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CNN Live Today
DNA Tests Planned for Two Bodies Found in Iraq; New Documentary About Illegal Immigration Generating Some Buzz
Aired June 20, 2006 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Story now on Equifax, one of the biggest credit agencies in the country. It has had an employee's laptops stolen. It happened in London, and now some of its own employees, in fact more than half of its Atlanta-based employees now have a possible situation with identity theft.
On this hard drive, there were employee names and partial and full Social Security numbers. Equifax has offered free credit counseling and also free fraud alerts to be put on their own credit files through Equifax.
An update now on our top story. The military says DNA tests are planned for the two bodies found in Iraq. The remains are believed to be two U.S. soldiers who went missing last night. They were found last night. But the military was afraid the area was booby-trapped.
Major General William Caldwell talked about that this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM CALDWELL, U.S. ARMY: The initial report I got was it was the coalition forces down there operating that did spot them, but perceived to be an unstable condition, so we secured the area with a fairly large group of soldiers last night, so as to protect that and allow nobody to either enter or exit that location. And then at first dawn, brought in explosive ordinances and other assets and went in and recovered our -- what we believed to be our two American soldiers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: That pair had not been seen since a checkpoint attack on Friday. The timeline still not exactly here, but Caldwell says he believed the men were killed somewhere else and then their bodies moved.
Private Thomas Tucker's town, the kind of place where everybody knows everybody else, making today's news out of Iraq that much tougher to take.
CNN's Brianna Keilar joins me now from Madras, Oregon.
Brianna, what have you been able to learn about Private Tucker.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, at this point, we're keeping our distance from the Tucker family home, as the family is not talking to the media at this point, but we have talked to a lot of people around town, and they much describe Tom Tucker as a very likable guy, someone you can remember going to high school with, someone who liked a good joke and a good laugh, but was really liked by a lot of people.
This morning in the 5:00 hour, we saw some people come by the house. They stood out front. They -- people were hugging, crying, consoling each other. And as you said, this is the type of town, Madras is the type of town, where everybody knows everyone. And so everyone that we've talked to is familiar with the Tucker family and they've just been stunned by this news.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SENA WOOD, HIGH SCHOOL CLASSMATE: It's a shock when it hits home. It's like your neighbor, your best friend, and it's not something that happens in a small town, and it's not something that happened around here at all. But when it does, it's just -- it's heartbreaking. Everybody knows everybody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: And that woman you just heard from was Sena Wood. She graduated class of 1999 from Madras High School with Tom Tucker, and she and her younger sister, Candace, were hanging signs, flags and ribbons along the main street here in Madras yesterday, trying to bring awareness to the situation. They say in high school Tom Tucker was very likable, and they just want to make sure everyone, Daryn, keeps the Tucker family and PFC Tom Tucker in their thoughts and prayers.
Brianna Keilar live now from Madras, Oregon. Thank you, Brianna.
A new documentary about illegal immigration is generating some buzz. The director didn't go on location to shoot, she just walked out her front door. CNN Ted Rowland's met with her for "PAULA ZAHN NOW."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 63-year-old retired school teacher Mercedes Maharis moved to Cochise County, Arizona with her husband five years ago.
MERCEDES MAHARIS: We came here to spend the last years of our life hopefully in peace.
ROWLANDS: Mercedes says this is her dream home. It's quiet, safe and peaceful here. At least that's what she thought until one night shortly after they moved in.
MAHARIS: I actually thought I was going to have a heart attack that night. This terrible giant helicopter was just coming right up our drive, it hovered right here and was flashing lights around.
ROWLANDS: This is home video from that night. MAHARIS: I ran back in. Got my camera. Came out. I was in my night gown and I just started shooting.
ROWLANDS: Mercedes says about a dozen people were rounded up by the border patrol and she got it all on tape.
MAHARIS: I didn't think anyone would believe it unless they could see it.
ROWLANDS (on camera): This trail is how the people that Mercedes filmed that night got across the boarder. The boarder is just over this mountainside, about two miles away. Mercedes, that night, thought she was filming something special, but she would later find out that what she saw that night was actually an almost every day occurrence.
(voice-over): Almost every night Mercedes says people coming across the border walk right by her house, leaving behind trash and objects like this backpack.
MAHARIS: This was at the bottom of our drive Monday evening.
ROWLANDS: You haven't opened it yet?
MAHARIS: No
ROWLANDS: Inside dirt covered clothes, a toothbrush, some medication and deodorant. Mercedes decided to use her video camera to document what was happening, not only to her but to other residents in Cochise County, so she started interviewing people.
MAHARIS: I talked to ranchers, activists, pacifists, boarder patrol.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would say it is about 98 percent that are Mexican nationals.
ROWLANDS: She gathered video from the sheriff and border patrol.
