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Iraqi Kidnappers Demand Release of Female Prisoners; Bizarre Utah Murder Mystery Solved; Trading Ends Early at Tokyo Stock Exchange; Ethnic Makeup of New Orleans; New Movie about Waodani Tribe

Aired January 18, 2006 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour now.
We are talking about the family of an American journalist kidnapped in Iraq, now pleading with her abductors to show mercy. Jill Carroll was abducted 11 years days ago in Baghdad. The Arabic- language network Al-Jazeera obtained this video of her.

Carroll's abductors are demanding the U.S. release all female Iraqi prisoners within 72 hours, or Carroll will be killed.

CNN's Michael Holmes is in Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That video of Jill Carroll was seen on the Al-Jazeera network. It was very short. There was no audio, although we could see her speaking in those pictures. It's the first time we've seen her since January 7, when she was taken.

The demands are pretty simple. Seventy-two hours has been given, in order for the U.S. to release all women prisoners held by them. Now, we have heard from the U.S. military that they are holding only eight women out of some 14,000 suspects being detained in relations to the insurgency. According to Iraqi sources, six of those women were due for release in the days ahead anyway, unrelated to these demands.

The group holding her claims to be the Brigade of Revenge. We know nothing about this group. It's the first time we have heard about them. Jill Carroll, of course, was taken January 7 in a risky part of the city, in what appeared to be a very highly organized attack. She was seized. Her 32-year-old translator was killed.

Michael Holmes, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: (AUDIO GAP) group is accusing the Bush administration of violating basic human rights in the name of fighting terrorism.

Human Rights Watch says that the U.S. uses what it calls illegal tactics when interrogating suspected terrorists. The group also claims that torture has been a deliberate part of the administration's strategy in the war on terror. A White House spokesperson dismisses that report. In his word, the report appears to be based more on a political agenda than facts. On the same day that Human Rights Watch is accusing the Bush administration of abusing terror suspects, President Bush is focusing on abuses by Saddam Hussein. Mr. Bush met with Iraqis who say they were victimized during the former Iraqi president's reign. And President Bush says America is helping to build a new Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What a contrast it is between a society which was willing to jail people and torture people and beat people and kill people, to a society that is beginning to understand the fruits of democracy and freedom.

Last year was an amazing year in Iraq. Millions of people went to the polls to vote, first in January, then to ratify a constitution, and then back to the polls again to elect a -- government under the new constitution. It's a -- it's a testimony to the courage of the Iraqi people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: The president says America will continue to stand with the Iraqi people until Iraq can defend itself.

Coming soon, if it's not already here, nightmare on K Street, or, guess who's not paying for dinner? K Street is to Washington lobbying what Wall Street is to New York finance. And they have some things in common, mostly money. You may have heard, members of Congress are racing to regulate -- make that re-regulate -- what's long been a mutually rewarding relationship.

Last hour, it was Democrats' term, opposing reforms and pointing fingers in the Library of Congress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), MINORITY LEADER: That is why, with our declaration of honest leadership and open government, we are pledging to enact and enforce legislation that will ban all gifts and travel from lobbyists, period. Kill the K Street project, the Republican plan that trades favors for lobbying jobs, and toughen disclosure of lobbyist activity.

Remove the revolving door by doubling the amount of time members and staff are prohibited from going from legislating to lobbying. Stop legislators from negotiating legislation while also negotiating employment contract for themselves with those who benefit from the legislation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Why the sudden emphasis on ethics?

It could have -- OK, it does have a lot to do with this man, former big-name high-powered lobbyist Jack Abramoff. He has pleaded guilty to what amounts to bribery and agreed to tell prosecutors everything he knows about anybody with whom he has traded favors.

One final point, none of the competing crackdowns would change a common -- or a comma in campaign finance laws, meaning the very lobbyists who may be barred from picking up dinner checks can drop off campaign contribution checks entirely legally. Stay tuned.

Well, when the framers gave Americans the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances, they couldn't have imagined that, two centuries later, many Americans would consider lobbying contradictory to real democracy. Just how big and powerful is it?

Here's the fact check.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS (voice-over): There are more than 37,000 registered lobbyists in Washington. That's more than double the number from five years ago.

The Center for Public Integrity reported last year that lobbyists have spent about $13 billion since 1998, all aimed at influencing members of Congress and other federal officials on legislation and regulation. And government spending has increased in the new millennium, from about $1.79 trillion in 2000, to about $2.29 trillion in 2004.

