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Body of Missing Six-Year Old Found, In A Garbage Bag, Along Georgia Road; Coroner's Verdict on a British Lance Corporal Killed in Iraq; Rumors About Comedian Sinbad's Death Not True; Death of a New York City Groom Continues to be Investigated; Divers Killed in an Accident off the Coast of Florida

Aired March 16, 2007 - 14:00   ET

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

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: Health care professionals see it as a threat to the nation's blood and organ supply. Here's why. The American Red Cross ran some tests in L.A. and found an increase in the number of blood donors testing positive for the parasite, as compared to their numbers from 1996.
That sent an alarm to the Centers for Disease Control, and it may soon issue some new recommendations suggesting that donated blood undergo additional screening.

Now we're talking about the vegetables. A lot of people don't exactly like to eat them. It may not be much of a surprise, but according to the Centers for Disease Control, they surveyed 300,000 people in 2005, and found less than a third were eating the absolute minimum number of fruits and vegetables that are recommended daily.

Just in case you forgot, that's at least two servings of fruit and three servings of vegetables. Doctors say it's an easy way to reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer and other problems.

In the hour of the CNN NEWSROOM we'll talk more about that.

But, you know, Don, this is the thing, what counts as a vegetable? I could live on French fries and, say, watermelon and think I was doing something good.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM Chips are not vegetables, French fries are not vegetables, Kiran Chetry.

CHETRY: See? See that? So, I'm in trouble.

(LAUGHTER)

Well, the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

Hello, I'm Don Lemon live at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

CHETRY: I'm Kiran Chetry in for Kyra Phillips who's in Iraq.

LEMON: We begin this hour the CNN NEWSROOM by starting with some breaking news, let's head to the newsroom.

T.J., what do you have for us?

T.J. HOLMES, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Well, we have a gas leak out of Seattle. This is the Seattle Center, a main hub there, in Seattle that houses all things there from sports arenas to a high school, to a food courts -- all kinds of stuff there.

Indeed, there is a high school there, and about 20 teenagers complained of dizziness, they had red faces, complained of getting dizzy in a chemistry class. They had to be triaged, many of the students. And a couple, according to officials there, had to also be taken to the hospital just as a precaution.

But what appears to have happened here is one of the students turned on a gas valve, and that gas valve and that gas valve had been left on for just a little bit. So this wasn't -- it doesn't sound like an intentional thing, but just kind of left on. And after a of course, those fumes got in there and the kids began to get sick.

No injuries too severe, that we know of, but a couple kids had to be taken to the hospital just as a precaution. But most of them, according to officials there, did check out OK.

It sounded at first like it could have been a much worse situation. Didn't exactly know what was going on, but officials say the floor with the gas leak happened, that floor had been cleared of those fumes and the OK was given.

But again, it seems like just maybe one of the kids kind of turned his back on something, forgot they had the gas valve on, made a couple classmates sick, and good that the all-clear has been given. Nothing too serious but that situation seems to have been taken care of now, guys.

LEMON: Glad they're okay. T.J., thank you so much.

CHETRY: And now to the weekend wallop that millions of us are about to experience. A nasty Nor'easter -- there's actually a lot of bad weather across the country. But right now hundreds of flights cancelled in the Northeast.

Reynolds Wolf is tracking the path of this storm for us, from the CNN Severe Weather Center, as we watch the front move into major cities. A live look at New York's Columbus Circle. Let's check that out. There you go, there's already snow all over the ground.

And a list of canceled flights at LaGuardia Airport, also at the bottom of your screen. There we go: canceled, canceled, canceled.

LEMON: Oh, my goodness.

CHETRY: Very few on time. And none of them heading into the Northeast part of the country. Well, at least one more round of winter in store, even though it's almost St. Patrick's Day.

(WEATHER REPORT) LEMON: It was an ending many suspected, but no one wanted; 15 feet off a rural Georgia road, searchers came across a black plastic trash bag. They knew in an instant it held Christopher Barrios. The six-year-old boy reported missing last week in Brunswick. Four people are in custody, and CNN's Amanda Rosseter joins us from Brunswick with more.

It's just a sad, sad story all the way around, Amanda.

AMANDA ROSSETER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a horrible, heart- wrenching end to all of this, Don.

