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Fighting Intensifies in Najaf; Rick James Found Dead
Aired August 06, 2004 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: In the news now, a lower-than- expected job report now in the news.
Economists had predicted more than 200,000 new jobs last month. Only 32,000 were added, the smallest monthly gain this year, more fodder for the campaign trail. That's coming up.
Cracking terror on the Web. U.S. authorities say Babar Ahmad, a British citizen, used Web sites in this country seeking money and materials for terror groups, one of those sites in based in Connecticut. Just minutes from now, we'll take you there for the latest.
Leaving the fighting behind. Iraq's most revered Shiite cleric, the Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani, is now in London. Aides say that he had been in Najaf receiving treatment for heart problems, but had to leave when the fighting grew fierce. We'll have more on that in just a moment.
A killer may be on the loose. In central Florida, police are investigating the slaying of six adults whose bodies have been found in a home in Deltona. At the moment, they do not believe it was murder-suicide.
How many new jobs is enough? If you're looking, the answer probably is one. But if the job you want is president, the answer depends on whether you have that job already. If you're confused, welcome to economics and presidential politics and LIVE FROM.
We begin this hour with 32,000 more hirings than firings in the month of July, growth, yes, but experts expected more than six times that many.
CNN's Kathleen Hays tells us what that disconnect means and why it matters -- Kathleen.
KATHLEEN HAYS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think you spell it out, Kyra.
Jobs is the number one indicator for the economy in this election year, for interest rates for stocks. It's go-to number. And this time, it just didn't go far enough, as you said, a gain of only 32,000 jobs in July. That's the weakest monthly gain of the year. And the problem is that it looks like the economy had really some nice -- look at those March and April numbers, over 300,000. But each consecutive month, the increase getting smaller and smaller. It looks like the economy is losing some steam. Now, one way to look at it, hey, the average monthly gain the last six months isn't so bad, 180,000. But within this latest report, look at this. Services jobs, services industries, they account for about 80 percent of the jobs in the economy, only 14,000 new jobs created. In a good month, you would see 150,000 to 200,000.
People are wondering the impact of tax cuts from last year waning. Energy are prices are up. That's hurting customers, hurting demand. That's the problem. Now, a ray of hope in here. The unemployment rate did fall to 5.5 percent in July, the lowest level in almost three years. It's calculated separately, though, from the job numbers. And even the Labor Department went out of its way today to say that.
The payrolls number, the number of new jobs created, is a more reliable barometer of where the economy is heading. So, at the end of the day, people say they're hoping that maybe this slump is going to prove temporary. We have seen it on occasions like rising customer confidence, like -- again, the fact that the factory side of the economy still seems to be growing some jobs is a good side.
But, again, it's this sense that we are losing momentum that has many people worried, Kyra, and that is kind of a push-comes-to-shove kind of issue now for the president. Only a couple more of these jobs reports will be out by the time we cast our votes in early November. So there's a lot riding on these numbers, and certainly a disappointment today.
PHILLIPS: We'll be watching the numbers. Kathleen Hays, thanks so much.
The glass half-full interpretation of the jobs reports comes from the White House and Bush reelection campaign and the candidate setting himself at a rustic setting in rural New Hampshire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our economy's been through a lot. Today's employment report shows our economy is continuing to move forward.
You know, it reminds us that we're in a changing economy and we've got more to do. I'm not going to be satisfied until everybody who wants to work can find a job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: And the glass half-empty camp is fronted by the Democratic ticket of John Kerry and John Edwards. They point to more than one million jobs still unaccounted for since their opponents took office and they say the jobs that have come back pay less than the ones that are gone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My friends, in the last few days, you've heard people in positions of leadership on the other side, saying America that turned the corner. Well, it must have been a U-turn or else they're continually turning and they're going around in circles and ending up right back where they started from, because the fact is, this is unacceptable for the United States. We can do better. We can put people to work. And there are countless ways to do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, you can hear a lot more jousting over jobs on "JUDY WOODRUFF INSIDE POLITICS," 3:30 Eastern, 12:30 Pacific, right after LIVE FROM right here on CNN.
While the U.S. economy tops our news here at home, overseas, the fight for Iraq has escalated in the southern city of Najaf.
Let's go now to CNN's Matthew Chance. He's in Baghdad with the latest developments
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, fierce fighting is continuing between U.S.-led forces and the Mahdi Army, the militant group led by the firebrand Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Much of the fighting has been centered in the holy city of Najaf, to the south of the Iraqi capital.
There, U.S. tanks and armored vehicles back by helicopter gunships have been rolling into the center of Najaf. They're being confronted, though, by rocket-propelled-grenade-wielding members of the Mahdi Army militant. And much of the fighting has been taking place around the old center of the city, the location of the Imam Ali shrine, one of the holiest buildings in Shia Islam.
