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Next@CNN
Is Three Gorges Dam Disaster in Making?; Computer Worm Attacks Financial Institutions; Chickens Contribute to Battle Against West Nile
Aired June 08, 2003 - 17:00 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: NEXT@CNN begins right now.
Welcome to NEXT@CNN for this Sunday, June 8. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. And coming up this hour, the Yangtze River waters are rising behind China's Three Gorges Dam. Is it a boost to the economy, or a disaster in the making?
Also, a new computer worm is going around, and it's designed to attack financial institutions. How serious is that threat?
And from computer worms to deadly real-world viruses. Find out how chickens are contributing to the battle against West Nile virus. We'll have those stories and much more.
But first, after 10 years of construction, China's controversial Three Gorges Dam project is one big step closer to completion. On June 1, China began filling the reservoir behind the dam. The birth of the world's largest hydroelectric project means the death of several historic towns, soon to be under water.
CNN's global environment correspondent, Gary Strieker joins us now with a look at that. Hi, Gary.
GARY STRIEKER, CNN ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka.
The Three Gorges Dam was first proposed as an economic savior for China more than 80 years ago. and from the beginning everything about this dream was big, including the potential consequences.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STRIEKER (voice-over): The massive dam spanning the powerful Yangtze River has not held back the flood of negative reaction worldwide. Critics described Three Gorges as a multibillion-dollar disaster, displacing almost a million people and submerging scenic landscapes, critical habitat and historic sites. But supporters see the dam as a social and economic boom for China. In the past century alone, repeated flooding of the Yangtze has claimed over 1 million lives, and according to Chinese officials, when completed, the dam should produce more electricity than 20 nuclear power plants, and improved navigation along the turbulent Yangtze River.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STRIEKER: In the days ...
WHITFIELD: We'll talk about some of the things that could come from this project then. How about some of the consequences? What might they be? Why are so many people worried about what could happen next?
STRIEKER: Well, the criticism is coming from many quarters, and to understand why, you have to consider the size of this project. This is a huge dam. It dwarfs anything else that mankind has ever built. It's known as the world's biggest engineering project. To give you some idea of the size, it is five times the width of the Hoover Dam in Nevada. It's over a mile wide. The reservoir building up behind the dam is nearly 400 miles long. And the experts who have criticized this dam base their criticism mainly on the size, this gargantuan size. Massive dams like this are now essentially obsolete in many countries in the world. There's new thinking about dams, that really these are outdated monsters that produce electricity very inefficiently, very expensively.
The criticism that is leveled against the Three Gorges Dam is essentially on the grounds of economics, first of all, that it's inefficient, producing electricity far too expensively. There's siltation coming down the river, which is going to build up against that dam wall, which is going to basically make the dam inoperable within 50 years, according to the critics. The structural integrity of the dam is in question because of the fact that this is a landslide-prone area, an earthquake-prone area.
It's geologically unstable. The water that will be building up behind the dam will submerge some of the best agricultural land in the Yangtze Valley. It's going to submerge villages, towns and cities. It's going to submerge historic sites, beautiful landscape that people have composed poetry about in China for years. The pollution that will be building up inside this massive reservoir is going to come essentially from the submergence of all of these landfill sites and dumps along the banks, and from raw sewage coming down from the cities on the banks.
WHITFIELD: So it sounds like the consequences far outweigh any of the advantages, how in the world did it get to this point?
STRIEKER: This is a symbolic project. It's not just an engineering project. It's a symbol for China. It represents prosperity, it represents security. The river has been the cause of many floods over the course of centuries. Just in the last century, more than 1 million people have died. The last big flood was in 1996, and it was a pet project of former Premier Li Peng, who was an engineer. And from China's point of view, they need proper navigation on the river, and they need flood control. And it's a prestige project. And they had decided within the Communist party that they were going to make this project happen, make it succeed, regardless of the consequences.
WHITFIELD: If it turns out these consequences are right, or at least those critics who forecast these are the consequences, is there an expectation on when people would start to see kind of a downfall of this project?
STRIEKER: No one really knows, Fredricka. There are dire predictions and warnings coming from many places. Certainly, the pollution that will be building up inside the river will be noticeable fairly soon, according to the experts. The Chinese government says they're going to build water treatment plants which will take care of this. The siltation which will be coming down the river -- siltation is a major problem.
The Yangtze is the world's third longest river. It sends down this river to the China Sea something like 1,000 times the amount of silt carried by the Mississippi River. All of that silt is going to be blocked by this dam, and it's going to build up. And some of the direst predictions have come from people who say that this geologically unstable area just cannot support that amount of water and silt building up over this geologic instability. And if that dam should ever break, the unlikely event the Chinese say that would happen, others say it's quite likely, it could kill hundreds of thousands of people, of course, down stream.
WHITFIELD: Wow, it's an incredible story.
STRIEKER: But the Chinese say that they need this electricity. It's going to boost their electrical output by 10 percent. It's produced 18 times the amount of power that the Glen Canyon Dam in the United States produces. Ten percent in addition to the Chinese power output. And if they don't have that potential, they have to build more coal-fired generating plants, and that means more pollution and more global warming.
WHITFIELD: Wow, electricity as an incredibly high cost, potentially. Gary Strieker, thanks very much for that report. Appreciate it.
WHITFIELD: Well, in the days following the fall of Saddam Hussein, many of Iraq's historic treasures were stolen by looters, but CNN's Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf joins us now with a breakthrough on this story -- Jane.
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Fredricka, it's part detective story, part treasure hunt, but Iraqi officials along with U.S. soldiers and detectives have retrieved boxes and boxes of spectacular ancient gold jewelry. It's going to go on display here in Baghdad next month.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARRAF (voice-over): It's a little battered, but Iraq's archaeology museum is reopening. The hole is from a U.S. tank shell aimed at Iraqi snipers who were near the roof. The inside was looted as the regime fell, but museum staff are back at work, painstakingly recreating the inventory of half a million years of history, going back to the beginnings of human civilization which first emerged in ancient Iraq.
When the museum reopens on July 3, it will exhibit 2,800-year-old gold treasures, displayed only once since they were unearthed in the late 1980s. Under Saddam Hussein's rule, even photos of the pieces from the royal tombs in Nimrud were kept under wraps. This was jewelry made for a queen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some idea is that this was prepared for the queen just before she died, and these are angels to protect her soul.
ARRAF: The pieces are part of 60 kilograms of ancient gold objects. Most stored here in Iraq's central bank for safekeeping before the '91 Gulf War. As the regime fell, the bank was also looted, but the vaults, unlike the museum galleries and storerooms were intact.
(on camera): There was an international outcry when Iraq's museum, unprotected by U.S. forces was looted during the war, but it now looks as if there were far fewer items stolen that originally feared.
(voice-over): Iraqis have returned more than 1,000-looted items, but the rest including 33 major pieces remain missing. A loss for world heritage, but for the Iraq museum, it could have been much, much worse.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ARRAF: Now, some of museum officials had originally estimated that 170,000 pieces had been looted. They now say that number's probably close to about 3,000, big difference there -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Now, Jane, art historians and art lovers really appreciate the find of these artifacts, but for the ordinary citizen there in Iraq, who is still without the adequate amount of water and food, do they really care about the finding of some of these artifacts?
ARRAF: You know, it's interesting, but they really do. Iraqis really see this as their history, their heritage, what sets them apart -- far apart from other people, going back to the origins of civilization. These is where it all started, the first cities, the first rule of law back in Mesopotamia between the two rivers, and every Iraqi seems to identify with it. This has been such an emotional issue, the Iraq museum.
When reports first surfaced that the museum had been virtually destroyed, which were wrong, and that it had been extensively looted, you would go out into the street, and along with people complaining about not having enough clean water and enough electricity, they would said, and our museum was destroyed. It's something really deeply felt. Part of it, of course, is a lot of people felt the U.S. did not protect that museum the way it protected the oil industry, and they were very, very angry. But it is surprisingly an issue that Iraqis, in fact, do seem to care about the archaeological heritage, because they see it as their history -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And, indeed, still the undercurrent of that lack of protection are being felt. Let's shift gears a little bit and talk about a potential health issue, the fact that so many barrels holding uranium and radioactive material were emptied and used for drinking water for a number of the people. Are health officials starting to see the effects of people getting sick from those kind of contaminants exposure?
