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Nevada Authorities Looking for Chester Arthur Stiles; Beef Recall; Violence in Myanmar; Maldives Explosion; Missile Defense Test

Aired September 29, 2007 - 12:00   ET

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

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Happy birthday and a big re-sounding thank you from all of the women out there.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: The athletic supporter is 150 years old today.

NGUYEN: You don't know that. The athletic supporter? What's that otherwise known as?

LEMON: I'm not saying.

NGUYEN: The jockstrap.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: I can't believe you said it. All right, Betty Nguyen.

NGUYEN: Hey. Full disclosure, right?

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: That was a bold move, my friend.

LEMON: Oh, my God.

WHITFIELD: OK, well I will support you now through the next hour. You guys have a great day.

All right. Well, right now, the manhunt is on for this guy. Police say he's a predator who videotaped himself raping a little girl. Where is he? And how could this happen with the girl's mother unaware?

Also, state of siege. Despite a brutal crackdown, i-Reporters are sending us their video of the fight for democracy in Myanmar. The latest, straight ahead.

And do you know this guy? Dancing Matt? He's got one of the most-watched videos ever on YouTube. I'll talk with him live later on this hour.

Hello, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield and you are in the NEWSROOM.

A 3-year-old girl, her rape on videotape has been found alive in Las Vegas and now the hunt is on for this man, Chester Arthur Stiles. A former family friend and suspected child predator. He lives in Pahrump, Nevada were our Kara Finnstrom is on the case -- Kara.

All right. It looks like Kara's not hearing use to know that we're ready for her report, so we'll try to reestablish that live shot in a moment and get back to her.

In the meantime, authorities were reluctant to release this haunting picture of an abused 3-year-old, but the gamble paid off. Stick around because Ed Miller of "America's Most Wanted" joins us with more details about the search and what investigators are learning from this very disturbing video.

And police in Chicago puzzled and looking for clues. Now trying to determine how 28-year-old Nailah Franklin died. Her decomposing body, nude, was found just miles from where her abandoned car was discovered in Hammond, Indiana. Police are waiting for forensic a report before calling it a homicide. The pharmaceutical saleswomen was reported missing September 19 after she failed to show up for work.

Now, back to that very disturbing investigation taking place in Nevada where they're looking for suspects involved in the rape of a 3- year-old girl, all on videotape. The little girl now back with her family as we understand, and apparently safe. Kara Finnstrom has been following this story.

Kara, how have police been able to, I guess, put some of these pieces together?

KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're still working to do that. This morning detectives tell it has become their personal mission to track down the man on that videotape who repeatedly raped this little girl.

That man, they believe, may be their suspect in this case at this point, Chester Arthur Stiles. They are looking for him. He is someone they have been actually looking for him in the past in connection with other crimes. He's also wanted on charges of lewd conduct involving a under 14-year-old minor. So, they've been looking for him for that charge.

He is considered a fugitive. They also tell us that he's had some type of a combative past with police. So, they consider him very dangerous and they're hoping to find him soon.

Now, yesterday, a heart-warming day for the detectives here. They found this little girl. They tell us she was safe and with her mother. There's still a lot of troubling questions about why this abuse was not discovered for so long. They know it took place four years ago. But, at this point they're asking the public to shift their attention from this little girl to finding Stiles who they say is their main suspect. And here's some of what the -- the district attorney had to say about Stiles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB BECKETT, NYE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTY: We were told that he claims to have been a Navy Seal or was a Navy Seal. He's not a gamblers, he's not a drinker. He's a survivalist type. He can live without water or electricity. It doesn't bother him a bit. He's a martial artist. He claims to be a black belt. He's very paranoid, he's very handy with weapons and he always carries a knife on him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FINNSTROM: Now, a little more information on that little girl. Detectives say she is now seven years old. They say she seemed to be a very happy child when they found her at her home with her mother. They say the mother says she has no recollection of anything being awry and that she had no idea that her child was actually being abused in this way. They do tell us that a very thorough investigation will be made into all of the circumstances surrounding that abuse and that this child will be getting of the appropriate help -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Kara. And that's just as perplexing as anything else about the story, that it would seem a child would exhibit something unusual after such a traumatizing -- such a traumatizing experience and that no one in the family seemed to think that she showed any evidence of that?

FINNSTROM: Well, that's the question that we raised to detectives yesterday. And they said that will obviously be a question that is raised by people who are investigating this case, now. But, because she is a minor and because she is the victim of child abuse and sexual abuse, we may never hear any of those answers.

