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Two Planes Grounded in New York; Early Signs of Shiite Victory in Iraq
Aired February 04, 2005 - 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: Security concerns in the sky. They involve these two planes on the tarmac at New York's Kennedy Airport. A threatening call was reported in one case, a person of interest in the other. More live in just a moment.
The air and ground search for a missing Afghan passenger plane is on hold because of bad weather; 104 people were on board the plane, which was traveling from western Afghanistan to the capital of Kabul yesterday. It couldn't land because of poor visibility and disappeared from radar screens after that. Three American women are believed to be on board.
Actor Ossie Davis has died at the age of 87. His grandson discovered his body in a Miami hotel room early today. Davis was there working on the new movie "Retirement" with fellow actors Peter Falk and George Segal. Davis was 87. He leaves behind his wife and partner of more than 50 years. Ruby Dee.
The pope's health is improving, that word today from the Vatican. The pontiff was hospitalized and has been since Tuesday with a respiratory infection brought on by flu. The Vatican says he's now eating regularly and hopes to deliver his Sunday address from his hospital window. A meeting Tuesday with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been canceled.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Two commercial airliners, two security issues, one big story at New York's Kennedy International Airport, where the planes are parked. Everyone is safe. And the feds are on the case.
We get the latest now from CNN homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve in Washington -- hi, Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Betty.
The headline is that everybody is safe. Those planes landed on time and safely. Here's how things transpired. A phone call came in, a threat that there were hijackers on board Delta Flight 119. This was a flight that originated in Bombay, flew on to Paris and from Paris was scheduled to come into JFK. The Transportation Security Administration tells me that they received a call at about 1:00 informing them of this threat.
That was only about a half hour before the flight was scheduled to land, which is pretty late in the game. In the meantime, concerns had been raised about Delta Flight 81, this a flight which originated in Amsterdam and was coming into JFK. The pilots of both of those aircraft were contacted in the air and advised of a possible situation.
Both of the pilots told them that the cockpits were secure and flight operations were absolutely normal. When Flight 119 landed, however, it was taken to an isolated part of the airport, so it could be checked out. Nothing unusual was found. It was brought in to the gate. Flight 81, when it landed, was brought directly into the gate. People on board were questioned. According to officials, there is one person of interest on board Flight 81, that person being interrogated now.
We do not know exactly why this person is of interest or where this person might be from. But the headline right now is that all appears to be well and safe. Flight 119 has completely deplaned at this point. Flight 81 is in the process of being deplaned as we speak.
NGUYEN: And the investigation is under way.
All right, CNN's Jeanne Meserve, thank you for that.
And CNN is committed to providing the most reliable coverage of news that affects your security. Stay tuned to CNN for the latest information both day and night.
Well, almost a week after Iraqis marked their ballots and stained their fingers, religious Shiites see early signs of victory. And we stress early with votes from Sunni and Kurdish provinces still outstanding.
CNN's Nic Robertson has the latest on that and on the latest Western journalist to be snatched off the streets of Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Apparent losers in the election so far, supporters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Although far from conclusive, partial results from the provinces so far counted in the predominantly Shiite south indicate the firebrand cleric is making a poor showing. His supporters, as they have done when they've appeared marginalized before, upping the ante, calling for U.S. troops to leave.
HASHIM ABU TAGIF, AIDE TO MUQTADA AL-SADR (through translator): I call on all political and religious forces that embolden and contribute to the elections to put a time frame on the occupation.
ROBERTSON: Out ahead in all 10 provinces partially tallied, the United Iraqi Alliance, supported by Iraq's top religious leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. A poor second of the 3.3 million votes so far counted, Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's more secular political grouping, the Iraqi List. But electoral commission officials warn, results so far cannot be used to predict the final outcome.
HAMDIA HUSSAINI, IECI (through translator): It cannot be used as indicators to the final result or as indicators for the distribution of seats in the National Council among the political movement, because this result does not demonstrate the demographic distribution of the voters.
ROBERTSON: Also in Baghdad, an Italian journalist was kidnapped. Giuliana Sgrena was snatched at gunpoint from her car just after talking with displaced families from Falluja at the city's university.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a nice initiative of hers. She was working on a humanitarian case. As she left, two cars blocked the road. They pulled her out with guns. So we knew she was being abducted.
ROBERTSON: An experienced reporter and knowledgeable about Iraq, her editors in Rome hope her common touch will help keep her safe.
LUCIANA CASTELLINA, CHIEF EDITOR, "IL MANIFESTO" (through translator): Giuliana always practiced the style of journalism which was people-oriented. This was the great asset of a journalist who really did a comprehensive job in Iraq.
