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Missionary Finds U.S. Children Abandoned in Nigeria; U.S. Women Olympic Gymnastics Team Takes Silver

Aired August 18, 2004 - 13:26   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.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Military sources tell CNN a just-finished Army report recommends possible disciplinary action against about two dozen personnel in the Abu Ghraib Prison scandal. One source says there is no evidence of a policy directive ordering abuse and that it appears to have resulted from a lack of discipline by the troops involved.
Democrat John Kerry says a plan to reassign 70,000 U.S. troops will send the wrong message to U.S. allies. Kerry was at the Veterans of Foreign Affairs (sic) convention in Ohio. President Bush unveiled a 10-year deployment plan to the VFW on Monday. More on both candidates' message to veterans on CNN's "INSIDE POLITICS" at 3:30 Eastern.

The captain of the Staten Island ferry boat that crashed last October will avoid prosecution for lying to investigators. Eleven people died in that crash and more than 70 others were hurt. Prosecutors made a deal not to prosecute Michael Gansas. In exchange, he has agreed to testify in other cases connected to that crash.

Florida police arrest the former caretakers of a missing girl. Five-year-old Rilya Wilson's disappearance exposed serious problems in the state's child welfare system. State workers missed more than a year's worth of required visits to the caretaker's home. Rilya Wilson is still missing.

Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.

A Texas pastor calls it a miracle. Child Protective Services calls it a hellish situation. A church missionary finds seven Texas children, ages 8 to 16, abandoned by their adopted mother. Where were they? Halfway around the world in an orphanage in Nigeria. They were skinny, sickly and just wanted to go back to America. Reporter Jeremy Desel with CNN affiliate KHOU picks up the story from the Texas high school where the oldest girl was a model student.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DESEL, KHOU REPORTER, (voice-over): For years she was a standout student at Sterling High School.

RASHEDA MALVEAUX, TEACHER: She was a pleasure to have in the classroom. She was just a really good student.

DESEL: Not just the classroom, in ROTC, too.

CPO JOSEPH BENNETT, TEACHER: She was attached, you know, teach me everything. I'm going to go in the Navy when I get out of school.

DESEL: Enough to give teachers high hopes. Then the 16-year-old simply vanished.

BENNETT: The only thing that I ever heard from her was, I think we're going to move.

DESEL: She is one of seven adopted children on the move, the youngest just 8. They also spent time at the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Houston. The younger kids had more to say.

MONA BATES, BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS: Well, they came up to me and told me that their mom didn't want them anymore and that she was sending all of them to Africa. It was very sudden.

DESEL: Then they were gone. That was last October, found earlier this month in a Nigerian orphanage by a Pastor Warren Beemer.

WARREN BEEMER, CORNERSTONE CHURCH: It was a very, very desolate feeling place. It felt like about the end of the Earth, about the last spot you would want to end up.

DESEL: Beemer quizzed the oldest girl. She rattled off her school and the names of these three teachers, her form of ID.

CELESTE MCNEIL, TEACHER: That's on thing that touches my heart, because you really never know. I mean, we hope that we affect a child's life, but you never really know.

DESEL: The teachers hardly recognize her now.

MCNEIL: It is. It's someone you actually know. So it really -- it bothers me.

MALVEAUX: And you see how she looks and you're, like, oh, my God. This child is really sick.

DESEL: They all knew the oldest girl, the one playing cards on the porch, the one first talked to by the missionary who would be their savior, was strong, more than they could see.

BENNETT: That's devastating to me. It is. It hurts me because I know this girl.

DESEL: The teachers may know the oldest child well. Laquinta Teague (ph) knows three of them. She should. She's their birth mother. Now all she has is their pictures.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I knew something wasn't right. I could feel it. I could feel it in my heart that something just wasn't right, wherever they was at.

DESEL: Seeing the pictures of them now, malnourished and sickly, is too much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I miss them. I want them to come home. I don't know how they ended up way over there.

DESEL: Only one woman does and she's not talking. Jeremy Desel, 11 News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, joining me now from San Antonio, Texas, is Pastor Warren Beemer of Cornerstone Church. He is the man who discovered the orphans in Nigeria and helped to get them home. Pastor Beemer, great to have you with us. I guess I want to start by talking about the mission. You were just on a regular mission in Nigeria, you were in this orphanage, you heard the kids speaking English. Take it from there.

BEEMER: Our church sponsors several missions in Nigeria, feeding the homeless and widows. And we were there just trying to bring light into some kids's lives. And all of a sudden we heard a young lady talking with an American accent. It was shocking.

So we asked her, where are you from? She said in a very strong, very spirited, American way, Houston. And we asked her where she -- why she was there. She said, well, all my brothers and sisters are here. We said, where? And she took us right around the side of the building to a dark room where her six brothers and sisters were shut up inside. And they just sat there on a wall looking at us.

PHILLIPS: So their mother -- the adopted mother I guess we should say, to this point had somewhat taken care of these kids because you were saying -- the kids were telling you that usually she just took the government money and spent it on other things? I mean, these were kids that weren't cared for even in America, right?

