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Moving on Difficult for Sri Lankans; Kofi Annan: $1 Billion Needed Immediately for Tsunami Relief; Congressional Democrats Challenge Ohio Votes; New York School Children Aid Tsunami Relief
Aired January 06, 2005 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: Lining up for cups of rice, the daily struggle to survive in the aftermath of the tsunami. This hour, how one couple's efforts are helping the hungry make it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The candid answer without trying to jam my religion down everybody, it's -- you know, it's really for me personally, it's really -- it's really walking the walk and walking the talk.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: This man from New Hampshire, his walk takes him all the way to a tent hospital in Indonesia.
PHILLIPS: Wartime warning. The Army Reserve commander sends an alarming message about the future of America's fighting forces.
O'BRIEN: And counting the votes in the U.S. presidential election. Today it becomes official. But not without a kafuffle or two.
From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien.
PHILLIPS: I'm Kyra Phillips. Kafuffle and bigger words this hour on CNN's LIVE FROM.
Well, they're the $6 million men and women. That's what the Pentagon says it's spending every day for tsunami relief in the Indian Ocean, and it's above and beyond the aid package promised by the White House, now pegged at $350 million but likely to be boosted by Congress.
The leader of the Senate is in Sri Lanka today, calling for long- term investment after the immediate needs are dealt with. First among those, say health officials, is drinkable water and basic sanitation.
The overall death toll is verging on 156,000, of which 17 are known to be Americans. Eighteen other Americans are presumed dead. More than 2,600 haven't been accounted for yet by the State Department.
Also in Washington, moves underway to try to cover much of the world with tsunami warning systems, systems now absent in the areas devastated a week and a half ago. Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman proposes a network of seismological buoys in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans.
CNN's broad net of tsunami coverage extends across the Indian Ocean Rim, with 19 correspondents and anchors backed by dozens of producers and crews. You'll see the whole picture only on CNN.
O'BRIEN: Tedium and desperation mingle in parts of Sri Lanka that would be considered uninhabitable if it weren't for all the people who used to live there very nicely. Today, the ones who remain struggle, even compete to survive on the charity of strangers surrounded by loss and grief.
Here is CNN's Hugh Riminton.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HUGH RIMINTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): All day long by a putrid trench (ph), the women of Hicadua (ph) stand and wait. The heat is fierce. The queue seems endless. Near the front, those who got up at dawn watch life being doled out cup by cup.
Everywhere, Sri Lankans are trying to move beyond their grief. They line up patiently at police stations to record the loss of their houses and loved ones.
The world that has shifted is being moved again. Load by load, scrap by scrap, heave by heave.
In this tourist town, they plead for people to return.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just come in and help to the people, whatever. As money come into the town. And we like to work. Also, we will need to work.
RIMINTON: This food depot is not the work of a formal agency but a couple from Liverpool England, who have been sending $600 a day to keep people alive in the town where they've had holidays in the past. Their friends here put the money towards rice, sugar and lentils.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If we are all together, we can stand. If we divide, we fall. At this moment, we should stand together.
RIMINTON: In fact, they stand together all day.
(on camera) After waiting seven hours in the baking sun, the tension has become too much. And this feed point is about to become bedlam. There is just too many people. There is simply not enough bags of food.
(voice-over) Within 10 frantic minutes, it is all gone: 350 people fed. Others walk away with nothing.
Even after so many days, the tsunami's force seems difficult to grasp, a wave that stopped time, that swept the earth clean. Water that welded metal to wood where in this stretch, the only structures that survived were the graves.
We find here Abu Bonar Risby (ph) with his list of family members killed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another one, the youngest one, six months, baby. Another one is 25 years, my son-in-law. Another is one year, he's son. All together, 15 persons.
RIMINTON: He invites us to see where his family was destroyed. His wife survived but has lost her leg. At 42, his greatest pain, the loss of his baby daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So this morning I hear the phone, my daughter, 9-month-old daughter, so I feel very bad. So there is -- I really, I love my daughter.
RIMINTON: He says he thinks of suicide. He waited 10 years for this girl, who they buried today in the sand.
Across Sri Lanka, volunteers are coming toward forward to help as people face their changed lives with all the courage imaginable. But this is a country full of people with no one left to talk to but themselves.
