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CNN Live Saturday

Destructive Landslide in the Phillipines; New Orleans Celebrates Mardi Gras; New Tapes Reveal Much About Saddam Hussein

Aired February 18, 2006 - 17:00   ET

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

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: More bodies are pulled from the mud and hopes are fading for the rescue of more than 900 people still missing. Our report from the Philippines coming up.
And here at home, severe weather hits the Northeast and the South. We are going to tell you what to brace for.

And come with us live to The Big Easy, where Mardi Gras celebrations athlete in full swing.

Hello and welcome to CNN LIVE SATURDAY.

I'm Carol Lin.

All that and more after this quick check of the headlines.

Snow and speed -- a dangerous combination in the North. Icy conditions partly to blame for a 12 car pileup today in Indiana. Gusty winds contributed to four deaths elsewhere. We are going to have more on the severe weather straight ahead.

And driving rains hampering rescue efforts in the Philippines. Search crews find more bodies, but no survivors, from a massive landslide. Much more on the search for the 900 missing straight ahead.

And troubling words from Hamas. Hamas legislators took control of the new Palestinian parliament today, with several of them telling Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas they would never agree to talks with Israel.

Peaceful persuasion, though, in London. Demonstrators 10,000 strong protest against the Prophet Muhammad cartoons. Angry and bloody demonstrations continue throughout the Muslim world.

Surf's up in Spain. Giant waves are pounding the waterfront of San Sebastian in northern Spain. Some thrill seekers got soaked, but didn't seem to mind.

And this is our top story. Massive help is on the way to the Philippines after a massive disaster. At least two U.S. warships are heading toward the isolated of Leyte, where a mudslide has turned a village into a mass grave. The land is still unstable. But the frantic and dangerous search for survivors continues.

CNN's Hugh Riminton reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

HUGH RIMINTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When a village is annihilated, take pity on the survivors.

Nasisa Mandara (ph) was out of town when the landslide hit. She just found her nieces and nephews. Her parents, four nieces and nephews and her own 6-year-old daughter are lost in the mud.

NASISA MANDARA (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I'm confused. I'm lost. I don't know what to do. I lost my family.

RIMINTON: Through a long and bitter day, rescue efforts continued despite pauses for more downpours and ominous rumblings from the Earth. But today, no one came out alive.

(on camera): So few of those who were in the village at the time of the landslide have yet been found. With every new body that is brought in here to this primitive, open-air morgue, family members crowd in, in the hope that their worst fears will not be realized.

(voice-over): But sometimes they are.

Juan Garcia was away from home working. He has just identified his wife and 3-year-old daughter. His three other children are missing.

JUAN GARCIA (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): My wife is gone. My children are gone. Now I am alone.

RIMINTON: Despite it all, reports that signs of life have been detected at the village school, where 240 children were buried.

MARIUS CORPUS, UNDERSECRETARY FOR INTERNAL AFFAIRS: Just this afternoon, I got some reports that there were some knocking noises from beneath the rubble and I wish we had the equipment right now.

RIMINTON: Mounted rescue experts confirm the possibility.

GOV. ROSETTE LERIAS, S. LEYTE PROVINCE, PHILIPPINES: It's possible that the heavy -- the rocks just passed by the building and it's possible that what is on top of the building are just -- it's just soil.

RIMINTON: As the search resumes with new purpose, officials have appealed for more specialist equipment and helicopters to bypass roads now almost impassable. The fear of more mud avalanches saw the people of a dozen other villages crowding into the nearest main town. The evacuees finding comfort in the numbers.

Hugh Riminton, CNN, Southern Leyte, the Philippines.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

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

LIN: Right here in the United States, we're having a terrible time with the cold. It is, frankly, a statement true for many of you this weekend. Snow and wind and cold temperatures are making just miserable conditions in the Northeast and other parts of the country.

So Monica McNeal is tracking all of these trouble spots for the CNN Weather Center -- Monica, any hope out there for warming up?

MONICA MCNEAL, METEOROLOGIST: No. It doesn't look like we're going to see any hope, at least for the next 24 to 48 hours, Carol.

It's going to still be extremely cold. Take a look at some of these wind chills. It's 15 below in Green Bay, 15 below in Milwaukee and 12 below in Duluth, Minnesota.

It only needs to be 10 below before you can start to feel frostbitten. So you need to watch out if you're outside for an extended period of time.

This Arctic blast, also known as a Blue Norther, originated in Canada and it sweeps as far south as the Gulf Coast States, folks. This air is moving so fast, it's moving at about 60 miles per hour.

As we travel to the South to show you what's going on, you can certainly see the cold air is in place across parts of Arkansas and Tennessee. There's reports of a quarter of an inch of ice into parts of Alabama, northern Alabama. So a major storm across the South, as well.

