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CNN Newsroom
Paulson Makes Case for Bank Bailout; Rape Kit Charges: Fact- Checking Palin's Record
Aired September 23, 2008 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHRISTOPHER DODD (D-CT), BANKING CHAIRMAN: This was no act of God. It was not like Hurricane Hike -- Ike, rather. It was created by a combustible combination of private greed and public regulatory neglect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Greed or God? It's still up to Congress to clean up the mess. Lawmakers get to vent before they vote on a $700 billion big bank bailout.
Should rape victims have to pay for their own forensic exams? When Sarah Palin was mayor in Alaska, some victims did. We investigate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Children's Memorial gave us our daughter back.
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PHILLIPS: And wait until you see what Lindsay Anderson gave the children of Children's Memorial: Hope.
Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips, live at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, and you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
So you remember the $64,000 question? Chump change. Today on Capitol Hill, they're asking $700 billion questions, mainly of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. He's the Bush administration's bank bailout point man, though he says it's the economy, not big corporations, that's getting bailed out.
Paulson's boss has warned lawmakers the whole world is watching, and today we saw proof. President Bush assured the U.N. General Assembly a robust plan is in the works to solve the financial crisis.
Let's get straight to Capitol Hill. Our Kathleen Koch has just heard some of the dire warnings from the $700 billion man, Henry Paulson.
Kathleen, what did he say? KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, let me tell you first of all, we heard from a lot of very unhappy people and still are hearing from them in the Senate Banking Committee.
First of all, the members of Congress, senators who are just unhappy about the pressure that they're facing to push the $700 billion plan through quickly. They say they have really grave concerns about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DODD: I understand speed is important, but I'm far more interested in whether or not we get this right. There is no second act to this. There is no alternative idea out there with resources available if this does not work.
SEN. JIM BUNNING (R-KY), BANKING COMMITTEE: This massive bailout is not a solution. It is financial socialism, and it's un-American.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: However, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told Congress it is of the direst of importance that they act quickly and that they not weigh down the package with any unnecessary measures that will slow it or that would prevent its package. And Paulson, he himself was not happy to be here this morning, the position he's in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY PAULSON, TREASURY SECRETARY: I'm frustrated. The taxpayer is on the hook. The taxpayer's already on the hook. The taxpayer already is going to suffer the consequences if things don't work the way they should work, and so the best protection for the taxpayer and the first protection for the taxpayer is to have this work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: Now, Democrats have already proposed some changes to what the administration put out to them over the weekend, and the administration has agreed, the Treasury Department, to a couple of these ideas.
First of all, the need for an emergency board to oversee the program, to make sure it's functioning correctly. The other thing that they're looking at is a systematical approach to prevent foreclosures of these troubled mortgages that the government's going to buy.
Lots of area, though, where they don't agree. Foremost among them, and that is a proposal, very popular up here in Congress, that would limit bonuses and the pay packages of these executives of these firms that would be bailed out, these massive financial institutions, by the U.S. taxpayer.
Another point where they cannot agree, and that is giving the government shares in the banks, in the financial institutions that it helps rescue.
And then another final sticking point, and something that's already sailed a couple of times before up here on Capitol Hill. And that's the idea of giving judges the ability to rewrite mortgages in bankruptcy court when a homeowner is bankrupt and lower the payment so that they don't go into foreclosure.
Now, these are just the ideas on the part of Democrats. Republicans are coming up with their own ideas. So this is going to take a while, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Indeed, it will. Kathleen Koch, thanks so much.
Now let's get to Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange for a look at how investors are reacting to the testimony -- Susan.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we had a little bit of a bounce in the morning, Kyra, after, you know, nearly 400-point loss yesterday, but right now we are seeing a picking up steam.
And we've seen a lot of action here over the last week. In fact, we've had six sessions, six straight sessions, of triple digits moves. A very tricky situation for the Fed chairman, the treasury secretary, walking a fine line. They have to stress the urgency of the need to do something now, but without frightening and inflaming the markets further. And you can see the fright in terms of the volatility.
Checking the numbers right now, the Dow is down two-thirds of a percent. The NASDAQ is down half a percent.
You know, we've never seen the Dow make moves of at least 350 points in the last four sessions. That's what's happened.
A couple things real quickly. Oil prices right now down nearly $4 after a -- more than $16 jump yesterday. That was historic.
