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Schiavo Autopsy; Hostage Found; Missing in Aruba

Aired June 15, 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.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The life and death of Terri Schiavo. A new coroner's report reveals whether she had any chance of getting better. We expect reaction from Michael Schiavo this hour through his attorney. We'll have it for you live as it happens.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUGLAS WOOD, FREED HOSTAGE: God bless America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: A hostage held in Iraq now a free man, and a happy one at that. We have details on how he was found and freed.

And suspects in the Natalee Holloway case go to court today. We're live from Aruba. New developments in that investigation. You'll want to stay tuned for those.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien. Kyra Phillips off today. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

Well, her case sparked debate among families, communities, the courts, even Congress. Two-and-a-half months after her death, we now know a bit more about Terri Schiavo, how she died, what her physical condition really was. What's still not clear is exactly what happened to her 15 years before she passed away.

We get more from CNN's Susan Candiotti, joining us live now from Largo, Florida -- Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.

No hope of recovery, no signs of abuse, no starvation. The results of Terri Schiavo's autopsy now available after two months.

However, the medical examiner says he cannot say with certainty what caused her death 15 years ago. For example, was it caused by a chemical imbalance brought on by an eating disorder? He says he has no evidence of it. He does tell us that she had no pulse for more than an hour after paramedics arrived back in 1990, and that her brain injuries were massive, with no chance of recovery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JON THOGMARTIN, MEDICAL EXAMINER: What was the cause and manner of death? Mrs. Schiavo suffered a severe anoxic brain injury. In other words, her brain suffered damage from lack of blood flow and oxygen, the cause of which cannot be determined with reasonable medical certainty. The manner of death will therefore be certified as undetermined.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: Now, at the time of her death back in 1990, the doctor, the medical examiner said he found no signs of trauma, no signs of physical abuse, and that at the time her feeding tube was pulled just a few months ago, he said she did not starve to death, she was dehydrated. Now, an attorney for Terri Schiavo's parents, the Schindlers, say they are not satisfied because they still don't know what caused her death back in 1990. And they suggest that if more therapy was given to her, even more than she received, that she might have improved.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID GIBBS, SCHINDLERS' ATTORNEY: If Terri Schiavo wanted to die, she had a lot of opportunities to die. Laying there all that time without brain flow and oxygen to her brain, with her husband, for whatever the reason, not getting her any assistance, clearly raises the specter that this lady, if she did not want to live, if she didn't have a desire to live, was demonstrating, in addition to strong organs and life, a will to live.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: However, Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband, said time and again, and the courts agreed with him, that Terri Schiavo would not want to live in a persistent vegetative state. And even though she had no written living will, the courts agreed there was evidence that she did not want to live that way.

We can tell you that Terri Schiavo was cremated after the autopsy and her ashes given to her husband. Apparently, she is not -- according to her husband's family representative, she has not been buried yet.

Back to you -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Susan, based on the report from the coroner, do we have a really good sense of what level of awareness Terri Schiavo had at the end?

CANDIOTTI: Well, because she was not blind -- rather, because she was blind, and because there was severe brain damage, the doctors indicated that, while no one can certainly know for sure, that there was very little chance, they did say, that she was able to interact with her family.

O'BRIEN: Susan Candiotti in Largo. Thank you very much.

More reaction to the medical examiner's findings just minutes from now, 2:30 Eastern, just about 25 minutes from now. George Felos, the attorney for Michael Schiavo, has scheduled a news conference. We will bring you that event as it happens live in Florida. Authorities in the upstate of South Carolina issue an Amber Alert for a 2-year-old girl. They fear Trinity Nicole Casey might have been abducted or might have ran away. Witnesses reported seeing an unidentified man in the area at the time the child vanished yesterday afternoon.

Another theory investigators have is that the child might have walked into a nearby lake. Divers returned to that lake this morning to continue searching the waters.

Now, if you have any information about Trinity Nicole Casey, please call the York County Sheriff's Department in South Carolina. The number there on your screen, 803-628-3056.

"Security Watch" for you. Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar are alive in good health. That's according to a purported senior Taliban military commander interviewed last week by a Pakistan television station. He didn't give out bin Laden's location, and it is not possible to confirm whether he had access to information about bin Laden, but in the past, the Taliban had helped protect the al Qaeda leader, as you know.

Spanish authorities arrest at least 16 suspected Islamic terrorists across the country. They say 11 of the suspects are linked to al-Zarqawi's terror network and were trying to recruit radicals for suicide attacks against coalition forces in Iraq. The other five suspects are linked to last year's Madrid train bombings.

The debate over Guantanamo Bay gets a little more intense. The controversial military detention facility under the spotlight in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The committee looking at policies and practices at the prison camp.

The debate comes amid reports of abuses at the camp. Top U.S. military officials are defending the practices there, but members on either side of the divide have openly and widely differing opinions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D), VERMONT: This idea of changing, changing the focus, producing props of chicken dinners and such, seeming to argue this is more a Club Med than a prison, let's get real. These people have been locked up for three years, no end in sight, and no process to lead us out of there. Guantanamo Bay is causing immeasurable damage to our reputation as a defender of democracy and a beacon of human rights around the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R), ALABAMA: Now, this country is not systemically abusing prisoners. We have no policy to do so, and it's wrong to suggest that. And it puts our soldiers at risk who are in this battle because we sent them there. And we have an obligation to them not to make this situation worse than it is. If we made errors, we'll bring them up and we'll prosecute the people. But to suggest that we're in a wholesale violation of the rules of war, I suggest is wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: CNN is committed to providing the most reliable coverage of news that affects your security. Stay with us day and night for the latest information.

An Australian hostage is freed in Iraq. Douglas Wood found by Iraqi troops during a security sweep in northwestern Baghdad.

More on that operation now. Let's go to CNN's Kathleen Koch at the Pentagon -- Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, to say that Douglas Wood is a lucky man is an understatement. Iraqi troops literally stumbled upon him while they were conducting a sweep looking for weapons caches in a northwest Baghdad neighborhood this morning.

The 63-year-old Australian engineer was found underneath a blanket, tied up. The insurgents told Iraqi authorities he was a sick relative.

And there you see Wood after his rescue. He was taken to -- for medical treatment to a nearby U.S. Army facility, Camp Liberty. Officials there proclaim that he was in good health. And if you listen carefully, you can hear him describe just what happened this morning when the troops approached the house.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUGLAS WOOD, FREED HOSTAGE: Well, I wasn't sure what was happening. The first thing is, there was a bit of shooting outside, then they came in and covered me over with a blanket. They ripped off my -- put a blanket over me. Then there's still a lot of yelling and screaming.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Busting in?

WOOD: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Knocked down the furniture and everything.