Take a look at the current conditions. Sixteen right now in Memphis. It's 26 degrees in Dallas and 49 degrees right now down in New Orleans, where the Mardi Gras is happening.

If you do have to travel across the South or if you have to travel across the North, make sure that you have some of these items in your car for your winter kit -- Carol.

LIN: All right, good advice.

Thanks, Monica.

MCNEAL: All right.

LIN: All right, now we've got a storm of debate over Hurricane Katrina.

The Bush administration has been lambasted for its slow response to the disaster. But now the person who's taken the most heat, former FEMA Director Michael Brown, is firing back.

Now, Brown tells his side of the story to a filmmaker in a documentary on Katrina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "NEW ORLEANS STORY," STEPHEN RUE-GABRIEL DAYAN) STEPHEN RUE, FILMMAKER: Do you think that people are using Katrina as a platform to promote their own political agenda?

MICHAEL BROWN, FORMER FEMA DIRECTOR: Duh.

Yes, they are.

I think the closer we get to the '06 and '08 elections, people will continue to politicize it and that's shameful.

RUE: Now, President Bush came down. He's come down several times since. And he said what has turned out to be a famous phrase -- "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

BROWN: I didn't think anything about it at the time. I mean it's a typical Bushism. He and I talked about how bad things were and the infrastructure problems, a lot of the problems we were having. So he was trying to give me a morale boost. And I don't fault him for that.

But I think what it did, it suddenly catapulted me, because, oh, this is a guy that has a nickname from the president. So he must be close to the president. And so I pinpoint that as my tipping point, when he did that. That's when the media decided that they wanted to go find some scandal in my background.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Wow!

Frank spoken, right after his congressional testimony and now on film.

Now, days after Katrina hit, Brown was booted from his job by his former boss. That man, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, criticized Brown and defended his firing just days ago during a Senate hearing of his own on Katrina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: It was astonishing to me to hear the testimony of Mr. Brown concerning his decision, apparently, by his own admission, as the PFO on the ground, to deliberately bypass the Department and not to deal with us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Mr. Chertoff is not done yet.

You can hear more from him tomorrow on CNN's "LATE EDITION." It begins at 11:00 a.m. Eastern, 8:00 Pacific.

New Orleans, though, is getting back to what it does best -- throwing one of the biggest and best Mardi Gras celebrations in the world.

And CNN's Sean Callebs is there right now -- Sean, it takes a lot of guts to keep this party going on.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It really does. And there was a lot of debate here and a lot of people are really torn about whether this party should go on in full. And it is going on, but it has been pared back.

It's not as many days as it has been in the past and certainly the parades themselves are smaller, both the routes and the number of floats taking part in them.

But just a short while ago, a number of crews, the various organizations that put together these amazing floats, rolled through Saint Charles Avenue, where we are, onto the heart of the city and Canal Street. And I can tell you, it's cold and breezy and it's been sprinkling rain all day, but beads were simply raining down on the people who had lined the sidewalks earlier today.

The crowd wasn't as big as it has been in years past. That's really to be expected. If you think about it, this city had at least a half a million people before Hurricane Katrina rolled through, now perhaps 250,000 at best have returned and almost everyone here in the area is trying to put his or her life back together.

The debris fields are still everywhere to be found. But a lot of people said they needed Mardi Gras to go on.

For one, it's an economic benefit to the city. Secondly, for so many people, it gives them something to look forward to, this annual party. In terms of money, in the past, it's brought in a billion dollars a year. It's not going to bring in anywhere near that much this year. A number of the hotels still aren't open to full capacity and about 10,000 rooms are being filled by emergency workers this weekend, as well.

But for the next 10 days, basically a 24 hour party on and off. There are going to be the floats that roll through and the crowds lining the streets. And, of course, down the Bourbon Street area in the French Quarter, it is going to be alive. It's going to be dusk pretty soon. I can imagine on a Saturday night it is going to be hopping down there.

Carol, I did say the crowd is smaller. But if you talk to people, it is as enthusiastic or more than it has been in previous years. People really want a reason to celebrate in this city -- Carol.

LIN: Yes, absolutely.

I mean this is -- it's intensely meaningful to them just to even have this go on. So hats off to them, Sean. And have a great time tonight.

CALLEBS: Thanks.

Well, you know, we've had this interesting story come into the CNN Center this afternoon. We may be talking about a case of domestic terrorism. After years on the run, two brothers are finally caught by U.S. marshals. And wait until you see what they found on these guys.

Also coming up, cops undercover -- and get what they paid for. How far should police go when investigating prostitution?

And they kicked him and they punched him. And now the boy's mother says her son was killed by boot camp workers. CNN investigates.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: We've got an update on the military helicopter crash.

