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Bahamas Court Expected to Rule on Paternity Case of Anna Nicole Smith's Daughter; War Funding Standoff; U.K. Troops Talk to Media

Aired April 10, 2007 - 14:01   ET

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

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, they should have basked in the Final Four glory instead of a harsh media spotlight brought on by a shock-jock's thoughtless barbs. We are hearing from the women's basketball team at Rutgers.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: And Larry Birkhead is just about to find out if he is or isn't the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby daughter.

We're live in the Bahamas, and you're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

NGUYEN: And I'm Betty Nguyen.

More on that hearing happening this hour. That in just a moment.

It is the top of the hour, and we start with a very private meeting in the near future, a very public news conference today. The Rutgers University women's basketball team plans to meet with Don Imus. The radio host has been suspended for two weeks for referring to the players as "nappy-headed hos" on his show last week.

I even hate to say that.

Today the coach and the team told reporters and the rest of us how they feel about the comments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

C. VIVIAN STRINGER, COACH, RUTGERS WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: It's not about the Rutgers women's basketball team. It's about women. Are women hos?

Think about that. Would you have wanted your daughter to have been called that?

These young ladies have done nothing wrong. Some of you might point to, well, you know what? He makes comments about other political figures or other professionals. These aren't political figures, nor are they professionals. These are hard-working 18, 19, 20-year-old young women who came here to get an education and use their gifts.

ESSENCE CARSON, RUTGERS TEAM CAPTAIN: We have agreed to have a meeting with Mr. Don Imus. This meeting will be a private meeting at an undisclosed location in the near future.

We just hope to come to some type of understanding of what the remarks really entailed, his reasons why they were said. And we would just like to express our great hurt, the sadness that it has brought to us.

It is more than a game of basketball, it is more than Rutgers women's basketball team. As Coach Stringer said, we realize that it's about women across this world, across this nation. It just so happens that we finally take a stand.

And we ask that you continue to support us and not look at we're attacking, you know, a major broadcasting figure. We're attacking something, an issue that we know isn't right.

KIA VAUGHN, RUTGERS BASKETBALL PLAYER: It hurts a lot, it does hurt. And there's a lot that should be said. There's a lot that I want to say.

But, you know, you can't say it. And I would like to speak to him personally and, you know, express how I feel face to face and ask him, "After you met me as a person, do you feel in this category that I'm still a ho, as a woman, and as a black African-American woman at that? I've achieved a lot, and unless they have given this name, a "ho," a new definition, then that is not what I am.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: As we've been telling you, there is a private meeting in the near future.

So you have heard the comments. We have reported on the controversy. What do you think? We want you to weigh in.

Send us your e-mails at cnnnewsroom@cnn.com.

NGUYEN: Well, DNA does not lie. And the truth about the paternity of baby Dannielynn Stern may finally come out today. A Bahamas court is expected to rule in this matter, two months after the death of the baby's mother, Anna Nicole Smith.

So, let's get now to Nassau with CNN's Rusty Dornin.

And Rusty, I can imagine you're standing in the middle of what has become quite a media circus.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It has, it's been that way all along. But the excitement is really building, Betty.

First of all, I'm going to show you a little tour here of where we are, downtown Nassau. Right down the street, you can see International Tourist Mecca. What looks like a very tall building is actually one of the many cruise ships that come in to Nassau, dock here, and unload thousands of people. And many of those people are choosing this spot as a tourist destination. The taxis often stop by, people taking pictures, asking us, do they know who the daddy is? We've got ABC, we've got Court TV over here. And you've got a whole lot of tourists who now have arrived and are waiting -- the arrival for the folks that are coming for the hearings should be happening any time now.

So, you see these people waiting. They think maybe Larry Birkhead, Virgie Arthur, Anna Nicole Smith's mother, or even Howard Stern may be arriving any time soon.

Now, the hearing is scheduled to get under way at 2:30 in the Bahamian Supreme Court. That is more similar to our superior court.

The proceedings are closed to the public, but they're scheduled to reveal the results of the DNA. Dr. Michael Baird (ph) from DNA Diagnostics in Ohio is there. He's ready to reveal the results. The question is, will we find out?

