Return to Transcripts main page
Live From...
President Bush Signs Intelligence Bill; Security Guard Arrested in Maryland Arson Investigation
Aired December 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.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now in the news, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer says it has no plans to pull Celebrex, despite a study that raises concern about safety. The painkiller is one of the world's most popular arthritis drugs. Should you be concerned? Details straight ahead.
Signed into law. President Bush says a new intelligence overhaul bill will help keep America safe. But who will he choose to be the first director of national intelligence? We'll have a live report from the White House.
It is no secret the U.S. military holds terrorism suspects at its camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But now a former Pentagon official confirms that CIA has also operated a detention facility there. "The Washington Post" says the agency used the top secret prison to interrogate valuable al Qaeda prisoners. It is not clear whether it is still up and running.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: With the mere stroke of a pen, President Bush has altered the focus of the nation's intelligence systems to the modern-day war on terrorism. More than three years removed from the shock of 9/11, today, the 9/11 reforms are finally law.
We'll start with hour with CNN's Suzanne Malveaux. She's standing by live at the White House -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, earlier today, President Bush cashed in on that political capital that he likes to talk about. This was really the first critical test of leadership for the president post election.
He really had to convince his own party members to support this intelligence reform bill. It was not an easy sell for the president. There were differences between the White House and the Republican leadership over issues of immigration, as well as some power plays involving the Pentagon. But ultimately the president and the vice president personally weighed in, making telephone calls, making public appeals to pass this legislation. Ultimately, it paid off.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The many reforms in this act have a single goal, to ensure that the people in government responsible for defending America have the best possible information to make the best possible decisions. The men and women of our intelligence community give America their very best every day. And in return we owe them our full support.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: The highlights of the bill include, it creates a position of director of national intelligence, one that has full budget authority, establishes a federal counterterrorism center, unifies all 15 spy agencies, increases Border Patrol by 2,000 agents each year for a five-year period, provides $83 million to hire more air marshals, allows federal agents to pursue independent terrorism suspects, and finally creates a civil liberties watchdog panel.
It's fair to say, Kyra, that the White House has gone through somewhat of an evolution in supporting this legislation. Initially, it was quite wary of the 9/11 Commission, as well as many of these recommendations they said they had already implemented through executive order. But today the White House embraced it. And today they are claiming that this is the first post-election victory for the president -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Suzanne Malveaux, live from the White House, thank you -- Tony.
HARRIS: Drug mark Pfizer says it has no plans to pull its popular arthritis painkiller Celebrex off the market, despite evidence the drug may pose an increased risk of cardiovascular problems to some users.
Celebrex is the most common arthritis drug on the market with annual sales estimated at more than $3 billion. It's in the same class of drugs as Merck's Vioxx, which was yanked off the market in September for similar health and safety concerns. Since then, Pfizer has stood by the safety of Celebrex, issuing at least three statements confirming the drug's safety.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. LAURENCE SPERLING, CARDIOLOGIST, EMORY UNIVERSITY: Nobody specifically asked the question about heart side effects, but these were byproducts of the studies. And, as you well know, one of these agents was recently taken off the market because of the increase in heart side effects.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: We have experts lined up to address your concerns about Celebrex. E-mail your questions to housecall@CNN.com. And tune in tomorrow morning at 8:30 Eastern for answers during a special live edition of "House Call" with our Dr. Sanjay Gupta right here on CNN.
PHILLIPS: Celebrex joins the list of prescription drugs under recent scrutiny. It was just last September when Pfizer rival Merck recalled Vioxx over some serious side effects.
CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen takes a look at another prescription problem and government rules meant to prevent them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tillman and Mary Harris were married for 47 years, raised a daughter, had grandchildren.
MARY HARRIS, VICTIM'S WIFE: Oh, I miss him terribly. Wish he were here.
COHEN: Tillman Harris isn't here because after taking a cholesterol lower drug called Baycol, he developed an unusual muscle wasting condition called Rhabdomyolysis. He became so weak his wife and daughter rushed him to the hospital where he died 10 days later.