Ten U.S. Marines are no longer missing after two helicopter crashes in Africa. But there is still no word if they are dead or alive. Listen to how the U.S. military characterizes it. They are saying that all 12 crew members are now accounted for. Accounted for, but they're not saying their condition. After the twin crashes Friday off the coast of Djibouti. But it's not revealing anything about the condition of these 10. So they're still in the process of notifying the next of kin.

Now, rescuers were able to pull out two Marines Friday. They are in stable condition.

The choppers, each carrying a crew of six, were on a training mission when they crashed. Pentagon officials say there is no indication so far hostile fire brought them down.

In our CNN Security Watch, the arrest of two brothers on the lam for more than a decade. Federal authorities say yesterday's capture in New Mexico may have prevented a possible tragedy.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Isn't this some kind of big deal or something?

LIN (voice-over): The arrest of 62-year-old Geoffrey Rose and his 50-year-old brother Gregory is a very big deal, according to federal officials. U.S. marshals say they were found with 200 pounds of explosives, enough to bring down a building. And they suspect the pair may have been plotting some sort of attack.

GORDON EDEN, U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE: They had these weapons, the military gear, the body armor, the ballistic helmets, as well as the explosives. We believe that these are the same kinds of people as you would find with the Timothy McVeighs and those other kinds of people that would like to cause harm to the United States.

LIN: The brothers eluded authorities for 15 years on a string of felony drug and weapons charges. They were finally nabbed Friday in a remote part of New Mexico. As they were being taken into the county jail in Albuquerque, Geoffrey Rose only spoke of concerns for his pets.

GEOFFREY ROSE: If there's any animal lovers out there that'll help take care of all our cats and our diabetic cat that's going to die without his insulin.

LIN: Agents are working to remove the explosives from the Rose property and secure the area.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

LIN: Now, CNN is committed to providing the most reliable coverage of news that affects your security, so stay tuned to CNN for the latest information day and night.

Now, here's some of the other news from across America.

A 3-year-old Iraqi girl is reportedly doing well after abdominal surgery in California. A U.S. mortar round struck the child's home and exploded. It severely wounded the girl and killed her two brothers.

The White House may have lost a powerful ally in the flap over domestic spying. Republican Senator Pat Roberts tells the "New York Times" that any possible compromise should reinsert the wiretap court the administration removed from the loop. Roberts chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee.

And Powerball frenzy hits fever pitch. Lottery tickets in 28 states are being sold at dizzying speed ahead of tonight's big drawing for a record lottery jackpot.

CNN's Adaora Udoji will have more for you live.

Now, a Virginia prosecutor wants to stop prostitution in his county and local police are eager to help. But some cops are going too far. Undercover? Perhaps.

Well, CNN's Tom Foreman has a shocking report.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Spotsylvania County, Virginia is a family place an hour south of Washington, D.C. -- 115,000 residents, not much crime. But last month authorities say some police detectives here walked up these stairs to this massage parlor, paid for and received oral sex.

The county prosecutor, William Neely, knows it's true. It was his idea -- a way to crack down on prostitution.

WILLIAM NEELY, COMMONWEALTH'S ATTORNEY: The officer obviously can't wear a wire because he's naked. So, you know, the primary way to build evidence is to use marked money and to follow that transaction. That's the only way you can shut a business like this down.

FOREMAN: The program, which relies on only unmarried officers, is raising eyebrows from some locals who imply it is improper at best, immoral at worst.

The sheriff is not talking about it now, but earlier said prostitutes are wise to the law, won't say anything that could put them in jail. So, he says, paying them for sex acts -- and, again, receiving what they pay for -- is the best, maybe the only way, to prove what these women are up to.

"If I thought we could get the conviction without that, we wouldn't allow it," he said.

KATHERINE CHON, POLARIS PROJECT: Yes, it's a very serious problem. It's actually...

FOREMAN (on camera): Still, up in D.C. Katherine Chon is skeptical. She helps women out of prostitution and thinks officers paying for sex favors may doubly victimize some and not do much good anyway. She says nationwide massage parlors are often full of illegal immigrants, hired for massages, then coerced into more.

CHON: But they operate on this national network of transporters, of traffickers, of smugglers who are always bringing new women in every few weeks, every few months.

FOREMAN (on camera): So even if a method like this works in the short-term, it's not addressing the bigger problem?

CHON: It's not hitting the root of how these organizations operate. And it's a short-term situation because for the long-term, they're going to continue to operate because they have that support structure.

FOREMAN (voice-over): William Neely, however, says officers paying for sex acts is legal. He's used the technique before and police often buy drugs to nab dealers.

NEELY: This is the exact same type of a police strategy.