Also, a prominent analyst has slashed her outlook for U.S. banks and projected more dividend cuts, saying the rescue package isn't going to improve banks' fundamentals in the near or medium term. And that, of course, the health of the financial sector, is issue No. 1 in terms of what's being discussed on Capitol Hill today -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: And agenda #1 for us. Susan, thanks.
So are you feeling the pinch? A new CNN Opinion Research poll shows that more than three in ten of us are affected by the financial crisis now. Another six in ten expect to be hit sooner or later, and fewer than one in ten expect to come through it unscathed.
Time to get personal now. We asked, what are you giving up in this struggling economy? Oh, boy, did your iReports come flooding in.
Amanda Scott from Owasso, Oklahoma, is struggling with rising daycare costs and a raise freeze at work. So this is what her family gave up. She writes, "We got an estimate to build a fence for our two basset hounds. It was outrageous, plus the cost of the dog food and treats was one thing that always seemed to put a little out of our budget. It broke our hearts, but we decided we'd have to give up our dogs."
And we got this report from Mary Dinger (ph) in Lincoln, Nebraska. She writes, "With the price of gas and rising cost of food, I've had to give up the thing I was looking forward to the most: having my first one-bedroom apartment all by myself. Right now, as a 23-year-old woman, I have to live with my parents."
Share your story with us. What are you giving up? Send us your photos or your video at iReports.com or even just e-mail us at cnnnewsroom@CNN.com.
So where's the gas? That's what lots of drivers in the southeast want and need to know. In Atlanta, Nashville and other metro areas, many gas stations have run dry. That's got cars running on fumes or waiting in lines at those select stations still pumping. And with supplies dwindling, you better believe tempers are flaring.
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ANN JAIPERSAUD, GAS STATION OWNER'S WIFE: We got pushed out. We get -- somebody punched the glass this morning. Luckily, it was bullet-proof.
MATTHEW HENLEY, STRANDED DRIVER: Yesterday I had to have my truck towed home. And I'm looking for gas now to get to work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: The bad guys: Ike and Gustav. The hurricanes disrupted production at some big refineries, and officials say panic buying by consumers isn't helping the situation. Supplies are expected to be tight for several more days. We're actually going to talk with Atlanta's mayor, Shirley Franklin, coming up in the next hour.
Now, his history with the U.N., at times combative. George Bush took to the podium of the General Assembly today for the last time as U.S. president. He called for all nations of the world to unite in the fight against terrorism.
Mr. Bush also told world leaders that his administration is acting decisively to contain the financial crisis.
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GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In recent weeks we have taken bold steps to prevent a severe disruption of the American economy, which would have a devastating affect on other economies around the world. We promoted stability in the markets by preventing the disorderly failure of major companies.
The Federal Reserve has injected urgently-needed liquidity into the system. And last week I announced decisive action by the federal government to address the root cause of much of the instability in our financial markets.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Among others to speak of the General Assembly today, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Also, our Zain Verjee will bring us the latest in a live report from New York in the hour.
Overseas now and a deadly shooting today in a college in Finland. Police say that a gunman killed ten students before shooting himself in the head. The gunman, identified as a 22-year-old student, died at a hospital.
Witnesses say that panic erupted when the gunman walked into a classroom where students were taking an exam and opened fire.
Just yesterday police questioned the gunman about YouTube postings showing him firing a handgun. Well, officials say he was released, because there were no legal reasons to hold him.
It was the second deadly school shooting in Finland in less than a year.
Her critics are blasting her. Her supporters say it's all a big lie. A controversy involving Sarah Palin and so-called rape kits while she was a small-town mayor are swirling around the blogs and even getting attention in the mainstream media. We're going to find out what the facts are.
In Chicago, a young woman who had brain surgery more than a decade ago spreads a message of hope to young hospital patients and their families. We'll show you exactly what she did.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: You think times are tough now? Well, some folks say this ain't nothing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think we'll ever have the depression that we had in 1929. The United States is too involved with the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Living through history and learning its lessons. We're going to look back and look ahead.
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PHILLIPS: Three days before they face off in their first debate, John McCain and Barack Obama are taking different paths today. McCain is in Ohio, where he's touring a factory and talking jobs. Later, it's on to another battleground: Michigan.
Obama is in Tampa, Florida, getting ready for Friday's debate at the University of Mississippi.
