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Search on for Suspect in Pregnant Marine's Death; More Troops Headed for Afghanistan; GOP Candidates Campaign in Michigan; Obama, Hillary Face Off Over Civil Rights; Researchers Create a Rat Heart; Skiers Killed in Montana Avalanche; French President Weds Former Model
Aired January 14, 2008 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: Have you seen this Marine? The right tip could be worth $25,000.
DON LEMON, CO-HOST: He is accused of killing a pregnant comrade who charged him with rape. The county sheriff says the search is earth wide.
Hello, I'm Don Lemon live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
LEMON: Our top story today in the CNN NEWSROOM, an intensified manhunt for Marine Corporal Cesar Laurean. Late this morning, investigators spoke of more reported sightings of the suspected killer of a pregnant fellow Marine, but so far nothing's checked out.
A reward has been posted, and so has Laurean's picture on billboards nationwide.
Our Rusty Dornin is in Jacksonville, North, Carolina, with more on the search -- Rusty.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What we have learned is that sheriff's deputies here do believe that Maria Lauterbach was killed on or about December 15. And the sheriff is saying that that's based on interviews. He wouldn't say if those interviews involve anyone else, other than Cesar Laurean's wife, Christina, but says she's a key witness in this case.
Of course, there are still a lot of questions swirling about who knew what, when. The sheriff's office here is saying that they did not focus on Laurean until January 7. Two days later they went to base commanders at Camp Lejeune to say they wanted to speak to Laurean, as well as Lauterbach's roommate.
Now, it turns out that it -- also that the mother had reported to police here that Lauterbach had been having -- was raped by Laurean, and she was the one that keyed them in. It was not the Marine investigators. The missing person's unit here began investigating Lauterbach's disappearance on the base after December 19, but they didn't apparently share that information with the sheriff's department here.
And the sheriff's department says they have been very frustrated because of the lack of cooperation with Laurean. They were trying to talk to him four or five different times, and he did not show up to those interviews. They were supposed to interview him last Thursday. Of course, he never showed up and apparently fled the area Friday morning.
Meantime, an autopsy is under way for Maria Lauterbach in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF ED BROWN, ONSLOW COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA: We have officers there as that examination is going on. Maria Lauterbach's missing ATM debit card was found Durham at the bus station this last weekend. Investigators are still continuing to follow-up on leads related to that card being found.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DORNIN: That's the first time we've heard about the ATM card actually being found in Durham. Of course, they are investigating any sightings there.
As well as they're backing off a little bit about that sighting in Shreveport, Louisiana, a sheriff here saying that, basically, they're looking earth-wide for Cesar Laurean, asking, of course, for help from the public.
Turns out the FBI is also working with outdoor advertising companies to put Laurean's picture up on those electronic billboards you see on the highway. Apparently, Columbus, Ohio, will the first place that will have Laurean's picture on an electronic billboard. It doesn't mean that he was seen there. That just happens to be the first city where that's set up in -- Don.
LEMON: CNN's Rusty Dornin reporting to us from Jacksonville, North Carolina. Thank you very much for that, Rusty.
PHILLIPS: Developing story now out of the Pentagon. It's a Marine buildup for Afghanistan. Thousands of Marines moving in there to build up troop strength in that country.
Barbara Starr's working the details on what's happening from there -- Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Kyra, Marines today began notifying about 3,200 of their military families that, indeed, their loved ones will be going to Afghanistan beginning this spring. They are going to be there in place to increase the combat power on the ground as the springtime snows melt and the Taliban, it is expected, will engage in a new springtime offensive.
This is not completely unexpected news, of course. About a week ago, we began to report that Secretary Gates was considering a proposal to send the Marines. And now, today, the Marines being notified that they will be going.
The Marines are not yet publicly saying which unit is being notified, because they want to make sure the families hear it from them before they hear it from the news media. So a lot more details expected to come to light about all of this over the next couple of days.
It's really a reflection that NATO has been unable to muster enough forces for the war in Afghanistan. There's really been a requirement for about 7,000 troops. The Marines are putting up 3,000. It remains to be seen who puts up the balance -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Barbara Starr live in the Pentagon. Thanks, Barbara.
LEMON: And hot off the CNN political ticker, the Grand Old Party and a battle royale in Michigan. Primary day is tomorrow, and Mitt Romney, John McCain, and Mike Huckabee are all hitting the state hard today.
Romney, the native son, really needs a win after two runner-up finishes. The latest polls give him a narrow edge over John McCain, who's trying to ride momentum from his win last week. That was in New Hampshire.