Hugh Riminton, CNN, southern Sri Lanka.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: An appeal in Indonesia resonating throughout the world: dig deep to stop the next wave of death in South Asia. From Jakarta, senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth reports on a pledge drive of unprecedented proportion.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are daunting challenges ahead, said Kofi Annan to the special emergency summit conference on the tsunamis, but they're not insurmountable.
Annan again saying it's a race against time to get aid to the people affected by the tsunami attacks, Secretary-General Annan pleading for more than $1 billion in aid. He says he's very worried about the long-term relief project ahead.
The secretary-general praised countries such as the United States, which offered emergency logistical support to rush aid to those especially in need in areas such as Sumatra and Aceh.
Then Secretary Powell told the special delegations here that the United States and the others were dropping this special core group to let the U.N. take the lead. Annan was not surprised.
KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: No, but I knew that. I knew they were going to provide the logistical support, and once the work is done, there was no need to maintain it. And that was always the understanding that they had informed me about this in New York before I left.
ROTH: with full leadership of the humanitarian emergency relief efforts comes responsibilities. And member countries say they know there are many challenges ahead getting the coordination just right.
JACK STRAW, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: Responsibility is on the national government. It has to be. That's the way it always is with the U.N. in the lead, the World Bank and nation development.
ROTH: And how do you -- how do you coordinate all of this?
STRAW: Well, you coordinate as best you can, but I think the understanding is people will do better than in previous disasters.
ROTH: Thought Kofi Annan says it's a race against time to deliver the aid, countries seem to be in a race with each other to donate more and more money.
But what about the other crises in the world such as Darfur, Sudan? Secretary-General Annan says he hopes the world can learn from its response to the tsunami waves disaster and react accordingly.
Richard Roth, CNN, Jakarta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And we want to remind you about CNN's special primetime tsunami coverage tonight. We'll get the latest from our correspondents throughout the region. Our special report, "TURNING THE TIDE," begins at 7 Eastern.
And at 10 Easter, CNN's Anderson Cooper and Christiane Amanpour, they host our primetime special, "SAVING THE CHILDREN." Be sure to stay tuned for that.
O'BRIEN: President Bush continuing a theme today he began yesterday, talking about changing and reforming the legal system, so- called tort reform. In other words, lawsuits that bring these high rewards and have led to certain abuses.
Spoke about that issue at the White House just a few moments ago. Here's some tape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Members of the United States Senate and the House of Representatives, members from both political parties have come to discuss the need for the Congress and the administration to work together to get meaningful, real class action lawsuit reform.
Class action lawsuits have become a problem. In the United States, the judicial system is not fair. It is unbalanced. It is tilted. And members around this table understand that. And members around this table are willing to set aside their political party to do what is right for worker and business owner alike. We had a very good discussion. It's a discussion that says to me that it is very possible that a good piece of legislation can move quickly this year out of both the Senate and the House, get it to conference quickly and get to my desk quickly to show the American people that both parties are willing to work together to solve problems.
We have a problem with class action lawsuits. It is a problem that we all recognize. And it's a problem we intend to fix.
I want to thank the members for coming. I'm honored you were here, and I look forward to working with you. Thank you very much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: As the president pressures Congress to pass legislation limiting jury awards for malpractice, there's also contention on Capitol Hill with regard to a group of Democrats who succeeded in temporarily stopping the count of Ohio's electoral votes.
That means a delay in Congress certifying President Bush's election.
CNN congressional correspondent Joe Johns is live from the Hill the details -- Joe.
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, this is a ritual that goes on every four years, the counting of the electoral votes. But there's a twist this year, an objection from a member of the Senate and of the House of Representatives to the counting of the votes of one state. That state, of course, Ohio.
The senator, Barbara Boxer of California. The congresswoman, Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio. They are objecting to questions about the votes in the state of Ohio and alleged irregularities there.
Right now, Senator Hillary Clinton on the floor of the United States Senate. Just a minute ago, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader on the House floor.
Of course, Republicans are completely flabbergasted, even exasperated by all this. They say the Democrats are buying into conspiracy theories. The White House issued a statement today saying the Democrats were essentially rehashing an election that was settled long ago. A number of Republicans, obviously, very angry on Capitol Hill that this procedure has been put into place.
