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Aid Arriving for Indonesian Earthquake Victims; Rare Wine Sells for Over $100,000; Soldiers Share First-Hand Accounts of Iraq; Angelina Jolie Gives Birth to Baby Girl; Family Remembers Fallen Soldier
Aired May 29, 2006 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PHILLIPS: Haunted by Haditha, an Iraqi city where at least 24 civilians were killed last fall. The deaths came after a U.S. Marine was killed by a roadside bomb. It's suspected other Marines then turned on the locals, including women and children.
The Senate Armed Service Committee plans hearings on the claims. Right now, America's top military officer, a Marine himself, says it's too soon for change -- charges, rather, but he doesn't rule them out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. PETER PACE, CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS: If the allegations as they are being portrayed in the newspaper turn out to be valid, then of course there will be charges. But we don't know yet what the outcome will be. It will take its course. It will be made public and we'll all be able to make our own judgments.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Senior Pentagon officials say that a military investigation tend -- tends to support allegation, rather, of an unprovoked massacre.
Well, the worst isn't over in earthquake stricken Indonesia. One hundred thousand people are homeless after escaping death and serious injury in Saturday's quake. They're hungry and in desperate need of help.
CNN's Dan Rivers has an update as aid begins to arrive amid the devastation of the island of Java.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right in the center of this disaster, Yogyakarta, the provincial capital, has been pretty badly hit. As you can see behind me, buildings collapsed.
But the main zone of this relief effort now is in Bandal (ph) province, which is a few kilometers to the south of there. We traveled to villages which have been largely wiped out; 95 percent of the houses have been damaged.
A lot of the survivors are having to camp out amid the ruins of their homes. A lot of them have had to make do with erecting temporary shelters from what they can salvage.
The aid operation, though, is beginning to get under way. The Indonesian government says that already it's sent a hundred tons of rice. It's sent thousands of blanket, and tents, and mattresses and stoves to help these people.
The U.N. UNICEF organization, as well, is sending in aid. It says a 737 plane stocked full of aid has landed nearby Solo (ph). The airport at Yogyakarta is closed because of damage to the runway, but this plane has landed a few kilometers away in Solo, and that aid should reach people who most need it later on.
Dan Rivers, CNN, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And you can log on to CNN.com for up to the minute information on the Indonesian earthquake and details on how you can help the victims.
Pope Benedict is back at the Vatican after a four-day visit to his predecessor's homeland. His last stop in Poland, the Auschwitz concentration camp. There the German-born pope lit a candle at the Wall of Death and prayed for reconciliation among Catholics and Jews.
Now a come-back that beats all others. An Australian mountain climber who was believed to have died on Mt. Everest is now recovering at base camp. Amazingly, he's said to be in reasonably good health. Fifty-year-old Lincoln Hall was left near the summit last week after he started hallucinating and refused to move. He spent an entire night out on the mountain and was found alive by climbers a day later.
A rescue crew helped him walk to a camp several thousand feet down the mountain. Hall was treated for swelling of the brain and frost bite.
Well, in their own words, hear from U.S. troops fighting in Iraq. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN.COM CORRESPONDENT: The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have changed the lives of many American soldiers and their families. In a special report, CNN.com takes a look at some of those stories.
Look through these audio slides and hear some of their experiences. Like the Williams, a married couple who both serve in Iraq. Their 12-year-old son worries about his parents but is learning to be more independent.
Or from Nordia Fuller (ph), who describes that chilling moment when she heard that knock at the door. She lost her husband in Iraq.
You can listen to these stories and send us your own along with photos. Also learn more about the history of Memorial Day in this time line. Since the Civil War, Americans have observed the holiday, but it wasn't until 1971 that it became an official holiday through an act of Congress. You can read more at CNN.com/ComingHome.
For the dot com desk, I'm Veronica De La Cruz.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, if you've ever suspected that you paid too much for a bottle of wine, this next story may make you feel just a little better. Susan Lisovicz, live from the New York Stock -- no, I did it again. I knew it was going to happen. I'm sorry. Live from New York.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I tried to get in, but they -- they wouldn't let me in. It's not operating today, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, let's see. A bottle of wine. What would be too much, what would be too little? Think about that.
LISOVICZ: The markup here was extraordinary, Kyra. And I don't think either of us would fight over the tab on this. A double magnum of 1985 Chateau Lafite -- there it is -- sold late last week at an auction in Sotheby's in New York. The winning bid: $111,625.
A double magnum, by the way, holds about 24 glasses of wine. So that comes out to $4,600 per glass. It was bought by an anonymous European private collector over the phone. The price tag nearly triple the highest pre-auction estimate.
But that, believe it or not, is not a record. A 1787 bottle of Lafite, marked with the initials THF, for our third president, Thomas Jefferson, sold for more than $156,000 in 1985.
Jefferson, of course, for any of the people who have followed him, as one of America's -- was one of America's first wine authorities. He even toured the European vineyards, looking for wine to send home. And that was part of a shipment that I believe was never sent home, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Well, you and I both, you know, enjoy very good wine, but can it really be considered a good investment?
