Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Tomorrow is World AIDS Day; No Survivors Found: Turkish Plane Crashes; High Cost of Keeping Warm
Aired November 30, 2007 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good Friday to you, everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Tony Harris.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, everybody.
I'm Heidi Collins.
Watch events come into the NEWSROOM live on this Friday morning. It's November 30th and here's what's on the rundown.
World AIDS Day -- a giant red ribbon decorates the White House this morning. Our focus this hour, children in Africa orphaned by AIDS.
HARRIS: A jetliner slams into a wooded hillside. Could anyone get out of this alive?
COLLINS: A barefoot man with a knife causes a big traffic jam.
Hit the road, Jack -- in the NEWSROOM.
AIDS, it kills millions of people every year. It sentences millions more to a life of anguish, fear and heartbreak. Now the world pauses to reflect.
This morning, the White House unfurled a huge red ribbon to mark World AIDS Day. It will happen tomorrow. Later this morning we'll hear from President Bush live in the NEWSROOM on AIDS.
The numbers are staggering. More than 33 million people in the world are living with HIV, 2.5 million of those cases came this year. AIDS is expected to kill more than two million people in 2007. The vast majority of people with HIV are living in Africa. In North America, the number of people infected with HIV is about 1.3 million.
HARRIS: Well, the president and Mrs. Bush head to a Maryland church this morning to talk about AIDS.
Kathleen Koch at the White House.
Kathleen, good to see you.
The president meeting with individuals, I understand, fighting AIDS not only here in the country, but around the world. KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Tony. And the White House, obviously, is doing its best to really put the focus on HIV-AIDS, the global and the national fight against it. Though World AIDS Day is tomorrow, they are focusing on it today as well, obviously.
As Heidi mentioned, the massive red ribbon that we all saw as we came to the White House this morning draping the north White House portico, 28 feet long, eight feet wide. It will be in place the next two days. And it's in just about an hour that the president and the first lady will both be leaving for Maryland to meet with people involved locally and nationally in the United States in the fight against HIV-AIDS, and then also globally, a lot of representatives of nonprofit organizations.
President Bush has certainly made the global fight against AIDS a major initiative in his administration. It was back in May that -- in the Rose Garden -- he called on Congress to double the funding for the U.S. Global AIDS Program to $30 billion over the next five years. Now, the president this morning, after his meeting, will renew that call to Congress to boost AIDS funding worldwide, and the president will also talk about how the money that is currently being spent is helping to treat some 1.3 million people in 15 countries -- Tony.
HARRIS: So let's expand on that. That, I guess, begs the question, is the money the U.S. is spending to fight HIV and AIDS around the world, is it working?
KOCH: Well, let's put in perspective some of those numbers that Heidi gave at the top of the show there. She talked about how we have 2.5 million new cases of AIDS this year, but according to the United Nations Joint Program on HIV-AIDS, that is an improvement. That number is actually down from 3.2 million back in 2001.
So some say, yes, we are beginning to make inroads and we are beginning to win the battle. And many around the world globally do, indeed, praise the U.S. initiative, the major commitment much higher than previous administrations have made to fight AIDS worldwide. However, important to point out last year, the U.S. program was highly criticized for poor record keeping and not really being able to keep a good count. They were over-counting or under-counting those who were being helped by the program.
Another concern, Tony, AIDS activists say that the U.S. program needs to spend more money on condom use, on needle exchange, and less on abstinence, and that would make it more of a success -- Tony.
HARRIS: Yes. All right.
Kathleen Koch for us at the White House.
Kathleen, great to see you.
In just a few minutes, a CNN staffer's emotional journey to help the youngest AIDS victims in Lasutu (ph), Africa.
COLLINS: No survivors found after a jetliner crashes overnight in Turkey.
CNN's Emily Chang reports now from London.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EMILY CHANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Bystanders restrain relatives who can't control their grief. There were 49 passengers and seven crew members on Atlasjet's late flight from Istanbul to Isparta Thursday. It was a journey they would not complete.
The pilot radioed he was beginning his descent, and the MD-83 airliner went off the radar just before it was due to land. Searchers found the plane about 11 kilometers or almost seven miles from Isparta airport in a mountainous region of southwestern Turkey. The fuselage broken into pieces, no survivors were found.