Not so surprisingly, a large number of lobbyists come from government jobs. Hundreds of them served in Congress or worked in senior government positions. There's a strong financial incentive to make the switch. Salaries start at about $300,000 a year for lobbyists with the best government connections.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Michael Fortier is getting ready to get out prison. Does that name ring a bell? He was the star witness against Oklahoma City bombers Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, then pleaded guilty to knowing about the plot, but not telling authorities.

Fortier was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He served less than 11. McVeigh, as you may remember, was executed for setting off the bomb that killed 168 people that day in 1995. Nichols is serving a life sentence for his role in the bombing. Some people believe Fortier deserves nothing less.

Jannie Coverdale's two grandchildren were among those killed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANNIE COVERDALE, GRANDMOTHER OF OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING VICTIMS: I don't feel like anybody that helped murder 171 people and unborn babies deserve any mercy. If I got out -- if I was found guilty of killing that many people, I would be on death row.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PHILLIPS: Coverdale and other relatives of victims, along with survivors, are just now being notified that Fortier is going to be released from prison on Friday. What the form letter from the government does not say is where he will be going from there.

Wrapping up a case none of us will ever forget -- a couple was sentenced today in California in the Wendy's chili finger case. Remember that one? Anna Ayala and Jaime Plascencia pleaded guilty to trying to bilk the restaurant chain by sticking a severed finger in a bowl of chili. They were sentenced to nine years in prison for that scam.

Ayala claimed that she found the finger at a Wendy's in San Jose in March. Court documents say the couple paid $100 for that finger, lost in a workplace accident, by one of Plascencia's co-workers. Wendy's says that it lost $2.5 million because of the resulting bad P.R.

She said she was the fifth duke of Cleveland -- she said he was the fifth duke of Cleveland -- no kidding -- and a jet-setting teenage member of British royalty who was thinking about enrolling in a Minnesota high school. Does it sound suspicious? You bet, but that's only the beginning of the story.

Ed Lavandera looked at the case.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It didn't take long for word of a royal arrival to spread through the quaint streets of Stillwater, Minnesota. After all, this eastern Minnesota town isn't known as a getaway for members of the British aristocracy.

So when a duke came to town, a young man who looked and sounded royal, a lot of people got excited.

CASPIAN JAMES CRICHTON-STUART, FIFTH DUKE OF CLEVELAND: They think that because you're British royalty that you have a lot of privileges. The grass isn't always greener on the other side.

LAVANDERA: Those are the words of Caspian James Crichton Stuart IV, also known as The Fifth Duke Of Cleveland. He said he'd come to Stillwater to escape the limelight in England and for medical treatment at the nearby Mayo Clinic.

He had a fascinating tale to tell the students of Stillwater High School.

KARLEE WEINMANN, HIGH SCHOOL JOURNALIST: He said he was with Harry when Charles told him that his mother had died. And he said that the queen came into his bedroom once and told him to clean it.

LAVANDERA: Caspian's arrival couldn't help but draw the attention of four student journalists at the school newspaper. It wasn't often that a young British noble enrolled in a suburban high school. But after their first interview, they began to suspect something wasn't quite right.

MATT MURPHY, HIGH SCHOOL JOURNALISM STUDENT: He gave this 15- second long arrogant title. It didn't sit very well with me.

LAVANDERA: In a letter to the reporters, Caspian demanded to be addressed as Your Grace, anything less would be insulting. The stories continued. He talked of fencing with Prince Harry, of partying with American celebrities Josh Hartnett and Hillary Duff.

CHANTEL LEONHART, HIGH SCHOOL JOURNALISM STUDENT: When he started to do the name dropping with all the tales of Princess Diana and Prince Harry and William and when he started talking about the queen and how she just drops in at his palace. Just things like that were kind of like, OK.

WEINMANN: Why would somebody who hangs out with the queen come to our school? That didn't add up in our heads.

LAVANDERA: So these students started digging deeper. Too many details seemed strange. The business cards Caspian was handing out had a local area code on it. When they Googled Caspian James Crichton-Stuart IV, this site popped up with the name Joshua Adam Gardner next to it. With that lead they called the British consulate in Chicago.

LEONHART: She verified that there are no Dukes of Cleveland. There is no Caspian James Crichton-Stuart anywhere.

LAVANDERA: The reporters knew then they had a phony royal on their hands.

MARISA RILEY, HIGH SCHOOL JOURNALIST: There were people that told us to stop the investigation, there's nothing more out there, that we shouldn't continue with it. We always maintained a level of skepticism.

