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CNN Live Saturday

Violence Continues in Iraq; Victims of Indonesian Earthquake Find it Hard to Survive; Horrors of Congo, Tales of Torture; South Floridians Facing Gator Anxiety

Aired June 03, 2006 - 17:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: No direct Al Qaeda connection, but Canadian officials say the global terror network was the apparent inspiration for 17 men arrested yesterday. Police accused them of trying to acquire tons of ammonium nitrate to build bombs.

And the violence in Iraq touches Russia, four Russian diplomats kidnapped at gunpoint in Baghdad. A fifth was shot dead.

33 people were killed today in a bomb attack on a market in southern Iraq. CNN's John Vause has that story.

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JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The blast happened in a busy marketplace on a Saturday afternoon, killing dozens and wounding many others. Iraqi police say it was a powerful explosion, leaving behind widespread damage, pools of blood and set cars on fire. It comes just three days after the Iraqi prime minister declared a state of emergency in Iraq's second largest city, saying he would use an iron fist to stop the growing unrest, caused by criminal gangs and Shiite factions vying for power.

The attack was carried out despite increased security. Extra police are on the streets manning roadblocks and conducting I.D. checks. Basra has seen increased violence during the past month, with the death of more than 140 Iraqi civilians and nine British servicemen. The bomb blast is one of the most deadly in Basra, since the fall of Saddam Hussein and could well present a challenge to the new Iraqi prime minister and his national unity government. John Vause, CNN, Baghdad.

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LIN: It's possible that Kimberly Dozier of "CBS News" will return to the U.S. tomorrow. Dozier remains in critical, but stable, condition from a Baghdad car bombing on Monday. She has severe wounds to her legs and shrapnel wounds to her head.

As Indonesia's Mt. Merapi volcano spewed steaming clouds of smoke, a strong aftershock hit the region. More than half a million homeless are suffering in makeshift shelters after last week's major quake.

Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.

Now for those who survived the disaster, there are new battles to overcome. CNN's Hugh Riminton filed this report from Yogyakarta. It first aired on "ANDERSON COOPER 360."

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HUGH RIMINTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Helicopters searching for remote survivors aren't finding them. But, it's not safe to land. In aid terms, this is the crudest form of distribution. Only the strong stand a chance. The food packages gone, the chopper tries again to touch down, but it is still chaotic.

I don't have anything. My house is destroyed she pleads. Please take me, please, take me to Jakarta. The soldiers hesitate, but not for long. As rescue teams reach more and more remote areas, the list of the dead and of the injured grows. But this, the village of Bahran, remains the human epicenter of this disaster. A thousand people died here.

28-year-old Badawi survived, only because he'd already left for work that day. He first found his 3-year-old daughter's tricycle, and then her body, nearby. It took two days to find his young wife, their 10- month-old son, dead. Still clutched in her arms. My heart is broken, he says. Faced with all this, where do you start? There's no earth- moving equipment to speak of. If you are lucky, neighbors pitch in to help. Somehow, heroically, people are trying to retrieve the rhythms of their normal life, defying the utter destruction around them.

DR. IWAN LABAN, VOLUNTEER: When they remember their relatives and families who have passed away, so they become saddened. But it's not -- they are strong.

RIMINTON: As with all disasters, this one has its inexplicable randomness almost as mysterious as who lives and who dies is what stands and what falls. All that remains of this once substantial brick house is the front door and the flimsy glass alongside, untouched. Increasingly, food is arriving. But there is far too little shelter. Hugh Riminton, CNN, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

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LIN: Simple, packing tape, Japanese scientists say it could save your life in a massive earthquake. They found that the tape makes homes much more stable. And it works like this -- the tape is installed on walls in a grid pattern, as you can see there, with cement or plaster, and the grid acts as a net and prevents bricks from collapsing. Now, in quake simulations, homes tripled in strength. The price tag? Well, just $30 for 650 square feet of coverage. Look at that.

In our "World Wrap" tonight, flooding in China. At least 29 people have died in two rain-soaked provinces. 50,000 others have been evacuated. Aid is arriving and disaster crews are delivering tents and quilts and rice to the hardest-hit areas. And British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Pope Benedict XVI talked about religion and common values and terrorism today. It's the first time since the new pope was elected that the two have met. Now Blair is Anglican, but his wife is a practicing catholic.

And Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is discussing global security today. He's attending a security conference in Singapore. Today Rumsfeld called Iran the leading terror nation in the world. And, he said, he hopes Tehran considers a new incentives package aimed at halting its nuclear program.