The CEO of Atlasjet, Tuncay Doganer, says weather wasn't to blame. There was no fog or strong winds at the time of the crash. Doganer said the MD-83 airliner was leased from World Focus Airlines. They had also supplied the pilots.
Atlasjet was established in 2001. Its 17 aircraft are mostly mid-sized planes flying scheduled routes around Turkey and chartered flights to Europe. None of its planes have crashed before.
Emily Chang, CNN, London.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: In Mississippi, the ex-boyfriend of a missing Jackson State University student has been charged with murder. Police say Stanley Cole led them to the decomposed body of Latasha Norman yesterday. A bail hearing for Cole is set for today.
Norman last seen after attending classes on November 13th. Classes at the university have been canceled for today.
She led a secret life in Internet porn. Now police believe she is dead. They have found a body about 50 miles outside of El Dorado, Kansas. They believe it is 18-year-old Emily Sander.
An autopsy is being performed to confirm that. The missing college student was known as Zoe Zane on an adult Web site. Police say she was last seen leaving a bar with a man a week ago. A nationwide search is under way for 24-year-old Israel Mireles. Police say Sander's Internet activity has no connection to her disappearance.
COLLINS: In Oklahoma, authorities will be back on the scene this morning looking for the body of a missing pregnant woman. Twenty- year-old Lauren Barnes (ph) hasn't been seen since last Friday and police believe she has been killed.
Police said they got a tip last night that a body may have been spotted in a wildlife refuge in northwest Oklahoma City. Twenty-year- old Eric Pan (ph) is in custody now, accused of killing Barnes (ph). Police say they believe the two met to discuss the possibility he may be the father of her unborn child.
HARRIS: Watching a child die in your arms -- a CNN staffer's emotional journey to help the youngest AIDS victims, that is coming up next in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: They are among the youngest victims, more than 11 million children in sub-Saharan Africa orphaned by AIDS.
CNN editorial coordinator -- we are so proud of her -- Lindsay Corley shares her personal journey to help orphans in Lesotho.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LINDSAY CORLEY, CNN EDITORIAL COORDINATOR (voice over): My journey in Lesotho began in 2006 as a volunteer for an orphanage in Maseru. I was caring for just a few of Lesotho's 100,000 orphans.
Found in toilets, cemeteries, or along the roads, Children are the most vulnerable victims of poverty and HIV. I fell in love with all of the abandoned children I worked with. I celebrated their first steps, first words, and first birthdays. I was also there when some of them died.
It's impossible to describe watching a child die in your arms. AIDS is so unforgiving. I would hold a child feeling powerless.
People ask me how I've gotten over those deaths. I haven't.
In Lesotho's only public hospital there is one local pediatrician, few trained nurses, and little medical equipment. On any given day, children are dying from pneumonia and malnutrition.
Due to the stigma associated with AIDS, these mothers won't disclose their children's HIV status. Without antiretroviral medications, or ARVs, half the children with HIV will die before their second birthday.
When I returned to Lesotho in October for CNN, I noticed the country had made small advances. This state-of-the-art pediatric clinic was founded by an American medical school. Thousands of children now have better access to medication.
DR. TAMARA TODD, BAYLOR PEDIATRICIAN: And how has Rapito (ph) been doing with her ARVs? Is she taking them every day like she is supposed to?
DR. KATHY FERRER, BAYLOR INTERNATIONAL PEDIATRIC AIDS INITIATIVE: Before I came in June of 2005, there were probably less than 20 kids on ARVs in the entire country, and a lot of that was because the medicines weren't around, and then we didn't have health professionals who knew how to give out the medicines, how to diagnose, how to prescribe.
CORLEY: But Lesotho has a long battle ahead against the lethal combination of hunger and AIDS. The life expectancy here has fallen to just 39 years old.
FERRER: You can give a child ARVs, but if they are starving to death, then the ARVs don't really matter.
CORLEY: The difference between the children and these pictures and the children of America is access -- access to basic health care and food. But there is hope for Lesotho and for Africa by caring for one child at a time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Oh, that kid clapping.
High five, Lindsay!
CORLEY: Thank you, Tony.
