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American Morning
South Pacific Tsunami; McCain In Iraq; Captured Sailors; Pet Food Mystery; Papal Anniversary
Aired April 02, 2007 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Washed away. Powerful earthquakes trigger a tsunami in the Pacific, wiping out villages, while residents race for higher ground.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Also, confession claims overnight. Reports that all 15 British sailors gave a so-called confession saying they entered Iranian waters illegally.
Also a security flack to tell you about. Senator John McCain says Baghdad is getting safer. His tour, however, is in a flak jacket with armed guards.
O'BRIEN: Also, holy week in the holy land. We're looking live all this week, looking for the truth about Jesus' final days. The first stop, the last supper. Did is really happen here?
We're live this morning from Jerusalem, from Baghdad, from London, from Beirut and from New York on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Good morning. Welcome, everybody. It's Monday, April 2nd. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes, sitting in this morning for Miles O'Brien. Thanks so much for being here with us.
O'BRIEN: Thank you for helping us out.
HOLMES: Well, thank you for allowing me to be here. Looking forward to it.
We've got a lot of stuff to talk about this morning. We're going to start in the south Pacific and an 8.0 earthquake under the sea. This happened and waves crashed into the town of Gizo. It's what it is in the Solomon's northeast of Australia. At least 13 people dead there. Many more missing. Our Chad Myers in the Weather Center keeping an eye on the Solomon Islands and what's happened there.
Good morning to you, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, T.J.
You know we were talking full moon. We always talk about new moon and full moon. That's the major threat of these big-time quakes. The earth is pulled on a little bit more. That's why we have big-time tides during full moon and also new moon times.
And there are the Solomon Islands. Not that far from Australia. 8.0 was the quake. And now almost 30 aftershocks of 5.0 or more.
We do know that the waves did come onshore here in the Solomon Islands, and even a few as far west even as New Zealand, down to the south but much smaller. Some of the largest tsunamis associated with this, 10 meters high. Which you do the math, that's about 30 feet high, making some of the smaller towns along the coast there, along Gizo and also south of there, awash in destruction this morning.
We'll keep you up to date. Trying to get pictures as soon as we can.
Back to you.
O'BRIEN: All right, Chad, thank you very much.
There are two prominent members of Congress in the Middle East. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is in Beirut, Lebanon this morning, planning a stop in Syria tomorrow. And Senator John McCain is leading a Republican delegation in Iraq. Now in Iraq, Senator McCain says Americans aren't getting the full picture of what's going on there. He visited a Baghdad market yesterday wearing a bulletproof vest, surrounded by heavy security. Still, Senator McCain says he sees improvement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARIZONA: Things are better and there are encouraging signs. I have been here many years, many times over the year. Never have I been able to drive from the airport. Never have I been able to go out into the city as I was today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: CNN's Michael Ware is live for us in Baghdad this morning.
Good morning to you, Michael.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Soledad.
That's right, there is the Republican congressional delegation here in Iraq. Potentially, they're here to view the impact of the surge, or the Baghdad security plan, and essentially to sell its merits. To say that, yes, it is having an impact and to take that message home to an American people desperate to hear of signs of progress.
Unfortunately, they chose a very poor way of displaying those signs of change and the signs of progress. The fact that Senator McCain and a delegation can drive from the airport and walk around parts of Baghdad wrapped in a heavy security envelope is not new. Generals and American representatives have been doing such things throughout the war. Indeed, it's the old reinvented as new and is in no way a sign of the real progress of the surge, which the senators should be talking about. O'BRIEN: Let me ask you a question. There was a report that said you were heckling and you were laughing during the senator's press conference. Is that true?
WARE: Well, let's bear in mind that this is a report that was leaked by an unnamed official of some kind to a blog, to somewhere on the Internet. No one has gone and put their name forward. We certainly haven't heard Senator McCain say anything about it or any of his staff have come forward to say anything about it.