We're here in Brunswick, Georgia, where those four suspects that you mentioned in this case are still being held at the detention center behind me. Now, they had an arraignment earlier this afternoon, not on the murder charges yet, but on the charges for which they originally arrested, earlier in the week.

Yesterday, as you can imagine, here in Brunswick it was a horrible, terrible scene, it was the end they all hoped wouldn't come.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROSSETER (voice over): A week-long search for six-year-old Christopher Michael Barrios ended suddenly Thursday when a state wildlife official spotted his body off the side of a dead end road in this wooded area.

CHIEF MATT DOERING, GLYNN CO., GA. POLICE: Thirty minutes ago, about two miles from here, which is further than we thought, Christopher was found.

ROSSETTER: Police Chief Matt Doering broke the news to dozens of volunteers who spent seven days scouring nearby fields.

DOERING: I'll confirm for you, he was not buried as we were told.

ROSSETER: They based their week-long search on information from four suspects, three from one family. Thirty-one-year-old George Edenfield was arrested first, rounded up and interviewed, because he a registered sex offender and convicted child molester. He lived with his parents across the street from the Barrios family.

His mother, 57-year-old Peggy Edenfield, was arrested next for giving police what they called bad leads about where the child was buried. Then the father, 58-year-old David Edenfield and a family friend, 34-year-old Donald Dale, were arrested after implicating one another.

Police say all four face murder charges. Officers stayed at the Edenfield home into the night secure evidence.

MELISSA MCCLOUD, FAMILY FRIEND: We just were praying and hoping that he would come home alive. ROSSETER: Close friends say Christopher was a sweet child, very shy, even withdrawn at times. And had been warned by his grandmother about the Edenfields. They say he never would have gone willingly.

MCCLOUD: That's why I just don't understand why nobody could hear him scream or anything -- or see him.

ROSSETER: Several people told us that George Edenfield was child-like and would watch the children as they got off the school bus.

CARLOS BARRIOS, CHRISTOPHER'S UNCLE: People like that, really there need to be background checks on them before they put them in a mobile home park, full of kids, or whatever. Do a background check on them and put them out in the woods if that's where they need to be.

ROSSETER: I spoke with the D.A. here, District Attorney Stephen Kelly, earlier this morning. He says he will spend this weekend sorting through all of the evidence and will formally filed those murder charges early next week -- Don.

LEMON: Oh, Amanda.

So, do the police think the four were in cahoots. Did all four, do they think, take part in the actual killing of this little boy?

ROSSETER: They said they do know a motive, they are not releasing it as of yet. In Georgia because there are two types of murder charges, malice murder and then there is felony murder. They say they will probably all be charged with some type of murder, whether they took a part in it, or whether they were just helping concealing it. And the person who actually killed little Christopher, will probably face the death penalty -- Don.

LEMON: Amanda Rosseter, thank you so much for the report.

CHETRY: An tensions are running high in New York City as a grand jury is still deciding whether five police officers will be indicted in a highly charged shooting case. A young man, unarmed, shot dead on his wedding day. His family's attorney holding a news conference last hour, saying already this should be heading to court. Senior Correspondent Allan Chernoff has been following the case; he joins us live from New York with more on that.

Hi, Allan.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran.

That attorney for Sean Bell, the groom who was killed in a hail of bullet fire from police officers, says that the detectives union, of the New York Police Department is trying to poison the grand jury process here. Poison it, he says, because the detectives helped to bring forward yesterday a last-minute witness before the grand jury, a witness who, according to detectives, said that he believes there was a man who shot one or two bullets at police officers, at about the time that police officers fired 50 bullets into a car in which Sean Bell was sitting.

He was killed by those bullets and two of his friends, who were also in the car were wounded. All three of those persons did not have firearms. So they were unarmed, but this theory of bringing in the witness who claims there was a fourth person who actually may have been armed, that could have provided at least some, perhaps, justification for the police officers to fire their bullets.

Now, the attorney said that this witness simply cannot be trusted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER ST. GEORGE DAVIS, ATTORNEY: We have every reason to believe there's serious questions to the veracity of this witness. There was then, and there is now. There's a word for an individual who tells two different stories on two different occasions about the same events. I believe that word is a "liar."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHERNOFF: Now, it is not known how much impact, if any, that witness did have on the grand jury. We are still waiting to hear whether or not the grand jury is going to hand up any indictments against the five police officers, who were involved in the shooting. And this all happened back in November -- Kiran.