LISOVICZ: There are many, many folks who say it should be savored and not saved. You know, a lot of folks when it comes to art or wine, Kyra, they will tell you that you should do it first because you love it. And you should educate yourself if you do plan to do this for investment purposes, because you can get ripped off royally.
Besides the fact that thousands of dollars can go down the drain with just a slip of the hand, not to mention a flood or power outage. And with an older vintage, there's no guarantee that the wine has been stored correctly and hasn't spoiled. To top it off, a study that looked at the rate of return on high value wines from 1986 to 1996 found that wine did not outperform financial assets, especially after factoring in extra costs such as insurance and storage.
The worst part, many wine collectors view the wine purely as an investment, especially such expensive ones, and don't plan to ever drink it. And that, to many wine connoisseurs, is a sin -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: There you -- hey, life is too short not to enjoy a good bottle of wine. Right?
LISOVICZ: Absolutely.
PHILLIPS: All right.
LISOVICZ: Especially with good friend, right, Kyra?
PHILLIPS: There you go. Good friends and good cheese. Thanks, Susan.
Straight ahead, entertainment news with Sibila Vargas of "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT". Hey, Sibila, what's on tap?
SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, huge Hollywood news all the way from Africa, Kyra. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are new parents. I'll have the details. Plus a look back at the famous couple's history together, when LIVE FROM returns.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dear soldier, thanks for fighting for us. I hope you enjoy this letter. I pray that you have a safe return to your family. It is people like you who make America proud. You represent what America stands for. God bless you. Sincerely, Zach.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, U.S. troops face dangers few of us can imagine. Here, in their own words, a band of brothers describes an incident that brought them all closer together.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GRAPHIC: On April 25, 2006, at 1:13 a.m., roadside bombs blasted a convoy in Baghdad escorted by members of the 101st Airborne C/1-33 Calvary. Sgt. Erik Roberts, Spc. A.J. Jefferson and Sgt. Luke Murphy were all wounded. Their lives were changed forever.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought I was dead for a second. I thought it was that white light that they talk about, you know, before you die. Driving down the ready everyday you know you take that chance of getting hit. You know, it's just -- you're just waiting for it. You don't know when it's going to happen. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At first we were just driving down the road, going back to the FOB (ph), and I hear a big pop.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I knew exactly what had happened. Everything just stopped. Time just stopped.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The truck automatically just filled with smoke, and there was fire coming from in the middle of the truck, and I just feel just like my whole right side just like kind of like explode.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was just slow motion. I could see shrapnel coming at my face. It was bright red in the Humvee from the fire.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were taught to put pressure, to try to stop the bleeding. So I put pressure on my hand and like sunk into my leg.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got up on the Humvee and waited for us to roll off the road, pretty much, before I jumped off it. Hit the wall. And one of the doors opened. We jumped out, you know, still screaming and didn't know what the heck was going on. It was like total chaos. It was like a nightmare. All I kept thinking was I don't want to lose my leg, I don't want to lose my leg.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought at that moment that my life was over. So I started praying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Family, being away, you know, seeing them hurt from me being hurt. And being away from the family and this whole situation brought our family so much closer than it ever has before.
ANNOUNCER: For a complete look at "Coming Home: Families and War", as well as to hear more personal stories from troops and their families, go to CNN.com/ComingHome.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HALLE BERRY, ACTRESS: We're getting killed out here.
HUGH JACKMAN, ACTOR: Yes, I know. They're not ready, Storm.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: They were ready for "X-Men: The Last Stand" at the box office. The movie is estimated to have raked in $107 million in its first two days. That would make it the fourth biggest opening in Hollywood history and the biggest Memorial Day weekend debut of all time. It didn't hurt that critics have dubbed this the best "X-Men" of the three.
Well, if they named her Shiloh because it means peace, well, good luck with that. The frenzy over bouncing baby Brangelina doesn't seem likely to subside any time soon. CNN's Sibila Vargas has more on the baby in the midst of a media tornado.
Hey, Sibila.
VARGAS: Absolutely. I mean, it's like the second coming over here. But in what was arguably the most anticipated delivery in the world, Angelina Jolie gave birth to Brad Pitt's daughter this holiday weekend.
Little Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt -- great name -- met her famous parents for the first time Saturday night when she was born in the African nation of Namibia almost one year exactly after the couple's last baby was born, "Mr. And Mrs. Smith."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRAD PITT, ACTOR: I've got to tell you, I was married once before.
VARGAS (voice-over): Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie met in 2004 while shooting "Mr. and Mrs. Smith".
JULIE JORDAN, "PEOPLE" MAGAZINE: Well, there was definitely an off-screen chemistry, as well. That might have sparked the rumors of a real-life romance brewing.
PITT: It's all John, sweetheart.
JORDAN: But at the time, Brad was married to Jennifer Aniston, so you know, people assumed the golden couple was intact.
VARGAS: But then confirmation that there was trouble in Pitt's marriage.