I did not heckle the senator. Indeed, I didn't say a word. I didn't even ask a question. In fact, when I raised my hand to ask a question, the press conference abruptly ended.
So what I would suggest is that anyone who has any queries about whether I heckled, watch the videotape of the press conference.
Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Michael Ware is in Baghdad for us this morning.
Thank you, Michael.
O'BRIEN: Four U.S. soldiers were killed on Sunday southwest of Baghdad when an improvised explosive device, an IED, blew up. For the month of March, 81 U.S. troops were killed in Iraq. Thirty-one troops were killed last month. Since the Iraq War began, 3,253 U.S. troops have lost their lives.
T.J.
HOLMES: Meanwhile, the White House taking a shot at Congress for going on vacation while a bill to pay for the war in Iraq hangs in limbo.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN BARTLETT, COUNSELOR TO THE PRESIDENT: We sent the wartime supplemental 55 days ago. And what does the Congress do? They go on a two-week break for their Easter recess at a time when our troops need the funding.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The House and Senate both approved spending bills that include deadlines for withdrawing the troops. President Bush has promised a veto. The White House says the military may cut training and extend tours of duty if the president doesn't get a budget he's willing to sign by April 15th.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is in Beirut this morning, the latest stop on a Middle East trip that's about to go against the wishes of the White House. She's leading a delegation of U.S. lawmakers and tomorrow she'll travel to Syria to meet with President Bashar al- Assad. Pelosi spoke in Jerusalem last night, telling Israeli lawmakers that she will press Al-Assad for information about three Israeli soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah and Hamas.
Pelosi is the highest ranking American to meet the Syrian president since Bill Clinton. The Bush administration has refused to deal with Damascus. We will have a live report coming up in our next half hour.
O'BRIEN: Tensions between the United Kingdom and Iran ratcheted up again this morning. Iran airing videotape of captured British sailors saying that they, once again, confessed that they were in Iranian territory.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. CHRIS AIR, CAPTURED BRITISH SAILOR: We were seized apparently at this point here from their maps from the GPS they've shown us which is inside of Iranian territorial waters.
LT. FELIX CARMEN, CAPTURED BRITISH SAILOR: I'd like to say to the Iranian people, I can understand why you are so angry about our intrusion into your waters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: CNN's Jim Boulden is live in London for us this morning.
Jim, good morning to you.
Now Iran has said they've got videotape of all 15 of their captives. They're not showing it at least at this point. First and foremost, is there a sense that diplomacy can still work at this point?
JIM BOULDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think that was sort of a bone tossed by the Iranians back to the British. Last night they infuriated the British when they showed those two sailors talking in front of the map and confessing, as the Iranians would say. But this morning they're say, well, we do have everybody confessing on tape, but we don't want to show that on television anymore. So this changes by the hour, Soledad.
Prime Minister Tony Blair does not have any public statements to be made today, so we don't expect to hear from him. And maybe that's going to be, we move into the next level. We move into the next era, which is maybe some quiet diplomacy after the Iranians have said they won't show the rest of these men and the one woman confessing.
Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, so he's not weighing in, but the U.S., President Bush, is weighing in. He did over the weekend at least. And he said that Iran needs to release the hostages. What kind of role realistically can the U.S. play in bringing an end to the standoff, do you think?
BOULDEN: Well, with President Bush using the term hostages, this has changed this slightly. The British have never used the word hostages and the Iranians said that that was an ill-judged statement by Mr. Bush. He was quiet for nine days. We are now 11 days into the incident. And I'm not sure that President Bush is going to make any more statements about this.
It's not something the U.K. has asked for. The U.K. has asked for the U.N. to make a statement. Last week they asked for the European Union to make a statement, which they did. And this has really upset the Iranians. They said that this is a bilateral issue just between Iran and the U.K. They don't want anyone else to get involved. And certainly you can imagine the Iranians do not want the U.S. to get involved in any way. Even just diplomatically.