ARRAF: There seem to have been immediate short-term effects. Some of the people we talked to who had actually looted some of these barrels -- and these are very poor people, so a metal barrel for them is something -- immediately said when they opened it up and saw this, they didn't know what it was. But it was, in fact, processed uranium, they started to choke, some of them told us. Now, scientists and health officials say that the long-term effects, obviously, will take a lot longer, but it's certainly worrying that it might have been gotten into the water system or food chain, and there's very little right now that can be done about that now -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Jane Arraf in Baghdad, thank you very much.
Well, checking some of the stories making news on our beat, supplies are on the way to the international space station, an unmanned progress resupply ship blasted off today atop a Russian rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, because the space shuttle fleet is still grounded in the wake of the Columbia disaster, Russian spacecraft are the only way to move personnel and supplies to the ISS. This cargo ship will dock with the station Alpha on Wednesday. It's carrying water, fuel and music recordings to the station's two-man crew.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Had enough of computer viruses? We've got one more for you. A computer worm bug called Bugbear B is infecting computers all around the globe. Experts say that in addition to causing headaches for home computer users and network administrators, the worm is specifically programmed to target banks, which is pretty scary.
Joining us now to help us understand what this is all about is Vincent Weafer, senior director of Symantec's security response team. Vincent, good to see you.
VINCENT WEAFER, SYMANTEC SECURITY RESPONSE: Good to be hear.
WHITFIELD: All right, so what is this bug? What makes it different from the others?
WEAFER: Bugbear is an example of a mass mailing worm which, also, once it gets on your machine, will try to replicate itself over local area networks. What makes it unique ...
WHITFIELD: How does it work?
WEAFER: What makes it unique in this case is it will try to come on your machine using lots of different names, titles and attachments. Then, once on your machine, it tries to steal information, passwords, information it could then use to try and attack you at a later stage.
WHITFIELD: All right. So it is looking for specific information, however, right? This is not just a bug that looks for any kind of personal information, but specifically that kind of information attached to your bank accounts?
WEAFER: What it really is trying to do is if it finds itself on a machine that may be inside a bank or financial institution, then it will deliberately tries to get the information off either via modem or over the network. What it's really trying to do afterwards is try to go in and try to break into that bank. Of course, most major banking systems are not on the Internet as such, but it will try and later attack such as an escalation of privileges.
WHITFIELD: So, for example, I become vulnerable just when I tap into my computer, I want to check into my bank accounts on-line, and what kind of information is it that I put into it that makes me more of a candidates?
WEAFER: Really, what it is looking for is you're going to type in your user ID and password, and that's what it's looking for, because then, in turn, it can try and use that to try and break into other systems, banking systems. Or even if you're connected into another company or travel agency, it will try to use it to break into them, too.
WHITFIELD: So, how will I know whether my account has been tapped into by someone other than me?
WEAFER: Really, you're going to be working with your banks, as well as making sure you have updated anti-virus, personal firewalls. You are taking account of your security of your system. You will know if you've been attacked if you've got antivirus and it's up to date. It will tell you that you are clear or that you've been infected.
WHITFIELD: And you will know if you start to see some money missing?
WEAFER: Certainly, keeping a good ides of your accounts is a good idea, but really it's trying to target machines inside the banks rather than just home users.
WHITFIELD: All right, so the only thing that most of us can do, regular home users, you are saying make sure you have a firewall attached to try and combat anyone else or system infiltrating your system?
WEAFER: Absolutely, in addition to that, make sure you keep up to date with the latest security patches from people like Microsoft, and then make sure on your own machines, keep user IDs and passwords so that if worms do try to get on your machines, they can't propagate or leave your system.
WHITFIELD: So, it's called Bearbug B. Who comes up with these names, by the way, of these viruses? WEAFER: Actually, we named the original bugbear on this one, and it's from a mythical creature, which is kind of scary to some children. So, it's related to some piece of code we saw inside us. This is variant of the original Bugbear that came out in September of last year.
WHITFIELD: All right, Bugbear B, that's it. All right, Vincent Weafer, thanks very much.
WEAFER: You're very welcome.
WHITFIELD: From Symantec security response. We appreciate it.
When we come back, we'll find out why a respected computer magazine is teaching it's readers how to write viruses.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: In January of this year, computer users faced another threat, the virus known as "Slammer," which slowed Internet traffic to a crawl. Now, in a controversial move, "Wired" magazine is going to walk its readers through exactly how that happened, including revealing the actual virus code.
CNN technology correspondence Daniel Sieberg talked to the managing editor of "Wired" about the decision.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: You know, when the Slammer worm hit the Internet back in January, it reportedly caused hundreds of millions of dollars of damage. We're talking from anything from the Internet being jammed up because it was being sent out at such a high rate. Plane schedules were disrupted, ATMs were shut down, a lot of different problems. The sky didn't actually fall with Slammer, but there were a lot of problems involved. And now, on Tuesday, "Wired" magazine will be publishing its upcoming issue, and in it, they will have the code from this virus Slammer or Sapphire, as it's often known. So why are they doing this and how do they respond to some of the controversy around it?
Well, I'm joined right now by Blaise Zerega, he is the managing editor of "Wired" magazine to talk all about this. Blaise, first, the obvious question that comes up on everybody's mind is isn't this analogous to a magazine publishing how-to for, say, a rocket-propelled grenade, or something like that? Is this going to be more damaging than educational?
BLAISE ZEREGA, MANAGING EDITOR, "WIRED": We think not, Daniel. The people who are in a people to wreak havoc on the Internet do not turn to "Wired" magazine to read step-by-step instructions for hacking. However, the people who are in a position to safeguard the Internet -- business leaders, technology leaders, politicians -- they do turn to "Wired" magazine and read information on important issues just like this. SIEBERG: Now, why the decision to publish it now, though? The virus itself came out about six months ago. There was a patch available from Microsoft even before that. Is there some sort of timing associated with the reasoning for doing it now?
ZEREGA: This story is incredibly timely and relevant. Protecting cyberspace is part of homeland security. There were attacks in the fall. The Slammer virus attacked in January, and just this past week a new worm called Bugbear -- actually, a new version of a worm called Bugbear, has been making its way across the Internet.
SIEBERG: Right, Bugbear. And, actually, so big as well, another one people are concerned about these days. Let's talk a little bit, though, about the fact that the -- although the code for Slammer is already on the Internet and people can have access to it, what was the editorial decision at "Wired" to decide to publish -- I actually have a copy of the magazine right here -- but it does have the code in it. Are you not worried that there will not be some sort of low-level hackers out there who will see this and they say, oh, finally this is what I need to do to create a more effective virus out there?
ZEREGA: That is a fair question. However, bringing down the Internet is a lot more difficult than cutting and pasting code, putting it in e-mail and sending it to someone.
SIEBERG: By that rationale, though, why would you decide to put it out there at all? A lot of these antivirus companies already know this code, or they know the problems associated with it. Where do you see the educational purposes of this?
ZEREGA: We are committed to open information, unfettered communication. We want to help set the agenda for public discourse. And in this case, we believe in security not obscurity. If there is a risk, if there is a vulnerability to the Internet, let's shine a light on it and get people to talk about it.
SIEBERG: Blaise, very quickly, how do you respond to anybody who says this is sensationalist and just designed to sell magazines?
ZEREGA: I simply don't buy it. We think this is a very important story. We take great care with every word and image that goes into our magazine so we can stand by it.
SIEBERG: All right, well Blaise Zerega, the managing editor of "Wired." Thanks so much for joining us to talk about that. And maybe it is not going to quell all of the controversy around it, after talking to him. And people will certainly be keeping an eye on this magazine when it comes out on store shelves on Tuesday.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Thanks, Dan.
Coming up in our next half hour, how efforts to prevent forest fires may sometimes end up making them worse.
And just what is in the air that you breathe inside a passenger jet. That question has got some people all choked up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: NEXT@CNN continues in just a moment after a check of the news headlines this hour. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell professes no doubt, whatsoever, that Iraq had banned weapons before the war that toppled Saddam Hussein. Little evidence of weapons of mass destruction has surfaced in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion began. Powell blames the news media for raising doubts about U.S intelligence on the matter.
Police in San Jose, California hope a neighbor's security tape will help them capture the man suspected of kidnapping 9-year-old Jennette Tamayo. The tape shows the alleged kidnapper parked outside the Tamayo's home. It also shows the suspect approaching the home after the girl came home from school on Friday.
Voters in Poland have apparently approved membership in the European Union, according to exit surveys. Eighty two percent are registering approval in the nationwide vote. The 15-nation EU is now poised to receive at least six new members. More news at the top of the hour.