WHITFIELD: All right, Kara Finnstrom. Thanks so much for those details.

Well, now moving overseas to the crisis in Myanmar, the Asian country formerly known as Burma. A U.N. envoy arrived there today in a bid to end deadly clashes between government forces and pro- democracy protesters. The military hunta (ph) has barred virtually all international journalists from entering the country.

John Vause is in neighboring Thailand with the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is an incredible security presence on the streets of Yangon, but despite that, one source inside the country has told CNN about an incredibly dangerous game of cat and mouse between demonstrators and security forces.

According to this source, at any one time, about 100 or so protesters have been facing off against the army and against the police. These protesters have been taunting the soldiers and the police officers. They've been yelling abuse, they've been chanting slogans, and then as the security forces move in to arrest them, these protesters scatter, they run away and hide. That is the sign for a secondary protest.

Apparently a red flag, a fighting peacock flag, which was the symbol of the pro-democracy movement in 1988, that goes up. Hundreds fall in behind, they start marching, they start chanting Buddhist prayers and then the police and the army turn their attention to those protesters. They, too, run away and hide. All of the demonstrators then regroup at another location and it starts all over again.

Today, though, there was almost no sign of any monks on the streets of Yangon. Many have been rounded up, hundreds have been arrested, others have been confined to their monasteries.

And after days on unrest, it seems the military is now trying to regain control without the bloodshed, at least in public. One reason for that could be the presence of the U.N. Special Envoy is now in Myanmar's capital. He is there to try to and broker some talks between the government and the pro-democracy movement.

I'm John Vause reporting from Bangkok, Thailand.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And here now are some additional fast facts on Myanmar. Slightly smaller than Texas, Myanmar is located in southeastern Asian, with borders on India, China, Bangladesh, Thailand and Laos. Originally a British colony, the country gained independence in 1948. Myanmar is home to more than 47 million people and 89 percent of them are Buddhist.

The country was first called Burma, but since 1989, military authorities have referred to their country as Myanmar. Although the U.S. government and many expatriates still use the name Burma.

A developing story we're watching in the Maldives capital of Male. An explosion today near the national museum has injured at least a dozen people including some foreign tourists. Officials say the explosive was a small home-made device.

The Pentagon is calling its latest missile defense test is a success. Officials say a target missile was launched from Kodiak, Alaska and an interceptor missile then fired from a base in California, successfully tracked, intercepted, and destroyed the target over the Pacific.

A recall of bad meat is being expanded, now. More than a dozen people in eight states are sick and bad meat may be to blame. Almost 22 million pounds of meat from the Topp's Meat Company are being recalled because of possible contamination with E.coli bacteria. That's up from more than the 330,000 pounds the company recalled on Tuesday.

And there's a long list of meat products that fall under this recall. You can see the entire list on the company's Web site, Toppsmeat.com or on our Web site, cnn.com.

Another tropical storm gathering strength out in the Atlantic. Melissa is the 13th storm -- or I should say the 13th named storm of this hurricane season. Bonnie Schneider is in the Weather Center.

And how menacing might Melissa be? BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, Fredricka, you're right, it's the 13th named storm. And this one formed this morning. So we're really getting the latest information for you. Melissa doesn't look very menacing and neither does Karen, at least not right now because the storms are encountering a very hostile environment in the Atlantic, meaning wind sheer that breaks down the thunderstorms from top to bottom, and that's why we see weakening systems.

But Melissa's still a tropical storm, winds right now at 40 gusting up to 50. The track takes it to the northwest, but notice it may strengthen a little bit tomorrow, but then weaken quickly when it comes back into that environment that can break it down. That's exactly what happened to Karen. It was a tropical storm at of 5:00 this morning and then the latest advisory downgraded Karen to a tropical depression.

You can't rule it out yet. We'll have to see what happens with this, but right now the storm is weakening quite a bit as it works its way across the Atlantic. And looking at the satellite perspective, you can really see that wind sheer. Notice the first picture, a really round storm, and then we start getting those winds from the southwest, breaks down the storm and now it's just looks like a little mess of thunderstorms. But, we're still watching it because it's such an active time right now in the tropics.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: Wow, what is means is people start shopping right now to see if they need to update their skis because it's time to get geared up and ready for the winter. All right, thanks a lot, Bonnie.

All right, straight ahead, new details on the case of videotaped abuse of a little girl in Nevada. I'll speak with a reporter from "America's Most Wanted" television show.