JORDAN: Brad and Angelina rumors were really heating up at the time. So it kind of just led to the point where, in January of 2005, Brad and Jennifer announced their separation.
VARGAS: By March as Pitt and Jolie hit the road to promote their film, talk of romance between the two had reached a boiling point.
JORDAN: Even at ShoWest, they kept a visible difference from each other. You know, they were together but they weren't together. But of course, that just lent to the speculation that indeed a romance was brewing.
VARGAS: A week later, Aniston filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. In an interview with "Vanity Fair" she would question whether Pitt had remained faithful to her in the months before their marriage collapsed.
JORDAN: Jennifer said that obviously it was hard to see Brad and Angelina together.
VARGAS: She also expressed shock at a photo shoot Pitt and Jolie did for "W" magazine.
JORDAN: For Brad and Angelina to do this 60-page pictorial, depicting a 1950s family complete with kids, that probably was a little hard for Jennifer.
VARGAS: Pitt and Aniston's divorce became final in October. Barely two months later, Pitt applied to legally adopt Jolie's adopted children, changing their names to Jolie-Pitt. Then in January, the biggest news of all.
JORDAN: "People" magazine broke the news that Angelina was expecting her first child with Brad.
VARGAS: The famous couple further shocked fans by moving to the African nation of Namibia for the final months of Jolie's pregnancy.
JORDAN: It's very secluded. It's private, you know. They feel protected.
VARGAS: Now, still in Africa, Pitt and Jolie are new parents as the world waits for the next bit of news, a wedding date.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VARGAS: With privacy at such a premium for such a famous couple, it's no doubt any wedding plans will be shrouded in just as much secrecy.
Well, tonight on "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT", Hollywood and body image. Why so many average people are obsessed with how they look and what they weigh because of what they see in the movies and on TV and in magazines. A special edition of TV's most provocative entertainment news program. "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT", 11 p.m. Eastern on CNN Headline Prime.
Back to you, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Sibila. Thanks.
Well, you're Michael Jackson appearing in public for the first time since your acquittal on child molestation charges. Where do you go? Jackson chose an orphanage in Tokyo. He visited 160 kids and picked up MTV Japan's Legend Award. The 47-year-old father of three has been living in Bahrain since his trial last June.
Even if you don't know the name, you'll recognize the face of Paul Gleason, especially if you're a fan of a certain Brat Pack classic. It was one of his best-known roles, the cranky principal who took a beating in "The Breakfast Club", but Gleason appeared in lots of other films and TV shows, including "Trading Places", "Die Hard", "Seinfeld" and "Friends".
Today friends and family are mourning the death of the veteran character actor. Gleason's wife says he died of a rare form of lung cancer linked to asbestos exposure. Paul Gleason was 67 years old.
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PHILLIPS: We're remembering our fallen heroes from the war in Iraq. Marine Lance Corporal Justin Hans of Riverside, California, died July 6, 2004.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My son Justin, he loved people. He loved helping people. Even when he was a little boy, I was kind of looking back through some papers and things. He talked about, you know, being a policeman or a fireman, or and he even mentioned the Army.
He loved his sports when he was in high school. When he was in elementary, he did baseball and soccer. He just loved being a part of the team.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We used to just butt heads all the time. Somewhere around age 16 or 17, we just became the best of friends. The older we got the better friends we became.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He went and talked to Army and Navy recruiters, they told Justin that "You're overweight. Come back when you lose the weight."
He talked to a Marine recruiter and the Marines said, "We'll work with you." And he ran with him. He worked out with him, encouraged him. So when Justin entered boot camp, he was two pounds under their maximum weight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He never really expressed his fears. He expressed his excitement as far as he gets to go. And he was talking about going the whole time. I would also just tell him, "Maybe you won't have to go. Hopefully you won't have to go." He wanted to go.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've relived it a million times. I had taken my granddaughter and my younger children. We had gone to Disneyland. My husband was home. So when we got home, you know, he knew. So he told us, that we had lost Justin.
And at first it just didn't register. And I just thought, you know, maybe they lost contact with him or something. It just -- and then he proceeded to say that we lost him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Obviously, there's always -- we miss him. But we know deep down the reason that he died. It was for us. It was for his country. So we know his sacrifice wasn't in vain, which helps.
We put some flowers on.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Justin, even though he only lived a little over 22 years, he did a lot in his 22 years when it comes to living and loving life that I think a lot of people haven't done after, you know, 60, 70 years of life. He made the best of everything that he was doing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love you, Justin.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We miss you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The ultimate sacrifice being his life, it's really hurt me as far as, you know, my daughter's not going to have an uncle. But she will know who he is, you know. My twin, my only twin I'll ever have, he's not around any more. It's just -- that's the hardest.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: This hour we're live from the Vietnam War Memorial. LIVE FROM is remember the men and women who fought for our freedom. It's Memorial Day 2006. And from the Vietnam Wall to the World War II memorial, families remember their loved ones killed in battle.
The third hour of LIVE FROM begins right now.
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