Just four days after Michigan, South Carolina's GOP voters make their choice. McCain, Huckabee and Fred Thompson are pushing hard there. White evangelicals make up half of the state's likely GOP voters. That could bode well for Huckabee, a former Baptist minister. But a recent poll shows McCain in the lead.
South Carolina Democrats have their primary a week after the Republicans. John Edwards is hoping his Carolina roots will give him an edge over Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
PHILLIPS: Nevada's caucuses fall on the same day as South Carolina's GOP primary, and they'll get the attention of the Democrats. Barack Obama is in Nevada right now. And former President Clinton is stumping for his wife, who's been in a racially-charged back and forth with Obama over support for the civil rights movement.
LEMON: Well, let's talk to Democrats and their -- talk to them about this moment. But right now, let's get straight to tomorrow's battleground state, Michigan, where jobs, or the lack of them, are on the minds of voters there.
CNN's Mary Snow is following the Republican candidates, and she joins us now from Detroit -- Mary.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Don.
And you know, we're at the auto show here in Detroit. You might not think it's a hot spot on the campaign trail. But because Michigan's primary is so early this year, it's coinciding with the auto show. All three of the Republican candidates were campaigning in the state, are expected to make a stop here later today. But it is a heated contest, as you mentioned just a minute ago. Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has so much at stake here. He's a native of Michigan. His father was the governor here in the 1960s.
The massive layoffs in the auto industry have really forced the economy to be the No. 1 issue here. Mitt Romney is pledging, in his first 100 days in office, if he's elected, to sit down with labor leaders and industry leaders and Congress to try and do something to help the automotive industry. And also wants to pump more money into research.
He and John McCain, his chief rival here, have been kind of sparring, because Romney is saying that John McCain is too pessimistic. McCain is fighting back, saying he's just being realistic, that the jobs in the automotive industry that have been cut are gone. And he believes that investment in new technologies and retraining workers will be the key here. But it certainly is dominating the issues here.
Mike Huckabee also campaigning in the state. He feels the U.S. should be helping out Michigan -- Don.
LEMON: All right. Mary Snow in Detroit, Michigan. Mary, thank you.
PHILLIPS: Democrats have their eyes on Nevada this week, while the two front-runners slug it out over the civil rights comment.
CNN's Jim Acosta live in Las Vegas with more on this.
Hey, Jim.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.
Yes, the two Democratic contenders, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, are hitting each other hard over a remark the former first lady made about the civil rights movement.
This all started when Clinton recently suggested that President Lyndon Johnson deserved more of the credit than Martin Luther King for civil rights legislation passed in the 1960s.
While she later clarified that comment, the statement angered some leaders in the African-American community. Over the weekend, Clinton accused Obama's campaign of exploiting the issue and distorting her comments, but here in Las Vegas, yesterday, Barack Obama called that claim ludicrous.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am baffled by that statement by the senator. She made an ill-advised statement about Dr. King and suggesting that Lyndon Johnson had more to do with the Civil Rights Act. SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I was responding to a speech that Senator Obama gave in New Hampshire where he did compare himself to President Kennedy and to Dr. King.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Now, one of Clinton's big supporters in the African- American community, Black Entertainment Television founder Robert Johnson, seemed to throw gasoline on this fire yesterday when he took a swipe at Obama that seemed to reference the Illinois senator's past drug use, something Obama talks about in one of his books.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT JOHNSON, FOUNDER, BLACK ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION: Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton, who have been deeply and emotionally involved in black issues, when Barack Obama was doing something in the neighborhood that I won't say what he was doing, but he said it in his book.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Now, Johnson later said that he was only talking about Obama's work as a community leader, but the Obama campaign fired back, demanding that both Clinton and Johnson apologize for that comment and accusing the Clinton campaign of engaging in the politics of personal destruction.
And right now, Kyra, this issue is showing no signs of dying down, no signs of a truce on either side on this issue -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, it's definitely an issue that will never go away and will be talked about a lot, no doubt, all the way up to the election day.
Now Edwards, what he doing today? And has he weighed in on this civil rights issue, this issue of race?
ACOSTA: Well, he's campaigning in South Carolina, a state he desperately needs to win. And he's been left on the sidelines while Clinton and Obama slug it out over this issue.
But yesterday, John Edwards did weigh in. He talked about how he is a child of the old segregation of south, and he resented what he described as Hillary Clinton's giving credit to an old Washington politician, talking about Lyndon Johnson there, as opposed to giving all of the credit to Martin Luther King.
Hillary Clinton has come back and clarified her statements about all of this, saying yesterday that she now believes that Martin Luther King deserves the lion's share of the credit for the civil rights legislation passed in the 1960s -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Jim Acosta, live from Vegas. Thanks, Jim.