And is this man, Newt Gingrich, going to run for the White House? You'll hear what he says straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well, new details now about the 3-year-old girl seen being raped on a videotape and the search for a suspected predator. The girl has been found safe with family in Las Vegas and is now seven years old. And the more investigators find out about the case, well, the more twists it seems to take.

Ed Miller is a correspondent covering the story for "America's Most Wanted."

Good to see you, Ed.

ED MILLER, AMERICA'S MOST WANTED: Good morning.

WHITFIELD: So, what's the story behind how this little girl even ended up in the hands of this predator? MILLER: Well, no one is exactly sure what the relationship is between Chester Stiles and the young girl. To the best of our knowledge, it seems to be a connection between a friend of a friend of a friend. Now, how in the world did he have access to this little girl?

WHITFIELD: Right.

MILLER: And how the mother didn't know is the big question.

WHITFIELD: And is that the feeling, that he did act alone or might there have been another person or persons with he and the little girl?

MILLER: No, the feeling is that he did act alone. We've been able to uncover that he actually, on the videotape, he actually takes the camera in bed with him as he attacks the girl, it's a hand-held camera. And you know, the detectives who have seen the tape describe it as so awful and so brutal that they will never be the same again after seeing the tape. That's how awful it is.

WHITFIELD: Oh, it's just so horrible even just hearing the descriptions.

MILLER: Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: So, how do we know the little girl to be doing considering such circumstances even though it was four years ago?

MILLER: Right. Well, first of all, "America's Most Wanted," as you well know, gives very special priority to any crime against children. So, to the best of our knowledge, you know, she has not received any therapy. Now she will, of course. And this is taking a whole different direction, because the mother did not know -- and police truly believe the mother did not know what was going on and that she is in no way, shape, or form was involved in this. So again, this was abuse right under her nose.

WHITFIELD: I'm sorry to cut you off, but why do they believe her? Because I just find it so hard to believe that a parent wouldn't know or am I being really naive about this?

MILLER: No, no, no, I think, you know, again you have to trust police on this. By the reaction of them coming to her, she seemed totally surprised. And I think they have to go with their gut instinct about this. Of course there will be other lengthy investigations and they're going to look into this. Because, you know, it could very well be as awful as this may sound, this could turn out to be a case of child neglect. How could you not know this was going on under your own nose in your own home?

WHITFIELD: Wow. Meantime, Chester Arthur Stiles, one of the people that they're looking for, right? One of...

MILLER: Right, Chester Arthur Stiles is the prime suspect. He has been elevated from a person of interest to big red neon letters "prime suspect" in the case. Now, we know that he is sort of a loaner, a kind of a paramilitary kind of guy that can live in the desert without water or electricity. He always carries a knife with him, and he has a history -- this is very important -- a history of child sex crimes.

He is considered to be very dangerous. But we consider him to be public enemy No. 1, as of right now, because he is Chester the molester. He is the molester next door. He's the one that America needs to be looking for, right now.

WHITFIELD: And I mentioned one, because there is another person who had access to this tape in the first place that brought it to everyone's attention, right? Darrin Tuck. Why are they looking for him? What's the status of him?

MILLER: All right, Darrin Tuck, we did an exclusive interview with Darrin Tuck. Darrin Tuck is the one who found the tape, who began this whole thing.

WHITFIELD: Yeah.

MILLER: He found the sex tape. He claims that he found is in the desert, you know, while he was riding his dirt bike. Police do not believe that story. They gave him a lie detective test yesterday, he failed the lie detector test. He still maintains that he had nothing to do with this. He says he doesn't know the girl, he does not know Chester Stiles. He says in his opinion he was doing the right thing by turning it over to the police.

But of course the big question is why did he hold on to the tape for so long after finding it and not give it to the police right away?

WHITFIELD: Right, especially being, you know, everyone knows there's something wrong with this picture. OK, so Tuck, not looking for him. They have access to him, have questioned him. But, he's kind of in the back of their minds. What are you all going to do with your program, "America's Most Wanted" on this topic? When can we see it?

MILLER: Well, we're going to be following this as closely as possible, not just on television, but on amw.com. And we keep updating the case as it goes along and as it unfolds. The issue with Darrin Tuck, we should just make clear, he is wanted and will be wanted on child pornography charges, possession of child pornography from that tape. So, they may very well arrest him very soon. We don't know that for a fact. He's also wanted for some parole violations on a different matter of child custody -- or excuse me, child -- alimony payments or child payments, whatever. But it has nothing to do with that.

