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CNN Live Saturday
John Mark Karr Awaits Deportation in Thailand; Question Remain About JonBenet Ramsey Case; Teaching Kids to Save; Politicians Make Appearances in Iowa
Aired August 19, 2006 - 12:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Half past the hour, here's what's happening right now in the news. The man suspected in the murder of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey is expected to arrive in Los Angeles as early as tomorrow night on a flight from Thailand. John Mark Karr is being deported by Thai authorities. A U.S. warrant calls for his arrest on suspicion of killing the child nearly 10 years ago.
Lebanon's prime minister is condemning an Israeli military operation in the Bekaa Valley. He's calling the raid a violation of the U.N. cease-fire. Israel says the operation was aimed at preventing the transfer of weapons from Iran and Syria to Hezbollah. One Israeli officer was killed in that raid.
Shiites pilgrims are pouring into Iraq this weekend for an important religious observance. Seven Shiites were killed last night while walking through a Sunni neighborhood. And the Associated Press reports at least 13 people were killed today in various attacks, including a roadside bomb south of Baghdad.
And in Iran, large-scale land, air and sea war games are going on today. The military maneuvers come as tensions increase with the West over Iran's controversial nuclear program. In a report on Iranian state television, Iran says the maneuvers are expected to last five weeks.
We update the top stories every 15 minutes on CNN LIVE SATURDAY. Your next update is coming up at 12:45 Eastern.
Here's what we know in the JonBenet Ramsey murder case. Plans are set to bring murder suspect John Mark Karr back to the U.S. He is scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles tomorrow night on a flight from Bangkok. Thai officials say Karr has been reading books and watching television, and he had some Kentucky Fried Chicken while awaiting deportation at the immigration detention center.
Questions persist over Karr's stunning admission that he was with JonBenet Ramsey when she died. In fact, there was countless questions in this 10-year-old murder case and our Tom Foreman explores them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In this quiet town, nagging questions have always surrounded the theory that an unknown intruder killed JonBenet. And if Karr has given a confession and if it is true and if he is to be charged, authorities will want those questions answered.
QUESTION: What happened?
JOHN MARK KARR, SUSPECT: Her death was an accident.
FOREMAN: How did a killer get into the house? Police sources said at the beginning there was no forced entry, no footprints in the snow -- those assertions have been challenged in the years since -- and a window was apparently left unlocked. But in the neighborhood, no witnesses reported a passing car, a vagrant, a barking dog, nothing of value for police.
How did the intruder navigate the darkened house to find his victim, brutally kill her, and hide the body without waking anyone? Investigators said from the outset the house was a sprawling maze of hallways, rooms, staircases and closets.
The storage room where the body was found was even overlooked by police when they first searched the house for the missing girl. And, by the way, Karr lived in Alabama at the time of the murder.
Why did the killer leave a ransom note for a murder? The handwritten note contained details about John Ramsey's past and his personal finances which a casual acquaintance would not know.
PATSY RAMSEY, JONBENET'S MOTHER: Then I go down the spiral staircase, and there on one of the rungs of the stair is the three- page ransom note.
FOREMAN (on camera): And the questions just go on and on.
Why did the killer use a broken paint brush from Patsy's hobby kit to twist a cord around JonBenet's neck? Why did no phone call ever come for this supposed ransom before the body was found?
(voice-over): Such questions have made the authorities highly cautious about reaching any conclusions.
(on camera): One of the arguments all along has been that the Boulder authorities have simply been too cautious and that's why there's never been an arrest. What do you think?
MARY LACY, BOULDER, COLO. DISTRICT ATTY.: I'm not commenting further at this time.
FOREMAN: You can't even talk about that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Excuse us, sir. Thank you very much.
FOREMAN (voice-over): And for now, the questions are still outrunning the answers.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Boulder, Colorado.
(END VIDEOTAPE) WHITFIELD: And this programming note -- Larry King will have an exclusive interview with the Ramsey family attorney, Lin Wood, and a Colorado professor who led police to Karr. That's Monday at 9:00 Eastern.
A look across America now. White House or bust. A Katrina survivor is towing his FEMA trailer from New Orleans to Washington. He wants to thank President Bush and the American people for what they've done so far and remind everyone that the rebuilding job in the Gulf is not complete. Rockey Vaccarella will discuss it all over a Cajun dinner with the president in that FEMA trailer. And I'll be talking to Rockey Vaccarella live at 4:00 Eastern about his message and his mission.
And former President Gerald Ford will remain at the Mayo Clinic at least through the weekend. He was admitted Tuesday for tests but hospital officials won't comment on his condition. Ford, who is 93, was treated last month for shortness of breath and he was hospitalized in January for pneumonia.
The prices at Costco apparently weren't low enough for these two guys. Surveillance video shows them ramming a car into a Florida Costco store and ransacking the jewelry counter. Police say they stole more than $10,000 in jewelry and they got away.
U.S. sprinter Marion Jones may have failed her initial drug test at the U.S. National Championship in June. This, according to the Associated Press sources who reportedly have knowledge of the results. She was accused of doping before, back in 2003, an accusation she has strongly denied. An additional test is supposed to be performed to determine whether Jones is looking at a doping violation.
