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CNN Live Saturday

Nor'easter Blows Up The East Coast With Deep Snow And Gusting Winds; Ariel Sharon Undergoes Emergency Surgery To Remove Damaged Section Of His Intestine; Sanjay Gupta's Medical Analysis; Red Tape Forces FEMA To Park 11,000 Mobile Homes, Even As Agency Stops Payments For Hotels For Evacuees

Aired February 11, 2006 - 18:00   ET

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

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR, CNN LIVE SATURDAY: This is CNN LIVE SATURDAY. I'm Carol Lin. In this hour, Mother Nature takes aim the at Northeast as parts of the country including the White House prepare for a winter wallop. We are live with the latest.
Also, a discovery 4,000 years in the making. You're going to hear from an archaeologist who unearthed an Egyptian tomb in a very ritzy area when it comes to tombs.

And the games have begun but the dream may soon be over for an American favorite seeking that elusive gold medal. The latest from the Winter Games just ahead on CNN LIVE SATURDAY.

The headlines now. Deep snow in the Deep South. Deep by North Georgia standards, anyway. Several inches have accumulated in the hills near the Tennessee state line, and the kids are loving it. The grownups not so much.

Some severe weather is on the way, though. And a full forecast is coming up.

Ariel Sharon, hopes for a meaningful recovery took another hit today when the Israeli prime minister was rushed to the emergency room, emergency surgery. Doctors say he is still in a coma. I'm going to talk about his condition with Doctor Sanjay Gupta in just a few minutes.

And chalk up another aviation milestone for Steve Fosset. He safely landed in England today after the longest, non-stop flight ever. Three and a half days up in air, 26,000 plus miles, two hours of sleep and not a single package of tiny peanuts.

Now, tomorrow marks 4,000 -- actually, not 4,000, four years since Slobodan Milosevic went on trial for crimes against humanity. The former Serbian president is the highest profile defendant in the much delayed Balkan war crimes tribunal. And he is defending himself.

And is a certain late-night TV host looking for a new gig? NBC's Conan O'Brien is in Finland of all places, running with a running joke. O'Brien got laughs on his show endorsing the re-election of Finland's president, mainly because they both have red hair. He's in Helsinki he says to demand a cabinet position as a reward.

ANNOUNCER: You're watching CNN, your severe weather headquarters.

LIN: Right now we begin this hour with a weekend of winter snow. It is more scenic than serious as far south as Tennessee and North Georgia, but up north the worst is yet to come. A major Nor'easter is looming in the Atlantic, a condition that produces a lot of snow. By tomorrow, blizzard conditions with more than a foot of snow in some areas. So let's go straight to the CNN Weather Center. Monica McNeal, our meteorologist standing by.

Monica?

MONICA MCNEAL, CNN METEOROLOGIST, CNN LIVE SATURDAY: All right, Carol. I tell you what, we are really expecting some heavy snowfall, as we look at our radar and show you what's going on, you can certainly see it's in all types of colors. We have winter storm warnings, we have blizzard warnings. Blizzard warnings for parts of New York won't expire until tomorrow at 4:00 p.m.

This is just an indication how strong this storm is going to be. This area of low pressure will continue to ride its way up the coast. We are looking at dealing with some very gusty northeast winds and very strong northeast winds will start to pick up tonight from 25 to 35 miles per hour, and gusts -- get this -- up to about 50 to 60 miles per hour.

As we look at the radar, you could certainly see the counter clockwise swirl in the upper levels of the atmosphere. Lots of moisture and that cold air is driving down, switching over to all snow, and most locations like Washington, and across parts of Richmond you're starting to really see that snow.

Tennessee and Mississippi and Arkansas all that snow. Tennessee got up to five inches of snow, and that's a whole lot of snow for Tennessee. Arkansas got about five inches as well.

The wind-chill is really important especially across the Northeast. It feels like 24 right now in New York. It feels like 18 in Boston. But as those winds continue to pick up it's going to feel even colder folks, especially later tonight and into tomorrow morning. The big question is, just how much snowfall are we talking between now, overnight hours and into tomorrow?

Take a look at the very deep purple line, this is well over 12 inches of snow, for parts of Washington, parts of Philadelphia, New York, Boston, that's a lot of snow, Carol.

LIN: You bet. Thanks, Monica. You're on duty tonight.

MCNEAL: All right.

LIN: Well, the brewing winter storm could mean big problems for people in New Jersey. Reporter Euna Kwon of News 12 New Jersey is standing by for us in Woodbridge Township.

Euna, looks like you're getting snow now.

EUNA KWON, REPORTER, NEWS 12 NEW JERSEY: Absolutely, Carol.

