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CNN Saturday Morning News

NATO to Control No-Fly Zone; Violence Breaks Out in Tripoli; Rebels Take Strategic City in Libya; President Gets Locked Out of Oval Office; DC's Cherry Blossoms Bloom; Radiation Worries in Japan; Radiation Worries Float to U.S.; Cleaning Up the Royal Parade Route

Aired March 26, 2011 - 09:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Well, hello once again.

We are at the top of the hour on this Saturday morning and rebels are gaining key ground in Libya, taking control of another city this morning forcing Gadhafi's forces to hit the ground running.

Also, new radiation fears gripping Japan. Good news about the air quality, but it's the water you might have to watch out for now. We'll explain.

Also -- some people aren't going to get an audience with the royal family. They're even being moved from the roadside, because they might tarnish the royal wedding procession. This one you've got to see.

We'll explain on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING and welcome. We appreciate you spending part of your weekend right here with us on this March the 26th. I'm T.J. Holmes.

We do want to talk to you about what's happening in Libya, NATO getting set to take over enforcement of the no-fly zone over Libya. The U.S. had been leading the coalition air strikes in the country up to this point and the U.S. will still be involved as a member of NATO with the new enforcements.

Rebel forces are crediting those airstrikes with helping them regain control of a key gateway city in the eastern part of the country. Ajdabiya is the gateway to other important cities and the oil region of Libya. Rebels had been battling forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi there.

Our Arwa Damon is at the northeastern entrance of that city. She says she saw several government tanks destroyed by coalition air power. We are also hearing about violence in the streets of Tripoli, the Libyan capital.

And that is where we find our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson. Nic, tell us what has been happening there.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, a very curious incident happened this morning, T.J. journalists here witnessed the thuggery and brutality of this regime firsthand, didn't even have to leave the hotel. What happened was, a woman came in during breakfast time to the hotel. She was shouting very loudly. She said that she had been picked up at a Gadhafi checkpoint in the east of the city, held for two days, bound, beaten and sexually abused.

She showed the wound marks on her wrists, on her ankles. Her face had been badly beaten. She had big bruises on her thigh, blood on the inside of her upper right thigh and as she was talking to the journalist, government officials moved in to try and shut her down.

Even hotel staff, one of them picking up a knife, tells this woman she was a traitor for speaking out. Government officials literally wrestled cameramen and reporters to the ground. CNN's camera was taken away. Smashed irreparably beyond use and all this amid a government effort to close down and shut up this woman.

And not allow her to tell her story to the reporters and the physical evidence which she presented matched the story that she was telling. We were unable to dig deeper and get more details from her because government officials took her away, bundling her into a hotel outside the hotel. Government officials said that she was mentally deranged, and she was being taken away to a hospital, they said.

What she managed to say to journalists at that moment in English was that she was being taken to prison. This was a middle-aged apparently well to do woman, from she had said Benghazi, which is where she said she had been picked up.

But what was very apparent to everyone here today was the brutality of the regime here in closing down what was an independent voice, one of the rare independent voices prepared to speak out about, against the regime here, T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Our Nic Robertson with disturbing account of what you all witnessed there and also feeling the difficulty some times of our CNN crews trying to report there. Nic, we appreciate you.

We want to turn as well to our Arwa Damon who had been doing some reporting for us and in an all-important city of Ajdabiya. You've been hearing a lot about a key city that the opposition appears to have gained some foothold on.

Arwa, hello to you once again. What are you seeing now?

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Hi, T.J. We've managed to drive all the way through Ajdabiya now towards the western gate and we're watching the opposition fighters celebrating, chanting their victory and chanting their thanks to the international community for its intervention.

And here we can clearly see the impact that these airstrikes are having on this battlefield. You can hear gunfire in the air. That is celebratory, especially at this location. Were it not for these air strikes, the opposition would have struggled and in fact may not have ever been able to take back Ajdabiya. We saw rows of damaged tanks spread throughout the desert on the northern entrance to this city. Now we're seeing this damaged tank with a massive crater next to it on the western entrance to Ajdabiya. The opposition fighters have clamored on top of it.

