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Mysterious Abduction; What Happens Now to Palestinian Cause Toward Statehood?; Weekend Movies

Aired November 12, 2004 - 10:30   ET

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

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


CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are meeting this hour at the White House. At the top of their agenda is the Middle East peace process, and its possible resumption with the death of Palestinian Prime Minister Yasser Arafat. The two men are to address the media about an hour from now, and CNN is going to go live.
And later today, the Bush administration releases its study on Gulf War illnesses, with a call for more study of the military's exposure to toxic substances. Hundreds of thousands of veterans of the 1991 Gulf War complain of undiagnosed symptoms. The panel urges up to $60 million be spent for research and monitoring the vets and their children.

Out to California now where a mysterious abduction at a Los Angeles-area mall has police puzzled. They say a screaming woman was apparently kidnapped Sunday in full view of shoppers who simply went about their business as it was going on.

CNN's Thelma Gutierrez picks the story up here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At this discount mall in Corona, California, a woman appears to be abducted from this parking lot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is our victim here.

GUTIERREZ: The chilling scene is caught on tape by security cameras.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can visually see the vehicle pull up behind her.

GUTIERREZ: In the tape, you see a young woman walking in the parking lot with more than a half dozen shoppers around her. A car pulls up. The woman looks back and begins to run as fast as she can across the parking lot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Catches her right about here. Grabs her in a bear hug.

GUTIERREZ: The man throws her over his shoulder and shoves her into the trunk of the car, then speeds away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do know from one of the store clerks that she was actually screaming for help for somebody to call the police.

GUTIERREZ: But Corona police say none of the shoppers who were nearby either called them or came to her aid. The call to 911 was placed by a Spanish speaking mall security guard who witnessed what detectives say is an apparent kidnapping.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some guys where chasing a female and they grabbed her and they put her in the trunk of a vehicle.

GUTIERREZ (on camera): But that's where investigators say their trail goes cold. They have not identified the young woman or the suspects and they say they have no reports of a missing person who matches her description.

(voice-over): The woman appears to be in her late teens or early 20s. She has a medium build and was last seen wearing jeans, a hooded sweatshirt and a white tee shirt. The suspect vehicle is a newer black two-door hatchback, possibly a Toyota Solara with a spare right front tire.

Police say it took three days to get this videotape and hope the mysterious trail isn't too cold to find out what really happened in this parking lot Sunday night.

Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: All right, let's take a look at stories across the coast, coast to coast. Just days after a 56-year-old woman gave birth to twins, a 59-year-old grandmother is set to deliver her own challenge to the U.S. record next month. Frances Harris of Sylvester, Georgia says she became pregnant naturally three decades after her tubes were surgically tied. All right, a lot of questions there. Now she says she was speechless when doctors told her the tubes had become untied, and that she was four months pregnant with twins.

Outside Los Angeles, this 11-year-old cartwheel carried her out of school and on suspension. School officials say they'd warned her not to perform handstands and other gymnastic stunts at lunch time, so when she disobeyed, they slapped her with a week long suspension. Her father says it's unfair because other students can play basketball and other sports. This girl does cartwheels.

As Martha Stewart sits in a West Virginia prison, the deepening financial troubles of her business empire have forced the departure of her top lieutenant. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia announced its president and CEO Sharon Patrick was resigning. She's going to be replaced by a former president of ABC Entertainment.

And outspoken entertainer Bill Cosby has been criticized in the past few months for what he says is telling it like it is. Well, up next, Cosby defends his words and the message it carries.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL COSBY: I'm addressing my people, period. I'm telling you, I want all this loud profanity in the street stopped.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Well, from Jerusalem to Ramallah, one question is echoing in different languages. What happens now to the Palestinian cause towards statehood?

CNN's senior international correspondent Walt Rodgers joins me from London for a look at life after Arafat. Walt, good to have you on the story, given the experience that you've had in the Middle East. You take a look at the pictures today. You saw members of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade riding along with the coffin. The prospect of elections down the road with perhaps Islamic Jihad and Hamas responsible for so many deaths of Israelis and suicide bombing attacks. How are these disparate elements going to come together in a post-Arafat effort? Do you see a legitimate election taking place?