Folks are hunkering down for what is supposed to be the biggest storm of the season. I saw the first flurries start to fall about five hours ago. The flurries changed to big, fluffy flakes and right now it is that wintry mix of snow and ice. I can hear it pinging on my hood. And if you look at the branches above me you can see the ice that is starting to form on those branches.

But I think that you can still call this the calm before the storm. The brunt is supposed to hit sometime overnight. The New Jersey Department of Transportation is more than ready for the storm. And here I think the numbers tell the story. They have 600 plows at the ready with salt and snow and sand ready to go. They have 1,100 more contractor trucks, 1,000 employees to operate those vehicles, and 107,000 tons of salt.

They do have a good stock of supplies, because after three storms in December that produced enough snow to have to plow, we had the warmest January on record. We've seen about five or six plows pass by us, and you can bet they are gearing up for a long and hard night. Reporting live from New Jersey, I'm Euna Kwon.

Carol, back to you.

LIN: All right. Stay warm out there, Euna. Thank you.

Of course, CNN will track the storm and keep you up-to-date all night long as your severe weather headquarters.

In the meantime, surgeons performed an emergency operation on Israel's prime minister today. Ariel Sharon remains comatose and in critical but stable condition after part of his intestine had to be removed. He's been in a Jerusalem hospital since suffering a major stroke in early January. He was rushed into surgery after a CT -- a CAT scan showed a lack of blood flow to his large intestine.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHLOMO MOR-YOSEF, DIRECTOR, HADASSAH HOSPITAL: Of course, it is such a dramatic event that happened this morning, won't help him to recover. It has no direct affect, but indirectly, it's not a good sign. And it's not contributing to the well-being of Prime Minister Sharon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Doctors found the problem after noticing Sharon's abdomen was swollen. What is ahead for the Israeli leader? CNN Medical Correspondent Doctor Sanjay Gupta, on the phone with me right now.

Hey, Sanjay. How serious was this condition? This was a serious infection.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, this is a very serious problem. When they first talked about this condition where the intestine wasn't getting enough blood flow, they were saying that they didn't think that he would survive the day. This is not uncommon with this sort of thing.

What we're talking about here is a lack of blood flow so severe to the intestine that the cells of the intestines start to die. And that can not only cause a significant amount of gangrene, which is the same thing you get in your fingers and toes, but it cause an infection which can subsequently get in the blood stream and cause sort of a body-wide infection. That's why they had to remove almost, I believe, 50 centimeters of his intestine.

LIN: Almost two feet. So, Sanjay, what does this tell you about the likelihood that Ariel Sharon will ever come out of this coma and recover?

SANJAY: You know, Carol, for 39 days he's been in this coma, I believe, by my count. I think you and I talked about this after the first operation, or right before his first operation. And at that point, I thought that it was very unlikely, a 77-year-old gentleman with a blood clot in his brain, a hemorrhage in his brain, would ever recover.

After that, he had two more brain operations, and now this. I didn't think that he would recover from his coma after the first operation. And now, you know, it's remarkable really that in fact he's alive.

LIN: Sanjay, it is. And does it tell you that if he was subject to this kind of infection his body is simply beginning to slow down?

SANJAY: Yes, you know it's interesting, in an ICU situation when someone is in intensive care unit for a long period of time, various things start happening to the body, including the fact that the blood vessels to the intestines in this case just aren't transmitting enough blood flow. The various systems start to shut down. This can be one of the first signs of the fact that his blood system overall just isn't working very well. And this is a serious problem for him.

LIN: Sanjay, obviously we hope for the best for the prime minister, but we are preparing, and following the story very closely tonight. Sanjay Gupta, thank you.

Well, Muslims continue to vent their anger over the cartoon of the prophet Muhammad. Shannon Cook has that story and other news from around the world -- Shannon.

SHANNON COOK, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Hey, Carol. Thanks very much.

Muslims in London today added their voices to worldwide protests against those controversial cartoons. Thousands gathered in London's Trafalgar Square. As you can see from these pictures the protests were fairly peaceful. Organizers of the rally say they were also protesting the violence that has erupted around the world in response to the caricatures.

Some of the placards that you see people holding say "United Against Islamophobia." Meanwhile, Denmark is urging its citizens to leave Indonesia. The government says an extremist group has made threats. A Danish newspaper was the first to publish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

Now a bird flu has hit new areas of Europe. Greece and Italy have both reported the presence of the virus in birds. Italy's health minister says five cases of the H5N1 strain have been confirmed in dead swans. We're told two cases were confirmed in Southern Italy and three on the Island of Sicily. No reports of bird flu there in humans.

