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CNN Live Today

Defining Women's Roles in the New Iraq; Could Bird Flu Spread?

Aired March 16, 2005 - 11:30   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a look at what's happening right "Now in the News."
President Bush touched on a number of topics in a news conference last hour. He says U.S. troops can leave Iraq only when the country can defend itself. He pressed Congress on Social Security changes and Mr. Bush restated his support for a constitutional ban on gay marriage.

Israel transferred control of the West Bank town of Jericho to the Palestinians today. That city is the first of five that Israel will hand over. Israeli soldiers began dismantling checkpoints as Palestinian security moved in.

And here in the U.S., there are new developments in the case of the missing Florida girl Jessica Lunsford. Police in Citrus County, Florida, say they'll give out the name and some other details of a person of interest they're looking at for their investigation. That's going to happen at 5:30 p.m. Eastern today. CNN will carry that live.

KAGAN: This is a huge day in Iraq. The country's new parliament opened for business. The 275-member national assembly will form a new government. A Shiite/Kurdish coalition is expected to choose conservative Shia Ibrahim al Jaafari as prime minister. The Kurds are set to get the more ceremonial presidential post. A half dozen explosions shook Baghdad as a new parliament convened.

Women make up a third of the members of the national assembly and in some cases, politics and feminism can be an odd mix in the Muslim culture. CNN's Aneesh Raman has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Arriving at work, Dr. Amal Mousa's appearance person suggest the first of numerous contradictions. Wearing the full abbyah (ph), she is a member of Iraq's newly elected national assembly, soon to take part in drafting the country's constitution, in itself, a major step for women's right in the Middle East. But she is also a member of the dominant Shia religious Dawa Party, and believes Islamic Sharia law should shape family life in Iraq, even while some say it constrains her gender.

DR. AMAL MOUSA, IRAQI NATL. ASSEMBLY: The red lines, which are fixed in Islam and written (INAUDIBLE) in Koran, and there is a statements from our prophets about it, these, I think, (INAUDIBLE) are not able to be changed. RAMAN: Her audience in this political strategy session, all men. But Mousa believes, among other things, in unequal inheritance for women and stringent constraints on their ability to divorce. For her, the century's old religious laws are far from outdated.

MOUSA: We have a rule that has divided the duties and responsibilities between the woman and the man according to their bolt (ph), according to their bolt. I think this will be better than changing to a new one.

RAMAN: But that was the not the rule, even under Saddam Hussein, where the state, an least officially, treated men and women as equals.

And now women, like Owatif Naim, are demanding that ideal be made law in the new Iraq. Touring her studio in Baghdad, it becomes quickly apparent that the art professor's dominant passion now is politics.

OWATIF NAIM, WOMEN'S RIGHTS ADVOCATE (through translator): It's time for a woman to enjoy her rights, express herself, her right to choose who will represent her and talk on her behalf. The national assembly should be aware of this fact.

RAMAN: Leading a group of secular artists, she plans to relentlessly lobby the female members who make up one-third of the assembly.

NAIM (through translator): Maybe it's Iraq's destiny to struggle for its freedom, and Iraqi women as well. If it's not for this generation, it's for coming generations, to give them rights and a chance for life with dignity, with freedom and complete right.

RAMAN (on camera): Feminism in Iraq is highly nuanced, which is why women are lobbying other women to get their point across. And the stakes here are high. This is an unprecedented opportunity for historic change.

Aneesh Raman, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Here now to talk more about Iraq's historic day and the role that women will play in the new government is Zainab Salbi. She is president and CEO of Women International and a frequent visitor to this program, joining me from Los Angeles. Zainab, good morning, good to have you here with us.

ZAINAB SALBI, WOMEN FOR WOMEN INTERNATIONAL: Good morning. It's good to be with you.

KAGAN: First let's talk the numbers. One-third of this new national assembly. Those are numbers that we don't even see here in the U.S.

