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CNN Saturday Morning News

Desperate Situation In Philippines After Deadly Typhoon; Castro's Birthday Celebration in Cuba

Aired December 02, 2006 - 09:00   ET

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

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: News just in from Iraq to tell you about, a triple car bomb explosion in central Baghdad. Now, police say the three bombs exploded in quick succession near a commercial area of the city. Baghdad police say at least five people were dead, 25 others wounded. Of course this information is still coming in to CNN and we'll keep you updated as we get new information.
The sights and sounds. Yes, it is a party in Cuba, going on without Fidel Castro. The ailing dictator has been absent from birthday celebrations all week long, as a matter of fact. This morning he's also a no-show at the massive military parade at the Plaza of the Revolution. You're looking at live pictures of that parade right now. We'll have a live report from Havana in just about three minutes.

Shawn Bell will be buried about 90 minutes from now. As you remember, Bell, who was unarmed was gunned down by police just hours before his wedding last week. Civil Rights activist the Reverend Al Sharpton was among those attending Bell's funeral service last night.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Digging out. Parts of the Midwest trying to recover this morning from a major storm, it dumped more than a foot of snow in some areas and left hundreds of thousands without electricity.

Now to Reynolds Wolf to see if any more dumping is going on for folks across the country.

NGUYEN: Dumping?

(WEATHER REPORT)

NGUYEN: I'm going to leave that alone. We're done. Talk to you later Reynolds.

We do want to talk about a powerful politician who says no to an international conference on the Iraq crisis. Shiite leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim blasted the suggestion by the U.N. secretary general calling it illegal and unrealistic. Al-Hakim meets with President Bush at the White House on Monday.

Well, news can break at any time in Iraq. Our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is in Iraq traveling with the top U.S. commander in the region, you see him there Gen. Abizaid we will hear from him as live news warrants in that region. Of course we'll hear from Barbara Starr, again as live news warrants from that region. We do run down the top stories every 15 minutes here on CNN SATURDAY MORNING with in-depth coverage all morning long. So your next check of the headlines, that's coming up at 9:15 Eastern.

Good morning, everybody, from the CNN Center right here in Atlanta. I am Betty Nguyen. This is CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

HOLMES: And hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes.

NGUYEN: We do want to talk about more bodies, more despair. Yes, there is a desperate situation in the Philippines this morning after yesterday's deadly typhoon. Hundreds of people are feared dead, just look at the pictures there. Necessities such as food and fresh water they are in short supply. Joining us by phone is Gwendolyn Pang of the Red Cross.

Gwendolyn, one of the things we're trying to wrap our hands around this morning is the number of fatalities in this storm. Do you have an accurate number? We're hearing in the hundreds, possibly up to 300. What do you know?

GWENDOLYN PANG, RED CROSS (via telephone): Yes, we have now 265 casualties, and missing 294, injured 316. But, according to the locals in the area, that's -- there could have been about more than 1,000 people killed, but this is yet to be confirmed. At the moment the Red Cross is mobilizing resources, organizing volunteers and organizing goods to be brought to the area, and to be distributed, aside from also doing search and rescue efforts.

NGUYEN: Let's talk about those search and rescue efforts. Where are they concentrating right now? What is the possibility of still finding survivors at this point in time?

PANG: Mostly our team is concentrating in the Albay, in the Province of Albay. As of the moment, we do not -- we don't have any report yet. The team arrived there earlier this afternoon, and we have not received any report from them as to survival, but more -- they are on the retrieval operation.

NGUYEN: I'm reading here that the search effort has just been horrendous, people still in neck deep water, digging through the mud sometimes with their hands. Gwendolyn, when we spoke with you...

PANG: Communication is off. Road access is difficult which made -- makes the relief and response very difficult. And, you know, it's costing delay also in the response.

NGUYEN: Well, you know, that's precious time, and I want to talk to you about the fact that when we spoke to you a little bit earlier, that full-scale relief operations were not in full effect as of yet. In the interest of time Gwendolyn we are going to have to let you go.