In Britain, an American Airlines pilot has been arrested on suspicion of being drunk. This happened at Manchester Airport before he was due to take off for Chicago. Passengers had not yet boarded when police arrested the pilot. We're told he's been released on bail, pending the results of tests. And, Carol, American Airlines is calling this an isolated incident and is launching an internal investigation.

LIN: Shannon, can you imagine getting ready to board the plane and the cops come and haul your pilot away? Was there any reaction from the passengers?

COOK: The main reaction would have been annoyance, because the plane was actually delayed for a full hour, which considering isn't such a huge stretch of time. But it ended up having to make a stop over in New York to pick up an extra pilot because flights more than eight hours long have to have three pilots.

LIN: Even though American says this is isolated, this has happened before, hasn't it?

COOK: Yes, in fact, these kind of incidents have happened several times around the world. You might recall an incident in 2002, where a copilot and pilot of an AmericaWest flight were yanked off a flight before it took off in Miami, and under suspicion for having been drinking. And it ended up having serious consequences, in fact, last July, they were both sentenced to jail time, five years for the pilot and two and a half for the copilot.

LIN: Serious business. Shannon, thank you.

COOK: Thanks, Carol.

LIN: On the "CNN Security Watch" now. More strong rhetoric from the president of Iran. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says his country has the right to develop nuclear energy. He also threatened to pull out from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Meantime the Associated Press reports that the U.N.'s nuclear agency has removed its surveillance equipment from Iranian sites. The removal, demanded by Iran, will make it more difficult to monitor its nuclear sites.

Donald Rumsfeld is in North Africa, after urging Iran and Syria not to undermine the new Iraqi government. He met with Tunisia's president today and plans to stop in Algeria and Morocco. He's promoting cooperation in the fight against Islamic extremists.

In Pakistan, President Pervez Musharraf says a close relative of Al Qaeda's second in command died in last month's U.S. missile strike. Musharraf says five foreigners, including a relative of Ayman Al Zawahiri, and a top terror suspect were among those killed. Local leaders say about a dozen civilians, including women and children, died in that strike.

Remember to stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

Thousands of Katrina victims are still looking for places to live. Why are thousands of government mobile homes sitting empty hundreds of miles away from the Gulf Coast? We'll find out next.

The valley of the kings gives up another ancient Egyptian secret. Find out why this discovery is so special from someone who was on the scene.

And do you blame your metabolism for your excess weight? There are things you can do to speed it up. We're going to find out and explain in tonight's "Fountain of Youth." You're watching CNN LIVE SATURDAY. Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Former FEMA Director Michael Brown found himself on the hot seat again. CNN has learned Brown has been subpoenaed to testify before a closed door session of the House Select Committee looking into Hurricane Katrina preparedness and response.

Yesterday Brown told a Senate committee he was as frustrated as everyone else with the government response to the Katrina disaster. Brown said putting FEMA under the Department of Homeland Security, in his words, "doomed it to failure."

FEMA will remain involved in Louisiana's long-term recovery planning, after intervention by Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco. Earlier in the week FEMA announced it was ending a program to help hurricane-battered communities in the Louisiana develop rebuilding programs. But FEMA changed course after a call from Governor Blanco.

Five months after Hurricane Katrina many evacuees still need a place to live. We wondered why thousands of FEMA mobile homes are sitting on a lot in Arkansas. Hundreds of miles away from the people who need them. CNN's Susan Roesgen has some answers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): You're looking at emergency housing for victims of Katrina, row after row of mobile homes, nearly 11,000. FEMA purchased so many you can barely squeeze between them, but the problem is this is Arkansas, not Louisiana, and this empty city of mobile homes is 450 miles away from where it should be. The mayor of Hope, Arkansas, Dennis Ramsey, says FEMA leased this area near the airport in October.

MAYOR DENNIS RAMSEY, HOPE ARKANSAS: They asked what we wanted? We said $25,000 a month. And they came back a couple of days later and said that's within FEMA guidelines, and the contract was signed.

ROESGEN: That's right, FEMA is paying $25,000 a month to let these mobile homes sit here. A good deal of Hope but no glory for FEMA. Arkansas Congressman Mike Ross:

REP. MIKE ROSS, (D) ARKANSAS: We want to come up here and pick these manufactured homes up, all 11,000 of them and take them to the people who lost their homes and everything they owned on the Gulf Coast, well over five months ago. This is five months past due and it's time for FEMA to get moving.

ROESGEN: Ross came down from D.C. with fellow Congressman Dennis Cardoza of California, and a posse of staff to show CNN $431 million tax worth of mobile homes sitting unused in an Arkansas cow pasture.

