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911 Tapes Released of Gay Bar Shooting; Fires in Baptist Churches Could be Arson; Excessive Rain Suspected in Store Roof Collapse; Egyptian Ferry Sinks in Red Sea, Hundreds Feared Dead

Aired February 03, 2006 - 13:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips. You're watching LIVE FROM.
We start with hate crimes in real time. Nine-one-one calls from this week's bloody attack on a gay bar in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Dispatchers' tapes were just released. CNN's Dan Lothian has them.

Dan, what do they reveal?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it reveals that it was quite a bit of panic as the attack was underway. The suspect, 18- year-old Jacob Robida, is still on the loose, police searching for him.

Let's take a listen to part of the 91 tape -- 911 tape that was staking place during the attack.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nine-one-one. What's your emergency?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I need an ambulance. I need an ambulance.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You need an ambulance? What's the problem?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Front Street.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's the problem?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Someone's been shot!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Somebody's been shot?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Someone's been shot. You have to get here now!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who's been shot? How many people?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know who it is.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How many people? Ma'am, calm down. I already have people on the way. How many people?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think just one.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just one person?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get here, please!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One male shot?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please, get here!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ma'am, who shot him?

(END AUDIO CLIP)

LOTHIAN: As you could hear, a lot of panic going on inside that bar late Wednesday night.

Police are focusing on their search, and in particular, searching for a 1999 green Pontiac Grand Am. That is what the suspect was last seen driving. And police say that the suspect is armed and dangerous.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. RICHARD SPIRLET, NEW BEDFORD POLICE: If he did it once I mean, most definitely, he's still a threat out there. He's still very, very dangerous. And that's why we're spending the effort of getting it out to the media. I mean it isn't like someone he -- you know, like it was a one-time incident, just a frame of mind of this individual is in, in a sense, for what he'd did, could start again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LOTHIAN: Once again, the attack took place late Wednesday night. According to witnesses and authorities, the suspect walked into the bar. He flashed what appeared to be a fake I.D. He asked if it was a gay bar. When he was told that it was, he allegedly walked to the back corner and then shortly thereafter began attacking some of the customers using an ax and then firing from a gun.

Again, police searching for this suspect. They believe that he is probably in the area, and they have received a lot of calls. They said they've been very busy tracking them so far but not found him -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Dan, they also searched his home. Police searched the suspect's home. Did they find anything?

LOTHIAN: Yes, it's interesting. You know, we had a chance to look at some court documents. And first of all, when they went to the home, they were able to talk to the suspect's mother. And she told investigators that about 1 a.m. in the morning, he did come home, and he had some blood on him, and then he left shortly thereafter.

Police also in those court documents point out that they looked inside his room and they saw some Nazi material and some hate writings on the wall of his room -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Dan Lothian, we'll stay in touch on the story. Thanks so much. Prayers and patients for a half dozen church congregations in Alabama this weekend. Fires overnight have investigators suspecting arson. Calvin Reynolds of CNN affiliate WBRC has been looking at the aftermath.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CALVIN REYNOLDS, WBRC CORRESPONDENT: I'm here at Ashton Baptist Church, where you see behind me about a half dozen or so volunteer firefighters still in the area, putting out a blaze that started sometime around 6 a.m. this morning.

The church's pastor says he believes that the fire was started in the pulpit area. They say that's the same M.O. that they believe occurred at the other churches that were set on fire earlier this morning.

So far, according to the Bibb County sheriff's office, no suspects have been named, no one has been arrested at this point.

A lot of the members here at the church are very upset. About 20 or so individuals who attend church here, at the end of the road, at the church, holding each other, crying, many of them in tears because of what happened here.

We understand that the ATF, the Alabama Bureau of Investigation and the state fire marshal's office are investigating, hoping to bring this case to a close.

Reporting in Bibb County, Alabama, I'm Calvin Reynolds.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Let's get right to the newsroom, Betty Nguyen working a developing story right now, a roof collapse.

Betty, what do we know?

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. We're going to take you to St. Petersburg, Florida, where at a Bed, Bath & Beyond store -- a lot of us familiar with those -- a roof partially collapsed there, injuring one person, an employee. Now those injuries were minor, but they're trying to determine if any customers were inside the store at the time.