It only lasts up to a couple of hours, of course. Democrats say this is simply a protest, not an attempt to overturn the election, rather to draw attention to what they see as irregularities in the Ohio election -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: So Joe, you say it's just a protest but it does bring attention to the problem of our system when it comes to voting here in the United States. So will we will see anything come out of this? JOHNS: Well, one of the things Stephanie Tubbs Jones said she would really like to see some standardization, standardization of the way votes are handled.
Of course, in her state, the state of Ohio, there were extremely long lines for voting. Some voters stood in line up to 4 a.m. in the morning. There are a lot of complaints, of course, about not enough ballot voting machines in the various voting places in Ohio.
Also some questions about rulings by the secretary of state there.
A lot of people, however, say on balance, the president won Ohio by more than 100,000 votes. That's a substantial margin. There's no reason to think this thing should be overturned, and therefore, they say there's absolutely no reason to go through this exercise on Capitol Hill -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Joe Johns, live from the Hill. Thanks, Joe.
And as his fellow Democrats challenge the election results, former presidential hopeful John Kerry won't be in the Senate today. He's in Iraq.
Senator Kerry visited American troops in Baghdad, and he met yesterday with soldiers from his home state of Massachusetts. During the election, Kerry criticized the lack of protection for troops in Iraq.
O'BRIEN: Roadside bombs, insurgent attacks and now food shortages join the list of troubles for some Iraqis. We'll go in depth a little bit later on LIVE FROM.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we, like, bring in any spare change that we find around the house, then we should bring it in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Tsunami, word of the week and a very big lesson in this particular classroom. We'll have details for you on that.
And just after the break, her case stunned America, and now a Texas mother convicted of killing her children, drowning them, wins a ruling in an appeals court. Details for you.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: A Texas mother found guilty of drowning her children, Andrea Yates, could now get a new trial. CNN's Ed Lavandera live in our Dallas bureau with details of today's stunning court ruling -- Ed.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles.
Well, needless to say the family of Andrea Yates and her attorneys, who have spent the better part of almost the last three years working to overturn this conviction, celebrating a major victory today.
An appellate court, a three-judge panel in Texas this morning ruling that her capital murder conviction will be overturned.
Now what happens next is that prosecutors say they will appeal today's decision today's decision to the full eight-judge panel. So it gets a little bit convoluted here in the legal process. But the prosecutors can appeal this decision.
If they are denied, they will have to decide whether or not they should bring Andrea Yates back for a new trial. And that decision, prosecutors have told us today, has not been made.
This decision comes in light of one bit of testimony from the prosecution's expert witness, a man named Dr. Park Dietz, who had interviewed Andrea Yates after she had drowned her five children.
And specifically what convinced the judges on this panel to overturn the conviction was the testimony that Park Dietz had made under cross-examination, had made about Andrea Yates referring to an episode of "Law & Order," an NBC TV program, where a woman had been found not guilty by reason of insanity after drowning her five children.
Well, after she was found guilty, Andrea Yates, it turned out that that episode never existed. And defense attorneys for Andrea Yates have been pointing toward that testimony as having influenced the jury wrongly in this case, and this three-judge panel agreeing.
I believe we have a little bit of sound from the way the prosecutors used that bit of testimony in the closing arguments back almost three-years ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE DWIMBY, PROSECUTOR: But we want to make sure that the next mother, the next person doesn't think that they can do what they ought to do because they see on television somewhere that Andrea Yates was not held criminally responsible because she did what she ought to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: now, the ruling also today says that they do not believe that Park Dietz -- Park Dietz had made that testimony in this case maliciously, that it had just come out. It wasn't anything, the prosecutors are saying, that was planned either. That's why they point out that it was -- had been brought out during cross- examination.
But nonetheless, Andrea Yates remains in a prison here in Texas where over the last three years she has been doing some gardening, going in and out of deeper psychotic -- psychotic episodes. She continues to receive treatment, and her attorney also says today that he has no intention of trying to get her out on bail in the meantime -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Has anybody heard yet from Russell Yates, her husband?
LAVANDERA: We haven't. We've put in calls, made calls. And we haven't heard from him directly.
But as you know and as you told us a few months ago, this is something that he's still very upset about, even though he filed for divorce from Andrea, that he continues to think that what has happened to her is wrong. And he has maintained that the entire time.
O'BRIEN: Ed Lavandera.
Of course, if you want to hear from Russell Yates, you've got to tune in tonight. Larry King will have him on the program, 9 p.m. Eastern tonight, something you'll see only here on CNN -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: A California father upset over the Pledge of Allegiance tops other news across America. Michael Newdow has filed another lawsuit, this time with other parents, in his attempt to get the words "under God" stricken from the pledge.