FOREMAN: Like it or not, he says, having police pay for a few private moments is the best way to protect and serve the public.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Straight ahead, we want to meet -- we want you to meet this little boy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONATHAN FARRAR: I love baseball. Baseball is my life.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LIN: And you're going to.

It's Jonathan's love for his school that's getting the attention of Yankees owner, George Steinbrenner.

And lost, crushed or even stolen -- who's the worst in dealing with your luggage when you fly? We have the list.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: A dream come true for an Arkansas school boy. And boy, does he deserve it.

Twelve-year-old Jonathan Farr gets to tour Yankee Stadium at the personal invitation of Yankees owner, George Steinbrenner. He'll even get to go onto the field during batting practice.

So how did this all happen and why?

Well, let's ask Jonathan himself.

He joins us by phone now from Little Rock.

Hey, Jonathan, so I understand that you saved something like $1,000 so that you could go to New York and watch your beloved Yankees.

Is that true?

FARR: Yes, ma'am.

LIN: How long did it take you to save that money?

FARR: It took us about two years.

LIN: Two years?

And what did you do to get -- to make that money?

FARR: Well, every Christmas and every birthday I had we put money aside from what I got. And, also, when I did tours I'd get money put toward going to Yankee Stadium.

LIN: So you really wanted this trip, didn't you?

FARR: Yes, ma'am.

LIN: So what happened? You ended up giving it not to yourself for your trip, but to your school?

FARR: Yes, ma'am.

We were -- me and my classmates were informed that we were going to lose our school if we couldn't raise the money and I decided that I couldn't bear the thought of not being with the people that I go to school with. And so I donated my money. LIN: Why was the school district talking about closing your school?

FARR: We were in financial debt.

LIN: You were bankrupt -- the school was bankrupt.

FARR: Yes, ma'am.

LIN: So, you donated the $1,000 to your school?

FARR: Yes, ma'am.

LIN: But your mother tried to talk you out of it.

Why?

FARR: She just knew how much I wanted this and how bad that I wanted it and how much I'd been trying to do to get to go to Yankee Stadium.

LIN: Yes. And someone might even tell you, Jonathan, $1,000 would not be near enough to save your school, why not just take your trip?

What would you say to someone like that?

FARR: Every small bit helps and once one person starts donating, then eventually everyone else will. And that's what happened with this.

LIN: So we're showing, Jonathan, the letter that you got from the owner of the Yankees. George Steinbrenner wrote you.

How did he find out about this?

FARR: Well, a lady from my church wrote the Yankees. That's one way. And there were several people that e-mailed the article that was in the "Democratic Gazette" here in Arkansas.

LIN: So you're not even -- you're not only going to get to go to New York, I mean you're going to get to do all this cool stuff and he's going to help you do it?

FARR: Yes, ma'am.

LIN: So you get to go on the field?

FARR: Yes. I get to get on the field when the Yankees are having batting practice. And they're also going to give me a free personal tour.

LIN: Oh my goodness.

So when you got that letter, what was your reaction? FARR: I was just shocked. I wasn't expecting anything from anybody and here I am getting the letter from -- a letter from the Yankees inviting me to come watch -- watch my dream come true. LIN: Right. Because Mr. Steinbrenner wrote to you that when he heard that you thought your school was more important than going to a Yankees game, he actually agreed with you about that.

And, gosh, he must be so proud of you. And your parents must be so proud of you.

And the good news is, hey, you guys -- it turns out your school raised a lot of money, something like $400,000?

FARR: Yes, ma'am. We raised $400,000 and still counting.

LIN: Wow!

So does it look like you're going to be able to keep your school?

FARR: Yes.

Yes, ma'am, the state decided that we are going to be able to keep our school. We're going to be under state supervision, but that's OK, because as long as we're Midland and we're here where we want to be.

LIN: Jonathan, good for you.

Jonathan Farr, what a great example you're setting for so many other kids.

Thanks so much.

FARR: No problem.

LIN: Have fun.

You get to go next summer, right?

FARR: Yes, ma'am.

LIN: All right...

FARR: Or this summer.

LIN: Oh, this summer. Right, this coming summer.

Terrific.

All right, maybe we'll follow up with you.

Have a great time.

FARR: OK.

Thank you.

LIN: Well, in the meantime, the news continues.

His mother blames the workers for her son's death. What went wrong at a Florida boot camp and who is responsible for the death of a young teenager?

Our investigation straight ahead.

And on a much lighter note, Adaora Udoji is standing by trying her luck, or at least watching others try theirs, right -- Adaora.

ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, Carol.

In fact, we're watching these Powerball machines here in Connecticut. Like so many across the country, they are getting a serious workout today with that record jackpot drawing tonight -- $365 million.