But just looking at this video, you can see there's a lot of rain there, and this partial collapse happened over a cash register area.

But back to that rain. Some folks are wondering if that had anything to do with this collapse. So we're going to bring in our own meteorologist, Jacqui Jeras to talk about how much rain this area has had in the past few hours, really -- Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Betty, just incredible amounts, copious amounts of rain. We've had a training event, as we call it in meteorology, which basically means storms continue to feed through the same area, over and over and over. This line has been relatively stationary. It's wavered a little bit, but relatively stationary since about 4 a.m. this morning.

Now, you can see the intense cells as you see all that red on our map here indicating that these storms are strong. There is a tornado watch in effect for the Tampa and St. Petersburg area. However, there have not been any warnings, and the winds that we've been looking have not exceeded about 30 miles per hour. So we don't think, in terms of weather-related damage, this was due to wind or a tornado.

However, there's the potential -- we don't know yet from officials -- that it could have been a roof collapse because a large span roof collects too much in a short period of time. And that is an immense amount of weight. That could have potentially contributed to a collapse.

Now, this is a live look at the Doppler radar right now. You can see another intense wave is pushing through this region. And we're going to switch modes on this for you and put it into what we call a storm total mode. This is Doppler radar, estimating how much rain.

And you can see this big bullet right here at St. Petersburg, and just to the north of there is Pinellas Park. And we're looking at the potential that eight to 10 inches has fallen here since this morning. So that's a very incredible amount of rainfall. That's almost foot of rain just since this morning.

And, of course, there's street flooding all across this area. St. Petersburg and the Pinellas Park area hit the hardest. But you can see this whole big yellow and orange swathe that extends almost all the way over to Tampa where radar is estimating between three and six inches.

We do expect that rain to continue over the next several hours as the whole area slowly makes its way down to the south.

NGUYEN: Well, Jacqui, that's really not good news, because they're trying to determine if the structure is sound after the roof partially collapsed. And as you mentioned, so much rain.

JERAS: Yes.

NGUYEN: Just been inundated with rain over the past few hours. We're not talking day; we're talking hours.

Here's another look at the rain in the parking lot of this Bed, Bath & Beyond, where there was a partial roof collapse a little bit earlier today. One person was injured, an employee. But Kyra, we understand those injuries are minor.

PHILLIPS: All right. Betty Nguyen, Jacqui Jeras, thank you so much. No collision. No distress signal. Just choppy waters and a disaster at sea, the Red Sea, where dozens of bodies have been recovered, almost 80 survivors rescued from jam-packed life boats. Hundreds of people are still missing. All were onboard this Egyptian ferry which disappeared from radar screens shortly after setting sail from the Saudi port of Dubah. The fire -- or the ferry, rather, was bound for the Egyptian port of Safaga, 120 miles away.

CNN's Ben Wedeman is on the phone with us right now. How are rescue efforts going?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, they're going to be slowing down now, because it's 8 p.m. here in Egypt. I'm speeding down the Red Sea coast to the part of Safaga.

It is cold. It's fairly windy, conditions very difficult. These are the same conditions that may well have led to the accident which caused this problem. And so we know that the Egyptian coast guard has deployed at least four frigates and its destroyer to the area, helicopters and other aircraft, as well.

But, what with the onset of night and difficult conditions, they may have to suspend their operations until tomorrow morning -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So, Ben, did this ferry sink completely, and do we have any idea what went wrong, in addition to the issues of weather?

WEDEMAN: No. Not -- at this point it's very unclear what happened. We know that the ferry was full to capacity. And that includes passengers, as well as vehicles, trucks and cars. And experts will tell you with that kind of ferry, which is called a roll off, roll on, all that needs to happen is a bit of water enters the ship, and it can really unbalance the entire structure.

Now, the Egyptian government has been investigating. They're at the scene (ph). They're working on it. We're hoping to get more firm word as to what may have happened -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Ben Wedeman, thank you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there anyone in the chamber wishing to vote or wishing to change their vote? If not, on this vote the yays 95, the nays are one. The bill is passed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: One more reprieve for the Patriot Act. Following the lead of the House, the Senate last night OK'ed another temporary extension of the controversial anti-terror measures, until March 10.