But, in other words, the bottom line is there are warrants out for him and Darrin Tuck is still considered to be a person of interest. He may be in some way, shape or from, related to this case, not directly but perhaps indirectly.

WHITFIELD: Oh, it's just shocking. It's horrible. It's disgusting. I think everyone at least agrees on that one. Thanks so much, Ed Miller.

MILLER: Thank you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Well, overall, violent crime in the U.S. is up for the second year in a row. Gang crimes are among the hardest to prosecute because witnesses are often afraid to come forward. And in a documentary tonight for our SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT, Anderson Cooper goes inside the world of gangs in L.A. Here's an excerpt from "Homicide in Hollenbeck."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who are these two knuckleheads?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN NEWS ANCHOR (voice-over): As part of Hollenbeck's Gang Unit, Jake Dugger (ph) and his partner, Aaron Skiver (ph), have a specific mission, gang intelligence.

JAKE DUGGER, LAPD HOLLENBECK GANG UNIT: You're expected to know who's in, who's out as far as prison.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the only thing you go by? You never go by anything else?

DUGGER: Who's active, who's not active. And it changes daily. You've got youngsters coming up and you've got old guys burning out. You've got to stay sharp. You guys live around here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Crystal methamphetamine.

DUGGER: And you've got to stay sharp.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You guys live around here?

COOPER: The cops compare their job to playing cat and mouse while working a jigsaw puzzle in a foreign language. Graffiti, for example.

DUGGER: One-eighty-seven is the California penal code section for murder. Basically that's a death threat, basically is what it is.

I'm going to take a couple pictures of your tats. Let me see your stomach.

COOPER: Tattoos tell them who's in which gang.

DUGGER: All right. Put it down. What about the lock street? How old is that?

He's got the Saint Louis Cardinals on his chin and the Saint Louis Cardinals, we know that's an "S" and an "L" and there's a little "T," Saint Louis Cardinals. But for them, that means "Lock Street." That's the name of his gang, el Sereno Lock Street.

COOPER: One recent night, an hour after the gang unit ended its shift, there were two gang shootings, including a man fatally shot in the back of his head.

DUGGER: His life just got pissed away because he was a gang member.

COOPER: It's the kind of senseless death Dugger hoped to prevent when he first came to Hollenbeck.

DUGGER: My philosophy was if I could get a kid just before he gets jumped in and try to keep him out, then I will have done something in my time in the unit. And that's where we come to Yogi. I thought Yogi was going to be my kid.

COOPER: Yogi didn't live in Hollenbeck, but hung out with one of its gangs.

DUGGER: I preached to him all the time about what gang membership did.

COOPER: And yogi seemed to listen.

DUGGER: You know, he was a smart kid. That's what I saw in him, he was a smart kid. He wasn't your everyday thug as a lot of gang members are, just seemed like a gangster lifestyle didn't fit him very well. And I remember coming up and Yogi was laying right -- right here on the sidewalk, right here, right near this tree. And he'd been shot in the head.

COOPER: In the never-ending tug-of-war between laveda loca, the crazy life, and the life with a future, the gang won out.

DUGGER: By the time I find out about a kid or know who a kid is, it's almost too late.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Watch the full SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT report, "Homicide in Hollenbeck," that's tonight, 8:00 Eastern on CNN.

One community wants to ban trucks that serve these, tacos. Find out why as part of our "Uncovering America" series.

And a surprise visit for a girl who had written about missing her brother in Iraq.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, this just in to CNN. Aren't you glad you were not on the flight I'm about to tell you about? Some pretty scary moments aboard a passenger plane this morning. Within the last hour, an AirTran flight took off from Philadelphia, bound for Atlanta, when according to the FAA, a bird struck the 737's windshield and the windshield actually collapsed and the plane's co-pilot was injured slightly by the broken glass. The plane returned to the airport safely. That's good. No passengers were hurt.

Well, all week long, CNN's "Uncovering the Influence," the Latin community has on America. In New Orleans, Hispanic workers are helping to rebuild after Katrina, but something that followed those workers to New Orleans is stirring unrest.

Susan Roesgen looks at the growing controversy over taco trucks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If this were Mexico City or Los Angeles or New York, a street corner taco truck would be no big deal. But when this one parked in front of an abandoned gas station after Hurricane Katrina, it signaled the start of something some people in suburban New Orleans didn't want.

