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CNN Saturday Morning News

World Prepares For New Year's Celebrations; President Bush Triest To Put Bad Year Behind Him

Aired December 31, 2005 - 09:00   ET

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

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR, CNN SATURDAY MORNING: Good morning and happy 2006. It is 9:00 am in New York's Times Square where workers are putting the finishing touches for tonight's celebrations and 1:00 am in Sydney, Australia where they rang in the New Year just about an hour ago.
I'm Randi Kaye in for Betty Nguyen and Tony Harris. Thanks for starting your day with us.

Now in the news, suspicion falls on an Islamic terror group after a market bombing kills eight and injures 45 people in Indonesia. The province has long been a violent flash point between Christians and Muslims. Authorities had warned the Al Qaeda-linked group was plotting strikes during the holidays.

In Iraq, seven people are dead, nearly a dozen others wounded in three separate bomb attacks. The deadliest happened in Callous (ph) where five died in an explosion in front of the Iraqi, Islamic Party Headquarters. In central Baghdad two police officers died when their patrol was targeted. In southern Baghdad an exploding bomb injured four.

The three-month-old spinal bifida patient, baby Noor is set to arrive in Atlanta in just a few hours. The Iraqi infant has been befriended by U.S. National Guard troops who found her suffering from the untreated birth defect. At noon eastern, you can watch CNN's live continuing coverage of baby Noor.

Preparations are underway in New York for tonight's big New Year's Eve party in Times Square. In a matter of hours it will begin filling up with people trying to get a great viewing spot. CNN's Jason Carroll joins us by phone from the big apple with much more on all the festivities being planned for tonight. Good morning, Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Good morning to you Randi. You know a light snow is falling here in New York right now. Hopefully that won't last, but everyone expected to come out here tonight, it will definitely be chilly, Randi that's for sure. In terms of what's expected. Three quarters of a million people expected here, about 85 percent from outside the city. Here's another interesting statistic that I didn't know was 23 percent of those showing up here tonight will actually be from outside the country.

New York City's mayor Michael Bloomberg will be on hand to lower the ball along with jazz artist Wynton Marsalis. The ball will actually be raised at about 6:00 tonight. That ball, a little bit about that, is covered in 504 Waterford crystals, crystal triangles actually. The ball is about six feet in diameter, weighs a little more than one thousand pounds and it's going to be lowered just before the stroke of midnight. Right at the stroke of midnight. The 2006 sign will light up and you'll see that familiar sight of the confetti being released and what you will have is a two-minute fireworks display that will begin. Much has actually been said also Randi about the security measures that are in place.

New York City's police commissioner tell us even though there's been no specific threat, counter terrorism events are in place as a precaution. They'll be manning the rooftops, the streets and the subways. There's going to be five helicopters patrolling the skies at midnight. There will also be units on hand to watch the harbor as well. Anyone entering Times Square should expect to have their bags searched. In fact, that's why police are really asking folks not to bring bags if they don't have to. The city knows that the world will be watching 120 million people in the U.S. alone expected to tune in to watch the crowds say good-bye to '05.

We're hoping here at CNN that a lot of people tuning in will tune in to watch Anderson Cooper tonight. He'll be on hand from 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. He'll have some musical guests joining him like Cool and the Gang and James Brown. It is going to be a lot of fun out here tonight. A lot of people coming out to say good-bye to '05 and say hello to '06.

Randi.

KAYE: And Jason where will you be? Will you be out there in the middle of Times Square or no?

CARROLL: Randi, I'm going to be at a party, baby, that's where I'm going to be.

KAYE: Well I knew that. I didn't doubt that for a minute.

CARROLL: You know that.

KAYE: You have yourself some fun and good to talk to you this morning. All good things for '06.

CARROLL: All right. Thanks a lot.

KAYE: Jason Carroll reporting for us from Times Square.

Mudslides, floods and fire, nature are not taking a holiday on the west coast this New Year's weekend. First to California where one wet winter storm has hit a second, now on the way. Mud and snow have already closed some major roads and authorities are warning hillside residents to prepare for evacuations.