Now, we've been getting some extremely high estimates of casualties from the U.S. military on the ground there. According to a spokesman for the 11th Marine Expeditionary Force, which is doing a lot of the fighting down in Najaf. They're estimating that some 300 Mahdi Army fighters have been killed in the past two days of clashes with the U.S. Marines and the Mahdi Army.
That's being denied by the Mahdi Army itself, who say they're counting their casualties as 36 dead over the last two days, nevertheless, extremely serious violence that has spread elsewhere in Iraq as well. In Sadr City, a district of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, fierce fighting overnight, the whole area of the city engulfed with clashes between U.S. forces, again, and members of the Mahdi Army.
According to the Iraqi Health Ministry, at least 20 people killed in fighting since Thursday there and much of that fighting overnight. We've also had pictures from the southern town of Amarah, just north of Basra, which is under the security control of British forces, not reporting any clashes at this stage, but quite angry demonstrations by supporters of the Mahdi Army against the Iraqi interim government and against the U.S.-led coalition forces, the British in this case in the area.
So, very extreme violence -- in fact, the worst certainly in Najaf we've seen there since June, when a cease-fire was broken with Muqtada al-Sadr, big concerns now that this may fuel a second Shia insurgency across the country.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Technology and terror. Did a British man use the Internet and e-mail to support terrorists?
CNN's Alina Cho has the latest on this case and efforts to bring him to the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What was unsealed today in New Haven was a 31-page criminal complaint against 30-year-old Babar Ahmad.
Among the most serious allegations, that Ahmad was operating several Web sites, some of them based in Connecticut, with the goal of providing financial support to terrorists, specifically the Taliban and Chechen Mujahedeen.
The complaint also alleged that a floppy disc was found with detailed drawings, including planned movements, even vulnerabilities of a U.S. battle group that was stationed in the Persian Gulf. Naval officials, according to this complaint, confirmed that those plans were accurate and classified.
KEVIN O'CONNOR, U.S. ATTORNEY: Additional evidence was obtained from a floppy disc found in Mr. Ahmad's residence that set forth classified plans, then classified plans, for a USA Naval battle group operating in the Straits of Hormuz in April of 2001.
In particular, the document discussed the battle group's planned movements roughly two weeks later and included a drawing of the group's formation, as well as the names of each ship therein and where they would be in that formation.
CHO: Ahmad, who is a 30-year-old British citizen of Middle Eastern descent, appeared in a London court today. The charges were read against him. He was denied bail. When asked if he understood the charges, incidentally, he said: "Not really. It's a bit confusing."
He was arrested last night following a raid on his home in London, the result of a lengthy investigation following what the U.S. attorney called a post-9/11 tip. Important to note that the Internet service providers based in the United States are not under investigation, but the U.S. attorney says that U.S. citizens who apparently made donations to these Web sites are part of an ongoing investigation.
Alina Cho, CNN, New Haven, Connecticut.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: News across America now.
Attorneys for Mark Hacking are considering mental illness as a defense strategy. Hacking's attorney tell a Utah television station he may also challenge Hacking's confession to relatives that he killed his wife, Lori. Her body has not been found.
Charged and on suicide watch, two suburban Atlanta teenagers accused of killing one of the girl's grandparents appeared in court today. Prosecutors allege one of the girls recruited her lesbian lover to lie in wait under her grandparents' bed as she lured them in for an attack.
Transportation officials are at the scene of a deadly Greyhound bus crash in Tennessee. The bus and a tractor-trailer collided on Interstate 40 near Jackson early today. Three people were killed. More than a dozen were injured.
Well, a burning question for philosophers, scientists and Pink Floyd: Is there anybody out there? Our own Miles O'Brien goes exploring the cosmos ahead on LIVE FROM.
Speaking of being out there, how would you like golfing a course more than 1,200 miles long. There better be some great rounds waiting at the 19th hole, I'll tell you that. Ahead, you are going to meet the guy who took golfing to the extreme.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER UPDATE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: And word just coming into CNN right now that Rick James, musician Rick James has died.
We don't know much of the cause of death. All we can tell you now is LAPD is responding to his home, or has responded to his home. They have found him dead in his home in Los Angeles. You'll know -- Rick James, of course, was best known for that song back in the '80s, "Super Freak." He had kind of gone through ups and downs after his big music career hit the tops there in the '80s.
You'll remember that he -- OK, I'm getting more information now. OK, we're still not quite sure the cause of death. But we know, though, that police have responded to his home. He's been found dead in his home. I can tell you that we had interviewed him not long ago. And he actually had been working on a manuscript for an autobiography called "Memoirs of a Super Freak."