NEXT@CNN resumes right now.
WHITFIELD: NASA will try again Monday to get the first of two new Mars Rovers on a path toward the red planet. The first Rover was set to take off from Cape Canaveral this afternoon atop a Boeing Delta 2 rocket. But storms in central Florida forced a delay until tomorrow afternoon at the very earliest. The two golf-cart sized Rover now have names thanks to a third grader from Scottsdale, Arizona. Nine- year-old Sofi Collis won a nationwide contest to name them. She joined NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe this morning to unveil the names Spirit and Opportunity for the mobile explorers.
For NASA scientists and engineers watching these spacecraft depart is like watching a child leave home.
Space correspondent Miles O'Brien has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MILE O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They call themselves elves, unseen, and their job, to make magic happen. They work at NASA's gateway to the galaxy, Pasadena's fabled jet propulsion laboratory, in a place they affectionately refer to as the sandbox. But that's not to say this is playtime. There are staging the final dress rehearsals for the nail-biting main events that have consumed them for the past three years, a pair of bold odysseys to the surface of Mars.
This test is a success. But the celebration is clipped and muted. They work in the shadow of a devastating debacle, the twin failures of the Mars Polar Lander and Climate Orbiter in late 1999, but they also remember the sweet taste of success. Of Mars Pathfinder and it's Rover Sojourner in the summer of '97. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is an extremely complex mission. And a lot of us on the team can compare it to Sojourner and Mars Pathfinder. And I think when we talk about that, we think it's about 10 times as complex, and we developed it in about half the time. So that's a significant challenge for all of us.
O'BRIEN: They are working under an unforgiving deadline, not imposed by Washington fiat but by the laws of physics. Every 26 months Mars and earth fly in close orbital formation. It's only then a mission to the red planet is possible, and this time Mars is closer than ever.
NAGIN COX, MER, CHIEF, SPACECRAFT TEAM: And this happens to be a particularly good opportunity, where we're close enough and the geometry works out that we have an excellent data return. So that means we can bring more pictures, more information about Mars back to the people of the earth in this particular landing opportunity.
O'BRIEN: The twin missions to hunt for signs of life are set for a journey of a quarter billion miles carrying identical red planet rovers. They are the size of golf carts. If all goes as plan, they will enter the wispy Martian atmosphere on opposite sides of the planet in January, and then deploy parachutes and air bags to cushion their arrival on the rust-colored surface.
JIM ERICKSON, MISSION MANAGER: We do as much as we can to make sure it's a gentle landing. Even though it doesn't sound like it when we are bouncing on these airbags.
O'BRIEN: In 1999, the Mars Polar Lander was supposed to arrive alive by using a parachute and then a rocket motor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry to report in a nominal no contact MR pass.
O'BRIEN: But when the landing gear deployed with a jolt, a sensor mistook that as touchdown, cutting the engine more than 1,000 feet above the surface. Two months earlier, the Mars climber orbiter augured into Mars after navigators got confused between metric and English measurements. They were bitter pills for the team.
ERICKSON: We do get very attached to them. And that's probably a good thing, because we take very good care of them. We're entrusted with the public's money to do the right kind of a job, so it's something we take very seriously. And we've grown to have great affection for these machines that we built.
O'BRIEN: Today, there's no more talk of faster, better, cheaper, the NASA mantra implicated in the failure. This time the space agency is spending about $800 million to reach Mars with the two landers, about three times more than the price tag for the failed Polar Lander. And instead of farming work out to contractors and academia, these are in-house projects, their babies, if you will.
ERICKSON: It's great. It's almost like the birth of a child in some ways, where you've been waiting, you've been working, and then suddenly it happens.
O'BRIEN: Mars is an unforgiving destination. Over the years, only one in three missions have succeeded. A little elf magic may be just what is needed. Miles O'Brien, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Hey, remember last summer, hot, dry, fiery? It also brought one of the most severe wildfire seasons in a half a century. A CNN crew covered the battle from the fire lines of one of the biggest blazes on tap last summer. As this year's fire season gets under way. CNN's Bruce Burkhardt looks back at some of the lessons of summer 2002.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE BURKHARDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A thick under story throughout much of the Western landscape. Thanks to the emphasis on prevention, many forests are thick and ripe for burning.
(on camera): If you ever tried to start a camp fire, you can understand what is meant by under story, which is at the heart of this argument over forest management. Now, imagine this log is like one of those tall hardy trees that grow in our western forests. Well, try to light it like this, you'll be at it all day, but build up a pile of kindling beneath it, and in no time at all, that once stubborn log will be engulfed in flame. That kindling is no different than the under story in our forest, and because we've controlled fire for so long, our forests are full of kindling. And when it burns, it burns hot.
BOONE KAUFFMAN, FIRE ECOLOGIST: We've created a condition where these new trees that have invaded, we also call ladder fuels, because they literally can allow the fire to -- it used to be moving in the under story, to sweep up through the mid story and into the crowns of the over story trees, therefore killing all of the large trees in the forest as well.
BURKHARDT: Which is not a good deal.
KAUFFMAN: No, it's not a good deal.
BURKHARDT: Just about all the players involved now agree that thinning is necessary, including President Bush, who used the biscuit fire to present his healthy forest initiative.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We need to understand if you let kindling build up and there's a lightning strike, you're going to get yourself a big fire. That's what we've got to understand.
GALE NORTON, U.S. INTERIOR SECRETARY: It's important that we find some ways of treating the forests and treating the overgrowth within the forests.
BURKHARDT: But environmentalists claim this healthy forest initiative is more about keeping logging companies healthy.
SEAN COSGROVE, THE SIERRA CLUB: The president's initiative focuses on increasing commercial logging across the landscape.
BURKHARDT: As the Sierra Club and others point out, timber companies have no interest in the brush and smaller trees that need to be cleared out. They want the big trees. The green groups also think the Bush plan would gut environmental standards, removing public participation from the process.
COSGROVE: If they want to actually do service contracts and remove flammable material and do prescribed burning that kind of thing, let's do it, we certainly agree on that. But what they're looking at is providing timber for the industry.
BURKHARDT: However fire reduction treatment is done, it will take time to undo what more than a century of fire suppression has created. Because of that, we need to brace ourselves for more of this.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Well, later this evening, Bruce will host an hour special on wild fires. CNN presents "Summer of Fire." It airs at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, 5:00 Pacific.
Well, coming up, we'll show you how chickens could help protect people from getting West Nile virus. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Good news for California's sea otters. A survey in May spotted record numbers of otters off the coast. The U.S. geological survey counted more that 2,500 otters during the five-day census, the highest count since they've been keeping records, and almost 400 otters more than last year.
In April, scientists were worried because so many dead otters were washing ashore. Now, they say the increased number of deaths may have just been because there are more otters overall.
Southwestern Idaho is under a siege by hungry bugs called Mormon crickets. They're devouring crops and just about everything else growing in their path. They also cause a traffic hazard because there are so many of them at one time that their squished bodies make roadways rather slippery. That's pretty nasty. They're not really crickets at all, they are kind of more like grasshoppers.
Well, there's a warning out for folks in the Midwest who keep prairie dogs as their pets. The Center for Disease Control says 19 pet owners or veterinary workers in Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana are dealing with rashes, fevers and chills that may be linked to an illness in the rodents. Several people have bee hospitalized, and some of the prairie dogs have died. The sale and display of prairie dogs has been halted in that region. Researchers think the disease may be related to the rare monkey pox. If so, it would be the first known infection of the virus in the Western hemisphere.
This summer, many people will be covering themselves in bug spray in an attempt to ward over mosquitoes carrying the West Nile virus. On a bigger scale, some states have taken a different approach to halt the spread of the disease.
Patty Davis joins us from our Washington bureau to explain. Hi Patty.
PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. Arlington County in Virginia is using a novel approach, chickens to test for the West Nile virus.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVIS (voice-over): More than a month of rain has officials in Arlington County, Virginia keeping a wary eye out for mosquitoes carrying the deadly West Nile virus. But they have a secret weapon, sentinel chickens.
DR. SUSAN ALLAN, ARLINGTON CO. HEALTH DIR: The chickens, it's sort of like the canary in the coal mines. The chicken in a way is a first early indicator for us of what these particular mosquitoes are doing.
DAVIS: A total of ten sentinel chickens are on duty, five here and five at another location, waiting for disease-carrying mosquitoes to bite.