The only no vote was from Democrat Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. The second such reprieve since December gives Congress five more weeks to try and figure out whether and how to make the measures permanent. Timing may not be everything. But Scooter Libby's trial date is a source of relief for Republicans today. A judge in D.C. decided the vice president's former chief of staff won't go on trial for alleged perjury and obstruction of justice after until after the November elections.

The trial is expected to focus on a sensitive subject for the Bush administration, a leak that outed a covert CIA operative. The judge wanted to start the trial in September, but the defense cited a scheduling conflict, so jury selection is now set for January 8, 2007.

Straight ahead, hate hits the streets. Skinhead gangs trained to kill with lightning speed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BALAJEE PRAORE, SURVIVED SKINHEAD ATTACK (through translator): They had beer and vodka with them. Some had knives. Then out of the blue they attack. "Hey, black face, chocolate man, bastard, you idiot." I didn't say a word. I didn't hit anyone. There were seven of them against me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: CNN talks with survivors and skinheads. LIVE FROM brings you the world, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: A Mexican clinic where Coretta Scott King died is now closed. The civil rights matriarch arrived at the Santa Monica Health Institute a week ago yesterday. Stricken with cancer and partially paralyzed from the stroke that she suffered last summer. She died late Monday, reportedly before while under evaluation but before she'd received any treatment.

The clinic's founder and director is American Kurt Donsbach. Court records show he's got a criminal past. He also has a reputation for offering dubious treatments to the desperately ill.

The "Atlanta Journal-Constitution" reports the clinic was shut down yesterday for conducting surgeries, X-rays and internal medicine without proper authorization.

The widow of the late Dr. Martin Luther King is to lie in honor tomorrow at the George state capitol. Another public viewing will take place Monday at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King preached. The funeral will be Tuesday at a Baptist church in suburban Atlanta where Mrs. King's youngest daughter is the minister there.

No showdown for now. The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog put off a crucial vote on referring Iran to the Security Council for possible sanctions over its worrisome research. A referral seems all but inevitable, but diplomats want as many nations as possible to sign on. The 35-member IAEA will reconvene tomorrow.

Iran says it wants nukes for peaceful purposes only, but the U.S. and others suspect it really wants nuclear bombs.

And what awaits Iran in the U.N. Security Council? CNN's Rich Roth reports, it depends on whether the world's major powers can stay on the same page.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The flag of Iran barely budges in the winter air along Nations Row outside the United Nations on a New York afternoon. But is this just the calm before the Iran nuclear storm inside the building in the Security Council?

Like a slow-moving train on the horizon, Security Council ambassadors have seen the Iran hot potato coming for several years.

AUGUSTINE MAHIGA, TANZANIAN AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: The timing is not known. The content is not known, but certainly it's going to be one of the interesting multifaceted debates in the council.

ROTH (on camera): And entirely unpredictable. One European diplomat said once the uranium issue arrives at the Security Council, the machine has started to work. And once it starts, no one knows where it will stop.

(voice-over) Don't expect go to war resolutions, though that option is always there and may depend on what Iran does or does not do down the road. Instead, based on past crises, the 15 countries would, at the outset, likely unify behind some kind of statement of concern about Iran's behavior towards the U.N. affiliated organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The U.S., France and Britain would propose some sanctions if there were continued failure by Iran to stop its nuclear program. But here is where big power unity would face its first test.

JEFF LAURENTI, CENTURY FOUNDATION: It isn't clear that the Russians and Chinese have bought into even sanctions. They are even reluctant on sanctions.

ROTH: Colin Keating is very familiar with the ways of the Security Council. As New Zealand's ambassador, he happened to be in the council president's chair in April of 1994 when the Rwanda genocide occurred. The U.N. analyst says the Security Council can play a valuable role on Iran by, if nothing else, looming as a threat if Tehran doesn't change its ways.

COLIN KEATING, FORMER U.N. DIPLOMAT: The council offers a vehicle to accommodate both the desire for more pressure, but also the desire on the part of Russia and China for an ongoing window of opportunity for negotiations.