Well Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad likens the dispute to the haves and have nots, characterizing the U.S. and its allies as keeping needed technology from weaker nations. Well today he insisted Iran will not join multination talks if conditions are attached. It's not something negotiators wanted to hear.

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CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: We're going to step back and let Iran consider what is really, I think, a very good option, that the international community has given them, and hopefully they'll take the good option, but the international community has other options if this doesn't work.

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LIN: Part of those options include sanctions if Iran refuses to give up its uranium enrichment activities. Rice, the four other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany agreed on the incentives package Thursday. The U.S. and its allies fear Iran's nuclear reactor testing is a front and that it's hiding a nuclear weapons program.

Up next --

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Five years ago, he was catapulted to power after his father was assassinated in a coup attempt. He was just 29, and the army's chief of staff.

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LIN: Jeff Koinange confronted the president of Congo with tales of torture. So what will this young president do for his people?

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LIN: A follow-up now to a horrific story we aired last week. If you were shocked to learn of the epidemic of rapes by government troops in Congo, you were not alone. CNN's Jeff Koinange showed his reporting to Congo's young president, who professed utter revulsion. Now, like the previous report, today's installment is immensely disturbing.

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JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sunday morning mass in a makeshift church in eastern Congo. This is no ordinary service. It's not only about faith, but also about healing the human spirit. When you hear this boy's story, you will wonder. Is it really possible? Because they are all victims of rape and mutilation, they are all here to console each other and to seek answers from a higher authority. In this congregation alone, more than half say they've been raped or mutilated or both by men in uniform. Men of the military.

Congo civil war ended three years ago, but these atrocities continue today. Locals here say soldiers from one ethnic group are systematically raping and mutilating women from another group, with the intention, they say, of destroying their child-bearing capabilities. The U.N. calls it ethnic cleansing. And it's not just women being violated. As for the boy, he's a teenager. He would only give us his name, Olivier. About a year ago he tells us more than 20 soldiers smashed into his home, his parents and four uncles fought back, but they were all slaughtered. As Olivier and his two sisters, 12 and 10 years old, looked on.

The men in uniform then took the two girls outside. Olivier says he heard screams for a long time. And the soldiers came back into the house and grabbed him. Saying, his sisters had died without satisfying them. That's when they tore off my trousers and started sodomizing me, he says. They raped me until I passed out, and when I woke up, they were still taking turns with me. I have never felt such pain in my life.

The pain would last another six months, as doctors stitched him back together. They say his recovery has been miraculous. Miracles are one thing, justice another. Why is no one being prosecuted for these crimes? We went to ask the man who should be in control, Congo's young president. Five years ago, he was catapulted to power after his father was assassinated in a coup attempt. He was just 29, and the army's chief of staff. Now he's facing elections, Congo's first democratic test in 40 years.

He says he'll make public safety a top priority if elected. We wanted to know why his soldiers seemed to be raping at will. We show the young president the story we aired on victims of rape and mutilation by the military. As he watches, he winces every now and then, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. He had just one word to describe what he had seen.

JOSEPH KABILA, CONGOLESE PRESIDENT: It's the shock, the shock that you receive to yourself, the shock that anybody, any human being, would definitely feel when they see such images. My reaction is one of shock, of course.

KOINANGE: Mr. President, you have a 6-year-old daughter. You have a twin sister. You have a mother. If something like this were to happen to you, what would you do sir?

KABILA: You definitely have the answer to that. You definitely have the answer to that. KOINANGE: In other words, he would hunt down the soldiers and execute them. Isn't this shameful to see soldiers doing this, sir?

KABILA: It's shameful to see anybody in uniform doing anything that is contrary to the reasons why he's, in fact, in uniform, so yes, it's shameful.

KOINANGE: Kabila says more than 300 soldiers have been convicted on rape charges in the last two years. He promises others will be punished. Back at the makeshift church, the congregation knows that many have not been punished. 15-year-old Olivier is now an orphan with little education and an uncertain future. The church's pastor has given him temporary shelter in his home. Some 2 million people died during Congo's civil war. Those who escaped death didn't escape pain. A generation of women and children have been so emotionally scarred, who can make them feel safe again? Jeff Koinange, CNN, Bukavu in Eastern Congo.

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LIN: That report first aired on "ANDERSON COOPER 360." And you can watch Anderson every weekday night at 10:00 p.m. eastern, only on CNN. Jeff also filed an entry in Anderson's blog, so if you want to read it or if you want to know how you can help in Congo, go to cnn.com/360blog. We'll be right back.

