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CNN Live Today

Gaza Pullout Tensions; Pope's Homecoming in Germany

Aired August 18, 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: A special oversight panel says NASA skipped key safety improvements in a race to launch the Space Shuttle Discovery. A potentially deadly piece of foam fell from Discovery during liftoff last month. Now NASA is poised to announce later today that it's putting off more shuttle flights until early next year.
Let's get you updated on the tumultuous day in Gaza. Israeli soldiers are trying to pry activists from two synagogues this hour. Israel now hopes to complete its evacuation of Gaza by the middle of next week.

CNN's Guy Raz is in the settlement of Neveh Dekalim -- Guy.

GUY RAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, just about two and a half hours ago, those forced evacuations in both of those synagogues, one in Neveh Dekalim, the other in Kfar Darom, a settlement just to the north of this one, the forced evacuations began. Police initially allowing demonstrators to remain inside those synagogues for the past 48 hours.

But when negotiations broke down, earlier this afternoon here, police issued an ultimatum saying they would begin to enter those synagogues by force. Let's begin with Neveh Dekalim. That is where police have already removed about 800 demonstrators from inside that synagogue, about 200 police say remain inside at the moment. They'll be removed, put on busses, and those busses will carry those protesters out of the Gaza Strip and into Israel.

Similar scenes in Kfar Darom, another settlement where ultranationalist Israelis, opponents of the government's plan to remove Israeli citizens from the Gaza Strip are holed up. These are activists who are largely nonresidents of these settlements, but vociferous opponents of the Israeli government's decision to end its 38-year occupation in this area -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right, Guy Raz, live from Gaza. Thank you.

Here are other stories making news overseas this morning. Warming ties between China and Russia have set the stage for what they're calling "Peace Mission 2005." Over the next eight days, some 10,000 Russian and Chinese troops will engage in unprecedented joint military exercises. Chinese and Russian commanders say the drills are not meant to intimidate other countries. The U.S. has said it hopes the drills do not shake stability in the region.

Nine boat wreck survivors are recovering today after fishermen found them clinging to debris in the Pacific Ocean. They were with more than 100 other migrants when their boat sank off the Colombian coastline on Friday. A Navy official says the boat was designed to carry only 15 people. The boat is believed to have been headed for the U.S.

You can call him "colonel." Crowds in Edinburgh, Scotland watched Milt Olaf (ph), the penguin, waddle into the ranks of colonel- in-chief in the Norwegian Army in a full military ceremony on Wednesday. The colonel's duties include, by the way, leading the Norwegian cavalry in the battlefield. No word on when his tour of duty begins, but our congratulations, I guess.

Well, New Yorkers are proud to lead the world in many categories, but just ahead, we'll you one area where big numbers in the Big Apple are something of a mystery.

And when it comes to kids and French fries, do potatoes cause a problem? A closer look in today's "Daily Dose" of health news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Pope Benedict XVI travelled to his native Germany today to celebrate World Youth Day. This is his first trip outside of Italy as pope.

Our Alessio Vinci is on the road as well, and he joins us now from Cologne, Germany.

Hello.

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Daryn.

We arrived here from Rome about five-and-a-half hours ago, travelling with Pope Benedict XVI, who left his country 20 years ago when he was a bishop. And now for the first time, he returns as pope to his native country. Not of his own choice. The venue for World Youth Day was chosen well before he was elected pope, but nevertheless, while the crowds of young Catholics and pilgrims from all around the world gathered here, about pretty much the same as in any other World Youth Day, of course.

The main player is Pope Benedict XVI. He's facing a big challenge, of course, first and foremost the fact that this is a very different Germany from the one he left 20 years ago. Here in Germany, as well as in most of Western Europe, and in the developed world, a number of churchgoers has dwindled dramatically, and Pope Benedict XVI is trying to reach out to these people and trying telling to them that Christianity is important, and every day life must be the presence of God.

And of course also a big test, because inevitably, people will stop making comparisons with his predecessor, John Paul II, who made his international trips a centerpiece of his papacy.

And indeed, when Pope Benedict arrived here in Cologne, he did something that the pope -- he did not do as the previous pope used to do, meaning kissing the ground. But as he addressed a few hundred people who welcomed him at the airport, including the president of the country, he said he was delighted to be here and he wanted to reach out, especially to the young people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE BENEDICT XVI (through translator): The meeting of so many young people with the successor of Peter is a sign of continuity in the church. I am happy myself to be among young people with belief and in the will of God and to be able to experience this. All those who are present and taking place in this event, people who have come together from all parts of the world, I give my warmest greetings.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VINCI: And the pope at this time is addressing a gathering of hundreds of thousands of many young Catholics who have gathered along the riverbanks of the River Rhine. The pope is taking a boat tour along the Rhine. This is the first main encounter with the young Catholics.

