Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Kmart, Sears Join Forces; Margaret Hassan's Death Reportedly Confirmed

Aired November 17, 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.


CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: A dramatic rescue, as more severe weather hits parts of Texas. Crews in Central Texas pulled this woman to safety after fast-moving waters swept and submerged her car. She was not hurt. Floodwaters elsewhere have claimed at least one life.
And explosions ripped through two banks in Buenos Aires, killing at least one person. The victim was a guard holding a package when it detonated. Police found two other explosive devices and safely detonated them. U.S. officials say it does not appear to be the work of terrorists.

And CNN has learned that several personal items belonging to a U.S. Marine was found in Fallujah. Corporal Wassef Hassoun disappeared earlier this year from his camp near the Iraqi city. He turned up weeks later in Lebanon claiming he had been abducted. Marines have now reopened their investigation of him.

And President Bush today nominated Margaret Spellings as his education secretary. Spellings has been the president's domestic policy adviser and was a key figure in drafting his No Child Left Behind education plan. She would replace Rod Paige. His resignation was announced Monday.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Two traditional columns of the American retail foundation to become one. Shares of both Kmart and Sears jumped today on news of the merger. The impact on the business world already being felt.

The blue light lowdown from Ali Velshi in New York -- hello, Ali.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, good to see you.

It's one of those things that there is a lot of business intrigue to this story, but in the end the American consumer decides. And the American consumer wants a place where they can get good value. I'm standing in front of a Kmart in Manhattan. And earlier today, the announcement came out that Kmart is basically acquiring Sears. It seems like a merger of equals, two companies roughly the same size not big enough to compete with the biggest of the discounters, Wal-Mart and Target, coming together now to see if they can get a little leaner, a little tougher and get better value for their customers.

People have left the fold of Kmart and Sears over the years. They've gone to the retailers that get them better selection, a little more cachet, better, better variety. Kmart and Sears just haven't come up with that. Now, what Kmart and Sears do have are some brands that have really resonated with Americans. Over at Kmart, you can pick up the Martha Stewart line. And that has been very popular, despite all the troubles that Martha Stewart has had in the last couple of years herself.

And over at Sears, the Craftsman line, the Diehard line, the Kenmore line, these are names that go back in American lore, dependable names that Americans have kept on buying. A few years ago, Sears acquired the Land's End brand. The man behind (AUDIO GAP) is right now Eddie Lampert, wants Americans to be able to get better access to both of these lines of products at a better price (AUDIO GAP) and Sears and give Target and Wal-Mart a run for their money. I don't think anybody at Wal-Mart or Target are shaking in their boots today with this announcement.

But over the next few months, we'll see how this deal pans out. It should be done by about March of 2005. The average American is not going to see a lot of changes off the top. Sears stores will stay Sears stores. Kmart stores, a few of them will become Kmart stores. Some of them might close and they will stay Kmart stores. It remains to see what kind of a deal there will be for shoppers of Kmart and Sears over the next few months -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Ali Velshi in Manhattan, thanks much -- Carol.

LIN: All right, Miles, well, a potential new challenge for President Bush as he angles toward his second term in office. His Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, is making noise today about a secret nuclear weapon. Mr. Putin says it's something no one else has and it might be deployed within the next few years.

It's far from clear exactly what he's talking about right now, but his comments are viewed as a possible signal to the U.S. government, which is pursuing a missile defense system.

Also today, a fresh allegation that Iran remains committed to enriching uranium, despite its new commitment not to.

For that story, we are going to turn to Matthew Chance. He is live in London right now.

Matthew, what is it?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, thank you.

Well, that allegation threatening to undermine those Iranian commitments to the international community to abandon its uranium enrichment -- or at least to suspend its uranium enrichment program. The allegations are coming from a dissident Iranian group, which says that it has information and photographs detailing an area of the Iranian capital, Tehran, which it says are still being used to enrich uranium, despite those assurances that have been given by Tehran to European officials that they would offer a suspension of that enrichment.