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's begin by saying that honeymoons usually follow marriages. Today what we're seeing is a honeymoon following a funeral, and it's going to be a very short honeymoon almost certainly. The honeymoon you're seeing is Palestinians coming together on the street at the funeral to honor Yasser Arafat, but also to show their defiance. There was much defiance in that crowd. That does not bode well for a future peace process.

Additionally, you have the Palestinians now under weaker leadership than they've been under in years. It's not just one person; it's a collective leadership. That does not bode well.

Further, you have this division within the Palestinian leadership. You have Abu Mazen and his triumvirate around him, but they're basically the old guard. They're also Arafat's age, men of that era.

Below that you have the new guard, who are not in power, who have been trying even before Arafat died to get power.

Beyond that, you have another third, at most, of the population who are the Islamists, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas particularly strong in Gaza. Those people are going to be clamoring for a piece of the pie. Short honeymoon -- Carol.

LIN: So short honeymoon. Are you describing a scenario that may lead to civil war amongst the Palestinian people before leadership is chosen?

RODGERS: I think I would not use the term civil war, although that's not out of the question. I'm talking about fractious disintegration.

And let me give you a scenario as to how that might happen. The Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has proposed a unilateral Israeli pullout from Gaza. This is not a peace gesture. This is just a better way to control the Palestinians in Gaza, controlling them from outside Gaza, and not with Israeli troops inside.

But if Mr. Sharon begins to pull out of Gaza in the last quarter of 2005, what you're more likely to see at that point is a vying for power among Palestinians there. The Islamist militants vying with the young guard in Gaza. They're going to want power. Both of them will challenge the current power now in Ramallah, Abu Mazen and so forth. That's perhaps the worst-case scenario other than civil war. But it's not at all out of the question. And if you always bet on the pessimistic side of things in the Middle East, you don't usually go wrong. You might take that bet.

LIN: Hypothetically speaking, though, Walt, let's say there is an election within 60 days, a Democratic election, a legitimate leader is chosen amongst the Palestinian people, Ariel Sharon has said that he is not going to budge from his position that the most that he is going to give the Palestinians at this point is 60 percent of what the Palestinians call Palestine. Is he even going to -- is Ariel Sharon ever likely to acknowledge a Palestinian leader with whom he can negotiate beyond that point?

RODGERS: Well, you have to ask really that question of Ariel Sharon. But what you should really ask him is, what you should really ask him is, what's his concept of a final settlement? And he's never really talked about a Palestinian state. He's paid lip service to it. But he's going to give nothing like what Ehud Barak gave at Camp David when Bill Clinton was president of the United States. Mr. Sharon has a very different agenda than the Palestinians in terms of statehood. The Palestinians can forget Jerusalem. They'll never get that under Sharon. They'll never get it. They had a portion of it under Barak. Arafat theoretically should have taken it.

But again, where do we go from here? Arafat is gone. The Palestinians are not unified in their leadership, or are not likely to be for long. Sharon is in the driver's seat, and the only man who can do anything about it is President George W. Bush, and he's got to decide to engage -- Carol.

LIN: All right. And engage in how specific a manner. Some people have said he's got to pick up the phone and put pressure on Ariel Sharon to try and make some concessions. He's got to name a Middle East envoy. What do you think in this equation Mr. Bush has to do? And how soon does he need to do it?

RODGERS: Well, of course, the sooner the better. But there are two aspects of this. If the president of the United States engages -- and I expect he will; he may appoint a special envoy, you might see the secretary of state engage in shuttle diplomacy back and forth -- the problem with that is it raises hopes among two constituencies, Israeli and Palestinians, who don't have a lot of hope or faith in each other. And when it raises hope like that, it really isn't going to go anywhere unless you have more than just a peace process.

Mr. Bush can give you a peace process with the Israelis and Palestinians and everybody talking. Nobody is going to be able to deliver peace in the foreseeable future. You'll get a peace process because Mr. Bush wants to go down as a peace president in his second term, rather than a war president as in his first term. But a peace process does not peace make. And there's a huge different between a peace process, which we've had for years, and peace itself.