ROBERTSON (on camera): Elsewhere in Iraq, three U.S. servicemen were killed in separate incidents, the post-election lull in violence now well and truly over. The next political phase, the horse-trading to determine key government positions, awaiting the final election results, now expected early next week.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Well, the new U.S. secretary of state has two stamps in her passport today. In London, her first foreign destination in her new capacity, Condoleezza Rice found common ground with Tony Blair, not just on Iraq, but Iran. At issue there, nuclear research outside the scrutiny of U.N. watchdogs. At a news conference with her British counterpart, Rice met a hypothetical question with a diplomatic answer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: Can you envision circumstances during President Bush's second administration in which the United States would attack Iran?
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: The question is simply not on the agenda at this point in time. You know, we have diplomatic means to do this. Iran is not immune to the changes that are going on in this region.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Rice flew next to Germany, where President Bush will follow later this month. Germans strongly oppose the U.S. war in Iraq, but the chancellor says the two are very much in agreement on Iran. NGUYEN: President Bush is also on the road, Nebraska this morning, Arkansas around lunchtime, and Florida next hour. He's pitching his plans to change Social Security, including an idea to let younger workers open private accounts. The president says he is determined that something be done.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm open for any idea, except raising payroll taxes, to solve the problem. If anybody -- anybody's got an idea, bring it forth. I don't care if it's a Democrat idea or a Republican idea or an independent idea. I'm interested in working with the people who end up writing the law to come up with a good idea. And so all options are on the table, as I said.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: And we will have more on the Social Security debate. That is coming up on "INSIDE POLITICS" with Judy Woodruff. That's at the bottom of the hour.
HARRIS: Well, the hunt is on for a Florida couple who disappeared after being accused of child abuse and torture, as tips of possible sightings come in from around the country.
CNN's John Zarrella with more on the a that has stunned the local police and neighbors.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Friends and neighbors in this Florida town are stunned by the allegations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can't understand anybody abusing children. It's just very difficult to fathom that someone would do that.
ZARRELLA: Fifty-eight-year-old John Dollar and his 51-year-old wife Linda are accused of torturing five of the seven children in their home, ranging in age from 12 to 16. The allegations include malnourishment, electric shock, pulling toenails out with pliers, binding the kids with chains and using a hammer to smash their feet.
Police began their investigation two weeks ago, after one of the kids, a 16-year-old boy, was treated at a local hospital. He was bleeding from cuts on his head and doctors noticed bruises around his neck. But what concerned them most was his weight -- just 59 pounds.
GAIL TIERNEY, CITRUS COUNTY SHERIFF'S SPOKESWOMAN: I've seen pictures of the children that have been, you know, been taken in connection with this case and, you know, I mean they have, they have very sweet faces. But when you look at their bodies, I mean it looks like Auschwitz.
ZARRELLA: Two of the children, 14-year-old twin boys, weighed less than 40 pounds each, the weight of a typical 4-year-old. The Dollars are not the children's biological parents, but they are their guardians. The children are now in the custody of Florida's Department of Children and Families.
John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And there's this. Investigators are more eager than ever to interview the pilot of that corporate jet that crashed in New Jersey. And the NTSB board member says officials are disappointed that neither the plane's flight data recorder, nor cockpit voice recorder turned up anything to indicate what went wrong. The NTSB also found no evidence of ice on the wings of the jet, which skidded off a runway Wednesday. The plane crossed a highway before slamming into a warehouse. The pilot and co-pilot remain hospitalized in fair condition.
A passenger in a car hit by the plane is in critical condition. The driver of that car says he sees the accident as a sign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROHAN FOSTER, JET CRASH SURVIVOR: Oh, definitely. Maybe God wanted me to do something why he let me walk away from that, because that wasn't a car run into my car, or a truck run into my -- that was a plane run me over and I'm still alive. So maybe, I suppose I have something to do. That's why I'm still alive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Meanwhile, a lawyer for the company that owned the jet tells "The New York Times" that the pilot is saying something broke just as he was about to take off. Some passengers walked out of the plane's wreckage. Some crawled, others were pulled out. Witnesses say it's a miracle they all survived.
NGUYEN: Absolutely, just looking at the wreckage and the cars that it hit.
Well, another remarkable survival story, this one from South Asia, tsunami survivors rescued after 38 days on a remote island. A CNN crew is there.
HARRIS: And the aww story of the day.
NGUYEN: Aww.
HARRIS: Four young celebs get ready to make their debut.
NGUYEN: Plus, COUNTDOWN to Jacksonville. We are live from Florida with your Super Bowl preview. That's just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: In a part of the world where there has been overwhelming death and destruction, a reason to celebrate and to hope. Earlier this week, nine tsunami survivors were rescued from a remote island of off India. It's quite a story.
