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Iraqi Interim Government Extends State of Emergency; Orphans of the Tsunami

Aired January 06, 2005 - 11:31   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a look at what's happening now in the news. A new trial for Houston-area mother Andrea Yates. A Texas court overturned her conviction in the drowning deaths of her children. The court says the jury may have been influenced by false testimony.
Diplomats, including Secretary of State Colin Powell, met at a donor's conference in Jakarta today. They hashed out financial logistics of the tsunami relief effort. The U.N. says it will take around a billion to sustain the relief effort until June.

Senator Joe Lieberman is calling on the U.S. to take the lead in the development of a global tsunami warning system. Right now, there is one for the Pacific, but not for the Indian Ocean.

And homeland security secretary Tom Ridge will review a national response plan many just a few hours. For the first time, it requires all federal agencies to use the same playbook when responding to a disaster.

Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Some important developments out of Iraq. Insurgency attacks have increased in intensity in the run-up to national elections. Now the interim government has extended the state of emergency imposed on most of the country.

CNN's Jeff Koinange is in Baghdad with the very latest developments.

Jeff, I think this is the heart of the matter. When they go to the polls, will Iraqis be protected by U.S. troops, or will they be protected by Iraqi security officials?

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very good question, Rick, and that question was actually put to the commander of the multinational force, Lieutenant General Thomas Metz today. Basically what he said is there will be a three-tier protection. The first tier will be Iraqi police, the second tier will be the National Guard and the third tier, out of sight, but within range, U.S. forces. He insisted that the country will be safe come Election Day. The elections will go on as planned. He also said that 14 out of the 18 provinces across the country are ready for election. And he's hoping that the other four will be ready come Election Day.

But he made some candid comments, Rick, made some candid comments about safety on Election Day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GEN. THOMAS METZ: I just can't guarantee that everyone will be able to go to a poll in total safety. I cannot put a bubble around every person walking from their home to the polling site. But we're going to do everything possible that we possibly can in the next three weeks to create that condition for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOINANGE: And, Rick, just to add to that, today, January 6th, just happens to be Army Day here in Iraq. The military here announcing that there are 127,000 equipped and prepared army members, most of whom will be deployed on January 30th to make sure that the country is safe while Iraqis go to the polls -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Jeff, I'm curious, did he amplify at all on the reasoning behind not using U.S. troops near the polls? And whether they're concerned whether these Iraqi officials or Iraqi police will be able to do the job.

KOINANGE: Both those questions were raised at the press conference, Rick, and this is what he says. He says this is an Iraqi election. It is not a U.S. election; it is an Iraqi election, so he wants the Iraqis to take charge of it.

Whether they'll be able to do the job, he says, they've been training them all along. They've been going through vigorous training throughout the last months. Despite the insurgency attacks, the stepped-up campaign by the insurgents, who are using suicide bombs to ram through police checkpoints and military checkpoints. He says the Iraqi police, the Iraqi national guard will be there, but U.S. forces will be on standby within earshot just in case of any violence on election day -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Sounds interesting. Jeff Koinange, thanks so much for bringing us up to date on those developments in that story -- Daryn.

KAGAN: We're going to check in with South Asia just ahead. A chief concern among workers there, protecting children from exploitation. You're going to hear why this is such a big problem, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: What we're about to share with you is probably one of the toughest angles of this tsunami story as we cover it, because this tsunami created, by one estimate alone, 13,000 orphans across the ocean rim of the Indian Ocean. They are children threatened now by disease, psychological trauma, and even in some cases, human predators.

Dan Rivers of Britain's ITV News talked with some of the kids at a refugee camp in Indonesia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN RIVERS, ITV REPORTER (voice-over): The village of Lampia (ph) doesn't exist anymore, three-quarters of its residents are dead. Only a few coconut trees remain standing. They now provide shade for 1,200 refugees, among them, Rafika (ph), 4.5 years old and now an orphan.

A distant cousin is caring for her, but she asks for her mother. She doesn't cry, she just watches and waits, quiet, numb. She doesn't understand what's happening.

The children here aren't starving, they have food for two days. But time goes slowly when you're alone, when your family is just a memory.

(on camera): Every tent you visit here has a harrowing story of loss and grief. Everyone here has suffered unimaginable trauma, but none more so than the children who have lost their parents.

(voice-over): These children are from another camp nearby, all are orphans.

Siam (ph) is 11. When the tsunami hit, he and his family were swept away, but somehow he survived.