The Iranian authorities, for its part, have denied these accusations, saying that they often get these kinds of allegations against them when it comes to times of crucial meetings at the United Nations. And there is a crucial meeting approaching next week, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, which is meeting in Vienna to decide whether or not to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council, possibly to get sanctions over its pursuit of nuclear technology.

Well, that's the situation there, a great deal of concern, the IAEA saying that it will investigate these allegations before it reaches any conclusion -- Carol.

LIN: But it needs a lot of cooperation on the other end, so how optimistic are they that they're going to get to the bottom line?

CHANCE: I think they're quite optimistic about the Iranian cooperation, simply because there have been a number of allegations like this in the past. Some of them have been found to be true. And so what the Iranians have done in the past is, at their most open, they've opened up some of these sites and revealed aspects of their program that they hadn't hitherto acknowledged.

What the Iranians have said, though, as far as they're concerned, all aspects of their nuclear program have been disclosed to the authorities, have been disclosed to the U.N. And so, if there is an investigation here and if there are inspections, as the U.N. says they will launch, then that could be extremely severe in terms of consequences for Iran if they're found to find something.

LIN: Matthew, thank you -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Now to Iraq, where the official American death toll has climbed today past 1200. The northern city of Mosul is described as calmer today amid an American show of force designed to reestablish order. Hundreds of troops flooded Mosul yesterday to counter a wave of insurgent attacks that started late last week.

In Baghdad, an American fuel tanker damaged by a bomb on the dangerous airport highway. Still unclear whether anyone was hurt. North of the city, 10 Iraqis killed, three Americans wounded in a suicide attack on a U.S. convoy.

And now the Western-born woman who devoted many years to Iraq and its people now apparently dead at the hands of the insurgents. The killing of Margaret Hassan reportedly confirmed by videotape now.

CNN's Diana Muriel reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: May the lord be with you.

DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Here in Ireland, the land of her birth, Margaret Hassan is remembered with love and with sorrow after her apparent violent death at the hands of Iraqi militants. It is widely thought a blindfolded Hassan was executed by a single bullet at the hands of a hooded militant. Hassan was snatched from a Baghdad street last month on her way to work as a director for the charity CARE International. HAROLD WALKER, FORMER BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: She was a very splendid woman, a very slight woman in stature. She had a backbone of steel and did very good work for CARE through very stressful days.

MURIEL: Born Margaret Fitzsimons, Hassan devoted more than 30 years of her life to working in Iraq, a country she came to from London as a young bride with her Iraqi husband, Tahseen Ali Hassan.

She converted to Islam and learned the language, refusing to leave, despite the privations of the eight-year Iraq/Iran War, the first Gulf War, and the subsequent 13 years of United Nations sanctions. She traveled to the U.N. headquarters in New York to protest the sanctions in January 2003, but returned to Iraq and waited for the bombs to fall in Baghdad as the second Gulf War began in March that same year.

She was involved in countless projects, one of the most recent, a rehabilitation hospital for patients with spinal injuries. After she was captured, those patients that could made a public protest demanding her release. A doctor and a close personal friend spoke of his incomprehension at her killing.

DR. KAYDAR AL-CHALABI, BAGHDAD HOSPITAL: She feels our suffering. She was not only representing a nongovernmental organization, but she was Iraqi -- feeling the suffering of the Iraqi people.

MURIEL: It is a sentiment echoed across Iraqi society, even by those that did not know her.

It is not the Arab way to treat women like this or to kill her," says this Baghdad man, "even if she was an enemy."

But Margaret Hassan was no enemy to Iraq. According to close friends, she felt herself to be Iraqi. One of those, freelance filmmaker Felicity Arbuthnot, too emotional at the news of her Hassan's death to give an interview to CNN, told this reporter:"The Iraqis look after their own and those that help them. Every Iraqi will be shocked and appalled," she said. "Margaret had a very special place in their hearts."