An atheist, Newdow says that his daughter shouldn't be exposed to the phrase in school. Last year the U.S. Supreme Court tossed the case because Newdow doesn't have custody of his daughter.
Missing again. The Pentagon says the Marine charged with desertion in Iraq has failed to return from leave. Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun never reported back to Camp Lejeune Tuesday and has been declared a deserter. Investigators say he may have gone to Lebanon.
Seemingly, never ending snow and ice are making for never ending misery across a lot of the U.S. Some parts of the Midwest got more than a foot of snow in this latest round, and now the storm is moving east.
O'BRIEN: When we heard about this man's story, we were amazed. He happens to be sitting home in New England reading about the tsunami on the computer. And what happens? He makes a decision that will forever impact his life and that have of at least one 16-year-old tsunami victim in Indonesia. There will be others, as well. We'll have his amazing story coming up.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange. Some former WorldCom directors may be paying out of their own pockets to settle with investors who lost billions. I'll have that story coming up on LIVE FROM so don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: New York children comforted by post -- comforted, rather, by post-9/11 messages from around the world are now reaching out to tsunami survivors. CNN's Allan Chernoff has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wonder if you feel the same as I did when September 11 happened.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Empathy and compassion in letters from New York children who still recall the terror of 9/11.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am so sorry the tsunami hit Indonesia, and I hope everyone in your family is OK.
CHERNOFF: Sixth graders at the United Nations International School in Manhattan. After 9/11, they received letters of sympathy from around the globe. Now it's their chance to return the favor.
AARON KISS, STUDENT: When I got the letters, it made me feel a lot better, like people cared.
CHERNOFF: The students also are channeling their sympathy into action.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Maybe we could kind of, like, go around the school with a box and, like, collect money from classes?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we, like, bring in any spare change that we find around the house, then we should bring it in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who thinks this class...
CHERNOFF: Each grade has adopted an affected country. Indonesia for these sixth graders. They're deciding how to raise money to help.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who would do the classroom restaurant?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The lemonade stand and the car wash are in a tie.
CHERNOFF (on camera): The middle school is hoping to raise as much as $20,000 at the end of the month. The school will donate all proceeds to UNICEF.
MARIA MACKAY, TEACHER: Little school children at the age that these school children are always feel that there's hope. They always feel that there's something that they can do.
CHERNOFF (voice-over): And they want the money they'll raise to go to good use.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For clothes since it got washed away with the houses.
MACKAY: And also medicines.
CHERNOFF: They're only 11 years old. Witnessing multiple catastrophes has made these students wise beyond their years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Also, if I can say (ph), life is more important than everyday material possessions.
CHERNOFF: Yet another lesson from the tragedy: even in the face of devastation, children are not helpless. Rather, they can respond together to help heal the world.
Allan Chernoff, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And don't forget our primetime special tonight, "SAVING THE CHILDREN," 10 p.m. Eastern, 7 Pacific. We sure hope you'll join us.
O'BRIEN: A renowned Texas artist offering her talents to raise money for the tsunami relief efforts. I guess you could call it a trunk show.
Rasha is an elephant from Thailand and the resident pachyderm painter at the Ft. Worth, Texas, zoo. Now normally her canvases sell for $150 to $300 in the gift shop there. This one is special, however. You're going to see it on eBay. And the funds go to one of the tsunami funds. Bidding closes next Wednesday. So far, last time we checked, about $3,000, and we hope it continues to go up.
And Rasha seems quite pleased with her work, by the way, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, investors lost billions of dollars when former telecommunications giant WorldCom collapsed in 2002. Now some former officials at the company may be paying out of their own pockets to settle the score.
Let's get the details from Susan Lisovicz. She's live from the New York Stock Exchange -- Susan.
(STOCK REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Checking stories. Now in the news, managing emergencies here in the U.S., this hour, Homeland Security Tom -- Secretary Tom Ridge scheduled to outline a national response plan that gives local authorities primary responsibility in the event of a crisis.
The massive plan designed to avoid the confusion and turf battles that brought out immediately after 9/11.
Today's formal count of the presidential electoral votes temporarily on hold this hour. Some Democratic representatives are challenging the Ohio ballot, claiming voting irregularities...
