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American Morning

Starving in Darfur; Separated Filipino Twins; '90-Second Pop'

Aired August 09, 2004 - 07:30   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Also this hour, those two Filipino boys separated last week after being joined at the head for the first two years of their very young lives. We'll get an update today on the condition for the two, and also their lead pediatrician will join us on that in a matter of moments here.
KAGAN: Plus, there is some "90-Second Pop" to get to. One of the richest people in the world is getting richer. Hundreds of millions of dollars thrown Oprah's way. Is she worth it? Our panel will take a look.

HEMMER: So, I hear she was going to retire in, like, 2006.

KAGAN: Yes.

HEMMER: You can forget about that, huh?

KAGAN: I think she's going to go at least until she's 57, she's saying now. She's a busy woman.

HEMMER: I'm telling you, and very wealthy at this point.

KAGAN: Yes, she's wealthy. She can cover her bills.

HEMMER: That's right. Let's get to Africa starting off this half-hour. Darfur, Sudan, is the scene of a major tragedy, ethnic cleansing and starvation. Many of the victims are very young children.

Christiane Amanpour live in West Darfur, Sudan. She's with us to talk about some very brave doctors battling the odds to try and save lives there.

Christiane -- hello.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Bill, good morning.

It's a really big battle, and the odds are stacked against both the doctors and the victims here. The active phase of so-called ethnic cleansing, the military campaign is mostly over. And now people are facing the rainy seasons and a desperate lack of food, medicine, adequate shelter and sanitation.

We ran into an American doctor -- usually he practices in Boston, Massachusetts -- who is doing what he can for the youngest victims.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR (voice over): Dr. Jonathan Spector is at war with Darfur's biggest killer now: malnutrition.

DR. JONATHAN SPECTOR, MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES: Today, he's very ill.

AMANPOUR: Dr. Spector is midway through a stint for the aid group, Medecins Sans Frontieres, in al-Junaynah, the capital of Western Darfur. He's a long way from his pediatric practice back in Boston.

SPECTOR: In a developed country, this child would be in an intensive care unit setting. He would be on a monitor. He would maybe even be getting -- for sure getting oxygen and maybe on a ventilator.

AMANPOUR: Here, he doesn't have simple diagnostics like blood tests. And every day he has to make a tough choice about who to treat.

SPECTOR: He's malnourished, doesn't actually meet criteria for admission to our camp because he's not severely malnourished. He's moderately malnourished.

AMANPOUR: But these children are severe cases, and every effort counts. Mothers are told to force formula into their skin-and-bones infants every three hours.

With malnutrition comes another killer: disease -- diarrhea, skin infections, septicemia. And all of these patients, like the Yaya (ph) family, have already been brutalized by the wave of ethnic cleansing perpetrated by government-backed militias over the past 18 months.

"They chased us from our home seven months ago and stole all our cattle. They killed three people in our family," says Halima (ph), as she watches over her starving daughter, Zahra (ph).

In another tent, Dr. Spector relishes a success.

SPECTOR: She's so much better. She looks marvelous.

AMANPOUR: But it's only a small success in a desperate bid to save about two million people in urgent need of food and medical relief. There's not nearly enough humanitarian aid or enough aid workers reaching the region.

And 18 months after this catastrophe began the world has coughed up less than half the funds the U.N. requested to save this part of Sudan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

What you're looking at now is a live picture. We're standing in one of the big camps in Junaynah, which is the capital of western Darfur. There are several thousand displaced people who are here. And some of those victims you saw at the hospital, they had come from these camps. They are the worst off. And then they are sent to the hospital.

The rainy season is just beginning to get under way, and that's what is going to cause the next big killer -- the epidemics, malaria, the water-borne diseases -- unless shelter, humanitarian aid, proper sanitation gets to these places quickly.

In all, there are more than a million people who have been displaced, some two million people who need urgent, urgent humanitarian assistance.

And the fact of the matter is that even though it's beginning to open up, the pipeline for humanitarian assistance is very, very slow. There was no pre-positioning of aid. There was no advanced thinking about this.

And now it's a race against time to save these hundreds of thousands of potential lives at risk -- Bill.

HEMMER: And the challenges are enormous clearly. Christiana, thanks. Christiane Amanpour in Sudan -- Daryn.

KAGAN: It is 34 minutes past the hour. Time for a look at some of the day's other headlines with Carol Costello.

Hi -- Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Daryn, thank you.

We have more on that Chicago fire we told you about just a short time ago. Firefighters are battling a four-alarm fire on the city's south side. A police spokesperson tells us the blaze is about two city blocks long. No injuries reported.

In California, a summer heat wave is forcing residents to cut back on their electricity usage for the second time this year. State authorities are issuing a power watch for today and warn of the possibility of a power emergency. Temperatures in parts of the state could hit triple digits today.

In Arizona, five illegal immigrants have died trying to cross the desert near the U.S.-Mexican border. The bodies were found yesterday, apparently members of a larger group that became stranded in the desert. Search efforts continue for a sixth group member.

In Texas, a Fort Worth police officer stopped an 18-wheeler and found at least 60 illegal immigrants jammed into the semi's trailer. The officer notified EMS, who attended to several people on the scene. The illegal immigrants were turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol. The driver of the vehicle will face smuggling charges.