WOOD: And then a gun actually fired inside the room. That was a bit scary. But I heard my fellow patient, soldier, whatever he was, still alive. And I'm still alive. Next thing I know, they take the blanket off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: Now, Wood lives in Alamo, California, with his wife. Was kidnapped on April 30, and was last seen in a videotape released by his captors in May. They demanded not only a very large ransom, but also the withdrawal of all 1,400 Australian troops from Iraq.

The mission to free Wood was part of the ongoing two-week-old security sweep known as Operation Lightning that's going on in Baghdad now. U.S. troops were there in an advisory role, accompanying the Iraqi forces that were over to free Mr. Wood.

Three suspects were taken into custody at the time. And the news was welcomed, obviously both in Wood's native country of Australia, and here in the United States, where White House spokesman Scott McClellan said that the administration was very pleased -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Kathleen Koch at the Pentagon. Thank you very much.

More deadly strikes by insurgents to tell you about in Iraq. In the most serious of the attacks, 23 Iraqi soldiers were killed, 28 wounded in a suicide bombing at Khalis, northwest of Baquba. The bomber detonated an explosive belt in a restaurant at an Iraqi army base.

In another attack, four people were killed, 29 injured in a suicide car bombing in southeastern Baghdad. Two of the dead and eight of the wounded are police officers.

And the U.S. military also suffered more casualties. Two Marines killed in separate roadside bombings during combat operations in the Anbar province west of Baghdad. Now, since the start of the war 1,706 U.S. troops have died.

Insurgents have been using the Iraqi town of Avgani as a safe haven to launch deadly attacks in the bigger town of Tal Afar. But U.S. and Iraqi forces are cracking down as we see in this exclusive report from CNN Senior Baghdad Correspondent Jane Arraf. She is embedded with the U.S. 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANE ARRAF, CNN SR. BAGHDAD CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There is nothing subtle about the U.S. military. This small town near Tal Alfar in northwestern Iraq is thought to be a safe haven for insurgents. We're with U.S. and Iraqi forces who are trying to find them, and trying to avoid getting shot while they do.

The U.S. and Iraqi army have moved into the town of Avgani with a list of eight targets. It's just after sunrise, and this is the first house they've raided. The suspect they're looking for, they believe, is a scout for the insurgency, someone who's collecting information and doing reconnaissance. They find the man they're looking for, and take him away for questioning. The Third Armored Cavalry regiment is paired with the Iraqi's 1st Brigade, 3rd Division.

For the first time, the Americans let the Iraqis lead the searches.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want to go through the houses, make sure that we don't point weapons at women and children. ARRAF: At this house, the suspect has gone, leaving his frightened family, and a phone that keeps ringing. This call was from relatives, asking if the family was OK. Iraqi soldiers digging in the garden where they see freshly turned earth uncover a hand grenade. They search the house top to bottom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ask them if there are any other fake walls or doors that you can see.

ARRAF: Part of the U.S. Army's focus here is finding out who in this town of 5,000 supports the insurgents and who can be enlisted against them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The biggest feeling that I'm getting from the town is that a lot of people know what's going on. They don't necessarily like it, but they're scared to do anything about it.

ARRAF: "How could I give you information when I don't leave the house?" this merchant asked the captain. At another home, the medic treats a man who burned his leg in a cement factory, where they have no safety equipment. He's grateful for the medical treatment, but like many people here, wary of the Americans. In this town, as in many, choosing sides can be dangerous.

Jane Arraf, CNN, Avgani, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: A tsunami scare on America's West Coast has residents heading for higher ground. We've got details ahead on LIVE FROM.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm John Zarrella, in Aruba. Investigators have gone to the home of one of the three young men sought -- that is being detained in connection with the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. I'll have that story coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: New developments today in the search for Natalee Holloway. Investigators shifting the focus of their search to the home of one of the three men jailed in the case.

We go straight to CNN's John Zarrella in Palm Beach, Aruba, who's been following it for us -- John.

ZARRELLA: Miles, that's exactly correct. Surprises every day here. And one of those this afternoon, apparently still ongoing at the home of Joran Van Der Sloot. He is one of the three young men being detained in connection with the disappearance of Natalee Holloway.

Investigators, quite a few of them, showing up today at his home where he lives. And they did tape off part of the area there and did apparently go through portions of the home where he lived.

Exactly what they were looking for is not being disclosed to anyone here if there was something in particular they were looking for, or just any general evidence they might try to gather from there. But they are there at the scene, investigators at his home.

Also today, the three men, all three of them appeared in court this morning here in Aruba. And it is unclear exactly why all three were there, called in. But the attorney representing one of the two Surinamese men being held, he told us after the hearing today that in fact he had requested a hearing so that he could get information involving his client and some details of the investigation, some evidence released.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDY OOMAN, DEPAK KALPOE'S ATTORNEY: We had a brief hearing here about the withholding of certain documents regarding my client. And tomorrow the judge is going to decide on that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What kind of documents?

OOMAN: Documents related to the case. If I knew, I would tell you. I don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) documents from the prosecution? Is that what's happening?

OOMAN: That's what's happening.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So what do you say to the security guards who are out, who are telling stories about your client?

OOMAN: I'm not saying anything else. I'm just saying that my client maintains his innocence to any crime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZARRELLA: So, again, there you can hear that he is saying that his client is innocent. There are reports from law enforcement authorities that, in fact, the men are beginning to turn on each other and that stories are changing. Exactly what that means is unclear, but clearly something has led them back to Joran Van Der Sloot's home.

Now, yesterday, there was a search of a beach area, not far from here, about a couple of hundred -- about a mile and half from here at the Holiday Inn, which is where Natalee Holloway was staying. And it was about 200 yards from the Marriott hotel, an area of mangroves and ponds adjacent to the beachfront there. But investigators are telling us today that that search, which lasted about six hours and was the first time that they had searched in that area, turned up nothing -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: John, Van Der Sloot is from a prominent family. And is there much talk on the island there about perhaps preferential treatment here?

ZARRELLA: Well, there had been some speculation about that, but the government has insisted from the prime minister on down that there is no preferential treatment given, or nor has there been any given. Although, certainly questions have arisen, because they did bring these three men in -- young men in for questioning earlier, about a week or so ago, and then released them and did not hold them at the time. Rather, holding two security guards who have since been released.

So there have been some questions put to police about why, in fact, they released them at the time. And those questions still remain, for the most part, unanswered -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: John Zarrella in Aruba. Thank you very much.

Earlier today, the coroner released the autopsy report for Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman whose fate was at the center of that family battle that we all witnessed. We expect to hear from George Felos, the lawyer for Michael Schiavo, just a few minutes from now, about 10 minutes or so. We of course will bring it to you live as it happens. There you see the location of that live shot.

And also...

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange. Coming up, as if higher airfares and gas prices weren't enough, I'll tell you about yet another price hike for your summer getaway.