BEEMER: Even in the States, according to the children's account, they weren't taken care of. Their actual words were, mama gets a big check for us, she spends it on herself and we shop at a thrift store. And it was a heartbreaking thing. When I asked them point-blank, why did your mom do this? They said, because she don't want us, she don't want us anymore so she left us here. That was their answer.

PHILLIPS: So you were telling me the mother met a man, got married. He already had kids. So she just wanted to get rid of these children and dumped them off in Nigeria. They were living in some shanty with a distant relative, ended up in this orphanage. Where is the mother?

BEEMER: The mother right now is still in Houston, Texas. Hopefully, she's facing some charges. As soon as I got the information, I sent it back to my pastor, Pastor John Hagee. He immediately called Senator John Cornyn and Congressman Tom DeLay. They worked tirelessly with CPS and the State Department.

And thanks to their good work, a week later, seven days later, those kids were home. And also thanks to their good work, something is being followed up on this lady. And hopefully, she's going to receive just what the kids said she deserved. The kids themselves said they hope she goes to jail. PHILLIPS: I want to point out, too, I did try calling that home phone number for the mother. It has been disconnected. We should also point out, this is definitely, at this point, just allegations. But when we see the pictures, we're hearing your story, let's continue that. Do you know if these kids were exploited at all?

BEEMER: I asked them several times, has anybody touched you, anyone hurt you. They said their uncle was nice to them there. They said they hadn't been, other than the abandonment, of being exploited in that place. It is a place literally -- I don't even know if I know an American that would put their dog there in what we saw, the conditions they lived in. Sleeping on frames, springs with no mattresses, the smell of urine so strong it took your breath when you walked in the room and food that -- it just wasn't describable even to see them eating it.

PHILLIPS: What about the people that ran this orphanage in Nigeria? Did they accept you and let you talk to these kids cart blanche? And when you told them you wanted to bring them back to the United States, were they OK with all of that?

BEEMER: Initially, they weren't. They were objectionable to us talking to them and taking pictures. God gave us the wisdom and the strength to push through that. Once we finally saw these were Americans and we knew these were American kids, it would have taken a whole lot more than what was there to stop us from getting the information that we needed, getting the pictures we needed and making sure our kids were taken care of.

PHILLIPS: Well, now the kids are back in the States. You say they are OK. Are they going back to school? Are they in foster homes now?

BEEMER: We've heard that right now three of them have started school back. They are right now in two different foster homes. They are wanting to stay together. We've offered at Cornerstone, a church in San Antonio, Texas, our pastor, John Hagee, has offered to bring them down to -- he has acquired a home -- a five-bedroom home to hire houseparents and to give them a life, a free education.

We would love to see them really taken care of. We've started to receive donations from around too to make sure the kids are taken care of. Our youth group has raised about $700 that they took in. I gave the kids some American money while I was there. The children started crying when they held American money. And I told them, I said, when you get back to the States I'm going to trade this $1 bill for a $100 bill. One of the young ladies said, you're going to give me a Benjamin? And I said, yes, sweetheart, we're going to give you a Benjamin. Well, our kids raised the money to give them all a Benjamin and hopefully we can see them soon to do that.

PHILLIPS: Well, in addition to Benjamins, hopefully get a lot more love. Pastor Warren Beemer, very admirable what you did. Thank you so much for telling us the story.

BEEMER: Praise the lord. PHILLIPS: Well, we're going to definitely follow this story for you. Child Protective Services in Houston is now investigating allegations that the adoptive mother abandoned those children. She faces a court hearing on August 26. We're going to keep you posted.

WHITFIELD: Well, group hugs and makeovers in the jury room of all places? It could happen with talk show queen Oprah Winfrey around. Jeanne Moos checks out one of our favorite stories of the week.

And one of the world's hairiest men wants to rock you, ew, sort of, to help build the self-confidence of people all over the world. Oh boy.

PHILLIPS: Ugh.

WHITFIELD: And it is that time again.

PHILLIPS: How about a wax?

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kyra, when we come back, we're going to be talking about the first Olympic event held at ancient Olympia in 1600 years. We're also going to be talking about stray dogs. I'm Michael Holmes in Athens. I'll be with you after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: A dominant U.S. basketball team crushed its opponent at the Olympics today. The men's team was in the stands to watch the U.S. women beat South Korea by 23 points.

Michael Holmes is also in Athens with the Olympic update. That info, in addition the shot put. We can't forget that, that's for sure. And the history behind where it took place.

HOLMES: That's right, Kyra. The track and field got under way today. It did so in ancient Olympia. That's where the original Olympics took place, not the modern Olympics we talked about, that recommenced back in 1896. Now this was the first athletic event, let's remember this, to be held there in 1,600 years. Also, the first time women have competed there.

Kyra, you're going to like this. Back in the old days, only men could compete, and they had to be naked. Today it was the women in the shot put, it was won by Russia, and they were very much clothed -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: I just want to make sure we make the point that the women were not naked. OK, very good.

All right, let's talk about the U.S. gymnastics, sort of an interesting twist, right, Michael, with Pamela Anderson? HOLMES: Yes, this is an amusing story indeed. The American gymnastics team were sort of favored to take out the gold medal. They are the current world champions. They didn't take out the gold medal. They lost that out to Romania, but still got a silver.