And here's CNN's Suhasini Haidar.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUHASINI HAIDAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): It's a miracle, say officials. Thirty-eight days after the tsunami struck when most have given up any hope of finding any more people alive, one intrepid police search party found nine survivors in a dense forest on a remote island in the Indian Ocean. Four men, two women, and two little girls, a story more remarkable than any reality television show.
The group, all of them original inhabitants of the island, said they ran up a hill when the tsunami struck. They walked for days they say, eating coconuts. And when they thought they could go no farther they met an ancient tribe, called the Shompens, who taught them the basics: how to look for wild berries, how to make a fire, and how to kill and eat wild animals.
News of their discovery has re-energized search and rescue operations here, say officials.
RAM RAMGOPAL KAPSE, LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR, ANDAMAN ISLAND: Every day, we get some good news and it means that we are still working and we hope that we will get some more missing people.
HAIDAR: More than 5,000 men, women and children are still registered missing in tsunami-hit regions of India. Finding these survivor, say officials renews hope that others may be alive and well in the jungles, too.
Suhasini Haidar, CNN, Kambal Bay the Indian Ocean.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Well, the United Nations is coordinating an enormous relief effort in the wake of tsunamis. But new revelations about its former oil-for-food program with Iraq are raising concerns about whether the U.N. is up for the job.
CNN's Chris Huntington reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Not long after U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan surveyed the tsunami's horrifying devastation of Indonesia's Banda Aceh Province, emergency supplies and maybe began pouring into the region.
But for Annan, who had been steadily under fire for the U.N.'s mishandling of the Iraqi oil-for-food program, the unprecedented financial aid also renewed criticism of the U.N.'s ability to manage money. Last month, Annan tried to put donors at ease.
KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: It is important that we reassure the donors that the money that has been given is being used properly and effectively.
HUNTINGTON: While Annan may be in the line of fire, it's Undersecretary Jan Egeland who is in the hot seat for managing the nearly $1 billion the U.N. has so far collected for tsunami relief.
JAN EGELAND, U.N. EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR: We will in the United Nations account for every penny, every cent, every euro. This unprecedented generosity that we have seen to the United Nations in the wake of the terrible tsunami should be followed by unprecedented transparency.
HUNTINGTON: Egeland dismisses any comparison to the U.N.'s role in the oil-for-food program.
EGELAND: The humanitarian system of ours well proven since the 1940s. It's totally different. We have internal, external auditors, monitors, evaluations reporting all the time. The system works.
HUNTINGTON: The U.N. has signed up PricewaterhouseCoopers, which offered for free to oversee the U.N.'s accounting of tsunami aid. And Egeland promises that the U.N. Web site will eventually track every donation to its end use.
But one critic of the U.N.'s oil-for-food program says, while there's unlikely to be mismanagement in handling tsunami aid, there is likely to be waste.
NILE GARDINER, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: The United Nations is a huge, gigantic, overbearing bureaucracy, extremely inefficient in terms of its overall operations.
HUNTINGTON: There are more than a dozen distinct U.N. agencies from UNICEF to the World Food Program to the U.N. Development Program, all with different accounting rules and donor reporting procedures. While Egeland coordinates their efforts, he does not have oversight on how each agency collects and spends money. And that may come back to haunt him and his boss.
Chris Huntington, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: So, where will you be watching the Super Bowl? CNN's Larry Smith has a great spot. Boy.
NGUYEN: Oh, yes.
HARRIS: We'll check in with him live in Jacksonville.
NGUYEN: And later in the hour, making sure there are no wardrobe malfunctions at this year's halftime show.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: How about this? Huh. How about this? How cute is this? (LAUGHTER)
HARRIS: Four adorable new reasons to go to the National Zoo. There they are. These cheetah cubs go on display tomorrow. Mommy, slow down. Mommy, want to play.
(LAUGHTER)
HARRIS: The two male and two female cubs have been kept mostly out of the public eye since they were born in November. Zookeepers wanted them to get a little time to bond with their mother. Enjoy them while they're young.
NGUYEN: Oh, yes.
HARRIS: Yes. Here's a reason. Next time you see them, next year, they'll be 10 times bigger.
NGUYEN: Stay behind the fence.
All right, football fans, just two more days. Can you make it? Well, the 39th Super Bowl is this Sunday. And the scene, Jacksonville, Florida, of course.
CNN's Larry Smith is there right now to bring us up to date on this COUNTDOWN.
Hey there, Larry.
LARRY SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey. How are you? Good afternoon.
Finally some blue skies. The clouds are gone here in Jacksonville. It's a beautiful day, still a bit brisk, but certainly warmer than what we've had as we get ready for Super Bowl XXXIX, Patriots and the Eagles.