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 January 6, 2005 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: Lining up for cups of rice, the daily struggle to survive in the aftermath of the tsunami. This hour, how one couple's efforts are helping the hungry make it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The candid answer without trying to jam my religion down everybody, it's -- you know, it's really for me personally, it's really -- it's really walking the walk and walking the talk.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: This man from New Hampshire, his walk takes him all the way to a tent hospital in Indonesia.
PHILLIPS: Wartime warning. The Army Reserve commander sends an alarming message about the future of America's fighting forces.
O'BRIEN: And counting the votes in the U.S. presidential election. Today it becomes official. But not without a kafuffle or two.
From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien.
PHILLIPS: I'm Kyra Phillips. Kafuffle and bigger words this hour on CNN's LIVE FROM.
Well, they're the $6 million men and women. That's what the Pentagon says it's spending every day for tsunami relief in the Indian Ocean, and it's above and beyond the aid package promised by the White House, now pegged at $350 million but likely to be boosted by Congress.
The leader of the Senate is in Sri Lanka today, calling for long- term investment after the immediate needs are dealt with. First among those, say health officials, is drinkable water and basic sanitation.
The overall death toll is verging on 156,000, of which 17 are known to be Americans. Eighteen other Americans are presumed dead. More than 2,600 haven't been accounted for yet by the State Department.
Also in Washington, moves underway to try to cover much of the world with tsunami warning systems, systems now absent in the areas devastated a week and a half ago. Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman proposes a network of seismological buoys in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans.
CNN's broad net of tsunami coverage extends across the Indian Ocean Rim, with 19 correspondents and anchors backed by dozens of producers and crews. You'll see the whole picture only on CNN.
O'BRIEN: Tedium and desperation mingle in parts of Sri Lanka that would be considered uninhabitable if it weren't for all the people who used to live there very nicely. Today, the ones who remain struggle, even compete to survive on the charity of strangers surrounded by loss and grief.
Here is CNN's Hugh Riminton.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HUGH RIMINTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): All day long by a putrid trench (ph), the women of Hicadua (ph) stand and wait. The heat is fierce. The queue seems endless. Near the front, those who got up at dawn watch life being doled out cup by cup.
Everywhere, Sri Lankans are trying to move beyond their grief. They line up patiently at police stations to record the loss of their houses and loved ones.
The world that has shifted is being moved again. Load by load, scrap by scrap, heave by heave.
In this tourist town, they plead for people to return.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just come in and help to the people, whatever. As money come into the town. And we like to work. Also, we will need to work.
RIMINTON: This food depot is not the work of a formal agency but a couple from Liverpool England, who have been sending $600 a day to keep people alive in the town where they've had holidays in the past. Their friends here put the money towards rice, sugar and lentils.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If we are all together, we can stand. If we divide, we fall. At this moment, we should stand together.
RIMINTON: In fact, they stand together all day.
(on camera) After waiting seven hours in the baking sun, the tension has become too much. And this feed point is about to become bedlam. There is just too many people. There is simply not enough bags of food.
(voice-over) Within 10 frantic minutes, it is all gone: 350 people fed. Others walk away with nothing.
Even after so many days, the tsunami's force seems difficult to grasp, a wave that stopped time, that swept the earth clean. Water that welded metal to wood where in this stretch, the only structures that survived were the graves.
We find here Abu Bonar Risby (ph) with his list of family members killed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another one, the youngest one, six months, baby. Another one is 25 years, my son-in-law. Another is one year, he's son. All together, 15 persons.
RIMINTON: He invites us to see where his family was destroyed. His wife survived but has lost her leg. At 42, his greatest pain, the loss of his baby daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So this morning I hear the phone, my daughter, 9-month-old daughter, so I feel very bad. So there is -- I really, I love my daughter.
RIMINTON: He says he thinks of suicide. He waited 10 years for this girl, who they buried today in the sand.
Across Sri Lanka, volunteers are coming toward forward to help as people face their changed lives with all the courage imaginable. But this is a country full of people with no one left to talk to but themselves.
Hugh Riminton, CNN, southern Sri Lanka.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: An appeal in Indonesia resonating throughout the world: dig deep to stop the next wave of death in South Asia. From Jakarta, senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth reports on a pledge drive of unprecedented proportion.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are daunting challenges ahead, said Kofi Annan to the special emergency summit conference on the tsunamis, but they're not insurmountable.