HARRIS: Way to go.
CORLEY: Thank you so much.
HARRIS: We're so proud of you.
Tell me -- take me back -- '96 was the first trip?
CORLEY: 2006.
HARRIS: 2006 was the first trip.
CORLEY: Yes.
HARRIS: Tell me why you went. Why did you take the trip?
CORLEY: I took the trip because in 2004 I went to Kenya for two months and took care of orphans for a few weeks, and I just fell in love with them. And I just said I want to go back and make a difference. This time as a journalist, and start telling these children stories.
HARRIS: If you could do one thing, one thing today, forget about money, not an issue here, if you could do one thing to improve the lives of the children you've met on these two trips, what would you do?
CORLEY: I would try to give them parents. I mean, you can build the best...
HARRIS: You would give them a home.
CORLEY: I would give them a home. I mean, you can give them -- you can give the state-of-the-art medical care, you can give them amazing orphanages, but at the end of the day what these children are crying for is parents to adopt them and to bring them into their homes.
HARRIS: Wow. 2006 and then again. That's terrific. CORLEY: Yes, I just returned a couple of weeks ago.
HARRIS: I'm sorry, how old are you?
CORLEY: I'm 23. I'm just 23.
HARRIS: Lindsay, great to see you.
CORLEY: Thank you.
HARRIS: Thanks for the story.
CORLEY: Thank you, Tony.
HARRIS: And thanks for tapping me on the shoulder and saying, get this on the air. And being a little pushy about it. Appreciate it.
CORLEY: I am not pushy.
HARRIS: Thanks, Lindsay.
COLLINS: She can't have her cake and heat her home, too. A woman squeezed by high heating costs, and she is not alone.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
Heat your home or buy Christmas presents? That is the choice many Americans could face as winter approaches.
More on the high cost of keeping warm now. We want to go live to New York and our senior correspondent, Allan Chernoff.
Allan, are you OK? You got your mike?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
COLLINS: Excellent.
CHERNOFF: I'm putting it right back in. You know, that's a tough thing for me.
But really, let's talk about the difficulty of heating oil here. I mean, it's hard enough to fill up your gas tank at $60 for the whole tank, but when you talk about your home heating oil tank, that is some serious money that many people simply don't have readily available.
We met one such woman in East Orange, New Jersey.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF (voice over): Down the back stairs and in the basement is where 72-year-old retired postal worker Carol Smith now finds her home's money pit, a heating oil tank. At today's price, it will cost $900 to fill.
(on camera): What was your first reaction when you heard how much the price has gone up this year?
CAROL SMITH, HOMEOWNER: My first reaction was shock. I said I can't believe that this is going on. And so then I said, well, then I have to figure out how to make the payments.
CHERNOFF (voice over): Carol is lowering her thermostat, driving less, economizing on holiday presents for her grandchildren. And at the market, she's cutting back on what she calls luxuries like ice- cream and cake.
SMITH: It is scary. It is scary. And sometimes I worry at night. When I go to bed, I say, oh my goodness, I have to keep making plans and keep coming up with ideas of what to do.
CHERNOFF (on camera): This could be a very expensive winter for homeowners in northern states. Carol's supplier, National Fuel Oil, has raised the price of heating oil to a record $3.25 a gallon. An increase of 50 percent from last winter.
(voice over): Even at that price, the company says, its profit margin is squeezed because the cost of oil has soared this year. Hard to explain to angry customers.
BOB AYARS, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL FUEL OIL: They don't understand and I don't blame them. I feel for them.
CHERNOFF (on camera): How hard is it for you to tell your customers what the price is this year?
AYARS: Well, it makes you -- it makes you not want to answer the phone sometimes.
CHERNOFF (voice over): Some of National's low-income customers will be getting a free delivery of heating oil donated by Venezuela's Citgo, which provides an opportunity for Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez to gain political mileage at the expense of the United States. But the nonprofit behind the programs says it's still worthwhile.
JOSEPH KENNEDY, PRESIDENT, CITIZENS ENERGY: I don't know how an awful lot of low-income people are going to get through this winter.