But what's interesting here is the makeup of the team. There are a couple members of this team. I'll just read their names, Mohini Bhardwaj, Annia Hatch. Now they're age 25 and 26 respectively. That would make them eligible for gymnastics' Social Security program, I would imagine.

Now Badwaj is also interesting, because she gave up gymnastics in the late '90s to go into college, and she was tempted back into training, we're told, because she was offered a $25,000 sponsorship check by Pam Anderson, that's right, Pamela Anderson, "Baywatch" got her back into gymnastics. She's got a silver medal, too.

PHILLIPS: Pamela is known to do some gymnastics of her own.

All right, let's talk about the personal fun you've been having, as you roll your eyes. No comment, I guess.

She was a gymnast? Fredricka's telling me she was a gymnast in her day. Did you know that, Michael Holmes?

HOLMES: I had no idea.

PHILLIPS: That's my little trivia question for today.

HOLMES: I thought you were referring to something else.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: I'm going to get in a lot of trouble today, I'm telling you. I think I'm already in big trouble. But anyway, all right, let's talk about stray dogs, and there's no relation here to Pamela Anderson, I promise.

HOLMES: Nor me, I hope. Yes, that's right. The question, who let the dogs out? You know, everybody is talking about the number of tourists and the number of athletes, the number of people sitting in the seats at the stadium. But there's also a great story about stray dogs. Athens has 12,000 stray dogs. They've been here probably since the original Olympics, and they're a fixture of the city.

Now when you are going to hold an Olympics, you have to spruce up the city, and stray dogs don't help with the sprucing up. So they started a bit of a roundup. They took them off to shelters, and hundreds, thousands of these dogs have been neutered, treated by veterinarians, and then guess what, they take them back to where they pick them up and let them go again. This is all part of what some people have said is Greece's great democratic traditions. Democracy was born here, and part of that seems to be that dogs can live wherever they jolly well like. And I got to tell you, that they're pretty well fed as well. The Greek people, they feed them, they look after them, and they stay on the street, wander around among the tourists. It's an amazing site really.

PHILLIPS: I can imagine, a little uzo, a little, you know, euro and a little bull there.

All right, we got to do a shout out, Michael, to the Iraqi soccer team. You were just in Iraq. You were covering, obviously, a lot of serious news there, but also you got a chance to do a lot of feature stories.

Now you come over to Athens. You got to talk about the soccer team.

HOLMES: It's great, isn't it? I met a couple of the players there, not the last time I was in Iraq, the first, the time before that. I lose track of the number of times in Iraq.

But these are young men who, of course -- let's remember, they don't even have a home field. They had to qualify for the Olympics in other countries. Their qualifying match was most recently in neighboring Jordan. They had to beat the Asia champions, Saudi Arabia, to get into the qualifying round. It was just an amazing story. They come here. They have won their first two games, and won them well, and they're playing again today, but it doesn't really matter, because this is just a group game; they're already into the quarterfinals.

The Iraqi soccer team is two games away from playing for a medal. Go figure. These guys are absolutely thrilled.

And at the stadium the other night, the stands were filled with Iraqis from all over Europe, because of course people in Iraq, pretty hard to get over here to watch an Olympics Games, and it's not exactly their top priority. But there were Iraqis from Australia, from the Netherlands, from the Germany, packing the stands and cheering their team on, and they are the media darlings as well. I mean, it's just such a wonderful story, and everybody is hoping they actually do get that medal. The realist will say, once they start hitting Brazil and countries like this, you know, a little reality is going to creep back into this fairy tale, but what a great story.

PHILLIPS: Yes, we're all rooting for them.

All right, our Michael Holmes there live, with the beautiful backdrop there, the Acropolis. We'll check in with you later. Thanks, Michael.

And I'm told right now, Iraq is playing Morocco, but no score so far.

WHITFIELD: Well, my fingers are crossed for them, because there were a lot of naysayers from the start, who said they wouldn't win a single game, and they did, so three and onward. All right, well, news around the world now. Scare tactics in Singapore. Smoking-related deaths lead to a government order. Graphic images put on cigarette packs to illustrate smoking effects. Hard to look at pictures include smokers' diseased lungs as well.

She's a real princess. Princess the pony helps a girl with cerebral palsy helps her exercise her weakened legs. And the pony has the run of her Australian family's home, enjoying spaghetti, pizza, cake, cartoons and beer, all the stuff that horses and ponies seem to like. And on Friday and Saturday nights, Princess sleeps in bed with her 10-year-old owner, earning the name princess.

Long hair and rock music go hand in hand for Chinese musician Yu Zen Twan (ph). A medical condition left 96 percent of his body covered with hair. He's put up with stares and taunts his life. And now he wants to become a successful musician to help other young people gain self confidence.

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, a life in Oprah's hands, sort of. The queen of talk on the jury. How will her star power impact the case? Jeanne Moos is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well, television talk show queen Oprah Winfrey has been selected to serve as a juror in a murder trial in Chicago.

PHILLIPS: And the question becomes: Would you put your fate in the hands of celebrity justice? Here is CNN's Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Remember when Oprah emerged victorious after cattlemen sued her for disparaging meat.

OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: Thank you, jury.

MOOS: Well, now she is the jury.

(on camera): Oprah Winfrey is going to be a juror in a murder trial.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For real?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She can handle it.

MOOS (voice-over): She has handled celebs ranging from the Donald to Arnold. But now, she's being shepherded around, wearing a red juror sticker just like everyone else -- not that she wanted on the jury.

WINFREY: Why did I decide? I was ordered.

MOOS: And while jury consultants opining on TV seemed to think it was nuts...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One of the lawyers needs a lobotomy for leaving this woman on.

MOOS: ... the public seemed not to mind.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why not?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Overall, it's good that everybody has to serve.

It could create somewhat of a circus atmosphere.

MOOS: And some wonder whether other jurors would just go along with Oprah.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If Oprah thinks he's guilty, he's guilty, right?

MOOS: But why stop at Oprah?

(on camera): All right, now let's say it's your murder trial. Who would you rather have: Regis or Kelly?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kelly, of course. What, are you kidding me?

MOOS: Oprah or Regis?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oprah.

MOOS: And why?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I just like her. I just like everything about her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just remember, you are on trial for killing your husband, OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know Regis a little bit, so I think I'd rather have Oprah.

MOOS: Ellen DeGeneres or Dr. Phil as your juror.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, Ellen DeGeneres.

MOOS: You'd think she'd be good?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Better than Dr. Phil, that's for sure.

DR. PHIL, TV PERSONALITY: Are you serious?

MOOS: Dr. Phil or Ellen DeGeneres.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ellen.

MOOS: Thinking?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thinking I think he's a pompous (expletive deleted). UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, people say I look like Dr. Phil, so I'll take him.

MOOS (voice-over): Viewers, what's your verdict?

First, we have celebrity defendants, then celebrity judges...

JUDGE JUDY SHEINDLIN: What the hell is wrong with you?

MOOS: ... now celebrity jurors. What's next, celebrity bailiffs?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALES: Oprah, Oprah!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Opera, yes, that's good.

MOOS (on camera): No. Oprah, not opera. Oprah Winfrey.

(voice-over): Order in the court. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: I'm actually very surprised she was seated.

PHILLIPS: Really?

WHITFIELD: Yes.

PHILLIPS: They were saying she's going to have to have special security coming in and out to kind of keep her away from the press and from getting mobbed.

WHITFIELD: Because oftentimes even after you have a verdict, jurors like to remain anonymous. This juror would never remain anonymous.

PHILLIPS: I think she gave that up a long time ago.

WHITFIELD: Yes, I think so. I'm surprised they seated her for a high-profile case like that.

Anyway, I digress.

All right, well, there's been a lot of talk about Halliburton and how much it has charged the U.S. military for certain services. Let's bring in Fred Katayama.

PHILLIPS: Yes, Fred squared (ph), once again, live from the New York Stock Exchange. Hey, Fred.

FRED KATAYAMA, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi Kyra, hi Fredricka.

Well, Halliburton could now have a little more time to go through its bills for the U.S. Army. The army had earlier said it would withhold about $60 million a month from Halliburton's KBR unit unless the subsidiary could justify the costs.

Now, reports say the army has reversed that decision. The government is investigating allegations that Halliburton had overcharged for services in Iraq and Kuwait. The oil services giant has already been granted extra time to address questions twice this year, and some members of Congress are concerned that Halliburton may be getting special treatment because it was formerly run by Vice President Dick Cheney -- Kyra and Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, speaking of oil, how are the oil companies doing today?

KATAYAMA: Well, oil hit a record high earlier today, but it's since cooled off a bit. Prices are still hovering around $47 a barrel, however. Concerns that tight supplies may not be enough to meet surging demand are helping fuel the oil rally.

Stocks are moving cautiously higher today as investors keep a close eye on those oil prices. The Dow Industrials are adding 35 points. The Nasdaq is up more than 1%.

And that's the latest from Wall Street. Coming up in the next hour of LIVE FROM, more Americans are feeling the need for speed, at least when it comes to the Internet. I'll explain later.

Kyra and Fredricka, back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks a lot, Fred.

I don't think we need any of that right now.

PHILLIPS: No.

WHITFIELD: We have enough zippity zip up here.

PHILLIPS: She's got a lot of energy today. It's the non-child hour.

All right, we've got a special live presentation coming on tonight.

WHITFIELD: We do. Paula Zahn takes the polls of undecided voters in the battleground state of Ohio. What will make them vote for Bush or for Kerry?

PHILLIPS: Find out tonight, 8:00 Eastern, as Paula Zahn hosts "The Undecided Vote: A CNN Town Hall Meeting" live from Ohio. You've got a question for the Bush or Kerry camps but can't get to Ohio, well e-mail your questions...

WHITFIELD: Who you gonna call?

PHILLIPS: Who you gonna call? Paula. So, e-mail your questions: cnn.com/paula.

Coming up in the next hour of LIVE FROM, all the day's news, of course.

WHITFIELD: And do we have a deal or not with radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr?

PHILLIPS: The situation out there is still up in the air. We'll be going to Najaf in a moment.