As Americans wrestle with tough economic times, they're blames Republicans by a two to one margin, and Obama is gaining ground on that issue. In our new CNN/Opinion Research poll, the Democratic candidate leads his Republican rival by a four-point margin among likely voters.
John McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, is at the United Nations today for the opening of the U.N.'s General Assembly. On Palin's schedule: meetings with the presidents of Iraq, Afghanistan and Colombia. She's also sitting down with former secretary of state, Henry Kissinger.
Just over a week from now, the Alaska governor debates Barack Obama's running mate, Senator Joe Biden, in St. Louis. Biden is known for his foreign policy experience.
The stories that we bring, they don't just happen by chance. All of us are involved: producers, writers editors. Every morning we hash out what we think are the stories that you need to know. And it all starts in our editorial meeting.
The question that created a lot of buzz for us today: when Sarah Palin was mayor in Alaska, did she know that rape victims in her city had to foot the bill for their own rape exams? We debated whether or not when he all the facts and if we should even air the story. Here's how the morning meeting went down.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Could you pull up the Jessica Yellin script? Jessica Yellin has filed a piece on the rape case controversy, looking into it, investigating into it, how much did Sarah Palin really know?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The documents that are signed are not pieces that say, "I, Sarah Palin, am approving this budget that says..."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "... that rape..."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Women pay for their rape kits.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, it's -- it's question that we couldn't prove it one way or the other, but it's like that story's been out there. It's been out there almost ever since she's been the nominee. So we went to look at it, and here's what we found. We could find no conclusive evidence that she did it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yellin's script even says we found no record...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... Palin was aware her city was charging rape victims.
PHILLIPS: Right. There's no absolute proof. It's still kind of assuming.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fact that it's out there, it's triggering debate.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is the didn't...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've never not focused on issues like that. I mean -- time after time after time we've aired pieces that -- CNN sticks in there we can't confirm.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What did she actually found? Well, it's the city budget. I mean, it was an item in the city budget.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, the budget line.
PHILLIPS: You know, they sign things, and they don't always look at all the details, as well.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is another issue that raises the question, do we really know who this person? Is she really the person that the campaign...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think...
PHILLIPS: What do you think, Gus?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think -- I think we say what we know and we say what we don't know. I mean, I would totally run the piece. For me, the -- and let people draw their own conclusion.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: There you go. Here you go. Draw your own conclusions. CNN's Jessica Yellin reports for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Multiple sources tell CNN when Sarah Palin was mayor of Wasilla, her police department charged some rape victims the cost of the forensic exam they get after an attack. The police chief said it was not a cost the town should bear.
Eric Croft, then a Democrat in the state legislature, sponsored a bill to force Wasilla to pay.
ERIC CROFT (D), FORMER ALASKA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: I mean, it was just one of those things that everybody could agree on, except Wasilla. We couldn't convince the chief of police there to stop charging them, until I introduced a bill in January in the legislature to prohibit them.
YELLIN: Experts testified that charging rape victims was incomprehensible, comparing the exam to dusting for fingerprints, only the victim's body is the crime scene.
TARA HENRY, FORENSIC NURSE, ALASKA RAPE RESPONDER: In having a victim, have to pay, then, for their exam is just -- you know, re- traumatizes them.
YELLIN: At the time, some other small Alaska cities also charged rape victims. This woman says she was billed by a city hundreds of miles from Wasilla. But Mayor Palin's city stood out.
HENRY: What I recall is that the chief of police in Wasilla, Wasilla P.D., seemed to be the most vocal about how it was going to affect their budget.
YELLIN: After the bill passed unanimously, Wasilla's police chief, Charlie Fannon, said it would cost the city $5,000 to 14,000 a year, and he objected, saying, "I just don't want to see any more burden put on the taxpayer."
Judy Patrick was Palin's deputy and a friend.
JUDY PATRICK, DEPUTY MAYOR, WASILLA CITY COUNCIL: The bigger picture of what was going on at that time was that the state was trying to cut their own budget. And one of the things that they doing was passing on costs to cities. And that was one of the many things that they were passing on to the cost of the city.
YELLIN: She doesn't recall the issue coming before city council, and we found no record that Palin was aware her city was charging rape victims.
The McCain campaign says Palin has "never believed rape victims should have to pay for an evidence-gathering test" and to imply she did "is as utter distortion of reality."
Those who fought the policy are unconvinced.