But aid workers are warning these children may still be in danger.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you're desperate, you turn to desperate means and it leaves them very vulnerable to all sorts of dangers, such as trafficking. And that's why it's critical that we identify them as soon as possible and give them a safe place to stay.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But our concern here, is, yes, the exploitation. It isn't just adoption, it is whether these children, frankly, turn into child slaves, if you will, or, you know, abused and exploited.

RIVERS: It's difficult for them to talk about what's happened. Agusta (ph) is 13. His mother, father and two younger brothers are now dead. He only survived by clinging to a football which buoyed him to the surface of the tsunami. His pain is raw. His loneliness is overwhelming.

Dan Rivers, ITV News, Aceh.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: For additional insight into this threat, our guest this morning is Chanon Bernstein with the Christian Children's Fund. He is a former Peace Corps volunteer and most recently has been dealing with these issues in the African nation of Chad. Shannon joining me now from Richmond, Virginia. Good morning.

CHANON BERNSTEIN, CHRISTIAN CHILDREN'S FUND: Good morning. How are you? KAGAN: I'm doing fine. I think like many people watching these stories, overwhelmed by the idea of these thousands of children becoming orphans and yet, then on top of that, the idea that they could fall prey to people who want to exploit them. I think it just boggles the mind.

BERNSTEIN: There are a lot of risks to children in this situation and I think what's important to realize as well is that these were children who were vulnerable to begin with. A lot of them were from poor communities and faced a lot of difficulties. And so the important thing, as was mentioned in the story before, is to identify these children, especially the ones that are unaccompanied and to get them into areas where they can be taken care of and receive care and attention and start to engage in activities where they can deal with some of the horrific things that they have seen and been through.

KAGAN: And is that the role, do you think, of the governments of these countries or private organizations like the one you work with?

BERNSTEIN: Well, that -- you know, Christian Children's Fund, along with other organizations, sees this as one of their primary roles, but it's important that all the organizations collaborate and coordinate together. As parents and other caregivers and youth who have been left in charge of perhaps younger siblings, they're the ones who are on the ground.

And so it's up to the groups like Christian Children's Fund and other organizations to work with these communities, to train them, to show them how to identify and recognize children, how to work with them, to teach them how children can be -- to deal with their situation and also to expand out to larger organizations like the government or like the Red Cross to help with tracing and to help put these into a larger kind of systematic approach. So everybody needs to work together and collaborate and coordinate their efforts.

KAGAN: I know you haven't gone to this region since the crisis hit, but you do have colleagues that are there. I know I talked to one or two of them before they left. What word are you getting back about the specific needs to help the kids?

BERNSTEIN: Well, it depends on which region we're talking about. Christian Children's Fund does three teams right now. There's a team in India, a team in Indonesia and a team in Sri Lanka. And the three countries are at different stages. Indonesia was the hardest hit in many ways and also due to the political situation and other difficulties of lack of access, that was kind of the last area responded to, not just by Christian Children's Fund, but by all the organizations. In that area, initial assessments are going up and what we're trying to reunify -- primarily reunify children with their families or find out which of the children or orphans are most vulnerable right now.

In India, we're working a lot in camps that have been set up to help children get into normalizing activities and develop some sort of routine. And in Sri Lanka, families are already getting -- some of them are heading back to their original communities. And so we are working in the camps, but also helping people get back home and get their lives started up again and helping them to rebuild.

KAGAN: Do you think another purpose this crisis might serve is to raise at awareness of the plight of orphans around the world? I know you're just back from Africa and there are hundreds of thousands of orphans on that continent due to AIDS. And those children haven't gotten near the attention that the children of the tsunami are getting.

BERNSTEIN: Yes, I think that's true. And this could raise awareness of orphans and also children in general. Often in crisis situations, either manmade or natural disasters, children are not given first attention. Or where first attention is given to food and clothing and other sorts of materials like that, often times, the psychosocial, the emotional aspects and the difficult emotional situation that children are put in are seen as secondary.

And I think this is an opportunity for Christian Children's Fund and other agencies to raise the awareness of governments, of donors, and of the global community to understand that there are a lot of children who are at risk and they are suffering not only physical challenges, but also a lot of emotional factors as well.

KAGAN: Chanon Bernstein from the Christian Children's Fund. Thank you for your insight on what the children of these regions face.

BERNSTEIN: Thank you very much.

KAGAN: I know a lot of people are going to see these stories and wonder what you can do to help. Just go to cnn.com/tsunami. There you go. There's all sorts of places that you can click on there that will tell you on where you can send aid.