LAVANDERA: But they still didn't know who Caspian really was. So they continued scouring the Internet for Joshua Gardner.

WEINMANN: Then the picture just popped up really big, took up the entire center part of the screen. And it was -- I don't even know what we thought.

That's what initially popped up on our screen.

LAVANDERA: Caspian is actually 22-year-old Joshua Adam Gardner, a registered sex offender from Minnesota.

WEINMANN: It was the most dramatic situation that could have been.

MURPHY: When it finally came up and all of our entire investigation and all our doubts came to fruition, it was absolutely astonishing and shocking at the same time.

LAVANDERA (on camera): Within days of the young reporters' discovery, Gardner was arrested for violating his parole. He was convicted at the age of 18 for an incident involving his 15-year-old girlfriend. We don't know much more than that because the case involves a juvenile. But this is where the story takes another bizarre turn.

(voice over): Joshua Gardner is now in jail in the county where he violated his parole. From the jailhouse he agreed to talk to CNN, to explain why he carried out this charade.

JOSHUA GARDNER, PHONY ROYAL: I just kind of had this title as a sex offender. People just look at me in a different way. I just made one huge mistake when I was 18, you know, that I'm just paying for it now.

LAVANDERA: Gardner says he was sexually abused as a child and that he struggled to deal with his mother's death.

GARDNER: Joshua obviously has a lot of problems going on that he hasn't dealt with. By becoming Caspian I really don't have any worries, I find it easier to talk to people and I find it easier to get along with people.

LAVANDERA: Caspian is Gardner's alter-ego, but investigators say he might have used the phony royal character to engage in what is being described as an inappropriate relationship with a student at the high school.

GARDNER: That's, you know, what the prosecution tries to paint me as, you know, as this big huge monster. And really, I'm not.

LAVANDERA (on camera): What happens to Caspian now?

CASPIAN: I guess Caspian's dead.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Gardner has dreams of Hollywood and performing for a bigger audience one day, but first he's apologizing to the friends he misled.

GARDNER: I'm really sorry for, you know, betraying their trust and hurting them more than anything.

LAVANDERA: The four young journalists are just happy the curtain has fallen on the Caspian act.

MURPHY: I don't feel sorry for him at all. I'm glad that he's behind bars and I hope he stays there for a long time.

LAVANDERA: And around here, he should never expect the royal treatment, even if he does ever become truly famous.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Stillwater, Minnesota.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: A confessed -- a confessed killer will not face trial for his crime. Why not? Because he already has. It's a foundation of our legal system that got an unwitting boost from the victim's mother -- her outrage strange ahead on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: A bizarre murder mystery in Utah has finally been solved with a confession from the man acquitted in the case 15 years ago. But the killer may be permanently outside of the law because of his victim's mother.

CNN's Ted Rowlands explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On a Sunday morning 15 years ago in this Salt Lake City house, something terrible happened to a 2-year-old boy. His name was Paul Watts. They used to call him P.J.

JENNIFER WATTS, SON KILLED BY BOYFRIEND: One day, you know, he was running around and he was playing. And I was running after him, you know? And, the next day, he was gone.

ROWLANDS: Since he appeared as the New Year's baby in a local newspaper, P.J.'s mother, Jennifer Watts, says her son was a special little boy.

WATTS: He was innocent. And he was outgoing. And he was spoiled. And he was just starting to really talk and walk.

ROWLANDS: Jennifer Watts found P.J. dead in his crib. She had been to church that morning, leaving her son with her boyfriend for a few hours. She says P.J. was fine when she left. And, when she came home, she thought he was sleeping.

WATTS: Hours had gone by. And I hadn't heard anything out of the baby's room. And, so, I -- I decided to check on him. And, then, that's when I found him.

ROWLANDS: Two days later, Michael Lane, Jennifer's live-in boyfriend of two months, was arrested for murder.

DETECTIVE LEAVITT, SALT LAKE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT: We have a gentleman that's in -- in a house by himself, has got no explanation and is not offering any kind of an explanation as to how this child, who is two-and-a-half-year-old, sustained such violent injuries.

ROWLANDS: An autopsy revealed that P.J. Watts died as a result of multiple head injuries.

LEAVITT: The child died of a subdural hematoma, with bleeding in the brain.

ROWLANDS: The medical examiner estimated the time of death to be some time Sunday. And since Michael Lane was the only one home alone with the child, police thought he had to be guilty. But Michael Lane denied that he had done anything wrong. LEAVITT: He at the time, from the reports, stated he didn't know what happened to the child and that he was not rough with the child and had no explanation as to how those injuries occurred to the child.