ROTH: During gaps in negotiations on action, look for the U.S. arms expert, now ambassador, John Bolton to ratchet up the pressure.

JOHN BOLTON, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: As I said earlier, a lot of efforts, I'm sure, by the Iranians to throw sand in our eyes and divert us from the -- from the effort.

ROTH: And sifting the sands of time, many say the Iran affair feels like neighboring Iraq three years ago with the U.N., but others point out closer positions now between U.S. and Europe, which may avoid bitter political splits.

Richard Roth, CNN, United Nations.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Young skinheads on the attack, killing and maiming innocent victims while cameras roll, and police look the other way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Usually, the strongest one of us will take the guy's legs out, and the rest is a matter of technique.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: LIVE FROM goes underground in Russia's epicenter of hate, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Mickey and Pluto must be horrified. Angry parents tossing their kids over the fence at the new Hong Kong Disneyland. It happened yesterday as scores of vacationers tried to barge in after learning the park was sold out. Some people climbed the fence and just jumped over. Many of them were from China and Taiwan, in Hong Kong for the Chinese New Year.

A Disneyland spokeswoman thanks visitors for their, quote, "warm support."

"We've been only open for four months," she adds. "We're still learning."

On the jobs front, the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in five years in January, but that's still not causing a lot of cheer on Wall Street today. J.J. Ramberg, live from the New York Stock Exchange -- J.J.

(STOCK REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Naked, violent racism, it's happening on the streets of a major Russian city, gangs of skinheads attacking anyone of color, even children.

CNN's Ryan Chilcote has this story. But we should warn you, you're about to see some very disturbing images.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's images like these that put a chill down the spine of non-Russians and Russian ethnic minorities alike. Gangs of skinheads, known by those who detest them as Jackals, who prey on non-Russians, leaving behind the bodies of Africans, Vietnamese, Russia's own ethnic minorities, even children, anyone whose skin color is a little different.

You might call this a skinhead training center, a gym in the basement of a vocational school. The skinheads say the police contacted the school's administration when students' names surfaced in connection with racial attacks but none of them, they say, has ever been disciplined.

They agreed to talk about their activities, but when I asked them to take off their masks, they refused. The leader, who went by the name Sergei, said they're afraid of being recognized.

SERGEI, LEADER, SKINHEAD GANG (through translator): I don't want to show my face on camera, because the people at the top that are interested in us, would charge us. That's why we have to go underground.

CHILCOTE: Why do they launch these attacks?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We want the blacks and the migrants out of our country. They take our jobs and behave completely disrespectful towards Russians.

CHILCOTE: These hooded men told me they carried out 15 attacks, most recent in November. They claim some of the group had even murdered.

I didn't have to videotape this gang doing its dirty work. The groups routinely tape their own attacks. This tape was obtained by a local TV station from the police.

As you watch the attacks on videotapes, it becomes clear the training skinheads exhibited for CNN has little in common with the attacks on the streets. In reality, their victims are never armed or given a chance at a fair fight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Usually the strongest one of us will take the guy's legs out and the rest is a matter of technique. The attacks happen extremely fast, and we disappear just as quickly.

CHILCOTE: Balajee Praore knows that firsthand. From Mali, he's lived more than half of his 41 years in Russia. He was attacked last year in the subway, and he's got the neurological damage to prove it. And he's not afraid to go on camera to show it.

PRAORE (through translator): They had beer and vodka with them. Some of them had knives. Then out of the blue they attacked. "Hey, black face, chocolate man, bastard, you idiot." I didn't say a word. I didn't hit anyone. There were seven of them against me. CHILCOTE: How many non-Russians have been attacked? These African students, recent arrivals, don't know anyone who hasn't been targeted.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was attacked three times.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been attacked several times, but the most dangerous I think two times.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Several times, but three times I can count the most dangerous one.

CHILCOTE: This December, after a student from Cameroon was murdered, the regional governor herself sized up the scale of the skinhead threat.

VALENTINA MATVIENKO, GOVERNOR, LENINGRAD REGION (through translator): Xenophobia and racism are no lesser threats to society than terrorism. Groups of aggressively minded young people must not be allowed to walk freely or with impunity.