Race in the race, more on the Hillary Clinton/Barack Obama spat coming up next hour. Joining us will be CNN contributor Roland Martin, who has interviewed Bill Clinton just this morning. That's all in the 2 p.m. Eastern hour right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
And for more on the presidential candidates and their next stops, you can go to CNNPolitics.com. It's your one-stop shop for all things political.
LEMON: It's alive. Well, not quite, but it is beating, and it could be a heartfelt breakthrough.
PHILLIPS: Early to bed? Not today. President Bush stays up in late in Saudi Arabia. Why? We'll explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: An animal heart created in a lab. Well, it sounds like science fiction, but it's a reality. And one day it may have a huge impact on human patients in need of transplants.
Julianne Olsen of CNN affiliate KARE explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JULIANNE OLSEN, KARE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Behold a holy grail of medical research. A beating heart, created by scientists in a University of Minnesota laboratory.
STEFAN KREN, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: We really have the audacity to claim to build a functional organ from scratch, so to speak.
OLSEN: Researchers know it sounds like the work of Dr. Frankenstein.
DORIS TAYLOR, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA CENTER FOR CARDIOVASCULAR REPAIR: We're willing to admit that it's a crazy idea.
OLSEN: But they say this crazy idea could one day save thousands of lives, because there aren't nearly enough hearts for everyone who needs a transplant.
TAYLOR: Three-thousand people a year don't have other options. We want to make a difference.
OLSEN: So researches are started with the dead heart of a rat and, using a detergent, washed away all of its cells. All that was left was a gelatin-like framework.
Scientists took that framework and injected new heart cells from newborn rats back into it. Within a week, the heart was beating and pumping once again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's exciting, yes. It's exciting.
OLSEN: While a rat heart can't help humans, a pig heart can.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It looks like a human heart. It acts like a human heart.
OLSEN: So the goal is to take a pig heart framework like this one, inject a potential transplant recipient's own stem cells into it, and grow a heart that matches the recipient's body, eliminating the need for anti-rejection drugs.
TAYLOR: What we've done is, hopefully, open a door to the idea that we can actually begin to build not just pieces of tissue and organs, but build organs.
OLSEN: All sorts of organs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a pig liver.
OLSEN: U of M researchers believe they'll one day be able to create new livers, pancreas, kidneys, lungs, saving not just thousands, but millions of lives.
TAYLOR: It's really been science fiction in the past. And we'd like to think that we've helped make it science.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: A little bit later on in the hour, we'll hear from one of the lead scientists in that University of Minnesota rat heart project. Doris Taylor joins us right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
PHILLIPS: It's flowing through your veins right now. We have more medical news for you in the NEWSROOM. Some surprising findings about good and bad cholesterol, what it could mean for your health.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: One-seventeen Eastern Time right here. Here's three of the stories that we're working on right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
It's been called the forgotten war but not today. CNN has learned more U.S. troops are heading into Afghanistan. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has OK'd the deployment of 3,200 Marines.
The search for a fugitive Marine growing more intense by the hour. The feds are working to put up billboards nationwide in their hunt for Corporal Cesar Laurean, wanted in the killing of a pregnant fellow Marine.
New testimony from the star witness in the latest inquest into Princess Diana's death. Her former butler says Diana's mom had criticized her for dating two Muslim men. He also says that the princess wasn't really ready to marry boyfriend Dodi Fayed.
LEMON: In Montana, a back-country ski trip turns deadly. Two skiers were killed in an avalanche in an out-of-bounds area at the Whitefish Mountain Resort. Witnesses say two other skiers were caught up in it, as well, but so far, no one's reported missing. Crews are searching there anyway, just as a precaution.
Meteorologist Chad Myers has more on that avalanche, and he joins us now from the CNN weather center.
Hey, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, they call where those skiers were lost Avalanche Hill there. They call it Fiberglass Hill, because there's so much fiberglass left from wrecked snowmobiles that have also been caught in avalanches.
It's a very steep area, and the snow just slabs off, and it slid yesterday. Some of that was 30 feet deep. One of the -- one of the guys that actually died in that was only under three feet of snow but couldn't get out.
And there's Whitefish. And here's the ski resort. You can actually see, this is a summertime picture. So you don't see snow in the avalanche areas. You don't see snow on the slopes here. But there's the Dayspring Academy Camp. We actually can get this off of Ski Bonk or off of Weather Bonk.
And there's actually a lovely picture of what it looks like right now, the lake there in the foreground and the ski resort there in the background. A beautiful place to ski, because it's not overpopulated with people, and the lift lines aren't 45 minutes to an hour long. You can get right up and keep right on going. A beautiful place to be this time of year.