He actually talked about that here on CNN. I don't know if he actually finished that book, but he was working on it. It was actually set to come out sometime this year. Rick James also had been battling a drug problem for a while. And then, when he came on the air with us, he was actually talking about how he was getting his life in order and going forward, writing this book and also a new C.D. He had been talking to us about the Michael Jackson case, very good friends, obviously, with Michael Jackson.
That's the last time we had a chance to talk to him. But now it is being reported that Rick James has been found dead at his home in Los Angeles. We're working this story. We'll bring you more information as soon as we get it.
We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
REP: Ever wondered whether E.T. really exists? Well, some scientists will have you believe that he or someone like him does indeed live out there in the cosmos. This Sunday, Miles O'Brien goes searching for signs of life in the universe in "CNN PRESENTS: Is Anybody Out There?"
Here's a preview.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's late at night, or perhaps by now, early in the morning. The coffee is hot, The champagne on ice, just in case tonight's the night Jill Tarter and her team make contact with an alien civilization.
JILL TARTER, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR SETI RESEARCH: We actually detected two C.W. signals on that.
O'BRIEN: For Tarter, all the optimistic talk about finding microscopic life out there somewhere is just fine, thank you very much.
TARTER: But when people ask the question, "Are we alone?" they're really not talking about, is there some pond scum out there that we can find? They're really asking the question, is there some other intelligent creature out there that looks up at its universe and wonders as we do?
O'BRIEN: Jill Tarter is all about answering that question. For years, she's made pilgrimages here to the world's largest radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, hoping to tune into a signal from an intelligent civilization, WUFO, if you will. This is the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, or SETI.
TARTER: If you put a transmitter up there, and there is a radar transmitter in that.
O'BRIEN: Jill Tarter is the real-life inspiration for the Jodie Foster character in the movie contact. Remember how they described her? (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brilliant. Driven. Major pain in the ass.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Typical over the top Hollywood, right?
TARTER: Oh, no. I mean, I'm stubborn. I'm obsessional a bit. You have to be to continue on with something like this, in spite of the fact that everybody tells you, or many people tell you, that it's a waste of time.
PAUL DAVIES, AUSTRALIAN CTR. FOR ASTROBIOLOGY: It's a glorious, but almost certainly a hopeless quest. It's something we must do, we should do. It's worth spending the money, but it's one hell of a longshot. And I will be astonished if it succeeds.
But the real value of SETI in my opinion, is not are we going to pick up a signal? That would be one hell of a bonus. Because it forces us to think very deeply about what is life? What is intelligence? What is our place in the universe?
FRANK DRAKE, SETI INST. : No doubt, we are the riverboat gamblers of science. We're making the experiment that's a real long shot. But it's one of these things like a longshot in a horse race -- your chances of winning are very small, but if you win, you win really big.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, be sure to join Miles O'Brien for "CNN PRESENTS: Is Anybody Out There?" this Sunday, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, 5:00 Pacific.
Well, what kind of golfer goes 290 shots over par, loses 509 balls and still gets coverage on national television? That would be this golfer. His name is Andre Tolme. You probably don't recognize the name because he's not an engineer, not a pro tour player. And that course is definitely not Pebble Beach. It's Mongolia.
Tolme recently finished golfing across the entire country with nothing but a three iron, a jeep, and a loyal caddy.
Andre joins me now live from New York.
Good to see you, Andre.
ANDRE TOLME, GOLFED MONGOLIA: It's great to be here.
PHILLIPS: All right, why Mongolia?
TOLME: It was really the perfect country for this because of the geography. A lot of people go to Mongolia and they look at the short grass of the steppe and they think, boy, this country looks like one enormous fairway. And that's actually what I thought when I first visited there a few years ago. PHILLIPS: OK, so how did you set up your course? How did you devise where each hole was going to be? And I guess we should set up to viewers, it wasn't like you were playing a golf course. You sort of made up your own golf course.
TOLME: Exactly.
Yes, I studied the maps of Mongolia, looked at the contours and the geography and knew that I really had to go across the middle of the country, where they do have this steppe geography. And, basically, every hole, it took five or six days to finish a hole, about 75 miles. And they were between towns. It's a sparsely populated country. And I reached a town every five or six days. And that was the end of each hole.
PHILLIPS: Did you take any mulligans?
TOLME: Absolutely not. I played a true round of golf.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: All right, besides being crazy, why did you do this? What was the purpose? Were you just looking for an adventure?
TOLME: I wanted to push the envelope of expeditions everywhere, as far as creativity goes. And why not golf across the country and, at the same time, teach people about Mongolia, because it is a fascinating country with rich, generous people and a great history. And it had this dual purpose to it. And I wanted it educational, as well as entertaining for people.