We'll h that story coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

DAVID BURKE, INVENTOR, FLAVOR SPRAYS: Food is one of those things where, you know, there's really no rules.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Award winning chef David Burke has always loved to push the envelope on experimentation. His top rated restaurants, cookbooks and gourmet inventions have made him one of the most respected entrepreneurs in the food community.

Burke's newest innovation combines culinary flair with a healthy twist. It's his line of Flavor Sprays.

BURKE: We've got the Memphis barbecue sauce that doesn't have the sugar, but it has the flavor. And look at the glaze it gives it. You take this and you spray bacon on it. I didn't double the fat, but I got the flavor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Flavor Sprays are food enhancers. And while they contain some artificial ingredients, they have no calories, carbs or fat, only a sweet or savory zing.

BURKE: It's almost a must now because there are so many people concerned with health, nutrition, digestion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Time" magazine recognized Flavor Sprays as one of the top inventions of 2005. There are currently 30 flavors, ranging from hot and sour to root beer float. Nothing is off limits.

BURKE: Have some marshmallow.

We're making martinis with marshmallow flavor. We're making martinis with birthday cake. I love creating beautiful food. I love creating high end stuff. But this stuff is really kind of my new baby. And it's helpful to people.

(END VIDEO TAPE) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Welcome back. I'm Carol Lin. And here are the latest developments.

Fading hopes in Philippines. Rescue crews search for survivors for a massive landslide. They find more bodies today but still no signs of life. Still missing, more than 900 people. Many of them children.

Two Kansas brothers who eluded police for 15 years are behind bars in New Mexico. Sixty-two-year-old Geoffrey and 50-year-old Gregory Rose were arrested yesterday. They're wanted on drug and weapon charges. Authorities describe them as potential domestic terrorists.

A tour bus has overturned on an icy interstate south of Oklahoma City. A woman and an eight-year-old boy were killed. And many other people were injured. We'll bring you details on the weather in just a few minutes.

Officials confirm today that the deadly h5n1 bird flu virus has reached western India and eastern France. Lab tests on chickens in India and a duck in France confirmed the presence of the virus but that still needs to be confirmed by world bodies.

And happier times in New Orleans. It's the kick off of Mardi Gras. The first parades rolled through the city late today. This year's celebration is being scaled back from 12 days to eight. It will culminate on Fat Tuesday, February 28th.

A natural death or something more sinister? A 14-year-old boy dies at boot camp. The cause of death is ruled to be an illness. But now a video appears to be telling a different story. We get more details from CNN's Susan Candiotti.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Martin Anderson's first day at boot camp proved to be his last day alive.

GINA JONES, MOTHER: Martin didn't have a chance at all.

CANDIOTTI: Anderson's parents accuse boot camp workers are fatally brutalizing the 14-year-old honor roll student. He died after an orientation drill that included running around a track. The action is videotaped by a fixed camera without audio. Anderson's death is under criminal investigation.

SHERIFF FRANK MCKEITHEN, BAY COUNTY, FLORIDA: It is very obvious to us that there are valid concerns raised in some of the procedures that are being used in this particular incident.

CANDIOTTI: The video, though, grainy, is uncomfortable to watch. First the teenager is seen up against a wall, drill instructors in his face and he continues running. Off camera, the medical examiner says Anderson had collapsed. Over the next 25 minute, Anderson is seen at for various times being forced to the ground. Here as the nurse watches, one worker knees him and he goes down hard on the ground.

Later, the boy's head is being held back, his legs appear rubbery. One worker hits him at least seven times in the right arm. A little later, another worker appears to have hit him hard from behind., lurching his body forward. Finally, after at least 25 minutes, the nurse steps in and paramedics arrive.

DAN GELBER, FLORIDA STATE HOUSE: The worst thing is anyone watching this video could see that this child was very, very ill.

CANDIOTTI: Florida lawmaker Dan Gelber, a former federal prosecutor who handled police brutality cases, was shown the tape by investigators and watched it with CNN.

GELBER: This is not a kid who needs an attitude adjustment. This is a kid who needs medical attention.

CANDIOTTI: The county medical examiner does not think the force was excessive or unreasonable. He ruled Anderson died of natural causes. Internal bleeding brought on by stressful exercise and complicated by a sickle cell trait. Yet a hematologist told CNN the bleeding could only be caused by trauma.

DR. STUART TOLEDANO, UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI: You could not have internal bleeding strictly from sickle cell disease or sickle cell trait. It does not happen.

JONES: They murdered my baby. They beat him, the tape. I can't watch the whole tape. I walked out. I couldn't stand to see my baby like that.