And finally, today marks the three-year anniversary of President Bush's ban on some federally-funded stem cell research. Yesterday, California Republicans turned down a $3 billion measure to fund embryonic stem cell research in the state. State politicians say they defeated the proposition due to its high cost. But some politicians claim it's a political tactic. Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry supports stem cell research.

Back to New York and Daryn.

KAGAN: All right, Carol, thank you for that.

Let's check in on the twins. Doctors in New York say that formerly conjoined twins are exceeding expectations. But the risk of complications during the recovery is still very high. The two-year- old Filipino boys, Clarence on the left and Carl on -- actually, we've flipped that one around. It would be Carl on the left and Clarence on the right. They were separated during a landmark surgery last week.

Dr. Robert Marion, their lead pediatrician at Montefiore Medical Center, joins us with an update.

Dr. Marion, good morning.

DR. ROBERT MARION, MONTEFIORE MEDICAL CENTER: Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: What is the latest you can tell us about Carl and Clarence?

MARION: Well, I think they're doing really well. As you said, they're really exceeding expectations. I saw them a little while ago. They are both sleeping comfortably this morning, but their vital signs are fine. And there really have been no complications at all to speak of. They're really doing miraculously well.

KAGAN: When you say they are still sleeping, are you keeping them sedated purposely?

MARION: Yes. We are keeping them sedated in order to prevent them from feeling significant pain, but also to prevent them from moving around too much, because we really want their wounds to heel.

KAGAN: And is Carl in particular facing some more challenges with some brain fluid?

MARION: Yes. What happened with Carl was that when they -- at the time of surgery it was found that Clarence really owned the covering of the brain called the dura.

At the time of surgery, Dr. Goodrich had to rebuild a dura for Carl. And as a result of that, we are worried about the drainage of cerebral spinal fluid, the normal fluid that bathes and protects the brain in Carl.

So, we're worried that he may build up some fluid in his brain, a condition called hydrocephalus. But if that becomes the case, we may have to do a shunt on him. But that's certainly an eventuality that we almost expect, and we'll see if we really need to do that. KAGAN: I understand, it would seem to me to make sense that people are focusing on the brain and what happens with potential brain damage. But there's another challenge in that both systems -- now that you've separated these boys...

MARION: Yes.

KAGAN: ... their other body organs need to take over. How is that going for each boy?

MARION: It seems to be going pretty well. It was clear also from the beginning that Clarence was more dominant in some areas in terms of his body's functioning than Carl. Clarence was always hypertensive. He had increased blood pressure, and his kidneys were working more actively, I guess, than Carl.

Carl has done fine since the surgery, but it was almost as if at the time that the boys were separated it was almost as if the umbilical cord was cut, and Carl now has to start functioning on his own. He was dependent on Clarence for some of his normal functioning. But he seems to be doing fine. All systems are go.

KAGAN: An interesting dilemma for mom over the weekend, because since the boys are now separated for the first time they went to different places in the hospital. She had to choose which boy she was supposed to go with.

MARION: That's true. It becomes a very big problem for Arlene, their mom. She's only known them prior to surgery as Carl and Clarence together. When they went to the O.R. and were separated, Carl and Clarence basically ceased to be as a single entity. And they came back as two separate little boys.

And now she has to learn how really how to re-mother them. She has to learn how to bathe them and to feed them and all of the rest of the things that mothers normally have to learn to do in the first few weeks of life. She has to do that again now that they are almost two- and-a-third years of age. And it's going to be hard for her, and she knows that, and she recognizes that as a problem.

KAGAN: But I think it's a wonderful challenge that she looks forward to. I think she is expecting to speak later to the public?

MARION: I'm sorry, I didn't hear that.

KAGAN: She is going to hold a news conference or speak out later today?

MARION: Yes. Yes, she's going to speak today for the first time to the public. She's been under a lot of stress, as you can imagine, going through the build-up to the surgery and then the surgery itself. And I think today she is better rested, and she probably will be able to answer questions better than she has been able to do prior to this point.

KAGAN: A lot of members of the public are looking forward to that, Dr. Robert Marion. Dr, Marion, thank you.

MARION: Thank you, Daryn.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HEMMER: Daryn, here's one for you.

KAGAN: All right, I'm listening.

HEMMER: There were these four guys in a rowboat, right? They found themselves in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean during a hurricane. A true story. Four Brits in a lifeboat picked up by a Danish vessel 300 miles off England's southwestern tip. Their boat, the Pink Lady, battered by 30-foot waves and smashed in two on Sunday. You can see it just off to the right of that freighter before it set off from Newfoundland at the end of June.

They were trying to break a current record: 55 days, 2,100 miles on that journey. They didn't quite make it, but they are alive. The Coast Guard said one rower had hypothermia, another had slight hand injuries; otherwise, they are doing OK.

KAGAN: Row, row, row your boat.

HEMMER: So, there were these four guys...

KAGAN: I didn't know where you were going with that.

HEMMER: I know.

KAGAN: I'm like, is this a bad joke or something? But thanks for sharing.

HEMMER: Sure.

KAGAN: A lot more to share here on AMERICAN MORNING. If you are looking to TiVo, there is some good news coming ahead, and that's coming up next.

