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New Video Sparks New Hope for Two Kidnapped Journalists; Andrew Young Speaks on Race Issues

Aired August 23, 2006 - 13:37   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Explosions, the smell of rotting apples, horrific pain, gripping testimony from a witness on the third day of Saddam Hussein's genocide trial. Hussein listened calmly as a Kurdish woman described a chemical attack on her village 19 years ago. She says her family still lives with symptoms from the attack, which are bad, but not nearly as bad as what happened first.
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ADIBA OULA BAYEZ, WITNESS (through translator): My five children lost their sight and they were unable to see anything. My foot and body was burned. My skin was charred. We stayed one night longer in caves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, the trial's been adjourned until September 11th.

Meanwhile, a new video sparks new hope for two journalists kidnapped in Gaza. Fox News correspondent Steve Centanni and photographer Olaf Wiig are seen apparently in good health and as relaxed as can be expected. Here's what they had to say.

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STEVE CENTANNI, FOX JOURNALIST: Been taken captive in Gaza and are being held prisoner here. We're in fairly good condition. We're alive and well and in fairly good health. We get lots of clean water, food every day, access to the bathroom, shower, clean clothes. And our captors are treating us well. So just want to let you know I'm here and alive and give my love to my family and friends and ask you to do anything you can to try to help us get out of here.

OLAF WIIG, FOX JOURNALIST: I guess I would add for myself, and I know my family will already be doing this. But if you could apply any political pressure on local government here in Gaza and the West Bank that would be much appreciated by both Steve and myself. I know, Anita, you will already be doing that. To my family, I love you all. Please don't worry. I'll do all the worrying for us and we'll be together soon.

CENTANNI: We love you all and we want to go home. Hope to see you soon. Thanks.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PHILLIPS: Well, there's been no indication when this video was made. The group claiming to hold the two calls itself the Holy Jihad Brigades. It's demanding the U.S. agree within 72 hours to release Muslim prisoners in American jails.

Now a shaky truce in Lebanon, nuclear tensions with Iran. U.N. chief Kofi Annan has a lot to think about these days, and he won't be doing it at home. Annan plans a major Middle East trip this week, ten different stops, including Lebanon, Israel, Syria and Iran.

The end of this month could bring a new phase of the showdown with Iran. Iran faces an August 31st deadline to stop its nuclear activities or face economic sanctions. It offered a written response yesterday, which includes an offer to resume talks. But European negotiators say it has to stop enriching uranium first. Iran says it's sending out positive signals and is urging the West to negotiate.

Is that bonafide diplomacy or simple stalling? Some in Congress aren't so sure. The House Intelligence Committee put out a report today on the Iranian nuclear threat. It calls on the U.S. to carefully evaluate Iran's response and suggests Iran might try to exploit any nuclear agreement for its own benefit. The report also mentions Iran's past nuclear activities, which the U.S. believes to be a precursor to building nukes.

And this programming note. Join us for a special "CNN PRESENTS," "In the Footsteps of bin Laden." Our team travelled to four continents and ten countries to discover the real Osama bin Laden. That's airing tonight, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, only on CNN.

He hasn't exactly cornered the market on controversy, but Andrew Young is still explaining his controversial comments on corner markets and megaretailers.

Here's what he told CNN, straight on LIVE FROM.

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PHILLIPS: Well, it's his party and he can run if he wants to, officially. The Connecticut secretary of state says that three-term senator and lifelong Democrat Joe Lieberman has gotten enough voter signatures to run as the candidate of the -- get this -- Connecticut for Lieberman Party. Lieberman will face the Democrat who beat him in the primary, Ned Lamont, and Republican Alan Schlesinger, in November.

Well, Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski will not be on the November ballot. Murkowski placed a distant third in yesterday's Republican gubernatorial primary. It's a bitter end to a long career. He had been a U.S. senator for more than 20 years when he was elected governor four years ago. One possible reason for his downfall, voter resentment over his appointing his daughter to succeed him in the Senate.

Enter Young, on Andrew Young. The former Atlanta mayor and U.N. ambassador and civil rights icon says it's clear he made a big mistake when he recently accused Jewish, Korean and Arab shopkeepers of ripping off African-Americans. Appearing last night on CNN's "ANDERSON COOPER 360," Young says that he was wrong to inject ethnicity into a complex social issue.

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ANDREW YOUNG, FMR. U.N. AMBASSADOR: My attempt in that entire meeting, and in the rest of that story, was to try to discuss a complicated issue of the problems of the poor in our central cities, the fact that they don't have access to goods and services at an economical way.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The comments, though, do reflect -- I mean, a widespread belief and perception that is held in a lot of inner city neighborhoods. I mean, there is a lot of resentment over, you know, mom and pop stores, whether they're run by Koreans or Arabs or Jewish people or African-Americans. What is that about?

YOUNG: Well, it's about deprivation. And it's about lack of transportation. It's about lack of jobs. It's about the bitterness of being poor in the midst of society that, right now, is flourishing. We have a government that's forgotten the poor.

COOPER: It's interesting. Do you think in this day and age in America we can have a conversation that does take into account ethnicity? I mean, it's -- it is such a minefield that any mention of any race, one risks, you know, offending people? Is that a problem, do you think? Or do you think that's a good thing?