Diana Muriel, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: News here in the United States. If you think you've seen the last of the Kobe Bryant case, think again. Another case starting up in court today. We're going to take you live just ahead.

And an award for a taxi driver who turned in what could have been the tip of a lifetime. We're going to show you what that's all about.

And someone's taking over your TiVo. Why you might not be able to escape from the commercials in the near future.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LIN: So you thought you heard the last of the Kobe Bryant case. Think again. Criminal case dropped. Civil case starting today.

Gary Tuchman is in Denver, where neither the accused or the accuser is in court.

So, Gary, what are you keeping your eye on?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, it was nearly three months ago in Eagle, Colorado, that Kobe Bryant found out his freedom would not be in jeopardy. The state dropped its rape charge against him, saying the alleged victim no longer wanted to go forward.

However, she is willing to go forward with a civil case in which she could collect money. And that case is beginning in earnest today, the first civil court hearing in the Kobe Bryant case taking place in this courtroom here in Denver, Colorado, 120 miles to the east of Eagle. And it all begins in less than an hour.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Kobe Bryant at the American Music Awards this week.

(APPLAUSE)

(BOOING)

TUCHMAN: The court of public opinion is still out. Two and a half months after prosecutors decided not to proceed with a criminal rape trial against him.

But a different court will now deal with the situation. The case enters a civil courtroom, where Bryant would be compelled to testify in a trial. As of now, the case will be heard by Federal Judge Richard Matsch, the same judge who presided over the Oklahoma City bombing trials of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols.

However, the accuser's attorneys say they might ask for the case to be moved to Bryant's home state of California, where there are no caps on financial rewards.

But there might not even be a trial, because of a possibility of an agreement between both sides.

CRAIG SILVERMAN, COLORADO ATTORNEY: Kobe Bryant has some incentive to settle and move on with his life. On the other hand, he could seek vindication through a trail, a civil trial, be it in California or Colorado.

TUCHMAN: One of the woman's attorneys, John Clune, says, She wants to get her story out there. If it settles, it settles. If not, she will testify. There will not be a resolution like the criminal case.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN: Now, in that criminal case, the state would have had to prove proof beyond a reasonable doubt. In a civil case, it's just preponderance of the evidence.

In other words, who does the jury believe more, Kobe Bryant or the alleged victim? During this hearing, we do expect Judge Matsch to ask attorneys on both sides, have you talked about a settlement, which a lot of people expect will ultimately happen. Also, we expect Judge Matsch to bring up the California question.

You did mention, Carol, that neither party, Kobe Bryant, nor the woman, have to be at this hearing. That doesn't mean they won't be, though, necessarily. We could surprised. Bryant does have a game with his Lakers tonight in Los Angeles against the L.A. Clippers. As far as the woman's whereabouts, they're not being revealed to us -- Carol.

LIN: All right, thanks very much, Gary -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: News across America now.

Allentown, Pennsylvania. A nurse who poisoned dozens of patients pleaded guilty to six more murders and three attempts. With today's pleas, Charles Cullen has now admitted giving fatal overdoses of medication to 23 people and nonlethal overdoses to five others.

Oklahoma. Traffic now flowing from Interstate 35 in Texas again after a sprawling pileup that closed northbound lanes north of Gainesville overnight. State troopers say at least three tractor trailer rigs among the 25 vehicles in that collision, three minor injuries reported.

A couple no doubt thankful today for the honesty of a New York cab driver, seen there. The cabbie from the Bronx found nearly seven large in his taxi yesterday. That's $7,000, folks. What did he do? Big tip, he said? No. He turned it in without the slightest hesitation. I don't have his name right in front of me. I wish I did. I would say it and tell him he's a good guy.

LIN: Yes, but where is the money now?

(LAUGHTER)

O'BRIEN: He turned it in.

LIN: Yes, to whom?

O'BRIEN: He gave it back to them.

LIN: Oh, I see. All right.

O'BRIEN: To whoever had it. They identified it by saying it had dead presidents in it. We'll have to get that part for you.