HEMMER: Also, Oprah has new reasons to smile, about 600 million of them. "90-Second Pop" is just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: All right. Now for a preview of the markets, also good news if you like to TiVo, Christine Romans is in for Andy Serwer. She is "Minding Your Business."

People swear by TiVo.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: I know. Isn't it funny how it's become a verb? This new technology has become a verb.

KAGAN: Yes. ROMANS: A TiVo, in case people don't know, is a gadget, the set- top box you put on top of your television set. And it allows you to freeze, you know, pause the TV while it's happening. You can rewind. People love it for sports, although I haven't personally ever used it for sports.

But part of the problem here is this great new way that people watch television, except the cable companies and the satellite TV companies are now into this game. And so, TiVo, which is the pioneer of this sort of, you know, live action television, stopping it and recording it, rewinding it, it's got to fight for its customers. So, it's going to offer a $100 rebate.

So, if you're interested in TiVo or you've got TiVo, look for that rebate there.

The stock, as you can see, has also been on sale by all -- yes, you don't have to be a stock watcher to know that that is not a very pretty picture right there. TiVo is down 35 percent this year.

Now quickly on the markets, we discussed how last week was a tough week. I wanted to show you what's happened over the past year.

The Nasdaq has really been hit hard -- look at that -- down 11.3 percent. The Dow is down six percent. The S&P 500 is down four percent. All kinds of problems, including record oil prices, terrorism concerns, a little thing called an election coming up, and a job market that's been a little bit soft. So, you can see that in the numbers.

HEMMER: Is that all that's going on?

KAGAN: I guess so.

ROMANS: That's it.

KAGAN: Keeping us in the business, at least.

ROMANS: It certainly is.

HEMMER: By the way, TiVo is overrated.

ROMANS: Do you think so?

HEMMER: The digital video recorder, the DVR you get through your cable company, try that one.

KAGAN: That's what I'm saying.

ROMANS: Well, that's why that chart looks that way.

HEMMER: Exactly right. Thank you.

ROMANS: All right.

HEMMER: Jack is out, and we're in mourning. Andy Borowitz, though, is picking up the slack here.

KAGAN: Welcome, Andy.

HEMMER: Nice to see you.

ANDY BOROWITZ, BOROWITZREPORT.COM: I feel good. I feel welcome.

Well, we've got quite a "Question of the Day." Republican Congressman Doug Ose from California has introduced new legislation to carve Ronald Reagan's face on Mount Rushmore. He would join the likes of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.

So, as long as we're talking about adding somebody new to Mount Rushmore, our question is: Whose face do you think should be added to Mount Rushmore? We got some interesting responses.

Tony from Roscoe, Illinois, writes: "Mount Rushmore is a work of art. It would be like adding JFK to the Statue of Liberty. She could be seen giving him a piggyback ride. Or maybe add Ronald Reagan at the table in Da Vinci's Last Supper."

Yikes! OK.

Elaine writes: "Why would anyone feel it necessary to change the face of Rushmore? There must be money in it somewhere for some bunch of fat cats, or it could be another political move to keep our minds off what is truly happening in America and the world."

OK.

Bobby from Valrico, Florida, writes: "I would like to see the face of President Jimmy Carter. This man has done a lot since leaving office in his efforts to make this a better world for all of us."

And here's one from Weldon in Canada -- and I'm not sure Weldon really has a vote since he's from Canada -- but he says: "Why not put a happy face on it so that America can at least see a bit of optimism in the future?"

That is a tremendously Canadian response.

And now Ted from Wyoming says: "I think Jack Cafferty's face..."

KAGAN: You knew that was coming.

BOROWITZ: "... should be carved on Mount Rushmore. Every face on there right now belongs to happy people. We need some diversity."

HEMMER: That's one way of looking at it, right?

BOROWITZ: There you go.

KAGAN: Jack's happy -- he's on vacation.

BOROWITZ: So, we'll have some more. Just e-mail us at am@cnn.com.

HEMMER: Good deal. Thank you, Andy.

BOROWITZ: There you go.

HEMMER: Let's get a break here. In a moment, Oprah is still on the air and will be for six more years, and you will not believe what it took to keep her there. The mega-deal is next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: We are reviving the career of Bon Jovi single-handedly here on AMERICAN MORNING. It's Monday, "90-Second Pop" time, rounding up the usual suspects today. Say hello to Toure, contributing editor for "Rolling Stone," Sarah of "New York" magazine," and B.J. from "US Weekly."

SARAH BERNARD, "NEW YORK" MAGAZINE: This is a game show.

HEMMER: No last names needed. You guys are as big as ever. It's like Elvis. It's like Madonna. It's like Oprah.

(CROSSTALK)

HEMMER: Let's start with Oprah, 600 million over six years, is that what it took?

BERNARD: I know. Yes, that's what it took. Well, you know, it proves that even if you're Oprah if you threaten to quit, you get a raise. So, this is actually very good strategy on her part. She...

HEMMER: She was going to retire in 2006.

BERNARD: She was going to retire, exactly, and then so she extended it five more years to 2011, which will be her 25th anniversary of the show.

Now, I think what's interesting about this what it does to all of the people who were preparing to fill her shoes, you know, Dr. Phil, Ellen DeGeneres, even the Jane Pauley show, which is starting up soon. I think they were really hoping that Oprah was going to move out of the way. It would be like if, you know, Johnny Carson was like, no, I'll stay five more years.