Six months after his death Bayer pulled Baycol off the market. At that point, 31 people taking the drug had died of Rhabdomyolysis. And now the question is, could Bayer have prevented those deaths?
Tillman Harris died in February 2001. In March 2000, nearly a year earlier, an internal Bayer memo that was quoted in the Journal of the American Medical Association this month, stated, Baycol substantially elevates the risk for Rhabdomyolysis compared with other cholesterol-lowering drugs.
Doctor Jerry Avorn is a professor at Harvard Medical School and the author of the book, Powerful Medicines .
DR. JERRY AVORN, AUTHOR, "POWERFUL MEDICINES": Baycol is one of several drugs that we are asking ourselves, how in the world did this drug stay on the market as long as it did.
COHEN: The answer, he and other say, is complicated. When drug companies hear of serious side-effects they have to, by law, report them to the Food and Drug Administration. But connecting the dots and analyzing the data is time consuming.
AVORN: They haven't had the person power to receive and deal with all of these thousands and thousands of spontaneous reports that the companies send in.
COHEN: If the drug company finds a side effect before a drug goes on the market, it legally has to show that study to the FDA, but the law prevents the FDA from making those studies public. Drug companies say the studies contain trade secrets.
Pharmaceutical companies say they reliably report side effects both before and after a drug is put on the market.
ALAN GOLDHAMMER, ASSOCIATE V.P., PHRMA: These are significant reporting requirements that companies engage on, on an ongoing basis.
COHEN: Concerning Baycol, Bayer says it kept the FDA fully informed about all the pertinent safety information including adverse event reports. When Bayer became aware of an increased rate of reports of Rhabdomyolysis, it took appropriate action.
But the Harris family is left wondering, what if Bayer, what if the FDA, had taken quicker action before there were 31 deaths.
ROSE OGBURN, VICTIM'S DAUGHTER: Somewhere in between the one and the 31 there were probably people who wouldn't have passed away.
COHEN: Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And coming up on "INSIDE POLITICS" with Judy Woodruff, she will be interviewing the chairman and CEO of Pfizer. That's Hank McKinnell. That's coming up in just about 25 minutes or so on "INSIDE POLITICS."
HARRIS: The state of Missouri has issued an Amber Alert after the murder of a woman who was eight months pregnant. Authorities say the fetus was extracted from the body and apparently taken away.
Joining us live with more on this story, CNN's Keith Oppenheim. He's in Chicago.
Hi, Keith.
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Tony.
A very brutal case, obviously, to talk about here. It takes place in a rural area, Nodaway County, about 100 miles north from the Kansas City area. And there, local police are working with the FBI and the public to find an 8-year-old (sic) fetus that investigators believe still could be alive.
Here's what we know. The mother and victim in this case is 23- year-old Bobbi Jo Stinnett, who police say was eight months pregnant. Investigators believe she was strangled in her home. This was likely to have happened yesterday afternoon. And police say she was cut open the and the fetus was removed.
Now, I should note that Bobbi Jo Stinnett's husband has been ruled out as a suspect in this case. Police say that he was at work. And also they are pointing out that the couple raised dogs, terriers. And they think this could be significant because they are looking into the possibility that the perpetrator or perpetrators in this case may have posed as dog buyers and went to the home in that mode.
They note that there was no forced entry or no signs of forced entry they found at the couple's home. Also, the FBI involved in this case. They are looking at what we have heard are hot leads outside of the state of Missouri. So the feds are involved. And the police are looking for a vehicle that was parked in front of Bobbi Jo Stinnett's home yesterday, described as a red Honda, a Hatchback, perhaps from the late '80s, early '90s.
We're also waiting for a news conference to take place at 5:00 Eastern time this afternoon, Tony, so that may be a significant break in the case. And, of course, many people are hoping that it is.
HARRIS: Yes, let's hope it is. Keith, we appreciate it. Thank you.
PHILLIPS: The suspect in what is being called the largest arson case in Maryland history reportedly failed a polygraph.