PHILLIPS: And you did do that. Let's look at some of the pictures. Let's talk about the people that you met. Tell me about the people. Tell me about the children.
TOLME: Yes.
They're semi-nomadic herding people who live off their animals in the countryside. And they have horses and sheep and goats. And they don't see that many strangers coming by. But when they do see a stranger, they automatically invite you into their home and give you food and drinks and welcome you to stay with them. I think that hospitality is part of the Mongolian culture. That's how information has been always been exchanged there for centuries, is by welcoming strangers who pass by into your home.
PHILLIPS: Well, you also came upon election time. Tell us about how these guys with the election box and how they do their election process there.
TOLME: In the countryside, everyone can't make it to a town or a city to vote. And so they have a mobile ballot box.
And so I was in a ger, which we call a yurt. And these guys pull up with in a motorcycle with the ballot box in the their hand. And they went inside, and they filled out the ballot and checked off the voter registration form, dropped it in.
(LAUGHTER)
TOLME: And then they opened up a bottle of vodka to celebrate. And everyone had a few sips. And then they moved on to the next home, which is 20 miles away.
PHILLIPS: I love it, no hanging chads, but plenty of vodka.
Now, what is this about, you wear able to pay folks along the way 50 cents to spot your ball?
TOLME: That's actually on the only golf course in Mongolia. It's a nine-hole course where you pay a boy 50 cents. And he rides his horse on the golf course. After you tee off, he will go out and find your ball. It's, I think, the only course in the world where that happens.
PHILLIPS: I love it. And I love that your caddy was a sherpa. He sort of took you along the journey, didn't he?
TOLME: He was a great guy to be with and a lot of fun, and really took good care of me out there in the countryside.
PHILLIPS: I love it.
Andre Tolme, we look forward to your next trip and your book. Thanks for sharing your story with us.
TOLME: I look forward to telling you about it. Thanks a lot.
PHILLIPS: All right, very good.
All right, well, back to a developing story. We told you just a few moments ago that singer Rick James has died.
Toure, who is a contributor editor at "Rolling Stone" magazine, you know, he's a regular on our show, also. He joins me now by phone in New York.
Toure, what have you been able to find out about Rick James?
TOURE, "ROLLING STONE": I'm just shocked. I heard him on the radio a few days ago in New York and he sounded good and robust and was talking about music. And it seems that his hard life has perhaps caught up with him. And the wires are reporting natural causes took him out this morning.
PHILLIPS: Yes, this is someone that really was on just the top of the world with "Super Freak" in the '80s. He was just huge. And then he hit a drug addiction. He had a hard time. He got in trouble with the law for a while.
Sort of give our viewers sort of a quick 101 on Rick James and then kind of how he was sort of turning his life around and sort of heading in the right direction as of the past few years. TOURE: Well, yes.
Before Prince, OK, there was a really wild guy making hard dance grooves and really propulsive funk, really dangerous sort of funk, like "Mary Jane" and "Super Freak" and "Cold-Blooded" and "Give It to Me Baby." And the whole "Street Songs" album was incredible. And Prince sort of takes what Rick James was a little further, but Rick James was there before him and just making great funk music.
But the hardness of the music was reflected in his life. He really lived it. And he's been on the Chappelle show, on Dave Chappelle's show lately, mocking himself, spoofing himself, being really funny, but saying cocaine is a powerful drug. And it is. And it's been affecting him. He did some time. He seems to be clean now, or seemed to be clean. But perhaps it was too much for his body.
PHILLIPS: Actually, I'm just getting word. I'm actually on the phone also, Toure, with one of his producers, saying that he talked with those that responded to his house. He is hearing that possibly Rick James has died of a heart attack. So we'll pursue that. That's coming from one of his producers right now I'm talking to on the phone.
Toure, I had just interviewed Rick James not too long ago. He was actually -- talked about how he was trying to turn his life around and get things back in order, working on some new music, also writing his memoirs. He actually told me it was "Memoirs of a Super Freak."
I'm curious to know if that autobiography is still going to come forward.
TOURE: My God. I mean, if that doesn't come out, what a loss to all of us to see what Rick James would have to say about his side of the story about his long, wild, crazy life.
PHILLIPS: Indeed, we know it was a wild life. That is for sure, and some great music.
Toure, thanks for joining us at the last minute there.
TOURE: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: Once again, if you're just tuning you, as we've been telling you, singer Rick James has died at his home in Los Angeles. We're continuing to work that story.
Meanwhile, that wraps it up for us here on this Friday edition of LIVE FROM.
"INSIDE POLITICS" now after a quick break.
TOURE: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Toure.