In the Bahamas, an issue has to be resolved in court before they release it publicly. There is the possibility they could release the results of the DNA, and then the custody issue could be dealt with at the same time. If that does happen, all of the parties could come out and speak to the press and reveal once and for all what did happen for this DNA result.

Now, remember, the only results we'll find out about is whether Larry Birkhead is the father. He, of course, is the one that came to the Bahamas and filed this motion and had them go and get DNA from the young child, Dannielynn. So we won't be finding out if anyone else is the father if it's not Larry Birkhead. Even Howard Stern has not given his DNA.

So anyone's guess what's going to happen here, but, of course, there is just a lot of excitement as things begin to get under way -- Betty.

NGUYEN: No doubt, a lot of people have been waiting quite some time to find out exactly who the daddy is of Dannielynn. So we'll be waiting and watching.

Thank you, Rusty Dornin.

In fact, we have Mike Brooks, who is going to be speaking with us a bit later today on this very topic, so tuned for that -- Don.

LEMON: It is time to get the job done. That message from the president to Democrats on the Hill. Both sides are still at odds over the latest bill to fund the war in Iraq.

Suzanne Malveaux is at the White House.

And Suzanne, is there any end in sight to this standoff?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Don, there really isn't, because now we're at a point where it's at an impasse over an impasse. And I can explain that to you. We saw the president earlier today before the American Legion, a friendly audience, talking about the need to move forward with this war supplemental. Then he announced he's inviting Democratic and Republican leaders to the White House next week to come up with a plan, to come up with some sort of bill that he can sign that clears the way to provide funding for the troops.

But he said he is not going to accept any legislation that has a timetable for troop withdrawal. That is the legislation that so far is on the table here.

He says this is not negotiations, this is discussions, and he is reaching out and trying to have the members come here to the White House. Well, so far, he has been slammed.

We heard from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a statement, as well as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, saying, look, we are not going to show up here at the White House with preconditions on discussions here. By all accounts, it simply amounts to some sort of photo op.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: At this meeting, the leaders in Congress can report on progress on getting an emergency spending bill to my desk. We can discuss the way forward on a -- on a bill that is a clean bill. A bill that funds our troops without artificial timetables for withdrawal and without handcuffing our generals on the ground.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: The president is inviting us down to the White House with preconditions. That's not the way things should operate.

The president is now having to deal with a Congress. He has never had to do that before. The president in the past, he has just done whatever he wanted. He had a big rubber stamp up here on Capitol Hill. Whatever he wanted, they stamped it OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So, Don, I asked Dana Perino, the deputy press secretary at the White House, the president is always accusing the Democrats of political theater here. Why is this not anything more than a photo op? They said, well, this is the chance here for Democrats and Republicans to come up with something that the president really can sign.

Now, why are they doing this in the first place? It may indicate that they see an opening here that they can exploit. We heard from a couple Democrats over the weekend, the past week. Senator Carl Levin saying perhaps they don't need to have that timetable for troop withdrawal. We heard from Senator Barack Obama, saying let's not play chicken with funding our troops.

The White House is hoping that perhaps there is some wiggle room, some movement here on the Democrats' side to come up with something different -- Don.

LEMON: And Suzanne, you know, I have to ask you this, because oftentimes the White House, especially Tony Snow, these guys will respond to things that are sort of outside the political realm, maybe things that are in pop culture. I'm wondering if they're paying attention today to the news networks and talking at all about the Imus situation.

MALVEAUX: Well, you know, Don, actually Dana Perino was asked about that. And the way it was asked was very carefully done here. It was asked, does the president, who has supported women in this administration, African-American women, secretary of state, you standing here at the podium, does he feel that punishment of suspension of Don Imus was enough? And it was a clever way of asking it, and they actually addressed it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA PERINO, DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president believes that the apology was the absolute right thing to do. And beyond that, you know, I think that his employer is going to have to make a decision about any -- any action they take based on it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So, Don, Dana Perino asked the president yesterday about that very issue, the controversial Imus issue and some of those comments that he made. Obviously kind of keeping an eye on pop culture and how the president is reacting to it -- Don.

LEMON: And that was, you're right, a very clever way of putting it. And probably the right way of doing so.

Suzanne Malveaux at the White House.

Thank you very much for that.

MALVEAUX: Sure.