What's the holdup? How does FMEA explain the delays? First, FEMA says some people who could live in a mobile home don't want one, because they're larger than the travel trailers that can fit in a driveway. Second, FEMA says some communities lack the infrastructure to support a mobile home like hookups for water and power. And third, FEMA rules say mobile homes can't be placed in a flood plain. Their shear size and weight make them a unique problem, never mind that much of the Gulf region is in fact a flood plain.

DAVID PASSEY, FEMA: I think we have been surprised with this extraordinary housing mission. At the number of obstacles in placing manufactured housing.

ROESGEN: FEMA's rep in the area, David Passey, gave the congressman a private tour to defend FEMA's operation.

PASSEY: People want to blame us, then they can blame us. But we need cooperation from local property owners. We need cooperation from local officials. And then we have to realize there will be some physical limitations to where we can place emergency housing.

ROESGEN: But after getting a good look at the unoccupied mobile homes in Hope, the congressmen say no excuses. FEMA must get them down to the people who need them.

REP. DENNIS CARDOZA, (D) CALIFORNIA: It's outrageous that we're not breaking through those regulations to get the job done, five months after the disaster. It's just unacceptable.

ROESGEN (on camera): Congressman, can you do that? Can you break that bureaucratic red tape?

ROSS: Well, we're going to try.

CARDOZA: We're going to try.

ROESGEN: Susan Roesgen, CNN, Hope, Arkansas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Someone who could really use one of those trailers is this man. Find out why the New Orleans native, who has a job, is forced to live in his truck.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's for your educational purposes, OK? It's all right. I'm going to be OK, and you're going to be OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Why the drive for a safe neighborhood and good education has some Baltimore families turning to Africa for a solution.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Every week we like to bring you the more personal stories from the front lines. So today we are going to go to New Orleans, for one man's struggle against Hurricane Katrina and governmental regulations. CNN's Sean Callebs has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELVIN ROBINSON, KATRINA EVACUEE: It's kind of scary. It makes me feel like I'm, you know, something's going to happen.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT, CNN LIVE SATURDAY (voice over): He doesn't like it but Melvin Robinson has been forced to become a creature of the night.

ROBINSON: Yeah, this is home.

CALLEBS: And this is where he lives, sleeps, and eats most of his meals.

ROBINSON: Some juice, milk. This is actually my little mini apartment. I have my cereal and stuff.

CALLEBS: Robinson was staying at this New Orleans hotel, but that ended a few days ago, when FEMA denied his extension request, and the federal government stopped paying for his room here. The reason? He had been living in Dallas since evacuating, and FEMA is still paying for a hotel room there, for his daughter, niece and aunt. The agency says it won't pay for two rooms for a single family. Robinson came back to New Orleans because he needed to work.

ROBINSON: This is magazine.

CALLEBS: He's a bus driver.

ROBINSON: Professional here.

CALLEBS: He believes he's someone who fell through the cracks.

(On camera): Robinson lived in this East New Orleans apartment complex five years, until Katrina did all of this. He's the kind of guy who never thought he'd be sleeping in his truck. He says he's worked hard his entire life, but with much of the city still in ruins, he says he simply can't find a decent, affordable place for he and his family to live.

ROBINSON: I don't like sleeping in the cold weather, I'll try to look at a few places today.

CALLEBS (voice over): But this is the sign of the times, and all apartment managers can do is add his name to a long waiting list.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It starts here, and it goes all the way.

ROBINSON: Getting hectic now.

CALLEBS: So it's back to the night, and the truck, and the pent- up frustration.

ROBINSON: Now I'm living in my car. There's no place for us to live. The mayor says that, at the end of the day, it's going to be chocolate city. The rate they're going, at the end of the day, it's going to be the empty city.

CALLEBS: He wonders why would the middle class workforce return?

ROBINSON: A lot of people are paying more money, you know, for rent than they was paying for a mortgage before they left.

CALLEBS: And Monday marks another deadline, when FEMA will stop paying for more Katrina evacuees.

ROBINSON: When you put everyone out of the hotel, where are these people going to go? Think about it. Where are they going to go? They have no place to go.

Say good night to the kids.

CALLEBS: Home remains the 2000 Dodge truck Robinson bought in part with a $1,200 settlement when his old vehicle washed away. He says tomorrow is another day.

ROBINSON: Hopefully it will be a good night.

CALLEBS: Perhaps the day he finds a permanent place to live. Sean Callebs, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: You're watching CNN, your severe weather headquarters.

