Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Train of Death; Taylor Captured; Solar Eclipse; A Man of Firsts; Banking On Success; Afghan Convert Offered Asylum; Choosing A Safe Helmet Tips

Aired March 29, 2006 - 10:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: OK. We are way out of time.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We are. And it's time for Daryn Kagan.

MILES O'BRIEN: Hey, Daryn.

COSTELLO: She's at the CNN Center.

Hey, Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. You guys enjoy yourselves in New York City today, OK.

MILES O'BRIEN: We will.

KAGAN: And we'll go ahead and get started.

We're talking about something on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, immigration reform. It is the hot topic in Washington. The Senate is debating a bill that would create a guest worker program for the millions of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. As we look at live pictures from Capitol Hill. President Bush supports it and he's heading to Cancun today for a summit with the leaders of Canada and Mexico on the immigration issue.

So for the thousands of people in Latin America, the chance to get here to the U.S. is a story of desperation and danger. It means riding the rails on the train of death. CNN's Ed Lavandera has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): The trail of desperation starts here in Chiapas, Mexico. These rail lines have been described as a graveyard without crosses.

SONIA NAZARIO, AUTHOR, "ENRIQUE'S JOURNEY": They call it [foreign language], the train of death.

LAVANDERA: Tens of thousands of Central American migrants hop trains heading north on this 1,200-mile journey from Tapachula to border towns like Nuevo Laredo. They'll battle bandits who rob and rape, they'll go hungry and thirsty for days. And out of exhaustion, some will fall off the trains. Thousands have died. NAZARIO: Many of them die silently alongside the rails. They bleed to death.

LAVANDERA: Sonia Nazario says the journey is hell. She knows because she rode the train reporting for her book titled "Enrique's Journey." The story of a teenage boy who rode the train.

NAZARIO: They risk losing arms to the train, losing legs to the train, losing their life, but they're willing to take that risk.

LAVANDERA: We asked Nazario to be our guide through Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.

NAZARIO: Once you get this far north, the stakes are very high.

LAVANDERA: Nazario took us to this shelter in this boarder town. It's where we meet 18-year-old Narden Garero (ph). He spent the last month walking and riding the train through Mexico. He left Honduras with $10. Bandits robbed him of that. Some days he only ate tortillas people would throw on his train. All this to reunite with his father who he hasn't seen in two years.

He says having a father is the most marvelous thing in the world. I think about him all the time. He loved me so much when we were together.

Nazario says the economic and personal desperation of their lives drives them to attempt this dangerous journey. And she warns more will keep coming.

NAZARIO: It grows every year and it's growing because of the desperation in these home countries where people just cannot feed their children and so they see it as the only way to be able to do that.

LAVANDERA: When night falls on the shelter in Nuevo Laredo, this group of migrants rest and pray. They survived the most treacherous part of their journey, but they're still far from the promised land.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Three heads of state, one tough reporter who says it's time for answers. Lou Dobbs is crossing the border in hot pursuit of those answers. Today Lou will land in Mexico, a "Broken Border" special report on "Lou Dobbs Tonight." That's tonight live from Mexico in about eight hours.

One last chance in the life or death legal fight of a confessed terrorist. In less than three hours, closing arguments in the Zacarias Moussaoui sentencing trial. He is the only man charged in the U.S. with involvement in the 9/11 terror plot. He plead guilty. After lawyers have their say, Moussaoui's fate will then be in the hands of the jury. They'll have to decide if he is eligible for the death penalty. Israel is filled with history, and now the country's politicians are making a little of it for themselves. For the first time, labor or Likud will not be party in power. Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is declaring victory for his Kadima party following Tuesday's elections. Kadima won 28 seats, more than any other party. But it's far from a majority, meaning it must now work to form a coalition government. Mr. Olmert says that he wants to move forward with plans to withdraw from much of the West Bank and he's offering to talk with Palestinians, but he says he will not wait indefinitely.

Remember these pictures from post-Katrina New Orleans? Today, a state grand jury is taking a closer look at this beating. It happened last October on Bourbon Street. A news crew covering the storm's damage videotaped the incident. Prosecutors are seeking indictments against the city police officers involved. A decision could come before the weekend.

And now to international news. He was a wanted warlord when you woke up, and now the former Liberian president is a prisoner. Charles Taylor is being flown home to Liberia right now where U.N. peacekeeping troops plan to take him into custody to face charges of war crimes. Taylor was captured while trying to flee Nigeria, which is where he had been living in exile since 2003. Our Africa Correspondent Jeff Koinange is following this developing story.