CROFT: I find it hard to believe that, for six months in a small town, a police chief would lead a fight against a state-wide piece of legislation, receiving unanimous support, and the mayor not know about it.
YELLIN: Though Croft admits he can't recall discussing the issue with Palin.
The rape kit charges have become an issue among Palin's critics, because some say as governor she has done little to battle Alaska's epidemic problem of violence against women. For years Alaska had the worst record of any state in the rape and murder of women by men.
For the record, as governor, Sarah Palin approved a funding increase for domestic violence shelters and reauthorized a council on domestic violence and sexual assault. But this year that council found some of Alaska's programs responding to violence against women remain underfunded.
(on camera) Other cities around the nation also once billed victims the cost of their rape exams. But now that practice is rare. To qualify for funding under the Violence against Women Act, law enforcement agencies now must pick up that cost.
Jessica Yellin, CNN, Anchorage, Alaska.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And let us add this: for about two decades, Alaska has had more rapes per capita than any other state. It's rate is 2.5 times the national average.
Amnesty International says that one in three Alaska native and American Indian women in that state will be raped in their lifetime. The group also says more than 200 villages in Alaska don't have sexual assault response teams to collect evidence and interview victims after an assault.
Well, life after Ike. More Texas evacuees are about to find out what it's like.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, unless the Supreme Court intervenes, a Georgia Death Row inmate has less than six hours to live. Troy Davis is to be executed for the 1989 murder of an off-duty policeman.
Since Davis's conviction, seven of nine key witnesses have recanted their testimony. Prosecutors say that they're still confident of his guilt, but a number of protesters are calling for clemency or a new trial. Among them, former president, Jimmy Carter; Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu; and Pope Benedict XVI.
Haunting evidence in another Georgia trial, that of Atlanta courthouse shooter Brian Nichols. The prosecution played a chilling audiotape made on that fateful day in 2005 by court reporter Julie Ann Brandau right before she was killed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLI HILL, PROSECUTOR: When he walked in the back door, ladies and gentlemen, this is what happened.
(GUNSHOTS)
(SCREAMING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: And when the shooting rampage was finally over, four people were dead.
Nichols defense team is focusing on his mental state and says he didn't know right from wrong. The trial could last until Christmas. More Texans are headed toward the Gulf Coast, ready to get on with their post-Ike lives. The Red Cross believes about 7,500 evacuees are still in shelters, down from 40,000-plus earlier.
People will start arriving in Galveston tomorrow. The city's been shut down since the hurricane tore it into pieces. There's no guarantee the people will have power, water or ambulance service when they return, and the city's still trying to restore basic services.
The mayor thinks it will end up costing about $2.5 billion to fix what Ike broke. She's trying to get about that much in emergency federal aid right now.
And a tropical disturbance over the Dominican Republic could become the next big thing this hurricane season. It's already blamed for several deaths. Chad Myers keeping an eye on that for us over at the severe weather center.
Hey, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: With the most unsexiest name.
PHILLIPS: Unsexiest? Is "unsexiest" a word?
MYERS: I made -- I just made it up. Ninety-three L.
PHILLIPS: Ninety-three L?
MYERS: Does it get worse than that?
PHILLIPS: No.
MYERS: Good morning.
PHILLIPS: What does that mean? "Hello, 93 L." It's like a radio station.
MYERS: Exactly. That's almost what it is.
No name yet. It's not strong enough to get a name, and so that's why there's not. If it does get a name, it would be Kyle. And a lot of the models are making this a Category 1 hurricane before the end of the week.
The storm, though, the models that we ran this morning didn't do very well, because I believe the L, the starting point, was in the wrong spot. It's probably down here somewhere, a little farther down into the water, trying to reform a center. Doesn't want to be over land. So it says, "OK, I'm not going to be there. I'll be here instead." That's what I think it's doing. That's going to make all of these models worthless and useless until we run them again later on tonight. We'll see what that means for the forecast there.
A beautiful day across a lot of the country today. Big rip currents, though, all the way from New York City all the way back down to Sandy Hook, all the way down, even, into Florida -- Kyra. PHILLIPS: All right. Chad, thanks.
MYERS: You're welcome.
PHILLIPS: Well, they survived the worst economic collapse in American history, and they're still alive to tell about it. We're going to learn the lessons of the Great Depression.
And for their special day, some extra special guests.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I definitely feel like I can accomplish more, just from watching.