TOURE: OK. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired August 6, 2004 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: In the news now, a lower-than- expected job report now in the news.
Economists had predicted more than 200,000 new jobs last month. Only 32,000 were added, the smallest monthly gain this year, more fodder for the campaign trail. That's coming up.
Cracking terror on the Web. U.S. authorities say Babar Ahmad, a British citizen, used Web sites in this country seeking money and materials for terror groups, one of those sites in based in Connecticut. Just minutes from now, we'll take you there for the latest.
Leaving the fighting behind. Iraq's most revered Shiite cleric, the Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani, is now in London. Aides say that he had been in Najaf receiving treatment for heart problems, but had to leave when the fighting grew fierce. We'll have more on that in just a moment.
A killer may be on the loose. In central Florida, police are investigating the slaying of six adults whose bodies have been found in a home in Deltona. At the moment, they do not believe it was murder-suicide.
How many new jobs is enough? If you're looking, the answer probably is one. But if the job you want is president, the answer depends on whether you have that job already. If you're confused, welcome to economics and presidential politics and LIVE FROM.
We begin this hour with 32,000 more hirings than firings in the month of July, growth, yes, but experts expected more than six times that many.
CNN's Kathleen Hays tells us what that disconnect means and why it matters -- Kathleen.
KATHLEEN HAYS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think you spell it out, Kyra.
Jobs is the number one indicator for the economy in this election year, for interest rates for stocks. It's go-to number. And this time, it just didn't go far enough, as you said, a gain of only 32,000 jobs in July. That's the weakest monthly gain of the year. And the problem is that it looks like the economy had really some nice -- look at those March and April numbers, over 300,000. But each consecutive month, the increase getting smaller and smaller. It looks like the economy is losing some steam. Now, one way to look at it, hey, the average monthly gain the last six months isn't so bad, 180,000. But within this latest report, look at this. Services jobs, services industries, they account for about 80 percent of the jobs in the economy, only 14,000 new jobs created. In a good month, you would see 150,000 to 200,000.
People are wondering the impact of tax cuts from last year waning. Energy are prices are up. That's hurting customers, hurting demand. That's the problem. Now, a ray of hope in here. The unemployment rate did fall to 5.5 percent in July, the lowest level in almost three years. It's calculated separately, though, from the job numbers. And even the Labor Department went out of its way today to say that.
The payrolls number, the number of new jobs created, is a more reliable barometer of where the economy is heading. So, at the end of the day, people say they're hoping that maybe this slump is going to prove temporary. We have seen it on occasions like rising customer confidence, like -- again, the fact that the factory side of the economy still seems to be growing some jobs is a good side.
But, again, it's this sense that we are losing momentum that has many people worried, Kyra, and that is kind of a push-comes-to-shove kind of issue now for the president. Only a couple more of these jobs reports will be out by the time we cast our votes in early November. So there's a lot riding on these numbers, and certainly a disappointment today.
PHILLIPS: We'll be watching the numbers. Kathleen Hays, thanks so much.
The glass half-full interpretation of the jobs reports comes from the White House and Bush reelection campaign and the candidate setting himself at a rustic setting in rural New Hampshire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our economy's been through a lot. Today's employment report shows our economy is continuing to move forward.
You know, it reminds us that we're in a changing economy and we've got more to do. I'm not going to be satisfied until everybody who wants to work can find a job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: And the glass half-empty camp is fronted by the Democratic ticket of John Kerry and John Edwards. They point to more than one million jobs still unaccounted for since their opponents took office and they say the jobs that have come back pay less than the ones that are gone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My friends, in the last few days, you've heard people in positions of leadership on the other side, saying America that turned the corner. Well, it must have been a U-turn or else they're continually turning and they're going around in circles and ending up right back where they started from, because the fact is, this is unacceptable for the United States. We can do better. We can put people to work. And there are countless ways to do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, you can hear a lot more jousting over jobs on "JUDY WOODRUFF INSIDE POLITICS," 3:30 Eastern, 12:30 Pacific, right after LIVE FROM right here on CNN.
While the U.S. economy tops our news here at home, overseas, the fight for Iraq has escalated in the southern city of Najaf.
Let's go now to CNN's Matthew Chance. He's in Baghdad with the latest developments
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, fierce fighting is continuing between U.S.-led forces and the Mahdi Army, the militant group led by the firebrand Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Much of the fighting has been centered in the holy city of Najaf, to the south of the Iraqi capital.
There, U.S. tanks and armored vehicles back by helicopter gunships have been rolling into the center of Najaf. They're being confronted, though, by rocket-propelled-grenade-wielding members of the Mahdi Army militant. And much of the fighting has been taking place around the old center of the city, the location of the Imam Ali shrine, one of the holiest buildings in Shia Islam.