We managed to speak to some of them here. Obviously, many of them are disappointed perhaps a little bit that John Paul II did not make that trip, but nevertheless, very eager to listen to what the new pope has to say, and indeed, as you can see from his live pictures, he's addressing them. He began addressing them in English, then he switched to French, then Italian, and now, I believe, he is speaking in German. So obviously he's trying to reach as many hearts and minds as possible. He knows the challenges of the Catholic Church, especially he's facing, especially in Western Europe, in the developed world, in Germany, where the number of churchgoers is dwindling dramatically. And this is a pope that (INAUDIBLE) to able to re- energize, if you want, the Catholic youth.

Daryn, back you.

KAGAN: The opening of a new chapter in the Catholic Church. Alessio Vinci, live from Cologne, German, thank you.

A totally different topic. Parents, are you trying to get your kids to eat lunch? Especially when you pack things up and send them off to school. Some really great, interesting tips you might not have thought of, coming up. And there, speaking of school lunch, some ideas.

We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Colleges across the country are getting ready to welcome a new class of freshmen, but new studies showing that students may be actually heading for failure. Their reading and math skills are better suited for junior high school. Bill Tucker takes a look at the numbers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They have their diplomas, but most of the high school graduating class of 2005 are not ready for college. Only half of the students taking the ACT college admission test were found the reading comprehension skills necessary for college, less than half had adequate math skills, and barely one- quarter are ready when it comes to college's level science.

MICHAEL PETRILLI, THOMAS B. FORDHAM FDN.: You know, we've known this for years and years. It's like someone's pulling a fire alarm but nobody's moving. This is very serious. We have greater and greater competition from around the world. Other countries are taking academics very seriously. They're making sure that their students are taking rigorous courses, and we're simply not doing enough.

TUCKER: Only 56 percent of high school students take or exceed the recommended core curriculum for college-bound students, a number that has remained consistent for the last decade. Students, their parents and our schools are failing to recognize that we are now locked in a global competition. That failure has consequences.

PAUL PETERSON, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: There is a shortage of talent in the United States today of top-level talent. There's a big shortage. We need to bring people in from around the world. And now after 9/11, with all the concern about passports and visas and all of that, it's getting harder to bring people in from abroad, and so business is feeling very pinched. It's really time for our educational system to step up.

TUCKER: Bill Tucker, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And now on to medical news.

A health mystery in New York. Death rates from heart disease in New York City and its suburbs are among the highest in the nation, and officials aren't sure why. The New York times says that affluent Nassau County has a heart disease death rate 20 percent above the norm. Studies are underway to determine what is behind those numbers.

Also, focussing on little kids today. Researchers saying very young children who eat a lot of french fries may have a higher risk of breast cancer as adults. In the study, one additional serving of fries per week increased the breast cancer risk by 27 percent. However, scientists cautioning that the findings were based on the mother's recollection of how many servings of french fries their children consumed.

That brings us to our "Daily Dose" of health news. What is your child having for lunch at school today? One way to know for sure is to pack that lunch yourself.

Jeanie Pyun is editor of "Organic Style" magazine, and she joins us from New York today with some healthy lunch tips.

JEANIE PYUN, EDITOR, "ORGANIC STYLE": Good morning. KAGAN: Let's make a lunch for our kids, OK?

PYUN: Well, given the general outcry regarding the unhealthy cafeteria school lunches, we decided to provide healthier options for kids of all ages.

KAGAN: And what I like about your article here, you don't just tell us what to pack, you give us some ideas. First of all, mix up the colors for your kids.

PYUN: Yes. Fruits and vegetables of all different colors provide different disease-preventing compounds. So if mix greens with reds and oranges and yellows, you'll give a fuller spectrum of vitamins and minerals for your child.

KAGAN: It also makes it more interesting.

PYUN: Yes.

KAGAN: A lot more fun to eat. Keep in mind portions. Bigger isn't necessarily better.

PYUN: No, for small stomachs, you don't want to pack, like, a large bran muffin with tons of fiber, because they'll get full up on that before they receive their adequate share of nutrients.

KAGAN: Make it easy for the kids to eat.

PYUN: Sure, I mean, are they going to stir in the fruit to the yogurt?

KAGAN: No.

PYUN: Or peel the orange?

KAGAN: No.

PYUN: Give them grapes or peeled oranges or cut up melon. It will make it much easier.

KAGAN: Some -- if you let your kid kind of participate in the process.

PYUN: Yes. If they feel like they have some decision-making in what they're eating for lunch, they'll be a little bit more motivated to eat well.

KAGAN: But if you give your kids too many choices, that can be a little bit overwhelming.

PYUN: Sure. You want to sort of find that happy middle.

KAGAN: What about snacks?

PYUN: Well, you always want to pack a snack for those in-between times. So something like non-fat yogurt or dried fruit or fruits and vegetables. Those are great. And this way, they'll be sure to get their nutrition. However, you know, if they don't have a perfect lunch, don't worry about it. It's only one meal out of the day, and you have two other meals to make sure that they get their adequate nutrition.