CHERNOFF: Last year, Carol Smith received a free delivery, and again this winter, she is counting on the same, enough free oil for two weeks so she can afford to keep her home heated through the winter.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF: Citizens Energy has asked U.S. oil companies to participate in its program but none of them have agreed to do so -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Well, it's certainly a story we're going to continue to talk about as it gets colder and colder this winter, that's for sure.
Allan Chernoff, thank you.
HARRIS: You think there are oil problems now? What if a terrorist organization shut down shipments of one-fifth of the world's oil?
CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr tells us how it could happen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, the most radical wing of its military is now taking charge of Iran's naval operations in the strategic waters of the Persian Gulf. That news was disclosed by the Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during a visit to the Army War College.
ADMIRAL MICHAEL MULLEN, CHAIRMAN OF JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: It has got two navies. One is IRGC-led and the other is Iranian Navy and essentially to give the entire Gulf to the IRGC over the next four or five years. That's a big deal because I think part of the leading edge challenge with Iran is the IRGC.
STARR: The U.S. has labeled Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization and levied sanctions for its involvement in Iran's nuclear program as well as smuggling weapons into Iraq and Afghanistan. Mullen has reason to worry. Near the sensitive Iraqi oil terminals IRGC troops are occupying a sunken barge using it as observation post. One-fifth of the world's oil supply passes through the narrow Strait of Hormuz and Iran's ability to shut down the passage is improving.
MICHAEL O'HANLON, THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: You would need anti-ship cruise missiles, maybe some quite diesel submarines, maybe some undersea mines the sorts of things that a paramilitary organization like the Revolutionary Guard might well be able to handle.
STARR: U.S. concerns date back to March when the IRGC seized 15 British Marines and sailors who were conducting routine ship inspections. Now when the U.S. Navy or other coalition troops board merchant ships, an armed helicopter flies overhead and a heavily armed patrol boat is nearby.
(on camera): Mullen says he, too, wants a diplomatic solution with Iran. But privately, senior U.S. military commanders all say there is plenty of military muscle power to keep the Strait of Hormuz open if it comes to that.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: A safer Iraq. Our correspondent on the street. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What would of happened to me on these streets when al Qaeda was here?
(voice over): My body would have been fed into a meat grinder, this Sunni militia commander tells me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: See what al Qaeda left behind.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: There you have the opening bell for this Friday, the last day in November. Yesterday's stock closed up just by about 22 points or so. Dow Jones industrial average I should say. Today, hearing a little bit about the fed chief, Ben Bernanke, talking about possibly maybe, maybe, maybe offering up another rate cut. Who knows, though? December 11th, that meeting will come around so we will talk a little bit more with Susan Lisovicz coming up in just a moment.
Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Tony Harris and Heidi Collins.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Here we go. Bottom of the hour. Welcome back everyone to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.
COLLINS: Hi there, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.
HARRIS: Any coming up in just a couple of minutes, we will talk with Angelique Kidjo. Not the plan! Not at all. All right, let's turn to Iraq now and talk about some progress.
This month's death toll for U.S. troops is 36. It was 38 in October. Fatalities haven't been that low since early 2004. Iraqi civilian deaths also down significantly. CNN's Michael Ware reports from the streets of Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. military success in Iraq is spectacular. Insurgent attacks are back to levels not seen since nearly two years ago before the Samara Shrine bombing sparked the civil war. Much of the success comes from U.S. military alliances with men like these. Sunni insurgents protecting villages and neighborhoods like here in Fattah (ph) in Baghdad's heart. Across the capital, the result is that civilian deaths have dropped by remarkable 75 percent. Yet, Baghdad remains a dangerous place. The city carved into sectarian enclaves. Where crossing the dividing lines avoid doing today to reach Fattah (ph) could be deadly.
With loyalties so fluid, we thread our way through rival militia checkpoints and pass undetected through Iraqi army positions, undetected because you can't be sure whose side anyone is on but we make it to Fattah (ph). The latest neighbor where insurgents now allied to America have driven out al Qaeda and we find life is returning to normal. The stunning transformation, because weeks ago, al Qaeda ruled here with vicious efficiency. Marking the homes of families to be punished. Names to be killed. Homes to be burned. From al Qaeda, this is like a mark of death.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His family, not good here.