LOUIS CONGEMI, JEFFERSON PARISH COUNCILMAN: They don't want to see a truck, whether it is a -- a taco truck, whether it's a pizza truck, or whatever kind of truck.

ROESGEN: Taco trucks were not common in this area until after the storm. The food followed the workers. Tens of thousands of Latino laborers who came to do the dirty work of rebuilding flooded neighborhoods. But, while the workers are still here, some property owners say they're being told it's time for the taco trucks to go.

RAY PEACOCK, PROPERTY OWNER: They'd like to see a Neiman Marcus here or something, but it isn't. And then perhaps one of these days we may have a Neiman Marcus, but not today.

ROESGEN: Ray Peacock rents his abandoned lot to truck owner David Montez Daoka (ph). Montez says he serves authentic Mexican food to hungry workers who like the familiar taste and language of home.

ROESGEN (on camera): (speaking foreign language) Do you work construction?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (speaking foreign language) Yes. See all this is for work.

ROESGEN: (speaking foreign language) What kind?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (speaking foreign language) Drywall sheetrock...

ROESGEN (on camera): The parker lot taco stop is a popular place, and not just for Latinos pulling sheetrock out of flooded houses. Montez says about 1/3 of his business is local. But the Jefferson Perish Counsel is telling Montez he has to leave. An ordinance passed in July says the trucks must keep moving, not staying in any one place for more than 30 minutes or have permanent restrooms and utilities, plus be properly zoned. Requirements most taco trucks just don't meet. And even some of the locals say that's not fair.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When they needed these people that they were here for us. Now that we've all back in our houses and whatever, the parish has strictly forgotten and say now leave. I don't think it's right. ROESGEN: Critics say the new law is a not-so-subtle way of nudging the Latino workers to move along, too. But Jefferson Perish councilmen, Louis Congemi, says nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, he asked us to meet him here at the Hispanic Resource Center he founded two years before Hurricane Katrina.

CONGEMI: We actually want them to do better in our perish. We encourage them. We want nemto open a business. We want them to get out of these trucks and open permanent buildings. It's not just -- it's not trying to run them out, we want them to stay.

ROESGEN: David Montinez (ph) wants to stay. He'd like to save enough money to open his own Mexican restaurant down the street. And with any luck, he thinks his customers will stay, too.

Susan Roesgen, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And we'll continue our "Uncovering America" series today, this weekend and through Wednesday of next week. Check out CNN.com's special online report, "The Hispanic Experience Today." Read about the real issues facing the Latino community and significant moments in Hispanic history.

The Buddhist monks of Myanmar, they challenge a harsh military dictatorship, and inspire supporters a continent away.

And is there room for one more? Just one. The presidential race, Newt Gingrich says, show me the money.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Here's what's happening right now. Police are searching for suspected child molester Chester Arthur Stiles. Nevada officials say he videotaped himself sexually brutalizing a three-year- old girl. The child has been located with her mother and she is now seven-years-old, by the way, and is said to be OK.

Military troops are out in force today across Myanmar, also known as Burma, as a key U.N. envoy arrived, is trying to negotiate a peaceful resolution to clashes between the military and pro-democracy activists.

And now, some political news just in to CNN. Is former house speaker Newt Gingrich priming for White House run in '08? CNN just spoke to Gingrich's office.

Senior political analyst Bill Schneider joins us now. Drumroll, please. Bill, what's the answer?

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: No, his office has confirmed it ...

WHITFIELD: All right, that's a surprise, isn't it? SCHNEIDER: It is, because he had just announced last week in a speech in Atlanta and in press conferences that he was thinking about running for president, and that he was going to do a three-week trial to see if his supporters could pledge at least $30 million to support a campaign for the presidency. He said he didn't intend to run an unrealistic campaign. He needed that much money to compete with much better-financed and wealthier candidates like Mitt Romney. So, he said if his supporters would pledge $30 million, he would run for president.

Well now, before that even began, it was to start on Monday and last for three weeks. He has confirmed to CNN that he is not running for president. That decision, apparently, is final.

WHITFIELD: And so, the idea of that challenge of raising all that money, did that not come about because he was noticing or at least his supporters were noticing that the Fred Thompson doesn't (ph) kind of shake up the scene like expected. And there were other candidates like McCain, who were not really doing well in trying to raise more money and that perhaps there was an opening for him?

SCHNEIDER: Well, the opening was that no Republican candidate -- they have only nine so far with Thompson ...