LIN: One of our big stories tonight, we're still following that massive winter storm that's threatening much of the Eastern seaboard. Reporter Cindy Pena of affiliate WUSA is standing by for us in Washington.

Cindy, it's coming down there.

CINDY PENA, REPORTER WUSA TV: It is coming down. It started just about 4 o'clock this afternoon. The first storm of 2006 was expected earlier this morning. In fact, D.C. Department of Transportation trucks were out on the roads, watching and waiting for the first snowflake to fall. Again, it didn't happen until later on in the afternoon. But it is coming down.

It wouldn't exactly be blizzard conditions now but it is certainly falling. We've had maybe a quarter of an inch of snow accumulation here in Northwest Washington. But if you look out here on Wisconsin Avenue one of the major thoroughfares into the city, the cars that are now parked here are going to have to be removed at 7 o'clock, that's because the snow emergency effect, snow emergency will go into effect at 7 o'clock this evening. You can't park on any of the major thoroughfares, Wisconsin Avenue, Connecticut Avenue, any of the major streets in the District of Columbia. If do you, you'll get towed and ticketed. The fine $250.

But residents here of the District are used to taking the Metro, the massive subway system in the Washington D.C. area is still up and running, as it will be all weekend long. And that certainly will be the way for most folks to get around.

But again, the first blizzard of the year is falling on a Saturday, into Sunday morning, and it couldn't have fallen at a better time, quite frankly, while many school children are anxious for Monday to have no school, it doesn't look like that will be the case. We're expecting maybe four to eight inches of snow.

LIN: All right those people better move their cars and if anybody's lived out there in Washington D.C., it's not easy to find a parking space so they've got about a half hour.

PENA: That's exactly right.

LIN: Thanks, Susan (sic).

Well a police officer is caught on tape shooting an unarmed suspect. It's been almost two weeks since America and investigators saw that video. So what kind of action has been taken? You're going to find out next.

And will she or won't she skate? Find out why Michelle Kwan may bow out of the Torino Olympic Games.

And eat to lose weight. One doctor explains why a steady caloric intake is crucial to dropping pounds. You're watching CNN LIVE SATURDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Now in the news, a developing winter storm is driving up the East Coast with blizzard warnings have been posted from New York City into eastern New England. Some areas are expecting more than a foot of snow.

And right now you're looking at a live picture of Washington, DC, where officials are declaring a snow emergency effective at 7:00 tonight. The District is deploying some 200 crews and trucks to plow and salt the streets. Love the view of the White House though.

Israeli doctors say there is no immediate danger to the life of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon following emergency surgery today. Doctors removed nearly two feet of his intestine, after tests showed severe damage and infection. Sharon has been in a coma since suffering a stroke January 4th.

Muslim protesters took to the streets in London and other cities today. They rallied against cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed. Denmark, where the cartoons first appeared, pulled staff from its embassies in Iran, Syria and Indonesia following security threats.

The attack was caught on tape and seen by millions. A sheriff's deputy shooting an unarmed air force security officer. It has been almost two weeks and authorities have yet to decide whether it was a justified shooting. Peter Viles brings the case up-to-date.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's been 12 days since America first saw this video. It sure sounds like the sheriff's deputy tells the man on the ground to get up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, get up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey!

VILES: Then shoots him three times, and those 12 days thousands of Americans have lashed out at the deputy.

SHERIFF GARY PENROD, SAN BERNADINO COUNTY: You know, he needs to go to jail. You ought to hang him, you ought to shoot him, we're going to blow up your station, those kind of things. Thousands and thousands of e-mails. Nationwide.

VILES: Even though millions have seen the tape the county still hasn't decided whether the deputy, Ivory John Webb, committed a crime. The family of Elio Carrion, the man who was shot, believes he did.

MARIEL CARRION, WIFE OF MAN SHOT BY DEPUTY: My family is outraged. Because this man hasn't been arrested. He's on paid leave. What he did was wrong to us. Nobody ever deserved to be treated that way.

VILES: The sheriff admits the tape, quote, "looks terrible." he turned his investigation over to local district attorney with no recommendation. The D.A. is waiting for the FBI to finish its evaluation of the videotape, which was shot by a neighbor.

PENROD: We've all seen the video and when you hear him, the deputy telling the person to stand up, and then shots go off, of course that arouses a lot of suspicion on what all went on. I must say when you look at that video we've enhanced it here at our office, there's a lot of skips in the tape. It's fuzzy. It's dark, and all the actions can't be clearly seen there. VILES: The deputy has been suspended and is cooperating with investigators. Carrion had been in a passenger in a car that crashed after a brief car chase but we still don't know why the deputy opened fire.