Now, we've been getting some extremely high estimates of casualties from the U.S. military on the ground there. According to a spokesman for the 11th Marine Expeditionary Force, which is doing a lot of the fighting down in Najaf. They're estimating that some 300 Mahdi Army fighters have been killed in the past two days of clashes with the U.S. Marines and the Mahdi Army.
That's being denied by the Mahdi Army itself, who say they're counting their casualties as 36 dead over the last two days, nevertheless, extremely serious violence that has spread elsewhere in Iraq as well. In Sadr City, a district of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, fierce fighting overnight, the whole area of the city engulfed with clashes between U.S. forces, again, and members of the Mahdi Army.
According to the Iraqi Health Ministry, at least 20 people killed in fighting since Thursday there and much of that fighting overnight. We've also had pictures from the southern town of Amarah, just north of Basra, which is under the security control of British forces, not reporting any clashes at this stage, but quite angry demonstrations by supporters of the Mahdi Army against the Iraqi interim government and against the U.S.-led coalition forces, the British in this case in the area.
So, very extreme violence -- in fact, the worst certainly in Najaf we've seen there since June, when a cease-fire was broken with Muqtada al-Sadr, big concerns now that this may fuel a second Shia insurgency across the country.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Technology and terror. Did a British man use the Internet and e-mail to support terrorists?
CNN's Alina Cho has the latest on this case and efforts to bring him to the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What was unsealed today in New Haven was a 31-page criminal complaint against 30-year-old Babar Ahmad.
Among the most serious allegations, that Ahmad was operating several Web sites, some of them based in Connecticut, with the goal of providing financial support to terrorists, specifically the Taliban and Chechen Mujahedeen.
The complaint also alleged that a floppy disc was found with detailed drawings, including planned movements, even vulnerabilities of a U.S. battle group that was stationed in the Persian Gulf. Naval officials, according to this complaint, confirmed that those plans were accurate and classified.
KEVIN O'CONNOR, U.S. ATTORNEY: Additional evidence was obtained from a floppy disc found in Mr. Ahmad's residence that set forth classified plans, then classified plans, for a USA Naval battle group operating in the Straits of Hormuz in April of 2001.
In particular, the document discussed the battle group's planned movements roughly two weeks later and included a drawing of the group's formation, as well as the names of each ship therein and where they would be in that formation.
CHO: Ahmad, who is a 30-year-old British citizen of Middle Eastern descent, appeared in a London court today. The charges were read against him. He was denied bail. When asked if he understood the charges, incidentally, he said: "Not really. It's a bit confusing."
He was arrested last night following a raid on his home in London, the result of a lengthy investigation following what the U.S. attorney called a post-9/11 tip. Important to note that the Internet service providers based in the United States are not under investigation, but the U.S. attorney says that U.S. citizens who apparently made donations to these Web sites are part of an ongoing investigation.
Alina Cho, CNN, New Haven, Connecticut.
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PHILLIPS: News across America now.
Attorneys for Mark Hacking are considering mental illness as a defense strategy. Hacking's attorney tell a Utah television station he may also challenge Hacking's confession to relatives that he killed his wife, Lori. Her body has not been found.
Charged and on suicide watch, two suburban Atlanta teenagers accused of killing one of the girl's grandparents appeared in court today. Prosecutors allege one of the girls recruited her lesbian lover to lie in wait under her grandparents' bed as she lured them in for an attack.
Transportation officials are at the scene of a deadly Greyhound bus crash in Tennessee. The bus and a tractor-trailer collided on Interstate 40 near Jackson early today. Three people were killed. More than a dozen were injured.
Well, a burning question for philosophers, scientists and Pink Floyd: Is there anybody out there? Our own Miles O'Brien goes exploring the cosmos ahead on LIVE FROM.
Speaking of being out there, how would you like golfing a course more than 1,200 miles long. There better be some great rounds waiting at the 19th hole, I'll tell you that. Ahead, you are going to meet the guy who took golfing to the extreme.
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PHILLIPS: And word just coming into CNN right now that Rick James, musician Rick James has died.
We don't know much of the cause of death. All we can tell you now is LAPD is responding to his home, or has responded to his home. They have found him dead in his home in Los Angeles. You'll know -- Rick James, of course, was best known for that song back in the '80s, "Super Freak." He had kind of gone through ups and downs after his big music career hit the tops there in the '80s.
You'll remember that he -- OK, I'm getting more information now. OK, we're still not quite sure the cause of death. But we know, though, that police have responded to his home. He's been found dead in his home. I can tell you that we had interviewed him not long ago. And he actually had been working on a manuscript for an autobiography called "Memoirs of a Super Freak."