Now, you know, every decade in the Super Bowl era has had its dominant coach. In the 1960s, it was Vince Lombardi and the Green Bay Packers, the 70s, Chuck Noll and Pittsburgh, in the '80s, Bill Walsh and the 49ers. And the cowboys in the '90s won two of their three titles under Jimmy Johnson.
And there is no question that the 21st century so far has been dominated by Bill Belichick. A victory over the Eagles Sunday night would make Belichick, the Patriots' head coach, just the fourth coach to win three or more Super Bowls, joining Knoll, Walsh and the Washington Redskins' Joe Gibbs, taking home another championship trophy named for the legendary Lombardi.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL BELICHICK, PATRIOTS HEAD COACH: That trophy right there represents the team. And I mean that word collectively, T-E-A-M, the team that is able to execute and play the best football for the season in which the year is engraved. That's what it stands for. And that's it. It doesn't mean anything about what happened the year before.
It doesn't say what's the best team, what's the most talented team, which team has the most guys in the Pro Bowl, which team has the biggest payroll, smallest payroll, whatever you want to talk about. It stands for the team that has played the best in that season. And they put the number on there for that year. And then the next year, we start all over again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: Now, the Patriots' head coach always talking about team. The players also all week talking about the team effort.
But, still, make no mistake. Belichick, with the win, would go to 9-1 all time in the playoffs. That would tie Lombardi's postseason record. And the Patriots, if they can beat the Eagles, would now win playoff games in a row. That would tie the NFL record set by the Green Bay Packers from 1961 to 1967. So, a lot of history to be made if they can pull it off over the Eagles. Let's go back to you.
NGUYEN: All right. And speaking of that, I'm going to put you on the spot now.
HARRIS: There you go.
NGUYEN: Because we spoke with Sister Jean Kenny earlier. And she said the Patriots are going to win 33-23. You care to put your prediction out there?
SMITH: You know what?
NGUYEN: Oh, come on, Larry.
SMITH: While I'm at it, 23-20 -- 23-20 Patriots. How's that?
HARRIS: Twenty-three-20? That's a close game.
NGUYEN: Oh, 23-20.
(CROSSTALK)
SMITH: They have won both Super Bowls by three points. They'll win this one by a field goal again. Adam Vinatieri will be hailed as the greatest kicker of all time in football history. And they will go on from there.
Of course, a lot of Eagle fans behind me. I might not get out of here alive.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
SMITH: So...
NGUYEN: We'll let you go, then. Run and run fast. Thanks, Larry.
(LAUGHTER)
SMITH: That's right.
(CROSSTALK)
HARRIS: He'll take -- there's probably a battering coming up, the Eagles fans.
SMITH: Oh.
(LAUGHTER)
HARRIS: First, it was flags on cars. And, look, they threw something at Santa. Now some folks are choosing a more personal way to make a statement about Iraq.
CNN's Jeanne Moos looks at the purple finger craze.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Are they hailing a cab? Testing the wind? Are they testing their peripheral vision? You can sum up the latest patriotic trend in two words: Got ink?
(on camera): Move over middle finger, the index finger is the new finger of choice.
(voice-over): It's a gesture of homage to Iraqis who were brave enough to vote, purple ink used to prevent people from voting more than once, became a badge of honor. For Iraqis who voted in U. S. , a finger was worth a thousand words.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have the purple finger to prove it.
MOOS: Now congressmen are flaunting it on TV.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I marked my finger.
MOOS: Folks made a point of pointing their fingers at the State of the Union. Web sites are posting photos people send in of their upraised index fingers in shades ranging from blue to purple to turquoise, poised on a trigger by the soldier in Iraq.
Some display a single digit, some prefer the victory or peace sign. This Iraqi woman at the State of the Union combined the two.
This GOP blogger's Web site credits a 10-year-old Montana girl for inspiring others to dye their fingers. For her efforts, Shelby Dangerfield got to meet the president he visited Montana Thursday.
Comedy shows may joke about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART")
JON STEWART, HOST: Is that ink?
ROB CORDDRY, CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Funny story, that's from Hassan, my translator. He voted before earlier before we...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: One political Web site offered a recipe for a cocktail drink called the purple finger made from grenadine, cassis made from black currants and vodka.
But from us, the purple finger got the -- thumbs down.
Another Web site set up by this University of Michigan law student calls itself "Give Terror the Finger."
OK, not everybody is using their index finger to make a political point. But not since E.T. cast this shadow across movie screens...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL")
PAT WELSH, ACTOR: E.T.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: ...has a finger been so poignant.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: I like that salute, purple finger salute.
NGUYEN: The index finger.
HARRIS: The index, yes.
NGUYEN: Well, "JUDY WOODRUFF'S INSIDE POLITICS" is next.