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PHILLIPS: It was the bride giving the gifts at this incredible wedding at a Chicago hospital.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: One-twenty-nine Eastern Time. Here's some of the stories we're working on right now in the CNN NEWSROOM.
The suspect in a deadly shooting rampage in Finland has died. Police say the gunman, identified as a student, shot himself after the rampage but left ten others dead. Police had questioned and released that man just the day before because of suspicious videos that he had posted on YouTube.
Gun shots and screaming, both on an audiotape played for jurors at the murder trial of Brian Nichols. He's accused in a 2005 shooting rampage that killed four people in Atlanta. The recording was from the courthouse where it all started.
An international audience focused on the U.S. economy -- in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly today President Bush says the U.S. is taking steps to stabilize its own and other economies.
Warnings from top money men brought questions from leading lawmakers. At stake, $700 billion of your money. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed chair Ben Bernanke on Capitol Hill today. They are pushing lawmakers to pass the enormous financial rescue plan promising that big corporations won't get a free pass.
You can bet that Wall Street is watching, too. Let's get straight to the big board right now. Dow Industrials down 122 points. We're going to keep watching the numbers and take you right up to the closing bell.
Not everybody is on edge, though. Many folks have been through worse, a lot worse. Over the past few days we've heard a lot of ominous references to the Great Depression. But for people who lived through the nation's worst economic collapse, this is no Great Depression. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody ended up broke. The banks was closed. No money. People were starving.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can remember my father coming home and telling me everything had crashed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My folks helped furnish beef -- meat -- to feed the poor people here in Denver.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: So what can we learn from our elders? What can we learn from history?
Gerri Willis, nothing is better than sitting down with folks like that and talking about the past --
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: I know.
COLLINS: -- and the lessons that they've learned.
WILLIS: Yes, exactly.
Well you know, Kyra, the reality here is that they're right -- this isn't it Great Depression all over again. And we try to make some comparisons between this market and the previous one, and they're very different. Deflation was through the roof during the Depression. Stocks fell 90 percent. We're not in that situation now.
So we looked around -- we looked back at the last 11 recessions with the help of Standard and Poors and came up with a list of investments that you might want to think about, investments that do well when times are bad.
Let's look at this list. At the top of the list, tobacco up 9.6 percent during a recession. Alcoholic beverages up 6 percent. Household products, you can see the list here -- foods, beverages, non-alcoholic.
I have to tell you, though, Kyra, if you're thinking that all of these were on fire, you'd be wrong. In fact, beverages were actually down 6.2 percent, but they did so much better than other sectors that they're at the top of our list. So you get the idea here. We're talking about safe havens, Kyra. Noncyclicals -- these are stocks and investments that do well when the rest of the economy' is doing poorly because people are always going to shop and buy groceries.
PHILLIPS: Well, what do you think the closest comparison to this time is?
WILLIS: Well, look, the closest comparison is probably the S and L crisis. Look back to August of 1989. We took a look at the stock numbers from that time to find out how long did it take for the stock market to actually turn around? You might be surprised by this. Check it out. Of course, after this thing happened, stocks dismal, in negative territory for a month, six months, a year. But then a big turnaround. Three years later, they are up 30 percent. Five years later, they are up 58 percent. Morningstar helped us with this data.
It just goes to show you here that these markets can turn hard and quickly. And if you pull all your money out of the stocks, as a lot of folks have done right now -- we know a lot of mutual fund money is running for the exits -- you could hurt yourself because it's hard to tell when market is going to turn. It's hard to forecast it. You want to be involved in the market when that does happen.
So just trying to tell people to take a breath here, don't panic. Think about what you're doing and plan for the future rather than planning for the next 20 minutes, or day, or week.
PHILLIPS: Gerri, thanks.
WILLIS: You're welcome.
PHILLIPS: All right. So we're not in a great depression now. But that doesn't mean that people aren't making great sacrifices. We asked you, what are you giving up? And you answered.
Meet the sons of Rebecca Stokes (ph), a single mother from Liverpool, New York, who has been laid off of work. Rebecca had to sell the car that she bought for her older son to use in college. She says that her son barely has any money at school and she's barely paying the bills.