SALBI: Right, it's a big accomplishment for Iraqi women. At the beginning, they demanded that they should have 40 percent representation. And after a lot of negotiations, they came up with the 25 percent goal, as was guarantee -- rather, as was stipulated by the transitional laws drafted by the CPA. Now what they have accomplished has superseded that goal to a one-third of the parliament. This is very impressive and talks a lot about their own courage.

KAGAN: Let's talk about the tug-of-war we see taking place here between the Kurds in the north and the Shiites mainly of the south. The Shiites wanting more of traditional Muslim government, the Kurds wanting more of a secular government. How might that play out overall for women of Iraq?

SALBI: You know, I think -- knowing that all of the Middle East, when it comes to family law, they have Sharia, the traditional Islamic law regulating family law. So I think we have to go with the expectations that even when we're arguing about civil law, regulating Iraqi constitution at large, we're still talking, when it comes to the very thing that impacts women the most, which is family law.

In most countries, the most liberal ones, like Tunisia, they still have their law, Sharia. Now how Sharia is interpreted and how it's implied -- it's very different from one country to another. So you -- again, you go to a country like Tunisia. Has fantastic law towards women in the Middle East. And they call it Sharia. And then you have countries like Saudi Arabia, which you have very oppressive law towards women, I would say, all over the world, and they also call it Sharia.

So it's not a black and white dynamic. It's not a good or bad. It is what is negotiated within the framework of Sharia? What are the substance of the law? What is inheritance, particularly? Because -- what is divorce? What is marriage? What is custody law? You can negotiate all of these laws and it doesn't matter whether you call it civic or Sharia. In a country like Iraq, where Islamic identity is a very important thing in people's personal identity and national identity, we might have to work with that framework.

KAGAN: Well, which brings to mind, as Western women and to a sense Westerners, how much are we taking our values and trying to imply it and impose it on a different culture that might not want the whole package?

SALBI: I don't think we're imposing it. I think there are a lot of Iraqi women who actually are very clear about what they want for the future. In a survey that Women for Women International did, for example, of 1,000 Iraqi women in Bastra (ph), Mosul and Baghdad, 94 percent wanted to guarantee their legal rights and that was the priority for them as we moved into writing the constitution. 87 percent wanted to make sure they vote in the constitution, the final draft of the constitution. 80 percent wanted to make sure that they have representation in national and local councils. And these were Shia, Sunnis and Kurdish women and Christian women, as well.

So I think Iraqi women are very clear about what they want. It's how they express it. They are somewhat traditionalist like the woman who got a tribute in the earlier segment, whose framework of view about how to regulate women's rights is with the Sharia. And there are some more secular, and who in a framework of discussion, want it to be a secular law.

But at the bottom end, what I argue is that let's look at the substance. Don't just be obsessed with the framework. Let's look at the exact laws and whether it's cultural or it's called civic law, doesn't matter that much at the end. At the end of the day, what's important is the women having her guaranteed right. And it's actually possible to negotiate that right within Sharia framework.

KAGAN: So call it what you want, you're interested in the tangible results at the end of the day.

SALBI: Absolutely.

KAGAN: What's the next step you're looking for in terms of women's rights as this moves forward in Iraq?

SALBI: Well, the next step is for women to be part of the constitutional drafting committee. As I said, in the transitional law, that was actually all drafted by men, nine men and no women, and this was actually something that the American administration in Iraq -- it was political appointees of these men, and they did not include any women in the drafting of the transitional law, and we don't want that replicated in the drafting of the permanent constitution of Iraq. We want to make sure that women actually have a good percentage of the Constitutional Drafting Committee, and that is now the main struggle for Iraq.

Now, what also Iraqi women need from American women or from women around the world is frameworks of discussion, precedents, examples, legal example, examples of struggles of women in different country. All of these examples would be actually very helpful to inform Iraqi women in developing their own debates.

KAGAN: Zainab Salbi, Women International. Thank you, always a pleasure to get your perspective.

SALBI: Thank you.

KAGAN: We have health news just ahead. Today's "Daily Dose," flu fears. Have you heard about avian flu? Does this virus have the strength to become a worldwide pandemic? Dr. Sanjay Gupta will stop by to explain that.