LUIS CARILLO, LAWYER FOR CARRION FAMILY: He should be in jail like anybody else who would have done what he did. If you or I had shot someone in the manner that he did, point blank range, when he's cooperating, we would be in jail right now.

VILES: Carrion, an Air Force security officer just home from Iraq is now out of the hospital recovering from gunshot wounds. Peter Viles for CNN, San Bernardino, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: This just in to the CNN Center, another church fire, right now, going on a church fully engulfed in flames in Lamar County, Beaverton, Alabama. It is the Beaverton Free Will Baptist Church. Now, just a few hours ago I spoke with the lead investigator of the ATF who is investigating the church fires. He says he is confident they will be able to solve these church fires but this is now the 10th church fire in the last several weeks. More on the story we're going to be working the story tonight.

Hopefully better news out of the first day of the competition of the Olympics underway at the Torino Winter Olympics. And American skater Michelle Kwan's gold medal hopes, well, they are already in jeopardy. Kwan had to cut short today's practice session. The sore groin that forced her to petition for a spot on the Olympic team has flared up again. Now, she would not rule out the idea she might have to drop out.

But the U.S. did claim its first gold medal in Torino. Speed skater Chad Hedrick had the 5,000 meter race, it's the first of five events he plans to compete in. He has the chance to equal the American record of five winter golds set by skater Eric Heiden back in 1980. Hedrick, who is from Houston, had some home state support for his race. First Lady Laura Bush and daughter Barbara were there for the victory.

Well, the Torino Olympic Games are focusing the world's attention on the corner of northwest Italy. Don't know much about the latest Winter Games? Well, CNN's Daniel Sieberg has the big picture.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The 20th Winter Olympics has begun in Torino, Italy. With 17 days of competition. The games will last until February 26 with competition in 15 sports at seven different sites. In all 5,000 athletes and officials will be housed in the three Olympic villages of Torino, Martineccia (ph) and Sestriere (ph). Eighty four Olympic titles are at stake. The games are expected to draw more than a million spectators and 10,000 members of the news media, more than 25,000 volunteers are on hand to assist. Every evening at the Piazza Costello, the Olympic's medals plaza there will entertainment featuring everything from international opera stars like Andre Bocelli, to big names of popular music ranging from Kelly Clarkson to Ricky Martin and Duran Duran. The 2006 Winter Games are expected to be the most seen in history with distribution worldwide over television, Internet and even mobile phones. The Olympic flame has passed through Italy twice before in 1956 at the Winter Games at Cortino D'Ampezzo (ph) and the 1960 summer games in Rome and that's the big picture of the Torino Olympics.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: It's a discovery some predicted never would happen. Up next, why this Egyptian find is so important.

And looking to rev up your metabolism? Find out what you need to do to make that time at the gym count.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: It takes a lot to get archaeologists excited and now something has. It's a major find in Egypt. A hole in the ground, dug nearly 4,000 years ago. Now that's not even the exciting part. It's what they discovered inside. CNN's Ben Wedeman is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For thousands of years, people have come to the Valley of the Kings. Grave robbers picking over the tombs of ancient royalty. Archaeologists searching for treasures the grave robbers missed. And most recently, tourists looking at the more than 60 tombs discovered here.

Otto Schaden from the University of Memphis has been sifting through Egypt sands for decades.

OTTO SCHADEN, UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS ARCHEOLOGIST: We always say whenever you move debris in Egypt, be prepared to find something.

WEDEMAN: And it was in the debris of workers quarters near King Tut's tomb that Schaden and his team made their startling discovery. Loose gravel and sand, a clue there might be something below. They carefully dug for more than a year, until one of them saw something.

SCHADEN: And our little photographer, Heather Alexander, came down, take picture, as soon as we hit the top of the shaft, and she looked in and she said, "I see a coffin."

WEDEMAN: Heather Alexander experienced the wonder of seeing what no human had seen for thousands of years.

HEATHER ALEXANDER, EXPEDITION PHOTOGRAPHER: A little bit of disbelief in the moment that you're there. It was pretty exciting and it was just -- kind of took your breath away.

SCHADEN: After all of those years to find something brand new, it's almost indescribable.

WEDEMAN: No one has gone into the tombs yet but Egypt's top archaeologist believes the five wooden coffins, mummies still inside, may date from the same era as Tutankhamen.

ZAHI HAWAS, EGYPT'S LEADING ARCHEOLOGIST: They look New Kingdom, and they look maybe important, maybe the sons of a king, maybe the wives, maybe a queen, maybe a king.