LIVE FROM's hour of power begins right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired August 18, 2004 - 13:26   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Military sources tell CNN a just-finished Army report recommends possible disciplinary action against about two dozen personnel in the Abu Ghraib Prison scandal. One source says there is no evidence of a policy directive ordering abuse and that it appears to have resulted from a lack of discipline by the troops involved.
Democrat John Kerry says a plan to reassign 70,000 U.S. troops will send the wrong message to U.S. allies. Kerry was at the Veterans of Foreign Affairs (sic) convention in Ohio. President Bush unveiled a 10-year deployment plan to the VFW on Monday. More on both candidates' message to veterans on CNN's "INSIDE POLITICS" at 3:30 Eastern.

The captain of the Staten Island ferry boat that crashed last October will avoid prosecution for lying to investigators. Eleven people died in that crash and more than 70 others were hurt. Prosecutors made a deal not to prosecute Michael Gansas. In exchange, he has agreed to testify in other cases connected to that crash.

Florida police arrest the former caretakers of a missing girl. Five-year-old Rilya Wilson's disappearance exposed serious problems in the state's child welfare system. State workers missed more than a year's worth of required visits to the caretaker's home. Rilya Wilson is still missing.

Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.

A Texas pastor calls it a miracle. Child Protective Services calls it a hellish situation. A church missionary finds seven Texas children, ages 8 to 16, abandoned by their adopted mother. Where were they? Halfway around the world in an orphanage in Nigeria. They were skinny, sickly and just wanted to go back to America. Reporter Jeremy Desel with CNN affiliate KHOU picks up the story from the Texas high school where the oldest girl was a model student.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DESEL, KHOU REPORTER, (voice-over): For years she was a standout student at Sterling High School.

RASHEDA MALVEAUX, TEACHER: She was a pleasure to have in the classroom. She was just a really good student.

DESEL: Not just the classroom, in ROTC, too.

CPO JOSEPH BENNETT, TEACHER: She was attached, you know, teach me everything. I'm going to go in the Navy when I get out of school.

DESEL: Enough to give teachers high hopes. Then the 16-year-old simply vanished.

BENNETT: The only thing that I ever heard from her was, I think we're going to move.

DESEL: She is one of seven adopted children on the move, the youngest just 8. They also spent time at the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Houston. The younger kids had more to say.

MONA BATES, BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS: Well, they came up to me and told me that their mom didn't want them anymore and that she was sending all of them to Africa. It was very sudden.

DESEL: Then they were gone. That was last October, found earlier this month in a Nigerian orphanage by a Pastor Warren Beemer.

WARREN BEEMER, CORNERSTONE CHURCH: It was a very, very desolate feeling place. It felt like about the end of the Earth, about the last spot you would want to end up.

DESEL: Beemer quizzed the oldest girl. She rattled off her school and the names of these three teachers, her form of ID.

CELESTE MCNEIL, TEACHER: That's on thing that touches my heart, because you really never know. I mean, we hope that we affect a child's life, but you never really know.

DESEL: The teachers hardly recognize her now.

MCNEIL: It is. It's someone you actually know. So it really -- it bothers me.

MALVEAUX: And you see how she looks and you're, like, oh, my God. This child is really sick.

DESEL: They all knew the oldest girl, the one playing cards on the porch, the one first talked to by the missionary who would be their savior, was strong, more than they could see.

BENNETT: That's devastating to me. It is. It hurts me because I know this girl.

DESEL: The teachers may know the oldest child well. Laquinta Teague (ph) knows three of them. She should. She's their birth mother. Now all she has is their pictures.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I knew something wasn't right. I could feel it. I could feel it in my heart that something just wasn't right, wherever they was at.

DESEL: Seeing the pictures of them now, malnourished and sickly, is too much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I miss them. I want them to come home. I don't know how they ended up way over there.

DESEL: Only one woman does and she's not talking. Jeremy Desel, 11 News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, joining me now from San Antonio, Texas, is Pastor Warren Beemer of Cornerstone Church. He is the man who discovered the orphans in Nigeria and helped to get them home. Pastor Beemer, great to have you with us. I guess I want to start by talking about the mission. You were just on a regular mission in Nigeria, you were in this orphanage, you heard the kids speaking English. Take it from there.

BEEMER: Our church sponsors several missions in Nigeria, feeding the homeless and widows. And we were there just trying to bring light into some kids's lives. And all of a sudden we heard a young lady talking with an American accent. It was shocking.

So we asked her, where are you from? She said in a very strong, very spirited, American way, Houston. And we asked her where she -- why she was there. She said, well, all my brothers and sisters are here. We said, where? And she took us right around the side of the building to a dark room where her six brothers and sisters were shut up inside. And they just sat there on a wall looking at us.

PHILLIPS: So their mother -- the adopted mother I guess we should say, to this point had somewhat taken care of these kids because you were saying -- the kids were telling you that usually she just took the government money and spent it on other things? I mean, these were kids that weren't cared for even in America, right?