WATTS: I felt like they weren't pursuing all the avenues, you know? I felt like they just were looking at Mike, and that was it.

ROWLANDS: At trial, Jennifer Watts stood by her boyfriend, while Lane's attorney tried to introduce other possibilities to explain how P.J. Watts may have died.

They attacked the timeline, arguing that the estimated time of death wasn't exact, and the injuries could have occurred any time over a three-day period.

CHARLES LOYD, ATTORNEY FOR MICHAEL LANE: During those 72 hours, there was just no way to know who had been in and out of the house. It was only a two-hour period of time there where Michael was, basically, alone with the child.

ROWLANDS: Another theory was that maybe it was an accident. According to Jennifer, P.J. had hit his head on this coffee table the morning he died. As you can see, in these crime-scene photos, that theory was looked into my police, but ruled out by the medical examiner.

JO FACER, JURY FOREPERSON: There was a great deal of reasonable doubt brought up almost from the very beginning.

ROWLANDS: After a weeklong trial and four hours of deliberation, the jury found Michael Lane not guilty.

FACER: There was always those questions. You know, was it really murder? I wasn't ever really sure it was.

ROWLANDS: And there was also Jennifer Watts.

JAMES COPE, PROSECUTOR: I think that some of the jurors may have said, well, if she can't be sure about this, or if she's not convinced of this, how can we be convinced of this?

FACER: She seemed to be all wrapped up in herself. You know, everything that she talked about on the stand seemed to, you know, center more around herself and her relationship with him, and the boy- was-just-maybe-in-the-way kind of thing.

I think it was the right decision, as far as Mr. Lane was concerned. I -- I never believed that he did it.

ROWLANDS: Michael Lane and Jennifer Watts continued to see each other for several years after the trial, until:

WATTS: He kicked the dog, and the dog's leg was broken, and, I mean, bad broken. And, at that moment, when I saw that, I -- I even looked at him. And I said, that's what happened that night -- that day. I said, you -- you lost your temper. P.J. was crying, and -- and you lost your temper, and that's what happened, right?

ROWLANDS: Lane continued to deny it, until, out of the blue, almost 15 years after P.J. Watts was killed.

MICHAEL LANE, EX-BOYFRIEND OF JENNIFER WATTS: Michael Douglas (ph) Lane.

ROWLANDS: Michael Lane walked into a Salt Lake City police station and confessed.

LANE: I was responsible for Paul's death, and I just want that to be known.

ROWLANDS: Lane told police, the morning of the murder, he was high on meth, and P.J. was crying after his mother left.

LANE: I had him on the floor. And when I pulled his diaper off, picked him up, I was being rough and mean. He fell back down and he stopped crying for a minute. Then he started crying again. So, I picked him up and threw him back down again. I probably did this a couple of times.

At one point, he kind of went out, passed out. It freaked me out. I put him in his crib. Mom came home later that night, went in, and he was dead.

LEAVITT: He said he came in to -- he was prepared to face whatever consequences he may face and go to jail, if -- if he needed to. He wanted to put this behind him and get it off his conscience.

ROWLANDS: Lane told police he came in to confess on the advice of his bishop. He says he has never hurt anybody else, but he didn't seem to have a reason why he killed P.J. Watts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What makes you think that slamming a two-and- a-half-year-old on the ground is going to make him be quiet?

LANE: I don't know.

WATTS: It's all real, and everything that I imagined is true. You know? And everything I have lived with all these years is true. And it's very hard to look back on everything and realize that I defended the man that killed my son.

ROWLANDS (on camera): When Michael Lane was finished confessing, he got up and simply walked out the front door of the Salt Lake City Police Department. There was no arrest, no handcuffs. Investigators simply let him go.

The reason, even though Michael Lane was now confessing to murder, it was a crime that he had already been tried and acquitted of. This was a clear case of double jeopardy.

ROBERT STOTT, SPOKESMAN, SALT LAKE CITY COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE: Not only can we not try him for the murder, but we couldn't try him for any lesser included charge. And because there's no transcript, and we believe he did not take to the stand during the trial, we can't -- neither can we charge him for perjury.

FACER: If you can't retry somebody, I feel bad, because -- but there was just so much there that said it was not him.

WATTS: He stole a part of me I can never get back. I'm a different person now, angry. It's not fair.