They're absolutely ecstatic that they've finally been able to, as far as it appears, gain full control over this city. We are told they're heading westward.

That they are positioning themselves out of the next critical city over the city of Braga although at this stage, Braga does still remain, we are being told in control of Gadhafi's military, T.J.

HOLMES: And Arwa, once again, as we continue to listen to this celebratory fire and things we're hearing in the background there, as you talked about, they're moving west. That's why this city is still key and you said it wouldn't be possible without those coalition airstrikes, but it sounds like the rebels and the opposition are making its way west?

DAMON: That's right and most certainly does appear to be that way. We saw a vehicle earlier that was being loaded with ammunition. We've regularly been seeing the opposition vehicles going through here, vehicles that have anti-aircraft machine guns on them.

You can hear celebratory gunfire going off here as well. Obviously some of these opposition fighters choosing to fire their guns into the air rather than head straight back down to the front line.

One can understand their elation to a certain degree, because just for this one location, they have been fighting for more than a week now, T.J., but others that we're seeing heading westward, still intense they say, on taking this battle all the way to Tripoli. T.J. -

HOLMES: All right, our Arwa Damon on the line for us. Arwa, we appreciate you. By all means, check back in when you have more updates. Our Arwa Damon reporting there.

And again, I want to emphasize that what you were hearing in the background there she says celebratory fire for some of the opposition forces after they appear to have gained control of a strategic important city of Ajdabiya, as they seem to be making their way west across the country.

Meanwhile, President Obama is set now to talk about the U.S. involvement in Libya on Monday night. You'll be able to watch the president's address from the National Defense University in Washington. It will be live right here on CNN. Scheduled for 7:30 eastern time on Monday night.

Also, I want to tell you about a scene that played out last night here in the, kind of in the area of Atlanta. A little outside of Atlanta, but a man was accused of killing a police officer in Athens, Georgia. He is now in custody after a lengthy hostage standoff. What you're seeing some of the hostages being released. They were able to come out unharmed, but Jamie Donald Hood is the suspect's name. He surrendered to police late last night.

Hood is accused of shooting two police officers and killing one of them earlier this week. He took eight hostages when police came to get him last night. Again, all of them were released unharmed.

He said he actually wanted the suspects, the police, to call in the media. He wanted cameras rolling when they took him in custody because he feared for his life and thought police might try to kill him. This scene all played out live last night on local television.

Well, several potential Republican presidential candidates taking part in a conservative forum today in Iowa. Speakers expected to include Newt Gingrich, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour.

Appearances in Iowa especially critical because that state, of course, holds the first presidential caucus of the 2012 campaign. We're going to have much more on that event later in the show. We do have one of our guys, Mark Preston there live. We'll check in with him.

Also, you might have heard about a little royal wedding that's coming up. It's not all pomp and circumstance there, however. We found out why one group of protesters has planned something big for this big event, and why they hope the royal government doesn't get in their way.

Also, the president gets locked out of the White House? Come on, man. We've all done that. Come back, forgot your keys. It happens.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: It's 11 minutes past the hour. We have all been there, folks. You go on vacation and come back and you're scared that your job is going to lock you out. Your badge doesn't work anymore. Well, that happened to the president, too. For just a moment. Check this out.

He was returning from that five-day Latin America trip. Check him out here. Walking. Trying to get back into the Oval -- that door is locked. No problem. He didn't knock. He keeps on whistling. He tries another door. Not a problem at all.

That's what you have to do when you're a leader of the free world. You have to make those quick decisions under pressure, under fire. He's whistling the whole time. He knew the cameras were on him, but that was just kind of a funny moment we saw today.

Another moment, we're going to see today in Washington, the National Cherry Blossom Festival. Everybody loves this thing and the pictures you see there. There they are, of course. It begins this morning, runs through next month. They are the blossom scene around the nation's capital this week. You are invited to take a look. Please, do not touch, however, and you might want to grab a jacket. Is that right? Even though this signifies springtime is here, winter is holding on for dear life.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: For sure in Washington, it will definitely be cold in the 40s today for those cherry blossoms, but they'll hang on. Before you know it, it will be nice and warm and you can enjoy the beautiful weather.