AFTAB HUSSAIN, ARLINGTON CO. ENTOMOLOGIST: They are very sensitive, and they develop antibodies quickly.
DAVIS: Arlington County entomologist Aftab Hussain and others draw the chickens' blood every two weeks to see if they've been exposed. If it's positive, the chickens are euthanized, and the county knows it's time to warn people nearby to protect themselves against West Nile.
HUSSAIN: We will go door to door and let them know that the West Nile virus is here, this is what we are doing and this is what they can do.
DAVIS: What they can do includes getting rid of standing water in their yard and using insect repellent. So far this year, no chickens have tested positive. Last year, five of them were bitten and developed antibodies. County officials quickly spread the word, and only one human contracted the disease.
(on camera): But using chickens hasn't worked everywhere. Maryland recently stopped using them after resident crows and standing water tested positive, but the chickens did not.
(voice-over): And some consider it inhumane.
MICHAEL MCGRAW, PETA SPOKESMAN: Relying on the dead bird populations is a much more humane way, obviously. No animals were intentionally killed to track the virus, and we're able to get the same results, if not better, results in most cases.
DAVIS: When it comes to where Arlington County keeps its secret weapons against West Nile virus, don't ask. That is top secret. I can't divulge that. Officials worry that people might grab the chickens as pets, or worse, yet, Fredricka, they say even dinner.
WHITFIELD: Oh, gosh, yes, that would be pretty nasty. All right, well, let's talk about the rain that the entire East Coast has been experiencing over the past few weeks, with a lot of rain means a lot of standing water, which also means a threat of a whole lot more mosquitoes this summer.
DAVIS: Well, absolutely, but officials in Arlington are really saying that the more rain, in this case, the better, because what you're seeing is a positive effect, the rain continues, it washes away those standing pools or at least changes the water in the standing pools of water. That's where the mosquitoes like to breed. As long as you can keep that water moving, then you are keeping the mosquitoes from breeding -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks a lot, Patty. And people still need to be vigilant and try and dump that standing water pools, like their bird baths like you just showed.
DAVIS: That's right.
WHITFIELD: All right, thanks a lot, Patty.
Well, thousands of Americans fly on planes every day, but could the air that we're all breathing make us sick? Some say, yes, and they insist that SARS is only one of the many airborne threats to the health of the flying public.
Kathleen Koch has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Flight attendant Jill Haller was fit and healthy until a January 2001 flight when unidentified noxious fumes filled the cabin she was working in.
JILL HALLER, FLIGHT ATTENDANT: The initial symptoms were burning eyes, burning nose, tightness in my chest, severe headaches. I was placed on pain medication for the headaches, and giving an inhaler to help with the tightness and pain in my chest.
KOCH: Passengers too have reported being sickened by air in planes.
ROBIN MONTMAYEUR: An oil leak occurred in the pressure regulator shut-off valve causing a strong ...
KOCH: Robin Montmayeur says she's had insomnia, dizzy spells, memory loss and severe respiratory problems since breathing oil fumes for more than two hours while on a United Airlines flight from Washington to San Diego in 2000. MONTMAYEUR: It's definitely caused me to change my entire life. And I've accepted that at this point and am moving forward, but I will never be the person I was before that flight.
KOCH: The FAA tells Congress it doesn't know what's causing the problem and what corrective measures to take, if any.
DR, JOHN JORDAN, FEDERAL AIR SURGEON, FAA: Exactly, the mechanism for those problems has been difficult to define, and what we do to correct them is also been difficult to define.
KOCH: A 2001 study by the National Research Council found cabin air contaminants can be responsible for, quote, "Some of the numerous complaints of acute and chronic health effects." Some blame new plane filtration systems that cut costs by mixing in half recirculated air from the cabin, instead of using all fresh air. The practice raises particular concerns in the case of SARS. The Centers for Disease Control says there's little threat of infection on a plane.
DR. MARTIN CETRON, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL: The risk appears quite small, though that risk is not zero.
KOCH: Aircraft maker Boeing insists its filtration system eliminates such biological contaminants, but some pilots and the flight attendants' union charge air systems and filters aren't always properly maintained and changed. Airlines deny that.
JIM MAY, AIR TRANSPORT ASSN.: They're changed on a regular basis, and interestingly, they do work better the longer they've been in.
(on camera): Lawmakers are angry that the FAA won't have a complete study on cabin air contaminants under 2007. Some want immediate standards for cabin air quality so passengers and crews can breathe easier.
Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington.
WHITFIELD: Still ahead, on NEXT@CNN, it's no secret that sex sells computer games, but why are game makers going after only one of the sexes. It seems to be that way. We'll find out why right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD (voice-over): Meet Idaho Jim. The University of Idaho says he's the first cloned mule. Born May 4, bucking and running 33 hours later, grabbing a quick snack from his surrogate mother, he's the first member of the horse family to be cloned, according to researchers. And since a mule is a cross between a female horse and a male donkey, he's the first cloned hybrid animal. Researchers say they took cells from a fetus of a champion racing mule, hollowed out a horse's eggs and inserted the mule's DNA into the eggs and implanted the eggs into a mare. Idaho Jim's birth was reported in the journal "Science."
Why a mule? The research was paid for by the president of the Mule Racing Association. And just like with other cloned animals like Dolly, researchers went through years of failures, but they say there are two others exactly like Idaho Jim about to be born, one in June, the other in August. Scientists say Idaho Jim proves that equines can be cloned, so you can bet the horse racing industry is anxious to see if a champion racer makes champion clones, which could be good news for the owners of this year's Triple Crown contender Funny Cede. He's been neutered, so he can't sire offspring unless maybe one day he's cloned.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Will it ever end? In the testosterone pumped world of video and computer games, why is it so many women stay away from being the players, and what's it going to take to change that?
Kristie Lu Stout reports from Hong Kong.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to Extreme Beach Volleyball, the latest in the hip game series from Tecmo. The objective? Maneuver bucks many babes in bikinis.
(on camera): OK, right now you're playing something called the Hopping Game, which is basically, you are a scantily clad woman in a bikini, well endowed, and you're hopping across flotation devices in the pool. What do you think about this kind of game? Is it interesting?
VIVIEN LUKE, GAMER: No, I don't think so. I mean, kind of insult. I mean, for the whole game, there's no men inside.
STOUT (voice-over): Developers are enticing that market with sexual themes. Case in point, the striptease action of Bikini Karate Babes. Phuong Tram who plays the goddess Tian Wu (ph) doesn't play such games but knows why the guys do.
PHUONG TRAM, MODEL "BIKINI KARATE BABES": Guys always jump at the, you know, at the chance to be able to control a woman.
STOUT: Since it's designed for young men and boys, the overwhelming majority of today's videogame players. Last year the business surpassed the U.S. box office in sales, a feat achieved without many female dollars.
ERICK WUJCIK, HK POLYTECHNIC UNIV.: In Hollywood there's an understanding that the women's market is a huge piece of the market and you have to appeal to that huge piece of the market. In the game field, we haven't really seen that happen.
STOUT: Hit games like the Sims appeal to both sexes, but the industry has yet to create a successful title for women. And it's not likely to happen any time soon. WUJCIK: Typically, a good A-level game is going to cost $5 million, $10 million, U.S. dollars, $25 million if it's a massively, multiplayer game. Can they afford to spend that kind of money on an experiment for a market that hasn't proven itself. Well, no, I don't think they're going to do that.
STOUT: The investment would be made if developers only knew ...
(on camera): ... what do female gamers want?
LUKE: I think as a female gamer, I want something that is not so loud, something I can use my brain to solve. Something like adventure, a puzzle game, that is what I'd like.
STOUT: Adventure and puzzle games? Where something like Tomb Raider is an adventure game, but would you find that appealing?
LUKE: Yes, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) stops the thing for awhile.
STOUT: A small request from a neglected fan.
Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Well, that's all the time we have for right now, but before we go, here's a peek at what's coming up next week.
In cities and beach towns, hot summer weather means smog alerts. We'll look at the hot spots and the debate over loosening some air pollution laws. That story and much more coming up next week on NEXT@CNN. Hope you'll be joining us.
Coming up next, "CNN SUNDAY" with Andrea Koppel, including a half hour special on the case against Martha Stewart.
That's followed by "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS" at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, with a profile of Martha Stewart.