Jeff, what happens now to Charles Taylor now that he's in custody?

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we're hearing right now is that Mr. Taylor is actually on his way. He's airborne, heading back to his original home in Liberia. The Nigerians saying we don't want anything more to do with this man. The president there saying in a statement that Mr. Taylor is no longer a friend of Nigeria. He's embarrassed the country, especially in the last 24 hours. Now they don't want anything more to do with him.

So what happens now? Well, he heads back to Liberia, but for how long? The Liberians don't want him there because he is a liability and he is a threat to the security of the country. They want to ship him next door to Freetown, Sierra Leone, where an international criminal court is waiting for him to stand charges, 17 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. That's the court itself. But the government of Sierra Leone doesn't want him there. This is literally a man without a country. The Nigerians don't want him, the Liberians don't want him, the Sierra Leonians don't want him. So he is in a fix as we speak.

KAGAN: But somebody wants him because they want him to face the charges of the war crimes. So he has to go somewhere.

KOINANGE: No doubt about that. He will have to face those charges at some point. In fact, Mr. Taylor himself did say he would prefer to go to The Hague and face a criminal court there. That doesn't seem very likely because that criminal court set up in Freetown, Sierra Leone, was supposed to charge the perpetrators of what they call the revolutionary united front. And Mr. Taylor is supposed to have aided and abetted these revolutionary forces that hacked their way into a 10-year civil war responsible for tens of thousands of deaths. If they have their way, he will eventually end up in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

KAGAN: Jeff, Charles Taylor has been in Nigeria for some time now. Why was the welcome mat suddenly snatched away?

KOINANGE: The welcome mat was suddenly snapped away because Mr. Taylor, a, overstayed his welcome, and, b, he tried to flee. I mean how could he -- according to the Nigerians, how could he do this to them? Because they feel he was a total embarrassment. They had housed him, they had given him a villa. He was living there in luxury, if you will, for the better part of two-and-a-half years.

Then when the announcement was made this past weekend, the Nigerians thought, well, Mr. Taylor, it's finally time for him to go home. But he had other plans, trying to flee the country. And if it wasn't for that very alert border guard, Mr. Taylor would probably have disappeared into thin air as we speak.

KAGAN: So, ultimately, where do you think, in your best guess, where he will end up?

KOINANGE: Best guess would still be that international criminal court in Freetown, Sierra Leone, under heavy guard. And we must add under heavy guard because, again, we must emphasize, Mr. Taylor, no doubt about it, has a huge support, both in Liberia and neighboring Sierra Leone. Whether it's fear or whatever it is, but he has a huge support. If he is taken to Freetown, which he probably will, have to be under very heavy guard, make sure he eventually gets his day in court.

KAGAN: Jeff Koinange live from Africa. Jeff, thank you.

TV, the basketball court and now the bank vault. Robert Johnson branches out. I'll talk with this business pioneer just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Let's go ahead and check the latest numbers on Wall Street. The Dow coming down a little bit from where it was earlier. It is up 13 points. The Nasdaq up just a tiny bit as well. It is up just over four points.

Well, nothing like a little solar eclipse to start your day. Helped me get going.

Chad, what about you? What did you think of the solar eclipse?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, we started getting pictures here about 5:15, the complete solar eclipse there. It really was amazing how perfectly the moon fits right in front of the sun. and then this is what they call the diamond ring. You can kind of figure out why.

KAGAN: I get that. MYERS: And then the moon moves away, and then it becomes just the partial. But it was a large, full eclipse all the way from Brazil, right on almost all the way across the Atlantic Ocean, and then up across Turkey to Mongolia. So that's a pretty big swathe of total eclipse. And then partial, obviously, around it.

An eclipse happens two or three times, maybe every decade, every two to three years. The only one that we're going to be able to see here in North America, though, will be in the year 2017. So that's a while to go.

Daryn.

KAGAN: And we're going to talk other weather later?

MYERS: Sure. Can do.

KAGAN: OK. Don't go far.

MYERS: It's very wet in California and it's been wet, but finally drying out in Hawaii. Those are the big things.

KAGAN: Those are the big news. And we'll hear more about that in just a little bit.

Chad, thank you for that.

MYERS: You're welcome.

KAGAN: Well, you can measure Robert Johnson's success in one simple word -- first. As in first African-American businessman to, well, fill in the blank. Almost everything he has touched has turned to gold. Yet Robert Johnson came from very humble beginnings.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN, (voice over): Robert Johnson is the classic rags to riches story. Ten siblings and he was the only one to make it to college. Johnson got a $15,000 loan to launch Black Entertainment Television back in 1979. Twenty-two years later, he sold B.E.T. to media giant Viacom for nearly $3 billion. That deal made Johnson America's first black billionaire.