LEMON: And we've been asking you, our viewers, your thoughts on this controversy. And here's what some of you had to say.

Derek (ph) e-mailed us. "As an African-American," he says, "an African-American male, I, like all members of the human race, was deeply offended by Don Imus's remarks. However, I'm more offended by the opportunists who exploit his misfortune to bring attention to themselves. For example, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, did they call for Jesse to be fired when the moral reverend had a child out of wedlock? They did not, rightfully so."

And so Michelle Bowman of Dallas, Texas, writes, "Does anyone know, or even care at this point, who won the championship game? Imus's comments have taken the focus off the winning team, and they don't get a chance to have their moment in the sun."

And another viewer says, "What ever happened to the quaint, old concept of free speech? A reasonable person would regard an insult by Imus as a positive."

NGUYEN: Well, in other news, the British government has temporarily banned all military service members from talking to the media for payment. Now, the action comes following criticism that 15 sailors and marines held captive in Iran were selling their stories. But British sailor Faye Turney spoke with reporters before that order came down, and CNN's Alphonso Van Marsh has more now from London.

What is she saying, Alphonso?

ALPHONSO VAN MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, she's saying a lot. A lot of readers are being treated, as it were, to one of the tabloids, "The Sun," here, in what they're calling an exclusive where Faye Turney is talking about her experiences when she was held in Iran.

Of course, as you mentioned, she is one of 15 British service members held for almost two weeks. Some of them now selling their stories to television and local papers.

In "The Sun," she talks about how she had a chanced meeting, or perhaps a planned meeting, we should say, with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- of course, that's the Iranian president -- where he asked her, how was her baby daughter doing, her 3-year-old daughter? She replied, "I don't know, Mr. President. I haven't seen her for 13 days."

Now, that kind of anger expressed by Faye Turney, there's a similar anger here over these paid to tell their stories kind of thing going on here. People saying that it's not appropriate for these British service members to be paid -- in Faye Turney's case, over $100,000, reportedly -- to sell their stories, saying that it's almost an insult to other British service members who have died in other conflicts, like in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some British family members of British service members who have died in other conflicts saying their duty is to serve their country, not profit from their experiences -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Well, Alphonso, didn't Faye say essentially that she's doing this because part of the money -- one, she wants to tell her story, obviously, but part of the money is also going to go to the Cornwall?

VAN MARSH: This is true. She has said in these reports and on television that a percentage of her earnings will be going to help her fellow service members.

Of course, that's all subject to interpretation. Exactly what percentage, 00.1, 5, 10, 50, we're not privy to that kind of information. And it kind of gives us some insight to something that we experienced ourselves.

I've been covering this story over the last two weeks, have gone to the home towns of some of those British service members. In the beginning, when they were still being captive, I know the friends and family of one British service member was keen to share their stories.

One of the local tabloids actually offered them money not to share pictures, not to share information with other journalists, because they wanted an exclusive. The friends and family were outraged by that. They said they wanted the world to know about their son, in this case, wanted to know what kind of person he was. But as the story seemed to change, so did the attitude.

When it became clear that these British service members were indeed being freed, we heard phrases like, "We have to look out for our son's future," veiled hints that they wanted to be paid to hear those stories -- Betty.

NGUYEN: That's very interesting.

Alphonso Van Marsh joining us live from London.

Thank you.

LEMON: Do fewer calories add up to a longer life? Well, our Dr. Sanjay Gupta makes a connection for you. He's live with more on his special series, "Chasing Life".

That is straight ahead, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

NGUYEN: And we are waiting to here from a Bahamian court this hour on whether Larry Birkhead is the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby. New video of Birkhead arriving. You're going to see it shortly.

You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

NGUYEN: Well, Don, those decisions that we make every day may add or subtract healthy years from our lives. That's the focus of a new book from our Dr. Sanjay Gupta. "Chasing Life" is also a special report this weekend on CNN.

And the doctor joins us now from New York to talk about food, something I love, but I know I have to eat it in moderation.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, it's moderation. You know, there's only one proven way to actually extend life through diet, and that's something known as calorie restriction. That's been proven for a long time in various models. Of course, as you say, Betty, no one really likes to hear that. So we want to give you some tools this morning -- this afternoon, rather, to try to be able to eat less by actually eating more food.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (voice over): Okinawans tend to eat more food than Americans but are often thinner and live longer. In fact, Okinawa has more centenarians per capita than anywhere else on the planet.