More LIVE FROM right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Well, we're on our way. It's a glacial pace, at least to start.

The space shuttle, which ultimately travels if all goes well at mock 25 -- that's 25 times the speed of sound, 17,500 miles an hour -- today moved -- couldn't quite get up to one mile an hour. But that was good enough to get the Space Shuttle Discovery out to the launch pad, launch pad 39B.

The distance that the shuttle had to travel is all of four miles from the cavernous vehicle assembly building -- there you go -- and we'll give you a little directional input here. From there to there is something less than about four miles.

The shuttle took 10 hours to go that distance. Ten hours.

The crawler -- that giant crawler -- we can roll the tape a little more forward and you can get a sense of the speed, or perhaps lack thereof, whatever you prefer -- the crawler that runs it is of the Apollo ear. It carried out the Saturn V rockets that went to the moon.

There you see it. It's moving. It's kind of like watching paint dry.

It was overheating. And so it couldn't reach its blistering top speed of one mile an hour, and instead was hovering around a top speed of about .9 miles an hour. With stops and so forth, it took in excess of 10 hours, which if you do the math on that, was about a half a mile an hour -- actually, a little less.

But hey, they're there. They made it out. This, of course, is the second rollout for the Space Shuttle Discovery.

That big orange tank there, that is tank number two. NASA changed it out after several concerns, some concerns about ice build- up on it which might cause damage to the orbiter, some concerns about some hydrogen vents inside and a couple of tanking tests.

So the new tank was ordered. It's on, and the hope is that NASA will be back in flight more than two-and-a-half years after the loss of Colombia, sometime between July 13 and the end of the month. If they don't make that launch window, it moves in towards September.

Whenever it happens, you'll see it here, of course.

Well, there's word of yet another cost increase that could affect your summer vacation. This time, car rental costs are heating up. Susan Lisovicz has that story from the New York Stock Exchange.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Sorry to interrupt you, Susan, but we're going to go down to Florida now. The attorney representing Michael Schiavo, George Felos, is addressing reporters. Let's listen.

GEORGE FELOS, MICHAEL SCHIAVO'S ATTORNEY: One of Mr. Schiavo's initial reactions to the report, I guess the right word is he was very pleased to hear the results. You have to understand, for years, he feels that he's been talking in the wind. For years, he's alleged, and we've proved in court, that Terri could not be sustained by mouth. And the medical examiner found that to be the case.

For years, the treating physicians, the doctors, the responsible physicians, Mr. Schiavo, the courts, have said over and over again that there's no rehabilitation therapy or other therapy that could improve Mrs. Schiavo's condition. That was also found by the medical examiner.

For years, we have been saying over and over again that that bone scan from 1991 was not evidence of trauma. It was evidence of bone ossification. That's what the medical findings concluded, that's what the autopsy said. Mr. Schiavo has reiterated years and years -- for years and years the courts have found that there is -- that there was no abuse of Terri, no evidence of abuse. And that's what the medical examiner found.

Obviously, for years, from the first pleading that we filed in this case in 1998, we stated in the pleadings that Terri suffered massive and profound and irreversible brain damage. And in the words of the medical examiners, the results are very consistent with a persistent vegetative state. They also used the word extremely consistent with a persistent vegetative state. Not only that, but in the body of the report -- and this goes, I think, to the quality of the expert testimony we brought forth throughout the entire judicial proceedings -- Dr. Cranford (ph) had testified and others had testified that in addition to the loss of brain tissue -- and you heard the medical examiner talk about a brain half the size of a normal woman -- that the balance of the brain consisted of glegal (ph), which is scar tissue. So those portions of her higher brain that may have been left were non-functioning, were scar tissue. That's in the results of the medical examiner's findings.

Also, one thing that Dr. Thogmartin didn't mention, the report makes note of an FDA alert that doing an MRI on a patient who has an electrical implant in the brain is dangerous and can cause death. As you know, we've been saying for years, that's why Terri didn't have an MRI. That's what our expert witnesses advised. We were criticized for that in the media, why wasn't an MRI done? The medical examiner's report explains why.

And one of the most, I think, startling conclusions -- not startling, in the fact, but helpful in that it's been made -- is his finding that Terri was blind. We have been saying for years and years and years, the expert testimony showed that Terri's eye movements and apparent -- apparent response to visual stimuli was a reflexive -- was a reflexive action. It was a result of a brain stem activity, which is consistent in PVS patients, that she had no cortical sight. And that was a finding by the medical examiner, as well.

So, Mr. Schiavo was pleased to hear the hard science and evidence of those findings. He also asked me to make -- before I take questions, to make an announcement. We received photographs of the pathology for Mrs. Schiavo's brain, examined those photographs. And Mr. Schiavo has said that he intends to release, in the proper context, certain autopsy photos of Mrs. Schiavo's -- of Mrs. Schiavo's brain. He feels that it is extremely important for everyone to see what is so apparent from those photographs, the profound atrophy that was mentioned in the report and, indeed, what the brain of the vegetative patient looks like.

So that is -- that's my statement and I'll be happy to take any questions.

QUESTION: When are you going to release these?

FELOS: I would say sometime in the near future. And it -- we don't know the appropriate media context in which that will be done, but that will be sometime in the near future.

QUESTION: Do you have any concern that the release might violate (INAUDIBLE) law?

FELOS: It's our understanding -- it's our understanding that, no, it would not constitute a violation of the law. At least, that's our understanding. And obviously, if we were wrong and it were a violation of the law, Mr. Schiavo would not do that. But it's our understanding that there is no violation. QUESTION: When, in your understanding, did Terri Schiavo become blind? Do you know if that was recent -- I mean, in your understanding, when did that occur?

FELOS: Well, in my understanding that that was a -- that was a result of the of the interruption of oxygen and blood supply to the brain in 1990 and that was one of the resulting effects, as the other. So, you know, it's -- we know in this case that the pictures of Terri following the balloon or the pictures of Terri with her mother had such a deep impact on the public, and as best we -- as best we could explain why that's so and as best -- as we said over and over again -- if you look at those tapes carefully, Terri doesn't respond when her mother walks in the room.

There was a physical manipulation. The mother would touch her neck, turn her neck and Terri would moan. As many times as we said that, the public sees the picture and has an impression. But I mean, it's a hard fact, it's a scientific factor, that Terri Schiavo was blind. She couldn't see her mother and, obviously, couldn't react to the sight of her mother.

O'BRIEN: We have been listening to George Felos in Dunedin, Florida, attorney representing Michael Schiavo, the husband and now widower of Terri Schiavo. And -- who indicated to us that Michael Schiavo is pleased that the scientific facts have come out in all of this and also indicated that he would, at the appropriate time, whenever that might be, release some of the autopsy photographs of Terri Schiavo's brain, which according to the coroner earlier today, had atrophied significantly, leaving her with questionable ability to have any sort of consciousness. As well as being completely blind, according to the science that they conducted there.