The fire earlier this month in an upscale development in suburban Washington burned 26 homes and did $10 million in damage. Yesterday, police arrested a former security guard at that site. He said they had the wrong man and offered to take a polygraph. But, according to the investigators, the results only bolstered the evidence against him.
Stephen Tschida has more now on the U.S. .
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEPHEN TSCHIDA, NEWS CHANNEL 8 REPORTER: Aaron Speed is slated to make his initial court appearance in federal court in Greenbelt shortly. And, at that time, we are expected to learn more about the case against him.
(voice-over): Twenty-one-year-old Aaron Speed of Waldorf, a guard at the Hunters Brooke development, one of the first on the scene of the devastating arson, under suspicion early on. Investigators questioned his reasons for showing up at the fire even though he wasn't scheduled to work that morning.
They went through his home Wednesday and, after a day of questioning, arrested him Thursday night. Speed is married and a father.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He goes to work regularly and comes home. And I just have seen him basically out in the yard playing with his baby.
TSCHIDA: So far, no word on what investigators believe may have motivated Speed to commit one of the largest arsons in Maryland history, destroying at least 10 homes under construction, damaging dozens of others. But we do know he lives somewhat of a troubled life and spent time in foster care.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I cared about him deeply. I thought he had a good future ahead of him, because he was making such good progress.
TSCHIDA (on camera): We also know Speed was placed in foster care just 18 months ago when he was 19 by an organization which works with individual with mental health issues.
Reporting from Greenbelt, Stephen Tschida, News Channel 8.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Well, the oil feeds of Saudi Arabia are the lifeline to much of the world's fuel infrastructure. Could they be the next major target of terrorism. Nic Robertson will tell us what is being done to protect them. PHILLIPS: Pfizer investigators may need some painkillers this afternoon. We'll have an update how the market is reacting to the news about Celebrex.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Deadly ambush in northern Iraq. Witnesses in Mosul say that one Iraqi and three foreigners were killed today when gunmen attacked their car, possibly a taxi with small arms, then set the car on fire. The nationalities of the victims is unknown. Insurgent violence is sharply on the rise in northern Iraq, particularly in Mosul. Iraqi officials are investigating today's shooting.
HARRIS: Iraq's oil fields have already fallen prey to terrorist attacks. What if the same were to happen to neighboring Saudi Arabia, which is home to one-quarter of the world's oil reserves?
Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson went looking for answers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If Saudi Arabia's lifeblood is oil, this is its heart, Ras Tanura, the world's largest oil refinery and the country's principal export facility. We saw fortified defenses, but not enough to satisfy former CIA officer, Bob Baer.
BOB BAER, FORMER CIA OFFICER: I could sit down now, with my training in the CIA and people I know, and do a concerted military attack on Saudi facilities, standoff attacks with rockets and take five or six million barrels off the market.
ROBERTSON: So could a plane packed with explosives if it crashed into Ras Tanura, a 9/11-style scenario that Baer says is also possible. The loss of more than one-half the desert's kingdom normal production would turn disaster here into a global economic nightmare.
ADRIAN BINKS, OIL ANALYST: If a major facility was knocked out, such as the Ras Tanura export facility and it looked like it would be out for many months, then the market would be absolutely frenzied and prices would rise to the sky almost.
ROBERTSON: At a high-tech control room, Saudi engineers say they planned for that possibility.
ABDULLAH JUMAH, PRESIDENT AND CEO, ARAMCO: We always have drills about what ifs, and, therefore, even a terrorists incident, if it were to happen, it's not going to be worse than an industrial incident in a volatile industry like ours.
ROBERTSON: Indeed, on a recent tour of Ras Tanura, where oil is not only refined, but shipped out to the rest of the world, Saudi officials are keen to show off the safety features of the facilities.
(on camera): What you realize out of these oil loading terminals, if terrorists were to strike against the Saudi oil infrastructure, it would have little effect. The system is spread out over a vast area.
(voice-over): But, in a volatile market already jittery about terrorists attacks at Saudi oil installations, even a minor attack would rattle the global economy, the sort of pipeline attacks that are already common occurrence in Iran.