LIN: All right, well, we have got entertainment news right now. If the world's sexiest man is a heart-stopper, another celebrity can help you get it started again. Plus, forget Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction. Here's something you really don't want to see on TV, maybe.

CNN's Sibila Vargas with more. I don't know. Some people probably enjoyed the moment -- it was a moment before "Monday Night Football" started.

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it was a moment, but let me talk to you about some sexy man here.

Perhaps it's his charming manner, his sophisticated style or maybe it's just the way he makes you melt with a glance. Whatever the reason, Jude Law has been named "People" magazine's sexiest man alive. The "Alfie" star beat out a bevy of men, including Usher, Johnny Depp and Jimmy Smits for the coveted cover. Actress Naomi Watts is quoted in the magazine as calling Law the most beautiful man who ever walked the earth.

Well, if that's true, the sexiest man alive for 2005 will have some pretty tough shoes to fill. The issue hits newsstands Friday.

Well, from one lady's man to another. He spent so much time courting women in his popular video "Just a Gigolo." Well, now rocker David Lee Roth is putting down his microphone for a new profession. It turns out Van Halen's former front man has very busy the last few weeks, training to become a New York paramedic. Roth says he's been on more than 200 individual rides and hasn't been recognized yet. Maybe his training has already paid off. Roth reportedly helped save the life of a heart attack victim in the Bronx. You go, David -- Carol, back to you.

LIN: All right.

Hey, what are the big changes coming up for TiVo customers you've been hearing?

VARGAS: Oh, yes.

Well, if you own a TiVo, you know how easy it is to record your favorite shows and skip through all the commercials. Well, that's good for us, but not so good for the advertisers. Well, now TiVo has found a way to put a smile on advertisers' face. In the near future, TiVo customers will see billboards or small logos popping up all over the TV commercials as they fast-forward through them.

Now, if the viewers opts into the ad, their information will be downloaded to the advertiser. But, keep in mind, viewers would have to give their permission first. The new system is expected to roll out in March. I don't know about you. I'm a TiVo user. It's going to be a pretty tough sell for us customers.

LIN: Yes, you bet. And I'm about to be. So something to think about. Thanks, Sibila.

VARGAS: You're going to love it, though. TiVo is really great. LIN: All right. I know, TV when you want it.

VARGAS: Yes.

LIN: All right. Well, two lucky turkeys will live out the rest of their lives with or without TiVo but certainly without the fear of ending up on someone's dinner plate. President Bush ceremonially pardoned the birds called Biscuits and Gravy. It's all part of a Thanksgiving tradition dating back more than 50 years.

So here's a look at today's pardoned turkeys and some from a few years ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: By virtue of an unconditional presidential pardon, they are safe from harm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: So riddle me this. How long is a minute at the speed of sound? Better yet, 10 times the speed of sound. With that, we bring you -- hope you're still with me -- the mach, not Mars, mach minute.

Start the clock, please, ladies and gentlemen. And we're going to take you to somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. A B-52 flown by NASA. Down comes a Pegasus rocket. At the pointy end of that is a thing called a scramjet. And, boy, did it scram out of there quickly. Up to 10,000 feet, it went, separated from its booster rocket. And off it went, this revolutionary engine, up to speeds approaching 6,600 miles an hour.

That's a record for something that is not rocket-powered. The idea here is that air is ingested into the vents here and out it comes back. It's not like a jet engine, which uses compressors to do the job. Ultimately, one day, NASA hopes it could lead to lighter, faster, cheaper rockets which could go to space or maybe an airliner that would take you from New York to Tokyo in time to have lunch and get back. The folks in charge of the program said on this, the third attempt to do this -- one of them was a failure -- this is better than the Sox beating the curse.

(BELL RINGING)

O'BRIEN: Debatable. All right.

LIN: That was almost the sound of a cash register.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

(FINANCIAL UPDATE)

O'BRIEN: That wraps up this edition of LIVE FROM. I'm Miles O'Brien.