CHETRY: So is there still any chance today that indictments still could be handed up?

CHERNOFF: It certainly still is possible. The whole procedure, though, takes time. Once the grand jury comes to a decision, they have to, of course, notify the district attorney's office. In turn the district attorney has to inform attorneys for the police officers, and we wouldn't get an official announcement of any charges -- if there are any charges -- from the D.A.'s office until the police officers actually would be in custody.

That could take some time, given the fact that we're in the afternoon already, theoretically, this could extend into Monday, but let's see what happens from that grand jury.

CHETRY: All right. It will be interesting to see. Also, whether or not the weather affects any of that. If they -- if they're leaving early or anything, for the day, because of the bad weather.

Allan, thanks so much.

LEMON: A latter-day Garbo speaks and Washington is spellbound. Ahead in the NEWSROOM, Valerie Plame Wilson spills on the Hill.

CHETRY: Also, no shortage in the drama in the death of Anna Nicole Smith, now one of the paternity players parts company with his lawyer. We'll get to the bottom of that. We're on it, in the CNN NEWSROOM. And desperately seeking rebuttal, as the U.S. Security Council considering sanctions against Iran; Iran's president looks to book a trip to the U.S. We're on it in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: It's 15 past the hour now. Here are some of the stories we're working on in the CNN NEWSROOM.

We're still waiting for a New York grand jury to decide whether or not it will indict police officers in the death of an unarmed bridegroom gunned down on his wedding day.

There's been a natural gas leak in Seattle, dozens of teenagers complaining of dizziness.

And Iran fiercely anti-American president is planning a trip to New York.

LEMON: Also happening right now, bad weather, snow across the country causing delays all over. Let's take a live look. This is Seattle, Washington, from our affiliate KOMO.

But boy, here's what that weather is causing, problems in the airport. New video in now from KOMO, SEA-TAC Airport in Seattle. Look at those lines, Kiran, folks just hanging around, nowhere to go.

(CROSS TALK)

LEMON: The weather is not so bad there, but what's happening here in the Northeast affecting, as you know, someone who is trying to fly out today, affecting most of the country. Let's bring in Reynolds Wolf.

(WEATHER REPORT)

CHETRY: Well, one place where the weather is nice, but the storm of controversy continues, is the Bahamas. The Anna Nicole Smith saga continues. There's a court hearing being held there today in the Bahamas, trying to determine who should get custody of Smith's baby daughter, Dannielynn. Smith's companion, Howard K. Stern, as well as her ex-boyfriend, Larry Birkhead, and her estranged mother Virgie Arthur are all vying for custody.

Depending on how an inheritance case turns out that baby could one day be worth millions and millions of dollars. One person who is out of that custody battle is Larry Birkhead's lawyer, Debra Opri. She announced this morning that she is no longer acting as Birkhead's attorney. Opri says she wishes Birkhead the very best in his efforts to prove he's Dannielynn's biological dad. Birkhead is in the Bahamas for today's custody hearing. He's been asking for DNA tests to prove the baby's paternity.

LEMON: New developments in that New York City police shooting. The groom, they're calling it the case of the groom who was shot. Do we have a decision, T.J.? We have one, but we don't know what it is, Don, that is the case. The grand jury had been looking into this case by police officers. They were taking a peek at, Sean Bell is the groom who was killed in the early morning hours the day of his wedding.

He had gone to a bachelor party, he was with two of his friends coming out of this club where there were undercover police officers there. They're not certain, there's some back and forth about exactly what happened outside that club. But essentially police officers fired some 50 rounds at Bell and his two friends.

Bell was hit and killed that evening, injuries to his friends, but Bell died that evening. And now a grand jury has been looking into whether or not the police officers should be charged in this case.

Now, right now, according to the Associated Press, the wire service here, is telling us yes, a decision has been reached by that grand jury. But we do not know at this point what that decision is. The decision could be that some of these officers could face criminal charges. Or it could it could be their actions were justified.

A lot of the debate, a lot has been going on, and a lot has been talked about, whether or not -- or how in the world you justify firing 50 rounds at a man who was unarmed?

