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CNN Saturday Morning News

A series of blasts in Bali kills at least 19; U.S. launches a new offensive in western Iraq; New Orleans continues to rebuild after hurricanes; A new caffeine drink marketed to young children; Giant squid is photographed

Aired October 01, 2005 - 09:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: We continue to follow this breaking news out of the Indonesia resort island of Bali where simultaneous explosions have been reported. According to local radio, three explosions went off in the Jimbaran Beach Area. A second explosion was heard in downtown Kuta, some 18 miles away. We'll have a live report in a moment.
And checking stories, now in the news. Slowly but surely life is returning to New Orleans. The city's mayor, Ray Nagin, has announced a commission to device a plan to rebuild the city. Nagin wants the federal government to help with the rebuilding efforts. Parts of New Orleans remain swampy but military officials say it is 95 percent dry.

The U.S. military says Afghan forces captured a key Taliban commander in eastern Afghanistan. A statement says U.S. forces provided security while national police captured the man. According to U.S. Central Command he was responsible for a number of attacks against U.S. and Afghan forces.

A Soyuz rocket blasts off with American space tourist Greg Olsen and a U.S. Russian crew on board. They're headed for the International Space Station. The crew reported all was well aboard the craft as it entered its initial orbit. Olsen is the 60-year-old founder of an infrared camera company in New Jersey. He reportedly paid $20 million for a seat on the Expedition 12 Flight.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Fredricka Whitfield in for Betty Nguyen this morning. This is CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR, CNN SATURDAY MORNING: And good morning everyone. I'm Tony Harris. Thank you for starting your day with us. As we have been telling you within the past hour, we are following breaking news out of Bali, Indonesia this morning of explosions in a tourist area. Of the resort island the blast apparently were along Jimbaran Beach in an area that includes many popular seafood restaurants. Joining us on the phone now is freelance journalist John Aglionby. John good morning. How are you sir?

JOHN AGLIONBY, JOURNALIST (via telephone): Hi. Rushing to get there.

HARRIS: OK. Thank you. Good of you to join us. First of all, what have you learned about the explosions in this area so far? AGLIONBY: It appears to be three explosions in two different areas. The first explosions were near the one of the two Four Seasons hotel in Bali, in an area called Jimbaran. They weren't actually in the hotel, just outside. It was about 6:50 p.m. local time when they happened.

It was pretty crowded there. It's not clear exactly where they were. Whether they were near the seafood restaurants on the road. There was a number of casualties at least ten local radio and local TV are saying. The police not yet commenting as to exactly what's happen. They're trying to get their stories straight.

Ten minutes after that there was another explosion in the very popular backpack area called Kuta. Appears that about any number of people have been injured there. Department store and it would have been extremely crowded at that time of night. The sun would have just gone down. People watch the sun set and be heading off to dinner. So it's still very early days, very patchy information. And but it seems as Bali's been a victim of another terrorist attack.

HARRIS: How much distance between the two explosion sites?

AGLIONBY: About five to ten kilometers. That sort of distance we're talking about. Close, extremely popular tourist destinations.

HARRIS: Similarities to the 2002 bombings?

AGLIONBY: Well, the ones in Jimbaran they were pretty simultaneous. And if they were close about 100 meters apart. So if that's correct and it's extremely similar to the 2002 Bali bombings when they were in two nightclubs on opposite sides of the road. Yes, it has scary echoes of that. One of the department stores appears to be a single explosion but that yet hasn't been confirmed and the diversion air attack or further scaring, who knows at this stage.

HARRIS: And we're talking with freelance journalist John Aglionby. John, I'm curious to know if there has been any kind of a claim of responsibility.

AGLIONBY: Far too early for that. But -- and these -- if it was the same people who did the last ones, then they don't claim responsibility. Certainly not initially. And but then once their perpetrators are captured, they shout at the rooftops about it. They won't claim responsibility. They don't have Web sites.

There are members of a group called Jamarlamer; witch is the Southeast Asian wing of Al Qaeda. But it's still too early to say what's happening. Certainly the Indonesian president was wanting only a few weeks ago that they were still very active and had the potential to carry out a terrorist attack. Still not yet clear if it was these people.

HARRIS: OK. We'll continue to follow this story and our thanks to freelance journalist John Aglionby.

WHITFIELD: The U.S. launches a new offense in western Iraq involving some 1,000 U.S. troops. Let's go live to CNN's Jennifer Eccleston who is embed with the 3rd Infantry Division, she joins us on the telephone now. Jennifer.