WARE: Something, not good by al Qaeda were led up this winding alleyway to a make-shift torture chamber. Mutilated bodies were dumped in rubbish heats or in this water.
And what would have happened to me on these streets when al Qaeda was here? My body would have been fed into a meat grinder, this Sunni militia commander tells me. Then, al Qaeda would have sued my country for millions of dollars. The scars of the close quarters combat. It took for the Sunni concerned citizens to drive out al Qaeda are fresh. But look at all the bullet holes even in the school. But the dramatic change here, the drop in bloodshed seems fleeting.
This is all from the fighting, yes? Almost a femoral. Why? Because without reconciliation among the religious sects themselves, it cannot last and that feels a long way off. Everywhere in Fattah (ph), there are memorials not only to those murdered by al Qaeda, but also those killed by Shia Militia and government death squads. The same alliance for the Sunni sets uprooted al Qaeda has also seen the U.S. side with groups ready for another fight against the Iraqi government and any Iranian influence.
Do you think this government will ever be able to embrace the Sunni groups?
The government is not loyal to its country says this U.S.-backed Sunni commander. They are supported by the intelligence service of a neighboring country. This, he says, is the abyss. Who will you be fighting when the Americans leave? And when American troops finally do leave Iraq, the commander knows who he will be fighting. We're talking about this government?
Yes. It's this government and the people they are loyal to, he answers. This commander doesn't see much hope for reconciliation either. Everybody knows Militias and Iranian agents are inside the government and inside the Iraqi Security Forces, he says. They cannot work with us. He even claims Iraqi soldiers actually fired at his men as they fought al Qaeda.
So with the sudden arrival of a military convoy, the tension rises. Who is it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's Americans? Then we can film.
WARE: And can they be trusted?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it a (INAUDIBLE)?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, it's an American.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of the way. If it's American, we should be fine. How does he feel? Nervous?
WARE: It is an Iraqi army convoy led by a brigadier general. The government has ordered we ask the Sunni elements to join the police and army, he says, because we don't want the security institutions controlled by one sect but as we get ready to leave, the Sunni commander is escorting us to leans into the car. Telling me, he does not trust the offer. The mistrust is shared on all sides and deeply troubles America's commanders for they know they cannot return home if Iraq cannot make peace with itself. Michael Ware, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Getting some information just in here now to the CNN NEWSROOM that we want to share with you. We are learning that another U.S. ship has been refused access to port. We want to go ahead and get to CNN's pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr. Barbara, Hong Kong is this where this happened specifically?
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Heidi. Good morning to you. U.S. navy senior military officials are confirming to CNN that the Chinese government has refused another port call by a U.S. navy ship into Hong Kong. A port call that was scheduled for the end of December, a holiday Christmas call for U.S. navy troops on board the "USS Ruben James." A frigate that was scheduled for a potential port call in Hong Kong. What CNN has learned is that back around Thanksgiving, when the Chinese were turning down the U.S. navy port visits for the Kitty Hawk and those two mind-sweepers into Hong Kong, turn downs that we have reported for the last several days.
At that time, what has not been reported is the Chinese had taken the action to turn down the request for that ship to visit at Christmas about 30 days from now. The navy can't really explain to us at this point why it had not made that information public. Some navy officials say they simply were unaware of it, but it is another turndown by the Chinese of a port visit into Hong Kong. The navy, the pentagon said their trying to work through this trouble with the Chinese government, they think they can work through it, but at this point, it doesn't look like the Chinese are very receptive.
Heidi?
COLLINS: It may be really elementary question, Barbara, but just in case people are not familiar with the situation, this is not the first time this has happened as of late, why are they refused access? What is usually the reason for something like this?
STARR: Well, you know, it's very peculiar by all accounts. The request for port visits by the U.S. navy usually go to a host government, if you will, some 30 days in advance and it's usually fairly routine. The U.S. navy has made dozens of port calls into Hong Kong. There has been a lot of speculation since thanksgiving, since the Kitty Hawk was turned away, since those two mind-sweepers were turned away, even though there was a storm out in the high seas and they needed safe shelter and now this one today. Lots of speculation. Some people say the Chinese are upset about arm sales to Taiwan. Some people say they are upset about President Bush receiving the Dalai Lama. Some people even say that the Chinese may have had military exercises going on that they didn't want the U.S. navy to see. One of the basic explanations is it may just be a snafu with the Chinese government.