PANG: Also bringing foods to the area. That's why we will be needing a lot of help in terms of bringing goods to the area. Most of the stores in the area are still closed. We have to bring goods from Manila to the area, or in the nearby provinces. NGUYEN: Obviously, a lot of help is needed in that area. Hopefully we'll be speaking with you throughout the morning. And I do want to talk to you --

PANG: Yes.

NGUYEN: More about what can be done, how help can be --

PANG: Yes and our chairman, Richard Gordon, is urging also international support.

NGUYEN: Absolutely. We'll get more on that. Gwendolyn Pang with the Red Cross in Manila, thank you for that update.

PANG: Thank you.

HOLMES: Now we want to talk about that spy case that has London on edge. The autopsy on Alexander Litvinenko is finished, but no one is talking about results just yet. That's because the criminal investigation into his radiation poisoning death is ongoing. One thing we do know, a friend of Litvinenko's is now in the hospital.

Mario Scaramella is found to have low levels of the radioactive element in his system. He says he met with Litvinenko at a sushi restaurant the day Litvinenko was supposedly poisoned. He was there to tell the former Russian agent that both of them were on a Russian mob hit list. Mean while, Litvinenko's widow is also being watched closely, she has very small traces of polonium in her system.

NGUYEN: That's a mystery there.

HOLMES: Something else we're going to be talking about here. Security in airports. The word? Sneaking a peak beneath pants or that skirt. Some say it's a virtually strip search, others say it is a great security tool. We will let you decide for yourself in about five minutes.

NGUYEN: How would you feel going through one of those machines.

Meanwhile, put down that donut. I know it's 9:07 Eastern. We're urging you to put on your workout gear. Fitness guru Jerry Anderson is in the house with tips this morning on how to safely exercise. His secret to his, well you see him right there, great guns.

HOLMES: Then a little bit later not everybody can decorate quite like this. In the bottom of the hour though, Gerri Willis will tell you how to make your holiday display more gorgeous then Chris Wall. CNN SATURDAY MORNING continues in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Oh a birthday bash fit for a king, or at least a long- time dictator. But Cuban President Fidel Castro not feeling like partying these days. The Cuban leader is still a no-show as Cubans gather en masse for his 80th birthday celebration. And CNN's Morgan Neill is live there this morning. Hello.

MORGAN NEILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, T.J.

Well, the latest we've seen here are we've seen fighter jets going overhead. Just recently, tanks in armored vehicles. Representing Cuba's armed forces on this birthday. So far we're getting near the end of the speech, while there always surprises possible.

It looks as if President Fidel Castro will not be able to appear at this point, on the date that he himself set at the end of July. What are we to make of this? It's going to reinforce for many what some analysts have already been saying that the succession in Cuba has already happened and that there may never be a return to government as it was, as it stood before July 31.

Now, acting president Raul Castro earlier delivered a speech, a speech we're accustomed to hear from his brother, Fidel Castro. In it, no mention of the president's condition. What we did hear about was what Raul Castro the acting president called Cuba's monolithic unity, that unity of its people and it's party. And he called that unity the country's strategic weapon. Now, what does this mean for Cuban's if President Fidel Castro doesn't appear today? Well in short more uncertainty.

Officials here have insisted the president's recovery is going well. Just last night we heard from vice president of state. He said he expected President Castro back among the leaders. Most likely it seems we're not going to get a definitive answer as frustrating as that might seem about when the president can return to any or all of his duties. Cuba sees the condition as a state secret. But in the end, this celebration, as I say, was on a date set by the president himself, and so far, it looks like he's unable to appear -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Morgan Neill for us in Havana keeping an eye on it. Thank you so much, Morgan.

NGUYEN: Listen to this, this next story gives a new meaning to the term "strip search" it that doesn't get your attention in this tech effect report.

CNN's Brian Todd shows us how you don't have to remove a thing with this latest surveillance equipment to see it all.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At Phoenix' Sky Harbor Airport the newest weapon in the war on terror that can see through clothes carrying explosives. Already used on more than a million passengers abroad these special x-rays can catch all kinds of contraband.