You see, despite eating a greater volume of food, they are consuming fewer calories. That's because much of their diet consists of fruits, vegetables, tofu and soup. And all of these foods contain a lot of water.

They also follow a tradition called Hara Hachi Bu, pushing away from the table when they're only 80 percent full.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you're starting the day on the run and you get a typical breakfast, and for 400 calories you're going to get three quarters of a cinnamon bun.

GUPTA: Half a world away, Penn State professor Barbara Rolls studies the way Americans eat. She says Americans are eating too much fast food. It's food she calls calorie dense.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And they're sold very cheaply and very conveniently and they're very easy to overeat.

GUPTA: A burger and a fries, for example, is mostly fat, protein and carbohydrates. Fat is 255 calories per ounce. Carbohydrates and proteins are each 113 calories per ounce. Fruits and vegetables, on the other hand, are mostly water and fiber. Fiber averages 57 calories per ounce. Water zero calories.

Rolls thinks we should eat less calorie dense foods, in other words, more fruits and vegetables, as well as soup. She calls this volumetric eating.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Volumetrics helps you to feel full on fewer calories. And we know that eating foods that are low in calorie density helps to fill you up.

GUPTA: So what about Americans following Hara Hachi Bu?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do people know if they're 80 percent full if they don't know even when they're 200 percent full?

GUPTA: Instead, Rolls says we should make sure we get full on less.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: Now, it's called volumetrics, as we said. And the Okinawans probably do it without even knowing that they're really doing it. But there are some people who take it even a step further, Betty. It's called calorie restriction, or a CR diet. And there's a lot of people doing this.

I mentioned it earlier. It's the only diet that's actually shown to actually increase life span. First of all, in mice by 35 percent, but they also extended it in primates as well. And now they're doing a study in humans.

I sat down to dinner with a couple of people who follow CR diet very closely. They actually weigh everything. They weigh every asparagus, every tomato, every single thing on their plate.

I ate that, what you see there, that meal, with two pretty good sized pieces of tilapia, 639 calories exactly. That's what they gave me, and that's how they sort of follow their lives and their diet.

NGUYEN: You know, some people say, OK, that sounds great and all, but that takes a lot of work to do all that weighing right before you're eating.

But I have also heard, Sanjay, a lot of people say that you really should eat some soup with dinner or before dinner, because that fills you up. It's kind of like that volumetrics. But that being the case, and if it is quite easy, although it does take some work, why aren't more people doing it?

GUPTA: You know, well, first of all, the food idea that you said I think is actually an important one. And it sort of speaks to the idea that why more people aren't doing something like volumetrics.

When you eat something ahead of time, you're giving your some time to actually tell your brain that you've got something in your stomach. What happens is, it takes about 15 minutes for your stomach to send that signal to the brain to say, OK, I'm full, I've had enough, I'm satiated. The problem is, most of us can eat a three- course meal in that time period.

NGUYEN: Like two minutes.

GUPTA: In two minutes, yes. So you walk away from the table...

(CROSSTALK)

NGUYEN: Right.

GUPTA: And you say, oh, my gosh, I've eaten too much.

NGUYEN: I'm still hungry.

GUPTA: Yes.

So it's this whole idea of being able to eat a little slower, eating like what you said, some fruit, some water-rich foods. And if people did that, they would have a lot better time in actually being able to restrict calories, which obviously has all sorts of benefits.

NGUYEN: Yes, it makes so much sense, because I'm a fast eater, and rarely do I feel full, when I know in about 15 minutes, I'm going to feel completely stuffed. So you've really got to train yourself.

That being the case, though, you have so much great information in this book.

GUPTA: Thank you.

NGUYEN: What do you have for us tomorrow?

GUPTA: Well, you know, Betty, I decided that I would practice a little bit of what I preach.

NGUYEN: Uh-oh.

GUPTA: I decided to put myself under the microscope to figure out how long I'm going to live.

NGUYEN: Uh-oh.

GUPTA: I'm going to tell you tomorrow how long I'm going to live, if I'm going to live to 100 or not. I'll give you a little clue -- I'm not.