HEMMER: Right.

BERNARD: And then Jay Leno had nothing.

TOURE, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "ROLLING STONE": This is really actually good news for Hillary Clinton, because when Oprah is ready to run for president, it's over. It's her slam dunk. And your boy, Michael Moore, agrees with me. He says in his book Oprah could be president like that.

HEMMER: Whose boy?

TOURE: Michael Moore.

HEMMER: Whose boy?

(CROSSTALK)

HEMMER: Go ahead, B.J.

B.J. SIGESMUND, "US WEEKLY": The thing with Oprah is she's not doing it for the money. She's already a billionaire. She lives better than Donald Trump. She has her own private jet.

But Oprah is incredibly influential. Look at how she influences the culture. Look at how she picks "Anna Karenina" for her book club and gets, you know, millions of people reading that book this June. And she wants to do new shows, not just her own, but she wants her production company, Harpo, to start up new shows.

HEMMER: From a business perspective, is there much of a risk here paying out all that money going into 2011 trying to make sure she still has her appeal?

TOURE: Not for Oprah.

SIGESMUND: No.

BERNARD: No, I don't think so.

TOURE: Not for Oprah. I mean, she has got an army behind her.

SIGESMUND: Yes.

TOURE: I mean, people love her. She's an American television institution.

HEMMER: Got it. Next topic, B.J., it's a first-name basis only here. Have you picked that up yet? You saw a creepy film called "Open Water."

SIGESMUND: I did. Yes.

HEMMER: By the way, it plays to all of my worst fears.

SIGESMUND: I love it. It's got tons of good buzz. For people who don't know, "Open Water" is the "Blair Witch Project" meets "Jaws" type movie. It's a low-budget film. It takes place in the Bahamas, where this workaholic American couple gets stranded in the middle of the water and surrounded by sharks.

It's incredibly disturbing. It stays with you for days. It played in 50 theaters this weekend and it made about $1 million. But they're going to platform it, and by August...

(CROSSTALK)

HEMMER: So hang on, hang on. Sharks in dark waters. That's enough of a nightmare for me. BERNARD: I saw the trailer, and I was under the seat. There is no way I could see that movie.

HEMMER: But you recommend it.

SIGESMUND: Oh, yes. And I think it's going to build and become the sleeper hit of the late summer.

HEMMER: What about "Collateral, over the weekend 22 million?"

TOURE: "Collateral" was the bomb. It's so much fun. Let me tell you, Jamie Foxx is about to become a gigantic star...

BERNARD: Absolutely.

TOURE: ... like the top A-list level like Denzel, Will Smith, Jamie Foxx. And after Ray comes out, the Ray Charles movie in November, Oscar buzz, he's going to be out of here, supernova megastar.

SIGESMUND: Don't forget this was an R-rated movie, and Tom Cruise has proven in his last three roles -- there was "Vanilla Sky," there was "Last Samurai" and now "Collateral" - that he can still open a movie big at number one, even when it's R-rated and even this time when he's playing against type as a villain in a gray-haired wig.

TOURE: Right. Don't you think that he watched "Training Day," and was like, hey?

HEMMER: ... brilliant idea.

TOURE: It worked.

HEMMER: Yes.

BERNARD: I think people don't like to see Tom Cruise in that role with his salt and pepper hair. They don't like seeing him like that. So, I think people went to see it for Jamie. I really do.

HEMMER: He's 42 and getting gray. I know a little bit about that.

Toure, you're all hyped up for Dave Chappelle, a $50 million deal on Comedy Central?

TOURE: He deserves it. This is one of the best shows on TV. It's consistently funny. It's better than the "Chris Rock Show," which that was amazing in its time. So, I mean, people are watch this on DVD over and over. This is some cult stuff.

BERNARD: This is a lot of money, though. And it just proves that when something is successful on TV, I think people are so confused right now about what is going to make money that they just throw money at it. I mean, it's almost like the Oprah thing, right?

TOURE: But they need Chappelle at Comedy Central. BERNARD: They need him.

SIGESMUND: What was so interesting, though, is his $50 million deal includes DVD dividends. Like this has been the best-selling DVD of the year. It sold 1.7 million copies, and people more and more -- James Gandolfini reportedly also wanted a cut of the DVD for "The Sopranos."

BERNARD: Right, it used to be syndication, and now it's DVD.

TOURE: And Chappelle is getting DVD money from the past.

SIGESMUND: Right.

HEMMER: But the irony in all of this, he was working on a film about Rick James.

SIGESMUND: Right.

BERNARD: That's right.

TOURE: It's going to be hard for Chappelle to do a funny satirical movie about Rick James now that he's gone.

SIGESMUND: The joke is gone.

TOURE: Like, yes, that's it.

BERNARD: He can pull it out.

HEMMER: Well, you're all super freaks to me, by the way.

SIGESMUND: Thank you.

TOURE: Give it to me, baby.

HEMMER: Good to see you on a Monday, all right? B.J., Sarah, Toure, thanks.

All right, here's Daryn now.