CHILCOTE: But the police, the African students say, have never helped. The only means of self-defense is to walk in groups.

We wanted to ask the police about the skinheads and the allegations from those who have been beaten, but the police said they would not comment. An officer said they were embarrassed.

Immigrants and ethnic groups have begun demonstrating to protest the danger on St. Petersburg's streets, and many Russians, including this punk band, joined the protest, but then they, too, were targeted.

This guitar player, a prominent critic of the city's skinheads, was stabbed to death in November. Another activist was shot dead through a door.

I asked the skinhead leader how they can attack innocent, defenseless people with a clear conscious. He compared himself to an animal.

SERGEI (through translator): A street fight can't be fair. These are animal fights.

CHILCOTE: And he promised the attacks would continue.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Ryan, I want to first ask you about the one victim you talked to, Balajee, and does he feel he's getting enough support or help? Because you mentioned that he doesn't even want it leave the house now.

CHILCOTE: That's right, Balajee hasn't left his own apartment really since that attack took place last year. The reality of the situation, according to the victims that i've spoke with, that there really is no one to help them out there. Obviously, that should be the job of the police, but they say that the police are usually less helpful than helpful. Usually they say the police are so unhelpful, in fact, that it's not even worth reporting the fact that they've been attacked. There is a little bit of what they're calling an anti- fascist movement in places like St. Petersburg, where I was.

These are people, Russians and members of these ethnic minorities, Africans, who are coming together, staging demonstrations, but this movement is just getting off the ground -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: That's the job of a police officer, is to protect people like Balajee. Why aren't they doing that? Why aren't they being tougher? And do in they have any hate crime laws?

CHILCOTE: That's a good question. They do have hate crime laws, but they're very difficult, though, to apply, a lot of people will tell you, in particular because a lot of these skinheads are actually juveniles, and it's very difficult to charge a juvenile according to the current legislation in Russia with hate crimes. They are going to change that law very soon, and that will make it easier to deal with these skinhead gangs. But right now, it's very difficult to do that.

There are other reasons also. One thing that I think a lot of the victims, I heard telling me, is that they believe that the police are, many of the police are sympathetic to the skinheads. It seems they hold some of the same feelings about ethnic minorities in Russia, the same xenophobic feelings about foreigners in Russia.

And then I think almost everyone would agree that the political will, there really hasn't been any attention from the government, from the Kremlin to this matter up until very recently. They really haven't even basically recognized that there is such a problem as racially motivated attacks in Russia. In fact, a lot of the victims told me that a lot of times when they go to the police, the situation gets worse. A lot of times basically when they go to the police, instead of getting help, what ends up happening is the police try and extort a bribe from them, because their documents aren't in order, for example -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: We can all hope for that change -- the changes.

My final question, where are these kids gathering? Are they reading something? Is there a certain individual that they're following? Who's influencing them?

CHILCOTE: You know, in terms of the situation on the ground, it's very similar to the kind of situation that creates these groups in other places in the world. Basically, a lot of poverty, a lot of frustration with society, frustration with the government.

But in Russia in particular, I think the fact that the government has really been silent on this issue for a long time, and the fact that young people oftentimes don't have more constructive, if you will, ways to organize themselves, that is definitely an issue.

I mean, I remember when I was in St. Petersburg for about a week -- I just got back last week -- I definitely met several leaders of the skinhead movement. These are men that are in their 50s, very well spoken. They get a bunch of kids together, they give them all ideas about fascism, about how there's a community they can join. They give them this really readily packaged ideology. And I think for a lot the teenagers, really, that are joining these gangs, it's like becoming part of a fraternity, if you will. It's like becoming part of a club. They immediately feel like they're part of a fraternity, and they can -- with people they can relate that, and they're doing something useful with their lives. That's the real problem here -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, it's sad and it's a sign of ignorance, that's for sure.

Ryan Chilcote, we sure appreciate your report.

Straight ahead, she can't see and barely talk, but Brittany Maier speaks through music, and what she's saying is astounding. You'll hear yourself, next on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS; Straight to Betty Nguyen in the newsroom working a story for us -- Betty.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Kyra. I want to show you something you don't see every day for good reason. I want to show you some live pictures from our affiliate KTLA. Look at this. A car has crashed into a building in South Los Angeles. What we know so far is 14 people are injured, six of them serious. It's not known how many people were in the car and why this car plowed into the building.