LIN: And I'm Carol Lin. Kyra Phillips has the week off.

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 November 17, 2004 - 15:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: A dramatic rescue, as more severe weather hits parts of Texas. Crews in Central Texas pulled this woman to safety after fast-moving waters swept and submerged her car. She was not hurt. Floodwaters elsewhere have claimed at least one life.
And explosions ripped through two banks in Buenos Aires, killing at least one person. The victim was a guard holding a package when it detonated. Police found two other explosive devices and safely detonated them. U.S. officials say it does not appear to be the work of terrorists.

And CNN has learned that several personal items belonging to a U.S. Marine was found in Fallujah. Corporal Wassef Hassoun disappeared earlier this year from his camp near the Iraqi city. He turned up weeks later in Lebanon claiming he had been abducted. Marines have now reopened their investigation of him.

And President Bush today nominated Margaret Spellings as his education secretary. Spellings has been the president's domestic policy adviser and was a key figure in drafting his No Child Left Behind education plan. She would replace Rod Paige. His resignation was announced Monday.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Two traditional columns of the American retail foundation to become one. Shares of both Kmart and Sears jumped today on news of the merger. The impact on the business world already being felt.

The blue light lowdown from Ali Velshi in New York -- hello, Ali.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, good to see you.

It's one of those things that there is a lot of business intrigue to this story, but in the end the American consumer decides. And the American consumer wants a place where they can get good value. I'm standing in front of a Kmart in Manhattan. And earlier today, the announcement came out that Kmart is basically acquiring Sears. It seems like a merger of equals, two companies roughly the same size not big enough to compete with the biggest of the discounters, Wal-Mart and Target, coming together now to see if they can get a little leaner, a little tougher and get better value for their customers.

People have left the fold of Kmart and Sears over the years. They've gone to the retailers that get them better selection, a little more cachet, better, better variety. Kmart and Sears just haven't come up with that. Now, what Kmart and Sears do have are some brands that have really resonated with Americans. Over at Kmart, you can pick up the Martha Stewart line. And that has been very popular, despite all the troubles that Martha Stewart has had in the last couple of years herself.

And over at Sears, the Craftsman line, the Diehard line, the Kenmore line, these are names that go back in American lore, dependable names that Americans have kept on buying. A few years ago, Sears acquired the Land's End brand. The man behind (AUDIO GAP) is right now Eddie Lampert, wants Americans to be able to get better access to both of these lines of products at a better price (AUDIO GAP) and Sears and give Target and Wal-Mart a run for their money. I don't think anybody at Wal-Mart or Target are shaking in their boots today with this announcement.

But over the next few months, we'll see how this deal pans out. It should be done by about March of 2005. The average American is not going to see a lot of changes off the top. Sears stores will stay Sears stores. Kmart stores, a few of them will become Kmart stores. Some of them might close and they will stay Kmart stores. It remains to see what kind of a deal there will be for shoppers of Kmart and Sears over the next few months -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Ali Velshi in Manhattan, thanks much -- Carol.

LIN: All right, Miles, well, a potential new challenge for President Bush as he angles toward his second term in office. His Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, is making noise today about a secret nuclear weapon. Mr. Putin says it's something no one else has and it might be deployed within the next few years.

It's far from clear exactly what he's talking about right now, but his comments are viewed as a possible signal to the U.S. government, which is pursuing a missile defense system.

Also today, a fresh allegation that Iran remains committed to enriching uranium, despite its new commitment not to.

For that story, we are going to turn to Matthew Chance. He is live in London right now.

Matthew, what is it?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, thank you.

Well, that allegation threatening to undermine those Iranian commitments to the international community to abandon its uranium enrichment -- or at least to suspend its uranium enrichment program. The allegations are coming from a dissident Iranian group, which says that it has information and photographs detailing an area of the Iranian capital, Tehran, which it says are still being used to enrich uranium, despite those assurances that have been given by Tehran to European officials that they would offer a suspension of that enrichment.