KAGAN: All right, Bill, news ahead. Still to come, details of al Qaeda's plans for terror at the Prudential building in New Jersey. The chilling details involving bombs and limousines. Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

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Aired August 9, 2004 - 07:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Also this hour, those two Filipino boys separated last week after being joined at the head for the first two years of their very young lives. We'll get an update today on the condition for the two, and also their lead pediatrician will join us on that in a matter of moments here.
KAGAN: Plus, there is some "90-Second Pop" to get to. One of the richest people in the world is getting richer. Hundreds of millions of dollars thrown Oprah's way. Is she worth it? Our panel will take a look.

HEMMER: So, I hear she was going to retire in, like, 2006.

KAGAN: Yes.

HEMMER: You can forget about that, huh?

KAGAN: I think she's going to go at least until she's 57, she's saying now. She's a busy woman.

HEMMER: I'm telling you, and very wealthy at this point.

KAGAN: Yes, she's wealthy. She can cover her bills.

HEMMER: That's right. Let's get to Africa starting off this half-hour. Darfur, Sudan, is the scene of a major tragedy, ethnic cleansing and starvation. Many of the victims are very young children.

Christiane Amanpour live in West Darfur, Sudan. She's with us to talk about some very brave doctors battling the odds to try and save lives there.

Christiane -- hello.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Bill, good morning.

It's a really big battle, and the odds are stacked against both the doctors and the victims here. The active phase of so-called ethnic cleansing, the military campaign is mostly over. And now people are facing the rainy seasons and a desperate lack of food, medicine, adequate shelter and sanitation.

We ran into an American doctor -- usually he practices in Boston, Massachusetts -- who is doing what he can for the youngest victims.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR (voice over): Dr. Jonathan Spector is at war with Darfur's biggest killer now: malnutrition.

DR. JONATHAN SPECTOR, MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES: Today, he's very ill.

AMANPOUR: Dr. Spector is midway through a stint for the aid group, Medecins Sans Frontieres, in al-Junaynah, the capital of Western Darfur. He's a long way from his pediatric practice back in Boston.

SPECTOR: In a developed country, this child would be in an intensive care unit setting. He would be on a monitor. He would maybe even be getting -- for sure getting oxygen and maybe on a ventilator.

AMANPOUR: Here, he doesn't have simple diagnostics like blood tests. And every day he has to make a tough choice about who to treat.

SPECTOR: He's malnourished, doesn't actually meet criteria for admission to our camp because he's not severely malnourished. He's moderately malnourished.

AMANPOUR: But these children are severe cases, and every effort counts. Mothers are told to force formula into their skin-and-bones infants every three hours.

With malnutrition comes another killer: disease -- diarrhea, skin infections, septicemia. And all of these patients, like the Yaya (ph) family, have already been brutalized by the wave of ethnic cleansing perpetrated by government-backed militias over the past 18 months.

"They chased us from our home seven months ago and stole all our cattle. They killed three people in our family," says Halima (ph), as she watches over her starving daughter, Zahra (ph).

In another tent, Dr. Spector relishes a success.

SPECTOR: She's so much better. She looks marvelous.

AMANPOUR: But it's only a small success in a desperate bid to save about two million people in urgent need of food and medical relief. There's not nearly enough humanitarian aid or enough aid workers reaching the region.

And 18 months after this catastrophe began the world has coughed up less than half the funds the U.N. requested to save this part of Sudan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

What you're looking at now is a live picture. We're standing in one of the big camps in Junaynah, which is the capital of western Darfur. There are several thousand displaced people who are here. And some of those victims you saw at the hospital, they had come from these camps. They are the worst off. And then they are sent to the hospital.

The rainy season is just beginning to get under way, and that's what is going to cause the next big killer -- the epidemics, malaria, the water-borne diseases -- unless shelter, humanitarian aid, proper sanitation gets to these places quickly.

In all, there are more than a million people who have been displaced, some two million people who need urgent, urgent humanitarian assistance.

And the fact of the matter is that even though it's beginning to open up, the pipeline for humanitarian assistance is very, very slow. There was no pre-positioning of aid. There was no advanced thinking about this.

And now it's a race against time to save these hundreds of thousands of potential lives at risk -- Bill.

HEMMER: And the challenges are enormous clearly. Christiana, thanks. Christiane Amanpour in Sudan -- Daryn.

KAGAN: It is 34 minutes past the hour. Time for a look at some of the day's other headlines with Carol Costello.

Hi -- Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Daryn, thank you.

We have more on that Chicago fire we told you about just a short time ago. Firefighters are battling a four-alarm fire on the city's south side. A police spokesperson tells us the blaze is about two city blocks long. No injuries reported.

In California, a summer heat wave is forcing residents to cut back on their electricity usage for the second time this year. State authorities are issuing a power watch for today and warn of the possibility of a power emergency. Temperatures in parts of the state could hit triple digits today.

In Arizona, five illegal immigrants have died trying to cross the desert near the U.S.-Mexican border. The bodies were found yesterday, apparently members of a larger group that became stranded in the desert. Search efforts continue for a sixth group member.

In Texas, a Fort Worth police officer stopped an 18-wheeler and found at least 60 illegal immigrants jammed into the semi's trailer. The officer notified EMS, who attended to several people on the scene. The illegal immigrants were turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol. The driver of the vehicle will face smuggling charges.