BEEMER: Even in the States, according to the children's account, they weren't taken care of. Their actual words were, mama gets a big check for us, she spends it on herself and we shop at a thrift store. And it was a heartbreaking thing. When I asked them point-blank, why did your mom do this? They said, because she don't want us, she don't want us anymore so she left us here. That was their answer.

PHILLIPS: So you were telling me the mother met a man, got married. He already had kids. So she just wanted to get rid of these children and dumped them off in Nigeria. They were living in some shanty with a distant relative, ended up in this orphanage. Where is the mother?

BEEMER: The mother right now is still in Houston, Texas. Hopefully, she's facing some charges. As soon as I got the information, I sent it back to my pastor, Pastor John Hagee. He immediately called Senator John Cornyn and Congressman Tom DeLay. They worked tirelessly with CPS and the State Department.

And thanks to their good work, a week later, seven days later, those kids were home. And also thanks to their good work, something is being followed up on this lady. And hopefully, she's going to receive just what the kids said she deserved. The kids themselves said they hope she goes to jail. PHILLIPS: I want to point out, too, I did try calling that home phone number for the mother. It has been disconnected. We should also point out, this is definitely, at this point, just allegations. But when we see the pictures, we're hearing your story, let's continue that. Do you know if these kids were exploited at all?

BEEMER: I asked them several times, has anybody touched you, anyone hurt you. They said their uncle was nice to them there. They said they hadn't been, other than the abandonment, of being exploited in that place. It is a place literally -- I don't even know if I know an American that would put their dog there in what we saw, the conditions they lived in. Sleeping on frames, springs with no mattresses, the smell of urine so strong it took your breath when you walked in the room and food that -- it just wasn't describable even to see them eating it.

PHILLIPS: What about the people that ran this orphanage in Nigeria? Did they accept you and let you talk to these kids cart blanche? And when you told them you wanted to bring them back to the United States, were they OK with all of that?

BEEMER: Initially, they weren't. They were objectionable to us talking to them and taking pictures. God gave us the wisdom and the strength to push through that. Once we finally saw these were Americans and we knew these were American kids, it would have taken a whole lot more than what was there to stop us from getting the information that we needed, getting the pictures we needed and making sure our kids were taken care of.

PHILLIPS: Well, now the kids are back in the States. You say they are OK. Are they going back to school? Are they in foster homes now?

BEEMER: We've heard that right now three of them have started school back. They are right now in two different foster homes. They are wanting to stay together. We've offered at Cornerstone, a church in San Antonio, Texas, our pastor, John Hagee, has offered to bring them down to -- he has acquired a home -- a five-bedroom home to hire houseparents and to give them a life, a free education.

We would love to see them really taken care of. We've started to receive donations from around too to make sure the kids are taken care of. Our youth group has raised about $700 that they took in. I gave the kids some American money while I was there. The children started crying when they held American money. And I told them, I said, when you get back to the States I'm going to trade this $1 bill for a $100 bill. One of the young ladies said, you're going to give me a Benjamin? And I said, yes, sweetheart, we're going to give you a Benjamin. Well, our kids raised the money to give them all a Benjamin and hopefully we can see them soon to do that.

PHILLIPS: Well, in addition to Benjamins, hopefully get a lot more love. Pastor Warren Beemer, very admirable what you did. Thank you so much for telling us the story.

BEEMER: Praise the lord. PHILLIPS: Well, we're going to definitely follow this story for you. Child Protective Services in Houston is now investigating allegations that the adoptive mother abandoned those children. She faces a court hearing on August 26. We're going to keep you posted.

WHITFIELD: Well, group hugs and makeovers in the jury room of all places? It could happen with talk show queen Oprah Winfrey around. Jeanne Moos checks out one of our favorite stories of the week.

And one of the world's hairiest men wants to rock you, ew, sort of, to help build the self-confidence of people all over the world. Oh boy.

PHILLIPS: Ugh.

WHITFIELD: And it is that time again.

PHILLIPS: How about a wax?

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kyra, when we come back, we're going to be talking about the first Olympic event held at ancient Olympia in 1600 years. We're also going to be talking about stray dogs. I'm Michael Holmes in Athens. I'll be with you after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: A dominant U.S. basketball team crushed its opponent at the Olympics today. The men's team was in the stands to watch the U.S. women beat South Korea by 23 points.

Michael Holmes is also in Athens with the Olympic update. That info, in addition the shot put. We can't forget that, that's for sure. And the history behind where it took place.

HOLMES: That's right, Kyra. The track and field got under way today. It did so in ancient Olympia. That's where the original Olympics took place, not the modern Olympics we talked about, that recommenced back in 1896. Now this was the first athletic event, let's remember this, to be held there in 1,600 years. Also, the first time women have competed there.

Kyra, you're going to like this. Back in the old days, only men could compete, and they had to be naked. Today it was the women in the shot put, it was won by Russia, and they were very much clothed -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: I just want to make sure we make the point that the women were not naked. OK, very good.

All right, let's talk about the U.S. gymnastics, sort of an interesting twist, right, Michael, with Pamela Anderson? HOLMES: Yes, this is an amusing story indeed. The American gymnastics team were sort of favored to take out the gold medal. They are the current world champions. They didn't take out the gold medal. They lost that out to Romania, but still got a silver.