WEDEMAN (on camera): This is the first major discovery here since the opening of King Tut's tomb in 1922, and it's a discovery that has archaeologists thinking there may be a lot more to find underneath all the rocks and dust.

(voice-over): The Valley of the Kings has yet to yield all its secrets.

SCHADEN: I always say that we discovered the Egypt until now 50 percent of our monuments, and still there is 70 percent that's buried underneath the ground.

WEDEMAN: Although Schaden's team will try to remove the coffins before summer when the weather gets too hot to work in the desert. Ben Wedeman, CNN in the Valley of the Kings.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Just how big a deal is this discovery? It's big. Nothing has so electrified the archaeological community in more than 80 years. I spoke this evening with Dr. Lorelie Corcoran. She is an Egyptologist at the University of Memphis, but she was there when the burial chamber was opened.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LORELEI CORCORAN, INSTITUTE OF EGYPT ART AND ARCHEOLOGY (on phone): It was a truly exhilarating moment. It's the dream of every Egyptologist come true. The moment that the photographer who was literally lying on her stomach, to peer through this tiny hole in the breach in the top of the door, when she came back up, and stood up and said, "I think I can see pots." Everyone was just so happy. Because then we knew that we had actually come across an intact burial.

LIN: So who do you think is buried inside?

CORCORAN: Well, that's the mystery and one that can't be solved until we actually can enter the burial chamber itself. At the moment, the doorway is still closed, and we won't be able to actually enter the burial chamber for another two to five days.

LIN: Why? What's going to happen?

CORCORAN: Well, we're still continuing to excavate the shaft down to the bottom of the doorway, and it will be at that point then that the door, the blocks that are sealing the door can come down.

LIN: And this is far more meticulous work than just blasting your way through.

CORCORAN: Right, archaeologists don't do that anymore. It's a very slow and tedious process.

LIN: It's got to be agonizing though! Because you're so close.

CORCORAN: It is. It certainly is. Because of course we are just dying to know the answer to these questions. Because they really are historical questions.

LIN: What's going through your mind, Dr. Corcoran? You probably have some theories about who might be buried there.

CORCORAN: Well, I think we all had hopes and expectations for who we might find but really the key is to have an identification of someone, and ...

LIN: Do you think they're relatives of King Tut? Because this tomb is quite close to his.

CORCORAN: It's certainly in a pricey neighborhood. I mean directly across from the tomb of Tutankhamen, in the Valley of the Kings, where the kings of the New Kingdom were buried. Who were they to merit being buried in this very special place in Egypt?

LIN: All right. Dr. Corcoran, congratulations.

CORCORAN: Thank you.

LIN: And we'll talk to you after you get that door open.

CORCORAN: Right, thank you very much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: You might find yourself saying when you're dieting, "It must be my metabolism." Maybe you have rolled your eyes when you heard that excuse from someone else who is overweight but our next guest says it's true, everything from weight problems to heart disease can be linked to metabolism. Now here's the good news. You can correct metabolism problems. Dr. Reza Yavari is author of "It Must Be My Metabolism" and he joins me from New York. Dr. Yavari, when we talk about a metabolism, exactly what does that mean?

DR. REZA YAVARI, "IT MUST BE MY METABOLISM": First of all, thank you, Carol, for having me. This is an important topic, and I'm delighted to be able to discuss it.

LIN: You're welcome.

YAVARI: Metabolism is the process by which our body decides to either save calories or burn calories. Two people can eat the same food one gains weight, the other one doesn't. Two people can exercise, one loses weight, the other one doesn't and that's because they have different metabolisms. Now we can blame it on our metabolism but it doesn't mean that we cannot change our metabolism. LIN: How do you change your metabolism if you've been heavy-set all of your life, feel like you have a slow metabolism, exercise doesn't seem to have an effect.

YAVARI: Yeah, first of all, it is difficult. There are no quick fixes. All the quick fixes we hear about are mostly ineffective and dangerous. It is really through healthy lifestyle changes that we change our metabolism and really the devil is in the details. For example, you have to eat differently, not just different foods, but different times, small portions, but also frequent high protein meals. You have to exercise differently depending on your body shape, and then finally you have to do a lot of stress reduction and learn relaxation techniques, so it is really a three-pronged approach which has to be put together in a personalized way.

LIN: Well, we've heard that before, you know, eat well, exercise and lower stress, but in your theory what does that really mean? How do you change your metabolism? Ideally, how do you eat to change your metabolism, for example?