CANDIOTTI: In addition to the state criminal investigation, the Justice Department's civil rights division is also investigating Anderson's death to see whether excessive force was used or medical help deliberately ignored. Susan Candiotti, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: It is pretty nasty and windy and cold and miserable out there. And those are just a few of the ways to describe the weather in many parts of the country right now. Some areas are dealing with the winter storm for the second weekend in a row. Monica McNeal tracking all of this from the CNN Weather Center.

Monica?

MONICA MCNEAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Carol, second weekend in a row for the Northeast. Now the only thing, they're not dealing with the snow. But the wind chill is bad enough. Take a look at some of these wind chills. It feels like one below in Albany.

It feels like 10 degrees in New York. There is a wind chill advisory until 11:00 a.m. Sunday morning. When we talk about wind chill advisory, just basically means very cold air and strong winds will combine to generate very, very low wind chills. So bad the winds are so bad across Newark International a plane is delayed for about 35 minutes. Also a plane is delayed at metro Atlanta for an hour and a half. So some very, very cold air.

And the air will continue to tumble tonight. Twenty-one degrees will be the low in Dallas, 34 degrees will be the low in Houston, seven in St. Louis. And zero in Chicago. So the cold air holds on across most of the nation. Carol?

LIN: Wow. All right, thanks, Monica.

Well, if airlines ever lost your luggage, you're not alone. New government figures show U.S. airlines mishandled millions of pieces of luggage last year. Now unfortunately, it doesn't look like it's going to get any better anytime soon. Brian Todd has more from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lisa Pfenninger is at end of her rope. She's just brought her travel bag back to the airline for repairs. After it was damaged. During time it was lost for three days. Somewhere between Miami and Reagan National Airport.

LISA PFENNINGER, BAG LOST AND DAMAGED: It was completely trashed and it looks like the put it through a dumpster and rolled it around and shot it with bullet holes and tore it up with a knife. It's totally trashed. I had to put in the garbage bag in order to bring it here. It's outrageous.

TODD: This kind of frustration is multiplying. The Department of Transportation now says U.S..-based carriers mishandled more than 3.5 million bags last year. That's nearly 10,000 a day. Mishandled meaning lost, delayed, damaged or stolen.

Among the major carriers with more than 30 million passengers last year, US Airways had the highest rate of mishandled bags. Nearly 10 for every 1,000 passengers. Followed by Delta.

Contacted by CNN, both airlines said they recognize the problem and are taking steps to fix it. US Airways' officials say they're mortified by the numbers. And they cite the challenges of slogging through two bankruptcies in recent years. David Stempler of the Air Travelers Association says the essential problem. Financially strapped major carriers struggling to compete with the discount airlines. The majors have cut back personnel. They're dealing with more passengers, backed up flight schedules, tighter baggage screening, an overloaded system. But Stempler says passengers looking for someone to blame should look in the mirror.

DAVID STEMPLER, AIR TRAVELERS ASSOCIATION: The passengers want to blame. This is the airline system that we bought. We basically said the three most important things that we want is low fares, low fares and low fares.

TODD: It all has a ripple effect, says Stempler. More passengers carry luggage onboard. Overhead bins are jam-packed and more dangerous. Flights take longer to board and depart and the system is, again, overloaded. (on camera): Experts say none of this is going to matter much to passengers in the long run. People won't fly any less because of mishandled luggage. The system will only get worse, experts say and passengers won't be willing to pay any more at the ticket counter to make it better. Brian Todd, CNN, at Reagan National Airport.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: As the killing and human suffering goes on in Sudan's Darfur's region, President Bush makes a push trip to get to get NATO troops involved. Does that mean U.S. troops could be sent there soon? We are going to have a live report from the White House.

And let us take you inside of the mind of Saddam Hussein. Newly- discovered audiotapes shed new light on the former dictator. Straight ahead on CNN LIVE SATURDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: President Bush now is calling for a stronger armed response to the crisis gripping part of Sudan. More than 200,000 people have died in the area known as Darfur. And the Sudanese government stands accused of ignoring atrocities. Now, speaking yesterday in Florida, Mr. Bush called for NATO to get involved. CNN's Elaine Quijano is standing by live at the White House to tell us what president has in mind and of course, Elaine, we care about whether U.S. troops would be involved.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, of course none of those detail are being made public just yet. What we do know is that President Bush wants the number of peacekeeping forces in Darfur in Sudan to be doubled. The president has called and the administration really has called what is happening in that part of western Sudan genocide. Now it was earlier this week that President Bush sat down with Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary-general, and discussed the situation. For three years, Arab militias on horseback called Janjaweed have been accused of commiting atrocities against ethnic black Africans.