Asked by the reporters if they felt that would be in violation of the law, the attorney, George Felos, said if it was violation of law they would not consider doing that, but they feel that it is important to get those pictures out as a way of counterbalancing the pictures you just saw, which had been shown over and over again, which left, in many people's minds, the impression that Terri Schiavo had some degree, some level of awareness and consciousness. The story continues.

And so does LIVE FROM, after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Thousands of people in Northern California back home, breathing easily after a tsunami scare. A powerful earthquake struck off the coast of Northern California last night, about 8:00 local time, triggering fears of a possible tsunami.

Tsunami sirens sounded for about 40 minutes in Crescent City. About 4,000 evacuated quickly from the coast. The incident sparked some brief moments of panic for people who lived through the deadly tsunami in Crescent City in 1964. The monster wave washed away 29 city blocks and killed several people back then.

News across America for you now.

One of the six passengers aboard that sightseeing helicopter that crashed in New York City is in critical condition today. The helicopter went down yesterday in the East River, as we told you. All seven aboard did survive. Still no word on the cause of that.

Preliminary autopsy reports find no signs of trauma on a young boy who died at Walt Disney World. A 4-year-old boy died after passing out on Epcot's "Mission: Space" ride Monday. His official cause of death may not be known for several weeks. The ride, shut down after the incident, now has reopened.

Well, it wasn't cheers, but jeers, that greeted California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger at a Santa Monica college last night. The governor did his best to deliver a commencement speech at his alma mater, despite at times being drowned out by catcalls and howl. Schwarzenegger has angered many with his education policies. He plans to hold a special election in November.

And the Yanks will soon have a new place to call home. The house that Ruth built -- there will be no more. Yanks announcing plans to build a new $800 million ballpark. It would be built next to Yankees Stadium in the Bronx. The Yankees hope it will be completed in time for the 2009 season. George Steinbrenner are going to fund it on his own, no help from the taxpayers there.

Coming soon to a TV near you, Michael Jackson, Joe, Tito, Janet and the gang in a reality show? Well, at least as real as they can be, anyhow.

And Nicole Kidman's bewitching encounter with a photographer. What was that all about? Entertainment news lies ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Nicole Kidman does more than twitch her nose at the premiere of her new "Bewitched" movie. And a possible new gig for the king of pop.

CNN entertainment correspondent Brooke Anderson in L.A. with that. Can you do the little -- you know, the twinkle, twinkle, twinkle? Can you do that?

ANDERSON: Not really well, no.

O'BRIEN: No, I can't really do it.

ANDERSON: OK, I gave it a shot. OK.

O'BRIEN: I've tried it for years and can't do it. All right. Take it away, Brooke.

ANDERSON: Miles, first up, we've got word of what could be a real thriller for Michael Jackson fans. It's only been two days since Jackson's acquittal of child molestation charges and there are already talks about a reality show featuring the pop star. Yes, a reality show. It could happen. This according to "The Hollywood Reporter."

The prospective show is said to be six episodes long, will feature a behind the scenes look at the Jackson clan during the singer's recent court battle. You know, how Michael's parents and eight brothers and sisters rallied around him following his indictment. That was November 2003. The idea has reportedly been pitched to Fox, ABC and the A&E network. The Jackson family is said to have some of their own video footage of their activities during the trial, presumably to be used in this show.

And there had been speculation Jackson would perform in the upcoming Live 8 concert line-up. Live 8, a series of six free concerts to happen around the world July 2nd to raise awareness of African poverty. But Jackson apparently not a part of the line-up. A spokesperson for Live 8 told CNN, quote, "there are no plans whatsoever in the works involving Michael Jackson participating in any capacity with Live 8."

Meantime, eBay has ended the Internet sale of Live 8 tickets after concert organizer Bob Geldof labeled the site an electronic pimp. He urged people to swamp it, which they did, and eBay pulled the tickets. Many tickets appeared on eBay after a number of tickets were given away in a text lottery. Again, Live 8 meant to be a free concert.

Well, Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman. She's usually prim, proper, reserved, but not at Monday night's premiere of her upcoming film "Bewitched." The paparazzi ruffled her feathers, so to speak, when a photographer booed her when she began to walk away from them. So Kidman turned around -- you see her there -- confronted and berated the unhappy lensman. The photographer was reportedly upset Kidman posed with co-star Will Ferrell but did not pose alone. He wanted the single shot. Now, I'm not sure if he got one, but it seems the photographers around him were snapping away during the confrontation. "Bewitched" is new in theaters June 24th.

New in theaters today, "Batman Begins." Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman, Katie Holmes, star in this take of the "Batman" legend. It's the fifth Batman movie that's been made. "Batman Begins" explores the origins of the story and how Batman emerged as a force for good. "The Hollywood Reporter" calls it smart and gritty.

And Miles, the merchandising craze has already begun for Batman. Check this out. We've even got boots with the "Batman" logo all over it, on the back.

O'BRIEN: Lift it up a little bit, because that banner's in the way. Lift is up. There you go.

ANDERSON: OK. Can you see it? Here we go.

O'BRIEN: Oh, God, wow.

ANDERSON: Even on the bottom of the shoe, so, for real Batman lovers, comic book lovers. And they all go for about $200 in select stores across the country.

O'BRIEN: This is a long way from the Batman I grew up with. Where is Adam West right? Is he at some kind of trading card show right now?

ANDERSON: Times have changed. Times have changed, Miles.

O'BRIEN: I should say. I got to get me some of them boots. All right, thank you, Brooke. Actually, can we go twinkle, twinkle, twinkle and get rid of Michael Jackson? That's just my though today.

ANDERSON: The story is not going to die, not just yet. We might see this reality show.

O'BRIEN: Surreality, whatever. All right, thank you very much, Brooke Anderson. When "LIVE FROM" returns -- first there was text messaging, then pictures, now listen though what's coming to cell phones. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: All right. Some pictures of the day. Dave Johnson (ph) pulling these together for us, as he is wont to do. Taxis waiting in line at the Pudong International Airport, Shanghai. I guess, they're hoping for a big fare there.

That's Cody Olen (ph), 12 years old, Guadalupe River, Center Point, Texas. Cooling off in a fountain there.

And that's the pope. Pope wearing a fire hat, trading his mitre for a fire hat. Benedict the 16th, wearing the helmet at St. Peter's . A group of Italian firefighters.