Meanwhile, we're going to continue to focus on children throughout the day here on CNN, including our primetime special tonight, 10:00 p.m. Eastern, "Saving the Children."

SANCHEZ: It is the desperate plight of the youngest tsunami victims. There's a story that you'll see only on CNN. You can tune in for it tonight. It's our primetime special and it is "Saving the Children" with Anderson Cooper and Christiane Amanpour. And it will air at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, 7:00 Pacific. We'll have that for you. We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Now we get to lighten things up a little bit. If your favorite digital device was not under the tree, get ready to make your wish list for 2005. Already? The Consumer Electronics Show opens today in Las Vegas and they're getting a lot of people's attention, including our technology correspondent, Dan Sieberg. He's getting a look at some of the latest stuff. And I think that's probably a good word for this. Right, Dan?

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: There is a lot of stuff here, Rick, actually. We are here before the show floor opens, in fact. And we're going to be talking about portable music players, or mp3 players. You know, when a new one comes out, they're often referred to or trying to be an i-Pod killer. The i-Pod is so huge in that market. But we we're not going to be talking about the i-Pod today.

We are going to be talking to Jim Louderback, editor and chief at extremetech.com. Jim, we've got a few music players here. Very small, though, right?

JIM LOUDERBACK, EXTREMETECH.COM: Yes, and they are all trying to sort of outdo the i-Pod. This one, the new Rio Carbon, comes in a couple of different colors. It's a basic music player, holds -- it's a five gig hard drive, which means it holds about 20 percent more than the i-Pod Mini. A little bit smaller. And of course, it's got the shiny back, so you get your fingerprints all over it.

SIEBERG: Right. Got to have that cleaning cloth very handy.

LOUDERBACK: Exactly. You know, this is, you know, a lot like the i-Pod Mini. Another one trying to differentiate itself a little bit, also this is from Samsung. The thing that this has is a color screen that you can use to look at pictures as well as listen to music. You see right here there's a little picture of a baby on here. You can go through all your pictures.

SIEBERG: And the trick, too, because it's being so small, is to figure out the buttons of the interface, to access all of your music, and that color screen I guess helps with that.

LOUDERBACK: The color screen helps a lot as you try to navigate things. It's got a nice little interface down here as well. Another area that people are going sort of beyond the iPod...

SIEBERG: Yes, because it's a color screen.

LOUDERBACK: Now take a look at this. This is from Movedian (ph). That screen right there is a new type of screen technology. It's called O-LED, for Organic LED. First time we've seen it in a mobile player. It's light. It's almost flexible. It uses a lot less battery life. And, boy, it looks, beautiful. It is so crisp.

SIEBERG: We'll see that technology in other types of devices as well, back of a digital camera, hoping for even bigger like monitors.

LOUDERBACK: Exactly. Over time, O-LED will take over, I think, but it's a little expensive now.

SIEBERG: OK, now we've two really small players here, right -- you've got a comparison you can show us just for how small that is.

LOUDERBACK: Yes, exactly. Now this one right here, which of course just turned itself off. This has a color screen. It has one gig of storage inside for 200 bucks. Now the neat thing about that is you can hold 15, 20 hours of music in here, which is great. It's pretty easy to use. SIEBERG: A little too small for a movie.

LOUDERBACK: Yes,you could do pictures on it as well.

This one right here, also from Samsung, holds about the same amount. It's 200 bucks for a gigabyte. The neat thing about this, 40 hours. That's all on one battery. I also had to bring the matchbook (ph).

SIEBERG: We're up against the clock. I'm going to have to stop you right there. But put it in your pocket...

(CROSSTALK)

LOUDERBACK: I'll put them all in my pocket they're so small.

SIEBERG: Right, we're going to keep an eye on you.

Jim, thanks for helping us out. That's going to do it for now. We are going to be here all day. The show floor is not quite open just yet. Lots to see and talk about.

Rick, back to you.

SANCHEZ: I don't think that would work for me. I've got four kids and a -- there's six of us. We wouldn't fit into one of the pictures in those little things.

SIEBERG: That's right, you'd have to do a lot of scrolling through all of it.

SANCHEZ: Very small.

Hey, Dan, thanks a lot. Good stuff.

KAGAN: It would be like this, God, you have a really good- looking family, Rick.

SANCHEZ: Somewhere over there.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

SANCHEZ: Go ahead and take it back. We certainly thank you.