However, that's what the grand jury is here for, to look at whether or not the actions of these police officers was reasonable and just. And we do understand they have reached a decision, according to the AP. We are waiting on word on exactly what that decision is, and Don, I assure you, as soon as we have it I we will be brining that right to our viewers.

LEMON: And, T.J., of course the crux of this is the latest witness that came out, I believe, at the 11th hour, I believe just Wednesday, with new information and went to a police station in New York City. So, it will be very interesting to see how that grand jury decides on whether or not indictments will be handed down in light of this new witness.

HOLMES: Then, of course, that new witness, a lot of what seems to have come up in this case, has been a bit after controversy here. But questions whether or not this witness was legit. Apparently this witness had been talked to by police officers earlier and did not admit that, in fact, he was a witness.

But like you said, Don, he walked right into a police station on Wednesday ended up testifying on Thursday about what he says he saw and he witness that evening.

The Reverend Al Sharpton, who has been representing the family of Sean Bell and speaking on their behalf in this case. He came right out and said this stinks to high heaven, this latest witness, and questioning whether or not this witness is legit.

He's asked for the governor of New York and others to look into whether or not this witness is credible. So, who knows how well that last witness played into all of this. Certainly, a lot of twists and turns in this case, so we might have -- it appears, at least we do have a decision on whether or not these officers will be charged in the shooting -- Don.

LEMON: Yes, a very big story. T.J., thank you so much. We'll continue to following the latest developments on that. You're not going to miss any of it. And we're take a quick break, but on the other side, we are going to talk about an outed CIA operative. She talks about her public exposure. Was it political retaliation? Congressional Democrats delve into the CIA leak scandal, ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Abort you mission, it looks like we may have blue on blue situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Shots, then a terrible shock. Ahead in the NEWSROOM, a case of so-called friendly fire in Iraq that leaves a rift between allies.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: All right. Well, it's been three months in the making. We hear now, according to the Queens district attorney that a grand jury has reached a decision in the case of the death of Sean Bell. Police officers firing 50 bullets, killing the unarmed man on his wedding day. We're going to go to Allan Chernoff, who is in New York City outside that Queens courthouse. He's been following the latest developments.

What do you know, Allan?

CHERNOFF: That's right, Kiran, we've just confirmed the grand jury has concluded its deliberations, has made its decision, the Queens district attorney office saying they'll be holding a press conference on Monday to reveal everything.

Now, earlier I had spoken with the D.A.'s office and they had indicated to me if there were no indictments there was a good chance they would be holding a press conference today, to make that announcement.

Now, that would lead to the inference, and this is not an assurance, but that would lead to an inference that the grand jury has made a decision to indict at least some of those officers who did fire on the vehicle. Now, remember, 50 bullets fired at Sean Bell and two of his friends, who were in that vehicle. The two friends wounded. These three individuals were found to be unarmed.

This happened back in November, on the very day that Sean Bell was to be married.

So to repeat, the grand jury now has finished its deliberation, and we are going to have a press conference on Monday from the Queens district attorney. So it certainly is possible now that there has been decisions made by the grand jury to hand up indictments against some of the five police officers.

Keep in mind, one of those police officers, Michael Oliver, fired 31 times, so that really was the focus of tremendous controversy. We will see whether or not in fact police Officer Oliver or any of his colleagues are indicted in this case.

CHETRY: The timing is interesting. Because you say they're going to wait till Monday, yet they announced today that they have come to a decision, won't say what that decision is. Do you think we'll find out more information as the afternoon goes on despite the fact there's an official press conference Monday?

CHERNOFF: Right. What does have to happen, let's talk about the logistics here, because I think that is critical.

If the grand jury has decided to hand up some indictments, what happens here is first they tell the district attorney's office. They give their decision to the D.A. The D.A.'s office then contacts attorneys for the police officers.

Now, I have spoken with the offices of four of those five attorneys, during the last 20 minutes. None of them told me that they had heard anything yet, from the district attorney. So this is all just coming down.

Again, if there were any indictments, they will have to contact the attorneys. The attorneys, then, would have to bring the police officers indicted, and they would have to actually be in custody. And only at that point would the D.A. then actually make the official public announcement of exactly what charges, what charges are being made against which officers.