Annan again saying it's a race against time to get aid to the people affected by the tsunami attacks, Secretary-General Annan pleading for more than $1 billion in aid. He says he's very worried about the long-term relief project ahead.
The secretary-general praised countries such as the United States, which offered emergency logistical support to rush aid to those especially in need in areas such as Sumatra and Aceh.
Then Secretary Powell told the special delegations here that the United States and the others were dropping this special core group to let the U.N. take the lead. Annan was not surprised.
KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: No, but I knew that. I knew they were going to provide the logistical support, and once the work is done, there was no need to maintain it. And that was always the understanding that they had informed me about this in New York before I left.
ROTH: with full leadership of the humanitarian emergency relief efforts comes responsibilities. And member countries say they know there are many challenges ahead getting the coordination just right.
JACK STRAW, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: Responsibility is on the national government. It has to be. That's the way it always is with the U.N. in the lead, the World Bank and nation development.
ROTH: And how do you -- how do you coordinate all of this?
STRAW: Well, you coordinate as best you can, but I think the understanding is people will do better than in previous disasters.
ROTH: Thought Kofi Annan says it's a race against time to deliver the aid, countries seem to be in a race with each other to donate more and more money.
But what about the other crises in the world such as Darfur, Sudan? Secretary-General Annan says he hopes the world can learn from its response to the tsunami waves disaster and react accordingly.
Richard Roth, CNN, Jakarta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And we want to remind you about CNN's special primetime tsunami coverage tonight. We'll get the latest from our correspondents throughout the region. Our special report, "TURNING THE TIDE," begins at 7 Eastern.
And at 10 Easter, CNN's Anderson Cooper and Christiane Amanpour, they host our primetime special, "SAVING THE CHILDREN." Be sure to stay tuned for that.
O'BRIEN: President Bush continuing a theme today he began yesterday, talking about changing and reforming the legal system, so- called tort reform. In other words, lawsuits that bring these high rewards and have led to certain abuses.
Spoke about that issue at the White House just a few moments ago. Here's some tape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Members of the United States Senate and the House of Representatives, members from both political parties have come to discuss the need for the Congress and the administration to work together to get meaningful, real class action lawsuit reform.
Class action lawsuits have become a problem. In the United States, the judicial system is not fair. It is unbalanced. It is tilted. And members around this table understand that. And members around this table are willing to set aside their political party to do what is right for worker and business owner alike. We had a very good discussion. It's a discussion that says to me that it is very possible that a good piece of legislation can move quickly this year out of both the Senate and the House, get it to conference quickly and get to my desk quickly to show the American people that both parties are willing to work together to solve problems.
We have a problem with class action lawsuits. It is a problem that we all recognize. And it's a problem we intend to fix.
I want to thank the members for coming. I'm honored you were here, and I look forward to working with you. Thank you very much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: As the president pressures Congress to pass legislation limiting jury awards for malpractice, there's also contention on Capitol Hill with regard to a group of Democrats who succeeded in temporarily stopping the count of Ohio's electoral votes.
That means a delay in Congress certifying President Bush's election.
CNN congressional correspondent Joe Johns is live from the Hill the details -- Joe.
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, this is a ritual that goes on every four years, the counting of the electoral votes. But there's a twist this year, an objection from a member of the Senate and of the House of Representatives to the counting of the votes of one state. That state, of course, Ohio.
The senator, Barbara Boxer of California. The congresswoman, Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio. They are objecting to questions about the votes in the state of Ohio and alleged irregularities there.
Right now, Senator Hillary Clinton on the floor of the United States Senate. Just a minute ago, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader on the House floor.
Of course, Republicans are completely flabbergasted, even exasperated by all this. They say the Democrats are buying into conspiracy theories. The White House issued a statement today saying the Democrats were essentially rehashing an election that was settled long ago. A number of Republicans, obviously, very angry on Capitol Hill that this procedure has been put into place.
It only lasts up to a couple of hours, of course. Democrats say this is simply a protest, not an attempt to overturn the election, rather to draw attention to what they see as irregularities in the Ohio election -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: So Joe, you say it's just a protest but it does bring attention to the problem of our system when it comes to voting here in the United States. So will we will see anything come out of this? JOHNS: Well, one of the things Stephanie Tubbs Jones said she would really like to see some standardization, standardization of the way votes are handled.