KAGAN: Still ahead, Anderson Cooper travels to a remote area of Sri Lanka. That's where he found a village that was essentially gone. His report is just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired January 6, 2005 - 11:31   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a look at what's happening now in the news. A new trial for Houston-area mother Andrea Yates. A Texas court overturned her conviction in the drowning deaths of her children. The court says the jury may have been influenced by false testimony.
Diplomats, including Secretary of State Colin Powell, met at a donor's conference in Jakarta today. They hashed out financial logistics of the tsunami relief effort. The U.N. says it will take around a billion to sustain the relief effort until June.

Senator Joe Lieberman is calling on the U.S. to take the lead in the development of a global tsunami warning system. Right now, there is one for the Pacific, but not for the Indian Ocean.

And homeland security secretary Tom Ridge will review a national response plan many just a few hours. For the first time, it requires all federal agencies to use the same playbook when responding to a disaster.

Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Some important developments out of Iraq. Insurgency attacks have increased in intensity in the run-up to national elections. Now the interim government has extended the state of emergency imposed on most of the country.

CNN's Jeff Koinange is in Baghdad with the very latest developments.

Jeff, I think this is the heart of the matter. When they go to the polls, will Iraqis be protected by U.S. troops, or will they be protected by Iraqi security officials?

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very good question, Rick, and that question was actually put to the commander of the multinational force, Lieutenant General Thomas Metz today. Basically what he said is there will be a three-tier protection. The first tier will be Iraqi police, the second tier will be the National Guard and the third tier, out of sight, but within range, U.S. forces. He insisted that the country will be safe come Election Day. The elections will go on as planned. He also said that 14 out of the 18 provinces across the country are ready for election. And he's hoping that the other four will be ready come Election Day.

But he made some candid comments, Rick, made some candid comments about safety on Election Day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GEN. THOMAS METZ: I just can't guarantee that everyone will be able to go to a poll in total safety. I cannot put a bubble around every person walking from their home to the polling site. But we're going to do everything possible that we possibly can in the next three weeks to create that condition for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOINANGE: And, Rick, just to add to that, today, January 6th, just happens to be Army Day here in Iraq. The military here announcing that there are 127,000 equipped and prepared army members, most of whom will be deployed on January 30th to make sure that the country is safe while Iraqis go to the polls -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Jeff, I'm curious, did he amplify at all on the reasoning behind not using U.S. troops near the polls? And whether they're concerned whether these Iraqi officials or Iraqi police will be able to do the job.

KOINANGE: Both those questions were raised at the press conference, Rick, and this is what he says. He says this is an Iraqi election. It is not a U.S. election; it is an Iraqi election, so he wants the Iraqis to take charge of it.

Whether they'll be able to do the job, he says, they've been training them all along. They've been going through vigorous training throughout the last months. Despite the insurgency attacks, the stepped-up campaign by the insurgents, who are using suicide bombs to ram through police checkpoints and military checkpoints. He says the Iraqi police, the Iraqi national guard will be there, but U.S. forces will be on standby within earshot just in case of any violence on election day -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Sounds interesting. Jeff Koinange, thanks so much for bringing us up to date on those developments in that story -- Daryn.

KAGAN: We're going to check in with South Asia just ahead. A chief concern among workers there, protecting children from exploitation. You're going to hear why this is such a big problem, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: What we're about to share with you is probably one of the toughest angles of this tsunami story as we cover it, because this tsunami created, by one estimate alone, 13,000 orphans across the ocean rim of the Indian Ocean. They are children threatened now by disease, psychological trauma, and even in some cases, human predators.

Dan Rivers of Britain's ITV News talked with some of the kids at a refugee camp in Indonesia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN RIVERS, ITV REPORTER (voice-over): The village of Lampia (ph) doesn't exist anymore, three-quarters of its residents are dead. Only a few coconut trees remain standing. They now provide shade for 1,200 refugees, among them, Rafika (ph), 4.5 years old and now an orphan.

A distant cousin is caring for her, but she asks for her mother. She doesn't cry, she just watches and waits, quiet, numb. She doesn't understand what's happening.

The children here aren't starving, they have food for two days. But time goes slowly when you're alone, when your family is just a memory.

(on camera): Every tent you visit here has a harrowing story of loss and grief. Everyone here has suffered unimaginable trauma, but none more so than the children who have lost their parents.

(voice-over): These children are from another camp nearby, all are orphans.

Siam (ph) is 11. When the tsunami hit, he and his family were swept away, but somehow he survived.