And when your kids head off to school, how much money will they have in their pockets? Coming up, some guidance on teaching your kids money management.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Forty-five minutes past the hour now. Here's what's happening, now in the news.
Lebanon is warning it may stop troop deployment to the southern part of the country because of an Israeli raid against Hezbollah today. The defense minister says he may take the move straight to the U.N. if it doesn't respond to the raid.
The man suspected in the killing of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey is due back to the U.S. from Thailand tomorrow. John Mark Karr is wanted in Boulder, Colorado in the Ramsey death. Ramsey was found dead in her home the day after Christmas in 1996.
Lewis Libby is being denied access to classified material he says is needed for his defense case. The former chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney faces trial on obstruction of justice charges. A judge ruled that disclosing the papers could cause serious, if not grave, damage to national security. And there may be a break in the highway sniper shootings in Indiana. Officials report no injuries in the latest shootings in Lake County yesterday, but a motorist who saw one of the shootings give officials a description of the shooter and the pickup truck that was being driven. Windows on 13 different vehicles have been damaged or shattered in the shootings which started last month.
We update the top stories every 15 minutes on CNN LIVE SATURDAY. Your next update is coming up at the top of the hour, 1:00 Eastern.
School starts and it's time for parents to start shelling out the big bucks. And if you've got kids heading to college, talk about sticker shock. But what if you could get some help from your kids?
In our "Dollars and Deals" today, expert advice from a woman who covers family finances for "Money" magazine. Amanda Gengler joins me now from New York. Good to see you, Amanda.
AMANDA GENGLER, "MONEY MAGAZINE": Thank you.
WHITFIELD: So really a lot of kids are not introduced to the responsibility of money until, say, they go off to college when, you know, they get a crash course on how to manage their money. So what's your best a voice to parents about when they should introduce money matters to their kids?
GENGLER: You really need to teach your kids saving and budgeting habits while they're still in high school under your roof, that way you can keep an eye on them. Start by -- its back to school season. Families plan to spend an average of $527 this year. That's up 20 percent from last year, basically because kids want more clothes and more computer gear and electronics.
So teach them how to make choices. Set a budget and let them choose. Let's say they want one pair of designer jeans, that's fine. That means that they can't have, let's say, a lower -- you know, a cheaper pair of items like Levis.
WHITFIELD: So that mean when they're making their list of things they want, you're going up and down the aisles, and you're looking at the prices, you're sharing it with the kids, you're giving them an idea this how much money we have to spend, and allowing them to help pick and choose based on the dollar value?
GENGLER: Exactly. You want your kid to take the lead. For example, ask a teen to make a list of their weekly expenses. You can set a certain amount that you will contribute, but let them decide how to spend it.
Let's say they want to eat lunch out everyday or buy snacks everyday during the week, then maybe they won't have enough money to go to that weekend movie or buy some more music for their iPod. The point is that you're letting them make the choices so they learn how to budget.
WHITFIELD: And so how do you reinforce that throughout the year? Some parents are eager to set up some sort of banking account for their kids or savings account. How early should you do that?
GENGLER: By the time you're a teen in high school, you should definitely have a savings account set up and you need to use this to ease them into plastic. We are finding many college students getting their first credit card and running it up, and you want to first link a debit card to your kids' savings account so that they see that they are putting into the savings account and that they see the dollar value of what they're buying on that debit or credit card
WHITFIELD: So I can hear a the lot of parents out there already gasping and saying, plastic, are you kidding me? I don't want to introduce them to plastic at all. That only says debt, that only says trouble.
GENGLER: Part of the problem with today's teens is that their spending habits are becoming more sophisticated. They know how to slide debit and credit cards. That's why it's more important than ever that they not only know how to do that but also know how to manage that spending.
They need to know how to maintain a positive bank balance. They need to understand how interest accrues on credit cards. That's why it's important to start with the debit card and ease them into plastic.
WHITFIELD: That's interesting. Because a the lot of kids, especially upon leaving college, they're in big trouble because all these credit card companies flood them with instant credit right away, establish your credit, and they ring up all these bills and at next thing you know they've not only got college loans but they've got some serious credit card debt.
GENGLER: You want your student to stay away from the companies that are marketing on campus, their credit cards. And also stay away from rewards cards. The most important thing for a student credit card is to have a low interest rate. You're likely not going to be spending enough to accrue enough points to go on a spring break or some of the rewards that they are touting, so look for a low APR rate.
WHITFIELD: All right. Amanda Gengler, with "Money" magazine, great ideas, great tips, and folks should pick up your magazine for more.
GENGLER: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: Well, coming up, Christiane Amanpour reporting on an American double agent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In 1988, still serving in the U.S. army, Ali Mohammed (ph) made an unauthorized trip to Afghanistan. He joined the war against the Russians, being fought by Afghan militias and mujahideen like Osama bin Laden. Yet the very next year he received an honorable discharge from the U.S. military. (END VIDEO CLIP)
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Al Qaeda is known for well-coordinated terrorists attacks, and the extremists willing to die for the cause come from all walks of life.