And then our favorite of the day. Put this one on. That's a good shot. Marine Corps League member Ray Rivera (ph) holds a U.S. flag as fellow member James Jackson (ph) is reflected in his glasses. Demonstrates how to properly fold it. In Las Cruces, Nex Mexico. Yesterday, Tuesday, was, in fact, flag day. Hope you were displaying old glory.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Back with more LIVE FROM in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL 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 June 15, 2005 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The life and death of Terri Schiavo. A new coroner's report reveals whether she had any chance of getting better. We expect reaction from Michael Schiavo this hour through his attorney. We'll have it for you live as it happens.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUGLAS WOOD, FREED HOSTAGE: God bless America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: A hostage held in Iraq now a free man, and a happy one at that. We have details on how he was found and freed.

And suspects in the Natalee Holloway case go to court today. We're live from Aruba. New developments in that investigation. You'll want to stay tuned for those.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien. Kyra Phillips off today. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

Well, her case sparked debate among families, communities, the courts, even Congress. Two-and-a-half months after her death, we now know a bit more about Terri Schiavo, how she died, what her physical condition really was. What's still not clear is exactly what happened to her 15 years before she passed away.

We get more from CNN's Susan Candiotti, joining us live now from Largo, Florida -- Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.

No hope of recovery, no signs of abuse, no starvation. The results of Terri Schiavo's autopsy now available after two months.

However, the medical examiner says he cannot say with certainty what caused her death 15 years ago. For example, was it caused by a chemical imbalance brought on by an eating disorder? He says he has no evidence of it. He does tell us that she had no pulse for more than an hour after paramedics arrived back in 1990, and that her brain injuries were massive, with no chance of recovery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JON THOGMARTIN, MEDICAL EXAMINER: What was the cause and manner of death? Mrs. Schiavo suffered a severe anoxic brain injury. In other words, her brain suffered damage from lack of blood flow and oxygen, the cause of which cannot be determined with reasonable medical certainty. The manner of death will therefore be certified as undetermined.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: Now, at the time of her death back in 1990, the doctor, the medical examiner said he found no signs of trauma, no signs of physical abuse, and that at the time her feeding tube was pulled just a few months ago, he said she did not starve to death, she was dehydrated. Now, an attorney for Terri Schiavo's parents, the Schindlers, say they are not satisfied because they still don't know what caused her death back in 1990. And they suggest that if more therapy was given to her, even more than she received, that she might have improved.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID GIBBS, SCHINDLERS' ATTORNEY: If Terri Schiavo wanted to die, she had a lot of opportunities to die. Laying there all that time without brain flow and oxygen to her brain, with her husband, for whatever the reason, not getting her any assistance, clearly raises the specter that this lady, if she did not want to live, if she didn't have a desire to live, was demonstrating, in addition to strong organs and life, a will to live.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: However, Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband, said time and again, and the courts agreed with him, that Terri Schiavo would not want to live in a persistent vegetative state. And even though she had no written living will, the courts agreed there was evidence that she did not want to live that way.

We can tell you that Terri Schiavo was cremated after the autopsy and her ashes given to her husband. Apparently, she is not -- according to her husband's family representative, she has not been buried yet.

Back to you -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Susan, based on the report from the coroner, do we have a really good sense of what level of awareness Terri Schiavo had at the end?

CANDIOTTI: Well, because she was not blind -- rather, because she was blind, and because there was severe brain damage, the doctors indicated that, while no one can certainly know for sure, that there was very little chance, they did say, that she was able to interact with her family.

O'BRIEN: Susan Candiotti in Largo. Thank you very much.

More reaction to the medical examiner's findings just minutes from now, 2:30 Eastern, just about 25 minutes from now. George Felos, the attorney for Michael Schiavo, has scheduled a news conference. We will bring you that event as it happens live in Florida. Authorities in the upstate of South Carolina issue an Amber Alert for a 2-year-old girl. They fear Trinity Nicole Casey might have been abducted or might have ran away. Witnesses reported seeing an unidentified man in the area at the time the child vanished yesterday afternoon.

Another theory investigators have is that the child might have walked into a nearby lake. Divers returned to that lake this morning to continue searching the waters.

Now, if you have any information about Trinity Nicole Casey, please call the York County Sheriff's Department in South Carolina. The number there on your screen, 803-628-3056.

"Security Watch" for you. Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar are alive in good health. That's according to a purported senior Taliban military commander interviewed last week by a Pakistan television station. He didn't give out bin Laden's location, and it is not possible to confirm whether he had access to information about bin Laden, but in the past, the Taliban had helped protect the al Qaeda leader, as you know.

Spanish authorities arrest at least 16 suspected Islamic terrorists across the country. They say 11 of the suspects are linked to al-Zarqawi's terror network and were trying to recruit radicals for suicide attacks against coalition forces in Iraq. The other five suspects are linked to last year's Madrid train bombings.

The debate over Guantanamo Bay gets a little more intense. The controversial military detention facility under the spotlight in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The committee looking at policies and practices at the prison camp.

The debate comes amid reports of abuses at the camp. Top U.S. military officials are defending the practices there, but members on either side of the divide have openly and widely differing opinions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D), VERMONT: This idea of changing, changing the focus, producing props of chicken dinners and such, seeming to argue this is more a Club Med than a prison, let's get real. These people have been locked up for three years, no end in sight, and no process to lead us out of there. Guantanamo Bay is causing immeasurable damage to our reputation as a defender of democracy and a beacon of human rights around the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R), ALABAMA: Now, this country is not systemically abusing prisoners. We have no policy to do so, and it's wrong to suggest that. And it puts our soldiers at risk who are in this battle because we sent them there. And we have an obligation to them not to make this situation worse than it is. If we made errors, we'll bring them up and we'll prosecute the people. But to suggest that we're in a wholesale violation of the rules of war, I suggest is wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: CNN is committed to providing the most reliable coverage of news that affects your security. Stay with us day and night for the latest information.

An Australian hostage is freed in Iraq. Douglas Wood found by Iraqi troops during a security sweep in northwestern Baghdad.

More on that operation now. Let's go to CNN's Kathleen Koch at the Pentagon -- Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, to say that Douglas Wood is a lucky man is an understatement. Iraqi troops literally stumbled upon him while they were conducting a sweep looking for weapons caches in a northwest Baghdad neighborhood this morning.

The 63-year-old Australian engineer was found underneath a blanket, tied up. The insurgents told Iraqi authorities he was a sick relative.

And there you see Wood after his rescue. He was taken to -- for medical treatment to a nearby U.S. Army facility, Camp Liberty. Officials there proclaim that he was in good health. And if you listen carefully, you can hear him describe just what happened this morning when the troops approached the house.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUGLAS WOOD, FREED HOSTAGE: Well, I wasn't sure what was happening. The first thing is, there was a bit of shooting outside, then they came in and covered me over with a blanket. They ripped off my -- put a blanket over me. Then there's still a lot of yelling and screaming.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Busting in?

WOOD: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Knocked down the furniture and everything.