Of course, in her state, the state of Ohio, there were extremely long lines for voting. Some voters stood in line up to 4 a.m. in the morning. There are a lot of complaints, of course, about not enough ballot voting machines in the various voting places in Ohio.
Also some questions about rulings by the secretary of state there.
A lot of people, however, say on balance, the president won Ohio by more than 100,000 votes. That's a substantial margin. There's no reason to think this thing should be overturned, and therefore, they say there's absolutely no reason to go through this exercise on Capitol Hill -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Joe Johns, live from the Hill. Thanks, Joe.
And as his fellow Democrats challenge the election results, former presidential hopeful John Kerry won't be in the Senate today. He's in Iraq.
Senator Kerry visited American troops in Baghdad, and he met yesterday with soldiers from his home state of Massachusetts. During the election, Kerry criticized the lack of protection for troops in Iraq.
O'BRIEN: Roadside bombs, insurgent attacks and now food shortages join the list of troubles for some Iraqis. We'll go in depth a little bit later on LIVE FROM.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we, like, bring in any spare change that we find around the house, then we should bring it in.
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O'BRIEN: Tsunami, word of the week and a very big lesson in this particular classroom. We'll have details for you on that.
And just after the break, her case stunned America, and now a Texas mother convicted of killing her children, drowning them, wins a ruling in an appeals court. Details for you.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
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O'BRIEN: A Texas mother found guilty of drowning her children, Andrea Yates, could now get a new trial. CNN's Ed Lavandera live in our Dallas bureau with details of today's stunning court ruling -- Ed.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles.
Well, needless to say the family of Andrea Yates and her attorneys, who have spent the better part of almost the last three years working to overturn this conviction, celebrating a major victory today.
An appellate court, a three-judge panel in Texas this morning ruling that her capital murder conviction will be overturned.
Now what happens next is that prosecutors say they will appeal today's decision today's decision to the full eight-judge panel. So it gets a little bit convoluted here in the legal process. But the prosecutors can appeal this decision.
If they are denied, they will have to decide whether or not they should bring Andrea Yates back for a new trial. And that decision, prosecutors have told us today, has not been made.
This decision comes in light of one bit of testimony from the prosecution's expert witness, a man named Dr. Park Dietz, who had interviewed Andrea Yates after she had drowned her five children.
And specifically what convinced the judges on this panel to overturn the conviction was the testimony that Park Dietz had made under cross-examination, had made about Andrea Yates referring to an episode of "Law & Order," an NBC TV program, where a woman had been found not guilty by reason of insanity after drowning her five children.
Well, after she was found guilty, Andrea Yates, it turned out that that episode never existed. And defense attorneys for Andrea Yates have been pointing toward that testimony as having influenced the jury wrongly in this case, and this three-judge panel agreeing.
I believe we have a little bit of sound from the way the prosecutors used that bit of testimony in the closing arguments back almost three-years ago.
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JOE DWIMBY, PROSECUTOR: But we want to make sure that the next mother, the next person doesn't think that they can do what they ought to do because they see on television somewhere that Andrea Yates was not held criminally responsible because she did what she ought to do.
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LAVANDERA: now, the ruling also today says that they do not believe that Park Dietz -- Park Dietz had made that testimony in this case maliciously, that it had just come out. It wasn't anything, the prosecutors are saying, that was planned either. That's why they point out that it was -- had been brought out during cross- examination.
But nonetheless, Andrea Yates remains in a prison here in Texas where over the last three years she has been doing some gardening, going in and out of deeper psychotic -- psychotic episodes. She continues to receive treatment, and her attorney also says today that he has no intention of trying to get her out on bail in the meantime -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Has anybody heard yet from Russell Yates, her husband?
LAVANDERA: We haven't. We've put in calls, made calls. And we haven't heard from him directly.
But as you know and as you told us a few months ago, this is something that he's still very upset about, even though he filed for divorce from Andrea, that he continues to think that what has happened to her is wrong. And he has maintained that the entire time.
O'BRIEN: Ed Lavandera.
Of course, if you want to hear from Russell Yates, you've got to tune in tonight. Larry King will have him on the program, 9 p.m. Eastern tonight, something you'll see only here on CNN -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: A California father upset over the Pledge of Allegiance tops other news across America. Michael Newdow has filed another lawsuit, this time with other parents, in his attempt to get the words "under God" stricken from the pledge.