BINKS: The most likely scenario, which would be an attack on a pipeline in Saudi Arabia, then prices would spike for a very short time.
ROBERTSON: So far, Saudi al Qaeda has killed and mutilated western oil workers on at least two occasions, but has not yet targeted oil installations. The fear is that tactic could change.
BAER: These people are perfectly capable, if they got some sort of victory in Iraq, of turning south and going after the Saudi royal family and going after the facilities. I've got no doubt about that.
ROBERTSON: With internal tensions from rising unemployment, a booming birth rate and a struggling economy, the Saudi royals carry the burden of protecting not only their oil fields, but also the world's economy.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, if you think today's Hollywood leading men love them and leave them, they have got nothing on Howard Hughes, baby.
HARRIS: Up next on LIVE FROM, the women who loved the millionaire playboy.
PHILLIPS: Billionaire.
HARRIS: Oh, that's right. That's right.
PHILLIPS: Kajillionaire.
HARRIS: We learned that today, didn't we?
PHILLIPS: Yes, we did.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Fans of Leonardo DiCaprio may think he's the hottest thing Hollywood has ever seen, and certainly the tabloids support his Casanova image, but movie fans of a certain age will know that Howard Hughes, the man DiCaprio portrays in "The Aviator," set a playboy pace that would be very hard for any actor to top.
CNN's Sibila Vargas has more on those who kissed and told on Howard Hughes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (voice-over): Howard Hughes had a way with women. Even Leonardo DiCaprio marvels at:
LEONARDO DICAPRIO, ACTOR: The insane amount of women that he was with.
VARGAS: Kate Beckinsale, who plays Ava Gardner in film, says he was hard to resist.
KATE BECKINSALE, ACTRESS: He had no real limit on his vision of what was possible. And I think that that's intoxicating to be around.
VARGAS: Hollywood folklore links Hughes to an amazing array of leading ladies, from "All About Eve"'s Bette Davis to "Laura"'s Gene Tierney. Author Charles Higham checks out the amorous A-list in "Howard Hughes: The Secret Life," which was the basis for "The Aviator."
CHARLES HIGHAM, AUTHOR, "HOWARD HUGHES: THE SECRET LIFE": Essentially, he used women without any respect for them as people. He was a total anti-feminist.
VARGAS: Some, like "The Bad and the Beautiful" Lana Turner thought Hughes' attitude wasn't the only thing that stuck.
HIGHAM: She insisted on a deodorant. And he wasn't prepared to produce one. He disliked his lack of hygiene. When she discovered dandruff on his shoulder, that was the end. And they broke up.
VARGAS: "Gilda" star Rita Hayworth's unwanted pregnancy ended things with her, while a fling with "Top Hat"'s Ginger Rogers broke up his relationship with Katharine Hepburn, played by Cate Blanchett in the movie.
HIGHAM: Of all the women he ever was involved with, Katharine Hepburn was the only one who Howard Hughes deeply and profoundly respected. She was not going to take nonsense from him. She was his equal. She was going to stand up to him.
VARGAS: Surprisingly, Hughes didn't have affairs with actresses in his own movies, including "The Outlaw"'s Jane Russell and "Hell's Angels" Jean Harlow, brought to life by Gwen Stefani in the film.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE AVIATOR")
GWEN STEFANI, ACTRESS: I would like to use this occasion to publicly thank Mr. Hughes for the opportunity he gave me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VARGAS: Higham says Hughes often made dates with different women for the same time and place and then forgot he made them. One time, it got him into trouble.
HUGHES: And they all arrived at the same time and looked at each other and said, this is it, kid. So they kicked him out and said he could get lost in unison, like a chorus, and ended up having a very nice cocktail and dinner, the five of them, comparing notes on his performance in the bedroom.
VARGAS: Sometimes, even the great aviator gets shot down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE AVIATOR")
DICAPRIO: I've had just about enough of this nonsense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VARGAS: Sibila Vargas, CNN, Hollywood.
(FINANCIAL UPDATE)
HARRIS: And that wraps up this edition of LIVE FROM. Have a good weekend.