But that explanation of a snafu may be wearing thin, now that we see another case emerging on the horizon and, Heidi, the U.S. navy this morning also saying they're getting some early word from Japan, that the Japanese have basically cut back on a Chinese port visit into Japan. Perhaps on behalf of the U.S. navy. Nobody is really sure yet. A lot of tensions out there right now.
COLLINS: Yes, absolutely. I think you're right about that, reasoning wearing thin as well. But obviously, we'll have to wait to see what they have to say, if they will disclose their reasoning for this. CNN pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr, we will be watching this story. Thanks, Barbara.
STARR: Sure.
HARRIS: Reynolds Wolf in the severe weather center.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: We want to get back to our story now of the day. And that story is AIDS. It kills millions of people every year. It sentences millions more to a life of anguish, fear, and heartbreak. Now the world pauses to reflect. This morning the White House unfurled a huge red ribbon to mark World AIDS Day. It will be taken place tomorrow. Later this morning, we are going to be hearing from President Bush live in the NEWSROOM on AIDS.
The numbers are staggering. More than 33 million people in the world are living with HIV. 2.5 million of those cases came this year. AIDS is expected to kill more than 2 million people in 2007. The vast majority of people with HIV are living in Africa. In North America, the number of people infected with HIV is about 1.3 million.
HARRIS: With World AIDS Day tomorrow, we talk to West African singer Angelique Kidjo. Her beats, her selling records surround the world.
Do you know her? She is a four-time Grammy nominee but Kidjo is not just a musical success story, she is also a UNICEF ambassador helping children in Africa by pushing HIV and AIDS education. I spoke with her about her music and her fight against AIDS.
ANGELIQUE KIDJO, SINGER SONGWRITER: When you come to my concert, you have to know what you're getting yourself into.
HARRIS: What am I getting myself into?
KIDJO: You got to sing and you got to dance.
HARRIS: You got to sing and dance?
KIDJO: Yes.
HARRIS: There is no sitting down in your chair?
KIDJO: No.
HARRIS: You can't sit on your butt when you're...
KIDJO: No. You have plenty of time to sit down behind your desk when you're working. That's it.
HARRIS: Well, let's talk about the music. You know, some folks are just amazed at your ability to combine so many forms and shapes of music. Who are your influences? How is it that you've been able to masterfully pull together so many influences in your music?
KIDJO: I would say that my first influence come with this traditional musician in my country. Because, I always ask question and I always listen to different type of music. In Benin, we are only 8 millions people today and we speak 50 different languages and in the south of Benin where I come from one village to another, you have different rhythm, you have different songs, you have different languages.
So I've been born and raised in different -- a variety of music that exists there.
HARRIS: Yes. What are your thoughts about HIV and AIDS infection rates in sub-Saharan Africa? Talk to us, if you would, about what you think the message should be on this World AIDS Day, moving forward.
KIDJO: I think that the message should be, that the leaders of Africa should come on board strongly. They should stop being hypocritical about it, because if they don't send a strong message to the people, we will not achieve great goals.
HARRIS: What is that strong message? And what is that strong message to lead to what kinds of goals?
KIDJO: I mean, the leaders of Africa have to stop saying abstinence, be faithful, and condom all of the time.
HARRIS: Because, it's not realistic?
KIDJO: It is realistic in a perfect world, all right? So abstinence, who can tell you to abstain? We are human being. Especially when you addressing the message to the youth. We all know, what it is when you are a teenager and you think that you're an adult and you want to explore, the same thing that adults explore and somebody come on top and then say, you have to abstain and you have to be faithful. The message don't go through like that.
HARRIS: But Angelique, so many young women, young girls being victimized by this virus. Boy, that is part of a pretty strong message.
KIDJO: It is.
HARRIS: Or it should be to abstain.
KIDJO: That's why the leaders have to come up with the message saying that, first of all, if any woman, any girl is raped, there is punishment that follows.
HARRIS: Yes.
KIDJO: There is too much lack of strong will to stop the rape of women in Africa.
HARRIS: What is the message to the young women who find themselves in the sex trade?