WOOD: And then a gun actually fired inside the room. That was a bit scary. But I heard my fellow patient, soldier, whatever he was, still alive. And I'm still alive. Next thing I know, they take the blanket off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: Now, Wood lives in Alamo, California, with his wife. Was kidnapped on April 30, and was last seen in a videotape released by his captors in May. They demanded not only a very large ransom, but also the withdrawal of all 1,400 Australian troops from Iraq.

The mission to free Wood was part of the ongoing two-week-old security sweep known as Operation Lightning that's going on in Baghdad now. U.S. troops were there in an advisory role, accompanying the Iraqi forces that were over to free Mr. Wood.

Three suspects were taken into custody at the time. And the news was welcomed, obviously both in Wood's native country of Australia, and here in the United States, where White House spokesman Scott McClellan said that the administration was very pleased -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Kathleen Koch at the Pentagon. Thank you very much.

More deadly strikes by insurgents to tell you about in Iraq. In the most serious of the attacks, 23 Iraqi soldiers were killed, 28 wounded in a suicide bombing at Khalis, northwest of Baquba. The bomber detonated an explosive belt in a restaurant at an Iraqi army base.

In another attack, four people were killed, 29 injured in a suicide car bombing in southeastern Baghdad. Two of the dead and eight of the wounded are police officers.

And the U.S. military also suffered more casualties. Two Marines killed in separate roadside bombings during combat operations in the Anbar province west of Baghdad. Now, since the start of the war 1,706 U.S. troops have died.

Insurgents have been using the Iraqi town of Avgani as a safe haven to launch deadly attacks in the bigger town of Tal Afar. But U.S. and Iraqi forces are cracking down as we see in this exclusive report from CNN Senior Baghdad Correspondent Jane Arraf. She is embedded with the U.S. 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANE ARRAF, CNN SR. BAGHDAD CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There is nothing subtle about the U.S. military. This small town near Tal Alfar in northwestern Iraq is thought to be a safe haven for insurgents. We're with U.S. and Iraqi forces who are trying to find them, and trying to avoid getting shot while they do.

The U.S. and Iraqi army have moved into the town of Avgani with a list of eight targets. It's just after sunrise, and this is the first house they've raided. The suspect they're looking for, they believe, is a scout for the insurgency, someone who's collecting information and doing reconnaissance. They find the man they're looking for, and take him away for questioning. The Third Armored Cavalry regiment is paired with the Iraqi's 1st Brigade, 3rd Division.

For the first time, the Americans let the Iraqis lead the searches.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want to go through the houses, make sure that we don't point weapons at women and children. ARRAF: At this house, the suspect has gone, leaving his frightened family, and a phone that keeps ringing. This call was from relatives, asking if the family was OK. Iraqi soldiers digging in the garden where they see freshly turned earth uncover a hand grenade. They search the house top to bottom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ask them if there are any other fake walls or doors that you can see.

ARRAF: Part of the U.S. Army's focus here is finding out who in this town of 5,000 supports the insurgents and who can be enlisted against them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The biggest feeling that I'm getting from the town is that a lot of people know what's going on. They don't necessarily like it, but they're scared to do anything about it.

ARRAF: "How could I give you information when I don't leave the house?" this merchant asked the captain. At another home, the medic treats a man who burned his leg in a cement factory, where they have no safety equipment. He's grateful for the medical treatment, but like many people here, wary of the Americans. In this town, as in many, choosing sides can be dangerous.

Jane Arraf, CNN, Avgani, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: A tsunami scare on America's West Coast has residents heading for higher ground. We've got details ahead on LIVE FROM.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm John Zarrella, in Aruba. Investigators have gone to the home of one of the three young men sought -- that is being detained in connection with the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. I'll have that story coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: New developments today in the search for Natalee Holloway. Investigators shifting the focus of their search to the home of one of the three men jailed in the case.

We go straight to CNN's John Zarrella in Palm Beach, Aruba, who's been following it for us -- John.

ZARRELLA: Miles, that's exactly correct. Surprises every day here. And one of those this afternoon, apparently still ongoing at the home of Joran Van Der Sloot. He is one of the three young men being detained in connection with the disappearance of Natalee Holloway.

Investigators, quite a few of them, showing up today at his home where he lives. And they did tape off part of the area there and did apparently go through portions of the home where he lived.

Exactly what they were looking for is not being disclosed to anyone here if there was something in particular they were looking for, or just any general evidence they might try to gather from there. But they are there at the scene, investigators at his home.

Also today, the three men, all three of them appeared in court this morning here in Aruba. And it is unclear exactly why all three were there, called in. But the attorney representing one of the two Surinamese men being held, he told us after the hearing today that in fact he had requested a hearing so that he could get information involving his client and some details of the investigation, some evidence released.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDY OOMAN, DEPAK KALPOE'S ATTORNEY: We had a brief hearing here about the withholding of certain documents regarding my client. And tomorrow the judge is going to decide on that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What kind of documents?

OOMAN: Documents related to the case. If I knew, I would tell you. I don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) documents from the prosecution? Is that what's happening?

OOMAN: That's what's happening.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So what do you say to the security guards who are out, who are telling stories about your client?

OOMAN: I'm not saying anything else. I'm just saying that my client maintains his innocence to any crime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZARRELLA: So, again, there you can hear that he is saying that his client is innocent. There are reports from law enforcement authorities that, in fact, the men are beginning to turn on each other and that stories are changing. Exactly what that means is unclear, but clearly something has led them back to Joran Van Der Sloot's home.

Now, yesterday, there was a search of a beach area, not far from here, about a couple of hundred -- about a mile and half from here at the Holiday Inn, which is where Natalee Holloway was staying. And it was about 200 yards from the Marriott hotel, an area of mangroves and ponds adjacent to the beachfront there. But investigators are telling us today that that search, which lasted about six hours and was the first time that they had searched in that area, turned up nothing -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: John, Van Der Sloot is from a prominent family. And is there much talk on the island there about perhaps preferential treatment here?

ZARRELLA: Well, there had been some speculation about that, but the government has insisted from the prime minister on down that there is no preferential treatment given, or nor has there been any given. Although, certainly questions have arisen, because they did bring these three men in -- young men in for questioning earlier, about a week or so ago, and then released them and did not hold them at the time. Rather, holding two security guards who have since been released.

So there have been some questions put to police about why, in fact, they released them at the time. And those questions still remain, for the most part, unanswered -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: John Zarrella in Aruba. Thank you very much.

Earlier today, the coroner released the autopsy report for Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman whose fate was at the center of that family battle that we all witnessed. We expect to hear from George Felos, the lawyer for Michael Schiavo, just a few minutes from now, about 10 minutes or so. We of course will bring it to you live as it happens. There you see the location of that live shot.

And also...

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange. Coming up, as if higher airfares and gas prices weren't enough, I'll tell you about yet another price hike for your summer getaway.

More LIVE FROM right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Well, we're on our way. It's a glacial pace, at least to start.