You just need to be careful. They were out of the bounds, and out of bounds means out of bounds. I mean, you know, just -- that's what it is.
(WEATHER REPORT)
LEMON: And just think. I heard people here complaining about the 50s this morning.
MYERS: You know, I saw my breath this morning, and I was disgusted.
LEMON: And I'm looking right here, right on our periphery, I can see outside Atlanta, and it's sunny.
MYERS: It's sunny, 41. Sunny.
LEMON: OK. We'll check back. Thank you.
MYERS: All right.
PHILLIPS: A major day for Britney Spears. Will the troubled pop star regain the right to visit her kids? She's due in court this hour. Of course, the other big question is, will she show up?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Let's get straight to Betty Nguyen, working details on quite a sassy story out of France. It's always about love, love and wine in France. And women. BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Maybe a little bit more than just that. This is on a presidential scale, mind you.
We have learned today that the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, is actually married. Yes, this occurred in a private ceremony, and the woman is former Italian supermodel Carla Bruni.
Now, if you recall, Sarkozy just got a divorce back in October. He's the first French president to divorce while in office. And we have learned that the new couple, new married couple, that is, got married in a small, private ceremony last week at the Elysee Palace.
Now Sarkozy told a news conference last week that, "Hey, I'm going to probably be married soon, and you won't find out until it's already done." Well, it's done, and now we're telling you about it.
We've got some pictures, too, of the couple, who were vacationing in Egypt over the holidays. And they drew a little fire. We're working on those pictures. But drew a little fire from that, because the president had been criticized for spending too much time having fun. Well, it appears that the lady that he's been having fun with is now his wife.
Again, former Italian supermodel Carla Bruni. And to give you a little background on her, she, according to reports, has had previous affairs with such rock stars as Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, and actually is quoted in a French magazine -- get this, Kyra -- as saying that "monogamy bores me terribly."
Hopefully, that's not the case any more.
PHILLIPS: She's married the president of France. Should be interesting.
NGUYEN: I have a feeling that this story will go on and on and on. We've only heard the beginning of it.
But again, the two married in a secret, very small ceremony at the Elysee Palace. That happened last weekend.
So again, Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, married once again. I believe this is his third marriage. Again, divorced back in October. Things move quickly over there.
PHILLIPS: Yes, they do. All right, Betty. Thanks.
NGUYEN: Sure.
LEMON: What were we saying when we found out? L'amour, l'amour.
PHILLIPS: L'amour.
LEMON: In France, toujours l'amour. OK.
On Wall Street now, let's turn to that. The Dow is coming off a dreadful week. But today we're seeing a turnaround. Susan Lisovicz is on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange with a look at Wall Street's mood swings. I guess you can classify it that way, Susan, right?
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: But you know, investors are feeling the love, too. It's...
LEMON: They are.
LISOVICZ: We are. And the reason why is because of IBM. IBM doing a lot of heavy lifting today. And it's accounting for big gains for the Dow and triple-digit gains, basically, for the Dow, pretty much from the get-go.
And that is a relief, because the first -- out of the first eight trading days of the year, the Dow declined 200 points or more.
But IBM today jumping the gun with its quarterly earnings, supposed to come out on Thursday and said, "Well, this is what we expect: our quarterly profits to jump by 24 percent for all of the year." It expects its sales to top $100 billion. Pretty good. It certainly exceeded Wall Street's estimates. The stock is gaining about 6 percent.
And it's helping not only the Dow; it's a member of that elite average. But it's helping the NASDAQ, too. So check it out: the Dow Industrials right now up 131 points. The NASDAQ is up 25 points. A lot of tech stocks on that. Because IBM considered a good barometer of I.T. spending. So stocks like Intel, AMD, Cisco, all up solidly on the day -- Don.
LEMON: OK. So up today. Today it's up. But we've been reporting every day, down, down, down, going every way but up and staying flat. But does that erase fear? One big company talking about -- it doesn't erase fear of a recession, does it?
LISOVICZ: Well, that's -- that's an excellent question. And the fact is, you know, sometimes, Wall Street can be quite short-sighted. It could be a head fake. Tomorrow we get all sorts of other information.
For instance, we hear from Citigroup. And you know what trouble we've had in the financial sector with the credit crisis. We also get wholesale prices. We also get the government's release on retail sales. So things could be dramatically different tomorrow.
And in fact, no, the recession fears have not gone away. In fact, the parent company of Sears says its earnings will fall short, its quarterly earnings, and by as much as nearly 60 percent. So that stock is down about 6 percent.