JENNIFER ECCLESTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Hi there. As you can hear quite a bit of gunfire going on behind me. It's a recent development. It's been quiet here for the past couple of hours. What we've normally been hearings is the detonation by the engineers attached to the marines who I'm traveling with. That nation of a number of IEV's improvised explosive devices have been lad down across the main road, which goes through the city of Sadah which is along the Euphrates River.

This is one of the main areas for insurgent activity and these operations here on going operations are trying to root out the insurgents from these towns and hopefully with that, they will be able to stop the bombings and not only take place in this part of the world, but also throughout the wider metropolitan area in Iraq and especially in Baghdad.

As you mentioned this is a joint operation. It's led by the marines, but they're also navy and army involved. Like you said, some of the thousand people backed by Abram tanks and cobra attack helicopters. I don't know if you can hear the fun gunfire in the background. It would appear to me it would come from an Abram tank. We have a number of insurgent activities along the river and that is what they're chasing down right now.

WHITFIELD: Jennifer, with the company that you are embedded with, when they enter some of these communities along the Syrian border, what kind of reception are they getting from some of the townspeople there? Are they finding that folks are happy to see them or they're not at all cooperative in any way?

ECCLESTON: No, in the overall mood, I have to say from the residents who have remained here and it has to be said that many people have left. This town normally has about 2,500 people and it is estimated that about 30 percent of them are still here.

Those that are here in the houses that we went in to for these search and coordinating operations looking four arms, looking for possible insurgents have been very cooperative. Although and you can imagine they are very fearful. They don't know where this is leading. They don't know what their future will hold here.

How long the Americans will be here to protect them. There are others that don't greet them warmly, but by and large they're still very cooperative and I think that they just feel that's the best way to behave right now because otherwise they could find themselves in a good deal of trouble.

WHITFIELD: And in Baghdad, and other larger cities around Baghdad, a lot of the moods in those communities have been dictated by talks of the draft constitution. Does that hope that is revealed by some of the folks in Baghdad, in anyway, does that translate in the Sadah area where you are? ECCLESTON: Well, putting them into perspective, this is an overwhelmingly Sunni area. And as far as the Americans are concerned, as far as the marines who patrol this area of operation which is called AO Denver, they want to create, part of this is creating a stable enough environment whereby those people here can actually get out to vote. Whether they vote the constitution up or down is quite frankly irrelevant to the marines at this stage.

They're just trying to create a stable enough environment in the near term. That is for the referendum that will happen in the next two weeks and then for the long-term vision, creating a secure environment, a stable environment whereby the people in this part of the world will not be plagued by intimidation, insurgents or insurgent violence.

WHITFIELD: Jennifer Eccleston, thank you so much for that report over the telephone. Tony.

HARRIS: Let's turn now to New Orleans where some residents are finally getting their first look at the damage to their homes and businesses left by hurricane Katrina. CNN's Dan Lothian is in New Orleans and has been gauging the reactions of returning evacuees. Good morning Dan.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony. Well, the reaction can be summed up by read it is headlines this morning in the local paper. "Bittersweet Home Coming." you hear the stories of those returning to their homes and finding that everything is intact. They don't have to do a whole lot in their home in order to move back in.

Essentially throw out the refrigerator, perhaps. But then there are those who are finding that their homes have been heavily damaged or even destroyed. Some of them have been tagged. Some of these homes have been tagged because the roof has either shifted as well as the foundation. So the city is saying these residents can go in, they can check whatever -- check for their belongs, remove some of their belongings but they have to make these necessary repairs before they can move back in.

The mayor yesterday at a press conference was reaching out to all those 200 or so thousand who were allowed to finally come back saying you should come back as part of rebuilding effort. But he also was talking to the federal government and he said the federal government has to play a major role before New Orleans can rebuild.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR RAY NAGIN, NEW ORLEANS: So in essence I'm saying help us. Don't give us a handout, but help us to create the right environment and we'll take it from there. We don't want to be an undue burden on the federal government. But we do think that we contribute to this nation. We contribute mightily to this nation. And we deserve to be treated accordingly.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LOTHIAN: Yesterday the mayor also announced a rebuild New Orleans commission made up of 17 members including jazz musician Wynton Marsalis. These are people who will advise the mayor and the city about ways of quickly rebuilding this city. He hopes to have a final plan from them by the end of the year. Tony.

HARRIS: Dan Lothian in New Orleans for us. Can thank you.