HARRIS: That and a check of the headlines right after a quick break.
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 February 4, 2005 - 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: Security concerns in the sky. They involve these two planes on the tarmac at New York's Kennedy Airport. A threatening call was reported in one case, a person of interest in the other. More live in just a moment.
The air and ground search for a missing Afghan passenger plane is on hold because of bad weather; 104 people were on board the plane, which was traveling from western Afghanistan to the capital of Kabul yesterday. It couldn't land because of poor visibility and disappeared from radar screens after that. Three American women are believed to be on board.
Actor Ossie Davis has died at the age of 87. His grandson discovered his body in a Miami hotel room early today. Davis was there working on the new movie "Retirement" with fellow actors Peter Falk and George Segal. Davis was 87. He leaves behind his wife and partner of more than 50 years. Ruby Dee.
The pope's health is improving, that word today from the Vatican. The pontiff was hospitalized and has been since Tuesday with a respiratory infection brought on by flu. The Vatican says he's now eating regularly and hopes to deliver his Sunday address from his hospital window. A meeting Tuesday with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been canceled.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Two commercial airliners, two security issues, one big story at New York's Kennedy International Airport, where the planes are parked. Everyone is safe. And the feds are on the case.
We get the latest now from CNN homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve in Washington -- hi, Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Betty.
The headline is that everybody is safe. Those planes landed on time and safely. Here's how things transpired. A phone call came in, a threat that there were hijackers on board Delta Flight 119. This was a flight that originated in Bombay, flew on to Paris and from Paris was scheduled to come into JFK. The Transportation Security Administration tells me that they received a call at about 1:00 informing them of this threat.
That was only about a half hour before the flight was scheduled to land, which is pretty late in the game. In the meantime, concerns had been raised about Delta Flight 81, this a flight which originated in Amsterdam and was coming into JFK. The pilots of both of those aircraft were contacted in the air and advised of a possible situation.
Both of the pilots told them that the cockpits were secure and flight operations were absolutely normal. When Flight 119 landed, however, it was taken to an isolated part of the airport, so it could be checked out. Nothing unusual was found. It was brought in to the gate. Flight 81, when it landed, was brought directly into the gate. People on board were questioned. According to officials, there is one person of interest on board Flight 81, that person being interrogated now.
We do not know exactly why this person is of interest or where this person might be from. But the headline right now is that all appears to be well and safe. Flight 119 has completely deplaned at this point. Flight 81 is in the process of being deplaned as we speak.
NGUYEN: And the investigation is under way.
All right, CNN's Jeanne Meserve, thank you for that.
And CNN is committed to providing the most reliable coverage of news that affects your security. Stay tuned to CNN for the latest information both day and night.
Well, almost a week after Iraqis marked their ballots and stained their fingers, religious Shiites see early signs of victory. And we stress early with votes from Sunni and Kurdish provinces still outstanding.
CNN's Nic Robertson has the latest on that and on the latest Western journalist to be snatched off the streets of Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Apparent losers in the election so far, supporters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Although far from conclusive, partial results from the provinces so far counted in the predominantly Shiite south indicate the firebrand cleric is making a poor showing. His supporters, as they have done when they've appeared marginalized before, upping the ante, calling for U.S. troops to leave.
HASHIM ABU TAGIF, AIDE TO MUQTADA AL-SADR (through translator): I call on all political and religious forces that embolden and contribute to the elections to put a time frame on the occupation.
ROBERTSON: Out ahead in all 10 provinces partially tallied, the United Iraqi Alliance, supported by Iraq's top religious leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. A poor second of the 3.3 million votes so far counted, Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's more secular political grouping, the Iraqi List. But electoral commission officials warn, results so far cannot be used to predict the final outcome.
HAMDIA HUSSAINI, IECI (through translator): It cannot be used as indicators to the final result or as indicators for the distribution of seats in the National Council among the political movement, because this result does not demonstrate the demographic distribution of the voters.
ROBERTSON: Also in Baghdad, an Italian journalist was kidnapped. Giuliana Sgrena was snatched at gunpoint from her car just after talking with displaced families from Falluja at the city's university.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a nice initiative of hers. She was working on a humanitarian case. As she left, two cars blocked the road. They pulled her out with guns. So we knew she was being abducted.
ROBERTSON: An experienced reporter and knowledgeable about Iraq, her editors in Rome hope her common touch will help keep her safe.
LUCIANA CASTELLINA, CHIEF EDITOR, "IL MANIFESTO" (through translator): Giuliana always practiced the style of journalism which was people-oriented. This was the great asset of a journalist who really did a comprehensive job in Iraq.