LIN: Likely a conversation that he's having with the Prime Minister Tony Blair as we speak.

Walt, I wish we had more time. Thank you very much.

We're going to be hearing from the president and the prime minister at 11:25 eastern. Much at stake for Prime Minister Blair. Europeans want to see a peace deal in the Middle East.

Still to come, entertainer Bill Cosby defending the words he says are meant to encourage the African-American community.

And plus, all aboard, it's a weekend of an animated train bound for the North Pole, a lonely lady with a hopeless love life, and a few brilliant jewelry thieves. A sneak peek of movies this weekend is straight ahead.

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

LIN: Another entertainer is rockin' the entertainment world, or the social world. Bill Cosby is not backing down from his tough talk that outraged many in the African-American community. He says problems have become so drastic they need to be confronted, not ignored. This is what he said last night on CNN's "PAULA ZAHN NOW.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Why are you touched by this so deeply?

COSBY: Because the numbers are now epidemic. If I'm looking at incarceration, and I'm looking and seeing that 65 percent of the incarcerated can't read or write, are termed illiterate. If I'm looking at per capita teenage pregnancy, and that even with our, whatever we are, 13 percent of the population, when you look at per capita, we're off the board.

ZAHN: But a lot of people are looking at the same numbers you are, and they're not compelled to go out and do what you do, particularly when you don't have to do this.

COSBY: I'm saying to the victim, it's our turn now. We have to take it on our own. We have to go do it ourselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Bill Cosby shocked many over the summer when he chastised members of the African-American community for growing tolerant of illegitimacy, illiteracy and poor communications skills. Not the last we're going to hear from him, I'm sure.

Well, it's Friday, and if you don't already have your weekend plans, you aren't the only one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANSWERING MACHINE VOICE: You have absolutely no messages, not a single one -- not even from your mother.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Ben and Jerry and, of course, Bridget Jones. Coming up next, "Mr. Moviefone" joins me with a preview of the weekend box office.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RENEE ZELLWEGER, ACTRESS: I just had a rather graphic flashback. You do have a genuinely gorgeous bottom.

COLIN FIRTH, ACTOR: Thank you. I'm actually with the Mexican ambassador, the head of Amnesty International, and the undersecretary of the Trade Ministry. And you're on speakerphone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Diary-keeping Bridget Jones returns, taking audiences to "The Edge of Reason" and raising doubts about living happily ever after -- on speakerphone or not.

It's Friday, and time to scope out the best at what's new at the box office this weekend. Joining me now from L.A., the man with the best scope in the business, "Mr. Moviefone" Russ Leatherman. Hi there, Russ.

I love that scene from "Bridget Jones." We're going to hold on that for a second, because I've got to ask you, as a new mom, about "Polar Express." That little boy, does he finally get to meet Santa Claus?

RUSS LEATHERMAN, "MR. MOVIEFONE": He does finally get to meet Santa Claus. And this is a movie that everybody is talking about. It's the big animated feature for the holidays. Everybody knows about it. It's Tom Hanks, and it's a children's book brought to the big screen by Robert Zemeckis.

And the interesting thing about this movie is it uses motion capture to -- for the computer-generated effects. Meaning they're trying to mix real-life actions with computers and animation to interesting effect. It's really the story of a boy who doesn't believe in Santa and gets whisked away on this train to the North Pole.

I thought this movie turned more into a hell ride to creepy town.

LIN: Oh.

LEATHERMAN: So, I would think about taking your little kids to this. It's very dark. The figures really -- the animated characters are lost somewhere between real people and animation. So, I think maybe technology has gone a little too far here. I would have liked to have seen a live-action movie or a computer-generated movie. But this mix of the two is really, at times, very creepy.

Now with that said, I talked to people who saw it in IMAX 3D, and they said that the movie is spectacular that way. The snow is falling on you. You can feel all of it. So, I would say if you're going to go see this movie, go see it in an IMAX theater, because I hear that that's spectacular. But otherwise, be careful about taking the kids. It's a little creepy.