Now we got this hard-hitting e-mail from Linda Seidel and her husband. The say: "Our business sank and hit the bottom like a rock in a lake. It wasn't a trickle down ripple effect. It was a freaking tidal wave. We lost our truck that was paid for by our business and now may lose our house that we have worked for 33 years to get. We are both in our late 50s with nowhere to go and no job to go to. Who can help us? Who can bail us, the consumers, that are being burnt?"
On a lighter note, this is Oscar Sweeney (ph) from Oklahoma: "We built this gas-saving contraption," he says, "using a tricycle and a battery from a fishing boat." He says it takes him all over town. People used to make fun of him, but not any more.
Thanks, guys, for your e-mails.
Well important health news for women in the battle against breast cancer. Is there a better way to detect it? Find out what the experts are now saying.
And he wasn't born in America, but he died defending it. You'll be moved by this fallen hero's story, I promise.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well it's a scene world leaders dare not miss. Or if they do, it's at their own risk. We're talking about the bash in New York known as the annual session of the U.N. General Assembly. Since the event draws both friends and foes, fireworks can and do happen.
CNN's Zain Verjee reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: New York is a beehive for thousands of foreign diplomats, their grip and grim photo ops good for home audiences.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
VERJEE: The massive security, motorcades and gridlocked traffic making New Yorkers cranky. Ah! It's United Nations week -- again.
(on camera): Whether it's the super power or a tiny nation, everyone comes to the United Nations with an agenda, and to get their 15 minutes in the spotlight and make their case to the world.
(voice-over): In an age of e-mail and cell phones, world leaders still travel thousands of miles for a face-to-face reunion with the who's who of diplomats. But they aren't the only rock stars here. Celebrities like Bono come to promote their cause.
BONO, SINGER/ACTIVIST: Only an idiot at this point would turn away from Africa as important and enlightened -- as well as enlightened self-interest.
VERJEE (on camera): Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is holding court as the luxurious Waldorf Astoria. All week she greets a steady stream of world leaders. She'll hold short meetings behind closed doors, but how much gets done is really a question mark.
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: And it's over here. All right.
VERJEE (voice-over): In such close quarters there's always the danger of bumping into the enemy. President Bush, who's pushing sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, will be sitting just a few feet from Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. And Russian president Dmitri Medvedev comes to New York just days after Rice ripped Russia on its military action in Georgia.
All of them are protected by American Secret Service, even Bolivia's president, Evo Morales, who just kicked out the U.S. ambassador from his country.
The forum has its own special drama. Remember Morales holding up a cocoa leaf at U.N.?
EVO MORALES, PRESIDENT OF BOLIVIA: (SPEAKING SPANISH)
VERJEE: And Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez' comments comparing President Bush to the devil. The curtain is just opening on this year's show. (END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Zain joins us now live from New York.
Zain, what did President Bush say in his speech?
VERJEE: Well Kyra, he spent much of his podium time really talk talking about the war on terror and telling the members there at the United Nations that the focus for the next few years has to be a united and strong fight against terrorists. He also talked about the financial crisis. He said that it was his economic team that was taking the critical decisions needed to prevent the world from a major economic collapse.
He also said that the United Nations needs to stop nuclear proliferation, focussing specifically on Iran and North Korea. President Bush said that they really need to enforce some of the sanctions that the U.N. has voted to carry out.
But you know, Kyra, what was the most interesting about all of this was that this was a president that critics say came into power and didn't want anything to do with the United Nations, really wanted to go it alone. And now we're seeing President Bush making a speech like this, and really realizing, many are saying, along the way, that he needs the United Nations to legitimate the kind of decisions that he's making on the world stage and to be able to carry out things like sanctions against Iran and North Korea -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well you know, we talk so much about Iran -- in fact that Iran is funneling weapons into Iraq, helping the insurgency. It's so strange to think, here is the president of Iran in the United States, right there close to the president of the United States. President Bush has made it clear Iran is a part of the axis of evil.
What's it like? It must be tense. And, he's also going to speak later today, too. I bet there's a lot of people rattled by that.
VERJEE: Right, he is. He is just going to be speaking a few hours from now. In fact, he was in the audience while President Bush was speaking. He listening, he even waved at our CNN camera a few times.
But the thing is, is that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is not only speaking to a U.S. audience here, he's speaking to an audience back home too. This is a man that is going to be facing a presidential election battle. So you can be pretty sure that what we're going to hear today is going to be more tough talk.