ROBERTSON (on camera): Elsewhere in Iraq, three U.S. servicemen were killed in separate incidents, the post-election lull in violence now well and truly over. The next political phase, the horse-trading to determine key government positions, awaiting the final election results, now expected early next week.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Well, the new U.S. secretary of state has two stamps in her passport today. In London, her first foreign destination in her new capacity, Condoleezza Rice found common ground with Tony Blair, not just on Iraq, but Iran. At issue there, nuclear research outside the scrutiny of U.N. watchdogs. At a news conference with her British counterpart, Rice met a hypothetical question with a diplomatic answer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: Can you envision circumstances during President Bush's second administration in which the United States would attack Iran?
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: The question is simply not on the agenda at this point in time. You know, we have diplomatic means to do this. Iran is not immune to the changes that are going on in this region.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Rice flew next to Germany, where President Bush will follow later this month. Germans strongly oppose the U.S. war in Iraq, but the chancellor says the two are very much in agreement on Iran. NGUYEN: President Bush is also on the road, Nebraska this morning, Arkansas around lunchtime, and Florida next hour. He's pitching his plans to change Social Security, including an idea to let younger workers open private accounts. The president says he is determined that something be done.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm open for any idea, except raising payroll taxes, to solve the problem. If anybody -- anybody's got an idea, bring it forth. I don't care if it's a Democrat idea or a Republican idea or an independent idea. I'm interested in working with the people who end up writing the law to come up with a good idea. And so all options are on the table, as I said.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: And we will have more on the Social Security debate. That is coming up on "INSIDE POLITICS" with Judy Woodruff. That's at the bottom of the hour.
HARRIS: Well, the hunt is on for a Florida couple who disappeared after being accused of child abuse and torture, as tips of possible sightings come in from around the country.
CNN's John Zarrella with more on the a that has stunned the local police and neighbors.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Friends and neighbors in this Florida town are stunned by the allegations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can't understand anybody abusing children. It's just very difficult to fathom that someone would do that.
ZARRELLA: Fifty-eight-year-old John Dollar and his 51-year-old wife Linda are accused of torturing five of the seven children in their home, ranging in age from 12 to 16. The allegations include malnourishment, electric shock, pulling toenails out with pliers, binding the kids with chains and using a hammer to smash their feet.
Police began their investigation two weeks ago, after one of the kids, a 16-year-old boy, was treated at a local hospital. He was bleeding from cuts on his head and doctors noticed bruises around his neck. But what concerned them most was his weight -- just 59 pounds.
GAIL TIERNEY, CITRUS COUNTY SHERIFF'S SPOKESWOMAN: I've seen pictures of the children that have been, you know, been taken in connection with this case and, you know, I mean they have, they have very sweet faces. But when you look at their bodies, I mean it looks like Auschwitz.
ZARRELLA: Two of the children, 14-year-old twin boys, weighed less than 40 pounds each, the weight of a typical 4-year-old. The Dollars are not the children's biological parents, but they are their guardians. The children are now in the custody of Florida's Department of Children and Families.
John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And there's this. Investigators are more eager than ever to interview the pilot of that corporate jet that crashed in New Jersey. And the NTSB board member says officials are disappointed that neither the plane's flight data recorder, nor cockpit voice recorder turned up anything to indicate what went wrong. The NTSB also found no evidence of ice on the wings of the jet, which skidded off a runway Wednesday. The plane crossed a highway before slamming into a warehouse. The pilot and co-pilot remain hospitalized in fair condition.
A passenger in a car hit by the plane is in critical condition. The driver of that car says he sees the accident as a sign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROHAN FOSTER, JET CRASH SURVIVOR: Oh, definitely. Maybe God wanted me to do something why he let me walk away from that, because that wasn't a car run into my car, or a truck run into my -- that was a plane run me over and I'm still alive. So maybe, I suppose I have something to do. That's why I'm still alive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Meanwhile, a lawyer for the company that owned the jet tells "The New York Times" that the pilot is saying something broke just as he was about to take off. Some passengers walked out of the plane's wreckage. Some crawled, others were pulled out. Witnesses say it's a miracle they all survived.
NGUYEN: Absolutely, just looking at the wreckage and the cars that it hit.
Well, another remarkable survival story, this one from South Asia, tsunami survivors rescued after 38 days on a remote island. A CNN crew is there.
HARRIS: And the aww story of the day.
NGUYEN: Aww.
HARRIS: Four young celebs get ready to make their debut.
NGUYEN: Plus, COUNTDOWN to Jacksonville. We are live from Florida with your Super Bowl preview. That's just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: In a part of the world where there has been overwhelming death and destruction, a reason to celebrate and to hope. Earlier this week, nine tsunami survivors were rescued from a remote island of off India. It's quite a story.