MAHARIS: I wasn't going to make a huge production of it, I was just making a record of life and death on the border.
ROWLANDS: But five years and more than 24 hours of videotape later, Mercedes has created a 70-minute documentary and publicist say more than 20,000 copies of her DVD sold in the first month. It's a compilation of interviews, video and photos she's collected. Mercedes even helped write the original music.
(MUSIC)
ROWLANDS: Mercedes set out to document the negative effects illegal immigration is having on her and her neighbors. But she's also been touched by those people she's met who risked their lives to get here.
MAHARIS: To me it is very dehumanizing to have to go to the bathroom in the desert and to not have enough water and ultimately to give your life because you have the hope that you might send some money back home.
ROWLANDS: She ends her documentary singing a song in Spanish with some very graphic photos showing people who died trying to cross the border.
MAHARIS: I just have a difficult time understanding how it has gotten to this point. I don't know why there's no energy that's been put into this particular problem.
ROWLANDS: Mercedes Maharis has put her energy into her documentary and with the current attention on immigration issue she hopes it might play a small part in solving the problem so she can finally start enjoying her dream home.
Ted Rowlands, CNN, Cochise County, Arizona.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: More stories from the border. Watch "PAULA ZAHN NOW," weeknights at 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific. Open wide, it is never too late to go straight, with your teeth that is. Braces for boomers and beyond. We'll give you a mouthful when LIVE TODAY returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: A rape case thrown out of court. The judge says she made the right decision, but plenty of people disagree, including the prosecutor. You can judge for yourself.
Dawn Kendrick of our affiliate WOIO has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAWN KENDRICK, WOIO REPORTER (voice-over): The 22-year-old from North Ridgeville is accused of molesting his 9-year-old neighbor, who's now 16. The prosecutor, Mark Schneider wanted Judge Eileen Gallagher to recuse herself because she had quote, "questioned the young victim's credibility," citing details in a Department of Children and Family Services report.
When Gallagher refused to recuse herself and then reset the trial for later that afternoon, Schneider starts putting together a motion to have her dismissed. When Schneider comes back,a half hour late, Gallagher had already dismissed the entire case.
EILEEN GALLAGHER, CUYAHOGA CO. COMMON PLEAS JUDGE: His behavior was absolutely unprofessional. They never called. And had they called, it certainly would have been a different situation.
MARK SCHNEIDER, ASST. COUNTRY PROSECUTOR: Make no mistake about it, this case will be reinstated, whether it's through appeal or us refiling the case. This little girl is going to get her justice.
GALLAGHER: I firmly believe I did nothing inappropriate and I am prepared to hear the case and render a verdict on the evidence.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: And we'll be tracking that story. Meanwhile, from the world of religion, a major vote for the Presbyterian Church today. A national assembly is deciding whether to allow some leeway on the ordination of gay clergy, lay elders and deacons. The church has been divided over the issue for years. Some predict the vote could keep the church together or tear it apart.
And Episcopalians are also focusing on a divisive issue: gay bishops. Their general convention is deciding whether delegates should at least temporarily bar gays from serving as bishops. The moratorium is aimed at finding common ground with conservatives. They're still angry over the 2003 consecration of openly gay bishop Gene Robinson. If Anglican leaders from around the world take issue with today's vote, there is concern the church could split.
And now onto "Daily Dose" of health news. At the stage that some people are ready for dentures, others are thinking about braces. They're proving it's never too late to smile.
CNN's Christy Feig has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTY FEIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For 57-year-old Mary Osterman, seeing her fourth grade students improve their smiles made her think about her own teeth. So about a year later, she decided to join her pupils and get braces. Not only would she have a prettier smile, but straighter teeth meant a better chance of keeping her own teeth.
MARY OSTERMAN, ORTHODONTIC PATIENT: And I think that if we all go out of this world with our own teeth, all the better.
FEIG: Mary's orthodontist, Dr. Eduardo Gerlein treats anyone from kindergarteners to seniors in their 70s. He says many older people want to improve their looks, while others begin to face dental problems and turn to orthodontics to fix them.
DR. EDUARDO GERLEIN, GERLEIN ORTHODONTICS: Your teeth will actually work better and they are going to be easier to clean and they're going to likely last longer.
FEIG: As we get into our 40s and 50s, the dentist may see a more valid need for braces. Even older people who have had orthodontic work in their teens may need them again to straighten their teeth to avoid gum disease or other problems. That's because braces are only a dental facelift. As we age, teeth usually begin to shift.
GERLEIN: It's like wrinkles. There's no way around it. You're going to have teeth that are drifting.
FEIG: Orthodontists also say technology has made it easier for adult patients to wear braces without having that tinsel teeth look. Clear and porcelain brackets are more discrete, making the braces almost invisible, while still improving a person's smile.