PHILLIPS: You have a good weekend, too.
And all of you have a great weekend.
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 December 17, 2004 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now in the news, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer says it has no plans to pull Celebrex, despite a study that raises concern about safety. The painkiller is one of the world's most popular arthritis drugs. Should you be concerned? Details straight ahead.
Signed into law. President Bush says a new intelligence overhaul bill will help keep America safe. But who will he choose to be the first director of national intelligence? We'll have a live report from the White House.
It is no secret the U.S. military holds terrorism suspects at its camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But now a former Pentagon official confirms that CIA has also operated a detention facility there. "The Washington Post" says the agency used the top secret prison to interrogate valuable al Qaeda prisoners. It is not clear whether it is still up and running.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: With the mere stroke of a pen, President Bush has altered the focus of the nation's intelligence systems to the modern-day war on terrorism. More than three years removed from the shock of 9/11, today, the 9/11 reforms are finally law.
We'll start with hour with CNN's Suzanne Malveaux. She's standing by live at the White House -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, earlier today, President Bush cashed in on that political capital that he likes to talk about. This was really the first critical test of leadership for the president post election.
He really had to convince his own party members to support this intelligence reform bill. It was not an easy sell for the president. There were differences between the White House and the Republican leadership over issues of immigration, as well as some power plays involving the Pentagon. But ultimately the president and the vice president personally weighed in, making telephone calls, making public appeals to pass this legislation. Ultimately, it paid off.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The many reforms in this act have a single goal, to ensure that the people in government responsible for defending America have the best possible information to make the best possible decisions. The men and women of our intelligence community give America their very best every day. And in return we owe them our full support.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: The highlights of the bill include, it creates a position of director of national intelligence, one that has full budget authority, establishes a federal counterterrorism center, unifies all 15 spy agencies, increases Border Patrol by 2,000 agents each year for a five-year period, provides $83 million to hire more air marshals, allows federal agents to pursue independent terrorism suspects, and finally creates a civil liberties watchdog panel.
It's fair to say, Kyra, that the White House has gone through somewhat of an evolution in supporting this legislation. Initially, it was quite wary of the 9/11 Commission, as well as many of these recommendations they said they had already implemented through executive order. But today the White House embraced it. And today they are claiming that this is the first post-election victory for the president -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Suzanne Malveaux, live from the White House, thank you -- Tony.
HARRIS: Drug mark Pfizer says it has no plans to pull its popular arthritis painkiller Celebrex off the market, despite evidence the drug may pose an increased risk of cardiovascular problems to some users.
Celebrex is the most common arthritis drug on the market with annual sales estimated at more than $3 billion. It's in the same class of drugs as Merck's Vioxx, which was yanked off the market in September for similar health and safety concerns. Since then, Pfizer has stood by the safety of Celebrex, issuing at least three statements confirming the drug's safety.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. LAURENCE SPERLING, CARDIOLOGIST, EMORY UNIVERSITY: Nobody specifically asked the question about heart side effects, but these were byproducts of the studies. And, as you well know, one of these agents was recently taken off the market because of the increase in heart side effects.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: We have experts lined up to address your concerns about Celebrex. E-mail your questions to housecall@CNN.com. And tune in tomorrow morning at 8:30 Eastern for answers during a special live edition of "House Call" with our Dr. Sanjay Gupta right here on CNN.
PHILLIPS: Celebrex joins the list of prescription drugs under recent scrutiny. It was just last September when Pfizer rival Merck recalled Vioxx over some serious side effects.
CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen takes a look at another prescription problem and government rules meant to prevent them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tillman and Mary Harris were married for 47 years, raised a daughter, had grandchildren.
MARY HARRIS, VICTIM'S WIFE: Oh, I miss him terribly. Wish he were here.
COHEN: Tillman Harris isn't here because after taking a cholesterol lower drug called Baycol, he developed an unusual muscle wasting condition called Rhabdomyolysis. He became so weak his wife and daughter rushed him to the hospital where he died 10 days later.