He actually talked about that here on CNN. I don't know if he actually finished that book, but he was working on it. It was actually set to come out sometime this year. Rick James also had been battling a drug problem for a while. And then, when he came on the air with us, he was actually talking about how he was getting his life in order and going forward, writing this book and also a new C.D. He had been talking to us about the Michael Jackson case, very good friends, obviously, with Michael Jackson.
That's the last time we had a chance to talk to him. But now it is being reported that Rick James has been found dead at his home in Los Angeles. We're working this story. We'll bring you more information as soon as we get it.
We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.
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REP: Ever wondered whether E.T. really exists? Well, some scientists will have you believe that he or someone like him does indeed live out there in the cosmos. This Sunday, Miles O'Brien goes searching for signs of life in the universe in "CNN PRESENTS: Is Anybody Out There?"
Here's a preview.
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MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's late at night, or perhaps by now, early in the morning. The coffee is hot, The champagne on ice, just in case tonight's the night Jill Tarter and her team make contact with an alien civilization.
JILL TARTER, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR SETI RESEARCH: We actually detected two C.W. signals on that.
O'BRIEN: For Tarter, all the optimistic talk about finding microscopic life out there somewhere is just fine, thank you very much.
TARTER: But when people ask the question, "Are we alone?" they're really not talking about, is there some pond scum out there that we can find? They're really asking the question, is there some other intelligent creature out there that looks up at its universe and wonders as we do?
O'BRIEN: Jill Tarter is all about answering that question. For years, she's made pilgrimages here to the world's largest radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, hoping to tune into a signal from an intelligent civilization, WUFO, if you will. This is the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, or SETI.
TARTER: If you put a transmitter up there, and there is a radar transmitter in that.
O'BRIEN: Jill Tarter is the real-life inspiration for the Jodie Foster character in the movie contact. Remember how they described her? (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brilliant. Driven. Major pain in the ass.
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O'BRIEN: Typical over the top Hollywood, right?
TARTER: Oh, no. I mean, I'm stubborn. I'm obsessional a bit. You have to be to continue on with something like this, in spite of the fact that everybody tells you, or many people tell you, that it's a waste of time.
PAUL DAVIES, AUSTRALIAN CTR. FOR ASTROBIOLOGY: It's a glorious, but almost certainly a hopeless quest. It's something we must do, we should do. It's worth spending the money, but it's one hell of a longshot. And I will be astonished if it succeeds.
But the real value of SETI in my opinion, is not are we going to pick up a signal? That would be one hell of a bonus. Because it forces us to think very deeply about what is life? What is intelligence? What is our place in the universe?
FRANK DRAKE, SETI INST. : No doubt, we are the riverboat gamblers of science. We're making the experiment that's a real long shot. But it's one of these things like a longshot in a horse race -- your chances of winning are very small, but if you win, you win really big.
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PHILLIPS: Well, be sure to join Miles O'Brien for "CNN PRESENTS: Is Anybody Out There?" this Sunday, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, 5:00 Pacific.
Well, what kind of golfer goes 290 shots over par, loses 509 balls and still gets coverage on national television? That would be this golfer. His name is Andre Tolme. You probably don't recognize the name because he's not an engineer, not a pro tour player. And that course is definitely not Pebble Beach. It's Mongolia.
Tolme recently finished golfing across the entire country with nothing but a three iron, a jeep, and a loyal caddy.
Andre joins me now live from New York.
Good to see you, Andre.
ANDRE TOLME, GOLFED MONGOLIA: It's great to be here.
PHILLIPS: All right, why Mongolia?
TOLME: It was really the perfect country for this because of the geography. A lot of people go to Mongolia and they look at the short grass of the steppe and they think, boy, this country looks like one enormous fairway. And that's actually what I thought when I first visited there a few years ago. PHILLIPS: OK, so how did you set up your course? How did you devise where each hole was going to be? And I guess we should set up to viewers, it wasn't like you were playing a golf course. You sort of made up your own golf course.
TOLME: Exactly.
Yes, I studied the maps of Mongolia, looked at the contours and the geography and knew that I really had to go across the middle of the country, where they do have this steppe geography. And, basically, every hole, it took five or six days to finish a hole, about 75 miles. And they were between towns. It's a sparsely populated country. And I reached a town every five or six days. And that was the end of each hole.
PHILLIPS: Did you take any mulligans?
TOLME: Absolutely not. I played a true round of golf.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: All right, besides being crazy, why did you do this? What was the purpose? Were you just looking for an adventure?
TOLME: I wanted to push the envelope of expeditions everywhere, as far as creativity goes. And why not golf across the country and, at the same time, teach people about Mongolia, because it is a fascinating country with rich, generous people and a great history. And it had this dual purpose to it. And I wanted it educational, as well as entertaining for people.