Plus, why you may be forking over more to get where you need to go.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Bird flu. World health organizations have sounded the alarm about the outbreak of bird flu in Asia. Now they worry it could trigger a worldwide flu pandemic. In our "Daily Dose" of health news, CNN senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta examines the danger in the past and the present that is posed by the flu.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The year was 1918. A virus wreaked havoc on populations around the world. Close to 40 million people lost their lives to influenza.

But Karen Wilbur survived.

KAREN WILBUR, 1918 FLU PANDEMIC SURVIVOR: It was so bad that many of the houses had the caskets lined up on the porch.

GUPTA: Eighty-seven years later, a different strain of the flu threatens once again. It's known as strain H5N1, for avian influenza. For now, it is rare, but make no mistake. It is very deadly, killing the Hong Kong government says, almost two-thirds of people infected.

In some ways, 10-year-old Hong An is a modern-day Karen Wilbur. She is one of more than 50 people in Southeast Asia to catch the virus, and one of only a handful in Vietnam to have survived.

HONG AN, AVIAN FLU SURVIVOR (through translator): It was so hard to breathe. My chest hurt so much, I thought I was going to die.

GUPTA: She got avian flu from her pet duck. Others got the virus from chickens or geese.

In South Asia, they all had one thing in common. They depend on these animals for companionship, for food, or as a means to make a living.

Avian flu itself is not new. It has been around for over a century in these animals. But it's only within the last decade that humans have gotten sick from the virus. Experts worry that this is a sign of genetic mutation and say if human-to-human transmission becomes possible, that could be the start of another worldwide pandemic.

DR. KLAUS STOHR, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: This virus can change, can mutate, and then acquire the capacities for rapid, sustained, permanent human-to-human transmission without the animal reservoir. That virus will travel around the world in less than six to eight months.

GUPTA: But this is not 1918. The same technology that allows humans to travel so quickly around the globe also provides better medicine and better protection. Most scientists agree that a repeat of the catastrophic losses of 1918 is unlikely.

Thanks to rapid treatment, Hong An's bout with avian flu has come and gone. She has come back to the hospital for a checkup, but her mother still worries. An gets tired very easily, doesn't eat much, and isn't doing as well in school.

THANH CHAU, HONG AN'S MOTHER (through translator): When we heard it was avian flu, we didn't think she'd survive. We started making plans for her funeral. When she recovered, we thought we were the luckiest people ever. GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And for your daily dose of health news online, check our Web site. You'll find the latest medical stories, special reports and a health library. The address is CNN.com/health.

The high price of gas, we'll look down the road at what it might cost you to fill up your tank, when CNN LIVE TODAY returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: It's college basketball march madness. CNN dot-com desk is courtside with all the inside info to help you with that office pool. Have you filled yours out yet?

Here's CNN's Veronica Da La Cruz.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Think you know your stuff when it comes to college hoops? Get in the spirit and up your chances of finally winning that office pool at si.com/tournament. That's right, all about March Madness, or arch madness, as St. Louis gears up to host the Final Four. Never won the office pool? Well, forget about it. Dream big and pick all 63 winners for your chance to win si.com's million-dollar challenge.

And if rooting for the underdog is more your style, a few tips on picking your Cinderella team. You can start by forgetting about the trendy upset pick. Going that route is likely to backfire. And We know you may have your heart set on making sure that slipper fits. But when picking your Cinderella, make sure the match-up is favorable.

Curious about the history of the final four? from 1939 to 2004, the who, what where, when, and why, of college basketball's main event, including dozens of classic sports illustrated covers.

Finally, move over men, the ladies also tip off this weekend. The Lady Vols have earned their 17th No. 1, and their coach is at the top of her game. Also, latest on women's scores, schedules and brackets.

Getting you ready for the Final Four from the dot-com desk in Atlanta, I'm Veronica De La Cruz.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And for those of you more interested in playing some outdoor sports, we're going to check the forecast in just a bit, after this break.

(WEATHER REPORT) KAGAN: And that's going to wrap it for me. Wolf Blitzer is taking over from Washington D.C.