Rising water has already prompted some evacuations in Oregon. Heavy rain and high winds are triggering landslides and flooding. The Rogue River is forecast to go five feet over its banks. Wildfires burning in Texas and Oklahoma are now contained but officials feel more warm, dry weather could spark additional blazes. New Year's fireworks are banned in Oklahoma and most of Texas.

Bonnie Schneider is joining us now to take a look at what we can expect for early '06. We'll see snow flurries in Times Square.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We are, but really it is going to be more of a rain event than anything else. And that is the least of the troubles across the country. Boy, we have a lot going on in California. This just in, the Napa River in St. Helena has already exceeded its previous high watermark for a record. Right now the Napa River at St. Helena is at 20.2 feet, unbelievable. Disastrous flooding is expected across many areas into Napa Valley and that does include St. Helen, Calistoga and Holtville. So keep that in mind today, just if you live near the river and you're prepared for this already but just knows that we're expecting more rain to fall in this vicinity that's why flood warnings are in place.

Windy weather as well and even a flood watch for southern California. This next storm system that is coming in will be affecting areas in Los Angeles, like Santa Barbara County, Ventura County. We're looking for rain that area towards tonight into tomorrow. Right now our biggest concern is just north of San Francisco in Napa valley. We have airport delays already and strong winds. These winds have really picked up in the last couple of hours and now all of the way up to 40 miles per hour winds, that is gale-force strength just north of the city. So wind and rain whipping about not a good situation. Up towards Oregon where we had some areas that were flooding earlier we will see the rain is a little bit more spread out and a little bit more sporadic up towards that vicinity.

A quick check of what's happening in the southern Plains. The winds not to bad today, but don't let this fool you. We're still expecting very dry conditions in the forecast in areas like Dallas, Texas, for example, where we're looking at high temperatures eventually warming up into the 80s. For New York City we mentioned snow falling from the sky. Actually snow and sleet is expected in West Chester County just north of the city, but for much of New York City you'll be seeing rain on and off for the New Year's Eve holiday in Times Square. So bring an umbrella, but expect dry conditions for New Years Day with high temperatures into the 40s.

Here's a look at the latest radar pictures now just to show you for the southern Plains. Dry as can be and hot weather is expected. And one more note, even though today it looks pretty calm, we're expecting things to really kick up for tomorrow for New Year's Day into southern Plains where we're going to see strong winds and hot temperatures and low humidity, perfect recipe for fire danger for that region for tomorrow. So just a real mess of weather across much of the country for this New Year's Eve holiday weekend. I hope everyone has a safe New Year and manages to avoid this messy weather.

Randi.

KAYE: All right. Thank you, Bonnie Schneider for the update. All morning we've been showing you live pictures from Sydney, Australia and their New Years festivities there. Now we want to take you live to Beijing. They are less than two hours away from their New Year's celebration and the festivities already underway there.

CNN is the only place where you can watch the New Year ring in throughout the world and throughout the country here. So once again, live pictures there coming to us from Beijing, less than two hours from midnight there.

Now let's get you up to speed with stories across America this morning. The nightmare is just about over for 800 or so Amtrak riders who found themselves on the wrong side of the tracks yesterday. A day long train delay south of Savannah, Georgia, tested their patience as they sat for hours on the idled rail. Amtrak says the derailed freight train was the cause for the disruption, but the passengers should reach their destination this morning.

Ohio's corrections department is looking into its computer that inadvertently made 3,000 calls to crime victims telling them inmates his been released. A department spokesman blames a glitch in its computer notification system. The department's double-checking to make sure no inmates were accidentally let go.

And for this New Year's toast, champagne will finally be legal in Rockport, Massachusetts. The city's century-old ban of alcohol was lifted a few months back meaning this year, Rockport restaurants and Inn's can ring in the New Year with sparkling cheers.