And at 8:00 Eastern, "CNN PRESENTS", Summer of Fire," with an inside view from the fire line of last summer's biggest forest fire.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Attacks Financial Institutions; Chickens Contribute to Battle Against West Nile>
Aired June 8, 2003 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: NEXT@CNN begins right now.
Welcome to NEXT@CNN for this Sunday, June 8. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. And coming up this hour, the Yangtze River waters are rising behind China's Three Gorges Dam. Is it a boost to the economy, or a disaster in the making?
Also, a new computer worm is going around, and it's designed to attack financial institutions. How serious is that threat?
And from computer worms to deadly real-world viruses. Find out how chickens are contributing to the battle against West Nile virus. We'll have those stories and much more.
But first, after 10 years of construction, China's controversial Three Gorges Dam project is one big step closer to completion. On June 1, China began filling the reservoir behind the dam. The birth of the world's largest hydroelectric project means the death of several historic towns, soon to be under water.
CNN's global environment correspondent, Gary Strieker joins us now with a look at that. Hi, Gary.
GARY STRIEKER, CNN ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka.
The Three Gorges Dam was first proposed as an economic savior for China more than 80 years ago. and from the beginning everything about this dream was big, including the potential consequences.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STRIEKER (voice-over): The massive dam spanning the powerful Yangtze River has not held back the flood of negative reaction worldwide. Critics described Three Gorges as a multibillion-dollar disaster, displacing almost a million people and submerging scenic landscapes, critical habitat and historic sites. But supporters see the dam as a social and economic boom for China. In the past century alone, repeated flooding of the Yangtze has claimed over 1 million lives, and according to Chinese officials, when completed, the dam should produce more electricity than 20 nuclear power plants, and improved navigation along the turbulent Yangtze River.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STRIEKER: In the days ...
WHITFIELD: We'll talk about some of the things that could come from this project then. How about some of the consequences? What might they be? Why are so many people worried about what could happen next?
STRIEKER: Well, the criticism is coming from many quarters, and to understand why, you have to consider the size of this project. This is a huge dam. It dwarfs anything else that mankind has ever built. It's known as the world's biggest engineering project. To give you some idea of the size, it is five times the width of the Hoover Dam in Nevada. It's over a mile wide. The reservoir building up behind the dam is nearly 400 miles long. And the experts who have criticized this dam base their criticism mainly on the size, this gargantuan size. Massive dams like this are now essentially obsolete in many countries in the world. There's new thinking about dams, that really these are outdated monsters that produce electricity very inefficiently, very expensively.
The criticism that is leveled against the Three Gorges Dam is essentially on the grounds of economics, first of all, that it's inefficient, producing electricity far too expensively. There's siltation coming down the river, which is going to build up against that dam wall, which is going to basically make the dam inoperable within 50 years, according to the critics. The structural integrity of the dam is in question because of the fact that this is a landslide-prone area, an earthquake-prone area.
It's geologically unstable. The water that will be building up behind the dam will submerge some of the best agricultural land in the Yangtze Valley. It's going to submerge villages, towns and cities. It's going to submerge historic sites, beautiful landscape that people have composed poetry about in China for years. The pollution that will be building up inside this massive reservoir is going to come essentially from the submergence of all of these landfill sites and dumps along the banks, and from raw sewage coming down from the cities on the banks.
WHITFIELD: So it sounds like the consequences far outweigh any of the advantages, how in the world did it get to this point?
STRIEKER: This is a symbolic project. It's not just an engineering project. It's a symbol for China. It represents prosperity, it represents security. The river has been the cause of many floods over the course of centuries. Just in the last century, more than 1 million people have died. The last big flood was in 1996, and it was a pet project of former Premier Li Peng, who was an engineer. And from China's point of view, they need proper navigation on the river, and they need flood control. And it's a prestige project. And they had decided within the Communist party that they were going to make this project happen, make it succeed, regardless of the consequences.
WHITFIELD: If it turns out these consequences are right, or at least those critics who forecast these are the consequences, is there an expectation on when people would start to see kind of a downfall of this project?
STRIEKER: No one really knows, Fredricka. There are dire predictions and warnings coming from many places. Certainly, the pollution that will be building up inside the river will be noticeable fairly soon, according to the experts. The Chinese government says they're going to build water treatment plants which will take care of this. The siltation which will be coming down the river -- siltation is a major problem.
The Yangtze is the world's third longest river. It sends down this river to the China Sea something like 1,000 times the amount of silt carried by the Mississippi River. All of that silt is going to be blocked by this dam, and it's going to build up. And some of the direst predictions have come from people who say that this geologically unstable area just cannot support that amount of water and silt building up over this geologic instability. And if that dam should ever break, the unlikely event the Chinese say that would happen, others say it's quite likely, it could kill hundreds of thousands of people, of course, down stream.
WHITFIELD: Wow, it's an incredible story.
STRIEKER: But the Chinese say that they need this electricity. It's going to boost their electrical output by 10 percent. It's produced 18 times the amount of power that the Glen Canyon Dam in the United States produces. Ten percent in addition to the Chinese power output. And if they don't have that potential, they have to build more coal-fired generating plants, and that means more pollution and more global warming.
WHITFIELD: Wow, electricity as an incredibly high cost, potentially. Gary Strieker, thanks very much for that report. Appreciate it.
WHITFIELD: Well, in the days following the fall of Saddam Hussein, many of Iraq's historic treasures were stolen by looters, but CNN's Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf joins us now with a breakthrough on this story -- Jane.
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Fredricka, it's part detective story, part treasure hunt, but Iraqi officials along with U.S. soldiers and detectives have retrieved boxes and boxes of spectacular ancient gold jewelry. It's going to go on display here in Baghdad next month.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARRAF (voice-over): It's a little battered, but Iraq's archaeology museum is reopening. The hole is from a U.S. tank shell aimed at Iraqi snipers who were near the roof. The inside was looted as the regime fell, but museum staff are back at work, painstakingly recreating the inventory of half a million years of history, going back to the beginnings of human civilization which first emerged in ancient Iraq.
When the museum reopens on July 3, it will exhibit 2,800-year-old gold treasures, displayed only once since they were unearthed in the late 1980s. Under Saddam Hussein's rule, even photos of the pieces from the royal tombs in Nimrud were kept under wraps. This was jewelry made for a queen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some idea is that this was prepared for the queen just before she died, and these are angels to protect her soul.
ARRAF: The pieces are part of 60 kilograms of ancient gold objects. Most stored here in Iraq's central bank for safekeeping before the '91 Gulf War. As the regime fell, the bank was also looted, but the vaults, unlike the museum galleries and storerooms were intact.
(on camera): There was an international outcry when Iraq's museum, unprotected by U.S. forces was looted during the war, but it now looks as if there were far fewer items stolen that originally feared.
(voice-over): Iraqis have returned more than 1,000-looted items, but the rest including 33 major pieces remain missing. A loss for world heritage, but for the Iraq museum, it could have been much, much worse.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ARRAF: Now, some of museum officials had originally estimated that 170,000 pieces had been looted. They now say that number's probably close to about 3,000, big difference there -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Now, Jane, art historians and art lovers really appreciate the find of these artifacts, but for the ordinary citizen there in Iraq, who is still without the adequate amount of water and food, do they really care about the finding of some of these artifacts?
ARRAF: You know, it's interesting, but they really do. Iraqis really see this as their history, their heritage, what sets them apart -- far apart from other people, going back to the origins of civilization. These is where it all started, the first cities, the first rule of law back in Mesopotamia between the two rivers, and every Iraqi seems to identify with it. This has been such an emotional issue, the Iraq museum.
When reports first surfaced that the museum had been virtually destroyed, which were wrong, and that it had been extensively looted, you would go out into the street, and along with people complaining about not having enough clean water and enough electricity, they would said, and our museum was destroyed. It's something really deeply felt. Part of it, of course, is a lot of people felt the U.S. did not protect that museum the way it protected the oil industry, and they were very, very angry. But it is surprisingly an issue that Iraqis, in fact, do seem to care about the archaeological heritage, because they see it as their history -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And, indeed, still the undercurrent of that lack of protection are being felt. Let's shift gears a little bit and talk about a potential health issue, the fact that so many barrels holding uranium and radioactive material were emptied and used for drinking water for a number of the people. Are health officials starting to see the effects of people getting sick from those kind of contaminants exposure?