There were more pioneering days ahead. In 2003, Johnson became the first African-American majority owner of a professional sports team. Today he's the boss of both the NBA Charlotte Bobcats and the WNBA Charlotte Sting. Not all of Johnson's dreams have come true. A plan to run a spin-off airline called DC Air never got off the ground.

Johnson keeps his hand in several other businesses. Last month he expanded his hotel empire, snapping up 100 properties, mostly Marriotts and Hiltons. And just last week, Johnson acquired a small Florida savings and loan. He's renaming it Urban Trust, moving it to Washington, D.C., and positioning it to become a major financial services company. Johnson will reach out to a community in need of those services, a theme he touched on when he took over the Bobcats.

ROBERT JOHNSON, BOBCATS OWNER: There is evidence of any kind of discrimination that's in the fact that African-Americans have not been able to get access to the economic pie in America the way many white Americans have.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Well, he is looking to bake the pie. Robert Johnson joining me now from Washington to talk about Urban Trust Bank.

Mr. Johnson, good morning.

ROBERT JOHNSON, ENTREPRENEUR: Hey, Daryn, good morning to you too.

KAGAN: Why a bank? There's other minority banks out there, other institutions already serving the minority community.

JOHNSON: Well, first of all, let me correct something that was on the tape. We are not moving Metro Bank out of Orlando. That's going to be a great market for it. We're going to bring a branch to Washington, D.C. so the people in Orlando will get better service out of the renamed Urban Trust Bank. It's now Metro.

KAGAN: So it's about addition, not subtraction.

JOHNSON: Absolutely.

KAGAN: OK. We're on the same page there.

OK. So then back to my question -- why a bank?

JOHNSON: Well, as you know, a bank is sort of the engine that drives the economics of a person's life, their financial well being. Everybody needs a bank. But I think what people need more is a bank that could adapt to their personal lifestyle, who understands their personal financial situation. And I think under that scenario, African-Americans, and many people in urban markets, many minorities, have been under-served by some of the larger banks that are not focused on understanding the personal needs of access to capital, management of the assets that they have, creditworthiness and all the other issues that go to whether or not people can get access to finances to better their lives.

KAGAN: So let me ask you this. Are you looking to serve a community or make money?

JOHNSON: Well, in the banking business, you first have to focus on serving the community, because it's a commodity business to many. In many instances, there are banks all across the street. So you've got to focus on being a service provider and understanding why a person will walk into your bank and look to borrow money for a home, look to borrow money for a student loan, look to borrow money for a small business or look to keep their money with you because you're helping them understand how to manage it. So all of those things go into making a bank better. And, clearly, you have to make money in the banking business. But you really have to start with a personal commitment to service based on the demographic lifestyle of your customers.

KAGAN: Anybody who's had the kind of success that you have had is going to have critics. And you know you have them out there, especially from your days of creating and running B.E.T., that you were more interested in making money, that you're cheap, that you're not really interested in reflecting the best of the black community.

JOHNSON: Well, Daryn, let me say that there's absolutely nothing wrong with making money or even making a lot of money. And at B.E.T. I was very proud of the fact that we created the most valuable African-American business in the history of this country. We made many B.E.T. executives multimillionaires. But, at the same time, we revolutionized the record industry for a lot of black artists and we created an entertainment brand that has been embraced by African- Americans and many other Americans all across this country. So I'm very proud of what was accomplished at B.E.T.

And with that same enthusiasm and commitment to serving the black community that I brought to B.E.T., I'm going to bring to Urban Trust. And I think the proof will be in the pudding in terms of the customers who will embrace this bank, the African-Americans who recognize that I'm personally committed to changing the wealth equation in this nation so blacks don't lag so far behind white Americans in terms of personal net worth.

KAGAN: Well, let me just ask you, do you get tired of asking questions like that? When Donald Trump, let's just say, when he launches a new venture, another big white businessman, no one asks them to defend their desire to make a profit and make a lot of money.

JOHNSON: You know, Daryn, it goes with the territory. For so long, African-Americans have somewhat been turned off to business ownership, or wealth creation, because we started as a people much in the church, in the social activist movement, community base. Wealth ownership and wealth retention has something come late to African- Americans as a philosophy and ideology. I simply happen to be the person who personifies it to a lot of people, and so I get some of the critiques. But it goes with the territory.