O'BRIEN: OK. Well, a bilateral issue could mean at some point maybe last resort military action. There was a poll that -- and it really showed that people were kind of split on the issue. Is that being talked about in any official ways at all, Jim?
BOULDEN: Absolutely not. We haven't even gotten to economic sanctions. We haven't even gotten to anything besides the foreign secretary saying that she wants to cut off business ties between the two, meaning any kind of normal diplomatic ties.
But that hasn't happened. They are now talking about the fact that they are in bilateral contact. We did have notes being passed back and forth. Some of the language has lessened. Margaret Beckett, the foreign secretary, said that she regrets that they're in this position and that this position has arisen. That's not very strong language. That's the kind of thing we heard over the weekend. So we are a mile away from anyone talking about military action.
Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Jim Boulden for us this morning. Thank you very much.
Angry protests over the weekend to tell you about in Tehran, right in front of the British embassy. Students want the Iranian government to expel the British ambassador. The crowd of about 200 people threw rocks, threw firecrackers. They shouted "death to Britain" and "death to America."
HOLMES: Eye-popping totals being raised for the Democratic presidential primary race. Senator Hillary Clinton raising $26 million in the first three months of the year. She also transferred $10 million from her Senate campaign account for a total of $36 million. Former Senator John Edwards announced his campaign raised about $14 million since new year's. Governor Bill Richardson reported $6 million raised, and Senator Chris Dodd, $4 million. We are still waiting, however, for the report from Barack Obama and the Republican candidates.
Sooner is better. That's what the White House is saying about the moving up the date Attorney General Alberto Gonzales appears before a Senate panel to explain his part in the firings of eight federal prosecutors. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy says Gonzales himself chose April 17th as the date and says everybody has already set their schedule according to that.
O'BRIEN: You want to strike the only woman right off the FBI's 10 most wanted list. There she is right there. Shauntay Henderson was wanted in connection with at least five murders and 60 shootings. Police arrested here on Saturday night in Kansas City. She is the eighth woman to make the most wanted list and now she's off the list.
HOLMES: And some amazing video to show you this morning. You remember the story, the man and woman that fell off that cruise ship last week. Well, that video you can see there. That is the woman waving her arm trying to get some help. Get me out of this water. You can see a small boat also in some of that video pulling up and plucking her from the water. The 22-year-old man and 20-year-old woman were in the water for four hours off Galveston, Texas, but they were both fine afterwards. Still not quite sure how they ended up in the water in the first place.
O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, fire line. Crews battle a wildfire outside of Los Angeles that threatened 230 homes. How close are they to putting it out? We'll let you know.
And more pet food removed from store shelves. And there's a new clue this morning as to the source of the contamination. We'll tell you what you need to know straight ahead.
And lost luggage. Travel nightmares. Just out this morning, a new look at the best and the worst airlines.
You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.
We've got some developing news for you from the south Pacific. At least 13 people killed by a tsunami that hit the Solomon Islands. It was after a magnitude 8 earthquake created a ten-foot tsunami that came on land and washed out villages.
In this country, firefighters in California are expecting they're going to be able to knock down a wildfire in San Bernardino County, just northwest of Los Angels today. It's already 95 percent contained. Four thousand acres have burned. Two hundred and thirty homes that were threatened over the weekend look like they're going to be OK. No report of any injuries at this point.
Coming up at quarter past the hour, Chad is at the CNN Weather Center watching wet weather. Quite a mess.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMES: Well, more questions this morning about that huge pet food recall that just keeps on growing. Three more companies are on the recall list now. They are Hills Pet Nutrition, Nestle Purina Pet Care and Del Monte Pet Products. They're recalling various products after the FDA tracked shipments of potentially contaminated wheat gluten to the companies. They question still, where did the contaminated wheat gluten come from? The FDA won't say who supplied it to the U.S. But on Friday, an import alert was put out on wheat gluten from a Chinese company. CNN's Sumi Das has a look at the fear this is sparking among pet owners.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUMI DAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): The pet food scare is causing fear, frustration and anger among dog and cat owners nationwide. Two weeks after pets began mysteriously dying, there are still few answers as to what's causing this.