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 March 16, 2005 - 11:30   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 right "Now in the News."
President Bush touched on a number of topics in a news conference last hour. He says U.S. troops can leave Iraq only when the country can defend itself. He pressed Congress on Social Security changes and Mr. Bush restated his support for a constitutional ban on gay marriage.

Israel transferred control of the West Bank town of Jericho to the Palestinians today. That city is the first of five that Israel will hand over. Israeli soldiers began dismantling checkpoints as Palestinian security moved in.

And here in the U.S., there are new developments in the case of the missing Florida girl Jessica Lunsford. Police in Citrus County, Florida, say they'll give out the name and some other details of a person of interest they're looking at for their investigation. That's going to happen at 5:30 p.m. Eastern today. CNN will carry that live.

KAGAN: This is a huge day in Iraq. The country's new parliament opened for business. The 275-member national assembly will form a new government. A Shiite/Kurdish coalition is expected to choose conservative Shia Ibrahim al Jaafari as prime minister. The Kurds are set to get the more ceremonial presidential post. A half dozen explosions shook Baghdad as a new parliament convened.

Women make up a third of the members of the national assembly and in some cases, politics and feminism can be an odd mix in the Muslim culture. CNN's Aneesh Raman has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Arriving at work, Dr. Amal Mousa's appearance person suggest the first of numerous contradictions. Wearing the full abbyah (ph), she is a member of Iraq's newly elected national assembly, soon to take part in drafting the country's constitution, in itself, a major step for women's right in the Middle East. But she is also a member of the dominant Shia religious Dawa Party, and believes Islamic Sharia law should shape family life in Iraq, even while some say it constrains her gender.

DR. AMAL MOUSA, IRAQI NATL. ASSEMBLY: The red lines, which are fixed in Islam and written (INAUDIBLE) in Koran, and there is a statements from our prophets about it, these, I think, (INAUDIBLE) are not able to be changed. RAMAN: Her audience in this political strategy session, all men. But Mousa believes, among other things, in unequal inheritance for women and stringent constraints on their ability to divorce. For her, the century's old religious laws are far from outdated.

MOUSA: We have a rule that has divided the duties and responsibilities between the woman and the man according to their bolt (ph), according to their bolt. I think this will be better than changing to a new one.

RAMAN: But that was the not the rule, even under Saddam Hussein, where the state, an least officially, treated men and women as equals.

And now women, like Owatif Naim, are demanding that ideal be made law in the new Iraq. Touring her studio in Baghdad, it becomes quickly apparent that the art professor's dominant passion now is politics.

OWATIF NAIM, WOMEN'S RIGHTS ADVOCATE (through translator): It's time for a woman to enjoy her rights, express herself, her right to choose who will represent her and talk on her behalf. The national assembly should be aware of this fact.

RAMAN: Leading a group of secular artists, she plans to relentlessly lobby the female members who make up one-third of the assembly.

NAIM (through translator): Maybe it's Iraq's destiny to struggle for its freedom, and Iraqi women as well. If it's not for this generation, it's for coming generations, to give them rights and a chance for life with dignity, with freedom and complete right.

RAMAN (on camera): Feminism in Iraq is highly nuanced, which is why women are lobbying other women to get their point across. And the stakes here are high. This is an unprecedented opportunity for historic change.

Aneesh Raman, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Here now to talk more about Iraq's historic day and the role that women will play in the new government is Zainab Salbi. She is president and CEO of Women International and a frequent visitor to this program, joining me from Los Angeles. Zainab, good morning, good to have you here with us.

ZAINAB SALBI, WOMEN FOR WOMEN INTERNATIONAL: Good morning. It's good to be with you.

KAGAN: First let's talk the numbers. One-third of this new national assembly. Those are numbers that we don't even see here in the U.S.

SALBI: Right, it's a big accomplishment for Iraqi women. At the beginning, they demanded that they should have 40 percent representation. And after a lot of negotiations, they came up with the 25 percent goal, as was guarantee -- rather, as was stipulated by the transitional laws drafted by the CPA. Now what they have accomplished has superseded that goal to a one-third of the parliament. This is very impressive and talks a lot about their own courage.