And the National Retail Federation, which is -- of course represents retailers in general, says this year isn't going to be much better. It says it could be the worst year in about six years because of the same problems that are plaguing the parent company of Sears and Kmart: the housing recession, access to credit, also competition. And "The New York Times" says that personal spending in general could decline this year, and that would be the first time since 991. So no, the fear of recession hasn't gone away. It's just that IBM is really -- is giving the market a nice, much-needed boost today.
In the next hour, Don, we're going to be talking about the auto show. Do your part. Buy a car. The economy would love you, Don Lemon. I know that you -- I know you have a car or a few.
LEMON: Oh, my gosh.
LISOVICZ: You must have an endless driveway.
LEMON: No, no, no, I don't, as a matter of fact. One of them I keep in the garage. But we were just talking about that...
LISOVICZ: You, Jay Leno, Elvis, yes.
PHILLIPS: Tell her about the hoopty.
LEMON: I have a 1984 Cadillac. It's like...
LISOVICZ: I know that. I know that.
LEMON: ... as long as a city block. We're going to -- Kyra and I have to emcee an event this...
LISOVICZ: Well, GM would like it if you got another one.
LEMON: Kyra and I...
LISOVICZ: Could be an Escalade.
PHILLIPS: You know what? Don Lemon and Kid Rock are keeping that car alive, let me tell you. That is a...
LISOVICZ: I want to go for a for a ride in it, too.
LEMON: No, Susan. Here's the thing. Kyra and I are MCing an event this weekend. And we asked for a car service. They said they can't. So we said, OK, so we're going to take the caddie. And then we're going to...
LISOVICZ: I'll be the chauffeur.
LEMON: And you can drive. There you go, in the back of my caddie.
All right, Susan. Having a little fun with you. Thank you.
LISOVICZ: See you the next hour.
LEMON: Yes. Look forward to that.
PHILLIPS: It was a royal reception in Riyadh. President Bush embarks on his first visit to Saudi Arabia. Why did King Abdullah keep him up so late? We'll explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Hello. I'm Don Lemon live in the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.
PHILLIPS: I'm Kyra Phillips. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
LEMON: President Bush is now in Saudi Arabia for two days of meetings with King Abdullah. It is his first visit ever there and he didn't come empty handed. He brings a $20 billion weapons deal.
PHILLIPS: CNN White House Correspondent Ed Henry in the Saudi capital, he joins us live. Ed, what about this weapons package for the Saudis? Tell us more.
ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra it's interesting. They rolled out the red carpet for President Bush here in this oil rich kingdom, but it turned out King Abdullah got the royal treatment as well. As you noted, this $20 billion arms deal, it's all about the U.S. trying to show Arab allies here in the region that in fact, they want to help them to defend themselves against the threat for from Iran.
That's what that is all. Now there are some lawmakers on Capital Hill back in Washington, who are concerned though that these precision-guided bombs could be used by the Saudis against Israel down the road.
But the White House feels confident that they haven't really gotten any major objections from Israel in part perhaps because Israel has gotten a $30 billion aid package of their own from the U.S. so clearly, the U.S., you know, reaching out to allies on both sides here, trying to deal with the threat from Iran, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Obviously a lot of serious topics to be discussed. But, here's what's interesting, I guess -- inside sources telling me here that King Abdullah more of an night owl OK, but as we know the president is usually hitting the rack by 8 a.m. So, what's the deal with the late-night conversations and you know, is King Abdullah able to get the president to stay up that late?
HENRY: It's interesting. There's actually been some good natured wagering among reporters here about whether or not President Bush is going to stay up late and be able to deal with the fact that -- you're right, I was talking to one administration official who noted that King Abdullah is somebody who gets up pretty late, and likes to work into the wee hours.
President Bush, as you know just the opposite, likes to get up very early, hit the ground running and likes to hit the bed by 9:00 or so. This dinner tonight basically beginning around 9:00. So this is something that can go on for a while. In fact, Stephen Hadley the National Security Adviser was asked today on Air Force One about this
Is the president going to be able to stay up late? It's a late meeting. And he said, well 9:00, is it 9:00 Saudi time? Washington time? I don't know what time we're (ph) on. In fairness to the president, we all don't know what time it is, because we're eight or nine hour as head. We've been traveling all of these different countries.
The president's normally an early bird and that's exacerbated now by the time difference, Kyra. So, it's going to be interesting to watch.
PHILLIPS: Well, I'm recommending Arabic coffee. That's exactly what I think that he should probably have.
HENRY: That will keep him up late.
PHILLIPS: That's all right. Then he'll never sleep. What's next for the president, with regard to his Middle East tour and as it continues?