Well, it's not so beautiful this morning in the south. We're seeing a lot of severe weather, strong thunderstorms rolling across I- 40. You'll see some heavy down pours on I-20 as well if you head from Huntsville into Atlanta, Georgia particularly north of the city. That's where we're seeing some of the biggest storms.

Snowy conditions across the plains states. Temperatures are dropping in Omaha where the snow is really working its way in. There's a freeze watch for parts of Missouri, and possible snow for St. Louis. One to two inches mixing with sleet at times. That's going to make for tough driving conditions tonight if you're heading out.

Also watch out for wet and windy conditions through San Francisco. The Bay Area facing a lot of rain today plus gusty winds and mountain snow. So it's going to be pretty difficult for those of you looking to fly out. We're expecting a lot of delays out west in Seattle as well.

And the New York City also look out for some windy weather. Travel slowdowns. No delays yet, T.J., but it's still early.

HOLMES: All right, we do appreciate you. Bonnie Schneider sitting in again for Reynolds Wolf today. Thanks so much.

Well, cheap motels, not really a place for kids would you say, but all too often that's where we're actually seeing more and more kids because their families are struggling with the bad economy, trying to keep the roof over the kids' heads. This week's "CNN Hero" offering some help serving up his solutions one plate at a time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNO SERATO, ANAHEIM WHITE HOUSE RESTAURANT: I came to this country 30 years ago. I love to cook but to be in the restaurant business, you must love the people.

How's your lunch ladies.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bene, bene.

SERATO: In 2005, my mom was in the kitchen from Italy. I said, Mom, let's go to the Boys and Girls Club. There was a little boy 5 years boy eating potato chips for his dinner. He was a motel kid.

I find that a poor family has nothing else, you live in a motel. The motel environment is extremely bad: drugs, prostitution, alcoholics. It's horrible. When they go back after school, there's no dinner, there's no money. My mom said, Bruno, you must feed them the pasta.

I'm Bruno Serato, I listened to my momma. Now my mission is feeding hungry children.

Six years ago, we start feeding the kids. When the recession came, customers dropped and the children doubled. Oh, mama mia.

I don't give the kids leftovers. I prepare fresh pasta.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bruno brings a tray and all the kids are expecting it and excited.

SERATO: Are you hungry, are you hungry?

Right now we are between 150 to 200 kids every week.

Who likes pasta?

My mom, she made me start. Now I could never stop.

I'll see you soon.

They're customers, my favorite customers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Bruno, you see there, has served more than 270,000 dinners to date. Remember, every one of this year's CNN heroes chosen from people you tell us about. So to nominate someone you know who's making a difference in your community, you can go to cnnheroes.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Radiation fears on the rise this weekend at the damaged nuclear power plant in Japan. This comes after three workers were hospitalized when they stepped into contaminated water.

Japan's Nuclear Safety Agency ordered new safety measures after that incident and the men were reportedly standing in that tainted water for about 40 minutes.

Water that had 10,000 times the amount of radiation typical for that location. Most concern, for the two workers wearing short ankle- high boots. The water level was high enough to seep inside of those shoes in all, there are about 500 emergency workers at that plant.

And news like that strikes fear in some all the way across the Pacific that's because of stories about radiation particles floating to America's west coast.

We're going to try to break this down a little bit. Break down some of these fears with University Of Texas Radiation Oncology Professor Dr. James Cox joining us from Houston this morning.

So we appreciate you being here. Every one of your group that I talk to say there's nothing Americans need to be worried about. So if there was --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's correct.

HOLMES: -- a little thing, what are you even most concerned about, even if it is just a little thing?

DR. JAMES COX, PROFESSOR, RADIATION ONCOLOGY: I don't think there's any reason for concern for Americans, Americans in the United States. I think the only concern is, really, for the workers at the site of the reactors, and they are getting exposed as radiation workers do, and they're getting monitored, but they're the only ones that I think carry any risk.

HOLMES: Well, no matter how many times we hear people say that, still these fears are here in the U.S. Tell me about these trace amounts that have shown up on the west coast of the U.S. just how small are they?