KAGAN: Let's talk about the tug-of-war we see taking place here between the Kurds in the north and the Shiites mainly of the south. The Shiites wanting more of traditional Muslim government, the Kurds wanting more of a secular government. How might that play out overall for women of Iraq?

SALBI: You know, I think -- knowing that all of the Middle East, when it comes to family law, they have Sharia, the traditional Islamic law regulating family law. So I think we have to go with the expectations that even when we're arguing about civil law, regulating Iraqi constitution at large, we're still talking, when it comes to the very thing that impacts women the most, which is family law.

In most countries, the most liberal ones, like Tunisia, they still have their law, Sharia. Now how Sharia is interpreted and how it's implied -- it's very different from one country to another. So you -- again, you go to a country like Tunisia. Has fantastic law towards women in the Middle East. And they call it Sharia. And then you have countries like Saudi Arabia, which you have very oppressive law towards women, I would say, all over the world, and they also call it Sharia.

So it's not a black and white dynamic. It's not a good or bad. It is what is negotiated within the framework of Sharia? What are the substance of the law? What is inheritance, particularly? Because -- what is divorce? What is marriage? What is custody law? You can negotiate all of these laws and it doesn't matter whether you call it civic or Sharia. In a country like Iraq, where Islamic identity is a very important thing in people's personal identity and national identity, we might have to work with that framework.

KAGAN: Well, which brings to mind, as Western women and to a sense Westerners, how much are we taking our values and trying to imply it and impose it on a different culture that might not want the whole package?

SALBI: I don't think we're imposing it. I think there are a lot of Iraqi women who actually are very clear about what they want for the future. In a survey that Women for Women International did, for example, of 1,000 Iraqi women in Bastra (ph), Mosul and Baghdad, 94 percent wanted to guarantee their legal rights and that was the priority for them as we moved into writing the constitution. 87 percent wanted to make sure they vote in the constitution, the final draft of the constitution. 80 percent wanted to make sure that they have representation in national and local councils. And these were Shia, Sunnis and Kurdish women and Christian women, as well.

So I think Iraqi women are very clear about what they want. It's how they express it. They are somewhat traditionalist like the woman who got a tribute in the earlier segment, whose framework of view about how to regulate women's rights is with the Sharia. And there are some more secular, and who in a framework of discussion, want it to be a secular law.

But at the bottom end, what I argue is that let's look at the substance. Don't just be obsessed with the framework. Let's look at the exact laws and whether it's cultural or it's called civic law, doesn't matter that much at the end. At the end of the day, what's important is the women having her guaranteed right. And it's actually possible to negotiate that right within Sharia framework.

KAGAN: So call it what you want, you're interested in the tangible results at the end of the day.

SALBI: Absolutely.

KAGAN: What's the next step you're looking for in terms of women's rights as this moves forward in Iraq?

SALBI: Well, the next step is for women to be part of the constitutional drafting committee. As I said, in the transitional law, that was actually all drafted by men, nine men and no women, and this was actually something that the American administration in Iraq -- it was political appointees of these men, and they did not include any women in the drafting of the transitional law, and we don't want that replicated in the drafting of the permanent constitution of Iraq. We want to make sure that women actually have a good percentage of the Constitutional Drafting Committee, and that is now the main struggle for Iraq.

Now, what also Iraqi women need from American women or from women around the world is frameworks of discussion, precedents, examples, legal example, examples of struggles of women in different country. All of these examples would be actually very helpful to inform Iraqi women in developing their own debates.

KAGAN: Zainab Salbi, Women International. Thank you, always a pleasure to get your perspective.

SALBI: Thank you.

KAGAN: We have health news just ahead. Today's "Daily Dose," flu fears. Have you heard about avian flu? Does this virus have the strength to become a worldwide pandemic? Dr. Sanjay Gupta will stop by to explain that.