ARRAF: There seem to have been immediate short-term effects. Some of the people we talked to who had actually looted some of these barrels -- and these are very poor people, so a metal barrel for them is something -- immediately said when they opened it up and saw this, they didn't know what it was. But it was, in fact, processed uranium, they started to choke, some of them told us. Now, scientists and health officials say that the long-term effects, obviously, will take a lot longer, but it's certainly worrying that it might have been gotten into the water system or food chain, and there's very little right now that can be done about that now -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Jane Arraf in Baghdad, thank you very much.
Well, checking some of the stories making news on our beat, supplies are on the way to the international space station, an unmanned progress resupply ship blasted off today atop a Russian rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, because the space shuttle fleet is still grounded in the wake of the Columbia disaster, Russian spacecraft are the only way to move personnel and supplies to the ISS. This cargo ship will dock with the station Alpha on Wednesday. It's carrying water, fuel and music recordings to the station's two-man crew.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Had enough of computer viruses? We've got one more for you. A computer worm bug called Bugbear B is infecting computers all around the globe. Experts say that in addition to causing headaches for home computer users and network administrators, the worm is specifically programmed to target banks, which is pretty scary.
Joining us now to help us understand what this is all about is Vincent Weafer, senior director of Symantec's security response team. Vincent, good to see you.
VINCENT WEAFER, SYMANTEC SECURITY RESPONSE: Good to be hear.
WHITFIELD: All right, so what is this bug? What makes it different from the others?
WEAFER: Bugbear is an example of a mass mailing worm which, also, once it gets on your machine, will try to replicate itself over local area networks. What makes it unique ...
WHITFIELD: How does it work?
WEAFER: What makes it unique in this case is it will try to come on your machine using lots of different names, titles and attachments. Then, once on your machine, it tries to steal information, passwords, information it could then use to try and attack you at a later stage.
WHITFIELD: All right. So it is looking for specific information, however, right? This is not just a bug that looks for any kind of personal information, but specifically that kind of information attached to your bank accounts?
WEAFER: What it really is trying to do is if it finds itself on a machine that may be inside a bank or financial institution, then it will deliberately tries to get the information off either via modem or over the network. What it's really trying to do afterwards is try to go in and try to break into that bank. Of course, most major banking systems are not on the Internet as such, but it will try and later attack such as an escalation of privileges.
WHITFIELD: So, for example, I become vulnerable just when I tap into my computer, I want to check into my bank accounts on-line, and what kind of information is it that I put into it that makes me more of a candidates?
WEAFER: Really, what it is looking for is you're going to type in your user ID and password, and that's what it's looking for, because then, in turn, it can try and use that to try and break into other systems, banking systems. Or even if you're connected into another company or travel agency, it will try to use it to break into them, too.
WHITFIELD: So, how will I know whether my account has been tapped into by someone other than me?
WEAFER: Really, you're going to be working with your banks, as well as making sure you have updated anti-virus, personal firewalls. You are taking account of your security of your system. You will know if you've been attacked if you've got antivirus and it's up to date. It will tell you that you are clear or that you've been infected.
WHITFIELD: And you will know if you start to see some money missing?
WEAFER: Certainly, keeping a good ides of your accounts is a good idea, but really it's trying to target machines inside the banks rather than just home users.
WHITFIELD: All right, so the only thing that most of us can do, regular home users, you are saying make sure you have a firewall attached to try and combat anyone else or system infiltrating your system?
WEAFER: Absolutely, in addition to that, make sure you keep up to date with the latest security patches from people like Microsoft, and then make sure on your own machines, keep user IDs and passwords so that if worms do try to get on your machines, they can't propagate or leave your system.
WHITFIELD: So, it's called Bearbug B. Who comes up with these names, by the way, of these viruses? WEAFER: Actually, we named the original bugbear on this one, and it's from a mythical creature, which is kind of scary to some children. So, it's related to some piece of code we saw inside us. This is variant of the original Bugbear that came out in September of last year.
WHITFIELD: All right, Bugbear B, that's it. All right, Vincent Weafer, thanks very much.
WEAFER: You're very welcome.
WHITFIELD: From Symantec security response. We appreciate it.
When we come back, we'll find out why a respected computer magazine is teaching it's readers how to write viruses.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: In January of this year, computer users faced another threat, the virus known as "Slammer," which slowed Internet traffic to a crawl. Now, in a controversial move, "Wired" magazine is going to walk its readers through exactly how that happened, including revealing the actual virus code.
CNN technology correspondence Daniel Sieberg talked to the managing editor of "Wired" about the decision.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: You know, when the Slammer worm hit the Internet back in January, it reportedly caused hundreds of millions of dollars of damage. We're talking from anything from the Internet being jammed up because it was being sent out at such a high rate. Plane schedules were disrupted, ATMs were shut down, a lot of different problems. The sky didn't actually fall with Slammer, but there were a lot of problems involved. And now, on Tuesday, "Wired" magazine will be publishing its upcoming issue, and in it, they will have the code from this virus Slammer or Sapphire, as it's often known. So why are they doing this and how do they respond to some of the controversy around it?
Well, I'm joined right now by Blaise Zerega, he is the managing editor of "Wired" magazine to talk all about this. Blaise, first, the obvious question that comes up on everybody's mind is isn't this analogous to a magazine publishing how-to for, say, a rocket-propelled grenade, or something like that? Is this going to be more damaging than educational?
BLAISE ZEREGA, MANAGING EDITOR, "WIRED": We think not, Daniel. The people who are in a people to wreak havoc on the Internet do not turn to "Wired" magazine to read step-by-step instructions for hacking. However, the people who are in a position to safeguard the Internet -- business leaders, technology leaders, politicians -- they do turn to "Wired" magazine and read information on important issues just like this. SIEBERG: Now, why the decision to publish it now, though? The virus itself came out about six months ago. There was a patch available from Microsoft even before that. Is there some sort of timing associated with the reasoning for doing it now?
ZEREGA: This story is incredibly timely and relevant. Protecting cyberspace is part of homeland security. There were attacks in the fall. The Slammer virus attacked in January, and just this past week a new worm called Bugbear -- actually, a new version of a worm called Bugbear, has been making its way across the Internet.
SIEBERG: Right, Bugbear. And, actually, so big as well, another one people are concerned about these days. Let's talk a little bit, though, about the fact that the -- although the code for Slammer is already on the Internet and people can have access to it, what was the editorial decision at "Wired" to decide to publish -- I actually have a copy of the magazine right here -- but it does have the code in it. Are you not worried that there will not be some sort of low-level hackers out there who will see this and they say, oh, finally this is what I need to do to create a more effective virus out there?
ZEREGA: That is a fair question. However, bringing down the Internet is a lot more difficult than cutting and pasting code, putting it in e-mail and sending it to someone.
SIEBERG: By that rationale, though, why would you decide to put it out there at all? A lot of these antivirus companies already know this code, or they know the problems associated with it. Where do you see the educational purposes of this?
ZEREGA: We are committed to open information, unfettered communication. We want to help set the agenda for public discourse. And in this case, we believe in security not obscurity. If there is a risk, if there is a vulnerability to the Internet, let's shine a light on it and get people to talk about it.
SIEBERG: Blaise, very quickly, how do you respond to anybody who says this is sensationalist and just designed to sell magazines?
ZEREGA: I simply don't buy it. We think this is a very important story. We take great care with every word and image that goes into our magazine so we can stand by it.
SIEBERG: All right, well Blaise Zerega, the managing editor of "Wired." Thanks so much for joining us to talk about that. And maybe it is not going to quell all of the controversy around it, after talking to him. And people will certainly be keeping an eye on this magazine when it comes out on store shelves on Tuesday.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Thanks, Dan.
Coming up in our next half hour, how efforts to prevent forest fires may sometimes end up making them worse.
And just what is in the air that you breathe inside a passenger jet. That question has got some people all choked up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: NEXT@CNN continues in just a moment after a check of the news headlines this hour. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell professes no doubt, whatsoever, that Iraq had banned weapons before the war that toppled Saddam Hussein. Little evidence of weapons of mass destruction has surfaced in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion began. Powell blames the news media for raising doubts about U.S intelligence on the matter.
Police in San Jose, California hope a neighbor's security tape will help them capture the man suspected of kidnapping 9-year-old Jennette Tamayo. The tape shows the alleged kidnapper parked outside the Tamayo's home. It also shows the suspect approaching the home after the girl came home from school on Friday.
Voters in Poland have apparently approved membership in the European Union, according to exit surveys. Eighty two percent are registering approval in the nationwide vote. The 15-nation EU is now poised to receive at least six new members. More news at the top of the hour.