But aid workers are warning these children may still be in danger.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you're desperate, you turn to desperate means and it leaves them very vulnerable to all sorts of dangers, such as trafficking. And that's why it's critical that we identify them as soon as possible and give them a safe place to stay.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But our concern here, is, yes, the exploitation. It isn't just adoption, it is whether these children, frankly, turn into child slaves, if you will, or, you know, abused and exploited.

RIVERS: It's difficult for them to talk about what's happened. Agusta (ph) is 13. His mother, father and two younger brothers are now dead. He only survived by clinging to a football which buoyed him to the surface of the tsunami. His pain is raw. His loneliness is overwhelming.

Dan Rivers, ITV News, Aceh.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: For additional insight into this threat, our guest this morning is Chanon Bernstein with the Christian Children's Fund. He is a former Peace Corps volunteer and most recently has been dealing with these issues in the African nation of Chad. Shannon joining me now from Richmond, Virginia. Good morning.

CHANON BERNSTEIN, CHRISTIAN CHILDREN'S FUND: Good morning. How are you? KAGAN: I'm doing fine. I think like many people watching these stories, overwhelmed by the idea of these thousands of children becoming orphans and yet, then on top of that, the idea that they could fall prey to people who want to exploit them. I think it just boggles the mind.

BERNSTEIN: There are a lot of risks to children in this situation and I think what's important to realize as well is that these were children who were vulnerable to begin with. A lot of them were from poor communities and faced a lot of difficulties. And so the important thing, as was mentioned in the story before, is to identify these children, especially the ones that are unaccompanied and to get them into areas where they can be taken care of and receive care and attention and start to engage in activities where they can deal with some of the horrific things that they have seen and been through.

KAGAN: And is that the role, do you think, of the governments of these countries or private organizations like the one you work with?

BERNSTEIN: Well, that -- you know, Christian Children's Fund, along with other organizations, sees this as one of their primary roles, but it's important that all the organizations collaborate and coordinate together. As parents and other caregivers and youth who have been left in charge of perhaps younger siblings, they're the ones who are on the ground.

And so it's up to the groups like Christian Children's Fund and other organizations to work with these communities, to train them, to show them how to identify and recognize children, how to work with them, to teach them how children can be -- to deal with their situation and also to expand out to larger organizations like the government or like the Red Cross to help with tracing and to help put these into a larger kind of systematic approach. So everybody needs to work together and collaborate and coordinate their efforts.

KAGAN: I know you haven't gone to this region since the crisis hit, but you do have colleagues that are there. I know I talked to one or two of them before they left. What word are you getting back about the specific needs to help the kids?

BERNSTEIN: Well, it depends on which region we're talking about. Christian Children's Fund does three teams right now. There's a team in India, a team in Indonesia and a team in Sri Lanka. And the three countries are at different stages. Indonesia was the hardest hit in many ways and also due to the political situation and other difficulties of lack of access, that was kind of the last area responded to, not just by Christian Children's Fund, but by all the organizations. In that area, initial assessments are going up and what we're trying to reunify -- primarily reunify children with their families or find out which of the children or orphans are most vulnerable right now.

In India, we're working a lot in camps that have been set up to help children get into normalizing activities and develop some sort of routine. And in Sri Lanka, families are already getting -- some of them are heading back to their original communities. And so we are working in the camps, but also helping people get back home and get their lives started up again and helping them to rebuild.

KAGAN: Do you think another purpose this crisis might serve is to raise at awareness of the plight of orphans around the world? I know you're just back from Africa and there are hundreds of thousands of orphans on that continent due to AIDS. And those children haven't gotten near the attention that the children of the tsunami are getting.

BERNSTEIN: Yes, I think that's true. And this could raise awareness of orphans and also children in general. Often in crisis situations, either manmade or natural disasters, children are not given first attention. Or where first attention is given to food and clothing and other sorts of materials like that, often times, the psychosocial, the emotional aspects and the difficult emotional situation that children are put in are seen as secondary.

And I think this is an opportunity for Christian Children's Fund and other agencies to raise the awareness of governments, of donors, and of the global community to understand that there are a lot of children who are at risk and they are suffering not only physical challenges, but also a lot of emotional factors as well.

KAGAN: Chanon Bernstein from the Christian Children's Fund. Thank you for your insight on what the children of these regions face.

BERNSTEIN: Thank you very much.

KAGAN: I know a lot of people are going to see these stories and wonder what you can do to help. Just go to cnn.com/tsunami. There you go. There's all sorts of places that you can click on there that will tell you on where you can send aid.