And here's CNN's Suhasini Haidar.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUHASINI HAIDAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): It's a miracle, say officials. Thirty-eight days after the tsunami struck when most have given up any hope of finding any more people alive, one intrepid police search party found nine survivors in a dense forest on a remote island in the Indian Ocean. Four men, two women, and two little girls, a story more remarkable than any reality television show.
The group, all of them original inhabitants of the island, said they ran up a hill when the tsunami struck. They walked for days they say, eating coconuts. And when they thought they could go no farther they met an ancient tribe, called the Shompens, who taught them the basics: how to look for wild berries, how to make a fire, and how to kill and eat wild animals.
News of their discovery has re-energized search and rescue operations here, say officials.
RAM RAMGOPAL KAPSE, LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR, ANDAMAN ISLAND: Every day, we get some good news and it means that we are still working and we hope that we will get some more missing people.
HAIDAR: More than 5,000 men, women and children are still registered missing in tsunami-hit regions of India. Finding these survivor, say officials renews hope that others may be alive and well in the jungles, too.
Suhasini Haidar, CNN, Kambal Bay the Indian Ocean.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Well, the United Nations is coordinating an enormous relief effort in the wake of tsunamis. But new revelations about its former oil-for-food program with Iraq are raising concerns about whether the U.N. is up for the job.
CNN's Chris Huntington reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Not long after U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan surveyed the tsunami's horrifying devastation of Indonesia's Banda Aceh Province, emergency supplies and maybe began pouring into the region.
But for Annan, who had been steadily under fire for the U.N.'s mishandling of the Iraqi oil-for-food program, the unprecedented financial aid also renewed criticism of the U.N.'s ability to manage money. Last month, Annan tried to put donors at ease.
KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: It is important that we reassure the donors that the money that has been given is being used properly and effectively.
HUNTINGTON: While Annan may be in the line of fire, it's Undersecretary Jan Egeland who is in the hot seat for managing the nearly $1 billion the U.N. has so far collected for tsunami relief.
JAN EGELAND, U.N. EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR: We will in the United Nations account for every penny, every cent, every euro. This unprecedented generosity that we have seen to the United Nations in the wake of the terrible tsunami should be followed by unprecedented transparency.
HUNTINGTON: Egeland dismisses any comparison to the U.N.'s role in the oil-for-food program.
EGELAND: The humanitarian system of ours well proven since the 1940s. It's totally different. We have internal, external auditors, monitors, evaluations reporting all the time. The system works.
HUNTINGTON: The U.N. has signed up PricewaterhouseCoopers, which offered for free to oversee the U.N.'s accounting of tsunami aid. And Egeland promises that the U.N. Web site will eventually track every donation to its end use.
But one critic of the U.N.'s oil-for-food program says, while there's unlikely to be mismanagement in handling tsunami aid, there is likely to be waste.
NILE GARDINER, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: The United Nations is a huge, gigantic, overbearing bureaucracy, extremely inefficient in terms of its overall operations.
HUNTINGTON: There are more than a dozen distinct U.N. agencies from UNICEF to the World Food Program to the U.N. Development Program, all with different accounting rules and donor reporting procedures. While Egeland coordinates their efforts, he does not have oversight on how each agency collects and spends money. And that may come back to haunt him and his boss.
Chris Huntington, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: So, where will you be watching the Super Bowl? CNN's Larry Smith has a great spot. Boy.
NGUYEN: Oh, yes.
HARRIS: We'll check in with him live in Jacksonville.
NGUYEN: And later in the hour, making sure there are no wardrobe malfunctions at this year's halftime show.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: How about this? Huh. How about this? How cute is this? (LAUGHTER)
HARRIS: Four adorable new reasons to go to the National Zoo. There they are. These cheetah cubs go on display tomorrow. Mommy, slow down. Mommy, want to play.
(LAUGHTER)
HARRIS: The two male and two female cubs have been kept mostly out of the public eye since they were born in November. Zookeepers wanted them to get a little time to bond with their mother. Enjoy them while they're young.
NGUYEN: Oh, yes.
HARRIS: Yes. Here's a reason. Next time you see them, next year, they'll be 10 times bigger.
NGUYEN: Stay behind the fence.
All right, football fans, just two more days. Can you make it? Well, the 39th Super Bowl is this Sunday. And the scene, Jacksonville, Florida, of course.
CNN's Larry Smith is there right now to bring us up to date on this COUNTDOWN.
Hey there, Larry.
LARRY SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey. How are you? Good afternoon.
Finally some blue skies. The clouds are gone here in Jacksonville. It's a beautiful day, still a bit brisk, but certainly warmer than what we've had as we get ready for Super Bowl XXXIX, Patriots and the Eagles.