And tonight, follow the forecasters as "CNN Presents: Monster, Tracking the Storm." What are the lessons learned from back-to-back hurricanes, Katrina and Rita? That's "CNN Presents" tonight, 8:00 p.m. Eastern only here on CNN.

Would you give your toddler caffeine for breakfast? A new drink targeting youngsters is sparking controversy. Find out why next on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

WHITFIELD: And Bonnie Schneider, she'll be along with your weekend weather. Bonnie.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We're looking at great weather for Boston today. For the game, of course, temperatures will be right in the 70s, really comfortable with lots of sunshine. Let's show you a live picture of Boston this morning. Waking up in a good mood with smiles on their faces after their win last night. I will have your complete forecast coming up on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHNEIDER: Good morning everyone. I'm meteorologist Bonnie Schneider and you are looking at a live picture of Boston, Massachusetts. A beautiful morning there. It is going to be a gorgeous afternoon. Hopefully good weather certainly for the game today at Fenway Park this afternoon against the New York Yankees.

All right. Well let's talk about the tropics. We still have more activity to tell you about. Tropical season is far from over. It goes until November 30th. So today being the first day of October, we have a new depression, tropical depression number 19. This one though is moving into the open waters of the Atlantic.

And even if it becomes a tropical storm it does not pose a threat to land at this time. Now you're looking over the western Caribbean. We're watching an area of disturbed weather. An Airforce Reserve Aircraft may fly into this later today to tell us whether or not this will become a depression. Right now we are seeing an area of thunderstorms that will bring some heavy rain to the Caymans and also to Jamaica.

Checking out your weather across the country. Warm for much of the nations mid section and even further out to the Rockies. Looking good, feeling like summer even though its early October. We have temperatures that will be night up into the 80s for many locations today and it will be cool in the northeast as I mentioned with a high of 73 in Boston and New York, 75 in D.C. And looking pretty nice out to the west as well. That's a look at your weather. Fredricka. WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks a lot Bonnie.

By nature, children tend to be hyperactive, right? So why would they need a jolt of caffeine? That's the question become raised this week by the "New York Times" in an article highlighting a caffeine loaded drink aimed at children as young as four. It's called Kick Start Spark. Frankly many children's health advocates are horrified. In its defense, however, Advocare, the company that makes Sparks, says it's intended as a nutritional energy drink.

Their response to the "Times" article states in part that Spark "contains vitamins and minerals essential for children's balanced nutrition, especially important given that only about 10 percent of children in the United States get the daily recommended level of nutrition."

Advocare acknowledges that Spark packs a kick with 60 milligrams of caffeine per serving, that compares about to a half cup of coffee, nearly two cans of Coca-Cola or about 12 glasses of chocolate milk. Advocare maintains its 60 milligrams of caffeine is safe for children. Some health experts beg to differ. One of them is Melinda Sothern. She is with the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center and she's also the co-author of "Trim Kids." Melinda Sothern joins us now from New Orleans. Good to see you, Melinda.

MELINDA SOTHERN, CO-AUTHOR, "TRIM KIDS": Good to see you. I just want to say that due to the heroic leadership of Mayor Ray Nagin and the city and parish I'm able to be here. I just want them to know that I say thanks and so does all of the citizens here.

WHITFIELD: In fact, I was going to ask you later on in the interview why you picked New Orleans to be that location and not via conversations specifically about the damage, but you've clarified that for me now.

All right. Well, let's talk about this Spark drink. The makers are saying that this really is a nutrition supplement. And that it offers some nutritional benefits for kids. Their Web site ends indicates that vitamin c, it contains 300 percent of the daily recommended volume, vitamin e, 100 percent. And that this is not just about giving kids a jolt through caffeine but, instead, it is something for their health. Your response is?

SOTHERN: There are many concerns with this product. The main concern is that 60 milligrams per day exceeds the recommended dose for four to six-year-olds, which is less than 45 milligrams per day. In addition, kids typically do not take more than about 22 grams of -- milligrams per day anyway. That's the average intake of children in this country is anyway. Most kids don't drink two caffeine-loaded sodas a day.

WHITFIELD: Really.

SOTHERN Thirdly ...

WHITFIELD: I thought a lot of kids drink more than two cans of soda.

SOTHERN: No, they may drink lots of soda but at least parents seem to be cognizant not to give them the caffeinated beverages. The other thing is, is that caffeine is absorbed slower and excreted slower in children. So we don't know ...

WHITFIELD: So it's going to remain in their system for a while you're saying.

SOTHERN: Longer. And you know some of the ill effects of caffeine are nervousness, sleeplessness, restlessness, and nausea. This won't be in all children, but in many children. And again, kids sit in a classroom eight hours a day. Why would we want to give them anything to make them more active? I'm very concerned about this.