The other thing that happened Kyra, just interestingly last year, was that as soon as he got up on the podium to speak, the U.S. delegation just walked out and left some low-level notetaker there just to snub him and make their point -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: So did the CNN crew wave back at the Ahmadinejad? I'm just curious what kind of signs they gave the president of Iran.
VERJEE: I don't think they waved back or gave him the thumbs up.
PHILLIPS: Good to see you, Zain.
Despite a recent drop in violence, deadly attacks are still a part of daily life in Iraq. Two bombs apparently aimed at Iraqi security forces today killed one civilian and wounded seven others in different parts of Baghdad. A U.S. soldier also died today. He was killed in a small arms attack just a few miles southeast of the capital. And yesterday, a wave of bomb attacks in Baghdad and Mosul killed at least nine people.
I'd like to tell you now about a young U.S. Army lieutenant who died in service to his adopted country. Yesterday his family buried 26-year-old Moshin Naqvi. This comes just three months after his wedding at the same mosque near Albany, New York. That's a long way from the roadside in Afghanistan where a bomb took his life and the lives of four other U.S. service members. And it's a world way from Pakistan, where he was born and lived until his family moved to New York when he was 8. The events of 9/11 inspired him to enlist in the army. His father says his son's sense of duty never wavered, even through questions about his name.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NAZAR NAQVI, SOLDIER'S FATHER: Everybody asked him about the origin of his name. Last name Naqvi -- what is the origin of this name? Arabic. Oh, you are Arab? Are you sure you're in the right army?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Wow. And his brother says that Moshin always wanted to serve his adopted country. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HASSAN NAQVI, SOLDIER'S BROTHER: When he was little he used to watch "Rambo" and say that he wanted to do that one day. So we were with him when he did it, every step of the way. Moshin was my hero. And I just -- I hope that everybody else can see him the same way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: We do. We do see Moshin Naqvi as a hero and we salute his sacrifice. He's just one of 520 U.S. servicemen and women who have given their lives in the war in Afghanistan.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Atlanta drivers are no strangers to back ups, but this week traffic is taking a back seat as people fume over gas lines. In cities around the southeast, stations are just tapped out. I had a chance to talk with Atlanta mayor, Shirley Franklin about just a little while ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MAYOR SHIRLEY FRANKLIN, ATLANTA: Pretty scary. Atlanta -- the city was notified about 10 days ago that our deliveries would be slow. And about a week ago we had 13 days of reserves for city of Atlanta use with police cars and fire trucks and public works. We're up to 17 days, but only because we started paying very close attention to the gasoline that we're using. So I am looking forward to a national energy policy with President Obama and a new Congress that really gets us back on track so that we have alternative fuels and alternatives for gasoline. We can't continue to live like this.
PHILLIPS: Why is it that Georgia is getting hit so hard right now by this gas issue?
FRANKLIN: Well, I think part of it is because -- we use a lot of gas. And our supplies are -- are limited, and we don't have a lot of alternatives. We have limited transit. We have some, but we have limited transit. And we're very much automobile-dependent and we have not promoted alternative forms of transportation very effectively.
PHILLIPS: So what's your message to those in the Atlanta area right now who are just struggling to get that gas, or make it to work?
FRANKLIN: Well, I'll tell you, on the weekend I had to drive to six different gas stations to find gas. It made me think about how I was spending my time in my car. Instead of making two trips or three trips trying to condense that to one trip, and considering carpools, using that text messaging system to talk to your family members so that everyone's not driving to the grocery store three times over the weekend.
So I mean, we do need to change our lifestyle. We actually had more people driving alone in their car to work every day than we did in 2000. That doesn't make any sense.
PHILLIPS: And I see it, too, when I'm driving to work.
FRANKLIN: I mean it doesn't make any sense. We're up half a million people from 2000 to 2007. So we've got to really rethink the way, not only so we market transit and transportation. But we also got to think about how we're building it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, next hour, I'll go straight to the source when Steve Baker, from Colonial Pipeline joins us live. We're going to see what he has to say about that one. Some of you will be able to get some of the gas out of the pipeline there in Texas.
Now, China's tainted milk scandal is triggering fear and reaction around the world right now. The World Health Organization is actually warning of possible smuggling of the tainted infant formula across the borders. And at least a dozen countries have recalled or banned Chinese dairy products, including Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and South Africa. And so far, four Chinese babies have died after taking infant formula tainted by the industrial chemical melamine. Now, more than 52,000 people have become sick. Well, it's no secret that detecting breast cancer early is essential to beating it. But, could MRIs do a better job of screening than traditional mammograms? Our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here to break it all down for us.