But you can see, there are a number of people on the scene. Some 50 firefighters, in fact. This is still an active scene right now. Again, 14 people injured, six of them serious.

We don't know the details about this store or exactly what led to this crash, but obviously, it was one that hurt several people, and folks are trying to get those who are injured out of the area and determine the extent of the damage.

But, Kyra, this is happening in South Los Angeles, and just a situation that you don't see every day for good reason. No one wants that to happen.

PHILLIPS: All right, we'll follow it. Betty Nguyen, thanks so much. Those live pictures coming to us from KTLA.

Well, sometimes we find stories that of amount of words can do justice. Those are our favorites, and your about to see one of them. It's about a girl named Brittany Maier. And CNN's Paula Zahn has her sorry from the very beginning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA ZAHN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a happy time for Tammy and Chuck Maier, newly married and expecting their first child. It all changed on April 9th, 1989. Tammy was rushed to the hospital for a potentially deadly liver disorder and gave birth to her daughter, four months early.

TAMMY MAIER, MOTHER: She was very, very tiny. So little you could just hold her in your hand. She was a pound, five ounces. They told us that there was really only a five percent chance that she was going to live.

ZAHN: For three months, little Brittany Maier was hooked up to oxygen and other life support machines. Somehow, she survived.

(on camera): Then you were confronted with some really bad news. Confirmation that she in fact was blind. How did you handle that news on top of everything you had dealt with up until that point?

T. MAIER: It was a surprise. But, you know, she was just this beautiful little baby that we loved. It was something that we accepted within minutes. And we said, we'll just be the best parents that we can be, and she'll grow up as wonderfully as possible.

ZAHN (voice-over): When Brittany came home from the hospital, she developed more slowly than other children.

(on camera): The doctors finally then gave you a more definitive description of these developmental delays. And they told you she was autistic. How did you handle that news?

T. MAIER: The autism was a little bit harder, because it was something that dealt with the mind and what she understood.

ZAHN (voice-over): Brittany's parents had already accepted that Brittany would never see their faces. Now they had to come to grips with the idea that she might never be able to carry on a conversation.

But then, incredible as it seems, at the age of 5, the girl who didn't speak started to sing. Brittany started reciting the lyrics of a Barbra Streisand song, even mimicking the singer's gestures.

Suspecting Brittany might be able to communicate through music, her parents bought her a keyboard.

T. MAIER: It had a demonstration button, and she would press this button constantly over and over again. And then eventually she learned the notes to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."

ZAHN: Just three days later, Brittany heard "Ave Maria" in the car. A few hours after that, she astounded everyone by playing the song on her keyboard.

T. MAIER: Of all songs that she could have aspired to on her own, no one showed her how to play "Ave Maria." She just felt this song's impact.

ZAHN: Before long, Brittany could hear any song -- classical, jazz or rock 'n' roll, and play it right back.

At the age of 8, she graduated to a piano and was playing everything from Beethoven and Bach to Bon Jovi. (on camera): At what point did someone tell you that she was a prodigious savant?

T. MAIER: I had heard people refer to her as a prodigy, as a child prodigy. And I didn't know what savant meant, so I went and looked it up in the dictionary.

DR. DAROLD TREFFERT, UNIV. OF WISCONSIN MEDICAL SCHOOL: Savant syndrome is a condition in which somebody with a developmental disability, including but not limited to autism, has some spectacular island of genius that stands in contrast overall the disability. ZAHN: Psychiatrist Dr. Darold Treffert studied more than 30 savants.

TREFFERT: Brittany falls within what I call the prodigious category of savants, which means her skill would be spectacular even if it were to be seen in a nondisabled person, and there are fewer than 100 such people living worldwide at the present time.

ZAHN: Still, how is it that a girl who can't read music, can't do simple addition or even write her own name, play thousands of songs from memory?

TREFFERT: Music is her language. Alphabet is not her language. This is how she communicates to us. When she's playing her songs, she is speaking, in her way, through music instead of through words.