Six months after his death Bayer pulled Baycol off the market. At that point, 31 people taking the drug had died of Rhabdomyolysis. And now the question is, could Bayer have prevented those deaths?
Tillman Harris died in February 2001. In March 2000, nearly a year earlier, an internal Bayer memo that was quoted in the Journal of the American Medical Association this month, stated, Baycol substantially elevates the risk for Rhabdomyolysis compared with other cholesterol-lowering drugs.
Doctor Jerry Avorn is a professor at Harvard Medical School and the author of the book, Powerful Medicines .
DR. JERRY AVORN, AUTHOR, "POWERFUL MEDICINES": Baycol is one of several drugs that we are asking ourselves, how in the world did this drug stay on the market as long as it did.
COHEN: The answer, he and other say, is complicated. When drug companies hear of serious side-effects they have to, by law, report them to the Food and Drug Administration. But connecting the dots and analyzing the data is time consuming.
AVORN: They haven't had the person power to receive and deal with all of these thousands and thousands of spontaneous reports that the companies send in.
COHEN: If the drug company finds a side effect before a drug goes on the market, it legally has to show that study to the FDA, but the law prevents the FDA from making those studies public. Drug companies say the studies contain trade secrets.
Pharmaceutical companies say they reliably report side effects both before and after a drug is put on the market.
ALAN GOLDHAMMER, ASSOCIATE V.P., PHRMA: These are significant reporting requirements that companies engage on, on an ongoing basis.
COHEN: Concerning Baycol, Bayer says it kept the FDA fully informed about all the pertinent safety information including adverse event reports. When Bayer became aware of an increased rate of reports of Rhabdomyolysis, it took appropriate action.
But the Harris family is left wondering, what if Bayer, what if the FDA, had taken quicker action before there were 31 deaths.
ROSE OGBURN, VICTIM'S DAUGHTER: Somewhere in between the one and the 31 there were probably people who wouldn't have passed away.
COHEN: Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And coming up on "INSIDE POLITICS" with Judy Woodruff, she will be interviewing the chairman and CEO of Pfizer. That's Hank McKinnell. That's coming up in just about 25 minutes or so on "INSIDE POLITICS."
HARRIS: The state of Missouri has issued an Amber Alert after the murder of a woman who was eight months pregnant. Authorities say the fetus was extracted from the body and apparently taken away.
Joining us live with more on this story, CNN's Keith Oppenheim. He's in Chicago.
Hi, Keith.
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Tony.
A very brutal case, obviously, to talk about here. It takes place in a rural area, Nodaway County, about 100 miles north from the Kansas City area. And there, local police are working with the FBI and the public to find an 8-year-old (sic) fetus that investigators believe still could be alive.
Here's what we know. The mother and victim in this case is 23- year-old Bobbi Jo Stinnett, who police say was eight months pregnant. Investigators believe she was strangled in her home. This was likely to have happened yesterday afternoon. And police say she was cut open the and the fetus was removed.
Now, I should note that Bobbi Jo Stinnett's husband has been ruled out as a suspect in this case. Police say that he was at work. And also they are pointing out that the couple raised dogs, terriers. And they think this could be significant because they are looking into the possibility that the perpetrator or perpetrators in this case may have posed as dog buyers and went to the home in that mode.
They note that there was no forced entry or no signs of forced entry they found at the couple's home. Also, the FBI involved in this case. They are looking at what we have heard are hot leads outside of the state of Missouri. So the feds are involved. And the police are looking for a vehicle that was parked in front of Bobbi Jo Stinnett's home yesterday, described as a red Honda, a Hatchback, perhaps from the late '80s, early '90s.
We're also waiting for a news conference to take place at 5:00 Eastern time this afternoon, Tony, so that may be a significant break in the case. And, of course, many people are hoping that it is.
HARRIS: Yes, let's hope it is. Keith, we appreciate it. Thank you.
PHILLIPS: The suspect in what is being called the largest arson case in Maryland history reportedly failed a polygraph.
The fire earlier this month in an upscale development in suburban Washington burned 26 homes and did $10 million in damage. Yesterday, police arrested a former security guard at that site. He said they had the wrong man and offered to take a polygraph. But, according to the investigators, the results only bolstered the evidence against him.