ELIZABETH HENDRICKSON, PET OWNER: I'm afraid that now they're going to turn around and say, oops, it was in the dry food too.
DAN WILCOX, PET OWNER: It seemed like there was a lot of kind of stop/start, you know, false information.
DAS: As the list of tainted pelt food grows and confusion spreads about what is and isn't safe for animals, many pet owners are simply being overly cautious and the uncertainty is causing headaches for pet supply owners.
Todd Warner of Tailwaggers says the FDA isn't doing enough and should require pet food manufacturers to use independent, third party testing.
TODD WARNER, TAILWAGGERS: You start to wonder, OK, now it's this being affected and now it's the dry food and now it's more dates and it makes you wonder, how far does this go?
DAS: Since Menu Foods has yet to name the company which supplied the original, tainted ingredient, store keepers and pet owners can only guess what might be next.
PAUL HENDERSON, CEO, MENU FOODS: The important point today is that that source of the wheat -- the source of that adulteration has been identified and removed from our system.
DAS: Equally cryptic, the FDA, which can't confirm whether the human food chain may have been contaminated.
DR. STEPHEN SUNDLOF, DIR, FDA CENTER FOR VETERINARY MEDICINE: We can't say within 100 percent certainty at this point, but we have no indication that any of that material did go into human food.
DAS: Leaving pet owners and possibly others waiting nervously for some type of answer.
Sumi Das, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And AMERICAN MORNING has made several attempts to invite both Menu Foods and the FDA to come on the program. So far those requests have been turned down.
O'BRIEN: A brand-new report out this morning about just what airlines are the best or the worst at losing your luggage and delaying your flight. The annual Airline Quality Report says that Southwest Airlines had the fewest passenger complaints. United and U.S. Airways had the most. Hawaiian Airlines has the best on-time performance. Atlantic Southeast Airlines has the worst. Same for lost bags. Hawaiian Airlines lost the fewest bags. Atlantic Southeast lost the most. Another reason to move to Hawaii, I think. When it comes to getting bumped from your flight, JetBlue has the best record, Atlantic Southeast, once again, notice that name keeps coming up. They're the worst on that front.
T.J.
HOLMES: Now we know what to stay away from.
And coming up, holy week and a poignant anniversary at the Vatican. Pope John Paul II died two years ago today and this morning they're debating whether he already deserves sainthood. We'll explain that next.
And a six-year-old boy in a sinking car. The dramatic rescue and just how the car ended up at the bottom of a lake. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Today marks two years since Pope John Paul II died. And we all remember the sea of people would came to say good-bye at his funeral. Many of them were urging, remember, "santo subito" or sainthood now for the late pontiff.
This morning, a celebration marks what's already been the first milestone in his elevation to sainthood. Faith and values correspondent Delia Gallagher. Looking at some live pictures this morning from Vatican City. Now this is not the main basilica. This is the other one, St. John.
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the St. John Lattern (ph). This is another basilica that's in Rome.
O'BRIEN: What's happening at this ceremony right now?
GALLAGHER: At this one they're doing the sort of closing ceremony for this investigation that we've been talking about, gathering all the documentation about his entire life, about a possible miracle and they give it to the Vatican. They give it to the Vatican cardinals who then, in the next few months, are supposed to meet and kind of go over it and decide whether or not they can put this forward to the pope and say, yes, we should beatify this person or not. It's part of their whole saint-making process. And I mean there's actually a school at the Vatican that you can go to, to learn how to fill out all of this paperwork and how to propose somebody to be a saint. So, you know, anybody can go there if they want to nominate someone to be a saint. But they've got to, you know, do this process, which takes years.