But also, Betty, I'll lay the challenge to you right now, if you want me to find out how long you'll live, we can do a little quiz with you as well and give you some rough estimate of how long Betty will be around.

NGUYEN: I'm a little frightened about that, but you know what? I'm up for that challenge.

GUPTA: You can decide. All right.

NGUYEN: Let's do that. And hopefully you live for a very, very long, Sanjay. We need you around.

GUPTA: I'll see you on the other side. All right.

NGUYEN: See you, Sanjay.

GUPTA: Thanks, Betty.

NGUYEN: And you can catch all of Sanjay's CNN special. It's called "Chasing Life". That is this Saturday and Sunday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. Sanjay's book "Chasing Life" is now on sale, and you can actually enter to win a free autographed copy of his book.

All you have to do is go to cnn.com/chasinglife.

Hey, so, Don, do you want to know how long you're going to live? Is that something you're up for.

LEMON: If you judged from my diet, I shouldn't be here now.

NGUYEN: Gone a long time ago.

LEMON: Yes. All the French fries and burgers and chicken wings.

NGUYEN: Ooh, but that's the good stuff, right?

LEMON: Love it. All right. Thank you. We look forward to that, actually.

You know, we're going to talk about who is her daddy. We're talking about Dannielynn.

Just moments ago -- we know there's going to be a decision, some sort of decision today in the Bahamas regarding who is the actual father of Dannielynn.

Ad so that was Howard K. Stern, new video of him arriving at the court just a little bit ago. We saw Larry Birkhead arrive moments before that. But we're going to get back to that story and tell you where she's going to grow up, straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: They are just three little words deeply family to almost anyone who has filled out a medical claim, but do you know what it is? Out of network is now costing doctors more, too. And Susan Lisovicz joins us now from the New York Stock Exchange to tell us how doctors are fighting back with this?

(BUSINESS REPORT)

LEMON: Thank you so much for that.

NGUYEN: And we want to let you know a hearing in the Bahamas is happening right now to determine who is the father of Dannielynn, and that of course being Anna Nicole Smith's baby. We're looking live at pictures of that courthouse in the Bahamas. What we do know is Larry Birkhead and Howard K. Stern, both claiming to be the father of the child, have arrived, and we hope to hear the paternity results just as soon as they are said in the courtroom. Of course, no one is being allowed in, but as soon as we get the information, we will bring it to you. Stay here for more developments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Here's the sad part -- she will never know her mother or her brother. Will Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern get to grow up with her biological father or someone else? You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Don Lemon live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

NGUYEN: And I'm Betty Nguyen.

Well, finally a paternity ruling is expected today in the Anna Nicole Smith case, two months after the Playboy playmate died of an accidental drug overdose. Smith's ex-boyfriend Larry Birkhead is contested Dannielynn's birth certificate which lists Howard K. Stern as the father. You got all that? Let's hear what Birkhead said as he went into the courtroom just moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY BIRKHEAD, ANNA NICOLE SMITH'S FORMER BOYFRIEND: We have a large group of people and I'm hoping to leave with one more. We'll see what happens.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you feel confident you'll be able to have the entire issue resolved?

BIRKHEAD: You never know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Mike Brooks has been following this case closely, spending a lot of time in the Bahamas where the ruling is expected today. Although we're not sure if we're going to hear it today, unless Birkhead comes out with a big smile on his face.

MIKE BROOKS, ATLANTA: We should hear it today. Everyone tells me since they postponed it from last week, yes, we should hear who the father is.

NGUYEN: In the courtroom, but that may not be released publicly.

BROOKS: There's a gag order right now, but after the hearing is done, there's nothing else to keep the gag order on. I've been talking with lawyers in the Bahamas saying it should be released today, and we should hear from all the interested parties. I was speaking with Larry Birkhead last week, before he went back to California. Right before he left, I said, are you leaving? He said, yes, I'm going to get the nursery ready, so he feels confident.

NGUYEN: Then you have this whole birth certificate issue, because Howard K. Stern's name is on that. When we get this ruling, does that change all of that?