HENRY: After two days here in Saudi Arabia, he's going to head to Egypt, another ally, meet with president Mubarak. Broadly speaking, he wants to hit a couple of key issues like pushing for Israeli- Palestinian peace, but also pushing his freedom agenda trying to push democracy all around the world.
It's interesting -- he's in Saudi Arabia right now. As you know, there's a high-profile case. There's a Saudi blogger who's been in prison for over a month without facing any actual charges. You have women still not able to vote here, and in fact I can tell you, an interesting little detail.
Women on this trip in fact, traveling with the U.S. delegation have been told that they can't workout in the workout facilities in these hotels, they can't be in the swimming pool. It's very interesting, a much, much different society here in Saudi Arabia. So, as President Bush -- pushes this freedom agenda, there's still a lot of progress that needs to be made in this region obviously, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: It'll be interesting to watch with you. Ed Henry, good to see you.
LEMON: Two little boys at the heart of the latest chapter in the troubled life of Britney Spears. Will she regain the right to see her sons? The pop star is scheduled to appear at a major hearing this hour in Los Angeles and it could be a long one. Our Kareen Wynter is there. The big question, is she going to show up? Has she shown up?
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Don. No, no sight of Britney Spears at all. You know her ex, Kevin Federline, he's been looking so good throughout this whole process. It's quite ironic the way there is such a turn of events here. But anyway, the hearing started about an hour ago. He showed up early.
Surround by his bodyguards, witnesses. He was also sporting, and this was quite interesting, a new mohawk, a Navy pinstriped suit. He seemed very, very calm. That was his demeanor. We have crews in the courtroom, and that's what they describe. So things are under way. We found out from Kevin Federline's attorneys his camp, that there are witnesses here.
That's quite crucial because, remember the incident, Don that happened about a week and a half ago? I know you follow Britney Spears quite closely.
LEMON: Yes, in her house when she locked herself in the bathroom. Is that right?
WYNTER: Absolutely. Yes, and LAPD they were all over it. In fact, they had to haul her out. Anyway, Kevin Federline's camp, they wanted to make sure that those law enforcement officials were on hand today to testify on what went down. So, things don't look favorable for Britney Spears.
The big question, is she even going to show up today? There are reports that she's at home right now -- she's late and that just speaks volumes here with the commissioner.
LEMON: She is late. I missed that part. She is late now?
WYNTER: Absolutely. We haven't seen her. The hearing got under way an hour ago. Kevin's in the courtroom. Things are -- you know things have started. The most important player here, Britney Spears, she's lost all visitation, OK. Snag, she hasn't seen her kids in ten days.
So, it was really important for her to be here today to explain her actions, to convince a commissioner, hey, I'm a mom, I love my babies, I want them back but she's not here. What does that -- what kind of signal does it send to the commissioner? It's not looking good for her.
LEMON: Probably a signal that she needs some help, or there's a cry for help or something like that. But let us know when she get there, because I'm sure that will be interesting if she ever does. Wow. All right. Kareen Wynter, thank you very much.
PHILLIPS: Let's get to Betty Nguyen she's over there at the National Desk in the middle of our newsroom there, looking at other stories that we're working on right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. What have they got, Betty?
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, let me tell you, first of all here's how hard they're working here at the National Desk, as they're bringing video and information from our affiliates across the nation. Take a look at this, this is Moe, he's trying to get employee of the month. You know that award that we get around here? Well, he's working on it.
This is his lunch. Maybe eaten half of it, because he's been working so hard. And, let me tell you what he's working on. We've got this disturbing video coming in, in fact it's out of Birmingham, Alabama, and we're getting it off of YouTube. It's from a drag race, OK?
Look at this closely. This drag race goes really, really wrong. The photographer filming on the other side of the track was struck by one of the cars. And this is where it gets bizarre, Kyra and really serious too. Listen to what police had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. HERMAN HINTON, BIRMINGHAM POLICE: One of the guys from one of the groups decided that they should take the guy to the hospital and see what, if anything, could be done for him. And that's when one of his friends apparently turned on him and shot him multiple times.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: OK, we're still trying to figure out why that happened. That gunshot victim was taken to the hospital, but he later died. The man who was filming and got hit by the car, he also died at the scene. The story is kind of complicated. Police, as you know, are still investigating.
All right, let's take you now to Buffalo, New York. A high school teenager is accused of making a hit list, that's according to our affiliate WKBW. Now school officials say the teen had a notebook with 40 students' names and very graphic details about how they may be killed. The teen has been removed from school. But, friends say that this teen is really not that bad, this whole story's blown out of proportion and they say he would never hurt anyone. Obviously the school's taking it seriously. And he's been taken out of school, at least for the time being. So those are just two of the many stories that we're working on here at the national desk.