ZAHN: The few words Brittany does speak are at the piano when she introduces a song.

BRITTANY MAIER: "Thinking of You" by Brittany Maier.

ZAHN: Tammy is always by her daughter's side.

T. MAIER: Sit up. Good posture. Chin up. Good.

ZAHN: Not just as a mother, but as a coach, keeping Brittany focused on the song she'll play next. Tammy understood that this gift could enrich the lives of other people. Brittany began performing in public.

T. MAIER: Brittany was able to show us that this is what she wanted to do. And she was so happy, and she applauded herself, and this personality of Brittany that we didn't know existed just came out naturally.

T. MAIER: Tammy says she could tell how excited Brittany is about the song she's playing. The more she rocks, the more she likes it.

(on camera): How do audiences respond to Brittany when they hear her play?

T. MAIER: I've seen everything from crying and sobbing, to people who have to leave the room because they're so overwhelmed. A lot of people who see the power of God and feel like there are angels in the room with Brittany. And it's wonderful as a mother. It's wonderful.

ZAHN: Well, it's got to be.

T. MAIER: I'm so glad that she's able to bring people so much joy.

ZAHN (voice-over): At 16, Brittany is improving every day. She's even started composing her own music, and just released a CD with 14 of her original songs.

(on camera): The music that flows out of Brittany is very soulful.

T. MAIER: It is.

ZAHN: And very mature.

T. MAIER: I hear that a lot, I do. I hear that. She really feels the music on a different level, something that's deep down within her.

ZAHN: How has Brittany changed your life?

T. MAIER: She's made my life. I don't see a change. I just see that that was life. That's what was intended. That's what's supposed to be. It has been a -- it has been a fabulous life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And be sure to join Paula weeknights at 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific.

The news keeps coming. We'll keep bringing it to you. More LIVE FROM, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, we're keeping an eye on Cuba today, where Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is picking an UNESCO award for fighting hunger, poverty and illiteracy.

But that's not the reason that we're watching. Newsworthy things tend to happen any time Chavez gets together with his close ally and mentor Fidel Castro. Just this week, Chavez booted out a Navy attache with the U.S. embassy in Caracas, accusing him of spying for the Pentagon.

We've just heard the U.S. is retaliating. A State Department spokesperson says the Venezuelan's ambassador's chief of staff has 72 hours to pack up and leave the U.S. And you may have heard yesterday, Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld compared Chavez' rise in Venezuela to Hitler's rise in Germany. As for Cuba, Castro is calling U.S. diplomats a nest of cockroaches, adding that he doesn't mean to offend cockroaches with that comparison.

Now, Castro's fuse was lit when the U.S. diplomatic mission started running ticker messages like this one in its windows, urging Cubans to oppose the government. Today Castro plans to unfurl flags that will block that ticker from view.

Our Havana bureau chief, Lucia Newman, joins me on the phone. She, of course, is always following all the drama coming out of Cuba there. We're looking at these live pictures of Chavez and Castro right now, but can we start by talking about this ticker, and what's happening at the U.S. mission?

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF: Hello, Kyra. Well, indeed, President Chavez and President Castro just arrived just a few minutes ago. In fact, the inauguration of Cuba's International Book Fair was dedicated this year to Venezuela.

And about the ticker, this is an electronic ticker that broadcasts human rights messages from the -- what -- the next to the last floor of the U.S. Cuban Interest Section building, which is one of the tallest in Havana. It's a huge ticker, bright red. You can see it from miles away. And the messages that come from it are infuriating president Castro.

So what he started doing last week was building a structure which he said would be a surprise, but we've been seeing lots of poles going up, poles which we assume will hold flags with the idea of obstructing the view of those messages, Kyra. We don't know though for sure whether it's going to be inaugurated or unveiled, this retaliation to the ticker, tonight or tomorrow. That, too, is a mystery.

PHILLIPS: All right. Well, we'll continue, of course, to follow the ticker madness as we continue to look at these live pictures of Chavez and Castro. What's happening today as they gather and meet and talk?

And, you know, here in the United States, there has been a lot of concern about the rise of power of certain individuals in Latin America, including Castro and Chavez and others, and sort of this shift to the left that's taking place?