The militias were organized and armed by the Arab-led Sudanese government in an attempt to quash rebel activity in the region. Since the fighting began, tens of thousands of people have died. And nearly 2 million people have been forced out of or have lost their homes. Now President Bush is acknowledging that the previous strategy of relying on African Union troops to quell the violence is not working.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, U.S. PRESIDENT: And so I'm in the process now of working with a variety of folks to encourage there to be more troops, probably under the United Nations. I've talked to Kofi Annan about this very subject this week. But it's going to require, I think, a NATO stewardship. Planning, facilitating, organizing, probably double the number of peacekeepers there that are there now.

(END VIDEO CLIP) QUIJANO: And right now some 7,000 African Union peacekeepers are in the ground on Darfur. They've been there about a year assigned with monitoring and enforce a serious fire between rebel and government forces. The United States has signaled that the NATO assistance would be a temporary measure of sorts designed to bolster the African Union peacekeepers until UN forces that can be brought in.

Now yesterday, interestingly President Bush noted another complication. That the multiple rebel groups in Darfur must be united in their objectives. He said that that problem needs to be addressed as well, before the peace talks between the rebels and the Sudanese government can move forward. Carol?

LIN: Elaine, he's asking for a lot. We'll see what happens. Elaine Quijano live at the White House.

Now in our world wrap tonight, police in northern Nigeria say Muslim demonstrators there killed at least 15 people today. It's Nigeria's first violent protests depicting the Prophet Mohammed. Police say rioters burned 15 Christian churches on the city before troops and police could restore order.

Italy's reforms minister, Roberto Calderoli has resigned under pressure after fueling Muslim anger over published caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed. Calderoli was blamed for bloody clashes in Libya after he wore a t-shirt depicting one of the offending cartoons first published in a Danish newspaper.

In Tripoli lawmakers fired Libya's interior minister. That's after violent Muslim demonstrates in the city of Benghazi. Eleven people were killed in clashes between police and demonstrators trying to storm the Italian consulate as they protested the cartoons depicting Mohammed.

Now conversations about terror, a nuclear attack and biological warfare, all caught on tape and all featuring Saddam Hussein while he was power in Iraq. CNN's senior editor of Arab affairs, Octavia Nasr has listened to the audiotapes. She is here with a closer look. Octavia,12 hours?

OCTAVIA NASR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I haven't listened to all of them obviously. But obviously a huge portion of those states. So we had a team pouring over those tapes all day. Listening and translating and it will be very hard to analyze though tapes in one sitting, in one interview or even one day. There's so much in those tapes. But to ask the question, is it -- is there a smoking gun there? No. There's nothing to indicate anything really for sure that Saddam Hussein had any weapons of mass destruction. Certainly the desire to have them. That is obvious in many of the conversations. But nothing really to prove it but I think the best thing to do is to listen to a portion of those tapes. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP) SADDAM HUSSEIN, FORMER IRAQI DICTATOR: (Arabic)

TARIQ AZIZ, FORMER IRAQI OFFICIAL: (Arabic) HUSSEIN: (Arabic)

AZIZ: (Arabic)

HUSSEIN: (Arabic)

(END AUDIO CLIP)

NASR: So you see, he ends up saying, you know, had attack is coming but not from Iraq. This is a very comfortable and casual conversation between Saddam Hussein and Tariq Aziz. You hear a lot of those conversations. You hear discussions. Even some gossip on some of those tapes. So lots, lots, lots to learn from about the dealing, the wheelings of the former president of Iraq and his entourage. But again, no smoking gun.

LIN: All right. Thanks very much Octavia.

NASR: Anytime.

LIN: Well, now for a little wishful thinking. Three-hundred sixty- five million could be yours if you're in the right state or you've got some friends there, Adaora, huh?

ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Carol. It is a night for big dreamers. Because, Carol, still, everyone is potentially a winner of the record $365 million Powerball. We're in Connecticut at a store where they are selling thousands of tickets every hour. We'll have more on the story coming up.

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LIN: At the Olympic Games in Torino, the brightest spot today for the American team a gold medal in men's speed skating. Chicago's Shani Davis won the men's thousand meters. As CNN's Larry Smith now reports for this Olympic athlete, success was never a given.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LARRY SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Shani Davis has always had reasons to go fast. Some weren't as good as others.

SHANI DAVIS, SPEED SKATER: The only reason I really wanted to roller skate is because I had lots of video games there. So I was skate as fast as I could to go play the video games.

SMITH: When Davis switched his skating on ice, his approach didn't change. But his reasons for going fast got better. His speed had him winning race after race and staying out of trouble, way.

CHERIE DAVIS, SHANI DAVIS' MOTHER: He used to run to school, and he said, yeah, I used to run the school and I'd say why? Because the gangs but he never really told me.

S. DAVIS: I'd seen all kind of gangs and like real bad gang fights and things like to. I mean, it was nothing that really interested me. SMITH: Davis grew up on the south side of Chicago. When Michael Jordan was making basketball, the sport of choice for most kids.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Number 23, Michael Jordan.