And finally, today marks the three-year anniversary of President Bush's ban on some federally-funded stem cell research. Yesterday, California Republicans turned down a $3 billion measure to fund embryonic stem cell research in the state. State politicians say they defeated the proposition due to its high cost. But some politicians claim it's a political tactic. Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry supports stem cell research.

Back to New York and Daryn.

KAGAN: All right, Carol, thank you for that.

Let's check in on the twins. Doctors in New York say that formerly conjoined twins are exceeding expectations. But the risk of complications during the recovery is still very high. The two-year- old Filipino boys, Clarence on the left and Carl on -- actually, we've flipped that one around. It would be Carl on the left and Clarence on the right. They were separated during a landmark surgery last week.

Dr. Robert Marion, their lead pediatrician at Montefiore Medical Center, joins us with an update.

Dr. Marion, good morning.

DR. ROBERT MARION, MONTEFIORE MEDICAL CENTER: Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: What is the latest you can tell us about Carl and Clarence?

MARION: Well, I think they're doing really well. As you said, they're really exceeding expectations. I saw them a little while ago. They are both sleeping comfortably this morning, but their vital signs are fine. And there really have been no complications at all to speak of. They're really doing miraculously well.

KAGAN: When you say they are still sleeping, are you keeping them sedated purposely?

MARION: Yes. We are keeping them sedated in order to prevent them from feeling significant pain, but also to prevent them from moving around too much, because we really want their wounds to heel.

KAGAN: And is Carl in particular facing some more challenges with some brain fluid?

MARION: Yes. What happened with Carl was that when they -- at the time of surgery it was found that Clarence really owned the covering of the brain called the dura.

At the time of surgery, Dr. Goodrich had to rebuild a dura for Carl. And as a result of that, we are worried about the drainage of cerebral spinal fluid, the normal fluid that bathes and protects the brain in Carl.

So, we're worried that he may build up some fluid in his brain, a condition called hydrocephalus. But if that becomes the case, we may have to do a shunt on him. But that's certainly an eventuality that we almost expect, and we'll see if we really need to do that. KAGAN: I understand, it would seem to me to make sense that people are focusing on the brain and what happens with potential brain damage. But there's another challenge in that both systems -- now that you've separated these boys...

MARION: Yes.

KAGAN: ... their other body organs need to take over. How is that going for each boy?

MARION: It seems to be going pretty well. It was clear also from the beginning that Clarence was more dominant in some areas in terms of his body's functioning than Carl. Clarence was always hypertensive. He had increased blood pressure, and his kidneys were working more actively, I guess, than Carl.

Carl has done fine since the surgery, but it was almost as if at the time that the boys were separated it was almost as if the umbilical cord was cut, and Carl now has to start functioning on his own. He was dependent on Clarence for some of his normal functioning. But he seems to be doing fine. All systems are go.

KAGAN: An interesting dilemma for mom over the weekend, because since the boys are now separated for the first time they went to different places in the hospital. She had to choose which boy she was supposed to go with.

MARION: That's true. It becomes a very big problem for Arlene, their mom. She's only known them prior to surgery as Carl and Clarence together. When they went to the O.R. and were separated, Carl and Clarence basically ceased to be as a single entity. And they came back as two separate little boys.

And now she has to learn how really how to re-mother them. She has to learn how to bathe them and to feed them and all of the rest of the things that mothers normally have to learn to do in the first few weeks of life. She has to do that again now that they are almost two- and-a-third years of age. And it's going to be hard for her, and she knows that, and she recognizes that as a problem.

KAGAN: But I think it's a wonderful challenge that she looks forward to. I think she is expecting to speak later to the public?

MARION: I'm sorry, I didn't hear that.

KAGAN: She is going to hold a news conference or speak out later today?

MARION: Yes. Yes, she's going to speak today for the first time to the public. She's been under a lot of stress, as you can imagine, going through the build-up to the surgery and then the surgery itself. And I think today she is better rested, and she probably will be able to answer questions better than she has been able to do prior to this point.

KAGAN: A lot of members of the public are looking forward to that, Dr. Robert Marion. Dr, Marion, thank you.

MARION: Thank you, Daryn.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HEMMER: Daryn, here's one for you.

KAGAN: All right, I'm listening.

HEMMER: There were these four guys in a rowboat, right? They found themselves in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean during a hurricane. A true story. Four Brits in a lifeboat picked up by a Danish vessel 300 miles off England's southwestern tip. Their boat, the Pink Lady, battered by 30-foot waves and smashed in two on Sunday. You can see it just off to the right of that freighter before it set off from Newfoundland at the end of June.

They were trying to break a current record: 55 days, 2,100 miles on that journey. They didn't quite make it, but they are alive. The Coast Guard said one rower had hypothermia, another had slight hand injuries; otherwise, they are doing OK.

KAGAN: Row, row, row your boat.

HEMMER: So, there were these four guys...

KAGAN: I didn't know where you were going with that.

HEMMER: I know.

KAGAN: I'm like, is this a bad joke or something? But thanks for sharing.

HEMMER: Sure.

KAGAN: A lot more to share here on AMERICAN MORNING. If you are looking to TiVo, there is some good news coming ahead, and that's coming up next.