I'm Christy Feig reporting from Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: And to get your "Daily Dose" of health news online, log on to 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.
We're about 16 minutes away from a lot of international news. Michael Holmes joins us now. Michael, good to see you.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Good to see you, too, Daryn.
Yes, it is World Refugee Day. We've been talking about that a lot, and we're going to take everyone right around the world, from the Palestinian territories, to Pakistan, to Sudan, to look at the plight of the millions of people who are refugees today and what's being done to help them, to sort out their lives and perhaps even get them home.
We're going to have lots of interviews, as well. We're going to speaking to one of the now famous lost boys of Sudan. Also, Jim Clancy's been talking with the U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Have a lengthy interview with him, too. Very important on this particular day.
It is World Refugee Day on YOUR WORLD TODAY, so join me and Hala Gorani, coming up at 12:00 Eastern. Until then, back to you -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Michael, thank you.
We, too, are also talking about World Refugee Day. That's just ahead. Off-stage, actress Angelina Jolie plays a major role for the world's refugees. We'll hear what she has to say about her work with refugees. It's an exclusive interview with our Anderson Cooper.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Millions of people on the run from war, persecution, famine and natural disasters. Today is World Refugee Day, and all day long, CNN is focusing on this critical issue and potential solutions.
Around the world, millions of people have been uprooted. The U.N. says five nationalities are of particular concern. Afghan's nearly three million, Colombians 2.5 million, Iraqis nearly two million, Sudanese 1.6 million and Somalis 839,000. Children make up around half of the world's refugee population.
Well, when she's not at work in Hollywood, actress Angelina Jolie takes the world stage. She is the goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Refugee Agency. Jolie has traveled to more than 20 countries and she has donated more than three million dollars for refugee causes. She gave an exclusive interview to our Anderson Cooper. The actress talks about her efforts to help those displaced in Africa and around the world. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Since the late '90s, I mean, more than 3 million people have died. A thousand, they say, die a day from war-related conditions, malnutrition and things like that.
JOLIE: And there's all the rapes and (INAUDIBLE) that...
COOPER: Oh, the rapes.
JOLIE: ... which is -- and from Rwanda, which, you know...
COOPER: Right.
JOLIE: That shocked me. I didn't realize how that was still intricate. I mean, that's the thing you realize, and I think why people worried about Darfur now. You -- one area of Africa falls apart and then how it just destabilizes as a region. And you can see from Rwanda, still affecting Congo, from these, you know...
COOPER: It's also so often women and children who are the ones bearing the brunt of all this. I mean, in the Congo, it's women being raped, tens of thousands of women. I mean, I read that you saw children who had been, you know, macheted. And what is that like to see that? I mean, to see that being done to kids?
JOLIE: It's just -- well, I mean, how do you possibly explain that? It's like, being in Sierra Leone, I saw a 3-year-old who had her arms cut off? And you just think, you know, what kind of a human being -- you try to imagine, it must be drugs, it must be -- but what kind of a person could do that?
And the rapes in the Congo are so brutal. I mean, for the people that don't know about it, there's so much. And even recently, I had a baby in Africa, and people talking about the surgeries and the different types of surgeries. But they talk so much about Congo and having to sew the kids back together because they've been just ripped completely open.
And, you know, that's -- how do you make sense of any of that? It doesn't make any sense. It's disgusting and it's horrible and it needs -- you start to wonder, with all of these things, when does it take us as an international community to just get together and say, OK, that just has to stop. Joseph Cohen (ph) has to stop. And it has to stop now. How long does it have to take for us to start to enforce an international law on these kind of situations and deal with it immediately?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: You can watch Anderson Cooper's exclusive interview with Angelina Jolie. It is tonight at 10 Eastern on "AC360."
And news out of Palm Springs, California. A tanker fire causing big problems on I-10. This tanker truck was carrying jet fuel. It's burning in the eastbound lanes of I-10 near Palm Springs. That's the interchange with state Route 62. That's not closed, and westbound traffic is still moving. So a tanker fire on I-10 near Palm Springs. More on that story, plus some travel struggles. We'll tell you more about that, after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: You want to talk about a travel mess, Airtran Airways installing a new computer system overnight. The whole thing is really not working. And here in Atlanta, some of the biggest problems taking place, passengers saying it's taking them four to five hours to check in for a flight. WSB, our affiliate here in Atlanta, reporting that the long delays checking in here at Hartsfield. This new computer system installed overnight, and that is what is causing the problems, with having apparently to check-in people by hand. Yikes! What a problem with that.
(BUSINESS HEADLINES)
KAGAN: I'm Daryn Kagan. International news up next. Stay tuned for YOUR WORLD TODAY, and then I'll be right here with the latest headlines from the U.S. in about 20 minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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