CNN's Christiane Amanpour is following the footsteps of Osama bin Laden. She takes us back to al Qaeda's first strike and introduces us to a double agent who helped pave the way.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR (voice-over): Two American embassies, two truck bombs, two terrorist attacks just nine minutes apart in neighboring countries along the coast: Kenya and Tanzania. More than 200 dead, more than 4,000 injured. Who was behind this carnage and why?
GARY BERNTSEN, FORMER CIA OFFICER: We get there, faces torn off the building, it looks like a tornado has gone through and sucked every piece of furniture out of every room and into the hallways.
AMANPOUR: Within eight days, there were leads and suspects and a stunning realization -- Osama bin Laden had lived up to his threat. His al Qaeda terrorists had just struck their first direct blows in their holy war against the United States. The attacks were carefully planned.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My name is Ali Mohammed.
AMANPOUR: This man, Ali Mohammed, was no ordinary al Qaeda operative. He married a Californian in 1985 and became an American citizen. He joined the U.S. Army and eventually would help train U.S. Special Forces. He appears here on a military panel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fundamentalists, it means are the people that try to establish an Islamic state based on the Islamic Sharia.
AMANPOUR: In 1988, still serving in the U.S. Army, Ali Mohammed made an unauthorized trip to Afghanistan. He joined the war against the Russians being fought by Afghan militias and mujahideen like Osama bin Laden. Yet the very next year, he received an honorable discharge from the U.S. military.
PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Ali Mohammed is a pretty interesting character, sort like a double agent. At the same time that he was a U.S. Army sergeant and actually work at Special Forces Headquarters in Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, he was also intimately involved in al Qaeda, training bin Laden's bodyguards.
DAN COLEMAN, FORMER FBI AGENT: Ali Mohammed had done what they call casing of the American embassy in Nairobi in December of 1993, a five-year span between casing and operation. AMANPOUR: And listen to what Ali Mohammed said in a U.S. court.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My surveillance files an photographs were reviewed by Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden looked at the picture of the American embassy and pointed to where a truck could go as a suicide bomber.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And watch a special "CNN PRESENTS: IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF BIN LADEN." Our team traveled to four continents to learn about Osama bin Laden and his power over those do his deadly bidding. That's on Wednesday night, August 23rd at 9:00 Eastern only on CNN.
Well, what do you get when you mix potential presidential candidates with 20 kinds of food on a stick? A butter sculpture of a cow and a really big hog? What? You get the Iowa State Fair and our Bob Franken was there.
And here's another question for you. What's your weather going to be like this weekend? Reynolds.
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Well, it may seem like we're getting a little bit ahead of ourselves here, but with three months it go before the congressional midterm elections, candidates are already gearing up for the 2008 presidential elections.
CNN's Bob Franken reports from an early stop on the campaign trail: Iowa.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Did you know there are 20 different foods on a stick at the Iowa State Fair?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Welcome to Iowa State fair.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nice to see you. How are you?
FRANKEN: And about a dozen possible candidates for president.
GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D), NEW MEXICO: Nice to see you, Bill Richardson.
FRANKEN: Democratic New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson happened to be in the neighborhood yesterday, so was one of the Republicans.
SEN. SAM BROWNBACK (R), KANSAS: Sam Brownback.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nice to meet you.
FRANKEN: So far this month, 10 potential candidates have stopped by the state fair here, a year-and-a-half before the all-important Iowa party caucuses. Joe Biden, Delaware Democrat, was here Wednesday, a day after Republican John McCain.
The visitors have included a roll call of presidential wannabes, among them Pataki, Bayh, Gingrich. Bill Frist and John Kerry are coming. Meanwhile, those they'll need to impress are waiting to have their pet issues addressed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cutting taxes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, cut taxes, stopping crime, family values.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would like to see them address renewable energy and emphasize that it is not the price of energy but our dependence on foreign oil.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In my opinion, for the next election, I really want to see that they are pro-military and to treat our military guys right, and don't just leave them high and dry overseas.
FRANKEN (on camera): What's the core issues for you, what are you ...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right now it's the war.
FRANKEN (voice-over): Right now the candidates are here mainly to be seen.
DAVID RELAWSK, UNIVERSITY OF IOWA: Media comes to Iowa, the candidates come to Iowa, the media comes to Iowa. There's sort of a back and forth symbiotic relationship.
FRANKEN: But for normal people the political cattle show doesn't compare to the real thing, or the real bull or to the butter sculpture of a cow, or to Waldo the huge hog. No lipstick on this pig.
(on camera): Actually, this is good experience for the presidential candidate because there's an important campaign lesson to be learned here at an agricultural fair. Watch your step.
Bob Franken, CNN, Des Moines, Iowa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Let's take a look at the weather picture out there because it's all over the map. Reynolds Wolf is there, meaning it's very hot in a lot of places.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: Well, "IN THE MONEY" is coming up next, but first here's a look at our top stories.
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