ROWLANDS (voice-over): Jennifer Watts has moved out of state, but says she's had trouble moving on with her life. She says she thinks about her son, P.J., almost every day. He would be 17 now. She also says she wants Michael Lane to pay for what he did.

WATTS: That was a little life there. And that means something. And it needs to mean something to everybody. Nobody is held accountable for it, you know? And that's not right.

ROWLANDS: Ted Rowlands, CNN, Salt Lake City, Utah.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: We want to go straight to David Cook, Washington bureau chief with of "The Christian Science Monitor."

As you know, one of his employees, Jill Carroll, is the one we have been seeing being held captive in Iraq.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

DAVID COOK, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: ... which has a long record of treating complex issues in the Middle East fairly. And we have a commitment to international reporting in general.

We try to practice journalism that treats all people fairly and that strives to help and not injure reporters -- reporters -- let's try again.

We try to practice journalism that treats all people fairly and that strives to help and not injure individuals in our reporting. Jill wrote that covering a war gives journalists an opportunity to recall the noblest tenets of their profession and fulfill the public service role of journalism.

We respectfully call on Jill's captures to exercise justice and mercy and to let our innocent colleague be reunited with her family.

Thank you. I would be happy to respond to questions.

QUESTION: Has there been any other contact with her kidnappers, other than the video that you're aware of?

COOK: The question is, has there been any other contact other than the video?

None that I'm aware of, none with "The Monitor."

QUESTION: Again, following on that question, so, you can say flatly that there have been no negotiations going on for her release that you know of?

COOK: The question is, can I say flatly that there have been no negotiations?

I would answer that by saying that "The Monitor" is undertaking strenuous efforts on Jill's behalf, taking advantage of every opportunity we have at our disposal.

QUESTION: Last night, the video was aired with pictures, but no sound. Have you have been able to determine what Jill was saying?

COOK: The question is, have we been able to determine what Jill was saying?

No one at "The Monitor" has seen more of the tape than you saw last night. It's our understanding that she was speaking on the tape. Well, you could see her lips moving, so you knew she was speaking. But we don't have a transcript of it. And we don't -- and we haven't seen the tape, any more you have seen. We would obviously like to.

Any other questions?

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) who's "The Monitor" dealing with over there? Are they dealing with the U.S. government, the military? I mean, how are you getting your information?

COOK: The question is, who is "The Monitor" dealing with, and is it the U.S. military?

I think the -- the best thing -- in answering these questions, as I'm sure you're aware, we have to be mindful of the fact that we have a colleague in captivity. And we would like to provide a full and complete accounting of this. And we would like to do it when Jill is free.

So, let me go back to what I said before, which is that "The Monitor" is availing itself of every option we can think of to secure her release. But I don't think it would be helpful for Jill if I went beyond that.

But you can be sure that people at "The Monitor" are working on this night and day in a variety of cities around the world.

QUESTION: Has the "Monitor" does anything for the family of the slain translator?

COOK: The question is, has the "Monitor" done anything for the family of the slain translator. The "Monitor" said on its Web site, csmonitor.com, that we intend to care for the family of the translator, and we are doing so.

And as you can imagine, given what -- because the translator was slain, we need to exercise some care in what we say about what we're doing for the family. But yes, we are caring for the family.

QUESTION: You yesterday some measure of hope that there might be release of Miss Carroll. Do you share that view that there is some hope?

COOK: The question is do we share the view that there is some hope. We'll wait for the little musical interlude to finish here and then I will answer. Aren't we glad it isn't 10:00? Oh, that's all it's going to do.

OK, are we hopeful? We certainly haven't given up on getting Jill back. And we were heartened by the statements that came out today by the Sunni politicians and by the clerics.

And we hoped that before the deadline expires, she'll be free. So there were developments today that were -- which I mentioned in the statement from which we take hope, but there's more that needs to be done and we're trying to do it.

QUESTION: Have you met with the families since last night?

COOK: Excuse me?

QUESTION: Have you met with the family?

COOK: Have I met with the family? There's a person on the "Monitor" staff who serves as the family contact and I am not that person. So, I have not met with them. And our press people in Boston will let you know, as soon as we know, if the family wishes to make a further statement.

As you know, there was a statement from the father that we put out yesterday. If they decide they either want to do another printed statement or if they wanted to do a broadcast statement of some kind, we'll obviously be in touch with you.

We're -- the "Monitor's" headquarters in Boston is in very close touch with the family, as you'd expect, and has been throughout this. We're guided by the family's wishes. This family is aware of all press contacts we have before we have them. So we're working very closely with them. Any other questions? Thank you, all. Yes, sir?