LIN: Yeah. So, maybe a holiday film for adults?

LEATHERMAN: I think so.

LIN: ... cool special effects. Great.

Another one for adults -- OK, the last time we saw Bridget Jones, she had found her man. And it looked like she was going to live happily ever after. Here we are on "The Edge of Reason." Do you love it? Do you hate it?

LEATHERMAN: Poor Bridget Jones. She cannot find a man, can she? I mean, this is -- Renee Zellweger is lovable as she plays this dolty character who is a little overweight who manages to get a man, but not be able to keep him. In this movie, she's got Colin Firth. He's her love interest. But that sort of doesn't work out so, she goes back to Hugh Grant. And that doesn't...

LIN: Wait, wait, wait! Are you telling us what's going to happen here?

LEATHERMAN: Well, what I'm telling you is the first movie was very charming. We loved Renee Zellweger. We loved Hugh Grant. They really -- even though they had some quirks, we thought they were very charming characters. In this movie, sadly, they've really just turned her into a bit of a bumbling idiot.

It's really a rehash of the very first movie. If you loved the first movie, I think you'll be OK with this movie. But they really dumbed the whole thing down, which is sort of a shame.

LIN: Russ, I'm so depressed. And now we don't have time to talk about "Finding Neverland" with Johnny Depp, which I hear you like?

LEATHERMAN: You've got to go see it. It's a beautiful movie with Johnny Depp. That's the one to go see this weekend.

LIN: All right, thanks "Mr. Moviefone." At least we ended on an up note.

LEATHERMAN: Have a great weekend. I'll see you soon. Bye-bye.

LIN: You have a great weekend, too.

All right. You can keep an eye an entertainment 24/7 by pointing your Internet browser to cnn.com/entertainment. Got it all there.

Also, coming up, what plans does the U.S. and Great Britain have for Mid East peace? We standing by live for a statement by President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair up next.

And some say it's like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. What does the future hold for the business of espionage?

That and more, straight ahead -- the second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY begins right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired November 12, 2004 - 10:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are meeting this hour at the White House. At the top of their agenda is the Middle East peace process, and its possible resumption with the death of Palestinian Prime Minister Yasser Arafat. The two men are to address the media about an hour from now, and CNN is going to go live.
And later today, the Bush administration releases its study on Gulf War illnesses, with a call for more study of the military's exposure to toxic substances. Hundreds of thousands of veterans of the 1991 Gulf War complain of undiagnosed symptoms. The panel urges up to $60 million be spent for research and monitoring the vets and their children.

Out to California now where a mysterious abduction at a Los Angeles-area mall has police puzzled. They say a screaming woman was apparently kidnapped Sunday in full view of shoppers who simply went about their business as it was going on.

CNN's Thelma Gutierrez picks the story up here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At this discount mall in Corona, California, a woman appears to be abducted from this parking lot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is our victim here.

GUTIERREZ: The chilling scene is caught on tape by security cameras.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can visually see the vehicle pull up behind her.

GUTIERREZ: In the tape, you see a young woman walking in the parking lot with more than a half dozen shoppers around her. A car pulls up. The woman looks back and begins to run as fast as she can across the parking lot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Catches her right about here. Grabs her in a bear hug.

GUTIERREZ: The man throws her over his shoulder and shoves her into the trunk of the car, then speeds away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do know from one of the store clerks that she was actually screaming for help for somebody to call the police.

GUTIERREZ: But Corona police say none of the shoppers who were nearby either called them or came to her aid. The call to 911 was placed by a Spanish speaking mall security guard who witnessed what detectives say is an apparent kidnapping.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some guys where chasing a female and they grabbed her and they put her in the trunk of a vehicle.

GUTIERREZ (on camera): But that's where investigators say their trail goes cold. They have not identified the young woman or the suspects and they say they have no reports of a missing person who matches her description.