COX: We knew trace amounts were going to show up all over the world. We have had experience with this from Chernobyl, but more recently, we've had experience with the particles coming from the volcano in Iceland. So we know that it goes all over the world, but the amounts that reach the United States, while measurable, are of no consequence.

HOLMES: Do we already, because there's so much concern about food and spinach and milk over in Japan, at least, and some people -- we've had, as silly as this sounds, there are actually people out there saying they're not going to eat sushi. They're not going to a Japanese restaurant.

Now that's another level of paranoia, if you will, but still people are concerned about some food no matter how little comes from Japan. But are there food concerns you might have and also just in food we eat every day? Produce or fish or whatever it may be, is there some level of radiation in it already?

COX: Again, there may be something detectable that could be measured with sensitive devices, but I don't think that they pose any risk at all. My wife and I eat sushi all the time and we're not going to stop.

HOLMES: Well, the workers we're talking about over in Japan that were exposed, how serious is it? I know you've heard about what happened to them and we just explained it here. How serious are their injuries when you hear about them?

COX: I don't think they have any injuries from radiations. They may have had thermal burns. I don't know what they would have received that would cause any -- would cause them to go to a hospital.

If they were having so much radiations on the skin, their total body radiation level would be of greater concern, and I haven't heard anything about that. So I think that this is, again, quite overplayed.

HOLMES: Quite overplayed and certainly no matter how many times we have people on that say that, it scares people. The unknown and something you can't see that harms you and it does scare people.

Dr. James Cox, we appreciate you trying at least to help us through it a bit and try to help calm down some of those fears as well. Thank you so much.

And to our viewers here, we're going to be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, Britain has always been very image conscience when it comes to the royal family. So let's just say they're kicking it up a notch for the upcoming royal wedding. As CNN's Dan Rivers reports the government now trying to hide some of their more colorful characters.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN RIVERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Parliament Square, the home of British democracy, and in recent years, some say an increasingly scruffy protest site. This disparate group has camped out opposite London's most famous landmark for 10 years, each making a different political point.

After years ever wrangling, the authorities are trying to finally move these people on ahead of the royal wedding in April. Prince William and Katherine Middleton's carriage is due to pass right by here. The protesters like Maria Gallastegui are determined to stay saying their presence enshrines free speech.

MARIA GALLASTEGUI, PROTESTER: It's very, very important that we keep that tradition going strong in this country. Not just for us but for people throughout the world, because they rely on us as a voice on their behalf.

RIVERS: Until now the protesters have exploited the complex ownership of the square to avoid eviction.

(on camera): Where I'm standing now is this area is controlled by the mayor of London. If I step down here on to the side walk, it's controlled by different body, Westminster City Council.

Now the mayor's office has successfully evicted some of the protesters from the middle of the grass here. Now Westminster City Council is trying to do the same down here. The problem is, the protesters are standing their ground.

(voice-over): But one British lord is trying to introduce a law to finally clear the square after years of legal deadlock.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I beg to move that this bill be now read for the first time.

RIVERS: Lord Mark shows me his proposed law to move the protesters on. He says Britain's image will be tarnished if they're allowed to stay.

MARK SCHREIBER, MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: I think the problem is that what it does is, to show a squalid squatters' camp rather than a protest movement. It's just a lot of worn out placards and it just looks really scruffy.

RIVERS: The tourists we asked seemed in favor of the protesters.

ALEX PLITSAS, TOURIST: I think freedom of speech and the right to peacefully assemble should come before the way people view a wedding procession.

RIVERS: Only British Airways has so far succeeded in removing the protesters, famously digitally airbrushed from this TV ad featuring the square. It's a trick the royal wedding planners won't be able to pull off, though.

To them, only a physical eviction will ensure this protest site isn't part of the backdrop as Prince William and Katherine Middleton glide past on their wedding day. Dan Rivers, CNN, Parliament Square, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Sending you to the royal wedding, possibly. Sending an I-Reporter head over to the I-Report page on cnn.com and send us a video telling us why it should be you that we send over to cover the royal wedding. A winner then will be picked on April 11th.

Some of the unstable international climate is keeping fuel costs high. Our Christine Romans has some tips that could save you money. "YOUR BOTTOM LINE" starts right now.