QUESTION: Can you -- do you know for certain whether the Revenge Brigade's behind this?

COOK: The question is do we know for certain whether it is the Revenge Brigade behind this. All we know is that there was a logo displayed on the video. We've had no contact with any group claiming responsibility. On that particular score, we know nothing more than do you from -- what was obviously from the video.

I want to thank you for coming out and freezing today. If we can provide additional information, we will. We know there is high interest. We're just trying to do this in a way that protect's Jill's safety. We would like to have her return to her family. Thanks very much. PHILLIPS: David Cook, the Washington bureau chief if the "Christian Science Monitor." Not an easy thing to do, coming before reporters, possibly even knowing that the group claiming responsibility for this kidnapping could be watching this live event.

We're talking about Jill Carroll, a reporter for the "Christian Science Monitor," someone, David Cook says, has covered the war in Iraq nobly. The parents have come forward with a statement. He's now coming forward pleading for mercy on her and to release her and let her come home.

David Cook saying that "Christian Science Monitor" has not made contact with the group claiming responsibility, but they are making strenuous efforts on Jill's behalf to get her back here. We'll continue to cover the story, of course, minute by minute.

Want to take you straight now to Fredricka Whitfield. She's working another story, a bomb scare in Florida -- Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: That's right in Orange County which, if you're familiar with that area, is really the Orlando area. Well, apparently, a call came into authorities from someone driving a Medariono (ph) medical van who claimed that he received a call while driving on the Beeline here that in his vehicle was a bomb.

Well, he immediately called authorities and as a result now, authorities are inspecting that vehicle and now they have closed off portions of the Beeline in both directions at the John Young Parkway area of it. This taking place in central Florida.

We don't know anything more about the driver of that medical van, only the detail that he or she had actually called in authorities, relaying the information that he or she received from a phone call about a possible bomb in that vehicle. And of course when we get more on that, Kyra, we'll be able to bring that to you.

PHILLIPS: Fred, we'll keep our eyes on it. Thanks so much. The news keeps coming. We're going to keep bringing it to you. More LIVE FROM right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: West Virginia minor Randal McCloy is coming out of his coma, and he's headed into uncharted territory when it comes to beating the odds. Doctors say that McCloy is breathing and swallowing on his own.

He's also opening up his eyes and responding to family members. One doctor says he thinks McCloy is the only person ever to survive such a long exposure to carbon monoxide. Rehabilitation efforts will depend on his continued improvement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. LARRY ROBERTS, MCCLOY'S PHYSICIAN: It is very likely that within the next 10 days to two weeks, we may be able to move him to a rehabilitation facility for the services that they obviously can provide. At the moment, he still needs hemodialysis, but otherwise, he's -- the support that he needs can be provided on a decreasing basis and can be provided at a rehab facility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Randal McCloy, as you know, was the only survivor of the Sago Mine explosion, which killed 12 of his co-workers more than two weeks ago.

You know, yesterday we were talking about Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans talking about fact that he wanted New Orleans to become a chocolate city again. You know that triggered a lot of debate. He came forward and apologized.

So we asked the question, what is the ethnic makeup of New Orleans right now? It's been nearly five months after Hurricane Katrina roared ashore, and on every level, it looks little like it did before that storm hit, and includes the city's ethnic makeup. So what does the picture look like right now? CNN's Rick Sanchez has some answers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There is the New Orleans that was and the New Orleans that is.

New Orleans was a city that was 67 percent African-American. In fact, according to the 2004 census of the city's 445,000 residents, 304,000 of them were black. In some parts, like the now devastated Lower Ninth Ward, the numbers were even higher. Blacks in the Lower Ninth made up 98 percent of the area's population in 2004. Sixty percent of them own their own homes, and they made up a significant portion of the area's work force.

The New Orleans that was, again, looking back at the 2004 census, did not have a large representation of Hispanics. In fact, while most major American cities have had burgeoning Hispanic enclaves, in New Orleans, only 3 percent of the population considered itself Hispanic or Latino. That's just 14,000 out of a total population of 445,000.

Now we move ahead to the New Orleans that is, and we find that so many Hispanics, both legal and illegal, have moved into the work force. The city is now, by some estimates, up to 20 percent Hispanic. Imagine, from 3 percent to 20 percent in just four months.

And while the number of Hispanics is way up, the number of African-Americans is way down. The city that used to be 67 percent black is now, according to pollsters, as low as 40 percent black.