(voice-over): The woman appears to be in her late teens or early 20s. She has a medium build and was last seen wearing jeans, a hooded sweatshirt and a white tee shirt. The suspect vehicle is a newer black two-door hatchback, possibly a Toyota Solara with a spare right front tire.

Police say it took three days to get this videotape and hope the mysterious trail isn't too cold to find out what really happened in this parking lot Sunday night.

Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: All right, let's take a look at stories across the coast, coast to coast. Just days after a 56-year-old woman gave birth to twins, a 59-year-old grandmother is set to deliver her own challenge to the U.S. record next month. Frances Harris of Sylvester, Georgia says she became pregnant naturally three decades after her tubes were surgically tied. All right, a lot of questions there. Now she says she was speechless when doctors told her the tubes had become untied, and that she was four months pregnant with twins.

Outside Los Angeles, this 11-year-old cartwheel carried her out of school and on suspension. School officials say they'd warned her not to perform handstands and other gymnastic stunts at lunch time, so when she disobeyed, they slapped her with a week long suspension. Her father says it's unfair because other students can play basketball and other sports. This girl does cartwheels.

As Martha Stewart sits in a West Virginia prison, the deepening financial troubles of her business empire have forced the departure of her top lieutenant. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia announced its president and CEO Sharon Patrick was resigning. She's going to be replaced by a former president of ABC Entertainment.

And outspoken entertainer Bill Cosby has been criticized in the past few months for what he says is telling it like it is. Well, up next, Cosby defends his words and the message it carries.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL COSBY: I'm addressing my people, period. I'm telling you, I want all this loud profanity in the street stopped.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Well, from Jerusalem to Ramallah, one question is echoing in different languages. What happens now to the Palestinian cause towards statehood?

CNN's senior international correspondent Walt Rodgers joins me from London for a look at life after Arafat. Walt, good to have you on the story, given the experience that you've had in the Middle East. You take a look at the pictures today. You saw members of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade riding along with the coffin. The prospect of elections down the road with perhaps Islamic Jihad and Hamas responsible for so many deaths of Israelis and suicide bombing attacks. How are these disparate elements going to come together in a post-Arafat effort? Do you see a legitimate election taking place?

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's begin by saying that honeymoons usually follow marriages. Today what we're seeing is a honeymoon following a funeral, and it's going to be a very short honeymoon almost certainly. The honeymoon you're seeing is Palestinians coming together on the street at the funeral to honor Yasser Arafat, but also to show their defiance. There was much defiance in that crowd. That does not bode well for a future peace process.

Additionally, you have the Palestinians now under weaker leadership than they've been under in years. It's not just one person; it's a collective leadership. That does not bode well.

Further, you have this division within the Palestinian leadership. You have Abu Mazen and his triumvirate around him, but they're basically the old guard. They're also Arafat's age, men of that era.

Below that you have the new guard, who are not in power, who have been trying even before Arafat died to get power.

Beyond that, you have another third, at most, of the population who are the Islamists, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas particularly strong in Gaza. Those people are going to be clamoring for a piece of the pie. Short honeymoon -- Carol.

LIN: So short honeymoon. Are you describing a scenario that may lead to civil war amongst the Palestinian people before leadership is chosen?

RODGERS: I think I would not use the term civil war, although that's not out of the question. I'm talking about fractious disintegration.

And let me give you a scenario as to how that might happen. The Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has proposed a unilateral Israeli pullout from Gaza. This is not a peace gesture. This is just a better way to control the Palestinians in Gaza, controlling them from outside Gaza, and not with Israeli troops inside.

But if Mr. Sharon begins to pull out of Gaza in the last quarter of 2005, what you're more likely to see at that point is a vying for power among Palestinians there. The Islamist militants vying with the young guard in Gaza. They're going to want power. Both of them will challenge the current power now in Ramallah, Abu Mazen and so forth. That's perhaps the worst-case scenario other than civil war. But it's not at all out of the question. And if you always bet on the pessimistic side of things in the Middle East, you don't usually go wrong. You might take that bet.