BROOKS: That may, if it's proven by Dr. Michael Baird, after he unseals the results today, that in fact it's not Howard K. Stern, Howard Kevin Stern listed on the birth certificate, then they will have to make a new birth certificate. All in time, the whole time -- Birkhead's camp has been saying this whole birth certificate is basically invalid. What they say, on the birth certificate, where it shows informant, it says I certify the above-stated particulars are true to the best of my knowledge and belief, it's Dion Smith (ph), an attorney. By Bahamian law, this is attorneys telling me from there, it has to be someone that actually witnessed the birth, preferably the birth father. If not, it has to be a midwife, nurse or someone else, but it can cannot be just an attorney. It has to be someone that witnessed the birth. So they're saying this birth certificate is invalid. This is a certified copy that we got when we were in the Bahamas.

NGUYEN: Just to be clear, this hearing will settle paternity, not custody. They may, if it's determined Birkhead is the father, they may go right ahead and talk about who is going to get custody, but on Friday, Virgie Arthur (ph), the grandmother of Dannielynn, she says she has filed a petition to get a guardian add litem (ph) to be at least temporary guardian. She would like total custody, but she told me the other day, I sat with her in the court of appeals the other day, and she said yes, she wants at least temporary custody, if not full custody, but if not, she wants to be involved in Dannielynn's life somehow or another, and she wants grandparent's rights of visitation if in fact the court rules against her.

NGUYEN: Aside from all of this, there's still the inquest into Smith's son's death Daniel. What do you know about that?

BROOKS: Well, they have picked a jury. A week before last, they had a box -- we were allowed to sit in, I was inside the coroner's court. It was presided over by Judge Roger Gomez, the chief magistrate in the Bahamas, they went ahead and picked a jury, but then the attorneys for Howard K. Stern said, time-out for a second here, we feel our client Howard K. Stern will not get a fair and impartial shake by these seven jurors. I don't blame him to be honest. Every Bahamian I have spoken to, for some reason, they don't trust Howard K. Stern for some reason. They feel he was involved somehow in Daniel's death and her death, and nothing's been proven. This is all alleged, but this is what they feel. They went ahead and said, okay, there might be a constitutional issue with the coroner's act. This is everything that rules over the coroner's court, so they wanted to have a specific set of questions to make sure all of the seven jurors that were picked are impartial. All seven jurors are women, so they wanted to make sure, very interesting.

NGUYEN: It is a small island. To not have someone not hear about the case, to be impartial, I think would be difficult.

BROOKS: Judge Gomez said, can you go ahead and make an impartial ruling on the death, the cause of death of Daniel? And everyone says, yes, no one recused themselves, but Howard K. Stern's attorney said, wait a minute, we're going to send this to a different court, to a higher court, if you will. So, they've kicked that up to the Supreme Court.

Now, tomorrow at 10:00, the jurors all come back, they want to make sure they're all kept together, but then on Thursday at 10:00 a.m. in that Supreme Court the constitutional issue will be heard on the coroner's act. Now, if they decide ...

NGUYEN: We've got to follow all these dots here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got to follow all the dots. If they decide that there is a constitutional issue and the constitution needs to be changed, only one group can change the constitution and that's the Parliament.

Now just the other day, the parliament was dissolved, because there's an election coming up on May 2nd.

NGUYEN: Oh, Mike. It goes on and on and on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It goes on and on. And the parliament will not come back into session -- the new Parliament, the new elected parliament will not come back into session until May 23rd. And one very respected jurorist in the Bahamas said that this could drag on for months, if not years.

NGUYEN: Well, I can tell just by all the dots that you've laid out here for us today. The big thing though, hopefully we'll find out who the daddy is.

Thank you, Mike, we really appreciate it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you Betty.

LEMON: Absolutely, and you're not going to miss any of it. You're looking at live pictures there. As soon as there is some decision or some movement on this case, we'll bring it to you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Keeping an eye on a global crisis from a computer near you. Ahead in the NEWSROOM, bringing Darfur home, don't go away, NEWSROOM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Take a look now, live pictures at the courthouse in the Bahamas where we are hoping to hear anytime today who the father of Dannielynn Smith truly is. Both Larry Birkhead have arrived, you see pictures of him right there. Also Howard K. Stern in court today, as well as Anna Nicole Smith's mother, all there to find out who the father is in this case. And as soon as we have that information, of course, we'll bring it straight to you.