Reasons for the decline vary, but one explanation is unquestionable. The areas with the largest concentration of blacks, areas like the Lower Ninth Ward, were hit the hardest by Katrina. After all, they can't live there if they have no place to live.

Rick Sanchez, CNN, Atlanta. (END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Israel's acting prime minister has appointed a woman to be his foreign minister. Tzipi Livni, who also holds the justice minister spot, is the second woman in Israel to become foreign minister. Golda Meir served in the position in the the '50s and '60s. Livni is described as a close ally of ailing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and back the pullout from Gaza.

It was an event that shocked America. The deaths of five missionaries at the hands of the tribe they were trying to reach in Ecuador. A new movie out this week tells the story from the tribe's point of view. We're going to talk with one of the missionary's sons and a member of that tribe straight ahead on LIVE FROM.

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PHILLIPS: Fifty years ago this month, five young missionaries traveled into the jungles of Ecuador. They wanted to reach a fierce reclusive tribe known as the Waodani. A movie about that journey hits theaters this Friday. It's called "End of the Spear." All five missionaries met their deaths at the hands of this tribe, but the story doesn't end there.

Nate Saint was one of those missionaries. He was a young father and a husband and amazingly, after his death, members of his family, including his sister and his son, went back to that same tribe and lived with them.

Nate's son Steve Saint joins me from New York, along with Mincaye, a member of that Waodani tribe. Great to have you both.

STEVE SAINT, MISSIONARY: Thank you, Kyra. It's nice to be here. Kyra, (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE).

PHILLIPS: This is great. Now, I should set the scene. Mincaye doesn't speak English, so you're going to translate for us when necessary. Oh, his smile is infectious. You know, I just want to get, I mean straight to -- a big part of this movie and about this story, Steve, is that this man sitting next to you, who seems to be very much a gentle soul, he's the one who actually took your father's life.

SAINT: That's right. Well, he's in the same body, but he is very different than he used to be. But very gentle and kind man. Our family calls him Mame (ph), which means grandfather. We're one family now.

PHILLIPS: And we'll get to how you bridged that cultural gap that, violent gap, but let's go back to when your father was in Ecuador with the missionaries. What did they want to do with Mincaye and his tribes?

SAINT; Well, the precipitating factor for trying to make contact with them was that the Shell Oil Company had been moving into their territory and the Waodani, Mincaye's family, had been killing oil company employees.

So they had gone to the government, and they wanted these people wiped out or driven so far back into the jungles that they would not be a factor anymore. And my dad talked four of his missionary friends in trying to make a peaceful contact before that happened, before they were wiped out.

PHILLIPS: So -- and your dad and other missionaries were only on this part of Ecuador, this area of the island -- or kind of describe the area for me, how hard it was to get there and how long were they there? Not very long, right?

SAINT: Well, in that particular part of jungle but my dad -- well, we lived on the edge of the jungles right on the flanks of the Andes Mountains in a place called Shellmeta (ph), named after the Shell Oil Company. And the other four missionaries lived deeper into the jungles. But there was one area of jungles that nobody dared to go into that was inhabited by the Waodani.

PHILLIPS: So your dad and other missionaries touched down. How did they try to communicate with Mincaye and the other warriors within this tribe that they were there to help and not hurt them? And then what happened from there?

SAINT: Well, the first thing that they did, is they knew they couldn't go in over land. My dad was a pilot and he had discovered a technique that if he flew his lane in tight circles and let a long line out in the back the plane that he could deliver medicines and fragile things to the ground, so if somebody on the ground could actually hold onto a bucket or a basket that was tied onto a line going up to the flying airplane.

And so they started lowering gifts to the Waodani and the Waodani showed that they understand that this was an overture of friendship because they started returning gifts. And then finally dad found a little sandbar on the river, two rivers or two valleys over from where this little village of Waodani was that they found.

And they landed there, built a tree house so they would have a place to go in case of attack. And then they waited and three days later, three members of the tribe came and they had the first friendly contact in history so far as we know.

PHILLIPS: So there was friendly contact but why -- what happened? What went wrong? Why did Mincaye and the others come back and kill your father and the other missionaries?

SAINT: Well, that's why you either got to read the book or go see the movie. It's kind of a complicated story. It wasn't really related to animosity against my dad and the others. But because there was animosity between two warriors named Kiwi and Nampa (ph) within the tribe primarily. And old Gitita (ph) knew that they were going to start a new killing -- I mean, this is an extremely violent tribe. Sixty percent homicide rate. Sixty percent of all of the people in the tribe died as a result of being killed by other people in the tribe. And Gitita, the oldest warrior in that group, he just said, if we're going to kill, let's not kill each other. Let's go kill the foreigners. You know, if we've have to vent this, let's vent it on them. And so they came and speared my dad and Roger and Pete and Ed and Jim to death.