Plus, why you may be forking over more to get where you need to go.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Bird flu. World health organizations have sounded the alarm about the outbreak of bird flu in Asia. Now they worry it could trigger a worldwide flu pandemic. In our "Daily Dose" of health news, CNN senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta examines the danger in the past and the present that is posed by the flu.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The year was 1918. A virus wreaked havoc on populations around the world. Close to 40 million people lost their lives to influenza.

But Karen Wilbur survived.

KAREN WILBUR, 1918 FLU PANDEMIC SURVIVOR: It was so bad that many of the houses had the caskets lined up on the porch.

GUPTA: Eighty-seven years later, a different strain of the flu threatens once again. It's known as strain H5N1, for avian influenza. For now, it is rare, but make no mistake. It is very deadly, killing the Hong Kong government says, almost two-thirds of people infected.

In some ways, 10-year-old Hong An is a modern-day Karen Wilbur. She is one of more than 50 people in Southeast Asia to catch the virus, and one of only a handful in Vietnam to have survived.

HONG AN, AVIAN FLU SURVIVOR (through translator): It was so hard to breathe. My chest hurt so much, I thought I was going to die.

GUPTA: She got avian flu from her pet duck. Others got the virus from chickens or geese.

In South Asia, they all had one thing in common. They depend on these animals for companionship, for food, or as a means to make a living.

Avian flu itself is not new. It has been around for over a century in these animals. But it's only within the last decade that humans have gotten sick from the virus. Experts worry that this is a sign of genetic mutation and say if human-to-human transmission becomes possible, that could be the start of another worldwide pandemic.

DR. KLAUS STOHR, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: This virus can change, can mutate, and then acquire the capacities for rapid, sustained, permanent human-to-human transmission without the animal reservoir. That virus will travel around the world in less than six to eight months.

GUPTA: But this is not 1918. The same technology that allows humans to travel so quickly around the globe also provides better medicine and better protection. Most scientists agree that a repeat of the catastrophic losses of 1918 is unlikely.

Thanks to rapid treatment, Hong An's bout with avian flu has come and gone. She has come back to the hospital for a checkup, but her mother still worries. An gets tired very easily, doesn't eat much, and isn't doing as well in school.

THANH CHAU, HONG AN'S MOTHER (through translator): When we heard it was avian flu, we didn't think she'd survive. We started making plans for her funeral. When she recovered, we thought we were the luckiest people ever. GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And for your daily dose of health news online, check our Web site. You'll find the latest medical stories, special reports and a health library. The address is CNN.com/health.

The high price of gas, we'll look down the road at what it might cost you to fill up your tank, when CNN LIVE TODAY returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: It's college basketball march madness. CNN dot-com desk is courtside with all the inside info to help you with that office pool. Have you filled yours out yet?

Here's CNN's Veronica Da La Cruz.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Think you know your stuff when it comes to college hoops? Get in the spirit and up your chances of finally winning that office pool at si.com/tournament. That's right, all about March Madness, or arch madness, as St. Louis gears up to host the Final Four. Never won the office pool? Well, forget about it. Dream big and pick all 63 winners for your chance to win si.com's million-dollar challenge.

And if rooting for the underdog is more your style, a few tips on picking your Cinderella team. You can start by forgetting about the trendy upset pick. Going that route is likely to backfire. And We know you may have your heart set on making sure that slipper fits. But when picking your Cinderella, make sure the match-up is favorable.

Curious about the history of the final four? from 1939 to 2004, the who, what where, when, and why, of college basketball's main event, including dozens of classic sports illustrated covers.

Finally, move over men, the ladies also tip off this weekend. The Lady Vols have earned their 17th No. 1, and their coach is at the top of her game. Also, latest on women's scores, schedules and brackets.

Getting you ready for the Final Four from the dot-com desk in Atlanta, I'm Veronica De La Cruz.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And for those of you more interested in playing some outdoor sports, we're going to check the forecast in just a bit, after this break.

(WEATHER REPORT) KAGAN: And that's going to wrap it for me. Wolf Blitzer is taking over from Washington D.C.

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