The space shuttle, which ultimately travels if all goes well at mock 25 -- that's 25 times the speed of sound, 17,500 miles an hour -- today moved -- couldn't quite get up to one mile an hour. But that was good enough to get the Space Shuttle Discovery out to the launch pad, launch pad 39B.

The distance that the shuttle had to travel is all of four miles from the cavernous vehicle assembly building -- there you go -- and we'll give you a little directional input here. From there to there is something less than about four miles.

The shuttle took 10 hours to go that distance. Ten hours.

The crawler -- that giant crawler -- we can roll the tape a little more forward and you can get a sense of the speed, or perhaps lack thereof, whatever you prefer -- the crawler that runs it is of the Apollo ear. It carried out the Saturn V rockets that went to the moon.

There you see it. It's moving. It's kind of like watching paint dry.

It was overheating. And so it couldn't reach its blistering top speed of one mile an hour, and instead was hovering around a top speed of about .9 miles an hour. With stops and so forth, it took in excess of 10 hours, which if you do the math on that, was about a half a mile an hour -- actually, a little less.

But hey, they're there. They made it out. This, of course, is the second rollout for the Space Shuttle Discovery.

That big orange tank there, that is tank number two. NASA changed it out after several concerns, some concerns about ice build- up on it which might cause damage to the orbiter, some concerns about some hydrogen vents inside and a couple of tanking tests.

So the new tank was ordered. It's on, and the hope is that NASA will be back in flight more than two-and-a-half years after the loss of Colombia, sometime between July 13 and the end of the month. If they don't make that launch window, it moves in towards September.

Whenever it happens, you'll see it here, of course.

Well, there's word of yet another cost increase that could affect your summer vacation. This time, car rental costs are heating up. Susan Lisovicz has that story from the New York Stock Exchange.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Sorry to interrupt you, Susan, but we're going to go down to Florida now. The attorney representing Michael Schiavo, George Felos, is addressing reporters. Let's listen.

GEORGE FELOS, MICHAEL SCHIAVO'S ATTORNEY: One of Mr. Schiavo's initial reactions to the report, I guess the right word is he was very pleased to hear the results. You have to understand, for years, he feels that he's been talking in the wind. For years, he's alleged, and we've proved in court, that Terri could not be sustained by mouth. And the medical examiner found that to be the case.

For years, the treating physicians, the doctors, the responsible physicians, Mr. Schiavo, the courts, have said over and over again that there's no rehabilitation therapy or other therapy that could improve Mrs. Schiavo's condition. That was also found by the medical examiner.

For years, we have been saying over and over again that that bone scan from 1991 was not evidence of trauma. It was evidence of bone ossification. That's what the medical findings concluded, that's what the autopsy said. Mr. Schiavo has reiterated years and years -- for years and years the courts have found that there is -- that there was no abuse of Terri, no evidence of abuse. And that's what the medical examiner found.

Obviously, for years, from the first pleading that we filed in this case in 1998, we stated in the pleadings that Terri suffered massive and profound and irreversible brain damage. And in the words of the medical examiners, the results are very consistent with a persistent vegetative state. They also used the word extremely consistent with a persistent vegetative state. Not only that, but in the body of the report -- and this goes, I think, to the quality of the expert testimony we brought forth throughout the entire judicial proceedings -- Dr. Cranford (ph) had testified and others had testified that in addition to the loss of brain tissue -- and you heard the medical examiner talk about a brain half the size of a normal woman -- that the balance of the brain consisted of glegal (ph), which is scar tissue. So those portions of her higher brain that may have been left were non-functioning, were scar tissue. That's in the results of the medical examiner's findings.

Also, one thing that Dr. Thogmartin didn't mention, the report makes note of an FDA alert that doing an MRI on a patient who has an electrical implant in the brain is dangerous and can cause death. As you know, we've been saying for years, that's why Terri didn't have an MRI. That's what our expert witnesses advised. We were criticized for that in the media, why wasn't an MRI done? The medical examiner's report explains why.

And one of the most, I think, startling conclusions -- not startling, in the fact, but helpful in that it's been made -- is his finding that Terri was blind. We have been saying for years and years and years, the expert testimony showed that Terri's eye movements and apparent -- apparent response to visual stimuli was a reflexive -- was a reflexive action. It was a result of a brain stem activity, which is consistent in PVS patients, that she had no cortical sight. And that was a finding by the medical examiner, as well.

So, Mr. Schiavo was pleased to hear the hard science and evidence of those findings. He also asked me to make -- before I take questions, to make an announcement. We received photographs of the pathology for Mrs. Schiavo's brain, examined those photographs. And Mr. Schiavo has said that he intends to release, in the proper context, certain autopsy photos of Mrs. Schiavo's -- of Mrs. Schiavo's brain. He feels that it is extremely important for everyone to see what is so apparent from those photographs, the profound atrophy that was mentioned in the report and, indeed, what the brain of the vegetative patient looks like.

So that is -- that's my statement and I'll be happy to take any questions.

QUESTION: When are you going to release these?

FELOS: I would say sometime in the near future. And it -- we don't know the appropriate media context in which that will be done, but that will be sometime in the near future.

QUESTION: Do you have any concern that the release might violate (INAUDIBLE) law?

FELOS: It's our understanding -- it's our understanding that, no, it would not constitute a violation of the law. At least, that's our understanding. And obviously, if we were wrong and it were a violation of the law, Mr. Schiavo would not do that. But it's our understanding that there is no violation. QUESTION: When, in your understanding, did Terri Schiavo become blind? Do you know if that was recent -- I mean, in your understanding, when did that occur?

FELOS: Well, in my understanding that that was a -- that was a result of the of the interruption of oxygen and blood supply to the brain in 1990 and that was one of the resulting effects, as the other. So, you know, it's -- we know in this case that the pictures of Terri following the balloon or the pictures of Terri with her mother had such a deep impact on the public, and as best we -- as best we could explain why that's so and as best -- as we said over and over again -- if you look at those tapes carefully, Terri doesn't respond when her mother walks in the room.

There was a physical manipulation. The mother would touch her neck, turn her neck and Terri would moan. As many times as we said that, the public sees the picture and has an impression. But I mean, it's a hard fact, it's a scientific factor, that Terri Schiavo was blind. She couldn't see her mother and, obviously, couldn't react to the sight of her mother.

O'BRIEN: We have been listening to George Felos in Dunedin, Florida, attorney representing Michael Schiavo, the husband and now widower of Terri Schiavo. And -- who indicated to us that Michael Schiavo is pleased that the scientific facts have come out in all of this and also indicated that he would, at the appropriate time, whenever that might be, release some of the autopsy photographs of Terri Schiavo's brain, which according to the coroner earlier today, had atrophied significantly, leaving her with questionable ability to have any sort of consciousness. As well as being completely blind, according to the science that they conducted there.