The Iranian authorities, for its part, have denied these accusations, saying that they often get these kinds of allegations against them when it comes to times of crucial meetings at the United Nations. And there is a crucial meeting approaching next week, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, which is meeting in Vienna to decide whether or not to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council, possibly to get sanctions over its pursuit of nuclear technology.

Well, that's the situation there, a great deal of concern, the IAEA saying that it will investigate these allegations before it reaches any conclusion -- Carol.

LIN: But it needs a lot of cooperation on the other end, so how optimistic are they that they're going to get to the bottom line?

CHANCE: I think they're quite optimistic about the Iranian cooperation, simply because there have been a number of allegations like this in the past. Some of them have been found to be true. And so what the Iranians have done in the past is, at their most open, they've opened up some of these sites and revealed aspects of their program that they hadn't hitherto acknowledged.

What the Iranians have said, though, as far as they're concerned, all aspects of their nuclear program have been disclosed to the authorities, have been disclosed to the U.N. And so, if there is an investigation here and if there are inspections, as the U.N. says they will launch, then that could be extremely severe in terms of consequences for Iran if they're found to find something.

LIN: Matthew, thank you -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Now to Iraq, where the official American death toll has climbed today past 1200. The northern city of Mosul is described as calmer today amid an American show of force designed to reestablish order. Hundreds of troops flooded Mosul yesterday to counter a wave of insurgent attacks that started late last week.

In Baghdad, an American fuel tanker damaged by a bomb on the dangerous airport highway. Still unclear whether anyone was hurt. North of the city, 10 Iraqis killed, three Americans wounded in a suicide attack on a U.S. convoy.

And now the Western-born woman who devoted many years to Iraq and its people now apparently dead at the hands of the insurgents. The killing of Margaret Hassan reportedly confirmed by videotape now.

CNN's Diana Muriel reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: May the lord be with you.

DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Here in Ireland, the land of her birth, Margaret Hassan is remembered with love and with sorrow after her apparent violent death at the hands of Iraqi militants. It is widely thought a blindfolded Hassan was executed by a single bullet at the hands of a hooded militant. Hassan was snatched from a Baghdad street last month on her way to work as a director for the charity CARE International. HAROLD WALKER, FORMER BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: She was a very splendid woman, a very slight woman in stature. She had a backbone of steel and did very good work for CARE through very stressful days.

MURIEL: Born Margaret Fitzsimons, Hassan devoted more than 30 years of her life to working in Iraq, a country she came to from London as a young bride with her Iraqi husband, Tahseen Ali Hassan.

She converted to Islam and learned the language, refusing to leave, despite the privations of the eight-year Iraq/Iran War, the first Gulf War, and the subsequent 13 years of United Nations sanctions. She traveled to the U.N. headquarters in New York to protest the sanctions in January 2003, but returned to Iraq and waited for the bombs to fall in Baghdad as the second Gulf War began in March that same year.

She was involved in countless projects, one of the most recent, a rehabilitation hospital for patients with spinal injuries. After she was captured, those patients that could made a public protest demanding her release. A doctor and a close personal friend spoke of his incomprehension at her killing.

DR. KAYDAR AL-CHALABI, BAGHDAD HOSPITAL: She feels our suffering. She was not only representing a nongovernmental organization, but she was Iraqi -- feeling the suffering of the Iraqi people.

MURIEL: It is a sentiment echoed across Iraqi society, even by those that did not know her.

It is not the Arab way to treat women like this or to kill her," says this Baghdad man, "even if she was an enemy."

But Margaret Hassan was no enemy to Iraq. According to close friends, she felt herself to be Iraqi. One of those, freelance filmmaker Felicity Arbuthnot, too emotional at the news of her Hassan's death to give an interview to CNN, told this reporter:"The Iraqis look after their own and those that help them. Every Iraqi will be shocked and appalled," she said. "Margaret had a very special place in their hearts."

Diana Muriel, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: News here in the United States. If you think you've seen the last of the Kobe Bryant case, think again. Another case starting up in court today. We're going to take you live just ahead.