President Bush's New Year's message is one of hope and new opportunity in the year ahead. He, Laura, Barney and Ms. Beasley arrived in Crawford, Texas, earlier in the week. White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is there as well. She joins us now with more of what's in store for the Bush administration in the weeks ahead.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well Randi of course, by many accounts a tough year for the president, but in his New Year message to the American people he thanked them for opening their homes to Katrina victims and he also recognized that the U.S. troops around the world and of course continues to promote the U.S. mission in Iraq. That's really seen as the cornerstone of the president's legacy. He said specifically here that in 2005, Iraqis three times exercised the right to vote in free elections and the Afghan people conducted successful parliamentary elections.

In the coming year America will continue to stand beside those young democracies and lay the foundation of peace for our children and grandchildren. Randi look for two things in the coming year. The president of course looking at that six-month window in Iraq. The transition period that political transitions with elections and then also look to the president talking about a strong economy.

The president most notably, of course, taking into account the setback. What they're looking for modest legislative victories to try to get the Supreme Court nominee through and of course get to the other side of those congressional hearings when it comes to the domestic spy program.

We don't expect to see the president today. He's on the Crawford ranch with his family. He is early to bed and early to rise. We don't expect he'll make it to midnight. Randi.

KAYE: All right. Susan Malveaux reporting live for us from Crawford, Texas, thanks and Happy New Year to you.

MALVEAUX: Happy New Year.

KAYE: All right. Surviving without food for more than two months. Coming up a startling discovery beneath the rubble of a deadly earthquake. In our next hour an alternative to the traditional champagne toasting New Year's Eve party. Celebrations that include everyone. We'll have the details. CNN SATURDAY MORNING continues in a moment as we leave you with another look. Live pictures from Beijing. Less than two hours away now from midnight and the New Year's celebration there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GARRETT TUCKER, SGT FIRST CLASS: I'm Sergeant First Class Garrett Tucker. I'm here at Camp Liberty in Iraq. I'm stationed with the 4th I.D. Company. I want to say greetings to my wife, my daughters and my son, and my father in Mississippi and my wife in Fort Hood, Texas. I want to say a great Happy New Year to you and I love you.

KAYE: Welcome back to CNN SATURDAY MORNING. I'm Randi Kaye. If you're just joining us, it is already January 1st in some places and the New Year's celebrations have begun. Preparations are in full swing for tonight's ball drop in New York's Times Square. You can see there from that live picture that there's already snow falling there, but meteorologist Bonnie Schneider is telling us that that snow will go away and likely turn to some rain. So bring your coats.

CNN's Anderson Cooper will be anchoring our coverage of the festivities there beginning at 11:00 p.m. Eastern.

New Year's -- and we also want to show you some live celebrations from -- well, actually, there we go. Live celebrations in Zhuhai, China. More celebrations underway as we ring in the New Year throughout the world. You can see it all here live on CNN as we go around the world.

New Year's fire works and bonfires have been banned in Oklahoma in an effort to prevent more grass fires from breaking out. Officials there and in Texas say the fires are under control for now, but they warn the fire danger remains extremely high.

From not enough moisture to too much, California is getting clobbered by the first of two winter storms. Up to six inches of rain could fall on the ground and it is already saturated. Flooding and mudslides now pose serious threats from Sonoma to Monterey.

An amazing story of survival out of Pakistan. A woman buried two months under a pile of rubble from the October earthquake is found alive. How could she have survived so long without food and water? CNN's senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta sheds some light.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The earth shook; the mountains came down like rain. More than 80,000 people died and were instantly buried. It all happened in just two minutes. This 80-year-old man was convinced his daughter was among the dead. She was in the kitchen working, he told me. We heard her scream and then nothing. We couldn't find her. Not in the mountain rubble that had buried their simple home, but the family needed to rebuild and as they cleared the ground for a new home they finally found her, accidentally. More than two months after the quake. Long after most victims had been given up for dead. The woman you're about to see is the longest survivor ever of someone who is trapped after an earthquake or after any sort of disaster. Supposedly she lived for two months, actually 65 days with no food and maybe only access to some muddy water. She weighs just 26 kilograms. That's just about 60 pounds. She was severely malnourished. Let's take a look for the first time.

Did she have any injuries?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) The chest is OK.