But again, this is all not guaranteed. We don't know for certain that indictments have been handed up by the grand jury. But based upon our understanding of the logistics of the procedures here, we can at least make an inference that there's a good chance of that now.

CHETRY: So, also tell us more, because you spoke about Detective Michael Oliver, the one who fired 31 shots and actually reloaded once, at least according to the testimony. Could it be just one or two that face the indictments and the others would be cleared? Or do you think everyone could probably, at least, in this phase face the indictment?

CHERNOFF: Well, two of the police officers, Mr. Oliver and Gesgard Ensora (ph), were the ones that were considered to be most likely to face indictments. Mr. Ensora (ph), actually had fired 11 bullets. He was the first one to shoot at the car. He was the undercover agent. According to the police commissioner, Ray Kelly, what happened was that the vehicle hit that undercover agent, the vehicle that Sean Bell was driving, hit the agent and hit a minivan, an undercover police minivan twice, all of which led to this hail of bullets aimed at the car itself. We can't be sure as to who exactly might be indicted here. Certainly all five officers were being considered here.

CHETRY: And, his quote to a supervising lieutenant at the time was, "it's getting hot on Liverpool for real, I think there is a gun."

That was part of the testimony as well. Where that officer did fear that there perhaps was a gun and it turns out, at least according to ballistics evidence, they didn't find any evidence. Allan, we'll continue to check in with you. We'll get more actually a little later also from our legal analyst, B.J. Bernstein. Thanks so much.

LEMON: And of course we'll follow all the developments on this story as you said, too, we are not going to miss any of it here.

But we want to get to Wall Street. It's been a very volatile time there. It's been called a mortgage meltdown, but today there are signs of hope, at least for one lender in the battered subprime market.

Susan Lisovicz (ph) is at the New York Stock Exchange with all the details for us. Hi, Susuan.

(BUSINESS REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Hello, I'm Don Lemon live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

CHETRY: And I'm Kiran Chetry in for Kyra Phillips, Iran's president winds up for a pitch. He's hoping a strikeout the new sanctions. We're not talking baseball. We're talking the United Nations. We'll take you there live for the latest on President Ahmadinejad's controversial plan, here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Certainly not one to shy away from attention, Mohmud Ahmadinejad is planning to make a splash at the U.N. headquarters in New York. Today the State Department said it will grant the Iranian leader a visa for U.N. discussions of Iran's nuclear program.

With more on that from the U.N. CNN's Richard Roth. Hi, Richard.

RICHARD ROTH, SR. UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran. The United Nations Security Council is poised to adopt new sanctions against Iran next week, and the president of Iran wants to be on hand to speak right before the vote. Now, it is customary when the Security Council debates and takes action against a country that a representative from that nation is present to offer a rebuttal. It's not always the president of a country, especially a president who had denounced the very Security Council he wants to appear before. He has called it an illegitimate body. The Iranians have asked for about 39 visas, 26 of them for security. He's going to be here, it looks likely, next week. Of course he has been here before, but addressing the general assembly in during the annual debate in December. This is much more of a crisis point for this appearance. State Department today, Kiran, say this is a great opportunity for him to seize the moment. To negotiate, instead of pursuing nuclear ambitions. CHETRY: He doesn't sound like he's negotiating. There was a quote today, "We have a nuclear fuel cycle and we will not give it up under pressure."

ROTH: That's right. It should be high drama inside the Security Council, and I'm sure it will be a lengthy series of remarks by the leader, and then so far the big five powers on the Security Council, including and Russia are on board with more sanctions regarding asset freezes, and a conventional weapons exporting ban.

CHETRY: Alright, Richard Roth, continuing to follow that. Thank you.

LEMON: Careless and reckless, that's how Valerie Plame Wilson describes White House and the State Department. She testified on Capital Hill today and angrily accused the Bush administration of leaking her identity as a CIA operative for political purposes. She says the administration was trying to discredit her husband, former Ambassador Joe Wilson, a critic of its Iraq policy.

An investigation into the leak of Plame Wilson's identity led to charges against Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, Lewis Scooter Libby.