NEWMAN: Well, absolutely. And President Hugo Chavez has really taken over from Cuba's Fidel Castro as the leader are of this move, which is self-proclaimed to be an anti-imperialist, anti-U.S. swerve to the left, which would also include now Bolivia's new president Evo Morales.

Now, Hugo Chavez is Castro's strongest ally in the world right now, both declaring themselves archenemies of the United States. And, in fact, shortly before leaving for Cuba last night, President Chavez fired it's -- the latest shot out (ph) at Washington, which is the expulsion of U.S. military attache, which he accused of espionage.

PHILLIPS: And do you think that expulsion happened because Sec. Def. Donald Rumsfeld compared Chavez's rise in Venezuela to Hitler's rise in Germany?

NEWMAN: Well, Kyra, you know, we're waiting to ask him that question ourselves, as soon as we can. We're hoping that after he finishes the inauguration of the book fair, he'll come over to the news media and respond to that, because Secretary of State Rumsfeld made it clear yesterday that the feeling between the United States and Venezuela is absolutely neutral.

He said, in fact, that Chavez, like Hitler, was -- came to power in Democratic elections. And I'm sure that President Chavez will have something to say to that. It's probably -- in fact, we're speculating the reason why he chose yesterday to make the announcement of the expulsion of the U.S. Naval attache. Now, Chavez, by the way, Kyra, is celebrating his seventh year in power this week.

PHILLIPS: Wow. Lucia Newman, definitely call us back if you get close to those two and are able to get any type of conversation among the three of you, OK?

NEWMAN: Absolutely, will do. We'll be out there as soon as we can when we have some more news.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Lucia. Lucia Newman there, our bureau chief there in Cuba.

Well, millions of dollars are at stake. It's no time to monkey around, that's for sure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE). Like this, hand out. Hand down. Hand down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: All right. Well, maybe it is. What are these guys doing? Well, they're getting ready for the Super Bowl and going bananas about the ads. We'll tell you about them later on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Jim Croce sang a song called "Time in a Bottle," but a Pennsylvania man might change it to "Time in a Wallet." Confronted with his past in the form of a long lost, 40-year old billfold, he tells his story to our affiliate WBRE. See if you can figure out the part that had LIVE FROM shaking its head.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DOUG SCHMITT, LOST WALLET RETURNED: Probably the late 1890s. I'm on the road awhile for my business, and I was driving down the highway. I was in Virginia. And my wife calls me on the cell phone, and she says did you lose your wallet?

And immediately I panic and I reach in my back pocket thinking I left my wallet on the table or something. I said, no, I have it. And she says, no I mean, back when you were in college. That was a long time ago.

My mom probably made sure I had everything before I went to college. Like I said, I was a freshman. So that's a picture when I was a little kid, down at my grandfather's church.

And she said, well, a guy just called from Utah, from Logan, Utah, and that's where I went to college. Both of us went there. And he said his father-in-law passed away about a year ago, and they were going through all his things and he used to own a gas station right at the mouth of Logan Canyon and he -- they found this wallet in there and it had my name in it.

And it actually still had money, all these receipts and everything. The are the air mail stamps from, oh, eight cents to mail U.S. air mail. I guess they don't even say -- have airmail stamps anymore.

Here's a thing from down in Philadelphia, for a record store. You got ten of these, you were able to get a free 45 RPM record. That shows you how far back that is. I mean, kids nowadays probably don't even know what they are.

He decided he's try to find me on the Internet, which just is amazing. And he found me, and he verified it was me with my wife and everything. Well, then he sent it, and actually a receipt for a moving traffic violation I had, seven-and-a-half days in jail or a $15 fine. I guess -- I don't remember being in jail, so I guess I paid the fine, huh?

My college I.D. with -- I had a lot of hair back then, a full head of hair. I wish I still had that. There still was five dollars in there. It's a 1963 $5 bill which I think I'll probably frame, put a little thing underneath it for my -- for prosperity I guess.

But I know it was my $5 because I used to put a little mark on the letter on all my money I carried in my wallet in case I ever lost it, I could identify it. And it's still there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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