HEMMER: Also, Oprah has new reasons to smile, about 600 million of them. "90-Second Pop" is just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: All right. Now for a preview of the markets, also good news if you like to TiVo, Christine Romans is in for Andy Serwer. She is "Minding Your Business."

People swear by TiVo.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: I know. Isn't it funny how it's become a verb? This new technology has become a verb.

KAGAN: Yes. ROMANS: A TiVo, in case people don't know, is a gadget, the set- top box you put on top of your television set. And it allows you to freeze, you know, pause the TV while it's happening. You can rewind. People love it for sports, although I haven't personally ever used it for sports.

But part of the problem here is this great new way that people watch television, except the cable companies and the satellite TV companies are now into this game. And so, TiVo, which is the pioneer of this sort of, you know, live action television, stopping it and recording it, rewinding it, it's got to fight for its customers. So, it's going to offer a $100 rebate.

So, if you're interested in TiVo or you've got TiVo, look for that rebate there.

The stock, as you can see, has also been on sale by all -- yes, you don't have to be a stock watcher to know that that is not a very pretty picture right there. TiVo is down 35 percent this year.

Now quickly on the markets, we discussed how last week was a tough week. I wanted to show you what's happened over the past year.

The Nasdaq has really been hit hard -- look at that -- down 11.3 percent. The Dow is down six percent. The S&P 500 is down four percent. All kinds of problems, including record oil prices, terrorism concerns, a little thing called an election coming up, and a job market that's been a little bit soft. So, you can see that in the numbers.

HEMMER: Is that all that's going on?

KAGAN: I guess so.

ROMANS: That's it.

KAGAN: Keeping us in the business, at least.

ROMANS: It certainly is.

HEMMER: By the way, TiVo is overrated.

ROMANS: Do you think so?

HEMMER: The digital video recorder, the DVR you get through your cable company, try that one.

KAGAN: That's what I'm saying.

ROMANS: Well, that's why that chart looks that way.

HEMMER: Exactly right. Thank you.

ROMANS: All right.

HEMMER: Jack is out, and we're in mourning. Andy Borowitz, though, is picking up the slack here.

KAGAN: Welcome, Andy.

HEMMER: Nice to see you.

ANDY BOROWITZ, BOROWITZREPORT.COM: I feel good. I feel welcome.

Well, we've got quite a "Question of the Day." Republican Congressman Doug Ose from California has introduced new legislation to carve Ronald Reagan's face on Mount Rushmore. He would join the likes of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.

So, as long as we're talking about adding somebody new to Mount Rushmore, our question is: Whose face do you think should be added to Mount Rushmore? We got some interesting responses.

Tony from Roscoe, Illinois, writes: "Mount Rushmore is a work of art. It would be like adding JFK to the Statue of Liberty. She could be seen giving him a piggyback ride. Or maybe add Ronald Reagan at the table in Da Vinci's Last Supper."

Yikes! OK.

Elaine writes: "Why would anyone feel it necessary to change the face of Rushmore? There must be money in it somewhere for some bunch of fat cats, or it could be another political move to keep our minds off what is truly happening in America and the world."

OK.

Bobby from Valrico, Florida, writes: "I would like to see the face of President Jimmy Carter. This man has done a lot since leaving office in his efforts to make this a better world for all of us."

And here's one from Weldon in Canada -- and I'm not sure Weldon really has a vote since he's from Canada -- but he says: "Why not put a happy face on it so that America can at least see a bit of optimism in the future?"

That is a tremendously Canadian response.

And now Ted from Wyoming says: "I think Jack Cafferty's face..."

KAGAN: You knew that was coming.

BOROWITZ: "... should be carved on Mount Rushmore. Every face on there right now belongs to happy people. We need some diversity."

HEMMER: That's one way of looking at it, right?

BOROWITZ: There you go.

KAGAN: Jack's happy -- he's on vacation.

BOROWITZ: So, we'll have some more. Just e-mail us at am@cnn.com.

HEMMER: Good deal. Thank you, Andy.

BOROWITZ: There you go.

HEMMER: Let's get a break here. In a moment, Oprah is still on the air and will be for six more years, and you will not believe what it took to keep her there. The mega-deal is next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: We are reviving the career of Bon Jovi single-handedly here on AMERICAN MORNING. It's Monday, "90-Second Pop" time, rounding up the usual suspects today. Say hello to Toure, contributing editor for "Rolling Stone," Sarah of "New York" magazine," and B.J. from "US Weekly."

SARAH BERNARD, "NEW YORK" MAGAZINE: This is a game show.

HEMMER: No last names needed. You guys are as big as ever. It's like Elvis. It's like Madonna. It's like Oprah.

(CROSSTALK)

HEMMER: Let's start with Oprah, 600 million over six years, is that what it took?

BERNARD: I know. Yes, that's what it took. Well, you know, it proves that even if you're Oprah if you threaten to quit, you get a raise. So, this is actually very good strategy on her part. She...

HEMMER: She was going to retire in 2006.

BERNARD: She was going to retire, exactly, and then so she extended it five more years to 2011, which will be her 25th anniversary of the show.

Now, I think what's interesting about this what it does to all of the people who were preparing to fill her shoes, you know, Dr. Phil, Ellen DeGeneres, even the Jane Pauley show, which is starting up soon. I think they were really hoping that Oprah was going to move out of the way. It would be like if, you know, Johnny Carson was like, no, I'll stay five more years.