PHILLIPS: All right. We'll keep checking in. Thanks, Betty.
LEMON: It's flowing through your veins right now. We have some surprising findings about good and bad cholesterol. What it could mean for your health.
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LEMON: Well you know about the so-called good and bad forms of cholesterol, but did you know seven different genes regulate them? Scientists didn't either. Not until now.
And our medical correspondent, Judy Fortin, is here with more on this international study.
JUDY FORTIN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is big findings, Don. It's important news for all of us who worry about our cholesterol. I don't know about you, but I know I do.
It is important news. In a study of 20,000 people worldwide, University of Michigan researchers discovered seven new genes that they believe influence cholesterol levels and they confirmed at the same time that 11 other genes, previously thought to influence cholesterol, actually do their work in that area. Cholesterol is found in every cell in your body. When there is too much bad cholesterol in your blood, you develop fatty deposits in your blood vessels. Now, high cholesterol, we all know, places you at greater risk of developing heart disease. We hear a lot about cholesterol that comes from the food we eat. But according to the American Heart Association, about three quarters of the cholesterol in your body's produced naturally. Many people inherit genes from their parents, or even their grandparents, that can cause them to make too much cholesterol. So that's something to think about, as we talk about this story today.
LEMON: I know your video's not helping matters.
FORTIN: No it's not.
LEMON: Because I'm looking at those french fries going, I want some of those.
FORTIN: They look good don't they?
LEMON: Yes they do. So this study is the University of Michigan, right?
FORTIN: That's correct.
LEMON: Why is it so significant, these findings.
FORTIN: Well, it's interesting. I spoke with one of study authors a short time ago, and he said, "Now we have seven new genes that give us another piece of the puzzle on how genes relate to cholesterol." And he also noted a surprising finding, that may cause researchers to take another look at the role of HDL, good cholesterol, and LDL, or bad cholesterol, and the way it relates to heart disease.
While the genes that increase bad cholesterol are associated with increase risk of heart disease. They did not find that the genes associated with good cholesterol were actually associated with decreased risk of coronary artery disease, and they're not entirely sure why. So a little bit more of the puzzle they they're not ready to solve at this point.
LEMON: OK, so how will a new gene discovery help in treating high cholesterol? Is it just that it's there so they know where to point or look?
FORTIN: Actually, this is a case where they can put it to work. Here is what the researcher told me. Now that they have the seven new genes that I talked about, they can create seven new targets that might eventually lead to new drug therapies that can help prevent coronary artery disease. But it could be many years before you see any of these drugs in your local pharmacies. So good news, but you may have to wait for the outcomes to affect any of us.
LEMON: OK, Judy Fortin, thank you.
FORTIN: Your welcome.
PHILLIPS: Scientists have long dreamed of growing new hearts and other organs to replace damaged or failing ones. And today they're a big step closer. Researchers at University of Minnesota rebuilt a dead rat heart and restarted it. To achieve this ultimate makeover, scientists removed all of the cells from the dead heart leaving only a structure, then injected newborn rat cells. The cells formed a new heart which began beating and pumping blood.
Sounds like science fiction, I know. But over the next decade it could help some of the 5 million people living with heart failure. We're going to talk with one of the researchers involved in that discovery, coming up next, in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: More now on that exciting rat heart news from the University of Minnesota. Researchers say that rebuilding the dead animal's heart and restarting it with new cells is just the beginning. They hope to start work on human studies in about five years. Doris Taylor headed that research team for this project. She joins us now from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
And I've got to tell you, Dr. Taylor, all of us were talking about this morning, it's one of those real, oh my gosh moments when you think of what this could lead to. And you were saying that, from the inception, from the idea coming forward, you were able to achieve what you did in only three years. That's remarkable, isn't it?
DORIS TAYLOR, UNIV. OF MINN. FOR CARDIOVASCULAR REPAIR: It's remarkable and it's because there's a group of people that have really lived, eaten and breathed this for the last three years.
PHILLIPS: All right. Explain to me exactly what you and your research team did.
TAYLOR: Basically, we took the heart from an animal that was dead and used soap, detergents, if you will, the same thing in shampoo, to drip into the blood supply and actually wash all of the cells out of the heart. And then once we had done that and had the frame, it's like gutting your house. We had the frame and then we transplanted cells back in and were able to generate a new heart that could actually beat.
PHILLIPS: So what was the reaction when you actually saw this heart start to beat? I mean, I can just imagine how all of you reacted.
TAYLOR: You know, it's one of those question moments in life. I've only had two minutes like this in my life, and it was just remarkable.
PHILLIPS: Wow. OK, now, we mentioned possibly five years. Is that how close you are to doing this same procedure on a human being?