WHITFIELD: So this is a product that is being marketed to kids who are as young as 4 years old. A formula for kids who are four to 11 and apparently there is another formula for high school-age kids. Are you concerned, while you talk about this being a stimulant that will make it difficult for kids to sleep, et cetera, and this just might be a precursor to other kinds of dependency problems that this product in your estimation might provoke?

SOTHERN: Yes. I think many of us are concerned about that. And although we don't have the research to say that, it doesn't mean if we did that research, it wouldn't show that. I mean its understudy. I doesn't mean that we studied it and found it to be safe. And found it not to lead to other drugs. We just don't know. So don't give something that is unclear what the effects will be.

The third thing is, why would you want to push high performance on athletes as young as 12 years of age when they should be concentrating on having fun, being physically active, making friends. This is not something that coaches and teachers push anyway. Lastly ACSM American Dietetic Association, all of the national organizations say that kids should drink water for performance and eat healthy, nutritious meals and maybe take a multivitamin with minerals. They don't need all of those additional vitamins, minerals, and substances.

WHITFIELD: Is this product being treated like any other over the counter dietary supplement, it would not be regulated by the FDA?

SOTHERN: I can't answer that because I don't know what the regulations the FDA has on these types of products but to my knowledge you don't need a prescription to get it. So if they are targeting parents of kids and you have some over eager parents who do want sort of high performance in their children. They may be giving their kids these drinks. They're not healthy. We don't know what ingested caffeine during the years where children develop will do in the long term.

We do know that certain chemicals hurt the metabolism and may actually lead to obesity and diabetes. So why take the chance, give them water when they are thirsty, give them low fat milk, a small amount of juice because it is -- does it does have sugar. But some juice is beneficial. Feed them a healthy diet. If you still feel you need more, give them a multi-vitamin with minerals. That's all they need.

WHITFIELD: All right. Melinda Sothern with the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center thanks so much.

HARRIS: It is the stuff legends are made of. An underwater wonder captured on film for the first time ever. We'll talk about it when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: For the first time in history, a team of Japanese scientists photographs a giant squid in the wild. A remote camera system captured these images off the coast of Japan. About 3,000 feet down in the north Pacific. The squid is estimated to be around 26 feet long with eyes the size of frisbees? Well, for decade's costly expeditions to photograph giant squid has been fruitless. Richard Ellis is the author of the "Surge for the Giant Squid." Richard Ellis joins us live from New York. Richard good to talk to you.

RICHARD ELLIS, "SEARCH FOR THE GIANT SQUID": Good morning.

HARRIS: Well I know this is a big deal. We love when scientists get excited about outcomes and results. But how big a deal is it really?

ELLIS: This is really a big deal because for centuries people have known of the existence of this great sort of monstrous animal and this is absolutely the first time that any pictures of a live one have ever been seen. So what it is, is the resolution of one of the ocean's great mysteries for all this time people had no idea whether this animal swam horizontally or vertically, what color it was, what kind of attitude it had. And all of a sudden we know the answers.

HARRIS: Well, Richard, why has it been so difficult?

ELLIS: Well, because they live in places where people don't normally get to. They live thousands of feet down in oceans where people are not accustomed to fishing for them.

HARRIS: Richard, we have the technology to get down there. These Japanese scientists what do they do, follow the fish that feed on the squid? They follow the whale.

ELLIS: They follow the sperm whales that eat squid. And when they knew where the whales were, then they dropped this camera down and they hoped that something would happen. They hoped that something would take the bait. They never got a whale in this film.

HARRIS: Right.

ELLIS: But they hoped that something would take the bait and they would finally get the pictures of this altogether mysterious animal.

HARRIS: What do you think we're learning or is it too early to know what we have learned? ELLIS: On a large scale, we're learning that we can solve some of the ocean's mysteries. On a smaller scale, we are learning a lot about an animal that had been mysterious for centuries and had never been seen alive by anyone. This opens the door to a fantastic degree of ocean exploration.

HARRIS: Good stuff.

WHITFIELD: Fascinating.

HARRIS: I wish we had more time. I have more questions. Richard thanks for time this morning, appreciate it.

ELLIS: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Well former education secretary Bill Bennett put himself in the spotlight this week while he had been criticizing a theory that draws a link between a decrease in crime and abortions.

HARRIS: Well we've been asking you this morning what do you think about his comments? We'll read your replies in the next hour of CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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