HEMMER: Right.

BERNARD: And then Jay Leno had nothing.

TOURE, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "ROLLING STONE": This is really actually good news for Hillary Clinton, because when Oprah is ready to run for president, it's over. It's her slam dunk. And your boy, Michael Moore, agrees with me. He says in his book Oprah could be president like that.

HEMMER: Whose boy?

TOURE: Michael Moore.

HEMMER: Whose boy?

(CROSSTALK)

HEMMER: Go ahead, B.J.

B.J. SIGESMUND, "US WEEKLY": The thing with Oprah is she's not doing it for the money. She's already a billionaire. She lives better than Donald Trump. She has her own private jet.

But Oprah is incredibly influential. Look at how she influences the culture. Look at how she picks "Anna Karenina" for her book club and gets, you know, millions of people reading that book this June. And she wants to do new shows, not just her own, but she wants her production company, Harpo, to start up new shows.

HEMMER: From a business perspective, is there much of a risk here paying out all that money going into 2011 trying to make sure she still has her appeal?

TOURE: Not for Oprah.

SIGESMUND: No.

BERNARD: No, I don't think so.

TOURE: Not for Oprah. I mean, she has got an army behind her.

SIGESMUND: Yes.

TOURE: I mean, people love her. She's an American television institution.

HEMMER: Got it. Next topic, B.J., it's a first-name basis only here. Have you picked that up yet? You saw a creepy film called "Open Water."

SIGESMUND: I did. Yes.

HEMMER: By the way, it plays to all of my worst fears.

SIGESMUND: I love it. It's got tons of good buzz. For people who don't know, "Open Water" is the "Blair Witch Project" meets "Jaws" type movie. It's a low-budget film. It takes place in the Bahamas, where this workaholic American couple gets stranded in the middle of the water and surrounded by sharks.

It's incredibly disturbing. It stays with you for days. It played in 50 theaters this weekend and it made about $1 million. But they're going to platform it, and by August...

(CROSSTALK)

HEMMER: So hang on, hang on. Sharks in dark waters. That's enough of a nightmare for me. BERNARD: I saw the trailer, and I was under the seat. There is no way I could see that movie.

HEMMER: But you recommend it.

SIGESMUND: Oh, yes. And I think it's going to build and become the sleeper hit of the late summer.

HEMMER: What about "Collateral, over the weekend 22 million?"

TOURE: "Collateral" was the bomb. It's so much fun. Let me tell you, Jamie Foxx is about to become a gigantic star...

BERNARD: Absolutely.

TOURE: ... like the top A-list level like Denzel, Will Smith, Jamie Foxx. And after Ray comes out, the Ray Charles movie in November, Oscar buzz, he's going to be out of here, supernova megastar.

SIGESMUND: Don't forget this was an R-rated movie, and Tom Cruise has proven in his last three roles -- there was "Vanilla Sky," there was "Last Samurai" and now "Collateral" - that he can still open a movie big at number one, even when it's R-rated and even this time when he's playing against type as a villain in a gray-haired wig.

TOURE: Right. Don't you think that he watched "Training Day," and was like, hey?

HEMMER: ... brilliant idea.

TOURE: It worked.

HEMMER: Yes.

BERNARD: I think people don't like to see Tom Cruise in that role with his salt and pepper hair. They don't like seeing him like that. So, I think people went to see it for Jamie. I really do.

HEMMER: He's 42 and getting gray. I know a little bit about that.

Toure, you're all hyped up for Dave Chappelle, a $50 million deal on Comedy Central?

TOURE: He deserves it. This is one of the best shows on TV. It's consistently funny. It's better than the "Chris Rock Show," which that was amazing in its time. So, I mean, people are watch this on DVD over and over. This is some cult stuff.

BERNARD: This is a lot of money, though. And it just proves that when something is successful on TV, I think people are so confused right now about what is going to make money that they just throw money at it. I mean, it's almost like the Oprah thing, right?

TOURE: But they need Chappelle at Comedy Central. BERNARD: They need him.

SIGESMUND: What was so interesting, though, is his $50 million deal includes DVD dividends. Like this has been the best-selling DVD of the year. It sold 1.7 million copies, and people more and more -- James Gandolfini reportedly also wanted a cut of the DVD for "The Sopranos."

BERNARD: Right, it used to be syndication, and now it's DVD.

TOURE: And Chappelle is getting DVD money from the past.

SIGESMUND: Right.

HEMMER: But the irony in all of this, he was working on a film about Rick James.

SIGESMUND: Right.

BERNARD: That's right.

TOURE: It's going to be hard for Chappelle to do a funny satirical movie about Rick James now that he's gone.

SIGESMUND: The joke is gone.

TOURE: Like, yes, that's it.

BERNARD: He can pull it out.

HEMMER: Well, you're all super freaks to me, by the way.

SIGESMUND: Thank you.

TOURE: Give it to me, baby.

HEMMER: Good to see you on a Monday, all right? B.J., Sarah, Toure, thanks.

All right, here's Daryn now.

KAGAN: All right, Bill, news ahead. Still to come, details of al Qaeda's plans for terror at the Prudential building in New Jersey. The chilling details involving bombs and limousines. Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

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