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LEMON: Developing story. Betty Nguyen is in the NEWSROOM. What do you know Betty?

NGUYEN: Yes, we're getting a lot more information on that bus accident down in Florida, which is about an hour north of Tampa. The pictures, take a look at them. This bus just rolled over on the side of Southbound I-75 and it didn't do it on its own.

Oh no, look in the top right-hand corner of the screen -- you see that white care there with the damaged hood. Well, we understand from an officer on the scene that that car lost control and hit the bus. More importantly, though, there were eight passengers and one driver on board. All of them had to be transported to Tampa area hospitals. Three of them were air-lifted and that gives you an idea of how serious the injuries are.

Although we have no confirmation as to indeed how serious they may be, if they're in critical or in any other kind of situation, but we know they are -- it was worthy of them being air-lifted out of this scene.

Taking a look now, everything is backed up in the area. This bus, just to give you more insight is from Westminster Shores. We understand it's a church bus. And we went on the Web site to determine what is Westminster Shores. And it seems to be a retirement community, it's a very large one, some 5,000 people there.

And just a little bit of history, it's a 26 acre campus and it was featured in the 1985 movie "Cocoon." So that gives you a little perspective on where the people on the bus were coming from but, more importantly, they are at the hospital getting treatment for their injuries.

Again, nine people involved. All of them on that bus. Eight passengers and one driver and we'll continue to follow it for you -- Don.

LEMON: Betty, thank you so much for that.

PHILLIPS: Well, it's not really a walk but 220 miles above earth there is certainly plenty of space. Space guru Miles O'Brien is here to walk us through the first of three spacewalks this week outside the international space station. Miles, we're just minutes away right?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Actually, they got outside early and it's been going on about 20 minutes now. They just ticked right through that checklist and what can they do but unleash them to the void.

Bob Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang, excuse me, Fuglesang.

PHILLIPS: Easy for you to say.

O'BRIEN: The first Swede in space and he tripped me up. In any case, these are some videotape, which was fed down just a while ago as they were suiting up. You see them on either side there. Let's see. Right there, that is Fuglesang and that is Bob Curbeam as they were getting ready to go out.

Look at the hatch in this direction right here. That's Miguel Turon getting everybody ready to go. The process of getting ready, its not unlike getting ready to go scuba diving. They actually slept in this airlock at a different atmospheric pressure in order to get their bodies purged of nitrogen, which would cause the bends if there in those suits without purging themselves of that nitrogen for so long.

Take a look at the object to of their efforts today. This is it -- it's the P-5 Truss segment. It's a compact car size piece of the spine in the international space station and weighs about two tons and it will be latched into place on this spacewalk. You see right now it's at the end of the robot arm attached to the international space station. It was parked there overnight. This is actually going to be the tricky part, Kyra, because the driver of this arm, Sonny Williams, who is a space rookie and who is just up there to spend six months on the space station, will have to move this huge massive thing into place with about two and two-thirds inches of tolerance and sort of parallel park it without causing any damage to the solar raise here.

PHILLIPS: How do you drive the arm?

O'BRIEN: Very carefully. That's the flip answer. But the truth is she's in here. She's in one -- in this tin can here. Don't tell her I said that, it's not a tin can, it's the destiny laboratory. But she can't see what is going on here with her own eyes. She has some TV monitors and she has a lot of skill and practice, but she's doing this all using television monitors and computers and spacewalker number one and number two saying come on back, come on back, in a little bit, out a little bit, that kind of stuff.

So that's a big part of what they are going to do today is make sure that that piece gets put in place just so. The latches are latched and the cables are connected. And that sets the stage for the other spacewalks I'll tell you about in a minute. Take a look at these images Kyra. This is a close-up image of the belly of the space shuttle. Right here, right here, right here.

PHILLIPS: Are those the chipped tiles?

O'BRIEN: Some chips in the tiles. Engineers think it's not a big problem but these are some of the pictures they took from the space station yesterday. I think it's going to be OK, but they are sharpening their pencils making sure about that -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Look out for those meteors. Meteorites, meteors, am I saying it right?

O'BRIEN: You did it better than I did Fuglesang that's for sure. So, I'm not going to say a word to you about pronunciations today.

PHILLIPS: All right Miles. We'll keep tracking it, thanks.

LEMON: The closing bell and the wrap of the action on Wall Street straight ahead.

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