Asked by the reporters if they felt that would be in violation of the law, the attorney, George Felos, said if it was violation of law they would not consider doing that, but they feel that it is important to get those pictures out as a way of counterbalancing the pictures you just saw, which had been shown over and over again, which left, in many people's minds, the impression that Terri Schiavo had some degree, some level of awareness and consciousness. The story continues.

And so does LIVE FROM, after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Thousands of people in Northern California back home, breathing easily after a tsunami scare. A powerful earthquake struck off the coast of Northern California last night, about 8:00 local time, triggering fears of a possible tsunami.

Tsunami sirens sounded for about 40 minutes in Crescent City. About 4,000 evacuated quickly from the coast. The incident sparked some brief moments of panic for people who lived through the deadly tsunami in Crescent City in 1964. The monster wave washed away 29 city blocks and killed several people back then.

News across America for you now.

One of the six passengers aboard that sightseeing helicopter that crashed in New York City is in critical condition today. The helicopter went down yesterday in the East River, as we told you. All seven aboard did survive. Still no word on the cause of that.

Preliminary autopsy reports find no signs of trauma on a young boy who died at Walt Disney World. A 4-year-old boy died after passing out on Epcot's "Mission: Space" ride Monday. His official cause of death may not be known for several weeks. The ride, shut down after the incident, now has reopened.

Well, it wasn't cheers, but jeers, that greeted California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger at a Santa Monica college last night. The governor did his best to deliver a commencement speech at his alma mater, despite at times being drowned out by catcalls and howl. Schwarzenegger has angered many with his education policies. He plans to hold a special election in November.

And the Yanks will soon have a new place to call home. The house that Ruth built -- there will be no more. Yanks announcing plans to build a new $800 million ballpark. It would be built next to Yankees Stadium in the Bronx. The Yankees hope it will be completed in time for the 2009 season. George Steinbrenner are going to fund it on his own, no help from the taxpayers there.

Coming soon to a TV near you, Michael Jackson, Joe, Tito, Janet and the gang in a reality show? Well, at least as real as they can be, anyhow.

And Nicole Kidman's bewitching encounter with a photographer. What was that all about? Entertainment news lies ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Nicole Kidman does more than twitch her nose at the premiere of her new "Bewitched" movie. And a possible new gig for the king of pop.

CNN entertainment correspondent Brooke Anderson in L.A. with that. Can you do the little -- you know, the twinkle, twinkle, twinkle? Can you do that?

ANDERSON: Not really well, no.

O'BRIEN: No, I can't really do it.

ANDERSON: OK, I gave it a shot. OK.

O'BRIEN: I've tried it for years and can't do it. All right. Take it away, Brooke.

ANDERSON: Miles, first up, we've got word of what could be a real thriller for Michael Jackson fans. It's only been two days since Jackson's acquittal of child molestation charges and there are already talks about a reality show featuring the pop star. Yes, a reality show. It could happen. This according to "The Hollywood Reporter."

The prospective show is said to be six episodes long, will feature a behind the scenes look at the Jackson clan during the singer's recent court battle. You know, how Michael's parents and eight brothers and sisters rallied around him following his indictment. That was November 2003. The idea has reportedly been pitched to Fox, ABC and the A&E network. The Jackson family is said to have some of their own video footage of their activities during the trial, presumably to be used in this show.

And there had been speculation Jackson would perform in the upcoming Live 8 concert line-up. Live 8, a series of six free concerts to happen around the world July 2nd to raise awareness of African poverty. But Jackson apparently not a part of the line-up. A spokesperson for Live 8 told CNN, quote, "there are no plans whatsoever in the works involving Michael Jackson participating in any capacity with Live 8."

Meantime, eBay has ended the Internet sale of Live 8 tickets after concert organizer Bob Geldof labeled the site an electronic pimp. He urged people to swamp it, which they did, and eBay pulled the tickets. Many tickets appeared on eBay after a number of tickets were given away in a text lottery. Again, Live 8 meant to be a free concert.

Well, Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman. She's usually prim, proper, reserved, but not at Monday night's premiere of her upcoming film "Bewitched." The paparazzi ruffled her feathers, so to speak, when a photographer booed her when she began to walk away from them. So Kidman turned around -- you see her there -- confronted and berated the unhappy lensman. The photographer was reportedly upset Kidman posed with co-star Will Ferrell but did not pose alone. He wanted the single shot. Now, I'm not sure if he got one, but it seems the photographers around him were snapping away during the confrontation. "Bewitched" is new in theaters June 24th.

New in theaters today, "Batman Begins." Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman, Katie Holmes, star in this take of the "Batman" legend. It's the fifth Batman movie that's been made. "Batman Begins" explores the origins of the story and how Batman emerged as a force for good. "The Hollywood Reporter" calls it smart and gritty.

And Miles, the merchandising craze has already begun for Batman. Check this out. We've even got boots with the "Batman" logo all over it, on the back.

O'BRIEN: Lift it up a little bit, because that banner's in the way. Lift is up. There you go.

ANDERSON: OK. Can you see it? Here we go.

O'BRIEN: Oh, God, wow.

ANDERSON: Even on the bottom of the shoe, so, for real Batman lovers, comic book lovers. And they all go for about $200 in select stores across the country.

O'BRIEN: This is a long way from the Batman I grew up with. Where is Adam West right? Is he at some kind of trading card show right now?

ANDERSON: Times have changed. Times have changed, Miles.

O'BRIEN: I should say. I got to get me some of them boots. All right, thank you, Brooke. Actually, can we go twinkle, twinkle, twinkle and get rid of Michael Jackson? That's just my though today.

ANDERSON: The story is not going to die, not just yet. We might see this reality show.

O'BRIEN: Surreality, whatever. All right, thank you very much, Brooke Anderson. When "LIVE FROM" returns -- first there was text messaging, then pictures, now listen though what's coming to cell phones. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: All right. Some pictures of the day. Dave Johnson (ph) pulling these together for us, as he is wont to do. Taxis waiting in line at the Pudong International Airport, Shanghai. I guess, they're hoping for a big fare there.

That's Cody Olen (ph), 12 years old, Guadalupe River, Center Point, Texas. Cooling off in a fountain there.

And that's the pope. Pope wearing a fire hat, trading his mitre for a fire hat. Benedict the 16th, wearing the helmet at St. Peter's . A group of Italian firefighters.

And then our favorite of the day. Put this one on. That's a good shot. Marine Corps League member Ray Rivera (ph) holds a U.S. flag as fellow member James Jackson (ph) is reflected in his glasses. Demonstrates how to properly fold it. In Las Cruces, Nex Mexico. Yesterday, Tuesday, was, in fact, flag day. Hope you were displaying old glory.

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O'BRIEN: Back with more LIVE FROM in just a moment.

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