And an award for a taxi driver who turned in what could have been the tip of a lifetime. We're going to show you what that's all about.

And someone's taking over your TiVo. Why you might not be able to escape from the commercials in the near future.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LIN: So you thought you heard the last of the Kobe Bryant case. Think again. Criminal case dropped. Civil case starting today.

Gary Tuchman is in Denver, where neither the accused or the accuser is in court.

So, Gary, what are you keeping your eye on?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, it was nearly three months ago in Eagle, Colorado, that Kobe Bryant found out his freedom would not be in jeopardy. The state dropped its rape charge against him, saying the alleged victim no longer wanted to go forward.

However, she is willing to go forward with a civil case in which she could collect money. And that case is beginning in earnest today, the first civil court hearing in the Kobe Bryant case taking place in this courtroom here in Denver, Colorado, 120 miles to the east of Eagle. And it all begins in less than an hour.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Kobe Bryant at the American Music Awards this week.

(APPLAUSE)

(BOOING)

TUCHMAN: The court of public opinion is still out. Two and a half months after prosecutors decided not to proceed with a criminal rape trial against him.

But a different court will now deal with the situation. The case enters a civil courtroom, where Bryant would be compelled to testify in a trial. As of now, the case will be heard by Federal Judge Richard Matsch, the same judge who presided over the Oklahoma City bombing trials of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols.

However, the accuser's attorneys say they might ask for the case to be moved to Bryant's home state of California, where there are no caps on financial rewards.

But there might not even be a trial, because of a possibility of an agreement between both sides.

CRAIG SILVERMAN, COLORADO ATTORNEY: Kobe Bryant has some incentive to settle and move on with his life. On the other hand, he could seek vindication through a trail, a civil trial, be it in California or Colorado.

TUCHMAN: One of the woman's attorneys, John Clune, says, She wants to get her story out there. If it settles, it settles. If not, she will testify. There will not be a resolution like the criminal case.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN: Now, in that criminal case, the state would have had to prove proof beyond a reasonable doubt. In a civil case, it's just preponderance of the evidence.

In other words, who does the jury believe more, Kobe Bryant or the alleged victim? During this hearing, we do expect Judge Matsch to ask attorneys on both sides, have you talked about a settlement, which a lot of people expect will ultimately happen. Also, we expect Judge Matsch to bring up the California question.

You did mention, Carol, that neither party, Kobe Bryant, nor the woman, have to be at this hearing. That doesn't mean they won't be, though, necessarily. We could surprised. Bryant does have a game with his Lakers tonight in Los Angeles against the L.A. Clippers. As far as the woman's whereabouts, they're not being revealed to us -- Carol.

LIN: All right, thanks very much, Gary -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: News across America now.

Allentown, Pennsylvania. A nurse who poisoned dozens of patients pleaded guilty to six more murders and three attempts. With today's pleas, Charles Cullen has now admitted giving fatal overdoses of medication to 23 people and nonlethal overdoses to five others.

Oklahoma. Traffic now flowing from Interstate 35 in Texas again after a sprawling pileup that closed northbound lanes north of Gainesville overnight. State troopers say at least three tractor trailer rigs among the 25 vehicles in that collision, three minor injuries reported.

A couple no doubt thankful today for the honesty of a New York cab driver, seen there. The cabbie from the Bronx found nearly seven large in his taxi yesterday. That's $7,000, folks. What did he do? Big tip, he said? No. He turned it in without the slightest hesitation. I don't have his name right in front of me. I wish I did. I would say it and tell him he's a good guy.

LIN: Yes, but where is the money now?

(LAUGHTER)

O'BRIEN: He turned it in.

LIN: Yes, to whom?

O'BRIEN: He gave it back to them.

LIN: Oh, I see. All right.

O'BRIEN: To whoever had it. They identified it by saying it had dead presidents in it. We'll have to get that part for you.