Meanwhile, we're going to continue to focus on children throughout the day here on CNN, including our primetime special tonight, 10:00 p.m. Eastern, "Saving the Children."

SANCHEZ: It is the desperate plight of the youngest tsunami victims. There's a story that you'll see only on CNN. You can tune in for it tonight. It's our primetime special and it is "Saving the Children" with Anderson Cooper and Christiane Amanpour. And it will air at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, 7:00 Pacific. We'll have that for you. We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Now we get to lighten things up a little bit. If your favorite digital device was not under the tree, get ready to make your wish list for 2005. Already? The Consumer Electronics Show opens today in Las Vegas and they're getting a lot of people's attention, including our technology correspondent, Dan Sieberg. He's getting a look at some of the latest stuff. And I think that's probably a good word for this. Right, Dan?

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: There is a lot of stuff here, Rick, actually. We are here before the show floor opens, in fact. And we're going to be talking about portable music players, or mp3 players. You know, when a new one comes out, they're often referred to or trying to be an i-Pod killer. The i-Pod is so huge in that market. But we we're not going to be talking about the i-Pod today.

We are going to be talking to Jim Louderback, editor and chief at extremetech.com. Jim, we've got a few music players here. Very small, though, right?

JIM LOUDERBACK, EXTREMETECH.COM: Yes, and they are all trying to sort of outdo the i-Pod. This one, the new Rio Carbon, comes in a couple of different colors. It's a basic music player, holds -- it's a five gig hard drive, which means it holds about 20 percent more than the i-Pod Mini. A little bit smaller. And of course, it's got the shiny back, so you get your fingerprints all over it.

SIEBERG: Right. Got to have that cleaning cloth very handy.

LOUDERBACK: Exactly. You know, this is, you know, a lot like the i-Pod Mini. Another one trying to differentiate itself a little bit, also this is from Samsung. The thing that this has is a color screen that you can use to look at pictures as well as listen to music. You see right here there's a little picture of a baby on here. You can go through all your pictures.

SIEBERG: And the trick, too, because it's being so small, is to figure out the buttons of the interface, to access all of your music, and that color screen I guess helps with that.

LOUDERBACK: The color screen helps a lot as you try to navigate things. It's got a nice little interface down here as well. Another area that people are going sort of beyond the iPod...

SIEBERG: Yes, because it's a color screen.

LOUDERBACK: Now take a look at this. This is from Movedian (ph). That screen right there is a new type of screen technology. It's called O-LED, for Organic LED. First time we've seen it in a mobile player. It's light. It's almost flexible. It uses a lot less battery life. And, boy, it looks, beautiful. It is so crisp.

SIEBERG: We'll see that technology in other types of devices as well, back of a digital camera, hoping for even bigger like monitors.

LOUDERBACK: Exactly. Over time, O-LED will take over, I think, but it's a little expensive now.

SIEBERG: OK, now we've two really small players here, right -- you've got a comparison you can show us just for how small that is.

LOUDERBACK: Yes, exactly. Now this one right here, which of course just turned itself off. This has a color screen. It has one gig of storage inside for 200 bucks. Now the neat thing about that is you can hold 15, 20 hours of music in here, which is great. It's pretty easy to use. SIEBERG: A little too small for a movie.

LOUDERBACK: Yes,you could do pictures on it as well.

This one right here, also from Samsung, holds about the same amount. It's 200 bucks for a gigabyte. The neat thing about this, 40 hours. That's all on one battery. I also had to bring the matchbook (ph).

SIEBERG: We're up against the clock. I'm going to have to stop you right there. But put it in your pocket...

(CROSSTALK)

LOUDERBACK: I'll put them all in my pocket they're so small.

SIEBERG: Right, we're going to keep an eye on you.

Jim, thanks for helping us out. That's going to do it for now. We are going to be here all day. The show floor is not quite open just yet. Lots to see and talk about.

Rick, back to you.

SANCHEZ: I don't think that would work for me. I've got four kids and a -- there's six of us. We wouldn't fit into one of the pictures in those little things.

SIEBERG: That's right, you'd have to do a lot of scrolling through all of it.

SANCHEZ: Very small.

Hey, Dan, thanks a lot. Good stuff.

KAGAN: It would be like this, God, you have a really good- looking family, Rick.

SANCHEZ: Somewhere over there.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

SANCHEZ: Go ahead and take it back. We certainly thank you.

KAGAN: Still ahead, Anderson Cooper travels to a remote area of Sri Lanka. That's where he found a village that was essentially gone. His report is just ahead.

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