Now, you know, every decade in the Super Bowl era has had its dominant coach. In the 1960s, it was Vince Lombardi and the Green Bay Packers, the 70s, Chuck Noll and Pittsburgh, in the '80s, Bill Walsh and the 49ers. And the cowboys in the '90s won two of their three titles under Jimmy Johnson.
And there is no question that the 21st century so far has been dominated by Bill Belichick. A victory over the Eagles Sunday night would make Belichick, the Patriots' head coach, just the fourth coach to win three or more Super Bowls, joining Knoll, Walsh and the Washington Redskins' Joe Gibbs, taking home another championship trophy named for the legendary Lombardi.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL BELICHICK, PATRIOTS HEAD COACH: That trophy right there represents the team. And I mean that word collectively, T-E-A-M, the team that is able to execute and play the best football for the season in which the year is engraved. That's what it stands for. And that's it. It doesn't mean anything about what happened the year before.
It doesn't say what's the best team, what's the most talented team, which team has the most guys in the Pro Bowl, which team has the biggest payroll, smallest payroll, whatever you want to talk about. It stands for the team that has played the best in that season. And they put the number on there for that year. And then the next year, we start all over again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: Now, the Patriots' head coach always talking about team. The players also all week talking about the team effort.
But, still, make no mistake. Belichick, with the win, would go to 9-1 all time in the playoffs. That would tie Lombardi's postseason record. And the Patriots, if they can beat the Eagles, would now win playoff games in a row. That would tie the NFL record set by the Green Bay Packers from 1961 to 1967. So, a lot of history to be made if they can pull it off over the Eagles. Let's go back to you.
NGUYEN: All right. And speaking of that, I'm going to put you on the spot now.
HARRIS: There you go.
NGUYEN: Because we spoke with Sister Jean Kenny earlier. And she said the Patriots are going to win 33-23. You care to put your prediction out there?
SMITH: You know what?
NGUYEN: Oh, come on, Larry.
SMITH: While I'm at it, 23-20 -- 23-20 Patriots. How's that?
HARRIS: Twenty-three-20? That's a close game.
NGUYEN: Oh, 23-20.
(CROSSTALK)
SMITH: They have won both Super Bowls by three points. They'll win this one by a field goal again. Adam Vinatieri will be hailed as the greatest kicker of all time in football history. And they will go on from there.
Of course, a lot of Eagle fans behind me. I might not get out of here alive.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
SMITH: So...
NGUYEN: We'll let you go, then. Run and run fast. Thanks, Larry.
(LAUGHTER)
SMITH: That's right.
(CROSSTALK)
HARRIS: He'll take -- there's probably a battering coming up, the Eagles fans.
SMITH: Oh.
(LAUGHTER)
HARRIS: First, it was flags on cars. And, look, they threw something at Santa. Now some folks are choosing a more personal way to make a statement about Iraq.
CNN's Jeanne Moos looks at the purple finger craze.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Are they hailing a cab? Testing the wind? Are they testing their peripheral vision? You can sum up the latest patriotic trend in two words: Got ink?
(on camera): Move over middle finger, the index finger is the new finger of choice.
(voice-over): It's a gesture of homage to Iraqis who were brave enough to vote, purple ink used to prevent people from voting more than once, became a badge of honor. For Iraqis who voted in U. S. , a finger was worth a thousand words.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have the purple finger to prove it.
MOOS: Now congressmen are flaunting it on TV.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I marked my finger.
MOOS: Folks made a point of pointing their fingers at the State of the Union. Web sites are posting photos people send in of their upraised index fingers in shades ranging from blue to purple to turquoise, poised on a trigger by the soldier in Iraq.
Some display a single digit, some prefer the victory or peace sign. This Iraqi woman at the State of the Union combined the two.
This GOP blogger's Web site credits a 10-year-old Montana girl for inspiring others to dye their fingers. For her efforts, Shelby Dangerfield got to meet the president he visited Montana Thursday.
Comedy shows may joke about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART")
JON STEWART, HOST: Is that ink?
ROB CORDDRY, CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Funny story, that's from Hassan, my translator. He voted before earlier before we...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: One political Web site offered a recipe for a cocktail drink called the purple finger made from grenadine, cassis made from black currants and vodka.
But from us, the purple finger got the -- thumbs down.
Another Web site set up by this University of Michigan law student calls itself "Give Terror the Finger."
OK, not everybody is using their index finger to make a political point. But not since E.T. cast this shadow across movie screens...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL")
PAT WELSH, ACTOR: E.T.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: ...has a finger been so poignant.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: I like that salute, purple finger salute.
NGUYEN: The index finger.
HARRIS: The index, yes.
NGUYEN: Well, "JUDY WOODRUFF'S INSIDE POLITICS" is next.
HARRIS: That and a check of the headlines right after a quick break.
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