O'BRIEN: Not everybody's going to be fast-tracked as Pope John Paul II was. Now Sister Marie-Simon-Pierre is the nun who come forward. We talked about that before. Now she's a guest in Rome, right? What happens next.
GALLAGHER: Well, that's kind of why she came forward, because she was going to be at this event today and they sort of knew that the world's press would be looking at her. So she came forward on Friday and sort of said, yes, it's me. And she's basically the person that they found after this two-year investigation into his life and into these miracles. She's the person that they said, we're going to put forward as the miracle from John Paul II.
Of course, she suffered from Parkinson's disease, which was the same disease that he suffered from. And so now it will be up to the cardinals to look over all that medical documentation and say whether or not, according to them, this is a true miracle. Because the medical documentation just says, you know, there's no explanation, there's no scientific explanation for what happened. That from one day to the next she suddenly didn't have he symptoms of Parkinson's.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk about legacy. I mean, second anniversary of his death and we talked when he died a lot about his legacy. Are those predicts all pretty much coming true?
GALLAGHER: Well, it's kind of funny because I think that when he died, you know, we talked a lot about the accomplishments that he had done during his pontificate, and it does seem to me that two years on that people still talk about him to me and remember him. And I mean all around the world. You know, I was in Turkey a few months ago and people kind of remember all the sort of charisma that he had and so I think that that certainly has stood out as kind of one of the main points of his legacy, just this personality that was such a superstar that people still haven't forgotten.
O'BRIEN: Hard to believe it's been two years, I think.
GALLAGHER: Yes.
O'BRIEN: I really (ph) do.
Delia Gallagher, our faith and values correspondent.
Thank you, Delia.
GALLAGHER: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: During holy week, we're broadcasting live from the most sacred sites in the holy land. We're looking for the truth about Jesus' last days coming up in our next half hour. We're going to take you live where some say Jesus and his disciples may have had their last supper. That's straight ahead.
T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Thank you, Soledad.
Well, consumers just keep on shopping. And that's a welcome sign for the economy. But there are all kinds of signs out there. It's 6:25 now. Time for us to check the business -- "Minding Your Business." Carrie Lee here with us this morning.
All kinds of signs out there that you can interpret all kinds of ways.
CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, because they're not all aligning. You know, we're seeing some signs of economic strength, some signs of weakness. And investors and the markets really seem to be caught in the middle.
We've just ended the first quarter and what we've seen even last week, first of all, on the strong side, existing home sales. The biggest jump in three years. A lot of people have heard about that.
Also we saw consumer spending, as you were referring to, strong, as well. That's good for the economy. Consumer spending drives two- thirds of the economy. Although strong consumer spending does weaken the argument for lowering interest rates. So Wall Street doesn't like that.
And then we have the flip side even within the housing market. New home sales sinking to their lowest pace in six years. Also, weak consumer confidence. And so we've seen a lot of conflicting economic reports.
We've also seen this reflected on Wall Street. Last week, all the major market indices down. The Nasdaq, S&P down 1 percent or more. The prior week they were all up 3 percent. So as we finish the first quarter, a little bit of differing things happening. And I will say this morning, though, first day of the second quarter, it is looking like a strong start so far. So a good start in a bullish way.
HOLMES: All right. Will this report, the jobs report coming out this week, will that help clear anything up?
LEE: You know, we'll see. The estimates can change over the next couple of days, but this is certainly going to be the next big thing investors are looking for. Now the jobs report comes out this Friday. However, it's Good Friday. The markets are closed. So any influence is going to probably go through until the next Monday. But the jobs report is the next big thing Wall Street will be watching for.
HOLMES: All right. What are we watching from you next go around? We're going to see you again this morning.
LEE: We're going to talk about China, tariffs. Are they going to go through? Are they not? We'll view the latest on that?
HOLMES: All right. We will see you then. Thank you so much, Carrie.
LEE: Sure.
HOLMES: Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right. The top stories of the morning are coming up next.