YAVARI: Well, my program both in Connecticut and the national program called M-diet really focuses on metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome affects 40 million Americans, and it's a connection between diabetes, heart disease, and excess body fat. In this syndrome, the metabolism of the body is skewed towards building body fat. At the same time, people who have metabolic syndrome really have to make changes to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

LIN: So give me a specific. If you could change one thing in someone's day, what would it be?

YAVARI: Well I think number one is for them to have frequent, lean, small high protein meals and exercise preferably after they eat, not before they eat and finally, learn how to do stress reduction, especially not to resort to food, overeating, stress eating when they're under a lot of stress and there's a lot to be done here. You know, these may sound simple but for two people, you really have to design two different programs.

LIN: Perhaps it allows people some hope, people who have tried to better their health or even lose weight.

YAVARI: Absolutely.

LIN: So, good advice.

YAVARI: We have been very successful and my book has a day by day plan for six months, telling people how to change their lifestyles in a healthy way. As I mentioned, I also have a national program which is going to be in 15 different states. And it's called M-Diet.

LIN: All right. Thanks, Dr. Yavari. We'll leave it there.

YAVARI: Thank you very much.

LIN: Well, we have more on metabolism and weight loss. You'll want to watch a special edition of CNN PRESENTS: "Fat Chance" tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

So can at-risk youths in Baltimore get a second chance at life in Kenya? Baltimore, Kenya? You're going to find some boys in the "Boys of Baraka," next.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guys, welcome to Baraka School. I have a feel you're going to find a whole lot of things different here than they were in Baltimore.

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LIN: Wow, it's an award-winning look at an attempt to keep inner city kids from going down the wrong path. They traveled 10,000 miles from the streets of Baltimore to the dirt paths of Africa. Gary Nurenberg introduces us to the "Boys of Baraka" and the lessons that have changed them.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whassup?

GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Montrey Moore was laughing with Devon Brown on the streets of their inner city neighborhood this month but walking side by side hasn't always been this easy for the long-time friends.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your lip is off the hinges, boy. God don't never make mistakes but God done it. He made a mistake on your lips.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, shut up.

NURENBERG: They are two of the title characters in the film "The Boys of Baraka" which just premiered in their hometown of Baltimore where one school administrator tells kids they have three choices.

DEVON BROWN, BARAKA BOY: Did I want to go to jail, did I want to die or did I want to graduate.

NURENBERG: Graduate from high school. When the filming began in 2002, 76 percent of African American boys in the city didn't graduate.

ELAINE MCKENZIE, MONTREY'S GRANDMOTHER: It's not even safe for children to go to school. So you worry about them, getting there. You worry about them getting home, you worry about what's going to happen while they're in school. It's no way to live, really.

NURENBERG: "The Boys of Baraka" chronicles the attempt to get kids out of that environment by sending them to a private school in Kenya, no TV, no video games, no town for miles, scary for the 12- year-olds of 2002.

UNIDENTFIED FEMALE: Listen to what mommy is saying. This is for your educational purposes, OK? It's all right. I'm going to be OK and you're going to be OK, OK?

NURENBERG: But as school in the wilds of Kenya progressed, it wasn't OK for some of the kids. Montrey wanted out.

MONTREY MOORE, BARAKA BOY: I was hoping that could you see me so I could come home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not going to cry about it ma, because I am brave to do this.

NURENBERG: Devon began a struggle of his own.

BROWN: There's one side that tells me to do bad and the other side say do good. I don't know what side to listen to. So then both sides, they both fighting over me. So I don't know what to do so I just go crazy.

NURENBERG: But the intense attention from teachers begins to pay off.

HEIDI EWING, FILM CO-DIRECTOR: Suddenly at the Baraka School it was cool to be smart. It was cool to raise your hand and know the answer. It was cool to get an "A."

NURENBERG: When the school year ended the public schools system and private foundation that funded the experiment cited terrorism concerns and closed the school and forced the boys of Baraka once again into the schools of Baltimore but the boys of Baraka were changed men.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, it's like I got this hunger for learning now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now I just want to learn. I like going to school every day.

NURENBERG: But Devon and Montrey are doing well academically and are expected to graduate. The movie about the school that changed their lives opens in about two dozen cities in the next six weeks. Gary Nurenberg, CNN, Baltimore.

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LIN: From online to on the streets in Beirut, CNN correspondents give you an in-depth look at the fallout from the Mohammed cartoon controversy, that's next in ON THE STORY. And then at 8:00 Eastern, CNN PRESENTS: "Fat Chance," could your DNA be sabotaging your efforts to lose weight?

At 9:00 Eastern, Larry King talks with actresses Patty Duke and Kate Jackson, hear how they battled heart disease and won.

A check of the impending nor'easter is next and then ON THE STORY.

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