PHILLIPS: And you did do that. Let's look at some of the pictures. Let's talk about the people that you met. Tell me about the people. Tell me about the children.
TOLME: Yes.
They're semi-nomadic herding people who live off their animals in the countryside. And they have horses and sheep and goats. And they don't see that many strangers coming by. But when they do see a stranger, they automatically invite you into their home and give you food and drinks and welcome you to stay with them. I think that hospitality is part of the Mongolian culture. That's how information has been always been exchanged there for centuries, is by welcoming strangers who pass by into your home.
PHILLIPS: Well, you also came upon election time. Tell us about how these guys with the election box and how they do their election process there.
TOLME: In the countryside, everyone can't make it to a town or a city to vote. And so they have a mobile ballot box.
And so I was in a ger, which we call a yurt. And these guys pull up with in a motorcycle with the ballot box in the their hand. And they went inside, and they filled out the ballot and checked off the voter registration form, dropped it in.
(LAUGHTER)
TOLME: And then they opened up a bottle of vodka to celebrate. And everyone had a few sips. And then they moved on to the next home, which is 20 miles away.
PHILLIPS: I love it, no hanging chads, but plenty of vodka.
Now, what is this about, you wear able to pay folks along the way 50 cents to spot your ball?
TOLME: That's actually on the only golf course in Mongolia. It's a nine-hole course where you pay a boy 50 cents. And he rides his horse on the golf course. After you tee off, he will go out and find your ball. It's, I think, the only course in the world where that happens.
PHILLIPS: I love it. And I love that your caddy was a sherpa. He sort of took you along the journey, didn't he?
TOLME: He was a great guy to be with and a lot of fun, and really took good care of me out there in the countryside.
PHILLIPS: I love it.
Andre Tolme, we look forward to your next trip and your book. Thanks for sharing your story with us.
TOLME: I look forward to telling you about it. Thanks a lot.
PHILLIPS: All right, very good.
All right, well, back to a developing story. We told you just a few moments ago that singer Rick James has died.
Toure, who is a contributor editor at "Rolling Stone" magazine, you know, he's a regular on our show, also. He joins me now by phone in New York.
Toure, what have you been able to find out about Rick James?
TOURE, "ROLLING STONE": I'm just shocked. I heard him on the radio a few days ago in New York and he sounded good and robust and was talking about music. And it seems that his hard life has perhaps caught up with him. And the wires are reporting natural causes took him out this morning.
PHILLIPS: Yes, this is someone that really was on just the top of the world with "Super Freak" in the '80s. He was just huge. And then he hit a drug addiction. He had a hard time. He got in trouble with the law for a while.
Sort of give our viewers sort of a quick 101 on Rick James and then kind of how he was sort of turning his life around and sort of heading in the right direction as of the past few years. TOURE: Well, yes.
Before Prince, OK, there was a really wild guy making hard dance grooves and really propulsive funk, really dangerous sort of funk, like "Mary Jane" and "Super Freak" and "Cold-Blooded" and "Give It to Me Baby." And the whole "Street Songs" album was incredible. And Prince sort of takes what Rick James was a little further, but Rick James was there before him and just making great funk music.
But the hardness of the music was reflected in his life. He really lived it. And he's been on the Chappelle show, on Dave Chappelle's show lately, mocking himself, spoofing himself, being really funny, but saying cocaine is a powerful drug. And it is. And it's been affecting him. He did some time. He seems to be clean now, or seemed to be clean. But perhaps it was too much for his body.
PHILLIPS: Actually, I'm just getting word. I'm actually on the phone also, Toure, with one of his producers, saying that he talked with those that responded to his house. He is hearing that possibly Rick James has died of a heart attack. So we'll pursue that. That's coming from one of his producers right now I'm talking to on the phone.
Toure, I had just interviewed Rick James not too long ago. He was actually -- talked about how he was trying to turn his life around and get things back in order, working on some new music, also writing his memoirs. He actually told me it was "Memoirs of a Super Freak."
I'm curious to know if that autobiography is still going to come forward.
TOURE: My God. I mean, if that doesn't come out, what a loss to all of us to see what Rick James would have to say about his side of the story about his long, wild, crazy life.
PHILLIPS: Indeed, we know it was a wild life. That is for sure, and some great music.
Toure, thanks for joining us at the last minute there.
TOURE: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: Once again, if you're just tuning you, as we've been telling you, singer Rick James has died at his home in Los Angeles. We're continuing to work that story.
Meanwhile, that wraps it up for us here on this Friday edition of LIVE FROM.
"INSIDE POLITICS" now after a quick break.
TOURE: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Toure.
TOURE: OK. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