LEMON: And now to another -- as we look at live pictures, another very popular story, this one has thousands of you clicking on it at CNN.com. For many people, the crisis in Darfur seems like a problem that is a world away, but Google Earth and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum are teaming up to bring the problem closer to home.

And for details on this project we go to our Zain Verjee, she is in Washington. Hi, Zain.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Don. You know, you may have used Google Earth's mapping technology to take a look at your own home, and even zoom across your neighborhood, but you may be really surprised at what you're going to see today. It's kind of like taking a magic carpet ride into a place that no one wants to really fly into.

Now, if you go to this application, you can see evidence of destruction, you've got burned homes, schools, mosques, this is in Sudan's western Darfur region. This is a village caused Kubar (ph). Now, if you click on it, you can see the number of structures that have been destroyed in the village. This one had something like 969 out of 1,037.

Now, experts have told us that more than 200,000 people have been killed in the civil war there, most by a deadly militia group known as the Junjaweed (ph) that are said to be backed by the government. Little bit of background, too, about what this war's all about. Since 2003, Don, the rebels themselves have been fighting, essentially for a greater share of the country's oil wealth as well as for more political power. You can see on this application, some small as well as large refugee camps where more than 2.5 million people have fled. It's kind of represented represented this way by some sort of bar graph. You can see them as small or large apartment buildings in a sense.

Google Earth, along with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum wants Americans basically to be more aware about the genocide, and technology they say is one way they can do that. You can also click on cameras that show pictures of the war, as well as link to videos taken by eye-witnesses. Also, you can take a look at one specific picture that we came across here, which was one of a government soldier that began burning the essential food storage of villagers in one particular area.

So, Don, there are a lot of interactive screens on this applications that tell us some quite significant and important testimonials. But just one word of caution. There are a lot of graphic materials on this Web site, so if people are going to go to it, just be a little bit aware of that.

LEMON: Yes, you know what, and it's amazing, because there are folks that would say, people are not interested in some things that are happening overseas, but if you make it more personal, like they're doing, you can get people interested because it's one of the most clicked on stories on our Web site here.

You mentioned awareness, Zain, is that really what the people from this project hope that folks will gain from this?

VERJEE: Yes, they hope that the awareness will lead to action, the people will educate themselves, go and take a look at this application, really take a look for themselves to see what's happening. They want this project to create what they call today a community of conscience, to essentially activate people to put pressure on the U.S. government as well as the Sudanese government to take action.

LEMON: You know, you're at the State Department in Washington for us a lot. What about our response? How is the U.S. reacting?

VERJEE: Right, well the U.S. has basically been pushing for a joint U.N. and African Union force of about 22,000 in this region of Darfur. The Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte is visiting Sudan this week. He is expected to deliver a pretty tough message, Don, from Washington, basically, also, one that will include the threat of more sanctions if Sudan does not allow an international peacekeeping force -- Don.

LEMON: Zain Verjee, thank you so much for that, very interesting.

NGUYEN: Well, we do want to get straight to the NEWSROOM right now and CNN's T.J. Holmes with details on a developing story out of California. What do you have, T.J.?

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, this story is coming to us out of Newport Beach, California, again, this is a point of reference, 40 or 50 miles or so to the south of Los Angeles, where the coast guard and rescue crews are now looking in those waters off Newport Beach for at least two people they believe have gone into the water. Those two people are believed to have been fishermen that were standing on a jetty.

You're not seeing it from this live picture right here, but we do have a video I do believe of that. We lost that signal there, I hope we get the video up for you. But there's a jetty there in the water where apparently these fishermen were standing and were knocked off that jetty by a wave, and now search crews are down there, in those waters trying to find those two people.

The waters look pretty calm for the most part down there. However, you could see at some points where the waves did come up every now and then. Again, you can see that jetty there in the top of the screen there, kind of in the distance, that's the jetty we're talking about where it's believed those two fishermen were and were knocked off.

Again, the waters look fairly calm, but every once in a while, you can -- we watched the video, have seen the live pictures. Every once in a while, a pretty good wave comes up, and it looks possible, at least, that possible -- that somebody could have been knocked off. There you go, you're looking at the jetty, those stones, those walls of stones.