LIN: Hypothetically speaking, though, Walt, let's say there is an election within 60 days, a Democratic election, a legitimate leader is chosen amongst the Palestinian people, Ariel Sharon has said that he is not going to budge from his position that the most that he is going to give the Palestinians at this point is 60 percent of what the Palestinians call Palestine. Is he even going to -- is Ariel Sharon ever likely to acknowledge a Palestinian leader with whom he can negotiate beyond that point?

RODGERS: Well, you have to ask really that question of Ariel Sharon. But what you should really ask him is, what you should really ask him is, what's his concept of a final settlement? And he's never really talked about a Palestinian state. He's paid lip service to it. But he's going to give nothing like what Ehud Barak gave at Camp David when Bill Clinton was president of the United States. Mr. Sharon has a very different agenda than the Palestinians in terms of statehood. The Palestinians can forget Jerusalem. They'll never get that under Sharon. They'll never get it. They had a portion of it under Barak. Arafat theoretically should have taken it.

But again, where do we go from here? Arafat is gone. The Palestinians are not unified in their leadership, or are not likely to be for long. Sharon is in the driver's seat, and the only man who can do anything about it is President George W. Bush, and he's got to decide to engage -- Carol.

LIN: All right. And engage in how specific a manner. Some people have said he's got to pick up the phone and put pressure on Ariel Sharon to try and make some concessions. He's got to name a Middle East envoy. What do you think in this equation Mr. Bush has to do? And how soon does he need to do it?

RODGERS: Well, of course, the sooner the better. But there are two aspects of this. If the president of the United States engages -- and I expect he will; he may appoint a special envoy, you might see the secretary of state engage in shuttle diplomacy back and forth -- the problem with that is it raises hopes among two constituencies, Israeli and Palestinians, who don't have a lot of hope or faith in each other. And when it raises hope like that, it really isn't going to go anywhere unless you have more than just a peace process.

Mr. Bush can give you a peace process with the Israelis and Palestinians and everybody talking. Nobody is going to be able to deliver peace in the foreseeable future. You'll get a peace process because Mr. Bush wants to go down as a peace president in his second term, rather than a war president as in his first term. But a peace process does not peace make. And there's a huge different between a peace process, which we've had for years, and peace itself.

LIN: Likely a conversation that he's having with the Prime Minister Tony Blair as we speak.

Walt, I wish we had more time. Thank you very much.

We're going to be hearing from the president and the prime minister at 11:25 eastern. Much at stake for Prime Minister Blair. Europeans want to see a peace deal in the Middle East.

Still to come, entertainer Bill Cosby defending the words he says are meant to encourage the African-American community.

And plus, all aboard, it's a weekend of an animated train bound for the North Pole, a lonely lady with a hopeless love life, and a few brilliant jewelry thieves. A sneak peek of movies this weekend is straight ahead.

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

LIN: Another entertainer is rockin' the entertainment world, or the social world. Bill Cosby is not backing down from his tough talk that outraged many in the African-American community. He says problems have become so drastic they need to be confronted, not ignored. This is what he said last night on CNN's "PAULA ZAHN NOW.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Why are you touched by this so deeply?

COSBY: Because the numbers are now epidemic. If I'm looking at incarceration, and I'm looking and seeing that 65 percent of the incarcerated can't read or write, are termed illiterate. If I'm looking at per capita teenage pregnancy, and that even with our, whatever we are, 13 percent of the population, when you look at per capita, we're off the board.

ZAHN: But a lot of people are looking at the same numbers you are, and they're not compelled to go out and do what you do, particularly when you don't have to do this.

COSBY: I'm saying to the victim, it's our turn now. We have to take it on our own. We have to go do it ourselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Bill Cosby shocked many over the summer when he chastised members of the African-American community for growing tolerant of illegitimacy, illiteracy and poor communications skills. Not the last we're going to hear from him, I'm sure.

Well, it's Friday, and if you don't already have your weekend plans, you aren't the only one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANSWERING MACHINE VOICE: You have absolutely no messages, not a single one -- not even from your mother.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Ben and Jerry and, of course, Bridget Jones. Coming up next, "Mr. Moviefone" joins me with a preview of the weekend box office.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RENEE ZELLWEGER, ACTRESS: I just had a rather graphic flashback. You do have a genuinely gorgeous bottom.