GUPTA: Of course, the only person who really knows what happened to Naksha is Naksha herself. But she is still to week to talk. What do you think? I mean you are her doctor?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think she must be getting some food or water maybe by the rain or something like that because something she must be eating or drinking that kept her alive. Secondly, I think she was very healthy.

GUPTA: Even if she did have some food she clearly didn't have much.

I can see her legs and how much weight did she lose here in her legs? Wow! There's no muscle, no fat. Just skin and bones.

We don't know why she's hitting herself, but it could be that she is upset about her condition. Also, she's been told her mother died in the earthquake.

Still, she's in remarkable condition for her ordeal. Her father is in the hospital close by. He was at a market when the earthquake hit and his leg was crushed in the rubble. By the time he arrived here several days later his shattered leg was infected. Doctors couldn't save it, but then good news. After his operation, confined to a hospital bed he is told his daughter is alive. He doesn't believe it until he sees her with his own eyes. It was a reunion seen and heard around all of Pakistan.

They say that she survived for nearly two months without any food and hardly any water. Scientists are skeptical of that but all of the doctors here say it's a miracle. Naksha is slowly rehabilitating her broken down and battered body. For the time being she doesn't seem to know that she survived when so many others died. When she was lifted from the rubble, she lifted the spirits of a broken country.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Islamabad, Pakistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: And this is just one of the many gripping stories from the quake zone. Dr. Gupta has been taking an in-depth look at life after the quake. Is enough being done to help those left behind? Our own Sanjay Gupta in the quake zone tonight at 6:00 Eastern only on CNN.

Coming up, looking back. What will you remember about 2005? That's our e-mail question this morning and we'll be reading your thoughts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: If your New Year's resolution includes traveling, take heed. According to American Express business travel forecast, a hike in airfares and hotel rates is on the horizon. But if you can leave town as early as next week.

CHRIS MCGINNIS, EDITOR, TRAVELSKILLS.COM: Going all the way until early February and it's called the black period is what it's known as in the industry or the dead weeks. Very good deals in terms of cruises and even ski resorts.

ANNOUNCER: If that doesn't fit your schedule. Here are some tips to help lessen the pitch when planning your next vacation. Travel off- peak times and days. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are best. Travel search engines to check out, Kayack.com for domestic and Mobissimo.com for European trips, a great site for comparison shopping. Package deals for better airfare and hotel and car rentals together and are another way to get bargains.

MCGINNIS: A lot of times you can save 30, 40 or 50 percent.

ANNOUNCER: And finally if you're feeling really spontaneous.

MCGINNIS: Going for the last-minute deals and let the deal determine your destination.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Once again, we want to take you live to Zhuhai, China. You are watching a live festivities underway leading up to the New Year's celebration there. Midnight is coming up on about an hour and a half away there in Zhuhai, China. Zhuhai is fairly close to Hong Kong southwest of the Proriver Delta, it faces Hong Kong on the east side and you can see this live picture here that they have a beautiful celebration underway there. And we'll continue to watch that as the morning goes on.

All morning long, we've been asking you for your thoughts on our e-mail question. What will you remember most about 2005? We want to share some of those responses with you.

This one is from Red Licorice in Tampa, Florida, "I'll remember the general incompetence of the Democratic party." That's one.

And from Mark Perloe in Atlanta, he writes, "2005 will be remembered as the year that Americans realized that emperor Bush wore no clothing."

And Iza in North Carolina writes, "Seeing how every natural disaster hit the globe this year made a pretty big impact in different places. I think I'll remember how destructive Mother Nature can be."

And finally, we want to share this one from you from Zack Ramsfelder who is just 10 years old. He writes, "I will remember the American death toll in Iraq passing 2000." That's from a 10-year-old.

And you've been listening to King Curtis. He's your orchestra leader there and that beautiful music, what are you doing New Year's Eve.

"Open House" is next. Gerri Willis takes a look at what you can expect for the housing market in 2006 and what you can do about it.

And next hour, allegations of fraud in a hurricane relief center. People hired to help evacuees are accused of helping them selves instead. Will the Red Cross be able to recover from that scandal?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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