LIN: All right, well, we have got entertainment news right now. If the world's sexiest man is a heart-stopper, another celebrity can help you get it started again. Plus, forget Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction. Here's something you really don't want to see on TV, maybe.

CNN's Sibila Vargas with more. I don't know. Some people probably enjoyed the moment -- it was a moment before "Monday Night Football" started.

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it was a moment, but let me talk to you about some sexy man here.

Perhaps it's his charming manner, his sophisticated style or maybe it's just the way he makes you melt with a glance. Whatever the reason, Jude Law has been named "People" magazine's sexiest man alive. The "Alfie" star beat out a bevy of men, including Usher, Johnny Depp and Jimmy Smits for the coveted cover. Actress Naomi Watts is quoted in the magazine as calling Law the most beautiful man who ever walked the earth.

Well, if that's true, the sexiest man alive for 2005 will have some pretty tough shoes to fill. The issue hits newsstands Friday.

Well, from one lady's man to another. He spent so much time courting women in his popular video "Just a Gigolo." Well, now rocker David Lee Roth is putting down his microphone for a new profession. It turns out Van Halen's former front man has very busy the last few weeks, training to become a New York paramedic. Roth says he's been on more than 200 individual rides and hasn't been recognized yet. Maybe his training has already paid off. Roth reportedly helped save the life of a heart attack victim in the Bronx. You go, David -- Carol, back to you.

LIN: All right.

Hey, what are the big changes coming up for TiVo customers you've been hearing?

VARGAS: Oh, yes.

Well, if you own a TiVo, you know how easy it is to record your favorite shows and skip through all the commercials. Well, that's good for us, but not so good for the advertisers. Well, now TiVo has found a way to put a smile on advertisers' face. In the near future, TiVo customers will see billboards or small logos popping up all over the TV commercials as they fast-forward through them.

Now, if the viewers opts into the ad, their information will be downloaded to the advertiser. But, keep in mind, viewers would have to give their permission first. The new system is expected to roll out in March. I don't know about you. I'm a TiVo user. It's going to be a pretty tough sell for us customers.

LIN: Yes, you bet. And I'm about to be. So something to think about. Thanks, Sibila.

VARGAS: You're going to love it, though. TiVo is really great. LIN: All right. I know, TV when you want it.

VARGAS: Yes.

LIN: All right. Well, two lucky turkeys will live out the rest of their lives with or without TiVo but certainly without the fear of ending up on someone's dinner plate. President Bush ceremonially pardoned the birds called Biscuits and Gravy. It's all part of a Thanksgiving tradition dating back more than 50 years.

So here's a look at today's pardoned turkeys and some from a few years ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: By virtue of an unconditional presidential pardon, they are safe from harm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: So riddle me this. How long is a minute at the speed of sound? Better yet, 10 times the speed of sound. With that, we bring you -- hope you're still with me -- the mach, not Mars, mach minute.

Start the clock, please, ladies and gentlemen. And we're going to take you to somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. A B-52 flown by NASA. Down comes a Pegasus rocket. At the pointy end of that is a thing called a scramjet. And, boy, did it scram out of there quickly. Up to 10,000 feet, it went, separated from its booster rocket. And off it went, this revolutionary engine, up to speeds approaching 6,600 miles an hour.

That's a record for something that is not rocket-powered. The idea here is that air is ingested into the vents here and out it comes back. It's not like a jet engine, which uses compressors to do the job. Ultimately, one day, NASA hopes it could lead to lighter, faster, cheaper rockets which could go to space or maybe an airliner that would take you from New York to Tokyo in time to have lunch and get back. The folks in charge of the program said on this, the third attempt to do this -- one of them was a failure -- this is better than the Sox beating the curse.

(BELL RINGING)

O'BRIEN: Debatable. All right.

LIN: That was almost the sound of a cash register.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

(FINANCIAL UPDATE)

O'BRIEN: That wraps up this edition of LIVE FROM. I'm Miles O'Brien.

LIN: And I'm Carol Lin. Kyra Phillips has the week off.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com