Stephen Tschida has more now on the U.S. .
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEPHEN TSCHIDA, NEWS CHANNEL 8 REPORTER: Aaron Speed is slated to make his initial court appearance in federal court in Greenbelt shortly. And, at that time, we are expected to learn more about the case against him.
(voice-over): Twenty-one-year-old Aaron Speed of Waldorf, a guard at the Hunters Brooke development, one of the first on the scene of the devastating arson, under suspicion early on. Investigators questioned his reasons for showing up at the fire even though he wasn't scheduled to work that morning.
They went through his home Wednesday and, after a day of questioning, arrested him Thursday night. Speed is married and a father.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He goes to work regularly and comes home. And I just have seen him basically out in the yard playing with his baby.
TSCHIDA: So far, no word on what investigators believe may have motivated Speed to commit one of the largest arsons in Maryland history, destroying at least 10 homes under construction, damaging dozens of others. But we do know he lives somewhat of a troubled life and spent time in foster care.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I cared about him deeply. I thought he had a good future ahead of him, because he was making such good progress.
TSCHIDA (on camera): We also know Speed was placed in foster care just 18 months ago when he was 19 by an organization which works with individual with mental health issues.
Reporting from Greenbelt, Stephen Tschida, News Channel 8.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Well, the oil feeds of Saudi Arabia are the lifeline to much of the world's fuel infrastructure. Could they be the next major target of terrorism. Nic Robertson will tell us what is being done to protect them. PHILLIPS: Pfizer investigators may need some painkillers this afternoon. We'll have an update how the market is reacting to the news about Celebrex.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Deadly ambush in northern Iraq. Witnesses in Mosul say that one Iraqi and three foreigners were killed today when gunmen attacked their car, possibly a taxi with small arms, then set the car on fire. The nationalities of the victims is unknown. Insurgent violence is sharply on the rise in northern Iraq, particularly in Mosul. Iraqi officials are investigating today's shooting.
HARRIS: Iraq's oil fields have already fallen prey to terrorist attacks. What if the same were to happen to neighboring Saudi Arabia, which is home to one-quarter of the world's oil reserves?
Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson went looking for answers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If Saudi Arabia's lifeblood is oil, this is its heart, Ras Tanura, the world's largest oil refinery and the country's principal export facility. We saw fortified defenses, but not enough to satisfy former CIA officer, Bob Baer.
BOB BAER, FORMER CIA OFFICER: I could sit down now, with my training in the CIA and people I know, and do a concerted military attack on Saudi facilities, standoff attacks with rockets and take five or six million barrels off the market.
ROBERTSON: So could a plane packed with explosives if it crashed into Ras Tanura, a 9/11-style scenario that Baer says is also possible. The loss of more than one-half the desert's kingdom normal production would turn disaster here into a global economic nightmare.
ADRIAN BINKS, OIL ANALYST: If a major facility was knocked out, such as the Ras Tanura export facility and it looked like it would be out for many months, then the market would be absolutely frenzied and prices would rise to the sky almost.
ROBERTSON: At a high-tech control room, Saudi engineers say they planned for that possibility.
ABDULLAH JUMAH, PRESIDENT AND CEO, ARAMCO: We always have drills about what ifs, and, therefore, even a terrorists incident, if it were to happen, it's not going to be worse than an industrial incident in a volatile industry like ours.
ROBERTSON: Indeed, on a recent tour of Ras Tanura, where oil is not only refined, but shipped out to the rest of the world, Saudi officials are keen to show off the safety features of the facilities.
(on camera): What you realize out of these oil loading terminals, if terrorists were to strike against the Saudi oil infrastructure, it would have little effect. The system is spread out over a vast area.
(voice-over): But, in a volatile market already jittery about terrorists attacks at Saudi oil installations, even a minor attack would rattle the global economy, the sort of pipeline attacks that are already common occurrence in Iran.
BINKS: The most likely scenario, which would be an attack on a pipeline in Saudi Arabia, then prices would spike for a very short time.