So we're keeping an eye on this. The coast guard at least looking for -- looking for at least two people they believe are in the water. We're keeping an eye on this for you, Betty.

NGUYEN: All right, T.J., thank you for that.

Straight ahead, entertainment news with Sibila Vargas. What's on tap, Sibila?

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Betty. The world's biggest music superstars come together for Mother Earth, and a new way you can get even closer to Martha Stewart. That and more when the NEWSROOM continues.

LEMON: And CNN is live in the Bahamas standing by for developments in the Anna Nicole Smith custody -- or at least who is the baby's father. As soon as that happens for you, we'll bring it to you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. We're back in a moment.

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NGUYEN: Well, music fans are looking forward to a monster of a summer concert, as organizers unveiled the lineup for Live Earth. Plus, Martha Stewart back in the news.

Entertainment correspondent Sibila Vargas has all those details. Hey there, Sibila.

VARGAS: Hey, Betty, it was a big day for both music fans and for those who would like to help out the planet. The all-star lineup for the U.S. leg of Live Earth concerts was announced.

BON JOVI (singing): We've got to hold on to what we've got, it doesn't make a difference if we make it or not.

VARGAS: And among those singing at Giants Stadium in New Jersey will be of course Bon Jovi, Alicia Keys, Dave Matthews Band, Kanye West, Kelly Clarkston, Melissa Ethridge and the newly reunited Police.

They join a long list of other superstars helping former V.P. Al Gore on his mission to combat the global climate crisis. Acts from all over the world will perform in a seven-continent 24-hour series of live concerts on July 7th.

Tickets go on sale Monday, April 16th at livenation.com. And you can bet they're going to go fast.

NGUYEN: Oh that's going to be a great concert, much better than Don here singing a bad rendition of Bon Jovi.

VARGAS: Oh really? Is that what he said (ph)?

NGUYEN: No, you don't want to hear it, you don't want to hear it.

VARGAS: OK, all right.

NGUYEN: We're going to move right along because speaking of great singers giving back, we hear Gloria Estefan is doing her part for sick children in Florida.

VARGAS: That's right, the Latin superstar was on hand yesterday to help the Miami Children's Brain Institute open. MCDI will provide services to children with brain tumors, epilepsy, autism and spinal cord injuries.

Estefan and her husband joined the former patients to cut the ribbon, officially opening the institute's new lobby which was made possible by a million dollar plus gift from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida and the Gloria Estefan foundation. She's such a great woman. I love her work.

NGUYEN: And we actually hear her husband is the master of the kitchen at your home? Is he excited about the new Web site from Martha Stewart?

VARGAS: That's right. Yes, you know, he might just be adding you to his list of favorites and I'm such a lucky woman to have a man cooking for me.

The newly-overhauled Web site was quietly unveiled last month, and offers more than 700 videos, including episodes of the domestic diva's TV show, how-to clips and chat rooms where fans can exchange tips on everything from recipes for chocolate cake to new scrapbooking techniques.

Marthastewart.com represents another initiative the Lifestyle (ph) company has launched since Stewart was released from prison in 2005 for lying to investigators about a stock sale.

And it seems to be working, Betty. Martha Stewart's Living profits rose fivefold in the fourth quarter from a year ago. So, as she says, it's a good thing.

NGUYEN: Well, she's a smart woman, it is a good thing for you when your man cooks.

VARGAS: That's always a positive.

NGUYEN: So what's on tonight on "SHOWBIZ?"

VARGAS: Well, tonight a little more serious, Don Imus has said that he's sorry, he's apologized, he's gone on national radio and television to beg for forgiveness, he's even been taken off the air, but today the women insulted by his racist remarks come forward. Is Imus's contrition enough or is there a double standard at play?

The controversy on TV's most provocative entertainment news show, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT," 11:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific on CNN's Headline Prime. Back to you, Betty.

NGUYEN: All right, Sibila. We'll be watching, thank you.

LEMON: All right, who is the father of Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern, or it could be Dannielynn Hope Marshall Birkhead? We don't know, but they're deciding that in a courtroom in the Bahamas today. As soon as we hear anything about the outcome of this case, we'll bring it to you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

NGUYEN: First, though, as we go to break, let's take a look at the big board today. Stock just barely up, as we count down to the closing bell an hour from now. You are watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

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