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LIN: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice went the extra mile for cancer research, you might say. This morning, in the nation's capital, she greeted runners in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. One of the largest events for breast cancer research. Rice led the warm-up and the race countdown. She told CNN'S Kune Law(PH) about her personal connection to this cause.

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RICE: My mother had breast cancer, and she first had it when I was 15 years old. But she survived. She was a survivor. She was -- I was 30 when she succumbed to metastasis of the cancer, but the wonderful thing is that she saw not her 15-year-old daughter, but her 30-year-old daughter, so she knew that I'd grown up to teach at Stanford and become a specialist in international politics. And I think that underscores what we really are looking for here is, of course, the cure. The cure that makes it so that no one ever has to worry about this disease. But also better treatment options, prevention, ways to allow women to live with -- with this disease if they must. And so I'm very, very fortunate myself in my -- in my story, but I think that these women here represent the very best of the human spirit.

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LIN: A different side to Condoleezza Rice.

Now, thousands of people took part in the annual 5k race. In South Florida residents are on edge, fearful of predators that have always lived in their midst but have rarely attacked. That is until recently. Reporting on Florida's alligator anxiety, CNN's John Zarrella.

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JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not in his 20-plus years of rounding up alligators had Todd Hardwick ever caught one so big, 11.5 feet, more than 600 pounds. The gator trapper called in a tow truck to hoist the writhing beast onto a flatbed.

TODD HARDWICK, ALLIGATOR TRAPPER: He got me good, didn't he?

ZARRELLA: In the wake of three fatal gator attacks on women in Florida --

We need to work quickly.

ZARRELLA: This one killed a jogger west of Ft. Lauderdale, gator trappers have been busier than ever before.

Take him.

ZARRELLA: Trappers are getting calls nonstop from people spotting gators in backyard lakes and along canals. They're targeting the biggest ones first. The recent attacks have brought on a frenzy of public awareness and a degree of alligator anxiety. But experts say, there really isn't anything different between this and past years.

HARDWICK: Everything that we're experiencing right now has happened before, except for three fatalities in less than a week.

ZARRELLA: During Florida's usually dry winters and springs alligators are on the move looking for water, which usually leads them to urban lakes, closer to humans, and, more importantly, this is mating season.

HARDWICK: Because they're breeding and fighting with each other for territory and breeding rights, we literally have these alligators moving down the canal systems into the urban areas.

ZARRELLA: And they don't turn up just in the water. This one crossed without looking both ways. Another took a bite out of a bumper before its capture. Adam Stern is the senior children's zookeeper at Miami's Metro Zoo. He's holding a four year old 4-1/2 foot alligator named kisses.

I'm not sure I want kisses to be giving me any kisses.

Probably not a good idea.

ZARRELLA: Kisses is motionless in Stern's arms, it looks like a stuffed animal until you see the eyelid roll from front to back. Stern says gators you encounter on land can be just as dangerous as one in the water.

ADAM STERN, MIAMI METRO ZOO: I know it's kind of like an urban legend, that if you try to outrun a gator, you do it by zigzagging, but they are so fast it's not going to happen.

ZARRELLA: By the time you think about making your move to get away, it's probably already too late, right?

STERN: Exactly.

ZARRELLA: Stern says gators don't go out looking for humans to attack, but as Florida's population booms, alligators and people share more of the same land, and neither species sees eye to eye. John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.

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LIN: That story comes to us from "AMERICAN MORNING." So be sure to join Soledad and Miles weekday mornings bright and early at 6:00 eastern.

There's still much more ahead on CNN. In the next hour, the rising cost of the American dream. Thanks in part to rising interest rates. We're going to take a look at adjustable-rate mortgages and interest-only loans. What you need to know to keep that American dream from turning into a financial nightmare. Next, on CNN LIVE SATURDAY.

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LIN: Tonight, arresting terrorists with three times the amount of explosives that blew up the Oklahoma City Federal Building. Three times!

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A community mourns after the murder of seven people in one family as police search for a prime suspect. I'm Keith Oppenheim in Indianapolis, that story's coming up.

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LIN: And the bottom line on mortgages and interest rates, so you can keep your house and your money. This is CNN LIVE SATURDAY, I'm Carol Lin. Let's take a look at the headlines making news right now.

Canadian police say they have averted a series of terror plots and arrested 17 Canadians in Toronto. They've also confiscated bags of bomb making materials. A live report in just one minute.

In Iraq, a bomb attack kills 33 people in Basra. 55 others were wounded. The bomb exploded in a crowded market about 300 miles south of Baghdad.

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