WHITFIELD: Yes, that's all.

SCHNEIDER: ...in the race. None of the nine has swept Republican voters off their feet. They're not raising as much money as Democrats. The polls are very undecided. The national frontrunner, Rudy Giuliani, his margin has been diminishing. The frontrunner in New Hampshire, Mitt Romney, we just reported this week that instead of growing in strength the way Hillary Clinton is among Democrats, his margin has been diminishing.

So, Republicans don't seem to have a hero in this race. And Gingrich saw on opening there and decided that he would at least entertain the idea, if the support was there, to run for president himself in order to galvanize the conservative activists and the Republican party for what he called change. He was preaching the gospel of change, which could only mean a change from their own president, George Bush.

WHITFIELD: So, does that mean the Republican party, at this juncture, is now getting pretty shaken up and saying, uh-oh, we don't have a clear favorite? We better start coming up with an idea to introduce yet another player, or does it mean the party says, we need to invest in one of these nine and say, let's make this person the star?

SCHNEIDER: I think -- I would choose option two, if I were a Republican, which is that they have nine players. They better decide on one. And it could be any of -- any number of them are interesting to Republicans. But, they've got to begin galvanizing around -- rallying around a candidate pretty quickly.

And I think that could happen because it's very unlikely that any other candidate is going to come up with the money to run a serious race. If Gingrich can't do it, I'd be surprised if anyone else entertains the idea of getting in. Fred Thompson just got in, there was a lot of excitement ...

WHITFIELD: Yes.

SCHNEIDER: ...about him a few months ago, but once he did get in this month, the excitement began to diminish a little bit.

WHITFIELD: All right, give it time, folks?

SCHNEIDER: Right.

WHITFIELD: A year and a half. All right, thanks so much, Bill Schneider. Appreciate it.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

WHITFIELD: Well, all week, we've been watching some pretty extraordinary pictures coming out of Myanmar, the country formerly known as Burma. It is very difficult and it's dangerous to get pictures out of that Asian country, especially now. Well, the pictures that are getting out are inspiring protests in Myanmar's former colonial ruler.

Well, CNN's Phil Black reports now from London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Applause greeted these Buddhist monks at a protest outside Myanmar's embassy in London. They were led by this man, U Uttara. A refugee, who says he fled Myanmar because the government threatened his life for helping organize the democracy uprising of 1988. He says for 15 years, he has protested weekly outside this building, usually with a small group.

But this week, the protests had been daily, the crowds have been much bigger, their passion, much louder. These protesters, like those in Myanmar, say they take great strength from the monks' presence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We show them we are very angry. We are behind our monks. We're going to go on, we're going to fight for them. We're going to fight.

BLACK: They are outraged by news from their homeland Buddhist monks have been rounded up and beaten, their monasteries attacked. To Myanmar's 42 million Buddhists, the moral authority of the monks is sacred. U Uttara says that is why they are able to lead unarmed civilians against a military prepared to use force.

U UTTARA, BUDDHIST MONK: I'm very proud of them. Because in my -- my brother and sister, Buddhists monks and Buddhist nuns, they are leader of the country.

BLACK: Leaders, but servants as well, living off the kindness of the people who follow them. Like their brothers in Myanmar, these monks in London are fed by the faithful. In return, they offer a blessing, and it is gratefully received.

This is the bond Myanmar's military rulers are trying to break. So far, it has only provoked great anger.

Phil Black, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: So, it's plain it's tough for a lot of journalists to do their jobs there in Myanmar, and so, you have to be wondering where you're getting all of these pictures from? Well, for one, from i- Reporters. The Myanmar government has a long history of cracking down on descent and journalists have been mostly unable to report from inside this country, so the i-Reporters have been showing us pictures just like this to kind of take us there.

And we're not necessarily encouraging anyone to put their lives in jeopardy, that's for sure, while they do this. And nor are we crediting any of these i-Reporters by name for fear of any kind of government retribution. At least that gives us an idea of exactly what may be taking place in that country.

Meantime, she wrote a school paper about her brother, the soldier. And then the school pulled a pretty fast one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my gosh.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Oh, that's sweet. She is stunned. Brother/sister reunion.

You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Much more straight ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS MCGINNIS, EXPEDIA.COM: Well, when exchanging money overseas, I think it's important to probably have a little bit of the local currency on hand to pay or your taxi ride from the airport to the hotel.