Plame Wilson says Libby's trial was an eye opener.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VALERIE PLAME WILSON, FORMER CIA OPERATIVE: In the course of the trial, Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, Scooter Libby, I was shocked by the evidence that emerged. My name and identity were carelessly and recklessly abused by senior government officials in both the White House and the State Department. All of them understood that I worked for the CIA and having signed oaths to protect national security secrets, they should have been diligent in protecting me and every CIA officer. The CIA goes to great lengths to protect all of its employees providing at significant taxpayers' expense, painstakingly devised and creative covers for its most sensitive staffers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: And Lewis Libby was convicted last week of obstructing the leak investigation.

CHETRY: Coming up, shots then a terrible shock.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looks like we may have a situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM, a case of so-called friendly fire in Iraq leaves a rift between allies.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Ruled an unlawful death, an unavoidable death and that awful wartime contradiction in terms, friendly fire. We have a coroner's verdict today in the case of a British lance corporal killed four years ago in Iraq.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is in London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lance Corporal Matty Hull died in less than one month into his first tour of duty in Iraq, killed when his convoy was attacked by U.S. war planes.

A friendly fire incident a British coroner ruled was entirely avoidable and unlawful. It is the verdict Matty Hull's family sought for four years.

SUSAN HULL, LANCE CPL. HULL'S WIDOW: Great sense of relief that it's over, and we heard what we wanted to hear. But, in fact what that means for us is that it was entirely avoidable, Matty's death was entirely avoidable.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): Assistant deputy coroner Andrew Walker has consistently said the lack of cooperation from U.S. authorities made his job harder. He said the U.S. withheld information, calling it "A profound disservice to those who have lost their lives in the service of their country and the families left behind who simply want to know the truth."

In November, Lance Corporal Hull's widow Susan made a personal plea to President Bush Thursday to release evidence, but to no avail.

This is the cockpit video of the attack on March 28th, 2003 -- video the Pentagon tried to withhold from the coroner's court until it was leaked by someone to the "Sun" newspaper and widely publicized.

It is clear when the two U.S. pilots are told of their mistake. Hull's widow was originally told by U.K. officials the video did not exist. The Ministry of Defense said after the verdict, "We are very sorry for confusion and upset caused over the handling of the cockpit footage."

Susan Hull said today that she hopes that lessons will be learned as a result of this inquest -- we will do all that we can to ensure that this is the case. Hull's widow and mother broke down in tears in court when they heard the verdict.

HULL: We can draw a line and move on with our everyday lives.

HANCOCKS (on camera): Even though this British verdict is not legally binding in the U.S., it is embarrassing for both governments, highlighting how cooperation between two allies on the battlefield does not necessarily translate to cooperation in the courtroom.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Oxford, England. (END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: With a troop surge under way in Iraq, those in charge are calling for even more. One person who wants to be Commander in Chief told CNN's Larry King that he's behind the move 100 percent.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My view is that right now the right step for us to take is to support the Commander in Chief by putting in additional troops to make sure that Al Maliki's government is taking the lead. I think we're seeing that the troop surge is beginning to show signs of working.

Now, I'm not wild about keeping any troops there any longer than we have to, but I think dividing the country in parts and then getting out or just simply getting out, presents some risks to America.

People have to stop and think about because if this country divides, either through civil war -- massive civil war or by our hand in helping to divide it, you could well see the Iranians play a dominating role among the folks in the Shia south, you can have al Qaeda play a dominant role among the Sunnis, you could have borders with Turkey be disturbed by the Kurdish population and you could end up with a regional conflict with our having to be involved or impacted in some major ways, so keeping a central government together is our first priority.

LARRY KING, CNN ANCHOR: Would President Romney talk to Iran? North Korea?

ROMNEY: You know, I'm willing to have our nation, through various emissaries talk to everybody in the world. I like talk. I want to listen to my opposition's prevarications if I have to. But -- so I keep the channels of communication open, but I would not give, if you will, an engaged kind of platform to Ahmadinejad in Iran, for instance. He needs to be isolated diplomatically, he needs to have economic sanctions to put pressure on him and his people, to know that what they're doing is offensive to the world.

Talking, yes, but formal engagement, sitting down across the table, having one-on-one negotiations, don't do that. Have indirect discussion.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: Interesting. Tonight Larry will be joined by actress Suzanne Somers who opens up about her loss of a Malibu beach home to a fire, also Chris Rock talks about his new movie venture. That's all at 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

LEMON: Let's go straight to Entertainment News. Sibila Vargas standing by, what's on tap, Sibila?