PHILLIPS: Why did you go back?

SAINT: Well, my aunt was the one who went back. And that's part of a -- I mean, two women fled from killings in the tribe and they were reunited with a young girl who had fled years before, expecting to be killed by outsiders, but weren't. And when that this young girl that had fled before was still alive, they said, somebody knows how to live in peace. And Dayuma said, "Yes, some of the foreigners know how to live in peace." And they said, "We've got to go back and teach our people that." So they took Dayuma back and my aunt Rachel and one of the widows and then my aunt Rachel invited me to go in and live with her, with them. So I have grown up in relationship with them since I was a little boy.

PHILLIPS: So let me have you ask Mincaye if he felt remorse for killing your father and what he thinks of you and the missionaries now that he understands what happened.

SAINT: OK. (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

MINCAYE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

SAINT: I said, did you see it well, that you speared my father or not well? And he said -- (FOREIGN LANGUAGE) "wah" (ph) is the word for good, "wee" (ph) is the word for not. He said it was not good.

PHILLIPS: What does he think about the movie?

SAINT: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

MINCAYE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

SAINT: "Wah" (ph) again is the word for good. He said the video that tells the story of our families, he said I see it very well.

PHILLIPS: Wow. Well, it's an incredible film. Just about the power of forgiveness and also just the incredible respect you have for Mincaye and his culture and his tribe. And you're right, it's very complicated. I encourage everyone to see it. It comes out Friday, right?

SAINT: That's right. And if you want information, there is a Web site, endofthespear.com. "End of the Spear" is the name of the book and the movie that comes out on Friday the 20th.

PHILLIPS: Please tell Mincaye thank you so much, and it was a pleasure to have you both.

SAINT: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE). Say, "thank you."

MINCAYE: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Thank you.

SAINT: Good bye.

MINCAYE: Good bye.

PHILLIPS: How do I say, "good bye?" How do I say "good bye," Steve?

SAINT: Oh, you say -- (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) -- you say, "I'm going," so say, (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE). He says, "You, go well."

PHILLIPS: Thank you so much. Steve Saint and Mincaye, it's called "End of the Spear." The news keep coming, we'll keep bringing it to you. More LIVE FROM right after this.

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PHILLIPS: Let's check in with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. He's standing by in Washington to tell us what's coming up at the top of the hour in THE SITUATION ROOM. Hey, Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Kyra. We're following lots of stories, including the American hostage in Iraq. Should the United States government negotiate with terrorists? We're covering all sides of this story.

Plus, Hillary Clinton stands by her comments. First lady comes out, answers Senator Clinton. Hear what both sides, both of them are saying.

Plus the Supreme Court delivers a unanimous decision on abortion. Is it a farewell to Justice Sandra Day O'Connor?

And in our 7:00 p.m. Eastern hour here in THE SITUATION ROOM, the former FEMA director Mike Brown. He's been speaking out today, the first time since the -- since he went before Congress. We'll find out what he said today, what he's doing now. All that, coming up right here in THE SITUATION ROOM. Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Wolf. Ali Velshi and the closing bell straight ahead, as well. Stay with us.

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PHILLIPS: Closing bell, the New York Stock Exchange rings every day at the end of LIVE FROM. But imagine buying or selling so frenzied that trading would have to be shut down early. It happened today in Japan after a panicked sell-off. CNN's Ali Velshi here to explain. What does it mean for us?

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: That's kind of one of those things you count on, that the closing's bell going to ring in about a minute. Well in Japan yesterday, at the close of trade, there was a company that was being investigated for some securities violations, some accounting violations that caused a trigger to sell-off.

The Japanese market's been really hot and they had to close the market 20 minutes early. It's the first time they've ever closed the Nikkei early in its 57 years of trading. And remember, because they had to close it early, that means some people who were trying to sell couldn't get out.

The Nikkei opens again at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time, so we're about three hours away. We're going to see what happens there. Not a lot of effect on U.S. markets right now, although U.S. markets are closing lower today, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So what happened?

VELSHI: Well they just -- the market had done very well and people were looking for an excuse to sell, and this was it -- an accounting scandal that gave everybody a reason to run for the hills. So we'll have to see. The Japanese market's been a lot hotter than this one has been, so, probably no effect here.

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