It's always a better idea to exchange it a bank then at your hotel because the bank is going to offer you the official exchange rate, which is usually a little bit better than what the hotel's going to offer you. In most highly-industrialized countries, you'll find more ATMs than you'll find in the U.S. Check with your bank and make sure that your credit card and your ATM work overseas.

Banks have recently increased the conversion fees that they charge. So in the past, it's been one or two percent. Now, it's two or three percent and even worse, there are new per transaction fees. So every time you withdraw money from an international ATM, you're charged a fee from $3 to $5. Be aware of that and maybe take out as much money as you feel comfortable carrying each time to avoid a lot of fees.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A recall of bad meat is being expanded. More than a dozen people in eight different states, mostly in the northeast there, are sick and bad meat just might be to blame. Almost 22 million pounds of meat from the Topps meat company are being recalled because of possible contamination with e. Coli bacteria. That's up from the more than 330,000 pounds the company recalled on Tuesday.

Claudia Hutton from the New York Health Department joins us now on the phone. And so, Ms. Hutton, how did you even come about this contamination? What was the source?

VOICE OF CLAUDIA HUTTON, NEW YORK STATE HEALTH DEPT.: Well, our first source is people getting sick. Doctors report to us whenever they find a person who has been infected with e. Coli, and we work with our state labs to try and determine the source. We were lucky in that one of the seven people in New York had left-over hamburger for us to test.

WHITFIELD: Good.

HUTTON: And when we tested it, we found the same strain of e. Coli that was infecting that person and it was the same strain that was being seen in other states, so we knew that we had a multi-state problem and reported it to USDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

WHITFIELD: So now, how do you know that you might be a victim of this kind of e. Coli, you know, contaminated meat? I mean, some people might just think, oh, I just ate something bad or I have a terrible stomach ache. But what are the symptoms? Is it much more severe than that?

HUTTON: It can be. There's nausea, usually followed by watery diarrhea and bloody diarrhea.

WHITFIELD: Wow, and so, what do people do? Do they call their doctor, they're not feeling well. How do they take it to the next level so that they can be treated -- if they can be treated right away?

HUTTON: Your personal physician will help you with that. Doctors are very good at helping people understand the nature of their illness and what needs to happen. If you have an e. Coli bacterial infection, and it starts to progress, your doctor will take the appropriate steps up to putting you in the hospital.

WHITFIELD: And so, how do you prevent it? How do you make sure? You know, say you have some of this meat in your freezer, you're not really aware of the recall? But from this day forward, what do you do to try to prevent this kind of contamination if it turns out the meat may have e. Coli in it? Is it as simple as just cooking it better? HUTTON: Yes, it's as simple as cooking it until it's thoroughly done and there's no pink on the inside. Hamburger should always be cooked thoroughly to an internal temperature of 168 degrees. That's very hard to do in the summertime and fall when people are doing cook- outs and tailgating and they're cooking on a grill.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

HUTTON: And it's very hard to take the internal temperature of hamburger and your hamburger could look brown or black on the outside and still be a little bit raw on the inside.

WHITFIELD: So, stay away from the requested rare?

HUTTON: That's right.

WHITFIELD: Or maybe even medium-rare, right?

HUTTON: That's right. People should no longer hope to have medium-rare ground beef.

WHITFIELD: OK.

HUTTON: It's just not safe.

WHITFIELD: All right. Claudia Hutton, thanks so much with the New York State Department of Health, for taking the time out to keep us all well.

Well, there is a long list of meat products that fall under this recall, and you can see the entire list on the company's Web site, Toppsmeat.com, or on our Web site, which is CNN.com.

Well, cutting a rug. Across the planet, have you seen this? Well, if you haven't, you're going to see a lot of it coming up within this hour. Foot loose Matt. He's live somewhere, and we're going to make him stop for a moment to actually talk to us here in the NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHNEIDER: I'm CNN meteorologist Bonnie Schneider with a look at your allergy report for Saturday.

Well, cooler temperatures and some wet weather are definitely improving conditions in the Pacific northwest. You'll find you'll breathe pretty easy there as well as northern New England, where temperatures have dropped down well into the 50s and some even into the 40s overnight.

But it's still pretty warm and steamy across much of the Gulf Coast and we do have high pollen counts in this region. Also, into parts of the midwest.