COLIN FIRTH, ACTOR: Thank you. I'm actually with the Mexican ambassador, the head of Amnesty International, and the undersecretary of the Trade Ministry. And you're on speakerphone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Diary-keeping Bridget Jones returns, taking audiences to "The Edge of Reason" and raising doubts about living happily ever after -- on speakerphone or not.

It's Friday, and time to scope out the best at what's new at the box office this weekend. Joining me now from L.A., the man with the best scope in the business, "Mr. Moviefone" Russ Leatherman. Hi there, Russ.

I love that scene from "Bridget Jones." We're going to hold on that for a second, because I've got to ask you, as a new mom, about "Polar Express." That little boy, does he finally get to meet Santa Claus?

RUSS LEATHERMAN, "MR. MOVIEFONE": He does finally get to meet Santa Claus. And this is a movie that everybody is talking about. It's the big animated feature for the holidays. Everybody knows about it. It's Tom Hanks, and it's a children's book brought to the big screen by Robert Zemeckis.

And the interesting thing about this movie is it uses motion capture to -- for the computer-generated effects. Meaning they're trying to mix real-life actions with computers and animation to interesting effect. It's really the story of a boy who doesn't believe in Santa and gets whisked away on this train to the North Pole.

I thought this movie turned more into a hell ride to creepy town.

LIN: Oh.

LEATHERMAN: So, I would think about taking your little kids to this. It's very dark. The figures really -- the animated characters are lost somewhere between real people and animation. So, I think maybe technology has gone a little too far here. I would have liked to have seen a live-action movie or a computer-generated movie. But this mix of the two is really, at times, very creepy.

Now with that said, I talked to people who saw it in IMAX 3D, and they said that the movie is spectacular that way. The snow is falling on you. You can feel all of it. So, I would say if you're going to go see this movie, go see it in an IMAX theater, because I hear that that's spectacular. But otherwise, be careful about taking the kids. It's a little creepy.

LIN: Yeah. So, maybe a holiday film for adults?

LEATHERMAN: I think so.

LIN: ... cool special effects. Great.

Another one for adults -- OK, the last time we saw Bridget Jones, she had found her man. And it looked like she was going to live happily ever after. Here we are on "The Edge of Reason." Do you love it? Do you hate it?

LEATHERMAN: Poor Bridget Jones. She cannot find a man, can she? I mean, this is -- Renee Zellweger is lovable as she plays this dolty character who is a little overweight who manages to get a man, but not be able to keep him. In this movie, she's got Colin Firth. He's her love interest. But that sort of doesn't work out so, she goes back to Hugh Grant. And that doesn't...

LIN: Wait, wait, wait! Are you telling us what's going to happen here?

LEATHERMAN: Well, what I'm telling you is the first movie was very charming. We loved Renee Zellweger. We loved Hugh Grant. They really -- even though they had some quirks, we thought they were very charming characters. In this movie, sadly, they've really just turned her into a bit of a bumbling idiot.

It's really a rehash of the very first movie. If you loved the first movie, I think you'll be OK with this movie. But they really dumbed the whole thing down, which is sort of a shame.

LIN: Russ, I'm so depressed. And now we don't have time to talk about "Finding Neverland" with Johnny Depp, which I hear you like?

LEATHERMAN: You've got to go see it. It's a beautiful movie with Johnny Depp. That's the one to go see this weekend.

LIN: All right, thanks "Mr. Moviefone." At least we ended on an up note.

LEATHERMAN: Have a great weekend. I'll see you soon. Bye-bye.

LIN: You have a great weekend, too.

All right. You can keep an eye an entertainment 24/7 by pointing your Internet browser to cnn.com/entertainment. Got it all there.

Also, coming up, what plans does the U.S. and Great Britain have for Mid East peace? We standing by live for a statement by President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair up next.

And some say it's like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. What does the future hold for the business of espionage?

That and more, straight ahead -- the second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY begins right after a quick break.

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