We're watching for aftershocks after that powerful earthquake and tsunami in the south Pacific.
Plus, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is making her way towards Syria, going against what the White House would like. What does she hope to accomplish there? We've got a live report.
And a six-year-old is lucky to be alive this morning. We'll tell you about the heroic rescue that saved him from that sinking car.
You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Good morning. Welcome back, everybody. It's Monday, April 2nd.
I'm Soledad O'Brien.
HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes.
Good morning to you all. I'm sitting in today for Miles O'Brien.
O'BRIEN: Thank you for helping us out. W sure appreciate it. And welcome to New York.
HOLMES: Thank you. Thank you.
O'BRIEN: A pleasure.
Several stories that we're following for you this morning.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi in Beirut right now, but about to move on to a highly controversial trip in Syria. She's going to be meeting with leaders at the White House (INAUDIBLE) helping insurgents in Iraq.
We've got a live report straight ahead.
HOLMES: Also, another video surfaces of the captured British sailors in Iran, but Iran is showing restraint this morning.
We'll explain that.
O'BRIEN: And we're searching for the truth about Jesus. Take a look at some live pictures from the Holy Land this morning as Christians celebrate Holy Week. We're taking a tour of the world's most sacred sites and what they can tell us about Jesus' last days.
Today we're going to visit a place that could be where Jesus and his disciples held the Last Supper.
That straight ahead this morning.
First, though, we begin with Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker. She's preparing to go against the wishes of the White House by going into Syria.
Speaker Pelosi arrived this morning in Beirut. Tomorrow she's going to be meeting with the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, the man who the Bush administration has refused to deal with.
The very latest now from CNN's Brent Sadler, who is live in Beirut for us.
Good morning to you, Brent.
BRENT SADLER, CNN BEIRUT BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning, Soledad.
Speaker Pelosi was kicking off meetings with both western- supported government behind Fouad Siniora, the prime minister, as well as the opposition here in a political deadlock in Lebanon for many, many months. But essentially, it's the Syrian leg in the next 24, 48 hours that all eyes are going to be on.
Now, Speaker Pelosi heads a bipartisan delegation. And many senior members of Congress among them. Some of them have been to Syria before. And it really is an attempt, she told me a short time ago, to try to get the Syrians to recalibrate their relationships with the United States, especially when it comes to supporting terror groups, Palestinian terror groups, and attitudes towards Iraq.
This is what she told me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: Of course, the role of Syria and Iraq, the role of Syria supporting Hamas and Hezbollah, the role of Syria in so many respects, that we think there could be a vast improvement. So, therefore, we think it's a good idea to establish the facts, to hopefully build some confidence between us. We have no illusions, but we have great hope.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SADLER: Certainly strong support by Pelosi for the government of Fouad Siniora, who is facing down an Hezbollah-led opposition. Hezbollah will be on the list of hot-button agenda issues to discuss with the Syrian leader in Damascus. This is going to be very closely watched.
I asked Speaker Pelosi whether or not she thought it was a bad idea to go to Syria at this time, echoing what White House officials have been saying. And she said quite adamantly that this was a good time, she thought, to find out the latest position vis-a-vis Syria and the United States and the peace process as a whole, given that Speaker Pelosi just has arrived in Beirut from visits, top-level visits in Israel -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Brent Sadler for us this morning watching this very closely. And, of course, we'll be really watching that on Wednesday as she heads right into Damascus.
Thank you, Brent -- T.J.
HOLMES: Meanwhile, people also watching the tensions between the U.K. and Iran, and again being ratcheted up this morning. Iran airing another video of those captured British sailors and marines.
Angry protests over the weekend in Tehran to show you here. Students there demonstrating at the British Embassy. They're demanding an apology from London.
The latest video, meanwhile, showing two British sailors once again confessing to trespassing in Iranian waters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. CHRIS AIR, CAPTURED BRITISH SAILOR: You can see apparently at this point here from their maps, from the GPS they've shown us, which is inside Iranian territorial waters.