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'll tell you why a new adventure could change Cate Blanchett's life forever. And how a vicious internet rumor killed off one of your favorite comedians. That and more when the NEWSROOM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Looks like Cate Blanchett could be in for the ride of her life. Entertainment correspondent Sibila Vargas joins me with details on that. Hi Sibila.

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi. You know that tune?

CHETRY: That's pretty good!

VARGAS: Well, you know that song, and soon Cate Blanchett just might be humming along. The 37-year-old Oscar winner is in negotiations to join the cast of the highly anticipated "Indiana Jones 4". While details surrounding her role are shrouded in secrecy, we do know the project will reunite Harrison Ford with director Steven Spielberg and producer George Lucas. Shooting begins this summer and then whips into the box office May 2008. I can't wait to see that, Kieran.

CHETRY: Yes, sounds good. Now speaking of the box office, we hear that Warner Brothers "300" is on an international warpath.

VARGAS: Oh, yes. As if racking up more than 90 million dollars its first week in the United States wasn't enough, the hyper-stylized epic is taking things across the pond.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is blasphemy. This is madness!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is sparta!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VARGAS: I love it when he says that. King Leonidas (ph) himself, Gerard Butler led the all-star cast down the red carpet at the film's U.K. premiere last night in London. As the film marches into the British box office, it will compete with the record it set here as the biggest March opener in history, Kieran. Great movie, I can't wait to see it this weekend.

CHETRY: Yes, there was so much buzz about that. It seems that everyone is going out to see it. A lot of death in that movie.

And speaking of that topic, there was a terrible internet rumor that a top comedian had died.

VARGAS: Oh, absolutely. Talk about a very scary rumor. I'm happy to say that, contrary to the story spreading throughout the internet, stand-up comic and TV star Sinbad is alive and well, folks. Since these had already began flooding in yesterday after online encyclopedia Wikipedia mistakenly announced that the 50-year-old comedian Sinbad had died. A spokeswoman for the Web site says that the Sinbad entry had been vandalized and they are investigating who made the edit. Even though they caught the mistake quickly many users had original forwarded the original link, causing the rumor to spread. The popular information site sends its apologies to the entertainer as well as his family and friends and of course, his fans.

But that is very strange for something like that to happen. But I always tell my producer, do not rely on Wikipedia and all of the search engines, you have to do more research.

CHETRY: Yes, because one thing just ignites on the internet and there it is, everywhere. Well, Sinbad is getting a little bit of publicity, i guess, so that's the bright side. What's on tap for tonight?

VARGAS: Well, tonight on "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT," Hollywood's ridiculous obsession with perfection. Why the unrealistic obsession with weight and body image can be downright dangerous. A special report on TV's most provocative entertainment news show, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" at 11:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific on "Headline Prime." Back to you, Kiran.

CHETRY: Alright and just by humming those few bars, I think you could try out for "American Idol" next season.

VARGAS: Thank you. Well, I already sang for Simon Cowell. The first time he said it was great, the second, he said, nah.

CHETRY: He's so fickle.

Alright, Sibila, thanks so much.

VARGAS: Thank you.

LEMON: I don't know about that "American Idol" thing. She's good, but we'll see.

No pigtails, no guitar, but John McCain is still channeling Willie Nelson. Ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM, he's on the road. Can he ride it all the way to the White House? That's the question. CNN NEWSROOM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Hello, I'm Don Lemon. Live at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

CHETRY: And I am Kiran Chetry, in for Kyra Phillips.

Fifty shots fired, a young man killed just hours before his wedding. The Grand Jury says it has decided now whether or not to indite officers accused in that shooting. We are going to have the latest in a live report.

LEMON: Plus Valerie Plame Wilson speaks and Washington listens. Right now a hearing is still underway about that leak that changed her life. And she says, jeapordizes the lives of others.

We are on top of it, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Top of the hour, happening right now, a developing story coming out of Florida. Am I correct with that, T.J.? What do you have?

UNIDENTIFIED ANCHOR: You got it right there, Don. Florida, in particular, the Florida Keys, Key Largo, specifically, where three divers are dead after a recreational dive they were taking off Key Largo. What you're seeing here is the ...

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