But as I said before, I'm extremely proud of the fact that when I see an opportunity, whether it's in owning an NBA team, starting B.E.T., creating a hedge fund or funds or a private equity fund, whatever I see a chance where African-Americans can go into a market that's under-served, bring very talented people to this opportunity, I'm going to do it. I mean, we've done this in the hotel business. We've got 3 billion under management in the hotel sector and that's simply a matter of having talent and management to bring to an opportunity. And I will forever be a champion of that strategy to create wealth.

KAGAN: You are a busy man. Hey, I want to get your take on something, the big topic in the town where you are right now, immigration reform. This is something that a lot of people do believe is important to the black community because, as President Bush points out, he says that many people are here are taking jobs that Americans don't want to do. If you could have a say, let's say in the Senate where they are debating this on Capitol Hill, how would you turn around the immigration situation here in the U.S.?

JOHNSON: You know, as an African-American who understands discrimination, understands the need for equal opportunity, I support President Bush. You've got to take those people who come here looking for jobs, who are law abiding citizens who want to live the American dream, give them that opportunity, and then you've got to work out a system to have people who want to come to this country and who want to be a part of our great freedoms and economic opportunity, a system where they can enter in this country.

To me, that's what made this country great, by opening doors to immigrants when they came and landed at the Statue of Liberty. And, frankly, if we're going to continue to be great, we've got to keep those doors open. And so I thoroughly encourage the Senate to legalize workers who are here and make it possible for other people to be a part of the American dream.

KAGAN: And no one knows the American dream better than you. Robert Johnson, good luck with the new bank.

JOHNSON: Hey, Daryn, thanks a lot.

KAGAN: Good to have you on.

JOHNSON: Bye-bye.

KAGAN: This just in to CNN. You know, the Afghan-Muslim who became a Christian is out of prison and on his way out of the country. Just minutes ago, we learned that Abdul Rahman has left Afghanistan, but it's not clear where he's headed. Earlier today, Italy offered him asylum. As you might recall, Rahman faced a possible death penalty for converting to Christianity. The Bush administration applied international pressure and even the pope appealed for his life to be spared. Tom Coghlan on the phone right now from Kabul with more on this story.

Tom, what can you tell us?

THOMAS COGHLAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I can tell you that Abdul Rahman is on a plane and he is on his way to Italy. This is coming from the Italian embassy in Kabul. They've confirmed in the last few minutes that Abdul Rahman -- he was accepted earlier as an asylum seeker by the Italian cabinet. He is on his way there now and he will land in Italy in a few hours time.

KAGAN: And we'll continue to cover the story from the Italian viewpoint. Tom Coghlan live on the phone from Kabul. Once again, the Afghan Christian convert, Abdul Rahman, on his way from Kabul to Italy.

Some call it treatment, others say it's torture.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ow! Oh, man! That hurts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: That's our Randi Kaye taking a closer look at a controversial treatment for troubled kids. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Spring is in the air and so are baseball, softballs and other things that can just kind of knock you silly. The right helmet can reduce your risk of head injury by about 85 percent. Earlier this hour, the Consumer Product Safety Commission released a new guide on how to choose the right head gear. CNN's Gerri Willis shares some advice in today's "Top Five Tips."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If your child is going to be taking part in sports this spring, safety is job number one for parents. Here are five tips on selecting the right helmet.

First of all, you should know the risks of not wearing a helmet. A bike helmet cuts your risk of head injury up to 85 percent. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, bicyclists find themselves in the hospital most often, followed by skateboarders and horseback riders.

Tip number two is to get the right helmet. Different sports require different kinds of helmets. To figure out which helmet is right for which activity, check out the new safety guide on the Consumer Product Safety Commission's website at cpsc.gov.

Tip number three is to look beyond the packaging. To figure out how safe the helmet is, look inside the liner to find the CPSC label. This will tell you if the helmet has passed those safety standards. Don't rely on brand names.

Tip number four is to make sure you get the right fit. The helmet should be completely level on your child's head. You don't want the helmet to fall backward or be pulled too low over the forehead. The helmet should not move in any direction. The chin strap should be securely buckled. And, most importantly, the helmet should be comfortable.

And finally, make sure you know when to replace your helmet. Bike helmets are only designed to protect against a single impact. So even if there aren't any visible signs of damage, you'll want to replace a bike helmet after an accident. On the other hand, football or ice hockey helmets are meant to withstand multiple impacts.

This is "Five Tips" and I'm Gerri Willis.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: They stared into the eyes of the 9/11 hijackers but have faded from the eyes of the public. A widower pays tribute to his wife and the other crew members who died aboard the hijacked planes.

(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