LT. FELIX CARMEN, CAPTURED BRITISH SAILOR: I'd like to say to the Iranian people, I can understand why you are so angry about our intrusion into your waters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: This is the third video to feature a so-called confession since the sailors were captured on March 23rd. However, Iran says it has more video that it will not air.
More now on that tsunami in the South Pacific. An 8.0 earthquake under the sea triggered it.
Waves crashed into the town of Gizo in the Solomon Islands, northeast of Australia. At least 13 people are dead. The information director for the prime minister says that number could double. That's because many more are missing.
(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: We're live from the Holy Land this week. All week looking for the truth about Jesus. And each day this week, this Holy Week, we're going to visit a different sacred site.
Today, CNN's Atika Shubert is live in Jerusalem at Mount Zion, which is where Jesus and his disciples may have had the Last Supper.
Good morning to you, Atika.
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad. I'm in front of Dormition Abbey in Mount Zion, and this is the area that biblical scholars and archaeologist agree the Last Supper most probably took place here. In fact, I'll step down right now and show you the room where it is traditionally believed the Last Supper actually took place.
Christian pilgrims have been coming here for centuries and, in fact, they're still coming here today during Holy Week. We've seen people coming in from Africa, the U.S., Europe, coming here to pray and to sing. This is being -- believed to be one of the most sacred sites. But, of course, religious tradition and historical record differ quite a bit.
Historians and archaeologists say this room could not have been the room of the Last Supper because it was built during the crusades, more than a thousand years after the crucifixion of Jesus. However, underneath this building there are the remnants of a first century church, so -- one of the earliest in Christianity. So this has still been a holy place for more than a thousand years, and not just for Christians.
If you look up here, you'll see a stained glass window which has an Arabic inscription, and that's really a remnant of when this building was actually an Islamic mosque under the Ottoman Empire . And, in fact, today, it is also a religious Jewish school.
And this is part of what makes Jerusalem such a fascinating city, because it's holy to all three faiths, a third of the population. And it's part of what makes following in the last steps of Jesus especially during holy week such a fascinating journey.
O'BRIEN: You know, when you think about the Last Supper, there are so many famous and beautiful paintings of sort of the depiction of what happened and how the Last Supper looked. Are those anywhere close to what at least historians believe the Last Supper was really like?
SHUBERT: Well, historians say it's probably not very accurate. The most famous of those paintings, of course, is Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper" masterpiece, and that shows the disciples around Jesus at a long, rectangular table. And historians say that's not really right.
There would have been more families there, women attending, in addition to all the disciples that were there. And the tables probably would have been round, with about six people at each table. And they know this from excavations.
They also know according to the gospels that Jesus came to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover, the Jewish traditional holiday. And it will actually be Passover tonight. So we are seeing all across the city of Jerusalem all those traditions being replayed over and over again, including burning of bread. There's not supposed to be any leaven bread in the house during Passover.
So those are some of the scenes that we're seeing today. And, of course, some of those ancient Jewish traditions were also included in the Last Supper, including the sharing of a glass of wine before a meal among all the people there. And that, of course, is still celebrated with holy communion in the Christian tradition today.
O'BRIEN: Wow. Well, even if they didn't use that room for the Last Supper, that is a gorgeous room. We can tell from here. It's absolutely beautiful.
Atika Shubert for us this morning, with us all week as she highlights some of the moments from Holy Week and then Jesus' last path.
Thank you very much, Atika -- T.J.
HOLMES: Well, coming up on 6:45 now. Checking some weather.
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Some health headlines for you this morning.
People with Type II Diabetes are soon going to have a new way to control their blood sugar. Drug maker Merck won federal approval to sell a medicine that combines two drugs into one pill. It's called Janumet. It combines Januvia with a widely used older generic drug which is called Metformin. Janumet is going to be available later in the month.