PETER KANT, RAPIDSCAN SYSTEMS: Regular weapons, box knifes, cutters, but unusual types of weapons, explosives, liquid explosives. TODD: The images will look like this. Outlines of the body, not in detail but weapons and other items do show up. This is technology has been very controversial, because until recently it was much more invasive. In August I went through the so-called backscatter machine. I was advised that if I didn't want my private areas shown I should put a metal plate in my pants. I stepped just in front of the machine, turn around. In just a few seconds the monitor displays my humble contours.

Now in this test I'm playing the role of a would be terrorist, I try to hide a plastic lipstick container in my vest pocket. Busted. I sneak a sports drink bottle busted again. How about wires in a sealed sandwich bag hidden in my sock. In the monitor they show up on my ankle but the machines have limitations.

When I pour water in a sealed sandwich bag and place it inside my belt line and in a sock, you can barely see it. But one company behind this technology says trained screeners would detect it. And Transportation Security Administration says they have other methods to detect liquids. When this came out. Privacy advocates called it a virtual strip search and they are not much more satisfied with the newer technology.

MARC ROTHENBERG, PRIVACY ADVOCATE: They're putting a digital fig leaf on the image, this protects the image from what the operator will see, but the machine itself can still record all the details and store that information for use at later time.

TODD: A TSA official tells CNN there won't be any hard drives to store the images and says no one will have access to pictures without the so-called fig leaf on them. From one passenger tested on the older machines.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been through it over in Europe.

TODD: In Phoenix a TSA official tells us the machine will be only used if more than a metal detector is required. And passengers will then get a choice between those machines and pat downs.

BRIAN TODD, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Interesting technology there. How would you feel about it? Well in the meantime, we do have some important news to tell you about. There have been three car bombs that have gone off in Baghdad. We're getting a live report and should have it right after this break.

CNN's Arwa Damon is in Baghdad. We'll get the latest on the number of people killed in that car bombing.

HOLMES: Of course, a segment we have here every Saturday. Jerry Anderson will share the secrets on how he got his top guns. We'll let folks take this in. We will give you a minute. Take it in, folks.

NGUYEN: He loves every minute of this. HOLMES: CNN's SATURDAY MORNING continues in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We want to get now to Baghdad and our Arwa Damon live for us following a developing story. A triple car bombing we are just getting word of, Arwa, what can you tell us?

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: T.J. the attack took place in central Baghdad, three car bombs exploded at two squares that surround one of Baghdad's main market places at least 38 Iraqis killed in that attack. Another 84 wounded. We're hearing at least 12 vehicles damaged, 10 shops destroyed. Just to give you an idea what this market is like.

It's incredibly busy, outdoor stalls overflowing with commerce, lots of traffic jams in that area, really very, very busy at the time of the attack, which is just about an hour ago at 4:00 p.m. local time. That's when the shops begin to close down. Why? Because nighttime brings more dangers.

This strikes happening really at a time when the market was very busy. Markets are one of the insurgencies favorite target spots. The death toll just tends to be incredibly high from these places. In fact, just yesterday, yesterday morning, a mortar round landed inside Baghdad's pet market.

This is a destination where often time's families take their children so that they can look at the animals. Really there is no stopping the violence here, especially now coming at a time when the government is increasingly fragile. Many people are saying that the violence is completely and totally out of control -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Arwa Damon following this story for us live in Baghdad. Arwa thank you so much.

NGUYEN: All right. Workout wannabes, gather around, come on in. From finding a fitness program that you can do while your injured to bulking up with protein. We had viewer questions for our fitness guru of course that is Jerry Anderson this morning joining us live. Hi Jerry.

JERRY ANDERSON, FITNESS GURU: Hi Betty how are you doing this morning? It's show time.

NGUYEN: It is show time. So batter up shall we. Aaron in Ontario, Canada has this question for you. He says, "I am 17 years old. I was wondering if you believe that you have to eat 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight to build muscle. If now: can you please give me some advice?"

ANDERSON: Wow. This is a great question, Aaron. You know what happens. A lot of the magazines tell you that for every pound of body weight, you need one gram of protein. But I don't agree with that for every two pounds of body weight you need one gram of protein. You are taking to much protein it will over work your liver and your kidneys is not good for you. You can take those extra protein calories and use them for carbohydrates so you can work out. The bottom line is that you have stimulated muscle growth before you can build muscle. You can't just increase your protein intake and build muscle, it doesn't work that way. So you have to stimulate it first Betty.