NEXT@CNN resumes right now.
WHITFIELD: NASA will try again Monday to get the first of two new Mars Rovers on a path toward the red planet. The first Rover was set to take off from Cape Canaveral this afternoon atop a Boeing Delta 2 rocket. But storms in central Florida forced a delay until tomorrow afternoon at the very earliest. The two golf-cart sized Rover now have names thanks to a third grader from Scottsdale, Arizona. Nine- year-old Sofi Collis won a nationwide contest to name them. She joined NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe this morning to unveil the names Spirit and Opportunity for the mobile explorers.
For NASA scientists and engineers watching these spacecraft depart is like watching a child leave home.
Space correspondent Miles O'Brien has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MILE O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They call themselves elves, unseen, and their job, to make magic happen. They work at NASA's gateway to the galaxy, Pasadena's fabled jet propulsion laboratory, in a place they affectionately refer to as the sandbox. But that's not to say this is playtime. There are staging the final dress rehearsals for the nail-biting main events that have consumed them for the past three years, a pair of bold odysseys to the surface of Mars.
This test is a success. But the celebration is clipped and muted. They work in the shadow of a devastating debacle, the twin failures of the Mars Polar Lander and Climate Orbiter in late 1999, but they also remember the sweet taste of success. Of Mars Pathfinder and it's Rover Sojourner in the summer of '97. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is an extremely complex mission. And a lot of us on the team can compare it to Sojourner and Mars Pathfinder. And I think when we talk about that, we think it's about 10 times as complex, and we developed it in about half the time. So that's a significant challenge for all of us.
O'BRIEN: They are working under an unforgiving deadline, not imposed by Washington fiat but by the laws of physics. Every 26 months Mars and earth fly in close orbital formation. It's only then a mission to the red planet is possible, and this time Mars is closer than ever.
NAGIN COX, MER, CHIEF, SPACECRAFT TEAM: And this happens to be a particularly good opportunity, where we're close enough and the geometry works out that we have an excellent data return. So that means we can bring more pictures, more information about Mars back to the people of the earth in this particular landing opportunity.
O'BRIEN: The twin missions to hunt for signs of life are set for a journey of a quarter billion miles carrying identical red planet rovers. They are the size of golf carts. If all goes as plan, they will enter the wispy Martian atmosphere on opposite sides of the planet in January, and then deploy parachutes and air bags to cushion their arrival on the rust-colored surface.
JIM ERICKSON, MISSION MANAGER: We do as much as we can to make sure it's a gentle landing. Even though it doesn't sound like it when we are bouncing on these airbags.
O'BRIEN: In 1999, the Mars Polar Lander was supposed to arrive alive by using a parachute and then a rocket motor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry to report in a nominal no contact MR pass.
O'BRIEN: But when the landing gear deployed with a jolt, a sensor mistook that as touchdown, cutting the engine more than 1,000 feet above the surface. Two months earlier, the Mars climber orbiter augured into Mars after navigators got confused between metric and English measurements. They were bitter pills for the team.
ERICKSON: We do get very attached to them. And that's probably a good thing, because we take very good care of them. We're entrusted with the public's money to do the right kind of a job, so it's something we take very seriously. And we've grown to have great affection for these machines that we built.
O'BRIEN: Today, there's no more talk of faster, better, cheaper, the NASA mantra implicated in the failure. This time the space agency is spending about $800 million to reach Mars with the two landers, about three times more than the price tag for the failed Polar Lander. And instead of farming work out to contractors and academia, these are in-house projects, their babies, if you will.
ERICKSON: It's great. It's almost like the birth of a child in some ways, where you've been waiting, you've been working, and then suddenly it happens.
O'BRIEN: Mars is an unforgiving destination. Over the years, only one in three missions have succeeded. A little elf magic may be just what is needed. Miles O'Brien, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Hey, remember last summer, hot, dry, fiery? It also brought one of the most severe wildfire seasons in a half a century. A CNN crew covered the battle from the fire lines of one of the biggest blazes on tap last summer. As this year's fire season gets under way. CNN's Bruce Burkhardt looks back at some of the lessons of summer 2002.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE BURKHARDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A thick under story throughout much of the Western landscape. Thanks to the emphasis on prevention, many forests are thick and ripe for burning.
(on camera): If you ever tried to start a camp fire, you can understand what is meant by under story, which is at the heart of this argument over forest management. Now, imagine this log is like one of those tall hardy trees that grow in our western forests. Well, try to light it like this, you'll be at it all day, but build up a pile of kindling beneath it, and in no time at all, that once stubborn log will be engulfed in flame. That kindling is no different than the under story in our forest, and because we've controlled fire for so long, our forests are full of kindling. And when it burns, it burns hot.
BOONE KAUFFMAN, FIRE ECOLOGIST: We've created a condition where these new trees that have invaded, we also call ladder fuels, because they literally can allow the fire to -- it used to be moving in the under story, to sweep up through the mid story and into the crowns of the over story trees, therefore killing all of the large trees in the forest as well.
BURKHARDT: Which is not a good deal.
KAUFFMAN: No, it's not a good deal.
BURKHARDT: Just about all the players involved now agree that thinning is necessary, including President Bush, who used the biscuit fire to present his healthy forest initiative.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We need to understand if you let kindling build up and there's a lightning strike, you're going to get yourself a big fire. That's what we've got to understand.
GALE NORTON, U.S. INTERIOR SECRETARY: It's important that we find some ways of treating the forests and treating the overgrowth within the forests.
BURKHARDT: But environmentalists claim this healthy forest initiative is more about keeping logging companies healthy.
SEAN COSGROVE, THE SIERRA CLUB: The president's initiative focuses on increasing commercial logging across the landscape.
BURKHARDT: As the Sierra Club and others point out, timber companies have no interest in the brush and smaller trees that need to be cleared out. They want the big trees. The green groups also think the Bush plan would gut environmental standards, removing public participation from the process.
COSGROVE: If they want to actually do service contracts and remove flammable material and do prescribed burning that kind of thing, let's do it, we certainly agree on that. But what they're looking at is providing timber for the industry.
BURKHARDT: However fire reduction treatment is done, it will take time to undo what more than a century of fire suppression has created. Because of that, we need to brace ourselves for more of this.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Well, later this evening, Bruce will host an hour special on wild fires. CNN presents "Summer of Fire." It airs at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, 5:00 Pacific.
Well, coming up, we'll show you how chickens could help protect people from getting West Nile virus. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Good news for California's sea otters. A survey in May spotted record numbers of otters off the coast. The U.S. geological survey counted more that 2,500 otters during the five-day census, the highest count since they've been keeping records, and almost 400 otters more than last year.
In April, scientists were worried because so many dead otters were washing ashore. Now, they say the increased number of deaths may have just been because there are more otters overall.
Southwestern Idaho is under a siege by hungry bugs called Mormon crickets. They're devouring crops and just about everything else growing in their path. They also cause a traffic hazard because there are so many of them at one time that their squished bodies make roadways rather slippery. That's pretty nasty. They're not really crickets at all, they are kind of more like grasshoppers.
Well, there's a warning out for folks in the Midwest who keep prairie dogs as their pets. The Center for Disease Control says 19 pet owners or veterinary workers in Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana are dealing with rashes, fevers and chills that may be linked to an illness in the rodents. Several people have bee hospitalized, and some of the prairie dogs have died. The sale and display of prairie dogs has been halted in that region. Researchers think the disease may be related to the rare monkey pox. If so, it would be the first known infection of the virus in the Western hemisphere.
This summer, many people will be covering themselves in bug spray in an attempt to ward over mosquitoes carrying the West Nile virus. On a bigger scale, some states have taken a different approach to halt the spread of the disease.
Patty Davis joins us from our Washington bureau to explain. Hi Patty.
PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. Arlington County in Virginia is using a novel approach, chickens to test for the West Nile virus.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVIS (voice-over): More than a month of rain has officials in Arlington County, Virginia keeping a wary eye out for mosquitoes carrying the deadly West Nile virus. But they have a secret weapon, sentinel chickens.
DR. SUSAN ALLAN, ARLINGTON CO. HEALTH DIR: The chickens, it's sort of like the canary in the coal mines. The chicken in a way is a first early indicator for us of what these particular mosquitoes are doing.
DAVIS: A total of ten sentinel chickens are on duty, five here and five at another location, waiting for disease-carrying mosquitoes to bite.
AFTAB HUSSAIN, ARLINGTON CO. ENTOMOLOGIST: They are very sensitive, and they develop antibodies quickly.