TAYLOR: You know, there's no reason that we can't move this forward. Our goal is to build a heart for people who need it. If you needed a heart, the goal would to be take a pig heart, remove all of the cells, take your cells, grow them in the laboratory, transplant them into that heart, and create a heart that matches you.
PHILLIPS: My gosh. Now what if it's somebody that's had heart problems and they have a heart attack, they're pronounced dead, is it possible this same type of research could lead to starting up that heart again, even if they had been pronounced dead?
TAYLOR: You know, we hope it never gets to that point. Clearly, our goal is to build organs before you ever reach that point. There's no reason to think that with defibrillators and the ability to restart the heart that we couldn't potentially one day take one of those organs and use it to rebuild a new heart.
PHILLIPS: How did you come up with this idea?
TAYLOR: It wasn't just me, again. Dr. Harold Ott and I worked together on this. And it was one of those things where we realized pig valves are already used for transplant in human, and their missing their cells. And if it work for a valve, maybe it could work for the heart.
PHILLIPS: So it wasn't one of those evenings where you woke up at 2:00 a.m. and thought, oh my gosh, do I have an idea for the team tomorrow, and you jotted it down in your notebook?
TAYLOR: Sounds like you know a lot of scientists. It was one of those moments standing around in the hall where we said, nature has the tools, nature knows how to build a heart. We're never going to figure it out. Wouldn't it cool if we could take the cells out and put new cells back in? And it started from there.
PHILLIPS: So what's your next idea, Dr. Taylor?
TAYLOR: You know, we think aging and heart disease and most chronic disease is something that we can begin to prevent or reverse with cells. So, you know, stay tuned. Maybe we can build more than just a heart.
PHILLIPS: And until then, Ponce De Leon and the Fountain of Youth, right. We'll just wait for your incredible invention.
TAYLOR: Well, we'll see.
PHILLIPS: Dr. Doris Taylor, University of Minnesota, thanks so much. Congratulations.
TAYLOR: Thank you.
LEMON: And speaking of youth, little girls able to see the big picture: giving up prized Hannah Montana tickets to help pay for their friend's surgery. It's a beautiful story. You're going to see it right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right, there you go, live now on the floor -- I should say at the podium, at the Manhattan Center in New York City, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, also a presidential contender, Democratic presidential contender, is speaking there. It's a Martin Luther King Jr. birthday celebration at the Manhattan Center, and she is addressing members of the service employees international union.
Again, Martin Luther King Jr. birthday celebration happening now in Manhattan, and there is Senator Clinton addressing the crowd. If she makes some news out of this, we'll bring it to you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
In the meantime, if you'd like to watch any of the candidates today, just go to CNN.com/live to watch their rallies and events. It is streamed live for you.
(NEWSBREAK)
LEMON: All right, you've got to pay attention to this next story. It's really, really a cute one. Four girls in Florida hope to make some big money with their Hannah Montana concert tickets, not to see profits. They don't want to see profits in all of this. But they want to help a friend to see, period.
The story from Laura Mazzeo of our affiliate WJXT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAURA MAZZEO, WJXT REPORTER (voice-over): Like so many girls that their age, Allison, Emily, Devin and Emily love Hannah Montana.
DEVIN SCHOOLEY, GAVE UP TICKETS: Her shows are really funny and stuff, and her singing's, like, amazing.
MAZZEO: And as you can imagine, they were thrilled when they learned one of their moms scored tickets.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were, like, sold out within, like, 10 minutes.
MAZZEO: But these girls, who call themselves the "Diva Disciples," won't be going to the concert. Instead they're raffling off the ticket to benefit 6-year-old Rylee Lovett.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's feels better for me to go help Riley than it is to see Hannah Montana.
MAZZEO: Little Riley has optic nerve hypoplasia, a condition that's left her with very little sight. Her parents have been raising money to get Riley an experimental umbilical cord stem cell treatment in China that they hope will improve her vision.
RYLEE LOVETT: I'm going in an airplane.
SHAYLA LOVETT, RYLEE'S MOTHER: We're just hoping to get her a little bit more vision, you know, help with to make her life easier, you know, as it goes along.
It's very out of the blue and a very thoughtful thing that these little girls have done. We've really been, you know, put aback by their kindness.
MAZZEO: It's a pretty big sacrifice for these young girls, but they say it's all worth it for Riley.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're really excited because we've been working hard for this, and hope it happens so she'll be able to see.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Well, Riley and her family left for China over the weekend. They're still working to raise a total of $60,000 to offset the trip and the treatment. And if you'd like to donate or get updates, log on to blessherwithsight.com.
The next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
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