That's a look at your allergy report for Saturday. I'm meteorologist Bonnie Schneider. (END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: And so it begins. Forget about "Dancing With the Stars." That's good, but this is better. I want to introduce you to "dancing Matt." He has danced his way across all seven continents. And if you click on to YouTube, you can see him doing his jig in such far-flung places as Antarctica and Cambodia, just like you see there, and in Tokyo.

Well right now, he's decided to stand still, in fact, actually sit down in Seattle where we can welcome you, Matt, to safe ground, at least for now. You're not traveling, you're just kind of taking it easy for now. Good to see you.

MATT HARDING, "DANCING MATT": Good to see you.

WHITFIELD: All right, so we get it. You love to travel. You get around quite a bit. But why did you decide to dance a little jig and put it on videotape and then get inventive and bold enough to actually put it on YouTube?

HARDING: Well, you know, I was just traveling. I was on an around-the-world trip about four years ago, and I was in Vietnam. A friend of mine who I was traveling with said, hey, you should do that stupid dance you used to do at work and I'll film it. I used to just kind of hover over his desk when it was time to go to lunch.

WHITFIELD: And what does that dance mean?

HARDING: It doesn't really mean anything. I've been doing it for as long as I can remember. It's just I flail my arms and legs around ...

WHITFIELD: OK.

HARDING: ...and that's what happens.

WHITFIELD: OK, and so, does this mean you're traveling alone? I mean, who's taking the pictures? Do you have a partner in crime here?

HARDING: Well, my girlfriend comes with me a lot of the time. The last two years, I've been working with Stride Gum. They contacted me after they saw the first video, and they asked if I wanted to take another trip around the world and make new video, and so ...

WHITFIELD: So I'm hearing sponsorship now, because that would have been ...

HARDING: Yes, they came calling.

WHITFIELD: ...my next question. How can you afford to do all this traveling and so, you got some sponsorship now?

HARDING: Right. Stride helps me out, and last year, my girlfriend and I went around the world for a couple of months. And now, I'm working on a new one, and so I get to keep on going.

WHITFIELD: And so, now I also understand you've taken kind of a good-will approach to it all. So it's not going to be completely self-serving, hey, everybody look at me dancing in all these cool places. But, you're doing more with it?

HARDING: Yes. Last -- the last trip, the second trip, was just opportunity of a lifetime. You know, get to travel around the world and see all of the places I'd always wanted to see.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

HARDING: This time, it's more about sharing it with other people. And I'm inviting people in each city I go to to come out and dance with me. So, this new video will be people all over the world dancing together.

WHITFIELD: Well, cool, you lucky dog. There's some amazing places. And I guess everyone can kind of live vicariously through you and feel like they've gone to these places by watching your stuff.

"Dancing Matt," Matt Harding, thanks so much for your time.

HARDING: Thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: And dance on.

All right. Well, how about this? This is a lovely surprise. A surprise visit, in fact, for a girl who had written about missing her brother in Iraq.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Another happy story that we love, but this one could bring a few tears. It comes from Colorado where a young girl wrote a paper about her big brother, the brother she thought was still serving in Iraq.

We get the story now from reporter Heidi McGuire of our Denver affiliate KUSA.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go ahead and grab seats, guys. Go ahead and sit down somewhere.

HEIDI MCGUIRE, KUSA REPORTER (voice-over): Just two more classes to go and the week is done for these Deer Creek Middle School students.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: James, off my desk, buddy.

MCGUIRE: There is a yawn here and one there from eighth-grader Nicole Ariano (ph). It's language arts period and it's a pretty typical Friday -- or so these students think.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's hard to keep it all in, but very, very exciting.

MCGUIRE: You see, Nicole's teacher, Mr. Auger (ph), is in on a very big surprise.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Soldado (ph), win or lose?

When he arrives in this place ...

MCGUIRE: Nicole's big brother Adam is in the next room.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fighting for the red, white, and blue is what he does.

MCGUIRE: Ironically enough, just two weeks ago, she wrote a paper about him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And though he will be away from his family ...

MCGUIRE: And she has no idea he's listening.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He lies his head on his pillow at night.

MCGUIRE: Honestly, right about now, she's feeling kind of embarrassed the teacher is reading her paper to the class. And then, there's this. Sneaking in from the back of the room, it's Adam.

NICOLE ARIANO: Oh, my God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we wanted to surprise Nicole with her brother coming home.

MCGUIRE: It's been more than a year since Nicole has seen her brother. She's speechless, and that's OK, because her best friend feels the same.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can't even put it in words. It's happiness at its best.

MCGUIRE: Heidi McGuire, 9 News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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