KIDJO: The women that find themselves in the sex trade, most of the time, is because they come from a very poor background.
HARRIS: No question.
KIDJO: And they feel that that's the only opportunity they have. That is why education of little girls from primary school all the way up is important to teach the women of Africa that there is another way of getting out of poverty and there is a right that they are entitled to ask for themselves. They have the right to ask from the men, from their parents, from their society, from their community, the right to respect, their right to their own body and to their own brain. And that is the main problem we have, with the gender inequality in Africa is one of the source of epidemic of HIV and Aids.
HARRIS: Yes. Angelique Kidjo. And next hour, one of the headliners of tomorrow's World AIDS Day concert in South Africa, the incomparable Annie Lennox.
COLLINS: An exploding cell phone kills a Korean man? Did it really happen? The truth comes out today.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
Live breaking news, unfolding developments. See for yourself in the CNN NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: A new twist on a bizarre story. We told you about a man in South Korea. Police thought he was killed by an exploding cell phone. Well, not really the case. Veronica De La Cruz is here now with an important update to this story. Boy, when we heard about it yesterday, we were talking about that lithium battery.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, yes. A pretty dramatic turn of events, Heidi. It sounds like this might be a work place accident that was covered up. Yesterday, we told you about a man found dead at his work place, his mobile phone melted into his shirt pocket. Well, Heidi, preliminary autopsy result showed the damage to the 33-year-old's internal organs was too great to be caused by a cell phone explosion and the A.P. is now reporting that a co- worker has since confessed to accidentally killing the man. They worked in this rock quarry and he apparently ran over him, then moved the vehicle to hide the evidence and then blamed the mobile phone.
Now, it is still not clear how the phone, we're taking a look at it here. This is taken off the koreatimes.com website. Not quite sure how the phone melted. The Korean papers are reporting local police have charged the co-worker with vehicular manslaughter. And while cell phone, may not have been responsible for the man's death, the Consumer Product Safety Commission here in the U.S. still says it is important to exercise some level of caution because cell phone batteries can explode.
Back in July, a Chinese man died when his cell phone exploded in his shirt pocket and then just yesterday, Heidi, a New Zealand news website posted video of a cell phone that exploded in the middle of the night. Apparently, it was charging next to a man's bed. It was on his nightstand. And no injuries have been reported. The man, apparently, is doing fine. Now, as we mention yesterday, there are no known incidents of anyone being killed by an exploding cell phone here in the United States but the watch dog group of Wireless Consumer Alliance says that it does gets reports of exploding batteries, Heidi, about once a month. So, this definitely does happen.
COLLINS: Wow. Well, it's certainly something to keep in mind, I guess, that's for sure. All right, CNN's Veronica De La Cruz, thanks for clearing that one up for us. Veronica, thank you.
HARRIS: So, what do you think? Time to dump the IRS? We will take a hard look at a plan to replace income taxes with a national sales tax.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Some more information just in to us here in the CNN NEWSROOM. About a pretty bad crash in the Santa Ana freeway. Betty Nguyen is watching the story for us and has a little bit more information now.
Hi there, Betty.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, hi, Heidi. This is a pretty bad crash there on a Freeway 5. That's the Santa Ana Freeway. It's been closed there at the Costa Mesa Freeway which is Tustin because the crash involving a big rig and another vehicle. And you can see emergency crews are on the scene right now and they're working to get this person out of the vehicle. This crash, we're thinking at this point, it looks like it may have been caused because of rain in the area. Again, it's not known exactly what caused it, but, man, look at that semi-truck. It has just turned sideways there.
You can see, it looks like a truck is underneath it. We don't know the conditions as to whether the driver or the driver of the semi-truck had been able to make it to emergency crews into a local hospital. But obviously, this is a terrible accident coming at a difficult time there. Because it's close to 7:00 West Coast time. Obviously, toward the beginning of rush hour, if not right, in the middle of it. Of course, we will continue to watch this for you and bring you the latest.
COLLINS: All right, Betty, thanks so much. Some pretty disturbing pictures, that's for sure. We will try to find out more about what is going on there. Thanks again, Betty.
HARRIS: We will take a break and when we come back at the top of the hour, an interview with Annie Lennox, right here in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com