KAGAN: Your kids are not going to starve.

PYUN: No, they're not.

KAGAN: Basically. Don't get in that big battle.

PYUN: What about some of the goodies you brought along with you today? Anything in particular you want to point out?

KAGAN: Sure. Well, for preschoolers here, we have turkey and string cheese rollups. And they're great for kids who don't like sandwiches. They can get in their protein that way. Here we have Newman's O's, which taste and look just like Oreos -- they won't know the difference -- but they don't have any of those transfats. So that's really great for preschoolers.

For elementary schoolers, we have here Peanut Butter and Company's cinnamon raisin swirl peanut butter with sliced bananas and whole grain bread. And every bite, you get protein, you get potassium, you get fiber. It's really terrific.

KAGAN: Sign me up for that.

PYUN: Yes, it's yummy. And we taste-tested these for kids. Because, you know, not only should it be good for them, it should taste good, or else it will go to waste.

KAGAN: So you got -- so the kids that showed them to, they liked it and they ate it?

PYUN: They loved it. They also loved these Earthbound Farms pre-packaged mini carrots and ranch dressing dip, because kids like to dunk their vegetables.

KAGAN: Yes, like to dip.

PYUN: And for junior high students, we recommend Stony Field Farms squeezers. These are yogurt in a tube, to get in that calcium into the lunch mix. Also, as a great soda substitute, we love Santa Cruz organic sparkling tangerine juice. It satisfies the sweet tooth without adding in all that high fructose corn syrup, which isn't very good for you.

And then, finally for high schoolers, we found that a lot of teenagers like to experiment with vegetarianism. So we recommend hummus, which has great protein, and whole grain pita bread, which has vitamin B and fiber, and a spinach salad with cherry tomatoes and radishes, packed with antioxidants and vitamin C. And the feta cheese is creamy tasting, but lower in fat than other cheeses.

KAGAN: Excellent choice. The only problem with this whole segment, you made me really hungry for my lunch. Other than that, great job. Jeanie Pyun, editor of "Organic Style" magazine. Thank you for...

PYUN: Thank you.

KAGAN: ... for packing those ideas in.

And to get your "Daily Dose" of health news online, just click onto our Web site. You'll find the latest medical news, a health library and information on diet and fitness. The address is CNN.com/health.

No one likes a litter bug, but do you fine a 4-year-old? Is that going too far? Ooh, there's the culprit right there. We'll talk about that, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Once again, we want to show you pictures that we are following from settlements in Gaza, protesters at Jewish settlements and in synagogues refusing to leave. There have been a number of confrontations over the morning, over the afternoon between Israeli soldiers and police and protesters. We're told most of them are not even from that area, either settlers from the West Bank or elsewhere in Israel who have moved in to make a protest, both a political and a religious statement, about not wanting to give up that area.

More on that ahead from international news at the top of the hour.

(MARKET UPDATE)

KAGAN: Well, the suspect in this next story, she's not talking; she's too busy doing twirls on her front lawn. And the police, well, they're talking all right -- they're talking trash.

Reporter Jean Macon (ph) from our New Hampshire affiliate WMUR looks at this dirty scandal that is rocking a New England community.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEAN MACON (ph), WMUR REPORTER (voice-over): If Natasha has started a criminal career at the early age of 4, if this is the face of a little litter bug, she's not talking, even when interrogated by her own mother.

TRACY CARTER, NATASHA'S MOTHER: Did you throw the ball out the window? You don't remember? No.

MACON: But a Hooksett police officer remembers the incident in question. He says he witnessed several objects fly out the rear passenger side window of this car as it drove here, along Hooksett Road in Hooksett on July 26th.

This is where Natasha was sitting that day and the officer says in a two-mile stretch, a ball, possibly like this one, along with a toy or two, even a wrapper, flew out Natasha's window. About 10 days later, an officer came to Natasha's house and gave her mother a littering ticket for $288.

CARTER: She doesn't remember throwing the ball out the window. And I didn't notice that she did. I didn't see it. If I did, I would have stopped.

MACON: Police say they were following the littering law. A ticket can go to the litterer or the driver. But the mother behind the wheel says she wishes the officer just gave her a warning.

CARTER: I told him, she's only 4 years old. I had no idea. You know, she didn't know that she was littering.

MACON: Hooksett police issued this statement: "It's the position of our department not to discuss this case any further and await a trial date, at which time the case will be heard by the judge."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Natasha's stepdad says, You bet we're going to fight the ticket. He's just a little ticked that he has to take some time off work to go to court. The police officer offering no apologies. He says he once ticketed a motorist for flicking a cigarette butt out of a window.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: That's going to wrap up this hour.

I'm Daryn Kagan.

International news is up next, including more on this story out of Gaza, out of Kfar Darom, this settlement, this synagogue where protesters are saying they will not leave.

Much more ahead on "YOUR WORLD TODAY." I will see you tomorrow morning.

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