SMITH: That made the neighborhood speed skater even more of an item.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From Chicago, Illinois, Shani Davis.

C. DAVIS: Didn't go like trick-or-treating. He didn't go to prom. So, it's always skating. Skating was life.

S. DAVIS: A lot of kids spited me for it. It's hard (ph) to never really like persuade me not to want to skate. It just made me stronger. It made me like the sport even more because it was something that I could show my friends.

SMITH: Davis may soon have an Olympic medal to show his friends. He's the world record holder in the 1,000 meters and barely missed becoming the first athlete to ever qualify for both long track and short track teams.

S. DAVIS: I gave it my best shot. I didn't, like I wasn't a coward about it and tucked my tail between my legs and said I couldn't do it before I even tried. I went out there and gave it a good honest fight and that's all I could do.

SMITH: Davis will settle for the distinction of being the first African American to ever make the long track team and the honor that some kid might run home to watch his performance and decide he wants to go fast some day too.

S. DAVIS: To me that's a gold medal within itself. That's winning a gold medal in life.

SMITH: Larry Smith, CNN, Torino.

LIN: The odds are long but lottery players by the millions today are banking on a little good fortune. CNN's Adaora Udoji is live for us now in the midst of the Powerball frenzy. She's in Greenwich, Connecticut.

UDOJI: I am, Carol. You're right. Looking for a little fortune that could lead up to a huge pot of gold. We're talking about that record $365 million Powerball jackpot. That spreads across 28 states including the District of Columbia -- or I should say plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands and there are people all over the place, like Mr. Lavell Woods (ph) here, who are just ping to win. So how many tickets did you buy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A $2 quick pick. Unfortunately they didn't have the play slip so I was forced to do that. UDOJI: To do the quick pick ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to go somewhere else and play my own numbers because I had an epiphany last night. UDOJI: Which was?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If it comes to fruition I don't want to be upset because I didn't play my own.

UDOJI: Exactly. What are you thinking about trying to do with that money, Lavell? We're going to move. It's a little crowded in here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would rather not comment on that right now because I like the epiphany to come to its fruition.

UDOJI: So you're going to -- and you're going to keep that a secret?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And maybe tomorrow or next week, I'll have more comments on that.

UDOJI: hat do you think of your chances are of winning?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have a lot of confidence. I think I'm going to win.

UDOJI: You think you are the one.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I honestly do.

UDOJI: Well good luck to you because I think the odds are something like one out of 146 million.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't believe in odds.

UDOJI: You don't believe in odds?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. I'm a believer.

UDOJI: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A strong believer.

UDOJI: OK. Good luck.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

UDOJI: Him and I think a whole lot of other folk are hoping and believing it is going to be them that win. Again the largest Powerball jackpot ever. The last one was in 2000. It was $363 million. Two people actually bought the winning ticket for that. It was Michigan and Illinois. They had to split it but of course everyone is hoping that they're going to be the one who wins individually, Carol. But I'm sure no one would not take, it right, if there's other than in just winner on this.

LIN: All right. So you've had all die think about this. What would do you with the money Adaora?

UDOJI: Oh. I don't know, Carol

LIN: You'd keep your job, right?

UDOJI: Right, oh, of course. Absolutely. Because we love our job, Carol.

LIN: Absolutely. We don't do this for the money. We do this for the pleasure.

UDOJI: Exactly.

LIN: Adaora, get in line, get us some tickets. What do we have to do? Thank you very much.

UDOJI: Okay, bye-bye, Carol.

LIN: OK. There is still much more ahead. CNN's Kathleen Koch returns to her home town of Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Kathleen's going to show us the community's resilience to rebuild despite being left in limbo by FEMA and the insurance companies.

But first, how to talk to your doctor and get the information you need? You know it sounds easy enough but wait until there's a crisis. That isn't always the case. What you need to know before scheduling that next doctor's appointment. That's still ahead on CNN LIVE SATURDAY.

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LIN: It's 6:00 p.m. in Cicero, New York. 5:00 p.m. in New Orleans and this is CNN LIVE SATURDAY. I am Carol Lin. Ahead in this hour, hope for finding survivors fades in the Philippines, hundreds still missing after mudslides bury a village.

The Arctic Express has a stranglehold on the U.S. How low will these temperatures go?

And when love crosses the line. Illegal romances. What happens when Border Patrol agents fall in love with someone they should be arresting.

These right now are the headlines on CNN. A ferocious winter storm, definitely not the fluffy snowman variety, is roaring through the Northeast this evening. A hundred sixty thousand homes are without power as temperatures are plummeting. A live report from Upstate New York in just a moment.

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