DAVIS: Arlington County entomologist Aftab Hussain and others draw the chickens' blood every two weeks to see if they've been exposed. If it's positive, the chickens are euthanized, and the county knows it's time to warn people nearby to protect themselves against West Nile.
HUSSAIN: We will go door to door and let them know that the West Nile virus is here, this is what we are doing and this is what they can do.
DAVIS: What they can do includes getting rid of standing water in their yard and using insect repellent. So far this year, no chickens have tested positive. Last year, five of them were bitten and developed antibodies. County officials quickly spread the word, and only one human contracted the disease.
(on camera): But using chickens hasn't worked everywhere. Maryland recently stopped using them after resident crows and standing water tested positive, but the chickens did not.
(voice-over): And some consider it inhumane.
MICHAEL MCGRAW, PETA SPOKESMAN: Relying on the dead bird populations is a much more humane way, obviously. No animals were intentionally killed to track the virus, and we're able to get the same results, if not better, results in most cases.
DAVIS: When it comes to where Arlington County keeps its secret weapons against West Nile virus, don't ask. That is top secret. I can't divulge that. Officials worry that people might grab the chickens as pets, or worse, yet, Fredricka, they say even dinner.
WHITFIELD: Oh, gosh, yes, that would be pretty nasty. All right, well, let's talk about the rain that the entire East Coast has been experiencing over the past few weeks, with a lot of rain means a lot of standing water, which also means a threat of a whole lot more mosquitoes this summer.
DAVIS: Well, absolutely, but officials in Arlington are really saying that the more rain, in this case, the better, because what you're seeing is a positive effect, the rain continues, it washes away those standing pools or at least changes the water in the standing pools of water. That's where the mosquitoes like to breed. As long as you can keep that water moving, then you are keeping the mosquitoes from breeding -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks a lot, Patty. And people still need to be vigilant and try and dump that standing water pools, like their bird baths like you just showed.
DAVIS: That's right.
WHITFIELD: All right, thanks a lot, Patty.
Well, thousands of Americans fly on planes every day, but could the air that we're all breathing make us sick? Some say, yes, and they insist that SARS is only one of the many airborne threats to the health of the flying public.
Kathleen Koch has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Flight attendant Jill Haller was fit and healthy until a January 2001 flight when unidentified noxious fumes filled the cabin she was working in.
JILL HALLER, FLIGHT ATTENDANT: The initial symptoms were burning eyes, burning nose, tightness in my chest, severe headaches. I was placed on pain medication for the headaches, and giving an inhaler to help with the tightness and pain in my chest.
KOCH: Passengers too have reported being sickened by air in planes.
ROBIN MONTMAYEUR: An oil leak occurred in the pressure regulator shut-off valve causing a strong ...
KOCH: Robin Montmayeur says she's had insomnia, dizzy spells, memory loss and severe respiratory problems since breathing oil fumes for more than two hours while on a United Airlines flight from Washington to San Diego in 2000. MONTMAYEUR: It's definitely caused me to change my entire life. And I've accepted that at this point and am moving forward, but I will never be the person I was before that flight.
KOCH: The FAA tells Congress it doesn't know what's causing the problem and what corrective measures to take, if any.
DR, JOHN JORDAN, FEDERAL AIR SURGEON, FAA: Exactly, the mechanism for those problems has been difficult to define, and what we do to correct them is also been difficult to define.
KOCH: A 2001 study by the National Research Council found cabin air contaminants can be responsible for, quote, "Some of the numerous complaints of acute and chronic health effects." Some blame new plane filtration systems that cut costs by mixing in half recirculated air from the cabin, instead of using all fresh air. The practice raises particular concerns in the case of SARS. The Centers for Disease Control says there's little threat of infection on a plane.
DR. MARTIN CETRON, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL: The risk appears quite small, though that risk is not zero.
KOCH: Aircraft maker Boeing insists its filtration system eliminates such biological contaminants, but some pilots and the flight attendants' union charge air systems and filters aren't always properly maintained and changed. Airlines deny that.
JIM MAY, AIR TRANSPORT ASSN.: They're changed on a regular basis, and interestingly, they do work better the longer they've been in.
(on camera): Lawmakers are angry that the FAA won't have a complete study on cabin air contaminants under 2007. Some want immediate standards for cabin air quality so passengers and crews can breathe easier.
Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington.
WHITFIELD: Still ahead, on NEXT@CNN, it's no secret that sex sells computer games, but why are game makers going after only one of the sexes. It seems to be that way. We'll find out why right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD (voice-over): Meet Idaho Jim. The University of Idaho says he's the first cloned mule. Born May 4, bucking and running 33 hours later, grabbing a quick snack from his surrogate mother, he's the first member of the horse family to be cloned, according to researchers. And since a mule is a cross between a female horse and a male donkey, he's the first cloned hybrid animal. Researchers say they took cells from a fetus of a champion racing mule, hollowed out a horse's eggs and inserted the mule's DNA into the eggs and implanted the eggs into a mare. Idaho Jim's birth was reported in the journal "Science."
Why a mule? The research was paid for by the president of the Mule Racing Association. And just like with other cloned animals like Dolly, researchers went through years of failures, but they say there are two others exactly like Idaho Jim about to be born, one in June, the other in August. Scientists say Idaho Jim proves that equines can be cloned, so you can bet the horse racing industry is anxious to see if a champion racer makes champion clones, which could be good news for the owners of this year's Triple Crown contender Funny Cede. He's been neutered, so he can't sire offspring unless maybe one day he's cloned.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Will it ever end? In the testosterone pumped world of video and computer games, why is it so many women stay away from being the players, and what's it going to take to change that?
Kristie Lu Stout reports from Hong Kong.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to Extreme Beach Volleyball, the latest in the hip game series from Tecmo. The objective? Maneuver bucks many babes in bikinis.
(on camera): OK, right now you're playing something called the Hopping Game, which is basically, you are a scantily clad woman in a bikini, well endowed, and you're hopping across flotation devices in the pool. What do you think about this kind of game? Is it interesting?
VIVIEN LUKE, GAMER: No, I don't think so. I mean, kind of insult. I mean, for the whole game, there's no men inside.
STOUT (voice-over): Developers are enticing that market with sexual themes. Case in point, the striptease action of Bikini Karate Babes. Phuong Tram who plays the goddess Tian Wu (ph) doesn't play such games but knows why the guys do.
PHUONG TRAM, MODEL "BIKINI KARATE BABES": Guys always jump at the, you know, at the chance to be able to control a woman.
STOUT: Since it's designed for young men and boys, the overwhelming majority of today's videogame players. Last year the business surpassed the U.S. box office in sales, a feat achieved without many female dollars.
ERICK WUJCIK, HK POLYTECHNIC UNIV.: In Hollywood there's an understanding that the women's market is a huge piece of the market and you have to appeal to that huge piece of the market. In the game field, we haven't really seen that happen.
STOUT: Hit games like the Sims appeal to both sexes, but the industry has yet to create a successful title for women. And it's not likely to happen any time soon. WUJCIK: Typically, a good A-level game is going to cost $5 million, $10 million, U.S. dollars, $25 million if it's a massively, multiplayer game. Can they afford to spend that kind of money on an experiment for a market that hasn't proven itself. Well, no, I don't think they're going to do that.
STOUT: The investment would be made if developers only knew ...
(on camera): ... what do female gamers want?
LUKE: I think as a female gamer, I want something that is not so loud, something I can use my brain to solve. Something like adventure, a puzzle game, that is what I'd like.
STOUT: Adventure and puzzle games? Where something like Tomb Raider is an adventure game, but would you find that appealing?
LUKE: Yes, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) stops the thing for awhile.
STOUT: A small request from a neglected fan.
Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Well, that's all the time we have for right now, but before we go, here's a peek at what's coming up next week.
In cities and beach towns, hot summer weather means smog alerts. We'll look at the hot spots and the debate over loosening some air pollution laws. That story and much more coming up next week on NEXT@CNN. Hope you'll be joining us.
Coming up next, "CNN SUNDAY" with Andrea Koppel, including a half hour special on the case against Martha Stewart.
That's followed by "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS" at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, with a profile of Martha Stewart.
And at 8:00 Eastern, "CNN PRESENTS", Summer of Fire," with an inside view from the fire line of last summer's biggest forest fire.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Attacks Financial Institutions; Chickens Contribute to Battle Against West Nile>