An atheist, Newdow says that his daughter shouldn't be exposed to the phrase in school. Last year the U.S. Supreme Court tossed the case because Newdow doesn't have custody of his daughter.
Missing again. The Pentagon says the Marine charged with desertion in Iraq has failed to return from leave. Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun never reported back to Camp Lejeune Tuesday and has been declared a deserter. Investigators say he may have gone to Lebanon.
Seemingly, never ending snow and ice are making for never ending misery across a lot of the U.S. Some parts of the Midwest got more than a foot of snow in this latest round, and now the storm is moving east.
O'BRIEN: When we heard about this man's story, we were amazed. He happens to be sitting home in New England reading about the tsunami on the computer. And what happens? He makes a decision that will forever impact his life and that have of at least one 16-year-old tsunami victim in Indonesia. There will be others, as well. We'll have his amazing story coming up.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange. Some former WorldCom directors may be paying out of their own pockets to settle with investors who lost billions. I'll have that story coming up on LIVE FROM so don't go away.
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PHILLIPS: New York children comforted by post -- comforted, rather, by post-9/11 messages from around the world are now reaching out to tsunami survivors. CNN's Allan Chernoff has that story.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wonder if you feel the same as I did when September 11 happened.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Empathy and compassion in letters from New York children who still recall the terror of 9/11.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am so sorry the tsunami hit Indonesia, and I hope everyone in your family is OK.
CHERNOFF: Sixth graders at the United Nations International School in Manhattan. After 9/11, they received letters of sympathy from around the globe. Now it's their chance to return the favor.
AARON KISS, STUDENT: When I got the letters, it made me feel a lot better, like people cared.
CHERNOFF: The students also are channeling their sympathy into action.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Maybe we could kind of, like, go around the school with a box and, like, collect money from classes?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we, like, bring in any spare change that we find around the house, then we should bring it in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who thinks this class...
CHERNOFF: Each grade has adopted an affected country. Indonesia for these sixth graders. They're deciding how to raise money to help.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who would do the classroom restaurant?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The lemonade stand and the car wash are in a tie.
CHERNOFF (on camera): The middle school is hoping to raise as much as $20,000 at the end of the month. The school will donate all proceeds to UNICEF.
MARIA MACKAY, TEACHER: Little school children at the age that these school children are always feel that there's hope. They always feel that there's something that they can do.
CHERNOFF (voice-over): And they want the money they'll raise to go to good use.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For clothes since it got washed away with the houses.
MACKAY: And also medicines.
CHERNOFF: They're only 11 years old. Witnessing multiple catastrophes has made these students wise beyond their years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Also, if I can say (ph), life is more important than everyday material possessions.
CHERNOFF: Yet another lesson from the tragedy: even in the face of devastation, children are not helpless. Rather, they can respond together to help heal the world.
Allan Chernoff, CNN, New York.
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PHILLIPS: And don't forget our primetime special tonight, "SAVING THE CHILDREN," 10 p.m. Eastern, 7 Pacific. We sure hope you'll join us.
O'BRIEN: A renowned Texas artist offering her talents to raise money for the tsunami relief efforts. I guess you could call it a trunk show.
Rasha is an elephant from Thailand and the resident pachyderm painter at the Ft. Worth, Texas, zoo. Now normally her canvases sell for $150 to $300 in the gift shop there. This one is special, however. You're going to see it on eBay. And the funds go to one of the tsunami funds. Bidding closes next Wednesday. So far, last time we checked, about $3,000, and we hope it continues to go up.
And Rasha seems quite pleased with her work, by the way, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, investors lost billions of dollars when former telecommunications giant WorldCom collapsed in 2002. Now some former officials at the company may be paying out of their own pockets to settle the score.
Let's get the details from Susan Lisovicz. She's live from the New York Stock Exchange -- Susan.
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O'BRIEN: Checking stories. Now in the news, managing emergencies here in the U.S., this hour, Homeland Security Tom -- Secretary Tom Ridge scheduled to outline a national response plan that gives local authorities primary responsibility in the event of a crisis.
The massive plan designed to avoid the confusion and turf battles that brought out immediately after 9/11.
Today's formal count of the presidential electoral votes temporarily on hold this hour. Some Democratic representatives are challenging the Ohio ballot, claiming voting irregularities...
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