YOUNG: No, I think that's a problem. And I think that -- well, it's a good thing, too. It's a good thing that we're sensitive to ethnic diversity. But it's also necessary for us to talk about complex social issues.

And I think the only way we can do that is not talk about complex social issues and diversity together. Let's talk about diversity when we're celebrating our cultures, when we're praising our foods or enjoying our jazz or our folklore.

But when it comes to complex social issues, we've got to leave the ethnic labels behind. And I didn't do that, and that's the only thing I was apologizing for.

We do have to deal with these complex issues, though.

COOPER: Why did you resign from this group? You basically had become a spokesman for Wal-Mart, trying to convince local government officials around the country to allow Wal-Mart into their areas. Why resign from the group last week?

YOUNG: Well, I resigned because I'm a professional, and I goofed. I shouldn't have lost my cool with that reporter. And for me to make this kind of almost hate speech should not reflect on any of my associations. And rather than have it reflect on my associations, I would rather separate myself from them.

COOPER: It's -- do you really view it as hate speech? YOUNG: Well, it was getting close, because I think we have to be very sensitive. That's the way it was interpreted by the "New York Times" and "The Los Angeles Times" that I was a new demagogue on the rise and that they'd better shut me up quick.

I pleaded with them. You know, I told them, I welcomed the Hispanic community into Atlanta as mayor. I've been to Korea five times, trying to work with the Koreans. My relationship with Jews and Arabs has gone all the way back to early childhood, frankly.

And for me to be labeled as somebody trying to stir up racial discord offended me, but I had to say I contributed to it. And that's what I was sorry for.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: "ANDERSON COOPER 360" airs weeknights, 10:00 Eastern, 7:00 Pacific.

It's picking up steam in the Atlantic. Not yet close to the U.S, but swirling this way. Coming up, a closer look at the fourth named storm of the season.

Plus, a major announcement on stem cell research. Will it end the debate over embryos? We're going to talk to Dr. Sanjay Gupta, straight ahead.

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PHILLIPS: No threat yet, but it's getting stronger and today it has a name: Debby. CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras introduces us to her. Hey, Jacqui.

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PHILLIPS: Well, take a stem cell, save the embryo? A biotech firm in California says it's found the key to doing embryonic stem cell research without destroying what many consider living human beings.

We asked CNN senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta to share his thoughts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Sanjay, what makes this technique so different?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, there's a lot of interesting science here, Kyra. When you're talking about specific embryos and just how embryos develop, what's happened in the past is that you'd had these cells sort of divide cell after cell and then basically you take cells, all of these cells, and try and create as many stem cell lines as possible. A lot of times, you'd have 100 cells but you'd only get maybe one or two stem cell lines.

What's exciting here is, you still have an embryo. You still have an embryo that can go on to be a human being, but you're basically just taking one cell out of this embryo and basically taking that one cell and coaxing it to grow into a stem cell line.

This technique is still being developed, but it looks pretty promising. That embryo then can still grow on to be a human being. This particular cell will create the very coveted stem cell line.

PHILLIPS: Well, as you know, this has been such a tremendous debate among politicians, among the world, really. Will this appease the Christian right? Will this debate go away now?

GUPTA: You know, it's a great question, and I think the unfortunate answer is no, I don't think the debate is going to go away, for a couple of simple reasons. Going back to this diagram here for a second, first of all, some people ask, well, what is the potential of this one cell? Could that one cell still have grown into a human being? And that, obviously, is at the very heart of all this debate.

The other part of it is, what happened to this embryo as a whole? Will somehow this embryo or this potential human being be damaged in some way by removing that one cell? These arguments are going to continue to be out there, I think, even if this technique becomes more widely accepted.

PHILLIPS: But the chances of this embryonic cell surviving, it's better, right?

GUPTA: Yes, and that's sort of been the hard part here. Actually getting the one cell out of this cluster of cells is not the difficult part. The hard part is to actually coax it, if you will, to grow in a stem cell line. That's what's been so hard, Kyra.

In the past, you know, you'd have 100 potential cells here, but maybe only one or two could actually be turned into stem cell lines. Can you be so efficient as to always take one cell and make it grow into a stem cell line? That's what we're trying to still figure out here.

PHILLIPS: So does this new technique take us any closer to a cure for Parkinson's or spinal cord injuries?

GUPTA: You know, it's a hard question to answer right now. I think in some ways, from a purely scientific method way, it does, because what you need is you need to develop more stem cell lines. And it look like what the guys -- Dr. Lanza and his colleagues -- have done is to be able to create a more efficient way to just remove single cells and create these stem cell lines.

If you have more stem cell lines, I think the scientific community agrees that puts you one step, if not several steps, closer to actually realizing the promise of stem cells.

PHILLIPS: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks.

GUPTA: Thank you. (END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, who says the little guy can't reach the big guy? Today's Rockey's day in the nation's capital. Not Rocky Balboa of "yo, Adrian" fame. This Rockey wanted a one-on-one with George W. Bush. We'll tell you how it went, straight ahead on LIVE FROM.

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