NGUYEN: That is true you have to exercise, it's not going to happen itself.

ANDERSON: Years ago a lot of body builders use to use excess protein. They ended up with liver problems, kidney problems. That's not the way to go. Avoid that. Every two pounds of body weight, all you need is one gram of protein. Don't overdo it.

NGUYEN: OK. Jane has this question for you, Jerry. She says, "I need a program to improve my cardiovascular fitness. That's compatible with an injured ankle. The fitness programs I have explored do not have modifications for disability. I can only walk about a mile before resting my ankle." What do you suggest for Jane?

ANDERSON: We have a situation here. We can handle it. First of all, I want you to work out every other day, not every day so the rest days are result days and recuperation on your ankle. Day one, I want you to hit the pool for twenty or thirty minutes. Get your workout in, take the rest day and come back on day two.

What I want you to do, instead, since you walk about a mile, walk three times a day, for abut eight to 10 minutes so you get cardiovascular in so you don't wear your ankle down. Then next workout does the recumbent bike, sit down and pedal and pedal and get your cardiovascular fitness. In about three weeks you'll see a change.

Also, at some of the gyms they have the upper body workout where you can actually pedal up top. There's ways to do it without risking your ankle. Do it every other day. Then all you do is progress.

NGUYEN: I like your suggestion, hitting the pool. Because that is a really great workout, especially if you have an injury it doesn't really put a lot of strain on those muscles.

Here's a good question for you, this is from Jim. He says Jerry, "I am a 51 year old male and I figure that I need to lose at least 30 pounds. How do you keep so fit? Do you have an exercise routine that you can share?

ANDERSON: Wow, Jim, I'm going to give you all my advice. You might be in my next competition. I'll give you some. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to lose one pound a week for the next 30 weeks. By June of 2007 your waistline should go from looking like a u to a v.

I do four things to stay healthy: strength training, aerobic exercise, low fat nutrition, and mental fitness. Strength training every other day, not too long, about 35 minutes work out, done deal. Then what I do for cardio, 30 minutes after the workout, the off days, 30 minutes of cardio.

That's how you keep your heart and lungs in shape. When I go with nutrition. I go 10, 10, and 10 for men. What I mean is 10 pieces of fruit, 10 cups of vegetables, and 10 glasses of water. That keeps you health and strong. See a lot of people are doing five, five, five -- that is for babies. For men 10, 10, 10 for men. Kick it up a little bit.

NGUYEN: Jim says he's 51 years old. Talk about exposing secrets. Can you tell how old you are?

ANDERSON: Oh, Betty.

Actually, I just turned 48. I'm working on 49. You can do it. Stay strong. But the final thing is to make you get there is the mental fitness. You have to have the right outlook. I mentioned it before. What I've done, I keep a great vision. I cut my head off on one of my photos, put it on a body so I can see it every single day. Yes, Betty, you're killing me, Betty.

NGUYEN: There are a lot of photos that I would love to put my head on.

ANDERSON: It gives you that goal, you work for it. You can let up.

NGUYEN: How about my head on your body.

ANDERSON: Oh, my goodness.

NGUYEN: Hey, 48 never has never looked any better. Jerry it is good talking to you. See you next weekend.

In the meantime. What is your problem? Whether you have an exercise issue or nutritional nightmare we want to hear from you. Here's the address. E-mail us at Weekends@cnn.com. Jerry will answer your questions right here on CNN.

HOLMES: People are messed up right trying to picture your head on Jerry's body. Stick around folks we're of course still keeping an eye on that situation out of Baghdad this morning where we just got word of a triple car bombing that killed 38.

Also, we are keeping an eye on something else, live picture now; tens of thousands of Cubans are crowding Plaza of Revolution. It is a belated birthday celebration for Fidel Castro and also a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution. But will the guest of honor make an appearance?

NGUYEN: Also, it looks like kid stuff. But it's cartoons with a message. We're going to tell you about this new AIDS education effort that is next hour.

HOLMES: But first, Gerri Willis straight ahead showing us ways to make our holiday decorations merry, bright and also safe. And also look just like that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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