ROBERTSON: So far, Saudi al Qaeda has killed and mutilated western oil workers on at least two occasions, but has not yet targeted oil installations. The fear is that tactic could change.
BAER: These people are perfectly capable, if they got some sort of victory in Iraq, of turning south and going after the Saudi royal family and going after the facilities. I've got no doubt about that.
ROBERTSON: With internal tensions from rising unemployment, a booming birth rate and a struggling economy, the Saudi royals carry the burden of protecting not only their oil fields, but also the world's economy.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, if you think today's Hollywood leading men love them and leave them, they have got nothing on Howard Hughes, baby.
HARRIS: Up next on LIVE FROM, the women who loved the millionaire playboy.
PHILLIPS: Billionaire.
HARRIS: Oh, that's right. That's right.
PHILLIPS: Kajillionaire.
HARRIS: We learned that today, didn't we?
PHILLIPS: Yes, we did.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Fans of Leonardo DiCaprio may think he's the hottest thing Hollywood has ever seen, and certainly the tabloids support his Casanova image, but movie fans of a certain age will know that Howard Hughes, the man DiCaprio portrays in "The Aviator," set a playboy pace that would be very hard for any actor to top.
CNN's Sibila Vargas has more on those who kissed and told on Howard Hughes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (voice-over): Howard Hughes had a way with women. Even Leonardo DiCaprio marvels at:
LEONARDO DICAPRIO, ACTOR: The insane amount of women that he was with.
VARGAS: Kate Beckinsale, who plays Ava Gardner in film, says he was hard to resist.
KATE BECKINSALE, ACTRESS: He had no real limit on his vision of what was possible. And I think that that's intoxicating to be around.
VARGAS: Hollywood folklore links Hughes to an amazing array of leading ladies, from "All About Eve"'s Bette Davis to "Laura"'s Gene Tierney. Author Charles Higham checks out the amorous A-list in "Howard Hughes: The Secret Life," which was the basis for "The Aviator."
CHARLES HIGHAM, AUTHOR, "HOWARD HUGHES: THE SECRET LIFE": Essentially, he used women without any respect for them as people. He was a total anti-feminist.
VARGAS: Some, like "The Bad and the Beautiful" Lana Turner thought Hughes' attitude wasn't the only thing that stuck.
HIGHAM: She insisted on a deodorant. And he wasn't prepared to produce one. He disliked his lack of hygiene. When she discovered dandruff on his shoulder, that was the end. And they broke up.
VARGAS: "Gilda" star Rita Hayworth's unwanted pregnancy ended things with her, while a fling with "Top Hat"'s Ginger Rogers broke up his relationship with Katharine Hepburn, played by Cate Blanchett in the movie.
HIGHAM: Of all the women he ever was involved with, Katharine Hepburn was the only one who Howard Hughes deeply and profoundly respected. She was not going to take nonsense from him. She was his equal. She was going to stand up to him.
VARGAS: Surprisingly, Hughes didn't have affairs with actresses in his own movies, including "The Outlaw"'s Jane Russell and "Hell's Angels" Jean Harlow, brought to life by Gwen Stefani in the film.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE AVIATOR")
GWEN STEFANI, ACTRESS: I would like to use this occasion to publicly thank Mr. Hughes for the opportunity he gave me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VARGAS: Higham says Hughes often made dates with different women for the same time and place and then forgot he made them. One time, it got him into trouble.
HUGHES: And they all arrived at the same time and looked at each other and said, this is it, kid. So they kicked him out and said he could get lost in unison, like a chorus, and ended up having a very nice cocktail and dinner, the five of them, comparing notes on his performance in the bedroom.
VARGAS: Sometimes, even the great aviator gets shot down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE AVIATOR")
DICAPRIO: I've had just about enough of this nonsense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VARGAS: Sibila Vargas, CNN, Hollywood.
(FINANCIAL UPDATE)
HARRIS: And that wraps up this edition of LIVE FROM. Have a good weekend.
PHILLIPS: You have a good weekend, too.
And all of you have a great weekend.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