Now, scientists say they've pinpointed five new genetic risk factors for prostate cancer. Their DNA sequences found on one certain chromosome. The findings could help lead to ways for early diagnosis of prostate cancer.
And a new study about pregnant moms about weight gain says women who gain the recommended weight, the weight your doctor tells you can gain during your pregnancy, you're four times as likely to have an overweight child by the age of 3. Researchers recommend that women aim for the lower end of the recommended range, and for a healthier pregnancy and for a healthier child.
And I don't know, I always think when they tell you how much weight to gain, it's like, OK, when I stop snarfing down, you know, ice cream, I'll think about it. That's ridiculous.
HOLMES: Is that what happens, you all snarf down ice cream?
O'BRIEN: You cannot imagine how much food you can go through when you're pregnant.
Moving on -- shall we?
HOLMES: All right.
We're going to talk about this guy who we interviewed here at CNN before, and he was just a joy. He's one of the last known surviving Navy veterans from World War I, and he has now died.
This is Lloyd Brown. He passed away last week at the age of 105.
He was only 16 when he joined the Navy. And he was only able to get in because, yes, he lied about his age at the time. His death now leaves three living veterans of the Army who served in World War I.
And just a few days before Brown died, Charlotte Winters, the last known female World War I veteran, she passed away at the age of 109.
O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, looking forward to '08. We'll tell you which candidates running for president are just raking in the dough.
Plus, its all fun and games right now, but wait until you hear about the circus clown who lost that little bike. Can you believe he left it unlocked on the streets of New York City? Come on.
That story...
HOLMES: What did somebody just put it in their pocket and walk away with it?
O'BRIEN: They could have. They could have.
We'll tell you about that straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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Will Farrell skates to the top of the box office this week with a figure skating comedy, "Blades of Glory". Ferrell performs in an all- male pairs team with Jon Heder, who is best known from "Napoleon Dynamite".
"Blades of Glory" won big. It debuted at $33 million over the weekend.
No surprise, says Carrie Lee.
HOLMES: Oh. Oh.
O'BRIEN: You know what you're getting when you see a Will Ferrell movie.
HOLMES: OK.
O'BRIEN: OK. Here's who came next -- "Meet the Robinsons," an animated film from Disney which pulled in $25 million. Rounding at the top five, "300," still doing well, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," and "Wild Hogs".
HOLMES: And we're supposed to be "Minding Your Business" now, but you double as a movie critic. You saw it. You liked it. CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thumbs up, $30 million. I added $11 to that.
I thought it was good. This unofficial opinion gives the thumbs up to "Blades of Glory". Very funny. So...
HOLMES: But we're officially supposed to be talking to you about the new tariffs.
LEE: That's right.
HOLMES: The U.S. slaps tariffs on Chinese...
LEE: That's right. For the first time in over 20 -- for over 20 years, the U.S. has not taxed or put tariffs on Chinese imports. Well, last week, the Bush administration decided to do just that, and China, as you can probably guess, not very happy about this.
A Chinese commerce official now saying that Beijing is strongly dissatisfied with the move. They say it's unnecessary. They want the U.S. to reconsider this decision and, in their words, correct it.
Now, just a little background here.
The U.S. never taxed them because the Chinese government backs, in some cases even owns, a lot of the companies there that make goods. Well, now basically U.S. saying it's a new world, it's a new economy, and we're going to have to start doing this.
This was at the request of a paper manufacturer. U.S. manufacturers saying that by not taxing or tariffing, that the Chinese imports are making the prices unfairly low.
So that's the latest there.
Interesting, though, U.S. and South Korea just agreed on terms of a landmark-free trade deal that could be worth $20 billion a year. So some would say maybe not exactly consistent.
O'BRIEN: No.
HOLMES: All right, Carrie.
O'BRIEN: Completely inconsistent, some people would say.
LEE: Right. Trying to be diplomatic.
O'BRIEN: Carrie Lee for us this morning.
HOLMES: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Carrie.
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