But what's interesting here is the makeup of the team. There are a couple members of this team. I'll just read their names, Mohini Bhardwaj, Annia Hatch. Now they're age 25 and 26 respectively. That would make them eligible for gymnastics' Social Security program, I would imagine.

Now Badwaj is also interesting, because she gave up gymnastics in the late '90s to go into college, and she was tempted back into training, we're told, because she was offered a $25,000 sponsorship check by Pam Anderson, that's right, Pamela Anderson, "Baywatch" got her back into gymnastics. She's got a silver medal, too.

PHILLIPS: Pamela is known to do some gymnastics of her own.

All right, let's talk about the personal fun you've been having, as you roll your eyes. No comment, I guess.

She was a gymnast? Fredricka's telling me she was a gymnast in her day. Did you know that, Michael Holmes?

HOLMES: I had no idea.

PHILLIPS: That's my little trivia question for today.

HOLMES: I thought you were referring to something else.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: I'm going to get in a lot of trouble today, I'm telling you. I think I'm already in big trouble. But anyway, all right, let's talk about stray dogs, and there's no relation here to Pamela Anderson, I promise.

HOLMES: Nor me, I hope. Yes, that's right. The question, who let the dogs out? You know, everybody is talking about the number of tourists and the number of athletes, the number of people sitting in the seats at the stadium. But there's also a great story about stray dogs. Athens has 12,000 stray dogs. They've been here probably since the original Olympics, and they're a fixture of the city.

Now when you are going to hold an Olympics, you have to spruce up the city, and stray dogs don't help with the sprucing up. So they started a bit of a roundup. They took them off to shelters, and hundreds, thousands of these dogs have been neutered, treated by veterinarians, and then guess what, they take them back to where they pick them up and let them go again. This is all part of what some people have said is Greece's great democratic traditions. Democracy was born here, and part of that seems to be that dogs can live wherever they jolly well like. And I got to tell you, that they're pretty well fed as well. The Greek people, they feed them, they look after them, and they stay on the street, wander around among the tourists. It's an amazing site really.

PHILLIPS: I can imagine, a little uzo, a little, you know, euro and a little bull there.

All right, we got to do a shout out, Michael, to the Iraqi soccer team. You were just in Iraq. You were covering, obviously, a lot of serious news there, but also you got a chance to do a lot of feature stories.

Now you come over to Athens. You got to talk about the soccer team.

HOLMES: It's great, isn't it? I met a couple of the players there, not the last time I was in Iraq, the first, the time before that. I lose track of the number of times in Iraq.

But these are young men who, of course -- let's remember, they don't even have a home field. They had to qualify for the Olympics in other countries. Their qualifying match was most recently in neighboring Jordan. They had to beat the Asia champions, Saudi Arabia, to get into the qualifying round. It was just an amazing story. They come here. They have won their first two games, and won them well, and they're playing again today, but it doesn't really matter, because this is just a group game; they're already into the quarterfinals.

The Iraqi soccer team is two games away from playing for a medal. Go figure. These guys are absolutely thrilled.

And at the stadium the other night, the stands were filled with Iraqis from all over Europe, because of course people in Iraq, pretty hard to get over here to watch an Olympics Games, and it's not exactly their top priority. But there were Iraqis from Australia, from the Netherlands, from the Germany, packing the stands and cheering their team on, and they are the media darlings as well. I mean, it's just such a wonderful story, and everybody is hoping they actually do get that medal. The realist will say, once they start hitting Brazil and countries like this, you know, a little reality is going to creep back into this fairy tale, but what a great story.

PHILLIPS: Yes, we're all rooting for them.

All right, our Michael Holmes there live, with the beautiful backdrop there, the Acropolis. We'll check in with you later. Thanks, Michael.

And I'm told right now, Iraq is playing Morocco, but no score so far.

WHITFIELD: Well, my fingers are crossed for them, because there were a lot of naysayers from the start, who said they wouldn't win a single game, and they did, so three and onward. All right, well, news around the world now. Scare tactics in Singapore. Smoking-related deaths lead to a government order. Graphic images put on cigarette packs to illustrate smoking effects. Hard to look at pictures include smokers' diseased lungs as well.

She's a real princess. Princess the pony helps a girl with cerebral palsy helps her exercise her weakened legs. And the pony has the run of her Australian family's home, enjoying spaghetti, pizza, cake, cartoons and beer, all the stuff that horses and ponies seem to like. And on Friday and Saturday nights, Princess sleeps in bed with her 10-year-old owner, earning the name princess.

Long hair and rock music go hand in hand for Chinese musician Yu Zen Twan (ph). A medical condition left 96 percent of his body covered with hair. He's put up with stares and taunts his life. And now he wants to become a successful musician to help other young people gain self confidence.

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, a life in Oprah's hands, sort of. The queen of talk on the jury. How will her star power impact the case? Jeanne Moos is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well, television talk show queen Oprah Winfrey has been selected to serve as a juror in a murder trial in Chicago.

PHILLIPS: And the question becomes: Would you put your fate in the hands of celebrity justice? Here is CNN's Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Remember when Oprah emerged victorious after cattlemen sued her for disparaging meat.

OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: Thank you, jury.

MOOS: Well, now she is the jury.

(on camera): Oprah Winfrey is going to be a juror in a murder trial.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For real?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She can handle it.

MOOS (voice-over): She has handled celebs ranging from the Donald to Arnold. But now, she's being shepherded around, wearing a red juror sticker just like everyone else -- not that she wanted on the jury.

WINFREY: Why did I decide? I was ordered.

MOOS: And while jury consultants opining on TV seemed to think it was nuts...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One of the lawyers needs a lobotomy for leaving this woman on.

MOOS: ... the public seemed not to mind.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why not?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Overall, it's good that everybody has to serve.

It could create somewhat of a circus atmosphere.

MOOS: And some wonder whether other jurors would just go along with Oprah.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If Oprah thinks he's guilty, he's guilty, right?

MOOS: But why stop at Oprah?

(on camera): All right, now let's say it's your murder trial. Who would you rather have: Regis or Kelly?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kelly, of course. What, are you kidding me?

MOOS: Oprah or Regis?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oprah.

MOOS: And why?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I just like her. I just like everything about her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just remember, you are on trial for killing your husband, OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know Regis a little bit, so I think I'd rather have Oprah.

MOOS: Ellen DeGeneres or Dr. Phil as your juror.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, Ellen DeGeneres.

MOOS: You'd think she'd be good?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Better than Dr. Phil, that's for sure.

DR. PHIL, TV PERSONALITY: Are you serious?

MOOS: Dr. Phil or Ellen DeGeneres.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ellen.

MOOS: Thinking?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thinking I think he's a pompous (expletive deleted). UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, people say I look like Dr. Phil, so I'll take him.

MOOS (voice-over): Viewers, what's your verdict?

First, we have celebrity defendants, then celebrity judges...

JUDGE JUDY SHEINDLIN: What the hell is wrong with you?

MOOS: ... now celebrity jurors. What's next, celebrity bailiffs?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALES: Oprah, Oprah!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Opera, yes, that's good.

MOOS (on camera): No. Oprah, not opera. Oprah Winfrey.

(voice-over): Order in the court. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: I'm actually very surprised she was seated.

PHILLIPS: Really?

WHITFIELD: Yes.

PHILLIPS: They were saying she's going to have to have special security coming in and out to kind of keep her away from the press and from getting mobbed.

WHITFIELD: Because oftentimes even after you have a verdict, jurors like to remain anonymous. This juror would never remain anonymous.

PHILLIPS: I think she gave that up a long time ago.

WHITFIELD: Yes, I think so. I'm surprised they seated her for a high-profile case like that.

Anyway, I digress.

All right, well, there's been a lot of talk about Halliburton and how much it has charged the U.S. military for certain services. Let's bring in Fred Katayama.

PHILLIPS: Yes, Fred squared (ph), once again, live from the New York Stock Exchange. Hey, Fred.

FRED KATAYAMA, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi Kyra, hi Fredricka.

Well, Halliburton could now have a little more time to go through its bills for the U.S. Army. The army had earlier said it would withhold about $60 million a month from Halliburton's KBR unit unless the subsidiary could justify the costs.

Now, reports say the army has reversed that decision. The government is investigating allegations that Halliburton had overcharged for services in Iraq and Kuwait. The oil services giant has already been granted extra time to address questions twice this year, and some members of Congress are concerned that Halliburton may be getting special treatment because it was formerly run by Vice President Dick Cheney -- Kyra and Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, speaking of oil, how are the oil companies doing today?

KATAYAMA: Well, oil hit a record high earlier today, but it's since cooled off a bit. Prices are still hovering around $47 a barrel, however. Concerns that tight supplies may not be enough to meet surging demand are helping fuel the oil rally.

Stocks are moving cautiously higher today as investors keep a close eye on those oil prices. The Dow Industrials are adding 35 points. The Nasdaq is up more than 1%.

And that's the latest from Wall Street. Coming up in the next hour of LIVE FROM, more Americans are feeling the need for speed, at least when it comes to the Internet. I'll explain later.

Kyra and Fredricka, back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks a lot, Fred.

I don't think we need any of that right now.

PHILLIPS: No.

WHITFIELD: We have enough zippity zip up here.

PHILLIPS: She's got a lot of energy today. It's the non-child hour.

All right, we've got a special live presentation coming on tonight.

WHITFIELD: We do. Paula Zahn takes the polls of undecided voters in the battleground state of Ohio. What will make them vote for Bush or for Kerry?

PHILLIPS: Find out tonight, 8:00 Eastern, as Paula Zahn hosts "The Undecided Vote: A CNN Town Hall Meeting" live from Ohio. You've got a question for the Bush or Kerry camps but can't get to Ohio, well e-mail your questions...

WHITFIELD: Who you gonna call?

PHILLIPS: Who you gonna call? Paula. So, e-mail your questions: cnn.com/paula.

Coming up in the next hour of LIVE FROM, all the day's news, of course.

WHITFIELD: And do we have a deal or not with radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr?

PHILLIPS: The situation out there is still up in the air. We'll be going to Najaf in a moment.

LIVE FROM's hour of power begins right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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