Now, is there, I guess, one method that is better than another?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, this is a question that's being sorted out by radiologists. Right now, they're meeting in Boston. And this is one of the topics they're trying to figure out. We're all told, get your mammogram, get your mammogram. Well, should some of us be told, hey, and make sure you get your annual MRI, as well. Particularly, this is a question for young women who have dense breasts. MRIs are often better able to spot tumors in that situation.
Well right now, here's what the American Cancer Society says. They say that some women should be getting an MRI and a mammogram. If you've got a close family member with breast cancer, a mother, a sister, a daughter, you should be getting an annual MRI as well. Or, if you carry one of the breast cancer genes, like BRCA-1 or 2, you should also be getting an MRI.
Now, MRIs are expensive. They are not always covered by insurance. And that's why, for example, actress Christina Applegate, is trying to raise money to help women get MRIs. She was just diagnosed with breast cancer and an MRI caught hers. And now she wants to help other women who can't afford them.
PHILLIPS: Wow. So, who should be investing in these MRI exams and who shouldn't?
COHEN: Right. Well, certainly women who fall into that high risk category. Perhaps they should invest in it. And other thing. Women say to me, look, I don't fall into that high risk category but I'll tell you, I'm worried.
So what you can do is if you really want an MRI, you can talk to the doctor about it. But your insurance might say, hey, there's no reason we should be paying for it. You might end up dishing out $1,000 for it. But for some women, that's the choice that they're going to want to make.
PHILLIPS: Meanwhile, what are the latest advances being made in order to prevent breast cancer?
COHEN: Right. Some of the advances that we hear about, unfortunately there's nothing big and huge, but we want to go over some of the basics. Eating right, exercising are both really crucial for your health in general. And also for preventing breast cancer.
And older women need to make a choice about hormone replacement therapy. Some women, in some cases, it's been found that hormone replacement therapy increases your risk of breast cancer and that's a decision you have to make with your doctor.
PHILLIPS: All right. Elizabeth, thanks.
COHEN: Thanks.
PHILLIPS: Well, saying thank you by sharing their family's special day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Children's Memorial gave us our daughter back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, the bride wore white and the patients wore smiles. A wedding that got a very warm reception. We'll explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, all you bridezillas out there, you might feel pretty ashamed in a minute. This next story is about a young lady who put others first on her special day. She chose to celebrate her wedding at the hospital that saved her life.
Judy Garcia, of our affiliate WTN, was there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JUDY GARCIA, WTN REPORTER (voice-over): The bride wore a strapless gown and carried a bouquet of flesh flowers as her stepfather, then father escorted her through the courtyard at Children's Memorial Hospital. Among the guests, current patients looking on from inside of the hospital, other patients and staffers. That's because the bride, 22-year-old Lindsay Anderson, understood went surgery to remove a brain tumor here at Children's.
RANDALL ANDERSON, FATHER OF THE BRIDE: Children's Memorial gave us our daughter back.
GARCIA: The couple hoped sharing this day with current Children's patients would help those kids see the possibilities in their own lives.
LINDSAY ANDERSON LEVE, BRIDE: We really wanted to you know, give the kids here and other kids across the country who hear the story, an ounce of hope or an ounce courage that one day, their lives will come full circle as mine did.
GARCIA: Lindsay's parents say after her first brain surgery at 13 months old at the Mayo Clinic, and her second at 11 years old at Children's, Lindsay could have suffered serious, permanent impairments.
ANDERSON: She may be in a wheelchair and may never walk, drive a car, do all of the things that we take for granted.
JANICE CARTER, MOTHER OF THE BRIDE: To see her today so incredibly happy and it's just been absolutely amazing.
GARCIA: Among patients watching today's the ceremony, 18-year- old Sarah Fitzpatrick.
SARAH FITZPATRICK, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL PATIENT: I definitely feel like I can accomplish more. Just from watching her.
GARCIA: As for his wife's idea of where to hold their wedding ceremony, groom Josh Leve had this to say.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have a reaction to getting married here?
JOSH LEVE, GROOM: Love it. Probably the best idea she's ever had.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, Lindsay and Josh left for their honeymoon this morning but we're still going to try to talk to them as soon as they get back.
The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
